Well, it's official: Apple is finally nixing support for its old Home architecture, meaning those relying on the previous version of Apple's Home framework have some decisions to make. In a revision to a support article, Apple says that it will end support for the previous version of its Home app starting in fall 2025, right around the time when iOS 19 is expected to drop, MacRumors reports. If you don't update, you face "interruptions with your accessories and automations," Apple warns. In other words, you'll lose control of your Apple HomeKit-connected smart devices. Apple's move to ditch its old Home app has been a long time in coming.

If you've been thinking of buying Apple's HomePod (2nd generation), now's the time to act -- it's on sale right now at Verizon for 175. That's a significant 125 discount (42 percent off) and represents one of the best deals we've seen on the smart speaker to date. In addition, Verizon is currently offering a deal on the HomePod Mini, letting you get a pair for 150, or 25 percent off. The latest Apple HomePod speaker is on sale at one of the best prices we've seen to date. With sound that's clearer and richer than offerings from Amazon and Google, the second-gen HomePod garnered a solid 84 score in our review last year.

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. This discount isn't an all-time low, but deals of any kind on Apple's top-end smart speaker have been uncommon.

The Venn diagram of HomePod owners and YouTube Music subscribers probably doesn't have a lot of overlap. However, those who use both Apple's speakers and Google's music streaming service may be pleased to learn that the two now play more nicely together. YouTube Music is now available natively on HomePod, meaning that you can ask Siri to play tracks from the service even if your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch aren't close by. It's now possible to set YouTube Music as the default music service on HomePod. That means you won't have to add "on YouTube Music" when you bark a command at Siri.

Of the two speakers Sonos announced earlier this month, the Era 100 is much easier to sum up: it's a replacement for the Sonos One, which was first introduced in 2017. Unlike the Era 300, there's no need to ponder the value of spatial audio; the Era 100 is a relatively straightforward mono speaker, just like the One and the Play:1 before it. Don't let that simple description deceive you, though – the $250 Era 100 is a complete redesign, inside and out, and the end result is a worthy upgrade and a very versatile speaker. At first glance, the Era 100 looks quite similar to the One, but upon further examination you'll notice a number of small but meaningful changes. That starts with the vertically-oriented Sonos logo that you'll find on most of their other speakers like the Roam and, naturally, the Era 300.

Apple's big, high-quality smart speaker is back for a surprise second generation. But five years since the first model was launched, a lot has changed in the world of voice-controlled home hi-fi. Can the HomePod still cut it? The new HomePod has the same design as the old version: a marshmallow-like shape with a light-up disc at the top, fabric-covered body and a small silicone foot. The detachable power cable slots in the back but otherwise there are no ports or recesses. As with other HomePods, this speaker is for Apple users only.

Many people in Japan have been outraged by a recent trend dubbed "sushi terrorism." Videos across social media show people carrying out all kinds of unhygienic acts, like licking the spoon for a container of green tea powder. Another video, which has more than 98 million views on Twitter, showed a person licking the top of a soy sauce bottle and a teacup's rim before putting them back at a branch of the Sushiro chain. The company said it has replaced all the soy sauce bottles and cleaned every cup at the affected restaurant. To combat this gross trend, one chain, Kura Sushi, said it would use artificial intelligence to look for "suspicious opening and closing of sushi plate covers," Nikkei Asia reported. The company plans to upgrade existing cameras, used to track the dishes customers take from conveyor belts to determine their bill, by early March.

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.

Apple cares a lot about music. Steve Jobs loved it so much that he invented the iPod and iTunes to let us bring all of it everywhere, and personally owned multi-thousand-dollar Swedish speakers in his sparsely-decorated living room. To this day, Apple Music is one of the best-sounding streaming services you can subscribe to thanks to lossless audio support. The headphones it makes, both itself and via Beats, are largely fantastic. It's a shame, then, that the company still fails to make a great full-size smart speaker.

When Apple debuted the HomePod in 2018, it was already late to the smart speaker game. Sure, the company has never been worried about tardiness, choosing instead to focus on being the best. The HomePod sounded good, but lacked a lot of the basic functionality and voice assistant smarts the likes of Amazon and Google offered. Apple has spent the last five years improving both HomePod and HomePod mini, adding features like multi-room audio, multi-user support and an intercom tool. In 2021, Apple discontinued the original model in favor of the $99 HomePod mini.