How about a disconnect even when it's open?
Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
261–270 of 405 posts
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#262How about a disconnect even when it's open?
Remember when iSight firewire external laptop cameras had a physical iris opaque shutter?
I can't think of a reason not involving TLA conspiracy that has everyone so allergic to a physical switch that disables microphones and a shutter that the camera cannot see through. Cheap, easy, reliable, desirable. Pick any four yet nobody, absoutely nobody does it and if they do they drop it almost immediately.
Lenovo T series have a physical switch that moves the camera in the lid to turn it off, whole camera slides sidways a little but doesn't cover the lens.
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similarly, whenever I'm working at my kitchen table I always "lose" my mouse as if there's another monitor connected. I realized a couple weeks later MacOS display continuity (or "sidecar"?) was connecting to my Mac Mini located directly upstairs using it as a 2nd monitor while I'm downstairs. My apple watch also regularly unlocks my Mac Mini when I'm downstairs (Mac Mini in a bedroom upstairs). All of these features…
Definitely should be an os-level feature to disable all that, similar to using panic mode on ios to disable biometrics. I personally boot my laptops to the filevault screen and no further when going through the security checkpoints. Keeps the disk encrypted and requires my password to continue.
“Would you like to enter the password before or after I check in the back to see if we have any latex gloves left, sir?”
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has to be the most annoying thing in MacOS. My laptop, soundly sleeping in my backpack, takes over my bluetooth headphones all the time.
Similarly, whenever I'm working at my kitchen table I always "lose" my mouse as if there's another monitor connected. I realized a couple weeks later MacOS display continuity (or "sidecar"?) was connecting to my Mac Mini located directly upstairs using it as a 2nd monitor while I'm downstairs. My apple watch also regularly unlocks my Mac Mini when I'm downstairs (Mac Mini in a bedroom upstairs). All of these features…
Powering off the computer will do that. The passphrase is always required on cold boot.
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#265(this is about phones as well as laptops)
Not only HW disconnect of the mic, but the speakers as well. I want a switch on the side that does the equivalent of taping over the camera. No software can use them when they're off, period.
Take back your privacy.
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should spend a few minutes in setting. Continuity allows a mouse and keyboard to run multiple macs and iPads. You move the cursor all the way over to the end of the screen. It stops but if you push more it will switch to the neighboring Mac. Easy to disable in settings. You can unlock your other Mac this way (I think), and Apple Watch will unlock if you are close by. All changeable in settings.
Problem is I like Apple Watch unlocking. But not randomly when I’m downstairs cooking dinner!
I don’t really trust it. The sports bands (which I find most comfortable) are especially vulnerable to being “scooped” off the wrist with two fingers in a single motion without interrupting the presence detection.
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similarly, whenever I'm working at my kitchen table I always "lose" my mouse as if there's another monitor connected. I realized a couple weeks later MacOS display continuity (or "sidecar"?) was connecting to my Mac Mini located directly upstairs using it as a 2nd monitor while I'm downstairs. My apple watch also regularly unlocks my Mac Mini when I'm downstairs (Mac Mini in a bedroom upstairs). All of these features…
> There really should be a "Travel Mode" for MacOS that disables features like these. Sadly that is not the Apple way. We'll have to wait years for them to come up with a "solution" that doesn't involve a disable button. If they even decide to work on it.
Simply powering off the laptop already enables what the user is asking for. Apple has thought of this.
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
Emphasis on should here. In the "real world" with real family pressures a lot of the time good account hygene goes out the window. In my experience account sharing is rife on "kid" iPads, especially as many of them are often hand-me-down devices that people don't want to have to go through the pain of reinstalling everything again for a new user. The ideal solution is iOS on iPad gets multiple user account support (l…
For the average person, they (Apple) probably feel like Family Sharing is the right mechanism to address these issues. Education and Business customers have Shared iPad because of the different environments they operate in where the use case is clear. In a world where (generally speaking) people are expensive and hardware is cheap, Apple probably thinks each person having their own device is easier than trying to shu…
> hardware is cheap
There is nothing cheap about iPads, especially the models that have the same M1 processors and similar pricepoints as a MacBook. It's laughable they don't have multiple user support today, and is solely to protect sales of the devices.
I'm genuinely surprised someone would defend this behaviour. Imagine you bought any other computer for north of 1000 dollars and you could only log one person in at a time - its unheard of, and was solved decades ago.
Again, iOS is already a multi-user OS - Apple just choose to artificially restrict how you can use it.
> potentially - 1 TB home directories for each person.
This is just being silly - people log families and many users into drives far smaller than this all the time.
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Overwhelmingly, it does "just work" as Apple intended. However, it's often quite opinionated. So Apple's intended functionality may or may not jive with your preferences. This is neither a defense nor criticism of Apple, and it's not a defense or criticism of your preferences either. I will point out that anecdotally, I don't hear too many people wanting their mouse's scrolling to work in the opposite direction as th…
>I think Apple's probably got well over 99% of the userbase covered with the defaults and opinions here. The vast amount of MacOS apps built by the community to undo Apple's terrible and backwards UX choices, and the amounts of sales those apps get, disproves your theory that over 99% of people are fine with the defaults Apple forces on its users.
Does it? Or is it possible that 1% is still pretty large?
Re: Hardware microphone disconnect (2021)
#270They have this feature but closing the lid on a MacBook or even putting it to sleep allows Bluetooth devices to stay connected. Heck, a MacBook even while in sleep mode will connect to Bluetooth devices. As far as I can see, this requires a third-party app to fix. Can an application still use the microphone on a Bluetooth device that’s connected?
This has to be the most annoying thing in MacOS. My laptop, soundly sleeping in my backpack, takes over my bluetooth headphones all the time.
This is the exact headache I have.