3+ week, 2+ day ago (343+ words) I wear headphones at work all day. They are high quality, but they hurt me. But maybe you can help?I relatively recently replaced my beloved Sony WH1000-XM4s with a shiny new pair of XM6s. Everything about them is better except that they hurt when they're on my head for any stretch of time. The problem is that I wear glasses, and the ear cups press the arms of my glasses into my head, and after a while, that pressure builds up and eventually I have to take them off. Relevant information: I can't use earbuds. They hurt and they don't stay in. I also can't wear contacts most of the time. I can use them occasionally, but my eyes get pretty dry (I'm working on this in other ways, but just to say, contacts aren't a solution here). My external speakers…...

3+ day, 13+ hour ago (98+ words) The mic in my iPhone 14 is damaged/broken to the point that people can barely hear me on the phone. I am trying to decide whether to a)repair it, b) find workarounds like headsets (if that would even work) or c) replace the phone. I've seen repair estimates around $150. Replacing with a trade-in would offer finance options. After many bad experiences, I will not buy a refurbished phone. Cost matters -- obv buying is more expensive but I don't want to pay to repair a phone if it'll be obsolete soon. iPhone 14 mic broken...

5+ day, 15+ hour ago (141+ words) I often sleep with the windows open in my first floor (UK, i.e., second floor in the US) bedroom. My neighborhood is pretty safe but I'm aware that basically anyone could put a ladder against my house and come in through the open window. I was looking for an alarm I can install on a casement window, but all the ones I can find are triggered by opening the window. I want the alarm to go off if someone tries to come in the window when it's open.I could probably manage a raspberry pi solution (like this), but I was wondering if there was anything off the shelf I might use. I'd also like to be able to put them on multiple windows so a raspberry pi solution could get expensive. I need an alarm for an open window...

1+ week, 8+ hour ago (81+ words) Recommend an external DVD drive that works with new macbooks please.Asking for a friend, they have tried a number of drives and none have worked! A blueray would be fine if it also, most importantly, runs DVDs. I don't know if region specificity comes in but some of those DVDs might well be region 2. I'm looking for a personal recommendation, or at least one that has reviews explicitly confirming it working on 2025 macbooks. DVD players for newer macs...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (71+ words) Is there a resource which keeps track of which smartphones or smartphone operating systems do not have AI imbedded? For an example, take the foldable Motorola ("please!" says the Henny Youngman living somewhere in my brain)- Which year was the latest model you could get without AI? What version of Android was it? Are the app updates adding AI to the apps or are they not doing that for older phones?...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (70+ words) I'm looking for a laptop to listen to music and the radio, and I would prefer not to cast or deal with external speakers. Most laptops I've seen have very tinny sound -- does a laptop that emphasizes sound quality exist? Operating system does not matter. I tried using choosist.com, but they didn't allow me to emphasize speakers. Assume my budget is unlimited. Looking for a laptop with good speakers....

1+ day, 16+ hour ago (200+ words) Previous Chromebook question by another Mefite. Our family has a Nintendo Switch. HeroZero jr. was saving up for an XBox so they could play Minecraft Java edition with their buds. They have become discouraged by the price tag. In chatting with them, I think they are less interested in a fancy new gaming console than they are simply in Minecraft. Would one of these Staples Black Friday Laptop deals do the trick?HP 15.6" LED Laptop, Intel Core i3-N305, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD,+ 7 hours battery, Windows 11 (B42YPUA#ABA) Item: 24622236 Model: B42YPUA#ABA $219, marked down from $530 Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15.6" TN Laptop, Intel Core i3, 1.20 GHz, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11, Arctic Gray (82RK01AEUS) Item: 24641016 Model: 82RK01AEUS $250, marked down from $430 Comparison of the two laptops I haven't bought a Windows machine in 20 years, but from what I can see, 8 GB of RAM will be decent for letting kiddo run Minecraft with moderate modding and…...

2+ week, 8+ hour ago (105+ words) The male connector to my beloved MX518 mouse got bent and broken. Can this be fixed, who could fix it, and will it work just the same as it always did?Long story but I tripped over my MX518's cable and it got bent badly and part of it now protrudes. See picture here: https://i.postimg.cc/MKYqHPNG/IMG-1977.jpg Is this easily fixed if I bring this/sent this to the right place? How much might it cost? What kind of place should I seek out to send this along? Thanks! Can this bent USB male piece on my mouse be fixed?...

4+ week, 1+ day ago (216+ words) My girlfriend doesn't want to give up her old macbook pro due to the touchbar. Is there an alternative that provides similar functionality for autocomplete?My girlfriend uses an M1 macbook pro with a touchbar. She uses the touchbar mainly for autocomplete, as English is her second language. She cannot touch type so looking at the keyboard is not a hinderance for her. However, her computer is getting slow and she's in technically demanding classes where she has to run VMs and the 8gb of memory/older processor is holding her back. Is there a device that gives similar functionality she can plug in to a new macbook? I have seen 'stream boxes' which seem to be small secondary keyboards with configurable buttons and settings. However, I'm worried they won't work with Apple's built in autocomplete functionality, which is tied to the…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (254+ words) I am in San Francisco and would like a recommendation of who can fix my computer.I have a macbook air from July 2020 and I want to keep using it as long as I possibly can. I only use it for browsing on the web, google suite stuff for work, and I have a ton of photos and videos on it that I guess I could transfer to a separate physical hard drive if necessary? I also have very old stuff like from college in 2002, most of which is Word documents. Anyway, I think the computer is full of extraneous stuff that is causing it to be quite slow. Webpages are slow to load, especially recipe sites with all those annoying adds. It also doesn't hold much of a charge. And sometimes the fan is on REALLY loudly for hours…...