Skip to main content

The crazy-expensive Ketra lightbulb now boasts smart home features, too

Image used with permission by copyright holder

LED efficiency and a few key smart controls might have been the biggest innovations in consumer lighting in recent years, but innovations in the commercial space can take things a whole lot further. Offering high-efficiency RGB customization and constant self-checks to maintain a cohesive lighting scheme, Ketra’s bulbs have begun to reshape modern offices. Now, the LED lights have launched smart home capabilities and are compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Crestron, and Lutron.

All this functionality doesn’t come cheap though, with each individual bulb costing as much as $100. But as homes and businesses alike begin to pay more heed to the importance of light, it seems as though Ketra is finding a larger customer base.

Recommended Videos

The Ketra lights claim to simulate sunlight, shifting in color throughout the day. Plus, thanks to the custom driver chip found in all Ketra lamps and luminaires, these products should stay true to its intended color and vibrancy throughout its lifetime.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

While the customizable nature of Ketra’s LED bulbs is impressive and their ability to go from daylight to disco in a second is a fun feature, it’s the bulbs’ error-checking capability that really sets them apart from the competition. Ketra’s bulbs check their own light emissions six times a second to confirm that they are sending out the desired lighting tone and intensity.

That is an important backdrop feature for the ability to tweak lighting on the fly. The idea is that spaces can change their theme with a color change, rather than having multiple rooms for different purposes. A showroom Ketra uses to show off that function is a typical kitchen, that switches from morning breakfast to an evening party atmosphere with a change from white to blue and purple light.

While Ketra’s health claims about simulating the sun are a little less tangible (and not supported by government-backed health regulators) they are there as part of the marketing and are helping Ketra make big strides in the commercial sector. And now that Ketra offers smart home integrations, which means they can be controlled remotely or via voice, they made find their way into more living rooms and bedrooms, too.

Updated on February 21: Ketra is now compatible with smart home platforms including Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
How to use smart ambient lighting
The Govee Immersion Kit enhances on-screen content.

Ambient lighting is most simply thought of as "indirect lighting." It’s lighting that isn’t focused directly on an object and is used to add to the available amount of light in a room. You can use ambient lighting as part of ceiling-mounted fixtures or floor lamps to brighten or even out the light in a room. Ambient lighting can also be placed behind an object and used to bounce light off a wall or the ceiling. Think of it as the lighting that takes your room from plain to warm and inviting.
Benefits of smart ambient lights
While adding ambient lighting to a room can help transform it from simple to extraordinary, smart ambient lighting is definitely the way to go. The main reason is that smart lighting can be programmed to look precisely how you want it and turn on when you want. Not only can you control the brightness and intensity of the light, but also the color.

You can light up the back of your TV set and have it change color depending on your programming. You can also take things a step further by combining the system with a voice assistant and have several pre-set routines that change the lighting in the room with a single command. “Turn on horror movie lighting,” is just one example of how it could accent movie night.
Setting up ambient lighting

Read more
Are we becoming too dependent on the smart home?
Amazon Echo Show 15 hanging horizontally on the wall in a kitchen.

Over the weekend, my wife and I took a trip a few states over to visit a friend. That first night at the hotel, I found myself asking Alexa to turn off the lights. It actually took a moment to realize I needed to turn the lights off without a smart assistant.

Now that might be an isolated incident, but it illustrates my point. When we use smart homes on a daily basis, the idea of actually reaching for a switch to turn off the lights seems absolutely archaic. It's a backup feature, nothing more. But taken further, does this indicate an almost unhealthy dependency on the convenience and features of the smart home?

Read more
How to dispose of light bulbs
how to dispose of lightbulbs

Smart lights are a great replacement for older lighting systems. Before you throw away your old light bulbs, though, you should know that these items are often recyclable. Disposing of old light bulbs by throwing them away isn’t ideal since glass can break and tear the garbage bag. Worse still, damaged light bulbs can release gases like argon, nitrogen, or helium.

We’ve put together a guide to help you dispose of different types of light bulbs safely and recycle these items when you can.
What are the benefits of recycling light bulbs?
Ensuring old light bulbs are properly disposed of is just one more way we can keep harmful chemicals out of the environment and reuse as many materials as we can. CFL bulbs in particular contain mercury and heavy metal that can cause damage nearby if not recycled.
How do I dispose of incandescent light bulbs?

Read more