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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

#591

Post by u8080 »

aucisson_masque wrote: post #554
u8080 wrote: post #546

Why everyone is so okay with wearing a tracking device? Usually there is a crowd who will bring NSA in every possible discussion, but apparently not for this worldwide functioning meter-precise tracking service?

It’s voluntary and isn’t embedded in something you need for other reason. It makes all the difference in the world.

So we have some closed-source systems(iPhones, AirTags, samsung analogs, etc) which enable owner(best case it is Apple "allowed" by you) to use established global "opt-out" tracking network?

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

#592

Post by jon-wood »

I'm curious whether the improved range is actually going to make the product worse for my particular use case, which is being alerted when I've left my bag somewhere (this has happened to me at least 5 times over the years). My understanding is that the item left behind notifications are triggered when your phone loses contact with the AirTag, so increased range can potentially take me from being notified as I step off the train to being notified as I leave the station and the train has departed.

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

#593

Post by wongarsu »

elzbardico wrote: post #556
dmitrygr wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Then you’re fucking comically unlucky, there’s a shooting and some old enemy offs someone at the same address and flee, minutes before the police gets there. Some pissed off riff-raff family member decides that you look like the killer. You’d better have a top notch lawyer in your family or prepare to spend lots of money hiring one.

If you're really concerned about that you could go to a local bar and call from there. Make sure you have the attention of the bartender while making the call. Easy alibi, the bartender won't forget something like that

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

#594

Post by httgp »

avree wrote: post #533
tshaddox wrote: post #288

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.

Nomad makes Find My compatible cards.

https://nomadgoods.com/in/products/tracking-card

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

#595

Post by vladak »

etchalon wrote: post #81
gusgus01 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia does pretty widespread GPS jamming and spoofing both in their country as well as across the Baltics and Nordics (and others). If a phone is receiving bad GPS data when it reports sensing the tag, the tag location will reflect that bad GPS data and not reality.

Thanks for explanation. I had absolutely no awareness GPS jamming was a thing, let alone at scale.

see e.g. Who cares about the Baltic jammer ? https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-who-cares-about-the-baltic-jamme...

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

#596

Post by ErneX »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #523
reaperducer wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar story for me. Except in Rome, and the ending wasn't happy because all I could do is watch my wife's iPhone go to Tunisia where it disappeared. Still, in those very early days of "Find my" I could see how this was going to eventually change things.

Simlar (sad) story in Spain, very recent. Airtags and Find My are known by police by now. When my friends bag was stolen, he located it on the police station via Find My. It was located in a residential multi-story house nearby, which was known by the police. The place is known to house several members of organized petty crime. Police told him they cannot do anything as they can't enter the house without a warrant an…

Yup, that’s how it is sadly, happens every day in Barcelona. Once it’s inside a building they can’t do anything.

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

#597

Post by Diti »

varenc wrote: post #311
storus wrote: post #308

So they made it impossible to remove speaker, destroying its usability as a theft tracking device. One could add an airtag with a removed speaker on a bike/scooter/car and then localize it in case of theft. With the new airtag any thief will be quickly notified they are tracked.

There's an inherent conflict between use as a theft tracking device, and use as a stalking device. Both situations are pretty indistinguishable. Apple is prioritizing reducing the AirTag's utility to stalkers.

> Apple is prioritizing reducing the AirTag's utility to stalkers.

No, Apple is prioritizing good publicity. A motivated stalker will just be using another product, which is a net financial negative for Apple. They just don’t want the possibility of the news talking about how someone got assaulted thanks to an Apple device.

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

#598

Post by valzam »

storus wrote: post #308

So they made it impossible to remove speaker, destroying its usability as a theft tracking device. One could add an airtag with a removed speaker on a bike/scooter/car and then localize it in case of theft. With the new airtag any thief will be quickly notified they are tracked.

We have an airtag in our cargo bike, connected to our ipad (neither my wife nor I have an Iphone). It never actually makes a sound and we can reliably track on the ipad. what gives? I never thought about this.

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

#600

Post by gambiting »

I hate the stupid things. Or rather, I hate that I cannot on my android phone click "yes I know this air tag, it's owned by my wife, please stop notifying me that it's tracking me every single time I go anywhere". What an absolutely monumental annoyance in usability that doesn't seem to have any way to override it.
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