ReportWire

Tag: right to repair

  • Need Something Repaired? Now There’s an App for That

    [ad_1]

    A new app with a straightforward name wants to make it easier for people to fix their stuff by helping them find trustworthy repair services near them.

    The Repair App launched today, on a day that’s being celebrated as International Repair Day. The app is currently available in beta form in the US and France, because that’s where cofounders Robert Lise and Caleb Faruki reside, respectively. If the app does well, more countries should be added soon.

    The app arrives during a time of renewed interest in the right-to-repair movement. Through lobbying efforts and consumer advocacy campaigns, right-to-repair folks argue that when somebody buys a piece of technology, they should have the legal right to fix it, replace broken parts, or upgrade it using services, tools, and replacement parts accessed on the open market.

    “You don’t actually own something if you don’t have the ability to repair it,” says Lise, the app’s cofounder.

    It sounds like a position that doesn’t need much advocacy, but large companies like Apple, Samsung, and John Deere have been resistant to allow their customers to tinker with their products.

    Lise says the goal of The Repair App is to platform businesses and service providers who cover just about anything that can be repaired, from devices like phones and computers to bicycles, clothes, and maybe eventually vehicles. To start, they have reached out to verified repair businesses that they can vet for inclusion in the app.

    Matt Zieminski, vice president of Repair.org and VP of partnerships at the repair marketplace iFixit, has worked with Lise and the others on the Repair App and says he supports the project. He says that if the app is utilized by enough people, it could make finding options for fixing your stuff easier than it is now.

    For example, if you’re searching for repair options on Google, Zieminski says, your local community repair shops might not necessarily come up as one of the top results. Instead, you’re presented with big repair franchises or generic service providers.

    The app makes it easy to find independent shops near you.

    Courtesy of Marine Reliquet; The Repair App

    The Repair App will instead show you the shops closest to you that have been vetted by the tech repair experts behind the app.

    “I think this is really cool,” Zieminski says. ”It is going to level that playing field and allow everybody to find the services they need and then to offer the services to people that may not even know those services exist.”

    Linking customers to businesses is certainly not a new service. (Remember phonebooks?) Sites like Thumbtack or Angi (formerly Angie’s List) have long acted as repositories for finding handypeople to hire for a variety of tasks. Places like Upwork and Fiverr put a gig-economy spin on the same format. And there are more specific service finder sites like RepairPal, a resource for car repair shops. (RepairPal was bought by Yelp last year.)

    [ad_2]

    Boone Ashworth

    Source link

  • Warren wants to give military a ‘right to repair’

    [ad_1]

    BOSTON — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is leading a rare bipartisan effort in Congress to authorize the military to repair its own weapons and machinery, arguing the “common sense” move would save taxpayers’ money and improve readiness.

    The Warrior Right to Repair Act of 2025, filed Tuesday by Warren and Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Montana Republican, would require contractors to provide the Department of Defense with access to technical data and materials the military needs to repair and maintain its own equipment.


    This page requires Javascript.

    Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

    kAm“xE’D 4@>>@? D6?D6 7@C >6>36CD @7 @FC >:=:E2CJ E@ 36 23=6 E@ 7:I E96:C @H? H62A@?D[” (2CC6?[ 2 r2>3C:586 s6>@4C2E[ D2:5 😕 2 DE2E6>6?E] “xE’D 23@FE E:>6 H6 DE@@5 FA E@ !6?E28@? 4@?EC24E@CD E92E 2C6 DBF66K:?8 6G6CJ =2DE 46?E 7C@> FD 2E E96 6IA6?D6 @7 @FC ?2E:@?2= D64FC:EJ]”k^Am

    kAm(2CC6? D2:5 E96 s676?D6 s6A2CE>6?E DA6?5D 9F?5C65D @7 3:==:@?D @7 5@==2CD 2 J62C @? 8@G6C?>6?E 4@?EC24ED 7@C H62A@?D[ 6BF:A>6?E 2?5 G69:4=6D] qFE :?E6==64EF2= AC@A6CEJ 4@?DEC2:?ED @7E6? AC6G6?E E96 !6?E28@? 7C@> C6A2:C:?8 :ED 6BF:A>6?E[ D96 D2:5[ 7@C4:?8 :E E@ C6=J @? E96 @C:8:?2= 4@?EC24E@CD E@ >2<6 E96 C6A2:CD]k^Am

    kAm%96 3:A2CE:D2? AC@A@D2= — 2 C2C:EJ 😕 3:EE6C=J 5:G:565 (2D9:?8E@?[ s]r] — H@F=5 >2?52E6 E92E 4@?EC24E@CD AC@G:56 “72:C 2?5 C62D@?23=6 2446DD” E@ >2E6C:2=D 2?5 :?7@C>2E:@? ?66565 7@C C6A2:CD] xE H@F=5 2=D@ C6BF:C6 E96 s676?D6 s6A2CE>6?E E@ 4@?5F4E 2 C6G:6H E@ 56E6C>:?6 :7 E96J 42? :?4@CA@C2E6 C:89EE@C6A2:C AC@G:D:@?D 😕 4FCC6?E 4@?EC24ED]k^Am

    kAm%96 677@CE 92D :ED C@@ED 😕 @E96C “C:89EE@C6A2:C” >@G6>6?ED 2:>65 2E 8:G:?8 4@?DF>6CD 2?5 :?56A6?56?E C6A2:C 3FD:?6DD6D E96 7C665@> E@ C6A2:C AC@5F4ED E96J @H?[ =:<6 2FE@>@3:=6D[ D>2CE A9@?6D[ 4@>AFE6CD 2?5 @E96C 6=64EC@?:4 82586ED] x? a_a_[ |2DD249FD6EED G@E6CD 2AAC@G65 2 C:89EE@C6A2:C =2H 7@4FD65 @? G69:4=6D]k^Am

    kAmqFE E96 AFD9 E@ 2==@H >:=:E2CJ E@ 7:I :ED @H? 6BF:A>6?E 92D H@? DFAA@CE 7C@> E@A 3C2DD 😕 (2D9:?8E@?[ :?4=F5:?8 s676?D6 $64C6E2CJ !6E6 w68D6E9[ H9@ :DDF65 8F:52?46 😕 pAC:= 6IAC6DD:?8 DFAA@CE 7@C 2==@H:?8 E96 pC>J E@ 92G6 “C:89EE@C6A2:C” AC@G:D:@?D 😕 4FCC6?E 2?5 7FEFC6 5676?D6 4@?EC24ED]k^Am

    [ad_2]

    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

    Source link

  • Google Is ‘Thinking Through’ How to Make the Pixel Watch Repairable

    Google Is ‘Thinking Through’ How to Make the Pixel Watch Repairable

    [ad_1]

    If you break the Google Pixel Watch—whether the first-generation smartwatch from 2022 or the latest model launched earlier this month—there is no way to repair it through official channels. Instead, if you successfully make a warranty claim, Google will send you a replacement unit instead of repairing your model. This lack of repairability highlights the company’s inexperience in the smartwatch space. You can take a broken Apple Watch to Apple to repair cracked glass or replace the battery, and the same is true for Samsung’s Galaxy Watches.

    There’s some good news though. At a Climate Week NYC panel, focused on repairable technology—hosted by Back Market and moderated by One5c—Nicole Azores, a manager of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google, said on Tuesday that the company is thinking through the design of the Pixel Watch to make it more repairable.

    “Watches and wearables are still fairly nascent, and we are thinking through how to make this repairable,” Azores said on the panel. “We’re thinking about repairability on a broader scale, not just on phones and tablets, and we want to make sure that all of our products eventually become repairable. I think watches being so new as a category, there are some design elements that need to be considered on how we make them repairable.”

    When Can You Fix It?

    Azores did not provide any additional information, including a timeline. Consumer tech products typically have a two- to three-year development time. But it’s unclear whether this more-repairable framework will show up in the Pixel Watch 4 next year or even later than that. Google has stuck with the same design for its Pixel Watch over the past three generations, though the Pixel Watch 3 launched in two sizes for the first time.

    This is the first time the company has publicly commented on the irreparability of its smartwatch. Until now, Google representatives have typically said the company has nothing to share when repairability concerns are brought up.

    The Pixel Watch is a latecomer in the world of smartwatches, but the software it runs—Wear OS—has been around for a decade (formerly called Android Wear). Google managed the operating system, as manufacturers like Fossil and LG made the smartwatches themselves. That changed in 2022, when Google released its very own smartwatch, following its effort to jumpstart the waning platform alongside Samsung and Fitbit.

    Google reportedly captured 8 percent of the wearable band market share in the fourth quarter of 2022, the timeframe of when the first Pixel Watch launched. Research group Canalys says the company shipped 880,000 Pixel Watches in that period (the rest are Fitbit devices).

    Just the Starting Point

    Lack of repairability will doom many of these watches as electronic waste to the landfill, which according to a recent UN climate report has already reached a crisis point. In 2022, there were around 137 billion pounds of e-waste, and less than a quarter was recycled. By 2030, e-waste is expected to grow by 33 percent, outpacing the recycling rate.

    There are ongoing efforts to enforce repairability in tech. Last year, the European Union passed regulations requiring smartphones and tablets to have longer-lasting batteries or easier methods for users to replace batteries using common tools beginning in June 2025. While it doesn’t have to comply with this legislation, Apple’s new iPhone 16 debuted a new adhesive that makes the battery inside easier to remove,

    Whether it’s in the Pixel Watch 4 or Pixel Watch 5, this design change is a win for consumers. Now Google needs to focus on improving the repairability of Fitbit’s wearables. Despite the prevalence of its trackers, the company doesn’t have any repair centers to send your device in for fixes.

    [ad_2]

    Julian Chokkattu

    Source link

  • The iPhone 16’s Battery Is Easier to Replace, Finally

    The iPhone 16’s Battery Is Easier to Replace, Finally

    [ad_1]

    This only affects new smartphones launching in the EU after June 2025, which means the iPhone 16 does not have to adhere to this law. The regulation doesn’t just touch on batteries though. Manufacturers need to sell critical spare parts for seven years and offer at least five years of software updates. These laws often influence other regions, which is why Apple is likely testing this battery replacement process in its latest phone. It’s unclear whether the new adhesive would be fully compliant with the EU’s regulations.

    “The point of the legislation is that it won’t most likely require [Apple] to completely change the design of the product,” says Ugo Vallauri, codirector of the Restart Project and a founding member of the Right to Repair Europe coalition. “As long as they can supply the spare part as well as the tools needed to perform the repair, and it can be performed by a generalist—someone with some level of competence—they would not need to change much further, which can be potentially be seen as a weakness of the legislation. We will see what happens in that respect.”

    Matching Game

    But easier battery replacements are just one part of the story. Apple is notorious for “parts pairing,” the policy where it uses software to identify and approve parts. Apple will disable certain features if it finds the part wasn’t sourced from Apple’s official channels—even if the part comes directly from another iPhone. For example, as iFixit’s website says, if you replace your iPhone’s screen with a genuine but secondhand part, your device will lose access to Apple’s True Tone and autobrightness features, even though the screen will otherwise function normally. You may also see warning messages for replaced parts that Apple cannot identify.

    New laws in Oregon and Colorado prohibit the practice of parts pairing to discriminate against otherwise compatible parts, and Apple earlier this year said it would expand repair options to support used genuine parts starting this fall. That now applies to the Face ID sensor in the TrueDepth selfie camera—you can now swap this component from one unit to another without compromising security, safety, and privacy, according to Apple.

    Apple also says that now, if you use a third-party part that isn’t available in its cloud-based calibration servers, the phone will try to activate the part and make it work to its full capability. It will also show the repair history of the device within Settings and list which parts have been replaced. Any used Apple parts will now be able to be calibrated after you install them, and these will appear as “used” parts in the device’s repair history. That means features like True Tone will finally be enabled for third-party displays, and you’ll be able to see health data for third-party batteries. The front camera and lidar scanner will also stay operational if the module is replaced.

    “I’ve always felt like the goal of right to repair is to create the incentive for these manufacturers, who are the ones good at making stuff, to prioritize or at least incorporate repairability into their objectives,” says Nathan Proctor, senior director of the Campaign for the Right to Repair at Public Interest Research Group. “And once they do, they are actually coming up with new ways to make things easier to fix in ways I couldn’t have predicted or thought up. It’s exciting to see Apple engineers coming up with solutions for making things more fixable.”

    Lock Step

    Photograph: Apple

    But there’s a new concern on the horizon with iOS 18 rolling out to Apple devices: Activation Lock. You might be familiar with this if you have erased an iPhone in the past but forgot to remove your Apple account details, essentially locking a new owner out from the device unless they have your password. In iOS 18, this Activation Lock feature now extends to iPhone parts. The idea is that this will deter thieves from stealing iPhones to sell parts. If the iPhone detects that a used part has been installed, it will ask for the original part owner’s Apple account password.

    Proctor says the number one complaint he’s heard from device refurbishers is around Activation Lock—these companies have devices legally acquired from donations or recycling programs, but they cannot do anything to unlock the phone. (Apple has ways to bypass Activation Lock if you have proof of purchase documentation.)

    “We need a way to verifiably say this is not a stolen part,” Proctor says. “I really respect and appreciate and understand the value of the way Activation Lock thwarts theft, but there’s got to be some middle ground where a reputable recycler doesn’t have to shred working parts and working phones. It’s ridiculous. It has the potential to undermine any environmental gains from all the other stuff that they’re doing.”

    [ad_2]

    Julian Chokkattu

    Source link

  • iFixit’s Portable Soldering Iron Deserves a Space on Your Work Bench

    iFixit’s Portable Soldering Iron Deserves a Space on Your Work Bench

    [ad_1]

    The right-to-repair movement has a catchy name, but before you can worry about the right to repair, you need the ability to repair. If you don’t know how to take your device apart, there’s no sense worrying about whether it’s legal to do so. Without basic repair skills and a helping of innate curiosity, the right to repair is useless.

    This is where iFixit’s new Hub Soldering Iron enters the fray. iFixit, a longtime supporter of the right to repair, has thousands of tutorials online to help you actually repair things. Now the company has made a soldering iron to help you roll up your sleeves and get into the physical world of repair.

    The Right to Solder

    I grew up around soldering. My father built his own tube-powered ham radio gear, but for whatever reason I never actually did any soldering until rather late in my repair life. An electrician friend of mine was appalled that I didn’t solder on a regular basis and gifted me a bare-bones soldering iron, which was all I had for an embarrassingly long time. Later I bought a Pinecil, mostly for the small, portable form factor, but that cheapo soldering iron was all I had for years.

    While a cheap soldering iron is better than no soldering iron, I’ve come to think the reason many people are intimidated by soldering, or have problems when they first try it, is due to cheap soldering pens. Cheap tools are the source of many a problem, but with soldering irons the big one is that they don’t get hot enough, which makes the solder stick to the tip rather than flowing nicely where you want it. Cheap irons also lack interchangeable tips, which make soldering easier by fitting exactly where you want them to go.

    iFixit, which made its name in the repair world creating guides, tutorials, and more all designed to help consumers be more than consumers, has launched a new store called the Fix Hub. The first product is a portable USB-C soldering iron.

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    iFixit’s new soldering iron is actually several products. The core is the Smart Soldering Iron for $80. It’s powered by USB-C and comes with a beveled, 1.5-mm tip. (There are six tips available, and iFixit plans to have more.) Then there’s the Portable Soldering Station for $250, which includes the iron and a battery pack designed for the iron. The final option is the Complete Toolkit for $300, which includes everything from the soldering station package, plus useful tools like wire strippers, flush cutters, solder, flux, a wire holder, cleaner, and more.

    The thing that jumps out at you the most when first opening the kit is the magnetic cap. This is a thing of genius. It not only covers the tip, but you can put it on even when the tip is hot, and it will automatically power down to the idle temperature (which you can set in the app). Every soldering iron should have a cap like this. This feature alone makes iFixit’s soldering iron great for beginners. The cap also has a wire attachment that allows it to be mounted on the battery pack.

    There are other user-friendly features, like an LED system that warns you when the iron is hot and motion sensors to detect when you set it down for a while (which cause it to automatically shut off). The motion sensors can also detect if you drop it and will shut it off automatically. I tested all three of these features, and they worked without issue.

    [ad_2]

    Scott Gilbertson

    Source link

  • Google’s Repair Policy Is Broken

    Google’s Repair Policy Is Broken

    [ad_1]

    Photograph: Simon Hill

    Pixel Imperfect

    What is particularly egregious about this lack of repair options is Google knows how to handle this properly. If your Pixel breaks, you can very likely get it fixed.

    “Repair options include mail-in service, walk-in repairs at authorized locations, and even DIY repairs with official parts and guides provided by our partner iFixit,” Nickel told WIRED in an email. “Our repair support site, located here, is the best entry point for support.”

    You can get genuine parts for the Pixel 2 through the new Pixel 8A from iFixit. If you’re unfamiliar, the iFixit website is a wonderful resource for anyone looking to repair their gadgets. It provides parts, repair kits, and video tutorials, and the company consults with many major manufacturers, including Microsoft, Fairphone, Logitech, HP, and Lenovo, to make their devices more repairable.

    Currently, iFixit provides official parts for Google, HTC, Fairphone, Motorola, Teenage Engineering, Vaude, and Valve devices, among others. However, the repair company recently ended its partnership with Samsung due to a lack of follow-through from the electronics giant, though iFixit still offers repair kits for Samsung devices.

    Apple maintains rigid control over its repairs, fiercely resisting proper support for unapproved third-party repair shops or amateur home repairs, though it conceded a little ground on iPhone parts recently. Regardless, iFixit does offer kits for many Apple devices too. Still, Apple will at least fix your broken devices, even if it charges a premium.

    Nickel says Google does offer replacement parts to DIY support partners, like iFixit, where possible, and it hopes to improve repairability for its gadgets, though this seems to be driven by legislation. While the right-to-repair movement has gained some ground, the impact of federal legislation in the US and the UK remains to be seen, and tech companies continue to resist, making what many campaigners feel are minimal efforts.

    [ad_2]

    Simon Hill

    Source link

  • Fisker Went Bankrupt. What Do Its EV Owners Do Next?

    Fisker Went Bankrupt. What Do Its EV Owners Do Next?

    [ad_1]

    It was the last week in June, and José De Bardi hadn’t gotten much sleep. The trouble had really kicked off on June 18, about a week earlier, when the electric vehicle company Fisker announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection. Now some 6,400 Fisker owners like De Bardi wondered: What will happen to their cars in the future?

    The bankruptcy “lit a fire,” De Bardi says. “We had to get organized if we had any chance of representing owners’ interests.” Within days, he and a handful of other Fisker vehicle owners had established a nonprofit organization called the Fisker Owners Association, dedicated to keeping their cars running. (Hence, the lack of sleep.) By the end of the month, 1,200 owners—representing nearly a fifth of total Fisker cars sold—had registered through the group’s website, De Bardi says.

    Fisker vehicle owners’ questions are mostly practical. Fisker began shipping the Ocean, its electric SUV—priced to start at $41,000 and ranging up to $70,0000—last year. Immediately, the vehicles were found to have serious build quality shortcomings and software issues, including a less-than-responsive central touchscreen. (WIRED’s reviewer declined to rate the vehicle entirely, calling it “just not ready yet.”)

    Owners reported that some of the most serious issues, including a difficult-to-use brake hold and Bluetooth connectivity problems, were ironed out through software updates. But owners sometimes complained that it was tricky to get their vehicles serviced or repaired, because there weren’t enough certified Fisker repairers and technicians. Fisker initially launched with a Tesla-like “direct to consumer” model that eschewed the traditional “middleman” dealerships often seen in the US. But in January, the company began to sign dealerships to a new Fisker network, citing ballooning costs associated with the direct model.

    Even now, as the carcass of Fisker gets picked over, the EVs still have niggling problems—window cracks, dysfunctional key fobs, sudden connectivity blackouts—and will unquestionably need servicing and spare parts to keep them running into the future. Without Fisker, the company, to provide that, what are owners to do?

    The FOA is still in the early stages of figuring it out. A small band of volunteers have worked around the clock to define the problems owners might face down the road—legal questions about their vehicle financing; issues with the car’s app; finding parts—and start solving them. These people have full-time jobs, too. De Bardi, for example, who lives in the UK and has headed up the European owners’ efforts, is also the CTO of a telecommunications firm.

    Experts say Fisker owners’ situation is looking increasingly tricky. Automotive companies have a playbook to handle bankruptcies, developed during the 2008 financial crisis, which led General Motors and Chrysler to file for Chapter 11 protection, as Fisker has. Thanks in part to support from the US government, those automakers were able to honor their vehicles’ warranties as the companies restructured.

    But in legal proceedings in Delaware this month, Fisker’s situation looked more dire. Lawyers for the firm’s creditors argued that Fisker should have filed for bankruptcy late last year. And Fisker plans to sell its remaining inventory, some 4,000 vehicles, to a firm that leases electric vehicles to New York City Uber and Lyft drivers, lawyers told the court.

    [ad_2]

    Aarian Marshall

    Source link

  • Fairphone launches easy-to-repair earbuds | TechCrunch

    Fairphone launches easy-to-repair earbuds | TechCrunch

    [ad_1]

    The right to repair has been a hot topic for several years now, hitting a kind of critical mass with domestic and international legislation. Advocates note that these proposals give users more control over their own property, while expanding products’ shelf life and reducing e-waste.

    Fairphone is, perhaps, the most prominent hardware company to make repairability the foundation of its consumer electronic design ethos, rather than a simple afterthought. To date, the European startup has released several handsets and a pair of over-ear headphones. This week, it’s adding earbuds to that list.

    While Bluetooth buds have rapidly become a commodity, user repairability has been something of a non-starter, owing to their compact size. They’re also relatively cheap to produce, making it easy to toss a pair when it stops working for some reason. If you’re going to make a product like this repairable, you have to make it a foundational feature — which, thankfully, is kind of Fairphone’s whole deal.

    Image Credits: Fairphone (screenshot)

    In this case, the company centered on battery life. Users can easily open the buds and case to remove the batteries once they’ve worn down. The company calls Fairbuds, “the world’s most repairable premium earbuds.” They’re certainly easier to crack open and swap out parts than competitive products from the likes of Apple and Samsung.

    The €149 ($162) price puts them somewhere in the mid-tier of the earbud world. You can, of course, get buds for significantly less these days. And while the company is promoting features like active noise canceling and 11mm titanium drivers, the truth is that repairability and battery longevity need to be high up on your list of requirements to pick these out of an extremely crowded field.

    In the consumer electronics world, right to repair has largely focused on handsets and PCs. Given the lower price point and smaller footprint, it seems unlikely that they’ll find their way into many laws in the near future. But anything that can help reduce e-waste and give users more control over these products is probably a net positive.

    [ad_2]

    Brian Heater

    Source link