lights

Sprint Nextel said it will give LightSquared an additional six weeks to get approval to build its nationwide 4G LTE wireless network from the Federal Communications Commission or it will terminate its agreement with the company, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

A Sprint spokesman told Dow Jones that the company had given LightSquared until mid-March to resolve concerns that its network interferes with GPS receivers. Sprint had already given LightSquared a 30-day extension to get FCC approval at the end of 2011.

A LightSquared representative confirmed that an extension had been granted. And he reiterated LightSquared's commitment to completing … Read more

AT&T appears to be laying groundwork for a potential deal with Dish Network to get its hands on the satellite provider's newly acquired wireless spectrum.

Last week, AT&T flexed some muscle with the federal government in an attempt to make Dish's wireless spectrum--which it acquired last year for $2.8 billion via deals with two failed wireless companies, DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks--harder for Dish to use and easier for some other company to acquire.

Specifically, AT&T asked the FCC not to place any "restrictions on the transfer and/… Read more

Audi of America's new advertising campaign is sinking its teeth into the popularity of vampires with a new 60-second TV spot that will air in the first break after kickoff in Super Bowl XLVI.

The commercial, featuring the new 2013 Audi S7, was part of a contest called Race the Light. Audi fans on Facebook guessed which trend would be "killed off" by Audi's LED headlight technology.

The stylish ad, created by San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners, features the song "The Killing Moon" by Echo and The Bunnymen. It can be viewed now … Read more

It is no secret that cooking and mood are closely related.

After a good meal it is hard not have a satisfied smile on the face. But how food makes us feel goes beyond the simple act of achieving the warm glow of sustenance. For some, pleasure is derived in cooking food; for others the reward can be found in the soil in helping fruits and vegetables to grow. And with all these good vibes associated with food, now an appliance wants to get in on the action.

The Whirlpool Limited Edition Max Microwave offers an experience in cooking unlike … Read more

Conventional fluorescent tube light fixtures officially need to die now that a Japanese company has announced a Wi-Fi-equipped LED fluorescent tube lamp replacement worthy of being on a spaceship.

The 40W LED light panel from NetLED is networkable to the cloud, allowing users to dim the lights to various intervals of brightness (and wattage) from a computer, smartphone, RFID-enabled device, or motion/light sensors. An iOS app for NetLED is already available, and according to AV Watch, an Android version is in the pipeline as well.

As with any other technology way ahead of its time, there's a rather large cost involved with NetLED's fixtures. Each individual main tube costs 19,800 yen ($257), but the main tube can drive up to three secondary lights, which cost 14,000 yen ($182). Then you need the primary NetLED server, which sets you back another 60,000 yen ($781) and supports up to 100 lights.

Using LED lights in an office is a wise power-saving solution that currently presents a rather large initial cost, but NetLED offers some compelling control schemes. … Read more

LightSquared, the company seeking final FCC approval to build a nationwide 4G wireless wholesale network, said that a test showing interference between its service and GPS systems was rigged by manufacturers of GPS receivers and government workers to produce bogus results.

On a conference call Wednesday with reporters, LightSquared executives Jeffrey Carlisle and Geoff Stearn, along with paid consultant Ed Thomas, a former chief engineer at the Federal Communications Commission, said that recent tests conducted by the Air Force Space Command on behalf of the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee (PNT EXCOM) were set up to produce negative … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Tiny projectors might soon be a standard feature on smartphones, but until that happens there's the LightPad.

Demoing here at CES, the LightPad is a pico projector mixed with a keyboard and trackpad. You plug in your phone and it beams out whatever is on the screen to a nearby wall. But its main feature is that you can flip up the lid and turn it into a laptop of sorts, with software that adds a virtual mouse.

Part of that idea has already showed up in a mass market product, specifically Motorola's Atrix smartphone, which can … Read more

Cree is trying to put LED lighting on the same price and performance curve that people are used to with computers.

The company today announced redesigned LED light sources that promise a significant cut in the cost of LED lighting and a quicker pace of technical improvement.

Cree estimates that the new design, which uses smaller LED chips, can cut the cost of the LED components by 50 percent. At retail, that translates to a roughly 25 percent cost reduction, said product marketing manager Paul Scheidt.

"LEDs are at the point where the technology is good enough to get … Read more

Consumer electronics companies are muscling into lighting with LEDs.

RCA said today at CES that it will manufacture LED bulbs as part of a larger home theater announcement. The company said that it developed a "chip on a board" that uses a single efficient LED light source, rather than several smaller ones. That design optimizes the energy efficiency of the bulb, said Bob Hatefi of RCA licensee BDC in a statement.

As energy-efficient lighting standards take hold in the U.S. and around the world, expect more electronics companies moving deeper into consumer LED lighting. Late last year, … Read more