app that reminds to take a break at times I am looking out for an app (for Mac OS X) that reminds to take a break (gives out a message) at pre-scheduled time.

Free (or low cost) app will do, as I don't want to spend my hard earned cash on this simple app.

There is one such tool I know, called (unsurprisingly) Time Out. It's free as in beer and seems to be well-maintained.


How do I stop my MacBook Pro from randomly freezing when trying to go to sleep? My 2011 MacBook Pro has been having a problem occasionally where I put it to sleep, but it continues to run.  Later when I go use it again, I realize that it was on the whole time (usually inside my bag), and by this point it is blazing hot and the fan is running at full power.  It is unresponsive at this point, and I have to hold the power button to restart it. This happens I'd guess every few weeks on average, sometimes more often, sometimes less.

I often bounce between an office and home where at both locations, I use an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.  This freezing seems to happen only when I'm leaving one of these two locations, in which case I follow the following procedure:

Move mouse to HotCorner to put monitor to sleep (I do this instead of closing the lid since Lion has lid closing assume the external is taking over as primary display.)
Close lid to put computer to sleep
Disconnect cables (power, display port, usb; maybe ethernet and audio depending on location).

Lately, I've been suspecting that the above actions somehow conflict, so I've been trying to wait a few seconds between each step.  I think this was helping, but today I forgot about this plan (i.e. less than 1/2 second between actions), and the crash returned.

I first contacted Apple in February, and they had me boot into safe-mode to reset something, then reset the PRAM.  This didn't help, as the freezes returned.  After today's crash, I called Apple again, and they recommended I try reinstalling Lion (running 10.7.3), and if that doesn't help, then go to Apple store for hardware tests.

I will give this a try, but before I do, I wanted to see if anyone has a better idea on how to prevent this from happening.

For now, I've also removed my HotCorner, and will simply use the menu or keyboard to trigger system sleep before closing my lid (i.e. to make sure that the monitor-sleep and system-sleep commands are not conflicting).

Update: I reworded some of above to try to entice solutions.  Additionally, I should note that at my office, the USB is used for keyboard and mouse vs. at home, USB Is used for keyboard, mouse and external drive.  The display port in both cases is connected to a DVI adapter.

I would try adjusting your procedure. Since as noted the quoted steps provided below in practice are causing you to unintentionally wake the Mac from sleep in step 3, which may also problematically be waking it from sleep before it finishes going to sleep in the first place. So in a sense you were telling your MacBook Air to go to sleep and while your at it wake up from sleep, remove a display and all this other stuff at the same time. That may be the cause of the freezing, the shock of all the external devices getting removed while in sleep or while the mac is going to sleep.

  Move mouse to HotCorner to put monitor to sleep (I do this instead of closing the lid since Lion has lid closing assume the external is
  taking over as primary display)
  Close lid to put computer to sleep
  Disconnect cables (power, display port, usb; maybe ethernet and audio depending on location).

USB activity as noted in Mac OS X: Why your Mac might not sleep or stay in sleep mode is a perfect way to wake your mac from sleep.

I would recommend doing the following instead:

Save your important files and data in open applications in case things go wrong.
Disconnect cables (power, display port, usb; maybe ethernet and audio depending on location).
Wait for you mac to recognize that the external display is disconnected, usually screen fades to blue for a few seconds, before going back to normal view of your Mac. etc.
Close lid to put computer to sleep or choose Apple > Sleep, etc...
Verify the sleep indicator light is slowly pulsing, before placing the MacBook into any case.

So ya try this out and see if it stops the random freezing. If it does not then there may be other hardware / software problems at hand, check your system logs, etc.


Does Mac App Store provide an email support channel? I want to know if there's any email support specific for Mac App Store.

Anyone have the idea?

If you purchase an app from the Mac App Store, the purchase receipt you receive via email contains a “Report a Problem” link.  If Apple replies to your problem report via email, that email can contain a return email address for the particular Mac App Store problem you are reporting.

Each app developer is also required to have a support link for that app listed in the App Store.

For general support, Apple recommends using their Support App. See:
https://support.apple.com/contact

There are also Apple community support forums: https://discussions.apple.com/welcome

and https://discussions.apple.com/community/app_store/using_app_store


How to ask siri about event length in calendar? How do I ask Siri about event length in calendar? She tells me that I have event and it starts at 10am but asking 'how long does it take' or 'how long is it' confuses Siri.

As far as I know (I am on iOS 9.0.2), Siri cannot explicitly tell you the duration of the event. For events that are longer than three (3) hours, it also does not provide the end time of the event. Siri also (mostly) cannot do things related to previous items requested if you do not refer to it clearly, which is why "how long does it take" or "how long is it" will confuse Siri.

You can only work out the duration of the event if they are or shorter than 3 hours as Siri will only show you the start and end time. Past 3 hours, you have to physically enter your calendar app to find out.


Remotely turn on screen sharing I recently tried to turn on Internet Sharing for my mac mini, and accidently hit 'Remote Management' which turns off screen sharing! I have no peripherals - not even a display, but I do have a lot of Apple Laptops. Is there any way to turn it back on if I know the root/admin username and password?!

I also tried booting in target disk mode - both machines are running mountian lion, and connected through a firewire cord (with a thunderbolt adapter on one side). When I boot my machine in target disk mode I just get the firewire logo bouncing around, never see the others image.

Ben, you won't like this... my short answer is 'no, you should get a monitor'.

But, my longer answer is maybe... if you are comfortable with the command line, you could try this hair brained idea:

Start off with firewire target mode. From your description it sounds like you enabled firewire target mode on the laptop rather than the mini. The way you would want to do this is hold down the 'T' on the mini (using a keyboard) as you boot up the mini. Then after waiting a bit (since you can't use a monitor to check that it shows an icon indicating it is in target disk mode) you would connect the cable to the two machines. The mini should now be a hard drive mounted on the laptop.

Now I'm following instructions from here:

http://pivotallabs.com/enabling-os-x-screen-sharing-from-the-command-line/

and having you type this in to the terminal

sudo defaults write /var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist com.apple.screensharing -dict Disabled -bool false

This is modifying a file on your laptop, and not on the mini, so you now are going to copy the file you just modified from the laptop to the mini:
/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist make sure it is in the same location.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE backup this file first (both on the laptop and mini)

In theory, when you reboot the mini, screen sharing should be enabled.
There are a LOT of descriptions in this file though - so I don't really like this idea... but if you are up against a wall it MIGHT work.

Additionally, if you are not comfortable on the command line, stick with the short answer, get a monitor (borrow it if you need to).


script to cycle through multiple pdfs and want to close the windows Hey everyone I am new to applescripting.  I have a need for an applescript that will cycle through 3 PDFs, located out on a share drive.  I have the script but the problem is that if a user overwrites the PDFswith a new version, the script continues cycling through using the old version, not the updated copies.  So I thought that if the script could close the PDF window and then reopen it that might would work.  However, I cannot get it to close the window. Here is what I have so far and it does not work.  Throws an error saying Access for assistive devices is disabled which it is not.

repeat
tell application "Adobe Reader"
    open "/Volumes/Schedules/Maintenance/DowntimeData.pdf"
end tell

delay (60)

set theTitle to "DowntimeData.pdf"

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Adobe Reader"
        tell window theTitle to if exists then perform action "AXPress" of (get value of attribute "AXCloseButton")
    end tell
end tell

tell application "Adobe Reader"
    open "/Volumes/Schedules/Maintenance/MaintSchedule.pdf"
end tell

delay (60)

tell application "Adobe Reader"
    open "/Volumes/Schedules/Schedulev4.pdf"
end tell
end repeat

It worked for me. Are you sure access for assistive devices is enabled (in the accessibility preference pane)?

You could also try running tell application "System Events" to set UI elements enabled to true. Or something like removing /var/db/.AccessibilityAPIEnabled, turning the setting off and on, and restarting.


Does using a hotspot while connected to wifi use cellular data? I'm confused about data usage / hotspot while connected to WiFi.

I'm asking because my Windows 8 laptop cannot recognize my friend's router, as in it can't even find it, however, my iPhone 4 can. I have connected using my iPhone 4 and turned on the "Personal Hotspot" feature.

Does this use my Data Allowance from Telstra, or will all internet/network traffic flow through to the router?

If the above answer is yes, what if I took out my SIM Card? Would it not work at all, or flow through to the router?

You cannot use your Wi-Fi connection for Internet connectivity while other devices are using Wi-Fi for Personal Hotspot. You can share only a cellular data connection; you cannot share a Wi-Fi connection.

As seen here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4517


How do I stop Yahoo Sync? Since upgrading to Max OS X 10.7.2 and converting my MobileMe Account to iCloud I am receiving endless dialog boxes asking about syncing Yahoo Contacts.

I cannot find settings anywhere to turn this off. I have to manually dismiss these frakking dialogues, which come up at the rate of about one an hour.

I was curious about this myself and started by looking in Activity Monitor, found that "launchd" was the service that kicked off the Yahoo Contacts Sync.  After some googl'ing I found out that custom scripts for launchd get executed from the ~(user)/Library/LaunchAgents folder.  In there, you'll find the culprit -- at least, I did.  Now I dunno if I should simply delete them (since I don't care about syncing contacts, I don't use the Mail.app) or if I can just disable it by tweaking the plist file.  Hope that helps!

EDIT: I discovered that going into the AddressBook.app preferences and unchecking the accounts listed caused the plist files to be removed.  If you check them again, they reappear.  Works for me!  :)


Can an application that requires JRE 6 run in Rosetta 2? I have an application I'd like to run on a new MacBook Air that has as one of its requirements installing Apple JRE 6.  Prior to Apple Silicon, this would've been as simple as installing it from Apple's website.  However, from what I understand there is no official Java implementation for ARM Macs, and even if there were I imagine that OpenJDK won't have a JRE 6.0 version.
Is it possible to install JRE 6 in such a way that it works under Rosetta?  Or will this be an impossible configuration to support?

Azul is already released openJDK Arm64 8 binaries including JRE. Java8 is backward compatible so can run all previous Java versions.
I believe it's possible to setup environment so that java app will use it instead of Apple Java. HomeBrew suggests:

For the system Java wrappers to find this JDK, symlink it with
sudo ln -sfn /usr/local/opt/openjdk/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk.jdk

or with macports just
sudo port install zulu-jdk8 and /usr/bin/java finds it automatically


MacBook Pro Retina 15" native resolution compromise? It's been two weeks now since I got my new retina and I find it awesome.

I'm a frontend developer so I need a lot of screen estate to get things done in a good fashion and the way I was used to.

My big conundrum is this:

When I am at "Best for Retina" everything is big, clear sharp, etcetera. At the office or at home I usually have a external monitor which makes things better, but when I want to use only the mac display for the development I have  the following issues:

best for retina is to small to get things done (can't even see properly the google developer tools bar)
using setresX I am changing my resolution to 2048x1020, that seems to be the best resolution that makes the compromise between the size of the display and how big the items are on screen. The drawback is that EVERYTHING is blurry
that is because the default non-Retina resolution of this mac is 2880x1800, on that resolution everything looks sharp, but it is incredibly small, my eyes hurt and I shed tears after 10minutes of usage.

(I'm not talking about other best for retina resolutions because they decrease the performance heavily, and it is annoying in its own way.)

So, what I was thinking is to leave the display at 2880x1800 but increase the system's font size, I think that would do the trick, would it?

Other similar threads are also present but none discuss this exact issue,

How can we make the 2880x1800px resolution usable on this 15" screen?

Please come up with some ideas, I'm about to try TinkerTool (http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html) to increase the font-size, but I don't know if it's a good solution yet.

I'll come with some possible options, up until then please come with some feedback of your own.

Thanks,
Arthur.

I would suggest just to use the "more space" 1920x1200 in System Preferences.

From what I can see, options in System Preferences has been tweaked to look better than to just change the resolution with some tools like SetResX or DisplayMenu.

If you don't like 1920x1200, and really want to get smaller, your only option will be 2880x1800. Everything will look small. But you will get used to it.

You might need a larger cursor, that option can be found under Accessibility in System Preferences.

Any other apps you want to have them look nicer, you will need to do it on a per-app basis, font size, zoom, etc.

But it won't be as good as the options under System Preferences, basically, if you have 2880x1800 as your resolution, and have everything 50% larger, that will be 1920x1200. So there's really no point to refuse it. Also Boot Camp defaults to 1800p with a 150% dpi.

The bottom line is, the options built-in are tweaked, you won't get anything better than those. Stick to it. As a fellow developer, I always choose 1200p or 1050p when doing UI designs. Go back to 900p when coding.


How can I upload my whole iPhoto-Library to flickr? Is there any plugin or other tool that I can use to upload my whole iPhoto Library to flickr? What do I need to do with that tool?

You can also do this natively with iPhoto, although FlickrExport by Connected Flow does offer some additional features. If you go to Preferences - Accounts you can add your Flickr account and it will allow you to share your photos and albums natively.


Mac Mail receiving emails extremely slowly I recently purchased my first rMBP and I have noticed that Mail receives emails extremely slow. I receive the email on my iPhone 10 - 15 minutes before it appears on Mail.

I've tried searching for solutions however it doesn't seem like this is a problem many are having. Anyone have any solutions?

In Mail there is a Activity view. Turn it on and see what is happening.

It looks like this

All the bars should disappear with in a 1-2 minutes.

Also check in the Mail preferences the setting for how frequently to check for Mail. Hope it is not set on 15 minutes but more frequently.


Can I clean-install iOS 11 on my iPhone 7? My iPhone 7 is too buggy since I upgraded it to the iOS 11 beta. Now the iOS 11 had finally been released for a while, but my iPhone, even after upgraded to the official release, still too buggy (while using an app, the screen suddently got freezed and it is not responsive for a few minutes; an app didn't launch sometimes and crash immediately; etc...).

I already cleaned all my data and settings, and restored it from my backup, but it didn't resolve the issue.

So I would rather like to clean-install it. Is it possible to do that in iPhone?

Yes. Download the latest .ipsw file for your device. I get my stuff from Redmond Pie. I prefer clean installs as well. The .ipsw file is around 2-2.6 GB.


Where can I download Filemerge - the app for comparing two tools and merging them? I would like to install Filemerge, but can't find where to go to download it. Where can I download it?

FileMerge is part of Xcode 4.x by Apple which you can download from the Mac App Store.
The following is taken from the description:

Xcode is now distributed as an application, rather than as an installer. This change enables Xcode to be updated directly from the Mac App Store.

Includes SDKs for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and iOS 5
New code signing workflow supports signing OS X apps with Developer ID
Adds installation of command-line tools to the Downloads preference pane
Open Developer Tool menu launches Instruments, FileMerge, and other tools
ARC migration tool converts both retain/release and garbage collected code
Additional bug fixes and stability improvements

But FileMerge.app is now embedded inside the Xcode.app package and is not easily accessible as a standalone tool... Unless you do this:

Browse to /Applications/Xcode.app
Right-click -> Show package contents
Contents -> Applications
Right-click FileMerge.app -> Make Alias -> Enter password
Copy the Alias to somewhere, like /Applications
Delete the original Alias

Now you can use as a standalone tool, as before!


How play a YouTube video in the background on an iPad? Is there any way to play a YouTube video in the background on iOS 8 so I can have music playing from a video while doing other things with the iPad?

Follow these steps:

Open Safari on your iPad
Go to www.youtube.com and search for a video
When the video you choose is playing, press the home button
The music will stop playing
Slide from the button to the top (Control Center)
Press the play button

Normally, you can now hear the audio from your YouTube video..


Why would native Mac filesystem performance be MUCH worse than various virtualized disks on the same mac? I was attempting to profile a php application when I noticed it was running MUCH slower on my mac vs docker vs virtualbox (all on the same hardware). I started narrowing down possible issues, but now I'm not sure where to go. It seems to be related to the filesystem or core utilities itself, but I'm not sure.

So I started simplifying the problem and the running some tests. I dumped a large number of files from the app (~7.5K files, 74MB total size) as a sample set to perform operations on into a single dir, and then copied the dir to the container, and the vm.

Test 1: time -p find . -type f -exec md5sum {}  \; > /dev/null

Native | Docker | VirtualBox
  27s  |   6s   |    5s

Test 2: time -p find . -type f -exec cp {} /dev/null  \; > /dev/null

Native | Docker | VirtualBox
  16s  |   9s   |    7s

Test 3: time -p { dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/delme bs=4k count=100000 && sync; }

Native | Docker | VirtualBox
  0.7s |   0.8s |    0.4s

With the first 2 tests, I was trying to test reading and operating on many files using native utils. OSX was significantly worse. I was trying to test raw disk speed with the 3rd test.

I know this methodology may be flawed or there may be more accurate way to test, but this is just what I came up with and seemed representative enough for troubleshooting. (More details - I ran each test on each env sequentially, repeated the process 3 times, and took the average. Mac is Catlina 10.15.3 encrypted APFS (no errors reported on the drive). Docker container is debian:latest. VB VM is Ubuntu 16.04.

So what's possibly going on here? Am I overlooking something obvious? Is it likely the differences in filesystem performance? I also ran these test on a linux cloud container running on AWS, and had numbers aligned with the Docker/VB VM. Does it have something to do with how virtualized files are typically stored/read? Does the encryption on the native disk matter (since they are all ultimately on this disk)? Could it be some corporate endpoint security process intercepting native read/writes? (I'm unaware of any, but it's a company laptop, and I don't know everything installed, but when I run sudo htop, I'm not seeing anything unusual to me.)

Any ideas for further troubleshooting? Using a virtualized layer on top of the native hardware to get a 2-4x improvement just seems wrong.

Edit 1: Results with disk cache clearing

So after reading this link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28845524/echo-3-proc-sys-vm-drop-caches-on-mac-osx

I re-ran the tests with a flushed disk cache and noted the change (∆) between the first and 2nd run.

For Native:
sync && sudo purge; run test; run test immediately again;

For Docker and VB:
echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches; run test; run test immediately again;

Native | Docker | VirtualBox
  ∆5s  |   ∆3s  |    ∆3s

There was a clear difference between first and second run, but they all improved with disk caching, and the timings from my original tests indicate a primed a cache for all the original runs that I noted, and the performance difference still remains.

Edit 2: Sharing a script for others to test/verify

I wrote a short script to create some sample data files, simulate a workload similar to what I described, and print the results. Then I ran it on an older 2015 Macbook that I recently reset and installed Catalina on (so no unknown corporate apps, no encrypted APFS, etc.) I tested it natively and using Docker for Mac on that machine. Once again for the limited testing, the linux VM (running docker) on the Mac significantly outperformed OSX. I then tried with my original php app. Same result.

If you try the script and notice significantly different results, please let me know. If anyone has suggestions to improve the script/tests, please do, but otherwise there are certain scenarios/workloads that I just won't be using OSX for from now on and will be using a vm/docker on the Mac instead.

What you are seeing is the consequence of your hypervisor lying to you about disk write flushing, presumably because you have disk writeback caching enabled in the VM configuration. Disable the write caching, and you will find the performance is going to be much more similar (probably worse than bare metal).

As a secondary test, you can try on your host by LD_PRELOAD-ing libeatmydata and you should see that your bare metal performance reaches or surpasses the performance in VMs.


Will my iMac stay on if I use it's display in target display mode for a Mac mini? I have the new iMac and need a Mac mini. Is it easy to switch the display back and forth or do I have to plug and unplug?

Also.. Will the Mac mini continue to run in headless mode when I'm using the display with the iMac?

I'd like to connect to it via Remote Desktop most of the time.

Thanks!

Yes you can switch painlessly from one to the other using ⌘+F2.

Here's the Apple knowledge base article about that, you may find it interesting in order to understand exactly how the target display mode works.

However, I'm not sure you can connect via Remote Desktop without having a physical screen connected (except if you already upgraded to Lion, the "virtual screen" functionality should do the trick). Unfortunately, I can't try this at home as I don't have any Macs without internal display.


Coloured Vertical Lines on Screen I dropped my macbook air and the screen is like this since.

Does anyone know what exactly happened to it? Is it hardware or software?

Diagnosing Hardware vs Software Problem
As stated in my comment, to diagnose if it is a software or hardware issue (most likely hardware), try connecting the Macbook to an external monitor. If the external monitor displays the screen, then your Macbook must have the problem (It's a hardware issue). If both the external monitor and the Macbook pro still won't display anything, it is a software issue.
The Problem
The display probably went bad. You can try pressing the screen at certain points and see if it gets restored (This won't fix anything).
Resetting the NVRAM/PRAM- Last Chance
One last thing to try is resetting the NVRAM/PRAM (I read this on a post once, I don't think it will work but it cannot hurt to try):

Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command (⌘)-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

Related Links
Apple Discussion

I have the same problem. Resetting PRAM is the only way to boot and it
only works on that boot. If the system is off for more than maybe 5
minutes, I'm back to the vertical colored lines. Multiple reboots in a
short amount of time are ok.

Does this happen for you too when you reset the PRAM?
Take it to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store (hopefully you have AppleCare or under 1 year limited warranty).


what is DELUXE-USR-LOCAL-BIN-INSERT in ~/.profile file? My .profile file includes the following obscure lines.  What are they for?

##
# DELUXE-USR-LOCAL-BIN-INSERT
# (do not remove this comment)
##

It's there as a placeholder so that scripts that look for it know where to insert their changes into the profile file.

I beleive this was from the default profile created on much older versions of OSX, since my .profile which has moved with me from Panther has this, but my work machine which is from the Leopard/Snow Leopard era does not.

I have seen links to such articles going back to 2005.

It could also have been added by a third party installer, but finding out which one is probably a zero-sum game.


Switch iPhone 4S's provider I have a iPhone 4S and I dropped it in water and can't talk on it now. So my buddy gave me his old iPhone 4S. But the catch is that he has a passed due balance with "Telus". And I need the phone to run on the "Bell" network. How do I do that? I've heard it's possible. I've already jailbroke it.

How can I switch providers?

Just exchange the sim card with a "Bell network" sim card,

or go to settings->carrier->automatic->off->and select Bell


How can I see my home folder in the finder? How can I go to my home folder in finder? and/or how can I navigate up a folder tree in finder

I am used to Ubuntu and finding /home/name easily in the gui

Shift+Command+H takes you to your home folder
Command+UpArrow takes you one folder up

Have a look at the "Go To" menu in Finder for additional key combinations. Some people like to use the ~ character and the Go to Folder... shortcut as that expands to the current user's home folder like on other UNIX operating systems.

You may also want to have a look at Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts (HT1343) which contains a huge list of OS X Lion keyboard shortcuts.


Why is iTunes only syncing some of the pictures (seemingly randomly) in each Aperture Event to my iPad? When I sync my iPad, a random selection from each event is there after I sync. Some events seem to have all of them, some have only one (of hundreds), some have a minority percentage.

And there's no rhyme or reason - it's not the first, last, edited ones, or any other category I can think of.

I've tried rebuilding Aperture's database, turning photo syncing off, syncing, and then turning it on again, restarting, all to no avail.

I do get the "some of your pictures couldn't be sync because they can't be dispayed on your iPad, but I always do, and can't fathom that's the issue - they're standard, non-giant jpegs.

Help?

Well, two trips to the genius bar couldn't solve it ("you need to start a new library from scratch and retag your 15,000 photos" - WHAT?!?!), but I dug around and experimented and finally came up with the answer:

iTunes won't sync pictures without up-to-date previews; so, if they stop auto-generating for some reason, you have to force it to update previews for the pictures that aren't syncing.

You may want to go to iTunes and select "Sync all Photos" and note the number of photos that appears in the upper right of the window, so you can make sure that it's higher after this process.
Go to Aperture and select "Photos" up near the top of your library, in order to select your whole library of pics.
In the "Photos" menu up top, you should see "update previews for library".  (If you're not seeing it, you probably skipped step 2, or selected an individual photo, in which case, it will be replaced with "update preview".  You want to do it for everything, so be sure to highlight "photos" first.
That may take some time, depending how many you were missing, but once it's done, go back to iPhoto, and uncheck "sync all photos" and then recheck it.  That should force it to recount the pics, and you should now see a number that matches your library (less any in a format that iTunes can't handle.)


How to proceed getting a Smart ID card reader for old and new MacBooks Air? I have related questions about a smart ID card reader for my MacBook Air.

I need to insert a Smart ID card into a reader connected to my laptop when logged into a website for ID verification. I'm a non-technical person and this is freaking me out, but apparently people do this a lot.

If I go to a random electronics store and buy a card reader will I have to download and install strange and scary software for the reader to work, or will MacOS already have something built in that will handle this safely?
Does Apple make a compatible reader that would be better to use than a random one from a store, where better means some combination of safer, more reliable and more secure?
I have an old 2012 MacBook Air but am buying a new 2020 MacBook Air soon. Because of the different connections will I need to buy two different readers?

I saw this answer to Easy solution to use a SmartCard with a 15" MacBook Pro? from 2011 but the item it links to is discontinued.

A CAC (Common Access Card) or Smartcard reader is just a USB device that reads an authentication device in much the same way a USB SD or CompactFlash card reader reads those media.  The age and/or model of your Mac is irrelevant.

What’s important is the OS.  Most card readers are compatible with macOS, But Catalina introduces some changes; specifically the change from the legacy TokenD to the new TokenCryptoKit framework.  More information can be found in the Apple Support document Prepare for smart card changes in macOS Catalina.  Basically, you may need to configure Catalina to use the older framework if the software you’re using hasn’t updated.  Your IT support staff will have to address this for you as they will be the ones who know if this is the case.

As far as what Smartcard reader to get, there are lots on the market, but I prefer to purchase from known brands; the IOGear GSR202 looks to be a good, reliable product.


Can't reinstall the Camera icon on my iPhone My daughter accidentally deleted the Camera icon from my iPhone 4. I have since reinstalled everything, updated to IOS 5 and have sync'd the phone via iTunes etc. But I still can't see it and can't find a way of adding it to as an app, if that's what I need to do.

How to get the Camera icon back?

You actually can't remove the Camera app, but you can move it. Perhaps it is hidden in a group.

Go to Settings -> General -> Reset and tap "Reset Home Screen Layout".

"Camera" should reappear in the first page, but if it doesn't its likely a parental control or a profile restricting camera use.

Go to Settings -> General -> profiles and delete all of the ones you don't need. Inspect the ones you wish to keep to see if one restricts the camera.

If that still doesn't work, you'll want to back the device up and restore it to get if a hardware or software problem is causing the problem.


How to use Mac Keyboard, on iPhone, with lightning cord? I am looking for a way to type on the Mac keyboard and have it type on an iPhone. I know there are many bluetooth Apps to do this, but I am using a typing script and bluetooth does not transmit the keys fast enough, hence why I would like a way to do this with a lightning cord.

Shouldn't really matter but I am on:

macOS High Sierra & iOS 11

I think the best solution would probably be to buy a lighting to USB adapter like this one as per this Lifewire article. The downside is that this sort of adaptor from apple usually carries a rather high cost with it. Therefore, I would recommend having a look around Amazon for a similar solution like this one but be sure to check out the reviews!

Hope that helped.

Kind regards, Tom


How to paste files using Applescript (or bash)? I want to paste a file copied by Finder in the terminal. Sth like pbpaste but for binaries. (pbpaste itself just returns the basename of the copied file.)

One way I can think of doing this is to use a little bit of AppleScriptObjC.  It provides access to the various data type representations on the clipboard, and in multiple.

After retrieving the full file paths, these can then be passed to the cp command.

Wrapping this in a bash function declaration:

pastefiles() {
    IFS=$'\n'
    fs=($( osascript -e "use framework \"Foundation\"
        property this : a reference to the current application
        property NSPasteboard : a reference to NSPasteboard of this
        property NSURL : a reference to NSURL of this
        property pb : a reference to NSPasteboard's generalPasteboard

        property text item delimiters : linefeed

        pb's readObjectsForClasses:[NSURL] options:[]
        (result's valueForKey:\"path\") as list as text" ))

    cp -r "${fs[@]}" "$1"
}

Usage: pastefiles~/Example/Destination/Path

You can add this to your .bashrc file to have the function available to each new shell session.


Automator: start embedded YouTube So, I need to show some kids a sequence of YouTube videos (with Automator, because there's no one available to man the computer for 30 minutes), but it's at a school where the YouTube domain is blocked, so I had to use a workaround where I use a website (http://www.safeshare.tv) that will embed a YouTube link for me into a page, and I can view the embedded video from there.

However, it does not automatically start the embedded video. So, I have my Automator configured to open a video in Chrome, then wait for the predetermined  length of the video (AppleScript delay command), then open another video, then wait some more, etc.

However, when it opens each video, they don't start playing. Watch Me Do crashes for anything I try to do, even the simplest mouse movements, so that is out.

How do I make it play the embedded video? Is there anything I can do with AppleScript? Is there a Chrome plugin that automatically plays embedded YouTube videos on a page when the page is opened? Is there a similar Automator plugin?

Maybe I could just ask SafeShare to edit their service for one day so that their YouTube embeds start automatically.

Check the YouTube Options for Google Chrome extension.

There's an option to auto play embedded videos. (according to screenshots of the Chrome webstore).

If this doesn't fit your needs, if think there are other options. Just give me your feed back please.


Prevent Calendar on Mac from removing old entries I'm using El Capitan, and I went to my Mac to check my calendar (which is sync'ed to iCloud). I needed to check the details of an appointment I had 3 years ago. I went back, opened that month, and I saw all my entries. And then after a second, they vanished.

Why did this happen, and how can I stop this from happening?

And, can I use Time Machine to retrieve my old Calendar entries?

The problem is resolved.

On my iPhone, all the old entries were still there. But restarting the Mac and going to Calendar again, the same thing happened: The old items displayed and disappeared. However, disabling the iCloud calendar and then re-enabling sync for my iCloud calendars appears to have caused the problem to resolve.


Cycling through Spaces? Is there a way that when you cycle through the last Space, it cycles you back to the first one?

And, if you cycle backwards and get to the first space, have it cycle back to the last?

Right now, it stops as at the end and beginning, and I'd love to just keep on swiping to cycle.

The cycle functionality does not exist but when you arrive to the last one you can activate the shortcut to jump to the first one from Keyboard/Shortcuts in the System Preferences.


Attempting to fresh install Ubuntu dual boot rEFInd does not recognize live boot Attempted to do a fresh install of Ubuntu by following the procedure found here: Clean install Ubuntu on a dual boot with Windows

I assumed that the fact that it was for Vista instead of OS X was inconsequential. My base OS is Yosemite.

Now when rEFInd starts up, I still see the option for OS X and Ubuntu but no option for installing Ubuntu.

When I click the Ubuntu option it says "error: no such partition. entering recovery mode"

Any ideas on how to resolve this? Any and all input would be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE:

I attempted to start up GParted again to see if I missed something and now rEFInd isn't seeing it either? Don't know if this is useful info? Does Gparted depend on the presence of Ubuntu?

FURTHER UPDATE:

1) Base OS: Yosemite

2) What media device you are installing Ubuntu from: DVD+R

3) Your method before it stopped working: Not sure exactly what you mean by method. I was attempting to get my WiFi working (It works for OS X but didn't work for Ubuntu, GParted, or Tails. but I'll cross that bridge later). I used rEFInd to load it, and used GParted to delete it.

Please refer to my answer to another question involving similar difficulties. The method is the exact same, except you should skip step 4 and use the Ubuntu ISO instead.

Before attempting anything though, remove all traces of your previous failed installation attempts from the Mac.


How can I unstick my trackpad button? The trackpad button on my 2007 Macbook Pro seems to be sticking.  Specifically, it's stuck in the "down" position, which means I'm selecting pretty much everything all the time (you wouldn't believe how frustrating it was just to ask this question).  It was fine yesterday.  What can I do to unstick it?

The trackpad getting stuck is also a well known symptom of a bulging battery in the MacBook Pros of this generation. I'm dealing with this issue myself and am very annoyed about it too, because this 2007 Santa Rosa MBP I paid for is essentially the most lemon computer I've ever owned (at least four other hardware failures besides this one).


Where are OS X document versions stored? Are they secure? Support for OS X versioning is spreading among apps (e.g., TextWrangler has just added this feature as of version 4.5), but it is unclear what the security implications of this are. For example, if I use an app to store important or sensitive information, I will make sure that the file is on a password protected, encrypted volume; but I worry that OS X versioning might circumvent this by storing versions in an un-secure form and location.

Where does OS X versioning store versions? Is this location secure and encrypted?

Versions are stored on the same physical / logical volume as the original.
This Q&A has all the technical details, but in short, look in the root user owned folder /.DocumentRevisions-V100 on each volume. If you create a disk image, the user that mounts the disk image normally owns the /Volumes/whatever/.DocumentRevisions-V100 directory where changes to documents on that volume are stored.

Do OS X Lion's Versions and Resume features store the cached data for encrypted .sparsebundle images in a secure way?

So - if that volume is FileVault encrypted (or a secure disk image) then the version is as secure as the original.

When you copy a file by attaching it, you only send the current saved copy - not any previous versions - so then again - it's only as secure (or not) as the medium into which you send that file.

So - versions doesn't do any additional encryption and it's really up to each application to decide whether it enables or disables versions and whether the data it writes is also obfuscated / encrypted - but the presence of versions neither adds nor subtracts security to a system.


Question about defining custom paragraph styles in Pages I have been using Pages to wrote TV Show scripts, as I've found it to be less restrictive than celtx, and cheaper than final draft.

It's been working really well, I just defined a bunch of custom paragraph styles, and I select the relevant one as needed.

This doesn't take much overhead, but there are a few things I would like to be able to do.

Basically, there are certain things that should be enforced between the styles. I've attached a screenshot of a script I've written to better illustrate what I'm referring to:

In most cases, when there is the name of a character, i.e. PHIL, or CLAIRE, it should be followed by the paragraph style that you see in the screenshot. Is there someway to have it set up so that when I press enter to go to a new line while I'm entering a characters name, the paragraph style of the new line is that of the dialog?

Also, when there is a name heading at the bottom of the page, the dialog is the first thing at the top of the next page, but the name heading should be grouped with the dialog on the next page. Is there some way to enforce this? The problem is illustrated in the below image.

Thanks!

You control both those issues from the MORE tab on the Text Inspector window.

The drop-down Following Paragraph Style will determine what the next paragraph's style settings are.

For example, if your paragraph style for character names is called CHARACTERS and for dialog it is called DIALOG what you do is select a bit of text that is using the CHARACTERS style, then in the MORE tab, set the Following Paragraph Style to DIALOG.

Likewise, you set the page break parameters in the same MORE tab.

By selecting the Keep with following paragraph will force the CHARACTERS style to always be on the same page as the next paragraph. If there is enough room to display the CHARACTERS line and at least 3 lines of the DIALOG the text will start on the current page and then continue on the next page. If there isn't enough room to display the CHARACTERS line and at least 3 lines of the DIALOG, the whole group will be pushed onto the next page.

According to Apple:

  Keeping Paragraphs Together on a Page

  You can choose to make two paragraphs appear on the same page. The last line of the first paragraph will always remain on the same page as the beginning of the next paragraph, unless you insert a page or section break between them.

  This is most useful for single-line, header paragraphs that you want to keep with the topic paragraphs following.
  To keep paragraphs together on a page:

  Click the paragraph that you want to keep with the paragraph following it.
  Click Inspector in the toolbar, click the Text button, and then click More.
  Select “Keep with following paragraph.”

If you want to keep the entire paragraph on the same page (so, not have it break across pages, you select Keep lines together.

  Keeping an Entire Paragraph on the Same Page

  You can make all the lines in a paragraph always appear on the same page.

  To avoid breaking a paragraph across pages:

  Click the paragraph whose lines you want to remain together.
  Click Inspector in the toolbar, click the Text button, and then click More.
  Select “Keep lines together.”

Once your style is set, you then either create a new paragraph style or you redefine the existing paragraph style to reflect the changes you just made.


Wrong keys in macbook keyboard The keys that were supposed to give tilde and back-tick in the keyboard are giving § ±, respectively. My input source is U.S, as you can see in the image, and my keyboard layout is the following:

I tried to format my mac but it didn't work as well.
What's is the problem that is occurring? Is there a way it can be solved?
Thank you!

It looks like your machine thinks the keyboard is of the ISO type instead of the ANSI type.  ISO keyboards have tilde/backtick on an extra key next to the Z.  See if this note can help:


Camera Roll vs Photos App, what name is correct? What is the name of the default native App that stores all photos and pictures on an iOS device? Since iOS 8 it seem to be called "Photos" were before Apple used to call it Camera Roll. Or do I mix something here?

Update: what is the correct terminology for the default Photos App and for what reasons should the term "Camera Roll" be used?

The app has been Photos since the original iPhone OS release, although there has been an album named "Camera Roll" as long as I can remember (iPhone OS 2.0 was my first). See http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0163/8048/files/iOS-Evolutionjpg.jpg?1903

Update: The app can be called Photos or Photos.app or Photos on iOS. Apple seems to just call it Photos, though. The Camera roll refers to the default album within Photos. Photographs taken from your camera default to that album—it's the "roll" of images captured by your phone. If you sync photos from another device, they'll be in Photos, but not on the Camera Roll (they'll have their own album(s)). If you have other apps that interact with your photos on-device, they may read from the Camera Roll or may interact with other albums.

2nd Update: Having now updated to iOS 8, I now realize that "Camera Roll" has been re-termed "Recently Added" in Photos. This is a better description of what it is, since not all of its entries get there via camera. For example, a photo saved from Facebook's app will on iOS 7 and earlier appear in the "Camera Roll" even though it's not a photo from the camera.


Macbook Pro 2012 deleted files become the “other” space and need to know how to delete I have a Macbook Pro mid-2012 15-inch with Catalina 10.15.5. I was continually getting messages that my system hard drive was full. I went to the Manage space, and started deleting large files from downloads, etc. I realized that as they were deleting, the space in other was getting larger with every additional thing I deleted. The trash is empty, but there is still no space on my computer (like 8mb). Not sure what is going on.
Thanks!

This could be due to the files still being kept in APFS snapshots created by Time Machine, so you could try running the following in Terminal to clear some of them:
tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 1000000000 1

The documentation for “tmutil” can be read using the command “man tmutil”, it says:
     thinlocalsnapshots mount_point [purge_amount] [urgency]
             Thin local Time Machine snapshots for the specified volume.

             When purge_amount and urgency are specified, tmutil will attempt
             (with urgency level 1-4) to reclaim purge_amount in bytes by
             thinning snapshots.

So the above command thins the snapshots on the Mac’s internal drive (which is normally mounted at the path “/”), to reclaim 1GB (1,000,000,000 bytes) with urgency level 1.
The output of the command will list the snapshots it removed. In this example output, 1 snapshot was removed:
Thinned local snapshots:
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-07-17-200440


iPhone 4 camera capabilities to read QR code I have no iPhone 4 here now but I need to know how well is its camera for reading small-size QR codes. Now I have some test QR codes printed on a sheet of paper and my old 1.3MPx smartphone camera doesn't recognize them. So, I wonder how good is iPhone 5MPx camera for doing that. The code I need to be read well from a printed sheet is 16x16mm or so. The size of a single square module is about half of a millimeter now. Please let me know if you have a chance to test it or if you had a deal with such things. Thanks!

I use the RedLaser app on my iPhone 3GS and it can handle just about every QR code that I've thrown at it. I would venture to say it would work even better with the higher resolution camera and enhanced image processing in the iPhone 4. Good lighting is probably going to be key.


How to create hand-made Time Capsule I've got a WiFi router (Asus) and an external HDD, connected to it by USB.
The router gives access to the HDD by FTP and SMB protocol.
It's working good as external storage for my MacBook Pro, but I want my Time Machine to create its backups on that HDD. Is there a way to do that?
Mac OS 10.8.2.

Time Capsule is actually just an AFP host.  You can configure any device that serves the AFP protocol to be a Time Machine backup destination.

However, if the device does not support AFP, it takes some work on the client to get TM to use it as a destination.

You can see the results of that question here:
Time Machine over SMB/CIFS share?


Error when installing El Capitan: disk does not use GUID partition scheme, and I am unable to convert I am running Yosemite version 10.10.5. I have a second partition running Windows 10. My main partition, running OS X, is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I try to follow the instructions in the error message, but the Option button is not available.

I do not know how to proceed, and would appreciate some help.

Terminal output:

diskutil cs list:

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0:

gpt show: error: bogus map
gpt show: unable to open device '/dev/disk0': Undefined error: 0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0:

Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 29185/255/63 [468862128 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: AF   25 127  15 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  400094952] HFS+
 2: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 400504592 -    1269536] Darwin Boot
*3: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 401785650 -   67071375] HPFS/QNX/AUX
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

sudo gdisk /dev/disk0:

sudo: gdisk: command not found

Considering the comments and the results of the different listings above, Yosemite probably was installed with a hack to enable a Windows MBR only install.

I assume it was the Yosemite MBR Patch 10.10 (14A389). The patch allows you to install Yosemite to a disk with a pure MBR partition table and not the default GUID partition table with a pMBR or hybrid MBR (if Windows is installed).

Depending on the efforts needed to save your data, you may either backup everything, reinstall first Yosemite (or El Capitan) from scratch after partitioning the main disk with a GUID partition table and migrate your data from the backup and then install Windows with Boot Camp Assistant or create a GUID partition table with proper partition values manually after booting to Internet Recovery Mode. The latter will probably render Windows unbootable.

Since the first method is trivial I only describe the second one.

Add a GUID partition table manually:

This method will probably render Windows unbootable!

Preparation:

Backup your data - especially any data on your Windows partition.
Detach any external drive (especially your external Time Machine backup drive).
Restart to Internet Recovery Mode by pressing alt cmd R at startup.
The prerequisites are the latest firmware update installed, either ethernet or WLAN (WPA/WPA2) and a router with DHCP activated.
On a 50 Mbps-line it takes about 4 min (presenting a small animated globe) to boot to a recovery netboot image which usually is loaded from an apple/akamai server.

I recommend ethernet because it's more reliable. If you are restricted to WIFI and the boot process fails, just restart your Mac until you succeed booting.

Alternatively you may start from a bootable installer thumb drive (Mavericks or Yosemite) or a thumb drive containing a full system (Mavericks or Yosemite).

Adding GUID partition table and the already existing MBR partitions:

Open Utilities -> Terminal
Enter diskutil list to get an overview
Unmount your main disk with diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0 (assumimg disk0 is the disk identifier of your main disk).
Add an GUID partition table with gpt create /dev/disk0
Add the EFI and the existent "MBR partitions":

The command basically looks like this:

gpt add -b StartBlock -i IndexNumber -s NumberOfBlocks -t Type device

To add all your partitions enter with the data found in your fdisk list:

gpt add -b 40 -i 1 -s 409600 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 409640 -i 2 -s 400094952 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 400504592 -i 3 -s 1269536 -t 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 401785650 -i 4 -s 67071375 -t EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 /dev/disk0

The size of the last partition (your Windows partition) is odd because usually it's a multiple of 8. But I have no explication for this.

The first partition is the EFI partition, the second your main Yosemite volume, the third volume is your Recovery HD and the last one is the Windows partition.
You may label your partitions with following command if they have no names:

gpt label -i number -l name device

Example:

gpt label -i 2 -l "Macintosh HD" /dev/disk0s2

Quit Terminal by entering quit and start Disk Utility
Check the consistency of your main volume (disk0s2)
Reboot to your main volume and install El Capitan


When will I use the FileVault 2 recovery key? I enabled FileVault 2 on my Mac, and I remember that it gave me a recovery key. When will I use this recovery key?

You will need the recovery key to decrypt the volume if you lose your password or, in the unlikely event that the encryption key associated with the password becomes corrupt. If you elected not to allow Apple to store the recovery key, keep a copy (or several) in a safe place other than your computer.

Recovery Keys can also be used by System Administrators to mount volumes for maintenance or recovery. (The Admin doesn't need access to an account password).  It is possible to encrypt a FileVault volume using a master key.

Apple's Best Practices for Deploying FileVault 2 white paper provides more information about the inner-workings.


How is my 2nd Airport Extreme Connecting To My 1st Airport Extreme? I have 2 5th Gen Airport Extreme's and a 4th Gen Time Capsule. The 1st is connected directly to the modem. It is set to emit 2.4GHz, and a 5GHz connection. I have an ethernet cable running from the 1st to the 2nd in another room. The ethernet is connected to one of the router ports on the 1st and to the WAN port on the 2nd. Now, I have the Time Capsule, and 2 computers connected to the 2nd Airport's router ports.

The 2nd Airport ( Airport Link ) is set to bridge mode, but also set to extend a wireless network. It extends the 1st Airport's 2.4GHz connection and the 5GHz connection. I am having issues with the computers connected to the 2nd Airport ( Airport Link ).

My goal is to have the 2nd Airport act as essentially a switch, use the ethernet connection of the 1st Airport for computers connected to the 2nd Airport ( Airport Link ), via ethernet. Also have the 2nd Airport extend or amplify the WiFi connections for the 2nd half of the house where the 2nd Airport ( Airport Link ) is located, BUT I need to make sure that it's not extending the WiFi by connecting to the Wifi connection of the 1st Airport, but rather still using that original ethernet connection.

Do I need to set the wireless on the 2nd Airport ( Airport Link ) in the options to "Extend Wireless Network", or to "Create Wireless Network" and name the WiFi the same names as what they have on the first Airport with the same passwords?

I have Back To Mac enabled on the 1st Airport. Do I need to sign in and enable it on the 2nd Airport ( Airport Link ) since the computers are connected to this Airport base station via ethernet?

SInce your second Airport is connected to the 1st one through an Ethernet cable, and if it isn't out of the normal length for an Ethernet cable I suggest you to choose this link only between your 2 access points (here Airport Extreme).

I advise you to configure the second Airport as follows:

suppress the option "Extend Wireless Network",
configure it in "bridge" mode,
configure it to create a wireless network with the same name and password as the one on your 1st Airport, but with a 2.4 GHz channel chosen so as to be separated from the 1st one channel by 3 empty channels, for example:
1st airport on channel 5, 2nd airport on channel 9 (this is a good practical example I am using to avoid the channels of my neighbours.

For 5 GHz channels just choose 2 differents ones (5 GHz channels don't overlap on each others as 2.4 GHz do).

With such a configuration you avoid to have 2 physical paths between your 2 AP which may cause flapping (packet 1 going path 1, packet 2 going path 2…) and loops (packet 1 going path 1, returned back on path 2…).


Does iPhone's baseband change when updating iOS? I would like to know more about basebands.

Does it change when updating iOS?
Do all iPhones have the same baseband?
If not, how do they differ?
And ... can I unlock an iPhone 4 with iOS 5.1.1?

I would be very grateful for an explanation.

Q: Does it change when updating iOS?

A: Yes, the firmware is revised and is packaged inside the software update archive.

Q: Do all iPhones have the same baseband?

A: No. They get updated and iPhones can have one of multiple chips with incompatible firmware.

Q: If not, how do they differ?

A: Bugfixes, security patches etc. Different generations have differing chipsets as well.

Q: And ... can I unlock an iPhone 4 with iOS 5.1.1?

A: Yes, you can use ultrasn0w for a software unlock if your iPhone 4's baseband is 01.59.00. You can check your baseband version by going to Settings->General->About and looking at the Modem Firmware number.

Sources:

http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Baseband

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/04/ultrasn0w-unlock-iphone-4-3gs-ios-5-1-1/

iPhone 4 Chipset Page: http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=XMM_6180


Why does SystemUIServer cause high CPU usage? The SystemUIServer process is taking 30% of my CPU. Searching around reveals a Snow Leopard daylight savings bug which is solved by removing the clock from the menubar. I am on Lion and I have tried this without success. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Same problem here. The problem is caused by a third-party widget that uses the internet. For me, dropbox was the problem. If dropbox is updating my files, systemuiserver keeps using a high amount of CPU .. the only solution is to force quit it (using terminal or activity monitor) or disabling the third-party widget.


My shell prompt changed ... without prompting I'm still running bash on MacOS Catalina 10.15.5 (19F101). Sorry.
Recently, I don't know why, the prompt in my bash sessions is acting up. There appears at the start of every prompt the string (base):
(base) MyComputer:~ myname$
The result of cat /etc/bashrc is:
# System-wide .bashrc file for interactive bash(1) shells.
if [ -z "$PS1" ]; then
   return
fi

PS1='\h:\W \u\$ '
# Make bash check its window size after a process completes
shopt -s checkwinsize

[ -r "/etc/bashrc_$TERM_PROGRAM" ] && . "/etc/bashrc_$TERM_PROGRAM"

I don't see anything related in /etc/bashrc_Apple_Terminal.
The result of echo $PS1 is:
(base) \h:\W \u\$

I have no local ~/.bashrc, and the result of grep 'PS1' ~/.* is empty, notwithstanding grep errors. That is to say, I'm not setting the PS1 variable in my home directory that I can see. I certainly haven't written code to do so.
I can change the prompt manually in one bash session:
PS1="\h:\W \u\$"
and that works for that session. But a new Terminal tab or window just gives me the (base) prefix once more.
I don't see anything in the preferences panes of the MacOS app Terminal, which is the app I use. Although... I did just launch an xterm and there the prompt is simply bash-3.2$ .
Can somebody help me figure out what is going on?

Looks like you installed Anaconda/python recently. Run
conda decactive

to remove the (base) label (and deactivate conda of course).
PS: You may be using zsh instead of bash, so maybe you should look into .zshrc and .zprofile.


Trouble transferring Mail folders to a new Mac I just bought a new Mac.

I want to transfer everything in my Mail install from my previous Mac to this new one. This includes all of the folders that I created "on my Mac"—meaning the contents are stored on the hard drive rather than on the IMAP server.

I've tried copying everything from the ~/Library/Mail/ folder as well as the Mail-related items in ~/Library/Preferences/, but when I launch Mail on the new Mac those 'local' folders aren't there.

I suppose I could manually export them from the old Mac and import them to the new Mac, but that seems incredibly laborious and unnecessary.

Any ideas? This is stumping me. Thank you!

Try: File -> Import Mailboxes

Then point it to the mailboxes you copied over (in ~/Library/Mail/V4).


How do I enable a USB SuperDrive in Mac OS X El Capitan on a MacBook Pro? I have an older MacBook Pro (Late 2011) which came with a built-in optical drive. I replaced the built-in SuperDrive with a second hard drive. However, the USB SuperDrive is not compatible with Macs that came with built-in optical drives.

I tried modifying the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist file with the mbasd=1 flag as I would have in Yosemite/Mavericks. However, I was presented with an Operation not permitted message, even when I tried this as root. (As it turns out, this is because of the new System Integrity Protection introduced in El Capitan, which supersedes root)

Is it possible to get a USB SuperDrive working in El Capitan? If so what are the steps?

I discovered this is a fast and simple way to enable a USB SuperDrive on El Capitan:

Click on the "" (Apple) menu, select "Restart...", and then hold "⌘" (Command) and "R" at the same time until the progress bar appears. [This will boot El Capitan in recovery mode, which may take a little longer than usual.]
Once booted into the GUI, click on the "Options" menu, and select "Terminal".
Type csrutil disable, and then press return. [This will temporarily disable System Integrity Protection, which is only possible in recovery mode. This will allow us to modify the restricted *.plist file.]
Type plutil -convert xml1 /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist, and then press return.
Type vi /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist, and then press return.
Add the mbasd=1 flag to the "Kernel Flags" string, and save the file. It should look like the file below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Kernel Flags</key>
    <string>mbasd=1</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Type csrutil enable, and then press return.
Type shutdown -r now, and then press return.

Once the system has restarted, you should now be able to use your USB SuperDrive.


Charge % less than 100% even overnight? When I charge my iPhone 4s it reaches 100%. But often, in the morning, it is as low as 95% and most of the time it shows less than 100%. If I unplug it and then plug it in again it quickly reaches 100% again. How to fix? Not a problem?

You should try to completely unload your iPhone. Let it go to 0 % (and shut down from itself), then plug it and let it charge completely. It should fix your problem.

See this articles from Apple for more information:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1476

The gists you need:

  For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).


Is there a backquote on the iPhone keyboard? Is there a backquote (backtick `) on the iPhone keyboard, and if so, where is it?

When I'm writing a post on a site in the SE family (especially SO), I want to use the backquote for inline code blocks. Under the single quote key, I've found two curly/angled quotes, but those (’ and ‘) don't seem to do the trick...

The backtick/backquote was added to the iOS keyboard in 4.1. You need to switch to the numbers keypad and then press & hold apostrophe to access it. Once the variations show up - slide your finger without removing it from the screen. Remove your finger when it's over the correct ` key.


"We could not complete your purchase" dialog on login I keep getting this dialogue every time I log in.

I haven't used the app store in over a year, so I am not sure what this is about.

I am also concerned that it is trying to make a purchase without my knowledge and the only thing stopping it is my low disk space.

Does anyone know what's going on?

If you open Mac Store and under your Apple ID you will see all the items under Purchased (Application such as Keynote, Pages, GarageBand so on). So even it is free, it is counted and listed under purchased items with zero cost/charge.

In your case, I think your machine is trying to download some updates from Mac Store for your application that you have downloaded from store and it is unable to do as you don't have enough space for its upgrade. Make some space free first :)


iCloud drive sharing on Sierra (Add People) On High Sierra there is an menu option (share button) to add people for a file inside iCloud Drive. Not on Sierra. However, I am able to call it programatically.

I have noticed that it is in sharing extensions but it is grey. What do I do wrong to have native Finder share + Add people?

This one can be triggered programatically. However, it has view bugs (can't click Share options).

I was unable to find any official Apple KB article explicitly stating that High Sierra is required for sharing files with people on iCloud. I have the same OSX version and experience exactly the same problem.

There is a workaround, however, that is officially supported by Apple - you can use iCloud.com and share files from there (PH21250). While not elegant, it certainly gets the job done.

Performing Google query for this issue reveals that this feature is mentioned explicitly with High Sierra software (CNET or AddictiveTips). While this is not official evidence that High Sierra is explicitly required to support this feature, it may suggest that Apple is forcing users to update to the latest software to receive such feature.


Recurring 'Broadcast Message' in terminal Yesterday I updated my Macbook Air (early 2015) to macOS Mojave.

Since then when I open a terminal window I am getting recurring messages. I can't run any terminal command at the moment.

What can cause this message?

Your system is running something called the Malloc Debugging and reporting a problem in your memory ? It is a program to detect memory bugs. Since it is stuck in a endless loop, the reported memory bug might not even exist.

It reports the same bug in your memory, over and over as seen here.

More info about Debugging memory-related bugs

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/ManagingMemory/Articles/MallocDebug.html

To stop the program in Terminal try Use key combination in Terminal Ctrl + C. or, Ctrl + Z , or CTRL+ \

You can also try...

Simple test is to start in Safe mode, or even more simple is to create new user account and try it.


Network problems with a MacMini 2018 I am experiencing weird network problems with a MacMini 2018.

At my home, I am connected through Wifi: No Problem.

In a different house, I try to connect via Wifi, "impossible to connect". And it's OK with a laptop for the same Wifi endpoint. I verified the password several times. Same result with the Wifi created by my iPhone SE.

I try with an Ethernet cable which was used by a desktop computer. The MacMini get an IP but when I try to connect on a website I've got timeouts, no online service works (this ethernet cable is connected via CPL).

The only thing that works is when I connect an Ethernet cable directly on the internet box.
This time, I've got an IP and everything works as expected.

Any hint to point me on what could be wrong?

To sum-up:

Can't connect on a new wifi network, this wifi is OK on a laptop
Can't connect with ethernet with the same cable used by a desktop where everything works
OK only when connecting directly on the internet box via ethernet.

A ping when I am connected with the non working ethernet:

PING yahoo.fr (124.108.115.101): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: No route to host
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2

One thing I noticed: on my laptop I see a lot of Wifi (of the building, more than 20 but on the MacMini I only see a few.

Thanks.

Edit: I don't know why but everything works now. I have deleted the "Wifi"  entry in the parameter > network setting. Then I have recreated it, it may have helped, but I can't be sure.

I finally found the culprit. It was due to the Anker USB hub I connect to the Mac Mini. As soon as I connect it, the Wifi stops working. Check out the issue on the Apple forum.

  Connecting the hub to the back of the Mac mini killed all wifi connection immediately. Reading online I found what I thought would be a good solution. Turns out a USB extension cord might help. Create some distance between the Mac and the hub.

That's crazy!


Unable to start firefox profile manager on MacOS I am trying to start the profile manager for Firefox running the following command in a terminal:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin --ProfileManager

But this opens just Firefox. Probably a new session, but I'm not sure. It surely does not start the Profile Manager. Is there anything else I can try to start the Profile Manager?

macOS Mojave, Firefox 72.0.2

To start the Profile Mnager, Firefox must not be running.  Also, the command to start Profile Manager from the command line is:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -ProfileManager

Note, that it's only one dash preceding the option and you don't need to use firefox-bin.  You can also use the short hand version, firefox -P as well.

Mozilla has excellent documentation on its Command Line Options.


Is there a way to transfer many photos from iPhone to Mac without losing filters & edits? Is there an way to get the photos off my iPhone without losing the filters and edits that I have used?

I just want the jpeg files, I don't want to sync the phone to a database like iPhoto or (now) Photos.

I don't want to use iPhotos because it keeps all the photostreams on my MB Air and uses up disk space. I suppose I could use it with photostreams disabled.

If I use AirPlay, it takes forever and chokes when I want to do a few hundred at a time.

Is there a way to do it with the iPhone connected by cable?

The best way I have found is with the new Photos app.

In Photos, go to the Import tab, then select the photos you want to import.

This will create a new album with the date of the import.

In the new album, press:

cmd-A to select all
cmd-shift-E to export
> choose options
export
cmd-backspace to delete all

note: do NOT choose a subfolder name unless you want every single day to have its own folder.


Are there any modern X11/Xorg Browsers that compile for OSX? Currently I'm using macports. I'm wondering if there are any graphical X11 browsers like Chromium, or Firefox, or the like that compile under X11 (and not native OSX). I want a browser that I can manage with an X11 Desktop Environment (like i3).

My criteria would be modern (executes javascript), graphical, and maintained. I know there are other build systems out there like Fink, and even more projects that aren't available under Fink or Macports so I'm willing to cast a wide net to find something.

Chromium would be great.

I see some threads where people have asked similar questions but most of these are at least 4 years old.

I'm not sure your reason for wanting a browser under X11, but your needs might be met by running Chromium or Firefox in a Docker container over VNC. Then, you can use any window manager you want.

For example, here's my container that exposes Firefox through OpenBox.

Firefox over VNC on Docker Hub


Why is Xcode 7.3 showing a slash through the app icon when attempting to install on Mac OS X 10.10.5 (Yosemite) I am running Xcode 7.2.1 on my Mac mini running Mac OS X 10.10.5 (Yosemite) and recently wanted to compile an Apache Cordova project and install it on my iPhone 6s running iOS 9.3 and discovered I couldn’t. The error message that comes up in Xcode is “Could not find Developer Disk Image” which I discovered basically means, “Time to get a new version of Xcode!”

So I went to the downloads area of the Apple Developer website, downloaded the disk image of Xcode 7.3 opened it up and saw this in the Finder window for the Xcode disk image pictured below. What the heck is happening?

It turns out that Xcode 7.3 requires Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) or higher to run see screenshot below from the Mac App Store but the same idea for either install method.

Oh well. Been nice knowing you Yosemite!

As one can see from this question I posted a little while back I’m fairly cautious with my core OS upgrades so I jumped to Mac OS X 10.10 when El Capitan was released just to not be too far behind the curve. Now, I guess I need to finally make the jump to El Capitan!


How to synchronize password with macbook safari and iphone3gs safari? I would like to use the password generated by my macbook safari while I am using my iPhone 3gs safari...

Is that possible somehow?

Unfortunately, there's no way to sync Safari passwords with an iPhone 3GS. iCloud Keychain syncing requires iOS7, which in turn requires an iPhone 4 or later.


Unable to carry out Software Update on OS X 10.5.8 I have tried to carry out a Software Update on a Mac running OS X 10.5.8.

My first problem is that I am unable to find the Mac App Store on this computer (whether by using the search function or looking in the Applications folder.)

Even when I go to the Apple website and attempt to get redirected from there to the Mac App Store to find the Software Update, nothing happens.

Furthermore, the computer does not detect any Software Updates when clicking on the top-left Apple menu and selecting Software Update.

Mac App Store requires OS X version 10.6.8 or higher to install. You can try updating via USB (paid upgrade) if you have an Intel x86 based processor.


I am missing the option to see the remaining battery life as time in the menubar? In previous versions of OS X the battery indicator in the menubar included options to show the remaining battery life as percentage or time (or nothing).

In Mountain Lion, there's only an option to show the percentage?!?!

How can I get the missing option back?

According to the following blog entry Apple removed the option deliberately and it won't come back:

http://www.macpoint.be/mountain-lion-is-coming/

I also missed the option, so I wrote an App. It's in beta now:

http://batterytimeapp.com/


Video player for macOS with persistent playback speed setting I regularly watch videos at 1.7x and would like for that preference to be saved across different videos instead of needing to manually reset it each time.

Is there such a setting for QuickTime for macOS? Alternatively, any other player capable for playing MP4 files with such option?

VLC for macOS is the video player you are looking for. It includes support for wide variety of audio and video codecs. Get the latest version from the download page or install via Homebrew by running:

brew cask install vlc

Once installed, open VLC Preferences by going to VLC → Preferences in the Menu bar or using the keyboard shortcut Command + ,. Click Show All button in the bottom left corner of the preferences window, click on Input/Codecs item in the left sidebar, and set the desired value for Playback speed. Once entered, click on the Save button in the bottom right to finalize your changes.

The playback speed will now persist for any subsequent media file that you will play.

Alternatively, if you do not wish to have a persistent speed setting, and wish to tweak it while a audio/video file is playing, do so in realtime via Playback → Playback Speed VLC Menu bar item.


Lion/Mountain Lion Mission Control used with CTRL+# (10.6 Spaces-like) Is there a way to still use Control+# (e.g. Control+1, Control+2, ...) to switch to a particular Desktop? In Spaces' parlance: to a particular Space? I have difficulties swiping the trackpad and could use the old shortcut?

Also: Could I configure a particular App to open in a particular Desktop number, like in Snow Leopard?

In Lion, by default, will switch to a particular Desktop if you hit Control+Desktop's Number. Go to System Preferences / Keyboard / Shortcuts / Mission Control and check if you've overwritten this shortcut.

Yes, you can configure a particular App to open in a particular Desktop. To do so just:

Navigate to that particular Desktop.
Open the App you want to assign, if its already not on the Dock, and right click on it.
A contextual menú will show up. Under Options you'll see a submenu called Assign to and three different options. All Desktops, This Desktop or None. Select This Desktop.


Does iPad mini 4 also feature the new and faster 2nd-Generation Touch ID sensor featured in the iPhone 6s? After I read on multiple websites that the new 2nd-Generation Touch ID sensor in the iPhone 6S is a lot faster, I was wondering if the new iPad mini 4 features the same sensor.

Basically, I'm not interested if it is a new sensor (as I am not sure whether the improvement is due to new hard- or software), but rather if it reacts as fast in the iPad mini 4 as in the iPhone 6S.

Apple's iPhone 6s website has a section about Touch ID on the Technology page. It says:

  Touch ID lets you unlock your phone and make purchases with Apple Pay simply by using your ﬁngerprint. It uses highly sophisticated algorithms to recognize and securely match your ﬁngerprint. And the improved Touch ID sensor detects your ﬁngerprint even faster than the previous generation.

By comparison, the iPad mini 4 has a whole page about Touch ID, but it never references a previous generation that's been improved upon. That leads me to think that the iPad mini 4 doesn't share the iPhone 6s's Touch ID 2 technology.


How to access icloud.com on Chrome for Android? Apple refuses to load icloud.com on Chrome for Android.  Instead of showing the login form, the page displays a message stating that "Your browser is not supported".

How can I bypass this restriction?

This restriction can be bypassed by changing your browser's user agent.  This can be done by clicking the "..." menu and selecting "Request desktop site".  Apparently Apple only blocks Chrome for Android, not for desktop.

References:

New York Times
USA Today


Is there a way to forward Growl notifications to Notification Centre? Since there's a lot of apps that support Growl, and only a handful have been updated yet, I'd like to know if there's a way to convert those Growl notifications into Notification Centre notifications.

e.g. some kind of add-on for Growl or a 'proxy' of sorts so that the notifications all come through ML's Notification Centre.

Since version 2.0, Growl supports "bubbling" notifications to the Notification Center out of the box. You can find the setting for this in the General tab of Growl's preferences.

It does come with the same limitations as Hiss though, all notifications appear to be coming from Growl and not the originating app, and clicking them does not appear to launch the expected actions.


With the new Apple Music app is there a way to sort my music by Album? It seems that Apple have messed up sorting again in the new Apple Music app. I want to sort my music by Album Title, not by Artist and then Title. Is there a way to do this?

Yes!  I had the same problem.

Go to Settings → Music → Sort Albums and change this to By Title.


How can i remove this tab in finder? It keeps showing every time im using MacOS Mojave. This tab in finder idk what its called keep showing up and it really annoys me. How can i remove this tab (the one in the red circle)?

On the finder menu bar, click "View" and click "Hide Preview"


How to remove the downloaded OS X El Capitan from App Store I downloaded OS X El Capitan from the app store to create a bootable usb drive and now that I am done, I dont know how to delete it. There is no un-install option in the app store.

How can I delete the downloaded OS X from my macbook?

It's actually very easy....

Using Terminal

Type the following command:

rm -rf /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/

This will remove the the install and sub-folders for the El Capitan installer.

Using Finder

Open the Applications Folder by navigating to it or by pressing ShiftCommandA.  Select the Install OS X App and Control Click or right click and select Move to Trash

That's it.  The installer has been removed!


Windows gone after update of mac OS So I had 2 OS's on my MacBook Pro, one partition was Mac and the other one was Windows 7. After I updated my Mac OS, my Windows disappeared from 'Startup Disk'

When I open 'Disk Utility' my Windows disk is named 'Untitled', I tried mounting it but the button 'Mount' doesn't work I also tried downloading other programs such as NTFS-3G, Tuxera and others but the 'Mount' button doesn't work on them either.

I'm not really good at computer stuff, thats why I'm here. If someone knows how to make my Windows OS work again or at least retrieve important files from the partition.

Please tell me what to do, because I'm hopelessly trying to find information googling my problem.

Right-click the untitled volumen in Disk Utility.
See if it offers "mount".
If it is NTFS formatted (which it appears it is), Mac OS should be able to read it (i.e. copy/recover data from it).

Another option:

Boot from a Windows 7 CD.
Then choose "Repair".
See if it finds any Windows to repair (e.g. offering c:\WINDOWS).
If so, try a startup repair from the given options.
(If it is not showing a Windows that it can try to repair, do nothing).


Can a single company enroll in both the Apple Developer Program and the Apple Developer Enterprise Program? As per Apple Developer Program website, an organisation can enroll in Apple Developer Program and Apple Developer Enterprise Program.

Is it possible for a company to be enrolled in both at the same time? For instance, if the company has apps that are meant for internal distribution only, but also has other apps which are targeted at customers and are distributed via the App Store.

Yes, It is possible from a single company to be enrolled in both the Apple Developer (Organisation) and the Apple Developer Enterprise program.

Kindly note that you will require a separate Apple ID to enroll in Apple Developer Enterprise Program. Quoting from the Enrollment Support Page:

  Enrolling in Multiple Programs

  The Apple Developer Enterprise Program and the iOS Developer University Program each require a unique Apple ID than that used for any other membership. You’ll need to set up a new Apple ID and enroll separately. If you currently have an iTunes Connect account to sell another media type (books, music, TV content, or movies), you cannot use the Apple ID associated with that iTunes Connect account to enroll in any other programs. You’ll need to set up a new Apple ID for all other memberships.

Disclaimer: I have worked with a company as a developer which has enrolled in both the programs. I was not the legal entity responsible for managing the accounts. I recommended you go through the Membership Support documents before proceeding.


What command-line text editors come bundled with macOS? When I walk up to a Mac, and open a Terminal.app window, what options do I have for editing text files?

I see that both Pico and GNU nano text editors are included with macOS Sierra, along with vi and Emacs, but apparently not the ee text editor bundled in FreeBSD.

What other options for command-line text editors are built into macOS?

Pico
GNU nano
vi
Emacs

Since you did ask "What other options for command-line text editors are built into macOS?" and ed was not mention in your OP, let me offer it as an addition to the list.

The manual page for ed states:

  The ed utility is a line-oriented text editor.  It is used to create, display, modify and otherwise manipulate text files.


Is there any energy wasted through USB cables due to data sync when plugged in wall charger Is there any energy wasted through USB cables due to data sync feature when plugged in wall charger.

The thing is, I've heard of some engineered USB cables such as "SONICable" and "Doubletime" which can allow your smartphone to charge its battery twice as fast when you plug it to your computer USB port.
That's accomplished by some smart PCB that talks to both your smartphone and your computer, and tell it to eliminate the data sync feature, and focus all energy to charge the smartphone.

https://youtu.be/EBWQAClwjfc

So, I was wondering if it also can speed up the charging process when it's plugged into wall charger...

According to this article (sorry, german only) the iPhone - attached to a wall charger - detects that no data sync is possible and charges with the full specified power (±1000 mA).

Attached to an USB 2 interface (like your Mac) the power is reduced to ±500 mA to not interfere with the data stream.

Now the smart PCBs in USB cables as "SONICable" and "Doubletime" come in: Attached to an USB interface they trick the charging controller by simulating a wall charger on the data lines and the charging power is then increased to > 500 mA again if the interface can deliver that. As mentioned by bmike ♦ USB1/2 is specified with 500 mA and USB3 with 900 mA. But most interfaces have some upwards tolerance and deliver more power than specified and thus decrease charging time.

Due to the non-linearity of the charging process the charging time will NOT be halved though!

The conclusion of the linked (german) post:

In some combination (USB3 - Tablet, not necessarily Apple devices!) charging speed will be increased up to 100%. In most cases the charging speed increase is lower than 100%. Attached to a wall charger no significant speed increase is detected.

To answer your question(s):

Attached to a wall charger charging speed shouldn't be increased noticeable using the two mentioned cables.
No energy is wasted through USB cables due to data sync when plugged in wall chargers.


How much RAM do the different models of iPad have? Read this link but still trying to figure out how much RAM these different models have. Does anyone know?

A very nice visual layout is kept current at: iOS Support Matrix

The top row has RAM size below the horizontal line showing the late 2016 and early 2017 models have 2, 3, or 4 GB of RAM across the board.

From Wikipedia:

1st generation: 256 MB
iPad 2 and iPad Mini: 512 MB
3rd generation, 4th generation, iPad Air, iPad Mini 2 and iPad Mini 3: 1 GB
iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4: 2 GB
iPad Pro 10.5 and 12.9-inch: 4 GB
iPad Pro 9.7-inch: 2 GB


iPad out of battery and won't charge even if plugged in My iPad ran out of battery, was on charging whole night but still showing the “need charging icon” when I plug in.. Sometimes (I don't know whats trigger it) it displays charging icon, charges for 5 min, boot up with 2% then it shuts down and then does the same thing again. Last time I tired pressing home and lock button to keep alive the charging icon about 50 mins, boot up and the same thing happened again.
I tried DFU, recovery and many more but can't enter..
Any recent method?
Tried this: https://discussions.apple.com/message/25454333#25454333

Usual behaviour:

Need charging icon while plugged in charging.
After a while "Need charging icon" changes to "Charging icon"
It starts booing, shuts down and display "Need charging icon"

And it's going on for a long time, I don't think the iPad could handle it if it really wasn’t charging...

Sometimes lint or dust end up in the charging port of the ipad and the charging cables don't make contact properly (happened to me just one week after buying my iPad Pro and I was panicking). Try gently cleaning the port with a dry air pump or just a microfiber cloth, or even a toothpick.


Why does iTunes play the whole album on shuffle? As the title states, my library is a bit screwed up. For example, when I shuffle my entire library it tends to play some of the albums in its entirety. But this only happens to a few of them. In this case, it's Land of Pleasure & Caress Your Soul by Sticky Fingers and Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager by Kid Cudi. And no matter how many times I keep reshuffling the library, it tends to repeat the whole album everytime it gets to one of the songs. It doesn't even start from the middle, it always begins from the start till the end of the album.

It does this because of some broken code in the most recent releases of iTunes. They added a new feature to help those of us who want to properly group, and play in order, classical music. If the Work tag is populated then once itunes sees something in that tag it plays all of the items on the album with the same Work tag. Many have used the groupings field in the past and the latest version grabs the groupings info and stuffs it into the new Work field. So if perhaps you had something like SONY (an album label) in the groupings filed now iTunes thinks every track on the album is part of a classical Work called Sony and that you will want to hear the album in order as you would if it were movements of a classical work. Very frustrating and foolish error on their part. One hopes the can fix this in the next release as it makes shuffle play pretty much un-usable if one uses the grouping field as it was originally intended - to group songs in some way like as Jazz.Standards or World.Music, etc.


How do I convert my contacts from iCloud to my Mac? The problem was that I could import contacts from my Mac to iPhone 6 but I couldn't do the opposite. I have backed up to iCloud and tried to do it that way but it still hasn't worked.

Describe which method you attempted and at which step did it fail. However, here's a working method that I used when I got my Mac.

Go to System Preferences >> iCloud and make sure you have signed in. Now the screen should look something like this:

The contacts option must be enabled and all the ones from iCloud will be automatically imported into your Mac. If this is the method you used but didn't work, please let me know.


Inexplicable change of email address I found an email in my sent mailbox which had gone to a completely different and unrelated address from the one I'd entered by tapping the reply button on the original email I was answering  I hadn't gone anywhere near my address book so the change of the intended address is absolutely inexplicable.  Is there a bug that does that?  I'm using the Apple Mail application on a new Macbook Pro with Yosemite.

This is probably connected with a "reply to"-address provided with the email you received. For example, many companies use this when sending automatic generated e-mail from an address that doesn't receive e-mails. When you reply to such mail, your application checks if there is a "reply to"-address provided in the message's head, and if it is, it will choose that for your reply over the senders address. If your mail was not from a company but from a friend, this could be a bug or mistake in his mail application, maybe he provided such a reply-to-address to. Some applications do this when a feature to collect all mail in a single inbox is chosen. If none of these apply, you should check the authenticity of the sender's address, and maybe talk to him on the mail you received, as this could also be a sign of spam messages.


How do I open a new Terminal window ssh'ed to another machine from the command line? From the command line I'd like to open a new Terminal window that is already SSH'ing to a host.

From the command line, I can open a new Terminal window very easily:

open -a Terminal

or

open -a Terminal /path/name

(The second one starts the Terminal already "cd"'ed to /path/name.)

However I want the Terminal to open and immediately run "ssh foo" instead.

There is a way to do this with

osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script "exec ssh localhost"'

Replace 'localhost' with the host name to which you wish to connect. You can include a username if the remote name is different from your local username, this would look like

rname@remotey.remote-face.org
\____/\_____/\______________/
 |     |      `- Domain name, you may be able to omit if on the same network as 'remotey'
 |     `- Remote hostname
 `- Specify remote login name followed by '@', can be omitted for same username

This suggestion is a variation on the top answer at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31524499/open-terminal-from-shell-and-execute-commands

Use exec ssh instead of ssh if you want the window to close after logging out. If you use the 'exec ssh' option and your window stays open, then check your Terminal preferences--under "Profiles" > "Shell" > "When the shell exits:" is probably set to "Don't close the window"


Keyboard layout changes have no effect on macbook? I have a uk layout and want to try a us layout. Changing or selecting US in keyboard preferences layout has no effect. Does this functionality no longer work?

British - PC Layout and US Layout are similar, but there are differences, especially in the shift keys on the number row.
These screenshots are taken on a Macbook pro "Show Keyboard Viewer"


Can iPhone battery apps actually prolong battery life? I've seen a few apps that claim they do some kind of conditioning/deep charge/other jargon to extend the life of an iPhone battery. Is this just hokum or do I really need one of these apps to maximize the life of my battery?

From what I understand, iPhone apps don't have the power to regulate the power consumption of other apps and iOS system processes. These apps sound like snake oil to me.


Can I connect iPhone 6 to an old Samsung TV without HDMI? it is a macbook 2008 2ghz intel core 2 duo, NVIDIA Geforce 9400m 256mb, software ox10.9.5 (13F34)
serial W8843A9J1AQ

THANKS
ANDREW

!this is the macbook - thanks
I have an iphone 6 and an old macbook - i want to watch movies from these apple products on an 7 year old samsung tv monitor - the tv does not have hdmi but it has the old pc and av connections. Is there a cable I can buy to view items from apple products on the Samsung monitor?? thanks

Here's the video cable you need.

Here's the audio cable you need.

Based on the presumed age of the laptop, it's a Mini DisplayPort connection, not Thunderbolt.  The former cannot carry audio, hence the second cable.


Does customising MacBook Pro 13inch to 16GB RAM, i7 7th gen processor and 1TB SSD affect it's battery life? I would like to know whether customising MacBook Pro 13inch (2017 version) to

16GB RAM
i7 7th gen processor
1TB SSD

would have any implications on it's performance, especially in terms of battery life.

The only upgrade that may impact on your battery life is the processor upgrade. However, while some i7 CPUs are quad-core, the ones offered on the 13" MBP are dual-core processors, just like the i5 CPUs.

Since all dual core i5 and i7 mobile processors support hyper-threading, there's actually very little difference between them in terms of a performance gap and battery usage. In fact, both options for this model also incorporate the same Intel Iris Plus Graphics GPU.

My personal recommendation would be to go with the upgrade if you can afford it, as it will increase it's longevity in terms of future compatibility with software/hardware.

If you had to pick and choose what you upgraded, then the upgrade to 16GB RAM would be the most useful.

Finally, you may want to know that Apple's battery testing for this model was conducted on the following configuration:

2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
1TB SSD
8GB RAM

Source: Apple


Check / remove proxies from iPhone USB Personal Hotspot I installed Charles Proxy to do some testing, later I disocvered that any traffic going through Personal Hotspot is also routed though to a local port. I've remove the Mac OS X proxy settings, but unless I have Charles open, I cannot connect over HTTP.

I have checked System Preferences > Network and there's no trace of any proxy settings. Can I use any command line tools to list and remove proxies?

Old question but for anyone else that hits this problem:

Within Terminal.app issue the command:

networksetup  -setwebproxystate iPhone\ USB off

Afterwards, you can check that is disabled by using:

networksetup -getwebproxy iPhone\ USB

This should return Enabled: No Server: 127.0.0.1 Port: 8888