Thoughts on Apple's HomePod

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

San Jose, California - Apple's newest product category since the Apple Watch in 2015 (or, it can be argued, since the EarPods last year) is their HomePod speaker revealed here a few days ago and which is coming to the US in December (with mid-2018 availability in Canada likely).

In typical Apple fashion, the company comes rather late into a market that's already quite mature. Amazon's Echo can be credited for creating the connected speaker/voice assistant space, and it's a huge seller in the US, Amazon's even expanded their product line to smaller Dot speakers as well as licensing Echo across various OEMs, including high-end speaker brands.

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Apple redesigns iTunes website, too

The Apple App Store isn’t the only one that’s gotten a new look. Apple has finally updated the iTunes website to make it look more like Apple Music and the iTunes app on Mac and PC. You see larger images this time and more information about the artists. You can now easily listen to song previews, read editors’ notes and artist bios, preview videos, and the like. It can prompt you to either check out the song or album on iTunes or Apple Music app. The site also now promotes Apple Music by giving you an option to start a free trial of their streaming service. And instead of saying it’s an iTunes Preview, it now shows that it’s an Apple Music Preview.

Source: 9to5Mac

Mophie brings wireless charging to the current Apple and Samsung flagships

It’s not the first time Mophie is bringing wireless charging to Apple and Samsung devices. But for those who are using the latest flagships from both brands, then you’re in luck. Mophie just unveiled new charge force cases for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus as well as the Galaxy S8 and S8+. These leather-wrapped cases support everything from Mophie’s wireless charging system to Qi to other wireless charging systems. The iPhone 7 cases are available in black, tan, brown, blue, and (PRODUCT)RED and goes for US$59.95. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S8 case only comes in black and is available for US$49.95.

Aside from that, the brand even released a wireless power bank of sorts. The mini charge force powerstation is a 3,000mAh battery you can stick to the back of the charge force case via magnets. Mophie keeps it sleek and slim so it won’t add that much thickness to your phone. It retails for US$49.95.

Source: Engadget

Apple original show ‘Planet of the Apps’ premieres on Apple Music

Apple’s first foray into content production has finally made its debut on Apple Music. The first of 10 episodes of Planet of the Apps is now available on Apple Music. The show is hosted by Zane Lowe and features advisors Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk, and will.i.am. It revolves around different people presenting their app ideas to the panel of advisors. The show is co-produced by Apple and Propagate. The four advisors are executive producers of the show along with Ben Silverman and Howard Owens. Episodes of the show will be available exclusively on Apple Music and will drop every Tuesday evening.

To give you a look at what the show is about, the first episode is available for free on iTunes and planetoftheapps.com.