Apple‘s imagination seems to have gone wild according to the latest reports which involve the HomePod.
New Apple HomePod patent application
There’s a 2017 Apple patent application which has only been made public in January 2019.
It looks like the tech giant had some pretty great ideas for a future HomePod that would offer an emoji version of Siri and also LED lights which could display a bunch of useful data such as the weather, reports Verge.
In the patent application, Apple included some really futuristic ideas onto its request to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as spotted for the first time by Mac Rumors.
The HomePod is not explicitly named in the patent, but this describes it accurately – a house device with fabric walls that includes a mic and a speaker. This is why it is believed that Apple was referring to the HomePod.
Smarts LEDs and emoji Siri on board
“Apple is thinking of interweaving LEDs within the fabric to display everything from the weather to the time to sports results. The patent also describes the same tech displaying incoming email subject lines and even an emoji-based representation of Siri,” The Verge writes.
The LEDs could be responding and changing when you’re waving our hand in front of them via 3D gesture support. Emoji Siri could be displaying various moods and expressions.
It seems that Apple is reportedly even proposing that Siri analyzes the tone of the emails that you’re receiving and read them back to you while showing a sad or happy face.
Anyway, as cool as these new functionalities may sound, we have to remember that they’re only a part in a patent which means that they could very well never become a reality.
We’ll have to see if Apple does implement the new features in the HomePod.
After finishing Theatrical Journalism at the Faculty of Theatre and Television in Cluj-Napoca, Rada reviewed movies, books, theatre pieces and she also wrote articles from the IT niche as a content editor for software producers. At the moment, she is working with various online advertising firms.