The Morning After: Samsung’s secret war on repair

Manufacturers may hate independent repair stores, but Samsung and Apple appeared to accept the direction the political wind was blowing in. Sadly, . Details of the contract the Korean giant asks repair stores to sign include some pretty user-unfriendly rules.

That includes sending your details and device identification to HQ, including all of the details of your repair issue. And, if your phone is found to be using an aftermarket, or non-Samsung part, the store has to instantly disassemble it and raise the alarm. That’s quite problematic, and also probably in violation of US laws around the right to use third-party parts for repair.

The repair gurus at iFixit around the same time. iFixit said there were irreconcilable differences between the pair’s philosophies, like the high price of replacement parts and the mostly-unrepairable nature of Samsung’s phones.

— Dan Cooper

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Its alleged control of the live ticket marketplace harms consumers.

The Justice Department and 30 state and district attorneys general have slapped a big pile of legal documents down on Ticketmaster owner Live Nation’s desk. . And, if this lawsuit really was prompted by the issues people faced while trying to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s Era’s tour, then we all know who to thank if Live Nation gets broken up.

Gee, thanks guys.

Spotify’s Car Thing, a hardware product bringing streaming audio to less well-equipped cars, will soon be no more. . If you bought a Car Thing, for the admittedly cheap price of $90, before they were discontinued in 2022, there’s not much you can do about it.

It’s sure to provoke envious glances from Kindle users.

Color e-readers aren’t new, but Kobo has managed to beat Amazon to the punch with its Clara Color. . Unfortunately, the downside is the same as always: It’s not a Kindle, and so you’re losing out on the vastness of Amazon’s library.