Backlighting is where an LCD stores all its mojo. It controls the brightness, the contrast, and the overall performance of a display. Not all LED backlighting is created equal though. Fortunately, there’s this great post explaining the intricacies of the different LED backlight types.

According to Wikipedia, the first commercial LCD TV with LED backlighting was the Sony Qualia 005 back in 2004. It used RBG LED backlighting, although it lacked the more recent ability to dim different sections of the screen that many current LED backlit TVs do. This means that these televisions are able to show blacks as true blacks, rather than a dull grey colour, thanks to the ability to turn off the backlight altogether.

Yet despite LED backlit TVs launching five years ago, it’s only in the past 18 months that the market has really started to offer LED TVs. Now, almost all TV manufacturers are promoting LED as the next big thing in TV technology. And until OLED becomes big enough and affordable enough, it probably is…

History of TV is Giz AU’s month-long look back at the development of the world-changing medium and its influence on our daily lives.

You will learn important lessons like: sizing your TV to optimise resolution, whether to choose LCD vs plasma vs LED and why you don’t need to spend money on a 240Hz TV. So make sure to check out the following link before you shop. [HDGuru]

I suppose this is the right bed for you if you prefer to pleasure partners like you’re a character in a supernatural slasher film or in an ’80s metal music video — but I digress. The bed, nightstand and wall lamp combo are handcrafted from rotten teak planks which provide ideal cavities to embed LEDs (a clear epoxy material generates the light colour effect). Guys with little taste and lots of money can score a set for $US7500. [Treecycled Furniture via Born Rich]

Frederik Krebs came up with this combination of solar panels and LED lights which, while definitely a work in progress, could bring cheap light to some of the world’s poorest regions. I call the lamps a work in progress because despite being durable enough to last several years, they run at a mere 1 per cent efficiency. But with the expected final cost of $US7 a piece, they’re full of life-changing potential.

Some prototypes of the lamps are currently being tested in Zambia. As seen in the picture, the solar panels are left laying flat during the day and then rolled up (and secured with a snap button) into a cone-shaped lamp. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the results of the prototype tests and a final product, because no one should go without artificially lit nights. [IEEE Spectrum via Pop Sci]

The design is a rough map of the city’s neighbourhood as distinguished by “air boundaries”.
The data is collected from 27 air monitoring stations; every 15 minutes the map lights up in order of highest to lowest air quality. [Living Light via bldgblog]

In other words, you could use duct tape to actually pimp something out as opposed to simply keeping it together. That must be what designer Keywon had in mind when he came up with a prototype called Sculpt-a-Light. By rolling the tape and connecting the ends, you complete the circuit. Of course, you would need a smaller and more effective power source before anything like this could actually be considered for the mass market, but it is an interesting idea nonetheless. [Keywon via Architectradure via OhGizmo]

But we’ll admit it — this techno-barbarism is strangely hypnotic. [Soomi Park via fashioningtechnology via Valleywag]

I have seen some pretty cool electronic graffiti techniques in the past, but multimedia performers Sweatshoppe’s method—which uses a paint roller to draw video straight on walls—beats them all.

The paint roller doesn’t paint anything on the wall. It’s made with green LEDs. A camera next to the projector tracks the position of the paint roller, unmasking the video projection in real time, as the artists draws on the wall. Pretty clever.

Sweatshoppe—artists Bruno Levy and Blake Shaw—plans to release the software as soon as the polish it and beef it up with features. [Wooster Collective via Bonnie Burton]

That is to say, he made a 3D printing of a dead firefly and crammed some LEDs up its synthetic butt. As bizarre as this is, a whole swarm of these would make for an interesting chandelier. [Design News Now via No Smarties via Boing Boing]

You control the 12-person table through two 15-inch touchscreen monitors. Their controls drive an integrated PC, speakers w/amp and, of course, all of those RGB LEDs that cover so much of the table’s surface.

There is a future for integrated technology behind the cold metal and plastic shells that are so popular today. But the Stardust Table isn’t it. We hope. [Treecycled Furniture via Bornrich]