The touchscreen on the Echo Show allows you to control your smart light bulbs from the “Smart Home” menu, which is fairly useful if you want to quickly control your smart lights through your Amazon Echo device, but it’s also limited as it’s missing some key features that mean you have to resort back to … Read more
Smart light strips are an awesome invention – they can instantly add interesting yet subtle lighting to various areas around your house, and their color can be quickly changed or dimmed to suit your needs. ZigBee (not WiFi) smart strips have added benefits too, but with so much choice, which one should you get? Philips … Read more
One of the nice features of smart bulbs is that not only can then change color (and be dimmed), but since they’re a digital product, they can be programmed to do other interesting things such as ‘dance’ along with music or change color to reflect a movie on TV. Philips Hue have great support for … Read more
When I first moved into my house, it was fairly dark due to it just having two simple, A19 bulbs at either end of the kitchen-diner room. Whilst I have since changed these to spotlights to provide more light, I avoided buying smart spotlights due to the cost (up to $50/each for Hue or LIFX … Read more
Smart bulbs are one of the most popular – and fun – smart products available on the market. After all, you can change their color to anything you want, and sync the bulb to music or your TV (depending on the bulb manufacturer). But sometimes they don’t work too well with wall switches – whether … Read more
Whenever I see newcomers to smart homes ask what the best smart bulb to buy is, I often see one or two replies saying “Noooo, smart bulbs are POINTLESS!! Just get smart switches instead!!“. And then they say nothing else to back up this view point. Mkay… that’s helpful! In reality, there can be some … Read more
Philips Hue’s range of smart bulbs is set apart from many other smart bulbs because Hue requires a separate Hub (also called a Bridge), and the bulbs communicate over something called ‘ZigBee’ to the Hue Hub. Equally some newer Hue bulbs can work over Bluetooth, linking with the Hue Bluetooth app on your smartphone. But … Read more
LIFX bulbs are at the more premium end of the market (just like Philips Hue), both in terms of build quality and also their price. However whilst Philips Hue bulbs usually require a separate Hue Bridge, LIFX bulbs don’t require any extra devices: they work out the box, via WiFi. This is great because you … Read more
An enclosed light is a housing which is completely sealed off, such that any light must shine out of the partially see-through exterior surface (usually glass or translucent plastic). Enclosed light fixtures are good where you want light to shine mainly downwards, without any ‘being wasted’ out of the side or top – bathrooms and … Read more
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