My iPhone 8 Refuses to Die: Now It's a Solar-Powered Vision OCR Server

Post by crazygringo » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 3:12 PM UTC

progbits wrote: post #146

crazygringo wrote: post #143

> The phone’s battery health held up reasonably well. After over a year of constant operation, it’s at 76% capacity. I have an iPhone SE that I've tried keeping plugged in all the time and its battery has turned into a spicy pillow three times, first with Apple replacing the whole device (since they won't touch it with a swollen battery), then using third-party replacement kits. This isn't going to work for long if t…

Most of these devices can't run "without touching the battery" because the external supply can't provide the required peak current, so during some CPU burst it would shut off. I've seen hacks that replace the battery with a supercapacitor though.

Post by encom » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 3:45 PM UTC

irrational wrote: post #97

cortesoft wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like, how is it even justified—does Apple really spend $99 on infra maintenance and server costs to host your app? How much something costs is not what determines how much a company charges for something. A company sets prices based on what will make it the most money. A company only lowers prices if they think doing so will generate higher total profits in the long run. Apple seems to think charging $99 a year for…

There can’t be that many iOS developers that the $99 really affects their bottom line. I always assumed it was a barrier to entry to help discourage low effort apps.

Post by KolibriFly » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 4:12 PM UTC

behnamoh wrote: post #29

nancyminusone wrote: post #12

>I’m saving approximately $84-120 CAD annually. I suppose most of this is eaten up by the need to pay apple $99 per year just to run your own app on your own phone for longer than a week.

This Apple fee is one of the most absurd things they do. Like, how is it even justified—does Apple really spend $99 on infra maintenance and server costs to host your app? When I buy a device I want to know that I own it, but Apple keeps pushing the narrative that "we LET you use this device in ways we see fit". So basically the customer is just borrowing a device from Apple while paying the full price. I'm a longtim…

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 4:26 PM UTC

deadbabe wrote: post #132

CaptainFever wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not your business. This is just the old nothing to hide argument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument

The idea of him looking outside a window at peaceful birds feeding, while his phone also sits in the foreground of the window crunching whatever horrifying OCR workloads may be hitting the device, is a juxtaposition worthy of cinema.

Post by kccqzy » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 4:40 PM UTC

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #150

crazygringo wrote: post #143

> The phone’s battery health held up reasonably well. After over a year of constant operation, it’s at 76% capacity. I have an iPhone SE that I've tried keeping plugged in all the time and its battery has turned into a spicy pillow three times, first with Apple replacing the whole device (since they won't touch it with a swollen battery), then using third-party replacement kits. This isn't going to work for long if t…

Plug your charger to any Homekit-compatible "smart plug," and create a shortcut that turns the the plug on when the battery reaches 45%, and off when it reaches 55%. This will of course require a Homekit hub.