Apple will finally release its HomePod smart speaker in Canada, France, and Germany on June 18th per an official announcement on Tuesday.

The HomePod is currently available only in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. Apple hasn’t said what pricing in the new regions will be.

The HomePod will arrive loaded with iOS 11.4 and multi-room audio enabled, allowing people play music in multiple rooms simultaneously or shift content from one room to another. iOS 11.4 also includes built-in controls within apps and the Control Center, but users will also be able to issue Siri commands, something of course essential for HomePod owners.

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The FBI itself has issued a warning and you might want to follow their advice.

The FBI recently issued a security notice warning that all home and small office routers should be rebooted after Cisco’s Talon group discovered sophisticated Russian-linked “VPNFilter” malware infecting at least 500,000 networking devices.

Per the warning, the malware is described as follows:

“VPNFilter is able to render small office and home office routers inoperable. The malware can potentially also collect information passing through the router.”

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It’s a rumor, but it’s definitely interesting.

Citing industry sources closes to the stories South Korea’s ETNews reports Apple recently began planning 2019’s iPhone lineup and has selected OLED as its display technology of choice.

The rumor, which is in line with previous rumors, follows up on word that Apple is expected to bring two OLED variants and a low-cost LCD model, each new iPhone will boast an OLED screen.

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Today was the day that Apple updated just about everything under the sun.

Leading off, Apple released iOS 11.4 for its iOS devices. The update offers the following fixes and changes:

– AirPlay 2

– Multi-room speaker support
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Apple is apparently working on a new hinge type for its devices. Per documents published through the European Patent Office, the company is working on a flexible hinge design for its MacBook notebooks.

The hinge, sometimes referred to as a “Living Hinge”, could be created “from a single rigid material” and sounds similar to the hinge Microsoft unveiled with its Surface Book in 2015, which it refers to as a “dynamic fulcrum hinge.” Here, the hinge flexes as the notebook opens, while the display is removable from the hinge and can be replaced in the opposite direction, allowing for the laptop to be used in a tablet-like mode.

Apple has described the hinge as follows:

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This is a decent step towards the transparency you might want to see in a company.

Apple released its semiannual Report on Government and Private Party Requests for Customer Information for the end of 2017 on Friday. One of the chief revelations in the report is that Apple will begin reporting government App Store removal requests.

Apple offered the following comments regarding the report:

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Ladies and gents, it’s Memorial Day and the staff of O’Grady’s PowerPage will be taking the day off to spend time with friends and family as well as pay respect to our nation’s veterans for their service.

We’ll be back tomorrow, so get together with some friends, put the Macs and devices aside for a bit, enjoy some amazing barbecue and we’ll have the latest events in the Apple universe coming your way as always.

See you on Tuesday!

There’s a chance that Apple could announce new MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook models as soon as the Worldwide Developers Conference event.

A number of the notebook models are appearing as sold out in Apple’s online storefront, but available for delivery after June 4, suggesting that a refresh of some lines could be announced during the yearly event.

Attempts to order a MacBook equipped with a Core i7 processor through the online Apple Store in the U.S. reveals there is no more stock of that model available to buy immediately for delivery. While the models can still be ordered, it is noted the free delivery option period starts from June 4 and runs until June 6.

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The leaked images of the next-gen iPhones have begun to surface and a Twitter user identified as “Mr. White” has posted a photograph of what he called “iPhone X 6.1 OLED.”

It’s somewhat unclear if it’s actually an iPhone, actually OLED, or actually 6.1-inches. The next iPhone X is expected to be 5.8-inches, with a Plus model that’s 6.5-inches.

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1Password, arguably the best of breed for password managers on the Mac, has been updated to version 7.0, the new version offering the following fixes, changes and new features:

– Collapse the sidebar entirely so your items get all the love

– Quickly find items with our new Spotlight integration
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