Apple's New Audio System For Thin Devices

Every since Apple hired my friend and surround sound mentor Tomlinson Holman a few years ago, I knew that the company would be working towards higher audio quality in a profound way. And generally speaking, the sound of Apple products does continue to improve, even if it's hardly ever noted. I just purchased a new iMac and Macbook Pro, and could immediately tell the difference between my 3 year old versions.

This recent Apple patent application was dug up that's titled "Long Throw Acoustic Transducer," and it relates to a playback element in the thin device iOS environment. The idea behind it is that it has two permanent magnets that are joined by a linkage with a high magnetic permeability to form a a piston that is inserted into a housing. There are two pole coils surround the housing with each coil adjacent to one of the magnets, and they oscillate within the housing when an electrical signal is applied. One of the magnets can have a vent passage, but that's not entirely necessary. The whole idea is to provide a greater volume of air from a compact device than was previously possible.

We don't know for sure because it's not marked, but it doesn't look like the transducer in the new iPhone 6 plus is using this technology yet. Here's a picture of it thanks to the breakdown of the phone on ifixit. Either way, the boffins at Apple haven't forgotten audio, and we Mac/iPhone/iPad fanboys should be thankful.

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Ready For A MacBook Fragrance?

Everyone loves that new car smell, and we've all seen those air fresheners that clone the aroma. Now an art group out of Australia has created the scent of the the packaging of a brand new Apple MacBook Pro being opened for the first time.

Melbourne based Gavin Bell, Jarrah de Kuijer and Simon McGlinn approached the fragrance company Air Aroma to recreate the smell, which they were able to do by combining the scents of glue, plastic, rubber and paper (not exactly your most aromatic of smells). It turns out that Air Aroma can make you a custom scent, and they've done so for Langham and Hilton Hotels, Dunhill and Toyota so far.

The scent is intended to only be used during an art exhibition in Melbourne, but it does bring up a number of fascinating possibilities. How about that new guitar smell when you open up a case for the first time? The woody smell of that new drum kit? The smell of the box when you open up a new hard drive? The "new studio" smell after construction?

Would you pay to have that smell around all the time? Would it be good for selling used gear? Is this a new possible revenue stream for Fender, Gibson, et al?

Question, questions. What do you think?

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