HomePod is a sophisticated computer dedicated to the task of producing immersive, room-filling sound. That's not all it can do, however. Equipped with the same A8 processor as Apple TV 4, it can also serve as a HomeKit hub for choreographing home accessories, even enabling remote access to your devices. Here's an in-depth look.
App-enabled doorbell manufacturer Ring has been bought by Amazon, adding to its lineup of security-related home automation products — but work and certification of HomeKit for the Ring Pro and Floodlight are still ongoing.
While the Apple HomePod is the "best sounding" smartspeaker and has a "measurably better" user experience in many areas, its underlying AI assistant — Siri — failed dramatically in a query test versus Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana, according to Loup Ventures.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple all have voice assistants vying for attention, and all are moving the concept of computer-human voice interaction forward. AppleInsider offers an abbreviated history of how we got here and the capabilities of these assistants and their devices in anticipation of HomePod. What do these things do? What do people use them for? And what is Apple doing differently?
After a teaser suggested new voice options could be coming to Alexa, the release of Amazon's full Super Bowl spot reveals it was all just a joke, setting up a primetime ad where celebrities substitute in for Alexa — and poorly.
With days to go before the launch of Apple's Siri-powered HomePod smart speaker, Amazon will unveil changes to its own personal assistant, Alexa, likely to come in the form of new voice options.
Consider Apple's release of a new music-oriented device priced higher than its perceived competitors—which have already established an enthusiastic audience base over the past few years. How can it possibly survive in such a difficult position? The answer was: by being better in key ways that matter to users. iPod went on to become a legendary franchise in personal audio. Now Apple is doing the same thing again in home audio with HomePod.
People wanting to make use of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant will soon be able to talk to it through the company's iOS app, instead of depending on an Echo speaker or other compatible device.
Amazon won't be the first company to deploy its Alexa voice assistant in glasses, with Vuzix stepping up to the plate to do so in mid-2018.
In a first for the app, Amazon Alexa has topped Apple's U.S. App Store charts, backing claims that the Echo Dot speaker was the top-selling item on Amazon.com during the holidays.
The HomePod — now due in 2018 — will mark Apple's first real attempt at making Siri an "ambient" voice assistant. Arguably, though, the company needs to push a lot harder if it wants people to choose Siri over alternatives from Amazon and Google.
The Sonos One may be the best smartspeaker you can buy — and with its pricetag and upcoming features, will probably pose a serious threat to Apple's HomePod.
Introduced this summer at WWDC17, Apple's HomePod was immediately positioned next to Amazon Echo and Google Home by bloggers as a "smart speaker" serving primarily as a way to chat with a voice assistant. But that's not how Apple introduced it.
Sonos on Wednesday launched the $199 Sonos One, a smartspeaker with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, as well as support for Apple AirPlay 2 and Google Assistant coming in 2018.
In an industry first, Amazon and Microsoft have announced that people will soon be able to access Alexa from Cortana, and vice versa, including through iOS.
Sonos on Tuesday sent out a media invitation to an Oct. 4 press event in New York City, where the company is expected to reveal its all-but-announced smartspeaker with support for voice commands.
Sonos is developing a new Wi-Fi-enabled speaker with built-in voice control, which should moreover support "multiple voice platforms," according to a newly-published filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
In a potential shot at Apple's AirPlay 2 as well as speaker maker Sonos, Amazon is rumored to be preparing its own multi-speaker, multi-room music technology, which could come to existing Echo devices via a software update.
Apple's HomePod aims to further expand Siri assistance outside of iOS devices, Apple Watch, Macs, the Apple TV Remote and AirPods into the same sort of "always ready" home experience delivered by Amazon's Echo, even as it upgrades audio reproduction quality in the emerging "smart speaker" segment into the realm of affordable luxury.
Amazon has announced that its voice recognition Alexa family of devices can now read from and save changes and additions to Apple's iCloud Calendar.
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Daniel Eran Dilger
Mike Wuerthele
Roger Fingas
Victor Marks
Neil Hughes
