EsquireCats

Happy_Noodle_Boy said:

Beats said:

I was disappointed when I didn’t see a redesign debut for M1 MacBooks.

I’d like to also see cellular but I take it that won’t be ready until Apple finishes developing their own from the Intel acquisition.

Due to how Qualcomm license their cellular I.P. I doubt we will have see MacBooks with cellular built in. If Apple was resistant to paying 5% of the price an iPhone to Qualcomm I doubt they would want to pay 5% of a product that has a higher ASP especially when the feature is in no way critical to the device itself. 

This is precisely why you don't have cellular in everything. It's not a technical issue, the cellular iPad and Watch are nearly identical to their non-cellular versions. The cost difference is licensing.

Also about this rumour, regardless of the source. If Apple just went and developed a range of colour ways for their consumer desktop, it's a bit obvious that they may just be planning to introduce this to a line of computers which are already available in 3 finishes.

This comes about just as the user-repair debate heats up. One might be inclined to think that a several year old iphone’s battery exploding might just have something to do with how the phone was treated after purchase. 

Interesting to see the FTC dismissing manufacturer’s viewpoints for lack of empirical evidence, while not citing empirical evidence for their own claims.

Thats when you can see it’s agenda based conclusions, the document is written to fit a predetermined narrative.

(We don’t patch security holes by waiting to see how badly they can be exploited. I.E we don’t wait for
empirical evidence to justify it.)

NoFliesOnMe said:

There is another point that seems to be getting lost in the noise of this thread. This kind of monitoring is not the domain of stalkers only, perpetrators of domestic violence also use this type of coercive control. The added benefit for them, from what I can see is that the AirTag will never go into alert mode, as the tag comes home each night and never makes it to the three days away.

I think the release of this product was probably a little premature, and more time needed to be put into the safety measures to stop this type of usage.

This comment is mentioned ad nauseam, and definitely not a missed consideration. Such individuals are already known to use the existing location finding features of smartphones.

Put more simply, you can't sneak one of these devices onto someone, it's easily found.

You know Apple must be onto a winner product when the FUD articles come out. It was the same b/s when the Apple Watch was being written up as a target for thieves because the sports band is easy to remove.

The report is b/s for a variety of reasons:

• The majority of stalking crime involves persons who are known to each other. However to stalk with a tracking device requires a stalker to get close enough to personally install it on the victim which isn't feasible. If the stalker knows the victim's location then tracking with an electronic device isn't the problem. In the hypothetical situation where the victim doesn't know the stalker, the same issues apply: getting close enough, and having already known the victim location. (Whereby the stalker can just follow the victim anyway.)
• The device works best when placed in the open. This is why the accessories are all designed to leave the tracker exposed. One can't install the device to something like the underside of a car and expect it to work, the device is still limited by EM physics.
• The tracker itself is linked to the owner. Stalking with this is like leaving your ID at a crime scene.
• It's a highly publicised tracking device and alerts the victim, while being trivial to disable. Anyone that finds it will know what it is, especially when it's beeping at them.
• If the software is smart enough to notify the user about being followed, it's smart enough to not publish that location.

So stalking isn't the issue with this device, the issue with this device is that if an item is intentionally taken/stolen the tracker can be easily disabled. So it makes sense to attach it to low value items such as keys. For more expensive items the route is either an accessory that gives the tracker permanence or purchasing items which already include the hardware (such as the VanMoof bikes and most Apple devices.)

Side note: It would only be "inexpensive" if it didn't require a $600 iPhone just to get started.