Apple is finally taking a side in the war over net neutrality, Hurricane Harvey has impacted IT customer service operations, and Sony is the latest brand to jump aboard the smart speaker train.
From Reddit – Apple is finally speaking up about net neutrality. The tech giant took a side yesterday when it filed a comment with the FCC calling for “strong, enforceable open internet protections”. Yes that’s right, Apple is officially on the side against paid fast lanes and broadband internet providers being able to “block, throttle, or otherwise discriminate against lawful websites and services”. Apple just got in under the deadline for public comments yesterday, but hey, better late than never.
From Google Trends – Houston and surrounding areas of Texas have been battered this week by Hurricane Harvey, including Apple and Dell facilities responsible for customer support repairs. Customers of both companies have reported that their devices have been shipped off to Houston, and with service from the US Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx indefinitely suspended to areas affected by the hurricane, those customers may be waiting some time. Obviously, the efforts to aid the people affected by Harvey, as well as to repair infrastructure will take precedent. If you’d like to help our friends down south, remember you can donate through the Canadian Red Cross at redcross.ca.
And from Google Trends once more – When Apple announced the HomePod in June, it stood alone in the smart speaker space, differentiating itself from the likes of the Amazon Echo or Google Home. But not anymore. Sony announced its own smart speaker, with the added support of Google Assistant. And since the Sony speaker has Google Assistant support, it can do everything the Google Home does, with the added bonus of Sony’s premium speaker quality. The horribly named Sony LF-S50G will be available this October for 199 USD. We’re really going to have to come up with a much better nickname for it, aren’t we?