Panasonic Makes a Tokyo River Glow With 100,000 LED Lights, PSFK

Panasonic Makes a Tokyo River Glow With 100,000 LED Lights
15/05/2012 by Dylan Schenker for PSFK on Mashable

Imagine a glowing river lit up with the natural illumination of fireflies. The small insects flitting across the water reflecting upon it like a naturally created light show. This past weekend the Sumida River that runs through Tokyo was lit up by 100,000 LED lights for the Tokyo Hotaru Festival to commemorate the now scarce insects that used to bring the river to life. The balls of light which have been dubbed “Prayer Stars”.  were provided byPanasonic. They are 100% solar powered and were designed to activate when they come in contact with the water.

The photos from the installation, which was part of a larger display called Hikari no Symphony or Symphony of Light, the river peppered with the luminous blue dots making it come alive with a kinetic blue energy that surges from the water. Against the backdrop of the city it begins to look more like an optical wire conducting energy as part of some supercomputer more than it does a body of water.

Check out the video below to see the installation in action:

Source: Mashable

Toshiba, Hitachi Halt LCD Production in Japan

Toshiba, Hitachi Halt LCD Production in Japan

March 18, 2011 by Stan Schroeder

Due to damage from the devastating earthquake in Japan, Toshiba has been forced to close down its LCD assembly line at a plant near Tokyo for a month, a Toshiba spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Another LCD maker, Hitachi, has also been forced to halt production at one of its factories, and Sony and Panasonic have also suspended operations at several of their plants.

The negative impact of these disruptions on Japan’s economy is obvious, but it’s hard to tell how they will affect global LCD supply, as Panasonic plans to offset the damage by increasing production in other factories, while Hitachi might get help from Taiwan-based Chimei Innolux Corp.

Some analysts think that smartphone shortages are still a possibility, though. “Given that the market for smartphones outside Japan is pretty active, supply disruptions there could cause problems for some handset makers of some models,” said Damian Thong, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities in Japan.

It’s too early to point to specific smartphone models, but the earthquake in Japan might soon start affecting us all in the way of “out of stock” signs.

[via Reuters]