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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#321

Post by duskwuff »

toddh wrote: post #303
duskwuff wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't suitable for pets. The crowdsourced Bluetooth tracking will only really work for objects which will stay in one place when lost -- which pets are notorious for not doing. For finding a lost pet, you really want something with cell reception and a GPS for real-time location. There's a number of products which specifically provide this, like the Whistle dog tag. Unfortunately, they're bulkier and require rel…

Unfortunately Whistle doesn't work in areas with poor coverage. And then there's the battery issues. A tag would at least be a good redundancy solution.

AirTags depends on other users with iOS devices to track devices out of range of your phone. If you're in an area with limited to no cell coverage, there probably aren't many people wandering around with iOS devices either -- especially not ones with cell connectivity to upload the locations where they spotted your tag.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#322

Post by lancepioch »

capableweb wrote: post #194
dbt00 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

So what about the majority of people who do not own an iOS device? They can be tracked? Somehow I don't see this idea working out when law makers start seeing what kind of things this product enables.

You realize these devices already exist and for much cheaper right? In fact you can buy or make your own with gps and a sim card too. This technology isn't new at all. Even this exact product isn't new, you can already do this with Tile. The big difference is that AirTags are more secure.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#324

Post by rkuykendall-com »

burlesona wrote: post #100

The "commercial" they used to introduce this during the event was hilarious and awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbApA2JLZ_c

Reminded me of the Hello Tomorrow commercial by Adidas / Spike Jonze / Karen O:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbBNScrYN10

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#325

Post by spoonjim »

dijit wrote: post #287
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?

> Tile has had it for years. I had a tile and it most assuredly did not have a replacable battery, I had to mill the thing open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrhM5ujSU6w

Tile has products with replaceable and with non replaceable batteries.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#326

Post by Lammy »

Can somebody please help me parse the last sentence in the "Privacy" paragraph here? I'm honestly confused by the "or location of any device that helped find it". All I want to know is if a LEA could subpoena Apple for the location of any/all of my AirTags, and I can't tell if this is talking about the tags themselves or about the device that initiates a Find action for a Tag:

"AirTag is designed from the ground up to keep location data private and secure. No location data or location history is physically stored inside AirTag. Communication with the Find My network is end-to-end encrypted so that only the owner of a device has access to its location data, and no one, including Apple, knows the identity or location of any device that helped find it. "

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#327

Post by spoonjim »

gerry_shaw wrote: post #192
tyingq wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't expect user replaceable commodity batteries from Apple. That's nice.

It is ridiculous that something as basic as having a user replaceable battery is considered an unexpected nice feature.

For something where extremely small size is an essential feature (unlike a laptop computer), battery replaceability is a direct trade off with that.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#328

Post by kstrauser »

dijit wrote: post #287
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?

> Tile has had it for years. I had a tile and it most assuredly did not have a replacable battery, I had to mill the thing open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrhM5ujSU6w

I've had a Tile with a replaceable battery since 2018 (according to the app just now). It replaced the previous single-use model.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#329

Post by Cu3PO42 »

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).

Cops cared about my stolen bicycle. They took my report, were very happy I brought a copy of the original invoice and a few weeks later I had mail informing me they had retrieved my bicycle and that I could pick it up. This was in Germany, mind you.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#330

Post by idiotsecant »

Kye wrote: post #298
pfranz wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tile didn't start with replaceable batteries--they still don't use them in all their products. I don't know how AirTags will be in practice, but user-replaceable batteries haven't been great. I don't know if it's a technical restriction or not, but "low-battery" seems to be a time based warning and not based on battery charge. So I either get an alert when 1 year has passed on all of my devices at the same time, or t…

Your choice is a reasonable timer or extra circuitry and logic for monitoring battery power that cuts the battery life.

low-cost, low-power battery monitoring is like pretty much the most solved problem ever.
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