The Restart Project Podcast

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Restart Podcast Ep 14: Boosting reuse Oct 20, 2016

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Remember the three Rs? Reduce, reuse, recycle? Why is there so much focus on recycling and so little on the other Rs? Why do perfectly useable products end up in the shredder, when so many people go without in the world? This episode features an interview with Cat Fletcher, one of the UK's most articulate and passionate reuse activists. She played a key role in the founding of Freegle, a UK version of Freecycle, and has carved out a niche in Brighton, promoting reuse within the heart of her local council. Cat's vision of a people-centred resource efficiency is something many of us can get behind. We all reuse stuff, and we always have. And the internet has opened up new possibilities. The real question is whether government and innovators can help us to divert more from landfill and the shredder, in this twitchy, impatient era.

Restart Radio: Revealing our repair economy Oct 06, 2016

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Every day we see repair shops and hardware stores closing. For years in London, we've watched the vibrant repair economy along Tottenham Court Road decline. So many Restart Party goers come to us because they simply do not know where else to go for help with broken electronics. But we know all is not lost, just that some kinds of repair businesses are getting harder to find. We talked to Hackney Fixer James Diamond about mapping he is doing with us for the East London Waste Authority on repair businesses in east London. Through online and on-the-street research, James has identified over 160 repair businesses which fix battery-powered gadgets and appliances in four boroughs of east London. Half "exist" in some form online, and half survive entirely via word of mouth and passers-by. While some types of repair businesses are fading, like those for small appliances, others, especially for mobiles and tablets are growing. We talked about some of the main attributes that we are searching for in reliable businesses, that increase trust with consumers: transparent pricing structures, some form of warranty, issue receipts, among others. It turns out that only some businesses tick all of our boxes.

Restart Radio: The age of the remote kill switch Sep 28, 2016

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So last week we aired our podcast about updates. While we did definitely address “bad updates” and how they cause anxiety and annoyance, the general gist of the podcast was why updates should be good and why they are so often necessary. We got a comment from a volunteer taking us to task. Toshi wrote “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” Security update applies to broke, you should do it. We are not as default anti-upgrade as Toshi. But there is wisdom in his caution. Increasingly everything in our lives is powered by software – much of it designed and owned by manufacturers. From cars to coffee machines. This week a couple of stories came to light that had us considering more deeply the age we live in, and how software can be used to “kill” hardware or enforce obsolescence at scale. This week, with Restarter Dave Lukes we went into a “journey” into a possible age of “the remote kill switch”. If that sounds too sci-fi or too obscure, we started with the examples that came to our attention in recent weeks: HP printers and Samsung phones.

Restart Podcast Ep 13: Updates… the good, the bad and the meh Sep 20, 2016

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We all live with them, even sometimes in fear of them. It seems like they pop-up when we least expect them - sometimes when we least want them. We're talking about software and system updates. Some people are super update-phobic. Some are hugely indifferent, and some are even hugely excited by updates. The bottom-line is, updates are a necessary part of our software-powered world. We talk to Fairphone developer Dirk Vogt and PC Pro journalist Darien Graham-Smith about why updates are needed, and what makes a good update. At least two updates were required to complete this show, including podcast producer Dave Pickering's much-feared Windows 10 update.

Restart Radio: 3D printing, from prosthetics to blender spare parts Sep 15, 2016

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We hosted our friend Paul Sohi, 3D printing and digital fabrication expert, to talk us through the promise of new kinds of making. Paul explains what 3D printing actually is, how he got into it and tells us about some very exciting projects he has undertaken with his company Autodesk. Most recently, Paul helped paralympian cyclist Denise Schindler make a special prosthetic limb. (Yesterday she won a silver medal in Rio, w00t!) He has also been involved in preservation work with museums, including the V&A. We talked about how 3D-modelling has benefits for public education too, as objects and designs can be "shared" virtually. Our blenders may not be as precious as a museum artefact, or world-class athlete, but we talked at length with Paul about how 3D printing opens up new possibilities in the manufacture and distribution of spare parts for household appliances. Decentralised manufacture of spare parts could allow us to dramatically extend the lifespan of a whole class of appliances, which break because of failing plastic parts.

Restart Radio: Eco-labelling of laptops Sep 13, 2016

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Together with Restarter Dave Lukes, we interviewed environmental journalist Maxine Perella about changes announced by the European Commission to "eco-labelling" of laptops and portable computers. Eco-labelling has traditionally focused on energy consumption during the use phase, leaving out the impact of manufacture. The EU's eco-labelling schemes are voluntary, and before this change, very few laptop manufacturers were opting in. We ask about the influence of a voluntary standard - and the role of consumers to make "eco" choices. As an IT professional, Dave hints that companies could be interested in the standards, especially as they help define the ease of upgradability of laptops. And Maxine suggests that public sector procurement could be a way of promoting eco-labelled products. We then go through the criteria, which include some really welcome design standards that will help us repair.

Restart Radio: A phone box turns repair shop Sep 05, 2016

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While commercial repairers of small electricals are increasingly hard to find on the high street, there's one category of repair businesses on the rise: smartphone repair shops. Even though a lot of people are still giving up on their partly broken devices, often waiting for an upgrade, an increasing number of options exists for people interested in repairing mobile phones and tablets, at least from key brands. Alex Perjescu is co-founder of Lovefone, a London-based repair company which has been innovating by offering quality service at a speed that is unmatched by manufacturers' official services. A large portion of their work focuses on iOS devices. During the show, Alex tells us about their new development: a repair service housed inside an iconic London red phone box in Greenwich. Lovefone is testing the concept, hoping to open additional phone boxes in London and beyond in the future. Alex also shared Lovefone's main concerns and challenges going forward, especially the miniaturisation of devices making them less easily repairable. He also comments on the recently documented flaw in the iPhone 6 touchscreen chip.

Restart Radio: How long our stuff should last Jul 28, 2016

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There is a quite widespread perception that things do not last as long as they used to. How does this impact what we say and, more importantly, what we do? Researcher Alex Gnanapragasam focuses on sustainable consumption and product lifetimes in his work with the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (based at Nottingham Trent University). We talked about how people have different expectations for different categories of consumer goods. And that while we say we want long-lasting products, our buying patterns for some types of products, like electronic gadgets, show the opposite. But then other products are a genuine source of frustration - household appliances are great example. We asked if consumers consider embodied carbon and virtual water - the invisible impacts of manufacture - which increase the urgency of extending product lifetimes. And to close we discussed "lifespan labelling" and cost-per-year estimations - whether they could help consumers make greener, more satisfying decisions.

Restart Radio: Mobile and retro-gaming (Pokémon GO content warning!) Jul 21, 2016

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We started this episode with a discussion of recent gaming sensation Pokémon GO, which is an "augmented reality" game where users track and interact with virtual Pokémon creatures through their mobiles. (Apologies to those who tired of the topic!) If you'd like to understand why everybody is glued to their mobile screens more than normal, Restarter Ben Skidmore explains it for us. The game raises fascinating questions about the future of mobile and about the staying-power of games. We then talked about the popularity of retro-gaming with the news that Nintendo will re-release its classic games from the 80s bundled on a closed, mini console. It appears the company would like to step in and make money from older games, given the success of unsanctioned emulators. In principle we welcome this, but it remains to be seen whether this, like Pokémon GO, will be a flash in the pan.

Restart Radio: A community repair revival in Argentina Jul 14, 2016

Show notes

Recently we got an invitation to meet from an Instagram account that had caught our attention - the Club de Reparadores in Buenos Aires. We immediately bonded with Marina, one of the founders visiting London, and invited her to chat on the radio about waste, reuse, and repair in Argentina. We face similar constraints and problems, but the speed at which the Club de Reparadores grew says something special about Buenos Aires, and Marina and friends! We talked about the Argentinian context - informal waste pickers and recycling cooperatives, Fab Labs - but more general themes like 3D printing, and the role of good design and communication in reviving repair and more green behaviours. (N.b. while Marina is positive about the attempts to promote local, grassroots recycling cooperatives, she did tell us that larger companies are playing an increasingly dominant role in managing the city's waste and resources.)

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