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The latest Apple HomePod speaker is on sale for $285 at B&H Photo, which is $14 less than buying from Apple directly. This isn’t the largest cash discount we’ve seen, and Apple previously bundled the device with a $50 gift card during Black Friday. But deals of any kind on the home speaker have been uncommon since it arrived in early 2023, so this modest drop still represents the lowest price we’ve seen in the last few months. The discount applies to both the black and white versions of the speaker.

We gave the second-generation HomePod a score of 84 in our review last year. It’ll make the most sense if you’re a particularly dedicated Apple user who prioritizes audio quality. It still works easily with other Apple devices and services, from iPhones to Apple TVs to Apple Music, and we generally find it to sound richer and clearer than competing smart speakers from Amazon and Google. As a smart home device, it’s compatible with Matter and Thread on top of Apple’s own HomeKit protocol, so you can use it to control a growing range of security cameras, thermostats, plugs and other smart home accessories. It also has built-in temperature and humidity sensors, and its included mics do well to pick out your voice through noise.

To be clear, this is still a pricey and relatively niche device. Speakers like the Sonos Five and Sonos Era 300 cost more but offer louder and more dynamic sound quality, while the Sonos Era 100 may be a better value if you want to conserve a little more cash. Apple’s own HomePod Mini has nearly all of the same smart home features if that’s your main concern, while Google Assistant and Alexa users should still look to Google’s Nest Audio or an Amazon Echo device. The HomePod has its own issues, too: Siri isn’t the most capable voice assistant, there’s no Bluetooth audio, you can’t customize its EQ and you need a workaround to control Spotify via voice. Rumors of a touchscreen-enabled HomePod have also floated around over the past year. All that said, if you’re all-in on Apple, this is a decent chance to save on the company’s highest-end home speaker.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-second-gen-apple-homepod-is-down-to-285-in-a-rare-sale-153431326.html?src=rss 

Google Pay was largely replaced by Google Wallet back in 2022, but it has still been operating in several countries, including the US. Now, the search giant has announced that Pay will be discontinued stateside on June 4, 2024 in a push to simplify its payment apps. After that, it will only be available in Singapore and India due to the “unique needs in those countries,” Google wrote in a blog. 

As part of the deprecation, Google will be removing peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, managing your balance and “find offers and deals.” For the latter, it recommends using the new deals destination on Search. Users will still be able to transfer their Google Pay (GPay) balance to a bank account after June 4, 2024 using the Google Pay website.

Google Wallet has now largely replaced GPay, with five times as many users in 180 countries, the company said. That’s because it can handle more than just payments — on top of credit and debit cards, it stores transport passes, state IDs, driver’s licenses, virtual car keys and more.

Google’s payment system has been a mess over the years. It started off as Google Wallet, which was launched in 2011. At the time, it was a tap-to-pay system that came out years ahead of Apple Pay (2014), supported by Mastercard and retailers like Macy’s. 

Meanwhile, Android Pay came out in 2015, then that was integrated with Google Wallet in 2018 and rebranded as Google Pay. In addition, the company originally had a Google Wallet card (killed in 2016) that was effectively a prepaid debit card usable with any retailers that accepted Mastercard. Now everything is back under the Google Wallet umbrella — unless the company changes its mind again. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-pay-is-shutting-down-in-the-us-later-this-year-105720968.html?src=rss 

Meta is currently testing a couple of capabilities for Threads, which Instagram head Adam Mosseri describes as some of the “most requested” features for the social network. One of these experimental features is the ability to save drafts. Users will be easily able to save a post they’ve typed as a draft that they can edit and publish later by swiping down on their mobile device’s display. When there’s a draft saved, the app’s menu at the bottom of the screen highlights the post icon. At the moment, though, they can only save one draft, and it’s unclear if Meta has plans to give users the ability to save more. 

In addition to drafts, Meta is also testing an in-app camera. It opens the mobile phone’s camera from within Threads itself, so that users can more easily share photos and videos from their phone. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg made a post on the service with a photo he says was taken with the new in-app camera the company is testing. 

Meta told us that these are initial tests for the experimental features, which means they could undergo a lot of changes before they get a wide release, and are only available for a small number of people. Over the past month, Meta also started testing a bookmarking feature for Threads that allows users to save posts they can refer to later. The company is experimenting with its version of trending topics on Threads, as well, along with the ability to make cross-posts between Threads and Facebook. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-latest-experimental-threads-features-let-you-save-drafts-and-take-photos-in-app-094535111.html?src=rss