Despite technological leaps in modern electronics, the quality of lighting they provide still leaves much room for improvement.

GE announced Current, powered by GE, a first-of-its kind energy company that integrates GE’s LED, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicle businesses with its industrial strength Predix platform to identify and deliver the most cost effective, efficient energy solutions required by customers today and in the future. Maryrose Sylvester, who as President and CEO at GE Lighting has led the transformation of one of the company’s most iconic businesses, will lead the new enterprise. Current is backed by GE’s balance sheet and financing expertise, and committed to successfully advancing ecomagination-certified technology solutions, new business models and Predix solutions for the energy sector.

Stranded on the barren red planet Mars with few supplies available, astronaut Mark Watney played by Hollywood actor Matt Damon in The Martian is fighting for survival on the harsh planet.

This LED badge launched at Burning Man this year has an OLED touch screen was designed by applying reproductive science and genetics. The personified light badges “inherit” a particular lighting sequence that can be passed on to another light badge through intercourse, which takes form through blinking lights. However, all sex between the lighting badges is consensual and require the approval of the female badges (yes the badges have different genders). Badges can also engage in homosexual relations. Instead of a walkie talkie users can use the light badge to link up with friends and choose their mate. For further info on the design concept and technology involved please see below.

Leviton recently announced the expansion of its portfolio of LED lighting fixtures with a new line of industrial grade fixtures designed specifically for use in general industrial and hazardous classified locations. These products are designed to provide lighting for areas where water, vibration, maintenance or temperature can negatively affect conventional lighting fixtures. The product category includes a comprehensive collection of area floodlights, linear fixtures and spotlights.

Cities and their emergency responders will soon have a new way to deploy gunshot detection technology and be able to respond to incidents and react faster to protect their residents. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between GE Lighting and SST, Inc., developer of the ShotSpotter™ crime detection and location suite, lays ground to embedding sophisticated ShotSpotter technology into GE’s intelligent LED street lights.

The Global Lighting Association (GLA) cautions against the establishment of regulatory or other minimum performance requirements for a colour rendering index (Ra) of greater than 80 for indoor lighting applications. For Europe, the GLA supports retention of legal minimum requirements on colour rendering (Ra) at the current level as defined in the EU Eco-design Regulations (EC 244/2009, EC 245/2009, EC 1194/2012). In the United States, the GLA supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program’s current minimum requirement of 80 CRI.

gridComm, a provider of power line communication (PLC) solutions that enable the transformation of traditional power grid into a smart grid, announced it has signed a partnership agreement with a leading LED manufacturer in Indonesia, PT Siklon Energy Nusantara, to jointly provide a cloud-based Street Light Management Solution to the Indonesian market. Given Siklon's leadership and expertise in LED lighting and advanced production facilities, the partnership enables the delivery of a complete Intelligent Street Light Solution tailored for Indonesia.

Xicato®, a leading manufacturer of intelligent light sources, published today on its website TM-30-15 Color Rendering results for its entire product range of XTM and XIM modules.

Several Chinese TV manufacturers and electronic suppliers have joined South Korea’s LG Display and LG Electronics to form an OLED display technology alliance on Sept. 16, 2015, reported Want China Times recently.

The year of 2015 will be the turning point for color television technology, said Houjian Zhou, chairman of Hisense Technology on Sep. 15, 2015 at a press conference. According to Zhou, electrical technology has its own life cycle and LED industry growth has slowed down. The position and strategy of LED manufacturers today will determine their market position and development five years later. Mainstream Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology has evolved for more than 50 years, but did not see any real technology breakthroughs until 2000. Although, liquid crystal display technology became an absolute mainstream display solution, it has seen few innovations within the past two years, which led to price cuts and low profits. Meanwhile, manufacturers have developed OLED display technology for TVs for more than 10 years, yet OLED remains an unmarketable mainstream display technology.

Jules Verne said in Around the World in 80 Days: “Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.” Today, that is truer than ever before. Did you ever think it would be possible to communicate so easily with anyone around the world? Surely not. With what we already know about technology and with what we can imagine, there are limitless possibilities for smart cities and for the marketplace of tomorrow. And while the ideas may seem like a sci-fi fantasy now, the current rate of progress means we’re already on the brink of a totally unexpected future.

The new Chevrolet Camaro is being unveiled for the first time in Europe at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. HELLA is providing a new kind of interior light concept for the iconic performance car, giving the interior a distinctive design. The color changes slowly throughout the vehicle in a subtle, flowing pattern from the center screen.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP will show for the first time organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) on graphene at Plastic Electronics 2015 (6th − 8th of October 2015, fair area Dresden, booth 1549, joint booth of OES – Organic Electronic Saxony). These OLEDs are an interim result from the project GLADIATOR funded by the European Commission.

The specs on iPhone 6s were not far off from early predictions in the industry, such as Apple will be redesigning the phone to meet selfie enthusiasts’ demands, reported Chinese-language media TechNews.

World leading UV LED solution company, Seoul Viosys(CEO Jaejo Kim, www.seoulvisys.com) and leading U.S. based short-wavelength UV LED pioneer and manufacturer Sensor Electronics Technology Inc (CEO Emmanuel Lakios, www.s-et.com) signed an agreement for joint-commercialize and expand related sales of the Violeds technology which was reported used by NASA aboard the International Space Station.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, has sold the first OPTACAP™-200 encapsulation tool to a major Asian display manufacturer. The standalone R&D system that handles substrate sizes of 200 mm x 200 mm was ordered in the third quarter 2015 and is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter 2016.

ON World’s recently published report covers the global market for residential wireless lighting controls based on input from over 2,100 individuals including consumers, smart home service providers, vendors, suppliers, retail outlets and professional installers.

The Indian government should make manufacturing standards for LED lights applied in Prakash Path Yojana (PPY) mandatory, The Economics Times cited a Philips spokesperson saying.

U.S. designer Zac Posen showcased his Zac by Zac Posen diffusion line at an auditorium at Industria Superstudio, which was the first major show to kick off New York Fashion Week, reported Mashable.

New research may help explain why drug treatments for addiction and depression don’t work for some patients.

Highlights this week: Chinese manufacturer tests different market strategy by focusing on niche market. Cree rebrands two business as Wolfspeed with strategy changes. Researchers creates less expensive LED with laser- like performance Panasonic to shot down two LED factories soon following its plants shut down in Indonesia.

Speaking at a press conference with Taiwanese media at Semicon Taiwan on Sept. 2, 2015, Nobel Laureate Shuji Nakamura shared his observations on lighting technology trends and commented on Taiwanese LED manufacturers situation.

Researchers from Holst Centre (set up by TNO and imec), imec and CMST, imec’s associated lab at Ghent University, have demonstrated the world’s first stretchable and conformable thin-film transistor (TFT) driven LED display laminated into textiles. This paves the way to wearable displays in clothing providing users with feedback.

Plessey announced UK’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) has officially granted £6.7 million (US $10.26 million) towards the expansion of the Plessey LED manufacturing facility in Plymouth, England. 

On August 31, 2015, Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany at the District Court Düsseldorf against the Germany-based manufacturer of residential lighting products WOFI Leuchten Wortmann & Filz GmbH ("WOFI").

Taiwanese LED manufacturers have been affected by Chinese manufacturers’ low pricing strategies, even the Taiwanese LED stock market was hit hard, reported SET News.

Hongliopto announced it cancelled the acquisition of Shenzhen Wisdom GPS on Tuesday, according to a Securities Times report.

The Midwest in U.S. is a tornado prone region that many residents in The Heartland have set up weather alerts on their phones to prepare ahead of severe weather, according to WorldNow and KFVS12 report.

A LED fanny pack might sound a bit lame, but this waist pack, BSEEN, aims to do more than just make athletes visible on the road.