Among Other Developments, Apple Echoes Echo At WWDC

Apple made some noise at the opening with a peek at a sonorous Siri-driven speaker called HomePod that aims to compete with Amazon Echo and Google Home come December, as well as a preview of iOS 11 that at least one reviewer suggests is a sign of Apple’s future.

“The 7-inch-high speaker looks like the top of a microphone. Available in white and black, the $349 device is being marketed as a smart speaker with higher quality audio than its competitors,” report Heather Kelly, Seth Fiegerman and Selena Larson for CNN Tech.

“It has six microphones that are always listening for the trigger phrase ‘Hey, Siri.’ It works with Apple Music and your existing iTunes library to play tunes or podcasts,” they continue. “If you have other devices connected to Apple's smart home app, you can control them through the speaker as well. It also does the usual smart speaker tasks, like playing the news, setting timers and answering basic questions.”

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A short promotional video gives little indications of its ability to do anything beyond respond to a request to look good from different camera angles and instantly “play my favorites,” however. 

On Twitter, snark was loud and picture-clear as always. It ranged from gifs suggesting that the design of the HomePod looked like a roll of toilet paper or bundle of twine to its copycat nature to comments about its ability to invade your privacy or make a serious dent in your bank account. 

Not that there weren’t positive comments, too.

“Nerdgasm with Apple #HomePod design: 7-horn loaded tweeters, 6-mic array, woofer, bass calibration, beam forming & DSP audio processing,” tweeted @wkmyrhang above a picture of its innards.

The new iOS 11 operating system, which will be available for download in the fall, meanwhile “reveals the future of Apple and its products,” Joanna Stern writes in the Wall Street Journal. “With this new version, our iPhones could guide us through life faster (and possibly safer) and our iPads might finally become real computers. And by integrating augmented reality, Apple is showing us a future where we might stop holding up our screens altogether.”

You’ll be able to readily message money to your kids and a “Do Not Disturb” feature will tell people that you’re driving and unable to emoji them back at the moment.

“The features I’m most excited about, however, should let us get stuff done faster,” Stern writes. “The new revamped Control Center — that helpful menu of shortcuts you see when you flick up from the bottom of the screen — will be customizable. You’ll also be able to handily switch off just the cellular radio, and not go full Airplane Mode.”

Among the other announcements yesterday, which the Washington Post’s Hayley Tsukayama and ZDNet’s Larry Dignan explain in some detail, are:

  • Amazon is coming to Apple TV. The two disrupters have evidently declared a truce.
  • Apple Watch is getting an update, including enhancements to both the workout and Apple Music features.
  • The Mac itself is getting a free update to its Sierra operating system that’s dubbed High Sierra.
  • The desktop Mac lineup, overdue for updates, will have higher memory capacity and stronger graphics performance. There will also be a five-grand MacBook Pro launching before Xmas.
  • MacBooks shipping now, meanwhile, are also faster and the price of the 13-inch model is $300 cheaper than it was.
  • The App store is getting a re-do.
  • The iPad Pro line has been updated and will have a new model with a 10.5-inch screen.

The USA Today’s Brent Molina has a minute-by-minute recap of yesterday’s keynote here. Time has a video here.

Back to those AR capabilities. Mashable’s Karissa Bell reports that Apple demoed a couple of experiences that “were meant to show developers what's possible, rather than represent fully fledged consumer-ready apps.” One featured Star Wars HoloChess and allowed players to move the pieces on the surface in front of them. The other resembled an earlier demo from Facebook.  

“Apple also talked about an app Ikea is making to help people visualize furniture in their homes before they buy it. Similarly, ARKit apps could be used to virtually try on clothes or makeup or just about anything else you may want to test-drive before bringing it home.”

And by “bringing it home,” who out there among you believes that means having your autonomous vehicle battle traffic on a drive to and from the mall?

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