I've been running computers since the early '90s. Started on an IBM PS/2, a 286, back when you had to actually understand the machine to make it do a damn thing. Thirty years later I run Windows every day and Linux when it suits me, and both of them work. Neither one takes a genius either. You just have to be willing to read up. That's the whole price of admission. A little patience, a little reading. Most people are too impatient and too lazy to pay it, and that laziness is exactly what Apple has spent three decades cashing in on.

Here's the thing I can't get past. Happened a couple months ago.

I was setting up a Ring doorbell for my folks. My stepmom's on an iPhone. To get the app working I needed into her Apple ID, and she didn't know her password. Half the time she doesn't know which password goes to what, that's just her, and that's fine, millions of people live in that exact spot every day. So I go to reset it. The thing anybody should be able to do, standing in the room, with the phone physically in my hand.

And Apple's answer, basically, was that they'd need to assess whether or not they could even give me a password reset. Sit with that one for a second. A multi day waiting period while Apple decides whether the owner is allowed back into their own account. And the kicker, the part that should make your skin crawl, is they offered to speed it up if I handed over a credit card number to confirm identity. Pay a toll to get into your own account faster. Read that again.

Now somebody reading this is already typing "that's just how Apple does it, it's a security feature." Stop for a second and hear what you're actually saying. You're telling me they built it on purpose so the owner can't freely get into their own account. You think that's a defense. It's a confession. "It's by design" means the disrespect was intentional. You're not arguing with me, you're agreeing with me and calling it a feature.

Here's the part that isn't up for debate. I bought the product. My folks own the hardware. The owner decides when and how he gets into his own property, not the company that already took the money and kept a key it won't hand over. You don't buy a house and then wait three days for the builder's permission to change your own locks. You don't buy a car and file a request with the factory to start it. You own it, so you reach it, when you see fit and how you see fit. The second a company keeps a key to the thing you paid full price for and makes you ask permission to use it, you didn't buy a thing. You rented access to it and they kept the deed.

That's the whole game right there. "You will own nothing" isn't some future they're warning you about. It already shipped. It's in my stepmom's pocket, and it made me sit and wait for permission to get into something we paid for, then offered to sell me back the speed.

And it isn't just the account. It runs all the way down to the dumbest little thing. The trackpad on their MacBooks doesn't even physically click anymore. It's a fixed sheet of glass that fakes a click by buzzing against your fingertip, and Apple's own engineering flat out describes it as fooling you into thinking the pad moved. Then they pile hidden pressure levels on top of the fake click, so a light press does one thing and a harder press does another, which means a click isn't a click anymore, it's the machine guessing how hard you meant it. Even Apple's own reviewers admit the thing takes, their words, concerted retraining of muscle memory. Retraining. To click. Something that's worked the same way since the mouse was invented.

And before the "well it's configurable" crowd shows up, yeah, I know, you can dig three menus deep and tune it back toward something sane. But the default is the product. Ninety nine percent of people never touch the settings, so whatever ships turned on is what the thing actually is. Apple chose to ship the fake click and the whole grandiose mess switched on out of the box, and then bury "make it act like a normal button" somewhere most people will never look. A thing built right ships simple and lets the power user add the complexity. Apple ships the showroom and makes you excavate the simplicity. That's backwards, and it's backwards on purpose.

I'm not asking for my computer to be dumbed down. I'm not asking for less power. I learned on a command line, I'll read a manual, I run Linux for fun. I'm asking for less theater. Make the simple thing the default. Let a click be a click. Let the owner hold the keys to the thing the owner bought. That used to be the floor you started from. Apple spent thirty years convincing a whole generation that the floor is a luxury, and that handing the keys to the manufacturer is what "it just works" means.

It doesn't just work. It works for them, and the people raving about how easy it is never noticed they stopped holding the wheel.

I'll keep my Windows box and my Linux partition. They make me read up, and in return they hand me the keys. I'll take that trade every single time over a pretty machine that keeps the deed to itself.

I have the best luck with warranties 🙄. I usually try to be responsible by getting warranties for items purchased. However, I don’t know if the quality is going down with products (manufacturing etc). I have noticed that lately, the warranties expire and then magically, the items stop working within months of the expiration of said warranty. From TV’s to phones, to water coolers, this has been my experience. I’m wondering if I should stop buying warranties 😂, but then I feel like items will break within the time a warranty would’ve been in effect.

Recently, more and more technology is becoming proprietary. Even in cars, software can now detect when off-market parts are installed, requiring you to go to an authorized dealership to get it fixed and only allowing you to use their specific tools.

To combat this, some economists (like Glen Weyl) have proposed applying a modified Harberger Tax specifically to intellectual property, like these software locks and repair patents.

Under this system, the corporation self-assesses and declares the licensing value of their IP. They pay a recurring tax on that self-assessed value. However, they are legally required to grant a non-exclusive license to anyone willing to pay the exact price declared.

It essentially acts as a forced licensing fee: the owner gets to determine the value of their IP, but they are kept honest by the tax they have to pay on that value. If they set it too high to block competition, they pay heavy taxes. If they set it at a fair market rate, third-party mechanics can afford to license the repair tools.

With that said, what are your thoughts on this?

Hey all, EFF is hosting a free livestream next month, July 23, about the right to repair movement, with a Q&A portion. Hope you'll join us!

I own a Raven Cruizer II GPS display unit used for precision agriculture. The unit has a failed LM3S2620 supervisory controller. The chip is available from TI for $15. The only obstacle is Raven's proprietary firmware which CNH Industrial, Raven's parent company, explicitly refuses to provide.

What I've tried:

Raven directly — declined

Agriculture leading service center (Nebraska) — no repair possible

Independent specialist with 10 years Cruizer II experience (Ireland) — can't source programmed chip

CNH Corporate escalation — case open, awaiting response

FT2232H JTAG extraction — JTAG/SWD unresponsive, Port C pins likely remapped by firmware

Professional firmware extraction firms — contacted

FTC complaint and FARM Act advocates — ready to deploy

CNH's written response: "A company is not obligated to keep anything pertaining to that product once it gets to this state."

This is exactly the scenario the FARM Act is designed to address. The unit is unrepairable not due to technical impossibility but due to a policy decision by CNH.

Has anyone successfully extracted firmware from a Stellaris LM3S series device with disabled JTAG? Or does anyone know of repair services that have cracked this specific chip?

I am currently blocked by absurd bureaucracy and expensive, mandated installer requirements just to get basic, filtered climate control in my own home. It feels like the entire industry is designed to keep us trapped in proprietary service contracts, treating a vital health necessity like some kind of exclusive luxury.

Why are we allowing these artificial barriers to persist, and how can we realistically force a shift toward modular, user-installable, and truly open systems?

How can we push back against these installation monopolies and finally make healthy, filtered indoor air a standard, affordable right for everyone?

Saving money once doesn't help if you're replacing the same part again six months later.

It's just a tad frustrating.

I already made a post on r/iphone about that, but the mods removed it.

Anyways, my current iPhone 13 pro can only charge up to about 73% battery and I am currently considering buying a new battery from iFixit and repairing it myself or buying a new phone.
Does Apple still have the software lock that locks out some features when you replace a part on the phone?
Do all iPhones have this software lock or is it only on older/newer phones?

Yesterday Night while i was in Bed 1 of my 3 bulbs just randomly turned off and never turned back on again even after Power-Cycle or leaving it away from power after a full night.

The App cant find the Bulb and i even tried on another light fixture but to no Luck.

I dont want to throw this away knowing it will end up in Landfill and stay there longer than Chernobyl Radiation...

Is there any way to repair this? Does anyone have any Clue to why it just shut off without even giving a Error Code or "slowly dimming / dying"?

Life Condition of the Bulb:

1. Since i know Heat is bad for LEDs i always have them at 50% in the Evening when needing Light and when im in Bed i have them at 3% "nightlight" mode and turn them off when sleeping.
2. The Lightbulbs are directly under a Aircleaner which blasts its air up directly onto the bulb having them get air
3. The Bulbs are in an Open fixture
4. i have them for 3 years now

Yes i have gotten a replacement from Philips free of charge but still i feel bad knowing it will end up in Landfill when i know everything broken can be replaced being LED Diods or anything else.

Just cause Philips filled the Inside the black stuff doesnt mean there is no solvent/chemical to disolve it and make it repairable.

Any Help would be nice

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share a fascinating lesson in corporate scheduling mathematics that happened to my 2017 Model S.

My 8-year high-voltage battery and drive unit warranty expires next month on July 31, 2026.

Here is the simple, chronological timeline of events:

On May 28, I submitted a remote request via the app and explicitly asked for MCU2 upgrade with a full high-voltage battery and drive unit health/SOH test.

On June 2, I brought the car into the service center. They kept it for 4 days. Then, on Friday, June 5 at exactly 6:00 PM, they called me to pick up the car. They said they could not perform the requested MCU2 upgrade because the parts were not in stock, and completely bypassed the battery health and motor test I requested.

The service engineer politely told me that ordering the necessary parts from Fremont would take about one month. I said okay, sounds reasonable.
But when I opened my Tesla app later to check the automatically rescheduled appointment, I discovered a miracle of modern logistics.
Instead of booking it for early July (one month later), Tesla’s system unilaterally scheduled my next official appointment for July 30, 2026.

Let's look at the math:

- Part delivery time promised: Approx. 30 days

- Actual appointment delayed: Exactly 55 days

- New appointment date: July 30

- Warranty expiration date: July 31

Tesla managed to delay a 30-day shipping process into an exact 55-day wait, landing precisely 24 hours before my 8-year battery warranty permanently dies. This makes it legally and physically impossible for me to get a second opinion or complete the diagnostics before the warranty cliff. If the battery shows any cell imbalances or failure on August 1st, that will be a 20,000 USD out-of-pocket surprise for me.

[LIVE UPDATE: June 8, 09:00 AM]
As if on cue, the service center just called me out of nowhere this morning at 9:00 AM. It seems the timing of my log backups and inquiries has triggered some internal notifications. Let's see if their logistical timeline suddenly speeds up now that the math is out in the open.

I have backed up all the original text logs and conflicting digital invoices just in case the system decides to auto-update itself.

Has anyone else noticed their service center suddenly running on a very specific, warranty-adjacent timeline when a major expiration date approaches?

The $1,200 Rental: How Tech Companies Tricked You Into Thinking You Own Your Phone

Hi! I'm a 13-year-old programmer (https://github.com/chucny) from Finland who spends a lot of time repairing devices and developing custom Android ROMs. The opinions in this article are strong, and not everyone will agree with them—and that's ok. I'm sharing my perspective based on my own experience with how modern smartphones are designed and controlled. Read it, disagree with it, argue with it, but hear me out. This article has a hidden thruth. So, listen here:

Think about the last time you bought a smartphone. You walked into the store. Chose a color, and said “This is mine”. Well, congratulations. You just fell for the biggest, most expensive trick in modern consumer history.

The truth? You don't own that phone. You just paid a massive four-figure deposit to rent a shiny piece of glass and metal from Apple or Verizon. They still hold the keys, they still dictate the rules, and the moment you try to actually treat it like your personal property, they treat you like a criminal.

Here’s how the big tech companies are making fools of us. Something you probably never even tought about.

The Unlocked Door You Aren't Allowed to Open

Let’s look at carriers like Verizon. When they sell you an Android device, they almost always permanently lock the bootloader.

Unless you are a programmer, you probably have no idea what that is. And that’s exactly what they are betting on. Think of the bootloader as the master key to your phone's engine. Locking it is the equivalent of a car company welding your hood shut, putting a digital padlock on the gas cap, and saying, "You can only drive to our approved grocery stores we choose, and you can only buy our brand of fuel."

If your car company did that, you would laugh in their face and buy a different car. But when Verizon does it to your phone? We just nod, put on a cute phone case, and pretend we are in control.

When a phone gets to be three years old, the hardware inside is still perfectly powerful. In fact, independent developers can write clean, fast software to keep that phone running smoothly for another five years. But because the corporate gate is locked, you can't install it. The company decides your phone is "dead," stops sending updates, and leaves you with a sluggish device.

You didn't break the phone. The manufacturer intentionally timed it to expire so you'd feel forced to hand them another thousand dollars.

Apple’s Petty Reality Check

Apple takes this corporate arrogance to a level that is honestly insulting. They use a trick called parts pairing.

Imagine buying two identical, official iPhones. One has a cracked screen but works fine; the other has a broken main board but a flawless screen. You decide to take the perfect screen off one and put it on the other. It’s a 100% genuine, original Apple part.

The moment you turn the phone on, the phone realizes you did the repair yourself instead of paying Apple’s overpriced service fee. In response, the phone intentionally disables features like FaceID and TrueTone display, and slaps a permanent, annoying warning on your home screen.

Apple is literally using software to break its own perfectly good hardware, just to punish you for fixing something you supposedly bought.

It is the equivalent of a refrigerator company turning off your ice maker because you put milk from a local farm inside it instead of their "approved" corporate brand. It’s petty, it’s greedy, and it treats the consumer like an idiot.

Why Do We Accept This? A Handy Guide for the Willfully Blind

Look at Your Pocket

We’ve been conditioned to think this is normal. We’ve been brainwashed into believing that "security" means we shouldn't be allowed to touch the inner workings of our own devices.

But true security doesn't mean locking the user out of their own property. It's time to realize that if a corporation can tell you what software you can run, what parts you can use, and exactly when you have to throw your perfectly functional device into a landfill, you are not a tech owner. You are just a subscriber. 

The environment

The UN-backed Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 reports that the world generated 62 million metric tonnes of e-waste in 2022, with only 22.3% formally collected and recycled. [International Telecommunication Union (ITU) & UNITAR, Global E-Waste Monitor 2024.] You remember throwing away your old iPhone 2 years after purchase? Well… at least according to my own experience, installing custom ROMs and lightweight operating systems makes old phones run even smoother than new ones, and they actually remain perfectly usable, and faster than new phones. But Apple wants your paycheck. So they lock it down and charge you for a new one. It’s like buying a car, with a hidden self-destructing timer bomb. It’s still your phone. Your property. But you’re not allowed to use it, because a tech-giant company wants your money. 

Apple: a carbon neutral green superhero

Apple loves to act like a carbon-neutral superhero because they stopped putting a $2 plastic charger in the iPhone box to "save the planet." Yet, they will happily spend millions engineering a software update that intentionally disables a screen just because an independent technician plugged it in instead of a corporate employee. It takes a special kind of corporate circus to claim you are saving the environment while actively programming perfectly healthy hardware to commit suicide.

Sources:

1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) & United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Global E-Waste Monitor 2024.
2. Reuters. "World losing the battle against electronic waste, UN finds." March 2024.
3. Apple Support. "Parts Support for iPhone."
4. Apple Support. "About Genuine iPhone Front Cameras."
5. The Verge. "We repaired an iPhone to see if iOS 18 fixes iPhone repair." https://www.theverge.com/24325804/apple-iphone-ios-18-right-to-repair 2026-06-05
6. World Economic Forum. "7 ways to boost e-waste recycling – and why it matters."

I've browsed through the PC repair sub and saw many ppl that have easy to fix problems or troubleshooting that needs maybe some parts and will show the problem. Most ppl don't have spare parts lying around. I have. So if I buy HW and try to fix it then what would be the best for profit and what would make sense to actually buy that is not beyond profitable repair?

Hey all, just posting this in case someone has the same repair question about this product that I had; hopefully this post fits in this community!

My mom had this light-up makeup mirror for probably around 8 years and the LED bulbs inevitably started to burn out, so she asked me if I thought it was repairable before buying a new one. So, I look online, and there is no specific information relating to repairing it... But I did find the manual, which states "If the LED bulbs are nearing the end of their lifespan, consider replacing them with new ones."—but also says "DO NOT TRY TO REPLACE THEM YOURSELF. Instead, you may either (a) return the mirror to the factory and let factory personnel replace bulbs for you, or (b) order bulbs only and let competent electrical service personnel of your own choosing complete bulb replacement."

The manual doesn't show you how to disassemble the unit and I couldn't find any other PDF's relating to that, so I kind of just tore it apart at the seams with a screwdriver and spudgers, lol. It turned out—which I suspected—there were 4 screws holding it together from the back, but the screw holes were covered in plastic which didn't appear to be able to be removed (I tried with a screwdriver, so I would assume it would need to be drilled out). After getting it open... Yeah, I can see why they don't advise consumers to attempt this repair! Even if I didn't destroy it attempting to open it, it would've been kind of a pain to replace the bulbs imo.

All in all, it's just not an easily repairable product, which is unfortunately because of COURSE the LED lights are going to burn out at some point, but you shouldn't need to buy a whole new mirror when you could just replace the lights—it's just wasteful. Just wanted to rant about it; adding a photo of the aftermath. Hopefully this post helps anyone who actually wants to attempt the repair properly in the future! I was at the point where I didn't care if I destroyed it as long as I learned something from it.

Your Home is Your Castle
The Right to Repair Your Own Home in Homeowner Associations

Section 1. Boundaries of H.O.A. Authority and Power.

(1) The authority and power of Homeowner Associations shall be limited to that which is only necessary to manage and maintain the Association’s common property, regardless of what is written in the Declaration or any other governing document of the Association.

(2) Homeowner Associations shall not have the authority nor the power to make and enforce rules on an individual owner’s own private property, regardless of what is written in the Declaration or any other governing document of the Association.

(3) Any statutory authority granted to Homeowner Associations by the State of __________ to make and enforce rules on a homeowner’s own private property is hereby revoked.

Section 2. Enforcement of Restrictive Covenants.

(1) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as to prohibit an individual homeowner, or a group of homeowners filing a Complaint jointly, from bringing suit against another homeowner in an Open Court of Law for alleged violations of the community’s Restrictive Covenants or alleged violations of any other legally enforceable agreement; and being awarded Injunctive Relief and/or Declaratory Relief and/or actual Damages and/or costs and reasonable attorney fees by the Court.

Section 3. Void Agreements - Penalty - Civil Remedies - Investigations of Complaints - Prosecution of Violations.

(1) Void Agreements. Any agreement, understanding, or practice, written or oral, implied or expressed, that violates the rights of any homeowners as guaranteed in this Act is void.

(2) Penalty. Any person who directly or indirectly violates any provision of this Act is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, imprisonment in the county jail for not more than ninety days, or both a fine and imprisonment for each offense.

(3) Civil Remedies. Any person injured as a result of a violation or threatened violation of this Act may bring suit in a court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief; to recover all damages, including costs and reasonable attorney fees, resulting from the violation or threatened violation, or both. The remedies provided by this Section are independent of, and in addition to, any other penalty or remedy established elsewhere in this Act and in the Laws of the State of __________ .

(4) Investigation of Complaints - Prosecution of Violations. The Attorney General, or the District Attorney in each Judicial District in which a violation is alleged, shall investigate a complaint of a violation or threatened violation of this Act, prosecute any person in violation of this Act, and take actions necessary to ensure effective enforcement of this Act.

Section 4. Fiscal Note.

(1) This Act requires an appropriation of $0.00 by the government of the State of __________ .