How can I install .deb files for Cydia manually (without wifi)? as I already said here my wifi is not working so I need to install Cydia .deb files like SBSettings, Installous, Winterboard etc. manually...well I did, but they wont work properly. I got some .deb files from various website, added them on my device in the cydia install folder, so far so good. I restarted my iphone, the icons showed up (Installous, winterboard) but when I open up Cydia and go to the packages they have a redish background (something like "hey there is something wrong"). Is something wrong with the files or the manual install is not good?

SBSettings -> Respring works, "more" work, the toggle icons don't show up (wifi, bluetooth, openSSH etc).
Installous -> Added some .ipa files to my device, they show up on download tab on my device but no icons show up (they are blank). I hit install but i get an error like "Error building SBCache" then "Installed" but they are not installed.
Winterboard -> works.

So any solution to that problem?
3G 16GB - 3.1.2 - 05.13.04

You can add .deb files and install apps from apptrackr, etc.. using the app iFunbox. I actually just used it the other day to locally upload my custom sms-tone pack. So download your needed .deb files from online, then transfer and install them via the program iFunbox.

http://www.i-funbox.com/


Is it possible to use more than the allocated base amount of video memory? On a MacBook Pro with the Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU, the amount of allocated video memory is 384 MB, as can be seen on this Apple support page  (scroll down to HD Graphics 3000)

This GPU, however, is known to allocate base memory based on available RAM. In particular, for 8 GB RAM, it is expected to allocate 512 MB. It seems Apple has chosen to override this, and allocate only 384 MB instead.

8 GB of RAM, 512 MB allocated. Exception: 384 MB is allocated on
15-inch and 17-inch systems

My question is, since the GPU supports upto 512 MB, is there a possibility to actually use that amount of memory for an application?

It supports up to 512MB on 13" models.

I'm afraid if your model is 15" or 17" there's nothing you can do.

Oh wait, your last chance is to upgrade (coming this fall) to Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan which includes Metal, a new graphic framework. I have El Captain Beta installed and the allocated GPU memory went from 1024 MB (in Yosemite) to 1536 MB.


Reading App for iPad with build-in translator Reading articles in foreign languages is a good and fast way to perfect language skills and I am sure the same thing must have occurred to others before me as well.

I am searching for iOS app for iPad built for reading texts, where, apart from the "define" option for certain words that are available systemwide, one also has the option to translate the word to a given language - in case I am reading foreign text and do not know any particular word.

Ideally the app should support this for PDF's with selectable text, for most of my texts are in those, but if there is no such, I could also convert my PDF's to desirable format.

I checked a number of such apps but so far, but the only one I found with a "translate" option is PerfectReader, which uses Wiktionary as a dictionary; the problem is its vocabulary is practically unusable.

iTranslate Reader does this.  The actual translation function is great - you can use Word Reference or any of several other sites as your dictionary.  Word Reference is an extremely extensive dictionary. The PDF reading function leaves a lot to be desired though - it lacks a bookmark, so when I stop reading and go back later I always have to find my page again. Hopefully they will fix this.

Until then a better solution is Marvin, another ereader app. You can set this up to use Google translate following these instructions:

http://ebookfriendly.com/custom-translation-marvin-book-reader/

I just started using Marvin but it seems pretty good. However you will need to convert your pdfs into epub format using Calibre (which is free, but it's a bit of a hassle to have to do this). I am still looking for the perfect solution.


How to bring back Mac Notes from external drive? I recently erased my hard drive and installed Sierra from USB flash, to start fresh.
Before doing this, I copied the main 3 files of Notes to external drive.
These are: NotesV6.storedata, NotesV6storedata-shm, NotesV6storedata-wal
I copied them from: com.Apple.Notes>Data>Library>Notes

I drag the existing V6 files to the desktop, and instead I paste the copied ones from external drive.But nothing happens.
I'm probably doing something wrong...

You probably need to enable the "on my computer" account first. In retrospect you should probably have used iCloud for storing your notes instead.


How to fix iPad Pro complaining about unsupported Apple Smart Keyboard? I'm using a Smart Keyboard with an iPad pro, but get a Accessory not supported error every 30 seconds. How can I fix this?

The Smart Connector (three small pins) on the Apple Smart Keyboard is not forming a clean connection with the corresponding three-pin socket on the side of the iPad Pro.

Here are some ways to fix it:

Clean the contacts on the keyboard and iPad Pro
Remove the Keyboard, restart your iPad Pro, reconnect the keyboard

More info can be found on this Apple Support document:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205237

However, this technique worked for me (it is not mentioned on the Apple support site):

Remove the Smart Keyboard
Put your thumbs on the plastic ridge behind the contacts on the
Smart Keyboard
Gently push the Smart Connector outwards with your thumb, and with your fingers pull the ends of the plastic ridge on Smart Keyboard towards you so it slightly bends the ridge (moving the smart connector outwards).
Reconnect the Smart Keyboard

I did this and it formed a better connection between the Smart Connector on the keyboard and iPad Pro.

This technique fixed my Smart Keyboard and prevented the "Accessory not supported" error from appearing.

Images here showing the push and bend in my keyboard:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/185452511@N03/m444o6


How do I prevent iTunes TOS prompt? iTunes has been popping up several times per day asking me to accept or decline their TOS.  I have declined for the past 5-ish years (2.5 years on this laptop in particular) because it is not a piece of software that I want or need.

Previously, it was a one-time decline, and I wouldn't see it again.  However, there must have been an update to the software that is causing it to pop up nonstop.  It is extremely frustrating, especially since I can't just drag the app to the trash bin.

How can I stop this from happening?

Edit: 3 popups so far today, and it's 10am.  :rage:

Try disabling iTunesHelper.app:

Remove iTunesHelper from Login Items.
Rename iTunesHelper.app in /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/ to something else (e.g. iTunesHelper-disabled.app).


Copy settings and preferences to new mac I have a Mac at the office and will be buying a new one for home. Is there a way to move my preferences and settings from the old computer to the new one?

Yes, you can use the Migration Assistant software that's included in all recent versions of OS X. See here for Apple's instructions on using it in Mavericks. You'll need to be able to connect your old Mac to your new one, over a local area network (either wired or wireless) or using a Thunderbolt or Firewire cable


How to Change iPhone between Silent and Vibrate I have an iPhone 5s and I only like to use silent and vibrate.  I never use the sound.  Is there a way that I can assign the switch on the side of the phone to be either silent or on vibrate?  I don't mind using the volume buttons on the side either, like i did when i had android, but i noticed that apple doesn't easily let you use move between vibrate and silent without going into the settings menu.  Thanks in advance.

If you set the phone to not vibrate on ring, but vibrate on silent, then you could swap your ringtone for one that makes no sound.
You'd have to repeat that for each notification type below, if you wanted nothing at all to make a sound.

I made my own, but Google has a lot of results if you search for 'silent ringtone'

The side switch will then swap between silent [on] & vibrate [off]


Restricting remote user to a single directory in 10.11 I need to confine remotely logged in users to stay in 1 directory only, so
I would thought I should attack this problem via SFTP or SSH, so I asked in

Restrict sftp user to a single directory in El Capitan.

But since sshd_config requires each component in the directory path must be owned by root, this requirement is not even possible in our case. So I guess both SSH and SFTP are not the solution.

What other approach can I take to do this task?

PS: After further reading, I think /bin/bash -r might be the way forward. Not sure if I can set up ssh to load /sh/bash -r by default.

PS: Tried to specify /bin/bash -r in Login Shell field within the user's Advanced Options in Users & Groups. Now the user cannot even login; password prompt keeps returning. In system.log, I get

PAM: authentication error for illegal user

Removing the -r option then the user can log in. I think a bit more config in sshd_config or /etc/pam.d/sshd will do the job....

Create a file /bin/rbash, make it executable and and set it as a shell for this newly created user:

#!/bin/bash
exec /bin/bash -r "$@"

The user over ssh is limited as manual page for bash describes in  "RESTRICTED SHELL" section.


Shared calendars over multiple OS X Servers I would like to share my calendar with someone who does not have a user account on my server. We both have our own OS X Servers, both running 3.2.1.

When I right click the calendar, I select "share calendar" and type the email address of the other person. I then get the message that the calendar could not be shared - no details no nothing.

I can share calendars with people who are hosted on the same server as I am, but it would be practical to share it with someone on a separate server.

Thanks

I found out that this basically is not possible. To compensate I have added a user on each of the systems which basically only has a calendar with whom I share the calendar appointments. In the calendar Mac app I then add these additional accounts.


Xcode and python and java I just installed Xcode 4. Everything seemed fine, but then, after poking around, I found that the ability to create Python and Java (And probably more) projects was missing. I asked Apple in apple store chat (on their web site) and was told that Python and Java are supported. However, I can't find where to make a Python or Java project - only C based files (and some more miscellaneous files). Does anyone know how to make Java/Python based files/projects?

I think Xcode 4 does not support Java or python so I would be interested in seeing what the chat said. OSX does support both.

Xcode was never a very good IDE for java or python so I would always try to use something else (except if using PyObjc)

Look on Stack Overflow for suggestions of IDEs

IntelliJ/PyCharm and Eclipse work on OSX as do several others


Disable "space+shift" in Sublime Text I want to disable the "space+shift" thing in Sublime Text, it creates something that looks exactly like a space unless marked, and it messes upp all my scripts because I always accidentally type it. I was not able to find anything like "space+shift" or "shift+space" inside the sublime-keymap.

On my system I can't reproduce the behavior of Sublime described by the OP. The problem may be related to an interfering third-party app/process.

One possible solution - configuring a new keycode with Karabiner to avoid the problem - is outlined below.

To disable or modify ShiftSpace in Sublime just remap the key combo with Karabiner. Usually you have to define an app in /Applications/Karabiner.app/Contents/Resources/appdef.xml if you want to adjust/modify an app-only shortcut. Since the appdef list already contains Sublime Text you can immediately add a new remapping.

Download, install and open Karabiner
Open in the menulet Karabiner -> Preferences
Open the tab Misc & Uninstall
Hit the button Open private.xml
Open the file private.xml with an appropriate editor
Enter the customized keycode

Example (ShiftSpace -> Space):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>Enable at only SUBLIMETEXT</name>
    <item>
      <name>Shift+Space to Space</name>
      <identifier>remap.app_sublime_shiftspace2space</identifier>
      <only>SUBLIMETEXT</only>
      <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::SPACE, MODIFIERFLAG_EITHER_LEFT_OR_RIGHT_SHIFT, KeyCode::SPACE</autogen>
    </item>
  </item>
</root>

Save the file
Open in the menulet Karabiner -> Preferences the tab Change Key
Hit the ReloadXML button
Enable the Sublime Text remapping. It should be listed at the beginning.


Spotlight not showing Bing results on iOS 8 I'm running iOS 8.0.2 on iPhone 5 and was really hyped about being able to get web search results from Spotlight.
Unfortunately whenever I type a query into Spotlight it doesn't display Bing results.

Any guesses on what the issue here could be? (Screenshot attached below)

There's only one location in Settings where I've seen reference to this. Try going to...

Settings > General > Spotlight Search

This is what I see when I go to those settings. You should be able to select the option there. If you don't see that option, you might try setting Bing as your default search engine for Safari. Let me know if that helps or what you find.

Hope that helps!


How to get the hand tool back in Preview.app in 10.8? In Mountain Lion's Preview.app the toolbar was changed quite drastically.

While I can see why they did it, I found that it misses the Hand tool that one can use to move enlarged documents around with the mouse.

How to get it back?

Use the move tool by pressing ⌥ Option+Space. The cursor changes to the hand that allows you to scroll the content in all directions.


Stuck in update boot (not enough disk space) I'm currently having a Macbook Air 120GB SSD where I tried to update the OSX to El Capitan. Very first it did not want to update due to lack of disk space.

After I cleared up some photos so it had around 3-4 GB available space, the installer of OSX launched and started loading, after few minutes it booted into a setup-only mode, where you only see the setup and select language and click next-next-next, but at this point it now stops me saying "not enough disk space".

That's fair enough, but now I'm stuck in this bootmode, if I turn off or reboot my Mac, it reboots into this installer again and I can't really exit and get back to my OSX to delete more files to free up some diskspace. I'm basically stuck in the updater itself when booting.

Any suggestions how I can get out of this boot and back to the original OSX, so I can free up some space? Thanks in advance.

Go in the Recovery menu (hold cmd+r), in the top left corner, you should see the Apple logo. Click on it and select the boot disk, which should appear as your internal hard disk, you will be prompted to enter your password to decrypt it and you should be good to boot into your old system.


Problem changing desktop background in Mountain Lion (10.8.1) I have performed an upgrade to the latest Snow Leopard and now to Mountain Lion (10.8.1). Post upgrade my desktop background isn't no longer changing. The background will not change when I try and select a different background via system preferences. Even if I reset it to the default background the same behavior persists. My system has exhibited this problem for almost 7 months now, I have this ugly plain blue background I cannot look at any more. Can anyone offer a solution that might resolve this?

Try deleting /Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist

Then, empty your trash and reboot.  This file stores the preferences for desktop wallpaper and deleting it will give you a clean slate.  Your system should default to the standard Mountain Lion wallpaper.


How do I print a selected email to PDF using Automator? I can't for the life of me figure out how to print a selected email to PDF using Automator.

Example - iTunes invoice arrives as email text (not an attachment) and I want to save it as a PDF to a specified folder for tax time.

How do I print a selected email to PDF using Automator?

You're on the right track, and @mankoff's answer is spot on. I'll elaborate in case you need more details.

For reference, you could read Apple's developer document on PDF workflows or, more simply, this great step-by-step guide to creating the sort of PDF workflow you want.

As a summary...

First open Automator and create a Print Plugin.

Then select an action to move your PDF to a folder of your choice.

Save the workflow with a meaningful name. It will automatically be placed in the correct folder (~/Library/PDF Services).
Now, when you are in Mail, you can select your workflow from the PDF menu of the Print dialog box. Your PDF will be generated and automatically filed in the folder you specified.


Time limits on specific apps in macOS High Sierra In macOS High Sierra v 10.13.4, I can do the following in Parental Controls:

Entirely disallow the use of specific apps in the Apps tab's Limit Applications on this Mac option.
Limit the entire use of the computer in the Time tab.

However, what I would like to do is limit how long a specific app can be used.  In particular, I'd like to limit my kid's use of a specific game to x hours per day, but the above options do not permit that.

Is there a way to do this using macOS itself? If not, is there another way to do this, either with another app, through the command line, or otherwise?

(This similar question with respect to Mac OS X 10.10 references an app called Watcher, but that got poor reviews and doesn't appear to have been updated recently.)

Note: I myself am a kid too, hopefully others don't see me as a traitor for providing this answer

Heres the start of my application. It is a work in progress. I will be editing very soon to include may new features such as

Remote editing of settings (like parental controls allows you to do)
Ability to get alerted if the kid tries to bypass the restriction
Ability to extend time (reward system?) with a parental password
Ability to bypass restriction completely with parental password
Multiple Alerts
More Logs
More comments in code
LaunchAgent and LaunchDemon
Many more features

Open this in Script Editor and export it as a read-only application and make sure stay open after run handler is checked off

After exporting follow this
 guide to prevent it from show up in the dock.

To quit, go to Activity Monitor, search for what ever you saved the application as and press the X in the upper left hand corner of the window.

 ## Time Limiter - Created by Josh Brown - Created June 8th 2018 - Last Modified June 8th 2018 ##
global applist
global timelimit
global timelimits
global day1
global day2

## Settings ##
set applist to {"Google Chrome", "App Store"} -- Apps to limit
set timelimit to 10 -- time to limit in min, this is cumulative between all application
set alert1 to 5 -- time when to give a warning (great for giving a 5 min warning so they know they should save and wrap up what they are doing)

## Alert Settings ##
set alertme to false
set bypassattempts to 0
set maxbypassattemtps to 3 -- If the kid trys to reopen application after timelimit has expired alert you

## Bypass/Extention Settings ## -- If you would like to give the kid an extesion or bypass the block
set allowbypass to false
set pass1 to ""

set timelimit to timelimit * 60 -- Make into a seconds
set alert1 to alert1 * 60

set timelimits to timelimit

on is_running(appName)
    tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains appName
end is_running

on checkapps()
    set x to false
    repeat with a from 1 to length of applist
        set b to item a of applist
        if is_running(b) then
            set x to true
        end if
    end repeat
    return x
end checkapps

on killall()
    tell application "System Events"
        repeat with myProcess in applist
            set theID to (unix id of processes whose name is myProcess)
            try
                do shell script "kill -9 " & theID
            end try
        end repeat
    end tell
end killall

on logme(msg)
    set time1 to do shell script "date"
    do shell script "echo \"" & msg & " " & time1 & "\" >> ~/Library/Logs/Time_Limit.log"
end logme

on checkday()
    if day of (current date) is not equal to day1 then
        set timelimit to timelimit + timelimits
        set day1 to day of (current date)
    end if
end checkday

logme("Begin Timer with Apps List: " & (applist as string))
set day1 to day of (current date)
repeat while 1 = 1
    checkday()
    if checkapps() then
        if timelimit > 0 then
            set timelimit to timelimit - 1
            if timelimit is alert1 then
                logme("Time Left:" & (timelimit as string) & "Displaying alert")
                display notification "Please finsh what you are doing and save your work" with title "Time Limit Almost Up" subtitle ((timelimit * 60) & " Minitues remaing") as string
            end if
        else
            (*
            tell application app1
                quit
            end tell
            delay 20
            *)
            if checkapps() then
                killall()
                logme("App Runnning after Limit, Killing")
            end if
        end if
    end if
    delay 1
end repeat


HoRNDIS not working on Mac OS Mojave The procedure to get an Android phone to tether the internet connection to a Mac is given on countless websites.

I followed the instructions provided on the official page (https://joshuawise.com/horndis) but nothing happens.
The connection is not recognised in the Network section of the System Preferences.

My machine runs a Mac OS 10.14.6 and I'm tethering from a Huawei P20 Lite.

Anybody got any piece of advice?

I've added a screenshot of the Network preferences.

I was showing the application was blocked in Security and Privacy section. After allowing it, I could use tethering with my Andriod device.
However I do not see the kext file in Extensions, which seems strange.


Is there an app that lets you code and send HTML e-mail from your Mac? Apple Mail doesn’t seem to let you edit the source of HTML e-mails (customised stationery workarounds aside).

Is there a Mac app that lets you send HTML e-mails?

A bit of Googling turned up HTMLMailer, but it looks like it’s no longer available.

You can code and design your Mails as HTML(+CSS) documents, open them in Safari.app and then press cmd+i to have the content automatically transferred into Mail.app

Keep in mind that not all CSS-styles are supported by all Mail-clients, a good overview on that can be found here.


GENKI Vocab Cards app doesn't play sound I have just purchased the GENKI Vocab Cards app for reviewing vocabulary from the GENKI Japanese textbook. It is a flashcards application. Every card is equipped with a loudspeaker button that is supposed to sound the pronunciation of the card's word or phrase when clicked. However, clicking the button produces no sound.

I have no problem hearing the playback of a Voice Memos recording.

What steps can I take to try and fix this issue?

iOS App: GENKI Vocab Cards, Version 2.2.0

Device: iPhone 7

iOS: 10.3.1 (14E304)

Issue: Pressing the "play/speak" button results in no sound output

Untoggle the mute switch at the top left of your iPhone. It will vibrate if it's muted. Unmuting won't make the device vibrate.

Make sure to increase the volume with the volume buttons.

Regarding Voice Memo.app

Tap the speaker icon at the top right to toggle the output (earpiece/loudspeaker).

Then adjust the volume with the volume buttons on the left of your iPhone.


Message: This Apple ID has not yet been used with the app store I've set up billing information and address but still the laptop I am trying to use says "This Apple ID has not yet been used with the app store."

I am entering in my information correctly. Because I get to that screen.

I just updated billing and address about 10 minutes ago but the laptop doesn't seem to have registered that.

I also have face this issues but in my case I have created the Apple ID through web on linux and when I got the Mac and try to use this to download the Xcode for installation after entering the correct credential it pop up the this message.
After googling I come to know that billing or shipping is not configure in account I have enter the all detail but still I was facing this issues.

So I have solve this by clicking in the iTunes(icon of music tune) in Mac/mobile and enter the same(your created Apple ID and password) credential and follow the next steps on the go.

Here You go to payment and billing section and select the option None as payment mode and then add the your address and save it,
This you can do from web if you don't want buy any app if want buy then you need to select payment mode and enter the payment detail.

and then I click on the App Store to try to install by clicking the free software and click on get and install app then pop will come to ask for the Apple ID and password now enter the same credential one more popup will come "ask password every time" so click on the alway ask password and you done


Calendars and Contacts Sync after iCloud transition I have a mobile.me account that handles the synching of my personal data (mail, icals and contacts) on my 4 devices (iPod, iPad, MacBook and iMac).

when I read the docs about iCloud, it seems that this magic synching will not work anymore on 3 of my devices (non Lion and non iOS5)...

Will my contacts/calendars on my iPod (2ndGen) will never be updated anymore?

You're right, iCloud requires iOS 5 or later on iOS devices and OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later on Macs.

http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/

http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/

I'm pretty sure you can still use cable sync to update the information on your older iOS devices so they can coexist when/if you migrate your Mobile me account to iCloud.


Is it possible to install Android OS on an iPhone? Just wondering, is it possible to install dual OS on an iPhone 3GS/4?

Yes it is for iPhone 3G and 3GS, but not for iPhone 4 as it uses a different bootrom. Just google "Android on iPhone 3GS" and click on the first entry, where you'll find instructions on how to do it.


Text in cell with URL hidden I'm trying to copy and paste a number (tracking number) from a UPS notification into a cell on Numbers.  I want the number to appear with the link hidden but it keeps pasting the entire URL in the cell.  Excel did this for me and I am new to numbers.

Use the HYPERLINK() function.

HYPERLINK(url,link-text)

The first parameter is the URL as a string in quotes, the second is the tracking number as a string also in quotes.

From the documentation:

  HYPERLINK

  The HYPERLINK function creates a clickable link that opens a webpage
  or new email message.

  HYPERLINK(url, link-text) url: A standard universal resource locator.
  url is a string value that must contain a properly formatted universal
  resource locator string.

  link-text: An optional string value that specifies the text that
  appears as a clickable link in the cell. If link-text is omitted, url
  is used as link-text.

  Examples
  =HYPERLINK(“http://www.apple.com”, “Apple”) creates a link with the text Apple that, when clicked, opens the default web browser to the
  Apple homepage.

  =HYPERLINK(“mailto:janedoe@example.com?subject=Quote Request”, “Get Quote”) creates a link with the text Get Quote that, when clicked,
  opens the default email application and addresses a new message to
  janedoe@example.com with the subject line Quote Request.


User-specific display brightness settings A coworker and I timeshare an iMac (with external displays). I use it during the day and have it relatively bright to compensate for the light coming in the window and whatnot. He uses it at night and so he wants it more dim. We use different OS X user accounts, but every time I log in after him, the brightness is set back to dim.

Is there a way to make the brightness a setting at the user level, rather than the system level, as it seems to be doing now?

The way you can accomplish this

Brightness control program (can be installed via Homebrew or compiled from source)
A per user bash script that set's the brightness
Script Added to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and loaded with launchd

OR

There is an AppleScript method that you can use instead of using the brightness program reference above.  I am not a fan of this method because I have not found AppleScript to be as reliable as bash (things break when Apple does updates).  Scroll to the bottom for details.

Install Brightness

If you have Homebrew, issue the command brew install brightness.  If compliling from source, download from the link provided then compile.

cd /brightness   ---- (or whereever you downloaded the source)
make
sudo make install

Test it out by issuing some brighness commands:

brightness 1    <------- set to 100%
brightness .5   <------- set to 50%

Write a bash script to be executed when you log in

#!/bin/bash

/<path-to-brightness>/brightness .75
sleep 20           # I put this here because I find lauchd needs some "time"
exit 0

Do this for each user and place the script in an easily accessed location.  For example, create a "scripts" directory in each user's home directory:

/Users/<username>/Scripts/set_brightness.sh

This is just an example, you can place the script anywhere you like, but remember, you need one that is executable by each user.  Speaking of "executable" make sure you set the permissions of the script to execute - chmod +x set_brightness.sh

Be sure to test out by executing the script directly from the command line by calling it:

$ ./set_brightness.sh

Your screen brightness should change to the setting in the script(make sure you change the setting manually first to make sure you are not changing it to what it already is).

Create a .plist file and Load to launchd

Your .plist will execute every time you log in, so it must be located in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents directory.  As for the filename, my preference is to use something like the following:

com.user.setbrightness.plist

The .plist should look something like this:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
    <plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
     <key>Label</key>
     <string>com.user.brightness</string>
     <key>KeepAlive</key>
     <key>RunAtLoad</key>
     <true/>
     <key>Program</key>
     <string>/Users/<username>/<location of script>/set_brightness.sh
     </dict>
    </plist>

Load the .plist to launchd

launchctl load com.user.brightness.plist

Do this for each user so that every time the user logs in it will execute the bash script setting the brightness automatically.

Alternative Method (for 5K monitors)1

You can also do this via AppleScript and skip the brightness program altogether (I tested this on a non-5K iMac running 10.11.6 and it works).

AppleScript Code:

tell application "System Preferences"
    activate
    reveal anchor "displaysDisplayTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.displays"
    tell application "System Events"
        delay 1
        set value of slider 1 of group 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 of process "System Preferences" to 0.5

    end tell
    quit
end tell

Save this AppleScript in the same way as described above.

Make this change to your .plist (relacing Program with ProgramArguments):

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>osascript</string>
    <string>path-to-script/set_brightness.scpt</string
</array>

1 Adapted from this post: Is it possible for an Applescript to dim/up 0%/100% screen brightness on OSX 10.9 Mavericks when connected to external display?


Facebook message notification showing blank message Since I updated the system to 10.11.5, the Facebook message notification is not showing message text.

Is this a bug in this software upgrade of OSX?

This change is not a result of your specific OS X version. The change is on the server end by Facebook as they control what data to send to your Mac and the reason the text isn't showing is the text is no longer sent.

You might contact Facebook support to see if they are aware of this change - perhaps it's unintentional or you can so figure the web app to send the extra data to your browser.


Need help finding a specific folder for a friend I am a Windows user, so I have no idea what the Mac equivalent of different locations in Windows are, but they still came to me for some reason...

The folder I am trying to find for them is their equivalent of C:\Users\taj1994\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Cockatrice

Where would they be able to find this folder?

Most likely ~/Library/Application Support/Cockatrice

~ denotes the user's home directory. This should exist in their sidebar already, labeled with their name.
Library is hidden on Mac OS X Lion and above. The easiest way is have the Finder active, hold the option key (⌥) and click the 'Go' menu. This will reveal the 'Library' folder that you can select.

The rest of the paths should be able to be accessed normally.


How to confirm that a cloned external hard drive is accurately cloned? I've used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy one external SSD, which is currently about to die, to another one. I also have an online backup of the external drive, but I want to confirm that my cloned copy is exactly the same as the old one.
I can compare individual files using md5sum. Is there a tool I can use to compare every single file on two drives?

I've found a way to use some command line tools to recursively check hashes of the individual files. Here's my commands:

hashdeep -rel -r . > hashdeep-outout.txt

Hashdeep (which you can install via homebrew) will create a CSV file listing each individual file with various hashes including MD5 and SHA256. -rel lists the files with the relative path to the CWD, so I can run this command on both the old drive, and the new cloned drive, and the file names will be identical.

sort --field-separator=',' --key=4 hashdeep-output.txt > hashdeep-sorted.txt

This sorts the CSV file by filename (the 4th field), so that when I compare the two files (for the old drive, and the new drive) everything will be in the same order.

Then I use just diff to compare the sorted output files. If there is anything which was copied incorrectly, it will let me know because the hashes won't match up.


How can I connect Linux server with Applescript using iTerm or Terminal? I want to connect and run bash script on Linux server automatically by using Applescript and iTerm or Terminal on OS X.

How can I connect Linux server with Applescript use iTerm or Terminal?

Applescript

You can execute shell commands directly from Applescript

do shell script "ssh user@linuxbox command-to-run"

Automator

You can create a new workflow and insert the necessary shell commands into the "Execute shell script" action.


Best keyboard mapping approach to make a Mac work like Ubuntu? Through the day I work on both a Mac and Ubuntu.
What's the best option for mapping the Mac keyboard (an external, non-Mac one) to Ubuntu style keys - when using the Mac (OS X).

Basically I want to have:

Control on keyboard to trigger Command ⌘ keystroke on the Mac
Alt on keyboard to trigger Option ⌥ keystroke on the Mac
Windows on keyboard key to trigger Command ⌘ keystroke on the Mac

Aside from whether this is a good idea or not and which one I should pick, I am just posing the question of how to make the Mac, when used with the external keyboard, to be more Ubuntu-like.  My biggest interest is in making sure that vi/vim/macvim and tmux, both of which have a large number of keyboard commands, work the same for my fingers.

I initially thought about this posting on Ask Ubuntu but it actually seems more suitable here.

Ok, what you want to do is remap your modifiers:
Go to System Preferences and select Modifier Keys:

Then swap Cmd and Control.

note: in the shot they are not swapped
For reference, I do this with an external Razer Blackwidow for Windows (I want it to be like my Mac keyboard because I've been using Mac keyboards for 10 years).


How to join call using "Skype for Business Web App" on macOS Catalina? Using my Mac I'm trying to join a conference call hosted using Skype for Business Server. But every time I try, it seems to send me in loops with the same prompts to install the plugin again and again. Here's a screenshot of the screen I start with.

1. Join with Web App

If I enter my name and click "Join the meeting" my browser downloads SkypeForBusinessPlugin.pkg (md5sum = a4958d5aa5c7dbe17774bcd6e4492106). I can run this and choose to "Install for me only". After installation I see a new plug-in in ~/Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins called SkypeForBusinessPlugin-15.8.bundle, so the installation is apparently successful. The bundle ID is com.microsoft.skypeforbusiness.plugin. I don't know which browser this is for, but I assume it should work in Safari. When I go back to the same page after installing the plugin, I am either prompted to install the plugin again, or I get this error message:

  Plug-in installation is taking longer than usual. We recommend you join the meeting now.

If I try to join at this point I end up in a "Virtual Lobby" but I'm never able to advance from that point, presumably because the plugin is not working. Could the plugin be incompatible with 64-bit macOS Catalina?

Join using Lync for Mac

I tried the second option of using Lync for Mac, but when I try to run Lync I get this error:

  “Microsoft Lync” needs to be updated.
  The developer of this app needs to update it to work with this version of macOS. Contact the developer for more information.
  https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208436

So I guess I can't use Lync for Mac on macOS Catalina.

Known workarounds

I installed Skype for Business on my iPad and had no trouble connecting to the call that way. But I want to use my Mac for this.

Additional details

I'm using macOS Catalina 10.15.3 (19D76). My normal browser is Firefox 74 (64-bit).

Download Skype for Business on Mac from Microsoft and install it. Once installed, links to join a meeting will open in the native application without needing to install any web plug-ins.

The Skype for Business Web App doesn't seem to work on macOS Catalina.


How to delete a file using the delete key I want to use only the delete key in order to delete files in Finder — no key combinations.

So far, I have been unable to find a configuration entry or even a 3rd party app that allow me to change the default behavior of OSX.

I'm using several systems, and OS X is only one of them. Having some consistency is great. I really want that behavior as it seems straightforward to me that the delete key actually delete.

Does someone have a solution?

You can use Karabiner-Elements  with a modification rule imported from here:

The following custom rule that maps Delete to Cmd+Backspace:

~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/_finder_custom.json

{
  "title": "Finder Custom",
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Use Delete as Move to Trash",
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "delete_forward",
            "modifiers": {
              "optional": ["any"]
            }
          },
          "to": [
            {
              "key_code": "delete_or_backspace",
              "modifiers": ["left_command"]
            }
          ],
          "conditions": [
            {
              "type": "frontmost_application_if",
              "bundle_identifiers": [
                "^com.apple.finder"
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Then open KE and on the Complex Modifications tab, push +Add Rule and then select your rule from the list.

The downside is that if you rename a file using finder and press the delete (forward-delete) it deletes the text from the cursor to the beginning.

Another downside is that if you click a file on your desktop and try to rename and use the delete key to delete some of the filename text, it deletes the file.  While I still have this modification in place I do find I am having to remap my brain to use the backspace key when renaming a file and deleting a portion of the text.

https://github.com/tekezo/Karabiner-Elements/issues/1081


iPhone calendar app for multiple gmail accounts I have the gmail app which lets me sync my work and personal gmail accounts. I want to be able to sync both google accounts with a calendar app as well. The default calendar only supports one. I installed calenmob and its really nice but also only supports one google account. Is there a calendar app that will let me sync 2 google accounts?

I am using an iPhone 5 with iOS 6.1

You don't need any third party app to add different calendars to the built-in app. Just open the iOS preferences, go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars and add another account of your choice. In your case, just add another Google account.


Cannot update to Safari 11 I'm running El Captain 10.11.6. I've recently tried to update to Safari 11 using App Store as I had done in several other machines with the same setup. Safari 11 downloaded fine but something went wrong during reboot and I ended up reinstalling El Captain 10.11.6. Now I'm back to Safari 9 but App Store thinks that I've already installed Safari 11 and so no longer offers Safari 11 as an update.

I assume that this will fix itself if and when a new release of Safari 11 comes out.

Can I fix this otherwise in the meantime?

Today I installed Security Upgrade 2018-001 and then App Store offered Safari 11.0.3, which I installed with no problems. This solution is mentioned here.


How do I get multiple cursors throughout OSX? I enjoy using the Sublime Text 3 editor—especially the multiple cursors feature.

I constantly find myself in need of the multiple cursor functionality in other OS X apps like Finder or Outlook. Does anyone know if this is possible and how to go about doing this?

Multiple cursors isn't a feature supported by Mac OS X by default. Some apps have it and if you want it in the rest of the system you will need too find an third part plugin.

I think it would be hard to make that work even with a plugin. But if you haven't already I would recommend giving Google a try in finding one.

Here is a link to an similar discussion on Super User: Link


Disable Apple's two-factor authentication nag My Mac is now nagging me to setup two-factor authentication. One factor is annoying enough, thank you. Is there any way to disable the nag? (That is, my settings app icon has a big red circle complaining that there is a setting that needs to be set). My short-term "solution" has been to remove it from the dock.

Even if you don't want to set up 2FA, choose the Continue button from the top of the iCloud pane, then you can choose the "not now" option and the warning will disappear.


Shutdown script doesn't work as a cronjob So I have this script to shutdown Macs after 24 hours runtime.

#!/bin/bash

my_macs=( Mac1 Mac2 Mac3 )

MAX_UPDAYS=1

CURR_TIME=$(date +%s)
MAX_UPTIME=$(( MAX_UPDAYS * 86400 ))
ADMINUSER="pcpatch"

echo "Remote Shutdown Check vom $(date)"  | tee -a /Users/admin/Shutdown/Log/Shutdown 2>&1
for MAC in "${my_macs[@]}"
do
    echo -n "Überprüfe ${MAC}... "

    if /sbin/ping -q -c3 "${MAC}" >/dev/null; then
        echo "${MAC} ist angeschaltet. Laufzeit wird ermittelt... "

        BOOT_TIME=0
        BOOT_TIME=$(ssh "${ADMINUSER}@${MAC}" sysctl -n kern.boottime | sed -e 's/.* sec = \([0-9]*\).*/\1/')

        if [ "$BOOT_TIME" -gt 0 ] && [ $(( CURR_TIME - BOOT_TIME )) -ge $MAX_UPTIME ]; then
            echo "${MAC} ist über 24 Stunden online. Shutdown wird ausgeführt!"
            ssh "${ADMINUSER}@${MAC}" 'sudo /sbin/shutdown -h now'
        else
            echo "${MAC} ist noch keine 24 Stunden online. Shutdown wird abgebrochen!"
        fi

    else
        echo "${MAC} ist nicht erreichbar (Ping fehlgeschlagen)"
    fi

done | tee -a /Users/pcpatch/Shutdown/Log/Shutdown 2>&1
echo " "  | tee -a /Users/pcpatch/Shutdown/Log/Shutdown 2>&1

When I run it through the terminal it works fine, Macs that are online more than 24 hours shut down, everything else does nothing.

So far so good, but I want to run this script through a cronjob everyday at 23:00 o'clock. So I made this cronjob:

00 23 * * * /Users/admin/Shutdown/Shutdown.sh

Now the script runs everyday, the cron line itself works. The Macs won't shutdown though and the log just says that the Macs did not run more than 24 hours. Though I frequently have Macs that run more than 3-4 days.

Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

Edit: I added $BOOT_TIME and $CURR_TIME to the log, and it gives out somehing like this: 1492549200 as CURR_TIME and nothing as the BOOT_TIME, though the Mac was definitely running, as he is right now (6 days online). This Mac has OSX Sierra installed though and one other Mac (with OS X El Capitan) put BOOT_TIME as 1492505076 and CURR_TIME as 1492549200

I really don't know what these number could mean though...

Your script doesn't fetch the BOOT_TIME of the remote hosts properly in the cron environment.

I recommend to remove the cronjob and create a launch agent usr.remoteshutdown.plist instead in /Users/admin/Library/LaunchAgents/ with the following content:

<?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>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>usr.remoteshutdown</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/bash</string>
        <string>/Users/admin/Shutdown/sh/remoteshutdown.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>23</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Then load the launch agent by entering in the Terminal.app:

launchctl load /Users/admin/Library/LaunchAgents/usr.remoteshutdown.plist

Please adjust the (admin) user name and the name and location of the shutdown script in the plist.

To test this you don't have to wait 24 hours. Simply either

remove the sudo in the shell script temporarily
comment out the line ssh "${ADMINUSER}@${MAC}" 'sudo /sbin/shutdown -h now'
comment out the ssh ... shutdown -h now line and insert a line echo "Boot: ${BOOT_TIME}"
echo the ssh ... shutdown -h now line (instead of executing it)

Then modify StartCalenderInterval in the launch agent to a point of time in the near future (current time +3 minutes). Unload and load the plist with:

launchctl unload /Users/admin/Library/LaunchAgents/usr.remoteshutdown.plist
launchctl load /Users/admin/Library/LaunchAgents/usr.remoteshutdown.plist

The shell script requires SSH key-based authentication and that the admin has a special line in the sudoers files of the remote hosts to allow sudo shutdown ... without entering passwords!


A Vexing Login Problem with WebDAV The issue I'm having is that I manage three Mac Mini servers. Two are for work, one is for me. I can log into our main work server and my personal box using WebDAV, however, the second work server rejects my login credentials with "The user name or password was not accepted by the server." errors.

The two work computers are pretty much mirrored in every way possible. The notable exceptions are the network (one is one city, the other a different one). Work server #1 is an Open Directory Master, the other is a replicant. The hardware is slightly different.

Server #1 is running 10.10.1; Server #2 is running 10.10.2. Both are running Server 4.0.3.

If I try to log into both servers through AFP or SSH, there are no problems. It's only when we try to access Server #2 that we're having issues on all accounts (both local and network users).

I believe WebDAV broke during a recent Server update, however, I can't pinpoint when that occurred.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

With OS X Yosemite 10.10.2, WebDAV is only accessible via HTTPS.


What are some good uses of Hazel? I think Hazel is a great idea, but I'm having trouble finding practical uses for it. A short search revealed the below pages, but I still didn't find anything compelling.

Why I Started Using Hazel for Mac
Mac Automation Tips: Hazel
Seven Amazing Uses for Hazel

For me, Hazel works best when I'm using it in conjunction with other tools. On its own, in can seem a little lackluster or underwhelming, but when combined with other applications or used as the 'glue' between them it really shines.

One of my uses is to automatically organize PDFs of schedules from work. I've got a Dropbox account, and make use of Send to Dropbox to allow me to email attachments straight into my Dropbox. The issue is that they're not always consistently named, and I don't feel like manually renaming them. I have Hazel watch the destination folder, and when a PDF arrives, whether its named 7.30, 7/30, 07-30, etc, it automatically renames it, moves it to folder with other already acted on files, and archives away old versions. The result is that I have a nice archive of schedules, all consistently named/sorted.
I use Hazel to help out with video encoding/tagging tasks. After encoding a file, Hazel picks up on it in the destination directory, and automatically renames it based on a consistent naming scheme. Once it does this, it applies a label to the file, and moves it to a new folder where files awaiting metadata live. Any file here gets passed through an automator script that adds some basic metadata (show type, year, etc) before passing it into iFlicks for the final touches before throwing it into iTunes.
It also handles more mundane tasks. Some trackers list .torrent files with a .txt extension. Hazel will monitor the downloads folder, and if a file with a .txt extension shows up, it checks the file's "Where from" attribute, and if it matches a trackers website, it changes the extension to .torrent and moves the file into my Torrents directory so that Transmission can add it.
There are times when I don't need to see my Bootcamp volumes mounted on the desktop. Hazel can check for this volume, and it if sees it mounted, it'll run a shell script to unmount it.


MacBook Pro unresponsive for a few minutes after opening the lid, AirPort trying to reconnect to wifi I have a problem every time my 2010 MacBook Pro wakes up after I opened the lid.

The symptoms are as follows:

The display is completely normal, I can see the latest program I used, the top bar menu, the dock, everything
Moving the mouse is ok, and so is typing
Clicks have no effect
AirPort is trying to connect to a network
Sometimes the network I usually use can't be found and I have to turn AirPort on & off to make it reconnect

This is really annoying!

I use a 2010 MBP which runs Snow Leopard 10.6.8. The problem has occurred ever since I bought it.

Does anybody have the same problem? Is there any remedy steps I can take?

Any help is appreciated,

Changing the network channel solved the problem!


Can I connect to a L2TP/IPSec VPN linux server using a Snow Leopard client? Do I need any special software?
What should I do to connect to a L2TP/IPSec VPN?

I would start with the built-in VPN software on the mac. You basically add a new network interface of the VPN kind.

Here's the quick tour:

Open System Preferences
select Network
add a new VPN interface to match your server settings

The Finder help menu has several articles worth reading - the top 5 hits show how to understand, set up, use as well as basic troubleshooting. Apple's support site has more in-depth information if you need to learn how to set up a VPN server (it's geared to the OS X server, but the concepts are the same on any server and once you get the terminology, the button location won't matter so much)


What kind of RAM should I use for my iMac? My Specs are as follows:

Model Name:    iMac
  Model Identifier: iMac10,1
  Processor Name:   Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:  3.06 GHz
  Number Of Processors: 1
  Total Number Of Cores:    2
  L2 Cache: 3 MB
  Memory:   4 GB
  Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version: IM101.00CC.B00
  SMC Version (system): 1.52f9
  Serial Number (system):   W8008JEF5PC
  Hardware UUID:    EECDACBD-AF6B-5B3E-B382-2702F2AA64AD

Current RAM:
Memory Slots:

ECC:  Disabled

BANK 0/DIMM0:

Size: Empty
  Type: Empty
  Speed:    Empty
  Status:   Empty
  Manufacturer: Empty
  Part Number:  Empty
  Serial Number:    Empty

BANK 1/DIMM0:

Size: Empty
  Type: Empty
  Speed:    Empty
  Status:   Empty
  Manufacturer: Empty
  Part Number:  Empty
  Serial Number:    Empty

BANK 0/DIMM1:

Size: 2 GB
  Type: DDR3
  Speed:    1067 MHz
  Status:   OK
  Manufacturer: 0x80AD
  Part Number:  0x484D54313235533642465238432D47372020
  Serial Number:    0x108343E7

BANK 1/DIMM1:

Size: 2 GB
  Type: DDR3
  Speed:    1067 MHz
  Status:   OK
  Manufacturer: 0x80AD
  Part Number:  0x484D54313235533642465238432D47372020
  Serial Number:    0x101343E9

What sort/kind of RAM should I purchase to improve the current RAM capacity?
Should I buy an extra 2 x 2GB RAM or 2 x 4GB?
Which Slot should it be inserted to should I purchase the new RAMs?
Will it have a negative effect on the overall performance?

Getting a performance boost depends on what you actually do with the thing.  Run Activity-Monitor (Applications>Utilities) to see how much of your RAM is used.  Most Mac stuff runs well on 4GB, but if you run memory intense stuff (Parallels-Windows, Video Editing, editing large pictures with photoshop) you should see an improvement.  But even if you don't need the RAM, you should not see a performance penalty (i.e. it may or may not run better, but won't run worse).

Unless your computer is already slowing down to a crawl with the current configuration (when doing memory intense work), adding 2x 2GB should be enough (giving you a total of 8GB).

So, given your configuration, I'd add 2x 2GB to the free slots and keep the memory that is already there in the other slot.


Could anyone help me get my app back on eBay x I am having trouble getting my eBay app back since I downloaded new s settings from you what come through every now and again , only My old eBay just keep s crashing now so when I tried to get a new eBay app to work it tell s me to put password for Apple ID something iTunes  but my daughter set this up and used her email address but this is no longer being used and we can not remember the password so I can t get it to work cause you can t send me nothing cause the email no longer s exist so I don t no what to do as I have tried but still keep s saying that old email address could you please help me as I can t get on eBay no more

You will need to know the password for your Apple ID to download the new app.
First work through that at:

https://appleid.apple.com

From there you can edit your question if you still need help using an ID to download the ebay app.


MacBook Pro Dual LCD Would it be possible to customize a macbook so that it has 2 screens instead of 1?

what i mean is, could i hook up the lcd from another macbook and connect so that it has 2 screens..

if it could work, would i have to connect it via minidisplayport or is there a way to connect it to the video board..

essentially something like this..

http://www.freeonsmash.com/news/2008/12/12/apple-macbook-tribook/

Check this, maybe cover your needs:

http://www.screenrecycler.com/ScreenRecycler.html

but it is commercial 30$.

(You sure know this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924)


How to trigger Notification Centre notification from JavaScript? The other question asks the same but using AppleScript. Apple introduced JavaScript as a new language for Automation in OS X 10.10.

From Terminal,

osascript -l JavaScript -e "app=Application.currentApplication(); app.includeStandardAdditions = true; app.displayNotification('Hello, world', {withTitle: 'Title'})"

From Script Editor,

app = Application.currentApplication()
app.includeStandardAdditions = true
app.displayNotification('Hello, world', {withTitle: 'Title'})


Will Terminal show a progress bar when I copy with "cp"? Is is possible to display a progress bar when copying files in Terminal using cp?

You can use rsync instead.

rsync --progress /copy/from /copy/to


How to Transfer a SystemRescueCd ISO to a USB Drive for Use on a Mac with High Sierra Installed? The instructions the for SystemRescueCd software does not mention how to install for use by Intel based Mac computers. I wish to boot the software from either a entire drive or a partition on a drive. I currently have High Sierra installed.

Once booted, I will be using the software to move an Windows 10 partition on a 2013 iMac.

If you are trying to transfer a windows bootcamp partition from one mac to another, I suggest using the WinClone Utility. It lets you make a disk image of the bootcamp partition, then you can restore it on another machine.


What is the best way to cover your camera and microphone? My question is not about "should I do it or not?"

Is there any solutions to cover camera and microphone? Some people use tapes.

It will be interesting to have something that will not damage this parts and that could easy be "uninstalled" :)

For the camera:

You could try a small, completely opaque vinyl decal (or just a piece of one cut to the appropriate size, like those window decorations some people use that cling to glass without leaving a residue). I believe most of them adhere using a combination of static cling and a tacky (but not sticky) surface.

For the microphone:

As for the microphone, I don't know of anything that adheres to the brushed aluminum surface of a Mac that doesn't act like a sticker or tape, which may leave a residue behind. Magnets are a bad idea because they can damage internal components over time, like the speakers. Simply covering the microphone isn't a good option though because of how/where Apple installs the microphones in Macs. Sounds can still get through, although it would be muffled.

Instead, it's been suggested that buying a TRRS 'dummy jack' and inserting it into the headphone port is more effective because it mutes the built-in microphone until you unplug it. I personally haven't been able to locate these 'dummy jacks' that people speak of, but instead a headphone splitter with Mic support should do the trick and doesn't have to be too costly.

If you can't find a TRRS 'dummy jack' (one that has the mic support) or a headphone/microphone splitter you could try purchasing a pair of cheap headphones that have a built-in Mic (maybe even from the dollar store?) and cut off the cord, leaving just the little end that plugs into the headphone port. Note: I have not tried the cut-off headphones trick myself, so I can't guarantee that it will work with Macs.

You also need to remember that if you do use one of these methods that while the Mac's audio jack/port is occupied your internal speakers will not function, as they've been switched off. This means that to listen to music or watch videos using the internal speakers you will need to remove the splitter or dummy jack.

The headphone splitters with microphone support look like this:

You'll notice that the little end has 3 rings on it - not only two - the 3rd being for microphone support.


Is there a reason Finder opens separate Info window for group of files/folders I have selected? In most of the cases when I select couple of folders and want to get info on them, I want to know how much space do they take. I was surprised that Finder opens Info window for each selected file/folder instead of give me info on what I selected in one window.

I know that I can use Summary Info after pressing Control, but what is the use case for default behavior?

I know that I can use Summary Info after pressing Control, but what is the
  use case for default behavior?

It's working as expected.

The action that you select is operating on each file individually.  If you consider the other Finder functions (i.e. when you right click after selecting multiple files/folders), each function operates on each file individually.

Rename - renames each file/folder
Duplicate - duplicates each file/foler
Quick View - opens dialog for each file/folder
Compress - adds each file/folder to a zip archive
Share - shares each file via messaging, email, etc.

Look at it in this manner - Finder doesn't do a single operation over many files, it does one operation on each file for as many files selected.

The reason Summary Info is there, is for this exact reason, so you can get the aggregated info of many files because the default action is to operate on the folders/files individually.


Using Mac in a virtual machine legality? There have been many different questions like this and all have seemed to come down to the same answer. It violates the EULA. The problem is they all bring up another question. How binding is the EULA. We all know Psystar was sued for making machines with OSX installed on them. The problem is they were selling them. Not using them.

Now what if you put it in a virtual machine and don't sell it. Is it still against the law? Apple has gotten sued before for taking their competitors apps off their market. Also Windows recently got in trouble for their secure boot which didn't allow people to install other OSs on hardware.

How legally binding is the EULA?

Is there a legal way to do it?

Snow Leopard Server specifically allowed installation in a VM.  Normal Lion and Mountain Lion also allow installation in the VM in the EULA.  Parallels and VMWare both support installation of Mac OS X guest machines for those versions.

The EULA only allows it if the VMs are running on Apple hardware.


iTunes says an update is available but iPhone doesn't (iOS 10.1.1) I recently updated my 6s Plus to iOS 10.1.1, and says it has the latest version. But when i connect it to iTunes both in mac & win it says an update available with the same version number.

should i upgrade or ignore?

Answer from this MacRumors article: http://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/09/apple-releases-new-version-of-ios-10-1-1/

  Apple today seeded a minor version change to iOS 10.1.1, the current
  version of the iOS 10 operating system. The update is minor enough
  that it did not warrant a full 10.x.x number change, but it does
  include an updated build number.

  iOS 10.1.1 being released today has a build number of 14B150, while
  the initial iOS 10.1.1 release, which came on October 31, had a build
  number of 14B100.

  The new build of iOS 10.1.1 is only available as a download from
  Apple's servers and cannot be obtained over-the-air at this time for
  those who have already installed the first version of iOS 10.1.1. The
  new version of iOS 10.1.1 will likely be provided to those who have
  yet to install iOS 10.1.1, as it otherwise requires an iTunes
  connection to obtain.

In other words, you can safely update via iTunes to benefit from this minor update.


Would I be able to access myUser.dmg that created with Disk Utility after re-installing OS X? I am going to format my OS X Machine (El Capitan 10.11.6).

I created manually a disk image file (.dmg) of /myUser folder on an external HDD using Disk Utility.

Will I be able to access/mount this disk image (.dmg) file after re-installing OS X or am I going to have problems with permissions and etc ?

Disk image file had read/write format (not compressed) with no encryption.

Your problem will not be mounting or accessing the .dmg file, as you can always set any drive except your current boot drive to 'Ignore Ownership' from Get Info on that partition.

Where I foresee difficulty is in re-integrating that extracted folder into your new OS. I'm not too sure the system will let you simply overwrite a lot of the data in your new User folder.

I'm sure the ideal solution would be to do it the recognised way, using a Time Machine backup.


External display doesn’t fill screen I’m using a Mobile Pixels DUEX PRO as an external screen for my Mac laptop, and at normal resolution, everything is too small (see first picture). I’ve tried to change the resolution, but all that ends up happening is that the screen scales down but doesn’t fill the screen, and everything is still way too small to read. (second picture)
How do I decrease the resolution of the screen while still having it fill the screen? Thanks!

To clarify, I'm not looking for how to “zoom” using the accessibility settings, the issue is that basically everything on the external display is half the size of what it is on the main screen, and the “scaling” option in display settings doesn’t actually change the resolution of the screen, it just decreases the actual size of the screen.

As for info on the screen, it’s the Mobile Pixels DUEX Pro, which connects via USB (here: https://www.mobilepixels.us/pages/duex_pro_product_page). I’m on Mac OS 10.15.2, and the driver for the screen is DisplayLink. My laptop is a 2014 Retina MacBook Pro.

[

Something is odd with the display - I expect you to have the traditional larger text / more space controls rather than a list of resolutions.

The resolutions are poor for controlling text size as you correctly have diagnosed.

Your OS is totally up to date and your hardware is well capable of driving that display. Does the vendor have an update to the display / firmware you might load to assist in working more like most display port monitors? Your Mac can use an iPad to run display, but since you already have this hardware - I hope my start to an answer either helps or someone can provide the clue / missing step to get back to the controls above.

One hint - when you are in the displays preference pane and your DUEX is connected - hold the option key and down by the help question mark - bottom right, you should get a button to "Detect Displauys" - press that once and exit out of displays / re-enter it to see if that helps get you different choices.

I would also check "Show mirroring options..." so you can see if the menu item for the second display helps you mirror / change the resolution.


Notes (Mac) can't connect to IMAP account, Mail can Lately when I try to use the Notes app on Mac OS X 10.8.5, I get a message saying "Notes can't connect to the account JW IMAP", and asking for my password.  If I enter the password, then a minute later the same error comes back.

I'm sure this has to do with the fact that my mail moved to a different server.  But where is Notes getting the old information?  If I choose the Accounts... menu item in Notes, it takes me to the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars pane in System Preferences, which currently has nothing in it.  If I click Add Other Account there, it takes me over to Mail, as if I were going to add a new Mail account.  But Mail is already correctly connecting to the new server, I don't want a new account there!

I tried repairing disk permissions and it didn't help.

I'm tempted to nuke the Notes files in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes and see if it gets reconstructed.

Notes accounts are usually associated with email accounts like iCloud, gmail, yahoo etc.

if you have an iCloud/iTunes account, log in to it under System Preferences-->Internet Accounts

Click the checkbox next to notes.

Open Notes, then drag your old notes into the iCloud account on the left.


vmWare Fusion guest OS display resolution broken (?) I'm using vmWare Fusion 5.0.3 on Mac OS X, and the guest OS is also Mac OS X.

The problem: I can't set the guest OS display resolution to a reasonable value. "Reasonable" here means anything that will fit on my MacBook Air's 1440x900 screen. Right now it's using 1680x1050. I can get (a) a window that fits the 1680x1050 guest display but which is bigger than my physical display, or (b) a window that fits my display but scales down the 1680x1050 to a painfully small size so that it all fits. If I go to full screen I also get 1680x1050 scaled to fit the screen.

I tried resizing the window, but that just changes the window size and scaling-- I still get 1680x1050 on the guest OS.

I'm not too picky as to size, but I want something that actually fits on my screen.

For what it's worth, I do have vmWare tools installed. I reinstalled them just to make sure, it didn't help.

I fixed this by, basically, screwing around with /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist on the guest copy of Mac OS X and getting lucky. First I tried removing that file and rebooting, but that didn't help. Next, I noticed that the 1680x1050 resolution was stored in that file, so I decided to edit it and change the numbers to 1440x900 (I figured if it's going to force a fixed resolution, I'll at least make it match the physical display) and rebooted.

The result is that the normal resize behavior is back. Changing the vmWare window size now updates the guest OS's screen resolution, as would normally be the case.

I don't know why this worked, but things are back to normal now.


To use STDBUF from Homebrew's coreutils I run brew search stdbuf and get

No formula found for "stdbuf".
Searching pull requests...
Closed pull requests:
coreutils: upstream fix for stdbuf (https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/pull/32955)

I run brew install coreutils but get Warning: coreutils-8.23_1 already installed.

I do but see no stdbuf in my system.

$ std [tab]
stdethers  stdhosts

My PATH is

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:
/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/usr/local/git/bin:/usr/texbin:/Users/masi/.cabal/bin

Uninstall Macports

Using Macports and Homebrew together cause conflicts.
Final solution is to uninstall Macports which is immature.
Regardless of what your PATH is, Macports causes conflicts with programs in the PATH.
I realised the core of the problem here at the end of the body about How to Enlarge Disk Image in VirtualBox?

How can you use stdbuf in OSX Yosemite?

coreutils on OS X adds the prefix g to all the commands so as to not mess up with default programs on OS X.

It prints this when you run brew install coreutils

==> Caveats
All commands have been installed with the prefix 'g'.

If you really need to use these commands with their normal names, you
can add a "gnubin" directory to your PATH from your bashrc like:

    PATH="/usr/local/opt/coreutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"

So unless you really need to use it as stdbuf, there is no real reason to update your path, you can simply run gstdbuf instead:

$ gstdbuf --help
Usage: gstdbuf OPTION... COMMAND


Major issues with multiple external displays after upgrading from macOS 10.12.3 to 10.12.4 Upon updating from macOS 10.12.3 to 10.12.4 the following issues immediately began occurring consistently anytime the MacBook tries to initiate displaying on external monitors that are in power-save mode (i.e. on, but waiting for a signal and thus with the screen off). This includes when the MacBook boots up or wakes.

MacBook outputs intermittent signal to external monitors via Thunderbolt interface leading to race condition like situation where the external monitor wakes from power-save mode upon receiving a signal from the MacBook, but goes back into power-save mode due to not detecting a signal (or at least a consistent one) by the time it has finished waking. This process repeats cyclicly for some time until both external monitors happen to get in sync with the MacBook (or they don't, see below).
The MacBook enters an unresponsive state after being in the above cycle for some time without the external monitors getting in sync with the MacBook. This requires a forced shut down which can lead to loss of data and unsaved work.

Please see my answer below for further details.

The following paragraph is meant as a high level summary of the issue that is occurring, and I attempt to explain the relevant parts in more detail in the subsequent paragraphs.

Immediately after upgrading from macOS 10.12.3 to 10.12.4 I noticed that when my MacBook Pro (Late 2013) boots up or wakes while plugged into my two external displays via Mini DisplayPort, my MacBook has extreme difficulty getting them both working at the same time. The MacBook's screen will turn on and off as it tries to get in sync with the external displays (to start displaying on them as normal). Meanwhile, the displays seem to cycle between receiving a signal and receiving no signal as suggested by the fact that the displays will wake, but then display "No Signal" and go back into power-save mode. Eventually, after many cycles of this, one or both displays may "get in sync" with the MacBook and function normally from there on out. But sometimes it goes through many such cycles without getting in sync. When the displays and the MacBook fail to get in sync after many cycles and continue to cycle as described, I may unplug one or both external monitors and try to get them to sync up individually, which is usually easier than trying both at once. This makes sense because, as I explain below, this problem is effectively a race condition and appears to be compounded with every additional external display in use. Finally, the more serious case is when the cycle I've described ends in the MacBook entering an unresponsive state and requiring a forced shutdown which can lead to loss of data or unsaved work. Furthermore, this whole issue presents itself every time I boot up or wake the MacBook.

To be clear, the displays wake from power-save mode upon receiving a signal from my MacBook (e.g. when it boots or wakes from sleep). But after receiving that initial signal waking the display from power-save mode, the display shows "No Signal" and goes back into power-save mode. Meanwhile, the display on my MacBook goes from normal to a blank screen for a couple seconds and back to normal as it seemingly switches between outputting to the external display and not outputting. This is the cycle that continuously repeats until either each respective monitor gets in sync with the MacBook and works as normal, or the MacBook enters an unresponsive state as described below. In the case where the monitors do eventually get in sync, it appears to occur the moment the monitor waking happens to coincide with the MacBook outputting a consistent signal to that respective monitor. So, it's effectively a race condition. The reason I say the MacBook cycles between outputting to the monitor and not outputting to it is because, while it's in this cycle, I'll observe windows I had open on the external monitor prior to the MacBook sleeping toggle between being displayed on the MacBook's display and not being displayed at all (presumably they're being output to the external display).

As I mentioned above, there is an even more troublesome situation I've now encountered multiple times where, upon waking from sleep, the MacBook will enter the cycle of trying to get in sync with the monitors for a while and then enter an unresponsive state, showing a blank screen. Plugging in and unplugging the monitors from the MacBook or power cycling the monitors seems to have no effect in this situation. Even if the MacBook is recognizing one of the monitors while in this unresponsive state, that monitor is also just rendering a blank screen (but is not going into sleep mode therefore is receiving a signal). My only option has been to force shut down my MacBook after this has happened by pressing the power button and leaving it pressed.

I have two Acer S241HL displays each connected via Mini DisplayPort. I had never had this issue before and it started immediately after I upgraded from 10.12.3 to 10.12.4. In the past, my MacBook's screen might turn on/off once or twice when booting up (and maybe waking?) before all displays were on and rendering properly. But that was always quick and never an issue. This is a much greater extreme and a major inconvenience as I have to wait and sometimes mess with the monitors every time my MacBook wakes or boots up. Even more serious is that it is now dangerous for me to wake my MacBook if I have monitors plugged in due to the risk of it entering an unresponsive state, thus requiring a forced shut down. This can easily cause problems including loss of data and unsaved work.

I've contacted Apple Support to escalate this issue to engineering. They should be aware of this thread, so if you experience this same issue, please comment with details of your setup such as which video out port(s) you're using and what kinds of cables/adapters, as well as any other pertinent information.


iTunes starts playing music automatically when watching Apple TV Every time I pause or unpause Netflix on Apple TV it starts playing iTunes music on my computer, even with wi-fi and home sharing turned off.

How do I disable iTunes from launching when using Apple TV?

Your remote is detected by both machines at the same time. They obviously do not know to whom the command is addressed, therefore this happens.

You have two choices:

Disable infrared remote reception on your Mac. On your Mac, go to 'System Preferences' and then 'Security & Privacy'. Select the 'Advanced' button in the lower right corner. Check the box that says "Disable remote control infrared receiver" and click "OK'. Apple documentation.
Pair your remote with a particular device. To pair a remote with your Mac, follow instructions above and select the 'Pair' button to the right of the 'Disable remote' checkbox. To pair a remote with your Apple TV, go to 'Settings' > 'general' > 'remotes' from the AppleTV main menu, and then choose 'Pair Apple Remote'. You can pair 2 different remotes with each machine, but you won't be able to pair one remote with both machines. Apple documentation.


How do I unhide the desktop folder in my home folder? I've tried How to unhide files on Mac?, and chflags nohidden not unhiding hidden files to no avail. I want to unhide ~/desktop while I have iCloud desktop turned on.

While you can unhide folders, you cannot unhide the Desktop or Documents folder when using Desktop iCloud. Both it and the Documents folder are hidden by having the com.apple.iCloud.desktop extended attribute applied, remove that attribute and you are no longer using iCloud Desktop/Documents folders.
You could do something like ln -s "$HOME/Desktop" "$HOME/Desktop " (note the space) if you want to see a folder in your home folder.


Determining/associating the log subsystem for apps installed via package managers I've watched this highly informative talk on the unified logs and been reading whatever documentation or blog posts I can find on the subject, but I haven't found or don't understand how to link an app (for example, an SSHD server) that has been installed via, say Macports or pkgsrc, to a subsystem.
Is it something the developer has to specify within the code? I use launchctl plists quite often, is it something I can add there? (the man page has nothing on it, same goes for the log man page)
If I list the files in /System/Library/Preferences/Logging/Subsystems/ and /Library/Preferences/Logging/Subsystems/ there's a lot of plists that Apple call "logging profiles". The /Library/… one has com.openssh.sshd.plist with these contents:
<?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>DEFAULT-OPTIONS</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Level</key>
        <dict>
            <key>Enable</key>
            <string>default</string>
        </dict>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

I can't see if this applies to:

only the SSHD supplied by Apple in /usr/sbin/sshd
any SSHD run on the machine
the sshd entry in /etc/services
something else…

Perhaps I can write a logging profile and place it in there for apps I install? Are apps automatically placed in subsystems because of system resources they ask for? I'm just not sure.
Sorry if the question is confusing, it's because I'm confused! Any help or insight given will be much appreciated.
Note: The system I'm currently on is 10.14 but I'm asking in a general way as I know the unified logs came in after 10.10 and (as the talk points out) there are slight differences even between OS minor versions.

The subject here are the configuration files for Apple's Unified Logging system - in particular for subsystems.
Yes, the subsystem is something the developer can specify in their code. A developer that uses Unified Logging on macOS commonly do so by calling into the OSLog class on macOS 10.x, or the Logger class on macOS 11.x. When initialising an instance of the class, the developer can provide the subsystem as a string - which is recommended to be in the reverse DNS notation (i.e. com.openssh.sshd for example).
The developer is free to create multiple subsystems for various parts of the program, so you could in theory have "com.openssh.sshd.authentication" and "com.openssh.sshd.network" subsystems.
The developer can also choose not to specify a subsystem at all - and just log something. This is typically what happens with developers that did not take Unified Logging into account. In that case macOS supplies a default subsystem name - in general this is the bundle identifier for the app.


OSX increase display font size without changing display resolution? I am using an iMac 5k display. The system display font is really too small but the only way the system gives, the casual operator, to change the size of the system display font is to reduce the screen resolution. This frustrates me since I have a 5k screen and I want to use it for fine lines and large text/fonts simultaneously.

Another solution is to put my nose up against the screen or wear reading/computer glasses – these solutions are not what I seek.

I would imagine that there is a way to change this font size setting by using the console/terminal.

Does anyone know how to do that and would you be so kind as to share the information?

There's no simple way to enlarge text across the board and not also affect the scaling. Worse, if you change the size without the app or system knowing, menus and labels will collide and clip. Smart apps know that you have 5k resolution and that the UI is scaled up and still draw fonts and lines crisply so the down side to reducing “resolution” is mitigated and in some cases eliminated letting you use resolution as a proxy for default font size.

Apple glosses over this distinction in the technical details behind this in the user guide, but adjusted the resolution of your primary display is the biggest lever you have to manage text size globally.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/

  Set the resolution for your primary display
  1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Displays, then click Display.
  2. Select Scaled, then select one of the options.

Next once you are happy with the size of the UI (dock / menu bar, etc...) and observe that other elements like lines, fonts, gradients are rendered with higher fidelity than the “resolution” allows, then go to the Accessability features to set system wide zoom and hover text. These further boost apps that aren’t on board with taking hints from the resolution and to convince yourself of quality of the rendering.

https://www.apple.com/accessibility/mac/vision/

Lastly, you might want or need to make changes on an app by app basis for apps that don’t follow Apple’s system wide visibility and font sizing controls. As mentioned in the comments - the raw resolution never changes and the controls "hint" at what factor and detail to draw major aspects. Some apps respect this well, others you will need to use the zoom controls and hope they persist your adjustments across documents and when you quit those apps.

Safari uses zoom well and persists it per tab/window well.
Terminal app also uses zoom well and persists it per tab/window/shell well.

In addition to app specific zooming, Accessibility has a system zoom that is very responsive and powerful if you need to keep all the UI super detailed / small and zoom in on areas from time to time or semi-permanently to get larger view on apps that don't scale well to full retina resolution.


Dock icon not refreshing when icns file is changed on Yosemite I'm experiencing an issue where the Dock won't reload an icon I changed for one of my applications. I changed the icon by replacing the .icns file within the application package. The version I replaced it with is currently still there, but even after rebooting and killing the dock process multiple times, the old icon won't budge.

Strangely enough, I managed to change the icon for another app with no issue, following the same procedure and rebooting.

Are there any new gotchas with the way this works change in Yosemite? How can this be achieved?

Try to delete the icon cache:
rm /var/folders/*/*/*/com.apple.dock.iconcache; killall Dock


Having two pointers/mice on the same computer Possible Duplicate:
  Multi Mouse & Keyboard for Mac

Is is possible to have two pointers on the same computer? I was working on a project with a friend and it would've been really nice to have two pointers. Note that I am not asking how to connect two mice to a computer, I want two pointers on the same computer.

You can connect multiple mice to share the same pointer.

Multiple pointers is a bit different, research and development is still ongoing in the Linux world that you may wish to peruse for information:

Video example of using multiple pointers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2iYNfl-2Es

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Pointer_X

Here is, more of a demonstration site for OSX:

http://www.dualosx.com/dualosx_en.htm


Clear AppStore cookies and locally stored data How to clear my OSX 10.8 AppStore cookies and locally stored data?

I also heard that there's a debug mode in AppStore, How can I enable it?

You can enable the Debug menu by typing the following into Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

You can then clear the cookies using the Clear Cookies option in the Debug menu.

In addition, you can reset the application using the Reset Application option.

You can disable the Debug menu using the following:

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool false


I need to hide `Show all bookmarks` button in Safari 6 I use Safari 6 (on OS X 10.8.3) and I want to hide all button on Bookmarks Bar in Safari 6.

For Show Reading list and Show Top Sites there are an options to hide it in Preference → Bookmark but there is no option for hide Show all bookmarks button.

Is there anyway to hide Show all bookmarks button on Bookmark Bar in Safari 6 ? I don't want to see it on my browser anymore.

Safari lets you hide the entire bookmark bar, but not customize that one item.

The other items that show up to the left of all your bookmarks are in a fixed order and you can turn them all off except for the show all bookmarks icon.

Unless someone finds a hidden preference to write by hand into the safari defaults preferences, you may have to request this as a bug or enhancement request to Apple for Safari.

At best, you're stuck with the space that the back arrow takes on the left of the bookmark bar if you turn off all the other default items.


OSX 10.9.2 for the second time I got OSX 10.9.2 update installed on February 26th. Today (March 5th), without prompting, I got another update. The description of the update in App Store is identical. Any idea what  this update was?

I see you downloaded multiple apps after the 10.9.2

One of those might have done something to the App Store log saved on your computer.

So when checking it id not find and did the 10.9.2 again.

Check this and see if it fixes the problem.


Moving iPhoto to external drive on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) with 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 I bought a Seagate external HD 500gb with my Mac. Recently started using Photoshop and Lightroom, which take up a ton of space. I was thinking of moving my entire iPhoto to the Seagate to free up space. Is this possible? If so, how would I go about it?

iPhoto was built with this sort of flexibility in mind: it is possible and in fact iPhoto makes it quite easy.

Find your iPhoto library. You'll most likely find it in your Pictures folder. If it's not there, open iPhoto while holding the option key, and you should get a window similar to the one below. The path to your library is displayed under the library selection box.

Move your library to the external hard drive.
Open iPhoto with the option key pressed to open the library selection window I talked about in Step 1. Hit the Other Library... button, and find the library on your external hard drive. Pretty easy!

Protips:

The last library you opened becomes your "default" library. That's the one iPhoto opens automatically when you don't press option. If that library isn't available, say your external HDD is not connected, the library selection window will open automatically and list the libraries it can find.
I keep a library in my computer, but every year or so, when it gets
too full, I move it to an external hard disk. You can have as many libraries as you want! Pretty useful if you don't feel like having a single massive package.
iPhoto supports Apperture libraries, as you can see from my screenshot. d:

Let me know if you have any further questions!


What is the current method to set a larger cache size for VLC player on a Mac? What is the current way to set the cache size to 10 or 20 seconds so that the video over network won't lag?

Details:

I have an NAS, and use it as a file server. Sometimes when I stream some files through wireless (802.11ac), the video may lag.

If I copy the file over to my Mac's hard drive, it takes only about 5 minutes, and the video is more than 1 hour, so it really shouldn't lag, if VLC is smart enough.

How can I set VLC to use a larger cache (I see Settings -> Video -> Show All, but don't know if Stream Output: Muxer caching is the correct setting, because setting it to 9000, meaning 9 seconds, the video still would lag). The simpler setting Settings -> Input / Codecs -> Default Cache Level won't work no matter what I set it to).

I think the cache can be even smarter if it first cache 1 or 2 seconds, and start playing the video, and meanwhile, just cache "as much as possible", such as 10 or 20 seconds. It will be better not to cache 10 or 20 seconds as a start, because that will mean a long delay to even start up the video.

VLC Preferences → Show All → Input / Codecs → Advanced (scroll down) → File caching (ms) and Network caching (ms). File caching is used when using the standard Open File functionality, even if the file is located on the network. Network caching is for the Open Network function in VLC.


Creating whitelist of few websites from Terminal I want to block all websites except one or two websites (white list) while working for 'productivity' purposes (when I am working only). I know how to block individual websites as shown here http://www.wikihow.com/Block-and-Unblock-Internet-Sites-(On-a-Mac) but I want to block all except one or two (i.e., create a white list).

Can it be done from Terminal? (like blocking apps as in the link)

I would prefer to do it without installing any productivity apps.

To permanently block outgoing traffic to all domains except some you should create a new anchor file and add it to pf.conf and enable the included pf firewall.

Create an anchor file org.user.block.out in /private/etc/pf.anchors

sudo touch /private/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out

with the following content and a trailing empty line

#whitelist
mygoodhosts = "{ wikipedia.org, stackexchange.com, 197.10.15.234 }"
#ports to block/pass
myports = "{ 443, 80, 8080 }"

block drop out proto { tcp, udp } from any to any port $myports
pass out proto { tcp, udp } from any to $mygoodhosts port $myports

The additional IP address in mygoodhosts is just an example how to add additional items to the whitelist. The same goes for port 8080 in myports.

To allow complete access to stackexchange.com you have to add some more domains because some items (e.g. javascript) are loaded from third-party domains like ajax.googleapis.com.
Modify the file /private/etc/pf.conf but keep a trailing empty line

original file:

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"

to

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "org.user.block.out"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"
load anchor "org.user.block.out" from "/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out"

Parse and test your anchor file to make sure there are no errors:

sudo pfctl -vnf /etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out

Now enable the firewall:

sudo pfctl -f /etc/pf.conf -e

To disable pf later (after you are done with productive work) simply enter:

sudo pfctl -d

The first two steps have only to be done once. If you want to add or remove a domain in the whitelist, stop the firewall, modify org.user.block.out, parse the anchor file and re-enable the firewall.

To enable logging you have to modify several files and add a launch daemon/shell script (all files created/modified probably need a trailing empty line):

Create a log file:

sudo touch /etc/log/pf.log

Modify syslog.conf by adding a line:

local2.*                        /var/log/pf.log

Add a shell script in /usr/local/bin/pflog.sh witht the content:

#!/bin/sh
# bodged solution to absence of pflogd, ref 'Book of PF' p136

ifconfig pflog0 create
/usr/sbin/tcpdump -lnettti pflog0 | /usr/bin/logger -t pf -p local2.info

Create a launch daemon /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.user.pflog.plist with the content:

<?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>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>org.user.pflog</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/pflog.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Stop pfctl with sudo pfctl -d
Modify the block drop line in /private/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out to:

block drop out log (all) proto { tcp, udp } from any to any port $myports

Load the logger plist:

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.user.pflog.plist

Now re-enable the firewall:

sudo pfctl -f /etc/pf.conf -e

Watch pf.log in Console.app!

After a system update or upgrade some of the original files above may have been replaced and you have to reapply all changes.


Where can I find a user forum for the brand-new Apple iBooks Author application? Apple has just released the free

iBooks Author

application for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Where can I find some information about its capabilities. Yes, this is a "Jeopardy" question.

There is a new Apple Support Forum for iBooks Author

https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_app_store/ibooks_author


Open an URL in Safari with Private Browsing I want to open an URL in a browser's private mode.
--args -incognito does the job with Chromium-based browsers (e.g. open -na "Google Chrome" --args -incognito http://www.example.com).
I tried -incognito, -private, -private-browsing arguments, but none worked with Safari.
What's a Safari's command option to open in private mode?

Safari does not have similar command line options like Google Chrome, however, here is a way to roll your own:
In Terminal, run the following compound command:
touch safari; open -e safari; chmod +x safari

Copy and paste the example AppleScript code, shown further below, into the opened safari document, then save it.
You should then move the safari shell script to a directory located within the shell's PATH.
I moved it to /usr/local/bin, e.g,:
sudo mv -v safari /usr/local/bin/

Now from Terminal I can open a new private window for Safari.  Typing just the executable's name without any arguments shows how it can be used e.g,:
% safari
Missing Arguments!...
Examples:
safari https://www.example.com
safari -private
safari -private https://www.example.com
%

Notes:

As coded, the example AppleScript code is focused on opening a new private window, however, as you can see it can open a normal new window to the provided URL too. For the new private window, you can open it with or without passing it a URL.
As coded, the example AppleScript code only allow for one URL to be passed at a time. Additional coding is required to allow passing multiple URLs.

Example AppleScript code:
#!/usr/bin/osascript

on run args

    if args is {} then return ¬
        "Missing Arguments!..." & linefeed & ¬
        "Examples:" & linefeed & ¬
        "safari https://www.example.com" & linefeed & ¬
        "safari -private" & linefeed & ¬
        "safari -private https://www.example.com"

    set newPrivateWindow to false

    if item 1 of args contains "-private" then
        set newPrivateWindow to true
        if (length of args) is not greater than 1 then
            set theURL to missing value
        else
            set theURL to item 2 of args
        end
    else
        set the theURL to item 1 of args
    end if

    tell application "Safari" to activate
    delay 1

    if newPrivateWindow then
        tell application "System Events" to ¬
            keystroke "n" using ¬
                {shift down, command down}
        delay 1
        openURL(theURL)
    else
        tell application "System Events" to ¬
            keystroke "n" using ¬
                {command down}
        delay 1
        openURL(theURL)
    end if

end run

on openURL(theURL)
    if theURL is missing value then
        return
    else
        tell application "Safari" to ¬
            set URL of ¬
                current tab of ¬
                front window to ¬
                theURL as string
    end if
end openURL


How can I browse photos on iPhone in Mac OSX? Previously, on Windows, iPhone was recognized as a camera and I could browse image folder with Explorer without a need to import/download/tranfer photo files to the computer.

Is there a way to do the same on Mac OSX? I mean, all approaches I have ever read are somehow connected to import procedure (iPhoto, Preview, iTunes, etc.) or to hacking the iPhone and installing some apps that will allow to mount the phone as storage drive work.

What is the easiest and most straightforward way to view that files without transferring them to a computer?

The Image Capture app allows you to browse the iPhone's photos, albeit not at full size or resolution, without first downloading the image files to your computer. Image Capture also gives you the tools to download all or selected subranges of the photos on your iPhone, as well as deletion.