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      US government agencies demand fixable ice cream machines

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 15 March - 16:26 · 1 minute

    Taylor ice cream machine, with churning spindle removed by hand.

    Enlarge / Taylor's C709 Soft Serve Freezer isn't so much mechanically complicated as it is a software and diagnostic trap for anyone without authorized access. (credit: iFixit/YouTube )

    Many devices have been made difficult or financially nonviable to repair, whether by design or because of a lack of parts, manuals, or specialty tools. Machines that make ice cream, however, seem to have a special place in the hearts of lawmakers. Those machines are often broken and locked down for only the most profitable repairs.

    The Federal Trade Commission and the antitrust division of the Department of Justice have asked the US Copyright Office (PDF) to exempt "commercial soft serve machines" from the anti-circumvention rules of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The governing bodies also submitted proprietary diagnostic kits, programmable logic controllers, and enterprise IT devices for DMCA exemptions.

    "In each case, an exemption would give users more choices for third-party and self-repair and would likely lead to cost savings and a better return on investment in commercial and industrial equipment," the joint comment states. Those markets would also see greater competition in the repair market, and companies would be prevented from using DMCA laws to enforce monopolies on repair, according to the comment.

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      Oregon OKs right-to-repair bill that bans the blocking of aftermarket parts

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 5 March - 15:57

    iPhone battery being removed from an iPhone over a blue repair mat

    Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

    Oregon has joined the small but growing list of states that have passed right-to-repair legislation. Oregon's bill stands out for a provision that would prevent companies from requiring that official parts be unlocked with encrypted software checks before they will fully function.

    Bill SB 1596 passed Oregon's House by a 42 to 13 margin. Gov. Tina Kotek has five days to sign the bill into law. Consumer groups and right-to-repair advocates praised the bill as "the best bill yet," while the bill's chief sponsor, state Sen. Janeen Sollman (D), pointed to potential waste reductions and an improved second-hand market for closing a digital divide.

    "Oregon improves on Right to Repair laws in California, Minnesota and New York by making sure that consumers have the choice of buying new parts, used parts, or third-party parts for the gadgets and gizmos," said Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of Repair.org, in a statement.

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      The $10,000-plus golden Apple Watch is now “obsolete,” according to Apple

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 3 October - 18:06

    18-karat rose gold Apple Watches in a light wood display

    Enlarge / 18-karat rose gold Apple Watches on display, ready for you to invest more than five figures into their inevitably limited lifespan as a functional timekeeping device. (credit: Getty Images)

    When purchasing a luxury watch, you might consider it more of an heirloom than a simple timekeeper. You can pass a well-maintained Submariner down to your progeny. You can generally sell a Nomos or an Omega long after you purchase it, often at a profit. Or you can simply keep it on your wrist as a reminder of the inexorable march of time, the importance of punctuality, and the genius of so many tiny mechanical pieces working together toward one simple but crucial function.

    This will not happen with the first Apple Watch Edition models, despite Jony Ive's strong desire to enter that realm . As of September 30, Apple moved the original Apple Watch models to its "obsolete" list, at least internally. That includes the "Edition" models that ranged from $10,000 to $17,000 at their April 2015 launch. When a product is "obsolete," Apple no longer offers parts, repairs, or other replacement services for it.

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      Calif. passes strongest right-to-repair bill yet, requiring 7 years of parts

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 13 September, 2023 - 19:30 · 1 minute

    Battery being removed from an iPhone 14 Pro Max

    Enlarge (credit: iFixit )

    California, the home to many of tech's biggest companies and the nation's most populous state, is pushing ahead with a right-to-repair bill for consumer electronics and appliances. After unanimous votes in the state Assembly and Senate, the bill passed yesterday is expected to move through a concurrence vote and be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

    "Since Right to Repair can pass here, expect it to be on its way to a backyard near you," said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens in a statement . iFixit, a seller of repair parts and tools and advocate for right-to-repair laws, based in San Luis Obispo, California, was joined in its support for the California repair law by another California company with a history of opposing repair laws: Apple. The consumer tech giant's letter urging passage of the bill was surprising, to say the least, though Apple said that the bill's stipulations for "individual users' safety" and "product manufacturers' intellectual property" were satisfactory.

    California's bill goes further than right-to-repair laws in other states. Rather than limiting its demand that companies provide parts, tools, repair manuals, and necessary software for devices that are still actively sold, California requires that vendors provide those items for products sold after July 1, 2021, starting in July 2024. Products costing $50 to $99.99 must be accompanied by those items for three years, and items $100 and more necessitate seven years. The bill also provides for stronger enforcement mechanisms, allowing for municipalities to bring superior court cases rather than contact the state attorney general.

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      iFixit tears down a McDonald’s ice cream machine, demands DMCA exemption for it

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 29 August, 2023 - 20:08

    iFixit staff taking apart Taylor ice cream machine

    Enlarge / The McDonald's ice cream machine is a relatively simple machine. It has a compressor, a motor, churning and agitating elements, and a series of circuit boards that keep service contracts flowing. (credit: iFixit / YouTube)

    McDonald’s soft-serve ice cream machines are regularly broken, and it’s not just your perception. When repair vendor and advocate iFixit was filming a video about the topic, it checked tracking map McBroken and found that 34 percent of the machines in the state of New York were reported inoperable. As I write this, the nationwide number of broken machines is just above 14 percent.

    To improve the nation’s semi-frozen milk fat infrastructure, iFixit has done two things. One, as first reported by 404 Media , is to join with interest group Public Knowledge to petition the Copyright Office for an exemption allowing people to fix commercial equipment, such as McDonald’s ice cream machines and other industrial kitchen equipment, without fear of reprisal under Section 1201 of the DMCA .

    The other is to obtain one of the Taylor ice cream machines used by McDonald’s franchises, tear it down, and marvel at how it could be so unreliable.

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      Microsoft keeps pushing toward repairability, now with Xbox controller parts

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 1 August, 2023 - 15:35 · 1 minute

    Still from Microsoft's repair video for Xbox Elite Series 2 controller

    Enlarge / Microsoft does not currently sell an Xbox-branded repair tray with dozens of perfect little slots for screws and components. But there's nothing stopping them from doing so, I might suggest. (credit: Microsoft/YouTube)

    If you're the type of person who hates the idea of giving Microsoft another $65 for a new controller (or more than $100 for an Elite Series 2) because you know there's just one part broken, Microsoft has a store for you. It's small, but it's something.

    Direct from Microsoft, you can now buy a half-dozen Xbox repair and replacement parts for both the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and the standard Xbox Wireless Controller. Each controller has top cases and button replacement sets in black and white, plus the two inner circuit boards that provide charging, input, vibration, and, of course, sockets with new potentiometers installed to fix stick drift.

    Parts on their own aren't that helpful to most of us, though, so Microsoft is also providing written and video guides . The videos are essentially full teardowns of each controller. The Elite Series 2 requires a plastic pry tool (aka spudger), a T6 and T8 screwdriver, and tweezers. The videos are helpful and aimed at all skill levels. "Always push away from yourself when using pry tools, so if you slip you won't harm yourself" is advice I have refused to accept a number of times.

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      Apple Pencils can’t draw straight on third-party replacement iPad screens

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 28 July, 2023 - 15:05

    Gloved hands using an Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro with squiggly results

    Enlarge / iCorrect's attempts to draw a straight line on an iPad Pro with a third-party replacement screen led them to look at the screen's embedded chips for parts-pairing problems. (credit: iCorrect UK )

    The latest part of an Apple device to demand a repair by its maker appears to be the screens on newer iPads. Reports from repair shops and customers suggest that Apple Pencils no longer work properly on non-genuine Apple screens, as they draw squiggly lines on a diagonal instead of straight.

    Ricky Panesar, CEO of UK repair firm iCorrect, told Forbes that screens replaced on newer iPad Pros (fifth and sixth-generation 12.9-inch and third and fourth-generation 11-inch models) do not deliver straight lines when an Apple Pencil is used to draw at an angle. "They have a memory chip that sits on the screen that's programmed to only allow the Pencil functionality to work if the screen is connected to the original logic board," Panesar told Forbes.

    A Reddit post from May 23 from a user reporting "jittery" diagonal lines from an Apple Pencil on a newly replaced iPad mini screen suggests the issue may affect more than just the Pro line of iPads.

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      Minnesota enacts right-to-repair law that covers more devices than any other state

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 25 May, 2023 - 16:35 · 1 minute

    Hands on a circuit board, using multimeter probes to find errors

    Enlarge / Minnesota's right-to-repair bill is the first to pass in the US that demands broad access to most electronics' repair manuals, tools, and diagnostic software. Game consoles, medical devices, and other specific gear, however, are exempted. (credit: Getty Images)

    It doesn't cover video game consoles, medical gear, farm or construction equipment, digital security tools, or cars. But in demanding that manuals, tools, and parts be made available for most electronics and appliances, Minnesota's recently passed right-to-repair bill covers the most ground of any US state yet.

    The Digital Right to Repair bill , passed as part of an omnibus legislation and signed by Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday, "fills in many of the loopholes that watered down the New York Right to Repair legislation," said Nathan Proctor, senior director for the Public Interest Research Group's right-to-repair campaign, in a post .

    New York's bill, beset by lobbyists , was signed in modified form by Gov. Kathy Hochul . It also exempted motor vehicles and medical devices, as well as devices sold before July 1, 2023, and all "business-to-business" and "business-to-government" devices. The modified bill also allowed manufacturers to sell "assemblies" of parts—like a whole motherboard instead of an individual component, or the entire top case Apple typically provides instead of a replacement battery or keyboard—if an improper individual part installation "heightens the risk of injury."

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      Lobbyists have held up nation’s first right-to-repair bill in New York

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 19 December, 2022 - 18:04 · 1 minute

    Cracked iPhone screen with passcode screen up

    Enlarge / Tech companies, including Apple, have lobbied hard to prevent a New York bill that would require them to make repair information and parts available to individuals and non-affiliated repair techs. (credit: Getty Images)

    The Digital Fair Repair Act, the first right-to-repair bill to entirely pass through a state legislature , is awaiting New York Governor Kathy Hochul's signature. But lobbying by the nation's largest technology interests seems to have kept the bill parked on her desk for months, where it could remain until it dies early next year.

    Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Repair Association , said that "opposition has not backed off" despite the bill's nearly unanimous passage in June. Gordon-Byrne has heard that industry groups are pushing for late amendments favoring tech firms but that the bill's sponsors would have to approve—or convince the governor to sign the bill without them. "It's up to the sponsors at this point," she said.

    The final version of the bill received rare bipartisan support, passing the state assembly 147–2 and the senate 59–4. The bill was delivered to the governor Friday, according to the New York Senate's bill tracker, though she has been considering it since late June.

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