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NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

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Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#191

Post by chmaynard »

Animats wrote: post #112

LoJack used to be the go-to company for this. No more. Classic LoJack had good privacy. It's a box hidden somewhere in the car, with a connection to vehicle power. It has a transmitter, but normally doesn't transmit. If your car is stolen, you report this to the police, which report it to LoJack. That broadcasts an ID over a subcarrier of some local FM broadcast station. The receiver in the Lojack unit listens for th…

> The current product, LoJack AnalProbe™

Outstanding name! Their marketing team has a wicked sense of humor.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#192

Post by jasonfarnon »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #158

I wanted to try to understand more context behind the "'Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?' Mayor Adams responded." quote. Here is the relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=949s So, I get that he's making a joke, but given that everyone just laughs and there is no follow up, it's clear to me it's one of those "The reason this joke is funny is because I actually think it's true" joke…

"owning an Android actually makes it more difficult to interact with friends"

I'd get new friends before switching to an apple product. Actually if my friends switched to apple products, I might get new friends.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#193

Post by commoner »

oh_sigh wrote: post #104
aetherane wrote: post #2

Unfortunately air tags only work in the Apple ecosystem.

That's not true - Tracker Detect is available for android, so even car thieves with an android can find your airtag.

Tracker Detect only scans for AirTags when the user manually requests a scan. Car thieves and other users who do not want to be tracked by AirTags would be better off using the AirGuard app on Android, which scans for AirTags and other Bluetooth tracking devices in the background automatically:

https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard

AirGuard is a FOSS project developed by the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#194

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

seanw444 wrote: post #176
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #158

I wanted to try to understand more context behind the "'Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?' Mayor Adams responded." quote. Here is the relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=949s So, I get that he's making a joke, but given that everyone just laughs and there is no follow up, it's clear to me it's one of those "The reason this joke is funny is because I actually think it's true" joke…

I have zero issues with running an Android, and I honestly see iPhones as being disadvantaged, personally. There's not a single thing I can't do on an Android that I could on an iPhone.

Then you have never tried to join a group chat where the other members of the group all have iPhones and use iMessage.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#195

Post by hn_throwawa_100 »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #158

I wanted to try to understand more context behind the "'Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?' Mayor Adams responded." quote. Here is the relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=949s So, I get that he's making a joke, but given that everyone just laughs and there is no follow up, it's clear to me it's one of those "The reason this joke is funny is because I actually think it's true" joke…

As a US Android user, I don't feel very disadvantaged. I have an iPad, an M1 Mac, and a couple Airtags. If I lose something I probably won't be able to locate it until I get back home. I haven't had much trouble with getting group messages on android but maybe my use-case isn't representative.

I think the Android perks still outweigh the cost. Not that any of this isn't possible on iPhone but it's a smoother Android experience: Google Fi for phone plans when traveling internationally, some open-source apps aren't available in Apple's app store, and some apps in both stores are more expensive for iPhone (e.g. Anki). I feel like iCloud has some bad incentives as well. I think that's why live photos is a pain to turn off (I also like Google Photos).

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#196

Post by MisterTea »

pookah wrote: post #186
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?" Mayor Adams responded This is a New Yorker’s response to a stupid question. AirTags have a recognised brand. Messaging “buy AirTags” comes through cleanly in a way an inclusive statement would not. Given nobody is burning city funds for this, it’s literally a PSA, a reporter asking the mayor technical questions the answer to which they know is fine to be answered dismi…

It's a legitimate question. Why is the mayor of NYC shilling a product? NYC is one of the worlds largest city governments so It's not out of the realm of possibility that this is a native ad for I-Phones.

Eric Adams is an ass.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#197

Post by angarg12 »

I find it a bit sad that most comments here focus on the Apple/Android war rather than the boring dystopia fact that the police department of the most populous city in the US idea to fight increase in crime is to encourage people to use surveillance devices.

Must be the same people that say "just don't go out at night" when you point out the streets full of drug addicts and petty crime, as if it was a normal thing to say in a developed country.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#199

Post by tomcam »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #174
7speter wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole thing about the mayor and NYPD telling everyone who watches or listens to the news to buy a 30 dollar gps patch that someone can put under some car carpeting anywhere in said car should be enough to discourage most car thieves with 2 or more active brain cells, but hey, I'm an idealist.

On Amazon I see them as low as 5 for $13 {GPS tracking tags. No need to buy Apple}

Link plz?

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#200

Post by scarface74 »

surgical_fire wrote: post #108
acchow wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again... this level of ignorance and short-sightedness is surprising coming from someone in such a position of authority He was making a joke, playing into the Android vs iPhone eternal war. But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years, and now back to iPhone..... I actually think the ignorance is the other way (Android users who have never tried iPhone as th…

> But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years Perhaps you don't know how to pick phones? My last Android device lasted 4 years (in fact it is still going strong after I installed DivestOS, became my backup phone), and my new device will probably last a long time too. Each for a fraction of the price charged by Apple.

Did it get operating system and security updates for four years?
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