By Graham K. Rogers

Anyone with an interest in the technology of new devices might well be aware of iFixit, a site dedicated to user repairs. These are the guys who buy the first versions of iPhones, iPads, Macs and other devices then strip them down, photographing and commenting on each stage. The most recent shown on their site is the Nintendo 3DS XL Teardown.

In this way users may be able to follow a disassembly and perhaps do the job themselves if a home repair is in order. iFixit also comment on the viability of such repairs, giving low scores for some recent Apple releases, like the MacBook Pro.

There is also an iOS app for iFixit and this was updated this weekend (15 Feb). It is now at version 1.9. The sole (significant) change is that it now has 64-bit support.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life.