In a blog post, Independent Blogger Andy Baio recently revealed that Bitcoin whitepapers are hidden on every Apple MacBook computer running the latest version of macOS software. Specifically, he wrote,
“The file is found in every version of macOS from Mojave (10.14.0) to the current version, Ventura (13.3), but isn’t in High Sierra (10.13) or earlier. “
How can MacBook users check the Bitcoin whitepaper?
Well, the steps are quite simple. You first have to open a ‘Terminal’ and type the command given below:
open /System/Library/Image\ Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdfSo, if you’re using macOS 10.14 or later, the Bitcoin PDF will open in ‘Preview.’
According to Baio, in the ‘Image Capture’ utility, the Bitcoin whitepaper is used as a “sample document for a device called Virtual Scanner II.” Notably, that is either hidden or not installed for everyone by default. That said, the blogger noted that it is “not clear” why it is concealed for a few users. Neither is it known what exactly is it used for.
Moving on, from ‘Image Capture,’ select the ‘Virtual Scanner II’ device if it exists, and in the ‘Details,’ Media ought to be set to ‘Document’ and Media DPI to ’72 DPI.’ Doing so will display the preview of the first page of the Bitcoin whitepaper.
Now, one may wonder, of all the documents, why the Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden on Apple devices? Well, there is not much information available about this online. However, this gives rise to speculations and unproven theories that a secret Bitcoin maxi could be working at Apple. That said, the whitepaper could also just merely be “a convenient, lightweight multipage PDF for testing purposes,” that was not meant to be seen by end users.
