Don’t buy an Amazon Echo Dot — get the Zolo Halo instead*

*But only if you’re OK missing out on a few of the Echo’s cooler features.

The is the Zolo Halo. It’s mostly like an Amazon Echo Dot. It’s a connected speaker. It’s got a microphone. It has Amazon Alexa built into it. So it can answer questions and control things and do most everything the Echo can do.

And at $391, it’s priced about the same as the Echo Dot (which officially is $49 but had been on sale for $39 for a while; your mileage may vary) — but it sounds a lot better. So much so that I’ll say this: If you’re considering an Amazon Echo Dot, give this a long, hard look first.

It’s not that the Zolo Halo sounds great. It’s a small, OK speaker for the price. You’re not going to be blow away by sound quality by anything this small, and certainly not this small and this inexpensive. But for $40, it sounds just fine, and it sounds that much better than the Echo Dot.

I’m admittedly tired of the Echo Dot’s tired design. So the Halo (much like the similar Eufy Genie, a third competitor) is a small breath of fresh air. OK, maybe it’s got a bit of a pencil sharpener thing going on (now there’d be a cool trick), but it’s definitely a step up from the oversized hockey puck Amazon’s been selling for a few years now.

I’m digging the mute button on the front. There’s no mistaking what you need to do if you don’t want this thing listening in on you all day, every day. Hit the button, and it goes dumb. No more listening for you to say “Alexa.”

I’m digging the rubberized buttons up top, done in sort of an inner ring/outer ring thing. Each is under a single sheet or rubber — a small but welcome detail. Looking down on the Halo, North is a button for Bluetooth control. South is play/pause. East and West are volume buttons. The inner ring is separated by the telltale blue LED light. There are a couple pinhole microphones up here, too.

Round back is an LED power light, 3.5mm aux-out port, and the power port. (Proprietary, at that. No Micro-USB nonsense going on here.)

So it’s a better-looking, better-sounding Alexa device. What’s the catch?

It’s not an Echo. That means you’ll not be able to do any of the Alexa Calling stuff that Alexa can do now. It also means that you can’t do multi-room audio with other Alexa devices. You can, however, do multi-room audio with other Halo speakers.

So the decision is easy and obvious. If you just want an Alexa device that does the basics, get the Zolo Halo. If you have to have Alexa Calling, get an Echo Dot.

See at Amazon

The $39 price point is listed as a sale price, with the retail price a ridiculous $109 — even more than the actual Amazon Echo. Do not pay $109 for this speaker. It’s worth $39, not $109. I might go to $59, but that’d be it.) ↩

How to turn off ‘add icons to home screen’ in Android Oreo

Oreo introduces a new way to disable app icons from being automatically added to the home screen.

Android gives you a lot of options to restore apps and settings when you’re switching from an older phone, but if you’re looking to set up your phone as new, you’ll have to go to the Play Store and download apps individually. And that means turning off the option to add app icons to your home screen as you download them unless you want your device looking like an iPhone.

The setting to disable icons from being added to the home screen was in the Play Store settings, but Google switched things up with the Oreo update and moved it to the home screen settings. So if you’ve moved to a phone running Oreo and wanted to turn off the option to add icons to your home screen every time you download an app from the Play Store, read on.

How to turn off ‘add icons to home screen’ in Android Oreo

Use the zoom-in gesture to reveal the home screen settings.
Select Home settings.

Toggle Add icon to Home screen to off.

That’s it! By default, the Google pane is located to the left of the home screen, but with Google Now making way for the feed, the information you see isn’t as relevant anymore. If you’d like to disable that, you can do so from the home screen settings.

What’s the first thing you do when you set up a new phone?

Android Oreo

• Android Oreo review!
• Everything new in Android Oreo
• How to get Android Oreo on your Pixel or Nexus
• Oreo will make you love notifications again
• Will my phone get Android Oreo?
• Join the Discussion

What we’re buying: Dyson’s Supersonic hair dryer

This month, Associate Editor Swapna Krishna is singing the praises of Dyson’s advanced but pricey hair dryer. Compared with her old model, it’s like night and day.

Swapna Krishna
Contributing Editor

I have hair problems. Specifically, I have thick, curly, long hair (layered, but to my waist at its longest) that is incredibly dry all the time. It’s so bad, the only way to ensure that my hair is manageable is if I don’t wash the conditioner out. If you know anything about curly hair, I have type 3a curls.

Frizz is a major issue for me, which is why blow-drying isn’t much of an option, even with a fancy diffuser. The second a hair dryer even approaches my hair, it begins to frizz. Even just quickly running a dryer through it to take some of the moisture out on a chilly day is a recipe for disaster. My hair immediately becomes sharp and spiky, which means I end up throwing it into a bun so I won’t have to deal with it jabbing me all day. It’s not fun, which is why I let my hair air-dry and just try not to schedule anything important before 4 PM.

All of this is why I’ve been so curious about the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer. Everyone I’ve talked to who has used it speaks about it evangelically, even people with curly hair. Most of the reviews online seem pretty great. With a price in the US of $399, it seemed pretty ridiculous to pay so much for a device I can buy for $20 at the drugstore, but if it had the ability to literally change my life and allow me to leave the house before noon with dry hair, it might be worth it. So I took the plunge.

Let’s start with aesthetics. It’s a weird-looking device, for sure, but if you’ve seen one of the Dyson heaters or fans, the design will seem pretty familiar. The packaging is really nice, which may seem trivial, but it helps explain that price tag, at least a little. It comes with multiple tools: a smoothing nozzle, a concentrator and a diffuser. The body is a nice combination of gray and pink. All in all, it’s an attractive package.

The dryer itself is lightweight, and the cord is very long. I was especially struck by the dryer’s diminutive size. It’s relatively compact and would easily fit in a small suitcase or an overnight bag for travel. It has small buttons for both heat level and airflow, as well as an on/off switch and a button to press for a burst of cool air. It all feels high-quality and minimalist.

The real value of the Dyson hair dryer for many people is the sheer amount of airflow it can generate, which was actually a concern for me. Given that I have extremely frizz-prone curly hair, I didn’t need a vortex whipping my hair around at incredibly high speeds. What I needed was a low volume of air and consistent, even, high heat.

The Dyson gets very hot (I was warned to be careful with it near my scalp, something I quickly learned to pay attention to), but it has onboard tech to make sure it doesn’t fry your hair. The supersonic air also makes it work incredibly fast, so you don’t have to subject your hair to the heat for long. I started with my normal post-shower wet-hair routine (mainly DevaCurl products) and then applied a heat styling spray and creme for protection.

To dry my hair, I attached the diffuser (all the tools for this hair dryer are magnetic, which is incredibly convenient) and got to work. I gathered bunches of my hair in the diffuser and dried them at the highest heat setting but lowest air setting. Thanks to the supersonic air, my hair was about 75 percent dry in five minutes, with no more frizz than usual.

Dyson

Let me say that again: My long, thick hair, which takes about eight hours to air-dry, was almost fully dry in five minutes, with no additional frizz, thanks to the Dyson hair dryer. It feels and looks exactly the same as it would have with air drying — soft, smooth and shiny. I can’t even compare the results to my $80 BaByliss Tourmaline hair dryer, because it’s like night and day. The fact is, I couldn’t use a hair dryer before. Now I can.

Yes, $400 is pricey for a hair dryer. No one, least of all me, will dispute that. But sometimes it’s worth spending money one time on something that works well, improves your quality of life, and will last a long time. My only complaint at this point is that it isn’t dual-voltage; for the price I paid, I would like to be able to take it everywhere I travel so I never have to wait around with sopping wet hair for hours and hours ever again.

“IRL” is a recurring column in which the Engadget staff run down what they’re buying, using, playing and streaming.

Portrait Camera App ‘Focos’ Gains Real Lens Optical Effects and Improved Shooting Mode

Portrait Mode photo editor Focos received an update today that should pique the interest of dual-lens camera iPhone owners. The app recently made our end-of-year best iOS app list for its impressive granular aperture and bokeh adjustment tools, but version 1.2 builds on the existing feature set by adding the ability to apply real lens optical effects to depth images.

The update introduces a redesigned interface layout to accommodate the new preset lenses, which include Olympus Zuiko, Helios 44, CarlZeiss Jena, CarlZeiss Otus, Leica Noctilux, Minolta STF, Minolta RF250, A1, A2, A3, and A4.

In addition to the above lenses, users can create custom presets for images with depth information by combining multiple lens settings and saving them under a recognizable name. Fotos’ library of presets can also be re-organized for easy access from the editing menu.

Elsewhere in this update, a tilt-shift effect has been added to the app’s range of filters, offering users another level of control over the plane of focus when widening aperture, while a new ratio of 2.25:1 can be found in the cropping menu.

A torchlight has also been added to Focus’ built-in camera mode, which should help when taking Portrait Mode photos in low light, and the app now supports Bluetooth for taking photos remotely.

Lastly, a look at the general settings screen reveals an added ability to choose between JPEG, HEIC, and TIFF export formats, as well as a simple language selector, which now includes Persian.

Focos supports iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, and is a free download from the App Store, although many pro features are behind a paywall. It costs $0.99 per month or $5.99 per year to unlock them, but there’s also a $9.99 lifetime access purchase option. [Direct Link]

Tags: photography, Focos
Discuss this article in our forums

You can build this industrial clothes rack in a weekend. We’ll show you how

Steel plumbing pipe might be one of the most versatile building materials on the planet. Along with the wide variety of wrought iron connector joints available, you can use this tubular material to create just about anything you dream up — and with little or no tools, to boot! In this project, all you have to do is screw the pieces together and do some very basic cutting and screwing.

The best part is that the mixture of steel pipe and old wood gives this clothing stand a timeless industrial aesthetic that fits nicely into a wide variety of different settings. Whether you’re looking for a clothing storage solution for your studio apartment, or you’re a retailer looking for a cool way to display your wares, this rack will not only do the trick — it’ll add a dash of  charm to your space in the process. It’s also ridiculously durable and super simple to break down for transport, making it ideal for people who move around a lot. Here’s a quick breakdown of how to build it!

Tools & Materials

Everything you need

• (3x) ½ inch steel pipe, 48 inches
• (2x) ½ inch steel pipe, 24 inches
• (8x) ½ inch steel pipe, 4 inches
• (4x) ½ inch steel pipe, 6 inches
• (8x) ½ inch cast iron pipe fitting, T-shape
• (2x) ½ inch cast iron pipe fitting, L-shape (elbow)
• (1x) ½ inch cast iron pipe fitting, coupling
• (2x) 2×8 inch board, at least 52 inches long
• (2x) plywood pieces, ¼ inch thick
• Wood screws
• Drill/driver
• Saw

Building process

Step 1: Acquire and cut the wood

This is probably the hardest part of the entire build — especially if you want to use a cool-looking piece of reclaimed hardwood like we did. Any old 2×8 board will do, but getting your hands on good reclaimed wood can sometimes be a pain. If you don’t have a good hookup for lumber, hop on Google and look for Habitat For Humanity ReStore locations in your area, as well as architectural/industrial salvage stores. Craigslist is also a good place to hunt. Once you’ve got ’em, use whatever saw you’ve got to chop ’em down to about 52 inches long. You don’t have to be exact, but you’ll want to make it a minimum of 52.

The next step is finding a piece of 1/4 inch-thick sheet wood. This can be practically anything — plywood, MDF, or even hardwood. As long as it’s between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick, you’re all good. You don’t even need to measure it, really. This wood is used to join the two main boards together from the underside. You won’t see them, so don’t worry if they’re not aesthetically pleasing. Cut both pieces to whatever dimensions you want — just make sure they’re not longer or wider than your base platform. Ours were roughly 11 inches square.

Step 2: Assemble the pipes

This is the easy part. Start with the legs. Grab six T joints and all eight 4-inch lengths of steel pipe. Assemble them as shown in the video above. Here’s a really crappy drawing to help you out.

When you’re finished assembling the legs, place them aside and switch your focus to the main rack body. Grab all of the long pipe pieces (three 48-inch pipes and two 24-inch pipes), two elbow joints, and the coupling piece. Assemble them in a big ol’ square, with the elbow pieces at the top, and the 24-inch pipes at the bottom, joined with the coupling in the middle.

Step 3: Attach the legs to the main body

This part is pretty simple, since you’re basically just screwing the leg assembly into the bottom of the main rack body — but there’s a bit more to it than just screwing around. At this point, after you’ve attached the legs, you’ll want to take a minute or two to tighten everything up. This often isn’t as simple as it seems, since twisting the pipes past a certain point requires a lot of torque, but don’t worry. If you reach a point where you can’t twist any further with just your hands, you can always screw in one of the remaining 6-inch pipe lengths to use for leverage.

Step 4: Assemble the wooden base

You’ll probably need a saw for this step, and any kind will do. Start by measuring the distance between the right and left legs on your rack base, then marking out that length on your 2″ by 8″ board(s). Generally speaking, that distance will be around 52 inches, but yours might vary slightly, so it’s best to measure first.

Next, grab your scrap wood, screws, and drill. Place your 2-inch by 8-inch boards upside down, and about 5/8 of an inch apart, so they form something that looks like a giant Kit Kat bar. Next, screw your scrap wood onto these boards to join them together. Place the scrap squares roughly 1 foot from the ends of the big boards, and drive in as many screws as you please. We used eight.

Step 5: Put it all together

At this point, you’re practically done. If you’ve followed the steps on this page, you’ll have four 6-inch lengths of pipe left. Screw them into the T-joint holes facing upward on the rack’s legs. Then, place your wooden platform on top. Boom. you’re done.

Step 6: Use it

Now all that’s left is to hang your clothes on it.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best snowboards you can buy
• The best laptops you can buy
• The best smartphones you can buy
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Better gaming keyboards, wrist phones, and more
• The best sleeping bags you can buy

Radinn’s second-gen electric wakeboard is faster and cheaper

Nearly three years after we first saw Radinn’s prototype electric wakeboard, the Swedish outfit is back with a redesigned version. The G2X will be on display at the Boot Düsseldorf show this week, showing off its capabilities like a swappable battery so owners don’t have to wait for a two-hour charge between 25-minute rides. Those rides will be even more exciting though, since it’s capable of 36 mph, up from 28 on the Wakejet Cruise. Better yet, the G2X is cheaper than its predecessor, with a price (before accessories like an add-on foil, “radical” upgrade to max out its top speed or additional battery packs) of 9,900 euros, or about $12,101 US.

It’s going on sale later this year, however, there will be plenty of competition. E-Surfer Magazine lists 17 different models in the segment, and there will be new hardware shown at the Boot show from Lampuga and Elektrisches Jet Surfboard.

Source: Radinn (Youtube), Radinn

Trump signs bill extending NSA’s warrantless surveillance

On Friday afternoon, just hours before Congress failed to avert a government shutdown, the President signed into law the “FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017.” The bill passed the House and Senate earlier this week with the support of many Republicans and Democrats, offering only slight adjustments to Section 702, a law that oversees the NSA’s ability to spy on “international terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other important foreign intelligence targets located outside the United States.”

However, as we learned as part of the Snowden revelations, the programs in place under that law snoop more extensively. In league with companies like (owner of Engadget’s parent company AOL) Verizon, Google, Facebook and others, it can capture or collect large amounts of internet and telephone traffic that passes through the US, along with “incidental” information on many Americans. The reauthorized version offers little in the way of change, even though Trump has claimed this law has been used to spy on his campaign and in spite of many proposals including various reforms.

The ACLU and others have argued this bill may make things worse by allowing the NSA to turn on “about” collection. As described by the ACLU: “the NSA searches through the contents of Americans’ international communications — in bulk and without a warrant — and it retains even those that are merely about its targets.”

Source: Reuters, White House, USA Today

This is the Lava Red OnePlus 5T

Lava Red OnePlus 5T is now available for purchase in India.

OnePlus has seen a meteoric growth in India over the last 18 months, with the brand dominating sales in the premium segment. There’s clearly a lot of demand for the manufacturer’s phones, and the brand is doing its part to cater to that demand by rolling out new color options. We’ve seen that last month with the gorgeous Star Wars-themed variant of the 5T, and now the company is launching the Lava Red color option in India.

The Lava Red OnePlus 5T is now up for sale on Amazon India for ₹37,999 ($595), the same price as the regular model. That’s for the variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

The Midnight Black option of the 5T was rather subdued, but that’s not the case with the Lava Red variant. The bright red hue interspersed with the maroon antenna lines at the top and bottom makes the phone look rather striking, and the matte finish makes the color pop. And unlike Apple, OnePlus has opted to go with a black faceplate at the front, which looks much better.

With the Star Wars edition of the OnePlus 5T already sold out, the Lava Red is the only other option available if you’re looking for a variant aside from the standard Midnight Black. It’s an easy choice to make.

To coincide with the release of the Lava Red OnePlus 5T, the company has announced that it is launching a second offline store in India, this time in Mumbai. The OnePlus experience hub in Irla, Vile Parle will give customers the ability to go hands-on with the brand’s latest products, and as an added bonus, everyone purchasing a OnePlus phone from the offline store will receive the Bullet V2 earphones for free.

OnePlus partnered with Croma at the end of last year to bring its devices to the large format retailer, and OnePlus India general manager Vikas Agarwal said that the launch of its second authorized store is another way for customers to engage with the brand:

Customer satisfaction has always been at the core of OnePlus’ strategy. The new ‘OnePlus Authorized Store’ is designed to complement our online first business strategy and also attract new users while serving as a destination for our fast-growing community to experience and purchase OnePlus products.

The Lava Red OnePlus 5T will be sold in limited quantities, so if you’re interested in the handset, best act fast.

See at Amazon India

OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5

• OnePlus 5T review: Come for the value, not the excitement
• OnePlus 5T specs
• Should you upgrade from the OnePlus 3T?
• OnePlus 5T vs. Galaxy S8: Beast mode
• All of the latest OnePlus 5T news
• Join the discussion in the forums

OnePlus
Amazon

Disney hires former Apple, Samsung exec for its streaming service

As Disney prepares for its streaming service that’s launching next year, Variety reports it has snagged an executive to run operations. Kevin Swint (LinkedIn) worked at Apple for five years, eventually running its iTunes movies business worldwide, before managing content and launching Milk Video at Samsung. Now, as the SVP and GM of Disney’s BAMTech Media company, he’ll be in charge of creating and running the company’s new Netflix competitor.

The new service will be home to Disney’s new releases from 2019 on, including Star Wars and Marvel flicks, and could add considerable additional content if its purchase of Fox becomes official. We don’t have many details about it yet, however, CEO Bob Iger said during an earnings call that at launch, it will be priced cheaper than Netflix.

Source: Variety

Want your free stuff? Here’s how to redeem a code on your PS4

Sony uses 12-digit codes to distribute prepaid access to everything from games to DLC, movies to memberships, and even PlayStation Network store credit. If you’ve just opened up a new PlayStation 4, there is a pretty good chance you will have a few codes to redeem — digital games bundled with the console, a PlayStation Plus trial membership, or maybe a PSN gift card with funds to load onto your account. Luckily, redeeming codes on PSN is painless, and there are a few ways to do it. Here’s how to redeem a code on your PS4.

Redeem your codes on your PS4

Step 1: Open the PlayStation Store.

Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose “Redeem Codes.”

Step 3: Press “X” to open an on-screen keyboard.

Step 4: Enter the 12-digit code. Just the numbers and letters, don’t add the hyphens.

Step 5: Press R2 or click “Done” when finished.

Step 6: Press “Continue.”

Step 7: Click confirm to finish redeeming the content showed on the left side of the screen.

Step 8: On the next screen, you can download your new content (if applicable).

Redeem your codes on the web

Step 1: Go to PlayStation.

Step 2: Click “Sign In” in the upper right-hand corner. Enter your email/password associated with your PlayStation account.

Step 3: Hover your cursor over “PS Store,’ and click on “Browse the Store.”

Step 4: Move your mouse over your PSN ID — located in the upper right hand corner of the screen — and choose “Redeem Codes.”

Step 5: Enter the 12-digit code. If your PlayStation 4 is powered on, you can initiate the download straight from your PC. If not, you can access the new content the next time you turn on your console.

Redeem your codes with the PlayStation app

The PlayStation smartphone app on iOS and Android also lets you redeem codes for your PlayStation 4. The app is free on both Google Play and the App Store. Once downloaded and launched, touch the PlayStation logo at the bottom-center of the screen. Three rows of icon options will appear. “Redeem Codes” will be located four from the left on the top row.

There is one major perk of redeeming codes on the app: You don’t actually have to type the code in. Using your smartphone’s camera, simply position the code inside the window in the center of your camera frame, and the app will detect and enter the code.If you don’t want to use your camera, though, you can still type in your code in at this time.

Either way, press “enter” once you’ve input the code. It’s that easy.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How to set up parental controls on your PlayStation 4
• How to delete and reinstall games on your PS4
• How to organize your PlayStation 4 game library and make custom folders
• Here’s how to send a text from your email account
• How to update your Gmail picture