r/AskTechnology

Things like updates, backups, cleaning devices feels like people only pay attention when there’s a problem.

i want to put movies into a pen drive so i can give them to my parents so they can watch movies on their old televisions. the model tvs they have arent the smart tv variants that can get wifi (they dont have wifi either way) but they have a slot for a usb and even a channel as source for the usb, so when i go to the menu it asks for "motion jpeg, 320x240, 30fps format only"

ive converted the movies to jmpeg using some software that changes the files from .mp4 to .mov and into the resolution it asks but ive tried on both tvs and even though they detect the usb, it doesnt detect the movie files.

anybody has had this issue before?

i got pictures of the issues in another post in my profile

i also tried on both their tvs and i know i need to update their tvs into more modern ones but this is something i want to do for them in the mean time

hellloooo i’m working to ditch as much of my modern tech as much as i can, and the one of the two things that’s stopping me from completely getting a dumb phone is maps. growing up we had a garmin and a tomtom, but would these work today with newer map updates/new locations? if i need to update it, how would i go about that? also, the other is apple music, we have a family plan, but i’m trying to decide if an mp3 player or just burning cds is the more logical choice, i have a walkman, and an old zune (but haven’t charged it up in a while, abt a decade) so any opinions on that would be amazing !!! tia!!!

Was telling my BF about this yesterday and he was like ummm… you should ask about this. Cause it’s happened to me, THREE times.

All three times I was driving. First time, I had clicked my dad’s contact but instead of a dial tone I was instantly connected to a call between two total strangers. Two men. I don’t remember anything they said. I thought it was a recording cause it was so weird. I listened for like 10 seconds in shock and one of them said… “is somebody listening?” I freaked the fuck out and hung up. The second time (like a year later) I don’t remember who I was trying to call but I clicked the contact and was instantly connected to a call between two men with British accents. I was in shock, like, how could this weirdness happen twice? I remember pulling over and muting myself to see if it was a real conversation. I was kinda blacking out from the weirdness and frantically ended the call. I don’t remember anything else about it.

Then it happened AGAIN, months later. It was a conversation between two young ladies, and I just said, “… hello?” And they (appropriately) screamed and hung up. I was completely freaked out.

This all happened at least 8 years ago. The chances of it happening one time seem insane, but three times?? I kinda blocked it and remembered the other night while talking to my BF. I wondered if it was some kind of “normal” thing that happens (he works in tech and is smart about that stuff beyond what I can understand) and he just stared and gave me the… ‘whaaat the fuk??’ Which I rarely ever get from him.

So, has this happened to anyone else??

My sister’s phone is running out of storage (both her phones). She doesn’t subscribe to cloud storage. She wanted a place to store family photos so we can all access and view, so she proposed to use instagram and create a shared private account so we’re can all access it for photos.

I said “umm and let META own my face? No thanks”. Then she bombarded our family group chat saying “what are you talking about? U post your photos in insta on your account”, goes on to post screenshot of my previous posts from 2-3 years ago. I also have a private account, but i’ve stopped posting my family related photos on social media for about 2-3 years now.

PS: I told her it’s a bad idea and we should just use MEGA since they offer a 20GB free

I understand that Nvidia is the one creating the chips, OpenAI creating the LLMs, but I'm lost as to their need with Microsoft and Oracle. I was trying to understand the 'AI Bubble' concept and got lost.

I’ve been looking for an iPhone with good overall performance and narrowed it down to the iPhone 17e 256GB and iPhone 16 128GB. The 17e is appealing because of the extra storage and newer hardware, but the 16 seems like the more complete phone overall. Should I go with the 17e, or choose the 16 and manage the lower storage instead? What would you recommend?

^ especially camera on those meta rayban glasses.

I'm planning to get a TV setup for my room. Already getting a smartTV + soundbar setup for a good experience.

What does Apple TV 4k actually do, does it just provide a better OS than the Google TV that the smartTV already has along with its features and fancy remote or does it also offer something extra?

The TV setup is supposed to be in my hometown while I work in another city. Can the Apple TV 4k also be connected to a monitor? In that case I can use it in my work city with my monitor and carry it with me whenever I travel back home to connect it to my TV setup.

I've read that the monitor just needs to have an HDMI port and I need to have a sound output from the monitor and I'm good to go, is it enough or is there something I'm missing?

I only want to get the Apple TV 4k if I can make the TV setup and the monitor setup both work fine with one single device.

As per my understanding, Apple TV 4k is just an OS that the smartTV can use instead of its own, or the monitor can use since it doesn't have any inbuilt.

If I connect them both to this Apple TV 4k, both would work the same (just the resolutions would be different based on specs ofcourse).

Please correct me if I'm wrong so that I don't make a pointless purchase.

Don’t want to share too many details but my son I believe is being dishonest. I’m divorced and he likes to play his mother and I against each other.

Long story short, I need to know if a picture he saved to his camera roll from Snapchat would save the location and time of where he was when the photo was saved? I know the picture was saved from his snap as he takes every picture from that app and then saves it to his phone. His mother asked in a group text with me, for him to send some pictures of himself at his friends that he’s staying they night at (as we’ve had a suspicion he’s been dishonest lately) well the time stamp and date of the picture is the same as when he sent the text and the location shows somewhere he’s not supposed to be. So does a saved picture from Snapchat memories save when and where the picture was saved from?

We are just concerned about our son, we don’t track his location with apps or follow his social media because we want him to have a sense of independence and individuality but we are concerned he may be falling in the wrong crowd. In short we just don’t want to be helicopter parents unless we have absolute proof he’s being dishonest to us about where he is and who’s he with

I have a video evidence for vandalism but plate id is not readable? Is there a way to make it visible with some adjustments?

So I work out of town at a company trailer and we have internet but it’s wired and connected directly to the tv. What can I use to turn that into a wireless signal so I don’t use so much data out of town?

Feels like 50% of my job is just explaining basic stuff in a way that makes sense to non-tech people. The actual technical work is the easy part most days.

I bought a new laptop 2 weeks ago at an HP Store and it has the 90b fan error already. I brought it back thinking I would exchange it but instead they told me based on the process they have to source a fan and fix it first. I would have leave it and pick it up in a week. I have exams so I told them I would bring it back after they said okay just don't run anything heavy on it. As long as its back before the warranty is up.

Is that normal? Should I be demanding a new one? I told other ppl and they saying what I did was stupid. Is this the typically process?

If I use my personal phone as hotspot on my work computer, can my employer see what I browsed on my personal phone prior and during the hotspot sharing? If I have a virus on my iPhone, can it be passed to my work laptop via the hotspot?

Sorry for the dumb question

Hey so recently I’m looking to get an Ipad

I will use partly for school and good bit for personal use (Watching Videos, Probably some emulation, and other stuff one may use for an ipad)

I’m currently between an Ipad Air and Ipad

I have student discount i would get on them, but I really just don’t know if the price difference between the two is that worth it, it’s 200 more for the ipad air.

I know the A14 compared to M4 is really massive, as the M4 is much better from what i’ve heard.

The emulation I’d do is mostly for playing pokemon games (Gameboy, DS and 3ds)

The only two problems I run into it is the idea of I know you cannot develop on it and there’s no easy way of running exes. If there’s any other ideas you may have or anything I’d appreciate some advice or maybe some info to help with the situation

Again as I’d want to preferably get something like the steam deck or something like a handheld for these games, it’s just not in the question as I also would like to have some use of it for school. if there are known other options, my budget is around 400 preferably but 500 max like the ipad air

Okay so I see a lot of these so here’s the skinny.

Was using a fetish site to chat from my personal phone.

Not connected to my work credentials at all.

Thought I wasn’t logged into the GUEST WiFi at my job- no credentials were punched in, it’s an open network, https and rotating MAC connection from said phone.

Saw I was still connected, disconnected fast but there was at least an hour between there and Reddit where both apps and sites were AT MINIMUM in the background.

No blockage notifications except for one “you shouldn’t see this page, your network has prohibited…etc” when I was OFF the WiFi and the page instantly reloaded.

I work for a state gov agency.

Odds?

I have a non Bluetooth desktop pc that I want to connect an Xbox controller and a wireless mouse too. I’m just wondering what I’d need to buy to do these things.

I'm planning to buy a new TV for my new house in my hometown which I might not be visiting very often.

Looking for best TV recommendations for 55 inch TVs under around 40k.

With the giants LG, Sony, Samsung starting at a higher range, I could find a TCL model which happens to be more value for money.

TCL T89C or T8C (Same TV different names) - Costing around ₹35k

- QLED display that the giants don't offer in this price range

- 120Hz refresh rate just in case I plan to install a gaming console in future

- Inbuilt subwoofer which might not come to use anyway since I plan to install a soundbar but still good to have

Planning to pair it with Sony HT S20R soundbar costing around ₹15k, and probably PS5 sometime in the future.

Is this a good budget combination considering I work in another city but also want a good setup back home?

Hi everyone, I need some help or advice.

I experienced an issue where after transferring files from my SD card to my computer, the files became corrupted. What’s worse is that the original files on the SD card were also deleted after the transfer. 😞

I just want to ask:

Is it still possible to recover corrupted files?

Is there any way to retrieve them even if they were already deleted from the SD card?

What tools or steps would you recommend?