Change your interaction with light, Forever. Osram Lightify : ORDER NOW from The Led Specialist

Osram Lightify: 'The Connected Future of Lighting'

We are seeing more and more Wifi lamps and systems that are making our home lighting much more connected and colourful but this Osram Lightify seems to create the most connected lighting system yet, with a variety of lamps and luminaries, from GLS to strip tape, GU10 to garden lighting. This is truly the future in connected lighting. 

The Lightify app is completely free and can be installed on smartphone or tablet. The app allows you to control the networked Lightify lamps, luminaries, strips and garden lights individually or in different groups in your home and garden. To start you just need to install the app and purchase a starter kit; which consists of a Lightify Gateway and an LED GLS Lightify lamp.

This Lightify will allow you to explore and discover entirely new lighting possibilities. lighting in your home can now be customised depending on your moods and personal preferences with, changing your home environment to suit your life. Want to be able to go to sleep? Perhaps a warm red light in your bedroom would help you relax best. Want to create a party environment? Perhaps set every light in the house to a different colour? It's now completely up to you. 

The wireless Lightify system can have more lights added to it at any time, with a maximum of 50 lamps on the network. All those lamps controlled by one app. Installation is extremely simple, plug and play and thats all there is to it. 

'Lightify will change you interaction with light. Forever.' 


'Infinite worlds of colours' - The lightify app can change your lighting colour to several different white tones as well as 16 million different colours. The app displays the different colours in a circle so you can continuously select an almost unlimited supply of colours. Out of these colours you can chose your favourites and modify these at any time.
 







Colour Picker - Not only do you have 16 million colours literally at your fingertips, you can use the colour picker to select a colour in a photo or picture that you like and set your lights to that in just a couple of clicks. 

Memory - If you create a particular lighting atmosphere that you favour, you can save it and whenever you want to use it again you can at any time.  This way your lighting is even more personal to you. 

'Pre-Set lighting Scene' -  On top of all those features, you can utilise the pre-set lighting scenes that are saved in the app. If you need to create a relaxed home environment after a long, stressful day at work you can change your home into the ulimate relaxation zone by using the pre set scene, 'relax'. If you simply need a bit of waking up, you can change your lights to an activating bluish light scene called 'active'. 
If you are on the road a lot of the time you can pre-set lighting sequences before you leave and have individual control of this anywhere in the world. Lightify features the 'presence simulation', activate this before you go on the road and the lighting in your home will simulate your absence. 

You can control Lightify via the app at any time, anywhere in the world, all you need is mobile internet access. The possibilities really are endless with Lightify. 

Please click here to see the full range on our website. 

If you would like to watch the video of the Lightify on the Osram website, please click here



*All information from Osram Lighting**

 

 

Lux Review: 600x600 Panels- Integral Panel is 5 *

Lux Magazine’s technical editor Alan Tulla has recently reviewed the latest LED replacements for recessed fluorescent fittings.

In order to review these items, Tulla tested ten different panels from the cheap and cheerful to the more expensive and higher quality aswell as edge lit and backlit. Edgelit being the flatter, slimmer panel and backlit the thicker, more hefty. Due to the competition for lowest price on the market being so hot, Tulla explains that a lot of photometric data is missing from the panels of some suppliers and this can cause issues involving glare, uneven light distribution and dark ceiling areas where the panels are not arranged properly. All making for a poor installation.

A panel that did not disappoint was the Integral Led Panel,using 40W, the panel emits over 5100 lumens, 5121 to be precise at 128 lumens per watt. Tulla states in his review that this panel is, ‘a third more efficient that many of its competitors’ aswell as having, ‘clear installation instructions and technical data. There’s even a cone diagram showing the illumination level at various mounting heights.’

Tulla finishes by saying that the Integral panel is a, ‘no-nonsense unit with huge light output at a competitive price.’

Tulla gave the Integral Panel five out of five stars.

This panel is excellent value for money and can be found on our website. http://theledspecialist.co.uk/

 If you would like to take a look at the photometric data from Integral, please don’t hesitate to contact us by email on sales@ledspecialist.couk or Telephone 0118 950 7125.

Image Courtesy of Integral, Blog post adapted from Lux Magazine Review: 600X600mm LED Ceiling Panels, Issue 44, April 2015

The Future: Internet of Light as part of Internet of Everything

Lighting as the bridge between physical and digital.

The Led Specialist attended Philips' most recent webinar on The Internet of Light and semantic lighting by Zary Segall, professor at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. At the start of this webinar Segall states its purpose, to start thinking about 'how we are using light to connect the physical and digital world in ways we never dreamed of.' A concept that at first seemed desperately confusing to us but as the webinar went on, our understanding of it increased and began to make us excited. This article is a break down of that webinar and the exciting ideas that is explores.

 Smart Lighting is all about user experience, before beginning the webinar, Segall took a poll asking the question,  has your experience with your mobile phone fundamentally changed in the last 25 years? The answer to which is pretty obvious for most but he also asked attendees of the webinar to answer another question for the poll, has your user experience with your kitchen lighting changed fundamentally in the last 25 years? This created the opposite answer. For the last 25 years the way we interact with our kitchen lighting or delving deeper; home lighting and lighting in general has not been challenged or changed and remains extremely simple but Segall poses the question, what if light could understand you? 

User experience is all about you and a more modern description of you is you as a physical sense and you in a digital sense, or as a digital representation of yourself. The way that google defines you and things about you and all the information that has been put together about you through the digital world. There are many features of this you, which Segall refers to as the W, the double you. For instance, the bio-mechanical W is the digital model of the way we move, the way we move an arm, a leg, they way we touch things and the way we eat. If we take the way we eat further; a digital model could understand that you have eaten something and know how many calories that you have intaken by connecting to the internet and discovering how many calories that item of food contained. Further still, it could analyse the choices you make when eating food to decipher your health and even further the W could eventually understand and interpret your cognitive processes, i.e. your thoughts and thought processes. Although this all sounds extremely futuristic and something out of i-robot, Segall assures us that we are so close to achieveing this in the not too distant future. 

In addition to the bio-mechanical W, the digital you also includes; the emotional W, the physiological W and the semantical W. Semantical meaning relating to meaning in language or logic. Segall's next concept relates specifically to this and the semantic W would understand the context and the task that it is doing as well as understand the relationship between humans and objects. Segall explores this by asking how we model the interaction between people and objects? Light. Light is the answer, light is what actually connects us to an object, it brings us information, everything we do includes light. How a piece of information is transmitted is through light, from writing it down to reading it. The Semantic W applied to this means that light becomes the most important semantic object. 

Segall gives this example, a piece of paper on a table that a light is shining on, the light will absorb the information that is on the piece of paper and search for more information on what is on the text and then this extra information can be projected by the light. The light could also be tuned to certain objects and people, so if you move the piece of paper, the light will follow. 

This interactivity of light is shown in another example, map folding, one of those annoying things that you just can't seem to get right and Segall admits that he himself is a terrible map folder. The solution he presents for this is light. The map is placed on the same table from before and the light illuminates instructions and markers as to where the map should be folder. Once each fold has been carried out it shows the next fold in the process until the map is folded perfectly. 

The next example of this is really quite incredible if slightly unnecessary, using light to make a cup of tea. Picture this; cups and teapot on table, teabags then placed on table. The light shining on the table finds information about the teabags and how they should be brewed at 97°C for 2-3 minutes. When the boiling water then gets poured into the teapot the light on the teapot is red until it reaches the optimum temperature of 97°C when it turns green and the light produces text reading 'okay to brew'. Once the tea has been brewing for the 2-3 minutes with a timer and red light shown the light then switches to green with,  'tea ready'. When the tea is then poured into a cup the light projects the different temperatures at which you may want to drink your tea which you can touch. The light then goes red until your chosen temperature of the tea is reached.  

The above concepts are pretty amazing although we are left questioning the need for this technology. Tea making and map folding (although extremely important) are not the most crucial processes in our lives or ones that specifically need improving, but perhaps this technology will be applied to more critical processes when it has been improved further. 

The final few examples of using semantic light are uses such as for mobile shopping solutions, making books interactive through light and even decorating and re-decorating your home instantly. The point that Segall finishes on  is that our physical and digital space is becoming one, light is what connects us and our entire world becoming clickable. 

Available for Pre-Order,NEW Sylvania LIFX Wifi Lamp that will last you 27 Years!

The Smart Phone Controlled Wifi lamp is getting more and more popular with more brands getting their version out on the market. Here at The Led Specialist, we are liking the new addition to the competition. 

The LIFX is a wifi enabled, multi-coloured, energy efficient LED lamp that you can control using your smartphone. This new lamp has come to be through the new and fashionable way of raising funds for startup businesses, crowdfunding. Using the Kickstarter site LIFX raised $1.3m in only six days. It soon became clear that there was real demand for this product in the market. Since being on Kickstarter, LIFX has received a lot of media attention and has been highlighted in such newspapers as the New York Times, Washington Post and The Economist amongst others. It is now being regarded as one of the best new smart home devices and is extremely desirable. 

Inventor, Phil Bosua and his passionate team of developers, engineers, markerting and customer support staff aim to deliver the top of the class in the smart bulb experience and it certainly looks like LIFX is a contender to outshine the others. The team claim that ' LIFX is like going from black and white television to full-colour HD' with a whopping '16 million colours at your fingertips.' It is impressive without a doubt. 

Aswell as the ability to change the colour of your lamps to what seems like every imaginable colour, a simple app update will allow you to wake up naturally each morning with an automatically increasing light and help ease you into blissful sleep with a feature that slowly dims. In addition to the aesthetic and holistic advantages of this lamp, it is also amazingly simple to install; available in traditional bayonet (BC) and edison screw (ES) caps, LIFX can be installed into existing fittings with no need to hire an electrician. LIFX also has a lifetime of up to 40,000 hours, which means if it is in use for 4 hours a day, it will last you a staggering 27 years! 

Take a look at the video and see for yourself at http://www.havells-sylvania.com/lifx/  or go to our website to pre order :http://theledspecialist.co.uk/led-light-bulbs.html?product_brand=18

'Largest Street Lighting Upgrade' Signed by Philips

The Spanish capital city of Madrid is having its entire street lighting system replaced by Philips, a total of nearly a quarter of a million luminaries are to be upgraded.

Lighting up Madrid Since Philips announced their split in late 2014 their lighting division's annual sales have fallen by 3% to a mere $6.9 billion for the last year. CEO Frans van Houten has commented to investors that the North American division's performance was 'unsatisfactory' and because of this he has appointed Amy Huntington as the new head of North America's lighting business. He also commented that China's sales had also dropped due to deteriorating market conditions. This is different to the wider divisions performance which has continued to grow rapidly due to selling of LED-based solid-state lighting products in addition to a contract to replace the entire street lighting system of Madrid. Philips is also planning to sell the automotive lighting unit in addition to Lumileds, the LED chip making branch. Lumileds commented that, 'The company is in discussion with external investors for the combined Lumileds and automotive lighting businesses and expects to complete translation in the first half of 2015.' These two divisions composed of 8300 employees have delivered sales of $1.4 billion. Madrid project Philips has estimated that the market for high-power LEDs will grow at an annual growth rate of 17-21% up to 2018, whilst the growth of the the overall lighting market is estimated to be 3-5%. The lighting industry is rapidly transforming from inefficient products to highly efficient goods and now demands extreme innovation. The CEO has claimed that Philips is outlaying over 30% more than its closest competitor in research and development to set a higher pace of technological advancement. Van Houten expects that the emerging market of data-enabled lighting systems will expand the overall market by roughly $1 billion in the next few years. Whilst all this is going on, Philips have undertaken a monumental project to replace street lighting in Spain, Van Houten commented that, 'We signed a contract to provide the city of Madrid with what is the world's largest street lighting upgrade to date, involving the replacement of 225,000 luminaries.' He also commented that the new system would create a saving of 40% in energy which would mean the installation cost would be paid back almost instantly and mean no extra cost to Madrid's citizens. The new system is said to feature an 'integrated command centre' which means that the entirety of the street lighting system could be controlled by a single control point. Another project that is set for the future will see the distribution of 1.5 million Philips LED lamps in India to over a million households. This should cut lighting energy consumption by 80% and would save 80 MW in electricity generation. With these projects Philips lighting is looking to have a prosperous year ahead but 2015 will present challenges due to the $400 million in costs due to the split and reconstruction of the company.

Is The Light Switch Becoming Extinct?

The LED lamp has got a pretty certain future but with the way that technology is changing so rapidly, how much longer will the humble light switch last? 

Lux Magazine's James Holloway has looked into what the future holds for Light Switches and proposes five things that could replace the switch

1. Gestures

The idea behind gesture controlled lighting is pretty simple. Why have to always travel to the light switch to turn a light not when you could wave at it from the comfort of your seat. As a matter of fact, the technology already exists to make gestured lighting controls. An example already being produced is Ubiquilux's 'e-Motion', in which you wave up and down to turn a light on or off, but also you can wave side to side to adjust brightness. 

One reason to change to this type of switch is purely due to cleanliness, with less physical contact with a switch, germs won't be passed on as easily, extremely useful in hospitals. What is unsure is how close you would need to be for your gesture to turn the light on, if you need to be very close, whats the point? You may as well have a switch! if further away, surely your normal movements could be confused for a light switching gesture. 

2. Voice Control

Our phones, computers and tvs can now all be controlled by our voice so why not our lighting? 'Vocca' is a new voice activated light bulb adaptor which simply screws in between your lamp and its housing. It can work with any lamp and adds on a minuscule 0.25W of power. Finding it hard to see the downside? Imagine someone listening in on your private conversations, scary. 

3.Presence Detection

Motion detection is getting on a bit now but the problem with it is, if you're sat reading a book in the comfort of your own home, you're likely to be sitting still, and the problem with sitting still and lights powered by motion detectors is that they will turn off. 'Zulu' is a new product that aims to tackle this issue, it is a wireless power adaptor that connects to your phone via bluetooth. This detects your presence inside your home and in certain rooms, it doesn't matter whether you are moving or sitting perfectly still, the light will stay on as long as you are in the room. No more standing up and waving erratically when you get plunged into darkness mid sentence. 

 4. Apps

We are all pretty familiar with the Philips Hue, an app which allows you to control your lighting from your tablet or smartphone through bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Not only can you control whether your light is on or off, you can dim your lighting or even chose your favourite colour to light the room. Although we automatically reach for our phone for practically everything we do, is digging your phone out and finding the correct app really much easier than just flicking a switch? 

5. Smart Home Hubs

Smart homes are the most smart when all systems can communicate with each other. A way to do this is to put a smart thermostat in your home. Google's 'Nest' is the ideal smart home hub as it can do more than just control your lighting, combined with a smart alarm system, you could set your lights to turn on at a particular level when your alarm system is activated and you are not at home. Other systems can make your lights flash when carbon monoxide levels are too high. Very clever but the technology still needs to improve to learn people's preferences

Is the noble light switch facing extinction after all?

All of the new technologies above are extremely innovative and we can't see any reason why they could not become part or our everyday lives. However, as impressing as they all are, it is more likely that they will enhance the light switch rather than supersede it. Although, this point of view may not last for ever. We are always looking for a simpler way to do things and our expectations of technology are getting higher and higher. Maybe light switches will become extinct sooner than we expect. 

Article adapted for this blog from Lux Magazine article 'Five things that could replace the light switch.' 

Demand Side Energy Benefits Are (almost) Invisible to UK Government.

(image courtesy of ADE website)

A report carried out by the ADE (Association for Decentralised Energy) has shown that the UK is saving billions of pounds per year due to the invisible benefits of reduced energy demand. Over the last thirty years we are doing a lot more but with a lot less. 

The ADE represents the heat and power industry and claims that producing energy locally and using it more efficiently saves consumers over £37 billion per year compared with 1980. 

The report looked at local energy generation and energy saving schemes such as LED lighting switchovers, such actions have helped the UK to avoid building 14 new power stations, which equals the same as the country's current power generating capacity. 

The ADE stated in its report that 'invisible' benefits are often discounted as policymakers are focusing on energy supply rather than demand.It continues to say that it is easier for politicians to make big changes and evaluate on a bigger scale rather than looking into the finer detail of demand changes taking place across the country. 

 Lighting industry figures have come to similar conclusions of the government's approach to energy, promoting that more time and attention needs to be put into reducing demand, rather than boosting capacity and moving to renewable energy sources.

Last year Lux Magazine developed its own ideas of how capacity could be reduced if low-energy lighting was more widely used.

The ADE wants energy demand to be put in the spotlight as the focal point of future policy making. Director, Tim Rotheray said, ' Actions on the demand side have helped keep Britain's lights on, making the UK a better place to do business by keeping energy supplies consistent and reliable… Despite these considerable achievements, new energy policy often repeats the same patterns, taking a centralised approach to solving the energy challenge and overlooking the substantial contribution that users and individual actions can make.

‘With a clear, simple policy approach that values these smaller contributions, demand-side services can help consumers do even more to cut waste, improve competitiveness and reduce emissions. By 2020, we could save consumers a further £5.6 billion and make the UK a more attractive place to do business.

‘Adopting the right policy could mean that by 2020 we could save enough power to run the London Underground for 30 years, equivalent to 45 TWh (45 billion units). Further reduction in energy demand will make the UK more secure and enable greater energy independence.’

For more information on the ADE's report, click here.

Led lighting switchovers are an excellent way to reduce the demand for energy, please go to our website The LED Specialist and start making your home more energy efficient, 

Help reduce energy demand!