Las Vegas: Even light bulbs are getting in the act at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
San Francisco-based smart bulb manufacturer Qube has launched what it calls affordable smart lighting.
The bulbs and strips produce 16 million colours and are designed to last 50,000 hours to equivalent to 22 years.
They feature built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy, meaning you can control them and change their colour directly from your phone.
The Qube bulbs can be paired with other smart devices and it can connect to more than 250 services, which pairs you up with other devices like Nest and Gmail, said Joo Siong, managing director of San Francisco-based Qube LLC, a subsidiary of Innova Technology Pte Ltd and is venture-backed by Red Dot Ventures Pte Ltd. Third-party Integrations such as like Amazon Echo and IFTTT will be completed in March 2017.
Unlike other Bluetooth-powered lightings, he said that Qube bulbs are 100 per cent connected to the cloud, enabling remote access from anywhere. He said the Qube smart bulb is different from other smart bulbs on the market mainly because of pricing, and its positional-based lighting automation offer room-level accuracy by connecting to your smartphone or wearables when you’re near — all without a hub.
“Simply use whatever mobile device you have with you to turn them on with the touch of a finger. The bulb’s unique technology allows users to create personalised automations within their smart homes and also be programmed to different users’ needs,” he said.
Health
Siong claims the bulbs can also have a positive impact on overall wellness. Users can sync their alarm clock with Qube and experience waking up gradually to the hues of a morning sun.
“When it comes to your health, it is well-proven that light sources play a role in sleep cycles, body temperature adjustments and more. For instance, excessive blue light during the evening hours can affect sleep tremendously, as it forces your body into believing that it is actually daytime. By allowing for many colour and setting variations, smart lighting can actually lead to a better night’s sleep,” he said.
Typical LED light strips with a similar lumen output can cost up to $14 per metre, and when you add smart functionalities the cost doubles to approximately $30 per metre. That is in addition to the $50-$90 you will need to pay to get started.
He said that Qube bulbs cost $24 and with no additional costs.
