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Muxmedia

LED Ambient Lighting by Electrical Contractor for Toronto and GTA

OFFICE

The philosophy of lighting an office used to be to provide a uniform level of illumination throughout. Today, however, there is a growing awareness that efficiency can improve considerably if the lighting is more balanced, and adapted to each function. Reflections on computer screens can prove tiring as the day draws on, and as concentration drops, so does efficiency.

Muxmedia provides LED based lighting solutions not only that it will offer flexibility and adaptability, but it can help make people feel more comfortable at work and help stimulate their performance, while experiencing considerable energy and maintenance cost reductions.

OUTDOOR

The needs of urban lighting are changing. It is no longer simply a matter of providing enough light in our towns and cities to ensure visibility and security; today, lighting is increasingly being used to create a nocturnal environment in which the city takes on a new identity, creating a more livable community that residents are proud of.

LEDs lighting provide an unparalleled way of illuminating our outside environment in an exciting and practical manner. They are highly adaptable, allowing designers to move away from the static lighting of the past and venture into creating flexible ambiances that could, for example, change with the weather or the season, and provide festive colour options on public holidays. And all this with energy consumption that is only a fraction of conventional lighting techniques.

RETAIL

Shopping today has become an experience. And lighting plays a vital role in creating that experience, whether in a small, trendy boutique or in a major department store. LED solutions are uniquely suited to retail outlets. It can provide a wide range of effects, from the strikingly dramatic to the intriguing and inviting that contribute to the total shopping experience. It can highlight a product, create drama and interest, but it can also reflect mood, helping create the perfect environment for the shopping experience.

LED lighting systems are so adaptable, so flexible, that a single lighting system can conjure up an almost limitless number of effects, moods and ambiances. Thanks to the ultra-long life of LEDs and their high energy efficiency, cost-savings on energy can be very significant.

ENTERTAINMENT - EVENTS

Lighting and entertainment energize us. It can make an ordinary environment into something extraordinary. Our flexible lighting solutions allow people to create experiences that are unique, adjustable and totally responsive in either outside on walls or to the inside, even under the table.

RESIDENTIAL

Our specialists will transform your home into a beautiful, cozy and inviting living space. Our Residential lighting solutions are elegant and very appealing with a luxury accents that until now only extremely expensive properties could enjoy these illumination effects.

The illumination with LED's provides about 50 times longer life than conventional incandescent bulbs and it consumes about 70% to 90% less energy for the same amount of light in comparison with the same classic bulb light. We will provide solutions for every budget transforming your living space in a very special one.

We hold Canadian patents related to specific ambient lighting. Our patented Illuminated Crown Moulding and Illuminated Side-boards solution has a wide applicability in almost any home adding a great touch of luxury and comfort.

HOME THEATRE WITH AMBILIGHT - BOBLIGHT SYSTEM

The idea is simple: A home theatre provides a theatre-like experience in your home.
But what exactly does that entail?
The quick answer is, there's no quick answer. A home theatre can be as simple as a few A/V devices in your living room or as complex as a completely renovated basement designed to look like Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre. At its core, a home theatre system should provide a high-quality video experience and an immersive audio experience that breathe life into your favourite movies, but a number of roads can lead to that destination.

We work with the customer, builder and/or designer within the given budget to provide best solution and execution for a perfect Home Theatre System. Starting with basic HDTV and up to 4KTV. The sound could start as low as 2.1 channels or a basic sound bar up to the most sophisticated audio systems. We make sure that we will provide full explanation what you will get.

As a unique feature, Muxmedia provides Ambilight system as special customizations in terms of light and sound. Imagine Ambilight System as a smudge or an extension of dynamic and synchronized light projected on the walls or ceiling, as seen in the image above.
"A picture is a thousand words" and a video perhaps more...

Contact: contact@muxmedia.com

Philips Hue LED smart lights hacked, home blacked out by security researcher

Within a the last two decades, lighting has very rapidly moved from Thomas Edison’s highly controlled burning to semiconductor-based illumination. The logical next step after our lights became electronic devices was to turn them into internet-connected gadgets, which Philips did quite successfully with the Hue lighting system. Joining the internet of things is an important advance for lighting, but it means that these devices are subject to the same security issues that all other connected products must face. This week we learned that Philips fell short in its security precautions and a security researcher was able to crack into the Hue’s supposedly closed system, creating a localized blackout.

Using a malware script, Nitesh Dhanjani hacked into a Hue installation and issued a blackout command through the bridge (the Hue’s router) turning the connected lights out entirely. This is essentially the connected home equivalent of a hacker taking over your car, except that Dhanjani actually did it and documented the entire process.

The attack itself doesn’t seem too interesting — theoretically, the hacker gets a bit of malware onto the victim’s computer which tells the Hue bulbs connected to a bridge on the same network to turn off. The bulbs are still powered but they are not not producing light, which is the standard off-state for Hue. This shouldn’t be that bad because the Hue bulbs are designed to revert to the on state after they lose power for any period — say, a wall switch is flipped — but in this case the malware script runs continuously, so the bulbs are commanded to turn off immediately after they are powered up.

By compromising a device on the network — not the Hue system itself — this malware would completely break the Hue for almost any user, unless they thought to try the bulbswithout the bridge installed. In this case the Hue bulbs would not respond to app commands or be able to change color, leaving the owner with a set of very expensive, white Philips LED bulbs (but at least they would work).

In his paper on the hack Dhanjani walks through the Hue’s security — which is otherwise adequate — and makes the point that connected devices must focus on security. He details how the highly connected Hue can be attacked through multiple vectors, including links on Facebook, IFTTT recipes, or by theoretically finding a flaw in the radio protocol (Zigbee Light Link). By placing the malware on a local PC it becomes persistent and much more effective then attacking the Hue itself. Not only does this method circumvent the Hue’s otherwise adequate security, but it would render replacement Hue systems useless as well.

This proof-of-concept hack might not seem very concerning — it’s an exploit, coded by a director at Ernst & Young who’s the whitest of white hat hackers, that disables a few bulbs in a very small number of homes — but its point is clear enough. Philips needs need get smarter about its security, and be more careful about steps that are skipped solely for ease of use. In this case the Hue’s whitelist tokens cannot be edited once they are in place without accessing the debugger, which is not only the malware’s attack vector but also the reason the malware can continue to operate, causing a perpetual blackout.

Anolis Lights Iconic Industrial Landmark

The heritage-listed Newstead Gas Ring is an iconic piece of Brisbane’s historical industrial architecture that is now at the hub of a major urban regeneration project, Gasworks, a plan started over two decades ago to transform the formally derelict post-industrial wasteland into a busy and vibrant contemporary living, working and commercial environment.

The newly launched Gasworks Plaza element of this project stands below the superstructure of the former gas storage ring which still majestically towers above the land below... and has now been illuminated with over 500 Anolis LED lighting fixtures.

These bring its stunning Victorian architecture to life in a spectacular lighting and sound installation concept bridging the gap between its former functionality and its new funkiness.
The old gasworks that once stood on the site adjacent to the Brisbane River was opened in 1887 and provided lighting to the Brisbane area for decades. Now it is living, breathing and being appreciated again with the intricate and beautiful colours unique to gas flames.

These ‘flames’ linking past-to-present on the classic steel structure were the brainchild of Lighting Designer Heath Williamson of Brisbane creative lighting practice Firefly, who collaborated closely with Jono Perry, Technical Director of the Brisbane Festival.

The pair have over 30 years aggregate experience in the event and theatre production and cinematography industries... plus a huge connection with the structure.

It was Williamson who initially pushed the Newstead area’s developers FKP to let him re-imagine the landmark Gas Ring as a giant public sculpture for all to enjoy.

Once this had received the green light, he had an open brief to bring the specific sense of colour, kinesys and fluidity he wanted to the art ... and he chose to work with Anolis.

He chose Anolis because it is a quality LED brand, for the great service offered by Australian distributors’ The ULA Group and because he wanted to use cutting-edge technology for the scheme.
The Gas Ring is 40 metres in diameter with a circumference of 152 metres and features 20 spires each 20 metres tall.

Anolis ArcDots -- a super-bright Cree MC-E RGBW multichip based LED ‘pixel’ fixture with an IP67 rating for good weather resistance -- are used on every bracing cross-member of steel on the middle and top rings, which are approximately 1200mm apart. There are also five runs of 7 x ArcDots at 1200mm spacings on every fourth spire, and a further 40 units up-light the finials at the top of each spire.

In addition to these, 60 Anolis ArcSource 96s are utilised to up-light the main frames of each of the 20 spires … and 20 x ArcSource Integral MCs are ensconced in the ground beneath the trees around the Gasometer to complement the glowing metal.

Williamson loves the ArcSource 96s, commenting that in terms of output they were easily “The best” relatively compact outdoor LED flood that they tested. Ahead of making the final decision, he and Perry travelled to Singapore’s Garden By The Bay where they saw ArcSource 96s in action lighting the Supertrees, and that impressed them enough to confirm the fixtures for the Gas Ring. “I love the power and the throw,” he adds.

All the lighting is controlled via an e:cue DMX system which was programmed by Williamson and Perry. Perry produced four special 10 minute musical tracks for a weekend lightshow which plays out on Friday and Saturday nights. During the week the Ring is lit after dark in a signature scheme of different colours depending on season, events, etc.

The fixtures were supplied to the project by The ULA Group and installed on site by Eltech Electrical.

Blair Terrace, the Architectural Project Manager from the ULA Group comments, “This was a fantastic project to be involved in, working along side Heath and Jono in being a part of transforming this landmark from a derelict mud covered building site to an illuminated art piece was inspirational. This project has embraced world leading lighting technology with both hands and the reward is evident in the final result.”

“Congratulations to Heath and Jono and all involved on a spectacular piece of creative illumination,” adds Cuono Biviano, Managing Director of ULA Group.

“It gives me great pleasure that the ULA Group was a major supply partner in this landmark project and in the continual evolution of creative illumination throughout Australia and the globe. We pride ourselves in supplying the very best solutions and support for such demanding projects, and we look forward to many more in the future with Heath and Jono.”

Williamson first set eyes on the Gas Ring aged 17, when he was fresh out of high school and working for a film company on a NSW rugby tour with Tina Turner who performed under it. At the time he imagined that it would make an amazing light sculpture!

Several years later he saw an old Gasometer in Berlin lit for a music festival.... And this reignited the idea and the original dream in his head!

Perry spent eight years as a show director for Opera Australia integrating mixed and multi visual mediums with music... and so was a perfect partner to bring the magic of music to the Gas Ring and below it the Gasworks Plaza space, which is designed to host music and entertainment events of all types.

LED business news: Lutron and Crestron settle, Lextar, Revolution Lighting, and LSGC

Lutron Electronics has announced that it settled an RF-centric patent-infringement lawsuit against Crestron with the latter agreeing to license intellectual property (IP) related to wireless communications for remote control of automated shades and lighting including LED-based products. LED manufacturer Lextar (TAIEX:3698) has stated quarterly and annual profits and realized 36.8% year-over-year revenue growth. Revolution Lighting has acquired Value Lighting with the intent of penetrating the multi-family dwelling market with solid-state lighting (SSL). Lighting Science Group Corp (OTCQB:LSCG) has secured a new $53M (million) credit facility.

Lutron IP license

Lutron and Crestron did not reveal the details of their settlement of a lawsuit that was first filed in August 2009. Lutron claimed that Crestron products infringed two patents in the RF communications area and that Crestron also infringed a Lutron product design patent.

Crestron will now have a license to use the IP in question. The company will pay royalties to Lutron on past and future sales of products that use the covered RF technology. Lutron has previously licensed the IP in the RF patents to a number of other players in the lighting space including Control4, Cooper, Leviton, and Vantage Controls.

Lutron has a broad portfolio of control-centric products that can be used with both SSL and legacy lighting. Most recently the company rolled out new wired and wireless controls in February including an LED driver based on the company's wired EcoSystem technology and wireless dimmer control modules for use with 0-10V-based luminaires.

Lextar Q4 and year-end financials

Lextar's fourth-quarter 2013 and annual financial results were significantly improved from the prior year. Quarterly revenue was NT$3.32B (billion) or $110M and annual revenue totaled NT$13.75B ($450M). The annual gross margin of 12.7% yielded net profit of NT$948M ($1.3M).

Lextar president Allen Huang said that Lextar witnessed recovery in the LED business during 2013; however, he also noted that fierce competition is impacting component pricing and therefore profits. The company said that both backlighting and general lighting were responsible for the company's growth.

General lighting accounted for 30% of Lextar's business in 2013, and the company expects that figure to grow to 40% this year. The company expects that its China lighting venture Lextar Suzhou will help drive growth.

During 2013, the company integrated its operations with Wellypower Optronics, a company that Lextar acquired early in the year. That acquisition has helped Lextar become more vertically integrated and find more success in China.

Revolution Lighting acquisition

LED Lighting vendor Revolution Lighting will pay $35.6M for Value Lighting and assume $3.5M in dept. The transaction will include a $7.5M cash payment with stock accounting for the remainder of the purchase. Revolution said that Value Lighting has revenue of $43M in 2013.

The acquisition will provide Revolution Lighting with access to the multi-family dwelling market such as apartments. Value Lighting has specialized in the multi-family housing sector and Revolution said that market is expected to grow faster than the long-term average in coming years.

"This is an exciting and highly complementary acquisition that will allow Revolution Lighting to penetrate new markets, including the fast-growing multifamily residential housing sector, and further accelerate our overall growth as a company," said Robert V. LaPenta, chairman and CEO of Revolution. "Value Lighting's existing and new build customers are seeking to expand into LED lighting solutions and will provide a new and significant distribution channel for our company."

Lighting Science Group

Lighting Science, meanwhile, has revealed a new credit line in a relationship with Medley Capital Corp. The $53M will be utilized to refinance existing debt and to fund operations as the company focuses increasingly on LED retrofit lamps that deliver biologically-corrected light. The lamps are part of the human-centric lighting trend and deliver spectral distributions that can either increase alertness or encourage rest.
"This transaction provides Lighting Science with additional and more flexible capital in order to continue to pursue our infrastructure-related objectives for the next several years as well as our innovative product and technology development strategies," said Richard Davis, Lighting Science interim CEO.

Notre Dame Refitted with LED Lights

The Notre Dame de Paris just got an electronic facelift. Last week, tech company Royal Philips supplied the 13th century Gothic cathedral with a brand new LED lighting scheme that exposes details of the church that have never been seen before. The new lighting illuminates the rose windows regardless of exterior lighting while a near-invisible spotlight reveals details of the renowned sculpture, “Virgin and Child.”

Not only do these new lights dramatize the cathedral, but a computerized system orchestrates all 400 luminaires. The system is able to adjust the mood lighting based on what events are taking place and what exterior light is coming through the windows. The new LED system also has an installed capacity of 30kW compared to the previous 140kW capacity, reducing energy consumption by 80 percent.

While some may miss the more traditional dim lighting of the cathedral, the new LEDs allow visitors to glimpse into the previously darkened vaults and corners of the cathedral and retrieve a new understanding of an old monument.

LIGHTFAIR CALL FOR SPEAKERS

In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the LIGHTFAIR^® International 2014 Conference curriculum will champion integrated design as a central theme linking all courses, workshops and seminars in common focus to illustrate how technology, tools, problem-solving and inspiration converge in contemporary practice.  The integrated design focus is advanced by the 2014 LFI Conference Advisory Committee to recognize the need for the creation of socially responsible, effective and aesthetically pleasing environments.

With integrated design as its platform, the LIGHTFAIR 2014 Conference will create a vibrant atmosphere in which experts from diverse disciplines come together to present, discuss, debate, exchange and explore best practices and emerging concepts. Presenters, groups and panels all are encouraged to address integrated design practices.

Inspiration sessions address rule-breakers, creators of new pathways, re-defining the human experience within the built environment. Tell us what feeds your passion!

Technology and Tools sessions should address new and innovative elements. Subjects might include software, sources, luminaire components, controls, alternative/solar energy sources, daylighting and beyond.

Problem-Solving sessions address the process of achieving a viable solution through the successful combination of ideas. Situations may range from business-related issues to technology and design.

Integrated Design sessions address the holistic design process of a product or an environment that incorporates the collaboration of design professionals, manufacturers, builders, owners and/or occupants. Case studies or in-depth review of solutions that emphasize how the collaborative process affected the outcome are encouraged.

LED - Solid State Lighting Assessment

Solid State Lighting Assessment Technical Information

Visible light is a form of electromagnetic energy, part of a spectrum that includes radio waves, X-rays, ultraviolet and infrared. Visible radiation is commonly called “light”, and is usually described by its wavelength, which is expressed in nanometers. One nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or roughly four ten-billionths of an inch. The relationship of light to other forms of energy is illustrated below. The human eye can only see a part of this energy spectrum – a very narrow band of wavelengths between about 380 and 780 nm. The hue we see as blue lies below 480 nm, green between approximately 480 and 560 nm, yellow between 560 and 590 nm, orange between 590 and 630 nm, and red appears at wavelengths above 630 nm.

Sources of light such as the sun, florescent lamps, tungsten-filament light bulbs and LEDs emit light that is composed of a combination of visible wavelengths. A curve showing the amount of each of the visible wavelengths emitted by a light source is known as its “spectral power distribution”. The hues we see of physical objects are directly affected by the spectral power distribution of their illuminating light sources. And more importantly for motion picture production, the hues seen by film stocks and digital motion picture cameras are also directly affected by the illuminant’s spectral power distribution in distinctly different ways than the human eye.