r/AskTechnology

A random thought I had while building something recently:

Why is the default way to talk to someone online still:

save contact

expose personal number

create permanent access to you

keep chat history forever

…even if the conversation only needs to happen once?

For example:

buying/selling online

talking to someone from Reddit

short-term projects

creators/community calls

gaming

support/help calls

temporary teams

Feels weird that the internet evolved so much but communication still assumes everyone should become a permanent contact.

So I built a small experiment called GhostCall.

It creates temporary voice call rooms:

no signup

no phone numbers

just send a link and talk instantly

when the call ends, the room disappears forever

Not trying to replace WhatsApp or Discord or anything.

More like: “some conversations shouldn’t become permanent digital relationships.”

Curious if people think this direction makes sense or if I’m overthinking a problem nobody actually cares about.

I am making a project for school that automatically takes your bins out. I need some research on what people are willing to pay for something of that technology. It is a fully automated machine that actively makes its own decisions. Anybody who is interested in even buying one can DM me and we can negotiate a price but the build hasn't started yet so DM at your own risk.

Hi everyone! I’m a high school student working on a research project about cybersecurity careers. I’m looking for a cybersecurity or IT professional who would be willing to answer five short interview questions for my assignment. It should only take about 5–10 minutes, either here or by DM. Thanks so much to anyone who can help!

I have a bit of a budget and I'm not looking much for everything, only that I will be using a pen to take notes and watch videos online. I wont need much battery life, performance and build quality. I was looking for 12" and over but i cant exactly find much since I'm on a budget. I was thinking of Honor Pad X9A (241 dollars where I live) because it is 11.5 inches, and then there is Casper M10 which is 12.2" (285 dollars where I live). other than that, I haven't found things around my price which is under 300. Both of them includes the pen. What should I go for, and is there anything other than these two that i could check out?

Does anyone know of a USB webcam with a physical mute switch? I'm tired of getting caught by a hot mic saying things I shouldn't on work calls.

It would be great if there were a modern webcam with a physical toggle switch that disconnects the microphone(s).

suggestions?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

What can I do to recover my Samsung Galaxy M21 in Odisha, India, if it's lost and switched off?

So all I have is a .mpg video which shows size 4.7 GB but length is not showing in file explorer. My sister had sent me this on google drive from a pendrive. Now this video is corrupt on Google drive as well as pen drive. I tried various method/tools to recover it. No chance.. please help me

I was trying to understand how most infections actually happen in 2026.

Earlier it used to be obvious things like sketchy downloads or unknown USBs, but now it feels more subtle.

Is it mostly:

• Fake software cracks?
• Phishing emails?
• Malicious browser extensions?
• Or something else people don’t usually notice?

Would be interesting to know what others have seen in real cases.

Hi, I just signed up with Comcast and I know some people who hate it but haven't really found out why.

What should I know that others already know? Anything particular I should expect down the road (other then price increase when my current price expires)?

Can be tech, tech adjacent or other. Just the name.

Lately I’ve noticed many apps ask for full disk access, camera permissions, browser access, and background activity right after installation.

Most people probably just click “Allow” without thinking twice.

Curious how others handle this now:

• Do you manually review permissions?
• Use antivirus/security tools?
• Or just trust well-known apps?

Feels like privacy and security settings are becoming more important every year.

I'm doing a summer internship soon for a tech company, and will be staying in an extended-stay hotel room for ~2 months. I'm not a fan of using hotel Wi-Fi with how inconsistent and slow it can be, and I know it won't be great for online gaming and transferring large files (which I will be doing a lot of for reasons outside of work).

What are my options for this? I'm not looking for something extremely fast, but something that's at least better than hotel wifi.

Sorry if my English is a bit bad!

I'm trying to connect my switch to my laptop, which already has an external monitor!

My initial idea was to buy a multi-output HDMI port to connect them together, but it didn't work.

The option I see now is to connect the USB-C port to an HDMI adapter and then connect that to the base of the switch. Is that possible?

My laptop is an HP Model 15-cw1012la

Thank you very much in advance

I'm a beginner when it comes to optimizing my tech, but I'd like to think I have all the basics down: noise-cancelling headphones, massage gun... and that's about it.

Any suggestions that made an impact on your life?

Hi, I'm an intern for a hairstylist who wants me to find a way for him to control his three or four smart TVs remotely from his tablet or iPad. Is there an app that can do this? He wants different videos to play on each TV.

Cameras, televisions, lamps, mostly.

I always hear the argument "we were talking about this subject and a few days/hours later I saw an ad about this. I also remember every ad I have ever seen in my life and this one has never showed up". I feel like this can be easily explained by both coincidence and cookies/trackers + location tracking.

I do not think Google is ethical enough to not listen in, but I have never seen any proof and I also find it very hard to believe intelligence agencies would be okay with such a massive security threat. Does anyone here have a convincing argument?

So again, I am not looking for the "I talked about it and this happened" but more of an actual fact by people who have a way better understanding of technology than I do. Or maybe someone who did some experiments with this. I am talking about mobile devices, not shit like Alexa.

Thanks guys!

I recently purchased a computer through facebook marketplace for a reasonable price, fully working. Upgraded the motherboard, CPU, and ram to a more modern spec.

I decided to update from Windows 10 to Windows 11, Secure Boot mode disabled. Here were the following issues:

1. Secure Boot won't enable

2. Because CSM is on

3. CSM can't turn off

4. Because drive is MBR, not GPT

5. Windows boot files are on the wrong disk

6. EFI partition missing/wrong

7. Need partition conversion

8. BIOS no longer detects boot properly

9. Need new boot entry / Secure Boot keys

Using a slew of reddit forums and obscure website forums, in combination with some Al guided assistance, i managed to fix the issues without bricking my PC and complete the update to Windows 11. I have only a small amount of computer knowledge, and this was one of the most mentally intensive, nerve-wracking tasks i've ever had.

Is this a common issue, and should i have just paid a technician to repair the issues without poking around?

Tldr: Disabled Secure boot mode causing chain of problems, 3 hours of troubleshooting and fixes before update possible.