Problems getting macOS Sierra on a bootable hard drive I'm trying to get a bootable hard drive with macOS Sierra going so that I can use Octane Render. My Macbook is running macOS High Sierra, which is apparently buggy with Octane at the moment.

I purchsed a WD easystore, partitioned it to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and put the macOS Sierra installer on it (I downloaded this from the App Store). First, I was starting up with that disk and continuously getting the following error message:
"This copy of the Install macOS Sierra.app application is damaged, and can't be used to install macOS."

NOW I'm not even getting to that stage, the drive isn't even showing up as a bootable disk! When I go to System Preferences > Startup Disk, it's not even there as an option.

Please help me - getting verrrry frustrated as I have no idea what I'm doing. Thanks in advance!

Assuming that you don't have an additional thumb drive (according to Apple with at least 12 GB - I got it to work with a 8 GB thumb drive) I recommend the following method:

erase and repartition your WD easystore to two Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partitions - a bigger one first with the name "Sierra" and the size (total_size_of_external_drive - 12 GB) and a much smaller second one with the name "Sierra_Installer" and a size of ~12 GB. The partition scheme has to be GUID! If your MacBook's main partition already has the name "Sierra"  choose another name for the first partition of the external drive. Below I assume the bigger volume on the external drive has the name "Sierra".

Example: if your external drive has a size of 1 TB, then the first partition "Sierra" should have a size of 988 GB and the second "Sierra_Installer" partition one of ~12 GB.
re-download the "macOS Sierra installer.app" on your MacBook
open Terminal.app in /Applications/Utilities
enter the command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Sierra_Installer --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app

hit the Enter key, enter your password (which won't be visible because it's masked), hit the Enter key again and let do createinstallmedia its job.
Quit Terminal after the job is done and any other app.
Reboot to "Sierra_Installer" (e.g. by choosing it in System Preferences > Startup Disk or by hitting the alt-key while booting and choosing Sierra_Installer)
After a successful boot of the "Installer Boot Partition" install macOS Sierra to the volume "Sierra".
After a successful installation configure Sierra.
Finally remove the partition "Sierra_Installer" with Disk Utility and resize the volume "Sierra" to the full size of the disk.

The method proposed by user3439894 in a comment to your question is preferred though: create an Installer Thumb Drive, boot to it and install Sierra to a single-partitioned external drive.


Can you make the menu bar never show while in full screen already? 4 years ago, I asked if it is possible to stop the menu bar from showing while in full screen. The issue is that, on tabbed applications, whenever I try to click a tab, the menu bar appears above it causing me to click in the wrong place. Half a decade later and I'm still deeply frustrated with this issue. Is there any way to do it yet?

Here is what I am talking about:

One possible workaround... Go into System Preferences. Select "General." Towards the top, there is a place you can set the menu bar to "Automatically hide and show the menu bar."


Connect an iPad Pro to both Ethernet and HDMI Is it possible to connect the iPad Pro to both RJ-45 wired ethernet (data i/o) and HDMI out?

Note: iPad Pro to ethernet is already possible - using the lightning to usb female camera adapter...

but is it possible to daisy chain in the hdmi out...

Example:

                               -> hdmi out |                   <- ac

iPad Pro -> lightning to HDMI -> lightning to usb-female -> usb to ethernet

or some other technique?

Only thing I found through some searching around is this:

Lightning port to USBc adapter

to

Then USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter

Then get a USB to ethernet.
I am not sure if that Multiport adapter works well having the HDMI and USB port accessed at the same time or if the iPad will even utilize all the conversions. But there are examples of someone using a grocery cart of adapters to make something work on an iPad


Security Q:A new app fails signature verification. What steps are appropriate to address this? I downloaded an app, and after installation, it fails signature verification:

codesign -vv Amazon\ Music.app
Amazon Music.app: a sealed resource is missing or invalid
file added: /Applications/Amazon Music.app/Contents/Frameworks/update.ini

What I've tried:
I don't think it's a transmission error; aside from any internal checks, I downloaded the .dmg twice, over https (URL), and got the same crc32 both times: 74ecf8ab

The installer checks out fine:

codesign -vv */Am*er.app/
Amazon Music/Amazon Music Installer.app/: valid on disk
Amazon Music/Amazon Music Installer.app/: satisfies its Designated Requirement

Adding

   -R='anchor apple generic'

doesn't help.

Anyone come across this before?

w/o guidance, my plan is:

report it as a security issue to security@ (per
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201909140),
try to get codesign to show me what's missing,
Pick apart the .ini


iPhone 7 - Can't update apps When I try to update an app, it says Verification Required, and when I try to fill in my PayPal account, it declines due to an issue with my PayPal account, and I think the same problem applies to credit and debit cards (I don't have a credit or debit card).

I tried reading many tutorials, and people who had the same issue as me, and none seemed to have fixed my issue. (I can't choose None when I try to edit my Apple ID payment information, and I don't own a iTunes gift card or a Mac.) I am clueless, and confused. I really need some help.

If you can‘t select „None“ you must enter some payment details to re-enable your account. So either get your PayPal account fixed, create a new PayPal account, or get a credit card (or ask Antriebs to help you out with one).

If all these options are unavailable to you right now you can try tinsort it out with Apple Support. Contact details depend by country etc but can be found at the bottom of apple,com.


itunes cards purchased in US and used in Africa or Turkey i have a friend in Turkey and is asking me to purchase an iTunes card for $200 but if you have an iTunes account can't you put a credit card on it to make purchases like Netflix. They are only over there for a few months for work so does their account not work over there?  If I buy in US how do I get the card to them if they cant receive mail? Do I just purchase here and give them the number on the card? Please help.

That’s how many online services work when selling Apple gift cards. They email the redemption codes and hope that no one else gets the email and redeems them. It’s the first person to claim the code that gets the money.

I would send the code over iMessage since that’s encrypted quite securely.

If you were doing a lot of this, I would read the terms and conditions since this is likely against the literal terms, but if you are helping someone that legitimately has a US App Store account and is simply traveling and not wanting to wait for the physical card to ship, I can’t imagine Apple coming down on you or them once you explained the situation if it somehow was flagged as improper.

Your friends could also enter their AppleID into wallet on their iPhone or iPad and then send you a screen shot that you could take to an Apple store and have the employees scan and then take your payment. That credits the AppleID instantly - no need to send the redemption code.

I haven’t tried sharing the wallet item, but they might do that as well if you have an iPad or iPhone and could take that into the store for purchase.


How can I make it as easy as possible for someone to make an emergency call? My mother-in-law lives with us and is in poor health. She is wheelchair bound and has COPD, needing assistance with an oxygen compressor and oxygen tanks.

In recent weeks, there have been a few emergencies where she fell out of her wheelchair and needed immediate assistance, but it was the early morning, and no one was awake to check on her for about an hour. She has an iPhone and knows how to use "Hey Siri," but the phone wasn't within reach and wasn't registering her voice, which is very quiet and raspy.

I'm looking for some way for her to carry a small device that she could press a button on and an alert would immediately be sent to at least one, preferably multiple phones (mine, my wife's, my son's).

All the emergency medical devices I've found are subscription based and contact a third party. My mother-in-law doesn't want this.

We all have iPhones and Wi-Fi in the house. Her bedroom has a good Wi-Fi signal, but spotty cellular reception.

Is there a technology that she can always have on her person where she pressing a simple button and an alert appears on my wife's, my son's, and my iPhone?

Apple Watch Series 4 provides a 1st party solution for the aforementioned requirements.

You can consider an Apple Watch Series 4 or later with Cellular connectivity. Apple Watch Series 4 and later feature build-in fall detection mode that can also alert the emergency services and customizable emergency contacts. A cellular variant remains connected to the Internet even if the paired iPhone is not in the proximity.

You can refer to the Apple Support document, Use fall detection with Apple Watch to learn more:

  If Apple Watch Series 4 or later detects a hard fall, it can help connect you to emergency services if needed.

  If Apple Watch Series 4 or later detects a hard fall while you're wearing your watch, it taps you on the wrist, sounds an alarm, and displays an alert. You can choose to contact emergency services or dismiss the alert by pressing the Digital Crown, tapping Close in the upper-left corner, or tapping "I'm OK."

and

  If your Apple Watch detects that you're immobile for about a minute, it begins a 30-second countdown, while tapping you on the wrist and sounding an alert. The alert gets louder, so that you or someone nearby can hear it. If you don't want to call emergency services, tap Cancel. When the countdown ends, your Apple Watch automatically contacts emergency services.

The fall detection and emergency calling feature is built into Apple Watch and doesn't require you to install a separate app or get a separate subscription.

Even without a fall, Apple Watch makes it very easy to contact the emergency contacts which can be configured. Having a Cellular model gives the extra peace of mind that the Watch would have cellular connectivity even if the paired iPhone is not in range.

Since the features comes built-in from Apple, there's no data privacy concerns.

Apple Watch Series 4 and later also supports "Hey Siri".


Exploring RAM contents I would like to explore the contents of the RAM my application is using? I would like to see if I can find that string I allocated. Any suggestions to print out the entire contents of my application's memory to the terminal?

To find the C string ”FooBar” in your heap:

$ lldb PathToYourAppBundle/Contents/MacOS/YourAppName
(lldb) command script import lldb.macosx.heap
(lldb) r
Pause execution with ControlC.
(lldb) cstr_refs -m FooBar


My personal settings on OS X disappear after booting Windows (XP or 7) on my MacBook Pro I installed Windows 7 (and XP before) on my MacBook Pro and whenever I boot my Windows and after that boot my OS X my clock shows the wrong time and my login items that I set in the system preference > Accounts disappear!

I have also lost my second language added! Indeed I lost all my specimen settings.

Someone told me that's because MBP don't have BIOS and that causes the problem to happen. Does anyone know how must I solve it?

P.S: asked this question before on superuser and get this answer about to edit registry and set RealTimeIsUniversal to 1.

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

but it just solve the time problem.

this is my login items but I don't think it related to apps was set here because I changed them many times and still have the problem.

Try to backup and delete the file under ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist

This will remove the login item you have and Mac OS X will create a new (clean) one.

For more information:

Do you by any chance use some kind of app cleaner on your Mac that would delete .plist files?
When on Windows, do you mount your Mac partition with read access?


Syncing iPad with iPhone I have an iPhone and recently purchased an iPad, and I'd like to sync all the song's I've already got in my iPhone, into my iPad. How can I do this?

I have iTunes but cant seem to sync.

Make sure you have all of your iPhone songs already loaded in your iTunes library. If you previously synced iTunes on your computer with your iPhone, this is most certainly the case.
Connect your iPad to your computer and run iTunes
In your iPad from within iTunes, navigate to the "Music" tab and make sure that the "Sync music" and "Entire library" options are ticked.
Click on the Apply button.

Your iTunes library songs will now be pushed to your iPad.

You can alternatively enable iTunes match on both your iPhone and your iPad, and have iTunes Match push your iPhone songs to your iPad. More information about iTunes Match here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4914


How can I use Lion's "look up" feature without the trackpad? Lion introduced the new "Double-tap with three fingers" to Look up, which pops up a small definition of whatever word you double-tap. Is there any way to invoke look up without the trackpad? For example, if I'm on a desktop Mac (with a normal mouse) is there any way to quickly look up a word by using this same look up feature?

From this:

  For years, Mac OS X has had a great shortcut for getting a quick definition of a word: Simply hover the cursor over the word, and press the keyboard shortcut Command-Control-D to bring up a little Dictionary popup. This still works in Lion, but it’s now much more fully featured and also has a great new way to access it.

Your looking for Cmd+Ctrl+D

PS: Thanks for asking, it actually made me look and learn something new


How to restore content from quit migration? I bought a new MacBook Pro and began working on it. I saved all my preferences, had some files on here, etc. My old MacBook has USB ports that don't work so I can't transfer files via Time Machine. Apple's site says that WiFi is the fastest way to transfer (which is apparently inaccurate) so I did that overnight. I woke up to find that I still had 44 hours left, and I need to work so I quit both. Old Mac is fine. New Mac is restored.

When I used Migration Assistant it said that it would save the new Mac's data in a folder somewhere. That is what I'm hoping to be able to find and restore settings. Does anyone know where that folder is and how to do that or am I out of luck and starting over?

Several follow-up questions to help answer your question.

Do you have a Time Machine backup of the old MacBook?
When you say "New Mac is restored", what do you mean? Can you see/use the new User account from the login page? If you can, then you should be able to see the data for your account, as it wouldn't be possible to log in otherwise.
The folder might be under /Users possibly in a folder called something like "Deleted Users". From the Finder, select "Go > Go To Folder", type in "/Users/" and press enter and see if your files are there.


launchd runs program every hour even though StartCalendarInterval array is provided I have my StartCalendarInterval set in my launchd plist file like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>local.script.launcher</string>

        <key>Program</key>
        <string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>

        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>osascript</string>
            <string>/Users/me/basic-script.scpt</string>
        </array>

        <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
        <array>
            <dict>
                <key>Hour</key>
                <integer>8</integer>
                <key>Minute</key>
                <integer>0</integer>
            </dict>
            <dict>
                <key>Hour</key>
                <integer>16</integer>
                <key>Minute</key>
                <integer>0</integer>
            </dict>
            <dict>
                <key>Hour</key>
                <integer>24</integer>
                <key>Minute</key>
                <integer>0</integer>
            </dict>
        </array>
    </dict>
</plist>

Even though I am declaring 3 different StartCalendarIntervals, the agent still launches the program every hour.
What am I doing wrong?
.
SOLUTION:
As per @Phong's answer, for launchd plist files and StartCalendarInterval, midnight, 12AM, or 2400 hours military time is Hour = 0 not 24.

launchd is throwing out 24 as an invalid Hour value, thus interpreting that entire entry as Minute = 0. This causes your agent to run every hour on the dot.

The correct value for midnight is 0:

<dict>
    <key>Hour</key>
    <integer>0</integer>

    <key>Minute</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
</dict>


How to set screen resolution with a keyboard shortcut on Retina MBP? I've found myself switching between the 1440x900 and 1920x1200 "effective resolution" setting depending on what I'm doing (need more space on screen, etc).

Is there a way to toggle between these two modes with a keyboard shortcut?
Can I invoke one mode with a keyboard shortcut?
Alternatively, can this be done via an AppleScript (and therefore bound to a keyboard shortcut)?

QuickRes (4 USD)
Based on your description, QuickRes appears to perfectly accomplish what you're trying to do.  You can set multiple (up to 8) resolutions in its preferences and assign keyboard shortcuts to them.  To access preferences, launch QuickRes and Ctrl-click (right-click) the icon that will appear in the menu bar.  Note that Mac will give you an error and claim that it is from an "unidentified developer"; simply Ctrl-click the app's icon in Finder and click open.
Screenshots are below:

QuickRes options.  Click Preferences. Also, after you set resolutions, you may simply click this icon normally to toggle between resolutions.

Resolutions pane of QuickRes preferences.  You may add more preferred resolutions in "Advanced." Also, because this was taken on an iMac, you will have different resolution options for your MacBook Pro Retina.

Shortcuts pane of QuickRes preferences.  Right now, my shortcut is Command-Option-R.  You can change this, of course.

In the Advanced pane, you can set how many resolutions you wish to toggle.  The shortcut only works when you have QuickRes open (it's a lightweight app, so don't worry about resources), so I would recommend selecting "Open QuickRes on Login" to get it out of your way.


VS Code Icon not updated in Big Sur I'm on macOS 11.2.3 (20D91). I updated VS Code to the latest version which introduces a new icon.
Unfortunately, icon remains the same of before. I have already run killall Dock and killall Finder but things did not change.

Fixed thanks to this suggestion
From the link above:

Restart your dock via killall Dock in the terminal

Run these scripts in your terminal (which updates the timestamp of the icons):
sudo touch /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app
sudo touch /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app/Contents/Info.plist
sudo touch /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app/Contents/Resources/Code.icns
killall Dock Finder

Note: For Insiders and Explorations, simply append \ -\ Insiders or \ -\ Exploration to each version name reference.

Force the IconService cache to be rebuilt using these steps:

Remove the main IconServices cache store:
sudo rm -rfv /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

Remove the subsidiary store, which includes the Dock icon cache too:
sudo find /private/var/folders/ \( -name com.apple.dock.iconcache -or -name com.apple.iconservices \) -exec rm -rfv {} \;

Restart and give your Mac plenty of time to rebuild the caches.


Set Alias for Terminal Window in Applescript After opening multiple terminal windows and running commands in them, it becomes difficult to send another command to a specific terminal window.

How can we set an alias for each terminal window so we can specifically target it later? Heres a code snippet of what I am trying to do (apparently the code doesn't work)

tell application "Terminal"

    activate

    do script "./start-1.sh" in window 1
    // then set an alias for this window: 'start1'

    do script "./start-2.sh" in window 2
    // then set an alias for this window: 'start2'

    do script "/monitor.sh" in window 3
    // then set an alias for this window 'monitor'

    // send command to a specific window using its alias
    do script "shutdown -n 0" in window 'monitor'

end tell

What you really need to save are the tabs—those can be used again in a do script action (even if they are just one per window).

This script:

tell application "Terminal"
    activate
    set tab1 to (do script "echo foo")
    do script "echo bar" in tab1
    do script "echo baz" -- in new window
    do script "echo back again" in tab1
end tell

will produce this in one window:

$ echo foo
foo
$ echo bar
bar
$ echo back again
back again
$

and this in another:

$ echo baz
baz


Can an AppleScript create new variables on its own? I have an AppleScript .app file that creates a list variable based on a website's HTML data. The number of items in this list varies based on the unique HTML data that is downloaded on every iteration, and can range from 1 to 50.

I ultimately want to display the contents of each line as its own drop-down menu in one dialog. I am using the external script library, Dialog Toolkit, to accomplish this, which requires the declaration of many additional variables.

Dialog Toolkit works differently than choose from list, for example. The choose from list dialog will automatically adjust its size to add a new line for each list item. But, for a Dialog Toolkit dialog, you instead must separately define (i.e., as its own unique variable) every drop-down menu that is needed. If you don't, zero drop-down menus will exist in the dialog.

Hence, 50 if statements are needed to ensure that the dialog contains all drop-down menus, like so:

repeat with i from 1 to (count of theList)
        if (i is 1) then
            set {dropdown1} to create labeled dropdown (item i of theList)
        else if (i is 2) then
            set {dropdown2} to create labeled dropdown (item i of theList)
        i if (i is 3) then
            set {dropdown3} to create labeled dropdown (item i of theList)
        else if (i is 4) then

        ...

        else if (i is 50) then
            set {dropdown50} to create labeled dropdown (item i of theList)
        end if
end repeat

-- Note: The above code snippet is a very stripped down version of my code.

Is it possible for an AppleScript to create, on its own, new variables that have formulaic titles?

Here is the type of thing that I desire:

repeat with i from 1 to (count of theList)
    set {(("dropdown" & i) as variable)} to create labeled dropdown (item i of theList)
end repeat

OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.

This is an example of using a list to achieve something similar to what you are trying to do, I think:

    set varList to {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15}

    tell application "Google Chrome"
        count every tab of window 1
        set tabCount to result
        set counterOne to 1
        repeat tabCount times
            get URL of tab counterOne of window 1
            set item counterOne of varList to result
            set counterOne to counterOne + 1
        end repeat
    end tell

    tell application "Google Chrome"
        make new window
        set counterOne to 1
        repeat tabCount times
            set tabVari to item counterOne of varList
            open location tabVari
            set counterOne to counterOne + 1
        end repeat
    end tell


Have Apps with Notification Center Support Use Growl on Lion I'm still on Lion, and recently noticed that a lot of my apps are being updated with Notification Center support. Since I'm not on Mountain Lion and therefore don't have Notification Center, I won't be able to use these new features. However, I do have Growl, and was wondering if there is some tweak or hack that I could use to forward these notifications to Growl instead. Thanks in advance!

For Mountain Lion

Hiss goes the other way (sends Growl notifications to the notification centre in Mountain Lion).

Growl 2.0 is on it's way and they've developed a new piece of code they call MIST which will send notifications:

to Growl if it's available; or
to notification centre if you don't have Growl.

This means if app developers use this code instead then people still on lion won't be unsupported.
Read more here http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/13/next-version-of-growl-to-add-notification-center-support/

Update to ML when you can, it's awesome.

For Lion

I don't think there's anything (right now at least) to turn notification centre alerts into Growl alerts.


Can't sync purchased video to iPhone I am unable to sync purchased tv shows from my MacBook pro to my iPhone 4.

Instead I get an error:

  (show name) was not synced to "My iPhone" because you are not
  authorized for it on this computer

This seems to be the same problem- but with a movie
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16794815#16794815

In the "Store" menu in iTunes, choose "Authorize this computer..." then enter the credentials for the iTunes account you used to buy the movie.

If you have done this and still get this error message, then something in that file or your iTunes account is broken.  In this case, you will need to contact iTunes support: http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/

I hope this helps.


How to diagnose intermittent keyboard lockup and mouse problems I have an intermittent problem with my MacBook Pro 15" (November, 2008 vintage). Running OS X 10.6.8.

Two or three days a week, sometimes more, the keyboard will stop working intermittently (no key presses work) and the mouse will select everything as if I have the left mouse button pressed all the time. I get the same behavior from the built-in keyboard and mouse pad and wireless keyboard and magic mouse.

Restarting doesn't usually help. Powering down and waiting 10 minutes usually makes the problem disappear for a few hours.

I assumed it was an overheating problem and installed Fan Control. However, the last time I had the problem, the CPU temperature was only 54 degrees C and the case did not feel hot.

I'd appreciate suggestions on how to diagnose this problem.

This is a company owned laptop and due to a "frugal" employer, I don't have AppleCare.

The problem was the battery was expanding and pressing on the motherboard. I was told by Apple that it is not uncommon for old batteries to expand after a few hours of using the machine. In summary, I just needed to replace the battery.


email deleted on email client is still in the inbox on my iphone when I delete email on my email client, these email remain on my iphone. How do I get the iphone to have the same email as the server?

POP mail servers do not synchronise their data between devices in the way IMAP does.

Each device will download any mail in the queue when asked & will not auto-delete anything, except for any set server timeout interval, which is adjustable from Mail on the Mac or from iDevice - Settings > Mail, Contacts… > [the email account] Advanced > Delete from Server…

Other than that, deletion once downloaded is manual, per device.


Select All in iOS Safari When selecting text in iOS, you get a "Select, Select All, Speak Sentence" popup as soon as you place the cursor. This doesn't seem to work in Safari where trying select something only brings up "Copy, Define, Share".

So how does one trigger "Select All" on a webpage shown in Safari?

‘Select, Select All, Speak Sentence’ are the options shown when there is no current selection. In your screenshot, a selection has been made, so the options change to be contextual to your selection, namely ‘Copy, Look Up, Share…’.

You can only bring up the first set of options without a selection, therefore this is only possible in a text input or textarea. You can make the entire page editable, thereby being able to place the cursor within without a selection, by running the following JavaScript in a Shortcut:

document.body.contentEditable = "true";


AppleScript Date calculation I created this script to do date calculation between a date and today, but for some reason I get a decimal number.

How can I just get the number of date without decimal point ?

Tried to use a roundup formula but that's messy, what the best way to handle this?

set theDateWantedValue to "25/03/2019"

set [dayVal, MonthVal, YearVal] to the words of theDateWantedValue
set the text item delimiters to "/"
##set date_string to {d, ordinal, Y} as text
##set myotherDate to date_string

set dateDelaybetwentheDate to ((date (theDateWantedValue as string)) - (current date)) / days

set myResultDateRound to RoundDecimal(dateDelaybetwentheDate, 1, down)

on RoundDecimal(NumberToRound, DecimalPlace, UpDown)
    set RoundFactor to 10 ^ DecimalPlace
    NumberToRound * RoundFactor
    round result rounding UpDown
    result / RoundFactor
end RoundDecimal

Maybe using a different approach will accomplish what you were looking for?

set someDate to "09/ 09 / 2019"
set theDate to date someDate
set currentDate to (current date)

set secondsBetweenDates to (theDate - currentDate)
set timeInDays to (secondsBetweenDates div days)
set timeInWeeks to (secondsBetweenDates div weeks)
set extraDays to (timeInDays mod timeInWeeks)

display dialog ((timeInWeeks as text) & " Weeks & " & extraDays & " Days Remaining Until " & someDate) ¬
    buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button "OK"

Obviously change the value of someDate to whatever you need


How to clean pip installed packages on MacOSX? I try to remove all pip installed packages from MacOSX. I'm doing it to ensure I'm using homebrew pip from now on (to avoid problems with SIP).

Following zsh loop removed most of them, but some resists.

for i ($(pip freeze )) {pip uninstall -y $i}

For example matlibplot hasn't been removed. When I try to run uninstall it find matplotlib, print related paths, but fails.

pip uninstall matplotlib
Uninstalling matplotlib-1.3.1:
 /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/matplotlib
 /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/matplotlib-1.3.1-py2.7.egg-info
 /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/pylab.py
 /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/pylab.pyc
Proceed (y/n)?

I got following very long error message. It seems that files cannot be removed. Error sample:

error: [('/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/matplotlib/__init__.py', '/tmp/pip-PK6UUB-uninstall/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/matplotlib/__init__.py', "[Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/tmp/pip-PK6UUB-uninstall/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/matplotlib/__init__.py'"),

What should I do?

To make clear, commands are run from root account. Pip can find package metadata:

pip show matplotlib
---
Metadata-Version: 1.1
Name: matplotlib
Version: 1.3.1
Summary: Python plotting package
Home-page: http://matplotlib.org
Author: John D. Hunter, Michael Droettboom
Author-email: mdroe@stsci.edu
License: BSD
Location: /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python
Requires: numpy, python-dateutil, tornado, pyparsing, nose
Classifiers:
  Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable
  Intended Audience :: Science/Research
  License :: OSI Approved :: Python Software Foundation License
  Programming Language :: Python
  Programming Language :: Python :: 2
  Programming Language :: Python :: 3
  Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Visualization

Looking at similar questions (e.g. discussion below this one) I decided temporary disable SIP. Clean pip and enable SIP again.

To disable SIP I followed this instruction: https://www.macbartender.com/system-item-setup/

After that I ran
for i ($(pip freeze )) {pip uninstall -y $i}

Checked that everything pip related is removed

Restarted OS again and enable SIP using again https://www.macbartender.com/system-item-setup/


Keyboard shortcut switch to space I just found out about the ^1, ^2 etc. keyboard shortcuts for switching to desktops.

Those only do desktops though.

How can I set-up keyboard shortcuts to switch to spaces?

E.g. full-screen safari is space 1, desktop is space 2, safari's fullscreen video that's being played is space 3.

I'm afraid this is one of those features that was just really badly thought-through from the outset, when the new fullscreen paradigm was added, & hasn't been fixed yet.

You can only use key commands to go directly to numbered Spaces.
Fullscreen Spaces don't have a number.
Catch 22

Best you can do is use the number keys to get to the last numbered Space, then  Ctrl ⌃   →  to get to the fullscreen Space you require.

Yet another reason I never use fullscreen.

BTW, according to your Shortcuts picture, you only have one Space set up. The  Ctrl ⌃   [num]  shortcuts are added automatically [but not activated by default] as you add each potential Space.

Compared to my 7...

Safari full-screened to the right, as an example. Spaces have numbers, fullscreens have names.


Macbook Pro Late-2011, Mountain Lion, when it sleeps, devices don't wake Made the upgrade to Mountain lion when it came out, but since the upgrade I have noticed something occurring when my laptop goes to sleep be it idling or me putting it in a sleep mode, when I go to wake the laptop almost every time anything hooked into the USB ports don't respond and remain dormant as if the laptop was still in a sleep mode.

Example one of the places I hook my Mac up has a wired USB keyboard, and a USB to VGA monitor connector which doesn't respond when I wake the laptop. Or another place where I have 2 USB Monitor connections, a USB based harddrive toaster. All of which stop responding after the laptop sleeps. I have to pull the USB's out and plug them back in to make them work again and only after I wake the laptop.

So I am wondering is there some new power settings I am missing somewhere, that don't turn the USB on after idle? Everything worked just fine prior to the Mountain Lion Upgrade so I know its nothing to do with that.

Maybe you already found this, but ....
System Preferences/Energy Saver
has a checkbox "Wake for network access'
The help says:
Select this option if you want other users to be able to access your computer’s shared resources, such as shared printers or iTunes playlists, even when your computer is in sleep mode.


Zoom/Expand part of my Mac's screen Is there a way to zoom in/expand/enlarge part of my Mac's screen to fill the entire screen?

Basically, I'm looking for an app that allows you to select a part of the screen and that will then expand that part of the screen all the way to cover the full screen. So if I have a monitor that measures 1366x768 and I select a part of the screen that is 500X300 it will then enlarge that small part to cover the full available screen real estate.

You can use the built-in zoom feature to zoom in on a part of the screen on your Mac.

(Note: these instructions are adapted for El Capitan but also work with Sierra and as far back as Lion, though certain menus/buttons may be labeled differently).

Go to System Preferences
Navigate to the Accessibility Settings menu
Choose Zoom from the pane on the left.
Enable Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom.
Enable Smooth images (for better quality with images)
Enable Zoom follows the keyboard focus.
Ensure your Zoom settings match these:

Then, choose between Picture-in-picture and Fullscreen for the Zoom Style; see the pictures below for help choosing.

Zoom in picture-in-picture mode:

Zoom in fullscreen mode:

After turning on Zoom, you can control it with keyboard shortcuts, as mentioned by Paul Zagoridis:

Command+Option+8 toggles zoom on/off.

Command+Option+= zooms in.

Command+Option+- zooms out.

Source + more info: http://basics4mac.com/article.php/magnify

Reply below for any additional help or if you have questions; I hope this helps!


Finder shows different file size compared to terminal I have a folder called 'objects' in my mac.

When I check the contents of it in the terminal it's showing like this.

Clearly object folder shows 4.1K

However when I see it in the finder,

It shows, 26.3 MB

What's the reason for the significant increase in the size in the finder?

You have to enter the command du -sh * instead of ls to get the actual size of the folders in your current directory (the sum of the files size they contain).

The command ls shows file size, but it has a different meaning for folders. It actually shows the size allocated for the directory to store metadata (mainly the index) of the files it contains.


External HD serve media through iMac or do I need standalone media server? I am running out of hard drive space on my iMac which I use to serve my AppleTV, AirPlay stereo and second iMac with music and movies. I have a time capsule and tried using that to store the library but it didn’t work because it is not always mounted.

Can I buy an extra external HD and use it to serve the libraries to the other devices through my main iMac? Or should I be looking at some type of media server setup?

Does iCloud help me at all in this?

Can I buy an extra external HD and use it to serve the libraries to the other devices through my main iMac?

In the case of your AppleTV, it see's content that's in your iTunes Library. So as long as your iTunes library is on your external drive, your AppleTV will have access to it. The method for moving your iTunes library to another drive has been well covered on this site. I suggest you check out:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/31393/292

There are some things to consider when moving your iTunes library to an external drive:

External drive access can be slower, especially if it's over an already busy USB buss, so take that in to consideration if you need to stream multiple high definition videos out of the box at the same time. You might want to consider a FireWire or a Thunderbolt equipped drive to ensure you've got sustained throughput rates to deal with your streaming needs.
Time Machine doesn't back up external drives. So your iTunes Library won't be getting the Time Machine treatment. You'll need to back it up yourself with something like Carbon Copy Cloner or a cloud backup service if you want to make sure your library data is safe.


What's the best after-market SSD for my MBP? I've been researching various SSD's to put in my 2011 MBP, and I've come across quite a few reviews and threads indicating various reliability and performance issues, even with the popular models.

For example, I've read that the OCZ Vertex 3 models are very popular, but I've also read that they have intractable issues.

Can someone give me some advice or experiences they've had with various brands? Is OCZ Vertex 3 a good choice or does it have issues with MBPs?

PS: I know that what is "best" may be subjective, and I know that this is similar to this older post, but I still think it would be valuable to have an up-to-date version of this question as HW options change frequently.

The best available data are not yet good enough to separate fact from fiction on SSD reliability among vendors or even as compared to spinning metal.

There's an excellent review at Tom's Hardware that explores what is currently known about SSD reliability.

From the article:

  ... Many of the IT managers we interviewed reiterated that Intel's SLC-based SSDs are the shining standard by which others are measured. But ... there's nothing to suggest that its products are significantly more reliable than the best hard drive solutions. We don’t have failure rates beyond two years of use for SSDs, so it’s possible that this story will change.


Decrypt Safari's Form Values file Back on Mac OS 10.7, there was an encrypted file called Form Values in the folder /home/Users/${user}/Library/Safari. This encrypted file contained all "auto-fill" form values in Safari. I don't know if this file still exists on current version, but during some analysis of an old mac of mine, I found this encrypted file and wanted to dig into it.

This file seems to be encrypted with a key contained in the user's login.keychain. I have the key (256 bits long) but I was not able to find the correct way to decrypt data.

According to this answer https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/198290/332020 the file is encrypted with AES-128 bits. But none of my implementation did work (AES-128 with first 128 bits as salt, 128 after as key, ECB, CBC, ...). Since Mac OS 10.7 was released in 2011, I also tried 3DES, without luck also.

Does someone know more about the encryption process?

So... After hours research, I finally found the encryption process.

The password contained in the keychain is NOT the encryption key!
The password has to be derived to obtain the key. The process is as follow: PBKDF2_SHA1(password: passwordFromKeychain, salt: someSalt, iterations: 1000, outputLen: 128)

Then the cipher can be easily decrypted. It is simply AES-CBC-128 with PKCS5Padding and no IV (or IV = [0, ...])

The output will be a binary PLIST which can be read by any program having such capability. Thus, you can know if the decryption process is successful by verifying the first 6 byte are equals to: "bplist".

I wrote a code (JAVA) to do the decryption: https://github.com/Flo354/SafariFormValuesDecryptor


Why does a Macbook pro's internal screen flicker ONLY when it is on a GPU? I have a Macbook pro 2017 (15 inch, touchbar).
Since a couple of months ago, once the laptop is on GPU for a long time (at least 3-4 hours), the internal screen starts to flicker, like this:

The flickering gets worse until the internal monitor turns into blank screen (even though it is technically ON, the backlight is working, but it shows just a black image). The external monitors have no issues at the same time and show the correct image.
I took the laptop to Apple genius bar and showed a recorded video of the issue. Apple repair team could not reproduce the issue even after a video triage (because it only appears after some hours of use). Despite that, they REPLACED the Logic Board, the Top Case, the I/O Board, and the battery, hoping that the issue will never show up again.
Unfortunately, screen flickering re-appeared after receiving it back.
What could be the cause of this issue?
Here are my speculations:

It's NOT a GPU issue: The GPU is attached to the logic board and is recently replaced, while the problem persists. Besides, when the internal monitor starts to flicker, the  external monitors that use the same GPU (though, via USB-C) do not flicker. It only happens for the internal monitor.

It's NOT an internal MONITOR issue: Screen flickering appears only after hours of use, when the GPU is enabled (i.e. when the laptop is connected to the external display, OR if I disable the internal Intel graphics card in power settings). Interestingly, when the screen flickers, switching back to the internal intel graphics card resolves the flickering. I just have to detach the external monitors and/or enable automatic graphics switching, and the flickering disappears after a few seconds. Detach the external monitors and the internal monitor starts to flicker again.

It is related to heat but not all about overheating: The problem only arises after a few hours of use, but I don't think there is an OVERheating issue. When the screen starts to flicker, none of the GPU sensors shows a high temperature. The internal sensor reports a GPU temperature of at most 55°C.

What else could be the cause of the this? It's weird enoguht that half of the laptop is replaced but the issue is still there..
My own hypothesis is that:

The LVDS cable that transfers data from the GPU to the internal monitor is affected by heat or damaged... But I wonder... Isn't it the same cable that transfers data from the "Internal HD Graphics card" to the internal monitor? Why does it only happen when I am using the GPU? Is it easy/cheap to replace this cable?

Since the GPU is OK for the external monitors (all 1080p) but flickers for the internal monitor (2880-by-1800), then maybe the GPU cannot feed a high-resolution screen when it is warmed up (again, heating issue?)

What could be the cause if this mystery?
P.S. Resetting the SMC and PRAM did not work.
P.S. Apple diagnostics shows no issue.

I've been diagnosing a similar issue. It's helpful to run this tool with various configurations, then use unix diff to compare the configuration settings.
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/MacOS/AGDCDiagnose

e.g.
diff -u AGDCDiagnose-high-freq-after-detection.txt AGDCDiagnose-without-EDR.txt |
@@ -1772,8 +2354,8 @@
 Link Lanes 4 {4,4}
 Link Rate (Mbps)   3240 {3240,3240}
 Link Bits  30 {18,30}
-Voltage Swing (Level)  {255,255,255,255}
-Pre-Emphasis (Level)   {255,255,255,255}
+Voltage Swing (Level)  {0,0,0,0}
+Pre-Emphasis (Level)   {0,0,0,0}
 Spread Enabled
 Enhanced Framing   Enabled
 Scrambler  Enabled
@@ -1820,7 +2402,7 @@
 DIG FE B
 Number of Devices  1
 Timing DICT    21
-Display Mode   80004003
+Display Mode   80006003
 Refresh Rate (Calculated)  60 Hz
 Refresh Rate (Stored)  0.0 Hz
 Window (Active)    2880 x 1800
@@ -1924,7 +2506,7 @@
 DIG FE A
 Number of Devices  1
 Timing DICT    21
-Display Mode   80005022
+Display Mode   80003022
 Refresh Rate (Calculated)  60 Hz
 Refresh Rate (Stored)  0.0 Hz
 Window (Active)    3840 x 2160
@@ -1947,12 +2529,12 @@
 Dynamic Range  1 (SDR)


Unable to use full resolution of P2416D Dell P2416D (Vendor 10AC, Product A0C3) is 2560x1440, but my Mac OS X (on Macbook Pro Mid 2010 connected via Thunderbolt with Mini Display Port cable) doesn't have corresponding file in /System/Library/Displays/Overrides and when I used the SwitchResX Control application taking values from http://content.etilize.com/User-Manual/1030957703.pdf after reboot this settings were stated as "invalid":

P.S.: the https://gist.github.com/adaugherity/7435890 didn't reveal the desired resolution.

I jut had to connect to Display Port instead of HDMI.


Restore back up from iphone 4s which i put sim card into different 4s without losing data from the new one? Here's a challenging one for you!

I have two iPhone 4S - work & personal handset respectively.

I broke the screen on my work phone, which wasn't insured so I have put the sim card from that into my personal phone. I want the data from my work phone, which was backed up via iCloud. Some of the photos didn't automatically sync from my work phone to iCloud when I swapped sim card over that I took as I had no 3G or WiFi when these photos were originally taken.

All the aforementioned data I want on my personal phone, BUT I don't want to lose photos or contacts from my personal phone.

How do I do this?

Many thanks

Connect your personal iPhone to a computer with iTunes and manually back it up.
Connect your work iPhone to the same computer and manually back it up
Restore your personal iPhone with the backup from your work iPhone

All the data from each phone will be kept in it's own file on your computer, and you won't need to rely on iCloud/3G/WiFi to ensure the data is saved correctly.

Use iTunes
You can use iTunes to back up and restore your content on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Note that iTunes and iOS do not support installing backups of newer versions of iOS onto devices using earlier versions of iOS.
Back Up
To back up the content on your iOS device, follow these steps:

Make sure your computer has the latest version of iTunes.
Connect your iOS device to your computer.
Choose File > Devices > Back up.

If you're using iTunes 10.7 or earlier, right-click the device from the list and choose Backup Now.
You can also back up by syncing your iOS device with your computer. When you use iTunes to sync, backing up is the first step.
To verify that the backup finished successfully, open iTunes Preferences and select the Devices tab. You'll see the name of the device along with the date and time iTunes created the backup.

Restore from a backup
If you need to restore your device to resolve an issue, follow these steps:

Connect your iOS device to the computer that has your backup.
Make sure this computer has the latest version of iTunes.
Choose File > Devices > Restore from Back up.

If you're using iTunes 10.7 or earlier, right-click the device from the list and choose Restore from Backup.
Source: Apple Support


Can't create alias for 'nano ~/.bash_profile' I tried to make an alias to edit my bash profile, but when I save and relaunch a new window, I get the following:

Last login: Sun Jul 22 12:00:25 on ttys001
-bash: alias: nano ~/.bash_profile: not found
Adams-MacBook-Pro:~ adam$

### manually reopen a new terminal

Adams-MacBook-Pro:~ adam$ ebp
Adams-MacBook-Pro:~ adam$

My .bash_profile looks like :

# edit bash profile
alias ebp= 'nano ~/.bash_profile'
# alias rbp= 'source .bash_profile'

Also fwiw, my other aliases work fine. Any ideas on what i'm doing wrong?

Remove the space between ebp= and 'nano ~/.bash_profile' and the alias will work.


How can i see a list of developers I have allowed for apps on my Mac (Mojave) I have recently used "system preferences, security & privacy, general" to allow an app downloaded from an identified developer.
However, I was a bit quick and don't believe the developer name (which I have forgotten) corresponded to that on the app in question.
How can I see a list of developers that I have allowed and "un-allow" one of them, if necessary,?
Thanks.

Techinically approving an app from an developer is known as adding a "GateKeeper exception". However this is not done based upon the actual name of the developer (such as "Mega Super Software Ltd.") but rather based on certificates and so called code directory hashes.
You can use the Terminal to review the list of GateKeeoer exceptions you've added with a command like this:
sudo spctl --list --type execute

And you can remove a program from the list of exceptions by running a command like this:
sudo spctl --remove /Applications/AnApplication.app

where AnApplication.app is the app you want to no longer have approved.
As you can see the list of exceptions is hard to read as it doesn't include company or personal names, but rather these hash values and references to certificates.
Usually you'll see certificate rules being based on "anchor apple" (which means that the certificate chain of the app starts with Apple's own certificate) and that specific fields such as 6.2.6 and 6.1.13 are present, which means that it should be an Apple Developer certificate. Sometimes you'll also see that the leaf certificate (the last certificate in the chain) needs to have a specification OU (organizational unit) - for example WYH8F23PA3 or similar. This is Apple's internal code number given to organizations that have developer accounts.
The rules that are given using code directory hashes looks like 'cdhash H"1b9a8384...."' or similar. A code directory hash is a 256-bit number that can be calculated from the contents of the app, is almost guaranteed unique for a specific app and which ensures that if the app code is altered (for example to introduce malicious code) then the code directory hash will no longer match the app.
There's no publically available central storage of which actual company names / personal names corresponds with which cdhashes or certificate values. However you can inspect the files on your system to lookup the values for them.
You can inspect an application and find the above mentioned values, by running this command in the Terminal:
codesign -d -r- -vvvv /Applications/AnApplication.app

It will output a lot of information, amongst these the cdhash as well as certificate information and the actual company or personal name of the developer ID.
Note that if you haven't got the actual application anymore, you cannot easily find its cdhash or certificate information. Therefore you can have exception rules stored in GateKeeper for which you cannot find a matching cdhash or certificate.


App identification for iPad I came across this website: https://www.apple.com/in/apple-pencil/  by Apple about the Apple Pencil. Apple has used the screenshot of an app as the header of the website. Can anyone help me figure out which graphics design app is featured in the screenshot? (The screenshot consists of an illustration by Malika Favre)

It is Graphic for iPad.  It was Autodesk Graphic, but it appears Autodesk sold it back to founders they acquired 3 years ago.

http://www.graphic.com


How can I share an album publicly (i.e. with non-icloud users) on iCloud Using "Photos" Version 1.0 (209.52.0) that just got "put" on my computer at last update. Here's what my share menu looks like:

Here's the support page where I looked for help.

Goal: expose photo album via a URL I can copy/paste to people.

Share it with the person - then once the album is created, in Photos, there will be an icon with a head in a circle. This is the settings pane for the shared photo album.

Full Procedure:

Create Shared iCloud Album
Select new Shared Album from left side pane in Photos
Click head in a circle icon to get an option to turn on the Public Website.
Check that box and it gives you the URL.

Sample:

Not obvious, but it works.


AirPlay without Apple TV? Why are there AirPlay speakers or audio, but not for Video. I.e I have yet to see a single TV set support AirPlay mirroring, while many support Andriod ChromeCast type.

Is it possible to have Video AirPlay to TV set without Apple TV, if not, is it because Apple has yet to open up the protocol?

"AirPlay speakers" are to be used when you have an Apple router that's directly connected to some speakers (no TV), therefore you can only stream audio and not video.

If you were to connect an Apple TV to a monitor, then you can stream both audio and video, as well as mirror your iPhone/MacBook screen onto your TV. Unfortunately, without an Apple TV you cannot stream video.


How to (and should I) put a path to user-installed python ahead of system-installed python? I have a separate installation of Python 3.*, but the first python path in my $PATH variable is the path to system-installed Python. Is this how it should be?

I have added the path to user-installed Python using https://www.architectryan.com/2012/10/02/add-to-the-path-on-mac-os-x-mountain-lion/#.Uydjga1dXDg, and it was popped at the end of $PATH.

Do I understand correctly that, in the current situation, when I run pip, brew etc. on python3 from bash, the changes will be applied to system-installed Python?

The fix I have got so far is to run export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH every time I want to install or
update python, but it is not ideal.

NB: I went with pyenv solution as suggested by @bermudalocket. This pyenv tutorial was very useful.

You can accomplish this by adding

export PATH="/path/to/python:"$PATH

to your ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bash_profile if you're not on Catalina).

I'd like to propose an alternative and suggest pyenv, available via Homebrew. You can set a specific Python version to be "global" (i.e. default everywhere) and/or "local" (i.e. using that version in a specific directory only).

E.g.:

brew install pyenv
pyenv global 2.7.16
cd ~/myProjects/MyProject
pyenv local 3.7.6

If you were to use Python in ~/myProjects/MyProject it will default to 3.7.6, and anywhere else 2.7.16:

cd ~/some/other/directory
python --version
>> Python 2.7.16

cd ~/myProjects/MyProject
python --version
>> Python 3.7.6

https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv#homebrew-on-macos


How do I retrieve my photos/messages? I went to the apple store a few days ago because of a tech issue I had with my iphone 4s. They deleted everything and had me start with practically a new phone. When I plugged my phone into itunes today, it synced up with the last time I backed up and deleted all NEW photos I took since I went to the apple store and all new messages. Is there a way I can retrieve these messages and photos?

There is no way, unless it was backed up somehow. If iCloud was enabled, and backed up recently, you will be able to restore it from an iCloud backup. Here is an article detailing the restore of an iCloud backup http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4859 .

When you restore a phone, or start over, there will be three options on the initial wizard (iOS 5 only - which is on the 4S). The three options are Restore from iCloud backup, Restore from iTunes backup, as well as Setup as new iPhone. As a result, the only real restores you can do is iCloud (which is extremely easy), as well as iTunes (which is very similar, only you must connect to your computer). iCloud automatically backs up every night if (1) your phone is connected to wifi (2) your phone is locked and (3) your phone is locked, therefore it often can be more recent then iTunes.


How can I rate Apple's Podcast.app in the iTunes App Store? This is very odd and I just noticed this for the first time, but it seems, apple is not allowing ratings from customers for its own Postcast.app.

The entire section "Ratings and reviews" is absent for the podcast app:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/podcasts/id525463029

Other apps do have ratings and reviews. Below two screenshots: 1. showing podcasts app without the section in question and 2. showing soundcloud (as example) with the "Ratings and review" section.

I find this disturbing and unsettling. Apple does not allow ratings for it's own software or what? Can someone enlighten me about what's happening here?

From what I have been able to gather, it looks like the Podcasts App and the iBooks app are the only apps made by Apple that don't have a ratings button. I am guessing since the Podcasts app (and iBooks) are automatically installed on your iPhone or iPad in iOS 8, and are also installable from the app store on earlier versions of iOS, they most likely just omitted it because you can't delete them in iOS 8. Just like you can't rate Apps like Messages or Phone on your iPhone.


What third-party games have been included with Macs at some point? To phrase it differently: Over the years, Mac computers have come with various pieces of software not developed by Apple, many of which are games, such as Marble Blast Gold, Bugdom, and the Big Bang Board Games suite.
After much searching, I've been unable to find a comprehensive list anywhere. What non-Apple games have been preinstalled or bundled with computers running Mac OS, and when were they included?

I believe this list covers all models from 2000–present, and most models from 1995–2000. However, this list is still incomplete. Please contribute if you know of anything wrong or missing!
In cases where software could either be considered a "game" or not (e.g. Kid Pix), I've generally erred on the side of inclusion.
† indicates bundled software that was not preinstalled. ‡ indicates software which I have not yet determined whether was preinstalled or bundled.
Sources indicated by “mA” for madeApple links, ↗ arrows for other links, and “MT” for information available via Mactracker.

Spin Doctor‡, Super Maze Wars‡, Eric's Solitaire Sampler‡ — 1995

PowerBook 190↗
PowerBook 2300↗
PowerBook 5300↗

DOGZ Adoption Kit, Descent†, Thinkin' Things Collection 2†, Club KidSoft†, The Amazing Writing Machine†

Performa 6400/6410/6420↗ ↗

Weekend Warrior†, Thinkin' Things Collection 3†, KidPix Studio†, Descent II†, Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?†, VR Soccer 96 3D†, Virtual Pool 3D†, Mechwarrior 2†, The Amazing Writing Machine† — 1997

Power Macintosh 6500 (except Education Edition)↗ ↗

Virtual Pool‡ — 1997

PowerBook 3400↗

Nanosaur — 1999–2001

iBook (1999–2000 models)MT [mA 1 2 3 4]
iBook (Dual USB)MT mA
iMac (5 Flavors)↗
iMac/iMac DV/iMac DV+/iMac DV SE↗
iMac (all 2001 models)↗ ↗ [mA 1 2 3 4]
Power Mac G4 CubeMT mA

Kid Pix Studio Deluxe

iMac/iMac DV/iMac DV SE ↗

Bugdom — 1999–2001

iBook (1999–2000 models)MT [mA 1 2 3 4]
iBook (Dual USB)MT mA
iMac/iMac DV/iMac DV+/iMac DV SE↗
iMac (all 2001 models)↗ ↗ [mA 1 2 3 4]
Power Mac G4 CubeMT mA

Cro-Mag Rally — 2000–Mid 2001

iBook (Dual USB)MT mA
iMac (all 2001 models)↗ ↗ [mA 1 2 3 4]
Power Mac G4 CubeMT mA

Otto Matic — Late 2001–2004

iBook (Late 2001)MT mA
iBook (14.1")MT mA
iBook (all May 2002–2004 models)MT [mA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13]
iMac (all 2002–2004 models)[mA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
eMac (all 2002–2003 models)MT [mA 1 2 3]

Deimos Rising — 2002–2004

iBook (all May 2002–2004 models)MT [mA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13]
iMac (all 2002–2004 models)[mA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
eMac (all 2002–2003 models)MT [mA 1 2 3]
eMac (USB 2.0)MT mA

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 — 2004

eMac (USB 2.0)MT

Nanosaur 2, Marble Blast Gold — 2005

iBook G4 (Mid 2005)MT [mA 1 2]
iMac G5 (iSight)MT [mA 1 2]
eMac (2005)MT*
Mac MiniMT mA
Mac Mini (Late 2005)MT mA

Big Bang Board Games — 2006–2007

iMac (all Sept 2006 models)MT
Mac Mini (Early 2006)MT mA
Mac Mini (Late 2006)MT mA
MacBook (all 2006–Mid 2007 models)MT [mA 1 2 3]

*madeApple disagrees, but I believe it's more likely that Mactracker is correct, given the years involved.
(Formatting note: models were combined if there were at least three computers from the same product line, and which did not differ in their included games. Games were combined if there was no difference in what models came with them.)


Apps purchases pop-up options Whenever I am trying to dowanload free apps from the store it asks me about additional purchases. I am unable to understand this . Please help

To buy something on the App Store you have to type your password.

If you choose "always require", every time you buy something, App Store will ask your password.

If you choose "Require after 15 minutes", for the first purchase you will have to type your password, then you would be able to buy everything on the App Store for 15 minutes without typing your password again.
After 15 minutes, App Store will ask your password again.


Application "Preview" is not letting me mail a pdf Why can't I share a pdf file from the Application Preview and mail it in Yosemite?

Clicking on the sharing icon in the toolbar should give you the option to mail the document.


Does removing the battery while connected to power extend battery life? On regular Windows notebooks people generally remove their battery packs when connected to a power source, in order to extend battery life.

Does a similar approach work on the Mac?

On many recent Macs, you cannot remove the battery (at least not easily), so this simply wouldn't work.

In general, it's kind of pointless to do that, as you're negating a benefit of having the battery: if the power goes out or the cable gets pulled (especially if it's a magnetic cable), you lose power just like a desktop would.

Ultimately, I would recommend not bothering in either the Mac or Windows case.


Is it possible to open in default browser a URL from command line reusing same tab? I know that I can use open command to open a URL in a default browser like:

$ open http://google.com

But what I would like is to execute a similar or same command to open different URLs one after the other, but reusing the same tab of the browser.

Something similar to the HTML version of what I'm trying to achieve:

Same tab

You can do this with some AppleScript. For Google Chrome it looks like:

on run argv
  tell application "Google Chrome"
    set URL of active tab of window 1 to item 1 of argv
    activate
  end tell
end run

You'd save that as a script file (.scpt) on disk and then call it with osascript from the command line. For example, if you saved that as ~/bin/chrome.scpt you'd do:

osascript ~/bin/chrome.scpt https://apple.stackexchange.com/

to open https://apple.stackexchange.com/ in the first Chrome window's currently active tab. If you wanted to make it a little simpler you could prefix the script with #! so it can be executed directly from your shell like so:

#!/usr/bin/env osascript
on run argv
  tell application "Google Chrome"
    set URL of active tab of window 1 to item 1 of argv
    activate
  end tell
end run

And then save that as ~/bin/chrome and chmod u+x ~/bin/chrome and call it like so:

~/bin/chrome https://apple.stackexchange.com/


How can I play music from my iPhone through my computer? Now that I've had my iPhone for a few months, I'm trying an experiment to see if I can't replace the laptop I carry around with my iPhone + internet connected computer. To this end, I've been trying to find a program that will let me play the music on my iPhone through the hardware and software on the host computer.

If I recall correctly this was possible a few years ago with the iPod - Linux software like Rhythmbox and Banshee was able to read the music off an iPod and play it through the speakers. I even thought I recalled iTunes itself being capable of this at one time.

Now, however, iTunes greys out/disables the music on my iPhone and I can't find any documented support for the iPhone in any other music program. Is this really no longer possible? Am I limited to using the headphone jack to get music to play?

(note: I am using an iPhone 3G with the 3.0 software. I am attempting to play music on computers other than the one I sync with)

I know I'm replying on an old question, but I came in here googling.
My iPhone 4 had the same behavior, I just updated to iTunes 10 and I my music is no longer greyed out.

In essence: upgrade to iTunes 10 and you should be able to do this.


App Store constantly tries to charge me for nothing I have a virtual-credit card provided by my Bank, it is only chargable when i allow it (for a limited time.).

Right now, i am not purchasing anything, and i don't have any subscriptions to any app. I am just trying to download and install Flickr mobile app, but app store keeps asking for my credit card details (which are current but not-chargable because i didn't allow it) and saying the card has insufficient funds.

The card is clearly being tried to pay for something but thanks to virtual-card I'm not paying, this is something apple should fix.

But the problem is, since i am not paying for whatever it is, i can't download any app from the store, every app is trying to charge me, right now. how do i fix this? And how do i fix being constantly charged?

PS:
This has happened to me before, that time i transferred a little amount of fund and the card is actually charged for like 2$ (afaik).

The reason why you are getting these messages when your card is empty is that they are trying to make an authorisation hold to confirm your account details. It's standard practice. If you do see these small amounts appear on your card statements, you should see a similar transaction reversing the hold a short time later.
From Apple's support website:

If you update your billing information, the iTunes Store or Mac App Store will place an authorization hold on your payment card account, usually in the amount of 1 USD or the local currency equivalent, to verify your account information.
You might see authorization requests on your online statement. These requests aren't actual charges; they are tests to confirm that your payment card account is active and has available funds to accommodate transactions. Authorization holds are removed by your financial institution shortly after your purchase clears. The time it takes to remove authorization requests varies by financial institution.


iOS 10.3 Gmail app synchronization issues Since updating my iPhone 6S Plus to iOS 10.3 I stumbled on a bug that I really need some help resolving or at least confirmation that it exists.

The problem is with the Gmail app on iOS, which is set up to work with my two Gmail email accounts.

Problem: Since the update, my Gmail app is not synching data and I get no notifications that I have received an email. I have a badge stuck on the app of 1 unread email even though when I actually go into the app, I have 10-15 unread emails, for which I did not receive a single notification.

In the settings, Gmail is allowed background refresh, all notifications and access is allowed to Gmail. I do not use the default Mail app, which is why I have turned email sync off and just left the calendar sync on. I have tried removing the app several times and reinstalling it to no avail.

Does anyone else experience this issue? Has anyone found a way to fix it? Any help is much appreciated.

I reset my phone and set it up as a new phone. The issue is fixed and it seems like and app was blocking the google synchronization.

My suspicion is that it is purevpn and its profile that could be getting in the way.


Controlling iOS apps via command line I have jailbroken iPad (iOS5.1.1) with the shell utility installed.

I'd like to be able to launch and control applications via the command line, as I would normally do in Unix or Linux. Say I want to play a specific file in my iPad, I want to be able to ask the iPad's music app to play it for me via command line. (Something similar to cvlc, I couldn't find cvlc for the iPad)

Is it possible to do so? If yes then how?

You can install OpenSSH in Cydia and use a SSH client (say, Panic's Prompt - look for it in the App Store), that makes a pretty nice terminal emulator for iOS.

As to running programs from the command line, sure, no problem, but none of them are designed to work in CLI. They don't retrieve/parse arguments, don't output...etc
If you can get some out of Cydia or compile them yourself, it'll work, but I don't think you'll be able to command Apple's own apps that way.


Sharing Mac mini with monitor in another room. (also bluetooth keyboard/mouse with second monitor) My 2012 Mac mini/thunderbolt are in one room
I want to sit in another room and work on the Mac mini. I have a second monitor and bluetooth keyboard accessories. I do not want to set up a second computer, but I do have an iPad.

Can I work on the Mac mini from this other location, and does the remote monitor have to be hard wired. If I had to hard wire, would setting up ethernet connection work? The benefit of the ethernet is that my house is prewired, so I would be able to work from several rooms without moving the Mac mini from its office setup.

For now, we would not be using the TV or a second user on the mac mini at the same time as the remote location. The remote location is mainly surfing, email, minor document projects etc. I have an iPad but also a second monitor which i'd like to put to use and it is more enjoyable and convenient w/ bluetooth keyboard/accessories at the fireplace location.

A couple of options for you...

You could use an Apple TV connected to your monitor and connect to your Mini using AirPlay - since 10.9 you're no longer restricted to using AirPlay to just mirror your main display, you can use an AirPlay-connected display as a secondary display.

Otherwise you're looking at a hard-wired display setup. Hard-wiring may be cheaper, it all depends on the length of cable-runs as you may need to look at active video signal boosters/extenders for longer runs. If your existing Ethernet cabling is point-to-point and you've a cable that runs from your main room to your secondary, you could use DVI-Ethernet extenders. These use the cabling to transmit video directly rather than actually being connected to the home network.


Macfusion: Can't mount SSHFS directory, "Authentication has failed." I have a problem with Macfusion.  After following the instructions here: http://www.kevinfodness.com/using-macfusion-for-sftp-connections-on-osx, I set up an SSHFS connection in Macfusion, and after about 5 seconds got the error "Could not mount filesystem: Authentication has failed."

It seems to me that the relevant line in the logfile is "debug1: read_passphrase: can't open /dev/tty: Device not configured".  I can't tell if this is a problem with my Macbook or with the Ubuntu server.  I have root access on both machines.

The anonymized log is below:

(SSHServerFS, _______, 12/3/14, 13:05) debug1: /etc/ssh_config line 20: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to _______ [_______] port _______.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /Users/_______/.ssh/id_rsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/_______/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/_______/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/_______/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_6.2
(SSHServerFS, _______, 12/3/14, 13:05) Mount time out detected. Killing task <NSConcreteTask: 0x400171200> pid 17137
(MFClient, _______, 12/3/14, 13:05) Note status changed for fs <MFClientFS: 0x400886d20> (_______) to Failed to Mount
(SSHServerFS, _______, 12/3/14, 13:05) debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7
debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7 pat OpenSSH_5*
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
debug1: Server host key: RSA _______
debug1: Host '[_______]:_______' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /Users/_______/.ssh/known_hosts:1
debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: Roaming not allowed by server
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
(SSHServerFS, LACO02 SSH, 12/3/14, 13:05) debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Trying private key: /Users/_______/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Trying private key: /Users/_______/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Next authentication method: password
debug1: read_passphrase: can't open /dev/tty: Device not configured
(SSHServerFS, _______, 12/3/14, 13:05) debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug1: No more authentication methods to try.
Permission denied (publickey,password).
(SSHServerFS, _______, 12/3/14, 13:05) mount_osxfusefs: failed to mount /Volumes/LACO02 SSH@/dev/osxfuse0: Socket is not connected
(SSHServerFS, _______, 12/3/14, 13:06) mount_osxfusefs: failed to mount /Volumes/LACO02 SSH@/dev/osxfuse1: Socket is not connected

See this, what do?

Mostly two things happen when key authentication is not working:

Your public key is not in the destination user's authorized_keys file
OpenSSH server is very picky when it comes to permissions:

The destination user's .ssh directory must belong to the destination user and needs 700 permissions. (drwx------)
The destination user's authorized_keys file within the .ssh directory  needs 600 permissions. (rw-------)

Additionally, take a look at the destination SSH server configuration:

...
#StrictModes yes
...
#RSAAuthentication yes
#PubkeyAuthentication yes
...
AuthorizedKeysFile      .ssh/authorized_keys
...
#PasswordAuthentication no
#PermitEmptyPasswords no
...

With these options set, it works on my side...


Restoring iPhone Backup from External Hard Drive I had recently organised all the storage on my Mac and was finally able to back up my MAC and my iPhone. In order to create more space, I found an article online which told me how to move the back up folder to my Passport, however this never mentioned creating symlinks or anything similar and simply told me to delete the original file, which I did.
My phone has since died and I need to restore my new phone from the back up. I have the back up on my passport and have attempted to create symlinks as shown on:
https://www.imore.com/how-move-your-iphone-or-ipad-backups-external-hard-drive
https://medium.com/re-write/how-to-back-up-your-phone-to-an-external-hard-drive-using-terminal-1dd60f1129e5
However when i go to restore my phone from the back up, iTunes does not recognise the file, it does not show up.
When i press cmd + shft + G , it shows the back up folder and then a new back up its made for itself today and then shows the three attempted symlinks, however these show up as a white file with the black arrow rather than a blue folder, and I seem to think this may be the issue.
Can anyone help me, and is it possible to restore from the back up on my passport as the original file on my mac was deleted. (if it helps I also have a laptop back up from then).

To restore iPhone Backup from a Hard Drive you can just copy and paste the backup folder from the Hard Drive to the iTunes Backup folder on your Computer.

On both Windows and macOS, iOS backups are stored in a MobileSync folder.
On macOS, iTunes will store backups in /Users/[USERNAME]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. (macOS 10.15 creates backups using Finder rather than iTunes, but these backups are stored in the same place.)
Under Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10 iTunes will store backups in \Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup.
The Microsoft Store version of iTunes stores its backups in \Users\[USERNAME]\Apple\MobileSync\Backup.
Under Windows XP, iTunes will store backups in \Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup".

https://reincubate.com/support/how-to/where-does-itunes-store-backups/
In Windows you can just open Run and type %AppData%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup (Won't work if installed from Windows 10 Store)
Or else you can do the easier way that is Hold Shift when pressing the Restore button in the Summary section of the iPhone


Opening specific email causes Mail to crash I have set up Microsoft Office Mail on my iPhone 6. The only problem that I cannot get my head round is that it all works fine but I received an email this morning, and when I clicked on it to read it, the screen just went back to the home page. All other emails I have received are fine and can open and be read no problem, but for this one email every time I try to open it the screen continues to go to the home screen.

When the screen goes back to the home page, it means that Microsoft Office Mail is crashing because of some problem.

In this case, the email that you're trying to open contains something that causes the app to crash. This is an issue with Microsoft Office Mail, and not with your iPhone. The only solution right now is to either open this email on your computer, or wait for Microsoft to fix this bug in a future update.


Apple Developer Account expired and Ad Hoc distributed app not working I created an iOS app for a small company approximately one year ago. It is a small app to help the employees, so the easiest method of distribution seemed to be ad hoc. I simply had the .ipa file available for download and had the users trust my developer account.

I accidentally forgot to renew my apple developer account, and now the app will not open on anyone's phone.

I'm trying to figure out the best method to solve this issue. If I renew my developer account, would I have to redistribute the app to everyone?

Thanks in advance for help

You will have to reactive your develop account for sure, but it all depends on if you have to get a new signing cert which you probably do. That will require redistribution of the app.


Safari: How do you get page titles back? This is what the top of my Safari page looks like right now:

I think I have around 90 tabs open. That's how I work, I multitask.
What made Safari stand out as a browser used to be the fact that no matter how many tabs you had open, you could still know what a page's title was.
I believe page titles are super-duper important, and that getting rid of them for users with many tabs open was a mistake they made with Yosemite/new Safari.

Is there a way for me to get the page's titles back?

Like, for instance, on my screen grab, I don't need the URL to be displayed in the white bar so much as the name of the page.
I've found that Safari's preference pane has a "show full website address" as if the URL was more important than a page name - something I disagree with whole-heartedly, but maybe there's another setting somewhere else to display page title instead of the URL?

Go to Safari preferences > advanced then uncheck the box that says 'Smart search Field - show full website address'


iTunes Keyboard Shortcut for exiting search function In iTunes on OS X, you can search for music in your library by using the CMD+F shortcut. However, as far as I can tell, there exists no shortcut for accessing those items once the search has completed. This isn't a huge problem, but it certainly would make searching faster if such a shortcut existed. Does anyone know if this exists? Thanks.

Edit: I should note that I use the "Songs" tab (as opposed to the Albums, Artists, Genres, etc. tabs).

Once the results are returned to you, you can use the up and down arrows followed by the Return key in order to select the results. If you mean by exiting out of the search bar entirely, try pressing the Tab key.


Applescript: Detect if Mouse or Trackpad attached My script sets the Natural Scroll Direction of either a Mouse or Trackpad (MB trackpad or Magic Trackpad), but instead of allowing the user to choose which one is attached, I'd like to be able to programmatically execute one of the two functions based on what hardware is attached.
Is there a way to check (ie. AS or Shell Script) what hardware is attached?

  For example, this is what I want to accomplish:
  If: Trackpad is attached then run Trackpad function.
  Else if: Mouse is attached, run Mouse function.
  Else if: Mouse and
  Trackpad are attached, run both
  Else: throw error, no input devices
  detected

I am after a robust function but have no idea where to start.

Mouse Function:

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "mouseTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.mouse"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    tell checkbox 1 of window 1 to if value is 1 then click
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"

Trackpad Function:

tell application "System Preferences"
    activate
    set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.trackpad"
end tell

tell application "System Events"
    tell application process "System Preferences" to tell tab group 1 of window "Trackpad"
        click radio button 2
        if value of checkbox 1 is 1 then
            click checkbox 1
        end if
    end tell
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"

Thank you in advance, any help is greatly appreciated.

Okay, first I misread your question so I've rewritten my answer and second because the "Scroll direction: natural" preference setting is global, I've rewritten the code as well.

As coded there are two subroutines, one each for the mouse and the trackpad (internal or external) that's called based on the existence of the defined devices. That's defined as in the value for mouse, externalTrackpad and internalTrackpad as returned from the do shell script commands configured to look for Apple Magic Mouse, Apple Wireless Trackpad and an Internal Trackpad. Theses commands can be changed as needed/wanted.

Basically what happens is the variables are initialized and then tested by the if statements and acted upon accordingly as coded.

If a mouse and external trackpad doesn't exist and an internal trackpad doesn't exist then a message is displayed and the script terminates.
If a mouse and external trackpad doesn't exist and an internal trackpad does exist, then the TrackpadIsAttached subroutine runs, the "Scroll direction: natural" checkbox is unchecked (if checked) and then the script terminates as the setting is global and there is no need to process further.
If either a mouse or trackpad (internal or external) exists then either subroutine runs as appropriately coded, the "Scroll direction: natural" checkbox is unchecked (if checked) and then the script terminates as the setting is global and there is no need to process further.

on MouseIsAttached()
    tell application "System Preferences"
        activate
        set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.mouse"
    end tell
    tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
        tell radio button 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 to if value is 0 then click
        tell checkbox 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 to if value is 1 then click
    end tell
    tell application "System Preferences" to quit
end MouseIsAttached

on TrackpadIsAttached()
    tell application "System Preferences"
        activate
        set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.trackpad"
    end tell
    tell application "System Events" to tell application process "System Preferences"
        tell radio button 2 of tab group 1 of window 1 to if value is 0 then click
        tell checkbox 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 to if value is 1 then click
    end tell
    tell application "System Preferences" to quit
end TrackpadIsAttached

tell current application
    set mouse to (do shell script "system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType | awk '{ FS = \": \" } ; /Apple Magic Mouse/ { print $2 }'")
    set externalTrackpad to (do shell script "system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType | awk '{ FS = \": \" } ; /Apple Wireless Trackpad/ { print $2 }'")
    set internalTrackpad to (do shell script "system_profiler SPUSBDataType | awk '/Trackpad:/ { print \"Internal Trackpad\" }'")

    if mouse is equal to "" and externalTrackpad is equal to "" then
        if internalTrackpad is equal to "Internal Trackpad" then
            my TrackpadIsAttached()
            return
        else
            display dialog "The Mouse and Trackpad are not connected." buttons {"OK"} default button 1
            return
        end if
    end if

    if mouse is equal to "Apple Magic Mouse" then
        my MouseIsAttached()
        return
    end if

    if externalTrackpad is equal to "Apple Wireless Trackpad" then
        my TrackpadIsAttached()
        return
    end if
end tell

Obviously I used my Apple Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Trackpad as examples and tested against to ensure it worked as coded on my MacBook Pro. You can use whatever manufacture, make, model for an external mouse and trackpad and you'll just need to edit the script appropriately. If you need additional help with that just ask. Also I tested this under OS X 10.8.5 and it worked for me as written.


How do I use launchctl print? I made a launchd service file then started it. Now I want to use the launchctl print command but I'm not sure how.

I read: What is the difference between a `service-name` and a `service-target`? and tried using the id -u command with the user/ prefix but it also didn't work.

How do I use the launchtl print command with my com.foo.http service?

$ cat <<'EOF' > ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.foo.http.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.foo.http</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/usr/local/bin/python3</string>
    <string>-m</string>
    <string>http.server</string>
    <string>3000</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>
EOF
$ launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.foo.http.plist
$ launchctl list | grep com.foo.http
66590   0   com.foo.http
$ launchctl print ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.foo.http.plist
Unrecognized target specifier. <service-target> takes a form of <domain-target>/<service-id>.
Please refer to `man launchctl` for explanation of the <domain-target> specifiers.
Usage: launchctl print <domain-target> | <service-target>
$ launchctl print com.foo.http
Unrecognized target specifier. <service-target> takes a form of <domain-target>/<service-id>.
Please refer to `man launchctl` for explanation of the <domain-target> specifiers.
Usage: launchctl print <domain-target> | <service-target>
$ launchctl print user/$(id -u)/com.foo.http
Could not find service "com.foo.http" in domain for uid: 501
$ launchctl version
Darwin Bootstrapper Version 6.0.0: Thu Apr 25 23:14:22 PDT 2019; root:libxpc_executables-1336.261.2~6/launchd/RELEASE_X86_64

As mentioned by @GordonDavisson in his comment How do I use launchctl print? use this command

launchctl print gui/$(id -u)/com.foo.http


macOS Mail won't clear out the outgoing SMTP server list macOS Mail won't clear out the outgoing SMTP server list

PLEASE NOTE three symptoms in one that makes this extremely buggy:

going to "Edit SMTP server list..." and then deleting the items from the list window DOES NOT WORK

when I try to add new SMTP servers, my new server does not "stick" and is not choosable (and has no effect)

when I edit an existing one, any changes I make appear to stick only until I quit & relaunch Mail, after which Mail appears to REVERT to the old settings for my SMTP server list.

this has always been buggy (over the last 20 years), but only under Catalina 10.15.7 is this now no longer editable for me

Thank you to Andreas at Apple support for this excellent answer:

counter-intuitively: the "Automatically manage settings" button for the OUTGOING is (mysteriously) TIED TO THE SAME BUTTON for the INCOMING SETTINGS.

If you are having trouble unchecking the "Automatically manage settings" on the OUTGOING section, you must first uncheck the same setting on the INCOMING section.

All the SMTP servers should have unique settings. If you try to save another outgoing SMTP server with the same domain, it will detect it and complain

If you try to use (-) to delete a SMTP server off the list, be sure it has NO ATTACHED mailboxes to it. Quit & restart Mail to see the item removed, and recheck to confirm it is no longer there. (Sometimes it comes back, even if you follow these steps. However, I was able to remove all of the ones I wanted removed by repeating the steps. Once it is truly removed it appears not to come back anymore.)


the iCloud IMAP server "p01-imap.mail.me.com" rejected the password for user xxxxxx I reset my Apple ID (@me.com - Only have ONE account) as Apple asked me to update my information with a more strong password. I can login just fine into iCloud mail from the web and check, see my emails but as soon as I launch the Mail app this window keeps popping up over and over telling me that my password was rejected for user by the iCloud IMAP server. I have removed iCloud from my Mac and add it all back without any complains or issues but as soon as I launch the Mail application under my @me.com account this window pops-up. I don't know what else to do and so far I haven't been able to solved the problem. Any ideas? My machine is a 2011 MBP with OS Lion.

My Mail Application configurations under Incoming Mail Server shows: p01-imap-mail.me.com and Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP): iCloud (iCloud).

It should be in the format p01-imap.mail.me.com, it looks like your missing the 'mail' part.


OSX Mavericks VPN PPTP I have an issue with vpn pptp connection on my macbook. The latest version of Mavericks is installed. The log (/var/log/ppp.log) is provided below

Fri Feb 21 20:08:33 2014 : Warning: can't open options file /etc/ppp/peers/int: Permission denied
Fri Feb 21 20:08:33 2014 : publish_entry SCDSet() failed: Success!
Fri Feb 21 20:08:33 2014 : publish_entry SCDSet() failed: Success!
Fri Feb 21 20:08:33 2014 : Fatal signal 13
Fri Feb 21 20:08:33 2014 : can't talk to PPPController : Broken pipe

File is not exists on my system, I had tried to create it also had changed chmod

/etc/ppp/peers/int

This VPN works properly on my iphone and windows pc.

Also I don't have any problems with connection using command line:

sudo networksetup -connectpppoeservice int

I don't have possibility to check other VPN types, but I had tried to connect to PPTP servers on Windows and Linux OS.

i ran also in the exact same issue. Apple Forums did not really lead to a solution.

Rebooting on the other hand solved the issue completely.


Using ipad as Internet connection in a wifi hub I need to set up a network with ten or more wifi connections in a motorhome with a bunch of iDevices, apple TVs etc. and want to have an outside web connection for all those devices. Most of the bandwidth will be internal data and not to/from the web.
I can set up a personal hotspot but am limited to 5 connections.
Is there any way to set up something like an airport express for all the wifi connections and have an ipad on the system as the only Internet connection, since the 10/100 of the hub will not be connected?

Unfortunately none of Apple's routers can use the iPhone or iPad tethering as a source internet connection.

It looks like it might be possible using certain builds of the DD-WRT custom firmware with the Linksys WRT160NL, but based on that link, it looks like it will likely require a fair bit of hacking, beyond just installing the custom firmware (i.e. it needs to be certain versions, and it looks like further drivers need to be compiled/installed).

If you have a Mac handy, you could tether the iPad to it (with USB or Bluetooth), then use the Mac's Internet Sharing to share to the other devices over Wi-Fi.

Alternatively, you could look into getting a 3G/LTE hotspot device from your wireless provider. It would likely entail some additional cost, but it would be most suited to what you're wanting to do. Some providers offer some data plan sharing amongst devices as well, so the additional costs might be minimal.


I keep getting a weird email address trying to facetime me on my iphone5? is this spam? I've received two calls today, both which I ignored, to facetime with an email address that i don't know.  is this spam or an attempt to hack?  has this ever happened to anyone else?  also, the first call was then followed shortly by another weird email, but this time by text.

Just ignore it and do not reply. It will stop eventually.

You might want to make your Facetime profile private, and consider changing your password just in case.

You might be targeted by a spammer.

Check you settings in Facetime:


macOS Big Sur System Preferences Notifications Customize I am running os 11.2.3 and wanted to customize notifications from system preferences. Specifically, software update notifications show up when there is a new version to upgrade to. However, they always show up as alert notifications. I would like them to display as banners, so it will disappear even if I do not dismiss it. Looking at System Preferences --> Notifications, there is no option for 'System Preferences' unlike other apps (Safari, Messages, etc.). How can I change the settings/format for the system preference notifications? Thank you in advance.

Right now there isn't an option to customize the system alerts notifications display so you can't do that .


How do I insert the cursor after the last word (that is misspelled)? Latest iOS, using Safari.  I am often writing a post on SE and the last word I left off on is a misspelling.  For instance

  ... so I definitely prefer QO to Homeline.

  *

The misspelled word is jargon or a trade name.

Now, I want to continue writing.  So I place the cursor at the asterisk above: the beginning of the next paragraph (I had hit new line twice after the misspelled word). Instead, it lights up the last word in red.  I cannot type because the word and new lines will be destroyed and I will be adding to the previous paragraph.

What is the proper way to put the cursor at the end of the word or the start of the next paragraph?

Press on empty space after any text until a sort of magnifying glass appears over your finger.

Move your finger to the cursor and keep going.  The cursor will follow you in the center of the magnifier.  When you get it where you want, let go.


Macbook slows down when connected to external monitor and power supply I have a Macbook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) with the following configuration: 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

I use Dell P2419H as my external monitor which I connect my macbook via HDMI cable. I have calibrated the external display profile using the settings > display. The issue is when my macbook is being charged and connected to the monitor it becomes excruciatingly slow to the point of not being of any use.

This does not happen when I am running my macbook on battery power and connect to the monitor.

In both the cases my macbook screen is open so the normal airflow is not hindered in any ways.

When I see my activity monitor it seems that on plugged in mode power the kernal task increases.

Here is a screenshot of activity monitor when laptop is running on batter and connected to monitor

Here is how it looks when on plugged in power + external monitor

Restarting SMC chipset helped fixing it.

Shut down Mac
Hold. CTRL+OPTION+SHIFT+POWER button for 10 seconds
Start mac


AppleScript: copy file to clipboard So I've got the following:

set mypath to /Users/myuser/Desktop/file.pdf

I want to copy the file of this path to my clipboard. How to I do this?
I tried:

set the clipboard to the file mypath

This does not work. Any idea? I just want to be able to copy this file to any application using the clipboard.

There are several clipboards, so even if your file managed to fit in the clipboard, all applications is so broad that it's certain many or most will not grab the file contents as you expect/intend and instead grab a name of the file or pe haps the path.

The receiving application decides what to pull off the clipboard and not the script that places something in the clipboard.

You'll likely need to write specific scripts for specific apps and potentially re-evaluate AppleScrips since it might not be the correct tool for this job.