One of the most popular Kickstarter projects LIFX is still in development, time for an update. As a backer email updates are becoming much more frequent which is great on one hand, but terrible on another. It’s great to get progress updates, but it also reminds you that thing you paid for months ago still isn’t in your house.
The creators of LIFX have just returned from Shenzhen, China where they nailed down the final design, also known as the factory prototype. From here there may be minor tweaks to the design to make it ready for mass production.
The colour finish is being voted on right now and consists of Matt Black. Dark Silver. Gun Metal Grey and Pearl White options. Personally I voted for the black given the base of most traditional bulbs are white, I felt LIFX is new and different and should stand out.
The guys from LIFX say the design shift away from the basic LED bulbs usually skimp on the heatsink which leads to them “running hot” – diminishing the lifespan of the bulb as well as reducing the potential lumen output. With the efficient design of LIFX, they are now achieving over 900 lumens or in basic terms, you may want to throw on the shades.
Below is a video of it running a demo lighting sequence, now we wait the painful months before they arrive at the door. LIFX is a fantastic innovation in lighting and despite Phillips Hue ripping off the concept, those that supported the development are still very eagerly awaiting its arrival.
I would like to see the supported mobile platforms grow with WP8 and now Blackberry 10 users making up some of the owners. While reinventing the light bulb isn’t easy, they did raise $1.3 Million so you’d expect they could have a few developers working on platform support.
More info @ Kickstarter