Philips Hue manufacturer Signify today announced the launch of several new HomeKit-enabled lights and a new smart switch. Some of the new lights are available starting today, while others will launch later this summer.
The new Philips Hue Go portable table lamp is battery powered and can be used either indoors or outdoors. The lamp, which is an upgrade to the existing Hue Go, features a silicone grip, so it's simple to carry it where you need light, and the battery lasts for up to 48 hours before it needs to be recharged with the included charging base. There are built-in preset scenes that you can cycle through without using the app.
Signify is releasing the Philips Hue Signe lamp in a new oak option, and there are new generations of the Hue White and Color Ambiance downlight (supports multiple colors) and the White Ambiance downlight (white only). The White and Color downlight has a lumen output up to 1100, while the White downlight offers up to 850 lumens. There are also now two sizes of smart recessed lights, and they are available in multipacks for the first time.
The Hue app has been updated with a new Sunrise wake-up style, which is able to mimic the sun appearing over the horizon, transitioning from blue to soft orange light. New Hue users can download the app and choose the Demo mode in the app to explore how to best take advantage of Hue lights.
To complement the Hue lights, the Philips Hue line is gaining a new Tap dial switch that is equipped with four buttons. Each button can be set to control smart lights in up to three separate rooms or zones around the home, and users can tap a button to choose or adjust any light scene. The dial includes built-in dimming control, and it can be purchased in black or white.
The Philips Hue Go is set to be available at the end of summer for $160, while the Hue Signe lamp in oak will be available in mid-July for $350. The Hue White and Color ambiance downlight is priced at $60, and the White ambiance downlight is available for $50, starting today. The Hue tap dial switch is also available today for $50.
Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website.
Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50.
We have outlined some examples below:
Device
New Value
Old Value
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Up to $630
U ...
Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features.
Notification Summary Changes
Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
For...
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr.
The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhon...
Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by Joe Rossignol
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass.
In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by Joe Rossignol
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory.
A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June.
The original AirTag was announced...
Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by Juli Clover
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
Could smartlights be the biggest consumer rort in tech history?
I wouldn't say so.
The lights are expensive, sure. But they last pretty much forever. I bought all my Hue bulbs in 2014-2015 and am still using them all. They all work great. It was a decent amount of money back then but amortized over years of useful life, it's actually pretty cheap. Hell, both of my dimmer switches are still on their original batteries.
And seriously, they just work so well. I've never been really happy with regular dimmers and "dimmable" LED lights. But the Hue lights just do dimming right, and I can't do without them anymore.
Yeah, I'm a shill for them I guess. Hey Signify, pay me!
and, yet again, still no update for a bridge that supports more devices. Multi-bridges aren't an answer because accessories can only control lights on one bridge.
Dozens of bulbs? GTFO my wifi network. Dedicated wireless signals from a bridge are WAAAAAY better.
(FYI: The Philips bulbs don't require a bridge, they can be controlled by BT.)
I completely agree here. WiFi stops working so well once you have dozens of devices, especially when a lot of them might be far away from the access point so they consume more airtime to stay associated.
Zigbee (what Hue uses) is a mesh network. It's lightweight, doesn't have to constantly send and receive beacons to stay associated and, once set up, is bulletproof. I never touch my Hue bridge; it just stays out of the way plugged into a port on my switch consuming a single IP address on my network.
WiFi is fine if you have two or three bulbs, but once you have a dozen or more it gets annoying fast.
Could smartlights be the biggest consumer rort in tech history?
Well, I had to look up rort to figure out what you were asking (I assume you're going for the Aussie slang definition of "a fraudulent or dishonest act or practice", and not the archaic slang definition of "a wild party"). So, hey, thanks for a new word.
No, they're not fraudulent or dishonest. I find them quite useful. Between my Hue lights and HomePod minis, I rarely touch a light switch these days. Yes, I know where the light switches are, and yes, I'm perfectly capable of walking over to them. What I couldn't easily do with a wall switch is turn on lights in 3 adjacent rooms at the same time, all set to a particular color and varying brightness levels. In the evenings, I usually run my lights low, and as a very warm white (some might call it yellow), which helps prepare for sleep (dumping a bunch of bright daylight bluish white light into your optic nerves does not help with sleep). If I'm in bed and falling asleep, and I remember that I might have left a light on in another part of the house, I can ask Siri to turn all the lights off - problem solved, and without having to get up, wake up a bit, and walk around to every room of the house. If I get up in the middle of the night, I can ask Siri to run a scene that gives a dim red glow to the lights between the bed and the bathroom and the kitchen, instead of stumbling around feeling for light switches (and then getting blasted by bright lights).
There are a bunch of other uses as well. I get that some people don't care, or don't have the imagination to consider the possibilities, but I don't appreciate the hyperbole that gets used to try to paint everyone who uses and appreciates smart lights as somehow being foolish.
