This doesn't appear discussed in the copy: does anyone know if HomePod/(Mini) has been updated to be friendlier towards households with more than one adult user in them (families, roommates, whatever)? I initially found the HomePod alluring, but that it could pair only with one iPhone (and thus effectively one user) was a real turn-off when I last looked into it.
HomePod Mini
201–210 of 446 posts
Re: HomePod Mini
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it different though? Doesn't Siri on your phone send your recording to its backend to figure out what you need anyways? So it's just an extra step?
They explained in the video the only time it hits the Apple service is when you activate Siri (and limited to Siri queries only). This is the way to do it ...if you insist on putting smart microphones in your house.
All smart devices by Google and Amazon have similar technology
Re: HomePod Mini
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Among Apple, Amazon, and Google; only Apple's phones and tablets send your location to Apple every time you use GPS.“ This is a false statement that you continue to repeat.
This is a correct statement, which I have proven to you before. What's more, your earlier quibble about anonymizing the data doesn't even negate the statements I have made. Apple always sends your location to Apple, while Google and Amazon do not if you don't want them to. Just as you did then, you continue to ignore the even more egregious practice of not only tracking everything you install but tying it to your ide…
Even if it were true that Apple always sends a location home, which it is not, if it is anonymous, by definition it is not your location.
But that’s the least of it:
The text you quote in you your linked comment nowhere states that your location is sent to Apple every time it is requested.
That’s not a quibble. It’s much more serious
You wrote comment so you must know that what you just linked doesn’t support your actual claim, so it creates the impression you are doing this to be intentionally misleading.
Re: HomePod Mini
#204Re: HomePod Mini
#205The coolest part to me is that they're using the S5 watch SoC to power it. Pretty cool that Apple's various hardware teams can just grab a part off the shelf to use in a completely different class of device. I'd love to see them reintroduce AirPort routers powered by an A-series chip.
This is the weirdest part about working in big tech. So many teams can reuse world-class tech in other products with very little barrier to entry.
Re: HomePod Mini
#206The coolest part to me is that they're using the S5 watch SoC to power it. Pretty cool that Apple's various hardware teams can just grab a part off the shelf to use in a completely different class of device. I'd love to see them reintroduce AirPort routers powered by an A-series chip.
It seems like with Apple, any piece of tech with exactly one use tends to wither away and die. Now that the processor for the Apple Watch is on another device, it may show up somewhere else. Since this is wall powered, I don't think that bodes well for my hope that they release an Apple Watch that is smaller or has longer battery life (smaller often means smaller battery). It seems like they always bring a new SoC in…
AirPods already have their own special SoC called the H1. It's in AirPods (gen 2), AirPods Pro, and a few Beats products.
Re: HomePod Mini
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it different though? Doesn't Siri on your phone send your recording to its backend to figure out what you need anyways? So it's just an extra step?
They explained in the video the only time it hits the Apple service is when you activate Siri (and limited to Siri queries only). This is the way to do it ...if you insist on putting smart microphones in your house.
That's really nothing new. Plus you're taking their word they won't send anything.
Re: HomePod Mini
#208So here is the thing I struggle with. I have a NAS. On it is my media (music, videos, photos) collection. I do not have a subscription to Apple Music, or the reset of the streaming services and I not want one. So how do I play my own music collection with this? Right now to do this I have an AppleTV on every TV. I have an app on the AppleTV called MrMC which is basically a paid for port of Kodi for the AppleTV. The M…
The HomePod can act as audio out for any Mac/iOS device. The music app on Mac can also stream directly to HomePod. (Or you can send system audio to it as well)
Correct, but can I have Music open on a Mac with a shared library and then say to the HomePod "Play ZZY" will it be able to locate that on the share and play it? If I cannot talk to it and have it find the shared music then what is the point?
Re: HomePod Mini
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
The APIs required for Spotify to support HomePod are available, but as usual Spotify has yet to take advantage of them.
That is an interesting reversal. You could also say that the SDK for Spotify is available [1], but HomePod is yet to take advantage of them. The Spotify SDK has been available for many, many years and is integrated into many devices already. There is a long history of Apple changing the rules on Spotify [2]. Given Apple's focus on promoting their streaming services, I would not be surprised if Apple is intentionally…
Apple historically has not shown much interest in integrating direct support for third-party services, even in spaces they aren't competing in. In the few instances it has, these integrations saw little maintenance and were eventually removed. This makes some amount of sense with how rocky third-party APIs can be[1][2]. Generally, it's easier for both ends when service providers write their own integration for a given platform.
As an aside, the timeline given by Spotify is somewhat disingenuous because it doesn't include any of the times that APIs were opened up and is missing significant details about why rejections happened — for instance, early watchOS rejections (as far as I recall) had to do with the lack of a power efficient streaming API in watchOS. Once Apple had a streaming solution that was fit for public consumption (internal/private APIs almost always aren't and cleaning them up takes time), they added it to watchOS.
Don't get me wrong, I think iOS would be better if it opened up a little, but Spotify is no saint and has a tendency to embellish the story.
1: https://jod.al/2016/02/18/guide-to-poor-api-management/
2: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/2/6/16979102/sp...
Re: HomePod Mini
#210No Spotify support. Spotify’s market share is probably so large that Apple will sell fever of this speakers because of that.
The APIs required for Spotify to support HomePod are available, but as usual Spotify has yet to take advantage of them.
Spotify works great with Google Home, works great with Amazon Echo, works great with Sonos, and works great with countless other devices.
It seems like Apple is the problem here, not Spotify.