APPLE: In messages, all my contacts’ pictures are gone.txt

Monday, July 20, 2026

MAC OSX TAHOE 26.5.2 (25F84)

2026-07Jul-16 DIALOGUE in messages, all my contacts’ pictures are gone.txt

*** begin quote ***

Acknowledged unfamiliar software version, sought current informationAcknowledged unfamiliar software version, sought current informationThis is a known, recurring bug with Messages/iCloud Contacts sync — it’s been showing up across macOS and iOS versions for years, and there are recent reports tied to macOS 26/iOS 26 specifically. Not something wrong on your end.
Quick fix to try first:

Apple menu → System Settings → click your name (Apple ID) at the top
Click iCloud
Find Contacts and toggle it off
Wait about 30 seconds, then toggle it back on
Restart your Mac and check Messages again

If that doesn’t work:

Check iCloud.com → Contacts to confirm the photos still exist there. If they’re intact on iCloud.com but missing on your Mac, it’s a local sync/cache issue, not lost data.
Check your iPhone — if photos are still showing there, that confirms the photos themselves are fine and it’s just your Mac’s Messages app not pulling them.
In Settings → Apps → Messages on iPhone (or the Mac equivalent under Messages preferences), toggling Shared with You off and back on has fixed this for some people.

Unfortunately, honest heads-up: several people on Apple’s own forums report this is a bit whack-a-mole — the fix works for a while, then random contacts lose their photos again weeks later. Apple’s support has acknowledged awareness of it but hasn’t shipped a permanent fix as of the reports I’m seeing. If it becomes chronic, re-adding photos manually in Contacts (Mac) tends to hold better than relying on iCloud auto-sync.

Want me to walk through the manual “re-add photo in Contacts” steps too, in case the toggle doesn’t stick?

*** end quote ***

Shame on Apple. Argh!    

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APPLE: “Family” security doesn’t work

Thursday, November 27, 2025

RECENTLY, my problems with “DOWNTIME” for  youth account have resumed.

It started with:

  • A real child id account with picture
  • A “ghost” child id account without picture
  • An adult id that was duplicated.

Turned on, the child’s account limits and those limits were applied to my iPhone.

Argh!

— more coming —  

In attempting to “fix” the problem(s):

  • Had to wipe the iPhone to get rid of the “account limits”.
  • The restore from iCloud backup never would complete and after three tries just wiped the iphone
  • Restarting basically from a blank slate, WALLET didn’t restore or recover my passport or credit cars. Argh!
  • Also, all the apps had to be reinstalled with lost “history”
  • Every setting seemed to need a reset. Argh!

— more coming —  

 

 

 

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TECHNOLOGY: Spam is really annoying; I should get paid for each email message

Sunday, October 5, 2025

https://www.makeuseof.com/i-get-these-emails-every-week-but-theyre-actually-a-scam/?user=bXVvQHJlaW5rZS5jYw&lctg=28d2ed2b3c7a64795f347195bfd302ab46e112a2d0fa032e2ba5de55cc388ab7

I get these emails every week, but they’re actually a scam
By Gavin Phillips — Published 23 hours ago

  • Gavin is the Segment Lead for the Technology Explained, Security, Internet, Streaming, and Entertainment verticals, former co-host on the Really Useful Podcast, and a frequent

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2025-09-27>>

*** begin quote ***

Thunderbird’s spam filters need some better training, that’s for sure, as even after marking so many of these repeat offenders as spam, they reappear. I’m not even sure how some aren’t flagged, as they’re clearly scams.

It’s also interesting that there is a range of tolerance to the spam that lands. Some are clearly phishing emails waiting to snag my data, while others look less dangerous but have hidden threats.

It makes it all the more important I know what to look out for to keep my inbox and computer free from threats—and you should know, too.

*** end quote ***

SPAM emails seem to be a fact of life.

Google GMAIL seems to do a pretty good job of catching them.  Especially after I’ve marked them.

What really annoys me is spam text messages. And, no matter how many times I mark and report they still keep coming. Is anyone at APPLE, AT&T, the FCC, or anyone listening? Argh!

Maybe if I got paid for each email message, except for pre-approved senders like family, friends, and email I asked for, then we could use “postage” to stamp out this annoyance.

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DISCOURAGING: Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

https://developers.googleblog.com/en/google-url-shortener-links-will-no-longer-be-available/

Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy . . . literally, “not my circus, not my monkey;” figuratively, “not my problem.” — Polish saying

 I guess monkeys are “problems” in Poland, and circuses are where “problems” come from. If it’s not your monkey, and it’s not even from your circus, then it’s not your problem. — https://goo.gl/X7VEKG

# – # – # – # – # 

Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available

JULY 18, 2024

*** begin quote ***

In 2018, we announced the deprecation and transition of Google URL Shortener because of the changes we’ve seen in how people find content on the internet, and the number of new popular URL shortening services that emerged in that time. This meant that we no longer accepted new URLs to shorten but that we would continue serving existing URLs.

*** end quote ***

Once again a demonstration of the Internet axiom, “If you’re not paying of a product, then you are the PRODUCT.”  Sometimes even if you are paying, it still gets “deprecated”  —  a fancy word for “FU, we don’t need you”! For example, Pocket from Mozilla.  In this case, a service is disappearing.  

https://umatechnology.org/what-does-it-mean-when-an-app-gets-sherlocked-by-apple/

Being “Sherlocked” is a term that encapsulates the dramatic and often ruthless dynamics between smaller developers and larger tech companies like Apple. It serves as a reminder of how innovation and competition can shape the tech landscape, sometimes to the detriment of those who initially paved the way.

Not just APPLE, but GOOGLE and MICROSOFT do it as well.  Without the decency of acquiring the original developer.  Not that “guaranties” the product or service will survive. Some are acquired to kill the competition.

There is no doubt in my mind that Google intended to SHERLOCK BITLY (https://bitly.com/pages/products/url-shortener) but for whatever reason they decided not to.  I suspect that there was not margin in it for Google.  So after “pushing” it, like so many other GOOGLE “products and services” they give it the FU treatment and  “deprecate” it.

Sad for the Users who used it and good for BITLY.

And, for anyone who still “trusts” Gooferment to be a fair referee with respect to anti-trust issues, why do you think “corporations” “contribute” aka payoff politicians and bureaucrats?

Now I have to go and replace all “goo.gl” uses in my blog.  Argh!

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NOTRECOMMENDED: Apple AirPods2Pro for the hearing test

Saturday, December 28, 2024

After a very frustrating day of “escalations”, broken return calls promised, and countless connect / disconnect / in case / out of case / reconnect, I gave up.

This product is not ready for prime time,  I felt like an alpha tester.

Argh! ** 3

They hyped the “hearing test” so much I really wanted it to work. 

Frustrated to the full extent.

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TECHNOLOGY: Free dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) from the internet and public ibraries

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/11/apple-shares-the-most-popular-podcasts-of-2024/?utm_placement=newsletter

# – # – # – # – # 

While I don’t miss the traffic on Route 287 when I was working, I do miss having two or three or more hours listening to my self-improvement cassettes.  (Imagine how less “wonderful” I’d be if I hadn’t “improved” with all those great suggestions.  Laugh!).

If podcasts were available then, I could have saved a lot of money on cassettes.

I remember often griping about having to buy the same content to “upgrade” from cassette to cd. Especially if the tape broke or tangled.  Why did I have to pay to replace it? Argh!

And, today, audio content is available free from the local library via Libby or other open sources.

Anyway, here’s an “interesting” list of things that might be worth listening to.  Now, if I just had a long commute, treks from Fairfax VA to the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee, or drives to and from Keene NH and NJ, I could “improve” even more  — if such was possible.

(Not too much ego?  Right!)

As always YMMV and FWIW,
Crazy Old Ferd

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WRITING: Poor Joe

Friday, November 1, 2024

 The DNA Database Incident

It was a beautiful sunny day when Joe woke. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and all was right with the world.

In a joint Google-Apple-Microsoft-IBM data center, they were just preparing to populate the total DNA global database. It was the result of a decade-long project run out of the Human Genome Project. IBM Watson had been given access to the HG project and all available DNA records. It was asked one question: what was the relationship of the human genome to DNA? Scientists had debated nature versus nurture until they were blue in the face. Nothing had emerged, and there was conflicting anecdotal data on both sides.

Watson worked the problem for a month. The operators could see the process meter—which was only there to keep the humans from pulling Watson offline. All cores were running. Finally, Watson deployed a simple function:

“`

IN = F(THGGNA, T)

“`

The scientists were baffled. What that meant was that the entity was a time-based function, and every human was basically unique in an unpredictable way. A clone wasn’t really identical to the original because of the time function. While the individual and clone may be close enough for transplants, one could be identified uniquely. Bottom line: there could be only one Beethoven, and only one in that place in time.

From that, the scientists developed a unique human identification system. The political elite had always wanted unique tags for people that couldn’t be mimicked or duplicated. The computer jockeys set about generating tags, and life was going to change. The generation was started and left in the care of an operational staff.

And like most things, Murphy’s Law was still in effect and very persistent. During the late night shift, during a rousing game of pizza-tinfoil baseball—using the pizza boxes as bats and the tinfoil from under the pizza rolled up as balls—there was a high fly ball. An operator bumped a solid-state disk drive as it was processing Joe’s record.

Poor Joe. He was now not in the DNA database and a non-person as far as the Universe was concerned. On the plus side, he was never charge for anything he stole, since he didn’t exist. On the minus side, he was never able to do anything that required identification. Poor Joe.

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SECURITY: A static social security number is the flaw in EVERY financial security scheme

Saturday, October 12, 2024

https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/comcast_fcbs_ransomware_theft/

Cybersecurity Month
About a quarter million Comcast subscribers had their data stolen from debt collector

  • Cable giant says ransomware involved, FBCS keeps schtum

Connor Jones
Fri 4 Oct 2024 // 20:13 UTC

*** begin quote ***

Among the data types stolen were names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and the Comcast account numbers and ID numbers used internally at FBCS. The data pertains to those registered as customers at “around 2021.” Comcast stopped using FBCS for debt collection services in 2020.

*** end quote ***

As with ALL problems, digging down for who’s at fault, eventually end at the Gooferment.

I remember n=my original Social Security card as saying in big red font all caps “NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES”.

I’m sure that the tin foil hats of that era would have opposed it for either “THE MARK OF THE DEVIL” or “where is your papers please” or just the enumeration of privacy concerns.  And they, like almost all Conspiracy Theorists, would have been correct.  Look what a mess SSN has created.

At the root of the problem is the SSN.  

Fundamentally insecure!  Medicare abandoned the SSN on its own medicare cards.  Never explained but probably due to fraud.  Which still is a huge problem.

I suggest that the SSN be abandoned.  Credit cards use a 16 digit number with error correction in it and the “secret” card code on the back.  Why can’t the same be done to replace SSN.

Sure “credit reporting agencies”, banks, brokers, and all would have to retool.  

So what.

No one ever voted to approve this Universal Identifier.  

So let’s unvote it out.

Surely SCIENCE can come up with a better one.  Maybe based on our DNA, or biometric, or maybe nothing is best.

Google and Apple now have passkeys based on their device’s “biometric”.  

Even that would be better than SSN!

# – # – # – # – # 

FOOTNOTE: The word schtum means to remain silent. Specifically, it means not sharing any information, or telling anyone what you know. Schtum is most often used when referring to information that is harmful or sensitive in nature.

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TECHNOLOGY: The demise of Blu-Rays and DVDs allows real time “book burnings”

Sunday, January 14, 2024

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2024/01/05/nolte-best-buy-end-sales-blu-rays-dvds/

Nolte: Best Buy to End Sales of Blu-Rays and DVDs
John Nolte 5 Jan 2024

  • Best Buy will stop selling physical media this year, according to numerous reports.

*** begin quote ***

“The move away from physical media has been attributed to the changing habits of [stupid] consumers, who increasingly prefer streaming and digital downloads over traditional physical formats,” per the report. “This trend has been evident over the last decade as DVD and Blu-ray sales have experienced a significant decline.”

*** and ***

What’s the matter with you people?

This is our art! And you’re going to leave it in the hands of left-wing multinational corporations like Disney, Apple, and Amazon?

Hey, it’s no skin off my nose. I got mine, and I’m going to keep right on getting mine. But if you have a movie or book or TV show or video game you love, you are facing a future where it will either get disappeared, be censored, or made available only through a monthly subscription service.

I refuse to live in that future.

*** end quote ***

I learned this lesson when all my books on cassette were made obsolete and I was urged to rebut the same content on CDs.  I griped to anyone who listen and fell on the deaf ears  of all the politicians and bureaucrats. I refused to buy it all again. 

Then the car makers dropped the cassette players.  And, I was really screwed.  So I used drive with a portable cassette player in my truck and my car.  Finally the tapes began to wear out and I just gave up.

I still hate the Gooferment politicians and bureaucrats for “copyright” law that makes me “license” content that I “buy”.   

Sorry, but I’m not buying into the whole scam.

Like “lifetime guarantees”, the value of a dollar, and “jumbo shrimp”, I can recognize a scam from a long way off and here comes the next one.  Before long, every streaming “service” will force you to pay for everything al la carte IN ADDITION TO a low monthly “membership fee”.  

Argh!

And the rubes aka “We, The Sheeple” will hail “progress”.   Not me.

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RANT: Tesla and other EV’s should be considered a national disgrace

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11668015/Devastating-photos-cobalt-mines-Democratic-Republic-Congo-power-Apple-Tesla-more.html

The shaming images that show where our iPhones, laptops and Tesla cars REALLY come from: The truth about the Congolese mines where kids are paid $2-a-day to dig for cobalt

  •     Images from the Shabara mine and others in the Democratic Republic of Congo show young children mining  
  •     They dig for cobalt, the chemical element that is used in almost every tech product on the market today 
  •     Apple, Tesla, Samsung and Microsoft are the other end of the complex supply chain  

By Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Published: 08:24 EST, 30 January 2023 | Updated: 09:14 EST, 30 January 2023

*** begin quote ***

For years, big tech companies like Apple and Tesla have assured the customers of their glossy stores and showrooms that all their goods are ethically sourced and sold. 

But a new series of images taken from inside mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 90 percent of the world’s cobalt is mined and used to make the batteries that power our tech-led lives, raise uncomfortable questions. 

Cobalt is the chemical element found in almost every tech gadget that uses a lithium-powered battery on the market today – a smartphone, tablet or laptop requires a few grams of it, while an electric vehicle requires 10kg.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but this is a national disgrace.  And, all EV’s should be scorned.

I’m speechless.

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