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What's up with all this iCrap?

AutoTeck84

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Joined
Nov 8, 2015
Messages
105
I know this is just a stupid rant but I can't stand tools that start with the little i, to appear hip and cool I guess. I have seen tools called ifixit. I wouldn't be caught dead using tools that make me sound like I ride the short bus. I just think of a 2yr old saying "look mama ifixit! Ima big boy! And digital calipers called iGaging. Geesh, way to make your company never matter to anyone that does matter.
 
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JRC3

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Jun 30, 2014
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Southwestern OH
JerrySeinfeld9.jpg



I had to. LOL
 

davethorik

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Sep 14, 2013
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Location
Norka, Ohio
I've seen iGaging mentioned on this site, but being a machinist for 8 years, I've never seen a single iGaging anything, anywhere. Probably not going to invest in any, not just because of the ******* name, but I'm not going to be buying offshore sourced measuring tools from a company I've never heard of.
 

L.Cheapo

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Oct 23, 2014
Messages
5,984
iSee your point, but someone, somewhere, will fall for the marketing gimmick that it is.
 

DekeT

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Aug 12, 2011
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Location
USA
I I have seen tools called ifixit. I wouldn't be caught dead using tools that make me sound like I ride the short bus. I just think of a 2yr old saying "look mama ifixit! Ima big boy! .

What makes you think you are better than the people that ride a short bus? What is wrong with a 2 year old being proud of himself? Your attitude stinks.
 

pepi

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Joined
Mar 27, 2013
Messages
2,883
Location
Woodstock, GA
I know this is just a stupid rant but I can't stand tools that start with the little i, to appear hip and cool I guess. I have seen tools called ifixit. I wouldn't be caught dead using tools that make me sound like I ride the short bus. I just think of a 2yr old saying "look mama ifixit! Ima big boy! And digital calipers called iGaging. Geesh, way to make your company never matter to anyone that does matter.


:lol: so true ! last place I'd be looking :thumbup:
:lol:
 

BrokewrenchLS1

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Joined
Jul 10, 2011
Messages
1,650
Location
WV
I've seen iGaging mentioned on this site, but being a machinist for 8 years, I've never seen a single iGaging anything, anywhere. Probably not going to invest in any, not just because of the ******* name, but I'm not going to be buying offshore sourced measuring tools from a company I've never heard of.

Not a machining environment, but I use one of their angle cubes in a test lab regularly, and it's never come back from calibration outside of the +/- 1.5% tolerance allowed. I don't disagree that the name is a bit goofy, but no complaints on what they make.
 
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1940_dodge

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Joined
Oct 8, 2013
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190
Location
Great Falls, MT
it's all about iNgenuity, iNnovation, and iMagination. If you don't want to be part of the solution, get out of the market!

other acceptable buzzwords: Cohesion, Value, Leadership
 

larry_g

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Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
16,892
Location
oregon
I don't know if your old enough to remember when "extreme" was the adjective of choice. To this day I won't buy anything that is extreme. i is just the new extreme.

lg
no neat sig line
 
OP
A

AutoTeck84

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Nov 8, 2015
Messages
105
What makes you think you are better than the people that ride a short bus? What is wrong with a 2 year old being proud of himself? Your attitude stinks.

Wow. Of course there's nothing wrong with either. I have a 2yr old that's why I made that analogy.
 

jallyn

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Joined
Jun 29, 2015
Messages
448
Location
Fort Wayne, Indiana
blame apple.

^^^this. Apple has gained huge market penetration as one of the largest valued companies in the world. they started with iPod, iPhone, iPad, and now, yes, the iCrap. Everybody thinks that little "i" in front of a word makes it modern, high-quality, and quite probably increases your chances with the ladies.
 

Eric Essen

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Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Messages
47
Location
San Luis Obispo, Ca
iFixit was not a name chosen for a tool brand. It represents an organization that promotes repair and has been around for 13 years. One of the many things it does happens to be design and manufacture tools to help fund that.

I run the tool division, and while you may find the name to be gimmicky, we work very hard to put out tools that are not. I spent ~10 years in computer repair, and ~10 years as a mechanic before iFixit, and HATE tools/toolkits designed by people who have no experience using them. Every bit and tool in our kits has applications and has been researched to make sure it's relevant.

Most of iFixit is involved in repair advocacy and running the free repair manual for everything, and is a community similar to Wikipedia. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Harley...volution+Transmission-Primary+Oil+Change/6222 This guide I worked on has more than 100,000 views.

We are behind things like fixing the DMCA http://www.fixthedmca.org/ which allows manufacturers to prosecute people for repairing their own vehicles/phones and other objects you would think you own. We've won major exemptions to it. Remember the guys that figured out the VW diesel scandal? They broke the law to do it, we've since overturned that.

We are the teardown folks, we take stuff apart and assign it repairability scores, that is what most people know us for and why we're in the news every week: https://www.google.com/#q=ifixit&tbm=nws
Some of my favorite teardowns:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Tracking+Device+Teardown/5250
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Lightsaber+Teardown/41157

We have written our own curriculum that teaches technical writing and repair, used by more than 50 universities, and is a required course for engineering students http://edu.ifixit.com/

And we've taken our repair manual software, made a commercial version that now runs factories around the world, teaches surgeons at medical schools and more. http://www.dozuki.com/resources/our-story

@AutoTeck84 - You are in the USA? PM me your address and I'll send you some tool samples to check out. I'm sure you'll find them much less gimmicky than you do the name!

I know this is just a stupid rant but I can't stand tools that start with the little i, to appear hip and cool I guess. I have seen tools called ifixit. I wouldn't be caught dead using tools that make me sound like I ride the short bus. I just think of a 2yr old saying "look mama ifixit! Ima big boy! And digital calipers called iGaging. Geesh, way to make your company never matter to anyone that does matter.
 

dclassical

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Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
1,130
As the poster above me said iFixIt is a great website and resource for repairs and information. I have not used their tools because I do not do much computer repair anymore (and used the tools I had on hands) but having the right tool for the job is obviously important.
 

rsanter

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Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,523
Location
visalia ca
iFixit was not a name chosen for a tool brand. It represents an organization that promotes repair and has been around for 13 years. One of the many things it does happens to be design and manufacture tools to help fund that.

I run the tool division, and while you may find the name to be gimmicky, we work very hard to put out tools that are not. I spent ~10 years in computer repair, and ~10 years as a mechanic before iFixit, and HATE tools/toolkits designed by people who have no experience using them. Every bit and tool in our kits has applications and has been researched to make sure it's relevant.

Most of iFixit is involved in repair advocacy and running the free repair manual for everything, and is a community similar to Wikipedia. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Harley...volution+Transmission-Primary+Oil+Change/6222 This guide I worked on has more than 100,000 views.

We are behind things like fixing the DMCA http://www.fixthedmca.org/ which allows manufacturers to prosecute people for repairing their own vehicles/phones and other objects you would think you own. We've won major exemptions to it. Remember the guys that figured out the VW diesel scandal? They broke the law to do it, we've since overturned that.

We are the teardown folks, we take stuff apart and assign it repairability scores, that is what most people know us for and why we're in the news every week: https://www.google.com/#q=ifixit&tbm=nws
Some of my favorite teardowns:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Tracking+Device+Teardown/5250
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Lightsaber+Teardown/41157

We have written our own curriculum that teaches technical writing and repair, used by more than 50 universities, and is a required course for engineering students http://edu.ifixit.com/

And we've taken our repair manual software, made a commercial version that now runs factories around the world, teaches surgeons at medical schools and more. http://www.dozuki.com/resources/our-story

@AutoTeck84 - You are in the USA? PM me your address and I'll send you some tool samples to check out. I'm sure you'll find them much less gimmicky than you do the name!


I have used their website for help and I have bought a few of their tools
Decent stuff for the money, and some of it was otherwise hard to find

Bob
 

2oolhound

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Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
5,918
Location
BC Canada
iFixit was not a name chosen for a tool brand. It represents an organization that promotes repair and has been around for 13 years. One of the many things it does happens to be design and manufacture tools to help fund that.

I run the tool division, and while you may find the name to be gimmicky, we work very hard to put out tools that are not. I spent ~10 years in computer repair, and ~10 years as a mechanic before iFixit, and HATE tools/toolkits designed by people who have no experience using them. Every bit and tool in our kits has applications and has been researched to make sure it's relevant.

Every bit? Do you mean as in byte? My understanding of the use of "i" prefixes (as in ifixit) or (ilink) etc etc is the "i" represents the 1st character of the digital language where in there are only 2 characters, "i" and "o". In the digital world everything is represented by strings of combinations of these two characters. i/o is the new digital language. I've always assumed this is why companies like Apple use it in front of their devices.

Thanks for chiming in Eric, I'll have to check out some of your links in your post. In the mean time lets hope Apple doesn't start making real tools or would that be itools for tools.
 

jallyn

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Joined
Jun 29, 2015
Messages
448
Location
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Every bit? Do you mean as in byte? My understanding of the use of "i" prefixes (as in ifixit) or (ilink) etc etc is the "i" represents the 1st character of the digital language where in there are only 2 characters, "i" and "o". In the digital world everything is represented by strings of combinations of these two characters. i/o is the new digital language. I've always assumed this is why companies like Apple use it in front of their devices.

Thanks for chiming in Eric, I'll have to check out some of your links in your post. In the mean time lets hope Apple doesn't start making real tools or would that be itools for tools.

actually i/o refers to input(s)/output(s). Of course the digital language you refer to is the base-2 numbering system consisting of 1's and 0's. Apple's "i" prefix is not so definite but for some light reading on the subject: http://highnames.com/apple-and-the-i-prefix/
 

Milwookie

Banned
Joined
Apr 20, 2016
Messages
162
iFixIt started as a website with articles on fixing Apple devices. It grew into a website with articles about fixing all manner of computing hardware, and they introduced a set of rebranded Chinese tools to facilitate disassembly. Hence the name.
 

Eric Essen

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Messages
47
Location
San Luis Obispo, Ca
they introduced a set of rebranded Chinese tools to facilitate disassembly. Hence the name.

Our tools are made all around the world, not just China.
Many of our kits are assembled here in California (because they contain parts made in Taiwan, China, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, and the USA). I have also handmade 1,000's of specialty tools for iFixit myself, in my workshop at home on homemade jigs and tools. iFixit branded tools are designed in-house, and the molds are owned by iFixit. It takes 30-90 days for the Chinese to start copying anything new we put out. They are all watching us closely because we're one of the only companies actually developing new tools, not just picking out of a catalog.

Here's some of our guys in San Luis Obispo California assembling iFixit toolkits right now, 10 feet from the office where they were designed.

IMG_1562.JPG
 

2oolhound

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Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
5,918
Location
BC Canada
How does a geek spell TOOL?

e - i - e - i - o

…………………………………………

i-o-i-o
it's back to work igo
 

hoye0017

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2016
Messages
60
Our tools are made all around the world, not just China.

Many of our kits are assembled here in California (because they contain parts made in Taiwan, China, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, and the USA). I have also handmade 1,000's of specialty tools for iFixit myself, in my workshop at home on homemade jigs and tools. iFixit branded tools are designed in-house, and the molds are owned by iFixit. It takes 30-90 days for the Chinese to start copying anything new we put out. They are all watching us closely because we're one of the only companies actually developing new tools, not just picking out of a catalog.



Here's some of our guys in San Luis Obispo California assembling iFixit toolkits right now, 10 feet from the office where they were designed.



IMG_1562.JPG



I've purchased kits and tools from ifixit. Surprisingly good quality and precision.

Having purchased and struggled with other cheaper kits for iOS device repair, I can definitely say these are "pro" quality. I would usually throw away the junk from the other guys but these tools I kept.

Either way, Eric, you have to admit, the majority of things whose name/brand begins with an "i" are junk. So much so that it makes it hard to believe anything with an i is good quality product anymore (outside of Apple devices).
 
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