Smart light bulb texts you when it dies
By Barb Dybwad 
posted August 18th 2005 11:40AM
posted August 18th 2005 11:40AM
This is great — now, if you don't have any friends, at least you can get SMS messages from your lightbulbs. Fujitsu is responsible for this technology that allows your bulbs to send you a text message when they burn out, so you'll know you need to buy a new one. Sweet. We need to get this enabled around the house stat, so that our toilet paper can tell us when it's out, the cat food can text us when it's low, and so's the fridge can alert us when our ungrateful friends have drunk the last beer.
[Via RFID in Japan]
Wouldn't this be more useful if it notified you when it was ABOUT to run out? If it's just run out, then obviously it is running and you would know this by the fact that it's NOT SHINING ANYMORE! The more effective thing would have it tell us when it's about to go, that way we can get more bulbs from the store in time before it actually does run out.
I guess the good ol trick when light doesnt come out of the bulb when turned on isn't good enough anymore.
If a bulb goes out and no one is around to see it does it really matter?
They should've went ahead and make it text you a picture of how a dead lightbulb looks like, and even instructions on how to replace it, and how many people it will take to do it.
getting spammed by a lightbulb? no thanks.
What's even funnier is when you pipe the link's URL thru babelfish.altavista.com and use the Japanese to english translator. Too funny!
How many geeks does it take to screw in a SMS lightbulb?
cool, but who's gonna text me when my cellphone dies?
What's even funnier is when you pipe the link's URL thru babelfish.altavista.com and use the Japanese to english translator. Too funny!
Not too helpful since lights usually only blow out when you flip the switch.
Maybe the glow of the SMS alert on your phone will be enough to guide you in the dark to the spare bulbs.
I can see this being very useful for warehouses or hotels. thinkabout it theres not always staff to see the burnt out bulb but customeers or administraitors may need light in that area
I think it'd be funny to get a text like, "I'm dying...dying..dyin..." from a lightbulb.
When are we going to improve on light bulb technology itself? Hasn't it pretty much been the same for a hundred years?
If only there was some way for the lightbulb to give you a visual indication that it was burnt out.
Yeah, but who's going to send a text message to my light bulb when I die?
I think it would be better if the bulb sent you a message when you die, laughing at you.
#13:
They're called "LEDs." You might have heard about them a couple of times recently.
A revolution in our times!
Ruby 2, "I'll give you fire" -- from the 80s public radio show. Anyone who hasn't heard it should. Pretty prophetic stuff. ;-) zbs.org
@17
Not impressed. The LED was invented 40 years ago and we're still buying the ancient incandescents and fluorescents.
Well, then how much would each damned lighbulb cost? If you really care to get this, I say get a lightbulb SOCKET that will tell you.
But, as has been mentioned, it's pretty obvious when a lightbulb goes out.
Wouldn't it have been a better idea to invest the money into making a LONGER LASTING bulb than into complicated SMS circuitry?
Go buy one, they sell them. My kitchen light went through three bulbs about every three months. I replaced them with a high lifespan bulb and... well so far I've changed one of the bulbs, and it's been four years. They were about $20 for a set of four, but worth it for the cost of replacements and for my trouble.
They just engineer the bulbs to run off higher voltages, and as a result, at 120 they run a little dimmer, (60's look like 40's) but they last almost forever. So if you are going to swap, make sure the lighting you have is currently bordering on the excessive, because longer life bulbs are dimmer.
hmmm what about the people who live in the middle of nowhere? where cell phones don't work? Would be nice to have an option to call your home phone instead or leave a message on the answering machine
I would prefer a phone message when I have forgotten to switch the light off.
Would it be better if it texts an electrician? I don't think the dim bulbs, that would buy one of these, could change a bulb anyways.
I want a lightbulb which will appear above my head when I have an idea.
Useful... but not THAT useful...