The new Lifx Windows 10 app lets Cortana toggle your lights

The cloud-connected, color-changing Lifx LED released a Windows 10 app this week, bringing smart lighting control to Microsoft's PCs and tablets, including the Surface Pro 3 . Aside from full controls for each Lifx bulb in your setup, the app includes integration with the Start Menu's Live Tiles and support for Cortana, Microsoft's voice-activated AI assistant.

That Cortana integration means that Windows users will be able to control their Lifx bulbs with spoken commands. Along with telling Cortana to turn a bulb or group of bulbs on or off, you can tell her to change to a specific color, or to dim the lights up or down.

The app comes one week after Lifx announced a significant price cut for its bulbs. Originally priced at $100 each, the color-changing version of Lifx's smart LED now costs $60 (about £40, or AU$80, converted roughly), the same price as a single Philips Hue LED . Unlike the color-changing Hue bulbs, which broadcast using Zigbee and thus require a Bridge accessory to communicate with your router, Lifx bulbs use Wi-Fi -- that means you can start playing with one as soon as you screw it in.

In addition to the RGB model, Lifx sells the Lifx White 800 LED for $40. That bulb won't shine in colors from the RGB spectrum, but it does include a fully tunable white light spectrum, which lets you dial into your specific color temperature of choice. You'll be able to control both from the Windows 10 app -- and also bulbs from other manufacturers, so long as they're compatible with AllJoyn, an open-source framework for the Internet of Things. Of course, as of now, the only notable AllJoyn-compatible smart bulb is Lifx.

Both of Lifx's bulbs are available internationally, with E26 and E27 sized screw-in bases for North America and Australia, as well as a model with a B22 bayonet mount for the UK. As for the app, it's free, and available for download now.