Oh Hey, Here's a Lightbulb That Doubles As a Home Security System
Look into the light, criminals. (Alyssa Bereznak/Yahoo Tech)
Here’s one way to reduce cord clutter: pimp out your lightbulbs.
That’s the philosophy of SENGLED, which debuted a smart LED lightbulb that also functions as high resolution camera, microphone, and speaker on Sunday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Dubbed Snap, the bulb is meant to function as a subtle home monitoring system that streams a video feed that you can view on your phone or tablet in real time.
Though the feedback is a little delayed from the cloud, there’s usually only a five-second delay. (Alyssa Bereznak/Yahoo Tech).
The Snap also features voice/motion activation, facial recognition, and geofencing alerts. So, say there’s an image of a mug that Snap doesn’t recognize: it can alert you via its iOS or Android app that there’s a stranger around the house. Or, if you’re inside cooking and want to make sure your kids aren’t straying from the front yard, you can set an alert for that, too.
It’s also discreet enough that an intruder won’t know to throw a blanket over it or cover it in shaving cream.
Snap joins a family of other highly functional light sources from SENGLED, including a bulb that doubles as a wireless speaker (Pulse) and a bulb that doubles as a Wi-Fi repeater for dead spots in your home (Boost).
The SENGLED lightbulb family. (Alyssa Bereznak/Yahoo Tech)
While the Pulse ($80 to $170 depending on the color and version) and Boost ($60) are sold online and in Apple and Home Depot stores, the Snap has yet to be released or priced. We should expect to see it in the summer of 2015 at the very latest.
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