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> The new AirTag is designed with the environment in mind, with 85 percent recycled plastic in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all m
by logicalfails 8mo ago
> The new AirTag is designed with the environment in mind, with 85 percent recycled plastic in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 percent recycled gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards. The paper packaging is 100 percent fiber-based and can be easily recycled.
I'm no material scientist, but this seems pretty impressive to me that Apple's economy of scale can pull this off, and upgrade the device capabilities, for less than $30 USD.
- CGMthrowaway 8mo agoI don't see old-gen airtags for sale on the website. Are they throwing them all out?
- mambo_giro 8mo agoApple rarely offers direct discounts of closeout or excess merchandise. Instead to clear out back stock they’ll work with partner retailers (Amazon, Best Buy, etc.) who don’t mind the brand perception associated with offering deeper discounts. First-gen AirTags have been on sale on Amazon frequently over the last year, and they’ll probably drop the price again soon.
- jsheard 8mo agoBuilding an attachment point into the tag itself is still beyond current technology though. We just don't know how to do it.
- 542458 8mo agoDifferent people want different attachment types (or no attachment point at all), so it makes sense for that to be external. I've used other trackers with integrated attachment points, and because the attachment point has to be very compact it tends to be flimsy or hard to fit.. vs the Apple one where you can add a larger attachment point that makes sense to you.
- peddling-brink 8mo agoAre you trying to say that the AirTag is so strictly utilitarian, that they couldn’t have found a spot for a lanyard hole? I disagree, they could have, they didn’t want to. Beyond the look, this sure panders to their accessory partners. How big of an industry is the phone case? Should it even exist? The audacity.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- wang_li 8mo agoSomebody take an x-ray so where know where to drill our own holes.
- dylan604 8mo agoAlready been done https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/05/02/x-rays-show-how-apple-tightly-packed-airtags-internals https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/05/02/x-rays-show-how-a...
- xattt 8mo ago> For the initial disassembly, the AirTag is said to be the hardest to open to access the battery. Though all three could be opened by hand, the AirTag is suggested to be the hardest due to the lack of divots for grip. Does the author lack thumbs? It’s easy to twist the battery open.
- CamJN 8mo agoThe lack of a divot prevents iFixit from selling an overpriced single use tool that exactly matches the divot shape for $50 USD that just so happens to be the exact same shape and material as a $0.05 guitar pick. Totally unacceptable, won't anyone think of the environment?!?!?!?!
- ishtanbul 8mo agothis is the smallest attachment loop i've found. It's rock solid https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CPTS8JG?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_4&th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CPTS8JG?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...
- Brajeshwar 8mo agoI use quite a few varieties, including Apple's, and I have found Belkin’s to be an ideal one — small, secure, with a minimal footprint, and available with a keyring or a lanyard. https://www.belkin.com/p/secure-holder-with-key-ring-for-airtag/P-F8W973.html https://www.belkin.com/p/secure-holder-with-key-ring-for-air...
- dotancohen 8mo agoThat costs more than the AirTag itself.
- Brajeshwar 8mo agoHmmm! Nope, it was not. Checking the website again, it says $12.99 for one and $39.99 for the 4-pack. I remember picking up two of the 4-pack for less than the 4-pack of AirTags (including the sales tax in California). For some reason, though, it is cheaper in the Indian Amazon. Right now, they are selling for roughly $9.70 (₹889) a piece (all taxes inclusive).
- jval43 8mo agoYes, these are the best of the bunch. Sturdy too, have had one on my keychain for years now.
- traceroute66 8mo agoDude... not cool to put your Amazon `ref` link in there....
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- pftburger 8mo agoThe fundamental issue preventing keyring aperture integration stems from the AirTag’s reliance on inverse-phase magnetic reluctance in the structural substrate. You see, the enclosure maintains a precisely calibrated coefficient offramular expansion. Introducing a penetrative void would destabilize the sinusoidal depleneration required for proper UWB phase conjugation. The resulting spurving bearing misalignment could induce up to 40 millidarkness of signal attenuation. Apple’s engineers attempted to compensate using prefabulated amulite in the magneto-reluctance housing, but this only exacerbated the side-fumbling in the hyperboloid waveform generators. Early prototypes with keyring holes exhibited catastrophic unilateral dingle-arm failure within mere minutes of deployment. Until we develop lotus-o-delta-type bearings capable of withstanding the differential girdle spring modulation, I’m afraid keyring integration remains firmly in the realm of theoretical engineering—right up there with perpetual motion machines and TypeScript projects that compile without any // @ts-ignore comments. The technology simply isn’t there yet.
- nasretdinov 8mo agoI must say you had me in the first couple sentences :). Also does look like it's not an LLM-generated text either. Good job!
- nerdsniper 8mo agoIndeed, LLM's still suck at the cultural nuance required for humor. It's like they're writing for an audience that's too generic, so the joke doesn't truly "land" for anyone in particular.
- thefreeman 8mo agothe emdash is right there for all to see
- next_xibalba 8mo ago> attempted to compensate using prefabulated amulite in the magneto-reluctance housing, but this only exacerbated the side-fumbling in the hyperboloid waveform generators Wrote my PhD dissertation on this. It would've been in the literature for Apple's engineers to find, but unfortunately I lost institutional support to get this into a journal after my college (Mailorderdegrees.com, an FTX University^TM) folded mid-process.
- wmeredith 8mo agoI think the point is to make the smallest unit of functionality possible and then people can integrate that into their use case using attachments, casings, etc. in a way they see fit. It's a good approach for this product in my opinion.
- chrisfinazzo 8mo agoThis might also explain why the first party luggage loop accessory seems to have been (unfortunately) memory-holed. I think third parties still sell them out of excess inventory, but they've been harder to come by in recent times. My current carry-on doesn't have large enough attachment points to easily accommodate the Apple leather case's keyring, so an updated loop would have been welcome.
- trillic 8mo agoMine is duct taped inside the inner liner of the carryon that has a small zipper for cleaning.
- matwood 8mo agoThis is the way. My AirTags are hidden in my bags/luggage.
- vostrocity 8mo agoIt makes no sense to leave your AirTag attached outside. I hide mine in the most difficult to find pocket in my luggage.
- chrisfinazzo 8mo agoNo argument here. For some reason, people feel like this should be a replacement for traditional luggage tags. I do not understand this mindset. I’d prefer to have a dedicated loop for my bag and the inside attachment points just aren’t big enough. I’d feel more secure if it wasn’t loose in a pocket and could easily fall out or be removed by an unscrupulous (or inattentive) airline or TSA employee.
- traceroute66 8mo ago> Building an attachment point into the tag To be fair, most people I know put their AirTag inside something, e.g. inner pocket of a bag. At which point the necessity for an attachment point becomes somewhat moot.
- MengerSponge 8mo agoMy father-in-law is a builder. It is difficult to get his attention in a magnificent space because he is lost in wonder. We were in an Apple Store together years ago and I asked him what it would cost to build an attachment point to the tag itself. I will never forget his answer… 'We can’t, we don’t know how to do it'
- adolph 8mo agoIts interesting to see "turbo encabulator" get love that "builder ... don't know how" doesn't get anymore, even though the former is a much more intrusive copypasta. Maybe its a function of recency and "builder" has had more recent use in various places than "turbo?"
- internet2000 8mo agoYou're getting a ton of jokey replies, in true internet fashion, but the real answer is acoustics. For it to sound as loud as it can with no visible speaker grille, it needs to be that shape with no keyring holes.
- leokennis 8mo agoAnd the result is that for every oh-so-sustainable AirTag sold, a keyring doohickey is dieseled/kerosened from AliExpress' China warehouse to the consumer.
- Klaster_1 8mo agoHow does that compare to previous AirTag? Whats the industry baseline for all of those, maybe gold is 100% recycled anyways in most products?
- port11 8mo agoThis is a great question. For example, the Pixel 10 has a similar recycling profile, although with less recycled plastic.
- ahoka 8mo agoThis is just green washing on the level of “93.65% natural ingredients”.
- reaperducer 8mo agoThis is just green washing on the level of “93.65% natural ingredients”. I keep seeing products in the supermarket with big "Made with REAL ingredients!" labels on them. As opposed to what? Imaginary ingredients? Classico pasta sauce is the most recent offender.
- ExoticPearTree 8mo agoChemicals. That’s what they mean by real ingredients: no chemicals. Like orange juice: can be from a chemical powder or real oranges.
- wmeredith 8mo agoBut that's total nonsense. Everything in our physical world (including water, air, food, and human bodies) is made of chemicals. They can be naturally occurring or artificially manufactured.
- ExoticPearTree 8mo agoYou can nitpick and be pedantic about the wording I used, but if you equate artificial flavors or ingredients with natural ones…
- ryandrake 8mo agoIs it really pedantic? Everything is ultimately a chemical compound. H2O is a chemical. Where do you draw the line between "chemicals" and "not chemicals"? Is it more about what you can find in nature? You can find acetone in nature.
- 8mo ago
- colechristensen 8mo agoThe wholesale material costs for the plastic, gold plating, and magnets is all just pennies, if that.
- lucideer 8mo agoI'd be a little wary of these numbers as regulation around advertising these kinds of figures normally permits mass balance systems[0] (which imo is tantamount to straight-up lying). Mass balance is better than nothing I guess, & I understand the practical challenges with going further, but ultimately it's not what's implied by the marketing. [0] https://www.iscc-system.org/news/mass-balance-explained/ https://www.iscc-system.org/news/mass-balance-explained/
- Noaidi 8mo agoJust stating the obvious that not buying one of these things that we never seemed to need until they told us we needed it is the only way to have "the environment in mind".
- reaperducer 8mo agoJust stating the obvious that not buying one of these thing that we never seemed to need until they told us we needed it I never thought I needed one until my wife lost her car keys, and the Fiat dealer charged $1,200 for a replacement. And it's not even the electronics that makes them so expensive. Modern car keys aren't like the 1970's where it's just a piece of metal with the edges shaved off. Those little key cutting kiosks at Home Depot can't cope with today's complex engraving.
- kstrauser 8mo agoI have cats. I can’t count on things being where I left them.
- stephenr 8mo ago> one of these things that we never seemed to need until they told us we needed it Found the guy who literally never leaves his studio apartment and has thus never lost baggage, keys, etc.
- actuallyalys 8mo agoThis feels like a good tradeoff as far as gadgets go. It doesn’t take finding that many objects for it to make up the energy cost to manufacture the AirTag. They do require periodic battery replacements but I imagine it’s still a net savings or pretty negligible cost. I’d love to see a more formal analysis, though.
- insane_dreamer 8mo agobut then the fob also costs $30 :/
- vostrocity 8mo agoJust buy a generic Find My tracker on Amazon for about $5.
- dlcarrier 8mo agoRecycled metals have always been cost effective. Recycled plastic is much more expensive than virgin plastic, but it's a very small materials cost to start with, likely totaling only a few cents.
- adastra22 8mo agoRecycled plastic usually isn't the same quality though.
- vablings 8mo agoApple have pretty good recycling processes. I think they also partner with mobile carriers on trade ins too https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/04/apple-expands-global-recycling-programs/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/04/apple-expands-global-...
- ghm2199 8mo ago> They are then combined with scrap from select manufacturing sites and, for the first time, cobalt recovered through this process is now being used to make brand-new Apple batteries — a true closed loop for this precious material. Do they disclose who the manufacturers are and what standards do they adhere to when recovering cobalt from scrapped batteries?