This sun rises on your wall and sets when you tell it to

By Drew Prindle October 25, 2013

solar light part lightbulb sundial — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Don’t let the name fool you; the Solar Light isn’t just another solar-powered device that aims to save you dough on your electric bill. It’s way cooler than that.

Created by designer John Liow, the Solar Light is a fresh take on the premise of a “smart” light fixture. It has a variety of functions, but the basic idea behind the device is simple. Using a smartphone app, the light can be synchronized to any timezone in the world so that it mirrors the natural rise and fall of the Sun in that particular area. In short, it gets brighter as dawn approaches, reaches peak brightness at high noon, and slowly begins soften as evening falls.

By mimicking the natural cycle of the Sun, Liow hopes that the Solar Light will make it easier for people to keep in tune with what’s going on outside the walls of their homes, offices, and other indoor environments. If synced with timezones other than our own, the Solar Light provides us with a passive way to stay connected with places we don’t physically inhabit. Let’s say you travel internationally a lot, and are gearing up for a trip on the other side of the globe. With this light, you could start to acclimate yourself to a new timezone before you actually depart.

That’s just one of the potential uses. The Solar Light also boasts a second function that’s the exact inverse of the first. Rather than mirroring the Sun’s activity throughout the day, it does just the opposite; it gets dimmer as the sun comes up , and brighter when it disappears at night. Used in this way, the Solar Light offers a simple way to regulate your electricity usage by automatically producing the appropriate amount of light for any given time of day. If your pad has a lot of windows, why use artificial light when you can take advantage of free sunlight?

If you ever need to adjust the Solar Light’s brightness, you can do so with the accompanying smartphone app. The ambient function allows the user to disengage the twenty-four hour light cycle and adjust brightness settings.

Unfortunately, the Solar Light isn’t available just yet, but Liow has plans to release it in 2014. We’ll keep you posted on availability. For the time being, you can learn more about the Solar Light on Liow’s site.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

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