Sunday, October 10, 2021

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Squiggly lines on display, logic board failure or display issue?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 10:53 PM PDT

I have not seen such lines before not sure if it's logic board or display problem. Can someone identify by looking at the picture. Not sure if it's the right forum to ask.enter image description here

Why are apps divided into Intel or M1 based types?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 11:05 PM PDT

So, I am downloading software in preparation for a M1 Macbook and I have quickly discovered that sites will often ask what type of mac chip you have along with an article showing how.

On average, most sites (like VLC) I've seen will often have you pick from one of these options:

  • Intel-based
  • M1 Chip
  • Universal Binary

The main question I have is why do these sites separate their apps into the two categories based off of your chip type if they can just push out universal binaries?

Other questions that stem from this are pretty much around why does this app only supports X chip types? - Somewhat similar to saying 'This program is designed to work on AMD cpus but not Intel cpus.'

Confirm phone call before dialing?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 09:11 PM PDT

I saw some reference that ios 10.4 had introduced a "confirm call" feature. I can not find any such feature in my iPhone 6S with ios 14.7.1 . Is this a third party only feature? I'm getting killed by accidental calls ("butt calls") when in either Recents or Contacts. I would prefer the confirmation approach to auto-lock or other more heavy measures.

ios 15 showing incorrect storage

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 08:20 PM PDT

I just had a look at the storage consumption in my phone and it seems to be incorrect. It shows that the phone has consumed only ~4 GB from my 32GB. I think thats wrong because up until I updated the phone to ios 15, I've for most of the time since last year been at the brink of my storage limit.(notification for storage almost full always on my face).

After updating to 15. The notification is missing…

Besides the totals didnt add up… Photis + Apps taking more than 4GB and System Software ~7GB.

A few days back I even updated it to 15.0.1. (I'm not sure but I thought there a storage fix in this🤔). Didnt see anymore new updates after that as of this writing.

Model: iPhone 7 plus (32GB) iOS version: 15.0.1

This is a bit concerning, if storage is full the phone would just keep crashing if its not indicating correctly right?

Is this a bug? Or some optimizations in storage management…(I cant imagine this level of it though)

AirDrop while connected to a WiFi

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 05:12 PM PDT

Recently, I'm interested in Apple's AirDrop feature. After some research, I found that it uses low energy bluetooth to discover other devices and establish a WiFi connection. However, when you are already connected to a WiFi network, will it temporarily disconnect or are Apple devices able to establish the temporary file exchange network in parallel? How would it be possible? Can a single WiFi card establish multiple WiFi connections or do they use an extra/special WiFi card in their devices?

In Big Sur, is there a way to increase the voice dictation timeout?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 05:09 PM PDT

I enjoy using the voice dictation feature on Big Sur - it is very accurate and for me it is substantially quick than type.

Except it just cuts off after about 30 seconds. Is there a way to increase the amount of time it stays active?

I see there's a similar question about OSX 10.8.

Possibly a virus? [closed]

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 09:02 PM PDT

I'm new to Mac. I downloaded software from a website. It was a DMG file. I installed it, but then the app didn't appear in the Launchpad. I accessed the DMG and I see this strange installation script that could be a virus (why encrypt arguments??) What do you think? Where can I found the installed app and delete it?

I searched in About this Mac > System Report > Installations & Applications but is not there. And then I used the search in the Finder and neither.

How do you copy formulas that reference other sheets from one Numbers spreadsheet to another?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 11:14 PM PDT

What I'm actually trying to do is to copy the sheets from the included Retirement Savings spreadsheet into another spreadsheet.

However, while I can copy and paste the sheets just fine, they paste as values only, with no formulas. Copying and pasting the tables or cells does the same. Is there any way to copy formulas (specifically those that refer to other sheets) from one spreadsheet to another?

How to omit `find ` failed items in macOS?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 02:05 PM PDT

When I use $ find / -name mywork-process, it will display the No such file or directory and Permission denied, there are too many items, I can not distinguish.

find: /System/Volumes/Data/.Spotlight-V100: No such file or directory  find: /System/Volumes/Data/.PKInstallSandboxManager: No such file or directory  find: /System/Volumes/Data/boot: No such file or directory  find: /System/Volumes/Data/.PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware: No such file or directory  find: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Application Support/Apple/Screen Sharing/Keys: Permission denied  find: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/Users: Permission denied  find: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Application Support/Apple/AssetCache/Data: Permission denied  find: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Application Support/Apple/Remote Desktop/Task Server: Permission denied  find: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Application Support/Apple/Remote Desktop/Client: Permission denied  find: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Application Support/ApplePushService: Permission denied  find: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC: Operation not permitted  ...

is there any way to ignore those ones?

2018 Intel Mac mini with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi issues

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 01:59 PM PDT

I swapped out an aging iMac for a 2018 Intel Mac mini and am about to toss it in the trash due to the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference issues. Both cut out more frequently than I can tolerate, and I don't know what to do about it. I don't have easy access to a wired port for internet, so Wi-Fi is pretty critical.

Any tips? I have my mini on my desk, near speakers, near other stuff that may cause interference, but I've never had this issue with any computer in my life. It's clearly a poor design choice by Apple.

I'm willing to buy some Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth dongle that I could connect to, etc, and it seems that with one turned off, the issues go away.

This is incredibly frustrating, and "move your computer very far away from anything" is not a solution.

Disable charging sound on iPhone

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 12:16 PM PDT

I'm using an iPhone SE with iOS 14.42. When plugging a charging wire into the phone, it makes a notification sound if the Silent Mode is off. The phone makes no sound if the Silent Mode is on.

How can I stop the sound from playing the notification sound when Silent Mode is off?

So far, I have tried the app "Silent Plug", which works as long as the app runs. I also tried using the "Shortcuts" app to create a shortcut that plays a silent .mp3 when plugging in the wire, but that has no effect.

How can I limit/filter the files shown in Finder based on a search string/pattern?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 11:56 PM PDT

PathFinder has this nifty feature where one can limit the files shown in a Finder window to names matching a pattern.

enter image description here

How can I accomplish something similar directly in Finder?

PS: I'm aware of the standard search functionality in Finder, but this does a recursive search across all subfolders, it doesn't filter on the currently shown folder only.

PPS: I'm also aware of Exclude sub-folders from Finder search but the answers there primarily propose workarounds.

Can Macs get a virus just by opening a website?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 03:02 PM PDT

I'm being stupid & anxious, but I need confirmation. I was navigating to a domain, and accidentally messed up the spelling, and it redirected me to an IP address and a fake Apple ID sign in came up, with a pop-up apparently scanning the Mac for viruses.

Of course, I know it's a fake scan. Of course, I know it's not an official site.

That's not what I'm asking, I want to know if I can get a virus on my Mac just by opening that site. I closed the tab 5 seconds after it redirected & I didn't enter anything into the text fields.

[MacBook Pro M1, Safari 15, macOS Big Sur]

Safari 15.0 on the Mac keeps on reopening closed windows

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 01:44 PM PDT

I'm running the new Safari 15 on MacOS 11.6 (Big Sur) and when I close the software and reopen it, the windows I've closed in the prior session reopen unlike before I upgraded Safari to the latest release.

I've tried emptying the caches. There's over 50GB of storage space. The system has plenty of unused RAM. Safari hung the first time I tried opening it after the upgrade.

MacBook Pro mid-2012 freezes or crashes when external monitor is plugged in

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 02:05 PM PDT

I have a MBP mid-2012 (pre-Retina) running Mojave or High Sierra. I use the latest version of SwitchResX to handle the external monitor rarer resolution of 1440x900, surely not too many pixels for the older Intel graphics chip. Video adapter is a Thunderbolt 1-to-VGA.

Previously, I used a DisplayLink USB3-based video adapter to light the second monitor (legacy from a slightly older MBP with a burnt Thunderbolt chip) with few issues, except the ginormous CPU consumption that made it impossible to use said adapter for anything else than text or short animations, the single reason why I want to revert to the Thunderbolt adapter. USB3 was never made for streaming video data, no matter how good the compression and algorithms.

Problem: Every time I try to connect the external monitor in Mojave, the OS freezes with a short delay. However, briefly before freezing, SwitchResX does acknowledge the external monitor presence, albeit at an extremely low resolution of 800x600. If external monitor is plugged in before boot, boot doesn't proceed.

Already tried:

  • Same maneuver in High Sierra triggers the same behavior.
  • Resetting PRAM then SMC has no effect.
  • Disabling SIP has no effect (Off the top of my memory, since I cannot access local recovery partition for Mojave)
  • Connecting as a different user on either OS triggers same behavior
  • Last time I checked, booting in safe mode on either OS allows the external monitor to turn on. Of course, running in safe mode just to get a working external display isn't a viable solution.

Not tried: Full OS reinstall. While it would be pretty radical, it is extremely time-consuming and may or may not yield results

What could be happening here?

How to remove packages listed by pkgutil

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 07:06 PM PDT

I've removed everything that can be removed, however this still appears:

pkgutil --packages | grep CLTools  com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables  com.apple.pkg.CLTools_SDK_macOS110  com.apple.pkg.CLTools_SDK_macOS1015  com.apple.pkg.CLTools_macOS_SDK

Mac OS X version is 11.5.2.

Possible to create a blockquote in Apple Notes?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 05:02 PM PDT

I'm using Apple Notes for lots of things lately (especially after discovering the Safari note taking workflow described here). Often I want to indicate a section is a quote, much like I can with Markdown, here in Stack Exchange, in GitHub, Slack, etc.

Like this

Is there any way to do a blockquote in Apple Notes?

What version of Apple TV is required for a HomePod mini stereo pair to work?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 10:03 PM PDT

I have two HomePod minis configured as a stereo pair, that is not recognized by my Apple TV. Instead I see each individual HomePod in the audio settings for the TV and can only select and play through one at a time. I have a very old Apple TV (a replacement is on order) and also a very old AirPort Extreme Base Station (also about to be replaced).

What version of Apple TV is required for a HomePod mini stereo pair to work?

How to solve the “You don't have permission to open the application” in Mac OS big sur?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 04:22 PM PDT

When I want to open an app which I've downloaded outside of app store a pop up with the message of You dont have permission to open this app shows up.

enter image description here

My laptop is macbook pro 2020 m1 big sur version 11.1

enter image description here

I've checked of my user is the administrator or not and I found that I'm the only admin account on this laptop :

enter image description here

I've also tried to open app with rosetta but didn't work either and also tried to make all users able to read and write in the permissions of the app info .

enter image description here

I hope anyone could help me open such apps . Thanks in advance .

Use an iPhone 6 as a monitor for a Raspberry Pi via USB

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 12:53 PM PDT

I recently bought a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ but don't have a monitor to go with it. I know i can use my iPhone as a monitor with VNC Viewer but i don't really want to use that. Is it possible to use an iPhone as a monitor for a RPi via USB (USB-A to Lightning) ? Thank you.

How to sort photos inside a shared album in the Photos app in macOS, iOS, or iPadOS?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 06:00 PM PDT

How to sort photos inside a shared album in the Photos app in macOS, iOS, or iPadOS?

Sort files by hidden value in finder (Big Sur)

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 11:07 PM PDT

As simple as that : is there a way to sort files in my finder by hidden value (say all hidden files and directories will be on the bottom of my finder)

How to show open tabs on other devices on Mac Safari?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 09:05 PM PDT

I want to show open tabs on other devices that share the same Apple and iCloud account, but for some reasons there is no open tab on Mac Safari when I click the top-right icon (the icon of two tabs overriding).

On my iPhone and iPad I can access the tabs opened on my Mac, but the other direction is not true. How can I open the tabs opened on iOS devices on Mac or maybe is it just a bug?

UPDATE

I found out that sometimes the tabs appear properly whereas other times they don't.

UPDATE 2

This might be a bug, but I think 60~80% of the time the tabs don't appear. I upgraded to macOS 11.1 but the problem still persists. Any workaround would be appreciated.

SSD upgrade for iMac 2007 - criteria [closed]

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 01:02 PM PDT

I'm looking to upgrade my slow 2007 iMac with a new 1TB SSD and looking for recommendations on what parameters to look - that is, which SSDs are compatible with my older iMac, and which are best? It seems fairly easy to install, I just want to be armed with the criteria to choose the right SSD.

Here are the specs: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP16?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I see a lot of them are 2.5", I believe the HDD in it now is a 3.5", does that mean I need the adapter bracket in order to install?

"Show In Playlist" CatalinaOS

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 01:06 PM PDT

I've created a custom keyboard shortcut for the "Show In Playlist" command in the Music app. When I use the shortcut, I can see the menu bar is selected, but it does not open a menu showing the playlists. I am aware this is possible by right/cmd-clicking on a song in the library, but this is a tedious process for a large library. Thanks!

MacBook Pro 16 2019 + External Monitor. Battery Life

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 08:02 PM PDT

I've recently bought a MBP Pro 16' 2019. I'm using right now a Thunderbolt 2 adapter so I can connect it to an old iMac 21' and using as an external monitor.

My question is: It is safe for battery life keep it connected all the time?

Right now, I'm only working from Home (Pandemic) and I'm afraid of leaving it at power source all the time.

I don't mind when it hits 80% of battery charge, unplug and plug again when it's 30%. But just to clarify if it's correct.

Also, I'm planning on buying an LG Monitor with Thunderbolt 3, that has an 85W plug connector to provide energy to the MBP. Should I use it? The official charger is 96W.

Set Apple Script App as custom browser on macOS mojave

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 01:00 PM PDT

I followed instructions here: Default Browser .plist location

But it does't work. My custom app doesn't show up in the list of browsers to choose from in system settings:

enter image description here

I have tried:

  • calling /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister on the modified plist file.
  • moving the custom app to /Applications

What does it take to get this to work on macOS mojave? Thanks

Care and feeding of the 1st gen Apple Pencil and its battery

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 09:14 PM PDT

Background

I own an iPad Pro 10.5" and a first-generation Apple Pencil for it.

The Pencil was bought in March 2018. In January 2019, i.e. about 9.5 months later, it had a battery failure and had to be replaced under warranty by Apple. This is not an isolated issue. I'm not looking forward to another failure in less than a year again, except it'll be out of warranty this time, so I'll have to pay out of pocket for a repair next time.

It's well known that batteries are consumables, and it's not expected that they'll last forever. On the other hand, to see Pencils failing (such as my own) before the warranty expires suggests that there is a design flaw in the Pencil.

Side note, feel free to skip

As an electrical engineer with experience designing battery-powered devices, I have a theory regarding this design flaw:

  1. The Pencil's battery is very small (0.332 Wh, or about 90 mAh).
  2. Point 1 by itself is not a problem, except the Pencil is an always-on device. Its internal accelerometer senses when it's moved, and it pairs to the iPad. If, like me, you throw the iPad and the Pencil in a backpack which you take around with you all day, it's going to be waking up quite often, and draining the battery in the process. I don't care what Jony Ive says, it really needed an on-off switch.
  3. When a Li-Ion battery is drained beyond a certain threshold, it isn't safe to try to recharge it. Most battery protection ICs include undervoltage protection and turn off the charge MOSFET in series with the battery when this condition is detected.
  4. When the Pencil reaches a low battery state (say at 5%), I assume it enters a very low power mode, disconnecting from the iPad, to save battery (if it doesn't, and the user doesn't immediately start recharging the battery, it will be irrecoverably dead in a few hours as per point 3).
  5. However, even in a low power mode, there is some current drain from the battery -- unless you use a relay to cut power to the circuit, which Apple certainly didn't use in the Pencil. A good design might have a leakage current budget of about 10 µA. Unfortunately, going back to point 1, and considering that 5% of 90 mAh is 4.5 mAh (assuming it still holds 90 mAh of charge; over time it will be less, so adjust the figures downward correspondingly), a 10 µA drain would completely drain the battery after 450 hours, or about 19 days (less than 3 weeks).

As a consequence of point 5, if you leave your iPad unattended for a few weeks, you may come back to a dead Pencil. Apple realized this, which is why they made it easier to dock the 2nd generation Pencil to the iPad Pro, which keeps it permanently charged.

Another, completely unrelated issue, but which may also play a part: Apple implemented a fast charging protocol, since it only takes about 15-20 minutes to fully charge the Pencil starting from a discharged state, which suggests a C-rate of about 3C to 4C. This paper shows noticeably reduced battery cycle life at 1.2C and 1.4C compared to 1C, so extrapolating to 3C or 4C rates, I'm frankly surprised the battery lasts more than a few dozen cycles.

It is my theory that these two issues are responsible for most battery-related Apple Pencil failures.

The questions

All signs point to the Apple Pencil requiring constant attention to avoid killing the battery. On the other hand, I haven't found any reports of newly-bought Pencils being dead, so clearly they can stay on store shelves for weeks, possibly months, without the battery dying (although it surely helps that they're sitting still on the shelf before being sold).

What measures can I take to ensure the maximum battery longevity of a Pencil?

In particular, can I revert the Pencil to a factory reset state, in which the battery drain is very low?

Can I "slow"-charge the Pencil (say at 1C rate, therefore not slow at all) so as to prevent the hypothesized deterioration of the battery due to the default fast charge protocol?

Are there apps to remind me to do this if I leave the Pencil paired for more than a few minutes without using it?

Note: I will leave an answer describing the measures I took to try to prolong the lifetime of my current Pencil, although clearly they weren't enough, seeing as it died after 9.5 months. I'm looking for other measures to take to make sure the replacement lasts longer.

Using Imagemagick to convert TIFF to PDF

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 09:02 PM PDT

How can I convert JPG into PDF easily? shows how to use homebrew to install imagemagick and then convert .jpg files into .pdf. I would like to convert many TIFF files to PDF, keeping the same name and changing only the extension.

For JPEG files, the advice was to use the following command:

  1. brew install imagemagick
  2. convert *.jpg output.pdf

I am trying to use the Step 2 command for *.TIFF files into *.PDF.

However, despite using the command line to the letter, I am unable to change my 300 files with this single line. In fact, no file is converted at all.

Would anyone be so kind to provide a helping hand ?

How can I disable password for system preferences lock? How can I permanently unlock all system preferences?

Posted: 09 Oct 2021 06:31 PM PDT

Is there any way to disable the "Click the lock to make changes" needing a password, or is there a way to permanently unlock all settings in Mountain Lion?

More specifically I'm turning the Network Link Conditioner ( to simulate slow connections ) on and off frequently from its system preferences pane and it needs a password each time and it's getting annoying.

I'm comfortable with the security issues this presents if I could revert to the default behavior at some point.

Edit

I'd just like to point out that in the time it takes to think up a sarcastic reply to an answer ( but ultimately not send because you're too polite ), the lock locks itself automatically.
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