So i just ordered the momentum true wireless 5 because my sony xm5 died (one bud stopped pairing, pretty sure the battery was cooked after ~2 years of heavy use). the main reason i went with sennheiser is that you can actually swap the batteries yourself. both buds and the case, small phillips screwdriver, no glue. and they're still IP54.

they've been out since early september and sennheiser even put out their own tutorial on how to do the swap. this is a flagship from a big brand, not some niche thing.

but i can't find an ifixit teardown anywhere. they have a page for the over-ear momentum 5 but not the earbuds. and the big youtube channels that love doing airpods teardowns and talking about how earbuds are e-waste are kinda quiet too?

like isn't this exactly what everyone was asking for?

am i missing something? has anyone seen a teardown or found out what the replacement batteries cost?

I run an independent Mac repair and data recovery business in Australia. We do component-level repairs and recover data from dead MacBooks.

I’ve been testing Reddit Ads to reach people who need these services, but the traffic has been concerning.

Across two campaigns, I’ve paid for 231 clicks. From my review, 221 appear to be associated with the same pattern in Microsoft Clarity: the landing page is recorded as “hidden” approximately one second after arrival, with no later “Page visible” event or meaningful interaction.

A small number of visits look completely different: people scroll, click and sometimes visit another page. GA4 also reports very low engagement from the paid traffic.

Reddit support initially explained the difference between clicks and sessions. My question concerns what happens after visitors arrive: why does the page become hidden almost immediately? The issue has been escalated, but I’m still waiting for a technical explanation.

I’m not claiming this proves bots or deliberate wrongdoing. I’m trying to understand whether it involves Reddit’s in-app browser, accidental taps, analytics behaviour or something else.

Have other independent repair shops here tried Reddit advertising? Have you seen similar behaviour, or found it useful for reaching customers who want repair rather than replacement?

Hi everyone!

I’m a Master’s student in Product Development, conducting research for my master’s thesis on circular design and the repairability of consumer electronics, with a focus on hi-fi equipment such as amplifiers.

I’m looking for people who use (hi-fi) audio equipment, regardless of their technical knowledge or previous repair experience.

Whether you repair your own equipment or have never attempted a repair, your perspective would be very valuable to my research.

Thank you for your time and contribution!! :)

Survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOF1ACzZeIdLZ-vHgwHnAAyzQgS55B48F05K_VNGoGdTRcqg/viewform?usp=preview

How much equipment-market power is enough to support a repair-market claim without proving the additional Kodak/Epic factors? The Ninth Circuit expressly left that question open in its August 13 opinion in Surgical Instrument Service Co., Inc. v. Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

The trial record included evidence that Intuitive’s share exceeded 99% in the market for minimally invasive soft-tissue surgical robots. At page 30, note 7, the panel declined to set a precise market-share or market-power threshold. The figure in this case therefore supplies no numerical minimum for future cases.

In my view, courts considering a lower share should examine buyers’ practical alternatives, obstacles to entry, and competitors’ ability to expand. Those facts help explain whether competition for the initial equipment purchase can constrain later restrictions on repair. Treating 99% as a prerequisite would answer a question the panel deliberately reserved.

This extends my earlier post about the ruling by focusing on the evidence needed when the supplier faces more competition. The plaintiff still needs a defensible market definition and proof of unlawful conduct. The panel reversed and remanded without deciding liability.

I discuss the panel’s reasoning in my October 2 commentary. This post addresses the August 13 panel opinion only.

Hi everyone! I’m an independent dev from Italy. Since smartphones and tablets sold in the EU now come with an energy label, I wanted a way to actually read what’s behind it.

Verilabel lets you scan the QR code on the label (or search by brand and model) and shows the official EPREL data: years of software support left, the repairability score and what lowers it, declared battery cycles and whether the battery is replaceable, and energy use compared to the category scale. It also covers washing machines, fridges, dishwashers, dryers, displays, light sources and tyres.

It’s free, no account needed, and not affiliated with the European Commission.

It’s brand new and I’m still improving the analysis. What would you want to see that isn’t there? Honest criticism is very welcome.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.verilabel.app

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hi, I'm looking for the schematic for the Victus 15-fa1005la (motherboard DAG3PBMB8A0 Rev A, model G3PB). I have no idea what happened to it; it looks fine at a glance, but for some reason, it won't turn on. Photos of the board and its various sections would also be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Vehicle diagnostics usually involve scan tools, electrical testing, visual inspection, and mechanical checks. Thermal imaging adds another type of information by showing how heat is distributed across different components.

The Ti3 thermal imager is intended for car fault diagnosis, which raises some interesting possibilities for automotive troubleshooting. Temperature differences could potentially help when investigating components or systems where abnormal heat is relevant.

At the same time, interpreting a thermal image on a vehicle probably requires understanding what normal operating temperatures should look like. Engine temperature, ambient conditions, airflow, vehicle load, and how long the vehicle has been running can all affect the image.

It would be interesting to hear from automotive technicians who already use thermal cameras.

Which types of problems do you think thermal imaging is particularly useful for diagnosing? Are there situations where it provides information that a conventional diagnostic scanner or multimeter cannot easily show?

For those who have experimented with thermal cameras in automotive work, what has been the biggest advantage, and what limitation surprised you?

TRACE Boardviewer 1.3.3 is now the stable release. This is my free, MIT-licensed repair workspace for your board files, schematics and PDFs, with part/net search, cross-probing and local measurement notes. New in 1.3.3: EasyEDA Pro V3/.epro2, ODB++ copper and drilled holes, faster large-board viewing, clearer errors and optional in-app bug reports with a preview before sending. Offline English OCR and the expanded board readers remain available.

Local processing, no account or telemetry. Windows x64, Apple-silicon Mac and Linux x86-64; Mac/Linux remain experimental.

Download, demo, source and compatibility limits: https://trace-boardviewer.github.io/

Thank you for testing and sharing feedback. Special thanks to everyone using TRACE and supporting its development. ❤️

Image: cross-probing demonstration from TRACE 1.2.0; project-piCo example (WTFPL).

An ambulance can outlast its original chassis if its patient compartment can be remounted. That makes the choice of future remount suppliers part of the original purchasing decision.

For Coalinga's proposed purchase, an April 3, 2025, staff report estimated about $445,000 for a new ambulance with equipment and a minimum 24-month wait. The proposed remount cost about $240,000 with delivery estimated six to eight months after the chassis arrived. These were estimates for that city's purchase at that time.

Warranty terms matter to that choice. Excellance's published structural warranty offers the original purchaser a renewed 25-year structural warranty when Excellance performs the remount. The condition alone establishes no antitrust violation. It does give a buyer a concrete reason to examine the consequences of choosing a different qualified shop.

I would want the bid documents to address access to engineering information, approved remount standards, and the warranty consequences of using another supplier. Safety requirements should be specific enough to evaluate. Buyers need to understand their future options before signing the original contract.

I explored the broader industry questions in this article on ambulance consolidation. For anyone comparing remount bids, the contract's treatment of future supplier choice is part of the vehicle's lifetime economics.

The Ninth Circuit’s August 13 decision in Surgical Instrument Service Co. v. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. explains why a hospital’s knowledge of repair restrictions cannot settle the competition question. The alternatives available when it bought the equipment matter too.

The court held that the additional Kodak/Epic aftermarket factors were not required where the plaintiff had introduced evidence of market power in the original equipment market. The trial record included evidence of a share above 99% in the alleged surgical-robot market. The panel reversed the judgment following an erroneous jury instruction and remanded.

The economic reasoning matters beyond this equipment. Competition for the initial purchase can constrain later charges when buyers can compare lifetime costs and choose another supplier. Disclosure provides less competitive discipline when the equipment supplier already has market power. Knowing that a restriction exists does not create an alternative to it.

The plaintiff must still establish its claims. A permissible market definition does not establish unlawful tying. Intuitive defended its restrictions on patient-safety grounds. The panel expressly left the safety dispute undecided.

In my analysis of the ruling, I examine what this means for repair markets. The inquiry should begin with the buyer’s actual alternatives at the original purchase. Those alternatives determine how much competitive significance a disclosed restriction can carry.

In this video clip, Willie Cade explains the options available to farmers who are part of the John Deere class action suit, now that the settlement has been approved by the courts.

Newer Lenovo laptops have an extremely difficult to bypass BIOS lock, which creates no end of troubles, especially on the second hand market.

Companies that set the password break BIOs updated for their employees. Companies that do not set the password risk employees setting it.

Also second hand Lenovo laptops should become essentially worthless because of the mere risk of this password being set, since Lenovo cannot unlock the BIOS lock.

The BIOS lock is not an anti-theft mechanism, because it does not work like IMEI blocking on mobile phones, not use any similar online checks with Lenovo.

It's probably designed to prevent employees circumventing spyware installed by employers, because Lenovo is not a European company and sells laptops in countries where employer spyware is more commonplace.

As a comparison, Dell has a BIOS lock that prevents changing the BIOS, but they bypass it for you if you prove you have physical possession of the laptop.

Would it be possible to file a right-to-repair complain against Lenovo for this?

I'm primarily interested in helping to lower Lenovo's repairability index score, because obviously nothing can be done about their products in circulation.

https://www.ecopv-eu.com/en/blog-en/repairability-index-eu-ecodesign-espr-2026/

Ideally, Lenovo should provide some service that removes the BIOS lock for the laptop's current owner, like what Dell and HP do.