Hubbell Lighting has launched the first outdoor LED luminaire controlled by using Bluetooth® technology—Kim Lighting’s LightVault® 8. The solid brass fixture, which features leading-edge LED optics, uses high-speed Bluetooth® technology to enable field aiming and dimming while offering control from your iPhone, Android or tablet.

Earlier in the month, id America launched a Kickstarter campaign for their LED light-equipped portable charger, named the L.E.D. 

LED lighting demands are booming this year, according to a report in the Economic Daily News. Sapphire substrate manufacturers saw good operational performance in 1Q14, and remain optimistic as the industry moves into 2Q14. 

There has been many rumors and speculations floating around the internet as to who will be the provider of OLED panels for Apple’s new iWatch. An increasing number of sources have been pointing their fingers towards LG lately. 

Lumenpulse Inc. announced that it has successfully completed an initial public offering of its common shares. In connection with the initial public offering, Lumenpulse issued 6,250,000 common shares at a price of $16.00 for total gross proceeds of $100 million. The Company's common shares will begin trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "LMP”.

“A facial expression is worth a thousand words” is the design concept behind the Mr. Pow backup battery. This adorable backup battery uses facial expressions lit up with small LED bulbs to alert users when their device’s batter is low instead of conventionally blinking dots and icons.

TNSC, a manufacturer of Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) System, announces that it has signed a Technical Agreement with ITRI in Taiwan, which is a leading R&D Institution with advanced opto-electronic technologies.

Today Philips Lumileds delivers the most affordable chip-on-board (COB) arrays for PAR38 equivalent lamps, which achieve 10% or greater efficacy than competing solutions. Also ideal for spotlights, LUXEON CoB 1202 has a typical efficacy of 115 lm/W, and it varies from 95-130 lm/W depending on color temperature and CRI of the array.

Cree, Inc. introduces the LS Series linear LED luminaire, designed to replace the hundreds of millions of fluorescent strip, wrap and industrial fixtures currently installed in North America. The Cree® LS Series linear LED luminaire offers a market leading combination of sleek aesthetics and high performance, and complements Cree’s extensive troffer and linear luminaire portfolio.

Peerless®​ — a leading designer and manufacturer of architectural luminaires and one of the innovative lighting brands under the Acuity Brands, Inc.​ umbrella — announces the introduction of the Staple LED​ suite of suspended and wall-mount luminaires.

HELLA, a leading global supplier of automotive lighting and electronics, has developed an industry-first headlamp system that automatically adjusts high-beam light patterns for other traffic and pedestrians.

San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) announced the joint venture with Seoul Semiconductor and Seoul Viosys (Viosys) on April 10th 2014. San’an Opto holds the largest share in the venture with 49 percent, investing around US $980,000. Seoul Semiconductor has a 25 percent share with US$ 500,000 investment, while Viosys holds 26 percent with a US$ 520,000 investment. The joint venture will cover areas including design, R&D, production, LED product sales, and provide related services. 

Light+Building 2014 was a huge success for Osram, where they showcased their newest innovations, products, and range of services. After the expo concluded, Osram conducted an interview with Dr. Peter Laier, Member of the Board, CTO about the markets transition into the digital era. 

Smart lighting has become the trump card  for manufactures who want to give themselves an edge in the market. Large manufacturers including Philips, Osram, Samsung, and LG all showcased their newest smart lighting products at Light+Building 2014. The idea that anything is possible through smart lighting was evident at this year’s exhibition in Frankfurt. 

In 2014, LED industry ushered in golden period of development, the competition and integration between enterprises kicked off. LED industry faces both opportunities and challenges: under the urging of the localization process, the upstream chip companies optimize capacity utilization, to compete with each other in technology. Flip chip technology breaks in full fury, which has attracted more and more attention of lighting and backlighting market gradually, becoming the most important developing item in this year. As the global LED lamp replacing tide comes, LED bulb and tub...

Researchers worldwide continue search for better luminescent materials for OLED manufacturing. Two new compounds with europium complexes developed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw display in their class record high luminescence efficiencies in red, and their properties enable faster, low cost manufacturing of thin OLED films.

Royal Philips announces its fifth consecutive pan-African Cairo to Cape Town roadshow (from 14 April to 3 September 2014) continuing to focus on key challenges facing Africa today - the need for energy-efficient lighting and the revitalization of African healthcare infrastructure.

Japanese design studio YOY has created new LED luminaires capable of projecting its own lampshade this year, according to a Deezen report.

Emerging developments in the LED lighting industry has led to major Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, American and European manufacturers expanded production capacity, as companies aim to gain larger market share. Taiwanese LED manufacturer Edison Opto, which focuses on LED components, has an optimistic outlook for the Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier (PLCC LED) and COB application market. 

In dense, urban centers around the world, many people live and work in dim and narrow streets surrounded by tall buildings that block sunlight. And as the global population continues to rise and buildings are jammed closer together, the darkness will only spread.

Detroit area electronics technology firm Electro-Matic Products, Inc. recently completed a joint venture partnership agreement with Kingsun Optoelectronic Co., Ltd., a global leader in commercial and industrial LED lighting solutions. The agreement will primarily benefit the Electro-Matic Visual Products Group, which builds and markets finished LED lighting fixtures for a variety of outdoor and indoor commercial lighting and display applications.

AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") announced  that it will set “Experience the Ultimate with Curved Ultra High Definition” as the theme and participate in China Information Technology Expo & China Optoelectronics Display Expo 2014 in Shenzhen from April 10 to 12. AUO will demonstrate its full series of 42 to 65-inch UHD 4K curved LCD TV displays with wide color gamut that are mass produced ahead of the industry, curved monitor displays, and ultra high resolution smartphone displays. The Company aims to satisfy consumers' diverse needs for visual enjoyment with its ultra high resolution and complete product lines. 

In order to enhance the market for industrial applications of UV LED curing, Taiwan HPLighting has chosen industry's most advanced high quality UV LED chip and special UV LED packages to make UV LED devices with higher efficiency , uniform light irradiance, low power consumption , long life and environmentally friendly features.

On April 10, 2014, Nichia Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Tokyo District Court to enjoin Tachibana Eletech Co., Ltd. and E&E Japan Co., Ltd.  from infringing Nichia’s patent (No. 3786114 and No. 3972943) and to claim damages for the infringement with regard to LED products (product number: 1254 series) after analyzing the LEDs purchased from Tachibana. 

Aurora Lighting from UK saw Light+Building 2014 as the perfect platform to showcase their Red Dot Award winning product, the m10 LED fire rated downlight.

NTNU researchers Dheeraj Dasa and Helge Weman have, in cooperation with IBM, discovered that gallium arsenide can be tuned with a small strain to function efficiently as a single light-emitting diode or a photodetector. This is facilitated by the special hexagonal crystal structure, referred to as wurtzite, which the NTNU researchers have succeeded in growing in the MBE lab at NTNU. The results were published in Nature Communications this week.

On the heels of BMW announcing its plans to introduce OLED lighting modules into automotive lighting, the company has also released news that they plan to do the same for motorcycle lighting, according to BMW Blog.

The Pixelate lamp, designed by Pablo Alvarez for Birot OLED Lighting, is a hanging OLED fixture that was inspired by the undulated movements of the manta ray as it glides through the water. 

Acuity Brands, Inc. announces the launch of new Autobahn Series ATBS LED Roadway and Security luminaires from American Electric Lighting®. The new LED luminaires offer a sleek, attractive appearance and 60 percent greater efficiency compared to traditional high intensity discharge (HID) systems. 

As the world’s largest biennial lighting show, Light + Building 2014, concluded last week, LEDinside has followed up with additional in-depth on Asian, Europe and U.S. manufacturers. Also new this week, LEDs smaller than half the width of a DNA strand are proving to be more energy efficient. Research organization iRunway also notes some of the key LED patent holders in the industry. Walmart’s will be using GE LED lights for its global shop lighting retrofit. An interesting application that emerged this week has been the use of smart LED lights in nail manicures. For more please see below: