Built to not last

Computerworld - That shiny new Android phone you just bought? Yeah, it's a piece of trash. No, I'm not some Google-hating Apple fanboy. The iPhone 4 is junk, too.

In consumer electronics, there has always been a certain amount of planned -- and unplanned -- obsolescence. Moore's Law says the number of transistors that can be crammed into a chip at low cost doubles every 18 months. And that means the awesomeness of gadgets doubles in the same period of time. Because consumer expectations rise with computing power, many gadgets quickly become both undesirable and unsellable, sending us back to Best Buy for more.

Proprietary tamper-proof pentalobular screw

Apple makes a proprietary tamper-proof "pentalobular" screw, which is designed to make it impossible for users to open Apple gadgets to repair them or replace their batteries.

The screw first debuted with the MacBook Pro in 2009, and has been recently added to the iPhone 4 and latest MacBook Air.