This article taught me about Liam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYshVbcEmUc
"It is also investing in technology that makes it easier to recycle its products, such as Liam, a robot for disassembling iPhones."
Very cool!
A “right to repair” movement tools up
111–120 of 321 posts
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Batteries can be consumable after a fashion, as they lose capacity with each charge cycle. The effect can be reduced via certain techniques (depending on the battery chemistry involved), but so far never completely eliminated. Just consider it entropy in action, really.
Is there any way to reclaim the resources in a "used up" battery to reintroduce them to the production chain?
You absolutely can, but it's currently not cost-effective. On the other hand it looks like it's cheap enough that making it mandatory or putting a recycling deposit on batteries would be viable.
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#113I think the trend of reclassifying popular commodities or opportunities as "rights" is pretty tacky, and ultimately counterproductive. What you should really want, if you like reparability, is a market for reparable goods. In general, it will be more costly than mass-produced integrated goods, but foisting repair opportunities onto every consumer product will ultimately make people less satisfied with the products on…
Nothing is being "reclassified." Look at John Deere tractors - thanks to the licensing of the software running on those tractors, combined with the DMCA, people do not have the right to repair them. Yes, they bought the tractor, but they will be breaking the law if they fix the tractor themselves.
Being able to work on a machine you own sounds much more like a "right" than an "opportunity" to me.
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#114I've been thinking recently that there is exists a completely unxplored market in tech. Local shops based around FOSS / open hardware where designers, hardware and software people work together to build custom projects for their clients. I would call this person a "technology artisan", because the closest analogue I can think of is a tailor or a carpinter. So, for example, a family would go to their local technology…
Wouldn't that be insanely expensive compared to off the shelf solutions and result in a hodge-podge of insecure, half baked solutions?
yep
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#115I think the trend of reclassifying popular commodities or opportunities as "rights" is pretty tacky, and ultimately counterproductive. What you should really want, if you like reparability, is a market for reparable goods. In general, it will be more costly than mass-produced integrated goods, but foisting repair opportunities onto every consumer product will ultimately make people less satisfied with the products on…
Nothing is being "reclassified." Look at John Deere tractors - thanks to the licensing of the software running on those tractors, combined with the DMCA, people do not have the right to repair them . Yes, they bought the tractor, but they will be breaking the law if they fix the tractor themselves. Being able to work on a machine you own sounds much more like a "right" than an "opportunity" to me.
I'm specifically not arguing for the DMCA provisions which legally protect physical objects based on the copyright on data encoded in them. That is not the whole of what is being argued for, though.
Repair is not a right, ownership is. The problem here is that the DMCA allows something that you consider your property to be ultimately owned by somebody else even after you purchase it.
The problem with smartphones is entirely separate, it's a question of convenience and practicality for third-party repair shops and people who can afford repair tooling for their own devices.
I object to the idea that manufacturers should have a duty to package and sell separately replacement parts for their goods on the open market.
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#116A long time ago I read a Science Fiction short story about a society where everything was unrepairable, throwaway and came with expiry dates. Does not seem too much like Science Fiction nowadays... EDIT: I wonder if anyone might remember the name of the story: The basic plot is a business man living in a throwaway society manages to convince a dying man to sell him his personally developed car. A car that has been bu…
That seems like somewhat of a weak ending, because there's no reason digital clocks and plastic gear levers can't also last for decades.
Also I'll link a sort of inverse to that tale: http://www.eldritchpress.org/owh/shay.html#line01
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#117I've been thinking recently that there is exists a completely unxplored market in tech. Local shops based around FOSS / open hardware where designers, hardware and software people work together to build custom projects for their clients. I would call this person a "technology artisan", because the closest analogue I can think of is a tailor or a carpinter. So, for example, a family would go to their local technology…
Wouldn't that be insanely expensive compared to off the shelf solutions and result in a hodge-podge of insecure, half baked solutions?
> a hodge-podge of insecure, half baked solutions?
That's exactly what the commercial market of Internet of Things devices is so far. You couldn't really make it worse by putting a replaceable ESP8266 or BeagleBone at the heart of each of these gadgets.
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#118I am the proud owner of a Laptop, that I can enjoy for years to come, since I can upgrade and replace disks, RAM and battery (hint: it's the last Macbook Pro that allowed this).
Recently my smartphone battery died and I could order a new one for less than $10 and replace it in 20 seconds.
Both devices are more that four years old but I am not going to replace them with something, that does not have at least this amount of repairability.
Smartphones and laptops with soldered batteries, RAM or SSD? Come on, these things are not throwaway devices - even if this is what marketing wants you to believe.
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#119I've been thinking recently that there is exists a completely unxplored market in tech. Local shops based around FOSS / open hardware where designers, hardware and software people work together to build custom projects for their clients. I would call this person a "technology artisan", because the closest analogue I can think of is a tailor or a carpinter. So, for example, a family would go to their local technology…
> So, for example, a family would go to their local technology artisan to put together a smart home system tailored specifically to their needs.
I am a software developer and consultant and you do not figure how insanely expensive I am - when your family comes through the doors of my artisanal soldering boutique and demands a custom built home automation system, I would suggest them to invest the money in a long, long vacation with the whole family instead.
Re: A “right to repair” movement tools up
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there any way to reclaim the resources in a "used up" battery to reintroduce them to the production chain?
You absolutely can , but it's currently not cost-effective. On the other hand it looks like it's cheap enough that making it mandatory or putting a recycling deposit on batteries would be viable.
Are battery recycling programs near you not feasible? Our local Home Depot and Best Buy stores will take back rechargeable batteries for recycling for free.