You’ll have challenges with this too but you can get something by working with the three top labs’ models. Tried on Arena.ai and sent any errors back (in a personal effort to further iOS accessibility, but I digress).
I wish the USB spec had mandated labeling. There must be a lovely label printer they make for cables or something that shouldn’t be too expensive these days. Label a few cables a day, finish the whole house in a jiffy.
LTT or another big YouTuber made a cable and made sure to get it labeled. Also complained how difficult it was to find a supplier willing to make a better cable than usual.
Probably not even hidden because rich people are also catching a lot of legal winds, in which case the hotel has no choice but to provide the material. Better not to have it in the first place. You don't want your hotel cams listed as evidence in a 500M$ divorce case I guess.
Also are hidden cameras even legal? I know here in EU they aren't.
Hey remember what happened with BPA? That was frustrating. We saw ostensibly legitimate concern, then manufacturers telling us they got rid of it. Maybe it would’ve inspired confidence if the removal adverts came with data sheets on the replacement chemicals.
This is a weird phenomenon with some dictation apps too.
They talk about privacy first, they talk up local first, then their default settings are to send every syllable to someone else’s computer. Once you understand the app it’s trivial to make it a local, but there’s a good chance your first transcript is coming off a server unlike what the marketing material suggested.
Perhaps someday it will earn the same level of importance as charging; iOS 26 calls out slow chargers on their iPhones, so you can run to the Apple Store and buy a fast one!
They probably have to weigh potential new hardware sales against added complexity. I have counterpoints too but: I believe they try to protect users’ mental models of their ecosystem (which perhaps I appreciate when I don’t notice, and can’t stand when something is uncustomizable). Like there are enough variables they don’t trust us with as it is.
> iOS 26 calls out slow chargers on their iPhones, so you can run to the Apple Store and buy a fast one!
You jest but that notification (it's been a thing on Android for at least 8 years, and on thinkpads for at least 10) has been very helpful to me. Sometimes the negotiation just fails and being told is helpful. Sometimes the charger lies about its specs and once again it's helpful to have a hint, rather than expect everybody to systematically have usb testers on hand.
This one is pretty simple to do. It requests a voltage and then starts pulling current and monitors the voltage as it increases its current draw. If the voltage goes down, alert the user.
With data speed I think it could be a little more complicated. Like OP was saying it would need access to some level of hardware information where it can see which pins are used by the cable. Since the connection 'speed' is still variable even when you DO have a supported cable.
Wonderful project, thank you Cherri!
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