fixed : Philips HUE lights not responding after upgrading to HUE Bridge

Question :

Previously we had our Philips HUE lights setup suing Bluetooth, but now we have bought ourselves a Philips HUE Bridge since we want to be able to set some wake-up, sleep and out-of-home routines on our HUE lights. But after installing the HUE Bridge, our Google Nest Hub can no longer connect to our HUE lights.

What is wrong ?

 

Answer :

Since you installed your Philips HUE lights over Bluetooth before you installed your Philips HUE Hub, you have switched from Bluetooth HUE connection to WiFi HUE connection, but your Google Nest Hub doesn’t know about this switch yet…

To fix this, do this :

  • first : to avoid confusion, it’s advisory to delete the HUE lights that you had set up over Bluetooth first from the Google Home.app
  • then, in the Google Home.app, click ‘Settings’
  • in ‘Settings’ screen, scroll down and click on ‘Add…’
  • in ‘Add and manage’ screen, click on ‘Setup device’
  • in ‘Setup’ screen, click on ‘have something already set up?’
  • in ‘Add devices’ screen, select ‘Philips HUE’ (if you don’t see it right away, use the search option top right)
  • you will be redirected to the MeetHUE.com login-page
  • login to your PhilipsHUE-account (you probably don’t have one yet, so either create a new one or sign in using your Google account)
  • follow the on-screen directions to link your HUE Bridge to your account ; press the big button on the HUE Bridge when prompted
  • now your HUE Bridge will be accessible from your Google Nest Hub
  • on the Nest Hub, swipe down from the top of the screen
  • in the pull down window, you will see your HUE lights
  • click on the HUE lights you want to adjust and adjust the lights as you wish

If you want to be able to control the HUE lights in Zones different from the Rooms, use the PhilipsHUE.app to setup new Zones first :

  • open PhilipsHUE.app
  • if the app doesn’t open in the Settings screen automatically, click on Settings (bottom right)
  • in ‘Rooms & Zones’ screen, click on the ‘Create new’ button (top left) 
  • in ‘Create new – Room’ screen click on the ‘Create Zone’ button and follow the onscreen directions
  • now the Zone will be listed in Google Home.app also
  • when the Zone is listed on the ‘Home’ screen in Google Home.app, click on the name of the room
  • in [Room/Zone name] screen, click on the gear/sprocket icon (top right)
  • in ‘Room’ screen, click ‘Choose devices’
  • in ‘Choose devices’ screen, check all HUE lamps you want to include in this Zone (note that Google Home names Zones as Rooms) and click the ‘Next’ button

Now your Philips HUE lights will be accessible from your Google Nest Hub both individually and as Rooms/Zones (Google Home names both as Rooms) :

  • on the Nest Hub, swipe down from the top of the screen
  • in the pull down window, you will see your HUE lights
  • click on the HUE lights you want to adjust and adjust the lights as you wish

Note : you can also select routines for the HUE lights from the Nest Hub if you have set them up in Google Home.app (like daily routines to use when you’re out of home)

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

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fixed : is there a need for a Philips HUE Bridge when you have a Google Nest Hub ?

Question :

We have a Google Nest Hub setup in our home and we are going to buy some Philips HUE lamps somewhere in the near future. Do we need the Philips HUE Bridge to control the HUE lamps from the Nest Hub or not ?

 

Answer :

No, not really, you can control your Philips HUE lights directly from your Google Nest Hub on-screen (or using voice assistant).

The added value of using the Philips HUE Bridge over using Bluetooth :

  • connect up to 50 HUE lights (vs. max. 10 using Bluetooth)
  • connect any Zigbee-compatible smart light from any other brand (vs. Philips HUE lights only using Bluetooth)
  • connect to any connected Zigbee-compatible smart light in or around your home (vs.  connecting only to Philips HUE lights within ca. 10m using Bluetooth)
  • control your HUE Bridge and connected smart lights from anywhere in the world (vs. connecting to local Philips HUE lights only
  • option to use Apple HomeKit to control your HUE Bridge and connected smart lights (vs. no Apple HomeKit compatibility using Bluetooth : Google Home or Amazon Alexa only)

Here’s how to set this up without a Philips HUE Bridge :

  • make sure you have setup your Philips HUE lights in Google Home.app
  • swipe down from the top of the screen on your Google Nest Hub
  • in the pull down window, you will see your HUE lights listed
  • click on the HUE lights you want to adjust and adjust the lights as you wish
  • you can even select routines if you have set them up in Google Home.app (like daily routines to use when you’re out of home)

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : control child’s bedroom HUE lamp from 2 devices

Question :

We recently got several light blubs replaced by Philips HUE lamps in our home. We have setup everything to be used from one device, but now my son wants to adjust his bedroom lamp himself from his own iPhone.

How do we set that up ?

 

Answer :

There are various ways of setting this up, and most of them are straight forward. Here are a few of the simplest ones :

If you do NOT have a Philips HUE Bridge :

If you do have a Philips HUE Bridge setup already :

The setup process is rather simple, especially if you have done this befor (like you mentioned) : just follow the onscreen directions.

Note : you can also control Philips HUE lamps from your AppleWatch (if you have one) using the watchOS version of the PhilipsHUE.app that is automatically installed if your AppleWatch is connected to your iPhone.

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : Dyson Pure Cool warning to replace new filters again ?

Question :

I have a Dyson Pure Cool 2018 ( TP04 ) fan-less air cooler / purifier, and it works great – I can even  monitor & control it from the DysonLink.app on my iPhone. Now time has come to replace the HEPA and carbon filters, so I got a new set of those. I got the old wones out and put the new ones in, turned the Pure Cool back on, and now it keeps giving a ‘replace immediately’ warning again…

What is wrong ?

 

Answer :

You probably replaced both the carbonfilters and both the HEPA-filters just fine, as that is rather simple. But judging from the error message you are getting, you forgot to reset the software. To do so, do this :

  • unplug the Dyson Pore Cool 2018 ( TP04 ) from power
  • replace both carbonfilters (skip this if you just renewed them)
  • replace both HEPA filters (skip this if you just renewed them)
  • replug the power
  • switch ON (using the power button on the Pure Cool’s body)
  • press the ‘night’-button (bottom right) on the remote control until the countdown starts
  • wait for the countdown to finish
  • press the ‘left/right’-button (bottom left) on the remote control until the countdown starts
  • wait for the countdown to finish
  • you will now see green checkmarks for both filters on the display
  • press the ‘AUTO’-botton (middle right) on the remote control to put the Pure Cool back into automatic mode
  • use the DysonLink.app for further settings (like using Siri or Alexa, Google Home is currently not supported)

that’s it !

enjoy 😉

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fixed : edited photo is send before I can add text message

Question :

Most of the time when I’m using WhatsApp, I can add a line of text to the photo I am sending, but sometimes the photo is send right away, and I didn’t get the time (or option) to add any text to it… so I need to typ the accompanying text in a new message…

Come to think of it… I might have the same problem in SMS / iMessage on my iPhone… but I don’t use it that often, so I can’t really tell…

Is this normal ? Can I do something about it ?

 

Answer :

Yes… you can do something about this… and yes, this is supposed to work this way… it’s just that you are overlooking the difference between the “Send” and “Done” buttons because it’s un-intuitive to most of us…

The problem you are describing only occurs when you pick (or make) a photo that you edit (in size or rotation or something) before you send it… in the Editing window, you will see 2 buttons : “Done” (bottom left) and “Send” (bottom right). Now you will be tempted into clicking “Send” hoping you can add a little text before you send the message out… but “Send” actually means “send straight away, without additional text”, while “Done” means “the photo is ready to be sent out”, meaning the edited photo will be placed inside the message draft, where you can add additional text.

So, next time you are sending an edited photo, click the “Done” button (instead of the “Send” button) and you will be able to typ an additional text.

Even though the layout is slightly different, this is main solution the same for both WhatsApp and SMS/iMessage : just click the “Done” button, not the “Send” button.

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : Jaksta records .mp4 movies that QuickTime can’t play

Question :

I have been using Jacksta Media Recorder for a long time now, and it has always worked marvelously for me when I need to download a video. Jaksta can download nearly any online video that I can watch in Safari.

But recently, Jaksta does download the exact videos I want, but the downloads turn out to be .mp4 files that QuickTime hangs on when trying to play them…

What can I do ?

 

Answer :

The exact reason for this is unknown, but it might have something to do with the fact that not all browsers play HTML5-videos using the same technology.

It turns out that your solution is to use the Google Chrome (or Firefox) web browser – instead of Safari – with Jaksta running in the background. That way, when you play the online video in Chrome (or Firefox), the file that Jaksta downloads will be a .mp4 video that QuickTime can play without any problems.

That’s it !

enjoy 😉