smart bulbs

Nanoleaf’s nifty portable smart lamp and new bulbs support Matter and HomeKit

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The Cono portable smart lamp can stand up, lie down or be hung up. That's handy.
The Cono portable smart lamp can stand up, lie down or be hung up. That's handy.
Photo: Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf added a handy new portable smart lamp with brand partner Umbra and two new smart bulbs to its Essentials line, the company said Thursday.

All of the products will work through the Matter smart-home standard with HomeKit and other smart-home platforms.

TP-Link’s extensive new Tapo lineup of smart plugs, lights and sensors support Apple HomeKit

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TP-Link’s extensive new Tapo lineup of smart plugs, lights and sensors support Apple HomeKit
The Tapo S500D Smart Dimmer Switch and Tapo L535 Multicolor Smart WiFi Light Bulb are two of the HomeKit-compatible accessories TP-Link just unveiled.
Photo: TP-Link

TP-Link unveiled a collection of HomeKit-compatible smart home accessories at CES 2022. It includes smart plugs, switches smart lighting and more.

With nine new products coming out this year, it’s a big push into supporting Apple’s HomeKit home automation system.

Sengled smart bulbs get even smarter with Apple’s HomeKit automation system

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Sengled Smart Hub now has HomeKit support
With HomeKit support, give Siri commands to the Sengled Smart Hub to pass on to smart bulbs.
Photo: Sengled

CES 2020Accessory maker Sengled added support for Apple’s HomeKit to its smart home hub. This enables iPhone users to control Sengled’s smart bulbs through Siri commands.

The company also added to its lineup of smart home products with new lights and a smart plug.

Save big on smart bulbs, Adobe training and more [Week’s Best Deals]

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Best Deals of the Week (1)
This week's best deals includes smart bulbs, Adobe CC lessons, and lots more.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

This week, the best deals in the Cult of Mac Store run the gamut. For starters, we’ve got an awesome iTunes alternative for iOS management, and an energy saving smart bulb with Home App integration. Additionally there’s a powerful email manager, and a comprehensive training bundle for Adobe Creative Cloud. Some are discounted by over 95%, so read on for more details:

Illuminate your life with LED smart bulbs [Deals]

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iHaper Smart Bulbs
Upgrade your home or office with customizable smart bulbs.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Lightbulbs are the symbol of invention and good ideas, but it’s not until the last few years that they’ve changed in a fundamental way. The LED bulbs are energy efficient, and full of possibility for customization. So if you’re looking to make your house or office smarter, these bulbs from iHaper are a great way to go.

Save on LED smart bulbs, Kevlar Lightning cables and more [Week’s Newest Deals]

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This military-grade kevlar charging cable will stand the test of time
This military-grade Kevlar charging cable will stand the test of time.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

A great thing about being a hub for great deals on gear and gadgets is being surprised by what shows up. This week we’ve got some especially enticing new deals, from a Kevlar-encased Lightning cable and a massive library of design assets to a Bluetooth-enabled LED smart bulb and an award-winning first-person horror game.

Take a look to share in our surprise and delight.

Smart bulb colors your world without breaking the bank

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You can control the Nyrius smart bulb with your smartphone.
You can control the Nyrius smart bulb with your smartphone.
Photo: Nyrius

If you found the transition from incandescent to fluorescent painful, you will be relieved to know you are in the midst of a lightbulb moment. This is the year when the price of LED-based smart bulbs, with the color and quality of light controlled by mobile apps, falls far enough to go mainstream.

Entering the highly competitive space is Ontario-based Nyrius, which today rolls out a light bulb for $39.99.

ilumi is a smart bulb that just got a little smarter

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The second generation of ilumi smart bulbs has already won enough backing on Kickstarter to go into production.
The second generation of ilumi smart bulbs has already won enough backing on Kickstarter to go into production.
Photo: ilumi

It took a little while for investors to see the light, so to speak. Corey Egan and Swapril Bora developed a smartphone controlled LED light bulb, but needed two crowd-funding campaigns, prize money from winning new product contests they had socked away and a deal from Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban before the ilumi smart bulb could enter the market.

Tens of thousands of bulbs have sold in the year they’ve been in production. It won’t take quite so long for the second generation to begin lighting homes and commercial spaces.

With 20 days to go on Kickstarter, ilumi far exceeded its $50,000 goal with a newly designed bulb that includes new experiences – like turning it on and off the shake of your phone – and a new antenna that will pick up commands from 150 feet away.

ilumi creators enjoying their light bulb moment

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The ilumi smartbulb covers the color spectrum and offers a range of unique features for in-home lighting. Photo: ilumi Solutions
The ilumi smart bulb covers the color spectrum and offers a range of unique features for in-home lighting. Photo: ilumi Solutions

All that remains of the original Thomas Edison invention is the socket fitting. That and it still only takes one person to screw in the light bulb.

The rest of the ilumi smart bulb, which is slowly lighting the way to smart home and office living around the world, would be unrecognizable to Edison or any of the other early inventors of incandescent bulbs.

It is too soon to know whether the names Corey Egan, Swapnil Bora and their company ilumi Solutions will assume a place on the list of lighting pioneers with their smartphone-controlled LED lights. But with a growing list of patents, financing from a certain well-known “Shark” and a steady stream of orders, the David-like startup is holding its own against bulb big shots like GE and Phillips.