All posts tagged: Hue

My LED strips now do things Philips Hue can’t — and the whole setup cost me

My LED strips now do things Philips Hue can’t — and the whole setup cost me $15

Published by skeptic

I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the more premium side of smart lighting, case in point, Philips Hue. Yes, the hardware is polished, the app is slick, and the ecosystem works well — until you start thinking about what you’re actually paying for. A single Hue light strip starter kit can easily run north of $80, and that’s before including the fact that you’d probably need a much longer strip for your purpose, and the proprietary hub you need just to make it talk to anything. But when you can replace your entire smart home hub for $50, why can’t you replicate what a Philips Hue strip can do with some off-the-shelf RGB strips? The answer is you can, and do much more than Philips can offer. Related I bought a robotic finger and now my dumb light switch is smart This brilliant smart home device makes any switch smart. Home Assistant unlocks lighting you won’t find in commercial apps Why local automation opens up effects and controls beyond Philips Hue Photo by Yadullah …

Philips Hue Adds Play Table Lamp, Floor Lamp, and New Candle Bulbs

Philips Hue Adds Play Table Lamp, Floor Lamp, and New Candle Bulbs

Published by skeptic

Signify today announced two new Philips Hue devices to expand its Hue Entertainment lineup, debuting the Philips Hue Play Table Lamp and the Philips Hue Play Floor Lamp Large. There are also new candle bulbs. The two lamps are similar to the existing Signe Hue table and floor lamps, featuring a tall, linear design that casts light on a wall or surface behind the light. The lamps offer color-changing lighting effects that synchronize with games, TV shows, movies, and music when used with the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box or the Hue Sync TV and desktop apps. Signify says that the lamps are designed for flexible placement, and a video featuring the table lamp shows it placed next to a TV set to project on the wall behind it. The table lamp is 23.6 inches, while the floor lamp is 53 inches tall. Both support Chromasync for precise color matching. The new lamps have a more affordable price than the previous gradient floor and table lamps. The Hue Play Table Lamp is priced at $80, …

Philips Hue and WiZ Launch Sports Live Feature for the 2026 World Cup

Philips Hue and WiZ Launch Sports Live Feature for the 2026 World Cup

Published by skeptic

Signify has launched Sports Live, a new feature for Philips Hue and WiZ smart lighting products that synchronizes lighting effects with live soccer match data in real time (via Hue Blog). The feature is rolling out now ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Sports Live uses live match data to trigger lighting changes at key in-game moments, including goals, yellow cards, and red cards, with the aim of making at-home viewing feel more immersive. Unlike traditional TV sync systems that rely on HDMI-based hardware to analyze on-screen content, Sports Live connects directly to live match data and responds to events as they occur, eliminating the need for additional synchronization hardware. During quieter periods, lights adapt to reflect a favorite team’s colors, the leading team’s colors, or a neutral white when the score is tied. Setup is handled through either the Philips Hue or WiZ mobile app. In the Hue app, the feature is found under the Sync tab, where users select a room or zone, which must include at least one color-capable light, and …

I finally fixed my Philips Hue setup, and my family actually likes it now

I finally fixed my Philips Hue setup, and my family actually likes it now

Published by skeptic

I have numerous Philips Hue products in my house, and I love them. They offer deep smart home integrations (you can even have them run silently via automation), a versatile array of products from light strips to bulbs to uplighting, and allow you to set a variety of colors and levels of warmth. But there’s one big problem (that I solved). Unless you have the app on your phone, controlling Hue lights is not easy enough for anyone in my family to do. My wife and kids want the technology in our house to be simple, and I get that. So, after having set up various scenes in our living room to create a warm mood at night, you’d still need the app to change scenes or even turn the lights on or off. Unless you get an add-on for your Hue system that you can mount to the wall, right next to your other switches, that gives you easy access to controlling your lights. That was perfect for the whole family. Meet the Philips …

CES 2026: Philips Hue Line Get New SpatialAware Scenes, Hue Cameras Gain HomeKit Support

CES 2026: Philips Hue Line Get New SpatialAware Scenes, Hue Cameras Gain HomeKit Support

Published by skeptic

Lighting company Signify today announced a new SpatialAware scene feature that’s coming to Philips Hue lights. SpatialAware scenes take into account the position of all of the Hue lights in a room, using an algorithm to distribute light in a more natural way. The savannah sunset scene with SpatialAware The SpatialAware feature analyzes the layout of each room in the home with Hue lights, and then lighting scenes are tailored to your personal space. Lighting is meant to feel more immersive and dynamic than before. The savannah sunset scene without SpatialAware Right now, when a Scene Gallery scene is activated, the different colors are randomly sent to different lights without the system knowing where those lights are positioned. SpatialAware allows color to be distributed more intentionally for a more natural look. A scene that’s designed to mimic a sunset, for example, will set lamps on one side of the room to warm yellow tones to mimic the setting sun, while lamps on the other side are set to darker shades. SpatialAware requires the Hue Bridge …