Craig DiLouie

Next Generation Lighting Systems (NGLS) is launching the next phase of its evaluations of indoor connected lighting systems. The initial phase, which began in 2017, evaluated 12 systems installed in working classrooms at New York City’s Parsons School of Design, The New School. The new phase will include the upgrade of the existing systems, as well as the addition of new systems that are also marketed as easy to install and configure and consist of LED luminaires with integral, luminaire-level sensors and controls.

LIGHTFAIR has issued a Call for Speakers for the 2020 event, which will be held May 3-7, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

According to a recent story in Reuters, the University of California is suing five major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target Corp, Ikea AB, and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc, over infringement among foreign suppliers for patents related to filament (“vintage” style) LED lamps. The University claims the retailers should enter license agreements and requested the Federal Trade Commission look into the retailers’ failure to require foreign suppliers to honor the patents.

The OSRAM acquisition just got a whole lot more interesting. On August 11, AMS AG, an Austrian company specializing in sensors for iPhones, submitted a fully financed proposal to OSRAM Licht AG for an all-cash takeover offer for 100% of the share capital of OSRAM at a price of €38.50 per share, 10% above the July offer made by Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group. This is an offer totaling about $4.1 billion.

Eureka’s Echo decorative pendant luminaire utilizes advanced OLED technology to produce a comfortable source of illumination in a slim, low profile package. Well suited for subtle accenting of spaces such as reception desks or lounge areas, Echo is designed to increase ambient light levels in an unobtrusive way.

Researchers in the U.S. and Spain recently announced they have discovered a new property of light, called self-torque. They found that light can be twisted.

In the latest salvo in the U.S.-China trade war, the Trump Administration announced a 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports not already taxed, starting September 1. This will include lamps and ballasts.

LEDucation 2020, the trade show and conference organized by the Designers Lighting Forum of New York (DLFNY), is accepting submissions for presentation proposals to be given during the 2020 conference taking place March 17–18, 2020, at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City.

Satirical site The Onion recently published an article claiming the International Commission on Illumination plans to eliminate orange from the visible light spectrum, citing it as an unpopular relic of the 1970s.