“Never change a running system” – this is a more than well-known wisdom from the IT world. The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, for example, has not received a single firmware update in the past year, with the last update dating back to 29 October 2021. If you have encountered one problem or another during this time, you might be helped with an update now.
Approval documents already suggested it at the beginning of the year, then yesterday the first product photos surfaced. Signify, the manufacturer of Philips Hue, will launch a smart home camera. However, not in the Hue cosmos, but for the independently operating WiFi system of the WiZ brand. Works with Nest has since been discontinued However, the topic of Philips Hue and camera is not entirely new.
I really don't want to know how much money some of you have already put into your Hue installation. We're certainly no longer talking about a few euros here, but three-figure or even four-figure sums. So far, the costs have been limited to the purchase of hardware, but that seems to be changing this year.
At the weekend I allowed myself a little fun on the German Hueblog website. Fittingly for April 1st, I published an announcement about the third generation Hue Bridge, which of course does not exist yet. I actually managed to fool many of you with this April Fool's joke. Some of you were even deeply annoyed that I had led them around by the nose.
FabianLeave a Comment on Philips Hue and Matter: No more concrete launch date Update was supposed to be available in the first quarter auf Deutsch lesen Update was supposed to be available in the first quarter
At the beginning of November 2022, the new smart home standard Matter is officially launched. Philips Hue is also one of the supporters of the new standard and announced at the launch: “The software update will be part of the regular updates for the Philips Hue Bridge and is expected to be available to all users in the first quarter of 2023.”
There is no official changelog from Philips Hue yet, but I can draw your attention to a software update for the Hue Bridge. Yesterday evening they seem to have started rolling out firmware version 1.56.1956178040. With this update, the date and time of the last activity are displayed again in the settings under Accessories.
It has been a little over a week since Philips Hue released the update to version 4.36 of its app. In the comments and also in my email inbox, numerous word messages on a particular topic have piled up after the update. For example, Oliver writes: Why did the date and time of the last action of the respective sensor, dimmer, button or tap dial disappear in the settings of the accessories in the latest version 4.36.0 of the HUE app?
I already had to announce it, but now the time has come: Philips Hue has increased the prices of almost all outdoor products and numerous ceiling lights. It will probably take a few more weeks until the changes reach the market. However, the new prices are already active in the official Philips Hue online shop.
In the smart lighting market, Philips Hue is an absolute premium product. The manufacturer also underlines this with the next price increase, which will affect almost all outdoor products and ceiling lights from February. I don't necessarily have a problem with high prices – but then the quality should be right down to the last detail.
The open ZigBee standard has always made it possible for third-party lamps to be connected to the Hue Bridge. Although not with all functions, the essential smart lighting control works perfectly. Swedish furniture giant Ikea now offers two extravagantly designed lights in the Pilskott series, which can be ordered now for 99.99 euros in the online shop and also purchased directly in stores.