Four days ago, Apple unceremoniously terminated the full-size HomePod. The life-support plug is pulled, the product is flat-lined, and the lower-cost mini model is the replacement. We bought our first HomePod, white, in February 2018. The Featured Image is from Google Pixel 2 XL, captured on June 23 of that year. Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 246, 1/40 sec, 26mm (film equivalent); 3:37 p.m. PDT.
During an argument, my daughter’s then-boyfriend plopped her HomePod into a pot of water soaking in the kitchen sink. I know, I know. She inherited ours, and this one is the AppleCare-warranty replacement. However, the other one mysteriously stopped working, and I gave her the parent’s unit (isn’t there some Woke prohibition against using Mom and Dad). We later bought two more HomePods, in grey, and regret the day. We don’t subscribe to Apple Music, and Siri seriously needs to spend more time in Artificial Intelligence school—although she’s not as remedial three years later.
This wouldn’t be my first failed—eh, discontinued—piece of Apple gear. I owned the stylish, ill-fated Power Mac G4 Cube, which precipitated then-CEO Steve Jobs to issue a profit warning over a glut of inventory. Ironically, earlier the same day, I wrote a story about apparent mold lines that marred the translucent case: “Mac Cube: Is it all it’s cracked up to be?” You won’t find my name on the story; during an infrastructure update my byline disappeared from my CNET stories. Not only that, the dateline of Jan. 2, 2002 is a mistake, too. Correct one should be on, or about, Sept. 29, 2000.