Light bulbs have served the singular purpose of illuminating rooms for decades but in recent years companies have been trying to give light bulbs more functionality, from integrated speakers to motion tracking. We’ve seen quite a few quirky features added to light bulbs, many of which are questionably useful at best, but the Beam light bulb is taking things to the next level because it’s basically and Android PC in light bulb form.
You’ve seen WiFi light bulbs that can do some interesting things, but have you ever seen a bulb that’s also a full-blown Android PC and pico projector stuffed into a light socket? Now you have: it’s called Beam. Beam can light up surfaces with more than just the glow of white LEDs. You can use its projector and integrated Miracast support to broadcast media from your phone or tablet. Since Beam also houses a dual-core 1.3GHz Android PC, you can also install your favorite apps and use it on its own. Beam doesn’t feature Kinect-style gesture recognition functionality, but you can pair Bluetooth input devices to interact with apps and games. There are also a handful of hardware buttons on Beam’s exterior that allow you to get around without any peripherals.
