Wireless Light Bulbs – The Ultimate in Energy Saving or Google Gimmick
The light bulb world doesn’t stay still for long. First, old style 60 watt and 100 watt light bulbs were banned, then a new generation of energy saving lightbulbs emerged, and now it seems even Google is entering into the home electrical arena, with wirelessly connected LED bulbs thought to be some of the first products from its Android@Home Technology range, reports leading light bulb retailer Ryness (). >
If it feels like Google already runs your life given the amount of time you spend using its search engine and the proliferation of its Android phone apps, then imagine how it will feel when they’re switching on your lightbulbs and alarm clock at home! Android@Home Technology from Google, which was announced at a software developer’s conference in early May, will allow users to control many of their home appliances directly from their Android phone.
One of the first products from the Android@Home Technology range is thought to be a wirelessly connected LED lightbulb from Lighting Science Group. These light bulbs, according to Google, will allow the user to switch them on or off remotely from their phone or their tablet through wireless technology. Home automation already exists of course, but this will be the first light bulb which it is possible to switch on or off remotely, for instance from work when you realise you left the light on, or when you’re on holiday and want it to seem like someone is at home.
It sounds like a good idea in theory, especially the potential energy savings of being able to remotely turn off lightbulbs and appliances which were left on accidentally, but is this energy saving gone too far? Will we be using our phones to switch on the lights without bothering to move from the sofa? And it’s unclear how much these wireless light bulbs will cost (and there is no exact launch date yet). Some say that Google will look to make its remote appliance control cheap or even free, but for those people without tablets or Android phones, having to purchase one to avail of this -free’ technology may not seem that generous.
It remains to be seen whether this home appliance control will catch on or if it will be a Google gimmick, but for now we’re happy to stick to the affordable and straightforward energy saving light bulbs we know and trust. Take a look at the latest of the new generation energy saving bulbs at
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