For years, the light bulb remained relatively unchanged: a shining example of functional, enduring design that needed no improvement.
Now, however, a group of young, tech-savvy Australian inventors have decided that the humble bulb is overdue a snazzy upgrade.
They have come up with the £42 LIFX light bulb - a bulb that dims, changes colour, strobes, switches on automatically, and can be fully controlled from a mobile phone.
The hi-tech light will give users the power to quickly dim the lights for a romantic evening in - or switch on the disco strobe for an impromptu rave.
At £42 each with a lifespan of 25 years, the bulbs cost a staggering amount compared to normal energy-saving fluorescent bulbs, which can be picked up for as little as £2 and typically last for around ten years.
The project has, however, seen an astonishing level of support since it launched on startup website Kickstarter.
The company aimed to raise £61,000, but has so far managed to raise £740,520.
Billed by company founder Phil Bosua as “the world’s smartest light bulb”, the bulb will screw into normal light fittings and function like a normal light bulb if you lose your phone.
Mr Bosua developed the idea with colleagues in Melbourne, then moved to the US to find funding and to be closer to other technology start-up companies.
Mr Bosua said in a video advertising the product: “Traditional bulbs also use heaps of power and those energy efficient fluoro bulbs have that cold white light that we all hate.
“So I started thinking with all the technology we’ve got today, surely there must be a better way. I mean it’s not like we get up to change the TV anymore, so why do we still do that with our lights?
“Six months and more than a dozen prototypes later, we’ve managed to create the world’s smartest energy efficient light bulb.”
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