Everything with a battery should have an off switch • Hacker News Board

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#611

Post by nedt » Fri, May 13, 2022, 11:42 AM UTC

roryokane wrote: post #599

myroon5 wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accidentally fork bombed a MacBook and had to wait for it to die as well. Had to put it in the fridge for a bit of that time due to overheating as well

Every Mac laptop I’ve used in the last 15 years has supported forcing a shutdown by holding down the power button for a few seconds. If the model is new enough that there’s no power button, you can hold down the Touch ID sensor instead.

You can also use cmd+opt+ctrl+power (quit all apps, shutdown) or cmd+ctrl+power (force restart) before trying a forced shutdown.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#612

Post by nedt » Fri, May 13, 2022, 11:45 AM UTC

lizardactivist wrote: post #391

I'm thinking a lot about security aspects of this. If I turn off my iPhone, MacBook, or Google Pixel phone, are they really off? What are the security implications of "modern standby" on laptops where the CPU and WiFi are always on even after I fold the lid down?

On the iPhone it's a security feature that it still can be tracked if turned off or the battery is (almost) empty. So that's one of the aspects.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#613

Post by kornhole » Fri, May 13, 2022, 1:48 PM UTC

Saris wrote: post #606

kornhole wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be very curious to know how one could test this so easily. https://www.imobie.com/icloud-unlock/locate-a-lost-cell-phon... and many articles demonstrate that even when a Google or IOS phone is off it can still transmit its location. This means it is not truly off and could possibly transmit more information than you realize. My custom OS phone does not do this TMK, and I am just SOL if I lose it. This is the…

An RF power meter or spectrum analyzer. It would be very clear if a device is radiating enough RF energy to make a connection. Battery life is another giveaway, I've had android phones turned off in a drawer for months and they still have nearly 100% charge when turned back on. If they were using enough power to make any kind of cell connection, the battery would be dead in a few days. The link you have there even sa…

And this just posted to HN today to explain in detail for you how the Iphone stays on and transmitting when you think it is off. https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.06114v1