tedcranmore

I think there is an easy explanation here. It was rumored last summer (Google “Andrew Left predicts Apple acquisition Sono)”, Apple killing the HomePod means this will happen soon. Why support a high-end speaker solution that isn’t selling well when Sonos will provide that product via acquisition?

Sono has a market cap of 5 billion. That’s pocket change for Apple. 

There are some good points made, but no matter the cost, I don’t want a smart speaker in every room. I want the habits and commands I use to be with me everywhere. In the park, in the car, in the shower, while on a walk — everywhere. The only way to achieve that is not by making a smart speaker cheap — that will only get it in more rooms at that approach falls way short. The solution is clearly to make it a wearable. You glossed over the correct answer because it’s not good enough today on the watch. However, give it time and that solution will be far superior and your echo Dots will languish in the attic. The ONLY solution that allows you to be truly ‘always works’ and create real habits is by having your voice assistant be on your body and therefore be ALWAYS with you. Maybe someday that will be glasses or something in your shirt, but for now the answer is the watch. While we are still struggling with a small mic and battery life, we have trouble imagining that future when those issues fade away just like we had trouble imagining the smartphone in 1996.

I don’t have any trouble agreeing that Siri isn’t good enough — because it isn’t. But truly, other than some edge cases when you really dig into Google and Amazon assistants, they are far from good enough either. Just ask those that use these devices over time, the cases that are sticky tend to end up at that same core set that Siri is actually pretty good at — timers, music, weather, shopping lists, scores, etc. The big farce is all the skills that 3rd parties are developing. The vast majority are laughable from a real human mass market perspective.  

There are tons of real wins easily achievable with voice assistants.  Tech writers gets sucked into the next 12 months, but the real destination requires them to see several years down the road.

You need to remove the part of the article that implies the AirPods will fall out. If they fit you correctly they will not fall out no matter what, even during a hard workout.  I've tried my best to shake them out by violently twisting and turning  and they just will not fall out.  The lack of physical volume controls is something, but  I rarely need that and when I do I have another device either in my pocket or on my wrist. When working out I just take my Apple Watch, and that is a  good way to change the volume. The other advantages far outweigh this slight con.  For me, not having a connecting wire between left and right is a godsend as well. 

There is  always a hole somewhere, it's just a matter of finding them AND determining impact. What the article doesn't make clear, is what is the impact of this hole? Is your personal information at risk? Or, it is that a thief will be able to re-use your device after he steals it? Activation lock has reduced iOS device theft, and this appears to suggest that the impact here is not to your personal data, but to your stolen device being of some value because it can be setup again. Not great, but not putting your personal information at risk.