macOS Mojave Shutdown cause I am working on macOS Mojave unified logs,which are as follows:

2019-04-29 11:16:07.480418+0900 0xc2       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: 5
2019-04-29 11:16:16.029045+0900 0x708      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 0)
2019-04-29 11:16:16.029046+0900 0x708      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 0)
2019-04-29 11:16:16.029048+0900 0x708      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a SYS_PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 1)
2019-04-29 11:16:16.029049+0900 0x708      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a SYS_PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 1)
2019-04-29 11:16:16.029051+0900 0x708      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a THRMTRIP# event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 3)
2019-04-29 11:16:16.029051+0900 0x708      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a THRMTRIP# event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 3)
2019-04-29 11:31:33.524822+0900 0xc2       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: 1
2019-04-29 11:31:42.320623+0900 0x71f      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 0)
2019-04-29 11:31:42.320623+0900 0x71f      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 0)
2019-04-29 11:31:42.320625+0900 0x71f      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a SYS_PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 1)
2019-04-29 11:31:42.320626+0900 0x71f      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a SYS_PWROK event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 1)
2019-04-29 11:31:42.320628+0900 0x71f      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a THRMTRIP# event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 3)
2019-04-29 11:31:42.320629+0900 0x71f      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOPlatformPluginFamily)    Shutdown cause was a THRMTRIP# event (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 3)

What do the following mean:

Previous shutdown cause: 5 (Previous shutdown cause on High Sierra means normal shutdown). Can it be the same in Mojave?
"Shutdown cause was a PWROK event" (Same as GEN_PMCON_2 bit 0)
"Shutdown cause was a THRMTRIP# event"

Comments/observations are welcome

Yes, a shutdown cause value of 5 means it was a totally normal shutdown.

A "Shutdown cause was a PWROK event" basically means that your system shutdown with no power supply issues - as in PWROK = Power Okay.

A "Shutdown cause was a THRMTRIP# event" basically means that your system shutdown due to a thermal trip - most likely due to overheating - so your Mac shuts down to protect itself from damage.


How do I download Remote.app on an iOS 6 only device? When I try to download Remote.app or Find my friends on a device that is stuck on iOS 6 I am presented with this alert?

  This application requires iOS 7.0 or later.

  You must update to iOS 7.0 in order to download and use this
  application.

Is there anyway around this if I've previously downloaded these applications on my device but deleted them?

Did you backup your phone to your computer? If so, you probably have the old version of the app in the Mobile Applications folder inside your iTunes folder. If you only backed up to iCloud I think you may be out of luck.


Power for my US laptop in Europe I just bought a MacBook Pro in USA. I will get it home in Greece (220V, 50Hz).

What is the usual thing to do, without having to buy a whole new charger? Maybe I can find only the cable somewhere?

Edit:

An adapter, like the one suggested should do the trick, but I will have to carry that with me forever. So, I think it makes sense to check if the thing I have circled can be bought (it seems it can be removed (thus if I can buy a European one, Type C, I will be able to insert it there)):

You could purchase the "Apple World Travel Adapter Kit" from an Apple Store or from Apple.com before you leave. I do not know if this kit is available overseas (not the US). $39

EDIT #1:

You could also purchase this adapter for only $9. It's much cheaper, and appears to work in Greece. $9

EDIT #2:

If you want just the piece that goes into the existing charger, check out this US to Europe Converter. $5


How to stop Amazon Prime Day popups My iMac runs High Sierra, and I use Safari. Both are fully updated.

This week, I am presented with recurring popups advertising Amazon Prime Day. I have cleared Safari's caches and cookies for all sites Amazon and Prime. "Block popups" is checked in Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data. Safari also runs the Safari extension Wipr, which is likewise up to date. Quits-and-restarts, both of the OS and Safari, are unavailing.

While the popups are easily dismissed, they're annoying. Other than these, I don't see popups or ads.

Have any of you ideas how I might successfully block them, or find their source?

Try this:

Download & Install AdBlock
Right click on the popup and select "Block This Ad"

Drag the slider until the popup is gone
Click "Looks Good"

Note: Example of blocking Google logo on homepage


How can I force Mac OS X 10.9 to see the ethernet port of my hub (Asix AX88179)? I already downloaded (and installed !) the latest file from ASIX.com, which is the latest to this day, but System Information does not list the port as being available when I connect the USB 3 Hub directly to the USB 3 port of my MBP.

Mike Ohlsen wrote here that when plugging the hub into another USB Hub, and not directly into his Mac, then OS X does detect the ethernet interface and displays the device in the System Information.

I can confirm this. But this is not useful in the long run since this defeats the whole idea of having a SuperSpeed Hub in the first place !

Leif's solution doesn't work in 10.9. That is :

sudo kextunload -b com.asix.driver.ax88179_178a
sudo kextload -b com.asix.driver.ax88179_178a

as I get this reply in Terminal :

com.asix.driver.ax88179_178a failed to load - (libkern/kext) not found; check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8).

And anyway it would be a terrible hassle to have to do this each and every time.

But when my "USB 3 Hub with Ethernet" is connected through a USB 2 Hub, then the kext is loaded (inexplicably for me) :

MBP-computer:~ username$ kextstat -l | grep asix
  137    0 0xffffff7f82879000 0x8000     0x8000     com.asix.driver.ax88179-178a (1.0.0) <36 34 7 5 4 3 1>

In case you wonder :

Hence my question :

How can I force Mac OS X 10.9 to see the ethernet port of my hub (Asix AX88179) ?

Since we see that Mac OS X 10.9 can see the port when the hub is connected through another hub
Since that port indeed works in this configuration, showing that the port is functional (the hardware is effectively working, so is the driver)

After I posted my comment, I contacted support of my product (ianker.com) and after few email exchange they sent me a replacement dongle claiming that I had a defective unit.

I was skeptical but the replacement actually worked!  MacOSX immediately recognised it when I plugged it in directly into the Mac.


PackageMaker problem I'm trying to include a KEXT in an installer package (via PackageMaker 3.0.6(201) ) but I cannot get past following error:

  Could not rename "Payload"

There is pretty much NO INFO on this when Googling. Help ???

PackageMaker is unsupported by Apple and would not of been updated to work on newer versions of OS X, most likely the cause of your problem.

The answer to PackageMaker alternative? seems to provide an alternative pkgbuild.


System fails to recognize main macos boot partition after Ubuntu dual booting attempt I recently attempted, and temporarily succeeded, in dual-booting Ubuntu and MacOS Mojave on my MacBook Air. After I installed and successfully tested Ubuntu, I tried to use Disk Utility to create a third partition in ExFat to be shared between the two operating systems. After running for a while, Disk Utility quit unexpectedly, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. I tested the new partition on MacOS, and it seemed to work fine. However, when I rebooted my Mac while holding Option, the only bootable disk that showed up was Ubuntu. The output of Disks on Ubuntu (attached image) shows me that the main partition (191 GB Unknown) is no longer recognized, the Shared partition I just created is inexplicably recognized as HFS+ instead of ExFAT as intended.

Is there any way for me to restore MacOS without formatting the damaged partition?

From Ubuntu, you need to run the command gdisk.

Open a Terminal. Basically, press the control+alt/option key combination.
Enter the command given below to execute gdisk.

sudo gdisk /dev/sda

If the version is not at least 1.0.4, then enter the q command to exit gdisk. Next, enter the commands given below to update gdisk, then return to step 2. Otherwise, proceed to step 4.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gdisk

Enter the following when prompted by gdisk. This will change the type for the macOS partition to APFS.

t
2
af0a
w
y

References

GPT fdisk Tutorial
Man page of gdisk


Is it possible to "window" fullscreen games? Is it possible to force an OpenGL app into a window instead of fullscreen canvas?

I'm using two displays and would like to use the other, while playing a game on one display. Since fullscreen makes the secondary display go black, this it not possible by now.

I'm not sure if there is a generic way, but a lot of games give you the option if you hold down option when starting.


How can I verify that a DIY Fusion Drive is working as it should? I installed an SSD in my 2011 Mac Mini to run alongside the stock 500GB HDD. After carefully reading through a number of tutorials, I used Terminal to merge them into a single "Fusion Drive". I cloned my data back over, and all seems to be running perfectly. I'm seeing a very nice bump in speed in starting up and launching apps, and other disk-intensive activities.

In browsing through various articles and forum posts on the topic, I see some people claiming success doing this with various Mac models, but others claiming that home-brewed Fusion Drives may not actually be migrating data correctly between the SSD and HDD. In particular, this OWC tutorial claims that this ONLY works with a 2012 Mac Mini because "these are the only machines that currently have a version of Disk Utility that can create a Fusion volume". In the comments, the authors further state that

  According to our techs, when using any version of Disk Utility other
  than the one that came with the 2012 Mac mini, it will appear as
  though you have a Fusion Drive, but it will not behave as such. You
  would be essentially creating a standard Core Storage volume rather
  than Fusion.

My question is: is there a way, without buying specialized dignostic software, to verify whether or not the essential "fusion" of data migration is occurring between HDD and SSD?

You can use the command-line iostat tool to monitor disk activity on a per-drive basis.

Runnning iostat disk1 disk2 1 will give you an output of disk activity for disk1 and disk2 every second. You'll want to change the disk identifiers to match those of your HDD and SSD.

By running this command while you write a bunch of data to your drive (the dd command can be useful for this), you can watch which drives the writes are hitting. Once you fill up your SSD, it should start writing to the HDD, and once the writes are done, you should see some activity transferring ~4 GB off the SSD to the HDD.

You can also test whether data is promoted off the HDD by reading some data off the HDD (again, dd is useful for this). Depending on how much use your Fusion drive has already had, you may need to repeatedly read the same data in order to get it promoted, but once it happens, you should see some transfer activity, once you're done all your reading.

For some more detailed descriptions of how and what to look for on a DIY Fusion drive, check out the latest posts on this Tumblr.


Does the 2011 Macbook Air come with a OS reinstall USB drive? Reading through other questions I learned that the 2010 Air came with one, but I don't remember noticing any USB drives when I unboxed my 2011 Air (days ago).

According to Apple.com it does not:

In the Box

MacBook Air
45W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, and power cord
Printed and electronic documentation

The air uses Internet Recovery to boot from Apple's servers and then recreate the Recovery HD if needed to re-install Lion (which also will download from the internet). You will only need media if you can't get to an internet connection and have the existing Recovery HD go bad.


Difficulties opening PDFs in Preview When I am working with 10 – 15 open windows in Preview I often accounter the problem that I can't open a new PDF-window. Instead I need to open it in iBooks to make it work. I have no other PDF viewers installed.

Has anyone else had this problem and does any one know what I can do about it?

Preview has 2 settings for opening files.

One is Open all files in same window

the Second one is Open all files in separate window.

The open all files in one window side bar will show all files, and will add a new open file toit.

But, check your settings for Sort by in the side bar, pending those setting the new file might not open at the bottom of the list, so with 15 files open you might miss it.


macOS wastes RAM on Mac with 64Gb RAM Last week I've switched from my old Macbook 15" 2014 16Gb to Macbook 16" 64Gb. With my old mac I was quite comfortable to run Chrome, Lightroom, VSCode and even VM at the same time.

A 2-day fresh Mac right after system restart consumes ~16Gb of RAM... It's not a file cache, it's apps memory which reserved and not available to other apps. No software installed, no apps in autorun, only Apple services.

Here is the list of processes right after a system restart.

Why opendirectoryd is using 800Mb? I'm not even using Open Directory functionality. Why loginwindow requires 800Mb of memory? A corebrightnessd responsible for Night Shift functionality — 420Mb?

What the hell is going on? Why a fresh system is wasting 16Gb(!!!) of RAM just for nothing? This RAM is enough to run several ram-hungry apps.

Can we control that somehow using internal settings like sysctl?

No - there’s not a sysctl to change this on macOS that I’m aware of. The first accommodation for server workloads is to enable more processes, but that won’t affect vm allocation or recompiling the frameworks.

If for some reason you are running more server workload and want to sacrifice a little single threaded performance to let lots of daemons run well - try enaBling performance mode for server and get Apple’s tuning for that workload.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202528

I see this as efficient use of the RAM as there’s a long history of caching aggressively and loading frameworks off disk when referenced, then balancing later on macos:

Isn't Inactive memory a waste of resources?

To convince yourself this is as designed, you could make a new user account, disable auto log in for any migrated accounts and get a clean restart. Per my comments, nothing looks to be drastically out of the design intent of macOS. If you wanted to dig deeper into your exact memory allocation:

Grab a sysdiagnose from the brand new account
Grab a sysdiagnose from your account now and in a couple days once all the third party apps you have installed are updated / stable.
Push the kernel and virtual memory subsystem a bit with actual apps running - the system is going to throw RAM at anything since you have so much. I see this more froM the viewpoint that it’s wasteful to power 64 GB of RAM and not allocate it.

The system doesn’t need free RAM for anything except a new allocation.

There’s zero chance your Mac can’t allocate a ridiculous amount of RAM instantly in the above snapshot with >32 GB still free.

There a long history of expectations about memory management from perspectives of other OS / other kernels / and legitimate learning curves on macOS so I don’t doubt you’re worried a little, but we may need to get into an actual problem.


Getting “Unable to Check for Update” error when trying to update to iOS 13.1 I’m currently running iOS 13. When trying to update to iOS 13.1, I get the following error after opening the software update screen:

I’m using an iPhone XS Max. I’ve tried the following without success:

Restarting the phone
Force restarting the phone
Being on WiFi or cellular
Resetting the network settings
Contacting Apple Support via the app (the suggested solution was a force restart)

I’ve never encountered this error before, even when I updated to iOS 13 (or even 12) right at the launch time, so I’m suspecting it’s not related to the amount of traffic for a mostly minor update. I’ve also been experiencing this error almost continuously for about 24 hours.

Unfortunately I don’t have access to a computer with iTunes running to attempt the update with.

Has anybody else experienced this error and is there a solution?

You have done everything that you can do from your iPhone. The solution for you at the moment is to use iTunes from your Mac/PC if you really want to have iOS 13.1.

If you want to update immediately, plug in your iPhone to your Mac
Update via iTunes by clicking the Check for Software Update button

I got the same issue and with iTunes, I was able to fix it. Sorry, at the moment with my knowledge those basic solutions from the phone don't work and didn't help me. I would love to hear if anyone has fixed via iPhone only.


How to lock the mouse to one monitor in a multi-display setup. (On a Mac) I've been looking for a way to lock the mouse to one monitor in a dual, or more, display setup.

[Edit:] The application that I am programming will be run in full-screen mode only, at all times. This means that it doesn't matter whether the mouse restriction is to the game window itself, or just on one monitor regardless of the applications being run. [ /Edit]

I'm programming in flash, and I know that until 11.2 comes out, it can't be done in flash, so I have to find some way to do it on the Mac OS itself, 3rd party software, or through hardware.

I'm looking for any and all suggestions on how to accomplish this by ANY means, or alternative solutions to Flash if it can't be done.

I've found 3rd party software on Windows 7 that allows me to do this, however I could not find one with Mac support.

Background info:

Using flash with Adobe AIR
Application going on a Mac Mini
Application is a game, one monitor shows the game, the other monitor has a separate application running
The two apps are connected through a localConnection object.
Using AS3

Question Summary:

How can I lock the mouse to one monitor in a multi-monitor display on OSX? Any and all suggestions are welcome.

do this in your preference the chance you get your mouse out of the current screen is low


How to keep MacBook awake with lid closed + extended display? Specs:

macOS Sierra 10.12.1
MacBook Pro 15-inch, early 2011

Basically, when I connect my projector and extend the display, after closing the lid, MacBook "extended display" option cancels out and I can see the full display (not just the extended bit). I understand this phenomenon happens because of the "closed-clamshell" mode, however what I want to achieve is to be able to close my MacBook Pro's lid and see the extended display on the wall - when I open the lid, I should be able to see the usual display on my laptop and still the extended one on the wall.

Used the latest versions of both NoSleep & Caffeine (also tried InsomniaX), but no luck.

Requirements for closed-display mode from, Use your Mac notebook computer in closed-display mode with an external display:

  To use closed-display mode with your Mac notebook, you need:

  An AC power adapter
  An external keyboard and mouse or trackpad, either USB or wireless
  A USB-C to USB adapter if you're using a USB mouse or keyboard with MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015) and later or MacBook Pro models introduced in late 2016
  An external display or projector

  If you're using a USB keyboard and mouse

  Make sure that your Mac notebook is plugged in to an outlet using the AC power adapter.
  Connect a USB keyboard and mouse to your Mac.
  With your Mac turned on and the display open, connect the Mac to the appropriate port on the external display or projector and turn the display or projector on.
  Use an appropriate Apple video adapter if necessary.
  After your Mac notebook's Desktop appears on the external display, close the computer's lid.
  When you close the lid:
  In OS X Lion v10.7 and later, the external display changes to a blue screen, then shows your Desktop.
  In OS X v10.6.8 and earlier, you can wake your Mac by clicking the mouse button or pressing a key on the external keyboard.

You can now use your Mac notebook as you normally would with a USB keyboard and mouse.


Do I have to explicitly update iTunes Match after adding new tracks to my Library? Yesterday I set up iTunes Match, and before the day was over it Matched and/or Uploaded all of the tracks in my library at the time. Just now I added a few more tracks and they're currently listed as 'Waiting'.

Will iTunes Match eventually act on these new tracks automatically? Or will I have to explicitly go into the Store menu and choose 'Update iTunes Match'?

Choose "Update iTunes Match" from the "Store" menu.


iPhone photo download workflow for ONLY new photos onto Mac Cross posting this from SuperUser AND Photo.StackExchange since I have a bounty on it and have no replies yet, hopefully will get more attention here ;)

I'm finding my iPhone photo download workflow to be a bit cumbersome.

Here are my requirements:

Download photos+video off my iPhone Camera Roll, but keep photos on iPhone
Only display/download new photos+video on iPhone since last download
Avoid iPhoto, ideally, because it makes me a bit nervous
Have all my iPhone-taken photos+video available to view on my iPhone
Maintain all EXIF/GPS metadata at all costs

Currently, I use regular folder structure + Picasa for all of my digital photos, however for my iPhone, I use iPhoto because it will "only display new items" when I go to import photos off my iPhone

I'm finding that will 5000+ photos+videos on my iPhone, iPhoto generally takes a while (2-10 minutes) to 'find' my iPhone after I plug it in.

Ideally, I'd like to just use OSX's built in ImageCapture.app to download iPhone photos, but it loads/displays ALL the photos, not just the new ones since last sync (as iPhoto does..).  I then have to know which was the last downloaded iPhone photo and download only the newer ones.

Picasa Import also loads/displays ALL photos on the iPhone (which is very cumbersome with so many images to load off the device...)

I guess I'd like to know if anyone has a similar workflow/requirements and how they do it.

My current plan is to set up a workflow that removes photos from the Camera Roll as I download them, but then have iTunes sync them back on as albums based on folders - I may even automatically resize them so I have smaller versions on the iPhone and the original full size versions on my Mac (so conserve previous iPhone storage space) [UPDATE: iTunes automatically does this, which is too bad because it means I no longer have FULL SIZE backups on my phone, only on my computer...]

What you’re asking is a hell of automation and it can’t be done “just” like that.

I suggest you try to make a combination of Automator and Smart Albums on iPhoto. Things you want to know about iTunes: EXIF is not preserved when Synced to iPhone through iTunes which is part of your requirements.

You could use a Smart Album in iPhoto and Flag the pictures you want to transfer then create another Smart Album with those flagged pictures and only transfer those (or vice versa). Use Keywords to your advantage. Consider a nice app like Keyword Manager for iPhoto to help you with that.

I have no idea why iPhoto makes you nervous, but you should be pointing at iTunes for that…

iPhoto is perfectly suitable for picture maintenance and sorting. You can later use automator to resize them and do fancy things (even tagging!). The same can be said about Aperture.

Your workflow should be, download to iPhoto automatically. Classify, Tag, Delete Bad ones, Adjust, Edit, and transfer to your devices for later viewing (and backup). If you just want to have a backup up of what you do, let Time Machine do it’s work with your iPhoto Library or add another step, use Image Import (or Cameras) to organize, then add to iPhoto for treatment and later transfer to your device(s). The original imported folder will be untouched and, eventually backed up by Time Machine too.


How do I transfer music ratings from one computer to another I have two iTunes libraries, a complete one on my home computer and a partial one on my work computer.  All of the songs on my work computer have ratings.

How can I transfer the ratings from the work computer to the home computer without destryoing or replacing the home computer's library?

I got it working in the end by using a hint I found.

The trick is to make playlists per rating. One for 1 star, one for 2 star items, etc.
Drag all 1 star items into the 1 star playlist. Same for 2-5 stars.
Export the playlist/library (this results in an XML file).
Import the XML file on the other computer.
Go to each of the playlists, select everything, right click and give them all the correct rating.

(In case you have a backup .xml file that you want to use to restore ratings to your existing itunes installation: look at my description plus script where I use the exactly same trick, only with a script based on an old .xml file with the correct ratings)

Couple of improvements on this great simple solution (the best kind):
1) The exported XML contains the exact file location for each song.  Therefore each computer must also have the files in those same locations. You can, of course, edit the XML accordingly if they are different.
2) You can use 5 smart playlists (one for each number of stars: 1-5) and they'll be auto-populated (no manual selection and dragging required).


Citrix on OS X - GlobalSign certificate errors I trying to access a work Citrix server using my MacBook pro. I can log in fine with a windows machine, but when I try from my mac I get an error.

What should I do to fix this? I have't found much information via Google.

It looks like you forgot to install the intermediate SSL Certificate on your server. Please check your SSL Certificate installation online: https://sslcheck.globalsign.com/


Mac OS X Terminal mouse reporting I don't know why this is bothering me but I've been pressing Cmd-R to refresh my browser and today I mistakenly pressed this combination while using the terminal.

I came across an option known as "Mouse Reporting". What is it? Is it on by default in OS X? How do I reset the terminal to defaults (including mouse reporting)?

To my knowledge it is turned off by default. However, all it allows is for applications run in the Terminal to see the position of your mouse cursor. This could be useful for things like games where you use your mouse. So in most cases, it simply does not matter.

To turn off Mouse Reporting, just press Cmd-R again.

However, if you really want to reset your Terminal preferences:

First quit the Terminal, then open the Finder.
Press Cmd-Shift-G and type ~/Library into the bar that appears
Press go.
Find the Preferences folder, then find the file called com.apple.Terminal.plist.
Drag it into the trash, then empty the trash.

Your terminal should be back to factory settings.


Automator Service to insert text only available when text is selected I'm trying to make an Automator Service to insert the current date.  I have one that works but it is only available in the Services menu when text is selected.  I need it to be available when there is no text selected.

Here is the Automator Services script:

The application I'm trying to use the service with is TextEdit.  I'm seeing the same behavior in other applications like TextMate and Pages: few or no entries in the Services menu until I select some text, then lots of Services available.

Perhaps there is some way to do this with AppleScript, like getting the text onto the clipboard and sending a "command-V" to the application.  But I would still need the AppleScript to be available in the Services menu somehow.

I found the answer here:

https://superuser.com/questions/589184/finder-not-enabling-use-of-services-when-changing-service-receives-selected-in

  OS X sometimes ignores changes to services after they've been saved in Automator, possibly due to caching. So if the service started out as a text service, chances are your changes aren't getting picked up. To circumvent this problem, select File » Duplicate in Automator and save the service under a new name, and try again. Then delete the original service from ~/Library/Services.

(Answer is by Daniel Beck)

I duplicated my Service script (in Automator) as suggested above and now it shows up in the Services menu without needing to select text.  I suspect when I first created the script that I had "Service receives text input" selected, and then I changed it later.  Note that also checking "Output replaces selected text" should not be changed after first saving the Service.


Using Time Capsule with existing Sky ADSL router We've got a Sky ADSL router which we have running a wifi network, and we've got it connected via ethernet to iMac/TV/PS3/etc. As the wifi coverage isn't great upstairs we've bought a Time Capsule which we want to plug in to the ethernet that's connected to the router, and we want to have the Time Capsule provide wifi coverage upstairs.

I've only been able to make this work by having the Time Capsule create a separate wifi network, with its own name & password, which means when you go upstairs you have to manually change networks. What we really want is a single network, but when I try changing the Wireless settings to 'Extend a wireless network' I just can't get it to work -- I end up with the TC flashing its light amber.

Surely this must be possible? Help!

I asked the same question on the Apple forums, and got a solution that worked for me:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/20182532?ac_cid=op123456#20182532

I'll repeat it here so somebody else might find it useful in the future:

This is where you use a roaming network.

Do not extend.. that is much slower.. since you have ethernet and the TC plugged in you are 90% of the way there.

Use the TC to create a network.. with the same name and same passkey with security settings as the wireless downstairs. Locking channels is not a bad idea.. as this does require one difference .. the network upstairs must be on a different channel to the one downstairs.. then all will be hunky dorey.. !!


Style text in Numbers formula I have a numbers formula used in invoice generation:

="Invoice terms: "&CONCATENATE(Terms)&", please pay by ..."

Which returns:

  Invoice terms: 14 days, please pay by ...

Is there a way to apply a style to only part of the formula? I want the outputted "Invoice terms" to be bolded:

  Invoice terms: 14 days, please pay by ...

Is this possible?

Although one cannot style individual characters in a formula, one feature of Apple Numbers is the canvas.  One can take advantage of this by adding tables and text objects anywhere.

The above screen shot uses a static (as the OP's "Invoice terms" text is hard coded in their formula example, it is assumed static) text field placed next to the table (a single cell table with no border, in this case) containing the cell with the formula.

The OP's use of the CONCATENATE function is unneeded as the ampersands do the same job.  To use CONCATENATE in this case:

=CONCATENATE(Terms,", please pay by...")

Where Terms is the reference to the cell containing the Terms text.

Detailed screenshot:

By using a number for the days, this can be used in a calculation against the Invoice date to determine the date payment is due.  But that is a topic for another question. ;)


How to remove only News from Siri Suggestions How do I remove only News from Siri Suggestions?

I like the quick access to frequently used apps and contacts there.

I don't like being informed of the latest murder spree, political news, or military calamity every time I'm just trying to get to the Mail app or find my wife's contact.

Is there a way to fix this terrible feature?

Sorry, but as of today's current release (iOS 9.2) that's not possible. It could change in future updates, though. You can suggest that feature to Apple.


Updating MacBook Pro to OSX EL Capitain I'm creating my first iOS game and I use Xcode 6.1 now. I want to update to OSX EL Captain because it has Quicktime where I can make a video of me playing from the Device instead of simulator.

Would updating to EL Capitain, force Xcode to make me upgrade to Xcode 7?

No. In fact, Xcode requires a (rather large and separate) download from the App Store. You're safe in upgrading.

Note that some command line utilities (development stuff) or package managers like Homebrew or MacPorts may behave strangely if you run an old Xcode on a new OS.


How to mount EXT4 disk on 10.15? Since I have osxfuse installed it would be nice if I could use it. There are a lot of (heavily) outdated articles here, saying that it is not possible. Is this still the case?

Mac does not support Ext4 file system. If you plug in a hard drive, Mac won't recognize it. Fortunately, there are several ways to handle this situation.
1. Temporary options: Use VM
Just install a version of Ubuntu, or whatever your Linux distribution of choice is, in a virtual machine host like VirtualBox, then mount the drive as you would any other and read away.
2. Add Ext4 support for macOS
If you regularly use Ext4 formatted drives and / or need to copy multiple files from there to the macOS drive, you need a better option.
You need to install some software, namely osxfuse and ext4fuse. The easiest way to install them is to use Homebrew.
After Homebrew is installed (or if it is already), run the following commands:
brew install --cask osxfuse
brew install ext4fuse

After installing the Ext4 support software, you now need to determine the hard drive you want to mount. To do this, run the following command:
diskutil list

Save the partition ID (will look like /dev/disk3s1). Then, run the following command to mount the hard drive:
sudo ext4fuse /dev/disk3s1 ~/tmp/ext4_support_PARTITION -o allow_other

ext4_support above can be any name you choose. Now, navigate to the '/ tmp /' directory in the Finder and you will see the contents of the partition listed. If your drive has multiple partitions, you can mount them using the same steps as above. Just make sure to use different directory names to mount them.
Warning
Although these tools can help you read Ext4 formatted hard drives, they are not stable. As long as you are mounting read-only drives, as what is being done in this solution, you will not have many risks. If you try to use these tools to write to an Ext4 drive, you may lose data.
If you need to move files back and forth on a shared drive with Linux, this method is not recommended. Instead, use another file system like ExFAT or try the commercial option listed below
3. Use Paid Software
Software such as Paragon offers a free trial version, but to be safe, you should back up your hard drive first, in case there is a problem. If you want to buy software, it is available for 40$
Note: I haven't used this tool and can't say anything about what they have promised.
Although reading Ext4 format on macOS is no longer an impossible task, it is frustrating when Apple does not support this format.
Try it on your own risk but I strongly recommend the first solution which is easy and convenient.


Mac Mini as a bluetooth headset? Is it possible to have a Mac Mini running OSX act as a bluetooth headset for the iPhone? (sound comes out the mini's speakers, sound goes in the mini's mic)

I'm guessing that the mini would have to support the bluetooth headset profile?

I use the Belkin Bluetooth receiver to stream music to the speakers connected to my older Core Duo mini with the free LineIn by Rogue Amoeba. I've not worked out getting microphone input to the iPhone but am guessing it's might not be possible.


Error while setting up windows in my late 2014 iMac Boot Camp Assistance is stuck on create a partition? So I used the procedures in this link to try and set up windows in my iMac , but when it reached the part where they asked where do you want install Windows and after I select BOOT CAMP, I got an error - " We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one."

The difference is you are trying to install to the second HDD or SSD. The link you gave is for installing to a Mac with a single internal HDD or SSD. The Windows installer GUI is not equipped to handle your situation. One possible alternative would be to use the CLI to install Windows.

Note: I am using the Windows 10 20H2 English 64 bit version. In other words. the Windows 10 October 2020 update.

Starting from the window posted as an image in your question, proceed as follows.

Click on the red X to close the window. In the popup window, click on the Yes button.

Enter the following commands to start diskpart and get a list of volumes.
diskpart
list volume

Assign a drive letter P to the flash drive. In the first command given below, replace the # symbol with the volume number for the flash drive given in the previous step.
select volume #
assign letter=p

Assign drive letters to the EFI and Windows partitions.
select disk 1
setect partition 1
assign letter=s
select partition 3
assign letter=w

Enter the following command to quit diskpart.
exit

This command applies the Windows image to the desired partition.
dism /apply-image /imagefile:p:\sources\install.wim /name:"Windows 10 Pro" /applydir:w:\ /checkintegrity

Note: If you do not what Windows 10 Pro and do not know the desired name, then you can get a list of available names by entering the following command.
dism /get-imageinfo /imagefile:p:\sources\install.wim

This command copies the drivers provided by Apple to the drivers store.
dism /image:w:\ /add-driver /driver:p:\$WinPEDriver$ /recurse /forceunsigned

Note: This step searches for .inf files. If a found .inf file does not result in a driver being properly copied to the driver store, then an error message may be generated. You can ignore such messages. For example, some drivers can only be installed after Windows has finished installing.

Create the boot files. The command below installs for US English.
bcdboot w:\windows /l en-us /s s: /f uefi

Close the command prompt window and select to Turn off your PC. In other words, shutdown the Mac.
exit

Start the Mac and continue with the installation of Windows. If you boot to macOS, then select Windows from the Startup Disk pane of the System Preferences application.

When finished installing Windows, install the Windows Support Software provided by Apple. Look for the Setup application in the BootCamp folder on the flash drive.

From Windows, run the Apple Software Update application to get any Boot Camp and other software updates from Apple.

Updating AMD graphics drivers for Windows in Boot Camp
Apple has a website Update AMD graphics drivers for Windows in Boot Camp which provides a link to the AMD website homepage. Clicking on Drivers and Support takes you to a webpage where there is a Download Now button which will download software to "Auto-Detect and Install Radeon™ Graphics Drivers for Windows®". You can also select your product from the list. According to everymac your late 2014 iMac has a Radeon R9 M290X dedicated video processor. Going though the list took me to the AMD Radeon™ R9 M290X Drivers & Support webpage. For the "Windows 10 - 64-Bit Edition", there is a download under the title "Auto-Detect and Install". This download is the same as the one found on the Drivers and Support webpage. There are also various versions of the drivers you could download and try.


Unable to delete files from finder? I did option-3 on finder -> which puts the files into cascading directories mode.

Then I have selected a few files with the intention to delete them (see the screenshot).   But there is no option to 'delete' - either from popup or from menu items (see second screenshot).

Note: the files are all owned by my user as is the containing directory:

drwxr-xr-x  21 steboesch  wheel    714 Aug 18 15:28 util
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   5189 Aug 18 15:28 SqlBattery.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   2266 Aug 18 15:28 SparkSqlQueryBenchmark.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   3356 Aug 18 15:28 SparkSqlIgniteSql.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   1250 Aug 18 15:28 SparkNode.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   1433 Aug 18 15:28 SparkIgniteAbstractBenchmark.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   1219 Aug 18 15:28 SparkDriverNode.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   5997 Aug 18 15:28 SparkCoreRDDBenchmark.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   1244 Aug 18 15:28 SparkBenchmarkArguments.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   4350 Aug 18 15:28 SparkAbstractBenchmark.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   8590 Aug 18 15:28 DataGenerator.scala
-rw-r--r--   1 steboesch  wheel   7602 Aug 18 15:28 CoreBattery.scala
drwxr-xr-x   3 steboesch  wheel    102 Aug 18 15:28 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 steboesch  wheel   2527 Aug 18 17:56 SparkIgniteSqlBenchmark.scala

Pressing Command ⌘3 in Finder changes to Columns view and selected files can be deleted by first moving them to the Trash by pressing Command ⌘Delete or by clicking Move to Trash from the File menu in Finder.

You can then empty the Trash by pressing:ShiftCommand ⌘Delete


How can I back up my iPhone without Wi-Fi? I assume there is something wrong with the battery in my iPhone 4, because it will not stay on unless it's plugged into the charger.

I have about 1,000 pictures on my phone, and when my phone is plugged in, I can look at them, and still use my phone somewhat normally but my phone will not connect to Wi-Fi.

Is there any way I can keep my phones pictures if I have to get a new phone, without doing an iCloud backup?

You can back up to iTunes on your Mac or PC desktop or laptop directly over USB.

Connect the device over USB to iTunes, select your device in the toolbar and click Back Up Now.


What do I need to look for when selecting new RAM for my MacbookPro8,1? I'm looking at buying some extra RAM for my mid-2011 (?) MBP.  OWC says that I can handle up to 16GB (2x8), though I might elect to go with "only" 8GB.

I haven't bought computer components in a couple of years, so I'm not sure what the state-of-the-art is.  Do I have to match the speed of the current modules (listed as 1333MHz) or can I go faster?  Do I have to look for certain timing characteristics?  Does brand matter?

I believe that 1333 MHz is the max that the computer can handle. You're looking for DDR3 memory at that clock speed. Brand doesn't particularly matter. I personally like G.Skill, Crucial, Mushkin. If you're on NewEgg and sort by rating it's usually a pretty good indication of how the memory does and often times people post their computer model in their review.


How do you get macOS Sierra (10.12.1) to lock and ask for a password after display sleep? After upgrading to 10.12.1 my Mac no longer locks after display sleep. Before the update, a login prompt always appeared. This is either using:

The keyboard (⌘ ⌥ power)
Timing out (set for 10min)
Closing the clam shell.

So I figured it out a solution as soon as I could ask.

I toggled the Require Password settings to "Immediately" then back to my previous "5 seconds" and now all seems to be working properly.

This required my password each time but well worth the re-enabled security. You may even be able to just uncheck then recheck the Required box. I can't test this because my issue is fixed.


changing camera to thunderbolt display for google hangout I use google hangouts for multiple-people video calls, but it never detects the camera in the Thunderbolt display. It keeps using the camera on my MacBook Pro.

Is there any way to change the camera used in Hangouts if I want to use the Thunderbolt display's camera?

Click the Options button at the bottom of your chat list.
  Select Chat settings… from the menu.
  Adjust the selections in the drop-down menus for your camera, microphone, and speakers.

Source: https://support.google.com/chat/answer/162176

[alternative]

June 2015 (latest)

Within a particular Hangout, you can know click on the Settings button at the top

and change your audio and video settings.

This allows you to switch between the laptop's camera and the display's camera.

February 2014 (possibly outdated)

By clicking on Options in the Hangouts app in Chrome:

the only thing I could see was:

which didn't take me very far. So you can click on Gmail > Chat list > Chat settings:

Or go to Gmail > Settings > Chat [Note: this only worked for me (on Chrome) if I didn't have the new Hangouts list in Gmail, but rather the "old chat" interface. With the new Hangouts list, I'm still not sure how to go about it since the Chat options seems limited to "Chat on" or "Chat off".]

In any case, both of  Gmail > Chat list > Chat settings and Gmail > Settings > Chat take you to the same place, where you can select which camera to use.


Is there a way to have the iPhone suggest corrections but not automatically apply them? The iPhone's autocorrect function is wrong for me more often than not, but I'd still like to see its suggestions and have a way to apply them - they just shouldn't be applied automatically. Is there a way to do this?

In a nutshell: No (but it would be nice to have)


com.dashlane.DashlaneAgent still trying to be loaded I have removed Dashlane using the documented procedure, yet launchd is still trying to load com.dashlane.DashlaneAgent. I have tried issuing sudo launchctl remove com.dashlane.DashlaneAgent with no success (the command succeeds, and launchctl list does not show the service, but upon reboot, a list again contains the service name). I've also looked in /private/var/db/launchd.db and not found any entries for this service.

I did find lines for this service in /var/db/com.apple.xpc.launchd in both loginitems.501.plist and disabled.501.plist. When I remove those lines and reboot, they simply reappear.

So this service launch is coming from somewhere; does anyone know where?

It turns out that Dashlane was still in my .Trash; deleting it from .Trash solved the problem. I don't understand why; perhaps someone else does; but it seems worth recording here.


Dead areas in touchscreen after repair I cracked the screen of my 3GS so I ordered a repair kit and installed it using some directions I found on youtube.

It seemed to work fine at first, but I've been noticing some dead zones in the touchscreen (which worked fine earlier when it was cracked), and I'm trying to figure out what I might have done wrong with the install, or if it's just from using 3rd party parts.

I used DrawSomething to map out the dead zones, because I already had it installed.

When I first noticed it, the main problem was a missing stripe along the left side:

But just a few hours later, there was also a missing stripe in the middle, and the sensitivity in general was wonky:

The new issues cleared up on their own, which suggested a loose connection to me, so I took the screen off and unplugged and replugged all 3 connections from the touchscreen to the phone.  I'm fairly certain they're all seated well, but I'm still seeing a missing stripe along the left side.

How can I fix this?

Most likely, cable nr. 2 (responsible for the touch-input) isn't connected properly. Try to re-open your iPhone, disconnect an re-connect the cable.

If that's not working, you have probably damaged the cable or something else.
It's, like Gerry said in the comment, next to impossible to determine a cause without physical access to the device.


Auto-mount of the contained disk-image, when the external disk is mounted I have one external SSD drive that automatically mounts a partition Backup.
Inside Backup there is a sparse-bundle disk image called TimeMachine.

Backup is not mounted to /Volume but to a specific folder (synced with a cloud service), via /etc/fstab:

UUID=4E5D0103-741G-46DA-A79E-F923E5C951D1 /Users/myuser/Cloud\040Folder/Backup apfs rw 0 2

How can I trigger the automatic mount of TimeMachine, when detecting that Backup has been mounted?

Something like hdiutil attach /Users/myuser/Cloud\040Folder/Backup/TimeMachine.sparsebundle, being run when detecting that /Users/myuser/Cloud\040Folder/Backup is present.

Maybe the /etc/auto_master file might help? (I've never used it before)

You can create a launchd LaunchDaemon definition with the key “StartOnMount” set to true. This will allow you to have your own script run whenever something is mounted.

Your own script should then just check if “Backup” is mounted without “TimeMachine” being mounted - and if so, mount “TimeMachine”.

You can use the “mount” command to get information on the currently mounted file systems.


Explanation /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" I would like to understand exactly what this command does. I know this command installs homebrew on macOS, but I would like to understand the meaning of the syntax:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

For example:
/bin/bash is the path to the bash folder
what about the other parts?

/bin/bash executes a new instance of bash
-c passes one or several commands to be executed
$(...) runs the command within () and returns its result (Command Substitution)
curl ... gets the file specified in the URL

So basically bash gets called to execute the content of the file fetched by curl.
Some things you may try to understand this in more detail

run curl ... to see what curl returns, or curl ... | less to examine it in more detail
run /bin/bash -c 'echo "Welcome to bash"'
read man bash and man curl


how to get repeating letters on 2019 16" MacBook Pro keyboard so, as part of maybe, From which year do MacBook keyboards have no issues?

I have tried different settings w/ apple cs the other day to try and get the I, K and L to duplicate as happens to me sometimes.  Of course they didnt.  However, neither of us could get any letter to repeat when pressing and continuing to hold a key.  I could not see a setting in preferences and the rep couldnt figure out how either.  Can anyone tell me how to get repeating letters by pressing and holding a key?  When I do it in this screen nothing happens.  In pages if I press and hold the e lets say, a tiny window with a  capital "E" opens and closes and while continuing to hold the key, the letter does not repeat.

Tks

Since 2011 default behavior in Mac OS has been for letter keys to not repeat when held down. Instead the Character Picker or Accent Menu appears where appropriate. Nothing to do with the link you mention.  To get repeating keys, try opening Terminal and typing

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

and then restart.

In Pages if you press and hold e, you should get what is shown below if your OS is working properly.


Where to search for more specific information about actions used in Siri Shortcuts app? There is a nice user guide on Shortcuts by Apple https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios,  but there should be somewhere  some more datailed information as for example: what Pattern parameters may be used in "Match Text" action? Just some more precise definitions on Actions that may be used in the shortcuts. Anyone can help pointing to the right direction?

Here’s a good resource page on Siri shortcuts...

https://www.reddit.com/r/shortcuts/comments/9k0sup/siri_shortcuts_resources/

And here’s the link you are looking for...

http://userguide.icu-project.org/strings/regexp

Also a great site for learning and testing regexp

https://regex101.com

And a great beginners video to get started

https://youtu.be/sa-TUpSx1JA


How do I transition from a MobileMe account to an existing iCloud account? I'm starting to get more messages about MobileMe ending, but despite all the info people have been posting online, I'm still confused as to how to deal with my own situation.

I currently keep all my contacts, calendar, and probably a few other things on MobileMe, and have my devices tied to that account's Find My iDevice function.

However, I use a different email address for my Apple account (app purchases, Game Center, etc.). I believe I've already created an iCloud account using this email, though I'm not sure if I have anything on it yet.  It seems that Apple really only wants you to have one sign-on for iCloud, the app store, etc., since you can store your purchases there.

It sounds like I can't really merge the MobileMe data into my existing Apple/iCloud account.

It sounds like some me functionality is going away (ie, not replicated by iCloud functionality).

What do I need to do to keep my calendar and contacts synced across all my computers and devices, and how do I move them from my existing MobileMe account to my existing iCloud account?

Can I still keep my @me.com email address?

Does iCloud have an email account/address that comes with it?

It seems like I should be able to wrap my head around this myself, but it's still unclear.

Here is a fantastic article on moving to iCloud. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4918

And, yes, you can keep your current @me.com address. Instead of being associated with MobileMe, @me.com email addresses are now iCloud (and MobileMe user will be migrated over), so the email address that comes with iCloud is @me.com. Again, I believe you are able to keep your current @me.com address.

Unfortunately, merging wouldn't be possible.


iMac Scrambled Graphics Issues - Hardware or Software? I have a 27" iMac, Mid 2011 (3.4Ghz i7, AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB) and I am experiencing the following intermittent issues, which are solved each time by a restart:

When watching video with either Quick Look or Quicktime the video will break up and be overlaid with either large blocks or lines of pixelated colour often pink and green.
Often when this happens the type on the menu bar will also break up and become sort of faded looking and hard to read.  Desktop items may also break up becoming unrecognisable.

Here are some images of what this looks like:

I am wondering if this is a hardware or software issue?

When I first got the iMac it had Snow Leopard installed.  Not long after I upgraded to Lion (now running 10.7.1).  As far as I can recall, this did not happen under Snow Leopard, but I did not run the machine for that long under Snow Leopard before upgrading.  I have not experienced the freezing issue that other iMac owners have seen, and software update has not recommended the patch for the freezing issue, so I have not installed it.

Judging from the pictures you post, it's likely hardware. If you can swap out the RAM - that might be a nice place to start, but consider taking it in / calling Apple for service. Getting hardware assistance is FREE for the asking. Spend your time backing up your data before you dive in or get service.

Describe the pink tones, the scrambling of parts / horizontal / vertical lines - as well as the icons getting scrubbed.

It's certainly possible to be software - especially since you have three issues:

the pixelation of icon regions on the desktop (VRAM / compositing issues)
pink colors (indicating GPU VRAM / CLUT / shader issues)
vertical and horizontal areas of distortion (LVDS cable / LCD panel / GPU issues)

You'll need to go through an isolation procedure to be sure in your case. As long as it reappears regularly or you can discover what pushes things over the edge, you may have a hard time isolating things so getting professional help is often a good move to save you the time (assuming you actually want to resolve this rather than just learn what's happening)


I removed another Mac's HD and reformatted it on disk utility, now it just shows blinking folder So I removed a 2015 Macbook Air's HD from the computer and then using an OWC tool, I plugged it into my Macbook Pro and then erased it completely using Disk Utility. When I plugged it back into the Macbook Air, it goes dark and shows a blinking folder with a question mark. How can I fix this? I can't find any info online with this... I have Mac OS Mojave

Blinking folder with a question mark means it can't find the startup folder, because there's nothing on the disk.

Disk should be formatted as APFS, with a scheme of GUID partition map. Reinstall it in the MacBook and boot while holding down option, command, and R at the same time. This will boot into internet recovery using a downloaded recovery image of the latest supported version of macOS your Mac can handle (10.14.3).

When it finally boots into the recovery menu, you can select the option to install macOS and follow the prompts to install macOS.


Mojave - How can I lower the lowest volume? Currently I'm at 1/4 volume (option+shift+volume) but it is still loud.

All of the systemic solutions are out of date or about limiting maximum volume.

Is there a way to permanently lower the lowest volume?

I don't think there is a way to lower the lowest volume permanently, but there is a way to make it temporarily, as long as you don't press the volume button after using this command.

Just enter this into terminal:

sudo osascript -e "set Volume 3.5"

and it will set it to 50% volume, using 0 for no volume, 7 for max. 1/4 is around 0.57, so

sudo osascript -e "set Volume 0.57"

will set it to that 1/4 increment. If you want lower, you can use:

sudo osascript -e "set Volume 0.2"

etc, etc. Adjust to whatever fits.


How to bring back a Time Machine backup to only the latest file versions? I have an external disk of 2TB which is fully loaded with all versions of my backup files, saved by TimeMachine. I want to bring that back to a collection of backup files containing only the latest version of each; all older versions of all 'involved' files (files which have been altered by the system or by me) may be deleted.

It's not a solution to make a new backup of my current system, because the 2TB was produced using OSX El Capitan and I did a clean install of Sierra on the same hardware.

How can I compress the TM backup of 2TB to in fact the size of my previous (El Capitan) system?

Btw, main goal of this all is to save (external) disk space.

Start by mounting your Time Machine backup disk. Then open Terminal.app and issue the command:

tmutil listbackups

It should give you a list with dates and time for all the backups stored on your drive.

To delete one of these backups, copy the line outputted by the listbackups command and append it to this command:

sudo tmutil delete

So it will look like this for example:

sudo tmutil delete '/Volumes/MyDisk/Backups.backupdb/MyMac/2016-11-24-003000'

Make sure to delete only the older backups leaving the newest or some newer backups on the drive.

The last step is to compact the sparse bundle to release the now freed space for other purposes:

sudo hdiutil compact /Volumes/MyDisk/MyBackup.sparsebundle

(remember to edit the path to match your setup)

It will output status while compacting the bundle, and eventually tell you how many GB it freed.


How to restore my iPhone when iTunes keeps returning an error 2001? My iPhone 5 won't boot anymore and when I plug it in my MacBook, it goes to recovery mode (cable logo => iTunes logo).

So I tried to restore it using iTunes but I keep getting this error

Any idea how to fix it?

While it was plugged in I tried holding power + home, it reboots the device and goes back to recovery mode and then any restore attempt results in a 2001 error as well. When it's not plugged in nothing will make it boot.

I'm having the same issue as you described it here. I have a iPhone 5, too.

If you have done anything suggested by Apple, it's a battery issue. You need to change the battery in order it to work. Otherwise, I don't think there is any other way you can make it work. Attached is the link from Apple.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201210

For my situation, before it turned out to error 2001, the temperature of my phone was pretty hot, so I shut it down to let it cool. But after a while, when I wanted to reboot it, it turned out like this.

So I had been searching around the internet for over a hour to seek a solution, all the people were suggesting to try the fix by above link. For me, it did not work. After having reading several forums, they suggested to change the battery. Therefore, I decided to change my battery.
At the same time, I didn't really want to take it to Apple Stores because I think my problem lies on the battery and it would cost me over 70 dollars to let them fix it.

So I ordered the iPhone 5 battery tool kit from Amazon. It was around 15 dollars. I followed a tutorial on the internet to change the battery. It's pretty easy. Then I fixed the problem.


Downloading voicemail to my laptop How can I download my voicemail from the iPhone to my computer?

Technically, I know it is not voicemail on the iPhone - it is in ATT's phone system but you knew what I meant.

How can I download my ATT voicemail from the iPhone/iTunes to my computer?

There is another way. Per this instructables an iTunes backup of the iPhone contains the voicemail files in these folders:

~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Mac
\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows XP
\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Vista and Windows 7

However, the bad news is that these voicemail files are mixed in with a ton of other random files from your iPhone, and all the files have long, meaningless filenames with no extensions. To determine what the files are, use the file * command. Note that the backup must not be encrypted for this approach to work.

file * | grep audio
file * | grep GSM

(on Windows install Cygwin and use the Cygwin terminal to get the file command)

The two file contents that seem likely are

RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 8 bit, mono 44100 Hz
Adaptive Multi-Rate Codec (GSM telephony)


Solution for logging into PC with macbook, using PC speakers to play music We have a Windows 10 PC that is connected to our sound system. I would like to be able to log into that PC from my MacBook (High Sierra) and play music, either off of the (PC) hard drive or from an online service (Deezer).

Essentially, I would be using the MacBook only for its keyboard and screen.
The reason is that the PC does not have its own screen but is instead connected to a projector, and turning this on just to change a song is very obtrusive.

The solution I'm looking for does not have to be free but must be secure.
I have tried the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client but it will only play sounds off of my MacBook speakers.

In my experience, the performance and quality of Microsoft's Remote Desktop (free) is the best in the industry.  This isn't a personal preference but rather a trial and error using many other remote desktop apps.

In short...

Using Microsoft Remote Desktop 10 or higher, there should be a new option to play music on the remote machine.  Once toggled, I believe you'll get what you're looking for.. This is accessible through the + icon (new connection) or the ✏ icon (existing connection).

As an aside, there are some nuances to using RDP, some of which are shortcuts.  I would love the option to disable ⌘ + w, ⌘ + q as I tend to hit them on accident intending Ctrl + w, etc... but it'll only close the RDP session, not the stuff that's running on the remote machine.

The long...

Disclaimer: The solutions below may look subjective, but they're objectively evaluated for the requirement of 1. Free or not free.  2. Secure.  3. Play sounds on the remote computer.

VNC: (free and commercial) Comes in many variants (macOS built-in, TightVNC, UltraVNC, etc). Offers secure and insecure options.
Performance is the worst I've used but is viable on a very fast network.
Splashtop: Secure.  Cloud-based so you can get to it anywhere.  Performance is better than VNC.  Requests are routed through the cloud, so can be slower than other solutions on a LAN.  Linux support is still experimental
GoToMeeting, WebEx, AnyDesk, etc: Online meeting apps are great (performance, options, audio), but often contain tools designed for group voice conversations (dedicated phone number, etc), making remote access a toggleable feature, not ideal hoops to jump through each for a dedicated remote desktop.
TeamViewer (free and commercial): Secure.  Great quality, speed.  Universal solution on Linux, Windows, macOS.  Cloud-based so may perform worse than LAN-driven solutions like RDP and VNC, however in my experience out-performs VNC.
Microsoft RDP (free): Secure.  Performs best when connecting to a Windows machine.  Historically LAN-driven, but Azure's rise in success makes it more attractive over WAN too (popular choice for Windows Server).  Performance, speed and quality are the best if a Windows machine is what's being connected to.

RDP even has support for streaming content and some compositing, which is very nice for video playback as well as for a curated Windows 7+ compositioned desktop experience (thumbnailing, transparency, etc).

For your needs I believe RDP is the way to go, especially since they've offered the option to keep audio routed through the Windows machine, which wasn't available back in Remote Desktop 8.


Do the Apple AirPods have audio delay due to bluetooth? If it is a song, and it is delayed for 0.5 or 1 second, it really does not matter.  What I am trying to find out is for games and videos. If there is a 0.5 second audio delay, for videos (movies or youtube if video/audio is unsync’ed) or for games, then it could be a bigger problem.

There is zero concern for music and videos since the system compensates for audio delay. Same for many games since as long as the visual and audio tracks start at the same time (buffering enough content for each to start and then hoping the new content delivery / creation can keep the buffer from emptying).

Now, technically speaking, the laws of physics and the limited processing power of the CPU/chips that encode/decode the audio ensures there is a delay - but it's not on the order of a second. Subjectively, this isn’t a problem for me until I use airplay / WiFi and even then it’s nit horrible but the lag is noticeable. But I also can’t argue if someone else has a subjectively different experience and the lag isn’t acceptable to them.

The codec and stream of the bluetooth chips means that the sound needs to be buffered, encoded, transmitted, decoded and then sent through the amplifier.

There have been some nice attempts to scientifically measure this - http://stephencoyle.net/airpods/

The raw data says the measured latency of wired headphones is around 85 ms and AirPods are around 256 ms. My personal impression is the AirPods are more in the range of 120 ms delay and almost equivalent to wired earphones. Also, I'm fairly certain that Apple corrects for video playback if you use the API since I've never ever gotten the feeling that videos lag when switching from AirPods to EarPods and back on Apple devices and Apple audio devices.

Same sort of synchronization is being done for the HomePod setup where millisecond sync and offset is going to be used to synchronize and phase the sounds for multiple bluetooth playback speakers spread around a room, but that's a far easier task where you can buffer all the sounds and then play a delayed and perfectly synchronous to the phase of the sound waves - as opposed to having a low latency audio interface.

You'll want custom hardware for that like the Universal Audio Arrow line of monitor hardware if you are performing live or making millisecond measurements.

https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/arrow.html

The only case where I've seen lag as a legitimate problem is musicians with split second timing needs or scientific measurement apps. I've also heard of AirPods and iPhones needing a restore if they get stuck or some process is running amok and otherwise slowing down the processing of audio.


BootCamp, can't partition SSD I've upgraded my OS X to the latest Yosemite GM Candidate and cannot for the life of me figure out how to partition my SSD for BootCamp. Here are some screenshots of the problem:

And when i try to partition from Disk Utility:

What is the problem and can it be solved? I read somewhere something about needing to wipe my hard drive and start over with a fresh OS X install, but i really would prefer not to do that, any help is appreciated. Thanks.

P.S:
I've tried verifying disk permissions, and repairing in recovery mode. Nothing worked.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

diskutil list output

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         120.5 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *120.1 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 D2BB45DB-C690-47B2-BFF0-E0A5D812EE6A
                                 Unencrypted
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *8.2 GB     disk2
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL              8.2 GB     disk2s1

diskutil cs list output

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 312C0A5B-AC3E-4008-895F-6EDFDD386825
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
    Status:       Online
    Size:         120473067520 B (120.5 GB)
    Free Space:   35721216 B (35.7 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 5292E607-3F97-46C0-8E92-97BC853367D5
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     120473067520 B (120.5 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 736C4179-B89A-4EBE-90C7-F0CE4705D2B3
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume D2BB45DB-C690-47B2-BFF0-E0A5D812EE6A
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  disk1
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          120101797888 B (120.1 GB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            No
            LV Name:               Macintosh HD
            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

This Mac Book Retina was originally delivered with Mountain Lion. The upgrade history contains Mavericks, several Yosemite DPs and finally the Yosemite GM Candidate.

One of the Yosemite Developer Previews transformed the previous Apple_HFS partition into a Logical Volume Group.

The (only) Logical Volume is not revertible:

The Boot Camp assistant can't modify the partition map and shrink such a LVG to free up some unallocated space for a Windows installation on a hard disk.

The only possibility (we found) to solve the problem is a complete reinstall:

Backup all your data
Disconnect all external hard drives
Restart into Internet Recovery Mode by pressing altcmdR
(alternatively you may use a Mavericks or Mountain Lion Install Thumb Drive)
start Terminal from the menubar/utilities
enter following command at the Terminal prompt:

  diskutil cs list

Copy the Logical Volume Group (LVG) alphanumeric UUID of your CoreStorage volume. The LVG UUID should be the first listed. In the above example the alphanumeric is:
312C0A5B-AC3E-4008-895F-6EDFDD386825.
Run the following command:

  diskutil cs delete UUID

According to the number found above it would be:

  diskutil cs delete 312C0A5B-AC3E-4008-895F-6EDFDD386825

This will delete your CoreStorage volume and your Recovery HD and reformat it as a simple HFS+ volume.
Quit Terminal
In the now opening window choose Disk Utility and format/partition/rename the internal drive. Choose 1 Partition, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID partition table (available with the option button). Quit Disk Utility.
Now choose 'Reinstall Mac OS X'
The originally shipped OS X will be downloaded and installed
Set up your Mac
Download and install Mavericks from the App Store
Start Boot Camp Assistant, repartiton your Mac and install Windows
Download and install Yosemite from the App Store

At step 10 one may boot alternatively to a Mavericks or Mountain Lion Install Thumb Drive if available and install the respective OS X.

Starting into Recovery Mode at step 3 doesn't help because it's impossible to delete the LGV then.


How do I remove the sync status icon from the menu bar after migrating to iCloud? How do I remove the sync status icon from the menu bar after migrating to iCloud?

Prior to iCloud the Sync pane of MobileMe preferences had a simple setting for this, but after migration it is gone.

Hold the Command key while dragging the icon out of the menu bar.

Also you could delete ~/Library/com.apple.systemuiserver.plist and log out and then back in again. Killing SystemUIServer might also work to repaint the menu bar, but I prefer to log out when changing a plist that also has an associated lockfile.


Images appear green in photos app after update to Catalina I opened the photos.app in Catalina today and noticed that most thumbnails appear as green pictures.
Upon double-clicking it show the image correctly, so I'm thinking maybe something is wrong with the caching, but deleting both the com.apple.Photos.plist as well as com.apple.Preview.plist in ~/Library/Preferences didn't do anything.

Any suggestions?

Update: I noticed that a lot of my portrait photos are a bit messed up as well (they are all blurred out), but clicking on edit fixes the photo, but not the thumbnail

Apparently the last update fixed the issue...


How can I print an image in its original size on a Mac? I have an image of screw heads (source) that I would like to print in its original size onto a sheet of (8.5 by 11 inches letter) paper.

Opening the JPG in Preview, clicking File → Print, and then setting the "Scale" value to "100%" definitely does not accomplish this. In my case, it blows the image up so large that the picture doesn't even fit on one page.

Does anyone know how to do this on a Mac?

To print an image so that the output is at 1:1 scale to the object it depicts, the image must either be specified with the proper ppi (pixels per inch), or the scaling of the printed output must take into account the desired dimensions.

There are a few ways to get the correct sizing.  One way is to print the image twice:  the first time, printed at 100%, will produce a result in this case that is larger than desired.  Measure the printed size of one of the objects with known length; I recommend choosing the largest object that fits on the page.  Then the correct scaling factor to apply is (actual length) / (printed length) x 100%.  So for example, if a 3-inch screw depicted in the image is printed out at 100%, and has a length of 5.2 inches in the print, the scaling factor to apply to the next print is 3/(5.2) x 100% = 57.6923%.

If you cannot make more than one print, or if printing at 100% results in no objects of known length fitting on the page, then you could also use an image editor that can read raster images and measure the distance in pixels between two points on the image (e.g., Adobe Photoshop).  So for example, the original image is 2048 x 1536 pixels, and has a printing resolution of 72 ppi.  If you measure the length of a 3-inch screw, and find that it is 720 pixels, for example, then the ppi setting that will make it print to scale is (720 px)/(3 in) = 240 ppi.  Then you can either change this value in the image editing program and print it at 100%; or you can leave it at 72 ppi and print it at 72/240 x 100% = 30%.

Note that in both cases, you must know the real-life dimensions of an object in the image.

After downloading the image, I measured it and found that a length of 4 inches corresponds to approximately 758 pixels in the image.  This gives a resolution of approximately 189.5 ppi, which means that you can either set the image to this value, or print it at a scale of 38%.


iTunes NOT Using Gift Cards on File I have as my iTunes balance around $52. When my son, using the Family Share program, requests to purchase a song and I approve, it is bypassing the Gift Card balance and charging my credit card.

Any suggestions?

From Apple's "How iTunes Store purchases are billed":

  How are Family Sharing purchases billed? When you initiate a new purchase, it will be billed directly to the family organizer's
  account, unless you have gift or store credit. First, your store
  credit will be used to pay the partial or total bill. The remainder
  will bill to the family organizer. iTunes Store credit on your account
  isn't shared with other family members. So if the family organizer has
  a $50 credit on their account and another family member initiates a
  purchase, it won't deduct from the organizer's iTunes Store credit,
  but will bill the organizer's credit or debit card. The family
  organizer will get the receipts for any of their family member's
  purchases.

More important legal verbiage about the iTunes Store at this link.


Disable full screen system wide on OS X 10.9.5 I am using Mac OS X 10.9.5. Having Full Screen at the right end of the each window. How can i disable it?

I have tried th below workarounds to fix this but nothing worked out. I listed one of the workaround below.

Terminal

Type :

$ defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool NO

Hit enter

Close all applications before you do this to make sure the setting propagates. Any app running when you make this change will need to be restarted for the changes to take effect.

This is also i got from this forum. What can I do to disable full screen windows?

It's true there's no way to alter the default within OS X itself. Plenty of experts have tried, there have been detailed discussions at Stack Exchange and other sites, but there's no command you can run to turn full screen mode off, or change the default behavior.
Fortunately there are 2 ways to get around this…

Hold down the Option (Alt) key on your keyboard when you click the green maximize button. The window will then zoom the OLD way - i.e., it will not go into full-screen mode.
OR

Use a free, third-party app called BetterTouchTool.
Usually I don't like recommending specific software, but as far as everyone has been able to tell, it's the only app that actually lets you change the default behaviour of the maximize button - i.e., the only one that doesn't require any keystrokes at all. Instead, you use the app to assign a new action to that button. After that's set, when you click the button, it works the way it used to.
You may need these instructions to change the app preferences. Their terminology is a little non-standard:
In the BetterTouchTool Preferences:

Select "Other" category at the top of the window.

Make sure that "Global" is selected at the left side.

Click "Configure New Trigger" button in the bottom part of the window.

Select "Leftclick Green Window Button" as trigger.

Select "Zoom Window Below Cursor" as predefined action.

Save those changes and make sure to set the app to run automatically when you start your computer, so it is always running in the background.
There may be other options in future, but last I looked the app was the overwhelming favorite fix.

Tens of thousands of people have written to Apple to complain about this over the past two years. And one of the reasons is: it tends to screw up and cause odd behavior with multiple non-Apple applications, i.e., ones that haven't updated their software to play nice with full screen mode.  But even without that hassle, for many tasks (especially ones that require having multiple apps and windows open simultaneously) it's a frustrating time-waster for a whole lot of people.


mid-2011 Macbook Air changes applications on wake from sleep When my new Macbook Air (13" mid-2011, Lion) wakes from sleep (by opening the lid, clicking the mouse or pressing the space bar), it usually wakes to the last application I was using, then changes applications as if I had pressed alt-tab.

Has anyone else observed this phenomenon and
Does anyone know what could be causing it

This is related to the System Preference for when it prompts you for a password when it wakes up.  Change it to never, and it goes away (less secure) or always (more secure, but a PITA).  Here's the link that helped me:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3268136?start=0&tstart=0


How to select login user with keyboard? I have a 4K monitor and before I have logged in, the mouse moves really slowly on the user login screen.  Once logged in, I have configured the Tracking speed in the Mouse System Preferences to move fast.  Since there is no known way to configure the default Tracking Speed before I've logged in, is there a way to select a login user without clicking on the user and using the keyboard to select a login?

You should be able to choose any of the login users either with an arbitrary arrow key (if the user name is somewhere in the middle more than one hit is necessary) & enter or by entering the first letter of the user name (or the first two if you have several names starting with the same letter) & enter.

Then enter the password.


Restrict an iOS app from using Wi-Fi internet iOS allows you to restrict specific apps from accessing the internet when using cellular data.

Is it possible to do the same when Wi-Fi is turned on?

Is there any way to restrict an iOS app from using Wi-Fi?

I want to restrict messenger apps like WhatsApp and Line from accessing the internet when my phone is using aWi-Fi connection.

I'm sorry for it's not possible but you can disabled the app from running.
These are the steps to follow:

Go to General,

Click on Restrictions,

Enter your device password,

Switch off the App you want to disconnect.

I use it to stop Facebook from consuming Data at the background.

FOR NEWER OS VERSION 12.4.6, YOU CAN FIND SIMILAR OPTION IN:

Go to Screen Time,

Click Content & Privacy Restrictions,

Turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions,

Then select what you want to restrict e.g Background App Activities.


How to change mc (midnight command) bash prompt on OS X? I observed that my custom bash prompt does not work on mc. How do I customize it?

The issue is that .bash_login files are only read when bash is run as the login shell. mc probably just calls a new shell which will read its startup from ~/.bashrc See bash documentation for details.

To make the shell run in a common way it is often suggested that you call .bashrc from .bash_login e.g.

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
   source ~/.bashrc
fi


Does Do-Not-Disturb mode silence your phone's alarms? If I turn on Do-Not-Disturb, will it also silence my phone alarms?

Simply put: No, it does not.

I suppose this prevents an alarm not going off when you really need it to (i.e. waking you up).


How to access desktop Gmail on iPad Pro? I'm not a big fan of the native Mail app and the native Gmail app is okay but I believe lacks power user features, e.g. keyboard shortcuts.  Is there a way to access the full-blown desktop version of Gmail?  Do keyboard shortcuts and other features work as normal?  And is it better to do this using the Chrome browser app than the Safari browser app, or does it not make much of a difference?  Finally, is there a way to set up a shortcut to make the website as easily and quickly accessible as possible?

Sure you can, you can use any browser available. Just realize that all browsers on all IOS devices use the same layout engine: Webkit. It's an Apple thing and hasn't changed since Apple allowed third party apps.

As for the keyboard shortcuts, it all depends on what the browser supports. Safari doesn't allow you to customize much. But there are other browsers (Chrome, iCab, etc.) that allow more customization and may allow you to set the User Agent to a desktop version of your favorite browser. Beats me if they will then support the whole suite of Gmail keyboard shortcuts, you'll have to test that.

And you can save any bookmark as an icon that opens that browser with that web address. In Safari go to the page you want to save. Tap the sharing button and select "Add to home screen," voila icon on your home screen. Most browsers let you do this as well.


How to determine how used up my ssd is? I have a Late 2011 Mac Book Pro with 256GB SSD, and I run a lot of virtual machines and apps that do disk io, database, development environment, application servers.  I usually only have about 15GB of free disk space on this machine.

I know that SSD drives are have a limited number of writes, is there a utility on Mac OSX that can tell me how "used up" my SSD. The machine seems to be getting solwer and if my SSD is getting to used I will get a new SSD.

update

APPLE SSD TS256C:

  Capacity: 251 GB (251,000,193,024 bytes)
  Model:    APPLE SSD TS256C
  Revision: CJAA0201
  Serial Number:            X17A40U7K6LK
  Native Command Queuing:   No
  Removable Media:  No
  Detachable Drive: No
  BSD Name: disk0
  Medium Type:  Solid State
  TRIM Support: Yes
  Partition Map Type:   GPT (GUID Partition Table)
  S.M.A.R.T. status:    Verified
  Volumes:
disk0s1:
  Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
  BSD Name: disk0s1
  Content:  EFI
Macintosh HD:
  Capacity: 250.14 GB (250,140,434,432 bytes)
  Available:    23.48 GB (23,483,908,096 bytes)
  Writable: Yes
  File System:  Journaled HFS+
  BSD Name: disk0s2
  Mount Point:  /
  Content:  Apple_HFS
Recovery HD:
  Capacity: 650 MB (650,002,432 bytes)
  BSD Name: disk0s3
  Content:  Apple_Boot

Your speed issue isn't likely to be because the SSD has been used too much, as sectors would simply stop working and the space would start to decrease rather than slow down.

The issue is more likely to be caused by TRIM not being enabled in the OS, so the drive is doing it's garbage collection (sometimes referred to as GC) routines as and when you write information. This will cause a considerable slow down as with TRIM enabled it will happen as soon as space isn't required anymore.

If you're running Mountain Lion you can run this script to enable it.

There's an app called TRIM Enabler, but based on feedback across a wide variety of sources, I've always avoided it.

You can check whether TRIM is enabled by clicking on the Apple logo in the top left corner, About This Mac, More info, System Report, and then scroll down to Serial-ATA, and then look on the right pane for TRIM Support yes/no. If you're not patched, then it will say no.