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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: November 7th, 2023

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  • It’s not like Bluetooth started demanding location permissions, the conceptual model of the permission was revised: having access Bluetooth means an app could determine your location via a form of lateration.

    In earlier versions of smartphone operating systems, this was not transparent to users lacking the technical background, so Bluetooth also requiring location access is actually an attempt at making users aware of that. I’m not an iOS developer, so I can’t comment on iPhones, but on Android versions prior to 11, having access to Bluetooth meant an app would be able to determine your location.

    Today, you can require the permission ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, which expresses that your app might use Bluetooth to obtain location information on Android. Also, if you’re just scanning for nearby devices to connect your app to, but don’t want users to be confused why your smart fridge app needs to know your precise location, you can declare a permission flag (neverForLocation) and Android will strip beacon information from the scan results, better asserting your intentions.

    So, overall: no, there is nothing nefarious going on, it was always possible to determine your location via Bluetooth, and the update to the permission model was an honest improvement that actually benefits you as user.

    Now, there are still plenty of shady apps around, and apps that are poorly written - don’t use those.







  • Handwriting hurts my wrists. My handwriting became super sloppy after what, like 40 years in front of a screen. Can’t index or search my notes. I had one of those pens that record everything using a camera on special, dotted paper, but no OCR can process my writing, and you need special paper.

    But yeah, the idea seems interesting. I like dedicated devices these days. It have to carefully think about what I’ll be doing, pick an activity and then venture out to do the thing, packing the dedicated device that is suited for the task. I’m more focused that way, more productive.

    However, that device here is not what I am looking for. Tiny keyboard, non ergonomic, colors too flashy.