How to add custom mouse-click actions to Safari with modifier keys? In Safari, when you Ctrl-click on an image in any web page, a menu comes up with several options.

I'd like to be able to do a single trackpad click with a modifier key (option or command, for example) on an image, and have just one of the options from the menu be invoked immediately, instead of showing a menu.

I haven't been able to find a way to do this, but maybe I'm missing something.

I have older hardware so multi-touch gestures won't help me much.

I've also tried the Custom Application Keyboard shortcut approach, but my shortcut was not invoked when I tried it. The menu item is 'Save Image to “Downloads”' and I think I've got the quotes right, but I also tried with plain double quotes (not typographic quotes) and that didn't get invoked either.

I'm open minded about using scripting or a third party add on app to do this, just looking for the quickest approach that really works and cuts the workflow to a minimum.

This is not a perfect solution for your needs, but FruitMenu from Unsanity is the only utility I am aware of that will let you customize contextual menus. It costs US $15.00. It is not yet compatible with Lion. You could download a trial version and see if it will be helpful.

Any keyboard macro program such as Keyboard Maestro should be able to achieve what you need. You might briefly see a contextual menu pop up while it is running its macro, but I think you could live with that.


Changing Notification Sound in Yosemite/El Capitan the new "ding!" notification sound in Yosemite really gets on my nerves (and I don't like any of the default ones), I would like to add (or replace one of those with) a custom sound I have.

I found out a dirty solution is digging into
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ToneLibrary.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AlertTones

and replacing one of the default tones files with my own, converted to .caf (core audio file) using the afconvert command line tool.

Is there any better way of doing this?

EDIT: Due to the new System Integrity Protection feature in El Capitan, the previous solution does not work anymore (without disabling SIP). Is there any way of adding a new notification sound?

Yosemite Instructions:

Convert the sound you want to use to .caf using afconvert:

afconvert -f caff -d LEI16@22050 input_file output.caf

Go to
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ToneLibrary.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AlertTones/Modern

Since I wasn't sure just adding the new .caf file to this folder would work, I made a copy (backup) of sms_alert_note.caf and then replaced sms_alert_note.caf with the new file. Since it doesn't work at first (I think you have to somehow reload the framework), I restarted. After restarting the default "Note" sound was replaced by my own sound.

EDIT: El Capitan (dirty) solution (without disabling SIP)

First: prepare the .caf file as instructed above using afconvert.
Reboot your Mac into recovery mode (hold cmd+R while booting). Open the Terminal from the utilities menu and type diskutil list to get a list of the connected disks. Make a note of the name of the disk containing the boot volume

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD           1.0 TB     disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             784.2 MB   disk0s3`

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD          +1.0 TB     disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 8D6D5ACA-6AFF-4F53-9E61-2D83A2536501
                                 Unencrypted

In this case the boot disk is disk0 containing the boot volume "Macintosh HD. Now type diskutil mountDisk disk0 to mount the disk (replace disk0 with whatever your disk name actually was).

Your startup disk should now be mounted in /Volumes/Macintosh HD(or whatever your boot volume's name is), cd to that location: cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD and type chroot.

Now you have full access to your boot volume without having to deal with SIP.

Go to the folder where alert sounds are stored
    cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ToneLibrary.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AlertTones/Modern

Make a backup of the original sound you want to replace (I'm replacing the default 'note' sound)
    mv sms_alert_note.caf sms_alert_note.caf.bak
Copy the .caf file you created earlier to the folder:
    cp /path/to/new/notification.caf ./sms_alert_note.caf
(note: simply adding a new file won't work as it won't be recognized by Messages, you'll have to replace one of the existing files)

Reboot. You will now be able to use your custom sound by selecting the name of the notification you replaced in the AlertTones/Modern folder in Messages -> Preferences -> Message Received Sound. If you replaced sms_alert_note.caf this will be "Note (Default)".

I don't expect this to hold through system updates, but it might if the AlertTones folder is not modified.


Messages.app notification only shows contact number instead of contact names on macOS After upgrading to macOS Big Sur (11.0.1), the notification of new messages only shows contact number instead of contact names. I can see contact name, profile pics in my Messages.app and Contacts.app, just not in the Notification Center.
I have enabled messages in iCloud on both macOS and iOS.
Any suggestions?

I managed to fix this by going to System Preferences > Language & Region.  I changed the default language from English (UK) to English (Canada) and quit System Preferences.  I then changed the default back to English (UK) and then quit System Preferences again.  I then restarted macOS.
I have absolutely no idea why that works.  From the number of similar posts on the internet proposing different solutions, I suspect there are multiple possible issues leading to the same problem.  However, this it worked for me on macOS Big Sur 11.0.1.  Unfortunately I can't find the link describing this solution to give credit but if anyone does find it do link in.
Hope this helps you.


How can I replace certain strings of symbols automatically? Please, read the description of my problem, I already know macOS can change certain individual strings. What I want is different.

I bought a MacBook from Ebay.com with macOS High Sierra, and being Spanish, I normally use the Spanish keyboard distribution (because I need to type things like ñ, á, é, í..., which would be very slow to type using Option + e + letter). The problem with this is that most symbols don't match what I see on my physical keyboard, and using the Spanish distribution I actually have to memorize which keys do what. Therefore, I've tried to change the keyboard configuration so that something like 'a (easy to type, uses the same keys as á in Spanish) gets changed automatically to á. But it only works when 'a is typed like that, and not when it's part of a word (like lloverá).

Could I somehow use the English distribution (so that I can actually see in my keyboard what every key does) but have things like 'a or 'n automatically changed to á and ñ?

Thanks.

Go to system preferences/keyboard/input sources and add the keyboard called US International PC to the list.  Then remove the others.  This keyboard turns ` ~ ' " ^ into dead keys to add accents.  So 'e produces é, ~n produces ñ.


Does a Magic Mouse let me use all the multitouch features of Lion? Does the magic mouse support all of the gestures that the magic trackpad supports, including but not limited to Launchpad and Mission Control?

NO
The Magic Mouse can open Mission Control with a double tap on the mouse's surface, but it does not provide a gesture to open Launchpad, a Lion only feature. However Launchpad can be launched with a Magic Trackpad with a four finger pinch.


How does iPhoto synchronize photos between my macbook pro and my wife's one? When my wife imports photos on her mac book pro, they are quickly synchronized in my own iPhoto.

We share the same apple id, but I do not remember having set anything specific to have this (excellent) behavior. How does it work ? (that means : what is the setting to obtain this behavior ?)

There are two possible answers here:

You are both sharing the same iCloud/.me/.mac account. Look in System Preferences > iCloud > [Account Details] on both systems to compare.
That your wife has shared a Photo Stream with you. Run iPhoto and look at the left hand sidebar in the section named 'Shared'.


Are the iPad 2 30-pin cable and the iPod touch cable different? They look the same and get mixed up. My iPad 2 can't charge with the iPod's cable but vice-versa works.

Might this iPad question apply?: Using an iPod charging cable to charge an iPad

Can this behavior be because the iPad 2 30-pin cable and the iPod touch cable are somehow made differently?

The USB-to-30-pin-dock cables are electrically identical. All of them can carry enough charging current for both devices. The same is not true for the power sources as the iPad gets a 10W supply and the rest 5W.

What power source are you using with the cables? iPads need more power than most USB ports offer to charge with the screen on.


Right side of Earpod dead but the buttons are functioning. How to troubleshoot? Okay,the jack is plugged in properly. The problem is, while the audio is coming from the left Earbud, the right Earbud is dead. However, in Apple earpods, the controller (volume and on-off button) is in the right wire. This suggests, that the right side is getting the current. But, no audio is coming out. It was working fine all this morning, I listened to songs but since the evening, the right side is dead. Can you suggest a troubleshoot?

If you're still in your first year or have Applecare on your device you got the earpods with, call Applecare, they will set you up with a replacement pair.


Change System password When I set up my new macbook pro, I chose to use my apple store username / password. However, the password is a pretty long one, and it's annoying to have to type it in every time I need to change a program, run something as root, etc.

How can I set a simpler "local" password to use without resetting my apple ID?

It depends on how you setup your computer, if you set your computer to use your iCloud password to login then you'll need to unlike this. The best way to check is to follow the process for resetting the password as if your computer was using the traditional 'local' login method...

Click the Apple logo in the top left of the screen.
Click System Preferences
Select Users & Groups
Select the User account (if there is more than one) from the left of the screen.
Click the Change Password button.

At this point it should indicate you are using iCloud or not, if not then simply enter your existing password and carefully pick a new one.

Otherwise, it should give you an option to disassociate and use local login instead, and you'll be able to create a new local password.


How do you remove Safari 7.0.4 on Mac OS X 10.7.5 How do you remove Safari 7.0.4 on Mac OS X 10.7.5?

If you just wanted to get the old version back, browse this official list of available Safari and pick the version you need. The currently installed version can be deleted by dragging it into Trash (requires admin rights).


Why does OS X have bash v3.2.57? OS X comes with bash version 3.2.57 instead of bash version 4.3.39, which GNU lists as the current stable release of bash.

Is there any way to upgrade bash on Mac OS X?

Note the original question asked why Apple shipped an old version of bash and then asked how to upgrade. This is an answer to the original. If the question is just the latter then it is a duplicate

You would have to ask Apple as to why. However I would note that bash is now licensed under GPLv3 and   3.2.57 is the last version released under GPL2.

As bash is in /bin you should not replace it directly as this can be updated or modified by Apple at any time and now with SIP it is also more difficult to change. Also scripts elsewhere might depend one this version

You can however add bash from GNU or from a package manager like Macports or Homebrew. You can then change the Terminal.app profile to start this shell rather than bash

Macports is

sudo port install bash

Homebrew is

brew install bash

As of 14/6/16 - the stable version of bash is 4.3.42 and updates usually come rapidly through both port systems.

Or you could change your shell to another that Apple supplies e.g.  zsh which is more powerful than bash (version up to date of release of El Capitan) or ksh which is upto date. (or tcsh which is a C shell but also reasonably up to date)


Unknown Error Occurred (-54) Enabling iTunes Match I just added my Apple ID to a new MacBook Pro and tried to turn on iTunes Match.  This is the error I get:

The only info I can find indicates this is a connection error, but I can connect to other areas of the iTunes Store.  Any ideas how I can resolve this?

According to this discussion or this one it seems (-54) is a file-lock problem. The proposed solutions are:

an AppleScript to remove locks

  Open the Script Editor in the /Applications/Utilities folder and run the following:
  tell application "Finder"
  set locked of every item of entire contents of folder "Music:iTunes" of home to false
  end tell

use Terminal to ensure ownership, group, and permissions are correct

use sudo chown your-username your-filename if you don't own the file/folder
use sudo chgrp staff your-filename if it isn't set to the same group as other iTunes items
use chmod 666 your-filename and/or chmod 777 your-folder-name to make sure everyone (and thing) can edit

disabling FileVault if used

In particular, check the permissions on the iTunes/Download folder which is where iTunes will first attempt to download "matched" songs.


Sending same text to many people, nobody sees other recipients I'm trying to organize a club/business and would like to send the same text to my clientele.

I do not want individual recipients to see who else is a recipient, as most clients don't know each other. This implies I also don't want recipients to see other recipients's replies and that they would ideally go to me. Not being able to reply at all is not a deal breaker.

If such a feature exists directly in the iPhone/on my Mac, can somebody explain how to implement it/link me to a previous question? If the feature doesn't exist, can I get suggestions for 3rd party applications or websites to send texts so clients don't have their numbers shared? I've been searching for a couple hours, and nothing featuring recipient anonymity has popped up.

Thank you.

EDIT: PLEASE READ

Thank you for the suggestions thus far, but I am not looking for any messaging medium besides text. If the feature or application does not apply to what we consider texts received on a phone, it's not what I'm looking for.

You should use the Bcc (blind carbon copy) function found in all mail software, web- or app-based.

“A blind carbon copy (Bcc) of any correspondence is sent when you wish to conceal the fact that there are other recipients of the message. You might do this to discretely let somebody else in on a conversation, to send email to a list without sharing everybody's email or involvement with everybody else, or any other situation where you might desire a bit of privacy.”

From:

https://m.wikihow.com/Use-BCC-in-an-Email


In Mountain Lion, where is the exclude list for Time Machine stored? I want to know if the list of Time Machine excluded files (pictured below) can be found in a file somewhere.

I know about the question On Lion, what files are excluded by rule from a Time Machine backup? which has a lot of good information about StdExclusions.plist, mdfind and tmutil – but not the answer for this question.

One answer also talks about .exclusions.plist, which is almost the answer to this question. But there's a catch, I haven't done a backup yet, so I can't read the .exclusions.plist file from the Time Machine backup volume.

I'm doing cd / ; sudo find . -iname "*exclusions*" now, keeping my fingers crossed.

The Mountain Lion settings are identical to the Lion settings as described here:

Where does Time Machine store its settings?

The answer is /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist


Local-only Automator service (not on iCloud) I do not want to have the services on iCloud, but instead just local to Mac. Here's what the Automator dialog displays.

How can it be done?

Deselect Automator In iCloud System Preferences


Find which files are shared in iCloud Drive This seems obvious, but can't figure it out. How can I find which files are shared to other people in iCloud drive? Finder shows individually a text under each shared file, but I would like to see a list of all shared files.

See more information about file share functionality (add people) on Apple Support Pages under Share files section where it says:

  You can allow people to view and edit files by sharing them using iCloud Drive.

If I share hundreds of files, after a while it will become hard to find and unshare files that no longer need to be shared. I'm questioning the auditability of the share functionality.

I'd like to have a robust method to find this out too. The only method I know is this: (bold is the key step, very verbose here to be understood by everyone)

go to the iCloud Drive folder you want to find shared files
search in this folder, by say, Cmd + F
make sure current directory is selected, not "This Mac"
search by string shared by me (quoted "shared by me" would not work)
hopefully all documents "shared by me" is shown, per document,

optionally, right click and click Show in Enclosing Folder, only in the enclosing folder you will be able to see the file is marked as "shared by me"
right click on the "Shared by me" file, Share > Show People
select Share Options, choose Stop Sharing

This method is not robust however as you can imagine if a document has a name containing "shared by me" or so would match.

I tried checking the xattr without success. It will be great if there's a robust method be it command line or GUI.


Hidden Mac administrator The admin name on my home Mac is hidden, I need to see the admin name so later I can change the password. I'm a regular user.

To list all users and accounts, type the following in the Terminal.app:

dscl . list /Users

To list only the users, try the following:

dscl . list /Users | grep -v '_'


What is the smallest and/or fastest way to run Windows programs on MacOS (Catalina)? I'm using a 2017 i5 Macbook Pro with just 128GB of storage and need to run Revit, which is Windows only. I know there are many different methods for running Windows programs on Mac, but with very limited storage and the processing used by Revit, I'm trying to determine the smallest Windows environment with the least overhead. My preference would be for something that can run without a reboot or logoff (though I'm aware this will sacrifice some performance).

What is the smallest and/or fastest way to run Windows programs on MacOS?

In order of “size” your options are as follows:

Wine.  (It’s unclear this will be updated to run well on Catalina but Wine does well on Mojave and below)
Virtualizaton (VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion, Parallels)
Boot Camp which helps you run windows on the Mac hardware directly without macOS running at the same time.

Wine is a “compatability layer” that allows you to run Windows apps on a POSIX compliant operating system (macOS, BSD, Linux, etc).  The Wine acronym actually stood for “Wine Is Not an Emulator”.  In terms of size, there’s nothing smaller since you’re not installing a full Windows install - there’s no Windows environment - just the application.
Virtualization.  This is the next level up where you have a full blown operating system.  Virtualization allows you to customize the machine itself and make it as small as possible (i.e. the minimum system requirements).  Some applications don’t function well in Wine so this is the next best thing.  Most type 2 hypervisors are going to be roughly the same in “size” however, I am looking into xhyve which is a very lightweight hypervisor based on FreeBSD’s bhyve hypervisor.
Boot Camp is going to be the largest in terms of size because it’s quite literally a full Widows installation on “bare metal”. It also forces you to give up an entire chunk of your drive to windows where virtualization can share free space with macOS.


Notification when Apple compressor is done I'm using the Apple compressor app from the command line to generate movies from sequences of images. This works fine, but the relevant command line command just exits before the job is done (while the compressor app carries out the task in the background). Hence one is left wondering when the job is finished. Using top I can check whether Apple compressor is still active, but I was hoping there is an option that let's me know when the job is done (ideally via osascript).

Create an Automator workflow that sends a notification.
Set the Automator workflow as the action to use on completion.

Run Automator Workflow
The Automator Workflow job action applies an Automator workflow to an output file after transcoding.

Workflow: Click the Choose button to set the Automator workflow that the job action triggers.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/compressor/cpsr6463a5b3/4.5.1/mac/10.15.6


How can I hide or ignore old Outlook iCal invitations? I often ignore invitations to office events on my phone, and then answer them later from iCal on my Macbook. Sometimes there are old invitations for events that have already occurred. However, the only options in iCal are Maybe, Decline or Accept.

If I choose any of these an email is sent to the requester which is confusing for them. How do I remove these from my queue without triggering an email? In other words, where is the Remove or Hide button?

Update 2013-01-08: The problem is that the invitations no longer appear on my phone (the "Invitations" list is empty) however they still appear in my Mac's iCal tray.

For an Exchange account the only way I found to clear old invites out was to log into Outlook Web Access in my web browser and decline them without sending an email in there. Just go to the same dates specified in iCal for the invites and use the right click menu in the calendar tab to decline them.


How to open a files that's currently in Trash How do I open files that are in Trash? I have put some MKV video files in Trash. I want to watch the videos (I use IINA).

How can I watch the videos without moving them out of Trash?

To avoid the message, e.g., "The document “Filename.mkv” can’t be opened because it’s in the Trash. To use this item, first drag it out of the Trash.", and open the target file without having to remove it from the Trash, do the following:

Open INNA, so it's window is showing.
Open the Trash.
Drag and drop the target file from the Trash onto INNA's window, and it will play.

Note: If INNA is open without a window, you can drag and drop the target file from the Trash onto INNA's Dock Tile, and it will play.

Another method to use for apps that will not respond to drag and drop on its window or Dock Tile:

Open the Trash.
Open Terminal.
In Terminal, use the open command:

If the target app is the default app for the target file you can do the following:

Type open followed by a space, then drag and drop the target file from the Trash onto the Terminal window, and then press: enter

Or, if it's not the default app for the target file you can do the following:

Type, e.g., open -a IINA followed by a space, then drag and drop the target file from the Trash onto the Terminal window, and then press: enter

Note in some cases, depending on the app and its location, you may have to use its path as well:

Type,  e.g.,open -a /Applications/IINA, adding .app if necessary, followed by a space, then drag and drop the target file from the Trash onto the Terminal window, and then press: enter

Note: IINA does also have a command line interface, e.g.:

/Applications/IINA.app/Contents/MacOS/iina-cli

You can use the -h or --help argument to display its builtin help.


Least expensive prepaid data roaming with an unlocked iPhone in the US Will be travelling to the US a bit and trying to determine the least expensive way to get my unlocked iPhone online.

My provider (Rogers) has a standard US data roaming rate of $30/mb but also offers travel add-on packs that you can buy for 30 days of usage:

Add on packs are:

10mb for $30 ($3/mb)
25mb for $50 ($2/mb)
75mb for $60 ($0.80/mb)

Alternate carrier options I know of so far:

AT&T GoPhone prepaid service - $20 for 100mb, but you have to be careful not to tell them you are using their prepaid service with an iPhone and you need to muck with APN settings -- walkthrough one, walkthrough two.
T-Mobile's Unlimited $1/day Sidekick data plan - not sure if this is still offered.  Caveats are that T-Mobile will only work on EDGE with iPhone and you need alternate APN settings as well as possibly needing a (paid) proxy to use it

Curious if there are other options out there - I guess it's limited to AT&T and T-Mobile since those are the only compatible (or semi-compatible for T-Mobile) networks in the US...

Here's a wiki dedicated to prepaid data roaming, however it doesn't have much information on US (yet)

My solution was to activate an iPad MicroSIM and use it in the iPhone.  It required a bit of trickery to get it going but worked like a charm - $25USD for 2GB for 30 days

Activating an iPad MicroSIM from Safari (when you don't have an iPad to use): http://modmyi.com/forums/unlocking-activation/712894-activating-ipad-3g-sim-without-ipad.html


Safe to charge macbook with USB Type A to USB Type C cable? If I take use a USB Type A to USB Type C cable, (like this) and plug it into a wall converter similar to the ones that come with iPhone charger (basically just a little box that plugs into a wall and has a female USB Type A port), will it be safe to plug the USB Type C end into my new MacBook pro to keep the battery from dying?

I just need it to maintain the battery level and I want to make sure it's not going to damage the overall life of the batter.

Yes, and it is safe. I did charge my 15" MBP from various sources - power banks and adapters (USB Port of a Tesla Model S was my favorite), and it can take around 13W. Just make sure that your adapter supports 10-15W, 5W is quite slow. Unfortunately the port does not support Quick Charge.

When idling, the system consumes around 6W, charging will be impossible while using with something more cpu/gpu intensive.

And if you decide to cheat and try to connect a second charger, it will not combine the power, but instead choose the one with higher power rating.

TL;DR: It's possible. It's safe (It'll cause 100% use on your adapter, might heat it up). Perfect for emergency use or when weight is important. Not useful if you plan to do extensive work.


Mac OS X - Mouse moves are not smooth nor constant I have a Logitech optical USB wheel mouse I've used for years on my PC (Windows 95, 98, XP, Vista, 7): http://www.clubic.com/shopping-1360-3-logitech-wheel-mouse-optical.html I'm now using it on a Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard (fully updated), but I have a problem with it.

On my PC, when I move the mouse, the movement is smooth, and follow my hand moves. No matter if the move is large or small, the cursor goes exactly where I send it.

On my Mac, when I move the mouse, it seems to do what I want on large moves, but on little moves the cursor does not respond as well as on the PC. It seems to slow down, as if it had missed some move instructions, as if it was responding only one on two impulsions.

For example, when I try to catch the cross to close a window, I have no difficulties to reach the cross area, but to put the mouse exactly on it to close the window, it's as if I were moving the mouse on a badly responding surface. It's hard to reach the cross, like if the mouse was suddenly 2 times slower. Same problem to put the cursor beetween 2 letters on a text to make a precise selection, and other similar things. It's a nightmare!

I had tried many settings into the mouse control panel but it does not change anything on this problem.

I have also tried 3 other mouses, one wireless Logitech Mac OS compatible, one wired Microsoft and one wired Trust: all have the same problem.

What is happening? Do you know how may I solve this issue?

It seems like what you are referring to is not a problem with your mouse (as you've tried several). I'll also rule out the silly possibility that you are using all those mouses on a sub-optimal surface, like glass or uneven and rough wood, etc. I think you're simply experiencing the effect of different mouse acceleration algorithms between different operating systems.

As the physical hand/mouse movement cannot practically be mapped 1:1 to the cursor movement (you'd need a trackpad as big as the screen!), some kind of mapping algorithm between the hand movement and cursor movement is necessary. Mac by default implements it so that slow hand movement maps to a very slow cursor movement (for precise targeting), and a relatively fast hand movement maps to a very fast cursor movement (for moving quickly in a general direction but without fine-level accuracy). On Win machines a bit of this kind of acceleration also exists but it is not nearly as pronounced as it is in OS X. Some Win users switching to a Mac might find this maddening as their muscles and motor skills are used to something different. But same is true for a Mac user switching to Win. I.e. a Mac user might feel that mouse is traveling way to slow when reaching distant parts of the screen, and it's harder to do fine targeting in a small area. The Mac way does seem to work better the larger the displays are since it's benefits are more obvious in that case.

The good news is that if you just give it a week or two of constant usage, your muscles will likely get used to it and you won't perceive a problem at all. Based on your description, you might want to increase you mouse speed a bit though, to split the difference between big broad moves, and tiny, precise ones.

As a last resort, there are apps like Controller Mate:
http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/help/?show=configaccel
that let you adjust the acceleration algorithm used yourself.


iMessage "Not Delivered" on my Macbook Pro Mid 2012 For starters here is my current setup:

I have an iPhone 5s and a MacBook Pro 13" mid 2012 model with OSX 10.10.4. Recently I changed the storage to an SSD and with that change I started to set up iMessage. At first iMessage worked for a decent period of time I was getting texts on time and sending them through my Mac just fine. About a week ago suddenly I couldn't send any messages without getting the "Not Delivered" and that red exclamation mark. Going through pages of forums many of the problems were either a year old or older and were very repetitive. It was either delete some files through Keychain Access, restart something or turn on the message forwarding.

Update: After playing around I realized that I can send messages to some of my contacts. These contacts are people who don't have this red highlight on their names and if they do have their name highlighted in red then I cannot send messages to them.

Update2: After looking through imessage on my mac I realized that all the contacts that I cannot send to have usually been sent through text not imessage since their text bubbles are green. The ones I can send to are blue.

I just want to know how to fix my current problem.

What you are trying to do is send SMS messages from Messages on your Mac to people without iOS devices, correct?  (Just fixed this for my wife this morning.)

Be sure to add your Mac to your iPhone's Text Message Forwarding.

On your iPhone:

Go to Settings
Messages then select Text Message Forwarding
There you will see a list of devices that use your Apple ID for Messages
Add your MacBook if listed.
Enter the code displayed on your Mac into the iPhone dialog when prompted.

Now you should be able to text from your Mac using Messages.

Apple support documentation for further reading.


How do I add new pronunciations to apple dictation? I am a mathematician, and I am also dyslexic. I am trying to use the dictation software (not voice over) on my MacBook pro to write documents. I want to teach it certain pronunciations of words for example 'Lie' in 'Lie algebra' is not pronounced as it is written but differently. Given I have a speech impediment associated with my dyslexic I don't pronounce 'th' properly (and a bunch of other things), so every time I say 'theory' it writes 'fairy'.
Here are some other examples that which it consistently gets wrong for me: "is" always writes "it's", "the" always writes "there". You can imagine how annoying this gets!
I'm worried it is in a positive feedback loop. That every time I say "the" and it writes "there" it thinks that is more likely the correct thing to do, so does it more often etc. I don't know how/if I can formally correct it so that the algorithm knows it got it wrong.
Thus my question is: Is there a way to teach apples dictation software the correct pronunciation/my pronunciation of words? If not are there any alternatives I could use.
(p.s. The original version of this question asked how to add new words as-well as  pronunciations  - a recent update seems to have sorted this)

I don't think that there is anything that is adjustable for Apple's dictation.  I assume that you could use Text Replacements, but I don't think they are interactively called when dictating.
You might have more control if you used a third-party dictation software like Dragon Naturally Speaking.
[Update]
My kids are dyslexic as well. I have used the text to speak to help them with their papers. I tell them to  just their their thoughts out onto paper before going back and fixing any little issues that have come up from the dictation. It's also a way for them to proofread their work to make sure they make sense.


If I buy an iPhone app will I have to re-purchase the app if I get a new iPhone? I upgraded from the 3G to the iPhone 4 and forgot to backup and transfer my apps. If I attempt to purchase apps that I have previously purchased, will the Apple store charge me? Or will it recognize that I have already purchased the app based on my apple ID?

No, you will not be charged. You can re-download them in iTunes or directly on the phone. You'll have to hit the "buy" button, but after it starts downloading, you should see a message saying you already bought it once. The alert box includes a button to go ahead and re-download the app, which you will then not be charged for.


CoreStorage disk won't unmount My roll-your-own Fusion drive has become corrupted somehow, and I want to start all over. However, it won't unmount. When I run (from another startup disk, of course)
diskutil cs delete <Logical Volume Group UUID>, Terminal returns

Unmounting Logical Volumes
Ejecting Logical Volumes
The disk disk2 couldn't be ejected
Error: -69691: Couldn't eject disk

How can I either unmount the Fusion drive, or erase it?

Something may be mounting the disk on your startup system. Try to exclude the disk from spotlight, time machine and so on.

After that, there are a few unmount options in the terminal - sometimes, you have to unmount the volumes before you unmount the disks, or vice versa, and such.

Also, a few times in my past, the disk utility from the gui could unmount something which the diskutil command could not.

As a final recourse, try all this with the online recovery (it tends to be less likely to mount something) and/or the original version of MacOS your Mac shipped with (it may not understand new features of your Fusion Drive's file system, which is an advantage when deleting it).

On a sidenote, the zeroDisk option in Diskutil cleans up your disk more radically (and wears down the SSD more), but may help when issues remain. But it also only works when unmounting worked. You use it on both disks and let Disk Utility repair the Fusion Drive again. Use it only when deleting is unsuccessful. Be aware that a small error can delete the wrong disk, that there is no going back from it, that it takes a long time (though usually you can stop it with ctrl-c after the first percentage above 0 appears), and that it may destroy a disk (lots of zeros will be written).


Can I pipe the output of a command to the current cursor? I have a small executable that generates random test data for me. I would like to be able to hit some hot key and have that output sent to the current cursor position - whatever has focus at the time (Emacs, a web page form, iTerm etc).

Any ideas how I might be able to do this?

If you don't mind two keys, you could do this trivially with sending the output of the script to the pasteboard:

script | pbpaste

Then Command-V as a second key shortcut to follow the first would work well.

What you'd need to make this all one shot is an application that registers with the OS to actually take over the keyboard and input text. I use LaunchBar for that but AppleScript/Automator and the gold standard for scripting input - TextExpander - would be worth investigating if you want more advanced options. The steps to configure each of these depends on which app you select to control your Mac.

You can see the apps you have that are able to control (enter text at the insertion point in your case) by opening the Security & Privacy preference pane and selecting Privacy and then selecting Accessibility.


Can I update Clash of Clans downloaded with an old Apple ID using a new Apple ID? A new update in Clash of Clans has been arrived and it is asking me the password through which I downloaded this game but I don't know the password. How can I update it with my new Apple ID?

App updates must be done with the Apple ID that was used to originally download the app. If you wish to use another Apple ID with an app you need to delete the app and download it again from the App Store using the new Apple ID.


Why can't I disable iCloud keychain on my MacBook? Running macOS 10.12.6. I'd like to keep this machine connected to iCloud calendars but prevent it from having a copy of my keychain.

Update: Someone suggested I go into iCloud > account details and turn off allow approving with security code but these are the only tabs that I see. Within the devices tab, I can only remove devices from my account. There is no other option.

If Calendars is the only thing that this Mac needs from your AppleID, then one solution would be to give this Mac a separate AppleID, and share the Calendar.


MacBook Pro Hard drive crashed I have a 2009 MacBook Pro 15". I woke up one day, but my Mac didn't. I was getting nothing but a blank screen so I tried to shut it down a reboot it. Now it won't boot up.. I get the white screen as it tried to boot and th processing bar starts to fill up, but it never finishes. I have been told it's the hard drive.

I am ready to install a new SSD Samsung evo 850 drive, but how am I supposed to install the OS? Design is no longer my main career and I don't need a lot of the programs and extra stuff I once had. I also have most everything saved in the cloud so I would rather start fresh and not transfer the old OS over.

What are my options?

You can run the Apple Hardware Test to confirm first.  Basically boot your Mac up and hold the D key and you will be prompted for some instructions.

To reinstall your Mac with new SSD you can try the Internet Recovery. For this one you boot up your Mac holding down the Command + R keys.  It will take a very long time to complete depending on the speed of your Internet connection.  According to Apple this only works if you had OS X Lion or later.  I have also had mixed success with the Internet Recovery.

Second option to reinstall your Mac is to get a friend with a Mac to create a bootable USB for you.  I won't go into the details on how to create a bootable Mac USB because there is tons of questions like this on Stack Exchange already.  This would be my preferred way of reinstalling.

Creating bootable USB Links

How do I make a bootable USB flash drive a Mac?


Why does my MBP sleep on Mountain Lion and often not wake up I recently upgraded my Macbook Pro late 2010 to Mountain Lion (from Snow Leopard). Now it has this problem where it will sometimes sleep and not wake up. However, I hear that the computer is still on, since the fan is spinning, and so is the hard drive.

This happens intermittently, and I can't seem to isolate conditions of when it sleeps and wakes up, versus sleeps and doesn't. The battery is fine in all scenarios. Sometimes this happens when the MBP is plugged in.

The one constant thing I notice is when I close the lid, the front light will remain lit (but when it sleeps, the light will flash slowly). Then when I lift the lid, this light will go out.

The only way to get it to snap out of this "fake sleep" is to hold the power button until it shuts off, then start the computer again.

What's going on, and how do I fix it?

EDIT: This describes what I'm going through. Also this question, which has no answer.

I had a similar problem with my late 2012 MacBook Pro. It wouldn't wake after a long sleep: black screen but system running (I could access it via SSH).

Before trying any solution, I recommend you to reset the SMC and check if the problem persists.
Also run pmset -g in Terminal (it won't change or break anything) and take note of your current settings.

I solved this problem disabling hibernation, which was introduced by Apple with a firmware upgrade. I did this by running this command in Terminal:

sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0

To reset the original setting:

sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 1

The autopoweroff option is undocumented by Apple (doesn't appear in man pmset); it seems to be related with the "Deep Sleep" mode.


Recover Deleted Data from Malfunctioning Hard Drive I deleted some data accidentally on my Macbook a while ago, and then a couple weeks later the hard drive failed. Now my Macbook can't start normally. I took it to an Apple store and they told me they could replace the hard drive but I need to go somewhere else to extract the data. Is it possible for me to recover the data I deleted? Thank you in advance!

Sorry to say this but not very likely.

Especially if the HDD was used after the deletion for any period of time. The problem is that once files and directories are deleted there locations are removed from a table that maintains where they're located on the HDD. When these items are deleted, it's often the case that the data will remain on the HDD but just the location information is deleted, but the space they were using is released back into the available pool for reuse.

As new files are written to the HDD, this space, or portions of it, will get reused by the system with newly written files and directories.

So even if someone were able to recover these files & directories, they'd be only able to recover portions of them if anything.


Can I run multiple processes on admin user account while logged in to another account on OSX Server (Yosemite)? I am setting up a Mac mini home server as an HTPC and to run other processes (FileMaker Server, web dev server, etc.). I want to make a user with limited privileges to be logged into while Mac mini is connected to TV. However, I want other processes to be running on admin user account while I'm logged in to user with limited privileges. Is this possible or do I have to be logged in to the admin user to run the processes?

The services that are installed/managed via Mac OS X Server can run in the background and do not require a GUI login session. The Server application itself is just a config/monitoring tool and does not need to be running for the services to run. So it is quite OK to run those services and have a limited user logged into a GUI session.


Is there a way to get the OSX battery icon to display both percentage and time? I am working on a 2006 MacBook with Snow Leopard.

The battery level indicator has the option to show Time or Percentage remaining. I would like to show both.

Is there a way to enable this?
or
Can you recommend an app that will do it?

iStat Menu

offers to display both percentage and Time. http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

When running SL, you could get the old free version. However, it does not contain the battery menulet: http://mac.brothersoft.com/istat-menus-2.0.html


Badge count for number of items in a folder on the Dock? After clearing hundreds of items out of my Downloads folder, I'm eager not to repeat the process. Anyone know of a plugin/app/hack that will let me badge a folder in the Dock with the current number of items in that folder?

Such a badge would make it very apparent when I need to access/clear stuff out.

Unfortunately, I don't think that's possible, since badges are rendered using code that needs to be included in the app: Finder would need to integrate the code to tell its badge to change.

Consequently, third party apps, in theory, could get the file count of your Downloads folder, and they could code a badge to display it, but they wouldn't be able to access the Finder's dock tile objects: each app can only access their own, and app icons can't only be placed on the area of the dock reserved to folders and document aliases.

I couldn't find any utility that could solve this issue. I'm sorry. It's a great idea though, and I would totally love it if someone proved me wrong and posted an app capable of doing this, for I too have a pretty messy downloads folder.

The only way I found to get easily the item count is the status bar. Perhaps though, you could do a workflow in Automator or Apple Script Editor. I know Automator can make folder actions, which are run every time a file is added to a folder. It would just be a matter of keeping a count, I guess.

Sources: A bit of research on desktop badges in Apple's developer documentation. The examples there all show the desktop tile object needs to be accessed directly within code.

Hope it helps! And good luck.


iPhone custom label in contacts I am having trouble saving a contact with a custom label in iOS4. I received a phone call from a number not stored in my phone. After the call, I clicked the blue chevron next to the number >> Create New Contact >> Entered name info >> click "mobile" >> Add Custom Label >> Entered my label name >> Save

At this point, the phone number shows up correctly, with the custom tag. When I press Done, it goes back to the "mobile" tag.

I was able to do this in 3.x. Is this an iOS4 bug?

I did this when editing a contact a few days ago. So the functionality is there.


Setting up different passwords for Filevault 2 and my user account I'm currently setting up Carbon Copy Cloner to create a backup clone of my SSD. I'd like to be able to store the cloned drive's Filevault 2 password in the keychain so CCC can access it to automatically do backups on a schedule. However, I don't want to store my administrator password in the keychain. (I've heard of a few exploits that allowed malware to access stored passwords).

Is there a way to set up a separate Filevault password for the cloned drive?

I'm running a MacBook 8,1 with El Capitain 10.11.6.

No, you can't have CCC be able to unlock a drive without storing those credentials somewhere.  The best you could do is create a new account that has the ability to unlock the drive and store those credentials instead, which unlocks the drive but not your primary administrator account.


Command-line tool to ask remote server for current date-time On Mac OS X (such as 10.8 thru 10.11) is there a bundled command-line tool to ask a specific remote NTP time server for the current date-time?

I found ntpdc but this queries the ntpd utility which I assume means going through my already-defined NTP servers. I want to make a call outside of my pre-defined NTP servers.

Like this imaginary line where -s means server-address:

ntpclient -s time.euro.apple.com current

You can use sntp as standard query tool for either NTP or SNTP servers. You may get, set or adjust the time on your host with it.

E.g.

sntp time.euro.apple.com

shows the time

sntp -d time.euro.apple.com

shows a more verbose response including the current time.

Check man sntp or in the shell man sntp for more options.


Safari searches instead of connecting to localhost I am launching a jupiter-notebook on port 8888, but when I try to connect with Safari the browser goes automatically to search.

Firefox and Chrome work just fine, as Safari did before the last update.
Anyone else with the same problem? I checked a couple of posts recommended by StackOverflow (mostly about commenting the "::1 localhost" line in /etc/hosts) but it did not work.

Anyone else with the same problem?

I solved it.
It was related to the "Startpage" extension. Startpage is a search engine that is supposed to be private. However, it searches from the address bar, and I guess it does not recognize localhost.


Software for sorting images based on the image data (not file type) I have a bunch of photos that I have recovered from a corrupted hard drive and I need some way to sort them because all of my personal photos are mixed in with the operating system and application photos. I can't sort by file type because they are all of the same file type (png's or jpeg's) the only distinction between the images is just the image itself. Is there any software out there that can look at the image data alone.

You can use the built in features of OS X to help you narrow down your personal images from system and application images.

AFAIK most Application images and system images are not going to be large. Or wider then either 512 pixels or 1024 pixels.

So I assume all the files are in single folder and your personal ones are taken on a camera or Smart phone so will be of a larger size.

Use Command +F keys to bring up the search options for the open window of the folder.

Set up your search criteria too.

Kind is Image.

And either of the below or a combination.

File size is greater than 300kb

Pixel width is greater than 512

And so on.

There are many more options to use for the search under the other.. menu.

You can then move the ones remaining in the results out into a another folder.

Use iPhoto to import the potential personal ones for you final check

Hopefully you will only have a few that are not.


iMac 2011 - two external monitors I have an iMac from 2011 and there is already one external monitor connected via minidisplay port to dvi adapter. Today I wanted to connect another one, as the iMac features 2 minidisplay/thunderbolt ports. I bought a second adapter and hoped it would work just as easy – plug in and done. But the screen of that monitor stayed black, nothing happened at all. Do I need another adapter? Some additional software?

I believe you would like to take a look at this Endgadget link that explains (even with a video) what you need.

If you have two Thunderbolt ports (only the 27inch iMac), then those can support two external displays (confirmed by Apple, you can google that).

(this has been also asked on SuperUser)


DMG mounts but does not auto-open I have a DMG which I downloaded using Safari. When I double click it, the volume mounts but it doesn't open in a new Finder window.

Any idea why this would happen, and how I can fix the DMG so that it does? (PS - I've created the dmg and hope to distribute it, but it not auto-opening sucks)

Here are a few online guides to creating auto-opening DMG files.

From the first guide by Bill Bateman, step 23 seems to be the key:

  Click Convert on the toolbar. Enter a new filename and make sure the
  image format is compressed.  Click Save.  This creates a new image.

Another guide (via this post) has a bunch of information. The info regarding the auto-open piece is here:

  But we found that the .dmg doesn't always open up its window when
  mounted. This “autoOpen” utility solves that problem:
       http://autoopen.nibfile.com/

One of these two guides should help you set up the auto-opening DMG.


How do I remove the ".local" suffix from my computer's hostname? I used to have a Mac hostname as simply "macpro" under Snow Leopard. After doing a clean installation of Lion, then a migration to restore my files, it's now called "Georges-Mac-Pro".

What is the current recommended way to change the hostname (preferably to something that does not include ".local")? From some googling, it appears that $ hostname macpro won't stick permanently.

Just put macpro back in the sharing field.

The .local is there to catch fully qualified domain names and help with bonjour - you can't avoid that, but it won't show up anywhere but that pane.


allow sudo to another user without password I want to be able to 'su' to a specific user, allowing me to run any command without a password being entered.

For example:

If my login were user1 and the user I want to 'su' to is user2:

I would use the command:

su - user2

but then it prompts me with

Password:

sudo can do just that for you :)

It needs a bit of configuration though, but once done you would only do this:

sudo -u user2 -s

And you would be logged in as user2 without entering a password.

Configuration

To configure sudo, you must edit its configuration file via: visudo. Note: this command will open the configuration using the vi text editor, if you are unconfortable with that, you need to set another editor (using export EDITOR=<command>) before executing the following line. Another command line editor sometimes regarded as easier is nano, so you would do export EDITOR=/usr/bin/nano. You usually need super user privilege for visudo:

sudo visudo

This file is structured in different section, the aliases, then defaults and finally at the end you have the rules. This is where you need to add the new line. So you navigate at the end of the file and add this:

user1    ALL=(user2) NOPASSWD: /bin/bash

You can replace also /bin/bash by ALL and then you could launch any command as user2 without a password:  sudo -u user2 <command>.

If you want to be able to switch to any user just use

user1    ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/bash

Update

I have just seen your comment regarding Skype. You could consider adding Skype directly to the sudo's configuration file. I assume you have Skype installed in your Applications folder:

user1    ALL=(user2) NOPASSWD: /Applications/Skype.app/Contents/MacOS/Skype

Then you would call from the terminal:

sudo -u user2 /Applications/Skype.app/Contents/MacOS/Skype


Configuring Wi-Fi calling with MVNO Given a T-mobile issued iPhone that is Wi-Fi compatible and SIM unlocked,

How can I configure wifi calling to work with a corresponding Mobile Virtual  Network Operator (MVNO) (i.e. Mint Mobile)?

You do that by inserting the SIM-card from the MVNO, and then access Settings on the iPhone. In Settings, choose Cellular and then Wi-Fi Calling and turn it on.


Make iPhone apps think no external monitor connected How can I make iPhone apps think that no external display is connected?

I am using a 30-pin to A/V adapter, and an iPhone 4 GSM with 7.0.4 jailbroken.

I was hoping to use iFile to change a setting on the iPhone, but I'll try any solution.

Thank you for the help!

It Works!

I installed Flex per @AndrewLarsson and entered the name of the app that was detecting the external display.

I then went under UIKit, then searched UIScreen and returned pass-through on displayOut_actualScreens.

When I tested it with my AV adapter, the app did not know that there was an external display connected!

Many thanks to @AndrewLarsson for his help! Without it, I couldn't have figured it out.

UPDATE: False alarm. It wasn't working. I had gotten overly excited and missed the fact that IT DIDN'T WORK!!! I'm really sorry about that...


iPad: Show website full-screen with hidden controls, address bar and iOS status bar My iPad running iOS 12.0.1 is displaying a locked website to visitors.

How can I let browser full-screen, without URL bar and status bar? I couldn't find related options in Safari or Chrome.

Although it is possible for certain iOS apps (depending on the way they are programmed) to hide the status bar in iPhone and iPad, most of the app (barring games, video streaming apps) choose not to do so.

Safari and Chrome web browsers for iPad have no native control to take browser full screen. While scrolling through the webpage, however, the browser controls and address bar area shrinks to provide a bit more space for content.

While viewing streaming videos however, you do have an option to view it in fullscreen with browser controls hidden. While streaming video, Status bar is shown only when to tap on the screen to momentarily view playback controls.

Safari for iOS

Normal mode

Shrunk controls mode

Chrome for iOS

Normal mode

Shrunk controls mode

Video streaming, full screen mode


Using a wireless printer with an iPad Why my iPad cannot find the wireless printe?
When I am using my laptop it is working fine because I installed the printer cd.How can I print when using my new iPad?

If your printer doesnt specifically support AirPlay try an app called Printopia.

http://www.ecamm.com/mac/printopia/


iMac locking immediately after remote connection via Anydesk or Chrome Remote I upgraded my iMac Late 2013 to Catalina.  When I login through Anydesk or Chrome Remote Desktop I see my desktop for a split second and then im presented with the lock screen again.
While Anydesk is open, I can press 'switch user' in CRD which then shows me my screensaver.  Then if I start moving around the screen saver eventually quits and I can use my desktop in CRD, while anydesk still sees the switch user screen (the available users and the sleep/restart/shut down options)
After a fresh reboot I was on with CRD & Anydesk.  I closed CRD, and I was back to the starting issue where the screen just locks and using CRD at same time I was able to login.  Sometime later I ended up with total lockout - neither Anydesk or CRD will connect even though I know the Mac is online running scripts.
Two remote connections, same iMac:

I've also now put in Teamviewer and I have the same issue - as soon as I type my password it locks on me.  It sems like something is locking the cursor because with every letter I type the password field loses focus and I have to click again and quickly type the next letter.
These are the relevant options I can think of:

Energy Saver: Turn display off after 10 min, prevent auto sleep when display off, put disks to sleep when possible, wake for network, auto start on power failure, enable power nap.
Screen Saver: Start after Never
Amphetamine: Launch at login, start session when launch or waking sleep, indefinite duration, allow display sleep, (no screen saver, no forced sleep).  Lock screen after 15 min inactivity, allow display sleep when screen locked.

I have used Amphetamine with the chrome desktop app and it did work great.
My settings: Launch and start session (turned on).
2 screen saver off
3. Display sleep off
4. duration: 12 hours or 24 hours (Indefinitely setting didn't work for me)
All other default energy saver settings were off.


Shell script failing in Automator but works if I copy/paste into Terminal Workflow I'm trying to achieve:

Export SVG file from Adobe Illustrator to Desktop
Drag SVG file from Desktop onto Automator Droplet
Automator runs script (basic summary below)
Script executes and leaves me with on ICO

My script is:

ROOT=~/Desktop/
TRASH=~/.Trash/
INK=/Applications/Inkscape.app/Contents/Resources/bin/inkscape

$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_256.png -w 256 -h 256 $1
$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_128.png -w 128 -h 128 $1
$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_064.png -w 064 -h 064 $1
$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_048.png -w 048 -h 048 $1
$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_040.png -w 040 -h 040 $1
$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_032.png -w 032 -h 032 $1
$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_024.png -w 024 -h 024 $1
$INK --export-png $ROOTtest_016.png -w 016 -h 016 $1
convert $ROOTtest_*.png $ROOTTEST.ico
cp $ROOTtest_*.png $1 $TRASH

Summary of script:

Take SVG (from drag & drop) and export multiple PNGs at specified sizes
Take multiple PNGs and merge into one ICO
Send original SVG and PNGs to Trash

Errors / Problems:

When I test run the script in Automator I get this error: -: line 12: convert: command not found.  However, I can paste convert ~/Desktop/test_*.png ~/Desktop/Test.ico into Terminal and everything will work fine.  Any idea why Automator can't seem to find this command?
Even though line 12 may not be working properly I would still expect all the lines above it to work however I see no signs of them working.  Upon dropping an SVG onto the Automator Droplet I would expect to see 8 PNGs on my Desktop but nothing appears.  Even after deleting the last line that moves the PNGs and original SVG to the trash, nothing appears on my desktop.

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!

You have probably customized the command search path environment variable PATH to locate convert because it isn't installed in a standard OS X location.

When the Automator shell-script action runs a script it uses a non-interactive shell, which means it doesn't execute files like ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile. This means it uses the default environment and default command search path.

Moreover, it is a best-practice for shell scripts to use absolute paths for command executables so the script will always execute the one you intended, instead of relying upon the search path, which is primarily meant to be a convenience for interactive use of the shell. To discover the absolute path to the convert command, run which convert in a shell.


Multiple Apple TV connections to one iTunes Library I have 16 AppleTVs connected to a Video Wall, we want to share the iTunes/iPhoto libraries from a Mac mini containing family photos so we can show different photo albums in each screen (up to 16, one for each AppleTV in the video wall). Does anybody know how many simultaneous connections iTunes can support? We will showing personal media, no movies or music bought from the iTunes Store.

I don't see any reason why there would be a programmed limit since OS X server can serve hundreds of computers from the same share and to intentionally break the n'th connection would be poor form to program if there weren't a way to set that limit.

Photo sharing is very low bandwidth compared to HD video streaming, so you should not have any problem with 16 large images - even if they change once a second since a video stream is basically 24 fps and I've had more than three Apple TV stream from the same library on a MacBook Air without running into network bandwidth or IO contention issues.


How to determine what is modifying com.apple.loginitems.plist? The application DISH Anywhere Slingplayer (currently at v. 1.1.0.386) automatically attempts to add itself to the current user's Login Items, both at login time and at app startup time (I use Little Flocker, so I see the attempt to modify ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist.)

I am trying to disable this, without uninstalling or locking com.apple.loginitems.plist, but I can't figure out what setting/code is pulling this really crappy stunt.

Where can I start poking around to find the offending entries? (I already looked in /System/Library/StartupItems/, /System/Library/LaunchAgents/ and ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ but nothing obvious in there.)
[OS X 10.11.6]

The only other 2 locations I can think of that are Mac related and not within the app settings itself are /Library/LaunchDaemons (which you may have already checked when you checked /Library/LaunchAgents) and the preferences files for the app. If you have an appropriate application to examine them (like Xcode) you could take a look at:

~/Library/Preferences/com.slingmedia.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.slingmedia.setupassistant.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.slingmedia.slingplayer.plist

I personally do not have a slingbox or the app installed so I can't examine them myself but it would be a really 'crappy stunt' - as you put it so elegantly :) - if the app is designed to execute some code every time it launches to re-initiate the login item settings.


Is there a way to force a password check on a Macbook using Touch ID I like to be able to use Touch ID for quickly unlocking my Macbook, e.g. for when I've walked away from the machine for a few minutes but it's still in a safe place.

But I'd also like to be able to lock it properly, with a password, for when I'm taking it out of the office or otherwise want to enforce more security.

By default you need to enter your password after a system restart, or if you get 5 failed fingerprints in a row, or after no login for 48 hours.

Is there a command-line command, or a programmatic way to replicate this state, so I could script it using one of the various automation tools out there?

You're looking for the command line tool bioutil.  Probably with the -u option.

Usage:
bioutil {-r | -w [-f { 0 | 1 }] [-u { 0 | 1 }] [-a { 0 | 1 }]} | [-c] | [-p] | [-d <uid>] [-s]

Options:
    -r, --read                      Read current Touch ID settings
    -w, --write                     Write new Touch ID settings
    -s, --system                    Flag to read/write systemwide Touch ID settings or perform systemwide operations
    -f, --function                  Enable (1) or disable (0) Touch ID functionality in general (system settings only)
    -u, --unlock $value             Enable (1) or disable (0) Touch ID for unlock
    -a, --applepay $value           Enable (1) or disable (0) Touch ID for ApplePay (user settings only)
    -c, --count                     Print number of enrolled fingerprints of the current user or of all users (-s, administrator only)
    -p, --purge                     Delete all enrolled fingerprints of the current user or of all users (-s, administrator only)
    -d, --delete $uid               Delete all enrolled fingerprints of the given user (administrator only)


Is it possible to configure Internet Sharing to allow the computer to sleep? TL;DR: Internet Sharing is preventing my Mac from sleeping. I need to manually sleep the system on a regular basis. I want a way to configure Internet Sharing to stop preventing sleep.

I have an iMac at home in my bedroom too far away from my router, and I can't use wireless, also, 3G coverage here is awful, so I've enabled Internet Sharing so I can use my iPhone/iPad connected trough my iMac.

At work I am on a corporate network and wireless is somewhat lame and too restrictive, so I've enabled Internet Sharing on my MacBook Pro there too, so my iPhone can reach internal stuff.

The problem is: When I hit ⌘+⌥+⏏ (or  > Sleep) neither computer goes to sleep as desired; that is unless I disable Internet Sharing first.

At home I want the computer to sleep while I sleep (saves power + more silence) and at work when going home I want it to sleep too, so I don't have to close all connected apps (Adium, Colloquy, etc) and reopen again the next day.

How can I configure pmset or Internet Sharing so I can sleep my computer without running into this problem?

Note: I've already used pmset to check if there were other reasons and the offending pid is always com.apple.InternetSharing.

Edit: I realize that sleeping the computer will make it impossible to use Internet Sharing. I want it to sleep completely and I want Internet Sharing to be on again only when the computer awakes.

I have experimented with using ControlPlane to achieve what you want.  My preliminary result is that it will do what you want.

ControlPlane detects changes to your system called 'evidence sources'.  Changes are evaluated with 'rules' which define a change in 'context'.  Associated with each context are 'actions'.

One of the 'evidence sources' is a sleep/wake event.  So I have configured a rule so that on a sleep event (e.g. you have clicked sleep in the Apple menu), the context 'Sleepy Time' is triggered.  And for this context I have used the action 'ToggleInternetSharing' to off.

After clicking on Sleep, I get an alert saying that Internet Sharing is being turned off and after a little while (seems like forever but is probably only 10 or 20 seconds) the Mac goes to sleep.

And I have a second rule so that on a wake event the context 'Waking Up' is triggered and this has the action to set 'ToggleInternetSharing' on.

My Rules and Actions:

Try it!

This is just scratching the surface of what ControlPlane can do.


NVMe Samsung 960 evo (with adapter) + MBA mid 2013 Hello I recently upgraded my MBA with new ssd Samsung 960 Evo 250 GB. I am using adapter ("M key M.2 PCIe AHCI SSD Adapter as SSD for MACBOOK Air 2013 2014 2015 A1465 A1466 Pro A1398 A1502" from Ali). Everything worked fine - installation and running system for few days.

But now I have problems that it keeps itself turned off and now when I started MBA, I get error - folder with question mark and MBA keeps restarting.

Is there any way how to fix this, or I need different SSD?

As long as you know that the hardware you specified is indeed compatible with your make/model of MacBook I would first look into everything being installed properly. Make sure everything is seated correctly and there is nothing that does not belong.

You may also want to take the replacement/adapter out and inspect the area around where it is installed for foreign matter (dirt) use some canned air to clean out the system and parts. Inspect for damage (use a magnifying glass!).

Reinstall everything carefully and see if it is any better.

If the same symptoms persist you are faced with possibly replacing (under warranty, hopefully) the SSD and/or the adapter. Contact the reseller and see what they say. They may just take both back. I would be inclined to do just that as there is no way of telling which part is defective.


How to mark as READ all the e-mails received in iPhone? It's fine when you are clearing all your unread messages in a laptop or a desktop PC; but in iPhone? No good.

You see, at present, I mark my messages as read by individually tapping their checkboxes.

I'm not sure if the developers of iPhone thought about including this feature. But I'd like to find out is if there's a trick or I don't know, maybe there's something that would allow me to mark multiple messages to be already read not by checking them one-by-one?

I would appreciate the help!

This article on Lifehacker a few days ago shows a trick to mark all emails as read.

Quoting the article:

  Open up the Mail app and tap the Edit button.
  Select one message.
  Press and hold the Mark button at the bottom of the screen.
  While still pressing and holding the Mark button, tap the email you previously selected to unmark it.
  Release the Mark button.
  Tap the Mark as Read button.


Using iPhone as a camera I'm looking for a way by which I can see what I'm seeing while recording on another screen such as Macbook's screen or a monitor. For example, in this following image, I can turn the screen to myself to see myself while it is recording. Similarly, I wish to make the screen as Macbook's screen or a monitor while recording on my iPhone.

I generally never tend to encourage to buy software not to advertise, however, on Iphone Epoc Cam HD(paid version) does perfectly its job. I've just bought it with somewhat hesitation since its free version seems, at first glance, really shlocky. After some tests with a lightning cable, sound and by setting resolution to 1920x1980, it works like a charm.


What does the link symbol mean in the Wi-Fi network list on iOS? What does the "link" () mean in the Wi-Fi network list on iOS?

Example (see red rectangle):

It means it's not a regular WiFi, it's a computer-to-computer network. In this case, it means that your the Wifi network host is an iPhone sharing itself as a Hotspot and other properties may be available.
See also this Apple Support article.

For personal hotspot on iPhone 8 or earlier, you can also see how many devices joined your Hotspot.


Remove “Windows” Entry from Mac Boot Loader How can I delete the "Windows" option

I have tried several option, but nothing seems to work

I even wipe out the Mac and reinstall macOS Catalina and nothing.

It shows when I connect the USB with macOS Catalina to install

Here, I assume the flash drive is the only external drive plugged into your Mac.

Use the Disk Utility to erase the flash drive. Use the options shown below.

Next, transfer the Catalina files to the flash drive.

If you do not want to erase the flash drive, then follow these steps.

Open the Disk Utility.
From the View pulldown menu on the Disk Utility main window, select Show All Devices.
Highlight the flash drive.
Note the Device. You should see diskN were N is a integer.
In a Terminal application window, enter the following command. Replace N with the integer from the previous step.

sudo diskutil mount diskNs1

Note the name of the mounted volume. Here, I will assume the name was EFI. If you get a different name, make the appropriate substitution when entering the command given below.

VOLNAME="EFI"

Enter the following commands.

rm -rf "/Volumes/$VOLNAME/EFI/Boot"
rm -rf "/Volumes/$VOLNAME/EFI/Microsoft"
diskutil unmount "$VOLNAME"


saving contacts on iPhone 6 without bringing documents and data This has always been frustrating. I've restored my iPhone 6 a number of times, but when I bring the contacts from iCloud, the documents and data comes along for the ride. Is there any way to save contacts without anything else? I want to free up to my original amount of space.

Go to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and turn it off.
If you only want contacts you can turn off everything else you don't need there as well (Photos, Mail, etc.)


Why does iOS autocorrect some words but not others when using a bluetooth keyboard? I know that official iOS support for bluetooth keyboards is minimal, and that AutoCorrect is theoretically unavailable. (According to Meg St. Claire via the Apple support forums, this is by design). Yet iOS seems able to AutoCorrect some words but not others: it auto-capitalizes phrases like "The Lord," "Supreme Court," and "United States," complete with a drop-down suggestion box that can be dismissed with the [ESC] button. If you type "teh" on the other hand, it just red-underlines it, which can't be accessed via the keyboard; you have to tap it with your finger.

Things I've checked:

"Shortcuts" section in the settings -- none of the phrases I mentioned are there.
Not using TextExpander or any similar software.
The autocorrection appears system-wide -- not limited to any single app.

Is there any way to explain the idiosyncracy? I'm using an iPad running the latest version of iOS and an Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

The autocorrect built into iOS since the first iPhone release has been a "smart" autocorrect. It is designed so that we can type quickly, trusting that the keyboard will usually get it right. I've found this to be the case, with the need to only occasionally go back after typing a paragraph to make a correction or two.

In contrast to what you said, I've found that typing "teh" does automatically change to "the" if I continue typing, trusting the keyboard to fix it. There are exceptions. Something to be aware of is that if you use the Backspace key, the keyboard will assume you're manually fixing something; as an example, if you type "teh", don't type any other keys after that, then backspace the "h" and type the "h" again, when you continue by pressing the spacebar, it won't autocorrect the word to "the".

The keyboard gets smarter if you train it by canceling its incorrect suggestions.

It isn't perfect. Sometimes I've noticed that it tries to change "the Lord" to "The Lord" in the middle of a sentence, which is not proper grammar. It also sometimes tries to incorrectly change "its" to "it's", and no matter how many times I correct it, the keyboard doesn't seem to learn from these two mistakes.


How can I use bluetooth to transfer files between my iPhone 6 and my Windows 10 laptop? I had the (possibly mistaken) belief that one of the functions of Bluetooth was to easily transfer files between two nearby devices. I could certainly do this with my Android phone and my Linux laptop.

I now have an iPhone and a Windows laptop for work and I can't seem to transfer files between the two. Is one or other of the operating systems crippled in some way, or am I doing something wrong? The devices are paired* but sending files does not succeed.

  * well they used to be. Windows still thinks they are, but iOS is now saying my laptop "is not supported" (something changed in recent update to iOS 11???)

iOS 11.x does not support sending files using the Bluetooth OBEX protocol. So unfortunately you can't transfer files using this method.

You may be able to transfer files over Wi-Fi with apps like FileExplorer.


I have a problem about Backup and Sync in mac big sur? I got an error when i open Backup and Sync in macos big sur:
I've tried to uninstall it, reboot the computer, installed it again,but error again...
and I've tried to type the code(sudo chmod a+wx ~/Library/"Application Support"/Google) in terminal but still, error jumped
How can i solve it?

The current Big Sur release is an early beta, you should report any errors you find directly to Apple.


Is iMessage open source? My Google searches didn't turn up very many results on the subject. If it is open source, can someone link to the documentation?

No, iMessage is not open source.

Proprietary Software

iMessage is proprietary software owned and operated by Apple. iMessage operates exclusively on Apple devices.


Best solution to force MacBook Pro 2011 to use integrated graphics (discrete graphics still working though) After changing my AMD Radeon HD graphic card again, and seeing so many complains about the MacBook Pro 2011 issue online, I decided to plan to make the my MacBook only work with Intel HD 3000 graphics no matter what, to avoid the amd discrete graphics from ever overheating and failing again. I saw so many suggestions online about this, but I haven't found a real solution if the AMD is still working, and it needs to be disabled all the time no matter the application running. Please, I need suggestions. I don't want this AND graphics to fail on me again, if I keep on using it or in automatic graphics switching. Thanks.

The only walk-around, that works is described here: How to disable discrete graphics card and use only integrated graphics MacBook Pro Early 2011?. In short: remove kernel drivers for the discrete gfx card. It will make the MacOs work in the fallback mode without 3d acceleration.

To control the brightness of your screen, I recommend to use: brightness slider. Because, the standard way of changing screen brightness will not work.

ps. The only way, I know, is to overheat your Mac as suggested here and use gfxstatus to force MacOS to use the integreted gfx. Still, MacOS might switch back to discrete gfx for some applications.

If you want to change OS, check this question: Can I use Linux in a 2011 Macbook Pro with a defective discrete GPU?


Changing to a different WiFi connection I'm using MacBook Air running MacOS Sierra and using an IP address(provided by my college) that has been bound to my device's MAC address manually.

ie- My device's MAC address is has been bonded with a specific IP address provided by the College's network administrators.

So, I've manually configured the network connection with that specific IP address.

Now, when I connect to my phone's wi-fi (Redmi 4A), it gets connected (DHCP), the internet works well and after 2-3 minutes the internet finally disconnects even though I'm still connected to my phone's wi-fi.

Is this due to the manual network settings set only for the IP address provided by the college.

EDIT: :

I found that the manual setting for the college wifi is causing a problem. When connecting to phone's wifi, the Using DHCP option doesn't get automatically selected.

So, what I did is that when connecting to my phone's wifi, I selected the Using DHCP and it worked well.

But the problem now is that when I reconnect to my college wifi, the Configure IPv4 now shows Using DHCP which I had previously selected when connecting to my phone's wifi.
Hence, when connecting to the college wifi, all the manual settings have disappeared and I have to fill the configuration details again.

Please suggest some workaround to deal with the above problem. I don't want to reconfigure all the manual settings again and again when I switch between the 2 wifis.

To connect to your phones hotspot you will need to set Configure IPv4 to Use DHCP.

To have different network settings for the same interface you can set up network locations. For instance, add a new location for college with the IPv4 settings you've specified, and when you're using your phones hotspot or somewhere that doesn't require manual setup, use the default Automatic location.


Which Trans Music Manager equivalents exist for OS X? I have a Denon DP-200USB turntable that converts analogue records (LPs) into MP3s (one MP3 per side) and stores them onto a USB memory stick.

This lovely piece of kit comes with some software called Trans Music Manager (PDF) that will automatically split tracks (based on silence between tracks) followed by naming and tagging them using Gracenote.

Sadly this software runs under Microsoft Windows, for which I don't have a licence.

Are there any solutions out there that can do this easily under Snow Leopard? Free and open-source software is preferred, but paid-for alternatives would be considered.

I haven't personally tried it, but AudioSlicer may be a good candidate

  AudioSlicer is a Cocoa GUI application
  for Mac OS X that finds all silences
  in an audio file and allows you to
  split it into several smaller audio
  files and to name/tag them properly.

Doesn't seem to do the Gracenote tag fetching, but you could use Jaikoz (tag from MusicBrainz db) or SimpleTagger (tag from Amazon db) for that.


iPhone: What is `accountsd` and why is it using 80% CPU? I just got a new iPhone 6 for my SO and noticed that it is quite toasty to handle with the battery draining quite fast.  It has been 24 hours since I first set it up.  I plugged it into Instruments and loaded the Activity Monitor and noticed that accountsd is chewing through 80% of the CPU:

What is accountsd on iOS and why is it chewing up so much CPU?

Accountsd and cloudd manage iCloud. There's an insanely annoying bug which lots of people have where a sign into icloud password prompt comes up every few seconds and you can't sign out of find my phone.


How can I insert symbols on iPad or iPhone? How can I insert symbols like copyright or degree symbols?

For many symbols or characters with diacritics (e.g. accents) you can press and hold a related key to insert variations.

º - For the degree symbol, press and hold the 0 button (on the mac you can press Option+0[zero, not letter o])
© - For the copyright symbol, on the mac the shortcut is Option+g. Unfortunately pressing and holding g on the iPhone/iPad doesn't provide an option for the copyright symbol.

As an alternative, you can use glyphboard, or copy and paste the symbols from a note, email that you create on your computer.


Move album from iTunes on PC to Macbook wirelessly I have just used iTunes to import a CD on my desktop Windows 7 PC.

I'd actually like the CD on my Macbook Pro's (El Capitan) iTunes library; I've been using iTunes' Music Sharing to access it in the past.

How can I "wirelessly import" this CD from my PC's iTunes onto my Macbook's?

The two iTunes libraries use different iTunes accounts.

I wouldn't bother with looking for an iTunes based solution. Instead I would:

Locate the audio tracks in Windows Explorer.
Transfer the tracks to your Mac by whatever means you have (direct network connection, Dropbox etc.).
Import the tracks into iTunes on Mac (e.g. by double-clicking them in Finder).


Since upgrading to Yosemite, why is the screensaver unresponsive for a few random seconds after it starts? Since I've upgraded to 10.10 (from 10.8), the screensaver is now unresponsive for some random seconds (~1 to 10) after it starts.

This is very annoying, since I like to have a short "screensaver: start after" time, coupled with a "security: require password after", so that the screensaver starts, but I immediatly hit a button and I can get back to work.

I've already had to increase the "require password after" from "5 seconds" to "1 minute", but this doesn't save me from wasting those unresponsive seconds each time...

It likely was screensaver's fault: I was using "Word of the day", it hasn't happened any more since I've switched to "Classic".


Is there a Terminal shell command to compare the contents of folders? Sometimes you may want to see the differences in folders in order to:

See what files are different
See what files are missing
See what files have been added

Which may prove useful if you wish to keep the contents of two folders the same, or to show if files have changed between the local and remote copy of the folder.

Is there a way to show this comparison using Terminal or otherwise?

Yes. The diff command will do exactly what you want. To use it just type diff -rq and either drag the folders you want to compare into the terminal window or type the folders' path yourself.

The -r is to recursively compare any subdirectories found, and the -q toggles diff into brief mode. Without it, diff, will not only tell you which files are different, but also the actual line-by-line differences for any text files that exist in both locations but are not identical.

On the other hand, Kaleidoscope is a great Application to compare text, images and folders in a very neat and clean way. You can even merge changes with it.


Macbook Pro retina 13: why 1280x800 (no HiDPI) looks blurry? I have a macbook pro 2.5Ghz i5 retina 13 inches. I'm running Mountain Lion. When I change the resolution to 1280x800 (no HiDPI) it looks blurry, more blurry than a non-retina 13 inch macbook pro. Why is this? I don't understand this since its 1/2 of the native resolution.

Thanks

Every monitor does better in its native resolution (yours is 2560x1600).
That's because the monitor always "adjusts" (scales the pixels) from the resolution you set to its "native".

For the best clarity you must set the resolution of your system to 2560x1600.


Has the account that customers use to log into Apple services always been known as an Apple ID? Has the account that customers use to log into Apple's various services always been known as an "Apple ID" - or was this originally known as a different name? As an example - when the iTunes Store originally launched, no reference is made as to the name of the account that customers used at the time to make purchases - and if a different name was used at some point in previous years, I haven't been able to find any references as to when it was renamed to "Apple ID".

I still have .mac .me & .icloud addresses & also one from my own domain I first registered with iTunes in maybe 2005 & I don't remember it ever being called anything other than an Apple ID.
I just found this from when I joined the iTunes Store in 2005…

and this from .mac in 2004 [pictures are long gone, only text remains]

I don't have anything from earlier - I had an unfortunate break in my email storage in 2001, so have nothing older, but that probably covers it.


How can I create a running total in Apple Numbers (4.0ff)? A typical use of a spreadsheet is to create a running total, as for a checkbook register.  The usual way to do this is to simply add a current row to a prior row.  My example is a variation -- showing the accumulation of bills over time.

In text, the formula for "Amount" in row "Homeowners" is

   ($Amount Homeowners) +
IF (ROW() = ROW($Amount $electric Nov), 0, Calculate via Prior Sum electric Nov)

However, things get a little sticky if you want to interpose some notes (cell background red here) or whatever:

It fails in either column, and ruins all successive values

The way I got around this today was to generate a range dynamically and use the SUM operation on it.  SUM ignores non-numeric entries:

The formula I use sets a fixed initial cell to start the running total, column "Amount" in row "electric Nov".  I can't use regular tricks, I need to generate the range dynamically for each row using INDIRECT.  This requires I create a string identifying the range to sum up.  This range should only go up to the current row (which is what makes it a running total).  I don't want to use fixed columns A, B, C, etc., which break if I need to shift columns around; I need to use the initial cell with the numeric column number, and I must use the "R1C1" cell notation instead of "A1".

So I concatenate the (unchanging) row and column numbers from the initial cell, a colon (:) to indicate a range, and then the current row number and column number.  I have pretty-printed the formula (at least I think it's pretty!) below.

    SUM (
        INDIRECT (
           CONCATENATE (
               "R",
               ROW ($Amount $electric Nov),
               "C",
               COLUMN($Amount $electric Nov),
               ":",
               "R",
               ROW(),
               "C",
               COLUMN($Amount $electric Nov)
           ),
           FALSE
         )
    )

Note that this goes quite gracefully past non-numeric entries to give a reliable running total.

I hope this helps someone out there!


Can I use a Mac Pro for my office and run Parallels for my Windows-based ERP software? I have a small business that runs a Windows-based network.  I'm wondering if I can set up a Mac Pro, with virtual servers, and use Parallels for my ERP software?  Basically, can I have a Mac-based server and still run my business software?

Both Parallels or VMware Fusion will work for you.

My personal preference is for VMware.


When will app reviewed from apple after rejection of app due to metadata rejection? I have submitted my app on August 20th for apple review. But my app was rejected by apple on 29th of august due to metadata rejection .On 30th of august again I  have submitted my app for review..

So My question is when will apple reviews app usually, if submitted after rejection.

Any help is appreciated

thank you

Normally, a metadata resubmission takes less than a day.

But that is extremely misleading.

Many think you have to resubmit after correcting the data. This is wrong. Clicking "Submit for Review" puts your app in the back of the queue. Meaning it will take another week or so.

The correct way is to reply to the resolution center message saying you corrected the error. Follow this guide for details.


ssh is no longer working from the commandline I was trying to stop ssh from terminating after 10 minutes.

I followed an instruction here saying to modify a config file and restart the service with:

sudo launchctl stop com.openssh.sshd

Now ssh pi@12.34.567.89 just hangs.

I've reverted the config file and rebooted the machine but it still hangs.

How to fix?

PS sudo launchctl start com.openssh.sshd + another reboot also fails.

[pi@pis-iMac] ~
> launchctl list | grep ssh
-   0   com.openssh.ssh-agent

You may need to load the service again.

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist


How difficult is it to replace the keys on the Apple Wireless Keyboard? I wish the plastic Apple uses for keys was as good as the electronics and the cases. I had vowed never to buy Logitech keyboards and mice because their electronics are fine, but their plastic cases are so poorly engineered those devices collapse within a year. By comparison, one can get many years of an Apple keyboard. The aluminum cases are solid.

I understand that, officially, only the keys on MacBooks can be replaced. The keys on the old (Apple Wireless Keyboard) and those on the new (Magic Keyboard) cannot be replaced. Officially.

The keys, as you see, are now rather grating to use, and the notches gradually disappear, making it harder to touch-type. I see individual keys offered on eBay. They seem to be salvaged, not new.

If Apple declines to change them officially, how much skill is needed to replace such a key by the end user? Is the plastic underneath particularly breakable?

Update

OK, I see that ifixit says: "Keys can be easily [italics added] removed by using a scalpel or fingernail under the left side and lifted."

Is this "easy" by ifixit's standard only? Have you succeeded in replacing several such keys without getting one broken? (which would render the entire device useless).

That older model has key caps that are far easier to fix than the new low profile keyboards.

They are still not easy and by the time the keys wear out, the plastic scissors are likely equally worn or fragile. You’ll probably want half a dozen “donor” keyboards for parts if you decide to DIY repair these era of keyboards. But with a skilled technician, what you ask is doable without special tools and large stockpile of 100% new parts.


How to map one album in Photos? In Photos, I can press the 'Places' button and see a map with all my photos.
How do I get the map to show the photos of only one album?

In Photos for Mac OS:

Visit the album you'd like a Places map for.
Click Show as memory at the top of the main window (located directly under the name of the album).
Scroll down, and you'll see a Places map with only the photos of the active album.


Dock stack with multiple folders I like to have a stack in my dock with my applications folder in it, but some applications (especially games installed by Steam) appear in my ~/Applications folder, instead of my /Applications folder.

Is it possible to have a stack displaying the merged contents of both folders?

The short answer is, no.

You CAN create Aliases of the two folders, then drop them into another folder (which you then drag to the dock) but this only gives you those folders in a dock folder...

BUT... you can have them operate within one folder.. And you might like this option...

create a folder that you'll use to drop into the dock.
make aliases of both the ~/App folder and the /App folder
drop them in that folder
put it in the dock
right-click on it and mark it as a List.

Now it'll allow you to "spring into" each of those sub folders on the fly....

look at this URL: http://www.macworld.com/article/1160337/dock_access.html


photo recovery after iPhone "Erase Data" Is there any way to recover the photos from an iPhone which has been "erased" after several consecutive failed passcode attempts?

Unfortunately, these photos were not backed up.  Apple techs grudgingly suggested that the data was still there...

Which iPhone OS and model do you have? The newer ones encrypt the data and the erase deletes the key. The chances of DIY recovery are slim. If you pull it off, you probably can get hired for iPhone forensics and make some serious salary doing that professionally.

Older devices are more amenable to typical recovery efforts. Either way you will need a forensic tool like PhoneView to access the filesystem. Once mounted you could try something like Data Rescue. Neither tool was designed for this, so you should try the free versions first before spending money on them.

The professional data recovery houses will likely charge an arm and a leg to get your data back - but at least you can get a quote if you really need them back at all cost.

Be sure to double check your camera roll isn't backed up to iTunes or on Time Machine. It would be far simpler to restore the device to an old backup and get the photos off intact. You would lose any photos taken after the backup time, though.

If you have enabled data security (iOS 4.3 and iPhone 4 are one combination that enables this security), you're likely deep in the hurt locker. See iOS 4: Understanding data protection to tell if you enabled data protection. In a nutshell, that means the filesystem was encrypted and the erase destroyed the key to the encrypted files. You will need industrial grade forensics to get things back if the phone was powered off immediately after the erase. Using it after the erase will rapidly overwrite the scrambled data irreversably.


iBooks Author Latex Question Any idea how would you go about drawing a 3x3 matrix in iBooks Author?

My Latex formula which works on other platforms is

$$\left[\begin{array}{ c c c }1 & 1 & 1 \2 & -1 & 1 \ 1 & 2 & -1\end{array} \right]$$

iBooks simply says "invalid equation".

Cheers

Nick

iBooks Author only supports a subset of LaTeX, see iBooks Author: About LaTeX and MathML support for a full list of supported commands.

From looking at the samples in the support document, something like

\begin{matrix}
1 &  1 &  1 \\
2 & -1 &  1 \\
1 &  2 & -1 \\
\end{matrix}

should work.


Apple ID or password entered incorrectly I just tried to update some apps but it's telling me apple Id or my password I entered is wrong (it isn't). My Apple ID is same as before.

I Then tried to reset my password.
Even after that it is still saying my Apple ID or my password is entered wrong. I chose the option to answer a security question and put the correct answer in but it tells me my information is incorrect.

I have been on the phone with Apple support this afternoon for more than 30 minutes and they still couldn’t fix it.
I know the information I'm giving is correct but Apple is still unable to help me.

What should I do?

Sometimes the servers go down. If you try again in a couple of hours you may find that everything is back to normal.

I have had this happen on a few occasions.


How can I edit contacts at Skype iPad version? It just seems nonsense that you can't edit contacts at Skype iPad version, I know less is more, but perhaps too less is actually less.

So how can you edit contacts at Skype iPad version?

It appears that it is currently not possible to edit contacts in Skype for iPad.

This Skype KB article mentions viewing and deleting contacts, but makes no mention of editing contacts. This is in contrast to the related articles for other systems such as Windows/Mac that does mention editing contacts.

How do I manage my contacts in Skype for iPad?

In addition, this Skype Community thread asks the question and is met by a moderator's response mentioning that it is not possible:

Skype for iPad/Editing Contacts