Help me navigate the dongle/dock situation please!

You will need an external GPU driven by thunderbolt 3 if you want to output two HDMI signals from one usb-c port. (Something like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B075RTTFDJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1512722145&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=external+gpu+thunderbolt+3)

If you just want to have a mirror from one to another, I think you can just use some HDMI doubler but I Donny think you will keep the same image quality (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s?k=hdmi+doubler)

The best, easiest, and cheaper way to do what you want is just to use two ports as HDMI output on your Mac.


Is there an external SSD enclosure compatible with OWC Aura SSD?

As far as I know, there's no such enclosure on the market today.

The reason behind the disclaimer is that the OWC drive produces more heat than the Apple-supplied drive. The enclosure simply does not cool the OWC sufficiently.

You could add some custom cooling to the enclosure (or simply not put on the lid), and make sure that the temperature stays within specs.


I've plugged in a Drobo S into the USB port on an Airport Extreme when I needed fast and dirty file sharing. It worked fine. It was only for a week, but I didn't notice any sort of unusual behavior.

Once you've done the initial setup/config via the Drobo interface, the drive acts just as standard USB drive. It's not the fastest thing in the world, but you're limited by the USB 2 anyways, so your experience regarding speed will depend more on your actual usage.


What is the purpose of the bottommost screw holding the IPhone 5 LCD shield plate?

The missing screw from the heat shield in your image shouldn't affect your iPhone 5 in the way you're experiencing. Its only purpose is to keep the heat shield in place, which in turn protects the LCD from excess heat.

In your case, since the heat shield is still there, the digitiser/LCD shouldn't be affected by any excess heat, nor the possibility of cables moving (as an added bonus, the heat shield does sort of help keep everything in a place).

It's most likely your problems have been low quality replacement digitisers and/or a damaged cable. However, I have personally seen one instance of an iPhone (not an iPhone 5, but that probably doesn't matter) where a cheap 3rd party digitser/LCD replacement only worked properly when the heat shield was removed altogether.

I've also heard that (but have no personal experience of) some repairers actually removing the heat shield so that their replacement digitsier/LCD screens work properly.

I suppose you could try doing the same as a 'test'.


iCloud web interface still on Daylight Savings Time

BY web interface I assume you mean being logged into icloud.com.   If thats the case check your timezone for icloud.com

Find your name on the right end of the top title bar at iCloud.com then click the V symbol to the right of your name to find "iCloud Settings" and open these settings.  There are very few settings here, but one of them is in fact "time zone".


The solution we came up with... the only one that worked, was to reinstall Yosemite.  It seemed at the time that something went sideways with the original upgrade.  Unfortunately I do not have all the details with me here.


you can add it to playlist,(playlist on bottom(in homepage))
you can see your own picture(second picture) says add to playlist.


All-in-one USB-C Dock for 2016 15" Macbook Pro

Sounds like you want a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 dock. One cord connects all the peripherals you ask for to your Mac.

OWC makes several, StarTech makes several, Belkin makes amazing one - http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U095-APL/

Be sure you know if you're getting one that charges your Mac - they cost a little more, but should be much more stable for video / power and save your Apple adapter to sit in your go bag or the second place you plug in.

If you want a bargain - you could get a ThunderBolt 2 adapter, but then you still need a power cord and also the cost of TB-3 to TB-2 adapter. Probably not cheaper based on the prices I see today for docks.


Server/machine name on desktop background

Use GeekTool, and a script. Here is a collection of "geeklets" that display various info. This is one that displays computer info. I tested it on my MacBook with success.


Lost password to Apple ID and Find My IPhone

First let's solve the Apple ID problem. You can start the password reset process from the official Apple ID website, this also can be done any device as long as you have a web browser:

Step 1:Go to this Apple ID site and under “Manage your Apple ID” choose the “Reset your password” option
Step 2:Enter the email address associated with the account and answer the security questions as usual to complete the password reset process

Second Lost iPhone problem:
You can use Find My iPhone to find your device and take additional actions that can help you recover it and keep your data safe.

Step 1:Sign in to icloud on a Mac or PC, or use the Find My iPhone app on another iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Step 2:Find your device. Open Find My iPhone, and select a device to view its location on a map. If the device is nearby, you can have it play a sound to help you or someone nearby find it.
Step 3:Turn on Lost Mode. Using Lost Mode, you can remotely lock your device with a four-digit passcode, display a custom message with your phone number on your missing device's Lock screen, and keep track of your device's location. If you added credit or debit cards to Apple Pay, the ability to make payments using Apple Pay on the device will be suspended when you put your device in Lost Mode.

If you use Family Sharing, any family member can help locate another member’s missing device. Just have your family member sign in to iCloud with their Apple ID, and you can find any device associated with that Family Sharing account.


My MacBook won't log me in, asking me to enter a password from August

To access the terminal you must first boot in recovery mode. Immediately after pressing your power button (your mac must be off prior to this) you should press both the Command and R keys together.

As for the password, I presume that you cannot log in at all. You can try to change your password in different ways. This is the official Apple Protocol here:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202860

You can also refer to this post:
Resetting password for Macbook

Best of luck


What are equivalents of losetup and cryptsetup for Mac OS X?

I had to Google what a loop device was before I understood the concept…

Would .dmg (Apple Disk Image) files not be an adequate substitute? They can be expandable & encrypted, using FileVault. Once mounted they behave like any other mounted volume.

From Wikipedia - Loop Device

  Mac OS X implements a native image mounting mechanism as part of its random access disk device abstraction. The devices appear in /dev as regular disk devices; reads from and writes to those devices are sent to a user-mode helper process, which reads the data from the file or writes it to the file. In the user interface it is automatically activated by opening the disk image. Mac OS X can handle disk (.dmg or .iso), CD-ROM or DVD images in various formats.


Snow Leopard installer ISO on USB flash drive


No its not safe to delete everything in:

  ~/Library/Developer

Doing so could cause you to lose backup snapshots, any generated Archives for applications and other customizations set in the XCode IDE.

Specifically within the Developer folder there should be two additional folders.

"Shared" and "Xcode"

Shared contains documentation that you have downloaded using Xcode, depending on how you work and whether you have internet all the time you might not want to trash that, but worst case you can just re download it, so if you need space, and are not concerned about offline documentation, here is where you can grab back some space.

The Xcode folder contain a lot, and potentially some things you might not want to lose.

  Archives

If you use Xcodes Archives organizer feature, deleting this will wipe out any Archives you may have.

  DeveloperPortal 5.0.db

Contains information probably about using iTunes Connect in Xcode, I would guess its disposable, but you may have to reconfigure Xcode to talk to Apple for App Store distribution, etc.

  UserData

This generally contains any changes you made to Xcode color schemes and font themes as well as any changes you may make regarding Key Bindings in Xcode, again this stuff should be pretty small and is probably something you don't want to throw away if you spent any amount of time tweaking those kinds of Xcode settings, you probably just don't want to trash those changes made.

  iOS DeviceSupport

Probably some information relating to iOS devices that you have attached to and tried to use in Xcode, should be safe to delete.

  DerivedData

Stuff in the DerivedData folder is generally pretty safe to delete, it is all the stuff that gets generated every time you press the build button in a project. It includes the generated log and applications executables and libraries for all the products you build in a project.

  Snapshots

If you use Xcodes built in snapshot tools as a means of version control, wiping out your snapshots will wipeout the possibility of reverting to older snapshots.

  iOS Device Logs

Safe to delete, unless you need your logs, you would know if you need to keep them.

  Templates

Your custom project templates, like a UserData you probably just don't want to trash those changes made.


Creating a new folder in finder doesn't highlight "untitled folder" for renaming

It works normally on my installation of 10.8.4, or ⇧⌘N also selects the untitled folder in column view.

You could try temporarily moving ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist somewhere else and relaunching Finder. Or quit background applications or try it on different account.


App store to forget programs on Iphone 6s

It's not entirely clear what you mean by "forget these programs", but you can choose to hide them.

To hide apps you can:

Open the App Store app
Tap on Updates > Purchased > My Purchases
Find the app that you want to hide
Swipe left on the app
Tap Hide


Why are my Macbook's internal speakers not available?

If you look in your headphones jack, is there a red light on?
If yes, then you have Digital Out on, and this messes with the speaker configuration.

There is a thread here, which has some possible fixes.

Update
There is switch inside the jack that is stuck.  Plug the speaker jack in and out several times while watching the Sound-output system preference panel.  The internal speaker option will come on if the switch is unstuck.

Taking a toothpick and fiddling around inside the jack has solved the problem for some, you should try this. (Don't break the toothpick inside :) )

From: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=239287

  The problem is actually caused by a little switch inside the jack that gets stuck. When you stick in an audio cable, it pushes the switch down. If it's an analog cable, the end is made of metal. If it's optical, the end is made of plastic. If the switch is pressed down, the computer checks to see if the plug inside is metal or plastic based on conductivity. When it gets stuck and nothing is in there, it thinks an optical cable is plugged in since the switch is down but nothing conductive is in there. That's why it works with headphones or external analog speakers.


You can do this via the command line if you can ssh into the machine, using the screencapture command.

Take a look at this question for some more info.


Other than your Finder having jaundice, this should be a simple fix. The following command will clear the volumes local store and rebuild it if necessary; Open up Terminal and type:

# sudo mdutil -E /

You will be asked for your password, provide it, as this command
requires administrator privileges to run.
After confirming your Spotlight index will be re-built and your files
should appear in the search. ( Depending on the size of your HDD it
can take a while )

To check if all volumes have indexing enabled or disabled use:

# mdutil -s -a

To toggle (enable/disable) indexing on all volumes:

# mdutil -a -i

These commands are safe to use when/if you encounter similar issues as described in the question.

Complete options available:

 -p  Spotlight caches indexes of some network devices locally.  This option requests
     that a local caches be flushed to the appropriate network device.

 -E  This flag will cause each local store for the volumes indicated to be erased.
     The stores will be rebuilt if appropriate.

 -i on | off
     Sets the indexing status for the provided volumes to on or off.  Note that index-
     ing may be delayed due to low disk space or other conditions.

 -s  Display the indexing status of the listed volumes.

 -a  Apply command to all volumes.

 -v  Print verbose information when available.

mdutil(1) Mac OS X Manual Page


Disable automatic "remind me on a day" in Reminders?

14-1/2is interpreted as a date, and tries to help you out. (2016-01-14)
There's no way to change this behavior in Reminders.app.


How to validate user input as integer, then confirm that integer is a specific length using Apple Script

Solution 1:
set input to "123456"

if the length of the input ≠ 6 ¬
    then return "Wrong number of characters."

try
    if "0123456789" does not contain item 1 of the input ¬
        or item -1 of the input is in [space, tab, linefeed] ¬
        then error

    set input to input as number

    if class of the input ≠ integer then error
on error
    return "Invalid characters."
end try

text -6 thru -1 of ("000000" & the input)

Solution 2:
This solution benefits from being extremely short, but also treats the problem as it ought to be treated.  It's a misnomer to say you wish to "validate user input as integer", when, in fact, we are only ever dealing with text.  The passcode is a 6-character passcode, and those characters are limited to the unicode values that represent digits; but they are still text characters, and not integers in any numerical sense.
Mark's comment against the question actually stated this, but even I fell into the mindset of wanting to assess the input as numbers, which is partly what Solution 1 above does; and it works, and it is a perfectly good solution, but it performs needless steps to get to the end result.
Treating the input purely as text, the problem, so succinctly stated by Mark is to "Check the string is 6 characters and each of those is in range 0-9."  So that's exactly what this solution does, in one simple line:
set input to "123456"

set validation to do shell script ¬
    "egrep -x '[0-9]{6}' <<<" & ¬
    quoted form of the input & ¬
    "|| echo Invalid input"

The variable validation will either contain the 6-digit code if it is valid, or "Invalid input" otherwise.


For the cache, you would be looking at NSURLCache and the method(s) removeAllCachedResponses and removeCachedResponseForRequest

For the LocalStorage, there does not appear to be an API for talking directly to Safari LocalStorage except through JS.

I did find this AppleScript however which basically circumvents the API and deletes the SQLite databases directly, obviously replace USERNAME with your username.

tell application "Finder"

select every item of folder "LocalStorage" of folder "Safari" of folder "Library" of folder "USERNAME" of folder "Users" of startup disk
move selection to the trash
end tell

Finally, there's a project on SourceForge called SafariCleaner which does all that you are trying to do in a set of AppleScripts.


How to Close Windows in Mission Control of El Capitan?

When you first trigger Mission Control you now get Desktop names rather than icons of desktops

...which seems to be one pointless additional step, to me... however...

Once you hover over the names, they turn to icons.

Wait half a second longer & an X appears in the corner of the one your cursor is over .

At that point, holding  Alt ⌥  will show X's over them all.

After comments - a picture of my Mission Control settings, in case they make a difference to functionality...


Remember window sizes and placement when unplugging and replugging second monitor

Have a look at Stay by Cordless Dog. I believe it does exactly what you're looking for.


If it doesn't have to be updated dynamically, you might also copy the cells and run something like pbpaste | sort | uniq | wc -l.


Issues with Google's apps on iOS over Cellular

Tetsujin's answer helped me, although my problem wasn't exactly the same as his. Google and Google maps weren't yielding results, and I blamed my service provider for crappy coverage, although other apps were working. I went into Settings -> Cellular as per Tetsujin's instructions, and found that Google and Google maps were turned off under "Use cellular data for"... Turned them back on, and they now work. When setting up my phone, I had set up Google apps conservatively to keep the MoFos from snooping on me. Turns out that totally invalidates them when not on wifi....


Can I make Chrome the default web browser in iOS?

No, this is not possible unless Apple allows this in a future iOS update.


Play all songs by the same artist on iOS

Open Music app
Tap (repeatly) on the Library button at bottom left until you get to the top level
Tap on Artists
Select the artist you want
Top row allows to play all titles across all albums at random, tap that
Open the currently playing view
Scroll down a bit and disable shuffle mode

PS: I didn't say it's easy that way but it works well for those artists you haven't defined a Smart Playlist for.


iPhone: How to continuously play unplayed podcasts?

I have had the same issue since iOS 11 update. I can’t find a way to do this in the app other than constructing a playlist manually which is ridiculous. However, if you ask Siri to play unplayed podcasts, it will play them all continuously. Bit of a hack while waiting for Apple to fix.


You can use the app Ukelele to fairly easily make a custom layout that puts the punctuation where you want it.

http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele

After making and installing a custom layout, you should be able to select it in the Kotoeri Preferences.


"Set Automatically" takes the time from the cellular network. If you remove the SIM card (or just keep the phone in airplane mode with Wi-Fi enable), the time will never get updated.
From the iPhone User Guide (available in iTunes):

If iPhone is set to update the time automatically, it gets the correct time over the cellular network and updates it for the time zone you’re in.
Some carriers don’t support network time in all areas. If you’re traveling, iPhone may not be able to automatically set the local time.


Can I make a repeat action into a function keystroke

You can add key commands for any menu item in any app, or even globally.

For one like this, globally might be the best approach - I actually use it in Safari as well as TextEdit.

System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

Click the + button, select All Applications then type your menu name
You don't need to specify any hierarchy, it'll just find it no matter how many sub-menus deep it is.

Add your key command - make it something you're not going to be using elsewhere

Done.

Note for future ref. If you need to access a menu item with ellipsis [3 dots] that it is not the same as 3 full stops [periods] ...  it's a true ellipsis … [hard to tell the difference in here, but they are different characters.]


This should do the trick:

property parentfolder : path to home folder
set theFiles to choose file default location (POSIX path of parentfolder) with multiple selections allowed
repeat with theFile in theFiles
    set the_tags to paragraphs of (do shell script "mdls -raw -name kMDItemUserTags " & quoted form of POSIX path of theFile & " |sed 's/[()]//g' | tr -d '\\n' | tr -d ' '| tr -d '\"' | sed 's/u\\\\U0308/ü/g'")
    if the_tags does not contain "null" then
        tell application "Finder"
            set parentfolder to folder of theFile as text
            if not (((parentfolder as text) & item 1 of the_tags) exists) then
                make new folder at parentfolder with properties {name:item 1 of the_tags}
            end if
            move theFile to (parentfolder & item 1 of the_tags)
        end tell
    end if
end repeat

This Script will move every file with a specific Tag to a folder with the same name as the tag. This can be changed with several if clauses before "move theFile".


Microsoft Remote Desktop through ssh-forwarded port

Don't forward local port 3389, various versions of Remote Desktop are too smart for their own good.

My usual steps involve forwarding local 3390 to remote 3389. Then, in MacRDC I use: localhost:3390 as the address to connect too.

I don't know if you're using anything to assist in the ssh connection setup, but from the command line, it would be something like:

ssh -L 3390:172.16.5.32:3389 jason@remote.net

Where;
 - 3390 is the local forwarding port on my box.
 - 172.16.5.32 is the remote windows host. and;
 - 3389 is the Remote Desktop Port (obviously).


I start in safe mode occasionally when my machine is acting up. I do so because certain startup items, especially 3rd party ones, can cause problems. I'd turn off all startup items and see if that helps with your problem.


Can you turn off or disable the display on an iMac?

You can try RedScreen (I don't have an iMac to test it). I read that it can not only decrease the screen brightness beyond OS X defaults (like others do) but also control the screen backlight. You can bypass the default red tinting mode and just use these brightness controls.


How to share my internet connection with my xbox 360 slim? (over an ethernet cable)

Well, this can be done on either Ethernet or Wi-Fi, but I'll make some basic assumptions for illustration.

Your Mac Mini is on Wi-Fi. In System Preferences > Sharing, activate Internet Sharing. Choose your From (AirPort) and To (Ethernet) connection types, and you should be good to go after connecting your Mac to your Xbox.


How to play videos stored in iTunes playlist on iPhone4 to play in car stereio( Sony XAV-622)?

According to the Features tab of the product page on the Sony website, you need to buy a Sony adapter cable, model RC-202IPV. It is not included with the stereo, it's a separate purchase.

Judging from the Specifications tab of the product page on the Sony website and from pictures of the adapter cable, it looks like you just plug the RCA end of this adapter cable into the stereo's AUX A/V input and plug the USB end into the USB port of the stereo (the USB supplies power to the iPod).

I don't own this and I haven't looked through the manual, but just from looking at the info I mentioned above, it seems obvious that you would then use the stereo to select the AUX A/V as the input source and then control everything from the iPhone.


Can I "hot copy" an entire running Macbook to a new one without using Target mode?

You can't clone a fully booted Mac to another completely booted Mac

Not completely accurate.

A fully booted mac can be copied, in it's entirely, to somewhere else. Use Carbon Copy Cloner (easy) or rsync (Unix guru).

The only place "somewhere else" cannot be is a booted volume. The hardware hosting the destination can be booted to the desktop, you just need a second partition on the drive and send the clone there.

You can also clone to an external drive or a disk image. In your case I would clone the old machine to the external drive that has Time Machine on it (NOT as a disk image), boot the new machine from the external, and clone again. Use Carbon Copy and it will not bother copying files that are already there.

You can do the clone-to-external part right now.


Checking number of reallocated sectors of HDD through Disk Utility, Mac OS X

Reallocated sectors frequently (but not always) appear when a hard drive stars to fail. Just a few back-of-the-envelope calculations here:

If you bought your computer in the beginning of 2008 and used it 24 hours a day, you'd have used about 32,000 hours of hard drive time. I don't know what model of hard drive your computer has, but the mean time between failures for not-pariticularly-impressive hard drives from that era is about 300,000 hours. So in the heaviest-use scenario, you've used your hard drive for about 10% of its expected life.

I don't think there's anything strange about a lack of failed sectors at this point.


Force Safari 7 to open link in the current tab

As far as I know, there's no way to force a link to open in the current tab when it has target="_blank". There's controversy over this attribute in the web development world because it's considered overbearing to force a user to open a link in a new tab when they don't want to.

Essentially, the browser is seen as the user's property, and they have the right to decide where they want links to open. This link property has been abused many times for popup ads and, while it can be useful, it generally creates a bad user experience.

I assume the only way around it would be to create (or find?) an extension that goes through all of the links on a page and removes the target attribute. It appears that @sayzlim has found one for you (see here).

As for your third example, there's no way around that other than to disable JavaScript in your browser.


Ho To Disable ssl3 in OSX Server (for mail and Web hosting)

Depends on the Server...

Apache:
SSLProtocol All -SSLv2 -SSLv3

NGINX:
ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;

Postfix:
smtpd_tls_mandatory_protocols=!SSLv2,!SSLv3

Sendmail (sendmail.mc):
LOCAL_CONFIG
O CipherList=HIGH
O ServerSSLOptions=+SSL_OP_NO_SSLv2 +SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3 +SSL_OP_CIPHER_SERVER_PREFERENCE
O ClientSSLOptions=+SSL_OP_NO_SSLv2 +SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3

Dovecot (In /etc/dovecot/local.conf or /etc/dovecot/conf.d):
ssl_protocols = !SSLv2 !SSLv3

If you use virtual Servers with SSL, please note that you have to do this on all instances!


iPhone locked when calling with headphones

When you're on a call whilst wearing earphones the iPhone is designed to AutoLock, this happens with all iPhones not just yours.

You can disable that feature from Settings➜Display&Brightness and set it to never.


Force Macs to run Xprotect updater through terminal to get latest NTPD security patch

Check out this post at macops.ca.

Using:

/usr/bin/sudo softwareupdate --background-critical

seems to be the answer.


What techniques work to handle errors in AppleScript so I can place a dialog?

In general it's advisable to handle errors based on the error number and not on the text (which is language dependent and much more difficult to handle than some numbers). In addition start with just displaying the error number/messages to understand what really went wrong:

try
tell application "Finder" to open file file_path

on error error_message number error_number
display dialog "Error: " & the error_number & ": " & the error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end try

Once you know the potential error codes you want to handle specifically you can extend this to

try
tell application "Finder" to open file file_path

on error error_message number error_number
    if error_number = -1728 then
        display dialog "Can't read file."
    else
        display dialog "Error: " & the error_number & ": " & the error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
    end if
end try


I can't change my skype status to online

It has to do with the general settings of Skype.
In Skype preferences, on the General tab, make sure the "Set my status to Away after 10 minutes of inactivity" is not checked.
This worked for me.


Not possible with the official Skype App.

Running unofficial Skype client is possible, but recently Skype changed the rules and pushed out third parties, running Skype gateways (like Fring).


Why are FTP connections read-only when I use "Connect to Server..."?

From Apple Support:

  You can use the Connect To Server command to connect to an FTP server in the Finder, but you will have read-only access. You cannot copy, or upload, to an FTP volume in the Finder.


Macbook Pro as a wireless bridge? (Private hotspot from external wifi connection)

It isn't directly possible without a USB card. The Macbook (Pro) can only do one thing with it's built-in wireless card. It can either be on the receiving end of the wifi connection or the sending.

You do have several good options here, though. If you were satisfied with dealing with cords some, you could consider sharing your internet connection over "iPhone USB". I don't know if that would work for two devices simultaneously, however.

You can check out the sharing options under System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing.

The better option, and the one you mentioned is to get a USB wireless adapter (perhaps something similar to this, but I'm sure there are other better ones as that is just b/g, and you would probably like n), and then share that internet connection by creating an ad-hoc network.

You will need to connect your USB adapter, and then open System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing. (From this Apple Forum post) Select USB from the drop down menu next to "Share your connection from:". Then select the "Wifi" from the checkboxes below. Check the Internet Sharing option to the left, then join it with your iPhone and iPad.

Here is an Apple KB support article that you may find helpful in setting up an ad-hoc network. While you are using USB the steps in this OSX Daily article should be very similar to your situation.


How to recover a deleted folder from Time Machine back-up disk?

If you haven't emptied the trashcan, then you can manually move the files back from the /Volumes/<diskname>/.Trashes directory inside a terminal window

Note: You need to be root, so first sudo su -
and then cd into the .Trashes directory, and use mv * .. should move and make them available again


Routing Bluetooth audio in and out of headphone/mic jack on iPhone

No.

Though you could conceivably write an app that would do this, there is no way to configure this given a stock iPhone.


Launch Apple Music radio station directly from command line

You don't need AppleScript - can do it from the commandline directly with the right URI.

open "itmss://itunes.apple.com/us/station/listen-in-apple-music/idra.985499994?cmd=AddStation"

You're calling itmss:// because you need to hit iTunes itself.

Then, replace the code into the idra.XXXXXXXXX bit. I'm in the USA, so it's /us/station, but I suspect /gb/station would work for you, if you're in the UK.

FYI - you can actually just cmd-space and and paste just the URL into Spotlight to have it run it and open the station in iTunes directly.


Is frequently toggling airplane mode on/off harmful to iPad hardware?

Technically the answer is yes. However, the "damage" is insignificant. It is like asking if I use my iPhone to make phone calls will it wear out faster? And the answer is yes. But it is far more likely that your device will become obsolete long before it be worn out from constant "Airplane" mode toggling.

I would recommend putting your device in "Airplane" as much as possible to get maximum battery life from your device. Keep in mind you can have your device in "Airplane" mode and still be connected to WiFi, so be sure to turn off WiFi when not needed as this will also increase your battery life.


Macbook5,1 Crashing Multiple Times Per Day

Troubleshooting is often a process of elimination and does require patience, so you'll need to keep that in mind as you proceed.

The first thing I would do now is test your MBP in Safe Mode.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps to boot your MBP into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your Mac
Restart your Mac
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Now use your MBP in Safe Mode until it crashes again or until you're satisfied it's not going to crash (i.e. you may be at this step for some hours or even longer)
Exit Safe Mode by restarting your Mac as normal
Once again, test to see if your MBP still crashes

If you find that your MBP works fine while in Safe Mode, but not when booted normally, then it's likely to be a login item, corrupted font, or kernel extension).

If you find that your MBP still crashes, then it's most likely a hardware problem (although, before investigating that further, you could boot up again and use Safari (or another browser) instead of Chrome just to see if Chrome is causing you some sort of conflict).

Investigating login items, fonts, and kernel extensions

Let's start with Login Items:

Startup normally
Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups
Select the Login Items tab
Take a note of your Login Items
Now remove all of them by highlighting them and clicking on the - button below
Restart your computer

Now your Mac will boot up without those login items loading. Test to see if you can use your Mac without it crashing:

If you can, you know one (or more) of the Login items were causing the problem. You can then add them back in one by one until you've identified the culprit. Problem solved.
If the problem does persist, it's either a problem with fonts you've installed yourself or with a 3rd party kernel extension. A little more info below:

Fonts:- You can remove any of the fonts you've installed yourself to see if this makes a difference.

Kernel Extensions:- You can open Terminal (found within your Utilites folder) and enter the following command:

kextstat | grep -v com.apple

The above command will list 3rd party kernel extensions (you may need to stretch the Terminal window so it's easier to read). Look for anything you don't remember installing, or something that belongs to software you've removed, or just anything that looks out of place. Remember though, this is a list of 3rd party kernel extensions and therefore any of them could be causing the problem.


How can I install this script as a folder action?

This answer is self-contained as a solution to the question above.  However, it also serves as a continuation to the previous question that was closed, so incorporates some of the broader requests that were wanted, such as a confirmation dialog with the option to edit the filename, and the option to ignore the validation and use a filename of the user's choice.

on adding folder items to the |folder| after receiving filelist
    local folder, filelist

    tell application "Finder" to repeat with f in the filelist
        try
            set item f's name to my validate(item f's name)
        on error E
            display notification E with title my name
        end try
    end repeat
end adding folder items to
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
to validate(filename)
    local filename

    script validation
        property old : filename

        on newFilename for old
            local old, new

            set tids to {¬
                {"_", space, "-"}, ¬
                {"_&_", "&"}, ¬
                {"and", "&"}, ""}
            set new to old

            repeat with tid in tids
                set new to text items of new as text
                set my text item delimiters to contents of tid
            end repeat

            new
        end newFilename

        on nameShowingErrors()
            set tids to {¬
                {" ͎", space}, ¬
                {"-͎", "-", "—"}, ¬
                {"&͎", "&"}, ""}
            set info to old as text

            repeat with tid in tids
                set info to text items of info as text
                set my text item delimiters to contents of tid
            end repeat

            info
        end nameShowingErrors

        to confirmRename()
            local new

            set [q, lf] to [quote, linefeed]

            tell (display dialog ["The following characters were", ¬
                " found in the filename: ⟨space⟩, \"-\" ", ¬
                " ⟨hyphen⟩ \"&\" ⟨ampersand⟩", lf, lf, ¬
                " Filename: ", q, nameShowingErrors(), q, ¬
                lf, lf, "By default, these characters will", ¬
                " be replaced with underscores.", ¬
                " Alternatively, you can make your own edits", ¬
                " below and revalidate the filename again."] ¬
                as text ¬
                with title ("Validate Filename") ¬
                default answer (newFilename for old) ¬
                buttons ["Rename", "Keep This Name"] ¬
                default button 1 ¬
                with icon (path to resource ("Finder.icns") ¬
                in bundle application "Finder")) to if ¬
                "Rename" = its button returned ¬
                then return its text returned

            false
        end confirmRename
    end script

    tell validation
        if filename = (newFilename for filename) then return filename
        set newName to confirmRename()
        if newName = false then return its old
        if newName ≠ (newFilename for newName) ¬
            then return validate(newName)
        newName
    end tell
end validate

While this script works, I should remind you of the comment I left against your original question, which has been reiterated above by another user: this script has the potential to be called twice for a single file because renaming files whilst they are inside the folder being watched triggers the folder action again.  This happens when the user elects to edit the suggested filename and provides an invalid name.  The script will ask for the new filename to be validated by showing the dialog a second time (so far, this is all normal, and entirely what should happen).  However, when the user then selects to disregard the naming criteria and use this name anyway, the file is renamed and the script is triggered again.  This brings up the dialog for a third time, which isn't what we want to be happening ideally, but is unavoidable.

(This isn't an issue when files are renamed to a validated filename, as the script—although executed twice regardless—doesn't do anything for filenames that don't require changing.)

For the reason above, I would advise you to consider implementing your folder action slightly differently, and have files moved to a new output folder before they get renamed.  This is very easy to do by adding a line before set item f's name to... that looks something like this:

move item f to the outputFolder

where you will have defined outputFolder as a property or a variable at the start of the script that points to the location of where the output folder exists (preferably as an alias), e.g.:

set outputFolder to POSIX file "/Users/%you%/My Watched Folder/Processed Files" as alias

But, for now, I have written the script to do what you wanted.  I'm assuming that there aren't going to be many instances where you will want to disregard your own naming criteria, so the "three-dialog" phenomenon may not ever arise, or be little more than irksome when it does.

To install a script as a folder action, I'll direct you to the first part of my previous answer, which I've transferred in below.

Folder Actions

A folder action can be created in one of two ways: via Automator, or by way of a folder action script.

For information on how to create a folder action script, which I would say is probably the more suitable solution in this case, you may wish to read the Mac Automation Scripting Guide - Watching Folders, which details how to do this.

The section titled Attaching a Folder Action Script to a Folder is the most pertinent to the task.


iOS 13 (and web interface): Cannot share an iCloud folder

iCloud folder sharing was included in some of the early iOS 13 beta releases but Apple removed that feature in Sept 2019.

As of now, iOS 13.1.3 is publicly available stable version and Apple has not added iCloud folder sharing back.

Some sites, like this 9to5Mac site as well as this Apple macOS Catalina features page are reporting that it should be available again in the "Spring of 2020".


Mass remove character from file names and folder names

You can do this quite simply and quickly in Terminal:

cd /path/to/start/renaming

find . -name '*\<*' | while read f; do echo mv "$f" "${f//\</}"; done

The command above is a "dry-run" of the command below:

find . -name '*\<*' | while read f; do mv "$f" "${f//\</}"; done

This will remove any < characters recursively on files and folders starting from the path you cd into initially.

Result:

mv ./<folder<test<   ./foldertest
mv ./<test3.txt      ./test3.txt
mv ./test2<.txt      ./test2.txt
mv ./test<test.txt   ./testtest.txt


Is there a tool that allows for changing the time in a GPS file?

I'm certain that tool does not exist. That being said, you can open the .gpx file in TextWrangler (free) and view the time stamps and edit them. They are in the XML format:

<time>2013-03-21T18:04:36Z</time>

I dont see why you couldn't import them into an excel spreadsheet and alter the times with an algoritm that would add a specific quantity to each. But I wouldn't know how to do that.


Why does my MacBook Air 2013 wake from sleep every minute on Mavericks?

My workaround was to disable sleep using sudo pmset -b standby 0. Not really a fix but a temporary workaround until I revisit the issue.


Can i upgrade my mid 2012 macbook pro to use DDR4 ram ?

No, the Mid-2012 MacBook Pro is in no way upgradable to DDR4 RAM.

To use DDR4 RAM a lot of things must be compatible with DDR4 - one of those is the CPU itself. The Intel CPU in the mid-2012 MacBook Pro does not support DDR4 RAM.

And no, DDR4 was not around in mid-2012. It was released to the market in 2014.


Can one's iMessage/FaceTime identities be hijacked at a public Wi-Fi?

Yes, this may be a security risk. But it's unlikely that someone hijacked your Mac using Wi-Fi alone.

In order for you to receive this message someone needs to login with your Apple ID credentials with a device that supports FaceTime (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, any Mac).

Change your Apple ID password

Go to Manage Apple ID
Log in with your Apple ID
Go to Security > "Change Password..."
Change your password
Also turn on two-factor authentication if it isn't already

Check your Devices

Go to Manage Apple ID
Log in with your Apple ID
Scroll down to My Devices
Click any device that looks unfamiliar to you
In the new window click the blue circle with an x to remove it.

You may need to sign in with your new Apple ID password on your other devices in order to use all iCloud services again.


Can you auto subscribe to a podcast directly from an iphone?

I don't know if you can subscribe to podcasts within Apple's own Podcasts app. You can, however, subscribe to any podcast with the excellent Downcast app.
With Downcast you can set it to check for podcasts at a certain area. For example, when you get home, it will check for and download your podcasts.


What happens when macOS "Turns the display off"?

systemsetup

From the command line you can confirm the state of your sleep situation using the -getsleep argument to systemsetup.

$ sudo systemsetup -getsleep
Sleep: Computer sleeps Never
Sleep: Display sleeps after 10 minutes
Sleep: Disk sleeps after 10 minutes

This setup was accomplished by setting the preferences under "Energy Saver" section of System Preferences like this:

This shows that the display will be turned off after 10 minutes but the system itself will remain powered on. Pay special attention to the tabs in this dialog as well. The settings are different when on battery vs. the power adapter.

NOTE: If we were to unset that checkbox so that the system won't be prevented from going to sleep along with the display the output form systemsetup changes to this:

$ sudo systemsetup -getsleep
Sleep: Computer sleeps after 10 minutes
Sleep: Display sleeps after 10 minutes
Sleep: Disk sleeps after 10 minutes

You can see all the get* settings from systemsetup like this:

$ sudo systemsetup -help|grep "get.*sleep"
Usage: systemsetup -getsleep
Usage: systemsetup -getcomputersleep
Usage: systemsetup -getdisplaysleep
Usage: systemsetup -getharddisksleep
Usage: systemsetup -getallowpowerbuttontosleepcomputer

You can also augment the settings from the CLI as well:

$ sudo systemsetup -help | grep -- "-set.*sleep"
Usage: systemsetup -setsleep <minutes>
Usage: systemsetup -setcomputersleep <minutes>
Usage: systemsetup -setdisplaysleep <minutes>
Usage: systemsetup -setharddisksleep <minutes>
Usage: systemsetup -setallowpowerbuttontosleepcomputer <on off>

pmset

Additionally there's another tool you can use to get/set timings related to the various "sleep" aspects of your system.

$ pmset -g
System-wide power settings:
 DestroyFVKeyOnStandby      0
Currently in use:
 standby              1
 standbydelaylow      10800
 womp                 1
 halfdim              1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 proximitywake        1
 powernap             1
 gpuswitch            2
 networkoversleep     0
 disksleep            10
 standbydelayhigh     86400
 sleep                0
 hibernatemode        3
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         10
 tcpkeepalive         1
 highstandbythreshold 50
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1


How to let Terminal on Mac OS behave show folders and executables and such in different colors?

To add color output of the ls command, you need to edit your ~/.bash_profile and add:

export CLICOLOR=1
export LSCOLORS=ExFxCxDxBxegedabagacad

This is just an example, look at the ls manpage on how to change specific color values.


If you can't fix the Home button mechanically, you can use a workaround to still be able to use your device, provided you have upgraded to iOS 5 or later.

Enable "Assistive Touch": Settings -> General -> Accessibility. It essentially shows a home button on the screen. A good way to breathe life into a broken phone.


How do I make a text border or also called "stroke" around text in documents that have text such as Pages, Markup, etc?

Pages app is the easiest to get this effect, and it’s the same in Numbers / Keynote. To get the following effect:

Format the text to 64 pt
Format the text color to neutral gray
Enable Outline - keep the defaults, black line, 1 pt, solid stroke


iPhone keeps trying to iMessage someone who no longer has an iPhone

Does your friend still have his iPhone? He needs to put his SIM card in an iPhone with iOS 5, go to Messages in Settings and turn off iMessage - this should fix the problem instantaneously and for everybody who is experiencing the same problem as you.

(I have a friend who frequently turns off iMessage because she's worried about the data charges - I've had her switch it back on a couple times and the change takes effect instantly).

Someone on the apple forums was experiencing a similar issue and posted the following:

"I fixed the issue by putting my sim card back into another iOS5 phone and switched iMessage to "off" which effectively proves that it is tied to your number and not your Apple ID (in my case anyway).  I put my sim back into mu phone and the change was instant."

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3539877?start=0&tstart=0


Restoring iTunes/iPhoto Libraries After a Clean Install

Very simple, just copy the old 'music' folder from your user folder to the clean install user>music folder and relaunch iTunes.

I have tested this on a mac, coz i manage my iTunes Library on my Windows machine (MBP has just 500GB HD and my library is almost 100GB :-)  ) . Please try this and let me know if it works.

No need to dig any Application Support folder AFAIK.

Hope this helps


Location of system file that connects roles with apps

The full path to the system file that RCDefaultApp manipulates is:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure.plist

(i.e. this is the file you already mentioned in your question)

This is the actual file that Finder queries (through LaunchServices) to find the global preference for whichs applications are associated with certain types of files.

You seem to be thinking that RCDefaultApp manipulates some other file, which mentions explictly "Mail.app" (i.e. the actually app folder for the application). This is not so.

Instead Mail.app actually provides this information to the operating system by way of its Info.plist file inside the application folder. This is scanned when the application is opened, so that the system knows about the application itself and its supported file types.

Inside the Info.plist file for Mail.app, you'll find that it defines the "CFBundleIdentifier" for Mail.app to be "com.apple.mail". This is how the information from the LaunchServices preferences is "linked" to the actual Mail.app.

Additionally, it defines supported content types inside Info.plist within the CFBundleDocumentTypes, where LSItemContentTypes includes for example com.apple.mail.emlx, com.apple.mail.mbox, etc.

This ensures for example that even if you move Mail.app to a different folder, the system will still be able to start Mail.app when you double-click an emlx file in Finder for example.


MacBook Pro Retina 15" (Early 2013) randomly shuts down

I realize it's been a long time since the initial post and unfortunately I don't have a solution, but I'm going through what appears to be the same problem and, as there seems to be scant documentation,  I thought I'd report a couple more details to see if they jog any ideas in anyone and if they line up with your original report. On running syslog | grep shutdown I get the same response:

localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd) <Warning>: Service has increased maximum shutdown time to 60 seconds. This will create a poor experience for the user.

On contacting support, Apple is also presuming this to be a battery issue, but they (or anyone else for that matter) can't explain how/why the spontaneous shutdowns would occur when on AC power.

So, a couple things I've noticed:

Running yes > /dev/null & in terminal prevents the random
shutdowns. I've seen this workaround in a couple places but not
connected to the 'maximum shutdown time' we're both getting
While running gfxCardStatus to lock the graphics card to either
integrated or the discrete nVidia card, I get different shutdowns.

On integrated graphics:
 - I get a black screen, but with the LED
       panel clearly still on and the keyboard backlight stays on (if it
       was on before). The fan runs loudly and the black screen remains for
       about 10 seconds, then the computer shuts down.
 - to my best recollection, this only happens on battery power.

On discrete cards:
 - rather than going black, the screen freezes. The rest is the same
    (fans, shutdown after about 10 seconds)
 - happens on both ac and battery power

Anyways, hopefully that spurs some idea in someone. Seems like everywhere I look or anyone I talk to has different advice on cause and solution, but your original question is the only one I've seen that's exactly the same as what I'm going through (with the minor exception that my laptop is a late 2013 15" model).


Best way to connect Remote Mac with audio from Mac or PC

This will be helpful for everyone if you are looking for something for paid solutions.

I have found a very nice tool named SplashTop.

https://www.splashtop.com/business

Why transmitting audio is not so easy in macOS:

  Apple has discontinued the support of user-space audio plugins (HAL).
  Without this functionality, we can not capture audio from user
  session. The method proposed by Apple (Audio Server) captures audio
  from a single user session on console only.  Therefore all old tool
  does not support audio redirection.

I have tested with FreeTrial on it and it works perfectly as I am looking for. No need to hijack or route audio from any third party.


From Oracle Java downloads:

  Apple supplies their own version of Java. Use the Software Update
  feature (available on the Apple menu) to check that you have the most
  up-to-date version of Java for your Mac.

I seriously recommend not to use any other way, but OS X Software Update.


Sending messages from an iPhone sometimes goes to email rather than to mobile

When you create a new message, it will prompt you to chose between somebody's email and phone number to create a conversation (for MMS and iMessage conversation)

You probably chose the email by mistake once (and maybe the phone number another time), so now, you have 2 conversations for the same person. One to the phone number, one to the email.

You will need to delete the email one by opening the conversation, scrolling to top and selecting "Contact". From this view, you will see either the email or the phone number in light blue. If it's the email, go back and delete this conversation.


screen sharing from Windows to Mac over LAN

According to Real VNC support, this is a 10.7 issue. I sort of confirmed it by successfully using Real VNC to connect to 10.6.8 and 10.9.3 hosts. Regretfully my Mac Pro (2,1) is too old in the tooth for OS X 10.9.x, so I have to figure out a different solution.


The (0) is not part of the path. I'm not sure what it is, to be honest

I tried that terminal command and for me it says:

Screen 1 (space 1):

(14)/Users/joonaspaakko/Documents/uDesktop NEXT Library/Catalog/uDNature7658.jpg

Screen 2 (space 1):

(19)/Users/joonaspaakko/Documents/uDesktop NEXT Library/Catalog/uDNature7658.jpg

Screen 1 (space 2):

(3)/Users/joonaspaakko/Documents/uDesktop NEXT Library/Catalog/uDNature7408.jpg

Screen 2 (space 2):

(9)/Users/joonaspaakko/Documents/uDesktop NEXT Library/Catalog/uDNature7408.jpg

etc....

When I navigate to the path ignoring the parenthesis and the number, I get to the folder with the wallpaper, which in my case is: /Users/joonaspaakko/Documents/uDesktop NEXT Library/Catalog/

So based on that I would say your wallpaper is in /Library/. You can get there easily with the Go to Folder..., but in case you are not aware, that is the global Library folder you can find, if you go to Machintosh HD


Applescript, how to mount remote server without error if unavailable?

Using a macOS Catalina system as the file server with /Users/Shared/Videos as an SMB shared resource, and having done a bit of testing, found the following example AppleScript code to work well when testing using Script Editor from another system on the network in which the credentials have already been saved in its Keychain:

set ipAddress to "172.16.15.141"
set sharedResource to "Videos"

if workgroupAvailable(ipAddress) then
    mount volume "smb://" & ipAddress & "/" & sharedResource
end if

on workgroupAvailable(ipAddress)
    set workGroup to do shell script ¬
        "smbutil status " & ipAddress & " | awk '/Workgroup:/{print $2}'"
    if workGroup is equal to "" then
        return false
    else
        return true
    end if
end workgroupAvailable

The replies from the above example AppleScript code were:

When the shared resource was not available:

 tell current application
    do shell script "smbutil status 172.16.15.141 | awk '/Workgroup:/{print $2}'"
    --> ""
 end tell

When the shared resource was available:

tell current application
    do shell script "smbutil status 172.16.15.141 | awk '/Workgroup:/{print $2}'"
        --> "WORKGROUP"
end tell
tell application "Script Editor"
    mount volume "smb://172.16.15.141/Videos"
        --> file "Videos:"
end tell
Result:
file "Videos:"

What I found with using the smbutil status command over curl, which on my network required httpd running on the server, and ping, which could reply even if the shared resource wasn't available, was that smbutil status failed to return the Workgroup name if the shared resource wasn't available to be mounted and in turn no attempt to mount occurs if the Workgroup isn't available.

This example AppleScript code also did not cause any dialog boxes to appear at any point when the shared resource wasn't available.

Note that although testing was done with the rebooting of the file server and attempting to connect at various times during the reboot and the system actually being available, I was unable to test if the system had hung during the reboot, as it just has never hung during any reboots. As I know this is an unresolved issue with the rebooting of your server, you can give this a try if you so choose.

Obviously you can adapt the example AppleScript code to suite your specific needs.

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. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


Finder not searching files in ~/Library and /Library

You have to include "System Files" in your criteria to search places like the user Library.

To do so, open a search window in Finder cmdF, click on "Kind" and select "Other" and scroll down to "System Files".  Tick the box under "In Menu" for easier access in the future by including it in the search menu.
(You can also specify hidden files here, with the "File invisible" attribute)

You can also save those search criteria and add them to the Finder sidebar for quick access.

If the above does not yield the desired results, a rebuild of the Spotlight index might be required.


Click the Compose button in the top-left of the window, then enter the recipient and message.


Is it safe to delete the com.apple.appstore folder? It takes up 80gb on my 256gb hard drive

It’s safe to delete just about anything as long as you:

Have a backup and know how to restore things.
Have internet recovery so if you break things, you can reinstall macOS.

Since you know where that folder is located, it’s best to give a general answer since we can’t guess if that’s something you made, another software made or Apple made.
Then feel free to ask a follow on question if you need help like this and you don’t have good results with a process to reset things:

Mac App Store Download Failure - Clear Cache?

In my experience, this self-solves by booting to recovery, reinstalling the OS and restarting twice, no need to delete anything at all. (But it’s a pretty rare failure in my experience)


Connect iPhone to multiple output devices to play music

I don't know about how a Bluetooth device would work in this context, but you can achieve what you want using WiFi and cabled connections.

1) Use an Apple Airport Express with WiFi. Streaming music and audio to a stereo system is what it is designed for.

Go to an Apple Store or other authorized Apple dealer and explain what you want to do and they can show you how it works.

2) Alternately, wire the headphone output from the iPhone into a semi-professional mixer board which was then connected to more than one amplifier and speaker device. This is equipment used by musicians for recording, and it would require some expertise to learn to use.

Here is a link to a list of small, inexpensive mixers on sale at Guitar Center.

Go to a local music store and tell them what you want to do and they can explain how to do it.


Invite to share screen (iMessage) - Automation - How?

You asked for an automative method to do this from within the Messages app, which this AppleScript can achieve.  You can place it in a Run AppleScript action.

use application "System Events"

property process : a reference to process "Messages"
property menu bar : a reference to menu bar 1 of my process
property menu bar item : a reference to menu bar item "Buddies" of my menu bar
property menu : a reference to menu 1 of my menu bar item

activate application "Messages"

set _M to a reference to (menu item "Invite to Share My Screen" in my menu)
tell _M to if not ((exists) and its enabled) then return false

click _M

However, it seems to me that, however this script is triggered, whether via an Automator service, Keyboard Maestro, the Scripts menu, or whatever; it will either require at least a couple of mouse clicks (e.g. to active a service from the context menu), or a keypress.

Therefore, in my mind, the easiest way to achieve the same outcome would be to set a keyboard shortcut for the appropriate menu item in Messages:

Keyboard Shortcuts in macOS High Sierra: System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shorcuts

This screenshot is from High Sierra, so if you're running Mojave, it may be a little different.  The important things are to check the name of the relevant menu item in Messages in case it varies from High Sierra or you use a different language on your system; and to ensure that the entry you type for your App Shortcut is identical, including capitals and non-capitals used: so "Invite to Share My Screen" is not the same as "Invite To Share My Screen" and only the first one would work.

ADDENDUM: (added 12 hours after original answer)
@user3439894 kindly reminded me that my style of scripting can sometimes appear a little obtuse and more difficult to follow and understand to novice scripters.  Therefore, I am posting a version of the above code that this user recommended.  Functionally, it does exactly the same as the original (apart from activating Messages, which doesn't need to be done if the application is already active and being used).  This version utilises less ambiguous syntax and more of AppleScript's (in)famous natural-language flavour:

try
    tell application "System Events" to click ¬
        menu item "Invite to Share My Screen" of ¬
        menu 1 of menu bar item "Buddies" of ¬
        menu bar 1 of process "Messages"
end try


"Install App" does nothing when trying to install Mavericks

It could be that the servers are so overwhelmed with people downloading the new operating system that you have nothing wrong other than being caught in a stampede.

I would say you might try again in 30 minutes and then back off doubling the time you wait until you get a good download.


With Mavericks (OSX 10.9) once iCloud syncing activated you will not have the top level "On My Mac" anymore.

On earlier version best would be to :

Select every contact "On My Mac" (cmd - A) and drag and drop them
to your "~/Desktop". This will create one VCF. To keep you group
organisation you may want to proceed on a per group basis.
Delete the selection of contacts.
Delete the group(s).
Make sure in Contacts Preferences the default account is "iCloud". If you are
missing contacts on iCloud simply drag and drop back the VCF file to
"All iCloud" or whatever group, you will be prompted to review
duplicates.


How can I see the list of all open folders in the finder in the Open/Save dialog?

With any Finder window open, press the key combination option⌘+M to merge all open Finder windows into one Finder window.

Additionally, here’s an example of a Smart Folder one could implement:


There is no harm in getting a call logged before your apple care expires, although from your description nothing you say would suggest to me that the hard drive is at fault.  It sounds more like the slow build up of unwanted startup items, and inevitable disk fragmentation is just slowing things down, or you could plain be out of memory more often than before.  If you have a secure backup, I might consider a couple of things to test:

1) Create a new user, and see if it is as slow as your usual user account
2) From a complete backup, format your drive and restore to defrag the drive, and again see if the same happens.

HD problems would usually manifest themselves in unusual noises, clicks and whirs, repeated attempts to load a file, genuine errors in log files where you could use the Console app to search for things like "disk0s" "error" and "I/O error" - especially if they correlate in time to the slowness or freezing you are seeing.


Transferring pictures off of an iPad, when they are stored in an album

You can AirDrop the files to another Mac, with Bluetooth to discover the connection and Wi-Fi (direct) to perform the transfer.

Select all the photos to be saved in the Photos app.
You can drag select to select more than one photo.
Tap  Share.
Choose an  AirDrop destination.


Does iOS 8 allow me to share URLs without opening them first?

Sorry no, you are correct in that the only options for a URL within Mail are to Open, Add to Reading List and Copy the URL.

I tried the third-party email app Mailbox and it doesn't actually recognise a URL and offer any options. If you hold your finger over a URL it just selects part of it and offers to Copy or Define it.

I also tried the Gmail app and it just offers the same three options as Mail.


How can my mid-2012 MacBook Pro Retina 15 run a 4K panel at 30Hz over HDMI?

Ok, so I got the display and it works just fine - power it up and connect the HDMI cable and it's set to 4K @ 30Hz (the panel's limit).

Sometimes when coming out of sleep, the HDMI panel keeps cycling through a black screen, displays "snow" or digital white noise. Sometimes it goes for 5 or more minutes! It's a weird bug and I know that opening the macbook pro lid helps it get quickly out of this weird mode. I think this might be a Mac OS X bug.

On a side note, at the native 4K resolution, everything looks the right size on the screen at 3' away but the panel is a bit too big. I have to move my head quite a bit - like when talking to 2-3 people at a party and you have to move your head to make eye contact ... maybe should have ordered the 39" display...

UPDATE

So I also bought a VIZIO 50" 4K display ("P502ui-B1E") and a new Macbook Pro 15" Retina Mid 2014 (GeForce 750M)

The VIZIO has an HDMI 2.0 port so can do 4K @ 60Hz but I noticed that Mac OS X (10.10.2) can still only do 4K@30Hz over it's in-built HDMI port while the same machine, when booted into Windows 8.1 (Bootcamp) can do 4K@60Hz very easily.


What does shell_session_history_check do in the default PROMPT_COMMAND?

shell_session_history_check calls shell_session_history_enable which creates a unique log file for each shell session.
NOTE: shell_session_history_check is a Mac specific function.

Let's break it down.
$ declare -f shell_session_history_check
shell_session_history_check ()
{
    if [ ${SHELL_SESSION_DID_HISTORY_CHECK:-0} -eq 0 ]; then
        SHELL_SESSION_DID_HISTORY_CHECK=1;
        if shell_session_history_allowed; then
            shell_session_history_enable;
        fi;
        if [ "$PROMPT_COMMAND" = "shell_session_history_check" ]; then
            unset PROMPT_COMMAND;
        else
            if [[ $PROMPT_COMMAND =~ (.*)(; *shell_session_history_check *| *shell_session_history_check *; *)(.*) ]]; then
                PROMPT_COMMAND="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}${BASH_REMATCH[3]}";
            fi;
        fi;
    fi
}

The last if/else removes shell_session_history_check from the PROMPT_COMMAND (assuming your PROMPT_COMMAND starts with shell_session_history_check;) so that it only runs on the first prompt.
shell_session_history_allowed is true by default so basically the real behavior is calling shell_session_history_enable.
$ declare -f shell_session_history_enable
shell_session_history_enable ()
{
    ( umask 077;
    /usr/bin/touch "$SHELL_SESSION_HISTFILE_NEW" );
    HISTFILE="$SHELL_SESSION_HISTFILE_NEW";
    SHELL_SESSION_HISTORY=1
}

This function overwrites the default value of HISTFILE (~/.bash_history) and sets the SHELL_SESSION_HISTORY to 1 (true).
So this question boils down to: Why is the history saved even though HISTFILE isn't set to a unique file name?
Well it still functions the same way. Once the shell exits, it appends to ~/.bash_history. The difference is that you don't have unique files logging each session.
Why would I want unique files logging each session?
Check out this Reddit post:

(~/.bash_sessions/) is used to store HISTFILE's and .session files
that are unique to sessions. If $BASH_SESSION or $TERM_SESSION_ID is
set upon launching the shell (i.e. if Terminal is resuming from a
saved state), the associated HISTFILE is merged into the current one,
and the .session file is ran. Session saving is facilitated by means
of an EXIT trap being set for a function bash_update_session_state.
Essentially, this lays the groundwork for us to be able to extend
Terminal's session-resuming using our own rc files. By implementing
our own extension of bash_update_session_state, we can, say, add
functionality to the .session files that are run upon resume.


This question might be hard to answer without some rigorous definition of distortion and qualification of what amount of harmonic distortion is permissible - let alone some clue as to what signal is being played.

In general, the headphone jack is desired to distort sound. Whether its muted or amplified, the output isn't what the recorded sound actually is.

Have a look at these threads fr background:

Why do I get "no volume available" when using an iPhone 4s in a dock?
Stop high frequency noise from iPhone dock's line out in car adapter

So - you could get an adapter that generates a line-out level signal and control things from another amplifier or you could experiment with signals you choose and find a setting that doesn't sound distorted to your ears. My guess is most people would set the volume a 60% for most commercial pop music and perhaps a little higher for softer music that isn't compressed so aggressively as pop music.


Why am I seeing emojis under my "frequently used" section that I've never even used?

The list of frequently used emoji is literally a list of emojis that you've used most often. This list does not synchronise over iCloud. The only other way emojis could be in the list is that the frequent list is pre-populated when restoring iOS with a standard set of emojis.


Can I find out if my employer is snooping on me?

Typical software (Apple Remote Desktop, Casper, Absolute, VNC, etc) that allows remote monitoring of Macs will be reliant on a few things that the end user controls, assuming they have administrative privileges.

In System Preferences > Sharing a lot of this control is determined using these two preferences.

Remote Management is centered around the Apple Remote Desktop capabilities, which are shared with most management suites.  Screen sharing (or observing), file copying, reports, restart, shutdown, etc.
Remote Login allows others to login remotely via the command line, using SSH.

These are the two options that I set on all of our owned Macs.  With them I can remotely control, gather reports, copy files to/from, push updates, etc.

Another thing to look for is System Preferences > Profiles and/or other third party preference panes such as the Absolute Manage pane.  Both of these are only present if they've been installed.

Profiles will show any installed management profiles.  These could offer a wide range of control or settings.  Clicking on a profile will show you the options it sets though.

Third party panes (or plugins) may not be as transparent as profiles but will still give you a clue as to what management is in place.

Hope that helps!


I recommend you don't try push them in to hard just to insure no unwanted damage, best bet is to go to apple. With these types of faults there the best to fix it.


Using Apple's mdls:

 mdls -name kMDItemNumberOfPages file.pdf

to get just the number of pages:

 mdls -name kMDItemNumberOfPages -raw file.pdf


I think you want this

tell application "System Events"
    key code 56
end tell


How to disable long touch = click on MacBook Air touchpad?

Did you put more than one finger on your pad ? Precisely, did you put exactly three fingers ? That may be your problem, and therefore your solution. In the preference menu, you can disable the "Three finger drag".


If the current week is visible in month view, this week will be shown. Otherwise the week, which is in the view centre will be shown.


Wireless keyboard/mouse problem with iMac during start-up

At first I thought that maybe you had a firmware password enabled, but some of the stuff you mentioned doesn't line up (being able to reset the PRAM, and choose a startup disk at least some of the time).

Have you checked to make sure that you've got all the updates? Specifically, the keyboard firmware updates?


Why find and exec with multiple conditions doesn't work without parenthesis?

Well, neither work as you expect. Let's look at the one that "doesn't work" and apply the parentheses and logic that are implied.

find ~/src \( -type f -a -iname '*.cpp' \) -or \( -iname '*.h' \) -or \( -iname '*.c' \) -or \( -iname '*.hpp' \) -exec echo {} \;

No action is applied to files that end in cpp, or file system objects that end in h and c. Only file system objects that end in hpp are echoed because -exec negates the default behavior of find to print. You could add -exec echo {} \; or -print at the end of each enclosed parentheses but that's silly.

Let's fix the "one that works"

find ~/src -type f \( -iname '*.cpp' -or -iname '*.h' -or -iname '*.c' -or -iname '*.hpp' \) -exec echo {} \;


You probably want to use regex for this. Depending on the version of your question, it's pretty straightforward. There are a number of good sites to get started on the basics. In a sense, you already have seen a little taste of it: the "*" in "*.mp3" is a regex concept (meaning 'match any symbol 0 or more times'). Try something like (https://www.debuggex.com) or (http://www.regexr.com).

The simple version of your question is actually very simple indeed, so you might get away with just this approach:

echo '01 ab cd.mp3' | sed 's/ / - /'

This sed command is basically a regex-defined find and replace. It finds ' ' and replaces it with ' - ', the first time only. (Much more on sed here: https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/sed.html#The-_0022s_0022-Command)

I would also be surprised if there weren't a number of scripts and things specifically for processing mp3 filenames that will already do this for you, but there's no reason you can't do it yourself in Terminal.


If you have an Apple keyboard: fn-Backspace is a substitute for Delete. Depending on the application Ctrl-D works as well.


Apple owns a patent on the magsafe connector and hasn't licensed anyone else to make one, I'd be very wary of buying a third party one if you find one at all.

However, best I can tell a magsafe charger from any macbook seems to work with any other one, but if you get one with less wattage than your original it will charge slower.


How do I tap on bottom right to trigger a secondary click?

What you need is BetterTouchTool. I use it to define actions for taps in corners of my trackpad, but it knows abut middle of top and bottom of trackpad. It can do taps, swipes and gestures with up to 5 fingers.  It is so configurable that what it does is only limited by your imagination or your ability to remember what you have configured.
This was also the answer to Triple finger tap for middle click.


Find My iPhone/iPod: Does offline mean no WiFi, or can it mean asleep?

It means that the Find My iPhone service cannot contact the iPod. This could be because it's turned off, or because it's out of range of a known Wi-Fi router. If it's asleep, it will still register on Find My iPhone, so it's either run out of battery or not able to get onto Wi-Fi.


Download update before asking for restart

You might need to check the boxes "Check for updates" and "Automatically download updates when available" for the download. Also, Check firewall options for allowing connections if denied.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/where-are-downloaded-software-updates-stored.1629444/ and as I too verified, updates are located in Library/Updates before install.  You can verify if it is available for install or not.


Installing Snow Leopard on external drive with newer iMac version

Both Macs support 10.6.6 (the MacBook Pro probably was delivered with a Snow Leopard 10.6.6 DVD) as well as any later system up to at least 10.10 and both contain a DVD-drive. The MacBook Pro's optical drive seems to be damaged or malfunctioning.

Without manipulating the innards of Mavericks you usually can't install an older system over a newer system even if you install it to another volume. To circumvent this restriction use another method:

Here is a straightforward guide how to clone the Snow Leopard DVD to a thumb drive, then boot a second Mac from the thumb drive and install the OS. You can use a modified guide to accomplish the same on your iMac without needing to manipulate your Mavericks system.

Format the external drive:

Open Disk Utility and format the external drive.
Click the Partition tab
Under the Partition Layout header click on the 2 Partition option in the drop-down menu. One big partition and a second smaller one with at least 8 GB at the end. Use the options button to choose GUID partition table.
Click the Format drop-down menu and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
To format the external drive finally, click the Apply button in the lower right-hand corner of the Disk Utility window.

Restore the Snow Leopard DVD or a Disk Image:

Locate a Snow Leopard disk image or DVD on the Mac
If you're using a disk image, mount it to the desktop
In the Disk Utility window, click the Restore tab in the external's drive's menu

In the center of the window you'll see two boxes: one labeled Source and another Destination.

Drag-and-drop the second partition of the external drive into the Destination box
Drag-and-drop the Mac OS X Install Drive disk into the Source box
At the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and click the Restore button

Disk Utility will restore the OS X Install DVD or disk image to the external drive; this process may take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on how quick the Mac is.

After the process has finished quit Disk Utility and try to reboot the iMac to the external disk. If the reboot is successful disassemble the external drive and move the disk to the MacBook Pro.

Boot the MacBook Pro to the second partition and install Snow Leopard to the first partition of your MacBook Pro disk.

After installing and rebooting to the first partition, open Disk Utility remove the second partition and expand the first partition to the full size.

If you have a spare thumb drive with at least 8 GB you may use this one instead and follow the guide in the link.


Can Apple calendar (that comes with the iPod touch) re-order tasks?

Take a look at the app called "paperless".

It's as close to this as I've found, but it isn't perfect: you have to switch back and forth between the Paperless app and the apple calendar to look at tasks that are on certain days vs. tasks on my paperless re-orderable list.


What is Apple's serial number flagging procedure?

Regarding the flagged serial number, I had this done for a client but nothing ever came of it, so either it wasn't ever activated or there is no official procedure for our country.

On a side note regarding tracking down a physical address. If your iPad is set to check email accounts such as google or your own hosted mail. As soon as it's online it'll put the originating IP in the logs which is something the police might be able to get a warrant for. Google actually lists all current active connections and 'recent activity' from IP and how long ago. It's listed in the bottom right corner (details). This could be useful in tracking down an address.


Yes, it's file vault.

To remove file vault protection:

1) Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, and then click FileVault.
2) Click the lock to unlock the preferences pane, and then enter an administrator name and password.
3) Click Turn Off FileVault.
4) Click Turn Off Encryption.

Then if you want to re-enable it, you can choose your own password.


Possibly a feature called Auto Call Answers may have gotten turned on.

1) Head to Settings > General > Accessibility > Call Audio Routing

2) Next tap on the Auto-Answer Calls option and turn it off.

If Auto Answer calls is already turned off, then try the following troubleshooting techniques.

1) Restart iPhone

2) Hard Reset iPhone

Both troubleshooting techniques above, should solve your problem, however if they do not then unfortunately you will have to Factory Reset your iPhone.


iTerm2, zsh and .zshhistory - how to have separate zsh history

I think you're confusing iTerm2 Profiles and user shells.  So, I wrote this primer to help you get started/clarification.
The Terminal Client
When I say "Terminal" I don't mean Apple's Terminal App.  I mean Terminal Emulator Clients. iTerm2 is a terminal emulator has absolutely nothing to do with with the remote computer other than providing an interface on your local machine through which you connect to the remote.
Whether you use iTerm2, Terminal, PuTTY for Mac, or the myriad of SSH clients available, they all do basically the same thing - give you an interface to work with the connected device. Some of these clients offer just the nitty gritty; iTerm2 has tons of features.  For example, some clients (like iTerm2 and Terminal) allow you to store profiles which is what configures iTerm2 and it's behavior.  You can set the background/foreground colors, the blinking of the cursor, how URLs are handled etc., but none of it is related to the actual shell on the remote computer.
You can have 1 remote assigned 1 profile or 100 remotes assigned to 1 profile.  Multiple profiles on your computer doesn't give you multiple users or sessions on the remote.  Multiple profiles just gives you multiple ways of interacting with the remote computer.
When you Connect
It would be beneficial if you read my primer on ZSH files:  ZSH: .zprofile, .zshrc, .zlogin - What goes where? because it will help you in understanding  what happens when you connect to the remote machine.
When you connect to a remote machine, whether it's your personal Mac or some big shared computer with many users, you are assigned a shell; assigned when your account was created.  On new Catalina installs, the shell is ZSH.  Mojave and earlier, it's Bash.  You could install newer and different shells like CSH or TCSH or even fish and then choose which one you used *when you connected or authenticated.
When you log in, ZSH reads it's configuration files in order (see the above link).  It starts with the ones in /etc/ then moves onto the ones in your home directory /Users/username/.  As a side note, your home directory can be referenced as a variable $HOME or with the tilde notation; ~/ (eg: ~/Documents)
Bottom line here is that every time you invoke the shell it's going to read those files - nothing in iTerm will affect that.
ZSH History File
ZSH has no built-in setting for the history file.  It's set by environment variable, HISTFILE in any of the following: /etc/zprofile, /etc/zshrc, ~/.zprofile or ~/.zshrc.  In macOS, it defaults to .zsh_history.  You can set it to anything you want by editing any one of those four files with the line HISTFILE=foo.bar.
Every time you load a shell (and you can load a shell within a shell within another shell) it's going to read those files.  Again, your iTerm2 profile has nothing to do with it; your history file is going to be what you (or the admin) configured it to be.
TL;DR

For MyUser, I set a custom location of /Users/john-doe/iTerm2/zsh (copy of zsh from /bin/zsh) and set a custom .zshrc file via the command

That's not how it works.  The user shell on the remote has nothing to do with the Terminal client's profiles.  You can't link a custom shell config file with a terminal profile the way you're trying to.  As far iTerm2 and the shell, they actually have nothing to do with each other much like the Mail App has nothing to do with Gmail's servers other than a method to connect to them.


The image you showed are symptoms of the graphics chip on the logic board failing.

This requires a hardware repair (replacing the logic board) unless you find a place that would do component level repairs.

Given it's a 2011 the Apple Store will still be able to help but the cost of the logic board is (last I recall) usually $157.99 Plus tax plus $79 labor. You get 90 days of warranty on the replacement logic board.


Where is "Today" and "Yesterday" in Finder menu?

They don't appear to be there by default, but you can add them back in pretty easily.

Open a Finder window
Type "today" into the search box.
It should offer you two options in a dropdown menu "Dates: today" and "Filenames - Name Matches: today". Pick the dates option.
The search should complete and the search bar should appear saying "This Mac" and the name of which ever folder the Finder window had opened. Choose "This Mac".
The search bar should also offer you a "Save" button. Click Save.
A Save panel should appear allowing you to specify a name and location for the saved search. There should also be a "Add To Sidebar" check box. Check the box.

Repeat for "Yesterday".


Open up the terminal.app and run the following command.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow AdminHostInfo HostName

This will show your computer name, IP, and OS version (build).  By default this isn't visible on the login screen until you click on the clock in the top right.  Clicking on the clock will toggle through the information.


Try resetting on iOS then create new apple I.D. Use an email address and use a different password.


In which version(s) did macOS transition from 32-bit to 64-bit?

You're pretty much on the money. In summary:

Mac OS X Panther actually included very basic support for the PowerPC G5 64-bit processor.
Mac OS X Tiger was actually the first to add some support for 64-bit applications, so long as these did not utilise any of the GUI libraries (and obviously only on machines with 64-bit processors).
Mac OS X Leopard extended support for 64-bit apps by providing native support via its libraries and frameworks (including GUI libraries) so that 64-bit Cocoa applications could be developed.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and above could only be installed on Macs with Intel processors, and introduced a number of fully 64-bit Cocoa applications (e.g. QuickTime X), and most applications were recreated to use the 64-bit x86-64 architecture (although iTunes was a notable exception to this!) This meant these applications could run in 32-bit mode on machines with 32-bit processors, and in 64-bit mode on machines with 64-bit processors. And yes, the kernel was updated so that it could run in 64-bit mode on some  limited hardware, and only by default on Mac Pros, while other newer Macs were capable of running the kernel bit did not do so by default. In a nutshell, Snow Leopard could run both 32-bit and 64-bit apps on Intel Macs.
Mac OS X Lion but supported both 32-bit and 64-bit apps. However, Mac OS X Lion was the last (actually, only the second along with Snow Leopard) that maintained both 32-bit and 64-bit kernels. However, unlike Snow Leopard, the OS X Lion only ran on 64-bit Intel processors.
Yes, it's possible to run 32-bit apps with a 64-bit kernel.
Yes, it's possible to run 64-bit apps with a 32-bit kernal, so long as you have a 64-bit CPU.
As for whether 64-bit apps can run on a 32-bit kernel on Linux and Windows, I am not 100% sure this is impossible with all versions/flavours of these operating systems (e.g. there are Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education versions of Windows) and I am not intimately familiar with all their differences. However, I can say that running 64-bit apps on a 32-bit kernel is certainly rare for a consumer-level operating system.


Recommendations for note-taking app for Iphone that does NOT sync to the cloud

No need for another app, there is a solution for syncing the iOS Notes app without using iCloud or any other third-party service.  Since you mentioned WebDAV, I assume you are willing to provide your own server.  It takes a little bit of setup, but if you create your own email server (specifically an IMAP server), Notes will sync to it.  There is no need to support sending mail at all, just IMAP, with which you will be able to create folders.  Just add new email account and turn on the "Notes" option for the account.  I believe the server version of OS X will even has an email server built in with easy setup, though there are many other good options such as courier or dovecot.  If you are happy only syncing at home, you don't even have to expose the server to the public internet, or you can get a domain name (or dynamic DNS service) and sync to your home server wherever you have internet access.  Note that new features in iOS 9 notes, such as handwriting and lists, are unsupported in IMAP notes accounts, but everything doable in iOS 8 is still possible including attaching images.


I believe the phrase you've heard is probably in reference to a faulty/dud piece of equipment, as per the definition:

"(informal) a person or thing, esp. an automobile,
regarded as unsatisfactory, disappointing, or feeble"

I don't think it's something Apple or Mac specific, and in fact is probably more often used with non Apple products.


How to identify if an app is installed on iPhone from Windows PC?

Well, after these many days, I found the answer myself. I just extended Manzana framework to support AMDeviceLookupApplications method as well. That worked


All you need to use for an App Store account is your Apple ID.

If what you're trying to do is create an Apple ID and you keep running into Code: 5107 errors, you can try using a browser instead to create your Apple ID.

To do this:

Launch Safari (or your preferred web browser)
Go to: https://appleid.apple.com/account
Complete the form etc to create your Apple ID

Once you've created your Apple ID (or if you already had an Apple ID), sign in to the App Store. You can do this as follows:

Launch the App Store app
Click on the Store menu
Select Sign In...
Enter your Apple ID
Enter your Password
Click on Sign In.

If I've misunderstood your question, please let me know.


How to make the scrollbars appearing on demand on Lion

You should be able to grab the invisible scrollbars. Just click and drag near the edge of the window where the scrollbars should be and they should appear. I can't say if this works correctly for all types of windows though.


You should first file a complaint with the server's administration, observing that public key authentication is vastly more secure than simply a password, but I'll assume you've already done so, and your admins are simply idiots.

Apple sadly removed ssh-askpass when they integrated its functionality into ssh, scp, and ssh-add.  There is however an SSHKeychain package that provides an ssh-askpass with an Apple-like Cocoa password prompt for macports' openssh package.  It should fix your problems the way you want, perhaps even setting the SSH_ASKPASS variable for you.

Just fyi, I'd usually recommend against installing the openssh macports package itself because it break your Apple password prompt, but once you've installed SSHKeychain macports usually offers a more recent openssh than Apple.

There is nothing wrong imho with embedding passwords in scripts when the server disables public key authentication, i.e. if they cared about security, they should reenable public keys.  There are even servers that intentionally break sshpass.  You could access such machines using the following expect script :

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
set timeout -1
set send_human {.05 0.1 1 .07 1.5}
eval spawn $argv
match_max 100000
expect {
   -re "USERNAME@(\[0-9A-Za-z_\\-\\.\]+)'s password: "
     { sleep 0.1 ; send -- "PASSWORD\r" ; sleep 0.3 }
}
interact

You may speed up this script by reducing the sleeps and send_human delays.


Can I prevent a remote Mac from entering sleep via a remote ssh connection?

Caffeine prevents your Mac from falling asleep. Maybe, it can help you out with your issue too. The sleep isn't at all random, but in fact is set in the Energy Saver system preference as well from the terminal using pmset.

You could use pmset to inspect and change the sleep settings if you have admin rights on the remote.


How can I write an Apple Script in order to check if bluetooth and ethernet are on or off?

This can by done by involving some command-line foo:

set btStatus to do shell script "/usr/local/bin/blueutil power"
set enStatus to do shell script "ifconfig en0 | grep 'status' | cut -d ':' -f 2 | tr -d ' '"

if btStatus = "1" then
    set bluetoothEnabled to true
    log "Bluetooth is enabled"
else if btStatus = "0" then
    set bluetoothEnabled to false
    log "Bluetooth is disabled"
else
    log "Could not determine Bluetooth status"
end if

if enStatus = "active" then
    set ethernetEnabled to true
    log "Ethernet is enabled"
else if enStatus = "inactive" then
    set ethernetEnabled to false
    log "Ethernet is disabled"
else
    log "Could not determine Ethernet status"
end if

The interesting parts are the first two lines.

Please note:

This requires blueutil to be installed (you can install it easily using Homebrew)
You might need to change en0 to the interface you want to check (you can get a list of all interfaces by entering ifconfig into a terminal)
You might need to change the path to blueutil (depending how you installed it)


Note that I am GUESSING here but that looks awfully like a damaged sensor. You occasionally see similar displays on LCD panels when they go bad so this might indeed be the hardware error you think it is.


Inadvertently found the solution. Storage Management exists as a standalone app after all, but not where one would expect. Seeing as the question has upvotes, meaning other people might be looking for it as well, I’m answering it instead of deleting it. You can find the app in:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Storage Management.app


Genymotion overheating MacBook Pro with Yosemite

If an application uses only one core intensively instead of balancing the load to all cores, Intel's Turbo Boost kicks in. This causes the CPU to be overclocked to boost the performance of a single core (or even a few cores). This causes increased current and power consumption, and of course heat.

The heat can be avoided by dividing the same load to separate cores (but Genymotion doesn't support this) or by disabling Turbo Boost (for example, Turbo Boost Switcher, not personally tested).


external hard drive still shows in disk utility after it was removed

The correct command is given below.

diskutil eject disk3

You can also use the Finder and Disk Utility applications to eject a drive.

Occasionally, you may be using a drive that is not fully Mac compatible where the above command does not work. For example, I have an mp3 player that is not Mac compatible. When diskutil eject command is used, the player ejects only to remount a few seconds later. So, before removing the player from the USB port, I have to log out of my account to make sure all files are closed. In your case, you may have to shutdown the Mac before removing the drive.


The first prompt you show a picture of looks like a customized version of a powerline oh-my-zsh theme. It requires oh-my-zsh. There is also a version that supports bash, zsh, and fish.

To use those, you need a Powerline-patched font.

Your second screenshot comes from dracula-theme, a color scheme and prompt for lots of different editors plus oh-my-zsh.

Personally, I would not recommend oh-my-zsh, as in my experience it was kind of slow and heavy. I created my own bash prompt using Powerline symbols, but milkbikis/powerline-shell is probably the best one to use.


Can I add a custom ringtone to my iPhone without syncing to iTunes?

Unlikely.

Such functionality is indirectly excluded by the iOS Developer Program Licence Agreement under section 3.3.4.

There it is stated that applications may only write data to an application's designated container area on the device. Therefore, the library data for ringtones cannot cannot be manipulted unless there were API to do this.

I am not sure if I'm allowed to post a direct link here, therefore use this google search to get to the document.


Can Parallels and VMware Fusion use the same boot camp volume?

Yes.  The virtual machine creates virtual machine files, the data on the volume is separate from that.


Avoid the terminal process to close, after BBEdit runs a script

As I understand, you have a Python script in BBEdit.

You choose to test the code using the "Run in Terminal" option from the '#!' menu.

Now a Terminal window opens, runs the script and exits.

Now here is the culprit. BBEdit does not only run your script, but also adds an exit. There is no option in BBEdit to remove this exit command. But BBEdit is highly scriptable and there are some workarounds. You can create a BBEdit Script (from the Scripts menu) that runs, but personally I think creating Service is the easiest one (run some AppleScript that opens your script in the Terminal as you would have done manually).

In this treat you have provided a script that actually does what you want.


Unable to modify the volume with the keyboard

What worked for me: open up a Terminal window and run:

sudo killall coreaudiod

You may also need to run the following two commands right after:

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext


mid-2011 MBA: sluggish wifi on WPA/WPA2 networks

Turns out one of the internal antennae in the monitor was not properly connected to the airport card.  After properly securing the antennae the wifi problem was fixed immediately.  Evidently the problem affected the signal strength and reliability, even though it showed full bars on the menu bar.


How To Make files in `/usr/local` Writable For Homebrew?

This should be solved changing the perms on that directory in the following way:

$ cd /usr/local
$ sudo chown -R <your-username>:<your-group-name> *

If you don't know your group, just type id -g.


Tap, instead of click, the home button to go to home screen

This isn't possible without jailbreaking. Apple does not provide any mechanism for using a Touch ID tap for pressing the home button.

If the device is jailbroken, you can use one of the following options:

Install Activator 1.9.11 beta 2 which has support for the ‘Single Press’ Touch ID event. This event can be mapped to ‘Home Button’, such that ‘touch fingerprint sensor once’ will ‘simulate a press of the home button’.
Install VirtualHome. This uses Touch ID events as home button presses, supporting single tap, double tap and hold, corresponding to their relevant events as if the button had been pressed.