I’ll say it. My porch is a bit lifeless. It’s lovely to sit out there in the day but on dark cloudy nights, it’s simply too dark to enjoy.

As a result, string lighting has been on my “to buy” list for a while. That’s when Wiz’s Smart Outdoor String Lights arrived.

Waterproof, weather proof, app controlled with colours, light levels and smart home functionality! It was everything I needed… Everything I wanted… and more.

Initially, I was rather intimidated by the 14.8m length. After measuring my porch I thought I had far too much, with no option to shorten it. It wasn’t until I started hanging the lights that I realised it was perfect. The lights look much better when they are draping down, which means 14.8m is really just the maximum distance. You can make anything less work.

As I was weaving them through my porch supports, I just added an extra loop here and there to space them out nicely. It did end up being a 2 person job, but that was just to save time.

The lights have been up for a few weeks now, and that weatherproof and waterproof label has been put to the test. There have been some windy nights, howling with rain, and sunny days blaring down heat, but the Wiz Smart Outdoor String Lights have held strong. In the past, I had fairy lights hanging on the porch. They didn’t last a month. I am confident Wiz have made their products to last.

You may notice in the photos that I was unable to utilise the smart lighting functionality on my porch. It’s important to note, for any smart lighting from any company, you’ll need 2.4 gHz WIFI to use the smart functions. However, you can always buy a 2.4 gHz extender, but that’s an expense you should be aware of up front. You can find the details for your WIFI on the bottom of your router.

Before hanging up the lights at mine, I took them to a friend’s house (with 2.4 gHz WIFI), and the setup was a dream. The Wiz lighting app “Wiz Connect” is exactly what you want from a smart device app. It runs you through exactly what to do, step by step, and it covers troubleshooting too. I can tell the app was made for first time users, and because of that… We had the colours going in no time!

Without the app, you can still turn the Wiz Smart Outdoor String Lights on, off and dim them using a button on the cable, but the standout feature is the quick release section just before the lights. It’s hard to explain in words, but let’s say your property is like mine and the easiest way to power these lights is by plugging them in through a window. You don’t want your window to be permanently wedged open, so the cable has a section before the lights that disconnects and connects with ease. I didn’t realise it until I saw it, but it really is a must have feature for a lot of homes.

Overall, the lights are fantastic. It’s a shame I can’t use them to their full capacity unless I buy the extender, but I do have a new slot available on my “to buy” list…

As for my rating, if you have 2.4ghz WIFI, this product is a solid 4.4. It’s exactly what you want from smart lighting, and more.

Even without the 2.4ghz WIFI, these lights get a 3.8 from me! As they really have brought life to my time out on the porch.

The post Wiz – Smart Outdoor String Light Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Nanoleaf have taken their signature smart lights from 2D to a literal 4D with Nanoleaf Blocks.

If you’re new to the world of smart lighting, Nanoleaf have been producing tiled multi-coloured lighting that presents like a puzzle when you first start out.

A variation of shapes from hexagons to triangle and even straight lines, it’s up to you to create whatever array you want, producing an illuminated wall art.

Each tile uses a specific connector and there’s a control module for you to choose any preset lighting option, sync to music – or via the app you can create your own.

Nanoleaf smart lights also sync up with Alexa, Google and Apple to integrate in to your smart home via WiFi.

The Nanoleaf Blocks are a similar affair, but instead of being flat against the wall, you can build shelving, hook panels and more to have the coolest and functional wall art ever.

Nanoleaf Blocks are an ideal mood lighting solution for any room – especially a games den.

Adjustable, expandable and one of the coolest things you could ever have on your wall, Nanoleaf Blocks take smart lighting up a few levels incorporating functionality and any environmental aesthetic.

The post Nanoleaf Blocks XL Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Make movie night or game time something extraordinary with Nanoleaf 4D.

The Nanoleaf 4D kit is a bendy lightbar that goes on the rear of your screen and works alongside a camera which views the colour spectrums.  But before you can light it up there is some DIY.

In the box there’s a few bits. The camera and camera mount. The light bar, which you can get in 65 or 85 inches. The corner mounts, your controller box and of course AC adaptor.Depending on how your TV is mounted and the size of your screen will stipulate how easy it is to set this up.  If you’ve wall mounted your screen then likely you’ll need to take it off the wall.  Mine is not wall mounted so this was easier. But having a 85 inch TV added a wee bit of trickiness when I was placing the lightbar around it.

Nanoleaf supply sticky foam for the corner brackets and the lightbar itself has double-sided tape.  Once it’s all set in place you’ll need the Nanoleaf app for Android or iOS.  Here’s the painful part.

As experienced with other Nanoleaf products, which are great, the app is not so great during setup.  Connecting the Nanoleaf 4D to your home’s WiFi will test your patience. Many times over.  After the repeated, usual (and expected) connection failures and error messages it finally got there.

The controller box has three modes, Camera, Play (which is basically an always on display mode) and Music where it will light up to the beat.  The real magic is Camera mode.

You can place the camera either at the top of the screen or below pointed directly at the TV. During set up you’ll actually set the width and height of your screen within the app in real time so that the entire view aspect is captured.

The Nanoleaf 4D will then imitate the colours and on-screen action making your tele actually appear larger than it is.  This gives you that 4D experience.

It’s cool. Way cool. And I found that the lighting using Camera mode was both subtle at times through to bright and always accurate. There’s no delay or lag between what the Nanoleaf 4D camera sees to the illumination of the lightbar.

If you have a large gaming monitor, you could easily add one of these to it, taking your PC gaming beyond the screen.

Nanoleaf smart lights are an excellent addition to any smart home. You can pair them up with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Home.

Is the Nanoleaf 4D worth it? Yup it sure is. You don’t know what your missing until you have one of these.
Whatever mode you prefer to use, it adds a whole other dimension to screen time.

The post Nanoleaf 4D Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Nanoleaf held its annual Nanoleaf Live 2023 event today to discuss their innovation roadmap whilst also unveiling a new product and integration requested by popular demand from its dedicated community.

Nanoleaf 4D is a Screen Mirror & Lightstrip Kit that redefines the way you experience your favourite films, TV shows and video games. The Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror & Lightstrip Kit includes a Camera that captures the colours on your screen in real time and syncs them onto the addressable gradient LED lightstrip mounted behind it. The result is a true 4D effect that extends your content beyond your screen, filling your space with brilliant hues and dynamic gradients.

Choose from 4 Mirror Modes to customise your level of immersion: from a subtle ambient glow suited for more relaxed visuals (1D) to a direct match of your screen that takes you right into the middle of the action (4D). Users can even combine the Screen Mirror Modes with Rhythm Music Sync to simultaneously mirror the screen’s colours while reacting to soundtracks or in-game sound effects.

Using Nanoleaf’s exclusive Sync+ Technology, extend screen mirroring to all Nanoleaf RGB lighting devices* in the room to create an all-encompassing visual experience like never before. Connect over 50 Nanoleaf RGB devices at once, so you can truly take your entertainment beyond the borders of your screen and onto your light panels, light bars and beyond.

Nanoleaf 4D is engineered with unique Smart Remap Technology and can be cut to fit any size TV up to 85’’. The 4D Camera offers versatile positioning and can be placed on top or at the bottom of your screen. Nanoleaf never saves, stores or records anything from the camera, it’s only used to pick up the screen’s colours and includes a magnetic privacy cover for added peace of mind.

Control Nanoleaf 4D with the Nanoleaf App, using the convenient manual Controller, or with voice commands through your smart assistant. 4D is compatible with all major smart home platforms as well as IFTTT and Razer Chroma. Both products will receive an OTA update to become Matter-compatible later this year.

Watch as your gameplay comes to life across your Nanoleaf RGB setup using the company’s new integration with Overwolf.

Overwolf is a gaming software platform that captures in-game events and actions and syncs them up with your devices to create real-time reactions to transform your gaming experience.

Reactions for each specific game can be customized to suit the play style and events tied to the game’s aesthetic and color palette, creating a specially curated experience to enhance your gameplay. Nanoleaf’s Overwolf integration is compatible with dozens of the world’s most popular titles like Apex Legends, Call of Duty and Dota. Easily select preset animations or use advanced settings for customized colors to create a gaming experience that’s truly unique to you.

Overwolf can be used with Screen Mirror, mirroring your gameplay in between event reactions for the most immersive way to step into your favorite gaming universe. Overwolf can be set up using the Nanoleaf Desktop App and is available today.

The Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror & Lightstrip Kit is available for pre-order now via the Nanoleaf AU site. The Kit is available in two Lightstrip lengths: 65 inch and 85 inch. Pre-orders will begin shipping in mid-July 2023. Those  who pre-order by June 28th, 2023 will receive a bonus Nanoleaf gift card. 4D Bundles (included with Shapes and Lines) are also up to 25% off until July 8th, 2023.

The post Nanoleaf Launches 4D Camera & Announces Integration w. Overwolf Gaming appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Liven up your Nanoleaf Lines with skins.

That’s exactly what I did when I received the Nanoleaf Skins – Black Matte (also available in Pink).

No doubt you’ve already set your design and firmly mounted on to your wall by now.

So the sheer horror of pulling it all down is not something that you’re overly keen to do. Good news is – you don’t have to.

The Skins are exactly their namesake.

They slip on the existing Lines easily and firmly.

With the review kit that I received unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough to reskin the entire lot – so I had to be a bit creative.

Nanoleaf Skins revitalise and personalise, even more, your Nanoleaf Lines illuminated wall art.

If you’ve already got the lines and want to match them up a bit more to your room or just feel they need a bit of a refresh – skin them up.

The post Nanoleaf Skins Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Go technicolour and light’em up once again with Nanoleaf and their newly released kitset LED Light Bars for your home or office.

Building off the success of their Light Tiles, a hexagonal and triangle clip-together kit that lights up in a fully customizable multicolor array, their LED Light Bars are essentially the same, but give a more minimal, and ethereal look and feel.

From the box you’re supplied with all of the bits you need. The LED Light Bars clip in to connectors at almost every angle.

Almost like a puzzle that you determine the outcome of, the Nanoleaf Light Bars are your illuminated art.

Connecting up is as simple as.

I received one full pack, which has 9 LED Light Bars, more connectors than you’ll likely need, the switch connector and of course your mains power supply. As well as a bumper pack with additional LED Light Bars.

There are two points of creative fun to be had. Designing your very own creation and of course lighting them up and seeing the results.

Once you’ve created your angled masterpiece wall art you then need to apply the clip in fasteners to the top of the connectors. Easy enough to pop off if you screw it up.

Unlike the Tiles, the LED Light Bars can be built on the floor or wide table, fastened together and then mounted on your wall via the sticky foam backing.

If you already have Nanoleaf Tiles, LED Bulb or Lightstrip you’re no doubt already familiar with the Nanoleaf app for iOS (Apple) or Android.

In order to customize you’ll need to connect them to your smarthome network or via bluetooth.

Thankfully Nanoleaf have improved this considerably since the dawn of the Tiles, and the LED Light Bars connected instantly and were recognised in the app (the app is also smart enough to know the design that you have created.

From here you can set about using any of the pre-designed light-sequences from Nanoleaf and the global Nanoleaf community. Or simply, create your own lighting sequence.

Also create rules around schedules, dim and more.

If you already use a smart assistant, Google Home or Alexa, even Apple Home kit, you can sync up. I have mine synced to Amazon’s Alexa.

However – if setting up via wireless to your device or your home’s network is a bit too technical for you, Nanoleaf have made the LED Light Bars with a default configuration, which you can opt to use and the switch connector has all you need, dim or brighten, pulse to music, on or off.

The possibilities of creativeness are endless. The LED Light Bars are absolutely yours to design.

Ideal for lounge, office, bedroom (if you dim them) and of course any gamers den.

Nanoleaf LED Light Bars are simple to setup, easy to build and magical to have up on your wall.

The post Nanoleaf LED Light Bars Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Nanoleaf welcomes the release of Lines, the new distinct LED light bars with a never-before-seen modular form and dual-colour zone lighting technology.

Being in the market for over a year in New Zealand, LED modular lighting system Nanoleaf has reinvented the game with ultra-lightweight lines that connect at 60 degree angle increments, allowing for sleek custom designs to personalise living, gaming and entertainment areas.. Each light bar is built with dual colour zones, offering over 16M RGB colour options to seamlessly blend hues that change the way Kiwis illuminate their homes.

Previous users will be familiar with bringing their setup to life through the Nanoleaf’s lighting ‘Scenes’, including pre-curated lighting displays invented by expert in-house designers. Alternatively, if users are feeling inspired, they will be able to create their own formations utilising the Nanoleaf App’s intuitive Scene Creator technology, which is built into the application.

To finish off any household living room, the ‘Screen Mirror’ feature is built into the product which can sync to PC’s on-screen colours and animations with the LED light bars. This provides a fully immersive entertainment experience, bringing to life favourite movie and gaming scenes like being submerged underwater or lost in a jungle.

Gimmy Chu, CEO and Co-Founder of Nanoleaf said: “We have had a vibrant year with our product releases so far. With Lines, we wanted to open up the offering to Kiwis who want to match their lighting display with their flexible and ever-moving lifestyle. Lines are made for that modern home, where you can really bring your music, film or gaming experience into visual form within your personal space.”

Coming soon, ‘Lines Skins’ will allow enthusiasts to further customise their display using ultra-lightweight snap-on covers that change the look of their Lines LED bars. These will come in black and pink options.

Gamers will further be able to connect Nanoleaf Lines with Razer’s Chroma-enabled devices to bring their gaming setup to life, syncing gameplay devices and smart-home lighting with in-game reactions for an RGB immersive experience.

Following the recent update to Essentials and Shapes, Lines will join the selection of Nanoleaf products with inbuilt Thread Border Routers. This will allow users a faster,  more reliable connection when using the Nanoleaf Essentials line and eliminating the need for extra hubs.

The Nanoleaf Lines will be available to pre-order from October 29th, 2021.

The post Nanoleaf Introduces LED Light Bars appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Philips Hue has created the first deep integration of lighting and music, providing consumers around the globe with an immersive light and music experience like no other.

Thanks to Philips Hue + Spotify, the Philips Hue system is enriched with a new algorithm that analyses the metadata of each song in real time to make the lights flash, dim, brighten, and colour change right along with the beat, mood, genre and tempo of any music on Spotify.

Philips Hue and Spotify have teamed up to go far beyond what other integrations can do and enabled the experience through the Philips Hue app itself.

With Philips Hue + Spotify, the Hue app analyses the metadata for each Spotify song in real time, resulting in a light script that on top of incorporating the beat of the song, now also reflects its mood, genre, tempo, segments, loudness, pitch and more.

Whether you’re relaxing on the couch for a cosy night in, having friends over for a get-together, or doing your chores along to a custom playlist, you’ll experience music like never before.

Thanks to the new Sync tab in the Philips Hue app, the experience can even be easily personalised. Users can start and stop sync, change the brightness and intensity of the lights, or choose a palette to change the colours of the lights.

“As a world leader in smart lighting, we are constantly looking for new ways to keep offering our Philips Hue users the most advanced smart lighting experience. Entertainment, of which audio is an important ingredient, is a key focus for Philips Hue. By innovating with Spotify as a leading industry partner, we are proud to offer our users an immersive integration of music and light in a way never done before,” said Jasper Vervoort, Business Leader Philips Hue at Signify.

The Philips Hue and Spotify integration is free to use with the Philips Hue App – you only need a Hue Bridge and colour-capable Philips Hue lights to enjoy the experience, such as White and colour ambiance smart bulbs, a Hue Go, or the new ambiance gradient lightstrip. As the integration is embedded in the Philips Hue app, it does not require a microphone to react to the music.

This ensures that the lights can react to the music without any interfering background noise and provides you full flexibility in using your phone for other purposes at the same time. The integration works with any Spotify-compatible audio device, such as a speaker, smartphone, or computer.

To experience this immersive light and sound integration at home, link your Philips Hue and Spotify accounts in the Philips Hue app, and then play a song from any device that’s logged in to your Spotify account.

“At Spotify, we’re always working to create the best listening experience for every moment, via any device, throughout your day,” said Sten Garmark, VP of Consumer Experience at Spotify. “We’re looking forward to introducing our innovative integration with Philips Hue, where smart lighting will add another dimension to enhancing your next listening session.”

The Philips Hue + Spotify integration will start rolling out globally as an early access program to Philips Hue App 4 users from September 1, 2021 onwards.

Once the feature is available for your account, which can take up to 7 days, you will notice a What’s New update with the Spotify card. Enable Early access and follow the instructions to be one of the firsts to try out the new experience.

After October 2021, the feature will be a permanent part of the Hue App 4.

The post Philips Hue + Spotify Join Up appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

It’s all about the shapes.

Triangles and Hexagons. Like a puzzle that you create as you go on the wall – Nanoleaf’s light tiles, or panels, are easy as to place together to create a multi-coloured light show to fit within anyone’s décor.

Having received two kits (Triangle kit and Hexagon kit) aswell as a mini-Triangle booster pack I got my creative juices going.

The Nanoleaf panels are held together by a circuit connector which clips in and joins the next shape to an existing one. Then via a back clip and super sticky pad on each of the light panels they will attach to any surface – and if you screw up your intended design they are easy enough to pull off the wall (this is surface dependent though).

Each set incudes both a controller and power supply – which also clip on to any of the panels.

The controller is used to connect the light panels to your home WiFi and has manual touch controls.

Once you have created your masterpiece wall-art and powered on the magic really happens with the Nanoleaf app.

Nanoleaf light panels are essentially super thin smartlights.

All functionality is governed by the free app for both iOS (iPhone / iPad) or Android.

The initial connection was seamless, either using NFC or the QR code on the box.

Compatible with every smart assistant imaginable, you can add the Nanoleaf lights to Google Assistant, Alexa and Siri via Apple Homekit.

Interestingly however – I had a less fuss experience with Android, where Apple iPhone and iPad initially struggled to connect with the controller on both the Hexagons and Triangles.

Android was straight forward.

It’s also within the app where you can customize your light array to your liking. There’s a zillion built-in or downloadable light shows available which is as easy to apply as a tap on the scene that you want.

Create a party at yours with the Nanoleaf lights pulsing, flashing and chasing to the beat.

Another initiative in the Nanoleaf app is to create a schedule. If you place the Nanoleaf light panels in your bedroom and don’t really want to try to fall asleep to a party scene, you can schedule on and off times.

Control the brightness, turn on, turn off and as they are connected via your home WiFi you can control them remotely when you’re out and about. Mistakenly kept the party going after you left the house, no worries – tone it all down from where ever you are.

The Nanoleaf light panels are also excellent for chilling out.

Literally set the mood by choosing a scene that’s more relaxing, and as mentioned you can ultimately create your own scene from one individual panel to the next as each panel, Triangle or Hexagon are multi-coloured.

Nanoleaf light panels are something that you don’t know you should have until you have them.

Now I feel that my living room would be empty without the atmospheric lighting.

Both an eye catching enhancement to your room, gaming den or lounge aswell as making your home feel that more personalized and inviting.

Nanoleaf light panels – absolutely in love with them.

The post Nanoleaf Light Tiles Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Signify is extending the Philips Hue outdoor collection with a new range of smart wall lights, pathway lights and low-voltage fixtures to bring any outdoor space to life with mood settings for any occasion.

The new range has 16 million colours and 50,000 shades of warm-to-cool white light for effortless personalisation.

The highlight of the range includes uplights and downlights that create strong and unique directional light effects and are new to the Philips Hue family.

The Hue Outdoor extension range also offers low-voltage lighting solutions, providing outdoor lighting that requires minimal installation effort and high energy savings.

Commenting on the new release, Duane Shore, Channel Marketing Manager for the Pacific, said, “The Hue Outdoor range allows you to discover the magic of using colour to completely transform your garden or entertainment spaces. With the cooler months approaching, this new range can transform your outdoor areas into a warm space for entertaining or relaxing.”

All new products connect to the existing Hue ecosystem, meaning renovators, DIYers or smart lighting enthusiasts can now enjoy the endless possibilities on offer of bringing your outdoors to life with light.

The new Philips Hue Outdoor range allows you to experience the comfort of your outdoor lights turning on automatically as you arrive home, and off as you leave. By simply setting your Hue app to the Home or Away mode, the outdoor lighting system will adjust to your movements. The geolocation feature on the app can also be used so that your lights turn on or off based on your proximity to your home, giving you peace of mind and an added sense of safety.

By using the pre-set light recipes built into the Philips Hue mobile app, users can select to have their lights mimic their presence at home adding another level of safety, as a deterrent to thieves during the longer nights of the winter months.

Your smart outdoor lights become even smarter when you connect your Philips Hue Outdoor lighting system to a smart home assistant. With this feature, you can transform any outdoor space to suit the ambiance and mood all with the ease and convenience of managing your lights all with your voice. Once linked to your smart home assistant, the Hue Outdoor lighting will listen to your voice commands and react in real time.

The Philips Hue system works with all the popular home voice assistant systems including Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, Samsung SmartThings and Apple’s Siri among others.

With the Philips Hue lighting schedule feature, you’ll never again worry whether you’ve left your lights on. The Hue app allows you to set scheduled timers for your lighting system based on your daily routines and requirements. Now, you can enjoy longer evenings outside or have the lights turn on automatically as your loved ones arrive home.

The post Signify launches voice-activated outdoor lighting appeared first on Shane the Gamer.