"It just shows the power of community skills and generosity and the value of repairing rather than replacing": Local #RepairCafe saves hip-hop legends' gig

The band’s sampler had packed up

By Will Simpson, published 20 November 2025

"An #ArrestedDevelopment gig was saved last week when volunteers from a local repair cafe stepped in to fix a sampler that had broken down during a soundcheck.

"The incident took place down in Falmouth, #CornwallUK, where the Grammy-winning conscious hip hoppers were due to perform at the Princess Pavilions. The piece of equipment failed when the band were soundchecking in the afternoon. Cue some frantic phone calls by the promoters before they alighted on the only people who could save the day: #FalmouthRepairCafe.

"Simon Baker, chair of Falmouth Repair Cafe, told the BBC: 'We've repaired a lot of things over the years, but saving a Grammy-winning band's historic equipment was definitely a first.' "

Read more:
https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/it-just-shows-the-power-of-community-skills-and-generosity-and-the-value-of-repairing-rather-than-replacing-local-repair-cafe-saves-hip-hop-legends-gig

#RightToRepair #SolarPunkSunday #HipHopShow #RepairCafes

"It just shows the power of community skills and generosity and the value of repairing rather than replacing": Local #RepairCafe saves hip-hop legends' gig

The band’s sampler had packed up

By Will Simpson, published 20 November 2025

"An #ArrestedDevelopment gig was saved last week when volunteers from a local repair cafe stepped in to fix a sampler that had broken down during a soundcheck.

"The incident took place down in Falmouth, #CornwallUK, where the Grammy-winning conscious hip hoppers were due to perform at the Princess Pavilions. The piece of equipment failed when the band were soundchecking in the afternoon. Cue some frantic phone calls by the promoters before they alighted on the only people who could save the day: #FalmouthRepairCafe.

"Simon Baker, chair of Falmouth Repair Cafe, told the BBC: 'We've repaired a lot of things over the years, but saving a Grammy-winning band's historic equipment was definitely a first.' "

Read more:
https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/it-just-shows-the-power-of-community-skills-and-generosity-and-the-value-of-repairing-rather-than-replacing-local-repair-cafe-saves-hip-hop-legends-gig

#RightToRepair #SolarPunkSunday #HipHopShow #RepairCafes

The Internet of Things: A Hall of Shame

I recently saw a post describing a "smart" kettle that required an app or voice command to boil water. The user noted, "I can have tea as long as they have a wifi connection. Welcome to the 21st century."

This is the defining characteristic of modern tech-horror: a device made functionally inferior to its "dumb" ancestor by the addition of a microchip. The failure mode of a normal kettle is a pot; the failure mode of a smart kettle is a brick.

If you think the kettle is bad, here are five devices that prove we have peaked as a species and are now sliding rapidly backward.

1. The $400 Bag Squeezer (The Juicero)

Price: $400 (Launch price: $700) The Superior Alternative: Dieter Rams’ classic Braun Citrus Juicer ($60) or Human Hands ($0).

Juicero was a Wi-Fi-connected cold-press juicer. You bought proprietary bags of chopped fruit, put them in the machine, and it pressed them.

The "Smart" Feature: It read a QR code on the bag to ensure it hadn't expired. If the internet was down or the bag was expired, it would refuse to make juice. It is vital to note that the QR code checked the expiry of the bag, not the actual juice quality.

The Stupid Reality: Bloomberg News revealed that if you just squeezed the bag with your hands, you got the same amount of juice in the same amount of time. It was a $400 rolling pin that required a software update to function.

Furthermore, the machine’s refusal to operate on "expired" bags highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of biology. The main selling point was the ability to bulk-make juice to store. But juice is already pre-stored in nature's perfect packaging: fruit. An unpeeled orange is essentially juice with a shelf-life, contained in a biodegradable wrapper. The Juicero was a subscription service for squeezing a bag, offering less functionality than a mechanically rotated plastic cone from the 1970s.

2. The Bluetooth Salt Shaker (Smalt)

Price: $199 The Superior Alternative: Peugeot Paris u'Select Salt Mill ($45) + JBL Go Speaker ($30) + LED Candle ($10). Total: $85.

"Smalt" is a large plastic centrepiece that holds salt. It looks like an "ergonomically" designed, off-brand Waterpik.

The "Smart" Feature: It has a Bluetooth speaker (because you want your salt to play the soft jazz of Kenny G) and mood lighting, because you want your salt shaker to be a candle too. You can "dispense" salt by pinching a circle on your smartphone screen or asking Alexa to "dispense one teaspoon of salt."

The Stupid Reality: It requires batteries and a firmware connection to use gravity. The dispensing mechanism is a study in anti-ergonomics. To use the app, you must hold the heavy dispenser over your food with one hand. You must hold your phone with the other. However, a "pinch" gesture requires two fingers on the screen. Unless you place the phone on the table—taking your eyes off the food—or have a prehensile tail, the geometry of seasoning your soup is ridiculous.

Alternatively, you can talk to it. Because nothing kills the vibe of a dinner party faster than shouting commands at your table setting. This is objectively less functional than an electric button-mill (one thumb), a manual mill (two hands, one action), or the pinnacle of culinary interface design: putting your fingers in a bowl of salt.

#InternetOfThings #IoT #TechFail #Enshittification #SmartHome #TechCritique #Smarter #iKettle #RightToRepair #TechHorror #CloudFail #Abandonware

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3. The Vibrating Fork (Hapifork)

Price: $99 The Superior Alternative: A stainless steel fork ($2) and basic etiquette.

A fork designed to help you lose weight by eating slower.

The "Smart" Feature: It contains a motion sensor that tracks how many bites you take per minute. If you eat too fast, the fork vibrates in your mouth to tell you to slow down.

The Stupid Reality: It has to be charged. If you run out of battery, you just have a very heavy, thick fork. Also, users reported that if you "scoop" your food (like peas) rather than "stab" it, the fork doesn't register the bite, incentivising you to eat like a shovel to trick the algorithm.

Eating like a peasant? Shovelling the grub in there like a pig at a trough? The Hapifork brings you all the joy of being hit on the head with a guide to table manners by a Victorian mistress, all for the low cost of $99. It is essentially a vibrator for your teeth that rattles your dentures when you enjoy your meal too much.

4. The Egg Tray with an App (Quirky Egg Minder)

Price: $50 The Superior Alternative: The cardboard carton the eggs come in (Free) + Eyes.

Numerate enough to earn currency to purchase useless goods, but too lazy to count to twelve? The Quirky Egg Minder is the kitchen egg accountant you never thought you needed.

The "Smart" Feature: It connects to Wi-Fi to tell you how many eggs you have left while you are at the store. It has LED lights next to each egg to tell you which one is the "oldest."

The Stupid Reality: It turned a glance into a tech support issue. Most people eat eggs in the order they grab them, rendering the LED "aging" system useless. If the battery died or the Wi-Fi disconnected, it often reported you had zero eggs when you had a full tray. It solved the non-existent problem of "egg blindness" by introducing the very real problem of "connectivity failure."

5. The Hairbrush with a Microphone (Kérastase Hair Coach)

Price: $200 The Superior Alternative: A comb (invented approx. 5500 B.C. in Ancient Persia).

The "Smart" Feature: It has a microphone that listens to the sound of your hair breaking. It also has an accelerometer to tell you if you are brushing too hard.

The Stupid Reality: It requires you to sync your hair-brushing data to an app. It "gamifies" brushing your hair, giving you a "hair quality score."

It must be noted that the "hair quality score" has nothing to do with the actual biological state of your keratin; it is simply a game score. It effectively turns your morning routine into a round of Guitar Hero for your scalp, where you must hit the strokes perfectly to avoid a low score, only the prize is anxiety rather than applause.

Archaeologists date the first combs to 5500 B.C. For over 7,000 years, humans—from Cleopatra to the architects of Ayurvedic medicine—managed to maintain their hair without a microphone. We could make a joke about the unruliness of Medusa’s hair here, but a microphone on a hairbrush wouldn’t do much for her split roots; every time a viper struck the bristles, the accelerometer would trigger a "Brushing Force Warning."

The Verdict

We are filling our homes with landfills-in-waiting. We are trading simple mechanics for complex, fragile software.

If a normal kettle breaks, you can still boil water in it on a stove. If a smart kettle breaks, it’s a paperweight that might be DDOS-ing a server. Remember that the next time AWS-East goes down.

#InternetOfThings #IoT #TechFail #Enshittification #SmartHome #TechCritique #Smarter #iKettle #RightToRepair #TechHorror #CloudFail #Abandonware

The Internet of Things: A Hall of Shame

I recently saw a post describing a "smart" kettle that required an app or voice command to boil water. The user noted, "I can have tea as long as they have a wifi connection. Welcome to the 21st century."

This is the defining characteristic of modern tech-horror: a device made functionally inferior to its "dumb" ancestor by the addition of a microchip. The failure mode of a normal kettle is a pot; the failure mode of a smart kettle is a brick.

If you think the kettle is bad, here are five devices that prove we have peaked as a species and are now sliding rapidly backward.

1. The $400 Bag Squeezer (The Juicero)

Price: $400 (Launch price: $700) The Superior Alternative: Dieter Rams’ classic Braun Citrus Juicer ($60) or Human Hands ($0).

Juicero was a Wi-Fi-connected cold-press juicer. You bought proprietary bags of chopped fruit, put them in the machine, and it pressed them.

The "Smart" Feature: It read a QR code on the bag to ensure it hadn't expired. If the internet was down or the bag was expired, it would refuse to make juice. It is vital to note that the QR code checked the expiry of the bag, not the actual juice quality.

The Stupid Reality: Bloomberg News revealed that if you just squeezed the bag with your hands, you got the same amount of juice in the same amount of time. It was a $400 rolling pin that required a software update to function.

Furthermore, the machine’s refusal to operate on "expired" bags highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of biology. The main selling point was the ability to bulk-make juice to store. But juice is already pre-stored in nature's perfect packaging: fruit. An unpeeled orange is essentially juice with a shelf-life, contained in a biodegradable wrapper. The Juicero was a subscription service for squeezing a bag, offering less functionality than a mechanically rotated plastic cone from the 1970s.

2. The Bluetooth Salt Shaker (Smalt)

Price: $199 The Superior Alternative: Peugeot Paris u'Select Salt Mill ($45) + JBL Go Speaker ($30) + LED Candle ($10). Total: $85.

"Smalt" is a large plastic centrepiece that holds salt. It looks like an "ergonomically" designed, off-brand Waterpik.

The "Smart" Feature: It has a Bluetooth speaker (because you want your salt to play the soft jazz of Kenny G) and mood lighting, because you want your salt shaker to be a candle too. You can "dispense" salt by pinching a circle on your smartphone screen or asking Alexa to "dispense one teaspoon of salt."

The Stupid Reality: It requires batteries and a firmware connection to use gravity. The dispensing mechanism is a study in anti-ergonomics. To use the app, you must hold the heavy dispenser over your food with one hand. You must hold your phone with the other. However, a "pinch" gesture requires two fingers on the screen. Unless you place the phone on the table—taking your eyes off the food—or have a prehensile tail, the geometry of seasoning your soup is ridiculous.

Alternatively, you can talk to it. Because nothing kills the vibe of a dinner party faster than shouting commands at your table setting. This is objectively less functional than an electric button-mill (one thumb), a manual mill (two hands, one action), or the pinnacle of culinary interface design: putting your fingers in a bowl of salt.

#InternetOfThings #IoT #TechFail #Enshittification #SmartHome #TechCritique #Smarter #iKettle #RightToRepair #TechHorror #CloudFail #Abandonware

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#TorontoCanada - #EastEndFoodHub's first #RepairCafé is happening on Saturday, November 8!

"Bring your beloved broken household items to get help from our volunteer fixers and learn how to do the repair yourselves. It is all free.

The event will start at 12 noon. Registration closes at 3 p.m. One item per person.

Volunteers are Needed and Welcome!"

FMI - https://repaircafetoronto.ca/rc-events/east-end-food-hub-repair-cafe/

#SolarPunkSunday #RepairCafes #RepairReuse #RepairReuseRestore
#FixIt #RightToRepair #RepairCafesCanada #RepairCafesToronto

#RepairEconomy Reinvigorated in Central #NewYork, #Syracuse Institute Leads the Charge

May 30, 2025

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK — "Broken lamps, torn clothes, a coffee machine that just won’t work — items like these are common in most households, and all too commonly wind up in the trash bin. Thanks to cheap replacements and a struggling repair economy, #consumerism —and waste — is at an all-time high. In the wake of #tariffs, #ClimateChange, and rapidly shrinking NYS #landfill capacity, a rising repair movement in Central New York is pushing back against the status quo.

"The Repair Cafe held on Saturday, May 10 embodies a social movement shaped by residents, #activists, and community leaders who want to reduce waste through building strong community networks. The event was facilitated by #RepairCafeCNY, an organization established by the Institute for Sustainability Engagement ( #ISE) as an offshoot of the global #RepairCafe network. The group aims to reinvigorate repair in Syracuse and the greater CNY region by serving as a central coordinator for free community repair events in the area.

"Repair Cafes are not a new concept to the area. The last known effort locally was that of the Syracuse Repair Cafe, which was operational for a few years before the pandemic halted operations. With repair energy now reinvigorated, organizers hope for the Syracuse Repair Cafe’s soon return."

Read more:
https://sustainabilityengagement.syracuse.edu/repair-economy-reinvigorated-in-central-new-york-syracuse-institute-leads-the-charge/

#SyracuseUniversity #ISE #SolarPunkSunday #RepairCafes #RepairCafesNY #RightToRepair #FixIt #Sustainability

#RepairEconomy Reinvigorated in Central #NewYork, #Syracuse Institute Leads the Charge

May 30, 2025

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK — "Broken lamps, torn clothes, a coffee machine that just won’t work — items like these are common in most households, and all too commonly wind up in the trash bin. Thanks to cheap replacements and a struggling repair economy, #consumerism —and waste — is at an all-time high. In the wake of #tariffs, #ClimateChange, and rapidly shrinking NYS #landfill capacity, a rising repair movement in Central New York is pushing back against the status quo.

"The Repair Cafe held on Saturday, May 10 embodies a social movement shaped by residents, #activists, and community leaders who want to reduce waste through building strong community networks. The event was facilitated by #RepairCafeCNY, an organization established by the Institute for Sustainability Engagement ( #ISE) as an offshoot of the global #RepairCafe network. The group aims to reinvigorate repair in Syracuse and the greater CNY region by serving as a central coordinator for free community repair events in the area.

"Repair Cafes are not a new concept to the area. The last known effort locally was that of the Syracuse Repair Cafe, which was operational for a few years before the pandemic halted operations. With repair energy now reinvigorated, organizers hope for the Syracuse Repair Cafe’s soon return."

Read more:
https://sustainabilityengagement.syracuse.edu/repair-economy-reinvigorated-in-central-new-york-syracuse-institute-leads-the-charge/

#SyracuseUniversity #ISE #SolarPunkSunday #RepairCafes #RepairCafesNY #RightToRepair #FixIt #Sustainability

#TorontoCanada - #EastEndFoodHub's first #RepairCafé is happening on Saturday, November 8!

"Bring your beloved broken household items to get help from our volunteer fixers and learn how to do the repair yourselves. It is all free.

The event will start at 12 noon. Registration closes at 3 p.m. One item per person.

Volunteers are Needed and Welcome!"

FMI - https://repaircafetoronto.ca/rc-events/east-end-food-hub-repair-cafe/

#SolarPunkSunday #RepairCafes #RepairReuse #RepairReuseRestore
#FixIt #RightToRepair #RepairCafesCanada #RepairCafesToronto

(1) I likely broke the control board. My kids were getting ice when the lever return spring for the lever that activates the ice and water dispenser, meaning that it would not stop dispensing ice or water. That happened when I was out of town, and my son came up with a temporary solution of putting a cub behind the lever to hold it out.

When I returned home, I tried to fix it, which means I had to take it apart to find the lever spring. I had to unplug three wire harnesses that led to the user control board. I didn't unplug the refrigerator, and it is likely that I shorted something after I found a broken plastic arm that used to support the return spring and put everything back together. So this is likely a case that is more #RightToRepair than #PlannedObselescence , but the two things are so intricately related - there was no information online I could find about properly assessing the problem in this model, and I had to purchase an entire interface-dispenser kit rather than the simple plastic part I needed.

The average refrigerator in the U.S.A. lives 12 years before becoming dysfunctional.

Ours is 8 years old, and the main power board has gone out(1).

I am getting it repaired because I refuse to throw it out. It is too young, and I don't want to contribute to unnecessary waste. And I don't want to spend so much money every 8-12 years. And, so, we are living out of a cooler for the last week, and it may stretch into next week.

Repairing a refrigerator is difficult. Not many companies do it anymore. It is also expensive. It will cost us $350, about a third of the price of a comparable refrigerator. That's not it, though. We are ordering more food. That is expensive and generates a lot more waste. We are generating more food waste because we have limited cooler space. We have to buy ice every day. My family is wavering on the precipice of "why don't we just buy a new one?" It is difficult to repair a refrigerator.

#ecocide
#WasteGeneration
#PlannedObselescence
#RightToRepair
#capitalism

#DIY #RightToRepair

The non-profit foundation FULU announced that it would pay bounties of several thousand dollars for disabling the digital locks used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to render smart products unusable, prevent repairs, and force advertisements on owners.

https://bounties.fulu.org/

#news #consumer

#DIY #RightToRepair

The non-profit foundation FULU announced that it would pay bounties of several thousand dollars for disabling the digital locks used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to render smart products unusable, prevent repairs, and force advertisements on owners.

https://bounties.fulu.org/

#news #consumer

My friend is organising a Repair Day in #Granada this Saturday. If there's anyone out there who needs stuff fixed, or believes in the circular economy & the right to repair & wants to show support, please come, boost & share.

I'm hoping to bring some goodwill, screwdrivers, soldering iron, & a couple of USB pen drives (for anyone who wants to renew a no longer updatable Windows 10 or MacOS PC with brand new Linux).

#RepairDay #RepairCafé #EndOf10 #circularEconomy #RightToRepair #Granada #GRX

My friend is organising a Repair Day in #Granada this Saturday. If there's anyone out there who needs stuff fixed, or believes in the circular economy & the right to repair & wants to show support, please come, boost & share.

I'm hoping to bring some goodwill, screwdrivers, soldering iron, & a couple of USB pen drives (for anyone who wants to renew a no longer updatable Windows 10 or MacOS PC with brand new Linux).

#RepairDay #RepairCafé #EndOf10 #circularEconomy #RightToRepair #Granada #GRX

Hosting a #RepairCafe? Know about a #LibraryOfThings in your town? Organizing a #CommunityGarden? Looking for volunteers for a #Rewilding project? The #SolarPunkSunday team wants to know about it! Just use the hashtag and we'll amplify the signal! We know there's a lot of good going on in the world, but we can't be everywhere at once!

[Image by Bethany Climpson]

#SolarPunk #RightToRepair #BuildingCommunity