How to tech-up your Christmas decorations

SINGAPORE — Once you’ve adjusted all the baubles on the tree and finished with the tinsel, there is little left to keep you from twiddling your thumbs until the big day.

What do you do? Why not occupy your restless hands with Christmas projects that bring some Yuletide tech to the proceedings – thanks to a raft of smart stuff that’ll turn your tired trimmings into dazzling decor.

CHRISTMAS TREE DISCO. Twinkly fairy lights might look pretty enough but don’t you want more from your tree? Enter these smart lights from LEDworks. Wrap them around your tree, pair with the partner app (available on Android or iOS) and you’ll have a mappable array of bulbs at your complete disposal. It’s a technicolour dream come true. 

Unlike other projects that require a lot of coding, this is a proper plug-and-play upgrade that’ll have you fixated on achieving the perfect light array. Each bulb appears as an outline on your smartphone screen and can be individually programmed. It works over Wi-Fi, too, allowing you to use the built-in colour combinations and patterns or — and here’s the fun bit — create your own. It will smartly detect where the bulbs are placed on the tree, too, so all you need to worry about is the pattern.

SOUND-CONTROLLED LIGHT SHOW. Do you have a Christmas lights turf war with your neighbours? All you need to stand out from the crowd is a Raspberry Pi up to your light array and setting the show to your favourite Christmas tune. Or dubstep. You might have seen one of the many YouTube videos of village homes being frazzled and dazzled by a cacophany of light and sound - and all it takes to get started is a Raspberry Pi and a bit of software called LightShow Pi.

Hook your mini-computer up to your glowers and LightShow will use it as the central controller, automating the light show based on the frequency of the music you feed into it. Better still, once you’ve nailed the basics there are a host of add-ons and tinkering options — like SMS contol. Neat.

LOG FIRE ON YOUR WALLS. Just like in The Christmas Song, few things conjure up Yuletime cosiness than a log fire. Unfortunately, this is Singapore. But if you have a TV and a Netflix account, you’re in luck: Stick its famous Fireplace For Your Home film on your big screen and you’ll have all the crackling comfort of a real fire — without the sparks and sooty smoke.

Want more? If you’ve got a spare iPad kicking around, download Hue Camera for iOS and point it at the TV. It talks to your Hue lights, changing their colour to match the predominant shades on your screen — a bit like a house-wide Ambilight. It’ll need a bit of tweaking and works best when it’s stable (read: Get a tripod), but once its running, you’ll get pulsing orange warmth wherever you’ve got a Hue bulb. Sadly, it won’t roast your chestnuts.

HOLOGRAM NATIVITY. Not every home has one, but the Nativity scene is a staple of many a festive setup. Now, you can bring the true meaning of Christmas into the 21st century with some hologram tech. This US$100 (S$145) kit from Litiholo uses holographic film to make 3D laser images that seem suspended in mid-air. The film plates require no development or chemicals, and make hologram creation both quicker and easier.

You can produce up to 20 holograms with a single kit, and all the necessary components are included - including the laser, plates and darkroom light. Simply position your Nativity figures, prepare the plate and expose them to the laser. Twiddle your thumbs for a moment or two and in a jiffy you’ll have a holographic imprint of their Holy likenesses.

FINISHING TOUCHES. After all the clever kit upgrades, stick some low-tech trimmings around the house for the full tech effect. The Batman Christmas Stocking (S$12) might scare Santa, but there’s no-one quite like the Caped Crusader to guard your haul of gifts until opening time comes around. Alternatively, you can grow your own Christmas Tree (S$12) if you’ve not got one. This kit comes with the seeds, pots, pellets and, erm, incubation bag you need to grow a real one of your own. (If nothing else, you can keep it for next year.)

A version of this story first appeared on Stuff Singapore.