In 2012, Massachusetts passed a law forcing automotive companies to share diagnostic information with third party repair shops. The law set a precedent and the industry rolled out the changes nationally. Now, Massachusetts has commissioned a study to see if similar legislation should extend to consumer electronics such as smartphones and video game consoles.
Source: This 17-Year-Old Has Become Michigan’s Leading Right to Repair Advocate – Motherboard
This laptop is not meant to be opened or repaired; you can’t get inside without inflicting a lot of damage.
Source: Microsoft Surface Laptop Teardown – iFixit
The battery is difficult and dangerous to replace, giving the device a limited lifespan.
Soon after its release, electronics insurance company SquareTrade put Samsung’s new flagship phone through its breakability test, a series of drops, dunks, and tumbles. It was deemed the most breakable phone of all time: “S8 is the first phone we’ve tested that’s cracked on the first drop on ALL sides,” SquareTrade wrote in a video demonstrating the drops.
Source: Repair Shops Are Stoked That the Samsung Galaxy S8 Is the Most Fragile Phone Ever Made – Motherboard
Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform “unauthorized” repair on farm equipment, which farmers see as an attack on their sovereignty and quite possibly an existential threat to their livelihood if their tractor breaks at an inopportune time.
Source: Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware – Motherboard
A license agreement John Deere required farmers to sign in October forbids nearly all repair and modification to farming equipment, and prevents farmers from suing for “crop loss, lost profits, loss of goodwill, loss of use of equipment … arising from the performance or non-performance of any aspect of the software.”