The mandatory phase-out of the 100-watt incandescent and frosted light bulb takes effect in Europe Tuesday. The move was part of European Union’s drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020 in the fight against global warming. Factories must immediately stop producing frosted incandescent bulbs and the least efficient 100-watt clear bulbs, but shops will be allowed to sell their remaining stock of such bulbs.

Scientists at the University of Washington are working on a human machine interface where LEDs are embedded into contact lenses in order to display information to the wearer. This human machine interface will use custom-built transparent circuitry in a polymer lens that is roughly 1.2 millimeters in diameter.

Expanding on its line of explosion proof and hazardous location fluorescent lighting, Larson Electronics Magnalight now offers LED T series bulbs for its HALP and HALSS series of corrosion resistant lighting.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced Tuesday the introduction of its Optium® ADS-800TM Series Advanced Dicing System, delivering high productivity dicing solutions for a broad range of demanding applications, including high brightness light emitting diodes (HB-LEDs), solar cells, optics, and microelectronics.  The ADS-800 Series Advanced Dicing System offers superior and repeatable cut quality of devices at unprecedented throughput as compared to other dicing systems.

Fairchild Semiconductor has introduced a programmable LED blinker, the FAN5646, which is designed to eliminate the need for a microprocessor to be in continuous operation mode. The FAN5646 enables designers of mobile handsets, ultra-portable devices, consumer products and industrial/embedded systems to implement a blinking LED solution that can easily be programmed to create an enhanced visual experience.

Demonstrating that LED lighting is now viable for large-scale exterior applications, Philips Color Kinetics announced Monday two new floodlights with light output of more than 8,500 lumens - a first in high-quality exterior LED floodlighting.  

The Holiday Inn brand is currently undergoing a $1 billion global relaunch—the largest in the hospitality industry with more than 3,200 hotels being updated to improve quality and drive consistency at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world. A redesign of the iconic brand logo required new exterior signage for over 3,200 locations.

Taiwan LED makers cheered as their 2Q09 revenues jumped by more than 30-40%, thanks largely to robust demand of backlight applications and outdoor displays.

LG Electronics, the world's No.2 TV vendor, said Sunday that it would launch a 15-inch OLED TV in September at the IFA 2009 consumer electric show in Berlin. Comparing with traditional LCD displays, AM-OLED displays are thinner, more energy efficient and can provide better picture quality, while the high price has kept it from becoming a mass-produced technology.

California Micro Devices(CMD) today announced the latest product in the LuxGuard™ family of turnkey solutions for ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection and thermal management for high power, high brightness LED (HBLED) lighting applications.

Lighting Science Group Corporation (LSG) and Royal Philips Electronics today announced that they have settled all of their commercial and intellectual property disputes by way of a comprehensive agreement that revives their former commercial alliance.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced today that it has completed installation of two multi-screen Diamond Vision large-scale display systems, called “Turf Vision,” at the Japan Racing Association (JRA)’s Nakayama Racecourse in Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The new screens will be illuminated on Saturday September 12, 2009, the opening day of the “Fourth Nakayama Keiba (horse race).”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK has upheld complaints that advertisements for Samsung televisions were misleading, with the words "LED TV Next Generation TV" singled out in particular. And it ordered the company not to use the advertisements again. The ads, that appeared on TV (with print versions too), stated "Samsung LED technology brings you sharper images, deeper blacks and brighter colours. The ultra slim Samsung LED TV. The next generation of television has arrived".

The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority has received a $2.5 million grant offer from the N.C. Department of Transportation's Division of Aviation. The Airport Authority board accepted the grant offer today at its monthly meeting. The grant will partially fund the replacement of more than 2,000 runway and taxiway lights with energy efficient light emitting diode (LED) fixtures. The state grant requires the Airport Authority to match 10 percent of the total grant offer.

Optoga claims that its OptoDrive modules have achieved CRI Ra above 95 in an independent spectral distribution test performed by the Swedish national test institute, SP.

LIGHTFAIR INTERNATIONAL 2010 will be on May 12 - 14, 2010 in Las Vegas, U.S.

LIGHTING JAPAN 2010 will be on April 14-16, 2010 in Japan.

In an attempt to regulate LED electronic signs, the City Council has recently unveiled a draft ordinance that targets the bright messages. A City Council decision this month to allow Wave Church to erect an electronic sign in a residential area of Great Neck angered some neighbors who called the signs garish and said they don't belong among homes.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) announced new color active-matrix, thin film transistor (TFT) LCD modules for industrial applications with long-life, light-emitting diode (LED) backlight systems with a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) 1 of 100,000 hours (approximately 11.4 years). Developed by Toshiba Mobile Display Co., Ltd.

Taiwan’s leading panel maker AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) recently decided to invest NT$30 billion (US$923.08 million) to establish four LED chip factories in Taiwan in the fourth quarter this year, to meet the strong demand for LEDs used in panel backlight modules, Taiwan Economic News reports, and the facilities is planned to begin mass production in late 2010.

Wonju City in Gwang Won province, South Korea, installed LED street lamps in line with the Korea government’s call to implement more energy efficient solutions. The installation of PRAUS 150W streetlights with OSRAM Opto Semiconductors’ Golden DRAGON Plus LEDs represent the longest LED street light installation to-date in Korea.

Electro-Matic Products Inc. has introduced the latest high tech Mass Notification LED displays in response to the rising concern of safety and security among school campuses nationwide. These LED displays can work with existing mass-notification systems to make sure displayed messages reach everyone on campus. Together, this complete high-tech system will allow users to broadcast safety concerns, terrorism alerts, severe weather alerts, news, and any other emergency announcements within seconds to ensure the safety of the campus.

As the smallest 1 W LEDs for backlighting LCD displays, the two white versions of the Oslon LX from OSRAM Opto Semiconductors provide strong light that can be very efficiently injected into thin light guides with the aid of an optimized lens. The displays can therefore be made ultra-thin and can be uniformly illuminated even with single-side injection.

Ledtech Electronics and its daughter company, Energyled Corporation, held “2009 Green Lighting Development Trend – LED Highlighting Architectures in New Style Seminar and LED Lighting Applications & Products Exhibition” on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at Living 3.0 - Intelligent Living Space. This event was planned by Ledtech Electronics Ltd. and organized by Energyled Corporation, along with associate organizers Avertronics Inc.

Mouser Electronics, Inc. recently announced it has signed a global distribution agreement with DBM Reflex Lighting Solutions. Mouser was chosen as DBM Reflex’s first distributor.

Greggs Plc, the UK’s leading bakery retailer, has adopted LED light sources from Philips at its new concept store in Bromley, Kent. Compared to stores using conventional lighting, the new installation is expected to achieve a 50% saving in lighting energy consumption, with a reduction in carbon emissions of 2 tonnes per annum. The low heat output of these LED fittings will also reduce air conditioning requirements to enable further energy savings during the summer months.

Seoul Semiconductor held a press conference in Korea, the US and China yesterday (August 26th) to introduce its  Acriche A4, a new LED product with luminous efficiency up to 75lm/W.

After Toshiba Lighting and Sharp Corp, NEC Lighting Ltd will also introduce two new LED light bulbs Sept 24, 2009 in Japan. The new 6W LED bulbs will provide illuminance equivalent to that of a 60W incandescent light bulb.

Owing to increasing LED backlight module shipments, Unity Opto Technology Co., a Taiwan-based LED chipmaker, expects to continue to post record high revenue in July, the Taiwan Economic News reports. According to Unity Opto chairman C.H. Wu, business of LED backlight for panels accounts for 55% of the company’s total revenue. With flooding orders, Wu said, Unity Opto’s revenues in July, August, and September are expected to continue to hit record highs.