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Ex-Tesla and NASA Engineers Make a Light Bulb That’s Smarter Than You

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It IS cool! They also made a splash at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco last month. (Full disclosure: I am one of the original angel investors. Love this product & team!) Stack

That's awesome. It should be a great investment, especially if the costs go down through the years. I mean, this is what future home living looked like to me when I dreamed about it....I can't tell from the picture what size they are though. Are they able to go where the kitchen overhead bulbs go or are they for regular areas?
 
That's awesome. It should be a great invested, especially if the costs go down through the years. I mean, this is what future home living looked like to me when I dreamed about it....I can't tell from the picture what size they are though. Are they able to go where the kitchen overhead bulbs go or are they for regular areas?

They fit in any standard light fixture - but you can also order other sizes, such as flood lights. Eventually there will be a wide variety of sizes available.

I'm going to be installing a set at my 93 year-old mom's place next time I go back ... I'll set it up so that if movement is sensed during sleeping hours, it will give her a very soft light to light her way to the bathroom (hopefully to cut down on potential for a fall or confusion during the night). And I'll also be able to see if movement sensors picked up movement during the day in the kitchen (meaning she's eating) and near her medicine (implying she's taking her meds on schedule). Great for my personal 'peace of mind'.
 
They fit in any standard light fixture - but you can also order other sizes, such as flood lights. Eventually there will be a wide variety of sizes available.

I'm going to be installing a set at my 93 year-old mom's place next time I go back ... I'll set it up so that if movement is sensed during sleeping hours, it will give her a very soft light to light her way to the bathroom (hopefully to cut down on potential for a fall or confusion during the night). And I'll also be able to see if movement sensors picked up movement during the day in the kitchen (meaning she's eating) and near her medicine (implying she's taking her meds on schedule). Great for my personal 'peace of mind'.

Good to hear about different sizes and I never thought of using the product in that way. Ah.....I love technology.
 
Good to hear about different sizes and I never thought of using the product in that way. Ah.....I love technology.

Or kids have arrived home from school. Or program for the lights to repeat the random patterns you used during the last week, while you're out of town. Or alert you that there is now movement in the house when you didn't expect it. Or or or.

With the movement/light/size sensors, I think there will be new applications suggested daily for the 'at home' usage model. The challenge (oh hey, like with the Model S) will be determining priority for the new features (which can also be delivered wirelessly (again, like the S).

I love good technology too. Especially something so elegantly simple that can be used in so many ways. Simply by screwing in a light bulb.
 
Or kids have arrived home from school. Or program for the lights to repeat the random patterns you used during the last week, while you're out of town. Or alert you that there is now movement in the house when you didn't expect it. Or or or.

With the movement/light/size sensors, I think there will be new applications suggested daily for the 'at home' usage model. The challenge (oh hey, like with the Model S) will be determining priority for the new features (which can also be delivered wirelessly (again, like the S).

I love good technology too. Especially something so elegantly simple that can be used in so many ways. Simply by screwing in a light bulb.

oh man, you're making me giddy, stop it! hahahaha.
 
I love it when someone comes in and disrupts a market. There's no reason GE or Phillips couldn't have seen this problem and solved it during the incandescent-to-LED market transition, but they didn't. And now Stack is going to eat their lunch.
 
Very cool. I have a bunch of Hue bulbs (and every other bulb is LED, but so far I've not found a good way to really make them smart (SmartThings, Revolv, Goldee). Anyway, I'm in for a hub and 6 bulbs...

Since there's a couple of angels on here, can I suggest some bulbs with the E12 Edison screw? So far I don't know of any smart LED bulbs being made in that format, but a lot of my bulbs are that size (ceiling fan bulbs, typically).

Full disclosure: I have one of the Ikea lamp shades in the video. :)
 
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I love it when someone comes in and disrupts a market. There's no reason GE or Phillips couldn't have seen this problem and solved it during the incandescent-to-LED market transition, but they didn't. And now Stack is going to eat their lunch.

The very cool thing is that no additional installation, lighting control system etc. is needed. No electricians, no engineers, no pulling wires, no changing switches, all you need is a ladder and a box of bulbs.

The real-world pilot sites show savings of 60-80% compared to regular LED bulbs btw. but personally I think the movement tracking (think sales analytics in particular) could be huge; just think about the value of real-time data telling you how long customers stop in front of a given product display/store, or tracking movements in and out of malls, or intra-office/factory movement patterns etc....huge opportunities for maximizing revenue and/or improving efficiency.
 
I love it when someone comes in and disrupts a market. There's no reason GE or Phillips couldn't have seen this problem and solved it during the incandescent-to-LED market transition, but they didn't. And now Stack is going to eat their lunch.

I think you're overegging it somewhat.

9.5W x 24h/day = Wh/day. 228Wh x $0.30/kWh = $0.0684/day. $60 - $12 = $48. $48/$0.0684/day = 701 days.

I can see a market, but basic math makes it clear that the cost of the intelligence would need to be very low to eat anyones lunch.
 
Since there's a couple of angels on here, can I suggest some bulbs with the E12 Edison screw? So far I don't know of any smart LED bulbs being made in that format, but a lot of my bulbs are that size (ceiling fan bulbs, typically).

I can't speak for Stack, but I'd like to see E12 bulbs also; they're developing a whole bunch of different sizes but the challenge will be squeezing all the components into E12 dimensions.
 
The very cool thing is that no additional installation, lighting control system etc. is needed. No electricians, no engineers, no pulling wires, no changing switches, all you need is a ladder and a box of bulbs...

The other things is old bulbs burn out and need replacement anyways.

Nest went very far replacing thermostats that were still working, so you should have easier adoption when people ponder what bulb to buy next.
 
Wait a minute, please.

1. Why are we here happy that someone so obviously as smart, open-thinking and motivated as Neil Joseph is....departed Tesla?

and

2. I looked through the Stack website. Their claims that their bulbs saved some 67% compared to an LED seems to me as a result of one function only: the user programs the bulb to turn on, off, dim or brighten rather than doing it manually. Those of us who have spent their lives turning off or dimming bulbs would - if I'm reading this correctly - experience a 0% saving....not counting the obviously higher price of the bulb. Am I correct? (Full disclosure: I have just this week purchased over $1,800-worth of LED bulbs....)

and

3. So howz come, Bonnie & Nigel, I wasn't asked in on the investment ground floor (ignore #s 1 & 2 when you respond, please)? :biggrin:
 
I think you're overegging it somewhat.

9.5W x 24h/day = Wh/day. 228Wh x $0.30/kWh = $0.0684/day. $60 - $12 = $48. $48/$0.0684/day = 701 days.

I can see a market, but basic math makes it clear that the cost of the intelligence would need to be very low to eat anyones lunch.

I think part of the challenge will be that the market needs to understand this is not a lightbulb. Yes, it uses the existing light fixtures and supplies light according to parameters that you've set up (or defaults if you've just screwed it in).

But it is a platform that you're installing (ie, screwing in a lightbulb :)) ... it senses motion, amount of light present, and footprint. Think of how much you can do with that besides lighting a room. It's a platform that will pay for itself and so much more. The 'more' is somewhat defined initially, but the ideas keep coming in.