MacRumors

Within the HomePod's pre-order date and launch announcement today, Apple confirmed that the smart speaker's multi-room audio and stereo features won't be making it into the device at launch. Instead, users will be able to activate these features sometime "later this year" in a free software update.

Multi-room audio with Apple's AirPlay 2 protocol will be aimed at customers who purchase more than one HomePod, and will let them play music throughout their home.

The feature allows for different songs to be played simultaneously in different rooms, or the same song can be played in each room "perfectly in sync," and the speakers communicate with one another through AirPlay 2.

Stereo sound is created when two HomePods are placed in the same room, after which they automatically notice one another and become a "stereo pair" to provide a "more immersive" listening experience.

Coming this year in a free software update, users will be able to play music throughout the house with multi-room audio. If HomePod is in the kitchen, users can ask Siri to play jazz in the dining room, or play the same song in each room — perfectly in sync. If there's more than one HomePod set up in the same room, the speakers can be set up as a stereo pair for an even more immersive sound experience.

Of course, right now it's unclear exactly when Apple's free software update for these features will go live in 2018. Ahead of that, users will be able to pre-order HomePod on Friday, January 26, and then the speaker will officially launch two weeks later in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia on February 9.

In addition to the HomePod launching February 9 in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, Apple has also revealed that its Siri-enabled speaker will launch in France and Germany at some point "this spring," suggesting a release date between March and June at the absolute latest in those countries.

France and Germany will be the first HomePod launch countries where English isn't the primary language spoken. Siri on the HomePod should be able to answer French and German queries as on the iPhone and other devices.

While we already knew the HomePod is priced at $349 in the United States, Apple today confirmed the speaker will cost £319 in the United Kingdom and $499 in Australia. Apple hasn't revealed pricing information in France or Germany yet, or provided release dates for other countries like Canada at this time.

Apple has primarily positioned the HomePod as a speaker that can stream Apple Music, but with built-in Siri, users can send messages, set timers, play podcasts, check the news and weather, control HomeKit-enabled smart home accessories, and complete other tasks without needing to take out their iPhone.

The high-fidelity speaker is equipped with spatial awareness and Apple-engineered audio technology, including a seven‑tweeter array and high-excursion woofer. The nearly seven inch tall speaker is powered by Apple's A8 chip.

HomePod is Apple's answer to the Amazon Echo and Google Home. The speaker was originally set to be released in December, but Apple delayed the launch, and missed out on sales during the holiday shopping season in the process.

Apple today announced that it has teamed up with Malala Fund to become the fund's first Laureate partner, providing Malala Fund with the support it needs to double the number of grants it provides and expand into India and Latin America.

The Malala Fund, led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, champions every girl's right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education.

Following the announcement, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with iMore in a short interview in Toronto where he shared some insight into how Apple and the Malala Fund came to form a partnership. Cook says that after meeting Malala, it became clear that their values aligned. "Not only the Malala Fund and Apple, but our personal values as well," Cook said.

"One, equality is at the core of our belief and values and, two, that education is the great equalizer of people. If you believe both of those, it's not an extension at all to say, 'how do we help Malala achieve her vision of educating 130-million young girls around the world?'"

Cook said that he loves the Malala Fund's focus on secondary education, because in some places around the world, girls receive an education until grade 6 or grade 7, and then their schooling stops. "This isn't right," said Cook. "It doesn't maximize potential and it doesn't treat people with dignity or respect."

With Apple's help, the Malala Fund will double the grants it provides through its Gulmakai Network (which supports educational programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Nigeria) and extend funding programs to Latin America and India, offering secondary education opportunities to more than 100,000 girls to start with.

Apple will provide technology, curriculum, and research into policy changes needed to help girls around the world attend school and complete their education. Going forward, Cook will also serve on the Malala Fund leadership council.

Cook's full comments on the Malala Fund and some additional commentary on Swift Playgrounds can be read over at iMore.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

TestFlight, which is designed to allow developers to provide testers with beta versions of apps ahead of their release, was today updated to version 2.0.1, introducing a handful of new features.

The update brings support for downloading apps that are up to 150 MB in size over a cellular data connection. The previous TestFlight beta app limit was 100 MB, with this updated limit bringing TestFlight apps in line with other iOS apps.

Apple officially increased the App Store cellular over-the-air download limit to 150 MB in September of 2017, but the new increased limit apparently did not apply to beta apps. With the new limit, testers will be able to download TestFlight apps up to 150 MB without needing a WiFi connection.

Today's TestFlight update also introduces support for Smart Invert Colors, an accessibility option, and it includes a revised 3D Touch peek view that offers up "What to Test" information. Apple says the update also includes small bug fixes and UI improvements.

TestFlight can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

The Apple Watch is the most popular smartwatch on the market, yet battery life has never been its strong suit. That said, Apple has made improvements in this area with successive models, and while the company still only promises all-day battery life on a single charge, many Series 3 and 4 owners find they can get a lot more.

Of course, how long a given Apple Watch lasts between charges depends almost entirely on how it's used. With that in mind, this article aims to help wearers optimize their usage and get the best battery life they can reasonably expect based on their individual needs. Read on for some of our favorite power-saving tips for Apple Watch.

Apple Watch Display Settings

Always on Display (Series 5)

The latest Apple Watch Series 5 models come equipped with a new always on display feature. With the always on display function enabled, some element of the screen is always lit, even when the wrist is down. It's a handy way to keep an eye on the time or to keep track of a workout without needing to raise a wrist, but there are various reports from users that it can be a significant battery drain, at least on watches running early versions of watchOS 6.

On the Apple Watch Series 5, battery life can be improved by disabling the always on feature. To do so, launch the Watch app on iPhone, tap the Watch tab, then tap Display & Brightness and turn off the switch next to Always On.

Wake Screen on Wrist Raise

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Apple Watch's OLED display draws a significant amount of power. If it tends to light up when you least expect it, and you'd rather manually activate it with a button press or by tapping the display, then try turning off the automatic wake screen feature. To do so, open Settings on your Apple Watch, tap General -> Wake Screen, and toggle off Wake Screen on Wrist Raise. (You can also find this setting in the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌.)

Theater Mode

To some users, turning off the automatic wake screen feature might seem like overkill. Perhaps you only accidentally wake the screen during certain times of the day – when you're in bed, for instance.

In that case, you're better off making selective use of the Theater Mode. To enable it, swipe up from the bottom of any clock face to reveal the Control Center, and tap the symbol showing two theater masks. Note that Theater Mode also silences notifications, which is why it's best kept for bedtime or trips to the movies.

Adjust Brightness

Many Apple Watch owners find that they can easily get along with the OLED display set at its lowest and least energy-sapping brightness level. To adjust the brightness, select Settings on your Apple Watch, tap Brightness & Text Size, and alter the level to suit. (You can also find this setting in the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌.)

OLED panels don't expend energy on displaying true black colors – those pixels simply remain unlit. In other words, the more screen space your chosen clock face takes up (if it displays a photo, say) the more likely it is to drain battery whenever it's activated. For this reason, you might want to consider using a more minimalist watch face and disabling any complications you don't need to see every time you raise your wrist.

Apple Watch Apps

Apps and Complications

Another good reason to minimize your use of complications is that many of them require frequent refreshing in order to display up-to-date information, which uses additional power. So if you rarely tap it, then turn it off using the clock face customize mode, which is activated with a single long press on the clock face screen.

The same goes for third-party apps, many of which frequently refresh in the background whether you use them or not. If you find yourself regularly reaching for your ‌iPhone‌ to check social media, then ask yourself, do you really need that Twitter function on your wrist? Only install apps on your Apple Watch that benefit you by being there.

It's worth extending this general policy to clock faces, too. There's anecdotal evidence that uninstalling the ones you don't use can save power by reducing background refreshes. To remove watch faces, open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, tap Edit next to My Faces, and tap the minus buttons in the list. The Siri watch face in particular is often cited as a battery drainer, so if you don't use it, ditch it.

Installation Creep and Refresh Management

These days many third-party iOS apps include an Apple Watch component which gets added automatically upon installation. To prevent this default behavior, open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, select General and toggle off Automatic App Install.

Another way of restricting the number of apps that draw power is to selectively control which ones refresh in the background. You can manage this on an individual basis from the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌: Select General -> Background App Refresh, and toggle the sliders for each installed app. Remember, only leave this enabled for apps with a functional dependency on up-to-date data, such as weather and calendar apps.

Notifications

Notifications come down to personal preference, but every additional alert on your wrist sucks a bit more power from your watch's battery. Look at your usage and try to assess which notifications are worthwhile, and which ones could just as easily be picked up on your ‌iPhone‌ at a later time.

To manage notifications on an app-by-app basis, open the iOS Watch app and select Notifications. Pay particular attention to third-party apps, listed in the second column, and turn off any pointless permissions that mirror your ‌iPhone‌ alerts.

With judicious use of these settings, you should be able to recognize if or when your needs change over time. For example, some app notifications have a shelf life – if they start to bug you, turn them off. That includes Activity and Breathe reminders. Be ruthless.

When it comes to email alerts, you may find they're only worth the bother if the emails come from specific addresses. So add these to your VIP list in the Mail app, and then disable all watch Mail notifications except for VIP alerts.

Other Power-Saving Settings

Heart Rate

If you're only interested in tracking distance or speed (or both) during running or walking workouts, Apple recommends turning on Power Saving Mode to disable the heart rate sensor. To do this, open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, go to My Watch -> Workout, and toggle on Power Saving Mode. (The same setting can be found on your Apple Watch in Settings -> General -> Workout.) Note that when the heart rate sensor is off, calorie burn calculations may not be as accurate.

If you're training for a marathon or regularly participate in long-duration workouts, consider using a Bluetooth chest strap instead of the built-in heart rate sensor. To connect the Bluetooth chest strap to your watch, make sure it's in pairing mode, then open Settings on your Apple Watch, select Bluetooth, and choose from the list of Health Devices.

Hey Siri

Like on your ‌iPhone‌, the "Hey ‌Siri‌" feature on your Apple Watch allows you to use voice search and control other features without touching the device. Your watch's mic only listens for the magic phrase when the display is activated, but it does use a bit more power. So if you simply don't use the function, turn it off. To do so, open Settings on your Apple Watch, select General -> Siri, and toggle it off.

Remember, you can still activate ‌Siri‌ anytime by long-pressing your watch's Crown. Using the same Settings menu above, you can also make ‌Siri‌ respect Silent Mode when it's on, as well as limit spoken responses so you only hear them when headphones are connected.

Silent Mode and Do Not Disturb

Theater Mode, mentioned earlier, offers a middle ground between two additional settings: Silent Mode and Do Not Disturb. Silent Mode mutes audible alerts and can be turned on permanently if you're happy to rely on haptic vibrations for alerts, calls, alarms, and timers.

With Do Not Disturb enabled, your watch activates the same mode on your ‌iPhone‌, silencing audible and vibration-based alerts across both devices unless they come from people in your Favorites contact list. Some Apple Watch users turn on both Theater Mode and Do Not Disturb when wearing their devices to bed, particularly if they track their sleep using a third-party app like AutoSleep.

To turn on Silent Mode on your Apple Watch, swipe up from any clock face to reveal the Control Center, and then tap the button with a bell symbol, so that the button turns red and the bell is crossed out. To activate Do Not Disturb from the Control Center, tap the button with a crescent moon so that it turns purple.

Haptics and Noise

Haptics refers to the subtle physical feedback sensations you get in response to touching the screen or rotating the Crown of your Apple Watch. You can adjust haptic strength on your watch by going to Settings -> Sounds & Haptics. Many users find the lowest haptic setting, which draws the least power, to be perfectly adequate, with or without the Prominent Haptic option turned on.

You can disable Crown haptic effects in the same Sound & Haptics menu, via the Crown Haptic switch. You should also make sure that the Taptic Time feature is disabled – in the Watch tab, tap Clock, then tap Taptic Time and toggle the switch next to the setting.

With watchOS 6, Apple introduced a Noise app that uses the Apple Watch microphone to monitor environmental noise. When enabled, users receive a notification if the decibel level is loud enough to damage your hearing.

Whether or not you use the Noise app as a watch face complication, it continuously samples noise levels to give you real-time feedback, and some users have reported noticeable battery drain with the feature enabled. Fortunately, you can disable it in the Watch app by tapping Noise and turning off the switch next to Environmental Sound Measurements.

Walkie-Talkie

With WatchOS 5, Apple introduced Walkie-Talkie, which allows Apple Watch wearers to send quick voice messages to friends and family members by speaking into their Apple Watch, similar to real Walkie-Talkies. The person on the receiving end of a Walkie-Talkie message hears their Apple Watch beep and then they see a screen that allows them to approve a connection.

If you've used Walkie-Talkie then you may have noticed that the first connection attempt takes a few moments, after which voice messages to and fro are pretty much instant. That's because the feature launches a FaceTime session between the conversing parties. After the last interaction, it retains the active two-way connection for a short amount of time in case another message is recorded, and switches off again when none is forthcoming.

Anecdotally, people have reported an improvement in battery life with Walkie-Talkie off. You can disable it via the Control Center on your Apple Watch – swipe up on a watch face to reveal it, then tap the Walkie Talkie toggle so that it's no longer yellow. Note that if you turn it off and someone tries to speak to you, they'll see a message that you are unavailable, and you'll receive a notification.

Fixing Persistent Battery Issues

Bluetooth, Unpairing, and Hard Reset

If you've had no luck improving the battery life of your Apple Watch using the above tips, there are still a few steps you can take.

It's worth noting at this point that disabling Bluetooth on your ‌iPhone‌ increases the battery drain on your Apple Watch, so keep Bluetooth enabled on your phone and see if that helps.

If your watch battery drains unusually fast, try a hard reset: Hold down both side buttons for about 10 seconds until the display goes off and the device reboots. In addition, some users have found that unpairing and their Apple Watch from their ‌iPhone‌ can smooth out battery issues, especially after a recent software update. Make sure keep your Apple Watch and ‌iPhone‌ close together as you unpair them.

Open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, go to the My Watch tab, then tap your watch at the top of the screen. Tap next to the watch that you want to unpair, then tap Unpair Apple Watch. Once that's done, you'll need to set up your Apple Watch again and restore from a backup.

If none of the above solutions work for you, it's time to try resetting the watch to factory defaults.

Reset Apple Watch to Factory Default Settings

To do this on your Apple Watch, open Settings and select General -> Reset. (The same option lies at the bottom of the iOS Watch app's General menu.) This action erases everything off your watch, including any media, data, settings, messages, and so on. You'll also need to re-pair the watch with your ‌iPhone‌ after the process is complete, so treat it as a last resort.

Note that after a new pairing or update, your watch may take a few days to learn and adapt to your usage, before smoothing out into a more consistent balance between battery life and performance.

Check for Software Updates

Apple is continually refining its software for Apple Watch, and updates to the operating system sometimes come with bug fixes which can resolve related battery drain issues, so it's important to make sure your device is running the latest software.

As of writing, the latest version of the Apple Watch operating system is watchOS 6, which can be downloaded for free through the dedicated Watch app on the ‌iPhone‌ by tapping the My Watch tab and going to General -> Software Update. To install software updates, your Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of your ‌iPhone‌.

Contact Apple Support

If none of these tips work, check to see if your Apple Watch is still under warranty. A standard one-year warranty is included with every Apple Watch (Stainless Steel, Aluminum, and Nike+) and a two-year warranty is included with Apple Watch Edition and Hermès models. All warranties include service coverage for a defective battery. If your watch is out of warranty, Apple offers a battery service, although prices may vary depending on where you live.

AT&T has launched the "AT&T Smart Wi-Fi Extender," a device built to enable a stronger and more consistent Wi-Fi signal throughout your home. AT&T's product is one box that keeps devices connected to the internet as you move from one room to another, and customers can purchase additional boxes for bigger homes.

The Smart Wi-Fi Extender is designed for customers with an AT&T internet subscription who have Wi-Fi gateways 5268AC or BGW210, boosting coverage by up to 1,000 square feet and reducing network congestion. The company said that it automatically selects the "best and fastest available connection" for every device that you connect to the internet within your home. AT&T created the extender in partnership with AirTies.

The company priced the Smart Wi-Fi Extender at $34.99, and said it offers the same Wi-Fi boosting abilities of competitive mesh systems "that cost hundreds of dollars." It appears that the Wi-Fi Extender was available for some AT&T customers to purchase ahead of the wider launch this week.

That’s why we are introducing the new AT&T Smart Wi-Fi Extender – a state-of-the-art device that gives you the strongest Wi-Fi signal throughout your entire home. Its mesh technology keeps your devices connected as you move around, so you experience a seamless connection everywhere. Now you can stream, download, surf, and work on your devices anywhere, worry free. No dropped connection as you step into the backyard. No more interruptions or watching the football freeze in mid-air.

The 4-inch box is a 1600Mbps dual-band concurrent wireless access point and includes a port for 2 Gigabit Ethernet LAN and a power cable. AT&T also noted that it is compliant with 802.11ac and 802.11n standards, as well as being backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g wireless standards.

The Smart Wi-Fi Extender will connect to an established AT&T Wi-Fi network, which can be managed via the Smart Home Manager iOS app. The company announced the app last summer and refers to it as a customer's "Wi-Fi concierge." With the app, users can change their network name and password, check who is connected to the network, invite guests to join with a text or email, and contact customer service in a chatroom.

Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV both launched in the spring of 2017, offering customers over-the-top live television streaming options in line with established services like Sling TV and DirecTV Now.

Today, sources revealed to CNBC that Hulu with Live TV now has 450,000 paid subscribers -- "not including recent promotional customers" -- while YouTube TV has just over 300,000 as of the beginning of 2018.

Although neither service has been on the market for one full year, the sources delivering the subscriber numbers said that each company is "making some progress" in convincing users to cut the cord. However, analyst Rich Greenfield commented that any company offering a live TV streaming service may have trouble substantially growing their subscriber base "because canceling is so easy" and basic on-demand versions of Hulu and YouTube could be enough for many users.

"If you don't care about live sports, the original Hulu product is awesome," Greenfield said. "You can get all of the programming you want for more than $30 less. And YouTube is free. It actually shows you how poor the value proportion is for live TV."

[...] cable and satellite TV are stickier businesses than web-based services because they're so difficult to cancel, Greenfield said. "You can cancel these live streaming services with four clicks of a button," Greenfield said. "Have you tried canceling your cable?"

Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV are both beaten out by DirecTV Now and Sling TV, which were previously reported to have reached 1 million and more than 2 million paid subscribers, respectively. Another contender is PlayStation Vue, reported at 455,000 subscribers in Q3 2017. The subscriber numbers reported by CNBC today have not been confirmed by Hulu or YouTube, so there is still no official word regarding how accurate the data might be.

In terms of price, Hulu with Live TV starts at $39.99/month (this includes Hulu's on-demand service) and YouTube TV starts at $35/month. Hulu's service is also technically still in the beta phase, and on the FAQ section of its website Hulu states, "While we are truly proud of Hulu's live TV offering, we know that introducing any new service can come with "hiccups" from time to time, so we are first opening it up as a "Beta" to be transparent with our viewers."

Amazon today opened up its checkout-free grocery store "Amazon Go" to the Seattle public, continuing a plan that the company says has the potential to "dramatically alter brick-and-mortar retail" (via Reuters).

The new grocery store experience begins when customers walk through a turnstile and scan the Amazon Go app on their iOS [Direct Link] or Android device, which notifies the system that the customer is now in the store and shopping. Then, when they pick up an item and add it to their basket, cameras in the store and weight sensors on shelves associate each product to the customer who picked it up, and adds it to a virtual shopping list.

This tallies all of the items picked up by any one customer (and items returned to shelves are deducted from the total), so when they're done shopping all that needs to be done is to walk back out of the store through the turnstile. Amazon Go then charges the credit card users previously synced to the app and sends a receipt to the app's inbox, replacing the need to stand in a traditional checkout line.

Gianna Puerini, vice president of Amazon Go, said in an interview that the store worked very well throughout the test phase, thanks to four years of prior legwork.

“This technology didn’t exist,” Puerini said, walking through the Seattle store. “It was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning.”

“If you look at these products, you can see they’re super similar,” she said of two near-identical Starbucks drinks next to each other on a shelf. One had light cream and the other had regular, and Amazon’s technology learned to tell them apart.

The official public opening comes over one year after Amazon began testing the store with employees in December 2016, a time in which the company learned how to fine tune the experience, according to people familiar with the tests. The camera system became better at identifying people with similar body types, and learned from the "havoc" caused by kids in the store who moved items to incorrect places on the weight-sensing shelves.

For anyone in the city, you can visit Amazon Go Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., with food items ranging from dairy to ready-made Amazon Meal Kits and locally made chocolates.