#Apple Digitizer Repairs

[bizzlane15]

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[shlimon]

Credit: @ jowelmobilegarden3

Guarding Your Tech: The Ultimate Guide to Screen Protectors

In the current digital era, displays dominate our daily life. Screens are a necessary part of our daily lives, whether they be in the form of wearables, computers, tablets, or smartphones. Our devices have grown more intricate and delicate as technology has advanced. In this case, screen protectors can be useful. We will go into the realm of screen protectors in this extensive guide, emphasizing the value of safeguarding your priceless devices and the numerous forms.

Click To Know More

[richdadpoor]

Apple Has Finally Found a Right to Repair Bill That It Likes

This week, Apple announced its support for a California bill to allow consumers to repair or modify their devices independently. The bill, called SB 244 or the Right to Repair Act, was passed by the state senate in May with a 38-0 vote, requiring manufacturers to provide owners and repair shops with the necessary tools and manuals to fix devices. Buy Now or Wait? How to Avoid Tech Buyer’s…

[subjectsix]

I don't know I'm not done talking about it. It's insane that I can't just uninstall Edge or Copilot. That websites require my phone number to sign up. That people share their contacts to find their friends on social media.

I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.

Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.

I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.

I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.

Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.

I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.

My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.

I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?

No more!!!!! I love my iPod with so much storage and FLAC files. I love having all my fics on my harddrive. I love having USBs and backups. I love running scripts to gut suck stuff out of my Windows computer I don't want that spies on me. I love having forums. I love sending letters. I love neocities and webpages and webrings. I will not be scanning QR codes. Please hand me a physical menu. If I didn't need a smartphone for work I'd get a "dumb" phone so fast. I want things to have buttons. I want to use a mouse. I want replaceable batteries. I want the right to repair. I grew up online and I won't forget how it was!

[lets-try-some-writing]

i love it when people apply the whole “humans are space orcs” idea to transformer humans.

jack, miko and raf just doing regular, average day things that make the bots both extremely worried and unsettled gives me so much brainrot.

I got you here. I love this kind of lore/reaction ask.

Each of the children have a particular habit that bothers the team more than anything else. Can it be explained? Not really. All humans do the things they do. But for the bots, it is strange and out of sorts all the same.

Miko always carries around a bottle of sparkling water. She adores the stuff. The team, despite knowing it is not what the name implies, are still horrified with her drinking habits. Not to mention, they can't help but wonder where all the liquid goes. She drinks up to three whole bottles of water a day. In her own words "Hydrate or die." That in it of itself is concerning since the team, while well aware that humans need water, do not know how much they need exactly. The team are down right terrified of her ability to down water like a dry sponge. How can such a small fleshy even consume that much? They aren't entirely sure. Not only that, but if she drinks that much, then are Jack and Rafael getting enough? They can't be.

Not only does Miko down water like a bone dry houseplant, she also drinks just about anything else too. The team have seen her chug sodas which contain Primus knows how many strange chemicals and compounds. They've observed her willingly drink things that no other would on bets, including food that has been blended and watered down just because Jack wanted to see if it was possible for her to down hotdog cafeteria milk cheeto apple slurry.

Yes the team are terrified of humans and their ability to put anything inside themselves and walk it off. But more than any other, they fear Miko. Who knows what she's consumed.

All the kids do it, but Jack is the most notable since when he needs to go to the restroom, he makes it loud and clear mainly so that someone knows to keep an eye on Miko. The team are aware that organics have a need to manually handle removing waste since their systems are rather inefficient, however there is a certain level of mysteriousness surrounding the restrooms. The bots don't want to watch or even know HOW the humans get rid of waste, but they do know that THINGS happen in the restroom that seem to either be painful, emotional, refreshing, or aggravating. No one can really be sure what reaction will follow those who enter the space. Sometimes Jack or one of the other kids will go in there seemingly to just be alone.

It is a strange and almost sacred location where strange happenings occur. Miko went in once with bloody clothes and emerged with a fresh set before Ratchet could figure out what was wrong in the first place. Jack went in once and came out an hour later looking like he'd gone to war after he convinced Arcee to let him stop and get takeout the night before. Rafael took his charger and computer in there and hogged the space for a while to get away from the others once. The team does not know what happens in there, but it is mildly concerning since it either repairs or breaks a person.

Bulkhead theorizes that its a pocket dimension like the shadow zone. Ratchet refuses to think about it. Optimus will say nothing about whatever he knows. Arcee and Bee assume its a safe haven or sorts and Wheeljack is almost certain they keep weapons in there. Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen both agree that the restroom is simply a quiet space where a human can deal with personal issues in peace.

No bot is willing to try and confirm anything since humans flip out at any attempts to view the supposedly sacred ground.

Rafael is generally pretty good about flying under the radar most of the time, but he has a habit that has caught the team's attention. Humans have been noted doing what they can to clean themselves on their own. Its rather ineffective to clean one's own venting openings with digits considering the sheer amount of germs involved, but it is not out of the question to do so when a cleaning cloth is not available. Rafael occasionally and quietly trying to clean his nose is not what bothers the team.

No what horrifies them is the goop that he pulls out after his attempt at cleaning. What Ratchet has studied states that the goop is referred to by a number names, but is commonly called snot. Its the natural germ catcher humans have, but it still unsettles the team whenever Rafael quietly blows a few or when one of the others grabs a tissue and makes a rather disgusting sound as they try to clear their airways.

The goop reminds the team of any number of horrible things. But the sheer amount of GROSS within a small amount of the stuff has left the team all gagging whenever they find the stuff around base. Rafael is usually good about being clean, but sometimes he gets lazy and will use his chair to hide his cleaning attempts. Bumblebee has almost purged a few times seeing the marks on the chair from where Rafael may or may not have wiped his fingers.

Is he twelve? Yes. Is he fully mature? No. That much is evident just by looking at his chair.

[follow-up-news]

The soft-serve machines at McDonald's restaurants are so often out of order that their reliable unreliability have long been the butt of jokes, memes — and now even a rallying cry in this year’s presidential race. The widespread issue has even spurred the creation of McBroken, an online tracker for broken machines across the U.S. A new exemption to a copyright law could pave the way for quicker repairs to the machines, sweetening the McFlurry maker's sour reputation. Before this week, most of the McDonald's ice cream makers could only be fixed through the machine’s manufacturer. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protects the code embedded in the ice cream machines, made it illegal for third parties, like McDonald’s employees and franchisee owners, to break the digital locks installed by manufacturers. The new rule, which went into effect on Monday, allows outside vendors to fix “retail-level commercial food preparation equipment.” That includes McDonald’s ice cream machines, as 404 media journalist Jason Koebler explained to NPR’s Weekend Edition. It’s a win for the “right to repair” movement, which pushes back against companies incentivized to control the repairs made to their own products. The movement advocates for legislation that gets manufacturers to provide consumers and independent repair services access to their parts, tools and service information so consumers can get their own, legally bought devices fixed. The movement prevailed when Apple in 2021 announced it would allow customers to repair their iPhones themselves. 

[ediyo-15]

There was a boy in Tony’s kitchen.

He rounded the corner and there was a boy. A boy in his kitchen, shoved up against the cabinets, a handful of two day old muffins being squished beyond repair in his hands, the soft bread oozing out from between his fingers. A tiny, frail thing of a boy, somewhere in between eight and double digits, who took one look at Tony and leapt across the counters, towards the back door.

[jungle-angel]

First Day Funny Business (Rhett Abbott x Reader)

Summary: You had hoped that even though it was Amy's first day of school, that she would sleep in

A set of tiny little feet padded their way into your shared bedroom, hurrying with excitement. Rhett was still snoring the morning away covered only by the thin bedsheet and the turned down covers at his feet.

Amy bounded into the room, practically jumping right on top of Rhett and eliciting a groan from the deeply sleeping cowboy. "Daddy! Daddy! Uppie!" she cried. "Uppie! It's almost time for school!"

"Don't wanna go to school, Pumpkin," he groaned. "Ten more minutes."

"Mommy says you gotta get up," Amy informed him.

Rhett jokingly laid his dead weight into the mattress as Amy tried to pry him off of it, herself in turn, rolling off the bed with a yelp and a loud thump onto the floor, taking most of the bedsheet with her.

"Shit!" Rhett hissed when the cold air from the air conditioning hit him along with the realization that he was still in his tight black boxers. Thank God he hadn't been naked......that would have had Amy either asking questions or running around telling the differences between men and women.

"Alright Doodlebug," Rhett yawned. "C'mon downstairs and eat."

A madly giggling Amy raced down the steps with Rhett trailing slowly behind until he found himself in the kitchen with you. "Good morning Frankenstein," you joked, turning over the apple cinnamon pancakes you had been cooking.

Rhett grunted in response, doing his best Frankenstein impression before rubbing the grog off his face. He kissed your lips before grabbing a plate and sitting next to Amy.

"You excited sweet pea?" he asked, digging into the pancakes.

"Yeah," she chirped happily.

You listened to Rhett going back and forth with Amy, the two boys in your belly kicking up a storm at the scent of the pancakes and the chatter in the kitchen. Hannah, your two year old, came waddling in a minute later with her pink blankie and her hair sticking up at weird angles. Rhett lifted Hannah into his lap and kissed her pretty little cheeks, making her giggle as the stubble from his jaw tickled her sensitive skin.

"Alright, Doodlebug," Rhett said when he noticed the time on the digital stove clock. "Eat that last bite and then go get dressed."

Amy scarfed down the last bite of her pancakes and hurried upstairs to go get herself dressed. Sure as shit, she had picked out one of the outfits you and Rhett had gotten for her, a pretty little dark grey t-shirt with a big turquoise butterfly on it and the cute little denim shorts with the lacy trim around the legs. Amy even managed to get her little brown gladiator sandals onto her feet which flapped all over the hardwood floors in the halls.

"C'mon princess," Rhett told her, opening the door to the truck and buckling her in. He set her backpack down on the seat beside her, happy that her blanket and her circus clown plushie were already in her bag.

Rhett helped you in a minute later once Cecelia had come to look after Hannah. She gave Amy a kiss and wished her good luck and so didn't Royal, snapping a few pictures before the three of you had to be off. Amy waved to her grandparents until you had gotten all the way to the bottom of the driveway and turned onto the road that would only be a short, fifteen minute ride to the school.

"You good to go for today?" Rhett asked you.

"As far as lessons go? Yes," you told him. "Physically and mentally? That's debatable."

Rhett chuckled a little, finally pulling into the little Waldorf School that lay right in the middle of the woods, just up the path from the main school where you taught. Rhett had known almost every single teacher at the place whether it was from having to repair farm equipment, deliver calves and foals in the middle of the night or even from bartering with one another, Rhett knew almost the entire teaching faculty.

Rhett parked in the dirt lot and helped you out first, making sure you weren't hindered by your bump. Amy jumped out once she was unbuckled and the three of you walked right up the path to the little building where Claire O'Donnell was waiting for her.

"Good morning Miss Amy," Claire greeted cheerfully, shaking Amy's little hand. "How are you this morning?"

"Good," Amy chirped.

"Come on in sweetheart," Claire told her, shooing her inside the building to see her other teachers and classmates who were just beginning to arrive. "Now here's two other faces I haven't seen all summer."

"Claire, how are ya?" Rhett greeted, shaking her hand.

"Wonderful, wonderful," she laughed. "Listen, Rhett, Brian was asking if your father still had a gas can for us to use? The tractor has no fuel and we couldn't get downtown to get any yesterday."

"Yeah, stop on by whenever ya'll get a chance and we'll lend you some," Rhett answered. "Chances are, it'll either be me or Wes Redwood ya'll see out front."

"Oh thank you, you're an absolute lifesaver," Claire answered. "And just know that if you or your family need anything from us in return, just ring the doorbell and we'll do the same."

You and Rhett both bid her farewell before saying one last goodbye to Amy, Rhett and her forming a little heart with their hands before he walked you up the path to where the grade and high schools were located.

"Don't work too hard sweetheart," he said before he kissed you.

"You know I won't," you teased him before heading off.

The realization that Amy was finally in preschool didn't hit him until Rhett was driving home and Cecelia saw him step outta the truck with tears in his eyes.

"You ok Grumpy?" she asked him.

"Can't believe Doodlebug's growin up," he croaked, hugging his mother.

"I know sweetie, I know," Cecelia chuckled. "First days are always toughest."

Rhett laughed and followed his mother into the house to gather up whatever he needed for the day and to go help Wes. He left the house, heading for the truck once more to make his way over to the Granite Trail Reservation, turning only to see his mother and Hannah standing in the window, waving goodbye. Rhett didn't need to really hold back his emotions, but felt immense pride in his family, just as he was always meant to.

[ofallthingsnasty]

I need more Evan content in my life TT_TT would you consider writing something about him following the reader home and stalking them from his POV?

Aah, I'm so happy you like him!! He's my big, pseudo-soft creep vuv💕 I made him more soft than creepy in this, because he really thinks he is being cute and the good guy™

fic referenced (be sure to check the warnings before reading)

tags: yandere, stalking, minor nameless bill cameo (squint and you'll miss it... he's the mechanic), fem reader, chubby reader, minors dni but this is sfw, tagged as terato bc evan is a werewolf but that doesn't really come up here word count: 1.2k

Never has anyone been as happy as Evan to sit behind the wheel of their car, just waiting in the parking lot of the local grocery store. His favorite station is softly announcing tomorrow’s weather as he drums his fingers on the leather, eyes trained on the brightly-lit entrance of the shop. Waiting. Anticipating.

You went in just about five minutes ago, an hour before closing. 

He loves it when you do your weekly grocery run after work - it’s takes the edge off every long day when you dip out of your apartment with that familiar shopping bag slung over your shoulder, keys dangling from one hand as you make some last-minute adjustments to your digital shopping list. You always go to the same store, usually around the same time as well. It’s so easy to keep track of your routine and watching you putter about has become one of his guilty pleasures, following you to and fro with his car, on foot, on his dingy bike.

You’re not using a shopping cart today, opting to tuck one of the plastic baskets into the crook of your arm instead. Ah, your car is broken, can’t carry much more if you have to haul it all home. Of course, he already knows that - you had told him yourself and he is still delighted by the fact that you’d readily share the information with him. You had been so cute, so grateful when he had recommended you a mechanic, someone he could trust not to upcharge you for whatever it was that was broken (even though his attitude could be horrid - but you are a tough cookie, he knows that. You can handle a little bit of attitude thrown in your direction.)

He checks the time again, waiting for an appropriate amount of time to pass. Ten minutes. He’s always aiming for ten minutes. A short list, just a little run to store for some milk, really, and he gets to see how you crunch your face together when you search for something on the shelves, gets to watch you being lost in thought, oblivious to the world around you. Sometimes he treats himself to waiting in line behind you in check-out, eyeing your little haul and listening to the sweet little thank you you chirp at the cashier.

He doesn’t always duck in when you do - no, no, too obvious, really - but today he will. You’ve been to the shop less than usual in the last week, undoubtedly saving up some money for your repairs and he misses you, your face, your voice. 

Evan sighs as his eyes dart over to the clock again. Finally. He shoots out of the car like he’s been bitten by something and doesn’t even bother to grab a basket for himself. Just milk. He’s here for just a carton of milk, anyway.

He finds you by the fruit, critically eyeing some apples and it takes him every bit of strength not to stop and stare. Just milk. Maybe some gummy bears if you keep yourself too occupied with bruised produce. 

He doesn’t want to miss you at the check-out, after all. You sure take your time today. Evan has gone over the different types of milk (plant-based included) twice before you finally dip into another section. Full-fat, low-fat, almond, oat, no milk at all - it’s all the same to him and he just grabs one off the shelves as he sees you trotting over to the freezers. He knows damn well where you’ll go to next and he hurries over, positioning himself as though he has some reason to be here, his eyes flitting between on- and off-brand ravioli as if it matters.

It doesn’t take long until you tip into the canned goods section and - oh, you’ve noticed him. Your free hand waves awkwardly at him as you two look at each other and you mouth a cute little ‘hi’ to him. He smiles and does the same, his heart soaring in his chest at the gesture. So, so cute.

The moment is over way sooner than he’d like it to be but you’re probably tired after work, so you turn your attention back to your list, biting your lower lip in thought. Poor thing.

You’re always so lost in thought, with an iron grip on your smartphone as you check your little shopping list. It’s as though you’re all alone in the big store, the way you softly mumble to yourself and listfully touch the packaging to inspect the product.

Evan almost forgets to look back to the ravioli before you turn to him again.

It’s the only interaction he allows himself for the evening. He wants to ask you about your day so bad, wants to know what you’ll be baking (cooking?) with your carefully picked apples, but it’s just too obvious - he consoles himself with the fact that he’ll get to stare at you while waiting in line for the check-out.

He lets you go for the rest of your grocery run, not even watching as you complete your little list. Brave. He’s being so brave about pretending to care for some stupid candy while you probably compare the prices on the weekly deals close to the register - he counts to ten and fists a bag of licorice, peeking around the corner to find you shovelling the content of your shopping basket onto the conveyor belt. Jackpot.

Evan takes a spot behind an older man, close enough to really watch you and far enough to not be too blatant about it, and lets himself really drink the sight of you in.

You wear something cute. Not that your usual work attire isn’t - there is just something about you in something comfortable, something casual that makes his heart swell in his chest. A hoodie. That ridiculously adorable pair of printed sweatpants you have. Or, when the weather allows it, something shorter: a dress, a skirt, shorts. And today, he is oh-so-lucky: you’re in his favorite short number, something that makes the wait so much more worth it. If you let him, he’d buy you a million of the same garment in a dozen colors. 

The conveyor belt stutters forward and you greet the cashier with your sweetest voice. He wants to melt on the spot.

He thinks often about what it would be like to complete such a mundane task with you, as a little family. You with a fat little baby on your hip, pushing the cart while he loads it up. What meals would you enjoy together, what would you try for the first time? He knows what you like to cook for yourself already but he doesn’t know the exact recipes. Would you share them with him? Oh, you would.

He almost misses it when the cashier tells you your total and you rummage through your wallet to hand them some bills.

Only one bag of groceries today, barely stuffed. You hurry the straps over the fat of your shoulder, whistling out an exhale in an adorable manner. It seems heavy - he wants to carry it home for you, wants to at least help you if your car isn’t working. But he can’t - you don’t know him like that so Evan is left to stand and stare while you trudge through automatic doors, headed back home. But you don’t have to worry your pretty little head about it, he thinks. Soon enough it’s going to be him who carries that bag for you, who gets you your favorite pesto brand from the top shelf. For now, he’ll just follow you home to make sure you’re safe. 

[ccaptain]

   there doesn't seem to be an end of the grease he wipes off himself.

   it's smeared on the floor, on the engineering books, under shoes and blunt nails and has, by now, snuggled in the creases of his fingers. in the little lines on his skin. anywhere it could reach, it settled comfortably like an old friend. perhaps it would bother anyone else- but not him, not Kaeya. he's rarely bothered by trivial stuff like this one.

   a shower will wash everything away, will remove all that the towels have failed to. it's simple as that.

   not that those haven't tried their best to: a wet one removed most of what was on his bare chest, and another took care of the hands and forearms. and while a scented napkin didn't really got rid of the stain that dropped on the bridge of his nose, he has all the time in the world to make the walk back towards the safety of a long, warm shower. 

   there's nobody around to complain about his look and smell, anyway. the silence of the park is everpresent.

   every little clatter of a metallic tool echoes tenfold, and receives no response. every start of a new motor is a deafening, almost startling roar to life until it can be subdued into the normalcy of a machine now oiled and working. there's almost a sense of satisfaction in seeing another attraction come back to life, wiping oil off tingling digits and watching with rapt attention as the lights pop alight one by one.

   but today is a bit different.

   there's no satisfied, small smile on his face. instead, there's a sense of emptiness that he has experienced before- and that he knows was coming, he knew for a while. he simply did not fought a known enemy that keeps ambushing him at slighty inconvenient times.

   the solitude. 

   how can one fight it fairly, when no weapons are given? if hands are empty when the blow strikes, what's there to do if not simply accept fate? the caving of his chest, the emptiness of his stomach, things that sometimes come to bother him like a persistent cold- never lethal, but debilitating. distracting.

   there's another engine to fix. he should work on it, repair the sensation out of his system. Tear consumed wires out of the machine and substitute those with new ones, arms deep in the belly of something in need of restoration. fingers constantly in motion, in action. 

   he really should.

   of all things he could do, Kaeya begins to sing.

   the first attempt fails: the notes are hard to get out. he hasn't done so in a while- making a sound, keeping his voice well used. in the confinement of a planet without company to talk to, he tends to forget that he should, still, speak. he swallows, takes in a slow breath and focuses on the sound he wants to make. curious, cold fingertips massage at his Adam's apple, as if this gesture could provide some comfort. 

   when too immersed in tasks to pass the time, the same passing of time inflicts a sense of deep disorientation on him. it's almost ironic, he thinks with a puzzled expression on his face; it seems like i've been here for years without a single word. but... have i? has it really been this long?

   no- it couldn't have been. if he had been missing for such a long time, certaintly he would have been looked for, with increasingly alarmed messages questioning his whereabouts. and his phone has been quiet, the date moved only some days forward where he last checked it. it hasn't even been a week- simply five days of constant working, switching cables, pour the life back into those.

   five days of consistent silence.

   the bottle of water he carries with him, mostly to wash his hands off grime and oil, is downed in a few gulps and finished with a deep sigh of contentment- for the empty comfort of trying to soothe a throat that undergoes no damage without use, it works.

   a glance is cast down at the engine, still waiting and demanding his attention both. he opens his mouth to apologize to it, starts saying that he'll take care of it another day-

   -but there's no use talking with a machine: it'll never respond to you, if not with unenthusiastic whirrs to someone's thoughts pouring out of lips. and machines are the only company he had in a long while.

   Kaeya tries to sing again. and the melody starts like a well-oiled engine, this time.

   while voice raises in volume, gloved palm parts from metallic surface and rests back in the safety of his side- he steps away from the engine, and begins walking.

   yes- a good, long walk to clear the mind. with the quiet voice coming from his lips trailing behind him like a kite's paper tail.

   there's so much to walk, so many steps to take. so many attractions to circle around. if he wanted to, he could walk right out of the park and head down the main dirt road to the village, and back. he could walk in the plains, between the shriveled grass that was once green, and leave no footprints to disturb the field. it'll be like he has never passed at all.

   but for once he simply wants to mindlessly roam, with his steps making no noise. he shatters the everpresent silence of the planet with his voice, and keeps going.

   there's nothing else that he has better to do, anyway.

[autolenaphilia]

Apple has the worst fans in the whole of tech. Like people complain about Linux users having a superiority complex, while Apple fans makes fucking Arch Linux users look humble. And they are unhinged in general, I've seen several of them go on deranged rants against open source software.

And that's because Apple products are severely overpriced Veblen goods, conspicuous consumption for the digital age. Like you are paying for the Apple brand to show that you have money. That's the cause of superiority complex of Apple fans, it's class snobbery.

That's why iphones and Macs have such distinct looks, but aren't really that capable, they are meant to be shown off.

Like with Apple, you are often paying more for less, and that's the point. Macs cost a ton but are fairly low-spec for that price range. And they are far less durable and repairable than a far cheaper Thinkpad. And iphones cost more but have objectively less functionality than cheaper phones, like no headphone jack. Apple's software with its proprietary walled garden policy further limits its users in what they can do with their tech.

And that's the point, it's not for the person who has a limited budget and want to make their money spent on tech count, it's for someone who buys phones/computers at least in part for the brand, and to show how off how much money that have. An Apple product a status symbol rather than a practical tool.

[mylight-png]

Lamination sheets or thick strips of clear artist tape can be taped over posters to protect them from spray paint, markers, water damage, ect. It renders them wash-clean. However it does not fully protect against fire or sharp objects or acid.

If you coat the back of a poster with a few layers of glue or tape before you tape it up, it can make it harder to tear. Tape is better, especially if you double-layer it with the tape going in different directions. Or just use strips of duct-tape.

Likewise, layering grip tape and duct-tape and cross-pathing them can make posters extremely difficult to peel off a wall. Take it from someone who was convinced she'd want that poster of Jacob Black on her bedroom wall forever. It took me two hours to get off. More than enough time to call the police.

The best kinds of tape to purchase are industrial tapes. These tapes will usually have things like airtight, sealant, airguard, closure, repair, ect in their name. They are designed not to tear, weaken, ect.

Anti-attack dye spray, a legal alternative to pepper spray and mace, can be used on any people tearing down posters who also act threateningly towards you if you are in their vicinity. It can be sprayed on faces, hands, or any bare skin and it will stain them for up to 10 days. The color RED has been suggested as the main identifier for people who are vandalising posters. Please note, you can ONLY use this in defence. E.g; if they act aggressively, approach you, ect.

This one is a little odd, but poop barriers (or fake poop made using mud) are a tested, proven deterrent. If the posters are on a wall or a pole, coating the floor in front of it in fecal matter means most people will not willingly step in it in order to get to the posters. Farmers have been using this method for generations where I live to stop people getting into crop fields, orchards, ect. Nobody wants to step in poop. When I had an apple tree in my yard I made a fake poop barrier and it was the lone year my neighbors and the people in my area didn't climb my fence to steal apples.

I definitely recommend using fake poop because you might be charged if you use real poop.

Using a box or step ladder, putting posters up higher and out of reach can also reduce the chance of it getting vandalised. You may need to make the poster's visual content larger to compensate. Brightly colors arrows pointing upward toward the poster in place of where the poster would normally be will also encourage people to look up and see them.

Don't just tape them to walls and street poles. Ask local coffee shops and supermarkets if you can tape them in the windows or on the serving desks. Ask your local bus station if you can tape them inside. Crowdfund where possible and buy slots on digital street boards and billboards (if there's a group of you doing it, you can raise the funds as a group effort and create a slideshow of sorts.)

Get. Creative.

But also obey the law. Or at least skirt it with enough plausible deniability.

Ooooh neat, thanks for the advice!

[murumokirby360]

My Family's 2010s Digital Camera (Canon EOS 1000D/Rebel XS) [feat. my Paper Dolls]

DeviantART version → [CLICK ME!]

Hello, May! 🌏☀️ Unfortunately, I cannot continue my upcoming and latest "PC Upgrade Project". The good news was, that I've already worked on it, but I need to adjust the size for the comparison, as well as splitting it into two videos instead of one to reduce memory size, and even timing the subtitles (which is important for the latter). So, my plan was to be submitted by July of 2024. On the bright side, I have another item review that has yet to be revealed, this June. 🙂 Nonetheless, onto my month's share. 😊

BREAKING NEWS: Just recently, yesterday [on May 30th, 2024] my current Power Supply Unit blew up, making my custom PC desktop useless without any power source! 💥😨 As of today, We send it to the "Computer Repair Shop" for a replacement. 🖥️🔧😓 Ouch! Luckily, it was fixed the next day, as in TODAY! And I cost a lot from my earning funds. Double ouch! 💵🤕 So, that topic deserves another month, I suppose...

Now, onto my topic...

• So, another camera from my parent's shelves, and it's the latest abandoned camera, as of 2024. The "Canon EOS 1000D" 😊📸, also known as the "EOS Rebel XS" is a DSLR camera that debuted in June 2008. This old professional camera possessed a 10.1-megapixel camera, a detachable lens like other DSLR cams do, and a whole bunch of features that only professional DSLR cam photographers could understand. Also, unlike the Sony Cybershot's exclusive "Sony" Memory Stick for photo storage, Canon uses the universal SD Card to store photos, on any memory brand used such as Sandisk, Transcend, Lexar, etc... For megapixels comparison, the 90s Olympus Camedia C-2000 Z has "2.1", the previous topic of Sony DSC-T70 has "8.1", and what about the "Focus-35"? Well, let's say it's not as level as the 90s Olympus camera that we've owned. 🤔🤷‍♀️

• So, do you have a story about this camera? Well, there's one I remembered, and it's based on the true story. ☝😊📖 I was 18 years old (late adolescence, may I add) while I was in High School in the year 2011 (3rd year High School). I went to a local 7-Eleven store when I saw a raffle promo poster. For the prize? A bunch of awesome stuff, including the Canon camera itself (the EOS Rebel XS). And since I'm 18, I'm qualified the participate by buying consumed-related stuff from the aforementioned convenience store daily. After the promo ended and my 3rd year of High School ended, a rider came to our house to receive a letter from 7-Eleven, only to find out that my father was the winner of the promo instead of me, and I was shocked. 😲 Damn... That winning camera should've been ME, and I used this cool camera to pursue my future career as a professional photographer; which sadly, did not happen. 😥 Regardless, in the end, I'm happy that my father won the prize, so I have to congratulate him. 👏😊 And the rest was history, we have SO MANY photo moments that we've shared on our main social media(s), unlike our previous digicams. We've been using it for a few years, until 2018(?) (as far as I know). When the camera itself started to get old, bugs were unbeknownst inside the lens (seriously, where did that come from? 🐜), and the built-in flash was unable to work properly. Making use of itself. Also, the repair cost for our camera was expensive, so we can't afford it. 💵😬 Yup, another camera bites the dust (I guess). 😥 And so, we've decided to switch to smartphone cameras over our bulky DSLR camera. 📱➡📷 After all, the cams from smartphones we're superior to those before depending on what brand we've used. Plus, it is ultra-portable, too.

• For ME, however, I would love to use the traditional digicams (big or small) over smartphones because it had a superior quality image over modern phones. 📷➡📱 Yeah, Apple and Samsung had overtaken, but true camera brands like Canon, Nikon, and Fujifilm (the trio of Japanese camera brands 🇯🇵📷. Don't forget Sony, by the way.) are already stronger than before; innovate after innovate for the professional photographers and content vloggers. The big boy cameras never gets old, and they're still producing them, to this very day. 📸🎥😁 However, with the rise of "Action Cameras" (not to mention Flying Camera Drones") will soon be surpassed, in the digital image industry. So, I'm not sure who'll die first. We may never know...🤔

• On the plus side, my paper dolls appreciate my story. So, here's my final moment before I put this cool memorable DSLR Camera on the wardrobe. 😊📷📸

Well, that's all for now! And do you have any good "item" memories from the 2000s to 2010s, like mine? Type it down in the reply section! 😊

If you haven't seen my related camera throwbacks, and my previous topic, then I'll provide some links down below. ↓ 😉

• My Family's 2000s Digital Camera (Sony Cybershot DSC-T70) [Apr 30th, 2024]

• Another 90s Camera: Olympus Camedia C-2000 Z [Jan 29th, 2024]

• My Family’s Old Film Camera (from the 90s) [Aug 29th, 2023]

Previous:

• My BRAND NEW SMARTPHONE BY Tecno Mobile [Mar 30th, 2024]

Tagged: @lordromulus90, @bryan360, @shadowredfeline, @leapant, @alexander1301, @coda-archive, @rafacaz4lisam2k4

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Apple fucked us on right to repair (again)

Today (September 22), I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. Tonight, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

Right to repair has no cannier, more dedicated adversary than Apple, a company whose most innovative work is dreaming up new ways to sneakily sabotage electronics repair while claiming to be a caring environmental steward, a lie that covers up the mountains of e-waste that Apple dooms our descendants to wade through.

Why does Apple hate repair so much? It's not that they want to poison our water and bodies with microplastics; it's not that they want to hasten the day our coastal cities drown; it's not that they relish the human misery that accompanies every gram of conflict mineral. They aren't sadists. They're merely sociopathically greedy.

Tim Cook laid it out for his investors: when people can repair their devices, they don't buy new ones. When people don't buy new devices, Apple doesn't sell them new devices. It's that's simple:

https://www.inverse.com/article/52189-tim-cook-says-apple-faces-2-key-problems-in-surprising-shareholder-letter

So Apple does everything it can to monopolize repair. Not just because this lets the company gouge you on routine service, but because it lets them decide when your phone is beyond repair, so they can offer you a trade-in, ensuring both that you buy a new device and that the device you buy is another Apple.

There are so many tactics Apple gets to use to sabotage repair. For example, Apple engraves microscopic Apple logos on the subassemblies in its devices. This allows the company to enlist US Customs to seize and destroy refurbished parts that are harvested from dead phones by workers in the Pacific Rim:

https://repair.eu/news/apple-uses-trademark-law-to-strengthen-its-monopoly-on-repair/

Of course, the easiest way to prevent harvested components from entering the parts stream is to destroy as many old devices as possible. That's why Apple's so-called "recycling" program shreds any devices you turn over to them. When you trade in your old iPhone at an Apple Store, it is converted into immortal e-waste (no other major recycling program does this). The logic is straightforward: no parts, no repairs:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp73jw/apple-recycling-iphones-macbooks

Shredding parts and cooking up bogus trademark claims is just for starters, though. For Apple, the true anti-repair innovation comes from the most pernicious US tech law: Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

DMCA 1201 is an "anti-circumvention" law. It bans the distribution of any tool that bypasses "an effective means of access control." That's all very abstract, but here's what it means: if a manufacturer sticks some Digital Rights Management (DRM) in its device, then anything you want to do that involves removing that DRM is now illegal – even if the thing itself is perfectly legal.

When Congress passed this stupid law in 1998, it had a very limited blast radius. Computers were still pretty expensive and DRM use was limited to a few narrow categories. In 1998, DMCA 1201 was mostly used to prevent you from de-regionalizing your DVD player to watch discs that had been released overseas but not in your own country.

But as we warned back then, computers were only going to get smaller and cheaper, and eventually, it would only cost manufacturers pennies to wrap their products – or even subassemblies in their products – in DRM. Congress was putting a gun on the mantelpiece in Act I, and it was bound to go off in Act III.

Welcome to Act III.

Today, it costs about a quarter to add a system-on-a-chip to even the tiniest parts. These SOCs can run DRM. Here's how that DRM works: when you put a new part in a device, the SOC and the device's main controller communicate with one another. They perform a cryptographic protocol: the part says, "Here's my serial number," and then the main controller prompts the user to enter a manufacturer-supplied secret code, and the master controller sends a signed version of this to the part, and the part and the system then recognize each other.

This process has many names, but because it was first used in the automotive sector, it's widely known as VIN-Locking (VIN stands for "vehicle identification number," the unique number given to every car by its manufacturer). VIN-locking is used by automakers to block independent mechanics from repairing your car; even if they use the manufacturer's own parts, the parts and the engine will refuse to work together until the manufacturer's rep keys in the unlock code:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

VIN locking is everywhere. It's how John Deere stops farmers from fixing their own tractors – something farmers have done literally since tractors were invented:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/

It's in ventilators. Like mobile phones, ventilators are a grotesquely monopolized sector, controlled by a single company Medtronic, whose biggest claim to fame is effecting the world's largest tax inversion in order to manufacture the appearance that it is an Irish company and therefore largely untaxable. Medtronic used the resulting windfall to gobble up most of its competitors.

During lockdown, as hospitals scrambled to keep their desperately needed supply of ventilators running, Medtronic's VIN-locking became a lethal impediment. Med-techs who used donor parts from one ventilator to keep another running – say, transplanting a screen – couldn't get the device to recognize the part because all the world's civilian aircraft were grounded, meaning Medtronic's technicians couldn't swan into their hospitals to type in the unlock code and charge them hundreds of dollars.

The saving grace was an anonymous, former Medtronic repair tech, who built pirate boxes to generate unlock codes, using any housing they could lay hands on to use as a case: guitar pedals, clock radios, etc. This tech shipped these gadgets around the world, observing strict anonymity, because Article 6 of the EUCD also bans circumvention:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#medtronic-again

Of course, Apple is a huge fan of VIN-locking. In phones, VIN-locking is usually called "serializing" or "parts-pairing," but it's the same thing: a tiny subassembly gets its own microcontroller whose sole purpose is to prevent independent repair technicians from fixing your gadget. Parts-pairing lets Apple block repairs even when the technician uses new, Apple parts – but it also lets Apple block refurb parts and third party parts.

For many years, Apple was the senior partner and leading voice in blocking state Right to Repair bills, which it killed by the dozen, leading a coalition of monopolists, from Wahl (who boobytrap their hair-clippers with springs that cause their heads irreversibly decompose if you try to sharpen them at home) to John Deere (who reinvented tenant farming by making farmers tenants of their tractors, rather than their land).

But Apple's opposition to repair eventually became a problem for the company. It's bad optics, and both Apple customers and Apple employees are volubly displeased with the company's ecocidal conduct. But of course, Apple's management and shareholders hate repair and want to block it as much as possible.

But Apple knows how to Think Differently. It came up with a way to eat its cake and have it, too. The company embarked on a program of visibly support right to repair, while working behind the scenes to sabotage it.

Last year, Apple announced a repair program. It was hilarious. If you wanted to swap your phone's battery, all you had to do was let Apple put a $1200 hold on your credit card, and then wait while the company shipped you 80 pounds' worth of specialized tools, packed in two special Pelican cases:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/22/apples-cement-overshoes/

Then, you swapped your battery, but you weren't done! After your battery was installed, you had to conference in an authorized Apple tech who would tell you what code to type into a laptop you tethered to the phone in order to pair it with your phone. Then all you had to do was lug those two 40-pound Pelican cases to a shipping depot and wait for Apple to take the hold off your card (less the $120 in parts and fees).

By contrast, independent repair outfits like iFixit will sell you all the tools you need to do your own battery swap – including the battery! for $32. The whole kit fits in a padded envelope:

https://www.ifixit.com/products/iphone-x-replacement-battery

But while Apple was able to make a showy announcement of its repair program and then hide the malicious compliance inside those giant Pelican cases, sabotaging right to repair legislation is a lot harder.

Not that they didn't try. When New York State passed the first general electronics right-to-repair bill in the country, someone convinced New York Governor Kathy Hochul to neuter it with last-minute modifications:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/12/weakened-right-to-repair-bill-is-signed-into-law-by-new-yorks-governor/

But that kind of trick only works once. When California's right to repair bill was introduced, it was clear that it was gonna pass. Rather than get run over by that train, Apple got on board, supporting the legislation, which passed unanimously:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/79902/apples-u-turn-tech-giant-finally-backs-repair-in-california

But Apple got the last laugh. Because while California's bill contains many useful clauses for the independent repair shops that keep your gadgets out of a landfill, it's a state law, and DMCA 1201 is federal. A state law can't simply legalize the conduct federal law prohibits. California's right to repair bill is a banger, but it has a weak spot: parts-pairing, the scourge of repair techs:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/69320/how-parts-pairing-kills-independent-repair

Every generation of Apple devices does more parts-pairing than the previous one, and the current models are so infested with paired parts as to be effectively unrepairable, except by Apple. It's so bad that iFixit has dropped its repairability score for the iPhone 14 from a 7 ("recommend") to a 4 (do not recommend):

https://www.ifixit.com/News/82493/we-are-retroactively-dropping-the-iphones-repairability-score-en

Parts-pairing is bullshit, and Apple are scum for using it, but they're hardly unique. Parts-pairing is at the core of the fuckery of inkjet printer companies, who use it to fence out third-party ink, so they can charge $9,600/gallon for ink that pennies to make:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Parts-pairing is also rampant in powered wheelchairs, a heavily monopolized sector whose predatory conduct is jaw-droppingly depraved:

https://uspirgedfund.org/reports/usp/stranded

But if turning phones into e-waste to eke out another billion-dollar stock buyback is indefensible, stranding people with disabilities for months at a time while they await repairs is so obviously wicked that the conscience recoils. That's why it was so great when Colorado passed the nation's first wheelchair right to repair bill last year:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/when-drm-comes-your-wheelchair

California actually just passed two right to repair bills; the other one was SB-271, which mirrors Colorado's HB22-1031:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB271

This is big! It's momentum! It's a start!

But it can't be the end. When Bill Clinton signed DMCA 1201 into law 25 years ago, he loaded a gun and put it on the nation's mantlepiece and now it's Act III and we're all getting sprayed with bullets. Everything from ovens to insulin pumps, thermostats to lightbulbs, has used DMCA 1201 to limit repair, modification and improvement.

Congress needs to rid us of this scourge, to let us bring back all the benefits of interoperability. I explain how this all came to be – and what we should do about it – in my new Verso Books title, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

Image: Mitch Barrie (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daytona_Skeleton_AR-15_completed_rifle_%2817551907724%29.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

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kambanji (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/kambanji/4135216486/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Rawpixel (modified) https://www.rawpixel.com/image/12438797/png-white-background

[cinnamons1999]

my stylus is fucking bROKEN and i had to TAPE IT and it cant even draw a full line so until i get a repair on my apple pencil or get a diff stylus im gonna be making less proper digital shit (not like ive been doing that shit anyways)

[continuations]

Complex Regulation is Bad Regulation: We Need Simple Enduser Rights

Readers of this blog and/or my book know that I am pro regulation as a way of getting the best out of technological progress. One topic I have covered repeatedly over the years is the need to get past the app store lock-in. The European Digital Markets Act was supposed to accomplish this but Apple gave a middle finger by figuring out a way to comply with the letter of the law while going against its spirit.

We have gone down a path for many years now where regulation has become ever more complex. One argument would be that this is simply a reflection of the complexity of the world we live in. "A complex world requires complex laws" sounds reasonable. And yet it is fundamentally mistaken.

When faced with increasing complexity we need regulation that firmly ensconces basic principles. And we need to build a system of law that can effectively apply these principles. Otherwise all we are doing is making a complex world more complex. Complexity has of course been in the interest of large corporations which employ armies of lawyers to exploit it (and often help create and maintain complexity through lobbying). Tax codes around the world are a great example of this process.

So what are the principles I believe need to become law in order for us to have more "informational freedom"?

A right to API access

A right to install software

A right to third party support and repair

In return manufacturers of hardware and providers of software can void warranty and refuse support when these rights are exercised. In other words: endusers proceed at their own risk.

Why not give corporations the freedom to offer products any which way they want to? After all nobody is forced to buy an iPhone and they could buy an Android instead. This is a perfectly fine argument for highly competitive markets. For example, it would not make sense to require restaurants to sell you just the ingredients instead of the finished meal (you can go and buy ingredients from a store separately any time and cook yourself). But Apple has massive market power as can easily be seen by its extraordinary profitability.

So yes regulation is needed. Simple clear rights for endusers, who can delegate these rights to third parties they trust. We deserve more freedom over our devices and over the software we interact with. Too much control in the hands of a few large corporations is bad for innovation and ultimately bad for democracy.