Yep....the TLC5947 is relatively new and no one knows about it. I have a breakout board that is actually the same idea as the ShiftBrite, except with 8 RGB surface mount LEDs in 0.5" spacing. Additionally, I have a breakout board with headers that allow controlling either 24 individual LEDs or 8 RGB LEDs on mini PCBs with cables. It is still much more wire length required than a ShiftBrite chain since it's a star topology instead of daisy chained LEDs, but it will allow more flexible installations. If you wanted 96 LEDs randomly scattered across an area with 2 to 3 feet between them, the ShiftBrite idea would fail but the TLC5947 solution would be perfect.