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Hive's smart home devices finally work with HomeKit
A handful of Hive's smart home devices finally work with HomeKit.
Apple's HomePod is on sale for $205
Apple's HomePod smart speaker has been discounted to $205 at OWC, making it a considerably better bargain.
Apple's rumored over-ear headphones may offer switchable magnetic parts
Apple is rumored to be working on a set of own-brand over-ear headphones.
Apple's latest acquisition could help Siri understand what you're saying
The battle between AI voice assistants continues to rage on, and now Apple has acquired a tech firm, Voysis, that is all about helping computers understand natural language. As reported by Bloomberg, the firm's now-deleted website said it could produce search results from phrases like "I need a new LED TV, my budget is $1,000." In 2017 TechCrunch interviewed CEO Peter Cahill, who pitched his company's approach as not a competitor to Siri, Assistant or Alexa, but a more general platform that businesses could use to build their own customer service bots on. Voysis is now just one of many AI startups Apple has bought in the last few years, and hopefully users will see benefits from its technology son.
Huawei made its own Siri rival called Celia
Given there's no Google Assistant on Huawei's latest devices, including the P40 series, the company has revealed its very own voice assistant called Celia. She/it/they will understand commands in English, French and Spanish and will behave an awful lot like Siri did at launch, namely some pretty basic voice interactions with core phone features. Think: weather updates, texts and phone call requests. It'll also set reminders, interact with your calendar and even translate. Huawei is hoping its attempts go better than Samsung's own Bixby voice assistant.
Apple's Siri helps Americans wondering if they have COVID-19
It's not just Alphabet's Verily offering a COVID-19 screening tool. Apple has quietly updated Siri in the US to provide a questionnaire (using US Public Health Service and CDC data) when they ask if they have the coronavirus. The voice assistant will ask if you're exhibiting symptoms like a fever or respiratory problems, and advises you to avoid contact with others if you appear infected. Siri also urges you to call 911 if your symptoms are extreme, and will point you to the App Store to download telehealth apps for remote consultations.
Beats' redesigned Powerbeats earbuds have longer battery and hands-free Siri
The only thing left to do was officially announce it. Apple's Powerbeats 4 is far from a well-kept secret at this point. The tethered wireless earbuds popped up in an FCC filing in late February. Another leak last week offered full details and images. The unannounced product even hit shelves at Walmart over the weekend. Well, the official reveal is here: Apple's latest Beats wireless earbuds are indeed a new Powerbeats device. However, they're not called Powerbeats 4, they're simply named Powerbeats.
iOS 14 might let you scroll through apps in a list view
Apple appears to be working on a new homescreen option for iOS 14 that will allow users to view their apps in a list format. Leaked code, obtained by 9to5Mac, suggests that the list format will let users sort their apps with several filters.
Powerbeats 4 leak gives a first glimpse at Apple’s new sporty earbuds
Apple's latest iteration of the Powerbeats earbuds came back in 2016, so they're well overdue an upgrade. Now, it looks like that's on its way. Images of the unannounced Powerbeats 4 have appeared online for the first time, and with Apple's new H1 wireless chip it looks like they're now on par with the Powerbeats Pro.
How home assistants ruined us, an explanation
Our situation became clear when my friend ran through Trader Joe's screaming "ALEXA WHAT TIME IS IT?" This wasn't a cringey mockumentary comedy segment. It's the way we live now. I'm certain San Francisco's sea of terrified Postmates and Prime delivery runners parted for her, trampling an Instacart personal shopper already wallowing in the misfortune of crawling along the baked goods aisle, feeling blindly under tortillas for lost earbuds. Everyone wondering if they should yell at Google or Siri to call 911. Several cameras are trained on everyone, of course, to memorialize and broadcast these special moments forever.
Apple HomePod costs just $200 in Best Buy's Black Friday sale
If you've been curious about Apple's HomePod but felt that it was too expensive even after the April price drop, now's your time to act. Best Buy is selling the smart speaker for $200 as part of its Black Friday sale, a full $100 off the usual price. It's much easier to rationalize at that cost, especially now that Apple has introduced multi-user support and allows voice-controlled Spotify playback. Some caveats still apply, though.
Siri can add items to your Walmart grocery order
Apple users who do their shopping at Walmart might be able to ditch their pen-and-paper grocery lists. Walmart Voice Order is now available in the company's Grocery App for iOS, meaning users can tell Siri to add an item to their cart, building their list until they're ready to pick up the order or have it delivered. The process seems straightforward -- say, "hey Siri, add to Walmart," and list out the items you want. This feature is only in Walmart Grocery app, as opposed the company's more general Walmart Mobile App.
Apple will fix macOS flaw exposing portions of encrypted emails
Apple is touting its claimed privacy advantage more than ever, but that's not entirely true for Mac users at the moment. The company tells Engadget it will fix a macOS flaw that leaves portions of encrypted Mail messages unprotected. Bob Gentler has discovered that a database file used by Siri (snippets.db) was storing text from emails that were otherwise supposed to be protected -- even if you remove the private key that prevents you from reading the app in Mail. While it's not the full message, it could still pose problems if a hacker has access to your system and is trawling for sensitive info.
Beats Solo Pro review
Both Apple and Beats have benefited greatly from their relationship over the last five years. Since Apple bought the headphone company in 2014, Beats has improved its gear on all fronts, from design to audio quality and even adding useful features. There's no doubting the Apple influence, especially since the latest Beats headphones pack the same chip that powers AirPods. With the Solo Pro ($299.95), we get the best intersection of the two companies yet, in a set of headphones that look good, sound great and pack in powerful features.
Apple is now presenting its privacy policy as if it were another product
It's not uncommon for users to skip reading an app's privacy policy because it's too long and jumbled. Apparently, Apple wants to change that. Today, it released a new privacy page that makes its privacy policy easier to read and understand. The new privacy page looks more like a product page than your standard screen of black and white text.
AirPods Pro review: Apple’s latest earbuds can hang with the best
As true wireless earbuds continue to evolve, companies are making them smaller and adding powerful features like active noise cancellation (ANC). They're more reliable and offer better battery life than when they first burst on to the scene, and they're becoming increasingly popular. Apple clearly knows all of this. The company's AirPods have been the most popular true wireless earbuds for a while now, despite their polarizing design. And even though the company just debuted version 2.0 back in the spring, it held something back for the holidays. The AirPods Pro were hardly a surprise. We'd heard rumors about a refined design and ANC for months. Perhaps the only real surprise is that they weren't announced at the big iPhone event in September, but instead, they quietly revealed in a press release on a Monday afternoon. The Pro model introduces a host of new features, but that comes at a cost. And the question is: Are the AirPods Pro ($249) worth the extra $50?
Lasers can silently issue 'voice commands' to your smart speakers
Laser pointers can apparently trick smart speakers, phones and tablets into following voice commands to open doors or make purchases, even from hundreds of feet away. Researchers from Tokyo and the University of Michigan have revealed that they were able to take over Google Assistant, Apple Siri and Amazon Alexa devices by shining laser pointers or flashlights at their microphones. One of the researchers, Daniel Genkin, was also part of the team that discovered the Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities.
HomePod update adds multi-user support and music handoffs
Apple just made the HomePod considerably more useful for whole households, albeit somewhat later than expected. It accompanied the release of iOS 13.2 with a corresponding HomePod update that, among other things, introduces promised multi-user support. The smart speaker now recognizes the voices of different people in your home, giving them personalized music access and other user-specific features. This isn't a new concept in the smart speaker world, but it'll be helpful if you'd rather not clutter your partner's Apple Music history with your own selections.
YouTube Music now plays nicely with Siri
Siri can now play YouTube Music, meaning you'll no longer have to choose between Apple Music or Spotify to listen through the Apple assistant. The change was made possible by iOS 13, and it works with Apple CarPlay, so you'll get hands-free control of YouTube Music as you drive.
Google Voice users can start calls and send messages with Siri
Following its latest iOS update, Google Voice now works with Siri. You can use Apple's assistant to start calls or send messages through the service. You can enable Siri control by going to the Google Voice options and marking a default account for calls outside the app. Then, you'll have to activate the Use with Siri option for the app in the iOS device settings.
