Apple's revamped HomePod offers new tricks - and one glaring flaw

Apple has conquered the world of audio several times over. First with the iPod and iTunes, then with its ubiquitous AirPods - all of which changed the way the world listened to music and made phone calls. But the one device that failed to shift the dial was the HomePod, a voice-controlled Siri smart speaker that launched in 2018 and was discontinued in 2021 after lackluster sales. The smaller HomePod Mini remains on sale. But it never held a candle to the larger device, which sounded better than just about any rival when it launched in 2018, even if it lacked some of the'smart' features offered by rivals from Google and Amazon.