Ion Wireless Smart Lighting

Smart lighting is becoming more popular in the market at the moment, with many different firms showing off their products left, right and centre. One such company is Lava, who has produced a different kind of smart light called Ion. (It is currently in a production-ready prototype).  The firm is seeking $20,000 from the Kickstarter community.  The smart light is described as a digital version of the 1960s classic the lava lamp.  Maybe this product will actually come to market, as the classic Lava lamp does need an update.

Ion wants to update the lava lamp for today’s generation. This digital mood light is controllable and it has a cool features such as reacting to its environment.  The iON consists of Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, a bank of 40 tri-colour LEDs, a microphone, audio processor and capacitive touch sensors.

The user can just tap the lamp to produce different colours.  In many ways it is like the Philips Hue Smart Light, except with Ion it’s not just colours that change when the lamp is tapped; users get to choose from various light displays called “moods”, which are basically different coloured flashes and pulses. The lamp will ship with 15 different ‘moods’ out of the box, but Lava have said that they want to try to keep adding more as the Kickstarter campaign continues and also after Ion ships.

The compatible app also lets Ion owners set the brightness and speed of the mood displays, so you can change the ambiance according to how you feel. Lava have made a website where you can remote-control their prototype, to test the moods out.

One of the outstanding features of iON is called Rave mode.  It utilizes the audio processing ability of the lamp.  This means that it listens to the music that is being played and generates a real-time light show that is in sync with the music.  The different types of music produce different effects.  Low frequencies produce reds, mid range will produce greens, and high ranges produce blue. Every time a beat is detected the user will see a bright pulse of light. Using the app, you can totally customize the emphasis of each of the colours that you want.

The iON is going to cost $199. That is the current Kickstarter entry point.  The estimated delivery date is this coming August. Lava has tried to be as sustainable as possible, by seeking to source and manufacture as much of the project as locally as possible. The steel, electronics, finishing and final product assembly were all done within the Michigan area.

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

[Image via markmywordssite]

SOURCE: http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/02/ion/?txtlnkusaolp00000595