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).

CREE has announced that it has been part of the first LED lighting project in China. The project saw more than a million CREE LEDs placed along highways that total over 10,000 streetlights. The CREE LEDs were used along nearly 75 miles of roads. The lights were installed along four different highways and inside one tunnel.

The lighting was installed by Kingsun Optoelectronic Co. Ltd, a lighting company in China. The lights installed were 270W and 300W Apollo LED luminaries. The new lighting is expected to save 60% in electricity costs.

This device also works with a DNIe + 3D HyperReal Engine and has a panel frame rate of 120Hz, a brightness of 300cd/m2, and one heck of a lot of viewing angles. It sits on a unique right-side hinge as you can see, providing you with an industrial design unlike basically anything you’ve owned before. This is a unique monitor, suffice to say, and Samsung lets us know that it’s a flagship product of theirs, so you can bet you’ll be getting all the support you need out of it should the need arise. You can use it in 2D or 3D modes, you’ve got jacks galore in the back including connections to your computer monitor, TV box, and anything that’s got an HDMI cable, and you’ll get a few sets of 3D glasses with it, right out of the box, with option to purchase a whole lot more for cheap!

Note also that this device can support internet connectedness through wi-fi and works with the Samsung suite of TV apps so that you’ll be rolling with the winning team through the future. YouTube 3D? I think so! Also listen in for tips on other streaming video groups you’ll be able to work with in your very near future. It may not quite be the behemoth that Samsung’s 55-inch UN55D8000 is (this is the gigantic television you’ll see in basically every Samsung exhibit from here through 2012, but check out our review of that ultra monster to get a fully immersive idea of what your TA950 is capable as far as Samsung Smart TV goes.

This look like the monitor / TV for you? Let us know how your purchase experience goes – it’s available right now wherever fine televisions and monitors are sold! Grab it! Also note that we’ve got a whole heck of a lot more hands-on videos up from the event we’re at here, just hit the [Pepcom Holiday Spectacular 2011 portal] and you’ll be well on your way!

In fact, there are also VGA D-Sub and both regular USB and mini USB ports, as well as a stereo audio output. Acer reckons the LED light will last for up to 20,000 hours, while the K330 will supposedly sip a mere 1W in standby mode.

It’s the size that’s the real surprise: it was only when we saw the size of the AC socket on the back that we realized quite how compact the K330 is. Acer is positioning it as an ideal home entertainment model but also ideal for traveling professionals, who’ll be able to run multimedia files – including MPEG4 – and presentations directly from a memory card.

The brightness may be a little lower than some, the company admitted to us, but the LED system means contrast is meant to be particularly impressive, especially given the scale. The Acer K330 is on sale now, priced at around £498 ($787).

The HP ZR2740w, ZR2440w, ZR2240w, and ZR2040w ZR-Series Performance Displays are sized 27-inch, 24-inch, 21.5-inch, and 20-inch, respectively. They feature LED backlit IPS panels for ultrawide viewing angles and when compared to non-IPS panels, they offer up to 10 times higher contrast ratios when viewed from an angle.

The HP ZR2740w is the company’s first 27-inch display to generate more than 1 billion onscreen colors for smooth color transitions, while the other three in the lineup generate up to 16.7 million onscreen colors. The HP ZR2240w and ZR2440w provide 2-million-to-1 dynamic contrast ratios. Pricing for the new HP ZR-Series displays range from $189 to $729 and are available now, expect for the R2440w model, which will be available in October.

The HP Compaq LE202x offers business users an affordable option with a small footprint and thin profile. This 21.5-inch LED display features full HD 1920×1080 resolution with fast 5ms response time. It’s priced at $179 and will be available starting September 19.

The HP Digital Signage Displays LD4220tm and LD4720tm are 42-inch and 47-inch, respectively. They are full HD 1080p widescreen LCD multi-touch displays geared for 24/7 usage in retail applications. The HP SignagePlayer mp8200 is designed to work with HP’s new rp5800 Retail System and is again targeted at retail applications. Pricing for these are not listed and they are expected for the September-October time frame.

[via HP]

The 55LW9800 features a unique film-pattern retarder that makes it the first 3D TV to utilize flicker-free passive 3D technology to achieve both 2D and 3D THX Display Cerfitication. Attaining the THX certification is no simple feat and requires more than 400 THX tests to evaluate both left- and right-eye images for color accuracy, viewing angles, and video processing performance.

The TV also comes with the LG Smart TV internet hub that provides access to various on-demand content, web browsing, and apps. New services available to LG Smart TV include Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, MOG, and Skype. The 55LW9800 is priced at $3,799.99.

[via Engadget]

This tablet will be coming out sometime inside September of 2011 and it will cost $199 at launch. Interested yet? Thought so. What you’ll be looking at here is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet made to work in the mid-range of Android tablets and grab your attention with its cool low price and its several options as far as backing color goes. Certainly the fact that Lenovo has their own slightly unique UI going on here in the house should be enticing as well, but it’s most definitely the price that’s got us hooked on the possibility of this device selling well.

What you’ve got here is a 7-inch tablet with a Cortex A8 1 GHz single-core processor inside, a 3 megapixel camera on the back, a VGA 0.3 megapixel camera on the front, and is 11.9 mm thin. This device weighs in at 400 grams, has an LED display, and will on the whole have a pretty decent visual experience. This device has Bluetooth, Wifi, micro SD, micro USB and stereo speakers. One of the unique features Lenovo is noting right out of the dock is offline GPS and navigation and a unique chipset powered by Navdroyd.

Sound neat enough to you? The price you see above is for the 16GB model, and users can expect a 32GB model sometime in the near future.

As with the Fraunhofer Institute LED networking system we wrote about earlier this month, D-Light relies on a tiny photo diode in the receiving gadget that can decode the flickering message from the light itself. Haas suggests that the integrated cameras found in many mobile devices – such as phones and laptops – could be upgraded to support faster refresh times, and thus double as photoreceptors for the D-Light system.

Currently, the D-Light demo runs at 10 MBit/sec, but Haas expects that to scale to 100 MBit/s by the end of this year and possibly up to 1 GBit/s in the future. Although it demands line-of-sight, the researcher bills that as a potential security benefit: since you can see where the light is reaching, it’s easy to adjust coverage so that data is only transmitted where you want it to go, unlike the more blanket approach of WiFi.

As for positioning and location, Haas suggests that the relatively small coverage area of each light network node means an embedded identity code – transmitted along with the other data – would be more useful for indicating where a device was physically. Signal strength (light intensity) and time-of-arrival calculations (where three simultaneously-transmitted signals arrive at the device at slightly different points, based on where you stand in relation to those transmitters) could then pinpoint the location of the receiver, and even the height. Alternatively angle-of-reception could be used.

Unlike GPS, D-Light based positioning could be used indoors and also be a source of network connectivity. Haas sees anything with lighting being upgraded, not so much replacing WiFi in our smartphones and laptops but adding interconnectivity between traffic lights and car lights, between hospital equipment, and turning each streetlamp into a “Li-Fi” access point. When VLC will actually begin shipping products remains to be seen, however.

[via Google+]

Philips submitted the bulb to the DOE for testing in 2009 and it was tested for 18 months in the lab and in the field. The testing exposed the light to extreme humidity, temperatures, vibration, and voltage changes. The Phillips bulb uses only 10W to produce the same brightness as a 60W normal bulb for an 83% energy savings per bulb. The catch is each bulb is expected to cost $18 when they hit stores next year.

The DOE figures that if everyone in the US changed the 60W normal bulbs to the new Phillips bulbs we would save 35 terawatt-hours of electricity in a year. That is enough juice to power the lights in 18-million homes. The win also brings some other perks for Phillips. The DOE is looking into lowering the price of the bulbs. The price lowering tactics might include things like national retail partnerships to product incentives paid to electric companies.

[via FastCompany]

It’s the handiwork of the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI in Berlin, Germany, where researchers have been looking at communications alternatives as part of the EU’s OMEGA Home Gigabit Access project. The lighting units – which rely on normal LEDs and a simple modulator to control the flickering – each have a roughly 90 square foot range, while any gadget wanting to receive the signal is outfitted with a simple photo diode.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen LED lighting used for line-of-sight networking. Back in 2008, the US Science Foundation gave an $18.5m grant to researchers at the University of Boston, who were experimenting with something similar. The overall appeal is obvious: the lights can apparently be modified to suit networking at little cost and with only minor adjustment, and can be used in places where traditional radio or wired networking is less feasible, such as in hospitals, on planes or in circumstances where running cables isn’t a possibility. There’s also no limit on the number of recipients of the data: basically, as many photo diodes as can maintain line-of-sight with the transmitter.

On the flip side, however, the researchers admit that the signal can be easily blocked if the photo diode is covered or shaded. They suggest it would work best as a companion to, rather than a replacement for, existing WiFi, 3G or other methods:

“It is best suited as an additional option for data transfer where radio transmission networks are not desired or not possible – without needing new cables or equipment in the house. Combinations are also possible, such as optical WLAN in one direction and PowerLAN for the return channel. Films can be transferred to the PC like this and also played there, or they can be sent on to another computer.”

The next step is boosting transmission speed, with researchers working on increasing the data rate eightfold. “Using red-blue-green-white light LEDs, we were able to transmit 800 Mbit/s in the lab” team member Klaus-Dieter Langer suggests.

The part number MC914LL/A-J59 was originally thought to be that of a new white MacBook with a Thunderbolt port. But now Apple has partially confirmed that it is actually a new Apple LED Cinema Display after it posted a new image of the display to its product page and identified it in the URL as “MC914.”

The new display looks identical to the current model except that the promotional images show it displaying a Lion desktop rather than a Snow Leopard one. And the biggest change is that the mini display port on the back is now replaced by the blazing fast 10Gbps Thunderbolt connector port.

Additional images spotted by MacRumors show a MacBook Pro connected to two of these new LED Cinema Displays via Thunderbolt in a daisy chain.

[via MacRumors]

The price isn’t the biggest issue for me though; it’s the color of the light produced by the next gen bulbs. I can’t stand the way the harsh white light looks in a room; I want the warm yellow light I have always known. LED bulb makers know this and they are working to get the light into the color range we all know today. As it turns out getting that yellowish light from a LED bulb is not an easy thing to do.

A company called Switch Lighting has been showing off a new LED light bulb that is not only about half the price of the other LED bulbs on the market, it has the same light color as the bulbs in your home right now. The company will be selling 60 and 75W replacement bulbs with LED tech inside in October. The 60W bulb will sell for about $20. The bulbs use about 16W of power and will last for about 20,000 hours.

[via Slate]

Vizio has announced that it is stepping in the LED lighting industry. Vizio already makes use of LEDs in the backlighting for its popular HDTVs so it has some experience and access to LED tech. The entry into the LED market by Vizio will come in late Q4 2011. At this point there is no indication of how expensive the bulbs will be.

Vizio claims the lights will last 25 times longer than traditional light bulbs and they use much less power. The Vizio LRB60A19 will replace a 60W incandescent bulb and consumes only 12.5 watts of power. The light output is 800 lumens. Vizio will also offer a 40W replacement A19, a 90W replacement PAR38 Flood, a PAR30 Flood 75W replacement, a PAR20 Spot 50W replacement, and a MR16 35W spot replacement. All consume a fraction of the power if an incandescent alternative and have a color accuracy of 90.

Digitimes says that the rumors emerged amidst market reports that revealed Apple was reducing its orders for Lumileds high-power LED flash products from Phillips and switching to new LED flash products from Taiwanese manufacturers. The potential Taiwanese suppliers include Everlight Electronics, Edison Opto, and Lite-On Technology.

Everlight and Lite-On have been supplying the smartphone market for awhile now, with their LED flash products already being used in brand-name handsets. However, Edison Opto specializes in high-power LEDs and has also begun shipping to handset vendors, giving them a good chance of winning Apple’s dual-LED flash orders. However, Digitimes also reports that all three companies have so far denied these reports.

[via DigiTimes]

First off Thank you to everyone that entered. If you haven’t been keeping up with SlashGear now is probably the time to start. We are giving this TV away today, we gave a Galaxy Tab 10.1 away earlier this week, and more goodies before that. If your not friends with SlashGear on Facebook you probably should be. Now its time we announce the winner. We had a really hard time deciding on who should receive this TV because we had so many great entries with thoughtful comments. Lets get right to it shall we — and the winner is ……

Congrats to Alan Tong! You are the lucky winner of the SlashGear Father’s Day Toshiba TV Giveaway!

We would like to thank everyone that entered this time around and we hope to see you all reading along and commenting on Facebook while you wait for our next giveaway, as it will be coming soon. We will be in contact with the winner shortly. Stay tuned for the next SlashGear giveaway!

You may have bought a shiny new smartphone for dad, or maybe you got him a gift card for his favorite store. I have a better idea — prepay for 6 months of Netflix for dad and send him a nice little Father’s Day card with all the details inside.

Even if you already bought dad something for Father’s Day you better enter our giveaway, I mean who doesn’t want to win a 24″ LED TV right? In case you missed the original post you can find all the details on the 24″ TV giveaway by clicking here.

Now hurry over to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SlashGear.com and enter before its to late. We will be choosing the winner tomorrow the 19th at 10 AM PST so you better make it quick.

Entering the giveaway is simple enough: Head over to the SlashGear Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/SlashGear.com, click the “LIKE” button and then make sure you leave a comment on our wall letting us know why your father deserves to win the TV this Father’s Day. We expect you to be creative in your post and you must mention both “SlashGear” and “Toshiba” in your comment as well as why Dad deserves to win in order to be eligible.

Toshiba has nicely offered to ship the TV right to the winner so this contest is for USA contestants only. Here is a little recap of what you will be winning. A Toshiba 24″ 1920×1080 LED HDTV with 2 HDMI ports, 1 USB port and even a PC input. Make sure to read the rules below for any questions you may have. Thanks and good luck!

Rules:

Contest begins June 17th, and ends June 19th, 10AM PST, 2011. A winner will be announced within a few days of June 19th here in the main news feed and at our official Facebook page.

The winner will be given the opportunity to submit a review of their Toshiba 24″ LED TV and have it posted on the front page of SlashGear.com! *Reviews may be edited or modified before publication and are considered works for hire under the 1976 Copyright Act. Submissions will be ineligible for payment or remuneration.

Competition is open to residents of the US over the age of 18. One entry per contest per person. Family members of Google and SlashGear/Android Community are not permitted to enter. Competition entries are only accepted via the specified Android Community or SlashGear Facebook page; entries left in the comments section of this or any other post will not be recognized. One entry per person (and yes, we check). Winners of any SlashGear or Android Community contest over the past year are no eligible to win.

The winner will be announced on SlashGear and they will be expected to respond within 24 hours else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected. Editors decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Winner agrees that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by, but not limited to, Toshiba and SlashGear/Android Community.

Prize consists of one Toshiba 24″ LED TV. One prize per winner. There is no cash alternative or any other alternative for prize winners unless this prize should become unavailable, in which case Android Community and SlashGear reserve the right to substitute another prize of equal or greater value.

Contest provided by Toshiba and SlashGear/Android Community. Prizing provided by Toshiba and SlashGear/Android Community. Any questions regarding this contest should be directed to chris@androidcommunity.com.

These LED gloves are likely the successors of glow sticks. The gloves can be purchased in pre-made sets like Skittles, Bunny, and Flintstoned; or you can make your own. EmazingLights also sells Rave Masks to compliment their individual LED components and accessories. The Youtube video below highlights some experienced Glovers showing off their skill.

Gloves from EmazingLights range in price from $44.99 to $54.99. The batteries last about 10 hours, which is supposed to be a good two events for most users. The failure rate for LEDs is very low (about .01%), so consumers can buy these LED devices with relative confidence.

Going to the club this weekend? Grab a pair of LED implanted gloves and try your hand at “Gloving.” Are you an experinced Glover looking to showcase your talent? Post a link to your Youtube video in the comments section so we can check it out.

[via Youtube]

I can only imagine how annoying having some colored LEDs in the corner of your eye could be. Not to mention the wires that have to run over your eyebrow and behind your ear to power those LEDs. The effect is very odd and reminds me a bit of something Lady Gaga would wear at a concert combined with a dress made out of hot dogs.

The LED eyeshadow concept was dreamed up by designer Lulin Ding and the thing you see hanging behind the woman’s ear in the gallery photos is apparently some of the works for the electronics in the eyeshadow. Ding said, “I sought to translate the attributes of eyeshadow into a digital medium. I made the initial decision to use the light to paint the eyelids when you blink and close your eye.”

[via Ecouterre]

Once we’d located the source of the hole, it being a monitor-shaped hole it wasn’t difficult, we went about tracking the footsteps of the thief all the way across the earth. We went to Barcelona, Las Vegas, Orlando, lower Indonesia, Tokyo, and even aunt Mabel’s back yard where no human can escape without doing some yard work. And there it was, right there floating above us in a cloud of rapture – the monitor! We were just waking up at the time, of course, having just survived the second coming of the gods and all that, and it turns out we’d been sleeping for a few weeks instead of just 30 minutes. Imagine that!

So long story short we’ve got a winner and her name is Heather Creely. You can see her entry into this contest in the image above, and you can see the full rules for this contest right over here: Original Post. As with all of our recent contests, if Heather cannot contact us within 24 hours (we’ll give a little leeway since we’re so late announcing this one,) she’ll have to forfeit the prize and we’ll choose again!

Let me next go down a big fat list of reviews we’ve done over the past few days because the collection is impressive:
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc
Samsung Galaxy S II
Droid Incredible 2
HTC Wildfire S
Samsung UN55D8000 55-inch 1080p 240Hz 3D LED Smart TV Wildcard!
ACER Iconia Tab A500 Android Honeycomb tablet
DROID Charge
Wowie!

Then lets move on to some announcements: Samsung Galaxy S Wifi version 4.0 and 5.0 were made official, HTC EVO 3D went on super secret Pre-sale at Best Buy, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 is declared routable and we show you how it’s done, and a fan of Android Community tries his best to bend the rules with a song he calls House of the Rising XOOM

Have a look at the first Android 3.0 Honeycomb optimized Twitter app TweetComb, take notice of the DROID Charge’s ability to take screenshots, and get yourself a taste of Gingerbread with CyanogenMod 7 for the T-Mobile G2x. Oh and the Samsung Galaxy S II is already rooted.

In gaming news we’ve got Sony Online Entertainment getting hacked, Mortal Kombat 2011 (aka Mortal Kombat 9) : a review roundup, and Rovio announces its first update to Angry Birds: RIO.

Then on to the features:
SlashGear 101: Spaceflight
SG Comics Presents: PlayStation Network Outage
Blackberry Bold 9900 and 9930 hands-on [Video]
I Cant Wait to See the Wii 2 by Don Reisinger

And heck, while we’re here, how about a couple more wild cards?
Osama bin Laden dead: Raid was confidential but Twitter wasn’t [Video]
Rice University graduate student extends WiFi for a mile using empty TV stations

What a sweetly odd day!

Hardware

At 55-inches, the UN55D8000 isn’t exactly going to blend into the background unless you live in an aircraft hanger. Still, Samsung has done some solid work producing one of the more attractively minimal designs we’ve seen to-date. The brushed stainless steel bezel is a scant 0.2-inches thick, and the splay-legged “Quad Stand” looks like melted metal that has poured from under the screen. The panel section itself is a mere 1.2-inches thick, though you should probably arrange for some help to position it as, at 41 lbs with the stand attached, it’s not exactly lightweight.

Of course, what’s really important is the LCD panel itself, a huge slab of 1080p Full HD capable LCD TFT with a 240Hz refreshes rate, 3D support, and Samsung’s Micro Dimming Plus technology. The latter is a compromise between traditional edge-lit displays and true local-dimming backlighting (where different sections of the backlight array can be turned on or off independently behind different areas of the screen), using LED lighting along the sides which can, Samsung claims, be more localized than normal. That allows for the Cinema Black feature, which automatically spots any letter-box bars and dims the backlighting behind them, so as to make them less obvious.

There’s also LED Motion Plus and Auto Motion Plus, which combine together to phase the backlighting in horizontal bars that parallel the LCD refresh scanning. In fact, the D8000′s menus are full of options to tweak the picture, including Shadow Detail – which decreases the global dimming to improve black levels in low-light areas – and various 3D-related settings to reduce ghosting and cross-talk.

Connectivity includes four HDMI inputs, three USB ports, component and composite inputs, a D-sub PC input, 3.5mm audio input, optical digital output and a 3.5mm headphone socket. Networking is catered for with both ethernet and integrated WiFi. There’s obviously an ATSC/Clear QAM tuner, too. Because of the skinniness of the set, Samsung hasn’t had room to fit side-mounted inputs, so plugging in USB drives or camcorders is a little more tedious than it could be.

Samsung throws two pairs of its new 2011 series SSG-3100GB active-shutter 3D glasses into the box which shift the battery from the hinge sections to the tips of the arms for better balance (additional glasses are $49.99).

More interesting is the remote control, a double-sided affair that has regular controls on one side and a QWERTY keypad on the other. There’s even a tiny, single-line monochrome display so that you can type without needing to look up at the D8000. If you have other Samsung A/V kit (and assuming it’s fairly recent) you can use the company’s Anynet+ technology to control everything HDMI linked with that one, single remote.

Software

It may seem strange to have a software section for a TV, but as a smart TV the D8000 does plenty more than just show you what your TiVo is playing. Samsung has opted for its own, in-house Smart Hub system – rather than, say, Google TV – which has seen a fair few iterative updates since it first debuted a few years back. Now, Smart Hub includes Samsung Apps, with more than 200 paid and free apps to download direct to the TV; Your Video, which can make VOD recommendations based on your viewing history; Search, which uses the QWERTY remote to search Google, Facebook, YouTube, Samsung Apps and other sources; and a Web Browser for full internet access.

There’s also AllShare DLNA streaming support, just as we’ve seen on Samsung’s recent Galaxy range of tablets and smartphones, and Skype support with the optional Smart TV CY-STC1100 camera. That promises 720p HD 30fps video chat, though it was not included with our review system. If you have a Galaxy device, Samsung offers a remote control app in its own download store, which turns the phone or slate into a replacement remote control complete with QWERTY text input (that takes advantage of Android’s voice recognition and text auto-correction, too). An imminent update will add the ability to stream video from the D8000 to the Galaxy device; right now, you can use AllShare to browse content stored on the Galaxy from the TV.

Samsung Smart Hub can be pretty confusing at first glance, with a screen full of icons. Up top is the search bar along with Samsung Apps and recommended titles, while underneath is a side-scrolling menu of links to Favorites, channels, the program guide, videos/photos/music, AllShare, the browser, Twitter and more. It’s reasonably intuitive to control, though it would’ve been useful to have a motion-sensing remote like some LG TVs offer.

Performance is reasonably swift, though there can be lag when you search or access network features. The included remote is generally faster than using a Galaxy tablet – sometimes we hit the back button twice, thinking it hadn’t been recognized the first time, only to be thrown out of the menu we were using – though on the plus side you do get a trackpad-style control on the slate for the browser mouse pointer. Sites render pretty much as you’d expect from a computer.

Content can be streamed from Netflix, Blockbuster, Hulu Plus and other sources – assuming you have the right subscriptions – while there’s Pandora streaming music too. The DLNA worked well, as long as it liked the formats our content was encoded in; hooking up a USB drive direct gave broader compatibility. Samsung also includes copies of Megamind 3D, Shrek 3D, Shrek 2 3D, Shrek the Third 3D and Shrek Forever After 3D, all on Blu-ray, as part of its 3D starter kit.

Performance

With a list price of $3,600, you’d expect the D8000 to put in a good showing when it comes to picture quality. Happily the Samsung doesn’t disappoint. 2D content is crisp, clean and beautiful, with inky blacks and vivid, well-saturated colors. Although Samsung’s various processing settings tempt playing with the video, we found most of the time things looked better when left relatively untampered. The quality of your source media makes a big difference too; standard definition content could end up looking over-processed with plenty of artifacts after Motion Plus had done its best to keep things smooth. There’s some blurring with the very fastest of sports, but less than we’ve seen on many other LCD TVs.

3D, meanwhile, is eye-opening in its clarity. With Samsung’s new lightweight glasses the images pop and there’s little blurring to be seen. Samsung gives easy access to the depth perception settings with the 3D Viewpoint option in the main menu, though there’s still a little crosstalk evident. Color can sometimes get lost in the 3D process, but not so on the D8000, and brightness was still strong despite the active-shutter technology. This is some of the best 3D TV we’ve seen, and Samsung’s lightweight glasses certainly help for longer-term comfort in extended viewing.

Audio is catered for with two 15W speakers that are mounted at the lower back of the D8000. Unsurprisingly – given the size constraints – they’re not exactly going to blow the Samsung off its stand, though they’re fair for general TV playback. Frankly, however, buying a high-end 3D TV like the D8000 and not hooking it up to a decent A/V system – preferably with surround sound – would be a crime.

Wrap-Up

There’s no doubting that $3,500 is a lot to pay for a TV. Samsung has at least attempted to sweeten the deal as much as possible by making the UN55D8000 more than just a dumb screen. The Smart Hub functionality is genuinely useful in places, and while we can’t really see ourselves Tweeting from our TV, the YouTube and other streaming service access works well. The integration with Samsung’s Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets is also clever, and when the updated app arrives with streaming support from the D8000 that will be particularly useful.

Even so, we couldn’t recommend the D8000 if it didn’t deliver on picture quality, and thankfully the Samsung is one of the best screens around today. Neither 2D or 3D mode feels like an afterthought, and even if you’re not convinced by the third-dimension today, you’re getting a brilliant 2D 1080p set for your money. Take into account that the D8000′s street price is near $650 under list, and that’s a whole lot of high-performance pixels for what seems like an increasingly competitive figure. If your wallet can accommodate it, the Samsung UN55D8000 is unlikely to disappoint.

Samsung UN55D8000 55-Inch 1080p 240Hz 3D LED Smart TV hands-on walkthrough

Video demos after the cut

An ATMEL Mega8 controls the various LED arrays, and gets its commands from a Linux-based embedded computer. That also runs a basic webserver, meaning that messages can be set via a website or even your smartphone.

Altogether the project cost around €200 ($273) though half of that was the lengthy sheet of acrylic that covered the front of the matrix.

[via Hack a Day]

Constructed of only acrylic, mirror film, LED lights, an ultrasonic sensor, custom electronics, and the code of a brilliant developer, this chair sits silent whilst not in use, but “beats” as if it has a heart as you approach. Also the lights and the mirrors involved create a “black hole” in the bottom of the chair, making those afraid of heights freak out and run. Can you imagine if every piece of furniture in your house were this freaky?

Take a look at the rest of the portfolio of Ben Alun-Jones over at his portfolio – it’s got lots of lights and super fun stuff inside.

[Via Ben Alun-Jones]

The flagship model will also have a 3D noise reduction feature, along with a 3:2 pulldown for film content. The LED HDTV will have a two-inch glossy black bezel, and the whole thing will weigh a said 38 pounds. The set will draw only 80W of power while it is on, but only 1W while in stand-by mode. As for pricing, it looks like it will cost $900 when it goes on sale some time in January.

[via ZDNet]

This fancy little lady will cost you right around $469 USD and has the following NEW or IMPROVED features from the last time it was released:

Voice Recognition
Senses Motion
Sense of Smell
Learning Stone Technology
Senses Temperature
Time of Day Awareness
Longer Battery Life
More Touch Sensors

Now head on over to PLEOWorld to see where you can buy one or view the horrific nature of the beast below (first video is of the original PLEO, but I want you to see it because it has no skin!) Did I mention this dinosaur was made by wizards? Check out the second video to see what I mean.

Karpman is a huge TRON fan, and he decided to show it off in New York City. He picked up a Freerider skate cycle, and then went ahead and strung together a few blue LEDs right onto the wheels. He didn’t just go with blue, though. He also made an orange variant as well. Unfortunately, you can’t just go out and buy this great TRON-themed skatecycle. You’ll have to pick up your own Freerider, and then add your own LEDs to it. Check out the video of the TRON Skatecycle making its way around New York City below.

[via DVICE]

The E90 LED monitor features a response time of just 2ms, making it a perfect monitor for entertainment that has a lot going on at one time. Action movies, with explosions, fast cars, or anything else that can happen in a fast-paced environment are perfect for this monitor. LG also included their proprietary Image Booster technology, which enhances the content from streaming media, like what you’ll find on YouTube.

LG says that the new E90 monitor is an eco-friendly device, and has reduced the amount of hazardous materials utilized in its construction. It also features a 40 percent less power consumption rate than that of the competition, based on the CCFL-backlit LCD technology. The new monitor is going to be shown off at CES 2011, but it’s said to be made available in the UK before Christmas comes around.

[via TechRadar]

Video demo after the cut

The lights themselves are the GE Color Effects GE-35, available in 36 or 50 bulb lengths. On their own, each bulb consists of three LEDs allowing for multiple color combinations, with 14 preset patterns to choose from; however, thanks to some judicious hacking of the LED data bus, they can also be addressed by your choice of microcontroller.

Unsurprisingly, Kyselica opted for .NET, and his lights now show the various statuses of each of his IM friends (complete with Post-It notes labelling each individual). Of course, that’s just one potential application.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/17699178[/vimeo]

[via istartedsomething]

Video demo after the cut

Since LEDs aren’t going to heat up the wax, there’s a separate heating plate for that; all the lighting has to do is make it pretty. A button on the base allows you to lock the color-shifting into one particular hue, and the whole thing is hand-crafted.

Rather confusingly – considering Mathmos sell lighting products that cover all of the shades – there are two versions of the Smart Astro, one cycling through blues to purples, and the other from greens to yellows. There’s no single model that does both. They’re limited edition and Mathmos itself is already sold out; Firebox has some of both color, at time of writing, priced at £84.99 ($133) apiece.

If you are a green geek that wants to decorate with lights outside your house, but you want to save energy too GE has some high-tech green lights just for you. GE will be offering new icicle lights in multiple colors that consume 20% less power than standard lights.

GE is also offering G-35 light strings with 14-color changing patterns with lengths of 29-40 feet with 36 or 50 lights per strand. The real cool part about these lights using less juice is that you can string more of them together before that stupid fuse blows and you have to search for a replacement. Green can be good at the holiday’s Mr. Grinch.

A new spotlight and area light has debuted called the Norman 3600 Portable LED Area-spot Light. The thing is large coming in at 17 pounds and standing 33-inches tall. It can be deployed in 20 seconds from its storage bin to the upright and ready to use position. The Nomad 3600 is rechargeable and lasts for nine hours on low, six hours on medium, and 2.5 hours on high setting.

The light has three intensities for area lighting and spot lighting. It can telescope up to 8-feet tall and the light head rotates 340-degrees. The light can be worn as a backpack for portability and it can be carried with a handle too. The brightest setting is 3600 lumens and the light can be seen for up to 1.1 miles. Medium settings 2400 lumens and low setting is 1200 lumens. The thing is really cool and I was thinking it would be nice to have one until I saw the price of $1,199.99.

The Day Shade Night Light, which probably really is the best name for something like this, is designed to be just your every day umbrella during the day, providing you shade while you enjoy the nice weather outside. But, while it’s doing that, it’s also absorbing plenty of energy from the sun, thanks to the flexible solar panels sitting atop it. So, when night inexorably arrives, you’ll be able to keep the umbrella up, this time as a source of light.

On the under side of the umbrella, there would be flexible LEDs, which would provide the light. The people under the umbrella would be able to control how bright the lights are, with an external switch. As of right now, the Day Shade Night Light solar powered patio umbrella is just one more great concept, but there’s always a chance it gets picked up by someone.

[via GearLog]

The Buffalo DriveStation Axis LED features a small range of LED lights on the front of the storage device. Based on the lights, you’ll be able to tell how well you’re doing on the space front, and find out with just a glance if you’ll be able to download the full Beatles discography. Luckily enough, the DriveStation starts at 1TB of space, for only $99. If you’re looking at 2TB, though, that will cost you $159. The DriveStation is unveiled, but it won’t be made available until January of 2011.

And then there’s the small MiniStation Stealth. A little black box, designed specifically just to sit on your desk and store your digital belongings, without drawing too much attention to itself. You’ll find just a single USB cable that acts as the power cable, as well as for data transfers. Price starts at $74.99 for 320GB, and ratchet up to $104 for 640GB. The MiniStation Stealth should be available any day now. Check out the full press release below for more information.

Press Release

Buffalo Launches Two New Easy-to-Use USB Storage Solutions

New Solutions Make Storing and Protecting Digital Content Simple and Affordable

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking and network and direct attached storage solutions, today announced the MiniStation™ Stealth and DriveStation Axis™ LED, two external drive solutions designed to meet today’s storage consumer needs. The MiniStation Stealth is a high performance portable storage solution in a remarkably compact and lightweight contemporary form, while the new DriveStation Axis LED is a single drive storage solution combining a unique LED capacity meter display with easy to use features and reliable performance.

“Buffalo continues to offer robust yet design-conscious products that make protecting and managing digital content simple, affordable and fun,” said Ralph Spagnola, vice president of sales at Buffalo Technology. With the new MiniStation Stealth and DriveStation Axis LED, Buffalo has once again delivered powerful yet affordable storage solutions for today’s growing storage needs.”

The MiniStation Stealth is a compact portable hard drive that is USB powered so there are no additional cables to manage and no need for a separate power source. Simply plug the MiniStation Stealth into any available USB port on your PC or Mac® computer and instantly add capacity or store files to take on the road.

The DriveStation Axis LED is an easy to use external hard drive for the instant addition of external storage to any device using a USB port. Featuring an easy-to-read integrated capacity meter and a unique chassis, the sleek, attractive DriveStation Axis LED can be positioned vertically or horizontally, adapting to the location it is used in for efficient use of space and providing immediate feedback regarding storage capacity.

Included with both the MiniStation Stealth and the DriveStation Axis LED is Buffalo’s multi-purpose Buffalo Tools utility suite designed to enhance Windows® PC performance and user experience. It features TurboPC, a utility designed to enhance PC performance for up to 2X faster file transfers. Also included, Buffalo’s Backup Utility protects your important files and documents by backing up your PCs to your Buffalo external hard drive and it provides an easy-to-use data restore function. Store, back up and transport your content instantly with plug and play connectivity. The MiniStation Stealth and the DriveStation Axis LED are the perfect solutions for expanding storage or backing up your computer.

Pricing and Availability

The Buffalo MiniStation and DriveStation storage solutions are backed by a limited one-year warranty that includes toll-free 24/7 technical support.

The MiniStation Stealth will be available November in the US market at estimated street prices of $74.99 for the 320 GB (HD-PCT320U2/B), $89.99 for the 500 GB (HD-PCT500U2/B) and $104.99 for the 640 GB (HD-PCT640US/B).

The DriveStation Axis LED will be available in January 2011 at estimated street prices of $99.99 for the 1 TB (HD-LEM1.0TU2) and $159.99 for the 2 TB (HD-LEM2.0TU2)

Buffalo products can be purchased through distribution, online resellers and Buffalo’s ecommerce website. For more information about Buffalo Technology and its products, please visit the company’s web site at www.buffalotech.com.

About Buffalo Technology

Buffalo Technology (USA), Inc., based in Austin, Texas, is a leading provider of award-winning networking, storage, and multimedia solutions for the home and small business environments as well as for system builders and integrators. With almost three decades of networking and computer peripheral experience, Buffalo has proven its commitment to delivering innovative, best-of-breed solutions that have put the company at the forefront of infrastructure technology. For more information about Buffalo Technology and its products, please visit www.buffalotech.com.

Buffalo, Inc. trademark statements. Buffalo is a trademark of Buffalo, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Buffalo Technology

Hardware

The LG E2360V has a 23-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD 16:9 panel using LED backlighting. LG quote a 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio or 1,000:1 static contrast ratio and 5ms response time, while the inputs consist of D-SUB, DVI and HDMI; there’s also a 3.5mm headphones socket on the back. Unfortunately LG provide neither DVI or HDMI cables, only a regular VGA one.

Aesthetically, there’s a lot to like about the E2360V. LG is making a big fuss about the E60 Series’ thinness, and indeed it’s just 12.9mm thick. The matching stand is similarly waifish, though the glossy black plastic – which also forms the screen bezel – is a fingerprint magnet. You won’t be touching it that often, however, since there’s only minimal tilt adjustment available; LG has also missed off a VESA mount on the back, so there’s no wall-bracket option. That’s a shame, as it’s a very light display and seems ideal for hanging off the wall.

It’s also supposed to be reasonably Earth-friendly, meeting ENERGY STAR criteria (as, to be fair, most gadgets seem to these days) and LG claiming the E2360V uses around 45-percent less power than a “normal” 23-inch display.

Performance

First impressions of the E2360V are that it’s bright: too bright, in fact. Even if you work in an office with the harshest of overhead lighting, you shouldn’t have a problem ramping up the LG to compete. As for picture quality, there’s little to fault. Colors are bright, pleasantly saturated and vivid, and there’s a reasonable amount of adjustment available in the on-screen setup to tweak the settings to suit your preferences. We tested the E2360V with some fast-moving video, and found it to be blur-free, while it’s definitely one of the sharper, clearer displays we’ve used of late.

Wrap-Up

The LG E2360V is certainly stylish, and the screen quality is strong; it looks good, too, as long as you’re content to leave it on your desk. Our main complaints are in its flexibility: the trio of inputs are good, but the fixed desk stand lacks adjustment, there’s no rotation to flip the E2360V into portrait aspect, and the omission of a VESA mounting plate feels cheap considering the $300 sticker.

Around $90 less gets you a 23-inch HP display with the same Full HD resolution, but a significantly less appealing case design. If you’re going to be looking at a monitor all day then you may as well grant desk-space to a good looking one, and we’d expect the E2360V’s street price to come in lower once retail picks up.

One whole heck of a lot of wires and one whole heck of a lot of soldering involved in this baby child, plus some drilling with the same drill I own myself! Good choice, man! One of the tricks in this is that the back of the pumpkin is carved out for access rather than the top. I never thought about this before, and will have to remember it the next time I’m carving for the holiday. If you’d like to be as cool ad the people who are responsible for this LED pumpkin, take a run over to Hack A Day and learn how to do it yourself. It’s fun!

[Via Hack A Day ]

A research team at GE has invented a way to cool a prototype LED light bulb using technology employed to cool jet engines. The bulb the researchers made uses LEDs and can produce the same amount of light as a 100W halogen bulb. The prototype LED bulb is rated for 1500 lumens.

The jet engine cooling system used for the bulb has tiny micro-fluidic bellows type devices that provide high velocity jets of air that can be aimed at the LED heat sink. The jets of air allow heat transfer rates more than ten times that of natural convection cooling. That increased cooling in turn allows the bulb to use less LEDs to get the same light output allowing for smaller bulbs that are cheaper to make.

This isn’t the first time Phase 7 has done something like this. They created something like this back in 2008, and it was a big hit then, too. This time around, the performance group has unveiled the Onskebronn, which is Norwegian for ‘wishing well.’ It has been installed in the Hauptbahnhof train station. The LEDs inside the installation react to the passer-by’s above in real-time, and the effects vary in all sorts of ways. There hasn’t been a video made of the new installation as of the time of this writing, but the older version, from 2008, was caught on tape quite nicely, so check out the video to get the idea. The installation in the train station will be installed until October 25th, so if you’re in that neck of the woods, be sure to check it out.

[via Switched]