By Stephen Schenck

Do you know how to share media between your smartphone and your home entertainment system? Whether we’re talking DLNA, AirPlay, or a good ole-fashioned hardware HDMI cable, it sure seems like there are plenty of options out there for getting the content you access on your phone out onto some external speakers or a big screen TV. Those options don’t do us much good, though, if we’re not aware of their presence and the means by which we can take advantage of them. The issue comes to our attention today thanks to a rather embarrassing interview conducted with Time Warner Cable’s CEO.

Glenn A. Britt, in a recent discussion regarding his perception of the difficulty in getting video from a smartphone or tablet onto your TV, claims both to be a big Apple fan yet have no idea what AirPlay is nor how to use it. Brit explained, “what’s hard is the plumbing, what wires do you connect, what device do you use. So the current Apple TV, the little thing, the hockey puck, really doesn’t do anything to help enable you to get Internet material on your TV.”

Except, as Apple users should know, Apple TV does a gangbusters job getting all sorts of video onto your TV when paired with an iPhone or other AirPlay source. Britt’s ignorance highlights a disconnect, wherein our smartphones have so many features that unless you’re keeping on top of new ones as they arrive, you can quickly lose track of just what they’re capable of.

It’s hard to place the blame in situations like this. Should it fall on manufacturers not doing enough to promote useful features? What about the users for not investing enough time in learning about their phones? Should the media be filling the gap, and doing what it can to encourage awareness? The answer’s probably a bit more nuanced, and involves multiple parties, but it’s worth figuring out if we hope to see circumstances improved any.

Source: New York Times
Via: MacRumors