SJ071: The Smart Speaker Wars, Security Updates, Rumors, iMac Pro Benchmarks, Battery Biting & More

Finally the HomePod has arrived on the scene, showing up quite late to the party and missing the entire Christmas season like the perpetually-tardy hipster it is. Mike and Charles take a look at Apple's latest all-new product release, and weigh up the pros and cons of HomePod against both "home assistants that can maybe play AM radio-quality music" as well as the more serious home entertainment (with a dash of voice assistant integration) options. Along with that, there's an important security update for Macs and iOS devices out that is so crucial -- alongside other recent security issues -- that it may finally send some of your un-upgradeable stuff to the recycle bin at long last.

Also in focus on the scanners this week is a visit to the woodshed for sloppy tech and non-tech sites that took a headline off AppleInsider about the future of the iPhone X and ran off without actually reading the article (apparently), creating -- yes -- fake news. Other topics tackled are the latest contradictory prattle from the once-great FCC; Qualcomm's latest court loss and fine (this time via the EU); the triumphs and trials of Tesla and its low-cost CEO Elon Musk; a great deal on new iPhones from Verizon and T-Mobile; and much more.

Because we have an extra-dimensional pocket universe that we can fit stuff into, making our space locker bigger on the inside, the crew take advantage of our patented Info-Density™ to also discuss the revamped Duck Duck Go iOS browser app; the first trial of quantum-encrypted streaming video; the forthcoming standard of WPA3 and what that will mean for you and your router; Microsoft hiring Signal to teach them how to add encryption to Skype; the latest rumors of a new iPhone SE on the way and Face ID probably coming to the next iPad Pro; and sing the praises of an excellent video comparison series on AppleInsider, pitting the current Mac Pro versus the new iMac Pro with regard to strictly pro app use.

There's also a little time for us all to come together, despite all our various differences, and agree that the guy who bit his iPhone battery and caused an explosion is an imbecile. Remember, cadets: Space Javelin is the only tech-news podcast that compresses time and space itself to pack way more news into an hour than anyone else, so put on your learning helmets and blast off for a quantum order of magnitude more news -- delivered at warp speed!