NEW YORK (AP) — LED bulbs seem to be the future of home lighting: They save electricity, they’re durable and they don’t contain mercury like compact fluorescents. But having them produce white light like any old light bulb is like using a computer as a doorstop.

That’s because each LED, or light-emitting diode, is a small chip, the product of the same sort of manufacturing process that spawned the digital revolution. The chips are backed up by more electronics in the stem of the bulb. These bulbs are smart, or at least they can be if we make them that way.