Tag Archives: led

Bulova Computron D-CAVE watch mashes gaming and NFT in a classic LED timepiece

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Digital watches might be sundry and common these days, but they were quite revolutionary back in the 70s, especially during the LED craze. Although it definitely eschewed conventional digital watch designs, Bulova’s Computron was so beautifully quirky in its mix of luxury and technology that it became an icon of its time. We are at the cusp of another major shift in technologies and product designs, and Bulova wants to again be at the forefront of this “phygital” revolution with a special version of the Computron, now with a hand inside the Metaverse jar.

Designer: Bulova

The original Computron itself, as well as its more recent “Re-Edition,” is already a thing of beauty. Designed with an unconventional trapezoidal body, the watch’s unique shape allows wearers to see the time without having to twist their wrists. That is why it has earned the nickname “drivers’ watch” and has since then been unparalleled in that design.

Bulova is now bringing the Computron back with a twist that tries to appeal to a very different crowd. Inspired by gaming aesthetics, the Computron D-CAVE edition watch sports a black stainless steel case with black silicone straps and luminous green highlights that match the watch’s green LED time display. It’s a design that would call to mind gaming brands like Razer and Alienware, which is probably what Bulova and D-CAVE were aiming for.

More interesting, however, is the special edition of the watch that has a mineral crystal case top serving as a window into the watch’s internals. This special edition also comes with an NFT drop that will let buyers wear a digital version of the watch in the Decentraland Metaverse platform. This special edition is still marked as coming soon, but you can already buy the regular “Iconic Edition” for $450 or cryptocurrencies just to complete the circle.

Curiously, Bulova sees the Computron D-CAVE as an entry into a new way of living, putting down its stake in the Metaverse. It positions its first-ever “phygital” product as a representation of how the physical world will integrate with digital life. Bulova naturally also sees the Metaverse as an opportunity to express love for certain brands in the digital realm, like a certain watchmaker’s iconic classic timepiece turned gamer’s lifestyle product.

The post Bulova Computron D-CAVE watch mashes gaming and NFT in a classic LED timepiece first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny USB-C lamp’s sunlight-spectrum LEDs helps your plants grow indoors

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Designed to be more than just your average USB-powered work light, the Ocean Sun Plant Light, as its name quite aptly suggests, features a calibrated set of LEDs that emit light similar to the light from the sun. Made primarily for indoor plants that don’t receive too much natural light, the Ocean Sun Plant Light provides them with the right spectrum of light to enable photosynthesis and foster growth… and unlike the sun, it can fit in your palm.

Designer: Martin CS Tee

Click Here Buy Now: $49 $88 (56% off). Hurry, only 3/65 left!

The Ocean Sun sports a sleek, compact design with a precisely machined aluminum outer shell and a series of flicker-free LEDs that draw power from a USB-C port located on the back of the device. Each lamp comes along with its own adjustable USB-C stand cable that lets you position and angle the lamp however you want, although the Ocean Sun works with any third-party cable too, giving you the freedom to hook it up to your laptop, a power bank, or even a set of solar panels with a USB output!

High-end LEDs.

Easily adjustable stand cable.

Turn it up easily.

Convenient on/off switch.

The lamp works incredibly well with plants, with light that’s similar to the color temperature of the sun, but it could be used as a reading lamp or a tabletop work light too! Grab the Ocean Sun Plant Light for an early-bird price of $49 using the link below. The light ships globally beginning July 2022.

Click Here Buy Now: $49 $88 (56% off). Hurry, only 3/65 left!

The post This tiny USB-C lamp’s sunlight-spectrum LEDs helps your plants grow indoors first appeared on Yanko Design.

Qudi LED Emotion Face Masks: Wearing Your Heart on Your Face

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Have trouble expressing your emotions? I’m with you; my couples counselor says it’s something I really need to work on. And here to help is the Qudi Mask, a full face mask consisting of translucent ski-style goggles with LED eye rings and a bottom portion with 199 smart LED lights for better expressing yourself. RIGHT NOW, I’M ANGRY. Just kidding, only tired.

The $289 mask is available in black and white and is controlled via a smartphone app that allows you to choose the mode and display and LED color. In emotion mode, the mask displays the emoticon of your choice (smile, love, shocked, confused, angry, and cat — the most important emotion of all) and animates the mouth to match your speech. The emotions can also be attached to triggers (e.g., nodding yes or shaking your head no) so they can be changed without having to access your phone. That’s a good thing too because I can never find mine.

In addition to emotion mode, there are also 25+ preset animations, an equalizer mode that responds to audio, and a text mode that allows you to display any message you want. The Qudi’s battery lasts for between three and four hours of use and takes approximately 1.5 hours to fully charge. How are you going to use yours? I’m going to use mine to improve my relationship with my wife. Mostly by using the cat emoticon and pretending I’m a cat. She loves cats.

[via Man of Many]

This retro-inspired battery case turns the back of your phone into an LED light show

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People put cases on their phones for protection, extra battery life, or self-expression, so why not have all three in one and turn your phone’s rear into a dynamic light show.

Phone cases are admittedly a bit of a controversial topic among smartphone aficionados. Phones are already designed to be as durable and as beautiful as their manufacturers want them, and some people consider it a heresy to mar a phone’s natural beauty with a case, especially those bulky ones. Others, however, want extra protection for their expensive investments or have found certain cases that appeal to their eyes. The latter group, however, sometimes has a hard time choosing between protection, battery, or beauty, and so STARcase designed something that makes that choice moot.

Designer: STARcase

To put it simply, STARcase is a rugged battery phone case that has an array of LED lights on its back. Each of these features on its own might not be so revolutionary, but having them in one place is an interesting proposition. What makes this particular incarnation of that idea really special, however, is how that LED matrix can be functional as well as aesthetic.

Sure, you can pick a variety of “low-res” animations and icons to display on the phone’s back, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. The LED panel can also be used to display notifications, either using an app’s icon or even as old-school scrolling text. STARcase’s creators say you can even play some games on the phone’s back using the dedicated button at the bottom.

The STARcase also has the trappings of a typical battery case, including ruggedness (MIL STD 810G-516.6 spec even) and a 2,500 mAh battery that you can charge together with the phone. You can also set at what battery percentage the phone starts drawing from the case or, alternatively, manually turn charging on and off from the mobile app. That mobile app is the gateway to all of the STARcase features, which pretty much qualifies this as a smart case, unlike your typical battery case.

The freedom of artistic expression and whimsical fun that STARcase offers do come with a price. Although described as “slim,” there is obviously a significant addition to the height and thickness of the phone when wearing this customizable armor. At the moment, STARcase is on pre-order and is compatible only with iPhones, but the Pixel 6 and even the Galaxy S22 are promised to have their turn soon.

The post This retro-inspired battery case turns the back of your phone into an LED light show first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Origami-inspired lamp folds flat into a sheet while carrying, and opens into a nifty tabletop lamp when you need

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Working almost like an iPad cover/stand would, the ORY lamp is a nifty little flat-packed number that you can slide right into your backpack and carry wherever you need. Upon arriving at a dark setting that requires tabletop illumination, the sheet cleverly folds into a two-way tabletop lamp that shines light downwards and forwards, letting you easily light up a space for work, reading, dining, etc.

The nifty little Ory lamp (named for its origami abilities) assumes the shape of a flat sheet of faux leather, making it ridiculously easy to slide into backpacks, briefcases, or folders. It uses two powerful COB (Chip on Board) LEDs that sit flat within the lamp’s design, and comes with crease-lines that allow the flat leatherette sheet to transform into a tubular structure with two offshoots (sort of like two banana peels) that sport the LED strips facing downward. Switch the lamp on and the LEDs cast a bright direct light onto a tabletop surface. Flaps on the sides of the LEDs act as lamp-shades, preventing the direct glare from the LEDs from hitting your eye, while focusing the light downwards towards an otherwise dark tabletop surface.

Designer: Il-Seop Yoon

As interesting as the lamp may look visually, its internals are just as awe-inspiring. The lamp’s folding/flexing design still manages to cleverly integrate all the necessary electronics in, while still remaining deceptively flat. The lamp runs on a mobile phone Li-ion battery, giving it a slim construction, and even sports a wireless Qi-charging coil on the side, allowing you to fold the lamp up and place it on a wireless charger to juice up its battery. The absence of a traditional charging port, according to designer Il-Seop Yoon, allows the Ory lamp to be water-resistant too, so a couple of drops of rain (or a knocked-over cup of coffee) won’t do anything to the lamp.

Metal plates inside the lamp’s design give it structure while also providing the creasing necessary for the lamp to flip and fold. Moreover, I wouldn’t be surprised if they acted as a heat sink too, dissipating any of the thermal energy generated by the LEDs.

There aren’t too many technical details (or pricing) on the Ory, given that it’s currently just a proof of concept. Although, I’d really like to see the lamp hit production soon!

Divoom Pixoo Max Takes Pixel Art to the Max

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Having grown up in the 1980s, I have a real fondness for pixel art. There are lots of ways to make pixel art of your own these days beyond using programs like Deluxe Paint, from melting Perler beads together to making images with 1×1 LEGO bricks. The Divoom Pixoo Max lets you make pixel art images and animations using a grid of colorful LEDs.

Its 9.6″ screen features a 32 x 32 grid of RGB LED pixels which can be programmed with a companion smartphone app. You can pick from numerous still and animated images in the Divoom Pixel Gallery or create your own. In addition, it can be programmed to display notifications from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram or to display the time or weather.

The Pixoo Max has a built-in stand or can be mounted on your fridge, a wall, or even your car windows. Since it runs on a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, you can use it on the road. It’s available from Amazon (affiliate link) for $109.99.

Ever wondered how those viral TikTok ‘Sunset’ lamps work? Here’s what is inside them…

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YouTuber BigCliveDotCom calls it a low-power floodlight using “undesirable LEDs”.

Whether you’re on TikTok or even on Instagram, chances are you’ve stumbled across these ‘sunset’ LED lamps. They’ve pretty much shot to popularity over the last month or two, known for creating a perfect circular projection of ambient light, looking like a sunrise, sunset, or even a circular radial gradient of the rainbow spectrum. Influencers are sharing pictures about it, VICE even wrote an entire article on it, and it’s been plagiarized so many times over, I honestly don’t know who the original creator of this lamp is. What I DO know, however, is that it isn’t worth what it costs.

How the TikTok Viral Sunset Lamp works

The sunset lamp can be basically broken down into three components – the LED, the lens, and a dichroic film that helps get that unique color-gradient. Both the lens and film are made of plastic, and the LED is a basic off-the-shelf component that barely costs a couple of cents when purchased in bulk. To be brutally honest, perhaps the most expensive part of the Sunset Lamp is its shipping fees… but enough product-bashing. Let’s just look at how the lamps work, and how you could potentially build your own for under 5 bucks.

How the TikTok Viral Sunset Lamp works

The way the lamp works is similar to a floodlight, or a car’s headlamp – an LED emits light, which is focused using a lens. Similarly, the sunset lamp uses a small 3W LED along with a dome lens, that refracts the light beams in the shape of a perfect circle. Given that car headlights need to be bright, they even use reflector panels to ‘multiply’ the light, but that isn’t really the case with a sunset lamp that’s more focused on creating an ambient ring of soft light. The Sunset Lamp does, however, come with a special dichroic film that’s glued to the back of the lens (you can see it in the teardown image below) that creates that unique gradient. Different lamps use different films, creating everything from an orange halo to a light yellow one, to even those psychedelic rainbow gradients. The dichroic film changes color depending on the angle at which a beam of light hits it – causing that halo effect with colors changing from the center towards the edge.

How the TikTok Viral Sunset Lamp works

What you’ve got at the end of the day is quite a masterclass in branding too. Calling it a low-intensity floodlight wouldn’t move as many pieces as calling it a ‘sunset lamp’ does. It’s easier to grasp, sounds more poetic, and resonates well with its audience – the same way a ‘Retina Display’ sounds much better than a ‘display with high pixel density’. Couple that with the fact that the lamp absolutely took off on TikTok and it really helps explain the product’s sheer success.

If you still find the idea of a Sunset Lamp rather intriguing but you don’t want to spend an average of $25 to buy your own, you could easily build one using parts available online. Just look for a good ‘condenser lens’ on the web (they come for a bunch of cents on AliExpress) and pick up a cheap nightlight from your nearby hardware shop and you can practically put together your own sunset lamp for a couple of bucks. You can get your hands on dichroic film from a gift shop too (just test out those metallic gift-wrapping papers) or better still, just take a marker to the back of your dome lens and color it in.

Or if you’re just plain lazy, go ahead and buy one off Amazon.

How the TikTok Viral Sunset Lamp works

How the TikTok Viral Sunset Lamp works

Click Here to Buy Now

Make Your Own Rubik’s Cube Inspired Wooden LED Light

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Inspired by the classic look of a Rubik’s Cube, Instructables user blueboxes has created a step-by-step guide for building your very own mini light cube, a wood and acrylic cube that glows along all the seams between the smaller cubes. I can already imagine myself staring at it when I can’t fall asleep at night.

The cube is constructed of 26 smaller wooden cubes with pieces of cut acrylic between each (all held together with superglue), with no cube in the center of the bottom or middle layers so you can insert the LEDs and power cord. Blueboxes mentions following his tutorial will create a cube light that’s about 6.6cm square (a traditional Rubik’s Cube is 5.6cm square), but the design can be scaled up or down to your liking.

I’m going to build one with color-changing LEDs and paint all the exposed wooden sides to resemble a Rubik’s Cube even more. Or accidentally glue my head to my workbench. Either way, my wife will just be happy I spent some time in the garage so she could watch her shows in peace.

[via Instructables]

This portable lantern’s battery was designed to be recharged using ocean water

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This low-cost high-innovation LED lamp uses saltwater to recharge its batteries! Labeled the WaterLight, it was designed for neighborhoods with little to no access to electricity. Instead of requiring a traditional power outlet to replenish its batteries, the WaterLight uses a water-activated magnesium battery that causes a reaction when it comes in contact with brine. This effectively means the WaterLight can be charged via ocean water, regular salt water, or in emergency cases, even urine.

Designed by Colombian start-up E-Dina in collaboration with creative agency Wunderman Thompson, the lamp hopes to act as a stand-in for solar-powered lamps. The WaterLight is much more efficient than a solar-powered lamp, generating much more energy than a solar panel would. “WaterLight can be more efficient than solar energy lanterns because it regenerates instantly,” said Pipe Ruiz Pineda, executive creative director of Wunderman Thompson Colombia. “Once filled with water, the energy delivery is immediate while solar lanterns need to transform solar energy to alternative energy to charge batteries and they only work if there is sun.”

Almost a billion people have no access to electricity, according to World Health Organization data. That’s roughly 14% of the world that has to live in the darkness for half of the day. This stops them from being able to work and live, and makes it difficult for kids to study past dusk too. The WaterLight was designed to help them easily and effectively combat this situation without relying on a power grid. The light comes made from entirely recyclable materials that are water-resistant too. Inlets on the top of the lamp let water flow in, while the LEDs at the bottom provide 45 days of electricity with just half a liter of salt water.

The design of the WaterLight is inspired by the Colombian Wayuu community, an indigenous tribe with a strong ancestral connection to the sea. Living practically isolated from civilization, the tribes still rely on fishing and handicrafts to sustain themselves – activities that can’t be done after dark. The WaterLight puts a powerful portable light in each household. Fishermen can take the light out to sea and use its canoe-friendly design to suspend it to their boats. Craftswomen, on the other hand, can use the lamp after dark to work on their art, and their children can use it to study after sunset.

Water-activated magnesium batteries aren’t new, although their applications are few and far apart. The Solar Desalination Light (a finalist at the Lexus Design Award 2021) uses a similar solution to power lights at night while using the sun during the day to purify the ocean’s salty water for consumption. The WaterLight on the other hand, focuses on providing a versatile, portable, and efficient light that can be recharged using limited resources available to the users. For good measure, the lamps even work as mini generators, and a USB port on one side of the lamp lets you charge small devices with it like a smartphone, giving you access to communication and even to emergency services, should you ever need them.

Designer: E-Dina in collaboration with Wunderman Thompson

This Pac-Man “Neon” Light Is Pretty A-Maze-ing

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We know that Pac-Man has a thing for dots and ghosts. And while the yellow dot-gobbler and his ghostly enemies look pretty great as pixel art, I think they’re even better all lit up in neon. This awesomely geeky Pac-Man light comes from Neon World Custom, which makes all kinds of amazing and vibrant lights using silicone tubing filled with LEDs, resulting in an impressively accurate neon effect, and without any of the downsides like broken glass tubes, slowly-leaking gas, or high voltage electrocution.

Each one is handmade and would look amazing in any game room. For that matter, you could put it in your dining room or master bedroom if your significant other is into retro gaming too. The Pac-Man LED Neon Light is available on Etsy. It comes in sizes ranging from 23″ x 6″ to a massive 55″ x 14″, with prices from $225 to $400. Neon World Custom has lots of other cool lights in their shop, like this LED neon cheeseburger and light-up astronaut. They can also make custom designs to your specs, so be sure to check them out.

Now can I have a neon maze to go with my neon Pac-Man?