`dd` never terminates on OS X Working on both Linux and OS X (10.10.5), I'm using the command line tool dd to copy the contents of a USB flash drive to and from a compressed archive. To create the archive, I use the following on an unmounted drive (on Linux the format is something like /dev/sdb; on OS X it's something like /dev/disk2):

sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 bs=1m | gzip -c > disk.image.gz

which copies the entire drive's contents, compresses it, and then writes it to disk.image.gz. To unpack the image into a new drive, I use:

cat disk.image.gz | gunzip -c | sudo dd of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m

which takes the compressed disk image, uncompresses it, and then writes it to the drive. (You can check the progress of either command by executing the following in a separate window on Linux:

sudo killall -USR1 dd

or on OS X:

sudo killall -INFO dd

which in both cases signals dd to output a couple of lines on the amount of data transferred.)

Both processes work well on Linux. However, although the reading and compression work well on OS X, the decompression and writing never terminates. dd keeps writing data and more data, even though the (decompressed) source file has ended, and the disk drive should be full. If I wait until more data has written than should fit on the flash drive, and then ^C to terminate the command, the resulting drive seems to mount and operate just fine. But, it worries me that the behavior isn't what I expect.

Any idea why dd's writing never terminates, even though it is no longer receiving data?

(BTW: if you're using this as instructions to burn your own disk drives, MAKE SURE you have the right device identifiers (e.g. the /dev/sdb or /dev/disk2 mentioned above). dd does exactly what you tell it to do, so if you get the wrong identifier and tell it to overwrite your boot drive, it'll happily do so. Look elsewhere on how to determine the right device.)

This might not really answer the question, but might provide a solution.

Instead of using dd which seems to behave oddly for you, just use cat or cp. At least on OS X, they work very well on block devices.
So:

sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 bs=1m | gzip -c > disk.image.gz

becomes

sudo cat /dev/disk1 | gzip -c > disk.image.gz

If you want the reverse, just redirect gunzip's output:

cat disk.image.gz | gunzip -c | sudo dd of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m

becomes

gunzip -c disk.image.gz | sudo tee /dev/disk1 > /dev/null

If you just want to copy a block device

sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 of=disk.image bs=1m

becomes

sudo cp /dev/disk1 disk.image

If you just want to copy an image to a block device (e.g. Raspbian to SD card)

sudo dd if=disk.image of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m

becomes

sudo cp disk.image /dev/disk1

This also prevents any hassle with block sizes.


Using Automator to batch crop with custom coordinates / measurements I'm trying to crop large batches of images automatically.  I'm currently using Automator's Crop Images action, but it is lacking in options.  I can specify a width and height, and then it performs a centered crop.  I want to be able to specify X and Y as well as width and height (to use Xcode terms), so I can perform a consistent crop for any custom rectangle.  Are there better, more featureful cropping actions available?  Preferably for free...  :)

Here is a way to achieve what you want with ImageMagick. Hopefully you’re comfortable using Terminal (and also use Homebrew to manage all your packages).
Either way, you must install ImageMagick so you can run convert command line in Terminal.

Open the folder you want to batch processing all the images. If your folder name called images is located on Desktop, you’ll need to enter cd ~/Desktop/images/ in Terminal.

ImageMagick have a built-in option to crop images according to sizes and coordinates. The command is:
 convert <input documents> <width>x<height>+<pos x>+<pos y> <output filepath>

Cropping Images with ImageMagick
If I want to crop all the images into:

Width: 300px
Height: 500px
Position X: 100px from top left
Position Y: 70px from top left

I can enter the command below:
convert *.jpg -crop 300x500+100+70 result/screenshot.jpg

Make sure the target filepath exists. In this case, you should create a folder called result in Desktop. Or you can use absolute path like ~/Desktop/result or whatever folder you want to point. Just drag the folder into Terminal like this:


Which low cost server device is compatible with iOS VPN on demand? There is a question on "What is VPN on demand, and how do I get it to work with iOS?", however its accepted answer lacks detail.

Envision a small business usage with only 1 or 2 iPhone/iPad devices needing VPN on demand access. This scenario has a preference for low cost and maintenance, for example it prefers an entry level device with low power consumption, self-signed certificates with long expiry dates.

Which hardware and (specific) firmware, licenses, external certificates, modules, etcetera on the Cisco IPsec compatible routing device are needed?

To make the question more concrete, which of these Cisco VPN boxes would be sufficient?

RVS4000
RV180
RV042

And are there step-by-step configuration setup guides, starting from how to create the Cisco IPsec authentication certificate on that device, to creating the corresponding profile in the Apple configuration utility?

A Cisco box is not required, as there is the open source StrongSwan.

Only a device that is able to run Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, etcetera) is sufficient.

FreeBSD or MacOSX are not ok as those builds only support IKEv2 only, and the iOS built in client needs IKEv1.

Here is how to setup the iOS device for StrongSwan:
http://wiki.strongswan.org/projects/strongswan/wiki/IOS_%28Apple%29


Packet forwarding on OS X Mavericks I need my MacBook Air (Mavericks 10.9.2) to share the Internet connection (wi-fi;en0) with BeagleBone Black (BBB) which is in the 192.168.7.0 subnet (en6).

ifconfig:

$ ifconfig
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
    options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
    inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
    inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
    inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
    nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 7c:d1:c3:ee:f3:dd
    inet6 fe80::7ed1:c3ff:feee:f3dd%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
    inet 192.168.2.35 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
    nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
    media: autoselect
    status: active
en5: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=60<TSO4,TSO6>
    ether 32:00:18:d5:b1:40
    media: autoselect <full-duplex>
    status: inactive
en6: flags=863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX> mtu 1486
    ether 90:59:af:58:5e:96
    inet 192.168.7.1 netmask 0xfffffffc broadcast 192.168.7.3
    media: autoselect
    status: active
bridge0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=63<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4,TSO6>
    ether 7e:d1:c3:ee:e2:00
    Configuration:
        id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0
        maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
        root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0
        ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
    member: en5 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
            ifmaxaddr 0 port 5 priority 0 path cost 0
    nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
    media: <unknown type>
    status: inactive
p2p0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2304
    ether 0e:d1:c3:ee:f3:dd
    media: autoselect
    status: inactive

Here are my Internet Sharing settings

I'm unable to ping 8.8.8.8 from BBB though I shared wi-fi with BeagleBoneBlack. Whether I share internet connection or not ipfw gives same result

$ sudo ipfw list
65535 allow ip from any to any

I tried disabling firewall in vain.
I could share my internet connection from Ubuntu machine through iptables. Here I need to masquerade packets through gateway interface.

Should I have configured anything like a NAT on the bridge between en0 (internet access) and en6?

The Internet Sharing service will handle all the translation requirements by itself. For some reason, though, it's necessary to use the Network Preferences pane to manually confirm the information the bridging interface has already come up with on its own. (Since the BBB has its own DHCP server, perhaps the Mac is willing to accept the BBB's DHCP offer in the 192.168.7.x subnet as a suggestion, but then reinforces the fact that as the DNS it holds the keys to the external world, thereby imposing its configuration on the communication process. I don't know. I do digress, however.)

After turning on Internet Sharing for the BBB in the Sharing pane, switch to the Network pane of System Preferences. Select the en6 service in the lefthand window, click "Advanced" at the lower right, and select the "TCP/IP" pane. If it's not already filled in, Under "Configure IPv4," select "Manually" from the drop-down menu, enter 192.168.7.1 for both the IPv4 and router addresses and 255.255.255.252 as the subnet mask. This leaves 192.168.7.2 for the BBB and 192.168.7.3 as the broadcast address. You can ignore the IPv6 configuration section. Next, select the "DNS" pane from the top row of tabs. Click on the '+' mark just below the window and add 192.168.7.1. In the right hand window, add "local" (without the quote marks) to the search domains.

FYI, I'm sure you'll want to know that ipfw has been deprecated and replaced by pfctl in OS 10.9.


OS X Downloaded File Warning Example at bottom.

How does OS X apply this warning and what's the best way to disable it?

I'm a Web Developer and more than understand the risks of teh interwebs.

Use the Terminal and this command:

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool NO

That will disable warnings completely after you restart the system. To reverse it, run it again with "YES" instead of "NO".

Or you can create a custom listing of safe files with the method described here:

Custom assessment file for downloaded files


backing up an OSX image to an NTFS drive? I would like to make an image of my entire OSX install, so that I may restore to it if necessary. I'd LOVE to have incremental backups, so bonus points if anyone can figure out how I can do this!

I've enabled full reading/writing to an NTFS drive by following steps similar to those outlined in this guide: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57588773-263/how-to-manually-enable-ntfs-read-and-write-in-os-x/

I have an NTFS-based drive (which must remain NTFS based as it's used by a windows install as well). I'd like to be able to backup an image of my OSX to the drive.

I cannot find any solution that simply makes a compressed image of OSX and allows you to save it somewhere; all the solutions seem to require formatting the drive (for example, Time Machine wants to create an entire partition on the drive). I don't want this, I just want an image file of the drive (smaller size the better), which I can backup to my NTFS drive and restore from incase needed.

Bonus points if the solution allows incremental backups, so I can just have 1 image that is updated regularly.

Please, any advice is MUCH appreciated!

If you use Disk Utility to image an HFS filesystem into one dmg file, the resulting file is portable no matter what filesystem you store it on.

Where things get complicated is incremental backups. If you want incremental backups and a DIY solution, choose a sparse disk image and use rsync to update the band files that you store on NTFS, just like Time Machine does to Time Capsule.

If you really just want a painless backup solution, you might select a professional tool set such as (in alphabetical order):

Arq
Backblaze
Carbonite
CrashPlan
Mozy

Since I listed some of the more popular incremental backup software packages (some are hosted, some you can self host), the one that seems to fit your requirement the best is the free CrashPlan software that would be self hosted and need a computer connected to the NTFS drive to host the Mac data as a backup destination.


Time Machine: exclude folders with same name, now AND in the future I want to exclude backup of proxy media in Final Cut Pro. This media is located in:

~/Movies/Final Cut Events/[Event Folder]/Transcoded Media/Proxy Media

Problem is, when I create a new [Event Folder] it creates a new directory named "Proxy Media" which has to be manually omitted from Time Machine each time. I'd like to automate this process.

I've looked at tmutil in the command line, but I don't think that will do it.

You could save a property list like this as ~/Library/LaunchAgents/excludefinalcut.plist:

<?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>EnableGlobbing</key>
  <true/> <!-- enable wildcard and tilde expansion for ProgramArguments -->
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>excludefinalcut</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>tmutil</string>
    <string>addexclusion</string>
    <string>~/Movies/Final Cut Events/*/Transcoded Media/Proxy Media</string>
  </array>
  <key>WatchPaths</key>
  <array>
    <string>~/Movies/Final Cut Events</string>
  </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Then load the plist by running launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/excludefinalcut.plist.

tmutil addexclusion gives files a com.apple.metadata:com_apple_backup_excludeItem extended attribute. sudo tmutil addexclusion -p would add files to the SkipPaths dictionary in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist that is also modified by System Preferences.


how do I get Terminal's Search with Google to open in the default browser? Scenario: working away in Terminal, get an error message. Want to google it so I select text and use right-click and "Search with Google". Opens Safari every time. Google Chrome is my default browser. I've restarted the machine twice since I confirmed that.

Search with Google is a service provided by Safari and has nothing to do with Terminal.

Google Chrome should provide its own service for this feature. It doesn't.

Or you can write your own, e.g. using Automator and AppleScript:

Open Automator and select to create a new Service. At the top, select text and any application. Then, add a Run Shell Script action from the library to the workflow by drag&drop or double-clicking. Change its input to as arguments, and paste the following script in its main text area:

#!/bin/bash
function urlencode {
    echo -n "$@" | perl -MURI::Escape -ne 'print uri_escape($_)'
}
open "http://google.com/search?q=$( urlencode "$@" )"

This will open the URL http://google.com/search?q= followed by your URL-escaped text selection in your default browser.

Save as Search with Google in Default Browser and try again.


how to create a repeating event in Automator? I would like to programmatically create a repeating event.  I'm using Automator and it seems that Automator can't do this, plus I want to pass variables provided by the user into the event creation process so I'm guessing I need to do it in AppleScript instead.  Trouble is I haven't been able to find information on how to do that.
How can I create a recurring event in Automator using AppleScript (or really any other way would be worthy of note as well)?

I was unable to get all the way to my ultimate goal of creating repeating calendar events with open file alerts.  But, i did at least solve this question of how to create a repeating calendar event in AppleScript, so here it is.
The main issue is that you can't actually create a repeating event.  You have to create a static event, then modify that event to repeat.  Here's the code that is working for me:
#Event name & description
set title to "event title"
set taskDescription to "The Description"

# which dates to use?
set startDate to date ("07/21/2020")
set endDate to date ("07/21/2020") -- last date to include

# which calendars contain the events?
set thisCalendar to "Automator"

# how many days in between repeats?
set interval to 2

tell application "Calendar"
    tell calendar thisCalendar
        make new event at end with properties {description:taskDescription, summary:title, start date:startDate + 540 * minutes, end date:startDate + 540 * minutes} # creates event at 9am, modify to suit.
        set theEvents to (every event where its start date is equal to startDate + 540 * minutes)
        set recurrence of item 1 of theEvents to "FREQ=DAILY;INTERVAL=" & interval
    end tell
end tell

If you don't have a local calendar called "Automator", then this might give you problems, I'm not sure.  Feel free to change the calendar name if needed.


How to download files which are not dmg files to Mac applications? Downloading files on Mac via .dmg is super easy, but anything else e.g. tar.gz files or zip files is completely baffling to me. Where do I unzip the files to make sure the applications will work and be added to my $PATH and $CLASSPATH? What is the correct process and best practice to follow for all of these formats?

A great example is me downloading this:

http://stanfordnlp.github.io/CoreNLP/

Where I don't know what to do next. Obviously I don't want to unzip into my Downloads folder? Do I unzip into my applications folder?

There is no general answer to this, it depends entirely on what is in the download.

In the particular case of the Stanford NLP download that you mention the zip contains resources for a Java developer to use when building a natural language processing program. It does not appear to contain anything that you can run without doing some Java coding.


How can I see music downloaded to my iPhone via Amazon Cloud Player in the Music app? I downloaded some songs to my iPhone using Amazon Cloud Player, but they are not showing up in the (official) Music app. I assume that Amazon Cloud Player downloaded MP3s to a directory on my device. How can I configure the Music app to look in this directory? I would prefer not to have to manually sync these songs via iTunes on my PC and then have two copies of these songs on my iPhone. Is there a way to import songs downloaded via Amazon Cloud Player into the Music app?

Specs:

iPhone 4S
iOS 6.1.3
Amazon Cloud Player 2.1.0

Only the iTunes app is currently able to add songs to the Music app on an iPhone/iPad. This leaves you with the following options

Play the songs in the Amazon Cloud Player only
Download them on your main computer and sync via iTunes. Maybe remove them from the Amazon Cloud Player to save storage space


Network services deleted via terminal reenabled after Restart I have written a shell script to remove all services excluding ethernet. The aim is to remove these services and PPPoE entries so the end user only sees ethernet under Preferences > Networking.
However, after a restart the services return. This also happens with just running the terminal command  networksetup deletepppoeservice [servicename]
I presume there is a plist somewhere that repopulates these entries, however I have deleted networkInterfaces.plist to no effect.
Here is the code snippet in question:
SERVICE="Ethernet"
for NETSERV in ${networkService[@]}; do
    if [[ "$NETSERV" != "$SERVICE" ]]; then
        networksetup deletepppoeservice "$NETSERV";
    fi
doneSERVICE="Ethernet"
for NETSERV in ${networkService[@]}; do
    if [[ "$NETSERV" != "$SERVICE" ]]; then
        networksetup deletepppoeservice "$NETSERV";
    fi
done

The goal:

Thanks.

So the solution that I stumbled on was to lock the file using chflags uchg /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist so whatever was modifying it back was denied. Oddly, it was a root owned file so whatever was modding it was root.
I ran sudo fs_usage | grep /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist and saw no write or modify commands so it had to happen on boot or login.


iOS 7 status bar for UI development I am creating some UI designs for an app, but I am struggling to find a template for the time, carrier, battery etc. bar at the top of the iPhone's display.

Where could I find a copy of this bar so that I can add it to my designs?

Here's an iOS 7 status bar with the default UINavigationController background colour:


List of "serveradmin command" commands tl;dr: Is there a list of serveradmin command *:* commands ?

On mac servers, serveradmin can be quite useful; especially when sending commands to its services, such as serveradmin command smb:command = getConnectedUsers

Apple's outdated (but still useful) command line guide (pdf link) lists these, but a lot has changed since 10.5 ... notably, samba/afp.  Some commands which worked up until Mavericks no longer work in Yosemite and beyond.

My search for a list returns a good deal of links up until Mavericks; but, that is not so useful.

Is there anywhere which has compiled the commands for newer versions of the OS?

Depending on how much spelunking you are willing to do you can look at the html command templates in the servermgrd bundles for a partial list of command names/formats. For example to get a list of commands that the afp plugin accepts you could look at:

/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/share/servermgrd/html/servermgr_afp.html

and look at the javascript in the template.

Look at the selection == "command_name" for the names of the commands and the rest of the commandValue for the plist formatted command. Then you can use the serveradmin command format to send the command to the plugin.

A different (and more up to date) way to find out commands is to look at the Server activity log to see the plist formatted commands sent by Server.app to the servermgrd backend. Look in

~/Library/Logs/Server.log

for the commands and their replies. You may need to turn on the logging from one of the menus (I'm away from my server right now so I'm not sure how I enabled the logging).

If you want network throughput, open Server.app, go to the stats panel, select the network stats and then look at the Server.log to get the commands you need to use.


constant zoom in the Photos app on Mac when switching between photos I am playing with Photos app on my Mac and I would like to have fixed zoom while switching between photos. This is the option in Photos app:

Right now, it jumps to 0% every time I switch to another photo. I would like to have it fixed all the time. Any idea how can I achieve this?

Sorry, there is no option to lock the zoom in the Photo app. You will need another app to achieve that effect.


Increment CSS property values in Safari web inspector with keyboard arrows In Safari's web inspector tools, when modifying a CSS property of an element, is there a way to increment with the keyboard's up and down arrows like in Chrome?

Use Option + up or down arrow, the list of inspector shortcut can be found here. https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/Safari_Developer_Guide/KeyboardShortcuts/KeyboardShortcuts.html


How to Change Scroll Speed Programmatically with Applescript or Shell Script Is there a way, using either applescript or a shell script, to change the scroll speed? I don't even know where to begin to look for a mechanism for this.

Oh, and no third-party applications either, just plain vanilla applescript/shell script so as to be completely portable and should be able to function on Mac OS 10.6 - 10.10.

Terminal:

defaults write -g com.apple.scrollwheel.scaling -float 1.0

And log-out/log-in. 1.0 is just a guess. Maybe also try 1.5. This is a hidden preference so default value is not known. Fiddle around a bit to find the speed to like. If it doesn't work, or you wish to restore to back to how it used to be:

defaults delete -g com.apple.scrollwheel.scaling


What could be the possible downsides of sticking with an old version of OSX? I've bought a Macbook Pro a pair of years ago, and it came with OSX 10.9.5 (Mavericks). Since I am very happy with this version of OSX, I've ignored all the updates since then, and I'm still running OSX 10.9.5.

I'm afraid that upgrading OSX would leave me unsatisfied, so basically I'm sticking with a version I like (and by the way, I also prefer this version from an esthetic point of view!).

However, I'm wondering if there could be some problems when never upgrading OSX. What are the problems that could emerge in the long run if the OS is not upgraded?

there MAY be a small risk of issue long term with staying back on OS levels. However that issue is pretty minimal.  You should make sure 10.9 is updated to the latest flavor, to prevent any major issues. (I happen to know that 10.9.5 isn't missing anything from 10.10 or 10.11).

The tradeoff is that an older OS will also (GENERALLY SPEAKING) work better on a machine that's not brand new.

Personally I own 100+ Macs, and run all my personal systems on 10.9.5... I hate 10.10 and 10.11 - both are filled with issues, both slow down computers.

My recommendation would be to stick with the older OS as long as you can, understanding that you'll eventually run into issues with add-on's (Flash, youtube, etc)... The core OS will run just perfectly forever (I've got a couple in-house servers running 10.5!), but you'll want to eventually upgrade when some of these ancillary products give you problems....


Manually create Apple hidden e-Mail addresses @privaterelay.appleid.com I would love to create a handfull of private/disposable e-Mail adresses with my Apple ID - i can manage and see right here: https://appleid.apple.com/account/manage

If i sign in for example at pocket.com they have the private format kdf9s4js6ekw@privaterelay.appleid.com

Who has an idea or system to create them manually, may be with their own description.

To use your privaterelay.appleid.com as disposable adresses is not possible at the moment, because it accepts only the developer id who created it as a sender.

  It's important to understand that the email address given to the
  developer (you), in this case:  xxxxxprm23@privaterelay.appleid.com

  may only be used from the email domains (with SPF records) or full
  email addresses registered in the Developer Portal.  It is not
  currently possible for you as a developer to hand that email address
  to a third-party and expect to be able to route through the
  privaterelay.appleid.com MTAs.  Unfortunately, it's also not possible
  to register any third-party domain such as mandrillapp.com as one of
  your email source domains.

  At this time, mail API services that send email from their own MTAs on
  behalf of their developer customers do not work through
  privaterelay.appleid.com.  The only available workaround currently is
  to setup your own MTA and emit mail from one of your registered
  domains.

  We are aware of this issue and are working on a solution that would
  allow developers to use these mail API services.

  Stay tuned...

Reference https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/121256


Why can't I download iOS 7 on my iPhone 3Gs? I am unable to download iOS 7 on my iPhone 3Gs.  Why?  I have iOS 6.1.6 and if I want to download "Find My iPhone", it requires iOS 7.   I've tried to search on what else I can do, but cannot figure it out.  I also have about 10 GB of free memory out of 13 GB.

You cannot download it because iOS 7 is not supported on any iPhone model prior to the iPhone 4. The latest version of iOS that will run on the 3Gs is iOS 6.1.6 -- which you have.

Here's a fantastic compatibility chart for iOS 7:

Source: http://cdn.theapplelounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/iOS-7-Comparison-Chart-definitivo-1.jpg

Note the complete absence of the iPhone 3G and 3GS models.


need to reinstall mac os x but the command key is broken I have a macbook, after an accident I had, my keyboard doesn't work properly (some keys are not working at all including the command key) recently I m facing some problems like, no sound and no camera working, have found out that reinstalling the mac os x might solve these, any idea how could I work this out? I mean without the restart/command + R method

You can force restart by holding the power button for a few seconds.

If the Option key works, hold that during restart. This will present you with a list of all valid bootable partitions.

If that doesn't work try plugging in an external keyboard.


How to disable the MacBook trackpad click but keep the tap enabled? I have a 3-year-old Mac and either the battery or something else is broken (does not matter because it's not worth fixing) and due to this the trackpad keeps getting stuck.

Now my question is: can I disable the MacBook trackpad click function but keep tap enabled? This is so that I can still use the mac even though the trackpad is stuck.

Unfortunately, there is no way to do that using vanilla Mac OS X. The trackpad allows to use tap function with click. It doesn't allow to use the tap exclusively.

However, there may be third-party software/kexts that allow to do that.


What does the ⌧ button do? I just bought a wired mac keyboard. Where I would expect numlock to be, it has a key with this mysterious symbol on:

⌧
(a rectangular box with a cross through it)

What is this button?

This is Clear key.

From Wikipedia:

  A Clear key, instead of a Num Lock key, on models with full numeric keypads, as these are dedicated to numeric input and not generally used for cursor control. In Unicode, the Clear key is represented by U+2327 ⌧ x in a rectangle box, defined as "clear key"


My iPhone says I'm on the wrong side of the world My compass app is reporting that I am X degrees north, X degrees E, however I am most certainly west of greenwich (Basically I am closer to USA than greenwich).

Is this a known bug, I assume that the standard of writing positions is not backward, as I am in the northern hemisphere and it states I'm north.

It's not that it's got the wrong position, but the wrong side of the greenwich meridian, as the degrees, minutes and seconds are correct (according to google maps), it's only it says E instead of W?

Is this a known bug?

Judging by the reports in this Apple discussion forum, this is definitely a bug.

As stated in the forum thread, you should report it to Apple.


OS X El Capitan keeps changing the auto hide Dock feature Up until recently I have had no issue with the Dock. I always leave it showing and don't have auto-hide enabled. Now whenever I switch program from Chrome to Skype or Terminal to System Preferences the Dock hides, even though I have never changed the setting to turn it on.

So far I've tried to fix this by right-clicking on the Dock separator and click Turn Hiding Off but it just changes back to Turn Hiding On once I switch programs.
I've also gone into System Preferences and selected "Automatically hide and show the Dock".
I've also killed the dock to restart it which was suggested here.

I think I've run out of options to fix this. I'm not even sure why or how it started.

As EDP pointed out Command+Option+D does this. The Spectacle app has shortcuts near this (+F for example) and I'll tap 'D' accidentally from time to time. Even if you're not tapping the shortcut inadvertently, Command+Option+D is a great way to switch the setting back when it's goes wrong.
If you want to prevent it, you can go to [Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts], and disable the shortcut under Launchpad > Turn Dock Hiding On/Off.
Cool trick: open [Settings > Dock], and tap [Command+Option+D] a couple times.


Can not update to Safari 5.1 in Lion I have updated from Snow Leopard to Lion with Safari Version 5.0.5.
Now I can not update to Safari 5.1. There is no update in the Software Updater, and on the apple-download page, I only found a Safari 5.1 for Snow Leopard. When executing it, there is an error message, that it is for 10.6 only ().
Any idea how to get full screen browsing?


Apple Watch eSIM configuration When the Apple Watch eSIM is configured:

Can the eSIM be reconfigured if I replace the SIM card (same carrier)?
Is the eSIM locked to a carrier?

The cited article is unclear and I hope that someone with experience configuring watches could comment.

Can the eSIM be reconfigured if I switch carriers?

Yes.

  Is the eSIM locked to a carrier?

No.


App that turns the menubar black/dark? Is there an app that can change the color of the menubar? I saw one that I'm pretty sure wasn't Nocturne.

LeoColorBar (Free)
Allows you to change the color of the menu bar.
MenuShade (Free)
Allows you to dim the menu bar.
Here's a tutorial on changing the menu bar to black.


What could be causing my MacBook Air 13inch (Mid 2012) 2 GHz Intel Core i7 OS X 10.8.4 to throw the "could not join" WiFi error? For some reason, my MacBook Air 13inch (Mid 2012) 2 GHz Intel Core i7 OS X 10.8.4 will fail to connect to my Siemens SE567 ADSL Modem when WiFi security is enabled on it. It throws the following error message:

Every other device in the house will connect which includes:

An older MacBook Air
2013 Mac Mini
2 iPhone 5s
iPad Mini
iPad 1st gen
And an Apple TV

I've played around with all the settings, deleted network profiles, plists, reset the p ram and still get the error. Error only occurs when WiFi has security enabled.

Some more info about my system's WiFi:

Software Versions:
  CoreWLAN: 3.3 (330.15)
  CoreWLANKit:  2.0.2 (202.10)
  Menu Extra:   8.1 (810.9)
  configd plug-in:  8.4 (840.22.1)
  System Information:   8.3 (830.5)
  IO80211 Family:   5.3 (530.4)
  Diagnostics:  2.0 (200.24)
  AirPort Utility:  6.3.1 (631.4)
  Interfaces:
en0:
  Card Type:    AirPort Extreme  (0x14E4, 0xE9)
  Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.100.17)
  MAC Address:  94:94:26:00:29:d0
  Locale:   FCC
  Country Code: X0
  Supported PHY Modes:  802.11 a/b/g/n
  Supported Channels:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
  Wake On Wireless: Supported
  AirDrop:  Supported
  Status:   Connected
  Current Network Information:
Wifi:
  PHY Mode: 802.11g
  BSSID:    c0:d0:44:54:50:20
  Channel:  11
  Country Code: X0
  Network Type: Infrastructure
  Security: WPA Personal
  Signal / Noise:   -41 dBm / -92 dBm
  Transmit Rate:    54
  Other Local Wi-Fi Networks:
The fastnet:
  PHY Mode: 802.11g
  BSSID:    80:a1:d7:31:f1:b1
  Channel:  6
  Network Type: Infrastructure
  Security: WPA/WPA2 Personal
  Signal / Noise:   -86 dBm / -92 dBm

I have done some in depth analysis for the same error on my MBA.

Basically there seems to be a MBA software problem somewhere in the Airport application.

In my case it looses the last digit of the Network Name (SSID) and then it claims it can not find it (what a surprise).

Then it issues the generic Connection time out Error.

Here is what it looks in my Console:

The actual name is Eurona900850808-81
as shown in the WiFi scan.

I would check the Console report on your computer to see what is going on.

If you need help how to get the report on your computer let me know.

I have been able to partially overcome this issue by disabling the Auto Join, and Auto remember networks.


Finder's incorrect PDF Filesize A few PDF files are showing with the incorrect filesize and I was wondering if there is any way to fix this.

E.g. opening a PDF file's properties is showing that the file is 394 KB, if I attach the file to an email or upload it by FTP somewhere else I get the file's real size which is 289 KB

This behaviour seems to be happening with any PDF file on my computer.
Is there a setting that can be changed or something to fix this?

This is happening for me on El Capitan 10.11.3

This is typically caused by resource forks that are local and don't get sent with the file in the email. You can view these and their sizes using ls in Terminal using:

ls -lah@ <filename>

or just leave filename blank to display this for the contents of the current directory.


Does saving photos on iPad from Photo Stream save the full resolution? When saving photos from the Photo Stream to the Camera Roll, is the full resolution picture stored?

I ask this because the the Apple FAQ states that iDevices only get an "optimized" resolution (approx 3MP) whereas PC/Mac gets the original full resolution picture. However, it also states that you can permanently save a picture on the device by copying it to an album. It seems that if the picture that is saved is not full resolution, then saving it permanently on the iPad does not make much sense, as it would be better to save it only on the PC.

All photos on Photo Stream are stored in the cloud in full resolution.  When they are pushed to an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV, they are downsized to make the best use of bandwidth available to those devices.  So when you save a photo which was taken by another device from Photo Stream to your iPad's Camera Roll, it doesn't receive the full resolution photo.

However, if you take a photo with an iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch), you will have a full resolution version of the photo in Camera Roll.  You will also have a full resolution photo pushed to Photo Stream and on any Mac or PC which is synced with that Photo Stream account and a downsized version on any other iOS devices synced with that account also.

From Apple Support:

  On your Mac or PC, your photos are downloaded and stored in full
  resolution. On your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV, your Photo
  Stream photos are delivered in a device-optimized resolution that
  speeds downloads and saves storage space. While actual dimensions will
  vary, an optimized version of a photo taken by a standard
  point-and-shoot camera will have a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution when
  pushed to your devices.


Fill an area selected using 'Instant Alpha' with a specific color in Photos In the Photos.app I am using Markup Toolbar in conjunction with screenshot editor.

How can I fill an area I selected using Instant Alpha with a specific color?

To fill color using instant alpha:

Select the area with instant alpha.
Press delete. If asked to save as png click yes. This makes a picture with the instant alpha areas transparent.
Selection all (entire picture) and copy.
Paint a rectangle of desired color over instant alpha areas.
Click paste. This puts back in the picture with transparent instant alpha areas over the color background.


MacBook Pro (16" 2019) Does Not Recognize Correct Resolution I'm having a rather annoying issue with my MacBook Pro 16" 2019 device since upgrading to macOS Big Sur. Every time I plug my device to my 4K monitor into the device (via USB-C to USB-C, or USB-C to DisplayPort), macOS will show a maximum resolution of 1600x900 but my monitor's recommended resolution is 3840 x 2160.

I currently have a workaround to resolve the issue which is the following:

I switch from 1080p resolution to 1600x900
Un-plug the cable, and plug it back in again
Then switch to 3840x2160

This process can be tedious and take a while to complete (between switching resolutions). Is there any solutions which people are aware of?
These are the details of the device and monitor

macOS Version: 11.2.3
Model: MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
Processor: 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9
Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB
Monitor: BenQ EW327OU

These are the things which I've done to date

I can't pin the issue on the monitor, as I've been using a MacBook Pro (2017) with the monitor for a week or so without a single problem.
Used ColorSync to repair any issues with the monitor profiles
Used various other cables such as HDMI, USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to DisplayPort.
Reset NVRAM and SMC
Re-installed macOS
I can't reproduce the error in Windows via Bootcamp, so I'm confident it's OS related.

Confusingly, it does appear to be wire related. I found my original USB-C to USB-C cable which came with the monitor and it resolved the issue.
EDIT (26/03/2021): I spoke too soon. The issue has occured with this cable as well. However, as noted by Luciano, it appears to be a known bug by Apple and will therefore be resolved in a future release.


is the iPod Touch less able to connect to Airport WDS wifi network repeaters than an iPad? Kindle also doesn't want to! I have a wireless network in my apartment.  Because the apartment is large and walls are concrete, it was very hard to get wifi coverage throughout the whole place. Therefore I have one Airport Extreme, and then multiple Airport Expresses, and I have configured the airport expresses to join and extend the wireless network that is created on the main (airport extreme) unit.

The question:  When I am far from the original (airport extreme) unit, my iPad has no problem getting a four-bars connection from the satellite airport express that is relaying the connection. BUT, my ipod touch (and my Kindle also) can NOT connect to it. They just want to connect to the main central unit.

believe me I have re-configured this thing a DOZEN times... using the crystal clear normal method to get the distributed network going across all the airports... always the same problem.

Has anyone found this to be the case -- that the iPod Touch, and a regular lowest-level kindle (bottom of the line unit as of 2012), will not connect to the WDS satellite, only the main unit?

[I will admit, i am only somewhat sure that the method I use, where I configure the units to "join and extend" the main network, is actually the same as WDS.]

I've pretty much solved this problem. I do not FULLY understand why, but now I can have my iPod touch (and I am hoping my kindle) attach correctly to the satellite/repeater airport express.  Here is what I did:

I did two configuration changes to my central hub airport extreme router (i.e., the one that my other routers were merely configured to "extend.")  I realize now that these are both configurations that must be done at that central router, and the repeater routers then simply mimic or reflect accordingly.

-- First, I used the most recent Airport Utility (v6.0) and clicked on my main router (which, crucially, is an airport extreme that has dual band 802.11, both 2.4ghz and 5ghz.)

-- In the airport utility, I clicked on that Extreme router and then in its funky popup window, clicked Edit.

-- Clicked the tab called Wireless.

-- Clicked on Wireless Options button.

-- the first config change I made on that page was to change the Radio Mode setting to "802.11a/n - 802.11 b/g."
     What nobody really tells you is that that hyphenated choice means that the 5GHz band will use the first of those two (namely, a and n, in other words the strong modern N standard will be used on this band ONLY) ... while the 2.4GHZ band will use only the second of those two, b/g, in other words, the devices that only can use that older weaker standard.
     So, it's kind of a segregation. I'm telling it "No, don't let the 2.4 ghz band try to handle traffic using N. That band will just take care of the old crappy clients."

-- the second config change that I made on that page was to check the check box to make a totally separate wireless network name for the 5GHZ band.  Further segregating things.  When I tried my solution without this additional step, my problem did not fix itself, though I don't fully see why.

As I said, a few questions remain in my head, but the darn thing works, so I'm happy. Among many other questions... are those airport expresses dual-band too? I didn't think they were but somehow they are repeating this dual-band strategy?  Whatever. it works.

Wanted to say thanks to Richard, whose reply caused me to get off my butt and try more investigating into this.


Where is a list of "Boot flags" available for Parallels Desktop for Mac? In the need to disable/remove the not configured ata5, ata6, ata7 and ata8 devices, I was looking for a list of available Boot flags for Parallels Desktop for Mac.

So far I found this list:

devices.apic.disable=0 # workaround to run Solaris installation, after installation a pic can be enabled
devices.net.track_link_status=0 # for network link connect/disconnect issues
devices.net.force_adapter_type=rtl # force realtek network adapter
devices.usb.ehc=0 # disable EHCI interface (USB 2.)
devices.usb.enable_mouse=0 # disable virtual mouse
devices.usb.keyboard=0 # disable virtual keyboard
devices.video.pci_device_id=0x5005 # workaround for issue with black screen in Windows 8 with guest tools installed
kernel.waet.enable=0 # disable Windows ACPI Emulated Device Table
video.dx_cmp=0 # workaround for crash if you attempt to go into character customization
video.dx_profile=6 # force Windows 7 Aero compatibility at the cost of possible 3D problems
vm.app_mode=32 # set your virtual machine process to run in 32-bit mode
vm.compat_level=2 # workaround for Blue screen of Death STOP 0x7B or System Repair screen
vm.mem_anonymous=0 # workaround for crash with host server 4.0 and guest mac os x server 10.6.5 < 10H574

Is there a more complete list of (all) "Boot flags" available for "Parallels Desktop for Mac"?

That list is very helpful! Some more options, but without comments or context, can be found like this:
pcregrep --buffer-size 512000 -e "\\x00((?:[a-z0-9-_]+\\.)+[a-z0-9-_]+)\\x00" -o --text /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/Parallels\ VM.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_vm_app


How to debug excessive iPhone data usage? I'm in the UK, and recently changed from a pre-pay carrier (GiffGaff) to EE. My data usage with GiffGaff was about 100-125 MB every two weeks; with EE, I've used nearly 250 MB in the first 5 days. My usage is the same: email, web, Twitter, and some Maps. (Both with my last two weeks with GiffGaff, and these past few days, I've used Maps on a driving trip.)

So I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I know I'm not using that much data, but something on the phone is using data. This is clearly a carrier issue; either the carrier settings or something that has changed. I know you can access Console logs via Xcode, but I don't see anything helpful there.

Does anyone know how I can debug this? I'm ready to go to EE and cancel my contract, because at this rate, the data will cost me a fortune.

Some networks measure data use in different ways to others to get more profit out of it so maybe consider changing to a network that measures data as less?


Keyboard shortcut for start dictation from PC keyboard When my laptop is closed at home and I am using a PC keyboard, I cannot access Start Dictation with "fn fn" because there's no fn key on my keyboard. How can I get a keyboard shortcut for this?

I tried setting up Karabiner but was unsuccessful. Instructions appreciated. Could have shift-lock or F9 for my fn key.

Or is there a way to change the keyboard shortcut for this to something else?

I'm on El Capitan (10.11.3). Thanks.

You should be able to easily change the shortcut for Dictation from the Dictation preference pane in System Preferences.

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Dictation & Speech. Turn on Dictation, then choose from these Dictation options:
Choose the keyboard shortcut you will use to signal that you're ready to start dictating.


Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt Display I just bought this Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter  for my new MacBook Pro (2016) to connect it to my old Thunderbolt Display, but realized that none of my USB ports or Thunderbolt port work (so no daisy-chaining).

Is it something wrong with my setup or is this connectivity not supported by Apple's official Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 solution?

This does not sound like "to Thunderbolt 2" adapter to me, since it only supports multimedia.

Connecting 2 Thunderbolt displays using daisy chain with the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 didn't work for me until I upgraded to the latest Sierra build. (10.12.13) now everything is working as it should. If upgrading didn't work for you I suggest that the adapter is faulty.


Using Visual Studio Code on MacOS "Error: No default engine was specified and no extension was provided." Scenario/Setup:

MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 with new install of VSCode 1.50.0
Following/running VSCode Node Tutorial from:   https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/nodejs/nodejs-tutorial
Jump to "Express Application" section

install Express as directed using npm install -g express-generator
build app as directed using express myExpressApp --view pug
run app using npm start but app / web server fails to run with error in terminal

Error:

Error: No default engine was specified and no extension was provided.

System Details:

New install of VSCode 1.50.1

MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6

Seems that pug view rendering engine NOT INSTALLED locally as a depency, even though I installed Express globally with npm install -g express-generator
Fix

run a terminal window, or press CTRL-`(backtick) from inside of Visual Studio Code
cd into your project directory/folder - or already there if launched the terminal from VSCode (previous step)... from there run these commands:

install pug as a local dependency with npm install pug
for EXTRA good measure, re-install express locally with: npm install express
ensure all dependencies are installed and updated using: npm install
relaunch your application with:   npm start
test/view your application at: http://localhost:3000


Is there a 3rd-party app that uses iPhone 6's barometer? I have an iPhone 6 and was wondering if there is any app that will simply display the current pressure using the barometer built into the phone?

Or an app, other then the built in HealthKit which tracks stairs climbed, that uses that barometric pressure for something?

There are quite a few Apps in the App Store, including Barometer, Barometer+ and Barometer++. Take your pick. This site does the research for you.


Apple ID for employees having no credit card I would like to create Apple ID on my employee's desktop. She has no credit card, I can't create Apple ID without card, having no apple id she cannot update her desktop. Is there any workaround of that?

Apple IDs can be created with the None payment method providing you are attempting to do something that doesn't require payment. For example, you can create an Apple ID without a payment method by going to the iTunes Store and purchasing any free app. You will be prompted to create an Apple ID and can select None as the payment method.

For more information, see:

Create an iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store account without a credit card or other payment method


Connect a Time Capsule to the ADSL modem/router using powerline adaptors? I need to place my Time Capsule a fair distance from my ADSL router, and cannot easily run an Ethernet cable between the two.   Can I use a pair of Powerline ethernet adaptors to make the connection?  If so, any advice as to recommended make/model.

Yes. From a network point of view, power line communication devices act like a bridge (or a switch, if they support more than 2 ends). That means they should act completely transparent (not accounting for transmission errors or other problems).


Windows 7 installer wont boot after creating partition for Bootcamp I'm trying to install Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro (13 inch Mid 2012) running OS X 10.7.5
I'm using a USB drive to create the boot disk, and I also downloaded the drivers needed from the apple website.
After creating the partition and restarting, the system tells me that there is no bootable drive available. I try holding the option key and then selecting the windows partition and then it shows the same screen.

Any ideas of what's wrong?

The most common Issue when installing bootcamp windows

Causes:
Failed to detect USB3.0 drive after reboot

Solution:
Use a USB2.0 drive to create windows install disk instead of USB 3.0 drives.

Or you can inject usb3.0 driver into the installer using Dism++


Video Stutter With Multiple Logged-In Users I'm experiencing significant video playback stuttering when there are other users logged in in the background via Fast User Switching. I'm not sure if this is do to a recent change to my user setup, or Lion, or what.

I've used Elgato's EyeTV software as my home DVR for 6 years, with the now-discontinued EyeTV 500, through a wide variety of updates, always without major problems. This was the first place I noticed video problems, so I initially suspected a software incompatibility. However the problem has also affected DVD, Netflix (Silverlight), iTunes (h.264) and Flash video playback.

In upgrading to Lion, I decided to do a clean install onto what had been the DVR drive, while keeping my Snow Leopard install around for a bit. After I was happy with the migration, I turned what had been the Snow Leopard drive into a DVR drive for EyeTV. However instead of running EyeTV under my only user, as I had been, I set up a new user, with the idea being:

My wife wouldn't need my admin account's password to watch shows she wanted to record
We wouldn't have to toggle audio settings back and forth when running video to the living room (my user would stay on headphones, this media user would stay on toslink out)
The media user could be set to automatic login without a password, so if power was lost when we were't home, when it came back, the DVR would come back too

Unfortunately what's been happening consistently is that if my admin user is logged in, with a few things running (nothing crazy, Mail, Chrome, iTunes, iPhoto, Terminal, etc.), video becomes unplayable, with whatever app that was doing video playback getting the Rainbow Wheel of Death every few seconds and lasting for several seconds.

I'm not sure if this is related, but if both users are logged in, the Lion login/user switching screen itself becomes nigh-unusable, possibly requiring multiple forced sleeps to figure itself out.

At this point I don't know what the problem is, although I have some guesses:

I can't have two users with conflicting sound output settings logged in at once (this is what I'm going to try first)
The media user needs to have admin privileges
There is some bug in Lion (unlikely, but I can't isolate this variable since I added the user at the same time as I upgraded).

Any ideas?

I experienced a similar problem with a 2012 MacBook Air with two users logged in. Both users logged in, stuttering video via AirPlay, OS X 10.8, 8GB RAM, plenty of room on the SSD. When using an iPad or iPhone on the same wireless network and AirPlay, no stuttering.

Logged out the second account, no stuttering.

I haven't solved any of your other issues, but did confirm the concurrent login problem.


How to open .TLS files on mac I have a Browning game camera that takes timelapse photos... I was disappointed to discover it records them as huge 1-2 GB .TLS files that require software Browning makes to open, and it only works on windows.

Browning suggests Mac users change the files to .AVI, which doesn't work. Are there any other options to open these files or are they inaccessible to Mac users?

You don’t need to change it to AVI - just rename it back and then drag it into a player like VLC.

That software will look inside the file and try to read the header and tell you which encoding and packaging scheme is needed.

Once you know the files are correct and play or can get more details, perhaps a follow on question explaining why VLC won’t open it might make sense.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

If you like VLC - then right click on one of the files and choose Open with... and reset all TLC files to open in VLC - you should be set.


"say" in different language? Are there voices in different languages installed in Mac OS X? E.g. spanish, french or slovak? (latest iPod Nano built-in voiceover has beautiful slovak voice, I'd like to try it on Mac OS X too)

You can use the following command in the Terminal to get a list of all the available voices:
say -v ?

On my system the output looks like this with the voice name followed by the language abbreviation (I removed the comments):

Agnes en_US
Albert    en_US
Alex  en_US
Alice it_IT
Alva  sv_SE
Amelie    fr_CA
Anna  de_DE
Bad   News
Bahh  en_US
Bells en_US
Boing en_US
Bruce en_US
Bubbles   en_US
Carmit    he_IL
Cellos    en_US
Damayanti id_ID
Daniel    en_GB
Deranged  en_US
Diego es_AR
Ellen nl_BE
Fiona en-scotland
Fred  en_US
Good  News
Hysterical    en_US
Ioana ro_RO
Joana pt_PT
Junior    en_US
Kanya th_TH
Karen en_AU
Kathy en_US
Kyoko ja_JP
Laura sk_SK
Lekha hi_IN
Luciana   pt_BR
Maged ar_SA
Mariska   hu_HU
Mei-Jia   zh_TW
Melina    el_GR
Milena    ru_RU
Moira en_IE
Monica    es_ES
Nora  nb_NO
Paulina   es_MX
Pipe  Organ
Princess  en_US
Ralph en_US
Samantha  en_US
Sara  da_DK
Satu  fi_FI
Sin-ji    zh_HK
Tessa en_ZA
Thomas    fr_FR
Ting-Ting zh_CN
Trinoids  en_US
Veena en_IN
Vicki en_US
Victoria  en_US
Whisper   en_US
Xander    nl_NL
Yelda tr_TR
Yuna  ko_KR
Zarvox    en_US
Zosia pl_PL
Zuzana    cs_CZ

This is an example on how to use say with a german voice, as suggested by scottishwildcat in the comments:
say -v Anna 'Guten Tag!'

In case you want to hear the example list, you can copy this for loop into your terminal, which will result in all installed voices speaking a text example:
say -v \? | while read LINE
 do
  SPEAKER=$(echo $LINE | egrep -o "^[a-zA-Z\-]*[ ]?[A-Z][a-z]+")
  TEXT=$(echo $LINE | egrep -o "#.*" | tr "#" " ")
  echo $SPEAKER
  echo -ne "This is voice $SPEAKER speaking the example text: \n" $TEXT | say -v $SPEAKER
 done


How to open NoteStore.sqlite I forgot to backup my notes before upgrading to a SSD and I'm trying to retrieve them. Instead of re-installing my old harddrive, I managed to find and copy the NoteStore.sqlite file out of it. Now the problem is, how to read this file so I can access my old notes. I tried downloading DB Browser for SQLite and then accessed the ZICCLOUDSYNCINGOBJECT table within that file but could only get snippets of info as well as the note titles, not the full note. It was the only table I found anything relevant in.
Any ideas where else to look or what other software can maybe search this file better? Thank you

I've extra registered on this website to share this answer, because I have been trying to get my notes back for a month. Now I have them back and I am so happy and gratefull that somebody took their time to share their answer, so I will do the same in case somebody needs it here later.
These are the steps, from another Apple forum:

Quit the Notes app.

Back up to iCloud all of the notes previously stored on your Mac, and turn syncing off. You may want to create PDF backups of anything you don't want to risk losing.

Restore these three files, located in ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes/, from a backup to your desktop:

NoteStore.sqlite
NoteStore.sqlite-shm
NoteStore.sqlite-wal

Drag the three files from your desktop to ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes/ on your Mac and agree to replace all three files.

Launch the Notes app and check your notes. Hopefully, they will be there.


Can I stream with Airplay from my iPhone to a compatible 3rd Party device? It may be just me, but Apple's website seems to beat around the bush regarding the use of Airplay. I just need to know: Over wireless can I stream directly from my iPhone to an Airplay-Enabled 3rd party sound system (No AppleTV, no Airport Express, no Macbook)?

Yep. Apple licenses the receiver portion of AirPlay to 3rd party manufacturers, so they can build compatible receivers meant to work with iOS and OS X devices.

As long as the device you're going to use is AirPlay compatible, it should work.


Mac OS X - report time on battery since last AC unplug but exclude sleep time Is there an app or existing command to report the battery time since the laptop was last unplugged from AC but exlude the time spend during sleep on battery?

This can be inferred from pmset -g log so I'm looking for a way to do this without using an app that stays resident to detect plug/unplug events.

Well, I'll provide an answer to my own question, tested on Yosemite but not extensively. This is bash code:

#!/bin/bash
humantime () { printf -v $1 "%dh%02dm%02ds" $(($2/3600)) $((($2/60)%60)) $(($2%60)); }
#unplugged=`pmset -g log | grep 'Summary- \[System: DeclUser.*\] Using Batt' | tail -1 | cut -f1,2 -d' '`
unplugged=`syslog -u -k Sender loginwindow | grep 'magsafeStateChanged state changed old 1 new 2' | tail -n 1 | cut -f1 -dZ`
onbatt=$((`date +%s` - `date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" "$unplugged" +%s`))
slept=`pmset -g log | sed -n "/^$unplugged/,//p" | awk '/Entering Sleep.*[0-9]+ secs/ {n=split($0,a," ");sum+=a[n-1]} END {print sum}'`
[[ -z $slept ]] && slept=0
awake=$((onbatt-slept))
humantime hawake $awake
humantime hslept $slept
printf "Awake on battery for $hawake (%.1f%%)\n" `echo "$awake*100/$onbatt" | bc -l`
printf "Slept on battery for $hslept (%.1f%%)\n" `echo "$slept*100/$onbatt" | bc -l`

I won't vouch for its accuracy but it seems to work. Since I don't know Apple's internals (I'm new to Mac OS X) I reversed engineered it with a few trial and errors plugging and unplugging the adapter, both while asleep and also while awake, to see which log entries are reliable.

You will notice that I tried using pmset -g log to detect when the power was unplugged but it's unreliable. Upon unplugging, the log entry is Summary- [System: DeclUser kDisp] Using Batt but unfortunately the same log entry occurs during sleep while unplugged so it's unreliable. I resorted to syslog instead.

NOTE: This reports the time since the last unplugged event. This may not be when the battery was 100 %.

Potential issue: The above code takes the timestamp from syslog and matches against pmset. If pmset doesn't have an entry (any entry) at the same timestamp then it won't work. That shouldn't happen but if it does, then you could convert the timestamps to epoch seconds and detecting the closest timestamp in pmset that way.


Airport guest network when the network gets extended I'm looking to extend both the main SSID and the separate guest network from an airport extreme base station for more range. What apple networking hardware is needed? I presume two express would do the trick, one joining each SSID - but wonder if I can do it with less hardware. Advice or tips appreciated.

Apple express would be your best/cheaper option than getting another extreme. You could use third party hardware, but the results are inconsistent as Apples bridging is slightly different to the standard.

You could use power line networking if you wanted to extended it further than the current wireless network provides. This assumes you're on the same phase of power and wanted to pony up the extra cash.


If iPhones/iPads don't support Flash, how do they play YouTube? Which technology do iPhones and iPads use to play YouTube without supporting Flash?

They use a format called H.264. YouTube and other video sites deliver content in this format also (so that their videos are viewable on iPad/iPod touch).

One advantage of H.264 is that hardware based encoding/decoding can be used.

See also Steve Jobs's Thoughts on Flash

H.264 is one of the formats for video support in the latest version of HTML, HTML 5. Apple supports this in Safari and Google in Chrome*.

*Google recently announced that it will no longer support H.264 in the future versions of Chrome.

Because of this H.264 is kind of hot of late. See these articles.


What happened to my iChat account? Having recently upgraded my machine to Mountain Lion, I realized that there is no iChat app anymore and that everything ended up into the Messages app. I've been using a @mac.com account specifically to access iChat, so what happens to this account now? Has it become useless?

Nothing changes for accessing AIM chat using the new Messages app (that integrates iChat features with iMessage features).

Just go to Messages -> Preferences -> Accounts to be sure your @mac.com account is entered with a password and enabled for use.


Can someone help me to translate this automator workflow to applescript? What I want to do is select a bunch of images with varying dimensions and uniformly apply a percentage scale to resize them. The workflow comes very close to that. But I cant get more specific to the nearest tenths. By pixels it only takes length into consideration whereas I want the width. So i figured as long as it is in applescript I can easily specify the scale I want. I intend to run the script as a service.

You can use a "Run Shell Script" action and sips to downscale your pictures to any value. Add a "Run Shell Script" action, make sure the input method is set to "stdin" (should be the default) and insert the following script

SCALEFACTOR=500
while IFS= read file; do
    sips --resampleWidth $(($(sips -g pixelWidth "$file" |
                                  sed -n -e '/pixelWidth/s/.*pixelWidth: //p')
                            * $SCALEFACTOR / 1000)) "$file" --out "${file%/*}/resized-${file##*/}"
done

Shell arithmetic only supports integer values, so you'll have to specify the scale factor in thousands (e.g. 424 for 42.4%)


Double-click headphone button to change track function When listening to music on iTunes on my MacBook Air running OS 10.9, I am able to double-click the center headphone button to change track.

I am wondering if it is possible to replicate this behavior to when I am listening to music in e. g. Spotify.

It works as expected in Spotify v1.0.65.320 for all interested.


Migrating local accounts to locally stored network account We have local users running on stock MacBooks, but it's time to move up and start managing things.

Active Directory accounts are created for all users, and OSX Server is pushing the AD config profiles down to our hosts.

Our local users have rather complex development tools and environments installed locally to their account, so it would be preferred to preserve them.

Simply copying files over from the old account to the new mobile account does not work (as expected).

While I've seen suggestions to try Migration Assistant, it does seem to want to work for local accounts, and is instead expecting a time machine backup, or an import from a different machine.  Both of these might end up being rather time consuming, when a better operation would be to simply rename the ~ directory to the same short_name of the AD user.  But of course, this causes issues with keychains, application plists, and who knows what else.

I can accept having to recreate keychains and plists if necessary, but it would be preferred to have a short script that can be written to solve the migration with minimal user impact.

My suggestion was going to be Migration Assistant, however you'll need to make a backup ISO or time machine to import from, or another machine as you've mentioned.

There is unlikely to be a clean way of doing this honestly...


Are OS X installers up-to-date with all the security updates? Recently I upgraded to El Capitan just to see a couple of software updates available in the App Store a few days after the installation took place. So I wonder is the El Capitan installer up-to-date with the latest security updates? Or for that matter any application released by Apple.

My concern that one’s sensitive information might be compromised with vulnerabilities like fake updates or things like the program FinFisher, or in places with public internet connections.

Update After Installing OS X

The OS X installer from the Mac App Store does not always include the latest security updates; be sure to run Software Update after installing.

Best Defence

It is not unreasonable to assume the latest version of OS X and any third party products contain bugs and security vulnerabilities. Ideally, the latest version is more secure than the previous versions.

As a user, your best defence is to update your software as updates become available and to favour third party developers who actively address security concerns.

Apple offers the following security advice:

  Technical Support

  Keeping your software up-to-date is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your Apple product's security. Instructions on how to update your Apple products can be found below:

  Update OS X and App Store apps on your Mac
  Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch iOS software
  …

Apple provides a security updates page:

  Apple security updates

  This document outlines security updates for Apple products.

  For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available. To learn more about Apple Product Security, see the Apple Product Security website.

  This document describes recent updates and releases.

Found a problem? Contact Apple!

If you have specific security concerns, you can report these to Apple directly. Apple's security page explains how to contact them privately.


.xls files suddenly won't open Since yesterday my .xls files will not open in Office for Mac 2011. They have always done so till then. I can still open .xlxs files. The default 'open with' option is still the Microsoft Excel.app. I haven't (not aware of) having made any software updates yesterday. The message I get is that the file c'cannot be accessed' because it 'may be read-only, or you may be trying to access a read-only location. Or, the server the document is stored on may not be responding'.

But, it is happening with ALL .xls files,whether on my own drive that I have no problem accessing for other files, on things just emailed to me, or as downloads from a Skydrive facility.

Any ideas? thanks

Change the name of your main hard drive to something with only letters and optionally spaces.

That usually solves this issue with Microsoft's assumptions about characters in path names.


How can I convert US-format date and time into a date value so I can use the local date format? I am in Australia and use the default date formats here (dd/mm/yyyy). Unfortunately, BandCamp exports sales data using a US date format: "m/d/yy h:mmpm". For the most part, Numbers treats this as text since most of the values don't make sense as dates when reading in the local format.

Is there a way to convert this text to an actual date value in Numbers?

The only function I have found that seems close is DATEVALUE, but it interprets the source data as d/m/yy, and so returns an error except where the dates make sense reversed. e.g. it returns an error for 1/18/19, and interprets 2/4/19 as 2 April 2019, when the source data means 4 February 2019.

Set the documents Language & Region setting to "Englisch | United States of America" in the respective dialog (File menu > Advanced > Language & Region).

Formatting options for date cells in the Format sidebar should have US formatting now.

Import/paste the date data.

After importing/pasting, set the Language & Region setting (back) to "English | Australia". The pasted/imported cells with "US" dates will retain US date formatting. All other cells have AUS date formatting, so using DATEVALUE on the US formatted cells "converts" them to AUS date formatting.

Hope this makes sense, not an English native speaker.


Updating OSX Lion 10.7.5 to 10.8.4 so I can install xcode The Mac App Store won't allow me to install xcode because I'd need osx version 10.8.4 or later. I did a system upgrade but I'm still at Mac osx lion 10.7.5. Can anyone help? Thanks!

You need to buy Mountain Lion or Mavericks in the AppStore. That will take care of the installation.  Mavericks is free, is supposed to be better, but there are some problems associated with it.

Before doing that, in any case, check your most frequently used applications to see if they are compatible with the OS X version you intent to install.  Then do a full backup and do disk permission checks in DiskUtilities before you upgrade.


Keyboard shortcut for toggling between Fn and F keys Is there a keyboard shortcut for toggling between Function and classic F keys?

Depending on what you're trying to do, you may be able to cut out the keyboard shortcuts altogether and completely automate this.  KeyRemap4MacBook allows you to set key re-mappings based on what application you're currently using.

I am using a setting that switches F1 through F12 to standard Function keys whenever I'm using RDC (Windows Remote Desktop).  Any other time they operate like their icons (brightness, volume, play, etc).


Where is the generic Other Image? On a mac, when you enable 'Other' on the login screen so that network accounts can log in, the large circular image that comes along with it is a gray silhouette of three heads.  Where is this image on the hard drive?  I'd like to swap it out with something else.

It is here:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/LoginUIKit.framework/Versions/Current/Frameworks/LoginUICore.framework/Resources/OtherUser.png


Monitor Words Per Minute on the background? I'm looking for an application that can run on the background and would monitor my average words per minute as I go about my day. At the end of the day (or week) I want to see a recap of my performance and the features that I am expecting it to have are:

My WPM
Total number of words I typed.

Is there an app that does something like this? The idea came to me awhile ago when I saw a vanity USB gadget that you can plug in to your laptop and will monitor your average WPM count.

This is a tricky one to solve and get meaningful data.

Firstly, what defines a "word"?  Usually in a text editing program this would be defined as a series of alphanumeric characters separated by a space or a new line character.  That gets pretty tricky in an OS that uses those 2 keys for other options like QuickView, and enter in save dialogues and the like.

Many apps simply do not input text in a way that would make a words per minute  count useful, for example safari.  Would typing URLs of filling in forms provide any meaningful data, or would it just trash the more useful bits of your statistics etc.

You may be better served looking for a writing app that does this (such as this one for example - others exist) and is able to understand when it is actively being used, and when it is minimised etc, so that you are only capturing the info when you are actually doing something worth of monitoring.

To help in this there is a great tool called QuickCursor that will allow you to switch any text input field to the text editor of your choice.  That way once you have found a program that you like for typing in that offers a WPM count feature, you can then use that program for all your typing by switching to it with a keyboard shortcut from any place where you need to type, including email/web forms etc, and then switching back and taking the contents with you.

Having said all the above, there is an app called TypingStats that will just sit on your menu bar and take systemwide statistics, on the proviso that it only actually guesses at your WPM by counting every 5th keystroke as a "word" and then doing the maths to give you an approximation.


VIP emails being deleted I have searched online but not found the answer to this problem.

For some reason, the emails in VIP folders only remain in the folder for 2 weeks and then they are gone. The oldest emails in the VIP folders are from June 16.

Is there a setting in Mac Mail for when these emails in the VIP folders are deleted?

Thank you for your assistance.

Go to Preferences > Rules. See if any rule is deleting VIP messages.

If any rules rules are deleting VIP messages, Just delete Them.


How to see everything in the NVRAM I know you can show the contents of the NVRAM with sudo nvram -x -p, but doing that doesn't seem to list everything. I say this because I just had an issue with the resolution of my screen at boot, resetting the NVRAM fixed it. However, I compared the output of that command before and after clearing the NVRAM, and it is identical. Are there more variables in there that can't be seen with the traditional sudo nvram -x -p? If so, can they be seen with another method?

In a Terminal type man nvram and press: enter

You'll see that the -p option states:

  Print all of the firmware variables.

Therefore whatever it prints, is what's stored in NVRAM.

There should not be any hidden variables, however the output for some variables may not be in what's generally considered as human readable format.


Is it safe to run/jog with a Flash drive Macbook Air? I want to be able to put an 11" Macbook Air into a backpack and run to work/gym with it. Is that safe to do that, given these devices have no moving hard drive parts? What about the other components, would they handle shaking?

Bonus points: is there any backpack made specifically for doing this?

There are definitely no moving parts. I wouldn't worry about jogging with it. I wouldn't even worry about jogging with a non-flash drive equipped laptop if it was turned off. The drive spindles and heads are immobile when the drive is powered down.

For a pack, look for something that suspends the laptop away from the sides. Preferably holding it in something that'll absorb the shock a bit.


Why do most processes run as children of launchd? When did most processes run as a child of launchd instead of the kernel pid ?

macOS comes from the Unix tradition of operating systems. Here processes are arranged in a tree, i.e. a hierarchy with parent and child processes.

From this follows that there most be a root process from which other processes are spawned. This process on modern macOS is launchd.

On earlier versions of OS X a process named initd took the place of launchd. Launchd is essentially a modern replacement and superset of initd.

There’s no inherent “offering” in having launchd as your parent process.

The reason it is not for example kernel_task is that it stands for computation that happens in kernel mode - i.e. a privileged mode on the CPU.

Launchd is the first user-mode process started by the kernel when the system boots. User-mode means that it is less privileged than kernel mode. Launchd then handles starting the rest of the processes necessary to have a working, usable system.


MATLAB disabled status in Yosemite I have 2013a installed and the patch from here. The patch should work, but when I navigate to the application, there is a "stop" icon above the app icon which still prevents the patched version from launching. How can I remove this disabled status? For now I can only launch matlab from inside the app content.

It seems to be related to this bug report.

Does the application run if you open it via terminal? e.g

open /Applications/MATLAB_R2013a.app

if so you may just need to clear dock/icon caches:

killall -HUP Dock


Can I connect my Macbook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016) to my Macbook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)? A the title suggests, I'd like to connect my macbooks together to easily transfer files and mirror displays when i need to.

As long as both Macs are in the same network this can be easily done.

To set it up do the following on both Macs

Open System Preferences -> Sharing
Enable Screen Sharing and File Sharing

Afterwards the remote Mac should get listed in any Finder window in the side bar (in the Network part). Click on it and either attach the drive or start screensharing.


How many monitors can the 13" retina MacBook Pro output to? The 15" retina can do three (and itself) via daisychaining two Thunderbolts (or just using the two ports) and with the HDMI port. Is the 13" retina able to do this as well?

You can drive 3 including the internal on the 13". However, you cannot run 3 external displays even if not using the internal.

source: I have one and have tested this.


How to correct the exclusion list for Time Machine backup? Music is not listed for exclusion, but is excluded I'm running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 and have noticed the Music folder is not listed for exclusion. However, this folder is not actually backed up, as I can see this by going into the backup disk, it is not there.

This is confirmed by looking at the exclusion list which has Music there for some reason:

Any idea what went wrong? A bug? Or the exclusion list somehow inherited this from previous settings of the Time Machine I must have had in the past, I may have excluded Music some years ago? Is it possible to rectify this?

These are not the files from the exclusion list but files that have been directly marked as excluded in their extended attributes.

For example:

$ xattr "/Users/foo/Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache"
com.apple.metadata:com_apple_backup_excludeItem

Most of these seem to be logs, caches or indexes that can be rebuilt.


Difficulty to inherit Time Machine backups on new MacBook Pro I'm having difficulties to inherit Time Machine backups on a new MacBook Pro. I've read many Q&A on the same topic, but none was a solution for my case (that's why I don't think this is a duplicate).

I have no access to my old MacBook Pro, so this is crucial for me. I have two Time Machine backups, one on an external Hard Drive and one on a Time Capsule. I cannot access either of them.

This is what I've tried thus far:

External Hard Drive

If I mount the drive, I can see the Backups.backupdb folder on it, but I can't access it. From the Terminal:

$ ls -l
total 240
drwxrwxr-x@ 6 giovanni.lovato  staff  204 Aug 30 10:49 Backups.backupdb

$ ls Backups.backupdb/
ls: : Operation not permitted

$ sudo ls Backups.backupdb/
ls: : Operation not permitted

Seems like I have no access to it, not even as root. I've found the use of the command vsdbutil might help, so I did try:

$ sudo vsdbutil -d /Volumes/TM

but still:

$ sudo ls Backups.backupdb/
ls: : Operation not permitted

I checked the extended attributes:

$ sudo xattr Backups.backupdb
com.apple.backupd.ThinEncryptedRecoverySets

and tried to remove them, but:

$ sudo xattr -d com.apple.backupd.ThinEncryptedRecoverySets Backups.backupdb
xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: 'Backups.backupdb'

To inherit the backups, I know I have to run tmutil associatedisk, but I cannot do this until I regain access to the backup folder.

Time Capsule

No luck with Time Capsule backup either. I've mounted the drive and run the command:

$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/Backup/L-C02LPHF5FD56.sparsebundle
Attaching disk image...
Enter password to access "L-C02LPHF5FD56.sparsebundle":
** /dev/rdisk4s2 (NO WRITE)
Can't open /dev/rdisk4s2: Operation not permitted
/Volumes/Backup/L-C02LPHF5FD56.sparsebundle: Attach failed: The operation couldn’t be completed. Exec format error (error 8)

I've checked /dev/rdisk4s2 permission and tried to set the write flag, unsuccessfully:

$ ls -l /dev/rdisk*
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   0 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk0
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   1 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk0s1
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   2 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk0s2
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   3 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk1
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   4 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk1s1
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   5 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk1s2
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   6 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk1s3
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   7 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk1s4
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   8 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk2
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   9 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk2s1
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  11 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk2s2
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  10 Aug 30 10:43 /dev/rdisk2s3
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  12 Aug 30 10:44 /dev/rdisk3
cr--------  1 root  operator    1,  13 Aug 30 11:22 /dev/rdisk4
cr--------  1 root  operator    1,  14 Aug 30 11:22 /dev/rdisk4s1
cr--------  1 root  operator    1,  15 Aug 30 11:22 /dev/rdisk4s2

$ sudo chmod u+w /dev/rdisk4s2
chmod: Unable to change file mode on /dev/rdisk4s2: Operation not permitted

I'm totally stuck, can't find any solution elsewhere so I'm asking here for some advice!

I had the same problem and found a solution: I added the terminal app to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Full Disk Access, then it worked.


How can I  print multiple pages on a single page via my iPhone? Is it possible print multiple pages of a Word, PowerPoint or PDF document on a single page natively from iPhone 4S?

Otherwise, are there other apps out there that allows me to do so?

What I mean by printing multiple pages of a document on a single page is something what we have on the usual Mac OS and Windows OS, where there is often a "handout" option to print multiple slides or pages of a document onto a single physical paper page.

Not natively, but you can with Printopia running on a Mac connected to your printer.

To do this, you need to first create a very simple Automator action. Open up Automator, and create a Print Plugin. For the Workflow, you only need to add the "Run Shell Script" action. Make sure the action is set to "Pass input: as arguments". The shell script needs only a single line:

lp -o number-up=4 -o media=Letter "$*"

The specifics of the line might depend on your needs. In this case, I'm printing to my default printer (so is't not specified). I found that without the "media" option the result was was not scaled properly. You can define number-up as either 1, 2, 4, or 16.

If you want to specify a specific printer, use the following instead:

lp -d <printer> -o number-up=4 -o media=Letter "$*"

where <printer> is one of your print queues. You can find these by executing lpstat -a at a terminal prompt.

That's it. Now save the action. I saved mine as "4-Up Print".

Next open Printopia in the System Preferences. Click the + to add a new destination, select "Add PDF Workflow", and pick the Automator Workflow that you created in the previous step.

When printing from your iOS device, pick the newly created Printopia Air Print destination. Obviously you need to be on the same local network as the Mac.

Enjoy!


Can't set route with VPN post script since upgrade to Big Sur Since upgrading to Big Sur, my VPN post script has not been firing.  The VPN to which I connect does not allow split tunneling.
I have a simple script in /etc/ppp/ip-up that allows me to access things outside of the network while still accessing things in the internal network. It has been working for a while now and ever since upgrading to Big Sur, I have to run the command manually to be able to access external websites/services. It is set to be executable and everything so I don't know what the problem is, below is what that file looks like.
#!/bin/sh

/sbin/route change default 192.168.1.1

If I run the command in Terminal it works, so I'm curious if Apple broke something or changed how it works.
Did something major change with how macOS handles this file?

Same here ... it was working for a while though.
What seems to work is:
networksetup -setadditionalroutes <networkservice> [ <dest> <mask> <gateway> ]*

To find out the adapter names use:
networksetup -listallnetworkservices

Example:
networksetup -setadditionalroutes "name of your VPN" 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.10.254 192.168.2.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.10.254


Convert .mov to .mp4 I want to convert .mov to .mp4! I saved the video from iMovie but it is in .mov format! How do I convert it to .mp4?

I'm using a MacBook and I want to share it to my phone, but my phone can't open .mov format video.

I personally find using ffmpeg shell program (available through Brew using brew install ffmpeg) the most convenient way to do the conversions.

It includes tons of options for nearly any single thing you could possibly do with a movie.

In your case though, for a conversion, you can simply type:

ffmpeg -i /path/to/input/file /path/to/output.mp4

The .mp4 extension in the output path serves as a cue for the program to do the proper conversion -- no more options are necessary.


Is it possible to resize video in iMovie? I took a screen recording from my iPhone 5 and I want to convert its size from 640x1136 to 750x1134. For extra pixels I need black fill color. Is it possible in iMovie in OS X?

It's not possible to produce that exact resolution in iMovie 10, because it doesn't support custom resolutions. The only resolutions you can export a video project to are:

480p: 854x480
540p: 960x540
720p: 1280x720
1080p: 1920x1080

Note that all of these are 16:9 (1.778) whereas the target you're after is about 3:2 (1.66).

You can certainly add black borders or otherwise crop/frame videos in iMovie, so it could be a stepping stone to another tool. But It's probably not the tool you want if that precise output format is required.

Also remember that many video players will automatically resize and add black borders on playback to best fit the screen's aspect ratio.


Cannot transfer rented movie from iPod to computer? I rented a movie on my iPod touch 5th gen and want to sync it to my computer so I can watch it there. It won't transfer however. What do I do? Do I have to rent it again on my computer?

Per Apple, if you rent a movie on an iOS device or AppleTV, you cannot move it to another device or computer.

(The reverse, however, is possible - you can rent on a computer then transfer to an iOS device.)


How to track down a mystery autocompletion Every time I type

nvm install

it magically autocompletes to

nvm install 9.2.1 --reinstall-packages-from=9.2.0 --latest-npm

with a return at the end, which errors as I'm using node 10.12.0 these days.

It doesn't matter what app I type this into, terminal, text editor, or even the browser (it autocompleted above when I typed this).

I've never set up any such autocompletion rules, and this wasn't happening previously.  How could this happen and how do I stop it?

Running macOS 10.14 (Mojave)

Argh.  Found the culprit.  Dash was doing it.

Looks like it was me after all.  sigh.


Automator service to look up words works with Latin characters but not Chinese characters The following Automator script is supposed to open a Chrome tab and look up a Chinese word.
The service opens the Chrome tab when Latin characters are chosen, but mysteriously fails to open a tab when Chinese characters are chosen.
Works

Open https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_classifiers.
Highlight Latin character.
Run service.

Fails

Open https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_classifiers.
Highlight Chinese character.
Run service.

Run JavaScript
function run(input, parameters) {

    var trimmedInput = input[0].replace(/\s/g, '');
    return trimmedInput

}

Run AppleScript
on run {input, parameters}

    return "http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/search/?searchtype=2&text=" & input

end run

Run AppleScript
on run {input, parameters}
    tell application "Google Chrome"
        set curTabIndex to active tab index of front window

        open location input

        set active tab index of first window to curTabIndex
    end tell
end run

The following example AppleScript code combines the three Automator actions shown in your OP into one Run AppleScript action.
Selecting the first Chinese character, from the link in your OP, and running the Automator Service/Quick Action it worked for me by opening a new tab to the target URL.

Note that as coded it assumes Google Chrome is already running with at least one window already opened and it further assumes you are selecting the text in the active tab of the front window, otherwise the coding of the tell block for Google Chrome needs to be modified.
The script uses AppleScript's text item delimiters to do the same thing as: .replace(/\s/g, '')

on run {input, parameters}

    set searchString to input as text

    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to space
    set searchString to text items of searchString
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    set searchString to searchString as text

    tell application "Google Chrome"
        tell front window
            set curTabIndex to active tab index
            set URL of (make new tab) to ¬
                "http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/search/?searchtype=2&text=" & ¬
                searchString
            set active tab index to curTabIndex
        end tell
    end tell

end run

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted.


iTunes requesting password to create the very first iPhone backup This question is similar to others e.g. here but I still can't find a solution.

I am trying to back up my iPhone for the very first time on a brand new MacBook Pro.

When I log in to iTunes to initiate the backup I see the following message noting that there has been no backup before:

Then, if I try to turn off encryption of the backup (or indeed set a password), I see:

Does anyone know what's going on, or what I can do to back up my iPhone and then restore to a new one?

The encrypted backup password is stored on the device itself, not in iTunes.  This indicates that you have used a different iTunes previously to make an encrypted backup.

If you don’t know the encrypted backup password that is stored on the device, the only option is to enter Settings on the phone and ‘Reset all Settings’ which will preserve user data, but restore all settings to default.

See this Apple support article.  (Password reset info in the last section.)


Late 2009 Macbook, El Capitan, how to rotate display? (it's not on settings) I have a MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009) with El Capitan 10.11.6, The displays setting panel doesn't show a control to rotate it (as does my mac mini with Sierra)
Is there an alternative way or 3rd party software that could do this?

The display settings panel has to be opened with ⌘⌥ (+ clicking on the display panel icon)


Loading photos onto Windows PC with broken iPhone touchscreen I've cracked my iPhone 5 and the touch screen no longer works. Is there any way I can load my photos onto my laptop without getting the screen fixed?

My computer runs the latest Windows and its a ThinkPad if this helps.

Here's a way to transfer photos to your computer (Windows 8 and above)

Connect your iPhone to a trusted computer using the lightning cable. It is important that the computer is trusted. iPhones do not connect to the computer otherwise.
The Photos app should automatically open. If it does not, you can open it using the Windows start menu or search bar.
Click on the import button in the top right corner, represented by a downwards arrow in a square box.
Select the photos you would like to import.
Follow the prompts on the screen. If you'd like to delete the imported photos, you can click on the check box in the prompt.

You will have your photos imported on your PC.

If you have Windows 7, Microsoft offers you Photos which you can download from this website: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/photo-gallery

After downloading Photos, you can follow the steps above.

Windows Vista and XP are currently not supported for Photos.


RMBP outputs 4k@60Hz ONLY when lid open I've got a weird problem. I recently got a new Philips BDM4065UC UHD monitor for my Late 2013 15" retina MBP (it's amazing), connected it using DisplayPort 1.2 (also set on the display) and when using both the built-in display and the external screen, everything works amazing, the image is butter smooth at full resolution and 60Hz.

However, when I try to use my MacBook in closed clamshell mode (the screen is ridiculously huge, there's no point in using the built-in screen and there's not much space on my desk), it switches back to 30Hz. WTF?

I mean I would understand it the other way, but this just doesn't make sense. Is there some setting I'm missing? Since I'm not using the screen I'd like to use all the video memory for the external screen.

Solved!

The solution is about as weird as the problem. To enable 60Hz in clamshell mode, I had to Option-click the "Scaled" radio button on System preferences' Display resolution screen, then the Refresh Rate option became available and I could switch from 30 to 60Hz. For some reason it wasn't enabled by default when lid closed.

EDIT: Also found out that for some reason this issue is directly connected to my old USB hub. When the display is connected and working at 60Hz clamshell mode, just touching the computer surface with the USB connector lights up a small white spark and the display immediately switches to 30Hz and the option disappears. And this ONLY happens when the lid is closed.

This is easily the most interesting problem I've had with a mac in many years.

*throws the USB hub to trash immediately*


Album not eligible for iCloud Music Library. Why? I have an album I bought the uncompressed version of (wav) and used iTunes to make an Apple Lossless version of. I've updated the song names, artist name, etc. I've met all the requirements: under 200MB, under 2 hours, bitrate ok (of course), and there is no DRM. But it still lists as ineligible. Why?

Here's the file summary.

Edit: This was flagged as a possible duplicate. It's not. So here's my edit.

Ok, I've figured it out. iCloud Music Library supports up to 24bit@44.1KHz. The 96KHz is the problem


Why do my emails disappear sometimes? Earlier this year, I had to email a colleague to ask them to send me some information I was waiting for. They insisted they'd sent it already but I couldn't find the email in Mail.app (both iOS and Mac) or Gmail.

The same thing happened today. A different colleague emailed me over the weekend. I saw the message arrive in my inbox on Saturday but didn't open it. This morning, I couldn't find it so I emailed the colleague asking them to send the info believing I might have imagined it the first time. The colleage replied. After reading the reply on my phone, I went to my mac, opened Mail and the message wasn't there! I couldn't find it on my phone or the Gmail web app either. I looked in junk and trash as well but still couldn't find it.

I've tried rebuilding the mailbox but the missing messgae is still missing.

It's a bit worrying as I do all my business over email. Why do my emails disappear sometimes? What can I do to prevent them from disappearing?

(From time to time, I hear the incoming mail alert but there's no new email in my inbox. Could that be related?)

It isn't in the nature of email itself for emails to go missing.

This means that mails go missing either because:

(a) someone is accessing your account and deleting the mail,

(b) there's a server problem where data is lost,

or

(c) software has been setup to intentionally delete emails

You indicate that you're using Gmail, but also Mail.app on iOS and Mac. If you store your email on Gmail exclusively, it doesn't sound likely that (b) happens several times for you.

If your account is secure and you haven't shared your password with anyone else, I don't think the problem is related to (a) either.

So the most likely culprit is reason (c). This could be a spam filter, antivirus/antimalware software, etc. that is setup to identify and delete suspicious emails. As you're using multiple clients to access mail, this could have been setup directly on Gmail, in Mail.app on your Mac or on an iOS client.