Philips smartphone controlled light bulbs pop up in the Apple store

[dgstorm]

Halloween is coming and you might be in need of some fancy new decorations. So why not consider some colorful light bulbs that have just popped in the Apple Store recently? First of all these, are not your regular light bulbs. They are manufactured by Philips and come bearing some neat tricks.

You will not be purchasing a light bulb of a certain color. No, the Philips bulb can give you any color and glow at any brightness you like as it’s controlled by a smartphone. The process of installing them, proves to be quite simple. Users will have to screw the bulb into a light socket and then connect the hue that comes with the light bulb to a wireless router and then launch the app.

Each light bulb comes equipped with a Wi-Fi connection, that’s how they can be remotely controlled. You could be on vacation on the other side of the world. Bulbs run 50 Watts, are LED and are sold in packs of three for $199. The app is smart enough to let you take “inspiration” form colors in your home – which basically covers everything from walls to furniture or curtains.

So far it is not known if Philips has chosen to work exclusively with Apple on this project, but considering that you need a smartphone to work the bulbs and the iPhone is the most popular smartphone on the market, it makes sense that Apple fans constitute the company’s initially targeted.

By Radu

Source - Philips hue app-controlled lightbulbs debut exclusively at Apple stores

 

[MB45]

Very Cool! This will make a nice addition to my networked IP cameras!

 

[ardchoille]

I found more information and a video about these bulbs. At first I thought the price was a bit high, but I now see the value after watching the video

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/11/09/philips-hue-review/

 

[kellymark97]

I can see the usefulness of this set up. At night I keep my iPhone on the nightstand. Both as an emergency phone, but as my alarm clock. Now the Hue may not be able to display 50 shades of gray, but the mood lighting it can provide may instigate such a thing.