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Apple Introduces AirTag

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791–800 of 966 posts

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#791
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The fact that the Nest motion sensors / path lights in my home have been functioning for almost 2 years (their stated lifespan) without me needing to replace their tiny batteries boggles my mind.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#792

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…

What, no. It literally shows the device on the map moving from ping to ping in san francisco on the airtags website.

What are the odds your pet will be within range of an iOS device?

Perhaps intermittently if in a busy urban environment, quickly heading to nil if in a more rural area.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#793

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s going to be real funny if non Apple users are basically fair game for AirTags tracking and you have to get an iPhone to protect yourself from AirStalking

Apparently they can be disabled with any NFC enabled device: https://apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airtag/ >[...] And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it. If a user detects an unknown AirTag, they can tap it with their iPhone or NFC-capable device and instructions will guide them to…

Can it happen that some smart man open this device and disable the speaker and then using it to stalk victim? It won't make sound then.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#794
post #792

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What, no. It literally shows the device on the map moving from ping to ping in san francisco on the airtags website.

What are the odds your pet will be within range of an iOS device? Perhaps intermittently if in a busy urban environment, quickly heading to nil if in a more rural area.

Yeah I guess it’s time for dogs to have their own iPhones.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#795

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, replaceable batteries in laptops and phones also used to be the status quo and Apple successfully changed that. Just because it’s the status quo wouldn’t prevent Apple from “thinking different”.

Phone batteries stopped being user replaceable once smart phones started improving at such a rapid pace that even if you could replace the battery in your 2 year old device you won’t want to because the UI would be dog slow and the camera a blurry mess compared to current model. Funnily, the time for replaceable batteries in phones seems to have arrived, but users are now trained not to expect it. Sending your phone…

On the cusp of the transition, I attended a music festival with a couple of friends. They both had modern smartphones, I had something closer to an old-school feature phone. At some point on what was probably the first day, we all went to the phone charging tent. They stayed there for an hour or two with their phones plugged in. I walked in and walked back out again immediately, with a fresh battery for my phone handed over to me for free.

I do like having a thin phone, but the utility of a replaceable battery has been sorely downplayed over the years.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#796
post #739
post #533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And kids will continue to die from them, if you want to be that absolute about the topic.

Think of the children! Parents should be doing that.

It isn't a moral issue so the joke isn't relevant. The article I linked mentions that parents hid the real truth of their child's death for fear of judgement. Neither the parents nor the medical professionals were aware of the problem until it was too late, but I guess thats just the fault of bad parenting?

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#797

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 could see a smaller version of this, without the speaker, having some real potential for preventing musical instrument theft (especially electric guitars), or at least speeding recovery. The AirTag could conceivably be placed in the electronics control cavity of the guitar.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#798
post #489

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…

So if a friend lends me some keys with one of these attached and I don't have the right kind of phone on me, the keys will start beeping incessantly? That seems pretty darn annoying.

Apparently any phone with NFC capability can disable any Apple Airtag.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#799
post #562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and items that are choking hazards for children are taken off the shelves. Poisonous chemicals must by law be clearly labeled and have child safety caps on them. Button batteries are not regulated, are found in more and more toys and devices that don't have necessary safety measures, have no warnings, are easily swallowed, the body gives no immediate reaction unlike chocking, is misdiagnosed because of this, and…

With mortality figures as low as they are it’s hard to see that number decreasing considerably with increased regulation. In each example there appears to be morbidity secondary to unacceptably delayed medical diagnosis. It is incredibly easy to spot a battery on a plain film and an infant/toddler presenting with the symptoms described warrants immediate suspicion.

Number of deaths is not the only metric of concern. The batteries can cause life changing injuries within hours. The immediate symptoms can be easily mistaken for a flu. Doctors do not require an X-ray for the flu. Without an X-ray the button goes undetected.

Excluding the issue of misdiagnosis, if every case was found by medical practitioner at first sight, there are still major complications and possible surgical intervention required to remove the battery.

These numbers are from a country with a population of 25 million. Im sure the numbers of injuries and deaths are much higher in countries like the US.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#800

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A GPS collar and this are two very very different things. An AirTag only works if an iPhone is nearby - if your dog is lost in the woods so to speak, an AirTag will not help you - a GPS collar will.

Sure but this is good enough to be useful in many situations, whereas a GPS collar is impractical enough that it's unlikely to be regularly used. I just wanna throw a chip on the 3 dogs collars and forget about it except to swap batteries once a year. I don't want to be bothered charging active GPS collars every few days and putting a heavy device for the dogs to carry.

I'm sure it's possible to get the best of both worlds, it's just that no one have made it yet. An active GPS tracker does not have to be larger than a keyfob to your car nor does it need to be online all the time. A combination where the GPS is only activated once the tag has not seen a known device for 1 hour. That should give you a battery life measured in years with meter precision when it matters.
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