The Restart Project Podcast

This week Ugo returns from Brussels where he’s been investigating the policy conversations that are happening around products and their durability. Eva van Velzen from the Netwerk Bewust Verbruiken (or Network for Sustainable Consumption) joins us on the show to talk about the repair cafés popping up all over Flanders. People can bring in anything to be fixed, from electronics to clothes and furniture. The network also held a political repair café in Ghent, where five politicians were invited to learn practical repair skills. We talk about our own Restart event held in parliament last week, where UK MPs were invited to experience hands-on some of the problems with disassembly and repair. In our ‘post-truth society’, there’s a lot of false information flying around. We investigate the (false) UKIP allegation that EU-regulated toasters were not producing proper British toast. Ugo clarifies exactly what categories of appliances come under EU “ecodesign” regulations as part of the Circular Economy Package, and we discuss how we can move towards policy for more durable and repairable household appliances. What tips and policies can we take away from Brussels to help fix Britain’s throwaway economy? Links to things we discussed: Green Alliance new report EU commission regulations ‘Toastergate’ Our Parliamentary event [Feature image “Burnt Toast” by Flickr user Treacy is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] The post Restart Radio: Policy tips from Brussels appeared first on The Restart Project.

After literally running together from our Parliamentary Restart Party, we had the pleasure of chatting with Marie Lefebvre and Divya Pujara of the Leicester Fixers. Together they have been hosting Restart Parties in their city for a year now. Marie is a researcher at Loughborough University, and she focuses on how and why owners of gadgets repair them – or do not. After studying marketing and then design for sustainability, she became more interested in this less-studied area of the circular economy and started her Phd. With a friend, she decided to host a “Festival of Making and Mending” last year, and was convinced that electronics repair should be a part of it. She sought help from Leicester Hackspace, where she met Divya, an electronics engineer and teacher who had been contemplating hosting a “repair surgery”. Their Restart Parties were born. Their story is really inspirational. Links of stuff we discussed: Loughborough University Department of Design and Technology Leicester Fixers Leicester Hackspace The post Restart Radio: Restarting in Leicester appeared first on The Restart Project.

After our recent “Remote Kill Switch” episode, we have been collecting connected device horror stories. Only a couple of weeks ago, a bunch of CC TV cameras, routers, and video recorders nearly took down the internet. We talked about this “botnet” – and how some really crap, mundane devices were taken over remotely and used in a cyberattack. Other stories, care of the “Internet of Shit” tweet, amused us but were less global in dimension. Including the British geek who spent 11 hours configuring his smart kettle. Eleven hours for a cup of tea! We recalled the hacking of “Hello Barbie” – a connected toy that could be hijacked remotely. And probably the best wrap-up and summary of how we can create our own horrors, was Terence Eden’s talk at Thingmonk called “The (Connected) House of Horrors”. We played back his top tips, which start with: don’t do it! Don’t connect everything! And then, if you must, don’t buy unsupported crap. Links of stuff we discussed: “Breaking Down Mirai: An IoT DDoS Botnet Analysis” What is a DNS server? Motherboard: “Should the FBI Hack Botnet Victims to Save the Internet?” Internet of Shit tweet Guardian: “English man spends 11 hours trying to make cup of tea with Wi-Fi kettle” Terence Eden’s Thingmonk talk “The (Connected) House of Horrors“ The post Restart Radio: Connected device horrors appeared first on The Restart Project.

We started this show with a discussion about one of the most iconic mini consumer devices – the iPod, which turned 15 years old this month. Older iPods can be improved and maintained, and we talk about their staying power. Then we talk about the downside to miniaturised and thin devices, discussing how Samsung locked itself into a disastrous design with the now infamous Note 7. Not only was it very difficult to refurbish, but after the device was discontinued, there is speculation about whether it can be safely recycled at all. We talk about less dramatic, but very important design trade-offs with thin devices – and how we need to be more aware than ever when picking our next device. Links of stuff we discussed: Wired: “Gluing Galaxy Note 7 Batteries Down Made Things Worse for Samsung“ Motherboard: “Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Recall is an Environmental Travesty“ Guardian “Eve-Tech’s crowdsourced computer: the laptop designed by its users“ The “slim” Fairphone 2 [Feature image “Stack” by SlipStreamJC is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0] The post Restart Radio: Have we taken thin too far? appeared first on The Restart Project.

Remember the three Rs? Reduce, reuse, recycle? Why is there so much focus on recycling and so little on the other Rs? Why do perfectly useable products end up in the shredder, when so many people go without in the world? This episode features an interview with Cat Fletcher, one of the UK’s most articulate and passionate reuse activists. She played a key role in the founding of Freegle, a UK version of Freecycle, and has carved out a niche in Brighton by promoting reuse within the heart of her local government. Her work is truly innovative in the UK. Cat’s vision of a people-centred resource efficiency is something many of us can get behind. We all reuse stuff, and we always have. And the internet has opened up new possibilities. The real question is whether government and innovators can help us to divert more from landfill and the shredder, in this twitchy, impatient era. [Feature image from Cat’s Twitter feed] The post Restart Podcast Ep 14: Boosting reuse appeared first on The Restart Project.

Every day we see repair shops and hardware stores closing. For years in London, we’ve watched the vibrant repair economy along Tottenham Court Road decline. So many Restart Party goers come to us because they simply do not know where else to go for help with broken electronics. But we know all is not lost, just that some kinds of repair businesses are getting harder to find. We talked to Hackney Fixer James Diamond about mapping he is doing with us for the East London Waste Authority on repair businesses in east London. Through online and on-the-street research, James has identified over 160 repair businesses which fix battery-powered gadgets and appliances in four boroughs of east London. Half “exist” in some form online, and half survive entirely via word of mouth and passers-by. While some types of repair businesses are fading, like those for small appliances, others, especially for mobiles and tablets are growing. We talked about some of the main attributes that we are searching for in reliable businesses, that increase trust with consumers: transparent pricing structures, some form of warranty, issue receipts, among others. It turns out that only some businesses tick all of our boxes. Links of stuff we discussed: The decline of Tottenham Court Road Hackney Fixers’ map of repair businesses in Hackney Our developing criteria for finding a good professional The Guardian: Sweden to give tax breaks for repairs [Feature image care of Hackney Fixers] The post Restart Radio: Revealing our repair economy appeared first on The Restart Project.

So last week we aired our podcast about updates. While we did definitely address “bad updates” and how they cause anxiety and annoyance, the general gist of the podcast was why updates should be good and why they are so often necessary. We got a comment from a volunteer taking us to task. Toshi wrote “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” [Only if] a security update applies to broke, you should do it. We are not as default anti-upgrade as Toshi. But there is wisdom in his caution. Increasingly everything in our lives is powered by software – much of it designed and owned by manufacturers. From cars to coffee machines. This week a couple of stories came to light that had us considering more deeply the age we live in, and how software can be used to “kill” hardware or enforce obsolescence at scale. This week, with Restarter Dave Lukes we went into a “journey” into a possible age of “the remote kill switch”. If that sounds too sci-fi or too obscure, we started with the examples that came to our attention in recent weeks. Links of stuff we discussed: HP printers stop accepting third party ink en masse and the resulting petition Rumours Samsung was considering “killing” the recalled Note 7 remotely  – it created an update for Korean models reducing their max battery charge to 60% Mr Robot’s “smart home” hack scene Security man Krebs’ website DDoS was powered by hacked Internet of Things botnet  iFixit “John Deere Responds to Copyright Mess It Made“ The post Restart Radio: The age of the remote kill switch appeared first on The Restart Project.

We all live with them, even sometimes in fear of them. It seems like they pop-up when we least expect them – sometimes when we least want them. We’re talking about software and system updates. Some people are super update-phobic. Some are hugely indifferent, and some are even hugely excited by updates. The bottom-line is, updates are a necessary part of our software-powered world. We talk to Fairphone developer Dirk Vogt and PC Pro journalist Darien Graham-Smith about why updates are needed, and what makes a good update. At least two updates were required to complete this show, including podcast producer Dave Pickering’s much-feared Windows 10 update. Links (for reference) Fairphone: “Our approach to software and ongoing support for the first Fairphones“ Windows lifecycle factsheet PC Pro podcast [Feature image “Windows update” by Flickr user christiaan_008 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0] The post Restart Podcast Ep 13: Updates… the good, the bad and the meh appeared first on The Restart Project.

We hosted our friend Paul Sohi, 3D printing and digital fabrication expert, to talk us through the promise of new kinds of making. Paul explains what 3D printing actually is, how he got into it and tells us about some very exciting projects he has undertaken with his company Autodesk. Most recently, Paul helped paralympian cyclist Denise Schindler make a special prosthetic limb. (Yesterday she won a silver medal in Rio, w00t!) He has also been involved in preservation work with museums, including the V&A. We talked about how 3D-modelling has benefits for public education too, as objects and designs can be “shared” virtually. Our blenders may not be as precious as a museum artefact, or world-class athlete, but we talked at length with Paul about how 3D printing opens up new possibilities in the manufacture and distribution of spare parts for household appliances. Decentralised manufacture of spare parts could allow us to dramatically extend the lifespan of a whole class of appliances, which break because of failing plastic parts. Links we mentioned or hinted at Motherboard “This Cyclist Is Debuting Her 3D Printed Prosthetic Leg at the Paralympic Games“ Autodesk: “Digitization, Documentation, and Democratization: 3D Scanning and the Future of Museums“ Thingiverse Replacement parts Paul on Instagram and Twitter [Feature image “Customizable Knob” by Thingiverse user charliearmorycom is licensed under CC BY 4.0] The post Restart Radio: 3D printing, from prosthetics to blender spare parts appeared first on The Restart Project.

Together with Restarter Dave Lukes, we interviewed environmental journalist Maxine Perella about positive changes announced by the European Commission to “eco-labelling” of laptops and portable computers. Eco-labelling has traditionally focused on energy consumption during the use phase, leaving out the impact of manufacture. The changes start to take into account a laptop’s full lifecycle. The EU’s eco-labelling schemes are voluntary, and before this change, very few laptop manufacturers were opting in. We ask about the influence of a voluntary standard – and the role of consumers to make “eco” choices. As an IT professional, Dave hints that companies could be interested in the standards, especially as they help define the ease of upgradability of laptops. And Maxine suggests that public sector procurement could be a way of promoting eco-labelled products. We then go through the criteria, which include some really welcome design standards that will help us repair. Links we mentioned EU Ecolabel: new criteria for computers and shoes — EUbusiness.com EU Ecolabel: Ecolabel Products Catalogue – European Commission Maxine’s company Go Circular [Feature image “24th March” by Flickr user Vanchett is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] The post Restart Radio: Eco-labelling of laptops appeared first on The Restart Project.