Apple today announced a range of new smart home features for HomePod mini, Apple TV, and Apple Watch, as well as third-party Siri integration on accessories for the first time.
Siri on the HomePod now supports making commands to control content on an Apple TV. The HomePod mini can also be set as a default output for an Apple TV.
SharePlay will work with the Apple TV through FaceTime on another device, and tvOS now features a Shared With You row. There is also a new For All of You row in the TV app to recommend shows and movies suitable for all users on the device.
HomeKit accessory makers can now integrate Siri voice control for the first time. "Hey Siri"-enabled accessories will relay requests through a HomePod or HomePod mini, and will support Siri features such as Personal Requests, Intercom, timers, and alarms. The first third-party Siri-enabled smart home accessories will be available later this year.
The Home app for Apple Watch has been redesigned in watchOS 8, offering more convenient access to accessories and scenes as needed in a particular moment, and the ability to control accessories by room. Users with a HomeKit-enabled camera can view who is at their front door directly on their Apple Watch.
Apple also highlighted support for home keys in the Wallet app, Package Detection, new Apple TV screensavers, Matter accessory support, and HomeKit camera enhancements.
Argh, is it too much to ask for FaceTime on the biggest screen in your home? A camera add on to ATV is the biggest no brainer and yet it’s no where to be seen.
Whoa, they said they're opening Siri up to be added to other devices! They showed it working on an Ecobee in the video, but I want this on my Sonos One! :)
Wednesday March 23, 2022 1:20 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple has updated its dedicated Apple TV+ website with an Up Next queue for shows, making it easier to keep track of and watch Apple TV+ content on the web.
The Up Next queue is a new addition to the Apple TV+ website, introduced earlier this week, according to 9to5Mac. Prior to now, the Apple TV+ website had an option for adding a show to the Up Next queue, but the Up Next queue did not...
Wednesday February 23, 2022 3:38 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple has added Dutch language voice recognition support for Siri in the latest HomePod 15.4 beta, further preparing the HomePod mini for release in the Netherlands in the near future.
The addition of voice recognition, spotted by iCulture, means HomePod or HomePod mini will be able to identify who is talking to it in a Dutch-speaking multi-person household so they can make personal requests ...
Monday October 18, 2021 12:07 pm PDT by Sami Fathi
Apple has removed all references to the original, full-sized HomePod from its website, months after officially discontinuing the smart speaker that struggled to reach mainstream adoption.
The removal of references to the original HomePod came as a result of brand new changes to Apple's website. With the new changes, Apple now only highlights the HomePod mini, which now comes in brand new...
Tuesday January 11, 2022 8:29 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Over the weekend, it was reported that Apple has been testing Swedish language support for Siri on the HomePod mini for at least two months, and now further reports claim that testing is also underway for Danish and Norwegian. Based on these reports, it's likely that Apple is planning to launch the HomePod mini in several Nordic countries this year, including Sweden, Denmark, and Norway....
Apple today announced that the HomePod mini will be available to order in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland starting at the end of March, as spotted by iCulture and 9to5Mac. A specific release date has not been provided.
As in other countries, the HomePod mini will be available in five colors, including white, space gray, yellow, orange, and blue. The small Siri-enabled speaker has a ...
Apple today announced that the HomePod mini can be set as a default speaker output on the Apple TV 4K starting later this year. Apple also announced that the HomePod mini will be available to purchase in Austria, Ireland, and New Zealand starting later this month, followed by Italy later this year. The speaker first launched in November 2020.
In March, Apple announced that the full-sized ...
Monday October 18, 2021 10:08 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today announced that the HomePod mini will be available in three new colors next month, including yellow, orange, and blue.
Apple said the new HomePod mini colors will be available in November alongside the existing White and Space Gray colors, with pricing remaining at $99 in the United States. Apple did not share a specific release date.
The new HomePod mini colors will be...
Apple today started taking orders for the HomePod mini in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland for the first time, as spotted by iCulture.
Apple said earlier this month that it would make the HomePod mini available to order in the above countries by the end of March, but never gave a specific release date. The speaker also gained support for languages spoken in those countries as part...
While past rumors have indicated the upcoming second-generation AirPods Pro will feature a built-in heart rate and body temperature sensor, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has cast doubt on those rumors turning out to be true, saying instead such a feature is unlikely to come anytime soon.
"Over the past few months, there have been rumors about this year's model gaining the ability to determine a...
Apple is working on an Apple Watch Series 8 model with a larger display, according to DSCC's Ross Young and Haitong International Securities's Jeff Pu.
In October last year, Young suggested that the Apple Watch Series 8 could come in three display sizes. Now, responding to a query about the rumor on Twitter, Young claims that the additional display size joining the Apple Watch lineup will be ...
The upcoming launch of Apple's redesigned MacBook Air with the M2 chip has some Windows laptop manufacturers "worried" that sales of Intel-based laptops will be negatively affected, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.
"A Wintel brand vendor pointed out that at a price point of US$1,000-$1,500, the MacBook Air will crowd out other high-end notebooks," the report claims, with...
European Union lawmakers have approved landmark legislation to heavily regulate Apple, Google, Meta, and other big tech firms.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) were proposed by the European Commission in December 2020. Now, collected in a "Digital Services Package," the legislation has been formally adopted by the European Parliament and seeks to address...
Apple today announced that the new MacBook Air equipped with the M2 chip will be available to order starting Friday, July 8 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple said deliveries to customers and in-store availability will begin Friday, July 15.
MacRumors exclusively reported that Apple planned to launch the new MacBook Air on July 15, and the date has now been confirmed by Apple. Customers will be...
The M2 MacBook Pro has started making its way into customers' hands and we're learning more about how it performs in a variety of situations, but all eyes are really on the upcoming M2 MacBook Air which has seen a complete redesign and should be arriving in a couple of weeks.
Other top stories this week included a host of product rumors including additional M2 and even M3 Macs, an updated...
Wednesday July 6, 2022 10:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today announced a new Lockdown Mode coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura. Apple says the optional security feature is designed to protect the "very small number" of users who may be at risk of "highly targeted cyberattacks" from private companies developing state-sponsored spyware, such as journalists, activists, and government employees.
Apple...
Apple today released new firmware for the Siri Remote designed for the Apple TV, updating the software from version 9M6772 to 10M1103. The software is for the redesigned Siri Remote that was released in May 2021, aka the gray remote with the updated interface. In the Apple TV settings, the new firmware will display as 0x0070, up from 0x0061. There is no word on what's new with the Apple TV...
Apple on May 16 released iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5, bringing improvements for Podcasts and Apple Cash, the ability to see Wi-Fi signal of HomePods, dozens of security fixes, and more.
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