Skip to main content

The Weekly DT- Antrumbra’s Ambilight

This post originally ran on our brother site Digital Trends:

Firing up a good flick or video game can be an escapist treat that helps alleviate the stresses of the outside world, if only for a few short hours. But those looking for a simple way to enhance the experience, and ease the strain on their eyes, may want to look into a new device from Antumbra called Glow. For $35, this simple device is designed to sit behind a computer monitor (or a TV) and project ambient light that flows in tandem with the images on screen.

Related: Philips shows off 4K TVs with Ambilight

Recommended Videos

Glow is designed to be as simple as it is affordable. Comprised of a small rectangle with an RGB LED on board, Glow straps to the back of a monitor or TV and follows commands from your Mac or PC via USB connection to splash light along a back wall. At 1.5 inches along each border, the tiny device is designed for use with screen sizes of 30-inches or smaller, making it most appealing to gamers of the PC variety, and those who watch a lot of movies on their computer.

As the video above shows, Glow seems to work dynamically in real time with the color scheme of your media, which Antumbra claims not only gives the user a more immersive experience, but also makes long sessions in front of the screen easier on the eyes, as the lighted back wall constricts your pupils and limits the amount of light that comes in from the source screen. Plus, it looks pretty damn cool, too.

Setup for Glow is claimed to be incredibly easy, taking only 30 seconds — not including the velcro used to stick it to your screen, we’re guessing — and Antumbra says the device can then be configured for your machine in just a few minutes. Since it conforms to the same USB protocol as a mouse or keyboard, it should work with any PC or Mac, requiring a minimum of Windows Vista or Mac OS X 10.7 respectively.

Perhaps most intriguing, Glow is open source, so apart from following the color scheme of whatever media you’re diving into, with up to 16 million discrete values, it offers a wealth of untold options for those who like to play around. Antumbra promises that all of Glow’s code and hardware designs will be released with the unit, so those who know how to dig deeper will have free reign.

Related: Philips Hue tap review

Antumbra | Glow Promo from TeamAntumbra on Vimeo.

Glow is currently in beta form, and it should be noted that Antumbra offers no warranty, or guarantee, meaning buying in requires the user to be willing to take some risk. But at $35, it’s not the kind of risk that puts up a big red warning sign for most of us. Antumbra hasn’t yet given any release date for Glow, saying only that the units will be shipped “after beta sells out,” with manufacturing currently underway.

If you need a little more color in your life, and you don’t mind being a beta tester, you can pre-order your own Glow now at Antumbra’s website.

Ryan Waniata
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Waniata is an audio engineer, musician, composer, and all-around lover of all things tech, audio, and cinema. Hailing…
The first movie from Materialists director Celine Song just found a new streaming home
The movie is a brilliant look at the roads not taken.
The cast of Past Lives

Few directors have a debut feature that's as splashy as Celine Song's. The director, who now has Materialists in theaters, had a breakout hit at Sundance called Past Lives that took her all the way to the Oscars. Now that Materialists is in theaters and doing quite well, you might want to catch up with Past Lives, which was one of the best movies of 2023.

The film stars Greta Lee and is told in episodes that span more than 20 years. It starts in South Korea, and follows two Korean children who are clearly close friends and may even have a romantic spark as one of them prepares to move to Canada. Then, we follow their story over decades as they come into and out of each other's lives until they're both in their mid-30s and they reunite for a day in New York City.

Read more
Jeremy Allen White was born to run in the first trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
The movie follows Springsteen as he makes his album 'Nebraska.'
Jeremy Allen White in Deliver Me From Nowhere

Music biopics are all the rage these days, and Bruce Springsteen is the latest icon to get the treatment. The first trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere sees The Bear star inhabiting the role of The Boss. The film is based on Warren's Zane's book of the same name, which focuses on the period when he was making his 1982 album Nebraska.

The film is directed by Scott Cooper, who also directed Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. In the trailer, we see White embodying Springsteen as he sings "Born to Run," and we also get a lengthy monologue from Jeremy Strong's Jon Landau as he explains why Springsteen feels the need to make this album.

Read more
Tony Soprano vs. Walter White: Who is the ultimate antihero?
TV's biggest heavyweights duke it out for the antihero crown
Breaking bad season 4 screen shot

Sports fans often debate between two heavyweight legends. For basketball, it's LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Switching to tennis, you have Roger Federer fans and Rafael Nadal diehards. Debates like these are ingrained in the culture of athletics, but TV fans have their own version of this sparring match.

Tony Soprano from The Sopranos and Walter White from Breaking Bad are the two characters who still send shockwaves through every drama in the 21st century. These men were the perfect mix of good and evil. They navigated family life and the criminal underworld with cunning intelligence and ruthless risk-taking. Every show with morally gray characters at the center owes its storyboard to Walter and Tony, but which character deserves the antihero crown? This is Tony Soprano vs. Walter White for all the marbles.
Who was the more complex character?

Read more