Apple Air Tag for Theft Recovery

Wow- I think I want this for my mountain bikes and motorcycle. I think I'd disable the speaker with epoxy, and I'd tape it somewhere difficult to access without taking taking things apart, like under the dash. You could just tape it the the back of the rear view mirror, too. I suppose for the mountain bike the only place to put it would be to tape it under the seat...although I wonder if it could survive being inside the tire?
 
Carve said:
Wow- I think I want this for my mountain bikes and motorcycle. I think I'd disable the speaker with epoxy, and I'd tape it somewhere difficult to access without taking taking things apart, like under the dash. You could just tape it the the back of the rear view mirror, too. I suppose for the mountain bike the only place to put it would be to tape it under the seat...although I wonder if it could survive being inside the tire?
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You still think it'd work in remote outdoor areas like where those are used? Remember, it does not have the ability to connect to cell phone towers. It has a very short usable range.
 
Regardless of how it works, how wonderful it is, etc, etc - I'd be cautious about adopting this. Why? For the simple reason that Apple is always introducing new technology that they run with for awhile, then...

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...they drop it like a hot potato! I've been left in the lurch by Apple too many times to ever buy into their infrastructure/technology ever again. My next computer will be a PC running Linux, after about 20 years of running Macs. I'm out.
 
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Zorba said:
Regardless of how it works, how wonderful it is, etc, etc - I'd be cautious about adopting this. Why? For the simple reason that Apple is always introducing new technology that they run with for awhile, then...

....

....

...they drop it like a hot potato! I've been left in the lurch by Apple too many times to ever buy into their infrastructure/technology ever again. My next computer will be a PC running Linux, after about 20 years of running Macs. I'm out.
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If you think Apple is bad... https://killedbygoogle.com/

Also, a premature welcome back to Linux :) Things are nice here. Any idea which flavor you'd choose?
 
With years being involved with Unix, I get Linux. But not much of the business software I require will run on Linux.
 
Zorba said:
I've run a number of distros over the years, but I'd probably go with GenToo.
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I ran that for a bit, it was more involved than I wanted and settled on arch.

Jerry Bransford said:
With years being involved with Unix, I get Linux. But not much of the business software I require will run on Linux.
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That is a drawback for some use cases, fortunately as a developer the things I need are all easier to use on linux than anything else.
 
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"If an AirTag that someone else owns is in your belongings and has been traveling with for you awhile, your ‌iPhone‌ will send you an alert about an AirTag being detected near you, which will prevent someone from tracking you with a planted AirTag. You will get an alert on an AirTag that's with you when you return to your home address or to a location that's frequently visited."

https://www.macrumors.com/guide/airtags/
 
This place is great. This is my first post that was like a random idea and its developed into quite the conversation. This place really is an awesome community
 
I will say, 47% of all cell phone owners in the US have an iphone, so even if it cant directly connect to a cell phone tower, you have a 47% chance that the guy stealing your car, or the guys working on taking it apart has an iphone that will be reporting where it is.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/236550/percentage-of-us-population-that-own-a-iphone-smartphone/
This could dramatically differ from region to region, but in a city? Could be pretty damn accurate. Not so much for rural mexico
 
Zorba said:
Regardless of how it works, how wonderful it is, etc, etc - I'd be cautious about adopting this. Why? For the simple reason that Apple is always introducing new technology that they run with for awhile, then...

....

....

...they drop it like a hot potato! I've been left in the lurch by Apple too many times to ever buy into their infrastructure/technology ever again. My next computer will be a PC running Linux, after about 20 years of running Macs. I'm out.
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I've never been a fan of Apple products. I'm definitely biased though, working in IT for over 20 years and almost everything is Windows. Apple is usually overpriced for what you get.

I'm usually running a few different versions of Linux at home. Mostly into Manjaro (Arch) lately, Mint or some other form of Ubuntu.

Back to the topic: I do think you're misunderstanding what this Apple tag is supposed to be used for. It's for finding things in your house. Or tracking which stores you go into in the Mall and how long you stay in each store, which store you go into (so they can sell all this info to advertisers). Which Starbucks you go to, that sort of thing. It's not meant as a $30 lojack.
 
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suicideking said:
Back to the topic: I do think you're misunderstanding what this Apple tag is supposed to be used for. It's for finding things in your house. Or tracking which stores you go into in the Mall and how long you stay in each store, which store you go into (so they can sell all this info to advertisers). Which Starbucks you go to, that sort of thing. It's not meant as a $30 lojack.
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Well said. It was only designed and meant for communicating over very short distances. I believe the issue is not understanding the differences between the types networks different devices use and the distances they're suitable for. That little device produces a very weak signal and its tiny physical size is a good indication of its even tinier battery size which is another limiting factor to the distance it can communicate.

According to Apple's description, the Airtag operates over Bluetooth whose range is described as around 30' in typical usage.
 
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