The Philips Hue lighting system is a great way to spice up the ambient color of your home by just swapping out a few lightbulbs. Now the smartphone-controlled illumination system is getting its own TRON-like hardware meant for accent lighting.
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You might remember that last year we were dazzled by Philips’ Wi-Fi controlled LED bulbs
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I really love my Philips Hue wireless bulbs. In fact, I’ve got my entire man cave/home theater/game room outfitted with the colorful, remote-controlled lights in my ceiling fixtures. But one thing that’s bugged me about the lamps so far is that they only come as reflector bulbs. Well, not for much longer. Philips has just announced that they are releasing the lamps in two new form factors, being dubbed the “Friends of Hue” line.
First up is the LivingColors Bloom. This compact lamp can be set on any flat surface and used to add a splash of color across walls or ceilings. It’s similar to earlier LivingColors lamps, but at a more reasonable price-point ($79.95 USD), and compatible with the Hue controller without any fiddling.
The more intriguing of the additions to the Hue line-up are the Hue LightStrips. These multicolored strips of LEDs can be placed just about anywhere – under furniture, inside bookcases or window sills, and can produce a bright line of linear accent light.
The LightStrips come in 6.6 foot-long sections which can be cut to size if you’d like. At $89.95 per strip, they’re not as cheap as plain-jane RGB LED strips, but they’re fully compatible with the Hue controller and apps without any additional hardware, which is what really makes these unique. Both products are made to complement Hue bulbs, so they’re designed to add splashes of rich color instead of some of the less saturated colors of the bulbs.
Both LivingColors Bloom and LightStrips will be sold through Apple Stores starting this Thursday, August 8th, though I already found the Bloom Lamp listed as in stock.
Earlier today, Philips announced two new add-ons for its app-controlled Hue system: LivingColors Bloom, a standalone portable fixture, and LightStrips, a 6.6-foot LED tape that you can affix to any surface using the included adhesive back. Both products are fully compatible with the existing Hue system, including the base station and three-bulb kit that launched at Apple Stores last year. Knowing that part of the solution’s appeal is its quick and easy setup, we decided to build out a five-light rig at home using three standard bulbs, one Bloom and one LightStrips set. It took less than an hour to get up and running, including swapping out bulbs, running power to LightStrips and setting up the base station and app.
In order to take full advantage of available “scenes” (lighting color macros based on uploaded images), you’ll want to install all of your bulbs in one room or open space. You can very easily control the color and brightness of each unit using the Android or iOS app, however, so if you prefer to go that route, there’s no reason you can’t install Hue all over your house, as long as you don’t go beyond the 50 maximum units each base station can support. For now, most of the available scenes support one through three fixtures, not the five you’ll end up with if you have one complete kit, a Bloom and LightStrips in your home, so we avoided using scenes for the time being. If you’re using app version 1.1 on iOS, you can take advantage of IFTTT integration, too, letting you set up a virtually endless number of macros.
Even with five Hue fixtures in a small space, the room was a bit too dark — this solution works best for accent lighting, so unless you’re prepared to use 20 bulbs in a room, you’ll probably want to mix in traditional fixtures, too. Still, Hue serves its purpose well, and we definitely see the appeal despite the $200 you’ll spend on the base kit, $80 for the bloom and $90 for the LightStrips. See our installation in action in the hands-on video after the break.
There’s no shortage of home automation solutions on the market, but none can touch the cool factor of Philips’ Hue. The Android and iOS-controlled lighting solution consists of a base station that controls up to 50 different lights, including the company’s existing LED Connected Bulb, and two new additions, designed to let you add light without a standard lamp socket. The first product, LivingColors Bloom, is a compact fixture that you can position on the floor, on a shelf or anywhere in a room. It sits on the ground and bounces your pick of 16 million colors off any surface.
LightStrips, on the other hand, is a better fit for more permanent (and subtle) installations. The 6.6-foot LED strip can be cut to size, and includes an adhesive backing, so it can be easily mounted under a counter, bed or inside cabinets. Both offerings support the full Hue color spectrum, and are compatible with existing apps and macros, including the IFTTT integration that debuted in May. Hue Bloom is set to retail for $80, while LightStrips will run you 90 bucks. Expect both products in Apple Stores this Thursday.
Filed under: Household
Philips makes colorful Hue light bulbs, and it (indirectly) makes colorful Ambilight TVs. Wouldn’t it make sense if the two devices talked to each other? They do now: a new Ambilight+Hue app for Android and iOS coordinates Hue bulbs with compatible TVs, spreading Ambilight effects across the entire room. To mark the occasion, Philips and TPVision are launching the 60-inch Elevation TV (not pictured here). The 3D-capable, 1080p LCD introduces a four-sided Ambilight system that produces a fuller lighting effect when the set is wall-mounted. It’s also the thinnest Philips TV to date, at 0.54 inches thick, and it includes the requisite smart TV features like Netflix, web browsing and Miracast media sharing. Ambilight+Hue should be available now, although Europeans will have to wait until later in the summer to buy the Elevation for about £2,800 ($4,168).
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Household, HD
Source: Philips
“What’s new with Hue?” Philips’ connected light bulb just picked up a bounty of fresh tricks, thanks in no small part to the Hue 1.1 app update. The refresh, available for download today on iOS, brings a variety of additional features. Most significant, perhaps, is a partnership with IFTTT, which lets you create macros (called “recipes”) for an unlimited number of functions. For example, if the forecast calls for rain, Hue can glow blue when it’s time to leave in the morning. You can set visual notifications (a flashing light or change in color) to remind you of calendar appointments, let you know there’s a new post on your Facebook wall, you name it.
The new app also uses your smartphone’s GPS for geofencing, so you can program the system to flip on lights as you approach your home, or turn everything off after you walk out the door. An alarm tool can wake you at a specific time, while the timer function will tweak the lights when the clock hits zero. The LED bulbs will run you $60 a pop, or $200 in a pack of three that also includes a (compulsory) wireless bridge. You can snag the updated app for free at the source link below, then join in on some pun-filled fun in the video after the break.
Filed under: Household, Software
Source: Philips, Philips Hue (iTunes)
Used to be, the most customization you could squeeze out of your lighting was how warm or cool you wanted it to be. Not anymore. With the Philips Hue home lighting system, you can control every light in your house down to its color, saturation, and brightness—right from your phone. More »
I’m a big fan of Philips Hue LED bulbs. In fact, I’ve got two rooms of my house outfitted with the bulbs, and continue to add more. There’s something just so cool about walking into my home theater, pulling out my iPhone, and changing the colors in the room to set the mood for a movie or video game session.
But while the hardware is extraordinary, if there’s one complaint about the Hue, it’s the relatively limited smartphone app that Philips provides. Sure, it gets the job done, but opening up the platform to other developers will only result in more and better apps. Well, I’m happy to say that’s exactly what Philips has done.
Philips today announced its long-awaited software developer program for the Hue. The developer program provides open APIs, development guides and an iOS SDK, so you can easily make your own smartphone and tablet apps to control the bulbs.
While there’s already a growing community that’s been playing with the bulbs for several months now, it’s great to have officially-supported docs and tools from Philips themselves. Having these tools in hand should enable the creation of applications which can change bulb colors to music, video and other ideas which I haven’t even thought of yet. Heck, with enough Hue bulbs and the right app developer, you could probably make a (ridiculously expensive) video wall using the bulbs.
Developers interested in creating their own applications for the Hue can check out the developer platform at developers.meethue.com.
For those of you who didn’t jump on the Hue bandwagon when it first came out due to availability issues, they’re once again readily available from the Apple Store. The 3-bulb and bridge starter kit sells for $199.95 (USD), and additional bulbs sell for $59. Now that the SDK is available, I’m anxiously awaiting additional hardware from Philips. I’d love to see different lamp sizes and full-color wall dimmers (and lower prices) if you’re listening.
It’s hard to find a compelling use case for the Philips Hue. But Jim Rutherford and his son hacked the wireless LED lightbulbs to be in sync with the day/night cycle in Minecraft. It creates an immersive setup and is actually useful as creepers start appearing at nighttime.
In Minecraft, 24 hours go by in 10 minutes. It’s therefore fairly easy to program the Hue to progressively change color. But Rutherford had to find a clever implementation to sync time between the game and the light.
He developed an iPad app to adjust the position of the sun or the moon in the sky according to the game. You just have to pan your finger across the screen. Then, the app handles the interface to the lightbulb. You can see how it pans out at the end of the video.
At $199 for the Philips Hue starter pack, it sure is an expensive accessory. Only the existing Hue owners or hardcore Minecraft players should consider replicating this setup.
Rutherford said that he will release the app in the App Store so that everyone will be able to enjoy Minecraft’s virtual sunset. For now, you can have a look at the source code.
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