Area 51 » Technology

The Gadgets site didn't have enough activity during the beta, and has been closed. Tagged questions have been migrated to the Apple and Android sites. You can download the data dump of all questions here. See the blog for more information.

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Personally I would love to see this site replace: forceclose.com, phonehow.com, slidetoask.com and askaboutgadgets.com. If they have any developer questions they can go to Stack Overflow, but let the rest ALL come here. – Ivo Flipse May 27 '10 at 22:23

Anything you might see on engadget.com, gizmodo.com fits here ... including a lot of smartphone stuff. I think it's fine to have a relatively broad gadget site that includes everything from smartphones to ipods to universal remotes... we'll have tags to keep it orderly. – Joel Spolsky♦ May 27 '10 at 23:42

I think we should disallow questions about cameras. (A loose definition): A camera is a gadget/device that you carry around whose primary function is to take photographs. One reason is that I think cameras and photography is a big enough to warrant a site of its own. The other reason is that I'm afraid this site will be swamped by camera enthusiasts (I know several) asking abut lenses, shutters, nicon, pentax, ISO numbers, filmtypes , and on and on and on.... The do love to bicker, compare hardware and thoroughly bore the rest. Not like us compyer geeks at all - * ;-) * – Nifle May 29 '10 at 18:57

show 14 more announcements

123 Example Questions (12 closed)

active newest votes

up vote 22 down vote

added by Nathan Osman Jun 4 '10 at 3:12

up vote 20 down vote

added by Jeff Atwood May 27 '10 at 21:25

Do android app questions belong on forceclose.com ? (thought this question doesn't seem to be answered there) – therefromhere May 27 '10 at 21:38

Personally I would prefer one site for all gadgets, like Super User is for all computers – Ivo Flipse May 27 '10 at 22:11

Better on superuser? Otherwise it's just support for all apps X on hardware Y. – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 22:57

@Martin - this is off-topic on SU. – Gnoupi May 28 '10 at 8:04

@dboarman: lots of gadgets these days run software, require firmware updates, have hackable firmwares, can install apps, etc. SU made the decision to focus on traditional desktop/laptop platforms and leave smartphones and the like out in the cold. this site is the perfect place for this question. – quack quixote Jun 2 '10 at 18:18

show 2 more improvement suggestions

up vote 20 down vote

added by Ivo Flipse May 27 '10 at 22:21

up vote 20 down vote

added by Ivo Flipse, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 31 '10 at 19:28

up vote 20 down vote

added by Good Person May 30 '10 at 6:47

Does that mean broke? – IAbstract Jun 4 '10 at 1:14

"Brick" is slang for making a gadget no longer work. Essentially all it is good for now is as a brick. – Al E. Jun 4 '10 at 2:07

@Al: lol, okay...now I can vote on-topic. – IAbstract Jun 4 '10 at 2:19

if device is a gadget then this is on topic. – A Thing Jun 7 '10 at 9:52

up vote 19 down vote

added by Jaydles May 28 '10 at 16:20

	Good question except it should be How can I print a document... – IAbstract Jun 4 '10 at 0:53
	Good point. Same info, less subjective-sounding wording. Fixed. – Jaydles Jun 4 '10 at 2:13

up vote 14 down vote

added by quack quixote May 29 '10 at 23:16

	obviously laptop questions are more for Super User. digital picture frame questions go here, tho. so my question is, would this site get low-level enough that DIY gadget questions are allowed? – quack quixote May 29 '10 at 23:17
	Not a good example. Can't be easily done, and is more for electronics and/or DIY sites. This site isn't as much about doing it yourself as it is about using gadgets. – Adam Davis Jun 15 '10 at 3:28
	@adam: don't worry about "can't be easily done", worry about whether it's on topic. this was posted as a test of scope; so far the votes seem to be in favor of this sort of DIY gadgetry. – quack quixote Jun 16 '10 at 15:44

up vote 12 down vote

added by Gnoupi May 27 '10 at 21:25

up vote 12 down vote

added by Jaydles, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 2 '10 at 14:58

up vote 11 down vote

added by chollida Jun 1 '10 at 15:36

The title should probably be shortened, but good nonetheless. – Senseful Jun 11 '10 at 20:48

up vote 9 down vote

added by Andrew Song May 27 '10 at 21:31

up vote 6 down vote

added by raven May 28 '10 at 13:08

up vote 5 down vote

added by Jaydles May 30 '10 at 2:47

up vote 5 down vote

added by Good Person Jun 1 '10 at 13:40

	i'm not a subject matter expert, but i can't see how this is not ontopic. general procedure should be the same for a given phone model (and/or firmware version). i can only see this as offtopic if instructions are specific to a single vendor/network. – quack quixote Jun 2 '10 at 3:16
	@quack - I thought unlocking always was vendor/network specific. – Nifle Jun 2 '10 at 9:22
	@nifle: honestly, i don't know how it works; it probably varies heavily. i've heard some phones have "unlock codes", implying that you get a code from the service vendor, then follow some procedure. that procedure is specific to the phone; only the code is vendor-specific. – quack quixote Jun 3 '10 at 7:08

up vote 4 down vote

added by Good Person May 30 '10 at 6:44

see comments of area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/614/… – Good Person May 30 '10 at 6:44

up vote 4 down vote

added by Helen Jun 10 '10 at 19:28

up vote 3 down vote

added by rmontagud Jun 9 '10 at 10:23

Why i'd ask this? Because there are some schools/universities that only distribute pdf versions of their books and calibre doesnt help – rmontagud Jun 9 '10 at 10:33

up vote 2 down vote

added by Joel Spolsky♦, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 2 '10 at 23:08

Illegal to jailbreak. – Michael Pryor May 27 '10 at 21:27

That's the problem with SE being a US company. The DMCA (possibly) makes it illegal in the US but not anywhere else, in europe it's illegal to forbid it. So are we going to ban questions about how to get to google.com from China or how to listen to BBC world service in N Korea? – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 23:03

Jailbreaking is not just illegal, but a whole new echo system on the iphone. If it pertains to smartphones, I would allow it – debug May 27 '10 at 23:11

modding one's gadgets is presumably on-topic. afaik the only thing illegal about jailbreaking an iphone is selling it afterwards. @michael – quack quixote Jun 2 '10 at 18:24

up vote 2 down vote

added by Andrew Song May 27 '10 at 21:57

up vote 2 down vote

added by Ivo Flipse May 27 '10 at 22:14

This probably should be answered in a FAQ/CW question that lists all phones that are known to run Android – Ivo Flipse May 28 '10 at 6:19

up vote 2 down vote

added by Ivo Flipse May 27 '10 at 22:42

At first pass, this seems like a classic Android vs iPhone argument, but this does seem like it could be objectively answered. – Kyle Cronin May 27 '10 at 22:43

It feel too subjective because of the "better" adjective. A question like "What are the main differences in the multitasking implementation" is more objective. – Joel Spolsky♦ May 27 '10 at 23:44

Fanboy battles should be out, if they are measurable comparisons they can be in – Ivo Flipse May 28 '10 at 6:17

up vote 2 down vote

added by Jaydles May 30 '10 at 3:09

up vote 2 down vote

added by Nick Berardi Jun 1 '10 at 1:58

up vote 2 down vote

added by akf Jun 15 '10 at 3:50

up vote 1 down vote

added by Joel Spolsky♦ May 27 '10 at 21:20

Great stuff for this on SF, seems a shame to overlap. – Kara Marfia Jun 15 '10 at 14:17

up vote 1 down vote

added by Joel Spolsky♦ May 27 '10 at 21:20

On topic, but you'd probably get a better answer on the apple fanboy site. – Michael Pryor May 27 '10 at 21:27

Or we split up the Apple fanboy site into gadgets here, computers on SU :-P – Ivo Flipse May 27 '10 at 22:13

I actually want to know the answer to this question. – splattne May 28 '10 at 5:52

@ivo: please. no need for an Apple fanboy site. if apple fanboys want their own site, let them pay for the server. – quack quixote Jun 2 '10 at 18:20

up vote 1 down vote

added by Joel Spolsky♦ May 27 '10 at 21:21

off topic because it's highly subjective – Joel Spolsky♦ May 27 '10 at 21:25

not sure this is gadgety enough. – Jeff Atwood May 27 '10 at 21:34

Only as subjective as 'whats the best way to do X in language Y'. As Joel said the answer is Senheiser, then everybody gets bored of answering this and goes meta. – Martin Beckett May 27 '10 at 23:00

Highly subjective. – Nick Berardi May 28 '10 at 12:56

@jeff: this could be gadgety enough if it's about accessories for some gadget (mp3 player, smartphone, whatever). i agree with @joel that it's too subjective, tho. – quack quixote Jun 3 '10 at 6:57

show 1 more improvement suggestion

up vote 1 down vote

added by Ivo Flipse May 27 '10 at 22:19

up vote 1 down vote

added by Ivo Flipse, edited by Jaydles Jun 1 '10 at 13:52

This shouldn't be a discussion about WHEN the update will be there, just why it's been delayed. Perfectly answerable with reliable resources – Ivo Flipse May 28 '10 at 7:45

I fear this might get to be filled with lots of rumors – Good Person Jun 1 '10 at 13:39

up vote 1 down vote

added by ADB May 28 '10 at 12:13

up vote 1 down vote

added by Gnoupi May 31 '10 at 13:03

from this SU question. – Gnoupi May 31 '10 at 13:03

up vote 1 down vote

added by Jaydles, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 2 '10 at 14:58

up vote 1 down vote

added by chollida Jun 1 '10 at 15:35

up vote 1 down vote

added by zdan Jun 3 '10 at 0:53

up vote 1 down vote

added by Marc Gravell♦ Jun 15 '10 at 8:49

up vote 1 down vote

added by Marc Gravell♦ Jun 15 '10 at 8:50

up vote 0 down vote

added by Joel Spolsky♦ May 27 '10 at 21:20

I say, on topic, but also could be asked on superuser. – Michael Pryor May 27 '10 at 21:28

borderline, because it depends if the resolution is on the nokia or the macbook. But until determined, I would allow it. – Jeff Atwood May 27 '10 at 21:36

It's not even that clear. The Nokia E71 is basically a computer in its own right; when I think of gadgets, I think more like Apple TVs, Kindles, Blu-ray players, etc. But you're right that it depends on how the community would go. – Benjamin Pollack May 27 '10 at 21:58

@benjamin: all of those are "computers in their own right" too. – quack quixote May 29 '10 at 23:09