This isn't ready for prime time until they are small enough to attach to my wife's eyeglasses.
Apple Introduces AirTag
501–510 of 966 posts
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#502> 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.
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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#503Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure it's really Apple's fault. You could do the same thing with a Tile or other beacon. That's the entire purpose of the device. Apple's trying to prevent misuse of their device. They want you to use it to find your keys, not your ex. If you consider that an invalid limitation of your device (by notifying your ex that they seem to be carrying an unknown tracker)... well, let's just say I disagree.
By attempting to prevent misuse they also prevent some legitimate and morally unquestionable uses. Like - the most obvious examples already mentioned in the comments - finding your cat or tracking your checked baggage. There are probably more less obvious use cases where something temporarily leaves owner's proximity, does not remain stationery, but tracking that object's location is perfectly legal and not questiona…
I'll be blunt: Neither of those use cases are very important in comparison, and neither come remotely close to justifying AirTags as unlimited tracking devices with zero restrictions.
Just go buy some other tracker for your cat or whatever.
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#504Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I did like having two batteries and an external charger. 30 seconds I’m out the door with a freshy
i guess with external battery packs being thrown at people every trade show there are alternatives now.
I have a small one on me always that can charge my phone twice over
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#505I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t fix the lost AirPods issue. If your AirPods communicate with your phone, shouldn’t your phone be able to have a record of the last time it was in communication with your AirPods and the phone’s location at that time?
Same with Apple Pencil. No log kept of where it was last seen.
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#506This tag has an U1 chip using Ultra Wide Band (UWB) which means that iPhones 11 and above also equipped with those chips will be able to locate those tags from 80m away with a +/-30cm accuracy. U1 UWB uses short pulses at 6.24GHz and 8.2GHz and positioning is done by combining time of flight (ToF) and angle of arrival (AoA).
I wonder if you can repurpose these for motion capture? Glue one to each joint and increase the update frequency?
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#507Once I started using Tile it became impossible for me to remember where I put my keys. There just wasn't any pressure to stay organized since the beeping would always save me. But whenever the battery was out or the Bluetooth wasn't connecting oh boy. Same kind of thing happened with GPS. I used to pay more attention to maps and really learned streets but now I just expect the phone to solve everything for me. I'm lo…
I wouldn't be able to hunt my own mammoth, and I know that I suck at making fire with primitive tools (I tried and failed). I've learned to appreciate the benefits of a modern society, and I'm ok being pretty screwed if it all magically disappeared without a trace. We adapt, and that's a good thing.
Eh, losing your sense of direction due to the crutch of GPS isn’t adaptation; it’s regression. Not all of us are okay with being screwed if the convenient floor of modern life fell out from underneath us. :)
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#508Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would make sense to do the anti stalking notification after say 4 days. This would make stalking labor intensive since the stalker has to swap tags frequently. So if you leave one in someone's car or drop it in a bag, you'd have to steal it back and replace it. Also if the stalker is unable to track it down, the victim gets notified automatically which makes stalking with these much more dangerous for the stalker.…
It would make sense to do the anti stalking notification after say 4 days "Your privacy and safety are important to Apple. We won't let anybody use these devices to stalk you for more than 96 hours." You haven't thought this through! Seriously, the use cases for 96 hours of tracking are frightening. 1. Meet victim in club/bus/supermarket/wherever 2. Drop AirTag in their bag/pocket/whatever. 3. Now you know where they…
Won't be long before magazines start offering tips on how to best avoid getting AirTagged.
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#509Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here’s a detailed protocol reverse engineering paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2103.02282.pdf My guess would be that you, as the tag owner, locally store the master beacon key and can use it to derive key required to decrypt received beacon payloads for your own tags. You can then filter out your own and approximate how many others (which you cannot link over time) you permanently see. If it is more than one most of the…
This seems like a problematic situation. In a vacuum I can see how they want to mitigate the stalking risks, but as of right now, unless you have a recently updated Apple device then, then you're completely ignored by the stalking mitigations. There's nothing official from Apple on the Google Play store that would mitigate that situation as well. This just seems like a low barrier to entry stalking tool on the extrem…
I presume the location info is only collected if its marked as "lost" - at which point if the tag connects to apples network via someones phone, it'll prompt them. If its marked "lost" and sending location with no iphone nearby and is moved it beeps.
The stalking potential is greatly reduced if the victim has an android as the location will only be sent when its detected by an iphone.
Re: Apple Introduces AirTag
#510Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I've never changed the battery in my IPhone but my MBPr 15 it took an OEM battery fine. I cut the glue with some spectra fishing line and wasn't that hard. Took me about 15 minutes to replace it. The IFixit OEM battery came with the tools to change out the battery.
Older iPhones are much the same; I've done several battery and screen replacements on my 1st gen SEs. A heat gun comes in handy, but beyond a couple cheap screwdrivers most of what you need is just decent eyesight and steady hands. (I only have one of those, but can still fake the other for a few years yet before I need one of those magnifier visors.)
Newer ones, I don't know. It does look like Apple is starting to move in truth toward the hostility to DIY repair they've always been claimed, in the past often falsely, to display.
It's a shame. I really like the idea of that purple 12 mini - it'd go so well with my fountain pen! But if I can't fix it myself when it needs fixing, that's a much knottier problem.