What is the best phonetic app for the iPad? I'm not a native english speaker and so I'm looking for an app to teach my 4 year old daughter with spelling and speaking. She's speaking English very well and very confident in communicating with her friends in English.

However, her teacher is saying that her phonetic is not quite good yet. She's missing some sound, eg. 'p' vs 'b'. Also, she's not good in dictating exercise, meaning writing down word when others read it to her.

So my question is what will be the best app for my daughter?

My daughter loves SuperWhy show but I'm not sure if their app is good. I wonder if anyone can list his/her favorite app here so we can vote on them.

This is a little left field from the answers you requested, but I would suggest turning on the feature to allow screen reading in the accessibility settings area, which allows any app that uses a standard text area that can be cut/paste to be read aloud.  In this way as she encounters test in any app, she can have portions of it read to her, and the diction is pretty good as a rule, allowing her to learn by real world example.


iSight vs Facetime HD (Macbook vs Macbook Pro) While checking the tech specs I see iSight on Mac book and FaceTime HD on Mac book pro.

I tried finding solution myself through google and sources but found no justifiable response.
Can some one tell me the difference ?

The only official specifications I can find on the FaceTime HD camera is that they send 720p HD signal whereas the iSight cameras recorded 640x480.


How can I download a video off Safari 9.1? (not YouTube) How can I download a video off of Safari 9.1 and export it into iMovie?
The video is not from YouTube.

Another option is to use keepvid, which has support for many sites. All you have to do is enter the URL for the site containing the video, and choose the output you want. You can also choose to get the video or audio only, and this does work for YouTube.

This works with almost all modern browsers, no extension required.


Where is the cron log file in MacOSX Lion? I want to troubleshoot a cron job that worked fine until a recent modification, but I can't find the cron log file, where is it?

By default, cron does not log output of executed jobs. It is possible to log the fact that cronjobs have been executed, but that is not the default on OS X either.

In order to investigate cronjob execution output, I suggest modifying your cronjob line to redirect STDOUT and STDERR to logfiles. In your crontab file or after running crontab -e, however you go about it, add something like the following to your job line:

0 0 * * * yourcommand >/tmp/stdout.log 2>/tmp/stderr.log

Doing this should send STDOUT (normally printed or echo'ed output to STDOUT) to a text file named stdout.log in the /tmp directory, and STDERR to stderr.log in the temp directory. Many utilities use STDERR to print special error messages out when they're application errors, and not errors generated by the program's actual execution. (You can read more about STDERR on Wikipedia.)


Apple Watch unlock feature for macOS Sierra requires turning off 2-step-verification Yesterday I installed macOS Sierra and now I want to enable this new feature - unlocking MacBook with Apple Watch.

I opened Security & Privacy settings and tried to check this option (Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac). It asked me for my iCloud (Apple ID) password, I provided it, but then it showed me the following message:

Some additional info (if it's relevant):

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
macOS Sierra 10.12
Bluetooth LMP Version: 4.2 (0x8)

And yes, I have two-step verification enabled in my Apple ID for about a year now:

So, to have this feature enabled I need to reduce protection of the entire Apple ID? Can I bypass this requirement and use the watch to unlock my Mac?

You need to disable two-step verification and enable two-factor authentication.

If you follow the steps in this article, it will show you how you can use your Watch to wake-up your Mac.  One of the key parts is at the bottom of the article:

  For those of you using the original Two-Step Verification instead of the Two-Factor Authentication feature introduced with iOS 10, you will need to disable Two-Step Verification on the Apple ID management site and then enable Two-Factor Authentication on an iOS device. A passcode also needs to be established on the Apple Watch.


Creating REAL typewriting effect on mac (similar to Type.js but with actual keyboard input) When recording a programming demonstration video, I want to automate the typing according to a manuscript. Basically w looking for a tool/technique that will enable me to script lines/files/strings and make that act as it coming from my actual keyboard (at configurable speed). I will then screen record my IDE, command line or whatever application and trigger the script to capture a sequence of faked typing. All of this to make it look at least semi-human.

For JavaScript there is several tools, for instance Typed.js. I am looking for a Mac equivalent. Does this exist?

Here as quick and dirty answer with some Apple script I found online:

set fc to read POSIX file "/path/to/file.txt" as «class utf8»

set the text item delimiters to (ASCII character 10)
set mylines to text items in fc
repeat with currentline in mylines
    write_string(currentline)
end repeat

on write_string(the_string)
    tell application "System Events"
        tell application "TextEdit" to activate
        repeat with the_character in the_string
            keystroke the_character
            delay 0.05
        end repeat
        key code 36
        key code 123 using command down
    end tell
end write_string

The Apple script requires an empty open document in TextEdit and a source text file /path/to/file.txt (with strings/text etc.).

It probably works with other text editors also.

Additional keystroke sound and random delays:

If you replace

            keystroke the_character
            delay 0.05

with

            do shell script ("afplay " & "/path/to/sound.wav" & " > /dev/null 2>&1 &")
            keystroke the_character
            set d to random number from 0.2 to 0.5
            delay d

you will get some sound too. (example keystroke sound file (direct d/l link!))

Additional office sound:

Add the line somewhere at the beginning of the script. You can set the volume with "-v "!

do shell script ("afplay " & "/path/to/officesound.wav" & " > /dev/null 2>&1 &")

Example: office sound - People - indoor crowd - government office - people in queue. (requires Login/Register)

If I find some time, I'll add some open new document ... lines.


How do I get into boot options with a non-mac keyboard? I boot my mac mini, hold down alt on my non-mac keyboard, but it does not go to boot options.

How do I get to boot options with a non-mac keyboard then?

Things which seem to work:

Mac mini late 2012: I had to plug the keyboard into the USB port closest to the middle, then it worked.
MacMini (mid-2010): the outside USB port worked for me with an ancient Microsoft intellitype keyboard. I also unplugged the USB mouse receiver, so that the only USB input was the keyboard. That seemed to make the difference and let me into the boot menu options.


Exclude folder from sync from iCloud to device (laptop) I have many devices connected to an iCloud account, and for some devices (specifically laptops with small disks) I would like to exclude folders from sync'ing DOWN to the laptop from iCloud. I know there are solutions from excluding folders from sync'ing UP to iCloud, but I want the opposite. Is this possible (in any MacOS version)?
Additionally, at Apples support site "How to free up storage space on your Mac" it says:
"Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon", but this is not true, I have folders with that icon that are stored locally on my drive, taking up huge amount of space on my Laptop with a limited size disk.
I have the 2TB storage plan on iCloud but the typical SSD laptop disk is way smaller than this, so it seems obvious to me that I don't want the full iCloud drive sync'ed to my Laptop.
Sidenote: I'm starting to believe that my sync functionality have mucked up some way, since folders and files marked with the "cloud" icon is still stored on my laptop and in my Library -> Mobile Documents folder there is an iCloud Drive folder which IN-TURN contains an iCloud Drive folder.

iCloud Drive is a syncing solution so you can't exclude folders from getting synced from the cloud onto your computer. You can have macOS manage the space on your Mac though by going to System Preferences->iCloud, clicking on "Options" at the end of the iCloud Drive line and selecting "Optimize Mac storage". This will just sync the whole folder structure without downloading the content unless you need it. Non-downloaded files/folders will show a Cloud icon in Finder.


How do I install Darwin 13 on OS X 10.9.1? I've recently bought a MacBook with OS X 10.9 and I've just updated it to 10.9.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin10.8.0 64-bit).

I'd like to install the version 13 of Darwin.

I've done everything proposed by this website, but when I try to make xnu, I have this error message:

Generating libkern/version.h from /Users/xxxx/Downloads/xnu-2422.1.72/libkern/libkern/version.h.template
install: target ‘version.h’ is not a directory
make[5]: *** [version.h] Error 1
make[4]: *** [build_exporthdrs_mi] Error 2
make[3]: *** [build_exporthdrs_mi_recurse_into_libkern] Error 2
make[2]: *** [build_exporthdrs_mi_recurse_into_libkern] Error 2
make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make[1]: *** [build_exporthdrs_mi_bootstrap_RELEASE^X86_64^NONE] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

The problem is somewhere with my bash (I've brewed some GNU utils, it is maybe it). So, I've used zsh and the makecommand compiled great!


One Apple ID or Two? Can someone please help me out? I currently own an iPhone and an iPad and my son has a iPod touch 4th Generation. iCloud works well between them, but my wife is looking to get an iPhone as well. If she uses a new Apple ID can she still use my purchased apps? Or if we use the same Apple ID can you separate contacts or would turn it off on one device?

You should have one AppleID per person that you use for iCloud, Notes, Contacts, Mail, Calendar and to-do's. You then pick one of these ID's to buy things in iTunes and the App store. You probably want to use the ID you have used to purchased music and apps with up until now.

So setup your wife's iDevice(s) with her new AppleID. When you are done, go into Settings/Store and change the AppleID you to your existing ID (only in the store).

Now you each have your own iCould but everything you buy can be shared between the both of you.


How to look up lost iTunes shared library password? I forgot the password to my iTunes home shared library. I know I can set a new password in the iTunes prefs, but I do not want to update all my home devices to the new password! I cannot find the password in the keychain either.

Your Home-sharing password is your Apple ID password. It should exist in your keychain:

Type Keychain Access in Spotlight. It should appear in the drop down menu. Open it.
Select your Login Keychain
Type in iTunes Store Password in the search bar of Keychain access.
Double click it and tick "Show Password"

If this appears:

Type in your user account password and click allow. You should then see your Apple ID password in plaintext.


How to play .m3u playlist on iOS, given its URL? When clicking on a URL for an M3U playlist on an iPhone, it opens in Safari as a blank, gray webpage, and no audio plays.

How can I play an M3U playlist on an iPhone, given the URL to the playlist? Does Apple have a URL scheme where I can make a URL that will tell the phone to open the playlist up in iTunes?

You can download following app; add your m3u list to app content; watch what you want :)

https://itunes.apple.com/tr/app/iptv-m3u-player-ip-television/id1368623943?l=tr&mt=8


How to use iPad Pro with (LG) ultrafine 5k? Hi there I currently have an iPad Pro and a (LG) Ultrafine 5k monitor I used with my MacBook but I’d like to be able to use it with my iPad too unfortunately my iPad doesn’t support thunderbolt 3 is there a way I can get an adapter that can have one usb c to thunderbolt 3 conversion ?

Update:
Model is 27MD5KA-B

You do not need an adapter - you'll only need the USB-C cable that comes in the box with the monitor.

Note however that the iPad Pro (any model with USB-C) will only work at a 3840x2160 resolution at 60 Hz. I.e. you won't be able to take advantage of the full 5120x2880 capability of the monitor.

Also note that the monitor will only supply about 7.5 watts of power to the iPad Pro. This is usually not enough to charge the battery.

Note, the original LG 5k display is thunderbolt only, so if you done get a connection, check the model and firmware on your LG to be sure it supports USB.

Difference between old and new LG UltraFine 5K(4K) Displays


Error stating that I'm running an older version of Mail with a newer version of Mac OS X Mail.app stopped working on my Snow Leopard Mac after installing Security Update 2012-004 (Snow Leopard) (Post Date: September 19, 2012). Long ago, I moved Mail.app to a directory different from /Applications/ . At some point Mail.app got upgraded from version 4.2 (the one that came with the original installation discs) up to version 4.5, and it never got updated in my computer because the application was in a different directory - and it never complained until now.

This is the error message that I get when executing Mail.app:

  You can't use this version of Mail with this version of Mac OS X. You have Mail version 4.2 (1078/1085). It can't be used on Mac OS X version 10.6.8 (Build 10K549)

I have tried:

Moving back Mail.app to /Applications/ (same error message)
Running Software update (there was nothing to install, I'm up-to-date)
Re-installing Mail.app from the installation discs (it installed version 4.2 again, the problem persists)

None of the above have worked so far. Any ideas?

UPDATE :

I followed @BSDGuy's advice and managed to update Mail.app to version 4.5. But I'm getting the same error, except that now it's complaining about version 4.5! This is the error message:

  You can't use this version of Mail with this version of Mac OS X. You have Mail version 4.5 (1084/1085). It can't be used on Mac OS X version 10.6.8 (Build 10K549)

You can go to Apples web site and download the updates manually. The downloads site is:

http://support.apple.com/downloads/

Once there, go to the "Search Downloads" "10.6.8" update. You can download either the combo (for people who haven't updated much) or the last, which was just for the 10.6.7 to 10.6.8. You might want to find specifically which update made the changes.

What I would try is the following:

Move Mail.app back to /Applications
Perform the manual update(s) from the downloaded update

IF the download allows you to go through the packages and you can find out which package mail is in (the names aren't always straight forward) you could probably do a manual update using only that package.

This might be risky, but you could try actually doing the full update on the system. In the PAST, you could do that and it would ignore any updates that superseded what's in the package or already installed and only install those components needing update. I don't write Apple's update software so that might be risky.

Hope this helps.


Sending e-mail attachment from MS Office There's an option in MS Office 2011 for Mac programs that allows to send current document as an e-mail attachment. However in my case this option is inactive:

I can't find any option to setup e-mail client in Word/Excel preferences. How do I fix it?

Oh ! I think I have seen this before

Try the following:

Start Apple Mail

Go to Mail>Preferences>General
The top line that reads "Default Email Reader" must show either Outlook or    Mail.
If it doesn't, please go ahead and change it.

you might have google set as of now.

Hope this works!


Wrong parsing command from date manpage? In the Apple's date manpage ($ man date) it's written:

Finally the command:

     `date -j -f "%a %b %d %T %Z %Y" "`date`" "+%s"

can be used to parse the output from date and express it in Epoch time.

But when I'm executing this command ($ date -j -f "%a %b %d %T %Z %Y" "`date`" "+%s") in a new Basic Shell from Terminal I get:

Failed conversion of ``Ven 12 mai 2017 08:22:03 CEST'' using format ``%a %b %d %T %Z %Y''
date: illegal time format
usage: date [-jnRu] [-d dst] [-r seconds] [-t west] [-v[+|-]val[ymwdHMS]] ...
            [-f fmt date | [[[mm]dd]HH]MM[[cc]yy][.ss]] [+format]

Why? Does it same for you? How can I correct it?

NB: I'm on macOS Sierra 10.12.4 with French settings and Paris local time (UTC +02:00)

You are using the following date format:

 %a %d  %b   %Y %H:%M:%S   %Z
Ven 12 mai 2017 08:22:03 CEST

So the correct command is

date -j -f "%a %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %Z" "`date`" "+%s"


Where can I find the official OS X 10.10 documentation? I'm a programmer and system administrator with more than 15 years of experience on Windows and Linux. I recently switched to OS X, using a MacBook Pro. Can anybody point me to the OS X documentation where I can find everything about OS X, from the files system and utilities, up to philosophy and architecture?

Here is the OS X Yosemite v10.10 Documentation.

You can always find developer resources on the Apple Developer sites. You can find other OS X documentations there, as well as iOS documentations. Other resources, such as feature descriptions, revision histories, upcoming changes, and user agreements can be found there, also.

The best of luck in your programming endeavours!


Why is Terminal complaining "-bash: export: `PATH;': not a valid identifier" When I start terminal I get the error

  -bash: export: `PATH;': not a valid identifier

Why?

I've looked in the two files which I think bash uses at startup, and I cannot see an issue:

/etc/profile

# System-wide .profile for sh(1)

if [ -x /usr/libexec/path_helper ]; then
        eval `/usr/libexec/path_helper -s`
fi

if [ "${BASH-no}" != "no" ]; then
        [ -r /etc/bashrc ] && . /etc/bashrc
fi

~/.bash_profile

export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/autoconf/bin"
export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/automake/bin"
export VISUAL=vscodeeval $(/usr/libexec/path_helper -s)

(N.B. The file /usr/libexec/path_helper is binary, and /etc/bashrc does not contain the text 'PATH'.)

Where is the error coming from? I cannot see PATH; with the trailing semicolon in either startup profile.

Look at the output of path_helper -s:

$ /usr/libexec/path_helper -s
PATH="..."; export PATH;

(The actual value assigned to PATH isn't important; I've elided it here.)

The output is intended to be executed with eval, as it is in /etc/profile. The purpose is to provide an initial value for the PATH variable, then set the export attribute on the name.

In your .bash_profile, you are unnecessarily executing it again, but also incorrectly letting the output be used as additional arguments to an export command. The line

export VISUAL=vscodeeval $(/usr/libexec/path_helper -s)

is treated as

export VISUAL=vscodeeval PATH="..."; export PATH;

except the semicolons are treated as literal characters, not command terminators. Thus, it tries to do the following:

Set VISUAL to vscodeval and set the export attribute on VISUAL. That's OK.
Set PATH to an initial value (ending with a semicolon, which would not be what you want, but syntactically not an issue) and set its export attribute.
Set the export attribute on a variable named export. Unnecessary, but not an error.
Set the export attribute on a variable named PATH;. That is your error, since a variable name cannot contain a ;.

The fix is to just remove the $(/usr/libexec/path_helper -s) from your .bash_profile; it only needs to be executed once from /etc/profile.


What sleep charting software exists for Mac OS X? I'm looking for Mac software that will make it easier to generate a chart of my personal sleeping habits. I have a system improvised with Numbers '09, but it doesn't work very well. Is there any software out there that will do this simply? I want to log my sleep/wake times and have the chart generated for a given span of time easily. (If it can project times into the future, that's even better.)

I have this one here, very happy with it.

http://www.fitbit.com/

The last I checked, you can sign up for a fitbit account and use their web application to manually enter sleep times and get nice graphs and statistics using your web browser to see the data.

I don't think there is an export function and it's clearly not a traditional app where all the data exists on your Mac.


Stream iTunes to iPad I have a large library on my iTunes and I want to stream the sound to my iPad over wifi. I tested home sharing but it don't load the library, it blocks to the half (iOS 7) and it's quite long (nothing after 10mn). I also use Remote on my iPad to control my iTunes, but I can't get the sound from it…

On my Android I just use the Retune app to control iTunes (like Remote on iPad) and the georgous AirBubble app to receive stream from iTunes. But on an iPad? Why Apple doesn't permit to use AirPlay to do this? I don't want an Airport Express…

PS: I also tested Airfoil but it's another app to launch on the Mac and I don't need it with my Android.

If you have a large library, it will take a while for it to get the contents over Home Sharing, particularly depending on the wireless connection speed. Home Sharing is the expected way to do what you're trying to accomplish, simply let it finish doing the initial library transfer. If it's not giving an error, saying it is unable to connect or activate Home Sharing, then it is working.

The other options would be to sync the music to the iPad (wired or wirelessly), use iTunes Match to get the content directly (it, too will have to load the library data like Home Sharing does), or use a third-party method of sharing content from the computer to the iPad (like Plex).

It's also possible you're encountering network errors of some sort if you are receiving an error message of any kind (or if it succeeds but just takes a crazy long amount of time). It may help to review http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2972 or http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629, depending on your network setup. Home Sharing requires UDP port 5353 to be open, which normally should not be an issue inside your network unless you have a very unusual setup.


Prevent iTunes from Opening with Windows Start? Everytime I boot my Windows 7 x64 PC, iTunes loads. I have iTunes 12.2.1.16. No iPad or iPhone is connected. I removed all iTunes entries from MSConfig startup, boot, and services. I also ran CCleaner just in case. I also use the Autorun Windows program to check on what's booting and running. Only Bonjour Services and the Apple Mobile Device USB driver are still active. It's not in the task scheduler either. Where the hell is it?

Check the Startup folder in the Start menu. Otherwise it could be an option that is built into iTunes' settings.


App store says I have recently updated High Sierra but appears I'm still on Mavericks? Yesterday I downloaded and thought I installed Sierra after being told of the available update, spending more than an hour downloading and then restarting.

I had to resign in to a few apps, e.g. Google back up and sync so it looks like something did change.

Before I made the update, if I navigated to Apple menu > About this Mac I would see the exact same screen that I see now, here it is:

10.9.5 appears to be Mavericks. From Google search:

Under Apple menu > App store > Updates, I see that Sierra was installed recently:

Am I actually on Sierra right now or am I still on Mavericks?

The App Store screen only say what you have downloaded, not installed.

Check if the download file is still on your hard drive named "Install macOS High Sierra" in your applications folder.

If Yes double click on it and it will start.

Once the install was successful the install file will self destruct.

Because of that I usually make a copy of it before it self destruct, so I can create a bootable USB later (when I have time for it). = Procrastinating :)


How can I set system-wide grayscale with exception of some apps? Does anyone know how to enable system-wide Grayscale with the exception of some user chosen Apps, which would have colors?

This cannot be done.
Greyscale in Accessibility is in effect an 'overlay' or filter for the entire screen. It is done right at the point the image is sent to be drawn by your GPU. No app is even aware it is set.
You can very easily test this by switching on greyscale & taking a screenshot.
Switch off greyscale again & look at the shot you took - it's in colour.


Is the MacBook designed to hang from its display? I am looking admiringly at the roost for my 17" MacBook Pro.

The height to which the MacBook is raised is terrific—higher than any other solution I'm able to locate online (also here and there). The promise of less strain on my neck is appealing. Since I'm looking for a portable solution (hence three phone books do not do the trick), the roost's weight is also appealing.

My problem is that this device does not seat the laptop. It hangs it from its display. I am not particularly tempted to pick up my mac from its display, nor to pick it and then let it hang there for hours on end. I suspect there will be considerable strain on the hinges, and I can already feel a minor bump where my thumb, ever so gently, opens the display, from merely the pull of the magnets, not to mention the potential damage to the screen (a single replacement part from Apple).

Is there any specification from Apple that the MacBook Pro is designed to withstand its own weight (6.6 lb; 3 Kg) through its display and hinges? Is doing so counter-specified? Lacking either, have you actually hung your 6.6-lb laptop from this device since its introduction in early 2014? Did the display survive?

Update Hooray! There is a new design.

Update2 There is a worthy competitor in the field, but it's not portable.

I would venture that this is not an endorsed way of mounting a laptop.  Holding an LCD by its housing can cause potential problems with the hinges, as well as pressure marks.  It's also possible to crack the metal as it's really thin around the screen.

Any sort of damage resulting from the use of such a device would most likely be deemed accidental and not covered by your warranty.

You should ask Apple what their official policy is if you're hell-bent on using this.


Need help taking a screenshot during Keynote presentation I know Cmd+Shift+4 is how screenshots are normally taken of visible areas on Mac OS X, but this shortcut does not work during a Keynote Presentation.


Detect fn and function key simultaneously pressed I am using ControllerMate to try to change what my volume buttons do.

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how I can detect that the F11 or F12 keys are being pressed at the same time as the fn key.

Originally I'd planned to combine an F11 keypress detector and an AppleScript that checks for the fn key.

I haven't been able to find a way in AppleScript to detect the fn key. Research led me to possible solutions, such as

do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags()'"

But this can't distinguish between the different function keys or fn.

After almost a week trying to figure this out myself I ask you; is there a way to detect in ControllerMate a simultaneous fn and function key press?

I found a way to do this that uses the awesome Karabiner-Elements. This has been so useful for me in many situations, and it works here too.

Karabiner can detect function keys being pressed, and tell whether it's with or without the fn key modifier.

We can make our own "Complex modification" that takes advantage of this:

Complex modifications are stored in ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications as json files. Create a file in here with your favourite text editor:

vim ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/detect_fn.json

You need to fill the file with your own rules, here's what mine looks like now:

{
  "title": "The fn keys can control volume of built-in output even when a multi-output device is being used.",
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Map fn volume keys to execute applescript which changes volume of built-in output.",
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "f10",
            "modifiers": {
              "mandatory": [
                "fn"
              ]
            }
          },
          "to": [
            {
              "shell_command": "osascript -e 'set volume alert volume 0' && osascript -e 'set volume (alert volume of (get volume settings))*7/100'"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "f11",
            "modifiers": {
              "mandatory": [
                "fn"
              ]
            }
          },
          "to": [
            {
              "shell_command": "osascript -e 'set volume alert volume ((alert volume of (get volume settings)) - 100/16)' && osascript -e 'set volume (alert volume of (get volume settings))*7/100'"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "f12",
            "modifiers": {
              "mandatory": [
                "fn"
              ]
            }
          },
          "to": [
            {
              "shell_command": "osascript -e 'set volume alert volume ((alert volume of (get volume settings)) + 100/16)' && osascript -e 'set volume (alert volume of (get volume settings))*7/100'"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

It should be obvious how you can replace the keys with whichever ones you want, and you can also replace the shell command with any shell command.
Add the rule into karabiner-elements by

Starting it up
Choosing "Complex Modifications" from the top
Clicking "(+) Add rule"
Enabling the rule you just defined


Can I permanently lock certain chrome-tabs to the same desktop on Mac? I am working on five different projects and use one desktop for each of the projects. Is there a way to permanently lock certain chrome-tabs to the same desktop on Mac? I swipe between 5 desktops and would like to fix them so they stay in the same order, even when relaunching the computer, but I cannot find any option. Is there a Mac widget or something like that that could help?

This is completely untested but just a couple of thoughts.

Launching Apps on Login

For starters you can "pin" specific applications so that they will start on login to your account.

Mission Control Spaces

You can then go into Mission Control and configure your screens so that they each have their own space.

Creating Spaces

Now access Mission Control (4 finger swipe up) and create a separate space for each screen. Now drag your applications to the corresponding space for a given screen.

NOTE: See here for reference: Use Mission Control on your Mac.

Pinning Chrome Tabs

Doing the above should get you most of the way to what you want. Pinning tabs in Chrome is possible as well. For example, you can right click on a given tab, and then pin it. Chrome will reopen these tabs each time you launch it and keep them in the order.

Creating Multiple Chrome Windows

With Chrome, you can open up multiple windows with the pinned tabs in each, and then put each of these windows on a space for a given screen.

To open up multiple windows in Chrome:

References

Yosemite - Open App On Particular Screen


What happened to Automatic Termination? In Mac OS X Lion (10.7) Apple introduced a feature called "Automatic Termination" where apps would automatically quit after a while of inactivity.

I personally only ever saw this working with Preview and a few other apps. Neither Apple nor third-party developers seemed to adopt it much. And in recent years, I haven't seen a single app automatically quit, not even Preview.

My question is, what happened to this feature? Does it still exist? Do any developers make use of it? And why did Apple themselves stop using it in their apps?

Automatic Termination remains part of macOS. When implemented correctly, you should not see it in action.

To discover which applications know about Automatic Termination, issue the following command in Terminal.app:

grep -r NSSupportsAutomaticTermination /Applications

Requires More Code

Supporting Automatic Termination requires additional and, frequently involved, effort from the application developer.

The application needs to deal with an environment where it could be required to quit at (almost) any time; that means being able to save and restore state quickly, with no user interaction, and at (almost) any moment:

  Automatic termination is a feature that you must explicitly code for in your app. Declaring support for automatic termination is easy, but apps also need to work with the system to save the current state of their user interface so that it can be restored later as needed. The system can kill the underlying process for an auto-terminable app at any time, so saving this information maintains continuity for the app. Usually, the system kills an app’s underlying process some time after the user has closed all of the app’s windows. However, the system may also kill an app with open windows if the app is not currently on screen, perhaps because the user hid it or switched spaces.

Ask Apple

Why Apple appears to have removed support from some of their applications in OS X 10.11 is a question best directed to Apple.

A Matter of Priorities

Anyone who writes Mac applications must judge if this is a feature worth implementing and if that engineering time is better spent elsewhere. This will always be a matter of judgement for the developer, so I suspect your question can never be definitively answered.

Tell Developers

If you have applications you want to support Automatic Termination, tell the application's developers. If enough customers value Automatic Termination, then developers will make the time to implement it.


How to get the cellular APN on iPad? I'm using iOS 5.0.1 on an iPad 1 and want to look at the APN settings.  This article from Apple http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2283 says that I should be able to see them through Settings > Cellular Data > APN Settings.  But when I go to Settings > Cellular Data, the only options are to turn data and roaming on and off, to view the account (which opens AT&T's account info) and an option to set a PIN on the SIM.

What is the APN information for an AT&T 3G ipad and/or how can I see it on my device?

I can see my APN settings in:

Settings -> Mobile Data -> APN Settings

Perhaps your carrier locks this down?


Activation Lock Ipod 5 I have a iPod 5 touch with the iOs 7.0.4 and I can't get through the Activation Lock and I have no contact with the Apple ID owner. Is there any bypass for this? Please Help

In theory, the answer is no. Activation Lock is designed to make bypassing it impossible.

However, this page claims to be able to bypass activation lock using some questionable mojo. Use at your own risk.

Alternatively, take the device to Apple with proof that you legitimately purchased it, and they should either be able to unlock it for you, or help you get in contact with the person who owns the account to which the device is locked.


How to batch rename images, in reverse numerical order? My camera names its images IMG_0001.jpg, IMG_0002.jpg, IMG_0003.jpg, etc.

I have about a thousand images and would like to rename them without having to do it manually if possible.

Is there a good way to automate the process of renaming them in the reverse order - e.g. IMG_0003.jpg, IMG_0002.jpg, IMG_0001.jpg?

You can use an Automator Workflow.

Something like this:

Sort Finder Items step will sort image names descending (IMG_0003.jpg, IMG_002.jpg, IMG_001.jpg).

Make Sequential step will rename them sequentially (IMG_0001.jpg, IMG_0002.jpg, ...).

Copy Finder Items step is optional, just to be sure not to mess with original files.


The volume "ok" could not be repaired my macbook air 2011 just doesnt show the login window, after running fsck -yf it shows

...
Failed to issue COM RESET successfully after 3 attempts. Failing... disk0s2: no such device disk0s2: media is not present.
...
**** The volume "ok" could not be repaired

So what I could do now?

At this point, the drive either has failed and needs to be replaced or needs a total erase, start from scratch, and load the files and OS from a backup copy.

You might be able to keep running on it, but it's like a bridge with cracks in it - it's best to collect your toys and get it repaired.

You could try a third party tool like Drive Genius or Disk Warrior, but most people don't need to spend $$ and can just do a backup / restore. I'd rather you spend $100 on a new backup drive than software that may or may not repair the issue.

On one hand - you have a backup drive that you can always use. On the other, you have traded $100 to roll the dice and see if software will fix the issue or if you still need to do the backup. You also want to budget for a potential repair, since many drives with this error are failing and need to be replaced. (And you won't know that until you try to erase it and restore to put it back into service).


FaceTime call from Mac to iPhone 4S over 3G doesn't connect I tried to FaceTime my brother (who is using an iPhone 4s) from my MacBook Pro using the FaceTime app. The iPhone is on a 3G network, the MacBook is on my own Wi-Fi network.

The FaceTime app doesn't say that the iPhone is unavailable; it just keeps trying to connect, but the iPhone doesn't ring or do anything.

What might be the problem?

I have the same problem. I assume that your brother's iPhone is on iOS 6 (which officially comes with the cellular FaceTime feature) and uses AT&T (which blocks this feature). I've heard someone say AT&T might start letting all iPhones use cellular FaceTime, but I believe the official word is that cellular FaceTime only works with AT&T if you have a Mobile Share plan or if you have an iPhone 5. Meanwhile you'll have to call him with Skype or Google Hangout, or he'll have to go to WiFi.


Outlook for 2011 automatically moving messages to on my computer Recently upgraded corporate computers to Mac running on a premise Exchange Server (2010) from PC. 8 of the 9 computers have no problem synchronizing between the Exchange Server and Outlook.

However, one Mac will automatically move all messages to 'On My Computer' and take them off the Exchange Server. It is a MacBook Air running 10.8.2 and all updates are up to date. The account is setup as an Exchange account and not a POP.

Is this a user setting or something that needs to be changed through EMC?

I had a problem where Outlook 2011 was moving sent and inbox messages from the Exchange folders to the inbox under On My Computer. The solution was to go to Tools -> Mailing List Manager and turn off the rule that must have been set by accident.

If you simply open up the Mailing List Manager I noticed that it automatically creates a rule that matches your email address and then moves them to the Inbox On My Computer. I must have been going through the various menu options and hit return by mistake.


What is the "+" mark at the end of file description? When I execute 'ls -al~', I see + marks, and it prevents me from moving/deleting files.

drwxr-xr-x+   5 prosseek  admin     170 Oct  5 03:43 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x+  17 prosseek  admin     578 Sep 25 22:20 Documents

What is this, and how do I get this mark on every file and directory in my home directory?

How can I remove this? Is there any easy way to remove this on every file in my home directory?

The + indicates the file has an Access Control List (ACL) with additional permissions. Each rule in an ACL is called an Access Control Entry (ACE).

The command ls -ale will show the ACEs for each file/folder that has an ACL

The default folders OS X creates when it makes a new home folder — Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Public — will have the ACE

0: group:everyone deny delete

which means no users are allowed to delete the folder, not even the owner of the folder. This prevents people from accidentally deleting these folders, which OS X expects to exist.

To remove all the ACLs from the default home folders, without affecting ACLs of their contents, use

chmod -N ~/*

To remove an ACL from a folder and everything inside of it, use

chmod -R -N /path/to/folder

Once the ACL has been removed, you can now delete those folder as expected, However, it's generally advisable to not remove the default folders that OS X  creates in a user's home folder. The OS and many apps expect those folders to be there. In fact, OS X may simply recreate some of them the next time you log in.

An alternative is to hide them from the Finder with

chflags hidden /path/to/folder

To unhide, change hidden to nohidden. Hidden folders will still show up in Terminal, though.


Will I get charged for an iOS app that a family member already paid for, if I download normally? By "normally" I mean from the app's listing, instead of from the list of apps purchased by other family members.

I'm aware that I can go to the list of purchased apps and download from there to avoid being double-charged, but what if I click the link in the App Store listing that says (e.g.) $9.99?  If the price shows up, even though a family member has already paid for the app, does that mean I'll actually get charged that price again?  Or is this simply a (giant!) bug in Apple's App Store app?

Will I get charged for an iOS app that a family member already paid for, if I download normally?

Short answer is, it depends on whether the app in question has Family Sharing enabled for it by the publisher of the app.

  If the price shows up, even though a family member has already paid for the app, does that mean I'll actually get charged that price again?

You won't get charged for the app in question if and only if the following conditions are met:

You are a part of a Family under Family Sharing.
A family member has already bought the app in question.
The app in question has Family Sharing enabled for it by the publisher.

  Or is this simply a (giant!) bug in Apple's App Store app?

This is not a bug from Apple, it's by design. Not every app on the App Store automatically becomes available for free to the rest of the family if at least one of the family member has bought it. It's up to the publisher of the app whether to enable Family Sharing for their app or not.

So it would appear logical and consistent that you as a user would see the app normally along with a price tag on the purchase button (which is an expected behavior). When you attempt to buy the app by tapping on the price button and it meets the eligibility criterion for Family Sharing, you are prompted that a family member has already bought the app, and, because it has Family Sharing enabled by the publisher, you won't be charged for it.

(P.S.: While it's for fact that this behavior is by design, the reasoning behind logical and consistent appearance is based on my personal interpretation.)


Disable Screen Mirroring Keystroke When I'm stumbling around trying to find the keystroke for lowering the screen brightness in quarter-segments (which happens to be Option ⌥+Shift ⇧+Brightness-down (F1)), I usually wind up hitting Command ⌘+Brightness-down, which puts my multi-monitor setup into mirrored mode, thus messing up my window arrangement and sizing.

I'd like to turn off this keystroke (which is, specifically, ⌘+Brightness-down and definitely not ⌘+F1. If someone can come up with a way to permanently disable display mirroring under all circumstances, I'll probably put together a bounty for you.

I'm running OS X Lion on a sufficiently recent MacBook Pro.

   I'm not sure why they include mirrored mode in modern computers, anyway. It's never useful and it only confuses people. Don't tell me it's for presentations: any decent presentation software will have a presenter mode that everyone should learn to use and love.

There doesn't seem to be an entry for the shortcut in com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist. The media keys cannot be configured in DefaultKeyBinding.dict or keylayout files. I didn't find any hidden preferences with strings either.

I was able to disable it with KeyRemap4MacBook, but only on my laptop's keyboard; not on an Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Save a file like this as ~/Library/Application Support/KeyRemap4MacBook/private.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>Disable Command-F1</name>
    <identifier>private.disable.command.f1</identifier>
    <autogen>--ConsumerToConsumer-- ConsumerKeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_DOWN, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L, ConsumerKeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_DOWN</autogen>
    <autogen>--ConsumerToConsumer-- ConsumerKeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_DOWN, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_R, ConsumerKeyCode::BRIGHTNESS_DOWN</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

Press the ReloadXML button and enable the new remapping in the first tab


How Can I Copy files to a Mounted Drive using AppleScript? In what way can I copy home folders (Documents, Pictures, Movies, etc...) to a mounted drive without using the POSIX function in AppleScript?

Finder

tell application "Finder"
    duplicate items of home to disk "WD" with exact copy
end tell

with exact copy preserves owner and group, like Paste Exactly.

cp

do shell script "cp -a ~/ /Volumes/WD"

cp -a is equivalent to cp -Rp. -p preserves times, mode, owner and group, extended attributes, ACLs, file flags, and resource forks.

rsync

do shell script "rsync -aE ~/ /Volumes/WD"

-E preserves extended attributes, ACLs, file flags, and resource forks.


How do I tell my Apple TV 4K to retry for using 4K as a default? When I set up the Apple TV 4K, it was possible that the Internet speed was slower than usual, and Apple TV 4K said it is not possible to play at 4K for the iTunes movies that I purchased.

But what if I stop all other Internet connections, and want Apple TV 4K to re-try to see whether it can use 4K as a default (or that I don't mind the movie being choppy once in a while), how can that be done?

The Apple TV estimates bandwidth available every time you play a movie - so it is done automatically. There's no need to rerun the setup process whenever the load on your internet connection changes.


How can I prove to an airline that the iPad mini they found is the one I left on the plane, without giving them the passcode? I left an iPad mini on an Icelandair flight. They just sent me this message:

  "We have an item matching your description. Can you please send us details about the item, preferably passcode, to identify you as the owner."

This is a Wi-Fi only model.
It's almost certainly in Airplane Mode with the Wi-Fi turned off.
It’s at the lock screen.
I'm in the US and the iPad presumably is in Iceland.

I would rather not share my passcode if I can find a way around it.

What reasonable ways can I respond to prove my ownership of this iPad?

If you have your iPad's serial number it should be visible on the back of the device.

source: Apple

As mentioned in the comments below, you can get the serial number by either:

Logging into the AppleID associated with the device at appleid.apple.com.
In the Apple ID area in the Settings app on your iPhone logged into the same Apple ID. (The very first thing if you scroll to the top of Settings.)


Apple Music tracks that are added on iTunes aren't showing up on iOS devices Currently I'm using the free trial period of Apple Music.

On iTunes, I'm adding the songs that I like to my music. Just adding not downloading.

When I'm checking my iPhone and iPad, those added songs aren't getting added to My Music section.

However on iPhone and iPad, I disabled automatic download for music. I don't want music to be downloaded (crappy 16GB iPhone).

I only want the songs that I added on iTunes to appear in music player on iPhone and iPad.

On your iOS devices, make sure iCloud Music Library is enabled in the Music section of the Settings app.


How to prevent automatic suspending / restore of applications? I have a MacBook Pro running macOS Sierra (10.12.6). I have two user accounts, one for work and one for personal use. Both are signed in, with the work account having some Chrome windows, Eclipse and the development environment running, and the personal account having some Chrome windows.

Very often when I switch from one user to another, do a little something, and switch back, all applications have been suspended / killed / something, and are automatically restarted when I log in.  This messes up many apps, workspace locations etc.

Is there any way I can prevent this automatic suspension / whatever from happening?

My laptop has 16GB of RAM, so it should be sufficient for both users.  I haven't seen any significant memory hogs with the activity monitor.

The problem seems to have been fixed in High Sierra.

However, the whole system now occasionally freezes when switching users.


How do I submit sticker apps in itunesconnect? Apple just released the GM seed for Xcode: https://developer.apple.com/download/

In the sticker app submission details here:
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/sticker-submissions/ I am unable to find how I can submit a sticker app through iTunesconnect.

This is what I see when I click the +:

Is there supposed to be a New Sticker App link? Or are sticker apps supposed to be created under New App?

They're just considered a New App according to this Apple page: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/imessage-app-submissions/

It looks like they're just considered Apps for the purpose of submission on iTC.  It states, in part:

  Sticker pack app. This is a basic sticker pack made up of images or animated images, which you don’t need to use code to build. You can list it in the Stickers category and in relevant Stickers subcategories on the App Store for iMessage.
  iMessage app. Your app can include stickers, text, video and audio. You can also use code to add functionality such as Apple Pay and in-app purchase. Choose to list your app in the Stickers category or another relevant category on the App Store for iMessage.

I also found this info on their FAQ page:

  How do I create an iMessage app or sticker pack in iTunes Connect?
  From My Apps, click on the plus sign and choose New App. Then, select iOS app and complete the required metadata. You can find more detailed instructions in the Creating an iTunes Connect Record for an App section of the iTunes Connect Developer Guide. If you are unfamiliar with the Messages framework, but want to learn how to get started, you can read about it here.


It's 2020. Is there any way to get syslog to work on macOS Mojave? Questions on syslog on macOS get no answers these days, the reason apparently being that 'it just doesn't work'.
Still, I would like to try one more time.
Is there a way that a syslog opened with
openlog ('apns', 'ndelay', 'mail');

to work on macOS Mojave?

No, the old way of logging is gone. The API to write to the new unified log are published.

https://eclecticlight.co/2018/03/19/macos-unified-log-1-why-what-and-how/
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/os/logging

There are quite a few WWDC sessions covering this as well as hundreds of blog posts with specifics. Depending on what specifically you are trying to do, the unified log can be a quick patch and sometimes be much better than when each log went to a different file.
To address your specific code, you would create an object instead of calling openlog function.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/os/logging/generating_log_messages_from_your_code

Then it’s pretty equivalent to inject your values into the system logging stream. From the command line shell, you can still call logger and nothing has changed. How you compile or interpret your code will govern which API you call, but it’s totally allowed to log still in 2020 on macOS.


How to extract third party application data (mp3 files) from iPhone6 to Windows 10 computer I need to extract (download) from my iPhone 6 the data from third party application (mp3 files) to my Windows 10 PC. The data load to iPhone were from this third party application (radio.kartina) and were NOT using iTunes or any Apple applications.

Any applications I can download to iPhone and/or PC to have this access?

The USB connection gives me access to photos (and videos) only, but I need to get these mp3 files from iPhone 6 to my Windows 10 PC.

I would appreciate any help - name of application to use or detail instructions. Regards, Simon.

iFunbox or iTools is the program you need to backup iPhone data to computer. iFunbox provides an easy way to manipulate app data in sanbox. Both of them are free programs and easy to use.


Which books should I read to use and understand Mac OS well? I had been using Windows for over 10 years.
But I'm a beginner of using Mac OS.
Which books should I read to use and understand OS X very well.

I was in the same position ¾ years ago and went ahead and loaned Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual (Pogue, David. O'Reilly).

It introduced all basic things what an imaginary OS X Snow Leopard manual could had included, albeit it isn't written in a conventional manual style. It is good for OS X newbies, as I was, because it explains even some rather elementary features/operations.

The Missing Manual doesn't cover Windows vs. OS X in a too great detail, which is, in my opinion, good thing as it makes you learn OS X from the ground up and makes you work with your operating system more intuitively (ie. you don't think Windows operations first and then translate them to Mac OS operations, but rather think of how things are done in the Mac OS straight away).

The downside was that the basic aspects of OS X were rather easy to learn with 10+ years of experience of other operating systems. It also introduced the majority of bundle apps, of which some were uninteresting to me (like iChat). The book was relatively fast to skim through.

The best part was the 6-page keyboard shortcut appendix to which I returned more times than any other chapter.

I can recommend the book — perhaps not to be bought, but to be read. If your local library has it in its collection, it's worth a visit.

Note that OS X Lion is due to be released later in this month. I strongly recommend to hold back buying the book now: either wait for a massive price drop or buy the book used; or wait for Lion books to land, if you're about to upgrade.


Replacing macOS with elementary OS. Computer boots normally into elementary OS, but boot menu (option key on boot) doesn't show anything I want to replace macOS with elementary OS on a Mac.

I formated the entire hard disk, inserted the elementary OS bootable USB, selected EFI boot on the boot loader (only option) and installed elementary OS. Everything works well.

The computer boots normally into elementary OS, but if I press the option key on boot, nothing shows on the bootloader.

If I install, choose something else and create just the root and swap partition i get a Windows partion on the boot loader. This leads me to think that is something related to installing in the EFI mode.

Does anyone know what could be happening?

Also, why when I insert the live USB, I only get the EFI option and not the windows (bios mode) option when I press the option key?

Edit:

The first method provided by David Anderson worked.

I just want to add that i made a systemd service to clone the grubx64.efi on every reboot/shutdown so that even if this file gets updated, BOOTx64.EFI are updated as well. This will also automate the solution given by David.

This is what i did:

1 - Create a file named startup-manager-fix.service with the following text:

[Unit]
Description=Show EFI Install in Apple Startup Manager
After=rc-local.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=true
ExecStop=-/bin/mkdir /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/
ExecStop=/bin/cp -a -f /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.EFI

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

2 - Copy the above file to the folder /etc/systemd/system/

3 - Open the terminal and insert this command to activate the service that will sync both files.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl enable startup-manager-fix.service && sudo systemctl start startup-manager-fix.service && sudo systemctl daemon-reload

4 - reboot and the next time you access the apple boot selector (press the option key on startup) the elementary OS ( or other Ubuntu based distro) EFI Installation should be present.

Thanks again to David for the solution.

Note: In the examples below, the download elementary OS installation was named elementaryos-0.4.1-stable.20180214.iso. The images were created using VirtualBox 5.2.16 r123759 (Qt5.6.3).

Why does nothing appear in the Startup Manager when installing for an EFI boot?

As you have discovered, Macs can be configured to boot operating systems that do not always appear in the Startup Manager. This can be corrected. Let us start with normal EFI booting install of the elementary OS. Right click on the icon labeled Files in the Applications menu, then select New Windows as Administrator, as shown below.

Under Devices, click on File System. You should get a window similar to what is shown below.

Next, open the the following folders: boot, efi, EFI and finally ubuntu. You should get a window similar to what is shown below.

When your Mac boots, the software stored in the grubx64.efi file is executed. Unfortunately, this file has a name and is stored in a folder that will not be recognized by the Startup Manager. Therefore, noting appears when you hold down the option at startup. One simple solution would be to

Create a BOOT folder in the EFI folder.
Copy from the grubx64.efi file from the ubuntu folder to the BOOT folder.
Rename the grubx64.efi file in the BOOT folder to BOOTx64.EFI.

The image below shows the contents of the BOOT folder after having followed the above steps.

Finally, follow the steps given below to insure the Mac boot loader executes the BOOTx64.EFI file.

Restart your Mac and immediately press and hold the option key on your keyboard.
Release the option key when you see the Startup Manager window.
Hold down the control key while selecting the internal disk icon labeled EFI boot

The elementary OS will now appear in the Startup Manager as an internal drive icon with the label EFI boot.

The above solution has one problem: The elementary OS has no idea you made these changes. Therefore, any updates to the grubx64.efi file will not be automatically copied to the BOOTx64.EFI file. A better solution, that avoids this problem, is given below.

First, use the Epiphany Web Browser to download the rEFInd Boot Manager. In my case, the file refind_0.11.3-1_amd64.deb was downloaded to my Downloads folder. When finished, quit the Epiphany application.

Next, right click on the icon labeled Terminal in the Applications menu, then select New Window. You should get a window similar to what is shown below.

In the Terminal window, enter the following commands. If you downloaded a different file or downloaded to a different folder, then make the appropriate substitutions. When finished, quit the Terminal application.

cd Downloads
sudo dpkg -i refind_0.11.3-1_amd64.deb

The result, of running the above commands, was the creation of the refind and tools folders in the EFI folder, as shown below.

Next, you will need to make the following modifications.

If the BOOT folder does not exist, then create this folder. Otherwise, remove the contents of this folder.
Copy the contents from the refind folder to the BOOT folder.
Rename the refind_x64.efi file in the BOOT folder to BOOTx64.EFI.
Right click on the refind.conf file in the BOOT folder and then select Open in Scratch.
Add the following lines at the end of the opened refind.conf file.

#
# Added to make rEFInd silent.
#
menuentry "Elementary" {
    icon \EFI\BOOT\icons\os_elementary.png
    volume "EFI"
    loader \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
    ostype Linux
    graphics on
}
timeout -1
hideui all
scanfor manual

Close the refind.conf tab and quit the Scratch application.

Finally, follow the steps given below to insure the Mac boot loader executes the BOOTx64.EFI file.

Restart your Mac and immediately press and hold the option key on your keyboard.
Release the option key when you see the Startup Manager window.
Hold down the control key while selecting the internal disk icon labeled EFI boot

Now, when you select the internal disk icon labeled EFI boot in the Startup Manager, rEFInd will silently boot elementary OS.

Why does an icon with the Windows label appear in the Startup Manager when installing for an BIOS boot?

Orignially, when Apple first allowed Windows to be installed on Macs, Windows had to be installed for a BIOS boot. Therefore, Apple used Windows as the label displayed in the Boot Manager when any BIOS booting operating system was installed. This convention was repeated in all Macs until 2015, when Apple started shipping Macs that could no longer BIOS boot.


Choose custom colour for shape fill in Pages 5.2 How can I choose a new color for a shape fill in Pages 5.2? There is a default set of colors to choose from and I need a specific branded color.

First, be sure to change the fill type to Colour fill if the default template has Advanced Image Fill selected.

Then, as noted by @grgarside, select the colour wheel icon.  See the screenshot showing its location.

From here you can select the sliders.  If you know the custom colour code, either HEX or RGB, then it can be entered into the color picker.  Otherwise, use the Eye dropper color picker to sample your color from another part of your screen.  For example, if you have your custom color in website, or other document, select it with the eye dropper and then it will paste into your object.


How can I monitor usage of an iPad that is probably stolen? Someone may have stolen my iPad mini 2, or I've misplaced it. Checked on find my iPhone, and it shows up, but it stalls on "locating..." So, now I'm thinking how can I show use of the iPad via all the synced apps I have? It has cellular, and I can see data usage via my ISP, and it only shows my last known usage, nothing recent. I'm looking for a meta data solution to prove current use. If I can prove current use, then I know who has it. If it's just lost or misplaced with a dead battery or something, then nothing will show up.

If the isp has no data, you aren’t likely to get any better alternate than Apple lost mode / find my iPhone and pings from the cellular network.

If you truly think it’s stolen, consider filing a police report and send that to the carrier and ask for any pings.

Your reasoning is sound about the battery dead situation. In a few days, you’ll likely never hear again until someone powers it up or charges it near WiFi or cellular coverage.


Yosemite Apple Brown highlight color Is it possible to find the RGB values of the "Apple Brown" highlight color Apple introduced in Yosemite?

You can use builtin app called Digital Color Meter.app which can be found in /Applications/Utilities. It'll show You RGB values. You can copy them as text with ⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+C.


How to trust browser again on my iOS Device? Recently by accident I tapped "Don't trust" and every time when I login to my itunes account I need to verify this with code as it is on the image below:

What can I do to trust that browser again or to force safari to display that dialog again to me?

Go to Settings → Safari → Advanced → Website Data, search for ‘apple’ and delete apple.com.


What are the three different bookmark features in Safari used for? I'm confused as to how to use Safari's Bookmark feature. There are three different options when you go into "Show all bookmarks" view:

Bookmarks Bar
Bookmarks Menu
Bookmarks (Located on the left beneath the "Collections" section).

What are the differences between these three? How can each one of them be accessed? What settings are related to them (e.g. to show/hide them)? Will they all sync with iCloud?

Note: the first two are easier to understand than the third, but for completeness, it would be helpful to include info about them as well.

Think of it as a hierarchy.

At the top 'level', you have your full collection of bookmarks. This is what's accessed with the book icon and is where you can store, for example, rarely used bookmarks.

Within this larger collection there is a folder called 'Bookmarks Menu.' You can quickly access anything in this folder using the, well, Bookmarks menu in the menu bar at the top of your screen. I use this for frequent, but not constantly accessed pages. Its the closest analog to how most other browsers handle bookmarks.

And within that, is Bookmarks Bar. Items in this folder are shown as a bar beneath the address bar for easy one-click access. I keep my most frequently used bookmarks here, as well as things like frequently used bookmarklets.


Do YouTube videos buffer for offline playback on Google's iOS app? I want to preload a 58 minute youtube video on my free home wireless and listen to it later while i'm jogging (so that i can listen without streaming on my limited data plan). Can this be done?  Will the youtube app let you prebuffer an entire video and let you watch it offline?

Yes, assuming you don't quit the YouTube app after it loads. You can also do this with the YouTube website; play a video, it starts loading the video with a QuickTime-like player, and you will see it buffer. If you start playing the video in the Safari and exit Safari (while it's still in the background), you can double-tap the home button to bring up the audio controller and hit Play.


Too many open files error when trying to ssh into mac I ssh'd into my iMac from my laptop fo a while without incident. At some point, I started getting "too many open files" along with other errors:

Last login: Fri Jan 31 09:25:00 2020
5.0.7(1)-release
/Users/me/.local/bash.d/exports/10-git.bash: cannot make pipe for command substitution: Too many open files
/Users/me/perl5/perlbrew/etc/bashrc: cannot make pipe for command substitution: Too many open files
/Users/me/perl5/perlbrew/etc/bashrc: cannot make pipe for command substitution: Too many open files
/Users/me/perl5/perlbrew/etc/bashrc: cannot make pipe for command substitution: Too many open files
/Users/me/perl5/perlbrew/etc/bashrc: line 19: cannot create temp file for here-document: Too many open files
/Users/me/.bashrc: line 8: read: read error: 0: Bad file descriptor
/Users/me/.bashrc: line 7: sort: command not found
/Users/me/.bashrc: line 7: find: command not found
/Users/me/.local/bash.d/exports/10-git.bash: line 10: declare: cannot use `-f' to make functions
Can't locate warnings/register.pm:   Too many open files at /System/Library/Perl/5.18/vars.pm line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /System/Library/Perl/5.18/vars.pm line 7.
Compilation failed in require at /System/Library/Perl/5.18/darwin-thread-multi-2level/Config.pm line 11.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /System/Library/Perl/5.18/darwin-thread-multi-2level/Config.pm line 11.
Compilation failed in require at /Users/me/perl5/perlbrew/bin/perlbrew line 3.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /Users/me/perl5/perlbrew/bin/perlbrew line 3.

It's annoying because command line will hang for several seconds before continuing. But everything works as expected after a bit.

Can someone please point me in the right direction as to why I might be seeing these errors? I think it might be some kind of bash sourcing loop or something. Not sure where to begin looking.

The following line in one of my bash scripts was the problem:

declare -fx $(bash -c "source ~/.local/bash.d/functions/10-git.bash; compgen -A function").

I'm not sure why it results in the error, however.


Adding an entry to the hosts file on iPod touch 4G? Is it possible to add an entry to your /etc/hosts type file (or whatever the equivalent is) on an iPod Touch 4G without jail breaking it?

No, there's no access to system-level files without jailbreaking.


Using internet recovery to install Mac OS X on SSHD, then replace internal? I have a USB 3.0 to Sata cable of which I will plug into a 500gb SSHD. I will try to install a completely new Mac OS X on it using the Internet Recovery option. Then transfer all of my files via USB 3.0 from the internal to the SSHD.

Afterwards, I will replace my internal HDD with the SSHD. Will this work? Will it automatically boot into my SSHD seeing as it is the only drive?

Yes. OS X supports external bootable volumes fine, and doesn't differentiate in any meaningful way between an external and internal bootable volume.

I would recommend using Migration Assistant to migrate your files, however, if possible–but you'd need a second Mac for this. A relatively easy workaround is to simply "restore" the external disk using the internal disk as the source. You'll need to first boot onto an external drive of some sort or Internet Recovery (assuming your Mac is new enough) (to my knowledge, the recovery partition won't work), then use Disk Utility from there.

Select the external volume in the sidebar, then select Edit > Restore.
Click the Restore pop-up menu, then choose the internal volume.
Click Restore, then click Done.


How to start Firefox web browser from terminal in private mode? Simply put, how do I open the Firefox directly from Mac OS X Terminal in private mode?

You can start Firefox directly in a private window, at least two ways, in a Terminal. The first is using the open command.

open -a Firefox --args -private-window

In a Terminal, type man open and press Enter for a synopsis of the open command.

Note: When passing command line arguments to the application being opened by the open command they go with and after the --args argument.

Another way is to use the fully qualified pathname of the Firefox executable, e.g.:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -private-window &

See Firefox Command Line Options for additional arguments when starting Firefox from the command line.
It's better to use the open command because while the use of the ampersand & at the end of the command line will allow the prompt to return in the Terminal nonetheless closing the Terminal will also close Firefox, where it doesn't terminate Firefox started with the open command when the Terminal is closed.


Adobe CS5 Mac iOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Just stopped working! Help My Gear:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
Processor: 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory: 16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon R9 M380 2048 MB

iOS: High Sierra 10.13.6

Preferences: The programs that are problematic are enabled. Only Photoshop works.

Problem:
I have been running CS5 for quite a few years now, relatively trouble free other than some minor quirks.

Primarily, I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, InDesign.

Yesterday, everything but Photoshop all suddenly came to a crashing halt.  Cannot start up the programs again.  A long time ago, I turned off all auto updates.

What changed?
Why, out of the blue, would all these Adobe programs just stop working?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

After paying $1800 at the time for Adobe Creative Suite CS5, I too have no desire to go to a cloud based "pay for play" software, especially during these uncertain financial times.
Have you tried having two hard drives which contain two different operating systems on them?
I have Mac OS 10.8.5 on one hard drive so that I can used Steinberg's Cubase version 6, and I have MAC OS 10.13.6 Hign Sierra on a my main hard drive - I just switch to my "downgrade" hard drive and keep working...and you can access both drives from the menu like normal.
That was my saving grace!  I can still use Photoshop on 10.13.6, but it won't let me run Adobe Premiere CS5.
Sadly, in all my Mac years no one ever told me I could do that.  It would've saved me a lot of upgrade money when a new OS didn't work with my audio software (especially WAVES plugins which I paid lots of money for and it became obsolete, since WAVES too is on a cloud-based-pay-to-play model)
Hope this helps.


First click doesn't register? For some reason, from time to time, I'll have this issue where the first time I click something, nothing will happen. But, the second time I click the exact same spot, it will work as normal. This usually lasts about a day, then it goes away. It can return in a day, or in this case, after a 3-month hiatus. It is extremely annoying having to double-click everything (or tripple-click where a double-click is required). What might be causing this? It seems like the same issue described here, but I don't have jiTouch or BetterTouchTool. It is not resolved with a reboot, or even an SMC reset.

Macbook5,2 (2009)

In this case, it was caused by Spotify. It may have something to do with the ads that refresh every 10 seconds, but it started happening immediately after I opened it a minute ago, the 3-month hiatus ended the day I reinstalled it, and it usually happens in about hour-long increments, about how long I usually have Spotify open. I'm now 100% sure of this, it directly correlates with when the app is open or closed. It's strange, though, the window I'm in doesn't appear to lose focus, and this even happens when clicking on something in Spotify, but Spotify is what's causing it beyond a doubt.


Transfering files to multiple iPads I regularly get around 30 iPads that require 10 - 20GB of images putting into the PhotoData folder.

As you can imagine this takes quite a while to do, I'm trying to investigate ways of speeding up this process.

I used to use an application called i-FunBox on Windows which would allow me to plugin around 10 iPads at a time and then I could scheduel the transfer of the images over night.

However I've recently started using Apple Configurater and would like to be able to do this process on the Mac.

There is a version of i-FunBox for the Mac but it only allows 1 iPad to be plugged in at any one time.

Can anyone else recommend an application or process I could follow?

Thanks in advance.

There's an app called fastboard that allows you to transfer multiple files to multiple iPads all at the same time.

Another solution might be to use Dropbox for iPad, create folders with the files you require and sync them with the right devices.

Yet another solution might be to FTP them across. There's a number of FTP clients available for the iPad.


What is the correct way to take screenshot for the Mac App Store Submission? I want to submit my app to the mac app store. Mac App Store is asking for the screenshot of the dimensions 1280x800, 1440x900, 2880x1800 or 2560x1600. My samsung display does not support this dimensions. If I take the screenshot using Grab and scale it to the 1280x800 dimension it is not looking great. What is the correct way to take the screen for the MAS submission?

PS: My Samsung Supported dimensions:
640x480,720x576,800x600,1024x576,1024x768,1280x960,1344x756,1344x1008,1600x900

See the docs — in the last row of the table it says:

  One screenshot is required for Mac apps.
  Up to four additional screenshots can be uploaded. Screenshots appear on the store in the order they were uploaded in iTunes Connect.
  Screenshot requirements are:

  72 dpi, RGB, flattened, no transparency
  High-quality JPEG or PNG image file format in the RGB color space
  16:10 aspect ratio
  One of the following sizes:

  1280 x 800 pixels
  1440 x 900 pixels
  2880 x 1800 pixels


Taking care of your Mac (put into a sleep or shutting down) I have read this article but I would also like to know what are your thoughts and opinions on that point. I have my MBP with 16 GB RAM and SSD drive. I would like to put my Mac into sleep rather than power off.

Question 1: During the night my Mac won't be used and obviously will be constantly plugged into power supply. Is battery drain the only disadvantage (if plugged in then we consider power consumption rather than battery drain).

Question 2: Maybe silly but I want to double check. When my Mac is sleeping and since it has SSD, can I simply take it anywhere and turn / rotate in any direction (when the lid is closed)? Can I put it upside down or 180 degree or whatever? Can I store it vertically like a book between other books on a bookshelf? Is something bad going to happen? I assume that there are no mechanical items so is it like mobile phone (where I rotate my phone bunch of times per day).

Question 3: When Mac is sleeping does it perform some continuous operations / tasks in the background (like checking mail) or is it totally idle? If the answer is "Yes, it does something", does it trigger some sounds? Do I have to mute it before putting to sleep to prevent from hearing "new mail sound" or any other sound from notification center?

Thank you.

I have a Macbook Air but I'm going to assume it's the same in Apple's laptops.

Yes, though unplugging a MacBook overnight won't drain much of the battery. It shouldn't overcharge/damage the Apple adapter will make sure of that.
Yes, you can store it vertically when you have it closed. It's okay to rotate any laptop with an SSD in it as long as you keep it away from being bumped or falling over, or really strong magnets. Bumps and falls may not damage your SSD, but it could affect your laptop's functionality.
It is totally idle, operations will resume once you open your MacBook and re-login (if needed). Though you may see some notifications when you open your MacBook, I assume these are notifications before your MacBook entirely goes to sleep. So don't worry about it making any notification sound when it's closed, I keep mine that way and haven't noticed any notification sound. The notifications are from sent to the Notification Center when you Login, the app that send them check the time, and if they would have sent them during the PC was asleep then they do what they were intent to do e.g Calendar etc. The PC does run maintenance script though they make no sound at all, also it can back up to Time Machine, if you have that on. There are few more things that can run, if you have Power Nap enabled (Energy Save Pref Pane).


iPod generation 4 won't upgrade ios Please help me, my iPod 4 won't upgrade past ios 6.1.6 and this is very annoying as there are many apps that you have to have at least ios 7 or 8 for. Does anyone know how I can upgrade?! Thanks!

You can't update to iOS 9.  According to Apple, it's only compatible with iPod 5th & 6th generation.

Apple stops signing (authorizing) previous iOS versions shortly after the new ones come out.  Because of that, you can't update to iOS 7 or 8 because they're no longer available from Apple.

You might be able to bypass this restriction by jailbreaking your device but I don't recommend that because there's many things that can wrong, including bricking your iPod.


Potential bluetooth connection malware I tried to disconnect and remove this device called '57-14-cf-5d-3c-62', and it doesn't work. I'm not really sure why, but I'm wondering if this is potential malware. If so, what is the best way to check and remove it?

You can't REMOVE it, as long as your Mac can hear the broadcast from this device, it will be listed there in the Preference Pane.
It's harmless, a BT device can't force a connection, you have to accept the pairing request.


Reconnecting iPad after iTunes have forgotten it without wiping contents I have several iDevices each used by a different person. I have set up all iDevices to use the same Apple ID for purchasing apps but each iDevice to have a separate Apple ID for iCloud (which is allowed according to Apple)

However I did not know that running this way you have to sync each iDevice to a different iTunes installation (according to this elucidating article on Lifehacker)

So, I have one computer (Windows 7 64bit) with iTunes that I previously used to sync both an iPhone 4 and an iPad 1.

I first upgraded the iPad 1 to iOS5 and synced it. Worked fine
(over wifi too)
I then upgraded the iPhone 4 to iOS5 and synced it.
Worked fine (over wifi too)
Then, when I connected the iPad again, iTunes no longer
recognized the iPad. I got several errors:
iTunes could not connect     to this iPad because an unknown error occurred (0xE800007F) and
An iPad has been detected but it could not be identified properly. Please disconnect and reconnect the iPad, then try again.
Finally iTunes showed the Set Up Your iPad screen

I do not want to Set Up Your iPad since I assume that that would wipe the current configuration of it.
Since learning that I must sync with a separate iTunes for each iDevice, I have decided that I would like to sync the iPhone 4 with another iTunes.

How can I (after moving the iPhone 4) "reconnect" the iPad to the same iTunes without wiping its contents?
(I am also not completely sure on how to "move" the iPhone 4, so that it no longer is synced with the iTunes installation that I want the iPad to be connected to).

It seems I assumed wrong. Thanks to kenansulayman's answer, I dared to continue after the "Set Up Your iPad" screen. When I did, iTunes did not wipe the iPad, it left the old configuration unaltered and started syncing normally.

Also, "moving" the iPhone was fairly straightforward. I just unchecked the "Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi" on the old computer, synced it with the new and checked "Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi" there.


Sync itunes media folder with library I'm embarrassed to admit I don't understand how iTunes works despite having a mac for 6 years. How can I clean out my music folder (iTunes media) and then get iTunes to update? I've made substantial changes, so I don't mind just reloading the library if that's what I should do.

Also, I have a "music" folder which is not organized at all and doesn't seem to be affected by me deleting files in the iTunes media folder. Are these just copies of the songs in the iTunes media folder? Can I delete them?

Thank you for your help, and I apologize if the answer to this question is glaringly obvious.

For every song the you import into iTunes, a copy will be made in your iTunes Media folder. If you want to delete a song from iTunes, I would suggest you do it by right clicking on the song and hit delete. Then it will let you decide if you want to remove the referente to that song in iTunes or move the file (the one in iTunes Media, not your music folder) to trash.

If you need to open a different library or reload one, make sure iTunes is closed and click on the icon while holding the option button on your keyboard and then navigate to your iTunes Media folder


Wireless Time Machine Backup Without Time Capsule Is there an alternative to Time Capsule to do a wireless time machine backup. My mom already has a router and doesn't want to replace it but I still want to make sure she has a backup. She never has her MacBook connected so I'm looking for a wireless solution.

You can still use a Time Capsule, just don't use it as a router. You can turn it's routing off by putting it in bridge mode (using the AirPort utility) and simply connecting a network cable between it and the existing router. You can turn wifi off as well if you don't want to use it, networking will happen via the existing wireless network.

As a somewhat cheaper yet officially supported alternative, an AirPort Express with an external USB drive works too. If the backups aren't too big, an older model works too, but since it's slower, big backups will take a while.

Alternatively, any NAS with "Time Machine Support" works out of the box as well, QNAP and Sinology make those for example.


Mac Pro failing to boot Two times now, over the last 3 weeks my Mac Pro is failing to boot. Once on, it stays on the blue screen with the spinning icon and never gets to the login screen. To remedy this I boot from install dvd, re-install Leopard and only then will it boot completely. COuld this be my HD is getting ready to fail?

It will be best for you to run a S.M.A.R.T scan on the drive to see if its failing. You can do this by downloading the free trial of Smart utility.

If the hard drive turns out fine or passes the S.M.A.R.T Scan then just re-install the operating system after you've backed up your data obviously.


Unable to set aptX codec on High Sierra I got new headphones, namely Sony wh-1000xm4.
Audio quality is terrible versus if played from a samsung phone.
I have downloaded x-code developer tools including Bluetooth explorer.
Through Audio Options I can select Force use of aptX, but that doesn't do much after viewing in graphing utility.
If I open microphone settings in audio I can drop the codec to SBO, but there is no way to have aptX.
I have set higher quality audio as in this answer in the sony app but it hasn't changed anything.
Is this a persistent issue for all bluetooth devices with mac?
Alternatively, is there another codec setting that can be enabled so the audio sounds normal?

Turns out most of the issue is due to mac books having a weak bluetooth chip.  In order to free some bandwidth I have used wireless receivers for mouse and keyboard rather than connecting to laptop directly. Now the only device connected to my laptop via Bluetooth are the headphones.
For users of Logitech, the Unifying receiver operates on the frequency similar to that of the USB 3.0 so mouse movements where delayed, sometimes quite a lot. Not having a dedicated port for USB 2.0 only I used a MALE/FEMALE USB extender which is plugged to the USB hub so that the Unifying receiver does not sit close to the USB 3.0 cables.
This has pretty much fixed the Bluetooth issue. Though sometimes when reconnecting headphones appear on the list of devices but not on the list of audio outputs.
To fix that:

kill bluetoothd process from the activity monitor or run sudo launchctl stop com.apple.bluetoothd
followed by sudo launchctl start com.apple.bluetoothd (though this is done automatically after some time)

Few times I'm pretty sure I have had some sort of interference between phone and mac fighting for access, turning off Bluetooth on my phone stopped mac connection from cutting out so I tend to keep it off too.


OSX update cache: does it accumulate over time? I bought my MBP 2.5 years ago, it came with a 240 GB drive. I don't remember how much free space it hat to start with, but let's just say 200 GB.

I mostly use it for personal use (different machine at work). I don't have movies/music stored on it (all on external drive) and have some applications installed (total app folder size: 20 GB). My ~ dir is also approx 20 GB.

My drive now says 140 GB free. I can't explain the 20 GB difference. I think apple isn't removing downloaded updates after installing. Where should I look?

Another idea was mail cache folder. Where is this folder?

I suggest you download a utility that shows the size and arrangement of your files. Personally, I use DaisyDisk. It is shareware, so for your purposes, it would suffice to trial the software.

Mail attachments are stored in ~/Library/Mail Downloads/

It is unlikely that OS X is keeping packages after installation through Software Update. You should first look to your cache ~/Library/Caches/ and perhaps your sleepimage, which is located under /var/vm/sleepimage (note that the sleepimage is recreated every time the system goes to sleep. Read more about disabling it here if you are concerned with HD space).

DaisyDisk (or equivalent) will do a much better job at identifying where the "growth" has occured on your filesystem so that you may excise it than we ever could. I suggest you give it a try.


Removing duplicate apps after migrating from Time Machine backup I recently used Time Machine to migrate apps to my MacBook Pro.
What I did not realize is that they would not overwrite the old apps but rather copy over all apps again, and now I have used almost all of my disk. I would like to get rid of duplicate data and free up space on my disk.
Is there an easy way to do this?  I had thought of starting over and restoring the entire disk from the Time Machine backup, but I would rather not. TIA.

I based my question on the assumption that the 'Purgeable Data' information reported in the Disk Utility app included duplicate app data. That was an invalid assumption.  Upon further investigation, the Mac Storage view showed the space as free.  The 'Purgeable Data' was actually Time Machine snapshots. I was able to trim the size of the snapshots as per the folowing article by reading all the way through and selecting the last (not checked) answer.  Be advised there is a typo in his terminal command. Should be tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / $((100 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024)) 4 I don't have the points to edit his answer but someone really should. How to Clear Purgeable Data


folder modified before it existed I did a complete reinstall of OS X El Capitan last week-deleted the old Macintosh HD and installed OSX. Upon checking some hidden folders, I noticed that some files have Date Modified and Created property set to dates such as February 12 2016. I find that peculiar, because I installed OSX last week. How come I have folders on my computer that were modified even before they existed? Is this a leftover from Apple's team of engineers, meaning that they created this folder on that date?

The original Install.framework used pax to deliver the payload. pax will attempt to preserve file metadata. pax was repackaged into a proprietary binary whose behavior mimics ditto which also preserves creation or birth time. I have files installed on my computer that have modification dates before my computer was manufactured.


Macbook Pro Early 2011 15 inch, Mountain Lion Booting issue My Macbook Pro is not booting normally. I tried many options but no success. If I try to recovery mode or try to boot from USB, a blue screen appears. So I can't do fresh install. I checked hardware test, it says ok, I used the disk in target disk mode in my another macbook pro and it runs on there. Only in this machine the problem is occurring.

Youtube Video about the problem: http://youtu.be/mBk-qcvktPs

If you know the solution help me please.

Spec:
MacBook Pro, Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2 GHz

Memory: 8GB

Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6490M
VRAM: 256 MB

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000

From the tests you made we can eliminate a list of potential culprit
candidates:

memory: hardware tests
internal disk: use in target mode
but you might be tougher on this test:
in target disk mode fire Disk Utility and perform some (ex.: 4)
Verify disk one after the other.
OS: re-install by an Apple service center

Here are the remaining candidates:

motherboard
graphical cards

Receipe to kill other culprit candidates

If your problem is just due to a graphical chain problem, your
system might be correctly booted, but you can't notice
    it. To check this probability, you will have to set your Mac
    so as to be able to remotely verify that it is alive or dead.

Connect the bad Mac to a good one with an Ethernet cable,
Boot the culprit Mac, even if it does just show you his blue screen,
Open a Terminal on good Mac, and get the broadcasting IP address.
The following command will display it:

    ifconfig en0

behind the keyword broadcast (3rd line).
You may also get it at first with a slightly more tricky command:

   ifconfig en0 | sed -n 's,^.*broadcast \(.*\)$,\1,p'

Let's say that it is broacast_IP (most probably it will be 169.254.255.255).
do a ping broadcast to see how many Mac are alive:

    ping broadcast_IP

if this command reply you with 2 different IP addresses, then you can
conclude that bad Mac is alive and its graphical chain is dead.

On the other hand, if you only get a reply of your good Mac,
then bad Mac is really dead, and the last culprit is the good
(i.e. motherboard).


How can I turn off receiving SMS (not iMessages) on os x mavericks? Is there any way to turn off receiving SMS on Mavericks but still get iMessages? I find it a security flaw for SMS code login for secure websites, if somebody gains access to my computer they could also login to these sites.

SMS Handoff is not a feature on Mavericks, it needs Yosemite to function
[Thanks to @tubedogg for the confirmation]

To enable it you would start from your iPhone…
Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding - then add your computer from the list by switching on.

That will send a code to the computer, which you then enter on your phone to confirm the function - afaik, Mavericks will never receive that number, only Yosemite.

Switching off is
Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding again & simply turn off forwarding that computer.


How to properly remove a Linux partition without messing up your drive? I know this seems like an beginner / dumb question, since an obvious answer would be:

Open Disk Utility
Remove Linux partition

However it seems that it might not be that easy, and that following those steps could actually lead to pretty messed up partition schemes:

Remove Linux partition on Mac. CoreStorage problems
OS volume shows as type 'FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF'
Hardrive will not mount after deleting Linux partition. Can’t boot into Mac OS X
Remove Ubuntu and grow Mac partition

I am therefore asking this question in hope for a proper, safe way to remove a Linux partition after a dual boot Mac / Linux, without having to fear going to an hex editor to repair your drive or to use the internet recovery and losing all your data.

I'm running High Sierra 10.13.6 and Ubuntu 18.04, without REFind and no swap partition.

$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         180.8 GB   disk0s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data                         69.8 GB    disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +180.8 GB   disk1
                             Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume macOS                   69.9 GB    disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 23.2 MB    disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                515.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      1.1 GB     disk1s4

I assume you have Linux installed in the Microsoft Basic Data partition. Although with Ubuntu 18, I would expect a Linux Filesystem partition type.

The command given below will remove the Microsoft Basic Data partition. The created free space will not appear in diskutil list.

sudo diskutil eraseVolume free none disk0s3

The command given below will add the free space to the APFS container partition. This added space will be available to macOS.

sudo diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 0

I suppose there will still be some Linux code in the hidden EFI partition. The commands below will remove any Linux code that would cause an icon to appear in the Startup Manager.

sudo diskutil mount disk0s1
rm -R /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Boot
sudo disktuil unmount disk0s1


Where should shell tools be installed? Are there Apple guidelines for where user shell tools in Mountain Lion should be installed? Some (e.g. TeX, or Apple's Git) end up in /usr, and others (e.g. X11) seem to end up in /opt (sometimes with a symlink from /usr), while others (e.g., Git) end up in /user/local, and I wonder what the difference is, and whether one is preferred over the other.

The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard is followed in Linux and other Unix based OSes, and OS X follows this too, to a large extent. The /private folder is where basically your OS X core resides and the /etc and /var folders are merely symbolic pointers to /private/etc and /private/var respectively. You can verify this by using readlink as readlink /etc.

The /opt folder is for additional user applications and so is /usr/local, and you can choose to install to either one of them. It really doesn't matter (as long as you take care of adding to your paths appropriately) and the main intent is to keep it insulated from operating system upgrades (which will overwrite stuff in, say, /bin).

Oftentimes, the following "loose convention" is adopted:

if the package/application follows unix standards, then install it to /usr/local/. There will be no surprises in the package and you can definitely expect a sub-directory structure like bin, etc, include, share, and so on.
if the software comes packaged as a standalone application in which the sub-directory structure is arbitrary, you simply install it to /opt. On my machine, I have my VPN, cisco installed in /opt and it has the following directories: anyconnect,  hostscan,  vpn. None of these are unix compliant folders and installing it to /usr/local would not be a good idea.

They both have their "advantages" and "disadvantages", depending on how you view it and what your familiarity with unix is.

Installing to /usr/local is "convenient" in that if you simply add /usr/local/bin to your path, everything else is set and you don't need to modify anything if you add a new application. On the other hand, if you need to remove something, it's a pain because all programs are clumped together and you don't remember which binaries were installed for application X and which ones for application Y.
Installing to /opt/programX will require you to manually add it to the path and perhaps setup symlinks, but removing an application is convenient, because you simply need to remove the folder and you're done.


Can't see family sharing invitation on iPad mini I created a Family Sharing invitation and sent it to an email address. In a new iPad mini (running iOS 8.1.2) I find the email message and click on the "View Invitation" link.  It immediately takes me to the iCloud settings, but there are no details about the invitation and no indication about how I should proceed. This iPad has not been previously associated with any Apple ID. How can I associate this device with the Apple ID associated with the invitation?

Confirm that your device is running the version of iOS that you think that it is under Settings > General

It might help to associate devices with that Apple ID, or at least log in to iTunes with the Apple ID to make sure that everything about the Apple ID works
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204074

You can also get to the invitation from Settings > iCloud > Family Sharing

here is info from the start
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2014/09/setup-family-sharing-iphone-ipad-ios-8.html

I was able to resolve all of my issues.