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I need to fill many many small glass bottles with a fluffy, sticky powder. The neck of the bottles is so small i need to use a funnel, but the powder sticks to the funnel, and needs to be stirred in by hand with a stick to fall through. It's messy and taking forever. Any tips to make this easier? [more inside]
posted by PardonMyFrench at 11:36 AM - 14 answers

Ever since Big Sur, when I get texts on my apple watch - as well as on my mac - instead of it saying who it's from (the actual contact) it just says the number. Why is the identity linked to the number no longer coming up on my phone, my watch or my computer?
posted by rileyray3000 at 11:24 AM - 4 answers

I run a small nonprofit I am lookin for a utility we can run that will go through the last 7 years of my (and maybe others on my team) work email (in Gmail) and extract name, email, physical address, and phone number for as many people as possible. [more inside]
posted by postel's law at 10:51 AM - 4 answers

I was pulling out my old Black and Decker MT1405 multi-tool to drill something, and came across this item again, and if I ever knew what it was for I forgot it years ago. Can anyone identify it? Google photo album here. [more inside]
posted by tavella at 11:25 PM - 6 answers

The exposure checks seem to log about 5 times a day, and if I expand the log, I can see "new files" added, usually one or two. However, on just after midnight on Saturday morning, the log for that time has about 75 new files. What is this? [more inside]
posted by LKWorking at 1:41 PM - 2 answers

There are so many people in need of support these days. Community care has been happening through Venmo, PayPal and GoFundMe, at least in my networks. But it usually only covers one gift at a time. I'm curious about solutions for providing ongoing support. [more inside]
posted by rockyraccoon at 1:24 PM - 6 answers

My mother died in Wagoner, Oklahoma, on Tuesday. I live in Arizona and will not be traveling to her funeral, because of the fucking pandemic. Please help me be as present as possible, through the wonders of modern technology. [more inside]
posted by kwaller at 12:08 PM - 5 answers

Need to set up a virtual phone number for a company, not sure where or how. Asking for a friend; snowflakes inside. [more inside]
posted by sailoreagle at 4:11 AM - 3 answers

Time to flip my macbook and for the first time in 8 years I'm not in any of the social or work situations where I used to get rid of my old electronics. Mac's buyback program will give me 1K for it and I don't want to get into some sketchy craigslist situation these days. Not the way the world is. So what's the way folks do this now?
posted by rileyray3000 at 4:59 PM - 12 answers

I'm looking for Evernote alternatives. Snowflake-y requirements in the details. [more inside]
posted by po822000 at 8:09 AM - 13 answers

Are the services selling data plans via cellular a practical replacement for cable or DSL? [more inside]
posted by diode at 12:59 PM - 12 answers

Our home internet has not worked for months - it looses connection dozens of times a day (sometimes it's up and down, sometimes it mostly works, and often it's like we don't have internet at all). We have four children doing partial distance learning and the adult who's home with them needs to be working, I am losing my bananas. What do I do next? All the details inside. [more inside]
posted by zibra at 7:16 AM - 14 answers

I'm spending a lot of time on video calls. I would like a physical button that I can use to mute and unmute my microphone. I don[t want to build one. Where can I buy a [cheap, easy to use] programmable USB button? Preferably a large one. Complication; must deliver to Australia.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:38 PM - 15 answers

Thanks to (gestures around), plus some specific family and work circumstances, it looks like I'll be spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas alone this year. I am at peace with it. But I'll miss cooking with people and would like some advice for the best way to recreate that experience via livestream. Maybe this is an unworkable idea, who knows, let's brainstorm! [more inside]
posted by theweasel at 12:45 PM - 7 answers

So after a few videoconferences in Zoom where people shared a screen to show a jerky video I'm looking for alternatives. Is there a better way to do it in Zoom? With a different app? A new platform? I'll pay a reasonable amount for this to not look like a cellphone from 2004.
posted by rileyray3000 at 10:40 AM - 7 answers

I maintain battery-operated sensors far from my main work site. These get fresh alkaline AA batteries every 5-6 weeks to ensure they're always working, leaving me with way more partially-used batteries than I can use in stuff like computer peripherals. They're still putting out 1.5V, but I know that doesn't tell me much about how much life they have left. What can I do with these? (I'm working on retrofitting the sensors to solar, but I still have a pile of batteries I'm trying to avoid just recycling. Rechargeable AAs are not a good option because the batteries are exposed to freezing weather.)
posted by momus_window at 8:35 AM - 15 answers

I recently upgraded my iPhone after the one I had for 4+ years stopped working. I got an iphone 8. All good so far, and I realized that it didn't work with the traditional 3.5mm headphone jacks. No big deal; I picked up a iPhone lightening adaptor jack to use with it, plugged in my headphones and started to listen... The sound quality is HORRIBLE! I have many pairs of earbuds and decent quality headphones that I love to listen to music on my iphone (Sony, Sennheiser, etc) and they sound horrible now. I have no desire to buy those Apple Pro earbud things, so am I now destined to abandon all of my earbuds and headphones , or dig out my old iPod and listen to music on that? Help!
posted by konaStFr at 4:30 AM - 16 answers

After many years of having all my audio in the same iTunes library, I'm splitting off all of my DJ mixes (CDs, FACT, Resident Advisor, etc) into a separate library to make browsing easier. However, I've run into a few logistical problems: [more inside]
posted by Merzbau at 12:50 PM - 7 answers

Planning to buy a wireless headphone for a hearing-impaired family member and wonder if it is possible to get audio from both headphones and TV speakers at the same time so people without headphones can watch together and still listen to the audio playing back from TV speakers. My experience with stereo or computer is that once headphones are plugged in the native speakers will be switched off. Any way or device that might help?
posted by lanhan at 2:56 PM - 7 answers

Someone used my email address to sign up for a financial account. Now the company wants my personal information to close the account. Obviously, I don't want to give it to them. What should I do next? Am I overthinking this, or should I just reset the password, log in and try to close the account myself? [more inside]
posted by anonymous at 9:17 AM - 10 answers