Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Home steam cleaning, futuristic pianos, e-skin

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion crowdfunding campaigns on the web. Take a visual stroll through the best new Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects, and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. In this column, we cut through all the worthless wearables and Oculus Rift ripoffs to round up the week’s most unusual, ambitious, and exciting projects. But don’t grab your wallet just yet. Keep in mind that any crowdfunded project can fail — even the most well-intentioned. Do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Tersa — home steam-cleaning system

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There are few things more mundanely embarrassing than a wrinkled shirt. Imagine getting up in front of the executives at work to deliver a presentation, only to notice them snickering. You look down and realize your shirt has the texture of a human brain. The shame! Normally, you should iron your clothes, but this can be time-consuming, and there’s always the chance you might burn your threads. The creators of the Tersa aim to eliminate the stress of ironing with a fully-automated steam-cleaning system.

A slender box that you can mount on your wall, the Tersa steam cleans and presses your clothes, and the creators claim the process takes no more than ten minutes. Not only will the device clean your clothes, but it will even leave them smelling good. Simply hang your item in the machine, close the door, plug in one of the proprietary fragrance pods, and press the button.

Read more here

E-skin — skin you play in

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Don’t freak out! E-skin is not actually a replacement for your epidermis. It is a shirt with sensors that track movement. While wearing it, you can send inputs to machines using the movements of your body. One clear application for this is gaming, particularly VR. No longer must you be bound to old-fashioned controllers (or even the more recent, wand-like VR controllers). With the e-skin, your body moves your character.

Even if you’re not into video games — or cannot afford a VR-worthy computer — the e-skin has useful applications. The shirt can be programmed for all sorts of purposes, including fitness tracking and wellness, and it can even alert you if your posture is bad. It is also easy on the eyes, resembling a training shirt from the future.

Read more here

All Controller

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Are you the sort of person who owns multiple gaming consoles, and/or a PC gaming rig? Chances are you’ve got quite a few controllers lying around. Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of constantly changing devices depending on the game, you had one controller that works with everything? That’s the premise the creators of the All Controller are running with. The result is a gamepad that can be used with any system or game, emulating various control methods, even mouse and keyboard.

Not only is the All Controller designed to work with any setup, but you can even adjust the button configurations and sensitivities to a precise degree, managing joystick dead zones and programming macros. The devices comes in both wired and wireless configurations, with up to 40 hours of battery life.

Read more here

Nope — sound blocker

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Do you ever feel like somebody’s watching you? It’s more problematic than you may think, as hackers can use malware to hijack your webcam. These miscreants can even tap the microphones on your computers, tablets, and phones to listen in on your conversations. It’s enough to make anyone feel like they’re living in a spy movie, in a bad way.

You can never be too cautious in the digital world. While you can tape over your webcam, blocking your microphone can be more difficult. The Nope sound blocker plugs into your devices, disabling the on-board mic. The minuscule device is easy to adjust, and can be plugged into a keychain so you don’t lose it. The Nope webcam cover is a tiny, sliding mechanism that attaches to devices, allowing you to quickly cover or uncover your webcam.

Read more here

mPiano — midi controller/piano of the future

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Are you tired of that analog piano sound? Want something that will let you stretch your boundaries, but don’t think a Casio is up to the task? Enter the mPiano, a svelte electronic instrument that looks like a piano but has modern machinery under the hood.

Despite the name, the mPiano is actually a MIDI controller. You can plug it into an iPad or computer for some intense sound editing. Sensors located under each key allow users to slide their fingers along the keys to modulate sound, so if your guests ask you to play, you can skip the classics and bust out some Emerson, Lake & Palmer. If you simply want to hammer on the keys like Liszt, you can do that too.

The mPiano’s sleek, minimalist design make it a much more convenient addition to a home than an old-fashioned grand piano.

Read more here

Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Home steam cleaning, futuristic pianos, e-skin

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion crowdfunding campaigns on the web. Take a visual stroll through the best new Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects, and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. In this column, we cut through all the worthless wearables and Oculus Rift ripoffs to round up the week’s most unusual, ambitious, and exciting projects. But don’t grab your wallet just yet. Keep in mind that any crowdfunded project can fail — even the most well-intentioned. Do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Tersa — home steam-cleaning system

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

There are few things more mundanely embarrassing than a wrinkled shirt. Imagine getting up in front of the executives at work to deliver a presentation, only to notice them snickering. You look down and realize your shirt has the texture of a human brain. The shame! Normally, you should iron your clothes, but this can be time-consuming, and there’s always the chance you might burn your threads. The creators of the Tersa aim to eliminate the stress of ironing with a fully-automated steam-cleaning system.

A slender box that you can mount on your wall, the Tersa steam cleans and presses your clothes, and the creators claim the process takes no more than ten minutes. Not only will the device clean your clothes, but it will even leave them smelling good. Simply hang your item in the machine, close the door, plug in one of the proprietary fragrance pods, and press the button.

Read more here

E-skin — skin you play in

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Don’t freak out! E-skin is not actually a replacement for your epidermis. It is a shirt with sensors that track movement. While wearing it, you can send inputs to machines using the movements of your body. One clear application for this is gaming, particularly VR. No longer must you be bound to old-fashioned controllers (or even the more recent, wand-like VR controllers). With the e-skin, your body moves your character.

Even if you’re not into video games — or cannot afford a VR-worthy computer — the e-skin has useful applications. The shirt can be programmed for all sorts of purposes, including fitness tracking and wellness, and it can even alert you if your posture is bad. It is also easy on the eyes, resembling a training shirt from the future.

Read more here

All Controller

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Are you the sort of person who owns multiple gaming consoles, and/or a PC gaming rig? Chances are you’ve got quite a few controllers lying around. Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of constantly changing devices depending on the game, you had one controller that works with everything? That’s the premise the creators of the All Controller are running with. The result is a gamepad that can be used with any system or game, emulating various control methods, even mouse and keyboard.

Not only is the All Controller designed to work with any setup, but you can even adjust the button configurations and sensitivities to a precise degree, managing joystick dead zones and programming macros. The devices comes in both wired and wireless configurations, with up to 40 hours of battery life.

Read more here

Nope — sound blocker

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Do you ever feel like somebody’s watching you? It’s more problematic than you may think, as hackers can use malware to hijack your webcam. These miscreants can even tap the microphones on your computers, tablets, and phones to listen in on your conversations. It’s enough to make anyone feel like they’re living in a spy movie, in a bad way.

You can never be too cautious in the digital world. While you can tape over your webcam, blocking your microphone can be more difficult. The Nope sound blocker plugs into your devices, disabling the on-board mic. The minuscule device is easy to adjust, and can be plugged into a keychain so you don’t lose it. The Nope webcam cover is a tiny, sliding mechanism that attaches to devices, allowing you to quickly cover or uncover your webcam.

Read more here

mPiano — midi controller/piano of the future

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Are you tired of that analog piano sound? Want something that will let you stretch your boundaries, but don’t think a Casio is up to the task? Enter the mPiano, a svelte electronic instrument that looks like a piano but has modern machinery under the hood.

Despite the name, the mPiano is actually a MIDI controller. You can plug it into an iPad or computer for some intense sound editing. Sensors located under each key allow users to slide their fingers along the keys to modulate sound, so if your guests ask you to play, you can skip the classics and bust out some Emerson, Lake & Palmer. If you simply want to hammer on the keys like Liszt, you can do that too.

The mPiano’s sleek, minimalist design make it a much more convenient addition to a home than an old-fashioned grand piano.

Read more here

Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Home steam cleaning, futuristic pianos, e-skin

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion crowdfunding campaigns on the web. Take a visual stroll through the best new Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects, and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. In this column, we cut through all the worthless wearables and Oculus Rift ripoffs to round up the week’s most unusual, ambitious, and exciting projects. But don’t grab your wallet just yet. Keep in mind that any crowdfunded project can fail — even the most well-intentioned. Do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Tersa — home steam-cleaning system

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

There are few things more mundanely embarrassing than a wrinkled shirt. Imagine getting up in front of the executives at work to deliver a presentation, only to notice them snickering. You look down and realize your shirt has the texture of a human brain. The shame! Normally, you should iron your clothes, but this can be time-consuming, and there’s always the chance you might burn your threads. The creators of the Tersa aim to eliminate the stress of ironing with a fully-automated steam-cleaning system.

A slender box that you can mount on your wall, the Tersa steam cleans and presses your clothes, and the creators claim the process takes no more than ten minutes. Not only will the device clean your clothes, but it will even leave them smelling good. Simply hang your item in the machine, close the door, plug in one of the proprietary fragrance pods, and press the button.

Read more here

E-skin — skin you play in

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Don’t freak out! E-skin is not actually a replacement for your epidermis. It is a shirt with sensors that track movement. While wearing it, you can send inputs to machines using the movements of your body. One clear application for this is gaming, particularly VR. No longer must you be bound to old-fashioned controllers (or even the more recent, wand-like VR controllers). With the e-skin, your body moves your character.

Even if you’re not into video games — or cannot afford a VR-worthy computer — the e-skin has useful applications. The shirt can be programmed for all sorts of purposes, including fitness tracking and wellness, and it can even alert you if your posture is bad. It is also easy on the eyes, resembling a training shirt from the future.

Read more here

All Controller

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Are you the sort of person who owns multiple gaming consoles, and/or a PC gaming rig? Chances are you’ve got quite a few controllers lying around. Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of constantly changing devices depending on the game, you had one controller that works with everything? That’s the premise the creators of the All Controller are running with. The result is a gamepad that can be used with any system or game, emulating various control methods, even mouse and keyboard.

Not only is the All Controller designed to work with any setup, but you can even adjust the button configurations and sensitivities to a precise degree, managing joystick dead zones and programming macros. The devices comes in both wired and wireless configurations, with up to 40 hours of battery life.

Read more here

Nope — sound blocker

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Do you ever feel like somebody’s watching you? It’s more problematic than you may think, as hackers can use malware to hijack your webcam. These miscreants can even tap the microphones on your computers, tablets, and phones to listen in on your conversations. It’s enough to make anyone feel like they’re living in a spy movie, in a bad way.

You can never be too cautious in the digital world. While you can tape over your webcam, blocking your microphone can be more difficult. The Nope sound blocker plugs into your devices, disabling the on-board mic. The minuscule device is easy to adjust, and can be plugged into a keychain so you don’t lose it. The Nope webcam cover is a tiny, sliding mechanism that attaches to devices, allowing you to quickly cover or uncover your webcam.

Read more here

mPiano — midi controller/piano of the future

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Are you tired of that analog piano sound? Want something that will let you stretch your boundaries, but don’t think a Casio is up to the task? Enter the mPiano, a svelte electronic instrument that looks like a piano but has modern machinery under the hood.

Despite the name, the mPiano is actually a MIDI controller. You can plug it into an iPad or computer for some intense sound editing. Sensors located under each key allow users to slide their fingers along the keys to modulate sound, so if your guests ask you to play, you can skip the classics and bust out some Emerson, Lake & Palmer. If you simply want to hammer on the keys like Liszt, you can do that too.

The mPiano’s sleek, minimalist design make it a much more convenient addition to a home than an old-fashioned grand piano.

Read more here

Best new songs to stream: The Roots, The War on Drugs, and more

Every week, there are thousands of new songs hitting the airwaves — and it’s just too much for your two ears to handle. With all those options, you can’t be wasting your time on tracks that deserve a thumbs-down click — you want the best new songs to stream now.

But don’t worry, we’re going to save you the hassle. We listen to some of the most-hyped and interesting songs each week, and tell you which are worthy of your precious listening time.

Here are our five best new songs to stream this week. And don’t forget to subscribe to our Spotify page for a playlist of our weekly picks, which can also be found at the bottom of this post. Not sure which streaming service is best for you? Check out our post about the best music streaming services, or go in depth and learn the differences between Apple Music and Spotify to better weigh your options.

The Roots (Featuring Bilal) — It Ain’t Fair

A searing a cappella intro builds into a fully fleshed soul tune in The Roots‘ latest single It Ain’t Fair, a lengthy new jam that features the voice of neo-soul hero Bilal. The song focuses on the struggle of African Americans in urban centers, and was written for Detroit, a new film from Katheryn Bigelow about the city’s 1967 12th Street riot. Long and fluid, it ebbs and flows over a nearly 7-minute runtime, with multiple verses from The Roots’ Black Thought propelled by deep rhythms from the bass and drums.

The War on Drugs — Pain

Philadelphia-based rockers The War On Drugs have been heavily promoting their upcoming album, A Deeper Understanding, by making the rounds on various talk shows and radio stations across the globe. The album is expected to be released August 25. Though they have released numerous studio-recorded singles from the record so far, Pain — a slow-grooving pop tune with dark and shimmering guitar lines — was shared by the band during this live performance on Philly’s 104.5 radio. Full of cathartic and self-examining lyrics, consider this one for a late-summer walk in the woods.

Amber Mark — Way Back (Live on KCRW)

There’s a distinctly European tinge to the electronic groove beneath New York-based vocalist/producer Amber Mark‘s Way Back, the kind of boom-bap rhythm that makes it equally suited for the club as it is for your next workout. On this live performance broadcast on California’s KCRW radio, the young singer showcases immense chops, nailing the smoky lead vocals that have been grabbing the attention of some of the pop world’s most influential players since her debut single hit the internet last year.

Twin Peaks — Shake Your Lonely

When garage rockers Twin Peaks launched their Sweet ’17 Singles project, which will see the release of a two-song, 7-inch record each month for the remainder of the year, many were a bit concerned that they, like many bands searching for monthly promotion, may be pushing out poorly produced B-sides to their biggest fans. They couldn’t have been more wrong. This month’s Shake Your Lady is gorgeously written and produced, showcasing the exciting, country-tinged sounds of the Chicago band.

Antibalas — Gold Rush

If music is your favorite medicine, this nearly 11-minute afrobeat jam from New York’s Antibalas is about as healing as it gets. Outlined by a heavy drum beat and stabbing guitar lines, the song slowly colors itself in over its long runtime, eventually giving way to backing horns, lead vocals, and percussion.

That’s it for now, but tune in next week for more songs to stream, and check out the playlist loaded with our recent selections below:

Take your tunes into the shower with this $20 speaker

Showers can be boring (especially the lonely ones!), and shower thoughts can just end up making you feel way less relaxed than a show should. Some people also happen to sing their best when in the shower — or so we tell ourselves.

Whatever your reason for wanting music in the shower, you need a speaker in your bathroom. Cords probably aren’t the best idea (you know — death by electrocution), so you’ll want a convenient Bluetooth speaker that lets you wirelessly blast your tunes. Not all Bluetooth speakers are created equal, however, so you’ll need something that’s at least water-resistant so that you don’t fry it the first time out.

Enter the XXL shower speaker, which has a driver twice the size of usual shower speakers, blasting out your music at 3W.This powerful speaker retails for $99.99, but through Android Central Digital Offers, you pay just $19.99, a savings of 80%.

The XXL sticks to any non-porous surface via suction cup, making it perfect for shower tile, glass shower doors, mirrors, and more. It uses Bluetooth 4.0 technology and has a large battery that usually requires charging less than once a month, so you can go a while without missing out on shower tunes. You can even take and make calls, thanks to the convenient microphone.

If you’re looking for a great shower speaker that has a large driver but a compact body, then check out the XXL shower speaker at Android Central Digital Offers. It’s $20, down from $99.99, so you save 80%.

See at Android Central Digital Offers

We asked for thinner and lighter phones — and now we complain about them?

You can’t always get what you want.

Over the past few years, there’s been a clear trend across the smartphone industry to go thinner, lighter and more compact in attempt to give you the most screen size per cubic millimeter of phone size. We were surprised when phones snuck under the 10 mm thickness threshold, and now 8 mm is about the norm. Bezels have consistently shrunk to accommodate ever-higher screen-to-body ratios. Battery capacities have generally stagnated due to (admittedly small) advancements in battery tech being counteracted by physically smaller cells. We’ve lost, for the most part, things like front-facing speakers, stereo speakers, headphone jacks and more — all in the name of having even more compact phones wrapped around big screens.

But even still, we clearly aren’t satisfied — apparently we want these companies to keep going. A new phone cannot be announced without seeing complaints in our comments and on Twitter about it having screen bezels that are too big, a back that’s too thick or rounded, or a screen that’s too big (in an effort to keep bezels small and the body thin) to wrap your hand around.

But coinciding with these complaints about phones still being too big, whenever we see a phone go super thin and compact, which is apparently what everyone wants, there are somehow still complaints. Samsung released the Galaxy S8, which maximizes screen real estate and reduces just about everything else, and people complained there wasn’t enough phone to hold onto. The same complaints have already started relating to the LG V30, which is expected to have a curved display. Motorola launched the extremely thin and light Moto Z2 Force, and we complained it’s too thin and light, saying that we’d prefer more battery instead.

So my question is: what, exactly, do you want? When you ask for a thin, light, compact phone with a big screen … but that also still has a large battery and all of the other extra features, you’re asking for something that cannot exist with current technology. I feel like a broken record, but it bears repeating: everything you do in a smartphone has a consequence associated with it. You can’t shrink bezels without also affecting thickness. You can’t add battery without adding weight. You can’t make a phone thinner without compromising camera component size. Everything you add to a smartphone takes up room inside, which means something has to be removed or the phone has to be thicker (or both).

Smartphone companies are just responding to the consumer demand for thinner and lighter phones.

Big smartphone companies, for all of their seemingly large disconnect from the “real” consumers out there, have seen time after time that the thinner, lighter and sleeker the phone, the better it sells. Everyone in the comments on Android Central articles can make as many claims to the contrary as they wish, but the average consumer wants thin and light. Yes they want other features, too, but thin and light are high on the list and those features immediately sell phones in the store. And as I noted above, even the smartphone fans here at AC truly want thin and light — they just aren’t as amenable to giving up anything to get it.

So what’s a company to do? They go where the market wants them: thinner and lighter phones with smaller bezels … and therefore smaller batteries and fewer “fringe” features like front-facing speakers. Every phone has compromises.

Beyond those philosophical thoughts, here are some other quick takes on the week:

• Daniel’s Moto Z2 Force review encapsulates most of my feelings on the phone. While all phones have some level of compromise within them, Motorola seemed to make too many compromises, and also wrong compromises. I’ll work up more of my thoughts on the phone in the coming week or two.
• Motorola’s black-and-white camera sensor really is fantastic. Shame the camera experience is so slow and the color photos are just average. Not good enough for this level of phone.
• The LG V30 looks very exciting. And though there are plenty of V10 and V20 fans upset about the V30 losing its rugged appeal, as I noted above that’s just not what the industry wants.
• I have a few crazy weeks ahead, with everything coming together ahead of Samsung’s Note 8 launch in NYC on August 23, and then IFA over in Berlin just a few days later. Going to get crazy — and fun.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and have a great week.

-Andrew

Code hints the next Apple TV will support 4K and HDR

There have been murmurs of a 4K Apple TV and even hints of 4K HDR videos on iTunes, but now we have evidence tying it all together. Remember that incredibly revealing HomePod firmware? Developer Guilherme Rambo has sifted through it to discover references to both 4K and HDR support in an upcoming Apple TV model. And the HDR support is particularly broad, too. The media player’s code mentions support for Dolby Vision, HDR10 and Hybrid Log-Gamma formats, so the odds are that HDR’s enhanced picture quality will be available even if your TV only has limited compatibility.

Apple certainly isn’t the first to make a media hub with HDR support. Roku supported the technology nearly a year ago, for example. However, competitors sometimes only support one format (Roku’s boxes insist on HDR10). The Apple TV may have a small edge simply because it should support HDR no matter which TV or media services you use.

There’s one more tidbit in the firmware, although it’s not necessarily a smoking gun. Jeffrey Grossman has noticed that there’s a reference to “Gizmo” (the codename for the Apple Watch) supporting an embedded SIM, backing rumors that the next Apple Watch will have a cellular data option. A “radio bundle” mention might support the claim, too. We’ll likely have to wait until the fall (or at least, another code discovery) to know for sure, but don’t be surprised if future Apple wristwear can hop online without any kind of local wireless connection.

Both pic.twitter.com/bsuxptLWd1

— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) August 5, 2017

Via: AppleInsider, MacRumors

Source: Guilherme Rambo (Twitter 1), (2)

After Math: Showing and Growing

It was a big week for expanding one’s business. Netflix revealed its new slate of anime series, LastPass doubled its premium price, and the Chevy Bolt proved it could outrun a Tesla 3 over distance. Numbers, because how else are we going to measure the extent of our worth?

The best essential oil diffuser

By Shannon Palus

This post was done in partnership with The Sweethome, a buyer’s guide to the best homewares. When readers choose to buy The Sweethome’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.

We spent more than three weeks testing 13 diffusers, and our favorite is the Urpower 300ml Aroma Essential Oil Diffuser. It has nearly three times the capacity of most other options at its price, and it has the same clean design as diffusers that cost more than five times as much. It will change the ambience of any room, with light in multiple colors, mist, and a subtle scent.

Who should get this

If you want your place to smell nicer, a diffuser is a solid alternative to candles. Because a diffuser can’t catch fire, you can leave it on in one room while you’re in another, or while you’re sleeping. Unlike candles or more passive scent dispensers like Glade PlugIns, you can vary the scent just by choosing a different oil. A diffuser will also make any bath feel a little fancier.

While researching this guide, I saw blog post after blog post—often on sites that had the word “wellness” in their name—about what essential oils can do for your health. But there’s little scientific evidence to back up those claims. Berkeley Wellness, a rare “wellness” site that relies on peer-reviewed research and is edited by an MD, has a good summary of what researchers do and don’t know. We can recommend diffusers here only for their ambience, not their aromatherapy capabilities. An essential oil diffuser should never, ever be a replacement for medical care.

How we picked and tested

Most diffusers light up. Photo: Michael Hession

All diffusers will do the basic job of making a room smell nice. But pick one at random, and it might be too small, produce a weak stream of mist, clash with your decor, or have buttons that are confusing to operate. Before we get to those details, though, we need to note the different kinds of diffusers—ultrasonic diffusers and nebulizers.

The most popular electronic diffusers are ultrasonic diffusers. Such models have a small tank of water to which you add a few drops of essential oil, or more if you prefer a stronger smell. A vibrating diaphragm in the diffuser turns the water and oil into fine, cool mist (like boiling, but with force). Because they light up and produce a stream of mist, they are nice to look at, but the scent they produce is subtle compared with that of nebulizers or your average scented candle.

If you want a stronger smell and can spend more money, consider a nebulizer, which diffuses oil directly by blowing compressed air through it to turn it to mist. These models cost about $100, can be loud, and aren’t as interesting to look at, but they produce a more concentrated smell.

I spent three weeks using a selection of ultrasonic diffusers and nebulizers in numerous locations around my apartment. I quickly eliminated a few for having undesirable design elements, like taking up a lot of space or having buttons that I found impossible to navigate without looking at the manual. I also paid attention to the noise level from the nebulizers, which produce a buzzing sound when at full-blast.

Our pick

The Urpower 300ml, our top pick, produces a strong stream of mist. Photo: Michael Hession

The Urpower 300ml Aroma Essential Oil Diffuser runs for longer and produces a stronger stream of mist than anything available at the same price; it can go for nearly seven hours on a single fill. It has a clean and simple design, unlike many other units we looked at. Its top snaps snugly into the base, making it easy to pick up or rotate the entire diffuser by the lid. It lights up in seven colors, has two brightness levels for each color, and its LED indicator lights aren’t too bright or annoying. It also has a convenient timer function, and it’s pretty quiet. Though you can get an equally strong diffuser with a sleeker appearance for more money, we think most people will be pleased with the Urpower 300ml.

One problem we ran into with the Urpower 300ml and nearly every other ultrasonic diffuser we looked at is that the device has just two buttons. This means you don’t get a simple on-off switch for the mist or the lights, and instead have to cycle through every setting to turn either feature off. On the Urpower 300ml, this design is particularly annoying for the light, because you have so many options.

A smaller version of our pick

The Urpower 120ml produces a weaker stream of mist than our top pick, but we like its buttons better. Photo: Michael Hession

If our top pick is sold out, consider the Urpower Essential Oil Diffuser 120ml Aromatherapy Diffuser. The design is still simple compared with much of the competition, and it’s easy to use and clean. Like our top pick, it lights up in seven colors. Though the Urpower 120ml doesn’t run as long as our main pick, it does cost half as much as many other diffusers its size.

The Urpower 120ml runs for three hours on the continuous-mist setting or six hours on the intermittent setting (30 seconds on, 30 seconds off). Though our top pick doesn’t have an intermittent-mist feature, this model lacks a timer setting; it will always run until it’s out of water.

We like that the buttons don’t beep when you push them. But the mist button has an indicator light that’s green or red, which we found unsightly compared with the yellow-green indicator on our top pick.

The best nebulizer for a stronger scent

Our favorite nebulizer, the Raindrop 2.0, is the nicest-looking diffuser we considered. Photo: Michael Hession

If you are willing to spend more money and are more focused on scenting your place with essential oils without the ambience-enhancing features of a diffuser, we like the Organic Aromas Raindrop 2.0 Nebulizing Essential Oil Diffuser. Of the five nebulizers we tested (which were all great at diffusing), it’s by far our favorite for aesthetic reasons. On low settings it’s just as quiet as an ultrasonic diffuser, and it’s the prettiest diffuser we tested overall. Unlike other nebulizers, it has neither a ton of buttons to mess with nor too few options to control your experience.

The Raindrop 2.0 runs intermittently for two hours on about 20 drops of oil. It disperses oil for two minutes and then turns off for one minute. If you want the Raindrop 2.0 to run longer, you have to reset it, but two hours should be long enough to scent a room and have the fragrance last a bit.

In our tests, the touch-sensitive button to turn the light on and off was too easy to press by mistake when we turned the device on, and sometimes it took a couple of taps to turn off. This was annoying, but not a dealbreaker.

This guide may have been updated by The Sweethome. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Note from The Sweethome: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

HomePod Firmware Suggests iPhone 8 Will Be Able to Scan Your Face While Device is Laying Flat

The newest discovery found within the HomePod firmware has shed some light on the iPhone 8’s facial recognition software, and how it could potentially scan a user’s face even when the smartphone is laying flat on a table. Uncovered by iHelp BR, code within the firmware related to “Pearl,” which is Apple’s internal name for the new facial recognition system, also includes multiple references to the word “resting” alongside “unlock.”

The feature was discovered to be categorized as an accessibility option, specifically called “AXRestingPearlUnlock” and “com.apple.accessibility.resting.pearl.unlock”. While not an exact confirmation, the HomePod firmware discovery does corroborate a report by Bloomberg from July that said Apple was working on an “improved” facial recognition system for iPhone 8, which would replace Touch ID and allegedly work even when the smartphone was flat on a table.

Image via iHelp BR
That story claimed the iPhone 8’s facial recognition would capture more data points than Touch ID, making it more secure. When rumors first came out that the iPhone 8 would potentially remove Touch ID completely, many iPhone users raised concerns about not being able to unlock their devices as they have been for years, due to a facial recognition system that would need to have the iPhone brought up directly in front of their face.

According to Bloomberg’s report, and the new HomePod firmware findings, Apple’s facial identification software will have far more nuance than simply scanning faces head-on, and allow the smartphone to be unlocked even when it’s at an odd angle. At the time of the report last month, the advanced facial recognition feature was “still being tested” and had the potential to not appear in the iPhone 8 this year. The new discovery within the HomePod firmware, which runs a modified version of iOS, makes it more likely that the advanced face ID system could make it into the iPhone 8.

One of the first HomePod firmware discoveries was a glyph of the iPhone 8
The firmware also includes references to Apple’s facial detection software working with third-party apps, found in a string called “APPS_USING_PEARL”. This means that users would potentially be able to unlock features within certain apps using their face, like they can currently within banking apps, for example, using their fingerprint and Touch ID. Another line includes a detail called “PEARL_AUTOLOCK”, and iHelp BR theorizes this could be a security feature that automatically locks the iPhone when it detects someone trying to open it whose face doesn’t match that of the authenticated user.

According to a recent Tweet by Mark Gurman, Apple’s pitch for facial recognition will be that the new feature is “quicker, more secure, and more accurate than Touch ID.” Other recent HomePod firmware leaks revealed that the iPhone 8’s facial recognition will likely work with Apple Pay and that the smartphone might record 4K Video at 60 FPS with both front and rear cameras.

Related Roundups: iPhone 8, HomePod
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