Re:Globalstar SEC filing, Apple to use 85% of its satellite ...
by sulam on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @08:36PM
(#32759439)
I may be taking trips you’d be uncomfortable with, but the InReach is invaluable for two-way messaging and weather updates. I haven’t needed the emergency service (knock on wood), but I’ve used most of the other things it does. My phone is a much better GPS, though, and if Apple makes it possible to do those two things I mentioned at first without it using much of the battery life I’d consider only keeping my InReach for extended trips.
Re:Globalstar SEC filing, Apple to use 85% of its satellite ...
by golan on Thursday September 08, 2022 @02:11AM
(#32761830)
There’s something to be said for convenience that worries me a bit with this. The amount of people that may be “misusing” this feature and the strain that it’s going to put on,say, mountain rescue. If people start feeling more confident than their capabilities, or they ignore weather reports just because they can be rescued with an iPhone, I don’t know what effect that’ll have on these resources.
Re:Globalstar SEC filing, Apple to use 85% of its satellite ...
by ghaff on Thursday September 08, 2022 @04:41AM
(#32762953)
It’s a reasonable question to ask what’s the effect of millions of people in cell-less areas who now can make a AFAIK SOS with no other context. I assume Apple has discussed this with various authorities however.
Some of these effects are already seen with cell phones. OTOH while no panacea, cell phones can help when someone is in genuine danger.
Genies and bottles and all that. Of course authorities may get more liberal with levying significant fines for people who get rescued because they were unprepared.
Re:Globalstar SEC filing, Apple to use 85% of its satellite ...
by jrnichols on Thursday September 08, 2022 @11:00PM
(#32774792)
I'm a Paramedic in a California county that isn't even that far from San Francisco and we have a LOT of mountain range area with zero cell service at all. Even worse, our Motorola radios don't work up in the same hills either. We frequently get very vague and difficult to pinpoint locations for car accidents, medical emergencies, etc.
Now someone that is in a wreck or sees one can stay put and contact emergency services with a way more accurate location, and I think that's awesome.
I always carry my InReach with periodic location sharing enabled when I'm on backpacking trips. I also almost always carry it during international travel and road trips, but not usually with periodic location sharing. If iPhones start offering plans with periodic location sharing, I'm fairly confident that I'd stop carrying the InReach unless I was on a particularly remote trip that was outside of my comfort zone (which isn't something I really do anyway).