Categories
Connected Objects Lighting

For Vocca light switches, your voice is a turn-on

The Premise. Sometimes the light switch is just too far away. Whether you’re cozy in bed, just getting in the door with your hands full of groceries or unable to easily get to the switch due to injury, flipping the switch can sometimes be a pain. 

The Product. Vocca is a voice-activated light switch. The small white device screws into any conventional light fixture. Once in, the lightbulb then screws into Vocca. By simply saying the phrase, “Vocca switch light,” the device turns the light on or off. Vocca Pro allows for customization and the user can program up to five trigger phrases for the light using an accompanying app. The product itself is white and very discreet. 

The Pitch. Watching the Vocca campaign video is like seeing a musical on Broadway. Sort of. The star bursts into song from the get go and sings robustly, and informatively, about Vocca explaining that normal light switches will still work and comparing other products. There’s some drama in there too and, like all classic narratives, a conflict about who’s getting up to switch off the light and a solution, Vocca. The rest of the campaign goes through the specs of Vocca and Vocca Pro, showing off its features to potential backers. This smart light switch product hopes to raise $40,000 in a two-month Kickstarter campaign. 

The Perks. For $29, backers will get the Vocca at a special early price. For later backers, $39 is enough to get the Vocca delivered by December 2014. The Vocca Pro goes for an early tier of $42 and regular tier of $49. 

The Potential. As the video points out, there are other smart light switches out there. As the video also points out, these come with limitations. Messing around with your phone isn’t really too much faster than hauling your butt up to turn off or on the light. While Vocca does feature the convenience of customization on your phone, including setting the lights to turn on when you want to wake up, it doesn’t rely solely upon that. For instance, Belkin’s WeMo LightSwitch lets you customize your lighting, but the phone is always needed to control it. If you lose your phone, you’re hosed. With Vocca, simply remembering the phrase is all you need to operate the device. All in all, people are very lazy and for that reason alone, there is definitely a place on the market for Vocca. 

Categories
Connected Objects Lighting Music

Whome sets the mood with lighting and streamed audio

The Premise.  The primary necessity for any home situation is adequate lighting. Plain light bulbs are so 20th century. Why not have customizable, smart light bulbs that can stream audio throughout the home?

The Product. Whome is a Wi-fi enabled system of LED light bulbs that can be controlled using a proprietary app. Designed for customization and sharing, each Whome supports 256 LED bulbs to fine-tune the color and intensity of the light to fit any room, mood, or social situation. Additionally, each bulb also comes with a built-in speaker, and audio can be streamed to the Whome to provide a whole-home output for party music or ambient backgrounds for relaxing in bed. The app allows users to set timers that will change the bulb’s settings for different times of day and allow easy management of all networked lights in the home, no matter which room.

The Pitch.  Whome is a trendy idea, and so Whome developer WaveBomb has framed its product as young and fashionable in its campaign video. Viewers get a glimpse of the product in action from friends watching a soccer match in proper team lighting to a suggestive bedroom encounter complete with mood lighting and appropriate soundtrack. The Whome’s ease of use in on full display, with simple examples of controlling the light in real-time through the app and connected the bulbs to streaming audio featured. With a goal of £20,000 in place, WaveBomb is hoping to raise the funds necessary to begin mass production and get all the necessary certifications.

The Perks. A single Whome is available for £60, set to launch October 2014. Those who want more than just black or white can get a two-pack in any color for £155. Additional tiers offer quantities of five or seven bulbs.

The Potential. Similar products have been introduced already, either taking the smart light bulb route or the music-powered light approach. Whome feels less like a novelty because it tackles both of these concepts in one device. The design makes the bulbs look a bit like ultra-modern salt and pepper shakers, but being able to stream audio and control lighting color and intensity using a phone and being able to program it to act as a much more pleasant form of morning alarm make this a very appealing product for those that have an easier time rising and shining to their favorite music.

Categories
Lighting

Bright Switch turns off the lights when the kids don’t

Bright SwitchFor those who are beginning to feel like a scratched CD in regard to getting the kids to turn off the lights, there is Bright Switch. Though it’s not entirely clear how it works, from watching the video it appears to be similar to setting up the screen saver on a computer. Users can choose how long they want the lights to stay on in a room that is void of activity before the lights are automatically shut off. For $17, backers get one product with an expected delivery of September 2014.

Categories
Lighting

Kangaroo Light folds some extra illumination into tight spots

KANGAROO LIGHTFor people everywhere, bags and purses become black holes of loss and mystery when our things go missing. A little extra light can come in handy sometimes and flashlights have somewhat of a narrow presence. The excessively capitalized KANGAROO LIGHT is a flexible light that is designed to sit in the bottom of your bag to make it easier to find things. It folds into different shapes making it light and portable, much like the RagLite. The KANGAROO makes a nice reading light as well. One of this British product costs backers £40. The light hopes to raise £50,000 in a 45-day Kickstarter campaign.

Categories
Imaging Lighting

RagLite weds LEDs to fabric for a flexible photographers’ friend

RagLiteFlashlights, portable headlights, keychain lights and other lighting systems aim to provide convenience and light when on the go. Most of these types of lights are either bulky or don’t provide enough light when necessary. The RagLite combines portability and extra bright luminance to make a lighting system that is effective and easy to carry. RagLite consists of several strips of LED lights affixed to a piece of fabric. It comes in different sizes and is super lightweight and portable so that it can be taken anywhere. One mini RagLite costs backers $75 with an estimated delivery date of October 2014. This cool, yet expensive product, needs to raise $25,000 in its 60-day Kickstarter campaign.

Categories
Lighting

Blinklums offers a creative lighting outlet, can’t escape a household one.

BlinklumsImagine being able to have a light source in any shape that your heart desires. Blinklums is a lighting system that uses a special chemical formulation to create a sheet of light that is bendable, resistant to water and shock, has a long life and gives off very little heat. A few creative ideas include illuminated mouse pad, posters, and sketch board, to name just a few. The main drawback is that it takes more than just an AC wall outlet for it to give off the equivalent of about 60 watts of light, but an inverter takes care of that, and a battery pack is in the works. For £23, a backer gets one product with an anticipated delivery of June 2014.

Categories
Lighting

m!Qbe controls lighting with a roll of the die

The Premise. The downside to upgrading a home’s lighting system to something more advanced than a simple on/off switch is learning how to make use of the new control panel that comes with it. Adding functionality without overcomplicating things is a constant struggle for any design.

The Product. While it may look like a children’s toy from the future, the m!Qbe is really a lighting control system designed to make the most of modern lighting and its features. By programming different settings into the faces of the cube, changing light distribution, color, and brightness is as simple as setting a different side of the m!Qbe face up. Certain faces are also motion-enabled, allowing users to twist the cube to adjust colors or dim lights, and indecisive owners can even shake the cube to randomly generate a lighting option. The m!Qbe is open-source, allowing designers to develop applications for the device beyond lighting.

The Pitch. Positioned in the video as a solution that even the designers’ grandma can use, the m!Qbe product demonstration is equal parts simple and confusing at first. Once it becomes clear that users design their own preferences to the different symbols on the faces of the cube, making use of the device proves to be that much easier. The flexibility of the luminaires is on display with the variety of options shown in the video that can be changed on the fly with a simple roll of the m!Qbe. m!Qbe designers Blue Asterisk UG want €120,000 to finish streamlining the device and moving into the testing and production phases.

The Perks. An m!Qbe control is available for pledges of €125, available in October 2014. Add-ons are plentiful, with wi-fi for an extra €15, an extra charger for €25, and an extra base for the luminaires for €95. The complete set can be shipped out for those that contribute €235, with higher tiers including more components.

The Potential. The m!Qbe is very modern in its design, turning a complicated light panel into a simple handheld cube. While it’s open-platform design makes it flexible to tackle any kind of appliance or home ambience system, a simple app could do the same thing. The m!Qbe is a home novelty at best, something that could be replaced by a more intuitive system.

Categories
Accents Lighting Video Games

Pria lamp brings outdoor greenery to your indoor scenery

PriaThere’s something refreshing about being surrounded by plants –especially when there aren’t any bugs involved. Pria offers the opportunity to have live plants in your home and not have to worry about whether or not they are getting enough light to stay healthy. The aluminum or wooden dowels house an LED light that is good for 30,000 hours, and the entire product seems to assemble by snapping the magnets together in the appropriate places. For $125, backers get the aluminum version, or $220 for the wooden version with an expected delivery of October 2014.

Categories
Lighting

Ion is the 21st century lava lamp

ionOne thing that makes any music better, especially at a party, is appropriate lighting. With Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity, a multitude of templates and options, and even a comprehensive pattern editor, Ion is essentially the high-tech reboot of the lava lamp. With 40 tri-color LEDs and audio sensors that respond to music or even just phone notifications, Ion can provide an interactive light show for any occasion. Ingeniously, the developers of Ion have set up a Web site where users can try out these options and get a feel for what the light is capable of. Once hooked and ready to get their hands on the real deal, backers can get the party started with an Ion for $199, shipped in August.

Categories
Lighting Smart Home

The Back-Off: Reinventing the light switch

Welcome to The Back-Off, where Backerjack contributors weigh in on two or more products being crowdfunded concurrently.

What. Smart lighting is becoming a regular craze in the smart home community. What is already out on the market doesn’t always do the job right, and so those who want to simplify their home through technology have a couple new options to consider. Both Bluegic and iOn have a new take on changing the most basic electric necessity of any home.

Why. Bluegic’s solution to home lighting is similar to some other crowdfunding projects, using Bluetooth as a way to control lighting even while away from home, using a mobile device to set timers as well as turn on and off lights. The inclusion of a push-button light switch alternative is also a unique personal touch of the Bluegic system. iOn on the other hand is more like traditional light-switches in the sense that one has to be in proximity to the switch itself to control it, but is anything but traditional beyond that. Using a capacitive field, iOn panels can be installed behind art, behind walls, and can be completely out of sight. Users then make a motion within that field, or place a capacitive item in the field that can be touched to turn lights on or off. Bluegic switches range from $54 to $69 depending on how many buttons are on the switch, iOn switches start at $40 a piece.

When. Both projects were launched on March 25th and have the same funding goal of $100,000, but Bluegic’s campaign is running 45 days instead of iOn’s 30. Bluegic also plans to ship in June, while iOn switches won’t reach backers until August.

Winner. In terms of what they offer, the Bluegic system is more flexible, but other options are out there that do the same thing. iOn is a much more refreshing take on the modernization of home lighting, and while it certainly could have its faults in terms of accidentally tripping the lights, would be more cost effective to put into a home and not require any other devices. iOn gets the edge here for its innovation and cost.