I was playing around with a keyboard at a Guitar Center that had an auto-harmonize feature. Below a certain note pressing a key would play a chord instead of a single tone. What was interesting was that playing chromatically (white and black keys) it played chords that retained a firm sense of key (C major) - if you jumped around randomly or did chromatic runs it didn't sound like there were a bunch of modulations taking place. What formula do you think it used to do this?
posted by phrontist on Aug 31, 2009 - 8 answers

Is there a service that will email me once a day, and if I don't respond, contact local EMS? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Aug 28, 2009 - 16 answers

I work in a small office with a small budget where the only full-time employees are my assistant and I, and we have separate offices. Our office has two phone lines. When one is busy, the other rings. Line one is our published office number. We each have our own voice mailbox. The problem is that you only get the "Press 1 to speak to [her], press 2 to speak to [me]" when both lines are busy or no one answers. I want to set up things so that people can select who they would like to speak to before the phone rings on our end. [more inside]
posted by 4ster on Aug 4, 2009 - 4 answers

A few years ago I used to use a handy Mac utility that would automatically click the blue default button after x number of seconds of inactivity. I have not been able to find it in recent attempts and, for that matter, do not know if it would work with OS X. Anyone have any familiarity with this or something equivalent?
posted by ranebo on Jul 10, 2009 - 2 answers

Gmail, can you please stop automatically adding to my contacts list!? [more inside]
posted by wastelands on Jun 5, 2009 - 7 answers

Is there a way to automatically connect to a vpn upon connecting to a specific wireless network (preferably in Windows 7)? [more inside]
posted by chndrcks on May 19, 2009 - 0 answers

Is there a way that I can get Twitter to automatically send a private message to new followers, to thank them for following me? [more inside]
posted by toomuchkatherine on May 14, 2009 - 11 answers

Anyone have suggestions for a good timed feeder for cats? [more inside]
posted by oflinkey on Apr 26, 2009 - 8 answers

Is there a program/script that will automatically create a beatmatched mix a from a folder filled with techno mp3s? [more inside]
posted by jcruelty on Mar 12, 2009 - 5 answers

Looking to buy a new watch, something nice for daily wear but that won't break the bank. Suggest some great watch-makers. Looking for reputable and quality watch company suggestions. Criteria and background expanded on in full q! [more inside]
posted by PetiePal on Dec 17, 2008 - 26 answers

I have to create a bunch of contact sheets (actually like 600) of photos in different directories. This sounds like it should be easy, but of course there's... [more inside]
posted by sandra_s on Dec 16, 2008 - 6 answers

What's the best way to mass install over an Active Directory network? [more inside]
posted by Whoop on Dec 9, 2008 - 16 answers

I'm going in for my first surgery ever in a week or two and have two different questions... 1) can a person get "life insurance" that covers surgery? Short term, specific type. 2) is there a way to write out notes to folks (emails, things to be printed) and have an automatic delivery system if for any reason I don't stop the delivery? [more inside]
posted by Blackie on Dec 8, 2008 - 12 answers

How can I arrange it so that my Firefox history is automatically purged of sites of a certain domain like imdb.com or facebook.com? [more inside]
posted by sittered on Nov 14, 2008 - 7 answers

Automatic watering tanks/reservoirs? (not necessarily for plants) [more inside]
posted by wongcorgi on Oct 21, 2008 - 2 answers

What drum machine / sample set / sequencer did the Jesus and Mary Chain use to get the distinctive drum sounds on the song "Head On" from the Automatic album? [more inside]
posted by infinitewindow on Oct 14, 2008 - 5 answers

I need to automatically refresh a web page and be alerted via email (or run an applescript) when it changes. [more inside]
posted by tamagosan on Oct 4, 2008 - 6 answers

Automatic phone dialing game: Is there a product or software application that will automatically dial the next number after one hangs up with the current number? This is a personal efficiency-oriented question. Thanks!
posted by jackround on Aug 12, 2008 - 6 answers

Is there a way to automate a daily post to a blogger blog with all my twitter posts of the last 24 hours? [more inside]
posted by davidstandaford on May 1, 2008 - 8 answers

How can I automate the news searches that I'm performing on the same subjects day after day after day? [more inside]
posted by abkadefgee on Apr 28, 2008 - 9 answers

How can I reduce the hassle of reconfiguring multiple applications in my Windows laptop when switching between networks (home, office, VPN, hotel, ...) ? [more inside]
posted by fsmontenegro on Mar 27, 2008 - 4 answers

Can I have my phone automatically forward incoming text messages to my email?
posted by Maia on Mar 5, 2008 - 5 answers

What (automatic) methods would you recommend for cleaning grime off the keycaps of a keyboard? [more inside]
posted by ArgentCorvid on Feb 28, 2008 - 22 answers

Automatic watches, maintenance required? [more inside]
posted by mphuie on Jan 3, 2008 - 10 answers

I have an Intel iMac with Leopard, and via Boot Camp, a partition with Windows XP. The normal way to boot into XP is--after restarting Leopard or turning on the computer--to hold down the Option (Alt) key and then choose the OS. Is there a way around this? Is there some setting or third-party app that will reboot my computer from Leopard and automatically start Windows so I don't have to wait around holding down that key? [more inside]
posted by zardoz on Dec 19, 2007 - 9 answers

Why would a sink in a public bathroom which had an automatic water sensor suddenly turn on even though there was no one nearby? [more inside]
posted by mateuslee on Aug 16, 2007 - 9 answers

automatic audio switch: Does it exist? (Two computers, One pair of speakers). (an automatic switch, not a manual one) [more inside]
posted by jak68 on Aug 12, 2007 - 17 answers

Ugh. I Can't believe i'm asking a (probably) stooopid ipod question-filter... [more inside]
posted by Izzmeister on Jul 8, 2007 - 10 answers

I'm driving an automatic car for the first time. How should I safely move off when stationary in heavy traffic pointing up a steep hill? [more inside]
posted by thparkth on Jun 10, 2007 - 18 answers

Manual or automatic transmission? [more inside]
posted by itheearl on Jun 9, 2007 - 68 answers

Is there a way to simplify watching/listening internet tv/radio by click on ONE icon and have the computer automatically login (website) & click the "watch/listen" button? [more inside]
posted by curiousleo on May 24, 2007 - 12 answers

Cable box filter: Why does my cable box turn off by itself?? [more inside]
posted by spec80 on May 11, 2007 - 14 answers

Are there any software packages or toolkits (preferably open source) available that allow me to automatically extract graphical content (such as pictures, diagrams, graphs, etc.) from batches of PDFs? [more inside]
posted by elbaso on May 9, 2007 - 4 answers

I would like to automatically generate hypertext links from a list of text. Ideally this would mean pasting a series of comma separated words into some online tool and having the system turn each word into a relevant google/wikipedia link... Does anyone know any sites/tools that will do this? [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on May 4, 2007 - 8 answers

How do I automate the mundane aspects my life? [more inside]
posted by ajp on Mar 22, 2007 - 17 answers

Is it OK to switch to neutral while driving a car with automatic transmission? [more inside]
posted by jadanzzy on Feb 28, 2007 - 34 answers

This may be an easy question, but it has been so long since I used a modem or any of the software that goes along with it.... [more inside]
posted by omair on Feb 6, 2007 - 6 answers

I remember seeing a service online somewhere. When you were looking at a phone number, you could enter your phone number and the service would call you and when you picked up the phone, it would be ringing the phone number you were looking at. [more inside]
posted by bryanzera on Jan 23, 2007 - 4 answers

After an automatic update, Thunderbird won't recognize newly created folders. Why, oh, why? [more inside]
posted by Jaybo on Dec 28, 2006 - 3 answers

How do I get Flickr to log me in automatically without also automatically logging me into Yahoo? [more inside]
posted by aerotive on Nov 19, 2006 - 4 answers

My wife says I never order digital prints. Is there a way to have a folder that I can put photos into, and at the end of say, every month, uploads and orders them to be shipped to me by a service like snapfish or winkflash?
posted by jkh2828 on Sep 25, 2006 - 2 answers

Can a truck with an automatic transmission run a front-mounted snow plow? [more inside]
posted by terrapin on Sep 23, 2006 - 8 answers

Traveling in Ireland and want to rent a car. I heard that all the rental cars there are standard (manual) transmission.. [more inside]
posted by Pocahontas on Jul 26, 2006 - 10 answers

How do I alter this piece of code to make the pop up window close automatically after exactly 37 seconds? [more inside]
posted by wsg on Jun 23, 2006 - 16 answers

Something I have been thinking about lately: why PRNDL? Why is the selection order on an automatic transmission PRNDL? [more inside]
posted by internal on Jun 14, 2006 - 14 answers

How do I download entire archived images from a website? [more inside]
posted by curiousleo on Mar 23, 2006 - 13 answers

Automated file archiving for Windows? [more inside]
posted by KirTakat on Dec 16, 2005 - 11 answers

I need Outlook to automatically forward received email to different addresses based on text in the body of the email. Can this be done with an outlook add-in/plug-in, or possibly done outside of Outlook? [more inside]
posted by de void on Dec 2, 2005 - 8 answers

What is the most reliable way of automatically adding album art images to iTunes on a Windows PC? [more inside]
posted by unclemonty on Nov 9, 2005 - 15 answers

I need to capture video from a webcam for 1 min. every 30 min, for a 24 hour period. I know I could do this with a python script but --as I have very little python experience-- I am looking for an easier, point-and-click method. Are there any programs that one can set to capture a specific amount of video every x minutes over a certain period? Is there some easier/better way to script this than with the python module?
posted by signal on Oct 10, 2005 - 7 answers