“This is a lighting system, called Lighty. There’s a group of robotic lights on the ceiling, and their orientation and brightness can be controlled through this interface.”
“This feels just like Photoshop. To specify which places you want bright or dark, all you need to do is color in the corresponding areas.”
In this system, the interactive pen display is used to paint the room in light or darkness, with a camera placed in the ceiling returning the results in real …
It’s not hard to find smart lightbulbs that bow to our every whim. Creating a well-coordinated light scheme can be difficult without tweaking elements one by one, however, which makes the Japan Science and Technology Agency’s Lighty project that much more elegant. The approach lets would-be interior coordinators paint degrees of light and shadow through an app, much as they would create a magnum opus in Photoshop or a similar image editor. Its robotic lighting system sorts out the rest: a GPU-assisted computer steers a grid of gimbal-mounted lightbulbs until their positions and intensity match the effect produced on the screen. While Lighty currently exists just as a scale model, the developers plan to work with life-sized rooms, and potentially large halls, from now on. We’re all for the newfound creativity in our lighting, as long as we can’t mess it up with a Gaussian Blur filter.
Filed under: Household
Via: DigInfo TV
Source: JST Igarashi
For most of us adjusting a room’s lighting means either making it light or dark with the flip of a switch. But Japanese researchers have come up with a far more advanced approach that lets you literally paint where you want the light to be using an interactive stylus-driven interface. More »
Inspiration can come from anywhere, and the classic spring snake can gag is probably where the idea for this collapsible LED lantern was born. Using a fabric diffuser and a metal spring inside, it transforms from a flashlight to a hanging glowing lantern in less than a second. And let’s be honest, there’s probably a still great opportunity for a camping prank here. More »
There are certain things you’d expect to encounter on a visit to NASA’s Swamp Works research facility. Walking into the former Apollo testing facility, you’ll almost certainly catch glimpses of martian rovers, soil samples and an assortment of scientific testing devices. But in spite of Arduino’s near ubiquity these days, we’ll admit that we were a bit taken aback when the familiar blue microcontroller made an appearance on a lab desk during our conversation with NASA “lighting guy,” Dr. Eirik Holbert. It seems that NASA, like pretty much everyone else, is experimenting with the hacker-friendly component.
The board was hooked up to a lighting fixture Holbert is working on as part of NASA’s upcoming deep space habitat concept generator. It’s an attempt to bring some sunlit consistency to space exploration, simulating Earth-like lighting patterns to help keep the crew alert and get them ready for sleep in the evenings. So, where does NASA turn when it’s looking to conserve weight and save some taxpayer money in the process? Toward the Arduino Uno, naturally. Holbert assembled a number of off-the-shelf products, including the aforementioned microcontroller and shields from Sparkfun to make a fixture for under $500.
Asked whether we might be seeing an Arduino setup like this on an upcoming mission, Dr. Holbert told us, “I’m all about interchangeability. If they can make something space compatible, I’d be all for it.”
Filed under: Science
Scosche has announced the launch of new charging devices aimed at the Apple iPhone 5 and the iPad mini with the Apple Lightning connector. If you travel a lot with your iPhone or your iPad mini and you need to charge the devices in the car, you have probably been resorting to carrying your official Apple charging cable with you and using a DC USB adapter in the car.
If you only have one Lightning cable, it can be a serious pain having to take it from the car to the house and into the office to keep your device charged. Scosche has been a supplier of all manner of Apple accessories including charging cables for a long time. The company has now announced that it is the first manufacturer offering 5 W and 12 W wall and car chargers for Lighting devices.
Scosche has announced the launch of the strikeBASE wall charger it features a three-foot-long cable and flush folding wall prongs for portability. The charger has a low-profile design that leaves the other outlet open for use. The 5 W version is available for $29.99 and is designed for charging the iPhone or various iPod devices.
People needing to charge the iPad can opt for the 12 W version for $34.99. The strikeDRIVE Lightning car charger is the industry’s first 12 W car charger and has a three-foot coiled cable. It sells for $29.99 and will charge the iPhone or iPad devices. A 5 W version is also available for $24.99 and is designed specifically for the iPhone.
[via Scosche]
Scosche launches new 5 and 12 W Lightning chargers for home and car is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Looking for that perfect home accent to hang over your fireplace? Instead of grabbin’ yer guns and heading out into the woods to bag a trophy buck, you might want to consider trying to coerce artist Chen Bikovski to start selling her brilliant deer lamps that recreate a set of antlers using shafts of light. More »
You’re used to seeing a grain silo on a farm, but here you see that same form translated into an unlikely place—a light fixture. More »
Light fixtures are so gothic. Wanna be modern? Throw something behind your monolithic sofa and light room from the bottom up. Only problem with upward-shining lights? Aiming them. The Up Lamp aims (GET IT??) to remedy that with a tilted funnel that rotates to send lumens only where you want them: against the wall, at a pretty plant, your action figure collection, and so on. More »
Designed to look like a massive construction site digger, this imposing thirteen foot tall lamp will tower over your desk, and everything else in your office. Designed by Pascal Howe, The Worker has a definite industrial charm to it, particularly if you grew up staring in awe at the massive yellow machinery that’s used to build towering skyscrapers. More »
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