First, from this Apple press release, touting this Friday’s HomePod release in China:
HomePod is a convenient way to check the weather or the latest sports scores, set multiple timers and reminders, make and receive phone calls and more. Siri on HomePod also offers storytelling for children, just say “Hey Siri, tell me a story.”
As pointed out by Benjamin Mayo in this tweet, the request to “tell me a story” does not yield anything useful, just the typical Siri whimsy.
But it is unlike Apple to post an announcement for a non-existent feature. I’m wondering if there’s a mechanism in the works that will bring story time to HomePod, perhaps with an imminent update. I’ve got the latest update installed, so there’s no update waiting, at least as of this moment.
This also makes me wonder how Apple would deliver storytelling for children. Would this be a hook into the Books store, where you’d buy a book and Siri would read to your kids, keeping track of the current place in the book?
Would there be an API for developers to add their own, similar commands? Might this be a clue into HomePod/Siri’s direction for WWDC 2019?
All speculation, I realize. But Apple did open this door with their press release. Will update if I hear anything more.
I just wish it would play my local NPR stations without me having to say multiple times different versions of “Hey Siri, play station WETA” and stop getting “Here’s a station we’ve created based on WOW music”
I think there’s a real flaw in how it learns words (for example, if I keep saying it and you keep providing WOW music then clearly its not what I’m looking for, so stop offering it as an option).
saying “play NPR station WETA” doesn’t work, it just plays the general NPR news as its not listening to anything after “NPR station”