Apple’s Self Service Repair program is now open to iPhone owners in the US

It took several months, but Apple’s Self Service Repair program is now available in the US. If you have an iPhone 12, iPhone 13 or third-generation iPhone SE, you can buy key parts (such as batteries, cameras and displays) from a dedicated store and consult official repair manuals as you fix a device yourself. You can even spend $49 to rent a toolkit for a week if you’d rather not buy tools you’re unlikely to use often.

The program will expand to other countries later this year, starting with Europe. You’ll also have to wait until later to obtain parts, manuals and tools for Macs. Those kits will be limited to Macs with Apple silicon, so you’ll be out of luck if you want to repair an Intel-based computer.

The debut comes alongside a white paper detailing Apple’s expanding service strategy. The company claimed that it had “nearly doubled” the size of its repair network, and that eight out of 10 of its American customers lived within 20 minutes of an authorized repair provider. It also outlined the rationales behind design and repair decisions, including its emphasis on using official parts (to protect privacy and security) and the lack of schematics for board-level repairs. Board fixes are “best performed” by technicians who can offer high-quality, consistent results, Apple said.

The Self Service initiative is a clear response to mounting pressure to adopt Right to Repair policies. In the US, both federal- and state-level officials have either enacted or proposed Right to Repair rules. There’s also growing advocacy from everyday customers, and leaked emails have suggested that Apple itself has held debates over its sometimes difficult-to-fix products. The program theoretically reduces the incentive to pass repair-friendly legislation, and might soften overall public criticism.

As it is, the fix-it-yourself landscape has changed. Google and Samsung are launching their own self-repair offerings, and companies like Valve are already designing products with repair (if not always by customers) in mind. So long as you’re technically inclined, there’s a real chance you may not have to trust someone else with future repairs.

Amazon’s second-gen Echo Show 5 falls back to $50

You have another chance to grab Amazon’s second-gen Echo Show 5 for $50. While it’s a bit more than the device’s all-time low on the website, that’s still 41 percent off its retail price of $85. Amazon launched the second-gen version of the smart display in 2021, along with its bigger 8-inch sibling. The device’s screen has a resolution of 960 x 480 pixels, and it has a two megapixel camera instead of its predecessor’s one megapixel. You now also have the choice to get it in deep sea blue in addition to the black and white variants — and yes, all three are on sale right now. 

Buy Echo Show 5 (2021) at Amazon – $50

Like the Echo Show 8, the 5-inch model also comes with the sunrise alarm feature that slowly brightens up the display to mimic the sun rising in the sky. It offers easy access to your smart home controls, such as the thermostat and Philips Hue Lights, and works great as a bedside alarm clock due to its smaller size. 

If you’re looking to buy a smart speaker instead, Amazon is also selling the fourth-generation Echo Dot for just $28. That’s 44 percent off its retail price and the lowest we’ve seen for the smart speaker to date. For $5 extra, you can pick up the Dot plus an extra Amazon smart plug, which normally retails for $75.

In addition to the Echo sales, Amazon is also running a deal for the Blink Mini camera. You can grab a two-camera Blink Mini package for $35, which is the same price you’ll pay for a single device. The plug-in security cam can deliver 1080p HD images and can send alerts to your smartphone when it detects any movement. You can also connect the Blink Mini to an Echo Show and can use the system to monitor any room in your home, such as your kids’ bedroom at night.

Buy Blink Mini camera package at Amazon – $35

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Robinhood lays off nine percent of its full-time employees

Robinhood is letting around nine percent of its full-time employees go, company CEO Vlad Tenev has announced. In a blog post, Tenev said the company grew rapidly throughout 2020 and in the first half of 2021, thanks to several factors that include COVID-19 lockdowns. Robinhood’s revenue grew from $278 million in 2019 to over $1.8 billion in 2021, and it hired so many new employees to “meet customer and market demands” that its headcount grew from 700 to nearly 3,800.

Tenev explained that the rapid growth in headcount led to “some duplicate roles and job functions” and the the company decided that reducing its workforce is the right move to improve efficiency. “We will retain and continue to hire exceptional talent in key roles and provide additional learning and career growth opportunities for our employees,” he said. 

The CEO’s announcement comes just as the company’s stock hit its lowest closing price ($10) since it went public. As TechCrunch reports, it also comes just before Robinhood announces its first quarter results on April 28th and could be a measure meant to preempt investor disfavor in case its results fall short. 

Robinhood is known for pioneering commission-free stock trades and, as Tenev said, skyrocketed in popularity in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, its practices had previously drawn criticism, as well. In late 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission fined the company $65 million for “misleading customers about revenue sources and failing to satisfy duty of best execution.” It was also hit with a class action lawsuit after it restricted trading on GameStop and other “meme stocks.” And in late 2021, the company was targeted by a cyberattack that exposed the data of as many as 7 million users.

The Morning After: Mastodon, an open-source Twitter alternative, is having a moment

News of Twitter’s buyout has rattled some users, as Elon Musk indicated he plans to take a much more hands-off approach to content moderation. As is often the case when Twitter makes a change (or infers that one is coming), some users have threatened to leave the platform. Mastodon has been welcoming those that made the jump. Mastodon said it saw “an influx of approx. 41,287 users.”

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Mastodon

​​It’s not the first time Mastodon has benefited from Twitter drama. The company was briefly popular in 2017, following outrage over Twitter’s decision to remove user handles from the character limit for replies — yes, they were more innocent times.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Instagram is testing pinned posts for profiles

The app already allows you to add Stories above your photo grid.

Instagram recently began testing a feature for you to highlight specific posts above your photo grid. If you’re among the people the company has enrolled in the trial, you can access the feature by tapping the three dots at the top of a post and selecting the new “pin to your profile” option. It’s pretty much identical to the pinned options you get with other social networks, like Twitter and TikTok. But that’s not stopped Instagram taking inspiration from its rivals. Again.

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Roku will stream ‘John Wick 4,’ ‘Borderlands’ and other Lionsgate films for free

They’ll arrive immediately after their first streaming window on Starz.

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Roku

The Roku Channel has signed a multi-year deal with Lionsgate Films that will allow it to stream upcoming blockbusters like John Wick 4 and Borderlands for free. Roku will get those films in a timely fashion, too: right after their initial streaming windows on Lionsgate’s Starz platform.

Roku has made a steady push into free programming, buying all of Quibi’s short-form shows last year and later adding content from the Tribeca Film Festival, IGN, CBC News and AccuWeather.

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‘Elden Ring’ is getting an unofficial Game Boy demake

A demo captures the spirit of the game and that 8-bit ’90s Game Boy nostalgia.

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Reddit

Elden Ring is famous for its rich open world, but it just got turned into an… ambitious 8-bit rolling adventure demake. It was created by Reddit user Shintendo, who showed off an early demo set in Elden Ring‘s Chapel of Anticipation. There, a Tarnished faces off against the infamous Grafted Scion boss (and loses, again). Shintendo is aiming to release a demo by the end of May on Itch.io.

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EU warns Elon Musk that Twitter must follow local content rules to avoid ban

Musk’s plans for looser moderation are butting up against political reality.

The European Union’s Thierry Breton told the Financial Times that Musk’s Twitter will still be subject to EU regulations, including the new Digital Services Act governing efforts to fight misinformation. The Tesla chief is “welcome” but “there are rules” he still has to follow, Breton said. The Digital Services Act requires Twitter and other internet companies to share how they’re curbing false claims on their sites. It also bans ads targeting minors as well as specific ethnicities, political affiliations, religions and sexual orientations.

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The Energy Department will block sales of inefficient light bulbs

New efficiency standards may help reduce carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons.

The Department of Energy has finalized rules to block sales of many incandescent light bulbs. The measures bring in stricter efficiency standards, targeting light bulbs that emit less than 45 lumens per watt. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because the bulbs turned into a bit of political tennis. The most recent move reverses a decision by the Trump administration in 2019 to roll back stricter standards for bulbs. This was after the Obama administration established rules that would have blocked sales of inefficient light bulbs from January 1st, 2020.

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Ads are coming to YouTube Shorts

With YouTube’s Shorts gathering significant momentum over the past year, Google is now experimenting with ads on the platform, Bloomberg reported. At first, you’re likely to see app-install ads and other promotions, according to Google. “While it’s still early days, we’re encouraged by initial advertiser feedback and results,” said Google’s chief business officer Philipp Schindler on an investors call. 

Shorts launched in September 2020 to counter TikTok offering 15-second videos shot on mobile phones, and expanded to the US in March 2021. The platform now averages over 30 billion daily views, up more than four times over last year. “As we’ve always done with products, we focus on building a great user experience first, and we’ll work to build monetization over time,” said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

YouTube as a whole missed expectations by a good margin, posting $6.87 billion in sales compared to the $7.48 billion investors were expecting, according to Variety. Parent Alphabet also fell a bit short of targets with $68.01 billion in revenue, but that’s still up 8 percent over the same quarter last year.

Along with YouTube shorts, a bright spot was the YouTube TV cord-cutting subscription service that “continues to deliver substantial revenue growth,” the company said. Pichai also revealed that viewers watch more than 700 million hours of YouTube content per day on connected TVs. He added that YouTube will introduce new smartphone features for connected TVs this year that will make it easier for users to comment and share content.