Apple Working on Combined TV Box, Speaker to Revive Home Efforts (bloomberg.com) 28
Apple has been a laggard in the smart-home space, but a versatile new device in early development could change that. From a Bloomberg report: The company is working on a product that would combine an Apple TV set-top box with a HomePod speaker and include a camera for video conferencing through a connected TV and other smart-home functions, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. The device's other capabilities would include standard Apple TV box functions like watching video and gaming plus smart speaker uses such as playing music and using Apple's Siri digital assistant.
If launched, it would represent Apple's most ambitious smart-home hardware offering to date. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is also mulling the launch of a high-end speaker with a touch screen to better compete with market leaders Google and Amazon.com, the people said. Such a device would combine an iPad with a HomePod speaker and also include a camera for video chat. Apple has explored connecting the iPad to the speaker with a robotic arm that can move to follow a user around a room, similar to Amazon's latest Echo Show gadget. Development of both Apple products is still in the early stages, and the company could decide to launch neither or change key features. The company often works on new concepts and devices without ultimately shipping them.
If launched, it would represent Apple's most ambitious smart-home hardware offering to date. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is also mulling the launch of a high-end speaker with a touch screen to better compete with market leaders Google and Amazon.com, the people said. Such a device would combine an iPad with a HomePod speaker and also include a camera for video chat. Apple has explored connecting the iPad to the speaker with a robotic arm that can move to follow a user around a room, similar to Amazon's latest Echo Show gadget. Development of both Apple products is still in the early stages, and the company could decide to launch neither or change key features. The company often works on new concepts and devices without ultimately shipping them.
lol (Score:1)
Apple needs to remind itself again... (Score:2)
Why it doesn't ACTUALLY want to be anything more than a niche electronics/computing purveyor.
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It's not the first time. The Pippin? The Newton? The quicktake?
Apple's 'home' products are just a phase in a long chain of oddball products no one will remember fondly.
Re:Apple needs to remind itself again... (Score:4)
The main issue with Apple TV stuff is that anything you """buy""" from iTunes is actually a DRM infected rental.
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Except for music, which has been DRM-free for what, over a decade now?
Re: Apple needs to remind itself again... (Score:2)
Years? End times rather.
It isn't like Jobs is going to come back from his grave and save the suits this time.
That's the problem with micro-management. When you're gone, you're left with a bunch of headless chickens.
Always give your employees a part over which they are the boss full stop. If they don't follow a philosophy you like, yoi can still fire them or give them a smaller part, before you're gone and it's too late. (Also frees you up to deal with what you actually want to do.)
They are called "microphones", not "speakers" ;-) (Score:4, Funny)
They are called "microphones", not "speakers" as their primary purpose is to listen... to everything ;-)
"Speaker-ing" is just a side function..
Re: They are called "microphones", not "speakers" (Score:3)
And by extension, this is not a TV. It is a telescreen.
A Camera in Your TV: What Would Go Wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
WHY ? (Score:2)
Re: WHY ? (Score:2)
Face to face? Real or on the telescreen? Without or with deepfaking?
The first one is obvious. The latter a meme/fad/FlappyBird.
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People like face to face time. You might not, but in general, people do. We're social creatures who thrive in the presence of others.
Even the biggest introvert still gains benefits by meeting people - they may withdraw, but that's because introverts find social interactions draining (which is fine). That is, after all, why they're introverts. Extroverts are the opposite - they gain energy from social interactions.
Note I said "energy". I didn't say "introverts l
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Having a meeting with your manager ever day is not a social interaction. Maybe its just me but i wouldnt call that fun or interesting, where half the people are talking bullshit about powerpoint and statistics.
Most meetings are a waste of time, because most people are poor communicators. They are very broad and generalising the real details are often missing. Im in so
My guess is (Score:2)
it will cost more than a streaming device, a speaker (I prefer 7.2 audio) and a webcam.
With a "different" subscription price.
Pretty cool (Score:3)
Iâ(TM)m honestly pretty excited about not buying one.
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Idiotic comment but the punchline is at the end (as it should be) and "Iâ(TM)m" indicates he's an iPhone user, which makes his comment funnier, i.e. even Apple users aren't looking forward to such a device.
But it does explain why Apple discontinued the regular "big" HomePod a few weeks ago.
If you are completely out of ideas... (Score:2)
Combine two exiting things and call it an innovation.
Bonus points, if somebody already did it before. Ideally some third rate Chinese knock-off manufacturer. ;)
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Aren't both Google and Facebook already making similar devices?
How do they manage to keep screwing this up? (Score:2)
Apple users are famously price-insensitive, be it in the app store or buying expensive HiFi gadgets to plug their phones into when they get home @2000$ a pop. So, why do they have to resell other people's stuff in their stores? Where's the Apple TV, (OK, they'd have to rebadge a Samsung to get the screen quality, I guess...), the Apple hi-end audio system (for home & car), the Apple home automation solution with all the latest IoT shit? They have an amazing opportunity to expand their 'walled garden'
Well they did make that 1984 commercial. (Score:2)
First: Make existing products useful (Score:2)
Seriously, Apple's current lineup of home automation gear just blows because it lacks features and integrations. Make the existing stuff useful and then get back to us on this new thing.
Will they improve Siri though? (Score:2)
As long as Apple's smarthome stuff relies on their brain-dead AI that can't even answer basic questions most of the time let alone perform complex tasks, it is not going to be able to compete with Google or Amazon.