• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 10, 2011

Google partnered with Lighting Science Group to make intelligent LED bulbs that will communicate in an open source platform with a new Google Android application that will let consumers remotely control lighting in the home with the bulbs installed. The bulbs will become available in grocery and home improvement stores later this year. The bulbs will communicate with each other, along with the home's wireless router, which communicates with the mobile phone to turn on and off or dim. The Google Android application will also recognize when someone is in the home or away.

It took engineers at Google and Lighting Science less than two months to develop the application and product, which proves product development cycles for electronics have dropped from years to months. The combined work brings affordable home automation to the masses. The energy efficient bulbs will be comparable in price to ordinary LED bulbs available today.

The LED lighting solution is one of five Android innovations Google will announce at Google I/O conference on Tuesday.