Has the meaning of bricks changed? It doesn't sound like these printers are permanently broken.
I would expect HN to maintain the distinction where "brick" means it won't work at all due to a software malfunction, and can't be restored to a working state via a hard reset button or software update via WiFi/USB.
Its technical meaning to engineers hasn't changed, and HN is a technical site full of engineers.
It is never used that way. Please do not say that. It is an intensifier.
They are not using the word "literally" to remind you that they did not in fact die.
It is often used figuratively. It never means figuratively.
It is not used to mean “figuratively”, it is figuratively as an intensifier for other figurative descriptions. If it was meant to mean “figuratively”, then it would be used in senses which the audience would not otherwise understand as figurative and be the thing which told them that the other term used was figurative; that is very much not the case.
HP broke the printers. It didn't brick them.
If something is bricked, it's permanent for a consumer at home. It can't be fixed with another software update, because the bricking prevents updates.
This can be fixed with a future update. Therefore it's not bricked. That's the definition of bricked.
They're currently broken (a temporary state). They're not bricked (a permanent state). The two words aren't synonyms.