Lutron lights up Amazon Echo’s life

Lutron Electronics has added its Caséta Wireless system to the growing list of devices that support Amazon Alexa range, which includes the Echo, Dot, Tap, and Fire TV.

The Caséta Wireless system features various connected LED lights that can change color or brightness on demand. The integration of Alexa allows users to change the lights through voice commands, an ideal solution when you cannot find your smartphone.

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Amazon has been steadily improving the range of voice commands for the Echo, to the point it can now hear you from a few meters away. So if you want to turn the lights on when you enter your house late at night, there’s a good chance your Echo will hear you from the porch.

Lutron and Amazon continue to add to smart home family

Lutron already provides a mobile app, available on iOS, Apple Watch and Android, for turning on and changing the light’s colors. The system also supports other smart home hubs like Works with Nest and Apple’s HomeKit, so this is a completion of the smart home package to make sure all consumers are happy.

These aren’t the first lights to take advantage of Amazon’s Alexa platform, Philips Hue, LIFX and Belkin WeMo are already integrated and offer similar functionality.

Lutron’s Caséta Wireless kit currently retails for under $100, and most wireless lightbulbs launched after 2014 are compatible with the system. You can check Lutron’s compatibility page for more information.

Hundreds of other devices are starting to integrate with Amazon’s platform, as customers start to realise the benefits of the Echo, Dot, and Tap in everyday life. Even platform hubs like the Nest thermostat and SmartThings are integrated with Alexa, taking advantage of the voice commands and APIs Amazon has on offer.

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What role will the government play in IoT?

As the Internet of Things (IoT) market begins to boom, we are bound to see the government take a more active role in investment and policing what is right and wrong in the industry.

That’s what an April 6 notice on the Federal Register by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) seems to suggest, asking for all parties involved in IoT to discuss with the administration about the evolution of IoT and shifts in global economies from the new technology.

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“NTIA seeks broad input from all interested stakeholders — including the private industry, researchers, academia and civil society — on the potential benefits and challenges of [Internet of Things] technologies and what role, if any, the U.S. government should play in this area,” said NTIA in the notice.

While it reads civilly enough, the U.S. government has shown a lack of enthusiasm for major projects like commercial drones, which we shut down by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2015.

That might worry IoT stakeholders that want to see the market grow unhindered. If new regulations or subsidies are set in place, it might change the dynamics of the market drastically.

Government trying to get a handle on IoT

Federal Times explains that the comments will be added to a green paper, which will be given to the government to “identify key issues impacting deployment of these technologies, highlight potential benefits and challenges and identify possible roles for the federal government in fostering the advancement of IoT technologies in partnership with the private sector.”

While IoT has been around for a decade now, it has only gained its bearings in the last three years. The growth in the consumer sector, with devices like Nest’s thermostat, Philips Hue, and Amazon Dash Button selling well, has brought more interest from all across the industry, which Gartner claims will balloon to 26 billion IoT devices by 2020.

It doesn’t appear to be a market desperate for government intervention, though no doubt some will argue for and against government assistance.

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Philips Flattens the Light Bulb

For over 100 years, the light bulb didn't evolve much, generally sporting the same, well, bulbous design ever since Thomas Edison gave us the original in 1879. Lately that's changed as LEDs and CFLs have challenged the conventional bulb, and now Philips is taking light bulb design in a new, flatter direction.
The SlimStyle looks like a light bulb that's hit the gym. It emits light at a brightness equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb, but it's powered by an LED (light-emitting diode), meaning it consumes just 10.5 watts. It also has a rated lifetime of 22 years, so you can count the number of times you'd need to change the bulb in a human lifetime on one hand.

The most novel thing about the SlimStyle, though, is its design. At first glance, it looks shaped like a regular bulb, but when you look at it from the side you can see how slim it is. It still fits in a normal socket, so it's not overly thin, but it's definitely unusual — and easier to screw in.
I got a little hands-on time with the SlimStyle. The light it produces is as warm as an incandescent bulb and it's extremely consistent, with no flicker. It feels more durable, too, with an exterior that's more like hard plastic than glass (though I didn't stress-test it). Unlike some of those twisty CFL bulbs, The LED-based SlimStyle is dimmable.

LED lights are considered by many to be the most promising candidate to fully replace the incandescent bulb since they consumer far less power and don't have the trace amounts of toxic mercury found in CFL bulbs. Starting Jan. 1 they'll get a big boost when a federal law goes into effect that will make it illegal to manufacture or import traditional 60- or 40-watt incandescents.
"Right now we're at a really exciting point because LED bulbs have started to break the $10 mark, and fall well below it once you factor in subsidies," says Sal Cangeloso, author of LED Lighting: A Primer to Lighting the Future. "We're still not at the point of mass adoption — it's not entirely clear where that is — but right now we have two significant factors coinciding: dropping prices and the the phase-out of 40W and 60W incandescents going into effect."
The Philips SlimStyle bulb on sale January 2 exclusively at HomeDepot.com.

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