At some point, every piece of electronics in our house will be voice-controlled. Apple's HomeKit and Amazon Echo's Alexa have started the Star Trek-like transformation from buttons to vocalization, but a company called Sengled has given voice to the most basic of home controls—telling the lights to come on and turn off.
At CES, Sengled has officially unveiled the Voice, a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth light bulb that responds to commands. And, like the Amazon Echo, Voice can answer questions by looking up answers on the Web, even control other smart devices around the house, and, thanks to built-in twin JBL speakers, play music streamed to it—all controllable by your spoken commands.
Sengled has partnered with voice-recognition expert Nuance to give Voice its analytics capabilities and a natural language library. Like the Echo, Voice also is patient, remaining in stand-by until you command it or ask it a question. Voice can not only respond to its own lighting and sound commands, but commands for other as yet undefined third party smart home devices.
Voice also services as an early warning system. Thanks to its dual microphones and its Audio Analytics engine, it can hear hazards and other noises that could signal trouble such as dogs barking, babies crying, glass breaking and smoke/CO alarms. Voice will transmit specific text alerts to your smartphone, and can collectively flash or light other Voice bulbs, or even emit an alarm if appropriate.
Pricing has not yet been announced.
[Sengled Voice lightbulb via Sengled]
