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
Oregon is the fourth state to pass a bill giving consumers the right to fix their own appliances and gadgets, reports The Oregonian. The right to repair is building steam.
— Read the restThe bill passed the Oregon Senate last month 25-5 and the House on Monday 42-13.
Belgium is in the headlines in today's exciting recycling news.
France was the first European country to introduce a reparability index. Essentially, this is a score that indicates how viable it is to repair an object, like, say, a washing machine. — Read the rest
On November 14th, iFixit and the Public Interest Research Group submitted a petition demanding that American consumer's rights to repair be cemented as law. As iFixit puts, it, everyone should have the right to fix what they own. "If you can't fix it, you don't own it". — Read the rest
California Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed into law California's Right-to-Repair bill, which guarantees access to parts and manuals and aims to extend the longevity of our gadgets. All such devices costing $50 or more, sold in California after July 1, 2021, are covered by the law, which was ultimately backed by Apple and some other major manufacturers. — Read the rest
California is set to pass only the second substantive right-to-repair bill in the U.S. after its state House and Senate each unanimously approved it. A procedural vote and the governor's pen are all that stands between the Right to Repair Act and becoming law. — Read the rest
Apple is reportedly throwing its lot in with California's right-to-repair law after previously opposing it, a "surprise" move elsewhere described as "hell freezing over." Though the company had softened its stance against consumer- and third-party repairs in recent years, making parts and tools available, the volte face on policy has deeper legal and political significance. — Read the rest
Nokia's G22 is a budget Android smartphone that comes with an iFixit repair kit—spudgers, screwdrivers and even a wee sucker for the touchscreen—and instructions on how to perform maintenance and get parts.
— Read the restAdam Ferguson, head of product marketing at HMD Global, said that this process would cost on average 30% less than replacing an old phone with a new one.
You broke it, you fix it. After years of wrangling over the right to repair, Apple today launches its self-repair service, offering various tools, manuals and teeny little parts to the public.
— Read the restThe new online store offers more than 200 individual parts and tools, enabling customers who are experienced with the complexities of repairing electronic devices to complete repairs on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups and iPhone SE (3rd generation), such as the display, battery, and camera.
Framework makes laptops that are designed to be easily disassembled and upgraded but are as thin and light as mainstream models. Prices start at $999 for an off-the-shelf model and $749 for a bag o' parts kit; depending on how you configure it, it'll ship in September or October. — Read the rest
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, threw his weight behind the right-to-repair movement Thursday. Apple, of course, would very much prefer you just bought a new one.
— Read the rest"We wouldn't have had an Apple had I not grown up in a very open technology world," Mr Wozniak, its co-founder with Steve Jobs in the 1970s, said.
Luke Tully writes that Apple wanted to charge him $2051, in Canadian dollars, to repair a "minimally damaged" laptop screen. This is more than the replacement cost of the entire machine.
— Read the restThis was the single most dissapointing interaction I've had with any tech support rep as far as I can recall.
Ten years ago, Apple released the Ipad. I was in a hotel room in Seattle, jetlagged and awake at 4AM while my wife and daughter slept.
Copyright rules are made with the needs of the entertainment industry in mind, designed to provide the legal framework for creators, investors, distributors, production houses, and other parts of the industry to navigate their disputes and assert their interests.
None of us signed up for an Internet composed of "a group of five websites, each consisting of screenshots of text from the other four", but here we are, watching as hyper-concentrated industries rack up catastrophic victories against net neutrality, right to repair, security auditing, and a host of other issues.
As with last year, the Mozilla Foundation's privacy researchers have produced a guide to electronic gifts called "Privacy Not Included," which rates gadgets on a "creepiness" scale, with devices like the Sonos One SL dumb "smart speaker" (Sonos ripped out all the junk that isn't about playing music) getting top marks, and Ring Security Cams, Nest Cams, Amazon Echos, and other cam/mic-equipped gadgets coming in as "Super Creepy!" — Read the rest
John Brownlee traces the rise and fall of steampunk, a genre and aesthetic I know is close to many hearts 'round these parts. (Some of my own thoughts on the matter are quoted.) The arrival of smartphones was a key moment, he writes, putting technology permanently within reach — and beyond it. — Read the rest
Hkmap Live is a crowdsourced app that uses reports from a Telegram group to track the locations of protesters, police, and traffic, as well as the use of antipersonnel weapons like tear gas, mass arrests of people wearing t-shirts associated with the protest movement, and mass transit closures in proximity to demonstrations (it's a bit like Sukey, the British anti-kettling app).
Microsoft is no stranger to the use of "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" in the pursuit of monopolistic goals; the company perfected the tactic in the early 1990s as a way of scaring enterprise customers away from GNU/Linux; today, the company shows off its mastery of FUD in its filings to the Federal Trade Commission condemning proposals for Right-to-Repair rules.
