I knew it was only a matter of time. In a few different blogs over the past year, I’ve covered incredible advances in smart LED bulb technology (the Google smart bulb, and LED light bulbs encoded with WIFI signals, for instance). And now, Net LED Technology Corp, a Japanese LED lighting company, has released the first software and mobile app system that can remotely control LED lighting systems from a smartphone or home computer. This cloud-based lighting system controls 40-watt LED light bars, which come with built in WIFI capabilities and last for up to 40,000 hours. The user can control each LED light bar individually, after installing the NetLED app on a smartphone, computer or tablet. So far, only simple actions for this remote control LED are available, like turning on and off or dimming. However, the user can control lights in different rooms, including multiple sets of lights, and can also track energy usage in real time or over a longer period. The manufacturer claims that using these lights can reduce energy consumption by 50 percent. It’s an exciting development to say the least. Though individual artists and designers have been able to remotely control color changing LED lighting systems via intelligent software for a while, this is the first time that a complete system has been available to the public for home or commercial use. The NetLED system will go on sale in Japan on February 20.

Thanks to TechCrunch for the images