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Philips 'Hue' Receives Major Update With Geofencing, Visual Alerts, and More
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I know it sounds like a lot. I thought it was when I got it. But I find them insanely useful and comfortable for the price.
I saw a review for an app the other day that aims your iphone or iPads camera at the tv and then adjusts the lighting to whatever is on the tv at that very moment. Somewhat similar. But true integration would be sweet.
The solution in simple! Leave your internet on when you leave the house and then you can stop drooling. I just don't understand your logic.
You're paying 200 bucks for 3 light bulbs and the router. Individual bulbs cost significantly less.
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Yupp, there's an Android app. That one will receive the new features (geo fencing etc.) as well in about 10 days.
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I've had a Hue system with 8 bulbs for about 4 months now. I constantly played with the for a while - but for the last 2 months or so, I've basically only used them for two purposes:
1. as normal light bulbs (they're great for that - warm light, very low energy consumption)
2. for simulating that someone's home (do deter burglars)
They're more useful in winter, of course - in summer, I hardly ever have the lights on at home as the sun's out until 9 p.m. anyway and after that the only thing running in my house is my laptop and / or my TV anyway
No, if you turn the power to the bulbs off then on, they turn on in a standard white color like any other light bulb.
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20 years. They are LED lights. Regular bulbs aren't made "consumable", sheesh...
I don't know if I'd call $59 for one light bulb "significantly" less.
Have to admit I'm tempted by these but I have no need for the colored lighting. Seem gimmicky to me. If these were bright white and (like many others here) half the price I'd be all over it.
I'll just wait it out a bit. The price will drop or something else will come along.
59 is significantly less than 200, I'd say.
Also, 59$ is about what the normal Philips LED bulbs (albeit the 800 lumen version) go for here in Europe. They're massively subsidized in the US, so you may have the wrong idea of how much these things actually cost. So this is a general issue with LED bulbs. Considering how much more you get out of the Hue system, the price tag is quite good, actually.
Eh, we'll have to agree to disagree. $200 for 3 bulbs = $66 per bulb vs. $59 for one bulb. Yes, cheaper but not much and it is still a light bulb. And yes, the $200 includes the hub but ultimately all I care about and all that's of use to me is the bulbs themselves so in my mind I'm paying $200 to use 3 bulbs.
There are other LED bulbs that will save me the same amount of energy and cost far less.
If you want to start comparing, compare correctly.
Glassed Silver:mac
except that you can't use any kind of ZigBee device without some sort of centralized hub. So NO - you're not paying 66$ per bulb.
If you don't like it, don't buy it.
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I'm comparing high-quality Philips bulbs to other high quality Philips bulbs. Yes, you can get crappy, low-lumen LED bulbs that emit a blueish tint for a lot less. So I'm comparing apples to apples, you're not.
Times Are Changing
Yes, the purpose of lighting has changed since Thag first brought his fire stick into the cave. Today, people use lighting to:
- Indicate when a door has been left open
- Choreograph lights to music or dancing to enhance the experience
- Create a certain ambiance for the purpose (full spectrum to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder, and low light for romance)
- Let an office worker know when he has an incoming phone call so he doesn't impose an audible ring upon coworkers
- Indicate my truck's rear bumper's proximity to certain objects.
- Let staff know the status of each patient to maximize throughput and patient care (via the color of the light and the illumination pattern)
There are dozens more uses of lights completely different from it's original use of providing illumination to navigate dark areas. I look forward to having a practical way to use light to:
- Flash blue when the doorbell rings since I often can't hear it from the fourth floor of my condo or when working in the garage.
- Let me know 15-minutes ahead of time that I have an upcoming appointment. This would allow me the freedom of not needing to keep my phone close at home to make sure I don't forget calls or visits I planned.
I could just use lights to illuminate dark areas but that would be like just using my phone to make calls. Calling is now the least-used function of my iPhone.
Has the purpose of lightning changed (starting from candles going to electric lights?)
Yes, the purpose of lighting has changed since Thag first brought his fire stick into the cave. Today, people use lighting to:
- Indicate when a door has been left open
- Choreograph lights to music or dancing to enhance the experience
- Create a certain ambiance for the purpose (full spectrum to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder, and low light for romance)
- Let an office worker know when he has an incoming phone call so he doesn't impose an audible ring upon coworkers
- Indicate my truck's rear bumper's proximity to certain objects.
- Let staff know the status of each patient to maximize throughput and patient care (via the color of the light and the illumination pattern)
There are dozens more uses of lights completely different from it's original use of providing illumination to navigate dark areas. I look forward to having a practical way to use light to:
- Flash blue when the doorbell rings since I often can't hear it from the fourth floor of my condo or when working in the garage.
- Let me know 15-minutes ahead of time that I have an upcoming appointment. This would allow me the freedom of not needing to keep my phone close at home to make sure I don't forget calls or visits I planned.
I could just use lights to illuminate dark areas but that would be like just using my phone to make calls. Calling is now the least-used function of my iPhone.
Bolding mine and your statement couldn't be more incorrect. I am certainly considering these and I do not own any CFL's.
The last time I checked, I do live in the real world also.
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Yet his statement is still true, no? He never said these were the most cost efficient LED's.
I have several of them. I use them in my man cave since all of the lights are on one switch and on one side i might want it dim to play video games or a movie while on the other side have it up so my son can plan with his trains.
I want to get a few more for my living room recessed lights so I can create different lighting schemes.
I want to get a few more for my living room recessed lights so I can create different lighting schemes.
Bolding mine and your statement couldn't be more incorrect. I am certainly considering these and I do not own any CFL's.
The last time I checked, I do live in the real world also.
Then you've been pissing away money this whole time, cfls have been dirt cheap for years (buck to a few a bulb) and give the majority of the energy savings provided by a led bulb.
anyway the "armpit of the south" hardly qualifies as the real world.
Statement remains valid
It's hilarious because Lutron, Crestron, and AMX still sell 1980s hardware running 1980s software to try and barely achieve these kinds of things.
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I'm assuming the app just runs in the background.
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Maybe if they want Flux on their house lights?
Or if they're just real nerds.
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I'm assuming the app just runs in the background.
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Maybe if they want Flux on their house lights?
Or if they're just real nerds.
No Sheeeet! I wanna do this too! How are you setting this up? VOIP with IFTTT??
Your assumption is not true. I tried and skipped CFL for the reasons you mentioned and more so I went from incandescent to LED. Not everyone jumped on CFLs and now that 60W equiv. LEDs and higher are becoming mainstream I expect to see CFLs (like in real life) slowly fade away.
I have a Windows 7 laptop that has both WiFi and Ethernet (shocking, right?
). The WiFi joins to my home network and Ethernet is obviously on the work network. A buddy figured out the Lync client API and we wrote a PowerShell script to hook into Lync. The PS script is generic and anything can be put into the Lync events. For example, his script pauses WinAmp when he takes a call and then resumes the music when he hangs up. I put JSON commands into mine so that it sends the Hue controller commands via WiFi. I used to have the lights green and yellow for available and away and red when busy but decided I only wanted them red while I was on a call. The Hue JSON commands are simply HTTP so I also have some hard coded HTML files that control HUE and some standalone PS scripts. There's nothing proprietary in the script so I'll see if he posted it on his blog.Edit: He did. Here's a link to his blog with the script.
There's a lot of cool stuff out on the Hue forum if you haven't been there yet. Lots of developers doing cool things. I bought a java based program that does all sorts of things.
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Not sensitive at all. Yes, they can be controlled via a browser on the network. You can buy a java based app or simply write your own (or download) HTML. I also control mine with a PowerShell script.
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The lights are 50W equivalent. I light my living room with three which is one more than I really need. I do remember my younger days when I had a 300W torchiere lamp that fried many a bug. It just depends on how much light you want. But these are definitely not nightlights.
If you understood how light works, you wouldn't be saying that. Philips went with NON RGB colors (more pastel) so that they could reproduce better "white" light and they did it. Soft, cool, warm, bright - all these different shades of white are true to what they claim. These bulbs reproduce that wonderful warm glow of incandescent bulbs. RGB lights cannot do that. They are harsh white's. Too blue usually and to stark.
I'd rather have more natural whites than RGB lights I won't use nearly as much as white light.