Archive for: light
- December 27, 2010 12:31 pm
In the world of corporate America and the endless seas of cubicle islands, flickering lights are nothing more than a nuisance/headache-causing annoyance that we have to deal with day in and day out. But six municipal buildings in St Cloud, Minnesota at the will be outfitted with LVX’s “Visible Light Communication System”.
The concept is simple: flickering lights (in this case, LEDs) transfer data to desktop modems that then feed the information to a computer. Similar LEDs in the modem can respond back to the lights overhead, thereby enabling a sort of futuristic exchange of information. And to those worried about endless flickering offices from hell — don’t. The lights flicker faster than the normal human eye can register.
The first generation of LVX’s lighting system will top out 3Mbps. But future iterations will I’m sure gain speed. Such a solution is highly needed in the ever growing world of wireless communication and crowded airwaves.
Being a night rider has its pros and cons. On one hand, it’s cooler at night, there’s less traffic, and it’s generally quieter. At the same time, you’re less visible in the dark and therefore, if not properly illuminated, can end up like the poor racoons we all see day in and day out. But fear not. The Cyglo Tyre, invented by James Tristram, makes use of a simple ring of LED’s embedded in the tire’s sidewall. The lighting choices include not only a constant glow, but also different strobe/blinking effects and several colors. Keeping it all working is a motion powered generator that charges the LED’s with each spin of the tire.
You may look like an incredibly nerdy fellow riding down the street with these, but that’s ok. They’re bloody awesome. Hopefully Cyglo can find a manufacture to build these, ’cause I’d certainly order a couple.
Hearing of some Adidas TRON shoes sounds awesome enough in text. Seeing a picture like the one above is like Holy Shiat! Finding out they don’t really have any glowing light whatsoever is the kick in the pants at the end. While it’s unfortunate the TRON shoes above don’t really glow with any self illumination, the glow-in-the-dark stitching and other reflective properties play off lighting and light angles to give off the impression of glowing.
No, the they’re not as cool as they could be. Nonetheless, they’re TRON shoes that will no doubt make a statement — and all of this hype a full 6 months before the movie is even released. What are you guys doing in 6 months?
Whataya know, dreams do come true. Turns out that glowing goodness is the real deal, and made with the same material as the official TRON suits in the movie — “Elastolite” (OryonTech).
Do you have yourself a faulty pair of eye balls that simply refuse to distinguish certain or all colors? I can certainly understand how such things would put a few monkey wrenches in your daily routine, especially considering that stop lights in particular rely on colors to get their message across — a very important message that is.
But there is hope for color absent people — the Uni-Light. Besides having normal colors for not so color blind people, the Uni-Light features shapes in addition to colors to help people discern when exactly it’s ok to go, stop, or…speed up to beat the red triangle light. Definitely a good thing that cities around the country should look at implementing. ‘Nother pic after the jump
Colorblind folks care to weigh in?
Forget about worrying whether or not you’ve got enough batteries. They don’t last that long in “real” gadgets. And unless you buy strictly rechargeables, you’re going to be replacing batteries for the rest of your life. Not a good deal in the slightest. Toss ‘em out and pick up one of these nifty hand-crank lights designed by Australian designer Kenan Wang. Green. Simple. Cool.
Yay or nay?
Riding a bike can be exhilarating. It can also be a death sentence, especially at night. All too often I’ve found myself driving at night and out of no where a dude on a bike pops up in front of me. Whether in the city or country, bikers are hard to spot — even with some flashy vests and reflectors.
That’s why accessories such as LED Spokes need to be implemented. I can see such things getting pretty garish if taken too far. But in the name of safety, at least a couple of LED strips wouldn’t hurt.
What’s particularly interesting about the LED outfit desgiend by Japan’s Suns and Moon Laboratory shown above is that these LED strips can actually display messages in addition to keeping you alive.
Frivilous? Perhaps. But living to ride another day is more than worth it I’d say. Jump inside for a video of the LED light show in action…
Ok, so the title is bittersweet. One side of the argument, it’s helluva cool to have something as “ordinary” as an LED actually become mini wireless routers of sorts. On the flip side, 2Mbps is hardly going to cut it in the days of HD everything, lossless media, and intense LAN gaming. This is of course brought to you buy the Chinese Academy of Sciences in case you were curious…
Safety first as they always say…
If you’re a biker (with pedals now) who is familiar with the perils and dangers that night riding bring on, you’ve no doubt become accustomed to your trusty LED or army of LED’s keeping you somewhat visible and alive. A mini-strobe here or there does aid greatly in the night’s overpowering darkness. But there’s something better and geekier waiting for you…
For one, I love gadgets. Sometimes even more lust worthy however is a good prank or joke. The “lamp/lamp” created by Hironao Tsuboi is both a joke, and a sweet looking gadget.
