Philips Hue 1.1: A Bunch of Great New Features

“PHILIPS HUE 1.1 – NOW THERE’S SO MUCH MORE HUE CAN DO”

First there was hue. Now there’s Philips Hue 1.1 and it’s bringing a whole bunch of great new features with it. What’s changed? What’s new? And how can you get it? Here’s a short update on the latest Hue features.

  Location
Let’s start with a biggy. It’s called Geofencing. It means your hue lights can now automatically turn on or change settings as you arrive home. It’s like a happy puppy welcoming you at the front door! But without all the slobber or the chewed up shoes. Plus, don’t ever worry if you’ve switched your lights off or not. Just walk out the front door and they’ll switch themselves off. All without you ever having to take your smartphone out of your pocket.

  Alarm
Another thing you’ve asked for is Recurring Alarms. You can now calendarize your time settings and have hue wake you up and put you to bed at the same time every day, without having to set it each time. We’ve also improved the security feature, making hue an even better guard dog than before. Just set the alarm to “randomize” and the lights will turn on at slightly different times while you’re on holiday. Because who switches on the lights at 18:00 sharp every night? Not you. And bad guys know that. But this keeps them guessing and adds another level of security. Woof!

  Timer
With the new timer function, hue can turn the lights off or change color after a set amount of time. So you can time your workout with light or even shine bright pink to let you know when the cupcakes are ready. It’s also great for telling the kids that playtime is up and it’s time for bed. It’s so much cooler if hue tells them it’s bath time than when daddy does!

IFTTT
Excited is Philips partnership with IFTTT. This super useful service enables you to connect your hue lights to over 60 different products and services with IFTTT Recipes. Try Recipes that do all kinds of neat things like:

•    Change your light’s color to let you know when it’s raining outside
•    Blink your lights when your favorite sports team starts a new game
•    Randomly change your light’s color with a text message
•    And much, much more. The possibilities are endless!

Smart Lighting for home and small offices is getting more and more intelligent and easy in use. Make sure you stay tuned!