Judge: MA Auto Telematics Case hinges on 2 Issues
The federal judge in the Massachusetts “right to repair” vehicle data access lawsuit has given the parties an opportunity to present “further submissions” related to “two major outstanding issues” raised by the case.
Specifically, U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock told the parties last week those issues are the proper interpretation of the language of the legislation approved by voters in 2020, and what steps, if any, the parties have taken to implement the law’s requirements. (Repairer Driven News)
The case for being Climate Positive by design
Becoming climate positive by designing low carbon living and working spaces and equipment — known as “sufficiency” in the scientific discourse — is just as important as other measures such as the impact of renewable energy and energy efficiency. These preventative measures, however, are almost never considered in IAM climate scenarios. That is one reason why these scenarios require a large amount of negative emissions.
Key elements of climate positive by design include enabling public transit, eliminating programmed obsolescence in equipment, prioritizing multi-family homes over single-family buildings, and moving to a four-day work week. This metric is not (French) focused on behavioral changes at the individual level but rather on systems changes at the community and larger level. (Greenbiz.com)
Can ‘Right to Repair’ create large scale entrepreneurship and gig employment?
Charcha 2022, the flagship livelihoods summit by The/Nudge Forum brought together various stakeholders across the development sector on the 4th of August at the India Habitat Centre for a day of conversations and networking to achieve resilient livelihoods in India. Conversations revolved around four themes: skill development, entrepreneurship, rural development, state capacity and governance.
The ‘Right to Repair’ session at Charcha 2022 hosted eminent speakers Ajai Chowdhry and Smt Nidhi Khare. The Right to Repair is a proposed legislation that gives a boost to livelihoods in the electronics and white goods sector. Speakers discussed the potential of this idea to create large scale entrepreneurship and gig employment for repair technicians, kickstart a spares manufacturing ecosystem and deliver outsized economic, environmental and social returns. (YouTube.com)
Should you ever attempt tech repairs?
Tech repair is a tricky topic. Things like planned obsolescence, in which a device simply stops working after a certain amount of time, as well as warranties that insist on official fixes only, have made the idea of DIY repairs seem more like a crime than a sensible, economical thing to do. Gone are the days when a washing machine could work forever if you had a wrench handy.
Sadly, there’s no denying the fact that the impressive DIY skills of some baby boomers effectively killed millennials’ ability to put things back together. While this might sound a little odd, as parents have historically passed abilities down to their offspring, the Real Homes website reports that younger people didn’t actually try to learn anything from their elders until they found themselves trapped in a flat-packed hell of their own making. (iGeekPhone.com)
Tweet of the Day: 3D Printing To The Rescue
Dropped my @vectorfinesse Head(amane) headphones today. My fault by the way but the spring clamp part broke unfortunately.
Now on most headphones this would be a huge issue maybe even putting em out of service.
Meanwhile. 30mins later I have spare parts printed and back working
Repair Reads: Dignity in a Digital Age
Congressman Ro Khanna offers a revolutionary roadmap to facing America’s digital divide, offering greater economic prosperity to all. In Khanna’s vision, “just as people can move to technology, technology can move to people. People need not be compelled to move from one place to another to reap the benefits offered by technological progress” (from the foreword by Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics). (Simon and Schuster)
Explained: the EU’s New Proposal for Rating Smartphone Repairability
Lawmakers in the EU are pushing for regulations that would enable regular consumers to use their smartphones, tablets and other personal devices for a longer period of time. For example, the EU is proposing to sign a proposal into law that would require smartphone brands to ensure that for each new device that they introduce to the market, they have to ensure at least 15 different parts are readily available to service centres as well as repair shops, for a period of at least 5 years.
The EU is also working on a proposed legislation that would make smartphone brands commit to at least 5 years of consistent and on-time software updates. Both of these legislations are a great way to deal with planned obsolescence a practice in which tech companies often downgrade the performance of their existing phones using software updates or by simply not providing key components that would be essential to repair a device. Companies like Apple and Samsung have often been accused of indulging in these practices as a matter of policy. (Firstpost.com)