Smartphones

Play sound on multiple devices from your Mac

Posted by

0

Mac OS simple sound mixer

Ever wanted to play sound through multiple audio devices on your Mac OS X system? It cannot be done with the normal Mac controls, but to my surprise there is a decent sound mixer built into the base Mac OS.

Step by step instructions: Play sound on multiple devices, including Internal Speakers, on OS X | Best Mac Tips

I have this setup for my 90 year old mother, so we can all watch TV at once:

  • HDMI from Mac to our Panasonic TV
  • Headphones plugged into the earphone jack on the Mac
  • Closed captions turned on for TV

The result is that we can turn her volume way up, while we listen over the TV’s internal speakers. The headphones, even at maximum volume, may not be quite loud enough for her. In that case, I will add a $25 earphone amplifier into the system.

Still missing: I cannot find Bluetooth headphones that are loud enough for her.

Second, I don’t know of anything similar for her phone.

Can Motorola establish a new smartphone platform?

Posted by

0

Every electronics company dreams of starting a new platform that other firms adopt and build on. It’s one of the few paths to riches  in electronics (think: iPhone, Android, Blu-Ray, CDMA, Steam, Playstation). Check out extensive writing by my friend Michael Cusumano and his colleague Annabelle Gawer, such as this article in Sloan Management Review. (May be behind a paywall.) Although even if successful, the originator may have to make so many deals that it does not capture much rent. (Think: Android again, Blu-Ray again, Wi-Fi, 4G, HDTV, etc.) And doing it successfully is very hard, even for large companies.

moto-1935  A  related dream is modularity without sacrificing performance. This has been discussed for cell phones for many years, although in the past I have been skeptical. This article, though, sounds as if Motorola has a chance at doing both. Technically, it sounds like a good concept, if they can pull it off as well as the article suggests. Of course, technical excellence is  never sufficient to become a standard. And Motorola, with all its ownership turmoil in recent years, is not very credible. But I’m heartened to think that the goal of a modular smartphone may be technically realistic, which would be great for consumers. (It’s important that Moto is not talking about creating a new operating system or app platform. Just look at Nokia and Microsoft to see how hard that is.)

Video version of the Wired article.

Continue reading →

The amazing story of Apple’s chips

Posted by

2

With the new A9 and A9X chips in its iPhones and iPads, Apple has mobile chips that are better than Intel’s. In fact Apple’s chip business is a very impressive technology story. I don’t have time to put together a full analysis, but I have collected some recent articles. figure-2

Many sources are suggesting that Apple’s current chip generation (A9 and A9X) is better than Intel’s in low-power (mobile) performance. I guess it’s not news that Intel is behind Qualcomm in mobile, but I still find it surprising that Apple’s own chips are apparently better than X86 for Macintosh low-end laptops!

Continue reading →