philips hue
IFTTT recently sent me an email update that said it created a channel for the philips hue. i was like, "what's that?" and after going to the website to check it out, i was sold on it, so earlier today while i was out doing various shopping and errands, i bought a starter pack which includes 3 bulbs and the "hub" device that connects to the bulbs.
i had an opportunity to play with it a little in the evening, mainly testing the iPhone app for basic light and color changing and some of the advanced functionality. I also created a test IFTTT recipe of "send a text and light 3 will go through a slowly changing rainbow pattern" to test that out.
I have a few ideas of how i want to use this both practically and as it relates to a potential internet installation. It involves buying a dedicated bulb and lamp to put on my kitchen counter or something and maybe have a webcam trained on it 24/7. That light will function as a subtle alert system for lots of things. A few examples:
- install a WeMo motion by the litter box, when Mallory goes to the litter box, change the light to some unique color.
- in the morning if the forecast calls for rain, change the light to some unique color.
- if i get an email from someone in my "inner" g+ circles or contact list, change the light to some unique color.
- if someone uploads a photo, grab that photo into hue, pick a chosen or random color from that photo, and change the light to that defined color.
- for urgent calendar events, cycle through the rainbow pattern
and so on. When i buy the fourth bulb and figure out how i'm going to use it, i'll probably post a YouTube video of my entire hue setup just for fun.