Purdue researchers discover how Zika virus is structured

By now, you’ve probably heard of the Zika fever. You know, the mosquito-carried malady that’s been declared an international health emergency and can trigger miscarriage for pregnant women or microcephaly in fetuses. Well, researchers from Purdue University have determined how the virus is structured — an important step to understanding it and how to guard against the disease. Purdue says that through its research, the team discovered that Zika is structured a lot like other flaviviruses (West Nile virus, tick-borne encephalitis, Dengue virus) which could help speed treatment along.

However, the devil is in the details here: Zika’s unique qualities that separate it from other flaviviruses could be what makes it harder to treat. “Most viruses don’t invade the nervous system or the developing fetus due to blood-brain and placental barriers, but the association with improper brain development in fetuses suggest Zika does,” Purdue grad student Devika Sirohi says. “It is not clear how Zika gains access to these cells and infects them, but these areas of structural difference may be involved.”

But, if anyone can figure out how to treat Zika patients, it’s probably the Purdue team. After all, these are the scientists who’ve studied flaviviruses for over 14 years and discovered the structures of the West Nile and Dengue viruses. Still, we could be as far as 10 – 15 years away from developing a vaccine.

Source: Science, Purdue University

‘Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked’ washes ashore on Steam

Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked, the nautical themed expansion for one of our favorite survival games is finally out of Early Access on Steam and ready for your consumption. If you’ll remember, this add-on is the result of a partnership between original developer Klei Entertainment and the folks behind Below and Super Time Force, Capybara Games. The single-player expansion (the co-op focused Don’t Starve Together released last year) introduces plenty of new deadly goodies like sailing, seasons and crafting recipes — all incredibly likely to put your ability to follow the game’s name to the test. As an incentive to give it the old college try, Steam has the game on sale for $4.50 during its launch period.
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Source: Steam

Belkin Puts HomeKit Compatibility Plans for WeMo Product Line ‘On Hold’

In January of 2015, Belkin said it was working with Apple to add HomeKit compatibility to its popular line of WeMo smart products “in the very near future,” but more than a year later, HomeKit-compatible WeMo products have not debuted.

As it turns out, Belkin appears to be putting its plans to introduce HomeKit compatibility on hold because there is no way to add HomeKit to products that are already on the market. Belkin would need to develop an entire line of new HomeKit-enabled WeMo products, something that the company says it is not interested in doing in at the time being. The information was shared with MacRumors reader Steve on Facebook after he asked about HomeKit.

We’ve been trying to integrate with HomeKit for sometime, as you know, but as of yet have not found a way to make existing WeMo products work with HomeKit that fall within the Apple guidelines. HomeKit integration requires a specific hardware component – it cannot happen with just a software or firmware update – which means that we would have to make a separate line of HomeKit enabled WeMo products in addition to the ones already out on the market.

This also means that all of the WeMo products you already own still wouldn’t work with HomeKit and you would have to buy new ones in order to get compatibility. We have put HomeKit compatibility on hold until we can find a way to make it work for both new and existing users. We are sorry for the disappointing news.

The WeMo Facebook representative goes on to say that “nothing is off the table” but the company wants to be sure that its product decisions “make sense for the entire WeMo ecosystem” and all current and future users.

Apple’s HomeKit system has specific and stringent security requirements [PDF] that must be included with products that Apple certifies as HomeKit compatible. Existing Belkin WeMo products may not meet Apple’s security specifications, which have been described as “bleeding edge.”

Apple’s demand for strong end-to-end encryption, even for Bluetooth LE, has been citied as one of the reasons why HomeKit-enabled products were slow to roll out to consumers following the mid-2015 HomeKit launch. Unless Apple relaxes its requirements, which seems unlikely, HomeKit compatibility won’t come to the WeMo line until Belkin decides to create new HomeKit-enabled products.

With a huge range of WeMo products, from smart outlets and bulbs to cameras and crockpots, already on the market, it’s not hard to understand Belkin’s reluctance to create all new products and alienate its existing customer base. Some customers using the WeMo line could have hundreds of dollars invested in various products, and for existing customers interested in HomeKit compatibility, all of those items would need to be repurchased.

Tags: Belkin, WeMo
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Amazon Tap Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Chris Monroe/CNET

Like the wired Amazon Echo smart speaker before it, the battery-powered, $130 Amazon Tap speaker is a multi-talented device. Via Bluetooth, you can stream audio to the Tap from a smart phone. Connect the Tap to Wi-Fi and it can also play music directly from Amazon Prime Music or other popular streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora.

The Tap also gives you access to Alexa, Amazon’s speech-recognizing virtual assistant. Everything Alexa can do on the Echo (or the new Echo Dot), Alexa can also do on the Tap. Among a variety of useful (or silly) tricks, she can track a to-do list, she can tell you the weather, she can also control an ever growing list of smart home devices, all via your spoken commands.

Portable Alexa controls now just a Tap away…
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The biggest difference between the Tap and the Echo is that because the Tap runs on a battery, its microphone isn’t always on, waiting to hear you say “Hey, Alexa,” to prime it for a voice command. Instead you have to push a physical button on the Tap before you talk to it, even when the Tap is resting on its charging base. That makes using Alexa on the Tap more like a call to a smart front desk concierge than a conversation with an ever-present valet.

We’re still putting the Tap through its paces to see how much that push-to-talk feature affects how you’ll use it, how much convenience the portability adds, and to test out its battery life. We’ll update this post to a full review shortly. After about six hours of testing, so far, the Tap seems like it’s pretty good at a lot of things, but I’m still looking to find something it’s great at.

Not hands-free: Pressing Alexa’s button

You might not think having to push a button to talk with Alexa is such a tragedy, but hands-free interaction is kind of the point of the original Echo. It has such a great, wide array microphone, you can talk to it even if you’re in the next room. With the battery-powered Tap and its push-to-talk requirement, using Alexa becomes less personal.

I felt some sadness with this change, which surprised me. I think of the Amazon Echo as “Alexa.” I refer to the Echo as a “her” instead of an “it,” and I rely on her so much in our CNET Smart Home set up, that I almost think of her as another team member.

With the Tap, the Alexa identity vanishes. Since you push the button to initiate a voice command, you don’t need to preface each request with the “Hey Alexa,” wake phrase. You simply press and speak. The press-to-talk function is necessary to preserve battery life on the Tap, but it also makes the speech recognition experience feel more transactional.

Strange as it sounds, I felt less of a connection to the Tap than I did with the original Echo.

Chris Monroe/CNET

The battery of course brings portability, which you don’t get with the original Echo. The Tap is about the size and weight of a tall can of iced tea, and it’s easy to pick it up and cart it with you as you move from the kitchen to the patio. Amazon has said that portability is one of the most commonly asked for features with the Echo. The Echo Tap delivers, and with respectable battery life claims: nine hours of streaming time, and about three weeks of stand-by on a single charge.

We’re running battery life tests now, and we’ll update as soon as they’re done, but other Bluetooth speakers, like the UE Boom 2, claim up to 15 hours of streaming time, so the Tap falls a bit short competitively, at least on paper. If the Tap is close to nine hours, though, that feels sufficient for using it around the house.

Press the button on the front of it and the Tap’s lights turn on to let you know it’s listening.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Overall, the move to portability makes the Amazon Tap feels like a Bluetooth speaker first, virtual assistant second. With Echo, it’s the other way around.

Sound quality

As an audio device, the Tap delivers sound that’s fairly typical of a compact portable wireless speaker, the majority of which stream audio over Bluetooth, not Wi-Fi (we mainly tested the Tap over Wi-Fi because it’s supposed to offer better streaming performance than Bluetooth). By that we mean that the Tap sounds decent with less demanding tracks — ballads, easy listening music — but falls down significantly with more complicated tracks or bass heavy material.

Comparable Bluetooth speakers

• UE Boom 2
• JBL Flip 3
• Bose SoundLink Color

That’s because the Tap, not surprisingly, is all about the midrange, where voices live. It’s clear and forward sounding, which allows Alexa to come across with a lot of presence; her voice is clear and loud.

There’s a little treble push that makes the speaker sound a tad bright, but the lack of bass is the bigger issue. It’s not completely devoid of bass, but the Tap’s sound is fairly thin.

We played tracks from Amazon Music and Spotify and thought the speaker did well with material like Dave Matthews Band’s “You & Me,” Sting’s “August Winds,” and Queensrychre’s “Silent Lucidity.”

But it sounded pretty crunchy with Chairlift’s “Show U Off” and “Ch-Ching” and The Smashing Pumpkins “Being Beige.” At about 60-70 percent volume, the speaker got overloaded whenever a lot of instruments were playing at the same time or any deep bass was introduced. The on-board digital processor (DSP) ratcheted back the bass and volume to keep things from distorting too badly, but it tended to be a losing battle, particularly with hip hop and techno tracks.

Press the bottom button if you do want to use the Tap as a Bluetooth speaker.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Again, this is typical of very compact wireless speakers, but even Bluetooth speakers such as JBL’s Charge 2+, which costs about the same as the Tap (the Charge 3 is coming soon), sounded better. The JBL has significantly better bass and sounds richer and smoother. It wasn’t really a contest, even though the JBL was streaming over Bluetooth not Wi-Fi.

Of course, Amazon isn’t marketing this speaker to audiophiles and critical listeners (we still have to review it with a critical ear, however). It’s marketing it to people who want something to use to play background music and sound “good enough.”

Still, aside from making the Tap sound very good, the audio doesn’t distinguish itself from the multitude of moderately priced portable wireless speakers on the market.

Decisions, decisions

Along with the Amazon Tap, the other new device in the Echo family is the Amazon Echo Dot. Basically an Echo with the speaker cut off, the $90 Dot lets you plug Alexa into your home’s existing sound system. With three Alexa-powered products, the Echo family now has some choices. But each one comes with trade-offs.

That’s the Dot on the left with the Tap on the right.

Chris Monroe/CNET

The Tap’s biggest advantage is its portability, but again, it’s not always listening. Perhaps for privacy minded individuals, that’s not a disadvantage, but so far the voice input isn’t as convenient to use as it is on the Echo.

Disappointingly, you can’t use voice commands when you take the Tap off of Wi-Fi. Without an internet connection, it becomes just a simple Bluetooth speaker. You can’t even issue basic media control commands via voice. Amazon says you can connect it to a mobile hotspot, which presents some interesting use cases for taking Alexa on the road. I’ll try a few of those out for the full review.

Just be cautious when you’re partying with the Tap nearby. Unlike the Charge 2+ and other Bluetooth speakers, the Tap isn’t water resistant.

Outlook

With all of that in mind, is the Amazon Tap a worthwhile device? I’ll have that answer for you shortly, after I spend a little more time with it and we finish testing its battery. In the meantime, if you’re sold, you can purchase the Tap now on Amazon for $130. It’s not yet available internationally, but Amazon tells us that expanding internationally is “super important,” adding, “we expect over time to go everywhere Amazon is.” The Tap pricing converts to roughly £90 and AU$170 for our readers in the UK and Australia.

Amazon Echo Dot review – CNET

The Good The Amazon Echo Dot does everything that the original Echo does for half the price. Unlike the Echo, you can plug the Echo Dot into your own speakers, or connect to them over Bluetooth. Even if you don’t, the Echo Dot’s tiny built-in speakers do more than enough to give Alexa voice in quiet environments.

The Bad The Echo Dot seems to be a little worse than the Echo at hearing its wake word during music playback, and you can’t synchronize multiple units to play at the same time.

The Bottom Line The future is here, and now it costs less than a hundred bucks. Amazon Echo Dot might currently be one of the best deals in tech.

The cloud-connected, voice-activated Amazon Echo smart speaker was a bona fide sleeper hit last year, and Alexa, the virtual assistant housed within, is starting to give Siri a good run for her money. Now, in an effort to strike while the iron is still hot, the online mega-retailer is adding not one, but two Echo follow-ups to Alexa’s family: the battery-powered Amazon Tap, and the puck-shaped Amazon Echo Dot.

The Echo Dot is the one I’ve got my eye on. Amazon basically sliced off the top bit of the old Echo (the part with all of the smarts) and chucked out the bottom part (the part with the full-size speaker). The result is a smart gadget that’s just as smart as before, but not as loud. If that last bit is a problem, there’s a new trick up Alexa’s sleeve that you’ll like — you can connect the Echo Dot with your own set of speakers, giving it whatever audio quality you like.

Oh, and it costs half as much as the old Echo — just $90 (like the original, the Echo Dot isn’t available outside of the US yet, though Amazon says they’d eventually like to take it “wherever Amazon is.” For what it’s worth, the price comes out to about £65, or AU$120).

At $90, the Amazon Echo Dot looks like one of the best deals in tech
— especially if you’ve got an existing audio setup that’s ripe for voice-activated Alexa control. Even if you don’t, the Echo Dot still offers all of the original Echo’s smarts at a price that might be too good to resist. I’ll be surprised if it isn’t a smash hit.

A close look at the Amazon Echo Dot mini-speaker…
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Chip off the old block

Like the name suggests, the Echo Dot is a smaller version of the smart speaker that came before it — so much so that you can hardly call it a speaker at all. Essentially, it’s just the top inch and a half of the original Echo, with the full-size speaker squished down into something much smaller and much less powerful.

Everything else is still there — the ring of far-field microphones, the volume controls and corresponding LED lights, the radios for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Like the Echo, the Echo Dot is always on and always listening.

Thanks to those Alexa-powered smarts, the Echo Dot can do anything and everything its predecessor can do — except fill a room with high-quality sound all on its own. Fortunately, the Echo Dot also does something that the original Echo doesn’t: it lets you supplant its tiny speakers by plugging in speakers of your own or by connecting to them over Bluetooth.

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Plug your speakers into the Echo Dot’s line out jack, and Alexa will take charge of your audio.

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

The option to use your own speakers is a really, really good thing, and not just because it’s something we specifically asked for when we reviewed the Amazon Echo. Though the Echo Dot’s speakers actually sounded fuller than expected when I tested them out, they’re still too puny to do your favorite songs justice.

Still, they’re loud enough to hold their own as an Alexa access point for a quiet environment. The bedroom is an obvious example, and sure enough, Amazon pitches the Echo Dot as a potential alarm clock replacement. Ask Alexa to wake you up each morning at 7:00, and she’ll be happy to oblige. Once you’re awake, she’ll gladly read the morning headlines or turn the thermostat up upon request. I could also see the Echo Dot fitting in nicely on its own in the kitchen, where Alexa’s knack for setting timers is especially useful.

Quick audio comparison between the Echo Dot and iPhone 6. Both at full blast. pic.twitter.com/nhh6lqolgK

— Ry Crist (@rycrist) March 31, 2016

Of course, there’s a lot more that Alexa can do when asked nicely. I’ll refer you to this Alexa primer for the full rundown, but the basics are:

• Music streaming from the Amazon Prime, Pandora, and Spotify Premium music libraries
• Internet radio and podcasts from TuneIn and iHeartRadio
• Audiobook playback from Audible and the Kindle Store
• Headlines of the day from sources you choose curated into a “flash briefing”
• Weather and traffic reports
• Native controls for smart lights, smart hubs, smart switches, and smart thermostats
• Shopping and to-do list management with optional voice purchases
• Alarm and timer functionality
• Facts, figures, calculations, trivia, and painfully bad jokes on demand

On top of all that, there’s a growing number of optional Alexa “Skills” waiting to be switched on. These are basically the Alexa’s apps, and each one teaches her to do something new. Recent additions include a pizza-ordering Skill from Domino’s, a ride-flagging Skill from Uber and a financial management Skill from Capital One — the list just keeps on growing.

And, no matter how big that list gets, the Echo Dot will always have the same Alexa capabilities that the full-sized Echo does. That, above all else, is its most important feature.

Microsoft HoloLens Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Microsoft’s HoloLens is one of the most magical pieces of technology I’ve ever seen. It could change the world. But if you bought one today, for your own personal use, I guarantee you’d hate it.

For over a year, journalists have written breathless descriptions of the amazing things they’ve seen inside the HoloLens headset, but they’ve never been able to give you the full picture. Microsoft planned it that way. The first time I tried HoloLens, I actually had to surrender my camera and phone, only to walk through a set of scripted experiences in a secret bunker underneath Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

It was exciting stuff. And still is, honestly. Have you seen our video yet?

But this week, Microsoft let us see what it’s actually like to use HoloLens for real. I spent 90 minutes with an actual $3,000 Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition on my head, watching as computer-generated objects popped into existence in my real world. I walked around an ordinary hotel suite, with no Microsoft supervision, and saw what these holograms were capable of. It made my mind swirl with the possibilities.

It also made me very, very glad that Microsoft has no intention of ever releasing the current developer kit to regular, non-developer people. It’s not even close to ready.

A closer look at the Microsoft HoloLens (pictures)
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Not ready

The HoloLens developer kit already looks like a consumer product, sure — a futuristic one, anyhow. The headset is composed of a pair of concentric circles that unfold like two rings of a 3D solar system. The inner circle goes around your head, with a bicycle-helmet-style ratcheting dial to tighten it down. The front is supposed to stick to your forehead, while the back rests underneath the back of your skull.

Beneath a visor worthy of “Star Trek” engineer Geordi La Forge are a pair of lenses that glint with rainbow light. When you look through them, you can see additional objects appear around you that don’t exist at all. Things only you can see. Things as small as a little CG bird perched on top of your television, or as big as the surface of Mars suddenly appearing underneath your feet. You can select apps from a Windows-like menu, but you can also just place them in your real world.

They’ll be there, waiting for you wherever you left them, whenever you put the headset on.

But you don’t see these holograms all around you. They’re only in the center of your view. They only exist within a box, roughly the size of a smartphone, held a few inches away from your head. Look away, even a little bit, and they’re gone (though, thanks to built-in 3D speakers, you may still be able to hear them as you turn.)

If they’re large, like a virtual person, maybe you only see the top of them. Until you look down, their bottom half is invisible. Which means there’s no point in blowing up a virtual Web browser or virtual TV screen to cover a wall, because you’d only be able to see a small chunk of it at a time.

It feels nothing like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive virtual reality headsets, which completely surround you with worlds that don’t exist. HoloLens is more than that, but right now, it’s also much less.

Then there’s the matter of controlling the experience. To activate, grab and resize virtual objects, you need to reach out and bend your index finger in a very specific way to “airtap” them. Often as not, I missed tapping what I meant to, or failed to tap it at all. You can also just speak to the headset, issuing voice commands, but Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistant often had a tough time recognizing me.

I got pretty frustrated very quickly, and I’m generally fairly patient with technology.

Fitting the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition to my head.

James Martin/CNET

Another problem I had was keeping the damn thing on my head with its amazing holographic images centered in my field of view. I had to constantly adjust it, cinch it ever tighter until it had my skull in a vice-like grip before it would stay put. I later found out that it comes with a pair of optional straps that go over the top of the head like a baseball cap. I wish I’d used those from the beginning.

While we’re talking caveats, you should also probably know that the HoloLens has a meager 2 to 3 hours of battery life, and it won’t work nearly as well outdoors. In dim rooms, the holograms feel like they’ve got some substance, but in bright light they’d appear ghostly.

But it’s still amazing

Have you watched our video yet, the one at the top of this post?

Regardless of the technology’s current limitations, it blows my mind that a completely wireless headset can do what this one does.

Microsoft’s not trying to hide the HoloLens’s current flaws. The company knows the technology isn’t ready, and it sounds like Microsoft won’t set a price or release date for a consumer version until it’s a product that people will actually want to use.

The just-released Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset had two developer kits before it became a real product. I spent plenty of time with each, and they had lots of flaws as well. It was hard to wear the first one for long without feeling sick. Both the software and the hardware needed years to mature — but the potential was there from day one.

The HoloLens feels like it could have the same potential. I can’t wait to see if it pans out.

This is the best use of 3D Touch on the iPhone yet – CNET

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Jason Cipriani/CNET

Six months after the release of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, I’ve yet to find a consistent use for 3D Touch. Sometimes I remember to press light enough to preview an email, or view a photo in Instagram. But the bulk of the time I tap on the screen and use my phone as I always have.

That might change, however, as I accidentally discovered the best 3D Touch use ever. As you likely know, you can press on an app’s icon to bring up a series of shortcuts to actions within the app. For example, pressing on the Messages icon will bring up three contacts you talk to frequently, along with a shortcut to composing a new message.

The next time the App Store icon has a red badge on it, which indicates multiple apps have an update, lightly press on the App Store icon, then select Update All. The App Store will launch and begin downloading all available app updates. It’s such a small shortcut, but one that I will use almost daily, and I love it.

5 Android shortcuts you’ll wish you knew all along – CNET

Whether you’re just getting started with Android, or a seasoned user, these are the five shortcuts you should be using right now.

Bypass unlocking your phone (when it’s safe)

This feature in the Lock screen and Security menu will let your device know when it’s safe to stay conveniently unlocked. Once you add trusted places, devices, or voices you can skip the PIN, pattern or password every time you want to check an alert. For more info on how to set this up, check out this post.

Reject calls with a text

Make your phone work like a personal secretary by letting callers know why you can’t answer, and (hopefully) avoiding follow-up calls. On most phones, this option is available in the Phone app > Settings, and labeled Call blocking, Quick responses, or something similar. You’ll see the call-reject messages that you can edit with your own writing style.

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Quickly open the camera

Launching the camera at a moment’s notice means that you won’t miss great photo opportunities. How you access this camera shortcut will vary between manufacturers, but here’s a few examples of popular devices that have it enabled:

• Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P: double-tap power button.
• Samsung devices 2015-2016: double-tap the physical Home button.
• LG V10: double-tap the volume down button.
• Moto G 2015: twist your wrist with the device in hand.

Add contact widgets

Want to reach out to your favorite people with just a tap? Press and hold on your Home screen, choose Widgets, and then look for the Contacts 1×1 widget. Tapping this shortcut loads a contact’s details, letting you call, text, or email without scrolling through your address book.

Enable ‘OK, Google’ everywhere

Ask your burning questions right now by enabling “OK, Google” everywhere — meaning from any screen. To get set up, open the Google (search) app and head to Settings > Voice > “Ok Google” Detection > toggle the From any screen option on. Say the magic words three times and you’re set. As a bonus, this little exercise will let you use the trusted voice option in Smart Lock.

Your Google Wallet card is about to die. Here’s what you need to know – CNET

Google is shutting down its Wallet Cards, the physical debit cards for Google Wallet accounts. The debit cards let Wallet users spend money from their Wallet account when shopping at a retailer that doesn’t support contactless NFC payments.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

When does support for Wallet Cards end?

Wallet Cards will stop working on June 30, 2016 and you will not be able to add money (including any recurring transfers) to your Google Wallet account after May 1, 2016.

What will happen to my Wallet Card?

Your Google Wallet account will remain, but after June 30 you will only be able to use it to make Google Play purchases as a peer-to-peer payment service to send and receive money from friends. If you created a Google Wallet account for the sole purpose of using a Wallet Card, you can transfer your Wallet balance to your bank account at anytime.

For those who set up Android Pay with a Wallet Card, you will need to add another card to Android Pay before June 30. Same goes for any automatic payments you make with your Wallet Card — you’ll need to pick a new card for those payments before June 30.

Wallet Card alternatives

If you live in an area slow to adopt NFC mobile payments and want a similar card to your soon-to-be-deactivated Wallet Card, Google suggests the American Express Serve card or the Simple Visa card.

With the Amex Serve card, you’ll earn 1-percent cash back on purchases but pay a $5.95 monthly fee (unless you live in New York, Texas or Vermont). And for Wallet Card users, Amex will give you $20 after your third direct deposit of $500 or more. There are no fees with the Simple Visa card, and Wallet Card owners will get $20 just for opening a Simple account.

Pair your Amazon Echo Dot with a Bluetooth speaker – CNET

The Amazon Echo Dot has arrived, joining Amazon’s original Echo and the new Echo Tap in what is now a stable of smart, voice-powered products.

If there was one complaint with the original Echo, it was that its speaker lacked oomph. The Dot’s has even less (because it’s tiny), but that’s OK because you can pair it with the external speaker of your choice either through a line-out jack for wired connections or wirelessly over Bluetooth. Let’s take a look at how to set up the latter option.

Step 1: If you haven’t already unboxed your Dot, follow the standard setup procedure to get it connected to your home Wi-Fi network.

Step 2: Put your speaker in pairing mode.

Step 3: Run the Alexa app, tap Menu and then tap Settings.

The Settings menu of the Alexa app, where you can pick your Dot.

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

Step 4: Tap the Echo Dot in your list of Alexa Devices, then tap Bluetooth.

You will select the Bluetooth option after selecting your Echo Dot.

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

Step 5: Your speaker should appear in the list of Bluetooth Devices. When it does, tap it to complete the pairing process.

Select your Bluetooth speaker here.

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

From here on out, whenever that speaker is on, your Echo Dot will route all audio to it. If you ever decide you want to remove that speaker, return to the Bluetooth mention, tap the speaker, then tap Forget Device.

Want to learn how to do more with your original Echo? Check out our recent post on streaming any audio to the Echo.

In the meantime, hit the comments and let us know what speaker you think makes a good match for the Dot.