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Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

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Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#581
post #519
post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It 100% is if you live in or operate in a high crime area known for vehicle break-ins. Like OP of the comment.

Sure but in a less broken society thieves would be apprehended and theft risk would be low. Instead the police do nothing and honest people live like a school of fish trying not to stick out for fear of the nearly-authorized property theft rampant in SF. In many parts of the world, including major cities, it would be okay to leave your belongings in a locked car.

Cool, leave your MacBook on the front seat then.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#582
post #318

Unfortunately the anti-stalking features have made Airtag mostly useless for theft prevention. You have less than an hour to retrieve your item before the tag alerts the thief they are being tracked. I've seen it trigger as quickly as 30 minutes.

In addition to this, AirTag also makes a sound when on the move.

This is also quite ridiculous, as it literally gives away that there is an AirTag there. I have seen people removing the speaker to eliminate this flaw.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#583
post #533

It sounds like the external dimensions are going to be exactly the same or nearly so. I'm hoping the battery compartment is also identical so that third-party mounting and extended battery packs continue to work. I recently picked up a few of these extended battery packs and it would be nice to eventually upgrade the AirTag if the extended range turns out to be meaningful. They're pretty neat, you remove the battery…

Are there any wallet-shaped Airtags yet? That's the one thing keeping me from ditching my Tiles.

There are none from Apple but in the past I have used Chipolos. They have some which are the size of about 3 stacked credit cards and fit in my wallet easily. The (at that time) did not feature UWB tracking but had a decent loudspeaker. Unfortunately they are single-use only and once the battery ran out (happened to me after about a year) you had to throw it away...

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not your fault for leaving your property in your car. Wild to say that.

Fault doesn’t necessarily imply guilty. People need to understand that. “I should have known better” means while I am not guilty of what happened to me, I could have avoided it by not doing X. So, the real world is messy, and next time I will ac accordingly for my own good. It is not smart to die or have your things subtracted just because you want to make a point of how things should be, a point that nobody will car…

I often like to highlight the difference words that we tend to smush together and treat as synonymous.

For example, something can be your responsibility but not your fault, or vice-versa. Responsibility is literally just the duty to respond.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#585

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In certain places in America. My county sheriff's office would be more than happy to have something to do that isn't picking up somebody's stray dog. I'm sure this is true for the UK and Canada too.

UK police is more interested in combating wrong thought

Oh for gods sake, can we stop this nonsense mad twitter trope spreading through HN. Having been a cop in the UK, we will happily got nick a robber if they're on the move and tell us where they are, and we don't arrest people for "wrong thought" on twitter unless that happens to be repeatedly messaging your ex and telling her about how you're going to do murder them.

yes, some of my stupid colleagues will once in a blue moon arrest people for twitter nonsense, but that barely ever happens which is why it makes the news and they pretty much never get convicted.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#586

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need to applaud the efficiency and moxie of the Zurich / Swiss police service. In America, the UK, Canada, etc they'd tell you to fill out a report that nobody would ever read, and also advise you it's probably unsafe to go pick it up yourself.

Saying "i am getting my gun and going to retrieve my stuff" guarantees that 6-8 police cars will converge on the location within minutes. Once there, they will apprehend the thief since they are there already.

I love getting diverted from the violent domestic call to turn up to a theoretical firearms call and find out it was just someone trying to be clever.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#587

Airtag is the reason of why I stil have my favourite hand luggage. I had just sat down on the train from Zurich to Basel. Suddenly, someone sat down in front of me. He looked suspicious, but I didn't pay much attention. Just before the train departed, he picked up what I thought were his belongings and left. Twenty minutes later, already on the way to Basel, I looked toward where I had left my suitcase. It was gone.…

Same story in Bulgaria. A backpack with an iPhone and an iPad was stolen from a car. Had to go to the police department to file a written complaint. Weeks after that the devices were still visible in FindMy but police could not identify and catch the thieves.

So, airtags/findmy are good, but then it is up to the police to get their job done. I guess Switzerland and Bulgaria are different :)

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately the anti-stalking features have made Airtag mostly useless for theft prevention. While this is true, Airtags are not designed for theft prevention, and never have been. They're designed to locate lost items. Apple should be applauded for making the only tracking tags with literally any kind of anti-stalking features at all.

I'm not fully onboard with the logic that we just have to live with a certain type of criminal behavior because the technology that could prevent it can be misused to enable another type of criminal behavior. We should aim to stop any kind of criminal behavior.

> I'm not fully onboard with the logic that we just have to live with a certain type of criminal behavior because the technology that could prevent it can be misused to enable another type of criminal behavior. We should aim to stop any kind of criminal behavior.

I don’t think anyone is making a claim that we should live with this according to first principles. I think people are saying this trade-off currently exists because it doesn’t seem to be economically or technologically feasible to solve both well.

How do you propose making an improvement to tracking technology that reduces theft while at the same time not assisting stalking?

One idea: if you report your AirTag as stolen, then it can continue to track the item, but you lose the ability to see where it is. In so doing you hand off tracking capability to some authority. This could be an improvement to the extent that the authority is trustworthy and well behaved. Unfortunately, such properties are not guaranteed across the globe. This would create more incentives for bribery for example.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#590

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately the anti-stalking features have made Airtag mostly useless for theft prevention. While this is true, Airtags are not designed for theft prevention, and never have been. They're designed to locate lost items. Apple should be applauded for making the only tracking tags with literally any kind of anti-stalking features at all.

I'm not fully onboard with the logic that we just have to live with a certain type of criminal behavior because the technology that could prevent it can be misused to enable another type of criminal behavior. We should aim to stop any kind of criminal behavior.

We should, but also we should prioritise more harmful behaviour being prevented over less harmful behaviour, and stalking/harassment is in my opinion more harmful than property theft.
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