Seneca pointed out that people tend to be reflexively stingy with their money, but almost comically wasteful with their time. There are at least two ways to take this. One is that Seneca thought he used his time better than you and I do, and maybe he did. Another interpretation is that everyday life, for most people, is an untapped
The cables at the heart of the lightspeed, globe-spanning internet run across the grimy, perilous, inaccessible deeps of the sea, in places no one ever sees or visits – until the cables break.
Books in Progress is what we call a “public drafting tool”: Drafts will be made available for comment from the public, allowing for direct collaboration between author and reader.
This incredibly ambitious and thoroughly-executed project is by Charlie Humble-Thomas, done while pursuing his Masters in the Design Products program at the RCA. Called Conditional Longevity, it asks the question: "How long should objects last?" Seeking the answer, Humble-Thomas tackles an oft-discarded object, the umbrella, and designs three variants: Recyclable,
How one crew risked radiation, storms, and currents to save Japan from digital isolation.
Oregon recently became the seventh state to pass “right to repair” legislation making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to repair technology you own. The bill’s passage came…
These true lifetime warranties allow you to replace or repair your stuff if it ever breaks or wears out.
The noble but undervalued craft of maintenance could help preserve modernity’s finest achievements, from public transit systems to power grids, and serve as a useful framework for addressing climate change and other pressing planetary constraints.
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Epson has gained some scrutiny in recent weeks after the company disabled a printer that was otherwise working fine, leading to accusations of planned obsolescence. Epson knows its printers will stop working without simple maintenance at a predictable point in the future, and it knows that it won't ...
This is the story of how you’re buying your enterprise software the wrong way. Probably your appliances, too. This is an excerpt from my guide, “Enterprise Software Confidential.” This post is also available in Chinese thanks to Xu Zhi. Some years ago, I had a broken GE washer. Pretty sure I knew the culprit, but if […]
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Maintenance lacks the glamour of innovation—and is harder to measure
Medical device companies have used a range of tactics that have made independent repairs harder, with devastating consequences.
Toshiba has discovered a new way to enforce such planned obsolescence by cutting the repair market off from critical service information. But the cost to society is significant: The e-waste problem is growing; we’re losing thousands of domestic jobs as independent repair shops shut down; and consumers are being forced to replace their hardware much frequently than they should have to.
Follow the saga of the Computer History Museum's IBM 1401
We went to Nebraska to meet the farmers fighting John Deere's repair monopoly.