CES's 'Worst in Show' Criticized Over Privacy, Security, and Environmental Threats (youtube.com) 74
"We are seeing, across the gamut, products that impact our privacy, products that create cybersecurity risks, that have overarchingly long-term environmental impacts, disposable products, and flat-out just things that maybe should not exist."
That's the CEO of the how-to repair site iFixit, introducing their third annual "Worst in Show" ceremony for the products displayed at this year's CES. But the show's slogan promises it's also "calling out the most troubling trends in tech." For example, the EFF's executive director started with two warnings. First, "If it's communicating with your phone, it's generally communicating to the cloud too." But more importantly, if a product is gathering data about you and communicating with the cloud, "you have to ask yourself: is this company selling something to me, or are they selling me to other people? And this year, as in many past years at CES, it's almost impossible to tell from the products and the advertising copy around them! They're just not telling you what their actual business model is, and because of that — you don't know what's going on with your privacy."
After warning about the specific privacy implications of a urine-analyzing add-on for smart toilets, they noted there was a close runner-up for the worst privacy: the increasing number of scam products that "are basically based on the digital version of phrenology, like trying to predict your emotions based upon reading your face or other things like that. There's a whole other category of things that claim to do things that they cannot remotely do."
To judge the worst in show by environmental impact, Consumer Reports sent the Associate Director for their Product Sustainability, Research and Testing team, who chose the 55-inch portable "Displace TV" for being powered only by four lithium-ion batteries (rather than, say, a traditional power cord).
And the "worst in show" award for repairability went to the Ember Mug 2+ — a $200 travel mug "with electronics and a battery inside...designed to keep your coffee hot." Kyle Wiens, iFixit's CEO, first noted it was a product which "does not need to exist" in a world which already has equally effective double-insulated, vaccuum-insulated mugs and Thermoses. But even worse: it's battery powered, and (at least in earlier versions) that battery can't be easily removed! (If you email the company asking for support on replacing the battery, Wiens claims that "they will give you a coupon on a new, disposable coffee mug. So this is the kind of product that should not exist, doesn't need to exist, and is doing active harm to the world.
"The interesting thing is people care so much about their $200 coffee mug, the new feature is 'Find My iPhone' support. So not only is it harming the environment, it's also spying on where you're located!"
The founder of SecuRepairs.org first warned about "the vast ecosystem of smart, connected products that are running really low-quality, vulnerable software that make our persons and our homes and businesses easy targets for hackers." But for the worst in show for cybersecurity award, they then chose Roku's new Smart TV, partly because smart TVs in general "are a problematic category when it comes to cybersecurity, because they're basically surveillance devices, and they're not created with security in mind." And partly because to this day it's hard to tell if Roku has fixed or even acknowledged its past vulnerabilities — and hasn't implemented a prominent bug bounty program. "They're not alone in this. This is a problem that affects electronics makers of all different shapes and sizes at CES, and it's something that as a society, we just need to start paying a lot more attention to."
And US Pirg's "Right to Repair" campaign director gave the "Who Asked For This" award to Neutrogena's "SkinStacks" 3D printer for edible skin-nutrient gummies — which are personalized after phone-based face scans. ("Why just sell vitamins when you could also add in proprietary refills and biometic data harvesting.")
That's the CEO of the how-to repair site iFixit, introducing their third annual "Worst in Show" ceremony for the products displayed at this year's CES. But the show's slogan promises it's also "calling out the most troubling trends in tech." For example, the EFF's executive director started with two warnings. First, "If it's communicating with your phone, it's generally communicating to the cloud too." But more importantly, if a product is gathering data about you and communicating with the cloud, "you have to ask yourself: is this company selling something to me, or are they selling me to other people? And this year, as in many past years at CES, it's almost impossible to tell from the products and the advertising copy around them! They're just not telling you what their actual business model is, and because of that — you don't know what's going on with your privacy."
After warning about the specific privacy implications of a urine-analyzing add-on for smart toilets, they noted there was a close runner-up for the worst privacy: the increasing number of scam products that "are basically based on the digital version of phrenology, like trying to predict your emotions based upon reading your face or other things like that. There's a whole other category of things that claim to do things that they cannot remotely do."
To judge the worst in show by environmental impact, Consumer Reports sent the Associate Director for their Product Sustainability, Research and Testing team, who chose the 55-inch portable "Displace TV" for being powered only by four lithium-ion batteries (rather than, say, a traditional power cord).
And the "worst in show" award for repairability went to the Ember Mug 2+ — a $200 travel mug "with electronics and a battery inside...designed to keep your coffee hot." Kyle Wiens, iFixit's CEO, first noted it was a product which "does not need to exist" in a world which already has equally effective double-insulated, vaccuum-insulated mugs and Thermoses. But even worse: it's battery powered, and (at least in earlier versions) that battery can't be easily removed! (If you email the company asking for support on replacing the battery, Wiens claims that "they will give you a coupon on a new, disposable coffee mug. So this is the kind of product that should not exist, doesn't need to exist, and is doing active harm to the world.
"The interesting thing is people care so much about their $200 coffee mug, the new feature is 'Find My iPhone' support. So not only is it harming the environment, it's also spying on where you're located!"
The founder of SecuRepairs.org first warned about "the vast ecosystem of smart, connected products that are running really low-quality, vulnerable software that make our persons and our homes and businesses easy targets for hackers." But for the worst in show for cybersecurity award, they then chose Roku's new Smart TV, partly because smart TVs in general "are a problematic category when it comes to cybersecurity, because they're basically surveillance devices, and they're not created with security in mind." And partly because to this day it's hard to tell if Roku has fixed or even acknowledged its past vulnerabilities — and hasn't implemented a prominent bug bounty program. "They're not alone in this. This is a problem that affects electronics makers of all different shapes and sizes at CES, and it's something that as a society, we just need to start paying a lot more attention to."
And US Pirg's "Right to Repair" campaign director gave the "Who Asked For This" award to Neutrogena's "SkinStacks" 3D printer for edible skin-nutrient gummies — which are personalized after phone-based face scans. ("Why just sell vitamins when you could also add in proprietary refills and biometic data harvesting.")
what is up with the intro on that video (Score:4)
I could not get through the first 30 seconds of that video. Dude is like some kind of nervous Max-Headroom-wannabe.
ifixit, I support you but get some production skills.
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I could not get through the first 30 seconds of that video. Dude is like some kind of nervous Max-Headroom-wannabe.
ifixit, I support you but get some production skills.
Man, you're not wrong about this!
That's the most amateurish video I've seen in the past few years.
Sad.
Is this for real? (Score:2)
Smart Pipe (Score:3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Didn't watch the video... (Score:5, Funny)
... but I read the Register summary (second link in the article.)
A $200 travel mug? Seriously?? And when you go to pee, does the toilet puck murmur approvingly "Ahh... you drank from the $200 travel mug..."
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... but I read the Register summary (second link in the article.)
A $200 travel mug? Seriously?? And when you go to pee, does the toilet puck murmur approvingly "Ahh... you drank from the $200 travel mug..."
It's no worse than the people who buy overpriced Chinese-made products from Yeti, and are the same ones who complain about nothing being made in the U.S. or how Biden is shipping jobs overseas.
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It's no worse than the people who buy overpriced Chinese-made products from Yeti, and are the same ones who complain about nothing being made in the U.S. or how Biden is shipping jobs overseas.
Don't forget to say "China Virus!!" when you're buying there.
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OTOH, vitamins are ALWAYS proprietary refills. It's just that switching brands doesn't cost you (much).
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Thanks - I'm still laughing! For the rest of my days I'll be listening for the sound of a toilet murmuring approvingly...
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EFF hilarity (Score:2, Interesting)
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While whining about the cloud and all with the smartphones, I wonder if the EFF's Executive director understands the very core aspect of the Cellular system is determining your location. Freaking out about the cloud in a system that records and logs where you are at.
True.
Owning a cellphone means walking around with a flashing red light on top of your head. It's just the way it is.
And surprise: It's kind of the way it has to be; else the cellular network simply cannot work.
Do you like driving across town or across country and have your friends, family and business contacts be able to reach you at the same phone number? Then you like the cellular phone network's shared tracking system. Period.
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While whining about the cloud and all with the smartphones, I wonder if the EFF's Executive director understands the very core aspect of the Cellular system is determining your location. Freaking out about the cloud in a system that records and logs where you are at.
True.
Owning a cellphone means walking around with a flashing red light on top of your head. It's just the way it is.
And surprise: It's kind of the way it has to be; else the cellular network simply cannot work.
Do you like driving across town or across country and have your friends, family and business contacts be able to reach you at the same phone number? Then you like the cellular phone network's shared tracking system. Period.
Of course. The cellular network is a fine and useful piece of technology.
When we understand the nature of Cell phones and the cellular network, we understand that anything we want private simply is not going to happen.
If a person wants to not be tracked, about all they can do is during the time they want to not be tracked, you turn off the phone, and put it in a metal case that functions as a Faraday cage. Do whatever it is you don't want anyone knowing about, then remove it when you want to use it.
Ma
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While whining about the cloud and all with the smartphones, I wonder if the EFF's Executive director understands the very core aspect of the Cellular system is determining your location. Freaking out about the cloud in a system that records and logs where you are at.
True.
Owning a cellphone means walking around with a flashing red light on top of your head. It's just the way it is.
And surprise: It's kind of the way it has to be; else the cellular network simply cannot work.
Do you like driving across town or across country and have your friends, family and business contacts be able to reach you at the same phone number? Then you like the cellular phone network's shared tracking system. Period.
Of course. The cellular network is a fine and useful piece of technology.
When we understand the nature of Cell phones and the cellular network, we understand that anything we want private simply is not going to happen.
If a person wants to not be tracked, about all they can do is during the time they want to not be tracked, you turn off the phone, and put it in a metal case that functions as a Faraday cage. Do whatever it is you don't want anyone knowing about, then remove it when you want to use it.
Make certain to turn the phone off though. When the phone tries to phone home, it won't hit a tower, ramp up it's transmit power, and will discharge the phone quickly.
Me? I'm not doing anything I don't want tracked, and long ago cam to the realization that I can use the tracking feature to my benefit. The same way I use my credit card purchases and any cameras I make certain to see me clearly. It's there, it's inescapable, might as well turn it to my benefit.
Digital alibis FTW.
I agree with turning your phone off before driving to the location where you bury the body; but I think the faraday cage is overkill.
But it doesn't matter; a dozen license plate readers will have tracked your progress, even if you left your phone at home, turned on, for a digital alibi.
What was it that Russian-born Sergi Brin said about Privacy being an "Obsolete Concept"?
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At least iOS offers you the option to allow apps only to have your approximate GPS location.
Re:EFF hilarity (Score:4, Insightful)
The cellular system doesn't use GPS. It just connects you to whichever tower has the strongest signal. While wireless carriers could sell that information (the coordinates of the closest tower you're connected to), it's nowhere near as precise as GPS coordinates.
You'd be surprised at how precise it is.
Your phone can often be seen by several towers and they can triangulate the signal strength down to a position nearly as precise as GPS.
If you're out in the boonies? It doesn't matter if it's precise or not. If they find a body and there was only one person entering and leaving that cell at that time in the morning then you're it. They can usually trace your entire journey to get there, too.
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Yes they can triangulate your position, but the grandparent was making the argument that they must. Tracking your location like that is certainly not necessary for the function of the network, and they didn't use to have that capacity.
Can you tell me how I can get a call anywhere in the nation, while not having the cellular network have any idea at all ever where I am at?
The point is - your phone is located by it reaching out to a tower, and if it reaches a tower - it knows that you are within the range of that tower. That would be roughly circular area depending on terrain.And unless you are in a specific area where one and only one and no other tower is in range, You will be hitting multiple towers.
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It doesn't need to use GPS, but it does need to know which towers are near your phone. So tracking is necessary, but they do seem to do it to a finer degree than needed. (Though I'm not sure. 5G networks have smaller cells, so perhaps signal strength for 3 or 4 towers could pinpoint your location just as precisely.)
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It doesn't need to use GPS, but it does need to know which towers are near your phone. So tracking is necessary, but they do seem to do it to a finer degree than needed. (Though I'm not sure. 5G networks have smaller cells, so perhaps signal strength for 3 or 4 towers could pinpoint your location just as precisely.)
Don't forget TDOA, which is a physics function which is always there.
I use TDOA pretty often. Here's the very simplified tour. In my case, two - or sometimes more - antennas are spaced at a wavelength related distance apart. The RF signals hit the antennas at slightly different times. Think of about a nanosecond to travel a foot. We have an audio sinewave signal injected in the antenna path. The delay between the time of arrival causes a slight phase difference, and the audio is heard. When the antenn
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The cellular system doesn't use GPS. It just connects you to whichever tower has the strongest signal. While wireless carriers could sell that information (the coordinates of the closest tower you're connected to), it's nowhere near as precise as GPS coordinates.
At least iOS offers you the option to allow apps only to have your approximate GPS location.
It surely doesn't use GPS. But the nature of the frequencies in use and their path loss and line of sight nature can get you located nicely. It isn't as precise as GPS, but hit three towers, and strength comparison, and Time of arrival, and there ya are. Precise enough to narrow it down pretty good - enough to construct a pretty confident location.
Hit a single tower, less precise, but still handy localization.
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why wear pants when the very core aspect of bathing is disrobing anyway
privacy is not a two-party equation, do more bleed less
Meh, I only use private systems to do private business. Any technology that is inherently not private, like the intertoobz or the cellular system, or going out in public, I use to my benefit. Buy with CC, the transaction and location are time stamped, Smile and wave at any and all security cams, and happy to have the Phone give out my location. It's an alibi source for me.
Demanding privacy on a technology that is at core based on zero privacy is pretty dumb. You can implement something that never leaves
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Location isn't the most revealing data on your phone, and anyway location inference from the cell network is pretty vague compared to GPS.
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Come on, it would be quite possible to design a variant of the cell system that located devices without identifying them. There's no incentives to design a system with privacy baked in, but there no technical reason it couldn't be done.
Absolutely - all you have to do is have every single tower try to access every single phone in the world. Electronic Gridlock.
Anyhow, design it, and show us. You have made an extraordinary claim - you are challenged. Rando on Slasdot can show some really smart peopel how it's done, and if you are right, you are the next billionaire.
Your life will become a subscription. (Score:5, Interesting)
We've all known it from Facebook, but did we learn from it?
Your data is more valuable than any hardware product will ever be, because your data tells them everything about you, what you like, what you are into, what you are and will most likely be capable of, and not least what you will be most likely to purchase, subscribe, prone to, illness, diseases, jobs, what your net worth is and your earning potential will be etc.
In other words - you're the product.
You all know it, new cars that comes fully equipped - but with subscription plans for seat warming, infotainement subscriptions, features like remote controlling your car alarm, even opening your door. Remember those salespeople that comes to your door and sells you a security system with a camera? It's a subscription. Even vacuum cleaners will have a subscription plan, you already subscribe to your movies you don't collect anymore - and you'll pay over and over again for the same movies for the rest of your life.
Your television and smartphone is becoming a subscription, everything you see, everything you do, everything you want will be a subscription.
You'll own nothing - and be happy.
Perhaps not that last part - be happy...because you'll become miserable, and you won't be able to own or repair anything because you're only subscribing to everyting.
This is a total cogwheel system, it's making sure you don't have a say in anything, you won't have a say in your job, what you want to repair or modify, patents will own so much of everything that your inventions already belongs to them (corporate and the elite) because of the small text in the TOS in whatever you subscribe to.
And basically in the future - everything will become a subscription plan.
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It's really too bad Ted Kaczynski was an evil serial killer. Because bits of his manifesto were prescient.
Re:Your life will become a subscription. (Score:5, Insightful)
All those things though are not the fault of the Industrial Revolution or technology itself but human greed in the face of those things. Life wasn't exatly peachy and owndrful in the 19th and 18th centuries, especially for the less advanced nations and even anyone but the wealthy and royalty in every country. Ted here is fetishizing primitavism a bit from his 20th century timeframe because he wasn't alive then so he can paint it with these rose colored glasses. If Ted is born in 1832 does he go to Harvard? Does he know how to read? Could he even have the time and wherewithall to philosophize on how much better life was in 1632 before all that "technology"?
We have enough resources and technology to help probably every person alive today, at the very least in the US we could easily house, clothe, employ and support every person in our borders, we only lack the political will to do it, it's not the fault of the objects and knowledge itself.
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Human greed was already present. But the degree of control changed. This has amplified both good and bad features. (I really didn't like working on my grandfather's farm, and my mother couldn't understand why, because she liked it. And without modern medicine I'd probably be dead.)
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Kaczynski was wrong about the Industrial Revolution, but I think he's right about how high-tech has evolved. Technology, IMO, has on balance been good for humanity (though there is that looming climate crisis...), but the business models of big Internet tech companies are bad for humanity, on balance.
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I hate to meme because the answer and history is complexed and nuance but... capitalism bro. Big internet is big money.
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I think it's an interesting comment, though unclear... Might have been a more productive FP? And any books to recommend as the basis? (I just started The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr, and it seems likely to become relevant to the topic.)
With regards to your opening question, what I would like to learn from Facebook is "Who murdered me and why?" However I don't miss it. Facebook had already become dead to me.
(But should Twitter's death be classified as murder or suicide? The patient was already in a self-in
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I agree with almost everything you say, but patents don't work that way. I can take a patented invention and make my own copy, and that's completely fine. I can also use the IP from a patent to repair or maintain a product that I purchased (although patent documents are usually pretty unhelpful for that) What I can't do is use or sell that copy for profit.
But yeah, the "everything is a subscription" model can fuck right off. No streaming for me, I still buy my media on shiny discs, although this is not enti
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Nope. That would be infringing the patent. [stackexchange.com]
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Per your link, it depends on the country. I should also clarify that "I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice :-)
Vitamin printer? (Score:3, Interesting)
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God, I almost forgot about that train wreck.
I have to ask, who bought into that bullshit?
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I have to ask, who bought into that bullshit?
P.T. Barnum would have something to say on that matter.
Good news for the environment? (Score:3)
In a world of Keurig pods, planned obsolescence and proof-of-work/proof-of-space blockchains, I'd expect much more environmentally disastrous inventions than things that just run on batteries for no good reason.
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Making it communicate and cost $200, ok, that's a joke.
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I'm not sure. It is definitely a waste of Lithium, and we may regret wasting that, but it is, in principle and with enough effort, recyclable. And Lithium isn't a poisonous metal. Well, it's not as bad as lead. (Also, Lithium is not a "rare earth", those have similar names like "Yttrium" and "Neodymium", but a LOT heavier atomic numbers (21, 39, and 57â"71 per Google).
That said, they ARE working on reducing the amount of Lithium needed in each battery.
On the Ember Mug (Score:5, Interesting)
The purpose of the mug is to keep the drink at a *specific* temperature, all day. Even with the best thermos, the experience sucks: either it's boiling hot for 3 hours (if you're lucky) so you can't drink straight out of it, or it rapidly cools down. Removing more of the liquid makes it cool faster, and an open lid even faster. No matter what you do, either it's too hot or too cold, and only for a brief period is it just right.
I have literally been wanting a mug like the Ember Mug for 10 years. I have thought many times about building my own just so I could have one. I've tried everything else - I've bought 10 different thermally-insulated mugs, I've bought one of those "keep your coffee mug warm" plates, etc. They're all crap solutions.
Yeah, the non-removable battery is stupid, and yeah, it costs a lot. But if you've been looking for this stupid thing all your life, and it lasts a few years, $200 isn't that much to spend. People spend twice or three times that to drink Starbucks every year, and their expensive coffee still gets cold.
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Have you ever thought about putting your coffee into a sealable insulated container at the temperature you like?
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Have ever thought about reading more than half a post? ;)
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Indeed I have. I also have a liking for warm coffee. But there are problems, there are solutions and then there are solutions that desperately look for problems. That mug seems to fit that last category pretty well.
If a coffee is in a mug long enough that even an insulated mug with a matching lid, unless used at -40 degrees, goes cold, the coffee also lost any of its flavor. Unless of course you're one of those heathens that think that "coffee" is not a suitable flavor for coffee. But then there is no hope
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How slowly do you drink a mug that it takes you all day? I remember back in the 1980s they were selling tiny hot plates for mugs to keep them warm. Some even had an inductive element in the mug itself.
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The purpose of the mug is to keep the drink at a *specific* temperature, all day. Even with the best thermos, the experience sucks: either it's boiling hot for 3 hours (if you're lucky) so you can't drink straight out of it
The trick is to have it too hot and pour it into the attached cup for drinking.
If you blow on it it will cool down to the correct temperature in 20-30 seconds.
If you can't be bothered to do that, then... send me your money.
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Found the shill
Please take my advice...don't. (Score:4, Informative)
I have literally been wanting a mug like the Ember Mug for 10 years. ...Yeah, the non-removable battery is stupid, and yeah, it costs a lot. But if you've been looking for this stupid thing all your life, and it lasts a few years, $200 isn't that much to spend.
I got one of these as a gift. It's collecting dust.
Problem 1: it doesn't fit a whole lot of coffee for the size of the mug. The battery takes up a relatively large amount of space and doesn't allow as much coffee. The capacity is listed, I grant you...but the battery is a tradeoff. Personally, I'd be happier with a unit without a battery that powered the coil based on an external source.
Problem 2: It smells like sour milk. Unless you drink milk-free coffee or are obsessive with washing it *immediately* after finishing your coffee, it will irrevocably wreak of sour milk. I've scrubbed mine out no less than ten times with sponges and Brillo, I've let it sit in isopropyl alcohol for a week, I've washed it with boiling water...and it goes away for a day or two and then comes right back, even if I haven't used it at all. I don't have these problems with the other mugs.
Problem 3: It doesn't get the battery life advertised. Even at the minimum temperature available within the first two weeks of ownership, I got a bit over two hours, rather than the advertised three.
Problem 4: The app is 61MB...and requires an account. To the point of the original complaint about CES this year...there is precisely zero reason why any form of cloud functionality is required to alter one of a handful of variables on a piece of equipment which ships with a Bluetooth transceiver.
Honorable mention #1: The charging platform relies on this teeny tiny spring that I managed to break...and the replacement platforms cost $40. I wasn't terribly rough with it, but Ember doesn't provide replacement parts.
Honorable mention #2: I can't post this on Amazon because they wouldn't let me verify ownership to do so. ...can't imagine why.
I appreciate the kindness of the people who gave this unit to me, but I'm very much not a fan.
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I have literally been wanting a mug like the Ember Mug for 10 years.
The Ember mug is what happens when someone has a decent idea, but completely ruins it by adding bluetooth, an app, and an unreplaceable battery.
I'd love a mug that comes with a heating element that it sits on to keep it at a desired temperature. Essentially one of those mug warmers, except it actually works because it's designed to work with the included mug. Something like a mug with an induction plate in the bottom so that it heats up without any need for batteries or apps or nonsense like a $200 price
I have long complained about just this phenomenon. (Score:5, Interesting)
In a recent review for some home automation gear I wrote, "Because these home automation devices require a "cloud" account to interact with them it's like the manufacture shipped e-waste directly from the factory to my garbage can. And why wouldn't they demand that you create yet another account on yet another server under the guise of "voluntary" (it's not) and "the cloud" (it's not), even though the device(s) can run locally just fine without a "cloud" account on your local mobile device that knows what to do with Bluetooth?
Why spend time and money engineering covert utilization data monitoring or back doors into your application only to be discovered by some pesky security researcher later. Better to just force the user to register the product in a cloud account somewhere so you can exfiltrate that user data the easy way using "the cloud" as a plausible excuse."
And I am still very much of this opinion. Most of the tacky consumer stuff out there right now is garbage.
What about paywalls in purchased products? (Score:1)
There needs to be a category for purchased products that require paid subscriptions to access features already manufactured into the item, such as heated seats in your car.
Ember Mug (Score:1)
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You can buy a mug warmer on Aliexpress for $2.
You can buy a temperature controlled one for about $12.
eg. https://www.aliexpress.com/ite... [aliexpress.com]
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You can buy a mug warmer on Aliexpress for $2.
Yea but then what's the environmental impact of it burning your house down?
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You think the $200 Ember Mug isn't made in a Chinese sweatshop?
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Not as delusional as somebody who thinks a USB-powered mug warmer will burn his house down just because it's made in China.
It's just a resistor, FFS.
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PS: $1000 iPhones have been known to catch fire.
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Also what is the failure rate of an iPhone to a rando-brand Chinese cup warmer? I know, I know, your anecdotal evidence is better than any statistics but hey, humor me.
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Input voltage: 220V-50Hz
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That one ain't the "$2 cup warmer" being discussed.
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Gadgets vs. real technological progress. (Score:2)
They deserve all the criticism they get and more. They suck up investment oxygen that
Re: Non-replaceable batteries (Score:3)
Kudos for flagging the new products that don't include replaceable batteries. I'm surely not alone in getting tired of products that have rechargeable batteries but which cannot be replaced when they begin failing to hold a charge and become yet another bit of e-junk whose lifetime could have been extended if the designers had thought to include a replaceable battery. A trip to BatteryLand where I could buy a replacement battery (and return the old one for recycling) is hardly different than a trip to the local Buy-More to buy an entire device. The biggest difference is that the parts of the device that still worked would not be in a landfill just because the part that could have easily been replaced had croaked.
Be better designers.
A shoutout to Joeveo (Score:2)
And the "worst in show" award for repairability went to the Ember Mug 2+ — a $200 travel mug "with electronics and a battery inside...designed to keep your coffee hot."
This seems like a good time to give a shoutout to Joeveo [newatlas.com]. Since humans can't drink boiling liquids, this mug contains wax in the lining that melts and cools your drink a bit. Like ice cools things to freezing temperature, the wax cools your drink to an ideal drinkable temperature. (I ordered a "hot" mug but I think the "normal" one is more ideal unless you regularly drink tea that would burn other people.)
The mug is vacuum insulated, so after it comes to the correct temperature, it stays there. The wax even
READ it, silly. (Score:1)
"it's almost impossible to tell from the products and the advertising copy around them! They're just not telling you what their actual business model is, and because of that — you don't know what's going on with your privacy."
Uh, you probably would have a very good idea of what's going on with your privacy if you simply did one thing.
Actually read the fucking EULA before blindly signing it.