You’ll need Apple devices to use HomePod

If you thought Apple would allow for cross-platform use of its HomePod speaker, we’re sad to report that this won’t be the case. The company posted the official specs of the HomePod speakers on its site and it shows the current limitations of the device if you’re not using Apple products. While it supports Bluetooth 5.0, if you want to stream from third-party apps like Spotify you can only do so via AirPlay, which means you need Apple devices to stream (even using Apple Music app on Android won’t work). And if you are using an Apple product to stream Spotify on the speaker, it doesn’t support voice commands using Siri. You’ll need to be using Apple’s own music services for that. On top of this, you can only set up the HomePod with devices running iOS 11 or higher. Of course, Apple could later on change their minds and add support for non-Apple devices but we’re thinking that won’t happen anytime soon. The HomePod is coming to the US, Australia, and UK starting February 9.

Source: Android Authority

Daimler and Bosch to start testing self-driving taxis soon

Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler and Bosch first promised to bring fully autonomous vehicles to the market in the next decade. But with their competition working faster to bring their self-driving cars into the market, it looks like they acknowledged that they needed to work faster. Bosch chief Volkmar Denner told German weekly publication Automobilwoche that they will be testing their self-driving taxis within a few months. No additional details about when exactly but it is at least a more definitive timetable for the project.

The advantage Daimler believes they have over their competition is the purpose-built nature of their taxis. These taxis apparently won’t just be a “technology-kit mounted on a serial vehicle,” or so Daimler VP Wilko Stark says but they’re designed to be autonomous vehicles “from the beginning.”

Source: Engadget

Google Assistant update brings music alarms, the ability to look up TV schedules

Google Assistant adds a couple of handy new features into its arsenal. One is the ability to set alarms to music. So if you want some Beyoncé to wake you up in the morning, you can just say “Set an alarm for 6 a.m. that plays Beyoncé” and it’ll play you just that. It’ll work for whatever music service you’ve set Assistant to use as default, so whether that be Spotify, Pandora, or the songs you’ve uploaded to your Google Play Music library. Another is it can now look up TV schedules for you. So you can ask it things like “When is Big Bang Theory on next?” or like which channel airs a particular show.

Source: The Verge

Canadian Reviewer Weekly Roundup 1/28-2/3

Review: ScoopFree Original Self Cleaning Litter Box

Essential Phone fixes issues with its camera app

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has a US$500 flamethrower, because why not?

Airbnb to expand the experience element of Trips to 200 U.S. cities

WhatsApp is now available on Apple CarPlay

Apple's latest Animoji ad emulates Childish Gambino's "Redbone"

Steven Soderbergh's newest feature film 'Unsane' was shot on an iPhone

Razer Phone now supports HDR content on Netflix

Microsoft releases new Spectre patch that disables ‘fix’ from Intel

ChickAdvisor uses Push and Pull to help match consumers and brands

First trailer of Ant-Man and the Wasp brings promise of fun from MCU

Apple reportedly delaying iOS visual enhancements to focus on performance and stability

Google might soon let you use custom hotwords to launch Google Assistant

Netflix’s sci-fi film ‘Mute’ gets first trailer

Office 365 and OneDrive for iOS now support drag and drop functionality

Toyota and Lexus recalling 645,000 vehicles for air bags that may fail to deploy

Apple's HomePod could be the big iOS move to the home

Shadow of the Colossus remake set to thrill PS4 gamers starting Feb 6

Apple posts Q1 revenue of $88.3 Billion, has 1.3 Billion active devices installed

You’ll need Windows 10 to run Microsoft Office 2019

Google took down over 700,000 malicious Android apps in 2017

‘Mario Kart’ is coming to smartphones

Razer introduces limited edition Razer Phone with gold colored logo at the back

Amazon Alexa can now send out text messages, rolling out in the US first