Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/887
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
Regarding e-waste, I got rid of my Amazon Fire HD8s last year. They were from around 2014. I got rid of them, not because the battery was dead, far from it, the battery would still last several days, but because the processor was so slow, sites like Thurrott.com would take nearly a minute to render.
Likewise, I have Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus from 2018, they still hold a charge for several days of use, a couple of hours per day. My Sony overear headphones are from 2016 and they still hold weeks worth of standby and several hours of listening.
In my experience, it isn’t the batteries that are the problem with modern tech, but the processor speed and security patches which are the bigger problem.
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I only have Discovery+ for HGTV, Magnolia and Food Network. I do not watch any of the other shows.
a very good and important point
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A great panel this week! Georgia and Christina as excellent as always, and Abrar was a welcome addition. Good stuff!
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Re: EPSON printers, from a product designer’s perspective:
This is likely Epson’s method of meeting a regulatory requirement. Under EN 60950 and its successors, office equipment that leaks corrosive or conductive fluid is not acceptable for sale in the EU or the US. I think the regulation is intended for batteries and capacitors, which always contain such fluids.
I would wager what happened is: Epson submitted their printer for approval, and the inspector found a reason to classify the ink as hazardous. Epson wasn’t expecting that, so the only fix they could economically make was a software “fix” to ensure customers aren’t exposed to “hazardous” liquids by overflowing the sponge.
Because the ink is “hazardous”, instructing the end user to do anything with it (e.g. replacing the sponge) is either discouraged or prohibited.
Yes, it is stupid and bad for consumers. But there is at least a possibility none of it was caused by a conniving project manager at Epson. Sometimes when regulators play stupid games, consumers win stupid prizes.
We had a bunch of Canon Pixma multi function devices that ran into this problem at work. Needless to say, our management weren’t very impressed and they were replaced by something different, talk about brand damage, Canon and Epson printers are persona non grata.
For laser, we use Kyocera and they have an extra excess toner container, which you swap out when you change the cartridge. Why can’t they do the same thing for inkjets? Stop printing if the container is full, but if a fresh container is placed in the printer, allow it to print again.
Interesting. I’ve had a Canon Pixma for almost 5 years, not run into this issue yet 
Sorry, my mistake, most of them were Canon Maxify versions. But we were printing hundreds of pages a month on them, but the Pixma also had problems in that area.
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Ah OK. Our Pixma is rarely used, have an HP LaserJet too which is our main printer.
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