Share Sheet crash in iOS 13.3 - try removing apps that have associated share sheet actions

I upgraded from iOS 12 to 13.3. Most things worked (Parental Controls/Screen Time may be more broken, but it’s always broken), but I had one significant bug.

If I opened a .docx (Word) file in Mail.app it would display in the docx viewer as expected. If I then tapped the share sheet icon the viewer would crash.

David Yeh found a workaround — do a long press on the document and then use the share sheet from that popup screen. Another contributor suggested removing and restoring the mail account, that didn’t work for me.

Today I found a fix for my case. I deleted two utilities: Pinner (last updated 2y ago) and Opener (frequently updated) then restarted my phone. That removed their associated share sheet action apps.

Now the share sheet works for me.

I’ll reinstall Opener if I find I miss it. Pushpin.app was updated relatively recently so I’ll use that instead of Pinner (really, I only use the Pushpin app action).

How to create a file system reference to an iCloud Note

My daughter wanted us to use a shared Apple Note for trip planning. That's fine, but I wanted a way to reference it from the macOS folder that held other trip documents.

This worked:

1. Open Safari and view the specific Note.
2. Drag the URL ref to desktop creating a .webloc file, name it as desired
3. Store .webloc file in folder

Funny bit: If you double-click the .webloc file it doesn't open Safari. It opens Mojave Notes.app with the specific Note selected and contents displayed.

This is the actual webloc content (I tweaked the GUID just in case it allows global access):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>URL</key>
<string>https://www.icloud.com/notes/0HxBnHC0QgNjaCyxlsPXOLLvw</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Unable to use MarsEdit with Blogger - Google web OAUTH failure with DHCP mode on AirPort Extreme

I'm now unable to use MarsEdit with Blogger on Mojave or High Sierra. When Google asks me to authenticate instead of getting the usual embedded web page for entering credentials I get a blank page.

Either Google has changed something so this only works on Catalina or there's something odd about my Google accounts. I've tested with

• two non-2FA Google Apps identities that used to work
• my personal 2FA Gmail Google ID
• my wife's personal Gmail Google ID never used for blogger
• two user accounts on my Mojave machine
• 1 user account on High Sierra
• Admin and non-admin account
• Clearing caches with Onyx
• I think I also tried an older version of MarsEdit that was on my old account on the High Sierra machine

macOS Console has not been helpful, but I have yet to download and try it using Consolation.

 

MarsEdit dev (Daniel Jalkut) says it works for him on Catalina and on pre-Catalina.

Update 12/6/2019: I eventually realized the problem was my home network. I have a Comcast Xfinity router and an Apple AirPort Extreme. Both have had no configuration changes in months, but Comcast recently updated my service and the AirPort firmware went to version 7.9.1 a few months ago.

 

Inquiry on Apple Discussions.

 

Update 12/7/2019: Today I discovered my AirPort Extreme Guest Network no longer works. That’s the network all our IOT devices connect to.  Turns out suggests that the Guest network doesn’t work in Bridge mode unless the internet router is configured for VLAN support. Would be nice if Apple documented some of this stuff. Maybe this is why they exited the router business.

 

So I have to go back to double NAT for now then try reverting the firmware. (Though once I’ve authenticated a blog I don’t need the web OAUTH, so there is that option.)

 

Update 12/8/2019: So I reverted from 7.9.1 (79100.2) to 7.7.9 and it still doesn’t work! So I think I’ve ruled out a problem with the AirPort Extreme firmware update. I think I tried an older version of MarsEdit. I can’t say for sure but now I suspect it’s something Google did that broken compatibility with Double NAT (DHCP) on the AirPort Extreme.

 

I went back to 7.9.1 (got an ominous notice that firmware update failed but it seems fine) and I guess I’ll use my TunnelBear VPN when I need to authenticate with Google. I’ll test periodically to see if Google fixes things.

 

I tried out Google OAUTH playground. It’s a bit above my pay grade but it seemed to work across my Double NAT setup.

Removing encryption from PDF on macOS with Chrome

My son's employer has one of those obsolete and spectacularly awful SAP style web sites that distributes pay statements.

The PDFs are encrypted. They won't render in macOS Mojave Preview; I can enter the password but I see a blank page. (For more on all the many issues with PDF on every platform but especially macOS see the great Eclectic Light series on macOS PDF by Howard Oakley.)

To remove encryption:

1. Drop onto Chrome. Enter password. Chrome will render them.
2. In Chrome select Print.
3. Change print destination to PDF.
4. Save.

The saved PDF is not encrypted and will render in Preview.

Aperture to Photos.app - preparation (And CYME's Avalanche)

Original 10/31/2019

I despise Apple in general and Tim Cook in particular. I wasn’t always that way. In the 00s I was kind of fond of Apple.  That ended with the way Cook killed Aperture in 2014. Apple could have provided an exit, but they didn’t.

Being unable to leave Apple has not improved my mood over the past six years. The exit cost is too high. On the bright side my Apple resentment has made it easier to resist the Apple watch. So I have a bit more time in my life for family, bikes, skis, and CrossFit. Thanks Tim!

I’ll still be on Aperture into 2020, three years beyond my original plan. The Catalina catastrophe has made staying on Mojave more agreeable. I’ll have to switch sooner or later though, almost certainly by 2021. So I’m working on a list of what I need to do prepare. I’ll update this post with items I think about:

1. Eliminate all stacks. I have hundreds of unwanted stacks created by Apple’s original hacked up iPhoto to Aperture migration (that was horrible). I need to edit each of the stacked images and remove the duplicate.
2. Flatten the keyword hierarchy (the marvelous hierarchy is from a time when giants walked the earth).
3. Regenerate images from RAW (this will take eons and is high risk).
4. Be sure image locations and face recognition (never worked) are turned off.
5. Simplify all smart albums not supported by Photos.app.
6. Create an empty shell of current Library, then use that to import all images from past Library. Confirm everything is correct.
7. Rebuild database to confirm no errors.
8. Per Apple’s migration directions, create full-sized “previews”.
9. Ensure iCloud is empty of images and that Photos.app destination library is empty with no iCloud sync. Disconnect from network.
10. Import into Photos.app
11. Validate.

This project will take many months, many backups, and purchase of at least one other 1TB SSD.

Update 2/17/2020: Avalanche claims ability to migrate from Aperture to Lightroom (Mojave and up). I'm looking for reviews.

Update 1/9/2022: Still on Aperture! Reviewing this post I decided to copy Apple's directions for migrating to Photos. (For older photos consider reprocessing before generating previews.)

Choose Aperture > Preferences, click the Previews tab, then change the Photo Preview setting to Don't Limit. Close the preferences window.

From the list of projects in the Library inspector, select all of your projects. For example, click the first project listed, then press and hold the Shift key while clicking the last project.

Click the Browser layout button in the toolbar, so that all photos are shown as thumbnails.

Choose Edit > Select All to select all of your photos.

Press and hold the Option key, then choose Photos > Generate Previews.

Aperture now generates full-size previews for every photo in your library. To follow its progress, choose Window > Show Activity from the menu bar. Quit Aperture when processing is complete.

Open the Photos app, then choose your Aperture library when prompted, as pictured above. If you aren't prompted to choose a library, press and hold the Option key while opening Photos. If your Aperture library isn’t listed, click Other Library, then locate and choose your library.

I tested CYME's Avalanche "export to file system". Unfortunately it doesn't export previews, only the master file. It's designed to translate Aperture's lossless edit directions to an alternative format, then have the receiving system generate the Previews.

Black Diamond Spot User Guide (manual)

I’m swearing off Wirecutter. Again.

It’s not that their recommendations are awful, they’re just kind of inexpert. They don’t actually use the products they recommend, they just test them.

Like the Black Diamond Spot headlamp. I needed something for an upcoming trip and it wasn’t mission critical, so I used the Wirecutter recommendations. The Spot actually works ok, and seems well made, but it’s ridiculously complex. The Spot is what happens when you give bored Chinese engineers some chip space.

Serious climbing headlamps have maybe two settings — basic and high. This has at least 6 settings based on combinations of switch press, hold and side tap. My brain looked at the directions and shut down.

And those directions — they go on for pages and pages in many languages, but the core is a small series of pictures. Sure to be lost, essential to reference, and not available online.

So here’s my scan of the part of the Black Diamond Spot User Guide that matters

You’re welcome.

Here are all the friggin modes (I put them in a note on my phone). Die Wirecutter, Die.

TOP BUTTON modes

Not Powered On (why it needs a lock mode)
- press and release 1x: turn last active light on
- press and release 2x: toggle between spot and wide angle light
- press and release 3x: strobe
- press and hold 2s: red light on
- press and hold 3s: always turns on spot light
- press and hold 4s: toggle lock mode (small blue light blinks for a few seconds in lock mode)

Powered On
- press and hold: goes to bright then dims as hold
- 3x: strobe

TAP RIGHT SIDE
(light tap when powered on)
- activate BOTH spot and wide angle

Best way to get Scrivener content into a blog post

After various experiments the best way I’ve found to get Scrivener content into a MarsEdit blog post is to complete to HTML then copy/paste the rendered HTML into MarsEdit.

Everything else messes up paragraphs.

Mountain bike dropper posts, a very quick review

A public Facebook group featured the best review of dropper posts I’ve read, by TB R-A. Reposting here so it’s not lost...

I’ve owned the RockShox Reverb, Fox Transfer, Specialized Command, Bontrager whatever it is called, and 9 Point 8 Fall Line. Of them all the Fall Line has had the best actuation and has been the best performing.

The Reverbs are a pain because they need bled. The bleed process is easy enough, but still a pain. Also, if the line would be damaged or cut out on a long ride you’re SOL. You can’t fix it in the field.

The Transfer worked well enough, but it makes a sucking noise at the top and bottom and drove me nuts.

The Specialized was a bit finicky, I don’t remember much more about it. The Bontrager was OK, but not nearly as nice as the Reverb in terms of quality or performance.

Right now I have the 9 Point 8 Fall Line on both of my bikes. Performance has been flawless and you can easily repair it on the trail should you need to. The upgraded lever made by WolfTooth is really nice, good ergonomics and you can just replace pieces of it should something break (which happened when I loaned my bike to someone). You can release the rail from the head on one side to access the air valve, it’s pretty slick. So, the Fall Line is my choice. I replace the seals annually on it, which takes about an hour. Aside from that nothing really needs done.

Dropper posts are expensive still, though the cheap clones are emerging. I like the idea of the wireless rockshox, but it’s $800 for now. The Bontrager is less costly than the 9 Point 8.

Bleeding Avid (SRAM) XX/XO 2012 hydraulic mountain bike brakes (scan of manual)

I’ve now bled my front and rear 2012 Avid XX brakes. I did the front first and got an excellent result. I did back twice, the first time it sucked the 2nd time it was good but not as good as the front.  Tricky business! You really need to follow directions fairly precisely.

Want to get some quick notes out here mostly for my use. Maybe later I’ll fill in the rest.

• If you’re going to bleed brakes buy a set of fresh pads to insert. No sense bleeding with old pads.
• The Avid/SRAM (SRAM bought Avid) kit I bought for my 2012 XX vintage brakes is amazing. Full of bits and pieces. For bleeding only need a few. Everything feels surgical quality. The procedure felt more like a medical procedure than a bike procedure.
• The brake block for my Avid XX 2012 is the one in the manual with the prongs. You can use it with the prongs and the pads in place, or with the pads out and the thick end. There’s a right and wrong way to insert, all the cutouts and notches have a purpose. You’re supposed to remove the pads for and use the thick end, but I’m not sure it isn’t better to use the prongs with fresh pads. You’re running risk of getting fluid on pads, that’s supposed to destroy them and the bicycle and surrounding neighborhood.
• The 2012 manual that came with the kit I used is excellent. I couldn’t find a copy online save from scurvy services that vacuum up PDFs and reserver them. The 2019 manual isn’t as good. It’s sad SRAM didn’t keep this one around, I’ve uploaded a brake fluid stained scan of my copy.
• Take your wheels off so they don’t get brake fluid on them or tires.
• They describe the brake fluid as quite toxic. First time around there were drops on the ground and I really needed a clean lint-free rag. Would be easy to get in eyes. Wear eye protection. Wear latex gloves. If you’re sloppy wear crappy clothes. Do it outdoors.
• The kit includes a small Torx wrench. If you have a magnetic torx bit driver you’ll be very happy.
• They are serious about that 75-80mm lever distance.
• You should have lots of isopropyl alcohol around to clean with. I washed my bike with soapy water.
• Make a copy of the directions so you don’t get brake fluid on your only (paper) user guide
• The clamps on tubing were super stiff at first. Needed pliers to close clamp. Gets better after use but still a pain.
• There are lots of online directions and videos but for me the old manual worked best.
• I think you need the bike somewhat horizontal, don’t have it in a stand where the brake lever is lower than the caliper.

I really like my SharePoint list based blog that's not a SharePoint blog

I don’t think anyone is terribly interested in this, so I’m not going to provide a lot of detail, but if you want to know more just email jgordon@kateva.org.

So why am I writing anything? I’m writing because this thing has worked very well for years. Alas, nobody at work appreciates the simple genius of how it works. So here I can vent.

I ignored SharePoint’s clumsy native blog. I built my blog off the SharePoint announcement list which has basically worked the same way for 10-20 years. Like every list in SP it has an RSS feed (deprecated in newest versions of SP alas) and email notifications with user controlled update frequencies. So the subscription side works fine.

I added a couple of fields to the basic list. One is for tags. Tags let me create topical views of the list by creating SP views that filter on tags.

The other field (and this worked better than I imagined) was to create my own PUBLICATION_DATE field and sort the blog (list of announcements) by publication date. The default value is the date created — but I can edit the publication date without changing the post URL!

The last is wonderful. Instead of having to point to an old post and perhaps add some new additions, I just update the old post and revise the publication date to current. SP regenerates email notifications to subscribers, updates the RSS feed, and the view shows the updated post at the top — but the URL is unchanged so links don’t break.

It’s really simple, it’s worked very well for 2-3 years, it should work indefinitely. I wish other blogs worked that way — let me revise publication date, sort by that date, don’t break links.

PS. Why SharePoint? Because where I work that’s what we have. We aren’t getting anything better.

Chrome: Default pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia quit unexpectedly

For years I’ve launched gmail and gcalendar on my Mac using apps in my user/application folder I’d named gCal.app and gMail.app. I loved them. Not only did they let me go directly to gCal and gMail from spotlight they also opened in my preferred user profile rather than the last user profile I’d used.

Today they crash on use.

Intermittently I got this error message:

Default pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia quit unexpectedly.

That looks like malware, but apparently pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia is an undocumented internal Google Chrome extension. (Very cute Google.)

After a bit of research I believe those apps were known as Chrome apps, and years ago Google supported creating them on the Mac. Google ended support in 2017. I think the apps lived in a Chrome folder that was removed, but on my machine they survived because I’d moved copies into a user folder.

Today my extended use luck ran out. Now they crash [1] under Chrome 75.0.3770.100. I suspect my Mac was updated today or yesterday, this version of Chrome was released June 18.

I REALLY miss the desktop app functionality. “Progressive Web Apps” were supposed to replace it but I don’t think they happened [2]. I might try this 2018 tip to see if I can restore it.

Or maybe the next release of Chrome will fix the crash :-).

- fn -

[1] sample start of log

Process: app_mode_loader [1087]
Path: /Users/USER/*/gCal (jfaughnan).app/Contents/MacOS/app_mode_loader
Identifier: com.google.Chrome.app.Default-ejjicmeblgpmajnghnpcppodonldlgfn-internal
Version: 4.5.6 (2564.97)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: app_mode_loader [1087]
User ID: 502

Date/Time: 2019-06-29 14:33:12.397 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.14.5 (18F132)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: C285F89D-D3A8-7245-0199-81B760782A83

Time Awake Since Boot: 2100 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Signal: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x5
Terminating Process: exc handler [1087]

Application Specific Information:
dyld2 mode

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

[2] No, didn’t happen on Mac. Over a year late now:

Progressive Web Apps on Desktop 
Progressive Web Apps now work on the desktop, including Chrome OS and Windows, with support for Mac and Linux coming soon.

For Google macOS is not a priority platform.

 

Getting Emily's iCloud photos -- you can multi-select in Photos.web (again)

As recently as 2018, Apple had stopped supporting multi-select in iCloud Photos.web. It was really annoying.

Today it works. I don’t know when this was fixed. It didn’t get a lot of attention in my streams.

It’s a big feature for me.  Now if I want to add photos from my wife or daughter I can browse to their iCloud accounts, select from Photos.web, and download. Much easier than switching to a user account, running Photos.mac, waiting for it to sync, exporting to a shared account, etc, etc.

One odd thing, the file “Modified” date is “Tomorrow at 12:15am”. Presumably a server time zone problem….

Screen Time old device bug: Dev used device ID as key, forgot Apple ID

There’s a well known old-device bug with Screen Time. Once you’ve setup up Screen Time for a child’s device it will always show up under their Apple ID — even after you wipe the device.

So my daughter’s old iPhone 6 showed up under her Screen Time Apple ID — even after it had been wiped.

Today I changed the Apple ID for that device and enrolled it in Screen Time under a new Apple ID. Then I went to look at her Screen Time device list. Lo and behold — the old device was still there, but now its device name changed to match the device name it had when I reenrolled it with the new Apple ID.

So now one device shows twice in my remote Family Screen Time, once under my daughter’s device list, once under the new Apple ID.

I’ve read that Apple’s Screen Time was a “rush job”. Looks like the dev is doing Screen Time by storing a device identifier — maybe a Serial Number and the device name used at enrollment time. They should have used a combination of Apple ID and device identifier but they used device identifier alone.

Two new discoveries in iOS Screen Time (parental controls): Age 13 and Apple ID incompatible with Screen Time

A reputable Twitter source recently wrote that “Screen Time” was "a rush job".

It feels that way. As part of a book project I’ve spent way too much time experimenting with Screen Time. It needs a top to bottom rewrite. Also needs an API so other vendors can extend what Apple offers. 

Anyway, I’ve learned two new things about Screen Time — two special ages and a hint about why one iPhone could not be enrolled in remote Screen Time.

First the ages. US Screen Time has two special ages: 13 and 18. We know about 18, but the 13 is new to me. 

If a Family Member's Apple ID birthdate means their current age is over 18 then remote screen time blocks are turned off. It’s an 18th birthday gift from Apple! This is a problem for special needs adults — chronologically 18 but very vulnerable. The workaround for a special needs adult is to set their AppleID birthdate so they are 14 (write down the birthdate you used, you may need it).

Note I wrote 14, not, say, 10. That’s because 13 is another special age. If a Family Organizer creates an Apple ID birthdate such that a family member’s age is under 13 they will see, after it’s been created, the message "Children under 13 cannot be removed from Family Sharing.” Not only can they not be removed, their birthdate cannot be changed either. You will need to call Apple Support to have changes made, and you may need to work with a supervisor.  Meanwhile any devices with that Apple ID will count against your sharing cap.

What else did I learn?

I learned that some Apple IDs won’t work with Screen Time. It’s not clear why; I assume it’s a obscure bug somewhere in Apple’s creaky identity management infrastructure. When I set up a test phone for my book project I used an old Apple ID of mine. Without going into the convoluted history, that Apple ID is descended from an old mac.com/MobileMe email account and it’s all way too complex to describe. In any case, even though I'd changed the birthdate so age was 14, remote Screen Time settings didn’t “stick”. I’d enable them, they’d flip back to off. I changed the device Apple ID to a fresh one created from my Family Organizer account (which is how I discovered the 13 yo bit) and now it works.

Since my test iPhone doesn’t have a SIM card I wondered if that was part of my remote Screen Time problem. It wasn’t — my setup worked fine. Interestingly when I set the Apple ID this way both FaceTime and iMessage also worked without a SIM card — no ‘waiting for activation’ issues.

How to clear Google Voice conditional call forwarding from an AT&T phone including iPhone

Long ago I setup Google Voice as my son’s phone’s voicemail using “conditional call forwarding” on H2O Wireless mobile (very cheap, but also weak IT service). I switched him from H2O Wireless to our family AT&T account and wanted to disable the forwarding. 

Unfortunately I couldn’t get Google Voice legacy site to come up on my iPhone so I didn’t disable Conditional Call Forwarding prior to the port. I tried removing the his number from GV but that doesn’t work — it only messes up Google Voice (below).

After the port I couldn’t set a voice mail code for his account. It seemed like voice mail was setup, but when I called him I was routed to Google Voice. Alas, there’s no useful error message.

I restored his mobile number as a forwarding phone in Google Voice but there was  no option for him in Legacy Google Voice to add or remove conditional call forwarding, no “Activate Google voicemail on this phone”. (Probably because the call forward was already in place.)

I tried a #21# trick I read of, but that didn’t work. I thought I’d have to call AT&T but after several searches I found an obscure site with the answer: Dial #61#. That clears “call forward if not answered”. I also used the other deactivation codes as below (67, 61, 62).

I don’t know if that site will stay around, and I couldn’t find this information anywhere else, so here are the set of deactivate codes for several purposes:

To deactivate “Call forward if busy”, 
Simply dial #67# and tap “Call”

To deactivate “Call forward if not answered”,
Simply dial #61# and tap “Call”

To deactivate “Call forward if not reachable”, 
Simply dial #62# and tap “Call”

Android phones may have more control over Call Forwarding but iOS has only forward or don’t forward.

The site also reviews how to setup call forwarding, for example:

To setup “Call forward if busy”,
simply dial 
*67*{NumberRetrieved}*11# and tap “Call”

After using those codes I could set a PIN for his voicemail and it worked normally.

How to open a tab delimited file in Apple macOS Numbers.app

How do you open a tab delimited file in Apple macOS Numbers.app?

Change the extension from .tab to .csv.

Old Mac data exchange used tab delimited files. FileMaker saved them with the extension of .tab. Numbers doesn’t recognize .tab. If you change it to .csv all is well.

Digitizing home video (once again)

I have made (2000) several (2004) tries (2012) at digitizing our family video but my lost best effort only got about 10% done. I figured I’d just hire a local service and then I let it slide.

Apple’s recent codec retirement announcements prompted me to check what was available locally. I found ancient web sites that were internally inconsistent, no noise reduction prior to compression, unclear codec choices … none of it gave me much confidence. (But see [1,2])

So I’m back at it again. This time I might have an accomplice — someone who needs money and would benefit from learning the tech. So maybe we’ll make a better go of it.

The delays may have let to some data loss, but on the other hand the tech is a bit better. My first attempt would have been with a 400MHz Celeron. Yes, that’s an ‘M’. In those days hard drives were measured in tens of GBs. Now the cheapest hard drive I can buy would hold all of our video.

The tech is a bit better, but choice of codec is still an issue. In 2004 I favored H.264/AAC. I ran into an amazing number of headaches with the Apple software I was using.

For the modern era I found three good references:

• DIY VHS Preservation: Planning for Video Digitization at the American University Library
• Audio Visual Digitization Hardware and Software - Marriott Library - The University of Utah
• Building a Video Preservation Rack for In-House Digitization AV CLUB | Issue 1 | Cardinal Tales

They give me a feeling of how tricky it is to do analog video capture well. Time Base Corrector?  BNC terminations? Waveform monitors? CRT monitors?! Yikes.

I did like the sounds of the BlackMagic Intensity digitizer ($240 for T3, $200 for USB 3) used at AUL (Amazon reviews are not great however). It can save output as a lossless file. I want to capture the video as “uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2” then denoise it, then export as ProRes. Since my accomplice is a student I’ll probably buy the Pro Apps Bundle.

Ideally the process would be automated - capture uncompressed, denoise and incorporate metadata, save as ProRes.

What would I do with this material once it’s digitized? The tech isn’t here yet, but eventually I’d like to incorporate brief (silent) video fragments into my screensaver library. So between showing 10,000 images, show a 30sec of video from our family @ 1995. One day?

- fn- 

[1] From my 2000 page I see Walmart and Target were do video to DVD-R conversions for $35 a tape with YesVideo. They are still around! The price is now $26 for one 2hr tape.  

[2] Pogue years ago recommended Southtree (his screenshot of a VHS tape on a modern laptop screen is remarkable — 333x480 pixels). Their site is impressive; at the moment they’re advertising $57 for up to 3 tapes on 1 thumb drive. I contacted Southtree to ask about denoise/ProRes/etc but they kindly responded that they are consumer-only, so just mp4 compressed.

1Password Logins Notes field blank? Maybe it's the CR.

When I moved to Mojave I had to give up on my ancient FileMaker Pro database. The modern versions of FileMaker are far too expensive; consumer databases have passed into history.

For lack of a better alternative I moved over to 1Password. I liked them when they worked with a local password store, I’m not keen on their current cloud solution. I just don’t trust their tech.

I exported as CSV as I’d done many times before. This time, though, I ran into a problem that was probably always there. The first time I went to look up my ‘secret question answers’ they were nowhere to be seen. The Login Notes field where I’d imported them was empty on both iOS and mac OS.

Later I realized the data was there — but only in edit mode. If the default read-only view the notes field showed as empty.

It took a bit of playing around to realize what’s wrong.

Text fields in my version of FileMaker, probably from 2014 or earlier, uses the old classic Mac OS line separator - the single “CR” code. It doesn’t use the OS X/macOS/Unix standard LF or the old DOS CR/LF. 

When I exported as CSV the output used CR as a separator. When the CSV was imported into 1Password the CR separators went along. They work fine in edit mode but not in view mode.

The proof of the problem was to edit in 1Password, deleting the line feeds and adding new ones. After saving the note displayed correctly.

Update: Per 1Password tech support — turning off markdown formatting causes the notes to appear!

Converting my old video formats to something that might persist

Apple is killing QuickTime 7 (download 22MB Snow Leopard version here)[1]. The announcement has some useful references.

So I’m back to thinking about one of the worst topics in the geek world — video file formats and codecs. Almost all of which are encumbered by walls of vicious patents (AV1 is the great hope).

It’s been about 4 years since I last made stab at this topic. I reinstalled QT Pro then too!

Conversion from old formats is a PITA. In 2015 I converted an old WMV file (I think I used Flip4Mac [2]) to (I think) lossless uncompressed AVI. The original was 23MB, the AVI output was 311MB. Today I used QuickTime Player 10.5 to open the AVI and it created a 52MB (lossy) .MOV file (Info says it’s H.264 for video, AAC for audio). There’s no control on the conversion compression.

To get this done I’m going to have locate my video files (some in iMovie projects, some in the file system, some in Aperture) and apply some kind of batch conversion where needed. Spotlight’s ability to search for codecs might help, I suspect some useful utilities will show up now that this is getting some attention.

What should I convert to? Ideally I’d choose something designed for video editing. The Smithsonian recommends "Motion JPEG 2000, MOV, AVI”; I don’t understand how MOV gets in there, I thought it was just a container. Also MOTION JPEG 2000 is on Apple’s kill list.

Ok, so things are bad. But we knew that.

Apple’s ProRes is one example of what’s known as an “intermediate codec”. Apple seems to be dedicated to it and I gather it’s widely used in the video industry. So let’s see what other choices there are ...

Fifty. That link lists 50 intermediate codecs. Ugh. Maybe ProRes 442 HQ isn’t the worst option.

I’ll probably have to play around and study some more. Some things I’ll look at ...

1. Wondershare is $40 for 1 year. There’s a free demo that converts the first 1/3 of the video. It converted an old .wmv file to an HEVC (H.265, AAC) without blinking an eye. Judging by the 1/3 converted the 23MB WMV file would convert to an HEVC file of similar size.
2. Apple Compressor: $50, or have my college son buy the whole ProApps bundle (Compressor, FinalCut, etc) for eduction for $200.
3. QuickTime Player’s built-in conversion.

See also:

• “Swiss Army knife for QuickTime” Perian turning off the lights 2012
• Why I hate video: Format, codecs, DRM and m4v vs mp4 2011. Still hate ‘em.
• MPEG Streamclip video converter as Compressor alternative 2012. This was last update for Mountain Lion!
• AVI video files in 2014 on the Mac -- you should probably convert them while you can.
• FLIP Video Ultra camcorder: iMovie HD works, iMovie '08 might 2008. FLIP used 3ivx MPEG-4, iMovie ’08 couldn’t use it, but iMovie HD could if the 3ivx coded was installed.
• Video codecs: iPhoto, iMovie HD, iMovie '08 and FLIP Video (2008 again!)
•  . Fun stuff.

- fn -

[1] Yes, that’s MB. Wow. It does indeed run on Mojave! Not only that, but I dimly remembered that I had a registration code for QT 7 Pro. Being a total nerd I still have it on hand. I entered the code and clicked “register”, but the registration server is long gone. It still registered though, I quit and restarted and I have the Pro features back.

[2] Replaced by Switch. For $10 you can convert wmv to mp4, for $200 you can to more output formats. If you search wmv to mov conversion you get a lot of junk, so this is worth paying attention to. I might buy it.

Replacing Sierra's "All My Files" in Mojave

OS X  / macOS had, for years, a Finder Favorite that listed all files by date modified. It was removed in Sierra for unknown reasons.

The closest replacement I’ve found is to save a “This Mac” spotlight search on ‘.’ That is, create a Spotlight search for your Mac and enter a period as search criteria.

This works on Windows 7 too (I don’t have Win 10).

Recovering from a photo crop error when you need to print 4x6

I needed to print our team hockey photo at Walgreens, but somehow I’d saved a cropped version of the team photo instead of the original — and these days Walgreens doesn’t let one print an image without cropping [1]. Part of the image was cut.

My first thought was to custom print from Aperture to PDF then export a JPEG from that (it’s complicated) — but something funny happens with page orientation in Mojave/PDF.

The real answer was to use my old copy of Acorn (still works in Mojave). I resized the canvas to fit the horizontal image and fill in the right 3:2 horizontal:vertical orientation. Then I threw in a title for photo. Looked like it was deliberate.

[1] Once upon a time I think that was an option — just printed with white borders.

Mojave has brought back one of my least favorite macOS behaviors - screen saver bug.

When I used Sierra my screen saver was based on Aperture albums stored in an external drive. When I traveled the screen saver switched the default, but when I reconnected it went back to Aperture.

Mojave can’t use Aperture/iPhoto albums. So Screen Saver points to a share drive. When I travel it switches to default, but when I return it *doesn’t* switch back to my share.

Anyone have a workaround? I wonder about creating some kind of local alias for the remote image folder ...

Update: I created a symlink for the share folder that has my slideshow images using the SymbolicLinker service. Then I pointed ScreenSaver slide show to the symlink. When disconnected ScreenSaver shows black screen. When connected shows my images.

Migrating from Blogger to WordPress ... again ...

I’ve been contemplating migration to WordPress for almost a decade, but Google kept Blogger good enough to keep that headache at bay.

Alas, the days of good enough are ending. Google is removing their photo management API without recourse. They do support posts with images, but only by using their web interface. It’s a concrete and undeniable sign that Blogger is either dead or going to a bad place.

I though I’d migrate first to wordpress.com then to my Dreamhost open source wp install, but via Twitter Daniel Jalkut tells me he got better results using the open source importer directly.

I’ll do a dry run on one of my big blogs first. The URL won’t change but I’m sure feed subscriptions will have to be redone (ugh).

Update 2019/04/06 - results of the pipdig import process

I tested the Dreamhost free version of the pipdig importer from a Dreamhost wordpress (open source) blog. The results can be seen here for the moment, I’ll eventually delete them. I found:

• It doesn't remap internal links. This is a big disappointment. Links continue to direct to blogger, once that account is gone they will be invalid
• There’s no option to migrate images that I can see.
• It missed at least 4 posts from the source blog — specifically from early on. No idea why and it suggests more are missing.
• It does copy drafts over.
• It requires a LOT of access to your Google account! If you use this utility I suggest creating a new google account, give it access to your blog, then after the import destroy it. 
• The paragraph breaks are missing - line feeds vs <p>. This is an ancient Blogger problem with MarsEdit; a legacy of the original sin of English language text formatting end-of-line standards. I think Blogger is mostly to blame.
• Images were not relocated locally, they remain at their original locations.

Pipdig is better than nothing, but I’m going to try wordpress.com’s import tool next. I wonder if a better solution wouldn’t be a static site that I could archive on my personal web server, then do a web server redirect to handle the links. For now I’m still on Blogger. The porting experience reminds me of the impossibility of leaving Apple’s defunct Aperture photo management app.

(As I write this the wordpress import is processing - result should eventually show up at gordontest.tech.blog temporarily, but we’ll see if it works. It’s taking a long time.)

Update 2019/04/06b

Well, that wordpress migration didn’t go so well:

Your site has been suspended from WordPress.com for violating the Terms of Service. If you believe this was done in error, please contact us as soon as possible to have the suspension reviewed….

I sent a contact inquiry, nothing yet.

Synology NAS and security risks of enabling notifications

I use a Synology NAS to backup our two MacBooks. I’ve been ignoring it for 4 years, but a recent hardware failure made me look into it.

I found a number of packages installed and/or running that I’d not updated and mostly didn’t need. So I removed all those and I created a reminder to check the NAS quarterly. I also realized I hadn’t gotten monthly status reports for a long time — for years really (if ever)

To enable Synology email status reports you have to configure Notifications. Old-school SMTP is rarely available now, so I experimented with the Gmail option. I got this:

Oookaaay … that’s an interesting range of permissions. Synology is a Chinese corporation, so this effectively gives Xi the ability to harvest my email. Instead I created a synology user on one of my domain based Google Suites and enabled access there then forwarded to my email.

Interestingly my old settings suggested I had gone down the Gmail road at one point. I wonder what I was thinking, in my 2015 post I commented “Synology is a very Chinese product — including off-key English syntax. I wouldn’t install it in a US government facility.” Maybe I started the setup and then stopped?

MacBook Air shutdowns - it was the battery

My 2015 Air shut down suddenly two weeks ago. The battery was at about 80%. When I got it home and plugged it in it showed classic bad SMC behavior — the power diode didn’t light. 

I did an SMC reset and it worked, but a week later it did the same thing. I did an SMC reset again, but without checking if it was necessary.

It happened yet again. This time it worked fine as a soon as I plugged it in. That gave me hope that it was a battery issue, even though system info showed only 80 or so cycles. It’s an old battery.

After doing the usual 3 backups-to-current-state-prior-to-repair (one update to my Carbon Copy non-bootable clone backup, one fresh full bootable clone, and one Time Machine backup) I brought it in. It failed the diagnostic test with a big red dead battery note.

So $140 when the part comes in, which is a nice relief. If it had been the motherboard that would be $340 and I’d have a machine with a 4yo battery and a 4yo SSD. Might be better to just buy new.

Simplenote web (beta) version has much improved notes export

The beta version of Simplenote’s web client will export notes as text files and will use the note title as the name of the text file. When I’d previously exported from my Simplenote library the text files names were all GUIDs. 

This is obviously much better. It means, as long as you don’t mine plaintext, you can get your data out of Simplenote in a portable and useable form.

To use the beta version of the Simplenote web client use the URL simplenote.com/new.

I’ve been using nvALT to enable data freedom for Simplenote [1], but it’s good to have a second option. (nvALT works on Mojave, but had issues with High Sierra. I’m planning to skip from Sierra to Mojave.)

PS. Recently Simplenote added plaintext note import, though needs Electron version for Mac.

- fn-

[1] It took years longer than it should have, but Automattic fixed search in the Mac client.

See also

• Progress of sorts - integrating my simplenote memory extensions with gDrive 11/2017
• Escape from Outlook Notes - export as text files, import into NvAlt or other 3/2017
• Tinderbox, Simplenote, MindNode and data freedom10/2011. "All software dies. Ask Lotus Agenda users. Or the users of, and this is far from a complete list, Ecco Professional, InfoCentral, PackRat, Sidekick, Arrange (Common Knowledge - MacOS), InfoDepot, In Control, Cross-Ties, Palm Notes, Commence, Ascend, Arcadia (OS/2!), GrandView and MORE, Inspiration, Outlook Notes, and so many, many, many more.”