Apple HomePod update adds Canadian French support, among other new Siri-related features

Apple’s HomePod speaker recently got a software update that brings some useful new features to it. One is that it now gets support for Canadian French in Canada and Spanish in the U.S., Spain, and Mexico. On top of this, you can now ask Siri to do more. You can now ask it to search songs by lyrics (in English), set multiple timers, make or receive calls, help locate your iPhone with Find My iPhone feature, and access Siri Shortcuts. An example Apple gives is, you can say “Hey Siri, good morning” and it can go through your morning routine and do things like “order coffee from a coffee shop’s app, turn on the kitchen lights from the Home app, and share the first few calendar appointments for the day—all with one simple, customizable command.”

Is the iPhone XR the triumphant return of the iPhone 5c?

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Given that it is an 'S' year in iPhone releases with the expected bump in features and functionality plus the availability of a larger size, this week's iPhone event really did give us a lot to consider.

iPhone buyers now have a plethora of choices (none of which feature a headphone jack) in terms of new iPhones. The iPhone XS improves on the design and performance of iPhone X and the iPhone XS Max supersizes this new notched and edge-to-edge design.

These are both flagship devices and the most expensive iPhones ever shipped, even if they are also the most capacious, with storage going up to a whopping 512GB on some models.

The iPhone XR, however, is the release that is likely going to draw the most attention. Following the Pro and Consumer strategy used by Apple to differentiate their MacBooks as well as their iPads, the iPhone XR fits in nicely as a more practical and somewhat affordable option.

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Google to shut down Inbox app by March 2019

If you stuck by Inbox all these years as an alternative to email, we’re sad to say but you have less than five months with the app. Google just announced it was shuttering the app by March 2019 so it could focus on Gmail. The company reasons that a lot of the popular features in Inbox—like snoozing emails, Smart Reply, connected task lists, and high-priority notifications—have made or are making their way to Gmail. “Bundles” or those that group similar emails together into a single block haven’t made its way to Gmail yet, but is said to be coming at a later date.

Inbox was a fun experiment in trying to redesign the email experience. Unfortunately, it looks like that experiment didn’t quite pan out. Redesigned Gmail does incorporate a lot of ideas, though, so for you loyal Inbox users, it might not be as painful a switch. According to The Verge, there will be no layoffs related to this shut down as the employees working on the app have already been “well-integrated” into the Gmail team.

Apple iPhone XS and XS Max: Welcoming the incremental update

Nothing much about the new iPhones were kept a secret so Apple’s event earlier just felt like a confirmation of rumours that have swirled around for the past few months. They’re here. They’re official! We welcome the new iPhone Xs and Xs Max, the upgrades from last year’s iPhone X.

There isn’t much that’s changed design-wise, except for a new gold finish. It looks similar to last year’s flagship. But it gets some specification bump that owners of older generation iPhones might appreciate. That or if you’ve been waiting for a bigger screen on an iPhone paired with better camera and battery life.

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