Today is HomePod launch day in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, and as promised, the speaker is now on display and available to purchase at most of Apple's retail stores in each of those countries.
HomePod has already received rave reviews for its sound quality from both the media and early adopters, but customers who prefer their own listening demo can now visit one of Apple's stores to hear it for themselves. Of course, customers can also take advantage of Apple's 14-day return policy and try it at home.
Most if not all of Apple's retail locations currently have plentiful stock of the speaker in both Space Gray and White, but we recommend calling ahead before making the trip. To check availability in your area: go to the HomePod order page, click on the link under the "Pickup" section, and enter your ZIP or postal code.
HomePod orders placed online today are estimated for delivery by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, so if you didn't pre-order the speaker, visiting an Apple Store is the only option to get one in your hands this weekend. Some resellers like Best Buy may also have limited in-store availability.
Meanwhile, deliveries are beginning to arrive to customers who did pre-order the HomePod a few weeks ago. If you've received yours already, be sure to share your thoughts in the MacRumors discussion forums.
Over the past five days, Uber and Waymo have been entangled in a court case over Waymo's allegations that Uber stole its self-driving LiDAR system. Today, the two companies have announced that they reached a settlement agreement, under which Uber will pay Waymo a 0.34 equity stake, "amounting to about $245 million at Uber's recent $72 billion valuation" (via CNBC).
Additionally, Uber has agreed that it will not incorporate Waymo's self-driving technology into any of its own hardware or software. Alongside the settlement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a letter that the company "does not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber," nor that Waymo's tech was used by Uber in any way, but expressed regret for the ongoing trial over the past year and the events that led up to it.
To be clear, while we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber, nor do we believe that Uber has used any of Waymo’s proprietary information in its self-driving technology, we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work.
While I cannot erase the past, I can commit, on behalf of every Uber employee, that we will learn from it, and it will inform our actions going forward. I’ve told Alphabet that the incredible people at Uber ATG are focused on ensuring that our development represents the very best of Uber’s innovation and experience in self-driving technology.
Waymo's lawsuit concerned Uber and its acquisition of self-driving trucking startup Otto, with Waymo believing that employees at Otto stole information from Alphabet-owned Waymo and shared it with Uber. Despite Khosrowshahi's belief that no such data was seen or used by Uber, the company appears ready to put the legal battle behind it through the settlement and payment to Waymo.
As the fight between the two companies stretched throughout last year, Waymo began a self-driving car test in Phoenix, Arizona, which eventually expanded to testing an autonomous ride-hailing service with no safety drivers. With its fleet of more than 600 minivans, Waymo is considered one of the leaders in the field of self-driving technology, which Apple is now attempting to catch up with through "accelerating" its self-driving efforts in California.
Apple's HomePod speaker is best enjoyed when linked to an Apple Music subscription, since this allows you to make the most of Siri's enhanced music smarts and its DJ-like role as a personal music curator, or "mixologist", as Apple calls it.
As Apple Music subscribers will know, the streaming service learns your music preferences based on what you say and play, which helps it populate the app's "For You" section with new songs that you might like, and enables Siri to generate new playlists on the fly at your request.
But what if you frequently command Siri to play music for other people in your household, such as your children? Using HomePod to play songs that don't align with your own tastes can quickly skew your Apple Music recommendations. Fortunately, you can avoid your recommendations being inundated with Encanto or Frozen tracks by disabling a simple setting. It's called "Use Listening History", and here's how to find it.
Tap the ellipsis button (three encircled dots) in the top-right corner of the main Home screen.
Tap Home Settings in the dropdown menu.
Under "People," tap your name.
Under the "Music & Podcasts" section, tap Update Listening History.
Toggle off the switches next to the HomePod devices that you want to disable listening history updates on.
That's all there is to it. By turning off the setting, HomePod will happily continue to play songs from Apple's vast music catalog for you on behalf of others in your home, but the songs will be excluded from its personal curation algorithms and they will no longer appear in your recommendations. You can easily revert this setting by turning the switches back on in the last step.
Apple's deals match those frequently offered by authorized resellers like B&H Photo Video, which has BeatsX and Solo3 Wireless on sale for the same prices, but even lower prices can be found on Amazon for select colors.
Like AirPods, the BeatsX, Solo3 Wireless, and Powerbeats3 Wireless are equipped with Apple's W1 chip for instant pairing with an iPhone. They can then simultaneously connect to an Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.
All three headphones feature Fast Fuel. Five minutes of charging provides up to three hours of playback for the Solo3 Wireless, two hours of playback for the BeatsX, and an hour of playback for the Powerbeats3 Wireless.
Apple's special Beats prices are available in the United States only for a limited time.
Disclosure: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with B&H Photo Video and may get paid if you click one of the above links and make a purchase.
Apple today updated its HomePod support website with out-of-warranty service pricing for the speaker, which is arriving to customers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia starting today.
HomePod owners who do not purchase AppleCare+ will pay $279 in the United States, £268.44 in the United Kingdom, and $399 in Australia for Apple to repair or replace a HomePod with any damage, unless the issue is the result of a manufacturing defect covered by Apple's limited one-year warranty.
HomePod service can be obtained with an appointment at an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Apple also offers to send customers a box to ship their HomePod to its repair center for an additional fee of $19.95, £13.44, and $29.95 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia respectively.
HomePod costs $349 in the United States, £319 in the United Kingdom, and $499 in Australia, meaning Apple's replacement fee is 80 percent of the cost of a brand new one, so AppleCare+ could be worthwhile.
AppleCare+ extends a HomePod's hardware coverage to two years from its original purchase date, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $39 in the United States, £29 in the United Kingdom, and $55 in Australia, plus the upfront cost of the plan.
Is it worth it to buy AppleCare+ for HomePod?
We've put together a chart to compare the potential costs of replacing a damaged HomePod with and without AppleCare+ in each country:
Since the HomePod is more of a stationary product placed on a desk or kitchen countertop, many customers may opt against purchasing AppleCare+ for the speaker. But if you have children or pets, or worry about splashing it in the kitchen, then it may be worth considering AppleCare+ for its potential savings.
DirecTV Now has updated its Apple TV 4K deal today with an even lower price point: if you prepay for just three months of the streaming TV service for a total of about $105, you'll get the 32GB Apple TV 4K at no cost. The deal is an improvement on the original DirecTV Now offer of prepaying for four months of the $35/month service (that's the entry price point), which ended up costing $140 for the 32GB Apple TV 4K.
This makes DirecTV Now's deal the best sale price currently available online for the Apple TV 4K, with the $105 price tag up to $75 cheaper than the device's current going rate of about $170 to $180 at retailers like B&H Photo and Best Buy. You could also opt for the higher cost packages of DirecTV Now when prepaying for three months, with the service increasing to $50/month, $60/month, and $70/month for additional channels.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Once ordered, the Apple TV 4K arrives in the mail within a few weeks, and if you don't want to continue to pay for DirecTV Now at the end of the three-month prepaid period, you can cancel it before you're billed again and keep the Apple TV 4K. The offer is limited to new DirecTV Now subscribers in the United States, but existing customers can take advantage of it by using a different email address. There's also a limit of one offer per DirecTV Now account and two per shipping address.
Below you'll find more of the fine print on the refined deal:
4K Apple TV (32 GB): Must prepay first three months of service at full price. Online orders will be shipped via FedEx ground to address provided. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Offer limited to 1 per DIRECTV NOW account; 2 per shipping address. Not combinable with select offers. 4K HD not available with DIRECTV NOW.
The company notes on the updated page for the deal that it is a limited time offer and "won't last," suggesting that it could return to the normal four months of prepaid service fairly soon. If you're interested, head over to DirecTV Now's landing page for the deal, click "Redeem & Stream," and make sure to add the Apple TV 4K to your plan at no cost during the sign-up process.
For more information on discounts happening this week, visit our Deals Roundup.
You can use Siri on your HomePod to access your messages, notes, and reminders, all of which are what Apple calls Personal Requests. As a rule, these only work when the device that was used to set up HomePod is connected to the same local network, which Siri interprets to mean that you're home.
If the option is enabled, Siri can also recognize your voice so it knows that it's you if a personal request is made. That's nice to know, but you might just not want personal requests features enabled on your HomePod for security reasons.
If you're already using your HomePod, you may recall being asked during the setup process whether or not you'd like to enable Personal Requests. Regardless of what you selected during setup, you can turn Personal Requests on and off from your iPhone or iPad whenever you like. Here's how to do it.
Following a Target BOGO deal earlier in the week, PayPal on eBay has now launched a better discount on App Store & iTunes cards: you can get the $100 iTunes card for $85 while supplies last. Similar to previous sales on PayPal's Digital Gifts eBay storefront in the lead up to Christmas last year, you'll get the iTunes code delivered to you via email, and it's valid only on purchases made in the United States App and iTunes Stores.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
You will need a PayPal account to complete the purchase, but a promo code is not required. As usual with email delivery sales on iTunes cards, you can either enter your own email address and send the code to yourself, or enter the email of a friend or family member to send it as a gift.
These iTunes card sales are a great way to stock up on iTunes credit at a cheaper price, which you can then use to rent and buy movies on iTunes, pay for your Apple Music and iCloud subscriptions, purchase a new app, expand your iBooks collection, and much more.
Head over to our full Deals Roundups for more of this week's sales.
Apple's HomePod smart speaker is primarily geared towards playing songs from the Apple Music catalog and listening to music and podcasts in your iTunes library, but it also features a handy speakerphone function that's ready to use out of the box.
The speakerphone feature is available on both the HomePod mini and larger HomePod, but it works best with the latter device since it has a multi-microphone array, which features an advanced echo cancellation system so that Siri can understand anyone speaking to it in the room.
This also means that anyone in your household on the same local network can easily hand off calls to the HomePod from a nearby iPhone, with the HomePod able to serve as both a speaker and a microphone for a handsfree conversation, regardless of their position in relation to the device. Here's how it's done.
Facebook is said to be testing a "downvote" button among some users of the social network, according to a report on Thursday. The "dislike"-like option apparently appeared in the comments section of posts within Facebook groups and on old Facebook memories content, as shown in screenshots shared with The Daily Beast.
A Facebook spokesperson denied that the company is "testing a dislike button", but then went on to offer an explanation that appeared on the face of it to suggest something just like one.
Image via The Daily Beast
We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the U.S. only.
The feature in testing reportedly gives users the ability to downvote certain comments, similar to the way votes in Reddit work, but it's unclear how far the tests will go. According to a 2016 Bloomberg report, Facebook executives had rejected a dislike button long ago "on the grounds that it would sow too much negativity" on the social network.
In February 2016, Facebook launched Reactions, an extension of the Like button, to give users more ways to share their reaction to a post. The emoji-like feature extended to Facebook Messenger in March last year.
Facebook regularly tests features with a small number of users and many never reach the stage of a broader rollout to the general public.
Before you can start using your new Apple HomePod, you'll need to set it up using an iPhone or iPad that's synced to an iCloud account.
During the setup process, HomePod will link the iCloud account to personal request features accessed through the speaker via Siri voice commands, such as the ability to send messages, set up reminders, and get calendar notifications.
It will also link the HomePod to any existing Apple Music subscription tied to that iCloud/iTunes user, so it's worth thinking carefully about which account holder in your household you want to associate with the speaker.
For the HomePod setup process to work you'll need an iOS device running iOS 16.3 or later, so check your iPhone or iPad is up to date. To do so, open the Settings app, tap General -> About, and look for the version number. If you need to update, tap back to Settings, select Software Update, and follow the onscreen instructions.
Apple's TV app gained a new News section late on Thursday. The dedicated section is appearing for users in the United States with devices running the latest iOS 11.2.5 and tvOS 11.2.5 releases.
The new News option offers live streaming access to Bloomberg, CBS News, Cheddar, CNBC, CNN, and Fox News. The aggregated streams can be viewed directly within the TV app, although like other sourced content, users need to have the associated third-party tvOS apps installed for the channel links to show up.
The News section was originally demoed during Apple's September Apple TV 4K announcement, where the recently launched Sports section was also shown. The main difference between the two in the app interface is that Sports gets its own button, while News currently sits below a section created for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics in the "Watch Now" area of the TV app.
Florida resident Jason Colon was listening to his AirPods while at the gym this week when they started to malfunction, and a white smoke allegedly started pouring out.
According to Colon, he then left the AirPods sitting on a piece of gym equipment and ran to get help, and when he got back, one of the AirPods was charred and destroyed.
"It was already like this. It was already popped. I didn't see it happen, but I mean, it was already fried! You can see flame damage," Colon told a local channel 8 news station.
It appears no one else at the gym was around to see what happened to the AirPod, so it's not clear if the device did spontaneously explode. There have been no prior reports of issues with AirPods, but it is not uncommon for iPhones and other devices to see one off battery issues that can result in fire.
According to an Apple spokesperson, Apple is investigating the incident and will be reaching out to Colon to figure out what happened.
We've seen quite a few HomePod reviews from media sites that Apple invited to test the speaker, but now that the HomePod has officially launched in Australia, HomePod first impressions from regular Apple customers are now available.
New HomePod owners on reddit, Twitter, and the MacRumors forums have been sharing their opinions on the device, and for those awaiting a HomePod of their own or considering purchasing, these comments from average consumers provide interesting insight.
MacRumors reader ApeBot was one of the first to receive a new HomePod in Australia, and he said setting it up was "incredibly fast and easy with an iPhone." As for sound quality, it's "impressive" and "fills the room beautifully."
When using "Hey Siri" with other compatible iOS devices around, the HomePod is the device that responds first, something that future owners HomePod have been wondering about. Since iOS 10, with multiple devices around, when you say "Hey Siri" your devices intelligently decide which one should respond, and it's no different with HomePod.
Just got my HomePod. Beware, the box lid lifts off.. if you are like me, in your excitement you will hold the box up like Baby Simba in the Lion King and the HomePod will slide straight out the bottom and crash down to the floor.
Setup was incredibly fast and easy with my iPhone. Sound quality so far is impressive. Fills the room beautifully. The top display is captivating. Control via control center on my phone is integrated nicely.
For me personally, it doesnt feel as familiar as Apple products usually do. Maybe thats because it doesn't have a familiar OS?
Reddit user ghostinthelatrine offered to answer questions about the new HomePod, leading to some insightful discussion. He says the HomePod's sound "blows the [Sonos] Play 3 out of the water," and that Siri's voice detection is "phenomenal."
Image via reddit user ghostinthelatrine
Holy crap. Siri's ability to pick up my voice is phenomenal. Really phenomenal. I stood 10 meters away (32.81ft - Thanks, Siri!) with my fridge door open and I was able to just speak like a normal person (this is important for my wife who likes to use the Google Home to set timers, etc.). Felt like I was always shouting at the Google Home.
Using the HomePod as a speaker for the Apple TV was "surprisingly quiet," even at a high volume level, though the sound itself was described as "crystal clear." You can also use the HomePod with a Mac as an AirPlay destination from iTunes and it appears as an output device in the Sound settings.
Another redditor shared a detailed list of initial impressions, and he too praised the HomePod's sound quality and the ease of activating Siri on the device.
- Audio is very good, with impressive clarity and loudness. I'm no audiophile, but I do enjoy music a great deal, and the quality of HomePod is immediately evident from the moment you start using it.
- Setup grabs Apple Music AppleID details, etc from the phone, so no time was spent entering those in
- Hey Siri activates extremely well, at normal speaking volume, and I have been able to get it to play stuff on Apple Music and Podcasts very easily
AirPlay also worked well from both iOS devices and the Mac, with the exception being AirPlaying content from the Overcast app. His other comments focused on the HomePod's design. The "size and heft" of the device were surprising, and the outer fabric is "soft, but firm."
Image via Reddit user eats_midgets
The top of the HomePod, where the touch controls are located, is glossy and smooth, and in a separate tweet, another new HomePod owner said this area is something of a fingerprint magnet.
First HomePod impressions: - Sounds amazing - Siri is still dumb as a brick - Small and heavy - Really nice power cable
— Russell Ivanovic (@rustyshelf) February 8, 2018
Holy Crap - I am an audiophile and the HomePod is an austounding leap forward in audio for price - the separation and soundstage from a “single” speaker is amaze balls
— Ed Dale (@Ed_Dale) February 8, 2018
On the MacRumors forums, upcoming HomePod owners have also listed some songs they'll be using to test out the HomePod's capabilities when it arrives, including "Hotel California" from The Eagles, "Prelude and Kiara" from Bonobo, "Hits and Exit Wounds" from Alabama 3, "Core" from Stone Temple Pilots, "Your Latest Trick" by Dire Straits, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
Once the HomePod launches in the UK and the United States, our forums will be filled with HomePod users sharing their opinions and tips and tricks for using the new speaker. Make sure to check out our HomePod forum to share your thoughts on the new speaker, or post them here in this thread, and stay tuned to MacRumors because we'll have plenty of HomePod coverage both tomorrow and next week.
Apple seeded the second beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 to developers earlier this week, but it appears an updated version of the second beta was just released this afternoon.
The original beta had a build number of 17E150f, while the new update available today from the Developer Center lists a build number of 17E150g. It's not clear why Apple has released an updated version of beta 2, but the new beta is also available for public beta testers.
Registered developers can download the beta from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.
macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 beta 2 didn't introduce any major new features, but it did change "iBooks" to "Books" to mirror changes made in iOS 11.3.
The update includes bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren't addressed in macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, and it offers support for some features that are also available in iOS 11.3, like Messages on iCloud, which uploads all of your iMessages to the cloud. It will also support Business Chat, a feature coming when iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 are released to the public.
macOS 10.13.4 also includes the smoke cloud wallpaper that was previously only available on the iMac Pro, and it introduces a warning when opening up a 32-bit app as part of an effort to phase them out.
In the future, Apple plans to phase out 32-bit Mac apps, just like it did with 32-bit iOS apps. Apple says macOS High Sierra is the last version of macOS that will support 32-bit apps without compromises.
Now that the HomePod is available in Australia, where it is Friday, February 9, Apple has shared its official HomePod User Guide, providing an overview of all the features for new HomePod owners.
The guide offers a detailed walkthrough on getting the HomePod ready to use out of the box, with information on HomePod controls, HomePod settings, and using AirPlay.
There are also dedicated sections for Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and News, which outline all of the Siri commands you can use with the HomePod, such as "Hey Siri, play some party music," or "Hey Siri, add this song to my library."
A "Control your home" section of the guide walks users through using Siri commands to control HomeKit devices and it includes details on using HomePod as a home hub, an automatic function, while an "Assistant" section includes even more Siri options.
On HomePod, Siri can send messages, read messages, and create notes and reminders for the person who owns the HomePod, and there are tools included to turn off these kinds of personal requests if someone else also uses the HomePod.
Siri can also offer up general knowledge, provide traffic information, set alarms and timers, share the weather, provide details on sports games, do unit and math conversions, and translate English into French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish.
Many of the Siri commands outlined in the HomePod User Guide will be familiar to you if you already use Siri on iOS devices, but the guide is still worth looking through while you await your HomePod delivery just to get familiar with the setup and the controls.
HomePod is already available in Australia and is set to launch in the UK and the United States soon.
Apple customers in Australia are always the first to get their hands on new devices on launch day, and now that it's after 9:00 a.m. on Friday, February 9 in the country, the first HomePod orders have started arriving to customers.
Australians who ordered the HomePod starting on January 26 have begun receiving their deliveries and have shared their excitement over the new device on reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and the MacRumors forums.
Apple Stores in Australia are also now open, allowing customers who placed orders for in-store pickup to receive their devices. Retail locations also have stock for walk-in purchases, and in Australia, same-day in-store pickup is once again available.
Following Australia, HomePod sales and deliveries will kick off in the UK in about 10 hours, followed by North America. Apple Stores in all three countries are opening up right around 8:00 a.m. to allow customers to make HomePod purchases.
Throughout the pre-ordering process, which kicked off on January 26, Apple had ample HomePod stock for customers. Shipping estimates and in-store availability only began slipping earlier this week, likely due to Apple's preparations for launch day. Orders placed online for a HomePod will ship out early next week.
In the United States, the first HomePod deliveries will take place on the east coast starting at 8:00 a.m. The HomePod is priced at $349 in the United States, GBP319 in the UK, $499 in Australia.
Make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors both tomorrow and throughout next week, because we'll have plenty of HomePod coverage to share.
Plugable, a company that offers a range of hubs, docking stations, storage solutions, and other accessories for Mac and Windows machines this week launched a new external NVME SSD that offers 480GB and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity for incredibly fast transfer speeds.
The Plugable TBT3-NVME480 SSD is designed for Thunderbolt machines like Apple's latest line of MacBook Pro models, and it offers transfer speeds of up to 2400MB/s read and 1200MB/s write.
Design
Design wise, the palm-sized Plugable Thunderbolt 3 SSD is unremarkable. It's made from a solid black brushed aluminum with a ridged design at the sides, and a single LED light on the front that lets you know when it's connected and receiving power.
There's an integrated Thunderbolt 3 cable at the top, and a rather large and highly visible printed Pluable logo, which cheapens the look of the device just a bit. It's smaller than an iPhone X and similar in size to a deck of cards, so it's portable enough to stick in a bag or even a pocket if so desired.
As with most SSDs, your MacBook provides power to the SSD, so there's no extra power cable to deal with.
With continual usage, I've noticed that Plugable's SSD can get fairly warm, but that's not unusual and it does not appear to impact performance.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
