I’m not really sure if this is good or bad news for end consumers, but a couple of Japanese companies have developed a technology that makes it possible to transmit information from blinking LEDs fixed on advertisements to cell phones – using only light. The companies involved in the development include some big names such as Toshiba or NEC.

With this new system, Japanese cell phone users don’t have to scan the ubiquitous QR codes anymore to access more information on a certain product or to get coupons but can obtain the data without being physically close to the ads. If you have an ad measuring 1sqm and place LEDs on it, for example, the target user can stand as far as five meters away (the distance can be longer in the case of larger ads). If the users are interested in what’s being offered, it’s enough to point the cell phone to the ad to instantly view the information on the screen.

The LEDs blink about four million times per second and (obviously) require the use of a light-receiving handset (sorry for the silly picture – there are no official photos of the LED system yet). Advertisers can change the blinking frequency to change the content of the information they send to their potential customers.

The technology is on track to be commercialized by 2013.

Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

The Man With No Shadow by Makoto Tojiki is a life-sized LED light sculpture of a man that welcomed visitors to Tojiki’s stand at SaloneSatellite. The Man was just one of some very interesting lighting projects by Tojiki. Tobias Franzel also got a lot of attention by challenging passersby to a quick game of ping-pong. Franzel is the designer of a door that flips into a ping-pong table for two players. Birds on a wire are a common outdoor scene, so why not put them to work on a clothesline? Angelo is a bird-shaped clothespin by Valentina Frosini. And students from the product design department of the University of Lincoln had a solid variety of work at their stand, including some sharp laser cut clock towers.

Mocoloco

We’ve replaced almost all our light bulbs with eco-friendly compact fluorescents, but there are still some lamps we still use energy hogging incandescents with — such as the light in our office. There’s just something about the pairing of CFLs and my LCD monitor that makes our eyes want to bleed. Both provide relatively harsh lighting, and since CFLs can’t really be adjusted we’ve let this one lamp slip. We may change our tune as soon as Sharp releases its LEDs. The bulbs come with a remote control which let you scroll through seven different intensities of white. It’s similar to a dimmer… As with most cool things, they’ll be in Japan first. Hopefully they’ll cross the Pacific soon!

Dvice

A very elegantly designed LED lamp by Tunto which has won the international Red Dot Design 2009 Award for this brilliant lamp that operates by touch and has no visible switches and nicely combines digital technology with natural wood. The lamp was designed by Mikko Krakkainen, and it is available to pre-order from the FinnishDesignShop for 495 Euros, about $650.

More info: Geekly-Gadgets.com