http://lifeisfunny.freethrills.com/index.php/2008/05/31/electronic-gadgets-programmed-to-break-after-warranty/ Noticing weird things in society. Fri, 06 Aug 2010 05:31:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://lifeisfunny.freethrills.com/index.php/2008/05/31/electronic-gadgets-programmed-to-break-after-warranty/comment-page-1/#comment-5736 Garagemuso Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:22:38 +0000 http://lifeisfunny.freethrills.com/?p=62#comment-5736 I was listening to JJJ radio is Aus a couple of years ago and they were talking about this very subject. A person, who refused to give his name, rang in as he was an electrical design engineer whos job it was to not only design new technologies but to also design them to fail after either a certain time frame or amount of uses. He said that he and his colleagues were instructed to design flaws into the devices so that people had to buy new every couple of years otherwise the companies would not make money if their devices lasted too long. A lot of energy and greenhouse 'heat' could be saved if manufacturers (who use more power then any of us!) would produce longer lasting devices so that they didn't have to use as much power to run their businesses as they wouldn't need to produce as many units constantly. I realise there are other issues here of employment and such like but it is food for thought. A way around these design flaws is to always take the extended 3 year warranty!! I was listening to JJJ radio is Aus a couple of years ago and they were talking about this very subject. A person, who refused to give his name, rang in as he was an electrical design engineer whos job it was to not only design new technologies but to also design them to fail after either a certain time frame or amount of uses. He said that he and his colleagues were instructed to design flaws into the devices so that people had to buy new every couple of years otherwise the companies would not make money if their devices lasted too long. A lot of energy and greenhouse ‘heat’ could be saved if manufacturers (who use more power then any of us!) would produce longer lasting devices so that they didn’t have to use as much power to run their businesses as they wouldn’t need to produce as many units constantly. I realise there are other issues here of employment and such like but it is food for thought. A way around these design flaws is to always take the extended 3 year warranty!!

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