I work from home, so I typically listen to audio through headphones or AirPods. But I’ve always wanted a desk speaker that doesn’t take up too much space, which made the new Sonos Play a fitting first Sonos product to review.

The Play, launched in March, is Sonos’s first new device in more than a year. The $299 speaker is a hybrid: part home speaker, part portable. It sits on your desk in a pill-shaped dock, but at 1.3 kilograms, with a “utility loop” on the back, it’s easy to carry around the house or take outside.

While testing it, I often started a podcast at my desk and carried the Play to the kitchen while I cooked or made coffee. The advantage over wearing AirPods is that you remain aware of your surroundings — no more missing what someone across the room is saying. And you don’t need to rely on voice commands to control playback; the Sonos Assistant and Alexa are both built in.

Physical controls are another advantage. Skipping tracks or adjusting volume with greasy hands is awkward on AirPods; the Play’s buttons are more forgiving. That said, the controls themselves are easy to miss — they’re the same color as the silicone top and barely raised above the surface. After a few days I had memorized their positions, but the learning curve is a minor frustration that better contrast or more tactile buttons could have avoided.

The speaker is sturdy and IP67-rated, meaning it can handle rain and brief submersion — I ran it under a tap without issue. It can also charge your phone in a pinch, doubling as a power bank, which is a welcome feature for outdoor use.

For sound, the Play relies on dual-angled tweeters, a mid-woofer, and three digital amplifiers, with two passive radiators to reinforce bass outdoors. The result is balanced and detailed at moderate volumes — instrument separation is particularly good. The soundstage is narrow, though, meaning the music can feel somewhat contained rather than expansive, and at higher volumes the mix loses some of its clarity.

The Play is well-suited to a desk or a patio; it isn’t trying to fill a room. For that, Sonos’s Era 100 SL — which launched alongside the Play — is the better choice. Two Play units can be paired into a stereo configuration, either through the app or, more cleverly, by holding the play/pause button on both speakers simultaneously. It’s a useful feature that makes a noticeable difference for music, though less so for television audio — which these speakers aren’t really designed for anyway.

Sonos has also built in Trueplay, which uses the speaker’s microphones to automatically calibrate sound based on the room. Earlier versions of this feature required waving your phone around the space to tune the audio — an awkward workaround that would have made little sense on a portable speaker. The new implementation handles it automatically.

Sonos has had well-publicized struggles with its app — disappearing speakers, glitchy volume controls — and while the company has made meaningful improvements, a few rough edges remain. Sync between the Play and my MacBook was occasionally laggy, for example, and playing or pausing audio on YouTube sometimes produced a noticeable delay before the speaker responded.

Switching audio between speakers worked reliably through AirPlay but failed repeatedly in the Sonos app until I installed the Apple Music integration — and even then, the process is more cumbersome than it should be.

The “Apply” button in the Sonos app, required to confirm speaker changes, feels like an unnecessary extra step. AirPlay handles the same action with a single tap.

Pocket Casts integration has a resuming bug: podcasts restart from the beginning rather than picking up where you left off.

Overall, the Sonos Play is a solid speaker that largely delivers on its premise. The app issues are real but not dealbreakers, and Sonos has shown it is willing to iterate. If portability isn’t a priority, the Era 100 ($219) or Era 100 SL ($189) offer more volume for less money. If you want something more rugged and truly portable, the Sonos Roam 2 or JBL Charge 6 are worth considering. But if you want a speaker that works equally well on a desk and a back porch, the Play makes a convincing case for itself.

I’ve struggled with insomnia since I was very young. Like many chronic overthinkers, I tend to fall asleep best when my mind is occupied by something else, such as podcasts, YouTube compilations, or my personal favorite: rain sounds. But earbuds can be uncomfortable, and playing audio out loud isn’t exactly considerate when I’m staying at my partner’s place. 

That’s why I was intrigued by the new Peace Duo Under-Pillow Speaker from Jabees.

Launched last month, this ultra-thin speaker utilizes bone conduction technology—which sends vibrations through your skull directly to your inner ear—to transmit sound through your pillow and into your ear privately. Just place it beneath your pillow and listen as you drift off.

In my testing, I found the Peace Duo was so thin that I almost forgot it was there. I mainly used the built-in sleep sounds, which come preloaded on a micro SD card with four hours of soothing soundscapes, including gentle waves, light rain, rain with thunder, and soft wind. For more personal content, the Peace Duo also offers Bluetooth connectivity, so you can connect your phone and stream your favorite audio.

Battery life is another standout. A single charge lasts up to ten nights of one-hour listening sessions, so you won’t have to remember yet another device that requires nightly charging. The foldable design also makes it easy to put away in the included magnetic fabric travel case.

There is one important caveat: it doesn’t work well with thick memory foam pillows. Unfortunately, that’s what I normally use, so I switched to a regular cotton pillow and the sound came through clearly. (The company claims that thinner memory foam pillows should work fine.)

Priced at $59.99, the Peace Duo comes in two colors: Sunrise Yellow and Mist Green. It also offers personalization; users can swap out the magnetic snap-on frames for custom images and even add their names, making it a great gift for families, students, or anyone who needs extra help getting restful sleep.

The Peace Duo won’t cure insomnia, but it’s a practical, unobtrusive sleep gadget — and for what the company is charging, it’s a small price for a decent night’s sleep.

Google has been unusually quiet about its Gemini-powered Home Speaker ever since announcing it in October 2025. I was expecting the device to make an appearance at the I/O 2026, but that didn’t happen either. 

Now, a product page on Best Buy Canada just casually posted (read leaked) a release date, suggesting the wait is almost over.

What does the leak suggest?

As per the Best Buy page, the Home Speaker might be released on June 25, 2026 (via 9To5Google). The page has since been updated, and the launch date has been removed, which is the kind of thing that usually happens with real release dates rather than placeholders.

So, how do we know about the release date? Several outlets captured screenshots before the date was removed. Even though Google hasn’t confirmed the Home Speaker’s launch date yet, June 25 is just four days after spring officially ends on June 21, which adds more credibility to it. 

In my opinion, the delay is intentional. Google had to finish rolling out Gemini for Home to existing hardware before introducing new devices, and that rollout has been active since October 2025, with updates arriving three to four times per month since March 2026. 

What does the Google Home Speaker actually offer?

The device wraps a 360-degree fabric design around everything except the base, which houses a microphone mute switch and a ring of status lights, which glow dynamically when the speaker is listening, thinking, or responding. Some features, including brainstorming, require a Gemini subscription

You can also pair two speakers with the Google TV Streamer for a home cinema setup, and stereo pairing with existing Nest Audio speakers enables multi-room audio throughout the house. 

Google’s Gemini AI assistant enables natural language conversation, along with smart home control and automation. Priced at $99.99 in the US, it will be available in four colors: Berry, Hazel, Jade, and Porcelain. Availability is confirmed for 19 countries including the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Ireland, and Japan.