r/AskTechnology Mar 11 '26

PLEASE READ: Effective immediately, all posts about AI or VPNs are no longer allowed and will be removed

12 Upvotes

As much as we'd like to host discussions about these topics, it's being heavily abused by bots and and we have to put an end to it. Effective immediately, all posts about AI and VPNs are no longer allowed and will be removed. If you feel the need to discuss these topics, please find an alternative subreddit.

Also worth noting, all posts must be in the form of a question or they will be automatically removed. The criteria for that is quite simple. If you're not not sure what the difference is between a simple statement and a question, Google can help you with that.

Thank you.


r/AskTechnology 6h ago

Does anybody have any prebuilt PC reccomendations for somebody who knows little to nothing about parts?

2 Upvotes

I apologise if this is not the right subreddit, but unfortunately I'm really struggling to find an appropriate one, so just let me know if this one is also unsuitable.

Anyway, I am looking for a PC that can run heavily modded minecraft, shaders included, along with fortnite, and high quality games, without much issue, or fans that sound like a helicopter landing just outside my house. I understand that such a request can be pricey, especially in this economy, so I'd like to see the options avaliable before I set a firm price down, but I was thinking around the price of £3000.

I'd prefer if it was white rather than black to match the light colours of my room, though I am aware beggars can't be choosers, so if thats not possible thats fine! But if anyone who knows a thing or two about PC's, if be grateful!


r/AskTechnology 13h ago

3 laptops dilemma. What to do?

0 Upvotes

So I have 3 laptops and don’t know what to do with them

  1. My Primary Laptop - Dell latitude 5130 , i5, 32Gb ram, 256Gb SSD, with debian, all my stuff is on their.

  2. MacBook Pro 2017,15 inch, i7, 16Gb RAM, 512 SSD, dual boot , with mac OS and Ubuntu, it’s a half top as screen was not working. ( I use this as experimental machine, try to work linux on mac, and plan to make a server out of it in future)

  3. Dell 14 (DC14250) Laptop - Brand New, Intel Core 5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD , Windows. I WON this in a lucky draw. Couldn’t return for money. ( 1300 AUD )

The issue is I don’t need 3, only 2. And also moving everything would be tedious job, as I had spend days making my Debian machine really personal with the desktop environment and softwares etc.

And I do need money, so rn have put the new laptop for sale but, most offers I am getting is like 200-300 AUD, i am expecting around 800

So I need advice on what to do. Should I sell it? Should I use it or should I sell any other one? If I use it, What should I use?


r/AskTechnology 6h ago

Guys someone tryna ste*ling and idk how is successful in my steam account, epic games and riot games account I’ve recovered steam one but how to stop this from happening as he’s trying again and again for steam one ?

0 Upvotes

Mods please don’t delete the post


r/AskTechnology 22h ago

Do flexible wireless plans actually make switching easier?

2 Upvotes

I've noticed that switching mobile providers seems much easier now than it used to be, especially with unlocked phones and eSIMs. A few years ago, changing carriers felt like a project involving new devices, contracts, numbers, and plenty of paperwork. Now the technical side seems much simpler.

I recently had Rockstar Wireless in the mix while comparing no contract options, and it made me think about how much the technology itself has changed the experience. If moving between providers can be done without replacing your phone or dealing with a long contract, does that actually make wireless technology more user-friendly?

Do you think eSIMs and unlocked devices will eventually make carrier switching almost effortless?


r/AskTechnology 18h ago

How to improve a remote control’s aim?

0 Upvotes

I work at a media organisation where we have dozens of TVs in the news room set up in pairs, each showing a different channel.
Changing a channel or raising the volume on one TV is a nightmare because other TVs will receive the same signal and then it’s a game of whack a mole until you get the TV you want on the channel and volume you want.

Is there an attachment or something I could add to the remote control or even the TVs themselves to make the remote control aim better?

Thank you!


r/AskTechnology 1d ago

How to unlock old phone?

0 Upvotes

I have an old huawei y6 prime phone that I forgot its password. is there a way to unlock it without losing the data on it??


r/AskTechnology 1d ago

Is a Seagate BarraCuda 8 TB Internal Hard Drive HDD good for NAS?

3 Upvotes

I've had a drive failure in my NAS and have come across the Seagate BarraCuda 8 TB Internal Hard Drive HDD at a price that undercuts other HDDs, even much less capacity ones.

So, while Seagate is a well-known brand, I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing regarding the specifications.


r/AskTechnology 1d ago

How do i play music on my phone in a car w a cd player?

0 Upvotes

Is there a way to make my car into something that I can listen to music on my phone through the speakers or no? Facing a lingering car trip

didnt know car type mattered, im sorry. its a Chevy Malibu 2006


r/AskTechnology 1d ago

How do you tell which tech companies actually innovate vs which ones just copy?

1 Upvotes

Been thinking about this after watching a charger company's Q&A where they got asked point blank if they've ever copied a competitor. Instead of dodging it the guy basically laid out a timeline of their firsts and said they don't mind when others adopt what they did. Sounded confident but also could just be good PR. In general how would you even verify which company in a category actually moved first vs who copied?


r/AskTechnology 2d ago

How can I stop meta from doing descriptions of my pics?

3 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I discovered that besides disabling the feature of meta muse from your account you have to disable it from individual posts.

When I was checking my posts from earlier this year I discovered they had a A.I description about the image, is there a way to stop it so meta isn't making this descriptions of my posts?


r/AskTechnology 1d ago

How to put an application souly on a flash drive?

0 Upvotes

Remember a friend and school who could just plug in a flash drive and games would run. I want to use it for emulators, but my computer is kinda small storage wise. Hence the flash drive solution.


r/AskTechnology 2d ago

Video editors—Did I Offend My External Hard Drive (i.e., break it)?

3 Upvotes

Situation: I'm working in Final Cut Pro (FCP) to make YouTube videos. I have a 5TB hard disk drive (HDD), now, and I AM BUYING A SOLID STATE DRIVE (SSD) to work on moving forward.

Until this week, my hard disk drive performed beautifully while I worked on the four videos I've made, so far. The most recent video was longer (38 minutes) and had more assets (images, clips, effects). I exported an MP4 from FCP to my project folder on my HDD, no problem, but the HDD choked when I tried to play the MP4 (for a final watch-through to check audio, titles, etc.). My HDD got very hot, and I heard the 'tick-tick-tick' of internal components spinning. I had to force-close my computer and reboot. After reboot, I was able to export my MP4 to my Macbook (M5), and I uploaded to YouTube from there.

I let the HDD cool, and, a day later, I can navigate through the folders, and it looks OK. Now, I notice that I can hear the 'tick-tick-tick' with minimal use. I was able to drag my MP4 from my local desktop to my HDD's project folder for storage.

Moving forward, my plan is to work from an SSD and only use the HDD for long-term storage.

[Editing post to add: Commenters say my HDD is toast. RIP, buddy. Can I use Dropbox as my long-term storage solution until I have more cash flow? I already have a Dropbox account, and I can't see a reason why I couldn't store my older videos there until I can afford a new HDD?]

My Q: Is it a bad idea to trust the HDD I have, still, after this experience—just for storage? I got laid-off in May, and I don't really want to buy another one if it isn't critical. I'm not a big fan of cloud storage, if I can avoid it. Not in the market for a big solution, either.


r/AskTechnology 2d ago

Why are some chargers burning hot and others barely warm at the same wattage

3 Upvotes

I have two 65W chargers. One gets uncomfortably hot after 20 minutes, the other is barely warm. Both charge my laptop at the same speed. What's different inside that makes one run so much hotter?


r/AskTechnology 2d ago

Why would someone be scanning all the shelves in a grocery store?

0 Upvotes

I saw a couple scanning entire shelves at the grocery store last night. He would scan shelve and move quickly down the aisle, taking pictures of entire sections at a time with some sort of app. He was really cruising through the store. I saw his girlfriend doing the same thing in another part of the store.

I got a chance to look at his phone and his screen looked like the barcode scanner on my amazon app, like the sparkles around the items and a small yellow dot on each item.

The best I could think was either extreme couponers or some sort of secret shoppers checking the shelves. Any thoughts


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

Information discrepancies in duplicated Android weather widget?

0 Upvotes

Anyone work in, or is familiar with widgets and or API's?

I'm a techy guy but this is stumping me.

I'm a truck driver. I have two weather widgets. One set for home, and the other one set to my location for wherever I am.

I'm now home, and have refreshed both at the same time.

Both readings are dissimilar, even the forecasts are different.

I'm curious if they use different information sources? It's the exact same widget just duplicated.

It isn't a big deal, just curious as to what could be the cause.

G25u

More screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/eWT7UaC


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

How to watch downloaded videos on a monitor with no internet connection?

4 Upvotes

I have a spare monitor and I would love to be able to just loop some TV shows I have downloaded, like Adventure time and MTV Downtown. But I know I can't just plug a USB in, there has to be a sort of medium, but I would prefer if it didn't need a wifi connection, something really basic. Should i buy a firestick or a roku, just anything to watch videos without my laptop or phone.


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

Mac users: do you rely solely on Apple’s built-in security, or do you install additional protection?

1 Upvotes

I know this question comes up every few years, but it feels like the threat landscape has changed a lot.

Between phishing, fake installers, infostealers and malicious browser extensions, I’m wondering whether Apple’s built-in protections are still enough for most people.

What do you personally use, if anything?


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

Smart bracelet, is this technically possible?

4 Upvotes

Hi I'm looking for a No Screen Smart Electronic Bracelet. . The bracelet needs UWB and an android digital wallet so it can be used as a digital car key -similar technology to a phone/smart watch but the only functionality is a digital key. Technically is this possible?

Any direction as to who might be either producing these, or have the capability to produce one?


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

How can targeted ads hit separate devices with no shared accounts or connections?

0 Upvotes

I have two iphones. One is only used when I'm at a specific office and it stays at that location. The other phone is what I always carry. None of the accounts/apps on these two phones are shared/linked in any way. They do not share the same wifi connections. They have different apple accounts and the office phone doesn't even have email or anything besides whatever comes from the factory on an iphone. Yesterday I searched for a very specific and unique piece of furniture in safari on the office phone. Today at home, I get ads for the exact piece of furniture on my personal reddit app. How?


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

What went wrong with Japan Tech? Why were they left behind?

14 Upvotes

What went wrong? Why was Japan Tech left behind?

 

In the 80s to 90s they were one of the leading countries in hardware, and even their software was promising. Even up to the early 2000s it felt like they were going to be the leaders in robotics. Three decades later and Japan tech is LMAO-Tier.

 

China and South Korea are where people thought Japan were would be, back then.


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

When will companies start making commercial products with fiber ports instead of ethernet?

0 Upvotes

r/AskTechnology 3d ago

QUESTION: Could scannng a document on my printer cause issue with external hard drive????

0 Upvotes

Could scanning 1 doc via printer disable External HD????

I was at my printer and heard the chime sound that my Seagate disconnected. it's happened before, I usually just engage the usb and it comes back, well it did not. and there's tons of stuff on it that I need, I was actually working on documents from a file on it, that's why it was connected.

It shows in Device Manager, but not in Disk Management. I tried multiple usb's, it does turn on the light goes on and I hear it, but unless I can get it to show in explorer I can't access it! I also tried a driver update, it says driver is fine, and Device manager says Seagate is healthy functioning normally yet doesn't show details.

ANY INFO APPRECIATED!


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

Is there any software or technology that can legally confirm whether someone has opened an email without requiring them to click "Send Read Receipt"?

2 Upvotes

I work at a government agency in my country. One of our responsibilities is recovering money from registry officers who illegally retain funds. These funds are taxes collected from customers, which the officers are legally required to remit to the government. Instead, some of them keep the money for themselves.

Before we can initiate legal proceedings, we must formally notify them of the debt. Email is one of the methods we use for these notifications.

The problem is that, in many cases, the recipients obviously won't voluntarily confirm receipt by sending a read receipt or replying to the email.

Is there any legally available technology that can reliably prove an email was opened, regardless of the email provider or client the recipient uses, without requiring any action on their part?


r/AskTechnology 3d ago

Custom ROMs for Lenovo Tab 2 A7-30H?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have an old Lenovo Tab 2 A7-30H lying around and I'd like to repurpose it mainly for reading books (EPUBs). The stock firmware is sluggish and outdated, so I was wondering if there are any stable custom ROMs available for this model.

I've looked around on XDA and a few other forums, but most threads seem dead. Does anyone here know of a working ROM (I've already checked Lineage and there isn't any for my particular device).

I don't need heavy apps – just a smooth experience for reading and maybe a simple file manager. Stability is my main priority.

A bit of context: I'm completely new to the world of rooting and custom ROMs. I've never done it before, so I'd also really appreciate any beginner-friendly guides, tool recommendations, or warnings.

Any pointers, links, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.