Welcome to the Tech Meme Right Home for Wednesday, January 18th, 2023 I'm Brian McCullough today.

The original Home Pod is basically back even though it's not the original because it's been updated.

Apple's AR VR plans continue to be maddeningly confusing at least for me.

Microsoft has announced huge layoffs. Does even the AI revolution require human moderators working in boiler room-like conditions?

And I guess we have all the specs for those new Galaxy phones about to be announced.

Here's what you miss today in the world of Tech.

Surprise! Apple this morning announced an updated Home Pod featuring a similar design

to the original device from 2018, which somehow this had slipped

my mind had been discontinued a while ago.

But the new one is basically the old one available for order for $299 today shipping February 3rd.

So I guess it's worth noting that that is about $50 cheaper than the original, quoting the

verge. The device has a similar form factor to the original

home pod release in 2018. New features available with the second generation model include

support for the smart home standard matter, allowing for the speaker to control compatible accessories,

and an upgraded S-7 chip first seen in the Apple Watch Series 7.

It will be sold alongside the Home Pod Mini, the smaller version of the speaker introduced in 2020.

The second generation Home Pod has a single woofer paired with five tweeters down from seven in the original

model.

Apple says the speaker can sense how it's positioned in a room,

adjusting its sound depending on whether it's placed up against a wall or out in the middle of a space.

Like the original Home Pod, two speakers can be arranged in a stereo pair or used as speakers for the Apple TV 4K.

The original home pod had an unusually rocky lifespan for an Apple product originally announced in 2017 with a December

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