OS X Server (Mavericks) requires wired network connection for Caching?

Via this Apple kbase article:

You can specify advanced configuration settings for the Caching service with the command line or by editing /Library/Server/Caching/Config/Config.plist.
Interface | Listen on all interfaces |    The BSD name of a network interface to be used by the Caching service.
Setting values for a key
To set a key with a simple value, you can use the serveradmin(8) command. For example, to set the Interface key to en1, you would execute this command as an administrator:
sudo serveradmin settings caching:Interface = en1

I am unable to find any evidence anywhere that Server can use wireless interfaces, but if you connect a USB to Ethernet Adapter and use its interface number in the line above you should be able to use Caching Server.


Whats included in Library/Mobile Documents folder and is there anyway to safely decrease the size

~/Library/Mobile Documents is the aliased location for iCloud Drive. You can access this from the sidebar or Go > iCloud Drive ⌘⇧-I. If you have a folder in there with the name of your external drive, my guess is that it has been copied by mistake or perhaps a 3rd party backup? I can't think of any built in system that would do that.

For other files, you can see exactly what is taking up space for Mobile Documents in the iCloud System preference. Once in that preference pane click on Manage... bottom right. This will show you all of the programs that are storing data and you can delete them as you see fix. Keep in mind that some programs require a certain amount of data that you can't delete.

If you don't want a program to store data this way, go back to the main iCloud pane and click the Options... button to the right of iCloud Drive There you can check/uncheck the programs that are allowed to save data to iCloud. Also take note of the Optimise Mac Storage checkbox, you'll want this turned off.

Mobile Documents Also stores photos that have been shared to you from other people with iCloud Photo Sharing, you might want to check this option in the iCloud preferences too.


What is the domain name for the iCloud Activation Server?

It's still albert.apple.com, I don't think it's changed.

https://albert.apple.com/WebObjects/ALUnbrick.woa/wa/deviceActivation


Use OSX terminal to find out the CPU instructions set (AVX, SSE and such)

Enter

sysctl -a | grep cpu.feat

get a list like

machdep.cpu.features: FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA CMOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM PBE SSE3 PCLMULQDQ DTES64 MON DSCPL VMX EST TM2 SSSE3 CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1 SSE4.2 x2APIC POPCNT AES PCID XSAVE OSXSAVE TSCTMR AVX1.0
machdep.cpu.feature_bits: 2286390173542120447

Alternatively (avoiding the grep and being a lot faster, which might help you run this often within a script)

sysctl machdep.cpu.features
sysctl machdep.cpu.features machdep.cpu.feature_bits

gives you just the list (or both) directly.

Or just use: sysctl machdep.cpu to get them all


(Numbers) COUNTIF values from one column match another column?

Unfortunately Numbers doesn't support all the functions etc that Excel does, so using a SUMPRODUCT to do this in the same way you would in Excel isn't going to work.

I was hoping someone else may offer you a more elegant solution than the ones I offer here (I much prefer MS Excel and aren't very familiar with using Numbers). However, since you don't have another answer yet, I'll offer a couple of not so elegant ways for you to achieve what you want.

Method 1: Count the number of highlighted cells

Since you're using Conditional Highlighting (as opposed to having just manually shaded your cells), you can actually use a formula to count how many of them are shaded.

Unfortunately, I can't just now think of a way to do this while you have both sets of shading, so you'd need to remove the Conditional Highlighting for the wrong results (i.e. have no red shading).

Once you've done that, then:

Add a row at the end of your data
At the bottom of Column C (i.e. your Random Forest column) enter the formula: =COUNTIF(C2:C29,TRUE) (Note: Change C29 in this example to reflect the last row of Column C containing data.)
Now you should have a numerical value displayed to indicate how many cells in Column C were shaded with your Conditional Highlight
Repeat Step 2 for the bottom of each of your Columns by adapting the formula as necessary

As you can see, the above process counts the number of correct values in your data. Of course, once you have these values, you can then go ahead to add another row to calculate your percentages.

Method 2: Use additional columns to do the grunge work

Another way to do what you want is to first use another column to compare the values between the actual and predicted values and then to count the number of instances you get a TRUE result.

So, for example, you could:

Label Column L as Random Forest Check and at cell L2 enter the formula: =C2=B2
Based on your question you should get the result TRUE in that cell
Now copy the formula down Column L so that each cell displays either a TRUE or FALSE value
Add a row at the end of your data
Now at the bottom of Column C (i.e. your Random Forest column) enter the formula: =COUNTIF(L2:L29,"TRUE") (Note: Change L29 in this example to reflect the last row of Column L containing data.)
Now you should have a numerical value displayed to indicate how many times the value TRUE appears in Column L.

As you can see, by using the above process you will be able to count the number of correct values for your Random Forest column. You would then need to repeat the same process for each of your columns (e.g. use Column M for checking your Neural Network results, and so on). Then, once you have your values, you can then go ahead to add another row to calculate your percentages.

Finally, if you wanted to hide the extra columns, you can just go ahead and do that. Doing so will not prevent the COUNTIF formulas from calculating.


Windows vs OS X temperature, Windows runs hotter

I would not recommend changing you fan-speed management if you are not sure about it. 38°C - 49°C won't harm your macbook.


How can I reduce the delay when locking the sceen on a MBPr?

I use LaunchBar which comes with two actions that are instant: Lock Screen and Start Screen Saver (I have a password lock on resume from screen saver so they're more or less equivalent). Both take effect immediately and because LaunchBar is awesome the commands to remember them aren't some four-key, esoteric, multi-key combination I need to burn in to my memory.

I hit Cmd-Space to bring up LaunchBar. I type loc and I'm on the Lock Screen action. Similarly I can type sta to get to the Start Screen Saver action. I could, if I wanted, make these actions be the top actions for the single letter l and s if I wanted to mess with LaunchBar training, but this suffices.

They kick in instantly.

If you don't want to shell out for LaunchBar (but I tell you it's worth every penny to barely have to touch your mouse in the course of a work day) you can get similar pop-up and actions from Alfred -- it has a lock shortcut you can type to lock your Mac.


Bypassing Enrollment Server Reinstalling MacOS

No, you shouldn't bypass the Enrollment Server option. I am pretty sure it is related to the MDM setup that you have in your iMac from the company.

Once your company's MDM is connected with Apple Business Manager of your company, it rollout Enrollment in the beginning once it hits the internet.

Your IT department must have something like this that enroll your devices to MDM.

Either your IT admin can give you the password if needed else, it should enroll in the company server without authentication once you hit the internet. Better to reach out to your IT department in this context.

I suggest not to look around to bypass as it is an MDM tool for inventory from your company with company policy.


Yosemite corrupted texture in Mission Control

Based on your specifications I am guessing that you are using a MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I have heard about glitches with ones that have a dedicated GPU because OS X actually used both the integrated and the dedicated side by side. To fix this problem you are probably going to want to reset your SMC (System Management Controller) which controls these things.

Step 1 : Shut down your MacBook.

Step 2 : Connect the MagSafe power adapter into your MacBook. If it’s already connected, leave as is.

Step 3 : Press Shift + Control + Option + Power keys at the same time.

Step 4 : Release all the keys from the keyboard.

Step 5 :  Press the power button to start your MacBook.


How to create an ad hoc Wi-Fi network in OS X?

A solution does in fact exist. Click the Wi-Fi symbol in the menu bar and choose Create Network.


You could try using Rockbox, however you might want to check whether or not your iPod is supported. Rockbox is an alternative firmware for your iPod classic that allows you to copy music files just like a normal MP3 player.

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodFAQ

It even plays Doom!


Logging for SSHD when started from Launchd with `-d` option?

To add the -d argument to sshd, it should be added as a new element to the     array:

<string>-d</string>

The section should look like:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>-i</string>
        <string>-d</string>
    </array>

Instead of editing the plist files directly, you can use /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy (-h to show help).
There is a utility script ssh-util.rb that can turn logging on/off. It is part of the OpenSSH-189 package found at: opensource.apple.com.

Link to ssh-util.rb

Here are the required commands to run (as produced from the ruby script):

/usr/bin/ruby ./ssh-util.rb -l on -v --debug --dryrun

or manually:

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "add :ProgramArguments:2 string '-ddd'" /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
sudo touch /var/run/com.openssh.sshd-asl-enabled

When finished debugging,, you'll need to run either:

/usr/bin/ruby ./ssh-util.rb -l off -v --debug --dryrun

or manually:

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Delete :ProgramArguments:2" /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist
sudo rm -f /var/run/com.openssh.sshd-asl-enabled

Notes on OS X Logging


How can the check point on startup for macOS's T2 chip authentication be bypassed for securely signed OS's like RedHat?

You can set the security level for the T2 chip to allow the installation of Linux. However, if the Mac has internal drive (onboard PCIe-based SSD storage) which requires a driver that the version of Linux being installed does not have, then you will have to install to an external drive.

Apple has supplied a driver for Windows 10. This is included in the Windows Support Software which can be downloaded by using the Boot Camp Assistant. I am not aware of any version of Linux that has an equivalent driver.


How do I repair my HDD when Disk Utility won't recognise it needs repairing?

I would probably do a reinstall of Mac OS X Yosemite. Doing so will not delete your personal files, but will reinstall the files that the operating system requires. It sounds like there's either a Mac OS X operation or some other third party operation hanging in the background while it's tying to shut down.

If that doesn't work, there are some third party HD diagnostics tools out there. I'd recommend checking one of those out. Additionally, when you take it to the Genius Bar, they'd most likely run an Apple Hardware Diagnostics test.

If it shows anything here, and if the computer is under warranty, I'd make a free appt at the Apple Genius Bar and get the hard drive replaced.

Additionally, as a last-case scenario, you can completely erase the HD and then completely reinstall the OS X. If it doesn't hang after that and you don't see any more errors with the HD, then it has been isolated to a software issue.


Where does Google Drive File Stream store offline files and folders on a Mac?

By default, Google Drive for desktop (formerly known as Google Drive File Stream) stores cached files in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS/$account_id/content_cache, where $account_id is the numeric ID of your google account. The files aren't encrypted or anything, but they don't have any metadata (or even their original filenames) so I don't think you'll find them terribly useful. The metadata seems to be stored in various SQLite databases in in the $account_id folder. In an emergency an expert might be able to reconstruct the original file names and folder structure.
If you want a full backup of your Google Drive, you can try backing up the Google Drive volume itself (/Volumes/GoogleDrive), while Google Drive for desktop is running.


How can I install es_AR locale on OSX El Capitan?

You would set that up in the Languages and Region setting in System Preferences

Under the advanced tab, you can set your number formatting


If your tool bar appears across the bottom of your "notes plus" app ,simply tap the picture of the wrench  down in the right-hand corner.Several pictures of hands showing ways to hold your stylus will appear. You simply choose one and a bar will then return to the top.


Sudo password doesn't work even if I have no password

sudo requires a password by default on Mac OS X.

Apple's knowledge base article explains more, Mac OS X: sudo command requires a non-blank admin password:

  In Mac OS X v10.5 through 10.5.8, if you press the Return key at the
  password prompt without entering a password (even if the user has no
  password, which is not recommended), the command entered will not
  execute and you will be returned to a command prompt.

  In Mac OS X v10.6 or later, if you press the Return key at the
  password prompt without entering a password, the message "Sorry, try
  again." will be displayed and you will be prompted for a password
  again.

  If your administrator account has no password (a blank password),
  you must give that user a password before using the sudo command.

If you must remove the need for a password to use sudo, you can edit the /etc/sudoers file using visudo command. A thread on macoshints discusses how:

  Use the visudo command as root.

  Look for the line:

  %admin  ALL=(ALL) ALL

  Change it to:

  %admin  ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Requiring a password is highly recommended. Removing this check reduces the security of your Mac and exposes your computer to attack or abuse.


iCloud Photo Library not uploading anymore

I tried Photo Library briefly and had a similar problem. The progress bar would go to about 40% then disappear. The problem for me was a lack of storage space, and so it would just fail at a certain point. Go to General > iCloud > Storage to check the amount of space available on your iCloud account, then check the amount your photos take up (I believe this can only be done in iTunes). If the photos don't fit in the available space either buy more space or just turn off the feature as it wastes battery if it is not actually being useful.


You can try using Automator “Watch Me Do” and record your actions in that business application. When you are done recording your actions, you can select all of those recorded actions and copy them to your clipboard. You can then paste into a script editor document. From there you will be able to see the commands and UI elements then just backward engineer them to suit your needs

For example in this following image, the commented code was what I pasted into script editor from the copied commands of “Watch me do” in Automator.  The compiled code was my re-wording of it


That sure sounds like the program is designed to work the way you mention if you test the same version of the app against three different devices.

If you have current iOS on all devices, the next step would be to contact the developer. When they program the upload, they can choose to let the upload happen in the background or in the foreground. The blocking of the UI indicates they chose to use foreground or that your devices all have disabled background processing for that app.

You might check your settings and then if you can't see any way to change the foreground / background context them.


How to make .docx files open in Pages by default

Mark/highlight the file with the mouse/pointer and hit cmdI.

In the Open with: part choose Pages and then hit the button Change All….

After compiling and installing duti this can also be done from the command line.


Are there any good technical forums where jailbreak app authors hang out?

A number of developers are on IRC on Saurik's IRC network: irc.saurik.com (port 6697 for SSL). Channels include #cycript, #cydia, #iPhone, #iphonedev, and #theos (for tweak development).

Also note you will probably get better answers to jailbreak questions at Jailbreak QA. No questionable questions are allowed there. And you will not get a good response if you have questionable repositories in your Cydia configuration. Just how things are.

Most forums I have found regarding iOS hacking usually involve piracy at some level (whether that be getting apps or in-app purchases for free).


How do I delete files on a bootable osx Catalina disk from another bootup disk?

Is your Mac running a beta version of macOS? There is a known bug where the system crashes with lower amounts of space in Catalina. You should try resetting the NVRAM first. Then, you can also try a reset of the SMC for power related issues. To delete files off of the Internal Drive, boot up on the bootable drive and go to Finder and click on the Internal Drive. If FileVault was enabled, then macOS will prompt for the login password of one of the users on the problem instance of macOS. This will unlock and mount the drive. Then, you can use Finder and Terminal to navigate the files and delete.


Is there a way to watch Netflix instantly on an iBook G4 (powerpc)

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

According to Neflix, the minimum requirements are:

An Intel-based Mac with OS 10.4.11 or later
Safari 3 or higher; or Firefox 3 or higher &
1 GB RAM


How can I run an application full screen on a second screen?

Real FullScreen applications will normally run on the Primary Display and they will rarely allow you to configure that. Some applications, however, are running in a “false” full screen, and are just “maximized” applications on top of everything, including the dock and the MenuBar. Some of the latter can be moved by applications like SizeUp and similar (note the usage of the word ‘some’).

In order to change what your primary display is, you have to go to System Preferences -> Display and the click on the “Arrangement” Tab. And then you have to click and drag the white menubar to the display you want to make primary. Take a look at the attached picture. Remember you have to click on the white square representing the Menu Bar and drag it to the other.

The consequences of doing that is that your Dock and your Menu Bar will be moved onto the other Display.


Should virtualize within MacOS or use a Hypervisor like VMWARE ESXi

Decided to go with VMware, more an industry standard.  Looking into my own question, the overhead for VMware outweighs the the benefits.  I put it at about 15-20% on CPU & RAM.  This is from research, not empirical data.  I have several devices/servers I want to build, none are resource intensive. I upped the Mac Mini to 16gb Ram 1TB SSD and 2TB SSHD.  The max it can take for less than $200.  Should be plenty powerful.

Some context...
This is more of a home project.  A server to store family's media, documents, and backups (mostly macs & iOS).  I'll also build a full featured network firewall, I don't like black box or desktop firewalls.  I like to know what's going on.  Lastly a home automation server, there are some integrations between devices/protocols that require a system in the middle.

I used to be an Windows engineer, 20+ years ago, when that was a new thing.  Since then moved on to management.  I try to stay close to the technology, but virtualization (hand's on is new to me).  Tired of the planning and managing tech.  I'm not allow to touch anything anymore.   I have to use my own desktop teams for my work machine. I want to get my hands back on.  Hence this home project.  though a home project, it seriuos for me, I like to research and understand best practices.  Not to mention the geek out factor. :-)

Look forward to learning here and other sites.  Who know, this "old man" (not talking punch cards or anything, may be able to answer some questions.

Thank for your help.

Sunil


Thank you @IconDaemon - you comment solved it.

Step 1: Follow this link and run the terminal command.

Step 2: Restart the Mac in safe mode.


What is a good chess app for an iPhone 4?

Oddly, the app I favor the most is Deep Green due to the elegance, simplicity and design. It is fairly forgiving for novices but the middle ground is very level so as to allow you to improve without getting totally destroyed. If you have a decent strategy, you can get a lot of play in the middle ground as long as you don't make whoppers of mistakes. I say oddly because it doesn't have many bells or whistles to "teach" the game - lacks opening books, training modes, post game analysis or export functionality. It has beauty and simplicity and I find myself actually playing it because it's gorgeous and I learn more when I play more.

Shredder Chess seems to be stronger for learning, but is not nearly as pretty and I'm not serious enough to want to play it over Deep Green. It has fabulous end game support, databases, move puzzles and hints. It also exports the games and has a discount on the Mac version so you can take your analysis to the computer which probably makes this the best learning program. You can preview the engine and the feel of the UI on the mac for free here to get a sense of the program. The iPhone app plays a lot like the mac app. It's a 30 day demo and it's not as massively strong as Fritz and some of the really bonkers engines out there.


This answer reflects the situation at the time it was written (beginning of 2013) and may be different today. Please don't assume that it is still correct for current malware implementations

The short answer is "No, your Mac should not get infected".

The a bit longer answer is "it depends". You should be fine with photos, videos and music, but there might a very small risk with documents (depending on the format) and anything html-related (which might access a malware server or something). But given the current state of malware on OS X I wouldn't worry too much.


Spotlight button doesn't work (on click displays a sound instead)

Ok So I have the same problem since a while and I still haven't found any proper solution.

However there is one trick to open it anyway :

Trick

 + space this while able it too.


Can you control brightness on two monitors simultaneously via the brightness key?

This will not allow you to change them simultaneously but you can use

F1 or F2 for the main display and
control+F1 or control+F2 for the secondary display

As an addition you can also modify the brightness in smaller steps (1/4) by pressing option+shift with both combinations.


Get the PDF version here
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/iPhoneAppProgrammingGuide.pdf

Or by clicking on the PDF button on the upper right of ANY Apple programming guide.

Then drop it on to your Kindle :)

You can also email it to your Kindle using whatever email address is indicated in your settings.

If you need to convert the original PDF for Kindle there are few online programs that will do that.

Or put the word 'convert' in the subject line of your email when you email the pdf to your kindle.


Launch Final Cut Pro, make a new project and name it with Automator

I don't have any version of Final Cut, but from the MacScripter search results it appears like at least the older versions weren't scriptable. Anyway, have you looked at its AppleScript dictionary (by e.g. dropping its icon on AppleScript Editor)?

Would it be possible to just copy a template file instead of creating a new project? If so, if you saved a script like this as /usr/bin/fcpp and ran chmod +x /usr/bin/fcpp, you could create a new project with fcpp Project name.

#!/bin/bash

mkdir -p ~/Projects/"$*"
cp -r ~/Documents/Test.fcpx ~/"Projects/$*/$*.fcpx"
open ~/"Projects/$*/$*.fcpx"


iMessage delivery status different on iPhone and iPad?

I find that if you send an iMessage from iPhone/MacbookPro/iPad, it won't be status 'delivered ' on the sent device until the receiver got the message,but the status on the other devices with the same AppleID will show the status 'delivered' as soon as you sent the iMessage.


Boot camp can’t find the iso partition when I am in windows

Your computer has a firmware password set and you won’t be able to boot into any other OS unless you know/remember the password. If you do not remember setting that password, you have a few options:

1) If you bought your computer directly from Apple, they can remove the firmware lock for you.

In this case, you can go to the nearest Apple Store or Apple Authorized Support center and they can remove the firmware key. Before you do that, it’s a good idea to backup your data from both macOS and Windows partitions. You can use TransMac to access macOS partitions from Windows. You will also need to provide proof of ownership of the Mac which has a locked firmware password in order for them to unlock the computer.

2) If you bought it online from someone else (i.e from Amazon)

You will have to contact the seller and ask him/her the firmware password. He/She can tell it to you and you can then remove the firmware password from Recovery Mode.

Way to boot into macOS without firmware password (Requires macOS Sierra or earlier)

Go into Bootcamp Helper control panel and there should be an option to select between OS X and Windows. Select OS X and press Reboot (or save and restart).

Source: http://osxdaily.com/2015/01/28/forgot-mac-firmware-password-what-now/


Does Parallels Desktop support hardware virtualization for the client VM?

As the comments have suggested, Parallels does not support Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 directly.

Parallels Knowledge-base article

However, the VMware knowledge-base does list a pair of patches from Microsoft (x86 patch and x64 patch) that remove the requirement for the hardware virtualisation on XP mode which should allow Parallels to also run the XP mode.

VMware Knowledge-base article


iPhone 5C Messages crashing after showing no messages

Start off by looking here for how to close open apps in iOS7. Close Messages, then try opening it again. If that fails, close Messages again, turn the phone off completely (by holding the sleep/wake button down), wait a few minutes, turn the phone on again and try looking at your messages again.


How can I get Siri to list all relationships?

Ask Siri "Who am I?", and then scroll down.


Using Automator to obtain content from multiple webpages?

Automator, as an automation tool, is a bit of a sledgehammer, so the following is a bit clumsy, but works.

Automator provides two actions for choosing URLs: Get Specified URLs, that allows one to specify a pre-determined list of URLs, and Get Current Webpage from Safari, that specifies the URL of Safari's current webpage. It also provides three nice actions for parsing we webpages: Get Text from Webpage, Get Image URLs from Webpage and Get Link URLs from Webpages, which do what you would expect them to. Finally, Automator provides an action to place text in a document: Set Contents of TextEdit Document. You may also want to use the Get Specified Text action to separate the text, images, and links sections of your new TextEdit Document.

Here is what your complete Automator workflow might look like:

Get Specified Text --- Text of Webpage ---

Set Contents of TextEdit Document using the "by replacing" option.

Get Current Webpage from Safari

Get Text from Webpage

Set Contents of TextEdit Document using the "by appending" option.

Get Specified Text --- Images URLs of Webpage ---

Set Contents of TextEdit Document using the "by appending" option.

Get Current Webpage from Safari

Get Image URLs from Webpage

Set Contents of TextEdit Document using the "by appending" option.

Get Specified Text --- Link URLs of Webpage ---

Set Contents of TextEdit Document using the "by appending" option.

Get Current Webpage from Safari

Get Link URLs from Webpages

Set Contents of TextEdit Document using the "by appending" option.

When this workflow finishes, there will be a new untitled TextEdit document open whose contents is text, image URLs and link URLs of Safari's current webpage. You can save it wherever you please.


How can I tell what is triggering Bluetooth in use icon on my menubar

Now, whenever a device is trying to talk to my Mac (or vice versa, I suppose) I will see the Bluetooth icon with 3-dots through it.

That's not what it means.

The icon means that Bluetooth is enabled and at least one device is connected.

From the Apple Support Document, Using a Bluetooth mouse, keyboard or trackpad with your Mac:

If you want to see what device is connected, just open the Bluetooth drop down menu.  Whatever is in bold is what's connected.


iMac not shutting down since upgrading to OS X 10.11, El Capitan

I have found that clearing all cache and font maintenance resolved the issue.

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*
rm -rf ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/*
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/*
atsutil databases -removeUser
sudo atsutil databases -remove
sudo atsutil server -shutdown
sudo atsutil server -ping
sudo rm -rf /var/folders/*

Restart immediatly


show notifications of new e-mails without displaying the content

Go to Settings → Notifications → app name (e.g. Gmail) → Show Previews and change  the setting from ‘Always’ to ‘When Unlocked’.


Problem solved by re-installing clean copy of Big Sur


You need to install XCode 4.1 from the app store, which will replace XCode 4.0 with 4.1.

When updating XCode to 4.1 you will get a message to quit iTunes to continue the installation. The installation is actually waiting for iTunesHelper process to be terminated. You can terminate the iTunesHelper process using activity monitor.

On my Mac the upgrade to XCode 4.1 failed. So I needed to uninstall XCode 4.0 first.


El Capitan gives me a kernel panic error right after installing

This is really basic memory allocation that's failing (zalloc.c) - and even if your install was completely trashed by outside forces, I'd expect a panic just about anywhere else in the system. This is a pretty low level failure.

If you can't get a recovery install to work, your next step is to call support, because this looks very much like a hardware problem.


Avoid restarting macbook pro with bootcamp

Unfortunately, this is not possible. You can't run two operating systems at the same time without any extra software.

With that said, Parallels Desktop does exactly what you want to achieve, it runs the OS in a virtual mode, the only downside being it's shareware, therefore pricy. Using a third party software is however the only way to achieve what you're trying to do.


Format usb drive (dmg is on - and show read only)

i remember this from a few years ago -- there were a lot of these slipping into RO mode.  here is a forum talking about it: http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/All-SanDisk-USB-Flash-Drives/Sandisk-cruzer-16GB-became-read-only/td-p/255218/page/2

with no real solution.  it is a hardware issue, regarless of operating system etc.


Quicktime file not emailing from mac to PC correctly?

There are 2 applications on Mac called Quick Time Player.

One is the Quick Time player (without the 7),

The other is the Quick Time Player 7.This one is only basic and can be upgraded to Pro version at cost.

You should be using the QT player (without the 7) to send file via email.

To do that open the file in QT player and click on File - Sharing - Email.

If the file is to big to be sent by email use Dropbox then upload the file there (as you have done already), but make sure you are uploading the correct file. If it is audio it will be at least 5 meg or more (certainly not 14k).


how to access Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) via VNC-over-SSH?

So you can.  If you open System Preferences > Sharing, and check both remote management (to start the vnc server) and remote login (to start the ssh server); you should be able to login remotely using vnc over ssh.

Note: You must have all needed ports forwarded correctly, and an android client capable of connecting over ssh.


Display issue with Yosemite on MacBook Air


Plenty of Calendar apps, such as Fantastical, can parse your needs with natural language, but I am not aware of any that can string together all your events as you have stated.

However, you can certainly do this with Automator/AppleScript and iCal. There are many resources on the web that will give you instructions and snippets that you can string together with Automator without any programming knowledge. Many of those scripts can be found here on AskDifferent.


How do I create new albums within my iPhone 3GS camera roll?

No, it's not possible to create new photo albums in the Photos app on the iPhone.  (Not on my iPhone 3GS running iOS 4.0.1 at least.  And it's not possible on my iPad either.)  See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1413776 and http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/ios-apps/200714-creating-photo-albums-ipad.html.

This Apple Support FAQ describes how to sync photos: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1389.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple adds this feature soon.  I expect they're working toward making the iPad work completely independently (without syncing), and the iOS (and app) features they add will likely also be added to the iPhone.


Can apps identify me after I reinstall an app, such as by my Apple ID?

Since you haven't identified the app in question we can only provide fairly generic advice. One thing apps can do is view identifiers such as the media access control (MAC) address. This is not to be confused with Mac as in Apple Mac.

The MAC address of a device is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for the purpose of communications. Most IEEE 802 network technologies, including Ethernet and Wi-Fi, use MAC addresses. Devices that have MAC addresses are not just computers, smartphones and tablets. They can include anything that connects to a network (e.g. printers, smart TVs, weather stations, etc).

If you're concerned about a particular app, you should take the time to read its privacy policy.

If your question is really about something else, such as wanting to change accounts used for the app, you may be best to contact the developer directly or use their support pages.

[EDIT]

As suggested by bmike in comments, I'm updating this answer to include info on changes that Apple are enforcing as of the soon-to-be-released iOS 10.3 update.

Up until now, keychain data in iOS remained on the device even after the app was deleted from the device. After upgrading to iOS 10.3 deleting an app will also delete all associated keychain contents for that app unless its keychain item is shared with other apps. In that event, the keychain data won't be deleted until those other apps are also deleted.

Apple's intention with this is to further protect user privacy by ensuring that any information that can identify a user is not left on the device after the app that saved it is removed from the device.

In a nutshell - anyone concerned about their personal data should upgrade to iOS 10.3 if their device supports it.


Concatenating AVI files with multiple tracks

Basically what you need to do is demultiplex each file, then concatenate the resulting files. There is a way to do this with the concat filter, but it requires re-encoding everything as it goes.

So you need to do two operations. First, demultiplex. (Note this is untested with ffmpeg, as I don't have any video files to test with, but should theoretically work.)

I=0;J=1;for f in $PWD/*.avi;do ffmpeg -i "$f" -map 0:v:0 -codec copy output$I.avi -map 0:v:1 -codec copy output$J.avi && I=$(($I+1)) && J=$(($J+1));done

Then you can use the concat demuxer as usual:

ffmpeg -f concat -i <(for f in $PWD/*.avi;do echo "file '$f'";done) -c copy output.avi


MacBook Pro - FaceTime HD Camera - Hardware "Failure'?

It could be the cable or the connector on the logic board.

In my experience, the most likely place the damage will occur is where the cable that combines Wi-Fi and the camera come together into a single connector or it will be the connector on the logic board itself.  It's highly unlikely that the cable/connector at the iSight camera will become damaged unless repairs were done there previously.

Now, it's also entirely possible that your camera has failed (especially if Wi-Fi is still working.)

There are a few ways to diagnose this, but this involves using another cable and/or iSight camera.  If you don't have these items handy or you're not willing to purchase them (or perform this type of task), it's probably best that you take it in for service.


It sure is!

http://youtu.be/GX2hy-L94T0?t=9m13s
Here's a video of Steve Jobs talking about the original iPad's battery.

All iPads have 10 hours of battery life but 1 month of standby time.


If I buy iCloud storage can I update my phone and other apps as well?

Yes, you do get more space for your iPhone in some sense. Your iPhone uses iCloud for backups (probably; you can choose not to do so), and storing photos and other documents which don't need to be on your iPhone, leaving more 'disk' space there. Note that App Store apps themselves don't take up space on iCloud - they're backed up 'for free', but their settings and document might take up space.

If you downgrade / cancel your subscription, the official Apple support page only mentions you cannot 'upload' anymore to iCloud. While that doesn't mean the photos will stay there forever, it does imply you get the chance to remove certain content in order to get below your new limit, so it is at least kept for a while.


change or deactivate iOS 9 newsfeed on the search screen

You can disable it by navigating to Settings > General > Spotlight Search
This will however disable the whole news feed and other Spotlight Search feed items such as:

recent applications
recent contacts
nearby places

When you scroll down the Spotlight Search settings, please check out the "About Spotlight Suggestions & Privacy..." link on the bottom.
This will contain a lot of information about what information is sent from your phone to Apple and third parties like Microsoft when you open or use Spotlight Search.
This information includes among other things: search queries, location, account names, subscription information.

More information about Spotlight Search can be found here.


How do you complete an album using Apple Music?

Figured it out on my own, but WOW is it unintuitive.  Here's the solution... follow me on this, it gets a little bumpy.

First, the goal again is to have iTunes (with Apple Music active) show you the complete list of songs for an album where you are missing one or more of the songs.

If you right click a song in the album and select "Go To Album", you will be taken to your local copy of the album (specifically you will see My Music in Album view).  Unfortunately this shows you only the songs that you have, and gives no option to display the entire album.

However, if you delete one song from the album (select a track, hit Delete, and confirm that you wish to Delete Item), then the "Show Complete Album" option will suddenly appear.

But, there's a catch.  Deleting the item that is currently selected, means there is no selection once the deletion is completed, and so you will be dumped out of the album you were looking at, and taken to the top of your Albums list.  Whatever album you were looking at, is now down below somewhere... and you're going to have to find it manually.

Once you again open your album, you are presented with all your existing tracks as well as all missing tracks, which will have an "Add" button next to them.  There is also an "Add All Tracks" button.

DO NOT PRESS "ADD ALL TRACKS"!  Doing so will add a second copy of all the album's tracks, in your music library.  You must click the individual Add buttons next to the missing tracks you want to add again.

But there's another catch.  Sometimes - but not always in my case - clicking Add causes the missing tracks to all disappear.  I had to "close" the album by clicking on it, then open it again, and the remaining missing tracks once more appeared.  Rinse & repeat for every click of the Add button.

But sometimes, it just works fine and you can click Add several times in a row for all missing tracks, and you're all set.

So that's it.  Once you see "No additional songs found" and there are no longer any Add buttons, then you've got the complete album once again.

What a huge pain, and very confusing to figure it out.  I pretty much got lucky in connecting the dots to figure this out.


macOS: Is there a way to maximize a window but does not go full-screen?

Move the cursor to any one of the four corners of the Window. When the cursor icon changes to a diagonal bi-directional arrow, press and hold the Option key and double click.

This would maximize the window to occupy the entire screen without it entering into full-screen mode.


My new MacBook Pro won't keep its Wi-Fi connection

Are you on OS X 10.10.1? It claims to fix some wifi issues present in 10.10.0.

If your software is up to date, you can try the following steps. They worked perfectly on my early 2011 MBP running Yosemite. Source

Turn off Wi-Fi from the menu bar.
From Finder, hit Command+Shift+G (or click Go > Go to Folder) and enter the following path:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

Within this folder, locate and select the following files. (Note: You may not actually have all of them. I know I didn't have all five files on my computer, but I deleted all the ones I had and the fix still worked!)

com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
com.apple.network.identification.plist
com.apple.wifi.message-tracer.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
preferences.plist

Move them to a backup folder, like on your desktop. The goal is to delete them from the SystemConfiguration folder (so make sure they don't exist in that folder any more!) to force OS X to recreate them, but you'll want to be able to put your original files back in there in case something goes wrong.
Reboot your computer.
Turn on Wi-Fi from the menu bar. Good luck!


Is MacBook Air 2017 used for programming viz Java or Python and also for Web development?

To answer your question about the Air: Yes.

You may want to consider broader options as well. For MacBooks in general, the biggest advantage to doing development on a them is that you get XCode and the best possible experience when developing iPhone/iPad apps and Mac apps.

However in your case, it seems you're not doing mobile development, and price and/or weight are a concern since you're considering a MacBook Air.

if you're open to windows, take a look at something like the HP x360 which is well reviewed and has advantages over the MacBook air:

MBA is limited to 8 GB of RAM, while the HP allows 16 GB. This can be significant for software development.
MBA only supports old style USB 3. The HP supports USB type C 3 .1 that can charge the laptop or drive an external monitor.
HP has a watch band hinge that allows folding the screen back to be like the tablet. Not a big use case but actually helpful sometimes.
MBA resolution is 1440x900, while the HP resolution is full HD 1080p.

Price and battery life are very similar between the two in a 256GB/8GB configuration.

Of course, Apple consistently has the best support and ability to use their stores.

If you have a hard requirement to stay on the Apple platform, I would suggest reconsidering the MacBook Pro 13. In general it's better suited to be a development machine, and it's really not that heavy to carry around.


What can be replaced/upgraded in a late-2009 iMac to make it run like a 2014-2016 iMac?

One the trade-offs to all-in-ones is not being able to upgrade most of the parts. You could try upgrading to an SSD but you're not going to see huge performance gains. The primary bottleneck at that point will continue to be the CPU (and possibly graphics).


macOS Big Sur - set env vars for GUI apps?

The following worked for me to get an environment variable to be accessible from a GUI app (SwiftBar).
I created a plist file (eg; com.example.set-env-vars.plist) in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ with the following contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>setenv.MY_VARS</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>sh</string>
    <string>-c</string>
    <string>launchctl setenv MY_VAR my_value</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Then I rebooted for it to take effect. I suspect logging out and logging back in may be adequate, since stuff in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ should be applied at login.
If anyone can improve this answer, I'd love to know why this works but running launchctl setenv MY_VAR my_value from a terminal does not.
Swap out MY_VAR and my_value as needed. Note, I'm not sure whether this would allow you to do something like launchctl setenv PATH "/usr/local/bin:$PATH", as I'm not sure whether $PATH would exist or expand properly.


Advice and information for installing a SSD into MBP with fresh Lion

In the case of OCZ, it will make your life monstrously less insufferable if you ensure the drive has the latest firmware revision before installing it in your Mac, as OCZ does not support OS X (they provide a mixed bag of solutions that require a decent level of computer expertise and Linux distributions which are rickety at best). They make great hardware but have deplorable Apple support even after all these years.

You can view the latest firmware for your drive here. The utility requires either Windows or Linux and a working networking connection. It is also recommended you back up your data as the update could wipe it, so naturally it is best to do on a fresh drive. v2.1.5 has been out for a while so it is quite likely you won't need to update. Support forums are available in case you do.

If Lion shipped with the unit, you are in luck. The computer is capable of using both the Lion Recovery Disk Assistant or the Online Lion Recovery process (hold COMMAND+R after you hear the chime. Both will download Lion and install it for you. All new machines have their unique identifiers registered with Apple, so barring a complete logic board swap, they will always have access to Lion without the need to pay for the OS. In fact, your copy of Lion operates entirely outside of the Mac App Store.

Note: Be wary of partitioning tools (like SuperDuper, etc.) as Lion has a Recovery HD (weighing in at 650 MB) installed alongside the OS. This is there to either help with the reinstallation or diagnose and repair your system. It does not house the entire operating system, but rather things like Terminal and Disk Utility. Currently, partitioning tools do not clone this partition and the one's that are including this feature, are still in the experimental stages. Be careful.

Personally, I would verify the drive has the latest firmware revision and then install it in your Mac. Use either the Lion USB stick you created via the Recovery Disk Assistant or the built in Online Recovery and install Lion. That's it.


No "Generate an app-specific password" section in my Apple ID

You need activate "Two-Step Verification" in order to "generate an app specific password" as shown in http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-create-app-specific-passwords-for-icloud/

  For those unfamiliar, app-specific passwords are used when an app or service you're attempting to sign into doesn't support two-step verification. Instead of forcing you to enter your account password, you create a single-use app-specific password, eliminating any potential for your account to be compromised.

And as shown in your screenshot "Two-Step Verification" is not enabled...


Reducing the number of fonts available to specific applications?

There doesn't appear to be an easy solution. Here's the best I could come up with.

In Font Book, reduce the font set to the "minimal" set by disabling fonts as appropriate.
Create font "collection" folders in some directory of your choosing by symlinking to fonts in one of the font locations as appropriate.
On an app-by-app basis, within the application bundle:

Create a directory within the resources folder that symlinks to one of your "collections" folder
Add the ATSApplicationFontsPath to the info.plist file as appropriate.

Ideally there'd be a way to specify font collections rather than font folders, but it seems like Apple intends this to only be used with prepackaged fonts, not by the end user. If you're keen on using the Font Book GUI, you could read from the ~/Library/FontCollections folder and automate step 2. You could also take it a step further and automate step 3.


How to restore my iPhone when iTunes keeps returning an error 2001?

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

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

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

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

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

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


System spiking CPU usage (causing 6000+ rpm on fans)

The chart representing the CPU usage in the Activity Monitor can be misleading.

The scale on the Y -axis is not 100% but changes according to the CPU usage.

You could see what it looks like spikes even if they are of extermly low magnitude.

See my example. It looks like spikes while the actual CPU consumption is low. In this case the User- CPU load is 0% to 5.93% and the chart Y-axis is set to 6% so it just looks like huge spikes.


Gmail Doesn't Respect Dark Mode System Preference on iOS 13

UPDATE:

Was surprised to see Dark Mode magically working on my iPhone's gMail. I had not fiddled with anything lately, but voila, there it was. However, when I checked my iPads, these did NOT have Dark Mode enabled. Checked the versions on the iPads and these had the same one as the iPhone: v.6.0.200412.  So what was different?  I rebooted the iPhone recently, but NOT my iPads.

Upon reboot of the iPads, Dark Mode was now working on gMail on all my devices.

How to get Dark Mode working: (3) Steps

Set Dark Mode as the system-wide preference in: "System Preferences" > "Display & Brightness" > "Appearance" > "Dark"
As @Lulucmy rightly noted in his answer, Google must enable the feature on their side or Dark Mode ain't happening for you.
Reboot the device periodically: Google will not notify you they are enabling Dark Mode. I had periodically closed gMail from time to time since I last updated it 01 May, and Dark Mode was still not working in gMail.  Only when I rebooted my iPhone did the change seem to be effective.

So Dark Mode will respect the global System Preference, but only where Google has enabled it on their side. So I guess patience is also required for those eager to extend their battery life using gMail in Dark Mode.

Anyhoo, my observations on how my own Dark Mode Hell was resolved.  Hope this saves others cycles trying to resolve the issue-


How can I install an older version of iTunes?

At the bottom of the article it says the version isn’t compatible with Mojave.

  This version of iTunes is not compatible with macOS Mojave.


How is there storage when I haven't signed in yet? Just reset phone

Each of the apps you installed is taking up part of the 1.99 GB storage.

Even if you erase all content and settings - the OS and some baseline storage is used so you don't ever get 64 gb of available space.

What's the practical difference between a 16GB and 32GB iPhone?
https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/71313/5472


Power adapter green light blinking on - non genuine adapter

A blinking LED is not a signal that the original MagSafe Power Adapter would output, so it's hard to say why it does that, perhaps contact the manufacturer. But it sounds like there's something wrong with the adapter.

It is technically possible that a faulty power supply hurts your battery or even your machine (as in logic board, etc.). I have experienced several MacBooks that have been bricked by 3rd party batteries in my time as an Apple Technician.


Finder hiding items under a grey box in list view

Go in Finder to View and select "Hide Preview"


VirtualBox NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005) mac, cant find a solution

Virtualization only works when running the same CPU on the server and the VM.
Currently out of the 3 main VMs only Parallels has a release for the M1 and that can only run ARM based operating system e.g. Linuxes and a pre release Windows. That Windows can run Intel Windows executables. Vmware have announced they are working on a version for ARM. I don't think Oracle have said anything for VirtualBox
There are other emulators that can run Intel executables on the M1. Crossover (and thus I suspect wine) can run Windows Intel binaries. Qemu can emulate and virtualise so can run Intel CPU bases OSs on an ARM machine.
Rosetta2 can run Intel binaries on Apple M1 but not all. Virtual machines need very low level support from the CPU and kernel that Rosetta cannot provide - so that is why you get that error.


You can use pgrep instead of pidof on OS X. Using your example from earlier, the following should work:

renice n -p $(pgrep <process name>)

That said, a child started after the parent has had their priority changed should inherit the parent's priority.


How to import photos from iPhone 3G to iPhoto in Mavericks?

Photos Version 1.0.1 (215.65.0) seems to have no way to import from an attached device anymore.


Make volume and brightness sliders stay open on macbook pro touch bar

Unfortunately, you can't achieve that without any third app.

BetterTouchTool is probably the most famous one, and let you customize your TouchBar as you like. You can try it for free for 45 days to see if it suits you.

You can see on the picture below an exemple, with the brightness slider as you want :

My TouchBar My rules is a BetterTouchTool applike but free, however it's not very user friendly...

On the default preset below, you have both the brightness and volume sliders as you want :


How does do not disturb in iOS 6 differ from the physical silent switch?

Do Not Disturb stops all notifications from occurring (so your screen won't light up). Silent will still cause the screen to light up, vibrate if enabled etc. The notifications will still be shown in notification centre.

If you receive a call while on do not disturb the caller gets a call failure and you will be shown a missed call on the recent list as opposed to silent where it will still ring (screen change etc) and you can choose to answer.

Do not disturb will allow certain selected calls to come through (you can customise this in notifications in settings). It can also be scheduled which is what I have been using most.

There is a section on Apple's iOS 6 page but it is not great.


How can I stop Finder from trying to 'pre-load' audio files?

View > Show View Options > uncheck Show Icon Preview

(If you're in List view or Icon view, click Use as Defaults to make it the default). Repeat for each view mode as necessary.

Hope this helps....


How to prevent user from moving a custom app to Trash?

Apple adds an access control entry to some apps, that denies delete access to the "everyone" group:

$ ls -lde /Applications/App\ Store.app
drwxr-xr-x+ 3 root  wheel  102 Feb 16 22:21 /Applications/App Store.app
 0: group:everyone deny delete

However, if the user you're trying to keep from deleting this is an administrator, they can remove ACLs, and then delete things freely. Admins can also remove or disable launch daemons. Basically, if someone has admin rights on the computer, they can get around your attempts to lock things down. See this previous question where CommaToast makes a valiant effort at figuring out how to lock something down against an opponent with admin rights... but I can still think of ways around his measures.

On the other hand if they're not an admin, then it's trivial: they can't delete things from /Applications anyway.


mount list grows endlessly on automount / autofs setup

The solution is to use /etc/fstab with the net option.
1 - Uncomment this line in /etc/auto_master:
/Network/Servers        -fstab

2 - Fill in fstab as root. For example:
server:/path ignoredmountpoint url net,noowners,url==smb://user:passwd@server/path
...

3 - Run sudo automount -vc
This way, everything is mounted in /Network/Servers automatically on demand and I don't observe multiple mount points anymore.
I think the net option is what makes this work, because I had already tried using fstab before with the same result as an autofs map (i.e. multiple mounts per mountpoint).


Can't setup reminder or calendar appointment using Siri on Mac

In System Settings, grant permissions to access Calendar and Location data for Siri, then disable and re-enable Siri.


How do I open TCP ports 7080 and 7090 for use with Merlin?

Have you looked at the firewall settings? (Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Firewall Options...)

There you'll find options to block everything, to permit signed software to open ports to listen, and you can click on the '+' button to add a new application.


Email is shown by the sender email ID instead of receiver

Saved "Send" messages do not have the "To" (recipient) set as default sorting.

They are set by default to the "From" (you), so that is why you have that sorting.

In order to sort them by the recipient (To) use following:

Arrange by: To:

Then choose the as Default view for that folder here:


How do I use lastpass on Safari for macOS Big Sur?

Last Pass Help recommends installing version 4.6 for macOS Big Sur from their direct download site instead of the app store version.
If you're still having issues, Last Pass support forum recommends uninstalling the app, the safari extension, emptying trash and rebooting your mac and then reinstalling from their direct download site.


How can I configure Lion to use PHP mail() locally?

This works for me at OS X Snow Leopard:

When an email is sent using PHP's mail() function, the email is piped through to the smtp_catcher.php script.
The smtp_catcher.php script saves the email into a local folder as a .emlx file.
The email is opened through Apple Mail and displayed on the screen (woo!).


Are there any cool free 3D games on the OS X platform?

No discussion of free FPS games on the Macintosh can be complete without a link to Aleph One.

And of course, there's that recruiting tool, America's Army. Version 2.5 was available for Mac OS X. I guess version 3 isn't being developed for Macintosh yet…


separate apple IDs on same email address

No - an Apple ID is a unique string, so you can't enter the same letters for two as the first reserves that "email" and prevents a second account.

You can have alases in one email account so that mails to more than one address get delivered to the same account. Google allows this with punctuation and arbitrary letters after a + in the email name. You can also enter punctuation like periods so if your email is RobynWhatever, mail to Robyn.Whatever also gets delivered to the first gmail account.

The only way is to have separate email account, you cannot use the same email for different account.

If I understand correctly, you want to have control over those accounts and receive the monthly purchased email in one account. You can setup 2 email accounts with forwarding service which will send all the mail from their account to your main email account.


Is this a valid Apple request to download software?

It looks legit, but was probably shown to you by mistake, triggered by the rapid connecting and disconnecting. If you are concerned, you could run MalwareBytes Mac to make sure you have no malware. But that message looks legit to me, unless it's a perfect replica of the real message it is emulating.


Using sudo command in shell script in Automator app?

Sudo is not (in and of itself) dangerous. Sudo merely removes protective restrictions, putting the burden of running safe code on you, rather than protecting you behind the scenes. Sudo can be dangerous when, for instance:

You make a coding mistake which has unintended consequences: e.g., if you intend to run:

sudo rm -Rf /Users/yourname/something/something/

but instead you type:
sudo rm -Rf /Users/yourname/ something/something/

(with an accidental space after 'yourname')

the second script (with the erroneous space) will delete all of the data for user 'yourname' without warning.
You run someone else's code which happens to be malicious. Malicious code run without sudo can do some damage, but malicious code run with sudo can compromise your system entirely.

As long as you're careful, sudo is safe enough. Just be aware of the potentials for harm.


Is it possible to have Preview add text at a place other than the center?

Preview actually adds the text box at the center of the current zoom level and not the absolute center of the image, so you can manipulate the drop position of the text box by zooming on the region where you approximately want the text box to be dropped.

After that, you can quickly reposition the box with your mouse or by holding down Shift and an arrow key.

Changing the drop zone from the center to e.g. an edge, however, is not currently supported.


Implementing licensing mechanism for Applications Distributed in App store

Licensing Schemes

No, applications can not use their own key based licensing system with purchases being handled by Apple's App Store.

See Apple's Validate app and in-app purchase receipts with the App Store documentation about how to handle App Store purchases and the Receipt Validation Programming Guide.

  See WWDC 2018 > Engineering Subscriptions for more information on implementing receipt validation for apps that contain auto-renewable subscription products.

Apple does not provide licensing sample code. Apple fear that if everyone uses the same implementation, it becomes trivial to bypass. If you need code level help, contact Apple and use a Technical Support Incident.

Trials

Apple does not accept free trials in the App Store. Applications must have value that does not expire. In-app purchases can be used to unlock additional features. See App Store Review Guidelines.


I currently don't use github for dotfile syncing but I plan to do it. My reasoning is that I would like to have slightly different configs on different machines. To make that possible, you can basically have a master branch, and seperate branches for each device/device group as needed. If you add something new to the master branch, you can merge it with other customized branches etc. For auto syncing between machines, you could create a script that pulls from remote with an interval, possibly with support of manual pulling.. Easiest way to do that depends on your OS. So in summary, this all comes down to how often you change your configs, if you want to have customized configs for some device groups (e.g. all OSX devices vs all Ubuntu VMs) etc. Finally it's easier to use dotfiles from github than it is from dropbox when you work with machines where you have limited privileges (admin rights for installing Dropbox syncer?)


Why my photos are missing in iPhoto events but not in Aperture projects?

Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)

This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.

Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.


You can get excruciating detail from Mac mail client as follows:

open mail
select the window menu -> connection doctor
tick the log connection detail
note the wall clock time and select check again
open the log folder and look over the text logs that document exactly what mail servers are being queried, what messages are exchanged between the mac and the iOS device.

If the Mac can still connect, either your exchange setup has a director set up to point to the correct mail server (I believe Microsoft markets that as auto discovery) or it send a reconfiguration message to the mail client to update settings. Safari will also watch for you signing into web mail and offer to set up the mail client.

Best of luck taking those settings to iOS - you might be able to still connect after looking over the Mac connection details.


Being asked to log into a different account on Mac App Store?

To make the AppStore forget the old credentials with which an app was downloaded, remove the _MASReceipt directory in the app itself.

To do this:

Open Finder and navigate to Applications.
Ctrl+Click the application and choose "Show Package Contents".
Expand the Contents directory and click the _MASReceipt directory to select it.
Type Command+Delete to delete the directory permanently---you will be prompted for your credentials since this is a protected file.

Quit and restart AppStore, then find the application.  The button should now say "Free" or "Install" instead of "Update".  Clicking it will update your app to the latest version, doing so as the currently logged-in Apple user.

This can also be a temporary issue and it can clear up over time once the servers recover from some overload conditions.


Logitech wireless mouse not working with gigabit ethernet adapter plugged in?

The reason you are seeing the symptoms present when you connect an ethernet adapter to the TB port and not when you connect a monitor to the TB port has to do with what is being passed over the TB cable.

TB multiplexes at least 2 signals over the same connection.  In this case, video and PCIe.  Yes, basically the same PCIe bus that you would find looking inside any computer is now on that cable.

Thunderbolt Technology Brief

So, basically speaking, when you are connecting the DP to TB, you only get video.  When you connect the ethernet adapter, you are connecting to PCIe.  When you daisy chain devices, you get both.

Your mouse stops working because the ethernet adapter is generating noise that is interfering with your receiver.  It is the PCIe "signals" that is creating this noise within the ethernet adapter.  It is not interfering with the USB port - just the wireless radio reception/transmission of the receiver.  I know this for a fact because:

1)  I experienced it myself. I have a Logitech Anywhere MX (non bluetooth) and bought a TB to Ethernet adapter.  I had the same issue.  I changed out my TB to Ethernet adapter to a more reputable brand and the problem went away.

2)  I found this answer on Logitech support forum

3)  Plug in a USB hard drive.  If it was interfering with the USB, the hard drive would fail as your mouse does.

The reason that when you move it from one port to another it "sorta" works is because you have lessened the wireless interference, not eliminated it.

Here is the Apple Ethernet adapter that I bought that solved my issue.

If you want to confirm this, buy a USB extension cable to move your unifying receiver to another location (sometimes logitech includes this with their mouse).  Or, plug in the unifying receiver into a hub away from the ethernet adapter.  The problem should go away.


No more notification for iMessage with Mavericks

Go to System Preferences > Notifications.

Make sure that you're not in the 'Do not disturb" mode.
Check your settings for the Messages app. Enable 'Banners' if they're off (or even 'Alerts').


You could try out Keymando which will let you set specific shortcuts for programs. In this case, you would set those commands to do nothing.

Another solution would be to use iTerm 2, which allows you to specify shortcuts for keys (or to ignore).


How can I use AppleScript to see if a specific line of a .txt file matches a variable?

Okay, I believe I've narrowed down the 0D bug in relation to using cat in the do shell script command and have modified the code so it doesn't introduce carriage returns, at least so far in testing just this code presented below. I would have to do further testing to see explicitly where the bug is however I've recoded it to use a do shell script command in a manner to write to the file without introducing carriage returns.

However I've commented out the first rewriting of Part 4 that uses the do shell script command because while not introducing carriage returns it does add an empty line to the end of target file each time it's runs and while not fatal nonetheless I'm not sure you'd want it to happen. So, I've added an alternate way not using a do shell script command.

Note that I prefer to use the camelCase naming convention for my variables, so I've rewritten all of the code adding additional code and comments as I prefer them. Sorry if this inconveniences you however I needed to do it in a manner that enabled me to effectively work through any issues. Feel free to modify as needed/wanted.

The code below works on the target file whether or not it initially contains ASCII Text content and I've verified on my system after multiple writes there are no carriage returns introduced and the original target file was first verified, whether empty or not, had no carriage returns and no line feeds were converted at any time as compared to other versions of code that caused this issue.

--    # Part 1 - Get and format today's date.

set todaysDate to (current date)
set y to text -4 thru -1 of ("0000" & (year of todaysDate))
set m to text -2 thru -1 of ("00" & ((month of todaysDate) as integer))
set d to text -2 thru -1 of ("00" & (day of todaysDate))

set formattedTodaysDate to y & "_" & m & "_" & d & " -" as string

--    # Part 2 - Get the first line of the target file.

set targetFilePathname to (POSIX path of (path to desktop as string) & "My Fruit Log.txt")

--    # Initialize firstLineOfFile variable in case the targetFilePathname file is empty.

set firstLineOfFile to ""
try
    --    # The commented line of code below is to be used when defining the actual code
    --    # in order to ensure a line feed "\n" is used and not a carriage return "\r".
    --    # Note that when compiled, the "\n" is converted to a literal newline
    --    # and a commented code line will be shown for all similiar instances.

    --    # set firstLineOfFile to first item of (read targetFilePathname using delimiter "\n")

    set firstLineOfFile to first item of (read targetFilePathname using delimiter "\n")
end try

--    # Part 3 - Check to see if the first line of the target file is today's date.

set isTodaysDateAlreadyWritten to false
if firstLineOfFile is equal to formattedTodaysDate then
    set isTodaysDateAlreadyWritten to true
end if

(*
--    # Part 4 - Write today's date to the first line of the target file, if necessary.

if isTodaysDateAlreadyWritten is equal to false then
    --    # set theTextToWrite to formattedTodaysDate & "\n"
    set theTextToWrite to formattedTodaysDate & "\n"
    set theOriginalText to ""
    try
        set theOriginalText to (read targetFilePathname) as string
    end try
    --    # set theTextToWrite to theTextToWrite & "\n" & theOriginalText
    set theTextToWrite to theTextToWrite & "\n" & theOriginalText

    do shell script "echo " & quoted form of theTextToWrite & " > " & quoted form of targetFilePathname
end if
*)

--    # While the commented out Part 4 above does work by not introducing any carriage returns nonetheless
--    # it does introduce and additional empty line at the end of the target file and therefore will not be used.
--    #
--    # The following Part 4 does not use the do shell script command to make the writes nor does it add extra lines.

--    # Part 4 - Write today's date to the first line of the target file, if necessary.

if isTodaysDateAlreadyWritten is equal to false then
    --    # set theTextToWrite to formattedTodaysDate & "\n"
    set theTextToWrite to formattedTodaysDate & "\n"
    set theOriginalText to ""
    try
        set theOriginalText to (read targetFilePathname) as string
    end try
    --    # set theTextToWrite to theTextToWrite & "\n" & theOriginalText
    set theTextToWrite to theTextToWrite & "\n" & theOriginalText
    try
        set referenceNumber to open for access targetFilePathname with write permission
        write theTextToWrite to referenceNumber starting at 0
        close access referenceNumber
    on error eStr number eNum
        display dialog eStr & " number " & eNum buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with title "File I/O Error..." with icon caution
        try
            close access referenceNumber
        end try
        return
    end try
end if


Does Touch Bar support background / system wide applications?

The Touch Bar is not meant to show background and/or system wide notifications.

Apple has put out a document called macOS Human Interface Guidelines which is intended to communicate to developers how UI elements should be implemented; there's a section specifically about how the touch bar should function.

Under the Design for the Touch Bar Section, it provides guidelines as to how the Touch Bar should be utilized within the context of an App.

  Design a contextual experience. Make the Touch Bar relevant to the current context on the main screen. Identify the different contexts
  within your app, and consider how you can expose varying levels of
  functionality based on how your app is used.

And more specifically to your question, because "background/system wide applications" would provide notifications and it's UI and to the screen (via  Notifications most likely), not through the keyboard:

  Use the Touch Bar as an extension of the keyboard and trackpad, not as a display. Although technically it’s a screen, the Touch Bar
  functions as an input device, not a secondary display. The user may
  glance at the Touch Bar to locate or use a control, but their primary
  focus is the main screen. The Touch Bar shouldn’t display alerts,
  messages, scrolling content, static content, or anything else that
  commands the user’s attention or distracts from their work on the main
  screen.

(emphasis mine)


Browsers won't load css/js files with https URL

Just a thought ... have you checked if you are using any custom Styles in those browsers? Alternatively for Safari make sure to check in the Develop menu if you have disabled styles or JS. Just to eliminate the possible culprits.


Can I get S.M.A.R.T. support on external hard drives?

Yes (maybe).

There's an open-source kernel driver OS-X-SAT-SMART-Driver for Mac OS X that will work for some USB and Firewire enclosures. It uses SAT (SCSI ATA Translation) to pass the SMART commands through to the hard drive, so only works if your enclosure supports SAT.

SAT isn't something enclosures seem to advertise support for, but the one I use (WD MyBook Studio Edition) happens to support it, so it works for me. It'll probably be quicker to test the software with your drive/enclosure, than to find out if SAT is supported in the specs.


Sounds like a fault, or that perhaps there is a conflict. You are trying to upgrade from 10.7 to 10.10 and its possible you either can't do that, or your machine is incompatible. Although I expect it would tell you as such.

In any case, what ever the reason is your only real way forward is to backup with Time Machine if you haven't already onto an external hard drive, and then do a fresh install rather than an upgrade.

After you've done this during the install process you'll be able to import old backups etc... You can use your backup from Time Machine to restore your files on OS X 10.10.


As far as getting PC emulator, why not take a look at VirtualBox?

With VBox, you can create a "workstation" that exists on your network (bridged connection) then load the native printer drivers.  If you are able to get it working there, you can do two thing:

verify that the printer is working
share the printer and allow your Mac to print to it
it's free

The best part is that everything will be native and not emulated.  Emulating things just adds another layer of complexity to the problem.

However, I am not quite convinced that you don't have a faulty printer. Just doing a quick search there does seem to be a Mac OS X Driver for this line of printers.  A Quick look at their website gave me this result:

If you are not seeing your printer either natively on OS X nor using the Windows drivers through an emulator whether it is connected via USB or Ethernet, I would connect it to a PC to verify compatibility.  VirtualBox is the next best thing to a native PC.

You you connect it to Ethernet, you should be able to ping the printer.  If not, then you have an issue with the printer itself.


iMessage and FaceTime not working after changing apple id

it's hard to tell what could be the problem without knowing what happed exactly. You can use below link to check some solutions to your problem. If that wasn't help I suggest to contact apple support team.

https://support.apple.com/en-lk/HT201422


Try resetting the Mac App Store.

Enable the debug menu and restart the Mac App Store.

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

Choose the Reset Application option and restart the Mac App Store.


Same AppleID, eh?  Would you get each others' Facetime calls?  Would you be responsible for paying for her "in-game" purchases?  I guess you can set up "Parental Controls" (with you as the parent) to limit what she can do.  But is that really what you want?  Why not let her get her own AppleID?  There is a "family plan" for sharing downloads.


While it should be possible to either make an EFI/aware GRUB the primary boot loader that chainloads macOS and also the Mac startup manager to recognise Linux, there are some difficulties and downsides to either approach. Both weren't really made for each other and if FileVault2 comes into the picture things leave the pretty phase.

The currently nicest solution for dual booting macOS and Debian would have to be using The rEFInd Boot Manager.

  rEFInd is a boot manager, meaning that it presents a menu of options
  to the user when the computer first starts up, as shown below. rEFInd
  is not a boot loader, which is a program that loads an OS kernel and
  hands off control to it. […] Many popular boot
  managers, such as the Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB), are also boot
  loaders, which can blur the distinction in many users' minds.


Are there any improvements in the Mavericks Terminal app?

I believe Mavericks added pwd restoration (after quitting and relaunching)


Kali Linux MAC address changing on MacBook Pro Retina

Have you tried taking the interface down, then running 'macchanger' and see if it takes?

I had a friend a while back who was way into Kali, she'd actually used Backtrack for a while but she was definitely on the "ethical hacking" bent. It was sort of mind-boggling watching her pull open drawer after drawer of tightly choreographed penetration testing kits, all sorted by app type & conveniently available for rapid deployment.

I scripted 'macchanger' & related wifi maintenence commands into a single monolithic shell file & helped her install it under /usr/local/sbin/mace - I think we called it 'mace' as in "MAC-Eraser", but she was in charge from then on for resetting the damned router, so eventually we ended up joking that "...oh, Katelynne? Yeah, uh... she's outside right now macing the Comcast guy.

( My friends & I are easily amused. )


Does loading a bootcamp partition in VMWare fusion affect Time Machine?

After a little more digging, I found a KB article on the VMWare site that indicates that BootCamp partitions sometimes are added to the backup scheme in Time Machine.

This article indicates how to exclude the Virtual Machines from the backup, which is recommended by VMWare since they have their own best practice document for backing up virtual machines.

After updating the settings, the next time Time Machine ran it ignored my BootCamp partition entirely, avoiding the 4.3 GB backup every single hour. Sanity restored!


kernel_task eating a lot of CPU on mojave

You do not actually want to remove the IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext - that is a really bad idea.

When you see kernel_task seemingly (!) eat a lot of CPU, it actually means that the operating system is throttling CPU usage to prevent the system from shutting down unexpectedly. This happens when you have a problem with the cooling solution in your computer.

You want to ensure that fans are operating properly, vents are not blocked, thermal paste is still OK, etc.

If your cooling solution is OK and this problem persists, you might have a problem with the temperature sensors or the main board itself.


Why not have iCloud keychain as default?

Within Keychain Access the 'login' keychain is the user names and passwords that you have stored for the current logged in user. The iCloud keychain is as the title states stored in the cloud available to be accessed on any devices under the same Apple ID.

The main risk with storing anything within a cloud service is the risk of these online services being hacked. OS/X devices are multi user environments, and under these setups often share an iCloud account, or are using iCloud Family Sharing feature. These features could lead to passwords being available to users/family that you would not want to have access to.

As for copying the items over, as far as I am aware there is no way of doing this, looking within Keychain Access application there is no option for this. Also within preferences there is no option to set the default location, any new passwords will be stored within the 'login' keychain.

Hopefully this has cleared things up for you.


How to remove keyboard shortcut for app?

I've used https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ before, but I'm not sure if it will allow you to use it the way you've described. Perhaps reading their docs for re-mapping keys.


Restore Time Machine onto smaller SSD drive

I've ended up answering my own question as follows:

I wasn't able to delete files from the Time Machine backup and got the following message: The operation can't be completed because backup items can't be modified
I rebooted using Command+R and then tried to restore from Time Machine. I kept getting errors saying the new drive was too small. I then installed OSX onto the new drive and then did the restore which worked ok.


How to attach an image directly inside iOS Mail app while writing an e-mail?

Press and hold anywhere on the text area. A contextual menu will appear.
If there is no text on the message, the option to the right will say "Insert Photo or Video".

If there is text, the options will be "Select", "Select all", "Paste" and an arrow. Clicking the arrow will show "Insert Photo or Video"

Click on it and select the Photo or Video you would like to attach.


Safari: Can I open all bookmarks in a bookmark folder in a new window?

Open the Bookmarks menu, top left, right click the folder of bookmarks, Open in Tabs...

Though irritatingly, it re-uses the current window, so maybe start with a new one first.


I glean from the official specs:

  sound pressure level: 125dB

This can mean just about anything, but if my hunch is right in that what they are trying to say is that their sensitivity is 125dB/mW, then this is indeed a highly sensitive set of IEMs, and I'm in no way surprised that they hiss to some extent when plugged into your MacBook Air.
While the MBA has pretty low noise levels as far as laptops go, it should still be more than high enough for the IE80s to pick up.

Just to be certain of course: See if the noise changes considerably by plugging and un-plugging the power supply. Also check how much noise you can hear through a more normal set of headphones (iBuds, PortaPros, something like that).

If the noise level is objectionably high only through the IE80s, even when running the Mac on battery power, your choices are essentially to either live with it, use other headphones, or buy a usb DAC/amplifier with a sufficiently low noise level. Something like those from Leckerton or JDS Labs, for example.


Are you navigating the same site when this appears?
Is it a sketchy one?

If so, it is most likely a failed scammer ad.

Solution: Don't navigate that page anymore.

If not, then it is most likely an extension. To remove follow these instructions:  Install and manage Safari extensions on your Mac or

Go to Safari > Preferences > Extensions
Click extension on left
Click the uninstall button below the Extension name on the right box
Repeat for all extensions

Other information:

As stated in the comments:

data:text/html;base64,PG1ldGEvaHR0cC1lcXVpdj1yZWZyZXNoIGNvbnRlbnQ9MDt1cmw9aHR0cDovL2FkY2xpY2suZy5kb3VibGVjbGljay5uZXQvcGNzL2NsaWNrP2FkdXJsPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGc2VydmljZW9wZXJhdGl2ZS5jb20lMkZwYWdlJTJGJTNGZnh0NENYWHI4OUJmVXdjVUdUSjRiNlVERD4=.

is in base64 and decodes to

<meta/http-equiv=refresh content=0;url=http://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/click?adurl=https%3A%2F%2Fserviceoperative.com%2Fpage%2F%3Ffxt4CXXr89BfUwcUGTJ4b6UDD>

The meta/http-equiv=refresh content=0 tells the browser to redirect the following url in 0 seconds (immediately).

The link further decodes (url decode) to

http://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/click?adurl=https://serviceoperative.com/page/?fxt4CXXr89BfUwcUGTJ4b6UDD

This is obviously an ad service. https://serviceoperative.com is most likely who is gaining $$ from link views. adclick.g.doubleclick.net is an ad service usually used by sketchy sites.

Both:

http://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/click?adurl=https://serviceoperative.com/page/?fxt4CXXr89BfUwcUGTJ4b6UDD

and https://serviceoperative.com/page/?fxt4CXXr89BfUwcUGTJ4b6UDD

redirect to google.com

Sidenote:

https://serviceoperative.com has got to have the worst security practices know to earth.

Their homepage requires a login by using CSS to blur the background and prompt for a login:

The CSS specifically is

 -webkit-filter: blur(5px);-webkit-transition-property: -webkit-filter;-webkit-transition-duration: .4s;

By deleting the CSS and the login page from Inspect Element you can bypass the entire login system, which, of course I did.

Here are the peoples homepage that are trying to make money of scamming innocent people.

Seems to be some kind of database of all ads.  Gonna give the company and a quick chat.


http://www.magesw.com/displayrotation/

This program is added on to menubar, and basically allows user to change to rotation accordingly.

This also allows you to press cmd + ctrl + opt + 0 to return to landscape


No. The iPhone can either act as a client or an Access Point, not both simultaneously.

If the WiFi access isn't registered against the device's MAC address then you should be able to use the login on either the iPhone or Laptop (but probably not at the same time).

If it is MAC address based registration then you could register with your iPhone and then change your Laptop's MAC address to match the iPhone's MAC address so that you only have to buy one WiFi access card.


How many resources does an empty OSX desktop take?

Quick unscientific testing says: not enough to be significant.

I increased the number of desktops from 1 to 16 (which is apparently the maximum), and kept an eye on the memory usage of WindowServer – it went up a few MB. CPU seemed unaffected too. Definitely neglegible on any modern hardware, and far outweighed by the resource usage of programs like Firefox, which is in the hundreds of MBs.

If you enjoy the extra space, by all means go for it.


Can I use Time Machine to restore MacBook Pro after replacing hard drive?

Yes, I just did the same myself last week, though I'd recommend using a cloner (like Carbon Copy Cloner).

If you are using a Time Machine backup, it would be better to install the operating system onto the drive, run all updates, then use Migration Assistant to bring all your stuff across, effectively a 'clean' install.


The best thing you can do is take a screen-shoot from the arrow, crop it with instant alpha in preview. Then you animate the picture in your favorite gif animation application. After that you can insert the animation into keynote and voilà, you got your looping arrow animation!

NOTE: It's a big hassle but I don't seem to find any other option than this on OS X Lion, in snow leopard you are able to create animated gif's in preview.app but it will take you a long time so try one of the animation applications


How to autocomplete with LDAP directory in Mail.app?

I was able to get this working by adding a new account in Contacts.app.

Contacts > Add Account... > Other contacts account... Countinue
Change CardDAV to LDAP and enter the Server Address

After doing this, Mail began to autocomplete addresses.


Can I fix things when iOS 13.0 disconnect smart battery case on iPhone 6S?

This issue has been fixed in iOS 13.1. Hooray!


How do I make a custom context menu item in Finder?

If you want the cd command in a new window or tab, you can simply turn on the built-in services, "New Terminal at Folder" and "New Terminal Tab at Folder", by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > Files and Folders.

If you want the cd command in the active window or tab, you can make a simple Automator Service.

In a new Automator Service, change "Service receives selected" to folders.
Add a "Run AppleScript" action.
Replace (* Your script goes here *) with the following:

tell application "Terminal"
    reopen
    activate
    set cmd to "cd " & quoted form of posix path of input
    try
        if busy of selected tab of window 1 then error
        do script with command cmd in window 1
    on error
        do script with command cmd
    end try
end tell

Save the service with whatever name you want your menu item to have, then it's ready to go.

An alternative to using a contextual menu is to just type cd (with a trailing space) then drag the folder to the Terminal window.


Tools for measuring wireless strength in iPod Touch?

If you are talking dBm, which you will see most wifi scanning apps use, it is actually not that difficult to understand. Basically higher numbers are better, and even negative numbers actually represent positive quantities, just smaller ones.

From the wikipedia entry on dBm:

Zero dBm equals one milliwatt.
A 3 dB increase represents roughly doubling the power, which means that 3 dBm equals roughly 2 mW.
For a 3 dB decrease, the power is reduced by about one half, making −3 dBm equal to about 0.5 milliwatt.

There is also a pretty dang useful chart.

−10 dBm Typical maximum received signal power (−10 to −30 dBm) of wireless network
−70 dBm Typical range (−60 to −80 dBm) of wireless received signal power over a network (802.11 variants)

Sorry for not answering the original question, but I think with this knowledge you will be able to powerfully determine the strongest source of transmissions.


Folder displaying in terminal but not finder

Mac OS has hidden folders within the depths of its hard drive. If you want to make these appear, you have to use the terminal.

Open the terminal.

Type the command defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE, then press Enter (Or Return)

Type the command killall Finder (make sure you do the capital F) and press Enter/Return.

If you ever want to turn this off, just repeat the commands above, substituting TRUE for FALSE.


You don't.

There aren't geographic restrictions: there are universal restrictions. As is the case with Flash—or pretty much anything that can interpret arbitrary code—Apple is not going to allow Air onto iOS.


Cannot exit fullscreen and cannot interact with fullscreen applications

Troubleshooting is a process of elimination and often requires patience.

The first thing I would do is to test whether this behaviour is replicated in Safe Mode.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps to boot your Mac 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).
Take a note of what happens (i.e. is the issue still present, etc)
Now exit Safe Mode by restarting your Mac as normal
Once logged in again, test to see whether the behaviour continues

When you're finished let me know how you went and we'll go from there.

If you find that you don't have the problem in Safe Mode, but still do after logging in normally again, then it's time to investigate login items, fonts, and kernel extensions

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 this and see if the problem persists:

If the problem goes away 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.


Fan noise expectations for 2019 27" iMacs

From your experience with previous models, does loud fan noise due to
overheating also occur for the base models, or is this a problem of
the higher end processor choices?

Unfortunately, in the Apple community, this is a common miscorrelation.  So, let's first set the record straight...
Fan Activity ≠ Overheating
Just as the radiator fans in your car periodically come on to move additional air across the radiator, the fans in your computer (PCs and Macs) spin up to move additional air across the fins on the heat sink in an effort to dissipate heat.
Hearing fan activity is a perfectly normal and expected behavior regardless of the processor, memory, or general specifications of the machine.
Fan Noise
There are only two fan noises that you should be concerned with:

Squealing and/or grinding indicating a failed bearing
No fan spin at all indicating a full failure

Overheating
Like your car, you will know exactly when your computer overheats.  It will slow down and eventually shut off.  Granted, there's much more fan fare with a car, usually with steam and coolant gushing everywhere though with the computer, lost work can make you feel pretty steamed and some choice expletives are also probably going to come gushing out at well.
However, unlike your car, this is by design.  Your processor will thermally throttle it's speed limiting what it can do and if all else fails, it will power off in a bid to save itself.
It's not just the CPU
The fan spins up because the overall temperature within the chassis is high enough to warrant it.  This can be from the CPU, the GPU, the drives, the logic board and in the case of AiOs (iMac), the display and the power supply.  Even the ambient external temperature is a factor.  All of that contributes to the internal thermal conditions which may necessitate the need to spin up the fan.
TDP or Thermal Design Power
TDP is the maximum amount of heat that your processor will generate on average use.  A higher number means it will allow more and higher processes before it gets into the "red zone".  In other words, a processor with a higher TDP will do more before the fans spin up or throttles back to cool off.  In your case, comparing the 9th generation i5s with previous generations, you get a higher TDP because the chips are more efficient, not that they generate more heat.
Fan Control Software
Unless you intend to manually increase the fan speed in an effort to keep things extra cool, this is the worst thing you can do.  Slowing the fan in a bid to make it more audibly aesthetically pleasing will only result in one thing - putting a cap on the processing power of the machine you paid money for.  This is like buying a high performance car and immediately installing a restrictor plate.
Bottom Line
Buy the iMac that meets your needs (CPU, GPU, memory, storage).  Fan spin shouldn't be part of that equation.