Philips intelligent store lighting can track shoppers

philips shopping tracking app

Philips has announced that it is piloting a system in which LED store lamps track shoppers. Shoppers would first have to download the store’s app. Once they do, every lamp in the store is able to communicate with the shoppers’ phones using pulses of light the human eye can’t detect. The lamps know whether someone is in the produce section or the peanut butter aisle… and in response, the app can call up killer deals on bananas or jelly, depending.

 

 

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Lighting controls market will grow $5.3 billion by 2020

A room at the Volkswagen research and design facility uses an LED lighting control system.

The lighting controls market has taken off.  Commercial networked lighting systems will grow from $1.7 billion in 2012 to more than $5.3 billion by 2020, according to a new report by Navigant Research.

 

 

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Physicists invent ‘Spintronic’ LED

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What amazing new devices will utilize this invention?

University of Utah physicists invented a new “spintronic” organic light-emitting diode or OLED that promises to be brighter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the kinds of LEDs now used in television and computer displays, lighting, traffic lights and numerous electronic devices…
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Holiday Lights: The Brief and Strangely Interesting History

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Thomas Edison was known for his wacky publicity stunts, but during the Christmas of 1880 he went for the sentimental rather than shock value. That year, instead of electrocuting an elephant, he brought us the first electric Christmas light display.

By the time 1880 rolled around, Edison had his incandescent light bulbs pretty well figured out, and was on the lookout for a way to advertise them. To display his invention as a means of heightening Yuletide excitement, he strung up incandescent bulbs all around his Menlo Park laboratory compound, so that passing commuters on the nearby railway could see the Christmas miracle. But Edison being Edison, he decided to make the challenge a little tricker by powering the lights from a remote generator eight miles away.

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Amazing Photos – Parenting in a World of Chaos

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Parenting is challenging even in the best of times

Best advice to new parents – be flexible, be creative, and feel free to rewrite the rules whenever you have to. Being a parent is now more difficult that ever, and this amazing series of photos does an amazing job of capturing the craziness of our times. (Pics)

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[email protected] Lets You Control Your Home From Your Laptop Or Mobile Device

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Featured invention at the Colorado Inventor Showcase 2009

Your computer does everything else, why not control your home?  Controlling your home from your laptop or mobile device is now easy and affordable.  With [email protected] you can manage your thermostat, lighting, security, entertainment and much more.   

 

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Stunning Examples of Macro Photography

 

Stunning Examples of Macro Photography

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Macro photography is also known as close-up photography. Compared to other types of photography, macro photography is quite difficult, because of the nifty equipment, lightning and other techniques involved. However, in the end it comes down to what kind of pictures you want to take and what level of precision you are striving for. (Pics)

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Unusual BubbleTree Treehouse

BubbleTree Treehouse

BubbleTree Treehouse 

A tree house is a romantic hideaway close to nature and it does bring out the child in you again. Enter BubbleTree, a company offering a trendy habitat that will appeal to both the nature lovers and those on the hunt for unusual creations. It’s a small wooden platform installed in a tree, which is covered with a canvas in sphere at night. The cozy nest is capable of providing inimitable moments of closeness between human and nature. This tree house is an eco-design that respects the biological activity of trees. The installation on the central portion of the tree trunk minimizes the risk of uprooting in strong winds. Moreover, they have developed the concept of “Artificial Branch,” a patented device that allows “postponing the constraints of construction on the carrier part of the tree without mortgaging its future development.” The hut in the tree allows you to take full advantage of nature. The platforms can be used to take a nap, to observe nature, to read a good book or to simply spend some nice time with your family.  (Pics)

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Qnuru’s Solar Landscape Redefines LEDs

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The outdoor Cumuli cable-suspended lamp has solar panels above and LEDs below. 

OK, I can admit it – I was one of those people that a few years ago ran out and bought those generic-looking solar garden path lamps and strung them all along the walkways up to my front door. Subsequently I was hugely disappointed that the lamps’ weak pale glow wasn’t enough to keep people from tripping over them and falling into the flower beds. Since then, solar LED lighting, especially for commercial applications, has taken huge leaps in beauty and functionality, and newcomer Qnuru’s designs – by sculptor Tom Joyce – reflect the advances.

Solar LEDs growing up
Qnuru (pronounced Kuh-Noo-Roo) is a family of solar LED lights using granite, forged and cast iron, and aluminum in different shapes together with solar cells, LEDs and microprocessor controllers….

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Lamps With A 3D Effect

Lamps With A 3D Effect 

Marcus Tremento is has an original lighting idea here. He’s created LD Sconces, intriguing lighting fixtures that conjure up uncanny 3D effects with glowing wire. Bending neon-like pieces of cool-running electroluminescent wire into familiar shapes and then combining them with a mirror-like backdrop, the artist proves himself to be quite the illusionista.

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