Soundbulb serves two great purposes, at least in theory
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 23rd 2009 10:29AM
posted Jan 23rd 2009 10:29AM
[Via Electronista]
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haaha i wonder if they are as efficient as cfls
so wait, can blind people listen to these?
"Sounds" like a "bright" idea.
I wonder if these sound good. I imagine they'd sound like the free headphones you get on airplanes. If these had good sound, and weren't as expensive as I imagine they are, I would be all over them. Would be much easier than wiring a house for sound, plus you could move the "speakers" whenever you wanted to.
Since when did we get free headphones on airplanes?
I get them all the time from frontier air in the US, and on any international flight I've taken lately. They're incredibly crappy earbuds... last time I flew, they had a huge box full of them as you board the plane. People were grabbing them by the hand full for some reason.
You just need to make sure you don't play any of those resonate notes that shatter glass......ruin a perfectly good light bulb because you used Maxell (?fuzzy memory?)
@Layne: They could make this out of plexi.
I think it might work well as a voice channel for a surround sound movie setup, but I wouldn't want it as my main speaker.
Shouldn't this be listed as a "Crap Gadget"?
Another thought; So this is designed to increase the vibrations on the light bulb filament? Brilliant! That ought to extend the life of this bulb immeasurably.
Yeah, like what do you do with the bulbs when they DO burnout?
"Yeah, like what do you do with the bulbs when they DO burnout?"
Listen to the sound of darkness?
Filament? Right! If you're going to make a fancy new sound producing light bulb, don't use CFL or LEDs, use 100+ year old lighting technology... FILAMENTS! BWAAHAHAAAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!!!
I think they're probably ahead of you on that one, TS.
NumbNuts!!!!
since lights are usually directed at you, so will your sound! great thinking!
Seriously?
If only it had an apple logo....
..... then I will seriously reconsider my decision of holding AAPL any longer.
Or a Batman logo!
Best line in the article "It will be amusing to see homes screwing on the SoundBulb."
Other then that its good that the light is led based since filament based has two drawbacks sound-wave/shock and filaments don't get along so well and heat from incandescent bulbs.
Those would be cool for a home automation project that uses voice activation. Instead of putting speakers everywhere in the house, I could use these to hear the confirmation feedback or communication back from the house control center. Unfortunately, I'd still have to install mics in the house for true two-way communication.
I'm shocked that there's actually a use for these things.
seems cool but not that useful. unless this uses less energy or is green in some way i don't think we'll be seeing much of them.
Once I replace all my lights with these - my training to become Daredevil will take off. *[puts eyedropper of toxic waste back in drawer]*
i'd like the idea if say all the bulbs in the house were these are they were all playing the same thing, so the music could be on in the entire house without any extra wirering and such.
It would be cool if they could use ethernet over power to get the audio stream.
This sucks. I guess the romantic evenings at home watching movies, or listening to music will have to be with the lights on.
Wouldn't you need the lights on to power the speakers?
Sneak some of these into your neighbors house. Then just torment them ala "Real Genius"... Hello Dave, This is God...
Dumbest idea....ever.
BS. I could sit in a dark silent room and still geek out; gadgets will create their own light and sound.
Though this is kinda nifty, I would never use these in place of speakers. However, set these up to be properly phased additional tweeters, and everyone in the room could get sweet spot Imaging if set up right. (assuming they don't sound like paper bags)
Wow that actually sounds awesome. But do the lights haveto be on to make sound, or can they be independent?
Sidenote: F wireless audio transmission. When is soMeone going to create near lossless wireless speaker transmission? All the ones I've heard make me cringe at the quality.
check out the sleek audio SA6+wirelless adapter
This may be usefull for emergency lighting and sound. Say in an office building. But even that's a stretch. Replace the bulbs in the exit signs, so not only will they show up in the dark, but a sound can be emitted to help locate these exits. Maybe evacuation route information.
Systems like this already exist, but I can see these as a very easy and cheap method to upgrade buildings that dont have modern systems.
Hmmm. A lightbulb + speaker combination smacks of the inconvenience brought about by the old DVD + VCR combo: one function breaks, and you're left with half a gadget.
Someone didn't read the article. Both the Speaker and Lights are replaceable
You switch to DARK somber music. Maybe a dirge or a little Goth?
Why didn't they de-couple these and make a place to plug in a lightbulb that is also a speaker? I mean, the light bulb goes out and I have to replace my speaker? Light bulbs die way more often than speakers. Unless it's an LED, they die less often but I doubt they have even half the lifespan of a speaker.
Yet again they are replaceable (speaker and lights separately the real article states this
Comments show up right away, but replies take forever or don't ever get there. This comment system needs to be fixed.
Great, that reply came up instantly. So weak. Anyway, Joseph, you're right, I didn't read the article carefully, LEDs are replacable. Looks like they could've come up with a simpler design though. And I didn't see any mention of a remote. If I'm outside listening to some Metallica and the neighbor says turn it down, I have to go inside, get a ladder or have a remote receiver outside. Lame.
I personally like it. I'd love to have a few in every room and be able to have music playing all over and not just have my stereo system on really loud in my living room. It's a bit annoying to go upstairs and then it sounds like some douchebag teenager is sitting outsie my house with his car on full blast...
These would be perfect for in my bathroom. you know, shower music.
But, why?
I prefer Fish Bulb
Umm, why? And if the bulb is in an enclosure, how will the sound get out?
I'd much rather have them dim / get bright based on the tone of the music.... but then again, those that dwell in closest watching pr0n would think aliens are comming.
I could see some uses out of these.. but they really are no different then any wireless speaker.. except when the bulb burns out, you got to throw out the speaker.
you can actually find the sound innovation contest, where you can find no less than 3 similar concept.. something in the air i guess..
http://designboom.com/contest/view.php?contest_pk=24&item_pk=24769&p=1
http://designboom.com/contest/view.php?contest_pk=24&item_pk=23933&p=1
http://designboom.com/contest/view.php?contest_pk=24&item_pk=24336&p=1
Epic fail...
There's only one serious purpose for these bulbs I can think of, but provided this contraption has a reasonably decent longevity, it might just be a very important one: Muzak. With few exceptions, mall speaker systems suck. Sure, once in a while, you see (and hear) a decent JBL speaker yodel some not so decent music down on your head, but usually, there isn't much room for qualitative decline, so I doubt this bulb is going to look bad compared to them. Hence, it should be a perfectly adequate replacement, with the crucial difference that
speaker system montage could be completely eliminated and the expansion of an already existing system would be a snap, as would be rearranging of an already installed soundbulb system.