Can user accounts be managed via the command line? Is there any way to add, remove, or modify user accounts via the command line? I'm not talking about an account for a system process or daemon, I mean is there any way to add a user account, change, user real names, icons, FileVault protection, Admin/normal/limited user status, and basically do everything else that can be done in the System Preferences Users preference pane, but via some command line utility?

To create an account in the Users folder

dscl / -create /Users/addfromcli

Create and set the shell property to bash.

dscl / -create /Users/addfromcli UserShell /bin/bash

Create and set the user’s full name. (Displayed in some of the panels/login screen)

dscl / -create /Users/addfromcli RealName "Added From Cli"

Create and set the user’s ID. (this is the unique id, you need to find out what id your last user create was and add one)

dscl / -create /Users/addfromcli UniqueID 503

Create and set the user’s group ID property. (This can be your default group)

dscl / -create /Users/addfromcli PrimaryGroupID 1000

Create and set the user home directory.

dscl / -create /Users/addfromcli NFSHomeDirectory /Local/Users/addfromcli

Set the password. (dont use password as a password)

dscl / -passwd /Users/addfromcli PASSWORD

Some more details can be found on OS X Daily


Should I turn my iPad off to replace the MicroSIM? Should I turn my iPad off to replace the MicroSIM card?

If by "3g chip", you are referring to the iPad MicroSIM card, then no, you do not need to power off the device to switch it out. However, if you're referring to the actual 3G radio inside the iPad, my advice is to take it to an Apple store and have the repair done by an Apple technician, as operating on the device yourself is likely to void the warranty.


Chrome fullscreen windows I have two Google Chrome windows, Window A, and Window B. I have full-screened Window B with Cmd+Shift+F. But, Window A also becomes fullscreen. When I un-fullscreen Window A with  Cmd+Shift+F, Window B becomes un-full-screened.
Is there any way to have one Chrome windows fullscreen and the other one normal?

I am not sure how Cmd+Shift+F works for you to make window full screen. I am using Cmd+^(Control)+F to make window full screen and revert to normal.
If you are not using any extension like magnet, The possible issue might be that when you switch your window might not have been cycled, for which you will need to use Cmd+`(backtick) followed by  Cmd+^(Control)+F.


-bash: /usr/local/php5/bin/curl: No such file or directory I run curl I got

-bash: /usr/local/php5/bin/curl: No such file or directory

When I run
which curl I got

/usr/bin/curl

When I run /usr/bin/curl --version I got

curl 7.49.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin16.0) libcurl/7.49.1 SecureTransport zlib/1.2.8
Protocols: dict file ftp ftps gopher http https imap imaps ldap ldaps pop3 pop3s rtsp smb smbs smtp smtps telnet tftp
Features: AsynchDNS IPv6 Largefile GSS-API Kerberos SPNEGO NTLM NTLM_WB SSL libz UnixSockets

What should I do to be able to run just curl again ?

I never understand much about this export stuffs.

Can someone please shed a little light on this ?

If I run
export -p

declare -x Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.8nDQkuFrwz/Render"
declare -x DBUS_LAUNCHD_SESSION_BUS_SOCKET="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.rRmvUm9NdX/unix_domain_listener"
declare -x DISPLAY="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.cw926giJNa/org.macosforge.xquartz:0"
declare -x HOME="/Users/bheng"
declare -x LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
declare -x LOGNAME="bheng"
declare -x OLDPWD
declare -x PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/php5/bin:/Users/bheng/.composer/vendor/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/pgsql/bin:/opt/X11/bin"
declare -x PWD="/Users/bheng"
declare -x SECURITYSESSIONID="186a6"
declare -x SHELL="/bin/bash"
declare -x SHLVL="1"
declare -x SSH_AUTH_SOCK="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.afZzV5wsc3/Listeners"
declare -x TERM="xterm-256color"
declare -x TERM_PROGRAM="Apple_Terminal"
declare -x TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION="377"
declare -x TERM_SESSION_ID="790013ED-2C1D-4D5E-9BC2-DF773A8473A8"
declare -x TMPDIR="/var/folders/54/y_678c6n7q7_pgk1v5lkzwnr0000gp/T/"
declare -x USER="bheng"
declare -x XPC_FLAGS="0x0"
declare -x XPC_SERVICE_NAME="0"
declare -x __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING="0x1F6:0x0:0x0"

Given your $PATH has /usr/bin in it, which is where you're finding curl, you should be fine.

Can you run alias to see if it's being overridden somewhere.

alias curl


Flash player unable to proceed with the installation I have difficulties installing the latest version of Adobe Flash Player (14.0.0.125) on my Mac OS X 10.9.3 (Mavericks). Every time I do so, it fails at 90% with the following error message.

Error: Unable to proceed with the installation

When I go to troubleshoot the problem, I find that I have version 13.0.0.214 of Flash Player installed on my system, and that the (alleged) latest version (for Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8) is 13.0.0.201 (see following URL).

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/installation-problems-flash-player-rvm.html

Further research has revealed that the latest version of Flash Player (for Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9) is 14.0.0.125 (see following URL).

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/installation-problems-flash-player-mac.html#main-pars_heading_7

This is not the first time I have experienced problems upgrading Adobe Flash Player. I experienced a similar problem before upgrading to Mac OS X 10.9 except with different version numbers of the same software. That is, the version that was installed was greater than the version that was downloaded. Note that I did not experience this problem with prior versions of the OS (i.e. Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7).

This time I went one step further and used a different default browser to locate, download and install (what I presumed was the latest version of) Flash Player. No difference....

My question is, why does my default browser point to an older version of the installation software, and how can I resolve this? Also, correct me if I am wrong but, the reason I have a 'later' version of the software (that is, version 13.0.0.214) is due to the OS upgrade? I do not recall ever upgrading Adobe Flash Player....

Not sure whether or not this is relevant, but I also have Adobe Creative Suite 5 installed on my system (which was also successfully upgraded during all OS upgrades).

UPDATE: Did a bit more searching on the Adobe forums and found a link to a previous version of Adobe Flash Player version 13.0.0.223. Although not the latest version, I have successfully installed it. That is, after I uninstalled the older version of Flash Player. The problem I experienced sounds almost identical to this installation problem.

I am still, however, experiencing the same problem when upgrading to version 14 of Flash Player (even through System Preferences). Seems to be a problem with the installer, and not my system configuration since, to resolve this problem, I uninstall Flash Player (like before) and successfully installed Flash Player version 14 OS X, which I found and downloaded from the same web site.  Note that all attempts to use the install program that updates Adobe Flash Player have failed.

UPDATE 2: It appears that the problem I described is a known issue regarding installing Flash Player on OS X 10.9 using the shim installer from get.adobe.com/flashplayer. For further details, see the following thread from the Adobe Forums.

I've have this problem come and go, and come back again.

FIX: The best fix so far for me is to go back to Flash Version 13. The say Flash Player Version 13 is in "extended release". I am on Mac osx 10.7.5 the last version of mac operating system for my machine.

Find it here: for browsers, it may have the strange name "plug in content debugger", I think the word "plug in" matters for browsers. The other "projector" versions I don't know about. The "plug in debugger version 13" fixed my safari problems.

https://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

Fix 2: You must disregard the constant signaling to update to version 15 if you are getting it. The update to version 15 may load a broken version in the browser, then you have to uninstall it with their special utility and reinstall version 13. Get the uninstall download here (or search for adobe flash uninstall on the web):

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html#main_uninstall

More Possible Explanation:
Apparently the weird name "debugger" means they have debugged common problems with it. Essentially you are going back to the previous version since the new one has problems loading/working (keeps getting identified as out-of-date so it won't work) but they don't want to pull the new version off the market, can you imagine that mess. Thanks Adobe for the extended release we depend on it!

Here is adobe's comment on it:

EXTENDED SUPPORT RELEASE - FLASH PLAYER

What is the extended support release?

Adobe makes available a version of Flash Player called the "Extended Support Release" (ESR) to organizations that prefer Flash Player stability over new functionality. We have created a branch of the Flash Player code that we keep up to date with all of the latest security updates, but none of the new features or bug fixes available in our current release branch. This allows organizations to certify and stay secure on Flash Player with minimal effort.

10/14/2014 - Updated debugger and standalone versions of Flash Player. These players contain fixes for critical vulnerabilities identified in Security Bulletin APSB14-22. The latest version is 13.0.0.250 (Win and Mac). All users are encouraged to update to these latest versions.


Automator Service that does predefined simple calculations I'm working as a salesman and what I need to do a lot of times a day is calculating the price +VAT and -VAT which is 19% here in Germany. I found some calculation automator script but wasn't able to change it to behave the way I want it to:

bc --mathlib | awk '{if($0 ~ /./) sub("\.+$","");print}'

this, ran as a shell script, takes operations so for example (somewhere) I type in the price 100*1.19, select it with the mouse and run the service. It then calculates the operation and replaces the selected text with the result 119.

But I only want to select the 100 and hit one of the services +VAT or -VAT (in the contextual menu for example) and it will be replaced by the result. That would be so awesome.

Is there anyone that can help? Maybe with a Applescript or something!
Thanks very much!

n = STDIN.read.scan(/-?[0-9., ]+/)[0]
separator = "."
separator = "," if n =~ /.+[. ].+,.+/ || n =~ /,/ && n !~ /\./
separator == "." ? n.gsub!(/[, ]/, "") : n = n.gsub(/[. ]/, "").gsub(",", ".")
out = "%.02f" % ((n.to_f * 1.19 * 100).round.to_f / 100)
out.gsub!(".", ",") if separator == ","
print out

Understands both 10,000.50 and 10.000,50, but treats 10,000 and 10.000 as 10
Half decimals are rounded up, negative half decimals down


Free video converter where I can choose video/audio codec? I'm looking for free (or < 10$) video converter on mac with following features:

Another features which are welcome:

option to choose file format (.mpg, .avi etc)
option to choose video/audio encoding (xvid, h264, acc etc)
option to always save output to the same directory the source is in
batch processing of many files
possibility to set created/modified time of created file to the same as source has

Have you checked out HandBrake? Looks to have what you are looking for...


Update and Jailbreak iPhone 4 IOS 4.3 to IOS 5.0 I am trying to update a jailbroken iPhone 4 IOS 4.3 to IOS 5.0. I have acquired the needed things from this link http://www.jailbreaknation.com/jailbreak-ios-5-5.0-on-iphone-4-ipod-touch-ipad-with-redsn0w. First, I got the error 3194 when when itunes was trying to verify the .ipsw file with apple. I fixed the problem by downloading TinyUmbrella and turning on the TSS server. But now I get a 1604 error when itunes trys to prepare the iPhone for restore. I sort of fixed that buy putting the iPhone into Pwned DFU mode using IREB or Redsnow 0.9.9b8. Now I'm getting error 1600. How do I fix this?

Extra Info:
Itunes version: 10.2
Yes I have tried normal DFU mode and Recovery Mode.

Thanks In Advance.

I was having same problem while updating iPhone 4 from 4.3.3 to iOS 5.0 and then i got the solution.
Updated my itunes but updating to ios 5.0 was not possible as apple is not signing 5.0 so i downloaded ios 5.0.1 and use sn0wbreeze to build custom ipsw put my iPhone in dfu mode and shift restore my iphone through itunes.
Bingo i was updated on i0s 5.0.1 with preserving baseband and then i used gevey ultra sim for unlock.
Hope this helps.


Preview won't remember the last viewed page of PDF When I open a PDF file that was viewed days ago, Preview will open the first page.

However, when I close it and open it again right now, it will open the right (last viewed) page.

The option Start on the last viewed page was checked.

Upgrade from Yosemite to El Captain could mess up the preference files.
Delete the folder /Users/{user name}/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview to reset settings.


Samsung V-Nand SSD 850 EVO 1TB not working I have a Macbook Pro Medio 2012, 15 Inch Non Retina.
It was running on a normal 750G HDD, but i wanted an upgrade, so i bought the Samsung V-Nand 850 EVO SSD 1TB.

I created a Bootable El-Capitan USB Stick, so i could do a clean install.
After i swapped the HDD with the Samsung SSD, i plugged in my Bootable USB stick and turned on my macbook.

First it shows the apple logo with a loading line.
after that i gives me a "stop sign". A circle with a line running through it.

I also tried pressing the Command button while it starts up, but that didn't work.

I'm trying to clean install El Capitan on my Macbook pro.

Does anyone know what to do?

Kind regards in advance!

I found the ususal 8GB USB drive was not large enough and only got El Capitan to boot from USB of 16GB or more!

You can see what is happening when you boot the mac using Verbose mode like so:

Right upon hearing the startup chime, press and hold the Command (⌘) – V key combination for Verbose Mode.

As the Mac boots it will spit out lines of code:

You may be able to see whta the problem is from this, or come back and type in teh last few lines fro us to read. Or take a pic with your phone and post that!


ALL interface icons are gone? Here's an interesting one: ALL my interface icons have disappeared since my rebooting my MacBook from safe sleep (the battery had died). Any ideas on what's going on?

Don't panic. :)

1) Try relaunching Finder:

  You can do this by logging out and back in, or by restarting the system, or more quickly by force-quitting the Finder using the system's Force Quit option. Press Option-Command-Escape or select "Force Quit" from the Apple menu, and then select and quit the Finder. The Finder will relaunch automatically, and hopefully show the icons properly loaded.

2) If the problem persists, it's time to clear the caches. There are different ways to accomplish this. The easiest and less error prone is to use a free maintenance utility, like Onyx for Mac, from Titanium Software. Onyx is an old school Macintosh application and will do this (and much more) for you. It's free as in beer and it's very easy to use.

If you feel like you want to pay for an utility, I have the fantastic Cocktail, which I brought a long time ago and I only use "every now and then" when I have a problem like this. I haven't compared both (or any of the other alternatives) but they usually do the same stuff under different user interfaces. Cocktail releases periodic updates and the UI is clean and nice, but other than that, any utility will do.

Since I don't have Onyx installed right now, I'll show you how you could do this with Cocktail:

In Files -> Caches -> select all like in the sshot:

Then go to Options and select all:

and finally also select all these:

finally… click ok and in the first screen click Clear.

It will take a while. Restart your computer and tell us what happened :)

(I don't do this clearing very often, but every 6-12 months I usually clear stuff, it shouldn't be needed… under normal circumstances).

Your computer may feel slower and/or sluggish the first couple of minutes after the boot, that's because the Cache's have been deleted and they must be recreated. Eventually it will catch up.


Why would I want to update the iOS on my iPad 2? I have an iPad 2 which I have neglected to update for some time now.  The iPad uses iOS version 6 currently.  iOS 6 has never given me issues the way i use my iPad so Should I update to the new version?

The reason that has gotten me finally persuaded to update to iOS 8 was the fact that more and more apps called for mandatory update and would otherwise refuse to run. The one that immediately comes to mind in NFL Game Pass. Also my kids told me that some of the games they wanted to play wouldn't run on iOS 6.

I must say that I was a little afraid to upgrade as I was expecting performance issues on part of iPad 2... I am pleasantly suprised though - there are of course minor lags here and there, but it's not like the update has rendered the iPad unusable - on the contrary.

So all in all if it's just a matter of preference - it's entirely up to you whether you do it or not, but if you have essential apps calling for the upgrade, I don't see a reason to stay with iOS 6.

I hope that has shed some light on the matter for you.


Is there an easy way to unsubscribe from a "Sign in with Apple" login I use the "Sign in with Apple" feature a lot because it allows you to hide your email from the app/website you use it on, and also generates a unique email for each app or website. Theoretically this protects your email and also allows you to easily completely drop communication an app or website by invalidating the unique email.
How can I completely stop an app or website from emailing me when I have used "Sign in with Apple?" I would specifically like to avoid using the "unsubscribe" option provided from the website itself—I want to remove communication from this company on a more nuclear and complete level. In other words, I want to disable the unique email and cut communication off completely.
One option would be to block all emails that are sent to the unique address using an email filter. However, this seems like more of a workaround rather than a solution. Has Apple ever provided a way to easily stop communication from an app or website that uses "Sign in with Apple?"

This is documented in https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210426
On an iPhone, in the Settings app, under Apple ID -> Password & Security -> Apps Using Apple ID, you can find this menu, which will allow you to disable forwarding from the private relay service.
On a computer, you can access these same settings at the Apple ID website.

Click on "Manage apps & websites" within the Securtity part
Click on the website/app you want to disable
Click on "Turn Off" (to prevent mails) or "Stop using AppleID" (to delete it)


How to remove apps from the "Purchased" list in the Mac OSX App Store? I've installed a bunch of apps from the App Store, some free, some paid. Many of them are garbage, were uninstalled, and I don't intend to ever install them again.

How can I remove (or hide) them from the "Purchased" list?

I am running Lion (10.7.2), and there is an x just to the left of the Install / Installed button when you hover over the item in the purchased list. Click it for each App you do not want listed. I don't believe this uninstalls the App, merely removes it from the list. I did this to a program I actually wanted in the list, I don't recall even being asked for confirmation.

Now as far as getting a purchased App back onto your purchased list, that is another issue, and another question.


Can anyone tell me how I can change the Open With listing on a Mac? Do you guys know how to have the Open With show the newer version of a program rather than the older version? For example, I have Office 2011 on my computer and if I do Open With the Excel verison that shows in the list is the 2008 version. I would prefer it to show the 2011 version. I am hoping that I don't have to delete the Office 2008 suite so if there is something else I can do to update the Open With listing that would be great!

You can use the mouse to try opening the file again.

Choose Open With…
Then select Other…
Check the box at the bottom labeled Always Open With.

before you select the application you want to now open that file type or extension.


What's the best text editor for use with large files? What are your recommendation for opening large text files on OS X? I found both BBEdit and Textmate to be struggling in this department.

I'm using HexFiend to work with a 60 GB text file and it works great (apparently it can handle files as large as 118 GB).


Specifying network device used by software (or port) (in Terminal) Is it possible to specify which network device should be used when running something in the Terminal? Like

$ rails [only communicate through deviceA]

Not just app, but instance specific, so different instances of rails could use different network devices. Alternately, could it be done by port? So localhost:3000 would use deviceA, while localhost:4000 would use deviceB, etc.

Could you just create a local web proxy to run it through? You could create one using
something like this command in the terminal:

networksetup -setwebproxy "Network Service 1 Name" proxy2.domain.com 3000


iTunes song purchases I have an Apple ID and I have purchased some songs. My sister likes the same songs and wants them for her iPod Touch. I was wondering if I logged in with my Apple ID on her iPod and downloaded the same songs - would I have to pay again? I know Apple doesn't encourage ID sharing but my sister does't have a credit card or iTunes giftcard.

You won't be charged again. I have done this before in a similar situation, and it works fine. However, if the device gets restored or if the songs get deleted, you will have to sign in again to redownload them onto the device, which can be a pain.


Is there any way to rename app name in lauchpad? I have 3 eclipses installed on my mac eclipse jee, eclipse for android and eclipse for php.
all three eclipses are cooming in launchpad with the name eclipse.
Is there any way i can rename app name like
eclipse jee, eclipse php, eclipse android in launchapad?

You can by using an Administrator account and renaming the apps in Finder. LaunchPad will show the changed name accordingly.

There also is this app, which seems to make renaming items and other operations in LaunchPad possible. Unfortunately, it seems to be discontinued, so try it at your own risk.

Finally, if you are comfortable with SQLite databases and SQL, you could manually make the necessary changes in the LaunchPad database. I'd advise you to first back up your database before you start tinkering with it. You can use the built-in sqlite3 command-line client to manipulate this database. You'll want to find the appropriate records in the apps table, and update their title field.


iOS 6 Maps: Able to cache route or location offline? I'm currently traveling for an extended period of time with an iPod Touch running iOS 5. I don't always have wi-fi access and I usually use the Maps application to look up my destination before leaving and then once I arrive the map is still cached in the app, even without connecting again to wi-fi. It helps me get around a new city and find my hostel or hotel.

The only thing keeping me from upgrading to iOS 6 is whether or not I will still be able to do this with the new Apple Maps. Is this possible in the new app?

Maps in iOS 6 should actually do a better job of this, because it uses vector based maps, which use far less data than the old image-based tiles, which means they can stay in memory longer, and more can be cached.

You can test this yourself by loading up Maps for an area, then turning on Airplane Mode and browsing around. In my own testing I found I could keep maps for most of Toronto, although when zooming down, it lacked street names for some of the smallest streets.

Searching or routing won't work without a connection, but any route or places you searched for prior to disconnecting should stay in place as long as you don't clear them.


Use in-app for trial? I was wondering if I could offer (paid) trials of my App in the Mac Appstore using in-app purchase?

So I have a $49 value Mac app, but I allow downloading for free, the app needs a $1.99 in-app purchase to activate the trial for a month.

Do you think it would work. Would Apple allow it?

Apps that are “beta”, “demo”, “trial”, or “test” versions will be rejected

  Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected, except in cases where the application hosts plug-ins or extensions

  Apps containing “rental” content or services that expire after a limited time will be rejected

Doesn't seem like it's allowed.

Source: App Store Review Guidelines for iOS apps (login required)


Finder shows sizes greyed out and folders empty In Lion, Finder shows sizes greyed out and when I open folders, they seem empty.

Upon "Get Info": they also look full with normal sized files.

WHy? How do I fix this?

As best as I can tell, the file sizes are greyed out while Finder works to calculate the current size of the folder.  If you wait a moment and let Finder works its magic, you'll see the file sizes appear in the usual black font.


Javaws unable to locate JRE on 10.9 Mavericks From the command line, running javaws results in the message:

$ javaws
No Java runtime present, requesting install.
Unable to locate a Java Runtime to invoke.

$ java -version
java version "1.7.0_40"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_40-b43)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.0-b56, mixed mode)

$ /usr/libexec/java_home -V
Matching Java Virtual Machines (3):
    1.7.0_40, x86_64:   "Java SE 7" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_40.jdk/Contents/Home
    1.6.0_51-b11-457, x86_64:   "Java SE 6" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0_51-b11-457.jdk/Contents/Home
    1.6.0_51-b11-457, i386: "Java SE 6" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0_51-b11-457.jdk/Contents/Home

I'm running OSX 10.9.

What's the matter?

I had the same problem. Updating my java version from java.com  did it for me.


Rent movie on iPad, watch on Laptop or Apple TV I rented a movie on my iPad but there isn't enough space on it to download the movie so now I'm trying to either watch it on my AppleTV or laptop through iTunes, but I can't seem to find how to do that. Is it not possible?

No, it is not possible.

See this Apple Support Document for more information:

  Movies rented on iPad cannot be transferred to other devices and can only be viewed on iPad.

You'll have to expand the section on "Movie rentals on iPad" to see the above quote.

Your only option is to free up enough space to watch it on your iPad.


"Cleaning..." phase when deleting apps I am currently on iOS 12 beta 2. I noticed a new phase when deleting apps and was wondering what it is and what it's doing.

After pressing the "X" on the app I want to delete and select "Delete" on the dialog box, for a split second the text of the App name changes to "Cleaning...". It then changes back to the name of the App and it disappears as usual.

What is this feature and what does it do?

An app that shows a cleaning... label under the icon means that it is currently deleting local data such as cache and temporary files associated with the app.

This process usually takes place when your device is low in memory or just before an iCloud Backup begins. Its purpose is to free up some space.

However, I never saw this while deleting an app, it may be either a bug or a new feature that warn the user that both the app and its data is being removed from the device.

Sources : iMore, Cult Of Mac, iPhone FAQ


What causes my iTunes password to expire? A couple of months ago, after updating my iPad I think, my iTunes password expired all of a sudden. I've had this iTunes account for about 4 year now and back then it was first time it happened.

Fast forward to today when I got my 4S. I choose to set it up as a new phone (as in: no restore from previous backups) and when I tried logging in with my iTunes account, it didn't work (wrong password).

So I headed over to appleid.apple.com on my mac, where I was again prompted with the message that my password was expired.

Since there doesn't appear to be a set time between the 2 events, nor was there any inactivity, I'm wondering what causes the expiration.

Any ideas?

I've had this problem several times and was stumped and annoyed that I had to keep changing my password and fixing it in all the places I'm logged in with my Apple ID.

I have the answer! I called Apple tech support and they know why this is happening!!!

At some point in the past, when you went to appleid.apple.com and logged in, under the "Password and Security" option, there was a setting that allowed you to manage how often your password would expire, ie. every 1, 3, 6, 12 months... you get the idea. Well, in the recent past Apple made some changes and security enhancements to better protect peoples' private information, and guess what? They have since removed this option. One of the Senior Technical Advisors who knew exactly what I was talking about (and had intentionally turned this setting on for themselves) went into their own account, but alas, it the option was not there.

Solution?
Unfortunately, at this time, however often your password was set to keep expiring, it will continue to do so.

A possible solution in the future?
Call AppleCare 1-800-275-2273 and ask them (try to speak to a Senior Advisor) to put in a formal request to the "powers that be" to either permanently stop all accounts from having their passwords expire, or make a request that Apple return the user's option to change their password expiration setting. Or both. The more people need something to change, the more likely Apple will be able to make it a priority.


Spotlight not searching Time Capsule drive, indexing enabled When using Spotlight search, it is not finding a specific file, which I know is located on my Time Capsule drive, which, of course, is mounted and indexing thereof is enabled.
Please, see below relevant Terminal extract:
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdutil -s /
/:
    Indexing enabled.
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdutil -s /Volumes
/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes:
    Indexing enabled.
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdutil -s /Volumes/Time\ Capsule
/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes/Time Capsule:
    Indexing enabled.
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -l /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans
total 15296
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff        0 Jan 15  2012 Icon?
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff      264 Jan 20  2012 Teach Yourself - Afrikaans
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff  7761600 Aug  9 09:33 afrikaans woorden.txt
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name afrikaans
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name afrikaans
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name afrikaans
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name afrikaans
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ %

I have tried rebuilding the indexing by adding and removing the drive from the Spotlight Privacy tab.
What should I do? Please help!
Thanks
UPDATE 1 as per kodliber's suggestion:
Have you tried by manually import this file you mention using the command mdimport?
Yes I have, to no avail.
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -l /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/
total 15296
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff        0 Jan 15  2012 Icon?
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff      264 Jan 20  2012 Teach Yourself - Afrikaans
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff  7761600 Aug  9 09:33 afrikaans woorden.txt
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdimport /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/afrikaans\ woorden.txt
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name woorden
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name woorden
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name woorden
Password:
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name woorden
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ %

UPDATE 2 as per Jahhein's question:
At the root of the volume, is there a file named .metadata_never_index?
No, there is no such file.
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -la /Volumes/Time\ Capsule | grep .metadata_never_index
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ %

UPDATE 3
Doing the same search using Spotlight via CMD+Spacebar works:

(I have not enough reputation to comment your question, so I post a reply - my apologies to the admins.)
Have you tried by manually import this file you mention using the command mdimport?


Apple Script - send "Message (with date/time?)" to imessagebuddy How do I get apple script to include the current time in an imessage sent with apple script?

on run {input, parameters}

    tell application "Messages"
        set iMessageService to 1st service whose service type = iMessage
        set imessagebuddy to buddy "mymessagebuddy@domain.com" of iMessageService
        send "Message" to imessagebuddy
    end tell
end run

Here is an example of how to add the time to the message:

set theTime to time string of (current date)

tell application "Messages"
    set iMessageService to 1st service whose service type = iMessage
    set imessagebuddy to buddy "mymessagebuddy@domain.com" of iMessageService
    send "Message " & theTime to imessagebuddy
end tell

In the OP you said "to include the current time" but in your comment you said "to have current date/time", so if you want the latter, then use the following example instead:

set theDateTime to (current date) as string

tell application "Messages"
    set iMessageService to 1st service whose service type = iMessage
    set imessagebuddy to buddy "mymessagebuddy@domain.com" of iMessageService
    send "Message " & theDateTime to imessagebuddy
end tell

By the way, if you plan on using AppleScript it would behove you to read the AppleScript Language Guide. You can get to it from: Script Editor > Help > Show AppleScript Language Guide

For reference to time string, it's shown under date under Class Reference in the AppleScript Language Guide.

For reference to current date, it's shown under Commands Reference in the AppleScript Language Guide.


How can I delete Safari cookies via Terminal on 10.7.2? I would like to delete all Safari cookies from terminal on Mac OS 10.7.2.

I tried to delete ~/Library/Cookie/Cookies.binarycookies (this is the only file in ~/Library/Cookie), but it didn't help.

Please advise.

The missing part was to kill the cookied process:

killall cookied


Booting from an external disk I understand that I can boot OS X from an external disk, but is that just as a means of recovery?

Can I actually setup and use OS X from an external disk to do work and save documents etc?

You can use Option/Alt Key:

Shutdown your Mac
Make sure you have your external disk connected
Press Power Button to turn on your Mac
Before Apple Logo appears press Option/Alt Key and hold it
It should show all connected bootable disks
Select your external with arrows and press Enter

If your disks does not appear make sure that it is formatted with a GUID partition type.

For more info check this Link

I hope it helps you


Quickly Access Safari 6 Bookmark & History Address Bar Suggestions with the Keyboard? With the new combined address/search bar in Safari 6, I'm wondering if there's a way to quickly choose an option from the Bookmarks & History suggestions using the keyboard. Or some way to have bookmarks titles match as Top Hits the way URLs seem to.

In old versions you could quickly access a bookmark by typing the first few letters of it's name, hitting down and enter. But in Safari 6, you have to skip over 5 Google suggestions first, or just click with the mouse, neither of which is terribly efficient.

I suspect this is a quixotic request, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Not a real solution, but a little faster then pure down.
You can jump over the different sections with command-down.


Can I plug my iPhone 7 directly into the 87W USB C power adapter? I have a lightning connector to USB-C I use for programming and development.

What would happen if I plugged the USB-C end into my late 2016 Mac Book Pro power supply (87 W)?

*Disclaimer, I already did it, and it works. It charges quickly, but not sure if it's safe to do going forward.

It will charge. It's not dangerous. That power adapter is designed to supply UP TO 87W. If you plug a 15" tbMBP into it, it will draw all 87W provided. If you plug a 13" tbMBP into it, the MBP will only draw 61W, even though the adapter can provide 87W. Same for you iPhone. It will draw the amount of power it needs (~10W, IIRC), and the adapter has no problem providing only that amount of power.

However, it is interesting to note that the USB plug adapters that come with iPhones provide only 5W, iPhones are capable of pulling more power, and will charge faster when plugged into an iPad (10W) or tbMBP USB plug adapter.


Can I get iTunes to stop updating a specific app? The Weber iGrill iOS app dropped support for my model of thermometer. I didn't realize this until I had already updated the app. I was able to delete the new version and restore the old version from a backup, copy it to iTunes and sync it to my iPhone. (I still sync my iPhone through iTunes, not OTA.)

Is there a way to tell iTunes to ignore updates for this one app? Otherwise I have to update apps one-by-one instead of clicking Update All Apps.

I'm running macOS 10.12.6 and iTunes 12.6.2.20.

There is no directly supported way to exclude apps from update. You either can Update All or update one-by-one.

That said, there are a few things you could try. Depending on how many apps are being updated, if it's more than three, the app in question could be queued for download when you click Update All instead of starting immediately. If so, simply remove it from the queue. Similarly, depending on the app's size, it may not download instantaneously so you could cancel the download of it after clicking Update All.

You could use something like Little Snitch to block connections from iTunes, hit Update All, remove the app in question from the list, then reenable connections. Might not work depending on what Update All actually does with network connections. I haven't tested it. If you want to go this route, you could use the answer to this question about the domains for Apple's app CDN to only block the domains which contain the app data, and not control servers which might be used when you click Update All.

Finally, you could try this:

Copy the good version of the app from the iTunes Media folder (usually at ~/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications unless you moved either the iTunes or iTunes Media folders) to a safe location like the desktop
Update All in iTunes.
Remove the bad app version from iTunes.
Re-add the good app version from the desktop by dragging it into iTunes.


bash completion in terminal - files vs folders I just recently started out with MacOS, but there one some strange completion behaviour with the bash shell (compared to OpenSuse Linux with tcsh where I come from) that is bugging me:

For example, when I am in $HOME and write Pu on the command line, followed by tabbing for completion, I expected that one of the options shown would be my Public/ directory. However, as long as there are executable files, the completion never shows directories that share the same prefix. Only after entering Publ, the tab completion gives me Public/ as there are no more executables with that prefix.

So my question would be, is there an option to have the completion directly show executables and directories with the given prefix?

I already tried upgrading to bash 4 and installing bash-completion via homebrew but that did not help. I suspect that either the MacOS readline behaves differently or that there are some more setting for .inputrc which I do not know about.

I further know that by starting with ./ I only get directories. This is the bandaid that I use at the moment.

as far as I know, it's a feature, not a bug.

you could just change to tcsh, here is a guide (eventually you have to install it via homebrew, then adapt the path)


Calendar.app extremely slow in El Capitan. Rebuild cache? Other solution? After updating to El Capitan, my friend found her Calendar.app runs extremely slowly. Clicking the button to move to the next week's display results in spinning beach ball (the new one). Beach ball spins for something like half a minute. Makes the app practically unusable for someone booking appointments while the customer waits.

The same calendars shared over iCloud run nearly instantaneously on an iPad Calendar app (iOS 9.0.2). So the problem seems to be Mac-only.

All other apps run well. Only Calendar is beach-ball-spinning slow.

Calendar.app was already annoyingly slow in Mountain Lion & Yosemite, but is much worse in El Capitan. This computer has been upgraded through the years across these OSes.

Perhaps crud has accumulated in the Mac's local files for these calendars. Is there some way to rebuild or replace the Mac's cache of these calendars and get fresh copies from iCloud?

Any other workarounds or solutions?

I guess I had the same problem and just found a solution - at least in my case it helped a lot. Not as fast as it was in the past but much faster than it was after updating to El Capitan. And no more spinning balls ;)

Close Calendar.app, go to ~/Library/Preferences/ in your home folder and delete com.apple.iCal.plist.

Good luck!


Is it possible to create a monthly budget vs actuals chart on MacOS Numbers? I'm creating a yearly budget sheet on numbers where I have a table like this:
|             |      January     |     February     |       March      |
|             | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------- |
| Description | Actuals | Budget | Actuals | Budget | Actuals | Budget |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------- |
| Groceries   |   $ 300 |  $ 250 |   $ 200 |  $ 250 |   $ 243 |  $ 250 |

I am trying to create a chart/graph where I can compare the budget vs the actual on each month. Either a big chart/graph with all the months one next to each other or, ideally, a graph for a single month, with a context selector to select a different month.
I've done some googling to see if I could find how to do it, but I keep finding basic examples of budgeting. I'm now wondering whether MacOS Numbers is not the right tool for this, or maybe I need to have many tables, 1 per month, instead of a big table.
Any thoughts?
EDIT:
I’ll post pictues of what I tried, and what I would like to have.
What I played with

What I’d like to do
A graph with totals per month

A graph with breakdown, with a month selector

Is it possible, or is it too complicated for MacOS Numbers?

Numbers would be one of the best tools for this task given the tools it provides and its ease of use. There is even a template provided with Numbers called "Personal Budget" as you can see in the picture below.
To use that Numbers template, go to File -> New in the Numbers menu at the top and scroll down a bit to get the "Personal Finance" category. Double-click on "Personal Budget" icon under that category to open up the template and customize it according to your needs.


Can't login after updating software MacOS asked me for update to EFI 2.7, I said ok. After rebooting I came up to the login screen. When I use my password for a moment I could see grey screen with mac's progress circle but then It returned to the login screen. In case if I use a random password, there are no this grey screen. I used disk utility to verify that the disk is ok. It had some minor problems so I used "repair". And now it says that the disk is ok.
I tried to go to the single user mode and reinstall this update

sudo /usr/sbin/bless -mount / -firmware "/System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/MacBookProEFIUpdate-2.7/MBP81_0047_27B_LOCKED.scap" --recovery --verbose

It wrotes:

bla-bla-bla
Substituting ESP disk0s1
Can't create mountpoint /Volumes/bless.ZZ2b
Executing "sbin/mount"
mount: realpath /Volumes/bless.ZZ2b: No such file or directory
Returned 256

Any ideas?

There are really two problems here:

Can you make a new admin account in single user mode and use the Mac?
Do you need to recover from the failed EFI update or will it work once you address #1.

It's not possible to do anything other than guess which is the real cause. I will try to give steps for either in case you want to work this out and come back and ask a more specific question once you've narrowed down which is the failure here.

In the prior - you can either boot from an external OS and try to fix the account and/or boot situation.

In the latter - booting from an external OS is ideal to attempt the EFI update again without further harming the normal user and OS. It also allows a backup if needed and you did not make one immediately prior to running the EFI updates.

It's rare for an EFI to get stuck when there isn't another hardware or drive corruption issue - but this is one of the reasons why many are in the habit of

always backing up before any update that requires a reboot
rebooting and running a clean backup with nothing running, then rebooting and running the EFI update as the first task of the OS.

Recovering from an EFI update failure often involves a trip to the repair center since EFI is the initial bootstrap mechanism of the hardware to run in the first place.


Applescript to monitor terminal changes I want to be able to check if a word appears in a terminal window running a java application and then display a notification. Any ideas?

tell application "Terminal"
    repeat 120 times -- ~ 2 minutes
        if contents of front window contains "word" then
            say "match"
            -- insert your code here
            exit repeat
        else
            delay 1
        end if
    end repeat
end tell


Video backup solution in the Cloud I'm about to purchase the new Macbook Pro with Retina display and I want to get the cheapest version.  But it only comes with a 256gbyte hard drive.  I probably use 30gbytes for all my data and 500gbytes for home videos (growing fast too).

Can I easily attach a USB/thunderbolt external hard drive to store my videos through iPhoto when connecting my iPhone to my computer?  Is there a good solution to then back up that external hard drive on a cloud?  Dropbox and Google Drive are amazing backup solutions, but they cost so much money as I get closer to a terabyte and they don't seem to work with iPhoto so well.

Every 10 minute video from my iPhone takes up 2gbytes, this has to be a very common problem among parents...

It's awkward to have iPhoto libraries on both internal and external disks. Aperture might be a better solution or you might want to just manage your videos outside of iPhoto instead.

Crashplan has some inexpensive unlimited backup plans available. It also can do additional backups to another local machine or locally attached hard disk.

My personal practice is to have a local backup and a remote backup using two different technologies so I use Time Machine locally to a Mac Mini that's my home server (although a Time Capsule or local hard disk would work just as well) and Crashplan for remote backups. Having a local backup is much more convenient so the remote is strictly for major disasters.


Alphabetically Sorting Safari Bookmarks How can I get my Safari bookmarks automatically sorted alphanumerically within Bookmarks manager?

I want to accomplish this without installing a bookmark management tool, nor by going through the process described at this link 1.

You cannot. Safari does not include that functionality.

You can easily achieve sorting using plugins such as SafariSort, but as you write that you do not in want to use any third party tools - you're out of luck.

You should consider using another browser if this functionality is important to you.


Mac OSX EFI problems, urgent help needed! So, I recently did an update on OSX, booted my computer up and I discovered that I the update replaced my EFI boot rom and the SMC with the incorrect SMC, so now I can't use my battery and the computer is generally acting very strange.

I have looked all over the internet for some kind of answer on how to resolve this with no luck, or the solutions i have seen / found have been outdated and not appropriate for my Macbook Pro.

So essentially I have a Macbook Pro 13" late 2011 8,1 running OSX 10.9.5 the EFI and SMC for this is meant to be:

EFI MBP81.0047.2AB (2015-001)
SMC: 1.68f98 (SMC 1.5)

However, the SMC and EFI that I am seeing is this:

EFI: MBP81.0047.B2A (2015-001)
SMC: 1.68f99 (SMC 1.6)

Which is for the Macbook Pro 17" Early 2011 8,3.

Does anyone out there know how to resolve this I'm losing my mind over this since Apple refuse to tell me how to do it and the only option they are providing me with is a new Logic board, which we all know is not necessary.

I would genuinely appreciate a guide on how to solve this issue.

Go to the following websites:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1823
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1474

Download and install the firmwares starting with the EFI. Here we are going to restart the same installation so we can run some diagnostics and hardware tests.

Also, two things should be explained before we can continue:
1) Mac OS X has no BIOS but essentially a proprietary version of EFI. EFI was developed by Intel back in the 90s and later a new set of specifications called UEFI were made. UEFI 2.xx was made and development continued under this forum founded offset branch. Apple took in EFI and developed their own versions off of it.
2) The boot processes is different than most computers. A piece of firmware called the BootRom starts the Power-On Self Test and then starts the EFI. The EFI chooses the default disk partition or allows you to choose it manually. After the partition is selected, the boot.efi boot loader then loads the kernel. Apple considers the I/O kit as a part of the kernel. So if the EFI improperly loads the kernel, then you could be having driver issues.

Now to go through a run a diagnostics test and hardware test. Fully power off and power on while pressing and holding the "d" key. This will either run diagnostics or a hardware test. I need you to follow the directions below for either one you booted into. Then do the same except power on pressing and holding "alt/option" and "d" at the same time. Again, reply back with what was found.

While in the hardware test: plug in the AC adapter, choose your language (skip if this doesn't appear), select "Perform extended testing", click the test button, reply any errors (there shouldn't be any) you found, reply everything you saw in the test, and exit after the test by pressing "Shutdown" or "Restart" at the bottom.

While in the diagnostic test: plug in the AC adapter, choose your language and press the "return/enter" key (skip if this doesn't appear), reply back any issues found, and exit after the test by pressing "Shutdown" or "Restart" at the bottom.

If no issues are found, restart and check the Boot ROM Version and SMC Version under " > About This Mac > Overview > System Report > Hardware" to see if it finally matches MBP81.0047.2AB and 1.68f98. Reply if they don't. Then go to Diagnostics under " > About This Mac > Overview > System Report > Hardware > Diagnostics", and there should be a Power On Self-Test and maybe some other tests. Reply any tests that have not passed.


Mail 6.5 Activity Indicator LAG I get frustrated by the huge lag (delay) in Mail respond to the request for action.

It takes few seconds or more before it shows to be responding to the request.

Example the request for move mails from one account to another, or rebuild folders, and so on.

The problem is that I do not know if it did accept my request (since there is no instant notification of any sort) so I keep repeating the request till it finally shows up in the Mail Activity window to be doing something.

This is an example only, but it took me like hitting the Rebuild 5x times till it finally showed this indication, so I could go and do something else.

So the question is is there a way to have the Mail tell me instantly following my request that it has started doing something. Like a spinning weel or anything?

MBA 10.8.4 Mail 6.5

I guess I could use the Activity Window and keep it on top to see what mail is doing as best solution for now.


What are all these partitions on my Mac? I know the purpose of "EFI", "Boot OS X", and "Recovery HD" partitions. But why are there three different "Macintosh HD" partitions? And should there be two EFI partitions?

UPDATE

Here is what disktutil list reports

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         2.7 TB     disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Data                    326.8 GB   disk1s4
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *2.8 TB     disk2
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2
                                 03BC8817-F05E-4FC3-9A5C-50130CDAB3AB
                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive

Your internal disk is a Fusion Drive combining an SSD (disk0) and a HDD (disk1).
It uses a Core Storage partition scheme.

The superior "Macintosh HD" is the name of the Logical Volume Group build by the compound of the two Physical Volumes (disk0s2/disk1s2) of your Fusion Drive.
It's used instead of the name of the physical device in a non-Core Storage partition layout.

The first inferior "Macintosh HD" in black is the name of the Logical Volume (disk2) as well as the HFS volume.

The two inferior "Macintosh HD" in grey are the "names" of the single Physical Volumes (disk0s2/disk1s2) contributing to the Logical Volume Group.

To get the all necessary informations about your Core Storage Volume Group(s) just enter diskutil cs list in Terminal.app.

Example:

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 47F9D6B1-F8F2-4E64-8AD4-9F2E2BD78E29
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
    Status:       Online
    Size:         3120722075648 B (3.1 TB)
    Free Space:   114688 B (114.7 KB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume ABF9D6B1-F8F2-4E64-8AD4-9F2E2BD78E29
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume DE0BE70D-F8F2-4E64-8AD4-994F887A7BC1
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    1
    |   Disk:     disk1s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     2999733223424 B (3.0 TB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 63FFE3F6-F9FE-48A6-923A-994F887A7BC1
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume FC7B83AA-E787-4E65-8C7E-2A62CDBB948C
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  disk2
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          3106191572992 B (3.1 TB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            No
            LV Name:               Macintosh HD
            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

The two EFI partitions on your two physical devices are necessary and may contain the boot loader programs for some installed operating systems (e.g. rEFInd). Additionally the EFI partition is used as a staging area for (Apple-) firmware updates.


How do I search by multiple tags? I am able give files multiple tags, but I can't figure out a way to search by multiple tags. The current search syntax in Finder/Spotlight is to use the tag:<some_tag_name> query, however trying to search by multiple tags is not clear.
I have tried these options:

tag:<tag0>,<tag1>
tag:<tag0> <tag1>

For example, I have 3 files - foo, bar, baz - and 2 tags - alpha, beta. foo is tagged with alpha and beta, bar is tagged with only alpha, and baz is tagged with beta.
I have listed several scenarios which should underscore my objective:

A search of tag:alpha,beta should only return foo since it's the only file with both tags.
A search of tag:alpha should return foo and bar
A search of tag:beta should return foo and baz

This should be a simple feature included but I can't quite figure out how to use it.

As I finished writing my own question, I tried another combination, tag:<tag0> tag:<tag1>, and it worked! Seems like it's an implicit "AND" when you use it like this.
You can also apply boolean logic in Spotlight/Finder:

tag:<tag1> OR tag:<tag2>
tag:<tag3> AND <tag:4>
NOT tag:<tag5>


How do I restore the default folder icon? I build web sites on a Mac and after the recent upgrade to Mavericks, the icon for all of my web template folders have changed from the standard Mac folder icon to the Parallels icon. I can change it using Get Info, but this has to be done one folder at a time and is unnecessarily tedious.

Has anyone else encountered this, and more importantly does anyone know how to reset the default to display the standard blue Mac folder icon?

Here is what it looks like right now:

Get Info on the folder.
Click the icon on the top-left of the window.
Press ⌘X or Backspace

Alternatively, cd into the directory and run

rm Icon$'\r'

To delete the icon from multiple folders at the same time, run the following command:

find ~/Desktop -name Icon$'\r' -delete

Replace ~/Desktop with the containing folder of the folders that you wish to remove the icons from.


Applications sometimes reopen at start-up in Mountain Lion Despite un-checking the "Reopen windows when logging back in" checkbox when turning off the computer, applications reopen sometimes at the next start-up. Furthermore, this happens also when I quit all the applications manualy before, which is strange. This issue occurs in Mountain Lion (10.8, 10.8.1 and 10.8.2), never actually happend to me in Lion. Maybe it's worth noting that this is not a clean install, but an upgrade from Lion.

Is there any solution how to prevent this (maybe from the Terminal)?

Here are a few places to check:

"Under the hood" locations:

Be careful when working with the plist files in the folders listed below. Some of them may be full programs, others may be "helper apps".
Don't touch any plist files for programs you use that may have "behind-the-scenes" assets.
If the plist filename is ambiguous, you can look inside the plist files for the name of the application. If there are remnants from old programs you have uninstalled or were before upgrade, move the file(s) in question to your desktop one folder at a time (/Library/StartupItems), then reboot.
If your system works as expected (meaning nothing catastrophic happens and the program you were trying to kill is gone), throw the plist files on your desktop away, then proceed to the next folder and repeat the process.
When working with files in the Library folders, you may need to authenticate deletes as an administrator.
/Library/StartupItems
~/Library/StartupItems (if it exists)
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchAgents
~/Library/LaunchAgents (if it exists)

System Preferences: Take a look at Users & Groups in your System Preferences and click on the Login Items button at the top of the window. Check if any programs that automatically load after reboot are on the list and set to run at login.

While there may be other ways to clean house, including formatting your hard dive and a fresh install of Mountain Lion (Check out Lion Diskmaker for a thumb drive installer for 10.8), these will give you a good start.

Happy cleaning!


How do I disable one fan? My MacBook Pro has two fans, however the left one is screwed up and makes a lot of noise and scrapes against the back panel (or something like that). Is it possible to disable just one fan and leave the other? I don't want to open up the computer since I want to be able to take this to the Apple store afterwards.

To get a sense for how annoying the faulty fan is, here's a link to an audio file recording my laptop shutting down.

Try downloading this fan controller program to change the fan cycles.


Which has more effect on software launch times: processor, RAM, or Hard Drive? I am looking into getting a new Macbook Pro (hopefully they'll have late 2013 models). I currently use my early 2011 Macbook for iOS app programming and light graphic design work with Pixelmator. I can't remember when, but I think when I upgraded to Mountain Lion all programs now take a little longer (too long, imo) to launch.

For future reference, I was wondering what affects app launch times the most? Is it the processor, RAM or hard drive/SSD? Right now my Macbook's got 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo, 8GB DDR3 and a 250GB hard drive.

The hard drive is the only one that noticeably slows down app launching.

With RAM, there's no noticeable difference unless you already have many programs open and running.

With CPUs you'll only have one core involved in opening an app, so the differences are tiny even if you're making a large improvement.

The payoff with large amounts of RAM and faster CPUs come after the app is open, but mostly that payoff is only seen when you're multitasking or working with large media files.


Installing Bootcamp 5.1 on Windows 8.1 While trying to run Bootcamp 5.1 on Windows 8.1 (which is claimed to be supported here: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1720), I am getting the error message "Boot Camp requires that your computer is running Windows 7".

Is there something I am doing wrong?  How do get the proper drivers installed on my Boot Camp install of Windows 8.1 on my Mid-2011 Macbook Air?

I just faced the same problem.. and this might be the solution.

I use MacBook Pro late 2011 and installed Windows 8.1.

(prepare your USB min. 4GB)

ensure you download the Windows support software from Apple Bootcamp.
you will get Windows support folder in the USB.
restart to Windows
open your USB file there..
you will find setup.exe
right click on your setup.exe
go to compability tab
check the box of Run this program in compability mode for (and change the list to Windows 8)
apply
right click again on setup.exe
run as administrator
and click. run the program without getting help.
installing
restart
and voila... everything works.


Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo won't install 64-bit OS X 10.7 I am trying to install OS X 10.7 x64 on my Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro from 2007. Before I was running OS X 10.6.8 x64 which worked fine, but I can't seem to install 10.7 as 64-bit. Somehow it assumes under the installation that it must be x86, since I am not asked which version I want to install.

Apple states that it should be able to run 64-bit (and since Snow Leopard was x64 I don't doubt it).

I have checked for any firmware updates, but all seems to be up to date.

How can I get my machine to install the x64 version? Is there some way to force it?

Your MacBook Pro has indeed a 64 bits processor but it has a 32 bits EFI. So without a hack you won't be able to boot the 64 bits kernel. (source)


Do AirPods charge batteries with Qi now? The Apple page about "Wireless Charging" talks about Apple's new AirPower mat due in 2018 working with iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. Elsewhere it talks about standard Qi charging technology being used.

Does that mean today’s AirPods charge with any Qi-compliant charging pad?

Yes, but...

Current AirPods can only be charged with a Qi-compliant charging pad if they're in the appropriate case. By appropriate case I mean Apple has launched a new optional charging case that supports wireless charging for AirPods.

[EDIT]

You may wish to read:

Apple announces a wireless charging case for the AirPods
Apple Intros AirPower Charging Mat, Wireless Charging AirPods Case

  Apple revealed a new AirPods case that works with Apple's new AirPower charging pad. To charge the new wireless case, you place it
  on the AirPower. If your AirPods are in the case, you’ll see an orange
  light if they’re charging, or a green light when they’re nearly fully
  charged. If no AirPods are in the case, the light still goes on when
  you open the lid, but it indicates how much battery life is left in
  the case itself: orange for needs charging and green for good life
  left.

  As of this writing, Apple has not released pricing for the new
  wireless case, nor has the company said that it will replace the
  original case with the new one with a new pair of AirPods. The
  wireless case will be available in 2018.

Source: See second link above


Is there an alternative to Shazam, but for OS X? As you probably already know, Shazam is a music identification service. However, it is only available on mobile platforms. Is there an alternative to Shazam, but for OS X?

An alternative is Tunatic. It has a handy little window with a sound visualizer:

Once it identifies the song, it displays the name and artist:

And takes you to a link where you can download it from iTunes or buy the ringtone version:


Printopia (AirPrint): turn it on/off via command line? I love Printopia - this allows my iDevices to print to a printer attached to my Mac. The problem is I usually don't leave it on all the time. Whenever I want to print from my phone, I'd turn it on via System Preferences app.

Question: is it possible to do so via command line? This way I can ssh in my Mac and turn it on/off (or even better, write some simple script to automate the process).

There's no real reason that I can think of not to leave it on all of the time, but you can easily turn it on and off by loading or unloading the launchd plist:

This will turn it on:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.ecamm.printopia.plist

This will turn it off:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.ecamm.printopia.plist

Or you could just run the server directly:

/Library/PreferencePanes/Printopia.prefPane/Contents/MacOS/Printopia Server.app/Contents/MacOS/Printopia Server

(that's all one line)


What do Memory and Compressed Memory columns mean exactly in Activity Monitor I'm aware what compressed memory is from answers like this and Apple support but what I can't find is what exactly the usage means.

Take my system right now:

Is it telling me the top process is using 3.34GB of RAM and 3.26GB compressed, or is it telling me it is using 3.34GB of memory in total, of which 3.26GB is compressed?

Is there any way to understand how much compression is going on i.e. what that 3.26GB was before compression?

I have had trouble finding documentation that is from Apple that clearly lays out the difference between looking at the compressed memory for a process, versus looking at the total amount of compressed memory in the Memory tab. Their support document speaks only to the latter.

That said, I have never seen the compressed memory for an individual process be more than the process, but I have seen it be exactly equal to the memory of a process. This suggests to me that compressed memory is telling you how much of the total memory of an app is compressed. Otherwise I'd expect there to be at least some cases where a process that was mostly dormant might have more total compressed memory than uncompressed.

However the amount of total compressed memory is considered an addition to the total app memory when calculating the total memory used categories on the Memory tab.


How can I create a bootable windows 10 usb installer on Mojave? Boot Camp Assistant no longer allows to do this
dd shouldn't be used for bootable sticks (see here)
Using unetbootbin I can only write on FAT32 formatted USB, but that does not work (see here)

How can I do this?

The easiest (and best way) is use mediacreationtool.exe, but that requires having access to a computer running windows.

You can use dd to make a bootable Windows 10 installer disk (I've done it, and it worked), so just make one using an .iso from https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

As for Boot Camp Assistant, it creates a drive with an apple bootcamp tool, so you'll still want to create a drive after successfully installing Windows.

There is another option for installing Windows, which is this except instead of an external disk use the desired partition (and if it is another computer use firewire targetdisk mode I guess?)


Is it possible to setup a clean user account, as if it's a new OSX install? Wondering if it's possible to setup a new user account so that it has no access to the applications installed on my main(default) account (/Application). I would like to create and configure as if it's a new OSX install.

All users share acces to /Applications.

Move apps you want restricted to your user's home folder ~/Applications and then creat a new user from system preferences.


Can I access internal microphone input level via Terminal? I am interested in using my old MacBook as an audio baby monitor. My imagined workflow is to set a noise threshold for the internal microphone in the MacBook when baby is stirring or whining and to use Messages to text me or my wife when the threshold is reached.

When I'm looking in System Preferences, I can see the Input level for the microphone is picking up noise, but how can I get a quantifiable number in Terminal?

I've seen online about osascript -e "get volume settings" to access a numeric value for how sensitive the microphone should be set, but I can't find a way to access how loud of an input is coming in at any given time.

Any ideas out there?

Using command line tools you can do the following:

Install brew
Update and doctor brew
Install portaudio, ffmpeg and all dependencies with brew

brew install portaudio
brew install ffmpeg

Install pip by downloading get-pip.py (direct link) and executing

sudo python ~/Downloads/get-pip.py

Install soundmeter

sudo pip install soundmeter

Run soundmeter. To get help use the -h switch:

soundmeter -h
optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -c, --collect         collect RMS values to determine thresholds
  -s SECONDS, --seconds SECONDS
                        time in seconds to run the meter (default forever)
  -a {stop,exec-stop,exec}, --action {stop,exec-stop,exec}
                        triggered action
  -t [+|-]THRESHOLD [NUM ...], --trigger [+|-]THRESHOLD [NUM ...]
                        trigger condition (threshold RMS and number of times)
  -e SCRIPT, --exec SCRIPT
                        shell script to execute upon trigger
  -d, --daemonize       run the meter in the background
  --log [LOGFILE]       log the meter (default to ~/.soundmeter/log)
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode
  --segment SECONDS     audio segment length recorded in seconds (defaults to
                        0.5)

Simply running soundmeter will output an RMS value. After defining a threshold you can trigger a shell script action (which may itself trigger an AppleScript script)  with the -e switch.

Entering soundmeter --segment 0.1 --log watching online TV (climate change and coffee farming in Colombia - the end of Arabica beans) will show something like:

2017-01-25 18:16:02,289 24
2017-01-25 18:16:02,665 24
2017-01-25 18:16:03,037 31
2017-01-25 18:16:03,399 3
2017-01-25 18:16:03,769 15
2017-01-25 18:16:04,142 11
2017-01-25 18:16:04,524 9
2017-01-25 18:16:04,891 7
2017-01-25 18:16:05,257 7
2017-01-25 18:16:05,632 0
2017-01-25 18:16:06,001 7
2017-01-25 18:16:06,384 0
2017-01-25 18:16:06,745 2
2017-01-25 18:16:07,113 10
2017-01-25 18:16:07,491 14
2017-01-25 18:16:07,860 6
2017-01-25 18:16:08,223 0
2017-01-25 18:16:08,609 13
2017-01-25 18:16:08,973 16
2017-01-25 18:16:09,347 7
2017-01-25 18:16:09,720 26
2017-01-25 18:16:10,091 1
2017-01-25 18:16:10,464 38 ← an Arabica bean died here
2017-01-25 18:16:10,835 13
2017-01-25 18:16:11,204 Stopped

Just to confirm: that's the microphone input level and not the sound level of the TV stream because the above installation runs in a VM guest and the TV stream on the hosting Mac - tested but not logged with some clapping which will increase the RMS to values above 200!

To send a message after a triggering event do the following - change <user_name> to your OS X short username and <telephone_number> to an appropriate telephone number below:

Create a dir and change to it:

mkdir ~/.soundmeter
cd ~/.soundmeter

Create an AppleScript:

nano sendMessage.applescript

with the content:

on run {targetBuddyPhone, targetMessage}
    tell application "Messages"
        set targetService to 1st service whose service type = iMessage
        set targetBuddy to buddy targetBuddyPhone of targetService
        send targetMessage to targetBuddy
    end tell
end run

Create a shell script:

nano sendMessage.sh

with the content:

#!/bin/bash

osascript /Users/<user_name>/.soundmeter/sendMessage.applescript <telephone_number> "Another Arabica bean died"

and change the permissions:

chmod 755 sendMessage.sh

Now start soundmeter with a command like this:

soundmeter -t +38 -a exec -e /Users/<user_name>/.soundmeter/sendMessage.sh

This should send a message to your (iPhone) telephone number. Please note that you can't send an iMessage to yourself. Sending it to an alias may work. Other similar (Apple)scripts are available here: How to send an imessage text with applescript, only in provided service?


How to remove green hyperlink box in preview? Is it possible to disable the obnoxious green hyperlink bounding boxes in Preview (PDF)?

I do not have access to the latex. The link to the paper is here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1806.01261.pdf.

When viewed on google there are no boxes, but when I download it for editing the pdf becomes a green swamp. I could not find any setting in Preview to disable this (on High Sierra).

Found a simple solution. If you print the pdf and download the print preview you will get a flattened version of your pdf.


What are the best disk cloning tools? Money is no object. I want a bit for bit perfect copy of a hard drive/partition which is bootable (is either possible) to be used in a backup regimen.

I have heard of some tools but your recommendations with clear outlines of the features that make it useful for you as a backup solution would be most appreciated.

Carbon Copy Cloner should do the job.
CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) creates a bootable backup, and preserves all your files, and in the right hierarchy. You can also have incremental backups (it only backs up items that have changed since the last backup). You can schedule CCC to backup regularly. CCC also has the ability to backup over a network. I also like the Growl notifications.

SuperDuper! is another handy little application. We used to use it for backing up before Time Machine came out. It has the ability to do incremental backups, so you won't be backing up the whole hard drive; just the data that's changed. Unlike CCC, it costs $27.95.

Another option would be rsync or cp. Both will have the option to make a perfect backup, invisible files included. Rsync can also backup incrementally, which means it will only backup what has changed. With rsync and cp, you can also schedule it to backup with launchd or cron.


AppleScript or Automator workflow to clean orphaned files on Kindle I'm wondering if there's a way to clean orphaned files from a Kindle using AppleScript or Automator.

It would basically look for any .sdr folder that doesn't have a matching .mobi or .azw and then move it to the trash.

Thanks!

If the .mobi and .azw files are directly under the .sdr folders, try running a command like this in Terminal:

cd /containing/folder;for d in *.sdr;do ls "$d"|grep -Eq '\.(mobi|awz)$'||echo rm -r "$d";done

Remove echo to actually delete the folders.


Configuring predictable IPv6 addresses for laptop client I recently set up IPv6 for my home network via a tunnel. I have a /48 subnet and have assigned manual IPv6 addresses to my stationary Macs. I would like to set up my laptops to get a dynamic IPv6 address which is same every time I get onto my home network (wired or wireless). The aim would be to be able to connect to these machines via IPv6 from the outside.

As far as I understand OS X has no DHCPv6 client and therefore the IPv6 IP address allocation is done via router advertisement. Is this IP address allocated randomly (within the range of available addresses) or is there some predictability? AFAIK, the MAC address of the ethernet adapter is used as part of the IP address (unless some privacy flag is set). In a way I am trying to set up the equivalent of IPv4 DHCP with fixed IP addresses for IPv6. How would this be possible?

Just a small correction, but OSX (at least Mountain Lion) has full DHCPv6 client, which works out of the box to communicate with a DHCPv6 server on your network.  The case may be, that Apple Airport does not have a DHCPv6 server and therefore your choice of IPv6 assignment is limited to auto-configuration (SLAAC) and link-local schemes (the ones controlled by privacy setting).

The SLAAC address, as you correctly worked out, uses the last three octets of the L2 MAC address.  The other address is the link-local address of the interface.

If you wanted to use a DHCPv6 assignment, then you would run a small inexpensive DHCPv6 server on your network and end up with a third IPv6 address from your chosen DHCP scope, configured on your interfaces (depending on privacy setting).

If you combine this DHCPv6 server with your own DNS server, and configure delegation, you could just use DNS names rather than relying on IPs.

Reference:

http://blog.ipspace.net/2012/11/ipv6-router-advertisements-deep-dive.html
http://blog.belodedenko.me/2013/06/a-practical-guide-to-setting-up-ipv6.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link-local_address#IPv6


Viewing Medical imaging on Mac OS X ? I am looking for a Software on Mac OS X Snow Leopard capable of viewing DICOM files. DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine.

I found IrfanView on Windows with DICOM PLugin but on MAC I can't found anything.

Try OsiriX: http://www.osirix-viewer.com

The viewer is free and I used it myself to inspect x ray images.


Can I retrieve my notes from my iCloud without the phone? Recently my phone broke and it doesn't turn on anymore, and I have been wanting to retrieve my notes on iCloud but only found that the ones that were backed up on the iCloud were some useless ones that I don't really need… so my question is: is there a way to retrieve all notes from my iCloud from my computer without the phone?

All your iCloud notes are accessible from iCloud.com/#notes2. If the notes you're looking for are not listed here, they are not stored in iCloud.


How can I delete my Mail App and re-install it? My mail app does not give me a viewer window and all File options are greyed out & not available.

iMac 3.06 intel core 2 Duo OS X 10.9.4

Mail opens in this state. I have created new user accounts and same problem exists. I have tried all suggestions, thanks, but still no joy.

When I re-installed OSX all data remained.

It worked normally in Safe mode.

Before you delete it, see if you can repair Mail.

In Mail, go to Window → Connection Doctor and let it verify your connections to see if all works there.
Next step is to rebuild your Mail database. Go to the Mailbox tab and at the bottom click on Rebuild.

If 1 and 2 are not accessible (grayed out)
Try to reset Mail settings. - which you will need to set up after following:

Quit Mail, then go to Finder and press ⇧⌘G and enter (or copy) the following:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences

Look for "com.apple.mail.plist" and drag it the Desktop, then restart Mail.

Alternatively, you can use this one-liner in your Terminal app (located in the Utility folder):

killall Mail &> /dev/null; mv ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist ~/Desktop && open -a Mail

Source: http://georgegarside.com/o/se/resetMail.html

If all else fails you can reinstall the operating system (Mavericks) that includes the Mail.app. Boot into the Recovery HD with ⌘R, then follow the instructions.

For more information about recovering a broken Mail.app, see this:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/apple-in-the-enterprise/how-to-recover-email-from-apple-mail-corruption/

You can check if a 3rd party app/extension is causing the problem by performing a safe boot (hold shift on boot).

In rare occasions your user permissions or ACLs might need some repair. This answer describes the process.


Application to save copies of reduced resolution photos on iPhone? I am looking for an application that will save a copy of a photo on my camera at a smaller resolution. Can't find anything...thanks!

Try this: Reduce - Batch Resize Images and Photos for iPhone & iPad.

However, if you just want to reduce the photo uploading traffic, the iOS built-in Photo.app allows you to share the photos with size-reduced version.


Attaching external display to MacBook Pro through VGA → DVI → Thunderbolt I am trying to attach an external monitor to my MacBook Pro using VGA to DVI adapter and then DVI to Thunderbolt.

I have MacBook Pro 2012 with Retina display and the monitor is Acer V223HQV.

Problem is that when I connect it the external monitor doesn't start working but is visible under System Preferences → Displays. Anyone can help me out here? What extra information I can give you to help solve this problem?

It's not possible because the Mini-Displayport ("Thunderbolt") to DVI adapter outputs a DVI-D (digital-only) signal, while DVI to VGA adapters work by taking the analog signal out of DVI-I (digital+analog).

You'll need a Mini-Displayport to VGA adapter.


Connect 27" display to Apple Thunderbolt Display I was about to buy a Thunderbolt Display thinking that I'll be able to connect my existing Dell 2713hm to it, so that when I connect the Thunderbolt to my rMBP, everything would just work.

But as I recently discovered, based on this document, where it says:

  This Thunderbolt port is not compatible with DVI,
  VGA, or DisplayPort displays or adapters.

probably means that it's not gonna be possible.

Do you know whether there still is a way to get a multi display setup working, by means of a single thunderbolt connection? (not trashing my Dell 2713)

What you need is a Displayport/DVI/VGA port and a displayport/thunderbolt port and since it seems you don't have a Mac with a second Thunderbolt port you will need to get something that will give you two Thunderbolt ports.

Once the question is framed that way (?) then it seems to me that the choice is one of the Thunderbolt "docks" that are often sold as a way of connecting a MacBook to numerous ports all at once via Thunderbolt.

There are numerous examples of such devices out there but you may end up with a lot of ports you don't need (USB, Ethernet, Audio, SATA, etc.) depending on which one you decide on.

I am not aware of any devices that are the Thunderbolt equivalent of a USB hub but perhaps other folks might know of something.


Can I use the same cell number as my Android phone with an Apple Watch Series 3? Title says it all. I know I won’t get the most out of an Apple Watch Series 3 using it with my Android phone, but I wonder if I can at least use the same number with an LTE Apple Watch Series 3? I am on a supported network, so I think this should be possible somehow, but how do I go about it?

Actually, what you want to do has already been done. It is possible, but not recommended. Below I will explain how you can get this to work, and then I’ll explain why it’s probably not worth doing.

Before you begin

Before you begin, you will need all of the following:

access to an iPhone 6 (or above) that is running iOS 11 and is unlocked (or, if locked, is on the same network as your Android phone)
an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE
your Android phone (but it must be an Android phone that uses a microSIM)

Obviously, it goes without saying that you also need to be on a network that supports the Apple Watch Series 3 LTE models (which you already say you are).

What you need to do

Follow these steps to setup your Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE on the same mobile number as your Android phone. Note that these steps assume you have a brand new Apple Watch that has yet to be setup.

Remove the microSIM from your Android phone
Remove the microSIM from the iPhone you’re using
Insert the microSIM from your Android phone into the iPhone
Wait about 30 seconds or so for the iPhone to register your mobile connection
Open the Watch app on the iPhone
Press and hold the side button (not the Crown) of your Apple Watch until you see the Apple logo appear (Note: This may take a while, so be patient)
Once it’s on, ensure you have the Apple Watch and iPhone close together
On your iPhone, tap on Continue when you see a message about setting up an Apple Watch
An animation will appear on your Apple Watch screen. Hold your iPhone over it so that the animation is centred within the viewfinder on your iPhone.

Once it is paired, select whether you eat to wear the Apple Watch on your left or right wrist
When the terms and conditions appear, tap on Agree
Now you’ll be prompted to tap on Agree again
Follow the rest of the prompts to sign in with your Apple ID, create a passcode, set up your Cellular (or Mobile) connection, etc.
Eventually you will see an Apple Watch is Syncing message. Be patient while this process finishes, as it can take quite a while!
Now remove the microSIM from the iPhone and re-insert it into your Android phone
Wait about 30 seconds or so for your Android phone to register its mobile connection

Now you should be able to use your Apple Watch with the same number/network of your Android phone.

Why it’s not recommended

There are a number of reasons why using an LTE Apple Watch with Android is not recommended. In summary, the three main reasons not to do this are:

Your Apple Watch’s battery life will be really bad as it’ll be relying on it’s cellular connection the whole time, as opposed to using a paired connection with an iPhone most of the time
All your health and fitness data will remain on your Apple Watch and can’t be synced with any of your Android apps
Because of the above two reasons, your overall user experience will be poor!

Further reading

Set up your Apple Watch
Set up and use cellular on Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular)
How to use an LTE Apple Watch with Android


Water exposure iPhone 6s iPhone was exposed to water for maybe 2-3 seconds, pulled out immediately, put in rice. Tried to turn off but screen wasn't working. The phone sat in rice overnight, but was continuing to get notifications throughout the night and my wakeup alarm went off as usual.
Decided to take it out of the rice, check it out. Phone seemed to be running as usual except the screen was totally black. Popped out the SIM card to check if any water there, and the screen turned on, with a few black vertical lines on the right side. Worked for about twenty minutes, then went black again, although the phone didn't stop getting notifications.
Soft reset brought the screen back.
Gradually more lines have been appearing, thin white ones this time. Turned phone off, when turned back on, screen is black again. Was able to unlock to backup on iTunes only because somehow the touch is still working even though the screen is black.

I have been researching how to replace screen on 6s, but it's not worth it if the phone is a goner anyway. Would love any advice.

Rice may have worked on much older devices. The iPhone 4 and later have so small physical gaps, that if liquid gets past the liquid indicator sensors, you will need to desolder parts off the logic board and wash / repair the corrosion that happens in a matter of hours (worst case) or when drying (best case).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJr7Ts86wpk

Unless you need data off the device, it's best to get it to professional level repair or replace it when it fails to start like yours does now. Display problems indicate that power lines are shorted or corroded internally.


Why am I using LLVM? I was testing the 14.04 release of Ubuntu on VirtualBox, and later, after having gotten a pretty good idea of the changes, removed VirtualBox from my computer. However, when I ran the command 'python' in the terminal... this is what I found:

Why is it that LLVM is being used in terminal?

When you launch python interactively, it prints its version, and the name and version of the compiler that was used to compile it.

In this case, Apple compiled the python executables using clang-500.0.68 (masquerading itself as GCC 4.2.1).


"Plain Text Document" has changed to "text", "Rich Text Document" to "rich text (RTF)", etc Sometime recently some file type names have changed — not the file associations or default application, but the name of the file type itself. "Plain Text Document" has changed to "text", "Rich Text Document" to "rich text (RTF)", etc.

I did a find /Applications -name \*.plist -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep "rich text (RTF)" and got hits in:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator.sdk/System/Library/CoreServices/MobileCoreTypes.bundle/Info.plist

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CFNetwork.framework/CFNetworkCoreTypes-Info.plist

which do indeed list a whole whack of lowercase filetype names along with the offending ones.

And sudo find /Library -name \*.plist -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep "rich text (RTF)" found (along with a bunch of "Permission denied"s):

/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes/iOS 7.1.simruntime/Contents/Resources/RuntimeRoot/System/Library/CoreServices/MobileCoreTypes.bundle/Info.plist

/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes/iOS 7.1.simruntime/Contents/Resources/RuntimeRoot/System/Library/Frameworks/CFNetwork.framework/CFNetworkCoreTypes-Info.plist

Anyway...is anyone else seeing this? And/or see how it can be fixed/restored? Granted it's almost entirely aesthetic. But if aesthetics weren't important to me I wouldn't be using a Mac. :)

You must have a different text app associated with .txt files.

The "kind" will depend on the app associated (Open with) with that file type.

If you use the TextEdit, those will change back to Plain Text Document.


How do I open the context menu from a Mac keyboard? In Windows, one can hit Shift+F10 to access the "Context Menu." But a similar keyboard action doesn't seem possible on Mac. One potential application...

When I make a spelling error in a document, Lion gives me the option to correct the error by right-clicking (or ctrl-clicking, two-finger tapping, etc) on the misspelled word and bringing up the context menu.

How can I open this menu from the keyboard? And is it possible to access the Context Menu from a Mac keyboard?

I always have the same question but I didn't find the answer yet.
In Windows, when we use the keyboard short-cuts we mostly use the Menu key in Windows keyboard:

When this Menu key is pressed, Windows will assume that you right-clicked the highlighted/active element > then it will show you the context menu even if the mouse pointer is not pointing to the highlighted element.
So this feature seems to be missing in Mac OS. And whatever suggested solutions, even Enable Mouse Key it always require you to point/move your mouse pointer to element first, which is meaningless. If I need to use the keyboard short-cut to open the context menu on the highlighted item, why do I need again to move the mouse pointer to it also. Somehow this is not a short-cut!!


Can I make fn + caps lock enable caps lock when caps lock is mapped to control? I know that I can remap caps lock to control. However, I occasionally wish that I still had a way to use caps lock.

After mapping caps lock to control, is there a way to temporarily reenable caps lock (perhaps via fn + caps lock)? I would prefer to not have to map a different modifier key to caps lock.

Karabiner-Elements has some complex modifications that allow toggling caps lock without using the caps lock key:

Toggle caps_lock by pressing left_shift + right_shift at the same time
Post caps_lock if escape is pressed alone
Change left_shift to caps_lock if alone
Change right_shift to caps_lock if pressed alone


Will my warranty be valid in other countries if I buy an iPad in Korea? I will be in Korea for 5 months, I'm about to buy an iPad 2 there and I'll be back in London or France in September. I would like to know if my warranty will be valid in England or in France in case something happens because there are no Apple Stores in Korea, but only retailers.

Yes. But with a cost.

From Apple's iPad warranty docs:

  If you seek service in a country that is not the country of original purchase,
  you will comply with all applicable import and export laws and regulations and be responsible for
  all custom duties, V.A.T. and other associated taxes and charges. Where international service is
  available, Apple may repair or exchange defective products and parts with comparable products
  and parts that comply with local standards. In accordance with applicable law, Apple may require
  that you furnish proof of purchase details and/or comply with registration requirements before
  receiving warranty service. Resources with more details on this and other matters on obtaining
  warranty service are described below.


How can I synchronize contacts with Google? How can I download (also, possibly upload from my iPhone) contacts of my Google account?

On your iPhone, you can set up an Exchange account, and enable Contacts synchronization.

Assuming you're on Mac OS X, you can also set up Google Synchronization with Address Book app and Contact synchronization with iTunes.

I've had issue with the former concerning the addresses, the city, postal code, etc. fields weren't correctly mapped. YMMV. On the plus side, the modification made to either Gmail or the iPhone are immediately applied to the other.

The second works fine for me, the downside is that you have to connect your iPhone to your computer when you want to share the modifications you made to the contacts.


in mac os x, how NOT to bring all the opened window of an application to front I have a problem with switching between windows in Mac OS X the way I use it.

For example, I have 2 opened windows of PDF files in the background, and on top of them there is another window of excel sheet.

Now when I open a new window of PDF files, I don't want the other 2 windows of PDF that were in the background to come to front.

What can I do?

That's how Mac works.

All windows belong to the same instance of the same app, unlike windows where it's possible to have each window inside a different process.

The simplest workaround is to duplicate the app you need 2 instances of & drag the file you wish to launch to one specific copy of that app.

Alternatively, you might be able to do it in terminal or Applescript/shellscript, but you would need to pass the correct arguments to it on the fly...
do shell script "\"/Applications/myApp.app/Contents/MacOS/myApp\" + arguments [at least file path]

I'm not sure all apps will work with this method, I've only ever tried it with very specific structures with published command line switches.


Will not using battery in MacBook make it last longer? If I don't use my MacBook on a battery, does it mean that it will last longer?
I heard that when you have normal notebook from HP, Asus, Dell, Acer.... no matter if you use the notebook on battery or not... after 2 or 3 years it will be dead... lasting only like 30 minutes or maybe only 5 minutes...
Is it the same with MacBook?
I have a MacBook which is 6 years old and it still lasts 4-5 hours.... The Macbook has not been used on battery in those 6 years. ;o)

Apple says that:

  Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may
  eventually need to be replaced and disposed of.

Naturally, if the battery has not been connected, no charge cycles have passed.