Philips Hue

Flicking a switch on or off will soon be a completely outdated way of lighting your home. New innovations – like Hue from Philips – will be replacing this boring method with smarter options. Hue lets you control the lighting in your pad with your iPhone or iPad by choosing the color of each bulb from a wheel of preset colors or by selecting the shades from one of your photos. The wireless bulbs ($59 a pop) have an estimated life of 15 years and are controlled together with a bridge that hooks up to your router. You can control up to 50 bulbs at a time even when you’re not home and Hue can even set optimal shades for reading, gaining some energy and other scenarios. Hook up Hue and you’ll be basically guaranteed action the next time you set some mood lighting.