Apple Introduces AirTag • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#661

Post by friendzis » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:29 AM UTC

ehsankia wrote: post #83

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.

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?

> Or would that greatly increase the price?

Not only price, but size/weight too. It seems that currently the thing is 99% battery/case/PCB and is designed around the battery. While technically wireless charging is off-the-shelf, incorporating that may have been seen as "too expensive" and/or "too large".

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#662

Post by bzzzt » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:31 AM UTC

sgerenser wrote: post #585

hackama wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Nintendo Switch cartridges (sd card sized) use the same kind of coating.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#663

Post by fiddlerwoaroof » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:31 AM UTC

jen20 wrote: post #573

addicted wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has an ability to drive change that other computer manufacturers don’t. The simple reason is that Apple is the only manufacturer in a specific market. The market for MacOS (or in the case of iDevices, iOS) users. What that means is that Apple can introduce a pretty shitty change and not lose too many customers to other manufacturers because switching from Apple to another manufacturer is much harder than from D…

> it was an unambiguously worse option Speak for yourself. The butterfly keyboard is the only laptop keyboard I have ever encountered which I can type on for a full day without flaring RSI. Despite having a fully-loaded 16" with the replacement keyboard, I still use the 4.5-year-old butterfly model for almost everything.

Yeah, I personally prefer the typing feel of the butterfly keyboard: I'm just a bit hesitant about its reliability.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#664

Post by kenneth » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:38 AM UTC

Cu3PO42 wrote: post #329

mikestew wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Haha, Europe vs. America changes everything.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#665

Post by thelopa » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:38 AM UTC

axiosgunnar wrote: post #558

oop wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a stretch to say anonymized reporting of nearby lost devices is abuse and part of a botnet, but you can turn off the U1 chip in settings. Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Networking & Wireless

Great, seems like it was already off. Thanks for your quick reply.

I think you actually want the Find My system service.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#666

Post by kenneth » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:41 AM UTC

aseipp wrote: post #503

drdaeman wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By attempting to prevent misuse they also prevent some legitimate and morally unquestionable uses. Like - the most obvious examples already mentioned in the comments - finding your cat or tracking your checked baggage. There are probably more less obvious use cases where something temporarily leaves owner's proximity, does not remain stationery, but tracking that object's location is perfectly legal and not questiona…

I'll be blunt: Neither of those use cases are very important in comparison, and neither come remotely close to justifying AirTags as unlimited tracking devices with zero restrictions. Just go buy some other tracker for your cat or whatever.

I care a fuck-ton more about finding my dog if lost than my bag. A bag can be replaced with an identical one. A dog cannot.

Current GPS collars are absolutely trash (3 day battery life, bulky, etc), this would be about 10,000 times better if effective. But if it starts beeping randomly unprompted and scares the dog, it's a problem.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#667

Post by novok » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:42 AM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #529

novok wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its private from 3rd parties, but not private from apple and whoever subpoenas them. Apply this principle to everything apple does and says about privacy and you see it everywhere in their products. Even more cynically, you can say it's private from their competitors.

> Even more cynically, you can say it's private from their competitors. I've heard this from a few people recently, but I don't understand the implied criticism. What should Apple do here? Keep my data mostly private but also slip a copy of it to Google and Microsoft? Obviously not. Through the high purchase price of their products, I'm paying (and trusting) Apple to manage my privacy and keep it private from everyon…

The implied criticism is they should also keep it private it from themselves

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#668

Post by kelnos » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:44 AM UTC

avipars wrote: post #269

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.

I'm happy that it's user-replaceable ... $100 for 4 of them sets you back a good amount... especially if you would have otherwise had to toss them after their internal batteries died

Given that the target market is "Apple customers", I don't think $25/year/device is much of a burden.

Regardless, though, I don't like the idea of a device that's designed to be landfilled every year; replaceable batteries are the right way to go here.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#669

Post by BiteCode_dev » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:44 AM UTC

It uses BT right ? So how can it be useful on luggages, like in their ad ? If someone steals it or the airport lose it, BT is of not use here, isnt it ?

Someone help me undertand, it's a genuine question.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#670

Post by blago » Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 5:45 AM UTC

sgerenser wrote: post #585

hackama wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My understanding is that, tragically, this has not been effective enough.