Do You Know Anything About Apple’s ‘Authorized Service Provider’ Program?

For nearly a decade, Apple did not allow anyone besides its own Geniuses to repair iPhones. Even though the company has long had an "Authorized Service Provider" program to certify independent repair shops to work on Macs and other Apple products, the company never allowed any of these "authorized" companies to work on iPhones.

That changed in late 2016, when the company quietly began allowing a handful of smartphone repair shops to work on iPhones. But according to more than 10 people I've spoken with, including former Apple employees, as well as employees and owners of unauthorized independent repair shops and authorized repair shops, Apple's service program is barely a repair program at all.

Independent shops pay Apple a fee in return for "authorized" status, which gets them exclusive access to Apple training and guidebooks and the ability to buy parts directly from Apple. But authorized repair shops are only "authorized" to do a select few repairs; if a customer comes in with other easily fixable problems, the repair shop must ship the phone to Apple.

"If I became Apple certified, I would lose 75 percent of my opportunities"

"If the program worked well, I would have joined a long time ago," one independent repair shop owner told me. "The only thing they allow you to repair are screens and batteries. If there's a broken camera, you have to send it back. Broken charge port, send it back. If it's an iPad, you have to send it back. These are repairs that take minutes to do, and you have to send it out."

"If I became Apple certified, I would lose 75 percent of my opportunities to do repairs on things and would have to send that business to Apple for a small finder's fee," he added.

Apple-authorized service providers do not get access to the iPhone Calibration Machine, which allows Apple to re-key Touch ID sensors, making screen replacements much easier. "Right to repair" legislation being considered in eight states would make Apple's system obsolete. CompTIA, a trade organization that represents Apple, has repeatedly told legislators that such programs are necessary for manufacturers to offer customers "substantial choice" in the repair market and for manufacturers to "protect customers."

"What I do see a lot of is [unauthorized] third party repair shops who will do non-modular repairs using non-Apple parts," another person in the industry told me. "I've seen repairs like that go incredibly wonderful, and I've also seen phones get completely screwed up because the shop was sketchy and had no clue what it was doing and was using POS parts from China."

"What Apple needs to honestly do is permit these kinds of repairs," the person added. "As long as the consumer knows that when doing that that Apple relinquishes all responsibility, they really should authorize those repairs and give out parts."

Apple did not respond to a request for comment about the specifics of the program. It has not responded to any of my requests for comment on dozens of repair-related stories for nearly two years. I have heard frustration about Apple's service provider program in passing from right-to-repair activists and independent shop owners, but would like to learn more about the program from the people who are in it or who have decided that making the move wasn't for them.

I would like to hear your experiences with Apple's Authorized Service Provider program. Has it helped your business or hurt it? What repairs are you allowed to do? What conditions does the company put on you? Do you secretly do unauthorized repairs off the books? Do customers get pissed off at you when you tell them you have to mail their phone to Apple? What guidance and help does Apple give you? Here's how you can securely contact me .

from Do You Know Anything About Apple’s ‘Authorized Service Provider’ Program?

This Is Apple’s Mysterious ‘iPhone Calibration Machine’

AOL Is Mysteriously Shutting Down the 19-Year-Old Community That Inspired Wikipedia

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Remember the People America’s Healthcare System Has Already Killed

It struck me as normal, somehow, to watch my girlfriend enter an online sweepstakes that would help decide whether or not she would be able to afford to buy medicine. Only now, watching the Republican establishment dismantle the Affordable Care Act, has this struck me as cruel.

I don't remember the specifics of the promotion, but I remember that it was a monthly trivia contest run by an online cystic fibrosis pharmacy. Answer the questions right, and your name was entered to receive $500 toward your meds. I'd ask Katelin about it now, but she is dead.

The Republican plan to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something that offers more "choice" has inspired thousands of people to confront lawmakers with their stories about how the law—and health insurance more generally—has saved their lives or prevented financial ruin. Their courage should be applauded, their voices amplified.

We should remember, though, that we are hearing from the fortunate ones. The ones who were repeatedly fucked by insurance companies before Obamacare? They are dead.

If Jason Chaffetz, Paul Ryan, and Donald Trump want to offer Americans more healthcare choice, they're on the right track. Obamacare closed many of the loopholes insurance companies used to keep the chronically ill from purchasing coverage, but any system that treats healthcare as a luxury rather than a basic human need is going to afford people plenty of options as their insurance lapses or benefits are suddenly changed.

Katelin was afforded the choice to do fewer breathing treatments to preserve her medicine until her insurance company would pay for more. For a few months, she made the choice to take generic nebulized albuterol because she couldn't afford the more effective Xopenex out of pocket. She had regular battles with her insurance company about when it was appropriate to refill her prescription for digestive enzymes, which she needed to take in order to eat almost anything. She chose to enter insane online sweepstakes to pay for medicine and wake up before dawn to ride multiple buses to get to work on time and to act in plays.

Three years after she died, I cannot piece together a timeline of when she had coverage, when she did not, and the varying quality of that coverage. There were times when she had excellent doctors and excellent insurance, and times when she had next to nothing thanks to a clerical error or benefits changes. 

I was pissed off at her genes, not at her insurance companies, our politicians, or the system that had continually made clear it'd rather not help keep her alive

What I do know, though, is that she was constantly engaged in some bureaucratic battle about whether she was allowed to buy medicine, go to the doctor, or refill a prescription. About whether she should be allowed to live. A pre-Obamacare study found that lack of health insurance killed roughly 45,000 Americans annually.

Somehow, through all of this, most people didn't know that Katelin was sick, that she had been sick since the day she was born, and that she was slowly getting weaker because skipped treatments were beginning to take a toll on her lungs.

I was too young, maybe, to realize that the contests, the paperwork, the compromises were unjust. I was pissed off at her genes, not at her insurance companies, our politicians, or the system that had continually made clear it'd rather not help keep her alive. No more. Katelin lost the genetic lottery, but she is dead because of a health system and country that refuses to take care of our most vulnerable.

It's too early to say whether Katelin would have been able to buy health insurance under the GOP's plan and what quality of coverage she would have gotten. Though the plan promises to protect those with pre-existing conditions, experts say the lack of an individual mandate means that there's no mechanism for healthy people to subsidize the care of the sick. And it has been made abundantly clear that the Republican plan will protect fewer people than Obamacare..  

As I watch America again debate if we should take care of our sick, the stories of those whose lives have been saved by Obamacare serve as a powerful counterbalance to politicians who would cut taxes for the rich by any means necessary. Remember, though, the people who are no longer here to speak for themselves.

from Remember the People America’s Healthcare System Has Already Killed

Inside the Warehouses Where Our Old CRT TVs Go to Die

Companies all over the country are struggling to recycle the estimated 705 million cathode ray tube televisions sold in the United states Since 1980. CRTs—the big box TVs you probably grew up with—contain lead, which makes them dangerous to just throw away.

This week's episode of pluspluspodcast goes inside an electronics recycling center in suburban Dallas to meet the people who demanufacture our old TVs by hand. I also explore the mysterious case of Closed Loop, an electronics recycler that was paid to take millions upon millions of TVs but left them abandoned in warehouses in Columbus, Ohio and Phoenix, Arizona.

pluspluspodcast is available on all podcast apps and on iTunes. It's a new venture for Motherboard so we appreciate you checking it out! Let us know what you think.

from Inside the Warehouses Where Our Old CRT TVs Go to Die

Do You Know Anything About Apple’s Mysterious ‘iPhone Calibration Machine’?

In the back room of every Apple Store in the US is something called an iPhone Calibration Machine. No images of this machine have ever been made public, it is kept under constant video surveillance, and its full functionality is unknown outside of Apple.

I learned about the existence of the calibration machine from two former Apple Geniuses and one current Apple Genius. According to those people, the calibration machine is a microwave-sized device that costs tens of thousands of dollars and has a mechanical arm that can run the iPhone through a battery of tests to make sure it's working properly. More interestingly, the calibration machine can change the settings on the iPhone to allow Apple to replace broken Touch ID buttons, which is impossible outside of Apple.

This functionality gives Apple the exclusive ability to put new front panels on iPhones without swapping out the old Touch ID button from the original device, an example of an artificial "software lock" that prevents aftermarket repair. Thus, the machine is central to an ongoing legislative battle between Apple and independent repair shops. In fact, the machine is not even sold to "authorized" Apple repair shops. "Right to repair" legislation in eight states would require Apple to sell the calibration machine on the open market. Apple did not respond to my request for comment.

I would like to know more about this machine: How it functions, what its capabilities are, a photo or video of it in action. Here is my secure contact information. 

Here's how the machine was described to me by a former employee:

"The calibration machine was a rather big device (imagine something roughly the size of a fairly large microwave) that phones had to be inserted into after replacing the display. It took about ten minutes per phone to calibrate them, and the device would run a battery of pressure-sensitive tests in addition to, supposedly, registering the display with the secure enclave.

An iPhone had to be secured in the device, naturally, and a mechanical arm would perform the necessary functions. Sometimes—and always completely at random—the calibration machine would just 'fail' a phone. This would result in the 'bricking' of said phone. The infuriating part of this is that when OUR machine ruined a customer's phone, managers would force the customer to pay full price to replace their phone instead of just the cost of replacing their display. No explanation was ever given regarding why the customer suddenly had to pay more when our calibration machine was at fault, and managers were extremely combative about discounting the replacement cost when this happened."

A current Apple Genius said that the machine "is like a cross between a microwave and a 3D printer. It is connected to a computer, but also connected to its own network and server."

Have you seen this machine? Tell me about it.

from Do You Know Anything About Apple’s Mysterious ‘iPhone Calibration Machine’?

The Next iPhone Could Put 15,000 Repair Companies Out of Business

How to Fix the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Con Sync Issue

The Nintendo Switch launch weekend was marked by The Legend of Zelda's return to glory, long lines at places like Gamestop, and, unfortunately, rampant syncing issues between the console's left "Joy-con" controller and the system itself.

An electronics tinkerer on YouTube seems to have already discovered why the left Joy-Con has been plagued with intermittent connectivity issues when the Switch is being played on a TV. According to the folks over at the Spawn Wave media YouTube channel, while the right Joy-Con has a separate bluetooth antenna, the antenna on the left Joy-Con is smaller and is embedded into the controller's circuit board. It's also seated next to a metal shield that houses the Joy-Con's joystick, which is naturally where a player's hand goes, thus creating two additional barriers between the antenna and the Switch.

Spawn Wave connected a small wire between the left Joy-con's antenna and the bottom of the controller, which helps improve reception because it's been moved away from the shield and the player's hand. Problem solved.

The internal intricacies of the Joy-con are not particularly interesting. What's exciting about this fix, though, is that within a few hours of discovering that there was a problem with the Switch, the DIY community had found a solution. Meanwhile, Nintendo's current fix is to recommend that you don't play the Switch near aquariums or around wireless devices.

Situations like this are exactly why it's important to remember who owns your electronics. In recent years, manufacturers have tried to use End User License Agreements, software locks, copyright law, proprietary screws, and illegal warranty-void-if-removed stickers to keep consumers from tinkering and repairing their gadgets. Such anti-repair measures are why a group of independent repair companies have started to push for "right to repair" legislation in eight states, which would prevent companies from making artificial blocks to prevent repair.

To Nintendo's credit, the Switch appears to be quite repairable, earning an 8/10 score from iFixit. But the Entertainment Software Association—a trade group that includes Nintendo—is lobbying against legislation that would make it easier for independent repair shops and consumers to fix their devices.

Nintendo might release an over-the-air software fix for the Switch's Joy-Con issues, but anyone who feels confident with a screwdriver and a soldering iron can fix this problem for themselves. If this ends up being an engineering flaw that requires a hardware fix, Nintendo would save itself a lot of headaches by empowering third party repair shops to repair these.

Subscribe to pluspluspodcast, Motherboard's new show about the people and machines that are building our future.

from How to Fix the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Con Sync Issue

The Video Game Industry Is Lobbying Against Your Right to Repair Consoles

The video game industry is lobbying against legislation that would make it easier for gamers to repair their consoles and for consumers to repair all electronics more generally.

The Entertainment Software Association, a trade organization that includes Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, as well as dozens of video game developers and publishers, is opposing a "right to repair" bill in Nebraska, which would give hardware manufacturers fewer rights to control the end-of-life of electronics that they have sold to their customers.

In recent years, manufacturers from an array of industries have used End User License Agreements to restrict repair options to "authorized" repair centers, which are either owned by or pay a licensing fee to manufacturers themselves. This setup has allowed companies like Apple to monopolize iPhone repair, John Deere to monopolize tractor repair, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to monopolize console repair.

For example, both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 have "signature failures" that affected huge numbers of devices: The "Yellow Line of Death" and the "Red Ring of Death," respectively. Sony charged $200 for a refurbished device. Microsoft replaced many Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 devices free of charge, which is laudable. However, the actual fix for the problem was both cheap and easily done by independent companies or even consumers. What was a massive ordeal for customers and the company could have potentially been much easier if independent repair had been supported.

The video game industry has been a particularly notable enemy of fair repair; both Sony and Microsoft put tamper-proof stickers above the screws on their consoles that note that the warranty is "void if removed." These stickers are illegal under the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a federal law that forbids blanket voiding of warranties based on aftermarket repair. These practices haven't been challenged because litigation is expensive and arduous for any one consumer to undertake.

Bills making their way through the Nebraska, New York, Minnesota, Wyoming, Tennessee, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Illinois statehouses will require manufacturers to sell replacement parts and repair tools to independent repair companies and consumers at the same price they are sold to authorized repair centers. The bill also requires that manufacturers make diagnostic manuals public and requires them to offer software tools or firmware to revert an electronic device to its original functioning state in the case that software locks that prevent independent repair are built into a device.

The bills are a huge threat to the repair monopolies these companies have enjoyed, and so just about every major manufacturer has brought lobbyists to Nebraska, where the legislation is currently furthest along. In a letter to bill sponsor Sen. Lydia Brasch (embedded below), the ESA and other major trade groups argued that the bill would "threaten consumer safety and security," is "unnecessary," and "mandates the disclosure of protected proprietary information."

"Manufacturers have strong concerns about independent service providers who may take risks or cut corners leaving themselves or consumers in danger if they perform service without the proper training or safety standards," the letter notes.

Manufacturers have generally raised three points of opposition to right to repair legislation: They say repair is unsafe, they say repair could cause cybersecurity problems, and they say that repair could lead to intellectual property theft. While companies are happy to speak in vague terms about these issues through in closed-door meetings between lobbyists and politicians, none have specifically said how the legislation would harm their businesses or their customers.

"It's very transparent why manufacturers are against this"

Manufacturers are not liable for self-inflicted wounds or injuries caused by third party repair. If you stab yourself with a screwdriver while opening your PlayStation, you won't have much luck suing Sony; if you replace the optical drive with a third party one that explodes for some reason, you can't sue Sony. The legislation does not require manufacturers to sell software unlocking tools to consumers that are more powerful than the ones already given to authorized repair professionals. The legislation has specific provisions that protect trade secrets. Right to repair legislation at the state level is not an intellectual property or Digital Millennium Copyright Act issue, it is a contract/EULA issue; the Librarian of Congress has already granted unlocking exemptions related to repair for many types of electronics.

"It's very easy for the manufacturer to stand up there and say no we're the only ones who know how to do it," Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, told me. "Lawmakers get spun stories by lobbyists who say the sky is falling, and it's very easy to kill legislation."

After referring me to several different press representatives, Microsoft declined to comment. Sony did not respond to a request for comment. Apple has ignored repeated requests for comment. The ESA declined to comment. In two years of covering this issue, no manufacturer has ever spoken to me about it either on or off the record.

"This is not a case of right vs. left or a fringe interest group pushing it," Wiens added. "Everyone wants to be allowed to fix their stuff, and there's only a few organizations that don't want them to be able to. It's very transparent why manufacturers are against this."

Other groups lobbying against the legislation include:
CompTIA - an information technology trade group that represents many independent repair people but also represents Apple, which is vehemently opposed to the legislation (and is doing its own, independent lobbying effort)
CTIA - A wireless telecom trade group that represents Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and other cell phone carriers
NetChoice - an ecommerce trade group that represents drone manufacturer DJI as well as companies like PayPal and AOL.
Information Technology Industry Council - Represents Dell, Blackberry, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Nokia, and others
Satellite and Broadcast Communications Association - Represents DirecTV and others
TechNet - Includes Apple, AT&T, Comcast, Cisco, HP, Oracle, Uber, SolarCity, Microsoft, and others
Consumer Technology Association - Represents 2,000+ consumer tech companies, throws the annual CES show
Toy Industry Association - Represents VTech (whose tablet for kids notoriously got hacked) as well as many other toy companies
State Privacy and Security Coalition - Represents Google, Facebook, and more than a dozen others

Letter From ESA to Senator Brasch (2) (1) by MotherboardTV on Scribd

from The Video Game Industry Is Lobbying Against Your Right to Repair Consoles

3,000 Scientists Have Asked for Help Running for Office to Oppose Trump

Apple Tells Lawmaker that Right to Repair iPhones Will Turn Nebraska Into a ‘Mecca’ for Hackers

Apple is inventing new and interesting arguments to prevent you from fixing your iPhone: It's lobbying Nebraska lawmakers to kill "right to repair" legislation, telling them unauthorized repair will turn the state into a "mecca" for hackers.

Right to repair bills, which are currently making their way through eight states (Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, Wyoming, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois, and Massachusetts), would require electronics manufacturers to make repair parts and diagnostic and repair manuals available to independent repair professionals and consumers, not just "authorized" repair companies. Electronics right to repair legislation is modeled on a 2012 Massachusetts law that preserved the right to repair cars.

The most logical reason for manufacturers to oppose the bills is that it would democratize the repair economy, making it possible for consumers to fix their own things and cutting into the profits of repairs done at, for example, the Apple store.

"They said that doing this would make it very easy for hackers to relocate to Nebraska."

But the prospect of a Cupertino-based megacorporation losing business to local repair shops isn't a very sympathetic argument at the Nebraska statehouse. And so Apple has tried a slew of other tactics, according to state Sen. Lydia Brasch, who was recently visited by Steve Kester, an Apple state government affairs specialist.

"Apple said we would be the only state that would pass this, and that we would become the mecca for bad actors," Brasch, who is sponsoring the bill, told me in a phone call. "They said that doing this would make it very easy for hackers to relocate to Nebraska."

Brasch, a farmer who also works remotely for a software company in Atlanta, Georgia, has a background in computer science and said Kester wasn't prepared for her to defend the bill she's sponsored.

"I think they were surprised to learn I've worked in the technology field the last 15 years even though I'm a farmer," she said.

"They said just take out the 'phone' part of the bill and we'll go away"

Right to repair bills in each state require manufacturers to provide software tools to bypass locks that prevent repair. For example, John Deere tractors contain software that prevent even basic repairs unless "authorized" by the company. Last year, a software update to iOS caused Apple's infamous "Error 53," which bricked iPhones that had been repaired by consumers or independent repair shops. Apple did not respond to a request for comment, and Kester, reached by phone, told me he is not authorized to speak to the press.

"The rationale is that an independent mechanic ought to be able to bypass things like Error 53 that are designed to prevent repair," Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, told me. "If you look, the same exact text is in the Massachusetts auto right to repair law, and it's not causing car thefts or hackers to move to Massachusetts."

Kester was joined by Alexi Madon of CompTIA, a trade organization that nominally represents repair professionals (it stewards the A+ computer repair certification) but has, in recent years, partnered with Apple and other electronics manufacturers.

Brasch said the representatives made two other main arguments: They said repair could cause lithium batteries to catch fire, and said that there are already enough authorized places to get iPhones repaired, such as the Apple store.

"When you're talking about safety, there's a greater chance I'll fall down and hit my head. I told them until you have an app that defies gravity, I don't think we have to worry about safety. There's always a risk and there's always a disclaimer," she said. "I have an Apple computer and to get it repaired, I have to bring it to Omaha and I have to make an appointment with a Genius on their schedule. Omaha is 80 minutes from here and there's no Best Buy in a town of 600."

Brasch told me she primarily proposed the legislation because farmers have been inconvenienced by John Deere's "authorized" repair requirements, which has taken a self-reliant profession and forced them to get even simple repairs done by John Deere's dealers. But she realizes she's hit a nerve with electronics companies, too.

"They said just take out the 'phone' part of the bill and we'll go away," Brasch said. "That's tempting, but we need to repair consumer technology too. The story they're telling is that we need to be afraid of technology. You don't have to be afraid of technology—you have to be afraid of the people who are trying to prevent you from knowing the things they know. Are these companies in it for the greater good, or the greater dollar?"

from Apple Tells Lawmaker that Right to Repair iPhones Will Turn Nebraska Into a ‘Mecca’ for Hackers

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Source: Apple Will Fight 'Right to Repair' Legislation

Apple is planning to fight proposed electronics "Right to Repair" legislation being considered by the Nebraska state legislature, according to a source within the legislature who is familiar with the bill's path through the statehouse.

The legislation would require Apple and other electronics manufacturers to sell repair parts to consumers and independent repair shops, and would require manufacturers to make diagnostic and service manuals available to the public. 

Nebraska is one of eight states that are considering right to repair bills; last month, Nebraska, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, Kansas, and Wyoming introduced legislation. Last week, lawmakers in Illinois and Tennessee officially introduced similar bills. 

According to the source, an Apple representative, staffer, or lobbyist will testify against the bill at a hearing in Lincoln on March 9. AT&T will also argue against the bill, the source said. The source told me that at least one of the companies plans to say that consumers who repair their own phones could cause lithium batteries to catch fire. Motherboard is protecting the identity of the source because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

So far, Nebraska is the only state to schedule a hearing for its legislation. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, industry lobbyists told lawmakers in Minnesota that broken glass could cut the fingers of consumers who try to repair their screens

Manufacturers have lobbied hard against right to repair legislation in the past. Last year, a bill headed through the New York statehouse was killed in part due to lobbying from Apple and IBM, among other manufacturers. But nationwide, the legislation appears to have much more momentum this year as more states introduce right to repair bills. Last month, the American Farm Bureau Federation, an influential political organization representing farmers, officially endorsed right to repair legislation.

The bills nationwide are being pushed by Repair.org, a trade organization made up of independent repair shops who say that their companies have been harmed by an attempt by manufacturers to gain a monopoly over the repair business. Even without readily available repair parts or service manuals, a healthy DIY repair hobby has thrived thanks to online crowdsourced instruction manuals on sites like iFixit and grey market parts that are available directly from factories in China or can be salvaged from recycled devices.

The idea that it's "unsafe" to repair your own devices is one that manufacturers have been promoting for years. Last year, industry lobbyists told lawmakers in Minnesota that broken glass could cut the fingers of consumers who try to repair their screens, according to Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of Repair.org. Byrne said she will also testify at the Nebraska hearing and "plans to bring band aids." 

"They should want to give people as much information about how to deal with a hazardous thing as they can," Gordon-Byrne said. "If they're concerned about exploding batteries, put warning labels on them and tell consumers how to replace them safely."

We need to keep adding bills because manufacturers can keep playing whack-a-mole with lobbyists if there's only one or two states

It should be noted that iPhone 7 batteries do have a warning label that says there is a "potential for burning" if punctured. The label also says they should only be replaced by an "authorized service provider"—either Apple itself or a company that pays Apple a fee to become authorized.

Tractor manufacturer John Deere has also come out vehemently against right to repair legislation; a letter the company wrote opposing the Kansas right to repair bill says the company wants to prevent "unintended alterations" to the tractors it sells. The company also said that such bills should be shot down "to protect consumers' significant investment in equipment," which it says can only be retained by servicing the vehicles at authorized John Deere repair centers. The full letter is embedded below.

The goal of Repair.org is to get at least one bill passed this year, the hope being that manufacturers won't want to deal with a patchwork of laws in different states around the country. In 2012, a Massachusetts law guaranteeing the right to repair automobiles became de-facto national legislation after car manufacturers decided to comply with the law nationwide rather than continue to fight burgeoning legislation in other states.

"We need to keep adding bills because manufacturers can keep playing whack-a-mole with lobbyists if there's only one or two states," Gordon-Byrne said. "But if there's 10, 12, 16 bills—that level of pressure is going to be hard to ignore." 

John Deere letter by MotherboardTV on Scribd

from Source: Apple Will Fight 'Right to Repair' Legislation

Hey Brooklyn, Radio Motherboard Is Doing a Live Podcast This Sunday

Since we started the Radio Motherboard podcast more than two years ago, I've wanted to get out into the very scary IRL world to see some of our listeners' faces. We're finally getting that chance this weekend at the Work x Work On Air festival, where we'll join a bunch of talented podcasters, authors, and other interesting people.

We'll be at the Wythe Hotel (North 11th St. and Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg) from 3-4 PM on Sunday. We're going to be talking about digital security, how to remain vigilant in an increasingly chaotic world, and the various ways you can support the people and organizations doing important work to move us toward a better future.

If you can't make it, the podcast will be live streamed here and will be released online next week. If you're not already subscribed to Radio Motherboard you can find us on iTunes and every other podcast app. Stay vigilant out there. 

from Hey Brooklyn, Radio Motherboard Is Doing a Live Podcast This Sunday

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