Spotify Bricked the Car Thing, So Let's Unbrick it With Easy Mods!

[@brannndon]

Nocturne Devs here - Thanks for the review! Currently we're working hard on a new flashable image that removes the need for a Raspberry Pi while using it in a car and we hope to have that out soon. The image loading issues you're experiencing are interesting because nobody else has reported that yet - nonetheless we'll take a look and should have a fix out if its something other than a network issue.

[@anoraker]

I have near gigabit speeds, so I don't think that's the issue. I'll keep an eye out on this though!

[@aoiyu_]

@@anoraker it isn’t speeds that may be the issue, as both devices are local. It may be something as simple as some configuration on your router.

[@arobloxplayer106]

my subtitles replaced nocturne with knockturn

[@anoraker]

@@arobloxplayer106 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@nanobotkemo]

I'm glad there's people wanting to continue what car thing was. To this day I'm still surprised Spotify shut it down(they also didn't really handle the refund/compensation situation very well) out of curiosity I'm assuming most Spotify car thing callbacks run off a server of a sort and that's why people can't just make it into a media controller that runs through Bluetooth?

[@EnigmaNL]

It should be illegal for companies to just discontinue a device like this. They're just turning perfectly working devices into e-waste. I'm glad there's a community to resurrect these devices and to save them from going to waste.

[@anoraker]

I agree entirely with every thought. Many thanks and much credit to the people at Thing Labs for keeping the Car Thing alive.

[@ravinmalkoi1591]

It is illegal for a company to restrict features of a device, that you paid for. Mainly for devices like this. This isn't a subscription or a service like Nintendo Online for Wii, that can be discontinued. Still, the Wii is still functional for playing the games. The car thing is a device that interfaces with your mobile device and your car stereo/PC/etc. That is not a service or a subscription, it is the sole function of the device that worked for online and offline playing. You paid for a device with and for the sole function to be an interface for Spotify, you did not have it as a service, and you did not pay a subscription for the functionality of the device. With that being said, It is the primary and sole function of the device and thus is illegal for Spotify to block that function. Same applies to Cell phones... if you bought a phone, you should receive full access to every function of the phone. If a phone comes with the ability to act as a FM radio, it would be illegal for the company to disable it. You buy a device and all its functionality, excluding paid subscriptions and services. So if a company restricts access to the functions, that comes on the device, or they send an update that bricks the device (Which happened with Spotify), they have rendered your device useless to the feature it was bought to do... thus it is illegal. It would be like I sold you a car and months later I come and pour something in it to lock/brick the motor.

[@anoraker]

@@ravinmalkoi1591 Here in the US... not so much. Spotify probably further helped itself by (eventually after being shamed) offering refunds.

[@joeslinky]

Spotify did provide full refunds though. I got a full refund 3 years after I bought it.

[@TheGuillotineKing]

You didn't pay for it you got it for free

[@MrKaseythegreat]

The absolute best thing about car thing was the PHYSICAL controls. Being able to swap between my playlists at a buttons press removing the need to take my eyes off the road was the best feature. Touch screen controls will ALWAYS be worse for driving.

[@anoraker]

I agree. There was a lot of promise in the device... though the timing was probably bad.

[@SqualidsargeStudios]

So they bricked it because they don’t mant to support it anymore? A device people payed for, and work on keeping it from working. that’s illegal as all heck… it’s pathetic

[@anoraker]

Alas, in the US, it's not illegal. And Spotify never officially sold the Car Thing in the EU. But it is pretty terrible, yeah.

[@theiareproduction]

@@anoraker Never sold in the EU, that expains why I've never heard of it.

[@anoraker]

"Can't" and "don't wanna" are different things I'm afraid.

[@larvagandor]

Spotify should get sued for bricking these things on purpose so you can't use it in a different way.

[@LuckyDiamondGaming-ud3kj]

Something like the crew shutdown but car thing

[@joeslinky]

I love that whenever you are demonstrating a process, even if it’s repeated, you fully explain it so we don’t have to hop around to the first time you demonstrated it. Many people don’t do that!!

[@anoraker]

Thank you so much! I admit I did consider filming just a "here's Terbium" section and not repeating, it would have been easier. But I hoped erring on the side of "start to finish" for each project would be the most beneficial to the viewer. I'm glad to hear I was right!

[@plutoUwU]

as far as im aware, spotify is NOT trying to keep people from putting their own firmware on the car thing, they put the OS thats used on the car things on github but didnt say anything about it. i also think itd be impossible for them to re-brick a device if you flash a new OS to it that isnt linked to spotify unless they have physical implementations to keep devices bricked

[@anoraker]

If you watch, that’s not what I’ve said here. Spotify is bricking attempts to put older firmware that still had functionality on the Car Thing. Load an old version of Spotify's Car Thing firmware from before Spotify even announced it would brick devices... and you won't get as much functionality as you did a few days ago. At first all of it worked, and now half the features work. And this is modified firmware that won't update itself to newer versions.

[@fallingwater]

EU here, never heard about the Car Thing till now. My question: why do they disable it? I understand not wanting to support it, but if it's relying on the already existing Spotify service (and not, like, a custom API for it that needs to be maintained specifically) why not just discontinue further updates but leave the devices active? Seems like it'd cost them less to do that than to offer refunds...

[@nikaiwolf]

My Car Thing still hasnt gone to a bricked state. Using it in the office right now

[@frostbite1991]

a device $90 new is now broken and going for double on eBay. Ridiculous lol.

[@anoraker]

Yeah, especially when you consider that all original buyers were able to get a refund.

[@madhatter2k]

well its not broken any more!

[@williamtcastro]

Long live the Carthing

[@kyky121911]

This is why I wanna get one of these things

[@Aid.e]

Actual hero. Thanks so much! Got everything working.

[@Cyberbasty]

They want to break the opensource projects !?

[@anoraker]

So they aren't going out of their way to break open source projects specifically. But any project that relies totally on original functionality (like the unbrick mod that puts the Car Thing back onto an older version of the software/firmware) yes, Spotify is breaking that as it goes.

[@Ketsur0n]

It took them more effort to brick it they could have left it and let it get disconnected

[@IanBPPK]

The thing I'll miss most is the "okay spotify" feature. It integrated with the spotify app better than the other phone assistants and let me add songs to queues, playlists, and like them. It's a shame they're abandoning it, since it's very thought out and well built for what it is, even if fitted with just the needed specs. I'll go the unbrick route until it no longer works and use deskthing later I suppose.

[@2LOUD_VQ]

Im so pissed at Spotify for bricking these things. I just bought an Alexa Auto to replace my Car Thing but it doesn't work as good as the Car Thing. And it makes me so angry every time it screws up and plays something different than what i asked for or interrupts the music because you can’t change the wake up word from Alexa. Im so pissed off I'm going to switch to TIDAL instead!

[@HarperSeemsCool]

i want a spotify car thing that operates with apple music so badly. i really hope something comes out for the car thing like that.

[@verebellus]

i hate that buying hardware doesnt mean youll own something functional

[@anoraker]

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

[@legocreator768]

if it still turns on and shows images on the screen, its not a brick.

[@anoraker]

There is software brick and hardware bricking. It turns on and displays a message saying essentially "this no longer works, you can't do anything with it." It's a brick.

[@appropriate_name1]

So it uses a bootloader exploit in the mobile cpu to flash firmware?

[@Emancipatriot]

Just some random advice. If you want to show a windows or Linux tutorial, just load up a virtual machine. No such thing as not having windows available. This can apply to any video like this

[@anoraker]

Or I can show love to another channel that already has a great tutorial. Thanks for watching!

[@juniorsilvabroadcast]

Virtual machine sometimes glitches up things like that. Very uncommon but it can happen. A real Windows or Linux setup is safer

[@anoraker]

@@juniorsilvabroadcast agreed. And that all I have is M processor Macs right now adds additional complexities, especially when trying to attach USB devices through the VM.

[@ubacow7109]

Can we convert it into a custom car dash instead that we can control ECU functions and monitor sensors from?

[@anoraker]

Someone is working on a project to show car gauges and so forth, but it's in super early stages and not released in any form yet. You can check out the Thing Labs discord to learn more. Look for the community projects section. discord.gg/car-thing-hax-community-1042954149786046604

[@douglas-wang]

Can I use Apple Music after modded my carthing？😢

[@anoraker]

to my knowledge, no one has pulled off Apple music integration yet.

[@Michael-Martell]

Couple instructions in the Deskthing section that was unnecessarily complicated for the average user. 1. in the terminal you can simply drag your applications folder into the terminal rather than the cd etc.. and having to get to any local file path. 2. you can completely skip my step #1 above and just go to settings > Security & Privacy > then near the bottom you'll see Deskthing and it will have a button, just click on "Allow", it will ask if you're sure and just enter in your password when it promps you. It'll then open up deskthing and you'll never need to go through those steps again.

[@anoraker]

Great tips! Although the second one didn't work for me, which is why I didn't demonstrate it. I have seen a couple people mention it worked for them now though, so glad you called it out.

[@Czaro-k3r]

the best is that car thing is alive again

[@asbfabfoaijfo8]

this looks so fucking cool i want it. as like a temperature monitor on laptop, any alternatives to this?

[@anoraker]

So you could build the Desk Thing with a Raspberry Pi alone. I'm working on a guide for that right now.

[@kyzo_124]

I don't get why Spotify would break this even more. I mean people bought it with their money and now we are finding a use for these again and Spotify is actively trying to break it again! That should be illegal! I mean it should fall under breaking someones property! This is why open-source stuff is so important F those big companies.

[@anoraker]

Just to clarify, Spotify isn't breaking any of the true coded from the ground up projects. It's just any attempt to load older versions of the original car thing firmware to bring back functionality that Spotify is breaking. You can't get your original car thing back, alas.

[@InfinityNebula1]

WHERE IS THE 100K SUBS?

[@anoraker]

If everyone who watched subbed, I'd be over that by now! ... long way to go, but I'll get there. Thank you so much for the encouragement!

[@isheamongus811]

17:39 right click and open?

[@anoraker]

Yep. Or cmd+click if you don't have a two-button mouse.

[@isheamongus811]

@@anoraker or WIN+CLICK :)

[@davidlanfair]

Okay this is all great info. Hmmmmm. I am using a Hi-Fi Berry, will figure out the best one to use with the car thing.

[@KazeeSnowe]

So I'm currently stuck in a loop. I get to a point that I put the device into burn mode, but after a few seconds, the devices launches anyways and I get sent to the screen with the message for discontinuation. I thought trying to a factory reset from the Car Thing would work, but it doesn't. Is there a way around this? I'm currently doing this on Windows 11.

[@anoraker]

My guess is you’re not quite getting the buttons. It’s an awkward push. It can be easier to hold the buttons with one hand and unplug/plug back in on the Device side as opposed to the car thing itself. The screen should never turn on with burn mode.

[@KazeeSnowe]

@@anoraker I ended up changing wires and doing the method you mentioned and now has worked. This might be a car thing feature as the deviced turned on and showed "Car Thing Burn Mode is activated". Thank you Kindly!

[@The_Tech_Kid]

That's just Android. Wipe it and install stock android on it. Or install a launcher via USB debugging

[@anoraker]

Hah nice try but no… not even close. None of that will work.

[@RyanCase94]

Why won't it work?

[@anoraker]

@@RyanCase94 To start, this isn't Android. It's Linux. And then on top of that, it's not powerful to run Android... it's not even powerful enough to run Android Auto. It has a pretty weak processor (by modern standards), very little RAM, no Wi-Fi capabilities... and so on. It was designed to run a glorified web page, and that's all it's really capable of doing.

[@DoctorKaw]

i wonder if someone tried to use it on a 3d printer.

[@anoraker]

Yep, I've seen it used as a klipper screen.

[@TecoCoding]

run doom on it

[@anoraker]

It's been done... ish? Guess I could make a video about it I suppose.

[@TecoCoding]

oh wow I didn't expect an actual response what the he-

[@ThorFN43]

Thank you

[@anoraker]

You're welcome!

[@Sparkette]

Is Spotify really trying to break this?

[@anoraker]

Already broke it, yes.

[@Sparkette]

@@anoraker On purpose? Or is it only a side effect of changes to their service?

[@SwipyWimpy]

​@Sparkette They just break their device. Spotify is like, "nah, we're not supporting this device, we're giving up!" And they added a code that shows up, "Car thing is not supported"

[@polocatfan]

​@@anorakercalling bullshit on this. Spotify isn't stupid enough to break something like this when they aren't supporting it anymore. that would absolutely open them up to a lawsuit lmao.

[@anoraker]

@@Sparkette On purpose, and they've made both device side changes and server changes to remove its functionality. Several updates to the device and app removed it's "add a car thing" feature for instance. But the Car Thing was HEAVILY dependent on server side work.... all the Car Thing really did was load up a bare-bones webpage, and then the server provided everything else... album artwork, play buttons, playlists, you name it. They've already killed much of that, and will continue to remove more as they go.

[@Idontknowwhattoputhere3]

I have thinglabs installed but neither glance thing or desk thing can find the device, is there any fix? I'm using windows btw

[@anoraker]

Does it show thing labs as it boots up and end on the Spotify setup screen?

[@Idontknowwhattoputhere3]

Yeah but when I try to find the device on the glance thing app it can’t find the device

[@xtc0]

no brave? thats crazy

[@anoraker]

At this point, Terbium now supports the Brave browser. When I was filming/first published, Brave didn't work because it doesn't support some features Terbium used to access the Car Thing through USB.

[@xtc0]

@ okay thank you so much, used edge anyways but thank you anyways very insightful video much appreciated

[@izRiprod]

Hype ✨

[@graywolf2694]

I expected the car thing to be cheap now, was wrong

[@anoraker]

Alas, the price for many of them are outrageous. Spotify wishes it could sold them for these prices.

[@teddygil1990]

i would love for it to work with apple music one day

[@Kalphalus]

Everyone wants different app sets. I prefer KZbin Music, and am considering making software for the Desk Thing to use KZbin Music once I’m done learning to code. This isn’t to say that that’s a bad idea, I don’t care what music software others use, but there will likely be a Apple Music version in the next few months (If it doesn’t already exist (I haven’t checked yet))

[@anoraker]

Good luck with KZbin Music. Alas, Google doesn't provide an API for it, so that makes supporting YT music pretty difficult at best.

[@Kalphalus]

@@anoraker I figured out Google has no official API, I am considering 3 main options, Im considering the 3rd party KZbin Music API, using the KZbin API and getting it running on a Music interface, and using basically a Chrome Extension to modify the Music site to work for the Car Thing.

[@anoraker]

Definitely suggest checking in at the DeskThing and ThingLabs discords if you haven't already. And if you get YT music up and running let me know, I'm still considering a follow up updated video at some point.

[@thomasjefferson3552]

is there an alternative?

[@anoraker]

I've made a DIY version that's Eink and lives on your desk. Currently working on a DIY version for your car. But as for one you can buy... not as much.

[@kpwn930]

where can i still get one for cheap

[@anoraker]

Unfortunately, that's a difficult prospect. People are trying to sell them for more than they originally cost, which is ridiculous ... especially when Spotify offered full refunds (after they got in trouble for not doing that).

[@dvsur]

4:00, 9:05

[@luca7069]

Hopefully "normal people" dump this on facebook marketplace now that the thing is bricked officially. This would make a perfect upgrade to my desk setup, but they are impossible to find.

[@anoraker]

They're here and there... but yes finding them at a reasonable price has been difficult.

[@RandomytchannelGD]

YOYOYOYO

[@anoraker]

Yo?

[@kairu_b]

Nice

[@scottfranklin32]

DOES NOT WORK

[@anoraker]

What doesn’t work? With more detail maybe I can help.

[@Aid.e]

Worked for me.

[@Aid.e]

Worked for me.

[@pepijn_m]

Tbf if you don't want it anymore just sell it. People are way to hyped about the device. You probably earn your money back selling it 😂

[@anoraker]

Ok?

[@michaelepica3564]

Missing the point entirely