that aren’t eligible for big tech- support contracts. “Working with tech and working with people are the two things I’m really passionate about,” Gibbs says. Fixing electronic devices has come with a special set of problems and obstacles since at least the 1990s, when home computers became inexpensive enough—and easy enough to use — that most homes had them. The relative low cost and the speed of technology meant that in many cases, it was cheaper to replace a broken computer with a newer, faster one than to get it fixed. The same forces that made that possible also applied to other electronics — like stereos or small appliances — more generally. And often, replacement parts aren’t available, are hard to find or are prohibitively expensive. And that’s not even the worst of it. Even if one can get the right parts, they may not work properly, due to a practice called parts pairing—creating software locks on the parts that come with a device that mean they can only be used with that specific device and won’t function if transferred to another device. In other words, the manufacturer “has to bless the repair,” says Romain Godin, whose repair shop, Hyperion Computerworks, is situated in Southwest Portland. “We can buy two iPhone 13s new from the Apple store and switch the batteries, and you’ll get a bunch of messages saying, ‘We can’t tell if this is genuine,’” Godin says. That means people who use Apple products need to go to Apple- authorized repairers to get their devices fixed — even when the repair is as simple as swapping out a battery or screen. While Apple has become notorious in recent years for parts pairing, there’s a similar practice in car manA custom computer in Gibbs’ shop. Below, Gibbs at work. Mark Gibbs, owner of BrainWave Computers in Beaverton, says the new Right to Repair legislation will allow him to make repairs better as he’ll be able to access OEM (original equipment manufacturerer) parts. 29
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