iDevices' New 'Socket' Turns Traditional Light Bulbs into Smart Bulbs

[whyamihere]

Sure, but the point is a 60W CFL is going to put out close to 4000 lumens, even more with LED. That's about the output of a 250W incandescent. I can't imagine having a light that loud in my home.

I think the confusion is I wasn't consistently specifying CFL version of "W" vs incandescent version of "W". You're right, I have no need for a 60W CFL. But the article is referring to 60W incandescent, which simply fails to be bright enough in all situations for my liking.

A 60W incandescent is about 600 lumens (about 9W CFL), which is what Hue is... also what the product in this article supports up to. My point is simply that I'd like an A19 smart connected bulb with around 1,500 lumens (which would be similar to a 100-120W incandescent) but have yet to find one.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I think the confusion is I wasn't consistently specifying CFL version of "W" vs incandescent version of "W". You're right, I have no need for a 60W CFL. But the article is referring to 60W incandescent, which simply fails to be bright enough in all situations for my liking.

A 60W incandescent is about 600 lumens (about 9W CFL), which is what Hue is... also what the product in this article supports up to. My point is simply that I'd like an A19 smart connected bulb with around 1,500 lumens (which would be similar to a 100-120W incandescent) but have yet to find one.

Watts is a measure of power flow irrespective of what the device being powered does with that power. The article here confuses matters by not clearly stating that the device being described supports a 60W load, which would mean a 60W incandescent at 600 lumens or a 60W CFL at around 4000 lumens.

 

[doelcm82]

A smart light switch? That's brilliant. Why are we paying PER BULB when we could pay PER ROOM?

Can't believe I didn't think of this as an option and I can't believe these products don't exist.

EDIT: check this out http://www.apple.com/ca/shop/produc...t-lighting-in-wall-dimmer-kit-homekit-enabled

Smart wall switches are a good solution if you own your own home and aren't put off by the hassle of installing them.

Smart bulbs may make sense when you rent. You can take the bulbs with you when you move.

I'm leaning toward smart bulbs (or smart fixtures) for new construction (in a couple of years at least), to eliminate the need for hard-wired wall-switches. Maybe I'll just run power to where the wall switch would normally be, and mount docks for old iPad minis in their place. I could control the entire house from any light switch. When guests are visiting I put their room tablets into kiosk mode so they only control their own room, plus view weather, news, time, and perhaps a house video and/or audio intercom system.

 

[6836838]

Not to get HomeKit certified it aint.

Apple actually cares about the security of the Internet of Things, which is why standards are so high for HomeKit certification.

Seeing as the FBI (and other intelligence agencies) see a whole new world of surveillance under the IoT, I appreciate this fact.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15...cause-of-slow-market-acceptance-report-claims

Fair point. I wouldn't want members of ISIS turning my living room a deeper shade of red...

 

[NT1440]

Fair point. I wouldn't want members of ISIS turning my living room a deeper shade of red...

Or local police agencies "accidentally" listening in to your connected devices with microphones.

 

[CarlJ]

I've got plenty of dumb CFLs of higher lumens. I'd settle for an A19 18W connected smart bulb if it existed. Hue is only 9W.

I have Hue bulbs in my living room, which handle most situations, but sometimes you just want it REALLY BRIGHT. For those occasions, I've got a StudioPRO S-600B Continuous Lighting Panel that puts out 6500 lumens from 48 watts. Connected through an iDevices Switch, so I can turn it off and off with Siri (one can also adjust two dials on the back of the light to vary the brightness and color temperature). This made it reasonable to get rid of a 300W halogen torchière that was bright, but inefficient, hot, and dangerous.

A problem I'm running into now is that the iDevices Switches work great with Siri, but they _only_ work with Siri, meaning I can't control them via an HTTP REST interface (not a webpage), like the Hue lights, so I can't hook them up to the app I'm building on my Raspberry Pi.

 

[jonnysods]

These guys won't move units at that price point.