LED

Set up color LED alerts on the Galaxy Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus has a hidden LED near the bottom of the glass on the front of the phone. Normally, you'll see it blink white for notifications, but what if you want more information than "you missed something, *blink blink*"? With one app, you can adjust the color of the LED so you can see what you missed at a glance. Additionally, you'll be able to set audible reminders that repeat as often as you tell them to. Here's how to get started:

Step 1: Download and install Light Flow from the Google … Read more

LED table raises the bar

Forget any other uses for LEDs; the only place they really need to be is in the bar.

LEDs are everywhere. They are used in everything from remote controls to giant wall displays and televisions. The little lights are a ubiquitous part of everyday life: signs tell us where to go, clocks tell us what time it is, control panels let us know the state of our devices. Lately, they have been showing up in everything from DLP projectors to streetlights.

The first LEDs in practical use had very little light output and would be often found in alphanumerical displays … Read more

An IV drip bag--the perfect lighting fixture

Here's one of those bizarro products that's just waiting for some genius to come along and help it realize its no doubt substantial potential.

As you can see, it's a light in the guise of a hospital IV drip bag. That's odd enough (unless you're some sort of hypochondriac with a fetish for hospital gear). But it gets even more unusual. As you can also see, it's an LED light with a USB hookup for a plug. Of course, that means you plug it in to your laptop to fire it up.

Now, conceptually speaking, what could that possibly mean? That your laptop is ill and in need of an infusion of energy? OK, that's kind of cute. But it's odd that it actually seems to be the laptop that's energizing the drip bag, isn't it? So, hmmm, maybe this is a statement about things working the other way 'round? About technology and computers somehow being the ultimate drug?… Read more

Samsung 2012 TVs get pricing and release dates (hands-on)

Updated March 7 with more information and new videos.

Just two months ago at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Samsung--along with all of its competitors--talked up its new line of of 2012 TVs. As is always the case at CES, the new product info was long on hype and short on details. That changed today, when Samsung began filling it a lot of the blanks.

No, the company didn't say a word about its "Super OLED" TV, and we don't expect to hear anything more on that until at least midsummer.

Samsung did release … Read more

Sim2 debuts world's first LED-lit 3D DLP projector

The new Sim2 M.150 is the first DLP home theater projector to substitute the traditional lamp with LEDs as a light source. Its Super PureLED technology, utilizing high-power RGB Phlatlight LED modules, delivers the following unique propositions:

A maintenance-free light source, which lasts up to 30,000 hours with less than 5 percent drop in luminance. Auto-calibration to ensure accurate colors and brightness consistency. Negligible rainbow artifact since no color wheel is required with red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs. High 100,000:1 dynamic contrast and 1,000 lumens brightness.

The Sim2 active-shutter 3D goggles also tout an … Read more

What is OLED TV?

By now you've probably heard about OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes. LG and Samsung both revealed potential models at this year's CES, with the LG winning CNET's Best of CES Award.

Make no mistake, this is the most important advancement in TV technology in more than a decade, and a vast improvement over both LCD and plasma.

Here's why.… Read more

Bridgelux-Chevron deal brings LED streetlights to cities

LED producer Bridgelux has teamed with Chevron in a project to highlight the benefits of LED streetlights in cities.

The two companies today announced a program that allows municipalities to upgrade their streetlights to more efficient, long-lasting LED lighting with little or no up-front cost.

The LEDs use about half as much energy as traditional street lighting and require lower maintenance, providing monthly savings that will allow municipalities to pay for the switch, the companies said.

So far, the cities of Dublin, Calif., and Livermore, Calif., where Bridgelux is based, have signed on to test the service.

"Through this … Read more

How long do TVs last? (Morrison's Mailbag)

CNET Reader Dadar asks:

Are the "lifespan" claims by manufacturers proper? I've read numbers ranging from 50,000 hours to 100,000 hours, often with plasma TVs at the higher end of that scale compared to LED and CCFL LCDs.

I would have thought, being solid-state devices, light emitting diodes would have had a greater lifespan than their fluorescent counterparts. Hearsay also puts plasma at the bottom, but numbers I've found show the opposite? Are any of these true?

All claims by manufacturers should be taken with a grain of salt, but you pose an excellent question.… Read more

iPad and Kindle Fire: The top 5 technical annoyances

Users of the iPad and the Kindle Fire share some of the same technical issues but also face their own unique challenges, according to a study out yesterday from FixYa.

Analyzing the array of problems seen by site users who own one of the two popular tablets, FixYa boiled the list down to the top five major glitches.

Looking at Apple's iPad, Wi-Fi connection issues came in first, cited by 35 percent of FixYa site users included in the study.

iPad 2 owners have bumped into trouble connecting or staying connected to Wi-Fi networks. The site noted that this … Read more