Unusable 2.5" external HDD. Partition failed with the error -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device. Exfat only? Repairable?

As per @bmike's suggestion. I'm putting my attempts at solutions in this answer to avoid repeatedly bumping the comments section and to clean up the original question.

As per @Allan's advice I formatted the drive to Exfat on Windows, although the "format did not complete successfully". On Disk Utility I now can see a greyed-out volume named Disk1s1. However, I still get the message, "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." "[Initialize | Ignore | Eject]", when connecting to my MBP. Moreover, the 'First Aid' option in Disk Utility is greyed out.

Now, diskutil list command result gives a volume type of DOS_FAT_16. Compare this with the previous results that shows the original (working) and previous (unusable) states.

The disk currently does not work on Mac or Windows.
Next steps from here?

--

Currently the disk is unusable but with greyed-out disk1s1 in disk utility. /dev/disk1 gives:

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk1
   1:                 DOS_FAT_16                         2.0 TB     disk1s1

sudo gpt -r -v show disk1 gives:

gpt show: disk1: mediasize=2000398934016; sectorsize=512; blocks=3907029168
gpt show: unable to open device 'disk1': Input/output error

sudo diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk1 gives:

Unable to verify this whole disk: A GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning scheme is required (-69773)

diskutil info /dev/disk1 gives the following:

   Device Identifier:        disk1
   Device Node:              /dev/disk1
   Part of Whole:            disk1
   Device / Media Name:      JMicron Generic Media

   Volume Name:              Not applicable (no file system)

   Mounted:                  Not applicable (no file system)

   File System:              None

   Content (IOContent):      FDisk_partition_scheme [PREVIOUSLY THIS WAS "NONE"]
   OS Can Be Installed:      No
   Media Type:               Generic
   Protocol:                 USB
   SMART Status:             Not Supported

   Total Size:               2.0 TB (2000398934016 Bytes) (exactly 3907029168 512-Byte-Units)
   Volume Free Space:        Not applicable (no file system)
   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes

   Read-Only Media:          No
   Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (no file system)
   Ejectable:                Yes

   Whole:                    Yes
   Internal:                 No
   OS 9 Drivers:             No
   Low Level Format:         Not supported

Previously the results were:

Nonexistent, unknown, or damaged partition map scheme
If you are sure this disk contains a (damaged) APM, MBR, or GPT partition
scheme, you might be able to repair it with "diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk1"

diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk1

Nonexistent, unknown, or damaged partition map scheme
If you are sure this disk contains a (damaged) APM, MBR, or GPT partition map,
you can hereby try to repair it enough to be recognized as a map; another
"diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk1" might then be necessary for further repairs
Proceed? (y/N) y
Error repairing map: POSIX reports: Input/output error (5)

diskutil partitionDisk disk2 1 GPT JHFS+ "Untitled" 100%

Started partitioning on disk2
Unmounting disk
Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device

Here's what I've had a look at (but not sure if it applies to my case):

http://www.macissues.com/2014/04/05/how-to-fix-deep-formatting-problems-with-os-x-drives/ (I attempted cat /dev/random > /dev/disk1 once only, but got a stdout: Input/output error response)

https://ipfs-sec.stackexchange.cloudflare-ipfs.com/apple/A/question/125965.html (I tried diskutil eraseVolume exfat exfat2tb /dev/disk1 but got the following:

Started erase on disk1
Unmounting disk
Erasing
newfs_exfat:
wipefs_wipe: Input/output error
Volume name      : exfat2tb
Partition offset : 0 sectors (0 bytes)
Volume size      : 3907029168 sectors (2000398934016 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 131072
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 120832
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 122880 sectors (62914560 bytes)
# Clusters       : 15261352
Volume Serial #  : 5ec6682e
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 1907669
Upcase start     : 17
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 18
Mounting disk
Could not mount disk1 with name (null) after erase
Error: -69832: File system formatter failed

Previously (unusable disk):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:                                                   *2.0 TB     disk1

Originally (working disk):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk1
       1:               Windows_NTFS                         2.0 TB     disk1s1


How to change the volume of Skype for Mac, independent from the system volume?

The functionality has not been removed, it is only disabled in the default settings.
In order to have it back, go to the Preferences, in the Audio/Video panel, and change the "Speakers" drop down menu from "Same as System" to "Built-in Output (Internal Speakers)" (or any other output you have available, I guess). This gives you back the Skype volume adjustment, independent from the System volume.
Once you change the preferences, the two extra menu entries will also be back in "Conversations" menu.

I have checked this on Skype version 7.49 (274) under MacOS 10.11.2 (El Capitan).


I have a problem resetting my AppleID password

If the Apple ID is still logged in the iPad, you can view the email address used by the iCloud account in Settings > iCloud. (Email address appears under the name on the iCloud account)

From there, you can retrieve the email address used to register the iCloud account and attempt to recover your password.


You could press ⌘+v (verbose boot) at startup. No Apple logo will appear, but the screen will turn black and print a lot of text as it boots up. (As soon as the OS has booted, it will go into graphics mode, don't worry.)

Whenever an action takes very long and it prints some message (either in progress or afterwards), write it down or take a photo of the screen. You can then google for this problem.


Make iOS 6 device (iPod Touch) DLNA renderer

Ok, found it. Involves jailbreaking the ipod but to my surprise this has become totally trivial over the years.

So, if anyone needs a DLNA renderer, check out intelligentShare UPnP AV Renderer... So far works perfectly using BubbleUPnP on my Android Phone as Controller, playing from my music library on a NAS running twonkyserver!


“macOS needs to repair your library” error loop on Mojave upgrade

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203538

That’s the link that should help. Worked for me.  I’d been frustrated by this problem for weeks.  Disk utility repair was not good enough.
But resetting user permissions as per above link did the trick.


Which Python packages are installed on Mavericks?

According to StackOverflow you just can type

python -c "help('modules')"

or

pip freeze


Looking for a program similar to Alfred and Keyboard Maestro

Keyboard Maestro can do this in a number of ways.  An entirely extensible way is to make a sequence of self-disabling macros, something like this:

Macro: First Command Key
Trigger: Device Key Command Key
Actions:
Disable Macro "First Command Key"
Enable "Second Command Key"
Pause 3 Seconds <- adjust as necessary
Disable Macro "Second Command Key"
Enable Macro "First Command Key"

and then

Macro: Second Command Key
Trigger: Device Key Command Key
Actions:
Disable Macro "Second Command Key"
Enable "Second Command First Option Key"
Pause 3 Seconds <- adjust as necessary
Disable Macro "Second Command First Option Key"

and then

Macro: Second Command First Option Key
Trigger: Device Key Option Key
Actions:
Disable Macro "Second Command First Option Key"
Enable "Second Command Second Option Key"
Pause 3 Seconds <- adjust as necessary
Disable Macro "Second Command Second Option Key"

and then

Macro: Second Command Second Option Key
Trigger: Device Key Option Key
Actions:
Disable Macro "Second Command Second Option Key"
Perform whatever actions desired.

etc

It'll take a couple minutes to set up, but you can configure it any way you like.


Two external keyboards of the same type have different mappings

I'm not familiar with what you are trying, but I've had success with Karabiner for device-specific remaps, it's a little complicated to use but they have a manual on their site


How do you add the resolution icon to the top menu bar on the Macbook Pro (retina)

There is no method built-in to Mavericks (the OS you are likely using on a new Retina MacBook Pro). However, there are 3rd party utilities to add this functionality.

Try QuickRes. You may want the paid version rather than the free in order to select all the resolutions your machine offers...


El Capitan - Weather search in Spotlight not working

From testing on my Mac, I can confirm that weather in Sao Paulo, BR doesn't actually show the weather, whereas weather in Sao Paulo, or weather in Sao Paulo, Brazil does. Whether or not the ã is used doesn't affect the result:

If these inputs don't return the natural language search results, then check on the OS X Feature Availability page. You may need to reconfigure your Language & Region settings in System Preferences in order to use the feature, until it's supported for your current Language and Region settings.

If neither of these methods provide solutions, you may want to try disabling and reenabling Spotlight Suggestions.

Open System Preferences & navigate to Spotlight

Ensure that Spotlight Suggestions is checked; if it's already checked, uncheck spotlight suggestions, then recheck it. Now, try bringing up Spotlight and you should be able to get the weather from typing weather in sao paulo


OSX Lion 10.7.1 - Safari, Textedit or Stickies in separate Mission Control Desktops

If the item you're trying to move springs back then it's most likely already on the space / desktop you're trying to move it to.

You can also try moving something to another desktop in ways other than Mission Control:

Let's say you already setup two spaces, and you want something from
space one onto space two; Just drag the window of whatever it is to
the edge of the screen and hold it there until it moves over to the
other space.
Another way you can do this is to simply open whatever application or
file you want in that particular space.

Apps are automatically assigned to the Desktop / Space where they are launched for the very first time. You change this by Control clicking the apps icon in the
   dock, and assign to None.


using windows on a mac for a few applications

Virtualisation software such as VMware Fusion, Parallels or Virtual Box will allow you to run windows "in a Window". They work very well.

I recommend VMWare, as best performance-wise, and has some advanced features which make the file exchange between OS's almost seam-less. VirtualBox is less user friendly, but still works well and is free.

Note that for this to work well you need plenty of RAM. I'd recommend 4GB as a minimum.


Convert a bunch of MKV files to MP4 to read them in iTunes

Install ffmpeg by running brew install ffmpeg or sudo port install ffmpeg or by downloading a binary from http://ffmpegmac.net. Then run a command like:

for f in *.mkv;do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 256k -strict -2 "${f%mkv}mp4";done

Or if you don't need to re-encode audio:

for f in *.mkv;do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c copy "${f%mkv}mp4";done


Is there a key command to shift Apple Mail focus to top?

You should be able to press the Home key (Fn + ← left arrow key on a laptop) to go to the top.

Alternatively, if you have a multi touch trackpad, you can use BetterTouchTool to set a gesture for Home and End. I personally think this is the best way, and I set a three fingered swipe down to Home and a three fingered swipe up to End


Disable line wrapping and horizontal scrolling for output in iTerm

I believe this is not possible without using fullscreen mode - vim is using fullscreen mode (python -c 'print "\x1b[?1049h"') which disables vertical scrolling as well, which isn't what I want (though this wasn't clear in the question).

Also, it turns out this behavior isn't specific to terminal.app - it's how all the terminals I've tried work.


She still has access to the account.

If you and your aunt are using the same account then she can still have access. You should make sure that she has her own account so that you can send her a shared album of photos instead of the entire gallery.


Password doesn't work for software update but does for everything else

This will be a little tricky to pick apart remotely. Your edits are super helpful to come up with next steps.
I would use the command line and try this in the terminal app.
sudo softwareupdate --all --install

You will be prompted to enter your password and if that accepts your password and starts to download and install the updates, you know it’s just a GUI account issue.
If you don’t like the command line, another path is to make a second admin user and log out of the problem user (Apple menu - log out) and then try the update from the second account. Either way, you can reduce the potential causes and maybe get your update done, too.
I get the same prompt, but it works for me today when yesterday I got password errors and I changed nothing. I have Apple Silicon on my Big Sur mini so ymmv.


mirror iPhone 5 display to TV without AirPlay

At the moment, this is currently not possible as existing adapters are not compatible with the Lightning connector (even with current converters). See this link for more information.

At the Apple event on the 23rd October, two new adapters were announced VGA to Lightning and Lightning Digital AV (HDMI). If you read the details on the store page carefully, they both say they support mirroring (in the overview section).


How to access files on a networked smb server with Python on macOS

After discussing in chat the OP was able to solve the issue by creating a mount point.

sudo mkdir /Volumes/test
sudo mount_smbfs //user:pass@url.com/folder /Volumes/Test

This can be done with python by eliminating the sudo but running the script/application as admin.


My Mac does "copy on select" - how to disable it?

I had the same issue and by trial-and-error found out, that it only happened while the Unclutter App is running.

The issue was solved for me after I quit Unclutter. Though this solved the issue for me, your behavior might be caused by some other app...

General recommendation

My suggestion is, that you first quit all clipboard-managers (if you have any). If that does not solve the issue, quit one app after the other, even Dropbox, etc.

Also test, if the issue happens inside a specific editor only. For example, if it only happens inside Visual Studio Code, then you might have installed a plugin in Visual Studio Code that enables the behavior.

When the problem is not limited to a single editor, open your "System Settings > Security > Privacy" panel and check, which apps have access to "Accessibility". Try to revoke all Accessibility permissions...


iCloud Photos: What happens when deleted from phone

If you enable iCloud Photo Library all your devices stay in sync. So deleting/adding a picture on one device will delete/add it on all others (and the Cloud) as well.


limiting mdfind on Terminal to files changed in the last x minutes/hours?

You would use the time variable- $time.now and subtract the number of seconds- $time.now(-300) to get 5 minutes before the current time. Next, you would use the operator >= for the comparison. To put it all together-

 mdfind -onlyin . 'kMDItemFSContentChangeDate >= $time.now(-300)'


How do I change Software Update server to official one on OS X Lion (or later)?

It depends on exactly how they changed the update server setting.  If they did the obvious thing, this should delete the setting (so it'll go back to normal):

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL

If that doesn't work, it's possible it's configured as a per-user (rather than system-wide) setting, in which case this should do it:

defaults delete com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL


Input validation, expect error on null input

The line
if tname is equal to "" then display dialog "error"

is never reached while tname is empty. You need to put it inside the loop.


How can I move spaces between external monitors in Mavericks?

You can only move spaces which are non-active.

For example, lets say you have spaces 1 and 2. If space 1 is active, you can not move it. You first have to select space 2 then you can move space 1 to a different monitor.


A batch of Apple's iPhone 6s models had a problem where battery reaches about 30% and switches off. This was due to a battery defect and they have opened a scheme for those affected consumers to get the battery replaced. It's not a software problem, it's a manufacturing defect.

For more info: iPhone 6s Program for Unexpected Shutdown Issues.


What should I do with the X11 Security folder after upgrade to Catalina?

I am surprised that no one has answered it.

If XQuartz was installed prior to installing Catalina then this X11 folder will exist. Uninstall your version of XQuartz using this gist (ideally before upgrading macOS). However, you have already upgraded to Catalina so the X11 shortcut folder can't be deleted as it appears in your desktop as a relocated item. If you want to know more, you can check the pdf folder too.

  You can find the Relocated Items folder in the Shared folder within
  the User folder. The PDF document in the Relocated Items folder
  explains what to do with files placed in this folder.

Here is a solution that you can do on your side:

Reboot and go to Cmd+R recovery mode
disable SIP by csrutil disable
Reboot to normal mode and delete that folder, empty trash
Reboot and go to Cmd+R recovery mode
re-enable SIP by csrutil enable
Reboot to normal mode


How can I delete an app where no one realises I have downloaded it?

There is no way to hide the download. You can hide it from the purchased list but the cloud will still appear.

A solution:

Give your kids their own Apple ID’s, change your Apple ID password and device password.


Is it possible to make a bootable USB stick for a Macbook Pro to do firmware update?

I can confirm that this process works:

https://fuerstnet.de/en/upgrade-crucial-m4-ssd-firmware-mac-without-cd

There are many steps to follow, both in creating the usb disk, then in booting from it, but it took me to the firmware updater as promised. After all that effort, my disk was already up-to-date, but it did work.

Crucial support says there is no option for people without a CD drive, but there is. You just have to be willing to carefully follow some instructions and be sure you're not writing to the wrong disk.


Soundfonts in GarageBand: where can we select the .sf2 files?

Try double clicking the picture next to it.

When you hover over the picture changes to three lines with dots on them so you know you're in the right place.

Then a dialog opens, where you can change the sound bank.

However, I'm having a problem at the moment that the latest soundfonts I downloaded are crashing GarageBand when I close the dialog, although one I already selected is OK.


Hide frequently used Memojis from Emoji keyboard in iOS 13

From https://ioshacker.com/how-to/hide-memoji-stickers-ios-13-emoji-keyboard:

Swipe emoji keyboard towards the left and [hope that] iOS remembers the keyboard position.

  iOS "remembers" the keyboard position for a few minutes only. When the app is unloaded and reloaded, the next time I open the emoji keyboard, there are the stupid memoji stickers again.

later:

  as of iOS 13.2, this behavior is no longer present, and the memoji drawer stays hidden now.

And, in the Messages app, bring up the keyboard in the app and tap on the grey A icon besides camera to bring up the feature bar. Swipe to find ● ● ● and then click Edit, and remove Memoji keyboard from the list of favorites  in the “more apps” list below.

Update:

From the same site: Open Go to Keyboard Settings to remove the "Memoji Stickers". You can search for the same also in Settings itself.

  disabling stickers via Settings only works in iOS 13.3. This option is not present in 13.2.


How do you get macOS Sierra (10.12.1) to lock and ask for a password after display sleep?

So I figured it out a solution as soon as I could ask.

I toggled the Require Password settings to "Immediately" then back to my previous "5 seconds" and now all seems to be working properly.

This required my password each time but well worth the re-enabled security. You may even be able to just uncheck then recheck the Required box. I can't test this because my issue is fixed.


How can I download a newer Yosemite installer?

The problem appears to have been my copy of the installer that I had stashed away in a folder in my home directory, even though I'd originally made it by keeping a copy of the installer in /Applications (it was even owned by my user account instead of root!).

Once I removed that installer, the Mac App Store was happy to start the download for a new one.


Unable to reach server via local IP, only "localhost"

Make sure NodeJS is listening on all interfaces.

:3000
localhost:3000
[::]:3000
127.0.0.1:3000

All the above are different but all are listening on port 3000. Only the first :3000 listens to every interface: IPv4, IPv6, and other interfaces like ethernet and WiFi.

Use sudo lsof -i show which ports, interfaces, and protocols your server is listening to.


How display file path at bottom in "All My Files" on Sierra 10.12.3?

The one you reference in the screenshot can be enabled in either of the following two ways:

Using the Mouse

Ensure the Finder is active
Go to the View menu
Select the Show Path Bar option

Using the keyboard

You can also use the following keyboard shortcut:

optioncommandP

You may not be aware, but you can also customise the Finder Toolbar to include a Path button. To do this:

Ensure the Finder is active
Go to the View menu
Select the Customise Toolbar... option
Drag the Path icon to your toolbar
Click on Done

Note: The icon looks like:


Why can't I use the GNU Debugger (GDB) programming utility on Mac as a standard user?

Are you positive you are in the Developer Tools group?

Try running this command

sudo dscl . append /Groups/_developer GroupMembership <username>

That should add your user account to the group.


MacBook Pro overheating after being repaired

I'm unable to answer / resolve the OP query, but I wanted to share my similar experience. I've had a very similar experience in that I had a MBP 2011 15" GPU failure about 18mths ago, which resulted in the Main Logic Board (MLB) being replaced earlier this year. Since then I upgraded the OS to El Capitan - and the MBP heated up faster and hotter than it did prior to the GPU failure, and the fans didn't audibly start up as much or as loudly as they did before the GPU failure/ MLB replacement. The OP's temperature stats & data were similar enough to mine to not warrant posting my own (plus i can't remember that level of detail! I then began experiencing similar GPU related symptoms (lines across the the screen etc) and I took the MBP to my local Apple Store, who replaced the MLB immediatley... since then I havent experienced the same high temperatures, however I still can't hear the fans kick-in when it does get hot...or somehow the new MLB replacement has somehow qietened the fans (although I can't see how this is actually possible). I've reported this to Apple Support, however there isnt a resoltion... arguably as there isn't a problem as such. I'm probably being over-concerned.

AS such, I would recomend you contact Apple Support and get it booked into a Genius Bar asap alongwith a set of actions that can be carried out at the bar to replicate the high temperatures. Good luck!


Quickest way to change "Output Device" while html5 video is playing?

To change the audio output for a HTML5 video you should use its sinkId property https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLMediaElement/sinkId and set it to MediaDeviceInfo.deviceid values returned from MediaDevices.enumeratedDevices().


From the man page of pbcopy

  pbcopy  takes the standard input and places it in the specified
  pasteboard. If no pasteboard is specified, the general pasteboard will
  be used by
         default.  The input is placed in the pasteboard as plain text data unless it begins with the Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)  file
  header  or  the
         Rich Text Format (RTF) file header, in which case it is placed in the pasteboard as one of those data types.

So from this it would seem that only documents with RTF format or EPS format can be copied and pasted from these commands.

Finder does support copy and pasting files however, so cmd c, and cmd v, will copy and paste files in finder.


High CPU usage by a process called PTPCamera

So we found the Solution:

Connect your iPhone/Camera and reopen Photos.app or iPhoto
Close iPhoto or Photos.app
Disconnect your iPhone/Camera
Open Photos/iPhoto again

now the PTPCamera Process should be terminated gracefully and won't spawn again in a busy waiting loop.

You do not have to do this steps all the time, only necessary to terminate the process graceful and kick it out of the busy waiting state. How to come in this state, we (AppleDev and I) do not know.


How do you rotate inserts in Apple Mac OS preview 7?

You can rotate inserts and annotations, like text boxes, rectangles or signatures, by arbitrary angles:

Hold the Command ⌘ key and rotate the selected annotation with two fingers on a trackpad.

As far as I know this only works with trackpads and is undocumented. It works on macOS High Sierra.

This is from an apple communities question: How can I rotate the text box in Preview


Wrong parsing command from date manpage?

You are using the following date format:

 %a %d  %b   %Y %H:%M:%S   %Z
Ven 12 mai 2017 08:22:03 CEST

So the correct command is

date -j -f "%a %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %Z" "`date`" "+%s"


Either the SSD, or its connecting cable, or the underlying Mac Mini (either hardware or software) has a problem.

Isolate the issue by taking the SSD out of the Mini, and connecting it to another Mac. If the drive mounts, that suggests the connecting cable or the underlying Mac Mini is the problem. Keep swapping parts until you find the bad link in the chain.

Cables are fragile. If there are now two drives in the Mini and the other drive works, try swapping the two drives' cables to see if the SSD's cable is the problem.


Cannot log into iCloud after upgrade to macOS Mojave

You're absolutely right, this is a very common occurrence right now. It is a known issue, to put it mildly. Its not entirely tied to Mojave per se, nor do I think your theory of "the root cause must be a corrupted state that is kept by iCloud locally as persistent data that resides local to a macOS user account", is it exactly (though it is not outside the realm of possibility). But far more likely is that you're experiencing the  fallout of several recent significant changes affecting iCloud authentication across the board, due to several serious security vulnerabilities discovered in the past few months. What's happening is that Apple's tring to implement a "middle ground" approach in not simply breaking iCloud syncing across the board all at once for everyone, so some processes will continue to accept the unpatched authentication tokens, while others require immediate reauthentication. Its a mess. But: its not quite as terrible as it seems (in my experience).

Having just conquered this very thing (again) on one of my my own machine's a couple of hours ago (and having done so several times in the last couple of months), I can tell you there's unfortunately not a straightforward "1. 2. 3." solution I can give you, but your best bet is to stick with working with the iCloud Preference Pane and related rather than doing a "deep dive" just yet.

Here's what I'd recommend:

First: make sure you have an up local backup (Time Machine or the like).

Then, what you'll want to do is basically attempt to fully sign out of all the places where you authenticate with your Apple ID: App Store, iTunes, Photos, etc., and then the iCloud prefpane. Try unchecking as many synced item's as possible first, particularly Find My Mac and Keychain. These may take a minute or two to actually disengage and "uncheck", but if it takes longer than that, just force quit System Preferences and try again. Also, try clicking the "Account Details" and "Manage" buttons, the same thing will likely happen, it'll freeze up for a bit, and then it will either actually bring those panes up, or hang. Again, just keep going back, and try to get to the point where you're fully signed out, or, if you get the "Update Apple ID Settings: Some account services" box again and it doesn't hang, you'll be prompted several times, alternating between asking for your iCloud password and your local admin password. This is a good thing, it means its finally updating the local Keychain stores across the board.

Eventually (in my experience, after about 20 minutes of this, maybe 10 force quits), you should either be fully logged out of iCloud, or the "Update Apple ID Settings" thing will finally work. Once you're at that point, you should be able to re-sign in, and these issues should go  away.

I know that's, um, not the most precise solution, but it has worked for me on several machines. Let me know if it doesn't work for you. But trust me, its a lot less messier than fully ripping out the iCloud keychain and authentication tokens; (at that point, you may as well just sign up for a new Apple ID).


How to repair permissions after removing the "wheel" group from my hard drive?

This not-really-an-answer answer probably doesn't solve your problem, though the result is so astounding/interesting not to dump it in the comment section:

I set up a virtual machine with Snow Leopard Server (10.6.8). After deleting (not just disabling rwx!) all wheel group permissions of /bin, /sbin, /private, /System and all subsequent files and folders as well as those of all relevant folders in /Library with either an admin or the root account and afterwards totally removing the group wheel with the workgroup manager, the system still boots properly. Some apps don't work properly (e.g. Terminal in the admin account; it still works in the root account).

Consequently I can't reproduce your problem.

You may try the following in Single User Mode:

At the prompt enter:

/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.notifyd.plist
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.diskmanagementd.plist
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.securityd.plist
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.configd.plist
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.diskarbitrationd.plist
diskutil repairPermissions /

If the loading of com.apple.configd.plist doesn't find an end you may just enter launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.diskarbitrationd.plist or after entering ctrlC continue with launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.diskarbitrationd.plist

If you don't get a new prompt :/ root# after waiting some time, you may just enter the next command. You may also modify the sequence of the five load commands. I needed three attempts to get that working.

You should now see a wall of notifications. It should take about 20-30 minutes to repair everything.


Cannot create Apple ID either from iOS of website - An unknown error has occurred

Try using a different network to access the website. Sometimes changing networks can cause that issue. If you arent at liberty to change networks then restarting your device can help.


Step 1: Ignore AppleCare

Go to Apple Support

More Products & Services > Apple ID > Other Apple ID Topics > Messages and Apple ID
Your Customer Code is the most useful piece of information.

This error is a result of the system assuming unauthorized access and locking down access to the service. Security is inconvenient.


WindowServer process takes a lot of memory

According to this article  this appears to be a bug in the system when used with a Scaled Display resolution

  This seems to be a bug with scaled screen resolution (specially with 4K monitors) in MacOS High Seirra (and perhaps in older versions of the OS as well). Using "Default for display" screen resolution seems to fix the issue (Not my ideal resolution, but a temporary fix until an MacOS update with a fix is available). More information here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/windowserver-memory-leak-on-high-sierra.233510/

I am using a scaled (external) display and I am facing a similar problem which is what led me to this topic.


How can I hide an Application from the Updates Tab in the Mac App Store?

Go to Purchases in the Mac App Store, locate the Application you want to hide, right-click on it and choose Hide Purchase.

After a clicking the Hide Purchase button in the prompted screen, the item will fade and you no longer will receive update notifications of that Application.

To unhide it just go to Mac App Store / Store / View My Account, then click on View Hidden Purchases from the Account Information Page, and click the Unhide button.

In both cases you'll need to be logged in.


Boot Camp Assistant stuck on creating partition due to EFI formatted as NTFS

You can try entering the following command in a macOS Terminal application window. This command should format the EFI system partition as FAT32.

sudo newfs_msdos -F 32 -v EFI /dev/rdisk0s1

If the command fails, you could try entering the command while booted to macOS Recovery over the Internet.


Yes you are correct, this was part of MobileMe and is no longer supported.


Slight delay when bringing up spotlight since booting from an external drive

Note: I can't take credit for these solutions, however a few of them have worked for me in the past.

Solution #1: Kill SystemUIServer

Launch ‘Activity Monitor’ (located in /Applications/Utilities/)
Locate the process ‘SystemUIServer’, highlight it, and click the red button “Quit Process”
Within a few seconds the menubar will rebuild itself and often Spotlight will magically work

Solution #2: Rebuild the Spotlight Index manually

Launch ‘Terminal’ (located in /Applications/Utilities/)
At the command prompt, type this exactly:
sudo mdutil -E /
You will be asked for your password, provide it, as this command requires administrator privelages to run
You will receive a confirmation message saying that index will be rebuilt
Wait until index is finished rebuilding, this can take a while depending on the size of your hard drive, amount of files, etc.
Note: You can also rebuild the Spotlight index with MainMenu, mentioned in Solution #4

Solution #3: Change Desktop Resolution

This is a strange fix but it works everytime for me when my Spotlight menu icon highlights but the search form doesn’t appear
Open “System Preferences” via the Apple Menu
Click ‘Displays’ and select a resolution smaller than what you are currently using, 640×480 seems to always work
Select your native resolution again, changing your screen resolution back to normal
The Spotlight search tray will magically become available again

Solution #4: Clear caches and preferences

Clear caches and preferences relating to Spotlight, this is best done through either the free tool OnyX, or the free tool MainMenu, I recommend MainMenu because it’s easier for novices

Note: Some users discover that just cleaning the Font caches is adequate to repair a screwy Spotlight, but it won’t hurt to clear them all

Solution #5: Reboot your Mac

This should almost be listed as #1 just because sometimes a simple reboot will fix Spotlight, but if I can avoid a reboot I will, and often, a reboot isn’t good enough
What do MDS and MDWorker have to do with Spotlight?
The MDS process and mdworker processes usually run concurrently on your Mac when Spotlight is indexing your Mac. Let the processes finish running to complete a relevant search index of your Mac filesystem.


How can I reproduce this magnification effect for my own screen shots?

In Preview you can now add shadowed magnification. I think this was new in El Capitain. But it is not the same shadow. My guess is that effect is produced in Quartz Composer (if they want to "eat their own dog food").

See interface:


iPhone restarts frequently whilst tethering via. USB

Try restoring/updating your phone to the newest firmware from apple. (4.3)


Just remove your SIM. Then there's no chance of incurring any cellular charges, as you won't be able to connect to any network, but wifi and GPS should still work. (If you have a CDMA phone with no SIM then you can't roam anyway.)


Use Sugru for fraying lightning adapter on a Thunderbolt Display?

yes, I just did this, it was simple and it worked well! The Sugru pack is abot $12 and it's far simpler than lugging the display in to an Apple store.


No sound in iMovie of video recording using the Screen Recorder

If your iMovie project appears to be missing audio tracks when you play, import, or export a project, try these steps first:

Make sure the audio track has not been muted in the timeline.
See if the volume in iMovie is set to its lowest, if this is the case, set the volume slider to maximum.
Make sure the computer's audio is not muted.
Quit and reopen iMovie, then check the clip to see if it now plays with audio.
Quit and reopen iMovie, then reimport the footage. Play the newly imported footage and see if you now have audio.
Check /Library/QuickTime/ and ~/Library/QuickTime/ for any third-party plugins. Remove them if present, log out, and log back in. Check to see if the issue persists. If not, check with the manufacturer of the disabled plugin to see if an update is available. Note: The tilde (~) represents your Home directory.
Check to see if any of the video clips you have imported are in the MPEG-1 format. MPEG-1 clips will lose audio when you export them as part of your iMovie project.

SOURCE:


The agent should get low feedback. The license to Mountain Lion transfers with the computer when it is sold.

The agent should have told you that no Apple ID is needed to download another copy of the installer since the system prompts you to send the serial number for verification.

Now, you don't get a license to the Mountan Lion upgrade to install on other computers. That is software you purchase separately from a computer and that is tied to one Apple ID and is not transferable. (like everything else sold from the App Store)

The one case where you don't get Mountain Lion is if the machine shipped from the factory with Lion but was sold with a "free upgrade" to Mountain Lion. This could happen in the window between when they announce the new OS to when it's released or on Mac that are imaged in the factory before Mountain Lion was released, but sold after the release.

In that case, Apple have a free redemption of the upgrade to the first Apple ID to redeem it. The only license that would transfer would be Lion and not Mountain Lion.


iCloud photos don't show up in any editor

Open up Pixlr, and when you go to 'open', in your sidebar you should have a Media / Photos option.  If you click that it'll show your albums etc.  See the screenshot...


Here is how you can ensure iCloud does not take an optimize pass after it downloads the full version of cloud synced app data and finished processing and uploading any selected folders or selected Application data that only exists on your local Mac.

https://support.apple.com/guide/system-information/optimize-storage-space-sysp4ee93ca4/mac

In system preferences, at the very top, select AppleID and in the main pane, you can choose to opt in or opt out of syncing specific buckets of files. The equivalent check box is located at the bottom of that list -  Optimize Mac Storage.


Can an iPad work to replace a computer in terms of photo management?

There are numerous hard drives that will work with the iPad. Some wireless, others via USB (with the camera connection kit). The lightening port is a whole other thing if you end up with the 4th gen iPad, though there might be a workaround.

Here's a 1TB wired solution from HyperDrive

Here's a 500gb wireless solution from Seagate


assassin creed brotherhood : mac requirement

Yes, it will, but the graphics card is not supported by the game manufacturer.


AppleScript: How to add m4a meta-data using Sound Studio?

I downloaded a trial version of the latest Sound Studio and had a go.  The AppleScript dictionary was all that was required.  With the exception of the open command, all other information needed to compose the script came from the documentation within Script Editor.

The absence of an entry for the open command is a bit mysterious and I have emailed them about it.  I also did notice a "bug"(?) in the software in the manner in which it responds to open, although it technically can't be classified as a bug given that it's not documented as being a command that's supported.  However, the only other command that would be used for opening files and creating new documents would be the make command, but, having played around with that, I'm fairly confident that open is the correct command to use, and they just failed to document it properly, whilst also overlooking its occasionally erratic behaviour.

Anyway, here's the script, with my test file data taking the place of what will be sent through to the script from your Python script:

    # Script:   Add Metadata To Sound Studio File.applescript
    # Author:   CJK
    # Date:     2018-03-20
    #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # @arguments:
    #       %argv%      an indexed list containing 7 items:
    #
    #           1) full path to the file to open
    #           2) name of artist
    #           3) name of the album
    #           4) just the name of the track
    #           5) which disc (1, 2 ...)
    #           6) which track on the disc
    #           7) the year when the track was released
    #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    set argv to [¬
        "/Users/CK/Music/Nelly Furtado/Folklore/04 Try.m4a", ¬
        "Nelly Furtado", ¬
        "Folklore", ¬
        "Try", ¬
        "1", ¬
        "4", ¬
        "2003"] -- remove this variable declaration

    # on run argv -- uncomment this handler

        if (count argv) is not 7 then return display dialog ¬
            "Wrong number of arguments!" with title ¬
            "Add Metadata To Sound Studio File" buttons ¬
            {"Bummer"} giving up after 1

        tell application "Sound Studio"
            activate

            set music_file_path to the first item of argv

            set D to open (music_file_path as POSIX file)

            tell the metadata of D to set [¬
                artist, ¬
                album, ¬
                title, ¬
                disc number, ¬
                track number, ¬
                year] to the rest of argv

            save D
            close D

            --quit
        end tell

    # end run -- uncomment this line
    #----------------------------------------------------------------------------END

There's not a huge amount to say about the script: it opens Sound Studio, opens an audio file, assigns some values to the metadata properties, saves the file, then closes the file.  Optionally, you can quit the application at this point as well.

Regarding the opening of the audio file, Sound Studio seems content to be given a POSIX file reference rather than having to coerce it into alias class.  However, I did notice a couple of oddities:

❶・When I tried to define the variable music_file_path outside of the tell block, it behaved as you mentioned and simply didn't open the file, but also didn't return an error.  The script stalled until it timed out.

❷・It also didn't like me expressing the file reference as POSIX file music_file_path, so I had to write it as music_file_path as POSIX file.  Again, it would stall the script, rather than complaining that the file reference was wrong.

❸・If I corrected both of these issues and tried to run the script straight after a previous run had stalled it, the script would stall once again.  So I had to kill the Sound Studio process from Terminal by issuing a killall "Sound Studio".  Then when I ran the script, it worked quite happily, and continued to work happily with each successive run after run.  When I went to screw with the script again to purposely cause a stall, it wasn't surprising that I once again had to go back into Terminal to do a killall.

So I think it's fairly safe to say that this is an issue with Sound Studio and not with the script.  I've emailed them about it, but I think you wouldn't be wrong to email them as well: the more reports they receive from disgruntled customers who want AppleScripting technology to be properly implemented and supported, the more incentive they'll have to do so.

I did consider putting a clause in the AppleScript for it to issue its own shell command when it detects that the application had stalled trying to open a file.  The AppleScript could do a killall, but that didn't sit very well with me for some reason.  The Sound Studio application itself didn't stall, and continued to be operational during testing.

If you do want me to put some sort of block in the script to handle any instances where it might stall, let me know and I can add an edit.  But it wouldn't be what I would call "clean cut code", and as long as you don't try and change how and where the file reference is declared in the script, it should run fine.


Multiple languages for dictionary Look up in Spotlight

⌃⌘D or tapping with three fingers doesn't work for some reason, but you can show a look up popover from the context menu.


There are a few different solutions that I've personally done to fix my MacBook Pro with the same issue.

Solution 1:
If you have the Dedicated nVidia Chip I'd strongly suggest installing gfxCardStatus (it's 100% free) and disable the dedicated card altogether. It drains battery, isn't very efficient, emits a lot of heat, and in my case, can cause Kernel panics leading to unexpected shutdowns.

Solution 2:
In conjunction to solution 1, I'd suggest also installing Macs Fan Control. A lot of people will say you don't need it and it's true, but Apple usually doesn't ramp the fans up gradually as heat increases, meaning that your MacBook will run hot until it's too hot and the fans ramp up a lot. I'd rather the laptop be barely audible than cook my legs.

Solution 3:
I'd highly recommend re-pasting your MacBook Pro as the thermal paste will be dried up by now. In my case, the stock paste from Apple was disgusting; simply too much paste, and now too old.

Previously my MacBook would get up to 76C watching 720p videos in bed (not the best air circulation) with the fans maxed out at 6000RPM. Now, with liquid metal installed, it'll always sit under my custom threshold of 65C when watching videos with just the Intel chip enabled and is dead silent at <2500 RPM. This iFixit guide is what I used in order to do it myself on my 15" MacBook Pro.

About Siri: The fans ramp down when using Siri, was a feature added that silences the fan in order for siri to hear you better when activated.


The author of gfxCardStatus answered here.

If your goal is better performance regardless of power consumption,
then the solution is really simple: quit gfxCardStatus, delete it, and
disable automatic graphics switching in System Preferences > Energy
Saver. That will cause the discrete GPU to be used all the time.
When gfxCardStatus is running, it manages the automatic graphics
switching setting for you. Dynamic Switching is equivalent to having
the automatic graphics switching checkbox checked.


MacBook Pro 2018 Battery not correctly working

I had this problem too, whats your version of MacOs ? If it's not the latest one then update, charge your mac for around 8hrs without using it. It fixed the bug for me, my mac was shutting down at 40% ~ and after those two things he was going low without a problem, hope it can help


My wireless network connection gets lost frequently (OS X 10.10.2)

I have struggled with my own connection dropping intermittently (more often, just becoming very slow/weak for periods of time).  The problem for me seems to be that I chose a spot in my house that has poor Wifi signal, perhaps due to the configuration of walls, the configuration of metal in my house construction, and so on.  If I move my computer a meter or two to the left, the problems go away.

Also, the problems are much worse for a Mac laptop whose lid is closed.  The antenna is located in the hinge, and with the lid closed, the antenna's ability to receive signal is reduced by half.

I don't know exactly why wireless signal strength changes over time, causing intermittent problems.  Could be the use of electronic appliances in my house or someone else's.  Could even be solar radiation changing when clouds go by.  Best thing to do is get your router and computer jointly located so that the signal strength is generally strong - then fluctuations won't cause you to get accidentally dropped.

To check out your wireless signal strength and see how it varies when you move your machine around the house, follow this link:

http://letstalk-tech.com/how-to-access-the-wifi-scanner-in-mac-os-x-yosemite/


How to update whatsapp with new apple ID

When the iPhone wasn't ereased before you got it, the whatsapp app belongs to the apple id used by your cousin.

The only ways to update whatsapp are deleting it (by holding the app and pressing the "X"-symbol) and download it again with your own apple id, or use the password that belongs to the old apple id.


Stronger speaker for iPhone 4, is it possible to buy?

AFAIK, there is nothing like that available. While it is possible to make a louder speaker, I believe iOS sets the volume limit itself, though I couldn't be sure.

I would imagine if a mod like that were possible, the speaker would need to connect to the headphone jack internally in order to bypass iOS's limit.

It's really all just speculation, though.


The index.bdm file was probably named that way on the original card, but appeared as INDEX.BDM when mounted on the Mac. FAT32 is not case-sensitive, and OS X's file system code (specifically the NSFileManager class) programmatically presents FAT32 contents in uppercase. OS X can open AVCHD content, even with a filename in lowercase, from case-insensitive media, like FAT32 or HFS+ in its default, case-insensitive mode.

However, when you copied the AVCHD content to a case-sensitive filesystem, the true nature of that lowercase filename becomes visible (it doesn't get renamed as lowercase, it simply gets revealed as lowercase to begin with!). OS X / QuickTime get confused by the lowercase name, and you get the dreaded "CANNOT OPEN".

The fix is to ensure that all the AVCHD-standard files and folders are in uppercase. As you see, the folder tree above the INDEX.BDM files loses its special status, but the INDEX.BDM file can be double-clicked to open the AVCHD browser. Just as importantly, editors like FCP X and FCP 7's Log and Transfer window will properly see the media even on the case-sensitive filesystem.

I encountered the same thing copying AVCHD to a Linux-based NAS with a case-sensitive filesystem. In my case, my Panasonic cameras will write an INDEX.BDM file when I erase all clips or format the card in-camera, but if I erase just one or a few clips, the file gets written as index.bdm. Since Apple's code breaks with mixed-case AVCHD filenames, I'm writing a utility to walk my folder trees and make sure everything is uppercase, grumble grumble...


Recovering an accidentally deleted  folder in OSX - no Time Machine or backup available

Data Rescue is a long time favorite for undeleting files. It is not free, but you can download a free trial to see if the folder and files can be recreated before deciding to pay for the software or seeking professional recovery.

Similar to Windows, OS X doesn't wipe the files but instead marks the directory entries as free. As long as the files do not get overwritten (say you powered off the Mac immediately after the error was performed) you should get most of the files back. It all depends on chance that the system didn't overwrite the files as part of the normal shutdown process.


Safari was slow also.

Checking network settings, I see a hide.me VPN active.

Disabling this resolved the issue.

No idea how the VPN got installed.


In AppleScript when entering password, is a click required

Try adding this to your code:

set first responder to text field 2 of window 1

This should bring focus to the text field.

For reference, see this post on MacScripter


Word for Mac: Quickly checking a check box

Buried in the answer to this previous, somewhat related question (from which I liberally cribbed).

Go to Tools  in the menu.
Choose Protect Document...
Under Protection, select Protect Document for:
Then select Forms
Hit OK

My version of Word for Mac is 16.10.


You can install via Homebrew with the following command:

brew install poppler


No, there isn't a hidden preference. It's a function of the not quite standard way MS defines a standard - it's almost impossible outside MS to get all the small details of formatting right. They also have the tendency to change the file format slightly on every version.

Have you tried opening them in Pages? It usually does a better job than TextEdit. Do you get the same problem if you open them in Quick Look?


How to monitor and log my internet connectivity on Mojave

Apple’s Wireless Diagnostics tool might work. It appears to be able to monitor your connectivity and provide a report based on the results. You can find it in spotlight search.


According to the crash log, it can't find the DVTFoundation framework that Xcode needs to run.  It seems extremely curious to me that Xcode is running straight off of the Desktop.  Xcode comes with an installer, which (by default) will put it and all other things inside /Developer.  You can change it to another folder, but even then Xcode is still within the "Applications" folder of the parent folder.  In other words, there's no way to get Xcode off by itself on the Desktop unless you copied it there or didn't install it properly.

Xcode, like a couple other Apple apps, requires a whole bunch of supporting things to run (like this DVTFoundation framework).  You have to leave it in the place where it was installed.  Moving it to another folder is a great way to make it not work (yes, I know this isn't ideal, but it is what it is).

To fix this, trash the Xcode.app on your Desktop and re-run the installer.


How can I make my Xcode 8.0 Support iOS 10.2

Xcode updates through the Mac App Store are delta updates, meaning they only download the files necessary, rather than the entire bundle every time. This should reduce the download size.


macOS - Bash commands not working as needs to be

Remove the \ in front of $PATH in the last line and start a new shell


search for pictures of a set of people together in Photos

You can achieve the same result by creating a Smart Album, specifying multiple Person criteria with matching set to all to include by name those who must feature together in the photos (and videos) that populate the album.

You're not limited by how many people against which you can specify criteria, meaning you can search for photos that feature a specific group of friends or colleagues who all appear together.

Changing a criterion from includes to does not include allows you to exclude photos in which a specific person appears.

Unfortunately, achieving more complex search patterns that comprise conditional inclusion/exclusion criteria nested within multiple matching blocks is not possible; that is to say, you can only match either any or all of your criteria collectively.  So, whilst you can find photos in which persons X, Y AND Z all appear together, you can't easily find photos which feature either persons ［X AND Y］ OR ［X AND Z］ using a single Smart Album (you would need to go through the trouble of multiple Smart Albums and—depending on how complex your search requirements become—using the Smart Album(s) to make regular albums that can be referenced by criteria of any subsequent Smart Album to narrow its search scope.  So, complex search criteria are achievable, but are inconvenient).

Let me know if you need anything clarified furhter and I'll get back to you.


How to start a service automatically after openning an application?

Besides starting both programs via a script as you told I can only think of Keyboard Maestro which is a powerful macro program for Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Lion and Snow Leopard.

You can do a lot of crazy stuff with it. And you can trigger macros when programs are running or not running which is what you want.


Since your Mac is from 2012, both the connectors are the same speed.
As I quote from this article:

  2012 Models - Fully support SATA III (6 Gb/s) in both the HDD bay and the Optical Bay. I'd recommend just leaving your HDD in place (more sound proof, less installing) and put your SSD in the optical bay.

Keep in mind that Macs that came with a superdrive are not able to install windows 10 via usb in bootcamp.You will have to install bootcamp with the cd drive still in the machine.
At least that was the only way for me (mbp early 2011)


How to install clang (11) without xcode?

Homebrew walks you through this command line install.

https://brew.sh/

Basically, call xcode-select --install and have your brother click OK one time to approve the installation.


The best "free"solution I found is the Cash Clock, allowing you to set the $ amount per hour or minute or second.

I was slightly on the high earnings site just to show the effect, but if you do make $3600 per hour let me know what job is it.

You can download it from here to run it offline, or just let it run in they web site.

  www.online-stopwatch.com is letting you download our cool stopwatch
  and countdown timers for free!

  This will let you use the stopwatch when you are not on the internet.
  You may have to download a new version from time to time though, as
  updates and tweaks are made.

  These files do not need installing! They will just run from anywhere
  on your PC. AND they will all work full screen.

Requirements:

All of our stopwatches/countdowns require Adobe Flash Player to work on your desktop.

http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/updaters/15/flashplayer_15_sa.dmg

The code is:

<param name="movie" value="http://www.online-stopwatch.com/swf/cash-clock.swf"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="menu" value="true"><embed width="400" height="220" src="http://www.online-stopwatch.com/swf/cash-clock.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
 Get a Stopwatch like this or make your own! At: Online Stopwatch


.app appended to all apps in Applications folder

Go to Finder->Preferences->Advanced->Show all filename extensions


High Sierra: Can't connect to a xampp server running on another machine after upgrading macOS

I am assuming you are using SSL with certificate that is SHA-1 signed, which was still allowed (with a warning) in macOS Sierra but in macOS High Sierra the connections will fail. I suggest you move to SHA-256 signed certificates for increased security and to avoid connection failures.

Source: Apple HT207459


Educational discount policy at Apple and international student

If you select the Online Apple Store for your Country, and then at the bottom of the page click on the "Education Store" link - you'll see which options you have.

Some Institutions/Schools/Educations will give you a discount without any documentation - other requires a special log-in to the Apple Store (where you typically get a better discount).

All the above for the online Apple Store - if you can get a discount in a "real" Apple Store in a Country where you don't live, I don't know for sure - but I do know that it is possible in some places of the world, if you just show some School ID.


How to remove "XXX is an application downloaded from the internet. are you sure you want to open it" at start up?

The app is almost certainly in your Login items.

To check and remove it, do this:

Go to Apple > System Preferences > Users & Groups
Make sure your User Account is selected at top left
Click on the Login Items tab
Look for an item called TunesGoWatch (or something else that could be triggering this) in the list of login items
Now remove this item by clicking on its name (so it's highlighted) and then clicking on the minus - button
Once it's removed, exit System Preferences
Restart your Mac to test to see if the problem still persists


First, as an FYI, you only need to boot into the recovery partition to repair permissions when you are trying to repair permissions on your computer's boot drive. To do it for any other drive, simple select it in Disk Utility and click the Repair Disk Permissions button. This may solve your problem, so try that first.

After that, the simplest solution is to turn on "Ignore Ownership" on the drive. Navigate to the drive in Finder and use Get Info... to see the permissions, as you have been doing. Underneath the permissions, you'll see a box that says "Ignore Ownership on this volume." Check that box. This will ignore all permissions on the volume and allow any user or program to do anything on the drive. Follow this link for more information on the benefits and perils of doing this: https://larryjordan.com/articles/mac-os-set-hard-drive-permissions/

Alternatively:

You can reset the permissions using the Terminal App. Open the app in Applications > Utilities > Terminal.

Navigate to the folder you're having trouble with using the "cd" command, then use the command

sudo chmod -R 644 .

This will change the directory and every file within that directory to the default OS X permissions. For more information on how to use Terminal and chmod, take a look at this tutorial:

http://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/navigating-the-terminal-a-gentle-introduction--mac-3855


Script iTunes to prepend Season and Episode number (padded) to episode title

I think this will do it for you:

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions
--
-- Start by selecting the shows in a playlist.
-- Don't select the playlist. Select the Shows.

tell application "iTunes"
    set theShowList to the selection
    repeat with aShow in theShowList
        -- get the information we need
        set theSeasonNumber to season number of aShow
        set theEpisodeNumber to episode number of aShow
        set theName to name of aShow
        --
        -- pad the episode number to two digits
        set thePaddedEpisodeNumber to "0" & theEpisodeNumber as string
        set theTwoDigitEpisodeNumber to characters -2 thru -1 of thePaddedEpisodeNumber as string
        --
        -- assemble the new name
        set theNewName to theSeasonNumber & theTwoDigitEpisodeNumber & " " & theName as string
        --
        -- set the new name
        set the name of aShow to theNewName
    end repeat
end tell

The script could be cleaned up and made more efficient but I wrote it this way so it was easier to follow.

Be sure to select the shows, not the playlist. It doesn't work otherwise.

While experimenting with this I noticed that some TV shows have episode numbers that are three digits already. That would be a problem for this script. FYI.

This was done with iTunes 12.9.5.5, macOS Mojave 10.14.6.

Here are before and after pictures. You're going to have to zoom in.


Macbook Pro 2018, trackpad issue because of swollen battery or faulty trackpad?

We can only speculate wether the issue is caused by the swollen battery.

HOWEVER

A swollen battery can be a hazard and should be swapped either way.
Apple offers extra warranty for batteries that are swollen (2-3 years from purchase depending on the device). An AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider) should be able to swap the Top Case (which will include the battery as well as the trackpad) under the extended warranty free of charge.


First you have to close all previously opened files (slides) in Preview.

And also close all Preview windows.

Check your Preview preferences settings:

Now start with your process and use Sort by "Name" in Preview.

To do that use Select all (Thumbnails) and right click on one of them, a new pop up will show the sort by.

In Preview File-Open, and open the slide you want to add.


What is accountsd and why does it want to use the "login" keychain?

Open Keychain Access, which can be found in /Applications/Utilities.

Then select Keychain First Aid under Keychain Access.

Enter your password and click to Verify (this is important to find out how is making the problem just in case it comes up again).

If it shows Errors use the Repair function.

In my case it looked like this before the repair.

It found one error and it was fixed after the repair.


macbook pro appstore apple id is not editable

Any application downloaded from the App Store will have the account pre-filled like in your example. It would be best for you to complete each of these steps - most importantly the sixth step of a full erase and reinstall.

Since iWork and iLife are all free, you can re-download them once you wipe and reinstall the computer.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065


I downloaded something from safari called blue stacks it doesn't go away

It's fine, you can reboot normally and if the disk to the BlueStacks is still mounted you can them unmount it in Finder and remove the .dmg file from your downloads. This sometimes happens, might be a bug, I generally just restart the Finder process but I wouldn't recommend that to everyone, so rebooting is the way.
(If you already installed it and want to remove the app and any files associated you should consider AppCleaner, it's totally free)


Solution here.
Click the box in settings for $PATH


How captive.apple.com is used by non-Apple devices?

Source:

  Most hotspots implement customer interaction by using a captive portal, which is a restricted network connection in which all client HTTP requests are redirected to the provider’s web site. The web site can then prompt users to agree to the operator’s terms and conditions, enter payment information, or enter credentials to verify prior payment arrangements.

Apple hosts a landing page and makes a synthetic call to this when you join a network to test if the network is captive. Other vendors have similar portal detection hosts like www.msftncsi.com to detect captive networks, that's all.

It doesn't matter if the device you're using is a Mac, iPhone, Pixel, or Windows. The "Apple" part is only because they made it much easier for companies to offer wifi to their customers.


Standard User account not getting removed on El capitan

Problem

It's possible that the user you're attempting to remove is the last FireVault capable account. You can see this illustrated by launching Directory Utility (/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Directory Utility.app) from the command line and attempting to remove the user:

From the command line, you should get something along these lines:

2017-11-06 16:08:03.777 Directory Utility[866:19875] Couldn't delete record "demouser" of type "dsRecTypeStandard:Users": Error Domain=com.apple.OpenDirectory Code=4001 "Attempting to delete the last FileVault capable user" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Attempting to delete the last FileVault capable user, NSLocalizedFailureReason=Operation was denied because the current credentials do not have the appropriate privileges.}

No matter how you launch Directory Utility or which permissions you use, you'll be unable to delete the user.

Solution

You'll need to enable FireVault if it isn't already and add the user you want to the list of users capable of unlocking the disk:

You can also use the command line: sudo fdesetup add -usertoadd username

After this is done, you'll be able to delete the user. You can also turn off FireVault if you feel like it.


Load .bash_profile automatically on Terminal.app startup?

The FILES section in the man page for bash says that ~/.bashrc is executed at the start of every interactive shell while ~/.bash_profile is executed for login shells only.


Nobody's mentioned Apple Mail. I love it, particularly the Lion version.


Error with Oh My ZSH themes, ZSH_THEME="random

Remove the "'s from the ZSH_THEME variable. You want:

ZSH_THEME=random

in your .zshrc file. See the zsh theme documentation for an example that shows it, clearly, without the "'s on the value.


How can I assign more than 2 phone numbers to a contact on my iPhone?

I can add as many phone numbers as I want on the iPhone. When you're in edit mode in the contact, there's always a blank line under current phone numbers where you can start typing a new one.

If you click on the label of the number, you can select a label (work, home) and even a custom label if you scroll to the bottom of the label selection list.


A standard MacBook (non-retina) only has one thunderbolt out. You can chain Thunderbolt displays but they are very expensive.

To attach a second display I use a DisplayLink USB device. This is basically an external USB graphics card.


Since iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, you can connect the iPhone to your Mac using the Lightning connector, and it will be available as a video camera. Then you can record video of what happens on the screen using QuickTime Player.

(Source: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-previews/)

With previous versions of iOS and OS X, you can use AirPlay mirroring on your phone and  an AirPlay receiver/recorder like Reflector or X-Mirage.


Mac showing Thunderbolt Ethernet as Airport

Are you sure someone isn't playing a joke on you?

Just rename the service. Click the ⚙ icon...

Then rename the server. You can call "Thunderbolt Ethernet" something like "Wi-Fi", "Yo Mama" or anything you wish. You'll also want to change the name of the inactive "Wi-Fi" entry to "Thunderbolt Ethernet". Your software seems to have switched the interface names.


How can I fix smart playlists with live updating to update again in itunes 11?

As a workaround I found out the following: If I switch off 'live updating', then sync my iPod, terminate iTunes, disconnect my iPod, restart iTunes again, and switch playlists, I can switch on 'live updating' again, and it seems to work.

If then (after "fixing" one playlist) I go to a different 'live updating' playlist, I just disable, then enable the 'live updating', and the playlist seems to work again.

This is very tedious, but better than recreating the playlist from scratch every time.

I'd be very interested in hearing other experiences.


Unable to deploy in house iOS app via Profile Manager to one specific iPad

See page 5 of the iOS_Security_Oct12.pdf document. iOS won't allow an in-house app to run on a device that doesn't have the corresponding provisioning profile - this ensures that the app cannot be run on an unauthorized device.

http://images.apple.com/iphone/business/docs/iOS_Security_Oct12.pdf


After some annoying trial and error which convinced me that the new Music app - at least in its current state - is even worse than iTunes, I was able to resolve this issue by

Completely removing all files related to the Music app that App Cleaner was able to find, in particular including preference files and (maybe, see step 3) Music.app itself. Deleting the latter requires making the root volume writable via sudo mount -uw / and possibly disabling System Integrity Protection. I have that off always. Not sure if it's required.
Move the library folder and the library file Music Library.musiclibrary to a new location, e.g. ~/Desktop.
Delete the old Music.app and transfer a new copy from an unaffected Mac also running Catalina.

Note: I think this step might be unnecessary. Just listing it here for completeness since that was one of the steps I took but don't care to repeat the process without it to see if it still works.
Launch the new Music.app to confirm that it runs without crashing immediately, then close it again.
Move the library folder and file Music Library.musiclibrary to its original location, usually ~/Music.
Launch Music.app while holding alt to change libraries. Choose the original library location (not the library folder itself, i.e. in my case ~/Music).
Done. I was now able to launch Music.app again with all my songs in it.


How do I get an old iOS 4.1 iPhone 3GS to sync with my iCloud contacts on my OS X 10.7.5 Mac?

If you go into the contacts/address book app on you mac, select all the contacts (either cmd-a or select first, scroll to bottom, hold shift and select last) and you can either right click or click on the little cog wheel at the bottom of the app and export the contacts to a vCard.

You can then use another free cloud service such as google or yahoo and import the contacts into that account on their website.

Sign in to this account on your iPhone and choose to use it for contacts only and they should start to all sync down from the cloud.


I included emoji in my password and now I can't log in to my Account on Yosemite

If you have "Other Input Sources" available at the top right of your login screen, select the one called Unicode Hex Input.  This can be used to input emoji (or any other character) into the password field, as long as you know the Unicode Hex number of the character.  This number can be found in the Character Viewer or on the internet.

Some items you find in the  "emoji" category have Unicode hex numbers with just 4 characters, such as Airplane U+2708 ✈.  With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard, you input this by holding down the Option key while you type 2708.

Other emoji have Unicode hex numbers with 5 characters, such as Grinning Face U+1F600 .  For these you need to find the two corresponding UTF-16 Hex codes (sometimes called "surrogates") by consulting Character Viewer or using an internet source like fileformat.info.  For 1F600 these are D83D and DE00.  You can input 1F600 by holding down the option key while typing D83DDE00.  You may see two dots in the field, but it is still just one character.


Searching for lost .pem file in time machine back up

To retrieve the .pem file you need to locate your backup folder and traverse its directory tree, since it has the exact same structure as what your OS had when it was being backed up.

Some files and directories might have a red sign in the bottom right of their thumbnail, which just means that you need to enable access rights, which can be done like this:

Select the file or directory with the red minus symbol.
Choose Get Info.
A new window will appear, make sure the bottom right lock is open (if closed, click on it).
Click on the + in the bottom left corner.
Another window will appear, find your account and double-click it.
Restore the bottom right lock to its former state (important for security).


Can I use the USB-C cable for my charger to transfer large files between different OS X laptops?

The charger included with the 2016 MacBook Pro is a standard USB Type C cable. It should achieve speeds of up to 10gbps.
If you'd like speeds of up to 40gbps, I'd buy an official thunderbolt 3 cable from Apple. These should have the highest speeds.

NOTE: My bad, I looked into it and the cable is a standard USB C cable, not thunderbolt. Answer has been changed to reflect that.


Can new Health-app fields be created by 3rd parties?

Neither you nor third-party developers can add fields to Health.

Working with the HealthKit Framework
The HealthKit framework is designed to share data between apps in a meaningful way. The framework constrains the types of data and units to a predefined list, ensuring that all apps understand what the data means and how it can be used. Developers cannot create custom data types or units. Instead, HealthKit provides a wide variety of data types and units.

HealthKit | Apple Developer Documentation


Is it possible to switch parts between Verizon and AT&T iPhone 5?

You can use the battery from the phone that is not from your provider, but not switch radios. Batteries between models, e.g., iPhone 5, are the same even when the radios are not. Even when radio types are the same, e.g., GSM vs GSM, the operating frequencies, etc., often aren't.

Other pieces, such as screen glass, case, screen layers and the like are also interchangeable. Basically, it's the radio-oriented stuff that you can't swap.


Does changing the password for Apple ID make iCloud and Find My iPhone stop working?

You need the original Apple ID to deactivate the Find my iPhone function on the phone.
If the person who has it has put it on DFU mode, and its iOS version is 7 or higher, he will need the original Apple ID to reactivate it.

You may wish to put the phone on "Lost Mode", that will put a message on the phone lock screen with information of your choice.

It's important to know that downloading the Find my iPhone app is not the same as enabling Find my iPhone.

There is a detailed explanation of the functionality of Find my iPhone on this article on Apple Support


Does Chrome consume more energy(battery) versus Safari?

This question risks being closed because it's basically inviting people to share their opinions. Also, the reality is that the answer to this question may very well be different for different users.

For example, some users may only do basic browsing while others may use their browsers for more intensive work/play. It's quite feasible that one browser may be more efficient with some types of browsing, while the other is more efficient with other types of usage.

Also, different users will configure their browsers differently, and in some cases the hardware they have will also play a role. As an example, some users may have Chrome configured to use hardware acceleration when available (and it's availability will depend on their hardware).

The best way for you to answer this question is to do your own testing with your own hardware and using your browser as you typically would. And it seems from your question that you're already doing this.

Any responses from users (me included) who share their experiences with these browsers are not necessarily going to apply to your usage. And all answers will be equally valid, regardless of how different they may be.


You can't really disable the SMB1 client protocol because SMB2 is backward compatible with SMB1.  What you can do, however, is specify that the SMB client only negotiate via SMB 2.x.

To disable SMB1 create an /etc/nsmb.conf (global settings) and/or ~/Library/Preferences/nsmb.conf (user local settings) with the following:

# Configuration file for foo.bar
  [default]
  smb_neg=smb2_only

If you set this in the global location (/etc/nsmb.conf) you will need Admin privileges to modify.  If your Macs are "locked down," meaning users don't have Admin privileges, this essentially locks out the user from enabling SMB1 and effectively disabling the SMB1 protocol.

Secondly, what you should do is at a server level disable SMB1 by default.  This way, when any client attempts to connect, the Mac client will automatically switch from SMB1 to SMB2/3 as needed.  If it's not enabled on the server the client won't matter.


OSX Sierra Notes & Reminders sync disabled

Check for a MacOS update, if you have one do it. If not then continue below.

Does your work MacBook have any work-installed profiles in your system preferences?

A lot of times companies don't allow certain features to be accessed. If there is a profile or a preference there that isnt a default preference then it was installed.

If you don't have any profiles or special preferences then I would check to see if you can access www.icloud.com and see if you can visit the site on your work MacBook. If you can then great, if not then its likely that the server is blocked, which means that it is either blocked from the network.

If none of the above apply, then there are 2 things that you can do to test and see if its a software issue.

Sign out of iCloud and then sign back in and see if the issue continues.
Try it in safe mode to see if there is something else that could be preventing it.
Create a new user account on that MacBook and sign into iCloud with the same Apple ID account. See if the issue continues.

If they still don't work with either of those troubleshooting steps then you need to backup the Mac with Time Machine and then the next step is to re-install MacOS and then once its been installed, try it again. It should work if none of the above did.


Seeking small bluetooth keyboard with Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys

The fn key + up/down/left/right arrows give you that functionality on the Apple keyboard. Earlier iterations of Apple keyboards were labeled as such but it still works on the newer unlabeled ones.


Is it possible to hide my device's UDID from iOS apps?

In a word, no, it's currently available for any App to read, and then subsequently use as it sees fit.  However, Apple recently made clear that they would not approve future Apps that request it, and so it's use will be negated over time, but of course this won't necessarily apply to the millions of apps already approved.


My iPad Air has a charging problem. it says its charging but it's not!

What I would do is make sure that it is in fact the iPad that's at fault and not a power adapter, as if you use an iPhone power adapter with an iPad, it will work, but will charge it slower. NEVER use a 3rd-party charger with any Apple device, if you are, that could be the problem. If you are using the official charger that came with your iPad, it simply could be broken. So try charging your iPad with different chargers.

If your iPad is at fault, restart your iPad by holding the power button and home button together until you see an Apple logo. Try charging it again when it comes back on in a few seconds.

If that still doesn't work, make sure that your iPad Air is running the current (as of today, 11/26/15) iOS 9.1 (update: 9.2 is current now, 12/13/15). Go to Settings> General> Software Update and update it if you need to, as the charging problem could be a rare bug in an older version iOS.

If your iPad is up to date, or after you update it, if your iPad still won't charge, back it up with iTunes (see this Apple Support link, also make sure that "Encrypt Backup" is checked and set the password as your iCloud password, also be sure to back up your iPad two or three times just to be safe) and then click "Restore" (erase) your iPad in iTunes. When your iPad is restored, connect it to iTunes again and click "Restore Backup" and select the backup you made. As long as you do these steps properly, none of your data will be lost, but a clean install might just fix your charging issue.

If it still won't work after a clean install, either the dock assembly or battery is no good and will need to be replaced. If it is under warranty, call AppleCare support and see about getting your iPad fixed for free. If not, you could still go with Applecare or go with a local repair shop for a cheaper price.


Moving External Boot Drive into Mac mini (Mid 2007)

Assuming the drive inside the My Passport has a SATA connection, then you can just take the drive as-is without any need for re-formatting or changing any data.

However you should look into the specific model of drive you've got — some external drives are manufactured with direct USB interfaces to save costs, rather than a SATA interface with a USB bridge.


Is there enough room inside a MacBook Pro 16" to fit a slim Tile?

No, you can’t fit them.  I have a 2014 MacBook Air and my wife’s friend has those tile key dongles. I folded a piece of paper until it was about the same thickness.
I opened the back and tried to find a place to fit it. Even by the battery where I thought there would be room made the back cover not fit. I was using paper which is more flexible than the plastic tile and I was afraid it would break something. I would definitely not do this
If you want to still use the tile, maybe you could hot glue it to the outside. I like hot glue here because it will stick good and when you want to remove it, it won’t hurt the Mac. I know this because my daughter hot glued rhinestones to her MabBook lid and it didn’t do any damage.


When you double click a .command in the Finder, the Terminal opens and runs /path/to/your.command ; exit; The exit at the end exits the shell, and you have Terminal's preferences set to close the window when this happens.

Go to Terminal -> Preferences -> Settings -> Whichever Theme is marked as the Default -> Shell -> When the shell exits: and choose "Don't close the window".

Alternatively, if you don't want to change Terminal's preferences:

If your command outputs something to STDOUT that you want to read after the command exits, you can pipe the command's output through less, which will then stay open allowing you to scroll around through the output with the arrow keys until you quit it with q. Just add |less to the end of the command in your script.

EDIT:

Found a more flexible option. If piping something through less isn't practical for whatever reason, or your script is too complicated, you can add a last command that waits for input from the user before completing. I used

$ read -n 1 -p "Done. Press any key to exit. "

(Wait for one character of input while displaying the prompt.)


How to upgrade brew ssh after recent client exploit?

To be able to modify certain directories/files in OS X El Capitan you have to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) AKA “rootless”:

Reboot your Mac into Recovery Mode by restarting your computer and holding down cmd+R until the Apple logo appears on your screen.
In the menubar click Utilities > Terminal.
In the Terminal window, type in csrutil disable.
Restart your Mac.
After finishing your mods re-enable it in Recovery Mode with csrutil enable.

The file /System/Library/LaunchAgents/org.openbsd.ssh-agent.plist may be replaced in the next system update.


Is it possible to change Dock icons on a per-user basis?

The bell sound suggests you do not have the right to alter the application. A command line approach will allow you to gain the appropriate rights.

AppleScript App Trampoline

For a per-user approach, consider creating an small trampoline application using AppleScript. Using AppleScript Editor, create an application that launches your desired application.

The AppleScript can be as little as:

tell app "/Applications/Original.app"
    activate
end tell

You can apply a custom icon to your trampoline application and place this application in the Dock. When launched, the trampoline application will in turn launch the original application.

Command Line Approach

The approach below will change the application icon for all users.

Try setting a custom icon on the application using the command line tool SetFile and super user rights, sudo.

See How can I change a file or folder icon using the Terminal for a few approaches for setting an icon via the command line. Below is the most highly rated response:

# Take an image and make the image its own icon:
sips -i icon.png

# Extract the icon to its own resource file:
/Developer/Tools/DeRez -only icns icon.png > tmpicns.rsrc

# append this resource to the file you want to icon-ize.
/Developer/Tools/Rez -append tmpicns.rsrc -o file.ext

# Use the resource to set the icon.
sudo /Developer/Tools/SetFile -a C /Applications/MyApp.app

# clean up.
rm tmpicns.rsrc
# rm icon.png # probably want to keep this for re-use.

I have appended sudo before the SetFile command to elevate your rights.


Bootcamp Failing with Error: "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition."

Which partition to delete?

Restart your computer and hold down the alt/option key.
Select the recovery partition you wish to keep. For example, with El
Captain OS X 10.11 installed, the recovery partition should be
labeled "Recovery-10.11".
Once booted to this partition, select the Terminal application for
the menu bar.
In the opened Terminal application window, enter the mount
command. The partition you selected will show up in the list. The
other recovery partition will be absent.

The absent partition is the one to delete.

How to delete it in a (preferably safe) way that would make my hard disk "clean" of everything but my main Macintosh HD partition?

By "clean", I assume you mean you want to remove the extra Recovery HD partition.

If you want to remove disk0s3 then you should first copy the contents of disk0s4 to disk0s3. This can be down using the command given below.

sudo dd if=/dev/disk0s4 of=/dev/disk0s3 bs=16384

You will need to remove the 4th partition. Follow the steps below.

Start your computer from Internet Recovery. Press and hold the
Command-Option+R keys immediately after you turn on your Mac and
hear the startup sound. Your model is capable of using Internet
Recovery, but your firmware may need to be updated. See Computers
that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery.

Note: An alternative would be to startup using the Snow Leopard (OS
X 10.6) or earlier DVD.
From the menu bar, open the Terminal application.
Enter the following commands in the Terminal application window.

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt remove -i 4 /dev/disk0


Any nice, stable ways to keep a window 'Always on top' on the Mac?

I'll note that the iOS Simulator has the option Stay On Top (formerly called Stay in Front). Extremely useful functionality, and proves that there are Apple-supported and sanctioned ways to achieve this behavior.
Might be worth opening a radar, especially for adding to Terminal.
You can duplicate my radar:

Bug ID 27430873: Add "Stay in Front" option to Terminal windows.

Apple's Activity Monitor app similarly has the option Keep CPU Windows on Top that floats the small CPU graphs on top of all other apps' windows:


Is it possible to stream music TO an iPod touch via bluetooth?

If you are sending audio from a Mac or PC this is very doable using the Rogue Amoeba product AirFoil:

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/speakers.php

It doesn't go over bluetooth, but WiFi similar to AirPlay - but it might be the closest you can get without jailbreaking iOS. I don't know of a specific jailbreak mod, but it's not something iOS/OS X does natively.

You might also be in the situation of these other users:

iPhone as 'headphones' for computer
Connect iphone to multiple output devices to play music

For sending bluetooth audio to a home receiver, I'd spend the money for a dedicated device like Belkin's as it remembers up to 6 paired devices and uses wall power. It's quite tiny even though the image below is large.

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Stream-Bluetooth-Music-Receiver/dp/B00IL7BWGA/


Boot Camp doesn't restrict the amount of RAM available, therefore the maximum is the maximum as delineated by Windows 7 64 bit, 192 GB.


Some videos (seems random) exported from Premiere can't be Airdropped to iPhone

Digging through the thread I linked in the question (this one) finally found steps that solve it for me.
Sequence Settings

Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels
Fields: No Fields (Progressive
Scan)
Display Format: 29.97 fps Drop-Frame Timecode

Export Settings

Format: H.264
Preset: Match Source - High Bitrate

Ensuring these settings are the same in every sequence makes it so all the videos exported are able to Airdrop to and play on iOS.


How to display favicon on my Safari Tab?

This is not possible with current version of Safari 9 or 9.1.

If, like me, you do really want this feature, please use Apple Safari feedack form to send feedback to Apple.

They do listen to customer feedback, I can assure you, and when it comes to features like this, the number of requests is essential.


Best tips in regard to calibrating a macbook pro screen

In my experience, with the exception of my first-gen fluorescent backlit plastic MacBook, which has never looked quite right, Apple displays ship with excellent default calibration.

Unlike TVs which are optimized to maximize their brightness in already bright fluorescent-lit showrooms, Apple tends to ship their displays calibrated for rooms with normal levels of incandescent light.

That said, if you'd like to get into color calibration, try calibrating by eye first. Turn on the advanced settings for a load of controls. Just follow the instructions carefully.

  System Preferences > Displays > Color > Calibrate

If you have a good eye, aren't doing color sensitive work, and just want to get your display to "look good", this might be all you need. During the calibration, make sure the ambient (room) lighting matches what it will be while you're using the display normally.

Also, while doing the test, you might want to get some distance from the screen and squint a bit, especially for the tests that have you judging brightness levels.

If you need something more high end, you might want to look into something hardware based like these products: Pantone Huey, Colormunki, Datacolor Spyder.

Depending on which of these you get, you'll be able to not only calibrate your display so that it displays color accurately, but also generate color profiles for proofing so you can simulate what your work will look like when printed on a specific printer, paper, inks etc.


How do I gift a book from the iBookstore?

Updated 17 Dec 2013.
As reported by Macworld, the iBookstore now allows you to gift books:

Gifting in the iBookstore works identically to Apple’s iTunes and App Store counterparts: Just choose the book you’d like to gift, then tap either the dropdown arrow next to the price (on a Mac) or the Share button (on an iOS device).

More details are in their article, but by-and-large it seems to behave exactly as you would expect.

My original answer:
You can’t; iBook gifting isn’t supported yet.
From Apple’s iBooks FAQs page:

Can I gift a book?
No, you cannot gift a book in the iBookstore at this time.

The phrase “at this time” suggests that it’s coming in the future, but Apple haven’t announced anything yet.


Searching for available Apple Developer account names

As far as I know you can pick any name as you like, as long as your company details shared with Apple are correct. And yes, they check everything before you get approved - took me a few weeks to fix the details with them because they've missed the "Inc."

Do you really want to change your future company name if the account is taken as Apple ID? There are many many many companies around with similar names, or near similar names.

Just take the name you had in mind, as long as your company details match there is nothing they can do to disapprove your Apple ID.


how to enable continuous scrolling in iBooks 1.0 for OSX Mavericks?

Continuous scrolling is available for iBooks on iOS but not the Mac. The Mac version of iBooks only allows pagination.


In an attempt to replace Quicken 2003 for Windows, I ended up on Moneywell. It has a companion iOS app which allows me to enter transactions on the go and sync via Dropbox.

It isn't perfect, but I like it.


Should I be charging or discharging my smartphone when I'm using it at my desk?

This questions risks inviting a lot of opinion, so some may vote to close this down.

However, to try and keep this to the facts, I refer you firstly to what Apple has to say about their batteries. You should also read this.

In a nutshell, the key indisputable points are:

Apple lithium-ion batteries use fast charging to reach 80% of their capacity and then switch to slower trickle charging to complete the charge.
Charge your iPhone whenever you want. Many people believe you need to let them discharge 100% before recharging. This is not true.
Ambient temperature is one of the biggest factors in battery health/life. iPhones are designed to work at their best when ambient temperatures are between 0° to 35° C (32° to 95° F).
Store your iPhone where the temperature is between -20º and 45º C (-4º to 113º F). Don’t leave it in your car, because temperatures in parked cars can exceed 45º C (113º F).

Also, the latest research confirms one of the most important determinants of what ruins a battery is time. (You could purchase a brand new iPhone battery and leave it unused in its original packaging for five years and then find it's capacity is nowhere near what it should be when you start using it)


Installing Mavericks on brand new Macbook with Yosemite?

Simple answer, I'm afraid - No.

Unless you buy a machine right on the cusp of a new OS release, it will never be able to boot from an OS that was released before that machine existed.
There are no hardware drivers for it, at the most basic level and it's a pretty dangerous thing to do according to Apple.


Can the finder edit mp3 sound file tags like artist?

For those seeking a free terminal-based solution

Per the rest of the answerers in here, Finder (as of El Capitan) does not do this.
I arrived at id3v2 referenced in a Linux forum.

Installation

  Via HomeBrew - Update HomeBrew and install commands

brew update && brew install id3v2

Example Usage

Change Artist to Prince

id3v2 -a "Prince" 01\ Wow.mp3

Change Title to Wow

id3v2 -t "Wow" 01\ Wow.mp3


Why Macbook Pro 2016 removes F1-F12 keys but the Fn key still there

Fn still turns Touch Bar into a function key row F1..F12


Securely erasing all data on iPod Classic so that it cannot be recovered

Since you're a Windows user I'm not entirely sure how the iPod classic will or won't work in Disk Mode or how your Windows formatting software of choice will see your iPod. However, on a Mac you can securely erase an iPod Classic, so it may well be possible with Windows.

However, in the absence of certainty, why not just fill it up with irrelevant data first? This will force a write over the storage.

For example, you could fill it with a whole bunch of music (or anything else really) and after it's full, then wipe it/restore it/etc. Then do with it as you wish in the knowledge that anyone seriously trying to recover the original data (i.e. the data you had on it before you filled it with irrelevant data) will have almost no chance of recovering anything meaningful.