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Apple Introduces AirTag

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461–470 of 966 posts

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can already purchase a huge range of items that do exactly what an airtag does. Everyone is already fair game for this type of stalking, it is silly to try and paint apple in a bad light here.

I personally don't think anyone is fair game for stalking and this device lowering the barrier to entry should be discussed, and discussing it shouldn't get the kneejerk reaction that they're being painted in a bad light. There are plenty of questions here like: - How does the anti stalking alert in apartment buildings or people frequently in close proximity for long periods of time? - Since they considered that this…

How is this lowering the barrier? I bought a orbit for my keys that does exactly what this does, for cheaper, like 3 years ago. I would actually say nothing apple does about using this for stalking is useful in the least, because if someone wants to stalk you they can get one of a dozen devices, for cheaper, that would be better because they're not a obvious white and silver apple branded monogrammed thing. Noones at risk, because everyone already was, apple users included. As for the future of it, I think there's already a bike company building the find my system into their bikes, so probably anything high theft could make its way onto a network like this.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could see having a wider window, say 2 days, for reporting itself. That would give you some time to find your stolen stuff, but would still be an expensive pain in the ass for the stalker to rotate that frequently.

You're assuming the stalker is some rando, not, say, a jealous spouse who wants to make sure they really are going to work every day.

I assume it notifies ios users before it starts beeping. Sure that still leaves out android users but there is only so much they can do and there are many other products which do the same thing with 0 safety features.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#463
post #425

> Apple-designed AirTag accessories include the Leather Key Ring in Saddle Brown, (PRODUCT)RED, and Baltic Blue for $35 (US); the Leather Loop in Saddle Brown and (PRODUCT)RED for $39 (US); and the Polyurethane Loop in White, Deep Navy, Sunflower, and Electric Orange for $29 (US). Interesting to see what looks like a typo "(PRODUCT)RED" in an Apple press release.

(PRODUCT)RED is a charity that Apple has supported since the iPod days: you get a red device and some money goes to charity. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Red

Ah, I didn't know that, thanks.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's more to these than just batteries. If they had sealed-in a rechargeable battery then you'd have to throw out the whole thing and buy a new one once it stopped holding a charge. This way you can just buy your own rechargeable CR2032 batteries.

I thought you were joking about rechargeable 2032's... and I was wrong. Had no idea. I don't know why I didn't look into these before; I have a number of things that use 2032's that I can use this for.

I looked in to it and it looked like they were at a different voltage which could be an issue. Also devices that use these go flat so rarely that it will take decades to pay off the charger. But I guess if you have 20 airtags that could come faster.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#465
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?

A CR2032 (disposable) has 2x-4x (200 mah under ideal conditions, compared to 40 mah) the capacity of the same sized LR2032 (rechargeable), and is more stable over a long period of time. In addition there is the necessity of additional charging circuitry, and I'm not sure how small they can physically make the charging antenna.

Lithium rechargeable would mean higher price, larger size for equivalent specs, with an added risk of fire!

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#466
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this mean that if your phone dies or you turn it off during a movie your keys will randomly beep at you?

No -- it has be 'over time' which can be inferred to mean more than 2 hours.

How long do you infer it to be? I assumed they just meant it wouldn't beep if you momentarily stepped out of the room for 30 seconds.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#468
post #326

Can somebody please help me parse the last sentence in the "Privacy" paragraph here? I'm honestly confused by the "or location of any device that helped find it". All I want to know is if a LEA could subpoena Apple for the location of any/all of my AirTags, and I can't tell if this is talking about the tags themselves or about the device that initiates a Find action for a Tag: "AirTag is designed from the ground up t…

> All I want to know is if a LEA could subpoena Apple for the location of any/all of my AirTags

Like anything that's centralized in the cloud, not only can law enforcement subpoena the provider for your data, they can subpoena your data without you ever being notified of the fact.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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…

> 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 Dell to HP.

I totally get this interpretation, but I genuinely cannot work out how to tell the difference between this explanation and the alternative explanation that this actually just is what the smartphone market prefers and when given the choice they will choose it.

That would also explain why essentially all competitors copy the change one product cycle after the first company makes the change. Unless you’re suggesting that Apple’s competitors are actually colluding with Apple to remove the headphone jack despite strong market opposition, I really don’t see how you can definitively say that Apple and its competitors aren’t simply making products that most people prefer.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#470
post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are replaceable just not user replaceable though user's can change it if they buy $10 worth of tools. Just like my car's battery isn't user replaceable unless i buy tools to be able pull the battery out of the battery compartment.

Your car's battery isn't glued in place behind a cover held by screws with an intentionally obscure pattern. Not to mention, car manufacturers don't (yet?) use specialized batteries that only they can source legitimately nor use DRM to make the car reject a perfectly good battery just because it's not the original one that came with it.

Let me just pop out and change the battery on my Tesla.
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