TIL that printer companies implement programmed obsolescence by embedding chips into ink cartridges that force them to stop printing after a set expiration date, even if there is ink remaining.

Gotta give it to China's flavor of communist/capitalist culture. It's part of the reason many Chinese companies when they heard about the open source and open standards movements in the west, they just responded with "we have been doing that this entire time and were wondering when western companies would figure out that intentionally making your competition fail or exploiting and holding your customers hostage isn't the same as actually being successful". They really frown on people behaving in ways that are anti-social, dishonest, or a detriment to society. They are even doubling down with the national social credit score system.

To us this seems rather dystopian... but you have to admit that it does seem like it is actually working out pretty well for them.

/r/todayilearned Thread Parent Link - en.wikipedia.org