Lighting company Nanoleaf today announced the launch of new Essentials lights that are aimed at replacing some of the standard bulbs that are installed in ceilings, plus it is introducing a new series of products in partnership with Umbra.
The Essentials Matter GU10 and the Essentials Matter Recessed Downlight are compatible with smart home platforms that support Matter, which includes HomeKit. The lights can be added to a HomeKit setup as long as a Matter hub like the HomePod mini is available. The Essentials lights are also Thread enabled and will integrate with other Thread products for improved connectivity.
Nanoleaf's Recessed Downlights are four inches in size and can replace standard downlights that you may have in your home, while the GU10 bulbs can replace light fixtures that use that bulb style. Like all Nanoleaf Essential lights, the Downlights and GU10 bulbs support 16 million colors as well as a range of different white temperatures.
The lights can be controlled through the Nanoleaf app or through the Home app when added to HomeKit, and can be activated through automations to have lights turn on at specific times or work in tandem with other smart home devices. Multiple bulbs can be grouped together so you can change the lighting in entire rooms at one time.
Nanoleaf today also announced that it is partnering with Umbra on two new Smart Lamps that are compatible with Matter. The Cono Portable Lamp and the Cup Lamp have unique designs created by Umbra with lighting technology supplied by Nanoleaf. The Cono and Cup Lamps work like other Nanoleaf lights, supporting millions of colors and working with scenes, automations, and more.
The Cono Portable Lamp has a built-in battery that lasts for up to five hours so it can be taken from room to room, while the Cup Lamp is a desktop lamp with a USB charging port and a cup base that is able to hold desk accessories.
Three of the GU10 bulbs can be preordered for $50, while the downlights are priced at $35 each. The Cono Portable Lamp is available for preorder now and is priced at $95, and the $130 Cup Lamp will be available in early 2024.
Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model.
The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
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...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.
The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
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 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...
Wednesday January 22, 2025 2:07 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Popular caller ID app Truecaller is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers.
Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely retrieve information about a caller from their servers, hence today's Truecaller update.
iPhone users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature by going to Settings ➝ ...
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...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 6:40 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to release at least one new iPad Pro model this year, according to a supplier-focused report today from Korean website The Elec. It is likely that the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models would be updated simultaneously.
After receiving an OLED display last year, the report said the iPad Pro will receive only "minor" changes this year. Overall, the next iPad Pro is expected to...
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...
Some of their stuff looks good but I haven’t heard good things regarding longevity. Perhaps owners could chime in?
i have five non-matter essential bulbs, and one matter bulb that was a replacement for a non-matter bulb that went bad.
The Nanoleaf non-matter essential A19 bulbs have been pretty solid. The matter enabled bulb is a giant pain in my $#%! It requires a reset at least every other week, sometimes multiple times in a row. Now, it’s possible this is brought on by my HomeKit hub changing from a new ATV to one of the many HomePod minis in the house.
We have lots of Philips Hue lights, Lutron Caseta Switches (fan and light), a meeros garage door opener, and wemo thread switches… this one Nanoleaf matter bulb is the least reliable by far. Side note, Hue and Lutron are certainly expensive, but they have proven 100% reliable for many years now.
I really want Nanoleaf to do better, because we need more competition in this market segment to bring down prices. Until then, I can’t recommend their essentials line. I can’t speak to their shape lighting.
And what countless people forget is the quality of the light, besides the longevity, the quality of the light, the smooth gradients when dimming, the step differences in shades and colour, the easy of use and integration. Still, nothing even gets close.
Some of their stuff looks good but I haven’t heard good things regarding longevity. Perhaps owners could chime in?
I’ve owned a number of different nanoleaf products over the past decade and they have almost all failed. I would avoid them. Hue and twinkly have been much better for me personally.
