Ever wish you could blast some Led Zeppelin on your lamp? Oh, what’s that? You’ve never had such a ridiculous desire before? Well add it to your list of dreams and then promptly cross it off, because light bulbs with integrated speakers are apparently becoming a thing.
AirBulb – an upcoming Kickstarter project that has yet to officially launch – is the latest entry into this obscure category of home appliances. In a nutshell, it’s basically an app-enabled high-efficiency LED lightbulb with a small Bluetooth speaker built into the center. So not only does it allow you to control the brightness and color temperature like Philips Hue – it also lets you wirelessly stream music to it.
Using the accompanying app for iOS or Android, you can beam your tunes to any number of connected AirBulb speakers. No matter how many you’ve got set up, AirBulbs will automatically sync with each other to ensure that playback doesn’t sound echoey and delayed.
If you feel like you’ve seen this before, it’s probably because you have. A few months back, a company called AwoX released a similar product called the StriimLight, which essentially does the same thing.
Products like this definitely can’t compare to a dedicated speaker system when it comes to sound quality, but they might do the trick for users who want a simple, uncluttered way to add music to a room. Since the entire speaker/light assembly is self-contained and powered by a standard E27 lamp socket, there are no unsightly wires, and the setup process isn’t confusing — you just plug in, install the app, and go.
The project hasn’t yet gone live on Kickstarter, but when it does, you’ll be able to get your hands on one for a pledge of about 60-70 bucks. That might seem a bit steep, but compared to the $99 Striimlight, that’s not half bad.
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