Philips Hue isn’t just a line of smart bulbs — the collection also includes a variety of complete smart lighting solutions including table lamps. Hue Go is a popular option with its portable design, while Hue Wellner trades portability for a larger and interesting design…
Philips has announced new additions to its Hue White Ambiance lineup of HomeKit compatible lighting including new fixtures and table lamps. Pre-orders for the new table lamps start at $99.99 today with products shipping next month.
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
I had never heard of quantum dot display technology until Philips announced their new E6 monitor. Touting to be the world’s first quantum dot display monitor and the only one to reach 99% AdobeRGB color, I definitely became interested. I was already on the hunt for a high-quality monitor, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Siri voice control is finally coming to Philips Hue connected light bulbs thanks to promised HomeKit support and a new bridge product. Details have been surfacing over the last month with product listings going up a day early, and today Philips is ready to officially reveal how it’s bringing HomeKit support to Hue bulbs and lamps. As expected, Hue bulb owners will be able to upgrade to the new Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 to enable using Siri to control Hue lights. The new, square-shaped bridge works similar to the old, round bridge — connecting to up to 50 bulbs only with HomeKit support included even for existing bulbs and plans to support future home platforms as well.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Following confirmation from Philips that it plans to support Apple’s HomeKit platform for its popular iPhone-controlled Hue lighting system, images of a bridge device that will let existing Hue products work with Apple’s platform have leaked online (via iCulture).
Expand
Expanding
Close
Philips has confirmed on Facebook that it will be adding HomeKit support to its iPhone-controlled Hue lighting system – and that existing lights will be compatible.
The post gives no specific details, but in response to a customer question about whether existing Hue lights will work with HomeKit, Philips confirmed that they will.
Yes, the solution we are working on will work with all your existing and new Hue lights. To get details about how your existing Philips Hue products will work with HomeKit, please follow us on Twitter or Facebook
The most likely approach is that Philips will offer a hub to act as a bridge between HomeKit and existing Hue products. The company says that it will reveal full details in September.
An Apple support document recently confirmed expectations that the Apple TV will act as a HomeKit gateway for controlling devices from outside the home.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHvgtAcZl6g&feature=youtu.be]
Harman JBL Reflect Aware left, Philips Fidelio NC1L right
Noise-cancelling headphones are great, but they do have one big drawback: noise-cancellation requires power, giving you yet another device to charge. Harman and Philips have each removed that pain-point, announcing noise-cancelling devices with a Lightning connector instead of a 3.5mm headphone jack, drawing their power from the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
The Harman JBL Reflect Aware are earphones aimed at sports use, allowing you to choose the level of noise-cancellation – handy for times when you are on the street and want to retain some awareness of things like traffic noise. They come in at a reasonably wallet-friendly $149. Harman has them at CES, but no word yet on availability …
Expand
Expanding
Close
I wondered earlier this year whether Apple’s HomeKit system would bring home automation to the masses. The good news is that you don’t need to wait for HomeKit to start bringing smart home technology to your family and friends – and we’ve put together a gift guide covering some of the main products that might bring a smile to their faces during the holidays.
With the right gadgets, they will be able to control lighting, heating, cooking, sound systems … even have their kettle switch on when they walk up to their front door, which will automatically unlock as they approach. Best of all, you can get them in on the smart home action from just $30 …
A new report from Reuters citing sources at Apple familiar with the company’s plans for future corporate offerings has unveiled new details on the Cupertino corporation’s efforts to recruit business clients and software developers. According to these sources, Apple is currently courting companies such as Citigroup, ServiceMax, and PlanGrid (among others) to augment its current IBM enterprise agreement.
The exact nature of the proposed partnerships between these companies hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the general idea is similar to the IBM arrangement. ServiceMax, a company that creates solutions for managing field technicians, and PlanGrid, which allows construction workers to share blueprints with each other, will both agree to roll out Apple hardware with custom software to their clients.
When Apple quietly created a new MFi spec for headphones, allowing them to connect via the Lightning port rather than the headphone jack to deliver higher-quality audio, everyone expected Apple-owned Beats to be first to take advantage of it. But instead Philips has, ah, beaten them to it …
Expand
Expanding
Close
One of the reasons I like Macs is that their useful life tends to be significantly longer than that of a typical Windows machine. This is especially true of the pre-Retina MacBook Pro models, where it’s trivial to upgrade both the RAM and the drive.
I’d previously swapped out the 750GB hard drive and optical drive that came with my late-2011 MacBook Pro 17 for two 1TB hard drives. Along with a RAM upgrade, that gave me a 16GB RAM, 2TB hard drive machine. The plan was to use the machine in that form for a year or two, then do a further upgrade to SSDs once 1TB models arrived and fell to a halfway sensible price.
When that finally happened, and I did the upgrade, that gave me two 1TB hard drives surplus to requirements. I could have placed each into its own external drive caddy, but one 2TB drive is more useful than two 1TB ones, so I decided instead to try out OWC’s Mercury Elite Pro mini. This is an external enclosure for two 2.5-inch drives, which supports both USB 3 and Firewire 800, drawing power from either source – making it a portable drive without the need for external power …
Expand
Expanding
Close
We’ve all done it. You put your keys down, and five minutes later you have no idea where they are. You could swear you put your phone on the kitchen table last night, but it’s not there now. You put your bag under the restaurant table and then walk out without it. Doing all three in the same week might suggest the help you need is more medical than technological, but for those occasions when you do one or other of them, Proximo is designed to help.
Bluetooth tags also provides some degree of protection against theft, where you’ll be alerted to any of your tagged items walking off.
There are a number of different tagging systems on the market, with varying levels of functionality. Proximo is one of the more sophisticated, offering five different features …
Expand
Expanding
Close
If you travel frequently for work, you’ve probably seen one of a number of 30-pin alarm clocks that have almost become standard at business hotels. That was great while we had 30-pin iOS devices, but now that we’ve mostly moved to Lightning, it is mostly just lip service – about as convenient and up to date as that wired room line phone installed next to the toilet.
Philips hopes to remedy the transition to Lightning with their new-ish AJ7260D/37 Dual Dock Triple Charging Clock Radio which retails for around $130. I’ve been using the alarm/clock radio for about a month now and here are my observations:
Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.
Today’s can’t miss deals:
Last Call updates:
Solid State Drives:
Home Deals: Dyson table fan: $100, Cuisinart Coffeemaker: $90, 10-Piece GreenGourmet cookware: $200, more
Pad & Quill Little Pocket Book for iPhone 5/5S $60 shipped ($10 off)
Other great deals from today:
More great deals still alive:
Update: Check out the Harman Kardon Esquire which we reviewed in December 2014
As we begin to rely on our mobile devices for more and more of our business needs, I found myself needing a “portable Polycom” which would allow me to make quality speakerphone calls from my Mac or iPhone. Sure, the built-in speaker and mic are top notch on Apple products for their size, but I’d often have a hard time hearing what was on the other end of the line. Even more importantly, people couldn’t understand what I was saying, especially as I moved around.
I’ve decided to take a look at two similar solutions: Philips WeCall ($150) vs. Logitech P710e ($140) pictured above…
Expand
Expanding
Close
Samsung received the most attention this year at the IFA consumer technology show with its new Galaxy Gear smartwatch and Galaxy Note devices, but Apple products still dominated much of the show floor when it came to new accessories for tablets and smartphones. Below we’ve put together a huge collection of the new and upcoming accessories for Apple devices that we came across this year in Berlin.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Spotify has announced a new service launching towards the end of the year that offers a new way to stream music from iPhones and iPads to any compatible speaker system. Unlike AirPlay, once you set the streaming going, music is streamed direct from the Spotify server to your wifi-equipped speakers, freeing-up your device for other tasks.
Unlike other wireless music solutions, using Spotify Connect won’t drain your battery. Plus you can continue to use your phone or tablet to call friends or start playing your favourite game without missing a beat.
A lot of big players are on board, including Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Marantz, Philips, Pioneer, Sonos and Yamaha. Some existing wireless speakers will also receive firmware upgrades to enable them to support the Spotify Connect service.
While the ability to be able to take the device out of the loop while continuing to stream music is a nice touch, it’s yet another standard and of course only works with Spotify. You’ll also need a paid Spotify subscription to use it. However, it’s likely that most (if not all) of the speaker systems supporting it will also support AirPlay, so you shouldn’t have to choose between the two.
The service will be iOS-only at launch (with apps updated to support it), with Android following later. Full press release below.
Spotify Connect: the new way to play at home
Today, in collaboration with the leaders in home audio, Spotify launches Spotify Connect – a new home audio experience giving you effortless control of your music across your phone, tablet and speakers with millions of songs built right in. Simple, seamless and hassle-free.
Bring your music home. You’ve just walked through the door, listening to your favourite playlist on your phone. With Spotify Connect, simply hit play on your living room speakers and the music instantly fires up, right where you left off – making sure you never miss a beat.
Then pick up your tablet to keep controlling the music from your sofa, or seamlessly switch the sound to your iPod Touch in the kitchen’s docking station.
None of the hassle. Thanks to Spotify Connect, you won’t need to rely on unstable connections to stream music between your devices. No longer will incoming phone calls, loss of signal range, or watching a video spoil the party.
Unlike other wireless music solutions, using Spotify Connect won’t drain your battery. Plus you can continue to use your phone or tablet to call friends or start playing your favourite game without missing a beat.
Choose your home speaker system. Spotify Connect will be available on a wide range of speakers and home audio systems from music hardware specialists including Argon, Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Marantz, Philips, Pioneer, Revo, Teufel and Yamaha, with further brands coming soon. Look out for the Spotify Connect logo on compatible systems.
“Today, listening to music at home can be a frustrating experience – dropouts, below-par audio quality, signal range and phone restrictions, battery drainage, it’s basically a hassle,” says Sten Garmark, VP Product Management at Spotify. “Spotify Connect solves this by giving you effortless control of your music across your phone, tablet and now speakers with millions of songs built right in.”
Spotify Connect will roll out to Spotify Premium subscribers on iPhone, iPad and home audio systems over the coming months, with Android and desktop updates to follow.
From 9to5Toys.com:
A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to roundup the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook
Today’s Featured deals:
Some great Specials.9to5toys.com happening currently including half off Nuance PDF maker/editor ($49) and Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 ($100)
Other great deals we love:
I’ve been curious about the 21:9 display format since it started to creep into mainstream displays last year. Originally developed to display cinema grade movies natively, computer users are now snapping these up to give themselves a sort of wide ‘Bloomberg terminal’ without the break (and the swivel between displays).
I received the Philips 298P4 29-inch 21:9 display a few weeks ago and have set it up as my display at my desk. It has an unusual 2560×1080 pixel display which is the same amount of pixels across as traditional 30 inch 16:10 displays or 27-inch 16:9 displays (like Apple’s 27-inch iMac or Thunderbolt Display). The 1080 pixels high however matches up with a typical 1080P display. I didn’t use it like a traditional desktop computer or with a laptop off to the side.
For me, I saw an opportunity to add a display on top of my Retina MacBook Pro whose keyboard/trackpad layout I find more usable than anything else out there including Apple’s Wireless Keyboard/Trackpad combo. The Philips’ stand (and this is the key part) allows the display to grow over the top of even the 15’inch Retina MacBook Pro so that I can continue to use the MBP keyboard and display even while looking up (for much improved posture) at the Philips display. It is also great for watching movies while working :D, unless productivity is a priority.
For this it was great, but how was the quality of the display?
Apple is the target of a new patent infringement suit filed today by Intertrust—a company backed by Sony and Philips that has licensed its patents to many companies in the past including Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft, HTC, Motorola, and others. The Wall Street Journal noted Philips and Sony each hold a 49.5-percent stake in the company that previously settled with Microsoft in 2004 for $440 million related to a patent infringement case.
The announcement from Intertrust on its website doesn’t mention the specific patents or technologies involved in the suit, but it claims Apple products, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Macs, iCloud and iTunes, infringe on 15 Intertrust patents related to “security and distributed trusted computing.”
The lawsuit accuses Apple of making products and services that infringe on 15 Intertrust patents on security and distributed trusted computing. The lawsuit covers a broad range of key Apple products and services including iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad, Mac computers and laptops, Apple TV, and services including iTunes, iCloud, and the Apple App Store.
“Apple makes many great products that use Intertrust’s inventions,” said Talal Shamoon, Intertrust’s chief executive officer. “Our patents are foundational to modern Internet security and trusted computing, and result from years of internal research and development. We are proud of our record of peaceful and constructive licensing with industry leaders. We find it regrettable that we are forced to seek Court assistance to resolve this matter.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5W_Mjuz5I
Philips announced today that it launched an SDK and opened APIs to iOS developers who are interested in creating apps that work with its “Hue” personal wireless lighting system. The company started selling its smart, Internet-connected LED lighting system in October exclusively through the Apple Store.
Philips today, as promised, launches a software developer program for Hue that allows consumers to create and control their light bulbs using a smartphone or tablet. In publishing Hue’s open application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as releasing guides and libraries in an iOS software developer’s kit, Philips reinforces its commitment to helping the developer community start programming with Hue. This move opens the playing field for third party developers to create new, exciting applications using light, enabling Hue to communicate with a variety of devices and applications (apps). Philips Hue’s developer platform is available at developers.meetHue.com.
The Hue system allows iOS users to control lighting from their iPhones or iPads by enabling Hue bulbs to talk to iOS devices and one another using the ZigBee LightLink standard. The Hue app provides pre-programmed light settings for the bulbs, timers, and much more, but now developers will be able to create even more great apps that work with Hue.
One app that just hit the App Store is Ambify from developer Kai Aras. The app is described as a Hue-enabled jukebox that “turns music into light using Philips Hue Smart Bulbs.”
The full press release is below:
Philips Hue empowers endless possibilities in connected lighting, launching a developer program for world’s smartest LED light bulb
Developers can now extend Hue’s capabilities with new applications and integration with other products, advancing digital revolution in home lighting
Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Philips today, as promised, launches a software developer program for Hue that allows consumers to create and control their light bulbs using a smartphone or tablet. In publishing Hue’s open application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as releasing guides and libraries in an iOS software developer’s kit, Philips reinforces its commitment to helping the developer community start programming with Hue. This move opens the playing field for third party developers to create new, exciting applications using light, enabling Hue to communicate with a variety of devices and applications (apps). Philips Hue’s developer platform is available at developers.meetHue.com.
This is just the first phase of the software developer program for the world’s first web-enabled LED home lighting system. It allows the Hue community to create rich functionality for an enhanced customer experience. Already external developers have created apps that integrate Hue with music, resulting in an immersive surround sound and surround lighting experience that allows the lighting to change to the beat of the music. Developers have also created scheduling applications that can integrate with a phone’s calendaring system.
“The response Philips Hue has received from the development community has been incredibly positive and we aim to continue redefining the possibilities of light by enabling developers to create apps that customers want and need,” said Kevin Toms, SDK Designer and Developer Advocate of Hue’s software developers’ platform. “Already Hue is sparking a digital revolution in home lighting, as well as becoming an important step towards automated, connected homes, allowing it to further integrate with our world and simplify our lives.”
Using the ZigBee LightLink standard, Hue bulbs can not only communicate with each other, they have the potential for communicating with other ZigBee-based devices such as motion sensors and home thermostats, while offering a broad signal range and using significantly less stand-by power than traditional Wi-Fi systems. Software updates for the bulbs are done automatically via the bridge and the bulbs themselves, and additional apps developed for the system will be made available through app stores or meetHue.com, making it easy and intuitive for users to update Hue with applications and functionality that will enhance their lighting experience.
Hue’s app already includes numerous pre-programmed light settings, including Light Recipes based on Philips’ research around lighting’s optimal effects. These pre-programmed scenarios adjust the bulbs to the optimum shade and brightness of white light to relax, read or boost mood and energy. However, there is additional opportunity with color temperature applications that have the potential to help photographers adjust lighting for shots with a simple app on their smart devices. The company continues to enhance the possibilities of Hue, with new features around schedules and geo-fencing expected to be released in the coming months.
Developers with questions about programming with Hue, can join Hue’s developer forum atwww.everyhue.com where Kevin Toms, designer and developer advocate of Hue’s software developers’ kit, will provide technical support. Kevin can also be reached via Twitter: @philipsHuedev
Hue starter kits comprising three bulbs and a Smartbridge are available at Apple stores for €199.95 / $199 / £179. Additional bulbs can also be purchased for €59.95 / $59 / £49.95.
For more information about Philips Hue and its capabilities visit www.meetHue.com
We have already brought you roundups of the best Lightning products and iPad mini accessories we could find, but there are still a lot of iPhone 5 specific accessories, mods, and attachements that didn’t make our past gift guides. We didn’t want to include any products that you wouldn’t be able to get your hands on before Christmas, so we’re only including products promising to ship in December. Below you’ll find our roundup of the best mods, cases, cables & docks available now and specifically designed for the iPhone 5:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Philips today announced four new Lightning-based speaker docks for Apple’s latest iPhone 5, iPad Mini, new iPods, and fourth-generation iPads. We had a chance to look at and listen to these at a special briefing yesterday, and we can confirm they sound every bit as good as they look:
It also looks like they slipped another upcoming Lightning dock into their Flickr account, but that one might be for our EU readers only for now.
The press release follows:
Expand
Expanding
Close
