RAID 0 On 21.5" iMac Late-2012 I am about to get my fusion drive upgraded to a 256gb SSD on my Late-2012 21.5" iMac that I got from work (don't worry I have a company upgrading it, and yes they know its a Late-2012 iMac).  When that process is completed, it is my understanding that I will have two partitions.  The 256gb SSD that was installed, and a 128gb SSD left over from the fusion drive.  Can I RAID0 these together in a relatively reliable fashion? I understand the pitfalls of RAID0, and how if one drive fails they both go, but that is what Time Machine is for.  Has any had any experience with setting up this type of RAID on an iMac?

Generally speaking I BELIEVE that RAID requires drives of equal size. In some cases when you get drives of unequal size the RAID uses the size of the smallest drive, so in your case you would end up with a 256GB (128 + half the 256) RAID-0 Drive.

HOWEVER I have not done such a thing on Apple hardware using disk utility, it MIGHT give you a RAID of 256 + 128 GB, but I kinda doubt it.

But in any case creation of the RAID erases the data on both drives so if you are OK with that, try setting it up and let us know the results.


Why does telling an app to quit sometimes leave a zombie, and how can I kill it? I have two scripts that open and close an app; let's say it's the builtin Calculator.app. The "start" script uses /usr/bin/open to launch the app, then a one-line AppleScript to set the app's visibility to false.
This is the entirety of the "stop" script:

#!/bin/bash

osascript -e 'tell app "Calculator" to quit'

I am running these scripts from a LaunchDaemon that calls them at certain fixed times of the week.

The strange behavior I'm seeing is that sometimes, after the "stop" script runs, the app's Dock icon retains its little dot (suggesting it's still running). However:

right-clicking the Dock icon shows "Application not responding"
force-quitting via the Dock icon's menu does nothing
ps does not show any Calculator process running

And, most bafflingly, trying to launch Calculator again (via open, via Spotlight, or by double-clicking its icon) produces a modal dialog that says The application "Calculator" is not open anymore.

lsof shows these entries that might be related:

COMMAND     PID   USER   FD     TYPE             DEVICE   SIZE/OFF     NODE NAME
Spotlight   443 jteach   54r     DIR                1,4        102 28977573 /Applications/Calculator.app
Notificat   476 jteach  txt      REG                1,4      37933 29214948 /System/Library/Frameworks/NotificationCenter.framework/PlugIns/com.apple.ncplugin.calculator.appex/Contents/Resources/Assets.car
Notificat   476 jteach    8r     REG                1,4      37933 29214948 /System/Library/Frameworks/NotificationCenter.framework/PlugIns/com.apple.ncplugin.calculator.appex/Contents/Resources/Assets.car

My questions:

Why might my "stop" script be failing to make the app exit cleanly?
Short of rebooting, is there a way I can get the app out of this zombie state?
How can I alter my script to be sure that the app quits properly?

It seems like you have found a solution to your problem, but in case others are looking for more tools for their Unix-y toolbelt, here are a few:

quit

I have kept Jon Stovell’s  shell script quit (direct download link) around for several years now, and it seems to do a very good job of quitting apps. It tries a variety of methods, and will try to allow an app to ”save changes” if necessary.

appswitch

Another very useful tool is Nicholas Riley’s appswitch (GitHub page) which will let you do a whole slew of things to apps, including quitting them (or hiding them, or showing their windows but not making them active, etc).

pkill

killall has already been mentioned, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t add that you could also use:

pkill -x Calculator

to get rid of the pesky app. I haven’t seen “dock zombies” so I can’t so whether or not that would fix the problem, but if it does, it might be preferable to two sudo commands.

A note about open

You mentioned that you are launching the app with open and then using AppleScript to hide it. Well-behaved apps should be respond to the -j flag to open to accomplish this without AppleScript, i.e.:

open -j -a Calculator

(see man open for details, such as "-j  Launches the app hidden"; not to be confused with -g which means "Do not bring the application to the foreground." I can never remember which is which so I almost always use open -g -j -a Foo whenever I want to launch an app but not have it steal focus.)


DisplayLink Screen Saver Issues I am running OSX Lion 10.7.5 (can't upgrade yet due to corp policy) on my MBP 13" 2011.  I run with the lid closed connected to two displays:

HP 24" via DisplayPort/DVI adapter
Dell 24" via Diamond BVU195 USB/DVI adapter

Problem:  Intermittently, when I go to lock my screen (an Automator app that starts the screen saver), the screen saver won't start.  If I unplug the DisplayLink from the USB port, this instantly fixes the issue.  I can then reconnect the DisplayLink and the screen saver appears on both screens simultaneously.  Likewise, sometimes when I return to my desk and go to unlock my screen, the display hangs; it's black on both screens with visible mouse cursor but no image.  If I unplug the DisplayLink, again this immediately fixes the issue.

I've made sure I'm on the latest DisplayLink driver.  What else can I do to fix this so I don't have to frequently disconnect the DisplayLink device?

I also noticed screensaver problems after installing a USB-DisplayLink adapter on my Mid 2012 MacBookPro.  Except my problem is that periodically screensaver kicks in even though I've been typing and mousing.  There are screensaver error messages in /var/log/system.log but I'm not sure they are related to this issue.

All screens except the DisplayLink screen blank out.  FWIW, I use a USB keyboard almost exclusively, and wonder if that is part of the problem.


How to Reverse Scrollwheel in Adobe Illustrator (holding Alt) using Karabiner? Using Karabiner I'm trying to fix the annoying scrollwheel-zoom inconsistencies between Photoshop and Illustrator, i.e. the Alt + Scrollwheel Up/Down behavior.

I favor Photoshop's way of zooming: Alt + ScrollWheel UP zooms in and vice versa.

Therefore I've edited my private.xml in Karabiner and managed to get the reverse scrolling working and restricting it to Illustrator only. BUT I can't find a way to get it working conditionally, meaning, now it has reversed scrolling in each and every situation, whereas I only want it to come in effect when zooming (i.e. when I hold down Alt and scroll).

Here's the exact logic I'm trying to achieve:

Only reverse scrollwheel when holding down Alt in Illustrator.

My current private.xml looks like this; how can I amend this correctly?

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>My Custom Remaps</name>

    <item>
      <name>Reverse Vertical ScrollWheel in Illustrator (holding down Alt)</name>
      <identifier>private.remap.reverse_vertical_scrolling</identifier>
      <only>ILLUSTRATOR</only>
      <autogen>
        __FlipScrollWheel__
        Option::FLIPSCROLLWHEEL_VERTICAL,
      </autogen>
    </item>

  </item>
</root>

Use Option::KEYTOKEY_BEFORE_KEYDOWN together with KeyCode::VK_CONFIG_:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>invertscrolling</name>
    <identifier vk_config="true">invertscrolling</identifier>
    <autogen>__FlipScrollWheel__ Option::FLIPSCROLLWHEEL_VERTICAL</autogen>
  </item>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <only>ILLUSTRATOR</only>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::OPTION_L, KeyCode::OPTION_L,
    Option::KEYTOKEY_BEFORE_KEYDOWN, KeyCode::VK_CONFIG_TOGGLE_invertscrolling,
    Option::KEYTOKEY_AFTER_KEYUP, KeyCode::VK_CONFIG_TOGGLE_invertscrolling</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::OPTION_L, KeyCode::OPTION_L,
    Option::KEYTOKEY_BEFORE_KEYDOWN, KeyCode::VK_CONFIG_TOGGLE_invertscrolling,
    Option::KEYTOKEY_AFTER_KEYUP, KeyCode::VK_CONFIG_TOGGLE_invertscrolling</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

More information about KeyRemap4MacBook:

http://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/xml.html.en
https://raw.github.com/tekezo/KeyRemap4MacBook/master/Tests/lib/string/data/checkbox.xml
http://osxnotes.net/keyremap4macbook.html


System won't boot after attempting 10.13.4 update I have a MacBook Pro Late 2014 model. I decided to do the update to 10.13.4, the incremental update to 10.13.3. It gets everything downloaded and does the reboot. I get to a gray screen and it sits for a long time and finally states "installer resources not found" and asks me to reboot and try again. Even when I try again, this process repeats.

This is what I've tried so far:

Resetting the SMC and NVRAM
Boot into recovery (1)
Single user mode (2)
Boot menu and choose "Macintosh HD" to boot back into my system (3)
Boot a Linux Live USB Image (4)

Recovery

When I got to recovery, the first thing I decided to try was to look at disk utility. My drive does NOT appear. I then decided to go and try to "reinstall" macOS. It shows my 500gb drive, but the icon isn't a drive, it just looks like the generic paper icon and states that I don't have enough free space to install.

I opened a terminal and tried to view the file system. It hangs. Screen

Single User Mode

I noticed in the kernel messages that disk2 'media is not present' - /Volumes is empty.

Boot Menu

When I go to the boot menu, I can see the macOS installer option (which takes me back to the original problem of no installer resources) and then Macintosh HD. When I choose the latter, I get to my login screen (yay!) except when I login, if I can, the system eventually hard locks with the spinning pinwheel and I can't do anything else at this point.

Live Linux Image

I tried a live linux image just to see if I would get similar errors in dmesg, but I don't. I can mount the EFI partition fine. Of course, since Linux doesn't have APFS support, I can't mount that. So nothing I can do there. It was just a simple test.

I took my Mac to an Apple store to have them to their diagnostics. They saw the same things - essentially their tests showed the hard drive being in a good state and everything being OK. But clearly it isn't. I'm assuming the drive is dead.

Is there anything else I can do to further confirm if the drive is dead or not? I do have my data backed up. I would like to see if there is anything else possible, assuming that I may end up having to buy something from OWC anyway.

Edit: The drive has bad blocks. macOS images refuse to install to the drive, no matter how the partitions are formated (HFS/APFS).

I had a similar problem with the 10.13.4 update. It failed to install and booted into Recovery Mode where the Console showed a file not found error in the logs and a menu to shutdown or restart. If restarted the system would again try to install the update and then fail the same way, resulting in a loop. Here is how I managed to fix it.

First I booted into Safe Mode (hold shift while booting) and started the update again from the Mac App Store. But this didn't succeed and the same problem appeared. I then booted again into Safe Mode, but this time deleted the folders which contained the update files which caused macOS to attempt to install the update every startup. These are the two folders I deleted

/macOS Install Data
/Library/Updates

This requires admin privileges. The easiest way is via the Terminal command sudo rm -rf /path/to/folder (Warning: Be sure that the path is right, otherwise you might delete your files. In any case make a backup of your drive first!). And even then it will tell you it can't delete all files in those folders because some are system protected but this is enough to solve the problem.

After deleting these folders I was able to boot up normally again although the system showed it was still on 10.13.3. I restarted the update in MAS again which then installed properly.


Using Homebrew to convert TIFF to PDF How can I convert JPG into PDF easily? shows have to use homebrew to convert .jpg files into .pdf. I would like to convert many TIFF files to PDF but can not get it to work.

For JPEG files, the advice was to use the following command:

brew install imagemagick
convert *.jpg output.pdf

I am trying to use the Step 2 command for *.TIFF files into *.PDF.

However, despite using the command line to the letter, I am unable to change my 300 files with this single line. In fact, no file is converted at all.

Would anyone be so kind to provide a helping hand ?

The * in convert *.jpg output.pdf expands to the list of inputs. This means the command you were actually running looked like:

convert one.jpg two.jpg three.jpg output.pdf

As you can see from this, that's not what you want, since all the images will be compiled into the output PDF. Also, as the command contains ‘jpg’, it looks for ‘jpg’ files, not ‘tiff’, so you need to change this too.

Therefore, you need to run that command for each of the inputs.

find /path/to/folder -iname "*.tiff" -exec convert {} {}.pdf \;


Is it safe to delete ipsw files? I just updated my iPod Touch to iOS 5.1. During the process, iTunes downloaded a 750MB file: ~/Library/iTunes/iPod Software Updates/iPod4,1_5.1_9B176_Restore.ipsw. I have no use for this file anymore, and it's just using up my limited disk space, so I want to get rid of it.

Questions:

Will this file ever get deleted automatically, or will it stay there
indefinitely?
Is there any GUI command in iTunes that will delete all such files?
Is it safe to manually delete this file?
If I manually delete it, will I be able to easily download it again if I ever do need it?

Update: Ipsw files now appear in ~/Library/MobileDevice/Software Images, and they take up 1+ GB.

I think that old .ispws will eventually get deleted, depending on the quantity and version.
I don't think there are any commands
Yes, it shouldn't harm your computer or device in any way.
Yes, by using Felix Burns or if you click restore iPhone, let iTunes download the *.ispw, but eject before it can restore (this worked for me once, but I can't be certain, so don't loose all of your data!).


MacBook startup sound loop I have a mid 2012 MacBook Air and it is looping on startup sound, stuck on white screen.

I have tried:

formatting the SSD and installing the latest version of macOS Mojave
resetting NVRAM and SMC

Neither of the above worked and my MBA is still looping on the startup sound.

However, if I try booting up from the same SSD on another MacBook it boots fine from it.

How may I troubleshoot this further?

Since you've already reset both the NVRAM and SMC and established the SSD is capable of booting another MacBook, I'd try testing your MacBook Air hardware.

Run Apple Hardware Test

Your model of MacBook Air uses Apple Hardware Test. To use this, follow these steps:

Shut down your MacBook Air
Restart your MacBook Air
Press and hold the D key before the gray startup screen appears.
After a while, Apple Hardware Test (AHT) will start.
When prompted, select your language and click the right arrow.
When the AHT console appears, you can choose to run Basic tests by clicking the Test button. However, I suggest you select the "Perform extended testing" checkbox before you click the Test button.
Your test results will appear in the window in the bottom-right of the console.

Note 1: that the extended test will take some time. Take a note of the results and report back.

Note 2: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 3 doesn't work, start again at Step 1 and, at Step 3 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run diagnostics from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete.

Once complete, let us know your results.


FileMaker 6 and AppleScript: Deleting a Menu Item I am trying to write an AppleScript to delete or at least disable certain menu items in FileMaker pro 6. My documentation indicates that it can be done, yet even the exact examples that they give, do not work.

Here are a few examples of some that I tried with their results:

delete menu item "Delete All Records…" of menu "Records" --this compiles, but returns the error 'Event not handled'

disable menu item "Delete All Records…" of menu "Records" --This does not even compile

I also tried similar approaches with System Events to no avail.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as I need to prevent users from deleting critical records from a database.

It might be easier to change the user permissions so they can't delete records that the scripts use. Then you can remove the full access from those scripts. Hard to tell without looking over your shoulder or seeing something like a DDR for the database in question.


Extracting CPUs from multiple MacBook Pro's I have a couple old MacBook Pro's laying around and would like to put them to use. So here's the question.

Would it be possible to extract the CPUs from the boards, and connect them to a single logic board or some sort of adapter where they are both connected to the same machine?

I could you could think of it as a CPU rig.... and of course I'll be using it to mine cryptos :)

I believe that Apple's portable lines use surface mount technology, which means that the parts are mounted directly to the circuit board using specialized machinery common in the electronics industry.

There are few, if any, MacBooks made in the last decade that use socketed CPUs or GPUs. In fact, recently, Apple has taken to removing the sockets for RAM and storage (SSDs) meaning that you are stuck with the configuration as bought.

I have absolutely no doubt that someone with experience working with surface mounted parts could get the CPU/GPU off the PCBs. But then how are you going to mount the removed parts to another board?

You might be able to extract the system board from the case and then set it up to do as you would like, but removing parts from the PCB? Doubt it.


Problem with changing Apple ID on iPhone My original Apple ID was associated with an email address that is not valid anymore. I updated my Apple ID to a real valid email. I managed to update it successfully with everything except iCloud on my phone. The App Store, iTunes, and everything else on my phone has the correct ID except iCloud.

When I try to delete my iCloud account from Setting > iCloud > Delete Account, I am asked to enter my password for the old email address, when I do so, I get a reply that the password is wrong.  When I try to retrieve it, I am asked for my date of birth, and then told that it is also wrong.

How can I change to my new Apple ID?

One new feature of iOS 7 is an activation lock - and this means that you can't sign out or erase the device without entering the proper password for the account to which your device has been locked.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5818

Towards the bottom of the article, it has a link to use My Apple ID web page to check and reset your password if you have forgotten it.

https://appleid.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyAppleId.woa/

Presumably, if you can't reset the password, you might need to reach out to Apple directly and see if there is an administrative process such as mailing them proof of purchase or correctly answering questions about past billing events to have them reset the account password.


Installing dual boot Sierra and Kali-Linux I'm trying to install a dual boot with Kali-Linux 2.0 on my Macbook Pro (mid July 2016) running MacOS Sierra 10.12

I format my usb key to exFat and a guid partition. Then with the dd command I burn the kali-linux iso to the drive by getting the disk identifier with the diskutil list command.

To succeed to boot to the usb drive, I have to boot without plug it and hold down the option key, then I can plug the usb drive and click to EFI boot.

When I'm here, I have the Kali-Linux menu (Sometimes I just get a black freezing screen) the kali-linux menu is very small in the top-left corner.

So I try to use the graphical install and it freeze everything I try. I tried to go to my usb drive and modify the syslinux.cfg file to change "vesamenu.c32" to "menu.c32" but when I do that I can't get the kali-linux menu anymore.

Someone succeeded to install a dual boot on a MacBook Pro Sierra 10.12 and Kali-LInux 2.0 ? How can I do that ?

Thanks for your attention.

I have managed to get Kali Linux running from USB with persistence, on a Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with macOS Sierra.

Here's my guide explaining the process I used. I've tried to make it easy to follow, whilst still being as detailed as possible.

Part 1: Preparing the USB

Note: if you don't want persistence, just create 1 partition and finish the guide at part 3.

Open disk utility (Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility).
Select your USB device.
Choose erase.
Name: Untitled | Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) | Scheme: GUID Partition Map.
Click done.
Select your newly formatted USB device.
Choose partition.
Click the "+" symbol at the bottom of the window.
Name (left partition): Persistence | Name (right partition): Kali Linux.
Format (both partitions): MS-DOS (FAT).
Click apply.
Click partition.

After this process, your partitions (Kali Linux and Persistence) may have renamed themselves to "K L" and "P" respectively. If this does happen, simply rename them, and follow the rest of this guide.

Part 2: Installation

Download your ISO of choice (I have tested this with Kali Linux full).
Drag the ISO file to your desktop.
Rename to "boot.iso".
Download the following EFI files: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49525238/efi.zip
Extract the "efi.zip" file to desktop.
Drag "boot.iso" to efi > boot.
You should now have the following files contained within efi > boot: boot.efi, boot.iso, bootX64.efi, enterprise.cfg.
Copy the efi folder to the root of the Kali Linux partition on the USB drive.

Part 3: Booting Kali Linux

Restart your machine.
Hold the option key (alt) as soon as you hear the chime.
Follow the onscreen options (for me I press the "1" key twice, and then it boots).
After a few minutes, you should be prompted to enter login details.
Username: root | Password: toor

Part 4: Persistence

Open up GParted (you can find this by clicking the bottom icon in the task bar to the left, then you should see a search function - search GParted).
Once GParted is open, click the dropdown menu to the right and select the bottom option. If you only have one USB inserted, it should be /dev/sdb.
Select the partition with the label "Peristence".
Click partition at the top.
After this (choose unmount if the option is available) choose format to and then choose ext3.
Click edit at the top.
Choose Apply All Operations.
Apply.
Select the newly formatted partition.
Click partition at the top.
Click label.
Label "Persistence".
Choose Apply All Operations.
Apply.

Part 5: Reboot

Restart your machine (as in step 3).
Change your desktop background to a solid colour (grey for example).
Restart you machine again.
If your desktop background is the colour you changed it to, you now have persistent storage.

Hopefully this helps anyone having issues.


only 8GB diskspace, iCloud keeps downloading iCloud stuff!!! help! Macbook: 128GB - 8GB free
iCloud: 200GB - 160GB free

I have a very frustrating problem. I have a 128GB Macbook so you can imagine how space is an issue. I bought 200GB iCloud storage thinking that would copy non-essential stuff to iCloud and free up space. I have PLENTY of iCloud storage left but it is no comfort because it does nothing to keep my MacBook free. It seems to keep about 8GB free.. which isn't quite enough to even download a new Xcode version.

I nearly bricked my MacBook by downloading a Mac osX update and it getting stuck half way through with "low disk space" issues.

Searching for large files shows these "iCloud Synchronization files" on my hard drive taking up valuable space!! But I can't unsync them and keep the file in the cloud. It appears I have no control over whats synced.

Is there a setting somewhere that says "try keep xGB free"? Or is there at least an "unsync" command on a synced iCloud file?

The answer for me is to turn OFF the Optimize setting (see image). It seemingly stopped filling up the harddrive after I changed that setting.


Is it possible to upgrade iOS without connecting the device to a computer? Is it possible to upgrade the iOS version and apps on an iPhone without connecting it to a computer and going through iTunes?

Devs still have to upgrade through iTunes, Xcode only lets you put other apps on your phone. So no, there really isn't another way.


How can I use an iPhone on the TracFone network? I am looking to buy a used iPhone for use on the TracFone network. I am pretty sure that it will run on the network. According to eHow, I can do it with a jailbreak and according to another eHow article, AT&T phones work. Can someone point me in the right direction? Which version of the iPhone (AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint) do I need? How do I get it on the TracFone network?

You should be aware that changing the SIM card is not a solution because when you go to activate, Tracfone will ask for the IMEI of the phone and this is a unique to each phone. They have a list of those numbers associated with all the phones they typically sell to the public and the one on your iPhone is not on their list so you cannot activate the service. You should also be advised that changing the IMEI number is a felony. Basically you are not going to meet with success and it is a pity since the Tracfone service is great but the stock phones that go with it are outdated, underpowered and not what many people are willing to settle for.


Unexpected behavior of bash script used to sync dotfiles I'm using essentially this script for keeping my dotfiles under version control. I recently added a snippets folder inside my emacs.d directory and listed it as one of the things that should be symlinked to from my home directory. However, when I run the script now it creates a symlink to snippets inside snippets itself.

Here's the relevant bit of the script:

#!/bin/bash
############################
# .make.sh
# This script creates symlinks from the home directory to any desired dotfiles in ~/dotfiles
############################

########## Variables

dir=~/.dotfiles                    # dotfiles directory
olddir=~/.dotfiles_old             # old dotfiles backup directory
files="bash_profile gitignore gitconfig zshrc jrnl_config emacs.d/init.el emacs.d/custom.el emacs.d/snippets scripts/makeadate.js config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications config/karabiner/karabiner.json"    # list of files/folders to symlink in homedir
##########

# create dotfiles_old in homedir
echo -n "Creating $olddir for backup of any existing dotfiles in ~ ..."
mkdir -p $olddir
echo "done"

# change to the dotfiles directory
echo -n "Changing to the $dir directory ..."
cd $dir
echo "done"

# move any existing dotfiles in homedir to dotfiles_old directory, then create symlinks from the homedir to any files in the ~/dotfiles directory specified in $files
for file in $files; do
    echo "Moving any existing dotfiles from ~ to $olddir"
    mv ~/.$file $olddir
    echo "Creating symlink to $file in home directory."
    ln -s $dir/$file ~/.$file
done

So, before running the script, ~/.dotfiles/emacs.d/snippets contains only two subdirectories, latex-mode and mhtml-mode. After running the script, it contains a new symlink to ~/.dotfiles/emacs.d/snippets. I suspect the problem has something to do with the fact that one of the values that the variable $file is taking is a directory. But I don't know exactly what the problem is.

If target is an already existing directory, then the command ln -s source target will create a link target/source in that directory, pointing to the original source. That's what's going on here: the directory .emacs.d/snippets/ exists at the start, and you're running the command

ln ~/.dotfiles/.emacs.d/snippets ~/.emacs.d/snippets

which creates a link in the existing snippets to the other snippets.

You could do ln -s ~/.dotfiles/.emacs.d/snippets/* ~/.emacs.d/snippets instead. Or delete everything in .emacs.d and do ln -s ~/.dotfiles/.emacs.d/* ~/.emacs.d. (Obviously make copies first in case something goes wrong.) Or perhaps even delete .emacs.d and create a new version which is just a symlink.


Is it possible to not keep ios apps on your main computer? I sync my iPhone and iPad with my MacBook. It appears that iTunes stores copies of all of my apps on my MacBook, even though I, for obvious reasons, can't actually use them there. The problem is that they take several gigabytes of space. Is there something I can do about this?

Make sure that app syncing is disabled between your Mac and iOS devices (which you can double-check in settings within iTunes when device is plugged in). Then go into Apps section of iTunes and delete all of the apps. With iCloud and iTunes Match I stopped syncing my iOS devices over a year ago and there is absolutely no need to have these apps backed up on your computer.

If you need help managing your syncing, see this article on Apple's Knowledge Base. You will essentially want to do the opposite of what it says.


Can I scan an ad hoc network to find all the connected devices and their IP addresses? I am trying to connect an IP Camera (with an onboard web server) to a Macbook Pro (OS 10.11). If I use a router it's very easy: they both connect to the router and then the Mac can log into the camera and see its image.

I'd like to run on batteries and so I want to do away with the router.

I've set up an ad hoc network with Create Network, and my IP Camera may be logging in, but I have no idea at what IP address.

I've tried adr - a and ping 192.168.255.255 (because subnet mask is 255.255.0.0) but neither seem to work on an ad hoc network.

Is their another builtin or add-on tool I could use?

Thanks.

Normally devices should auto-assign themselves an address in the 169.254/16 subnet (i.e. 169.254.x.y) when connecting to an adhoc-network that doesn't offer a DHCP server.

You can use a tool like nmap from nmap.org to scan the subnet to find your camera.


How to make a Lion install disk for a Mac Mini from a Mac Pro There are a bunch of pages out there for making a bootable Lion disk (either DVD or USB drive). However, the problem is that they all will only work on the machine they were created on - Apple is trying to be helpful by only downloading what you need for your current machine. What I need to do is to create a Lion install disk on a Mac Pro which I can use on a Mac Mini. I do not have physical access to the Mini at this time. Do I have any options? Is it possible to create a universal Lion install disk?

Thank you.

If you have the latest "Install Mac OS X Lion.app" procured from the App Store, then you could use the InstallESD.dmg within that to make a universal installer (described elsewhere) -- it will have all the drivers needed for any/all Macintosh machines that meet its hardware requirements. Note if you're handy with SSH, ARD or other methods to remotely control the machine in question, the upgrade/installation could be entirely remotely.


iPhone 7 won't charge from my MacBook Pro My iPhone 7 which I recently bought doesn't charge with my MacBook Pro Retina 2015. It always shows for one second that it recharges but then something like lost connection and then again. and goes on and on, both ports...

Strange thing is that my girlfriend's 6S charges in the same computer flawlessly.

I have tried 5 different cables and bought 1 new one. Same result
In my girlfriends Macbook air it recharges fine, also in other computers it recharges fine...
The iPhone recharges okay from within the AC Charger
I reseted PRAM and SMC, still the same result
Other accessories work fine (Recharging camera, USB port for dock in display)

macOS Sierra, iOS 11 Golden master beta, got Xcode 9 beta installed alongside Xcode 8.

Other thing I thought about is that it could be the Xcode messing around with the USB Port. But I uninstalled it with no luck.

Q: How can I make my iPhone charge (again) using my MacBook Pro?

Running this in terminal worked for me: (it will ask for your user's password)

sudo killall -STOP -c usbd

This pauses the troublesome process instead of killing it altogether like other answers suggest. The difference is that macOS won't try to reopen it automatically and cause the issue again.

Running sudo killall -CONT usbd will resume the process, should anything require it.

Tested on: iPhone 7 (iOS 11) + MacBook Pro Late 2013 (10.13.6)

Besides software issues, there's a good chance that the cable is at least partially damaged (or not genuine Apple) so it might work for dumb power chargers but not with a MacBook that also relies on the USB data pins.


New mailbox not getting created in new macOS 10.12.1 After I had migrated to 10.12.1, I started facing issues in creating new mailboxes in my mail account in the official Mail app. Earlier, I simply used to create a new mailbox and it used to appear immediately on the left-hand side along with other mailboxes. But now, when I create a mailbox, it asks me the Location and Name, and then nothing happens. Nowhere the mailbox is and I have a tough time to find a solution of this.

I tried creating a new folder in my email account by logging into the web interface (Squirrelmail), and it showed up as a new mailbox, but the reverse is not working.

Is this a known issue in 10.12.1? Any workaround / fix for this? I am having my own domain and using IMAP to configure the same in Mail app.

Thanks.

I was having this issue as well, but stumbled across the answer, at least on my system. In the Mailboxes sidebar, try hovering over the name of the Mailbox within which you've tried to create new mailboxes...you should see a '+' as well as a 'Show' option appear to the right of the Mailbox name. Click 'Show' (not the '+'). The sub-mailboxes you've created should now appear beneath the main Mailbox.


Sharing my purchased movies on friends Apple TV How do I share my purchased movies on Apple TV? I have purchased movies on my computer and would like to share with my grandchildren on Apple TV.  How do I do it?

I would set up family sharing. My wife and I share an account for all our apple purchases and it works great. You can have up to 6 people in the family group.

I would check if your son/daughter already have sharing set up and if so would ask them to add you.

I am making the assumption that you purchased your movies via iTunes and that your computer in a Mac.


Log/list of external/unauthorized programs that were given permission to open When an app/program is not from an authorized developer, it cannot be opened directly because of security settings.

These security settings can be overridden by adding the app as an exception to the security settings, or by using the "open anyway" button in the security & privacy settings page.

Where can I see a full list (with complete paths) of all apps/scripts that were ever added as security exceptions in this manner? I suspect a previously "allowed by me"/installed app to be dirty and need to check.

I did a grep -iR for one of the names I recalled and one of the files it turned up in was: /Volumes/HDD1/Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist, HDD1 being the name of the drive the OS is installed on. So happy to have found it, because Apple increasingly hides all this useful info from users.

This is a file with complete records with names of all installed programs and the dates they were installed on and some other info.


Black or displaced screen when screen sharing headless mac mini on macOS 10.12 My config: Mid 2012 Mac mini connected to a projector via HDMI. The projector is typically off and the Mac mostly works headless.

This setup has worked for me for a couple of years now. Ever since I upgraded to Sierra (10.12.3), I get only a black screen with the mouse pointer being visible though. When I log out (cmd+shift+q), I sometimes get an image but it does not really update and is displaced.

Once I turn the projector on, screen sharing will also start working – even if I turn the projector off again. SSH always works without issues.

Any clues how I can fix that?

What I tried (will update):

SMC reset
NVRAM reset
killing the Screen sharing service
Running "First aid" in disk utility (also from the Rescue partition)
Run maintenance scripts in Onyx

Update 1: This seems to be a related Apple Discussions thread.

Update 2: I added an answer that gives some hints. Can anyone help me find a better solution, please? My guess is the GPU has to be force enabled somehow, e.g. in bash...

These are solutions that I found but that do not work for me:

UPDATE: The issue finally and miraculously disappeared after  updating to macOS 10.12.4.
If you run third party applications, such as AirParrot or f.lux, you should try completely uninstalling those, as discussed here.
If your mac is 100% headless (i.e. no screen attached), you can either add an HDMI dongle or hack your own Thunderbolt dongle using a VGA adapter. This is a common trick to activate the GPU and comes with the added benefit that Screen Sharing gets much faster. This actually works for me, but is not a permanent solution to my problem.


iPad mini virus? iOS 10.1 what to do? I was browsing the internet when the app store opened by itself, though the back button was greyed out and no apps were showing on that screen. I was unable to click out of it for maybe 1-2 seconds. I wasn't quite sure what was going on until my email app opened by itself too with a composed long message about virus software as a message to send. I didnt get a chance to see the address to whom it was being sent, but have lots of important work contacts I do not want to send weird virus spam to. So I wasnt sure what to do, so i tried quickly closing all apps and shutting off the iPad. I looked through my email accounts on my computer and do not see that any email was actually sent.

So i suspect that my iPad has a virus which is pretty weird given that it is not jailbroken. A cursory search for non-jailbroken iOS viruses mostly brings up chinese viruses, but i cant find much being reported.

Thoughts on what to do from here?

You do not have a virus.

Websites and ads can open the App Store and can compose new emails. However it is very bad behaviour of websites or ads to open the  App Store without users consent.

What website did you visit?


iPad messaging problems I am trying to set up iMessage correctly, but I see no SMS / MMS options.
I do not see an option to use my phone number associated with the Apple ID.
Am I missing a simple step in the set up?

To solve the first part of your question, check this out:

  On the iPhone, go to Settings -> Messages -> Text Message Forwarding.
  This option will only appear when a compatible iOS or Mac device connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
  Your iPad should be listed in the Text Message Forwarding setup window. Set the slider to the on position to enable text message forwarding to the iPad. Enable Text Forwarding
  An authorization window should appear on the iPhone asking for a code.
  The code is available in a window that will appear on your iPad.
  Enter the code from the iPad into the authorization window on the iPhone. When the code is entered, this authorizes text messages to be forwarded to the iPad.
  You will now be able to send and receive SMS text messages on the iPad.

From the Apple Support Site:

  If your phone number isn't listed on an iPod touch or iPad, follow
  these steps:

  Update to the latest version of iOS.
  Verify that you're using the same Apple ID that you're using on your iPhone.
  On your iPad or iPod touch, sign out of your Apple ID in the following locations:

  Settings > Messages > Send & Receive. Tap your Apple ID, then tap Sign Out.
  Settings > FaceTime. Tap your Apple ID, then tap Sign Out.

  Sign in to your Apple ID with FaceTime and iMessage.

  If your phone number still isn't listed, follow these steps:

  Sign out of your Apple ID on all iOS devices, including your iPhone, in the following locations:

  Settings > Messages > Send & Receive. Tap your Apple ID, then tap Sign Out.
  Settings > FaceTime. Tap your Apple ID, then tap Sign Out.

  Sign in to your Apple ID on your iPhone.
  When activation is complete, your Apple ID and all verified email addresses should be visible in Settings > Messages > Receive At and
  Settings > FaceTime.
  Sign in to your Apple ID on your other iOS devices.


How to obtain latest slipstreamed installation media for OS X? I'm looking for a way to obtain an updated installation media for OS X 10.6.x, currently 10.6.6

I am looking for a similar solution to the Windows slipstreamed installation media and preferably a solution to put the kit on a USB drive in order to improve the installation speed.

Is this possible, and if it is how it is possible to get such a media?

Same Answer as given here:

Basically you want to use the System Image Utility to create a bootable .dmg you can than put on a USB drive.
Have a look at this post, it covers this process in detail (you probably can leave out some steps); this should get you started.


How do I make terminal sessions resume on Lion with iterm2 and tcshrc My understanding is that with Lion my terminal windows should restore their state.  However, this does not happen for me.  I wonder if this is because I use tcsh instead of bash?

Is there something I can do to make my iterm2 sessions resume where they left off?

My current attempt to do this has been to use

 alias precmd 'if ( $?TERM_PROGRAM && ${TERM_PROGRAM} == "iTerm.app" ) /opt/local/libexec/gnubin/echo -ne "\033];$cwd\007"'
 set prompt = '%{\e]2;%~\a%}%S[%m:%c3] %n%#%s '

But this sets only the labels of the tabs.  The label of the window gets the abbreviated filenames with ~ in place of the full filename.  I don't know if this is related to my failure to get terminal resumption.  At any rate, when I quit and restart all my terminal windows and tabs are back in my home directory.

Extra bonus points would be a solution that is sensitive to use of slogin.

I am unable to get the correct resumption behavior with the built-in Apple Terminal, either, when I change the above to

if ( $?TERM_PROGRAM && ( ${TERM_PROGRAM} == "iTerm.app" || ${TERM_PROGRAM} == "Apple_Terminal") ) then
  alias precmd ' /opt/local/libexec/gnubin/echo -ne "\033];$cwd\007"'
  set prompt = '%{\e]2;%~\a%}%S[%m:%c3] %n%#%s '
endif

I don't return to the same working directory, and while I can see the command history, I cannot use it (I can't use ^P to move up, e.g., and the history command returns nothing).  So I believe somehow this is not working with tcsh, as opposed to bash.  My colleagues assure me that they don't lose the working directory upon application exit.

You could add something like this to the startup script of your default shell (mine is zsh, most people use bash, I guess, so you may have to tweak.)

Here's my bit of screen jiggery-pokery (in my .zshrc)

# Autoload screen if we aren't in it.  (Thanks Fjord!)
if [[ $STY = '' ]] then screen -xRR; fi

I got this from somewhere on the interwebs (I don't recall where, and I don't know who Fjord is, but good on him.

With this you can close your iTerm window, and it will resume where you left off when you reopen it.  I highly recommend reading the screen man page also.


Tail multiple log files I have an application which generates new log files each time it is run.  They all go to one folder, with filenames like this, and the next log isn't started until the current one is finished.

Log-20140122102407.txt
Log-20140122102739.txt
Log-20140122103640.txt
Log-20140122162121.txt
Log-20140122163145.txt

I want to monitor the current progress in a terminal window like tail -f but that won't work with multiple files.  I've heard of multitail, but don't know how to use it, and I don't want my terminal window split into multiple sections.

tail

tail can tail multiple files. Donovan Bray's article explains more, tail: can tail multiple files simultaneously, who knew? and other tail tricks.

To tail multiple files, pass in a file pattern:

tail -f Log-*

multitail

You can ask multitail to combine the output of multiple files. The examples page contains a useful approaches and tricks.

This command combines and tails two logs:

multitail /var/log/apache/access.log -I /var/log/apache/error.log

If you need to tail any logs in a folder, including those actively being created, use the -q flag:

multitail -q 'test*'

This will tail any files matching the pattern test*, including those that appear after the command has been issued. Thanks to @folkert-van-heusden for this suggestion and code fix.

If you have homebrew installed, you can install multitail using the Terminal.app command:

brew install multitail

See also:

How-To: Tail Multiple Files With Multitail
Is there any Mac text editor with tail or watch files change feature?


Is it possible to backup an iPhone to both iCloud and iTunes? This question is generic but for my case I have an iPhone SE with iOS 10.3.1 and a MacBook Pro running Sierra 10.12.4.

Is it possible to have my iPhone backup to both iTunes and iCloud? When I connect the phone to iTunes the backup option seems to have a radio option for one or the other.

But it seems it would be preferable to have backups in two different places, a more complete larger backup on the computer and a smaller backup to iCloud that has the settings/app list/documents.

Yes, this is possible.

The options you're referring to in iTunes relate to automatic backups. You can achieve what you want by enabling iCloud backups (either in iTunes or in your iPhone's settings) and then manually doing a backup to iTunes whenever you want.

To do a manual backup to iTunes, simply connect the iPhone as you usually do with iTunes and then in the device's Summary screen within iTunes (the one with the backup options) you'll see to the right a Back Up Now button. Just click this whenever you want to also backup to iTunes.


What sub-format of Word document does Pages use for export? I am using Pages '09 (v 4.3) and LibreOffice under OSX. When exporting a document from Pages into Word format, I am unable to open it in LibreOffice. (I would swear I had done this successfully many times before.) I think LibreOffice doesn't know which of the many Word formats to use. It shows me these specific options in the Open dialog:

I was assuming it was not the most current because the extension is .doc instead of .docx but I tried changing the ext and it still fails to open correctly.

Any tips on which of the formats to select or how to get my document to open in LibreOffice? (I need to do "compare two documents".)

I just tried this out – The following happened.

WRONGE way:
Open a new document in Pages, File -> Export To (Word..) -> Advanced Options -> Choose .docx format.
LibreOffice crashes everytime I try to open the file.

RIGHT way:
Open a new document in Pages, File -> Export To (Word..) -> Advanced Options -> Choose .doc format.
Then it opens fine in LibreOffice.

NOTE: This was tested in Pages version 5.0

PS: Didnt see the post before me. Sorry about that.

PPS: It seems you are trying to open a specific format, but the problem is really the way you export it in the first place. Please write if you can't export in .doc format.


Is there an app that quickly makes an image of selected text? I'm facing the following problem:

I would like to compare different fonts in a presentation by arranging single letters such as 'a' next to each other. Imagine a slide with, say, a Helvetica 'a' on the left and a Georgia 'a' on the right.

The reason why these have to be images is because I would like to use Keynotes's/PowerPoint's "Gallery" feature that lets me switch between those images.

However, typing a big letter in TextEdit or a similar program, then taking a screenshot of that area is a little bit cumbersome, and given the fact that most letters have a different width, it's not very precise. It would be nice to have an app that would put a letter in the center of a say 300x300, transparent square and then save it as a PNG.

Using a program like Acorn (the only image manipulation program that I have at the moment) is difficult too, because I would always have to re-center the text field, depending on the width of the letter.

I hope this makes clear why I am in the need of a helpful program.

You can use Automator.

Open Automator.
Choose Application from the templates.

Add a Ask for Text action. Tick 'Require an Answer'
Add a Create Banner Image from Text action.

Tick 'Use text input as image filename'.

Open the actions options options.

Tick 'Show this action when workflow runs'

Add a Lopp Action.

Control + click on the Loop Actions Title bar and select 'ignore input'

From the Loop Actions's drop down menus, select 'Ask to Continue' and Use the 'current results as input'

Save and run.

You will then be prompted to enter your text.
Then after you ok that you will be prompted to Choose you font.
Use the font size to determine the image size.

example 64 in Helvetica Bold gives me about 46x77
The same font but at size 300 gives me 177x360.

In each case I am only using 1 character.

If you want to do it from 'Selection'

Open Automator.
Choose Services from the templates.

Set the 'Sevices Receives input' to :rich text * and
in* any application

Add a Create Banner Image from Text action.

Tick 'Use text input as image filename'.

Set the Text Style drop down menu to : 'Use Style of Rich Text input'.

Optionally you can add a 'Reveal in Finder' Action

The Size is set by what ever the original fonts are.

To use the Service.
  You can select some text, and control click to get a contextual menu. Listed is the services sub menu. Under this you should find your new service that will run on the selected text.


Will an iPod touch suffice for testing iOS apps? I am buying a testing device for iPhone apps. I cannot afford an iPhone 4 so I am thinking to buy an iPod touch. Can I use an iPod touch for testing iPhone apps? What will be impossible to test on an iPod touch?

My second thought is to buy an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS, but I am not sure if these devices are too old to use as testing devices. What do you think? Could I use them? Can a new system be installed on these devices (does it slow them down)?

I wrote an extensive blog post about this topic a while ago: http://wjlafrance.net/?p=188

Basically, an iPod touch is great as long as you don't want to use GPS-based location in your app (you can test general, wifi-based location) and are only interested in iOS 4+ deployment (or iOS 5+ if that's what your iPod is running).


Network problem isolated to this macbook air, where to look next? Periodically, once or twice a day, I'll start to experience network issues (latency and dropped packets) on this one machine while I'm browsing:

Other machines on the same Linksys WRT54G wireless network continue to function normally
I've attempted shutting down all running programs that I can identify
I've attempted disabling and re-enabling the wireless connection and reconnecting to the network

The only thing that seems to fix it is restarting the machine. So that's what I keep doing.

My best guess is I have either have something running on the machine that I haven't identified causing this issue ... or ...?

Very open to any ideas on where to look or what types of things might cause this :)

I advise you to download and run iStumbler http://istumbler.net/ on your Mac.
Run it around the place where you want to work and at peek hours
of the day (where your neighbours are also using their Wi-Fi PC and
routers).

This run should give you a clear indication of which channels are
received at a high power level. You should absolutely avoid these
overloaded channels (most probably 1, 6 & 11) and pick a channel which
is either free or received at the lowest signal level where and when you work.


Guest account only cannot access admin Running Mavericks 10.9.5, iMac 12,1 21.5 Intel i5 2.7ghz 16gb.

I want to re-image the machine but it only boots with a Guest account. No Recovery partition and unknown admin password.

Using "Install OS X Mavericks" but need admin password. It does have a Boot Camp partition that has Windows 10 which I have admin rights.  I want to get rid of everything but being guest on the Mac side without admin rights does me no good.

My last thought was to just take the 1 terabyte drive out and erase it from another Mac then re install Mavericks OS.

I was able to download 10.9 installer from another machine and installed OS on 32gig flash drive. After booting to this 32gig flash, I Use disk utility from the flash drive running the macos and erase the Mac 1 Terabyte drive that I was unable to do anything with just Guest access. All is well. Can start fresh now.
Kenneth


Control an OSX app by Arduino I am trying to control an app on OSX with an Arduino Uno. Specifically, I would like to start and stop play of an MP3 on iTunes, or a track on Spotify, using an Arduino connected to the Apple computer with USB.

I can print to serial from the Arduino. I can use Screen in Terminal to access the Serial info from the Arduino. I can start and stop playing of tracks on iTunes and Spotify using Applescript. I need some way of having keywords in Screen to trigger start and stop in iTunes or Spotify. I have searched for this in various ways, but cannot find anything other than suggestions to write a script to interface between Screen and Applescripts. This is where I am stuck.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This is probably far too broad to provide a practical answer, but here's an outline of how you'll need to reason about automating OS X.

Try to pick an app that is built for automation: https://www.macosxautomation.com

If you can leverage that interface, you'll be very much closer to a solution. If not, there are three more general purpose methods to control OS X:

command line scripting - so you'd need to have the arduino ssh in to the Mac OS as a legitimate networked device just as you could ssh in to OS X from ubuntu, Windows, iOS or any other OS. Once your arduino can open a network connection to OS X - you can use AppleScript, JavaScript, bash, swift and many other languages to send messages to iTunes or other scriptable apps.
USB interface - Apple designs the OS to be accessible to foot switches, screen readers, breath control, joysticks. If you were savvy enough to program your arduino to emulate an assistive device then you could go to the Accessibility system preference pane and then allow your arduino to control the mouse, the keyboard, etc...
voice control. The macOS changes would let you start work on your arduino to synthesize a voice and then connect the voice synthesizer to your sound input (or just use a microphone) to speak to the OS. http://www.practicalarduino.com/projects/speech-synthesizer

Again - these might be a large project for anyone that has no background, so you will want to focus on automating your OS X automation first. Once you can play/pause things on OS X to OS X - then you can see if you can replicate those things from arduino.

If you wanted to have the arduino send serial commands to a program on the Mac - you'd need to first learn to program how to process serial input and then you'd need to learn how to have that program script one of the above methods. Again - you'll need to focus on small achievable steps and then build on them to make a system.


How to add a specific file to Firewall Exceptions list? I have to add /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm to the exception list. I tried to find  and edit com.apple.sharing.firewall.plist but I didn't found such file anywhere. How can I manually add a specific executable to the exception list?

I don't have enough rep to comment, so I'll attempt an answer...

I wanted to comment since I'd like to clarify why you need to add npm - my install of npm (via homebrew) works OK, without poking a hole in the firewall. Obviously YMMV...! But be aware I've not properly tested this with npm (I tested adding npm, and it continued to work fine.)

I believe you want the application layer firewall. (It's the same firewall you can also access through System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Firewall).

My socketfilterfw's API appears to have changed from the one discussed in the linked article. I'd suggest caution, and that you check what the API is for your version before doing anything else:

/usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw -h

My version of socketfilterfw doesn't have the "-t" option mentioned in the linked article so I had to use:

/usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --add /usr/local/bin/npm


Install El Capitan from usb drive I have 2 Macs (one MacBook Pro and one iMac). I made a copy of the installer on a USB drive and then installed El Capitan on MacBook Pro. Now I want to use the drive to install El Capitan on the iMac. How can I do it without losing my data on iMac?

If you already have an older version of OS X installed on your iMac just go to the App Store, search for El Capitan and click install. It will update to the latest version and your data will stay on the iMac.

If you don't have an OS installed on the iMac, but have a Time Machine backup of your data, just boot from the El Capitan USB stick and do a fresh install. At the beginning of the process it will ask you if you want to transfer your old data from a Time Machine backup. Use that option and it will create a new OS X installation with your old data in place.

If you don't have any OS installed on the Mac (but still have data on it) and no external backup of your data, then you should first create such a backup to an external drive, then install El Capitan using the USB stick and then copy the data back from your external backup to your iMac.

If you have a copy of your data on your Macbook, you could also transfer everything using a direct connection cable between the iMac and the Macbook. Read here how to do it: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350


Moving the Caret with OS X Text Substitution You can set up text substitutions in OS X in the Languages and Text tab of System Preferences.

Is there a way to choose where the caret will appear after a text substitution takes place?

For example, when I type thx I want it to expand to Thank you |. where the | character represents where I would like the caret to be after the text has been substituted.

Right now when I set the shortcut thx to expand to Thank you ., and I type thx, it gets replaced with Thank you . |

I don't think it's possible. You might add a snippet like this in TextExpander though:

Thank you %|.

Or use DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

{
    "\UF704" = { // F1
        "t" = {
            "h" = {
                "x" = (insertText:, "Thank you .", moveBackward:);
            };
        };
    };
}


iPod: how to solve: sceen shows lines only (nano 2nd gen) could someone please suggest how to solve this issue?

I've got an iPod nano 2nd generation. Sometimes, the screen starts to display only lines (please see pictures attched for example). They change when I click around in the menu (buttons are still operational). They used to go away when connecting the iPod to my PC and iTunes, or when leaving the iPod in my drawer for days or weeks (I'm not that into music and I got this device in a raffle) - so this didn't seem to be a permanent fault. But now even that won't help. I tried resetting (pushing select and menu for 6 seconds) as well as restoring to factory settings. The line pattern changes and goes vertical when I shake or tap the iPod (I've read in some online forum that this might solve similar issues). I tried finding a similar issue online, but haven't found anything that looks similar.

How could I solve this issue permanently? Please reply with anything that will or might help - this is the first Apple device I own and I've no idea how to go about fixing these.

Kind regards,

H.

(Note: This is a cross-post from my post at Apple Support Community in the hope of finding a solution.)

Eventually, Apple Community Specialists recommended that I contact Apple Support. They said this is definitely a display fault and it needs exchanging; however Apple only provides support for devices for about five years and they have no spare parts available as of today (2016), thus recommending me to source spare parts from vintage devices.

UPDATE: I've purchased a replacement display from Hong Kong via eBay and implemented it following this guide: https://de.ifixit.com/Guide/iPod+Nano+2nd+Generation+Display+Replacement/421 (works, but new display has no backlight) - when attempting to slide the board back into the housing, it didn't fit - only after I widened the case with a spudger. Seems like it once had gotten crushed, causing an issue with the display connector. I've later re-implemented the original display - works as well.


How to approve iPhone if you have no other device? After upgrading to latest iOS I get a message asking to approve my phone from another device.

Problem 1: I do not have another device. Is apple forcing customers to have more than one device? or how do i fix this?

Problem 2: It also gives me a message, "Can't approve this iPhone". If I click there it warns you that the only way to continue will be by resetting all my info on iCloud which is something I DO NOT WANT to do.

I had the same problem.  I actually had an old ipod associated with my account that I didn't realize and had to remove it.
Go to: https://appleid.apple.com
And choose "Manage your Account".
Look at your devices and see if you  have any old devices.  If so, remove them.  That is what worked for me.


iPad Mini can't open apps I've had my iPad for a year now. When I tried to open Safari and my iPad froze and I came back to the home screen. This started after the new software update. Since then no apps will open, not even the App Store. I've tried restarting it and let it die (letting the battery run out) and recharging, but it didn't help.

How can I open apps on my iPad?

As 'Dempa' said in comments, you should do a hard-reset:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201559 <- "Force Restart"
If this does not solve the problem, you should back up your info in iTunes (Assuming that you cant open Settings app):
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977 <- "iTunes Backup"
And if restoring doesnt solve the problem, you will have to go into an Apple Service Shop/Center, however they are called in your country, and ask for technical assistance.

**Im pretty sure the HARD RESET step is what you need.

Hope it helps.


Upgrade to OSX 10.9 from 10.8 causes random restarts I recently upgraded my MacBook Pro (late 2011, core i5 2.4ghz, 8 gigs of ram) to OSX 10.9 from 10.8 (which in turn I upgraded from Lion).

The installation seemed to go well and everything was great until the OS booted up.
Every time the OS boots up (doesn't matter if I log in with my user or not) it restarts itself after a random amount of minute (5 minutes avg.).

Steps taken:

Reset SMC
Reset NVRAM
Permissions fix in disk utility
Remove login items
Clean caches

Nothing worked... I do have the kernel panic dump if anyone would like to look at it.
Anyway, I really don't want to re-install the system and hope you can give me more advice.

EDIT:

I forgot to mention that I can work in safe mode without a problem (except it being slower than usual mode).

Here is the link to the Kernel panic file:

http://pastebin.com/mn4JJDb9

I'm betting that it's this kernel extension:

com.silex.driver.sxuptp

Do you have anything that matches that name in /Library/Extensions (likely), or /System/Library/Extensions? If so, it may help to remove the file and reboot.

It appears that this software may be related to a Belkin product


IOS10.2 can't download apps Ok so I want to get some more games like five nights at freddys sister location but the get button is greyed out and it doesn't do anything

That might be because restrictions are enabled. To disable them, follow these steps.

Tap the 'Settings' icon
Select 'General'
Tap 'Restrictions'
In the 'Allowed Content' section, tap Apps
In the 'Allow Apps Rated' section, tap Allow All Apps

Source: stan.com


iTunes 10 file directory organization in Windows I'm pretty new to iTunes.

I have a video series that I want it to be imported to iTunes and be organized in this hierarchy:

Artist->DVD No. and Title->Lesson No. and Title

The files are now organized using Windows 7 Tags \ File system.

Example:

D:\My Videos\John Due\Learning about Birds\4 - The Wings\2 - Advantages

If you want to use iTunes to manage your media files, it's best to stop bothering about file system structure for these media files and just let iTunes do its magic. Any specific sorting and selecting can then be done directly in iTunes (at least after you updated all the metadata).

In your case I would probably import all the files and then use playlists and playlist folders inside iTunes to get the structure I want:


I want to test an iphone app on my windows laptop I want to do manual testing of an iPhone app on my Windows laptop. Is there any tool or simulator. How can I install the build on that simulator?

Apple only allows building and testing apps on a Mac. There no simulator available for Windows.

Installing a virtual machine on your PC with OSX running on it is against Apple's EULA.


Corruptions within Calendar: duplicates. How to analyse their cause and fix? I am using Calendar on a Mac running MacOS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5).

This Mac is manually regularly synchronized with an iPhone running iOS 7.1.2.

This Calendar is storing 15 years of events organized within 9 "calendars". Since some of this information is highly sensitive, professionnal or private, I don't synchronize them on any form of public store calendar (iCloud, Google Calendar…). On the other hand I have many Time Machine backups and full backups.

Recently I discovered quite unexpectedly that since summer 2001 I have duplicated full day events within Calendar on my Mac. I have been able to see these ones quickly since their duplicate nature is directly visible. This isn't a general case: most of my full day events aren't
duplicated. But all my 9 "calendars" are hit by this corruption.
I estimate that I have about a few hundreds of events in this case.
I see the same corruption on my iPhone.

I exported one of my calendar, and extracted one of the duplicated entries. Here is the output of a diff on the 2 .ics extracts:

••My_Mac••$ diff duplicate.[12].ics
2c2
< UID:74FC7CC1-016C-4A74-9E02-7ECDD82C8129
---
> UID:9B6BC4CD-5859-4DC2-8DEA-9158CB8F9B0D
10,11c10,11
< X-WR-ALARMUID:D0FE4A14-981C-4409-84C1-B11107F7EC31
< UID:D0FE4A14-981C-4409-84C1-B11107F7EC31
---
> X-WR-ALARMUID:48141767-C3C6-4131-9984-0DD080833D9F
> UID:48141767-C3C6-4131-9984-0DD080833D9F
••My_Mac••$

Notation: the string ••name•• means that "name" was redacted.

Here is what I found within /var/log/system.log and which might be related:

Sep 13 10:08:32 ••My_Mac•• SyncServer[93677]: [0x7fbe60c0bdd0] |SyncServer|Warning| Refreshing watchdog because of a calendar time change alert.
Sep 13 16:09:10 ••My_Mac•• SyncServer[94189]: [0x7fd25a40bdd0] |SyncServer|Warning| Refreshing watchdog because of a calendar time change alert.
Sep 14 03:21:15 ••My_Mac•• SyncServer[94351]: [0x7f9e1ac0bdd0] |SyncServer|Warning| Refreshing watchdog because of a calendar time change alert.
Sep 14 08:56:41 ••My_Mac•• SyncServer[94351]: [0x7f9e1ac0bdd0] |SyncServer|Warning| Refreshing watchdog because of a calendar time change alert.
Sep 15 14:11:39 ••My_Mac•• SyncServer[94351]: [0x7f9e1ac0bdd0] |SyncServer|Warning| Refreshing watchdog because of a calendar time change alert.
Sep 16 00:25:17 ••My_Mac•• SyncServer[95764]: [0x7faf92c0bdd0] |SyncServer|Warning| Refreshing watchdog because of a calendar time change alert.
Sep 16 13:36:27 ••My_Mac•• SyncServer[96213]: [0x7f9470c0bdd0] |SyncServer|Warning| Refreshing watchdog because of a calendar time change alert.
Sep 16 13:51:33 ••My_Mac•• CalendarAgent[90827]: Invalid char _ for PropertyName in line 7
Sep 16 13:51:33 ••My_Mac•• CalendarAgent[90827]: Unexpected EOF, returning last token as fallback

How may I analyse where these duplicates events are coming from?

How may I find the date and time an event might have started such a corruption of my agendas? Without a date of the beginning of the damage, my backups are of little help. Moreover, they will imply a total rebuild of the correct events which occured after the damage.

How may I get a correct vision of this corruption of all my "calendars"?

And moreover how may I fix this huge and apparently random data corruption?

I haven't yet a correct explanation of these corruptions, but at least I wrote a solution to have a clear vision of the extent of the damage and to fix it.

Here is a perl script: duplicate.pl:

$ cat <<'eof' >duplicate.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict ;
use warnings ;

# program reading on its standard input a file under
# ics format exported by iCal or Calendar
# Both only export one calendar at a time

# file = name of created file for a given calendar

my %file = () ;

# filedesc = file descriptor of the created calendar file

my %filedesc = () ;

# hash of all unduplicated events local_event_id
my %events = () ;

# current event storage
my @event = () ;
my $dtstart = '' ;
my $dtend = '' ;

# number of events analysed
my $num_event = 0 ;
my $duplicate = 0 ;
my $calendar = '' ;

# state booleans
my $in_header = 1 ;
my $in_event = 0 ;
my $in_summary = 0 ;
my $line = '' ;
my $summary = '' ;

# local event identifier :      summary;dtstart;dtend
# because ';' is never used within a name
my $local_event_id = '' ;

while (<STDIN>) {
        $line = $_ ;

# header :      BEGIN:VCALENDAR
#               ...
#               BEGIN:VEVENT

        if ( $in_summary ) {

#               continuation line of summary

                if ( $line =~ /^ (.+)\r\n$/ ) {
                        $summary .= $1 ;
                } else {

#                       end of summary continuation lines analysis

                        $in_summary = 0 ;
                }
        }
        if ( $line =~ /^SUMMARY[^:]*:(.+)\r\n$/ ) {
                $summary = $1 ;
                $in_summary = 1 ;
        } elsif ( $line =~ /^BEGIN:VEVENT/) {
                if ( $in_header ) {
                        $in_header = 0 ;

#                       print every lines of event or header

                        foreach $line (@event) {
                                printf {$filedesc{$calendar}} "%s", $line ;
                        }
                }
                $in_event = 1 ;
                @event = () ;
        } elsif ( $line =~ /^X-WR-CALNAME:(.+)\r\n$/) {
                $calendar = $1 ;

#               create .ics file

                if ( ! defined $file{$calendar} ) {
                        $file{$calendar} = $calendar . ".ics" ;
                        if ( -e $file{$calendar} ) {
                                die "$file{$calendar} already exists\n" ;
                        }
                        open ($filedesc{$calendar}, ">", $file{$calendar}) ;

#                       print every lines of header

                        foreach $line (@event) {
                                printf {$filedesc{$calendar}} "%s", $line ;
                        }
                        @event = () ;
                        $in_event = 0 ;
                }
#               printf STDOUT "calendar = %s\n", $calendar ;
#               printf STDOUT "file = %s\n", $file{$calendar} ;
#               printf STDOUT "fh = %d\n", $filedesc{$calendar} ;

        } elsif ( $line =~ /^DTSTART[^:]*:(.*)\r\n$/ ) {
                $dtstart = $1 ;

#               printf STDOUT "DTSTART = %32s\n", $dtstart ;

        } elsif ( $line =~ /^DTEND[^:]*:(.*)\r\n$/ ) {
                $dtend = $1 ;

#               printf STDOUT "DTEND = %32s\n", $dtend ;

        } elsif ( $line =~ /^END:VEVENT/ ) {

# it's only on closing an event definition that we have
# a complete local event identifier

                $local_event_id = "$summary" . ";" . "$dtstart" . ";" . "$dtend" ;

                if ( defined ( $events{"$local_event_id"} )) {

#                       duplicate event

                        printf STDOUT "\n\tduplicate\t%s\n", $local_event_id ;

#                       free event storage

                        @event = () ;
                        $in_event = 0 ;
                        $duplicate++ ;
                } else {

#                       new event
                        $events{$local_event_id} = 1;

                        if ($in_event) {

#                               print every lines of stored event

                                foreach $line (@event) {
                                        printf {$filedesc{$calendar}} "%s", $line ;
                                }
                                @event = () ;
                                $in_event = 0 ;
                                $num_event++ ;
                                $in_header = 1 ;

#                               show progress
                                if (($num_event % 100) == 0) {
                                        printf STDOUT "\n%8d", $num_event ;
                                } else {
                                        print STDOUT "." ;
                                }
                        }
                }
        } elsif ( $in_event == 0 ) {
                $in_header = 1 ;
        }

#       store every line of event or header

        if ($in_event || $in_header) {
                push (@event, $line) ;
        }

}

printf STDOUT "\nevents:%12d\n", $num_event ;
printf STDOUT "duplicates:%8d\n", $duplicate ;

#                       print every lines of ending

                        foreach $line (@event) {
                                printf {$filedesc{$calendar}} "%s", $line ;
                        }

close ($filedesc{$calendar}) ;
exit 0 ;
eof
$ chmod u+x duplicate.pl

And here is the way I used it:

From Calendar, export a given calendar through:

File > Export > Export...

let's say it is: Documents/Calendar/2015/professionnal.ics

NB.: this will be a backup in case of problem, and a much more practical one than any file manipulation with the help of Time Machine
Install the above script as:

~/Documents/Calendar/src/duplicate.pl

Go in directory to test for fixed version, for example:

mkdir ~/Documents/Calendar/2015.fixed
cd ~/Documents/Calendar/2015.fixed

Run duplicate.pl:

../src/duplicate.pl <../2015/professionnal.ics

which will  display the number of events read and the number of duplicate found and create here a fixed version of the calendar:

~/Documents/Calendar/2015.fixed/professionnal.ics

Compare the result with the original corrupted version to check everything is OK:

 diff ../2015/professionnal.ics .

Within Calendar select the calendar professionnal and delete it
through:

Edit > Delete
Import the fixed one through:

File > Import > Import...


launchd UserName key not working So I am trying to write a launchd file to run a script on a Mac Mini as a specific user when they are not logged in. This is the plist file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.wintr.eodemail</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/*myusername*/Desktop/testdaemon/testdaemon.sh</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>Minute</key>
            <integer>20</integer>
        </dict>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

I have this placed in /Library/LaunchDaemons/ and it works fine running as the root user. Runs exactly when I tell it when no one is logged on, however when I add the UserName key it suddenly stops working:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.wintr.eodemail</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/*myusername*/Desktop/testdaemon/testdaemon.sh</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>Minute</key>
            <integer>20</integer>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>UserName</key>
    <string>*myusername*</string>
</dict>
</plist>

When I unload and load the file, then check if it loaded correctly with sudo launchctl list | grep wintr it shows:

-       78      com.wintr.eodemail

And doesn't run. What am I doing wrong here?

As fd0 pointed out, my user could not write to the directory /private/var/log, since I did not need the logs I removed the following lines:

<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>

And it started working! I could have also changed these to a directory my user can write to to fix the issue.


Two versions of the same app in Launchpad How can I have two versions of the same app listed in Launchpad?

For example, I have both Processing 1.5 and Processing 2.0 installed. Only one shows up at once - is it possible to have both?

Yes is possible to have two or more versions from the same application.

In order to work, you should rename your apps on Applications folder:

 /Applications/Processing-1.5
 /Applications/Processing-2.0

The main issue with this, is that usually both apps will share configuration files, and sometimes will be a problem.


I can't buy gems in Clash of Clans, conflicting Apple IDs I downloaded Clash of Clans using my sisters Apple ID and her Game Center, on my iPhone. I backed up my phone. Then when I got my new phone and I created a new Apple ID and new Game Center for me.

I had kept all my progress from my earlier phone. However, now when I try to buy gems, it pops up with this message:

  This item is for an app that has been purchased by a different Apple ID. To buy this item with this Apple ID you must first purchase the app.

I am guessing this means I have to delete the app and re-download it, but I am afraid I will lose all my progress.

Is there an easy solution for the Apple ID confusion?

Supercell saves your progress under your Game Center account. So, if you get a new device with a new Game Center account, you will lose your progress. To keep your progress, you will need to link your device to hers in the Clash of Clans settings.


rMBP Trackpad slips when trying to scroll? Hello I just got my first ever MBP Retina and I was wondering if this is normal :

Sometimes I try to scroll upwards or downwards (natural way) and the mouse moves instead of scrolling the page up and down. Im not sure why this happens, is there a specific way how I should position my fingers on the trackpad ? Or perhaps the distance between each finger ?

Regards

Normally, this means you just don't put both fingers at the same time. Try sticking your index and the other finger together and moving your arm or your wrist instead of trying to move the individual fingers. You'll get used to it.

The animated videos in the System Preferences -> Trackpad are a good example of the safest way to do the gesture. Once you get the hang of them, do them like you want, but it's a good starting point.


move grub from sd-card to win partition? i'm not the first one with this kind of problem, but my specific nuance, i did not yet encounter: i have a 2014 macbook pro with os x plus a windows 10 bootcamp partition. now i wanted to have a look at ubuntu and managed to install that on an sd-card. all that worked, but the situation i have now is:

if i start without the sd-card inserted and option pressed, i can choose between os x and windows. loading os x works, loading windows does not and results in a grub prompt.
if i start with the ubuntu sd-card inserted and option pressed, i get all three options. again, os x works and windows fails, but this time with a grub error message. choosing ubuntu successfully starts grub and gives me the option of booting either ubuntu or windows: which both work.

from my understanding (which might be wrong), part of grub ended up on the windows (or efi??) partition, the rest with the actual configuration on the external ubuntu sd-card. is there any way to move this second part to the windows partition? so i can still start windows without this external sd card? in an ideal world, i would just get rid of grub and use the apple bootloader for all of this, but i assume this is not a possibility, is it?

You can setup a grubless boot of Ubuntu which can be executed by the Mac boot loader, however the Mac Startup Manager will not detect such an arrangement. You would have to use a different boot manager such as rEFInd.
Another solution would be to install grub entirely on the SD card, leaving the EFI partition on the internal drive use by Windows. Or, create a second EFI partition on the internal drive, so the grub and Windows boot files will not overlap.
Moving Grub Boot Files to the SD Card
When installing Ubuntu on the SD card, an EFI partition should be created on this card. The Grub boot files should be installed in the EFI partition. The However, the Ubuntu installation software will install the Grub boot files on internal drive EFI partition instead. Below are instructions for moving these files to the EFI partition on the SD card.

Note: The steps below assume the device name for the SD card is /dev/sdb. If your device name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands.

Boot to Ubuntu.

Turn off automatic updates. Open "Software & Updates" and set "Automatically check for Updates:" to Never. See the image below.

Open a Terminal window.

Verify the first partition on the SD Card is FAT formatted. Enter following command.
sudo blkid /dev/sdb1

If the TYPE is not equal to vfat, then the first partition on the SD card is not an EFI Partition. If TYPE is equal to vfat, then record the UUID value and proceed with these instructions.

Move the Grub boot files to the SD Card. Enter the following commands.
cd ~
mkdir efi
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 efi
sudo mv /boot/efi/EFI/Boot efi/EFI/boot
sudo mv /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu efi/EFI/ubuntu
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
rmdir efi

Update the /etc/fstab file so Ubuntu will know the new location of the Grub boot files. Enter the following command.
sudo nano /etc/fstab

Find the line with the mount point /boot/efi. Replace the UUID value on this line with with the value recorded in step 4. Exit the editor and save the change.

The installation of Ubuntu replaced the bootx64 file that was first created by the Boot Camp installation. The following commands rectify this replacement. (The bootx64.efi and bootmgfw.efi files used by Windows are the same.)
sudo mkdir /boot/efi/EFI/Boot
sudo cp /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi /boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi

Restart the Mac and boot back to Ubuntu.

If necessary, restore automatic updates to the previous setting.


Not able to charge iPhone 5 I have already tried more than 5 chargers but still my iPhone 5 is not getting charged. If I buy a new charger then it works fine for a week. Why is this occurring and how can I fix it?

Some iPhone 5 are eligible for a free battery replacement. Maybe that is related to your issue?

  Apple has determined that a very small percentage of iPhone 5 devices
  may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged
  more frequently. The affected iPhone 5 devices were sold between
  September 2012 and January 2013 and fall within a limited serial
  number range.

You can test if your phone is eligible, on this website.


Apple Watch face blank I mistakenly unpaired my Apple Watch from my iPhone. Now the voice over on my watch is on, screen curtain is on, but my screen is blank. I don't know which button to press and I have been trying to pair it back. Since my screen is blank, how do I do this?

Try restarting it by holding down the Digital Crown and side button together until you see the Apple logo appear. When that doesn’t work, set it on charge for 15 minutes and repeat. After an hour and no life, you might need a hardware repair or service technician to diagnose it from the service port.


Web fonts look worse after deleting MS Office I recently deleted my MS Office 2011 and decided to use only iWork or Libre Office or LaTeX. The problem is, now fonts on all browsers look worse than before. I have no idea why this is so, it only started after I deleted Office and its fonts, and I don't even remember how they looked like before I installed Office.

Is there any way to enhance the fonts used for web browsers? Fonts in all other applications look fine.

Your font are probably corrupt. But no worries, you can restore them with almost no effort :)

Open fontbook
Select all the fonts
Right click and select validate. All the fonts Office installed that are bad will show warnings.
Remove those, and you'll be good as new without a reinstall of anything.

Let me know if this helps you out!


Siri to lock screen and take screenshot? Apparently, the power button has become pretty insensitive in my iPhone 5. When I say "lock screen" or "take screenshot", I want that iPhone does such activity. Now when I say them, iPhone just googles them that is very stupid. So how can I make Siri to lock screen, screenshot and hopefully other things?

Currently Siri can't do these actions.

One possibility is to enable assistiveTouch :

Settings
General
Accessibility
AssistiveTouch

On the assistive touch button :

Device > next > screenshoot.
Device > next > lock screen


iPad: app stops when screen is locked Basically I have a problem with apps stopping when the screen is locked. I have first encountered this issue when I started using Strava.

I would normally start recording on Strava, lock the screen and put the iPad into my backpack, after I finish the ride, I would unlock the screen just to find out that the app is not running.

I initially though that this is Strava specific issue, but I have since tried Endomondo and it exhibits exactly the same behavior.

Few details:

If I start the recording, then lock the screen, then unlock it within the short period of time (~ 1 minute or less) - the app is still running. Which means it does not stop immediately after the screen lock
If I don't lock the screen, but just put the iPad into my backpack, the screen locks automatically in 5 minutes. In this case, no matter how long I ride, the app will keep running and will be still active when I unlock the screen. This is a workaround but not prefered solution

I would like to know why does iPad stop apps after the screen lock and how do I change that behavior.

I am using iPad mini and iOS 8.2

UPDATE:

based on the comments and answers from other users, few more details:

Location Services are enabled for these apps and set to "Always on"
Background refresh is enabled in the system and for these apps

The worst, but working solution will be to set screen locking to 30 seconds, so that it will go to sleep faster. Looks like apple does it on purpose.


How to move iMovie library to external hard drive folder? I would like to move all iMovie (iMove '11) events to a specific folder of an external hard drive. Apple documents a means to do this, but without specifying the folder; iMovie files are created in the root of the mounted drive, in a folder called iMovie Events.localized.

That's great, except my wife would like to do the same thing on the same hard drive. Since we want to keep our media libraries separate, having everything dumped in the same folder would be problematic. I could move everything manually, of course, though warnings abound that iMovie data should be moved only from within iMovie itself. Is there any way to tell iMovie to use a specific folder when moving the iMovie data for projects/events to an external drive?

Note: I tried to mount the appropriate user directory of the external drive as a separate volume using bindfs without success.

[Edit: As per a suggestion in the accepted answer, I am creating a disk image for each iMovie library. Please see the comments in the accepted answer for further details.]

Since iMovie doesn't have a setting to set a folder inside the drive and stores things at the root of an external drive, you can use folders to segregate projects quite nicely.

When you open iMovie, just right click on the name of the external drive and make a new folder. Make a second folder and name them for each of you. When you open iMovie, you can collapse her folder and vice versa to avoid having to see all of the projects for the non-active user.

You could also make disk images on the drive and store them anywhere, but that is a bit more tedious for little additional payoff. You would avoid having two folders made at the root of the drive, but at the expense of a more complicated storage layer. The down side is you still have folders at the root of the external drive as well as all the project footage is in subfolders rather than in their own folder.

The remedy for this is to create sparse disk images for each set of projects and mount them before moving content to each "disk". The iMovie visual will be as if you have two drives additional drives even though they are just files/folders on the same drive.

The only warning I have is when you have multiple clips referencing the same footage - avoid moving one and not the other. Moving all the projects to the external would be extremely robust and workable, but iMovie can be a little too aggressive in moving footage to a new drive without checking to see if other projects left behind reference that footage. Luckily, things re-link nicely once you discover the missing footage error and reunite the "left behind" project with it's partner and footage.


SUMIF statement with two different conditions (Text based and checkbox) How can I create a SUMIF statement with multiple criteria?

I have a spreadsheets where I track hours for different clients in one table, and below this table I want to summarize in a summary table the hours per client if that work is finished and if it is billable.

My Statement would say, SUMIF:

Textfield ClientName = "InsertClientName"
Checkbox for billable hours = TRUE
Checkbox for finished work = TRUE

So in my imagination it would have to be:
SUMIF(((ClientName="InsertClientName")&(BillableHours=TRUE)&(FinishedHours=True));Hours)

How can I create a formula like this?

I have browsed the Apple Help Forums and StackExchange, but they mostly show SUMIF Statements with one criteria, or people use IFAND Statements and every row to use that in their SUMIF Statement, but my problem is that I will at least need two criteria in my summary table All hours of ClientX where the hours are checked as billable.

Looking forward to your answers.

Just to make an official answer:

Use the SUMIFS() function to use 2 or more conditions.

From the documentation:

  The SUMIFS function returns the sum of the cells in a collection where
  the test values meet the given conditions.

  SUMIFS(sum-values, test-values, condition, test-values…, condition…)


How do I disable iMessage for a contact who no longer has an iPhone A friend had an iPhone and when I added her contact I set it her number as "iPhone". She's  recently got an Android device but my iPhone keeps trying to iMessage her, needless to say  she's not getting my messages. I can obviously press and hold each message and "send as SMS" but I'd like a more permanent solution.

How can I make my phone always send messages to her by SMS?

To dissable iMessage on your phone (the one who has changed from iPhone to something else):
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts5185

Since it’s not your phone that needs changing, Your friend is the one that needs to take action to Approve the request to de-register their iCloud/AppleID from their phone number - https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage

As long as their SMS number is associated with iMessage via their Apple ID, iMessage delivery will be preferred by iOS when sending. If you must send an SMS without them fixing their account, you can turn off iMessage entirely on your iPhone and then send a SMS via your cellular carrier to that contact before turning on iMessage again if you wish to have that for other conversations.


Can I override the action MacOS 10.8 performs for the triple-finger-tap gesture? MacOS looks-up the word under the cursor in Dictionary.app when you triple-finger-tap. Instead I would like to open a new tab in Chrome and Google that keyword. Is this possible?

Mike is right, Better Touch Tool can do the exact same thing you want. I was really lost when I upgraded to 10.7 and all its new gestures : BTT allowed me to restore my old 10.6 gestures.
Download Better Touch Tool for free here.

Then open the Better Touch Tool preferences.

Select Gestures
Then be sure to select Global in the side bar. That way the new gesture will work in every app
List item
Click on Add New Gesture
Select the gesture to override : it should be Three finger tap or Three finger click
Then select the appropriate action : there is a predefined Search selected text with Google
Done ! You may have to disable the three finger gesture in System preferences.


difference between disk size in console vs disk utility Console results df -h

disk utility results

What explains the large difference here in capacity as well as used memory? And which is more reliable.

You should be comparing Disk Utility with df -H. Mac OS X has been reporting disk space in base 10 since Snow Leopard.


MacBook Pro 13" SATA controller Does anyone know from a trusted source if the new MacBook Pro 13" (2012) has SATA III?
On Google, some places said SATA II and couldn't find any info on Apple's site.

I also have one more question: if I connect an SSD (external case) on USB 3.0 will it be faster than a 5400 RPM on USB 3.0?

Panther Point has 6GBit/s ports. There is zero reason for Apple not to utilize them. I know this is not a perfect answer but this is all I can help.

SSD is much faster on USB 3.0 than a HDD. I would recommend reading this -- disregard the UASP part, it still gives you lot of benchmarks of running an SSD over USB 3.0. You can clearly see speeds well above 200 MB/s. There is no mechanical (notebook) drive that can do much more than 100 MB/s. Not the Savvio, not the Spinpoint M8, nothing. It simply doesn't and cannot happen.

Edit: StorageReview mentions this Hitachi DeskStar being the fastest mechanical drive of all and it barely clears 150 MB/s.


iPad browser that looks like desktop to website There are sites that sense the iPad is a mobile device. For example, Spotify. It will refuse to play in an iPad browser, while it works just fine on a laptop. It appears to be sensing what browser is in use, as do many sites that push a mobile version instead of the standard site.

Is there any workaround for this?

Additional note - Thanks for the answers so far. The desktop version requires Flash. This may kill the Spotify success, but great for sites that don't use flash, so I hope this Q&A helps others.

Yes. Use a browser that allows you to change the user agent. Two examples are:

Atomic Web Browser

Terra.


Turning off hibernate on a mid 2012 MacBook Pro with an SSD I've been reading several articles on the Internet how to "optimize your Mac with an SSD".  I'm not sure whether or not to agree with the articles because I think that Apple knows what's the best settings for a computer with an SSD drive. My question is: should I be worried about disabling hibernate to "save" my SSD from wear?

I also heard that the user's home folder (as well as the Application folder, and temporary items) be stored on a RAM disk/spinning hard drive to improve the life of the SSD. I personally think this is a bit overkill, because I don't see why Apple would sell SSDs if people had to do all of this extra configuration.

Edit: here is a seven year update using my SSD as normal, including hiberation on, and using my SSD as a temporary storage location for backing up my 2TB and 4TB hard-drives, anti-virus on, installing hundreds and hundreds of apps (and then uninstalling them), running countless virtual machines, and finding out later that a malfunctioning internet radio app wrote 1TB to my SSD over a year. I did not baby it at all; I just used it as normal:

Additionally, I had it partitioned into 64GB/64GB, with only one partition being actively used (Windows) for two years. I then unpartitioned it a couple of years later. Given that this is a bad scenario in terms of wear (was not able to spread it across the other unused 64GB), it has aged fairly well. There are 100 re-allocated sectors, but if each sector is 512kb, then that's 5mb that I can't use, which isn't too bad.

Although this is an old question, I would like to update it with my answer because it is still relevant to me.

http://blog.alutam.com/2012/04/01/optimizing-macos-x-lion-for-ssd/#hibernation

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage

  We do not recommend modifying hibernation settings. Any changes you make are not supported. If you choose to do so anyway, we recommend using one of these three settings. For your sake and mine, please don’t use anything other 0, 3, or 25.
  hibernatemode = 0 (binary 0000) by default on supported desktops. The system will not back memory up to persistent storage. The system must wake from the contents of memory; the system will lose context on power loss. This is, historically, plain old sleep.
  hibernatemode = 3 (binary 0011) by default on supported portables. The system will store a copy of memory to persistent storage (the disk), and will power memory during sleep. The system will wake from memory, unless a power loss forces it to restore from disk image.
  hibernatemode = 25 (binary 0001 1001) is only settable via pmset. The system will store a copy of memory to persistent storage (the disk), and will remove power to memory. The system will restore from disk image. If you want “hibernation” – slower sleeps, slower wakes, and better battery life, you should use this setting.