One of the coolest features of the Hue system at launch was that using an application Philips offers running on your smartphone, you can control everything from the brightness of the light to the color of the light. Philips has now announced that it has launched the next generation Philips Hue app adding in all sorts of interesting new features for users of the lighting system.

The updated application allows users to control the light bulbs using smartphones or tablets and the control is available with more flexibility than with the older app. One of the new and interesting features of the application is a new Philips Hue channel on If This Then That. That channel allows the light system to access any application programming interface on the Internet so the light bulbs can act as informational gateways.

That sounds very complicated, but what it means is that the smart bulbs in your home can be set up to give you visual cues on things such as whether, stocks, sports scores, e-mail, social media, and more. Think about how useful that feature could be. For instance, if the first thing your kids always want to know in the morning is if it will rain today, you could set up a bulb in their room to glow purple if the weather forecast predicts rain and yellow if the forecast predicts Sun. You can also set the bulb to glow your favorite teams color if they won the game last night.

Version 1.1 of the new application also includes a geo-fencing and recurring schedules capability. The geo-fencing feature approximates the location of the smartphone or tablet controlling your system and controls the lights as the user’s smartphone or tablet approaches and leaves the home. That means you get close to your house with your smartphone in the pocket, the lighting system in your home can automatically turn on. It also means that as you walk out of your house the morning on your rush to work, the lights will automatically turn themselves off.

The system also has a new synchronous scenes feature that works in the background to allow large batches of Hue bulbs to change scenes in a smooth an immediate matter. The recurring schedules feature also allows users to schedule timer settings so daily and repeated behaviors of the lights, like waking up or going to sleep are supported without having to reset the bulbs each day. The app also has a new randomized setting to turn the lights off and on an unexpected times while the owner is away from home. The new app is available as an easy to apply update for Apple and Android device users. Individual Hue bulbs can be purchased for $59.

SOURCE: Meet Hue

According to the New Jersey Astronomical Association, around 30% of electricity generated from out door lights is being wasted illuminating areas that aren’t meant to receive the lighting. This light leakage also has adverse affects on nature as well. Birds are confused and sent off course, turtles who require the night sky to navigate become lost on their way towards the ocean, and many other animals have their sleeping patterns disrupted.

These new LED streetlamps would combat those adverse affects. The streetlamps’ design is also very adaptable, meaning that it can be adjusted to fit various environments. Ching-Cherng Sun, a member of the team behind the LED streetlamps, stated that current streetlamps either lean into the middle of a road or are posted in a zig-zag formation on different sides of a street. Those current designs are good for high-traffic areas, but not for other areas. Sun says that the new streetlight design is flexible enough to be used in a variety of situations and can be used to maintain a high efficiency in lighting.

The lamp is based on a 3-part fixture. The first part holds a cluster of LEDs, each fitted into a TIR (Total Internal Reflection) lens that helps focus the light making the rays parallel to each other instead of intersecting. The TIR lens-covered LED lights are then mounted inside a reflecting cavity, which recycles the light and makes sure that most of it is used to illuminate its target area. Lastly, the light leaves the lamp through a microlens sheet that reduces unwanted glare.

The new LED streetlight would reduce the amount of light pollution around the globe, and also reduce the amount of electricity used up by wasted light. It would also be beneficial to homes that have to deal with the unwanted glare produced by a nearby streetlight. Sun and his team are working diligently on their streetlamp prototype, and may finish it within 3-6 months. They hope to have these new streetlamps available by next year.

[via Nature World News]

With the prototype lamp Philips is presenting this week, the TLED that is, they’ve created a lamp that’s twice as efficient as its predecessors while using essentially half of the energy. If and when this technology hits the consumer market, major energy savings will take shape. According to Philips, the TLED lamp is intended to replace the antiquated fluorescent tube lighting used in the business world en masse – accounting for more than half of the world’s total lighting.

“After being recognized for our quality of LED light (mimicking traditional light bulbs) to creating new experience with Philips Hue (the connected light system for the home), we now present the next innovative step in doubling lighting efficiency. It’s exciting to imagine the massive energy and cost savings it will bring to our planet and customers.” – Rene van Schooten, CEO Light Sources & Electronics for Philips Lighting

Also according to Philips, the USA alone uses 200 terawatts of electricity annually in fluorescent lighting alone. If each and every one of these lights was replaced by TLEDS, the US would use right around 100 terawatts less annually, “saving more than US$12 billion and preventing around 60 million metric tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.” Sounds pretty excellent, doesn’t it?

Get pumped up about the next generation of lights – the way forward is through! Have a peek at some additional Philips bits and pieces in our timeline below!

The problem is that most LED light bulbs are either too dim or too expensive for me to justify. Finally, LED light bulbs are beginning to come down in price and increase in brightness to the point where you can use them in your average light fixture. Home improvement center Lowe’s has a new line of LED bulbs sold under the Utilitech brand that are surprisingly affordable.

The company offers several different watt ratings under the Utilitech name including a 100 W equivalent. That 100 W equivalent bulb consumes 23 W of power and produces a warm white light color in the 3000K range. The bulbs are rather odd looking with a very large finned heatsink and the yellow protrusion where the LEDs are actually housed.

I’d like to see the bulb in a fixture to get an idea of how much of that is going to stick out or if it’s approximately the same size as a traditional bulb. With looks aside, the 100 W version sells for $34.98. That’s still pretty expensive, but it has a 25,000 hour lifespan meaning you won’t have to replace this bulb for years, in fact the manufacturer says 22 years. Perhaps even more appealing than the 100 W equivalent is a incredibly cheap 40 W equivalent sold under the same brand name that costs $9.98. That isn’t much more expensive than the small florescent lights on the market and you shouldn’t have to wait for an LED bulb warm-up the way you do a florescent bulb to get full light strength.

[via Lowe's]

In addition to software and web links, hue’s new-found openness will allow it to integrate more cohesively with other home automation devices. Each of the bulbs – which hide multicolor LEDs underneath the frosted glass casing – has its own ZigBee radio for mesh-networking; that not only talks to the hue ethernet base station, but can communicate with other ZigBee devices such as security kit.

It won’t be an Apple-only affair, either. Philips is starting off with the iOS toolkit, but already has a controller app for Android, and says platforms other than Apple’s will be getting APIs next. This Friday, March 15, meanwhile, Philips will sponsor a hue developer day intended to get more ideas off the ground.

As for Philips’ own functionality, the company continues to work on its official hue app. In the pipeline are smart scheduling and geo-fencing, Philips tells us, which will allow more comprehensive automation control over what lights come on automatically and when, and lighting schemes that are turned on and off whenever a user comes into proximity of the home.

We’ve more on hue in our full review.

As you can see from the image above, the Halo Zero looks similar to any other backpack you’ll find, with one key difference. There’s an LED strap that stretches across the outside of the bag, shining bright to let other people know you’re there. While there’s plenty of reason to want a bag that looks as cool as this, that LED strip should do a lot to keep bikers and walkers safe while traveling at night.

The bag itself can hold a 13 to 15-inch laptop, closes using Velcro, and features an adjustable shoulder strap. The LED strap comes in four different colors – red, blue, yellow, and green – and is powered by two CR2025 batteries. The LED strap supports solid, flash, and strobe modes, with the developer saying the batteries should last for 20 hours in solid mode. The whole package is hand-made in San Francisco and would normally come with a price tag of $150. If you get in early with the Kickstarter campaign, however, you can secure one for $128.

Provided this Kickstarter campaign is successful, the companies will use the money to fund the production of the first batch of Halo Zero LED bags. With 41 days left to go, the campaign has already raised a significant amount of its funding goal of $23,000, bringing in $10,017 at the time of this writing. So long as the funds keep coming in the way they have been, Halo and Rickshaw should have no problem hitting their goal. Stay tuned.

The lights move forth and faster as the car accelerates, this creating a more “swarm” fabulous effect as you reach top speed. Instead of hitting the turn bar in your car, the swarm moves forth to the left or the right according to where your wheels are aiming – in other words, if you’re leaning toward turning to the right, there’ll be more lovely lights on the right side of the back of your vehicle. If you’re veering left, there wont be any lights on the right.

At the moment, as AutoBlog.GR mentions, this tech has been assuredly NOT been prepped for any vehicles that are going to be market ready any time soon. It’s not that we’ll never ever see such a bit of tech in the future no matter what, but we’re not going to need to be worrying about tuning our eyes for swarming lights next year, certainly. Not on the road, anyway.

Let us know if you’re hoping for such a technology in your vehicle in the future – or perhaps if you’d like to see this lighting working in a video game before we see it in the real world. Can you imagine playing Asphalt 2016: Swarm Lights by next year? Gameloft, that’s your cue! Make our eyes bleed by the time we’re ready to see it all happen in real life!

Also note that we’ve got a giant archive of materials we saw up close and personal at CES 2013 and you can catch more car action than your mind can handle in our Car hub now as well. Audi is there along with many other super-excellent car brands as well!

A high-tech gym installed by a German company called ABS Systembau GMBH ditches those painted lines on traditional wooden gym floors and replaces them with glowing strips of LED light that remind me a lot of Tron. This fancy gym floor is installed in a school gym in Germany. The fancy lighting system allows the gym to be used for basketball, tennis, badminton, or other activities that are played in your average school gym.

The system is called the ABS Glassfloor. The glass flooring material uses a ceramic treatment to reach a level of elasticity and friction is very similar to that the wood floor offers. The company that produces the system also promises that it performs a “bounce test” to be sure that the basketball bounces at the same height on their fancy flooring as it would on a wood floor.

The glass material used in the floor is also dulled to reduce reflection suppliers are distracted. The company says that its glass flooring is about as reflective as a typical marble surface. The treatment also helps to hide scratches that are caused during play and the floor is available in any color. Another interesting aspect the flooring is that the color can be changed after installation. The glass floor is supported by a lightweight aluminum frame that also houses the LED lighting. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this floor is that it can be combined with sensors that will illuminate precisely where the ball landed or where a player’s foot was to determine if they went out of bounds.

[via Digital Trends]

Inside the 85-inch behemoth, there’s not only 2D to 3D conversion, but HD to UHD conversion, along with Smart TV features like streaming, apps, motion control, and voice control. It’s all powered by an A15 quadcore 1.35GHz processor, something you’d more commonly expect to find in a high-end phone or tablet, as well as support for the Smart Evolution Kit which will add new features further down the line. However, it’s likely to unusual easel-style mount which will grab the most attention (at least before the screen gets powered on).

Samsung has been pushing OLED as the Next Big Thing in TV technology, and the 55-inch KN55F9500 Real OLED TV is the latest iteration of the company’s vision. Built around the same quadcore processor as the UN85S9000, and with all the Smart TV functionality including voice control and streaming media, the OLED set is also the first to feature Samsung Multi-View, which uses 3D display technology to show two viewers (each wearing active 3D glasses) different content simultaneously.

That works in 2D and 3D, and even delivers stereo audio to the viewer thanks to tiny speakers built into the glasses. There’s also Smart Evolution Kit Connector support, and a new version of Motion Control gesture recognition that can better track hands held at up to 45-degree angles.

Most regular buyers will head to Samsung’s LED 8000 Series or LED 7000 Series sets, of course, also new for CES 2013. The 60-inch UN60F8000 borrows the 1.35GHz quadcore A15 of its bigger brother, along with the same Smart TV functionality, motion and voice control, and streaming from the web and mobile devices. It also gets Micro Dimming Ultimate for more precise control of the LED backlighting, and De-Jagging Pro for cleaner edges. 3D crosstalk is down too, by 30-percent, and even web content is meant to look better, with text and image processing applied to the TV’s browser.

As for the 60-inch UN60F7500, that sticks with the same quadcore processor but does without the Micro Dimming Ultimate technology; otherwise, it’s the same mixture of De-Jagging Pro smoothing, Precision Black intelligent contrast control, and improved 3D crosstalk prevention. Both the 8000 and 7000 Series support the Evolution Kit.

Finally, there’s a new plasma set on offer, the Samsung Plasma 8500 Series, with the 64-inch PN64F8500 promising the darkest blacks and brightest pictures ever from a plasma TV. It shares the processor and Smart TV features as its LED brethren, but adds Deep Black Algorithm II and Real Black Pro for a combination of computer-controlled white light reduction – keeping those black areas inky – as well as 2.5x brighter whites when necessary. There’s also a new “nanocarbon compound” used to reduce stray ambient light.

Samsung doesn’t have availability or pricing details for either the UN85S9000 or the KN55F9500, though neither is likely to be cheap. The LED 8000 Series will ship in the first half of 2013, along with the LED 7000 Series, and the Plasma 8500 Series.

We’ll jump right in as they’ve just announced 5 different monitors this afternoon. The biggest of the bunch coming in at 27-inches is the new HP Envy 27 Monitor. This features a beautiful and vivid 27-inch IPS LCD panel with their thin blade bezel design. It’s also protected in edge-to-edge hardened glass for extra gloss and protection. It features built-in Beats Audio stereo speakers, and a full 1920 x 1080p HD resolution. The new 27-inch IPS Envy 27 hits the streets February 3rd for around $499.

Next since we’re talking about IPS displays is their new HP Pavilion 20xi-27xi IPS monitors. While not covered in hardened glass like the model above, the xi series features a similar edge-to-edge bezel free design with their blade technology. They’ll come in 4 sizes: 22xi, 23xi, 25xi, and 27xi and all have 1920×1080 Full HD resolution options. You’ll then get support via VGA, DVI-D and HDMI connectivity, while a smaller 20xi offers 1600 X 900 resolution with VGA. The IPS panels ensure 178-degree viewing angles and excellent colors. The new Pavilion xi monitors start at $129 and go to $339 for the 27xi. All available around the end of January.

Then for those on the go HP’s announced their new HP U160 15.6-inch LED Backlit Monitor. This unique display features a built in stand that doubles as a carry case, and is ideal for those on the go needing a portable monitor. Weighing in around 3.4 lbs and measuring only 1.02 inches thin, this should be a great choice for many. It’s expected to be available in January starting at $179 USD.

Next up is the HP x2401 24-inch LED Backlit Monitor (pictured below and also at the head of this article). This is another high end Beats Audio powered monitor, only it is 24-inches and comes with an LED display instead of IPS — so won’t be priced as high as the 27-inch monitor above. The X2401 features an MVA panel, not IPS, but still gives excellent 178 degree viewing angles and extremely inky black colors. This monitor also rocks a full 1920 x 1080p HD resolution 5000:1 contract ratio, and comes in a brushed aluminum finish. Oddly HP states it won’t be available until November, but will be priced at $249.

Then last but certainly not least is the new HP ProDisplay LED backlit line. These are more traditional monitors, and come in 18.5, 20, and 21.5-inch inch models. Respective names are P191 18.5-inch, P201 20-inch, P201m 20-inch, and P221 21.5-inch LED Backlit Monitors. These offer 250 nits brightness, 1000:1 contract, 3M:1 DCR, 5ms response time, and 170/160 viewing angles, so not quite IPS quality. These have the always welcomed 35-degrees of tilt adjustability and 90-degree pivot modes for multiple uses. I’d probably snag two P221′s and put them side by side. The new ProDisplay line will be priced at $129-179 based on size.

Surely we can expect big things from HP here at CES, and we’ll be running around trying to get pictures and videos of all their latest and greatest. Stay tuned for plenty more from CES 2013.

There are two HDMI inputs and Bluetooth, while the bundled speakers include two towers and a rear wireless unit. All get Ceramic Polypropylene Injection Diaphragm spacer cones, for what Samsung promises is an improvement in audio response times.

If that’s too big for you, the Samsung HW-F750 Soundbar also features a vacuum tube and digital amp comp, with 310W out of 2.1-channels and support for virtual surround sound. A wireless subwoofer keeps the bass end happy, and there’s 3D Sound Plus processing which matches the virtual surround sound depth with the depth of 3D images on-screen. Bluetooth streaming supports mobile devices and certain Samsung TVs.

Also toting Bluetooth is the Samsung DA-F60 Portable Wireless Speakers, using aptX for higher quality streaming (with compatible source devices, such as Samsung’s more recent smartphones) and NFC for easier pairing. It also supports streaming from select Samsung TVs.

While streaming from Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video on Demand, and other online sources has been built into Samsung’s Smart TVs for some time now, the company also has a new Blu-ray player for CES. The Samsung BD-F7500 can upscale to 4K resolution, and features integrated WiFi for AllShare streaming from mobile devices. It can also stream to a Samsung phone or tablet, thanks to Smart View support. Inside there are two 900MHz dualcore processors, and 7.1-channel analog audio outputs.

The Samsung HT-F9750W Home Theater System, HW-F750 Soundbar, DA-F60 Wireless Speakers, and BD-F7500 Blu-ray player all will go on sale in the first half of 2013, with pricing to be confirmed.

We used this array of LEDs in a single unit for several product shoots as of late, including (but not limited to) the Parrot Zikmu Solo speaker, Sony HX850 BRAVIA hdtv, and the Samsung UN75ES9000 HDTV (as seen above and below). This light is more than ready to be one of your key lights in any portrait or product shooting situation, without a doubt.

You’ll be working with 50%-5900 K (Kelvin) Color Temp and 50%-3200 K (Kelvin) Color Temp and there’s a two-way switch for when you only need 250 bulbs instead of all 500 at once. You’ve got AC V style battery pack or XLR connection for power and of course four lovely barndoors to pull the light in what ever direction you do so desire. The light itself is 35 cm X 19 cm X 7 cm / 14 X 7.5 X 2.75 inches in size and you’ve got the ability to work with an add-on Flashpoint battery V Lock mount Li-ion 162.8-watt battery if you do so desire. We just used the massively long cord straight to the wall, this coming in standard with the package.

You do need to purchase a stand separate if you don’t have one handy, this costing around $40 from Adorama as well. The final cost of the light itself without the stand or the add-on battery is $199.95 USD, and for such a price you’ve got yourself a heck of a deal. Brighten up your life with so much light blasting from this beast that you’ll never know how you lived, breathed, and shot without it!

A pledge of $99 during the Kickstarter program would get you one of the lights. It appears that the company was unable to reach its funding goal and its Kickstarter program failed. Undaunted, the company is now trying to raise its money on its own through its own Kickstarter-style auction.

The auction is running on the Moore’s Cloud store website where users can reserve their own light cube for $149. That’s $50 more expensive than the cube was on Kickstarter and you still need to pay a $10 shipping fee. The company says it expects to ship the product in July.

When the Kickstarter campaign was said and done the company had only raised $275,000 out of its goal with about 1950 people backing the project. The company says that it needs to pre-sell about 3000 Lights in order to cover manufacturing costs. They figure that since they had almost 2000 people back the Kickstarter project reaching 3000 should be possible.

Design

Sony’s “monolithic design” tagline for the HX850 series isn’t exactly the catchiest of slogans, and it doesn’t really do the HDTV justice. It’s certainly pared back: a sheet of toughened Corning Gorilla Glass – ideal for those accidentally-hurled-Wiimote moments – with a few chromed highlights around the edge, but nothing that would distract you from the picture quality.

The default stand is a simple plastic affair, sturdy but uninspiring, though Sony also offers a premium stand which has integrated speakers and props the HX850 back at a slight angle. Alternatively, it can be wall-mounted, at which point the sleek lines begin to look even more appealing. Physical controls are limited to a single row of buttons hidden on the lower right side at the back: power, volume, channel, input, and menu.

Unlike Samsung’s twin remote bundle and advanced voice-control system, Sony’s remote control is an altogether more traditional affair. It’s on the compact side, though isn’t short on buttons, which means some of the keys are a little fiddly. They’re also not backlit, which is something else Samsung does right.

Features and Connectivity

In general, though, the HX850′s spec sheet leaves few boxes unticked. The edge-backlit LED display runs at 1080p resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate, and there’s active 3D support though oddly Sony doesn’t actually include any glasses in the box; instead you have to buy them yourself, from $49.99 apiece. Sony’s X-Reality Pro Engine technology is implemented, which promises to analyze each frame of the picture in real-time, and tweak it to remove noise, increase sharpness, and optimize the color and contrast. Then there’s Motionflow, which achieves that 240Hz refresh rate by calculating intermediary frames based on the likely color and movement of the source content frames either side of them.

Connectivity includes four HDMI ports – two on the side and two on the bottom), two composite video (one of which can double as component video) both on the rear, two USB 2.0 ports on the side, an RF antenna connection on the bottom, three analog audio inputs (two on the rear; one on the side), a PC input (D-Sub), and an ethernet port. There’s also an audio output on the side and a digital audio output on the bottom.

However, Sony has also equipped the HX850 with integrated WiFi b/g/n, meaning you can hook up to a network wirelessly and without having to plug in an external dongle as with some TVs. There’s also support for Skype, with an optional camera (RRP $149.99) plugging directly into the HX850 and allowing you to make and receive video calls. The camera wasn’t supplied for our review, however.

Smart TV

With both wireless and WiFi onboard, it comes as no surprise that the HX850 supports various streaming media features. If you have accounts with Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, or Sony’s own Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited services, then you’ll be able to stream TV shows and movies directly to the HX850 with no need for a computer in-between.

Aside from Skype, there’s also YouTube, Picasa, Slacker Radio, Facebook, and Twitter support, together with various Yahoo apps and widgets thanks to Sony’s partnership with the company. It’s also possible to push video directly from a laptop or mobile device via WiFi Direct, or you can plug in a USB drive – only FAT, not NTFS, formatted drives are supported, mind – and play video, audio, and picture content stored on there. Currently, the HX850 supports MPEG1/2/4, AVCHD, WMV, MP3, WMA, JPG, and BMP files.

It all works, but it lacks the finessed UI we’ve seen on other smart TVs, particularly Samsung’s. While we could do without Samsung’s gimmicky gesture-navigation system and even its voice control, though the latter works surprisingly well, its interface in general is far slicker and more attractive than that of the HX850. Functional, then, but hardly inspirational.

Performance

Happily, the Sony dragon awakes when it comes to picture quality. There are various modes, including several variants of gaming, sports, cinema, photos, and an auto setting that attempts to already pick between them, though we found the two cinema modes did the best job for most of our viewing. Brightness, contrast, sharpness, color, color temperature, hue, and noise reduction are easily accessed, and you can dig into the more advanced settings like gamma, white balance, control over local dimming, contrast and black correction, and whiteness enhancer, in a sub-menu.

Lots to play with, then, but even with the default settings for Cinema 1 mode we were impressed by what the HX850 could do. A little calibration work, however, and the HX850′s true skills became clear. Blacks are deep and crisp, though not quite to the same level as the Samsugn UN55ES8000 we reviewed back in July (albeit a TV with a $1,250 higher RRP), but the colors are particularly impressive – even across a broad viewing angle – and even when we took advantage of the set’s ability to upscale standard-definition content, it proved pleasingly free of artifacts.

Motionflow did its job well, and we saw no ghosting or frame untidiness even in fast-moving scenes, such as action movies or sports games. Sony had supplied some active 3D glasses, and the effect is solid though with the occasional glimpse of crosstalk during busier moments onscreen. Sharp delineation of color or contrast caused the most problems.

Wrap-Up

Beautiful colors, superlative connectivity, and discretely handsome style. The Sony HX850 may not shout about its skills when you first look at it, but its LED display is among the best we’ve seen. Contrast levels and some hiccups in 3D performance would be our main complaints over image quality, though they’re minor and – if you spend a little time finessing the settings – can mostly be ironed out.

Otherwise, it’s only the add-ons that prove disappointing: the underwhelming remote that doesn’t feel like it belongs with a TV that has an RRP of $2,600; the lackluster smart TV menus; and having to pay another $150 for the Skype camera (where Samsung builds in its webcam). With street pricing edging just under $2,000, however, we can be a little more accommodating of those flaws.

In the end, it’s the screen quality that helps the HX850 stand out. Invest some time working around the contrast issue, and you’ll be rewarded with a set that’s great for movies and gaming.

Design and Hardware

Samsung has been gradually paring back the design of its sets over the past generations, with particular success when it comes to the bezel. For the ES9000, that’s a slim, curved border with a rose gold tinted finish, just 0.31-inches thick. The only distractions are the (retractable) webcam on the top edge, and a simple, narrow stand underneath. That can, obviously, be detached and the TV wall-mounted; at 1.4-inches deep (12.9-inches on the stand) it’s impressively thin.

Despite the dimensions, Samsung manages to fit in a fair amount of hardware. There are two 15W speakers, downward-firing, and integrated WiFi for hooking up the ES9000 to the internet wire-free. Other connections include three HDMI ports, three USB 2.0 ports, an ethernet port, component and composite inputs, a digital audio output (optical), a 3.5mm analog audio output, a DVI audio input, aerial port, and a serial port for Samsung’s EX-LINK inter-device communication (with it, and the right accessories, you can have the TV trigger a motorized wall-mount or other add-ons).

Samsung includes four pairs of 3D glasses in the box along with its Smart Touch Remote, which has a trackpad for navigation and also works as a remote microphone for voice control. There’s a standard remote in the box too, along with an IR blaster which allows for third-party A/V kit to be controlled via the Samsung’s remote. A Smart View app for Android phones and tablets turns them into remotes too. You don’t get the wireless keyboard (VG-KBD1500) which the TV is compatible with, however; that’s a $100 add-on, and as well as full QWERTY includes a trackpad and works, via Bluetooth, with Samsung’s recent Android phones and tablets.

There’s also support for Samsung’s Evolution Kit, due sometime in 2013. TV development may run at a slower pace than, say, for smartphones, but it’s still frustrating to think that today’s flagship TV will be superseded at some point in the not-too-distant future. The Evolution Kit will go some way to addressing that, a slot-in module that will update the ES9000 with a new, faster processor than the current dual-core, more content support, extra smart TV features, and other enhancements.

Samsung isn’t saying exactly what the Evolution Kit will comprise of – after all, it’s hard to tell what will be standard on new flagships next year – nor how much it will cost, but it’s a reassurance that other manufacturers don’t offer. Obviously it can’t upgrade the ES9000′s display to 4K, but we’re happy to see TV companies thinking beyond the very first out-of-box experience.

Picture Technology

The ES9000 isn’t short on picture technology: Samsung has basically packed everything it can into the TV’s slender chassis. The Full HD display offers, according to Samsung, 30-percent more sharpness and a matching improvement in black levels, as well as being 60-percent brighter. That’s thanks to a cavalcade of processing technology, including the Micro Dimming Ultimate technology we saw on the ES8000 (SlashGear review), and the Precision Black Local Dimming and Cinema Black features (known as “Smart LED” in the settings) which we haven’t seen since 2011′s D8000 flagship.

All that dimming tech dynamically adjusts the backlighting on the ES9000 so as to improve contrast. For instance, the TV automatically identifies the black letterboxing bars above and below movies, and lowers the backlight behind those sections. It also monitors the rest of the picture, split into zones, and adjusts the backlighting according to what’s on-screen at any one time. The ES9000 uses edge-lit active dimming, where clever use of LEDs around the sides of the display can selectively adjust the backlighting of different portions across it; it’s a more compact system than full-array active dimming, which is relatively rare on TVs today.

Finally, there’s active 3D: put on one of the four pairs of bundled 3D glasses, and as long as you’ve got 3D content to watch, you can view it in 1080p. The ES9000 supports 2D to 3D upscaling, just like the rest of Samsung’s 3D TV range.

Smart TV

Whether it’s the occasional Netflix movie of full-on cord cutting, shifting TV watching from the traditional cable connection to streaming media is gaining momentum, and the ES9000 is ready for much of it out of the box. Samsung’s smart TV interface is a familiar sight by now, and though the option-packed menus can be a little intimidating initially, the flexibility Samsung offers more than makes up for it.

Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus, and Vimeo apps are all preloaded (some services require a subscription, of course) meaning no need for a separate set-top box for streaming. There are also Facebook and Twitter apps, along with a Skype client which supports voice and video calls, thanks to the pop-up webcam.

Other apps give access to music streaming services like Pandora and MOG Music, or to news content like ESPN ScoreCenter and USA Today. There’s a full browser for those sources yet to jump on the Samsung smart TV bandwagon, though it’s obviously going to be easier to use if you’ve got the optional keyboard; still, we had good results using voice recognition as long as background noise was minimal (and the URL was a straightforward word). You can save lists of approved sites to limit which your kids can access.

Those with Samsung phones and tablets can not only use the free app to turn their mobile device into a remote, but stream content directly to the ES9000 using AllShare Play. We were able to quickly push playback of a video from a Samsung Galaxy S III to the TV when both were connected to the same WiFi network, with no problems streaming 1080p Full HD clips. Content can also be loaded from a USB drive (max 2TB, in FAT16/32 or NTFS format) attached to one of the ES9000′s ports. We’d love to see a communal playlists system added, since this would be a great party media hub; even if your friends don’t have Samsung devices, the ES9000 supports generic DLNA for streaming.

Voice control isn’t the only navigation option. The camera on the top of the ES9000 can track gestures, like previous high-end Samsung smart TVs, first learning to recognize the slow movements of an outstretched palm side to side, and then allowing you to swipe around the UI, “grab” icons and controls to activate them, and point to letters on an onscreen keyboard. It’s not quite Kinect, but it works neatly with casual games like Angry Birds, and handled differentiating between multiple viewers (only one of which was controlling at any one time) well.

Samsung Signature Services is a new addition to Samsung’s smart TVs this year, with a curated area of games, edutainment, and age-appropriate TV shows for kids, along with an integrated rewards system that lets them build up an album of stickers for doing chores and taking part of learning games. The Fitness section offers the services of a virtual personal trainer, meanwhile: tell the ES9000 your fitness goals and it pieces together an exercise plan, showing video tutorials of each stage, and tracking progress with individual user reports. The TV can even use its camera to show you interacting with your virtual personal trainer, so that you know you’re doing the exercises correctly.

Finally, Family Story turns the TV into a digital pinboard. Pulling in schedules, photos, and messages from smartphones and tablets running the free Family Story app, it supports reminders and alarms for doctors appointments and birthdays, in addition to messaging while simultaneously watching a TV show. Samsung uses the cloud to synchronize the photos and video you’ve taken on your phone or tablet with your Smart TV, as well as helping you access them while you’re out and about.

Performance

Ten grand is a significant amount to spend on a TV, and even with the UN75ES9000′s street price edging under the $9,000 mark, you need to be a serious home entertainment junkie to consider buying any set of this size and value. The recommendation is to have it professionally calibrated to suit your room, since without that you’re not getting the very best of what the TV has to offer.

That would be a real shame, too, since the ES9000 is capable of some incredible pictures. Beautifully vivid colors and crisp details are what first grab you, but it’s the boosted black levels that are a particular gain. Samsung’s Cinema Black and Smart LED technology does an excellent job of making sure dark areas really are dark – blacks are black, not murky grey – while low-light content, such as moody films like “The Dark Knight Rises”, don’t lose all their detail in the process. Color accuracy is also slightly improved over the ES8000, with less of the slight blue tint that can make some content looker cooler than expected.

Viewing angles are another success story, both sufficiently broad to accommodate a widely spread audience across the room, but also supporting a good vertical range so that whether you’re standing or sitting you’ll see the same thing. It holds true for 3D content as well, and we saw minimal crosstalk. The ES9000′s brightness levels mean 3D viewing is almost as bright as 2D, and there’s no mangling of the colors either.

Finally, there’s the surprisingly effective speaker system. We’ve grown used to mediocre audio from integrated TV speakers, but whether it’s the extra space the ES9000′s 75-inch panel allows, or the speakers themselves, the big Samsung does a great job. Midrange audio doesn’t sound weedy, and the high-end is piping and clear rather than shrill. Even the bass end does okay, though as always a standalone subwoofer makes a world of difference for getting immersed in a movie. It’s hard to imagine an ES9000 buyer not pairing the TV with a surround sound system, but its onboard audio is certainly good enough for those times you don’t want to turn it all on.

Wrap-up

Samsung has been carving a niche for itself in the high-end TV market for some years now, and the UN75ES9000 follows in the well-esteemed footsteps of the D8000 and ES8000 before it. Smart TV features, clever add-ons like the fitness apps, Skype support, and browser, and media streaming all work well, but they’re sensibly built on the solid grounding of great picture quality. Whether you’re viewing in 2D or 3D, the ES9000 looks fantastic.

The specter on the horizon is 4K, though we’re still several years out from mainstream content providers supporting that resolution. In the meantime, the combination of excellent display quality today and the Expansion Kit for adding upgraded features tomorrow mean it’s hard to miss 4K. The ES9000 does great things with the content we’ll have for the foreseeable future. Throw in support for digital streaming, a panel which handles fast-paced console gaming very well, the convenience of internet browsing and casual gaming built-in, and a range of control options to suit most ages, and the UN75ES9000 makes an excellent case for its place at the pinnacle of Samsung’s range. Visit Samsung Smart TV for more details.

Researchers say that the new bulbs could replace traditional fluorescent lighting as early as next year. The team says that a “corporate partner” is already interested in producing the new bulbs at scale. Unlike fluorescent lighting, the new bulbs will be flicker-free, shatterproof, and won’t burn out.

The FIPEL bulbs are made from three layers of white-emitting polymer that contain a small dose of nanomaterials that glow when electric current is passed through them, and they emit light that most closely matches natural sunlight, unlike incandescent light bulbs, which emits a yellowish-orange light, and LEDs, which emit a blueish light.

The FIPEL bulbs will offer the same benefits as traditional lighting, but won’t come with all of the drawbacks associated with them. Researchers pointed out that even the faint humming sound of fluorescent lighting wouldn’t be present in the new FIPEL bulbs, and that heat also wouldn’t be a problem, since the researchers have come up with a way to eliminate heat-producing culprits while still producing as much light as possible.

[via Phys.org]

The device is called the Light by Moore’s Cloud, and it’s a small cube filled with 52 different LEDs. The multiple colored LEDs inside the cube allow users to choose from any combination of up to 2 million colors. Users can change the color of the light using an app for smartphones and tablets.

One of the more interesting features of this little cube is that it has integrated Wi-Fi and runs Linux allowing the light to be accessed from anywhere in the world to change the light color. The light can also be color matched to anything you can take a photo of using a smartphone camera.

The developers of the project say that the Light can talk to other devices, including other Lights and pretty much anything else on the Internet thanks to its open software platform. One interesting possibility that opens is being able to touch one Light in your home and have others throughout the house light up as well. Light can also generate animations such as candles, flames, fireworks, or rainbows. A pledge of $99 will get you your own Light. The project is seeking $700,000 and has raised $159,757 with 34 days to go.

That lifespan is estimated at around 25,000 hours, Sylvania says, which means less time up a step ladder. Unlike some LED bulbs, which tend to project a more focused pattern of light, the company claims the new A-Line LED models have an incandescent-style distribution.

If 100W is too much for you, there are 40, 60, and 75W equivalent versions too, and all can be dimmed to as little as 10-percent of their brightness. Inside, there’s none of the mercury or lead that other light fittings can include.

The big drawback for many buyers is likely to be price. Sylvania is asking $49.99 for each of the 100W-equivalent LED bulbs, which is considerably more than the upfront cost of a regular incandescent or even a CCFL bulb. For ten bucks more, in fact, you can have one of Philips’ color-changing hue bulbs.

Hardware and Installation

Philips’ starter pack for hue – which comes with the base station and three bulbs – is priced at $199.95/£179.95, while subsequent individual hue bulbs are $59.95/£49.95 (initially exclusively through the Apple Store). Philips says the three bulbs that come in the starter pack can’t be used with any other hue base station; sure enough there’s no way to unpair them in the settings, though we were able to manually pair them to an old LivingColor remote. You also get an AC adapter for the base station and an ethernet cable to plug it into your router.

Setup is straightforward, as long as you have the right type of light fitting. Plug the base station into the mains and into a spare ethernet socket on your router, and then screw the Edison-fitting bulbs into whichever lamps you want to use. Philips says bayonet fitting versions are in the pipeline, but for now you’ll have to use an adapter – not supplied, but available online for a couple of dollars – if you want to use a hue bulb in an old-style socket.

Then, in theory, it’s just a case of installing the mobile app on either your iOS or Android device. Philips has iPhone and iPad-scaled versions, as well as a single version for Android phones and tablets, and you can have up to ten apps associated with a single base station. We had no problems with the auto-locate feature on the iOS app, the base station quickly being identified (on the same network) and – after a tap of the single button on top of it – paired up. However, the Android app refused to locate the base station itself, and could only see it after we punched in its IP address (as assigned by the router) manually.

The hue bulbs themselves are of a similar size to a standard bulb, with a mushroom-style glass head and a silver brushed metal body. Philips says each 600 lumen bulb – equivalent to a 50W traditional bulb – uses 80-percent power than old-style versions, and is rated for 15,000 hours of continuous use. Up to fifty can be paired with a single base station, according to Philips’ official count, though unofficially the system will apparently support more.

Those with existing Philips LivingColor lamps will be able to use them with the new hue system, though the process is fiddly. You’ll need to have one of the latter-generation LivingColor remotes (circular, not lozenge shaped, with the three preset keys running along the lower edge) and go through a multi-stage re-pairing process with that and the hue base station. It took us a couple of attempts to get the whole thing working, but once all parts of the system were talking to the other, we were able to control our old lamps with the hue app, and indeed the hue bulbs with the old remote.

hue isn’t limited to Philips’ own bulbs, though. The system uses standard ZigBee – the Light Link profile, specifically – so any third-party lighting that confirms to that will also pair up with the hue base station. Since it’s ZigBee, it also uses mesh networking: the base station acts as a bridge between your WiFi network and the ZigBee network, but as each hue bulb can talk to each other, they can be a great distance from the base station itself. Philips does warn that lag will increase the greater the number of mesh hubs the signal has to jump.

Software

Philips’ iOS and Android apps look broadly the same: large expanses of desktop, with preset icons for lighting schemes. They look fine on a phone, but on tablets there’s an odd waste of space: the buttons are just too small – split in their layout, by default, across two pages despite the potential of easily fitting onto one – and require a slightly closer look than you’d hope for in order to identify which preset you’re selecting. Big, easily stabbed keys would be far preferable.

Most of the presets Philips provides are, in fact, based on images. Tap them once and a brightness bar shows up, as well as the option to dig into the image itself and adjust the colors and lamps involved. That shows a basic white light control at the top – with the option to make the light warmer or cooler – but is mainly taken up by the source image, with color pickers for each bulb that can be dragged around to different points on the picture.

Underneath, there are brightness sliders for each bulb as well as buttons to set timings and switch individual lamps on and off within that preset scheme. Timings can either be to turn the preset on at a certain point each day, or off, or both, with the lights either coming on instantly or fading in/out over the course of three or nine minutes. If you’ve ever wanted to be gently woken to the warm, honeyed glow of a rainforest sunrise, here’s your chance.

Unfortunately there’s no way to move multiple light pickers at the same time – the app doesn’t support multitouch control – so it’s a case of adjusting each bulb individually. Alternatively, shake the device and the accelerometer automatically triggers a random array of colors.

Manual use takes two forms. First, you can pull up a master color-picker, with individual control over each bulb’s brightness, hue, or white temperature; it’s functional, though there’s no way to then save that as a preset for later use. The second way is more permanent: you can choose a photo from your phone or tablet’s gallery, or shoot a new picture with its camera, and then pick colors out of that for the lights to replicate. These can be saved as schemes and shared on Philips’ site.

Obviously some colors are easier for hue to make than others. Brown is tricky, and if you pick black then the bulb simply shuts off. What Philips also provides are four so-called LightRecipes – relax, read, concentrate, and energize – which according to the company’s research have a noticeable affect on mood and productivity. It’s worth noting that they only work with the hue bulbs, not older LivingColor lamps, and annoyingly after we paired up some of those older lamps none of the LightRecipes would actually work. When they were working, however, we can’t say we noticed a particular difference in our mood or our ability to concentrate, though it was far from a scientific experiment.

Philips also supports remote access, though only via the iOS apps; the Android version won’t get that until sometime in 2013. You need to set up a profile via Philips’ site first, and give it permission to access your hue base station: then, when you’re on your iPad or iPhone on the move, you can boot up the app and twiddle away with the colors or, more likely, use it to turn off any lights you may have inadvertently left switched on. It’s of limited use, really, though if you’ve also got a web-connected security camera system, you could potentially use hue to light up rooms for clearer visibility.

Performance

Philips’ hue is a little like Superman. By day, the bulbs can be standard, sensible white lamps – the mild mannered Clark Kent of lighting – but when things start getting interesting you can call up all manner of colors and the whole system becomes far more flexible and creative. The light itself is as bright as a standard bulb when in white mode, while the colors are generally stronger than what the previous generation of LivingColor lamps could manage.

One hue bulb hanging from a central ceiling light is enough, if it’s dark, to illuminate a whole room with color, whereas LivingColor always felt more like an accent tool than primary lighting. As before, though, it works best with white walls, while the Edison screw fitting means you’ll have to think carefully about where you put each hue bulb. An overhead light is the obvious option, but a standalone lamp might do better at focusing attention on a specific area or feature.

For safety, if you flick the light switch on the wall (which has to be left on, obviously, for hue to work properly) the bulbs will automatically come on in their full-brightness, white mode. Unfortunately there’s no way to then restore them to their previous setting, without reaching for your phone or tablet. A wireless lightswitch would be a nice addition to the range, though since it’s ZigBee-compliant you could probably find a third-party option to add to the setup.

In fact, adding functionality is something Philips has planned ahead for. As well as using the Light Link standard, hue has an API for third-party apps to hook into. Philips is hoping that will encourage developers to jump in and add light effects to their apps, whether that be disco flashing or something more subtle, like a lamp that changes color according to stock prices, or flashes when you get a new email.

Right now, there’s not much in the way of third-party functionality, but it’s very early days. We wouldn’t mind a little more polish to the core experience, however: custom color scenes are meant to sync across devices via the cloud service, but that proved hit-and-miss, and sometimes the older LivingColor lamps would get stuck on a certain color and refuse to respond to the hue app unless they were power cycled.

On a cost-per-bulb basis, hue is significantly cheaper than previous Philips color-changing lighting products; the second-gen LivingColors lamp we reviewed back in 2010 still command a $140 price tag, versus sixty bucks for an individual hue bulb. Philips sells white LED bulbs with an RRP of $40, though other, cheaper versions are available.

Wrap-Up

Philips’ hue apps aren’t entirely refined, and the promise of third-party integration is yet to materialize, but hue is off to an excellent start where it counts: bringing the cost of color-changing lighting down to a more manageable price point. That means users are more likely to install a few bulbs (rather than just, say, one expensive LivingColor lamp) and start to see the benefit of flexible lighting. It feels like a gimmick at first, true, but being able to tweak your environment to suit whether you’re listening to music, watching TV, napping on the sofa, or relaxing with friends grows increasingly addictive the more time you spend with hue.

If developers jump on board, color LED lighting could well reach its tipping point. No longer limited to expensive custom installs: you can outfit a few rooms with hue and be up and running with custom colors in less than an hour. If you’ve already got a ZigBee system, there’s even more potential for linking full-on macros with preset lighting schemes. Gimmick it may be, but it’s another example of affordable home automation trickling down to the mass market, just as Sonos did with multi-room audio, and that’s something worth celebrating in today’s smart home.

The starter box – containing three bulbs and the base station – is priced at $199/£179, while individual bulbs are priced at $59/£49. That might seem expensive on the face of it (though Philips has high-end white LED bulbs in its range that are $50-60 alone) but, in comparison with the LivingColors lamps which come in with an RRP of £159 apiece, it starts to look more reasonable. If you’ve already bought any LivingColors models, incidentally, you’ll be able to use them with the hue system too (with one or two limitations).

Installation is simple: screw in the bulbs, plug the ZigBee base station into a spare ethernet port on your router, and hook it up to the mains. A pairing button on the base station allows you to link up any other hue bulbs, while three LED lights show system status including whether there’s an internet connection for remote access. Since ZigBee is a mesh system, each hue bulb can talk to each other: bulbs can be a great distance from the base station itself, just as long as there are other bulbs spanning the intermediate distance (though lag increases the more mesh-points the signal needs to hop through).

Philips hue official demo:

The bulbs themselves use 8.5W at most, and – at 600 lumens – are equivalent to 50W traditional bulbs. They also use a special internal coating that, coupled with the shape of the glass, projects light more evenly around the bulb, meaning there isn’t a dead-zone to your lamp. Officially, up to 50 can be paired with a single base station, though Philips told us that in fact that’s more of a quality-assurance guarantee; in fact, the company has had 250+ bulbs paired with test systems, and had no real issues with them. Bayonet fitting versions are in the pipeline.

Control is via smartphone and tablet app, with iPhone, iPad, and Android versions available at launch; up to ten devices can be linked to control any one base station. The software itself is surprisingly comprehensive. At its most basic, you can adjust the color of any one bulb across the spectrum, including adjusting brightness and color temperature, from a rich red, deep blue, bright white, or anything in-between. You can link up two or more bulbs into a group, and control them all simultaneously, and create preset scenes which each have their own icon on the app’s homescreen.

However, there’s also color sampling to be played with. Philips includes a number of photos in the app – scenes like beaches or mountains – and by dragging pointers linked to each lamp, you can recreate the color of that point in the image. Again, custom setups of multiple lamps tied to different points can be saved, or you create a random arrangement by physically shaking the tablet or iPhone.

You can alternatively pick out a photo from your own photo gallery – or take a new photo, within the Philips hue app – and select colors from that instead. Each of the scenes, whether basic colors or based on photos, can be set to timers, either turning them on or off; you can also have them gently fade in or out over a period of several minutes, helping you to gently wake up or drift off to sleep. Of course, you can also shut off all the bulbs with the tap of a single button.

Finally, though, comes Philips’ splash of science. The company preloads four “LightRecipes” – relax, read, concentrate, and energize – which adjust lighting to specific shades and brightness levels based on research into how those scenarios affect the human body. Philips says testing in schools showed students did better in tests, were calmer, or read faster and more accurately, depending on the different setting active at any one time. It’s worth noting that older LivingColors lamps won’t work with these new LightRecipes, as they don’t have the settings baked in like the new hue bulbs do.

There are some sensible tweaks and decisions Philips has made along the way to the hue system overall. An override feature automatically lights the bulbs up to a regular white “lamp light” default if the physical power switch is used, just in case of emergency, and you can easily deactivate a phone or tablet from the control group in case it’s lost or stolen (or if your kids insist on triggering a mini disco in your room at 2am every day). At launch, the Android app will lack the out-of-house remote control feature, though Philips says it’s coming; if you have any existing remotes from the LivingColors line-up, the company confirmed to us that they, too, would still work, useful for the less tablet-savvy in the household.

Perhaps best of all, it’s all designed to be open. Philips’ base station works as a regular ZigBee hub, and so will function with any other ZigBee devices that conform to the standard, while the individual bulbs are compliant with the ZigBee Light Link standard and so can be integrated with wireless home automation setups you might have already. The company is also opening up its app to third-party developers, in the hope that they’ll step in and augment the functionality. Suggestions included flashing the lights when you get a VIP email, synchronizing color changes with musical playlists, or geo-location so that the lights automatically turn on when you get home, and off when you leave. Individual users will be able to use the site to swap color scheme presets.

At sixty bucks apiece, hue bulbs aren’t cheap. However, the popularity of recent Kickstarter campaigns for WiFi-enabled bulbs such as Lifx - which raised more than 13x of its goal - has shown that there’s a consumer interest for more flexible, smarter lighting. Unlike fund-raising projects, though, Philips’ hue system ships from tomorrow, not sometime next year, and comes from a company with a long history in lighting. We’ll be putting hue through its paces soon, to see if the promise lives up to the price.

This is Sony’s first 4K TV — and it’s that big! This TV doesn’t just have 4K capabilities but it offers full 4K upscaling from simply any source. This will bring anything you watch to life in the living room thanks to the Sony 84″ TV. Sadly this TV was just announced by the folks at Sony so we are still rather light on the details as things develop. However, we do have a video below for everyone.

This massive new TV you’ll surely be drooling about all week comes with a mind boggling 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, passive 3D, and what Sony called a “10 unit live speaker system.” Obviously we don’t have any details or pricing yet at this time, but will update as soon as we hear the large price point this beauty can be yours for.

According to the video above this new and impressive 84″ 4K TV will be available in select Sony stores starting September 6th. Who’s buying?

This device will likely work with the rumored 19-pin dock port at its bottom that up until now has been a much more massive 30-pin port. This device will have volume buttons and a screen lock up on the left, a camera with a single LED flash on the back, and it’ll have a very similar aesthetic overall compared to the iPhone 4/4S.

The cases we’re seeing here have kickstands, they’ve got hardcore backs and sides, and they’re certainly very nice looking in and of themselves. They do show a larger space for computing – that’s what’s important here. The display for the next-generation iPhone will almost certainly be larger than the one we’ve been working with on every iPhone since the device line’s inception, otherwise we’ve got a very, very similar device to the current generation.

For more information on that dock connector, be sure to check out the column Chris Davies whipped up yesterday entitled “Relax, Apple’s new dock connector is a good thing” and check the most recent iPhone posts in the timeline below to get an idea of what we might be seeing later this year!

The V195HQL 18.5-inch model comes with a 1366×768 resolution, response time of 5ms, and includes VGA and DVI ports. The DVI port also supports HDCP, so you can feed the monitor with a signal from a set top box or Blu-ray player without content protection kicking in. The V205HL, meanwhile, comes with a 1600×900 resolution, and the V235HL steps it up to 1920×1080.

All the monitors come with a 100 million:1 dynamic contrast ratio, but Acer didn’t provide real world numbers. Brightness is said to be 250 cd/m2, and viewing angles come in at 170 degrees for the horizontal and 160 degrees for the vertical planes. Power consumption varies between the three models, with the monitors consuming between 0.28W and 0.51W when off, and 16.5W and 28.2W when active.

There’s no word on when you’ll be able to pick up these new models, or how much they’ll cost either, but keep an eye out if they sound like a good fit.

The display features a Quad HD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440, a static contrast ratio of 1000:1, and a backlit Plane Line Switching panel for a wide viewing angle without image degradation. Tablets and smartphones can connect directly with the monitor for displaying content through a Mobile High Definition Link connection. The monitor also has embedded speakers, Dual Link DVI, HDMI, and two USB 2.0 ports.

The Series 9 monitor has prelaunched with NewEgg starting back on June 1 through June 28. It will then be available on Tiger Direct, MicroCenter, CDW, Buy.com, and others from June 29 onwards. The monitor is priced at $1,199.99.

[via MarketWatch]

LCDs aren’t the only type of TVs facing trouble, as CRT shipments declined by 31%, and plasmas were down by 18%. LCDs still dwarf shipments of CRTs and plasma televisions, however, accounting for 84.2% of the market overall. CRTs took around 9.9% of the market, while plasmas surprisingly only holds 5.8%.

Panasonic and Sony both reported huge financial losses recently, and their slipping television shipments reflect that, with market shares dropping to 23% and 21% respectively. Samsung was the only company to see television shipments rise, and the company now commands 26% of the market. LG holds around 14.6% of the market, with Sony trailing at 9.4%.

[via CNET]

The bulb can be paired with controllers, motion sensors, and traditional switches, with no limit as to the amount of devices you can use. Multiple bulbs can also be paired with one single controller if you want to switch everything on and off at once. To be able to control bulbs using your smartphone, the company offers SmartLinc Hub which communicates via RF, but plugs into a wall socket to communicate with your computer, smartphone, or tablet using Powerline technology.

As for the bulb itself, the 8W offering is said to be comparable to a 60W to 100W incandescent bulb. The ability to pair it with Insteon’s controllers should make it an interesting prospect for those tuned into home automation. How much will a bulb set you back? $29.95, and they’re available right now.

[via Electronic House]

Resolutions will differ across the line, with the 19-inch model coming it at 1440×900, the 20-inch model slightly higher at 1600×900, and the 21.5, 23, 24, and 27-inch monitors all featuring a 1920×1080 resolution. The response time on the 19 and 20-inch models will be 5ms, with every other monitor having a slightly lower time of 2ms. Refresh rate is 60Hz for models.

Acer is claiming a 100 million to one contrast ratio for all the monitors thanks to the Adaptive Contrast Management, although we’d recommend you take those numbers with a pinch of salt as always. As for connections, you can expect to find VGA, DVI and HDMI ports, with HDCP support too for all that DRM laced video content.

No word on pricing for each monitor, or availability either, but keep an eye out on your favourite retailer if one of these new monitors sounds like it’s a good fit.

Groove Bulb say that’s 25% cheaper than existing LED bulbs on the market, with the founder of the company, James Theobald, noting that the cost of manufacturing is what keeps prices high. The 9W Groove Bulb will feature a bayonet or Edison screw cap, is mercury free, and is 99% recyclable. The LED tech used ensures a “consistent light output”, plus no flickering and superior whites.

The company will begin offering additional bulbs later on in the year, with plans to produce a 100W equivalent and a candle style bulb. If you wanrt to buy the 9W Groove Bulb in the meantime, you’ll have to head directly to the source at groovebulb.com.

The 55XS5 has a 3840×2160 screen, although you’ll be hard pressed to find any content to drive that resolution. Super Hi-Vision broadcasting may be on the horizon in Japan, but otherwise Blu-ray maxes out at 1080p. Toshiba say that you could use the TV to display high-resolution photos from DSLRs, and whatever you decide to display is tweaked to look its best using the REGZA CEVO engine.

As with Samsung’s OLED TV, you’ll be paying through the nose for the privilege of 4K. Pricing is said to be around ¥750,000 (~$9,410) – that’s actually slightly more than Samsung’s OLED TV – when the TV begins shipping in late June. Maybe just stick with 1080p for now, yeah?

While there have been a couple of TVs and monitors with MHL functionality in the past from the likes of Toshiba, Samsung is introducing a pair of LED monitors with two MHL/HDMI ports. Coming in at 23- and 27-inches, the S23B550VS and S27B550VS both feature TN panels with 1080p resolutions, plus VGA ports and internal speakers.

Current MHL adapters need a separate microUSB power source to keep the phone running, while the standard should allow a single cable to do the job. You should be able to ditch the additional microUSB charging cable in the future now that more MHL enabled TVs and monitors are hitting the market. A plethora of phones include MHL functionality right now, including the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, and Galaxy S III. Just about every phone released by HTC and LG over the past year also includes the tech.

[via Clove]

The 2311xi brings on ENERGY STAR qualified innards and is EPEAT Silver registered for your green-thinking brain that wants nothing more than to conserve where you can when you can. On that same note, the LED backlighting on this monitor is mercury-free, so you can rest easy on that burning question as well. The IPS panel technology you’ve got working for you here gives you “ultra-wide” viewing angles as well as detailed image accuracy the likes of which you’ve never seen before on lesser technologically advanced gadgets.

This monitor will be popping up in June on the 24th (thats this June in 2012) and will be starting an an expected price for $239.99. This is one of whole batch of different monitors, computers, and accessories revealed this week by HP for the student, the office, the home office, and more in one big sweeping wave on the industry. Hit up our HP portal for all the HP action you can handle, including announcements as well as our own hands-on experiences galore!

Switch’s bulb design is markedly different from competitors. Typically LED bulbs position the LED chips at the bottom near the heatsink, but Switch has opted to put in the globe at the top half of the lamb instead. The globe is filled with liquid designed to help cool the bulb. The new design also means light is more evenly distributed like incandescent bulbs.

Power consumption is low too: the 40-watt equivalent bulb consumes 8 watts, while the high-end 75-watt will consume around 17 watts. Switch is introducing the three variants today, and will make a 100-watt equivalent available later on in the summer. While these bulbs are aimed at businesses (hotels in particular), Switch is said to be working on low-cost models for consumers.

[via CNET]

The company has announced its ChromaLit Contour light bulb to replace the traditional 100 W bulb. The bulb is available in 60, 75, and 100 W equivalents. The company claims that using the LED bulbs can reduce your electricity costs to operate the light by 25% compared to conventional LED lighting. That would make it much more efficient than a standard incandescent bulb.

These new LED bulbs produce uniform and glare-free light with 330° lighting distribution. The bulbs are available in standard color rendering options of CRI 90. There is also a choice of color temperature ranges from 2700 K to 5000 K. Basically that means you should be able to find a color that is very close to that of a normal light bulb. One of the biggest complaints many people have about green and efficient light bulbs is that the color of light they produce is too blue or green and casts harsh shadows. Official pricing is around $20 making these surprisingly inexpensive.

Next we’ve got some updates on Samsung Galaxy S II’s Android 4.0 ICS update. Over in Germany, they’ve got their first taste of Spotify while extradition teams in the USA are trying to get Dotcom from Megaupload, he speaking on how the US Government used his service before they shut it down and turned him out. And what paragraph is complete without a little more iPad? over in Vietnam they’ve got a brand new iPad unboxing and they’re not afraid to show it.

Pentax is coming on strong with both the K-01 interchangeable lens camera and the Optio WG-2 and Optio WG-2 GPS. Motorola and Apple have been talking legal business lately, the news today being that they appear to have been trying to get all Android OEMs off the patent hook. Then of course do not forget about the most popular Android of all: Samsung’s Galaxy line, complete with a ceramic Galaxy S III well on the way!

First Acer has the S235HL 23-inch Widescreen LCD, a monitor which holds a 2012 iF product design award, a prestigious honor indeed. This monitor is just over a half an inch thick, has a glossy black bezel, and sits on a silver stand. This device has ice-blue LED buttons in the stand for controlling the display, and all of the I/O ports sit below the base for a clean overall experience and appearance. The LED-backlit LCD mintor comes in at 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution fed by one VGA and two HDMI ports, all of this with High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection capable of supporting 1080p HD. This HDCP Acer notes “allows for viewing of digital movies and copy-protected media.” This monitor will be available in April for MSRP $219 USD.

Next is the Acer S200HL with a 20-inch widescreen LCD – this 1600 x 900 pixel resolution beast works with VGA and FVI for all the compatibility you might need, and is available right now for MSRP $139 USD. Next there’s the Acer S230HL Abd and S230HL Abii 23″ Widescreen LCDs, each of them the same size with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution and a different selection of inputs depending on the model. The Abd model has two video inputs, one VGA and the other DVI (with HDCP). The Abii has three signal input ports, one VGA, and a couple of HDMI ports with HDCP as well, these for full 1080p HD content. Both monitors are also available now, the Abd for MSRP $169 USD, the Abii MSRP $189 USD.

Finally there’s the Acer S271HL 27-inch Widescreen LCD, a monitor with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution and both DVI and HDMI ports with HDCP for 1080p video. This monitor is also VESA compliant so you can mount the whole thing to the wall with ease. This monitor will be available starting in April for MSRP $329 USD.

Exciting stuff if you’re looking to stay in the desktop game – perhaps time to upgrade before your big jump to Windows 8? Let’s do it!

Though features to vary by model, Samsung has presented an impressive lineup for these televisions for the 2012 season of Smart TV and LED technology integration. Starting with improved picture quality, these televisions will have both Micro Dimming Ultimate and Real Black Pro up their sleeves controlled with a handful of new control abilities. You’ll be able to use your new Smart Touch Remote, your Smart Wireless Keyboard, or voice and gesture control as well as facial recognition. You’ll basically not be able to walk by your television without wanting to wave your hand in front of it to change the channel or have it tell you how nice you look today with name included with its recognizer tech.

Inside each of these televisions you’ll find a dual-core CPU able to have you switching between integrated apps and tasks with ease. Inside you’ll also see AllShare Play, this feature allowing you to seamlessly connect with devices throughout your home for interaction like you’ve never seen before as well as for cloud storage should you enjoy doing such things.

You’ve got the Smart Evolution project working inside each of these televisions to let you know what’s awesome about your TV day to day, there’s an integrated camera with noise-canceling microphone in each unit, and there’s a brand new Webkit-based web browser for your web browsing experience to only get better here on the TV screen. Have a peek at the full line of televisions here and let us know which one you’ll be eyeing this season!

Of course don’t forget to look back at the televisions we’ve seen already, most of them having popped up over the past few weeks, CES ahoy! It’s looking like 2012 is shaping up to be the real Year of the Smart TV, doesn’t it?

The company announced today that it is offering two new LED lightbulbs priced at $4.95 and $6.95 that may be priced just low enough to get consumers to adopt them for general lighting. However, the bulbs do have some limitations when compared to their less energy efficient counterparts.

The Pharox Blu line is available in 200-lumen and 350-lumen versions, but both give off less light than a 40-watt incandescent, which offers 450 lumens. These bulbs consume less than 5 watts and 8 watts, respectively, but probably won’t offer enough light for general conditions.

Previously, companies have offered LED bulbs that can give off the same amount of light as 60-watt and 75-watt incandescents, but use 80 percent less power and can last from 15 to 25 years. However, those LED bulbs were priced at around $35 and $40.

Lemins hopes that these cheaper LED bulbs will get some consumers to give the bulbs a try, while the company plans to introduce brighter LED bulbs in the 400 to 800 lumens range later this year with prices starting around $10.

[via CNET]

What Samsung is aiming to bring is three sets of bulbs here at the outset, the A19, the PAR, and the MR16, each of them with a specific intent. As the company notes: “A light bulb is no longer just a light bulb. It’s a digital technology made up of LED chips, drivers and electronics—familiar turf for Samsung.” We’re looking for natural light with an energy-efficient future ahead on all bright fronts – can you bring it, Samsung?

A19 Bulbs: These will replace conventional incandescent bulbs and can shine directionally from vanity lights, wall sconces, lamps of several makes, and more. These bulbs are dimmable as well.

PAR Bulbs: This bulb is also dimmable and will last what Samsung says is 20 percent longer than their equivalent halogen opponents. You can adjust its variable beam angle between 25 and 40 degrees, and its great for track lighting and recessed lighting.

MR16 Bulbs: Another bulb great for recessed, vanity, and track lighting, made in two different base types as well as brightness levels for many different uses.

Prices for these bulbs range from $19.98 all the way up to $59.98 and users can expect between 27 and 36 years of life from each of them. This first line of bulbs is available exclusively at Lowe’s immediately.

This isn’t a completed project, kids, I’m sorry to say, but it is on its way to becoming one. This is what’s known as a conceptual industrial design, one made by the designer without as much regard for the final product as one further down the production line would have. It is through projects like these that the most innovative concepts are brought to life – and of course, to light. Soft enough of an idea for you?

Meanwhile this pillow object has already been making the rounds abroad. The inSoft pillow has won the prestigious Koizumi Lighting Award, this bringing it closer to the production floor once more. Now we’ve all just got to find someone with a load of cash to put under the pillow, as it were, so that we can all have one straight from the store. Light em up!

[via Yanko Design]

Compared to some of the company’s other watches, which demand deciphering and calculations before you can tell whether you’re late or otherwise, Kisai Seven is very straightforward. The inner ring shows hours and the outer ring counts 5 minute blocks; the L-shaped bars underneath both show 1-4 minute modifiers, allowing you to figure out the exact time.

The plastic body is attached to a polyurethane strap with a seamless butterfly clasp, and you can trim the strap to fit. Both white and blue LED versions are available, each recharged via USB, and there are several display settings so that you can have the time pulse periodically, show up on-demand only, or be illuminated permanently.

The Tokyoflash Kisai Seven is on sale now, priced initially at $99 (and then jumping to $139 at the weekend).