Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019) • Hacker News Board

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#371

Post by dkersten » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 12:20 PM UTC

flukus wrote: post #344

dkersten wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would rather give up on a smartphone than give up on my wireless headphones. Hell, I was without a phone for a few months a couple of years back and it felt liberating. It’ll be my excuse to be a permanent smartphone luddite.

I did the same, went without a phone for a few weeks (getting repaired/replaced) and it taught me a lot about how much I was overusing it. The most important change was turning off nearly all notifications (interruptions), but I've slid back into other bad habits like mobile reddit/HN since. I've toyed with the idea of going back to a dedicated MP3 player for music and audio books, they should be cheaper and smaller…

I actually made a conscious effort not to idly listen to music anymore, so when I listen now, its purely for the enjoyment of listening to music. When I go for a walk, I listen to nature and let my mind drift without constant stimulation. I enjoy the music a lot more this way.

Yeah, I find 90% of what I use my iphone fir, I could really do without, like social media. When this phone dies, I plan on getting a cheap dumb one for emergency calls (I can still communicate with friends over IM on a laptop) and not replace the smartphone.

The experience taught me that I do not need to be stimulated all the time and I don’t need to be connected or reachable all the time. It felt liberating knowing that when I left home/office and was out of wifi reach, that I wouldnn’t get bothered by work requests. It felt liberating knowing that, while inconveint at times, I had to arrange a time and place to meet people, and we had to thennstick to it, instead of “i’ll call you when I’m near, whenever ir whetever that may be”.

The only reason I went back to having a phone is a family member got annoyed and bought me one, but a middle ground would have been to get a dumb (phone calls and SMS only) phone, rather than a smartphone or going without a phone completely like I did.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#372

Post by dkersten » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 12:24 PM UTC

flyingpenguin wrote: post #329

dkersten wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, how long are people spending on the toilet that they need Internet? And is hygiene not a concern?

From the many people I have asked this question, I think the disconnect between toilet phone users and us is the availability of "Alone time". Specifically no matter what you do in your house/work for some there is always low key chance of someone bothering you. This is not the case when you appear to be using the toilet. Still seems weird to me though.

Yeah, I get that, but it seems like an unhealthy way to live. I guess that’s just part of having kids, for a lot of people...

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#373

Post by NikolaNovak » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 12:29 PM UTC

dkdk8283 wrote: post #263

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II. I use them with a MacBook Pro through Bluetooth pairing. I never installed any app and never connected the headphones physically to anything. What is the OP talking about? And why would anyone install an app to use headphones?

Why would someone buy noise cancelling headphones if they don’t need that feature? The QC II’s bluetooth range is horrible. Less than half of the QC I’s.

>>Why would someone buy noise cancelling headphones if they don’t need that feature?

You don't ALWAYS need/want that feature.

Some reasons:

* Safe battery life

* Hear conversation or important sounds in the background

Most headphones (all I've purchased) have a dedicated hardware button. In fact, all of them have 3 modes: Noise cancelling ON, noise cancelling off (Switch), noise cancelling off + enhanced microphone (quick transient button, to quickly hear e.g. captain announcement etc). Can't imagine having to do that through software, it'd defeat the convenience.

That being said, fully agree; my Sennheiser HD380 with 3.5mm jack have lasted a decade and I don't know when or if I'll ever need to replace them. They sound and feel as good as new.

The expensive Bluetooth headphones and headsets are a disposable commodity with inferior user experience for at least some use cases (Pairing? Latency? Battery? Software? You don't have to worry about those with 3.5mm:). Yet, there's a positive ARMY of people who always join in to defend the removal of 3.5mm jack - even though they gained nothing from it, and some of us lost a lot :-/

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#374

Post by zeveb » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 12:30 PM UTC

briandear wrote: post #302

shadowprofile77 wrote: post #301

Truly, is it possible for tech companies today to release even one fucking product, even something so simple as headphones, without piling on all the desperate, grubby, scummy tracking bloat and related shit possible in an effort to turn you into a product EVEN when you're paying for their creations. It's revolting and sincerely deserves to be harshly punished by the market (if enough consumers could be bothered to g…

You mean like Beats or Apple AirPods? They don’t collect user data at all.

> You mean like Beats or Apple AirPods? They don’t collect user data at all.

They may not, but Beats and Apple — the former is a subsidiary of the latter — lock one into a proprietary ecosystem in which your data is not your data (just try sharing iCloud photos with Android users), you have no right to run, view, modify or share the software you depend on, your message security rests 100% on the corporate goodwill of Apple and any government which can force Apple to do its will (your iMessages are end-to-end encrypted … to whatever keys Apple says belong to your correspondents; Apple can add new keys at will). And of course Apple are also doing their best to replace the standard headphone jack with crufty, battery-draining, CPU-requiring Bluetooth.

Headphones capable of running Bluetooth are headphones capable of collecting data about you, because they need some sort of processor to speak the Bluetooth protocol. Headphones which are composed of wire and drivers aren't capable of anything other than playing or receiving audio.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#375

Post by jes » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 12:56 PM UTC

cactus2093 wrote: post #342

niklasd wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently tried out wireless noise-cancelling headphones from both Bose and Sony, and (the important privacy issues aside) the user experience with these apps is just horrible. You unpack your Bose headphone, eager to use them. But before that, you have to download an app on the iPhone, then download a software update program on your laptop, which in turn opens a program in the browser that downloads an update, then…

I didn’t find that an issue at all, and not sure what you mean about the laptop part I only use the mobile app to upgrade my qc 35s. I do find the Bose UX to be horrible though for another reason, which is the incredibly stupid “feature” that the headphones can be connected to multiple devices at once. Since I use it both with my phone and laptop and they’re often in range of each other, sometimes the audio control w…

Same for me. You are not alone in thinking the UX is horrible.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#376

Post by rorykoehler » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 1:05 PM UTC

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #360

rorykoehler wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the tip. I also have the Sonys. Anyone who thinks they sound great needs a hearing test. Not a patch on my 2 favourites, Sennheiser HD-25 (or any €100+ Sennheiser for that matter) and Beyer Dynamic DT-990 Pro (great home listening and mixing headphone). Even after tuning the Sonys to correct their flaws they still sound tiring. Will check out the settings you recommend.

The DT-990 are not bad. The treble is a little overemphasized. The easy bass is also a bit emphasized, but then they give up on the deep bass (start dropping below 50 Hz). Still good headphones, two classes above the uncorrected Sony NC. With proper corrections based on objective measurements, any headphones can sound neutral and balanced.

What you're hearing in the DT-990 is the open back. I'm not sure on your assessment regarding any headphone. you'll never get the noise cancelling ones sounding good because there are 2 processes affecting the sound. Also the hardware itself needs to be capable.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#377

Post by joshspankit » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 1:05 PM UTC

snvzz wrote: post #325

joshspankit wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first Fiio product was a cute little amp with a battery inside, worked a treat when the phone couldn’t drive the headphones

>worked a treat What became of it?

It’s still kicking around, still works, but I switched to easy to drive IEMs for on the go listening so my biggest problem these days is getting the volume quiet enough.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#378

Post by arexxbifs » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 1:34 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #120

saurik wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They care. It exudes as a cynicism about the world and continual jokes about talking to the FBI agent assigned to watch them. They (as are we) are just powerless to prevent it as every single service and every single platform and apparently every single product is collecting data on us. And since the value of services and platforms and, sadly, even products goes up as more people are using them, the arguments of "don…

That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. In a world where this wasn't allowed, presumably you'd be forced to spend more money. So you can inhabit that world right now if you want.

I’ve lived in a world similar to that. It was called the 1990s. It wasn’t particularly expensive, it wasn’t that hard to book hotels and, amazingly, people also got invited to parties and events. Also, your headphones didn’t spy on you.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#379

Post by vinay427 » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 1:36 PM UTC

mattnewton wrote: post #280

fomine3 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirPods also requires to use app for many features but the app is integrated to iOS. IMO It's worse than dedicated app.

The experience on Android is they “just work” as Bluetooth headphones. My experience with the Bose headphones has been excruciating.

Hmm, I've tried the Sony (WH-1000XM3) and Bose (QC35) headphones at an electronics store and could pair both rather seamlessly with my Android device. NFC helped to make this even easier than pairing AirPods.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#380

Post by sequoia » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 1:38 PM UTC

secondcoming wrote: post #140

tdons wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I (and many other engineers I know) do this too, and for a good reason. It's a simple system. Same reason I don't use WiFi at home but ethernet: it's simple.

You have LAN ports in your bathroom?

A joke about "ports" or "drops" in the bathroom is trying to form itself in my mind, but I am actively suppressing it to protect myself and the community.