who or what is next??

This may should go in the mod forum however it deals with the future of lighting and so I believe this to be mostly LEDs so I decided to put this thread here.
LEDs have advanced rapidly lately and there are many great choices available.I am curious as to what you think the next big thing will be as far as lights go.I am also noticing very many members producing quality lights and also am wondering who is going to bring the next big hit into the playing field.
I love modding lights and have a head full of ideas however am limited to just tinkering with host bodies and doner parts.
I am sure that even the great Mr.Gransee himself was once just a curious tinkerer himself and advanced to become a serious player against the likes of Surefire and Streamlight.
He has made a great product and I am just curious as to who is next.I personally think MR.Bulk may be on to something with the VIP.Also others like McGizmo,Lambda,Electrolumens,DSpeck,Chop.....the list goes on and on.
We have some electrical wizards here as well as people with great machining skills.I am just wondering what everyones ideas are for the future of inventors or who will have the next big thing.
Any one with any great ideas or a certain type of light they may want to develope?It would be interesting to hear everyones point of view on this as we may all be able to benefit from each others skills or ideas.
It just dawned on me after reading old posts in the mod forum that we have some potential great makers of what may be the next big light to have here.I loved the little NLS by Tvodrd and think he is one also who could be the next creator of a quality production light.
Any thoughts in general would be interesting here on any topic related to the title.
What type of Luxeon do you forsee in 1 year or what will be popular next?
Just rambling on here but the many different talents we have among us is very interesting to me.
The things I see from some members and their lathe work is incredible.
I will start and say that I think the future of Lighting is going to be mostly Luxeon slowly passing the incandescents in popularity and ability.I also think lights will get smaller and smaller as this appears to be the growing trend.
I also like the way many are using variable output switches in order to have one light with the ability of many due to the ability to choose the level of brightness needed for what ever task.
I believe there is a huge demand for quality lights and that people will pay for it.Look at the cost of the current ARC LS4.Peter can not keep up with demand and even at a little higher cost his stock of all lights is usually depleted quick.
I always wondered where people got their ideas from and how they started out to be great inventors or modders.
I know this is a long post but this topic interests me and gets my modding mind stirring.....hehe

I don't think the cosmetics will change much, but I do forse a change in batteries, and the light producing element themselves. I think perhaps the next big change will come somehow n the form of nano technology. I think it may be years or even decades, but imagine a battery that last for months, or even years of use with no recharging. They would continuely manufacture their own charge. Then I think it will advance to a "bulb" (for lack of better term) that will produce light without batteries.
However I don't believe that the battery manufactures (much like oil, and the automobile) will allow this to happen very easily.

I also think batteries will continue to improve.I have read here that AAA lithiums are on the way soon.
It seems to me that there are always the same players in the light industry with developers such as ARC,Surefire and Streamlight and others always leading the way.
I think that some smaller companies or less known people will be trying out new ideas and hopefully bringing many more choices to the market.
There are many here who have the skills to do this and I am curious as to what the future holds.
I have deen studying various threads and have seen many possible players in the light market but they never seem to amount to a full scale production light.
I thought LongBow had a decent looking light but you never seem to hear about them anymore.Pelican and others like Dorcy,Inova are coming to the scene with lower cost models however lack the reputation of the major players.
I think the LED lights will surely improve and that modded lights are going to grow in popularity with someone finally coming up with the next "must have" light.
There are several models that I would like to and hopefully will own some day however when does one ever actually have enough lights...hehe

Sandia labs is working with the Tungsten Photonic Lattice. This could be as big a step as LEDs were from Edison's glowing filament for light generation as well as improving photovoltaic cell efficiency.

http://www.sandia.gov/media/NewsRel/NR2002/tungsten.htm
http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2003/other/planck-lin.html

I also see a trend with the Luxeon 3 watts and 5 watters gaining in popularity.Is it possible to say that many lights will begin to use these and slowly fade out the 1 watters?
I also wonder about these clones of the Luxeons showing up on scene.Seems like there are only a few places to get quality Luxeons and if someone else puts a similiar,cheaper product out they could make a lot of money.We could also benefit from this as costs would lower and we would have a variety of options to choose from.

I see a near-term trend focusing on multi-level lighting tools, eg Peters LS4, MRBulk's VIP, and some pioneering creativity by gadget_lover. I will bet there's more on the horizon. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Larry

I bet /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Larry ...

If he actually sells any of his mods /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The NLS was one of the most interesting posts I have read in a while.Very ingenious with a huge potential for high sales.
I think one limiting factor for most with great skills and ideas is the cost factor.It must be expensive to make enough lights to sale to all of us flashaholics.
From prototype to finished working,reliable model could take more than one has to invest.
I do enjoy looking at our members creations and also learning from others ideas.
I also like the idea of many such as McGizmo who takes a good existing light and makes it better.
I could only imagine what leaps and bounds lights would make if we all were rich with money being no object.