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The best smart outdoor lighting for backyards, pathways and more
By Rachel Cericola This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to smart outdoor lighting for backyards, pathways, and more. Outdoor lighting isn't a splurge—it can save you from tripping on a dark pathway (again) or having to fumble for the right key. It enhances home security, and it can even light up a party. Smart outdoor lighting takes it to another level by adding automation, remote control, and other convenience features. We spent a month testing outdoor-rated smart bulbs, sconces, path lights, and spotlights, and found the best options for every outdoor scenario. The only smart outdoor bulb we tested with a built-in motion sensor, the floodlight-style Sengled Smart PAR38 LED Bulb can light up a driveway or backyard when you need it and not when you don't. It requires a Zigbee hub, but it also works directly with an Amazon Echo Plus. The motion sensor is especially useful if you want an outdoor bulb for security purposes, and you can adjust its settings so that it doesn't trigger too frequently or at the wrong time. The Ring Pathlight offers a near-instant option for providing helpful and elegant lighting to areas that may be tricky to navigate in the dark such as walkways or patios. It's powered by four D batteries, so you have no wires to deal with, and you can directly control it using an app or set it to turn on and off automatically through a built-in motion sensor. Because this model relies on non-rechargeable batteries, it's meant to light up for short periods of time—less than 15 minutes—so it may not be the best choice for anyone who needs constant lighting. The Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Calla Bollard is the best-looking smart outdoor light we tested—it's a perfect addition to any party. It has a slick design with a color-changing, dimmable LED at the top that can match outdoor decor or your mood. It does require a hub, such as the Hue Bridge, the Amazon Echo Plus, or the SmartThings Hub. It also requires a power supply (included in the base kit), which can accommodate up to five fixtures.
Philips' new Hue Play box syncs your lights with your TV
It's been a long time coming, but there's now an easy way to sync your Hue lights with your TV no matter what's on-screen. Signify has introduced a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box that (as its name implies) controls your smart lights based on whatever the video source might be, whether it's a game console, a Blu-ray player or a streaming media service. It's automatic and reportedly lag-free, and you can dial down the intensity so that it won't produce a dramatic light show when you're just watching a sitcom.
The gear you need for your dorm room
Our back-to-school guide wouldn't be complete without a section on dorm living. After all, you're going to be spending a lot of the year there (though hopefully not too much time). To really trick out a dorm room in 2019, we needed to focus on both comfort and convenience. Oh, and space savings, too. We think smart displays make a lot of sense, given how versatile they are. In particular, we opted for products that use Google Assistant over Amazon's Alexa because we think most people already tend to use Google for most services. We also suggested cooking gear that would be allowed in most dorms, including an electric kettle and the multifunctional Instant Pot. And to brighten up your new place a bit, we've also listed a couple different lighting options. From a high-tech smart clock to a basic coffee dripper, we think this is a solid shortlist for making your tiny abode feel like home away from home.
Signify's LiFi system promises up to 150 Mbps internet via LED lights
This week, Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, launched one of the first commercial LiFi, or Light Fidelity, systems. LiFi transmits broadband internet through lights, using LEDs to move data and bypass radio signals. We've seen some experimental applications of the tech, but this is the most realistic deployment yet.
Philips' Hue range may soon include a smart plug
Philips Hue might be one of the biggest names in smart home technology, but one product it has not yet managed to bring to market is a smart plug. That could be set to change, according to a report that details Hue products that could be announced this year.
The best immersion blender
By Christine Cyr Clisset, Michael Sullivan and Sharon Franke This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to the best immersion blender here. Since our quest for the best immersion blender began in 2013, we've considered 63 models, interviewed two soup-making pros, and pureed gallons of soup, smoothies, and sauces. Through all this research and testing, the Breville Control Grip has remained our top pick because it produces smoother textures, has a design that's more comfortable to use, and comes with whipping and chopping attachments that actually work. The Breville Control Grip immersion blender thoroughly purees even fibrous soups and can blend smoothies made with ice and frozen berries into thick, frosty mixtures. It has a rubber handle and a power button that you press naturally as you grip, so it's comfortable to hold even for long blending times. The blending wand doesn't spatter as it purees. We also appreciate the extra-large, 42-ounce blending jar, which has a handle, clearly marked measurements, and a rubber grip to keep it firmly in place during blending. The Breville comes with both a whisk and a chopper attachment, and although it's one of the pricier hand blenders out there, we think it's far less likely to languish in a junk drawer than other, inconvenient offerings. The Braun MultiQuick 5 Hand Blender MQ505 rivals more expensive models at pureeing soup and smoothies thoroughly. It has a soft grip, but we found that pressing its small button for the entire blending time quickly grew fatiguing. In addition to a blending jar, the Braun comes with a whisk, but it doesn't include a chopper. Although cheaper options are available, we think it's worth paying a little more than a rock-bottom price to get a model that doesn't spatter. The other lower-priced models in our test—including the Cuisinart Smart Stick CSB-175, which replaced the CSB-75, our previous budget pick—were more difficult to use and created hot-liquid splashes that weren't fun or easy to clean up. The Cuisinart CSB-175 also had trouble with ice, while the Braun MQ505 was able to pulverize ice and frozen fruit with ease. When it came to blending smoothly and thoroughly in our tests, nothing beat the Philips ProMix Hand Blender HR1670/92, which turned out velvety soups and the thickest of smoothies. It's comfortable to grip even for several minutes, as your hand rests naturally as you squeeze to operate it. To increase the power level, you simply press harder, so you can easily use the blender with one hand without stopping. However, the Philips doesn't come cheap, and for the big bucks you don't get any accessories other than a 24-ounce blending cup (you can purchase the whisk and chopper accessories separately for a hefty premium). If you want the very best purees you can get from an immersion blender, and if you're willing to pay for that and nothing else, this Philips ProMix model is worth your consideration.
The best home and kitchen gear to give as gifts
There are plenty of technology gifts that can make someone's domestic life easier, but where to start? For this year's holiday gift guide we've chosen eight devices that can help out in both the kitchen and the home at large. Smart speakers are hot options this year, whether it's an Echo Dot to check the weather or a Smart Display to get directions. And it's a good time to be an aspiring chef -- you can cook sous vide with a Precision Cooker Nano or hop on a culinary trend with the Instant Pot Ultra 6-Quart. Throw in home robots and smart lights and you're bound to find something that can improve your lucky recipient's household, even if they think they have everything.
Philips Hue now supports iOS 12's Siri Shortcuts
With the launch of iOS 12, iPhone owners were introduced to Siri's new Shortcuts feature that makes suggestions based on a user's routines. Numerous third-party apps — such as Pandora, Evernote and even Google News — already offer such integration, but one of the most eagerly anticipated platforms, Philips Hue, has been missing. Now, that wait is over — Philips Hue users with the latest version of the app received Shortcuts support today.
The latest Philips Hue lighting kits bring color to your walls
Signify's Philips Hue lights can certainly be used to illuminate your walls, but they're not usually meant for it. Even LightStrips are intended more as accents than room-defining centerpieces. That's where the company's latest kits might come to the rescue. The Hue Play (below) and Hue Signe (above) are expressly designed to bounce colored light off your walls and provide floor-to-ceiling ambiance. The Play is a compact, upward-facing bar that can give your TV viewing sessions a glow without the glare of a bulb souring the experience, while the Signe is a vertical fixture that's built to blend in with your furnishings without taking up a massive footprint.
The best electric toothbrush
By Casey Johnston, Tracy Vence and Shannon Palus This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full electric toothbrush guide here. (image-01) To find the best electric toothbrush, we put in almost 100 total hours of research, interviewing experts, evaluating every model on the market, and testing 12 toothbrushes ourselves in hundreds of trials at the bathroom sink. We found that the best toothbrush for most people is a simple model called the Oral-B Pro 1000. It has the fewest fancy features of the models we tested, but it does have the most important things experts recommend—a built-in two-minute timer and access to one of the most extensive and affordable lines of replaceable toothbrush heads available—for the lowest price. That, according to the experts we spoke to, is as much as an electric toothbrush can or should do for you. The extras available in electric toothbrushes that cost $150 more don't make them any more effective than the Pro 1000. The Oral-B Pro 1000 brush comes with a minimal charging pedestal that simply requires dropping the brush onto a peg. Fully charged, it lasts for at least a week of twice-daily two-minute brushing sessions before needing a recharge, which is on a par with the other toothbrushes we tested in this price range and plenty for most people. If you can't find the Oral-B Pro 1000, get the runner-up, the Philips Sonicare 2 Series. Like the Pro 1000, the 2 Series is not trumped up with unproven features and includes everything you need in an electric toothbrush. The 2 Series runs much more quietly, but unlike the Pro 1000, it comes to a full stop after two minutes of brushing (rather than restarting the cycle as the Pro 1000 does) and has a less diverse, more expensive range of brush heads, giving you fewer options for texture and shape. If a subscription service will help you replace your brush heads regularly, Goby has all the features we look for in a brush: a 30-second quadrant timer that stops after two minutes and a rechargeable battery. The Goby has only one type of brush head available (rotating), so if you like to customize your brush this service may not be for you.
EU fines ASUS, Philips and others for online price fixing
Days ago, the EU Commission fined Google a record-setting €4.3 billion ($5 billion) for antitrust violations. Now it's handed down a combined €111 million in fines to four electronics manufacturers for fixing online resale prices for their devices and appliances, which is a breach of European Union competition laws.
Philips' extra-bright 4K HDR monitor is now available for $1,000
If you've been salivating at the thought of Philips' (technically, EPI's) ultra-bright HDR monitor, you can now do more than clean up the mess you've left on the floor. The Momentum 43" 4K HDR Quantum Dot Monitor is now available from Amazon and Best Buy for a cool $1,000. That's a lot to pay for a computer screen, but it's also charting new ground -- this is the first PC monitor to support the DisplayHDR 1000 spec, promising 1,000cd/m2 brightness in scenes that call for it (say, staring at a bright sky) without crushing low-light detail. EPI also touts a wide, accurate color gamut that's particularly good at tackling dark reds and greens.
The best smart LED light bulbs
By Grant Clauser This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. We considered more than 20 smart-light-bulb systems and then spent eight weeks testing 10 contenders, confounding a family of four by constantly changing how their lights worked. After all that, we determined that the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 is the best all-around smart LED bulb. Hue lets you change your lighting color easily and does everything other smart light bulbs do, and it's also part of a larger product and app ecosystem, allowing for more flexibility and creativity than any other smart bulb we tested. Plus, it's compatible with the widest variety of smart-home systems, including Apple's HomeKit, Samsung's SmartThings hub, Amazon's Alexa, and Google Home. It's not the cheapest bulb we tested, but its reliable performance and wide compatibility make it a solid choice for any smart-home enthusiast or newbie.
Philips Hue Sync coordinates your smart lights with your computer
Earlier this year, Signify announced new integrations for its Philips Hue bulbs that included a Hue Sync app to automatically coordinate your lights with whatever you're doing on your computer. Now, the free Philips Hue Sync app is available for both Mac and PC.
Philips' Hue app is actually good now
At this year's CES Philips announced a forthcoming update for its Hue smart lights app. The company kept details to a minimum, but now we know exactly what the promised improvements look like, as v3.0 rolls out on the Play Store today. Alongside a raft of feature additions, it's had a complete makeover.
How to buy an HDR monitor
High dynamic range (HDR) TVs and projectors have been around for years now, but PC displays have been the neglected stepchild. It was only just last year that HDR monitors like Dell's UltraSharp 27 4K started to appear. Luckily, things changed for the better when VESA unveiled a new standard, DisplayHDR, which set a baseline for PC HDR displays. While a number of models conform to the standard, many others still don't but are nonetheless worthy of your consideration.
Gibson files for bankruptcy to ditch electronics, focus on guitars
Yesterday Gibson Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Known for its famous guitars, the company is in a similar situation to Toys 'R' Us, owing as much as $500 million to creditors including private equity firms like Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Silver Point Capital and Melody Capital Partners. It took on significant debt -- which is about to mature -- to finance a series of acquisitions to build up a Gibson Innovations electronics business that it's now in the process of separating from. Other than buying a stake in TEAC, Bloomberg reports it bought Philips line of headphones and speakers, and until recently had close business ties with Onkyo. According to the press release "The Company's Gibson Innovations business, which is largely outside of the U.S. and independent of the Musical Instruments business, will be wound down." While the headphones are likely done, other elements like its Gibson and Epiphone guitars, as well as KRK and Cerwin Vega studio monitors and loudspeakers will continue on. Hopefully, that includes its digital recorder-embued guitar cable.
Philips' huge 4K monitor is the first with super-bright HDR
DisplayHDR certification assures consumers of an excellent standard of monitor performance, but none have received the top level -- until now. Philips' 43-inch Momentum (436M6) is the first to get HDR1000 approval, guaranteeing a superb 1,000 cd/m2 brightness, deep blacks, 10-bit color depth and an HDR-compliant color gamut. To pull it off, Philips used Quantum Dot tech, much like Samsung uses on its QLED TVs and monitors. It also features Ambiglow technology that puts a halo of light on your walls and floor, matching the content on the screen.
Philips tests LiFi in a real office
This week, Philips announced that its LiFi, or Light Fidelity, tech is currently being tested at the offices of Icade, a French real estate investment company. LiFi provides broadband internet through lights, using LEDs to transmit a high-speed connection of up to 30 Mb per second through light waves.
What we're buying: Philips OneBlade shaver
Men don't get much when it comes to the bathroom-gadget oeuvre, and Engadget usually deals in two kinds of them: established devices given a new twist, and extreme futuristic-use cases for the future of our bathroom -- typically aimed at women. Not so in this week's IRL. Bureau Chief Mat Smith's recommendation is for our more... hirsute readers. It's an electric shaver/beard trimmer from Philips. Don't roll your eyes so quickly because things are a little different this time, and for the scruff-loving, sensitive (skinned) Mat, it's game-changing. Calm down with the hyperbole, Mathew.
