Phil Bosua's Supersmart Light Bulb

About two decades ago, Phil Bosua dropped out of college in Australia, where he was studying to be an electrician, to pursue his dream of becoming a rock star. He spent a few years playing with a band called Propeller, and did concert lighting for other bands, honing his knowledge of circuitry. Later he learned to code as well, creating compilations of public-domain books and making them readable in an app format. His apps were downloaded 6 million times, he says. The process taught him what’s possible with smartphone software.