Following criticism that Apple's in-house software products get an unfair advantage over rival choices, the company is reportedly considering giving HomePod owners the ability to run third-party music software like Spotify or Pandora directly on their Siri-powered speaker.
Smart speaker maker Sonos announced Tuesday that it is phasing out development for several of its oldest products. The company said in a blog post that it will no longer update software or add new features for original Zone Players, Connect, Connect:Amp, first-generation Play:5, CR200, and Bridge devices beginning in May.
If you own a smart speaker like HomePod or a similar device that comes with an always-on assistant, should you make visitors aware they might be recorded at all times?
Apple is reportedly working on a new model of its Siri-powered HomePod wireless speaker that is thought to feature just two tweeters instead of seven along with a lower price point.
According to a new report, Amazon customers in Germany who own an Echo smart wireless speaker or an Amazon Fire TV from the company, or an Alexa-enabled Sonos speaker, will be able to ask the Alexa assistant to play Apple Music content beginning later today.
Aside from releasing the iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3 updates bringing the overhauled TV app with support for Apple TV Channels to your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV devices, there's also a new software update available for the HomePod smart speaker.
Tucked away as a side-note in Bloomberg's massive report on the new iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch features coming at WWDC 2019 is a mention of a multi-user mode for HomePod.
Bloomberg recently reported that Amazon has a project with some of its employees listening to some of the audio recordings made by Alexa speakers when users interact with them, but it now appears that those folks have access to customers' home addresses, too.
In an effort to boost sales, Apple's decided to do something it rarely does by cutting the HomePod price by $50 to bring the Siri-powered speaker to $299, down from $349.
If you use an Amazon smart speaker like the Echo or Echo Dot, you’ll notice a variety of different status lights. But these lights aren’t very helpful if you don’t know what they mean. Does the yellow light keep coming on? Is there a purple light continuously flashing?
To help you decipher what your smart speaker is trying to tell you, here’s a quick rundown of what the status lights on an Amazon Echo speaker mean.
Apple's HomePod wireless speaker could gain a host of additional capabilities in the future, including 3D hand gestures, the Face ID facial recognition system and much more.
HomePod in China includes an interesting storytelling feature for children, unavailable elsewhere, that permits kids to ask the Siri assistant to tell them a story.
HomePod became available in China last Friday, January 18, but this feature was tucked away as a side-note in Apple's press release announcing HomePod's debut in China.
“In China, Siri on HomePod also offers storytelling for children, just say 'Hey Siri, tell me a story',” reads the announcement.
The feature is also being advertised on Apple's HomePod webpage in Chinese, but no further information is provided as to how this works and what the limitations are, if any.
At any rate, this isn't the only China-specific features for the Siri speaker—with the new Artist of the Week program, for instance, Apple Music on HomePod showcases newly discovered talent across greater China.
New artists from mainland China include Corsak, Chace, Lucie Cheung, Gong, Dean Ting and Lu Xianghui while the popular playlists include "The A-List International Pop," "Today’s Hits," 'Best of the Week," "The A-List Mandopop" and "Mandopop Replay", containing recent Mandopop hits from the past five years.
HomePod is available in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, China and Hong Kong in White and Space Gray.