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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#771

Post by unicornfinder »

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.

I wish it worked like this in the UK. If memory serves in London a motorbike has a 1 in 12 chance of being stolen in any given year, and I suspect it's a lot higher for bicycles.

To be fair when my bicycle was stolen the police did care, but they were quite frank with me about the odds of recovery being virtually zero despite having CCTV of the incident and the getaway vehicle.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#772

Post by FabHK »

lylecheatham wrote: post #536
shuckles wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vanmoof seems to have adopted the Find My spec and integrated it into their bike hardware itself. AirTag is for lost items. Hardware manufacturers can build Find My support into their product to defend against stolen items. I’d guess that’s the strategy.

I still think Tile lost out on a gigantic market by not making it easier for hardware manufacturers to integrate into their ecosystem. They should have been practically begging oems to embed it.

Yes, and they refuse (apparently) to join Apple's Find My, and instead want users to install their Tile app (and their tags are then only findable by users that have the Tile app installed). They want to own the entire relationship, but I think here they'll lose out.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#773

Post by sjwright »

novok wrote: post #667
sjwright wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

Wherever possible, they've done exactly that—so how is that a criticism? Case in point is the end-to-end encryption of iMessage. Or the at-rest encryption of iOS devices.

In other instances where Apple does have access to your data, there is a plausible justification for that access and no evidence shown where Apple has ever abused that access for commercial gain.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#774

Post by singingwolfboy »

It's worth noting that the new Siri Remote for Apple TV does not have a U1 chip (the technology that powers AirTag), and so will not be findable in the Find My app. If you want to be able to find your Siri Remote easily, you'll need to buy an AirTag separately and strap it to the remote.

Source: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/20/siri-remote-no-u1-chip/

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#775

Post by cjdell »

I have a few "Tile" tags which seem OK but I was hoping that I could use my own hardware to scan for them instead of relying on their Android app which just gives you a rough distance. I wanted to have a few cheapo solar powered ESP32's dotted around actively probing and triangulating their position. Couldn't find any info on the Tile protocol. I think smart tags like this could be so much more useful if they were opened up.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#776

Post by tommit »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #411
adamlett wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, what flak? AirPods are to a close approximation loved by all reviewers and by all evidence they are a smash hit among consumers.

I got knock off ones. Yeah, they nice. I lost them in about 3 weeks. First one bud, then the other. Shame but I'm 5 years into my Bose over ears and I don't think I'll lose them.

I mean, yeah they're kinda small. But you losing them is nobody else's fault. I've been using AirPods since 2016 and have never lost one. All because I make sure to always follow the rule that they are not to be placed anywhere but in their case. Ever. Not for a minute.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#778

Post by notsureaboutpg »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #483
rcpt wrote: post #475

Once I started using Tile it became impossible for me to remember where I put my keys. There just wasn't any pressure to stay organized since the beeping would always save me. But whenever the battery was out or the Bluetooth wasn't connecting oh boy. Same kind of thing happened with GPS. I used to pay more attention to maps and really learned streets but now I just expect the phone to solve everything for me. I'm lo…

I wouldn't be able to hunt my own mammoth, and I know that I suck at making fire with primitive tools (I tried and failed). I've learned to appreciate the benefits of a modern society, and I'm ok being pretty screwed if it all magically disappeared without a trace. We adapt, and that's a good thing.

Actually knowing the streets is better these days since a majority of drivers are using the same mapping system, which will reroute them all onto the same new path in case of an obstacle or accident and cause more traffic.

If you actually know the streets and see a traffic issue on your map, you'll come out ahead.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#779

Post by Nursie »

serial_dev wrote: post #236
llbeansandrice wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple successfully changed that I feel like this gives far too much credit to Apple. Any one company can "think differently" but Apple shouldn't get the blame for all of the other companies following suit. Remember the ads Samsung ran before axing the headphone jack a year later?

I do think it couldn't have happened without Apple doing it first from the big manufacturers. Apple had (and still have) the status and prestige to do anything and make that a standard. If Huawei/Samsung/etc didn't include chargers, didn't use USB or USB C, changed from 3.5 to some proprietary audio jack first, they would have been ridiculed. But once Apple changed these things (except luckily the USB), these compani…

As someone who has mostly had android phones (but not now), I watched the wireless charging thing unfold in a hilarious way.

A bunch of android phones had wireless charging years ago, including one of the nexus devices IIRC. Great! I'll buy a couple of wireless charging pucks and use them. No more flakey USB ports that give up before the phone does.

Apple didn't pick it up.

Android phones all dropped the feature.

Apple picked it up, hyped it, rolled it out.

Android phones started appearing with it again.

It's like Apple has to lead the way, and even useful features can't survive in the android ecosystem without Apple's blessing.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#780

Post by soapdog »

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 don't think it ever claimed to be anti-theft. It is more focused on "finding something you misplaced" than being a security tracking device.
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