Author: Dale

  • Smartphones – the BitFIXit take: Part 1 (Introducing the project)

    Ah, smartphones. Most of us have at least one of these devices. We use them for all kinds of tasks during everyday use. Banking and contactless payments, keeping in touch with friends and loved ones. Catching up on the latest news and social media feeds. Playing games, listening to music and watching TV shows and…

  • The logical extremes of obsolescence

    Oh hey there, fellow darners and intrepid blogworms! Obsolescence is quite the nice little earner for OEMs everywhere. They love seeing ordinary folks like us pop into shops buying their latest stuff. Throwing away perfectly usable things we otherwise can use for other tasks. And when we point out the vast mountains of waste growing…

  • “Practice what you preach” – why it can be difficult

    “♫Can you practice what you preach? Or would you turn the other cheek?♬”. These lines come from “Where Is The Love?”, a 2003 hit by The Black Eyed Peas. Other artists use the lines in different ways for their songs, too. For example, Madonna’s 1986 hit song, “Papa Don’t Preach”, contained this line in the…

  • Our media centre build: some good and bad news…

    Hello again, readers and fellow fixers! Now, we admit that we placed our media centre build on the back burner. Since the last time we covered the project, we were busy with a lot of repair jobs. Gareth’s founding of Reyt Repair brought our BitFIXit repair cafes together as combined Saturday sessions. As a result,…

  • What’s worth salvaging from dead & broken computers?

    Hello again, fellow readers and fixers! Now, salvaging parts from dead, broken, or just obsolete computers is a good way to reduce e-waste. Often, it is one or two key components that break or die, while the others continue to work. There are inevitable moments when computers just go kaput. Whether it’s a component that…

  • Gareth’s radio interview on BBC Radio Sheffield

    Hello again, fellow readers and fixers! Now, Gareth recently appeared on the Toby Foster at Breakfast radio show on BBC Radio Sheffield. In this radio interview, he discusses with Toby Foster about Reyt Repair, as well as the background behind repairing items. If you have a BBC Sounds account, you can listen to the 10th…

  • Planned obsolescence – what is it all about?

    Hello again, fellow readers and fixers! There’s a term that refers to the state of being that makes us favour new stuff and trends. Something that leads us to switch to new and better ways of working and entertaining ourselves. And what sometimes leaves us unable to keep old, but otherwise functioning everyday items going…

  • Getting creative with holding internal storage in place

    Hello again, fellow readers and fixers! Now, sometimes when you buy a refurbished computer, it comes without caddies or screws for holding internal storage. Without them, they can rattle or loosely flop around inside when you carry it around. They may even become disconnected from SATA, M.2 or NVMe ports without warning when you put…

  • Introducing Reyt Repair!

    Hello again, fellow readers and fixers! We have some exciting news to share with you today. Gareth is launching Reyt Repair, a new social enterprise on Wednesday 19th October! Enter Reyt Repair It aims to fix a broad range of everyday items, such as clothes, furniture and electricals. Volunteers will run workshop sessions from 10am…

  • The three kinds of people in the world [NSFW]

    Hello again, fellow readers and fixers! Now then, here’s a different take on our usual articles – the three kinds of people in the world. People often talk about what these are when referring to all kinds of topics. Whether it’s about business & office culture, psychology, or just life’s lessons in general. So how,…