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HomePod Mini

apple.com

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Re: HomePod Mini

#231

Post by lern_too_spel »

millstone wrote: post #177
lern_too_spel wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple is consistently better on privacy, actually, than competitors. Among Apple, Amazon, and Google; only Apple's phones and tablets send your location to Apple every time you use GPS (even if you're not using an Apple app like Apple Maps!). Among those three companies, only Apple requires you to tell Apple every app you install. Among those three companies, only Apple requires you to further associate your bankin…

On the one hand, Google has compiled a petabyte scale database containing detailed day-to-day movements, trips taken, searches made, web sites visited, purchases online and offline, and more, all linked together and associated with our identities. But Apple requires a credit card to sign up for a developer account so obviously they're much worse.

One of them is collected with user consent on both iOS and Android. The other is a problem only with iOS, and you cannot opt out.

Re: HomePod Mini

#232

Post by seabrookmx »

threatofrain wrote: post #44
crooked-v wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...with the additional downside that it's from Google, and Google projects and devices have a tendency to be abandoned pretty quickly whenever their interest turns to something else.

Has Google ever abandoned consumer hardware, or their obligations to Nest customers?

The Nexus player was a bit of a debacle.

But I agree with you.. they're generally better about hardware support than software.

The "Nest" rebrand of the Google Home devices to me signifies that they're really investing in this consumer IoT product line. That and they're (arguably) the dominant player in the space.

Re: HomePod Mini

#233

Post by varenc »

The U1 ultra-wideband chip means the HomePod can be used a fixed reference point for general purpose indoor location finding! Would be great for AirTags, if those ever become a reality.

At the moment, the U1 is only be used for the nifty hold-your-iphone-close move, but I have no doubt Apple has other applications in mind. Ultra-wideband is amazing for its indoor high-resolution position finding. Down to the inch is possible. But the more reference points you have, the faster/more accurate it will be.

When used with the U1 chip also in your iPhone, having a HomePod mini around could enable Apple's forthcoming AirTags to be located more quickly/precisely. Or enable a better AR experience. They're basically GPS satellites for in-home position finding. (Ultra-wideband uses time-of-flight, just like GPS)

Re: HomePod Mini

#234

Post by lern_too_spel »

askafriend wrote: post #150
lern_too_spel wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Wrong. Go into Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> Maps and toggle the setting to "Never". The full set of options are: * Never * Ask Next Time * While Using the App * While Using the App or Widgets and there is also a toggle to turn off Precise Location so that apps only get approximate location. Go nuts with the options. I just tried it and I can use the Maps app just fine with location services set to "Nev…

Disabling Apple Maps from getting your location does not stop Apple from getting your location. When any app gets your location on iOS, Apple also gets your location. Apple even gets your location if no app requests your location. This is explained clearly in the link contained in comment you replied to. Both Amazon and Google allow you to get your location without telling anybody.

Re: HomePod Mini

#235

Post by shagie »

threatofrain wrote: post #37
llampx wrote: post #8

Can anyone with a Homepod comment on the usability compared to the Google and Amazon spy systems... err speakers?

IMO Google Assistant is still generally stronger in parsing my sentences, multi-command workflows (Siri doesn't have it), and not having all my devices wake up and respond at the same time.

This gets to a different philosophy of voice assistant computing between the companies.

Google (and Amazon) have significant cloud infrastructures. The sequence of wake -> audio clip -> cloud -> process -> command -> device --- that's how they do it.

Apple has taken a different route with a limited set of "domains" which have voice processing associated with them. These can be seen in https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit which has different apps register that they can handle different domains.

This means that Google (and Amazon) will have a stronger parsing of those sentences and commands for arbitrary queries. Siri, however, has a stronger integration with arbitrary commands that are part of an existing 'domain' being handled by an existing app.

The multiple device wake is an interesting problem (I've seen Alexa, when two devices both wake, verify that the correct one had the response). With Siri, I've seen multiple devices wake, but I haven't had multiple ones respond - I suspect there's some network traffic to decide which one has the best audio signal and ability to process the information... but that's my experience, I could very well be wrong there.

The thing is that this really goes to a difference in philosophy about how voice assistants work and integrate with different 3rd party applications.

Re: HomePod Mini

#236

Post by actuator »

millstone wrote: post #214
lern_too_spel wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the alternative (Apple) is a company that produces worse products that breach my privacy even more. You cannot get your location on an Apple device without also sending your location to Apple. You cannot install an app on your iOS device without telling Apple. If you want to make your own apps for your device, you have to deanonymize yourself even further with banking details. If you want better privacy, don'…

Yeah Google deliberately lies. That's why they're being sued by the state of Arizona, for willfully deceiving users and tracking their locations even if they opted out. [1] They said "with Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored" and then did it anyways. Apple, for its part, says "Apple doesn’t retain a history of what you’ve searched for or where you’ve been" and there's no reason to doubt it. 1…

> They said "with Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored" and then did it anyways.

I would just apply Hanlon's razor here. It most likely was a bug or oversight, if it had been some malicious evil scheme, I would assume more care would have been taken so that people don't find out.

Now, coming to the question of why do they even store it for opted in users?

Aside from potential ad relevance, I think it is simply because they power a lot of their features with context and they get better with data.

For example, if you search cheesecake on Google, the answer likely will be either a recipe or a restaurant. A restaurant search will likely be helped by data about previous visits and current location. A recipe search will be helped by past search result clicks and again location.

Do they really need to store this to serve search results? I don't think so. DDG works without them, but then again DDG performs very poor for queries like this which can be helped with context.

Note: I don't know how any of this exactly works, so these are just my assumptions.

Re: HomePod Mini

#237

Post by jon-wood »

hinkley wrote: post #183
Grazester wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the Google, Amazon and Apple spy systems? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/26/apple-con...

I fear the day Amazon buys a home security company and tries to develop a crossover device. https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/halflife7283/images/b/b...

They’re well on their way: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/...

Re: HomePod Mini

#239

Post by acolumb »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #25
ChrisLTD wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that’s why my HomePod feels so slow?

The SoC in the Homepod is old . It's the Apple A8, which was used on iPhone 6 (2014). The HomePod Mini uses Apple S5, which was in the Apple Watch 5 (2019)

Considering that the HomePod non-mini doesn’t do any on-device language processing, I don’t see a need for that much power.

Re: HomePod Mini

#240

Post by ihuman »

_ph_ wrote: post #182
myrandomcomment wrote: post #146

So 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 "big" HomePods do support Airplay, I would assume the HomePod mini does as well. But indeed, if you have AppleMusic or iTunes Match, they become more useful.

It supports the same sources as the big one, including airplay

https://www.apple.com/homepod-mini/specs/ (Audio Sources)

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