Every year, I write my 3 letters to reduce electronic waste.  Nay, I am not an environmental freak.  I just don't like companies producing so many bad products hoping they end up in the trash, so consumers must buy replacements or upgraded products.

I am seeing responses in the form of more information about what we can do to properly dispose of our electronic (mercury, etc.) waste.  That's good.

However, one of my letters every year is to Apple Corporation.  They are notorious for building stuff that cannot be fixed or upgraded, and must be discarded and new ones bought. 

The iPod was famous for this we-want-you-to-throw-it-away-when-your-battery-fails aspect.  I heard there is a guy in NY that starting fixing iPods for friends, then friends of friends, then posted on Craigslist for the service, then had to raise his service fees because he was overwhelmed by the response from customers.  Apple was charging 10 times what he was charging, so he kept getting more business than he could handle.  I hope that guy becomes rich.

I love it when people think outside the box and find ways to defeat poor business practices.  Free market occasionally wins.