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One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

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Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#211
post #36
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find Rossman insufferable due to his hyperbolic approach to shaming Apple and having a bone to pick with just about everyone- he's the definition of a narcissist. I agree in principle to "right to repair", but Rossman's motives are purely financial and self promoting. I've watched over 100 hours of his content and realized that his audience is primarily made up of anti-apple PC Master Race fanatics that just want t…

It’s a shame to see this downvoted because even if it’s against what many people believe (we all have “hero’s” and “villains” I suppose, and our hero’s do no wrong) it’s something I also see. I used to watch a lot of Rossman and glossed over his Apple hate because ultimately Apple are putting him and people like him out of a job, so it’s fair to be salty. But a large portion of his content (a few years ago at least)…

This is an amazing remark.

The entire hour is nothing BUT substantiating the opinion.

...in excruciating exhaustive detail that covers every possible excuse and addresses every possible disingenuous argument, exactly because people will try anything to avoid recognizing something they don't want to think about or admit or deal with.

He doesn't say "I don't like Apple because I don't know why, I just don't like their face." He says Apple did X, and here is the evidence that Ape did X, and here is exactly why X is bad. Exactly specifically and explicitly so that no one can possibly even try to say that the statement is just subjective and open to be disregarded.

And here you are proving how even such exhaustive extremes of thoroughness and correctness and see-for-yourselfness don't matter. That is incredibly disheartening to see. It proves once again that right and wrong don't matter. People use the words to suit their own opinions and wants, but they don't actaully matter.

You don't have to like his style or personality, but to say his statements are unsubstantiated opinion is just incredible.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just open youtube.com in a private window and you'll understand Eh it doesn't work like that. Youtube is actually very good at reliably determining it's you who's in that private window and Youtube is even known to track you with WebGL fingerprinting tactics to determine it's the same device. Doing things like spoofing your IP and useragent and using private mode browsing doesn't work. (I still get recommendations…

> Youtube is actually very good at reliably determining it's you who's in that private window Maybe, but it respects the "private" mode far enough to create a separate profile for that. Browsing in private windows is like starting with a fresh account, and over time it'll adapt to the videos there provided you don't switch the device/reinstall the OS etc. (the latter is the reason I know that...I did a lot of distro-…

I'm referring to this when I talk about WebGL fingerprinting: https://jonatron.github.io/webgl-fingerprinting/

Since Youtube fingerprints your device, it builds a shadow profile tied to that device, so that even in incognito/private sessions, you will get recommended videos that you recently watched, despite the anecdotal claims of others that they don't encounter this.

The only way to defeat that is to use an entirely separate device on a separate network that has a different fingerprint.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#213

Living in Shenzhen, it’s shocking how easy it is to go out and repair stuff. Living in Palo Alto, it’s frustrating how hard it is. I’m thinking maybe, just maybe, introducing repairability laws won’t solve the problem. I am perfectly happy upgrading the memory on my MacBook Air with a reflow air station rather than swapping out some dims if it means my laptop is half as thick and twice as rugged. I’m also just as hap…

The reason it can be done in China is because those shops illegally obtain the parts (whether counterfeit or stolen, since Apple won't intentionally sell them to anyone) and resources (schematics, software, etc) to be able to do so.

This situation is both good and bad. Stolen parts are good, in the sense that this grey market at least allows consumers to repair devices cost-effectively. It's also bad, because besides it essentially being theft, the grey market opens the door to bad actors who pass off used/defective/rejected/counterfeit parts as the real thing.

Repairability laws would actually help here. You would get the same repair shops in the US if Apple was forced to provide schematics & parts at a reasonable cost, with no risk of counterfeits or bad parts.

This is a big deal, and the reason there's so much opposition to right to repair, even beyond Apple. If R2R was a stupid, niche, geeky idea that doesn't bother anyone it would quietly get passed and that would be it, but the reason people are bothered by it and oppose it is because device manufacturers (whether computers or cars or farm equipment) actually make a lot of money off the status-quo.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#214
post #82

Apple's fight against right to repair while pushing materials to the public that state they are trying to reduce their carbon footprint is the absolute peak of hypocrisy. I understand the closed off design of their products is a result of the Steve Jobs era, but why can't the current leadership make a change? Why can't Apple make their products easily repairable while making them aesthetically pleasing? The typical "…

Some devices like the Magic Mouse become paperweights after the battery fails and cannot be repaired at all.

I think one part of the problem is all of the encouragement and virtue signaling around recycling. A friend told me “Apple is the best tech company for the environment because they recycle more than any others”.

Reduce > Reuse > Recycle

The fact that Apple peripherals are not user repairable is an absolute environmental disaster.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#215
post #53

Rossmann is seriously a national treasure. Along with Lex Fridman the two Youtube personalities irrefutably prove fair mindedness, humility & sincerity is valued. My fears that content online would eventually consist of nothing but selfies, food pics & competitive victimhood are somewhat reduced. I'd like to see Rossmann on Fridman's podcast.

Lex Fridman misrepresents his role at MIT to make himself sound more accomplished than he really is, and the way he went about putting out his self driving car research directly to the press instead of going through peer review is shady. The guy is a cringeworthy grifter. He’s trying to be viewed as some AI expert but he’s totally full of shit.

In the last 1-2 years he has diverged greatly from the AI stuff to just being a podcaster that brings on interesting guests.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#216
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just open youtube.com in a private window and you'll understand Eh it doesn't work like that. Youtube is actually very good at reliably determining it's you who's in that private window and Youtube is even known to track you with WebGL fingerprinting tactics to determine it's the same device. Doing things like spoofing your IP and useragent and using private mode browsing doesn't work. (I still get recommendations…

In incognito, I get nothing similar to what I would actually watch. Nothing is even remotely similar. It's scarily different, and none of it interests me.

Watch a single video that's even remotely related to the topics you watched before and your entire suggestion history will be back (even those unrelated to the single video you watched).

When they see a new profile they are basically testing the waters. They suspect it's you, but leave the benefit of the doubt in case it's a legitimately new user. But just giving them a few "fuzzy" data points like watching a video or two will give them enough confidence to fully link your previous activity to the new session despite never providing any concrete evidence such as logging in with the same account.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#217

Living in Shenzhen, it’s shocking how easy it is to go out and repair stuff. Living in Palo Alto, it’s frustrating how hard it is. I’m thinking maybe, just maybe, introducing repairability laws won’t solve the problem. I am perfectly happy upgrading the memory on my MacBook Air with a reflow air station rather than swapping out some dims if it means my laptop is half as thick and twice as rugged. I’m also just as hap…

Part of that could be the ratio of part cost to labor cost.

I do agree that there's no culture of appreciating schematics around Palo Alto.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#218
post #26

Apple silicon repair: do you want an new device or just a new mobo. Costs the same

my opinion is that device makers should be allowed to make things unrepairable in design, but not in post-sale scarcity. The new macbook airs probably could have been just a tad thicker if they included modular ram and a m.2 ssd, but some consumers (and reviewers) really do like to chase thinness and will chastise Apple to continue to try to make their products as thin as a sheet of paper.

The right to repair won't in any way affect the thickness of new products. This isn't what the fight is for (or against). And there's no reason to think something in this matter would change after right to repair is passed. It has nothing to do with RAM or disk connections.

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#219

Rossmann is seriously a national treasure. Along with Lex Fridman the two Youtube personalities irrefutably prove fair mindedness, humility & sincerity is valued. My fears that content online would eventually consist of nothing but selfies, food pics & competitive victimhood are somewhat reduced. I'd like to see Rossmann on Fridman's podcast.

A major problem with Rossmann I have is that he leaned into a strong anti-Apple PCMasterRace crowd. For them, listening to him rant against Apple gives them a fun confirmation bias that they were right to buy PCs. They enjoy listening to that, but his very long rants aren't very interesting to newcomers or for spreading right to repair to new audiences. Does my mom have time for a 45-minute rant full of complex techn…

You do realize that apple products is what he work on/specialize in, right?

Or do you rather that Rossmann talk about what he doesn't know?

Re: One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

#220
post #36
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find Rossman insufferable due to his hyperbolic approach to shaming Apple and having a bone to pick with just about everyone- he's the definition of a narcissist. I agree in principle to "right to repair", but Rossman's motives are purely financial and self promoting. I've watched over 100 hours of his content and realized that his audience is primarily made up of anti-apple PC Master Race fanatics that just want t…

It’s a shame to see this downvoted because even if it’s against what many people believe (we all have “hero’s” and “villains” I suppose, and our hero’s do no wrong) it’s something I also see. I used to watch a lot of Rossman and glossed over his Apple hate because ultimately Apple are putting him and people like him out of a job, so it’s fair to be salty. But a large portion of his content (a few years ago at least)…

Well said. I certainly liked him for a while, but eventually he just went too far. I understand he has a "base" that loves his schtick, but it's not for me.

Some alternatives:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeHILuUwWmHDQqbocxUvVoA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOrKQtC1tDfGf_fFVb8pYw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRBWJ9JeJ3Q8ssn_ibii-Cg

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