Smart lighting can light up your life. Too cheesy? I meant that literally. Smart lighting is awesome – you can either get ‘white only’ bulbs that can be smartly dimmed and turned on/off, or you can buy color bulbs which can be set to millions of colors. Fancy a home disco? Smart lighting is where it’s at.
The goal of most smart home owners is to get their homes to operate seamlessly and achieve interoperability with all of their smart devices. With the introduction of smart home hubs such as Amazon’s Echo, Samsung SmartThings, and Apple HomeKit, just to name a few, this goal of interoperability seemed to become a reality. However, … Read more
Lux values, brightness sensitivity, and daylight control all refer to the same setting in your smart motion detectors. This setting is where you pick how bright it has to be before your motion sensor will trigger. The lower the setting, the more light the sensor needs to activate. This is a powerful setting. Not only … Read more
Infrared vision is the stuff of science fiction and spy movies. Being able to see heat signatures allows action movie heroes to see through walls, but why can’t my Philips Hue Motion Sensor see through a glass window? Passive infrared sensors work wonders in low-light conditions, but they have their drawbacks. These sensors are far … Read more
Whether it’s Linus (from LTT) or Paul Hibbert (of “Oooh the Zigbee” fame), YouTubers seem to love bashing Philips Hue. As a result, I wanted to give a rare insight into why I sleep with my highly prized Philips Hue bulbs and accessories each night. Or, to be less flippant, I wanted to cover 5 … Read more
Smart home tech is all about balancing your power sources. You want to know how your devices are powered and what you can do to keep the lights on. The Philips Hue Dimmer Switch is one of the more common battery powered smart home devices. This switch lets you take control of your lighting. Whether … Read more
Because of their wide range of colors and overall ease of use, LIFX smart home LED lights have become increasingly popular. Not only do they offer a variety of customizable options, but they’re also Wi-Fi enabled – unlike their primary competitor, Philips Hue. Being Wi-Fi compatible often makes them more desirable for users, as they … Read more
Smart strip lights have changed how we approach our home lighting setups. These lights let you customize a wide range of lighting options. Whether you are setting up luxury under lighting in your living room, or you are building out a new utility lighting in the garage, there’s no project that these lights can’t illuminate. … Read more
Debuting in 2012, LIFX (pronounced Life – X) introduced a line of smart bulbs that would prove to be a game-changer in the homes of many. Coming to the fore near the beginning of the ‘smart home era’, these lights became a fun and intuitive way to add color, atmosphere, and additional functionality to your … Read more
The official Philips Hue app is a little bit… boring, to be honest. Unlike the LIFX app, there are no dynamic effects or scenes. Any scenes or colors chosen within the Hue app are just static – meaning they don’t then change color or brightness. However thankfully Hue have the “Hue Labs”, which allow you … Read more
Philips Hue smart lights are some of the highest-rated options on the market, with applications in almost every room of the home. One room that sees the most utility from smart lights is in the bathroom. Think about it: you need light during a midnight trip to the bathroom, but you don’t want to be … Read more