It isn’t just trendy Gen Zers who’re regularly spotted with a pair of long, thin, white wires draped from their ears to their phones. Former Vice President (and 2024 presidential candidate) Kamala Harris is also a big fan, and from a recent appearance on late-night TV, she dove into the reason why.
Speaking on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Harris said that she trusts wired earbuds more than wireless earbuds. It’s easier for snoops, hackers, and weirdos to eavesdrop on wireless earbuds by intercepting their signal, she told Colbert, and that’s why she prefers wires.
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To reiterate and emphasize this point, I’m taking this opportunity to remind everyone that Apple doesn’t just make the AirPods that have taken over so much of every Apple Store’s shelf space and advertising real estate.
Apple still makes the good, old wired EarPods
convenience or security, take your pick
None of this should be that surprising. It’s been widely known and kept top of mind that Wi-Fi is less secure than a wired internet connection emanating from your router’s Ethernet port. Many of us have accepted that as a trade-off for the convenience of wireless connection.
“I have been in classified briefings and I’m telling you, don’t be on the train using your (AirPods) thinking someone can’t listen to your conversation,” she told Colbert. Harris would know. She has been a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Apple sells its EarPods with the traditional Lightning connector, but given that even Apple is standardizing around the USB-C connector instead of its proprietary Lightning connector, I’d recommend that you go for the USB-C version of the EarPods.
The world is headed in that direction, and even if you don’t yet have a device with a USB-C port, your next Mac, iPhone, or iPad will almost certainly have one.
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