cree
Latest
The best smart LED light bulbs
By Grant Clauser This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. We considered more than 20 smart-light-bulb systems and then spent eight weeks testing 10 contenders, confounding a family of four by constantly changing how their lights worked. After all that, we determined that the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 is the best all-around smart LED bulb. Hue lets you change your lighting color easily and does everything other smart light bulbs do, and it's also part of a larger product and app ecosystem, allowing for more flexibility and creativity than any other smart bulb we tested. Plus, it's compatible with the widest variety of smart-home systems, including Apple's HomeKit, Samsung's SmartThings hub, Amazon's Alexa, and Google Home. It's not the cheapest bulb we tested, but its reliable performance and wide compatibility make it a solid choice for any smart-home enthusiast or newbie.
Amazon Echo gets StubHub event info, further automates your home
Since its introduction, Amazon has continued to add new features to its voice-controlled speaker. Most recently, the online retailer tacked on StubHub integration for keeping tabs on local events. Once you set your city, you can ask the gadget's virtual assistant Alexa to tell you what's going on this weekend, for example. Adding to its home automation toolbox, Echo also plays nice with Cree connected light bulbs and gear from both Leviton and Lightify through the Wink hub. If those don't excite you too much you can rest assured that more of the so-called Skills are certainly on the way for the speaker and its built-in helper.
Daily Roundup: Facebook experiments, Lumia updates and more!
Learn how to deal with contentious topics (and friends) on Facebook, get the scoop on the Lumia Denim update for Windows Phone devices and get enlightened about the cheapest smart bulbs around. All this and more can be found in today's Daily Roundup.
Cree's affordable smart bulb works with Zigbee and Wink home hubs
Sure, being able to control your lights using an app is cool and all, but smart bulbs are typically (frustratingly!) expensive. If you don't mind getting basic features on a basic bulb, though, Cree has a new $15 option now out at Home Depot -- that's the same price as GE's Link Bulbs and a lot cheaper than, say, Philips Hue models. You can't change its colors and use it as disco lights, but you can dim, brighten or schedule it to switch on at a specific time through the accompanying iOS and Android app. Also, the company claims it's shatter-proof despite the price point and can last for up to 25,000 hours. It still needs to be connected to a Wink or a ZigBee hub to work, which means more $$$ if you don't have either yet. But if you already own one of those hubs, Cree's connected bulb doesn't sound like such a shabby choice.
These LED bulbs are brighter despite fewer diodes and a lower price
One of the toughest parts to swallow of LED lighting technology is just how costly it can be. Well, the folks at Cree have taken umbrage with that and developed a bulb that'll retail for around $5 per 40- and 60-watt-equivalent bulb -- less than some standard CFL lamps by a few bucks. How's it doing that? In part by changing the bulbs' design and eliminating the need for heat sinks. As IEEE Spectrum reports, instead of the collar that more or less does double-duty holding the LEDs in place and dissipating heat, the new models get rid of hot air via convection. Meaning, as diodes get warmer, they naturally draw cool air in from outside the bulb as the higher temperature rises upward and outward.
Cree shows off 'no-compromise' LED replacement for 60-watt incandescent bulbs
Compact fluorescent (or CFL) bulbs may currently be the dominant alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs, but there's still a strong contingent betting on LEDs as the true long term replacement. One of the major players in that camp is Cree, which recently teamed up with TESS and Dean Kamen's FIRST organization to have kids distribute LED light bulbs like Girl Scout cookies (seriously), and is now showing off what is says is the "first no-compromise replacement for a 60-watt incandescent bulb." That bulb is dimmable, and emits a "beautiful, warm, incandescent-like color of 2700 K," while delivering more than 800 lumens and consuming less than 10 watts (meeting the Energy Star requirements for a 60-watt standard LED replacement bulb). Unfortunately, there's one big catch -- the bulb is still just a prototype, and Cree says it hasn't yet decided how it will bring it to market, or how much it might cost. Head on past the break for a quick video demonstration.
Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powered by Cree
Segway inventor Dean Kamen just stole the show at TEDMED 2010, with both a far-reaching lecture on how technology can save the developing world, and a peek at his latest projects. We'll spare you the wave of guilt for now and get right to the cool stuff, like the latest rendition of his Luke prosthetic arm and Slingshot water machine. Dean admitted he's having difficulty finding companies interested in manufacturing the former, but it's looking snazzier than when it last grabbed Stephen Colbert, with components like this shoulder piece printed out of titanium in a custom 3D printer, and it's slated to look like this. The Slingshot's seeing even more action, as Dean and company have pulled it out of the ugly box into these svelte tubes, and finally has a distribution deal (with Coca-Cola, of all companies) to bring the clean-water-from-any-source machines to developing countries in trials early next year. Last but not least, the man's got a product you might be able to afford for your home. In the quest for an item for his FIRST young engineers to sell -- a la Girl Scout cookies -- he tapped LED manufacturer Cree to produce an 450 lumen light bulb that draws just 7 watts and will retail for about $25 door-to-door. In case you're wondering, that's cheaper and more efficient than most any lamp we've seen before. Dean says they've already produced several hundred thousand of the bulbs thanks to a surprise $3 million investment from Google, and plan to have them in the hands of every FIRST kid soon. Keep on fighting the good fight, Dean. %Gallery-106215%
Joby tempts the argonauts with Switchback headlamp / lantern
Call us crazy, but we're guessing that the Joby you knew last year will look nothing like the Joby that we see this time next year. Once famous for crafting flexible tripods for simple point and shoot cameras, the outfit has branched out quite significantly since. Case in point: the Switchback. Joby's still relying on its flexible mount expertise by including a tripod with this here lighting instrument, but it's the device itself that steals the show. The water resistant Switchback is a two-piece product; there's a headlamp that can be worn around your dome, and it can be shoved into a lantern container for those sit-around-the-campfire moments. The light itself has a central white beam with two power levels, and it's surrounded by a foursome of Cree LEDs that shine blue or red (and can be toggled with a button press). Joby throws a pair of AA batteries in for good measure, and in our testing, we found it sufficient enough for backyard gatherings and the like. The lantern apparatus has a clip on the bottom in order to affix the aforesaid tripod, but in practice we found it fairly simple to tip over when not wrapped around a tree limb. At any rate, it's on sale today for $59.95 for those looking to hit the forests in the near future.%Gallery-105428%
Joby goes slim with Cree-equipped Gorillatorch Blade LED flexi-light
Joby broke out of its mold last year with its first-ever flexible flashlight, but frankly speaking, the bulb on the end of it was downright bulky. A year later, we're looking at a far slimmer and far sexier model -- one that relies on Cree's XLamp XP-C LED bulbs in order to output 130 lumens of light in a pocket-friendly package. The Gorillatorch Blade is a rugged, tripod-equipped flashlight that boasts a rechargeable internal battery (USB or AC adapter) an aluminum chassis and an adjustable beam. She's also water and drop-resistant, but we aren't certain we'd be eager to push the boundaries there; at any rate, it's on sale now for $59.95, and yes, the DIY mechanic in your life could definitely use a couple. %Gallery-104401%
Ann Arbor street lights to be replaced with LEDs
The latest locale to join Toronto and Raleigh in the LED City initiative is none other than the home of the Wolverines, which recently announced plans to replace about 1,400 street lights with light-emitting diodes. The city is claiming that it will be the nation's first to "convert all downtown street lights to LED technology," and it's hoping to save around $100,000 per year in doing so. Not surprisingly, Research Triangle Park-based Cree will be providing the components for Ann Arbor's transformation, and it sounds like it'll take a couple of years before the $630,000 project is actually completed. Hopefully, it won't take quite that long before the Maize and Blue can topple Ohio State again.[Image courtesy of University of Michigan]
Survey sez LED lit parking garages seem safer
We had a sneaking suspicion that there was an ulterior motive behind Raleigh getting lit up as the "world's first LED city," and aside from savings tons of dough on energy bills over the next decade or so, it seems to make motorists feel a good bit safer, too. According to a before and after survey conducted by Mindwave Research, the number of respondents who "perceived the garage as very safe increased by 76-percent after the LED fixtures were installed." Admittedly, the newfangled lighting certainly added a new level of brightness to the situation, and the number of individuals who gave the garage an overall rating of "excellent" increased by 100-percent in response. The (unnecessarily lengthy) survey also added a few more minor figures to further prove that LED lighting is simply superior to the other stuff , but we're not yet sure if Cree will successfully use this ammunition to grab even more contracts to freshen up the city lights.
