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My Solution to Lost AirPods:The AirTags U1 Chip

gaurav24 — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 09:34:59 +0000

Commentary: AirTags plus AirPods should equal a lot less frustration.

The points of praise for Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Pro are easy to find: simple pairing with Apple devices, solid battery life, lightweight case, good mic performance for calls. Even the design, once ridiculed, has aged well and no longer looks out of place.

One thing that’s really bad, though, is how hard it is to find these small white buds or their pocketable case when they are inevitably lost.

As someone who has been an AirPods and AirPods Pro user for years, I can’t count how many times I’ve misplaced my buds. I’m not a particularly forgetful person and would like to think I do a fine job keeping track of my devices, in general.

AirPods, however, are just a different animal, as I experienced yet again on Thursday morning. I completely forgot where I left them, so I opened the Find My app on my iPhone 13 Pro Max, thinking I could ping them.

Mistake No. 1: Apple’s Find My App is great for finding missing iPhones, iPads, Macs or AirTags. It can be horrendous for finding AirPods.

The app showed that they were in my apartment, which was certainly reassuring as it meant I didn’t lose them while walking to play basketball at a nearby gym the night before. (Apple does have a “notify when left behind” feature that’s nice, but not applicable to my situation.) At times, though, that is the only bit of useful information the app provides.

Tapping “play a sound” did nothing as AirPods in the case can’t always play audio — and it can be incredibly hard to hear when they do. Apple has a “Find Nearby” option for AirPods, but that can be similarly worthless for finding encased buds since the connection to other devices isn’t consistently active.

If one bud is lost, this actually can be useful as it uses Bluetooth, so it can help guide you in the right direction and the sound played from the AirPods is noticeably louder. In this instance, however, not so much. Unlike with the iPhone, iPad, AirTags, Apple Watches or the Mac, Apple’s Find My app also doesn’t show a battery life indicator for AirPods… so you have no idea how much charge remains before even those hints disappear

I spent over an hour and a half turning my apartment inside out trying to find them. I searched through boxes, checked every pocket, looked inside the couch cushions, lifted said couch and emptied out my laundry bag. Nothing.

After giving up all hope and stepping away from searching to do some work, they miraculously reappeared under the couch as I was putting the room back together.

Read more: 10 AirPods Pro Tricks You Should Be Taking Advantage of Every Day

While my latest episode had a happy ending, looking through Twitter I see I am far from alone in losing Apple’s earbuds. A cursory search for “lost AirPods” finds countless examples of others sharing similar frustrations.

What you need is U1?

As rumors persist that Apple has a new version of AirPods Pro in the works for late 2022, I have a simple request: Apple, please put a U1 chip inside them so we can find the damn things more easily.

Found in its AirTags, the U1 chip uses a technology known as ultra wideband (UWB) that allows for what Apple has called “precision finding.” This is how AirTags not only let you know if something is nearby but also show an arrow pointing you in the right direction and show how many feet away the AirTag is if you have a compatible iPhone (an iPhone 11 or later, excluding the iPhone SE 3).

As my colleague Stephen Shankland has noted, UWB can calculate locations to “within less than a half inch by measuring how long it takes super-short radio pulses to travel between devices.”

As anyone who has ever misplaced AirPods could likely attest, this would be a world of improvement better than Apple’s current system for finding AirPods. Throw in the ability to work on the company’s Find My network, and lost AirPods left behind in a park or on a bus might no longer be gone forever.

Yes, I know there are some third-party cases that allow you to attach an AirTag to your AirPods, but it’s time to go a step further. Add this chip into the AirPods charging case and finding missing headphones will become so much easier. If Apple can somehow squeeze a version of this technology into the actual buds, all the better, but at the very least start with putting one in the case.

When Apple first introduced the U1 chip with the iPhone 11, it teased that the technology was “going to lead to amazing new capabilities.” This may not qualify as new, but putting the chip into AirPods would certainly, to me at least, be amazing.

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Amazon Drivers Suffer Injuries at Rate of Almost 1 in 5, Union Study Says

gaurav24 — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 09:26:47 +0000

Drivers for Amazon’s delivery service partners were reportedly injured at a higher rate in 2021 than in 2020.

Almost one in five Amazon delivery workers were injured during 2021, a study Tuesday said. The study was published by the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of four labor unions representing more than 4 million workers.

Using data that Amazon and its delivery contractors submitted to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2020 and 2021, the SOC found that workers delivering packages for Amazon delivery service partners were injured at a rate of 18.3 per 100 workers last year, up almost 40% from 2020. The small businesses that deliver packages for Amazon are known as DSPs.

“According to DSP operators and to lawsuits lodged by DSP owners across the US, Amazon sets unmanageably high quotas for delivery drivers,” the SOC’s study said. “Claims in one lawsuit state that during peak times, Amazon expected a DSP operator in Sacramento to deliver 350-400 packages per day per van. To complete this number of deliveries in a 10-hour shift, drivers would need to park, sort, deliver and document a delivery approximately once every 1 to 2 minutes.”

Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel contested the report’s findings, saying in a statement that the data was “cherry-picked” from fewer than 10% of the company’s delivery partners. “Safety is a priority across our network,” Nantel said, “which is why we’ve rolled out technology like innovative camera systems that have helped lead to an overall reduction in accident rates of nearly 50%, and we’ll keep investing in new safety tools to try and get better every day.”

While Amazon doesn’t hire delivery drivers directly, the company sets delivery quotas, creates delivery routes and directs drivers’ behavior with its apps and cameras on board some delivery vans. In addition to injury rates, drivers have reported they must pee in bottles to keep up with their demanding schedules, and that it’s difficult to resolve write-ups from Amazon that drivers believe may be in error.

Amazon facilities where packages are prepared for delivery also had injury rates over 40% higher than Amazon’s warehouses, the SOC said in its report, as reported earlier Tuesday by CNBC.

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Apple’s Mostly Virtual WWDC 2022 Keynote Is Set for June 6

gaurav24 — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 07:34:00 +0000

Apple's board of directors got a preview of the long-rumored headset, according to a new report.

Taking a look at Apple’s other wearable devices could point to where Apple’s rumored glasses are heading.

Apple has been integrating augmented reality into its devices for years, but a new report from Bloomberg suggests the tech giant will soon make its biggest AR/VR stride yet: producing a mixed-reality headset. In a meeting last week, the company’s board of directors observed a demonstration of the headset, according to the report.

This could indicate that the long-rumored headset is nearing completion. It lines up with a previous prediction from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo: that Apple’s VR/AR headset is arriving in the fourth quarter of 2022 with Wi-Fi 6 and 6E support. Kuo’s prediction is corroborated by earlier reports that Apple’s headset might be coming in 2022, with smart glasses around 2025, and maybe AR contact lenses after that.

Apple could blend AR and VR with two headsets in the near future, leading the way with some sort of high-end AR/VR headset more like an advanced Quest 2, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman also suggests a focus on gaming, media and communication. In terms of communication, Gurman believes FaceTime using the rumored headset could rely on Memojis and SharePlay, meaning instead of seeing the person you’re talking to, you would see a 3D version of their personalized Memoji avatar.

And Apple may have large plans for the headset. The company’s “goal is to replace the ‌iPhone‌ with AR in 10 years,” Kuo explains in a note to investors, seen by MacRumors. The device could be relatively lightweight, about 300-400 grams (roughly 10.5-14 ounces), according to Kuo. That’s lighter than Meta’s Oculus Quest 2.

The headset could be expensive, maybe as much as $3,000 or more, with 8K displays, eye tracking and cameras that can scan the world and blend AR and VR together, according to a report from The Information last year.

It’s expected to feature Apple’s M1 processor and work as a stand-alone device. But it could also connect with Apple’s other devices. That’s not a surprising move. In fact, most of the reports on Apple’s headset seem to line right up with how VR is evolving: lighter-weight, with added mixed reality features via more advanced passthrough cameras. In that sense, Apple’s first headset will probably be a stepping stone to future lighter AR glasses, in the same way that Meta’s next headset, called Project Cambria, might be used.

Last year, reports on Apple’s AR/VR roadmap suggested internal disagreements, or a split strategy that could mean a VR headset first, and more normal-looking augmented reality smart glasses later. But recent reports seem to be settling down to tell the story of a particular type of advanced VR product leading the way.

These reports have been going around for several years, including a story broken by CNET’s Shara Tibken in 2018. But the question is: When will this happen, exactly? 2022 or even later? Apple’s been building more advanced AR tools into its iPhones and iPads, setting the stage for something more. But we still don’t know what that thing (or things) is. What’s increasingly clear is that the rest of the AR/VR landscape is facing a slower-than-expected road to AR glasses, too.

VR, however, is a more easily reachable goal in the short term.

Apple has been in the wings all this time without any headset at all, although the company’s aspirations in AR have been clear and well-telegraphed on iPhones and iPads for years. Each year, Apple’s made significant strides on iOS with its AR tools. It’s been debated how soon this hardware will emerge: this year, the year after or even further down the road. Or whether Apple proceeds with just glasses, or with a mixed-reality VR/AR headset, too.

I’ve worn more AR and VR headsets than I can even recall, and been tracking the whole landscape for years. In a lot of ways, a future Apple AR headset’s logical flight path should be clear from just studying the pieces already laid out. Apple acquired VR media-streaming company NextVR in 2020, and previously purchased AR headset lens-maker Akonia Holographics in 2018.

I’ve had my own thoughts on what the long-rumored headset might be, and so far, the reports feel well-aligned to be just that. Much like the Apple Watch, which emerged among many other smartwatches and had a lot of features I’d seen in other forms before, Apple’s glasses will probably not be a massive surprise if you’ve been following the beats of the AR/VR landscape lately.

Remember Google Glass? How about Snapchat’s Spectacles? Or the HoloLens or Magic Leap? Meta is working on AR glasses too, and Snap… and also Niantic. The landscape could get crowded fast.

Here’s where Apple is likely to go based on what’s been reported, and how the company could avoid the pitfalls of those earlier platforms.

Apple declined to comment on this story.

Launch date: 2022, 2023... or later?

New Apple products tend to be announced months before they arrive, maybe even more. The iPhone, Apple Watch, HomePod and iPad all followed this path.

A report from The Information from 2019, based on purported leaked Apple presentational material, suggested 2022 for an Oculus Quest-like AR/VR headset, and 2023 for glasses. Maybe Apple takes a staggered strategy with AR, and releases several devices: one for creators first, with a higher price; and one for everyday wearers later. TrendForce doubts any AR/VR headset could overtake Microsoft’s or Oculus’ until 2023 or later.

A 2022 launch would line up with a new report from DigiTimes, spotted by MacRumors, which says Apple could start mass-producing the headset in August or September and launch later within the year.

Either way, developers would need a long head start to get used to developing for Apple’s glasses, and making apps work and flow with whatever Apple’s design guidance will be. That’s going to require Apple giving a heads-up on its hardware well in advance of its actual arrival. Maybe at WWDC.

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