Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Introduces AirTag

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

581–590 of 966 posts

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#581

Post by GurnBlandston »

habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

That's comparable to existing products. I was hoping to read that Apple made the device sealed and rechargeable via a mat or the like.

This device will be used like find my phone - a removable battery will make it trivial for thieves to disable the tracking.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#582

Post by fomine3 »

phlyingpenguin wrote: post #80
ffggvv wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah but they can’t use apples internal apis to track things. so apple gets to cheat unfairly on ios

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apples-find-my-networ...

It's just different branded AirTags, isn't it?

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#583

Post by [deleted] »

habibur wrote: post #337
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…

> I don't know if it's a technical restriction or not More likely because CR batteries don't drop voltage significantly as it discharges. And at full discharge it suddenly drops dead. Which is why it's harder to measure "remaining charge", as that's generally calculated on battery voltage.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#584

Post by agogdog »

cesarvarela wrote: post #574
just-ok wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, losing your sense of direction due to the crutch of GPS isn’t adaptation; it’s regression. Not all of us are okay with being screwed if the convenient floor of modern life fell out from underneath us. :)

A world where GPS stops working is into some serious shit, I guess you are also training your hunting and fighting skills, otherwise you'll be screwed anyway.

Not the world: just you. Batteries die. People get lost. A basic sense of direction makes the world of difference.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#585

Post by sgerenser »

hackama wrote: post #517
calsy wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia roughly 20 kids per week present to emergency having swallowed or inserted a button battery and in several cases many have tragically died. It is an agonising death over a period of days/weeks for the child and horrible for the parents to witness. Many times both the parents and medical professionals don't realise what is actually happening to the child until it is too late. There is growing support for…

CR2032 is 2cm wide so you're probably referring to smaller batteries as these cannot be swallowed by a child.

Last package of 2032s I bought had a foul-tasting coating on them that is supposed to make small children instantly spit them out. Is that not standard nowadays? Not sure how effective it is as I was not brave enough to lick them myself.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#586

Post by oasisbob »

calsy wrote: post #513
habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

In Australia roughly 20 kids per week present to emergency having swallowed or inserted a button battery and in several cases many have tragically died. It is an agonising death over a period of days/weeks for the child and horrible for the parents to witness. Many times both the parents and medical professionals don't realise what is actually happening to the child until it is too late. There is growing support for…

Button batteries and neodymium magnets both are pretty horrifying when taken internally.

I would be curious to see how Apple protects the battery compartment of the AirTag, I'm sure they thought about this.

eg, my car key fob needs to be forcefully pulled apart into three pieces before it even hints there's a battery inside.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#587

Post by BoorishBears »

JohnBooty wrote: post #484
joshe wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would make sense to do the anti stalking notification after say 4 days. This would make stalking labor intensive since the stalker has to swap tags frequently. So if you leave one in someone's car or drop it in a bag, you'd have to steal it back and replace it. Also if the stalker is unable to track it down, the victim gets notified automatically which makes stalking with these much more dangerous for the stalker.…

It would make sense to do the anti stalking notification after say 4 days "Your privacy and safety are important to Apple. We won't let anybody use these devices to stalk you for more than 96 hours." You haven't thought this through! Seriously, the use cases for 96 hours of tracking are frightening. 1. Meet victim in club/bus/supermarket/wherever 2. Drop AirTag in their bag/pocket/whatever. 3. Now you know where they…

Seeing as you can literally give someone a USB cable that tracks them, I don't think AirTags are enabling anything particularly new: https://www.walmart.com/ip/OURLEEME-Car-GPS-Tracker-Vehicle-...

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#588

Post by _jal »

GurnBlandston wrote: post #581
habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

That's comparable to existing products. I was hoping to read that Apple made the device sealed and rechargeable via a mat or the like. This device will be used like find my phone - a removable battery will make it trivial for thieves to disable the tracking.

The use case is very much not theft tracking, and they will not work for that.

"An AirTag that has been separated from its owner for a long period of time will make an audible noise when it’s moved, as part of a privacy feature to let you know there’s a tag present."

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2021/04/20/moren-fine-prin...

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#589

Post by daamsie »

GurnBlandston wrote: post #581
habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

That's comparable to existing products. I was hoping to read that Apple made the device sealed and rechargeable via a mat or the like. This device will be used like find my phone - a removable battery will make it trivial for thieves to disable the tracking.

I think the main use case would be for misplaced items more so than stolen ones.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#590

Post by dahfizz »

s3r3nity wrote: post #555
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God damn it's like I'm back in 2010 where people praise Apple for doing things other people have already done. Apple did not invent device trackers with replaceable batteries. Tile has been doing that since 2018 on some of their devices (Basically all except the smallest ones), and I imagine someone else did it before then.

> ...people praise Apple for doing things other people have already done. As Drake once said: "it ain't about who did it first/ It's about who did it right."

And you know apple did it right? On a device nobody has their hands on?

There's nothing wrong with being a fanboy, but don't pretend like you're not fanboying.

Post reply on HN