Apple’s surprise January resurrection of the original HomePod arrived with a handful of new software features. One of the more intriguing of the bunch was sound recognition for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. When the smart speaker hears the alarm, it will send a notification to your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. It’s a nice addition for those who don’t own a connected detector, adding peace of mind when you’re not home. The feature is finally available starting today for HomePod and HomePod mini owners, accessible via the Home app. Once set up, it will serve the notification up on the iPh ..read more

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could be working on a new HomePod device that would feature a built-in display for 2024. The rumor seems to be based on third-party supply chain companies, such as Tianma, a Chinese display manufacturer. This new product in the HomePod lineup would look completely different from existing HomePods as it would feature a seven-inch display. In other words, it would look like a speaker with a small tablet (or a small tablet with a speaker) like the Amazon Echo Show or Google’s Nest Hub. Kuo believes that Apple is in the middle of revamping its smart home st ..read more

Maybe nothing ever truly dies in Apple land. The Mac Pro went on an indefinite hiatus as the hardware design team regrouped and reengineered. MagSafe appeared to be gone forever, only to be reborn in altered form on MacBooks of recent vintage. Various models and sizes across different lines have been phased out, only to return again. When the second gen HomePod goes on sale tomorrow, it won’t be entirely without precedent. But even so, this one feels different. In March 2021, Apple announced that its premium smart speaker was going away. The statement was uncharacteristically conclusive from t ..read more

Welcome to the dark night of the smart speaker. A few years back, the category felt inevitable — and, frankly, why not? We’ve smartened our phones and watches. Why shouldn’t our homes be the next step? For decades, many looked longingly at home automation. Smart blinds that opened with your alarm clock might as well have been magic — or, at the very least, the domain of those with money to burn. Suddenly, however, a new generation of the technology arrived with the promise of a (relatively) affordable entry point into home control. Smart lights, smart smoke detectors, smart locks, smart doorbe ..read more

Ditching HomePod was a strange choice. At the time, Apple told us, “HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall, offering customers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and smart home control all for just $99. We are focusing our efforts on HomePod mini.” While the smart home hasn’t panned out precisely the way Apple or its competition hoped (just ask Amazon), the company never took its eye off that ball. HomeKit — and all it entails — is still a central piece of the company’s strategy, and getting Siri, the Home app, etc. into the home is still an important goal — another key br ..read more

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. Global spending across iOS, Google Play and third-party Android app stores in China grew 19% in 2021 to reach $170 billion. Downloads of apps also grew by 5%, reaching 230 billion in 2021, and mobile ad spend grew 23% year over year to reach $295 bil ..read more

Apple is now rolling out access to its new, lower-cost Apple Music Voice plan, first introduced this fall at the company’s hardware event. The new service, designed largely for use with HomePod speakers or AirPods, limits consumers to accessing Apple Music using Siri commands. Due to its stripped-down nature, the voice-only service is offered at $4.99 per month, compared with $9.99 per month for a standard individual plan. The new music subscription is a part of the broader iOS 15.2 update, which also brings other features like app privacy reports, Message safety warnings for children, a “Hide ..read more

A year ago I accidentally turned my house into a smart home. What started out as an easy (and lazy, let’s be honest) way to switch off the radio in the kitchen without getting up from the couch quickly became an obsession to remotely control and automate as much of my house as possible. What makes a smart home? In my house the lights, outlets and window blinds can be controlled from my phone, at home or anywhere in the world, but you can extend it to other things, like air conditioners, sprinklers and garage door openers. Or thermostats, speakers, security cameras and just about anything elect ..read more

In 2019, Amazon introduced a more affordable way to stream Amazon Music in their home with the launch of a free, ad-supported music service that streamed over its Echo speakers. Today, Apple is catching up with its debut of a new, lower-cost version of its Apple Music subscription it calls the “Voice plan.” Unlike Amazon’s service, the Voice plan is not free. Instead, it’s a more affordable, $4.99 per month ad-free subscription that limits consumers to only being able to access the Apple Music via Siri voice commands. Explained the company at its October event today, the new Voice plan will al ..read more

Probably not what anyone was expecting on the HomePod front, but now that the mini is Apple’s primary smart home device, the company has just announced a handful of additional colors for the line. At today’s event, Apple just added yellow, orange and blue versions of the small smart speaker. The new colors join the black and white versions and will run $99, like their counterparts. The new versions of the mini will be available starting in November, just in time for the holidays. And, of course, they’ll work with the $5/month Siri-focused Voice Plan for Apple Music ..read more