Home audio is a higher priority than ever with many people staying at home during the pandemic. You might be glad to hear that Apple's HomePod is on sale, then. OWC has discounted the Siri smart speaker to $205, well under the $299 official price and very close to previous deals. The best bargain is curiously only for the white model (you'll pay $208 for the black version), but it still represents significant savings whichever color suits your tastes. The HomePod is one of the better-sounding smart speakers we've tested, with balanced output that automatically adjusts to the device's placement in the room.

Spotify is working on a line of "category defining" hardware products and is ready to start setting up the manufacturing process. The streaming music company intends to create a hardware category "akin to Pebble Watch, Amazon Echo, and Snap Spectacles", according to job adverts posted over the past year. One ad for a senior product manager, posted last April, called for an expert to "define the product requirements for internet connected hardware [and] the software that powers it". Today, a trio of job adverts (spotted by industry site MusicAlly) have been posted, seeking an "operations manager", "senior project manager: hardware production", and "project manager: hardware production and engineering" for the hardware. The first of those adverts states that "Spotify is on its way [to] creating its first physical products and set-up an operational organisation for manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing." The new hire would manage the supply chain for the new product, suggesting the company is ready to begin the manufacturing process shortly.