Although early HomePod orders appear to be doing well, Apple could ship a “low-end” model this fall costing between $150 and $200 instead of the current model’s $349, an analyst said Friday in an investor memo seen by AppleInsider.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple’s AppleCare+ extended warranty and accidental damage repair program for the HomePod retails for $39, with a single out-of-warranty repair like accidental damage from a drop otherwise costing the user $279 uncovered, and $39 when under the program.

Source:: Apple Insider

DirecTV Now has re-started the promotion it had at launch, and is offering new subscribers the new Apple TV 4K if they pay for three months of service in advance instead of the normal four.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple was apparently experimenting with the possibility of creating a powerful version of the Apple TV long before it created the Apple TV 4K, with the discovery of code references in the “iBoot” leak suggesting it could have used an A9X chip.

Source:: Apple Insider

This week on the AppleInsider podcast, Victor and Neil talk about HomePod, rumored iPhones and Bryan Fuller’s inability to stay on a show. In addition, Michal Jurewicz joins to talk about audio digital signal processing.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple on Thursday updated its TV app for iOS and tvOS with a live news section, making good on promises last year to deliver live streaming content from a variety of network news channels to the cord-cutting app.

Source:: Apple Insider

In what appears to be a rare catastrophic Apple hardware failure, a Tampa, Fla., man’s AirPods “blew up” during a recent gym workout, prompting Apple to investigate the matter.

Source:: Apple Insider

Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple all have voice assistants vying for attention, and all are moving the concept of computer-human voice interaction forward. AppleInsider offers an abbreviated history of how we got here and the capabilities of these assistants and their devices in anticipation of HomePod. What do these things do? What do people use them for? And what is Apple doing differently?

Source:: Apple Insider

Documents recently aired in an ongoing investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton probe show texts between two agency officials discussing 2016’s encryption debate, offering a revealing look at government sentiment at the time.

Source:: Apple Insider

HomePod is now on sale at Apple retail locations in Australia, New Zealand and other areas where the clock turned Friday, and customers who recently took receipt of the new smart speaker are posting photos of the device to social media outlets.

Source:: Apple Insider