Car Tech's guide to using your Android phone in the car

Your phone is a hub for your music and entertainment, GPS navigation, and communications with your friends, family, and social circles. You've got your apps for streaming music and podcasts from the Web, apps for picking a place to eat or finding the lowest fuel prices around, and your hands-free calls of course. Or, because phones are such personal devices, your handset can bring only a few of these things to your driving experience.

You're in charge of why you'd want to use your Android phone in the car. The tricky part is figuring out how to do it and how to do it safely. Read on.

Bluetooth

For the last few years and for most of the Android OS's lifetime, Bluetooth's Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) has easily been your best bet for connecting an Android phone to most newer model vehicles. This is especially true if you're already making the Bluetooth wireless connection for the Hands-free Profile (HFP) to make voice calls -- using A2DP kills two birds with one stone. Often, A2DP-connected stereos can display artist and title data for the currently playing song and almost always includes shortcuts (either onscreen or accessible by steering wheel buttons) for play, pause, and skip.

Bluetooth-to-stereo audio streaming does have one minor drawback. When you make the wireless connection, your phone and the receiver must negotiate the audio quality at which the music will be streamed. While there is startlingly little information published about how this process works and what specific bitrates and compression algorithms are used, suffice it to say that the audio quality is always less-than-audiophile levels. What's more is that some phones sound better than others, even within the same brand, and there's no guarantee that a phone that sounds good with a Honda stereo will sound just as good with a BMW, for example. With all but the top-tier premium audio systems, most listeners probably won't notice, but it bears mentioning.

The details of the Bluetooth pairing vary between the different versions of Android, but the broad strokes remain consistent.

Pairing your smartphone with your car stereo for audio streaming should happen automatically when you pair for hands-free calling if your stereo and phone both support it. Pop into your phone's Wireless settings and locate the Bluetooth menu. Make sure that your phone's Bluetooth is set to On and, following the instructions that came with your car, place the car stereo into its paring mode.

Tap the "Search for devices" button in your phone's Bluetooth menu and look for your car's ID to appear. It should say something like "Elantra," "NISSAN," or "MYCAR." Tap the ID and, if prompted, enter the PIN that may be given to you by your car stereo. Sometimes, you'll be asked to confirm the connection and sometimes the pairing will just happen automatically. You should only have to pair your phone to your car once, with subsequent reconnections happening automatically.

At this point, you'll usually be asked to sync your phone's address book. This is usually a good idea, so be sure to check the box that gives the stereo permanent phonebook access if you don't want to be prompted for a sync every day.

If after this, you aren't able to stream audio wirelessly, pop back into the Bluetooth menu on your phone, locate your car's ID, and access its options (either by long pressing the name or tapping the options slider in newer versions of Android). Make sure that both the Media and Phone audio profiles are checked. If you don't see Media audio as an option, chances are that your car stereo doesn't support it. Double check your car's manual.

If you don't see the Media audio option, odds are that your stereo doesn't support it.

Auxiliary input

For drivers of older cars or vehicles with more basic car stereos, the humble analog auxiliary audio input (3.5mm TRS) is the next best bet. You'll connect to this simple audio connection with an audio patch cable that plugs into your phone's headphone jack.

The auxiliary input's simplicity makes it the most easy to set up and, possibly, the most future-proof of phone-to-car connection methods. However, this connection is a dumb input, lacking bidirectional communication, so there's no way to control your phone with the car's stereo. If you want to, for example, change songs, then you'll need to interact with your Android phone, which can be less than ideal in a driving situation.

USB is no longer an option

The ability to simply plug your phone into a car stereo via USB is one area where iOS devices still have an advantage over Android (as well as BlackBerry and Windows Phone) devices, even after the great Lightning connector scare of 2012.

I haven't been able to consistently USB connect an Android phone to a car stereo since the first Motorola Droid.

Years ago, when I took my first look at methods for connecting your Android phone to a car stereo, USB mass storage connectivity was a shaky alternative method for audio playback. I no longer recommend this connection technique for many reasons. I never really had much consistent success getting aftermarket or OEM car stereos to recognize my USB connected phone and, now that many of the most popular Android phones no longer support expandable SD card memory or the mounting of the phone as a generic USB drive, Android USB connectivity has gone from an inconsistent hack to just plain unreliable and unsupported.

If your particular car and phone combination still supports USB connectivity, consider yourself lucky.

Combining methods with adapters

With the aid of inexpensive adapters or certain visor-mounted speaker phones, you can very easily add a Bluetooth or auxiliary connection to many basic car stereos. Products, like theKanex AirBlue and Scosche MotorMouth II plug directly into your car's auxiliary input, and convert your Bluetooth audio and/or calls into analog data your car stereo can digest.

For old cars with a working cassette player, there's the classic tape adapter option, but these devices can sometimes damage the moving parts in your car's cassette deck if poorly made or gruffly inserted.

Other devices, such the Jabra Freeway, serve double duty, providing fantastic audio for your hands-free calls via Bluetooth and an internal speaker, while also bouncing the wireless audio beamed from your phone to your car's radio for playback through the speakers via FM modulation. There are also FM transmitters that connect to your phone's headphone jack, wirelessly beaming audio to any radio in the area tuned to the right frequency. Of course, FM transmission is notorious for its poor audio quality--you'll get better sound from devices that connect digitally or directly--and should be avoided as anything but a last resort, but if you're looking for a cheap way to simply listen to podcasts in an old car without replacing the stereo, this is an option.

Stock infotainment options

Most people can't just run out and buy a new car because their current set of wheels is incompatible with their smartphone. However, if you are already in the market for a new ride, knowing which automakers and vehicles are available with infotainment systems that are Android friendly may sway your ultimate choice.

Through a Bluetooth connection to your phone, Ford Sync AppLink-equipped vehicles are able to give drivers control of a wide range of Android apps using little more than the sound of their voice. At time of publication, there are seven apps that AppLink supports, including Stitcher, NPR, Slacker, iHeartRadio, and Pandora for audio, and Scout and Sync Destinations for navigation. Simply say, "Sync, NPR News" and you'll be listening to "This American Life" before you know it.

Toyota Entune (pictured) and Ford Sync AppLink are the best OEM systems for in-dash app integration.

Hop into a fully loaded Toyota vehicle these days and you're likely to be greeted by the automaker's new Entune interface (or Enform, if you're in a Lexus). This system ties into an Entune app that is installed on your Android phone, giving the driver touch-screen access to apps such as iHeartRadio and Pandora for audio streaming, MovieTickets.com for browsing and purchasing movie tickets, OpenTable for making dining reservations, and Bing for online destination search.

Pandora Link is found in both of the above systems as well as the newest Mazda Navigation system, General Motors' MyLink/Intellilink, Scion's top-tier receiver, certain Hyundai BlueLinksystems, and the 2013 Nissan Altima. Beware, although BMW, Mini, and Mercedes-Benz also offer Pandora integration, they are only compatible with the iPhone version of the app.

All of these Android and app connectivity systems will make use of Bluetooth, because -- as I mentioned earlier -- that's pretty much the only reliable, bidirectional connection that you can currently make with your Android phone. Even the automakers that I haven't mentioned at this point are going to offer some sort of Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free calling and/or A2DP, as well as an auxiliary input as standard or optional features, so look for these basic connections at the very least.

Aftermarket stereos

Yanking out your stock stereo and replacing it with an aftermarket unit may not sound too appealing, but this is often the best way to add smartphone connectivity to an older vehicle while simultaneously boosting the audio quality. In addition to your basic Bluetooth and aux-in setups, the aftermarket is often where you'll see emerging technologies appear first. Pioneer's AppRadio2, while still a bit "beta", is one of the first receivers to support MHL and HDMI app mirroring to give users touch-screen access to the apps running directly on their phone, and you can bet that it won't be the last.

(Honda has debuted support for HDMI video, which many Androids can output, but only for rear-seat video, and then only on the Odyssey minivan.)

Other things that you'll need

Streaming audio from the Internet, reading your GPS position, and maintaining a Bluetooth connection can be hard on your phone's battery. If you don't want to arrive at your destination with a flat battery at the end of a long trip, then you'll want to invest in a 12-volt USB charger. However, not all chargers are created equally. The standard USB port outputs about 500 to 600mA of current, but many of the large-screened, multi-cored mega-phones that have become the norm will scoff at anything less than 800 to 1,000mA (or 1A). Take a close look at the wall charger that came with your phone for the manufacturer's recommended charging rate and try to match or exceed that number with your car charger.

Beware of 2.1A "iPad" chargers as some of these use Apple-specific variable amperage that renders them incompatible with certain Android phones and tablets. I'm thinking specifically of the Google/Asus Nexus 7. On the other hand, many Android devices work just fine with these adapters -- albeit often at a lower-than-advertised charging rate. As is often the case with cars and Androids, your mileage may vary.

If you're using your Android's screen for navigation, you'll need to mount the device somewhere that's easily visible.

You'll also need somewhere to stow your phone while you drive. If you're using a totally hands-free system like a Pandora Link connection, you can simply toss the phone anywhere (a cupholder, the center console storage bin, or your pocket are all good spots).

However, if you're using your phone for navigation and need to be able to use the screen or to interact safely with your phone because you're stuck using an analog connection, you might want to invest in a phone cradle of some sort. Many phone manufacturers (such as Samsung or Motorola) will offer specific car cradles for their high-profile phones, but they're usually overpriced and won't be compatible with next year's hot phone, so look for a quality universal cradle that uses a suction cup or adhesive to hold your phone to the car's windshield or dashboard.

Avoid those "sticky" or "tacky" dashboard pads that simply hold your phone in place flat on the dashboard with little more than friction and gravity. They may be OK for most driving conditions, but you won't want your smartphone becoming an unsecured projectile in the event of a minor accident.

Tablet-specific tips

I've already gone over much of what you'll need to know about using an Android tablet in the car as part of the previous Transform your Nexus 7 into a car tech powerhouse feature. Nearly every tip in that article can be applied to any Android tablet on the market.

Possibly the best place for any tablet in the car is in the back seat, and you'll need either a DIY or universal mount, if you plan on hanging an Android tablet from the headrests as you would with a traditional rear-seat entertainment system. I'm of the opinion that, with the exception of very young children, most users would probably be better served simply holding the tablet in their hands, so you probably shouldn't even bother with the mounting unless you're trying to be fancy.

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Sony may unveil new smartwatch next week

Sony seems to be timing the launch of a new smartwatch for next week.

A series of tweets posted by the company's Xperia account have laid a trail of breadcrumbs pointing to the debut of a new watch at the Mobile Asia Expo 2013 trade show, which runs from June 26 to 28.

The latest tweet posted on Friday offers the most obvious clue, saying "Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock" and displaying a photo of Sony's current smartwatch, which launched in April of 2012.

A prior tweet posted an image of a survey claiming that one-third of smartphone owners want a smartwatch. Another tweet touted that Sony launched the first "smart" watch in 2007. And still another said: "Wearable tech is in our DNA. Remember WALKMAN, now...?"

All of the tweets carry hashtags of #itstime and #MAE13 (which stands for Mobile Asia Expo 2013).

The smartphone arena has gotten more crowded since Sony entered the race last year. The company may be looking to outrival its rivals with an all-new watch springing up a host of new features.

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Google doodle throws wild rumpus for Maurice Sendak

Let the wild rumpus start!

Beloved children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak gets the Google doodle treatment today on what would have been his 85th birthday.

Sendak has been a childhood touchstone for generations, rising to widespread acclaim with his 1963 book "Where the Wild Things Are" and continuing to produce work until his death in May 2012.

The doodle following a turning-wheel storyline that starts by taking boyish hero Max through the land of the Wild Things and courses through other familiar settings sprung from Sendak's imagination. The flying boy from "In the Night Kitchen" makes an appearance, a work that has the distinction of being one of the most popular books for children that's also one of the most frequently banned from libraries.

A party of Sendak's characters gather around a cake for the the author and illustrator at the conclusion. 

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Apple now has all major labels on board for Apple Radio launch

After more than year of off-and-on negotiations, Apple has now reached deals with all three major music labels, making it increasingly likely that Apple will unveil its free Internet radio service at next week's WWDC event.

The latest deal is with Sony Music, according to industry sources who said the two sides struck a deal Friday morning. Sony had been the lone holdout of the three major music labels, haggling over some details that frustrated execs at the other labels. The world's largest label, Universal Music, was the first to sign on, followed by Warner Music and its publishing arm, Warner/Chappell.

A Sony Music spokesperson declined to comment. Apple also declined to comment.

While Apple has been in talks the music industry for some time, it has amped up its efforts in recent weeks, as it tries to roll out what's been dubbed iRadio -- though possibly called, simply, Apple Radio -- at next week's conference. Over the past couple of weeks, Eddy Cue, Apple's iTunes chief, has spent a lot of time in New York finalizing terms with executives at the labels and publishers.

Apple is entering a crowded field, but its opportunity is vast. Pandora, which rules Internet radio with about 70 million active listeners, is only available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Apple, by contrast, seeks quickly to roll out the service in up to a dozen places, according to sources, including the U.K, France, Germany, Australia, and Japan.

While the deal with Sony Music is a huge one -- the label is home to such stars as Carrie Underwood and Alicia Keys -- Apple still needs to ink deals with the publishers. So far, the only agreement it has with a major publisher is with Warner/Chappell, a deal it negotiated in tandem with the recorded music side of the company.

The terms that Apple agreed to with Warner/Chappell, however, make it all but certain that the rest of the publishers will sign on soon. Of all the publishers, the most difficult for Apple has been Sony/ATV, which is the world's largest music publisher and is owned by Sony Corp. and the estate of Michael Jackson. The man in charge, Martin Bandier, has been adamant about Apple paying far fatter rates for his songwriters than what they get from what's called theperformance rights organization, which include ASCAP and BMI.

The rates Bandier has been asking for are a 10 percent to 15 percent share of the ad revenue that Apple collects around its Internet radio product, industry sources said. Warner/Chappell's deal has Apple paying 10 percent, according to people familiar with the terms. That's more than twice what Pandora pays and very well should be enough for Bandier to agree to. Eddy Cue was in Bandier's offices earlier this week.

The music labels see big possibilities with Apple Radio. The product, which is tied to iTunes, would be made for mobile devices. It would contain some features not available on Pandora -- such as the ability to rewind a song from the middle of it, sources say -- and would have a simple button that would let users easily purchase a song.

This could be a boon to the labels, which collect roughly 70 percent of every dollar from an iTunes purchases. In addition, the labels get a per-stream rate that's more than what they receive from Pandora. Eventually, if Apple succeeds in building out its ad network and Apple Radio takes off, the labels will get a share of the ad revenue. And if all else fails, there is Apple is paying a guaranteed minimum. Currently, there are about 500 million iTunes accounts.

The streaming music field is becoming super competitive. Google, at its developer's conference last month, launched a Spotify-like subscription music service called Google All Access. Google is also working on a music service tied to YouTube, which has become the dominant place where young people go to hear music.

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Features and fixes I want to see in Mac OS X 10.9

Apple's World Wide Developers Conference starts on Monday, and while the main focus appears to be on updates to iOS (read my iOS 7 wish list here) and various Mac hardware, it's highly likely we'll get an update for Mac OS X 10.9 as well. At this point, we don't know what will be announced and we don't even know which "cat" will be associated with the release. Even the picture above (a giant banner currently displayed at Moscone Center) is suspiciously free of any cats at all, so it's hard to tell where Apple is going with Mac OS X. But one thing we do know is that this year is a little different than past releases of Apple's desktop operating system.

Over the past few years, Apple has followed a fairly regular schedule for OS X releases, with the announcement of a new Mac OS in February, and then the release date announced during theWWDC keynote (with an actual release soon to follow). This year, there was no announcement in the early part of the year, but a report form Daring Fireball said that Apple had pulled developers from the OS X team to work on the big changes in iOS 7, pushing the Mac OS X release to later in the year.

There have been a few stories about what to expect in Mac OS X 10.9, such as features that will benefit power users and the possible addition of Siri and Apple Maps to the OS. So the theme seems to be about better integration across all Apple devices, but there are a few things I think should be included in Apple's next big OS to make it worth the upgrade.

File and document sharing should be first in line, but I think iCloud should be open to collaboration, too. I think we should be able to list a group of users who access a document and create a shared space for working together. Certainly there is software that does this already, but Apple should make it part of the OS and make it easy.Expand the iClouds
iCloud is useful for backing up and syncing already, but what it needs are more granular controls for permissions and sharing. There should be some way in a work setting to share a folder, a document, or group of files that lives in iCloud, and give a co-worker read/write permissions if needed. This would also come in handy with family members, keeping some parts of your cloud space private while making some things accessible. Hopefully, these features would come with a way to easily search what's in the cloud, no matter what device you're using.

I think if Apple makes these and other new features available in iCloud, it would put it in direct competition with Google Drive.

Let me read on my Mac

iBooks has been immensely popular on both iPhones and iPads, and it only seems logical that Apple would bring it to the Mac. While not as portable as iOS, any of the MacBooks could function well as a reading device and there are certainly people who would like iBooks to sync across all their Apple devices.

'Siri, remove duplicate photos'

There have been several rumors that Apple's AI assistant would finally make its way to Macs, and if it's done well, it could be a useful tool on both MacBooks and desktops. Don't forget that Mountain Lion brought dictation tools to Macs, so it would be a natural step to bring Siri over to Mac OS X.

The question is, how much will Siri be able to do? If Siri is limited to asking for sports scores or checking the weather, the addition would only be a novelty ("Look what my Mac can do!"). But if Siri is involved in more-complex automated tasks like organizing photos in iPhoto or helping you create genius playlists with a couple of voice commands, it could be pretty useful.

Apple Maps on Macs

Certainly Apple Maps got off to a difficult start on iOS, but it's seen a lot of improvement over time despite a lot of people jumping to Google Maps when it was released.

So why do I want Apple Maps on the Mac? In a word: convenience. If you had the maps app on your Mac you could do things like find directions to a place on your desktop, then immediately sync to your iPhone for turn-by-turn directions once you're on the road. You also could be browsing your contacts and get immediate directions to a friend's house that would sync across all your devices.

If you believe the rumors, part of the reason Apple would bring Maps to Mac OS X is to give app developers a chance to come up with uses of their own and have it only a click away on the desktop whether they are developing for iOS or Mac.

Fix full-screen apps, please

Mountain Lion brought full-screen apps into the fold so you could focus on the task at hand without a lot of distractions. But the problem I discovered over time was that the feature had some significant flaws. The main problem is, even if you work on multiple screens, you can only have one app running in full-screen mode at a time. This means your second screen becomes useless if you decide to run an app in full-screen mode. Obviously, this needs to be fixed to support users who have more than one screen.

The second issue is much more specific, but annoying nonetheless. While in full-screen mode, if you receive an alert (perhaps you plugged in your iPhone and it demanded an update), suddenly the full-screen app becomes useless, with every click giving you an error beep and no notification anywhere that says there's an alert hidden behind your full-screen app. If you get out of full-screen mode, you'll find it, but that's hardly a good user experience. Hopefully Apple has listened to some of the big complaints about full-screen apps and is making changes for Mac OS X 10.9.

Remove Launchpad or make it the default

In Lion, Apple brought Launchpad to Mac OS X, then later with Mountain Lion, we got Messages, Reminders, GameCenter, and the Notification system. From what I'm hearing, even more iOS features are making the move to Mac OS X 10.9. But I have never loved the addition of the iOS experience of LaunchPad to desktops and laptops. It's certainly not a bad way to find software on your hard drive, but I feel like it should either be the primary method for doing it or it shouldn't be there at all.

It's one thing to bring over features that people already know from iOS. It gives people a sense of familiarity when making the switch to Mac, and there are certainly useful iPhone features that work well on a desktop. But I don't think Apple should shoe-horn features into Mac OS X that are already pretty easy to understand the way they are. In other words, if the feature doesn't make it easier or more efficient, just leave it alone. I think it's unlikely Apple will get rid of Launchpad, but I hope the company fleshes out how it wants people to interact with software and sticks to it.

What about the other Apple apps?

With another Mac OS X update on the way, I'm starting to wonder why both the iLife and iWork suites of software haven't received updates for desktop in so long. iLife's most recent major update was two years ago in 2011, while iWork has received the least attention, going all the way back to 2009 when it last got a face-lift.

These are some of the most useful suites for Macs made by Apple, so I really hope this is the year the company announces upgrades to bring them back into the fold.

Conclusions

Like always, Apple is not telling us what to expect at the big event on Monday morning, but rest assured there will be new features and functionality in Mac OS X that neither you nor I have probably thought about. It seems like Apple's mobile and desktop devices are continuing to move closer together for better or for worse, but it will be interesting to see if the unification of features is something people will embrace or wish Apple would keep as two separate entities.

With the focus on iOS 7, there will probably be a lot bigger news for iOS devices on Monday, but hopefully Apple has also put in the time on its original operating system and keeps the Mac as an integral part of the Apple device ecosystem.

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QuietComfort 20: Hands-on with Bose's first noise-canceling in-ear headphones

Bose has been a go-to choice for noise-canceling headphones since the company's original QuietComfort headphones debuted in 2000. But even as the design has moved from over-the-ear (QC3) to on-ear (QC15), they've remained full-size models -- reasonably travel-friendly, but still somewhat bulky if you're crammed into a coach seat.

But now Bose is shrinking its noise-canceling offering into a much smaller form: the new QuietComfort 20 model. They're the company's first in-ear headphones with active noise cancellation. The QuietComfort 20 headphones will cost $299.95 when they debut later this summer; an iPhone-friendly 20i model will also be available for the same price. Both models include a microphone for making calls on a cell phone. They weigh a mere 1.5 ounces, and come with a zippered cloth carrying case.

As you might expect, the QC20s look like Bose's MIE2 headphones on steroids. The headphones themselves follow the company's TriPort design, carving out some extra space to maximize Bose's proprietary acoustic voodoo, and adding two microphones to monitor external noise. As with all such active noise-canceling 'phones, that external din -- the drone of a jet engine, the crowd at the train station -- is countered by a mirror soundwave, allowing you to enjoy your music in relative peace. The processing chip used in the QC20 is a new model that's exclusive to Bose. 

The QuietComfort 20s come with three sizes of flexible "StayHear+" eartips, each of which has wings to brace itself against the cup of the outer ear. (Again, they look similar to the ones found on the MIE2s.)

The lithium ion battery pack is embedded in a control pod on the cord. It's rechargeable via a standard Micro-USB cable, and Bose pledges 16-hour battery life. (Unlike some competing models, the QC20s will continue to produce sound -- sans noise cancellation, of course -- if the battery dies completely.)

At the joint of the Y-cable leading to the left and right earbuds is a smaller second remote for controlling volume. That one also has a switch for toggling what Bose calls "Aware mode." Once engaged, it significantly ramps down the noise cancellation, so you can hear the outside world -- to chat with a flight attendant, for instance. But unlike the pass-through mode found in some competing models, it doesn't disengage the audio source completely -- you can still hear your music. In other words, the noise cancellation isn't completely disengaged, just ratcheted back.

Going ears-on: First impressions

I had two chances to listen to the QC20s first-hand at a Bose event in New York's Grand Central Terminal. While both demos were in a controlled environment, the results were undeniably impressive. The competing sound effects (train station and airport noise piped in for the demo) were all but inaudible, even as I was able to listen to comparatively soft jazzy vocals unimpaired. To drive the effect home, I could "feel" the bass from the simulated train vibrating my bones, but I was only barely "hearing" it. (To be clear, the presentation skills of the Bose staff are among the best in the business; everything has an aura of polish and synchronicity that is rivaled only by Apple's, in my opinion.)

If the headphones have a killer app, though, it's the Aware mode feature. I was able to have a conversation with someone with it engaged, while still hearing the music in the background. (Yes, I did have to crank down the volume a bit.) When toggling it back and forth, it seemed far less jarring than the pass-through modes I've experienced on rival products. It's unclear if Aware mode uses the NC or headset microphones to pull in the outside conversation, but it works like a charm.

Another unexpected bonus: normally, I avoid active-noise-cancellation headphones because the pressure they exert often strains my overly sensitive eardrums. For whatever reason, the QC20s -- at least during my 5-minute listening session -- seemed far more comfortable, with the pressure effect barely noticeable. I'd be very interested to see if that, and the overall comfort of the eartips, persisted over the long term.

Competition and final thoughts

As usual, we'll reserve final judgment until we have a chance to live with the headphones for a while. Specifically, we'll be looking for long-term comfort, performance of the noise cancellation in real-world environments, and overall audio quality. I'll also be interested to see how it feels to travel with the split battery pack and inline remote. The fact that the weightier battery pack is at the base of the cord seems like a smarter idea (so it's not tugging at your ears), but it'll be interesting to see how that works in practice.

Of course, the bigger question with the QC20s may be philosophical: do in-ear headphones even need to have active noise cancellation? An in-ear model with a good fit should already offer good to excellent noise isolation -- blocking out external noise by virtue of its tight seal. To that end, it'll be interesting to compare the QC20s with some in-ear models that don't offer active noise-canceling, too.

In terms of competition, the QuietComfort 20s will be going head-to-head with a fairly small roster of noise-canceling in-ear models. The Audio-Technica ATH-ANC23BK QuietPoint andATH-ANC33iS QuietPoint models retail for as little as $80, while Sony's XBA-NC85D retail for a whopping $500 -- and were downright disappointing, to boot.

Bose offers a no-questions-asked 30-day return policy, and its numerous stores will no doubt offer in-house demos. But the QC20s are backed by only a limited one-year warranty. That feels a bit stingy on such a pricey product, especially for in-ear models, which are simply more prone to wear and tear than full-size headphones.

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How supersensitive screens get touch-y (Smartphones Unlocked)

For all of your smartphone-owning life, you've been told you can't use your expensive device while wearing gloves, no matter how low the mercury plummets. You weren't really sure why, you just knew it wasn't going to happen.

And so rocketed sales of fingerless gloves, conductive gloves, and even conductive thread for those brave (or thrifty!) enough to hack their own touch-screen hand coverings.

Then something wonderful happened that obliterated this sad certainty of specialty winterwear dependence forever, and that was Nokia.

Starting with the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820, the industry got a smartphone touch screen that could register taps and gestures made with fingernails and many gloves (though I wouldn't try heavy-duty whompers).

Nokia didn't just make the supersensitive screen setting an option for its highest-end phones, either. The budget-friendly Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 incorporate this touch-sensitivity option as well.

For a while, Nokia was alone in the supertouchy screen game, until Huawei introduced itsAscend P2 and Samsung followed suit with its Galaxy S4 flagship Android phone.

It's no coincidence that all these phones emerged with the same capabilities as most of Nokia's Lumia lineup; they use the same touch-screen supplier, Synaptics, a Santa Clara, Calif., company whose technology drives the supersensitive train.

A disturbance in the force

Have you seen a diagram of a mobile phone display? It's a lot more than the cover glass you're worried about shattering when you drop your phone.

There are layers that stack up to form the whole package, from the coated cover glass on top through filters, substrate glass, and screen material, like the LCD or OLED sheaves that actually turn pixels on and off to create the picture you see on the screen.

It also helps to have a basic understanding of how a touch screen works in the first place. There's a lot of electrical engineering involved, but the gist of it is that electrodes in the screen assembly help create and hold an electric field around the screen.

When you touch your phone's face, your fleshy finger -- a conductor in its own right -- disturbs that electric charge where you come in contact with the screen.

In the case of multitouch actions, like pinching and zooming, the screen plots coordinates for multiple points of contact. Synaptics' touch technology recognizes up to 10 points of contact at a time, even though you usually use one or two.

The touch sensors -- which detect your taps -- don't reside alone. There's also the touch controller chip, which zips off your electric signals and coordinates to a more powerful processor that then kicks off a task. So for example, you touch the screen on this icon here, and an instant later, you've opened an app.

Cut out the noise, cut out the funk

The same basic touch principles still apply when you're talking about operating the phone with gloves or fingernails in place of your bare fingertip. What's changed, says Synaptics' Technology Strategist, Andrew Hsu, comes down to processing power in the touch controller chip.

While human skin is conductive, the signal it contributes to the electric field is extremely low, which creates a challenge for identifying anything that is not a finger pressing directly onto the phone face.Here's a common problem: how do you know what's a finger and what isn't?

More-sophisticated processors can handle the kinds of complex algorithms that can identify your finger, nail, gloved hand, or stylus as it descends upon the the touch screen. But they also need to be smart enough to know when to turn on the super-sensing jets and when to back off so that a simple motion won't get things going at unwanted times.

What's more, smartphones using this extra sensitive technology can interpret among the different types of touch, and can also filter out the kind of false-positive noise created by other things floating around your environment, like a stray leaf, strong gust of wind, or another person's index finger hovering above your phone ready to chip in on a game.

Noise is, in fact, a huge part of problem that companies like Synaptics have been working to surmount, and silencing that electrical noise is one of the touch controller chip's most constant and grueling jobs on a super-sensing screen.

Synaptics worked closely with Nokia, Samsung, and Huawei, Hsu said, to get a deep understanding of the structures that generate competing noise from within the phone itself.

What's an example of such noise that can mess with touch-screen control? How about the display itself. Electrodes in the display layer (the LCD or AMOLED material) fire up pixels to shine through your phone's glass topper, arranging the image you see on the screen. That action also creates electric noise that the touch sensors pick up, in addition to trying to work out if you're touching the phone with a nail or a glove or a fingertip.

One solution: Stick it in the cell

Although supersensitive screens don't require this, there's a certain way to place the touch sensor electrodes that can help automatically cut down on noise and boost electric signal performance.

Called in-cell implementation (PDF), the electrodes integrate right into the LCD display material (AMOLED phones typically use a different on-cell configuration).

The benefit here is that the same electrodes lighting up the display also detect those changes in voltage (the electric field) when you press on the screen. Since two functions use the same electrodes, the display can't possibly confuse the touch sensors by blasting out signal at the same time.

It's still early days when it comes to supersensitive screens, and I'm certain we'll see even more-sophisticated capabilities come down the line.

In the meantime, with three phone-makers using display tech that lets you keep your gloves on, you can count on others soon snatching up the trend.

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Bigger iPhone 6 coming; iPad Mini Retina delayed, Citi says

A big-screen iPhone 6 should show up next year while the highly anticipated iPad Mini Retina may be delayed until the fourth quarter, according to Citi Research.

In a research note to investors Friday, Citi began by saying that production of the upcomingiPhone 5S "has been delayed by two to four weeks."

The note continued. "And while this does not preclude a September iPhone 5S launch date, we suspect volumes in September may consequently be challenged," Citi's Glen Yeung wrote, citing "our field work in the hardware supply chain."

At the end of the iPhone 5S analysis, Yeung punctuated it with this: "We...expect a 4.8 [inch] screen iPhone 6 to be launched in 1Q14" (the first quarter of 2014).

The iPhone 5 has a 4-inch screen while the Galaxy S4 from Samsung, Apple's biggest rival, sports a 5-inch screen. So, a 4.8-inch iPhone 6 would, theoretically at least, compete with large-screen phones like the S4.

Citi had a lot more to say about future versions of the iPad Mini. Namely, that it expects a $230-$250 iPad Mini followed by the delayed Retina model that's expected to have a pixel density of 2,048x1,536.

And Citi had this to say about the iPad 5, the next version of Apple's 9.7-inch tablet

With respect to the iPad Mini, NPD DisplaySearch said in May that production of the Retina displays for the device should begin by July with production of the tablet itself in the third quarter.

But a report this week claimed that production of the second-generation iPad Mini may be pushed back to November.

Apple's 24th annual developers gathering, the Worldwide Developers Conference, next week.

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Why Xbox One's used games policy doesn't need to be the end of gaming as we know it

Last week, Microsoft finally provided some additional information on how the "game licensing" policy will work for the company's newly introduced Xbox One. It was our first peek behind the curtain on how discs, digital downloads, game sharing, and Xbox Live accounts will work and interact on the upcoming game console.

The new policy explicitly states that the new system was designed so that "game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers." But reading between the lines of that lawyery language, most gamers took that to mean that the aftermarket for the buying and selling of used Xbox One games was dead on arrival.

The howls of outrage and calls for boycotts began immediately.

Why the unprecedented wave of righteous indignation? Is this truly the end of a way of life for gamers everywhere?

Well, yes. But that's because we've been living in a transitional age. One with a loophole in the form of shiny silver discs.

In reality, that's what the outrage is all about: the closing of that loophole. One we've taken for granted for 30 years. I can sympathize with that. We've had it pretty good up to this point. But believe me, if the technology existed in 1985, there is no way on Earth that Nintendo would have allowed you to let a dozen of your friends borrow your copy of Super Mario Bros.

Why? Because each time you lend the game out to a friend, it's money lost for the publisher and, more importantly, the developer. And ultimately, that's not good for the industry.

But gouging the customer isn't a solution, either -- and that's what many gamers feel is happening if the subsidized economy of game resales is shut down.

Physical media's last gasp

We've all dealt with the digitization of most of our entertainment. Carrying around an MP3 player is better than switching discs out on a portable CD player. Reading your Kindle is easier than lugging around hardcover books.

All of these conveniences have come at the expense of physical media. But because video games operate with much larger file sizes, they have remained on the outside looking in when it comes to digital distribution. The idea of physical ownership has evaporated into owning a license, which has become the way we symbolize virtual possessions.

That's what your e-book library is: a collection of digital licenses. And your iTunes collection. And your video collection. All that stuff in the cloud? Licenses instead of discs. And the gaming industry is just finally catching up.

Let me be explicitly clear: I am not defending money-hungry corporations that want to turn you upside down until moths fly out of your pockets. But I do think we're overlooking the developers who create these works of art for our playing enjoyment. I want them to feel that their work can be supported through the empowerment of gamers. I want them to be able to measure that.

Winners and losers

So who loses out the most in the evolution of licensing? We all do, but maybe some more than others. The "binge and resell" gamer will probably feel it the most. This gamer will finish a title in a weekend, then resell it at a brick-and-mortar store -- or an open marketplace for a better return -- and get a maximum value for a nearly new game.

Who else? Gamers who rely on buying used games. But this might be fixable. Each game has a diminishing value the second it's released -- and in the case of used games, opened. In an open market that price fluctuates, where at a chain retailer it's predetermined. (Just think how most new games are sold as used for $5 below full price.) The gradual lowering of the game's value in the open marketplace is something that can be adopted into the new dynamic pricing structure of Xbox and PlayStation's digital stores. Just like the way Tomb Raider (released in March) is now sold for $45 used, so, too, can the official Xbox One pricing be in its digital store.

Here, the middleman reseller is bypassed, and the money is going to the makers of the game -- or at the very least, headed in the right direction.

Steam's all-digital success story

My biggest problem with the bandwagoning and witch-hunting that's been floating around is double-sided. First off, we don't really know the full story about PlayStation 4 and its policies regarding licensing, so the angst aimed solely toward Microsoft might be unfair. The playing field is still open. Second, a lot -- but not all -- of the core elements of the licensing system Microsoft is outlining for Xbox One are similar to Steam.

A word-of-mouth hit with PC gamers, Steam has managed to develop an overwhelmingly positive reputation with gamers thanks to its frequent sales, ease of use, game management, empowerment of its loyal community, and support for the independent gaming scene. It's owned and operated by Valve, a developer responsible for franchises like Half-Life and Portal.

But where there are similarities in structure, right now there doesn't seem to be much congruity in philosophy with Valve's game distribution platform. That imbalance is manifested primarily in one of the most important elements regarding all of this: pricing.

Flexible pricing is what has made Steam a PC gaming haven. I recently bought every single Grand Theft Auto game ever made on Steam for under $15 -- total. That's spectacular. Sales and deals can revive catalog titles, and make them attractive to a new group of consumers. And publishers can get revenue they'd otherwise miss out on: 100,000 consumers paying $10 for an older game beats out 10,000 paying $60.

How to get gamers to stop worrying and love the Cloud

As my colleague David Carnoy recently explained, the "value" of games is as much about psychology as it about economics.

As Carnoy pointed out, if used games can't be resold, they're "worth" less to the buyer. If Microsoft and Sony want to appear that they're in this for the gamers, they need to address that value discrepancy. And following Steam's model is the best way to do that.

New games are going to cost the most, I get that. But surely the money saved in not having to manufacture and ship physical media can chip away at the price of a game. Better yet, incentivize game buying. Offer digital punch cards. "Purchase three Xbox One games and get 20 percent off your next." Offer weekend sales. Bundle titles together. Give us reasons to get excited about browsing an online store, the way it is when discovering a great deal on Steam.

Meanwhile, there are other elements of the Xbox One game-licensing policy that are undeniably positive. First, up to 10 family members can use your account regardless of which Xbox they're on. Second, some disc games will be able to be loaned to a friend for free as long as that person has been on your friends list for a month. If you want to bring a game over to a friend's place, you can log in on his system and download it.

You'll have all your games no matter where you go. As long as there is an Xbox One, you'll have total access to everything you've purchased. (You know, just like Steam.)

No, we can't have our cake and eat it, too. I read a lot of enthusiast sites crying about how the shift away from used games is a crime against the culture of gaming, but they ignore that the switch to digital is simply another evolution of the medium. A lot of things have changed in 30 years.The point is this: this new world of gaming doesn't have to suck.

There's a stench of hypocrisy that emanates from a class of gamer who demands progress on every level from a new console, yet belligerently revolts at the discovery that games won't be delivered on plastic discs any longer.

The funny thing about Steam is that no one complains about the lack of discs, or the dearth of game lending and reselling. That's because its convenience and affordability trumps any downsides.

If Microsoft and the game publishers follow Steam's model and create a more dynamic digital marketplace, the death of used games will be a small footnote, not an epitaph.

It's a big if. But one that could well determine the success or failure of the next generation of consoles.

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Comcast expands Wi-Fi network with new 'neighborhood' initiative

Comcast is making it even easier for its broadband subscribers to access the Internet outside the confines of their homes.

For the past couple of years, the company, along with several other cable operators, has been building out a Wi-Fi network in public areas, such as train platforms and in small businesses such as cafes and retail locations, to allow its broadband customers mobile access to the Internet at no additional charge.

On Monday, the company will make two announcements that will expand this network.

The first is the launch of the new home-based, neighborhood hot-spot initiative, in which subscribers will host Wi-Fi hot spots that other Comcast customers can use as part of their monthly broadband service. The way it works is that Comcast subscribers who are using the company's newest wireless gateways for home Wi-Fi will broadcast an additional Xfinity Wi-Fi signal. And that additional signal will be the one that other Comcast customers, who already have access to Comcast's public Wi-Fi network, will use.

"Our broadband customers will continue to get the service that they are paying for," Tom Nagel, senior vice president of business development, said in an interview. "That was extremely important to us in designing this product."This signal is completely different from the signal that subscribers have in their home. This means that if customers subscribe to a 50Mbps broadband service, they will have full access to that speed and capacity, without any interference or degradation in service from the public Wi-Fi portion.

Indeed, it also means that people can keep their home Wi-Fi networks more secure. Instead of giving out their password to visitors, these people can use the public Comcast Wi-Fi network, which is transmitting from the same gateway device.

The only catch is that the visitors must also be Comcast Xfinity broadband customers. If they are not, they can get free access to the networks on two separate occasions. But after that they will have to pay for usage.

Comcast started testing the new service last year in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Northern Virginia, and in and around Washington, D.C. Currently, more than 100,000 Xfinity Internet subscribers are using the new Wi-Fi access points.

Nagel said that customers will have the option to opt out of the community broadband initiative if they would like. But the new gateways that are being deployed in broadband subscribers' homes by default will have the community Wi-Fi signal turned on.

The initiative is similar to a service that a Spanish company called FON launched in 2007. Just like Comcast, FON allowed people to share their home broadband connections via Wi-Fi. The router split the signal into a private signal used by the broadband subscriber indoors. And it also created a public signal for others to use outside of the home.

The idea behind FON was that people who participated in the network were given access to other FON users throughout the world. So if someone who lived in San Francisco and participated in the FON network traveled to Madrid, he would be able to access free Wi-Fi if he came in contact with other FON networks.

But the benefit for Comcast subscribers is not as easy to determine. Xfinity customers already get access to all of Comcast's Wi-Fi hot spots at no extra charge. It's bundled into their home broadband service. So in many ways, there is really no incentive to participate in the Comcast community Wi-Fi initiative. But given that customers have to opt out of the program, there's a good chance that many people won't even realize they are providing public Wi-Fi from their home broadband connection, simply by using Comcast's gateway product.

Comcast's Wi-Fi strategy

Wi-Fi has increasingly become an important part of Comcast's overall strategy. And Nagel said that the home-based neighborhood hot-spot initiative complements the company's existing Wi-Fi network and its efforts within the CableWiFi Alliance, which allows Comcast broadband customers to also get access to indoor and outdoor hot spots set up by other cable operators in other parts of the country.

Map of Comcast Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots in and around Washington, D.C.

Also, on Monday, Comcast and its CableWiFi Alliance partners announced that they have added tens of thousands of new access points to the network. And now Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, and Bright House Networks' broadband customers have access to more than 150,000 indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi hot spots in more than a dozen major cities across the country.

The network has tripled in size since it was first announced last year, and it now represents one of the largest Wi-Fi networks in the country.

The way it works is that subscribers of any of these broadband providers can look for the "CableWiFi" network on their mobile devices. Then they can sign into the network using credentials that identify them as a broadband customer, and they are connected to the Wi-Fi network. After they have used the network once, those credentials can be saved on the device to automatically authenticate the next time they are in a CableWiFi hot spot.

Some of the major cities where the cable hot spots are up and running include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Kansas City, Mo., and Orlando and Tampa, Fla. Customers can check their broadband providers' Web site for a nationwide coverage map.

Comcast most recently announced Chicago and Atlanta as cities with public Wi-Fi hot spots as part of the Cable Wi-Fi Alliance. And on Monday it is officially announcing Washington, D.C., as the next city to get Xfinity Wi-Fi. The company has set up public Wi-Fi hot spots in areas inside the city, such as Adams Morgan, Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, and Georgetown. It's also set up hot spots in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Silver Spring in Maryland; and Arlington, Alexandria, and Woodbridge in Virginia.

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