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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#241

Post by randyrand »

duskwuff wrote: post #220
amelius wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the "anti-stalking" feature will notify someone if an AirTag they don't own appears to be traveling with them. Another case of your device working against your interests. I don't care if you have something to hide or not. This just sucks at a fundamental level.

If the "interest" that you're worried about AirTags "working against" is being able to stalk people by attaching trackers to them or their belongings -- sincerely, fuck you. It is entirely appropriate for Apple to build functionality into their products to mitigate this sort of abuse.

....It’s alerting thieves that the device they stole is being tracked.

That’s anti-user. The user is the one trying to do the tracking.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#242

Post by asdff »

chrisbolt wrote: post #70
kolinko wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May be due to their commutment to carbon neutrality and low/zero waste?

It’s less wasteful to use disposable and non-rechargeable batteries?

Better to replace a single battery after a year than throw away an entire perfectly good speaker and earbud and a spent battery after two years, like with airpods.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#243

Post by randyrand »

mikestew wrote: post #189
908B64B197 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does this render it useless for anti-theft, then? The other question is: when presented with evidence of stolen property, will the local PD enforce the law and assist with the retrieval of said property?

That's already been answered. Stories abound about "Find My Doohickie said it was at this address. I even knocked on the door, and the person that answered said, 'yup, have your phone, whatta ya gonna do about it?'. Cops said file it with insurance." Cops don't care about a $1000 phone, they're not going to care about your bicycle, either (which has also been proven on multiple occasions).

The do care about stolen vehicles tho. Motorcycle theft is a big problem.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#244

Post by applecrazy »

ehsankia wrote: post #224
pfranz wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Did apple bring any actual innovation that I missed? I guess it depends on what you think of as innovation. Their marketing pointed to "scalloped" batteries instead of square so they can take up more empty space (plus the space that would have been used by covering the battery and a fatter connector). In my experience, their batteries went from 200 charge cycles, about ~4 of battery life, and often failing before r…

> Their marketing pointed to "scalloped" batteries instead of square so they can take up more empty space I'm confused, are these standard CR2032 batteries or not? Do I have to buy some special Apple battery?

Parent comment is referring to MacBook batteries

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#245

Post by asdff »

shuckles wrote: post #90
prionassembly wrote: post #22

I've been thinking about a solution that would let me find a 4-10 year old child that gets lost in a big city crowd. Like a bracelet or something. Is the AirTag truly first or best in class?

Apple Watch for kids launched last fall with cellular and GPS support. You probably want something like it for kids in the older end of that range.

I wouldn't put a magnet for theft on my child's wrist in effort to keep them from getting lost.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#246

Post by crazygringo »

zxcvgm wrote: post #211
crazygringo wrote: post #71

I thought one of the big use cases for this was to track stolen items, like a backpack or maybe even a bicycle. But the "anti-stalking" feature will notify someone if an AirTag they don't own appears to be traveling with them. Does this render it useless for anti-theft, then? Since it will just notify a thief that the bike they just stole is being tracked, and they can look for the AirTag and throw it in the nearest…

I too, found the anti-stalking features might hinder the use of AirTags for locating intentionally stolen items: (1) it has a removable battery, and also (2) "someone can tap [the tag] with their iPhone or NFC-capable device and instructions will guide them to disable the unknown AirTag". The anti-stalking feature also seems to contradict its privacy features: > Bluetooth signal identifiers transmitted by AirTag rota…

AirTags are anonymous to other end users.

Obviously Apple is internally maintaining an association between the AirTag's permanent identifier, and its current temporary signal identifier.

This isn't E2EE or anything.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#247

Post by themaninthedark »

dbt00 wrote: post #26
WORMS_EAT_WORMS wrote: post #9

If I was evil and stuck these to ex-girlfriend/boyfriend car or something, illegal? Edit: Downvoters. I am not doing this obviously. Am asking as this is the clear abuse I see. Tracking people without permission. I see this as being a weird legal thing we hear about down the road.

From the link: "iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time."

But that will only work if you have an Apple device/AirTag app installed right?

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#248

Post by asdff »

andrewla wrote: post #207

What I need is the inverse of this -- my wife is forever losing her phone around the house, and I need a button on the wall that you can press to activate "find my phone" mode and play a beep on it. EDIT: Thank you for all the suggestions! I'm aware that this is possible from another iPhone or iWatch or iPad -- this is the current workflow. Use my phone or take the ipad away from the kids to play the beep. Is a butto…

raspberry pi and some script to click through the find my iphone website for you and hit the alarm after hitting your button.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#249

Post by Hitton »

ehsankia wrote: post #218
Hitton wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how hard would it be to disable beeping. There is probably a speaker that can be drilled through.

That kinda kills the whole purpose of the tag, which is to beep when you lose it. I guess you can still kinda find it with the UWB chip on your iPhone, but that's much harder than by sound.

Not if you want to use the tag to stalk someone.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#250

Post by jeffy90 »

runawaybottle wrote: post #231
ehsankia wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As pointed out above, this is already the status quo (replacable battery, 1 year life, etc). Tile has had it for years. I'm curious if it would've been technically feasible to have wireless charging on these instead of replaceable battery. Or would that greatly increase the price?

If you are forgetting where your object is, you are probably forgetting to charge it too.

I lose my phone all the time but somehow I manage to charge it
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