How does the digital compass "figure of eight" waving for calibration work? What is the logic behind the "wave your device in a figure of eight to calibrate the compass"? How does this work?

The reason for moving your device in a figure eight is to help it calibrate itself against magnetic interference. By moving it slightly its able to detect the differences and return a more accurate reading.

You can read the Apple knowledge base article here


Which mkv player for iPad mini? What video player for iPad mini supports mkv format best?

You can use VLC player.

Or, you can use Handbrake to convert MKV to MP4. Here is a helpful article on downloading and using Handbrake.


Connect to Mac Mini and browse files - works on one Mac but not the other Edit: Case closed! I reinstalled my OS and now it's working.

I've got one Mac Book, one Mac Book Pro and one Mac Mini (the latest version). The Mac Book can easily connect to and browse files and folders using Finder on my Mac Mini via my wifi network but not the Mac Book Pro and I think I've set everything up right - enabling file sharing on the Mac Mini and also screen sharing. Both file sharing and screen sharing works from my Mac Book using the main admin account on my Mac Mini.

When connecting from my Mac Book Pro I'm able to connect through Finder and see the shared folders on my Mac Mini but when double clicking a folder (for example the folder called "Richard") I get this error message:

The operation cannot be completed because the original item for "Richard" cannot be found.

The error message is actually in Swedish, since that's my language, but I'm pretty sure it's translated exactly like this on a default Snow Leopard installation.

Also, a weird thing is that when I first set up my Mac Mini I was actually able to access it and browse files from my Mac Book Pro as well, but just for a week or so and then this error message started showing up. Don't know if I might have changed any settings but I don't think so.

Does anyone have a clue what this problem is due to and how I might be able to solve it? I would love it if I could at least get some hints on how to address the problem - what to look for in the system preferences etc. And please let me know if I'm not giving you enough details!

The error sounds like it's unable to resolve the alias to the original source. What I would do is remove the shared folder(s) from the Preferences on the Mac Mini, and recreate a preference for a specific folder (ie. Public), with further testing. If the issue were to persist, I'd create another User and test from there.


iPhone 5 moving of contacts I do not know what account my contacts were earlier synced to. Now when I try to deactivate my exchange account, I lose all the contacts saved on the iPhone.

When I log in using the multiple iCloud IDs and don't recall which is correct, it doesn't sync.

I want to sync my contacts to the Gmail account and keep them available on my device.

When you remove an account from the iPhone (or any iDevice), it will ask if you want to "remove or keep" the current contacts etc.. synced with the accounts.

First delete the account from your device i.e.

1) Tap on Settings
2) Tap on Mail, Contacts & Calendars
3) Tap on the Account in question
4) Scroll to the bottom and tap on "Delete"

You'll then be asked if you want to keep or delete the contacts, calendar entries and/or mail on your device.

Once you've done this, the synced contacts should be on the device still (confirm this first), and then voila.. you can close your Exchange Account.


How to stream iTunes content to Apple TV 2G without a Mac or PC? I would like to upgrade my 1st-gen Apple TV and was wondering if it is possible to stream to new Apple TV from a NAS drive with iTunes server or an alternate method. I am not willing to go XBMC way since I would like to control my Apple TV though the Remote app for iOS.

You can play media that originates on an iOS device using AirPlay to send it to the Apple TV. AirPlay is built in to iOS.

If you have a PC or Mac, you could turn on iTunes Match and send the entire library to the cloud. At that point, you could ditch the PC/Mac and let Apple TV play from the cloud. iTunes Match requires a yearly subscription fee.

Neither of these features requires you to have a Mac or a PC, but neither helps much if all your media is on NAS.


Tried to reinstall osX and ended up getting folder with questionmark on boot Today I decided after 6 years to format my MacBook Pro 2009 laptop.
Originally I had Snow Leopard on it (I still have an unscratched cd) but in some point back in 2012 a friend installed (using his appledId) the Mountain Lion.

I've been messing around with this the whole day and have tried a bunch of different things and now I think I am in the worst possible situation.

In the beginning I restarted the mac and pressed as described online the cmd+R combination. I formated my disk and then tried to reinstall the osx.

The dialog box was saying Mountain Lion and it was asking for an appleId. Obviously my appledId wouldn't work cause I never purchased it.

Then I thought to use my Snow Leopard cd and boot from there (holding the option key). I tried several times but for some reason the mac dvd player keeps rejecting my cd. This is what I call bad luck.

So after some hours, working on my second laptop I decide to do something crazy. Install Ubuntu through a live usb memory stick. I create one, plug it in the mac and make the whole installation.
That was completely stupid of me. I had problems with the graphic card and things were not displayed correctly.

I remove the Ubuntu using gParted and now I am in the point where I start the mac and I get a blinking folder with a questiomark in the middle.

I have no idea what to do. When I click the options button, I get nothing. Not even the harddrive.
When I place the cd of SnowLeopard I also get nothing and after a while the cd is rejected.

So what am I supposed to do now? Any help would be mostly appreciated!

First things, power on with the space key pressed to eject the CD if needed.
Then power on with command+s held - if there is any OS X volume that's bootable, you can get some basic info
If not, reset the NVRAM - (Command Option P R) and hold until you hear the third boot chime.
After the third chime, hold option only and you should end up at a grey screen.

Take a picture of that and post a follow on question with more details / less broad open-ended. If you want to boot from the CD/DVD and wipe everything, ask that. If you can get to single user mode, then you might be able to patch things together.


How do i get back my old user account after upgrading to OS X Yosemite 10.10.2? Recently I upgraded a Mac to OS X Yosemite. When upgrading, a new user account was unintentionally created. Now, that newly created user account is being "recognized" as the main account [note:on this new account it's as if the computer is starting from the beginning, none of the previous settings or preferences are there, BUT all of the information is still on the computer]. Even at log-in the original user account is not there to log-in to.

How do we get the original user account to once again become the main user account i.e. when the computer is restarted and the log-in window is presented, the original user account will be there to log-in to?

Apple (modified a bit) helps:
This guide should/will work if your old user was the only account and the newly created user has the User ID 501.

Log out of your newly created account (user2), then log in to an admin account. The admin account needs to be a different account than the one newly created. If necessary, create another admin account (user3).

Go to the Users folder on the startup drive. The Users folder contains the home folder of the account you want to get back (user1), the newly created admin account (user3) and the newly created account while upgrading (user2).

Go to Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups.

Click the lock icon in the Users & Groups pane, then enter the admin name and password that you used to log in.

From the list of accounts, open a shortcut menu by Control-clicking the account that was created upgrading to Yosemite (user2). Enable the radio button "Allow user to administer this computer" if it is disabled. Choose "Advanced Options" from the shortcut menu.

Check the User ID it should be 501 (If it's not 501 stop here and add a comment to my answer please)

Change the "Account name" field and the "Full name" field to match the name of the old home folder (user1) in the Users folder and the old full name.

Change the "Home directory" field to match name of the old home folder (user1) in the Users folder.

Click OK, then close System Preferences.

Log out of the current admin account, then log in to the old account (now user1 again).
Verify that your old files and folders are visible and the account is working normally.

Delete the admin account (user 3) created in step 1.

Delete the user folder of user2 with sudo rm /Users/user2


Somehow got Porn on iPad Was looking on very reputable website for kids sports.

Clicked on what I thought was an ad and got porn. Finally had to delete Teamsnap app to get rid of it.

How could this happen on a website?

You'll want to install a safari content filter / content blocker to prevent advertisements and/or javascript from sites that are advertisement supported and possibly pay for access if they detect ad blockers.

https://daringfireball.net/2015/07/safari_content_blocker_imore
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/adamant/id1029747593?mt=8 - Adamant
https://1blocker.com

I have a high opinion of both the 1Blocker and Adamant for iOS and you could use one or the other or both depending on your needs.

https://www.macworld.com/article/2984483/ios/hands-on-with-content-blocking-safari-extensions-in-ios-9.html

I would say the vast, vast majority of hijacked web sessions is advertising related. Compromising them is so easy for people with a little money and a lot to gain for forcing people to see content they didn't expect on a site.


How to convert Apple's .textClipping files to plain text? If you select some text in an app (e.g. Chrome or any other app which allows dragging text), and drag the selection to a Finder panel, then a file will be created in the panel with an invisible .textClipping extension. The extension might or might not be visible in Finder depending on your settings.

Originally I assumed that the file is plain text, and tried renaming it to add a .txt extension, yet double-clicking still opens it with Finder.

Then I checked the file type:

file 'some text.textClipping'
>> some text.textClipping: Apple binary property list

cat-ing it shows a header of bplist00?XUTI-Data? followed by readable text.

I tried:

mv 'some text.textClipping' 'some text.txt'

but even after this it still opens with Finder and not the associated app for the .txt files.

Another 'oddity' is that dragging a .textClipping file into the terminal — which I sometimes use as a way of inserting the full path — has the unexpected effect of inserting the contents of the file rather than its path.

I wish I could use .textClipping files to quickly create snippets from web pages and other apps, but for obvious reasons, I want to avoid the snippets being stored in some Apple proprietary binary format.

Is there a way to convert the snippets to a portable format, such as plain text? How come that this type of files behave differently from others? Is there is some extended file property? Then how to remove it so that the files stop being 'special'?

Futher googling about Apple's binary property lists lead me to try plutil  -convert xml1 note.textClipping which produces an XML file with the readable text of the snippet as UTF-8 text, then base64-encoded versions of the same text in UTF-16, mac-plain, and HTML.

Even after converting the binary to XML format, Finder still opens the file in its own viewer no matter what extension is set (e.g. .plist or .xml).

Running /bin/ls -al in the folder shows a @ next to the file name which indicates the file has extended attributes so it looks that they are causing the 'special' behavour in Finder.

This answer lead me to try

xattr -l note.plist

which reveals that some of the note's content is stored as an extended attribute key.

And finally, clearing all extended attributes turned the file into a 'normal' file, so now it opens with the associated app:

xattr -c note.plist

The command above is for a single file, to strip extended attributes for all files in the current folder run:

xattr -rc .

  Extended attributes might be useful in some cases — for example, if you downloaded a file with safari or chrome the original URL will be stored as an extended attribute which you can see with xattr -l myfile.zip or right-clicking a file in Finder and selecting Get Info > The URL will be displayed under More Info > Where from. (Another reason not to use wget when you want to keep track of the file's origin.)


How would I troubleshoot generic icons for apps showing in a third party app? I use LaunchBar and it sometimes loses the custom icon. I have asked the vendor for support and will answer should I get an answer, but I wondered if I could find a cause or fix for missing icon previews on the OS level.

What's super odd is that Finder and the macOS app switcher show the correct icons - just LaunchBar 6 Version 6.9.4 seems to be dropping the icons. I'm seeing this on 10.12.6 and 10.13.x and the issue persists after a reboot.

Is there an icon services API or subsystem that could need rebuilding or is this just a third party issue where the tool needs a fix or reset?

Well - it turns out LaunchBar was reporting things as they are and Finder and the rest of the systems started dropping the icons to match what this utility was showing.

I have recovered from the failure by rebuilding the launch services database.

The short command is lsregister -kill -seed and here's the full path

  /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -seed

This still hasn't figured out why they went wrong, but it's a rebuild step that can be taken once the number of "broken" icons become aggravating. This is very odd to me since the lsregister command used to be vey handy when duplicate open as records were present, but I didn't have that symptom here. Also, typically cleaning icon caches in /var/folders and then performing a safe boot. That's not something I ever liked contemplating and was very happy to not have to resort to trying that in this case.


RCA cable to a TV that has several inputs, but not RCA? I have:

an iPod with an Apple Composite (RCA Red/White/Yellow) cable

I want to connect this with a TV that has:

Component in (Red/Blue/Green/Chartreuse - there's a bunch of them)
DVI in
HDMI in
VGA in

Given this setup, what is the least expensive/least painless way for me to hook my iPod up to this TV (if I can get this done with a simple trip to Radio Shack this evening, that is ideal [and no, nowhere around me has the iPod Component AV Cable :(])

For now, you can plug the composite cable into the component input, plugging the yellow video cable into the green (Y/brightness) input and the audio in normally. This will work as you expect, except the video will be in black and white.

A better solution would be to just get the Apple Component output cable and use that. Unless it's a 4th gen iPod touch, you won't be able to get VGA out and no iPod released to date will output DVI or HDMI. (Though the 5th gen touch should output HDMI since the 2nd gen iPad does now, but that's speculation.)


How Can I Block Downloading when WiFi Not Present? My children carry my wife's phone while they are out (and away from our wifi at home) and before you know it, BOOM my data plan is used up, this month in 6 days into the cycle!  How can I set her iPhone 5c so that it will not allow data usage when not connected to wifi?  Even if there was a way to password protect so that data could not be used unless a password is entered would help. There already is a password for the phone.  But the kids know it and use data.  Any help will be appreciated.

Open settings app and disable cellular data.

You can set up a second passcode for cellular data restrictions. See this site or apple support or ask a new question if you need assistance with that optional step.

I would use the moment to teach the kids about responsibility. Let me choose if they should know the passcode and be responsible for the costs.


Dire need to make Bootcamp work with Thunderbolt Display According to this Apple KB article, it's not possible to re-connect a Thunderbolt Display to Windows Bootcamp without restarting the computer.

  A directly-connected Thunderbolt device that is removed by
  disconnecting the Thunderbolt cable will not be recognized until you
  restart the computer.

But if the reboot sequence is able to send a signal to the display to power up, surely it must be possible to write some code that will run in Windows and do the same thing?

Are there any tools out that can do this, or anyone with competence on the area that would be interested in writing a tool to do so?

As the source of that info is Apple themselves, you'd imagine that they're probably best placed to offer advice on the subject.

This suggests that the 'fault' is not just Apple's, but requires Windows to be complicit. It would appear Windows 8 is capable, but requires the latest Apple hardware too.

Quote

  Are Thunderbolt devices “hot pluggable” using Windows with Boot Camp?
  The iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) and the Mac mini (Late 2014) support “hot pluggable” Thunderbolt devices using Windows 8 or 8.1 (both as 64-bit only).
  For all other Mac computers, Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 scans and activates Thunderbolt devices connected to Thunderbolt ports only during the Windows startup process. If your device was not plugged in at start up, Windows will not detect it without a restart.


To-do app for Mac OS X I want to organize my to do's for programming an iphone app. I found this, and I really like it, but is not native to Mac OS X. Is there any app similar to it?

You have the great wunderlist which is free, provides collaboration and a companion iPhone app (also free). Does what it's made for. Customizable and sexy :)
(No I don't work at 6wunderkinder!)


Can I get an iPad unlocked? I am being offered an iPad at a really good price but the seller says he can't remember his iCloud information so the tablet is locked. Is there a way to get this corrected?

Short => So far, it's not possible at the Moment.

There are some Fake Unlocks for an iCloud Activation Bypass but if I'm correct - this are not working solutions.

You have to be careful, if the Seller doesn't even know the iCloud/ApplID Mail (normally you don't forget a e-Mail uh?) - otherwise he would be able to reset Password via Apple

Note: Not sure if an iCloud unlock would even be legal in every country!


My FaceTime cannot be activated I got an iPad 2 running iOS 6.0.1. and I really have no idea why my FaceTime cannot be activated.

I always got an error while log in (username or password is incorrect)

But actually the Apple ID and password is correct and it can be used for downloading apps and iMessage.

This error is only set to appear if your username or password is indeed incorrect, it doesn't fire by random. My advice would be to reset your password using iForgot.


How can I upgrade my OS X 10.4.11 to Snow Leopard and then Mavericks? I am on iMac PowerPC with OS X 10.4.11
Can I upgrade to Snow Leopard and then to Mavericks?
If so, how?

PowerPC is only supported up until Mac Os X 10.5 (Leopard), so Mavericks is out of the question. Snow Leopard (10.6) is also too high. 10.5 is the highest possible.


Mac username & password for proxy settings keep resetting by itself I've a MacBook Pro Retina Display.

The username & password for the proxy settings for HTTPS keeps resetting by itself every few mins.

If I enable "Proxy server requires password" below & put in my username-password, after 2 or 3 mins, it'll automatically reset and the text fields becomes inactive.

As a result, the pop-up asking for username-password keeps coming back every few mins (which is very annoying).

However, this doesn't happen for the HTTP one.

How do I fix it?

This worked for me. Here's what I did:

The solution is to ensure that you have working proxy settings saved in the system keychain, not just your personal login keychain.
So when you next get one of these dialogs:

Note the server name that is requesting authentication, the port (usually 8080) and if it is an http or https request. Typically it will be something in the form https://someproxyserver.someorganization.com:8080

See if you already have an entry for that server in your login keychain. If not, make one manually, (being sure to enter the whole thing as per the example above with the :8080 at the end). Typically that there needs to be two separate keychain entries per proxy server, one for http and a second for https, though syncdefaultsd only uses https.

Once you have login keychain entries for the proxy server, double-click them and ensure that under Access all applications are allowed, and that your user name is saved.

Now for the fun bit. Option-drag and drop these entries into your system keychain. Click on the system keychain, and confirm that they are there, and that all the settings are exactly right.

For good measure, do a shift-restart then a normal restart.
You should now get no more annoying dialogs for that particular proxy server. If your proxy server has more than one alias, or if you have several, then whenever you get a new unidentified dialog, repeat the above.

Source: Apple Support Discussions thread


Can't get past the login screen even with a correct password I recently upgraded a 2010 MacBook Pro to Mountain Lion, and it's worked fine for the most part. Today, however, upon waking up from sleep, the laptop won't go past the login screen. I enter the correct password, hit Enter... and the focus on the password box goes away, and nothing happens.

Note that the password box doesn't shake, as it does when the password is incorrect. I'm entering the right password, it just won't dismiss the login screen.

Anyone else have this problem, and find a solution other than a hard reset?

(Unlike this question, three-finger swiping accomplishes nothing.)

It looks like that User's folder got corrupted somehow, and the System doesn't know what to show and load, as It wasn't there.

Try logging with other user or a Disk Repair / Repair Permissions, through the Recovery Partition.


Mac App Store: How auto update happens for an Application which requires installer We've an application which we are planning to add to App Store.

Till now we were hosting an installer on Enterprise Servers and users were downloading it from server.

Does App store support such applications which requires multiple components to be installed using an installer?

We need installer as it installs the main application and start backend service.
Also, how auto update will happen if new version of application is available on AppStore, will it start package installer?

Please provide pointers on this.

Mac App Store Review Guidelines - Apple Developer:

  2.14 Apps must be packaged and submitted using Apple's packaging technologies included in Xcode - no third party installers allowed

  2.15 Apps must be self-contained, single application installation bundles, and cannot install code or resources in shared locations

  2.16 Apps that download or install additional code or resources to add functionality or change their primary purpose will be rejected


PDF Printing Quality Issues I am having problems with printing some PDF documents on a 2014 MacBook Pro running macOS 10.14.3.

Most PDF documents print fine (from Preview), and I'm happy with the quality.

Examples are these two:

However, I'm having issues with a specific paper.

In Adobe Reader and Preview, the quality looks good, and the letters are very sharp.

But something different happens when I print:

Firstly, from Preview:

Now from Adobe Reader:

This is annoying.

Why is it doing this? Presumably there's a problem with the pdf. But what could it be, and how can I fix it? The pdf looks fine in Preview and Adobe!

For reference, this is the paper I am trying to print.

I have observed this problem before: seemingly solid-tone 100%K text or other vector image in a PDF gets printed out with a 'dotted' pattern.

The problem is caused by color definitions in the PDF file, which get rasterised into 'half-tone'. So you end up with an object that is 100% Black, but comprised of dots, rather than solid tone.

The solution is to make sure that Color Matching is switch to "In Printer" and NOT to "ColorSync". This for Preview and other Apple apps. In Acrobat, use "No Color Management".

I printed sample pages from your exemplar PDF, and they were fine. The PDF is non-optimal, admittedly, as there is Transparency and mixed CMYK and RGB objects.


Keyboard key stuck or not being recognized; how to fix This is an attempt to write a canonical QA for this issue, as per the Meta post:  Where is the list of canonical questions stored for Ask Different? I expect it to be periodically edited with the goal of becoming a comprehensive information resource.

I have a MacBook Pro that has a key(Shift, Return,
 Command, P, etc.) that doesn’t respond when pressed or is stuck in the down position.

It's possible that my favorite beverage was spilled (or some other liquid damage).  It's also possible that I have no idea what happened.  It was working yesterday and suddenly today it's no longer working.

Is there any way to bypass or remap the key?  Can I  have the system ignore it completely?

(This question can also apply to external USB keyboards or the Bluetooth keyboards)

There are two scenarios which you will encounter:

keys that don't respond when pressed
keys that are stuck; they act like they are being held down

The first case is potentially salvageable through the use of software to remap a key, or just changing your behavior when possible (i.e. use right Cmd  instead of left Cmd).
The second case, where the key is acting like it's pressed, the keyboard will likely have to be replaced because there is a physical connection being made and it's being sent to the logic board to be interpreted.
Key not Responding
If a key isn’t responding it means that the electrical connection mapping the key is blocked.  Remapping keys can be done via 3rd party tools such as Karabiner or Karabiner Elements (Sierra and up).
However, there's only so much remapping you can do and this isn't practical in the pre-boot stage (i.e. ⇧Shift keys or ⌥Option keys don't work).  This means if you need to go into Safe Mode (hold ⇧Shift, run Apple Hardware Test (hold D) or any other boot time key sequences, it won't work; you'll need an external USB keyboard.   You can remap once macOS has loaded, but not before.
With this scenario, you may be able to get around the unresponsive keys, but eventually you will have to replace it.
Key is Stuck
The keyboard needs to be replaced.  There is a contaminant that is shorting electrical connections.  When you press a key, you are intentionally creating this short, but a liquid like water or soda (which can conduct electrical current) can bridge the connections closing the loop.  In these cases, they keyboard needs to be removed and cleaned with an electrical solvent.
Given the amount a labor to do this (there are a TON of screws – about 60 in total), it’s much more cost effective just to replace they keyboard with a new one.
The Butterfly Keyboard Issues
This applies to the 2016 through 2018 MacBook Pros and covers the gen 1, 2 and 3 keyboards.
The butterfly keyboard is a mechanical design change from the traditional keyboard mechanism.  The underlying electronic circuitry remains the same.

The "shallower" profile allows for less space requirements resulting in a thinner profile for the laptop.  However, a thinner profile means tighter operating tolerances. Contaminants and regular wear are now much more likely to contribute to premature failure resulting in either stuck or non-responsive keys.
Replacing the Keyboard
Apple will traditionally replace your top case assembly. This is the aluminum housing that holds all the internals.

Note:  For the Early 2015 through 2017 MacBook and 2016 through 2017 MacBook Pros, Apple has acknowledged the issue and is replacing the top case assembly through a Service Program.  However, they aren't replacing the gen 1 or gen 2 keyboards with the new gen 3 design.  Basically, they'll replace it with the same (flawed) model.  (IMO this puts owning an Apple MacBook/Pro on par with owning a Jaguar).
To replace this, you will have to remove the battery, fans, speakers, and logic board to swap the internals to the new assembly.  If you are going to go this far, just replace the keyboard and save yourself the money.
Replacement MacBook Pro keyboards are relatively inexpensive (13" MacBook Pro Keyboard and 15" MacBook Pro Keyboard) versus a top case assembly - $25-$30 versus $250-$400.
iFixit.com has excellent guides to walk you through, but if you are unsure of your tech skills it's best to get a pro to do the job.

How a Keyboard Works
To understand all of this better, I "dissected" a (dead) MacBook Pro keyboard to better show how all of this comes together
Keyboard Internals
The keyboard is made up of multiple layers:

Keys (mechanical)
Plastic membrane
Circuit trace
Backplate

Looking at the back of the keyboard (a dead donor from a 2009 MacBook Pro that had to be cut out due to a stripped screw) there is a black protective cover.  The only electrical contacts that can be seen is for the backlight and the keyboard connector interface

Removing the back cover, we can get a better look at the backplate.  This piece provides the stability and structure for the keyboard.

Looking at the front of the keyboard with the keys removed, we can see through the plastic membrane layers all the way to the back plate (this portion is where the stripped screw was that had to be cut out)

Taking an even closer look at the key, we can see how the mechanism attaches physically to the back plate to keep it in place.  The rubber cup is what provides the “spring” action to return the key to its unpressed position.

Peeling back the layers we can see how it all comes together.  The plastic membrane with the rubber cups on top of the plastic membrane with the electrical traces on top of the metal back plate.

Cutting out a section of the trace membrane we can see how the electrical connections are made.  Looking closely, you can see that each key has a vertical connection with the key above/below it and a horizontal connection between the keys to the right/left.

A keyboard works by completing the circuit between two circuits in a “grid” pattern.  This is how we can get 100+ keys with only 29 circuits.  For example, to get the letter “P” using the keyboard diagram below, it would create a closed circuit between Pin 1 ("INT 5") and Pin 8 ("1Y1").

TL;DR - What this all means...

Key(s) are stuck.  The circuit path is shorted.  This could be due to a foreign contaminant (including the key mechanism itself) putting pressure on the contact pad or some sort of FOD (foreign object debris) shorting out the circuit path.

Key(s) not responding.  The circuit path is broken.  When you press a key and nothing happens, no signal is being sent for the keyboard to recognize a key press.  This could be due to a short, bad contacts, a physically broken path, etc.

A note on intermittent problems.  An intermittent electronic failure is a subset of the above conditions. Dry solder joints1, decayed glue2, and even bad/failed solid state components (i.e. resistors, capacitors, ICs, etc.)3; any/all of these can play a role in a circuit path failure.

1 Dry joints are the main form of problem solder joint. These solder joints may be completely open circuit, or they may be intermittent, high resistance or noisy. It is therefore essential that no dry solder joints are present in any electronics equipment. Source: Electronic Notes - Solder Joints
2 An electrically conductive adhesive is a glue that is primarily used for electronics. The electric conductivity is caused by a component that makes ca. 80% of the total mass of an electrically conductive adhesive. Beware of Decayed Glue under IC
3  What causes this resistor to fail - open circuit and no visible damage?


shasum -a 256 on dmg file returns nothing I am getting no results when I check this freshly downloaded file from TDAmeritrade.

I have searched for an answer to this but no joy.  Can anyone help?  Thanks.

Edges-MacBook-Pro:Downloads edge$ shasum -a 256 thinkorswim.installer.dmg
shasum: thinkorswim.installer.dmg:
Edges-MacBook-Pro:Downloads edge$

The command

$ shasum -a 256 /path/to/file

will return the name of the file if it can't find it. E.g.

Edges-MacBook-Pro:Downloads edge$ shasum -a 256 nofilehere
shasum: nofilehere:

Otherwise, it will display the hash value and the name of the file:

Edges-MacBook-Pro:Downloads edge$ shasum -a 256 theFile
d7f6436a313e17b01af27cf7582f8aa0149554c20d3257133cf7680e25fc287b theFile

Check where you downloaded the file. If it is in the Download directory, then this will work:

$ shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/thinkorswim.installer.dmg

If shasum is not displaying the hash value, then either the file isn't where you specified or the file name is wrong.


Big Sur "sleep" does not lock screen (when slept via keyboard shortcut) EDIT: corrected keyboard shortcut to say ⏻ rather than ⏏
I put my computer to sleep using cmd+opt+⏻ whenever I leave my desk.
For years, this has reliably locked the screen of the computer.
But ever since I upgraded to macOS 11 Big Sur: sleeping the computer does not lock the screen. I return to my computer later (minutes or hours), wake it up with the keyboard, and find that the computer is ready-to-use; no lock screen is presented.
Specifically, sleeping via keyboard shortcut does not lock it. Whereas sleeping by selecting "Sleep" with the mouse in the Apple menu seems to work.
My settings are the same as always:

I'm using a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15" Mid-2014) on 11.1 Big Sur.
I have all the latest updates:

Is anybody else experiencing this? For my part, this is a security regression that has reduced my trust in macOS.

Maybe the settings got corrupted when upgrading to Big Sur.

Open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy
In the General tab, disable/untick "Require password after sleep"
Quit System Preferences to have the changed settings written to disk
Open the same panel again and enable the setting
Quit System Preferences (and hope for the best)


How can I download ipa file from ipad on El Capitan? Unfortunately Stash got removed from the iOS App Store, but I need to transfer it from my iPad onto my new iPhone. How can I do that? If I'm right first I need to download it and install it with iFunBox. Where does the iTunes store the ipa files when I do a manually backup?

PS: I tried to restore phone from iCloud backup, it tries to download it but it stuck on "Waiting.." status. The most important thing for me is the data in the app. I tried to contact the developer but I got an automatic reply.

Sync your iPad with iTunes, which will download all not already downloaded Apps to iTunes - and then sync your iPhone with iTunes - that's it.

iTunes store the ipa-files in ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications


mysql: command not found How do I use MySQL from the CLI?  When I use the terminal, I get:

Darrens-MacBook-Pro:~ thufir$
Darrens-MacBook-Pro:~ thufir$ mysql
-bash: mysql: command not found
Darrens-MacBook-Pro:~ thufir$

As you can see, MySQL is installed and running:

this system:

System Software Overview:

  System Version:   OS X 10.10.2 (14C1510)
  Kernel Version:   Darwin 14.1.0
  Boot Volume:  Mac OSx
  Boot Mode:    Normal
  Computer Name:    A MacBook Pro
  User Name:    thufir (thufir)
  Secure Virtual Memory:    Enabled
  Time since boot:  2:08

The Oracle installer for MySQL puts the mysql binary in /usr/local/mysql/bin. You either need to call it with the full path:

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql

Or put /usr/local/mysql/bin in your PATH by adding the following to end of your ~/.bash_profile:

export PATH=/usr/local/mysql/bin:${PATH}

And then reloading your shell.

See my answer to this question for why I think you should install these things with Homebrew instead of dmg-based installers. Ultimately, it lets you manage what's in your PATH with less hassle.


Mid-2010 MacBook Pro - HP ZR30W - mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort? I am trying to get my new HP ZR30W working at full 2560x1600 with my mid-2010 MacBook Pro through a mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.

I have seen people saying they have it working, but I can't seem to get it to accept anything but the 1280x800 res, even with SwitchResX.

I know the current Mac solution is a $100 mini DisplayPort to dual-link DVI adapter, but that seems rediculous to me when the monitor has a DisplayPort input.

Anyone have this working and have tips?

Update: I gave up after much tinkering and bought the adapter. I would still love to hear if anyone has made this work.

It's likely that you just have a defective unit. There's no active circuitry in a mini-Displayport to Displayport connector, and a Google search suggests that this monitor has worked with Macs over Displayport (as you would expect), but some people have had resolution detection issues.

If the dual-link adapter is working for you, great; however it may be worth investigating a warranty exchange, as that adapter has not always been reliable for others.


Why USB stick formatted with exFAT on Windows is not mounting on Mac OS High Sierra? I got a 64GB USB Stick formatted as exFAT from Windows containing a lot of files. The stick mounts without any problems on a Windows 10 system. My MacBook Pro running MacOS 10.13.2 cannot mount it. Instead the disk utility tells me it contains kind of Mac OS extended file system (German, sorry) but unable to mount (also information looks strange):

Or from command line:

bb-8:~ arne$ diskutil list
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *62.9 GB    disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS                         62.6 GB    disk2s2

Running fdisk tells:

bb-8:~ arne$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk2
Disk: /dev/disk2    geometry: 7651/255/63 [122915328 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  122915327] <Unknown ID>
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
bb-8:~ arne$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk2s1
Disk: /dev/disk2s1  geometry: 812/8/63 [409600 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
bb-8:~ arne$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk2s2
Disk: /dev/disk2s2  geometry: 7609/255/63 [122243504 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: FF 1023 255  63 - 1023 255  63 [4294967295 - 4294967295] Xenix BBT
 2: FF 1023 255  63 - 1023 255  63 [4294967295 - 4294967295] Xenix BBT
 3: FF 1023 255  63 - 1023 255  63 [4294967295 - 4294967295] Xenix BBT
 4: FF 1023 255  63 - 1023 255  63 [4294967295 - 2474929407] Xenix BBT
bb-8:~ arne$

I have no idea why the volume is not mounting correctly. Any idea what to do without reformatting and loosing the data on the stick? Is there any option to manually mount the filesystem as exFAT using command line?

Each partition on a drive is assigned a type. The type indicates what the partition will contain. Usually, but not always, this is a file system. The mapping from a partition type to a file system is not always one-to-one. For example, both the ExFAT and NTFS files systems map to the same partition type. Therefore, Windows generally does not look at the partition type, but rather looks at the content of the partition to determine the file system.

In your question, the output from the diskutil command shows the ExFAT formatted partition to be Apple_HFS. What should have appeared is Microsoft Basic Data. Therefore, the partition table has partition type error. Microsoft Windows will not care, but Apple macOS does.

Although, you do not show this in your question, the GUID for this type of partition is 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC. The correct value should be EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7. You could goto back to your machine running Windows, open a Administrator Command Prompt Window and enter the following commands. This will correct the error in the partition table.

Below I assume the USB stick (flash drive) is disk number 1. If not, then make the appropriate substitution. The detail partition command should show the incorrect partition type value of 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC.

diskpart
list disk
select disk 1
select partition 2
detail partition
help set
set id=EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
exit

  Note: If you are clever, you can cut-and-paste from the output of the help set command to enter the set id=EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 command. If not, then type carefully.

Issues Regarding Using Windows Partitioning Tools on a Mac Computer.

Below has been referred to as THE GOLDEN RULE.

  Never use the Windows diskpart or diskmgmt.msc commands to change the partitioning on a Mac computer.

Note: The diskmgmt.msc command displays the "Disk Management" window. An example is shown below.

Originally, Mac computers could only BIOS boot Windows. In order for this to occur, a hybrid MBR/GPT partitioning method was employed.  The Golden Rule was created because of this hybrid arrangement. Essentially, the diskpart and diskmgmt.msc commands would ignore the GUID partition table (GPT) and only update the MBR partition table. This could (and often did) lead to corruption of the partitions stored on a drive.

Eventually, Apple adopted the newer EFI boot method for Windows. When this method is employed, the hybrid MBR/GPT partitioning scheme is not used. Instead a a pure GPT scheme is employed. One would think this would negate The Golden Rule, but for a different reason, this rule lived on. This reason has to do with bugs introduced by the installation of Apple's Windows Support Software.

Windows Support Software, among may other things, allows Windows read-only access to certain Mac formatted partitions, such as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Since the Windows software can now read these partitions, the software believes the partitions are Microsoft type partitions. When running Windows partitioning software, this can cause many possible side-effects. One is the replacement of the correct GUID partition type with Microsoft's partition type GUID of EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7. So it seemed, The Golden Rule still applied.

Recently, cases have been found where The Golden Rule can be broken. In other words, there are cases where the diskpart command can be used to edit a drive partition table when a pure GPT scheme is employed.

One such case is when the Windows Recovery Environment is used. This environment can be entered by holding down the shift key while selecting to restart Windows. When you navigate to a Command Prompt window, you can access the diskpart command. This command, when entered here, is unaffected by the Apple's Windows Support Software. Basically, the Windows Recovery Environment loads the Winre.wim image file, which was unaltered when the Windows Support Software was installed. This image file contains a copy of the diskpart command which can be executed safely.


Mac: DRM removal for Apple TV-purchased movies? I have the latest macOS (Catalina). Are there any DRM removal software that will work with the Apple TV app on my Mac? The most popular software (DVDFab, TunesKit, etc.) work with iTunes only, but iTunes only exists on iPhones. I downloaded my Apple TV-purchased movie to my Mac, which has a .movpkg file extension. I tried using TunesKit, but it won't even open the downloaded movie. I'm just looking to convert the file extension and play in VLC so I can take a screenshot from a movie scene.

I understand that Apple blanks DRM from screen recording and I still want to snap occasional still frames.

Is this technically possible?

This is going to be hard to accomplish using Apple SDK and tools for multiple reasons. Setting aside any reason why Apple made it technically hard, it is for reasons.
What is not technically hard is using HDMI capture hardware to make your grabs. Or better, find a like-minded community that is sharing the burden and cost of getting high quality still frames for educational and legitimate and legal uses. (Also, what is legal is often something that’s not moral or even good for society.) Crowd sourcing has many benefits here in getting around technical hurdles.

https://film-grab.com/category/1976/
https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/hdmi-capture-devices


codesign reports invalid Info.plist on an app dl'ed from the internet. Has the app been possibly compromised? I downloaded an app from github (mac2imgur), and it refused to run.

$ codesign -vv mac2imgur.app
mac2imgur.app: invalid Info.plist (plist or signature have been modified)
In architecture: x86_64

It seems unlikely the developer uploaded something with a bad signature.

Is this a red flag that the app may have been compromised and reuploaded?

It’s quite likely a developer uploaded something incorrectly codesigned. As a developer myself, I know it takes time to get it right, and many don’t bother.


How to enter various nvram boot-args I'd like to set both vm_compression=1 plus serverperfmode=1. Can I achieve this by nvram boot-args "vm_compression=1","serverperfmode=1"

If you want both arguments in one command, you can use a space to separate:

sudo nvram boot-args="vm_compression=1 serverperfmode=1"


IOS 10.0.1 on an IPhone 7 with WhatsApp 2.16.10 WhatsApp 2.16.10 update for iOS 10 now shows recent WhatsApp calls on the iPhone recent calls log, rather then just logging it in WhatsApp. Is there a way to turn this off? It's really not needed.

WhatsApp is using the new CallKit VOIP framework that allows apps such as WhatsApp and Skype to integrate more directly with iOS. This allows, for example, incoming calls to show up on the lock screen like cell phone calls do. As you've discovered it can also integrate with the native Phone app's call history ("recents"), contacts and so forth.

There is no setting to disable this as it is a fundamental change to how iOS handles VOIP apps.


How can I see what photo the photos app is currently downloading from iCloud? I am trying to create a photo book in the new photos app, but it keeps hanging 'downloading photos from iCloud'. I see under preferences, it is downloading '1 item from iCloud', which appears to be stuck (I have left it for days). How can I see what photo is currently being downloaded so I can remove it form the project?

Side-question, is there a way to tell if a photo is the 'full version' or the storage optimised version? (Apart from guessing by the file size)?

This is Photos v1.1 on OSX El Capitan (10.11), running on a 2011 MBA.

Several things.

Open https://www.icloud.com/#photos and you can see / download the full resolution photo.
Then for the same photo - choose File -> Export -> Export Unmodified Original and compare the metadata and size difference between what came from your App and from the "truth" directly from the cloud. (Dragging or normal exports seem to be a different resolution than either the internal reduced version or the full, unmodified original in my experience.)

As to monitoring thing, that's easy too. Open the terminal app and use this command to monitor all cloud file operations up to and down from the cloud.

brctl log -w

Like many terminal command line tools, you need to send the exit signal or close the window/app to get it to exit. Control and C is that command. Two follow on items, the Photos 1.1 is a bit better, so you might upgrade your OS and you can also pause the download if you wish in the iCloud preferences for Photos. It lets things stabilize so you can see what you have and not be testing as things change/download from the cloud.


Apple ID Rescue email - don't see the link to add rescue email After logged in, I do the following (as per Apple site)

Navigate to My Apple ID using your web browser.

Click "Manage your account"

When prompted, sign in using your Apple ID and password.

Click Password & Security

You'll be asked to answer 2 of your 3 security questions before you can make any modifications. If you are unable to remember your answers, you can choose to send an email to your rescue email to reset your security questions.
Note: The option to send an email to reset your security questions and answers will not be available if a rescue email address is not provided. You will need to contact iTunes Store support in order to do so.

After you've validated your identity by correctly answering your security questions, click Edit to the right of your rescue email address.

Once you've finished editing your rescue email address, click the Save button directly below the email field.

But I don't see any link/button for the rescue email. Does anyone have any idea how to add rescue email address?

Here is a browser screen shot showing the "Security" section with neither a "Notification" nor "Rescue" email section:

For reference, here is that same page for a different user where the "Notification" section is shown.

I followed those same instructions and my link appears as below:

This comes after step 6 in the Apple instructions.


How can I downloading a pdf file to someplace other than downloads When downloading a pdf file in Safari 11.0.2, can I save it in a particular file folder without first saving it in Downloads?

Right click the link & 'Download Linked File as...'


Can the iPad have multiple users? I'm thinking of getting a "household" iPad (the new iPad) to be shared.  Can the iPad have multiple users?  Or is there another way to keep email accounts, Safari bookmarks, and Angry Birds scores separated between users?

Apple really designed the iPad as a 1-to-1 device (one device to one person) so I don't think there is an EASY way.

I know they have deployment products out there that might make it so you can remove and restore profiles, but it's not on the fly and I think it's very clunky.

I also did a quick Google and noticed this software that is out in beta and is exactly what you want, but it looks quite experimental and your iPad needs to be jailbroken to install it: http://nowsci.com/userprofiles/


Moving MP4 files from PC to iTunes I am trying to watch an MP4 file (saved on my PC) on my iPad 4. I've done numerous things to add the video to the iTunes library, but it doesn't seem to 'accept' the file, and hence I cannot sync it to my iPad - help please!!!

You need to make sure the mp4 file is within the specs needed by your iPad.  Chances are it's either the wrong resolution, bitrate, or codec.

If you're on a mac, Handbrake is awesome for converting files for iPhone or iPad, and has presets built in.


What happens when a phone runs out of storage and pictures are taken? I am unsure of which iphone I need-64gb or 128gb. I mainly need storage space for photos and videos and I dont think 64gb would be enough. Someone has said that due to iCloud drive a 64gb would however be sufficient but I am unsure of this. When my memory is full will it allow me to carry on taking photos and videos and store straight to iCloud or will I get the usual notice saying there is not enough storage space?

iCloud storage price : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5879?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

So it depends if you have a good network connection for download what you need when you want (photos with iCloud, musics with spotify...) or if you want all your photos, all your iWork documents and all your stuff on your iPhone all the time.

It depends if you take a lot of videos, if you download a lot of big games from the App Store...

In fact, it depends of your money ^^


Downloads folder removed from the bottom I have a new mac (purchased about 3 months ago).  Somehow the downloads folder isn't pinned to the bottom anymore (I didn't delete the folder, I somehow moved it).  I tried minimizing the folder and then dragging it to the right of the line but the other icons don't move.  Does anybody know how to fix this?

You can just drag the folder from Finder.

The folders on the right side of Dock are called stacks, and you can also add them for other folders. See Mac Basics: Stacks.


PhotoStream on iPhoto-MacBook is different from PhotoStream-iPad I see so many pictures that I have took with iPhone on iPad Photo Stream.
But today I also wanted to activate PhotoStream on iPhoto on MacBook. So did I ! but the images it has downloaded are just around 20 photos, there are so much more if I go to PhotoStream on iPad or iPhone but on PhotoStream on MacBook there is just a few of them.

Shouldn't they all show the same thing?

Apple has a fairly comprehensive troubleshooting article for isolating any inconsistencies like you have observed and clearly, the design of Photo Stream is that there is one set of pictures available from the cloud (the web  interface) as well as each device that has the stream enabled.

TS3989 - iCloud: Photo Stream troubleshooting

Why not work your way through that document and then ask a second question if needed if you run into problems on a specific step? I like to power off both the devices and then start with one to work through the process to see if it's working properly, and then proceed to the next device or computer.


How can I know if I have any Notifications with newer OS X Notifications bar? I have OS X 10.8, and one thing I don't understand about the new Notifications system is that the icon in the menu bar doesn't tell me whether I have any notifications or not. The icon (  ) looks the same to me whether I have notifications or not.  Every once in a while I'll click on it, and realize that I have Notifications from weeks earlier.

Am I missing how this is supposed to be used?  Is there a way to have this icon change color when there are notifications?  Can I simply disable this panel and icon?

The icon does not change color (other than when you temporarily disable Notification Center, but that only lasts until the following day). The other things that happen, such as banners, icon badges, etc are the actual "notification".

To temporarily disable Notification Center (until the following day), Option+click on the Notification Center icon. The icon will turn grey to show it is disabled temporarily. Clicking on it reveals a message that notifications will resume tomorrow. Dragging the Off slider to the right will re-enable it immediately.

To permanently disable Notification Center, follow these steps from OSXDaily:

Launch Terminal.
Enter the following command:

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist

Enter the following command:

killall NotificationCenter

This disables it for the current user only.


Why is my hostname resolution taking so long? Several months ago I noticed that my text editor (emacs) and IDE (IntelliJ) were taking a really long time to start up. The time appeared to vary based on the DNS servers OS X was using.

I was able to isolate the issue when a project's test suite was running slowly. I found the (higher level) culprit to be a call to socket.getfqdn().

Running the following command in the terminal on OS X 10.10.2, demonstrates the problem:

$ time python -c 'import socket; socket.getfqdn()'
python -c 'import socket; socket.getfqdn()'  0.02s user 0.00s system 0% cpu 5.122 total

I traced the code that runs when socket.getfqdn() is called and the delay is caused by getaddrinfo(3). I wrote a small program that isolates the problem and gai_strerror(3) provides this message:

$ time ./hostinfo
Hostname: MacBook-Pro.local
getaddrinfo: nodename nor servname provided, or not known
./hostinfo  0.00s user 0.00s system 0% cpu 5.101 total

It seems like the delay is waiting for the DNS query to time out. The above results were using Google's public DNS servers. If I use my ISP's DNS servers, however, the time increases to 30 seconds:

$ time python -c 'import socket; socket.getfqdn()'
python -c 'import socket; socket.getfqdn()'  0.01s user 0.01s system 0% cpu 30.114 total

(curiously the C program hostinfo still takes just above 5 seconds)

What is causing this issue? Is my hostname invalid or causing problems?

$ hostname
MacBook-Pro.local

This problem doesn't happen on a Macbook Air on the same network.

The major difference I can see is that on the problematic machine, the following DNS confiugration is listed:

$ scutil --dns
DNS configuration

resolver #1
  search domain[0] : Home
  nameserver[0] : 8.8.8.8
  nameserver[1] : 8.8.4.4
  flags    : Request A records
  reach    : Reachable

DNS configuration (for scoped queries)

resolver #1
  search domain[0] : Home
  nameserver[0] : 8.8.8.8
  nameserver[1] : 8.8.4.4
  if_index : 4 (en0)
  flags    : Scoped, Request A records
  reach    : Reachable

On the Macbook Air, several extra entries are included that relate to mDNS. For example:

resolver #2
  domain   : local
  options  : mdns
  timeout  : 5
  flags    : Request A records
  order    : 300000

This seems to be significant. Interestingly, the timeout listed above is about the same as the runtimes above.

I should note that I'm connected to the internet using WiFi and the problem only exists when trying to resolve my computer's host name.

I was able to fix this issue by explicitly setting the HostName using scutil to be the same value as LocalHostName:

$ scutil --set HostName $(scutil --get LocalHostName)

Now:

$ sudo scutil --set HostName MacBook-Pro
$ time python -c 'import socket; print(socket.getfqdn())'
MacBook-Pro
python -c 'import socket; print(socket.getfqdn())'  0.01s user 0.00s system 86% cpu 0.016 total

I was confused before because of the following:

$ scutil --get LocalHostName
MacBook-Pro

$ hostname
MacBook-Pro.local

But:

$ scutil --get HostName
HostName: not set


iPhone showing reminders, but I have none My Reminders app is showing 6 reminders, but as far as I know, I have none. I've checked the completed file, checked in iCal on the Mac. Any ideas how to delete these reminders?

When you open the Reminders app, make sure there isn't anything set in both Reminders and Tasks.

You may have created a Task using Siri, or another app by accident. And as a result of the way the app is setup on the iPhone, it doesn't default to showing you both Reminders and Tasks at the same time.

On the iPhone try the following:

Open up the Reminders app
Tap near the bottom of the screen (you should see other white tabs)
Tap on whichever tab is not active (most likely Tasks)
If there are any items listed there, check them off by tapping the circles next to the name

On the Mac try the following:

Open up the Reminders app
Ensure sidebar is visible by going to View > Show Sidebar in the top Menu Bar
Click on all of the different options in the sidebar (Today, Reminders, Tasks, etc)
If there are any items listed there, check them off by clicking the circles next to the name


Can launching an app trigger the launch of another app? When I launch a specific application in Mavericks I'd also like to automatically launch and execute another one.

Is it possible/how?

Open Automator, and choose 'Application' from the pane that appears.

In the sidebar, there should be an item called 'Utilities'. Click this, and drag two 'Launch Application' actions into the main workflow pane. In the first one, choose the application you want to use with Spotify, and in the second one, choose Spotify. (See the picture below.)

Then, save the document with a name you'll remember (something like 'Spotify Launcher') in /Applications, and replace Spotify in your dock with the Spotify Launcher app that's been created. It will launch both Spotify and the companion app you want to use with Spotify whenever you invoke the application.

Hope that helps!


How can I associate a file extension with a content type? I have some files with extension "module" and "inc," which are PHP files. When I try to open them, the list of applications that can open them shows only the application I have set as default application, even though there is another text editor that can open PHP files, and for which I have set the files with those extensions to be highlighted as PHP files are.

If I open the "Get Info" dialog, select another application in "Open With," and then click on "Change All..." what I get is the following.

What I want to obtain is what shown in the following screenshot, which shows the "Open With" menu for another type of file:

Is there a way to associate those extensions to the content type used for PHP files?
Alternatively, how can I show, in the list of the applications shown under the "Open With" menu, all the applications that can open PHP files, when Finder doesn't do that already?

I will explain what I want to obtain using a screenshot of RCDefaultApp.

A file using "module" as extension is a PHP file, in my case (it is a Drupal module); what I want is adding that extension to the ones reported for the "public.php-script" UTI.

The Alternative to the Solution mentioned by Gerry is the RCDefaultApp Preference Pane. It's free and let's you set all Application->Content Type, Application->URL connection on your System.

In the "Apps" Pane of RCDefaultApp you can set what file Types a specific Applications Supports when you check "php" with your Editor it will also show in the "Open With" Menu.


How do I assure that all files from a shared HFS+ drives are always writable by all users? I have a shared drive on a Mac and I keep having problems accessing different directories.

For example, while logged on the server as root I create a new folder aaa on this drive.

Now, I discover that a normal user cannot write to this directory.

Is there a way for me to change the default permissions/ACLs so I prevent this from happening in the future.

I am looking for a one-time solution, not running chmod or chown each time.

Details:

it seems that root is not member of staff group because when I do ls -l I see group _unknown listed for files created by root.
By default the files do get only xr write for the group (drwxr-xr-x), how can I change so the group will have the same rights as the user, by default?
Can this be changes per mounted volume or directory, or changing this would affect the entire system? Risks?

Get Info on said drive and checking Ignore Ownership might help you.


iTunes music syncing between 2 devices but separate Apple IDs I have an iPhone 4S and my son has an IPod 4th generation.  When I set up his iPod, I just synced it with my iTunes music that I selected from my library.

However, now if he uses iMessage, it sends it from MY email address and I also get it in my inbox to me as well.

Is there a way I can change it so he has his own Apple ID and email but in a way that he can sync my music from my iTunes to his iPod??

On the iPod Touch, in the Settings, in the "Messages" section, you can choose the Apple ID used by the device to send iMessages.

Changing this Apple ID should not affect the syncing of the music.


Google sync with iPhone causing incorrect dates on phone If I add a event in Google Calendar the time comes out wrong on the iPhone.

When I add an event on the iPhone the time on Google Calendar comes out wrong but the date is right?

Anyone got any ideas?

You can set the timezone in both the iPhone and Google Calendar.

In Google Calendar, it's in the first page of the settings.
In the iPhone, it's in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Time Zone Support (at the bottom).

You should set both in the same timezone, then see if it fixes the issue.


MBP with Mountain Lion 10.8.3 loses connection to system SSD at random times and freezes So, out of nowhere my 2009 MacBook (2,66 GHz Core 2 Duo, 8 GByte aftermarket ram) started freezing after 200+ days of uptime (sleep time included of course). I had installed a Crucial CT256M4SSD2 256Gbyte SSD a year and a half ago and were quite happy with system stability.

Now these logs appear quite often before freezing my machine completely:

disk0s2: no such device
disk0s2: media is not present

Here is a photograph of such a log (original, larger sized photo here):

The reason I had to do a photo is, of course, because disk0s2 is my harddrive and at the moment of logging it was apparently gone - so no persistent logs for me.

I tried a diagnose and repair with the Disk Utility, but it found nothing and the problem persisted. Uninstalled a couple of apps, but also to no avail. Any advice on how to proceed with diagnosing the problem would be much appreciated.

A firmware update for that SSD was released early this year: have you updated?  The release notes mention:

  Resolved a power-up timing issue that could result in a drive hang, resulting in an inability to communicate with the host computer. The hang condition would typically occur during power-up or resume from Sleep or Hibernate. Most often, a new power cycle will clear the condition and allow normal operations to continue.

(Personally I'm using a CT128M4SSD2 and have decided not to update unless I encounter issues.)


Directory in my mac filesystem has sub directories with greater size than parent directory I have some weirdness on my mac's filesystem nowadays.

I have a dir in my home dev to store my programs and git repos. Size of the dev is 630 MB. Size of the dev/todos is 637 MB and there a re some other sub dirs in this dev of 175MB and so.

What is the reason for that. Is my mac going crazy or it is git or something?

Depending on who is calculating directory sizes, hard-linked files can easily get counted twice, even though they are really only a single inode and should be counted only once.

The du terminal command is the surest way to find out how much space a directory is really taking. It never counts hard-linked files more than once.

(Caveat. If a file in directory A is hard-linked to a file in directory B, and neither directory is contained in the other, du A and du B will each count the file once, so you cannot just add the reported sizes together and get a meaningful sum. However, du C, where C is a directory that contains both A and B, will count the file only once, arbitrarily deciding whether to count the storage as part of A or as part of B.)


How to find a backup of my iPhone contacts? My phone accidentally was dropped in water. I tried to sync it on my Mac with iTunes to save my contacts. Next day I connected it to my Mac again and all the contacts were gone.

I have tried libraries/mobile sync. I located the backup folders but it only has 4 contacts. I need my old contacts and I have tried iphonebackupextractor. But it also shows only 4 contacts.

Were can I locate my earlier contacts of the first sync? Or has it been overwritten the earlier contacts?

On your Mac, the backups are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

This is covered in HT4946: iTunes: About iOS backups

If iTunes doesn't show an earlier dated backup (sometimes it saves off a backup when you upgrade from one major iOS level to another), you would need to erase and restore the Backup folder from a Mac backup (perhaps Time Machine is turned on) to get that older backup of your phone.

Also, check to see if iCloud has backups of your device. It stores several days worth of backups, so don't delay to check there in case ongoing backups of the now empty phone would erase those older backups with the data you seek.


How to add shortcut for Insert Equation in PowerPoint 2016? PowerPoint 2016 for Mac finally includes the new-style equation editor (which was already available in Word for Mac and PowerPoint for Windows).  An equation can be inserted using a ribbon button (Insert → Insert Equation).

How can I add a keyboard shortcut for this?  Is there already a keyboard shortcut for it?

For Word I could use the OS settings from System Preferences → Keyboard and set up a shortcut for the menu item named "Equation".  But I cannot find a corresponding menu item in PowerPoint.  I can only find this feature on the ribbon, but not the in menu.  Is there any way to set up a keyboard shortcut for it?

Update:

Since the situation seems to be in flux, here's an update:

Older versions, including the one that was current when I asked the question, have the undocumented shortcut ⌘-⌥-=. There is no menu item in this versions that would allow setting up a shortcut manually. Answer by theoden.
More recent versions do not have a shortcut built in, but they do have the menu item Insert → Equation, which makes it possible to set up a shortcut manually. Answer by suntoch.

The shortcut posted by theoden seems to be broken in new versions.
As a workaround one can just go to the System Preferences => Keyboard => Shortcuts => App Shortcuts and add another one for Microsoft PowerPoint with the "Equation" as Menu Title.


Is there way to save google maps for offline iphone without jailbreak I've iPhone 3Gs and want to download Google maps to use them offline with GPS.

So is there a good app do that for me ?

Note: i don't want to jailbreak my iPhone.

No, nor will you find one (in the official App Store). Storing the image tiles breaches Google's data licence. There are a bunch of apps that use OpenStreetMap, which has a more liberal licence.


How to fix an iPhone 4S with disabled iCloud settings? I have an iPhone 4S with iOS 7.1.1 and my iCloud is disabled (greyed out) in settings.  How do I enable it if I can't select it?

Why is it grey out?
In Settings-General-Restrictions(password required)-Accounts
(Current Value:Don't Allow Changes)

If the value is Don't Allow Changes,the icloud in Settings will be disabled automatically.

To enable Settings>icloud
Go to:Settings-General-Restrictions(password required)-Accounts
Select "Allow Changes"


Does the Twitter app for OS X support URL minifying? I'd expect that when I paste a new link in the new tweet window the link would be auto minified or I'd have the option to minify... but this doesn't happen.

Am I doing something wrong or is this expected behaviour?

It's the expected behavior. Links are shortened after sending a tweet and only count as 20 characters when composing a tweet.

Twitter has shortened all links automatically with t.co since 2011. Many clients display t.co links with the target URLs, but you'll still be taken to a t.co URL first when opening a link. See Twitter Help Center | FAQs about Twitter's Link Service (http://t.co).


No entry grey screen with spinner with new SSD My hard drive bit the dust rather spectacularly on my 2011 15" MBP. Luckily, I have a model without torx screws, so I popped it open, put in a 240 GB SSD I had lying around, and did and Internet boot into Lion recovery.

I used Disk Utility to format the drive, one partition, Mac OS extended, encrypted. It downloaded Lion, but after that first reboot, I've got a grey screen with a no entry sign and a spinner. It's not changed for 20 minutes.

Is there anything I can do? Is it not possible to us an SSD? I have other hard drives. Was encryption the mistake?

Posting this from my working OS! The problem was with selecting encryption when formatting the drive. I reformatted without, painstakingly downloaded Lion again and all seems to be working fine now.


Custom shortcut executes service twice Following this answer I have created a custom service that executes a shell script that looks like this:

open -a FireFox "http://dict.cc/$1"

It works fine when I click. Then I defined a custom shortcut for it, (⇧ ⌘ L), and when I use that, the script seems to get executed twice (two tabs open, both showing the desired page). How can I fix that?

Edit: This only seems to happen when I invoce the service using the shortcut from within FireFox.

Edit 2: This gets weirder and weirder. I now created a second script for looking up stuff in Google, and bound it to the hotkey ⇧ ⌘ T. Now when I press that, it actually opens both my custom services. I have no idea why this happens.

Also, I removed both the hotkeys temporarily to check if they were used, but nothing happened when I pressed them.

Strange… maybe trying to rebuild your services menu (and then restarting) will help? See the top answer here:

https://superuser.com/questions/43700/snow-leopard-services-menu-says-its-building


"netstat -p tcp" on my mac displays an unknown connection to stackoverflow.co.http The following is the output of "netstat -p tcp" on my mac.

tcp4       0      0  192.168.0.100.63515    17.172.232.11.5223     ESTABLISHED
tcp4       0      0  192.168.0.100.63514    stackoverflow.co.http  ESTABLISHED
tcp4       0      0  192.168.0.100.63510    17.110.228.142.5223    ESTABLISHED

I "whois"ed the 1st and 3rd ip and they belong to Apple.
I did not visit stack overflow since morning and also my browsers (safari and chrome) were not running in background, then what is stack overflow.co.http doing in my network.
I do not have any program except for a terminal and preview for ibook running when i checked the netstat connection list.
It is in ESTABLISHED state as you can see above.
Do i have an unknown program running in background that is creating a connection to stackoverflow ? If anyone happen to know any thing about this please share the information
Also is there any way I can see which program has established a connection with stackoverflow.co.http.

Thanks,
Ankit

I have following

tcp4       0      0  192.168.1.3.54402      stackoverflow.co.https ESTABLISHED

But when I turn off my Browser (Quit) that is no longer there.

To see who is using what run

lsof -i -P


How can I move my local e-mail folders in Mail.app from my old Mac to my new Mac? Including all e-mail messages contained in these local folders ofcourse.

Under ~/Library/Mail/ you should have a folder named after you mail account. Inside it, there are .ewsmbox files that contain all your e-mail folders.

Try to move those from your old to your new Mac.


Can't Remove Kernel Extensions Under Mojave After updating to Mojave my system crashes. It can only be started in safe-mode.

According to crash logs from sysdiagnose, a particular extension is causing problems:

0xffffff811b0f3fa0 : 0xffffff800c9590ce
  Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
    com.coriolis-systems.driver.Snapshot(122.0)[5611248B-6440-3559-9F69-2F249150EA5A]@0xffffff7f8d734000->0xffffff7f8d7aafff
      dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(2.1)[499E27C9-AC4D-3239-9FC4-754C7699FA76]@0xffffff7f8d704000

It seems the extension can be found but not removed

$:/Library/Extensions$ kextfind -b com.coriolis-systems.driver.Snapshot
/Library/Extensions/CoriolisSnapshot.kext
$:/Library/Extensions$ kextunload -b /Library/Extensions/CoriolisSnapshot.kext
(kernel) Kext /Library/Extensions/CoriolisSnapshot.kext not found for unload request.
Failed to unload /Library/Extensions/CoriolisSnapshot.kext - (libkern/kext) not found.

How do I remove this extension completely? It also shows up under /Library/StagedExtensions/Library/Extensions and /Library//SystemMigration/History/Migration-XXX/QuarantineRoot/Library/StagedExtensions/Library/Extensions/

For that matter are there any way to just remove all third-party extensions without a fresh install?

-- UPDATE --

After losing patience I just removed the /Library/Extensions/CoriolisSnapshot.kext directory after having started in safe-mode. The system booted successfully into Mojave and then opened notification windows indicating several third party extensions were blocked. After allowing one to load the security and privacy pane opened where I was able to check/uncheck other extensions. The Coriolis Systems box was there and I left it unchecked. The system then restarted successfully without any more requests.

Fair warning! This was somewhat risky. Removing system folders can have unintended consequences. The only reason I was willing to try was that I made a full disk image backup just prior to installing Mojave.

As the developer responsible for that KEXT, I'm sorry that it's crashing.  You did the right thing just deleting it; it isn't going to be updated for Mojave (because, frankly, there's no point; what with APFS and the various security changes, I'm afraid iDefrag is now a legacy-only product).

For anyone else seeing this problem, you can boot into Safe Mode by restarting your machine and holding Shift (the key marked ⇧) when you hear the boot chime.  Alternatively, you can boot into Recovery Mode by holding Command (⌘) and R when you hear the chime; if you're in Recovery Mode, you can open Terminal from the "Utilities" menu at the top of the screen.

To delete the KEXT, follow the instructions below:

From Finder

In Finder, choose "Go to Folder…" from the "Go" menu.
Enter /Library/Extensions into the box that appears.
Press "Go" (or hit Return).
Drag the CoriolisSnapshot.kext to the Trash (or choose "Move to Trash" from the "File" menu).

From Terminal

Enter sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/CoriolisSnapshot.kext at the prompt, and press Return.
If prompted, enter your password and press Return.


Can I run migration assistant multiple times for multiple computers? I have 2 old macs with data that needs to be moved to 1 new mac. Can I simply run migration assistant twice, moving the data into the same user account on the new mac?

Without the source or the full functionnal specification from Apple it is impossible to give you an answer with no risk.

To clarify your question let's say your 3 Macs are named A, B and C.
A being the oldest one, then B, and C the younger one.

Your question is "can I run Migration Assistant this way":

A → C
and then
B → C

I am convinced that Apple didn't take into consideration such a scheme of migration which might lead to data loss or corruption.

On the other hand, if you want to run Migration Assistant this way:

A → B
and then
B → C

I am convinced that the integration process will work correctly on B and then on C.
In this case, make a full backup of B before starting.


Many Applications accessing obsolete x509anchors When I look into console.app I see that every 2 minutes one of the mac os programs (Safari, Mail, Keychain, Addressbook, WebProcess etc.) is giving an "Warning: accessing obsolete X509Anchors." error. How do I solve this problem?

Systeminfo:

Mac OS 10.6.8

Did you perhaps upgrade from an earlier version of OS X? Apparently this error is benign:

  The X509Anchors keychain is harmless and can be left in place. If you do not use any third-party software that requires this keychain, it can be deleted.


Troubleshooting a slow Mac - OSX 10.9.5 My 2012 MacBook Pro 15", OS X 10.9.5, 2.6 GHz i7, 16 GB RAM, 750 GB HDD, has been acting very slow recently. Starting up takes a long time, not only for the login screen to show (if starting up from being turned off), but once logged in it takes about 10-15 mins to become responsive to the point were the Finder or any of the programs are responsive enough to be used.

Then during normal use the machine can be running fine, but flicking between finder windows, quick previewing an image in the finder using space bar, move files can cause it to hang when ill then have to wait, or force reboot the finder, using force quit. Generally though everything seems quite lethargic.

The first thing I did was to check Activity Monitor, where as far as I can tell the Mac has got more that plenty of resources available (see below screenshots.) Although these are obviously taken at a set point in time they are pretty indicative of whats normally shown in the activity monitor.

I've checked to see if the machine's indexing, which it isn't.  I've also noticed that the when I first open the machine, Dropbox is starting up which seems to make everything quite slow, but I don't believe it's the only culprit.

I suppose I could upgrade to an SSD, but dont particularly want to as they are quite expensive for 750GB and the machine as far as I can remember wasn't always this slow and I've always been running the same tasks on it.

Is there anything else that I might have missed in trying to troubleshoot and resolve these issues?

The three simplest things to do to troubleshoot slowness is to write down what specifically you wish to optimize and then measure it. When you have a good baseline and preferably can reliably reproduce the conditions when it's slow.

Make a new empty user and set the Mac to not auto log in. Reboot and repeat the test with the new account.
Look in the console logs for storage errors and boot into recovery mode to run Disk Utility to check for catalog or other errors.
Install a clean OS onto a USB drive and boot from that. As long as the drive is reasonably fast, you should be a bit slower on the external drive and could even point a user home folder there back to the home folder on the internal drive to see if it's a system issue.

Unfortunately, I don't have a silver bullet, but once you narrow down things to user level slowness or system slowness or hardware errors/degradation then you can dig into Activity Monitor and see if CPU or RAM or storage is constrained when your slowness arrives. From your snapshots, you have plenty of RAM and the system should only get faster with use as files needed get cached in RAM. Your CPU doesn't look loaded at all, so I'm guessing network or storage issues from the data you have provided.


Change Keyboard Layout in Turkish F Keyboard Layout I changed the keyboard layout of the Mac to Turkish F keyboard layout. But three keys (x,w,q) are not in their default places. I want to change the layout on my keyboard.

Is this possible?

Yes, using the free application Ukelele, you can change your keyboard layout into exactly what you want.


Songs Won't Appear On Ipod After Syncing I have been having issues with syncing my iPod and would be extremely grateful if anyone could help.
When I connect my iPod to the computer it shows on both the iPod and iTunes that it is syncing. However the songs that I have added a week ago still won't go on to the iPod and I have tried syncing it several items. The songs are downloaded from iTunes so I don't understand why it won't work.

Can you check if your iPod is set for syncing all music ? Attach your iPod to your computer and in the iTunes sidebar select the iPod. Click on Music and check if the setting is enabled or not. Also check if your enabled manually manage songs.

Also, check the Apple Support Article on how to manage and sync the music to your iPod.


Space issues with Mac Pro OSX 10.7.5 with SSD 120G as boot volume Issue is most obvious in Final Cut Pro (10.0.8), but has occurred with other apps. I can't find a way to lower the footprint on the SSD. I only have one user (me) and have nearly all the apps on the regular hard drive. No big data. Finder says my user directory is using 75.5G but there are only about 1G of files listed under the user directory. I understand there are lots of hidden files, but over 70G? Is this just an FCP issue, or am I missing something completely. Would the $20 for upgrading to mountain lion fix the issue?

Funnily enough I also have the same problem now. I don't remember space on my hard drive being taken so much but my 120GB SSD has only 40GB left now too. Using DiskInventory X i know that 40 is taken up by my iTunes library and some other files, but 40Gb seems to have been used by OS. I'm sure it wasn't more than 20 when I installed the SSD.


ClickLock: Enable Drag after Long Click I am new user of Macbook and I love it, but  I need ClickLock feature (Like on Windows Mouse Settings) because I have cerebral palsy and I can't drag normally.

The idea of ClickLock feature: Long click (~30ms) to enable dragging and click to turn of.

Any ideas how to do it?

The best,
Lukasz

I trust that the Drag Lock feature should deliver what you need. You can activate it in the system preferences. I would also suggest that you have a look at this discussion that explains how the drag and lock an similar options work.


Stop finder from opening search by default I open finder with option + cmd + space.

Which on my second MBP opens a Finder Search window. (I then have to press cmd + n for new finder)

On my primary machine I have somehow set it to open a new Finder window by default.

How can I get option + cmd + space to open a new finder window, NOT search?

Tried:

Turn this off and then add a new shortcut in app shortcuts, with text exactly New Finder Window with keys you want.


How do I add media not in iPhoto to a Keynote presentation? I want to use folders other than iPhoto and Photo Booth when adding media in iWork applications. For example when using Keynote, this pops up:

How do I add folders to the pop-over menu?

You can

drag them in from a Finder window

copy and paste from somewhere else

or use Insert > Choose...

You can also add the folders by dragging them into the media browser, as described in Macworld's article Add more folders to the Media Browser.

First, in your iWork program, make sure the tab of the Media Browser that you’d like to modify is selected, then switch to the Finder. Find the folder you’d like to add, and start dragging it. Now press Command-Tab—while still dragging the folder—and switch to your iWork application. When the iWork program becomes active, your floating palettes will show up, and you can then drop the dragged folder into the Media Browser. (You can do the same thing using Exposé instead of Command-Tab, if you prefer.)
To remove folders you’ve added, Control-click on the folder in the Media Browser and select Remove Folder from the pop-up menu. You can only remove top-level folders, not folders within folders, in this manner. To get rid of all the folders you’ve added, Control-click on the Folders folder, and select Remove Folders from the pop-up menu.


Why does the application in focus hang for several seconds when a drive spins up? This has happened to me for as long as I have used Macs, I think.

Occasionally, Mac OS X remembers a long-forgotten disk, sometimes external, sometimes internal, and spins it up for some reason. And every time this happens, the front-most application, the one I am using at that moment, hangs until the disk has spun up.

Why does that happen and can I tell OS X that the application in focus ought to have priority over hard disks? (Note that it is not the boot hard disk with the swap file that is being spun up.)

I know exactly what you mean
Mine does it with my external HD

It drives me nuts.
I've replaced my HD in my MBP with a SSD.
I've been thinking about replacing the SuperDrive with a hard drive tray and putting the original drive in it, but if my computer is going to hang to spin up the HHD it isn't worth it.

I guess I just have to buy one, install it, and see what happens.
I'll let you know Tuesday when the caddy tray arrives if it is an OS-HD issue, or a OS-USB issue


How to separate iMessages with shared Apple ID? My son and wife both have iPod Touches and I have an iPhone. We all used the same Apple ID and turned on iMessage. Both my son and wife were getting texts from my friends and my work on their iPods, I think because my cell phone number was linked to the Apple ID.  If I just turn off iMessage on my iPhone, will that solve the issue?

Set up new AppleIDs for your wife and son. This has several advantages: If they use a different computer than you, they can manage different iTunes playlists, different sets of address book contacts, etc without affecting your personal settings or preferences. They will each also be able to sync their own photos and documents and set up their own mail account through iCloud.

In Settings, sign in to your AppleID on each device for iTunes Store and to their personal AppleIDs for iCloud. This will mean that app and music purchases you make on the account will still be available on all devices, but that your son and wife will each have their own iMessage account. They will no longer receive your texts, but they will be able to send and receive iMessage texts for free over WiFi.

You can also share photos this way; photo streams can be shared between AppleIDs. If they are using your ID, any photos they take will end up on your device too. With their own IDs, this will not happen unless you specifically set it up to do so.

If you all sync to different computers iTunes Home Sharing can be used to keep purchased content in sync. Just authorize each computer using your AppleID.

One caveat: Make sure that neither your wife or son use their own AppleID for purchases, or only they will be able to see the app. There is a way to set up an AppleID without entering a credit card number; especially for a younger son, this is a really good idea.


Force "low power mode" on mac When there is less than 5% battery left on a mac, the battery indicator goes red and system performance significantly drops - presumably in an attempt to make that remaining 5% last a little longer.

Is there a way to manually trigger this, so that the system performance is low (and battery life longer), even when there is plentiful battery?

This would theoretically be a way of extending the number of hours on a battery beyond the rated amount.

I'm using underclocking app volta, seems to be working so far.


OpenSSL encryption method doesn't work on El Capitan The following file encryption method works on OS X Yosemite:

Encrypt: openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in file.zip -out file.zip.enc

Decrypt: openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -d -in file.zip.enc -out file.zip

However, when on OS X El Capitan I get this error:

unknown option '-aes-256-cbc -in file.enc'

Any solutions?

You likely have a shell quoting problem. The command works just fine for me in 10.11.4:

> which openssl
/usr/bin/openssl

> openssl version
OpenSSL 0.9.8zh 14 Jan 2016

> openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in file.zip -out file.zip.enc; echo $?
enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
Verifying - enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
0

> openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -d -in file.zip.enc -out file.zip; echo $?
enter aes-256-cbc decryption password:
0

Check to make sure that your calling program is treating -aes-256-cbc as a single option and isn't quoting it when sending it in to the shell. It looks like it's calling the program with option cluster "-aes-256-cbc -in file.enc" which actually isn't a valid, single option for openssl.

If you can provide more details about how you're calling openssl I can give you more specific guidance.


Why does my iPhone use my location when I tell it not to? Why does my iPhone use my location even though I tell it not to? As you can see from the Time Zone setting, I have it switched off, yet it says that my location was recently used. Why bother having a switch at all?

This is a known defect that started with iOS 10.3.  Dozens of Apple fan sites, including Apple's own discussion forums, are filled with people complaining about the bug.

According to some people on this Apple discussion forum, Apple is now considering this 'expected behavior' and doesn't have any plans to fix it.  I'd take that with a grain of salt because it's just one person saying they were told this by an Apple support person.

I'd recommend you file a bug report as well as provide feedback about your displeasure.


iPad mini 4 restarts itself when shaken Today I just noticed that my iPad mini 4 restarts itself when shaken. I started to notice it first today when I took off its clear case to clean the back. I also noticed that when I hard reset it sometimes a gold (sometimes white and gray) colored screen flashes before restarting itself. What could be the cause of this problem?

BTW/ the iPad mini 4 is a 16gb wifi model and running on the latest version of iOS (10.2.1)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is definitely an hardware issue. The first thing I would suggest is to stop shaking it! :)
What ever loose connector you have there might stay loose which will force you to take it to apple \ local repair store.

I think it's better to take it for a repair now. I will be a lot easier for the repair guy to find the problem while it is still half working.


ERROR: 'xcodebuild' requires Xcode OBSERVATIONS
I was not expecting the command to return an error:
/usr/bin/xcodebuild -version (Reference) returns an error:

xcode-select: error: tool 'xcodebuild' requires Xcode, but active
developer directory '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools' is a command
line tools instance

ls -l /usr/bin/xcodebuild returns:

-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  31488 May 27 19:37 /usr/bin/xcodebuild

xcodebuild -version returns:
xcode-select: error: tool 'xcodebuild' requires Xcode, but active developer directory '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools' is a command line tools instance
gcc --version returns:

Configured with:
--prefix=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple clang version 11.0.3 (clang-1103.0.32.62) Target:
x86_64-apple-darwin19.5.0 Thread model: posix InstalledDir:
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin

QUESTIONS
Why is the an error returned in the first observation and what remedies are available?
How can I test (without installing anything to determine if I have the problem described here?
I am concerned that changing the active directory
sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
will cause problems with brew or other installed apps.  Though it would seem that my active directory and the suggested change is the same.
UPDATES
$ ls -l /Applications/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  4 user  admin  128 Jul 26 00:06 Polyspace
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root  wheel   96 Apr 23 00:52 Safari.app
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 user  staff   96 Sep 30  2019 Sublime Text.app
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 user  staff   96 May 15 20:06 Transmission.app
drwxr-xr-x  4 root  wheel  128 May 27 19:31 Utilities
$ ls /usr/bin | grep -I Xcode
xcode-select
xcodebuild

Assuming your Xcode.app is installed in /Applications you can just run
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/

to fix this.


Earpods doesn't work on iPhone7 There is a big problem with the EarPods that I get with my new iPhone 7.
Inside the Apple box there was also an adapter for the 3.5mm jack and it works perfectly with other type of headphones (with 3.5mm jack) on my phone.
However the Earpods with the lightning work only on my friend's iPhone 7, not with mine. Someone could help me?

I suppose you could reach out to Apple support if you can't bring a second pair of EarPods to test that your phone has a working lightning connector. A bit of fuzz or lint could be covering a pin or there could be a rare defect. Rd to know without testing and observing the port.


Rotate iPad Video out when connected to a monitor I have a HDMI -> iPad adapter that I'm using to connect my iPad to a monitor to do a demo at a tradeshow. The monitor I'm using is placed vertically, so I need to rotate the video out from the iPad to match it. I couldn't find any way to do this in the settings app.

Does anyone know a way? (Cydia apps are fine too)

There's currently no way to do this system-wide.  If you make the app you're using for the demo, you should consider making the app do the rotation for you.

Design the app so when it's in landscape mode it displays a portrait mode screen (ie, the app always appears rotated on its side).  Then hold the ipad in landscape mode, turn rotation lock on so it stays that way, start your app, then use your app with the correct orientation.  Turn your monitor on its side to see the faked portrait mode.

You can also do this for presentations if you turn all your slides on the side.

However there's currently no way to do this for apps not designed for it.


How to view Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) files on a Mac? I've received a bunch of MDI files which I need to open on a Mac Snow Leopard. Any way around this e.g. free readers available?

MDI files were a proprietary file format used by Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 on Windows. Searching around online, some people have luck opening them with QuickTime (which is already on your Mac), or GraphicConverter. Not having access to these files, nor a direct Mac equivalent, without more information we would be unsure if this would work or not. Office 2008 and 2011 on the Mac won't open them.

The best way to view these (and free too, really), would be to have a Windows using friend to open them in Windows and export as another file type.