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Most of these things are kinda useless without software support anymore though. Like where are you going to get any apps for an iphone 4 with the ancient OS? If

Most of these things are kinda useless without software support anymore though. Like where are you going to get any apps for an iphone 4 with the ancient OS? If you can find FOSS software replacements for some of these things like laptops you might be in luck, but things like old smart phones might as well be bricks, sadly. To be honest I mostly feel like I have the opposite problem this article describes. I have plenty of old working electronics that I pretty much can't give away because nobody wants it, but I feel bad throwing away something functional. I really wish these things weren't abandoned so quickly by the companies that make them.

mkr-hn 5y ago
There are charities that take old electronics to give to people who need them. I don't want to list any here since I'd have to do a background look to see if they're any good, but many come up on searching.
- emodendroket 5y ago
  Failing that, Best Buy accepts e-waste which is supposedly harvested for reusable parts.
- hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
  As someone who volunteered a lot at a charity thrift store, this can be problematic advice. If you don't know anyone who wants it, the charity probably doesn't either. With old phones for example, if it's years beyond OS updates, and hardly any apps in the App/Play stores will work on it, at this point it's really just a collector's item, or garbage. Poorer people don't want non-functional products, either.
  - mkr-hn 5y ago
    I was thinking of charities that specifically take old electronics to refurbish and give to people, not thrift shops where it'd rot on the shelf. Just stuff so people who, for example, might not have have a consistent home or the means to get a phone are reachable by social services. This was a bigger thing years ago, but maybe it's not as much anymore. All I could find was Cell Phones For Soldiers.
    - alisonkisk 5y ago
      Someone who desperately needs a smartphone (if you're homeless, a smartphone is much better than a laptop or desktop, even if you are wifi only and can't even swing $15/mo prepaid sim), needs a $50 current phone (widely available), not a $50 obsolete formerly fancy phone.

mkr-hn 5y ago

There are charities that take old electronics to give to people who need them. I don't want to list any here since I'd have to do a background look to see if they're any good, but many come up on searching.

emodendroket 5y ago
Failing that, Best Buy accepts e-waste which is supposedly harvested for reusable parts.
hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
As someone who volunteered a lot at a charity thrift store, this can be problematic advice. If you don't know anyone who wants it, the charity probably doesn't either. With old phones for example, if it's years beyond OS updates, and hardly any apps in the App/Play stores will work on it, at this point it's really just a collector's item, or garbage. Poorer people don't want non-functional products, either.
- mkr-hn 5y ago
  I was thinking of charities that specifically take old electronics to refurbish and give to people, not thrift shops where it'd rot on the shelf. Just stuff so people who, for example, might not have have a consistent home or the means to get a phone are reachable by social services. This was a bigger thing years ago, but maybe it's not as much anymore. All I could find was Cell Phones For Soldiers.
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
    Someone who desperately needs a smartphone (if you're homeless, a smartphone is much better than a laptop or desktop, even if you are wifi only and can't even swing $15/mo prepaid sim), needs a $50 current phone (widely available), not a $50 obsolete formerly fancy phone.