Here in Germany, Christmas is usually celebrated on 24 December: Christmas Eve. We go to church in the afternoon, during which time the Christ Child puts presents under the tree for the children and in the evening we eat something delicious with the family. What is your schedule for the Christmas holidays?
Light strips are a great thing and basically always work in the same way: you unroll them, stick them to a smooth surface and then enjoy the colourful light. And you can even extend the light strips, up to 10 metres in the case of Philips Hue, for example. However, both the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus and the Philips Hue Ambiance Gradient Lightstrip have a problem: the power supply unit delivers a maximum of 20 watts and the maximum brightness remains identical.
The Philips Hue Play Gradient Light Tube is actually intended for installation under a TV that is already equipped with a Play Gradient Light Strip on the other three sides. However, the smart tube is versatile and also cuts a fine figure in the bedroom, for example. We've been using it in our son's nursery since we switched to a new bed (again).
To round off the week, I would like to present you with some pretty tough news. It's a press release from Signify, the manufacturer of Philips Hue, which you can read here. In a nutshell, it's about restructuring and planned savings of 200 million euros per year. The good news from our point of view is that the four business areas that Signify wants to focus on in future also include the consumer business area with the Philips Hue and WiZ brands.
In my opinion, the Philips Hue wall switch module is one of the best accessories for the smart lighting system. It solves the problem of ceiling lighting being disconnected from the power supply and turns the classic switch on the wall, where everyone knows how to operate it, into a smart switch.
The update of the Philips Hue app to version 5.6, which is expected before Christmas, is still a long way off. However, new firmware for the Hue Bridge has been released in the last few days. You may have already received version 1961135030. You can check this in the settings of the Hue app.
I actually wanted to wait a few more days to make this little announcement, but there's not much else going on today when it comes to Philips Hue. So let's get this little announcement out of the way: Hueblog is back on Instagram. You can already find the first stylish pictures on the channel and of course there will be many more in the future.
It's not a big surprise and it was already announced. But I don't want to withhold this little announcement from you, because then we can put the issue to bed. Philips Hue has recently removed the Hue Bluetooth app and the Hue Sync app from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Secretly, quietly and silently, Philips Hue has brought its Christmas scenes back to the Philips Hue app. As I have been asked about this several times over the past few weeks, I didn't want to withhold this little hint from you. As always, the Christmas scenes can be found in the Hue light scenes gallery directly in the Hue app.
There are already a number of ways to control the smart lamps from Philips Hue. Via app, automation, voice control or with smart accessories such as the Hue dimmer switch or the Hue motion sensor. There could soon be a magical new alternative to the motion sensor – and Philips Hue smart lamps will be at the centre of this.
Fabian