closing out a year of innovation
Taking a moment to reflect on this past year, let me review 3 major topics I put forth attempting to drive innovation in the architectural lighting industry. Ambient Communications At the start of the year I spoke at several conferences … Continue reading closing out a year of innovation
happy holidays 2019!
What happens when your Christmas lights become “smart”, “connected” and “lifi”? Continue reading happy holidays 2019!
the verge – lightbulb revolution
Tech blog The Verge has produced a rarity in modern media culture: A fair and balanced video report talking about the light bulb controversy in the United States. Judge for yourself… Thanks to efforts by groups like NEMA, the U.S. … Continue reading the verge – lightbulb revolution
cree cadiant system
Cree Lighting launched a clever new product line called Cadiant, that creates the illusion of daylight shining through a pop-up skylight. In reality, it is a 2’x2′ (60cm x 60cm) troffer that combines a luminous top surface (recessed upwards 8″) … Continue reading cree cadiant system
acuity launches DC power options
Acuity Lighting is launching Modulus, a centralized DC-power system option for their LED lighting fixture lines. The first offering is the Peerless Renna linear pendant line. Acuity stepping into the fray is a great sign for DC power in commercial … Continue reading acuity launches DC power options
jim brodrick interview
Randy Reid of the Edison Report conducted a great interview with Jim Brodrick on the history of the U.S. Department of Energy’s guidance and investment in solid-state lighting (LED + OLED). Brodrick led a fantastic program at the DOE that … Continue reading jim brodrick interview
the DC powered building
Check out my new piece on the DC-power revolution in commercial buildings, including a quick summary of 4 companies with impressive pilot projects. I decided to try posting it on Medium.com to see if it might break through to new … Continue reading the DC powered building
signify 3D printing videos
Signify released some new videos promoting their 3D printing venture (which I covered previously in this post). I’m a bit surprised that if you know what you’re looking at, the videos reveal all the basics about what the Signify team … Continue reading signify 3D printing videos
decochrom
DecoChrom is an EU Horizon 2020 funded R+D consortium focused on commercializing color-changing electrochromic materials for a variety of applications. Electrochromics are a printed electronics technology, which opens up opportunity to use these low-fidelity but ultra-low-power displays across applications where … Continue reading decochrom
glint photonics
Glint Photonics is a startup that appears to be using mechatronics to change the physical position of LED optics to steer and focus light beams. Not much on their website so far, but they state: Simply press Hero’s joystick and … Continue reading glint photonics
koerner design wins US DOE sustainable luminaire design competition
I am thrilled to announce that Koerner Design has won a prestigious design competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy hosted a Manufacturing Innovator Challenge focused on the Sustainable … Continue reading koerner design wins US DOE sustainable luminaire design competition
jon favreau interview on digital transformation
Check out this very interesting interview with writer/producer/director Jon Favreau discussing multiple topics in the ongoing digital revolution in media (both creative production and distribution). There are several analogies to how architects, lighting designers, developers, etc. might embrace the digital … Continue reading jon favreau interview on digital transformation
tensorflow
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. “AI” is a hot topic, often presented in scary Hal-like doomsday discussions. But basic machine learning is simply automated optimization, and there are endless opportunities for how we should be continually … Continue reading tensorflow
david rose – ambient communications
Nice interview with David Rose, an MIT researcher and designer who has great ideas on ambient communications. I’m surprised I haven’t met David – a lot of our concepts on integrating digital content into the built environment are very similar … Continue reading david rose – ambient communications
48 vdc power components
I’ve been writing now for many years about the importance of adopting a DC infrastructure as a necessary foundation to drive further innovations in architectural lighting and media systems. DC power infrastructure efficiently ties together solar and battery storage in … Continue reading 48 vdc power components
node red
Node-RED is an interesting programming tool that was recently open-sourced from an IBM project. It aims to make complex “Internet of Things” solutions accessible to non-coders via a simple visual, flow-based interface. Node-RED is a programming tool for wiring together … Continue reading node red
usgbc LEED program gives big boost to dc power in commercial buildings
This week the USGBC just added a major point opportunity for commercial buildings that integrate substantial native-DC power infrastructure. As I discussed just recently (and even included 5 years ago in my predictions for the future of lighting), it increasingly … Continue reading usgbc LEED program gives big boost to dc power in commercial buildings
greenhouse lighting in the Netherlands
Check out this stunning nighttime aerial photography of the industrial greenhouses here in the Netherlands by Munich-based photographer Tom Hegen. A bit better than the images I shot from a plane 4 years ago! I certainly appreciate the need for … Continue reading greenhouse lighting in the Netherlands
smarteagle sensor solutions
SmartEagle is a Dutch-based spinoff of IoT-development company Evalan that uses camera-based sensor systems and AI to accurately detect and analyze desk usage in office environments. They never blatantly say they use cameras, but it is pretty obvious by the … Continue reading smarteagle sensor solutions
nowatt lighting
Nowatt Lighting is a French startup focusing on off-grid, solar-powered light fixtures. Nowatt has built intelligence into their products that seems to go beyond most “dumb” solar-powered lights, with multi-channel LED engines and app-based control including parametric-based scenarios that can … Continue reading nowatt lighting
