yep plug your chromecasts into your hufi and nice tv, use google home to control them. Why try and beat the speaker/amp makers, why rebadge a samsung tv by putting white tape around the edge etc. Plug your (cheap) tech into the best you have and then control it.

Apple make money on the hardware then take on what comes through them. Google and Amazon have the infrastructure to sell stuff on to you right now. They have the smarts (through data collection) to know what is important to you, when it’s important and soon why.

The problem I have with all this is that I am an Apple Music user and the HomePod is the only solution (when it turns up) that I can use voice control to play Apple Music. Sure, you can use Apple TV Siri through my main amp or “Hey Siri” and Airplay stuff to the kitchen radio, but none of it works as easily as Alexa. I’ve tried.

[edit] moreover, Apple don’t appear to have any plans for a voice-activated, Apple Music integrated “dongle” I can plug into my decent amp. If I want voice-activated hands-free Apple music, it’s the (non-existent) HomePod or nowt

I think they also harvest your data. Have you checked the T&Cs?

Way less than Google. Lots of stuff is derived locally on the phone rather than in a server.

https://www.apple.com/uk/privacy/

I think they also harvest your data. Have you checked the TCs?

Oh, I’m sure they do, old chap.

footflaps – Member

Way less than Google. Lots of stuff is derived locally on the phone rather than in a server.

Any specifics?

Any specifics?

They talk about it in the keynote presentations, things like suggested directions etc are based on local info on the phone and not from the cloud etc. As they don’t sell advertising, they don’t have any real need for lots of detailed user info and genuinely (IMO) seem more bothered about Privacy than most tech companies.

At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right.

And so much of your personal information — information you have a right to keep private — lives on your Apple devices.

Your heart rate after a run. Which news stories you read first. Where you bought your last coffee. What websites you visit. Who you call, email or message.

Every Apple product is designed from the ground up to protect that information. And to empower you to choose what you share and with whom.

We’ve proved time and again that great experiences don’t have to come at the expense of your privacy and security. Instead, they can support them.

As they don’t sell advertising, they don’t have any real need for lots of detailed user info and genuinely (IMO) seem more bothered about Privacy than most tech companies.

I am interested in why they need this then.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/data-center-faqs/apple-data-center-faq

Amazon has a way to sell you anything and want to know your habits.
Google has search and shopping.

Apple has?

Interesting article here that questions how relevant Apple will be as hardware becomes less relevant in a services-oriented technology landscape.

footflaps – Member
Any specifics?
They talk about it in the keynote presentations, things like suggested directions etc are based on local info on the phone and not from the cloud etc. As they don’t sell advertising, they don’t have any real need for lots of detailed user info and genuinely (IMO) seem more bothered about Privacy than most tech companies.

Read this
https://decentralize.today/apple-vs-google-vs-microsoft-which-company-handles-your-data-better-a7022bd452b1

tl;dr:

The most important point I want to get across in this article is that all three companies are essentially the same for the data collect, and for me, Google wins because their site is the easiest to understand, they will notify you if any of your data is going to be affected in a sale, and provide easy methods for you to delete your data. Apple and Microsoft outright share your data with other companies, while Google doesn’t without your permission. They were the first of the three to introduce two factor authentication, and they make it easy to use two factor without it being a pain. But don’t just listen to me, don’t just listen to other writers, research the terms yourself. Apple’s policy is here, Google’s is here, and Microsoft’s is here.

I think smart home speakers are still at least a couple of years off being mass market/must haves so I don’t think Apple is too late but they need to get it right pretty quickly/from the start. That said Apple don’t need to shift the highest number of units, their in-built premium will generate a lot of profit from lower sales.

Amazon, Google and shortly Apple’s current products just aren’t fluid or intelligent enough to become something everyone thinks they need. Amazon Alexa skills for example need you to remember specific trigger words (which aren’t always as obvious as you’d think), it needs to be smarter than that. Asking her for general search type info is also very hit and miss (but then so is just typing into Google, but Google rely on your ability to quickly glance through search results to find the relevant ones but smart speaker searches don’t have that option)

When the apocalypse does come, I do wonder what the current generation of tech heads are going to do after Skynet brings down internet/wi-fi Comms.

“Ok Google, tell me how long to brush my teeth for”
“Google?”
“GOOGLE?!”

Que millions of zombies wondering the streets staring at their handsets searching for a sign..

Me, I shall conquer the bleak wilderness with my grade-A post-it note memory recollection skills.

Amazon, Google and shortly Apple’s current products just aren’t fluid or intelligent enough to become something everyone thinks they need.

I have no experience of Google’s home speakers, but I think Amazon do a grand job, or at least they do for what I use my Echo for. Siri isn’t too bad at understanding me, but it’s a long way behind in terms of genuinely usable “hands-free” voice activation. I guess this is the problem HomePod aims to tackle.

For example Siri understands me if I say “Play In Rainbows by Radiohead”, but to get him/her listening I either have to press a button on my iPhone/Apple TV/Airpods or I need my phone plugged in for “Hey Siri” to work. The mic on an iPhone is useless for “Hey Siri” waking it up unless you’re right next to the phone with minimal background noise. I can shout at Alexa from the dining room to the kitchen and get her to turn the volume up.

I had a *very* quick go on a friend’s Echo and it worked straight off from the other side of the kitchen and despite four children running riot after being fed sweets during a bonfire night event. I have to say I was impressed – I had no idea how to trigger it and what to say but it did as I asked straight away.

So I have ordered one.

Simple stuff (e.g. turning on/off lights, asking the time, asking the weather) generally works well (although even then probably only 90-95% of the time and although that’s pretty high it’s the failures you remember). More than once Alexa has offered to play me a song rather than turn lights on. It also completely froze this morning when after turning on a separate bluetooth speaker in my bathroom I asked her to tune-in (normally that starts playing the last tune-in radio station I listened to).

Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty decent, it’s just very much still a first generation. Once the initial novelty wears off you start noticing the mistakes and issues a lot more. It needs to get close to Star Trek levels of fluidity/intelligence to be a game changer/must have.

Is there a ‘smart speaker’ market? There isn’t a single person of even a remote acquaintance of mine who has one or any interest in one.
I don’t see one in my home any time in the foreseeable future.

Is there a ‘smart speaker’ market?

Clearly, since big players are either already in on the act or trying to get in on the act. They wouldn’t be doing that if their research said there was no market.

There isn’t a single person of even a remote acquaintance of mine who has one or any interest in one.

All that means is your relatively tiny circle of acquaintances is either not the target market or doesn’t yet know they are the target market. The same sentence could be written about me and trouser presses.

I don’t see one in my home any time in the foreseeable future.

For even the tiny little bits of helpfulness, I see a huge market – I just spent £70 on our Echo (the price of a mid-price radio). And when I am cooking and have my hands covered in raw chicken, I can turn up the music, turn it down, change the station/genre/artist etc etc etc. I can ask it to set a cooking timer or switch it off or whatever.

For me, just those simple benefits make it a valuable addition to the household. And I get to put the old DAB radio in the Mancave.

I suppose I’m the target market.. I like a fancy gadjet, I like to play around with tech, and I’ve some disposable income…

At the moment, I’m pleased that with a single voice command I can turn on/off the outside and inside christmas lights (Which aren’t up YET…, but the smart plugs are set up).. I can even do that remotely via the Kasa app..

And at bed time I can turn off all the smart plugs with a single voice command…

I agree the Echo speakers aren’t amazing, but they’re not crap…
It’s a small, enclosed kitchen speaker at the end of the day.

Though I agree, if you want great sound, link a Dot up to some good speakers (we have in our lounge… it’s lovely!)

I think they’re cool.

Would I live WITHOUT it..yeah..
Would i swap an Echo for a washing machine – hell no, the washer is far more useful!
But…I don’t need to make that choice!

DrP

^I could have written the exact same thing JohnDoh. It’s surprising how delightful that extra convenience is.

Apple have just delayed the HomePod into next year.

I was going to buy one…

^ Which is why this thread was resurrected earlier today…

stilltortoise – Member
Apple’s HomePod launch delayed until next year (CNET link…one of many)

POSTED 6 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Oops.

E.g. Sonos supposed to be the MEGA, but compare them to a wired speaker & they are dire.

Give bluesound speakers a go. A pair of their play one equivalents are on a par with my old hi-fi setup. Twice the price of Sonos though.