UPDATE ... Philips backed down and will remain interoperable with all standards-compliant bulbs.

http://boingboing.net/2015/12/16/philips-promises-new-firmware.html

What's the world coming to when light bulbs need software, which promptly doesn't work, either by failure or by design. Sheesh.

Frankly, I don't get the whole "connected" (and expensive) light bulb thing and can't figure out why I need something more than the light switch I already have. If I happen to leave the lights on in the other room and don't get off my butt to turn them off, these new fangled energy saving bulbs are so cheap to operate than even if I left them on overnight I might have wasted a nickel. I'd have to do that many times before I recoup the incremental cost of the "connected" bulbs.

But maybe there's some advantage I'm missing (beyond another excuse to look at my phone)...