Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Into Tomorrow's travels next week, GPS school uniforms in China, a fake Alexa setup app, Alexa helping students cheat at math, Google Assistant on Samsung TVs, an unhappy new year for Apple, and more.

 

Larry in Koshigaya Japan listens asked: "I'm using wireless earbuds to listen to the podcast, but if I listen to music on the same machine, using the same earbuds, I get little hiccups. If I listen to the music on the same machine, NOT using the earbuds, there is no stopping. Is there a way to solve this problem?"

 

Larry, Bluetooth is convenient but it’s prone to just the kind of interference you’re describing, so we assume that’s what you’re using.

Those hiccups you mentioned are caused by short interruptions in the connection. Those interruptions can be caused by just a low signal, so sometimes just moving your phone to a pocket that closer to your earbuds (like a shirt pocket) may be enough to improve the signal. 

Newer versions of the Bluetooth standard, in particular Bluetooth 5.0 if your devices support it can help with those hiccups. 

Another common cause is your earbuds trying to juggle too many connections. Bluetooth allows devices to hold several parallels connections, for example, your earbuds may be paired to your computer and your phone at the same time, even if they’re only getting audio from one at a time.

Sometimes the multiple connections at once are enough to cause the those little moments of silence, so disconnecting your earbuds from the device you’re not currently playing music from may make them go away.

There is another cause that you won’t be able to control as easily: Bluetooth uses a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is shared with other wireless technologies, because of that it needs to be content with outside interference and you’ve probably noticed that your earbuds don’t have a enough room for large transmitters or antennas, so they may just lose the signal because there’s too much electromagnetic noise around them. 

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about that, but the other solutions may give you the help you need to enjoy your music.

 

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