Publish an Aperture smart album to Facebook I can easily create a smart album with the 5-star rated images on a certain date. I would like to share those with a Facebook photo album but the share command is greyed out when I have a smart album selected. What are some other techniques I could try?

Select the photos in the Album, see if that works for you.


Get two-factor authentication code from terminal? Is it possible to retrieve my Apple ID two-factor authentication code via the terminal instead of the GUI prompt, i.e. via ssh or a bash script?

I don't own any Apple devices other than a headless Mac mini for iOS development (I am loaning some iOS devices for development, but don't want to mark those as trusted, for obvious reasons).

Right now, I have to remote desktop into the Mac mini to get the 2FA code whenever I need it. I'd like to be able to at least just ssh, if not set up a bash script to text me when prompted.

I came up with a pretty simple solution to this problem using AppleScript that should print the 2FA code:

#! /usr/bin/env osascript
tell application "System Events"
    if name of every process contains "FollowUpUI" then
        tell window 1 of process "FollowUpUI"
            click button "Allow"
            delay 2
            set code to value of static text 1 of group 1
            log (code)
            click button "Done"
        end tell
    else
        log ("Couldn't find 2FA window")
    end if
end tell
return

Adding this to a file and making it executable using chmod +x name_of_file.scpt should create a script that can be run over ssh by executing ./name_of_file.scpt while in the same directory as the file.

Note: When you run this script over ssh for the first time, the following popup should appear:

Simply clicking "OK" should allow the script to run properly. This preference will automatically be saved, and can be modified by going into System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Privacy->Accessibility

This worked for me on macOS Mojave, but it may work on other versions as well.


How can I search for MP3 files by the "Purchased By" field? As I sort through thousands of MP3 files in iTunes, I notice that I have many files that are DRM and "Purchased By" another Apple ID (that I have no access to).  How would you locate those MP3 files, searching for the name in the Purchased By field?

In Itunes, create a Smart Playlist and name it purchases.  (File Menu, New Playlist... Smart Playlist)

In the search parameters of the smart playlist, Choose 'Purchased' and 'IS True'. That's the closes you'll get to sorting out your purchased items, but it doesn't allow you to sort by apple ID.

Since iTunes doesn't allow you to search the 'Purchased by' field in filters, you can accomplish this using Tracksift, by dougscripts.com.

I tried, and using applescript doesn't easily lend itself to reveal the 'purchased by' property, from what I can find.

http://dougscripts.com/apps/tracksift2app.php

This app allows you to Sort tracks into playlists by Apple ID.


Does iOS8 Family Sharing allow to share In-App Purchases? When using the new iOS8 Family Sharing feature, I can download the apps purchased by the other group members of my family.

If these apps use In-App Purchases, and one of the family members has already purchased some content, e.g. a new guitar amp for the JamUp Pro XT guitar/bass amp simulator, do other members of the family get to benefit from these In-App Purchases? Or does every family member have to purchase the same content in the app again?

In App purchases are not shared in Family sharing and its clearly given in apple website. But what we can do is log in to iTunes & App store using the ID which was used to buy the in app purchases without having to change the primary ID of the device and still enjoy the in app purchases


In iTunes, when you purchase a movie in HD/4K, is the SD copy included? I have an old iPod that I doubt can play more than SD, but I bought 4K for my newer items. Did Apple include the SD version in it? The iTunes store on iOS 6 doesn't work anymore for viewing movie pages, so I have to try and download the SD version of the movie on iTunes and sync it over.

According to Apple's site about downloading or streaming movies:

After you buy a movie or TV show from the iTunes Store, you can stream it on the device that you bought it on or on any of your other devices, as long as you're signed in with the same Apple ID.
Videos stream and download at the highest-quality version available based on the device that you're using, your device's settings, and your Internet speed.
The SD version won’t have iTunes Extras, 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, or Dolby Atmos formats, even if you play it later on a device that supports those features and formats.

According to that, I would say it will stream to your older device but the SD version is not automatically downloaded along with the HD version.


Can a Thunderbolt 3 (usb-c style) to Thunderbolt 2 (mini-DP style) adapter work in reverse? I have a mid-2015 Macbook Pro running Catalina (10.15.7). (2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2 GB, Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB)
I have an Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter.
I would like to drive a small USB-C to Displayport Hub - so I can use two 4K Monitors, but just switch one USB-c cable when switching between my work PC (USB-C) and my Macbook Pro. (I realise I could use mini-DP to DP cables from the Mac to the monitors - but switching machines would require changing 6 displayport plugs each time you change).
I have reason to believe this can work, based on this comment.
My question is: ** Can a Thunderbolt 3 (usb-c style) to Thunderbolt 2 (mini-DP style) adapter work in reverse?**

The Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter is bi-directional, it can connect a TB2 device to a TB3 host, connect a TB3 device to TB2 host, or connect a TB3 host to TB2 host for either to be in target disk mode or to create a network between the two hosts.  What this adapter cannot do is pass DisplayPort signals, for that you need a DisplayPort adapter.  I have the Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter and tested that it will not work with DP devices, at least not my DP devices.
What ports exist on this hub besides the two DP outputs?  Will you be using any ports other than the DP outputs?  There's reasons why it's difficult to find adapters to plug USB-C devices into anything other than USB-C ports.  One is that USB is host/device protocol, as opposed to peer/peer protocols like FireWire and Thunderbolt.  Another big reason is that USB-C can carry far more power than most other computer ports, things can end up not working if there's not enough power and things can end up not working (and on fire!) if too much power is applied.
Generally speaking Thunderbolt and DisplayPort adapters will not care which is the host and which is the device.  Thunderbolt doesn't care because it is a peer/peer protocol, the cables are usually active but there's no distinction between input and output ports.  DisplayPort cables typically do not care because the cables are passive, they just mate one port type to another with no changes to voltages or whatever.
If all you care about is connecting DP displays to DP hosts then you can likely find inexpensive DP adapters to do what you want.  If this hub is used for anything other than DP devices then the solution will be either impossible or expensive.


Expand Finder column width with keyboard shortcut I can expand the column width in Finder (OS X El Capitan, MacBook Pro) by clicking on the right-hand line of the column (see red arrow in screenshot). When I click this line, the column width is expanded to the width of the longest file name. How can I do the same with a keyboard shortcut?

The answer to this thread pretty much points out the problem with keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcut (or permanent setting) for fitting column width to longest filename in OS X?


2012 MacBook Air screen immediately falls down, can it be repaired? This is a low-tech question. I've been nursing a late 2012 MacBook Air which has been obsoleted by Apple. The folks who replaced my battery told me that they can't repair the mechanism that produces friction to hold the monitor at a fixed angle. It falls down unless I use something to hold it.

When pressed, the only solution they could come up with is to buy a second, used laptop of the same model and swap the entire display.

Is this really the way it is, or is there some way to tighten or replace the friction mechanism, or any clever hack beyond using string or some other object to hold it at an angle?

I can barely get it to remain stable at the exact vertical position, but can't type on it like that.

Yes - this is eminently repairable and easy to diagnose remotely since you describe a typical and physical hinge clutch failure.

The good news is you can buy liquid damaged / logic board broken Macs that are vintage for very low cost and possibly know the screen assembly is fine by booting to recovery or just trusting the seller.

Swapping the entire display is pretty easy but to get to it are numerous delicate and fragile connectors likely to break the rest of your mac if you’re not careful or have a helper to hold things. Also, you have to remove the battery, which can be bent / damaged and cause a fire risk.

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/MacBook-Air-13%22-Mid-2012/Screens

This also is a very easy repair for someone that does repairs professionally and they can source parts cheaper than you in most cases. They are right, you can’t just repair the hinges - you need an exceptionally strong press that costs far more to make than buying hundreds of displays.

You risk breaking the LVDS cable if there is a sharp piece broken, so short term you need to use it in closed clamshell mode with an external display and baby it while you decide if it’s worth $300 to fix.


(Mojave 10.4.2) Missing top right items (clock, network, battery etc.) I don't know what happened. I restarted mac and since then I don't have top right icons: network, sound, battery, clock, notification but from time to time it blink and for a moment become visible but immediately disappear.
I tried (and with sudo):

killall -KILL SystemUIServer
No matching processes belonging to you were found

I restarted mac and still same.
Is there any way that I can reset this icons settings?
And I repeat wired thing is that it blink as I move cursor and from time to time for a moment I see items.
And also skype, dropbox and spotlight icons are always there.

The following approach is suggested:

Navigate to the Library folder in Finder

  Open Finder
  Use Go -> Go to Folder  (Shortcut: Cmd+Shift+G)
  Type ~/Library and hit Go

From the Library, navigate to the Preferences folder.

Locate and remove the file named com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

Navigate to the folder ByHost which is inside the Preferences folder.

Locate and remove the file(s) named com.apple.systemuiserver.[random_number].plist

Restart your computer.

SystemUIServers handles .menu software amongst other things, and thus this is expected to resolve your issue.


Edit Multiple Places in iPhoto '11? I've recently upgraded from iPhoto '08 to '11 and am in the process of cleaning up my geotagging.  Most of my photos had been geotagged outside of iPhoto, but for a lot of them it wasn't as accurate as I'd like.  So what I've done is flag all of the photos where I'd like to zero in a little more on the map.  Working one at a time I can just select the photo and, in the info pane, drag the existing pin a little bit to a new location on the map.  Works fine.

However, I have large swaths of photos which are all very nearly in the exact same spot (taken in the same room in a building, for example).  When I highlight multiple photos, though, the map in the info pane doesn't let me drag the pin.  (I'm guessing that the pin shown is for only a single photo, such as the first one selected.)  Is there a way I can re-assign the place on the map for multiple photos?

Edit: Requested screen cap:

I think I've found a way. Remove any places that are already assigned to individual photos in the album/event. Then select all the photos and set a location. It should now assign that location to all the photos.


Empty PhotoStream-folder on Window I have installed iCloud Control Panel on my Windows PC. During setup, I was asked to create folders for both the PhotoStream and my uploads. I've done all that, but the issue is that I can't see my photos. The folder is even empty. On my iPhone however, all photos are listed in the Photostream.
How can I view my photos on my Windows PC?

Basically, you need to reset the iCloud settings. There are different ways to do so.

Try to close the iCloud control panel and then quit all Apple and iCloud processes by using the task manager. If you reopen the iCloud control panel, chances are good your photos will start syncing.
Otherwise try to uncheck en re-check the PhotoStream option in your control panel (don't forget to hit the 'Apply' button).
A last solutions is to uninstall and re-install the iCloud control panel, which will reset the iCloud settings as well.


Use Caps Lock to switch to and from languages on Sierra Sierra added this feature that allows you to switch from a to Latin layout from a non-Latin layout by Caps Lock.
It doesn't work with Russian, although last time I checked Russian was a non-Latin language.

Does anyone have any luck with working around this bug?

To switch keyboard layout with caps-lock key you need to
remap caps-lock to F18 with command (in Terminal.app):

hidutil property --set '{"UserKeyMapping":[{"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x700000039,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x70000006D}]}'

Then, go to System Preferences/Keyboard/Shortcuts/Input Sources, use key 'caps lock' to switch input source.

No additional software is required on mac os Sierra.

To keep this working after you logout do the following:
create file ~/bin/caps2f18.sh with the following content:

hidutil property --set '{"UserKeyMapping":[{"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x700000039,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x70000006D}]}' > /dev/null 2>&1

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/bin/caps2f18.sh

Create file ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.loginscript.plist with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
   <key>Label</key>
   <string>com.user.loginscript</string>
   <key>ProgramArguments</key>
   <array>
        <string>zsh</string>
        <string>-c</string>
        <string>~/bin/caps2f18.sh</string>
   </array>
   <key>RunAtLoad</key>
   <true/>
   <key>ThrottleInterval</key>
   <integer>86400</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Execute

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.loginscript.plist

logout login, or execute launchctl start com.user.loginscript


Messages app stopped working Your Apple ID "xxx" can't be used to set up iMessage at this time.

iTunes and Xcode work without complaint.

I refuse to give them $20 to have someone push a couple buttons and force the servers to recognize my ID when it's used from a particular device. It is not something that can be solved from my end, and it is not reasonable to charge for the "service" of letting me use my own computer.

What contact method will allow me to have this resolved without paying an unnecessary fee?

Step 1: Ignore AppleCare

Go to Apple Support

More Products & Services > Apple ID > Other Apple ID Topics > Messages and Apple ID
Your Customer Code is the most useful piece of information.

This error is a result of the system assuming unauthorized access and locking down access to the service. Security is inconvenient.


Should I change my battery? I Have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009). Now the battery status is "Service Battery". I'm thinking of getting a new Laptop.

My question is can I use my laptop even battery is dead by plugged in?

Or

Should I change my Battery?

You can continue to use your MacBook Pro by always having it plugged into mains power. This approach will work and work well.

I use an older MacBook showing "Service Battery" at home. It is always plugged into mains power. The computer works well and does everything my family need of it.

Ask Apple for a Quote

Before buying a new laptop, ask Apple how much a new battery would cost. The cost will be significantly lower than a brand new computer.

Replace the Battery Yourself

Alternatively, iFix provide instructions for replacing the battery yourself but Apple do not recommend this. Apple do not recommend this because incorrectly fitted batteries can be dangerous and they can be a fire hazard.


Display Performance with two external 4K screens Right now I am running two external 4K Displays (Dell) on a Dell XPS 15 Notebook with an UHD-Display (Geforce GT 750 M) on Ubuntu Linux. It feels a little bit slow.

What can I expect if I switch over to a MacBook Pro Retina (15") or iMac 5k (27") with these two displays?

For example - will it be possible to watch three YouTube 4K videos (each on every screen) in full screen mode without lagging?

So now I have the 2017 MacBook Pro 15" with AMD Radeon RP560. It works with 2 External 4K Displays. It is really slow with the internal Intel Graphics Chipset. But you can deactivate automatic Graphics switching in System Settings -> Energy Saving. Then it is really usable.

I tried first with two Belkin Adapters (http://www.belkin.com/de/p/P-F2CU038/) for USB-C to HDMI. There I had some flickering problems on the Screens. Even with High-Speed-HDMI Cables (which are said to support 4k@60Hertz by the vendor).I can use these Adapters without any Problems with 2 DELL UltraSharp U2717D Displays at WQHD Resolution.

I also have two Wesimi USB-C to MiniDisplayport adapters (https://www.amazon.de/wesimi-DisplayPort-Adapterkabel-Aluminium-ChromeBook/dp/B06W54YF2P). I did not find any Manufacturer-Website for this product. That's why only the amazon link is provided. They work really great with the supplied cables from Dell (shipped with the Displays) at 4K resolution.

So now Youtube 4K Streams run smooth. And I use this Setup for my daily Work as Web-Developer. I haven't tried to use this setup for Gaming.


Applescript text delimiter replace line to /n I'm trying to remove line and replace them by "\n" (to them add the final text in javascript with actual line)

set myCaseNote to "e.g
here
and
there"

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {return & linefeed, return, linefeed, character id 8233, character id 8232}
set myCaseNote to text items of myCaseNote
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" "}
set myCaseNote to myCaseNote as text

I can manage to remove the line but I can't replace them with the text "\n", how can I proceed ?

Since you didn't actually say what's going wrong when you try to insert \n into your string, I had a little think and then I remembered that there's a setting in Script Editor:

So, if I'm guessing along the right lines here, I'm suspecting you currently have this option unchecked, which means that whenever you try to type an escaped line-break like "\n", Script Editor automatically replaces it with a physical line-break whilst you're editing, which then leads to your syntax error issues with JavaScript.
[ Don't forget to escape the newline character twice before sending it to your JavaScript code if doing so within AppleScript: \\n.  If you are entering it directly into the developer console inside the web browser, the single escape \n is fine. ]
So, Option 1, is to adjust this formatting setting in Script Editor.  Option 2 is to stop using Script Editor and use something like Script Debugger or Atom.


Sharing mac WiFi over Ethernet breaks all internet connections I'm trying to share internet from my macbook to my iMac. The macbook connects via WiFi, and I want to share it's internet over ethernet to the iMac.

WHen I set this up in sharing and turn on internet sharing, my macbook loses all internet connectivity. I can only get it back by turning off sharing and then disconnecting and reconnecting to my WiFi. My settings are below:

The iMac doesn't get any connectivity either. It recognises that there is an ethernet connection and it get's an IP, but it can't access the internet.

The order of your internet connections is reversed.

For internet connection sharing to work it should be:

"Share your connection from Ethernet"

"To computers using Wi-Fi".

Here are the instructions:
http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/internet-howto/sharing-your-internet-connection-via-wi-fi/


Filevault 2 enabled with recovery key linked to Apple ID, can I get the key? I enabled FileVault on my Yosemite Mac, and selected the "Allow apple ID to reset password" option.

I paid attention to all the dialogs and though they said to write down my recovery key, it was never shown to me.

Did something go wrong? When I did this years ago with FileVault 1 I was shown the key.

I tested using the Apple ID "change password" function and it seemed to work OK but I'd like to have a copy of the key written down as an extra safety measure.

Since you can still decrypt the drive. I suggest you disable filevault now then enable it again, to get a new code. This time don't save the code to the apple cloud but copy it and email it to yourself.


Installing Windows 10 only on late 2009 Macbook with 32gb ssd? Bootcamp says there isn't enough space to create the partition (must have 28gb), but there would be enough without MacOS.

Also, when removing all the MacOS Partitions with the Windows 10 Installer USB and finishing the install, I can get windows running, but it fails to boot again, always going to the windows recovery.

If you have a windows 10 dvd use it instead and install bootcamp support from Apple's website later. Partition the drive with a bootable mac os installer (dvd or usb) to GUID partition map and Mac os Extended. Then format it as MS-DOS. Restart the computer with the windows 10 dvd if you have one (else use the usb drive, i guess). Delete the partition and then create a new partition with the windows installer. Proceed until installed. You may be able to install bootcamp support software from the USB Drive if you hunt for it. If not go to bootcamp 5: https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1721?locale=en_US
(Windows 10 not officially supported on late 09' macbook)


Applescript - Contacts: Why can I get addresses and emails from a contact but not phones Errors when getting phones

In Script Editor, if I run:

tell application "Contacts" to get the vcard of person 301

the result is:

"BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//Mac OS X 10.13.6//EN
N:Bar;Foo;;; FN:Foo Bar
EMAIL;type=INTERNET;type=WORK;type=pref:foobar@gmail.com
TEL;type=HOME;type=VOICE;type=pref:555 555 1212
CATEGORIES:Address Book
UID:1e6e6e410a662666
X-ABUID:18B18941-E2B7-48CE-BB34-4A26CC0E23BB:ABPerson
END:VCARD
"

Note that this person has an email address and a phone number. If I run:

tell application "Contacts" to get the value of emails of person 301

the result is:

  {"foobar@gmail.com"}

However if I run:

tell application "Contacts" to get the value of phones of person 301

I get

  error "Contacts got an error: Can’t get value of every phone of person 301." number -1728 from value of every phone of person 301

and if I run

tell application "Contacts" to get the phones of person 301

  error "Contacts got an error: AppleEvent handler failed." number -10000

What happens if the person doesn't have a phone number?

Edit: Based on one of the proposed answers to this post, I tried

tell application "Contacts"
    set thePhoneNumber to value of phones of people
end tell

which gave me something like

  {missing value, {}, missing value, missing value, ...}

with a lot more "missing values" and "{}s" because I have about 2000 entries in the database.

Investigating this, I found that the "missing value" appears for people who have phone numbers, and the "{}" appears for people who do not have phone numbers. If I run the same command with "emails", I get a list of email addresses for each person who has emails, and an empty list "{}" for people who don't.

This is on Mac OS 10.13.6, Contacts 11.0 (1808.8).

Have I discovered a bug or is there something wrong with my script?

This should work for you...

tell application "Contacts"
    launch
    delay 1
    tell its person 301
        try
            set thePhoneNumber to value of phones
        end try
    end tell
end tell

This also works for me...

tell application "Contacts"
    set thePhoneNumber to value of phones of its person 301
end tell

You can also try running this following code

tell application "Contacts"
    set thePhoneNumber to value of phones of people
end tell

Then you will go to item 301 of that result and if there is no phone number... That may be why you are getting the error.


Warranty on products received as a giveaway I received an ipad mini 2 months ago as a giveaway at a computer company luncheon.  It is my 4th ipad & 1st mini.  Two nights ago, I noticed the back right side (left side if looking at the back) was hot and the device was not responsive.  Charging or resetting using the dual-button process made no difference in status.  I was wondering if anyone knows if a device "won" new at a computer show or luncheon is still covered by warranty?

Thanks

Your mini should be covered under warranty since they haven't been out for a full year yet, however you can double check using Apple's public facing service site - SelfSolve.Apple.com

Apple's warranty follows the device by it's serial number, not the owner, so winning it through a raffle shouldn't have any effect other than it may have been purchased weeks/months before it reached your hands.


Tor Browser Bundle Firefox error I just installed the Tor Browser Bundle (1.0.24).  Vidalia launches with no problems.  Tor connections are created.  However, Firefox doesn't start.  When I manually click on the Firefox app in the Vidalia bundle, I get the following error:

You can't open the application Firefox.app because it may be damaged or incomplete.

Is this a Lion-specific error, or is it something I'm overlooking.  Thanks for your help!

In Snow Leopard, if I just close it all and start it again it works fine the second time.  Alway fails on the first invocation.  I haven't debugged it further.


Cracking hashes for MacOS passwords I've followed practically all the tutorials on cracking hashes for a macOS password, but I've come up empty handed.

I've ultimately come up with this hash:

Admin:$ml$28169$d144a9af9619163e3a77170cb41e3f6e554b22f9683f3c3c8a05676a87b41056$8c6f600a6f3d73a3edd45e6010669da4ed68ba1291489b31dd744af96b12f39d07abe5fbeac0db3cf377e2531d66a2d6d4eb1e281be21b10dea21b6cf13c432c1cb7299c827b891d72c98f5df375b0947f6eb5b2b42e33b1a16212671b71f2671dbd108314335674cad1dee8f281b6221600920abba7a2512bf3493b4cebfd69

I have tried both hashcat -m 7100 and john the ripper, but still nothing.

Any help would be immensely appreciated. I am trying to crack a Yosemite password.

You may find that just like with most unix like systems OS X uses a salt and a hash.

I would review some of the answers on AskDifferent such as:

What type of hash are a Mac's password stored in?

  Your password and the salt is grilled by sha512 many times, then the
  result is base64'ed and reverse xxd'ed. Together with the salt and the
  iterations it's xxd'ed and base64'ed again.


Replacing annoying hold music with my own? Calling somewhere, being put on hold for 15 minutes and up, is not very pleasant. Especially if you don't like the waiting music. Now I'm not talking about the "on hold" music people hear when they call me; I'm talking about the music I hear when I call customer service, etc.

Now as a programmer, I assume there is no such thing as a "protocol" for telephony that tells the smartphone if the user is on hold or not. But if there was, there would be a way to listen to my own music while waiting until an operator picks up my call.

But maybe someone figured out a way to make this possible? Does such app or feature exist, or is it as simple as that it's not implementable, because there is no way of retrieving information about whether or not the call is on hold?

This is not a way to replace annoying hold music, but is a potential solution to being annoyed by music heard when on hold.

WeQ4U

WeQ4U is an app for iOS and Android (with an ugly name). Basically, you route all your calls through its numbers (included as local-rate minutes in plans) and, when you get into a queue with music, you simply hit *9 and the app continues queueing for you.

While there is no protocol for saying when you're on hold and voice recognition is imperfect, I believe the app asks the call agent to use some touch tone command to indicate when you've left the queue and then the app reconnects you. You can see an example of it working in this video.

So you never have to hear the music at all and in fact you can listen to your own music or do anything you want in the mean time. It's a free app, the calls are normal rate (it redirects from premium numbers too) and you use fewer minutes as it calls you back once you're off hold. So yes, I'd have to say such an app or feature does exist.

I believe this only currently works for UK numbers but there's no technical reason why it can't exist worldwide.


Mission Control not working after system upgrade to macOS Sierra Today I had changed my MacBook Pro early 2011 hard drive for a SSD, and did a clean installation of macOS Sierra. Everything is working like a charm, except for the Mission Control, when I try to execute it via Trackpad shortcut or App in the Launchpad, it restarts me the Dock. That is an unexpected issue, and I'm want to know if someone encountered this bug before!

I had a similar problem with a Mac Book Pro (late 2011). I did a clean installation of macOS Sierra and Mission Control and Launchpad were not working, but it did not restart the Dock when I tried to open any of them. I researched a bit I tried killall Dock on the Terminal, for restarting it manually and that worked for me.

Give it a try. Maybe doing it manually will make it work.


iPhoto does not recognise the photos on the SD card of my new camera. I am running Lion on iMac and iPhoto is up to date.  my new camera is a sony a6000.  The photos show up in the import window, even with an image of the camera, but when I ask iPhoto to import them it comes up with a message saying Unreadable Files - file is in unrecognised format. The photos are RAW but I've never had a  problem importing RAW files before. This is what the file is displaying as in the unreadable files window.
/Users/SueHewett/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Import/Masters/Roll 1/_DSC2044.ARW

According to Apple's RAW format support page, Sony Alpha ILCE-6000 support was added in Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 5.06 released in August 2014.  This update requires a minimum of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 with iPhoto version 9.4.3 or later.

I recommend upgrading to the latest OS X version supported by your Mac.


Will App Preview video for iPad be shown for iPhone users? I made an App Preview video only for the iPad resolution and uploaded it to iTunes Connect. If I don't upload a video for the other iPhone resolutions, will the iPad video by shown on the App Store when an iPhone user comes to the store page?

No, the iPad 'App Preview' video will only be visible for users who are viewing your app page from an iPad.

For iPhone users you would ideally upload three video at the following resolutions: 640 x 1136 (iPhone 5), 750 x 1334 (iPhone 6) or 1080 x 1920 (iPhone 6 plus). If however you decide to only upload one video (say 750 x 1334) larger iPhones will fallback to smaller videos if the larger preview video is not present.

N.B. These resolutions are for portrait mode.


How can I run newer Unity games on OS X 10.9 Mavericks? Most games built with Unity 2018 and Unity 2019 do not work on Mac OS X 10.9. They will launch initially, and occasionally even get as far as the main menu, but invariably crash before entering gameplay.
Dyld Error Message:
  Symbol not found: _getattrlistbulk
  Referenced from: /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/UnityPlayer.dylib
  Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

How can I run these games without updating to an ugly flat version of OS X?

The crash log indicates that the game is looking for a function called getattrlistbulk. Because this function doesn't exist in Mavericks, the game doesn't know what to do, and crashes. Ergo, in order for the game to run, we'll have to give it what it wants—a copy of the getattrlistbulk function.
(In other words, we need to write some code. Make sure you have Apple's Xcode Command Line Tools installed!)
getattrlistbulk is a part of the kernel, which means I definitely don't understand what it does. But, what if I don't have to—what if Unity games don't actually need getattrlistbulk for anything important, and/or have a fallback codepath for unexpected values? If that was the case, it might be that getattrlistbulk doesn't need to actually do anything for the game to run, it merely needs to exist.
Only one way to find out! Let's give this code a try:
#include <sys/attr.h>

int getattrlistbulk(int dirfd, struct attrlist * attrList, void * attrBuf, size_t attrBufSize, uint64_t options) {
    return 0;
}

This copy of getattrlistbulk will always return 0, no matter what.
If you save this code as UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m, you can compile it with:
clang -compatibility_version 9999 -o UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib -dynamiclib UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m

Now, we need to make the game load our new UnityMavericksWorkarounds library. This should be easy to do with the DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES environment variable. Run in the Terminal:
DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts

...and watch the game crash the exact same way it did before:
Dyld Error Message:
  Symbol not found: _getattrlistbulk
  Referenced from: /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/UnityPlayer.dylib
  Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

Why can't UnityPlayer.dylib find our fancy new getattrlistbulk function?
Let's look at the crash report again. UnityPlayer isn't expecting getattrlistbulk to be just anywhere, it's expecting it to be in /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib, and so isn't looking inside of our UnityMavericksWorkarounds library. This is due to a concept called two-level namespaces, which you can and should read more about here. And, although two-level namespacing can be turned off via DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE=1, Unity games won't work without it.
Let's try something else. What if we made the game load our library, UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib, in place of libSystem.B.dylib? Apple's install_name_tool command makes this easy! Copy UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib into the application bundle's Contents/Frameworks directory, and then run:
install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib @executable_path/../Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityPlayer.dylib

(Replace Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts with the name of your game.)
Now, try launching the game again, and...
Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

Dyld Error Message:
  Symbol not found: dyld_stub_binder
  Referenced from: /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/Sayonara Wild Hearts
  Expected in: /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib
 in /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/Sayonara Wild Hearts

Hey, at least the crash log changed this time! You can probably already guess why this didn't work. libSystem.B.dylib is essentially the Mac equivalent of Linux's libc, and as such, it contains many, many functions. UnityMavericksWorkarounds only contains getattrlistbulk. And so although the game now has access to getattrlistbulk, it's missing everything else!
What we want is for our UnityMavericksWorkarounds library to also provide all of the other libSystem functions in addition to its own—which is to say, we should make libSystem.B.dylib a sub-library of UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib.
I did this using optool:
optool install -c reexport -p /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib -t Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib

(There's probably a cleaner way to link this at compile-time, but I couldn't figure out how, and optool worked.)
Now, try launching the game again, and...

Theoretical FAQs
(Follow-up questions no one has asked, but which they theoretically could.)
Q: Is the return value of 0 important?
A: Yes. I originally tried 1, but that caused some games to allocate all available memory and crash once none was left.
Q: Will this make all Unity games work properly in Mavericks?
A: No. As far as I'm aware, it will allow any Unity 2018/2019 game to start up, but no one said anything about working properly! Games are complex, and these ones have clearly never been tested on Mavericks before, so they may have other glitches. Timelie is one example of a game which technically works with this fix, but has very severe graphical problems.
Many other games, however, really do seem to run perfectly.
Q: Is it possible to actually reimplement getattrlistbulk instead of using a stub function?
A: Maybe? The Internet™ says getattrlistbulk is a replacement for getdirentriesattr. So, at one point I tried:
#include <sys/attr.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int getattrlistbulk(int dirfd, struct attrlist * attrList, void * attrBuf, size_t attrBufSize, uint64_t options) {

    unsigned int count;
    unsigned int basep;
    unsigned int newState;

    return getdirentriesattr(dirfd, &attrList, &attrBuf, attrBufSize, &count, &basep, &newState, options);
}

This was written by pattern-matching the example code for getattrlistbulk and getdirentriesattr in the developer documentation. It does work (insofar as games run), but then, so does return 0, so I really have no way to test the code. Under the circumstances, return 0 seems safer.
Q: Can I get a tl;dr?
A: Sure:

Copy the first code block in this answer into a file named UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m.
clang -compatibility_version 9999 -o /Path/To/Game.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib -dynamiclib /Path/To/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m
install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib @executable_path/../Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib /Path/To/Game.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityPlayer.dylib
Download optool.
/Path/To/optool install -c reexport -p /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib -t /Path/To/Game.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib


MacBook Pro Connects to Wi-Fi but not the Internet I am on a MacBook Pro 2012 running macOS 10.11.

Recently, I have been having a problem with my Wi-Fi. Specifically, whenever I disconnect from one Wi-Fi network and attempt to connect to another in a different location, I get no internet. The signal says I am fully connected to the new network, but I cannot access the internet.

Restarting the computer solves the problem, but it is a pain to restart the computer every time I want to connect to a different network as I travel with my computer a lot.

I recently installed VPN software and suspect this may be the root of the problem because I never had this problem before the VPN.

Can anyone give me some ideas to fix this?

Seamus is right, it seems an issue related to network and not your MacBook Pro, though, you could execute  network diagnostic Utility.

The Network Diagnostics utility will guide you through a series of questions and tests, based on  your ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to network configuration and DNS servers. Sometimes the utility is able to fix issues by itself , but,when it can’t, it usually provides lots of useful info regarding  the nature of the problem as well as to offer several suggestions in order to fix network issues.

regarding VPN, could you tell me if you use more IP at the same time ?


kernel_task consumes 500% CPU on AC power, sometimes Typically, my kernel_task process uses 1-4% CPU and 100-700MB of memory. However, sometimes when I have the power adapter plugged in, the CPU usage jumps to around 500% (8 cores) and stays there until I unplug the power adapter. I can plug it back in and everything is fine for a few seconds or a few days, then it eventually happens again. How can I stop this from happening?

In my experience this has always been due to a hardware fault. However before doing anything else reset the SMC as detailed here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 as its power related.

This appears to happen when the Mac is struggling to communicate with hardware. Which Mac is it? How old is the battery? Is your battery life still good? Has the Mac had any damage - dropped? Liquid? Have you tried a different power adapter?


Second Macbook Pro as extended display I have an old Macbook Pro 15". My company gave me a new Macbook Pro 13".

Question, is there a way to use either of them as extended display to the other one ?

Both support retina display.

There is no built-in Apple way to do this. Your only option would be to use third party software such as Air Display. However, I cannot vouch for how well it will work in your scenario.


SSD instead of DVD temperature just installed Intel 320 instead of DVD in Macbook MC516LL.
Does old DVD place is equivalent to standard HDD place in Macbook from temperature (thermal) perspective?

Since the SSD is likely to be powered on much more than the DVD ever was, your thermal load inside the mac will be higher. Most SSD use even more power at idle than HDD, but it won't be nearly as bad as the CPU/GPU running full tilt. The fans may run faster to compensate if the ambient temperature is high, but I've heard no hints of problems even from people in warm environments with SSD+HDD.

There are many apps to log the temperatures so you can get a before / after log and check on things as you should whenever you add parts not planned by the manufacturer.


Select text in a Quick Look window? Is there any possibility (default write, or something else) to copy text directly from a quick look window? It annoys me that I cannot select and copy text snippets directly from Quick Look.

In Terminal, enter:

defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool TRUE

You have to restart Finder before the option will be available.

Found this on: http://www.defaults-write.com


Macbook pro Mid-2012 camera not working Recently replaced HDD to SSD. After replacing it the camera stopped working - green light not showing up. When opening the FaceTime app I only see a black screen.

I would check the webcam connection first maybe even disconnect and reconnect. If you can't do this, a local IT guy or apple store might do it. Google it to find what it looks like.


Upgraded to 10.9, but it broke my Windows 8.1 Boot Camp partition! I just got Windows 8.1 set up via Boot Camp a couple days ago, and everything was working wonderfully.

Today, I upgraded my Mac to OSX v10.9, as suggested by Apple. Nobody told me it would break my Boot Camp system!

First, my Windows partition didn't even show up in the option-menu at boot, so I tried following the instructions here, which fixed the option-menu, but the system still won't load!

When I tried to boot into Windows, it says it can't find the operating system! So somehow it seems that the 10.9 update is incompatible with previously-existing Boot Camp partitions.

What can I do? I need my Windows partition for work!

You could try to fix the MBR Table.

I would recommend by using a Linux LiveCD or the rEFInd CD http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/index.html

Alternatively, rEFInd can be installed on OS X so you also get a Partition Manager Tool. I used this tool once to fix my broken MBR Table.

You can find the install instructions for OS X here: rEFInd Install OS X

I hope this helps.


Find out which app icon is missing in xcode for an app I already published an app succesfull to the appstore.
But now something has changed and I get an error when publish again the same app:

Missing required icon file. The bundle does not contain an app icon for iPad 152x152
Missing required icon file. The bundle does not contain an app icon for iPad 167x167

How can I find out which of the icons are wrong. I cant see any slot with 152pt in the appicon.xcassets.

I have already created all possible icons with an icon-maker tool and I see all icons of my appicon.xcasset, but now something seems to have changed.
I can't figure out which one is missing.

Any hints ?

The error is telling you which icons are missing. Go to images.xcassets and click on AppIcon. You'll see the 76pt 2x (76 * 2 = 152) and 83.5 2x (83.5 * 2 - 167).


How to launch system's "Network diagnostics" from the command line I would like to launch "Network diagnostics" from the command line.

High Sierra and newer OS have moved this to the Applications folder in CoreServices. On new OS - you can use this command.

open /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Network\ Utility.app/

If you need to script this for all OS - you'll need to check the version and check if Network Utility is in CoreServices or CoreServices/Applications folder/directory.

Most cases your launch services database is correct and can find the app - be sure you escape / quote the space when calling open -a

open -a "Network Utility"
open -a Network\ Utility
open -a Wireless\ Diagnostics

Same thing if you actually meant Wireless Diagnostics instead of Network Utility since there isn't a Network Diagnostics that ships with macOS.


Removing "shift" from a letter on iPad Pro with Apple smart keyboard This is an odd one.
I was typing on an apple "smart keyboard" connected to an iPad Pro. "Notes"  REALLY wants to capitalize the first letter of each line, and "Mail" REALLY wants to capitalize any letter after you type a ":" character.

When I'm using the on-screen keyboard it is easy to see that the 'Shift' button is engaged, and press it to disengage it. However, for the life of me, I could not get the shift to disengage while I had the apple keyboard attached to the iPad Pro! I had to physically disconnect it in order to bring up the on-screen keyboard where I could then disengage the 'Shift' button.

Does anyone know a way to do this without disconnecting the physical keyboard?

Turn off autocapitalisation in settings>general>keyboard, I don't have an iPad Pro so not entirely sure if it will work but it does with my Bluetooth keyboard.


MacBook Pro 2018 & LG UltraFine 5K Display Power Comsumption I'm looking to purchase a new MacBook Pro and a monitor, and I'm currently looking at the 15" MacBook Pro (2018) with the LG UltraFine 5K Display.

I'm fully aware that the MacBook Pro and the LG UltraFine 5K Display are compatible with each other, as indicated by this Apple Support page.

Having said that I noticed that the 15" MacBook Pro ships with an 87w power supply, whilst the LG UltraFine 5K Display provides up to 85W of charging power via the USB-C input.

Does that mean, that if the 15" MacBook Pro was performing some form of heavy computation, such as video rending, it could start to use the additional power requirements from the battery, and thus require the original charging cable to give it sufficient power (obviously at some point the battery will go flat)?

I'm probably looking into this far more than what is required, but it does seem strange that the latest 15" MacBook Pro laptops require more power than the "official Apple supported" monitor can provide.

For MacBooks (including Pro), if the requested voltage based on current system load is higher than the power available, it will try to make up for the difference by drawing from the battery; if the requested voltage is lower than the available power, it will use the extra power to recharge the battery until it is full.

For using the 85W charger on an 87W MacBook Pro, the difference is so small that it is virtually unnoticeable. In rare cases, your battery might be losing a small amount of power slowly when the machine is under max load. In most case, it will be just fine.

Note: The LG UltraFine 5K is made for MacBook Pro 15" and MacBook Pro 13", and you can see that MacBook Pro 15" has the best feature support. So it is safe to assume that everything, including the power delivery over USB-C, is highly optimised.


How can I prevent the SD version of a TV show from downloading in iTunes when I purchase an HD show? When I buy a TV show in iTunes in high-definition, at the time iTunes starts to download the show, it actually begins downloading two versions of the show: one in standard definition, and one in high definition.

This is a waste of my bandwidth!

I only care to have the HD version of a TV show downloaded.  I've tried to cancel the SD version download that's paired with the HD one I ordered, and that temporarily solves the problem, but the next time I use iTunes to download something else, it seems to remember and restarts previously cancelled SD downloads!  Must I completely download the SD version, and then delete it in order to clear the queue?  That doesn't save my bandwidth :-(

Is there any way to prevent iTunes from downloading the SD version of a TV show I buy in HD?

There is no way to prevent this permanently, automatically.

For each individual purpose, you can contact iTunes Music Store customer support, and as them to remove the SD version from your downloads queue, but bear in mind that you will not be able to transfer the movie to any iPods etc that only support SD (most of them, except for the very latest incarnations).

Source: Second result of a google search


Messages on OS X stopped working after iOS 7.1 upgrade After upgrading my iPhone 5 to iOS 7.1 the Messages app on my OS X 10.9.2 installation can no longer send messages via iMessage to other iMessage users. Sending messages via other services such as Google Talk is working fine. I have tried signing in and out from my iCloud account in Messages. Also, nothing has changed on the firewall I'm connected through.

Any ideas?

Restart your computer. That solved it for me.


How useful is Motion 5 without Final Cut Pro X? My video editing needs are very, very pedestrian and seldom. I have no real need for Final Cut Pro.

When I do make videos, however, I like to customize titles a bit more than what iMovie allows. So Motion 5's relatively low price caught my eye immediately.

I know that Motion's main strength is putting together parameterized effect packages that can be exported to and used wholly within FCPX. But if its standalone functionality is full-featured and relatively hassle-free, it might be worth it.

So; advice?

It really all depends on how much patience you have.  Using Motion as a stand alone editor is possible, but it is an incredible hassle.  For example, cutting film into different pieces puts those different pieces into different layers.  Sometimes it detaches the audio, which then means you have to do audio syncing.  Plus, if the project is a long one, your machine might start to choke on it.  I wouldn't recommend Motion as a stand alone editor.

But, that being said, I'd still recommend Motion for what you're talking about.  I think it is stand alone enough to do what you want, all you really need to do is get used to round tripping between iMovie and Motion.  To do that:

Cut your movie in iMovie
Export it and import it into Motion
Find the part that you wanted to put titling on and use "split" to separate it from the rest of your movie.
Delete the part you don't need.
After you done using Motion, export the movie and import it back into iMovie.
Just put it into the place it had been before...

I really like Motion myself (use it all the time), and it certainly can add that extra zing to your movies.

One more piece of advice, go find the Apple Training for Motion 4 by Mark Spencer.  Great book, easy to use and gets you up to speed really fast.  Yeah, I know, it's for the old version, but Motion 5 is literally the same thing as Motion 4 with the addition of rigging.  And if you're not using FCPX you don't need rigging.  So, go get the book :-).


How to delete events on iPad Calendar.app I have been able to add events on my iPad calendar but I don't see how I can delete an event.

Launch Calendar.
Tap on the event you would like to delete.
Tap on Edit in the upper right hand corner.
Tap on Delete Event at the bottom.
Tap on Delete Event once again once it pops up to confirm that you
want to delete that event.


Remove locations from list in Reminders app I am trying to remove the locations listed in my Reminders app on my iPhone 5c (iOS 8.2). I have several that I no longer use/need but cannot work out how to delete them? I have the 'home' one and that's the one I use the most.

I have removed locations within the Maps App thinking this may help, but to no avail. Can anyone suggest another method?

Try this:

On your iPhone, open the Reminders app.
Select the "Home" reminder list.
Tap "Edit".
At the bottom of the list, tap "Delete List".


Thunderbolt 3 to Ethernet adapter I have just ordered one of the new Nov 2018 MacBook Airs that only come with Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports. Just looking for a simple clean solution for a high performance adapter using the USB-C physical connector.

Notes:

I am aware of the many USB-C to gigabit ethernet adapters that exist -- but I am looking for an adapter that takes advantage of Thunderbolt 3, the lower latency, and lower overheads. For example, on my old MacBook Air (2014), I use a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter ---> NOT a USB to Ethernet adapter.
I am aware I can buy a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt adapter, and then plug in my Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter ... but I don't want a double dongle. Who does?

Does there exist a Thunderbolt 3 to Gigabit ethernet adapter?

(n.b. the rest of this should be made into an answer and edited out including this editor's note...)

Note on the USB-C to Ethernet that Apple sells (Belkin)

If you read the reviews on the USB-C to Ethernet adapter that Apple officially sells (made by Belkin), there are a number of reviews that suggest that speed is throttled by using the USB-C adapter (compared to Thunderbolt).

A review by Elias A states:

  "Compared the old macbook dongel that has thunderbolt with this one. Got close to 1000Mbits. With this Belkin USB-C dongel I get around 200-300 Mbits"

A review by William S states:

  Not really gigabit
  This adapter is only recognized as a 100BaseTX, even if you try to set it manually. Returned it and bought a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 adapter since I already had an old Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter from Apple. This combo may not be elegant, but it gives me full gigabit speed

It is these reviews that prompted my question. There are other reviews that note that Thunderbolt also involves lower system resources than USB-C.

Update after buying Belkin USB-C to gigabit Ethernet adaptor

Based on one of the answers below, I unfortunately purchased the Belkin USB-C to gigabit ethernet adaptor ... and report below some comparison timings which reflect very poorly on the product.

In the following tests, I compare the speed to transfer, on the same Cat6 ethernet network, over the same cables, through the same routers:

2014 Macbook Air:  using Apple Thunderbolt to Ethernet adaptor
2018 Macbook Air Retina:  using Belkin USB-C (plugged into Thunderbolt 3 port) to Ethernet adaptor

Test 1:  3.8GB file

2014 Mac - Apple Thunderbolt adaptor:  35 seconds
2018 Mac - Belkin USB-C:  110 seconds. (Repeat tests returned 35 secs)

Test 2:  9.6 GB folder (with many files)

2014 Mac - Apple Thunderbolt adaptor:  5 min 50 seconds
2018 Mac - Belkin USB-C:  6 min 45 seconds

Test 3:  4 GB movie

2014 Mac - Apple Thunderbolt adaptor:  63 seconds
2018 Mac - Belkin USB-C:  87 seconds

The Belkin adaptor also got very very hot, and smelled burnt. I cannot explain the wildly variable results from the Belkin product either. An adaptor that returns worse results on a much faster 2018 Macbook Air (using USB-C) than Apple's own Thunderbolt adaptor on the 2014 Macbook Air frankly beggars belief. Whether the fault is the Belkin unit (of which there are many complaints on the Apple store site) or some inferior aspect of using USB-C compared to Thunderbolt ... I cannot say.

I will be returning the Belkin unit to the Apple store for a full refund: the product or technology is plainly inferior to what was available 4 years ago.

The ridiculous answer to your question is: buy the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Ethernet adapter AND the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter and daisy chain them.

As far as I can tell, that is currently the only way to get your ethernet to show up as Thunderbolt on the newer MacBook Pros.


Suddenly cannot print over WiFi I have an Epson Stylus NX625 that my family had been using from several Macs and Macbooks until recently.  Now when we attempt to print the Mac reports "Looking for printer" for several minutes followed by "Printer not connected."  The printer reports no error (it thinks it is properly connected to WiFi.)

This problem started around the time I replaced my old Airport Extreme with a new 6th gen Airport Extreme (the tall one, with 802.11ac).

My Macs can still print properly if I connect the printer directly via USB (it is normally configured for wireless printing.)

I have updated the printer drivers and reset the printing system on each Mac.

I am stumped.  Any ideas?

I had the same issue, had to turn off and on the printer to get it to print every time even if the jobs were only a few minutes apart.   I was not thrilled about changing the 5GHz name as suggested above.

I resolved my issue by going into the Airport Utility on my iphone, go to Edit->Advanced->Add WPS Printer->With pin

Now my Epson Workforce 845 works as it should.  I assume there is something in the router that treats a printer different than a general client and adding it as I did above solves it...at least it did for me.


osx 10.10 force 32 bit I am trying to start my OS X 10.10 in 32 bit, but with no success:

First I tried it by keeping 3 + 2 pressed during start up
Then I tried by the following command: sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture i386

In both cases all I get RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64 by running uname -a

Is it possible at all to force 32 bit on OS X 10.10?

This is my processor: i7-2675QM
I have hardware drivers that only support 32 bit for AWUS036H

Is there another way to use that hardware with 10.10?

Why?

All OS since Snow Leopard are 64 bit only.


Use iOS device for audio output from computer via USB I just got new Bluetooth headphones, but my Windows 10 PC does not have bluetooth. Is there a way I can play all audio from my PC to my iPhone 7 (preferably via the USB charger), and then use my Bluetooth headphones connected to the iPhone?

This is not possible. The closest thing I can think of, is opening Spotify on both devices. Control Spotify from your laptop and set the output device to your iPhone. Of course this only gives you Spotify Music.


Unable to take screenshot in MacBook using shortcut shift+command+3/4 On macOS I type the key combinations: shift+command+3/4

While taking the screenshot sound is audible but the screenshot is not getting saved in desktop or anywhere. I have searched in spotlight and in finder as well.
Also checked the shortcuts in keyboard option; all are checked.

How can I look at where the system stores the actual screen shot location and validate / reset that it's saving files to a writeable location?

If the default location for saving screenshots has been changed, then this Terminal command will show you the changed location:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture location

If you get a message that the default pair does not exist, then the location has not been changed, and should be the Desktop.

If you want to restore it to the default, enter:

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture location


MacBook Air Battery is not charging, no light, still be able to power up, battery condition is normal I experienced this behavior two days ago (My MacBook Air is late 2011 version (4.2):

I can still power up my Mac, with or without MacSafe charger connected
Battery is not charging
There is no light.
I tried to reset SMC but it does not help
Battery condition is normal
I tried with few different MagSafe charger but still can't charge my MacBook Air

What is the problem and what should I do?

Here is the result of System Information:

Battery Information:

  Model Information:
  Serial Number:    xxxxxxxxxx
  Manufacturer: SMP
  Device Name:  bq20z451
  Pack Lot Code:    0
  PCB Lot Code: 0
  Firmware Version: 406
  Hardware Revision:    000a
  Cell Revision:    162
  Charge Information:
  Charge Remaining (mAh):   4743
  Fully Charged:    No
  Charging: No
  Full Charge Capacity (mAh):   5788
  Health Information:
  Cycle Count:  269
  Condition:    Normal
  Battery Installed:    Yes
  Amperage (mA):    0
  Voltage (mV): 8032

System Power Settings:

  AC Power:
  System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
  Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):   10
  Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):    10
  Wake on AC Change:    No
  Wake on Clamshell Open:   Yes
  Wake on LAN:  Yes
  Current Power Source: Yes
  DarkWakeBackgroundTasks:  1
  Display Sleep Uses Dim:   Yes
  PrioritizeNetworkReachabilityOverSleep:   0
  Standby Delay:    4200
  Standby Enabled:  1
  Battery Power:
  System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
  Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):   10
  Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):    2
  Wake on AC Change:    No
  Wake on Clamshell Open:   Yes
  DarkWakeBackgroundTasks:  0
  Display Sleep Uses Dim:   Yes
  Reduce Brightness:    Yes
  Standby Delay:    4200
  Standby Enabled:  1

Hardware Configuration:

  UPS Installed:    No

AC Charger Information:

  Connected:    Yes
  ID:   0x0000
  Revision: 0x0000
  Family:   0x0000
  Serial Number:    0x00000000
  Charging: No

Your issue is not normal obviously but this could be a sign that something is wrong with the hardware.

The best advice is to go to an Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider and let them look at it.

The issue could be your battery, it could be the MagSafe board or it could be the logic board.

I wish I could help you more but without seeing the unit with my own eyes and taking it apart I can't say for certain what it is. I doubt it is software and therefore encourage you to reach out and find someone who is certified to open Macs.


Options for playing music wirelessly from iPod touch and iPhone? What are the options for playing music from an iPod touch over speakers in multiple rooms, preferably with the ability to turn speakers off in a specific room using a remote? I currently have a basic stereo system but it's about 5 years old, only has two speakers, and doesn't support Bluetooth so I'm not sure if it's worth trying to use with the iPod for this type of setup. Cost isn’t an issue at least until I figure out what the options are.

Today Apple announced that the upcoming iOS 4.2 update coming in November will contain a feature called AirPlay where you can stream music, video, and photos directly from your iOS device to a new Apple TV (and presumably the Airport Express).


How to fix Terminal error DYLD_ environment variables being ignored because main executable (/usr/bin/login) is setuid or setgid? Any time I open a new terminal window (independent of terminal app), the console stderr displays dyld: DYLD_ environment variables being ignored because main executable (/usr/bin/login) is setuid or setgid before the first bash prompt.

The start of this error coincided with my install of 10.8.

How can I get rid of that message?

Below is my .bash_profile:

export PS1="\u@MBP:\W ->"

##
# Your previous /Users/segiddins/.bash_profile file was backed up as /Users/segiddins/.bash_profile.macports-saved_2012-04-19_at_21:00:04
##

# MacPorts Installer addition on 2012-04-19_at_21:00:04: adding an appropriate PATH variable for use with MacPorts.
export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH
# Finished adapting your PATH environment variable for use with MacPorts.

It seems that the problem might be with asepsis (If you have it installed).　http://asepsis.binaryage.com/

Re-install it to make sure that it's up-to-date. And then Download the Command Line Tools from XCode.

That fixed it for me...


What all file metadata is available in macOS? I have gone through Windows versioning information: Please Check out Windows file versioning information

Now Windows provide quite an ample amount of information like productname, productversion, CompanyName, Comments, FileDescription and so on.

I went through mdls command and that information is very less compare to what Windows provide.

Does anyone have idea how to get equivalent information for Mac OS's (preferably in Sierra & El-Capitan) files as well ?

Applications on macOS store similar types of metadata in Info.plist files stored within the application bundles themselves.

For example to see the metadata available for Safari you can run the following command in a Terminal window.

plutil -p /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info.plist

Or to get the version of Safari specifically you can run...

plutil -p /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info.plist | grep CFBundleShortVersionString


How to quickly remove all useless iOS applications on my Mac? I have 900 apps on my Mac because I sync both my iPhone and iPad.

There are a lot of apps that I deleted a long time ago which are useless. I have amassed 40gb of apps.

Is there a quick way to delete all the useless apps?

You could right click on any app in iTunes Apps section, click Show in Finder, then sort by Date Modified and erase all those that haven't been updated in a long time and that you don't use. Be careful because one of your preferred app might not have been updated recently.


Are there configurable power profiles in Mountain Lion like in Windows? I started using a Mac few days ago (a MacBook Pro 13" with Mountain Lion). I'm wondering if there are power profiles that I can create and set like in Windows. Do they exist in the Mac world?

Something very similar but with some additional options exist.

Open your System Preferences and find the Energy Saver.

Open it, and the you can not only set your power profiles but few more helpful settings.

However this does not set the Mac operating performances, since those are managed more intelligently based on actual demand. Means the system will go in to lowest possible power consumption mode when ever possible. That is best shown in the New MacBook Air, with a battery life of >8 hours.


How do I force OSX to use IGMP version 2? I am connected to an old NETGEAR smart-switch which only supports IGMPv2. It doesnt route multicast traffic to my mac because it joins the group using IGMPv3.

I tried this:

sysctl net.inet.igmp.default_version=2

but it doesn't work - OSX still sends out IGMPv3 packets (confirmed with wireshark).

Is there a way of forcing IGMPv2?

Im using Yosemite (10.10.2), in case that makes a difference.

There is a beginning of an answer here :

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3328862


Use only internal display I charge my Mac through an external display's using USB-C port. The external display has one another PC computer connected to it too.
When the connected PC goes to sleep, my Mac's screen pops up on the external display.
How can I set things up such that my Mac use the external monitor only for charging and not for display.

This needs to be configured on your external display and not on the connected device (Mac, PC or anything else).
Make sure your external display is set to not switch to a different source automatically.


Download entire iTunes purchase history as CSV file I'm wondering if anyone has found a way to download one's entire iTunes or App Store purchase history as a CSV file?

I know that from within iTunes I can go to Account / View Account / Purchase History, but this has numerous problems. It does not let me download the results, but only shows them in iTunes. It does not show all purchases, but instead shows results one screenful at a time. And it does not even show purchases as individal line items, but shows them grouped into collections you need to click into. It's almost like they're trying to make it hard to see how you spend on the App Store or iTunes Store....

I have not been assiduously saving all the email receipts regarding my purchases, so I cannot access this information by doing bulk processing of those old emails.

So is there any other way to get access to this information except for the inadequate iTunes interface?

And if the only way is via the iTunes interface, is there any way to script the UI so I could write a program that iterated through all results and extracted them? Has anyone actually succeeded in doing this?

You asked, "is there any way to script the UI?"  Yes, if you are on a Mac.  You also asked, "Has anyone actually succeeded in doing this?"  Sort of.  My history goes back to 2005, and the iTunes Store session kept timing out, so I had to run it it batches, but the following script does work.  Be aware that it runs very slowly;  simply retrieving the class of an object from iTunes can take almost a second.  I would welcome any performance enhancements anyone can suggest.

This worked on OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 with iTunes 12.3.2.35, and on OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 with iTunes 12.3.2.35, on or around February 28th, 2016.  Any changes Apple makes to the iTunes Store account interface will likely break this script.

In iTunes, go to Store > View Account, log in, scroll to Purchase History and click See All, then, when the screen showing Batch 1 out of N is visible, run the following script in Script Editor:

tell application "System Events"
    set dateString to do shell script "date \"+%Y-%m-%d_%H.%M.%S\""
    log dateString
    set target_file to ((path to documents folder) as text) & dateString & "_iTunes_Purchase_History.txt"
    set myOutput to ""

    set webArea to UI element "loading iTunes store" of splitter group 1 of window "iTunes" of application process "iTunes"
    set batchText to value of first UI element of webArea whose value starts with "Viewing Batch"
    log batchText
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" "}
    set num to last text item in batchText
    log num
    set currentNum to text item 3 in batchText
    log currentNum

    repeat num times
        set els to UI elements of webArea
        set ready to false
        set open_target_file to open for access file target_file with write permission
        --repeat with el in els
        repeat with el in els
            set cl to class of el
            if cl is button then
                set myOutput to myOutput & "\n"
            end if
            if cl is static text then
                set val to value of el
                if val starts with "Copyright" then set ready to false
                if ready then set myOutput to myOutput & val & "\t"
                if val is "Total Price" then set ready to true
            end if
        end repeat
        log myOutput
        write myOutput to open_target_file starting at eof
        set myOutput to ""
        close access open_target_file

        click button "Next" of webArea
        repeat
            delay 2
            set batchText to value of first UI element of webArea whose value starts with "Viewing Batch"
            set tempNum to text item 3 in batchText
            if tempNum is not currentNum then
                set currentNum to tempNum
                log currentNum
                exit repeat
            end if
        end repeat
        delay 2
    end repeat
end tell

This produces tab-delimited text, not CSV as the OP requested, but most spreadsheet applications will import it.  Gift purchases seem to mess up the formatting, so it may need some manual curation.

I relied on information at http://n8henrie.com/2013/03/a-strategy-for-ui-scripting-in-applescript/ to learn how to do GUI scripting.


Will a Macbook Pro retina 15" from 2012 support WQHD resolution (3440 x 1440)? I'm interested in buying the Dell U3415W for my mid 2012 MBPr 15". I know that thunderbolt 1 can drive regular 1440p displays such as a 2560 x 1440, however can it drive the Dell's wider resolution?

I actually tried it, and it worked! Full 3440 x 1440 resolution at 60 Hz using thunderbolt to mini display port.


How to fix songs still waiting in iTunes Match? I've recently refreshed my iTunes library and, as a result, decided to delete everything in iTunes Match and re-upload just to make sure it's all current and correct.  It's a large library (nearly reaching the 25,000 song limit), so the process understandably took a while and there were some duplicates to get rid of, etc.  The iTunes Match status icons helped a lot with that in terms of sorting and finding what needed to be addressed.

After a few days, however, there are still a number of songs (27 to be exact) with no discernible pattern among them which perpetually have a status icon of "Waiting" for iTunes Match.

I've tried selecting "Update iTunes Match" from the "Store" menu, closing and re-opening iTunes, even rebooting.  I can't seem to get iTunes Match to upload those 27 remaining songs.  Has anybody seen this before?  Are there other things I can try?

I would export a copy of those songs to a folder in /Users/Shared and then turn off iTunes Match. Then:

Make a new user on your Mac
Log out of your existing user
Log into this brand-new user and fire up iTunes

It should have no music whatsoever and not be linked to your Apple ID. Now go ahead and sign into iTunes match and see what the cloud really thinks your music library looks like. Drag one and only one song from the users/shared folder into this library and leave iTunes running for a while to see what iTunes match makes of it.

At that point you have a very isolated and potentially reproducible issue that you could reach out to Apple support in case the problem is on the server side and nothing that you were doing.


Adding my email address -MacBook When i purchased a new Mac book and turned it on for the first time, there was a pop up where i had to enter my name, address, email etc.

I skipped the email field, and now in xCode, my name and my company name gets displayed as comments and not my email address. So how can i get my email to get displayed in xCode in the comment section ?

note: I only want my email ID to be displayed in xCode and not in other applications.

By default, Xcode does not include your email in the automatically generated headers, regardless of whether you gave it to your Mac or not.

However, if you want to change how the automatically generated headers look, navigate to Xcode.app, right-click it, click on Show Package Contents, then go to Contents/Developer/Library/Xcode/Templates/File Templates. There you will find the templates Xcode uses; feel free to edit them to include your email address.

Note: the above assumes you have the latest version of Xcode, which is installed as an app, with the Developer directory inside the app bundle. If you have an older version, you'll probably find the templates in /Developer/Library/Xcode/Templates/File Templates instead.


Unable to install app on new phone because "App is no longer available in the App Store" I switched to an iPhone 8 Plus and found out that 2 paid apps cannot be downloaded anymore as they have been removed from the store.

I have copies of the app on several devices - the oldest device that still has this app is an iPhone 4.

I am having trouble transferring the app to my computer so that I can manually transfer it to my new device. Is there any way at all?

I've tried a few online suggestions but none works i.e. Transfer purchases, downgrade to iTunes 12 etc.

I paid for these 2 apps and would really appreciate help in getting them transferred over to my new device. Reaching out to the developer is not an option.

If the app is 32-bit it will not work on iOS 11.

If it is 64-bit but not in the AppStore you can:

Find an .ipa file of the app and sideload it with Cydia Impactor
Jailbreak both your iPhone 8 and 4. Then you can dump the .ipa file from your iPhone 4 (using something like iFunbox) and install it on your iPhone 8 (also using something like iFunbox or Cydia Impactor).

Note: Jailbreaking voids your warranty.


Automatically launch a program or action when an external drive or disk is connected I have an external drive. Is it possible to launch a program or perform an action when I connect it or plug it in?

Marco Polo can perform actions (you specify) based on attached USB devices.

Edit: MarcoPolo isn't supported anymore, but there is a maintained fork of it: ControlPlane


Is there a keyboard shortcut to switch the cursor between panels of iPad split screen? Is there a way to switch back and forth between two functionalities open in split screen easily on the iPad?

Control Option Left Bracket and Control Option Right Bracket should allow the user to switch between the two apps displayed
[…]
If you […] try it twice, you should find it indeed moves you to the application on the other side of the screen.

https://www.applevis.com/forum/switching-between-apps-split-view-ipad-using-keyboard-commands


Thunderbolt SSD or USB 3 SSD - Need an external SSD drive I'm planing to get an SSD(500GB) probably Samsung EVO or Corsair(LS,LX,GT) & seagate thunderbolt adapter for my macbook pros' 2011 and 2013 Retina.
⌘ - I've already upgraded my 2011 MBP with Samsung EVO 250GB and it's performance is fantastic.

So here's my question -  Using SSD externally with thunderbolt worth it? both in terms of money and speed.
My basic purpose of getting SSD for external use -

Keep all my data (mostly movies), don't like keeping them on my laptop to eat space.
I travel a lot and never liked carrying those bulky Seagate goflex external hard drives, I'm more of a go bare 2.5 HDD guy because they are thin and small, unfortunately mechanical HDD's are fragile but SSD's aren't, they are already in a metal casing so all i need is an adapter to connect.

So should I go and get an SSD with thunderbolt adapter, will it deliver the same speed as the it delivers when placed internally? I'm open to getting an USB 3.0 adapter too (just to keep the cost low).

I'm aware of Lacie rugged thunderbolt SSD drive, honestly I don't like its life boat design. too bulky fatso! - - the max i want to use on SSD is a Silicon skin.
So please do consider those bold face points while replying. thanks. It's my first post here.

i've looked at external SSD's for my mac as well. they seem to be pretty pricey for their purpose. Regards the speed, thunderbolt delivers about 10Gb/s which is plenty. it seems at least as fast as an internal SSD, and a heck a lot faster than USB 3.0. If you have to absolutley get an external SSD, get one that supports thunderbolt, or even better to get one that supports thunderbolt 2.0.


How to get Boot Camp Audio Drivers for Windows 10 on High Sierra? How do I get Boot Camp Audio Drivers iMac(10.13.4) in Win10, they did not install. Everything else works in Windows.

Often the audio drivers fail to work when Windows is installed using either the wrong Boot Camp Support Software (Windows Support Software) or Windows is installed using the wrong boot method (BIOS vs EFI).

The best way to get the correct Boot Camp Support Software is to either use the Boot Camp Assistant to download the software or use the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows.

Usually, Windows 10 installs for an EFI boot on Macs that Apple documents to officially support Windows 10. Otherwise, Windows 10 should be installed to use the BIOS boot method.

If you need help determining which boot method Windows is using, post a comment including the model/year of your Mac.


Macbook wakes up at 1am My Macbook pro has been in sleep with open lid and power. It suddenly waked up at 1am midnight. Screen is off actually. But fan started making loud noise, which made me believe it's up. After I closed the lid and unplugged power, fan noise stopped. What is happening here?

It's on Mojave.

In SystemPreferences->Energy Saver->PowerAdapter:
uncheck "put harddisks to sleep when possible" (this is/was meant for HDD not SSD)
uncheck "Wake for network access" !!

in "schedule..." bottom right side: uncheck the two possibilities.
Restart after that to be sure.
That should do it.


Why do I see my OS X account picture in GMail on my Android phone? I found a very confusing thing today: When I look at messages in the GMail app on my Android phone, the picture I set for the login on my Macbook at work is my icon in the message thread. I never did anything to integrate GMail with my OS, never requested that the image be shared anywhere, and can't find a way to delete it.

This leads to two questions:

1) How do I ensure that my laptop login picture is not associated with anything, anywhere, ever?

2) Where would I go to submit feedback to Apple in order to tell them "never, ever do things like this"?

1) As you clarified in the comments, you have used your GMail account for instant messaging using Adium. My guess would be that Adium took your OS X account picture (or you assigned it manually) and synchronized it with Google. It should be easy to verify this by changing your contact picture in Adium.

I can`t test it right now, but will try later and also try to come up with a solution to turn of the synchronization.

2) https://ssl.apple.com/support/feedback/

But I don't think that OS X has anything to do with it, since I believe that the updating of your GMail avatar was done by Adium.


Is a sim-free iPhone different from a virtual-sim iPhone? We read that Apple has a patent on a 'virtual sim' iPhone.

Then we saw that Apple was selling a 'sim-free' iPhone.

Both allow you to choose your carrier later. These appear to be different concepts.

My question is: Is a sim-free iphone different to a virtual-sim iphone?

No no, Apple is selling the phone only, without a SIM or a carrier plan.  That's what SIM free means. The device ships without a SIM. You need to buy a SIM card separately . But a virtual SIM is a completely different thing.
A virtual SIM is a concept in which no SIM card is needed and the protected storage is inside the phone. So you can switch carriers without changing a SIM


Can I get my pictures back if we all shared the iCloud? Me, my sister, and my mom all shared a iCloud. I recently lost my phone in a car wreak and I lost some really important pictures. I lost my boyfriend in the wreak and I was trying to get my pictures back because of so.. but when I got my new phone and tried to sign in and get my pictures,notes, etc i got my moms instead. And everytime I try to reset it or try to do it again it always gives me my moms pictures and everything.. it says that there is 3 iPhones with data but won't let me get mine back?

First of all, sorry to hear that about your boyfriend!

What you might try, is resetting your phone and then plugging it in to your computer and then selecting "restore from backup". This might not give you the very latest photos but at least the ones until the last backup you did.

Hope you get them back!


How can I disable the iMessage app temporarily on my iPhone My spouse frequently snoops thru my iPhone at night, how can I disable my iMessage app on iPhone?

You cannot actually disable iMessage as an app, as it is integrated within your Messages. iMessage was introduced by Apple as an alternative texting feature between Apple devices (Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad) over WiFi rather than through your carrier which would require a texting (SMS/MMS) plan.

You can however disable iMessages in your settings -> Messages -> toggle off iMessage.

However this would just cause messages to come in via SMS instead of iMessage, unless the sender can only send an iMessage (such as a Mac, iPod or iPad without carrier), in which case the sender won't be able to send to you at all.

My recommendation is turn of the phone, turn on airport, set a lock password, fingerprint, or hide your phone better. :)


Full Windows Install using Bootcamp I have a MacBook Air to which I have to install Windows 8.1 completely. I wiped the machine clean and did a common Windows install, but Windows didn't run well and while I was able to install some of the drivers that came along with bootcamp I downloaded from Apple, I could not just execute the package as a whole, as it was "not meant for my computer". So I decided to recover OS X (El Capitan), have it installed to an external drive and then use Bootcamp to do a full install of Windows to the main drive. But now he doesn't allow me to use the full drive, he always wants to keep a share of about 10 GB for an "OS X" that does not exist.

Is there a way to tell Bootcamp to use the whole disk? Otherwise, when I download macOS Sierra and create an install medium from it, will I be able to fetch the Bootcamp installer from this medium?

No. Install OSX, then use Bootcamp Assistant to make and format a new partition and install Windows. Only use BootcampAssistant, do not use DiskUtility or any other tool.
When there is something wrong with the Windows installation later on, you can restart in OSX and correct it with BootcampAssistant.
Let about 15GB minimum free in the OSX partition.


Panic Report: Zone cache element was used after free! Can anyone explain what caused this. Happened twice, consecutively.
Panic Report:

I've had the same issue on two separate Mac's (including a brand new 16" MacBook Pro I bought two days ago) both running Catalina 10.15.3 (19D76). It's happened on system wake, using Chrome, and randomly with no apps running in the foreground.

Perhaps a background process is responsible. What background processes are active? (I'm running the latest versions of Little Snitch, Intego Virusbarrier X9 and Creative Cloud).


IOS 5.1.1 Safemode problem I jailbroke my old iPod Touch 3rd Generation, with IOS 5.1.1, using the latest version of absynthe. It worked for several months, but then it randomly stopped. It went into safe mode, but the touch screen wouldn't work. It showed the lockscreen, but nothing worked at all, except for the physical buttons. The only way to reboot is to follow the same steps as DFU mode (Hold power button 3 sec, then home button AND power for 10, then just home for 8)... However, it always boots right back into Safe mode.

I had to restore, and once rejailbroken, it worked fine, until I installed SBsettings. Then it did the EXACT same thing, and I had to restore and re-jailbreak AGAIN! The other day, I finished installing ALL of my extensive list of tweaks, and got it to about where I wanted it, when lo and behold, it booted to safe mode again. I have spent so much time on this, and I do not want to do it again. Does anybody here have any knowledge on the topic? Is there a program I can run from my computer to manually control the device or kick it out of safe mode? Is there some other method of doing this? I am looking for any solution OTHER than restoring. I have done that several times.

Also, I know the problem isn't with my jailbreak. It worked for several months before, then one day stopped. Now, it has the problem within a day of rejailbreaking, OR instantly if I install SBsettings. I re-installed the jailbreak, and applied the new one as well, and that didn't work. I have given up, and don't want to go through the painful process of restoring, rejailbreaking, and re-installing all of those tweaks again.

Also, because I can't get into my iPod, I can't provide a list of tweaks. I would if I could, but it just can't happen unless I can get in there.

SafeMode v0.9.5000 is not working well on iOS 5.11
You should downgrade to v0.9.4000
See http://www.jailbreakqa.com/questions/304545/screen-is-unresponsive-to-touch-in-substrate-safemode-ios-421


Battery problems on MacBook Air I have a 13" mid-2012 MBA, which runs fine except one thing: in the past year the original battery started to deplete its charge quickly and now only holds about 50% of the original capacity.

So I decided to buy a new battery and bought one on eBay from as seller with extremely positive reviews. I replaced the original one and was happy for a short while - everything seemed great.

From time to time my Mac stops seeing the battery and I get a "no battery available" status and a X on the battery icon. Sometimes it goes away by itself after a fairly long time, once I had to replug the battery for this to go away. When I see this warning, mac goes to sleep immediately after unplugging it.

Is there anything I can do about it? SMC reset doesn't help.

You should only use the original Apple battery. You can read everywhere that cheap other brand batteries are s**t and go broke very soon or immediately. (The same goes for batteries for cameras).
Perhaps you can recover your money from Ebay.


iPhone 5 overheating and battery drains very quickly My iPhone is always heated up even if I'm not using it. When I charge it, it heats up even more and battery drains very quickly. Its battery is currently fully drained for more than half an hour and the back still seems as it is heated. What's the problem and how can I solve it?

Are you using IOS 7? When using IOS 7 be sure to check your apps which are running in the background, but normally these apps are also closed after some time in standby. Be sure to update your iPhone to IOS 7.1. When you say your iPhone/battery heats up when loading there is surely something wrong with your battery. Your USB transformer might heat up a little, but never had an iPhone heating up when charging. Contact Apple Support, or your reseller. Probably your battery needs replacement.


Why hasn’t the size of my “Mail” folder reduced after upgrading to macOS High Sierra? During the WWDC 2017 keynote, it was mentioned Mail in macOS High Sierra would use up to 35% less storage space. An article on thenextweb.com also says: “After installing High Sierra, Mail will begin the arduous process of compressing every message it stores. When done, old messages will reportedly take up 35 percent less space on your computer.”

However, despite having upgraded and having had Mail running continuously for over a day, I’m not seeing much, if any, reduction in the size of the “Mail” folder (inside the “Library” folder) as reported by the Info window in Finder. The window shows a total file size of 6.75GB with 6.87GB used on disk. Within a Time Machine backup from right before the upgrade, it’s 6.7GB with 6.9GB used on disk.

Why am I not seeing any reduction in the size of the folder? Is there something I need to do to get Mail to compress the messages? Or is this feature not available on all Macs?

To not leave my own question unanswered: I haven't been able to find much information on this, so far I can only assume Mail's reduced storage space is one of the features that was announced but didn't make it into the final release of macOS High Sierra, or at least not in the initial 10.13.(0) version.


read creation date from file name and change - batch I have files that are named like "clip-2014-01-31 18;50;15.mp4", i.e. "clip-YYYY-MM-DD hh;mm;ss.mp4".

How can I set the creation date and time according to how it is specified  in the file name for all 2000 files I have in a folder. I know the command touch -t changes the creation date, but I do not know how to extract the date/time information from the file name and put this into a command so this is done automatically for all files.

You're lucky because the numbers in your file names are in just the order touch -t needs.

This command in the terminal will work. You just need to make sure your working directory is set to the folder you want to do:

for f in *; do
    t=$(echo $f | sed -E 's/([A-z]*-)|([ ,;])|(\..*)//g' | sed -E 's/(.*)(..)/\1.\2/')
    touch -t $t "$f"
done

To break it down:

for f in * sets the variable f to the name of each file in the directory, in turn.

do puts everything until the done into the for loop.

t=$(…) sets the variable t to the output of the commands in the parentheses.

The first sed command matches any letters before a - symbol, the - ; and the space symbols, and the file extension, and deletes them.

The second sed command inserts a period between the mm and ss values, as touch requires.

touch -t $t $f changes the file modification and creation times to the value of t on the file f.

Tested on some dummy files with whatever version of sed ships with Mavericks.


Sign in without credit card if the Apple id is already created I have create my apple Id online using chrome and not from the App store or Itunes.
Now when i try to download any free app from the app store it gives me a error that the Apple id i am using has never been used before.
It takes me to a different page where i have to agree to the agreement and demands the credit card info on the next screen where the "none" option is not available.

Log in Apple Store using your AppleID

Select Account

Select Edit for the Payment type

Select None.


osascript dialog box is blocking. I'm using osascript to display dialog box from bash script, but it's blocking the script, until i press the 'ok' button.

I wonder if there's a way to make this display window asynchronous.

osascript -e 'tell app "System Events" to display dialog "'"${msg}"'"'

This means that the script will continue running and the osascript will run on the background.

You can add ampersand (&) at the end of the line. Quote from bashitout:

  A single ampersand & can often be found at the end of a command.

 ./myscript.py &

  This trailing ampersand directs the shell to run the command in the background, that is, it is forked and run in a separate sub-shell, as a job, asynchronously. The shell will immediately return the return status of 0 for true and continue as normal, either processing further commands in a script or returning the cursor focus back to the user in a Linux terminal.


Screen Sharing in El Capitan – Gone? When I upgraded from Yosemite to El Capitan, I got a warning about Apple’s Screen Sharing.app being not supported.

Sure enough, an alias to the app was moved to a folder named "Incompatible Software". When I run the app, it never connects to the server.

Is there some replacement for this functionality (VNC screen sharing) bundled into El Capitan? Or did Apple really just drop this important feature?

It's under /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Screen\ Sharing.app here. You should still be able to call it directly (e.g. via Spotlight) or just use Cmd-K in Finder to initiate a VNC session (use vnc:NAME-OF-REMOTE-SYSTEM as address).


In automator, apple claims you can create a dialog with a progress bar. Is this feasible or outdated? At this link:
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/MacAutomationScriptingGuide/DisplayProgress.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40016239-CH37-SW1
We see that there is a progress bar. I have been unable to create it. Is it deprecated?

UPDATE: Unable to change anything here:

Please be aware that the link you posted refers to Script Editor, not Automator.
In Script Editor (programmed in either AppleScript or JavaScript) this is totally possible, just try the AppleScript sample code at the end of the developer article (open in Script Editor, save as application, run).
In Automator, only the progress of the respective steps within the Automator workflow can be shown (a rotating cog wheel or progress circle in the menu bar).


What kind of SSD is compatible with the 2010 Unibody MacBook? I'm considering buying a solid state drive for my Unibody White MacBook 2010. The trouble is, I have no idea what to look for. What kind of connector am I looking for? (SATA?) What size? I'm told to get the kind that Apple uses so that I don't void my AppleCare warranty. What model/brand(s) would that be?

You're looking for any 2.5" SATA drive. I'm not sure if the MacBooks came with SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) or SATA 2 (3 Gb/s), so you should match whichever the installed drive is. (There's no harm in putting a SATA 3 drive in a machine that only supports SATA 2, you just won't get the speed and you'll pay more.) You should be careful of 12.5mm height drives - they won't fit in some Macs. Anything smaller should be fine.

Some references:

mid-2010 MacBook manual – look in Chapter 3 for specifics on hard drive replacement
iFixit's MacBook repair guide – has better pictures than Apple's manual (I think this is the right one)


How to wipe certain files from Time Machine Backups history but keep recent copies of them in case of a full restore I like Time Machine simplicity but I'd like to make it a little more space efficient: since system updates, apps updates etc change GBs, I'd like to exclude these only from older backups, keeping the last 5 or so backups full, bootable backups.

For instance: Let's say I have 3 time machine backups:

2016-12-08-225622

Applications
Library
System
Users

2016-12-09-225622

Applications
Library
System
Users

2016-12-10-225622

Applications
Library
System
Users

I want to be able to wipe Applications, Library, System... from the first two backups and be able to keep only their latest version, in this case 2016-12-10-225622. So it would look like this after the "cleanup":

2016-12-08-225622

Users

2016-12-09-225622

Users

2016-12-10-225622

Applications
Library
System
Users

This would be similar to excluding system files from time machine + using a boot clone, except you can get some bootable history if you want to (ie. keep the last 5 versions bootable).

It also works for other folders: what about keeping the Downloads folder history of the last month but not from the last year? This is a middle ground between excluding files and folders and keeping them.

Time Machine doesn't create bootable backups in the first place, and apart from the initial one they're not "full" either.

Individual folders/files as not valid targets for tmutil delete anyways, so selectively deleting parts of snapshots like you want is not possible. But that doesn't matter much since system and app updates are infrequent enough and small enough I can guarantee they're absolutely dwarfed by your general day-to-day ~ throughput.

If you're tight on space and want to optimize what you need to do is get BackupLoupe and look for anything that frequently takes up a lot of space in your snapshots. Cache files are already excluded automatically but some apps do put stuff in ~/Library/Application Support that effectively is cache, without being marked as such. Usually gets flagged correctly eventually but I've kept some Spotify and Chrome databases excluded, for example.