General Electric debuts US$15 LED Link Lights controllable via Wink App - Home Automation with Wi-Fi and Li-Fi Hotspots

GE (General Electric ) has now finally decided to jump on the Smart LED (Light Emitting Diode) Light Bulb Train by making their very own set as announced in “GE JOINS THE SMART LIGHTING PARTY, UNVEILS ITS OWN CONNECTED LED BULB”, published June 27, 2014 By Drew Prindle, DigitalTrends.

Known as Link Lights, they went live on Monday June 30^th 2014 and are GE answer to competition from the likes of Phillips and LG as stated in “The Smartest Bulb in the Box Will Talk to Your Smartphone. It’s Affordable, Too!”, published June 27, 2014, GE Reports

Phillips Intelligent Lighting System can track shoppers movement in a supermarket setting and beam them information about coupons of items on sale via using  light, basically an early variant of Li-Fi Technology as described in my blog article entitled “Phillips Intelligent Lighting System launched at Euroshop Retail Show - Li-Fi Network for In Secret Personalized LBS Coupons and Services at the Speed of Light”.

Perhaps GE liked what LG Electronics was doing in the Intelligent Lighting space and decided to copy their design, which may include the capability to become a Wi-Fi hotspot as stated in my blog article entitled “LG Electronics Internet Controlled LED Light Bulb - Li-Fi’s Standardization of Alexander Graham Bell’s First Invention powered by Powerline AV 500 and Homeplug AV”.

Both these systems have LED Light Bulb systems that can be controlled with a smartphone app. Apparently, people seem to like this idea of being able to control lights in their homes from a distance. This is very handy, especially if you want to get the mood right just before your girlfriend or wife comes home of makes sure your house doesn’t look unoccupied at late hours of the night.

The specifics of the GE’s Link Lights are what might set it apart. Throw in a price of US$15 per Bulb and this will start looking like a very good deal given that they have such a long lifespan.

Not only can they be remote controlled via the Wink App but they can also be linked to other smart gadget in the home. Thus these gadgets can control the turning on of the lights instead of you having to be mindful of them from afar, a step towards the eventual ideal of home automation, one Bulb at a time. This suggests that these Link Lights are not only controllable over Cellular Internet, implying that they have a built in SIM Card, but they may also be controllable via Wi-Fi as well.

These Link Lights have been out since Monday June 30^th 2014. But hopefully, GE will make them a little more sophisticated and add other capabilities such as Wi-Fi Hotspot via Powerline AV 500 or Homeplug AV Protocol or even a Li-Fi to beam information to your Wink App.