Fun facts about Apple’s new HomePod
Before we delve into the unique personality of this device, let’s first understand what HomePod™ is and what it is not.
Apple® claims HomePod is the ultimate music authority, bringing together Apple Music® and Siri® to learn your taste in music. From all indications to date, Apple is spot on with that assessment. The engineering is amazing. HomePod isn’t just one speaker, it’s actually eight speakers, all controlled by Apple’s own A8 processor and tons of custom software. There are seven tweeters that fire down and out from the bottom, and a single four-inch woofer pointing out of the top for low frequencies. There is also a total of seven microphones — six around the middle for Siri, and a seventh inside that measures the location of that woofer so Apple can precisely control the bass.
All of these speakers and software aren’t trying to add anything to music, but rather to eliminate unwanted extra sounds you might get from reflections in the room in which HomePod sits. It is this kind of nuance that easily makes HomePod the best sounding smart speaker in the marketplace.
If you’re all in on the Apple ecosystem, and you’re a diehard fan of Apple Music, then HomePod is your device of choice. But if you are instead looking for a more competent Amazon Echo or Google Home as a voice-controlled intelligent assistant, you may not find it in HomePod.
If you still have HomePod perched on the fence, here are some fun facts you should know: Read More...
Family Sharing Helps Families Get Organized and Connected
Parents are used to hearing a few common phrases over and over again from their children. “I’m bored.” “There’s nothing to eat in this house.” “None of my friends have to be home so early.” Since nearly every young person everywhere has a cell phone, you can add “I can’t find my phone!” to the list. It may seem like these phones are permanently attached to their hands, but when they’re not being used for texting, snap chatting, and other forms of social media, these same cell phones have a tendency to be misplaced.
Family Sharing can help with this and many more challenges that families with multiple iPhones and devices have. This service makes it easy for family members to share music, books and App Store purchases without sharing accounts. And when one of those family members misplaces a phone, get help locating it with the Find My iPhone app that enables anyone included in the family group to search for the runaway phone.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with Family Sharing.
What You Want, When You Want It: Apple TV
The third generation of Apple TV is a small black box that measures a little under four inches on each side. It can handle 1080p video and has an additional wireless antenna for improved WiFi reception.
Apple TV can stream much more than you might think. It’s set up to seamlessly stream HD movies and TV shows from iTunes, the entire Netflix streaming catalog, Hulu Plus shows, live professional sports games and more. Read More...