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Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

riedel.wtf

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Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#51

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

capableweb wrote: post #13
yosito wrote: post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

> I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone If people didn't already realize that most of people hanging around on HN have the top 10% of the world's wealth, this made things clearer than ever (the phone in question costs around 1000 EUR) Makes all the conversations around finance here make so much more sense.

If you are making €200,000 per year, your time is worth around €100 per hour.

Thus if this is going to take more than 10 hours, it is not worth your time.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#52

Post by verst »

murkle wrote: post #5
yosito wrote: post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

It's very dangerous especially in France due to old ordinance. Google magnet fishing

Same in Germany. I never considered magnet fishing growing up there and now I remember why: it was super common for WW2 explosives to be found that didn't explode on impact but had corroded over time.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#53

Post by msandford »

potatoman22 wrote: post #41
kajecounterhack wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Radio is part of the EM spectrum. EM waves (including light) decay under water at an exponential rate due to absorption by the medium. So data transmission underwater must rely instead on mechanical waves (sound). This is why underwater robots mostly use tethers, otherwise you couldn't control them very well (RC control would stop working at a very shallow depth). Note: why are folks downvoting an honest question?

Don't EM waves decay at an exponential rate in all mediums?

Sure but what's the exponent?

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#54

Post by shoto_io »

> At this point, we really have to give props to the iPhone Hardware Engineering team: We were able to recover the device in perfect mint condition and without water damage. The new Ceramic Shield Glass really held up to the strong forces of the magnet and junk in the canal, and the IP68 water resistance is mind-blowing. And last but not least: MagSafe seems to be a perfect tool to recover lost iPhones from the water.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#56

Post by tshaddox »

crackercrews wrote: post #7
murkle wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very dangerous especially in France due to old ordinance. Google magnet fishing

"Ordinance" is legislation. "Ordnance" is the explosive stuff. Old ordinance can also be troublesome, but is rarely deadly.

Also, at least in American English, “ordinance” is not a mass noun. An ordinance is a piece of legislation. So I would say “an old ordinance can also be troublesome…”

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#57

Post by jen20 »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #51
capableweb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone If people didn't already realize that most of people hanging around on HN have the top 10% of the world's wealth, this made things clearer than ever (the phone in question costs around 1000 EUR) Makes all the conversations around finance here make so much more sense.

If you are making €200,000 per year, your time is worth around €100 per hour. Thus if this is going to take more than 10 hours, it is not worth your time.

This is, of course, only true if you can bill someone for those ten hours.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#58

Post by naikrovek »

magoon wrote: post #16

I’m surprised to hear that bluetooth, GPS, and cellular don’t work in water. I wonder what’s the science behind this.

water absorbs 2.4GHz readily. this is why microwaves use that frequency to heat your food. microwaves are why that frequency band is unlicensed, too.

so that's Bluetooth and wi-fi ruled out.

GPS is a lower frequency, ~1.5GHz I think, and GPS is already an extremely low power signal.

I don't know about 4g or 5g though.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#60

Post by driverdan »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #51
capableweb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone If people didn't already realize that most of people hanging around on HN have the top 10% of the world's wealth, this made things clearer than ever (the phone in question costs around 1000 EUR) Makes all the conversations around finance here make so much more sense.

If you are making €200,000 per year, your time is worth around €100 per hour. Thus if this is going to take more than 10 hours, it is not worth your time.

This doesn't make sense. You don't work 24h a day. I highly doubt they went a day without pay to get the phone back. Even then it would still be more than a full day's worth of pay at €200,000 per year.
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