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A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

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Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#101

Post by bigfatkitten »

IgorPartola wrote: post #92
alexpotato wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of an old story about Hertz and Ford Mustangs. Goes something like this: - Ford makes the original Mustang (which everyone loves) - Ford makes different versions of the Mustang (some more powerful than others e.g. the Shelby) - Hertz had a special custom Shelby model made for them - You could rent that special model from Hertz - So, people would buy a lower end Mustang, rent the higher end Mustang fro…

I have also heard of people swapping parts with rental cars, including tires. And apparently some rental agencies will mark their tires to make sure you didn’t swap them.

Happens a lot.

Hardware store near me has a tandem axle rental trailer where no two rims or tyres are the same.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#102

Post by BrenBarn »

neilv wrote: post #18

> By embedding telemetry capabilities directly within the firmware, we ensure that device health and usage data is captured the moment it is collected. This data is stored securely on HP SSD drives, leveraging hardware-based security measures to protect against unauthorized access or manipulation. What I see are more technological affordances for closed firmware behavior of the device, increasing complexity, and prov…

All my laptops have been used ThinkPads, and I'm on my. . . fifth? And yeah, they've all been fine. The exception is the battery, which can sometimes turn out to quickly become very weak.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#104

Post by mrheosuper »

999900000999 wrote: post #62
GuinansEyebrows wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's one alternative. another is: the corporation is regulated against unnecessary waste, and they do their due diligence to ensure the drive is wiped before resale/donation. trade secrets must take a backseat to human rights and toxic pollution from mines.

>trade secrets must take a backseat to human rights and toxic pollution from mines. Or personal medical information, which in some cases( STI status, etc) can ruin thousands of lives if leaked. The solution is recycling the destroyed drives, not banning secure data destruction.

or make sure even if the data is leaked, it's useless.

There is reason we don't store raw plain password in database, even if we know data in database should not be leaked.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#105

Post by happymellon »

BrenBarn wrote: post #102
neilv wrote: post #18

> By embedding telemetry capabilities directly within the firmware, we ensure that device health and usage data is captured the moment it is collected. This data is stored securely on HP SSD drives, leveraging hardware-based security measures to protect against unauthorized access or manipulation. What I see are more technological affordances for closed firmware behavior of the device, increasing complexity, and prov…

All my laptops have been used ThinkPads, and I'm on my. . . fifth? And yeah, they've all been fine. The exception is the battery, which can sometimes turn out to quickly become very weak.

But unlike certain other manufacturers, I've never had an issue replacing parts of Thinkpads including batteries. Even newer models.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#106

Post by happymellon »

ls-a wrote: post #24
mrweasel wrote: post #7

For people outside the US (maybe?), CarFax has no meaning, so the analogy is a bit confusing. The whole thing make no sense. They plan to store the report on the SSD (but not just any SSD, an HP SSD), so that the telemetry is retained between operating system install. I'll give them points for doing on device data collection, but what if I replace the SSD? Maybe they don't plan on making that user replaceable, but th…

Cars in the US are cheaper so in some countries they are shipped, fixed, and sold. People pay to see the CarFax to see how bad the accident was. There's a big market for it outside the U.S. surprisingly. U.S. cars can be easily identified by their yellow indicator lights. You'll see the term "clean CarFax" a lot in online dealerships outside the U.S. Although I feel for PCs it's a bit silly

> U.S. cars can be easily identified by their yellow indicator lights.

Surely you mean lack of?

One thing thats been notable with cars in North America is the dual use brake and indicators lights.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#107

Post by venusenvy47 »

kmoser wrote: post #63
ok123456 wrote: post #14

Is there any value added here? Carfax exists because of the possibility of buying a car with extensive damage that looks cosmetically ok. Additionally, the service records they collect indicate that a vehicle has undergone regular maintenance. Computers, for the most part, aren't getting in major accidents and reentering the stream of commerce. Additionally, there's no significant mechanical maintenance required, exc…

AFAIK, at least some repairs done by non-dealers are never reported to Carfax, making it prone to false negatives.

I had some body work performed on my car, and the shop had a sign that explained that they don't report to Carfax.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#108

Post by ls-a »

happymellon wrote: post #106
ls-a wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars in the US are cheaper so in some countries they are shipped, fixed, and sold. People pay to see the CarFax to see how bad the accident was. There's a big market for it outside the U.S. surprisingly. U.S. cars can be easily identified by their yellow indicator lights. You'll see the term "clean CarFax" a lot in online dealerships outside the U.S. Although I feel for PCs it's a bit silly

> U.S. cars can be easily identified by their yellow indicator lights. Surely you mean lack of? One thing thats been notable with cars in North America is the dual use brake and indicators lights.

What about the front-side indicators? I was referring to those.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#109

Post by happymellon »

ls-a wrote: post #108
happymellon wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> U.S. cars can be easily identified by their yellow indicator lights. Surely you mean lack of? One thing thats been notable with cars in North America is the dual use brake and indicators lights.

What about the front-side indicators? I was referring to those.

Because yellow front indicators is definitely not limited to North America.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#110

Post by ls-a »

happymellon wrote: post #109
ls-a wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the front-side indicators? I was referring to those.

Because yellow front indicators is definitely not limited to North America.

Well it's one "indicator" that the car is a US one.
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