Laser pointer heads definitely Can show text clearly. I've got one around somewhere that projects "LOVE" with a heart in the 'O' spot. The "TOO LOUD!" sounds marketable to me. I'd think it might even be profitable for someone to make. Or at least I can dream. I'll see if I can find a way to create one if madbodger doesn't beat me to it.
The green LED problem is subtler. The green LEDs Are brighter than the old ones, but Not as much so as the newer reds. They Look brighter because your eyes are Much more sensitive to green And to relative intensity in that range. So they are brighter, but they also look More ~brighter~. Also, the red LED traffic lights are still using the ~older (ie., cheaper) middling brightness LEDs. The newest ~really powerful ones would be blinding people at the same levels of wattage as the old ones use. OTOH, for the Vast majority of the populace, their red sensitivity is poor to low and even blue isn't seen terribly well.
Yellow and red LEDs have been cost-effective as incandescent replacements in public fixtures for years, but the greens only in the last year or two that I'm aware of. Even the blue- and white LEDs are coming down in price, finally. Indoor lighting with LEDs is beginning to take off in Europe and Japan. Maybe here in a year or three?
(no subject)
The green LED problem is subtler. The green LEDs Are brighter than the old ones, but Not as much so as the newer reds. They Look brighter because your eyes are Much more sensitive to green And to relative intensity in that range. So they are brighter, but they also look More ~brighter~. Also, the red LED traffic lights are still using the ~older (ie., cheaper) middling brightness LEDs. The newest ~really powerful ones would be blinding people at the same levels of wattage as the old ones use. OTOH, for the Vast majority of the populace, their red sensitivity is poor to low and even blue isn't seen terribly well.
Yellow and red LEDs have been cost-effective as incandescent replacements in public fixtures for years, but the greens only in the last year or two that I'm aware of. Even the blue- and white LEDs are coming down in price, finally. Indoor lighting with LEDs is beginning to take off in Europe and Japan. Maybe here in a year or three?