Technology

Google's Pixel phones are very open for 'convenrional' Smartphones, which is why GrapheneOS can use a complete verified boot chain

Xiaomi used to do this, untill some middlemen decided to install malware that looked like Xiaomi's MIUI ROM. So they had to lock it somewhat. They used to install malware and sell the device to the emd consumer. Atleast till now you can unlock the bootloader as the end customer of the device.

For me that's the most egregious case of not letting users actually own their hardware. Samsung is notorious with this on their US Snapdragon phones.

To be fair, cars are designed to break in a car crash for safety. If it breaks it can absorb the impact a lot better and therefore make the crash more survivable.

Cars are themselves a symptom of a broken system designed to maximize waste. It's wrong that the majority of people even need one to begin with.

Definitely want to see cars (and other larger purchases) more able to be repaired in future. However, especially in cases of an accident there's other factors.

Part of it as already mentioned is a safety thing. Crumple zones and the like are there to purposefully deform so that the people inside the vehicle have a higher chance of surviving a crash.

Part of it is that being hit in the wrong way can also weaken the structural integrity of the frame making it unsafe to use. Makes more sense to strip it for parts at that point. Last thing a repair or insurance company wants is to be found liable for saying "yes the car is repairable/safe to drive", then the front falls of on a highway.

Part of it also is that insurance companies won't want to pay for repairs that amount to more than the cost of replacing the entire car if it's older. Or they know they can make more money by paying out a policy then repairing and refurbishing the vehicle.

Even when it is replaceable, it's ridiculous. I accidentally pulled off the front bumper of my Prius by scraping it on a parking barrier and it cost me $800 because they had to replace a huge amount of the front of the car. The dealer wouldn't even touch it. They said it had to go to a body shop. It's the fucking bumper!

I disagree. Our planet doesn't give a shit. It was long before us here and it will remain even longer after last one of us. Our living environment on the other hand is suffering. I know this is semantics we are talking about, but it does point just how stupid we are. It's tantamount to shitting under your own window and wondering why everything stinks.

Exactly, the reason we don't repair things is two fold.

1. The reason everyone here is talking about: the products aren't designed for it.
2. The reason the products aren't designed for it: we can't afford it.

To dig deeper into #2, yes sometimes things are made harder to repair for the sake of thinness or some technological reason, but a main issue is that we cannot afford our own labour. Our wages have not kept up over the last half century and we can no longer afford to hire our neighbors in our local communities for their skills.

Because we have been outsourcing manufacturing for so long we feel like we have money, becYse we can buy a TV for every room. But if that TV was made in NA and not Asia? It would be a $2000 TV, not $400. It's cheaper to buy new because we cannot afford man hours to repair.

The consumer economy we have is built for waste and exploitation. While I 100% support right to repair and it's a step in the right direction, I feel most people will still buy new.

I don't know how it is in other areas of technology but in the automotive electronics world, a big barrier to re-use and repair is mostly poor record keeping. When an OEM makes a car, they buy subsystems from suppliers such as Bosch, Continental and Valeo. These mechatronic assemblies contain software that is often completely opaque to the OEM, never mind the end user. Even if you did want to repair the sensor or whatever has gone wrong, you wouldn't be able to access the diagnostic interface without specialist tools and documentation. This barrier is deliberately and cynically inserted by witholding the information. Our machines are not made to be repaired because it is less profitable and profit decides every decision in capitalism.

Is there no recycling center around were you live? In germany basically every city has a "Wertstoffhof" that takes everything from old clothes over smaller e-waste (including batteries, etc), larger stuff like fridges to all kinds of reusable / recycleable plastics and metals. Basically everything that can be recycled or reused in some way and is not meant for the normal recycling household trash.

No reason why this couldn’t be part of the “right to repair” — just have legislation that requires manufacturers to provide the source code (and adjacent deployment code) when a product goes out of support. You should have just as much right to fix code as physical hardware IMO.

Software shouldn't be locked.

The manufacturer should stand by their products.

Products don't need constant updates.

There is a point to repair.

Maybe not with smart devices, but the automotive industry is headed the same way. I can repair a truck from the 70's and keep it running forever with the right parts, and even with some not-so right ones.

Nowadays for example, a tractor or truck from 2020 can't be repaired like that, they're installing systems that we-the user and even our mechanics can't access so you absolutely HAVE to take it back to them for repair. That's just wrong, these trucks have absolutely no need for software like this, it's only purpose is to prevent people from repairing things they've already paid for.

Exactly, and tbh if we stopped making vehicles today people would still be driving many years from now, feel like we should really.. stop mining the earth for resources to then use making things people don't even need so we can be richer.. just make vehicles repairable again and focus on that.

Maybe, instead of everyone buying brand new cars we can just upgrade our old ones, like a PC.

So you want the latest Dodge body to look cool? Okay, we'll just pop that onto you're already existing frame, no need in buying a new engine/chassis etc if you're only seeking an aesthetic change anyway

Speaking of that.. all this $ people pay for faster cars when they'll only really drive them between 30-70mph is ridiculous. Why even make commercial cars faster than the speed limit? Just so dummies can drive drunk at 120mph and hit a family head on? Until we get an Autobahn there's just no need for it.

No need for 16 year olds, anyone really to have a V8 with 900 horsepower just give them something that will go the speed limit and save the fucking resources

We need to be more efficient with what we make

We need to make stuff with the goal of not having to make any more of it at some point. Currently we have an economy that gives no shits about what is made so long as it sells more this quarter than last.

Either we need a magical wave of enlightenment to change the priorities of those who control the means of production, or we need to change the structure of our economy and its incentives to make "build to last" a winning strategy.

We need to be more efficient with what we make across every industry

The current situation is the result of seeking efficiencies in a market in which consumers demanded that they did not want to fix things.

That's why it's extra important to make it mandatory for manufacturers to build repairable products. So nobody NEEDS to go out of their way to obtain a product they can get repaired.

I feel like i'm the only one