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I'm trying to reproducing Alvin Lucier's "Long Thin Wire" setup (related):

• sine wave at line level into power amplifier, with speaker terminal A connected to end A of a ferreous wire of, say, 2 meters, terminal B to wire end B.
• That wire should vibrate, reproducing the sine wave that is being played into the amp.
• It will run between poles of a strong magnet, creating sonically interesting artifacts
• Practical questions below the fold.

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posted by working_objects at 2:49 PM - 16 answers

Awhile back I heard that some gamers really like the old Sony WEGA TVs for their gaming system. I have a 32" Sony trinitron WEGA TV that I would like to get rid of. So, is it true certain gamers want them? If yes, how can I find these gamers? [more inside]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:53 PM - 13 answers

Halp! I was informed by my Chromebook that my uBlock origin extension is no longer supported because Chrome OS identified deficiencies (or something, I didn't really understand the message). [more inside]
posted by honey badger at 10:18 AM - 15 answers

I am reading Shakespeare with students, and we are annotating the text using Google Doc comments. I want them to have a copy of my comments so that they can catch up if they were absent, but I'm having trouble sharing the document with the comments. [more inside]
posted by chaiminda at 11:19 AM - 5 answers

Thinking about buying a 3d printer. Hobbyist, not Professional... [more inside]
posted by falsedmitri at 6:49 PM - 18 answers

I'm developing a web app. What's a good screen reader to test against?
posted by Uncle at 12:34 PM - 8 answers

I want to replace our current Epson inkjet printer/scanner. Having had a good experience with a Brother monochrome laser printer in the past, I thought spending a bit more for a color one might be the way to go. However, it seems the Brother color offerings are not in fact laser but LED. Are there disadvantages to this? Any strong alternative recommendations? [more inside]
posted by staggernation at 9:18 AM - 4 answers

Starting with a recent iPad OS update, I’ll be typing along with two fingers and then some glowy dingus will appear, wanting me to use it for something. I think it’s some “AI” thing - maybe an “improved” Siri. But I don’t want it and I don’t know how I’m unintentionally summoning it.It seems to happen when I’m near the space bar, but I haven’t found a way to reproduce it. [more inside]
posted by Lemkin at 8:13 AM - 3 answers

I have a USB-powered induction electric toothbrush charger. Is there any other purpose to which I can put it? [more inside]
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:16 PM - 6 answers

The cords to charge our phones are too long. Leaving them out all the time is unsightly, but constantly getting them out and putting them away gets old. I would like an item that fastens to the wall, in which one or two phones can be placed to charge, with a short cord that connects to the outlet, to charge the phones. Does this exist?
posted by NotLost at 11:20 AM - 14 answers

I am looking to update my Drupal site from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10, but I don't know how to use Composer [more inside]
posted by jaybeans at 10:28 AM - 3 answers

How do we get good quality colour poster prints from a new laser printer without breaking the bank? [more inside]
posted by ssg at 1:58 PM - 10 answers

The hearing aid functionality in the AirPods Pro 2 has just been made available in the UK. My father has the AirPods but his phone is too old to use the feature. I have a more recent phone. Can I set it up on my phone then re-pair the airpods back to his phone? Or is he going to need a new phone to make use of the feature?
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 2:43 PM - 4 answers

Is there a way to give people access to social media accounts without giving them the password? Or is there a way to share passwords without the danger of losing access to accounts? [more inside]
posted by andoatnp at 7:37 AM - 13 answers

I have an old digital photo frame, which will only take small SD cards (< 1GB I think). I currently have a 512MB (Mega-, not Gigabytes) in it, but I want to get a few more to make sure I have a backup in case something happens to this one. Searching via Google, on Newegg, and BestBuy reveals that they're not selling cards that small. Do any of you know of a source for small capacity SD cards? Will I need to search Craigslist and eBay for these rare things?
posted by TimHare at 8:40 PM - 6 answers

Wondering if off brand mp3 players are 'safe' to use? [more inside]
posted by konaStFr at 3:45 AM - 10 answers

I'm looking for a new go-to news app, ideally that I can read desktop (PC) and via app (Android). Some qualifications inside for what I want. [more inside]
posted by fennario at 7:34 AM - 11 answers

I have about 275 .wav files, recordings of conversations, that I would like to convert to text. [more inside]
posted by falsedmitri at 7:46 PM - 9 answers

Laptop recommendation for a teenager who's getting in to animation. [more inside]
posted by saladin at 6:52 AM - 8 answers

I recently stopped using my Android phone and switched to a mostly "dumb" phone (Punkt MP02) for the typical reasons (reclaim attention, privacy, etc.). I'm not sure I'll stick with it, but while I do: what's the best way to use car transportation services if I'm out late at night, or in a new city, without a phone that can run an app? [more inside]
posted by mistersix at 9:21 PM - 18 answers