Hey Siri ...
I’m a Music person.
And I’m a Design person.
And I’m an Apple person.
But I’m not yet a Siri person, although I think I’m moving in that direction.
I have had a HomePod on my list for some time, and last week I finally clicked the buy button.
HomePod is a superhighfidelity smart speaker that uses Siri to connect to a variety of services, from Apple Music to home automation applications. Think “Hey Siri turn off the lights” or “Hey Siri call Magdalena”.
When playing music, the sound quality is amazing not only because of the high-excursion speaker technology but also the way HomePod adaptively mixes and directs sound to wherever you are.
To personalize interactions, HomePod recognizes up to six different voices. It’s the voice equivalent of when you log-into Netflix and it asks you “Who’s watching?” Only it doesn’t need to ask more than once.
HomePod’s fabric cover makes it unobtrusive visually. And its simple shape reminds you that the intended way to control it is with your voice.
So far, I have limited my uses to playing music (Apple Music playlists), listening to podcasts (NPR news, New Yorker Radio Hour), checking the weather (Weather Company), and making lots of voice searches (from looking-up Wikipedia entries, to “What time is Whole Foods at Columbus Circle closing tonight?").
HomePod keeps me off my phone when I’m at home, but I am still connected. In fact, the whole apartment is connected.
I know Siri can do more than set an alarm clock, and I’m looking forward to learning about more advanced conveniences. But for now, I’m glad I met her.
A note on privacy. Since everything I say after “Hey Siri …” is encrypted and not tied to my Apple ID, for now I am OK with having an internet-connected microphone in my kitchen. My daughter says I should worry about what I say before I say “Hey Siri …” but they wouldn’t dare. Would they?
More here …
