from Hacker News

Man Stranded in Alaska Rescued After Using iPhone Emergency SOS Satelite Feature

by Markoff on 12/4/22, 5:42 PM with 78 comments

  • by dangerboysteve on 12/4/22, 7:52 PM

    Guessing, the Apple media team is being dispatched to Alaska to film a segment on this for future commercials or Apple event.
  • by bobbyi on 12/4/22, 7:00 PM

    Apparently "snowmachine" is what they call a snowmobile in Alaska. I was confused because I thought that was a device that makes fake snow at ski slopes.
  • by Cupertino95014 on 12/4/22, 7:42 PM

    Passing judgment on someone when you don't know the relevant facts is generally a bad idea. If this was a tourist near Anchorage or Fairbanks or Denali, that's one thing, but there probably aren't many tourists up near Kotzebue, especially in December.
  • by downrightmike on 12/4/22, 6:55 PM

    This is going to lead to more people being saved, but also more people taking large risks that wouldn't have otherwise, good luck.
  • by musicale on 12/4/22, 11:26 PM

    Too bad that PC mag just published its last (digital) issue, ending its 40-year run as a magazine. Does Ziff Davis have any remaining monthly publications?

    I wonder how long pcmag.com will last?

  • by csa on 12/4/22, 7:18 PM

    That’s something like 50 miles (eyeballing the distance).

    … as the crow flies

    … at 1 am

    … in northern alaska

    … in the winter

    I don’t know that much about living in Alaska, so I don’t know which side of the brave/stupid line this falls. That said, my initial impression is squarely in the “stupid” category.

  • by ThrowawayTestr on 12/4/22, 6:42 PM

    Keep in mind that your rescue is also dependent on the responders being competent

    https://youtu.be/LFLl9q-bEgk

  • by textadventure on 12/4/22, 7:10 PM

    So someone did the thing advertised in the thing, and it did the thing as advertised. Sounds like they should have been more careful, maybe have a compass and overall know what they were doing.