Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action

[TwoBytes]

If you haven long hair, a headscarf, headwear, a hat - anything obscuring cameras it will be really excluding. Also I can’t imagine the angles and if your in a busy street what it can misread.

 

[iZac]

Oh my, this is terrible. Apple could turn the world’s most popular headphones into ‘iPervs’. No matter how hard someone tries to convince observers that it’s not a camera, it won’t fly.

Also everyone just watched Project Hail Mary where a rock turned LIDAR into a depth mask. Whatever tech these cameras are, it’s going to be awful for privacy and someone determined enough will be able to reverse engineer it into an image. Consider how much people freak out over body scanners in Airports.

 

[tuckerjj]

Apple isn’t Meta. Clearly these won’t record and save images or video, apps won’t be allowed to access the data (and as a result iPhone features that do won’t be released in the EU), so they’ll just be used for Apple Intelligence queries either on device or in private cloud compute (which is provably private). People will know because Apple will highlight it in their adverts and press releases/statements.

 

[sockatume]

We’re not going to talk about the voiceover?

“With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable.”

Huge theological implications if true.

 

[Diopter]

People will know because Apple will highlight it in their adverts and press releases/statements.

But no one will know if someone is wearing the Apple product or the identical-looking knockoff designed specifically to creep on people.

 

[Friendlier-Rebel]

It sets a cunning trap for the EU: Apple‘s software will ensure that any recorded images are not preserved, but the only way to ensure this privacy measure is not to grant access to third-party apps…

No it doesn't. Airpods themselves aren't designated a large platform. Depending on how deeply this is embedded in ios Apple may be required to enable other headphones/devices to get similar access in ios for similar features (Imagine you see a poster for an event and ask your airpods to save this to your calendar. This may then be required to also work with earphones made by Samsung). Also, I'd argue that this isn't even the only way to ensure these images aren't preserved. You could share this access with other apps and have models run locally in a sandbox with limits on what information is shared outside the sandbox. This could verifiably prevent preservation of the image.

 

[xraydoc]

Every pair of AirPods, regardless of model, just got banned from locker rooms everywhere.

 

[thederby]

What I would like though are AirPods with a sensors where these cameras are that can detect the beams coming from these AirPods and other earbuds don’t to come with cameras. As long as I can detect when they’re running I’m good.

so... a visual sensor, like a camera. =)

 

[ResolutionNZ]

Every pair of AirPods, regardless of model, just got banned from locker rooms everywhere.

Not just locker rooms, but anywhere children play and people are partially clothed like beaches and swimming pools, clothes dressing rooms, doctors surgeries, the list goes on and on... I suspect this will be the first device class to be banned by municipalities and even entire nations because of the privacy concerns that would arise from such small cameras becoming normalised.

 

[jdavid_rp]

It sets a cunning trap for the EU: Apple‘s software will ensure that any recorded images are not preserved, but the only way to ensure this privacy measure is not to grant access to third-party apps…

then no release in the EU, is that easy. But anyways surely this will just be done through an API so apple apps or 3rd party apps never see any image output. The issue is with “crackers” that get to decipher the protocols and get the actual output of the cameras and use another device like an android phone to actually record with the AirPods.

 

[dampfnudel]

I highly doubt it’s a camera. I would think it’s something like Lidar - a new tech that can use light to “read” but not to take photos etc and consumes less power.

That would make sense. I was skeptical of a real camera being added to the AirPods.

 

[DBR2025]

Not just locker rooms, but anywhere children play and people are partially clothed like beaches and swimming pools, clothes dressing rooms, doctors surgeries, the list goes on and on... I suspect this will be the first device class to be banned by municipalities and even entire nations because of the privacy concerns that would arise from such small cameras becoming normalised.

lol - this made me laugh.

Why are pedos now hiding around every corner?

It’s not illegal to record in public.

In areas considered private it is illegal.

I bet this product will be a massive hit for Apple.

 

[mac-rumorist]

I highly doubt it’s a camera. I would think it’s something like Lidar - a new tech that can use light to “read” but not to take photos etc and consumes less power.

I hope not a camera, asking for trouble, it's a sure fire way for something like this happening and it's totally not fun... https://www.thekurzweillibrary.com/first-attack-on-a-cyborg

 

[MilaM]

Don't know about you, but I'm excited to be assimilated into the Apple Borg Collective ... I mean ecosystem.

I wonder what will be the next gadget after the watch, glasses and the AirPods

 

[timber]

Besides the spooky and creepy privacy issues particularly for bystanders I wonder what is the actual product here.
What's useful for the user?

 

[Anaxarxes]

So did apple make a big boo-boo with all of these references in tahoe 26.7?

LiDAR is expensive and can be more power hungry than a camera.

And LiDar senses 3D environments, not flat surfaces with text on it. the TexLiDAR tech is new and uses panaromic images to identify text through OCR - but they are super low res compared to standard cameras.

The cameras most likely are not on all the time, but are lo-power cameras that can just take stills or live photos with voice commands - just like in the video.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Besides the spooky and creepy privacy issues particularly for bystanders I wonder what is the actual product here.
What's useful for the user?

Only 10% of world/human knowledge exist in text for. The other 90% of information and behaviours are visual, sound, smell, wind etc.

AI is only as useful as the context it has access to.

Therefore cameras are needed to unlock the 90%

 

[ibjoshua]

Chiming in. This is a terrible idea

 

[elmchargue]

Re-read the article and the above stood out for me, clearly it is recording, as in like "show me that drawing I looked at at store xyz this afternoon" - this is creepy, no other words for it.

Or, is Apple leaking this intentionally to see user reactions? Before a release?
And presumably all these new products will require the 27 version of the OS, so why all these reference in 26.7???

That wasn't my interpretation. The recorded VoiceOver is intended for the instructional video. In reality, you may have to tell Siri to "capture" something for later.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

Oooooff, I do not like this one bit…

 

[MattD74]

Never saw so many doomers in a tech community lmao (one guy said entire nations will ban the AirPods 🤣), I'm pretty sure Apple thought about privacy when building those AirPods, the camera will probably only work with Apple Intelligence and will not save anything to your iPhone, after Apple Intelligence processed the information, it will get deleted, no pic/vid will be stored anywhere.

 

[kerr]

Don’t think these will be very popular. I have APP 1 and 3. I don’t see how deeper Siri integration would prompt anyone with APP 2 or 3 to upgrade.

 

[dannys1]

Some horrible takes in this post - not surprised it is Mac Rumors of course, 90% of the forum is horrible miserable moaning takes on everything.

 

[dannys1]

Consider how much people freak out over body scanners in Airports.

These people are morons though.

 

[dannys1]

Re-read the article and the above stood out for me, clearly it is recording, as in like "show me that drawing I looked at at store xyz this afternoon" - this is creepy, no other words for it.

Or, is Apple leaking this intentionally to see user reactions? Before a release?
And presumably all these new products will require the 27 version of the OS, so why all these reference in 26.7???

Clearly it isn't recording - they're not going to have the battery for that, THINK man!

It'll be a split second thing on request - which is probably low resolution or poor quality it only works half the time.