Stop trying to make hardware last forever. Who here would like to use hardware from 2017? iPhone x anyone? The lifetime of these devices is defined by the reasonable update schedule of the consumer, which is based on moores law. 5 years is a reasonable update schedule. Then put one in a museum and live in the now. You get this much time forget the nostalgia https://www.bryanbraun.com/your-life/months.html
Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
101–110 of 353 posts
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#102How about we mandate user replaceable batteries (with some kind of wording to make it easy enough for normal humans with no glue and connectors that don't snap easily). Once upon a time I had an HTC Evo 4G that I could do this with. Mandating that they admit the death date seems to be baking in some level of stockholm syndrome.
Could you drop your HTC Evo 4G in water and it still work?
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#103I've made AirPods last longer than any other pair of earbuds I've ever had. It's the cord. For me, a max of six months of fiddling with the damn thing and it breaks. I've had real headphones last quite a bit longer— but I buy the ones with replaceable cords. The pair I still have is on its fourth cord and second pair of muffs. I don't view it as any sort of economic, human, or environmental catastrophe, that they sto…
> I've made AirPods last longer than any other pair of earbuds I've ever had. same... now if only i could easily replace the batteries, it would be almost perfect (they just die on me mid-call sometimes)
And how much larger would they be?
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
As people get richer, they can and will afford better food, including from suppliers with better reputation. As people get richer, they also often tend to demand stricter regulation, but that doesn't necessarily mean the regulation is the driving factor. The Chinese market for eg baby formula might be a good example. On average, baby formula consumed in China today is less dodgy than it was in the past. A big part of…
>The Chinese market for eg baby formula might be a good example Um, what? The Chinese government executed people over adulterations of products. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna28... Sorry for the Amp link
The rare case where China gets something right.
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#105I wonder if there is a market for higher end products that are truly built to last. Not so much things like cell phones (although I believe it should be mandatory that the batteries be easily replacable)... more like large appliances: refrigerators, washing machines, etc. Like, how hard would it be to separate all the little stupid useless features from the hardcore functional ones and make it so that things like con…
Its an interesting idea as the biggest problem where I live is the cost of labour to repair.
By the time you get a serviceman out to take a look, order the part, come back and fix it the cost is approaching half that of a new machine.
I've fixed my espresso machine, washing machine and fridge with parts that are usually sub $50, but they wouldn't have been viable to fix if I had to get a serviceman in for it.
I'm not sure any of the repairs could have been made much easier, for example the front panel/MCU for my washing machine can be replaced in minutes, just remove about 6 phillips head screws to get the top and panel off, swap the connectors over, done.
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#106I think the smart thing to do now is to buy products with the fewest features as possible and has decoupled components like easily replaceable batteries. I've noticed that the dumber the device is, the longer it usually lasts. I'd rather buy an analog watch than a smartwatch. I'd rather have a dumb TV than a smart TV. I'd rather have a mouse with hot swappable batteries than one with a built-in charger.
Unfortunately, analog watches don’t allow me to leave my phone at home when I go for a run and let me listen to music, take phone calls, get directions, track my speed, etc.
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#107Stop trying to make hardware last forever. Who here would like to use hardware from 2017? iPhone x anyone? The lifetime of these devices is defined by the reasonable update schedule of the consumer, which is based on moores law. 5 years is a reasonable update schedule. Then put one in a museum and live in the now. You get this much time forget the nostalgia https://www.bryanbraun.com/your-life/months.html
How about forcing companies to do being so wasteful with badly, badly oh so badly written software.
Sure advances happen but nearly nobody _needs_ the equivalent of avx2048 on a phone.
Windows XP lasted almost an entire generation in computing terms. Sure it probably wasn't the most fun thing to work on by the time it was retired but Microsoft kept that going as the 64bit era launched and pcie and x86 multicore became the norm. Saying it can't be done is just excusing not wanting to go back and fix things or maintain stuff.
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#108Planned obsolescence for electronics is a recent development in terms of human history. My parents remember times where hardware was incredibly reliable and could've bought electronics and products that lasted for decades.
Nowadays there are deliberate design decisions in every product that cause these things to break down before their time.
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would mostly consider that law to be a good idea. But suppose I want to leave a temperature sensor on a mountainside somewhere, or attach a depth sensor to a walrus. Those are cases where I tend to suspect that it might be better for the manufacturer to have a lot of freedom as to the form of the object, and an expected lifetime after which the nonreplaceable battery dies may be the best of all possible worlds.
> But suppose I want... Like with GDPR where people imagined all sorts of situations ad absurdum (the grocer on the corner not being allowed to ask for your birthday anymore to give you a yearly free product or some such), these laws generally have exceptions for things where it makes sense. They aren't cooked up overnight in isolation and aren't the oneliner that you read online. I would expect that your mentioned e…
Yes because a 99 section 11 chapter law whose only affect is to make the web worse with cookie banners everywhere is a model of government effectiveness.
Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret
#110Stop trying to make hardware last forever. Who here would like to use hardware from 2017? iPhone x anyone? The lifetime of these devices is defined by the reasonable update schedule of the consumer, which is based on moores law. 5 years is a reasonable update schedule. Then put one in a museum and live in the now. You get this much time forget the nostalgia https://www.bryanbraun.com/your-life/months.html
I'm using and developing on a 2013 MBA, thank you. Phones become obsolete because the underlying tech has been going through large changes, but I can certainly get more than 5 years out of them. To top it off, I live in an affluent country. Imagine those countries where a $500 phone is a gigantic deal.