Apple + the Right to Repair & Microfluidics IC’s

November 23, 2021 No. 8

Highlights this week: 🔨 Apple + the right to repair, 💧 microfluidics IC’s, 💥 and a 👩‍💻 hardware hacking handbook.

🔗 Last week’s most-clicked link: A great presentation on all things capacitors.

Apple adds the right-to-repair 🛠

What’s happening: Apple has created a self-service repair program that will allow customers to repair their own devices using genuine Apple parts and tools.

Some background: Self Service Repair will begin in early 2022 with a focus on the most common serviced modules (phone display, battery and camera, with additional repair options to be added later in the year)

Apple’s program would be available first for the company’s most recent iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups. The program is “intended for individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices”, meaning most customers will still have to visit professional repair providers.

Still, any Apple device owner will be able to register online to order parts and conduct a self-service repair. One odd/stark note: There won’t be a customer support phone number to call for assistance if a mistake happens. Gadget owners can abandon their project mid-repair and take it to an Apple Store for assistance, at an additional cost.

This seems like a bit of a show to pitch an image of openness, and to appease a very small segment of customers. The Biden administration’s executive order might have just been the final push to get Apple moving.

Dive Deeper:

Louis Rossmann, a popular repair technician and internet personality, goes off in this classic video about apple’s “repeated engineering failures” while tearing down a macbook and analyzing the design.
A thread we wrote on how farmers have less control than ever -- 4 companies control most of the world's seeds, 4 companies control 80% of the beef market, and a few equipment manufacturers control the Right to Repair.
A white house briefing on promoting competition in the American economy lays out the rationale and plan behind the right-to-repair movement.

Analog Interviews: Aditya Raghupathy, VC @ Schematic Ventures

Read the entire interview here!

Startup News 🚀💰:

New Culture, a vegan cheese startup, raised a $25M seed led by Ahren Innovation Capital and CPT Capital, along with ADM Ventures, Be8 Ventures, S2G Ventures, Marinya Capital and Future Ventures.
Duro Labs, a startup building a cloud PLM for hardware teams, raised a $4M seed led by Bonfire Ventures, along with Riot Ventures.
Titan Energy Solutions, a startup building ultrasound-based battery management solutions, raised a $33M series B led by HG ventures, along with H+ Partners, GS Futures, GS Energy, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, and Fortistar.
Autoflight, a Chinese eVTOL startup, raised a $100M series A led by Team Global.
Inversion, a startup building low-cost space capsules that return cargo back to Earth, raised a $10M seed led by Spark Capital, along with Y Combinator, Embedded Ventures, Funders Club, and Liquid 2 Ventures.
Cognitive Space, a startup building AI software for imaging-satellite constellations, raised a $4M seed led by Grit Ventures, along with Argon Ventures, Techstars, SpaceFund and others.

Interesting Links 🔗:

Our brains have co-evolved with tool use: Tools extend our nervous system — we can sense where the impact on a rod we are holding is unconsciously, from its modes of vibration. It also turns out that complex tools & complex language are linked.
Most corporate tech blogs aren’t too informative -- this one is amazing. Facebook goes into detail about their metaverse hardware ambitions. They’re building the first high-speed microfluidics processor IC, a tiny microfluidic chip on the glove that controls the air flow that moves the actuators, by telling the valves when and how far to open and close.
A detailed paper on using microfluidic cooling to achieve thermal management of three-dimensional IC’s.
A fantastic history on the origins of aviation navigation in the 1920’s -- sextants, stopwatches, plotters, and stars.
Air-launched rockets are pretty cool -- popular amongst low-earth-orbit launches.
In India, private companies can do surgical procedures for 2% to 3% the amount American hospitals charge, apparently with equally good or better outcomes. Now India’s universal health care plan is trying to cut costs further and scale the model to the entire population.
The Hardware Hacking Handbook just got published and is shipping now. We’re fans of Colin O’Flynn’s work, especially his detailed teardown of the SpaceX Starlink Dishy.