Latest news with #AirTags
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Does TSA Let You Travel With Apple AirTags In Your Carry-On Luggage?
Apple AirTags are the compact and convenient tool for tracking small items such as keychains, phones, or wallets that keep you sane when traveling. AirTags allow you to track anything accidentally left behind, and for travelers, attaching an AirTag to your luggage can offer peace of mind. You can even share an AirTag's location with an airline to help find your lost luggage. However, does the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allow this? The short answer is yes. Before you decide to pack an AirTag into your luggage, however, it's important to know the rules and regulations surrounding them from the TSA. AirTags utilize a lithium battery, and the TSA has strict regulations about them, mainly due to the myriad of safety concerns surrounding the more powerful lithium-ion batteries. Lithium batteries tend to be safer than their lithium-ion counterparts because they are smaller and have a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries. The AirTag's battery is a replaceable CR2032 coin battery, the same battery typically used in watches and key fobs. The CR2032 uses lithium to store and release energy, which, fortunately, the TSA finds acceptable for storing in your carry-on and checked baggage. Read more: 7 Under-The-Radar Apple Watch Features You Should Be Using What The TSA Says About AirTags According to the TSA, lithium batteries can be brought in carry-on luggage as long as their capacity is less than 100 watt hours and the content of lithium is less than 2 grams. Luckily for those who are prone to losing things, the CR2032 within the AirTag falls below these regulations. Apple doesn't disclose the specific CR2032 battery that Apple uses in the AirTag, but a standard CR2032 3V battery delivers 2.35 watt hours and contains just 0.10 grams of lithium. This means that AirTags are safe to fly in your carry-on cargo, as they are well below the 100-watt-hour and 2-gram lithium content restriction. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also clarified that AirTags and other small trackers can travel in checked baggage as well as in carry-on bags during flights. No matter where your next adventure takes you, you can feel free to travel with peace of mind and place an AirTag in your luggage. If you do end up losing your luggage, there are more than 30 airlines currently that will help you locate your lost luggage with the AirTag's "share Item" feature. Enjoyed this article? Sign up to BGR's free newsletter for the latest in tech and entertainment, plus tips and advice you'll actually use. Read the original article on BGR.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Teddy trackers, hacked doorbell cams and spyware: Surge in DV technology abuse
Technology-facilitated abuse crimes have surged and perpetrators are getting creative with technology and even confronting victims from within prison. Police say they've seen examples of doorbell cameras being used to survey victims, toys gifted to children containing covert cameras, and AirTags hidden in car doors to track movement. The disturbing examples were shared as police charged 865 people with 2028 offences in their Operation Amarok XI raids, a statewide crackdown on high-risk domestic violence perpetrators. One Inner West man arrested had allegedly contacted a woman known to him 668 times between May and August from inside a prison, breaching an apprehended violence order. Another man, from Sydney's west, is accused of distributing an intimate image of a woman known to him, damaging her belongings and threatening or intimidating her over two months. A key focus of police efforts, Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said, had been catching perpetrators attempting to harass or intimidate their victims. They can now be charged under new stalking and coercive control laws. There had been an additional 882 stalking and intimidation offences recorded between this year and last, McKenna said, driven by new coercive control legislation, as well as expanding the definition of stalking to include tracking devices. 'It's that power that they can exert on someone whilst they're not even in their physical presence. It's keeping people in fear, not knowing when this person might still come. It's keeping at the forefront of their mind the power base they have over them,' he said.
WIRED
2 days ago
- WIRED
Pebblebee Is Getting Serious About Personal Safety Tracking
The Bluetooth tracker maker is adding free and paid SOS features to its products, including emergency contact alerts, silent alarms, and real-time location sharing. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Learn more. Think of Bluetooth trackers and safety in the past few years and your first thought might be the misuse of Apple AirTags and similar devices against women in domestic abuse and stalking cases. Alongside collaborative initiatives to counter and shut down these malicious uses (such as the IETF's Detection of Unwanted Location Trackers, or DULT, standard), tracker makers themselves are flipping the script, turning tech that has been used to monitor women against their will into tech that protects them. In mid-July, Seattle-based Pebblebee announced a new, free SOS safety feature, named Alert, for its $35 Clip Bluetooth tracker which, like the rest of its Universal line-up, can be set up with either Apple's Find My or Google's Find Hub networks, is made from around 30 percent recycled plastic and runs on a rechargeable battery, with 12+ months between USB-C charges. When multi-pressed (six-plus presses), the Clip can trigger a siren alarm, flashing LED lights and automatically send an SMS text notification to one 'Safety Circle' contact that you've pre-saved in the Pebblebee app. It's simple to set up the contact in the app, and a long press on the device shuts off the siren and LEDs, though it's unlikely you'll fumble or accidentally set this one off. The Clip's siren isn't as loud and the lights don't cover as much radius as a dedicated personal alarm would, but they're enough to alert passersby when out walking at night. Plus, the Pebblebee website states: 'The Alert functionality including the siren, strobe, and first Safety Circle contact is and will always be completely free.' We tested out the SOS system and it worked without a hiccup. Our Safety Circle buddy received a text saying: 'URGENT: Sophie activated a Pebblebee Alert. Please check in immediately' with a link to the correct location via Google Maps. Clicking the 'Mark as safe' button in the app and/or long-pressing on the Clip sends a follow-up text to say 'Sophie cancelled their Pebblebee Alert' with the last location link. Now, however, Pebblebee is adding a paid-for subscription option, named Alert Live, which offers a Safety Circle of up to five contacts to receive the SOS text notification when triggered via the Clip, plus live location tracking for these contacts, for $3 a month or $26 a year. There's also a new Silent Mode, which sends the alert without the siren and LEDs, for both free and paid-for users: useful, though we haven't had the chance to test this or the new real-time location sharing out yet. 'Safety, specifically, has been on the roadmap, I'd say probably for three or four years, once we started implementing the DULT,' says Pebblebee's founder and CEO Daniel Daoura. 'So ever since then, we've wanted to do it but we just didn't have the bandwidth and ability. We wanted to make sure we've established ourselves as a trustworthy and dependable company.' The DULT specification, which is also supported by Apple, Google and the likes of Chipolo and is waiting on IETF ratification, is, says Daoura, 'very close to being perfect.' Safeguards including the tracker devices buzzing or chiming so as not to go undetected, and notifications to the user being tracked without the need for a dedicated app are ideas the IETF is considering. 'The number-one priority is the safety of people, whether they're customers or not,' Daoura says. 'We have received many reports from law enforcement, and we've provided feedback and told them exactly how to get the identification of the device so that they can go back to Apple or Google to trace the person that's misusing it.' Kicking off this trend for adding personal safety alerts to trackers, Tile announced a similar SOS system for its 2024 line-up of trackers, which start at $25 for the Mate, last September. This comes with the ability to add up to 99 people to a Circle via integration with the Life360 app. (Though no more than 10 per Circle is recommended.) Silent SOS alerts, via a triple-tap of a Tile tracker's button to trigger, are free for all Life360 users, with two days of location history. Its paid plans offer features like longer access to location history, unlimited 'place alerts' for family and friends and emergency dispatch for $8, $15 or $25 a month. On this competition with Tile, Daoura says that its SOS offering is 'smarter, more intuitive, faster to use, and we're building more features that they've never even considered', indicating that Pebblebee will add more personal safety-based functionality by the end of this year. As for the ubiquitous Apple AirTag, a second gen is rumored to launch this September with an Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip and Vision Pro integration as well as, on the safety front, a tamper-proof, anti-stalking built-in speaker. But Daoura worries that Apple won't go further than this unless users apply pressure for the company to do so. 'We know that it's not going to be blazing, crazy innovation, but we do know that people depend on Apple, they love the ecosystem,' he says. As for its core item-tracking functionality, after CES demos of embedded Pebblebee 'Pin' and 'Plate' modules inside Kuma bikes and Peak skis in Las Vegas this January, and the launch of its scannable QR code Link Label stickers, Daoura thinks the future is a world of pre-tagged products. 'We're embedding our tech into skis, bikes, golf gear, tools and many more items," he says. "Imagine buying something and it's already trackable, no stickers, no dongles… that's where this is going.' With this invisible, trackable future perhaps in mind, Pebblebee is also bolstering its approach to privacy and security. Daoura says privacy is the 'default' not an add-on. Pebblebee does not have access to location data for finding items, location sharing to chosen friends and family via Alert only occurs when the user initiates it (and ends when the user marks themself as safe) and 'we never sell any user data, unlike others, ever'. (Tile owner Life360 had previously sold precise user location data to up to a dozen data brokers, according to reporting from The Markup; it changed its data policy in 2022, shortly after it acquired Tile in late 2021.) 'With the rise of AI language models,' he says, 'data is really under threat and over the next year or two—we're going to see even more outbursts data scrubbing.' As for how to potentially counteract this, Pebblebee is developing an 'enhanced privacy layer', set to be released via the app later this year or early next year, to protect your location and identity from being 'scraped, sold or abused by anyone, even AI bots and trackers.' It seems trackers might be going beyond physical safety, and into providing peace of mind that your data and your identity is secure as well.
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Scotsman
Stolen or lost items abroad could cost Scots more than £1,500
Alex Cross | Supplied Thousands of holidaymakers could find themselves out of pocket with almost a third of Scottish people experiencing lost or stolen items abroad, according to new research from Tesco Insurance. Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... With phones being the most common casualty, it says the financial implications are significant. Knowing what your insurance policy covers is one of the key things to be aware of when packing for your holidays, according to Tesco Insurance. It says it's worth considering if people really need to take new smartphones, for example, with them and, if so, ensuring they have the right level of cover in place. Gadget cover can often prove a valuable add-on and will ensure people are only ever paying for what you need. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Meanwhile three in ten travellers (29 per cent) think 'small issues' aren't worth claiming on insurance, and one in five (18 per cent) believe travel insurance is only necessary for expensive trips. However, the worries often start well before arriving at the airport. With well over four-fifths (85 per cent) admitting they felt concerned before their trip. Specifically, a fifth (18 per cent) were worried about losing their luggage, while a similar number (21 per cent) fretted about having something stolen, such as a wallet, phone, or camera. An even larger proportion, a quarter, were worried about losing their passport or other important documents. These worries are not just emotional, they're financial too - especially for those unfortunate enough to lose or have an item stolen abroad, says Tesco Insurance. In fact, travellers who have had to replace items report that losing a phone abroad could cost up to £474 - and significantly more for newer models. For the especially unlucky, the total cost of replacing commonly lost belongings could soar past £1,500. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Alex Cross, chief customer officer at Tesco Insurance, says: "Lost or missing items can quickly turn a dream holiday into a nightmare, so it's no surprise this is a top concern for many travellers. The best way to stay protected is to plan ahead: invest in tracking devices like AirTags, secure your luggage properly, and ensure your travel insurance covers your belongings - including gadgets - from the moment you book. 'Travel insurance is an important consideration for any trip you take, even if it's just a short city break. While it comes in handy for things like cancellations or damage to your luggage, it's invaluable if the unexpected does happen and you need medical treatment. A few simple steps can help you travel with confidence and peace of mind." To help travellers be prepared, Alex has shared his top tips: 1. Utilise tracking devices and secure luggage: Give yourself peace of mind by investing in small, battery-powered tracking devices like AirTags for your luggage, handbags, or even key valuables. These can often be located using your smartphone, potentially aiding in recovery if items go astray. Always use sturdy padlocks on your checked luggage, and for carry-on bags, ensure zips are secure. Consider keeping valuable items like passports, wallets, and electronics in a smaller, accessible bag that stays with you, rather than in an overhead locker if you're concerned. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 2. Make sure you're covered: To ensure continuous coverage and protect yourself financially, aim to purchase your travel insurance policy at the same time you book your holiday. This way, you're covered for unexpected events that might occur between booking and your departure date, such as illness, cancellation, or initial loss of items. Don't just buy insurance - read it. Familiarise yourself with your specific policy's terms and conditions, especially regarding what's covered in case of loss or theft, any single item limits, and the excess you might need to pay. Knowing these details beforehand can prevent unwelcome surprises if you need to make a claim. 3. Digitise important documents: Before you travel, take clear photographs of your passport, visa (if applicable), driver's license, and travel insurance policy details. Store these digital copies securely on your phone and consider emailing a copy to yourself or a trusted family member. This can significantly speed up replacement if physical documents are lost or stolen. 4. Keep emergency contacts handy: Have a list of essential emergency contact numbers readily accessible, separate from your phone. This includes your airline, hotel, travel insurance provider's 24-hour helpline, and the local embassy or consulate for reporting lost passports or stolen items quickly. 5. Do I need gadget cover? If you're planning on taking multiple expensive items like phones, tablets, and cameras, then it's worth taking this into account when considering insurance providers. You may find that opting for gadget cover is a great way to get cover for all your gizmos at just a small additional cost.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The 24 common scams and traps travellers fall for (and how to avoid them)
The solution Don't forget to remove items with lithium batteries from your luggage, though AirTags and similar tracking devices are OK. Several airlines have started banning the use of power banks during flights. Read more on that here. The airport duty-free booze bust The lowdown If you buy duty-free alcohol at an airport in Europe or anywhere else with an intermediate stop before your final flight to Australia, you're going to part company with your booze before you re-board your aircraft. Australian government regulations require that all passengers on inbound flights submit to a final gate inspection before boarding the aircraft and any liquids, aerosols or gels in containers over 100 millilitres will be confiscated. Even if they're sealed in a tamper-evident plastic bag with purchase documentation attached, they're not flying. The solution Buy your duty-free alcohol at the last stop before your final destination, on board the aircraft on the last leg or at the duty-free shop at your destination. Falling for airport duty-free 'bargains' The lowdown In most cases, buying duty-free electronics, bags or clothing at airports saves the Value Added Tax, or the GST in the case of Australia. Caution is required. Airport retail space is expensive, and those glittering objects might not be such a bargain. The solution Before you shell out for that Apple product or the Prada sunglasses, make sure it really is cheaper than back home. The duty-free concession for goods imported to Australia is limited to $900, though if the goods have been used while you're away, an extra allowance might apply. The overweight carry-on impost The lowdown Most airlines restrict carry-ons to a maximum weight of seven to nine kilograms, and some enforce it rigorously. Turn up for a Jetstar flight with a bag weighing more than seven kilograms and you could be looking at a $75 fee. Beware of flying with carry-ons on European low-cost carriers, where the size limit for bags is often smaller than aboard other airlines. The solution Nearly all carriers let you bring one extra small item aboard, if it fits under the seat in front, and this doesn't usually have a weight limit. A soft, squishable bag that can adapt to tight quarters is perfect. Embarking on a long layover without checking lounge options The lowdown If your layover stretches beyond a couple of hours, find a lounge. For those not flying at the pointy end of the aircraft, pay-per-use lounges are a blessing, an oasis of calm amid the hustle of airport life. Most major airports offer a decent selection, and while you can often walk in and pay, scout the options ahead of time. A decent lounge will offer showers (non-negotiable after a long-haul flight), plus a spread of snacks, drinks, decent coffee and quiet corners to rest or work. Not realising you have an invalid expiry date on your passport The lowdown Most countries require your passport to be valid for at least six months beyond your date of departure, but there are exceptions. New Zealand requires only three months, as do France, Austria, Switzerland and French Polynesia, but airline check-in staff don't always get the memo. If they think your passport isn't valid because it expires in less than six months, you're not getting on board. The solution If you're travelling with a passport with fewer than six months' validity and the country you're visiting allows that, go to the official immigration website of your destination, download the entry requirements and bring a printout to the check-in desk. Not arriving early enough for that simply-can't-miss-it event The lowdown In a world where flight cancellations and delays are part of the travel landscape, flying in just hours before a big event is asking for trouble. This applies especially to weddings, cruise departures, group tours or anything else you absolutely can't miss. The solution Arriving a day or two early gives you time to shake off the jet lag, find your feet and explore a little. If your bag is delayed you've time in hand to reunite. Falling for the email scam The lowdown You've booked your hotel through and a couple of days before check-in, an email lands in your inbox asking you to confirm your credit card details. Fail to confirm, and your reservation will be cancelled. It looks official – logo, reservation details, the lot. You don't want to lose the room, so you click through and do as you're told, but you've just fallen for a phishing scam, a slick attempt to separate you from your money by handing over your card details. The solution Never click on links in unsolicited emails asking you to verify a transaction. If in doubt, go straight to the source. Log into your account directly or call the hotel. Read more about this scam here. The petrol station surcharge The lowdown Fuel stations across much of Europe are often unattended. It's just you, the pump and a central terminal that asks for your card before you touch the nozzle. Along with the fuel charge, the system may slap a temporary lock on a chunk of your funds, a pre-authorisation, and it can be as much as €100 ($175). If you've paid with a debit card, that money is effectively out-of-reach, and could stay that way for a week or two. The solution Pay with cash or use a credit instead of a debit card. To prepay or not to prepay The lowdown Some hotels will give you a better rate if you prepay, but it's usually on a non-refundable basis, and that should inspire caution. Some also ask for a deposit, but make sure it's refundable. If the hotel won't accept a booking without a deposit, you might use an online travel agency such as or Expedia that allows you to book with no deposit and cancel at short notice with no penalty, but check the conditions. The solution Don't be seduced by a non-refundable rate. Failing to select your airline seat The lowdown Do you enjoy sitting in a middle seat in the aircraft, squished in between strangers? Probably not, and there's no reason to be there. Especially not for long-legged flyers. Seat selection takes a couple of minutes, you can usually do it when you book, and if you have to pay extra, don't be a cheapskate. The solution If seat booking isn't available when you book, it will usually happen 24 or 48 hours pre-flight, and you should get an email notifying you when online check-in becomes available. If you're in doubt about where to sit, take a look at SeatMaps. The lowdown Along with many other European cities, London has three major airports, and the fastest transfer between Gatwick and Heathrow by public transport takes an hour. On top of that, you have to collect your baggage and check in for your connecting flight. Getting caught is one of the pitfalls for the DIY traveller. The solution If your trip is complicated, if it's somewhere you're not familiar with, let a travel agent handle your bookings. FIVE MORE TRAPS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM You really want me to eat that? Fermented soybeans in Japan, chicken feet in China, snails in France. Eating what the locals eat is one of the great joys of travel. If you want to understand a culture, there is no better place to start than the dinner table. Stick to KFC and McDonald's if it makes you feel safe, but it's not going to open the doors of experience. That's the third time we've driven past our hotel Want to sap every ounce of pleasure from your travels? Try driving in any large continental European city. Not only will you be driving on the right, chances are you will be caught up in traffic snarls and medieval laneways. Leave your car at your hotel or park on the edge of the city and use local transport. My flight arrives early morning but my hotel check-in time is 3pm Many flights from Australia to Europe arrive around dawn. You'll probably be in need of a shower and a lie down, but if your hotel room is booked for that night, check-in most likely won't be until mid-afternoon. Instead, book the room for the night before (an extra expense but worth it), or plan a stopover and take a connecting flight that arrives later in the day. The not-so-fine fine print Fall over on wet cobblestones and break a bone after a big night out in Bad Kissingen and your insurance claim might be denied on the grounds you were intoxicated. The product disclosure statement that comes with your travel insurance policy is dull as a wet Sunday afternoon, but it's an essential read. Pay special attention to the exclusions. It's not even 5pm and it's pitch black That's because you're in London and it's winter. On the shortest days around Christmas, twilight starts before 4pm. It's also cold and rains a lot. Therefore, you're going to be spending most of your time in museums, theatres and galleries, and is this the holiday you had in mind? Plan your itinerary with an eye on the weather or choose a warmer time.
