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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#911

Post by angry_octet »

BoorishBears wrote: post #907
angry_octet wrote: post #880

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nation state attacks are certain because of the massive payoff if they are successful. Were you asleep when the Snowdon NSA leaks happened? [1] If you can change the ID you can cycle through a list of valid IDs. You can even use it for bit rate comms, ~16 bits an hour or something, which is enough to signal events like "number of iDevices in vicinity", or, if other hardware is used, step count/hour, which works even…

"Were you asleep when the Edward Snowden leak happened" ... yeah I'm not going to play this game. Nation states are certainly doing better than AirTags if that's what you're worried about Secret Agent . Passive trackers will let you pinpoint someone indefinitely. And someone motivated is going to catch your spurious 3G emissions but miss an AirTag literally designed to be noticable? Puhlease. If a nation state is cha…

You claimed that no one would go to the effort. It is clear that they will.

Nation states don't have a global network of iPhones.

> Passive trackers will let you pinpoint someone indefinitely.

How?

> Puhlease. If a nation state is chasing you and this is what turns the tides I strongly suggest turning yourself into their embassy now, save yourself the trouble.

"Puhlease" enjoy pretending that nation states are all IDF 8200 elite cyber hackers. The future ubiquity and deniability of these devices will see them feature widely. And some people do need to defend against skilled attackers who can buy custom gear from Shenzhen, and telling them to give up is stupid.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#912

Post by arthurcolle »

theshrike79 wrote: post #694
arthurcolle wrote: post #594

My cat disappeared for 16 hours today, had no idea where he was. He has a heart issue so I was worried he went off and died. Would I be able to use AirTags to see where he was throughout the day or not? Obviously I could see where he is right now, but could I see where he roamed off to through the course of the day? I know that others have mentioned that no location data is stored on the device, but what if I want to…

> I know that others have mentioned that no location data is stored on the device, but what if I want to use it to see lat/long data points over time, like a time series device, is this possible? No data is stored on the device, because the device doesn't know where it is :) It's just a beacon shouting "I'M HERE" at certain intervals. If an iDevice spots the shout, it'll add a GPS location to the message and send it…

Thanks, useful to know. I read a little bit more about the design of the system/apparatus and it seems like it's not really the intended use case (history of where something was vs. where something is right now that you are looking to find)

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#913

Post by arthurcolle »

nexuist wrote: post #603
arthurcolle wrote: post #594

My cat disappeared for 16 hours today, had no idea where he was. He has a heart issue so I was worried he went off and died. Would I be able to use AirTags to see where he was throughout the day or not? Obviously I could see where he is right now, but could I see where he roamed off to through the course of the day? I know that others have mentioned that no location data is stored on the device, but what if I want to…

The AirTag network requires other Apple devices to be nearby in order to register the location. The chip itself doesn't have any GPS capabilities. Ultimately it depends where your cat usually goes; if he's surrounded by people or hanging out around sidewalks chances are someone with an iPhone will walk by and automatically update his location. If he's in the forest or in rural areas without any tech nearby, AirTags w…

Useful to know. I might be too ADHD/impatient when I am scrolling across Apple marketing pages, but I couldn't seem to easily find a "tech spec"/diagram that showed the mechanism in action.

It sure is getting hard to find a way to perform intelligence operations on my cat's secret business....

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#914

Post by Dylan16807 »

tekknik wrote: post #910
Dylan16807 wrote: post #890

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There’s also connectors that wouldn’t be there normally, those connectors also have to be large enough to support the current. Supporting 5-10 amps requires very small pins. It's a tiny percentage of the battery size. > Then there’s the plastic lined battery well, as well as the plastic battery case. It’s not as simple as throwing plastic around a battery and calling it a day. Yes, those are the layers of plastic I…

> Why is that the requirement? The extra layers of plastic to enable removable batteries cost close to zero dollars and don't have to cost more than a millimeter. That very last phrase you said a millimeter. None of this will fit in one millimeter, which was my counter.

The connector won't affect thickness, it will go at one end of the battery.

For the layers of plastic, the battery already has a wrapping, and the phone already has a back. You just have to reinforce the wrapping on the battery. How much thickness do you think that needs? It's definitely not five millimeters.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#915

Post by yurishimo »

manmal wrote: post #784
FabHK wrote: post #772

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They might still capture the (worldwide way larger) Android market.

They've had 5(?) years to do that already but they gained initial success and then sat on their laurels while off-brand competitors tried and failed to break into the market.

I tried a couple of cheap Tile competitors but they all wanted you to use their apps and thus weren't very valuable. I almost bought some Tile products around the last Apple event in Fall 2020 but waited because I thought AirTags were going to be released then.

I'm still tracker-less so I'll be picking up a 4 pack of these and I am excited to use them. Here in the US at least, Apple has great marketshare to support a service like this and a proven track record with Find My already. I'm planning a cross country road trip that starts in about 2 months, and I'll feel a lot better about not accidentally leaving my wallet behind at campsite or hotel while I'm in a rush to get back on the road. Then, even if I did, all it takes to hopefully get my stuff back is for someone with an iPhone to walk by it to update it's location.

Unless Apple royally screws up this rollout, I don't see how Tile can continue to dominate marketshare for this sector.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#916

Post by l8rlump »

05 wrote: post #832
l8rlump wrote: post #649

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommended further reading on the LoRa solution?

The easiest way to implement that would be using a Crossfire Diversity Nano receiver [1] with a backup battery. It supports GPS out of the box, directly connectable to the receiver. For a custom solution, ExpressLRS [2] is an open source system that can be flashed to FrSky R9mm receivers that you can hack on to add features you want. Or buy Semtech [3] and ESP32 modules and build your own hardware to maximize transmi…

Thankyou! I've been having fun with ToWL[1] but this might be the next step.

[1] http://www.phreakmonkey.com/2016/08/towl-telemetry-over-oppo...

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#917

Post by spoonjim »

tekknik wrote: post #810
spoonjim wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> For something where extremely small size is an essential feature (unlike a laptop computer) Say that to someone traveling for work.

I traveled a lot for work and always carried a replaceable battery computer and two extra batteries. Battery life was lower back then though.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#918

Post by calsy »

tekknik wrote: post #909
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #877

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see you do not have a child. I hate the trite “oh, you'll know when you're a parent!” stuff as much as the next person, but… have you met a one-year-old? So curious, and so quick to eat new things: a bad combo if I've ever seen one.

Hmm, so I have no child and no experience huh? What happened to baby proofing houses? Keeping items they shouldn’t eat out of reach? As a parent it is your job to keep that child safe until they can do the same, and leaving dangerous items around is failing that one task. You don’t leave things around that hurts your child, be it guns or batteries.

You clearly don't have children, so stop pretending that being a parent is as easy as writing some sentences describing what needs to be done. It's like someone pretending to be a doctor explaining how easy it is to work in medicine to a group of actual trained professionals, it looks silly.

If you were a parent you would know that time is not available to you, that you cant sit and stare at the kids from morning to night. Rent/mortgages need to be paid, cleaning done, food prepared all the things that any person who is a parent is already well aware of. You do your best to protect them, but you are not innately gifted with the ability to see every perceived threat like some robot on the day a child is born.

The fact that it's a recurring problem should be clearly evident that it is not common knowledge, that the warnings are not there to inform parents. People on this thread who I can assume are reasonably smart and don't neglect their children didn't know the danger. So enough already, you're out of your depth on this topic.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#919

Post by sytelus »

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…

It has to be this way. Imagine if I stick AirTag over someone’s backpack and then track that person all day. You cannot have it both ways.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#920

Post by arthurcolle »

dylan604 wrote: post #596
arthurcolle wrote: post #594

My cat disappeared for 16 hours today, had no idea where he was. He has a heart issue so I was worried he went off and died. Would I be able to use AirTags to see where he was throughout the day or not? Obviously I could see where he is right now, but could I see where he roamed off to through the course of the day? I know that others have mentioned that no location data is stored on the device, but what if I want to…

I think the GPS collars would be better for this

Didn't realize this was a product segment, thanks! Do you have a recommendation by any chance? Seems to be a lot of participants in this space, but not really sure which one is the most legit.
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