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Microsoft brings home automation app and devices to the Windows Store
Unlike Google with its new $3.2 billion Nest, Microsoft doesn't have a lot of home automation products yet despite some interesting research. Redmond has now made a move to stock its shelves, albeit indirectly, via a partnership with home automation specialist Insteon. The pair just announced that an enhanced Insteon app will soon be available on Windows and Windows Phone 8.1 devices. It'll feature multiple, full-screen video feeds, device control, a visitor mode to give limited control to others and Live Tile integration for status updates. In addition, Insteon will sell standalone devices in the Windows Store including a leak sensor, LED bulb and WiFi camera for $30 - $80, with kits starting at $200. Unlike Nest Products or the Philips Hue, Insteon's system uses RF frequency and your home's existing wiring (PowerLine) to communicate with devices. The app will arrive on June 1st, with the devices hitting Windows Stores in July, complete with educational demos and displays.
LED headlights can add up to six miles of electric vehicle range
We've been charting the progression of in-home lighting, CFLs replacing incandescents but themselves slowly walking the path obsolescence as LED bulbs get cheaper and more common. It's much the same on the vehicle lighting front, with LEDs taking over more and more automotive lighting, and now OSRAM Sylvania is giving us another reason to make that happen sooner. LED bulbs can provide the same amount of light as traditional incandescent car bulbs with less than 25 percent the energy draw. On a gas-powered auto that's not such a big deal, where LEDs are being used primarily because of benefits like cooler temps, longer life, and greater stylistic freedom, but on an EV that reduction in current draw can offer as much as a six mile boost in range on a single charge. That may not sound like much, but if you ever run out of juice five miles from home you might just change your mind.
Lite-On's Mobile Lamp LED bulb works even when the power is out
We hate to break it to you, but those LED light bulbs that are shaped like traditional light bulbs? It's all a lie. LEDs are naturally pretty small things, and while there might be dozens scattered about inside a bulb there's still plenty of empty space in there meant only to make the things about the same size as a good ol' incandescent. Lite-On, however, has found something to make use of that space: batteries. The company's Mobile Lamp bulb can stay on for up to two hours even after the power is turned off, effectively turning it into a flashlight. To switch the bulb on or off you simply touch the copper part while something conductive makes contact with the metal part on the bottom, which could be a lamp socket or just a finger, as shown in the brief video after the break. The bulbs are due to be out sometime next year and should be hugely popular in areas with unreliable power -- or with an abnormally high rate of magicians per-capita.
GE's LED light bulbs look cool, last forever, cost a lot
Citizens of the Earth, you're looking at the lightbulb of the future. In the coming years and decades our lives won't be illuminated by simple spheres or coils of white. Oh no; future bulbs will have cool fins and flares that make them look almost worth the $40 to $50 we'll pay for the things. That's what GE plans to ask for its Energy Smart LED bulb when it ships sometime in the next 12 months, and while that is a lot compared to the exiting options, look at the benefits: GE's bulbs will last a whopping 17 years when used four hours a day, and they give off light in all directions -- not focused in one spot like previous designs. But, most importantly, they're very efficient, using nine watts to give off the equivalent amount of light of a 40 watt incandescent bulb. That's 10 percent less than a 40 watt equivalent CFL, and there's no mercury or other toxic goop involved here either. It's the future, folks. Start saving. %Gallery-90389%
Quantum dots make for more pleasing LED lamps
Many who grew up beneath a warm, inefficient incandescent or halogen glow are having a hard time coming to grips with the stale, stiff, efficient illumination provided by CFL or LED bulbs. Two companies, Nexxus Lighting and QD Vision, have paired up to change that, with the former providing an 8 watt (75 watt equivalent) LED bulb, and the latter providing a thin film of quantum dots that can precisely control its color. The dots are microscopic particles that filter light into different colors depending on their size, from red to blue as the dots get smaller -- some only 10 atoms in diameter. The first bulbs are due later this year, and while no word on price is given, Nexxus's current LED bulb costs $100 on its own and surely that layer of dots won't come cheap. Also, no word on whether you'll need to use a Handlink to turn the thing on and off.[Via Physorg]
