1. NYPD-affiliated material on your car
2. Plate cover
3. Plate holder with strategically placed leaves attached
If you pay for parking in NYC you're a sucker.
Around 15:50: https://youtu.be/Vuw72THyXsQ?t=942
They were laughing at it. So hilarious, I'm in stitches over the ignorance.
Why would I want to join Google’s advertiser-driven ecosystem, and voluntarily make myself into Google’s product?
Here are some other reasons why you or other people might choose Android phones:
- Generally cheaper/better value, especially on the low end
- Less locked down (e.g. you can actually choose what browser engine you want to use, or sideload apps relatively easily)
- More options to choose from
- The core OS is FOSS
If you like iPhones that's fine but it's not true that there's literally no reason for anyone to get an Android phone
As such, AirTags only work because of Apple's market position and extremely wide reach. Put simply, Apple is abusing their control over their devices and the trust their users have placed in them to perform a form of mass surveillance.
As someone who has used both the airtag is just plain better when it comes to locating it, the uwb stuff is awesome. But the tile tags have some upsides as well. I love the button on the tile that you can use to ring your phone, helps solve ye olde.. i have my keys, where's my phone problem.
https://support.apple.com/guide/security/find-my-security-se...
Last time I tried that, it was very limited. No paying by phone, no banking apps (and most banks require app as second factor), no proper maps with navigation and routing, no streaming music, no "work" apps like Teams or Slack, no utility apps like taxis or public transport. Even messaging apps wouldn't work well due to lack of push notifications.
Degoogled Android was basically touch display dumbphone. Which is perfect for some people who want it that way, but I like the ability to use public transport, get a cab or message people by something else than a text.
edit: I think there might be a difference between degoogled as in not registered to play store but still having play services install, and degoogled as using shim play services? I honestly don't remember.
Operating systems that have microG preinstalled include CalyxOS, /e/, and LineageOS for microG.
That said, I simply can’t blame someone for considering an iPhone to be the default choice for the majority of consumers.
What do you use them for? That sounds interesting.
There's janky series of actions I have set up where my phone detects when I get to my office building and sends a text triggers turning my computer on for me, signs in, and then runs a start up script(which starts all my programs and launches an RDP session as well, which has its own start up script as well that gets run) and then locks the screen again, so it's all ready when I sit down. Back when I played WoW I'd also use a similar system to launch the game and wait in the login queue on raid nights for me while I was driving home.
My spouse sometimes will text me from upstairs when she needs something, but I work from the office 2 days a week but she never remembers(she has some memory issues...) so I have it set to send her a reminder that I'm not home the first time she texts me for the day, but doesnt mark the messages as read or dismiss the notification so I can still see what she sent and reply if I need to. Also have it set to replay the notification sounds/buzz for messages from her outside of work hours because I am bad at checking my phone and sometimes forget to text her back. It also stickies the notifications from her in the slide-down menu so I can't accidentally dismiss them without replying.
Our oncall system at work has us dial into a phone tree and punch in some numbers to set it to yourself, I have my phone do it automatically for me.
I have a specific camera shortcut that will automatically text my spouse any pictures taken for that specific session until the app is closed/exited, usually its pictures of our cats but also useful when she's taking pictures with my phone for whatever reason or if we're having someone take a photo of the two of us, saves the trouble of having to send it manually each time.
Whenever the WiFI goes down at the house I have it set to turn my phone hotspot on, then send a text that triggers my computer to connect to the hotspot network, sign into the spectrum website and check for outages so I know what is broken.
There's something ironic to find this comment on a video of a former cop surrounded by other cops touting the surveillance features Apple's product offers exclusively.
On AirTag location privacy, from Apple's site [1]:
> Only you can see where your AirTag is. Your location data and history are never stored on the AirTag itself. Devices that relay the location of your AirTag also stay anonymous, and that location data is encrypted every step of the way. So not even Apple knows the location of your AirTag or the identity of the device that helps find it.
I don't think they're lying about this.
Original post follows: I haven’t read any white papers on how this works, but I’m going to call “slight BS” anyway. Technically, Apple knows the location of the AirTag, that’s how their network works. The payload of airtag data might be encrypted, but Apple also keeps the keys for your AirTags so that you don’t have to associate new AirTags with each Apple device you want to use Find My on. While I don’t doubt that Apple strictly reduces what information they log or identify about AirTags to literally the bare minimum that keeps the service running, it’s a bit ingenuous to suggest Apple doesn’t know. What I mean by this is Apple isn’t lying when they say they don’t know the location of your AirTag (until you use their app to look for it) but it is true they know the location of all AirTags synced to their network, they just don’t know which one is yours until you go looking for it. Encryption probably plays a role in that asymmetric encryption would allow Apple to not know any AirTag details until your devices provide the decryption key. A handshake could be involved too so that your device can’t decrypt the location of the tag without proving they own the associated encryption key. But presumably Apple has a way of issuing or remotely authorizing against such keys. It is likely the case that your password for your phone protects Apple from gaining access to the keys thus justifying the position that Apple doesn’t have access because they don’t have your keys. Apple would have to act maliciously with their software into order to break this system, and it’s not worth it for them to do so. I’m not saying they’re lying but they are simplifying things a bit.
https://support.apple.com/guide/security/find-my-security-se...
That said the spying aspect makes little sense to discuss in the context of a literal portable surveillance device leveraging their network, which they keep hand waving away in explanations.
Apple can be compelled to spy on you[0].
> and does not sell my information to advertisers
Apple is an advertiser.
Isn't modern technology fun?
It’s dishonest to equate lawful warrants with Google’s targeted advertising and exploitation of our information.
Furthermore, Apple is clear about what information they have access to, and what information they don’t, and have consistently, year-over-year, reduced the information they actually have access to.
> Apple is an advertiser.
This is another disingenuous false equivalency. Apple does not gather personal information from our devices for advertising, and always requires explicit opt-in before making use of any data provided to them through the use of their services.
Is it?
Google has not suffocated the AOSP. If you don't want their advertising or services, you can remove it. No such option exists on iOS, so you're effectively locked into an inherently insecure product. You can claim that you trust the parties with the backdoor key, but that doesn't change the fact that the key exists.
In mainland China, that puts Apple in the awkward situation of complying with lawful warrants that are complicit in human rights violations. Trusting wholesome, benevolent government collaboration is not enough. Apple has to design a transparent and accountable security system if they want their privacy stance to look like something other than a theater scripted on whitepapers.
> This is another disingenuous false equivalency.
Apple is an advertiser, though. You cannot pretend like they don't also have a conflict of interest here. Not to mention, they're equally capricious on the service upsell - the in-OS advertising was one of the reasons I left their ecosystem in the first place.
> Devices that relay the location of your AirTag also stay anonymous, and that location data is encrypted every step of the way. So not even Apple knows the location of your AirTag or the identity of the device that helps find it.
They can be compelled to spy on you. They have also clearly put systems in place that make it very hard or impossible for them to do so without re-architecting their entire ecosystem of devices
Yeah I'm too cheap to pay that much.
You have misunderstood privacy. It's not limited to selling of information. It's whether you control your own data. With Apple you certainly don't. You are a product either way.
The lack of elaboration to the question shows that there wasn't much thought put into this idea IMO. While a majority of Americans use iPhones, there is still a significant portion of Android users. It's unfortunate that an interoperable solution was not promoted, but I assume this suggestion attempts catering to the majority and puts little thought into what we are all concerned with -- interoperability and being able to target everybody, not just ~60% of the U.S. population (if you want to believe statcounter's numbers).
It was a joke. Maybe an off-color, inappropriate, unfunny, bad taste, etc.
But it was a joke, not ignorance.
Speaking of too much time on HN (:
Delivery is too important, and every politician knows that a hostile media can turn the best of jokes into a brand new hoax / manufactured scandal.
Ignorant and short-sighted are unfortunately par for the course for Eric Adams.
This is a man who has said multiple times since taking office that he doesn't believe in separation of church and state. (The first time was a few months after claiming that displacing homeless people and destroying their property was "what Jesus would do").
Earlier today, he asserted (with no evidence) that there's an epidemic of kids "picking up cannabis laced with fentanyl on the way to school".
He also wants to hold TikTok (ie, ByteDance the company) responsible for people stealing cars. If the logic of that escapes you, don't worry - you're not the only one scratching your head over that.
I could go on, but long story short: don't expect anything resembling coherence or rationality coming from Eric Adams.
He was making a joke, playing into the Android vs iPhone eternal war.
But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years, and now back to iPhone..... I actually think the ignorance is the other way (Android users who have never tried iPhone as their full time phone).
Perhaps you don't know how to pick phones? My last Android device lasted 4 years (in fact it is still going strong after I installed DivestOS, became my backup phone), and my new device will probably last a long time too.
Each for a fraction of the price charged by Apple.
They might just replace their phone a lot. Some people do that.
Actually, despite the common wisdom that Apple users are always getting the latest thing and just can't wait to give Apple more money at every opportunity, every person I've known who replaced their phone about annually to chase whatever the just-released flagship phone was so they can always have the shiniest thing, has been an Android user. Though, to be fair, I've also known plenty of Android users who don't do that. I've just not yet seen an Apple user behave that way (but I'm sure some do). I think this has something to do with Android fans having more overlap with computer hardware enthusiasts in general, than Apple fans do.
I've also known a few Android users who get a new phone every year because they think the next $200 phone won't suck just as much as the last one did. And that, sure, is kinda their own fault.
I actually don't like to replace my phone a lot. The issue was, with each Android phone, despite great recommendations from others and lots of research I was left wanting. And after being disappointed by each Android phone, another Android expert would tell me that some other newly released hardware would blow me away. I was tricked by this again and again and again. Until eventually releasing I would just be so much happier on iPhone. I was.
In comparison, my secondhand iPhone 3G worked for several years—until I left it in a plane by mistake. My iPhone 7plus I used for ~7 years; in fact I still use it, along with my new iPhone 13.
I had a Samsung in the past, but I had some issues with it.
Btw, I never buy top of the line phones.
Google pixel running grapheneos
Also no, I have never owned an apple device and I never will
https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-se/4.7-inch-dis...
Right. They’re doing it wrong?
More than I can say about the old iPad I have here, that became essentially a paperweight. First and last shit I bought from Apple.
That's part of the problem with Android...
The most recently used app is usually immediately to the left of the one you’re currently in.
On older iPhones with the Home button, double tap the Home button to get to the app switcher.
https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/switch-between-open-a...
You can also quickly switch between open apps on an iPhone with Face ID by swiping right or left along the bottom edge of the screen. But try App Switcher first, it'll provide clearer orientation.
To go back in all cases you can swipe the home indicator to the right to go back to the previous app you were in. Or you can fling it up to about half way to see all previous apps
(I also currently own an iPhone mini 12 but my Galaxy S23 Ultra is my daily driver, no accounting for taste and such).
He's also talking to car thieves.
Maybe they work for casual joyriding. At least where I am, most car theft is organized crime shipping them overseas. Gimmicks like airtags will do nothing.
I remember hearing stories as a kid in Slovenia that if your is stolen, you'll never get it back because it gets chopped into pieces within hours – before you even realize it's gone – and the parts make it to Bosnia/Albania/Serbia by next day.
In the early 00's there was even a show on Discovery Channel about chop shops in UK – indie garages that make new cars out of parts. How the parts are sourced was not discussed, they "just show up".
Usually parts are sourced from crashed cars, which are bought by breakers who often specialise in a specific model, and resold on online marketplaces. They don't present any form of 'verification' so I don't see why it couldn't be used for stolen parts, but it seems that it isn't.
I have heard about people breaking into BMWs and stealing the media console, but as I understand thefts of the whole car or even easily accessible body parts like wheels are very rare.
I don't feel that it is that security has changed much - if it is organized crime then it's no issue to get a car carrier with a crane and lift the car away. Maybe people have just gotten better morals since the 90s?
Yeah, I figured the main problem was police not wanting to do anything about theft even when you had a GPS location and videos of the people stealing your stuff. I've seen lots of stories about people who knew exactly where their lost phone/laptop/car/whatever is but police were totally uninterested in recovering the items.
It first celebrates surveillance devices as a net positive and hand-waves away its problems.
But most importantly, it is awfully shortsighted to allow a single company to entrench itself further into societal transactions. However, hearing it is inconvenient, so I am often dismissed for saying so.
> They're made by Apple, which means they're very platform-agnostic.
You mean platform-specific.
> "Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?" Mayor Adams responded.
Again... this level of ignorance and short-sightedness is surprising coming from someone in such a position of authority, and seems to ignore the realities of the world. Perhaps Mayor Adams spends too much time on HN?