• latenightnoir@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    If I remember correctly, one such example is the lightbulb. Some of the earliest designs were centered around using longer-lasting filaments than their contemporary counterparts, which meant considerably increased lifespan.

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      They still made them too. 130V bulbs / garage bulbs / heavy duty bulbs all lasted far longer on 120V because the filament was thicker. They basically never went out.

      • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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        4 months ago

        That’s only because that light has been running non-stop, and at very low power. It’s the on/off cycles that kills the filament.

        Plus, the whole “they used to make stuff to last” thing is just survivorship bias. They absolutely made garbage products in the past, but those didn’t survive.

        Plus, most things like appliances were major purchases. People today don’t want to/can’t drop the equivalent of $400 on a toaster or $3k on a washing machine.

        • over_clox@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Ah, but that’s just it, lightbulbs were the beginning of enshittification. Once lightbulb manufacturers realized people weren’t coming back to buy more bulbs very often, they started deliberately making them to burn out a bit faster, to make them more of a consumable product.

          Do note, there’s a difference between a conspiracy theory and an actual conspiracy. This actually happened yo, and we’re still suffering with this sort of deliberately short lived shit today…

          https://youtu.be/ulUI7JsFjZU

          • TwentySeven@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            With light bulbs, there is a trade off between longevity and efficiency.

            Efficient shorter lasting bulbs are the superior product, they save the consumer money (at the expense of the inconvenience of having to replace them a little more often)

            • over_clox@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Meanwhile, after they mastered the process of making LEDs, they were quoted to have a half life of around 400 years, meaning that after 400 years continuous use, they’d be expected to emit about half as much light as they did new.

              Now what did they go and do? They ramped up the power and made them blindingly bright, yet only last like 5 years or so, if you’re lucky.

              And the cycle of enshittification continues…

        • Broken@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          I agree that there is survivorship bias, but I disagree that its “just” that.

          Things are made cheaper today, regardless. There are $400 toasters, but I guarantee that one wouldn’t last as long as a 1950s toaster.

          Plumbing fixtures are a better example, as essentially you can’t find one that is equivalent of a 50 year old faucet, no matter the price. They just don’t make them like that.

          Electronic components are another factor. First off, we stopped using lead in solder which results in weaker, more brittle connections. They just don’t last as long. True, we have advancements that make components run hotter in certain scenarios (so those connections get more stress) but even disregarding that the fact still stands it’s not as good.

          Then we added those electronics into everything to make them “better”. Old washing machines were essentially all mechanical so they would run forever, and be easy to maintain or fix. Now they have computers running them that are designed to not be fixed.

          Its hard to find a company today that wants to make a good product. They just want to make one that is good enough. Our culture has shifted to that mindset. Things don’t last as long, so we switched to a disposable mindset.

    • EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com
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      4 months ago

      There is a trade-off between efficiency and durability on incandescent light bulbs. They did sell bulbs that lasted longer, but those had lower lumen/watt.

      For generic bulbs, the cost of electricity was significantly greater than the cost of the bulb. It was cheaper to replace bulbs more frequently than to waste electricity.

    • hperrin@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Sure, but those kinds of lights are very dim. You can just use a dimmer bulb set to very low if you want that kind of longevity.

      • joelfromaus@aussie.zone
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        4 months ago

        Technology connections did a video on it. Basically the lights which lasted forever either; sucked at giving light and/or sucked at sucking power.

        Light manufacturers got together and made a standard which was a sweet spot of power efficiency, longevity and light output. Unfortunately, being decent at all three meant no longer sucking at two to boost longevity.

  • over_clox@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I fixed a bent iPad 2 using a rubber mallet and a short piece of wood on a good flat wooden bench. Hey, I didn’t feel like busting out the heat gun and all that nonsense for the glued on touchscreen just for a bent metal frame, so I took a chance.

    At worst, the touchscreen might have broke in the process, but that would have only set me back $7 and an extra 45 minutes. But it worked perfectly, flattened out correctly, didn’t break anything, and I got to go to lunch like 45 minutes early.

    I don’t recommend this approach though.

    • Cruxifux@feddit.nl
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      4 months ago

      Why would a touch screen have only set you back 7 bucks? Is that how much they cost for phone repair shops?

      • over_clox@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        At the time, for the iPad 2, yes. The touchscreen is not sealed to the LCD on the iPad 2, it’s only glued to the edges of the frame with double sided tape.

        Neither part was broke, it was just that the frame was slightly bent by the volume buttons, jamming one of the buttons in. It was such a subtle bend that I really didn’t see any good reason to go through all the trouble of disassembly, as even that risks breaking the touchscreen.

    • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      Was only a few years ago I realized that the minute hand is entirely superfluous for most applications. You can easily tell what ten minute interval of the day you are in by looking only at the hour hand.

      • davidgro@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        On a large enough clock, the hour hand could have easily visible marks for not just minutes, but also seconds. If I were an architect or whatever I would try to make that the floor of a lobby or something.

  • weew@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    Instant Pot.

    Apparently they went bankrupt because they built their units too well. Everyone bought one and never needed to buy a replacement.

  • awazawazawaz@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. All three are the absolute pinnacle of every craft represented in them. (i.e.: camera work, costumes, casting, CG, practical effects, soundtrack, and all the rest.)

    • folaht@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      I thought it was a huge disappointment, most of all due to the CG.

      • Everything looks hueless, often with only a few colors, with weird light angles and enemies often shown as a blur. As if it was made to put everyone on the same level as those who are colorblind and visiually impaired.
      • Soundtrack was a dissonance of what went on on screen.
      • The towns and villages were beautifully animated and showed wide shots of them, so one could be sure that they were missing any signs of food production or water sources.
      • The world did not just look dry in color, but also literally dry. Especially the shire which gives it a plastic feel to it.

      All of those put together made me feel it was taking place on a pre-dinosaur earth or not yet fully terraformed planet Mars, rather than a place of fantasy and wonder.

      And Saruman’s death was absent in the theatrical cut. One of the most important parts of the story was simply cut out.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Alien. Maybe my only 10 out of 10 movie, and not my favorite!

    We’ve all seen it so many times it loses it’s luster. Wife had never seen it so I sat with her in the dark and watched it for the first time in decades. Jesus. She was about to tear through the couch cushion in stress. I knew what was going to happen and couldn’t peel my eyes off the TV.

  • frozenspinach@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    Diablo 1 and 2 by Blizzard. I guess maybe the 2nd time around was perfection but between those two, nothin further was needed.

      • frozenspinach@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        I bought the whole battle chest back in the early 2000s (well my parents did for me). I consider those to be part of Diablo 2 broadly speaking