The **software malfunction magic bulb** is a term used to describe a hypothetical scenario where a software glitch or malfunction causes a light bulb to behave in unexpected or magical ways. This idea is often used as an example to illustrate the potential consequences of software bugs and errors. In this scenario, the software controlling the light bulb would experience a malfunction, causing the bulb to start behaving in ways that are not within its normal functionality. For example, the bulb might start changing colors randomly, flickering on and off in a rhythmic pattern, or even floating in mid-air. The concept of the software malfunction magic bulb serves as a reminder of how software bugs can have unexpected and unintended consequences in various areas of our lives. While it may seem like a humorous example, it underscores the importance of rigorous testing and quality assurance processes in software development to prevent such scenarios from occurring in real-world applications.
So just know that though these bulbs are nice as a decoration, a toy or part of an art project, you might have to tolerate your neighbor suddenly changing the lights of your bulbs at home after reading this post…
I hope that some of the higher-end smart bulbs are designed with security in mind, though from a quick Google for Bluetooth smart bulb security, it seems like nobody really addresses these concerns at the moment for example, I could only find one reference to a security review of a smart bulb. You can use the File Manager app to locate this file and share it via Google Drive or Email, or you can connect the Android device to your PC as using a USB cable, and locate the btsnoop_hci.
While it may seem like a humorous example, it underscores the importance of rigorous testing and quality assurance processes in software development to prevent such scenarios from occurring in real-world applications. Moreover, this hypothetical scenario also highlights the need for regular software updates and patches to fix any known bugs or issues that could potentially lead to malfunctions. These updates help to ensure that the software controlling devices, such as light bulbs, is running smoothly and without any unexpected behavior.
How To Make Your Very Own Wireless, Extra-Magic Smart Bulb ?
As you may remember, I broke my smart bulb. Seeing an opportunity in this unfortunate (okay, mostly just annoying) event, I decided to take on that opportunity to reverse engineer it. And of course, after reverse engineering comes the part where I improve it!
I liked the original bulb design, but it had one annoying constraint, as most light bulbs too: it must be plugged to wall power to work! While I realize I might be a special case, this does limit my ability to do “magic tricks” with the bulb, such as this, where the bulb magically lights up “all on its own”:
So how did I overcome the constraint?
When I first presented the bulb to some friends, their initial reaction to the bulb suddenly being powered out of the thin air was shock — though, most of them guessed the trick just a few seconds after.
Magic can be, of course, sometimes hard to grasp.
Have you guessed it yet? If you guessed, a battery, well, you’re right!
If you recall, when I cracked the bulb open, I discovered that it comprised three different circuit boards — one for the power supply, one for logic (+Bluetooth radio), and another one for the actual LEDs. The power supply board had only three connections to the logic board: 3.3V, power, and a third, higher voltage line, which I guessed was around 12V, after connecting it to my power supply and experimenting with different voltages.
So my game plan was to fit some battery in there, ad some circuity to convert the battery voltage to 3.3V and to 12V, and play that everything fit back into the bulb.
After trying a bunch of different kinds of batteries — 500mAh and 350mAh LiPo batteries, as well as a pair of AAA NimH batteries — I figured out that none of them would fit! I remembered I had a tiny 130mAh LiPo battery lying around, and decided to see if that might work as a last-ditch solution, and it worked!
This is how you disassemble the bulb
So now for the “magic ingredients”:
- Small LiPo battery — 100mAh will do
- 12V Step Up Voltage Regulator — I used this one
- 3.3V Voltage Regulator — You can use this one
The next step is super easy: simply connect the inputs of the 3.3V and 12V regulators to the positive side of the battery, their grounds to the negative side of the battery, and then connect the 12V, 3.3V output and the ground to the logic board of the bulb:
The most challenging step by far, though, is figuring out how to fit everything in!
It can be done, just make sure you don’t squeeze the LiPo battery or short circuit anything (I recommend using Kapton tape or similar for isolation). LiPo batteries react really bad if you puncture them… and so please be careful.
Just put everything together… …and voila!
Finally, make sure you isolate the bulb base from the electronics — just to make sure it won’t blow up if you do plug it to mains. As a side note, the bulb should be considered “battery operated only” now, as doing any more might be problematic: for example, messing with the mains of a light bulb is illegal in some countries, including Israel (unless you are a certified electrician).
Bonus — adding a switch and a charging circuit
After packing everything in and re-assembling the bulb, I quickly realized it would be tedious to disassemble the entire bulb each time I wanted to disconnect or recharge the battery. The battery lasts between 30 minutes and a few hours (depending on usage), so I would have to do this before and after each demo.
Luckily, I had a small circuit that I created for another project which housed a Switch and a LiPo charging circuit with a Micro USB port (and as a bonus, 3.3v regulator on board). I quickly trimmed just the part I needed from that circuit and connected it to the battery and the logic board:
Trimming off the parts you don’t need is a lot of fun!
I managed to pack everything back into the bulb, with the switch / USB port facing towards the base screw of the bulb, so I could switch it on/off and recharge it by simply removing the base screw, which pops out really easily.
Putting everything together… Power on!
I designed a smaller version of the charging circuit, with a spot to connect the 12V voltage regulator board I mentioned above, which you can find on GitHub. Hopefully this will help you to build your own in-bulb charging circuit!
The new bulb-battery charging circuit, with the 12V regulator board mounted on top
If you want to buy it assembled, or better — a package with all the parts and assemble it yourself — just ping me on Twitter, and I will try to get one for you (I have a few spare boards).
Now for Some Magic: ng-beacon and Battery SmartBulb!
When combined with the power of ng-beacon and the LiPo battery, the Smart Bulb all of a sudden becomes and excellent tool for magic tricks (and pranks, if you’re so inclined ;). You can tape the beacon to the bottom of the center of the table during your séances, keep it in your backpack to light up your “bright ideas,” or put it in your pocket and casually cause all the smart bulbs lying on your friends’ coffee tables to light up different colors every time you enter the room!
So long as you can get the ng-beacon and the bulb in proximity, you can use any of these strategies to treat your friends to some family-friendly magic. Here is the code to do so:
All you need to do is change the threshold value to control the distance. We monitor the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication — that is, how strong the signal received from the bulb is), and change the red intensity accordingly. The code also does some basic filtering — it averages the last 10 samples to filter any noise that would cause flickering (RSSI is really noisy in real world).
SmartBulbs, Web Audio, and Sneezes!
How does this work? I hacked my web-lightbulb project from the Web Bluetooth Post to use the Web Audio and recognize loud sounds, toggling the bulb power. In fact, this is all the code I had to add to the project in order to make it work:
Basically, I call getUserMedia() to get microphone access, and then create an analyserNode object which lets me access the raw audio stream coming from the microphone. Then, I set up a timer that run every 20 milliseconds or so and detects peaks by calculating the average sound power over the last few milliseconds. If the average sound power is greater than SNEEZE_THRESHOLD, it will toggle the bulb (switch on/off). There is also a timeout mechanism that makes sure we wait at least for SNEEZE_TIMEOUT milliseconds before toggling the bulb, just to make sure we don’t interpret the same peak twice.
Let There Be Light!
I showed off many of these “magic tricks” during my talk at Jazoon Tech Days, and some people even came up afterwards and told me that it reminded them of a real magic show! I even tried to use the Web Speech API to get voice control to power on the bulb on stage when I said a “Magic word.” It didn’t quite work during the demo, but the audience seemed to enjoy it all the same. For some reason, Web Speech was not able to pick up my commands during the talk.
There are clearly loads of “magic” possibilities for the smart bulb, and maybe even other IoT/Bluetooth LTE connected devices we could do tricks with! I’d love to hear any great ideas you have in the comments — a part of me is thinking I might build some more tricks and take this magic show on the road! ?
Wireshark in Action
In conclusion, the notion of the software malfunction magic bulb is a whimsical example that emphasizes the potential impact of software glitches and bugs. It prompts us to take software development and testing seriously, as well as to prioritize ongoing maintenance and updates to prevent unexpected behaviors in our technological devices..
Reviews for "From Fairy Tale to Horror Story: Software Glitches That Haunt Your Magic Bulb"
1. Jenny - 2 stars
I was really excited to try out the Software Malfunction Magic Bulb, but I was so disappointed with the results. First of all, it was a pain to set up. The instructions were not clear, and the app I had to download to control the bulb was glitchy and kept crashing. Even when I finally got it to work, the bulb did not produce the vibrant colors it promised. The light was dull and washed out, and there were even some flickering issues. Overall, this product did not live up to the hype, and I would not recommend it to others.
2. Mark - 1 star
I regretted purchasing the Software Malfunction Magic Bulb. It was a complete waste of money. The bulb did not connect to the app, no matter how many times I tried. The customer service was unresponsive and unhelpful in resolving the issue. Even when I managed to get the bulb to work, it would randomly turn off or change colors without me even touching the app. It was incredibly frustrating and unreliable. Save yourself the trouble and avoid this product.
3. Sarah - 2 stars
The Software Malfunction Magic Bulb may have some potential, but it is not ready for prime time. The app is difficult to navigate and crashes frequently. I also experienced compatibility issues with my smartphone. The bulb itself is mediocre at best. The colors are not as vibrant as advertised, and the bulb feels cheaply made. I expected more from a product in this price range. I would advise looking for alternatives instead of wasting your time and money on this bulb.