Do we own what we buy? Many people ask this question as companies make it harder to maintain and repair their purchases without paying the manufacturer. Join us this week as we dive into the Right to Repair. Also, this week we review Jotan Slayer, a great new game that's easy to learn and fun to play.

Hosts: William Sikkens, Bill Snodgrass, and Gretchen Winkler

Welcome to

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User Friendly 2.0 with host Bill Sikkens,

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technology architect.

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And this is User Friendly 2.0,

I am your host Bill Sikkens.

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Bill. Gretchen

welcome to this week's show.

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Oh, there you are.

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Listeners in the United States.

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Happy Memorial Day weekend.

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It is a time to remember

those who have served that we have lost.

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And it's always good to take a little time

and realize the sacrifice

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that many have made.

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All right, so this week we are going

to be covering the and Slayer.

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And Bill, I know you're going to be

talking about that coming up.

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And then our second segment

is going to be on Right to Repair.

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We've had a lot of questions

coming in from that.

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So we just wanted to answer some of them

and get some information out there on

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what's going on.

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And there's a lot of things going around

that are just kind of,

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oh, stories online.

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Not that that ever happens

on the internet, but in this case it is.

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So we're going to hit

and see what reality is here

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and what is just,

you know, folklore in that respect.

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So let's go ahead and jump

right into the news.

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What do we have.

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All right

China installs the largest turbine ever.

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And scientists warn of something bizarre

I mean, it looks big.

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Yeah. It's it's huge. It is huge.

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And so what's going on here

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that the scientists are talking about is

it could be affecting the local climate.

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And the other thing of it is,

is just they say the size of the figure

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sounds straight out of a movie,

and it kind of is,

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you know, there is a point of

how big does it need to go?

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And this one is, quite the case here.

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So the machine, is up to 20 megawatt,

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which is a pretty good for a wind turbine.

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And the span can be from 853

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to 958ft across.

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Wow. So this is big.

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You know?

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So. And the annual

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electricity that this could create

is up to 96,000 households,

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and that avoids roughly 73,000,

tons of carbon

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dioxide compared to fossil fuel

for generating the same power.

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So it definitely has its place.

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It's just big.

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It has a world record for the size that,

you know, that's not a shock, considering.

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And the problem is,

is that this changes air flow.

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And that's where they're worried

about the local climate.

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Because if you start changing that stuff,

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it will definitely affect the way

storms come in and all that kind of thing.

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And as someone

who grew up in Reno, Nevada, and was there

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from when I, you know, was younger,

we used to have thunderstorms and things

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and then all kinds of stuff

was done to change the climate.

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Not wind turbines, but removing water

and all this other stuff.

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Yeah.

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Now it's, you know, those kind of things

in the weather are gone,

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and there's droughts all the time.

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So you do want to be careful

that you don't mess with that.

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I don't think

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they're going to have a drought,

but it would definitely have the potential

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of affecting storm systems

and everything else coming into it.

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So it's an interesting thing.

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You know, normally a wind turbine wouldn't

be big news, but in this case it's big.

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So therefore it's news.

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But there's

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also this isn't the turning of the prop.

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Doesn't that create like a weird

like sound or something.

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That's for other people. Yeah.

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It sounds like something off world

is the way I heard it described.

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I couldn't find a recording of the sound.

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Okay, but,

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but yeah, and Wind Turbine sound,

they have a unique sound just any way.

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So you figure if it's this much bigger,

it's going to sound that much louder,

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and then you're starting to deal with,

you know, the sound

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the magnetic field of Mars

makes or something.

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So, there's some similarity

from what I've been told.

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We'll talking about Mars in space.

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An asteroid will make a close pass

by Earth today.

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Here's what you need to know.

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So as we are airing

this is actually on Monday.

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So this will be, Memorial Day as well.

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And it's going to occur at 5:23 p.m.

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Eastern time.

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And a strong telescope should be all

you need to spot it.

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Okay.

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So the name of this

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is, they always have their weird names

that they put onto these things,

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and it's like GH2 2026

G two hours missing the year.

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You think I remember that part.

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And basically

they're not sure how big it is.

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They estimated

it could be as large as 115ft across,

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which is about the size of a blue whale.

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Just to give you a comparison,

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if you want to take a look at this,

you can watch

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a live stream of the approach

starting at 3:45 p.m.

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eastern on the Virtual Telescope Project's

YouTube page.

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They're going to be live streaming it.

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Hopefully it won't be live

streaming it crashing into the Earth.

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It's not going to do that.

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But, you know, we haven't seen the sea

until the last part,

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so that just seems really strange.

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It's getting that closer, you know?

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No, it's not close enough

that it's going to cause us any harm.

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I it okay.

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What are you saying?

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That, I'm just thinking about that

for some reason.

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There's a show on YouTube called What If?

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And they explore all this stuff.

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Some newest one was something like this.

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Probably in honor of this asteroid. No.

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Okay.

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A space telescope just detected a strange

cosmic pattern.

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Scientists have searched for since 1912.

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So tell us about this.

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Okay, so it's the

the Empty Space Telescope, or DMP is the,

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which I never heard of before,

so I was a little excited.

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So what does this telescope do?

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Do you see things in space?

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Oh, really? Wow. Well,

that's what it does.

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It, yeah.

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Yeah, I read on that note

and that sarcastic answer.

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It's important

to know that we think of telescopes.

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A lot of times

it's the telescope at the planetarium.

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Or you might have one where

you look at light in the sky and conceive,

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you know, like the asteroid

we were just talking about.

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But a lot of telescopes

don't work that way.

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And they,

pick up particles and wavelengths of light

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and different things like that

and are able to see much further.

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And what they're talking about here

is cosmic rays

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and how they are accelerated

and transported through space.

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They've been searching for

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proof of this since 1912,

as the headline said,

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and this has to do with different ways

that we assume that the universe works.

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And then I've learned, you know,

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the more I learn about this stuff,

the less I know kind of thing.

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What?

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One note on this

about the name of that telescope is it

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stands for the Dark Matter

Particle Explorer.

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So that's specifically what it's for.

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And it's looking at spectral images,

among other things.

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And it's seeing a pattern

that would explain this.

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So what the theory

is, is the rigidity theory.

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Which probably isn't

something that comes up in your,

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you know, normal conversation over coffee.

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It never has in mind, really.

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Like, oh, I, I thought that was all about

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being stiff and and proper rigidity.

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Well, there you go.

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Yeah,

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it's all right. So anyway, anyway.

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All right. Yeah.

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It's just one of those days, isn't it?

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Yes, it is so.

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But they're saying

that they have a 99.999% chance,

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against alternative models, scientists

saying that they're

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strong evidence that we might finally

be moving in the right direction

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on picking these particles up

and looking at particle acceleration.

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Another topic that comes into this

that's also not proven is particle decay.

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It's the idea that the universe

will eventually break down into particles,

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and that'll be the end of everything.

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And that idea is a theory

that's gone along with

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trying to figure out what is creating

the acceleration in space dark matter.

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We've heard a little bit more

about that one,

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and there's certainly a lot of debate

in the scientific community,

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which up until getting

some evidence of this, is like,

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you know, debating

the mythology of the gods or something.

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It is you need empirical evidence to be

able to properly research these lines.

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Right.

You're operating on a lot of assumptions.

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You know,

like when we all know what that means.

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Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Again, like low gravity theory.

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So, that being the case,

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it is interesting to start

to see the puzzle pieces coming together.

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And that's basically what this is.

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So just the other

10,000ft view again, of this

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is this telescope

that nobody's ever heard of.

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Not nobody.

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But, you know, very few people have heard

of has

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picked up a particle that very few people

talk about at Starbucks

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that actually could prove

the origin of the universe.

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So there you are.

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I just thought people needed to know.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Well, and our third

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one for space, take a look at NASA's

Star Dance challenge.

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Yeah.

This has been promoted by the Hat Club

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which there is such a thing.

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Go to Star Dance club.com

for details on this.

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And you make projects.

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It outlines what they are.

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This is obviously a Stem program.

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You actually get prizes and they start up

on June 1st which is this coming week.

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So again Star Dance Dot hack Live.com.

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This is supposed to be for kids.

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You know, teens. Thank you for that. Yes.

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You know, and it's basically

any technical project you want.

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You can build a website,

make a game, write an app.

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You deal with hardware, right?

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You know, and some of the prizes.

You might, might have to enter this.

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Do you think

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I could put myself off as 1318 because

one of you could get a Raspberry Pi, a 3D?

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You may act like a 13 year old, but

you don't look like one, especially today.

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Yes, I.

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So anyway, the

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other thing about this too,

is it's a very easy entry point.

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If you haven't done a Stem program

like this before or are new to it,

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there is a community of over 100,000 teens

who are willing to help you get started.

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So it's a great way to get.

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And it's going to run from June 1st

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to September 30th

with weekly drops, freebies and so on.

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So check it out. And if you do this

but go to user friendly Dot show.

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I would love to hear about your experience

with this.

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Yeah.

214

You know and if anybody is so inclined

maybe you could come

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and talk about it on the show.

216

All right.

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How to help protect yourself

from Medicare scams.

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So this is probably for mostly

for our American audience.

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Yeah.

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And now for something

completely different.

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Different exactly.

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So, you know, it's

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interesting

we cover this list of guidelines,

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usually twice a year in some capacity

or another.

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And the reason

that it's been pushed out again,

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Schwab is the one that sharing this.

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Now this is an article that they posted.

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Joseph Reeves is the author on it.

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And it's because people are still falling

for these scams.

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And it's not that they're a bad person

or stupid or anything like that.

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It is a situation of the scammers are

getting better and better at what they do.

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And remember, the scammer is 24 hours

a day to practice their skit on this.

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You are busy and could run into things

and not, you know, absolutely no.

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So some things that we're seeing in

some of this,

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you will have heard before, some of us are

a little bit of a new twist on things.

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Is an email that or a text message

or even a voicemail or a phone call.

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We're starting to see that now.

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If I, your Social Security number has been

compromised by somebody at the border.

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And if you don't take care of this, fine,

we're going to arrest you immediately.

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That's one.

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There's

other things that go along with that, too.

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The idea of here is to get personal

information and money.

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We've seen this with the IRS

and other things as well.

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And the one thing to be aware of

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is under no circumstances

would a government agency ever do that.

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They're not going to call you on the phone

and demand money,

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or you will be arrested.

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And if you do get something like this

and are concerned about it,

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there's a couple of things you can do

to try to verify whether it's real or not.

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Most likely it won't be,

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but the first thing is any kind of contact

information that's included

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in the email, text message or however

this originated, do not call that.

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Do not go to that website.

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What you would want to do

is go to the official website

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where in the case of the Medicare,

where we're seeing the

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biggest part of this happening

now is Medicare.gov.

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And on their website, you can look

and there's a link on there for scams

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and 99% that whatever has happened,

you're going to be able to go there

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and look at it

and it's going to be outlined

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as one of the things that are going on.

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The other thing is,

if you really want to talk to somebody,

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if you're concerned

one 800 Medicare is the phone number.

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You can also

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call your medical provider

on the back of your insurance card.

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Those are all legitimate phone numbers.

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But one of the big things here is again,

this idea that,

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check it out,

call the phone number in the email.

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We're busy. A lot of times that happens.

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And when you call that phone number,

you're talking to the scammer

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who is, you know,

trying to get you from your money.

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There's a story that came up from these

that, somebody had actually intercepted

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that, elderly lady was at a store buying,

I think it was green

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dot cards or something like that,

to the tune of $40,000.

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And a younger engineer came in

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and overheard it

and kind of put a stop to it

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and called the police,

and it took the police and him

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30 minutes to let this lady know that, no,

this is not real.

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She had already lost about 20 grand,

but they were able to stop it.

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So she didn't lose all of her money.

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And because they were able to catch it

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when it happens, it looks like

they're probably going to have a good shot

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at actually tracking it

and getting the money back.

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I hope so, know that that's really awful.

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You know, our seniors

don't have a lot of money.

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You know, it's not real.

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Roll around and money over here.

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You know, it's like, oh it is.

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And it's

and it's something that is so easy to do.

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And it's not just seniors.

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This happens to a lot of people, you know.

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And the thing of it is, is in

a lot of times people feel embarrassed.

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So they don't report it

and don't feel embarrassed because again,

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they're professionals. You're not.

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And do report it because you might get

have a chance of getting your money back.

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But at the very least,

maybe you can help someone else out.

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Yeah, don't let the bad guy win

by being embarrassed.

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Exactly, exactly.

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And the one big thing with something

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like Medicare

that goes beyond some of the other ones is

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if your Medicare number gets out,

which is in this case,

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one of the bits of personal information

that they're going for.

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They can file bogus claims, get paid

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through that,

through whatever scheme they have set up.

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And let's say that it's like a knee brace,

because this is an example

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of what happened.

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So Medicare will cover a knee brace.

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So they scam that from a lot of people.

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And now years later the real person goes

in and needs a knee brace.

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Well we've already paid out on that

benefit.

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We're not going to pay out on it. Again.

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This is the kind of thing that happens.

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And that's just one example.

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So again, do not believe what's in

an email or phone call or anything else.

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Watch your statements.

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Don't believe the caller ID

that can be spoofed.

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I know it's difficult, but again,

if you're worried about it,

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tell the person, okay, I'm

going to call you back.

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If they try to keep you on the phone,

that's a big time red flag.

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If they say, okay, call me back and

give you a phone number, say thank you.

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Then go to the Medicare website

or whatever bank or whatever

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it is that you're trying to verify.

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Don't call the phone number back

they gave you.

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Get the information off of the provider

or the banking institution,

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or because these go everywhere.

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Call them and find out if it's real.

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And please be careful with this stuff

because there's they do it

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because they got a lot of money,

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and because the money goes

to the other side of the planet.

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A lot of times it's

very difficult to get back.

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And by the way, the losses every year

from this particular

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scam with Medicare is about 60 billion

a year.

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Geez, that's a lot of money.

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So that's money from us taxpayers.

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Just going out the window. Exactly.

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And it's money for people that don't get

treatment that legitimately should do so.

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It's really a bad thing.

337

So anyway,

338

so send us your questions

and comments on that too.

339

What we get a lot

and I actually do sit down and answer

340

the questions that come in

and I answer most of them.

341

But in this particular case we've been

asked straight out about some scams,

342

and we've been able to help some people

in that respect, too.

343

If you have someone that's computer

savvy, ask them,

344

but just don't take it at face value.

345

All right.

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So let's talk about what's.

347

So let me first identify that Norse

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mythology, the religion of Thor

349

Jones, are basically monsters

350

or demons or something of that nature.

351

So when you have a game called and Hunter

352

that might give you an idea

of what you're doing.

353

So Bill, you had a chance

to give this a try, what did you think?

354

Well, Joe and Slayer.

355

So it goes a little bit farther

than hunting. Oh, you're slaying the

356

right.

357

Good. Right. You're just like, okay. Yeah.

358

You don't. Slayer. Hordes of hell.

359

And, that's hell like in hell. Hi.

360

So it's,

361

from their own description,

a roguelike horde survivor game,

362

sort of like, vampire survivors,

if anybody knows what that is,

363

or you're a character rolling

around on a map and killing the hordes

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that come after you and getting power ups

and you, can level up your character.

365

And, beyond that, the roguelike portion

of it is you're getting money to level up,

366

the abilities of your character

outside of the camp heads

367

as well as the gods,

which has been quite interesting.

368

I know it

probably doesn't sound like very much,

369

but I put in about five hours of gameplay

on to this game because it's,

370

very good, because it's,

371

designed for ten minute,

15 minute playtime.

372

Because that's

actually an important point,

373

because a lot of games

and this is a big complaint, is

374

you have to invest for the next,

you know, two years of your life to play.

375

This is when you can get started

on faster.

376

I like that, yeah.

377

It was very good.

378

It started out very easily.

379

They have a new DLC.

380

That's Conan the Barbarian.

381

Which is interesting

because he's not part of the, you know,

382

Norse mythology per se, but.

383

I enjoyed very much playing him.

384

His game style was very much in line

with my usual type.

385

I've played some of the other characters,

like Chris,

386

who is very good at,

demolishing the hordes of hell

387

and,

388

it's been a very interesting game.

389

Again, it's

the beginning of it is ten minute rounds,

390

where you're fighting through these hordes

before

391

you have to go fight the Odin,

which is a giant boss.

392

And they're very interesting

and entertaining fights.

393

And as you progress

394

the game and getting harder

levels, levels get longer.

395

Currently I do have some hard mode

396

and extreme modes

that are up 20 minutes long.

397

So you're in for a haul.

398

But again, the game is designed

for short bouts of gameplay,

399

like what's your life?

400

Oh, it's very pretty.

401

And a dark,

402

but it does very much elicit that Norse

feeling to it.

403

A lot of the still images explicitly,

404

have that in very or

405

feel that,

you know, you're looking at, hell home

406

and it's very cold and very dark and very,

very rare.

407

Yeah.

408

Must be time where you're in fire

and fire.

409

Monsters are attacking

you and things like that.

410

It's, in fact, that you have giant cannons

that are shooting, raining down

411

fire on you while you're playing,

that you have to go destroy.

412

And it's they're very they're very themed.

413

I don't feel like each level

is just a rehash of the previous level.

414

Oh, cool.

415

That's cool.

416

It's good to have variety, but yeah, this

sounds like something that's enjoyable.

417

And I know you get this on steam

and I don't remember exactly what it was.

418

You might know, Bill,

it wasn't that terribly expensive to buy.

419

No, I believe it is right now.

420

There you have a bundle of you

in Slayer, hordes of Hell and Mad.

421

Smartphone tycoon

is, currently on sale for 39% off

422

or 1488 mad smartphone tycoon.

423

That's an interesting pairing.

424

I go to buy it.

425

To buy it on its own is, 15 bucks.

426

Or they have collector's

edition and stuff like that.

427

Adds in, cosmetic armors and weapons.

428

Just to get it.

429

And Conan is about 19 bucks, so.

430

Well, it's a $10.

431

That's an extremely good value because,

yeah, usually $5,060 for anything decent.

432

This one qualifies as decent.

433

So, you know, I, I like that.

434

I like it

when these things are affordable.

435

You can actually try them out

and enjoy it.

436

Now, is this a multiplayer

game? Is it single player?

437

It is single player. For the most part.

438

It does not have online.

439

Apparently.

440

Yet, it does split screen co-op.

441

Okay.

442

You can have two people of a same system

play that's under this.

443

Like the only game. Yeah.

444

And so it's a shared split screen.

445

I of course don't have anyone

to try it with, so I don't know.

446

But we do have a mode.

You can see what it would look like.

447

Local multiplayer

mode is what it sounds like you're saying.

448

Okay.

449

All right.

450

Now that that sounds really good. Yeah.

451

You haven't lived until you've played,

452

some of the old retro games

like Pac-Man or Wizard of War online.

453

I've just started experiencing that.

454

So it's, you know, the online adds

something to it, but the two player,

455

I like that,

and I don't think it's old school either.

456

To do it that way.

457

It's kind of fun to actually be able

to have someone else in the room,

458

you know, at the same time.

459

Yeah, it makes it more fun.

460

So now but

461

as far as these things go, so, you know,

we're getting into June this week,

462

you have a pick of a game of the year yet?

463

No, I really don't.

464

I mean, some of the older games that

I've been playing that are considerably

465

old have been doing very well,

like Warframe is just a good game.

466

But yeah, yeah, it's a free to play game

so people can get into it.

467

It's definitely got a learning curve.

468

I'm not going to lie about that,

but it's got a great community.

469

But, they, they've come out

with some pretty good stuff this year.

470

But as far as game of the year,

I just have not found it yet.

471

It's, it's it's interesting to look at it

because it seems like

472

a lot of the development

from the big studios,

473

I don't completely know what

they're focused on in the indie studios.

474

Like Guild and Slayer seem to be

putting out the better work right now.

475

It costs less,

and you're supporting developers

476

and not some big corporation,

which is kind of cool, too.

477

You know,

478

as a programmer myself, I, you know, tend

to like to be paid for my work.

479

So really?

480

Oh, yeah.

481

I work for free. Yeah.

482

I just explain that to the clients, but,

it is definitely, definitely kind of nice.

483

All right, so you're in Slayer

about 20 bucks for the thing for the game.

484

With the DLC, you can get it on steam.

485

It's available right now.

486

Check it out

and let us know what you think.

487

And with that we are going to take a break

and then come back and talk about

488

right to repair.

This is user friendly 2.0.

489

We'll be back after the break.

490

You see him? He's from the future.

491

He's got a really big computer

492

and he uses it uses it every day.

493

And he uses it in every way.

494

So I see you before you go.

495

I'm not sure because he used to be.

496

Welcome back.

497

This is user friendly 2.0.

498

Check out our website for everything.

499

User friendly user friendly dot

show is your one stop for past

500

episodes, information on what's coming

up, and a whole lot of other things

501

we'd love to hear from you at your place

to leave your questions and your comments.

502

Being that this is on air,

you can still do that

503

and we love to hear from you.

504

And in respect to that, a lot of questions

505

have come in about right to repair.

506

This is a topic

we've talked about in the past,

507

and something that is still out there

and has not been completely resolved.

508

So basically, the definition of this

for anybody that's not familiar with it

509

is the right to repair movement,

basically is the idea that a small shop

510

or you as an individual can work on

and repair the things that you purchase.

511

So whether that be a car or a tractor,

it would be, your farming equipment

512

seems to be a big area of contention

with this or a computer or whatever.

513

You're able to get to things

like schematics, the software,

514

they have special tools,

515

the ability to get to the special tools,

that kind of thing.

516

And what's happening is companies

don't seem to like this.

517

They want you to hire them.

518

So they'll do things

519

like Voyager, warranty, which for

my understanding, is not even legal.

520

I'm not an attorney, but, the what is it

Mohs warranty Act or something

521

goes into that I think is what it is

and talks about this.

522

It's like they used to, you know, warranty

void of removed labels on things.

523

And they can't void the warranty for that,

but they still do in some cases.

524

Try to and they make things

so you can't get them apart.

525

They're glued together.

526

And if you do get inside,

527

you can't get the appropriate service

information to be able to work on it.

528

So right to repair is the idea

529

that you have access to these things

530

and that you can go in and deal with stuff

and you know, some of the other things

531

that they used to do to, and we're moving

in the right direction in some ways

532

is they can't require you specific parts.

533

So it would be like, say,

Ford says if you change your oil

534

and you don't use a Florida oil filter,

they can void your warranty on your car.

535

They used to do that.

536

Oh, Chase. Yeah.

537

And they used to be able to do that.

538

And it would be things

like I bring my car in

539

because the windshield

wiper motor went out.

540

Oh that oil filter.

541

We don't know where that came from.

542

Your warranties voided even though those

two systems would have nothing in common.

543

But okay, that's

just that's just plain cruddy.

544

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

545

And it used to be if you didn't

have your oil changes done by the dealer,

546

you could run into problems like this.

547

So a lot of that has been cleaned up,

but we're still seeing things

548

where they try

to make it as difficult as possible.

549

The other thing that's very interesting

too, is proprietary tools.

550

It doesn't need to have that special tool,

but it does because you can't get it.

551

Or if you want to buy it,

it's going to be more than the device.

552

So you're not going to that

kind of a thing. You know.

553

So industries involved,

it affects a lot of different things.

554

We talked about some of them, but the list

they give is smartphones, computers,

555

farm equipment, cars, medical devices,

appliances, gaming consoles.

556

Companies such as Apple, Samsung,

Microsoft, John Deere are frequently

557

discussed in the debate.

558

And that would be a lot of technology

based lines.

559

It isn't limited to that,

but this is a big part of.

560

Do you remember when you could

change the battery in your phone?

561

And a battery goes dead.

562

You could take the back off and put a new

battery in and the excuse as well.

563

It makes it an hour.

564

If they wanted to design that with it

being as thin as it is they could do that.

565

They don't want you to get in there

and change the battery.

566

They want you to have to go

to a service center to get that done.

567

You know?

568

Yeah. And that's the kind of thing.

569

Have you guys run into this at all?

570

Yeah.

571

There were a couple of situations.

572

I mean, one was, and charger.

573

Okay.

574

They would not allow us to repair it,

but their, their situation was,

575

is that this specific,

576

diode? I guess it was.

577

It was whatever kept it switched on

and off.

578

The power to this,

they said it was very specific,

579

and if they let us fix it,

then they couldn't

580

guarantee

it was safe or anything like that.

581

So that sounds like the excuses

a lot of these companies are making.

582

Now, I will tell you, as a person

583

that does electronics, changing a diode

is not that involved. No.

584

And if as long as you have the right part

and the idea

585

also with right to repair

is that you have access to the right part,

586

but then you can have a situation

587

where they've designed a diode

that you can't buy anywhere else.

588

Yeah, they're probably into it.

589

Yeah. Yeah.

And so we don't want you to do that.

590

You know.

591

Now the thing of it is, is

you're not allowed to damage

592

a device and still have the warranty go on

or intentionally do something wrong.

593

You you have to know what you're doing

in some respect.

594

But as long as you do again,

595

the argument for this is

that you should have the right to do that.

596

You have the right to decide

who's going to repair it.

597

Yeah.

598

What if, you have a car and,

the dealership

599

that you'd been going bringing it

to, was doing a poor job.

600

Well, normally

if somebody does a poor job,

601

then you're going to go find somebody else

who will do a good job.

602

So, you know, you could get stuck

with, well, the bad mechanic.

603

That's not right.

604

You should be able to go

and find somebody else to do it.

605

Or a lot of dealerships, they

606

just get so overloaded that they don't

have time to do your vehicle.

607

Yeah, yeah. And this this is a big issue.

608

This is part of the farming stuff

that's going on with tractors and things.

609

The tractors and modern farming equipment

610

are as technical as a car,

sometimes even more so. Yes.

611

With onboard computers and everything

else.

612

It's not,

613

you know, grandpa's tractor that's

sitting out there that you've started.

614

And if it doesn't start

you just can't get that will.

615

It's like anything else gotten very,

very complicated.

616

And for people

that are in that line of work,

617

your harvest season

is a very specific time.

618

And if you don't harvest during the out

window of a couple of weeks,

619

a couple of days with your crop,

you lose your crop.

620

So you were just talking about.

621

So I call the company

and my tractor is broken down.

622

Okay.

Well, we'll get to it when we get to it.

623

If you could take it to a repair shop

or work on it yourself.

624

This is another argument

that's not even just about saving money.

625

Now, of course, having repair shops

be able to do this stuff

626

also brings down the price

because there's competition.

627

I like that,

but again, you're dealing with stuff.

628

Rural communities is another one.

629

If you're out there

and can't get to a technician very easily

630

or you know your car breaks down

and there's a great mechanic,

631

but the dealership

is out of your towing radius or something.

632

You know, there's all kinds of things

that are with this.

633

And I get accused not always, but I get

accused often of being an Apple hater.

634

And I'm not.

635

But I don't like closed ecosystem things.

636

And the reason I bring this up here

is there a company

637

that has been making it more difficult

to work on stuff

638

and when it came out

that you had to be able

639

to work on your iPhone,

640

you had to rent this gigantic device

that was shipped to you

641

to be able to even open the thing

up properly.

642

And to this day, for people and anybody

that's in the retro computer

643

community will know

this is even the very first Macintoshes.

644

They've never released the schematics

645

for equipment that's going on.

646

40 years old now.

647

You still can't get official schematics.

648

Now, over the time, a lot of this has been

reverse engineered and things like that.

649

But then there's specific chips in it

that you can't get,

650

these this is a problem, you know?

651

So that kind of a thing,

if you could repair this stuff,

652

it also keeps it out of the landfill,

which is, you know, it's a thing.

653

Now, the companies cite safety concerns,

cybersecurity

654

risks, intellectual property

protection, reliability concerns

655

and fear about unauthorized modifications

affecting product performance.

656

Now, again,

if you damage it, that's on you.

657

Yeah, exactly.

658

And, another

example of this that I just think of off

659

the top of my head, this was talked

about on BBC was an air fryer,

660

and they were trying to repair this air

fryer.

661

Long story of how they got into this.

662

But their something had gone out

in the control panel.

663

I believe the power supply overvoltage

and burned out the processor chip in it.

664

And you could go buy a new processor chip.

665

Although when you took it apart

the numbers had been removed.

666

So trying to figure out what it actually

was was somewhat difficult,

667

but just completely blank.

668

They were able to do that.

669

But the problem is the processor,

670

the program to run it,

which is proprietary, is on the processor.

671

When it's manufactured.

672

So even if you replace the

chip, it still won't work.

673

And you know, that kind of a thing.

674

It doesn't have to be like that.

675

And if there's intellectual property

concerns, all right.

676

And make the chip available,

lock it down, secure it.

677

But at least make it where you can buy it

for a reasonable price.

678

And that's the other thing.

679

Oh, it's $120 for this device

and that's $200 for the part.

680

That's another problem that happens

with some of this built in obsolescence.

681

Absolutely, absolutely.

682

So in the United States,

several states are taking this

683

on New York,

California, Minnesota and Colorado.

684

If passed right to repair laws.

685

The FTC has expressed interest

in support for increasing repair access.

686

A lot of this has gone to court.

687

There's been some wins.

There's been some losses.

688

Depending on which side of the fence

you're on, how you would perceive that.

689

But it is definitely an issue

690

that will most likely have to be litigated

before it's really resolved.

691

You know?

692

Yeah, I would think and again,

693

it's a situation where it's

694

a lot of just comes down to money,

you know, and that kind of a thing.

695

Now that's not everybody.

696

Not all the big corporations are bad.

697

Some are now offering self service

repair programs.

698

Official parts are ordering manuals,

service manuals and that type of a thing.

699

Critics argue that these programs

can still be expensive or limited,

700

but at least it's a step

in the right direction.

701

And you know. Yeah.

702

So interesting examples.

703

This is something I has given us.

704

So let's talk about that

John Deere tractors.

705

That's one of the bigger areas

in the farming industry

706

that has a lot of things

McDonald's ice cream machines,

707

smartphone repair restrictions, gaming

console modification debates.

708

Now gaming consoles is another interesting

part of this because,

709

well,

710

you know, back in the day,

you had the original Atari.

711

And one of the things that took Atari out

was that

712

anybody could manufacture cartridges

and it would play on their system

713

whether or not it was a good game,

notwithstanding

714

whether or not

it was appropriate notwithstanding.

715

So when Nintendo came into the market

with the original eight bit,

716

they had a lockout chip, and it's one

that's pretty easy to defeat.

717

But at the time it did its job,

and ever since then, there's

718

been digital rights management on consoles

that have come out.

719

So one of the things is just

720

being able to get around that cartridges

were very difficult to copy.

721

You could do it,

but you needed special equipment.

722

That kind of a thing.

723

Optical media

is not that hard to duplicate.

724

So Nintendo came out with a weird size

disc and one thing and copy protection.

725

Sega had that on the Saturn.

726

And with all of that, there's ways

that people get in to hack these devices,

727

and some of what's required to do that

is special chips

728

that modify it

that are like illegal to possess.

729

And again, that's another thing.

730

You own the device. You really.

731

Yeah.

732

I don't

you have a PlayStation five or an Xbox One

733

because I have to pay $500 for the unit

and then rent it

734

to really be able to use it at 30 bucks

a month.

735

Yeah, they're already

making a lot of money on it.

736

They don't need to be so negative.

737

Yeah, yeah. Greedy.

738

It is definitely a thing

739

that is problematic.

740

But their thing is, is

oh it's to stop cheating and to stop,

741

well, cheating is their big argument.

742

Stop software

really that much, cheating going on?

743

There is a lot of cheating on gaming.

744

Yes, but, who does it affect?

745

Gamers.

746

Yeah, I have seen games

where cheating has happened.

747

Meme boards, things like that,

and it ruins the experience completely.

748

But do I believe that that defeats

right to repair? No.

749

And it's you know, it's

that type of a situation online gaming.

750

You know, there's different ways

that this could be handled.

751

Again, speaking with my engineer

hat on you two game, by the nature of what

752

it is online, you have to be online right

and right to do that.

753

You have servers and the servers

could check a signature to see

754

if it's the original processor

or whatever.

755

You've changed,

you know, and be able to lock things down.

756

That way you don't have to do it

757

or you completely close off

access to the game console.

758

And another thing that's happening

now is all of this digital stuff

759

where you buy things online,

760

like from the PlayStation store,

and I'm sure Xbox has a similar thing,

761

and it downloads it into your console

and you can no longer sell Warzone.

762

Anything like that,

like you could with a game that comes on

763

some kind of media,

the media or cartridge or whatever.

764

I can hold it in my hand.

765

I can give it to somebody,

I can sell it on eBay.

766

I can hang the discs up in my car

from the rearview mirror

767

if I want,

but it's still a tangible thing.

768

Yeah, it is mine.

769

And when you download which, by the way,

770

costs about the same amount

as getting the physical copy,

771

you're in a

772

situation where do you really own that

or do you rent it.

773

And that kind of a thing

brings up, you know, different arguments

774

that go along with this.

775

We've talked about this with cars.

776

The BMW thing with the you have to pay

to use your heated seats and other things.

777

I know this isn't just BMW,

but they were kind of the first

778

and did back off on that.

779

But there's a lot of other questions

that I would have to ask

780

that goes along with this.

781

If you can't use certain aspects

782

of your console

without paying a fee, well,

783

if it breaks down, you're paying a fee.

784

Who fixes it? Yeah.

785

If your heated seats go out,

who fixes that?

786

If you have to pay to use them,

I can assure you it's you.

787

It's a rhetorical question, but it becomes

if I really am renting something

788

and it breaks, usually I can send it back

and rent something else.

789

I can't do that here.

790

So, you know, if you if you rent a hotel

room, you don't really own the furniture.

791

It's it's rented for the night, you know.

792

Yeah.

793

And so you don't need to repair it or

794

vacuum it or, you know, do those things.

795

You need to remove

your personal belongings when you leave.

796

Yeah.

797

You know, and they maintain it.

798

It's even like they say, you know,

there's

799

these are different in different places.

800

I know, but if you have tools,

you might have a device

801

that you can go through an easy pass lane

or whatever

802

your jurisdiction calls it,

and you have money loaded on that device.

803

You can buy them.

804

A lot of times you rent them,

805

but if they break,

806

there's a place you know, a

set up in place where you get that fixed.

807

It doesn't fall on you.

Some do and some don't.

808

But that's an example of something

that is truly rented

809

and has servers to go along with it.

810

And, you know, the other thing of it

is too, is all of this

811

over the air updates

and that kind of thing.

812

And this is also creating

a lot of problems

813

where you're buying something

and then all of a sudden it's updated.

814

And that update creates a situation

where it locks

815

you out of something or prevents

you from doing something.

816

Or it sounds like software, like the like

817

like the software that,

you know, like Adobe and stuff like that.

818

And they keep changing things around

and it's like,

819

oh, that used to be fun to use.

820

Now it isn't.

821

And then you don't have the option

of staying with the original version.

822

For one thing.

823

Yeah.

824

Some of the worst case scenarios.

825

There's devices where you buy it, including some kind of a function, and then they

826

updated six months later,

827

and now you have to pay for that function

that was free when you bought it.

828

Yeah, I have a problem with that.

829

A big problem with that kind of a thing,

you know.

830

Well, and like, your obsolescence.

831

Yeah, absolutely.

832

But it's also taking features away

that were there when you bought it.

833

So all the sudden what you paid for

is no longer the same thing.

834

I, you know, asking an attorney

would be a good thing about that.

835

And seeing what the legality

of something like that is.

836

I just be curious.

837

And, you know, Gretchen,

you're talking about Adobe,

838

which is one of

the more controversial ones

839

because they and the other software ones,

like QuickBooks into it,

840

have done things

where you can no longer buy the software.

841

And yes, I know that you were buying

a license and all of that.

842

You didn't actually buy

the intellectual property rights to it,

843

but you said

that you had the disk in your hand.

844

And if you if your computer died or

845

if you wanted to upgrade your computer,

you had those disks,

846

and then you stuck those disks

into the brand new computer

847

and you still had your software

that you paid for.

848

Yeah.

849

And then you could reinstall it

and you are back to enjoying

850

that software again.

851

And they've designed it

so it doesn't work that anybody

852

other real got you on

this too is again quoting Adobe.

853

They're not the only ones,

but I think they're the biggest

854

where you have stuff in very proprietary

formats,

855

you know, in your Photoshop

or Premier or whatever the case may be.

856

You can export things, of course,

like the format that it's actually in

857

only works with that software.

858

And if you are paying the monthly fee,

all of a sudden you don't have access

859

to your own information anymore

or your own projects, you know, whatever.

860

Yeah. And that's a problem.

861

And I look at it from a standpoint,

I've argued in the past

862

that more expensive software,

having an option to run it by the month.

863

I don't have a problem with that.

864

But when they took away the option

to buy it completely,

865

and this was my big thing with QuickBooks,

866

of QuickBooks,

867

because I will not move to one where

I have to make monthly payments to use it

868

once.

869

It still does what I needed to,

870

and I wasn't going, well,

I won't do payroll anymore.

871

Fine,

I'm going to change my payroll provider.

872

How did that work out for you? And it.

873

Yes, I irritated with that.

874

Well, and rightly so.

875

You know, it just

it just really is a strange thing.

876

The other thing too is devices.

877

And knowing what they do, I there was

an interesting story about robotic vacuums

878

and the fact that they as they go around

your house, certain brands

879

seem to map your house

and send that information somewhere.

880

And they person that was very network

savvy

881

close the Wi-Fi down to those channels,

882

left it open for being able to do

other things like communicate with the app

883

and so on, but blocked the ports,

which is a thing

884

within like a firewall where you can block

certain lines of communication.

885

And I probably could describe that

a lot better.

886

But the point being is

it worked for three days and then stopped

887

and called the company.

888

It's still under warranty. Well, okay.

You know, send it in.

889

So he does well,

it works perfectly for us, sends

890

it back, works for about three days

and then it stops.

891

So obviously the problem

was that the other network shut down.

892

So now all of a sudden

the vacuum my house.

893

Not only

894

is it going to send a map of my house

somewhere that I don't control,

895

but I don't have the option of vacuuming

my house if I don't have a Wi-Fi network.

896

Yeah. What what if you're, somebody who.

897

Oh, I'm going to take my vacuum

while I'm vacationing and,

898

at the family cabin

where there's no Wi-Fi.

899

So does that mean the vacuum

isn't going to work there?

900

You paid for a vacuum. That doesn't work.

901

Well,

Gretchen answered your question. Yes.

902

It will not work. There.

903

So that's stupid, then.

904

That's a bad thing.

905

The other thing of it is

this too, is walking products.

906

This is something we're seeing

where you buy a device.

907

Smart speakers are a big one for this, but

908

there are a lot of other things out there

where you activate your device

909

with, the company i.e Amazon

910

and okay,

you want to put the device up on eBay.

911

Yes, you can unlock it and sell it,

912

but if you don't, it's

can't be used by anybody else

913

at all,

914

you know, because it will not attach

to the network to be reregistered.

915

So what's happening with that is you

get a lot of different things out there.

916

I wanted a over the air tuner

for my fire TVs.

917

They quit making them,

so I tried to buy a used one.

918

Well, the company that was selling

it was a pawn shop.

919

No one knew who the original seller was,

but it was like, whatever that is.

920

So now this device

is just completely useless.

921

There's no way.

922

So it goes in the landfill.

923

It's exactly what happened in my case.

924

It went back to the pawn

shop, but, sold it on eBay.

925

But, you know, and it's not the pawn shops

fault because I don't think they knew.

926

And it's not their job to know that.

927

Yeah, but it is a situation where, again,

you have a great deal of control lost

928

on the things that you own.

929

You know, another side of it too is

you want to bring that robotic vacuum.

930

Let's say your cabin does have Wi-Fi.

931

Well, you're probably going to have to

factory reset it to get it to work

932

with the other network,

and then factory reset it again

933

to get it back on your network.

934

That's a problem, you know?

935

Geez, it definitely is a situation

that has to be addressed,

936

because if people don't stand up

to this type of thing, it's a problem.

937

I bought a really cool

new OLED television.

938

I love the picture.

939

The firmware update

that came on three days after I got it

940

added this ambient mode

that I cannot figure out ChatGPT

941

you cannot figure out how to turn off.

942

If you walk in front of the television,

it senses

943

you're there and turns it on and starts

delivering advertising and things.

944

So I finally put on high 451 yeah.

945

Yeah.

946

Now I'm going back and I flip a switch.

947

Let's cut the power to the thing,

because I don't want it to do that.

948

You know?

949

Yeah, because you

just might be walking through the room.

950

You don't need it to turn on.

951

Yeah, exactly.

952

Why not? A burglar alarm never dies.

953

There's a way to shut off the ambient

mode.

954

Well, if you know about it,

please send it to us on the comments,

955

because I haven't been able

to figure this out yet.

956

And, Samsung, maybe you could send me

how to do it anyway.

957

Yeah, they should.

958

Not that I'm singling anybody out,

but that is the brand of the television

959

in this case.

960

But yeah, it's definitely a situation

that needs to be addressed.

961

So talk about the US internationally.

962

They're addressing this to European

Union's implemented standards

963

for repairability

like we talked about here.

964

Spare parts requirements, repairability

labels and longer support windows.

965

You know again

966

it's the idea if you know how to fix it,

you should be allowed to do it.

967

And if you don't or if you get it

and destroy it, well, you know,

968

that's the risk you take for doing it, but

you should be allowed to take that risk.

969

And I think that's again, what

right to Repair is talking about here.

970

So I don't know, running into these

things, it definitely is a situation.

971

I noticed this when I was working

on the robots for the Stem thing

972

we did last month, and I wanted to use

a video game controller to run the robot.

973

You know, for high school,

they're going to most likely

974

be used to it from their PlayStation

or whatever.

975

I ended up using an Atari controller

976

because it didn't walk to the console.

977

It put out standard information

over the Bluetooth connection

978

that I could read

without having to decrypt things.

979

Why do you have to have the controller

inputs encrypted?

980

What possible reason is there for that?

981

I know the answer to that, but it's not

for a reason of making it work properly,

982

because nobody's going to hack

983

the data stream

between your remote and your PlayStation.

984

And if they do that,

985

I want to meet that person and hire them

because they'd be a good hacker.

986

Oh, but it also doesn't

really affect that much.

987

But it does make a situation.

988

I know they're not doing it.

989

You can still pair it with other things

and move it and stuff,

990

but it would be possible

the way that it's set up now to lock it

991

to the PlayStation or Xbox console

that you paired it to originally.

992

And if the company decided

not to allow it to be unlocked,

993

you can never

resell or user anywhere else,

994

you know?

995

Wow, that type of a thing.

996

Again, losing control of it, it's possible

doesn't mean they're doing it,

997

but it is definitely possible.

998

So right to repair is a big deal.

999

Obviously, if you haven't gotten the idea,

we support this.

00:48:32,943 --> 00:48:35,913

Having the ability to do what you want to

with the stuff that you buy

00:48:35,913 --> 00:48:38,115

that you supposedly own.

00:48:38,115 --> 00:48:39,149

So we'll keep you up to date on where

00:48:39,149 --> 00:48:41,018

this is going,

but this is a little bit of a deep

00:48:41,018 --> 00:48:45,022

dive into the whole idea of this,

and hopefully,

00:48:45,022 --> 00:48:47,424

we answered some questions,

but keep them coming in the end.

00:48:47,424 --> 00:48:49,760

userfriendly.show

is the place to send them.

00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:51,061

That's how we do our programing.

00:48:51,061 --> 00:48:53,463

That's how we figure out

what to talk about here.

00:48:53,463 --> 00:48:56,700

And we're going to be doing a Q&A

coming up here later this summer.

00:48:57,000 --> 00:48:59,870

So keep them coming in and we will see

if we can answer your question

00:48:59,870 --> 00:49:00,470

until next week.

00:49:00,470 --> 00:49:04,608

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