Problems using Anaconda in macOS Catalina I recently upgrade to macOS Catalina and I made a clean installation Anaconda Navigator.
I install again Anaconda but it didn't work. I also reinstall the OS but didn't work too. The permissions of the files are ok, I can read and write files. I don't know why I can't open a file from Spyder. This is the image of my terminal in Spyder:

The problems observed are related to the new system policy for user owned "system folders" like Documents, Desktop etc.

Here is a related syslog entry me trying to execute or open some script/file in $USER/Documents/ with Spyder/iPython:

Sandbox: python(2233) System Policy: deny(1) file-read-data /Users/admin/Documents
Violation:       System Policy: deny(1) file-read-data /Users/admin/Documents
Process:         python [2233]
Path:            /Users/admin/opt/anaconda3/python.app/Contents/MacOS/python
Load Address:    0x103cbc000
Identifier:      com.continuum.python
Version:         ??? (???)
Code Type:       x86_64 (Native)
Parent Process:  bash [2232]
Responsible:     /bin/sh [/Users/admin/opt/anaconda3/Anaconda-Navigator.app/Contents/MacOS/run.sh]
User ID:         501

I had no problems to execute scripts in subfolders of Documents though.

One may add an executable to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full disk access (see this q&a), but since too many execs may be involved, it's much simpler to create a new folder (e.g Development, Dev, Anaconda-Dev etc.) in your user folder and move your dev files & folders in there. The permission errors should disappear afterwards.


Why does my 4S keep splitting my text messages? I have an iPhone 4S, and an unlimited data plan, so I text. A lot. Apparently, it has been cutting one to two words off the ends of my text messages to my (non-iPhone-user) fiancé. I've always stayed under 160 characters - it splits those texts. Lately, I've taken to trying to stay under 100 characters, and still, the last 1-2 words get chopped off the end and sent as a new text. I can't find any answers online, and this is getting really aggravating for me and the recipients of my text messages. How do I fix this???

I have suffered numerous... Countless compatibility issues between different handsets/carriers. Even when texting in the same country.

One thing you have to understand is that a text is normally limited to 160 7-bits characters. Which means that any message containing special characters outside the range of the 7 bits characters will immediately be shorter.

According to Wikipedia:

  Depending on which alphabet the subscriber has configured in the handset, this leads to the maximum individual short message sizes of 160 7-bit characters, 140 8-bit characters, or 70 16-bit characters.

Depending on the characters you use the iPhone will select the character set adapted to the message.

Also I noticed that sometimes problems with character encodings and message length appeared when I was receiving messages from another carrier.

You should try sending the same message to another phone on the same carrier, then the same message on your carrier to see if the problem can be reproduced in these contexts.

As a side note you say you have an unlimited data plan. To my knowledge no carrier includes text messages in the data plan. You might want to check if you have unlimited text messages in your plan. If you use iMessage (blue messages on the iPhone) you effectively use the data plan, otherwise (green messages) go through the voice/text plan.


Unable to open some games in Sierra I'm unable to open a couple of games on macOS Sierra. I recently downloaded them, and have never been able to successfully run them. Gatekeeper is already disabled.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to play these games?

Thanks

Those look like they're Steam games. Try downloading the steam client for macos (Some games can be run without it, but most require the client)


Why are (Pages for Mac) templates, in the Library folder different than what's available in Pages? Mac's Pages templates seem to be stored in:

Library/Application Support/iWork/Pages/Templates/My Templates

However, when I use Pages and wish to choose a template, what's available is different than what's in the Library folder.

Can anyone explain this discrepancy?

Thank you.

The pre-installed templates are stored within the application bundle. You find them by right-clicking the Pages application in the Applications folder and choosing 'Show Package Contents…', then navigating into the subfolder Contents—>Resources—>Templates.

The 'MyTemplates' folder is meant as a standard folder for templates you create yourself.

(based on Pages 4.3)


iTunes keeps syncing my unchecked songs to my iPhone I'm trying to free up space on my iPhone, so I've cut back on a HUGE amount of music (~1000 songs). I went through iTunes and unchecked all of the music I wanted removed and then made sure that I had selected the option to only sync checked music.

However, when I sync my iPhone nothing changes - all the songs are still there. I've tried everything - I have all the music I want gone unchecked in my iTunes library on my computer as well as in the "On My Device" section of iTunes when I plug my phone in. I can't find any solutions to this problem online, you guys are my last hope.

My computer is a MacBook Pro 2011 currently running OSX Yosemite, my phone is an iPhone 5s, and my current version of iTunes is 12.4.0.119.

Have you got Autofill activated?

Autofill can be used with either automatic sync or managing your content manually. When using automatic sync, simply select/deselect the Automatically fill free space with songs option found on the Music sync settings.

This option automatically selects music to fill the remaining space on your device. It does this by filling up the space that isn’t already being used up by the music, videos, books, apps, podcasts, etc you’ve manually selected.

This random selection will also adjust automatically as you make changes in the future. For example, iTunes will automatically remove some of the “autofilled” songs to make room for other things you manually select as wanting to sync in the future.

NOTES:

Each time you select/deselect the Automatically fill free space with songs option found on the Music sync settings option, you need to perform another sync for it to take effect on your iPhone.
If you've been managing music manually, the Autofill option is found in the On This iPhone section of your iTunes device sync settings. It appears as a button that does the same thing I described above but also provides an additional drop-down menu to the left that allows you to limit the Autofilled music to a specific playlist rather than randomly selecting content from your entire music library.


How easy is it to buy upgrade/replacement parts for a Mac Pro? I'm considering purchasing a Mac Pro in order to save money on upgrades in the future. I know how to build my own PC from scratch and I was wondering if I could use the same principles if were to buy Apple supported hardware. Do not get this confused with a Hackintosh, that's not what I'm striving to achieve.

Would I be able to upgrade the logic board? and CPU? Or the Power Supply?

Do you have experience with this and how did it work out for you?

Apple uses custom logic boards, but I've heard of people upgrading the CPU if it uses the same socket type. The power supply on my 2008 Mac Pro would be hard to get to for a replacement. The key upgrade options are new hard drives, more memory, and better video cards. I've used those three to keep my '08 Mac Pro running fast enough to more than meet all of my current needs.


How can I remove a site from the reading list in Safari on my iPhone? How do I edit the items in my "reading list" in Safari?  Unlike bookmarks, there doesn't seem to be an "edit" option.

To remove an item, just swipe your finger to left over that particular entry. A red "delete" button will pop up.


Why isn't my Bluetooth printer appearing on iPhone but is appearing on Android and PC? I'm trying to connect a thermal printer to my iPhone but its not showing up in the list of Bluetooth devices. However, it is showing on my PC and Android smartphone. Has the advertising only got certain compatibility? The Bluetooth thermal printer is a DPP-350 from Datecs. I am using an iPhone 5s and have also tried an iPhone 7 but neither of these phones can see the Bluetooth device being advertised.

The thermal printer is not an AirPrint device - as such you cannot use it as a generic printer throughout the iOS system. I.e. this doesn't work like your regular inkjet or laser printer for desktop usage.

Instead the printer connects via Bluetooth and presents a "virtual serial port" to that is available to application developers. This means that the specific app you want to print for must be created to specifically support the DPP-350, or at least this particular type of printer language.

This means that you need to find an app that specifically supports this printer before you can have any hope of printing with it from an iPhone.

In terms of printer language, this printer does not use AirPrint, PCL, PostScript or similar that would be typical of a normal printer. Instead it uses the old Epson ESC/P printing language, which were used for ordinary printers back in the day (i.e. in the 80s for example). Today it is only really used for smaller receipt printers and the like. They have relatively limited printing capabilities.


Clean Install El Capitan in Macbook without any other Mac My Macbook Pro (Mid 2012) got its HDD corrupted due to some hardware issue. The issue has been fixed, however the MacBook lost its system partition data. The recovery partition is still there, but due to some issues (Read here), it never got upgraded to El Capitan's Recovery HD. Thus if I want to download the OS from Recovery Mode, it is installing Yosemite in it.

Is there any way I can reformat the MacBook and clean install El Capitan without first downloading Yosemite, installing it and then upgrading. I don't have any other Mac, but I do have a Windows Desktop. How can I possibly download and clean install El Capitan?

The short answer is no. Without a different Mac you cannot download an El Capitan installer without first installing Yosemite on your Mac.

One way to do a clean install of El Capitan when only having one Mac and a Yosemite recovery partition is this:

Install Yosemite using the recovery partition.
Go to the App Store and download El Capitan.
Use createinstallmedia to create a USB installation of El Capitan.
Then you can use that usb media to format and do a clean install of your Mac.

Optionally you could skip the usb installation steps all together and install El Capitan, let it upgrade the recovery partition for you and use the fresh recovery partition to format and reinstall El Capitan as a freshly installed OS.

Instructions on how to use createinstallmedia can be found here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

As a side note, have you tried if Internet recovery has a different version of the system compared to your local harddrive recovery. Hold Option-Command-R to start up from OS X Internet Recovery. As found here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314


re expand a partitioned disk The internal disk of my Mac book pro is partitioned as follows:

% diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS mainHD                  249.7 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:          Apple_CoreStorage                         249.1 GB   disk0s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s5
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS oldHD                  *248.7 GB   disk1

% diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group C2BDDBCA-73CF-473C-B9DA-E5682EF29610
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD 2
    Status:       Online
    Size:         249059012608 B (249.1 GB)
    Free Space:   35708928 B (35.7 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume CA1B7050-0A3D-4FFD-ADC2-AE42B45BEB9C
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s4
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     249059012608 B (249.1 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 4CBD3D40-147F-4B2D-A997-975E00295101
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume B3E1FCD6-ACAB-4152-AEB5-71F41C329C17
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  disk1
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          248687755264 B (248.7 GB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            Yes (no decryption required)
            LV Name:               oldHD
            Volume Name:           oldHD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

The operating system (os x 10.9.5) and all my files are in the mainHD, where I'm running out of space. I would like to delete the oldHD so that I can increase the size of mainHD.

When I try to delete oldHD via the graphical disk utility I get an Alert (null) box where I can select cancel or remove, if I click on remove nothing happens and in the log I see:

: Preparing to remove partition from disk: “APPLE SSD SM512E Media”
: Could not unmount partition to be deleted.

How can I get oldHD deleted and mainHD resized?

To delete CoreStorage volumes you have to use the CLI:

please backup your volume "mainHD"
boot to Internet Recovery Mode (hit altcmdR immediately after the start-up chime)
open Disk Utility and check/repair mainHD
quit Disk Utility , open in the menubar Utilities/Terminal.app and enter diskutil cs deleteVolume LVUUID to delete the Logical Volume
in your case: diskutil cs deleteVolume B3E1FCD6-ACAB-4152-AEB5-71F41C329C17
and then
diskutil cs delete LVGUUID to delete the Logical Volume Group
in your case: diskutil cs delete C2BDDBCA-73CF-473C-B9DA-E5682EF29610. Your LGV will be converted to a simple, empty volume with the name "Untitled".
enter diskutil list and sudo gpt -r -vvv show -l /dev/disk0
result of the latter (start blocks and block sizes differ because the example disk is half as big as yours & some parts of the output are omitted):

...
         40       409600      1  GPT part - "EFI System Partition"
     409640    244763224      2  GPT part - "mainHD"
  245172864      1269536      3  GPT part - "Recovery HD"
  246442400    242522776      4  GPT part - "Untitled"
  488965176      1269536      5  GPT part - "Recovery HD"
...

enter diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk0
then remove any partition except those with index 1 and 2 (EFI and mainHD) with  sudo gpt remove -i IndexNumber disk0
enter diskutil resizeVolume disk0s2 0b to expand it to the full size.
enter exit and quit Terminal
open Disk Utility, check/repair mainHD again and quit afterwards
reboot to main HD
rebuild Recovery HD with Recovery Partition Creator 3.8 or by just reinstalling Mavericks 10.9.5 (don't use 10.9.4 or earlier!). Your data and apps will be preserved.


Problems with the trash My iMac trash folder takes forever to clean out. I had 4 files in there today and when i went to empty it, it was saying there was 1,590,715 items in it.

Can anyone help please.

It's possible that there are hidden files in your Trash that are not being removed for some reason and are constantly being "deleted". If you are ABSOLUTELY sure there is nothing in your Trash you may want to recover, you have two options.

Secure Empty Trash:

Right (CMD) click your Trash
Press and hold CMD, you will notice "Empty Trash" changes to "Secure Empty Trash"
Click "Secure Empty Trash"

This forces Finder to remove files that may otherwise be stubborn. It may take a while depending on how many files need to be deleted as the reference to the data is not only deleted, but the addresses the data is stored at (on your disk) is also zeroed out. Be wary of doing this with a Solid State drive as it will shorten the life of your drive (generally only by a small fraction, but caution should still be taken). If you have a Solid State (or Fusion) drive, I would recommend the following instead:

Brute Force Erase:

Open "Terminal"
If you have altered your Terminal settings, type cd ~ and hit Return
Type sudo rm -rf .Trash and hit Return
Enter your password

Terminal will remove the .Trash folder that stores everything in your Trash. This folder will be rebuilt by OS X as needed. This doesn't securely erase your data (by overwriting with zeroes) and thus is safe for use on SSDs and Fusion Drives. You can also use this if "Secure Erase" fails for some reason.

As @patrix notes, this will not remove anything from your Trash that was originally stored on an external drive as each drive has its own .Trash folder. If you have multiple user accounts, this will also not remove anything that another user has Trashed as each user has their own .Trash folder too.

As a precautionary measure, I would then verify your disk in Disk Utility (in case some data tables have been corrupted) and repair if necessary.


cp- copy a file in many folders, but only if it already exists there In another forum I saw this command:

  ls -1 | xargs -n 1 cp ../y/info.txt

It copies info.txt into sub folders (e.g. folder a, folder b, folder c) in the current working directory.

Now I want to copy the file info.txt to sub folders replacing existing info.txt files, but do nothing when the sub folder doesn't contain info.txt.

So I need the opposite of -n.

How can I accomplish this?

I would not parse the output of ls, use the find command instead:

find . -type f -name "info.txt" -exec cp -v ../y/info.txt {} \;

Note that the -v option with cp isn't necessary, I just like to see what's being copied where.

To address a comment, the find command shown above searches the entire PWD. If you want to limit the the search to just first level subdirectories of the PWD then add -maxdepth 2 to the find command, e.g.:

find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -name "info.txt" -exec cp -v ../y/info.txt {} \;

In this scenario:

.
├── a
│   ├── 1
│   │   └── info.txt
│   └── info.txt
├── b
│   └── info.txt
└── c

Only ./a/info.txt and ./b/info.txt are replaced, ./a/1/info.txt is not.


iPhone connect to internet over WiFi using PPPoE Is there a way to connect my iPhone 4S to the Internet with WiFi when the connection is using the PPPoE protocol?

Do you mean to connect to the wireless router itself and get internet access this way?

According to Apple Support Forums,

  Generally people will have a router establish the PPPoE connection and then share it with the devices on the local network.

Do you have a computer or another device already connected to the local network? If so, you might be able to share the connection off one of these devices as a separate Wi-Fi connection.


If I change my Apple ID's country, would I need to re-download everything in order for all my apps to update naturally? Let's say I decide to change the country in my Apple ID, and I only have free apps that are available in both my previous and target country. Would I need to re-download everything in order for all my apps to update automatically?
Would all my previous apps be considered to be from the previous country?

Changing to a different country would not matter for the apps in the scenario you described. Your apps would continue to update fine and you need not re-download anything.
An app developer can choose what territories their apps are made available in. So when you switch to a different country, the same app may not be available.
But as long as the app is available in both the countries, you will be fine and receive the updates normally. If the app isn't available in the new location, it will stay installed and then never update / download from iCloud / App Store until it is available for your country or you switch back.
Unless the app actively checks for this, things work - but it's really up to the developer how urgently they check for App Store receipts - the operating system doesn't force a check the moment you change and instead waits to check the next time an update or install happens.


Installed openvpn with brew but it doesn't appear to be installed correctly I installed openvpn with brew. The installation went fine, no errors or missing dependencies. But now when I try to run it:

users-MBP:~ user$ brew install openvpn
Warning: openvpn-2.3.7 already installed
users-MBP:~ user$ openvpn
-bash: openvpn: command not found

I based myself on this tutorial: https://my.hostvpn.com/knowledgebase/29/OpenVPN-on-Mac-OS-X-via-Homebrew-CLI.html

Add this to your ~/.bash_profile:

export PATH=$(brew --prefix openvpn)/sbin:$PATH


Is there a Mac equivalent of DOSBox? I was trying to run some old software on my Air today and I got these messages:

  You can't open the application because the classic environment is no longer supported.

  You can't open the application because PowerPC applications are no longer supported.

Is there an emulator or other piece of software that allows me to run this? Windows has DOSBox. Is there a similar program for macOS?

A good way to run classic Mac OS 9 applications on modern computers is to run the SheepShaver Emulator. I'm assuming that since your mac says the Classic Environment is no longer supported, you are trying to run a Mac OS 9 or below app.

http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver_mac_os_x_setup

ROM files and classic disc images are easy enough to find online, but I won't link you any just in case it is against copyright regulations.


Is there an app embedding the Flash player? Is there an app embedding the Flash player? I don't want to install the flash player in osx. I just want to use this app when I need it. Does it exist?

Google Chrome comes with its own instance of Flash that runs only when it needs it and only within the scope of Chrome. I have uninstalled Flash from all my Macs and simply turn to Chrome when I really need Flash for something.


iPhone - Remove URL in current tab I have an iPhone running iOS 11.1.2. How do I remove the URL in my screen at the top of Safari so that I can type in a new search?

When I tap and hold, the only options I get are copy and paste and go. Formerly a small x appears beside the URL when I held it down and that erased the URL. That small x doesn't appear now.

You don't need to tap and hold. You can just tap the URL and you will see a 'X' icon. You can tap the X to delete the URL and enter new URL. You can also enter directly without tapping the X as the text is already selected. Typing over will delete the existing text.


Encrypted drive log of mounts/unmounts? Do  encrypted  volumes  contain any log telling  when they were mounted and unmounted?
I have several encrypted USB thumb drives and I would like to know whether someone has tried to put them into their computer.

It's generally the practice that logs would be maintained on the system which is doing the mounting etc. On macOS the logs are typically located here: /var/log/system.log.

Matteo's answer here shows the various ways that mounting of devices or DMG image files will show up in this log after they're mounted/unmounted.

Where can I find the log of all mounted volumes?


iPhoto export shrinks images (and shows inconsistent file properties) I have several images at 5184 × 3456 (confirmed by the info panel in iPhoto), but when I Right-Click + Show File, it opens a version in finder that is only 1296 × 864. The path it's taking me to in Finder is obviously not the original.

In iPhoto, I can also zoom in to the actual size, but when exporting, it only exports that smaller size. This is even with the "Original" and "Full Size" options selected in the Export.

How can I simply get the full size image out?

"The path it's taking me to in Finder is obviously not the original." It is taking you to a location that looks like this?
Also, Depending on how your exporting may change the characteristics of the file format, hence changing from the "Original" and the original location.
It should also be noted that PhotoStream can change the size of files. For example, if you take a photo with you iPhone and sync via cable to you Mac, but then alter the photo in an iPad using iPhoto, what you get is a different sized file. There's a similar discussion here.


iPhone 7 missing Calendar app I read that you can't delete the calendar icon. Mine is missing and not in a folder. I tried power cycle - no good. Resetting desktop icons changed everything. My Mail is now a screen icon and my messages moved to the toolbar.

With iOS 10 Apple added the ability to "delete" their stock apps.

To restore them just search the App Store for the app and "reinstall" it from there.


Cannot get any macOS or Linux OS to install on iMac I am having a strange issue with my Mid 2010 27 inch iMac - I get the chime, I can get into recovery partitions and into installer USBs no problem...but I can't seem to get a single install working. It'll just reboot a minute or two into installation. I can get into the desktop of an old Lion drive - but I get the "your computer needs to restart" error. It also failed halfway through internet recovery CommandR

I've already tried SMC and NVRAM resets of course.

Here is a picture of the kernel error I am getting. Any help with this would be appreciated.

Original image: https://imgur.com/maSoJIE

Edit: attempt to make the original more legible [not hugely successful]

Firstly: check the disk.

A ten-year-old Mac is a likely candidate for a failed hard drive. Use Disk Utility to check the drive.

Secondly: check the rest of the hardware.

If you have a bootable system on an external USB drive, which you know boots on another Mac, see if that will work. If it doesn't, then the problem is likely a hardware fault.


Auto Unlock - supported For a MacBook Pro mid 2014 macOS High Sierra in the System Report I just want to verify that -Auto Unlock - Supported- is telling me that it is possible for me to set up a Apple Watch and it is not telling me that it is on or setup. Correct?

According to this site:

  If you see “Auto Unlock: Supported,” your Mac meets Auto Unlock hardware requirements. If not, you’re out of luck. As a rule of thumb, Mac models manufactured before 2013 cannot use Auto Unlock.

So it looks like it's telling you the Mac supports Auto Unlock.  I have a 2015 MPB with Auto Unlock turned on and my system report still says 'Supported'.


Converting format of hard drive How to change format of external hard drive from ExFat to HFS+ without losing data? What are limits for maximum size of a file on both formats?

There is no way to do that without copying all data to a second disk, formatting the first as HFS+, and copying the data back.

The file size limit under ExFat is about 16 Exabytes, which is higher than the maximum possible volume size. And HFS+ is similarly crazy: 8 Exabytes is the limit. Which means that you should never have to worry about file size again! (The developers of FAT32 probably thought the same though :p)

Next time, please make use of websites like Wikipedia before posting these sorts of questions.


How can I use F6 to convert into hiragana in Japanese keyboard? I just found a way to convert into hiragana on Japanese keyboard using F6, but the F6 key is used to change the illumination of the keyboard in default.

But since my MacBook does not have any illumination, it is of no use, and rather want to use it as a conversion on the Japanese keyboard.

Is it possible to enable it, withouth keyboard hacking software like Karabiner? Or is it only on some specific models of Macs? I use High Sierra on 2017 MacBook.

You can enable Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys under System Preferences app → Keyboard → Keyboard, as shown:


Why do compilation albums sometimes show up as 100s of identical album covers? Does anyone know, why some compilation albums (purchased on iTunes Shop) sometimes appear as 100s of album covers in the album overview?   (as opposed to what one would expect, just 1 album or atleast 1 per CD)

(would have posted a picture here to show what I mean, but I am apparently not allowed to)

And, probably more importantly, what's the fix?   I've been meddling around with "compilation" properties on the songs, but that doesn't seem to help much. This is really annoying me lol, almost to the point of me considering just deleting the albums only to get rid of this...   hoping someone has an alternative suggestion ;-)

It's possible the "Part of a compilation" meta data wasn't set for these tracks. You can group them together as a single "album" in iTunes by:

Selecting all the tracks you want to come from the same album (use Cmd-Left Click to select multiple, non-contiguous tracks)
Hitting ⌘-I to bring up the meta-data editor window and then:

For the Album Arist field enter: Various Arists
For the Album field enter the name of the compilation album
And then make sure the Part of a compilation option box is checked

Click OK to apply the changes to all the tracks

You should now see them grouped together in the grid view as one album, all showing (hopefully) the same cover art. If they're not showing the same cover art:

Find the cover art you like.
Copy it to the clipboard with ⌘-C
select all the tracks again and open the meta-data editor window.
Click once in the Artwork window and hit ⌘-V to paste the cover art to all the tracks.
Click OK to add the cover art to every track in the compilation.


Tab key sometimes fails to autocomplete in Go To Folder… sheets in Mountain Lion I like keyboard navigation, so I frequently use Shift-Command-G to Go to Folder…  when saving files. I type the first few letters of the directory I want then key Tab to complete the rest. This worked consistently on my old MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard.

On my new one with Mountain Lion:

tab completion works about half the time
the other half, keying Tab is ineffective.

I've observed this with Finder, and with Save dialogs in TextEdit and Firefox. I've carefully verified the spellings, and paths to the directories.

I've also seen it go from not working to working without my doing anything noteworthy in between (didn't reboot, quit and restart the program, or quit any other programs).

Added information:

The asynchronous progress indicator is not spinning while this happens.
This is not an issue only with ambiguous tab completions (when there's an ambiguous stem, it usually just autocompletes with the first match alphabetically.
This does not involve files on an external drive.
If I type in the full name of the directory I'm trying to autocomplete, the "Go to Folder" dialog will not go there (it acts as if I typed in a nonexistent folder name). However, I can still navigate there manually using the save dialog.
Nothing appears in the Console or the system error log at times when this error occurs.
At Graham Perrin's advice, I ran mddiagnostic, but I have no idea how to interpret the output beyond the system error log I already examined.

If the asynchronous progress indicator spins, in the sheet, immediately after you key Tab then something is ongoing and you can wait for the operating system to get what it needs from the file system.

For example, a wait of maybe seven seconds between the following screenshots:

If the problem is without a progress indicator, then see whether the
Console view of all messages presents anything of interest at the time of the problem.

If nothing of relevance is visible in Console, then you can run mddiagnose to gather information, some of which may help someone to diagnose.

mddiagnose(8) OS X Manual Page


Can I "restore" an iso image to my hdd to be bootable? I removed my superdrive a while back but now I want to install a linux partition on my macbook. I installed rEFInd as my boot manager but now I need to boot into the arch linux iso. Normally I would just burn it to a disk and boot... but I dont have a cd drive... so can I clone the iso to my hdd so I can boot off of it?

Why not use a bootable USB stick. On the arch-linux wiki there is a tutorial about how to create a bootable USB stick (live USB stick) for OS X:

Taken from the Arch Linux Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_Installation_Media

On Mac OS X

To be able to use dd on your usb device on a Mac you have to do some special maneuvers. First of all insert your usb device, OS X will automount it, and run

diskutil list

in Terminal.app. Figure out what your usb device is called - mine was called /dev/disk1. (Just use the mount command or sudo dmesg | tail.) Now you run

 diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1

to unmount the partitions on the device (i.e., /dev/disk1s1) while keeping the device proper (i.e., /dev/disk1). Now we can continue in accordance with the Linux instructions above (but use bs=8192 if you are using the OS X dd, the number comes from 1024*8).

  dd if=image.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192
  20480+0 records in
  20480+0 records out
  167772160 bytes transferred in 220.016918 secs (762542 bytes/sec)

it is probably a good idea to eject your drive before physical removal at this point.

 diskutil eject /dev/disk1

Creating the bootable USB drive:
Overwrite the USB drive
Warning: This will irrevocably destroy all data on /dev/sdx.
Note: This method does not work with UEFI boot.
Note: Check with lsblk that the USB device is not mounted, and use /dev/sdx instead of /dev/sdx1. These are very common mistakes!

dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx

Note: Some older firmware does not understand the isohybrid hack where start of fake partition offset is 0. See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/32189 for a fix involving isohybrid.pl.

How to restore the USB drive
Because the ISO image is a hybrid which can either be burned to a disc or directly written to a USB drive, it doesn't include a standard partition table.
After you install Arch Linux and you're done with the USB drive, you should zero out its first 512 bytes (meaning the boot code from the MBR and the non-standard partition table) if you want to restore it to full capacity:

dd count=1 bs=512 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx

Then create a new partition table (e.g. "msdos") and filesystem (e.g. EXT4, FAT32) using gparted, or from a terminal:
For EXT2/3/4 (adjust accordingly), it would be:

cfdisk /dev/sdx
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx1
e2label /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK

For FAT32, install the dosfstools package and run:

cfdisk /dev/sdx
mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdx1
dosfslabel /dev/sdx1 USB_STICK

On the wiki there is some more information, for example if you would like to create a boot USB stick from a Windows environment.


iPad case that blocks buttons Does anyone know of an iPad case that blocks access to the physical buttons.  I would like the user to not be able to hit the homembutton or the sleep button.

there not cases on the market yet, I guess.
But you do can use your creativity and made the case yourself;)
For example like that:

http://carrypad.com/2010/04/15/how-to-make-an-ipad-booksafe-case/


Can I charge an iPhone with another device's USB charger? I have a USB car charger from TomTom. Can I use it to charge my iPhone 4, or will that damage my phone?

Yes, it works great. The iPhone charges over USB like many other devices. The iPhone can accept more current than the USB specification, so you might have a slower charge than a charger that provides that extra wattage, but the iPhone circuitry is designed to take any normal USB charge and properly handle the charge which includes pausing it when the battery is full.


Automatically Retrieving Album Names for Unknown Album Songs in iTunes I'm running iTunes 11.1.2 on OSX Mavericks and have a bunch of songs of unknown albums. I know that we can retrieve album artwork from the album name, but that's not what I am interested in. What I would like to know is wether it is possible or not to retrieve album name for each song I have given only song name and artist name (and maybe the song file itself, of course).

All I found when searching for it is the unknown album problem when updating iTunes, or the album artwork retrieval from album name. Thank you.

Tagalicious

Whilst it has been discontinued, Tagalicious has worked well for me for a long time, finding accurate results to missing info on music in my iTunes library.

MusicBrainz Picard

A cross-platform ID3 tag finder for songs. Despite the fact that it doesn't integrate with iTunes specifically, the ID3 tags can be read by iTunes.


How can I type in half-width number in Japanese Kana keyboard? I want to type in numbers on Japanese Kana input keyboard, but it needs alt key to type in numbers. For example, to type in 3, you must type in Alt + 3.

However, this 3 is full-width, and it even does not go into the conversion list mode. So I found that it is not possible to type in the numbers in half-width.

Is this possible in Japanese Kana keyboard?

This Apple doc says you should uncheck the box for Full Width numbers in the Japanese keyboard Preferences.

However this does not seem to work with Kana input (presumably a bug).  As a workaround, you can use the Convert Text to Half Width service (turned on in system preferences/keyboard/shortcuts/services).


Can you set custom ringtones for contact groups? In iPhone, you can easily change the default ringtone (Settings → Sounds → Ringtone) and set a custom ringtone for individual people (Contacts → [some person] → Edit → Ringtone).

But can you set a custom tone for a group of contacts? (E.g. "family" or "workmates".)

I think that would be handy—and quite basic functionality, so to speak—but I couldn't find a way to do this through the iPhone UI. Is it possible at all (without jailbreaking)?

It is unfortunately not (yet or ever?) officially supported as a feature of iOS.


How to create a password protected ad-hoc network on Yosemite I just tried to create an ad-hoc network on OS X Yosemite and noticed there are no password options. Are they hidden? If so, is there any way to enable them? Is Terminal an option?

Is it possible to create a password protected ad-hoc network on yosemite? If so, how?

You can create a password-protected ad-hoc network by sharing your internet connection. To do so:

Go to Apple Menu -> System Preferences
Go to Sharing preference pane
Select "Internet Sharing"
Choose the source port
Set your connection to be broadcast over WiFi
Click on WiFi options and set a network name and security

While this is a little more involved than just creating the ad-hoc, it will serve the same purpose as well as having the benefit of sharing your connection. At this time, there is no way to add security to an ad-hoc only network on Yosemite.

Source


Reduce iTunes match bitrate I have iTunes match with a decent library (12k+ songs) on my Macbook Air.

I'm running out of free space on my SSD and noticed that the size of my library has doubled since I signed up for iTunes Match.

It looks like a lot of my songs have been upgraded to 256kbps bitrate.

Is there a way to go down to 128 or 192kbps in order to save some space?

I have seen the same thing happen to my hard drive since enrolling in iTunes Match. Fortunately there are a couple of options.

One option is to select any songs you'd like to down-convert, right-click (or ctrl-click) the selection, and choose "Create xxx Version". This will re-encode the tracks based on the encoding options you have set within iTunes Preferences. Feel free to adjust these settings to the quality of your choice. Once they have finished converting, you may remove the higher-quality local copies. iTunes in the Cloud will retain the higher-rate 256kbps version, but your computer will now have a lower-quality version to playback from.

You can also remove local copies of songs entirely, by selecting them and pressing "delete". The songs will remain in your iTunes library as stream-able tracks through iTunes Match. Before doing this, though, I highly recommend backing up your entire library of songs to an external hard drive for safekeeping.

Hopefully between a combination of these two options you can reclaim much of your lost space.


Font smoothing on external display working badly. (rMBP) I have attached two external monitors to my retina MacBook Pro:

24" Dell 1920x1200 with HDMI->DVI
19" Samsung 1280x1024 with Thunderbolt->VGA

While non-retina enabled apps look just fine (e.g. Blender) and seem to be pixel exact (monitors working correctly), all OS X rendered fonts seem to lack font smoothing or seem to have bad font smoothing. The funny thing is, that there seem to be two different kinds of font smoothing:

A black on white font with just black and white (font smoothing on the internal):

and some with color (font smoothing on the external monitor):

There is also some text smoothed with color on the internal, and folder names on the desktop are smoothed in black/white on both displays. The folder font on the external display still looks bad, though.

Short question: how can I improve this behaviour, e.g., get the font on the external monitor to smooth in black/white like Blender does it?

blender:

same font size finder:

Blender also always seems to get the straight lines in a font aligned with pixel lines. The problem is still there when working with the lid closed. I already tried to read

defaults -currentHost read -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing

to get the current setting but it tells me it the setting does not exist.

It doesn't look quite as good as my 27 inch iMac, but something that helped me was to turn down the display's built-in sharpness setting to zero (Dell U2713H). This, combined with increasing the brightness, made my display look much better when plugged into my rMBP (running 10.9.1 at time of writing). It's a huge improvement!

(additional note, I'm plugged into the display with mini displayport)


Phone responds to swipe but not touch - hardware or software problem? My phone responds to swiping in a certain area, but not to touch. Can this be a problem with the touchscreen, or is it a software problem?

Have tried wiping the phone and reinstalling to no help.

In order to fix this problem follow these steps.

1) Plug your iPhone into your computer and open Itunes.
2) Select iCloud Backup or Backup without iCloud.
3) After a successful backup click Restore my iPhone.
4) Attempt using your fresh iPhone and on the phone select restore from iCloud.

If this Does not work follow these steps.

1) Call or go online to schedule a genius bar appointment.
2) Pay and have apple replace your screen or recalibrate it.
3) Use craigslist or something to get a aftermarket screen or calibration.


Why can't I get my Time Capsule to connect to a new wireless network? [Backstory for this question: I'm staying in someone else's apartment currently. All equipment mentioned in this post is being connected to their existing wireless network. That network is broadcast by a Netgear router. Let me know if the specific model is important and I'll dive under the desk and figure it out.]

I've successfully installed Lion after my little hard drive fiasco. Now it's time to restore the data I have backed up on a Time Capsule I purchased in... early 2009, I believe.

I had the Time Capsule set both to back up my files automatically and to broadcast a wireless network in my old apartment. I unplugged it and brought it down here to my temporary abode. I plugged it into power and, not having an ethernet cable plugged into it, it flashed amber. So I connected to its impotent wifi network and fired up AirPort Utility, where I reconfigured it to connect wirelessly to the network here. It continued to flash amber. The network it was broadcasting disappeared, and I could not see it in Finder or in AirPort Utility while connected to the wifi network here.

So I tried a soft reset. Nothing. Tried a hard reset, which started to work. I found the Time Capsule 10293 network it started broadcasting, and again asked it to connected to the wifi network here. Ran into the same problem: flashing amber, can't find the Time Capsule in AirPort Utility or in Finder.

If worse comes to worst, I can tell the Time Capsule not to do anything wireless, and just connect it to my computer with an ethernet cable to perform my data restore. (Which might even be faster than doing it over the air.) But, I don't have a spare ethernet cable lying around here - and more importantly, I want to be able to just plug the Time Capsule into a power outlet, shove it under the bed or something, and have Time Machine continue to back me up on schedule.

So: what step am I missing in getting my Time Capsule set up to join an existing wireless network?

Update:
I haven't made any progress, but I have potentially noticed another symptom. After I do a hard reset of the Time Capsule and look for it in AirPort Utility, I'm warned that I'll have to switch my wireless network to the one being broadcast by the Time Capsule in order to configure it. This is normal, and I connect to Apple Network 2189a98 or whatever just fine. After I change the settings and the Time Capsule restarts and begins to flash amber again, though, I am having trouble re-connecting my MacBook Pro to the regular wireless network here. The AirPort icon in the menu bar does its "searching..." animation forever until I turn wifi off and on again, at which point it connects immediately to the wifi network here.

Curiouser and curiouser.

UPDATE:
I have restored the backed up data to my laptop by connecting the Time Capsule and the laptop via an ethernet cable. I'm now trying to set the Time Capsule up manually in Airport Utility. As suggested, I tried to set up the Time Capsule to extend the existing wireless network here... and got this, which seems relevant:

Seems like this might be becoming a question for Super User.

You have to hold down the Opt/Alt key when you choose the modus. Or else you will not get the option to choose "Connect to a wireless network".


Import Excel data to OS X Calendar I'm trying to find a way to import data from an Excel file into OS X Calendar app, but I can only find articles related to iCal, which I am guessing is the iOS App.

Basically we need to import a list of birth dates into the Mac OS Calendar app, through a file exported from Excel (maybe a CSV file?) How do I do this?

iCal is just the old name for what is currently Apple's main "Calendar" application (referenced here). They are exactly the same thing, Apple just rebranded iCal a few years ago.

That being said, there is a relatively easy (albeit lengthy) way to go about putting an Excel file into the Calendar app. Essentially you have to export the Excel document as a CSV, and then change it into an .ics format in order to get it to work. Instead of trying to repeat what I have found, here is the original article (updated as of 2013) which says it much better than I can in this small space.


GPS not working properly on iPhone: it knows where it is but app can't recognize it My iPhone 6 GPS sometimes just does not work properly. I might be using Waze or Google Maps, but it just looks like it's lost. It knows where it is, because it can follow my position on the map, but the application seems like it can't fully recognize its position and usually just says it's looking for GPS signal (well, sometimes it gets crazy too and goes back all the way to my starting point back and forth).

Does anyone know what may be causing this?

The only thing I suspect is sometimes I have a very low available space on my device, but I'm not totally sure and would sure like to find out how to fix this annoying behavior.

It can’t hurt to open 1 GB of free space, but your GPS is more likely an issue with location services.

Get a good backup
Disable location services entirely and power down the phone
Power on and enable location, verify cellular data and WiFi, bluetooth, data and cellular radios are on.
Try maps to locate and walk to be sure GPS is tracking
Take some photos

If you still are not getting gps in other apps, consider deleting the app (reminder about backup) and reinstalling. Also, check location for that specific app. Toggle off and then on. Restart. Then consider erasing the device and testing then erase and restore your backup.

Only other item is reset network settings ( know WiFi passwords are deleted from f you do this and second reminder to back up just in case ).


How do I create a desktop shortcut for VNC? I connect to my Raspberry Pi with VNC from my MacBook, however to do that every time I have to open the Finder, then select Go from the menu, then Connect to server. I am looking forward for having a shortcut (or an alias) on the desktop so I have to take minimal steps.

This is the address I use for VNC connection: vnc://raspberrypi.local:5901.

Open a VNC session to your Raspberry Pi (e.g. Safari or run open vnc://<host>:<port>).
Grab the small icon to the left of the host name with your pointer
Drag and drop the icon to the desktop

It will create a .vncloc shortcut, which then you can double-click to open the connection.


AHT and Apple Diagnostics not working! I've been trying to do an AHT/diagnostics on my pre-2013 macbook pro. Unfortunately I don't have the original DVDs and when I tried online diagnostics (Option+D after pressing the power button) I get a message saying: "Apple Server Diagnostics does not support this machine". When I try Option+D, nothing happens. Any ideas what to do now?

You will need the exact model information,
not just as you say pre-2013

then we can help you looking to download the correct AHT for your model on the web (if it exists), since the AHT are model specific.

From the screen shot you can see it is a:

MacBook Pro (15 inch, Mid 2010) (MacBookPro6,2/Mac-F22586C8)

Using the above information now we have to find the unique Model Number identifier for the AHT file.

There is no method or listing for that just plain web search.

Getting the AHT is sort of back door in to Apple support.

> http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Hardware_Test/018-[MODEL
> NUMBER]-A.dmg

UPDATE

I did some searching for you and, I found it:

Mac-F22586C8, MacBookPro6,2

022-4597-A.dmg

Enter that in the above link.

Let me know if I got the right file for my records.

More Update:

There is also a very nice database containing Apple Hardware Diagnostics files, all you need is your Model Identifier (found in About this Mac.


iPhone dock connector seems to have bent pins, is this a hazard The dock connector on my iPhone 4S appears to have some bent pins (I think those crushed copper lines in the photo are pins). The phone charges, but it thinks that it is always connected to the dock. That is an annoyance, but the phone seems to work fine otherwise. However, I am worried that the bent pins may be a hazard of some type. Is there any risk of shock or fire?

Pull those pieces out with a plier (or tweezers) so to remove any potential shorts.


MAMP Pro failing to launch (mysql) Issue:
I try to launch MAMP Pro, enter my system password then it sits there trying to connect to MySQL. This has been running fine previously.

Background:
I'm running OSX v10.8.2 and Path Finder crashed, followed by Skype. I did a restart, both those apps were then fine, but MAMP Pro fails to launch.

I've updated MAMP Pro to latest version (v2.1.2), and Googled for solutions, nothing seems to resolve it.

Console shows this:

  18/02/2013 18:35:22.335 coreservicesd[64]: Application App:"System
  Preferences" [ 0x0/0x23023]  @ 0x0x7fde9ad13050 tried to be brought
  forward, but isn't in fPermittedFrontASNs ( ( ASN:0x0-0x22022:) ), so
  denying.

  18/02/2013 18:35:22.335 WindowServer[102]: [cps/setfront]
  Failed setting the front application to System Preferences, psn
  0x0-0x23023, securitySessionID=0x186a5, err=-13066

  18/02/2013 18:35:22.418 MAMP PRO[272]: * -[__NSCFString substringFromIndex:]:
  Range or index out of bounds

MySQL log is empty.

I run: ps aux | grep mysqld in terminal (as suggested on numerous sites as a solution to MAMP Pro not starting MySQL), it lists one entry, but the PID continually increases and I can't kill the process via the name mysqld.

I've used Cocktail to purge memory cache and rebuild launch Services database.

I've also tried booting into Safe mode, then restarting (another suggested solution).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Due to trying to get my local server up and running again, I installed and got working XAMPP, which then had a knock on effect of allowing MAMP Pro to display a decent error message (instead of continually working) and allow the options on the interface to be active again. MySQL was running but Apache couldn't launch. Also, although I could change the settings on the MAMP interface, none would save. looking at permissions and ownership, the app and files were owned by root (but not sure that had any refection on the issue).

@bassplayer7 gave me pointers to the uninstaller (something I didn't know existed), which due to permissions couldn't actually do anything. So I found these excellent instructions:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11855247/mamp-pro-restore-root-user-uninstall
Which cleaned it off completely.

I then did a system restart, re-installed MAMP Pro completely fresh, and it all worked first time. Albeit without any databases, hosts or settings.

You do have backups, right?


How to change key mapping behavior of macvim In Ubuntu, if I hit Shift + Alt + A while in insert mode, it moves the cursor to the end of the line and stays in insert mode. Shift + Alt + I does the same for moving to the beginning of the line.

But in macvim, Shift + Alt + A produces this character: Å, and Shift + Alt + I produces a carat ^.

I would very much like to keep the vim key mapping behavior consistent between my Mac, and my Ubuntu machine at work, but I can't figure out how to do so.

Is there a way I can make vim clobber any of Mac's keybindings so that they remain purely vim keybindings? Note that the above key combination does the same thing even in this input field, so it seems this is a global thing in Mac that I would like to disable if possible.

I am an idiot...

I can just map the special characters...

imap Å <ESC><S-a>
imap ˆ <ESC><S-i>

Problem solved.

That said, apparently if you have macvim gui, you can use set macmeta in your vimrc and then do things like imap <S-M-a> <ESC><S-a> which will work in theory, but I prefer to work in terminal and unfortunately macmeta is not available in terminal macvim


Compose Message Shortcut Is there a keyboard shortcut to open Notification Center and begin an iMessage as seen below?

The short answer is "no" but you can get around that if you try hard.

See this answer, Does Notification Center have keyboard shortcuts? for one way using AppleScript and Services. It refers to tweeting but the principle is the same for iMessage.

You can also set a keyboard shortcut to open Notification Centre then use tab to move to the iMessage button and space to open the new message dialog.


Dictionary application doesn't show all the dictionaries I can use I have a problem with the Dictionary application: all in a sudden, without any changes on the preferences, the application doesn't show all the dictionaries I can look a word in the toolbar that appears under the title bar.
The Mac synchronizes its preferences with another Mac (through Mobile Me), but in the other Mac the application shows the usual list of dictionaries, as it is used to do, and how it should do basing on the application preferences.

What can I do to resolve the issue?

I have resolved the issue by copying the setting file (com.apple.Dictionary.plist) from the other Mac.
I made a copy of the file, in the case I could have the same issue.


How to fix: iMessage Unavailable: Turn on cellular data or use Wi-Fi to set up iMessage My iPhone 5 suddenly ceased using iMessages. The phone is unlocked, has ios 9.3.2 installed, I have very few apps installed, and no new apps installed recently.

When I go to Settings > Messages > iMessage and try to toggle, I get the following:

  iMessage Unavailable
  Turn on cellular data or use Wi-Fi to set up iMessage.

However, cellular data is enabled in Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data. Cellular data seems to be working fine in Safari, apps, etc. I get the same behavior with LTE or 4G cellular.

I have tried all of the following based on hunches and information gleaned from non-stackexchange sites:

Restarting Messages
Restarting the phone
Resetting network settings
Resetting the phone's passcode
Resetting the AppleID account password associated with this phone
Erasing all content and settings from the phone, and then restoring from backup
Ejecting the SIM card, and replacing it.

How to get this basic functionality to work again?

Ok, so there's at least one solution:

Establish a Wi-Fi connection using Settings > Wi-Fi (switch on, etc.).
Log-in the iphone using AppleID when prompted.
Disconnect cellular using Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data (switch to OFF).
Switch iMessage on (Facetime, etc.) in Settings > Messages > iMessage.
Switch cellular data on by reversing step 3.
Switch Wi-Fi off if so inclined by reversing step 1.

That did it!

Also? Screw Apple! Talk about cut-rate functionality…


Preview an archive contents without extracting it less command on Ubuntu allows to peek inside different kinds of archives from terminal. For example, all of these commands would show me the list of files in each of the four archives:

less archive.zip
less archive.tar.gz
less archive.tar.bz2
less archive.7z

On MacOS, I can use vim for this. However, this is less convenient, because Vim requires four buttons to be pressed to exit it (:q + return) instead of one (q).

Is there an equivalently fast way to see list of files in archives for MacOS?

Manually

zip: unzip -v FILE.zip
tar.gz: tar tvzf FILE.tar.gz
tar.bz2: bunzip2 -c FILE.tar.bz2 | tar tvf -
.7z: 7z l FILE.7z

PS: For .7z you need to run brew install p7zip first

Extend less to work the same way it does under Linux

Install lesspipe

brew install lesspipe

Add the following lines to .bashrc (or the profile of whatever shell you use)

if [[ -x /usr/local/bin/lesspipe.sh ]]; then
    export LESSOPEN="|/usr/local/bin/lesspipe.sh %s"
    export LESS_ADVANCED_PREPROCESSOR=1
fi

Source .bashrc or open a new terminal tab


Do Australian iPads work in the UK? I wonder if an Australian iPad mini will work in the UK.

I'm thinking of getting one as a gift for a family member as they're cheaper in Australia than they are in the UK.

Will it work there app-wise?

To use an Australian iPad in the UK you have to consider three things - phone service, AC power and the App Store.

The iPad sold in Australia uses the same phone frequencies as the UK version so you just need to be able to replace the existing SIM with a UK one - this means that you don't want to buy your iPad from a phone company under contract here in Australia.

AC power is fine, you only need a plug adapter or your family member may already have a USB charger to suit.

Then you get to the App Store. So long as you use an Apple ID registered with a UK address you will get need to use the UK Store, if you use an Apple ID registered in Australia it will have to use the Australian Store.

So, to sum up, if you walk into an Apple store here in Australia and buy an iPad and then give it to someone to use in the UK you will be perfectly OK. Don't set it up till you get there and set it up for them and they will love it.


Wifi still going dead on upgrade from iOS 6? Having read about instances of wifi chips going dead on iOS upgrade, and knowing someone who had this happen 2-3 years ago, I have delayed upgrading the iOS on my iphone4.  I am at iOS 6.

Has this problem been fixed or averted in iOS versions currently available?

tl;dr: Could my Wifi chip go dead when I upgrade my iPhone 4 from iOS 6 to iOS 7?

No-one here can give you a 100% definitive answer to a question starting with Could... (if you get what I mean).

However, what I can tell you is that in most cases where an iPhone's Wi-Fi has seemingly stopped working after an iOS update/upgrade, they can be readily resolved by the user. In those rare cases where the issue has been hardware related, the iOS update/upgrade has only acted to aggravate a pre-existing problem.

If you have a compelling reason to upgrade your iPhone 4 to iOS 7, then do it. However, as always, be sure you do a full backup first. Also, in case you aren't already aware, the latest version of iOS officially supported on the iPhone 4 is iOS 7.1.2.

Finally, if you do decide to upgrade and find you do have issues with your Wi-Fi, then feel free to post another question here for help.


How to play alarm through headphones on iPhone? Can an alarm sound in the headphone on iPhone, I don't care if it also sounds outside the headphones, but I think that having it come through the headphones would help me wake up, specifically wireless headphones

How can I get alarms play through headphones?

By default the alarm goes through the headphones and the speakers if headphones are plugged in.


How to stop two phones ringing when one is called? My husband's and my phones both ring when either one is called.  How do we unlink them?

You shouldn't have to disable FaceTime entirely, just turn off the other slider labeled "iPhone Cellular Calls".


internet sharing (mojave) AND two-way connection I apologize for any confusion bc of the subject line. Explanation:
I am sharing a wireless connection on a Mojave MBP 2012 (ethernet/thunderbolt/USB) with a PC running Win10. The PC is able to surf, so internet sharing is nominally working. Is there a way to also go in reverse? What I mean is, I want to use the same network to connect from the MBP to the PC, for example using Remote Desktop.
My hardware is configured as follows:
wireless router <---> MBP <---> eth <--->|        |<---> eth <---> PC
                                         8-port hub

For separate reasons, I'm not using the default internet sharing settings:
icu-mojave:~ $ ifconfig bridge100
bridge100: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
    ether aa:20:66:b1:68:64
    inet 192.168.22.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.22.255
    inet6 fe80::a820:66ff:feb1:6864%bridge100 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xe
    Configuration:
        id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0
        maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
        root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0
        ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
    member: en0 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
            ifmaxaddr 0 port 7 priority 0 path cost 0
    Address cache:
        84:2b:2b:a5:11:63 Vlan1 en0 1199 flags=0<>
        dc:a6:32:96:3f:b8 Vlan1 en0 1192 flags=0<>
        84:2b:2b:a5:11:10 Vlan1 en0 1187 flags=0<>
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
    media: autoselect
    status: active

My ethernet interface looks like this:

As I mentioned, this "works." The PC is surfing the internet etc - it is set up to get an address conventionally (DHCP) and has the IP 192.168.22.11.
Problem: from the MBP, I can't ping 192.168.22.11. I get a request timeout (as opposed to host down for example). I figure if I can't ping it, I can't do anything else either. For starters, I'd like to connect to the PC using Remote Desktop from the MBP so I can get rid of the extra monitor and keyboard.
OK that's it – is this quest even possible perhaps with a change to bootp settings, or do I need to replace the hub with a router and create a 2nd downstream network? I've read that Apple's NAT doesn't do "true bridging," but I can't evaluate that comment or whether that's the issue even.

Answering my own question for the record if anyone else searches. FYI I had to go to a full router setup to get this to work. The new configuration is:
wireless router <---> MBP <---> eth <--->|    |<---> eth <---> PC
                                         router

The MBP side of the router is the "internet" connection and the other side is the 4-port hub provided by the router for its private local network. Had to set up port forwarding on the router to target individual PCs via RDP, and there are Raspberry Pis on the hub side as well, but all is functional.
I still think I'm lacking something because "internet sharing" is inherently 2-way on some level, but I don't know enough about Apple's implementation of this sharing to know what's missing.


Windows 8.1 on bootcamp not hibernating I am running windows 8.1 on macbook pro retina.

When i trying to hibernate it is giving me an error A device attached to the system is not functioning.(31)

Any thoughts what it could be related to?

BTW do not have any devices plugged to any port.

If there is any device plugged into a Thunderbolt port on the computer while in Bootcamp Windows will not be able to sleep or I presume manfully hibernate.

An article from MacWindows.com explains why:
http://www.macwindows.com/Thunderbolt-Limitations-of-Mac-running-Windows-and-getting-around-them.html


Is it possible to buy an iOS Developer Program for an IBC that was formed in Belize? I am thinking about buying an Apple Developer Program through an offshore company. It has many tax advantages. Is it possible? I have heard registration requires a DUNS number, so will I able to get it? What risks are there when using an IBC?

If you have never enrolled in the developer program, I would budget $99 to start with a personal account to get use to enrolling and how things work.

Since Apple doesn't even operate a web store for Belize, you may run into some roadblocks and have to incorporate there as well as in a country that has an online store. (See - http://store.apple.com/us/browse/open/country_selector)

I can't imagine this making financial sense to set up multiple shell corporations unless you were both funded to the point where $5,000 of startup costs in legal, registration, etc... was already budgeted as well as expecting tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue.

Basically, start selling your product and if/when you have a huge tax burden, spend some of your gains on professional advice on whether you want to form one or more international corporations.


MacOS App Resolution Independence I know how to change the screen resolution for the entire system.  That is not a problem.  What I would like to do (for my boss) is to "make everything bigger" in macOS 10.14 Mojave Mail, which is his preferred mail client. I know how to increase the size of the fonts in the mail list and in the massages already.  That helps some, but there is also the issue of the left-hand navigation pane (Inbox, Sent, Junk, etc).

Is it possible to increase the resolution of specific apps independently of the rest of the MacOS system?  Alternatively, how does one increase the size of other things in Mac Mail?

No, Apple does not support app-dependent window scaling. The screen is scaled as a whole. That's why it works so well, compared to Windows' attempts at HiDPI.

Sadly, Apple does not provide options for setting typefaces and sizes for a considerable part of its UI.

Your best bet is to set the screen scaling to a value where everything is at a suitable size.


Difference between GSM and Global iPhone 5 I want to download iPhone firmware, but I don't know my iPhone is Global or GSM so…

What is difference between "iPhone 5 (Global)" and "iPhone 5 (GSM)"?

How can I recognize if my iPhone is Global or GSM?

The CDMA model presumably has compatibility in more markets than the standard GSM model.  According tot he list below, unless you ordered your phone from a Chinese firm, if you have a CDMA model it also supports GSM.

GSM is a European standard and supports the EDGE network.  CDMA supports some networks branded as "3G", but YMMV.  Both are getting a bit long in the tooth as far as cutting-edge goes (IMO).

You can use this list to help identify if your model includes CDMA (Global) or GSM:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3939

Check the "Model" at the bottom on the back of the phone and cross-reference it with the model number on that list. Here are the relevant iPhone 5 data:

GSM models: A1428, A1533 and A1530
CDMA models: A1429 and A1453
CDMA China models: A1528, A1530 and A1518


Backup Spanning Multiple DVD-Rs Is there anything built into OS X Lion that allows you to have a backup that spans multiple disks?

I've got about 80GB of files pulled down from our web servers that I'd like to get put on DVD-Rs, and would rather not have to manually fit dirs ontop the discs.

Anything built into OS X or freeware to do this?

No there is nothing built in

Roxio Toast has a data disc spanning feature, for large files it will split to fit, or you can opt not to split files for easier recovery.

Another solution would be to use an archiving (read:compression) utility that will allow you to compress to multiple archives of a fixed size, say 4.7Gb, the down side of which is that you will lose everything if one disc is unreadable


Bluetooth 5, Multiple Speakers, and iPad mini 5 on iPadOS 14.5.1 So, I am trying to pair 2 Bluetooth speakers with each other so they share the same audio. I know that starting with iOS 13 there is the "Audio Sharing" feature, but I think that is only for iPods or other devices with the W1 chip. I also believe that Bluetooth 5 equipped devices have the functionality to play to two Bluetooth speakers simultaneously.
I am using an iPad Mini 5, Updated to iPadOS 14.5.1. The iPad has Bluetooth 5 capability, which supposedly allows the connection of multiple devices of the same type. However, when I try to connect 2 Bluetooth speakers, I only get the option to toggle between them, not play audio on both. Am I doing something incorrectly, or am I mis-understanding something? If it makes a difference, I am using YouTube Music with an active premium subscription.
Thanks.

Your issue is not with bluetooth but with iOS's audio out selection.
Your device is connected to both devices as both are present as options in the airplay screen as seen in your image. You can confirm this by going into bluetooth in settings and seeing that both devices are connected.
The issue you have is that iOS can only output to one device at once, with the exception of the airplay compatible devices (e.g. Apple TV, HomePod, 3rd-party airplay 2 compatible devices, etc.) or headphones/earbuds with and apple chip, either W1 or H1 (AirPods & beats).
So the only way at the moment to get multiple bluetooth speakers playing audio from your iPad is to buy one that are airplay 2 compatible.


Mac Pro 2008 running but no video out, is it a failing graphics card? I am running a Mac Pro 2008 as of the last week I have been shutting down the machine instead of sleeping it due to the 10.8.2 sleep bug that had been floating around. Today I went to start it and no video period, and the USB / the system appeared to be unresponsive wired mouse and keyboard and the usb hub had no sign of power. I have tried 2 different displays connected to each of the different DVI ports. The Mac starts with a Chime onetime it did two. The display never turns on or gray, just no signal.

I have tried resetting the NVRAM/PRAM and resetting the SMC, still no video?

After the resets the machine appears to be not crashing, normal hard drive boot up activity, start up chime, and the caps lock light is able to turn off and on, was not able to verify system is in fact booting OS X though, I think it is, will verify later.

Has my graphics card failed? What else can I do to try and get the video back?

When I went to verify if the system was running, it booted up normally everything working fine. The Mac Pro had been left unplugged from Friday 5pm til about 6PM on Sunday.

Just restarted the Mac Pro and it looks like the Graphics card is back to the same conditions as talked about earlier, although this time I was able to verify that the Mac Pro is still running by remotely logging in.  As shown in the screen capture below, the "About This Mac More Info..." shows a missing graphics card name as well as a complete lack of Info with the the Graphics/Displays section of the "System Information" Application.

It seems that there have been problems with these cards and Apple is still fixing them.  I found this article about the ATI 2600 (http://www.itproportal.com/2011/02/21/apple-extends-warranty-mac-pro-video-cards/) which stays that Apple will replace the cards if they are a part of a bad batch they've identified.  I hope that helps.

-K


unexpected EOF while looking for matching `"' and unexpected end of file errror I searched a lot of similar error on Bash_Profile, but no one seems to look like mine.. I'm on macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and this is my Bash_Profile

My Bash_Profile

I always get the messages, no matter what I do, not even deleting the lines, rebooting, the error is just transferred to another line.

The error messages I get

Please, could someone point me what is going on?

The first quote on CFLAGS_FORGA is curly. The second is straight.

Replace the curvy one with a straight one.

There are various places you've used curly quotes. Replace them all with straight ones.


iOS: Delete default Apple apps built-into iOS 9.3.5 How do I delete the Apple apps that come installed by default with the iPhone, like Podcasts, iBooks or Game Center app?

It appears that these apps take up a lot of storage space on my iPhone 4s. I don't know for sure if one can or can't remove them.

It is not possible to delete/remove the unneeded built-in, Apple provided iOS apps from a device running iOS 9 or earlier.

In iOS 10, it became possible to remove a selection of Apple's built-in apps, but only from the Springboard (Home screen). The apps weren't really removed from the device, but simply hidden from view (thereby reducing clutter). They continue to persist on device, thereby consuming storage space. (Technically, this was due to the reason iOS 10 was built. Apple's built-in apps were part of the iOS itself, rather than installable from the App Store).

Starting with iOS 11, Apple changed the way it built iOS and shipped first party apps such that it finally became possible to fully delete a selection of built-in apps and reclaim the storage space occupied by them. The same can be installed later from the App Store if need be.

For more information, refer to the helpful support article from Apple, Remove built-in Apple apps from the Home screen on your iOS 10 device or Apple Watch


Can iTunes Match Sync Only Some Files I'm debating purchasing iTunes Match to sync my music between my desktop, laptop and work computer.  The only issue I have is that my laptop doesn't have enough space to download all the music I have purchased on iTunes.  Is it possible to have it download a subset of my music or does it have to download everything?

If it has to download everything it's not worth it to me.  :-)

iTunes Match doesn't download anything by default. Once you have your big library uploaded or matched (or both) and the process has finished in your desktop computer, all you need to do is use the same iTunes Match account on your laptop. It will automatically bring all your tracks, playlists and such, but they will be stored in the iCloud servers. You can listen and buy music and such, but they will only be temporarily downloaded/streamed so you can listen them. If there's a particular song/album that you want to have locally stored (in case you don't have connectivity), you can click the "download" icon next to each uploaded/matched song and iTunes will automatically start a download process.

If you later want to remove the downloaded track(s), you can simply remove and move to trash. There will be a checkbox asking if you also want to remove it from iCloud (and you shouldn't check that unless you want to wipe the track!).

So as you can see, you can download your songs, remove them, re-download them as many times as you wish (I think). But if space is your concern, you don't need to download them in order to enjoy your music. I have a Mac Pro with a 90GB library that has been "matched/uploaded" and tho I keep the library in the Mac Pro (for backup purposes), my Macbook Air with a 250SSD doesn't have a local library, I just listen from the Cloud.

Bear in mind that when you press play on a non-downloaded track, there's a slight 1-5 sec delay before it starts. If you have a good internet connection, the track is downloaded in 2-5 secs too, so this is not a huge problem. If you're playing an Album from the cloud, iTunes starts downloading the next track before the current ends, so there's no unwanted gap. It comes to my understanding (but I haven't taken a look yet) that these temporarily downloaded tracks eventually go away, but not instantly, for if you replay the same track a few minutes later, it's still there.

I've come to like Match, it's exactly what I was looking for. Having the ability to "carry" my 90GB library when I'm traveling (and where I need Internet connection anyway) without sacrificing 90GB of an already small 256GB drive.

I am even considering removing some tracks from my Mac Pro (tracks that I don't really listen too much or I don't really care).

Happy Matching!


EarPods are louder when put backwards into my ear My EarPods (wired EarPods) broke recently.

Now if I put them in normally I can barely hear them, even at max volume.

If I cup my ears with my hands (with the EarPods in my ears in a normal position) then it's very loud again.

If I put the backs of the EarPods into my ears then it's loud, or upside down is also louder than the normal orientation.

Every other pair of EarPods I've tested work fine, it seems to be a problem with this specific pair.

How can I fix this problem?

I assume the speakers have twisted inside of them (maybe not), is there a way I can safely and reversibly open the EarPods to put it back the right way round?

Referring to the iFixit's Apple EarPods Teardown, it appears that it would be pretty hard to open up the ear drums, put the speakers right way round and assemble them back correctly.

  With such a tight fit between the two halves of the EarPods, simply pulling them apart wasn't an option. We knew what we needed to do.

  This isn't something you'd want to try at home. Once these Pods are open, they're not closing back up unless you want to involve glue.

Additionally, they are not rated well on serviceability or reparability front.

  But unfortunately, these products are still of the throw-away kind. Sourcing parts is next to impossible, and it would be a tough sell to convince someone to take apart their earbuds instead of buying a new pair. They will never be the same once taken apart.

If you still have the original warranty for the iPhone with which the EarPods were bundled, you can try getting a replacement.


Macbook Pro 15" vs 13" - Performance vs portability Currently I've got a MacBook Pro 15" (mid-2010, model 6,2), with 8 GB RAM, 2,5 GHz i5 Processor and Intel HD Graphics 288 MB video card. Seeing as it's 5+ years old, I really need a new one, reliability wise. It freezes when I'm working and has it's random shut-downs/white screens/black screens. (Link to specs)

But, I've got a dilemma. I'm a graphic designer and need to work with Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign, so performance is needed. BUT, I also am working on my masters degree, which requires portability, internet and MS Word (no more).

I don't take on too many design projects seeing as getting my masters degree takes up a lot of my time. But, I do need to work with big Photoshop files (2+GB) which my current granny-macbook can't handle properly anymore. (specifically CPU and GPU are busy chewing on the size documents I work regularly on)

How can I evaluate my workload to better decide if

Retina 13" with 3.1/3.4 dual-core Intel Core i7,
16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, Intel Iris Graphics 6100

vs

Retina 15" 2.8/4.0 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD with
Intel Iris Pro Graphics + AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2 GB vRAM

What do you recommend? Is the 13" performance OK to last roughly 2 years of heavy Photoshop use or do I need to get the bigger and thus less-portable 15"? Is the 3,1GHz dual core 13" as good as the 2,8GHz quad core 15", or at least a lot better than the one I have now?

Here's the way it goes in our household:

I own the 15" Model you describe above (albeit a slightly earlier version with the GTX750M GFX card) and my other half has the 13" you describe above (again, albeit 6 months old at this point)

Now, she does a lot of graphical work on it in Adobe CC - Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc - much the same as you want to. She says it never skips a beat for her, even when she's running it on external displays in the office and driving the graphics side of things hard. She sometimes gets frustrated with the lack of screen real estate compared to mine (when she does use it) but it's generally not a problem for her. The battery also performs a bit better, which helps if you're on the move a lot. Sure, a bit of extra power would help her but the portability and price trade offs aren't worth it.

Based on what you've said, I'd recommend the 13". It's plenty powerful for what you want, but I would use the left over cash to buy a couple of nice 24" external displays if you have the space to set up a small office. I love having 3 displays running (1 on the MacBook + 2 external.) Better on so many levels!

Another note - it used to be possible to upgrade MacBooks (more RAM, swap out the HDD for an SSD, etc) so I used to recommend buying less and adding to it when you need it. Can't do that anymore, so buy as high spec as you can afford.


Mail shows an inbox email with a light blue background In Apple Mail, normally inbox items have a white background, except for the selected items which have a dark blue background. Yet, yesterday I received an email from Apple which displays with a light blue background (third item on the picture).

How to un-blue this Apple email?

macOS High Sierra 10.13.4
Mail 11.3 (3445.6.18)

In the Menu Bar go to Mail>Preferences>Rules and unselect News from Apple.

You can read more about rules here : https://support.apple.com/guide/mail/use-rules-to-manage-your-inbox-mlhlp1017/mac and about highlighting here : https://support.apple.com/guide/mail/color-code-messages-mlhlp1063/mac


Routing localhost traffic to external IP address I have a host with Mac OS and another machine (192.168.100.50) in the same LAN.
I would like to configure Mac OS in that way if I access localhost:443 it will redirect to 192.168.100.50:443.

I'm able to redirect ports inside Mac OS, so if I access localhost:444 it redirects to localhost:443 this way:

sudo sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
/etc/pf.anchors/dev:

rdr pass on lo0 inet proto tcp from any to 127.0.0.1 port 443 -> 127.0.0.1 port 444

/etc/pf.conf:

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

sudo pfctl -ef /etc/pf.conf

But if I change from any to 127.0.0.1 port 443 -> 127.0.0.1 port 444 to from any to 127.0.0.1 port 443 -> 192.168.100.50 port 443 it doesn't work.

I guess I should set up NAT somehow, but I'm not sure how to do that with PF to achieve that. So any help will be very appreciated.

Ok, I finally managed to solve the task. As Bob Harris suggested on Apple's forum, I used ssh tunneling to setup it.

On Windows I use OpenSSH
On Mac OS I use Core Tunnel
Core Tunnel doesn't allow to bind to 443 port directly, so I used another port and redirected 443 to that port via PF as described in initial post.


Font size in VMWare Fusion on my Mac Since I upgraded to Yosemite 10.10.5 (14F1021) on my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) the font size on my VMware Fusion is minuscule and I cannot figure out how to increase the font size.  Sure would like to fix this without asking my 2 sons to solve another problem!  It sure would impress them if I could fix this myself!

It sounds like a resolution issue, more than a font size issue. If so, take these steps:

You may have to shut down (not suspend) your VM whilst making these changes.

Open the Virtual Machine Library window (Shift + Command + L)

On the left side of the window, select the VM you want to change the resolution.

At the top of the Library window select "Settings"

Under Settings, choose "Display"

On the bottom half of the Display preference pane, uncheck "Use full resolution for Retina Display".

If this does not resolve your issue completely, you may need to adjust the display resolution within your VM was well using it's own display preferences.


Why is adding adding sites to /etc/hosts not blocking them on BigSur? On macOS Big Sur I added the settings below to my /etc/hosts my ISP has IPV6 support so normally browsing to major sites that support IPV6 should probably happen on IPV6.
127.0.0.1 cnn.com
::1 cnn.com

In a terminal window I can see that ping is using the /etc/host
 ping cnn.com
PING cnn.com (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.036 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.118 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.120 ms
--- cnn.com ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.036/0.091/0.120/0.039 ms

and ipv6
ping6 cnn.com
PING6(56=40+8+8 bytes) ::1 --> ::1
16 bytes from ::1, icmp_seq=0 hlim=64 time=0.061 ms
16 bytes from ::1, icmp_seq=1 hlim=64 time=0.157 ms
16 bytes from ::1, icmp_seq=2 hlim=64 time=0.156 ms
16 bytes from ::1, icmp_seq=3 hlim=64 time=0.159 ms
16 bytes from ::1, icmp_seq=4 hlim=64 time=0.136 ms
--- cnn.com ping6 statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/std-dev = 0.061/0.134/0.159/0.037 ms

However from the browser cnn.com still loads up in Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. I tried all the following suggestion form this site and others on the internet but still cnn.com still shown up in the browsers.

Shut down all programs and restart the machine
Flush the DNS cache using sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
checked that firefox was not using DNS over HTTP
Flushed the DNS cache in chrome using chrome://net-internals

How do I block cnn.com on macOS Big Sur using /etc/hosts for the whole system?

When this happens, the app you’re using might not be asking Big Sur to look up DNS. For an easy case, you should be able to get Safari to block.  Depending on your browser history and what exactly you type - you may need to block more than “cnn.com”:
127.0.0.1 cnn.com
::1 cnn.com
127.0.0.1 www.cnn.com
::1 www.cnn.com
127.0.0.1 web.cnn.com
::1 web.cnn.com
127.0.0.1 cdn.cnn.com
::1 cdn.cnn.com

You also will have to disable most of the search bar functionality since you may be typing a web search in your address bar and then Google, Duck Duck Go, Ecosia will look up CNN's IP address for you based on your typing cnn and pre-load from the IP address - not the DNS lookup...

The above image provides suggested settings for Safari on Big Sur if you implement the block list I provided above for https://cnn.com

Web browsers and some security apps in some cases no longer only call the OS for DNS. Malware, potentially unwanted software and even legitimate programs are starting to hard code IP addresses to get to their servers - and this can be good in the case where they are testing for broken or malicious DNS - not so good when you're unaware what they are doing.
The days of hosts ruling to roost may be long gone unless Apple forces all apps to use system calls. You should be able to get Safari on Big Sur to block sites out of hosts - be sure you open an incognito / private tab or quit the app after making changes.
Even trying to block sites and network ranges network wide using tools like Pi-hole are being lessened in the ever escalating war between people that want to track and monetize your use of the internet and people that are working towards network neutrality and preserving privacy.
You may have to work with Chrome to ensure it’s using system DNS or install an extension that can help block a site or implement a network block on your router outside the app and outside the OS.


WeChat doesn't generate notification sounds on my iphone I've been using the WeChat app which often fails to generate a notification sound when new messages are received. I've noticed that it's a common problem and switching off the battery saver mode doesn't necessarily solve it. Does anyone know how to fix this problem on iphone? I'm using iphone 7 iOS 12.1.4

Make sure your ringer is on, as push notifications only sound if the ringer is on. To toggle the ringer, use your side switch.


Installing Jack audio on macOS Sierra I have tried to figure out how to install the Jack audio system, and JackPilot on macOS Sierra, but have come up with nothing, through any of Google's results, and Jack's own website.

How would I go about installing Jack and JackPilot on macOS Sierra?

I get this error when trying an installer

I had the same issue.  I found this thread that says the betas work om El Capitan and Sierra for the most part.  Good luck!

https://github.com/jackaudio/jack2/issues/144


Is there a shortcut / an app to center the mouse on the current window? I'm currently using 2 screens for work and I CMD-Tab a lot. But I always have to move the mouse to the other screen.

Is there a shortcut / an app to center the mouse on the current window?

Keyboard Maestro can be setup to do this. I know this is a heavy weight solution for a simple task. However, if your already have KM or if you find value in it for automating other tasks,  it is a great option.

Here is how to set it up:

Note: this is centered. The (0,0) is relative to the center of the window.


Which iSCSI initiator should I use on Lion? I am setting up a video editing / encoding workstation based on a mac mini and a freenas box for mass storage. We plan to use iSCSI to share the disk with the mac and had planned on using GlobalSAN's iSCSI initiator as it had worked in testing and was free. Unfortunately, version 5 isn't free so we are back to the drawing board. Or at least now that we have to pay we'd like to make sure we buy the right one.

Anyhow, we've identified a two options:

a) GlobalSAN v5.0
b) Xtend SAN iSCSI Initiator

In addition, I wonder of some open source iSCSI initiators might work since it is BSD under the hood. But I couldn't find a clear answer.

So, for what is essentially a single-user SAN, what iSCSI initiator would use on OSX 10.7?

Sorry but "global san Initiator" is both buggy and a slow.
The read/write figures are low, not to mention when you try to combine multiple LAN links together it is highly unreliable.

The ATTO version is far better, but I just wish Apple would provide a version in the kernel.


Adding suffixes to file names according to previous suffixes I have a folder containing files like

ABC - 2001
DEF
EFG - 2001-2002
HIJ
KLM - 2003
NOP
QRS - 2004

I want to add the year to all file names that currently have no year suffix. The suffix should always be the one of the last file with a year suffix: EFGcontains 2001 and the start of 2002, so HIJ needs the suffix 2002.

How could I do this?

This should do it for the file names you have given. It assumes that the name part consists of uppercase letters, spaces, and dashes. And in the case of two years present, that they are separated by a dash. Also, it assumes that the first file does contain a year (otherwise it has nothing to deduct it from), and it will process every file present in the directory.

Copy&paste to the Terminal, and if you want to check first that it will do it correctly, add an echo before the mv.

for FILENAME in *
do
  # remove name part
  TRIM=`echo $FILENAME | sed -E 's/[A-Z -]*//'`
  # remove possible start year
  TRIM=`echo $TRIM | sed -E 's/[0-9]*-//'`
  if [ -z "$TRIM" ]
  then
    # file name didn't include year
    mv "$FILENAME" "$FILENAME - $YEAR"
  else
    # file name did include year
    YEAR=$TRIM
  fi
done


iPad possibly stolen, not appearing in Find my iPhone, what options do I have? I suspect that my cleaner has stolen my iPad Pro. I restored from an iCloud backup of an iPhone. It does not show up in find my iPhone on safari or my iPhone. I only had the device a week and hadn't had the time to properly set it up. I have definitely signed into iCloud on the device though.

Is there any thing I can do to track it down, send a message etc without Find my iPhone?
Can I reauthorise it so my iMessages aren't sent there?

Before I definitely had my iMessages and other notifications being sent there

It's not clear from your question whether you have or haven't set up the iPad Pro with the Find my iPhone feature. However, at the risk of oversimplifying things, if the device:

doesn't appear in your devices list either on Find my iPhone or on iCloud Find (which is how I interpret your question) then it's almost certainly not set up with Find my iPhone. If this is the case, then you should definitely change your Apple ID password! This will prevent anyone else who may have accessed your iPad Pro from deleting your data from iCloud or making other unwanted changes.
does appear, but is just showing as offline, then it is set up with Find my iPhone but is just currently not online.

To answer your question on whether you can send a message to it, and assuming it's not set up with Fine my iPhone, then you can still send a message but not via Find my iPhone. Instead, because you were getting iMessages on the device, all you need to do is send an iMessage from your iPhone to whatever number/email address/account was being used on the iPad Pro to receive messages.

IMPORTANT

Before doing anything else I would heed my advice above re changing your Apple ID password, unless of course you do want to send an iMessage to it first. But if that's the case, then I'd do it ASAP and reset your password.


Is there any way to tell if someone is reading my iMessages? I think someone may be reading my iMessages on another device?  Is this possible?  Is there any way to find out?

This is possible if somebody knows your AppleID password and uses it to log in onto another device. Changing the password and reviewing the list of alternative phone numbers/email addresses associated with your AppleID should be enough to resolve that (assuming that your new password is significantly better than the old).


file transfer from Tiger (10.4.11) to Mountain Lion (10.8) Will Migration Assistant let me transfer my files from my old Mac running Tiger 10.4.11 to Mountain Lion?  I've read that it does not support moving files from 10.4 to Mountain Lion and didn't know if the .11 on my version made a difference as to it working or not.

Also my old Mac only has USB 2 and firewire, new Mac USB3 and Thunderbolt.  So I don't know how I would make the connection.

Thanks.

Do you have specific files you are transferring? Ie, your home account? If you put the old Mac into TARGET mode, you can use the ThunderBolt->FW800 adapter and a FW800->FW400 cable to mount your old Mac like an external drive and copy whatever you need over. The migration assistant may be able to read from the drive to pull data as well.


Cannot sign into Apple Mac AppStore After entering my password to update apps on the MacAppStore, I get the spinning cog and have to Force-quit the AppStore app. This also happens with Xcode.

I've tried logging into a new user account, but that also will not let me log in.

I'm able to log into all accounts on another computer.

I'm on OSX 10.11.x

Has anyone else seen this? I could not find relevant questions.

Thanks

It seems that you may need to reconfigure your computer's iCloud. You can achieve this by reinstalling OS X. Then it would allow you to set up your iCloud account from start out. Before beginning, I strongly recommend you backup your computer just in case something goes wrong

Restart your Mac
When you hear the start up chime, hold Command ⌘+R
Click "Reinstall OS X"
Follow the instructions listed

If that doesn't work, you may need to fully erase and restore from backup.


How to resize an image in Keynote or Pages? If I resize the width of an image in Keynote or Pages the height resizes as well. The same thing happens vice versa.

How can I resize the width without affecting the height and vice versa?

Select the picture, then in the Arrange tab uncheck Constrain Proportions [you may have to revert to original size before that will un-grey.

Then dragging the image by any edge will stretch.

If you need to crop, that's in Image - Edit Mask [though crop doesn't constrain anyway]


How to close a file and a folder using bash? Is it possible? I would like something which is the opposite of the command open file_or_folder_name. I have searched on the web but I got no results.

The open command opens a file in the default application for that file. To close the file in that application, you will need to control the application to close the file. This will depend on what the application is—not all applications support AppleScript control for example and quitting the app is not the same as closing a file.