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Apple Announces Its 'Next Breakthrough' Product: the HomePod (techcrunch.com)
Apple unveiled its home speaker during WWDC 2017 on Monday. The device, called HomePod, will go toe-to-toe with existing competitors such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Apple said it wanted to combine good speakers with smart speakers you can talk to, referencing Sonos and Amazon Alexa. It said the speaker "needs to rock the house" free from distortion. It also needs to have "spatial awareness" to make the music sound good no matter the room size. It also needs to be fun to use, Apple said, adding that the HomePod does all of this with a customer's privacy in mind. From a report: The device is a pill-shaped circular speaker. It has 7 beam-forming tweeter array. It has a custom-made woofer and an Apple A8 chip. It has multi-channel echo cancellation, real-time acoustic modeling and more. The HomePod can scan the space around it to optimize audio accordingly. Schiller spent a lot of time talking about how good it sounds. Of course the speaker works well with Apple Music. You can talk to the speaker to play anything in your Apple Music library and more. You can say "play more songs like that," or "I like this song." [...] It's going to cost $349. It comes in white and space grey. It starts shipping in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. Other countries will get HomePods next year.
And I say, tread carefully.
That does actually sound like some interesting tech.
I didn't want the Echo. I didn't want the Home. I don't want this, either.
In fact, I'm not exactly sure why anyone would want something like this. I really don't want something in my home that's always listening and potentially sending my speech out to computers that I don't control.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
specifically twiggy and a girl twiggy from buck rogers I converted from one of those 10 hour youtube videos
bidibidibidibidi
and I have to buy & participate in Apple's closed, expensive ecosystem just to run it?
No thanks
Funny what a quick Google search turns up...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keecker/keecker-the-worlds-first-homepod
I thought a HomePod was one of those cytoplasm-filled things with a human in it, from the Matrix movies.
"Apple said, adding that the HomePod does all of this with a customer's privacy in mind."
Bullshit.
Really not worth it
copying Amazon?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
> Apple's HomePod ... has a custom-made woofer and an Apple A8 chip.
Can it run Vocaloid (support for playing or even editing / composing in .vsqx format songs)? That's nowadays expected of all "smart" things, incl. robot vacuum cleaners in glorious Nippon.
I have a Rythmik F15 sub with a 15" driver.
I can't imagine listening to bass on a wimpy 4" driver. You want at _least_ a 10" driver for music, bigger for movies.
Who is this targeted at? All the iHipsters who thinks Beats headphones sound good??
Looks like a skein of yarn. Something that the cat would tuck away behind the houseplants.
don't want marketing tailored to your personal needs. Are you a communist?
What's that in the summary about keeping the consumer's privacy in mind? Where did that come from? The word "privacy" does not appear in TFA.
It's a sad state of the industry where Apple feels it's important to mention what color the device will be, but not any privacy benefits (presumably because it doesn't have any).
If there is real information that shows privacy advantages of HomePod viz. Amazon Echo and Google Home, I would love to see it. But I'm not optimistic -- from where I'm sitting it looks like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook are in a race to the bottom.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Three Apple stories. What is this Slashdot or gay news?
Room correction is nice and all but I already have Sonos or B&W speakers is every room. I want a product that integrates with the speakers I already have. I don't want a $349 speaker when I have a $700 Sonos soundbar and $2500 B&W 800 series speakers. I want an Echo Dot type cheapo device with digital out that I can use to feed my Marantz HD-DAC which in turn runs to my Marantz amp and that has Wi-Fi integration with Sonos. All the Dot really needs is a digital out. I'll forgive the lack of Sonos integration if it just gets a digital out.
So it's either DoA or being built by the MacPro design team.
That's what I was thinking when I read this. Speaker selection is very personal for those that care, so why up the price of the device by trying to put good sound in? Better to just get an old laptop with Kodi on it and put it on the stereo you like, or Squeezebox (Logitech Mediaserver) is great for music. I'm a little confused though why you would expect Apple to work with Sonos devices, both seem to have their own proprietary walled gardens. If you want things to work together you have to go open-source.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
No s***, a $349 speaker system to play Apple Music?
"will go toe-to-toe with existing competitors such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home"
That doesn't appear to be what this is.
It's a JBL OnAir with voice commands. And maybe wifi that doesn't continually disconnect and fail to reconnect.
Not with $350 to me, but I suspect some will want it.
I want Nintendo to make a home speaker, and I want them to call it the HomeBoy, and I want Flavor Flav to star in the commercials. And, it would be cool, because it would know what TIME it is.
sig: sauer
It just seems a massive strategic oversight that this isn't going to be ready until December. Most of the world will probably be waiting till this time next year to get their hands on the units. Any hype they hoped to generated with the announcement will have been long forgotten by December, and the delay will give Google/Amazon plenty of time to develop a game plan to disrupt their launch. I mean, what is the point of keeping it secret if you're going to make everyone wait 7 months before they can get it?
I remember Jobs once pointed out that one of the most important sentences Apple included in their keynotes was 'ships now'. He was right. Since the whole airpod delays I thought they would have got this stuff under control.
n/t
At $50....how can I not be happy? And if I want better sound, it has a 3.5mm jack (because Amazon doesn't have the "courage" to remove it) and bluetooth.....hell for $350....I can put one in every room in my house.
Apple will soon claim the HomePod to be prior art, and sue both the Amazon Echo and Google Home.
Homepod is just another unremakable doohickey designed to help separate you from your money in ever conceivable way.
It;s in the same vein as all the "new" social media stuff....
2002, Friendster: At last, a way to connect with friends on the internet! ....and so on and so forth.........
2003, Photobucket: At last, a way to post pictures on the internet!
2003, Myspace: At last, a way to connect with friends on the internet!
2004, Flickr: At last, a way to post pictures on the internet!
2004, Facebook: At last, a way to connect with friends on the internet!
2005, YouTube: At last, a way to post video on the internet!
2005, Bebo: At last, a way to connect with friends on the internet!
2006, Twitter: At last, a way to post text on the internet!
2008, Vimeo: At last, a way to post video on the internet!
2010, Instagram: At last, a way to post pictures on the internet!
2013, Vine: At last, a way to post video on the internet!
2013, YikYak: At last, a way to post text on the internet!
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Half the functionality at twice the price!
Hey, don't forget me too!
what a bullshit company
"HomePod [...] existing competitors such as the Amazon Echo"
Amazon Echo is a competitor for/a ripoff of the HomePod! Nuclear war! Dig up the great Steve!
That's because you enjoy quality listening. Most people don't care at all. Look at the beats listening generation....
That's a lot to pay but it isn't out of the range of similar products, aka Sonos. Thing is, afaik, all the Sonos units are still supported. That's a 12 year lifespan now, which is unheard of for the likes of Apple or Google. It means Sonos are constrained on new fancy features sometimes, but I don't have to re-buy speakers every 3 years.
"Skein" is now trending.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Will the acolytes of the Church of Steve forgive me for confessing that I am totally and completely UNDERWHELMED?
And now Apple joins Google and Amazon in selling customers surveillance devices with their customer's privacy "in mind." Yeah, "in mind," like the way the NSA has your privacy "in mind." Why anyone would want to scatter microphones around their house that may broadcast their most intimate conversations to unknown third parties across the internet, particularly in a world riddled with Reality TV, revenge porn, and all kinds of other purient voyeurism that companies large and small are falling over themselves to monetize is beyond me. Not to mention how private conversations could be subpoenaed, taken out of context, and used to paint a very unflattering picture of anyone who ever speaks their mind in private.
Yeah, we'd all like to have a star trek interface to our computer, but not if it sends every grunt, groan, and thoughtless comment to central command for their review (or simply archives it "just in case", or is simply vulnerable to your local Kinky Klingon to hack for the pleasure of violating your privacy "because they can.").
We think webcams and laptops are bad in terms of security? They've got nothing on this crap.
But go ahead, run out and buy the shiny new toy.
Sucker.
wow, Apple just invented smart wireless speakers!
Well, you have you remember they didn't have much time to get a better name.
When you innovate by chasing ambulances you don't have time to polish the turd..
Come an Apple, don't your cult members deserve better than another me too product to empty their wallets and put them for under your control?
I'm getting a huge kick out of reading all the critiques of this device...considering that nobody who loves or hates it has ever seen one in person.
How about this, guys...let's actually wait until they start selling them to decide how much they rock/suck balls? You know, just an idea...
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
1. it's only listening for "Hey Siri", until then there's no IO from the mic subsystem
2. it only talks over the network when you make a request
3. communicatons to/from the server are anonymized and encrypted
There's not a lot of tech detail there, but they did talk about it and Apple business model is clearly based on user privacy (not sure what rock you've been living under).
Excellent! Another Apple product not to buy. As always: Fuck Apple
Not your iPad, your pad-pad, man!
Well, I guess it really is true. Apple has become too big to be innovative anymore. The Woz quote:
Interestingly enough, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes that Apple’s time as an innovative company may be coming to an end.
If they don't care at all then why do they need a decent speaker?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I can do this today by having my iPhone connected via Bluetooth to my home stereo system, and with the phone sitting on the table across the room just use "Hey Siri". There are some usability gaps and missing features, though, as well as some nonworking edge cases, and now I know why they'll never be implemented or fixed. I'd much rather use Airplay, or my slick 3.5mm headphone jack, or even USB, to connect to a real sound system than spend more money and use a unit like this.
However, if I had just gotten out of college and have income from my first job and share an apartment and just want one of these in my room
https://media.giphy.com/media/...
This will go over like a fart through a keg of nails.
but they popularized it with the Apple I/II. On the Smart Phone front they broke the stranglehold that the cell companies had that had stagnated technology in the West. They brought Unix to the desktop without having to fight with your wi-fi. Heck the whole Personal Digital Assistant thing was theirs (Siri).
They've done cutting edge before. This isn't it. And that's kinda telling. At the moment their following, not leading.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Not only can not Apple Ink change the "Bottle Size" or "Toner Color" these days but Emperor Timmy (Timothy Donald Cook) evokes "HomeTree" from the film Avatar in the "NEW" and "EXTRAORDINARY" Apple Ink Creation, HomePod!
The Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency will be laughing and jumping to delight over THIS Timmy creation!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCZDWZFtyWY
Ha haha jajajajajajjaja
I suppose they would've used 'iHome' if that weren't already a brand name of electronics. If they're targeting the "high-end Bluetooth speaker" market, that happens to be able to tie in to the connected iDevice's OS, that angle could work. People are used to shitty $10 Bluetooth speakers, and if the speakers are really as great as they say, it should be a big improvement over the competition, particularly if the comparison is Google Home type devices. I wonder how sales will compare to the Apple Watch; I see some people wear them but noone talks about them anymore.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Yawn. My Mac already does all these things, with the addition of a $50 bookshelf stereo system, which conveniently can pick up FM radio (can the new iFlop do that?) plays CDs which I still have a ton of, AND I can put my entire music collection on a USB stick and can listen to ANY of it at all, while paying Apple precisely zero additional dollars and zero additional cents AND I don't have to put up with that utterly useless pain in the ass "Siri."
when Apple would finally get around to making their own Skynet Access Point
Because for most or many people who'll buy this, that'll be their nicest speaker?
Or perhaps, because this is like what the young use : a bluetooth speaker where everything is integrated (bluetooth receiver i.e. a tiny integrated computer with bluetooth and DAC ; speaker, amp, battery, a jack input)
Additionally, many or even most people don't know crap about cabling and setting things up. Even in the mid-2000s people were surprised when talking them into connecting a PC to an amp or a hifi system, asked how I or they could do that. It's very easy : jack to RCA cable and maybe input selection, and setting up volumes half way correctly. But this wasn't "intuitive" to them, nor do they always know that the $3 cable will sound awesome, no need to consider other ones.
In fact, a tiny little thing has helped people connect their mobile players or phones or whatever to better sound : 3.5mm jack input on amps and receivers, radio/CD/MP3 combos, bluetooth speakers (which also have bluetooth obviously), and even 3.5mm jack line input on computer speakers next to the headphone jack and volume knob.