Right to Repair

A subscription anti-theft feature that should be free.

The auto industry’s commitment to right to repair is being tested.

You've dropped your phone and the screen shattered. Now you're facing a costly repair until you can get a new phone. Swapping out one piece of glass or a button doesn't seem like it should be that expensive. Why does it cost so much to fix your stuff?

Today, we at SFC, along with our OpenWrt member project, announce the production release of the OpenWrt One. This is the first wireless Internet router designed and built with your software freedom and right to repair in mind. The OpenWrt One will never be locked down and is forever unbrickable. This device services your needs as its owner and user. Everyone deserves control of their computing. The OpenWrt One takes a great first step toward bringing software rights to your home: you can control your own network with the software of your choice, and ensure your right to change, modify, and repair it as you like.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/15232893

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating tractor manufacturer John Deere over long standing allegations that Deere makes its farm equipment hard to repair. The investigation has been ongoing since 2021, and we know more about it now thanks to a court filing made public on Thursday.

Warren recently sent a letter to John Deere CEO John May, asserting that the company is "evading" its obligations to comply with federal laws and respect customers' rights. According to Warren, John Deere is failing to provide farmers with the necessary tools to properly repair their agricultural equipment and is allegedly violating the Clean Air Act in the process.

Following today’s launch of the new iPhone 16 models, Apple has shared repair manuals for the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16 Plus, the iPhone 16 Pro, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The repair manuals provide technical instructions on replacing genuine Apple parts in the ‌iPhone 16‌ models, and Apple says the information is intended for “individual technicians” that have the “knowledge, experience, and tools” that are necessary to repair electronic devices.

Last March Oregon became the seventh state to pass “right to repair” legislation making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to repair technology you own. The bill’s passage came on the heels of legislation passed in Massachusetts (in 2012 and 2020), Colorado (in 2022 and 2023), New York (2023), Minnesota, Maine and California. All told, 30 states are considering such bills in 2024.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) examined 21 different mainstream tech devices subject to New York's recently passed electronics Right to Repair law, and found mixed results:

I stripped this screw in my laptop and as such can't open the back cover to replace parts.

EDIT: I believe I found the answer, it's something turned by this: https://ctatools.com/products/5065

It turned out really nice. Looks like the void extended our wrench a bit, but I think that's fine, it kind of looks like lightning.

Edit 3: I've got a base down now, here's link if you can help out. https://canvas.fediverse.events/#x=819&y=76&zoom=8&tu=https%3A%2F%2Fmiro.medium.com%2Fv2%2Fresize%3Afit%3A750%2Fformat%3Awebp%2F1*edo5pVW4hzkNw0s6JCAdMw.jpeg&tw=55&tx=788&ty=55&ts=ONE_TO_ONE

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: Click here to see the summaryThis is the best summary I could come up with: Ever seen one of those “warranty void if removed” stickers covering the screw holes on a gadget? Gigabyte includes: “If the manufacturing sticker inside the product was removed or damaged, it would no longer be covered by the warranty.” “The Warranty Act prohibits warrantors of consumer products costing more than five dollars from conditioning their written warranties on a consumer’s use of any article or service, such as repair service, which is identified by brand, trade, or corporate name, unless (1) the warranty states the article or service will be provided to the consumer for free, or (2) the warrantor has been granted a waiver by the Commission,” the FTC writes. “FTC investigators have copied and preserved the online pages in question, and we plan to review your company’s written warranty and promotional materials after 30 days,” the agency is telling each firm. In 2018, the FTC put Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft on notice for doing the same thing with their game consoles, as well as Asus, HTC, and Hyundai. iFixit has a blog on how “warranty void if removed” stickers may be legal in other parts of the world. The original article contains 406 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 53%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

'The car companies want to put small guy out of business.'

A leaked "independent" repair shop contract shows that Samsung requires them to give Samsung the name, contact information, phone identifier, and customer complaint details of everyone who gets their phone repaired at these shops,

As revealed by iFixit, Samsung collaboration never worked well, with parts that were too expensive, and/or glued together (like a battery+screen replacement!)

Basic blender went bad (motor ran but spindle wasn't rotating). I wanted to disassemble to see if it could be repaired. Three of the four screws were Phillips head. I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn't unscrew the fourth. It was a slotted spanner.

The partnership between Kobo and iFixit means the iFixit will provide official repair kits to fix the most common components like batteries, for newly produced readers (Libra Colour, Clara Colour and Clara BW,)

OnStar reports location and speed data to the car manufacturer. Sometimes they will sell this data to insurance companies to raise your premium, as several news stores pointed out a few weeks ago. I couldn't really find an advantage to OnStar, (I have my phone to call emergency services) so I disabled it by pulling it's fuse.

Oregon has officially become the seventh state (behind New York, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota) to pass “right to repair” legislation, making it easier and m…

I dropped my launch edition steam deck last night on carpet and while all the buttons still worked- something was rattling inside of it. After I opened it up I discovered a missing chunk of plastic from the R2 trigger, that piece presses against another to keep the button from over articulating. I suspect this trigger absorbed most of the impact, there was no other visible damage.

I’ve just watched the video. I find it pretty outrageous. The word about it should spread.

So long, parts pairing?

Thankfully Jonathan was able to take it to an independent repair shop for a $75 CAD adhesive fix (and battery replacement?) despite Apple's restrictions against them.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/11175612

Unlock heated seats and full diagnostics by turning off the power to the amd chip exactly when it's checking authorization. This exploit is very tricky though and requires soldering three wires to the board, so not for the faint of heart.