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London Project Will Control 14K Street Lights Via iPad

London officials have approved a plan to upgrade the City of Westminster's 14,000 street lights with "smart" lights that can be monitored and controlled by an Apple iPad.

November 5, 2012

London officials have approved a plan to upgrade the City of Westminster's 14,000 street lights with "smart" lights that can be monitored and controlled by an Apple iPad.

As reported by West London Today, the Westminster City Council approved a plan to update its street lights over the next four years following a successful pilot program.

Once these smart lamps are up and running, they can be controlled by an iPad and alert technicians when they need repair - or are about to malfunction, WLT reported. A worker could also stand underneath a given lamp and lower or raise its brightness using controls on the iPad.

The project will cost about £3.25 million, but the council said it will make up that money in energy and cost savings over the next seven years. Citizens can then expect about £420,000 a year in savings by 2015.

According to WLT, U.K. officials have discussed the option of shutting off street lights around the country to save money, but that was not feasible in the densely populated and heavily trafficked Westminster area.

The City of Westminster is a borough of London with about 200,000 residents.

No word on if other operating systems will be supported. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement department here in the U.S. and said it selected iOS over Android because Apple's OS was more secure.

London officials, meanwhile, will now have the option to deploy a smaller iPad with the arrival of the iPad mini. For more, see .

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