I saw these at Lowe's the other day and thought they were quite novel. Not super cheap, but affordable for locations where the appearance of the bulb is a priority.
Interesting to watch about this dying vacuum-tube technology.
Is this the next breakthrough on lighting and semi-conductor construction ?
Then again, didn't most cities prior to the mid-1960s used be lit with mercury lamps, that are very blue (and give a ghastly light that makes everyone look like a ghost).
"Three scientists have jointly earned the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on blue LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. Why blue in particular? Well, blue was the last -- and most difficult -- advance required to create white LED light. And with white LED light, companies are able to create smartphone and computer screens, as well as light bulbs that last longer and use less electricity than any bulb invented before."
The LED was invented in 1962, with research into creating a "solid state" laser produced a visible light. Researchers in 1962 knew that "solid state" lighting was the future, but they had no idea that it would be another 50 years until all the elements of the technology would come to place to make the it a practical lighting solution for the masses.
I was at Walmart last night and I noticed how many LED light bulbs they now have on sale. It seems almost certain that traditional vacuum-tube style lighting (incandescent and fluorescent) has less then 10 years left in it's life -- prices continue to drop -- and LED lighting is now superior in most ways to the vacuum-tubes that have long lit our buildings.
Sometimes innovation takes a long time. Who would have ever thought a half century would pass before we would light our buildings with something other then vacuum tubes? Vacuum tube electronics disappeared within 10 years of the introduction of the transistor and solid state electronics, but it shows you how different technology progresses at.