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This article throws up many flags for me, not necessarily red, but of a worrying color. It first celebrates surveillance devices as a net positive and hand-wav
by politelemon 4y ago
This article throws up many flags for me, not necessarily red, but of a worrying color.
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?
- tohnjitor 4y agoYou must not be familiar with American politicians.
- spaceman_2020 4y agoHave they always been this way or have they all become wildly out of touch more recently? To an outsider, American political discourse looks like it is completely divorced from reality.
- HDThoreaun 4y agoMaking a joke about how iPhones are better is basically the opposite of out of touch. Most new yorkers agree, and 90% of the others are used to the joke.
- hot_gril 4y agoI forget which late night show this was, but the guy said he wouldn't switch from his iPhone even if it punched him in the face every morning. That's not offensive humor anywhere except here and maybe within Google.
- morkalork 4y ago21st century "let them eat cake"
- briandear 4y agoIf you can afford to park a car in NYC, you can afford Air Tags.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoYou can park for free after 6 or 7PM weekdays and in some limited places (Chelsea), all day long.
- renewiltord 4y agoNah, there's no traffic enforcement in NYC if you do one of the following: 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.
- evandale 4y agoVideo of "Why would anyone have one?" Around 15:50: https://youtu.be/Vuw72THyXsQ?t=942 https://youtu.be/Vuw72THyXsQ?t=942 They were laughing at it. So hilarious, I'm in stitches over the ignorance.
- catiopatio 4y agoWhy would I choose an Android phone? Apple does not spy on me, and does not sell my information to advertisers. An iPhone SE is $429, or can be financed at the same price, with zero interest, at $17.87 for 24 months. Why would I want to join Google’s advertiser-driven ecosystem, and voluntarily make myself into Google’s product?
- belltaco 4y agoNot sure how that's a good response. Nobody is this thread is saying you should be forced into not using Apple phones.
- circuit10 4y agoIf that's your main concern you'd be better off with a "degoogled" OS on an Android phone with an unlocked bootloader. iOS is locked down and you can't really see or control what information is being sent. 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
- catiopatio 4y agoI’m sure someone running a custom Android image with an unlocked bootloader can figure out an Android-compatible alternative to AirTag.
- Arch-TK 4y ago
- koito17 4y agoI assume it was mostly humor, albeit poorly timed humor. 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).
- porkbeer 4y agoPretty sure android is a larger uzwrbase than ios by far. You may be in a social technological bubble.
- paulddraper 4y ago> this level of ignorance and short-sightedness 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 (:
- chimeracoder 4y ago[flagged]
- happytoexplain 4y ago"Ignorance", "short-sightedess", and "ignores the realities of the world" (and another commenter's "let them eat cake") seems like a stratospherically dramatic reaction to the common "why would anyone use THAT platform" joke.
- deltree7 4y ago[flagged]
- acchow 4y ago> Again... this level of ignorance and short-sightedness is surprising coming from someone in such a position of authority 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).
- surgical_fire 4y ago> But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years 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.
- npsomaratna 4y agoMight be luck of the draw, but my experience with Android has been similar to OP. Each of my (at the time top of the line) Samsung phones stopped working due to various reasons after a time period ranging from just under an year, to a couple of years. 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.
- kevviiinn 4y agoYou used Samsung products, that was your problem. Every Samsung I've had or used has been absolute trash
- mikrotikker 4y agoMy his and hers pair of S5s lasted 6 years despite a fun competitive game we would play where we would try to smack the phone out of others hand which often sent it flying comedically through the air. (good training for phone theives we both have iron grips of our phones now)
- m463 4y agoI think there's another dimension here... He's also talking to car thieves.
- mxuribe 4y agoIt seems the android comment was a bit of a joke from the mayor...at least per this youtube video from the mayor's office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=945s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=945s
- version_five 4y agoAll that stupidity aside, how are AirTags actually supposed to help, even if we all had an iPhone and were happy to live under apple's benevolent rule? Most cars have a gps tracker now anyway. Mine was stolen last year, during the night. I was told it would have been put into a shipping container within an hour, where it wouldn't be accessible to radio waves anyway. 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.
- Swizec 4y ago> 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".
- taffronaut 4y ago"Chop Shop" was a follow up to the series "Bangla Bangers" [1]. It was more like a variant of Scrapheap Challenge and nothing to do with organized crime around stolen cars in the UK. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangla_Bangers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangla_Bangers
- fy20 4y agoAs I kid in the UK I heard the same stories, is this still a thing? For the last few years I've been living in Lithuania which has a very big used car parts market, but I've never heard of cars being stolen and chopped 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?
- 636474646 4y ago[flagged]
- hot_gril 4y agoI'm not a fan of Mayor Adams since he's received a lot of "caviar treatment" from leaders of countries like Azerbaijan. The little joke about Android (people laughed) isn't a big deal.