Apple has released operating system updates to add support for paid podcast subscriptions and Apple Card Family, along with enhanced privacy and anti-stalking protections for AirTags.

Apple has published a support article offering clarity on how lossless audio will work with your devices.

Apple Music will provide free upgrades to lossless audio, Dolby Atmos, and Spatial Audio starting next month.

Apple has once again released updates to all its core operating systems with a slew of shared features (Siri! Reminders!) and fixes (including worrying security vulnerabilities that are actively being exploited) and product-specific improvements (Apple Watch fallback authentication for mask-drive Face ID failures).

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reveals that the HomePod mini contains an undocumented—and unused—chip that can sense temperature and humidity. “Take Control of Apple Home Automation” author Josh Centers offers a couple of possible explanations.

Apple has announced that it is discontinuing the original HomePod to focus on the HomePod mini. The company will continue to service and support the HomePod, and it will remain available while supplies last.

Apple has updated watchOS, iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS to fix a troubling security vulnerability that may have been actively exploited in the wild and deal with a few nagging bugs. Plus, watchOS 7.3 adds a new African-themed face for Black History Month. The HomePod mini also gets U1-enhanced handoffs from recent iPhones.

It’s another of Apple’s “update five operating systems all at once” days, with this set of updates bringing the Intercom feature to more devices, better integrating the HomePod with Apple TV, and adding notifications when headphone volume could damage your hearing, along with some important security and bug fixes.

Apple has released iOS 14.1, iPadOS 14.1, and HomePod Software 14.1, with the first two adding support for playing and editing HDR video and the HomePod update adding the new Intercom feature.

Apple announced the HomePod mini, a smaller, less expensive, and more rounded version of its two-year-old HomePod. The expanded speaker line has little in the way of groundbreaking features as it competes with speakers from Amazon and Google, but at least it’s now more affordable.