Goldee Brings A New Dimension To The Philips Hue Lighting System
by Brent Dirks
October 3, 2013
After Philips opened up its SDK and other tools to control the Hue lightning system earlier this year, developers have done a nice job creating fun apps to take advantage of the technology.
And a new title hitting the App Store today, Goldee, brings dynamic and ever-changing lighting to the connected system.
The app currently features 10 scenes, complete with scene creator, photographer, and the location where the image was captured. The developer is promising to add a library with hundreds of scenes in the future.
Getting the app connected and ready to go is quick and simple. After identifying where the bulbs are located in your house, select a scene and watch the magic happen.
With the first scene, Sunrise, users can set a wake-up alarm. The final scene, Night Sky, can also be programmed with a sleep timer.
I had no problem getting Goldee going, and I was really pleased with the different scenes. I’m interested to see how the app progresses over time.
There are a few downsides to the app to mention. To take advantage of the dynamic scenes, the app must remain open and in the foreground. So you won’t be able to get other work done while the app is running. If you close the app, the lights remain static.
After the screen saver was running, my iPhone 5 also had problems returning to the normal brightness level.
Goldee for Hue is designed for the iPhone/iPod touch. It can be downloaded now in the App Store for free. The Hue starter kit is $199.95 and can be found at Apple Stores or on Apple's site now.
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