Not only does USB 3 not work with a wide variety of cables, I can’t even plug one in with the Apple Silicone Case on the phone. Or rather, I can, but it won’t connect more than momentarily—the case exerts enough pressure to keep the cable from remaining in contact—totally unusable with the case on.
How do you build and offer a product so ill-conceived that you have to remove the case to be able to plug-in any and every USB-C and Thunderbolt cable I have? On top of shipping a USB 2.0 cable with a $2000 phone. Total dick move on both counts.
Maybe that’s why Apple shipped a poor quality cable—so they could make their 90% profit margin on a shitty overpriced phone case with a cable that fits it (rather than correctly designing the case), while saving another few bucks on a USB2 cable so flimsy and cheaply-made it is sure to fail quickly. Follow the money.
Time for an Exacto knife @AMAZON to destructively modify this half-assed Apple phone case.
UPDATE: an early Thanksgiving: using a razor sharp knife, I rotated the blade around the cable entry hole of the phone case, carving off enough material that I can fairly reliable get the USB-C cable to seat properly now. Maybe the Apple Silicone case should ship with a razor blade?
...
Below, all these cables all ought to allow an iPhone 15 Pro Max to connect with USB 3 speeds.
High Quality Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C Cables
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√ No more slow and noisy hard drives!
This problem cost me half a day on a rare and precious trip with my daughter. And a huge ball of stress, thinking I was totally hosed and would have to drive home 300 miles. And hours on the phone with Comcast and AT&T, blaming them initially. They were innocent—it was Apple’s usual feckless incompetence at work.
What should make you very uneasy is that a month has gone by (saw the issue starting Sept 1), and Apple has seemingly not noticed the problem. macOS Ventura 13.6 was just released recently, and it is still broken.
But what is stupefying is that obviously Apple has either (a) totally incompetent quality assurance, or (b) no quality assurance at all. The functionality in question is so fundamental, so basic, that assuring it works is necessarily an essential part of any QA process to release a product. Ergo, Apple has no QA process or a wholly incompetent one.
Nice work Apple. With macOS Sonoma almost out, will this ever get fixed in Ventura? The whole code base must be rife with buges to require a complex technical note like this, a note that shows these dimwits have no idea what they have wrought.
Broken Personal HotSpot Functionality
Initially I blamed Comcast for my server being unreachable, but they were innocent. Then I blamed AT&T over in the Eastern Sierra, thinking it was a local issue (not), and they too were innocent. Hours later and with blood pressure 40 points higher, I finally figured out that Apple’s broken macOS Ventura is the issue.
Manifestations
The only network thing that works is a web browser eg Safari.
Inoperable Apple Mail inboxes
Apple Mail has no connectivity.
No IP address in the world anywhere can be pinged.
No git or mail or other non-http server can be reached.
# Connected via USB
MBP:DIGLLOYD $ ping apple.com
PING apple.com (17.253.144.10): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 17.253.144.10: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=45.510 ms
64 bytes from 17.253.144.10 icmp_seq=1 ttl=55 time=38.901 ms
64 bytes from 17.253.144.10: icmp_seq=2 ttl=55 time=51.556 ms
...
# Connected via WiFi
MBP:DIGLLOYD $ ping apple.com
PING apple.com (17.253.144.10): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: No route to host
ping: sendto: No route to host
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
...
Details
Could it be computer specific? Possibly (doubtful), but I have very limited systems to test with, and I travel using the 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max.
- Affects macOS Ventura 13.6 and just-prior version (whatever it was on Sept 1). How far back it goes, dunno. Does NOT affect macOS Monterey, at least not on the 2019 iMac 5K.
- All functionality works on the device providing the hotspot (eg iPhone or iPad).
- A computer connected via USB to hot spot has full functionality.
- A computer connected via WiFi to device hot spot works for web browser ONLY. All other services are inoperable—no mail, no ping, no git, no ssh, no nothin'.
- Bluetooth to the device hot spot is not an option, since Apple broke that too!!!
Workarounds
With 100% failure 100% of the time via WiFi, the only workaround is to always plug the device in via USB.
This is harder than it sounds: it takes up a precious port, a serious problem in my work setup as there are only 3 ports available. It requires the correct cable for the device. And in the case of the iPhone 15 Pro Max... requires removing the Apple silicone case because a USB-C cable will not seat with the case in place.
But at least there is a workaround... sigh.
Affected systems
On macOS Monterey, all of my devices work normally via WiFi hotspot. Which explains why I saw no problems back in July on my trip, when my MBP was running Monterey. But I can no longer run Monterey on my MBP, so that is not a solution.
2023-09-23 - SEND FEEDBACK
Related:
Apple, Apple Core Rot, Apple iOS, Apple iPhone and iPad, Apple MacBook Pro M1, Apple macOS, Apple macOS Ventura, Apple Silicon, iOS, laptop, MacBook, MacBook ProMy 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max running macOS Ventura 13.6 (the very latest update) cannot be paired with ANY of my devices. All of these fail:
- iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 17.0.1
- iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 15.7.9 (latest possible on this old phone)
- iPad Pro running iOS 17.0.1
All these devices fail to pair. The devices show the failure, below; the MBP doesn’t see or report anything when looking for the devices—not there.
ALL of these devices work fine on my 2019 iMac 5K running macOS Monterey 12.7.
Update: it is not just the MacBook Pro; the 2023 Mac Pro M2 Ultra also fails the same way. With macOS Sonoma on the way, will this ever get fixed?
...
It gets worse: Apple has broken key functionality of cellular data hotspots in macOS Ventura.
Nice work Apple. Up to your usual standards of quality assurance eh? Your technical support doesn’t know what they are doing either.
Jonathan B writes:
I have a MBP running 12.7 and tried to pair it to my iPhone 15 Pro with the same results. It seems to be an issue with the MBP and new iPhone possibly. I have tried rebooting the Bluetooth hardware with sudo pkill bluetoothd in terminal with no success.
MPG: I am not having trouble pairing on my 2019 iMac 5K running 12.7. Possibly it is specific to Apple Silicon machines.
It appears there is some sort of bug with USB 3 on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
One very annoying problem with the Apple Silicone Case for the iPhone 15 Pro Max is that the case must be removed for any high quality USB-C cable to be inserted. Doh!
These cables all ought to allow an iPhone 15 Pro Max to connect with USB 3 speeds.
High Quality Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C Cables
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Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
I have used professional-grade gear for ~15 years for road cycling, eg my lab-grade (±0.5%) strain-gauge SRM Power Meter. Up to 12000 miles and 1.25 million vertical feet in a single year, 55 double centuries, etc.
That’s about as extreme as it gets for exercise. Accordingly, the bar is very high for what I expect in a tracking device for exercise. Still, I accept something in the range of ±5% for a wristwatch type device, so long as that level of precision holds (see precision and accuracy). Precision is far more important than accuracy for such things.
Buttons
Exercise interface has no stop button I coudl figure out, I ended up with 10 segments, some caused by my wrist just bending because the band has to be tight. What a problematic interface. I have a lot of learning to figure out how to use the thing; it’s inherently much harder than a phone, with miniscule icons. I’ll need to remove the crapware and reconfigure it to make it usable.
Heart rate (bpm)
To get accurate heart rate, Apple Watch has to be strapped on fairly tightly (mildly uncomfortable), as I found when it was a little loose (reasonably comfortable)—a little loose and the HR runs 7-10 beats too low and is flaky.
I monitored both systems while cycling: strapped tightly, Apple Watch HR bpm matches my Polar H10 heart rate monitor strap beat-for-beat. A little loose and all bets are off, low and flaky readings.
Altitude and ascent
Altitude with GPS units has hugely improved over the years, and the Apple Watch also has barometric altimeter. Dunno how it reconciles the two. Altitude seems spot-on at home. In the mountains... TBD.
As for total ascent (the metric most important to me after elevation), I need more experience to weigh-in on Apple Watch precision and accuracy.
Distance / speed / elapsed time
In a straight line, a good match for my extremely accurate bike readout (±0.5% or so, based on wheel revolutions with precise circumference configuration but tire pressure can vary slightly).
Where GPS distance works poorly is on road sections and hikes where the road/trail twists/turns, canyons, etc. Then the distance/speed can be pretty bad—as bad as 20% off.
Power (watts)
The Apple Watch will not even see the SRM Power Meter as available, so that information cannot be incorporated into the workout. It can pair with the Polar H10 heart rate monitor strap however.
Failure to account for active vs not
My SRM power meter knows when the bike starts and stops, it starts and stops automaticaly, and I configure it to not average-in that stopped portion.
The Apple Watch does not know any of this, so it averages in crap, making the statistics useless. And you have to manually start it. Yeah, you can do all the work of intervals (“segments”)—if you remember every start stop—which is no good if you just pull over for a drink in the middle of some other segment. Totally sucks as a pro tool—no time for that shit, particularly at mile 137 or whatever.
Crappy interface and viewing for cycling
Control over what is displayed is poor—one display, impossible to toggle while riding. On the SRM PC8 head unit, I have far more detailed and configurable data readout, and at an angle to my eye that I can actually read without contorting my wrist/hand position
Since the Apple Watch must be on the wrist (unless you wear a heart rate strap and pair it), you cannot really see the damned thing without contorting.
Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is not all that comfortable; it’s large and heavy and I am constantly aware it’s there. And it needs a tight fit on the wrist to do its job right (health stats, I got the sports band). It is not something I want to wear, unlike a phone in my pocket, which I can just forget about.
- To get accurate heart rate, it has to be strapped on pretty tight. Once this is done HR bpm matches beat-for-beat my Polar H10 heart rate monitor strap.
- It just gets annoying after a while. So I am not going to sleep in it for sleep stats, which nukes that as a useful feature.
As yet I am unsure whether the Apple Watch offers enough value, or if it’s mainly a toy. For some, it surely makes sense... for me I need a few weeks for it to prove it has any value.
What I want more than Apple Watch
The iPhone is a hub for any manner of add-on "sensing peripherals" as I’ll call them.
Like most, I carry my iPhone everywhere: work, cycling, hiking, etc.
But these days, security concerns me in various circumstances: dangerous drivers particularly on my bike, Bad People on the street, etc.
So what I want are fairly cheap but high quality detachable cameras that I can attach to helmet, billed-cap, shirt front, rear of my jersey, etc.
The iPhone would save looping streams from those cameras and in the event of a Siri command or button press, etc would live-stream the last minute or so and ongoing until stopped.
Because I want the perp caught, or the driver caught that hit me, so my family can prosecute and sue them if I am hurt or killed.
I know that some such cameras exist, but so far they’ve had crappy interfaces are not not well integrated... though perhaps I’ve missed something.
A real concern? I’ve almost been killed TWICE in the past 3 years just as I turn into my own driveway, by my asshole neighbors who feel the need to speed past me at 40-50 mph on a 25mph dead-end street with 200 yards to go. No, I am not shitting you. Since I maintain a high situational awareness, so far I’ve avoided being a victim. But all it takes is one mistake.
Anon writes:
I feel the seem way. But unfortunately, running over a cyclist is basically consequence free.
My 12 year old son got hit by a car going 45mph a month ago. He was in the bike lane hugging the curb when I presume a distracted driver came all the way into the bike lane and hit him. Miraculously he survived with just some road rash. Her side mirror was destroyed (probably by hitting him) and her front windshield was cracked (maybe from the handlebar or him??).
CHP’s response: Sorry, there are a bunch of crappy drivers out there. And: What do you want me to do? There is no proof of anything.
So infuriating.
Oh well— I have read and enjoyed your blog for years. Good luck on finding a USB-C cable that goes 10Gb/s. I’m going to be trying that out today with an older intel iMac 27 inch.
MPG: motorists often get a free pass to kill. I was hit years ago by a speeder on a blind curve double yellow who nearly took-out the oncoming car. I got the same shrug from CHP, in spite of a witness who observed it all. Useless contemptible meter maids (speeding tickets is all they’re good for, but safety... forget it). That guy who hit me caused the death of another motorist 3 years later.
Just this summer, a cyclist was murdered on my daily ride—road rage. The perp will be spending some years in jail, well we hope that, but who knows with today’s backwards “justice” system where criminals go free and self-defense is illegal.
It is not always an accident, as recent news showed us. Two beefy good 'ol boys in a dualie pickup tried to run me down and kill me near Flagstaff AZ. My situational awareness saved my lifee: two very close passes on the road near Mary Lake made me aware of the threat, then a direct straight-on floored attack from a pullout. Only verring out of the very wide shoulder area saved me.
2023-09-22 - SEND FEEDBACK
Related:
Apple, Apple iOS, Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple iPhone and iPad, Apple Watch, iOS, SSD, Thunderbolt, USB, USB-A, USB-CA major selling point was/is USB 3 speeds of 10 Gbps on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, vs the molasses-slow 480 Mbps of USB 2.
As far as I can tell, Apple shipped a cheap and fragile (!!!) USB 2.0 cable with a $2000 phone, and no cable can deliver USB 3 speeds. A total dick move, but in character for Apple.
I’ve plugged the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max into three different USB-C ports on my 2023 Mac Pro, using the Apple-supplied cable, and each time it connects at USB 2.0 speeds. The speed of downloads is very noticeably sucky.
iPhone:
Product ID: 0x12a8
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 16.02
Serial Number: zzzzzzz
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/s <=== USB 2.0!
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0x0b130000 / 9
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 500
Extra Operating Current (mA): 1000
Sleep current (mA): 1500
Even when I plug directly into the Thunderbolt/USB-C port on the Mac Pro, same slow USB 2.0 speed even with a Thunderbolt 3 cable.
Why doesn’t a USB-C cable work, one that delivers 10 Gbps on every USB-C SSD I use?
None of these cables connects at USB 3 speeds:
- Apple-supplied USB cable.
- Thunderbolt 3 cable (and requires removing the silicone case)
- Thunderbolt 4 cable (and requires removing the silicone case)
- 10 Gbps USB-C cable from an SSD (two different cables) that work with all of my SSDs at full speed (requires removing the silicone case).
No cable in my very large collection of cables will let the phone connect at USB speeds. Apple specifications state:
Looks like I was sold a bill of goods on USB 3 on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It just does not work. See the list of cables above that I tried.
Terrible experience with Apple products. I spent around 10 hours spent today trying to get Apple Watch to work, with incompetent technical support.
Below, these cables all ought to allow an iPhone 15 Pro Max to connect with USB 3 speeds.
High Quality Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C Cables
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Paul R writes:
I tried 4 different USB-C to USB-C cables I had in my desk today. None of them allowed the iPhone 15 Pro Max to connect fast.
Then I tried a new cable: CONMDEX [Upgrade] USB C Cable 10Gbps. @AMAZONThat one says 5 Gb/s on System Information.
Another day, another cable. This one actually shows as 10 Gb/s when I connect it to my 27 inch Intel iMac. NIMASO USB C to USB C 3.1 Gen 2 Cable @AMAZON
MPG: I wonder if the phone is just buggy, and there is some random chance of a cable working occassionally?
Professor Gabriel D writes:
First of all, congratulations for your great site "Mac Performance Guide". You publish information that no other does. Well done!
For example, this post and also Apple Watch Setup: a Miserable Hours-Long Experience.
Yet, nothing is perfect, and here is feedback for your consideration. I do not know if it is due to Safari, macOS or your site, but when I select text and drag & drop to generate a “.textClipping” in the Mac Finder, selecting such clip and using Quick Look (pressing spacebar to preview file contents) shows it as a vertical column of text, instead of horizontal text/paragraphs. The same happens when opening such clips double-clicking them. I visit thousands of sites each year and have never encountered this issue before.
BTW, it would be great if the Apple Watch was detachable with dual-cameras (5 MP FaceTime and 12 MP rear one to take pictures, open QR-codes, etc), with Safari as visible application (not hidden as now is) and truly standalone without any dependency, not requiring other device like iPhone for anything, including setup. Do you know of any smartwatch with such features (WatchOS, Android ot whatever). Believe or not, I do not have a smartwatch. But I would buy a smartwatch with such features. You know, the freedom of having a “smartwatch” (sort of) in your wrist instead of your hand all the time. I want my hands free…
MPG: not sure, but I think what the text clipping problem stems from html formatting stuff that does not work out of context of a much more complex formatting and its CSS. This happens not just on this site on others—yes I’ve seen the same issue.
As for the Apple Watch, I agree but with a variation: I’d like a detachable camera that I can put on helmet or shirt or similar, one that can detect license plate numbers and faces to send to the Sherrif when someone threatens me with their vehicle or out and about, etc. Feeds to the iPhone and real-time streams somewhere.
Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
Change history below...
Who needs it?
You do not have a real backup until you have a verified backup.
That means all the data can be read (a physical check on the storage medium) and is cryptographicallly proven to be intact/unchanged with no files or folders missing.
No photographer or videographer or other professional should be operating without data integrity validation. Whether bit rot or malware or software bugs or hardware problems, can you afford to remain unaware of data corruption, or to not know if your backups are intact and undamaged?
Compatibility
IntegrityChecker Java (icj) supports Mac, Windows, Linux, etc—anything with Java, an unrivalled cross-platform data integrity solution.
Get Data Integrity Assurance now
Get IntegrityChecker Java
Or keep guessing about whether your backups suck.
What’s changed
If you are using an Apple Silicon M1/M2 Mac, run installJava.sh to install Java 21—you will see 4X the hashing speed vs earlier JDK version— twice the speed of Intel. Even the slowest M1 Mac will blaze through things as fast as the drive can go.
This release offers early acces to DiskTester Java (dtj) and Tools (tj), img (imaging tools), jattr (extended attributes). Sorry, no documentation yet on the new tools, but there is some built-in help.
- 3.0fc34
2023-09-22 updated installJava.sh to use Java 21 final GA release
2023-09-14 updated documentation for 'matches' command
2023-09-14 Fixed 'matches' command to work for all documented flags
2023-09-14 added 'caffeinate' command to invocation, so that icj will not allow system sleep while running.
2023-09-06 fixed installer bug that failed to copy-over 'dtj', 'img', and 'tj'.
2023-08-27 'matches' command now shows [missingfolders.ignore] matches.
2023-08-26 Added missingfolders.ignore feature.
2023-08-23 2023-08-23 install-icj.sh now preserves (does not replace) icj_prefs.txt
- 3.0fc32
2023-08-03 icj: added report.MATCHED_HASH_MIN_SIZE option to prefs. It applies a minimum size cutoff as to whether missing files with matching hashes are reported. Values can be of the form "1234" or "32K" or "2M", etc eg "report.MATCHED_HASH_MIN_SIZE=128K"
2023-08-01 icj: fixed bug where missing folders would report incorrect file count, subfolder counter, byte count for missing folders in the intermediate listing.
2023-08-01 icj: orphaned files (files whose parent folder is also missing) are now NOT listed by default.
The --orphans option must be used to list the files.
2023-07-29 dtj: fixed bug where --numbuf option was not being used
- 3.0fc31
2023-07-28 The installJava.sh script now installed JDK 21ea on Apple Silicon Macs, delivering a 4X hashing speed increase on Apple Silicon Macs.
2023-07-25 In addition to 'jattr', new tools now include 'img' (Imaging Java), 'tj' (Tools Java), 'dtj' (DiskTester Java). Available commands include wipefiles, wipefree, fixdates (tj) fixdates from EXIF (img), aseries, stacks. These new tools are usable, but exploratory, and most lack documentation (yet).
2023-07-23 Given the new considerations of super-fast hashing and super-fast SSDs over 20GB/sec, the --numbuf and --bufsize options have been restored for command line options.
2023-07-22 Added optimization for super-fast SSDs on Apple Silicon via larger buffers up to 32MB on M2 Ultra (up from only 1MB). Raises peak throughput from ~17GB/sec to ~21GB/sec on M2 Ultra and from ~7GiB/sec to ~9GiB/sec on M1 Max. Optimization only applies to JDK 21 or later, which has 4X faster SHA512 hashing speed.
023-07-22 Improved performance of initial scan by about 5-8% by using JNA native function mapping.
2023-07-20 If a corrupted hexadecimal hash string is detected, a CorruptedHashEntryException is thrown which makes the issue more understandalone. This arose in a case where a SAN was corrupted hash entries (and other data).
- 3.0fc30
2023-07-19 Fixed ICJ_CLASSPATH path in icj.bat
2023-07-18 'sha' command: added per cpu figure to command output.
2023-07-18 'sha' command: changed to do all CPU counts up to maximum real CPU count, not every-other-past-10.
2023-07-18 'sha' command: Increased maximum --size value to 128M, added existing --threads option to user manual
2023-07-02 bug fix: the 'clean' command without the --kind argument was cleaning only icj_temp. Now it cleans {ic,icj,icj_temp} by default (without the --kind argument), doing what the user manual states.
2023-07-01 Improved message behavior with non writeable folders.
2023-07-01 Added **/private/{var,etc,tmp,tftpboot}/** to [folders.ignore] to better deal with files owned by 'root' within backups of boot drive
2023-07-01 Removed assertion that was barfing for folders owned by root.
2023-06-30 Improved error handling when a regular folder is replaced by a symbolic link.
- 3.0fc28
2023-06-30 Fixed bug where icj would fail to finish any legacy 'ic' file of 16K or smaller in size, losing an I/O buffer, thus quickly running out of buffers, halting progress and waiting forever for hashing to finish.
- 3.0fc27
2023-06-27 FYI early access JDK 21 offers 4X the hashing speed on Apple Silicon. For example, a single CPU can now do ~1500MB/sec on an M1 Max.
2023-06-19 Fixed a race condition that resulted in "... java.lang.AssertionError "finalizeHashesNew: mData_SHA512_64K_CHAINED not finished...". When this happened, icj would not complete at the very end ("waiting for...").
2023-06-19 Inserted warning when buffers are unobtainable for 15 seconds or more to help detect hanging I/O system.
2023-06-16 Fixed bug where DATE_CHANGED was issued when date really had not changed, causing files to be unnecessarily hashed. This stemmed from mismatched milliseconds portions of file modification date.
2023-06-16 A new utility 'jattr' is now included, a more useful/powerful tool than Apple’s xattr command, and runs on both macOS and Linux.
- 3.0fc23
2023-04-04 Fixed bug where prefs files were being ignored for the various flags, introduced around fc18.
2023-04-04 File status messages are now aligned visually with mixed-length tag like RENAMED vs MOVED*
2023-04-04 SYSTEM_SLEEP advisory rejiggered to SYSTEM_UNRESPONSIVE with exact times and the exact unexpected delay.
- 3.0fc20
2023-03-30 All outstanding issues with normalized file paths now resolved. No more missing files if normalization varies, no warnings should appear, cross compatibility across JDK20 vs earlier JDKs as well as APFS/HFS, and in all combinations thereof. The changes should apply across operating system foibles as well.
- 2023-03-30 It is recommended that all macOS users move to JDK20 by running the java installer. That’s because JDK20 is the first version to not forcibly normalize file paths to NDF, a behavior that could cause issues across file system. With JDK20, file paths that icj sees are normalized the same as in the native file system.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max setup was very good, though I could not automate the phone number changeover to the new phone since iOS 16 was required, and the iPhone 7 Plus cannot run that. So I had to call AT&T, which did a fine job, though it took some time to convert
Apple Watch conundrum
Please sign into iMessages "BadAccount" ==> he name I’ll use here for the 20-year-old problem account, which is not my Apple ID. This stalled me completely, and let to 90 minutes with Apple Tech Support.
I didn’t know I had an iMessage account. Isn’t that the same as my iCloud? Turns out, it's not, and it can be totally different. Ditto for FaceTime.
BadAccount has been a constant PITA. I spent 3-4 hours with Apple Support some years ago with no solution. Go pound sand insofar as merging the two.
For years, I could not get messages both on my computer and phone. I now know the cause and solution.
I guess I am just an idiot, not having figured this out. Finally... closure, I hope.
Tech support = failed on the basics
I spent about 100 minutes with level 1 and level 2 tech support trying to get the Apple Watch Ultra 2 going.
I ended up solving the issue myself, which is usually all I get out of tech support.
I clearly explained that the setup process was demanding BadAccount. Neither 1st level or 2nd level support ever told me to check the iMessages and Facetime logins, which were logged in as BadAccount. But everything else was logged-in as my iCloud account. Confusing, especially since you could not know that without going several submenus deep into Settings and then noticing tiny type "Logged in as BadAccount"—there and only there.
I didn’t spend time arguing (exhausted after 90 minutes!)— the 2nd level guy claimed he had told me to check those logins. I had—for iCloud. He never once mentioned checking it for Facetime and iMessages (how could he have, I would have had to navigate there!). Then, unbelievably, instead of acknowledging this basic failure of insight and help, he started lying (“I told you to do that”, etc). Presumably embarrassed cognitive dissonance. Poor guy.
Anyway, once I saw the tiny-type "Logged in as BadAccount" and logged out of both Facetime and iMessages, everything started to work as desired.
Too hard?
It’s going to take some learning to use the Apple Watch Ultra 2. My first impression is that it might be more trouble than it’s worth, just from the tiny screen, but I’m holding that sentiment at bay.
Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
Adobe hurts its customers by forcing unwanted operating system updates.
Professional printer Michael C writes:
I installed macOS Ventura on one Mac a couple months ago, but the printing dialogue combined with Epson drivers was a joke. When I finally could get the settings to “stick”, color was slightly off. It was a nightmare.
I downgraded the M1 we had to macOS Monterey and it performs and prints fine. I will have to purchase a new machine soon and am wondering whether any of this has been resolved. Wondering whether “Sonoma” will improve any of this.
MPG: Apple Core Rot is worse than ever. Problems do not get fixed, and new ones pop up like mushrooms after a rain.
Adobe, by forcing unwanted macOS updates on its customers, creates very serious problems for professionals, who then have to deal with show-stopper bugs for months or years, or go through contortions to work around issues.
Reader Jon L writes:
I have macOS Ventura on my MacBook Pro, but was wondering about running it on my 2019 iMac 5K. Required for Photoshop CC 2024.
DIGLLOYD: why is Adobe squeezing out support for very recent operating system versions like macOS Monterey? There may be a technical reason, but this is a headache for customers.
I have the same consideration on my 2019 iMac 5K. I’ll probably give up and update; Ventura has been stable excepting the Terminal command key shortcut bug, which degrades my work every day. Apple has had nearly a year to fix this bug, so I guess it never will be fixed.
Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
Apple Mail has weird consistency problems with large attached images.
I always choose Actual Size, and yet when I send a JPG file of 50 megapixels (16MB or so), all that arrives is an infuriating 60Kb postage stamp, wasting my time and confusing the recipient.
And yet, at other times it works fine.
I don’t understand what is going on. And that’s the main point; this is 2023: convenience and simplicity should override artificial limitations and unnecessary complexity with emails*. Just make it work right! And it’s not like Apple’s Mail Drop feature actually works well enough to not confuse the hell out of recipients—I’ve just about given up using it for that reason.
Receipt of image downsized to postage-stamp resolution by Apple Mail, somehow
Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
Consider IntegrityChecker’s data integrity verification: it proves that a file is unchanged vs modified. If you’re a professional and not using it in this age of bad actors, software bugs, etc, think again.
Tamper detection
IntegrityChecker proves, based on a stored hash, that a file has not been modified.
But what if a bad actor modifies files and then recomputes and updates the hashes, making it appear that nothing has changed? Or you just want to know that the file is not only intact, but the authorized/correct version of a file?
A law firm or other professional firm might wish to prove that no tampering has occured. Even a workgroup might want such guarantees; for example embezzlement followed by changing internal records, or other internal malfeasance.
This proof of no tampering can be done very simply: an optional pass to add a tamper-detection hash to the existing data-verification hash. It could be done in seconds for millions of files that already have data integrity hashes.
The added requirement would be for the user to input a secret eg a password or passphrase known only to that user, and never stored on a computer:
HASH( verificationHash • <secret> • <salt>) ===> tamperDetectionHash
I contemplate various forms of this approach, including per-file salt data, compartmentalized secrets, optional inclusion of file names and/or attributes into the computation, choice of hashing algorithm, attached or separate storage of the hash/salt/etc, inclusion of optional information or metadata (eg a personal note), and so on. Independent of language or implementation, command line or GUI implementation, hardware or software.
Adding this capability to IntegrityChecker is straightforward:
icj update-auth
icj verify-auth
Above, "auth" = "authenticate" eg detect tampering. Updating would be take seconds, even for millions of files*. Verification would act like icj verify, first computing the current hash and then the tamper-detection hash.
Get Data Integrity Assurance now
Still guessing whether your backups suck?
Sudden unpleasant need to restore data, but no way to know if the backup has been corrupted?
All professionals should be using Integrity Checker, and it runs cross platform on macOS/Windows/Linux/any system with Java support eg everything. Moreover it’s not one of today’s crapified apps that needs updates every week and will be no good in a year or two, since it needs only a Java virtual machine, which has a decades-long track record of compatibility.
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Catalyst Crux iPhone 14 case
Useful feedback to my post on my search for a case for the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
I don't lease cars, but Apple's value prop for the iPhone Upgrade Program convinced me to lease phones.
I've been doing it for a couple of years now, and went through A LOT of case orders and returns looking for the Goldilocks case -- minimalist, but with good grip, protection, and durable, good-feeling materials.
Here are the ones I would (and will!) buy myself. Unfortunately some are not available for iPhone 15 Pro Max yet, but probably will be by end of month given past experience. I have tried cheaper ones, but I typically hate the way PU feels in hand. The ones listed below may cost more, but look brand new after a year of hard use, and tend to have better ergonomics.
Catalyst Crux Case: form factor is amazing, my favorite case to date and I've bought it for last 2 upgrades. "Bumps" at the corners make it comfortable to hold in either orientation, but don't protrude so much that they get in the way. Textured insets are great with sweaty hands and when super cold. Even comes with a wrist strap. Unfortunately release lags their regular "Influence" case line, but you might like that one, too. https://www.catalystcase.com/products/iphone-15-series-influence-case-magsafe-compatible
Raptic Shield case: Another great one, I had this for the last Max model I had, which I believe was a 12. I put a new one on my teenage son's 14. This has less pronounced corners than the Crux, but good design and good feel in-hand. https://rapticstrong.com/collections/iphone-15-series/products/raptic-shield-2-0-onyx-black-for-iphone-15-pro-max
Peak Design cases: I typically hate following the trend, but I have begrudgingly found Peak's stuff to be well-built and thoughtfully designed. I have not used their phone cases, but they look good and the mounting system is intriguing. I plan on trying their "Nomad x Peak Design Rugged Case" as my first choice if released for 15 Pro Max soon. Price may only be worth it if you elect to use one (or more) of their proprietary mounts. https://www.peakdesign.com/products/nomad-rugged-case-with-slimlink?variant=40148212318285
MPG: transparent cases are unacceptable for my usage because I store critical things on the back of the phone (eg paper money and more), which must remain hidden from view. So that rules-out certain phone cases. Similarly, the case must be flexible enough to allow some extra thickness between the case and the phone.
Of the cases listed above, the Catalyst Crux looks like the best fit for my needs. And I like the lanyard feature a lot.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
My 8-year-old iPhone 7 Plus is on its 3rd battery and really needs a 4th, its cameras are sucky, etc. I got my money’s worth. But I’ve ordered the iPhone 15 Pro Max, due for delivery in a few days.
Finally an iPhone feature set that delivers some actual value.
What sells me on the iPhone 15 Pro Max (delivering to me on Sept 22) are the following:
- Major camera upgrades over my iPhone 7 Plus including image stabilization even for up to 5X telephoto, faster lenses, larger sensors, superior computational photography, “equivalent of 7 camera lenses”, etc.
- Super-fast USB-C on the Pro Max, to replace troglodyte Lightning cable (cables that fail far too often, ultra-slow speed, etc). Faster charging too.
- Brighter screen, which no small thing outdoors. Also, the always on display and just generally superior colors and contrast vs 7Plus.
- Emergency SOS feature without cell coverage. Yes, this actually matters—SPOT just charged me my annual $200 fee and so I canceled and saved that money. I nearly always am hiking alone in remote areas, often late in the season where being incapacitated means death overnight. Better than sawing off my arm, or freezing at 11K feet.
Phones like the iPhone 15 mean that hardly anyone has a reason to buy a real camera. But that was always true—we just didn’t have camera phones yet. But in truth, an iPhone vs a real camera are two very different things, suited for very different purposes. For most people, the threshold is far exceeded by having the iPhone since all they do is look at small images on iPhone or iPad and maybe a small computer screen—problem solved, max convenience, camera always there.
Apparently the new iPhone can shoot video or still photos directly to an external SSD. Video pros may find that very useful but I would never use that for stills, even for RAW—I bought the 1TB phone and it’s awkward at best.
CLICK TO VIEW: Fast USB-C SSD
f9 @ 1/20 sec electronic shutter focus stack 4 frames, ISO 100; 2023-08-30 18:53:41
Fujifilm GFX100S + GF20-35mmF4 R WR @ 27.3mm equiv (33.1mm)
ENV: Greenstone Lake, altitude 10200 ft / 3109 m, 68°F / 20°C
RAW: LACA corrected, vignetting corrected, WB 5500°K tint 20, push 0.66 stops, +100 Shadows, -100 Highlights, saturation -10, +30 Dehaze, +10 Clarity, AI Denoise 10, USM {8,50,0}, SmartSharpen{25,0.7,0}, diffraction mitigating sharpening, +10 Vibrance
[low-res image for bot]
Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
I swore never to buy a watch again, let alone an Apple Watch. And I may end up sending it back if it cannot be configured to show me just what I want in large font without useless crap like what is shown at right. I do not need or want shitty little symbols (music, sports icons, etc) cluttering it up; the screen is already tiny and in dim light I gotta be able to see what I need.
What I want and it had better do well, in large font, on a primary display:
- Heart rate, and it had better be accurate or I’ll just revert to my Polar heart rate strap @AMAZON.
- Altitude — I want to know altitude at a glance while hiking in the mountains. Better be accurate.
- Time of day.
On a 2nd page which must be reachable with a simple button press:
- Ascent/descent — altitude gained or lost.
- Distance hiked — how far have I gone?
- Calories burned — and it had better be ±10% accurate vs my SRM power meter, 15% the outer limit otherwise it is a crap solution.
All of this should be possible on my phone too, but so far it all sucks sucks sucks on iOS. The Watch must also connect to my SRM power meter on my road racing bike, and my Polar heart rate strap @AMAZON. I have zero confidence that Apple has any clue how to do it right, but I’m open to it not being another dilettante design.
If it cannot do these things, then it’s a toy vis-a-vis my needs. And I don’t need nuisance jewelry that hassles me for software updates every 6 days and needs some special charger (does it?) that forces me to not forget it on a trip. It has to be a serious tool.
Already it seems that the ECG feature won’t work for me; my resting heart rate is around 43, and Apple says that under 50 bpm the feature might not work. Seriously? My RHR has never been about 50 my entire adult life.
What I *really* want is blood pressure monitoring and blood glucose monitoring. But that is likely years away, if it can ever be done accurately.
f9 @ 1/110 sec electronic shutter focus stack 6 frames, ISO 100; 2023-08-13 16:35:30
Fujifilm GFX100S + GF20-35mmF4 R WR @ 18.2mm equiv (22.1mm)
ENV: White Mountains, altitude 12200 ft / 3719 m, 58°F / 14°C
RAW: Camera ASTIA, LACA corrected, vignetting corrected, WB 5050°K tint 21, push 0.8 stops, +60 Shadows, -100 Highlights, +40 Whites, +50 Dehaze, +10 Clarity, +10 Vibrance
[low-res image for bot]
Connect and charge all of your devices through a single Thunderbolt or USB-C port.
OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure
Acepting a single M.2 NVME SSD blade and/or preconfigured as such, the diminutive OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 enclosure delivers up to 8TB of capacity.
Available in 4TB or 8TB capacity, or 0TB DIY install-your-own-blade.
It offers and ideal way to expand storage inexpensively, a backup drive always silent and fast, etc.
Highlights
- Certified: first bus-powered enclosure that meets stringent Thunderbolt™ power requirements
- DIY easy: uses any 2280 M.2 NVMe SSD available today and in the future
- Super-fast: supports up to 1553MB/s real-world performance1
- Convenient: ready to go with 10.2-inch Thunderbolt™ 3 cable
- Compact: shorter than a ballpoint pen and weighs only 3.3 ounces with drive
- Silent: runs cool and distraction-free
- Stylishly rugged: Black anodized aluminum provides “field-tough” data protection
- Gets onboard: includes back of laptop screen slide mount for safe, out-of-the-way use
- Worry-free: 2 Year OWC Limited Warranty
Capacity
Actual capacity in the 8TB version is 8,001,563,222,016 bytes = 8.00TB = 7.45 TiB, same as other 8TB SSDs.
Test results
8TB OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3, info
MPG tested the about $950 8.0TB OWC Envoy Express under hot conditions of 85°F (no air conditioning in the office). That along with the demanding continuous writing is a pretty tough test of any SSD.
To its credit, the Envoy Express performed without a hitch under maximally demanding conditions that no normal usage would ever require. While its write speed (red line) did drop off just shy of the 3.2TB mark, it still sustained write speed for 8TB that exceeds the fastest USB-C SSDs. It’s unclear if this dropoff might have been due to environmental conditions (hot office), and with no relief in sight, I did not retest.
But what really counts for all but rare cases of real-world usage is read speed. Read speed (green line) pegs-out 1599 MiB/sec = 1677 MB/sec which exceeds the claimed rating of 1553 MB/sec by 8% faster. Moreover, the Envoy Express sustained that speed with nil variation for the full 8TB capacity.
Since the Aura Ultra IV SSD blade is stated to deliver around 7GB/sec, it appears that the Envoy Express enclosure limits the blade speed to about half of the Thunderbolt 3 bus speed. Why this is so is not clear.
8TB OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 SSD, sustained write/read speed across capacity
MiB/sec (1024^2). Multiply by 1.048 for MB/sec
Real-world speed
A clone backup was made, with excellent speed. Following that, IntegrityChecker Java verified that backup of 356689 files totaling 1132.1 GiB on the Envoy Express, with throughput very close to the read speed of 1566 MiB/sec = 1642MB/sec.
MacPro:DIGLLOYD $ icj verify /Volumes/Spare/MasterClone/
# icj 3.0fc32.3 2023-08-03 14:33
...
Hashing 356689 files totaling 1132.1 GiB in 27540 folders...
...
100%: 356689 files 1132.1 GiB @ 1566 MiB/sec, 12:20.0.0 DONE
√ No more slow and noisy hard drives!
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