Fight to Repair Daily: July 20, 2022
Repair advocate cuts his AirPods in half to install USB-C port. Plus, iFixit expands operations in U.S. And: Russia suing Apple over antitrust concerns.
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Robotics Expert Mods AirPods with USB-C Port, Shows You How
Engineering and robotics student Ken Pillonel has sought to address some of AirPods' repairability issues with a 3D-printed replacement casing and switching the Lightning charging port for a USB-C port.
As a standard port, USB-C on AirPods increases the possibility of long-term repairability, Pillonel suggests. Pillonel is also responsible for similar modifications that added a USB-C port to the iPhone and a Lightning port to a Samsung Galaxy A51. Pillonel's 3D printing files and PCB files for AirPods repairability are available for free on his website, and he is considering selling kits in the future depending on interest.
Impending EU legislation will force Apple to switch AirPods to USB-C by late 2024 and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple could make the change sometime after releasing the first iPhone models with a USB-C port next year. (Mac Rumors)
🖥️ Watch the full video here.
iFixit Adds New Service Facility in Chattanooga, TN
The rapidly growing iFixit announced Tuesday it will expand its growing global business with an East Coast service facility and warehouse in Chattanooga and add more than 200 jobs within the next five years. Like the business itself, iFixit has bought a building in Chattanooga's Onion Bottom station that needs its own fixing for its newest facility. The company is investing $24.2 million to buy, renovate, equip and staff an abandoned 60-year-old warehouse on East 12th Street that originally housed Dixie Produce Co. Wiens acknowledged that the roof leaks, one wall fell down and the structure needs a lot of work in a part of town that is being redeveloped. (Times Free Press)
Evasive action: ensuring that copyright doesn’t become a barrier to the right to repair
Much work around the right to repair so far has focused on the physical – the way products are put together, the availability of spare parts, or access to tools to fix our devices. However, at a time when almost everything we buy is getting ‘smarter’, it’s increasingly indispensable to think about the intangible elements of our devices, from eReaders to tractors.
Software and repair information can be essential for making things ‘tick’, or bringing them back to life when they stop working. Yet they are covered by rules that can give their creators extensive and long-lasting powers that can pose challenges to those who want to repair, tinker, modify, and improve. We need software to run our devices, including carrying out necessary updates, but it can also be a source of problems when it comes to product longevity.
In short, it is not only possible, but also necessary to address situations where the design of rules around copyright and software leads to the inadvertent consequence of limiting rights to repair. Action in these areas – protection against override by contract terms, possibilities to remove or circumvent digital locks, and reasonable access to repair manuals – deserve to have their place in any future legislation in this field. (Repair EU)
Microsoft Stifling Open-Source Software with Ownership of GitHub
It has become very clear to me that hosting code on GitHub means, ultimately, that you do not own it. I have no interest in spending thousands of hours of personal programming time on code that I don’t own for no compensation. I’ve already written before on the fact that all natural rights—the freedom to compute, the freedom to speak, the freedom to listen, the freedom to criticize authority—originate in the bedrock of natural rights, which is property ownership. When property ownership disappears, all natural rights do.
Open source code without respected licensing—especially that by small, independent developers who are just pursuing a side-project or a hobby—is little more than free, no-strings-attached labor. It sets ablaze any right to ownership you once had over your code. It is difficult to succeed as an independent developer who cares about craftsmanship no matter what, because the market is unforgiving (as it perhaps should be)—it will be even more difficult to succeed if labor is freely given away for the benefit of large corporations who operate indefinitely as centralizing forces within the computing world. (Ryan’s Programming Corner)
Russia To Fine Apple For Abusing Dominant Position
Russia’s competition watchdog said it would fine tech giant Apple for violating Russian antitrust laws and abusing its dominant position in the app store market. The federal anti-monopoly service (FAS) said it would levy a turnover-based fine against Apple, the size of which would be determined during the course of an administrative investigation.
Moscow has long objected to foreign tech platforms’ influence in the Russian market, but the simmering dispute has escalated since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
“The company has abused its dominant position in the iOS app distribution market,” the FAS said in a statement.
“Apple prohibits iOS app developers from telling clients inside the app about the possibility of paying for purchases outside the App Store or using alternative payment methods.”
Moscow has hit Western firms with a string of fines for violating internet laws that critics say are an attempt by the Kremlin to exert more control over the online space. (CPI)