Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

HomePod Mini

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

441–446 of 446 posts

Re: HomePod Mini

#441

Post by bzbarsky »

bsimpson wrote: post #340
noodlesUK wrote: post #281

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.

My dad watches Craigslist for old Airport Expresses because he wants to replace their Chromecast Audio with something that can talk to Apple Music, but Apple bafflingly doesn't have any current AirPlay offerings to connect external speakers.

Hey, I have a fairly old Airport Express; the box says 2004. The physical "factory reset" button doesn't seem to work anymore, but it's in a ready-to-be-configured default state (I got it there by connecting it to a network via Ethernet). It would need the old version of Airport Utility, but I'm assuming your dad knows that already, if he's looking for the old ones.

If he's interested, please let me know.

Re: HomePod Mini

#442

Post by lern_too_spel »

askafriend wrote: post #437
lern_too_spel wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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'…

> The principle is designing privacy into the default way people use things.

And Android puts it right there in device setup, allowing them tonset up their privacy preferences correctly the way people use things.

> Do you think my mom knows how to opt out of something like that on Android or if that's even possible?

If she uses Android, she would. It asks her right there in setup. Do you think your mom knows that Apple tracks every location she has ever been, and she can't make them stop? Even you don't know it, and you're arguably tech literate.

The correct way to handle privacy is giving users the choice between usability and privacy. Android does this correctly. Google's Android devices default to usable, which gives you services that are actually useful unlike the iOS apps that are missing functionality, and allows the user to install apps that are actually private and set them as default if they prefer. Other Android distributions default to the other side. iOS is worse both for people who value functionality and for people who value privacy because it gives you defaults that are neither private nor usable that you cannot change.

Re: HomePod Mini

#443

Post by seppin »

shagie wrote: post #158
seppin wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1/2 the price

With the prime day sale, it's even a smaller fraction. However, there's probably a bit of a difference with the amount of on board processing that the two devices can do. For example, my iPhone can do voice to text while on airplane mode. {guessing} Similar on board processing would allow a HomePod Mini to work with HomeKit without needing to go to the cloud - Amazon working with Hue does need to go out to the cloud…

I trust apple with privacy, I don't trust Amazon. That extra money is well worth it imo

Re: HomePod Mini

#444

Post by opless »

iamatworknow wrote: post #424
sevencolors wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a project called HomeBridge that lets other wifi/smart devices be seen on HomeKit and then can be controlled. Lots of user created plugins for a variety of things https://github.com/homebridge/homebridge

Thanks for mentioning this. I've been using a HomePod/HomeKit for a while already, but was curious if there was a way I could get my cheapo IP cameras' feeds into the Home app. I was using Zoneminder, but that was kind of overkill and a pain to use for my use case. After seeing your comment I setup HomeBridge and the homebridge-camera-ffmpeg plugin in about 10 minutes, and now I've got what I wanted. Thanks!

I also hooked my CCTV through homebridge recently with the aformentioned plugins ... it was a bonus, because with IFTTT effectively going payware, I needed to move my automation somewhere else

Re: HomePod Mini

#445

Post by bsimpson »

jen729w wrote: post #383
bsimpson wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad watches Craigslist for old Airport Expresses because he wants to replace their Chromecast Audio with something that can talk to Apple Music, but Apple bafflingly doesn't have any current AirPlay offerings to connect external speakers.

I have an AirPort Extreme he can have? It’s just in a box in the garage, I’ll ship it to you for nothing. Bit bigger than the Express obviously. Hmm I may even have a really old one of those, too.

Thanks - that's really kind!

He's interested in it to connect his speakers to AirPlay. Does your model do that?

Re: HomePod Mini

#446

Post by varenc »

lilyball wrote: post #305
varenc wrote: post #233

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…

I’d really like to see a future where HomePod Minis with the U1 enable my phone to precisely track its own location as I move throughout the house, with automations as I go from room to room, or with songs following me between rooms, or letting me ask Siri for a precise location of my phone.

The U1 and the Homepod-Mini really will make this possible! It seems like you'd need more than one Homepod to easily triangulate position, but by leveraging the precise accelerometers on the phone and taking multiple distance measurements from the Homepod's U1 chip, that alone might be enough to give you pretty precise location.
Post reply on HN