Right To Repair Gets Major Boost In Europe

Pxyaeq, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Phone and tablet manufacturers may have to make spare parts available to independent repairers in Europe. They’ll also need to make replacement batteries available or prove the original batteries have an adequate lifespan.

If backed by lawmakers in Europe, the proposals will become a European Union regulation, meaning they take immediate legal effect in all EU countries.

Under the rules, 15 key components must be available to repairers for five years after a particular model goes on sale. These include batteries, chargers, displays and trays for SIM and memory cards.

Manufacturers could opt out of the battery replacement requirement but only if they can show that the battery can retain at least 80 percent capacity following 1,000 full charge cycles. They’ll also have to commit to not issuing software updates that could reduce battery capacity.

The rules are designed to reduce unnecessary electronic waste by making it easier to repair rather than replace a device. They’d also require an information “label” on new devices with durability information such as the expected battery life and water and dust resistance.

The rules follow an agreement in principle for the EU to require all smartphones (and many other electronic devices) sold after 2024 to include a USB-C charging port to reduce the need to replace chargers. The idea of a universal charger is a long-running issue in Europe that’s naturally been opposed by Apple.



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The Future According to People Living in The 1920s

“Futurism” is what people believed the future would be like at a given time. Similarly, “retrofuturism” is futurism of the past. Most people think of Victorian futurism (steampunk) and 1950s/1960s futurism (atompunk). 1920s futurism sits right in the middle, mostly forgotten. Technically, it’s grouped in with “dieselpunk,” which extends into the WWII period, but I think the aesthetic of the 1920s is a bit different. For example, in the 1920s version of the future, zeppelins and airships are all over the place, though by WWII, zeppelins were a thing of the past. In this video, I’ll explain a little bit about the 1920s conception of the future, then show a lot of examples from a 1920s science and technology magazine called “Science And Invention.”

[The1920sChannel]

Japanese Government Wants To Say Farewell To Floppy Disks

Japan’s digital minister has declared “war on floppy disks.” Taro Kano says nearly 2,000 government procedures require businesses to use outdated media.

Posting on Twitter, Taro Kono said the government will change rules so that businesses can file forms online rather than use floppy disks, data CDs and even minidiscs.

The BBC notes that despite Japan’s futuristic image and work on developing new gadgets, the country still uses technology in business that many countries consider outdated. That’s partly because of bureaucracy and partly because of an unwillingness to ditch systems that still work, however sub-optimally.

Speaking at a news conference, Kono also said he wants to “get rid of the fax machine”. That’s a long-running sore point between government and businesses, many of whom still think of faxes as a more secure method of communication than the internet.