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HomePod Mini

apple.com

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Re: HomePod Mini

#431

Post by lern_too_spel »

zepto wrote: post #265
lern_too_spel wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if it is anonymous, by definition it is not your location. That's a really wacky contortion. Whose location is it then? > nowhere states that your location is sent to Apple every time it is requested. You're right. It's worse than that. I pointed out in that post that Apple periodically gets your location even if no app requests it. Apple also says that you consent to having your location collected every time anoth…

1. Whose location is this: 38.0826966°, -122.0144075°? 2. “ so even if it is not true now ” This is you admitting that you actually don’t know that they are doing what you said they were doing. You actually have no idea what Apple is collecting. You are just speculating based on a legal disclaimer about what they could be doing. 3. “ it can be true tomorrow .” Again you admit that you know that it may not be true. As…

> Whose location is this: 38.0826966°, -122.0144075°?

That is not the data that is stored. You are deliberately lying because you yourself said that an encrypted identifier is stored with the data. As I already proved to you earlier, that encrypted identifier can be deanonymized by Apple.

> This is you admitting that you actually don’t know that they are doing what you said they were doing.

I showed that they were doing worse than what I had originally claimed, and you ignored that.

> You lied

You're the one who lied in my previous comment. Go see what it says. You can't even argue semantics like you're doing here.

Remember, the whole point is that on Google and Amazon allow you to turn off this data collection entirely, which is significantly better for privacy, and you have not been able to argue otherwise. Worse, you continue to ignore the app data tied to your identity. You are arguing for a bad actor, which makes you look absolutely silly, like somebody who was duped into overpaying for a worse device who feels the need to justify their foolishness to the world.

By the way, here's proof that they're not just making you consent to that scary privacy disclaimer for shits and giggles as you hoped against hope that they did: https://www.wired.com/2011/04/apple-iphone-tracking/

Re: HomePod Mini

#432

Post by tomcam »

We own four of the standard HomePods. They are supposed to be stereo pairable. They are, but several times a week they either plain don’t work, lose the channel, or play different music on each channel.

Generally speaking, while the sound is excellent that user interface and implementation are atrocious.

Re: HomePod Mini

#433

Post by lern_too_spel »

askafriend wrote: post #244
lern_too_spel wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Apple doesn't not get _your_ location without an app requesting it. They periodically send the location of nearby cell-towers and wifi hotspots (all public information) back to a crowdsourced database. _Your_ identity isn't associated with any of it. Apple doesn't know who you are or where your phone is. They do not store GPS coordinates. A single cell tower is nowhere near accurate enough to determine the location o…

> They periodically send the location of nearby cell-towers and wifi hotspots (all public information) back to a crowdsourced database.

With your GPS location. That's how they figure out the location of those devices.

> _Your_ identity isn't associated with any of it.

As I showed in the link you continue to ignore, an easily deanonymized identifier is associated with that data in order to prevent people from sending junk data.

> Google/Android do this too:

The whole point is that on Android, you can opt out. Android respects users privacy enough to even ask them if they want to opt out on initial setup.

> You can also entirely disable location services if you're uncomfortable with this and that'd stop it.

As I explained in the link, disabling location services means you can't get your location at all. Not so with Android.

> You're weaponizing people's ignorance and the complexity of the technical details.

I'm fixing your and zepto's ignorance in order to protect people's privacy against bad actors like Apple.

Re: HomePod Mini

#434

Post by lern_too_spel »

millstone wrote: post #272
lern_too_spel wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The Arizona lawsuit tracks the many ways that Google manufactures "consent", from deliberately confusing UIs, to pushing software updates that automatically change settings without informing the user. It even documents cases of Google engineers who thought they had opted out, but were not. And this is ignoring the tons of non-consensual tracking, such as purchasing credit card history, the DoubleClick/GTags/Analytics…

> The Arizona lawsuit tracks the many ways that Google manufactures "consent"

That lawsuit is completely irrelevant to the question of which devices provide more privacy.

> Maybe you can get an Android phone and thoroughly deGooglefy it by flashing LineageOS or whatever.

You don't have to do that. Just don't use apps that use Google services. Done. It's that simple. On Apple devices, you have no choice but to give up your privacy. Worse, you give up your privacy to use garbage services that are less useful than their Google and Amazon counterparts.

Re: HomePod Mini

#435

Post by varenc »

ehsankia wrote: post #426
occamschainsaw wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very limited version of this feature is used in AirDrop with U1 equipped iPhones. Just point your phone to the phone you are transferring to and it shows up in the AirDrop share sheet.

Was that actually implemented / tested? I remember hearing about it but I never saw anyone mention or test it in any reviews. Does it actually work well?

It does exist, and it works! But both phones need U1 chips, meaning iPhone 11s and above.

One thing that's cool about this is that iOS must be using the slight movements of the phone in your hand to help triangulate the other phone. Ultra-wideband position finding relies on time-of-flight, so from a single reference point you only know the precise distance something is from you, and not its direction. To get around, my guess is iOS is using the accelerometers in the phone to measure slight changes a phones position, and then using multiple ultra-wideband distance measurements from those different positions to triangulate the other phone.

Re: HomePod Mini

#436

Post by thefunnyman »

tupputuppu wrote: post #367
Angostura wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whereas my family say that it is the best Apple gizmo we own. It sits in the kitchen and typically only gets used for Playing music setting timers adding things to the shopping list answering stupid google queries during dinner. All of which it does with aplomb. But it was bought because wanted a great sounding smart speaker

For me, asking Siri on my iPhone 11 Pro to play music from Spotify is always an adventure. Last it played me Spanish female singers, and before that I got acquainted with Japanese jazz! Then there's the 20% of times it freezes for around 20 seconds before replying, and the other 20% of time it just says "there's an error, please retry".

The fact that you can’t specify a default music app on iOS also bothers me quite a bit. On Android, assistant knew what app to use so I could just ask it to play something and not have to specify “on Spotify “. Of course this problem extends to loads of other apps on iOS.

Re: HomePod Mini

#437

Post by askafriend »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #433
askafriend wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't not get _your_ location without an app requesting it. They periodically send the location of nearby cell-towers and wifi hotspots (all public information) back to a crowdsourced database. _Your_ identity isn't associated with any of it. Apple doesn't know who you are or where your phone is. They do not store GPS coordinates. A single cell tower is nowhere near accurate enough to determine the location o…

> They periodically send the location of nearby cell-towers and wifi hotspots (all public information) back to a crowdsourced database. With your GPS location. That's how they figure out the location of those devices. > _Your_ identity isn't associated with any of it. As I showed in the link you continue to ignore, an easily deanonymized identifier is associated with that data in order to prevent people from sending…

> The whole point is that on Android, you can opt out.

The principle of Privacy isn't the act of giving people options (Facebook uses this excuse all the time - "but users had the option! not our fault!").

The principle is designing privacy into the default way people use things. At an ecosystem level the privacy awareness level and incentive structure is clear between the big companies.

Nitpicking and hyperbole isn't helping make your point like you think it is. Do you think my mom knows how to opt out of something like that on Android or if that's even possible? No. But she's IS going to be using Apple Maps by default and have a heightened level of privacy all the same.

Privacy is taking care of your entire customer base and making intelligent default considerations. Not giving nerds a pane of options.

Re: HomePod Mini

#438

Post by 72deluxe »

JshWright wrote: post #416
72deluxe wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Audio fidelity! CDs were better than cassettes, even the later metal coated tape! CDs had no easily-discernable hiss for the most part (although a few early tape to CD transmissions were very hissy). Having said that, cassetes were far more robust and I regret getting rid of my Walkman with Bass Boost, that's for sure.

So? I'm sure you could understand the words just fine on cassette. Wanting to hear a bit less hiss in your recreational music listening seems like a pretty "first world problem" to me...

Good point!! You have highlighted my foolish complaint!

Re: HomePod Mini

#439

Post by thirdsun »

myrandomcomment wrote: post #208
turtlebits wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I would assume that it takes your local iTunes library into account, but apparently it doesn't: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/advq56/cannot_make...

Re: HomePod Mini

#440

Post by 72deluxe »

TYPE_FASTER wrote: post #412
72deluxe wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it odd that you say you're not a huge fan of providing audio to Amazon, yet have bought a few devices that actually do that and then have proceeded to put them into your home...? For someone who isn't a fan of providing audio, you seem to have willfully done so. I am genuinely confused.

They are not currently plugged in, and I don't have any plans to do so.

Sorry, I misunderstood you saying that you had them to indicate they were in use.
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