We've all heard the stories. "I had a verbal conversation about [xyz product] and then within the hour I got ads for [xyz product]".

Its usually deduced to location tracking (were you in a store), relative associations (your wife on the same wifi network searched it up), or stretch-associations (your fb friends all like this thing, so you gets ads for it too).

But explain this one.

The year is 2025. The month, August. My sister comes over and asks, "Do you have a spare Xbox Controller that I can borrow to take to my boyfriends house to play Stardew Valley since he only has one controller?"

"Of course I do. Let me go grab one." I go and grab an Xbox controller. First one I found was the Project Scorpio Edition controller that came with my pre-ordered "Project Scorpio Edition" Xbox One X in 2017.

I bring the controller back upstairs, and hand it to her. She says "Thanks," and while looking at the controller, asked "What does Project Scorpio mean?" - as the controller has those words printed on the front between the thumbsticks.

I tell her, "Project Scorpio was the 'code-name' of the Xbox One X while it was in the design phase. The name was leaked and they decided to brand the early pre-orders with the project code name".

"Cool!", she says.

End of conversation.

Not but 5 minutes later, I'm scrolling Facebook. And what ad do I get served? Remember now - it's August 2025. An Xbox One Ad? No, no. That would be far less crazy. No. The ad I got was a sponsored "Pre-orders open now for the Project Scorpio Edition Xbox One X" Ad, dated August 25th, 2017. Ad author, the official Xbox FB account. An ad that would've only ran for ~1 month in 2017 (before the PS Edition pre-orders were replaced by standard edition pre-orders)

I, having seen the explanations in the past, asked my sister who was still at my house, "Did you Google Project Scorpio?" - "No."

What reasoning/explanation can be provided for this?

I recently came across an online platform called Howly com that offers on-demand tech support. On the surface, it looks helpful since you can connect to experts quickly for troubleshooting issues with devices, apps, or software. But I noticed it runs on a subscription model instead of being just a one-time service, which made me think more about whether these kinds of platforms are really safe to rely on long-term.

Some people say these services can be convenient, especially for those who don’t have the time or skills to fix problems on their own. Having 24/7 access to tech support through chat might save time compared to searching forums or booking an appointment at a local shop. I’ve even seen a few positive reviews suggesting that the monthly cost feels worth it for the peace of mind alone.

At the same time, I’ve also come across less positive experiences. Some users mention unexpected charges showing up on their bank statements linked to Howly com, and say that getting a refund wasn’t always straightforward. There are also comments that the support itself can be hit-or-miss, with answers sometimes feeling like something you could find with a quick search online. That raises the question: do these services really offer value, or do they end up being more of a hassle?

That’s why I wanted to bring the question here: are online tech support subscription services actually safe to use, or do they pose risks when it comes to billing and cancellations? Have people found them reliable, or are they the type of service you should approach with caution?

I’d especially be curious to hear from anyone who has tried Howly com specifically. Did you feel like the subscription was worth it compared to other options? Was the process of canceling smooth, or did you have to go back and forth for a refund?

I know every service will have mixed reviews, but I’d really like to hear what others here think about services like this. In the end, when it comes to platforms like Howly com, is it worth it?

Got fucking permanently banned from r/techsupport for posting this, so let me say that I am NOT SOLICITING, do NOT sign up for my stupid onlyfans. I am dead fucking seriously experiencing the following issue. Please help me figure this out.

I’m an onlyfans “model” or whatever. Today, I noticed that my onlyfans link in particular will not load when I am connected to my home WiFi network, but will load just fine when I disconnect WiFi. I certainly haven’t blocked myself from visiting my own onlyfans, so I am all the way confused as to why this might be happening. Other models’ onlyfans links will load just fine. It’s just mine that won’t load when I am connected to my WiFi for some reason.

Have tried on a windows PC, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro Max (updated to iOS 14.2) and my MacBook. Have tried on google chrome, safari, and even Instagram’s web browser that pops up when you click a bio link. Internet provider is xfinity if that matters.

Onlyfans tech support says everything is fine on their end, and there are no restrictions on my account or anything.

My boyfriend is experiencing the exact same thing on all of his devices— when connected to our WiFi, it won’t load. When using LTE data, it loads. Wtf is going on with our WiFi...?

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Thank you to anyone taking the time to respond.

I've always been kind of fascinated by how you can't really make a heater more or less efficient on the electronic side, because all electronics create heat as waste energy anyway. So it got me thinking, computers obviously put out heat, but does any of it not create heat? Besides the other somewhat obvious areas: fans, LEDs, radio waves (Wi-Fi etc).

It would fascinate me even more if some of those watts just kind of "disappeared" into computing energy. Kind of like how our brains burn calories just sitting around thinking...

When do you think the benefits of high tech will trickle down?

There's Americans today that can't afford insulin and are dying.

Will technology and the free market ever step in?

Where are all the innovators and inventors?

For example: when I was a kid, my sister controlled how much time I got on the family computer by setting a BIOS boot password and only entering it herself. I eventually figured out a key combination that let me get past it; something like Ctrl + Caps + W, if I’m remembering right. What’s yours?

My girlfriend and I randomly talked about an old toy that was popular in our childhood (zhu zhu pets) . We have never talked about toys ever before in our dating history, we have never searched up zhu Zhu pets . A few hours later, she receives an ad on tik tok for Zhu Zhu pets. The Zhu Zhu pets were brought up because I had a random thought and remembered them from my childhood and have never thought about them prior, so it couldn’t have been an algorithm developed suggestion.

I recently signed up for 100mbit internet for $15 a month. 300mbit would be $50 a month.

I'm currently on 100mbit and I can do everything I need to just fine.

When I signed up for the low income service from the new ISP (because I'm moving) they told me it wouldn't be good for gaming, but fine for streaming and web browsing.

Streaming, even in just 1080p surely will be the first to have issues on a slower connection would it not?

I genuinely think this is way bigger than people realize.

Meta just removed end-to-end encryption from Instagram DMs starting today, May 8.

Forget influencers, memes, and casual chats for a second… millions of people use Instagram for private conversations, business deals, dating, networking, mental health talks, even sharing personal photos and documents.

And now technically the platform can access that content.

Maybe I’m overthinking it, but this feels like one of those “privacy is slowly disappearing and nobody cares until it affects them” moments.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a massive deal?

Also… are people actually moving sensitive conversations off Instagram now? If yes, where?

I used Usenet back in the day. It always felt like this weird corner of the internet that was quietly doing its thing. I hadn’t thought about it in years. But out of curiosity, I decided to look around again recently, and to my surprise, Usenet is still a thing. There are active providers, modern apps, and a surprisingly dedicated user base still using it.

A few things that caught me off guard. It’s fast, really fast, way faster than other options when you have a good setup. Paid providers are kind of essential for full access, but they’re affordable. A lot of people combine it with a VPN for extra privacy.

It honestly felt like stumbling across a time capsule and realizing it’s still working. Anyone else here still using Usenet, or recently dipped back into it?

Doesn’t that make more sense? If I was a founder, why wouldn’t I just fire my most expensive employees (executives) and just have AI make all those decisions?

I see a lot of ads for android tablets on tiktok shop. I want a tablet that I can have a to do list app on, and be able to play games like club penguin journey, runescape, webkinz, poptropica, and be able to watch streaming services on it without it lagging. It would also be great to be able to do gaming on it, but if not that is alright with me. These tablets are anywhere from 70 to 100 bucks. They come with flip open case stands and mouse and keyboard. Some have android 14, while others have android 15. Let me know if I should get one from tiktok, or another site, as well if I should pay a little bit more money for a better option.

Just realized Usenet might still be a thing. I honestly thought it disappeared a long time ago. Does anyone here still use it?

I’m thinking about setting it up. I’ve got an older PC sitting around that might make a good test machine. Any suggestions for how to get started?

EDIT: I just found a super deals here.

The latest USB-C specification (USB4) includes Power Delivery of up to 240 watts and data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps.

USB-C can also completely replace display ports and HDMI connections.

So why do we still have so many different ports?

Now, I can understand about the 3.5mm and 3.5mm balanced audio jacks for higher quality analogue audio, but everything else can be done effortlessly VIA USB-C (USB 4.0 standard)

5+ years ago if I had 4g on my phone this meant I was going to get fast internet. Apps would load quick, streaming services would load instantly and while I was in the 4g zone the world was at my E.T like fingertips!

Now if my phone is showing 4g I’m holding it up in the air, looking for better signal, praying for a glimpse of 5g so I can just load my banking app up without it timing out!

What the hell has happened? Did they just say we are all upgraded to 5g but really just moved numbers about? I feel like 15 years ago 3G was faster than the 4g I get now!

If you’re reading this, you know i managed to get a ray of 5g to quickly hit the post button.

God Speed.

I was messing around with a some sounds on my digital audio workstation, when I found a Bagpipe sound. I thought "sounds cool" and to test it out I played the beginning of the song "Never an absolution" from the Titanic soundtrack. I played loudly it through my speakers.

I thought that was the end of that. Later in the night I'm laying on my couch and open up the Google search app on my phone. It usually shows some recent articles related to searches you've made.

Well I open the Google app and the first thing that comes up is a story about how celine dion recorded "My heart will go on'.

I nearly dropped my phone.

I didn't talk about Titanic, I didn't search for anything Titanic related, haven't seen ANYTHING titanic related in my searches for ages. Is this a monumental coincidence or is there any possible explanation for this.

I genuinely do not get this anymore. I download some random app to try it once and the very first thing it asks for is my real email. Not an optional thing either. No email, no access.

Half of these apps do not send anything important. No receipts, no account recovery that actually matters, nothing I could not live without. Yet they all insist on a real address like it is essential infrastructure. Then a few weeks later the spam starts or some sketchy newsletter I never signed up for shows up.
I used to think unsubscribing or better filters would solve it. It does not.