LEDAVANCE has released a few updates to their Sylvania Smart+ lineup of HomeKit-connected lights, including the launch of their first filament-style bulb.
LEDVANCE releases HomeKit-equipped Sylvania Smart+ filament light bulb
Lighting
Review: LIFX Mini is a bright and hub-less HomeKit bulb
LIFX added support to their Wi-Fi connected bulbs, making them one of the most enticing options in the smart home lightning market. The LIFX Mini requires no hub, supports HomeKit, and a variety of special effects within the LIFX app.
The telephoto lens on the iPhone X requires only 25% of the light required by the iPhone 7 Plus
In a recent report for Studio Neat, Dan Provost details one of the advances Apple has made in the camera of the iPhone X. Before being able to detail the advancement that Apple has made, it is important that you first understand how the telephoto lens works on the Apple devices that sport them.
Lifx releases two new HomeKit products before the holidays
Lighting company Lifx today launched two new HomeKit-focused products. The Lifx Z Starter Kit that includes two 3.3 foot lighting strips and a power pack, as well as a new HomeKit controller to retrofit their existing light strips.
Nanoleaf Aurora is my favorite HomeKit lighting solution
I've tested many HomeKit lighting solutions, though nothing quite like the Nanoleaf Aurora. It is a collection of triangular LED panels that you can arrange into any shape you can think of, only limited by the number of panels.
The limitless animations and color combinations makes this one of the most fun and attention-getting pieces of decor you can add to your home. Check out our hands-on video to see the different animations and color schemes for yourself. Then read on for our in-depth review.
Sylvania starts preorders for new HomeKit bulb and light strip
Sylvania has now started taking preorders for two additional products in their SMART+ lineup. A new soft white LED bulb, and a full-color LED light strip. Similar to the color LED bulb (that we recently reviewed), they require no hub or Wi-Fi to operate, are HomeKit compatible, and can connect directly to your device.
iDevices HomeKit Wall Switch review
The iDevices HomeKit Wall Switch fixes one of the crucial issue with many smart homes. Not only does it fix a glaring issue, it comes with enough bells and whistles to make it the best HomeKit wall switch on the market.
Upcoming HomeKit support will let you voice-control your Ikea smart lighting
Furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories giant Ikea announced on Tuesday that its inexpensive Trådfri smart lighting system will soon gain support for HomeKit, Apple's smart home management platform.
German publication iPhone-ticker.de reports that Ikea is readying a software update to its Trådfri app to make its smart lighting products controllable not only via Apple's HomeKit system, but also through Amazon's Echo and Google's Home smart speakers.
The new firmware update should arrive in the summer.
HomeKit will let you use Siri to voice-control Ikea's smart bulbs and incorporate HomeKit-enabled Ikea products in your custom scenes through Apple's Home app on iPhone and iPad.
The official Trådfri app, seen below, allows different family members to easily customize the light and atmosphere however they want, depending on their activity (i.e. choose a light for early mornings, another for late evenings and a third for cooking or working at home).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5blA3EgaDpI
Announced in March 2017, Ikea's extensive smart lighting lineup sports plug-and-play simplicity at significantly lower prices than similar systems from the likes of Philips and others.
Starting at $12 a piece, for instance, Ikea's smart bulbs cost half as much as Philips' Hue range at $30 per white bulb (goes all the way up to $50 per bulb if you want color). With Ikea's app, you can dim, turn off, turn on and switch your Ikea smart bulbs from warm to cold light.
The full range of smart lighting systems from Ikea includes LED bulbs, dimming lights, illuminated panels, a motion sensor kit and a gateway device. It was unclear at the time of this writing whether or not Ikea is planning on eventually making its whole range of smart products for the connected home compatible with the HomeKit platform, which would be splendid.
Philips Hue White Ambience lightbulbs include HomeKit functionality for a lower price
I'm a huge fan of Philips Hue lights, as the smart technology behind them often proves itself to be an immense convenience. Perhaps I'm better off walking across the room to flip a light switch, but I'm perfectly fine with telling Siri to do it or swiping up Control Center in iOS 10 and tapping a light in the HomeKit pane. Dimming the lights down to a warm glow in the evenings while browsing Twitter with my phone on NightShift is one scenario that, for me, makes Philips Hue an incredible experience.
The underlying issue with smart lightbulbs in general and Philips Hue in particular that has kept many people from fully adopting them is the price. Philips' colored bulbs come in around $50 apiece, with the Starter Kit providing three bulbs and the connecting hub for $180. At first glance, those seem like fairly hefty prices for lightbulbs, of all things. However, a cheaper option is available for those who love home automation but don't need the RGB colors of Philips Hue's white and color ambiance bulbs, as the company is now selling a white ambience-only variant of their Hue line.
A look at the brand new Philips Hue app
For decades it was a thing of science fiction. Books and movies have long depicted their protagonists speaking commands to inanimate objects and having orders carried out instantly. I think it's safe to say that most everyone, including myself, used to daydream of being able to control lights simply by giving a voice command from anywhere in the room, no longer having to get up and walk over to flip a light switch on or off.
Then Philips introduced their Hue lightbulbs and companion API, moving traditional light switches a step closer to obsoleteness by introducing the ability to turn lights on and off with a smartphone app, bringing us one step closer to making voice controlled lights a reality. When the second generation Hue bridge was introduced with HomeKit support, Siri gained the ability to control Hue peripherals, creating the ultimate ease-of-use scenario.
There's almost a magical property surrounding Philips Hue lights. A room can be lit or darkened by a spoken word, its walls repainted in an instant, or the atmosphere changed to anything from a tropical sunset to an Arctic aurora. There's really no limit to what one can do with a few Hue lights and some creative inspiration.
Philips launches dimming kit for Hue wireless bulbs
Philips's 'Hue' programmable LED lights can now be controlled in a more traditional fashion with the new Hue Wireless Dimming Kit and white bulbs.
Announced this morning, the Dimming Kit allows you to adjust the brightness of up to ten white bulbs at the same time and can be installed directly on the wall or used as a remote control of sort for Hue lights.
The Hue Wireless Dimming Kit can be hooked up to Philips' existing Hue hardware via the company's Hue bridge accessory to control the standard Hue and Hue Lux lighting.
Apple granted patent for iOS docking station with flexible Lighting connector
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday published dozens of Apple patent grants on its website, among them an invention describing a docking station for portable devices with a flexible Lighting connector.
First revealed in March 2014 and then filed in October 2014, the U.S. Patent 8,986,029 titled 'Dock connector with compliance mechanism' outlines a compliance mechanism in the iOS device dock that flexes when the connector is stressed in order to pivot the connector at a point where the connector protrudes from the dock housing.