Right to Lattepunk
Lattepunk
AirPods are a really great product. So great, that if they were their own business, it'd be a multi-billion dollar business. But even with their greatness, they have a flaw. Like...a MAJOR flaw. They're designed to fail. Which leads you to have to buy a new pair, which then leads to you making your old AirPods into e-waste. And the best way avoid e-waste is repairing our stuff and extending it's life. BUT...that wouldn't really help Apple become the first trillion dollar company, would it? Seriously, try to repair your AirPods. That's where Right to Repair laws help.
The gist of it simple: we should be allowed to repair the devices that we own. That would include having access to replacement parts, tools needed, and instructions on how to perform repairs.
Among the many reasons this is good, ultimately it's good for your wallet. If you bought an iPhone 15 in October when it came out, you're going to get about 6 years of software updates. SIX! That means you'll get the latest version of iOS until 2029! But if your battery isn't holding a charge as good as it used to, well you may be thinking of upgrading to that shiny new iPhone. But what's cheaper? A brand new iPhone or a brand new iPhone battery?
Reader, if you're thinking to yourself "But I see stores that say they will replace a battery? Why is he talking about it like its impossible?" Cause that's not the only challenge. Apple goes a step beyond! They do parts pairing, which means that via software they tie the individual parts to each iPhone. So if you replace your screen, the phone would refuse to work with it because it's not original screen paired with the phone. Third party stores can't fix that.
Of course, that isn't a problem when Apple fixes your phone. They have "official parts" to repair your phone! But have you seen the prices for Apple to fix your phone? For a company that cares so much about the environment, they would lock out anyone (including you) from fixing your devices unless they approve it. But out of nowhere, the most unlikely hero emerges! FUCKING OREGON!!! Who would have thought!
Oregon passed a bill that made part pairing illegal. The future is looking good. We can make our devices usable for longer! But this stuff doesn't just affect Apple. If you use Google or Samsung devices, this would help those devices too. I'd argue that Android devices are more suitable for long term use. Once you stop getting updates from the Goog or the Sammy, you have a whole community waiting to keep your device up to date with the latest software. Companies like Fairphone design phones (and now headphones) with the sole purpose of being able to repair them. They make it easy by design.
It's simple to focus on phones cause, statistically, that's what you're using to read this newsletter right now. But this stuff applies to a lot of things. John Deere didn't want you fixing their tractors, until they were basically forced to. Tesla didn't want Massachusetts to pass a right to repair bill. Hell, remember that phone vs battery comparison I made 40 seconds ago? Tesla quoted $16k for a $700 repair. This was becoming the norm.
So I have a request for you, dear reader. Be mindful of the tech you get rid of. Can your devices be extended? Can you give them a second life somehow? Can your outdated device be an upgrade for someone else? Maybe donate it. Trade it in when you upgrade. At a minimum, recycle it properly. With these laws being put in place, hopefully repairing them will be our go to instead of replacing them.
Got some h4ck3r finds for you this week:
ArsTechnica wrote a story about how the Jacksonville Jaguars' jumbotron was getting hacked during a few games in the 2018 season. Let me tell you, I didn't see the twist coming.
Wired wrote a story about a individual hacker who knocked off the internet for the country of North Korea. One person, the whole internet of North Korea.
If those stories inspired you, TechCrunch put out an article talking about the prices of zero-day exploits. One zero-day (vulnerabilities that the makers of the software are unaware of) for an iPhone is worth seven million dollars. Seven....million!?!?
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