Every year, we like to check in with our friends at Monster Illuminessence to see what cool new products are coming to the line. This year, Jennifer Garrett showed off new products to enhance your outdoor, living room, and gaming experiences.
You know just how important your lighting can be if you're a gamer. Sometimes you want a multicolored experience to enhance your gaming. Sometimes you want all white so that you can read or research. No matter the situation, the Monster Smart Illuminessence line will have something for you.
The Duo Plus monitor light bars are a set of lights that sits on top of your monitor and extends your gaming experience. Rather than shining toward you, it faces backward to wash the wall using RGBIC LEDs. This means that the bar can create multiple colors across the wall in response to the image on your screen. If you don't want that, you can also set it to respond to sound while listening to music or set it to a solid color or pre-existing pattern.
The front offers a multi-touch control system for both the wash lighting and the front-facing lights. These are designed to improve your reading and working experience. You can set between a set of 5 whites, from cool to warm. You can also control the brightness with dimmer controls. The Duo Plus is expected to hit the market mid-2023 with a price point of around $30.
Another product, which is currently in concept state, is a set of under monitor lighting. These have custom wiring to help with cable management, and work similarly to our favorite Prism product. They are very much a fun product, intended to add some life to your computer.
Last year, Jennifer showed us the Bloom light. Thid was the first product in the home decor line. It comes with a white shade in three different shapes that gives you a really unique appearance. One of the things that makes it really interesting is that it comes in a flat pack, meaning the packaging is very small. This year, the company is testing out additional concept shades to give you more control over the appearance of the product. The current Bloom is available now with a retail price of $35 including the LED smart bulb. The new shades are a concept looking for a buyer.
Another upgrade to a previous product is the Orb+. The original Orb was able to light up in a single color, while the newest model adds the ability to run multiple colors in all of the patterns that we've come to expect in the Monster Smart Illuminessence line. It is still waterproof and offers a long battery life. The Orb+ is available now from Walmart and Monster for $40.
Our favorite home product, however, is TV lighting. While this isn't a new concept in the market, it is a unique implementation. Rather than requiring a camera that overhands your television, this device actually powers off of your HDMI cable. It sits between your video source and the television, passing the video signal through but also processing the image to produce lighting behind the television. Plus, it means there is no lag on the lighting. This requires no internet, no software, and no special plugins - just your source and a television. The target launch is by the Holidays 2023.
During CES 2022, Jennifer premiered the Bistro and Spotlights on our show. This year, she showed off a smart 6-light LED sconce. It is a hard-wired product, so it will mount to the wall and wire into your home power. It has 6 lights - three pointing up and three pointing down. It will ship with three faces - wood grain, black, and silver, which are easily swapped out. It also ships with a diffuser, making it look and act more similar to the Neon. The best part? These can be used both indoor and outdoor. The target launch is by the Holidays 2023.
Another product that is in development is a new concept product based on the RGB sconce - a solar-powered light. It can be mounted on a yard stake and stuck in the ground, or it can be mounted on a surface, including a wall or fence. As with many lights like this, it turns on when it gets dark and turns back off when the sun comes up. One of the lights connects to Wi-Fi and the rest are powered through a Bluetooth mesh, extending the France of the light. The target launch is by the Holidays 2023.
To learn more about the product line and get notified when new products launch, you can head to the company's website.
Interview by Scott Ertz of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.
Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.
