Back in the day when the Concorde was bright and shiny new, its attributes were touted all over London in the form of very large posters. The headline read, ‘Breakfast in London, Lunch in New York’ to which some wag had added, ‘Luggage in Berlin’ underling a consistent problem most airlines suffered form at the time and so it seems, to this day. To quote news.com.au
Insane way Aussie man found lost luggage.
“An Aussie man who managed to locate his missing luggage on his own with a “simple” device, is yet to receive a response from the airline and its baggage partner.”
“Shane Miller, a technology expert and cycling enthusiast from Ballarat, returned home from a week-long holiday in Europe in mid-June. However, while he made it back, his checked-in luggage didn’t.”
“He filed a lost luggage form with Singapore Airlines and their baggage carrier Swissport, hoping to retrieve his luggage but claimed he did not receive any updates. He also tried calling customer service up to 16 times and left multiple voice messages, but to no avail.”
“Instead, Shane had a nifty solution to finding the lost luggage himself. A clever $45 Apple Air Tag on his phone revealed the exact location of his missing bag, (Which was, as it turned out, Melbourne Airport). With the help of the technology, he directed staff to his case which was sitting among a bunch of other lost bags.” Problem solved.
What is an AirTag?
After years of speculation and rumour Apple unveiled its long awaited AirTag, (AT), in April 2021. The small, circular tag is designed to be attached to items that are quite regularly lost or misplaced such as keys, wallets and apparently, checked in luggage.
AirTags do not have built-in GPS systems like the devices you see regularly deployed in espionage and crime movies to track villains and such. Instead, they piggy-back off the location data of other nearby Apple devices.
apple.com explains: “Your AirTag sends out a secure Bluetooth signal. If your Air Tag is nearby, your iPhone can lead you straight to it with Precision Finding. You’ll see the distance to your Air Tag and the direction to head in – all thanks to Ultra Wideband technology.”
If your air tag is not nearby: “When you have left something far behind, like at the beach or the gym, the Find My network — hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices around the world — helps track down your AirTag.”
“Just like your other Apple devices, AirTag can be put into Lost Mode. Then, when it’s detected by a device in the network, you’ll automatically get a notification. You can also set it so someone can get your contact info by tapping your AirTag with an NFC-capable smartphone — that’s the same technology that lets people pay for things with their phones.”
“The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy. And itʼs efficient, so thereʼs no need to worry about battery life or data usage.” Apple says.
Find your luggage but lose your anonymity?
While using AirTags to find your stuff is obviously beneficial, what happens if someone uses an AirTag to try and find you?
There have been recent reports of AT’s being used by stalkers and thieves to track people. More and more stories are emerging of AT’s being discovered attached to luxury vehicles. The assumption being that they were being targeted to be stolen at a later, more convenient time for the thieves. Social media is littered with stories of people finding AT’s in their belongings that weren’t theirs.
Apple, by all reports, (And unlike many other tech companies), is taking AT issues extremely seriously.
“Based on our knowledge and on discussions with law enforcement, incidents of AirTag misuse are rare; however, each instance is one too many,” it said.
It is working closely with law enforcement when requested and is rolling out additional software updates to assist iPhone users to become more aware of aspects of AT usage.
Where do you stand in the Digital Revolution?
As revolutions go the Digital one is pretty well ….. revolutionary. In terms of how it’s affected our lives I think we are safe to call it ‘The Mother of All Revolutions.”
More fare reaching and embracing than The French Revolution, (!789-1799), The American Revolution, (1765-1783), The Chinese Communist Revolution, (1946-1950), or The Cuban Revolution, (1953-1959), put together.
Yet it all pretty much happened this century as far as us ordinary citizens are concerned.
There’s absolutely no argument that with the advent of the internet, social media, and online everything from ordering dinner to voting, our lives have changed, most probably forever.
If you were born this century, then it’s pretty much second nature. You must have heard about the three year olds sitting happily engrossed in their iPads?
If you were born pre 2000 then perhaps not so much. But we’re doing our best.
14 Pros and Cons of Digital Technology.
According to honestproscons.com the pros of digital technology include:
. Connectivity
. Communication speed and versatile working. (I think that’s two)
. Digital devices are portable
. The quality of stored information is preserved
. Learning re-defined
. Entertainment
. Transportation
According to honestproscons.com cons include:
. Data security
. Social isolation
. Too much of work or work overload
. Diminishing job opportunities
. Digital technology creates addiction towards it
. Manipulation of digital media
. Plagiarism and copyright (No irony here)
It’s too late to fight it. Get with the program.
Digital technology is here to stay, until it isn’t. There are some people who go to bed each night wondering if the world as they know it will still be there when they wake up.
It’s pretty scary to think that the press of a button, anywhere in the world, at anytime could launch the mother of all cyber attacks. One wonders how much governments and corporations are having to budget to arm themselves against cyber attacks.
Until then however, it probably pays you to use your computer, if you have one, to your best advantage and protect yourself as much as possible from the pitfalls.
In this day and age children and especially grand children have never been more loved or more useful. Unsubstantiated research indicates that invites from grandparents to grandchildren to visit have skyrocketed.
Should you be travelling soon or have a propensity for misplacing or losing your keys or wallet perhaps what you should be wishing for, come next Christmas or birthday, is an AirTag or Two.
Goodbye & Good Luck.
