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Light Bulbs – The way to Your Smart Home?

Light Bulbs – The way to Your Smart Home?
January 14, 2015 SNH Editorial Team

Turning your home a smart home may start with a smart light bulb. CES 2015 was abuzz with so many products  to automate your home.  The big question now…

how will you, the consumer adopt / buy them?

Our recent survey shows that homeowners have serious concerns, or shall I say fears regarding technology regarding reliability and, perhaps most importantly, loss of privacy.  THIS IS VERY REAL !

MANUFACTURERS SHOULD PAY CLOSE ATTENTION!!!! It’s an old truth that bad news always travels faster than good news. I say it again: A home is an emotional space which means reactions will be strong in either “positive” and “negative” directions.

Post all of the buzz at CES2015 to the trade, how will the consumer learn about all of the new home automation and, most important feel comfortable with it?  There is a big gap between interest in the new and adoption in your own personal space!!!!

That said,  there are some interesting products.  Post the LED conversation we thought we understood new lighting concepts.  Turns out – it was just the beginning….Who would have thought that light bulbs can also be cameras, speakers, motion detectors and microphones…

Here are the 3 brands to watch: Sengled – a Chinese the company that created the Snap Bulb (see image).  While Snap will be available mid year, you can already buy “Pulse” and Boost”.  Sengled uses JBL speakers, a brand generally synonymous with quality speakers.  Buy it from Sengled online or find it in the apple store near you.

Sony is producing the “Symphonic Light” – a simple, modern and elegant look.  It too has an embedded speaker. Sony uses “its own propriety vertical drive technology that uses the material of the lamp itself to help create sound.” Strangely,  Sony’s CEO announced “Life Space UX” and it has this stand-alone website but is not integrated into Sony.com. What does this mean?

Symphonic Light

The third product/ company that stands out is Stack Lighting. It’s smart light bulb is called Alba.  It is only available on “pre-order” and there are no clear indications when exactly Alba bulbs will be in the marketplace.  But it is one to watch.  Check out Stack’s video which talks about how different light/mood settings affect your productivity, social interaction, etc. – interesting….

One noteworthy observation: These bulbs work with your existing ceiling and table lamps! That might just be the way to put a “toe in the world of the smart home…!”

Stack Lighting

More to come – but this to open yourselves up to the new horizons of the Connected/Smart Home !