Choosy? You can light up your home in 16 million colors with these solutions

By Karl Utermohlen Updated October 4, 2017

LIFX Beam

Have you ever dreamed of having millions of accent light color patterns on your wall, all at the touch of a button or a voice command?

Smart home lighting company LIFX has shed new light on the market with the introduction of Beam, a light strip, and Tile, an LED block light. You can hang the wall-mounted products anywhere in your house and build patterns by adding additional strips and tiles. Whether you need special lighting to showcase your giant flatscreen TV or a piece of art, the possibilities are endless. The company says the products can illuminate in more than 16 million colors and are compatible with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home. That of course means that you can control the ambient lighting with just your voice.

The Beam kit, which is available for pre-order now and will ship in November, includes six individual Beams, one corner connector piece, and a power pack for $199. Each Beam is 11.8 inches long, 1.37 inches deep, and 0.78 inches wide, which could net you more than 72 feet of strip lighting in your home using just the starter pack. You can can create squares, triangles, or other patterns and customize whatever colors you want to have illuminated at any time.

The Tile kit is also available for pre-order now and will ship in November. The $250 starter kit includes five tiles – each just under eight inches wide and more than an inch deep – plus a power pack and a controller. Like the Beam, you can position each tile on your wall in any way you wish, meaning that you can create your own game of QBert on the wall if you want.

Both products link up with Wi-Fi without an additional hub. There’s a dimmer on each item, giving you the ability to adjust the brightness at any time. Each unit can be set to display multiple colors.

LIFX is one of several companies creating interesting smart lighting solutions. Philips Hue has been at the forefront of ambient lighting, and Heelight recently released a smart light bulb that the company claims is able to hear the environment around it.

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Karl Utermohlen

Karl Utermohlen is a finance and tech journalist with an MFA in creative writing from the University of Idaho. his do Zelda…

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