Continued advances in the connected home are slowly paving the way for a day when we never have to get up off the couch. That day isn’t here yet though, so we still need to make the occasional trip to the bathroom. Which makes this Bluetooth-controlled LED lantern — called the Vela — the perfect interim device. It can illuminate a dark hallway when needed, but can also be completely remotely operated from your smartphone.
And we’re not just talking about turning the Vela on or off. The accompanying app lets you adjust the lantern’s brightness using an on-screen slider, and it will even give you a real-time estimate of the boost in battery life after dimming its glow. The app also lets you set up timers, for turning it on and off at daily intervals, or even cycling through various colours since the Vela can change its tint through the RGB spectrum for different moods.
There’s even a flicker mode which uses a custom algorithm to randomly flash the Vela’s LEDs, recreating the ambience of a candle’s flame. And that should also help the lantern max out its promised 16 hours of illumination on a single charge from its included corded dock.
Designed by Joe Van Faasen and his team at Twisthink — the same folks behind Whirlpool’s lovely EveryDrop water filter — the official pricing for the Vela hasn’t been set yet. But if you’re interested, you can leave your contact info on the Twisthink site for information on when you can pre-order one, and when you can finally (and safely) toss those old cans of kerosene and propane. [Twisthink]