Daily Authority: 🔨 Samsung’s self-repair expansion?

🎮 Good morning, and welcome to Tuesday’s Daily Authority! I treated myself to a Nintendo Switch in the Black Friday sales, and have been enjoying playing Strange Horticulture. It seems like the perfect game for these dark, chilly November days.

Samsung recently filed a new trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a mobile app called “Self Repair Assist.”

• According to SamMobile, the app’s icon shows a cogwheel and a wrench with a blue background.
• The app’s description reads: “Computer application software for mobile phones for self-installation and self-maintenance of smartwatches, tablets, mobile phones, and earbuds.”
• Samsung already announced its self-repair program back in August, partnering with well-known repair guide and gadget teardown company iFixit.
• iFixit provides step-by-step guides and genuine repair parts for Samsung customers.
• Right now, though, the program is limited to Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S21 series phones and the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus.
• Users can buy kits to replace their device’s screen, back glass, and charging ports.

The time’s ripe for expansion

• At the time of launch, Samsung said it would add more phones and parts to its self-repair program in the future, and that future could be coming soon.
• The possibility of a standalone app hints that the company’s partnership with iFixit could be coming to an end, so you may not need to rely on iFixit to self-repair your Samsung device.
• Of course, right now, this is just conjecture, and we’ve no way of knowing whether the app will ever see the light of day, or if Samsung will add earbuds and smartwatches to its self-repair program.
• With millions of new devices sold throughout Black Friday weekend, it would certainly be a good move to cut down the amount of waste generated by disposing of broken devices that could be repaired.

Does the idea of video games for dogs sound barking mad? That’s what startup Joipaw is proposing.

• According to Axios Gaming, though the company’s games are still being prototyped, they run on a custom saliva-resistant touch-screen console that dogs play on with their snouts.
• The console dispenses treats when the dog wins a game.
• Games so far include a whack-a-mole style game, and one designed to see if the dog can identify which side of the screen has more bubbles.
• These aren’t designed as a replacement for spending time with your dog, but it’s hoped they can give dogs a mental workout, enrich the lives of shelter dogs, and possibly even help dogs suffering from dementia in the future.
• Joipaw co-founder Dersim Avdar, an avid gamer, was looking for a way to keep his dog occupied when he read a 2017 study testing touch-screen games on almost 300 dogs (and 20 wolves) that saw potential cognitive benefits for dogs with aging brains.
• In tests, researchers initially needed to put peanut butter on the screen to get the dogs’ attention.
• Though it’s still early days, Joipaw’s science advisor, Clara Mancini, believes the research is “very promising” — and notes that because video games become progressively more difficult, they can offer benefits that other dog toys can’t.

Have an excellent rest of your day!

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor.