Apple Launches AirTag 2 With Improved Range, Louder Speaker (9to5mac.com) 41
Apple has launched a new AirTag 2 that features improved range, a speaker that's 50% louder, and expanded Apple Watch-based tracking. Pricing stays the same at $29 (or $99 for four). 9to5Mac reports: The new AirTag comes with an upgraded second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for improved range, including when using Precision Finding. From Apple Newsroom: "Apple's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip -- the same chip found in the iPhone 17 lineup, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and Apple Watch Series 11 -- powers the new AirTag, making it easier to locate than ever before. Using haptic, visual, and audio feedback, Precision Finding guides users to their lost items from up to 50 percent farther away than the previous generation. And an upgraded Bluetooth chip expands the range at which items can be located. For the first time, users can use Precision Finding on Apple Watch Series 9 or later, or Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, to find their AirTag, bringing a powerful experience to the wrist."
Another key upgrade with the new AirTag is an improved speaker, which should also make the accessory easier to find. Apple says: "With its updated internal design, the new AirTag is 50 percent louder than the previous generation, enabling users to hear their AirTag from up to 2x farther than before." Apple also touts privacy and security improvements with the new AirTag: "Designed exclusively for tracking objects, and not people or pets, the new AirTag incorporates a suite of industry-first protections against unwanted tracking, including cross-platform alerts and unique Bluetooth identifiers that change frequently."
Another key upgrade with the new AirTag is an improved speaker, which should also make the accessory easier to find. Apple says: "With its updated internal design, the new AirTag is 50 percent louder than the previous generation, enabling users to hear their AirTag from up to 2x farther than before." Apple also touts privacy and security improvements with the new AirTag: "Designed exclusively for tracking objects, and not people or pets, the new AirTag incorporates a suite of industry-first protections against unwanted tracking, including cross-platform alerts and unique Bluetooth identifiers that change frequently."
useless for theft protection (Score:1)
Telling police within a day has value ... (Score:1, Insightful)
This is merely tracker. Do you actually expect the item to sprout arms and legs and act as a physical protector and apprehend the thief? If do, your comprehension about things is sorely deficient.
Do you comprehend there may be use cases beyond your limited guesswork? For example, I'm traveling. Car is at the airpot. Each day I check if it's still there. If it moves I can report things to the police within a day of its movement, rather than a week or more later when I return home. That can be the difference between a car broken into and joy rided and a car stripped for parts.
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And the new louder speaker will make it 50% more likely the thieves will find it. Thanks Apple!
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Really? You think thieves are hanging around random boxes waiting for somebody to trigger a tag so they can select one to open?
No, really. Please. Go ahead and use case this. Draw the lines.
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What boxes? We were talking about using an AirTag to track a stolen car. Ask your doctor if sanity is right for you!
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I missed the nesting. My apologies.
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You understand you can track the tag without making it sound an audible alert, right?
Re: Telling police within a day has value ... (Score:2)
You understand that if the tag is away from the owner for a while - like in your car as itâ(TM)s being stolen - it will beep, right?
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I can report things to the police within a day of its movement,
There's this excellent bridge I have, barely used, it's on sale only today, 30% off. Interested?
You seriously think the police will give a fuck beyond adding one more number plate to their database of "vehicles reported as stolen".
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I can report things to the police within a day of its movement,
There's this excellent bridge I have, barely used, it's on sale only today, 30% off. Interested?
You seriously think the police will give a fuck beyond adding one more number plate to their database of "vehicles reported as stolen".
LOL. You undercut your own argument. You don't think getting it in the DB after one day rather than one week has utility? Especially given all the automated license plate scanning?
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Scanning or not, it still needs a cop car with at least one cop more motivated to go after a stolen car than after today's 10% off at the donut shop.
I mean yes, technically you are right that reporting it within a day is better than within a week.
But numbers don't lie. The statistics I pulled up just because I like facts say that 85% of stolen vehicles are eventually found and returned to their owners. Mostly because a large number are stolen either for joyrides - and abandoned after a day or two, often wit
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... it still needs a cop car with at least one cop more motivated to go after a stolen car ...
They love those hits. It gives them carte blanche to pull someone over search the car, search them, arrest them, etc.
But given the statistics
Statistics 101 caveat, "all other things being equal". Unless you statistics are reporting on all the stolen cars reported via Air Tags its not relevant.
... your car most likely has either been abandoned already and is just waiting to be found, or is already in a bodyshop or container ...
The reporting of its location reducing the likelihood of the bodyshop or container.
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They love those hits. It gives them carte blanche to pull someone over search the car, search them, arrest them, etc.
Good point.
So here's my counter-offer: Instead of an Airtag, put a coupon for 20% off a box of donuts into the car. Make sure to let them know when you report the theft. Now they have double incentives.
Statistics 101 caveat, "all other things being equal". Unless you statistics are reporting on all the stolen cars reported via Air Tags its not relevant.
No, that was all cars stolen. The point was: Airtag or not, 85% of cars are eventually recovered anyways, and the ones that are not you would most likely not recover even with an Airtag. Or do you really think that the cops will unload and search a container ship because you say there's a ping on your FindMy
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>No, that was all cars stolen. The point was: Airtag or not, ...
My point is that violates the "all other things equal caveat", so your can't assume one population behaves like the other.
... 85% of cars are eventually recovered anyways, ...
My hypothesis is about the condition those recovered vehicles are in. The faster the discovery, hopefully the better the condition.
The reporting of its location reducing the likelihood of the bodyshop or container.
Why? First, police have been repeatedly reported as being reluctant to go where owners tell them their hardware has reported in. We've had this with notebooks and smartphones.
This also violates the "all other things equal caveat". Auto theft is a historic ca
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When my 4Runner got stolen for the fifth time, the police found it about a mile from my house. I played the dash cam back for the cops and it was hilarious. It was a girl and a guy and the girl was screaming "I can't drive stick I can't drive stick" as the guy was cursing at her.
After a couple minutes they abandoned the car in the middle of the street. The dash cam caught a perfect view of the two of them as they exited and walked around the car to the sidewalk. After we watched the video told the
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The police aren't going to care if your car was moved. It's property. File an insurance claim.
Its gets into the license plate scanning DB as stolen after one day rather than one week.
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You driving the wrong car, drive a manual, you can leave it with the doors wide open and it will still be there.
It is a manual. :-) Half of the dealership's customer service people can't drive it when I drop it off / pick it up.
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Must be an old car, my 6 year old Ford pins the current location within the app. Now if you had said bicycle I might have believed you.
Yes, my car is old. I love it. Its fun. It's paid for. Its annual maintenance averages $1-$1.5K. Its current models have been nerfed. Short of it getting totaled in an accident, this year's options are inferior.
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Your phone can already keep track of where you left your car.
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let me spell this out (Score:1)
Say I'm a musician. I take an Airtag and lobotomize the speaker. I stick it inside the case where it can't be seen. I do not want thieves to know it's there. If it's taken, I can track down where my guitar is and hopefully get it back.
Now, Apple has been introducing more and more anti-stalking protections because what some people like to do is glue them underneath their ex-girlfriend's car, or whatever. So the AirTag will start chirping loudly to let the stalkee know it's there. It will pop up a warning on
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Those same features exist in the original AirTag - that is just marketing wankery. Android got the ability to alert you to AirTags following you around soon after the originals were released.
The old ones will alert you to an unknown tracker just as well as the new ones will - you seem to have a mistaken understanding here.
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I use an Airtag for it's "unofficial" secondary use as a pet tracker, for which it is surprisingly effective in my neighborhood because seemingly everyone has an iPhone. It's not perfect, but it's still far lighter than a GPS tracking collar and has much better battery life. While the extra range and louder speaker are super useful to me, I'm a bit worried what these new "industry first privacy protections" are. Is it going to realize what it's being used for and decide to randomly disable itself because I'
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They never were for theft protection because guess what? Those same abilities for theft protection are also the same things you use to stalk people. And the quickest way to kill the product is to make it so stalkers can easily use them against you.
You can blame criminals for the fact we can't have nice things. Or why high profile companies can't release nice things that have good uses because the bad users will always outweigh the good. One "I was stalked by a hidden AirTag" news article will nullify millio
Let me guess (Score:2)
Still no hole so you can actually attach it to something.
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If there was a built in hole how would they sell you a case for it?
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You're talking about if the sound had 50% more energy. However, since human hearing is logarithmic, doubling the energy will lead to a 3 decibel increase, which humans perceive to only be about 25% louder. When people say "50 percent louder", in sound terms that is pretty close to 6 decibels (1.25 * 1.25 = 1.56), which is 4x the power.
So, they are actually pretty close to spot on. 50 percent louder can be heard roughly 2x farther away.
Still can't.. (Score:2)