331–340 of 446 posts
No Spotify support. Spotify’s market share is probably so large that Apple will sell fever of this speakers because of that.
AirPlay enables streaming from basically any source on iOS or macOS, including Spotify.
It has a 2-second lag, and still regularly loses sync for me.
Apple didn't even bother to update macOS to support stereo homepods over Airplay.
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I don't think Apple understands what 'world class' assistant means. I've tried their intercom feature on an iPhone using Hey Siri. The message doesn't get recorded if you don't speak english. It works fine if you press and hold side button tho (my preferred way to use Siri anyway). I would probably consider Homepod or Homepod mini if they've got batteries and bluetooth. Heck they could've even used MagSafe chargers f…
You can use intercom already?
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You can use HomePods as dedicated outputs for your Apple TV 4th gen or newer. Can also work alongside your amp. Also, as stated in earlier comments, you’ll be able to use AirPlay to stream anything from your NAS via an iOS/Mac device. The only feature you’ll lose is the ability to say “hey Siri, play song x” AirPlay is lossless, too.
The only feature I care sorting is "Hey Siri play X" in the framework of the Music is on the NAS. So yah, out of luck. The current setup works very well, except I have to us a physical thing (remote or remote app on iPhone) to play something.
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Every single amazon echo device has a 3.5mm jack. And chromecast audios are going for $90 on eBay. I just want a simple solution to stream to my old speakers that isn't bluetooth or Amazon. I would've 100% bought a homepod mini if it had an audio out.
AppleTV does this. I believe you can use it as a headless sound machine. Mine has optical out.
HomePod mini works with your iPhone for requests like hearing your messages or notes, so they are completed on device without revealing that information to Apple. This is the big differentiating feature, along with the seamless integration within the rest of Apple's product line. EDIT: HomePod does this too but it was not at a price point nor size that competed with other assistants.
Meanwhile a friend of mine flat refused to even consider buying any such device, from any vendor, because he's concerned about being spied on. He cited several real incidents where vendors like Amazon had been caught listening in and sending audio clips to random subcontractors for analysis. Several huge companies, including Facebook, Google, and Amazon have made it their business to maximally violate the privacy of…
I solved this problem for my HomePod by denying it outgoing internet access on my router. Bonjour-based AirPlay support works great, and if Siri somehow became activated by accident despite my disabling it on the device, nothing could be sent to Apple.
One thing I don't quite understand about the HomeKit "ecosystem" is that there doesn't seem to be much of one... I've looked on the Apple store, the local electronics store, but everything I would expect to see in a range of smart devices are very notably absent. For example, I can't find a reasonably sized multi-port Apple HomeKit power board. I can't find motion or person presence sensors. In fact, just about the o…
Power strips: https://www.imore.com/best-homekit-power-strips
Most philips hue products are Homekit compatible, if you have a hue bridge.
As far as the “best” lighting/switch products, I would recommend Lutron Caseta. Not cheap though!
If you’d like to reliably detect when someone is home (their phone is on wifi), you can dive into Homebridge. The plug-in you want is this: https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-people
With the homebridge-people plugin, you can expose an occupancy sensor in Homekit, and trigger a scene when everyone leaves the house, for example. Or the inverse, when someone arrives home. This is more reliable than the built in Homekit location based triggers, because those work with GPS. You don’t always want your lights turning on just because you drove past your house. :)
One thing I don't quite understand about the HomeKit "ecosystem" is that there doesn't seem to be much of one... I've looked on the Apple store, the local electronics store, but everything I would expect to see in a range of smart devices are very notably absent. For example, I can't find a reasonably sized multi-port Apple HomeKit power board. I can't find motion or person presence sensors. In fact, just about the o…
Motion sensor: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Motion-Sensor-Installation-Fr... Power strips: https://www.imore.com/best-homekit-power-strips Most philips hue products are Homekit compatible, if you have a hue bridge. As far as the “best” lighting/switch products, I would recommend Lutron Caseta. Not cheap though! If you’d like to reliably detect when someone is home (their phone is on wifi), you can dive into Homebri…
It seems that vendors aren't manufacturing these for all regional power outlet formats.
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Most likely if the iOS device is new enough to have iOS14 and Intercom support, you can sell it for more than $99 and get the Homepod =)
I just asked Siri on my iPad to “tell everyone to go to bed” and it told me you can only intercom from one HomePod to another.
...but the Homepod Mini will be limited availability like the original Homepod, so I won't be getting it anyway.
One feature I wish Apple would build into this would be a 3.5mm jack or optical audio out. I have a lot of very nice speakers already in my house, but no multi-room audio, or voice assistant. I know the echos can do this, but I don’t want them spying on me.