Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/22/kids-find-a-cool-unintended-us.html
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How good is the encryption on those AirPods?
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Can’t they just text each other without swapping earbuds? I don’t understand the value of what they’re doing.
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Except that teachers probably aren’t cool with earphones being worn in class? Also at several hundred dollars a pair it’s the rich kids finding a cool unintended use.
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I think the benefit is that they can receive communications from their friends without looking down at their phone. 3 kids could each swap 1 AirPod with the other 2 and all 3 students carry on a concealed conversation at the same time. This could be leveraged as a way to cheat on tests if the range is great enough (only use hardwired IEMs myself, so don’t know transmission ranges).
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I sort of get it but at the same time not really because the person wearing the pods has to actively listen. And both users would still need to pull out their phones to type so going through the extra step of having the phone read the text seems more than unnecessary.
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They still have to type the message in The Google, don’t they?
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The advantage is they get the message straight away without having to check their phone. “Actively listening” is what you do when you are having a conversation.
Multiple ear infections – always amusing
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Doesn’t seem like much of an advantage to be honest if someone still needs to pull out their phone to type. I can also read pretty quickly and at my convenience. And as someone said, having the pods in your ear isn’t exactly covert.
AFAIK the sender does; the receiver gets the audio ‘translation’. The receiver’s phone doesn’t make a sound or vibrate when the message is converted to audio and presumably the phone the person typing uses doesn’t transmit to another phone, so there’s no audible indication that messaging is carrying on between students except one of them has their head down as they type. I’ve seen some people on the train type so fast with their thumbs that I’d put money on their ability to type on their phone without looking at the virtual keyboard.
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there was a girl in my class in 7th grade, that i was friends with, that was hearing impaired and she taught me some basic sign language. we used it to talk during class…but neeever used it to cheat on tests.
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Is this a limitation of Apple? You can set up Android devices to read texts aloud when received by default.
Still have to rely on a Google app to make it work, haha stupid Apple. Oh wait, this isn’t BGR or Gizmodo, nevermind.
one apparent value is not needing to know the difference between you’re and your
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Oh lawd. I read your reply and thought I had made a grievous typo.
Whew!
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The thought of sharing ear buds gives me the creeps. I mean, you could swap ear germs, right? Ears are gross.
Air pods are against the rules in my school, but good luck with that. I tell at least 20 kids a day to put them away and every single child says I’m the only teacher who cares.
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iPhones have been able to do text to speech for years, they’ve been popular with both sight and hearing impaired for a long time, using AirPods is just a new way of doing it.
For hearing impaired, an iPhone can be used as an advanced hearing aid with AirPods, acting as a microphone in the middle of a table, for example.
haha, sorry if i caused you any cold sweats or palpitations
Y’all bunch of boring people clearly haven’t played with Google Translate very much.
