3 ms·

There is also Lifx http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/lifx-the-light-bulb-reinvented http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/lifx-the-light...

Kiro 14y ago
Any reason I should wait for LIFX instead of getting the Hue right away?
- jrockway 14y ago
  It's a startup and this is Startup News, of course.
- mmariani 14y ago
  Why buy one instead of the other when you can buy both, write a review and post here? ;)
- shanmoorthy 14y ago
  From the conversations going on on Kickstarter the LIFX was a mesh network configuration, whereas with the Hue you'd be connecting a bunch of slaves to a central hub. This could come into play depending on the amount of bulbs you plan to use and where.
  - hayksaakian 14y ago
    And keeping in mind the hue kit starts at 160 + 60/ bulb, mesh networking can be more cost efficient.
- dsl 14y ago
  You shouldn't. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/09/18/kickstarter-vaporware-of-the-day-lifx-edition/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/09/18/kickstarter... Basically the R&D costs for this type of product are in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Because this is blazing new trails in material science and electrical efficiency of individual components, it's impossible for a modestly funded startup to get the disruption factor by identifying shortcuts or optimizations.
  - bufferout 14y ago
    10w RGB COB LED + enclosure with heat sink + control board.
  - tesseract 14y ago
    You don't need to do that kind of expensive research if your goal is just to make a nifty color changing lightbulb and you don't care so much how expensive it is to buy or operate. The hard problem is making an LED bulb that competes with incandescent or CFL bulbs on both quality of light and total cost of ownership. So far I haven't seen Lifx come out and directly claim that they are trying to solve that problem (but please let me know if they have, I'm curious).
- tallanvor 14y ago
  As best as I can tell from the Phillips site, they only have an iOS app. LIFX at least seems to also have Android as an option.
  - Kiro 14y ago
    Wow, this is crazy but I'm 100% sure I saw an Android app link on http://www.meethue.com/en-US/getstarted#howitworks http://www.meethue.com/en-US/getstarted#howitworks earlier today.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
Doing the math, Lifx is on the hook for 23,680 bulbs. They raised 1.315M$ in their Kickstarter. If they could get Phillips to cut them a deal on the bulbs to get them under $55/bulb, they could write Phillips a check, transship the bulbs, and everyone would win :-).

Kiro 14y ago

Any reason I should wait for LIFX instead of getting the Hue right away?

jrockway 14y ago
It's a startup and this is Startup News, of course.
mmariani 14y ago
Why buy one instead of the other when you can buy both, write a review and post here? ;)
shanmoorthy 14y ago
From the conversations going on on Kickstarter the LIFX was a mesh network configuration, whereas with the Hue you'd be connecting a bunch of slaves to a central hub. This could come into play depending on the amount of bulbs you plan to use and where.
- hayksaakian 14y ago
  And keeping in mind the hue kit starts at 160 + 60/ bulb, mesh networking can be more cost efficient.
dsl 14y ago
You shouldn't. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/09/18/kickstarter-vaporware-of-the-day-lifx-edition/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/09/18/kickstarter... Basically the R&D costs for this type of product are in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Because this is blazing new trails in material science and electrical efficiency of individual components, it's impossible for a modestly funded startup to get the disruption factor by identifying shortcuts or optimizations.
- bufferout 14y ago
  10w RGB COB LED + enclosure with heat sink + control board.
- tesseract 14y ago
  You don't need to do that kind of expensive research if your goal is just to make a nifty color changing lightbulb and you don't care so much how expensive it is to buy or operate. The hard problem is making an LED bulb that competes with incandescent or CFL bulbs on both quality of light and total cost of ownership. So far I haven't seen Lifx come out and directly claim that they are trying to solve that problem (but please let me know if they have, I'm curious).
tallanvor 14y ago
As best as I can tell from the Phillips site, they only have an iOS app. LIFX at least seems to also have Android as an option.
- Kiro 14y ago
  Wow, this is crazy but I'm 100% sure I saw an Android app link on http://www.meethue.com/en-US/getstarted#howitworks http://www.meethue.com/en-US/getstarted#howitworks earlier today.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

Doing the math, Lifx is on the hook for 23,680 bulbs. They raised 1.315M$ in their Kickstarter. If they could get Phillips to cut them a deal on the bulbs to get them under $55/bulb, they could write Phillips a check, transship the bulbs, and everyone would win :-).