Why Smart Bulbs Are Quietly Becoming the Most Exciting Thing in Tech

Over the last two years, I've received various press releases from light bulb companies hyping their latest bulb to be hooked in to the Internet of Things (or IoT). Initially, I was underwhelmed by this phenomenon since most of them appeared to be little more than app-controlled lights that would allow you to switch them on or off or alter the hue from your smartphone.

If you wanted to stretch the definition of smart products to include anything with a digital connection, then I guess these were indeed part of the IoT or—as they've come to be branded—"smart bulbs." However, I always thought there had to be more to this category. I felt they could be smarter.

Recently, I got a note from a company called Sengled who showed me some very interesting ways they were making light bulbs much more intelligent.

For example, one of their products called the Pulse is a smart bulb that combines the energy efficiency of a dimmable LED light with the high-quality audio of a 13-watt JBL Bluetooth speaker. You can put Pulse into any standard light socket and you'll be able to adjust both the lighting and sound from an app (available on both iOS and Android).

The Pulse comes as a starter pack with one master and one satellite bulb (though it can connect up to six additional satellite bulbs for surround sound). It requires no speaker wires, power cords, or remote controls and works directly with the music on your device. You can literally make any room come alive with the sound of music.

The second product is called the Pulse Solo. Pulse Solo works similarly to Pulse, but functions independently without any additional satellites. You can still enjoy the energy efficiency of a dimmable LED light combined with a Bluetooth speaker and control it all from an app. I find this one great to put in a bedside lamp and make it work like a speaker for my smartphone.

But it's their next two products that are in the works that gave me a glimpse of how a smart bulb could truly become an integral part of your home's IoT infrastructure.

Sengled's Boost is an LED light combined with a Wi-Fi booster. It has the power to end Internet dead zones in your house as each bulb you connect increases the range of your Wi-Fi.

The last item they told me about is optimized for home security. Snap is an LED bulb, which contains an IP Camera, microphone, and speaker. The camera records video and stores it in the cloud. You can monitor it from an app whether at home or away and it can be used indoors and out. Features include facial recognition and motion detection, and since it just screws into a light socket, there is zero installation costs—it's all powered from the socket and has 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi for high-speed backhaul to the home router.

I am particularly enamored with this Snap light bulb video camera idea because it masks the camera in ways that make it less obvious.

The Pulse products are available now through Amazon, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Houzz. The Wi-Fi router Boost will ship in April and Snap, the bulb with the camera in it, will be available in July.

I am intrigued by Sengled's creativity and how they are rethinking the concept of the common light bulb. The very idea of using a light socket to power IoT endpoints represents an important new way in thinking about a home's connected architecture.

The ubiquitous light socket has been transformed into end-point IoT receptacles, which can be used to power everything from Wi-Fi boosters to speakers to video cameras to who knows what else. Any room with a light socket can be included in your home's IoT.

Other companies are doing important things to blend the IoT into our domestic lives. Companies like SkyBell and Ring have created doorbells with cameras in them that you can access via your smartphone. Schlage and KwikSet are creating door locks that are connected to a smartphone. Of course, we all know about Nest and their recent acquisition of Dropcam and many other products that bring smart connected functions into the home.

However, I see what Sengled is doing with light sockets and smart bulbs taking home connectivity to a new level and I will be most interested in how they and the other smart bulb companies utilize light sockets in unique ways to deliver creative products for the connected home.