The Light Bulb Conspiracy

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Just watched this, interesting, nothing that we did not know, but interesting that it goes back so far:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/light-bulb-conspiracy/

[HDBRbuilder]

I wonder how many times I would have already needed to replace my Heresy woofer surrounds if they had been made of foam (like the ones on my old JBL L36 speakers) instead of corrugated paper? They are almost 36 years old and still quite pliable...never replaced once in all that time...the foam ones on those JBLs had disintegrated in under a decade!

[germerikan]

There was also just a large documentary on this in Germany. There is a group trying to fight it, one guy

asks to send all devices which fail directly after the guarantee runs out. One of the biggest is the computer

monitors which have cheap condensers in it. They found out that by changing just 2 they could increase the

life to over 10 years. The problem is you cannot just get them as "normal" consumer and the board you would

need costs as much as a new "modern" monitor.

[Jay481985]

same with samsung "discount" lcd tvs, cheap capcitors.

[Cal Blacksmith]

I had to laugh!

The moment they started talking about planned demise of goods, I instantly thought of the I phone and any I product made! The moment there is an "upgrade" to those products, the owners, like lemmings, sleep in line over night to buy the next, I whatever!

Then when the film named Apple... it was too much and I had to crack up!

I work every day with tools that were designed to last a life time and they have! My anvil is 70 + years old, I have hand tools that are about the same age, my pwer hammer (a forging machine) is at least 100 years old and it works nearly as good now as the day it was made, with a few hundered $ or repairs and a coat of paint, it will be just as good as the day it was first loaded on a truck for delivery to a factory somewhere.

My bandsaw weighs arround 3K#, it has a frame made with thick cast iron, it was made in 1941, it was worked for 65 years then it sat outside for over a year before it was sold. I bought it for $450 then paid $550 to have it moved. With a little oil and some scotch bright, the rust was removed and it was brought into working condition again, ready for who knows how many years more of service.

Then again, with new tech, things move pretty darn fast sometimes. New speeds, features etc become available which weren't even dreamed of when the prduct was first sold. Things like cell phones are a case in point. I buy not the bleeding edge of tech for my phones but they serve me for 3 or 4 years then they are replaced when it has a major issue as even though I can get it replaced under warranty that I pay for (and I have used it multiple times) the features of the new ones after 3 or 4 years make ease of use much higher, and they are more productive.

I guess what I am saying is that there is a place for disposable goods AND durable goods. I tend to repair things when I can though. At the moment, I have 8 programmable blenders on my work bench that were used in a Jamba Juce store. They are repaired for the first year under warranty then they are replaced when there is an issue as the cost of parts render them unrepairable. I buy them for a fair but low price then mix and match parts from the various units to salvage what I can and I expect to get about half running again from what I have. These are $1K each new and I have less than 1/10 that in them when I am finished, counting the ones that get recycled.

These opertunities are all around us if we just look for them.

[oldtimer]

My cell phone is 11 years old and still going strong. Who says things don't last? It's a phone, and it works. Original battery. Buy a quality product and take care of it. Nuff said.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

My cell phone is 11 years old and still going strong. Who says things don't last? It's a phone, and it works. Original battery. Buy a quality product and take care of it. Nuff said.

I agree, but the problem is that many products are designed to fail, even quality ones. I bought an android cell phone because you can replace the batters and easily upgrade memory. Every cell phone that I have ever had has been fine, except that it's battery was bad (and not replaceable).

This whole "designed to fail" is all very hard to accept by a "tool guy" who is used to buying quality and having it forever.

For those who say that the economy needs thsi to survive, Toyota and Honda have been putting out cars that seem to last forever for a long time and their sales have been going up over the last 30 years, not down.

[Jay481985]

My cell phone is 11 years old and still going strong. Who says things don't last? It's a phone, and it works. Original battery. Buy a quality product and take care of it. Nuff said.

I agree, but the problem is that many products are designed to fail, even quality ones. I bought an android cell phone because you can replace the batters and easily upgrade memory. Every cell phone that I have ever had has been fine, except that it's battery was bad (and not replaceable).

This whole "designed to fail" is all very hard to accept by a "tool guy" who is used to buying quality and having it forever.

For those who say that the economy needs thsi to survive, Toyota and Honda have been putting out cars that seem to last forever for a long time and their sales have been going up over the last 30 years, not down.

First you mean storage not memory.

Second you can buy a "quality" cellphone, its called a vertu. It starts at 12,000 dollars.

Second yes cellphones are designed products just like designer clothing. You cannot sell last years fashion and expect it to sell. Cars are different and most of the Toyota's and Honda's are usually handed down when they become over 6 years old. It usually is handed down to the person's kid. Also if their reliability were in question, they would not have been brought. Honda and Toyota peg themselves as the most reliable to sell cars. Had they been unreliable, they would have came to the market and never brought.

[oldtimer]

I think there is a mil-spec motorola which costs considerably less.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I think there is a mil-spec motorola which costs considerably less.

This is a really good point.

I remember when Motorola was known for really high quality 2 way radios. They were fairly expensive, but could be used in tough environments and last and last. When Motorola started making cell phones I assumed that they were the same quality (yea, I know, but it was about 20 years ago).

Great example of planned failure.

[Jay481985]

The star tac was an amazing phone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_StarTAC

[JJkizak]

All I ever wanted was a one button emergency phone that would turn itself on and call 911 or a pre programmed number, all with one push of a very big button.

Can no find.

JJK

[Jay481985]

All I ever wanted was a one button emergency phone that would turn itself on and call 911 or a pre programmed number, all with one push of a very big button.

Can no find.

JJK

Just use any deactivated phone, by law even phones with no activation must still be able to call 911

[tigerwoodKhorns]

All I ever wanted was a one button emergency phone that would turn itself on and call 911 or a pre programmed number, all with one push of a very big button.

Can no find.

JJK

OK, if you are going to make it that easy. Or is this a test to see who will be the first to post this??[*-)]

[Islander]

The star tac was an amazing phone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_StarTAC

Not that amazing. It worked well enough, but the antenna snapped off twice on mine, costing $40 to replace each time. It was such a common repair that the shop kept a supply of them, and could replace the antenna in less time than it took to print the invoice.

As for planned obsolescence, I remember seeing a reader's letter to an AV magazine. He grumbled about the flimsy build quality of video cameras. The editor responded that it didn't matter, since most users bought a new videocam every couple of years, so they'd have the latest features.

I wasn't too impressed with that.

[Jay481985]

The star tac was an amazing phone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_StarTAC

Not that amazing. It worked well enough, but the antenna snapped off twice on mine, costing $40 to replace each time. It was such a common repair that the shop kept a supply of them, and could replace the antenna in less time than it took to print the invoice.

As for planned obsolescence, I remember seeing a reader's letter to an AV magazine. He grumbled about the flimsy build quality of video cameras. The editor responded that it didn't matter, since most users bought a new videocam every couple of years, so they'd have the latest features.

I wasn't too impressed with that.

I remember the later model had a antenna that did not come out. As with the repair, yep it was easy to repair.

I have a denon 3805 receiver (made in 2005) and is working fine but struggling to try and rewire it in a way that works as it lacks hdmi. Sooner or later anything electronic will become obsolete. I don't understand the mentality of lifetime tools versus electronics. People complain that their cellphones become obsolete so fast compared to say a professional hand tool. The handtool does one thing well, a "smart phone" does more than just make calls now.

[Islander]

Smart phones certainly do a lot more now. I'm trading in my 2-year-old phone to get one with a bigger screen, so it's easier to watch music videos.

I'll see if the "Beats by Dr Dre" feature means noticeably better sound. []

[jacksonbart]

don't get me started, today's TP is crap, I use freshly skinned animal pelts.

[Jay481985]

don't get me started, today's TP is crap, I use freshly skinned animal pelts.

real men use poison ivy

[tigerwoodKhorns]

The star tac was an amazing phone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_StarTAC

Not that amazing. It worked well enough, but the antenna snapped off twice on mine, costing $40 to replace each time. It was such a common repair that the shop kept a supply of them, and could replace the antenna in less time than it took to print the invoice.

As for planned obsolescence, I remember seeing a reader's letter to an AV magazine. He grumbled about the flimsy build quality of video cameras. The editor responded that it didn't matter, since most users bought a new videocam every couple of years, so they'd have the latest features.

I wasn't too impressed with that.

I remember the later model had a antenna that did not come out. As with the repair, yep it was easy to repair.

I have a denon 3805 receiver (made in 2005) and is working fine but struggling to try and rewire it in a way that works as it lacks hdmi. Sooner or later anything electronic will become obsolete. I don't understand the mentality of lifetime tools versus electronics. People complain that their cellphones become obsolete so fast compared to say a professional hand tool. The handtool does one thing well, a "smart phone" does more than just make calls now.

The thing is that the cell phones are intentionally designed to fail at about 20 months after they are purchased (and no, they are not free, the price is built into the contract). They can last much longer but the battery, which is not designed to be changed, is intentionally designed to fail a few months before the contract ends. Is this just a coincidence? I have a calculator from undergrad that still has the original battery (from the late 1980's).

You should have a choice whether you want to keep your phone past two years. At least the new androids have replaceable batteries.

If you want the latest features get a new phone every year (and yes, very strong campaigns program people to "need" the new features, of course I "need" high end audio equipment so I should not throw too many stones [:$]), but don't force everyone to do so.

Go speak to a teenager. Things are "supposed" to be replaced very often. Nothing is supposed to last, and if you have anything that is not the very newest, you just are not cool. Any you can get everything that you want right away, you just need to pay 19% interest, but that does not matter, because the only thing that matters is the amount of the payment.

The whole system is perfectly planned out...excellent...