micky wrote:

To save battery, I turned off my bluetooth, and I got a notification on
the cellular startup screen with a red sun and the message "Exposure
Notifications inactive. To use this feature, turn on bluetooth."

I had to google to be reminded of what it meant. It refers to exposure
to covid and since a) I have the app that keeps track of whether I'm
near an infected person, and b) I turned off bluetooth, it complains.

I only go out once or twice a week, soI will leave it off and hope the
reminder re-appears when I'm leaving the house.

You installed a [Covid] contact tracking app. Those are used to record
when your phone has been near another phone for some minimal amount of
time, like 5 minutes. It doesn't track when YOU have been close to
someone else for that long. It tracks when the phones were near each
other, like on side tables on a charger alongside beds in separate
apartments across a common wall. The pretense was when the phones are
near then so are the people using those phones, but that is incorrect.
They might help, but only if widely adopted, and the adoption rate has
been dismal in countries where users are not mandated by law to use
them.

Those apps do NOT identify you were near an infected person. After
testing positive, a user gets a code from a medical authority which is
then used to alert other phones that tracked you were close to them.
Sending the alert is voluntary, especially since sending an alert lets
the servers track who sent an alert to know who is infected, and is
outside the purview of, say, a hospital that is supposed to keep your
records private. Just because someone else's phone tracked your phone,
and that someone else got infected, does NOT mandate that you get an
alert you were close to them (and within the incubation period since
ancient contacts are worthless).

Since Bluetooth pinging to find other nearby Bluetooth devices is how
these tracking apps work, it's no surprise that the tracking app you
installed complains that you disabled Bluetooth.

If you leave Bluetooth disabled, you'll only get the notification from
the tracking app when it loads. You leaving the house does somehow
magically reload the app. YOU will have to remember to reenable
Bluetooth when you leave home. Unless you live in an apartment, condo,
or other dwelling that has shared walls or live where you are in very
close proximity to others (to eliminate false tracking with those you do
not have contact since there were walls between you), why turn off
Bluetooth unless you're concerned about your old Android's Bluetooth
vulnerabilities?

Someone mentioned the app might use GPS. Apparently that responder
doesn't realize that GPS is not always accessible. It can get blocked:
metal studs, file cabinets, concrete, refrigerators, plaster (not
sheetrock), water, brick, and other objects along with RF interference
can block the GPS signal. How would the app know when you entered and
exited your car since while you are in the car then you aren't exposed
to others (just like walls in an apartment mean you are not exposed
despite your phone's Bluetooth can reach another phone's Bluetooth)?
The app would have to monitor for a rate of change in GPS that would
represent the speed of travel for a car, like greater than 30 miles per
hour, but then the app falsely tracks other Bluetooth phones when you're
stuck at a stoplight or rush-hour traffic for many minutes.

Then you might want to consider how paranoid you are regarding the
vulnerabilities of leaving Bluetooth enabled all the time, even when you
are moving around outside your home. Does the promise however slight of
getting notified you might be infected (and have to pay for testing if
not covered by health insurance) outweigh the possibility of getting
hacked via Bluetooth? You won't get a latter version of Bluetooth (5.1)
unless your phone maker supplies an OS update. After a phone is no
longer supported, the OS updates disappear (unless you get a Google
phone). You won't get a new version of Bluetooth until you get a newer
version of the OS (well, maybe if you root your phone than you can
decide when to update the BT stack).

https://www.google.com/search?q=blue...0vulnerability

micky wrote:

Also I bought some Basic AAA batteries from Amazon and the mailing
label had in bold fairly large text “Not restricted as per special
provision”. Other things were in the bag too and I'd bought 9V
batteries just a few months ago and there was no such message, so I
had to look that up, but it's definitely because of the batteries.
Every 12 batteries came in its own shrink wrap.

The warning may be due to shipping restrictions on certain types of
batteries. Lead-acid batteries sold without the electrolyte (sulfuric
acid) should be shippable, but not if the electrolyte was added.
Sulfuric acid requires special hazard shipping requirements. Shipping
of hazardous materials costs extra and requires special handling. Since
the "provision" wasn't mention, no idea what might be the provision,
regulation, shipping restriction, or whatever.

In my area, alkaline batteries can be disposed of in your regular trash
disposal. Same for other "disposable" batteries, except those using
mercury which is poisonous. The recyclable content is very low, and
they are not a fire hazard (but I'd still put tape on one end). Lithium
batteries are poisonous, so they must be dumped at a hazardous disposal
facility. NiCads contain lead, so they are poisonous, so also require
special disposal. MiMH and, in general, rechargeable batteries require
special disposal. You need to check what are the rules in your area.

I put tape across the contacts, and store up the old NiCd, NiMH, and
lithium batteries (don't use mercury batteries) to take them in as a
bunch to the local hazard disposal facility. Cost is $10 per trip, so I
stow up a lot before making the trip (10 miles away, but I can combine
with trips to grocery, hardware, and other stores). Some hardware
stores (e.g., Home Depot via Call2Recycle bins) have disposal service.
There may be local rechargeable recycling drop-offs in your area.

If the battery says "Battery Must Be Recycled" or has a recycle icon,
they require special disposal.

On Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:26:42 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread

03:26??? LOL So WHY can't you sleep again, you miserable senile trolling
asshole? Is it because of your senile hormones? Or because of your abnormal
loneliness, you cantankerous senile pest?

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MID:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:19:10 +1100, Fred, better known as cantankerous
trolling senile geezer Rodent Speed, wrote:

FLUSH the abnormal sleepless trolling senile asshole's latest troll****

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On 11/01/2021 17.24, Rod Speed wrote:
"Carlos E.R." wrote in message
...
On 11/01/2021 07.15, micky wrote:
To save battery, I turned off my bluetooth, and I got a notification on
the cellular startup screen with a red sun and the message "Exposure
Notifications inactive.Â* To use this feature, turn on bluetooth."

I had to google to be reminded of what it meant.Â* It refers to exposure
to covid and since a) I have the app that keeps track of whether I'm
near an infected person, and b) I turned off bluetooth, it complains.

I only go out once or twice a week, soI will leave it off and hope the
reminder re-appears when I'm leaving the house.

No, it will not. How can it know you are leaving home?

Any decent smartphone knows that with the gps.

Which doesn't work inside my house. Google maps history always ask me to
confirm that I'm home, it never knows.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 11/01/2021 15.08, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 11 Jan 2021 14:47:18 +0100, "Carlos E.R." wrote:
On 11/01/2021 07.15, micky wrote:
To save battery, I turned off my bluetooth, and I got a notification on
the cellular startup screen with a red sun and the message "Exposure
Notifications inactive. To use this feature, turn on bluetooth."

I had to google to be reminded of what it meant. It refers to exposure
to covid and since a) I have the app that keeps track of whether I'm
near an infected person, and b) I turned off bluetooth, it complains.

I only go out once or twice a week, soI will leave it off and hope the
reminder re-appears when I'm leaving the house.

No, it will not. How can it know you are leaving home?

Well it's a little computer. It should know. Google or something
knows everything.

But what I meant was, When I'm leaving the house and I turn the phone on
again, I hope the reminder re-appears.

Ah, ok. I don't know, my phone is on full time.


I have BT on full time, and I stay most of the time at home. No impact
on battery, I get to bedtime with 2/3 of battery left.

I need BT when I get to the car, and I prefer not forgetting to switch
it on.

Now I have a reminder. At least if it shows up again.

----

Also I bought some Basic AAA batteries from Amazon and the mailing label
had in bold fairly large text “Not restricted as per special provision�.
Other things were in the bag too and I'd bought 9V batteries just a few
months ago and there was no such message, so I had to look that up, but
it's definitely because of the batteries. Every 12 batteries came in
its own shrink wrap.

And what does it mean?

They need to follow some sort of rules to ship batteries. They must have
been made for Li-ion batteries. I'm not at all convinced they apply to
alkaline batteries or AAA batteries. But even if they do, Amazon solved
any problem by shrink wrapping them in groups of 12 so no + could touch
a - end. Clear, rather stiff shrink wrap. Maybe that's not the right
word.

Ah.

I know there is a regulation for liquid acid batteries. New rechargeable
batteries have some risk of fire. But plain "basic AAA" batteries :-?
Maybe they stuck the label "just in case".

Certainly, if you short the ends of any battery there is a risk of fire.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Rod Speed explained on 1/11/2021 :

"trader_4" wrote in message
...
On Monday, January 11, 2021 at 7:01:17 AM UTC-5, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On 1/11/21 7:15 AM, micky wrote:
To save battery, I turned off my bluetooth, and I got a notification on
the cellular startup screen with a red sun and the message "Exposure
Notifications inactive. To use this feature, turn on bluetooth."

I had to google to be reminded of what it meant. It refers to exposure
to covid and since a) I have the app that keeps track of whether I'm
near an infected person, and b) I turned off bluetooth, it complains.
How does it know if someone has Covid? What alarm goes off if it
senses
Covid? I can't get that image of the Lost in Space robot out of my
head. DANGER
DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON

Some cut.

These apps just keep track of other phones that have the Covid app on them
that come near your phone. Later if someone with the app on their phone
learns
that they have Covid they can voluntarily put that into the app and then
all the
people who had the app on their phone, who were near the infected person's
phone, get notified that they were near someone who was Covid positive.
From what I've seen not many people are using it. I don't
because so few people have it that there is little value. For it to really
achieve
effectiveness there would have had to have been a national plan,
encouraging
everyone to use it. That didn't happen because we have a federal govt
that
refused to have any national plan at all.

Even a national plan doesn’t help with aerosols.

Why not?

"Carlos E.R." wrote in message
...
On 11/01/2021 17.24, Rod Speed wrote:
"Carlos E.R." wrote in message
...
On 11/01/2021 07.15, micky wrote:
To save battery, I turned off my bluetooth, and I got a notification on
the cellular startup screen with a red sun and the message "Exposure
Notifications inactive. To use this feature, turn on bluetooth."

I had to google to be reminded of what it meant. It refers to exposure
to covid and since a) I have the app that keeps track of whether I'm
near an infected person, and b) I turned off bluetooth, it complains.

I only go out once or twice a week, soI will leave it off and hope the
reminder re-appears when I'm leaving the house.

No, it will not. How can it know you are leaving home?

Any decent smartphone knows that with the gps.

Which doesn't work inside my house.

Doesn’t need to, it works as you leave the house.

Google maps history always ask me to
confirm that I'm home, it never knows.

But will when LEAVING the house.

On Tue, 12 Jan 2021 10:06:56 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread

10:06??? So you've been up and trolling ALL NIGHT and ALL MORNING (since
02:12), yet again, you sick senile swine!

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