Great infographic and statistic about smartphone #urban mining in the EU:
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There is a new-old discussion about DRM in browsers/HTML5. I know most people think this has nothing to do with phones. But in the end it has because this is how you will get content on your phone. And it will more and more pop again. It’s a cycle that repeats every 2 to 5 years and for every new gadget. It can be helpful to know about so you can make your own decisions about it.
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“We’re hearing from multiple sources that Cyanogen Inc. is in the midst of laying off a significant portion of its workforce around the world today. The layoffs most heavily impact the open source arm of the Android ROM-gone-startup, which may be eliminated entirely (not CyanogenMod itself, just the people at Cyanogen Inc. who work on the open source side).”
Why software makes hardware obsolete … Apple has a remote code execution problem right now.
“By manipulating the contents of memory to establish the necessary setup, both of these vulnerabilities can be used to cause remote code execution on the device.”
I wonder if Apple will patch the older versions that still have lots of users (iPhone 4, anyone)?
“It gets worse. Bohan found that the security hole is present in all versions of iOS and OS X except for the very latest ones, which were published on July 18.”
Major German electronics retailer advertising Fairphone:
http://techtalk.saturn.de/video/was-ist-eigentlich-das-fairphone/
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Very interesting ZDnet article on alternative modules in the making and sales numbers.
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In the middle I read the announcement about (…) “publishing shortly technical documentation about the expansion port”. Because here in the forum under topic Hardware/DIY the pinout and some infos from keesj (K. Jongenburger) have been published more than 6 months ago. Reading the announcment from M. Ballester I was puzzled. I assumed this would be available to any other e.g. companies much earlier .
The online short articles of Bremen’s “Weser-Kurier” made a contribution not only to Fairphone .
Unfortunately they mixed a bit with german’s brand Shift-phones. Especially they mixed up Shift-Phones promise about completely avoiding coltan (I think it is not possible to avoid coltan as it is not possible to avoid tantal completely in smartphones). Because this is only the short version of a big paper sized article on the same day I would like to mention that the paper version on a big newspaper page with details about certification of ressources is much better researched especially while emphasizing Fairphone’s unique role.
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Ein großartiges PDF über die Materialien, die in einem Handy verbaut sind:
http://www.janegoodall.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/JGI-A-Handyrecycling-Anatomie-eines-Handys.pdf (1.4 MB)
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Major German magazine/newspaper “Der Spiegel” reporting about Fairphone being offered by network operators:
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/fairphone-2-jetzt-auch-bei-mobilfunkanbietern-a-1110976.html
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https://www.test.de/LG-G5-Huawei-P9-Fairphone-2-Drei-neue-Smartphones-im-Schnelltest-5048469-0/
Surprise (to me): FP2 in germans biggest consumer test magazine: Stiftung Warentest ! Not so good but no surprise to me the final result: just sufficient , note 3,7 (unsatisfying). German school notes range from 1 very good, to 6: insufficient( very bad). Testers say that this phone is for ‘offenders by conviction’.
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I wish thread openers would all have to read this before posting:
Seen on Twitter via Anita Graser (@underdarkGIS):
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Washington post is having a great series on how different parts of your phone are made. This is one of them:
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How long do mobile phone owners keep their old phones at home, and for what reasons? A newly released scientific article looks into the phenomenon of ‘hibernating phones’.
The article, by researchers from the Loughborough University, the University of Surrey and the University of the West of England, is based on a survey filled in by 181 respondents aged 18-25. The researchers found that on average, these users tend to keep their phones ‘in hibernation’ for a longer period than they actually use it (3 years versus 1 year and 11 months on average, respectively). The respondents explained that they tend to use an older model as a secondary phone, for example as a spare in case their newest phone breaks down.
It is important to take this into account for recycling systems. While it is most beneficial from an environmental, economic and technological viewpoint to return a phone after it has been used for about two years, when it still has value, users first need to be convinced to say goodbye to their ‘spare device’. The article proposes an alternative system in which older phones are refurbished and provided as a spare alongside the newly leased or purchased primary phone.
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Tomas sent us this interesting article (in german):
It’s possible to change habits … 
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Here an an article and video about the Tin industries in Indonesia.
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Series of articles covering resources and corporations on German online newspaper sueddeutsche:
Schmutzige Geschäfte
Translation of the introduction note:
How big mining corporations destroy the environment.
Progress and growth devour more and more resources. Mining-corporations are earning billions. Who is paying the price?
Unfortunately while sueddeutsche has reported on Fairphone before I haven’t found it mentioned in the texts of that series.
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Down with the upgrade
Modular phones, with easily replaceable parts, are cheap and environmentally friendly. But Mark Harris wonders whether we’ll ever value longevity above the latest model
Read it here: Down with the upgrade
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