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Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

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

#381

Post by _fat_santa »

maest wrote: post #229

The move to no-jack phones really only exacerbates this problem. It's difficult for manufacturers to justify an app for wired headphones, but, now that bluetooth is becoming the new norm, there's suddenly a justification for instrusive, data-collecting apps. This whole story is a really good reason for keeping headphone jacks on phones.

Technology moves on. The same shift also happened with cars. I remember when there was pushback (ok at least hearing about the pushback) when cars started to use computers. Why does it have to so complicated? Why does everything need a computer?

You know to a certain extent those folks were right. But you look at cars today and I couldn't imagine my car not having a computer. Adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, apple carplay, I could go on.

The problem I see now is that privacy is still a pretty novel concept among the regular user so companies in the mean time can get away with overbearing data collection. My prediction is in the next 3-5 years, users will start to get savvier, and overbearing data collection will become a taboo and no company will do it because users will revolt.

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

#383

Post by AlexandrB »

sukilot wrote: post #382

It's hard to muster up the energy to worry about the privacy policies of luxury toys for rich people.

As with other instances of privacy overreach, this will trickle down to cheaper tech products in an even more invasive way - e.g. cheap "smart" TVs that collect everything they can.

If even the rich people can't "muster up the energy" to defend themselves from data collection, I think we're all well and truly fucked.

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

#384

Post by outadoc »

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…

Your comment is funny to me because I have a pair of WH-1000XM3 and the one feature I'm missing the most is Bluetooth multi-point pairing. It's super easy to switch devices with the Bose (even though yeah, it can be finicky) meaning you don't have to re-pair your devices every time you want to listen to music on your phone, use them for a Slack call or for a TV show.

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

#385

Post by Consultant32452 »

twoleftfeets wrote: post #304
gumby wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably nothing. They have a feature that’s quite handy to me (the proprietary quick changing from one Apple device to another IFF it has the same Apple ID — so no good for shared hardware like a tv) but “quite handy” is far from invaluable. You can program a tap on each earbud to do certain things: again, handy but you don’t have that ability I doubt you’d be upset. Apple’s quite clever on figuring out how much “bl…

If you're not used to it you'd probably not be upset but having an iPhone and Airpods I'd be upset going back. I switch between my Mac and my iPhone daily so if I had to re-pair to do that that would suck. My guess is many modern alternatives let you pair more than one device at a time which would be another possible solution (better or worse I don't know). Apple's switching sometimes fails for me and when it does it…

I switch from my Mac mini to Android phone and back regularly. I don't have to re-pair them.

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

#386

Post by _ea1k »

55555 wrote: post #309
inetknght wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bose deliberately made the battery enclosure very difficult to open so that you can't replace the battery yourself. Why do you need to replace the battery? Because if you use them every day, the battery degrades so that a full charge only lasts about 1 hour, down from 20+ hours, within just 2 years. I've used my QC35 II's 6 to 8 hours a day for 5 days a week for 4 years. They last approximately a full week on one c…

Okay, that's interesting. I've used mine ~6 hours per day for 5 days a week for 2 years. Why can't mine hold a charge for more than an hour? Maybe there's something I don't understand about how batteries work that I am doing and that I could do differently.

Could yours be stored or used in extreme heat frequently?

Beyond that, it could just be a battery defect. Devices that last for multiple days should last for several years before seeing that kind of degradation.

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

#387

Post by driverdan »

dragonsngoblins wrote: post #284
monksy wrote: post #167

The article should have buried sony for how egregious they are. They require the app to collect location information, and ear. https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00233341 I'm not sure what else they collect.. but those are the 2 bad ones. They've got a few settings that are software controlled (one being the bluetooth's internal volume) What happens if you get a software update and you open the app on…

I've been using my Sony W-1000XM3s with my Android phone for months and I haven't had to install an app. The only thing the app would get me is a bunch of equalizer shit (which my music player could do and I never use anyway), dynamic noise cancelling of some form (which I'm not sure why I'd ever use, just an on/off toggle is good enough for me). As shitty as the app collecting data is it isn't as if the app is requi…

Are you using Wavelet to tune them? Stock they sound pretty bad, far too bass heavy.

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

#388

Post by chooseaname »

Give me a dumb pair of headphones with a 3.5mm jack and I'm happy.

Edit: Thinking about this article more, it really goes back to hardware not getting funding unless there's a model for recurrent income. It's going to get a LOT worse before we either wise up or give up.

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

#389

Post by chooseaname »

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?

Nope. Analog reading devices.

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

#390

Post by GrinningFool »

waheoo wrote: post #320
inetknght wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly don't use bluetooth. I keep them wired 95% of the time and noise cancelling just eliminates office noise. The remaining 5% of the time is typically on a flight to somewhere connected to my iPhone a couple of feet away.

I wish I could justify wired headphones but I'm too much of a dolt, I've chopped the cord too many times and broken more laptops than I would like to admit.

You are not alone.
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