light

LAS VEGAS--When a manufacturer of headlights and auxiliary lights shows you its newest products, it's probably not a good idear to look directly into the light.

Sylvania isn't shy about boasting that it is the leader in automotive lighting technology, but I'll admit that I wasn't expecting to be wowed by a bunch of light bulbs. I was, quite literally, dazzled.

Once the after-image had cleared from my vision, it was explained to me that the new Slyvania Silverstar zXe line of aftermarket replacement headlight bulbs attempts to mimic the ultra white light of HID headlamps … Read more

The most reliable cars are... Plus, the Nissan Leaf spawns a plug-in cousin, Ford stops your teen from texting while driving, a scathing report on red-light cameras, and we drive the Porsche Panamera Turbo S.

Sprint Nextel is nearing a deal to extend its current network-sharing agreement with Clearwire to three to five years, Bloomberg reported today.

The deal would allow Sprint to tap into Clearwire's network and wireless capacity to power its own services. For Clearwire, it provides a measure of confidence in the company's long-term prospects. Sprint, meanwhile, secures another resource as it pursues its own 4G course.

Sprint said yesterday it had reached a non-binding agreement to work together on the technical specifications for Clearwire's planned upgrade to 4G LTE. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said the agreement serves as … Read more

Swedish retailer Ikea will sell LED lightbulbs from Lemnis Lighting starting in the fourth quarter of this year, a move that will help push efficient LEDs toward broader use.

The two companies have a multiyear partnership to sell LED bulbs through Ikea stores starting in Europe, Lemnis Lighting CEO Warner Philips said today. The partnership was first reported by trade publication LEDs Magazine.

The collaboration is designed to make normally pricey LED bulbs appealing to consumers. In Europe the price target with tax is about 10 euros, or less than $14, for a 400 lumen lamp, which gives about the … Read more

Get ready for camera 3.0. Because next year, you might have to decide whether an 11-megaray sensor is enough for your new light-field camera.

Lytro, a Silicon Valley startup, today unveiled its radical new camera--also called the Lytro. With it, the company hopes to rewrite the rules with a technology called light-field photography, but the scale of the company's ambition is matched by the scale of its challenge.

On the outside, the Lytro looks different--a smooth, two-tone elongated box 4.4 inches long and 1.6 inches square. At one end is the lens and at the other … Read more

Cinemas dim the lights during showings to help eliminate distractions, making it easier for you to focus on what you came to see. With media sites like YouTube, it's easy to become distracted by the other content on the page like the recommended videos or comments sections. And let's face it, not all videos look good in full-screen mode due to low resolutions. Wouldn't it be nice if you could dim the lights on the rest of the page to cut out the distractions? Well, there happens to be an add-on for Firefox and Chrome that does … Read more

SAN DIEGO--It could cost the the GPS industry as much as $400 million for gear to protect its precision devices from interference caused by LightSquared's planned wireless network, although the company believes the figure will be ultimately be lower.

LightSquared Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben told CNET on Wednesday that there are roughly 500,000 commercial precision GPS devices in the U.S. He said his partner Javed GNSS has developed a device that costs between $300 and $800 and will protect GPS devices from such disruptions.

Boulben said Thursday that the cost could be dramatically lower, noting that … Read more

As lighting becomes more computerized, startup EnLighted is taking a low-touch approach.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company today announced it has raised $14 million in venture capital and disclosed more details on its efficient commercial lighting technology. Investors are Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Intel Capital.

EnLighted's lighting system is installed by attaching sensors to existing light fixtures. The sensors, located at every 100 square feet, monitor light levels and occupancy to make adjustments, such as turning off lights or changing light levels based on outdoor light, explained CEO and co-founder Tushar Dave.

The product … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Disney spent the last couple of decades making mermaids into friendly, lovely creatures bursting with curiosity and love (see "The Little Mermaid" and "Splash"). It took about a year's work from the visual-effects pros at Industrial Light and Magic to return the fair ladies of the sea to their classical, bloodthirsty ways.

To show off the effects studio's work on the billion-dollar-grossing "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" as it arrives on Blu-ray next month, ILM's Ben Snow (visual-effects supervisor) and Aaron McBride (art director) sat down with reporters at George Lucas' Presidio compound here earlier this month to discuss the challenges of creating mermaids beautiful enough to lure Johnny Depp to water and ferocious enough to devour him.

"Classically, mermaids were beautiful but deadly creatures," Snow said. "We were excited to bring them back to that tradition. But the challenge was developing creative concepts that preserved their beauty while making them scary again." … Read more