HomePod - page 8

The ability to use Siri to listen to live radio stations is up and running for HomePod users, along with people running the latest iOS 13 beta.

Apple announced the feature at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, boasting support for iHeartRadio, TuneIn and Radio.com streaming radio. That means users can access more than 100,000 different stations using Apple’s AI assistant.

During the WWDC 2019 keynote, most of Apple’s latest creations drew enthusiastic applause, with one notable exception. The price of Apple’s new Pro Display XDR elicited a somewhat cooler response. But considering just how expensive the monitor is, the fact that it got any applause at all was pretty remarkable.

This is not the first time Apple has had to convince us to pony up for an eye-watering sticker price. Cupertino pulls from a well-established playbook for its keynotes, often employing behavioral science techniques to help soften the blow. (To our brains at least, if not to our wallets).

Apple’s own Smart Keyboard is one of the best keyboards you can buy for iPad. It snaps on in an instant, doesn’t require pairing, and never needs charging. It’s even better when it’s half price. Get yours today for just $79.50.

That’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup. You can also save a whopping $470 on the Mac mini, and $600 on the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display. Plus, you can get the Netgear Orbi while home Wi-Fi system for under $200.

China has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s biggest smart speaker market. According to new figures from Canalys, the Chinese market grew nearly 500% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019.

Approximately 10.6 million units shipped in China over the quarter, compared to 5 million in the U.S. This means that China is now 51% of the global global smart speaker market. The U.S., on the other hand, comes in second place at just 24%.

Amazon is serving up sweet deals on iPads right now. You can grab the latest entry-level model for just $249. Or, if you can’t put that sweet 11-inch iPad Pro out of your mind, you can make the purchase price a lot less painful with today’s $300 discounts.

Also in today’s Deals & Steals roundup: Inexpensive HomeKit-compatible light bulbs and amazing deals on wireless chargers and USB-C cables!

The number of smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo and Apple’s HomePod in use around the world is expected to keep growing strongly for years to come. It could pass 200 million in 2019, and pass 500 million in 2023.

Analysts from Canalys indicate the installed base of these devices is now surpassing the number of smartwatches in use. And smart speakers could even outnumber tablets before the end of 2021, they say.

This week on The CultCast: Apple’s readying a totally redesigned MacBook Pro with next-gen display! We discuss. Plus: Apple’s working on the next generation of MagSafe! Thank the gods. And we take a fascinating look at the unbelievable scale and size of Apple’s megafactories, from a bonus chapter of Leander’s new book, Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain..

Amazon employs a team made up of thousands of people to listen to recordings made by Echo devices, a new report claims.

These recordings are transcribed, annotated, and ultimately used to “help improve” the quality of Amazon’s smart speakers.

Apple permanently slashed the price of HomePod in the United States and a number of other countries. The company’s first smart speaker now lists for $299 — a full $50 less than its original price.

The smart speaker market continues to explode — and Apple’s expected to carve out an ever-growing piece of it.

According to a new report published by IDC, the global smart speaker market will grow 26.9 percent in 2019. In total, the research firm thinks that 832.7 million total smart speakers will ship this year.

Best Buy has again slashed the price of Apple Watch Series 3 to just $199, matching the best discount we’ve seen on this model so far. That price applies to the 38mm version with GPS, which usually costs $279. And it’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup.

We also have some massive discounts on great computer peripherals from Logitech, and 63 percent off the SanDisk iXpand flash drive for iPhone and iPad. Plus, you can pick up a 9-in-1 lens kit that will help you step up your smartphone photography for under $16.

As thrilling as new Apple devices are, this week’s surprise hardware updates really screwed the pooch on one important front: product naming.

The “new” iPad Air and iPad mini join a lineup of tablets with a variety of features and price points that will boggle the minds of even the most ardent Apple fanatics.

How did Apple’s naming strategy go so far off the rails? For the sake of the average customer, Cupertino’s once-brilliant branding needs to kick into gear. Because right now, the toxic hellstew of Apple product names is utterly confusing.

It’s not easy to give up your iPhone. Even if you’ve already decided you want to switch to another handset, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to let go. Apple has you locked in. And for some iPhone owners, there is no way out.

That’s because it’s not just your iPhone that you’d be saying goodbye to. Many other apps and services you use every day — some without even thinking about it — make switching to another platform nearly impossible.

Here are all the ways Apple makes it hard to jump ship and switch to Android.

Sonso revealed today that it is coming out with an updated version of its popular Sonos One smart speaker over the next few weeks.

While the new speaker doesn’t feature any design or acoustic changes, it does pack some updated internals that should make it more future-proof.

Apple came out with its 13th annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, giving an inside glimpse at some of the biggest issues it’s been battling.

The 66-page report is stuffed with interesting little facts, like how many gallons of water suppliers have saved and the amount of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Apple admits it still has a lot of work to do, but the progress the company has made is pretty impressive. One of the biggest areas Apple emphasizes in its report is the people that work in the supply chain and the educational opportunities Apple is giving them.

Apple has quietly updated the female British voice for Siri. The improvements can be heard today on HomePod and iOS devices.

The update comes just a few weeks after Apple updated the male British voice. It is believed the company could be working on improvements for many of Siri’s international voices.

The 12-inch MacBook remains Apple’s smallest and most portable notebook, and it’s a great machine — especially when you get it at a big discount. Woot is currently offering refurbished 2017 models for just $829.99. It’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup.

You will also find refurbished Apple Watch Series 2 units for under $150, a delicious discount on the amazing Instant Pot, and more than half off Powerbeats3 wireless headphones. Plus, Amazon has knocked $17 off the Apple Magic Keyboard with numeric keypad again.

Apple’s HomePod smart speaker experienced 45 percent growth in the holiday quarter, according to new figures. Strategy Analytics’ report suggests that Apple sold 1.6 million HomePod speakers over the three month period.

Those numbers still put it firmly behind market leaders like Amazon and Google. Nonetheless, they show that Apple is continuing to benefit from the explosion of interest in smart speakers.

As the smart speaker market continues to pick up, Apple’s HomePod still lags behind devices from Amazon and Google. Both companies benefit from being earlier movers — and from offering products at a cheaper price point.

That’s the takeaway from a new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners that describes holiday trends for HomePod, Amazon Echo and Google Home.

You’re reading Cult of Mac, so there’s a good chance you don’t need to be told about the HomePod. But one thing you might not know about Apple’s smart speaker is that it’s cheaper at the Cult of Mac Store.

HomePod has a feature that is only available in China and could prove popular with busy parents and the kid who just wants to hear a story.

Apple’s version of a smart speaker made its debut in China and Hong Kong on Jan. 18 with the ability to command “Siri, tell me a story.”

If you want to stream different tracks on different devices from Apple Music, you’ll need two subscriptions. It was previously possible to listen to one track on your iPhone while enjoying another on HomePod in a different room, but not anymore.

Apple says this was a bug — not a feature — and it has finally been fixed.

The HomePod smart speaker is finally launching in China, Apple’s second-most important market. Having previously been teased on Apple’s China website for early 2019, the company revealed over the weekend that HomePod will go on sale on Friday, January 18.

It launched in the U.S. back in February 2018, and has since expanded to the U.K., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, and Spain.

Sonos is about to add a new weapon to its smart speakers that will help make it even more competitive against Apple’s HomePod.

The company revealed today that it plans to bring Google Assistant to its smart speakers later this year. Beta testing for the new feature has already begun, allowing Google’s Siri-competitor to be the main voice input on some Sonos speaker models.

Growing concerns about how much companies are spying on us tops our list of the most significant tech trends of 2018. Also on the list are some big changes in applications, a trend in phone design, and a new type of device that became nearly ubiquitous. 

As the new year begins, let’s take a look back at what changed for Apple and the tech world over the past 12 months.