a slow day... which makes me reflect about technology

So this day seems to be just bound to be slow.

I decided to backup my photos, right away in the morning on first attempt I've found the size is already too much for my 2 empty CDs. Besides, just to copy them to the computers harddrive takes more then an hour. Then, burning just two CDs would be almost an hour again (I don't burn on highspeeds unless I really trust both the burner and the media - and that's not the case of internet cafés and cheap CDs. Its quite upsetting to have to throw the disk away after 15 minutes of burning!).

And I don't want to carry the camera around without the pictures backed up.

So, after opulent breakfast - a great advantage of my hostel and a reason why I am staying more nights - I went downtown to shop for an USB. I've actually found quite a nice one in discount, but still just the copying will take more than an hour. I've bought SONY in the end... for in my experience, their products are very durable. The discman I've bought in 2003 in the US still runs strong, and although it has some clear engineering mistakes, it did never break down. And not to speak about its brother - one of the very first discmans ever - which I've bought in 2005 from a thriftstore in Bozeman, Montana, for 75 cents (!) - and it worked, and still works, and it even plays home-burned CDs even though that technology, as I suspect, wasn't diffused by the time of its release to the market.

So I put my trust into the brand, and I hope, that the pendrive will be here for a few years, and not break down like most others did (only the very first I had, 256MB one, still works, as the producers as I suspect make only the first editions properly to position them on the market, whereas later its all about cutting costs - and lifespan...). And each and every time it was a mechanical failure at the connector - a lot of strain occurs there, but engineeres could easily forsee that, couldn't they?

But thats not the priority for affordable products to avoid these setbacks these days.

My camera - the same story - as for the LCD display the problem that occured clearly stems from faulty engineering. And could be fixed easily. In the end, I've semi-fixed it with no proper technology! Because, what happened is that the two-line flat cable that provides power for the light emitting background of the LCD - which makes it readable - was bent over to make it make a right-angle turn - and offcourse, being it such a tiny cable, it eventually broke there!

And even though the problem would be fixed by fixing that cable, or changing it, where the cable can't cost more than a dollar, the "authorized service" generously offered change of the whole LCD for price surpassing the one of a whole new camera (probably here for input of the skilled work, which consists of taking the camera apart with a screwdriver and releasing the cables from their connectors - which I admit I would not know how to do, but it can't be too complicated).

And that is properly annoying, let me tell you! Especially here in South America, where so many people will probably never be able to have any camera at all, and here a good camera almost goes to waste, where it technically could be fixed for some 5 $ - properly! Where as, as I've said, I've semi-fixed it using a razorblade, a lighter and a scotch tape and some 1,5 hours of time. The difference between 5 and 150 $ isn't a decisive barrier for me perhaps, but it IS for millions of people in the world!

And that once again proves what Marx said, that "market value" and "utility value" are two entirely distinct things! (and that can be used to your advantage or disadvantage:)

If all the stuff that is in the back of your drawers, along perhaps with description of what happened, was collected and then sent to less developped countries, then fixed or sorted out for recycling... I think you could provide the community with some cheap stuff with good utility value, and guys fixing it - why not kids who are being trained for electricla engineering carreers? - could learn some valuable lessons like that! Not only about fixing stuff, but about building it as well, as these failures usually reveal some typical weak spots.