Roger Fingas
Philips used this week's CES to announce a series of software-related upgrades to its Hue lighting system, including the immediate launch of Hue Entertainment, and new apps for both desktop and mobile devices.
Hue Entertainment lets people build an "entertainment area" — for instance around a TV or a gaming PC — using the Hue iOS app. Once the positioning of lights is identified, owners can sync their lights with movies, music, and games. The first partner company is Razer, allowing users of Chroma gaming peripherals to expand effects to an entire room.
Entertainment currently requires both the latest version of the mobile app and a second-generation Hue bridge.
Hue Sync, an upcoming app for macOS High Sierra and Windows 10, will let people build their own lighting scripts for any media played on a computer. The software is due sometime in the second quarter of the year.
Also coming then is a 3.0 redesign of the iOS and Android apps, which will "enhance both existing and new features," according to Philips. The includes quick access to recent scenes, and easy grouping of lights to change their color.
Sometime in the summer the company will introduce its first outdoor Hue lights, but no other details are available.
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11 Comments
Nice! I have Phillips Hue products all over my apartment. Love these things! I'm sure it makes the people driving by look twice sometimes because the lights change colors, but oh well.
I’m curious to see how different the outdoor lights will be. I currently have 3 Hue bulbs mounted in the ceiling of my front porch, they’ve been there for about 3 years and work just fine, even though the bulbs aren’t rated for outdoor use. BTW, I live in New England and the recent lows have been below -10.
Entertainment seems like it could be cool, with the right set up. They’ve had something similar where you could have your Hue lights change to match scenes while movies played. I never did it but I think it worked with some movies on Sci-Fi.
Two years ago I bought a set of Hue lights for my birthday to get me through the long winter nights as mood lighting. I wanted to get something for my birthday and couldn't come up with any better ideas that would be useful. I'm glad I did. I set up two lights in my family room and one in the bedroom. The family room lights light the room perfectly for watching movies. I use the bedroom light in a lamp for reading that I would otherwise have to get out of bed to turn on and off. Now for both, I just ask Siri "Turn on family room lights" and I'm all set for a movie night or "Turn on bedroom light' and I can read a good book. This year I bought a Hue light strip so now the tv is backlit. It will be interesting to see how the dynamic lighting will work.
I thought the best viewing experience is to have no other light sources except the viewing screen itself. Silly me.
Is this new viewing trend a consequence of growing up in the age of digital distraction where whole generations are incapable of completely focusing on one thing only for more than a few seconds?
Really like my many Hue products, but just want one thing - brighter bulbs pumping out way more lumens!