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from the and-you-thought-you-owned-it dept.
DJI Spark drones will not fly after September 1 until users have applied a mandatory software update:
DJI Spark drones will not fly after 1 September unless owners apply a mandatory software update, the device's maker has warned. DJI said the update to the small drone's core software fixes some flight control issues suffered by the gadget.
The drone maker said it had warned owners about the deadline so they could avoid having their craft grounded. But the mandatory update has caused some owners to question the control DJI retains over their devices.
In a statement, DJI said the update would improve how the Spark manages power. It also helps it work with smart spectacles that give owners an immersive view of what the drone films. It added: "If the firmware of either the aircraft or the battery is not updated by September 1, Spark will not be able to take off."
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday August 24 2017, @01:42AM
Our only real hope for a better future is to embrace it, and regulate it with a new "first sale doctrine" regulation that puts specific consumer friendly obligations on manufacturers that provide internet enabled devices. I can see Europe doing it... I have little hope for the USA.
We do have a workaround here in the USA: liberal return policies. It's a limited workaround though: you can usually only return stuff to the store for a pretty limited time, like 30 days, and up to 90 if they're really generous, though depending on where you go you might be able to return it afterwards if you kept all the packing materials, and go without a receipt and just get store credit. Anyway, when you buy something and find out it's like that, return it! If everyone did this, the mfgr would go out of business with all the costs the retailers put on them for returned merchandise.
Of course, what's going to happen is stupid Americans are going to buy this crap, throw away the boxes, use it for a little while, then a few months later things are going to go bad and then they'll be fucked, and go out and buy something else just like it with the same problems.
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." - H. L. Mencken