You can fund a smart bulb with a 'Netflix & chill' mode

Nanoleaf Smarter Kit
Nanoleaf Smarter Kit

Apple HomeKit promises to deliver the smarthome experience we've only been dreaming of since Disney introduced us to the house of the future in the '60s.

The Cupertino-developed platform integrates Internet of Things devices like smart thermometers, lamps and even dog bowls with the phones, tablets and PCs we have on us at all hours of the day.

Fast-forward to today when a smarthome company called Nanoleaf introduced its latest product, the Smarter Kit, to crowdfunding site IndieGoGo.

The product is essentially a spin-off of the Philips Hue lightbulbs, another HomeKit-enabled device, but differentiates itself by including built-in voice recognition.

Nanoleaf Smarter Kit

Commands listed on the product's crowdfunding page include the mundane "turn on/off the lights" to the slightly more specific "make the living room lights the brightest."

The feature that will get the most attention, though, is the Smarter Kit's ability to learn custom commands. Some examples Nanoleaf gives are "Honey, I'm Home," which sets the lights to 50%, and the infamous "Netflix and chill" that turns down lights to 1% which, according to Nanoleaf, is "just enough to see what's good."

Sexual innuendos aside, should the device receive funding, the Smarter Kit will bring us one step closer to the smarthome we've been pining over for the last five decades.

  • Rumor has it that the new Apple TV has HomeKit control baked in as well.
Nick Pino

Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar's sister site, Tom's Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He's also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he's not using if anyone wants it.