u/Bee_9965

I recently purchases a Verbatim external DVD drive, mainly to rip CDs but also to occasionally watch some of my DVD collection. It has a USB Mini-B port on the back which is used for both data and power - no separate power input. It also comes with a sturdy USB Mini-B to USB A cable which works fine but is a bit short (about 18 inches long). A USB A to USB C adapter is also included.

I've tried two longer USB Mini-B to USB C cables from Amazon - a generic Chinese brand and a brand I have used before (Cable Matters). Surprisingly neither one worked - the generic Chinese cable kind of worked but disconnected frequently - the Cable Matter cable did not work at all (no power and no data). Both cables had a very loose fit in the Mini-B Verbatim port.

So before I resign myself to the short Verbatim cable, are there other cable makers that actually make a reliable USB Mini-B connector?

I recently signed up for the iCloud 2TB plan for my family and myself to share. As part of this I moved all 116 (appr) Notes from “On My iPhone” to “iCloud” and turned on syncing. This was around June 3 (Wednesday).

This morning June 8 (Monday) I went to make updates to a large note with text and many attached photos which catalog my pen collection - and it was gone altogether. I checked Recently Deleted just to make sure I hadn’t deleted it by mistake and it was not there either.

(Note I had made an update over the weekend to this same file and so it was stored on iCloud at that time.)

Reading some other info on the web I tried restarting my iPhone, then disable / enable Notes Sync. Neither restored the missing file. I also checked on iCloud.com, did a search for text in the file, and manual checked all my folders. Nothing turned up at all.

Any other suggestions on how I could recover this missing note? And is this an indication that I really can’t trust iCloud to reliably save my data? Thanks.

I recently signed up for the iCloud 2TB plan for my family and myself to share. As part of this I moved all 116 (appr) Notes from “On My iPhone” to “iCloud” and turned on syncing. This was around June 3 (Wednesday).

This morning June 8 (Monday) I went to make updates to a large note with text and pictures which catalogs my pen collection - and it was gone altogether. I checked Recently Deleted just to make sure I hadn’t deleted it by mistake and it was not there either.

(Note I had made an update over the weekend to this same file and it appeared to be saved.)

Reading some other posts on here I tried restarting my iPhone, then disabled Notes Sync / restart / enable Notes Sync. Neither restored the missing file.

Any other suggestions on how I could recover this missing note? Or is this an indication that I really can’t trust iCloud to save my data? Thanks.

I found out this evening that my trusty Space A40 earbuds were run through the washing machine. 😿

I’m gonna let them air dry for a few days and see if they’re salvageable, but I figured I’d check how much they are going for on Amazon in case if I need a new set. But I saw no new Space A40s for sale on Amazon at all - not even an out of stock notification. All I saw were some “reconditioned by Amazon” units.

So I’m wondering why Amazon doesn’t appear to be selling new A40s. Has this model been discontinued? Or is there some issue between soundcore and Amazon?

Note that I did see them for sale at Soundcore, so I don’t know what to think.

I currently have a Meisterstück 161 ballpoint pen which is the Legrand size and perfect for me. I use a black refill in it to go with its black resin.

I’d like to get a similarly sized MB pen in blue resin and pair it with a blue refill, but I’m not aware of too many options. The Meisterstück line is all black resin. There are some Starwalker options but are all noticeably thinner and shorter than my LeGrand.

One possibility is the JFK Special Edition that I’m checking out. But are there others (current or recent vintage) I could be looking for?

I’m starting to look for a Montblanc JFK ballpoint pen (the Special Edition Navy Blue to be specific).

When looking for a pre-owned JFK pen on eBay all the suspiciously inexpensive ones come in a standard Montblanc case. But the more expensive examples come in a much larger square case with an accompanying booklet on JFK.

What I’m wondering is if the JFK pens were ever sold standalone in a standard case, or if they always came in the larger packaging with booklet? Thanks.

New knife enthusiast here. I recently purchased a set of Chinese super steel knives (Sanmeiho on Amazon) to use and to learn sharpening techniques on. I have a 1000 grit diamond stone, but I did not need to use that yet on these. But I definitely screwed up honing one of the knives with a Messermeister ceramic rod (1200 grit). I likely pressed too hard, took off a significant amount of metal, and borked up the edge. Stropping the edge with compound really didn’t help any. Doh!

So now I’m trying to figure out how to recover.

1. Should I be able to get my edge back just with just the rod, or do I need to go to my stone?

2. Am I better off looking for a less aggressive, ceramic rod (2000 - 3000 grit)? Or stick with the 1200 and just use a much lighter touch? Note I’m not trying to get a mirror finish, just a functionally sharp slices paper edge.

Is there any chance that Dish Network pays the extra $$ to ESPN / Disney so that we can access ESPN unlimited with our subscription to Dish? I’m certainly not gonna pay $30 a month extra to stream the same content I’ve already paying for through Dush.

(I am assuming the answer is NO. 🤷‍♂️)

Turned on ESPN Radio this morning to hear the Unsportsmanlike crew (again) pushing ESPN Unlimited and their coverage of WWE. Smalls starts talking about how amazing WWE is and how it’s “bigger than ever.” I had to turn it off.

I can only guess they’re pushing Unlimited so hard because they’re subscriber numbers aren’t anywhere close to what they thought they would be. Well guess what? I’m not paying $30 a month to watch mediocre WWE matches and I’m skipping any ESPN news / talk shows as long as they keep pretending that WWE is a real sport.