iLumi color LED bulb wants to light up your life
Yet another company aspires for a slice of consumer interest in multicolored LED light bulbs that can change hues with the tap of an app.
When it comes to lighting, most of us live in a yellow or white world. iLumi, a new player in the light bulb space, aspires to change that with a few fresh and colorful ideas.
Similar to many other techy lights coming out these days, the iLumi lets for users control the light's color wirelessly through an iOS or Android app -- except this one utilizes low-power Bluetooth 4.0 instead of commonly used Wi-Fi (like LIFX). Bluetooth 4.0 offers more range than previous iterations, meaning you can control the light from up to 100 feet away.
If iLumi hits $100,000 in funding on Indiegogo, it will come in small (8 watt, 650 lumens) or large (15 watt, 1100 lumens), and supposedly deliver a rich spectrum of color made possible by the powerful RGBW (red green blue white) LEDs within each fixture. Prices will range from $59 to $89.
The iLumi's LED light array is built into a futuristic-looking bulb shape that's still under development and should feature an internal battery-powered clock and memory so any programmed settings for automated lighting remain on schedule. Aside from a feature-rich app vastly similar to that of LIFX, mention of an SDK could open doors to interesting programming opportunities, such as the music sync mode shown off by the developers.
Like any other start-up trying to make it on a crowdfunded Web site, the co-founders of this project -- Corey Egan and Swapnil Bora -- have some big dreams, but also face some big challenges. The company needs to reach its $100,000 goal to finalize the design, complete testing, and polish the apps. Then it needs to order parts and kick off the manufacturing process. The group has raised $6,813 since it started fundraising yesterday.