We need more opensource hardware

This speaks directly to GoPro. Fuck them and their bullshit.
You can't even properly use their hardware without using their crippled app. And if you aren't paying for their subscription to use the app they force you to use, be prepared to be harassed endlessly about subscribing.
They even cripple new hardware with the inability to stabilize video unless you have their shitty app do it.
Could you imagine headphones that only play music through an app that requires a subscription? That's the level of enshittification we're going to start seeing.
- It killed them. They went from THE camera for active life. They were synonymous with Hoovers in their field.
  Then they got eaten alive because all they did was bullshit instead of making better cameras. Good riddance.
  
  It killed them. They went from THE camera for active life.
  I have the Hero 11 Black and their new "4k" mini one (both gifted). The mini is pretty much unusable for two reasons:
  Their built-in battery likes to die just from being "off" for a little while. Even though pretty much every GoPro seems to have a bad problem with phantom battery drain, you can't replace this one, so you're losing charge cycles without actually using the camera.
  You simply cannot use the videos out of the camera without running it through an image stabilization process (through their app, or using third-party software like Gyroflow (thank god, this is FOSS). It's embarrassing that they'd even sell a camera without image stabilization. I have a $60 no-name gopro knockoff that produces better footage out of the camera.
  If someone paid me to design a flawed product, I'd basically make a GoPro camera. Such a shame!

I can accept optional apps. If it's mandatory I will return the device. My oven can connect to the wifi but has never been connected.
- My buddy wanted to give me some OLED tv because he baught another one he didnt need recently but im happy with my 2010 toshiba non- smart TV.
  Apps should have to send a monthly statement of how much money they make from and how they used your personal information. Possibly even cut you a check each month
- Why would an oven need to be connected to WiFi? Do people start cooking something then leave the house?
  
  I could see something like checking the time remaining and/or temperature from your phone. Obviously that's not a need for WiFi, don't misunderstand me lol, but I could see some uses. For example, some people with severe anxiety or OCD might appreciate being able to make sure they turned it off remotely.

This is why I like marine devices. By necessity, they have to operate offline. There's no cellular service in the middle of the ocean. I have a Xantrex LiFePo BMS and a Victron solar charge controller on my boat, and neither requires a cloud account to use the app.

I got a Sonos speaker for Christmas a couple years ago.
As soon as I realized I needed an account for it to simply play music, I went to return it. The guy in the store told me that there were no speaker brands that did not require an account these days, and that I shouldn't be so petty. He said "but you also have a Google account, right?", "Why is a Sonos account such a problem?".
I told him indeed, I already need a Google account for my phone to work, a Spotify account for listening to my music, and now a Sonos account for my speaker that plays that music , and I thought that was ridiculous.
My previous speaker was a Sony, and while that did have an app to configure it, it didn't require setting up an account with any personal data, which I think is fucked up for a device whose main purpose is just to produce sound. I left the speaker in the store and got my money back.
I did some research and found Teufel devices, speakers from Germany that work fine with an app that doesn't require an account. Now all my speakers and soundbars around the house are Teufel, and I'm very happy with them. I think also Yamaha has (or at least had) accountless speakers. So win/win - buying European and keeping my privacy a little more in check.
I did the same for my smart scale. I don't want my weight in the cloud somewhere, or on the servers of some Chinese or U.S. company somewhere. An app on my phone can store daily weight and other health data just fine.
So when I wanted a smart scale, I also did some research. It turns out there's an open source app called openscale that does exactly that: just store the data locally on my phone, and it supports a bunch of devices.
I got myself a Beurer scale (coincidentally also a German brand) because I read you can skip the whole account setup. Then used openscale to register my weigh ins. It works, I'm sure the cloud apps of larger brands have a nicer user interface, but they come at the cost of my privacy, which I simply refuse to sell out for a piece of hardware whose main purpose is to show me what I weigh.
I think people should be more conscious about their data. I don't use apple pay or Google wallet, my bank already knows most of what I pay, where and when. Why would I want to share that with these big corporations? I will gladly trade in a little convenience for a lot of privacy.
- Teufel
  It's hilarious that you literally have to make a deal with the Devil for this.
- The guy in the store told me that there were no speaker brands that did not require an account these days
  Just buy a simple Bluetooth speaker.
  Don't look for a smart speaker. Don't look for a big brand. Just type “Bluetooth speaker” into the search engine of your favourite webshop or whatnot.
- no speaker brands that did not require an account
  Thats interesting, I have never bought a speaker that requires an account. My one doesn't even have an app.
  
  Is it a smart speaker? (In the sense that it supports playing music over the network and Spotify connect?)
  Because if so, I'd like to know the brand and type. I couldn't find a lot online.
- God I love lemmy, tysm for posting genuinely
- I have used Teufel devices in the past and they worked well enough. But I have since switched to a selfhosted alternative. Stupid speakers (in my case old 2nd hand stereo systems), raspberry pis and the Lyrion Music Server.
  You get all the benefits of commercial internet enabled speakers (the project used to power Logitechs speakers before they open sourced it) including multi room audio, various streaming service integration (both Spotify and Qobuz are supported among others) and solid app support as well as the privacy that comes from not relying on an external server
- I have a scale that shows my weight.
  And a speaker that plugs into my phone with the jack.
  
  Nothing wrong with checking “oh I’m down since 3mo ago” w/o ever having copied numbers between screens :)
- My JBL soundbar has no app.
  Your only option is configuring it with the Google Home app
- You don't need Google account for your phone to work.
  
  Peoples expectation for "working" is "has absolutely all features that you would have with google, no exceptions". If even a single feature is missing, people will scream thats its unusable.
- I got a sonos speaker given to me, and the app setup and sync was so fucking frustrating. I ended up having to call their support. Just FYI though, once you have it set up, you no longer need the app.

I made the mistake of getting a hwawei (can't be bothered to spell it properly, sorry) smartwatch.
They play store app doesn't work properly, so I need to install their own appstore (that they made because of sanctions) and get the app there.
I lost it a while ago, but I learned to never buy another.
- I got a fitness armband as a gift and use gadgetbridge (free and open source Android app) https://gadgetbridge.org/gadgets/wearables/huawei-honor/ Maybe it supports your watch?
  
  It was a huawei band, and seems to be supported, but as I said, it just disappeared one day.

I keep saying framework laptop guys should come out with Linux phone that runs postMarketOS or Mobian. It's can't be that crazy of an idea considering Pine64 and Purism could literally push out their own phones. Obviously given the state of things right now, sure maybe not going to happen... but I will keep preaching this.
- The only thing holding back linux phone other than the SOC is the modem. It is a black box computer on its own with no fixed way to interact with them.
  VoLTE is nearly impossible to implement across all the countries. Same will be true with 5G.
  You can't build a open hardware modem because of all the patents.
  
  Very good points my friend. Capitalism strikes again... 😔
  
  Biggest difficulty for me with a pinephone was SMS tbh, data was fine.
  
  Software vehicle integration.

Most of the time it's not the hardware that needs to be open-sourced (i.e. CAD, Gerber PCB files, etc.) It's mostly just that the hardware should use standard, open protocols. It would be nice to have the full PCB design so you could rewire things if something breaks. But, most of the time, it's good enough if the device uses standard HTTP or standard Bluetooth, rather than something proprietary.

I tried to get Rogers internet a few months back, I actually answered the door for one of them annoying salespeople, and they gave me a price straight up that was $1 more a month than I was currently paying, so yeah I signed up
Oh cool I need an app on my smartphone with an internet connection in order to set up my home internet connection? Oh and this thing doesn't even let you manage DNS? Oh and there's no web portal to manage settings, literally everything has to be done through the app?
yep I fucked right off out of that, never trying Rogers again. ever

If they don't need me to register the app, do they still get personal data, i.e. who I am? Does the phone rat me out?
- Welcome to the world of fingerprinting and shadow profiles. You are unique by the data you generate, even if it doesn't have your name on it.
  
  Fun related fact, Facebook has an account for you even if you don't have a Facebook account, and your Facebook account has all sorts of information like relationships and employment status.
  This is because all of your friends have Facebook accounts, and all of them give the platform access to their contacts, so Facebook knows that you're "John Smith," "John work," "John tech support," "John coworker," etc. They also know your email, thanks to your HR lady storing that alongside your phone number
- absolutely yes

I got the same camera. I did not want to side load an android app just to use it, but I legit thought "three tries only, this can't be serious". Sure enough if you exhaust the trials you cannot use the device. None of the reviews or vids I read and saw mentioned this, or glossed over it. I returned that bitch. Told DJI the reason was I cannot use the camera and I don't have an iPhone and I also don't want to side load an app on my android phone. They accepted thankfully.

I remember when I got a Kobo Glo ereader a decade ago, I was soo excited to have an ereader that wasn't tied to Amazon.
So I booted it up, and it immediately wanted me to not only register, but to download a program on my computer, and do it from there.
I refused and got pissed.
I started googling and found a guide to hack it.
You had to manually modify the Sqlite database and create a user there.
After doing that, it just worked.
The feeling of relief and accomplishment was fantastic!
- That was a great feeling--taking something locked in, programmed, something that used intentionally deceptive description and design, and finding a way to make it your own. To, basically, break the deceptive design and make the device better by "breaking" it.
  When I rooted my first Android phone I felt that way. It's a shame how much of the computing power in phones is used for nothing but harvesting our data and profiting from our use of the computer.
  There's so much more we need to break now.
  
  it's very sad to me that I won't be rooting my next phone because of play integrity API. At least ADB is here to stay.... right?
- In gormany you can buy Tolino ereaders. Similar price to amazon, does not need an account. If you want to move stuff on there, you can just connect it to your computer, where it shows up as a usp storage device. If you want to use their cloud (no subscription, you get 30GB for your own stuff + all books bought from a number of varios book stores are hostet for free), you obviously need an account, but still upload all your stuff like totally your legally aquired collection of 20000 ebooks. At some point there was the possibility to update it via your computer, so you can use this device completely offline
- This is why I bought a 12 year old Sony ereader, the only thing I really miss is a back(front?)light
  
  I have a Kindle Paperwhite and I jailbroke it to install KO Reader.
  The only difficult bit was getting a version of the Kindle software that was rootable. To do that you have to make sure it doesn't get updates, which basically means not allowing it to go online. If you ever go online, no matter what else happens, it tries to update its firmware. I ended up letting the battery on mine drain and then tossed it in a drawer for a few months. Eventually it was out of date enough that I could root it.
  I got lucky because there was a jailbreakable version relatively soon. It looks like the last SW version that could be fully jailbroken was back in January 2022.
  Wouldn't it be nice if Amazon had actual competitors and you could buy an e-reader that just ran open source software?
- I got a kobo sage, and it does require an account, but it didn't force me to install a shitty app.
  Luckily, its very moddable (just drag and drop a .zip file), so I'm still keeping it.

I hope RISCV helps with the liberation of hardware firmware. It looks promising.
- It won't. Nothing stops companies from open-sourcing their hardware and firmware already.
  
  Well RISCV changes a bit the paradigm. With x86 x64 or arm whatever the manufacturers had to pay a licence and sign a contract that limited what they could manufacture and probably didn't allow for disclosure of information. Only licenced partners could build their own chips based on those architectures.
  With RISCV is different, there's no licence for manufacturing RISCV chips, anybody can do it. No contract needed.
  Arduino is an example of that. They used their own MCU and gave it free "libre", that's why there're so many arduino copies that are just the same.
- I find x86 is better currently due to the open bootloader. I worry that we may lose that at some point and it makes second hand junk completely useless as you won't even be able to install Linux on it anymore.

Who else heard "gargle my balls" upon seeing that pic of Louis Rossman?
For those not familiar, check out his YT channel, his work with futo.org (https://wiki.futo.org/index.php/Introduction_to_a_Self_Managed_Life:_a_13_hour_%26_28_minute_presentation_by_FUTO_software), and his Consumer Action Taskforce wiki (https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Main_Page). Here is a person with an electronics repair business trying his hardest to make sure nobody ever needs his services.
- Louis always leaves me confused. He gives a strong libertarian vibe but equally I seem to find myself in agreement with most of what he says, certainly on board with his crusade.
  
  I’m very similar, he has a good message, but the way he comes off is a complete turn off to me. Can’t stand the guy.
  
  He's got that typical Libertarian thing where he hates regulation and anything that might interfere with his business. And yet, he doesn't realize his core complaint (hardware manufacturers making their gear impossible to repair) can only be solved with government regulation of those businesses.

DJI DRONES!
You can't even avoid them because they are a monopoly. (There are "no-name" drones but these drones are very bad)
Even the 2nd place of the best drone manufacturers, Autel, their drones also has mandatory app-based internet activation.
- Yeah. I once hiked 11 miles in the desert on a road trip to film a specific shot and when I unpacked my drone I found out that the app had updated overnight and needed me to log back in before I could fly again.
  The nearest cell service was 30 miles away.
  Edit: And the next drone I bought was a DJI, because nobody else comes close.
  
  Glad that I wasn't the only one. Happened twice - I don't want to have to think about logging in to use a piece of shit I bought myself! Fuck DJI.
- There are tons and tons of excellent drones running opensource betaflight so I challenge your claim that all 'no-name' drones are bad. The top racers and freestylers and world-record-speed-setters don't fly DJI and I'm pretty sure the market for professional cinelifters is entirely out of DJI's reach. It's true that there aren't really other drones in the same market segment with all the hand-holding and flight assist and outright auto-flying DJI is famous for but that's a much more narrow window. For people who want that stuff your claim is true.
  For people flying primarily with their own skill there is still a great opportunity to build from parts and compile from source.
  
  See what you said there build from parts and compile from source that is not mainstream and the vast majority of people are not going to do that.

What you need is design with purpose. Why is there an app vs physical controls. Because everyone's doing it, or to collect data to sell, or because it offers real value to the user?
If it doesn't benefit users, don't be surprised when you get flamed and lose sales.

i would let this man fix my broken app connected cockring
- I wonder if he accepts those products.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwym1VUfl0
  Depends on if you want to believe him or not 😋

There's a call for you... line 2.

I have seen this done in a way that makes at least a bit of sense. My EUC (electric unicycle) came software locked to ensure that the motor didn't engage if it somehow turned on during transit. Removing the lock required connecting it to the manufacturer's app, but after that was done, I could use third party apps for everything else. Sure, there are other ways they could have done this, but this way ensures that the motor could not be engaged without human intervention.
- Should just ship it with the battery disconnected
  
  Or just install a switch on it. I guess that's too high tech for startup bros to figure out how to do, though.
  Even my electric lawn mower has a fusible link (it's actually a mini circuit breaker) that is designed such that you can yank it out, as a child safety feature. No fusible link installed, no power to the motor.
  
  Yeah, fair enough honestly

we've gone to a house email account with a tablet that is hooked to it and all those accounts stay on that and it never moves. But even then all those things that need it are put on a list for getting rid of and if we NEED the smart tech of it we will start to look for other options.