One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks • Hacker News Board

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

#281

Post by soheil » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:01 PM UTC

tcoff91 wrote: post #53

howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #2

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.

Completely agree and very interesting how shallow the bar to praiseworthiness has become. Just put the words MIT, AI and self-driving car research on your bio line and you can sell snake oil to millions on Youtube.

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

#282

Post by dataflow » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:02 PM UTC

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #201

addicted wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And last week he released a video titled “The myth & fallacy that one brand is the problem”. 3 days ago “ASUS becomes a meme” with the thumbnail text “ASUS ARE YOU KIDDING”. The guy runs a Mac repair store. That’s his day business. It doesn’t sound inauthentic that he would have more complaints about Apple products. Further, as far as right to repair is concerned, it’s undeniable that Apple is easily the worst of the…

"it's undeniable that Apple is easily the worst of the lot" Actually, it's quite deniable. You can't find Hardware repair manuals for many if not most new PC laptops. Most PC laptops have oversights in their design that would make Rossmann blush if he took a look at them. My parents had a $500 2018 HP that the screen broke off of, after only a year of use, even though it was always on a desk and it literally broke by…

> Actually, it's quite deniable. You can't find Hardware repair manuals for many if not most new PC laptops.

Others are now going in this direction following Apple's lead. Did you forget Apple literally goes so far as to make the screws nonstandard just deliberately out of spite for repair? Did you forget about Error 53? And mind you, Apple charges a premium. If Apple was charging $500 he would be taking that into account too. It's quite undeniable Apple has stood out like a sore thumb for a long time. He literally has hours (days? weeks?) of rants about shenanigans unique to Apple going back for years so please don't make us rehash them all here.

> Most PC laptops have oversights in their design that would make Rossmann blush if he took a look at them. My parents had a $500 2018 HP that the screen broke off of, after only a year of use, even though it was always on a desk and it literally broke by itself from just opening/closing because the hinges were too weak for the 17" display or something.

I thought the discussion was about hardware manuals. Not product quality.

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

#283

Post by gjsman-1000 » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:03 PM UTC

simion314 wrote: post #279

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Sure dude, it was not the app name sent in plain text but the app certificate, what is the difference?" Every OS on the planet will verify developer certificates to ensure that the app you are using is genuine. Windows uses SmartScreen, for example. Like I said, it's the same protocol (OCSP - Online Certificate Status Protocol) Windows and other apps use for certificate verification, so Apple is hardly doing anythin…

>Every OS on the planet will verify developer certificates ... In plain text? I know how this shit works, I digitally signed things before, and for this verification there is no need for internet. So copy pasted a lot of tech stuff there but it is complexly wrong. I could explain it how it works and why intenet is not needed but you could use google and figure it out, then find out what exactly Apple was checking(it…

"In plain text? I know how this shit works, I digitally signed things before, and for this verification there is no need for internet. So copy pasted a lot of tech stuff there but it is complexly wrong. I could explain it how it works and why intenet is not needed but you could use google and figure it out, then find out what exactly Apple was checking(it was not the developer signiture)."

Actually, you do need the internet to ensure that the certificate was not revoked. This is partly why Apple put in the whole App Notarization thing in Catalina, because when you Notarize the app, MacOS can check if the Notarization was revoked whereas a simple Developer Certificate from a security company is a harder thing to revoke on demand or to check the authenticity of.

Notarization gives Apple, for better or worse, to immediately revoke a Developer Certificate without the need to check in with the Developer and have the developer signing certificate revoked from GeoTrust or whoever issued it. The Mac then checks in with Apple servers if the notarization is valid, and if it is valid, the app runs; and if it isn't valid, it knows it's been tampered with and revokes the app.

One benefit of Notarization is that it helps protect Apple and MacOS users from developer supply-side attacks like XcodeGhost. If the developer was compromised resulting in the code's legitimate source being poisoned and a hacked update was distributed, Apple could still immediately revoke that app because the Mac checks in when online.

"Tim could hire some competent guy to write a clear email to prevent this. Also your point insinuates that you can cause a lot of damage to an iOS device with just an email and a link!! be careful Apple might not like you insinuating iOs is such terrible at security."

I said Phishing Scam. A scam where you enter your credit card info for a fictional security software. Not all scams require a software hack.

"Cure, malware sending data over the intenet behind the users back is harmless."

Researchers analyzed it and concluded that it sent nothing back to the hackers. So it was indeed harmless. Apple also knew that their updates have a 90%+ opt-in rate, so when the next update went out, most users would have it automatically removed, and anyone who didn't update would likely restart their iPhone at some point, in which case AppleMobileFileIntegrity would detect and kill it.

"Ah, OK so Apple and Google shit stinks as bad, nothing new... Apple and Google are in the same boat, just one has some better PR and a big army of fanboys. Luckily the users found out and a judge forced this assholes companies to confess, otherwise next time the storage would say 500Gb but in reality would be half."

What BS are you spouting?

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

#284

Post by Macha » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:03 PM UTC

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #265

kaibee wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you been actually paying attention to the actual right to repair content? It is still relatively Apple heavy, because that's his business, but he's had medical device repair people on, and he's talked about the much broader scope of the issue basically every single time. I'm very confused by this criticism tbh.

Yes, he talks about John Deere, or medical devices, but he never talks about HP, Lenovo, Dell, Surface, Acer, or any PC manufacturer flaws, many of which have flaws worse than Apple's. This is what makes him look dishonest because laptop repair is his specialty - he should be awesome at detecting or pointing out how they have problems too, but he caters to the PC crowd and says nothing.

Here's how you replace the RAM on Dell's ultraportable line: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Dell_XPS_15_9550

The last Intel Macbook Pro? Get out your soldering iron: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+16-Inch+2019+Tea...

Similarly, if you want to replace/upgrade/perform data recovery for the storage? https://www.windowscentral.com/upgrade-ssd-dell-xps-15-9570

Apple? Forget about it. Hope you paid the inflated storage prices at the time you bought it.

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

#285

Post by SMAAART » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:06 PM UTC

What an interesting guy. So, YouTubing for therapy? Good one!

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

#286

Post by fsociety » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:08 PM UTC

bstar77 wrote: post #24

howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #2

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.

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…

I agree with your characterization but don’t think that it makes him insufferable or have questionable motives. He’s authentic to himself and shows it on YouTube warts and all. Have to respect that. Take his videos as 50-75% opinion and it’s all good.

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

#287

Post by joana035 » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:09 PM UTC

unishark wrote: post #204

jmpman wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve learned more about commercial real estate from Louis than I would have from other sources. There are disincentives for commercial real estate owners to lower their leasing rates, as it can drive a re-evaluation of loan criteria by the banks, forcing the owner to immediately increase equity. Banks don’t want this to happen, as it makes their books look bad. Watching his business struggle through Covid fills me wi…

> Recently, his shop was fined for not registering used laptops that his customers had abandoned for repair. Sure, NYC is attempting to prevent stolen laptops from being resold, but the level of bureaucratic idiocy turns Rossman’s channel into a Shakespearen comedy. I saw this complaint and didn't follow what NYC did wrong. If one isn't allowed to sell "unregistered" laptops or whatever, why would abandoned customer…

So what should he do to computers he spent time and money to fix and clients abandoned? Throw them into the bin?

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

#288

Post by gjsman-1000 » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:11 PM UTC

Macha wrote: post #284

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, he talks about John Deere, or medical devices, but he never talks about HP, Lenovo, Dell, Surface, Acer, or any PC manufacturer flaws, many of which have flaws worse than Apple's. This is what makes him look dishonest because laptop repair is his specialty - he should be awesome at detecting or pointing out how they have problems too, but he caters to the PC crowd and says nothing.

Here's how you replace the RAM on Dell's ultraportable line: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Dell_XPS_15_9550 The last Intel Macbook Pro? Get out your soldering iron: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+16-Inch+2019+Tea... Similarly, if you want to replace/upgrade/perform data recovery for the storage? https://www.windowscentral.com/upgrade-ssd-dell-xps-15-9570 Apple? Forget about it. Hope you paid the inflated…

That's not what I was talking about. I was talking about how if your Surface has a problem with screens spontaneously cracking, will Rossmann even mention it? He won't. He knows his crowd, and he keeps quiet about criticizing his crowd's products.

Also, this myth that Apple storage prices are inflated needs to die. The SSD speeds are unlike PC SSD speeds on all but the most expensive PCs, and Microsoft charges more for their SSDs on the Surface line.

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

#289

Post by Nextgrid » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:12 PM UTC

paulgerhardt wrote: post #261

Nextgrid wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

By volume, the chips on the open market aren’t stolen and most aren’t counterfeit. Most are legitimate and a fair amount of the suspiciously cheap parts are binned or older revisions. The scale of the chip marketplace is more akin to sum of the agricultural output of California’s Central Valley - not your weekend farmers market. No one is messing around with stolen parts in these kind of quantities. The reason compan…

I don't mean chips per-se, I mean complete assemblies like iPhone displays. As far as I know, there's no "legitimate" source for those, it's all either outright stolen, counterfeit or bad/rejected parts.

> because reverse logistics (how you deal broken/returned goods) is already a huge cost center and the legislation as proposed would make it more so

How would right to repair affect that? And if it wasn't profit-motivated how do you explain the extreme efforts some manufacturers do to prevent people from repairing their own devices (like iPhone cameras being associated with the logic board and not being usable in any other phone of the same model)?

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

#290

Post by dataflow » Sun, May 23, 2021, 8:13 PM UTC

judge2020 wrote: post #268

me_me_me wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have sub his channel years before the R2R stuff. One thing that can be said about him is that he supports R2R fro a selfish reason of being able to keep his business afloat. > Somewhere along the way -- maybe after Apple had customs block some of his imports, or maybe after he started getting those fat YouTube checks -- he turned from an Apple repair guy to an anti-Apple advocate in virtually every dimension. (...)…

I think most people are against supporting bad people just because they do something good. You can like Right to repair and can support it even financially (assuming the gofundme funds will be dedicated to the direct ballot and not other endeavors), but I and many others don't like that Rossman is the one who is harboring this when he has moved from well-done repair videos to rants about anything that can be ranted a…

> I think most people are against supporting bad people just because they do something good

> I and many others don't like that Rossman is the one who is harboring this when he has moved from well-done repair videos to rants about anything that can be ranted about.

He rants on random topics that's what his audience likes to watch. And mind you, they're often quite educational and make you think. Even when he's wrong.

It's ludicrous to say he's a bad person because he rants about something other than R2R in some of his videos. It's like you cannot fathom a good person can have more than one topic he's interested in?