DRM coming to power tools

[WLJ]

Bluetooth chips to prevent the power tool from coming on if it's not unlocked.
Probably easy to bypass and devices to unlock the chips on ebay in 10,9,8,7......
But for the honest law abiding consumer what happens if the chip fails and you don't have the receipt anymore?

Home Depot Fights Shoplifting With New Technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSXqO7VPKuk&t=68s

Louis Rossmann uses the example of i-phones which are locked up like crazy yet they're still stolen.

Home Depot introducing DRM to power tools to prevent theft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5QIjU4jRRs

[Bogie]

My store is adjacent to a Home Depot. Pretty much every day, I'll see Sumdood hustling along the sidewalk with three or four Milwaukee boxes.

[HankB]

Putting on my tinfoil conspiracy cap . . .

 

If they can electronically enable your power tool - they can electronically disable it as well.

How long until some marketing genius figures out that they can make customers pay an annual fee in order to keep using the power tool, the way Microsoft has done with more recent versions of MS Office?

[230RN]

Selecion from WLJ:

"Home Depot Fights Shoplifting With New Technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSXqO7VPKuk&t=68s"

Good delivery, but too long-winded.  Among the disqualifications for rational thinking, he forgot language skills in English.

I suspect this is one of  those solutions which will generate even more problems.  Sort of like Microsoft updates.   

[charby]

Putting on my tinfoil conspiracy cap . . .

 

If they can electronically enable your power tool - they can electronically disable it as well.

How long until some marketing genius figures out that they can make customers pay an annual fee in order to keep using the power tool, the way Microsoft has done with more recent versions of MS Office?

Farm tractor manufacturers are all ready going that way with software updates.

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Farm tractor manufacturers are all ready going that way with software updates.

If this continues on this path, there will be an increased demand for mules.

Woody

[MillCreek]

Seems like a similar concept to the chip now used in name-brand printer ink cartridges.  No chip, no ink, and no third-party cartridges.

[230RN]

If this continues on this path, there will be an increased demand for mules.

Woody

And draft horses.

https://ihearthorses.com/15-amazing-images-of-draft-horses-that-youll-love/

Big Jake, 20hands, record holder for size. Cuddly.

       

One wonders about miles per bale, though.

Roffle.

Terry, 230RN

[HankB]

One wonders about miles per bale, though.

Roffle.

Terry, 230RN

Actually, I was thinking the ranch hand cleaning the barn needs a Bobcat, not just a shovel and wheelbarrow.

[charby]

If this continues on this path, there will be an increased demand for mules.

Woody

Or just keep rebuilding old iron. Tractors don't need to eat year round.

[Boomhauer]

If this continues on this path, there will be an increased demand for mules.

Woody

Nah people like me will crack it and make it run.

[lee n. field]

Seems like a similar concept to the chip now used in name-brand printer ink cartridges.  No chip, no ink, and no third-party cartridges.

Helps keep support costs down.  Refills from "Ed's Toner Refill" or "Jimmy Chong's Finest Kind Plintel Ink (dot com)", tend not to be good for a printer.

[WLJ]

Seems like a similar concept to the chip now used in name-brand printer ink cartridges.  No chip, no ink, and no third-party cartridges.

Saw a story about the chip shortage affecting Canon ink cartridges and apparently someone in Canon decided to ship a bunch of cartridges without the required chip. Been reports since of Canon printers reporting Canon cartridges as counterfeit. DoH! 

[230RN]

Or just keep rebuilding old iron. Tractors don't need to eat year round.

Nah people like me will crack it and make it run.

I thought that was one of the problems:  They locked in their diagnostic and control codes so tightly that you had to take them to the dealers for just about anything.  I saw a thread on that recently, don't remember where.