It's time for Matt Keycab and listener Mike brings us our quick tip of the week by telling us one thing he noticed within Shura. Is that it has some entries for things in. And it pops up a menu just like system preferences used to. We noticed and it's great you can go and choose like network which is cool because there is you know you can you can choose time machine which gets you a layer deep cuz general is where time machine lives now but it shows up in that menu,
General, however, does not show up in that menu. There are some things that don't appear there. But lots of them do. So, if you want a quick way to get into, Eat specific system settings page right clicking on its dock icon And there you go. More tips like this plus your questions answered today on Mackey cab 967 for Monday. I was gonna say Friday. What was it gonna say Friday? For Monday, February 6, 2023. Music.
Pretty folks and welcome to or welcome back to the show where you send in your tips like that. You send in your questions, you send in your cool stuff found, we share your tips like we've already started doing today. We share your cool stuff found, We share and try to answer your questions sometimes we bring tips questions and cool stuff found of our own the goal being that we put it all into an agenda so that we can each learn at least five new things every single time we get.
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Inherit in cold and windy Fairfield Connecticut this is John of Brum By their standards here very cold Daytona Beach word 67°F oh my goodness get out the parkus.
It is indeed. Yeah. Yeah. It's not cold for here. So, stop, Yeah Predicted low here today is negative 15 and, It looks like from our pre show troubleshooting that one of my nest thermostats the one here in the studio, Has given up the ghost I think it's the back plane on it based on the quick troubleshooting I did but we had to get the show rolling so I put a spare thermostat in we've got heat beginning to flow in here my teeth will stop chattering I promise,
And and we should do a show. What do you think guys. Yeah, we should do that. Let's do it. Brain is functioning correctly. Alright. Yeah, yeah. Cuz we haven't international crowd Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but there's a, hey, another quick tip. There's some easy ones to remember 16 is 61 for 16°C 61°F 28 is 82°F 28°C 82. And then of course 15 is 59 that's an aviation thing that's a standard day 15°C. Close numbers six it's a 16 C is 61 F. See yeah 82°F, Most of us here know that one. Yep. Right
Alright, since we're into it, I'm gonna go ahead and do it. Please. The way to get the way to get Fahrenheit to Celsius relatively quickly is take your Fahrenheit number and double it. Subtract 10% and add 32. So, here's how it is. It's 10°. Double it is 20. So, yeah. Okay, 18 and 32. Here's public math is 50. So, 10 is 50°. Okay. Alright it's. It's it doesn't work.
That's fascinating thank you for sharing that Pete that's It's I wish we had this conversation 3 weeks ago because being in Europe for 10 days like I was doing a lot of these conversions but You know, at some point, it's like, whatever. You can't do them on your, on your Mac, With with Starlight. PJ in the chat points out that negative 40 is where they meet So negative 40 centigrade celsius is negative 40°F so
Negative 40 starts with an F and then that's how you remember. That's right, In the address bar in a safari you can type in something like 100 F equals question C and it will do the translation for you. No is that happening locally on your computer cuz if you if you do it in the spotlight search command space bar it doesn't locally if you do it in your. It equals question C if you do it in the the bar then you're leaving it up you need an internet connection and a search engine to do it right.
It says Google suggestions. There you go. Yes. So yes. Yeah cuz I don't use Google. I use Duck. Gov but it it brought me there. Yeah yeah yeah. Yeah so and don't don't don't even put this in the show notes but because, Temperature. All that stuff. Alright. Recast. I promise I'm gonna cover as a cool thing. Okay. So, it did. That's just a teaser for today Pete. If you say siri what's my update.
It will tell you the weather today what your first calendar appointment is for the day and how many events you have and then play the top stories from your preferred news sources.
He suggested it is a good way to get your day going while you do your morning routine if you are going to do this on your home pod and it will work on your home pod, You need to have personal requests enabled for your home pod and you probably need your phone on the same WiFi network he presumes but of course if you're if you're there Your phone is probably there with you and therefore ready to roll.
Well, I like that one. That's good. I've never, I've never, I never knew about that before. That's why that's why it's a quick tip. It's great. Yeah. Pete, you got something for us? You notice something this morning We're talking you notice that you're you're in a hotel And I went to use sidecar for the so we would have the show agenda up on my iPad. And then when I went to use continuity camera with my iPhone it went you must first disconnect sidecar,
In order to use your continuity camera and I went really. Okay, I'm smarter than this. I disconnected psych car. I turned on my continuity camera and I went back to Connect sidecar and it went error And I will also add while I thought, okay, well, what I'll do is I'll use the camo app to use the phone camera and then I, the third party ring camera app. Yup, Yeah.
Apparently, there's something funky going on in this particular hotel network. So, some hotel that works. It's not gonna let it connect. I could probably connect it USB but then I'd have to disconnect my power cuz I only have two ports. I didn't bring my little Hug. Travel down those homework. Yeah There you go. And hey, it's my first trip since October. So, you know, help me out. That's true. Yeah, that's right Let's let us not forget that's true
Camo. Yeah I've experienced that too there is an app that I love to use called remote for Mac from And it's great if especially when I'm travelling because I wind up putting my Mac You know near the TV From you know. It works great obviously my house when I tested it works great in most Airbnbs because they have more traditional WiFi networks most hotels and certainly the one that you're in Pete.
Have their network set up so that every device is that's connected to the WiFi is isolated yes, Because you don't want, Someone else being able to see that your Mac is there and you left file sharing on and now they can try and beat on the door all day while you're out and about with with your daughter, parents weekend, right? So, With the loan exception of you know that kind of stuff now, If remote for Mac could use Bluetooth then that would work cuz that's a ad hoc connection
You could also do and add hawk wifi network from your Mac and connect your phone to that but actually thinking about that yeah I was worried about, What are the the pressure I was thinking was just. Using my phone is a hot spot and doing it that way. Oh. So, but yes, yeah. Yeah. So, there you go. Interesting. Fun stuff He says I was listening to episode 965 and the opening quick tip about accessing QR codes from another device for my son took a picture,
Showed the picture on the photos app on his watch so that he could then scan the QR code from his phone. He says that you were stating in the tip I or as you were stating the tip I assumed that you were going to say that you can use your phone to access QR phones QR codes on your phone buy long tapping them because he says he tried it And he found a case where QR code was part of a graphic and an email he long press the image to read what options were in the contextual menu
And then chose to open quick look after which long pressing the QR code gives you the options to open the link in safari copy the link it's even shows that URL, And here's correct. Four things that quick look recognizes in fact you didn't even need to do the extra step if you just long press on a QR code in your email if it has a link or something that quick look recognizes then, It will offer to bring you to that link or do all the things that Don mentioned.
For what we did cuz i tried this after we got Don's note we were using the QR code to set up our. Our our Eastern plans for for when we were travelling in Europe for a data plans. And I tried it and it quick look does not know anything about, That the same engine that the camera uses would be that button no it is not quick look is not smart enough to so try it. You know if you had a QR code that you need to read on your app on certainly try it and and if that if it works great
And if it doesn't work, well, you know, there you go. Yep. So, Bluetooth to your iPad and take a shot of it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Being able to do either QR codes. Yeah yeah what do you use live text for. Products in the store especially if they're for an I don't know if it does air a bit. I mean, it certainly does English. I think. Sure. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Cool.
John Pete you wanna take us to while we're on the subject of QR codes you wanna take us to Todd Hi I had created a QR of my business card is I don't carry them anymore how many QR is good but getting access to it quickly via the iPhone was a pain, Until we got multiple lock screens In an additional tip if you have notifications blocking the screen simply drag them down to the bottom of the top grab the top most notification bring it drag it down between the
Flashlight in the camera on the lock screen buttons and it will. Those will disappear. You have full access to your lock code. I wrote them back so I'm a huge fan of QR codes. I used them all the time. In fact, I I For those that are watching that's an example of and I can't tell whether you see it or not so I can see it,
But okay, yeah. So, I you can create. I use IQR Hey I put it to available on the App Store for 1499 and there's a airplane in there you could put any image you want in there and change the shape and the color and put text in there The QR code that he had printed on a sticker but it was created with this app it it was a QR code like we would all recognize with an airplane image in the middle of it
And then of course it's a link to his other podcast so there I was. US that's pretty cool, Yeah so that was neat and then Todd wrote back and said he uses and I went looked at it looks like a pretty cool.
Little app is well it's called QR factory and you said he bought a lifetime access to that for 2999 the link is in the show notes and it looks like it does similar things you can put images in there, Manipulate it and change the size, the color, the shape, the shadowing The number one thing I've noticed in in playing with this you need high contrast which makes sense when you think about it in other words you can't use a light blue on a light yellow and expect to get.
The the camera to pick up. To pick it up,
But QR codes are fun. Have some fun with them. You know, when we were in Italy, we were in an Airbnb and as usual, they had given us Ahead of time the WiFi name in password and you know all the instructions for using the unit and all that stuff but when we got there, On the wall right next to the door they had printed it at eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper that they laminated and stuck on the wall and it had emergency contact information for the the hosts so which great you know,
And a massive QR code on it. That when scanned would offer to completely join you to their WiFi network like you didn't have to do, Anything. You just scan the QR code and your connected. I did it with my phone. I did it with my iPad. And the reason I had to do it with my phone and my iPad. Because, In the past. What I've done when I get the the.
In a goal into system preferences and I'm being intentional about the words I'm choosing here and I would go into WiFi and I would add the network there. It would have time to populate and sync to all my devices so when I arrived at the Airbnb they would already be on my phone and I would just join and everything was smooth. Guess what you can't do in Ventura. System settings. Well, you can't add a WiFi network manually that's not accessible to you at the time.
You can add a WiFi network but you can't just go put the the details in without being able to attach to the WiFi network in the moment it won't save them for you. Interesting. I can't find a way. So, I had to do it when we got there and that's what but the QR code is great. When my when my daughter and her boyfriend came over,
I was just like, oh, yeah, you know, just sign up for the WiFi and they were like, well, this is great. So, I definitely need to find some app, That I can create a similar QR code for here I'm gonna put it on the beer fridge in my studio so that when people come over to rehearsal whatever I don't have five people saying hey what's the WiFi can you help me and just scam right there you're good to go.
So it it you're done. You're done? Yeah. It's great. Thanks. Yeah. That's a great idea. That gives me an idea that. Like my mother-in-law staying at our house with our son this week. That's a really an idea. Oh amazing. Oh I like it It is a free QR code generator and Creating WiFi QR code. So, we will put that in the show notes too. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Is that right? Really? No. Really? Where do you go to do that on the era app John.
Well, if you're gonna share it on the show, If you go and I'm and I am guessing here. I know there was a screen I saw they had a keyword code on it. Well yeah it is up to you to figure that out it's some point when we're not doing something to which you need to pay attention on the show. Yeah I don't I don't see it in here I'm I'm sort of scrolling through the ero.
The Like it it's it's it's not where I would predict it to be but it's sort of make sense you go in the ero app go to settings go to guest network I have my guest network disabled but in the guest network page there is a tab for main network and on that also wanna guess that work There is the share QR code, And I'll I'll I'll file it away for for later use so nice fine good, Fun stuff. I love this. I love this. Love this. Love this. Love this, Adam is next with a tip.
If you are using a microphone in Mac OS Ventura. Visit your control center you will see a setting for mic mode and you get to set it for standard. Or voice isolation. Third party microphones I tested this it works with course the internal mic but I was shocked to see that works with third party microphones because it means that whatever magic apple is doing to do voice isolation is happening.
Is able to happen without their own hardware in the mix which I thought was pretty amazing. And it will let you pick, The mode per app, That is using the mic so I had two things using the mic which is pretty rare I suppose that you would have two things using the mic but I had zoom open when Adam told me about this and then and then I opened audio hijack and and
You know, start a session in there and I got two options, two sets of options. I could choose standard for zoom and voice isolation for audio hijack or vice versa. So, yeah, So what. Amir as i could I don't know. So let me start there. There are two things that I think it's doing number one is it boosts the EQ. From about the you know it's probably 750 range of the human voice, It all i think it's also doing some listening for baseline sounds and sort of.
Suppressing background noise. I don't know if it's doing the ladder. It's definitely doing the former words enhancing those those frequencies. Well, I'm wondering what I heard things if I were to switch to that now as we were speaking, You know what? Try it, Pete. Switch to it. Let's see what happens. So, I'm gonna do a test count the 51234, Five. Hit the word three. I switched to voice isolation. Probably not much going on there but I did turn off the.
Are you are you still on voice isolation, I am still on it now yes so probably no real difference but go ahead and switch back okay well let me where is that silly setting there it is I'll switch on three one. Two three. For oil. It won't swipe back. Now, you switch back. Alright yeah you're you're things like got a little there is a transition period where things are not quite right.
Oh but you're also doing a bunch of like you're capturing audio like there's there's a lot going on there. It's really crunching a lot. Numbers. Yeah, I don't hear of a market difference but you're also using a dynamic microphone and write it your mouth like right. It's so. Yeah I'm not hearing a whole lot of different air conditioning fans.
Here's where we learn live, folks. No, I like it. I like doing these kinds of things live. I I wouldn't mess with the core audio on my Mac right now. By the way, I know I mentioned it in the last episode so I will I will share a quick follow up. I did a ton of testing this week. I I dedicate like 4 hours on Wednesday, The first thing that I did was instead of wiping this machine to start my tests I went down to the office.
Now this machine in the studio is an intel I nine 2019 Imac my machine in the office is an M one mini. I created an aggregate audio device on that, And tried my tests my tests are start capturing audio in a way that I can hear it real time live so I know when there's an issue.
And I launch an app like Apple's music app, That will instantiate a connection to core audio and it doesn't matter what app I launch as long as it's something that will, If I am using an aggregate audio device for input output or both it doesn't matter. The audio will stutter for between a half a second and 5 seconds, A new connection is made to poor audio. This happens on M one, happens on intel. I did all kinds of testing to see if I could make it better or worse
And you really can't. It's just the way it is. If you're not using an aggregate audio device, the problem is almost not there So something has changed between Monterey and Venturo in terms of how core audios efficiency, I'll keep you posted on my progress but part of that progress might. To Monterey so. Alright moving on to a LLMD in our discord, Who shared a tip it says he or she I don't know they.
Said to add custom system sound effects to the mac look in your home library folder for a sounds folder if one doesn't exist create one. Put your custom sound effects in this folder in a iFF format what's AIFF, Audio interchange file format. It was developed by Apple in 88 based on electronic arts IFF used in a mega systems. Interesting. You can convert Common audio file tapes to AFF using online converters and and. Pretty good stuff. I like it.
That's good. No, that's great stuff. Oh, god. They're, you know, sound effects like, see that? Like that. Right. Yeah, but that you're triggering from a third party app. This, this would be Correct. So, when you get a new Email, it would do that cuz you know, cuz everyone loves hearing every time they get a new email. Exactly, Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Alright.
Hey yo He says I've been reading up on gang chargers for power delivery and Annie of them including the new Apple charger that comes with the M two MacBook Air that have multiple ports have a quirk When you plug in another device to them all power output will be cut off while the internal circuit determines how to redistribute power amongst the devices that are plugged in.
While this usually isn't a problem it says I had a raspberry pie reboot on me because it was plugged into a power delivery report on my charger and when I am added my laptop, Poof the raspberry pie rebooted. So, that's interesting. It makes sense that the that the circuit needs to sort of redesign how to how to send power out but. Yep.
No. Oh, I thought in previous sorry, I must have misunderstood. I thought in preshow, you said that this does not happen with with no renegotiated. Yeah, but it didn't, it didn't cut power to the port. It just renegotiated things. Maybe I misunderstood. Alright, cool. Also from our Discord
A quick tip for technology users. If you wanna send a file to anyone securely, you can use your disc station to do so. You go in to the distation webinar face DSM go to file station right click on any file and select share, You will get a sharing link that you can use to access the file you also get a chance to set a password and or access count and expiration dates for the link
You can then email the link to someone and then give them the password through a phone call so that you can have sort of a two factor thing going on if you want The recipient doesn't, That's a good one to remember. Yeah, no, it's it's a great. I've I've done this. I've been doing this for years and never thought to mention it in the show and then of course when I saw Jamie's No it was like well obviously we need to share this that this is the definition of a quick tip.
VI the bonus quick tip here is that you can also request a file from someone in a similar way again going to distation manager going to file station. Right click on folder. I gotta find it here. Yeah yeah. Right click on a folder and select create file. And then you can send the link to someone they can use that to to send the file up to you and and your you're good to go. You like it? On the desktop and, Pretty sure. You're a distation you right click it in in the finder and you should.
The link to the option to create a shareable link I will say that that has been unreliable for me in over the years so much so, That I don't even attempt to do things that way anymore. Okay. Maybe it's better now. They've they've updated the technology drive app recently. It's an it's a apple silicon native app now whereas previously it was it was running in Rosetta So To reset my trust definition with it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, you can right click the file. The.
Man, there is permissions public. Yeah, cool. You know there's nothing worse than going into a doctor's appointment expecting to be the center of attention.
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Alright. Listen to Peter brings us to our first question of the day. After one of your suggestions I have been rebooting my WiFi mesh system he's been doing it each night at 3 AM I I recommend once a week is is more than enough but anyway we we move on it says. I have a deco system that's about 5 years old and for the most part, this reboot works well. However, I have an issue. I have a built-in WiFi with my Fios router that is generally just there if I need a backup.
When the deco goes down my Mac mini picks up the files WiFi and attaches to that. Generally, it doesn't matter. It is wired for your ethernet. However, printing won't work because the printer is on the deco's WiFi network. My thought was to set up some automation to switch the WiFi back to the deco at some given time each day say 7 AM
And I hope there was a shortcut via the app to do this. However, it doesn't appear. So, it seems there are some apps that may do what I want but I was hoping to keep it to something more native. Also, I was thinking this might be a problem with the preferences list of WiFi networks and this is becoming quite opaque now in Ventura however i realized this is a simple case of my Mac Mini saying I don't see my preferred network but this other one's available I'll take it.
Even though the preferred one became available again it doesn't automatically switch back. So you could set your Mac to not auto join the WiFi network from your router. And and and then you could choose it manually if you wanted but that might
Be the easiest solution for the exact scenario that you are in. Your max connected to Ethernet. So, you don't need to worry about that You've got that other WiFi network there so going into system settings in Vensura and setting it to not auto join that network would Would be one way of doing it. However I'm I'm wondering here if your Mac is connected to Ethernet. Where like where how is the network split up. Because.
Your computer should be connected to the same ethernet as that. That would be my advice here so that you have just one network.
If the ethernet connected Mac can't see the WiFi connected printer it tells me that you've got at least two networks and maybe you're connecting your Mac to Ethernet via the The the router and and so it's it's that sort of side of the family that I would look for a way, To connect your Mac to the internet of the the deco system so that it's all kind of as one because it there there is a bridge all routers these days create a bridge between their ethernet and their WiFi
So I I'm I'm thinking that. Might be a better path to solving this and other sort of niggling problems that you might wind up with down the road, Alright. So, so pick me. Pete, pick me. Oh, oh, pick me. So,
I'm just kinda curious. It's and we over my head here. Oh, same. Got water at my nose level. Yeah. That was, I don't think we are with your level on you and John on networking. Is this a different, Subnet mask or something that's going on in there because yes okay, No that's you're no and I'm glad you asked that question because I I sort of lost over that yeah you know let and I I don't know what his his subnets are but I'm gonna I'm gonna make some up let's say that his
Fios router puts him on 10. One dot X as a network And his deco puts him on 192. 168. One dot X as a network so his Mac in theory. And in practice could be connected to both of those network simultaneously. You get to pick which one it's gonna use as the priority and it doesn't matter whether this is you know ethernet or what. By setting the service order. In in in in. Vensura it's slightly different but it's sort of the same now it wasn't there.
And down in the lower right you'll see three dots with a downward pointing carrot, You can choose set service order there and decide whether Ethernet or WiFi is the preferred. That's gonna be what it uses for connecting to the internet. That's how it's gonna prioritize that. If you have local devices that are only on one or the other, It will just find those because if they're using different subnet masks and,
Cuz there's that and I think I did this but it it may be in a little different. So, your eros and your decos. Yes And So and as I did that I it offered me as I was going through all the settings. Oh you wanna create a network perm. Go let's just do that. I've thought I've never done it before. It's always just been on our WiFi. Sure. And once I did that Then none of the Didn't all came back to normal. So, we can print throughout the house and then we talked about it being an airplane.
It quickly gets convoluted. It does get convoluted. Pick me, pick me. Yeah, yeah. If I were in this scenario. And I I am not so I can't say for certain that this would be the best solution but, One solution I would certainly, Having just one network it really is best to have just one network. Turn off that network right so. What I would do is again I would explore doing this. There might be reasons not to but I would put my decos in bridge mode and not have them be routers.
And that way in my example before when I connected to my deco I would get a one of those 10. One dot X IP addresses from the Fios router. On the connections that I make to the deco system because it's not trying to be a router it's just letting me pass things through so that would be my advice here, Bridge mode would be best now.
You might prefer the way the deco's manager network versus the way the files manages a network and so then you sort of are in a scenario where you have to choose do I want this double mat thing or not. Double nap meaning your deco is getting an address from the files and then creating its own subnet off of that so you're essentially have two versions of a subnat. It's not optimal. Number one. I'm glad we had this conversation. But go you know. Or Mike.
Oh yeah. Yeah Yeah. Well, and just like your router bridges, internet to WiFi, your your router also bridges two. Four gigahertz to five gigahertz so that it can see everything now. What we were talking about before with the issue that you're having in your hotel, Many not all many home routers can be set to not let devices see each other and not bridge those things But that would drive you crazy cuz then you wouldn't be able to see your other devices and you would.
That's that's a clear option in there. And generally speaking, you wanna say, no, I don't want you Destroy, you know, my technology drive, that's sort of thing. No, no, that's not. You're here for network access or internet access only, not to play around on my network. So, I would separate, Right let's just meet. Fun stuff.
Cuz that was gonna be my initial answer but then I'd like your answer better the the bridging. Yeah, just Bridget and then you don't have then it's just like it's it takes the headache out of it. Yeah. Alright, moving on to question number two, Jeremy asks. I've had this issue for several OS's now. I can't recall when it started. I have four external hard drives on my 13 inch 2020 MacBook Pro.
One for time machine, one for carbic copy cloner, one for project backups, and one for photos and music. Here's the issue. Every time i eject them all i get an error message on my mac saying the disc music and photos wasn't ejected because one or more programs may be using it, To eject the disc immediately. And I have even tried quitting all of my apps one by one to try and pinpoint a culprit to know avail.
There's a related issue that may or may not be related to drive for carbon copy. Oh yeah, it's I'm not gonna get into that. Okay. So, This makes sense if you are using iCloud photo library because then there is Always a background process running whatever your user whenever you use your account is logged in and that's almost certainly the reason you're seeing this message of course if you had the music app or the photos app opened
You would also get this message because they are using that drive. Even if they're not open if you've got that iCloud photo library going it has a background process that is always sinking your photos library with iCloud and you can confirm this It requires a little bit of the terminal and I'll put the command in the in the show notes But it would be.
LSOF is really the command to use and that's list open files Into the grep command so that it shows and I I grab is just a search pattern match really is the right way to to think of grip Grab space and then the name or some part of the name unique name of my drive, Only show me the open files that match that pattern which are only the files on that drive and you can see not only what files are open but what process they belong to and so for me I did this on mine and photo library D came up.
As the as the name of the process which makes perfect sense. That's why this is happening. So, There's in order to be able to see your photos or took me to eject that drive you'd have to log out of your Mac Or You'd have to choose to keep your photos on your internal drive and if you don't have enough space for them you could turn on optimize. A nice work around ish. If you wanna do that is to create a second user account. Have it connect to your photos library.
And. And let it sync all your stuff up you keep your local copy of your photos. When you log out of that account, it's no longer using that drive, you can eject them, you can take your thing with you, you can still access your photos on the road because you have, You're in your main account. You have your optimized version of your photos library. So, that's my, That's my work my suggested work around for folks that are doing that or if you have yeah there you go Pete if you have a desktop.
You can. Anyway that's that's my. Having the iCloud Drive be able to hold all of those how many people lost photos when a hard drive crashed I mean yeah. Baby photos and you know precious memories it can't be replaced. Exactly, So, but yeah, the second account is, is. Tom. Is my computer just set to did it reset my audio no it's not on echo cancellation.
I do. You did. Yeah. Oh. Probably cuz you set up a new mic. But now we get a much more natural conversation because if we wind up talking over each other, it doesn't start cutting you in and out. With such. There you go. Echo cancellation is great if you're using speakers but when you're using headphones you don't need it. Hopefully. Alright,
I just thought I'd say that. Just found something new. I didn't know. Okay, there are many things I don't know Open a new tab with the previous or next visited page. I I didn't know yeah I'm pressing the command button in the arrow buttons when I tried it no no click on the actual back button up on the browser itself on the screen okay. Interesting. Yeah, but. I wish you would flag this as a quick tip this make this this fits the quick tip the section of the show yeah yeah.
Hardly it's not working for me on the mini. There are back and forth options that are command left bracket command right bracket. Do you know what else different. That's a good tip. I like it. I didn't know it worked. You know, I thought I was on safari and I look, oh yeah, you're on chrome dude. There it is. While we are on the subject of shortcuts and such.
Listener, I'd love this and he shared this in discord and I'll put a link in the show notes to the discord chat where where he talked about this so you can see it cuz I it really is one of those things that's worth seeing he says. And he's got a whole link to to an article about how he created this
But he says I am a self confessed button pusher. I know I can call control most things on my iPhone via Siri but sometimes i forget it exists Hey then go pecking on my iPhone for what I want music he says is one such thing I grew up in the 70s and 80s when push button radios were a thing that is radios with physical or mechanical buttons that landed you on the station you wanna listen to, And he said he wanted to replicate that on his phone so with Apple's shortcuts.
He created shortcuts Radio station so he's got shortcuts I mean he's got a whole page of these on his phone shortcuts for you know jazz classical piano music It's any any talks through the the way you do this is you add a shortcut. And you make the shortcut play music and then you hit the music and thing and you hit you choose a source and then you're good to go.
It's he's got all the instructions there but I I just love the love the idea of just being able to get right to, Hey it's sort of think about this as a deep link, To music right so you could watch the music app and then go and pick the things you wanna listen to or you can prep them and just deep link it and click that and shortcuts will take you right there. Brilliant drew of disappointed noticing those screenshots I didn't see one button for the Mackey gab or for so there I was I'm just saying
Can you do deep links to the podcasts app? Why not, I don't know. It might be I mean it might not be a thing that Apple lets you do Yeah, that's true. Yeah. What? They would do both. Okay. If you wanted a deep link for the Maki cab show, then, you just download the MacE Gab app From the App Store it's free and you know there you go so we'll put a link to that in the show notes too But yeah I don't know if the podcast app like if shortcuts can do deep links to the podcast app
Well, I mean, we have time. It's it's the if I launch this podcast app. John. Yeah, I think I do. So, Ken says. I use carbon copy cloner a schedule a backup in the early AM and select wake system with a scheduled time. Barry Clever people are finding ways to use CCC. As a replacement for the stuff that used to be in finder so that's why I just thought I'd mention this yeah well in systems yeah. Not finder system preferences to wake your assistant preferences right.
Yeah, we had to use her in the past show suggested using CCC for restart that can do that system task too. Yeah. But yeah I do account sales. To do that and then I put it back to sleep when it's done. I don't have to but I do. So, save energy. Here's a thing though. You don't have to do that Mike Bombick taught us years ago.
That you can tell CC like like we've discussed here to automatically wake up your Mac at the time of the backup. You know, you set a 3 AM backup or whatever. And a minute, you know. That will cause your Mac to wake up proper meaning the screen will come alive and this is why we found out about this years ago but it but it's applicable here. You can also set it not to wake up your Mac and to do it and i forget the the exact terminology of the option but there's only like three options.
One of them is do it the next time my Mac wakes up after 3 AM that's effectively what you're choosing. It will do exactly as it says. And your Mac you could certainly be the one to wake it up and if you are then your screen will come on and all of those things happen however. Your Mac also wakes its self up every I think it's every 108 minutes but it might be more frequently than that now,
To do it's own little background tasks of sorts. Your laptop even does this. While it's in clamshell mode, a sleep closed. It'll do time machine backups that way.
And the nice part about this is when it wakes itself up in the background it does not turn your screen on so if you set carbon copy cloner to just do its back up the next time your Mac wakes its self up It will do it Certainly within you know it's an hour or less of when the scheduled time is and and your and and then you're not waking your back up unnecessarily so. Just a little a little tip.
Yeah. Yeah. I've only find this in Carmen Copy Cloner. Yeah, cuz I also, I also do a time machine one. Yeah, but that's using power nap. So, right. I think it, Does what you just said it. It doesn't turn on the screen because it's doing its own little background. Right, right, right, Yep. And the option that I'm choosing is in the system wake or power on behavior section there's five options one is wake the system but skip tasks when the system is off.
The second is week or power on the system the third is run when the system next weeks. The fourth is run when the system next week's or power's on and then the the last is of course skip this task if the system's asleep. So Automatically power on since you upgraded to Ventura. Because i have my Mac. Wake up or power on every day at 7 AM and the reason I did this was because if the power goes out and I'm not home, I and for whatever reason my Mac doesn't.
Then it will try the week itself at 7 AM everyday. And. Studio Imac here and my Mac in the office did not come on while I was away. I almost called you Pete and asked you to come over and turn one of them on. But it it then I realized it's really not that important. But. But yeah it it like they were off and they stayed off until I turned them on and then as soon as I turn them on I launched the terminal.
And did PM set dash G skid, I'll put that command in the show notes too cuz now that I said it that that's how you get to see. It's like it's set. So, I unset it and reset it. I guess I need to turn one of my computers off and see if it'll turn on at 7 AM but.
Yeah I have not had mine come on but it's my laptop you know it it's on and off all the time I don't notice it I need to check my Mac Mini and see because that's really the one that I need that would be the one exactly be a reliable machine exactly yeah. So and then I wonder if I can I should be able through tail scale to to log into it and and log it in right. Well guess. Cuz if you got fireballs on then you're stuck at the file vault screen and nothing's running so you're not.
Correct but as long as you're not running fireballs on it then yes you could get to the login it would bring you to login scream at Tailscale I think, I think that's a good question Pete does tail scale start I I don't think you would see Tail I think Tailscale is run Yeah. Yeah. Where where do you set. What they've changed this so many times but I'm pretty sure tail scale launches. At user login You know, starts before the user. Yeah, I don't think tail scale does,
No, I don't think it does either. I send it. Yeah, I send a recall watching it log in after a boot up. Yeah, in the preference is the option is start on login. So, yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. Your Mac Minnie though is running as like your your plex server and your channel server and all that stuff? Yes, In order to run the plex server and the channel server you need to auto log in to an account anyway.
Yeah. Right? Cuz otherwise, yeah, I need to do it or I'm gonna run. It's not gonna run. So, I'm out on the road and I get a power filling and it's gonna come back up to the login screen. And that's it It's gonna come up to your yeah the login screen or if you're running file ball to your to your fireball screen so, Yeah. Yeah. Think yeah, You can you can do you can have a password and choose an account to auto log in, If anybody was looking for the title of the show.
To wrap it up here if you wanna see a list of not only scheduled events but repeating events. System information, hardware, power. And it shows more than the command that you gave Dave so I just wanted to mention it. So it shows both of the ones that PM set. Show it but it also shows a restart event, You have to nail schedule via the terminal,
Just mention that in passing and I was like, what? I had no idea. Yeah, you get to see when like like you said, it shows way more than what that terminal command shows. It'll show, When it's good again so they don't have to rewind.
Hardware scroll down to the power section it will show you the next few, And it could be an app that wants, you know, time on the CPU to do a thing or like, yeah, it's it's it's I was blown away when I saw that there That that is new to Ventura I'm pretty sure right haven't seen that in the past no it's I've seen in the past really, Alright, how to do the different spot, Cuz I'm like. Yes. Correct. So about oh so about. And then that will. And. A faster way to get there.
Well, there's that Go to in the power section the power subsection of hardware, And you will see power events and reading repeating events in mine says week or power on at 7 AM every day restart at 7:15 AM: on Thursdays, It restarts at 715 on Thursdays. Let me look. Yup. 1 day, 4 hours. So, it's Friday now while we're recording this anyway. Yup.
Yeah. Hey, we got a show for those of you who are interested in home automation. I think that's kind of all of us here. It's the home assistant podcast If you're looking to get started with home automation or looking to get inspired by some neat things that people are doing with their smart homes then look no further the home assistant podcast has you covered from automating your lights and thermostats to Listen in and hear their thoughts on automating beer kegerators integrating apples home kit
Using home automation to get your kids to do their own chores. I I need to learn this. And even some interesting conversations on how you can use smart homes to help folks living with disabilities. And on their YouTube channel, there's also a bonus second show called All Things Smart Home which talks about general home automation concepts, ideas, and updates Whether it's to simplify your life save on energy or just tame your kids
If home automation is something you've been thinking of doing and want to be inspired then join host Phil Hawthorne and Rohan Caramandi on the home assistant podcast and all things smart home show available on YouTube or anywhere you subscribe to your podcast Visit HK Media. IO slash subscribe for all the links and our thanks to Phil and Rohan for doing this swap with us. Alright time for a couple of maybe maybe a few cool stuffs found before we say goodbye here.
Porthos John has one I think this is the third timer mentioning something from you today in the episode Portos Johnny says listening to episode 965. I thought I'd offer this the old towel 200 watt. It has three USB CPD ports and two USBA ports with gobs of power the coolest part, Is it on the side of the charger is a small LCD that shows you volts amps and watts for each port.
It's also UL listed. I have no idea how long but At the moment he says it has a $40 coupon on Amazon that drops it down to To well it doesn't exist anymore so it doesn't matter it's 129 at the moment on Amazon but yeah this thing is cool man these, The the port that the the. How much power it ports using? I I need to decide where I want this because most of my chargers like this wind up on the floor somewhere, right? This one, Definitely deserves to be displayed somewhere but.
Yeah, five words. Man, I don't know. I don't know where it belongs but it belongs somewhere in my life, folks. So. It's pretty cool. Mark m shares. Up time Kuma. Which is a free open source engine to track when your device is in servers go offline it's it's hosted it get hub but you just download it and install.
It it tells you when they've it keep keeps tracking their history and also tells you when when devices have gone up or down and they even have a little demo server that you can look at Right on the web so you don't even have to download and install it if if you don't want so. Thermostat and your slage locks and it probably would be. Yeah. Yeah. As long as it's running on your local network in as long as your.
Devices have consistent IP addresses so either a DHCP reservation or something so that you can point out it and say I know I wanna know you know when this goes offline. Yes Mark and Luke who is in the chat points out if you can ping them this thing can do its job yep sorry I got John go ahead. Just throw another one in here because I got an alert from it the other day up time robot. Okay and for the most part it tells me when my sologies are no longer accessible via. Oh
Interesting. So, is this a this is like a softer as a service kind of thing, right? Like you, you, you don't, it's nothing you run on your devices. You just say, Ping my devices for me. I don't really. And it's free for up to 50 monitors a month on a 5 minute monitoring interval so if you need something that's monitored more frequently than every 5 minutes then you you pay em different prices, Huh. That's pretty good John.
Well, doesn't doesn't your sonology Email you? Yeah, it goes. Hey, I've lost contact. Well, you can, yes, you can have sology Email you about it Right cuz you're you're distation can't email you if it doesn't have connections. Right. It's all good. It doesn't. Yeah. But yes. Issue with that is it's not.
It's not, Cuz the only the house is covered by the the standby generator not the office and of course there's something flaky about our standby generator that doesn't actually turn on when it's supposed to That's a whole other issue. Either fix it. And i don't need to call the generator company to come out here when I'm in Italy and turn my freaking generator on.
You know, that's not the point. Anyway, I'm probably gonna move my whole network stuff over the house. My sonologies and everything because now that there's a standby generator there. I kinda want. From cynology but it was only after they've been offline for like an hour. So you're not getting it instantly you're getting it and and an hour might be fine for whatever your use cases but.
I like it. Now, I'm now I wanna know why you never mentioned up Time Robot on the show before, John. This is a good one. Cool stuff found exist everywhere in our lives folks when you stumble on to yours feedback at Mac Geek Gab. Com oh that's a good place to send it feedback at Mac Geek Gab. Com. I think you said feedback it might keep gap. Com I did Dan sent in his cool stuff found in the final cool stuff found of this episode. Which is blue snooze, Blue snooze. Because there yeah.
Yeah. Yup. Yup. I can't tell you. I wish they had it for iPhone too cuz there's time when I wanna use my Bluetooth headphones on my laptop. Oh and it'll connect to my iPhone so let's go to my iPhone and turn off Bluetooth so that I can. Yeah, you should just be able to choose it on your Mac. Oh, I usually do but sometimes it'll swap over for no apparent reason. Are you talking about AirPods or third party pods? Has AirPods should be,
Smart enough to to do that hand off and not go back. Well, I I could be wrong but I think it's like if somebody calls and hangs up. Oh. It goes up Earn it swaps over. Interesting. Oh, connectivity. Okay. Cuz it's trying to go Every now and then, not all the time but every now and then, they'll go hanky. It'd be nice to be able to snooze my Bluetooth. Yeah, I do not recommend running blue snooze. Cuz otherwise. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Think so. I think the IMAC. Remember, that was a question we had a few weeks back. Yeah. That we talked about, And how to get the keyboard to connect I think what I did was, Yeah. You're cutting the throat of a lot of running operations. Yeah. Pressing and holding power. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, holding power, that's a whole different thing but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thanks for listening folks. Thanks for hanging out with us. Thanks for sending in all your stuff to us at feedback at Mackie Keb. Com. Thanks to cash fly for providing all the bandwidth to get. Make sure you check out Pilot Peach shows so there I was. US. Make sure you check out our merch where you can find the Mackie cab logo on the back of the don't get caught T shirt Merch is@Makika. Com slash merch. Music. Well. Hopefully everybody has a good week.
I don't know if you have any other wishes or advice for our friends John before we go on our merry way. Hunker down stay warm and don't get caught. Music.