Can Smart Bulbs Help Plants Grow?

A Philips Hue White Ambiance bulb held over a row of three plants indoors.

Keen gardeners and botanists are often seen in movies with a bunch of red lights perched over their precious plants, to help them grow. Since smart bulbs can emit red light, can you use them for your plants? A lot of ‘off the shelf’ smart bulbs are not ideal for plant growth, but some smart … Read more

Philips Hue Range/Distance Guide: How Far Away Can It Work?

A recently installed Philips Hue v2 bridge which is setup in my loft.

I recently purchased a Philips Hue starter kit and four candle bulbs, but due to having limited space (and power outlets) by the router in my living room, I instead installed my Hue Hub (the Bridge v2) up in my attic. I was able to do this because I already have full networking (and power) … Read more

Philips Hue Bridge: How To Circumvent The 50 Bulb Limit

A Philips Hue starter kit, with the text "control up to 50 lights..." overlayed on it.

The Philips Hue Bridge (or the Starter Kits, which ship with a Bridge) are fairly clear about a seemingly unimportant limitation: “the Hue Bridge allows you to connect and control up to 50 lights and accessories” – Hue Bridge marketing information, 2020. When you’re just starting out on your smart phone journey, 50 lights seems … Read more

Smart Bulbs With 5Ghz Wi-Fi Support (Are They Any Good?!)

A dual band smart bulb with 5 GHz WiFi support sold by serversdirect in the UK

New Wi-Fi standards are rolling out and this is shaking up smart devices across the board. One of the types of devices that are facing their biggest change is the humble smart light bulb. The increasing popularity of 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks is causing some trouble for 2.4 GHz-only smart bulbs. There are currently very … Read more

Smart Lights That Change Color Temperature Based on Time of Day (A How-To Guide)

Smart Light with Orange Lighting

Smart lights are awesome, as many people can agree. The ability to control more than one light with just the mere touch of a button or voice command is extremely convenient in a variety of situations.  They’re convenient, they can be festive, and can really help set the mood at home. Smart lighting can affect … Read more

How To Connect ZigBee Light Switches to The Hue Bridge/App

A Lutron Aurora smart switch part of the Friends of Hue program

Smart light switches are still something of a wild west frontier when it comes to smart home technology. They’re just starting to become as popular as the smart lights they control and this means there’s still a lot of conflict when it comes to how they connect to smart hubs. This leaves us with some … Read more

Why I Love This ‘Hidden’ Smart Lighting Feature – New Video

Youtube thumbnail of me holding a Hue Motion Sensor and the text Loads of ways to achieve this

When people think of smart lighting, they usually think of the obvious: full color (RGB) bulbs. Setting rooms to bright green, or dancing to strobe lighting effects. But I actually prefer a less discussed smart lighting feature: motion sensitive lighting. This is simple to set up, and it feels like something out of sci-fi. I … Read more