IFixit announced a USB-C "smart" soldering iron for precision work away from the mains, and a cellphone-sized 100W battery/control box to go with it. Together, they're the Fixhub, but the iron will work from any USB-C power source that provides at least 35W (65W is recommended). — Read the rest
I have a broken mouse. The scroll-wheel doesn't scroll, though it does at least middle-click. It's not broken enough to be inoperable, but it's too broken to use without being annoying, and I expected to throw it away as soon as I could replace it. — Read the rest
Our friends at IFixIt bought an Apple Watch 6 the second it became available and took it apart to see what makes it tick, or not tick, I guess.
Join me, EFF attorney Kit Walsh and iFixit's Kyle Wiens — along with special guests! — in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session tomorrow (Thursday) from 11AM-3PM Pacific; we'll be talking about the upcoming Copyright Office hearings on creating exceptions to the DMCA to make room for independent repair and security research. — Read the rest
Apple's education-centric new Ipad is meant to be used in rambunctious classrooms where drops and other abuse will be commonplace; it is also meant to compete with relatively easy-to-service Pixelbooks that school district IT departments can fix themselves or get repaired by a wide variety of independent, local service depots whose community-based technicians do repairs onsite and also keep local tax dollars circulating in the community.
Ifixit's Pro Tech Toolkit comes with 64 specialized screw bits that help my wife and I get into many restricted areas of technology.
The carrying case rolls out like a sleeping bag, with the goodies neatly tucked into tiny canvas holders, and the clever container that holds the bits is held to the carrying case by a magnet – easily detached when needed. — Read the rest
"Use the right tool for the right job." Someone in your life has undoubtedly dropped this line on you at one point, and while it's tempting to blow off – it's also correct. Using the wrong tool can often cause more problems than you started with. — Read the rest
Ifixit produce open repair guides for everything imaginable, in a variety of languages, and help sustain a global community of independent repairers who divert electronics from e-waste dumps and keep poor and marginalized people connected to their work, school and families.
Motherboard's Jason Koebler follows Kyle Wiens around the Electronics Reuse Conference — Burning Man for the service-people who fix your phones, laptops, and other devices — in New Orleans. Wiens is founder and CEO of Ifixit, whose mission is to tear down every single thing you own, write a repair manual for it, and source or manufacture the parts you need to fix it yourself.
Content-based App Store takedowns aren't just for drone killing anymore: Apple's also removed the Ifixit App, which offers you third-party manuals for fixing things you own, including your Apple products.
Electronic repairs are not always your average toolbox fix. The Pro Tech Screwdriver Set ($59.95)includes all the parts necessary to tackle any tricky repair or cleaning required to get your gadgets running smoothly. Even get into those complex Apple devices with the included pentalobe drivers! — Read the rest
The Apple Watch is difficult to take apart, and any repairs — other than replacing the battery, band, and display — are pretty much impossible. That's what our friends at iFixIt concluded after they flew to Australia to be among the first people in the world to buy an Apple Watch, which they promptly destroyed in the name of knowledge. — Read the rest
Ifixit is celebrating MacGyver's birthday with an Action Hero Toolkit in a Altos-tin-sized-tin. It includes a bobby pin, a match, a rubber band, bubble gum, a birthday candle, a paper clip (natch), a shoelace, a 1 cent stamp and duct-tape. $6. — Read the rest
Ifixit and Wired got together to do a teardown of an FBI tracking gadget: "The device was loaned to us by a person who found the device on their car, and is similar to the one Yasir Afifi recently found underneath his own vehicle. — Read the rest
It's a truth universally acknowledged that McDonald's McFlurry ice cream machines are broken more often than not. As of this very writing, there's about a 15 percent failure rate across the entire United States, according to McBroken.
In 2023, the folks at iFixit tried to figure out the source of the problem—which turned out to largely be an issue of copyright law:
— Read the restDid you know that when an ice cream machine is "broken," it's often just software getting in the way?
At Techdirt, Karl Bode reports on efforts to get the Federal Trade Commission to do something about companies that ruin hardware with software updates. Some will remove features or limit functionality; some will outright turn what you bought into a brick to avoid the costs of maintenance or to get you shopping for more. — Read the rest
The Teenage Engineering OP-1 is a cult synthesizer used by countless electronic musicians across genres. Launched in 2011, it was out of stock from 2018-2019, restocked with a 35% price increase in February of that year, and officially replaced in 2022 by the OP-1 Field. — Read the rest
This Radio Shack mechanical Robie coin bank from the 80s is so much fun to watch when it feeds itself a coin.
The coin bank is designed to look like a cute, googly-eyed robot. When a coin is placed in its hand, here's what happens:
1. — Read the rest
Blowing into Nintendo cartridges loosens dust but accellerates corrosion and shortenes their lives. This is perhaps the well-known given wisdom these days, but iFixit took a deeper dive into the cartridge conundrum. Teardowns!
Here's a video showing off that official cleaning kit, embedded below. — Read the rest
It's hot. The windows are all down, the AC barely works, it's 110˚F in the shade and 94% humidity. Everything is terrible and you still have another 6 hours of driving ahead of you. This stretch of highway, there's nothing but mini malls and gas station exits. — Read the rest
