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Comment by rcpt | Hacker News Reader

Once I started using Tile it became impossible for me to remember where I put my keys. There just wasn't any pressure to stay organized since the beeping would always save me. But whenever the battery was out or the Bluetooth wasn't connecting oh boy.

Same kind of thing happened with GPS. I used to pay more attention to maps and really learned streets but now I just expect the phone to solve everything for me. I'm lost without it and I don't like that.

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Technology extends but also amputates.

https://stream.syscoi.com/2019/05/30/marshall-mcluhan-extens...

I wouldn't be able to hunt my own mammoth, and I know that I suck at making fire with primitive tools (I tried and failed).

I've learned to appreciate the benefits of a modern society, and I'm ok being pretty screwed if it all magically disappeared without a trace.

We adapt, and that's a good thing.

Eh, losing your sense of direction due to the crutch of GPS isn’t adaptation; it’s regression. Not all of us are okay with being screwed if the convenient floor of modern life fell out from underneath us. :)

A world where GPS stops working is into some serious shit, I guess you are also training your hunting and fighting skills, otherwise you'll be screwed anyway.

> I guess you are also training your hunting and fighting skills

I haven't been in a fight in close to a decade, but it's not uncommon that I have to get somewhere and don't have access to GPS or Google Maps.

It's more than just a redundant skill. There's evidence to suggest that our reliance on GPS has a negative effect on our hippocampus, in particular our spatial memory. I have a gut feeling the effect is more wide ranging than we'd think; spatial navigation is a problem solving exercise, involving a whole bunch of different mental processes.

I've never been able to remember street names. GPS was a godsend to me, because now I can actually navigate.

I certainly wouldn't go so far as to claim I was disabled, but I find it helps to remember that not everyone has the same capabilities, and what we consider to be a silly "crutch" can be tremendously empowering for others without our capabilities.

I don't think many people are good at remembering, and navigating by, street names. It's an unnatural way to navigate. For millennia, we navigated using landmarks and other relative phenomena.

Assuming the resources previously spent on those other things is wisely used it might be advantageous

Specifically with learning street names and layouts, a big benefit goes hand in hand with using GPS imo: when I start directions to a new place, I can quickly glance at the map and pretty much know what I need to do for most of the trip. This saves me from having to constantly eye my phone or making split second lane changes because Google waits till you're right at a turn to tell you :S

I still remember landline phone numbers from my primary school friends more than 20 years later. Yet I don't know their mobile phone numbers that I use now. It feels funny, but it is not an issue.

This kind of thing would be incredible built in to expensive portable electronics. My bf recently lost his very expensive sony earbuds while on holiday and once its not in the hotel room or your bags, its basically gone. The most likely situation is it was at one of the public transport lost item collections but calling up everywhere we had been was too much work.

Airtags would have found them most likely.

Fun fact: Tile actually partners with device manufacturers to embed Tile into their products. For example, the Skullcandy Crusher Evo wireless headphones have Tile built-in.

https://www.skullcandy.com/crusher-evo-wireless-headphones

The challenge is that you need a.) an easy way to attach in some manner which doesn't work very well on a small product and b.) you need to be able to triage what small subset of things you really want to track.

Yes, building in helps. Though it probably opens up a variety of privacy/security failure modes.

I can’t wait for an AirTag-enabled AirPods case! I misplace that often.

The AirPods case can already be tracked, but annoyingly you can't make it make a sound. If you leave a single AirPod out, you can make it make a sound, but for me this is useless because I always misplace the case (with AirPods inside). I don't see why it's not possible to have the AirPods make noise from within the case. I understand the sound would be muffled by the case itself, but that's still better than nothing!

Can they be tracked? Every time I try, the map location is seriously out of date

Instructions here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207581

I use a cheap rubber case for my AirPods that has a little loop for a keyring that I use to attach a Tile to [0]. It's a little bulky compared to the naked case but it has a few of advantages.

First, it allows you to say "find my AirPods" to your phone and the Siri shortcut will launch the tile app and ring your AirPods. Second, the silicon is really grippy so it's far less likely to fall out of your pockets, and third the keychain ring means I can store it on a keyhook by the door which is my system for not loosing my keys in the first place, and usually obviates the need for the Tile:)

I do agree that having the UWB transmitter built into the case would be better provided it doesn't require the case having charge to work, which isn't always going to be true.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/xTGpTOC

Same experience here. I installed a key hook so where my keys are is now known but I'm gonna have a hard time finding my wallet when Tile's battery run out.

Same for street navigation. Whenever I drive somewhere I usually can't afford to waste time learning the roads but on my way back I close Google maps and try to find my way back home which helps.

My question is, are we losing critical tools that would otherwise be helpful, or are we freeing up bandwidth for other things that are more useful and relevant in modern times?

I also couldn't read a map to save my life but I'm not sure if this is a loss (lacking this abstract tool) or a win (opportunity cost wise).

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