More fun than functional.

GE, you’ve been marketing this thing all wrong. It’s like you guys don’t even get the “holy shit!” factor of a motion-sensing light that automatically swivels to follow you around. And that you can use a remote to turn manually. This is some supervillain’s compound-type stuff. Dud phrases like “motion tracking” and “spotlight technology” don’t even begin to convey the appeal. It should have a cheesy but fun action-movie name, like “SentinelSensor” or “PivotSpy”.

Then let’s reconsider the whole emphasis on home security. Obviously that was the whole idea behind it to begin with. And we’re sure it has some deterrent effect - the fake blinking red “camera” light is a nice touch. But most prowlers are not as dopey as the klutz playing the creep role in this video:

Don’t quit your day job for a career as an international jewel thief, dude.

Anyway, the question is, is the PivotSpy (see? better already) functionality much of an improvement over a really bright motion-sensing wide-area light that could just light up your whole backyard at once? Were they maybe overthinking the problem here? Plus, motion-sensing technology itself isn’t that durable yet. Everybody who works in a penny-pinching (or “energy efficient”) office knows how unreliable motion sensors get, even in a climate-controlled room. Out in the wind and rain, you’d be lucky to get two or three years out of these.

But one person’s problematic security light is another person’s really cool toy. Imagine these lights on a robot. Or in a haunted house. Or mounted on your tricked-out zombie-hunting Hummer. A motion sensor, remote control, and bright LEDs: this thing is begging to be hacked. Find some other way to protect your house from prowlers. Use this to protect your brain from boredom.