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 true measure of a smart home is the amount of convenience it lends, paired with how much user intervention is needed for devices to operate as desired. The Philips Hue Motion Sensor allows your smart lights to react as programmed the moment motion is detected, but that isn’t to say they are without flaw. … Read more
Today, almost everything is connected by the most popular wireless network protocol – Wi-Fi. Whether it’s the standard 2.4 Ghz frequency, or the newer, faster, 5 Ghz – Wi-Fi is the standard form of wireless communication for most. Wi-Fi is used for most things; from the apps on our phones, to many of the smart … Read more
In 2020, Ring introduced smart lights for the home, as well as the Ring Bridge in order to control these lights. But with this new addition to the Ring family, some questions have arisen. Many Ring users have begun to wonder if the Ring Bridge is, or will become, necessary to connect not just lights, … Read more
If you’ve been into smart home technology or the Internet of Things for a while, odds are you’ve thought about being an early adopter for a new bit of tech. Being an early adopter is exciting. You get to try out a cutting edge technology before it gains widespread appeal, but it does have its … Read more
I have been on a bit of a smart lighting journey over the past year. I originally disliked the idea of smart lighting, before buying a couple of smart lights here and there – and really liking them. I now have a range of smart lights, including a homemade ZigBee lightstrip and a Philips Hue … Read more
One of the best features that IoT has brought to the smart home is lighting control. There’s nothing like having an automatic wakeup call from your lights or being able to switch between relaxing evenings or parties with friends at the flip of a switch. Smart home technology is here to make our day-to-day lives … Read more
I remember when I installed my first LIFX bulb: it was my first full-RGB (color) smart bulb, in-fact. So naturally I jumped into the ‘Effects’ section of the app and I played around with all the different effects: Visualizer syncs the bulb to music which is pretty cool, however color cycle is my favorite: it … Read more
Despite building my own DIY smart lightstrip for my kitchen last year, I purchased Philips Hue’s lightstrip to run around my desk in the black friday sales. Why did I do this? Well, I wanted to compare the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus to my own ZigBee DIY one. Is Hue’s offering really worth the high … Read more
How do you illuminate your home? Incandescent light bulbs are too wasteful, giving off so much energy in the form of heat. Plus, since they burn out relatively quickly, you need to change these bulbs more often, which can be a real hassle, especially when a ladder is involved. Fluorescent bulbs were a big step … Read more
With everyone spending a little extra time at home these days, many people have started exploring smart lighting products like Philips Hue, to add a little extra atmosphere to their living space. If you’ve chosen to purchase Hue lights, you may have considered purchasing the popular Hue Dimmer Switch in order to dim and control … Read more