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https://www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-4bs-inside-spin-scooters
When things don't work out for scooter rental companies and they shut down or pull out of a city, they usually take spare stock with them. However, when Spin backed out of Seattle, many locals discovered unused scooters scattered throughout the city. Upon closer inspection of these abandoned devices, or should we say dissection, it was uncovered that they each have a Raspberry Pi 4B inside.
This discovery was recently shared on social media. Legally, if the scooters are abandoned then snagging one for the Pi inside is fair game but it's not clear if Spin has plans to recover their remaining assets.
The Seattle city government official website confirm that Spin originally arrived in 2021 as a fourth scooter rental option. However, the company did not renew its license for the most recent cycle. Because of this, you can find a few remaining Spin scooters around the city.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday August 08 2023, @09:20PM (3 children)
It is, and much to the chagrin of hobbyists, Raspberry Pi has been cooperating with and prioritizing industrial customers during their supply chain woes.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Reziac on Wednesday August 09 2023, @02:32AM (2 children)
I imagine they've discovered, as does everyone else producing tech anything, that your real customers are downstream industry, and that you can't make a living selling to hobbyists.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by GloomMower on Wednesday August 09 2023, @12:05PM (1 child)
According to interviews, they realized there was many jobs linked to it being available. Lots of small ~10 person shops. They could have just released them all to the market, but likely all those companies would have gone out of business and all those people loose their jobs. How true that is I don't know, but that is what is said in the interview that was posted here a couple months ago.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Reziac on Wednesday August 09 2023, @02:26PM
I missed that interview, but yeah, that's reasonable. Small shops are still downstream industry, who rely on their suppliers to stay in business.
And that small industry is still going to buy 'em by the hundreds or thousands, not by the each like someone who wants to build a media controller for the den.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.