LED Era Come Soon

As we all know that LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs which will consume even less power than the CFL bulbs and once the mass production of Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs will start, its cost will go down. Gradually the era of electric bulbs will come to an end and only CFL bulbs will exist then. This will go a long way in promoting the LED bulbs among the masses,” said Venugopal, a senior member of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, on Wednesday.

The occasion was the Second Capacity Building Programme, organised by the department of Industrial and Management Engineering of IIT, Kanpur. On the second day of the six-day long programme, Dr Anoop Singh of IIT-K, Venugopal, member of DERC and others were present.

Venugopal also explained that the entire focus is on to encourage the people of the country to save power instead of adopting a careless attitude towards it. Shutting down power switches when power is not required is something which people need to inculcate in themselves as a habit.

Giving an example about reduction of the load during the lunch hours in Delhi, Venugopal said, “At the time of lunch it has been observed that there is a reduction of 150 MW to 200 MW of load in the state of Delhi. This happens due to the fact that people in offices and at other commercial establishments shut down power. Such an exercise should be followed everywhere which will help in reducing the load.”

Dr Anoop Singh, said, “Power saved is power gained. Here in IIT-K we have street lights which are timer guided. The timer attached with the street light is set on a particular time as to when the street lamp should go off. The moment the clock strikes the set time, the street lamp goes off. This not only helps in saving power but also no human being is required to go from pole to pole for switching off these lamps.”

Additionaly, street lights can be put off with the help of the remote used in TVs and in other electrical devices.

Tiny Carrying LED Projector for Laptop

Do you want a big video picture but without the big bucks for a big screen? Here I introduce BenQ Joybee GP1 mini projector to you. The $500 1.4-pound pico projector uses a 20,000-hour LED lamp for illumination, and includes a USB port. Put your media (movies, photos, business presentations) on a thumb drive and you can leave your laptop at home.

The tiny unit comes with a carrying case, but you have to carry the separate, equally sized power supply by itself. Fortunately, the GP1 really can be set up without reading a manual. It took me about five minutes to connect the cords and figure out the commands on the wafer-sized remote.

You can connect a camcorder, DVD player, TV, video game console or — with an extra-cost dock — an iPod to the Joybee. But if you want to watch videos, you first must convert your files into the AVI format, using the included Mac and Windows software.

The company claims that the projector can create an image up to 80 inches in diameter, but don’t expect that size during the day. Even in a dimly lighted room, the weak light output meant that I had to put the unit quite close to the wall to see a bright-enough image.

As a pico projector, the Joybee lacks an optical zoom, which means you have to move the entire unit to change the picture size. That may not be practical in a business setting, but if you’re planning on watching a movie in your hotel room with all the lights out, it may not be a big deal. Once set up, the colors were well-saturated, with acceptable black levels.

The menus are intuitive and the remote works well, but the on-unit touch controls were erratic, often not responding to multiple hard presses and then jumping into action with a very light tap.

So it is a low-cost way to get a big picture in a dark room, won’t rely on this projector for your PowerPoint presentations.

Magic Handy Writing Light

Halo is a handy light specially dedicated to light-writting. Graffiti artists can conserve their own gesture they have with an aerosol spray. It is possible to change the color and the brightness of the led to change the graffiti’s styles. If the light doesn’t have enough battery, the user must shake it to have energy again.

Graffiti is one of the true anomalies of modern urban living: on one hand, no one wants it anywhere near their apartment building or neighborhood, but on the other, one can’t help but stare and enjoy the sheer dexterity and skill with which some graffiti is sprayed. Aissa Logerot’s Halo breaks through this anomaly and provides a tool by which graffiti artists can express themselves in a cleanlier format: light. As an  aerosol-style LED light writing device, the Halo is a logical transition for any graffiti artist. The resulting artwork can be documented on camera rather than concrete, providing the beauty of graffiti, without the ensuing mess and societal detraction. The artist can adjust the color and brightness as needed, and recharge the battery by shaking. In the future, perhaps we’ll see building walls and old, run-down utility vans covered in tacked photos rather than paint.