Ask MetaFilter

My son’s iPhone (an 11 I think) won’t sound an alarm under certain conditions. [more inside]
posted by Biblio at 9:18 PM - 1 answers

Any recommendations for a system that will help me keep track of when I've done something (ie: bought coffee or cleaned the stove) and it will tell me when I might want to do it in the future? [more inside]
posted by BasalGuilder at 3:45 PM - 5 answers

A fluorescent bulb for a freezer case is now discontinued. How can I either find it still being sold somewhere or choose the correct alternative? [more inside]
posted by Comet Bug at 3:56 PM - 13 answers

We don’t have a TV and our toddler hasn’t really been exposed to much screen time. How do you introduce your kid to TV/screen time? [more inside]
posted by stillmoving at 1:18 PM - 11 answers

Debating a shorter, cheaper program or a longer one. [more inside]
posted by nakedmolerats at 4:27 PM - 21 answers

Hey, so I make adult comic books.... and not adult comics sense that, say, Chris Ware or Daniel Clowes make comics for adults. I'm using adult in the more euphemistic sense. Porn. I make porn. And like a lot of porn artists, I've been having a lot of problems recently with porn pirates! [more inside]
posted by ThisIsAThrowaway at 3:40 PM - 19 answers

It's come to my attention that I'm writing Powershell as though I'm a java programmer (which I am). And this is not what the team requires. I need help to learn how to write Powershell like a Powershell scripting expert. [more inside]
posted by kitcat at 10:09 AM - 8 answers

Why, when a flashlight will not turn on, does shaking or hitting it sometimes cause it to work?
posted by Hobgoblin at 6:58 AM - 16 answers

I'll be teaching an online, asynchronous three-week intensive course later this summer to a mix of undergrads and community members. I'd like to pre-record a few dozen mini-lectures on video, probably no more than five minutes each. What are the best tools with the lowest learning curve to use for this? (Bonus: point me toward great examples of videos like this, in any field!) [more inside]
posted by knucklebones at 2:33 PM - 3 answers

I've deactivated my Facebook, which was fine for the last year or so. But now friends are starting to invite me to events, and they're still able to add me to the events on Facebook, but I can't see them, and they don't know that! I would also like to invite people to events. I have their e-mails. But I'm not sure what the simplest invite/RSVP system is (preferably something that doesn't also require logins!) So I have two problems: How do I see other peoples' invitations without logging in, and how do I invite people to things?
posted by LSK at 4:37 PM - 4 answers

Is there a way to remove (en masse) old emails from Gmail so they won't count against my Google Drive limit, without losing them forever? [more inside]
posted by lewedswiver at 11:56 AM - 6 answers

I sent an email with a 28MB attachment to an AOL email address. It didn't occur to me until after I hit send to check AOL's maximum. It listed as 25MB. An hour later, I haven't gotten a bounce back message or anything. I have prepared a slightly reduced file, but I don't want to send it if the first actually went through. How likely is that? (no more inside; that's my whole question)
posted by Kriesa at 11:54 AM - 6 answers

I video chat with some kids using Google Duo, which has an integrated drawing option, so I can see what they are drawing and they can see what I am drawing and we can see each other's video at the same time. The kids have been given the Amazon tablets for kids, which don't work with Duo. What other app has this functionality and is good for kids (ad-free, paid is ok if it works)? It should work on regular android phones as well.
posted by jeather at 10:31 AM - 2 answers

Has anyone seen a water pitcher like this that tilts? This is a scene from the Twilight Zone episode Passage on the Lady Anne (Season 4 Episode 17). The timeframe is probably the 1960s, the but the scene is on a luxury ship that has an interior of the 1910s or 1920s. Here are two photos showing the water pitcher in upright position and then tilted down. The question comes from a friend of mine who is also wanting to know if this has a name. Here are two screenshots.
posted by rmmcclay at 5:45 AM - 7 answers

At least once per week, I need to solve a tiny programming problem similar to one I have previously solved in some other project. (This most recently came up when I realized I might need to vectorize a function in R.) I waste so much time racking my brain for what I was working on when I solved it so that I can find it again. Is there a technical tool that can help with this? [more inside]
posted by eirias at 2:43 PM - 27 answers

TLDR: I need some kind of guide or primer that can help a reasonably technically adept person get up to speed on iOS enough to be The Tech Grandchild on a platform I haven't touched since 2016. [more inside]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:02 PM - 22 answers

Overall, I'm looking for a grade school Gold Star Chart to press those dopamine buttons & build good habits. On my phone. I'm not a huge app user, so I could be looking for a unicorn or not. Looking for a customizable iOS app to track my good habits, all carrot, no stick. Something that will ask me, for example, at 8:30am "woke up before 8:00? y/n?" and at 7:00pm "did you eat a healthy meal today? y/n?" I DO NOT want an app that will remind me to do these things, or one that keeps track of when I don't answer or answer "no". [more inside]
posted by Grandysaur at 11:42 PM - 4 answers

I'm trying to route around my ancient receiver's lack of HDCP 2.2, but ARC doesn't seem to be working... [more inside]
posted by praemunire at 12:39 PM - 12 answers

We have one Sonos wifi speaker in the house and two IKEA-Sonos wired internet speakers, and they all work as integrated to each other. We also have a very good stereo with amp and speakers. Ideally I would attach some sort of dongle to the stereo to bring it into the fold (wireless). What alternatives exist? I'm especially interested in cheaper solutions obviously.
posted by Iteki at 6:48 AM - 8 answers

I am about to digitize some VHS tapes and have two DVD/VCR combos to choose from: a Sony SLV-D300P and a Sansui VRDVD4001AC. Is one a better choice than the other? [more inside]
posted by wenestvedt at 10:59 AM - 5 answers