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Samsung says its smart speaker will arrive in the second half of 2018
We've known for awhile now that Samsung was working on its own smart speaker, an answer to Apple's HomePod. It appears that the speaker, which will run Samsung's voice assistant Bixby, will debut in the second half of 2018 according to The Wall Street Journal.
Spotify’s hardware ambitions seem like a risky distraction
Look, it's no secret that Spotify is out to make its own hardware. As of last April, Spotify was already looking for people to help craft "a category-defining product akin to Pebble Watch, Amazon Echo and Snap Spectacles." (In hindsight, Spotify's HR team probably should've left that last thing off the list.) More recently, a new set of job listings for hardware-production managers and operations manager suggest Spotify is finally gearing up to build... well, whatever these things are. Consider us skeptical. After all, this is a company with zero hardware and supply-chain experience — the odds of striking it big with gadgets don't seem great.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 streams music to multiple Bluetooth devices
Qualcomm's newest flagship platform, the Snapdragon 845, already promises a lot of things to be excited about in terms of its graphics, camera support and AI processing, and now the company has announced a Broadcast Audio function, which will let users stream music to numerous Bluetooth devices simultaneously. So a group could listen to the same music via Bluetooth headphones, for example, or you could play a podcast throughout your house via multiple speakers. And with automatic retransmission and packet-loss concealment, the feature promises near-perfect synchronization.
Spotify might be building a smart speaker of its own
Spotify appears to be working a smart speaker that it says will be "category defining," according to new job listings. "Spotify is on its way to creating its first physical products and set up an operational organization for manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing," one ad states. So far, it has relied on other products like Google's Assistant, Amazon Echo and Sonos One to stream its service. However, Apple recently launched its HomePod speaker with only native Apple Music support, showing Spotify's need to take action on its own hardware.
Don't even try to repair Apple's HomePod
You may not like the thought of paying Apple a pretty penny to fix the HomePod, but you might have to -- it definitely isn't meant for DIY repairs. An iFixit teardown has revealed a clever design that makes good use of a tiny space, but is also nigh-on inaccessible. It appears that you can pull the fabric mesh off with a drawstring, but almost everything else requires tearing things apart. Many parts are glued on (including the top and bottom), and there's one seam so thoroughly sealed that iFixit needed a hacksaw and ultrasonic cutter to get in. If there's a non-destructive way to get in, it's not obvious.
HomePod repairs cost nearly as much as a new speaker
If you're getting a HomePod, be sure to place it somewhere safe... depending on what you break, it might be expensive to get a fix. Apple has updated its support pages to reveal that an out-of-warranty HomePod repair will cost $279 (£269). Throw in the shipping fee ($20 US, or £13) for a mail-in repair and you're not far off from the price of a brand new smart speaker. This is one of those times where the AppleCare extended warranty ($78 if you include the incident fee, or £68) may be the better value, at least if you're in a household where an accident is a real possibility.
Alexa can send SMS messages using your voice
To date, messaging with Alexa has meant sending screeds using Amazon's in-house system, which doesn't do you much good if your recipient doesn't have an Echo speaker. You won't have to be quite so selective from now on, however, as Amazon has added support for SMS messaging through Alexa-capable devices connected to Android phones (there's no word on iOS). You can explicitly tell the voice assistant to "send an SMS," but it will also pick SMS automatically if you message a contact that doesn't have an Echo.
Sony LF-S50G smart speaker review: A solid Google Home alternative
The options for Alexa- and Google Assistant–powered speakers have exploded, as evidenced by companies adding voice control to any and every device at the last two CESes. As is typically the case when pretty much everyone hops on a bandwagon, there's some good and a lot of bad. The concept of voice control is still new to a lot of people, so when they do splurge for that first device, it had better work right. Sony's LF-S50G harnesses the smarts of Google Assistant to do just that, but it's far from perfect.
Amazon teases Alexa Super Bowl ad starring Jeff Bezos
If you want a good barometer of how far Amazon Alexa has come, you just need to look at the company's teaser for its Super Bowl LII ad. Where Amazon's first-ever Super Bowl commercial was eager to sell you on the still-unproven Echo using as much star power as possible, the biggest star (so far) in the teaser is Jeff Bezos -- you know, the company's own CEO. The clip has Bezos giving the tentative go-ahead for a sketchy Alexa replacement after the AI assistant loses her voice.
Apple details the energy use of its always-on HomePod speaker
Now that the HomePod is nearly here, Apple is dribbling out details of what its first smart speaker will do... including, apparently, that it's a power miser. The company has posted environmental data showing that the HomePod uses no more than 9.25W of power when playing music at 50 percent volume. As MacRumors noted, that's less than the consumption of a typical LED light bulb (such as the 10W of a Philips Hue A19). You're going to use more power if you crank it up, of course, but you probably won't cringe at your electricity bill if you stream music all day.
Apple's HomePod smart speaker will ship February 9th
Apple's own vision for the future of home audio, the HomePod smart speaker, will begin shipping on February 9th. Pre-orders for the device open this Friday, January 26th, and are open to users in the US, UK and Australia, while those in France and Germany will be waiting until the "spring." It will, as expected, be priced at $349 / £319, and is available in either White or Space Grey.
Apple may be close to launching its HomePod speaker
Apple's HomePod has been sitting in limbo for the better part of a year, but a few new clues suggest that it's on the cusp of launching -- and hint at what it can do. To begin with, the HomePod recently received FCC approval. The filing itself doesn't reveal anything shocking about the device (surprise, it's a wireless speaker), but it clears a key hurdle and suggests the hardware, at least, is ready to go. And crucially, a recent iOS release both supports the possibility of an upcoming release and hints at what the HomePod can do.
One in six Americans owns a smart speaker, according to study
There's no doubt that smart speakers are selling like hotcakes, but how many people own them, exactly? Quite a few, according to NPR and Edison Research. They've published findings of a study which estimates that one in six Americans (16 percent) owns a smart speaker of some kind -- a huge amount if the study is precise, and a whopping 128 percent higher than a year earlier. About 7 percent of Americans reportedly bought at least one speaker between Black Friday (November 24th) and then end of 2017, with 4 percent of Americans having bought their very first speaker.
Ashley Chloe wants to build a modular smart speaker in 2019
Headphone company Ashley Chloe is thinking about building a modular smart speaker that will create a whole ecosystem of products around it. The firm turned up to CES with a concept device — little more than an industrial design model — that, if there's enough interest, may become a real product by the end of 2019.
ASUS' new Lyra routers are seriously unconventional
ASUS has developed an interesting habit. Forget routers with subtle designs that blend into your living room -- the company has started making routers that look... unusual, to say the least. Case in point: The Blue Cave router that launched at Computex last year. At CES, ASUS unveiled the Lyra Trio, a triangular mesh router that looks like a wonky iron, and the Lyra Voice. The latter is a mesh router that doubles as a stereo speaker with Alexa built in. Both will be available sometime in the first half of 2018, but ASUS hasn't revealed a price yet.
Google sold a Home speaker every second since the Mini launch
It's been difficult to gauge how well smart speakers are selling outside of unofficial estimates, but Google just provided a clearer picture. The search firm revealed that it has sold "more than one" Home speaker per second since the Home Mini started shipping on October 19th. If you perform some back-of-the-napkin math, that suggests Google sold at least 6.4 million speakers between the Mini's debut and the end of 2017. Google hasn't split those sales by device, but it's safe to say that many (if not most) were Minis.
Toshiba's Symbio is both a security camera and Alexa speaker
Toshiba has integrated a dizzying number of devices into one with its new Symbio. It's an Alexa-powered smart speaker, security camera, intercom, smart home hub that's compatible with Z-Wave or Zigbee, and sound detector. Using the iOS or Android-powered Toshiba Smart Home app, you can "control everything from lights and music to door locks and temperature settings, from any location -- at home, at the office or out of town," the company claims.
Apple adds a Siri-powered news briefing to the latest iOS beta
Apple's delayed HomePod is coming to challenge smart speakers from Amazon and Google. The device will use Siri as its intelligent assistant front end, and is supposed to sound pretty good to boot. Now, according to a report at 9to5Mac and confirmed on our own iPhones, Siri includes a new ability to play you a podcast when asked what the news is.
LG unveils its first smart speaker with Google Assistant
LG is acting on its promise to unveil a slew of AI-powered gadgets at CES this January. The tech giant has unveiled a 2018 speaker lineup headlined by the ThinQ Speaker, a Google Assistant-powered device that promises "premium" sound alongside its smarts. It supports lossless high-resolution audio like LG's more advanced phones, and uses Meridian Audio's know-how to pump out "more natural and warm" music. The launch also hints that many of LG's newer appliances will be Assistant-savvy -- the company envisions turning on your air purifier with a voice command.
Wink pairs with Sonos to auto-tune your smart home
Sonos announced it was opening up its ecosystem a couple months back and, sure enough, controls for Tidal and Pandora followed, with Airplay 2 support also inbound. Unsurprisingly, its upcoming Alexa integration hogged the limelight, but the smart speaker-maker also promised smart home partnerships with the likes of Wink and Alarm.com, among others. Fast forward more than two months, and the Wink team-up is now a reality, courtesy of the Wink Hub 2's compatibility with all Sonos products.
