google app on iphone - home screen - what is this icon?

The app itself refers to it as recent pages when first using this feature and when all pages are closed. Any searches you make or pages you open in the app are saved there for future reference. (I previously saw "Recent Pages" at the top of the screen, but I must've been mistaken.)

I would normally call these cards, but I'm uncertain of the exact definition under Google's Material Design specs.


The following worked for me:

Go to the folder that represents the notes stored on the external server
Click Edit and choose the notes you need moved, or just swipe from the right on the individual note and tap Move
Choose the destination target and folder: either local, or iCloud

This actually moved my note from an external, IMAP-connected server to my iCloud.

The screenshot shows both On My iPhone and iCloud options not greyed out, which confirms they're both available, and the note in question is currently located elsewhere.

But yes, it does seem like it won't let us do it the other way around, that is, move the notes from iCloud/iPhone to an external server: it simply doesn't show up in the destinations list.

  My question is: How can I move my notes from one folder (gmail) to another (iCloud)?

Seeing that most likely your Gmail account is connected via IMAP, I believe the above should work for you in the from Gmail to iCloud mode, as requested, but again, keep in mind, not the other way around. Make sure you have the latest version of the app installed.


Debugging Web app running on a specific (older) version of Safari for iOS

We want to do everything we can to recreate the issue that the client is experiencing. so is it possible to install iOS 8.2.0 onto one of our iPads in order to try and re-create the problem?
Is there a way to recreate the same software environment (Safari running on iOS 8.2.0) that our client is using to debug the issue with our website?

While it is not possible to downgrade the version of iOS installed on your iPads, there is certainly a way to help resolve your issue.
What you are looking for is a way to debug the Web app running in Safari for iOS running on iOS 8.2.0. This can be accomplished without having a physical iPad running iOS 8.2.0, i.e. you can accomplish the same using iOS Simulator. But, you'll need a Mac to do this.
Once you have the Mac handy, follow the steps as mentioned below (skip the ones that are not applicable):

Install Xcode from the Mac App Store.

Once Xcode is installed and setup, launch Xcode go to Xcode preferences → Components → Simulator in the Menu.

Download iOS 8.2 simulator by clicking on the down arrow icon shown besides iOS 8.2 Simulator.

Check that the iOS 8.2 Simulator is successfully installed by the presence of blue tick-mark shown besides iOS 8.2 Simulator.

Launch Simulator.app by launching Xcode.app and going to Xcode → Open Developer Tool → Simulator in the Menu Bar.

In the Simulator, go to Setting app → Safari → Advanced and turn on the toggle next to Web Inspector.

To easily access the Simulator subsequently, you can right click on the Simulator icon in the Dock and choose Options → Keep in Dock.

Now open Safari.app in macOS.

Go to Safari → Preferences → Advanced and check Show Develop menu in menu bar.

In the Simulator app go to Hardware → Device → iOS 8.2 in the Menu and select the desired model of iPad from the available options (iPad 2/iPad Retina/iPad Air) that best matches your client's device.

Launch Safari on the iPad and open the desired Web page.

Now switch to Safari for macOS and go to Develop → Simulator - iPad - iOS 8.2 → Safari (website) in the Menu bar.

Voila! you can now easily debug the issue with you Web app.

Note: In my test-run, I have observed that I was not able to get iPad 2 and iPad Retina (both running iOS 8.2) to show up in desktop Safari's Develop menu, only iPad Air. This may not be the device used by your client but it best matches with your clients environment.
Also, Apple recommended to upgrade to the latest version of iOS available for your device. You may also advise your client to upgrade iOS on their devices (unless they have a specific reason not to do so).


Unwanted transformation of Chinese characters

Han characters are unified in Unicode.  Display of the Chinese vs Japanese version depends on the font.  In OS X, the default font should normally be determined by the order of these two languages in the system preferences language list.  Make sure that Chinese is higher than Japanese on your list and restart.

It's possible some apps might not follow that and need font adjustment individually.


You are not alone in this problem and in fact I bought Alfred as part of addressing this problem.

It looks like there are some other users still trying to get Quicksilver working, and even though it is not really in active development, there is an article on how to download two different versions of Quicksilver, and then selectively deleting or merging files together.

Honestly, given this level of annoyance, I would go with Alfred.


Mojave is eating storage like candy, no matter how much I free up

You might want to check the disk usage with something like

du -h

which will scan the current working directory.

or

du -hs if you have an idea which directory might be taking much of the space.

OmniDiskSweeper is also an awesome free tool to see where all the files are taking so much space but be extra careful with it as you would not want to remove any system files, here is a video where you may get some ideas.

Another reason can be swap memory. When there is a lot of applications running and the system memory cannot take it anymore, it saves temporary memory into ssd, as a result when you are rebooting, it is going away but then the system is making it again. You can check your memory usage by:

vm_stat | perl -ne '/page size of (\d+)/ and $size=$1; /Pages\s+([^:]+)[^\d]+(\d+)/ and printf("%-16s % 16.2f Mi\n", "$1:", $2 * $size / 1048576);'

Or by:

sysctl vm.swapusage
> vm.swapusage: total = 5120.00M  used = 4237.00M  free = 883.00M  (encrypted)

For more info: Is there a Mac OS X Terminal version of the "free" command in Linux systems?


Keyboard shortcut in finder to launch >share via>airdrop

You can go to System prefrensces --> Keyboard --> Choose shortcuts from the menu above --> Choose "App shortcuts" from the side menu and click the + button. After that choose Finder and you will get a box with two text boxes.
Fill the first with exactly "AirDrop" (notice the A and D are capital) and fill the other box with the shortcut you wish the assign with this action and thats it.


I do not think line or half-page scrolling is possible. I'm not even sure that PDFs have, embedded, a concept of "line". I think that Preview tries to detect that for the purposes of selecting text (major improvements on this from 10.5 to 10.6).

You could set up a program (AppleScript, Automator, etc.), that simulates pressing the down arrow a certain number of times. Now, perhaps you click on the app in the Dock or run it via a keyboard shortcut, or even via a Voice Command, and it will scroll the amount you set it to scroll.


Old Xcode versions can be downloaded from developer.apple.com, free registration is required for this. To install (and distribute) your own applications, you'll need to register as an iOS developer. This costs $99/year but can easily be done later.

Having said that, you may not even need to develop an app for what you have in mind. In Mobile Safari you can save any web site/URL as an application icon on your home screen. When tapped on, this will open the web site as an application.


Trackpad and mouse different scrolling directions

Found the solution.

Apparently you can solve it using software. I downloaded Scrollreverser, which is free: http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/

This allows you to control the scroll direction both on the mouse and trackpad separately.

Really cool.

Enjoy!


Macvim can not load custom Powerline fonts when started from tmux session

I stumbled over the solution with some searching. The issue issue can be fixed with the reattach-to-user-namespace tool.

$ brew install reattach-to-user-namespace

Add the following line to the end of your ~/.tmux.conf file

set-option -g default-command "reattach-to-user-namespace -l zsh"


I have fixed this issue myself, using a tool called gdisk. I converted the partition table back to GPT. The only problem now is, that i can see the recovery partition from the normal system and i can't really boot to it. No big deal for me, because I can use my mac normally again.


Outlook for Mac 2011 - How to sync with iCal (Google Calendar)?

Not exactly sure what you are trying to do here, perhaps you could clarify in an edit?

I have intrepreted that you have Google cal synced with iCal, but want to sync iCal with Outlook.

You can sync iCal with Outlook. The full instructions are on microsofts Outlook for mac support page


Mute/Unmute Microsoft Teams Microphone Using Mouse Button when Teams is Not Focused

here is an API call using graph, that does something like you are asking.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/resources/participant?view=graph-rest-1.0&viewFallbackFrom=graph-rest-v1.0#properties
They also have an API call to mute
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/participant-mute?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http
However I don't think you are going to get the feature you want, because when you are using teams, you are not allowed to unmute someone else, and the API has no idea the person you would be trying to unmute, is you.
One thing that should be pretty easy, is to mute/unmute the mic at the operating system level. This would work, however your co-workers would not know you are muted.


Why do I get a ‘Remote Management’ step when installing High Sierra?

This Mac has been enrolled under Device Enrollment. Upon connecting to Apple, the device has received instructions to be managed by IBM.

This cannot be bypassed. You should contact the seller.

Mobile Device Management ‘locks’ enforced by Device Enrollment are enforced by Apple’s severs and are based on hardware identification, so cannot be removed by macOS reinstallation ― they’re defined to be enforced as soon as the Mac is unboxed for the very first time prior to any manual configuration.

About Device Enrollment


Hard drive enclosure for 2.5" Sata drive

MacBooks and other Apple computers that use 2.5" or 3.5" form factor drives are all standard SATA II or III, so any typical hard drive would work.


Divvy application not opening or showing any error message

It's a known problem since 11/10. Update only needs to be approved by Apple. Should be available tomorrow. In the meantime you can use the demo version of the website.

https://twitter.com/MizageApps/status/664712553323335680

In the meantime, the developer recommends that you use the trail version.

https://twitter.com/MizageApps/status/664820916791054336


How to get rid of erroneously drag-n-dropped folder shortcut in Finder toolbar?

Hold CMD (⌘) key down and drag the icon out of the finder window.

It should blow itself away in clouds.


There is no way currently to get login / password blanks at the FileVault 2 preboot login screen.


How to stop macOS from asking if I want to set a default browser?

For Opera (and possibly for all Chromium-based browsers) it's enough to run the binary with --no-default-browser-check flag.


equivalent of windows+L in osx snow leopard

control+shift+eject sets the display to sleep. If you have then the option "Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins" set in "Security & Privacy" it will lock your machine.

This will only put the display to sleep not the system: not exactly what you asked but the additional screen sleep is not bad (less energy consumption :-)

There are other answers here that point out ways to establish a automation to lock the screen from a keyboard command of your choosing. See

Is there a quick way to lock my Mac?
Lock screen with LaunchBar
https://superuser.com/questions/45740/fast-user-switching-apple-menu

The last two show several methods to script this. You can then use LaunchBar or FastScripts or another tool to launch the action you prefer.


How can I PXE boot MacOSX 10.11 in virtual box

When booting the VM, immediately press F12 to enter the VirtualBox boot menu (i.e. not the boot manager in your screenshot). Remember to click with the mouse inside the VM window to ensure that it has focus before pressing F12. You must be quick when doing this as you only have a short window of time for pressing F12.

From the boot menu you can press "L" to boot from LAN.


Advanced gmail settings missing on iPad?

The route is Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > [Name of your Gmail account]

On the first row of this screen it says Gmail and just below that, "Account"; to the right is the name of your account and an arrow.

Tap on the arrow. The "Account" screen is opened.

On the bottom row there is an "Advanced" button, tap on it.


Which settings in System Preferences are global for all users?

One simple (but not 100% reliable) way to tell is to log in as a "standard" user (non-administrator), and see what settings you can change without first clicking a padlock and authenticating as an admin. Very few system-wide settings can be changed by standard users, so if you can change it this way, it's almost certainly per-user.

You can run essentially the same test as an admin by going to the Security & Privacy preferences, clicking the padlock & authenticating, clicking the "Advanced" button, and selecting "Require an administrator password to access system-wide preferences". Then dismiss the Advanced dialog, and click the padlock again to re-lock the system-wide settings.

There are a few exceptions and special cases. Switching between network "locations", for instance: locations are system-wide, and it takes admin rights to create/modify them, but once they're defined standard users can switch between them.

Joining a Wi-Fi network is similar. Any user can join a network, check the "Remember this network" checkbox, and it'll be added to the system-wide Preferred Networks list (and its password will be copied into the System keychain, so the Mac can connect no matter who's logged in). Well, unless the Wi-Fi network uses "Enterprise" (802.1X) authentication; in that case, you're authenticating to the network as a particular user (rather than with a general shared password), so macOS assumes it should be per-user on the Mac as well.

Note that it's normal for a single preference pane to have a mix of system-wide and per-user settings. Go into the Security & Privacy preference pane, and under the General tab it'll have the controls to change your password and require your password after sleeping / screen saver available, and all the others dimmed. Those are per-user, the dimmed ones are system-wide policies.

An even more extreme example of this is iCloud. Most iCloud services are per-user (i.e. each user on the Mac connects to their iCloud account and uses its data/services), but Find My Mac is a computer-wide feature (it's tracking the Mac, not a particular user on it), and can only be turned on for one user's iCloud account at a time.

Oh, and I should mention software installation: any user can install apps via Apple's App Store, but once installed they're available system-wide. For non-App-Store software, it depends on the specific program, but generally it'll either require admin rights to install or be per-user only (e.g. it might create a personal Applications folder under the user's home and install there instead of the regular system-wide Applications folder).


Sudden reboot and install screen on login

The simple explanation is a macOS installer was in your Applications folder (or elsewhere) and was run. 30 minutes to install isn’t out of line - especially on a machine with a bit of history or third party apps.

The logical place where running an installer happens is when you enroll / allow automatic updates in System Preferences and then in the Notification Center where options like restart now or update later are presented.
What next? Perhaps look in /var/log/install.log to see if you agree with the recent actions logged. Possibly boot to recovery and install a good clean download of the latest macOS on top of your install if you feel you can’t trace why the installer ran. Make a backup for sure, if your mac is compromised - an erase install and selective restore from backup might be needed. To me, there are very common reasons for this to happen and no particular signs you have any issues unless you can not determine why the installer ran via defaults or someone opening it manually.


Can I screen-share with a computer that has no monitor?

Yes you can. Enable Screen Sharing by connecting the computer to a display (and keyboard) once. Then you can easily unplug display/keyboard and access the computer via Screen Sharing.

As long as you do not mess with the network and screen sharing settings of the headless computer you also can turn it off and reboot it without loosing the ability to screen share again.


Making 2008 Macbook work with new SSD running Sierra

Sierra is not compatible with your 2008 MacBook1

Mac Supported Hardware:

MacBook (Late 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)
Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)
iMac (Late 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)

As to why your machine is coming up as non-bootable is because your Mac cannot read the new Apple File System (APFS) which centers around security and encryption.2  Basically, your Mac's firmware cannot read the drive to boot from it.

1 MacOS Sierra - Technical Specifications

2 What MacOS Sierra's New APFS File System Means to You


Change tabs on Windows when using Fusion?

The keyboard combo on your Mac keyboard is  option + tab.


My practically brand new Macbook Pro 2020's screen elements are suddenly PINK

Without a screen image we won’t be able to diagnose if it’s LCD failure, cable failure, GPU failure or perhaps just a bad OS needing reinstall.
Even new machines can fail, so you can surely take advantage of the warranty service to have Apple help you as well if using this site for ideas isn’t quick enough.


Open a terminal, run sudo visudo

Edit the line:

%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

To say:

%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Now, you should now be able to run sudo without password.


How can I restore the smooth surface of my iPhone?

Any surface preparation you apply will not stay on there long, and may well be just as annoying as it rubs off on your clothing etc.  Most of the lubricants I have seen used (often for ski/snowboard prep etc) are nasty horrible things that are designed to impregnate the surface to allow for low friction.  There is no way you can ever impregnate the glass, so this techniques are doomed to failure.  Also, I would be careful with what you apply too, as you may damage the oleophobic coating that is on the glass as standard.

I would recommend simply washing the glass with a very mild detergent, and then wiping clean with a lint free cloth.  If your glass remains rough to the touch after this, then it is likely a permanent feature caused by excessive wear, and cannot be rectified.


Booting from a previously cloned Windows 10 installation

Note: There is no guarantee that if successful, Windows 10 will remain activated on the Mac. In other words, you may need to purchase a Windows 10 license for your Mac.

The Windows 10 install you wish to restore to your Mac used the EFI boot method (as used by most Macs since 2012). Since the drivers you have downloaded require a BIOS boot method (the legacy method), you will need to convert the restored Windows from an EFI boot method to a BIOS boot method.
You will need to make sure your internal drive is using a Hybrid GPT+MBR partition scheme. See this answer for details.
You will need to boot the computer using a Windows 10 DVD or bootable USB, select the option to repair the installation, open a Command Prompt window and enter the following commands. A bootable USB may require High Sierra (macOS 10.13).

Note: You can also open a Command Prompt window, by pressing the shift+F10 key combination after booting from the DVD or USB.

bootsect  /nt60  c:  /mbr
attrib  -r  -h  -s  c:\boot\bcd
del  c:\boot\bcd
bcdboot  c:\windows  /s  c:  /f  BIOS

This will repair the files used to boot Windows.

Note: You can ignore any error messages produced by the attrib and del commands.

After booting to Windows 10, you should install the Windows Support Software that you downloaded from Apple.


If I exclude a folder from Time Machine, will it be deleted from old backups?

No - once a file is saved to a backup drive, you retain the history of how that file looked.

Similarly - an exclusion only changes what is considered to be backed up going forward, the exclusion does not apply retroactively.

You would need to enter Time Machine and explicitly delete all backups of the excluded folder to have that cleanup of backed up files be surgically removed leaving the rest of the back up intact. The gear control allows you to select delete all backups of the selected file(s) and folder(s)

There’s also hope we can use a command line tool to script the gear UI removal of a specific file / folder from the command line.

Is it possible to use `tmutil delete` or another command to prune one file from multiple backups?
Delete all backups of specific file/folder with tmutil

The only exception is if Time Machine runs out of space to make a new backup. Then and only then, when the Time Machine drive becomes full, backup copies of a file will potentially be erased. The oldest backups get purged first, so most people can get back the file from backups weeks or months ago even if the one from two years ago gets deleted.


Why does Mail generate random new messages in Lion?

Are you running Dragon Express? There's a short discussion of this on the Apple.com forums. I've seen this problem, too, and by Th.e process of elimination have narrowed it down to Express. It seems to keep the mic open even when you aren't using it. You might also see random web searches with the same sort of garbled text.

My guess is that at some point the input buffer fills up and it launches either Mail or Safari with what it's heard.


Can I automatically arrange the icons of the home screen according to the frequency of use?

No, Apple doesn’t support changing or replacing the homescreen layout from within any app, including Shortcuts as of iOS 13.2.

I do however hope that they’ll open this up at some point in the future. Stuff like this is possible on Android or a jailbroken iOS.

Perhaps, the Siri shortcuts widget might help you with this though. It won’t do exactly what you want, but it’ll show some apps that it thinks you’re most likely to open next. You can also get to that by swiping down on your home screen to reveal spotlight search. There, you could then search for any app that Siri doesn’t auto-suggest.


Under tmux, change window in Irssi with meta key Alt + Num?

Found the answer moments after posting here.

Apparently, Terminal.app does not escape the alt key. It can be turned on in preferences by selectin Use Option as Meta key


How to edit binary InfoPlist.strings in Mountain Lion (for Finder to display folders before files)?

The InfoPlist.strings file you mention is a binary formatted property list. You can convert and edit these files with developer tools such as plutil.

The following article walks through the steps required, Show folders last in Finder.


Is this device older than 2 years and has never been reset?

I can't tell you exactly what to do but this article quotes some possible solutions:

Do you happen to send and receive a lot of messages with multimedia? that could be clogging up some of your storage especially if you set the settings to delete messages to never.
How much space do you seen take by the Other category? Other may include:

  If you've ever connected your iPhone to iTunes, you're well aware of the "other" stuff taking up space on your device. This data contains things like Safari's browser cache, your email, Siri's cache, reminders, notes, stocks, weather data, emails (including attachments), text messages, iMessages (including images and videos), app data, etc.

Check voicemails?
Try to reset Safari Cache and data.

EDIT: OP indicated that the issue is indeed with the "Other" category, this article has some tips on how to try and locate and free up space taken by various elements that make up this category.Also check this Apple forums thread. Download any mentioned software there after doing your own DD.

Here's what "Other" includes, in full:

  Browser cache

  Mail cache

  Mail messages

  Mail attachments

  Safari's Reading List

  iTunes Backups

  Crud resulting from jailbreaking your iDevice

  Game data

  Saved data files

  Call history

  Notes

  Media

  Voice memos


How can i insert an Intelligent Mail Barcode into Pages 09 document

One way you could achieve this is a multi-part batch process, it very much depends how you need to generate your barcode though.

Do you need to from Address to barcode?
Are the addresses clean and normalised?
Do you already have, or can generate the barcode identifier?
The better your data is the easier it'll be to put this together.

If you don't have the barcode identifiers already is it possible to get a third party in your country that does address validation and partners with the postal services data to clean and add these so you've got valid addresses + barcode identifiers returned.

Assuming you can do this process, either via a third party or software, to get
barcode identifiers into your source spreadsheet.

I'd do a multi-part mail merge, i.e:

Run the spreadsheet against a compliant barcode generation tool e.g. ID Automation's Image Generator output your barcodes in batch, with a unique name to a named folder.
In your Pages mail merge include the relevant barcode image.

Other options are using a barcode font, you've got to be careful with the source data you pass in to make sure it's a real valid barcode e.g. IDAutomation's font

I've only recommended paid software, likely you can do the generation cheap-free in the open source world but make sure you get your barcode checked for compliance before committing to the full print run!


If you're getting timeouts, that has nothing to do with your authentication mechanism - whether password, or key based.

The timeout means either you can't connect to the Mac at all, or it's not accepting traffic on port 22 (the SSH port)

Some things to check -

Have you checked your firewall is off on the mac? System Preferences -> Security -> Firewall
Can you ping the Mac from the Linux desktop? A simple ping to the Mac will verify that they're on the same network and can communicate.

Fix your network issue before you try to fix your authentication.


Mac Pro 2007/2008 fresh Snow Leopard install with GT120 graphics card?

The Apple NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Graphics card is not compatible with the 2007/2008 Mac Pro, so in order to do the fresh install you will want to remove the GT 120 and re-install a compatible graphics card that will work with the 2007 / 2008 generation of Mac Pro.

As noted on Amazon the following system requirements are noted for the Apple NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Graphics card.

  Product Features

  Requires Mac Pro (Early 2009 with 1066MHz DDR3 memory) with PCI Express 2.0 slot
  Requires Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later


SMS messaging not available on iPad - how to enable?

You need an SMS-capable device, like an iPhone or iPad with a SIM & text messaging plan.

See Use Messages with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If you have a capable device & service plan, make sure SMS is switched on in Settings > Messages


iPhone 8 Jailbreak & remove carrier lock

No, jailbreaking your iPhone does not in itself remove the carrier lock.


ImageMagick Errors while installing dependencies

Try installing ImageMagick with HomeBrew

https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew

Once installed just type

brew install imagemagick

This will download any dependancies, compile the source and install it.

More info here : http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2010/homebrew-os-xs-missing-package-manager/


Where are the settings for microphone input volume stored?

I don't know in which file the value is stored, I haven't found any file change in your suggested file when I changed the input volume.

But you can access the value via Terminal and AppleScript:

osascript -e 'input volume of (get volume settings)'

This will get your input volume as a number between 0 and 100.


How to view Root directory and subdirectories in Finder?

Shift-Command-G in Finder brings up a "Go to folder" dialog. Type in the name of the directory, for example, /usr/local. Finder will show the directory. I use this with Finder in 'View as Columns'

While this doesn't give a browsable directory from the root directory down, I've found it quite useful.


How to share .bash_profile between different users in the same group?

i work it out by using command ln -s /Users/user2/.bash_profile /Users/user1/.bash_profile.
But by only this command, i can only change the .bash_profile in user2. in user1, you can only use the file in the read-only mode. Then i check the .bash_profile privilege in user2. its rw-r--r--. So i do chmod 664 /Users/user2/.bash_profile. Finally i can share the .bash_profile in different users.


I suggest taking a backup and going to an Apple Store soon.

I had two situations like this with funny creeking noises, the hard drive eventually slowed down and stopped working - no bad sectors or anything. It just eventually stopped.

It was not an Apple drive, but I am sure it's worth asking. Worst case scenario you will have to come back when drive eventually dies.


Can i make my iPad stop autocapitalizing the word "i"?

It turns out that by writing "i" enough times, the iPad eventually caught on and lets me write the way i want to. I just have to tap the "i" in the keyboard suggestions for a few times, and it seemed to add it to the dictionary.

In fact, while writing this post, i accidentally hit j instead of i and it autocorrected to "i" for me.


How do I take screenshots of the Touch Bar?

From this article by OS X Daily:

The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has replaced the standard Escape and Function keys with a little dynamically changing screen called the Touch Bar. Some Mac users may wish to take a screenshot of the Touch Bar, perhaps for developing, testing, or sharing purposes, similar to screenshotting displays on any other Mac or iOS device.
There are two different keyboard shortcuts to capture screen shots of Touch Bar on a Mac. One saves the Touch Bar screenshot as a file on the desktop, and the other copies a picture of the Touch Bar to the Mac clipboard instead. You can also take screenshots of the Touch Bar with the Grab application in Mac OS.
Take a Screen Shot of Touch Bar as a File on Mac
Command + Shift + 6
The Touch Bar screenshot will appear on the desktop like any other screen shot would.
Copy a Screen Shot of Touch Bar to Clipboard on Mac
Control + Command + Shift + 6
The Touch Bar screenshot will be copied to the clipboard, which can then be pasted elsewhere as needed. This functions like a Touch Bar specific version of Print Screen in that the picture is not saved as a file but instead goes to the clipboard, a bit like Command+Shift+Control+3 on Mac.

The “Grab” app also supports taking screenshots of Touch Bar, if you prefer to use Grab rather than the standard Mac OS keystrokes for snapping screenshots. Grab is found in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder.
Another option would be to run a virtual Touch Bar with an app like Touche or Touch Bar Demo and then screenshot the Mac directly, but that’s more work than necessary for most users with a Touch Bar, though it would be the only way to snap a Touch Bar screen shot for Mac users without a Touch Bar on their keyboard.


Macbook turns off after a minute – not in safe mode, but in all recovery modes

I would test booting from an external drive running a clean installed OS. If the problem persists, then it's almost certainly a hardware problem. If not, then you are in a good place to repair the issues on the internal disk.

It is odd that Safe Mode works, but Recovery doesn't. I presume this is without the audio hardware attached? What is the audio device? Does it require drivers?

It is certainly worth trying to install the Mohave update (or a Combi installer for maximum restoration of any corrupted system files).

Failing all of this, I would take it to an Apple Store. It might be out of warrantee, but they can still diagnose and fix problems. It's possible, depending on your location, that statutory consumer rights may supersede Apple's own warrantee, if it is a hardware fault.


OS X switches resolution without monitor KVM

This is in all probability down to the KVM providing a fake monitor signal to OS X whilst the monitor is not "connected" to the OS X box; providing the KVM model would confirm this.

Generally, KVM fall into three monitor modes, usually these are priced low to high:

No signal - where the non active connections receive no indication that a monitor is connected
Fake - where the KVM provides a signal to the host that indicates a monitor is connected
Pass through - where the KVM emulates or attempts to provide through another fashion, the signal of the monitor to all hosts

EDIT: I did test adding a monitor to a Mac Mini and the resolution it first went in on was low, even after setting up the resolution, disconnecting the monitor (power off at the wall and back on) only sometimes caused the resolution to default back to a very basic one.


Resetting an iPhone with 'No Service' error

Don't reset.
If you do, then you won't be able to activate your new iPhone.
Some iPhone7 devices has this "No Service" problem. This is because it can't read your SIM. If you erase this iPhone, it will try to activate but since it can't read SIM you will loose your device.


Are there any apps which will "watch" constantly and trigger actions when I type a certain string?

There are many ways to accomplish this depending on your needs really. You can even use a combination of things to best fit what ultimately makes you more efficient.

I would recommend the following based upon it's type:

AppleScript

  FastScripts — set hotkeys for any AppleScript by keyboard shortcut or via menubar.

System-Wide Text Macros

  TextExpander - expands custom keyboard shortcuts into text, pictures, commands, etc.

System Events

  LaunchBar — hotkeys file manager, search tool, app launcher, clipboard
  manager, etc.


New USB C MacBook - status light for charging without turning computer on

No light is provided on Apple cables, adapters or the MacBook.

The device makes a quiet charge sound when you connect the USB cord, so unplug and listen for that sound when you reconnect the charging cable.

It is similar to the sound made when an iPad or iPhone connects.

For those that prefer light to sound, some docks and adapters have a charging indicator, and probably more will follow suit.

https://www.moshi.com/usb-c-multiport-adapter#silver
usb c to usb a cable with charging led
Usb c to usb a adapter with charging indicator


Are apsd, ntpd, mDNSResponder, trustd, netbiosd necessary for macOS functioning?

apsd - Used for FaceTime push notifications

ntpd - Used to synchronize clock

mDNSResponder - Part of the Bonjour protocol, used to scan your network for other Bonjour-enabled devices (printers, computers, etc...)

trustd - Used for validating SSL certificates

netbiosd - Used when interacting with Microsoft shared drives

This is all normal activity. However, if you are worried about security, you can disable the services you don't plan on using.

Edit: You might not want to disable ntpd and trustd as they are necessary for basic functionality such as browsing websites.


Using iPad as a shared drawing board in a Skype meeting

I am looking for a solution which allows me to live share my iPad screen while using Skype on my Mac.

Current Skype clients for macOS and iOS doesn't support this feature.

However, if you don't mind using a different app, Zoom meeting client is the app you are looking for. It includes a plethora of features such as audio, video conferencing, screen sharing with fine grained controls, remote control, shared drawing board, instant messaging etc.

Zoom app has native client app available for all major desktop and mobile operating systems. Zoom has the ability to share the screen of an iPad connected to your Mac. Zoom also comes with its own shared drawing board.

More information about the features can be found by visiting Zoom homepage here:

Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing - Zoom

To learn about the Zoom Whiteboard, visit this link:

Share a Whiteboard - Zoom Help Center

Zoom is a pretty popular and widely used online meeting app with majority of useful features available in the free plan (The free plan should cover all your requirements). For more details about the features, you can refer to the pricing page here:

Plans and Pricing - Zoom


If an iPhone or iOS device doesn’t self start after 15 minutes of charging, the proper step is to force a reset and then repeat this pattern four or more times before seeking a repair of the hardware.

Since your home button is broken, you could try disconnecting from power and reconnecting at each 15 minute point and hope.

You likely have two problems that need fixing, though. The button and the power circuitry or the electronics to start / run are failing. The tech (or you) will need to open the device to figure out which.


Sometimes when you install command line software, the software is actually a package that contains a collection of binaries (or library source files) and according to the Portfile description of graphviz, it's one of those packages:

  The Graphviz layout programs dot, neato, fdp, sfdp, twopi and circo
  take descriptions of graphs in a simple text language, and produce
  output in a variety of visual and text formats.

I personally don't use MacPorts but according to this answer it seems like you can view the binaries (and library source files) installed by a package through:

port contents installed_port_name


How to setup a ssh tunnel that works with P2P and filtered http from OS X to a linux machine over SSH?

Transmission will likely try to connect to the tracker using UDP which cannot be transmitted through the SSH proxy. You may or may not be able to force uTorrent to only use TCP. Even then it's unlikely that this will work.
Also this setup doesn't really make a lot of sense. You'd be much better off by downloading/seeding your torrents directly on that Linux box. rtorrent or transmission-daemon comes to mind as a viable solution.
You do have a lot of redundant options in your ssh command. You can strip it down to ssh -NC user@server.tld -D 1080 though I'd suggest you put all the config info into ~/.ssh/config anyway. You may increase the security of your connection by only binding your SOCKS proxy to the loopback by using -D localhost:1080. You do not need the reverse tunnel for your question and may even be substantially violating a company policy with that.


Failed to update brew: "The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by merge"

Be aware of what messages said.

  Please move or remove them before you can merge.

So, let's move it.

mv /usr/local/Library/Formula/curlpp.rb /usr/local/Library/Formula/curlpp.rb.old

Then try again:

brew upgrade


What is the easiest way to make a folder and every file inside of it read only?

90% of what I do on the Mac is controlled by voice commands.  It sounds like your buddy has enhanced dictation set up on his computer already. If so, if this following AppleScript code was saved in Script Editor.app as "Make Read Only.scpt" ...

tell application "Finder"
    set selectedItemsRef to a reference to (get selection)
    set itemCount to count of selectedItemsRef
    if itemCount is 1 and class of item 1 of selectedItemsRef is folder then
        set selectedFolder to (item 1 of selectedItemsRef) as alias
        set folderItemsRef to a reference to entire contents of selectedFolder

        set locked of folderItemsRef to false

        set {everyones privileges of folderItemsRef, group privileges of folderItemsRef, owner privileges of folderItemsRef} to {read only, read only, read only}

        set locked of item 1 of selectedItemsRef to false

        set {everyones privileges of selectedFolder, group privileges of selectedFolder, owner privileges of selectedFolder} to {read only, read only, read only}

        set locked of folderItemsRef to true
        set locked of item 1 of selectedItemsRef to true

    else if itemCount is 1 and class of item 1 of selectedItemsRef is document file then
        set selectedFile to (item 1 of selectedItemsRef) as alias
        set locked of selectedFile to false
        set {everyones privileges of selectedFile, group privileges of selectedFile, owner privileges of selectedFile} to {read only, read only, read only}
    end if

    if itemCount is greater than 1 then
        set selectedFolders to (items of selectedItemsRef) as alias list
        repeat with i in selectedFolders
            set folderItemsRef to (a reference to entire contents of i) --
            if locked of folderItemsRef is true then set locked of folderItemsRef to false
            if locked of i is true then set locked of i to false
            set {everyones privileges of folderItemsRef, group privileges of folderItemsRef, owner privileges of folderItemsRef} to {read only, read only, read only}
            set {everyones privileges of i, group privileges of i, owner privileges of i} to {read only, read only, read only}
        end repeat
        repeat with i in selectedItemsRef
            set locked of i to true
        end repeat
    end if
end tell

With that new "Make Read Only.scpt" script file selected in Finder and with Dictation currently active,  out loud speak the phrase "Make This Speakable".

After speaking that phrase,  this window should pop up.

Then, just as in this next image, locate and choose the file "Make Read Only.scpt"

After that new Dictation Command has been saved, you can double check that everything was done correctly by going to System Preferences / Accessibility / Dictation... Then open the Dictation Commands window and make sure your new command is in there.

Now after all of that setup has been completed, anytime a folder or file is selected in Finder (while enhanced Dictation is enabled and active), speak the phrase "Make Read Only".  If a folder or multiple folders are selected in Finder, the Permissions of the folders and all of its contents will be set to "read only" and that the folders will be set to "locked".  If only a single file is selected in Finder, it's Permissions will be set to "read only"

I have run several tests with several different scenarios and I think I have found and corrected all the bugs in the script.  Be sure to test everything out a few times and let me know if you find any bugs In the code.


USB Drives always need to be formatted to delete items

The next time you have your USB stick plugged in, open up Trash in the Finder, and you'll see the items that you have deleted in the trash. So, although you are "deleting" files from your USB stick, they are still there, and taking up space. You need to delete the trash when the USB stick is plugged in. This will solve your problem, as long as you remember to regularly empty the trash.


Omnigraffle - how to make double ended arrows?

Select the line (or lines) in your OmniGraffle document
Open the Style Inspector (Inspectors Menu ▸ Styles, or ⌘-1)
Select the second style inspector ("Lines and Shapes")

Use the popup menus to choose an arrow style


Don't use getElementById. Its a pain in the a** and almost never works for what you want.  Additionally none of your elements actually have id's so theres no point in use it. Instead use JavaScripts beautiful and helpful querySelector.  You can use CSS selectors to selector a single element and do what ever you want from there.

The element you are trying to select has a unique data attribute. The data attribute is data-auto-test-id= and the content of that attribute is ViewTrustedMachines so we can select it simply with document.querySelector('a[data-auto-test-id="ViewTrustedMachines"]'). Finally we just add the .click() to...well...click it.

tell application "Safari"
   do JavaScript "document.querySelector('a[data-auto-test-id=\"ViewTrustedMachines\"]').click();"
end tell

Also correct your HTML:

            Geo
            USA

            Download Queue
            0

            Wish List
            0

            Something else

                View

            Trusted Machines

                View

Finally, here's a fiddle to show it in action.


I have a habit of holding the home button for a few moments while lost in thought and exiting my current app

There's no setting and no access to any of the iOS files (unless you jailbreak) that changes the duration of the hold button press to activate Siri.
Unfortunately, it will be a habit that you're going to have to change/break. After all, the "long press" required to activate Siri is only 1.5 seconds.    The other option will be to change your workflow to either

use "Hey Siri"
use headphones and activate Siri with that button.


What's the password to the System keychain?

The login (user account) password isn't stored in keychain access, but keychain access automatically adopts the user account password as the keychain access password by default.

So, your password for keychain access is most likely the same as the login password.

There is no default password in mac, the user creates one on install. If your mac was provided already installed, there was likely an assigned password created by the admin, perhaps associated with AD. If you reinstalled OSX, it would not have wiped the password, but if you formatted the harddrive, then reinstalled OSX, you would have created a new password.


How Can I Trace the Origin of Outbound Spam Mail in Mavericks Server?

You should be able to find that Information in /var/log/Mail.log and some more in /var/log/system.log.


iMessage - How to block SMS from contacts without phone numbers?

SMS delivery is something your cellular carrier has the most control over. They make money delivering SMS so the trick is to convince them to let you not receive “fake” sms with bogus caller ID. That really varies by carrier and region so once you’re sure you’ve configured you SMS service as you want it, then the iOS settings are next best thing to try.

Contact your carrier - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204039
Use Apple settings - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201229

Filtering all unknown SMS and using do not disturb work best for me, but you may have to experiment with the controls to find your best mix of getting messages you want, not seeing those you don’t need to see immediately and engaging blocks on ones that are annoying pests.
In the end, you can’t block a number that doesn’t get reported correctly from the carrier or that you don’t know. Apple has a service added to allow third party applications to screen your calls - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099  but this doesn’t (yet) work for potentially screening junk messages.


How do I view my iCloud Photo Stream online?

Update: Apple now allows you to share your Photo Stream with others. More info on the official Photo Stream page here

At the moment no. The only way to access your stream is from a Lion Machine using either iPhoto or Aperture, or from another iOS 5.0 device with Photo Stream enabled.

I am not entirely sure if Apple is going to allow a sharing portal, however at the moment I take the images I want to share and upload them to Flickr through iPhoto once they are in my Photo Stream.

I suspect they currently use Photo Stream as a personal backup and sharing solution between devices, and not global sharing.


Texture and Pattern generator, Alternative to fireworks

I found GIMP

Download Here

it is free and useful

if anyone have any other suggestion i would be glad to hear it


Is it possible to use the Messages app with Google Voice?

in android, i know you can set the google voice, and/or hangouts(which is better version of google voice), to divert all texts to the native sms app. but i dont think you can with apple messages. they are so strict and guarding of using imessage for anything else but apple use, so i seriously doubt it. but try hangouts. its just like using a normal phone. and you can check the settings in it and see if it'll do it. yup. you can even facetime in hangouts! haha.


How to make Automator insert "AW" into a Stickies Note

The Stickies app is not scriptable, meaning it does not directly support AppleScript via a Stickies AppleScript Dictionary, so most coding is going to use System Events and what's generally referred to as UI Scripting to manipulate the Stickies app.

The example code below, will do the following:

Open Stickies.app and, or if already open, bring it to the front.
Create a new Stickies note.
Move the new note to the top left corner of the screen and set its size to the default size.
Type "AW" and "return", with "return" simulating the Enter key being pressed.

tell application "Stickies"
    activate
    delay 1
end tell
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "n" using command down
    set properties of window 1 of application process "Stickies" to {position:{0, 23}, size:{300, 200}}
    keystroke "AW" & return
end tell

This AppleScript code can be placed in a Run AppleScript action in an Automator Service workflow.

Note: One of the drawbacks of UI Scripting, is at times the needed use of the delay command to ensure the targeted UI Element is available to be acted upon. You may/will need to either adjust the value of any delay command and or add/remove additional delay commands as needed/wanted through any given UI Scripting scenario. The example code above, as is, worked on my system. If need be, make use of the delay command and adjust its value as/where needed/wanted.

Also the above example code does not employ any form of absolute error handling and is meant only to show how the individual events can be coded to achieve the objective. The onus is always upon the User to add/use appropriate error handling as needed/wanted.


OpenToonz: How to install ffmpeg for mac osx el capitan when only static ffmpeg builds for macOS 64-bit are available at ffmpeg.org?

At least one user found another answer hard to follow. So did I. After a bit of a struggle, I got OpenToonz 1.4 working with ffmpeg on a Mac running macOS Catalina (10.15). I installed the "static files." I did not build from source. Here is what I did:

download ffmpeg, ffprobe, ffplay and ffserver from the download page. The download links are displayed in large green buttons and there are several on the page.

Extract these compressed files to your system.

copy the executables to /Applications/OpenToonz/OpenToonz_stuff/plugins

control(right)-click > open each of the executables you moved into the plugins folder. This is necessary due to macOS security. The programs will run in the terminal and then report an error. That is OK.

open System Preferences > Security & Privacy. Go to the Privacy tab. Enable OpenToonz under the Accessibility category.

start OpenToonz. Open Preferences > Import/Export. Set the file path for ffmpeg: /Applications/OpenToonz/OpenToonz_stuff/plugins

Restart OpenToonz. It should be working now (at least it was for me).
It was not clear to me which of the 4 executables OpenToonz actually needs so I installed them all. It would be better to find out which ones are actually needed and install only those. Maybe at some time in the future I'll do that.


The most simple way to disable the Apple provided sshd without removing or replacing it is just renaming it:

sudo mv /usr/sbin/sshd /usr/sbin/sshd.old

Additionally you may add a symbolic link at /usr/sbin/ to the /usr/local/sbin/sshd with

sudo ln -s /usr/local/sbin/sshd /usr/sbin/sshd


How to mirror a selected area/window in primary display to second display

OBS — Open Broadcaster Software

In System Preferences → Displays, do not use Mirror Displays.
In OBS, click the + button under Sources and choose Display Capture.

Set ‘Display’ to your normal display.
Set Crop to your preferred method of cropping, such as Manual or To Window and configure the crop settings below. Click OK.

Use the red handles to resize your Display Capture source appropriately within the black ‘display’ (preview) in the OBS window. This is how/where your display will show on the mirror.

Right-click anywhere in the preview and choose ‘Fullscreen Projector (Preview)’, then select your external display to output to.


Do I need to repurchase apps if I moved countries?

So... unfortunately the answer is...

Yes, but there are ways around it...

All the apps you bought in country A are permanently assigned to your AppleID. Once you move to country B and you updated your details (billing address) you:

still can use them
you cannot re-download them
you cannot update them
you cannot convert your music to iTunes Plus (but still can listen, obviously)

There are two solutions to this:

Switch Store's country and update your billing details each time you want to get your apps up to date (or re-download them). But this is a rather painful process, so a better solution is to...
Create a new AppleID with the billing details for the country B. Switching between AppleIDs is much easier and quicker than switching Store's country and updating your billing address.

Let me quote why it has to be this way:

  [...] this how iTunes has been designed.

So. It's gonna be problematic, but nothing can be done really. :(


What does an X in the upper-left of a folder icon mean?

The X is actually a button.

It appears for example when you download a file or when you copy a folder/file.
It allows you to cancel the download/copy process.


Are whitespaces a good idea for a rootCA or intermediateCA for a self sign/closed on-prem PKI - with iPads?

Most probably you have installed the intermediate certificate in the wrong place. The root certificate should be added to the trust store on the iPad - this you've got working already.

The intermediate should NOT be placed in the trust store - instead it needs to be installed in the Keychain instead.

Spaces in the file names haven't got anything to do with the problem, as the file names "disappear" when the certificates are imported.

Note: In terms of "best practice" the way you are preceeding are more or less a work-around for the fact that you've got a misconfigured server/F5. You need to install the intermediate certificate on the server/F5 (i.e. whatever terminates your SSL), so that the TLS server actually replies with the full chain including the intermediate certificate.


I found this to solve the problem for me, thanks to Major Hayden!

...check your keyboard shortcuts in Chrome:

Choose Preferences in the Chrome menu in the menu bar
Click Extensions in the left sidebar
Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page
Click Keyboard Shortcuts
Look at the key bindings in the Google Play Music section
Remove them all by by pressing the 'X' icon next to them.


MacBook Pro trouble signing into App Store, iMessage and iCloud

I believe it is a problem on Apple's side. Just give it a day or two and try again.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/03/23/mac-users-facetime-imessage-login-issues/


When I set an export PROMPT_COMMAND, it changes my terminal settings?

The problem is that PROMPT_COMMAND is used by the system bash to enable per-session history. If you look at /etc/bashrc_Apple_Terminal you see

# Note that this uses PROMPT_COMMAND to enable per-session history
# the first time for each new session. If you customize PROMPT_COMMAND
# be sure to include the previous value. e.g.,
#
#   PROMPT_COMMAND="${PROMPT_COMMAND:+$PROMPT_COMMAND; }your_code_here"

So if you want to follow the recommendations in the advice you've linked to you are better off just using

export PS1="\t [\u@\h \W]\\$ \[$(tput sgr0)\]"

or similar. If you really want to use PROMPT_COMMAND

PROMPT_COMMAND="${PROMPT_COMMAND:+$PROMPT_COMMAND; }echo -n \[\$(date +%H:%M:%S)\]\ "

but the prompt will get messed up if you navigate back in time with Ctrl-P.


In the case of networked accounts and networked home folders, a user can login to any Mac on for example a company network and see their own files and have their own preferences set.

This is the case where you can use the -host feature. Say that you want for example one wallpaper on your own desktop, but another when you login to the shared office Mac in the meeting room. Or any other type of setting than wall paper ofcourse.


Yes and no. The iPhone has a reasonably sophisticated, system-level, sound setup with the goal of making it easy for the user. It has several volume options divided up. (1) all alerts such as ringtones and Alarm.app alarms, (2) Siri, (3) content playback such as music or video.

Yes: What you can do to directly fix your problem is to use the vibrate/silence switch on the side of the phone instead of turning the ringer volume down. In the on position (orange is showing, a vibration is felt when the switch is initially turned on), phone calls, texts, and such will vibrate, but the alarm will still play at whatever the ringer volume was set to before turning the vibrate switch on.

One other thing you could do is leave the volume switch on and purchase, or create, a silent ringer - no music in it. Then you can select that ringer as your default ringer and calls will be "silenced". This method is generally not preferred because custom contact ringers will override this ringer.

No: The vibrate switch is actually the only way to separate the ringer volume from the alarm volume. If the vibrate switch is off (calls are heard), then the alarm volume will match the ringer volume.


System proxy settings inaccessible by Java, Firefox, VMware Fusion, etc.?

I have the same issue. When I use a proxy.pac file certain applications fail to pick up the settings. Among these are:

Firefox
Chrome
Java apps (like eclipse)

Some apps that do work with the pac file are:

Safari
Skype
Adium
Evernote

What I have found though, is that when I manually add a proxy server to the system preferences it is picked up by all applications. So something in the pac handling is broken. Maybe old/new APIs in Lion?


MacOS 10.13.4 Cannot turn off lock screen in system preferences

I was stumped with some issues for days now, reading everything I could on the subject, and I finally found the solution: it is a keychain problem with as simple solution.

The solution is to delete one or more folders located in ~/Library/Keychains/, that is to say folders in the Keychains folder in our user Library.

The folders to be deleted have long names like: A8F5E7B8-CEC1-4479-A7DF-F23CB076C8B8.

You may have one or more folders with these long names and they can be safely deleted: one such folder will be recreated after rebooting.

Do not remove anything else contained in you Keychain folder, and reboot.

Once rebooted, reinstall all extensions in Safari, and/or enable other features you we having issues with.

Trashing those folders solves many issues such as:

Security login screen system prefs not recognizing your changes & your password (locks the screen immediately on sleep or screen saver);
Safari disabling all your extensions and not recognizing your password if you try a solution in the developer's menu;
iCloud system prefs not wanting to enable your iCloud Keychain and complaining it can't communicate with the iCloud server;
Safari not recognizing your password when you try to access the passwords tab in Safari preferences;
Login screen disregards Automatic Login settings and insists on asking  for a user password.

——

I found this solution at TechRaptor (thanks!), although at first it seems a bit unrelated (many screen captures in article): The Iron Mac: How to Get Rid of Annoying Local Items Keychain Box.


Picasa Mac: timeline or chronological view?

Not possible, unless the photos are sorted this way on your disk and you use the folder view.
In the albums view, all you can do is sort the albums by date, but then they are not grouped by year/month.
The picasa timeline feature is not available in the latest release of picasa mac.


If I delete and reinstall Pages will I lose my files?

If they are stored in iCloud Drive or another remote storage thing they will be redownloaded when you re-setup Pages. If they are not in a Cloud storage thing, they will be deleted with the app.

Since iOS 9 is a bit old at this point, newer iOS have a files app and you should be able to store all your Pages and iWork documents in file storage as opposed to storing them in the application bundle to avoid deleting any documents when you remove the Pages app.


How to manually upgrade iTunes library to Music.app library on macOS Catalina?

Quit Music.app by Cmd+Q
Hold Option key and start Music.app
Choose music library dialog opens. Click Choose library...
Locate the old .itl file (e.g. Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl) and select it
Input a name for a new library and click Save
Music.app starts with original library contents within a few seconds. Only a few megabyte large library is created on the disk. Media files and iTunes files are left intact.
Optional: go to Music.app preferences - Files tab and check the settings, so you know which location is currently used for media files.

Note: This didn't work in beta versions of macOS Catalina – first versions of Music.app didn't support multiple libraries or selecting a library.

Good to know to avoid confusion while working with multiple libraries: double-clicking on .itl file, or .musiclibrary library (folder) from Finder opens Music.app with the last used library. It does NOT switch the library.


HOME dir on another disk, how do I restore from TM backup?

Time Machine backs up symbolic links, it does not follow them.  The operating system would not restore correctly otherwise.

Time Machine will back up multiple volumes, if you allow it to do so in Options.  However, I believe you need to restore them separately.  If you were to restore both volumes in the same configuration as the original, then it should work.  Linking anything through /Volumes is a bit fragile, so you might need to adjust the symlink after restoring both volumes.


Could my data have been accessed on my lost iPhone 4 with iOS 7?

It is only possible if the thief knew (or guessed) your passcode.
If your data was in standard apps(Mail, safari), then there's nothing to worry about, if it was stored in apps that allow for filesharing through the 'apps'-tab on iTunes, then I don't really know how iTunes handles that.
Yes it was connected to the Internet, but it could be with 3G (was it on when it was stolen?) or a public network that automatically connects (like Apple Stores or Starbucks) without needing a password.
Don't really know

In any case, report this to your local police office (bring the serial number, it should be on the box) and let them handle the theft.


How are videos in 23.97 frames per second shown

24fps videos on a 30fps display (closer to 23.976fps on 29.97fps) divides out into 4/5. Conversion of film frame rate to display/TV frame rate is known as Telecine. NTSC video uses 2:3 Pulldown as the method for displaying 24fps on a 30fps device. 2 of the 5 frames in each pulldown cycle are interlaced.

You can do the same math with 23.976fps/24fps on a 59.94fps/60fps display: 23.976/59.94 = 2/5. While I don't know the exact pulldown method for this frame rate, the concept is essentially the same.

While each individual frame is available as a still, your mac handles the pulldown and frame interlacing on the fly.

(This is why 120fps and 144fps displays are great - 24fps divides into 120fps and 144fps evenly, so the video shows each video frame for 5 and 6 display frames, respectively. No interlacing artifacts.)


Set up VNC to use iPad Pro with Apple Pencil as a graphics tablet

I’m slightly expecting you’ll find this workable since AstroPad and Luna display are the best solution I know for your specific use case, but I’ll presume you have reasons to discard them as solutions.

https://lunadisplay.com/
https://astropad.com/

(Everyone else, use the tools above if you can, the tools below are the best screen share and tablet apps as well, so I highly recommend all these links)

The tool I use for Mac Remote Desktop is screens app and you can use your phone or a second iPad as a touch device or use the pencil in touch mode as you request.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screens/id655890150

Been using screens for years, and only my full time artist colleagues use the accelerated versions, but they love the custom tools when they cant just render on iPad directly which is the case more and more. Screens is way better than the other “vnc” apps due to this feature and a few others IMO.

Also, check out touchpad if you don’t need to see the content VNC on the iPad, that is even more responsive than the above solutions.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/touchpad/id297623931


After updating Mac 10.11.6, /cores is filling with core dumps

In Terminal, execute the following command: rm -f /cores/core.*

If you get a permissions error try: sudo rm -f /cores/core.* and type in your password.


I know you can copy images in Firefox, as far as Chrome goes I haven't used it in years. With Safari however if you are talking about still images you should be able to Command-C an image. If that doesn't work you could always "Copy Image Location"/"Copy Image Address" in either Firefox or Safari, then open Preview and choose to open the URL you just copied. From there you can use the normal Select/Command-C/Command-V to paste whatever section of the image you'd like into any other system app that displays images (i.e. iMessage via the attach feature). That would at least eliminate the need for using Grab, however if you are okay with it you could also simply save the image itself temporarily, click the Attachment button, drag and drop the image from your downloads fan/folder and delete it when you're done.


Can I use any character for the name of my app?

According to the App Store Review Guidelines, names can be anything so long as they are no more than 30 characters, do not infringe on copyright, and are unique.

So, yes, you can use the ⟡ Unicode character in your app name so long as it follows the guidelines above and on the website.


I have Java 8. An app wants Java 6 (legacy one). Can I avoid that?

You most likely can not avoid this. The app you needs to use is built to run on the Java SE 6 framework. Java 8 is not backwards compatible, so you cannot "force" this app to run on Java 8. The only way to avoid installing the Java 6 SE components is if you can somehow avoid using this particular app.

You do not want to install using the Java installer found on the Oracle website. This will result in you having multiple copies of Java on your system, and it will be a mess.

Follow the link in the notice you get, (I think it's this https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1572?locale=en_US) it will take you to an Apple download of a very specific set of "Java SE 6 Legacy runtime components". This can exist alongside your Java 8 installation and is used by certain outdated software (I used to have to install this to use an older version of Adobe Creative Suite before I updated to the CC version).

** I admit I'm not 100% sure that the SE 6 Legacy components are compatible with Mojave, but I think that they are and that there was maybe a notice that Mojave would be the last compatible version of macOS.


Photo app stuck on "restoring..." after iOS upgrade

It's having issues reading the database cache for the Photos app I think. Unfortunately the only good way to fix it that I know of is to do a full reset restore run again (I've had to do a few too many of those recently so I know that pain).


View desktop of *very remote* Ubuntu box from my MacBook Pro

You can do it easily using ssh port forwarding. Open terminal and enter

ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 remote_ip

with any other applicable settings you need. This will forward port 5900 on your local machine to port 5900 on the remote machine. If you need to change to a different local port (say, if you're already running a VNC server on your local machine), change the first 5900 to something else.

Then once the ssh connection is running, just VNC to localhost:5900, and you should get a connection to your remote machine.

If you don't have a VNC client already, there's one built in to Mac OS X. Open Finder, press ⌘K and enter vnc://localhost:5900 as shown below, and hit connect.


The app to use for viewing iCloud photos is the Photos app and not mobile Safari (or any other web viewer).

Tap on Photos and then go to the shared tab. All the photos you have access through over iCloud should be there.

If not, open the settings app and check the settings under iCloud -> Photos and that you're actually logged in with the same Apple ID as you are using to upload the photos. If you can't do that, be sure to invite the AppleID you use on the iPhone to see the shared photos from the uploading account. For most people, the account is one and the same, but you don't have to do it that way if you have reasons.


To set up Gmail app as default mail program in iPad?

At the moment, unfortunately, Apple doesn't allow default apps to be changed.

Some apps came up with various hacks to open Google Chrome instead of Mobile Safari when you press a web page link within that app but at the moment there is no such hack for mailing. And if there was, frankly, Apple would't implement it into Safari themselves.

Maybe in the future, Apple will allow default apps to be changed but basically you're stuck right now. Sorry.


DTrace in general is a dynamic tracing framework that allows
users to get information about the running system, including the user-space applications and the kernel.

The /dev/dtracehelper file is used to provider user-defined probes to dtrace. Essentially this means that an application can inform the dtrace system of events happening inside the application to provide high-level tracing capabilities for the user.

I.e. instead of generic events like system calls or signals, it is possible for software such as for example a database engine to provide dtrace with information such as "SQL query started" or "Query plan computed" or what ever the application developer wants.

It is not "used" as such by ordinary users - you use it through the software you installed that then makes information available in dtrace through the helper device.

If you are a developer, I would suggest reading the following documentation on how to add application-specific probes to your program:

http://dtrace.org/guide/chp-usdt.html#chp-usdt

If you really want to manually access /dev/dtracehelper, I suggest looking at the source:

https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/blob/0a798f6738bc1db01281fc08ae024145e84df927/bsd/sys/dtrace.h

(line 1488 and onwards, also take a look at the corresponding .c file)

In particular you would want to initialize data structures such as dof_ioctl_data with dof_helper substructures, and use ioctl() with DTRACEHIOC_ADDDOF and others.

You can find an example of doing this here:

https://github.com/trentm/hello-json-logging/blob/master/node_modules/restify/node_modules/dtrace-provider/libusdt/usdt_dof_file.c


Mitigating iPhone Headphones Design Flaw/Poor Usage

My solution was to get a Shure mic/clicker (about $30-40) and combine it with a pair of sony headphones from amazon.  The shure is a really good mic has lasted and lasted and lasted, and the headphones while only $10 sound much better than the apple ones, and when they crap out (about 1.5-2 yrs) are a trivial expense.  It's a little more unwieldy than the all in one unit but it's much more durable and cheaper in the long run.  I originally did this to get around the nonstandard headphone jack on the 1st gen iphone, but now I stay with it because it's so reliable


Shortcut for input source change on MacOS Mojave

I think you are mistaken about having used Shift Space for this. Such shortcuts normally include Control or Command.

The Apple defaults for Input Source switching for Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, and El Capitan are Control Space and Control Option Space. Back in Yosemite it was Command Space and Command Option Space.

Here is another recent query about this.


This seems to be a problem for a particular number of MacBook Pro models starting in 2010.  According to this article in the Apple support site, the following models have a sub-woofer speaker in addition to the left and right speakers to enhance mid-range sounds.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012).

Looking at this article in the Apple discussion boards and this article here on Ask Different, users of these models are experiencing the same issue. If I had to guess, every model with this sub-woofer acts the same way and only a few users have noticed it.

There may not be a way to correct this. I hope this information helps.


Message shows as delivered only on one device

It probably just means that your two devices (iPhone and iPad) are not synced correctly with one another. My guess is that it doesn't actively search for whether the recipient received the message, only gets a "delivered" message on the device you sent it from. You could probably do a test check with texting a friend or family member's phone and compare how it responds from sending test messages from both devices.


OSX Lion: Long press menu automatic selection

UPDATE: I misunderstood your question and the answer is you can't. The way it works is kinda lame  but i haven't found a way to change that.
They way I do it, is I long press the key and then use the right arrow key to select the one I want, so a single right arrow key will put you in the first item. But then again, this is not the "automatically insert the first one when i long press" option that you want.
I will leave the rest of the answer just because it was too much writing and it may be useful for someone :-D
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The only solution for this is to alter the order of the chars in the corresponding language. If you're "familiar" with the Terminal, you can find how to do that in this answer.
Quoting:

The characters included in the popovers are defined in property lists inside the /System/Library/Input Methods/PressAndHold.app/ bundle.
I was able to change à to y by editing /System/Library/Input Methods/PressAndHold.app/Contents/Resources/Keyboard-en.plist and logging out and back in.

So, you should open Terminal.app, and type:
cd /System/Library/Input\ Methods/PressAndHold.app/Contents/Resources/

Then, perform an ls to see the contents:
ls -l

And find one that looks like the keyboard layout you're using (I'm assuming french) so it should be Keyboard-fr.plist
Backup the file now to your Desktop just in case:
cp Keyboard-fr.plist ~/Desktop

Finally, edit the current file by doing:
sudo vi Keyboard-fr.plist

this is going to prompt you for your password, the reason is that the file is protected so you need to be an admin. Type your password and press enter. The vi editor should open with the contents of the file.
If you scroll down (use the arrow keys), you will find this:
<key>Roman-Accent-c</key>
 <dict>
  <key>Direction</key>
  <string>right</string>
  <key>Keycaps</key>
  <string>ç c ć č</string>
  <key>Strings</key>
  <string>ç c ć č</string>
 </dict>

There are two key pieces here:

you can see that this corresponds to the lower case 'c' because it says: "Roman-Accent-c". If you wanted to modify 'a' you should find "Roman-Accent-a". You can even create new ones, like Roman-Accent-Q will be for upper case 'Q'. (so the popup will appear if you press-and-hold shift-Q. Neat huh?

You can see the sequence of chars: ç c ć č

There is a space between each char (you can add more, I don't know if there's a limit, I have one with 14).
Please note that you have to change it in both lines
I assume you're familiar with the 'vi' editor, but if you don't know how to do it, here's a 5 seconds crash course for this task.
Once you are positioned (using arrows) where you want to edit (i.e.: the cursor is over the ç in the  line), press "i" to enter insert mode. now retype your chars in the order you want them and delete the ones you don't want (move with the arrows if unsure, delete with "delete" key). It's a bit tricky.
Repeat the above for the other  line below, they must look alike.
Once you're done and happy, press ⎋ (That's the esc key) to exit insert mode, then type:
:wq

Yes, that's a semicolon, then a "w" and a "q" (for write, quit), then press enter.
You should be back at the terminal.
If you get a -- INSERT -- W10: Warning: Changing a readonly file or similar when you press "i" to INSERT, you forgot to do the sudo command and you have no permission to write to the file, so don't waste time and try to fix that first :)
If for some reason you mess up, don't panic. You can always exit insert mode at any time (by pressing esc) and then 'u' to UNDO or :q! (semicolon, q + !) to quit without saving.
Anyway, once you have saved your results, logout or restart your computer and you should be set to go.
Good luck :)


It sounds like you mean 2nd generation iPad vs 3rd generation iPad, both of those models do use the older 30 pin connector.

3rd generation isn't new tho so maybe you mean iPad MINI...   the mini 2 and mini 3 both use the newer smaller lightning connector.

If it does go from 30pin to lightning tho, apple does have 2 different style of adapters avaialble. Here and here.


Why does Image Capture scan tiff files with different compression formats?

I am encountering this same problem. I realised this when I tried to import my scanned photos into Lightroom and got an error that "The file uses an unsupported compression algorithm".
From some online research and then trying it out myself, it appears that Image Capture for some reason switches compression when the cropping box is at a non-zero angle.
I hope there is a fix for this, but I haven't been able to find any, which is frustrating. I'm now researching other scanning programmes, though the UI of most are not as friendly as Image Capture.


This answer assumes:

your internal drive is full and this is why you can't log in
you do not have access to another Mac
you do not have another drive you can boot from.

The following steps will allow you to delete what we call a sleepimage file. These are usually quite large and should free up enough space for you to be able to log back in.

Note that while this can be done in much fewer steps (steps 4 to 10 could be removed and step 11 could contain a much longer file path), I've deliberately split this up to reduce the risk of making a typo and to make it easier to understand.

Deleting your sleepimage file via Single User Mode

Boot into Single User Mode by restarting your Mac and pressing and holding ⌘ + S as soon as you hear the startup chime
Keep these keys down until you see a black screen with white text
Mount your drive by typing in exactly: /sbin/mount -uw / (note there is a space after the 't' and again after the 'w') and then pressing the enter key
Now list what's there by typing in ls and pressing the enter key
You should see a list of files and directories
Now type in cd private (note there is a space after 'cd') and press the enter key
Now type in cd var (note there is a space after 'cd') and press the enter key
Now type in cd vm (note there is a space after 'cd') and press the enter key
Now type in ls and press the enter key
Hopefully you will see that you have a sleepimage file located here (this is what we're going to remove)
Now type in rm sleepimage (note there is a space after 'rm') and press the enter key
Now reboot your Mac by typing in reboot and then pressing the enter key

Hopefully this will free enough space for you to be able to login. If so, then take the time to remove any other data you don't need. If not, message me and we'll go from there.

NOTE: If your Mac doesn't reboot after Step 12, feel free to switch it off with the power button.

IMPORTANT: - You really should have a backup regime in place! Buy yourself an external USB hard drive and start using Time Machine for backups!

Deleting downloads via Single User Mode

Since you know you have items in your Downloads you can delete, these steps will help you do that from Single User Mode.

Follow Steps 1 to 5 from Deleting your sleepimage file via Single User Mode above
Now type in cd users (note there is a space after 'cd') and press the enter key
Now type in ls and press the enter key
You should see a list of users for your Mac.
Now, if we assume your username is Marvin, type in cd marvin (note there is a space after 'cd'). Obviously, if your username is something else, then use that instead of marvin!
Press the enter key
Now type in ls and press the enter key
You should see a number of folders listed. Type in cd downloads (note there is a space after 'cd') and press the enter key
Now type in ls and press the enter key
You should see a list of files and folders. Now use the rm command to remove items you don't want.
For example, if you have an item called Installer.dmg, you would remove it by typing in rm Installer.dmg (note there is a space after 'rm') and pressing the enter key
Once you've removed enough items to free up space, reboot your Mac by typing in reboot and then pressing the enter key

Note: If an item has a space in its name (e.g. Install XYZ.dmg), then the command you would need to enter is rm Install\ XYZ.app. That is, I have used a backslash \ before the space!

Deleting Applications via Single User Mode

If you want to remove applications, then follow these steps:

Follow Steps 1 to 5 from Deleting your sleepimage file via Single User Mode above
Now type in cd applications (note there is a space after 'cd') and press the enter key
Now type in ls and press the enter key
You should see a list of applications and folders. Now use the rm command to remove items you don't want.
For example, if you have an item called XYZ.app, you would remove it by typing in rm XYZ.app (note there is a space after 'rm') and pressing the enter key
Once you've removed enough items to free up space, reboot your Mac by typing in reboot and then pressing the enter key

Note: If an item has a space in its name (e.g. Microsoft Word.app), then the command you would need to enter is rm Microsoft\ Word.app. That is, I have used a backslash \ before the space!


Missing from what page?

At the bottom of an email message, this little arrow is for Reply, Forward, Print.


When two devices connect via wifi, is the connection 'direct' or are they going through a wifi network?

It doesn’t matter if you have a router or not, the macs will find each other and transfer. Plug a direct ethernet cable if you have it for fastest speeds, however. Your reading is correct - good work picking apart the nuance of direct connection on Sierra.


GRUB overwritten Refind/Mac bootloader - Unable to boot

Update - i was able to solve this situation.
The simplest solutions evade at times.

In case someone else runs into this, what i did-
In the grub menu i was trying to see if i could do something in the command line interface..
Just typed exit & immediately i was popped back onto refind.
Immediately booted into OS X & reinstalled refind..


How to run a shell script from an AppleScript?

To not get that error, you need to make myShellScript.sh executable.

In a Terminal, use the following command:

chmod u+x /path/to/file/myShellScript.sh

Also, you should add a shebang to the top of the script.

Example: #!/bin/bash

Note: Use the appropriate shebang for the shell you want to process your script.

If you do not want to make the script executable, although I can't see a reason one wouldn't want to, you can run it in AppleScript as in the following example:

do shell script "bash /path/to/file/myShellScript.sh"

Note: If you want to use sh over bash, just substitute it in the command and the shebang.


To attempt to back it up you could try starting in Target Disk mode & connect it to another Mac.

It is potentially safe - as you've checked the disk already with no errors - to simply overlay a new OS on top of the existing one without disturbing any other data. Run 'Install macOS' from the Recovery partition.


A way to get the device node from the disk UUID is this:

diskutil info UUID|grep 'Device Node'|awk '{print $3}'

Replace UUID with the actual disk UUID.


MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019) with a 4k monitor mis-identifies monitor

It is most likely still the adapter/cable being used. I had the same issue with an adaptor that claims to run 4K@60 and it didn't. I have the same model for work, and a 2017 model hooked to a Samsung U28E590D and I can get 60Hz using HDMI or Display Port. If what you say is true, and it is an apple adaptor, then you may just have an older version of the adapter which does not support 4K as shown here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207806


Yosemite - Require password after sleep is disabled

Run in Terminal

defaults write com.apple.screensaver askForPassword -bool false


How can I restore an Application state from a cloned system?

It depends on the app:

Non-Apple applications states or data can be found in ~/Library/Application Support/ usually.

Copying the folder named as the app to the respective path in your new system should restore most things.

This works for Firefox and Chrome.

It's also adviseable to copy the content of ~/Library/Saved Application State/.

Some Apple apps have their own folder in ~/Library/ like Safari and Mail. To get the Safari data and especially all your mails (in Mail), copy those folders. Others have their states/data in ~/Library/Group Containers/ or ~/Library/Containers/.

Very important:

Copy the folder ~/Library/Keychains to your (new) desktop and import your passwords. If you are also using a password app like 1Password, copy the respective folder in ~/Library/Application Support/.

Copy all preferences files ~/Library/Preferences/. Also check for invisible files and folders in ~/, ~/Preferences, ~/Library, /Library or /. They often contain either config files (e.g. .ssh) or even auth files or serial numbers for apps you purchased in the past.

You neither specified a system version nor an app version. Depending on your system or app version and purchase type (App Store or conventional) paths may vary.


Sandboxing prl_disp_service to prevent disk waking

Yay, I managed to sandbox prl_disp_service \o/

I put a file named prl_disp_service.sb into /Library/Sandbox/Profiles denying ioctl on disk1 (the harddisk I wanted to prevent from waking):

(version 1)
(allow default)
(debug deny)
(import "system.sb")
(deny file-read* file-ioctl
    (regex "/dev/disk1*"))

And edited /Library/Parallels/Parallels Service.app/Contents/Resources/ParallelsDispatcherService:

sandbox-exec -f /Library/Sandbox/Profiles/prl_disp_service.sb "${ParallelsDispatcherService}" -e --logfile "${LogFile}" --pidfile "${PidFile}" >/dev/null 2>&1 &


MacBook Pro connected to Dell monitor display issue

Given that nobody seems to have any idea what the solution might be, I'll give you the Ask Different Backup Answer to Hardware Problems (aka ADBAtHP): go to your local Apple Store (or Apple Authorized Reseller) and ask them. Take your Mac, the adapter, and the monitor so they can reproduce it. They'll probably try other monitors, other adapters, and other Macs to see what the issue might be. Hopefully you're under warranty and/or it's just a bad mini DisplayPort adapter, as that's the cheapest fix.


Is it possible to create a user with all admin rights *except* the ability to interrupt a particular process and access a particular folder?

I can’t see any way you could accomplish this without rewriting the OS and security models.

The accessing a specific folder will be trivially handled when you encrypt the contents of a folder or file and don’t share the key to unlock the data on APFS. Since you can’t keep the root user from reading a file or folder, and admin user can become root (that’s the definition of Admin user on macOS) therefore anything one admin user can set, another can undo.
The prevention of the ability of any admin user to send SIGKILL (or any other interesting IPC commands) to any running process will be problematic technically without modifying the OS itself.

The best you can do is try to rely on Gatekeeper and preventing sudo from your admin user per this very excellent question:

Block Specific Apps on macOS

I can’t see a case where you wouldn’t just make the user not an admin and carve out a way they can do whatever admin things you want them to do by granting additional access and just not granting admin status to the users you don’t trust.


Notification settings aren't being retained

Fixed:

This thread on the Apple forums is the key:

Open the Library folder in your Home folder.
In the Library folder, open the Application Support folder.
Locate the folder named NotificationCenter. Drag this folder to the desktop.
Next, open the Terminal application and enter the following

.

cd `getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR`
rm -rf com.apple.notificationcenter
killall usernoted; killall NotificationCenter

Restart your computer.

The issue is clearly to do with the NotificationCenter database. There are 3 files:

db
db-shm
db.wal

In my case db.wal was a 0 byte file compared with 1.9MB on a correctly working Yosemite install. Permissions were correctly set, but looks as if Yosemite wasn't writing to it. Only deleting db.wal didn't fix the problem - another 0 byte file was created on restart. Deleting everything works though!


iPhone ceased connecting to AkrutoSync on laptop with static IP address

Thanks to AkrutoSync, the problem is solved.  The WiFi was off, so internet connectivity was due to the use of my data plan.  The iPhone often flips settings in ways that I don't expect, e.g., switching out of low-power mode.  It's still possible that I had disabled WiFi, but at the moment, I am unable to think of a situation in which I would specifically choose to ensure that the data plan is used instead of WiFi.

Afternote: Actually, one reason to ensure use of data plan rather than WiFi was to ensure uninterrupted connectivity as one moves around, e.g., when using Google Maps for navigation.  It was possible that navigation would be uninterrupted by the hand-off from WiFi to data plan, but as I was in a hurry, I didn't want to risk it.


How to md5 a list of filepaths contained in a file?

find . -type f -exec /sbin/md5 -r {} +
       ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^
          |      |        |       |  |
          |      |        |       |  +- add as many file names as possible per call
          |      |        |       +---- replace with names of found files
          |      |        +------------ command to run
          |      +--------------------- execute following command
          +---------------------------- find any "normal" file

should do the trick (and take care of the usual issues with spaces etc within filenames).

As for faster: one pass is almost always faster than two passes. In the specific case the MD5 calculation takes so much time that other factors most probably can be ignored.

PS: Tip of the hat to @lhf for reminding me of -r


Black Border in External Monitor OSX El Capitan 1920 x 1080

Same problem with my Acer monitor. I've researched a lot online. Next few days my ordered VGA-DVId will test my last resort. So I suggest you might change your monitor's input to DVI. This solved the issue for me.


The "hang" is most likely caused by the HP SSD being pre-formatted for Windows computers (NTFS) which macOS cannot read by default.  If you wipe the drive with a macOS compatible format, it will likely fix the issue.

Using Terminal, issue the following command:

$ diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ Untitled GPT /dev/diskX

HFS+ is the format of the new drive
Untitled is the name of the new drive
GPT is the partition scheme
/dev/diskX is the drive identifier (use diskutil list to obtain identifier)


iOS 11 reminder completely broken, not working

For me, I had to delete the app and re-install it from the App Store.
Then Reminders started working normally.


Why does the home button in the iPhones have dedicated terminals?

Speculation as none of us are Apple engineers and if we were, I doubt they could freely talk about it.

But the most likely reason is that allows for separation of parts, easier assembly and a lower replacement cost. Had the home button, which in the pictured 4G iPhone is a simple button and not the newer fingerprint camera, been using a fpc, it would require a connector at the top like the others. The top of the iPhone is pretty full as is. It would also add another failure point in assembly as the flex cable at the top is likely to get pinched. And it would have likely been made part of the display assembly meaning a broken button would mean replacing a 100 + display.


Locating the file in which a dictionary word is stored

Through a process of elimination, I have determined that the word is (erroneously) in the system wide spell checker.

The file isn't in your local spell check dictionary.  This is easy to check - simply edit the file ~/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary.  You can also issue the following command to search directly from the command line
% grep -i anbalagous < ~/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary

Apple utilizes a spell checker called Hunspell which is an open source spell checker based on MySpell. (also found on https://opensource.apple.com)  The dictionary (en_US.dic) are plain text files and can easily be viewed/edited.  Issuing the following command on the downloaded dictionary file yields no results; it's not in the public dictionary from Hunspell.
% grep anbalagous < hunspell-en_US-2019.10.06/en_US.dic

AppleSpell appears to be their proprietary spelling and grammar checker product as it isn't found on https://opensource.apple.com/source/ (listing of open source projects used by Apple).  The version.plist file found in /System/Library/Services/AppleSpell.service/Contents makes reference to the "ProjectName" being "ProofReader".

There are additional word lists (spelling dictionaries) found in /usr/share/dict.  Searching each one for the word in question produced no result either. Eg:
% grep -i anbalagous < ~/usr/share/dict/words

On a FreeBSD 12-1 VM, I installed the hunspell and en-hunspell (en-US dictionary) ports.  Anbalagous is identified as misspelled; so the hunspell engine and dictionary appear to be working.

Finally, on a clean install of Catalina, I tested the word anbalagous and it doesn't trigger the spell check.  It appears it's in the spell check dictionary/word list supplied from Apple or there is possibly a bug in Apple's implementation of the spell checker.

Since I can't seem to find a dictionary with that misspelling and the open source tools which Apple bases their spell checker seem to function correctly, I filed a bug report with Apple at https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html; I encourage you to do the same.


Bluetooth headphones disconnect a few seconds after connecting on macOS

Try resetting the Bluetooth module.

Shift-Option click the BT menu bar item > Debug > Reset the Bluetooth module.


How do I enable location services for a specific website on Safari for OS X?

The following works for me in Safari 12.0.

Go to the specific site you want to change the setting for.

Now, from the Safari menu (next to the Apple menu), choose Settings for This Website.

A pop-over should appear, with a Location setting at the bottom.


You can't enable VoiceOver for just one app, but you can easily turn VoiceOver on and off.

Method 1(Siri): Just launch Siri(by pressing and holding the home button), and say "Turn on Voice Over", and and Siri will reply(no reading necessary). You can also turn Voice Over off, by saying "Turn of Voice Over" when you leave the app.

Method 2(Acessibility Shortcut): Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and tap "VoiceOver". Now whenever you triple-click the home button, it will enable voice over, and when you triple click it again, it will disable VoiceOver.


Does time capsule backup 3rd party app preferences

Yes, settings of 3rd party apps are included.


Adding Google to the Internet Accounts is not working

Fixed it for me. I had to restart my computer. After that it worked without any issue.


Are there any good Apple Watch apps to track roller skating?

there is! I use an app called 'sports tracker'. There are a lot of different kind of exercises to track, including roller skating ;


How do I move up one folder while browsing Time Machine?

Command clicking the icon at the top center of the Finder window works for me to navigate back but there is a slight delay while the UI processes things.

Perhaps you are mounting the backup over a network share or otherwise not waiting long enough for that option to draw. Also, you can add the path control to Finder's toolbar by control clicking (right click) in the toolbar and customize…


Stop cron daemon "symmetrical.xm" error messages in Terminal mail

open Terminal
run ls -l /Users/MyUsername/Library/symmetrical.xm/symmetrical.xm
If you get an error of any kind (directory or file not found) run crontab -r to remove your crontab.


Remove preinstalled apps on Big Sur MacBook Pro M1

The fastest path forward would be to make your account the administrator and grant each child their own managed AppleID and their own sign in and force them to abide by Screen Time limits.
You are correct that uninstalling the core parts of the system is a bit like the task of sysiphus.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210387 (Guide on app restrictions)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201084 (Guide on Family accounts)

You likely won’t even need to resort to stricter measures like a free / hosted MDM like https://app.jamfnow.com/devices
I have not had success messing with the Sealed System Volume (SSV) in Big Sur, but people are starting to document how this works publicly.