Let your Dog Speak to you using LED lighting and his or her tail! Wag-o-Led to the rescue!
From Engadget..
Not like we haven’t seen a similar idea passed around before, but James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau have apparently taken things one step further with their LED Dog Tail Communicator. As the title implies, the device would simply be affixed to your favorite canine’s tail, after which it could broadcast actual words based on the speed of the tail wag. There’s no telling just how many phrases the thing could spell out — and honestly, we have no idea how accurate the statements would actually be — but this may be just the thing to keep Rover quiet while still letting him get his point across.
Macro Ring Light for Digital Cameras Given new Light from LED’s
Found this on GeekAlerts…
This LED ring from Marumi will allow you to take better close-up pictures with your compact digital camera. The ringlike form provides a smooth and shadowless illumination of your object from every side.
This ring light unit provides an illumination akin to daylight. This results in brighter colours. The ring light has two steps of light intensity. You always can choose the matching light intensity for the actual ambient light.
You can attach the ring light to any camera which has a tripod thread. By the help of the flexible bending arm you can adjust the ring light to any camera type. You just have to bend the bending arm so that it is positioned in front of the lens of the camera.
LED lights, Solar and Wind Powered, Oh My!
Found this on Inhabitat..
Imagine your next summer backyard party: the sun has just gone down, the music is playing, and, as the breeze picks up, the lights come on from a string of solar powered, wind-lit LED lights. This innovative design for enchanting outdoor lighting is from Yoshihiro Shimomura, a circuit designer design lecturer at Chiba University in Japan. Shimomura first used battery powered prototypes for his wind-lit creations but has since upgraded to tap into the sun’s energy to light up summer nights.
The light is composed of a glass, bell-shaped, vessel, that holds the LED light, circuitry, and solar panel. Wax holds the electronics inside the glass vessel and disperses the emitting light. Paper is suspended from the center of the circuitry, and as the strip of paper is blown, the light turns on. The light will burn depending on the weather that day – more sun charges the battery longer and stronger winds keep it on.
Shimomura and his assistants exhibited their design in 2005 at the STARNET show in Mashiko. They set up 100 lights outside of the gallery for people to come enjoy. One visitor wrote in the message book, “I closed my eyes and sensed the wind, and when I opened them, the wind lamps had sensed it too and were starting to glow.”
These very zen and beautiful fixtures are unfortunately not available for sale, but keep your eye out for them. It is good to see more designers utilize the sun, wind and other renewable sources to power electronics. There is so much more potential out there; it is only a matter of how we harness that energy.
Visualize the wind with LED Light Firewinder.
Found this over at inhabitat today.. pretty neat, and not that expensive for LED technology.
This might not be the most practical outdoor light in the world, but what the Firewinder lacks in pedestrian utility it makes up for in sheer engaging awesomeness. Transforming wind into light, the Firewinder is a hanging, wind-powered LED light that can be powered by the smallest breeze. Unlike most wind turbines that spin vertically, the Firewinder spins in a horizontal direction, illuminating its LEDs in a spiraling helix of light. The coolest thing about the Firewinder is that it doesn’t just run on or off, but instead is visibly reactive to subtle changes in the environment. How bright the LEDs glow corresponds directly to how fast the turbine spins, enabling observers to visualize the power of wind.
Created by UK inventor Tom Lawton, the Firewinder was inspired by his desire to ’see the wind’. Lawton hopes his new design will inspire people to think about the invisible beauty, awesome power and endless resource of the alternative energies which encircle us.
Decorative as it is, we think this is a charming design which has the power to engage people with the beauty of clean, renewable wind power. Kudos to Tom Lawton for coming up with this beautiful idea!
£99.95 from Firewinder.com >>
(Available summer 2008)
Flashing LED Solar-Powered Safety Bike Light Provides Visibility in Nighttime Outdoor Activities
Read the complete and down-load the high quality picture at: http://www.ledtronics.com
TORRANCE, CA — March 25, 2008 — LEDtronics® announces its latest solar-powered LED safety light for outdoor evening activities, such as bicycling, walking, jogging and inline skating. Now any outdoorsman can carry an extra measure of security into the backcountry or when battling for a spot on the concrete jungle, with a new compact and lightweight Flashing LED Solar-Powered Safety Bike Light.
Time and time again traffic safety studies have shown that bicyclists experience higher safety rates with the use of lights that make them more visible to motorists, during both the day and night. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s statistics, 33 percent of bicyclist fatalities in 2002 occurred between the hours of 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm. A more recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 22% of bicyclist fatalities in 2006 occurred between 6 pm and 9 pm—the most during the day, while 18% took place between 9 pm and midnight.
The most common advice given by biking magazines and websites: “If you’re riding at night, you absolutely should use a flashing red rear light.” They all agree that bicycle reflectors are not sufficient for safety. Some states have even enacted laws to that effect. Maine, for example, requires bicyclists to have a headlight and red taillight visible from at least 500 feet when riding at night.
The Flashing LED Solar-Powered Safety Bike Light by LEDtronics® is just the unit for this purpose. It is very compact, yet it produces a repeating flash that can be seen from up to 2,000 feet away, depending on atmospheric conditions and line of sight.
Read the complete and down-load the high quality picture at: http://www.ledtronics.com
Direct product web page link is: http://www.ledtronics.com/ds