The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea.

  • FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    5 months ago

    That was a great read, thanks. It made me realise I don’t even remember the last time I changed a light bulb!

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      5 months ago

      I wish I could say the same. I have had one of two that had circuits that burned out. One was cheap and not surprising. The other was a Hue. Speaking of Hues, mine all seemed to stop working with Google Home and one even decided it would permanently be disco time and continually flashes. Zigbee compatible bulbs only from now on for me.

      • targetx@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        5 months ago

        Aren’t all Hue bulbs Zigbee? They have some WiFi or bluetooth models now I believe but afaik all of them support Zigbee with a bridge.

        • GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 months ago

          There was encryption for a while, iirc. This was removed, and you can now communicate directly with Hue bulbs.
          You can also use bluetooth for hub-free operation directly from a phone.

      • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        5 months ago

        The leds can work for like 20 years. On the other hand the rest of the components are not necessarily going to last that long unfortunately.