TechScape: why Apple will now let you fix your own iPhone
Up for discussion in this week's newsletter: the tech giant's new at-home repair programme is good for customers - but there's reason to be cynical
It's risky for me to boldly state that technology news has quietened down in recent weeks. For one thing, confidently saying that nothing much is going on is the best way to summon up a news event breaking 15 seconds after I hit send" on this email.
Also, though, I'm currently sitting at home up to my eyeballs in parental leave. While I'm still compulsively keeping up with every tiny news story that breaks in my sector (if I could simply switch off that instinct, I wouldn't be doing this job), I'm aware that my connection to many of them is less vivid than it used to be when I was desperately trying to find a new angle to move the story on for that day's paper.
Apple today announced Self Service Repair, which will allow customers who are comfortable with completing their own repairs access to Apple genuine parts and tools. Available first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and soon to be followed by Mac computers featuring M1 chips, Self Service Repair will be available early next year in the US and expand to additional countries throughout 2022. Customers join more than 5,000 Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) and 2,800 Independent Repair Providers who have access to these parts, tools, and manuals.
The unnamed woman sent her iPhone for repair on 14 January 2016 to an Apple-approved repair contractor called Pegatron Technology Service in California. Technicians there then uploaded extremely personal and private material" to the woman's Facebook account and other internet locations, the documents said.
The videos were uploaded to appear as though the woman herself had shared them on purpose, according to the documents, causing the woman severe emotional distress". The woman was made aware of the incident when friends saw the videos and images on Facebook.
The document, one of 13 original copies dating from 1787, sold for almost three times its lower estimate of $15m, and more than 260 times the amount it achieved when it last sold for $165,000 in 1988. The bidding at Sotheby's in New York took eight minutes.
ConstitutionDAO" had amassed more than 47m, or 11,600 of the cryptocurrency ether, in a few days on its online crowdfunding page. The group, which had committed to putting the document on public display in the hands of the people", promised to refund its 17,437 contributors after deducting transaction fees.
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