Discussion
I need the power of the #fediverse : For an upcoming presentation I am looking for examples many people will understand where the software caused consumer electronic devices not to work anymore.
E.g. company decided not to update the software which caused the device to stop, company disappeared and e.g. servers not available and therefore the device did not start anymore, etc.
Currently interested in some fresh examples I could use. Any pointers?
@kirschner Logitech Harmony Remotes. Logitech discontinued support for the software and cloud service required to update the configuration of older universal remotes, rendering them bricks/ewaste if you needed to change their configuration:
@kirschner Shure's SCM810 is an analog audio auto mixer. It is old but popular and Shure still sells them.
It was "replaced" by a digital SCM820 with many of the features available only by the network UI powered by adobe flash.
Let's just say SCM820 has been discontinued a few years now.
@kirschner fairphone 4s failure to secure security updates on their drivers contractually meaning the phone had like 2 years of support or something really bad, depending on when the user purchased it. Fully support Fair phone and they sort of got fucked on that deal, but it's on the builder to make sure drivers are contractually included
@kirschner Windows Phones mostly, but not just them. Your, e.g., Android phone can still function, but if your bank says that it's too old, and there isn't an update, it stops being fit for purpose. This is infinitely more pronounced on phones, on PCs, you can generally update or replace your OS without the manufacturer's blessing.
Federal regulators issued a Class I software correction for certain Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring systems due to a defect that could prevent users from receiving life-saving blood sugar alerts.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the correction affects version 1.15.0 of the Dexcom G6 and G6 Pro Android app. The software may shut down unexpectedly, stopping glucose readings, alarms and alerts. The agency warned that continued use without updating the software could result in serious injury or death.
@kirschner
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Neato_cloud_shutdown
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Roost_Wi-Fi_Water_Leak_and_Freeze_Detector_shutdown
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Wemo_discontinuation_of_service
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Canon_legacy_scanner_driver_abandonment
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Amazon_Kindle_discontinues_support_for_pre-2013_devices
https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Weber_terminates_June_Oven_app
Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported
Second Sight left users of its retinal implants in the dark
I seem to remember this happening to some artificial eyes for blind people?
@kirschner Google's Nest Protect home security was completely abandoned. It's a doorstop now.
This was a deliberate abandonment. So I'm not sure if that meets your criteria.
@kirschner lots and lots of old Android tablets.
@kirschner Fisker Automotive went bankrupt.
"Virtually every subsystem in the Ocean — brakes, airbags, shifting, battery management, door locks — needed to periodically connect with Fisker’s cloud servers for diagnostics or regular operations. When those servers went dark, the cars didn’t just lose their infotainment screens. They lost critical functionality."
https://electrek.co/2026/05/16/fisker-ocean-open-source-ev-story-after-bankruptcy/
Aren't there some blood sugar monitors for diabetes which this happened to?
@kirschner my old laptop can't connect over WiFi 6
@kirschner family member bought a netbook type Windows laptop from HP. The disk size of a few GBs wasn't big enough to update Windows. It was obsolete on first use.
@nicorikken *Never Buy Hewlett-Packard!* 😱
@kirschner IKOHS Netbot S15 vacuum robot:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RobotVacuums/comments/1937a2m/ikohs_netbot_s15_loses_connection_to_app_after
@kirschner
Spotify's Car Thing did not live very long I hear
@kirschner
There was an incident with certain Subaru models, as the 3G cellular network started to go offline, certain Subarus started coming up with dead batteries, even after being parked just overnight.
Turned out, what was happening was that the 3G telemetry modem would go into active "searching for network" mode endlessly, and drain the battery.
@kirschner I have a perfectly good phone (a Huawei bought around 2019) that I cannot use because all of the apps I need take up so much space, so much memory, that they don't fit in. It can't even be my emergency phone because I would need the official work app and Whatsapp (for contacting relatives). Even that fills it up. And there are no upgrades for this particular issue.
@kirschner Check the consumer rights wiki, full of great examples.
when a company marketed their AI dolls as good companions for autistic kids and then ran out of money, so parents got to try and explain that to their kids when the dolls stopped talking to the kids
@kirschner Our 2017 Honda's GPS/NAV can't be updated. They stopped doing that years ago. Works perfectly otherwise, but since the maps are old as all hell ...
@kirschner
Try posting to #selfhosted - lots of people there will be selfhosting after a company pulled the plug on them.
Also, @ironicbadger hosted a podcast that regularly played the sad trombone sound to announce a company pulling the rug on people.
@kirschner Ehhhm...
With the absolute probability of 0:
@kirschner Take a look t the YouTube channel, DammitJeff. He has a number of videos about manufacturers or OS makers bricking devices, while he shows you how to reclaim your device. Specifically Spotify CarThing and Amazon Kindle.
The German health insurance provider #TK offers an online consultation service exclusively for users of Apple and Google smartphones running their original operating systems.
@kirschner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence#Programmed_obsolescence has some examples about printer cartridges.
Not sure if you're also looking for more positive examples? If so, you could mention that mobile phones have a unique identifier that lets networks block them if stolen (So, not entirely bricked, but not usable as phones)
@kirschner The consumer rights wiki is the best resource:
@kirschner Camera in Bosch smart fridges turned off: https://www.heise.de/news/Bosch-Smarte-Kuehlschraenke-verlieren-Kamerafunktion-11193144.html
@kirschner Heard about a situation about some hearing implants that stopped working when the company went bankrupt, but I no longer remember details
VanMoof bikes? (there may be some other examples from China)
I don't think the bikes stopped working entirely, but this was a "dangerous close pass" when the company went bankrupt. Many customers were worried, especially about support, proprietary pieces and software updates.
The "Maison Connecté" service by Orange, French telcom : https://www.quechoisir.org/actualite-maison-connectee-d-orange-questions-reponses-sur-l-arret-du-service-n104003/ (article in French (sorry))
There have been a few discussions on this topic across the Fediverse in the past, but the options for searching through old posts are limited. Some people have asked questions on online forums about what to do with their equipment that no longer works. I can try to find more threads this evening to send to you if you need more material (in case the article is not enough)
@kirschner BeerMKR had an appliance which brewed beer for you given a recipe and ingredients. All was done via an app which needed to communicate with some AWS servers.
The company went bankrupt and the AWS servers finally shut down this year (they had been prepaid for some years when the company started up).
@kirschner Brotherdrucker, MFC 5890CN gibt einfach keine Treiber die noch problemlos zu Installieren sind.
Mit Mühe und Not kommt an an die 32-bit Abhängigkeiten ran, die gängige Distributionen nicht mehr ausliefern.
@kirschner My mother has a Asus Zenphone 10 which won't receive any more updates. When I bought it Asus had promised unlockable bootloaders but later they declined it and now even their smartphone business has been shut down.
https://xdaforums.com/t/court-action-against-asus-false-promise-on-bootloader-unlock-tool.4657042/
@kirschner I bought a lot of Squeezebox music players on eBay, because they no longer worked with their original software, because Logitech shut down the servers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeezebox_(network_music_player)).
Reflashed with new software, and with a self-hosted music server, they work really well still.
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