The concept of the Internet of Things is my  fascination de jour.  Today, I was pleased to read an intriguing Fast Company article entitled, “Wi-Fi-Connected Lightbulbs, Coming To Smart Homes In 2012.”   It appears that WiFi enabled home lighting is closer that I thought, from Netherlands-based company NXP:

Why on Earth would you want a lightbulb with an IP address? It’s not obvious until you realize we’re not talking regular incandescent bulbs here. The tech will go into advanced compact fluorescent units as well as LED light bulbs, both clean low-power replacements for Edison’s aging invention. These lights already incorporate a few chunks of silicon in their bases to help control them, and it’s this tiny circuit board that enables all sorts of new things–adding NXP’s tiny Wi-Fi system to the board is relatively easy and cheap. And then you can turn your lights on and off from a computer hooked up to your home’s wireless grid.

I’ve always thought it would be cool to control all the lights in my house from a single point.  The fact that next year I could do that without rewiring my house  – and do the controlling from my mobile phone or other Internet-connected device - is pretty cool!