Amazon Echo Show
Consumer Reports gives a thumbs-up to the new Echo Show from Amazon. The $230 speaker features a 10-inch HD touchscreen and a Zigbee smart home hub. The previous Show sounded OK, but the new model takes a substantial step forward, featuring robust bass and smooth trebles, says Consumer Reports. Most of all, it delivers effective imaging – the sense that the instruments and voices extend beyond the speaker’s physical enclosure, as though the music is being performed in the same room with you. Note to YouTube addicts: You might want to stick to your laptop for those videos; the Show doesn’t offer voice commands for YouTube, which is owned by Google (which has its own smart speakers).
Smartphone magnifier
Want to display a video, PowerPoint or website for an account? Slip your smartphone into the Smartphone Magnifier from Uncommon Goods (www.uncommongoods.com) and view at about double the size of your display. The portable magnifier measures 7.5 inches long, 4.9 inches wide, and 7.7 inches high, and costs about $30.
iPhone photo printer
The iPhone printer from Hammacher Schlemmer is said to produce photo quality pictures as it charges an iPhone. In as little as 55 seconds, it prints 300-dpi resolution 4-by-6-inch color pictures using a thermal ink ribbon and special paper that makes photos waterproof, fingerprint-proof, and fade-resistant, according to the company. A free app lets users print photos from an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet, while a USB slot allows printing directly from memory cards, flash drives, and PictBridge-capable digital cameras. It comes with removable 20-sheet capacity paper tray, ink ribbon cartridge, and 40 sheets of photo paper. The printer is compatible with iPhone 5 and iPod 5th generation and later, including X and 8. The app is compatible with iOS 6.0 and Android 4.0 and later. Cost: About $160.
Better-quality photos
For smartphone photographers concerned about high-quality, print-ready results, Moment lenses are worth the investment, according to product-review website Wirecutter. The wide lens is said to expand the iPhone’s field of view just enough to feel like a fresh perspective (about 0.63x magnification). The 2x telephoto lens extends the iPhone’s optical zoom a bit farther without degrading image quality as digital zoom can, even with a dual-lens iPhone, according to the reviewers. Both lenses are said to produce clear images with little to no distortion across the entire frame. Both lenses require a Moment case to mount to, which is an additional $30 purchase available for iPhones 6 to X, as well as Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel compatible models.
Home cooking … fast
“The microwave oven did not revolutionize home cooking,” writes Florence Fabricant, a food and wine writer in the New York Times. “Nor did sous-vide gadgetry.” Now there’s a new contender: the Brava oven, a countertop appliance that essentially uses light bulbs to cook food – a system called Pure Light, which was originally developed in the solar industry. Writes Fabricant, “At a demonstration a few months ago, I was struck by the ease of use and the results, which include the ability to cook a steak that’s invitingly seared on the outside and properly rosy within. The oven can reach 500 degrees in seconds, without preheating. What was really impressive was how several ingredients, like proteins and vegetables, can be precisely cooked simultaneously. This is not an appliance that I would want to own, and it teaches you nothing about cooking. But someone who wants robotically prepared food may find it to be a blessing.”
Digital petsitter
The Petcube Play monitoring camera is said to quell pet owners’ concerns when they’re working late and don’t have an on-call pet sitter, reports The New York Times. A wide-angle lens sees the entire room, and the camera offers crystal clear night-vision mode and an app-controlled laser pointer. Of course, one thing the app can’t do – get your cat to stop tearing apart your fabric ottoman. Cost: About $150.
Lost your wallet?
The lost-wallet locator from Hammacher Schlemmer is a homing device that slips into a credit card slot. It connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth and uses a free iOS/Android app to display your wallet’s location on a map and activate the phone’s ringer when your wallet is near. If out of the locator’s 100-foot range, your wallet’s last known location is displayed on the app’s interactive map. Charges via micro USB cable. Cost: About $40.