Hey Google: Turn off the Lights in the Family Room

I've just about gotten to the end of my "Christmas Haul" posts here on the blog with this light bulb post.  Most recently, I - hopefully - convinced those of you who are reading that I'm NOT just a bird-crazy person and that all I wanted was bird stuff.  I sure did get a lot from Nat and the kids, but I also scored a few other things from my brother-in-law (the Sortimo T-Boxx from that I recently posted), my father-in-law (the Craftsman Multimeter that I posted last week) that are both destined for my basement shop.  Or...as the naming convention around here insists:  my #NewOldWorkshop. 

Nat's Mom and Dad gave me this LIFX bulb that is one of a handful of smart bulbs that work directly with our Google Home and don't require a Smarthome bridge/hub.  That has a lot of appeal to me.  You can find the details of Google Assistant/Home + LIFX here on the LIFX landing page specifically for Google Home.   They show you a bunch of the commands.   

I have just one of these bulbs and they don't look awesome in some of our fixtures (we have lots of either glass shades or 'shine down' fixtures where you can see the bulbs.  So, it has been relegated to a lamp in our family room.  I think I'll get more of these, but they're only going to be good for us in certain spots like lamps and - if they'll work - maybe even cans in the ceiling? 

But, the "Hey Google" functionality - while nice - turns out isn't the thing that I use the most and have come to like.  Nope.  What is actually really nice is the ability to set the color of these.  And, to be honest, after the first hour or so of playing around with different colors, we've come to settle on a warm, almost pinkish tone.  They call it "2500 k Ultra Warm - 100%".  You can see it in the color wheel in the app below. 

It casts a wonderful warm light that is perfect in the winter as the room grows dark.  I've also glommed on to the day/night dawn/dusk scheduling part of the app.  It is like a smart timer.

I've added this post to my [connected home] tag in the archives, where you can also find my initial Google Home post from November of 2016.  We've since upgraded our [connected home] with a few other things like Nest tools, a bunch of Google Home Minis and even a Google Home Max.  I'll try to post a few things about those new tools in the coming weeks.  The kids are in love with the "Hey Google...broadcast" thing.  And I'm really happy with the Google Home Max serving as our main speaker in the kitchen for music.