HomePod ain't dead yet! And it's about to get SUPERCHARGED

Let's dive into the story that I think that is probably the one that you're all most excited about

Let's talk about HomePod's, my friends. It's the feel-good story of the week. Because the Home Pods, they're not dead

They should have never died. According to Bloomberg, HomePod ain't dead yet, baby

Homepotting, this is like the movie pass of tech stories. It just can't, it just won't die

It can't be. It just won't die. According to Bloomberg, we do have another permutation of

of the home pod in the works. And if this is to be believed

I don't know what TC is smoking over there in the underground bunkers of Apple headquarters

but this is an oddball idea. So the next home pod reportedly won't be a replacement

for the full-sized smart speaker. Apple is instead working on a combination Apple TV home pod

and FaceTime camera product. So just imagine that, Lois. Where do you put a item that is an Apple TV, also a HomePod, and also a FaceTime camera around your TV

Like, where would that even fit? You can't put it in front of your TV, can you? Or maybe you can

Maybe it's going to be a Soundbar. Maybe it's going to be an Apple sound bar, a HomePod sound bar

Actually, that would actually make sense. There's a camera on it with FaceTime, and it also access your Apple TV

It just goes straight into the TV and you just see the giant screen talk

Exactly. Exactly. That makes more sense than anything else because they can't keep them to be the original shape of the home pods

So actually, that would actually, I'm saying actually a lot. That would be very cool if they did that

Well, why couldn't they keep it the original shape? Because you're saying because it wouldn't be, you can't be facing you. It wouldn't be central to where you're

Well if you made a home pod that if you made a home pod in the shape that they have them now those round shapes oftentimes they are too tall to be put in front of your TV depending on what TV you have

because they block part of the screen. So I think it would make a lot more sense to have like a home pod sound bar that does all these things

But I suppose you're right. If they just made some small little home pod mini type products. And they could just, you know, I mean, a lot of people, you know, you got to figure out like, you know, just move your TV up on a little bit, right

I mean, that could work. Yeah, you can do that as well, but a lot of people don't want to, like, lift their TV up

It has to be universal for TVs that are on melons and TVs that come with regular stands

So let me keep reading. So according to Bloomberg, you're getting me all distracted

Sorry about that. The device supposedly will be the heart of Apple's smart home strategy. Quote, this is, German

I absolutely do think a new home pod is coming, specifically a device that combines a home pod

Apple TV and FaceTime camera. It would be cool to have a FaceTime camera in the living room too

I get FaceTime calls in my living room all the time. And I might actually use, oh my gosh, what's the feature called

Center Stage. I would probably use Center Stage if it were in my living room

It could follow me around. That's something that would be super useful. Okay, carrying on with the story here

Rather than making, oh wait, wait a second. Okay, I already said this

rather than making FaceTime calls with an iPhone, iPad or Mac, someone will be able to make them from this device

and see the other person on their TV. Pretty cool. And it would be an Apple TV so it could make access to films

and series from a variety of streaming services, blah, blah, blah, yeah, we get it. The device apparently will run HomeOS

No one cares. At this point, it's not expected to reach customers

I'm trying to get through the relevant information here at this. At this point, it is not expected to reach consumers until 2023

Okay, so a little ways off. The future of Apple smart speaker is apparently the HomePod Mini Now that is truly sad That is truly sad The HomePod Mini I sorry is a it a poor replacement for the regular HomePod It not even the same product The HomePod was a masterpiece of audio crammed into a Mac Pro sized container And the HomePod Mini it sounds good But it no regular HomePod for sure

Uh, let's see here. He says the full size of this is us. Sorry, the full size version was discontinued in 2021

I can't believe it was only 2021. And reportedly isn't coming back. German says, uh, quote

I don't think a big standalone home pod is still in development. But perhaps a new home pod mini is coming

Oh, great. Oh, good. A new home pod mini. Maybe it will be minier

Even minier. This one, even minier, y'all. It's easy to play out and be like the size of a marble

Cool. Yeah. You know, I mean, the only thing that's wrong with the HomePod mini, or the regular HomePod, actually, is that it's not quite loud enough

I mean, do you notice this? Like, certain Apple TV channels, like, let's just say Shutter

You ever watch Shutter? It's like a horror movie channel, right? I've heard of it

I never used to. Some of those movies are really quiet. I mean, the other day, the wife and I were watching a movie, and we're sitting there, and I'm like, and she goes, can you turn it up

And I'm like, it is up all the way. And, you know, usually, I mean, she is always like, oh, please turn it down

Please turn it down. And I'm like, yeah, you know, explosions are loud. And then once explosions stop, they'll be talking and we won't be able to hear it at all because it'll be this loud

And so we were constantly like fighting over the volume, right? But she's going, please, please turn it up

I can't hear anything. It's like, yeah, it's maxed out. So I don't understand why Apple TV can't take care of that

I don understand why the home pod is I guess it not really the home pod that not loud enough But if it was actually able to produce even more volume when you come across one of these low volume inputs it would be nice to have a little bit of headroom

Yeah, I agree. And one of the complaints about the regular home pods were that they weren't loud enough

No, that's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a regular home pod in stereo mode

Like, there are certain things that are plenty loud, but there are other things. It's just not enough oomph there

And I don't know what the limiting factor is. I'm not going to go dig into it and figure

I mean, I'm sure it's something to do with the original encoding of the movie or something

But it seems like certain Apple TV channels are quieter than other ones

And I don't exactly know why. But what I'm saying is I'd like it to be louder or not softer

And the HomePod Mini is just, there's no way you could use it as a soundbar in any sort of like

No way. No way. I mean, I've heard of people doing it, but. Well, if you have a small apartment

or something, sure. Or if you're just sitting at your desk, sure. But they don't get nearly as loud as a home pod

And I would say not even two home pod made is get as loud as one home pod. I haven't tested that, but that's kind of the way it feels

And then two home pods in stereo and stereo pair, got out of my face

Got out of my face with that nonsense. Not even having that discussion with you. And, you know, Apple could have, and what I was hoping

I think what many of us were hoping is they would have, they already, they were in the

the TV home, how do I say this? The TV audio space, right

They could have had a package of home pods that you can use for surround sound, wireless surround sound

and then released like a subwifer, and I think that would have sold pretty well for them