By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/06/2026It's the same force that means you can put anyone's gas in your gas-tank, or anyone's shoelaces in your shoes, or anyone's milk on your cereal. 6/ 2180
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/06/2026But what if manufacturers could dictate those choices? What if your light socket refused to use a lightbulb unless it was officially blessed by the socket's manufacturer? What if your dishwasher refused to wash your dishes unless you bought them from one of the manufacturer's "dish partners"? 7/ 4354
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/06/2026What if your toaster refused to toast "unauthorized bread"? arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/... It's hard to see how a company could win its market with this strategy. 8/arstechnica.comUnauthorized Bread: Real rebellions involve jailbreaking IoT toastersCory Doctorow's book, Radicalized, is up for a CBC award. To celebrate, here's an excerpt. 1389
Michael Fuss @mfuss.bsky.social · 13/06/2026Changing lightbulbs is so 2010. Nowadays those LED lamps hardly need any changing and often can't be changed anyway. 000
Marko Bevc @marko.social · 14/06/2026A lot of firmware vebdor were doing this with disks, SFP connectors, and other devices🙄🫠 000
Andrew Love @andrewlovejr.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Light bulbs were part of conspiracy in the early 20 century - manufacturers agreed to shorten the lifespan of their bulbs (and to divide the market) spectrum.ieee.org/the-great-li...spectrum.ieee.orgThe Great Lightbulb ConspiracyThe Phoebus cartel engineered a shorter-lived lightbulb and gave birth to planned obsolescence 0207
