Lately, it seems there has been a flurry of activity in the new and emerging smart, efficient, connected LED lighting market. Not long ago we wrote a post on the LIFX smartphone-controlled LED light bulb, which has so far raised over $1.3 million on Kickstarter. However, a number of other projects and products have since launched into similar space. Here are 3 more that have caught our attention over the past couple of weeks.
Light by Moore’s Cloud
Home mood lighting has suddenly become pretty sophisticated. Light by Moore’s Cloud consists of 52 independently-controlled LEDs, each capable of 2 million colors, powered by a small computer, connected to the Internet via WiFi, and all put together in a simple and elegant design (above image). The Light is able to be controlled from a smartphone, tablet, or any other connected device with an HTML5-compliant browser. The Light can also communicate with other Lights, or other “things” over the Internet.
Light by Moore’s Cloud has launched a Kickstarter campaign that has already raised over $126,000, but it will only be funded if the substantial goal of $700,000 or more is reached. The Light will apparently retail for $99, if the project reaches the $700k mark and goes into production.
Refreshingly, the Australian team behind Light, led by Founder and CEO Mark Pesce, says it is “committed to radical transparency”. The team is sharing business financials openly, so that Kickstarter funders are able to see where their money will be spent. They have also open sourced their hardware and software intellectual property.
GreenWave Reality: Connected Lighting Solution
In late October, GreenWave Reality partnered with the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair to announce its Connected Lighting Solution, touting it as the “next generation in lighting”.
GreenWave Reality is a wireless smart bulb and lighting management system, which also allows users to remotely control LED lights. GreenWave’s bulbs have embedded wireless chips that connect wirelessly to a lighting gateway, then to a WiFi router. A smartphone, tablet, or remote control can be used to control the bulbs via WiFi.
Like LIFX, GreenWave says its product can be used straight out of the box, without involving an electrician. The bulbs just need to be screwed in as usual, and lights can immediately be controlled by pressing “night”, “home”, or “away” as pre-configured options on the Smart Control.
GreenWave Reality’s Connected Lighting Solution is being shipped in Europe and the United States.
 Philips Hue
Philips has also just unveiled a web-enabled LED home lighting system, and it’s available directly and exclusively via Apple stores.
Again, the Philips Hue system will fit into any standard light fixture, and includes 3 LED bulbs that connect via a bridge to existing wireless routers. Users can control the Hue from any iOS or Android smartphone after downloading the Hue app.
Like the others, through this system mood lighting experiences can be achieved and daily lighting schedules can be managed. I’m not sure I’m ready to go along with Philips referring to this system as a “game changer in lighting”, at least not all by itself, as clearly there are some other similar systems around. Sure, they may have an advantage with the deal to sell through Apple stores. As we all know, that’s nothing to be sneezed at.
However, it has to be said I haven’t tried any of these systems, so I’m unable to judge any of them. All of these lighting solutions seem to offer greater efficiency and control over existing home lighting, which has changed little over the past century or so. No doubt there will be a more to come as lighting continues to go digital, and LED lighting continues to come down in cost.
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