by xmodem on 5/18/22, 9:51 AM
It seems crazy to me how often these alert systems are apparently used in the US, for apparently mundane stuff. I've seen it used once while I was in Australia - while we were travelling and there were bushfires nearby - and never here in Europe.
by 8fingerlouie on 5/18/22, 11:08 AM
Years ago when i made mobile phones, we had a similar bug.
It was when we started making speaker phones, meaning the previous headset speaker was no longer adequate. We of course put in a bigger speaker and lowered the volume when the phone was being used next to the ear.
One thing we didn't initially test however was receiving a text or another call when already on a call. Lets just say it was unpleasant to have the full alert/ring tone blasted into your ear at volumes designed to be heard several meters away :)
by willhackett on 5/18/22, 11:22 AM
I’ve had an issue a few times with Apple Music playing high pitched screeching sounds where I’ve had to throw my headphones off. Seems to be when there’s a loss of connectivity. I know these things slip through the cracks sometimes, but I feel like anything that impacts health should be tested thoroughly.
by unfocused on 5/18/22, 12:51 PM
I have a bug in my Mazda 5 when my iPhone is connected to the Bluetooth. If I take a phone call, the volume is fine. But when the call is done, and either myself or the person hangs up, the audible "bee boop" sound is ridiculously loud and scares everyone in the car, no matter what the volume is set to.
It's like they need to really sort out and map every single "interrupt" sound that can occur e.g. hang up, amber alert, etc, and ensure that it maps to a correct volume setting that doesn't damage your hearing.
by nullc on 5/18/22, 2:33 PM
I'd take a sizable bet that amber alerts cause far more loss of life -- with their blaring alerts from muted phones at all times -- than they arguably could save.
by aphroz on 5/18/22, 9:57 AM
There should be more than one case of ruptured eardrums if that affects all AirPods. It could be quite a dangerous thing to exploit for an attacker if the volume is not controlled at the hardware level.
by withinboredom on 5/18/22, 9:57 AM
You see this kind of stuff all the time. People never actually tested it.
I literally got an email today for a sale. It was something I’d wanted for awhile, but whatever, it wasn’t worth what they were asking. Anyway, I was on my mobile and tapped the link. It required me to login so I tapped my saved credentials. The login button stayed disabled and said my password was empty. Fantastic. As soon as I removed a character from my password, it would allow me to login, but now my phone didn’t prompt me to insert my saved password.
I just gave up. They lost a sale today, but it was clear nobody had ever tested logging in with saved credentials from a mobile device on this major site.
by aejnsn on 5/18/22, 1:02 PM
I turn that horribly under-designed feature off. When the option is “wake-the-baby” loud or no alert, I choose the latter.
by empressplay on 5/18/22, 6:36 PM
Up in Canada the companies using the emergency alert system send everything Presidential (eg missiles inbound), which means you can't turn them off and they are super-crazy loud. Last month in western Canada it was used for an amber alert, and most everyone thought 'this was it'...