Companies from Google to Comcast to Electric Imp are trying to connect home devices and appliances to the web, but the internet of things remains more of a complicated, distant dream than a reality. Spark Devices wants to start off simple, with one of the most used items in your house — the light bulb.
Spark Devices launched on Kickstarter with a working prototype of what it calls the Spark Socket. All a user needs to do to get their lights on the web is screw a regular light bulb into the Spark Socket and screw that into a regular light fixture. They can then control their lighting — on, off, and dimming — through an iOS or Android app, which opens up entirely new avenues for home lighting. Users can schedule their lights when they’re away, set them to slowly turn on in the morning, and even set them to flash when someone calls their phone.
“[The Spark Socket] was inspired by my dad, who’s deaf and uses lights for notification,” Founder Zach Supalla told Wired. “At first I wanted to solve a specific problem he has. Now that he uses a cellphone for text messaging, he’s very difficult to get a hold of when he’s at home and takes his phone out of his pocket. However, once I started working on it I realized that there was a lot of potential for broader uses by providing an open API.”
Backers can pre-order Spark Sockets for $60 apiece, and the company is trying to reach $250,000 on Kickstarter.
“Products like these will definitely get cheaper over time,” Supalla said. “Just like computers, videogame consoles, and smartphones, they get cheaper as the technology improves, and in our case they will get cheaper as we grow and scale up our production. In the short term I think there’s a lot of great uses for a couple of Smart Sockets in the home, and in the long run, I think we’ll see technology like this not just in every light socket but in every electrical device in the home.”
The Spark Devices team will make an API to developers to create apps for the device, so it’s not hard to imagine using lights to display other types of data — maybe the closet light flashes if it’s going to rain today, or the living room suddenly gets brighter whenever the Giants hit a home run. The Spark Devices team has also partnered with Kickstarter successes like Twine and plans to partner with others, so the functionality should continue to grow.
Watch the video below to see the Spark Socket in action:
Spark Socket Connects Your Regular Old Light Bulbs to the Internet
This article
Spark Socket Connects Your Regular Old Light Bulbs to the Internet
can be opened in url
http://newswaystart.blogspot.com/2012/11/spark-socket-connects-your-regular-old.html
Spark Socket Connects Your Regular Old Light Bulbs to the Internet
