Help merging free space partition with Macintosh HD partition

Before issuing the command to merge the free space, you will need to fix an error in the GUID Partition Table (GPT). The "Recovery HD" labeled partition with the identifier disk0s3 has a GUID of 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC. The correct value should be 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC.

One way, to correct this error, would be to boot from OS X Internet Recovery and enter the following commands in a Terminal application window.

diskutil unmountdisk /dev/disk0
gpt remove -i 3 /dev/disk0
diskutil unmountdisk /dev/disk0
gpt add -i 3 -b 119050312 -s 1269536 -t 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0

  Note: The three keys you need to hold down to start "OS X Internet Recovery" are OptionCommand ⌘R.

Once the above commands have been entered, you can restart the computer back to El Capitan.

The Terminal application command to merge the free space is given below.

diskutil  resizevolume  /dev/disk0s2  R

This command will move /dev/disk0s3 to the bottom of disk0 while resizing /dev/disk0s2 to maximum size.


Facebook app won't load newsfeed when using Wi-Fi on iPhone

Here are a few suggestions I could think of off the top of my head

Restart your wifi radio (Settings > Wi-Fi > OFF. Leave off for 1 minute, then slide back to ON)
Reboot your phone
Reinstall Facebook app

Try those one at a time to see if any of them fixes your problem.


Early 2013 Retina display on Late 2013 MacBook Pro 13 inch compatibility

Browse ifixit.com and you can see ifixit's part numbers for these two 13" Retina MacBook Pro machines.

The "Display LVDS cables" on the two MacBooks carry the same ifixit part numbers. The two models' "Screen Assemblies," however, show different ifixit part numbers.
Because the screen part numbers are different, I think the answer to your question is "Probably not."

If I were in your shoes and really wanted to resurrect my MacBook Pro, I'd look for the specific part that fits your model MacBook Pro, or a used MacBook Pro of the same model from which you could remove and reuse its screen.


iPhone showing reminders, but I have none

When you open the Reminders app, make sure there isn't anything set in both Reminders and Tasks.

You may have created a Task using Siri, or another app by accident. And as a result of the way the app is setup on the iPhone, it doesn't default to showing you both Reminders and Tasks at the same time.

On the iPhone try the following:

Open up the Reminders app
Tap near the bottom of the screen (you should see other white tabs)
Tap on whichever tab is not active (most likely Tasks)
If there are any items listed there, check them off by tapping the circles next to the name

On the Mac try the following:

Open up the Reminders app
Ensure sidebar is visible by going to View > Show Sidebar in the top Menu Bar
Click on all of the different options in the sidebar (Today, Reminders, Tasks, etc)
If there are any items listed there, check them off by clicking the circles next to the name


How to remove the computer name, date, and time at the bottom of every printed page

Rather than guess what has changed, here is a procedure to narrow the cause down.

Make a new user account from System Preferences and log into that user.
Open TextEdit and type one word or two and then print.

Don't change any settings and just print one page. If the page prints with the banner, then you can conclude that a system wide print setting has changed or that the printer itself is injecting the footer. The first thing I would try in this case is to reset the printing system:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1341
If you have printers - option click the - to reset pringing
if you have no printers, control click the area above the +/- control and reset the printing system

It would be odd to still have banners after resetting the print system and possibly something the print driver is doing automagically.

If not, you can know that it's a print default setting that was entered for your user account.


This happens when the wrong passcode has been entered 10 times. The stages escalate from a 1-minute lock after 5 incorrect attempts, to a 60-minute lock after 9 incorrect attempts. After the 10th incorrect attempt, depending on the setting under Settings → Passcode, either the iPhone gets wiped, or you get the message you describe.

Since your friend is worried about losing all her photos with a wipe, it's safe to assume she did not have iCloud Backup enabled, or that she was running iOS 4? Because if she does have a backup in iCloud, you could simply wipe the phone and restore it.

According to OS X Daily, you need to plug the phone into iTunes on the computer it was previously synced with. Then you should be able to Sync it by entering the correct passcode directly into iTunes. This will trigger a new backup, after which you'll be able to Restore her iPhone from this backup.

If this doesn't work for you, then the only way to regain access to that iPhone is to wipe it. Because the contents of the phone are encrypted, not even Apple can recover the data for you.


OSX Big Sur Window UI turns purple when moved to desktop two

Same issue here. Filed a bug report to apple.
Specially XCode looks annoying .... but only when shown in fullscreen or on a second desktop. The main desktop is fine.
I worked around it by:
System Preferences -> General -> DISABLE: "Allow wallpaper tinting in windows"


Can I configure the modem on my G5 to only allow calls from certain numbers to ring through?

I can think of a variety of methods to do what you want, but none of them are easy solutions. You'll probably need to write some code. This question should be tagged PBX, but that is too obscure for this site.

You'll probably want minicom installed to control the G5 modem. Get it via fink or macports. If you can use minicom to check the number without answering, then you are mostly done. If it doesn't match, ignore it. If it does match, you'll need to find some way for minicom to answer/forward/pass the incoming call out the modem out line. I'm not yet sure how to do this.

If minicom needs to answer the call in order to determine where it came from, then the situation is as above, but you might need two modems. If it is a call for the security center, pass it out one modem. If it isn't, pass it out the other, which goes to your home phone I presume.

If minicom cannot determine the number, or if can but has to answer in order to check it and this is problematic, then I would get a caller ID display, put it in next to the G5, and use a webcam to read the numbers off the caller ID. OpenCV would help with this part, or any script-able optical character recognition (OCR) software. You can get gocr from fink or macports too, and that might be sufficient. Determine the number and if it should go to the security console, have minicom patch it through.

But, why do you need to call in?

If your G5 is at home and online, it might be easier to not call into the security system, but SMS or email yourself, have the G5 fetching the mail, and taking action based on that (perhaps that action is using minicom to connect to the security system, but you don't need a phone line to the outside world in this case).


String of variable has a space - how do I escape spaces?

How about

set a to choose folder with prompt "Select your Time Machine backup:"

set p to quoted form of POSIX path of result

This will produce a string with the full path in single quotes: '/path/to/Conners Mac'.


Encrypt FAT USB drive under El Capitan (10.11)

You could look into VeraCrypt which is the open-source successor to TrueCrypt and exists for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It can also open existing  TrueCrypt containers. https://veracrypt.codeplex.com

Like TrueCrypt, VeraCrypt can create an encrypted CONTAINER FILE which is like an DMG or ISO image file and can be copied, so it would fit on a FAT32-formatted USB drive as long as the file size remains below 4 GB, as FAT32 cannot contain individual files larger than that. For this a container file you can choose between FAT, exFAT, and OS X Extended as the internal format. For maximum compatibility between Windows and OS X, FAT is the right choice. ExFAT can take files larger than 4 GB and is supported by Windows XP, but it is not supported in OS X before 10.6.5 Snow Leopard.

Finally, you can also use VeraCrypt to create an ENCRYPTED DRIVE VOLUME, so that the whole USB drive or a partition itself is encrypted. However, VeraCrypt doesn't encrypt existing files directly. First you create an empty  encrypted container file or drive volume, then you copy your files to it.


Horizontal scrolling in Inkscape in Mac OS

Well, having done some more googling, have found this: no horizontal scroll on OS X. Unfortunately, looks like it's a bug in Inkscape (horizontal scrolling works on the colour palette under the canvas) :(


How to transfer folders with many mp3 files in it from pc to itunes?

Drag a file or folder from the desktop to the iTunes window. If you add a folder, all the files it contains are added to your library.


Trackpad on early 2015 13" MacBook Air keeps losing its "click"

The trackpad doesn’t actually move or have a physical click on any 2015 MacBook Air — it uses a haptic device to tap back at you when you touch it to simulate a click. So I guess that your Taptic Engine has failed.


How do I suppress the address bar in mobile Safari?

You only need the first part of this code to do what you ask, but the rest may also be helpful.

// hide the browser chrome
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />

//set the phone status bar style; can be grey, black, or black translucent
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black" />

// set the viewport for iOS
<meta content="minimum-scale=1.0, width=device-width, maximum-scale=0.6667, user-scalable=no" name="viewport" />

// set a custom icon for when a user bookmarks the app to the home screen
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/path/to/icon.png" />


Why does the iTunes artist list jump to start when I scroll it?

It's probably scrolling to where the cursor is, and since you searched, the cursor has been reset and moved to the top of the list.  Click once in the list to select a visible item, then scroll.


Trouble Understanding Inactive Memory in MacOSX

I have found, on my machine, that Mac OS X is a little slow to page the right things out.

Whenever doing anything particularly memory hungry, I will often quit a few applications to help it out. Safari is a huge memory hog if it has been running for a while and is top of the list of applications to quit. In my case this was when I tried to run VMWare Fusion without quite enough actual RAM.

You probably know this but here are a couple of links to Apple documentation which describe memory usage and virtual memory on OS X:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1342

http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Performance/Conceptual/ManagingMemory/Articles/AboutMemory.html

Here is the explanation that is given: The inactive list contains pages that are currently resident in physical memory but have not been accessed recently. It's hard to get an exact definition of what this means but is seems to include a file system cache as well as actual inactive memory.

Inactive memory is probably a difficult thing to handle on an interactive GUI driven OS where a user may choose to switch to any running application at any time and providing responsiveness in this sort of situation is important.... but the flipside of that is that in a situation like yours the OS doesn't quite know what the right thing to do is.

It is possible to purge (some of) the inactive memory by using the purge command. This may need to be installed by installing the CHUD tools but you may already have that installed. I haven't tried using the purge command so YMMV...

I've rambled on a bit and may or may not have answered your question. After writing all this out, I found another question on this site which much of the same info that might also help.


How do I get Windows 10 installed on my macbook pro (late 2008)

How to install Windows without using the BootCamp Assistant.

Download and copy the Boot Camp Support Software to a flash drive.
You will need this later.
You need to create a "MS-DOS (FAT)" formatted partition.

One way would be during a clean install. Use the Disk Utility to
create a two partitions. The  first would be "Mac OS Extended
(Journaled)" for OS X and the second would be "MS-DOS (FAT)"
formatted for Windows. Install OS X to the first partition. I would
avoid using Core Storage.

The second way would be to create a single "Mac OS Extended
(Journaled)" partition and install OS X. Again, avoid using Core
Storage. Once installed, you should be able to use the Disk Utility
to shrink this partition and add a "MS-DOS (FAT)" formatted
partition for Windows.
Bless the Windows partition. Using the Disk Utility application,
highlight the "MS-DOS (FAT)" formatted partition and click the Info
button. Note the Disk Identifier. It usually is disk0s4. To install
Windows, the last digit can not be greater than 4. In a Terminal
application window, enter the following command.

sudo bless --device /dev/disk0s4 --setBoot --legacy

Here is assumed disk0s4 is the correct Disk Identifier.
Set the active MBR partition. From a Terminal application window
enter the following.

sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0
flag 4
quit
yes

Here 4 was used because it was the last digit of the Disk
Identifier. Below is an example of me entering the above commands.

Steelhead:~ davidanderson$ sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0
Password:
fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory
Enter 'help' for information
fdisk: 1> flag 4
Partition 4 marked active.
fdisk:*1> quit
Writing current MBR to disk.
Device could not be accessed exclusively.
A reboot will be needed for changes to take effect. OK? [n] yes
Steelhead:~ davidanderson$

Install Windows. Insert the Windows DVD and restart the computer.
Hold down either Option key during restart. Choose the DVD when the
icons appear. If you have more than one DVD icon, there may be a
problem with the DVD. In this case, see the note below.
After the installation of Windows is complete, insert the flash
drive and install the Boot Camp Support Software.

This was done from my memory. If you have a problem, let me know.

Note: More Than One DVD Icon

When trying to boot to the Window installation, DVD you may get two DVD icons to choose from. They are usually labeled "Windows" and "EFI Boot". The correct choice is "Windows". This may lead to the following message being displayed.

       1.

       2.
Select CD-ROM Boot Type :

I found this to be true using a DVD burned from the  "Windows10_InsiderPreview_x64_EN-US_10074.iso". The message has also occurred using certain Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 installation DVD's. The problem is the DVD and not with the steps given in this answer. The solution is to remove the "EFI Boot" method from the DVD or iso image. The procedure is given at “Select CD-ROM Boot Type:” error during Windows install.


tmux hangs when re-attaching session after logout

I think the use of __DARWIN_VERS_1050 in the tmux Portfile may be causing this.

If you are able, try a clean compile from source (i.e. without that CPPFLAGS addition). Be sure to completely restart your tmux server using your fresh-built binary (the difference happens in the daemon(3) call made when the server first starts up—so using a “clean” binary to connect to a server started with the MacPorts-built binary would not help).

Tangentially, since you use tmux on OS X, you might also use my reattach-to-user-namespace wrapper program. It seems like the wrapper program may not actually be necessary on Yosemite for pasteboard access inside tmux. If you are using the wrapper (and you do not mind testing a bit), try removing it from your configuration on your Yosemite system. I would appreciate hearing whether things (continue) to work without use of the wrapper (or whether you still lose pasteboard access at some point).


I had this problem recently and it was due to a problem with the previous version of macOS Sierra supported by acknowledgement by Apple of many similar reported bug in version 10.12.2.

The most recent update to macOS Sierra 10.12.3 resolved the error -36 with previewing files on the Time Capsule for me, try updating.

Dot_clean did not work for me but connecting the TC via SMB was a simple workaround until Apple sorted the issue out.


Is there a formulaic way to reverse the order of a list in Apple Numbers?

One way to do this is to use the INDIRECT function. If you give that the string "A1", it'll give you the value currently in the cell A1.

Let's say the list of numbers is in column A, and we want the reversed list in column B. Let's say there are 10 rows.

So: we need to make these formulae:

B1 = INDIRECT("A10")
B2 = INDIRECT("A9")
B3 = INDIRECT("A8")
...
B10 = INDIRECT("A1")

Ok. The first character of the string we are giving to INDIRECT here is always "A", so we can just hard code that.

Now we need the reversed row number. See the formulae above: if there are 10 rows, the reverse of row 1 is 10. The reverse of 2 is 9, and so on. So: the reverse of row R is total number of rows - R + 1.

The function ROWS(column name) will give us the total number of rows currently in column name. The function ROW() will give us the row number R (if we used ROW() in a formula in cell B5, it would return the number 5).

So... putting the formula INDIRECT("A" & ROWS(A) - ROW() + 1) into each cell in column B works for me, using Numbers 3.6.1 on a Mac.


Apple 2015 fiscal year accounting calendar

You can find a link to the fiscal calendar in iTunes Connect at the bottom of the "Payments and Financial Reports" page.

I'd post a link here, but it might change in the future.


If you can see the app in iTunes but not on your iPad, it means that it didn't sync over. Make sure it is selected as an app to sync.  Alternatively, try downloading it using the app store app on your ipad.


MacBook Pro (mid 2012) can't start with 3 alarms and sometimes can't wake from sleep

The first step would be to check out About Mac computer startup tones and identify which one of these startup tones is the one you're experiencing with your Mid-2012 MBP.

Near enough is not good enough! If your startup tone does not match exactly one of the ones listed, please comment back and say so and describe which one it is closest to and what the difference is. Unfortunately, not all of the possible startup tones are listed on that page, but identifying the correct tone helps narrow down your problem!

A possibility?

There was a common problem with some MBP models, but this predominantly affected 13" pre-2012 models. Regardless, there was an issue with logic boards not being able to address the RAM. In many cases it was caused by pressure, over time, on the bottom of the MBP which in turn placed pressure on the logic board.

You could test for this by applying some pressure on the bottom case as you start up or wake the computer. Place the pressure as follows: facing the bottom case, apply the pressure to the centre of the case, but slightly to the right (but not all the way).

If it's slight physical damage such as this, then you'd need a new logic board. However, you could try and manage the situation by always using the MBP on an even surface (such as on a desk). Also, transporting it in your backpack sounds like some sort of trigger, so you may want to pack it in well so that the bottom case is not being 'bumped' by other items in your backpack, as this may affect how well the RAM is sitting in the slots. Finally, you may want to handle your MBP carefully (e.g. don't pick it up / carry it with only one hand).

[UPDATE]

Now that we've established it's definitely an issue concerning your RAM in some way, we need to try and get to the bottom of what's causing it. Please be patient as troubleshooting is often a process of elimination and can take some time. The next step is to do a general test of your hardware.

Run Apple Hardware Test

Your model MBP uses Apple Hardware Test. To use this, follow these steps:

Shut down your MacBook Pro
Insert your original 2 x 2GB memory modules
Restart your MacBook Pro
Press and hold the D key before the gray startup screen appears
After a while, Apple Hardware Test (AHT) will start
When prompted, select your language and click the right arrow
When the AHT console appears, select the "Perform extended testing" checkbox and then click the Test button.
Your test results will appear in the window in the bottom-right of the console
Take a note of the results
Shut down your MacBook Pro
Now remove one of the 2GB memory modules and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now reinsert the 2GB memory module and remove the other one and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now remove the 2GB memory module and insert the 8GB model in the first memory slot and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now remove the 8GB memory module and insert it instead into the second memory slot and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now insert one of the original 2GB memory modules into the first memory slot and repeat steps 3 - 10

Note 1: These tests will take some time. At completion you should have run the Apple Hardware Test six times. Make sure you record the results clearly so you know what they were for each of the six memory configurations.

Note 2: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 4 doesn't work, start again at Step 3 and, at Step 4 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run Apple Hardware Test from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete.


You mean, booting into an X11 powered Window Manager instead of the Finder and Quartz? No, this is not possible (unless you install Linux of course and boot this directly).


bash script to verify that brew cask is installed

I ended up asking this on stackoverflow, where I was able to come up with this.

if ! brew info cask &>/dev/null; then
  echo "Failed to install Cask (Homebrew Extension)"
  exit 1
fi


Enable Web Inspector in Safari v 8.0 in Yosemite OS

defaults write NSGlobalDomain WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true

adds Inspect Element to the right-click menu

However, opening the Develop menu will do it too

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDevelopMenu -bool true

One additional note about toggling the Develop menu this way is that it isn't interactive with the Safari prefs pane, & can result in reversed behaviour if later toggled from there by the user.


Macbook display black on boot up with external monitor

OS X remembers the configuration for each individual external device you plug in and should restore the last setup.

You should get an extra icon in the top menu bar when you have an external display plugged in, and clicking on this will give you the options to rearrange the displays and choose which are on.

It may be that you are booting up into 'closed screen' mode (see this Apple support article).

You don't say which version of OS X you are using. Before Lion the behaviours were different and if so things might improve after upgrading.


terminal custom commands source every time

So after all struggle the only solution which worked for me is by executing source ~/.bashrc every time when I open my terminal.


How do I scan a QR code from an image stored on iOS?

The app QR Reader for iPhone on the App Store is quite a powerful QR code app. Check it out.

I use it infrequently, but I'm glad I have it in my toolbox.

Another reader that isn't scammy or tries to advertise / monetize your use is QRafter Pro and it's very solid over years of use.

Disclaimer: We're satisfied users of QR Reader/ QRafter for iPhone, and there are no financial or other connections between to TapMedia Ltd or QRafter.


Run the command top in the Terminal. This will tell you where all your CPU and/or memory is going in more detail than activity monitor (man top to learn more about it). My immediate assumption is that your CPU isn't maxing out because it has no reason to. The default power management by both Apple and Intel does its job very well; I would guess you get this slow tab switching when you have lots of applications open, or a few very large ones.

If your Mac is taking time to compress and expand memory, it will run slower. If (heaven forbid) you have actually used more memory than you have physical RAM, your MacBook is dumping dynamic data to the hard drive. This will run SUPER slow, but use relatively few clock cycles.


Creating a bootable usb for MacOS from Windows 10

In a word, no.

I am sure there are "unofficial" downloads but do you trust that? Me neither.

Put the model of your Mac in your question, as that matters.

Most modern Macs have Internet Recovery. Reboot your Mac holding COMMAND R. Which will get you into Internet Recovery mode, allowing you to connect to a network and download the version of the OS your Mac shipped with. Once that installs and boots properly you can download a later version if you like.


Add more suggestions in iOS predictive when typing

Most keyboards only show three suggestions as you type, no matter how relevant they are to the current conversation. Quick Type, the suggestions in iOS 9, have gotten much better at providing good suggestions that are context-specific, but it can't compare to some third-party options.

Your best alternative would be to install a good, intelligent third-party keyboard for better, more relevant suggestions as you type. I would suggest the SwiftKey keyboard as your best option for both keyboard and emoji support. Another good alternative is Swype.


spaces switching unexpectedly on osx yosemite

System Preferences > Mission Control > uncheck Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use


I reccomend getting Homebrew. Then run brew install bash, it will install bash 4.3.33. It's the easiest and safest way.

Then add the path to the executable to /etc/shells. For example:

/usr/local/bin/bash


Get low battery notifications for mouse earlier

For those willing to copy and run a bash script and add a cron job, here is a complete solution that is free and current (as of macOS Catalina 10.15.3) and requires no programming (I've done that part for you), just a little system administration:
Save this to a bash script like ~/.mouse-battery-check.sh:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:~/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

# actual battery level
BATT=`ioreg -c AppleDeviceManagementHIDEventService -r -l | grep -i mouse -A 20 | grep BatteryPercent | cut -d= -f2 | cut -d' ' -f2`

# defaults to warn at 20%; accepts other number as 1st argument (useful for testing)
COMPARE=${1:-20}

if [ -z "$BATT" ]; then
  echo 'No mouse found.'
  exit 0
fi

if (( BATT < COMPARE )); then
  osascript -e "display notification \"Mouse battery is at ${BATT}%.\" with title \"Mouse Battery Low\""
fi

Open up Terminal and make the script executable:
chmod +x ~/.mouse-battery-check.sh
Now you can test that the script sends a desktop notification by running it when your BlueTooth mouse is connected (this tests for battery less than 101%, so it should always send a notification):
~/.mouse-battery-check.sh 101

To test again with the default setting (20%):
~/.mouse-battery-check.sh

When a BlueTooth mouse is not detected, the script will return, "No mouse found."
Checking Automatically
Now to test periodically and notify you automatically, add a new cron job:
env EDITOR=nano crontab -e

Add an entry like to check every 15 minutes:
*/15 * * * * cd ~ && bash ~/.mouse-battery-check.sh

(You can again pass the battery percentage as a parameter to the script here.)
Press Control+X then Y then Enter to exit the editor and save the cron job.
Compatibility
This has been tested on:

Catalina 10.15.3
Mojave 10.14.6
High Sierra 10.13.x in June 2018

Acknowledgements
For battery check, this answer:
adjust battery-warning-level of magic mouse
For notification, this answer:
How can I trigger a Notification Center notification from an AppleScript or shell script?
For cron jobs, this blog:
https://ole.michelsen.dk/blog/schedule-jobs-with-crontab-on-mac-osx.html
User sirclesam for compatibility testing.
Enhancement - also check keyboard (and maybe trackpad)
I modified the script above to check both Apple Magic Mouse and Keyboard.  With the addition of one word it could check Trackpads, or any other overpriced Apple Magic doo dads, as well.  I only have the mouse and keyboard so I started with that.   I also changed the default to 10% which still gives me a few days to plug it in.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Check battery level of Apple Magic Mouse and Keyboard and Notify if low

PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:~/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

# Warn at 10% or according to first parameter.  Pass in 101 for testing.
COMPARE=${1:-10}

# Check each device.
# If you have a Trackpad please add the suitable token to this list and test it.
for HIDThingy in Keyboard Mouse; do
    # Determine battery level of Apple Magic Thingy
    BATT=`ioreg -c AppleDeviceManagementHIDEventService -r -l \
         | grep -i $HIDThingy -A 20 | grep BatteryPercent | sed -e 's/.* //'`

    if [ -z "$BATT" ]; then
      echo 'No $HIDThingy found.'
    elif (( BATT < COMPARE )); then
      osascript -e "display notification \"$HIDThingy battery is at ${BATT}%.\" with title \"$HIDThingy Battery\""
    fi
done


Is there a way to save money by disabling SMS and routing to IM?

I cancelled my SMS plan and use iMessage with people who have iPhones and Google Voice with people who don't. Both are free.

I can still receive SMS messages, but I get charged for them (but it's exceedingly rare that I get one). My wife opted to block all SMS messages. If someone sends one to her they do not get any notification that it is not received.


Excel Formula on : How to compare multiple columns in excel

I'll do the first one, then you can use and() to sort the other two:

=IF(A1=D1,"Same Name Only","")

Hint:

AND(A1+D1,B1+E1)

Well, see


Can an iPhone backup folder be retrieved after deletion on Windows?

You sould use some file recovery tools to recover deleted files. Operating system do not delete exact files. Only delete the file references. If you're lucky, OS do not replace your old file's partition with a new file; so you can recover.

iOS only backs up to iCloud and to iTunes, so unless you have another copy of that backup or another computer the device has synced to, you might be left with data recovery on the PC.

Is the iOS device still around to make a new backup?


I am sorry For not Responding For the Last few days.Unfortunately i had to format and reinstall Lion to install win 7.The hard drive was set up in such a way that it could not create a Boot Camp partition  even if only 20GBs of the 250 was used.

After Formatting the Drive as A journaled mac OS partition,I was able to install Win 7.

BTW i Could not make any changes to the drive before formatting.New partition,Restore etc. were all grayed out.


The best bet is to take it to apple if you have it under warranty. They will most likely go in the back and reset it and most likely that will fix it. I had a USB error not that long ago, so I took it to Apple. They reset my computer, and it fixed it. Nothing was deleted/lost, and rebooted perfectly fine. Only problem is it runs a tiny bit slow once you reboot, but it will work itself out after a bit of use.


Audio is disabled during safe mode since not considered essential function.

Safe mode is considered bare bone operation for troubleshooting.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


messages keeps asking for password for jabber account

This solution worked for me:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/32744059#32744059

  After running a comparison with a working version (on Sierra 10.12.6) it looks like the solution (at least for me) is to change the Where value that gets generated on sign in from what gets populated when adding an account in High Sierra com.apple.account.jabber.password to Jabber

  In order to make this change follow these steps:

  Open Keychain Access
  Search for com.apple.account.jabber.password
  Double click it to open the attributes prompt
  In the Where field (fourth one down) you should see com.apple.account.jabber.password
  Replace all text in that field with Jabber
  Click Save Changes

  After making this change the first launch of messages asked me to allow permission to access keychain. After doing so any subsequent open of messages works as expected.


I've used both, bought Versions in the end. They were both about equal in my use cases. What really helped was adding Kaleidoscope to my tool box and using it for diffs instead of the XCode diff engine or the simple diff engine in Versions.


Mac OS X finder and disk utility not responding

This potentially sounds like you could have a faulty hard-drive. Without being near the machine it's difficult to diagnose, but if Finder, Disk Utility and Dock are freezing it's probably when your machine is trying to access a file on the hard disk and failing. Try a Verify from the Disk Utility 'First Aid' screen. If you can hear a clicking sound coming from your hard drive it could be an indication of a hardware fault. If you have an alternative hard drive you could try using, see if you get the same symptoms.

One last thing - make sure you have an up-to date backup! If the drive does fail you'll want a backup handy. I'll assume you have a backup because you said you just did a blank install.


How can I tell Firewall to allow incoming connections for Python.app running Django

Signing the python application, using the instruction in the answer to this question, worked for me.


How can I make my Mac Mini 1,1 display 1080p?

As answered in the comment by bispymusic, this was resolved by using a DVI->HDMI adaptor or cable. The Mac mini was able to output a whole new set of resolutions, and jumped straight to 1080p as the most suitable. Thanks.


Numbers no longer opens .xls spreadsheet

I would say both files have somehow become corrupted and Numbers cannot recover from the errors.

I would try to restore the original file from a TimeMachine backup if you have one. If not this would be a good time to set up a TimeMachine backup, very very easy to do with a Mac and OS X.

I would also try opening the original xls file in OpenOffice or LibreOffice both of which are free.


It is not possible. Books added to iBooks are stored in a folder by the application automatically.


Switching to the strongest signal will automatically happen if the Wifi SSID (the name of the wifi you see in Wifi Settings) of both Wifi signals are the same. (So in your case, both the AP should be named either Bob or Mary, and be on different Wifi channels so that they don't weaken each others signal).
If the SSID are different then it won't work. One possible reason for the lack of this feature is that Wifi consumes a lot of power, and if your device has to always keep scanning for all Wifi signals to determine their strength, the battery will drain faster.
(Jailbroken devices can have this feature - StrongerFi – Automatically switch to the strongest WiFi signal - though I wouldn't really advise opting for this route.)
Apple support article "How iOS decides which wireless network to auto-join" explains how iOS automatically determines the Wifi to connect to, based on your past wifi activity.


How to add custom mouse-click actions to Safari with modifier keys?

This is not a perfect solution for your needs, but FruitMenu from Unsanity is the only utility I am aware of that will let you customize contextual menus. It costs US $15.00. It is not yet compatible with Lion. You could download a trial version and see if it will be helpful.

Any keyboard macro program such as Keyboard Maestro should be able to achieve what you need. You might briefly see a contextual menu pop up while it is running its macro, but I think you could live with that.


I managed to fix this by restarting the dock by running the following in the terminal:

killall -KILL Dock


Is there a limit as to how many apple TVs i can connect to 1 iTunes account?

Use Home Sharing in iTunes, and sign into each ATV's "iTunes and App Store" account setting with the same account, and you'll be all set.  You can also set the ATV's to require the acct password to purchase content (or even to download free content), so you don't have to worry about guests/kids/etc purchasing content.


I see this in MacBook Airs, and similarily in MacBook Pros (2012 and earlier non-retina), all the time. It is in my judgement simple material fatigue.

The battery in the MBAs are held down with 5 screws, in MBPs with 2 or 3. The retainer plastic around these screws are thin and therefore relatively weak, which means they are prone to breakage due to mechanical stress. They are stressed from the downward screw pressure, and will get additionally stressed from the bumps happening in normal use, which will induce a mechanical force on the battery relative to the screws. There is nothing more to it. The temperature in these, especially in the corners of the MBAs, do not rise enough to cause the plastic to become brittle.

This breakage might have been a contributing factor to why Apple has switched to holding the batteries in place with glue instead. I have seen a couple of instances where a piece of this retainer plastic has come loose and lodged itself in the CPU fan, stopping it cold.


Airpods seem to have a Chinese name by default

my name is Mei, and to answer first character 枫 ( fēng ) is a component to a chinese name and literally means "Maple" and second character 的 ( de ) is a possessive particle or meaning "of" or belonging to, to put simply it means "Feng's AirPods"


How do I get 'New Terminal at Folder' functionality when dragging a folder to the terminal dock icon?

I was able to do it two different ways:

First, drag and drop the folder directly into the window you want the path copied to by clicking and dragging the folder, using Cmd+Tab to open the Terminal window you were working in, then dropping it on the Terminal window.

Second, drag and drop the folder onto the Terminal icon in the Dock like you were before, but hold it there for a few seconds until the window you had open appears, then continue dragging the folder into the Terminal window and dropping it there.


How can I run a job once a day with launchd, regardless of when the computer is on?

Launchd will run your jobs next time the mac wakes from sleep. So if you shut down your mac, this won't work. You will need to put your mac to sleep to get your daily script to run when the mac wakes if the last time it should have run was during the sleep duration.

man launchd.plist:

  If the system is asleep, the
       job will be started the next time the computer wakes up.  If multiple intervals transpire
       before the computer is woken, those events will be coalesced into one event upon wake from
       sleep.

Or in other words: You don't have to do anything specific, it's the default behavior anyway.

If you also want to run the command once after reboot, add

<Key>RunAtLoad</Key>
<true/>

to your launchd plist.


Why do some of my programs get terminated when the screensaver runs?

Go to the Security pane of System Preferences.

Uncheck the box that says, "Log out after [##] minutes of inactivity."


MacBook Pro crashed when inserting a USB cable connected to an Arduino Nano clone

Check the panic log in console. Every kernel panic is logged and you should be able to find it via search box.  I bet the serial driver is causing the panic. Maybe this tweet is of any help.

I use a serial usb adapter as well for my Beaglebone Black. I did not install a serial driver on OS X but instead am running a debian vm for communication with the beaglebone black. Debian/Ubuntu or whatever linux distribution are shipping with serial usb driver, so there is no need to install extra software.


Black screen when open Time Machine on Yosemite

If you have this issue using Yosemite, i found a turn around:

Go to Preferences - Mission Control
Uncheck "Displays have separate Spaces"
logout and login

This will fix Time Machine to display black screen in one monitor. The side effect of this is you loose the abilitty to use monitors as separate spaces but isn't that bad.


To get rid of the application, you can just drag it to the trash.

There might be a few leftover files in  ~/Library/Application Support/ and ~/Library/Preferences/; there are a few ways of getting there.

You can check by going to the Finder, the "Go" menu, holding down the Option key, and choosing "Library". Just drag those to the trash, too.
Or, you can copy one of the above paths, go to Finder, the "Go" menu, then "Go to Folder" and paste the location.

Find and drag those leftovers to the trash, too.


Can I use Chrome Enterprise deployment to secure extensions on my child's Mac?

for the answer please see below. Just a question: How old is you son? Have you talked to him already about your limits and expectations? If you were my dad, I would really appreciate when we sit down together and make an agreement about proper device usage before using parental controls. If this doesn't work, you can can still offer your child to help him by using parental controls.  All the best!
You can manage the browser via admin.google.com. There you can register a free account. This will allow you to generate a file with a unique ID, which you have to put in a certain directory on your Mac. There is also a further opportunity to set local rules for the browser. For example you can enter in the terminal on your Mac "write com.google.Chrome SafeSitesFilterBehavior -integer 1" This will block mature content. BTW My Chrome browser is managed. Actually, I'm the admin and force myself to block mature content.


iCloud Contacts web interface on Windows - How to copy an address?

After some experimentation in different browsers I have come to the conclusion that on Firefox, the alt-click-drag action to select link text while suppressing link-follow seems to require finer mouse-cursor placement.  Start just outside the bounding box and nothing gets selected; start too far in and one character doesn't get selected.

But at least you CAN select the text.  It goes into the clipboard with each field followed by a newline, but that's a minor issue.  There really should be a "copy to clipboard" button.


Difference in processor performance in base 13" Mid 2020 and upgraded 13" Mid 2020 MacBook Pro?

Sure, you can trust geekbnech for quite neutral results for CPU capabilities for macs in the last 5 years.

That being said, I’m never in a case where the CPU is what is actually holding me back. The things that chew CPU are never things I’m waiting on and I go have dinner or let it run to complete. The things that make me happy are good software, efficient software, not having memory leaks and fast storage.

I get that on a 2015 MacBook with a 1.2 GHz CPU and NVMe SSD with 8 GB of RAM. All of the machines you specify are overkill for what I need. The question is what benchmark and code do you run - can you profile it on your current mac and then decide if the investment in a new mac is worth the money in time you save.

No benchmark will tell you that.


Problem with installing grunt (lodash@0.9.2)

so it is just warning and grunt is installed. Yesterday was not present in system, but when I check now by grunt --version, I got answer about version of installed grunt.

I got confirmation on Github.


It is like that because your Documents and Desktop folders are stored in iCloud. Thus, they are no longer shown in your Home folder (the folder with your username) as they are now in the iCloud one.

This mean that files in Documents and Desktop are stored both locally on your Mac and online on iCloud as long as there is enough space available on your disk.  If your computer runs out of space or for files you have not opened in a while, they are deleted from your disk but remain available online for a download when needed.

You can remove this feature at any time in system pref.

PS: I'not an expert with the terminal but I guess artifacts could be aliases to those folders or maybe your Mac shows Documents & Desktop above iCloud by convenience.


hold power+home button simultaneously till the screen turns off (reset).
maybe try restoring your iPad through iTunes to an older backup.iOS Version?it might be a bug with iOS 11.


Let Finder display files with a user-defined extension

Download the latest QLStephen.qlgenerator (direct download!) from the QuicklookStephen GitHub project. Unzip the file and move it either to /Library/Quicklook or ~/Library/Quicklook.

Now you should get a file preview either in Finder column view or by choosing the file and hitting the space bar.


Why did OSX 10.9.4 Internet Sharing stop working?

The best option here is to speak to your employer's technical support people.

If their policies permit the sharing of the wired corporate network to wireless devices they should assist you in setting up the connection or at least point you in the right direction.

If they do not, then it is probably best not to breach their policies.


Export compressed videos from quicktime screencast / screenrecording

The easy way is to export instead of save. You can go to File → Export → iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch & Apple TV...

Then pick an option.

iPod touch & iPhone 3GS is the one that give you the smaller file size with a resolution of 640×400.

For the screenshot I test it with a video of 6.9 MB.


How to sync music videos when iCloud Music Library is enabled?

I just got off the phone with Apple I have the same problem. according to the guy i spoke with Apple Music will only recognize music bought from iTunes. it part of their Digital Music Rights or some BS of that nature. im taking all of my music videos and i changed their setting to Tv Show. and re-sync with computer and everything is back


If you've added custom artwork to an Artist, it will replace the individual Album Artwork that iTunes had previously set.

To clear it, you need to clear each affected album - which can be done as a bulk selection, using shift/click to select all its tracks [but doesn't work if you select more than one Album]
then

Cmd/I to Get Info
Artwork Tab
Select the Custom picture
Delete or Backspace
OK
File Menu > Library > Get Album Artwork
You can do the last step once only, after resetting all the tracks you need to clear the Custom picture from.


Why do I need to put sh before running .sh files?

If you're running your script from the shell, you don't actually need the #!/bin/sh shebang as outlined in this this answer–every Unix-like system I've used, including OS X, will default to /bin/sh if no interpreter is specifically specified (though it's a good idea as non-shells won't know how to execute your script unless you give the shebang.)

You also don't need an .sh extension.  You do need to set executable permissions, e.g.

$ chmod +x script.sh

(The $ is the shell prompt; I'm using it to illustrate commands you give to the interactive shell.  Don't type it!)

However, I think what your confusion is is that you have created a script, e.g. script.sh, in the current directory, and are trying to execute it by simply typing script.sh.  e.g.

$ cat >script.sh
echo hello, world
^D
$ chmod +x script.sh
$ script.sh
-bash: script.sh: command not found

(^D means control-D.  You will find this notation in many writeups on using Unix.)

The fact that script.sh in this case is a shell script is only half the problem; your actual issue is that, by default, the shell will not search the current directory for a program.  However, this works:

$ sh script.sh
hello, world

because sh is taking the script as an argument.

You can execute a script–or, again, any executable–in the current directory, if it is marked executable (i.e. chmod +x), by specifying that you want to run the one in the current directory:

$ ./script.sh
hello, world

You can also move the script to a directory on your PATH.  I recommend /usr/local/bin for this if your script is intended to be used system-wide, or a bin directory in your home if the script is only for you.  The latter requires you to add $HOME/bin, which expands to your new bin directory, to your PATH by adding the following lines to your .profile in your home directory:

PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
export PATH

Finally, you can, if you want, actually add the current directory to your PATH, which will allow you to just go to a directory containing script.sh–or any other executable–and type

$ script.sh

to execute it.  However, I do not recommend this practice, as an attacker can now trick you into running an arbitrary executable by dropping an executable script (named, say, ls) into a directory you will be in.  If you really want to do it, though, just add the following to your .profile:

PATH=.:$PATH
export PATH


Which versions of MacOS/OSX is the voice "Victoria" available on?

I do not know if Apple has published a list however having just now checked the installers (DVD's shipped in USA and Install App's downloaded from App Store in the USA) from Tiger to Sierra, Victoria is in all of them.


You can try Phone diagnostics (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/phone-diagnostics/id1171677218) to check all microphones on your iPhone.


How do I get Safari on OS X to stop ignoring the protocol part of a URL when the hostname starts with "ftp"?

Unfortunately, you can't without editing some plist files. Please refer to this older question (not marked as dupe since the overall issue/question was different) for a few answers on this issue.


How to enable Syntax highlighting on Vim in Mac OS Terminal?

If the file ~/.vimrc is not there, you'll just need to create it. To enable syntax highlighting, add

syntax on

to it. Also make sure that "Display ANSI colors" is enabled in the Terminal Settings.


Can't see hidden files with Standard user

Use cmd+r then open Terminal and type: resetpassword

On the next window, click on the name of your volume (usually “Macintosh HD”), then select the troubled user account name from the drop-down.

Skip the actual password fields (you are not changing the password).

Click the button on the bottom section labeled “Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs.”

Restart


Is there any reason not to enable Error Correction in iTunes?

Possible reasons why you might wish to disable error correction are

if you are looking for the fastest possible import,
have a very old computer where resources are limited, or
want iTunes to use less CPU time.

Enabling error correction allows iTunes to read the error correction data on the disc, and use this to verify the read audio data. Disabling the error correction makes iTunes ignore this information and presume that the data that is read is correct.

Error correction data is basically a summary of the last few bytes of data on the disc. If the total size of the data matches the size reported by the error correction data then the data is approved and iTunes continues importing. If not, iTunes re-reads the area of the disc, and as a last resort 'guesses' the content of the malformed data. Forward error correction - Wikipedia

This additional verification causes an increase in import time. On an older computer, this difference is pretty noticeable, however in newer computers the difference is negligible.


Any way in OS X to use a keyboard shortcut to switch to a full screen application?

To do this: push control and < or control and →.

You can slightly change the functionality if you have "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use" checked or unchecked. (System Preferences > Mission Control)

There is no other way to do this that I know of. I have used a few third party apps. I am sure there exists some third party app somewhere that does it. I've heard that Witch makes the window switcher similar to Windows style, which might achieve the exact results you are looking for, but might not. It costs $15 as of today. It just doesn't mention fullscreen in its advertising, though it has a ton of options so it's possible it covers this.

Honestly, you can't expect much better from OS X. Look at what you're stuck with:

Switching between applications in OS X is command + tab and arranges apps by most recent. Switching between windows within an app is command + ` and arranges windows sequentially. With control + ←/→ and the "Auto rearrange Spaces..." unchecked, you can get the sequential switching similar to the way OS X handles window switching within an app, which is a poor way to do it, but at least there is some kind of precedent.

I have a lot of gripes about switching between applications in OS X. I don't like that there is one keyboard shortcut to switch between apps, one to switch between windows within an app, and one to switch between spaces, and they have different orderings. I want one to switch between everything. I also hate keyboard shortcuts that include an arrow key, like this one. That defeats the purpose of having a fast keyboard shortcut: I still have to move my hand, might as well use the mouse. I am strongly considering switching to Windows 10 this year now that it will include bash. I use keyboard shortcuts for almost everything and Windows does it better, not to mention that I honestly think Windows software looks better.


Keeping the dock visible without affecting window size?

Most apps dont allow that. Some, like excel, allow you to resize the window as you like... even if you dont like the shortcut, you can use it to achieve what you are looking for... although its not very convenient.. you can hide the dock, maximize the window and then unhide it.. it will show ontop of the window.


Does restoring a local backup using iTunes enable activation lock?

No, restoring a backup from a device that is locked doesn't lock the new device - devices are locked to accounts, not files in the backup.
Each device can be tied to find my and data can move between accounts without changing the status of iCloud / Activation / MDM or other locks.


Why keyboard shortcut "ctrl + left" doesn't work?

To solve this problem:

Change keys for shortcut to ⌘CMD + ← (or anything else). But it won't work after that yet.
Reboot your mac.
⌘CMD + → now is working.
Change keys to ctrl + ←.


How to get the month name in English using Numbers?

Without changing the localization language in your system, you could do something like this:

Create a table in a separate tab and Lock/hide it later
Then, in English add the month names in order from January to December in one column.  (A1-A12) [Be sure to set the cells as Text so that they don't show the localized names]
Change your formula to refer to the correct month name based on the month number.  Lots of nested IF()'s but if the MONTH(TODAY) is placed in a cell in the utility table, that will make the formula a bit more manageable.
Thanks to the OP for suggesting it in the comments!
place this formula in a cell then reference that cell in your original formula

Of course you can hard code the month names in the formulas, but then you would have to redo it in each instance if you changed languages.  This way you can just change the text in the reference table without breaking your formula.  Also, if you need the month name elsewhere, there is no need to re-enter the formula, just refer to the cell containing it.

EDIT
A simpler formula (takes getting used to, though) is to use INDEX(MATCH())
I actually use this method in a expense sheet I keep for English and French.

First I create a table with the numbers for each month and then text for each month in the target language.
Get the date
Use INDEX ( MonthTextLang, MATCH ( MonthNumber, NumberColumn ))

INDEX ( "English", MATCH ( MONTH ( TODAY )), NumberColumn ))


Where is the keyboard profile file stored on my MacBook for VMware Fusion 8?

VMware Fusion's Application Preferences are saved on a per User basis in:

/Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/preferences


Does the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter passthrough HDCP?

Here's what Apple says about this:

  Apple Mini DisplayPort adapters that offer digital connections—such as
  the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter and the Apple Mini
  DisplayPort to DVI adapter—support HDCP content. Apple Mini
  DisplayPort adapters that offer analog connections—such as the Apple
  Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter—do not support HDCP content.

Also, I found this answer on an Apple site but I can't verify if it's correct so YMMV:

  Here is what I found a) Mini DP to DP will offer full resolution 2560
  X 1080 @ 60 Hz but HDCP content from iTunes is not permitted, ie. will
  not run; b) HDMI adapter to DVI-D allows HDCP content to run but the
  resolution is limited to 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz; c) HDMI to HDMI also does
  not offer full resolution but allows access to HDCP content; finally,
  the only configuration that offers both full resolution and HDCP is
  with Mini Display Port to Dual DVI-D cables.


How do I block notifications from a specific person (or in general) in OSx on Skype?

Go to System Preferences > Notifications. There, find Skype from the list of Applications and choose it. Now, you should be able to customize what kind of push notifications (the alerts in the upper right corner), sound notifications, or dock badges you'd like to see, if any.


Ok, found it.

You just have to create a new library (open iPhoto with the alt key pressed), quit iPhoto, and open it again with alt pressed and select the original library file. Open iTunes, et voilà!


Is there any way to downgrade my Mac mini to Mojave 10.14.3?

If you don't mind setting up the system afresh, you can wipe your disk clean and perform a fresh install of macOS Mojave by using a bootable USB installer or Internet recovery.


How to copy one standard user profile of macOS to another machine

You should be able to just zip your current working user folder, and then copy it to the other Mac, where you unzip it into a user folder (the user has been created before the unzip) with the same name, which you can rename afterward.

Otherwise, you can have a look at the macOS Server, where you can create user profiles.


It just makes it easier to locate where Airplay selection is. In other words, it is obvious you select it to change to Airplay.


Can Applescript be used to automate a screen recording session on OS X?

Try this script:

tell application "QuickTime Player"
    set newScreenRecording to new screen recording
    tell newScreenRecording
        start
        delay 3
        stop
    end tell
    tell last item of documents
        close
    end tell
end tell

It will make a new recording for 3 seconds (edit the delay 3 line to change the length), which gets automatically saved in the Movies directory of your Home directory, then closes the recording window.

If you want to automatically export to a different format, you can do that by adding the line export in ("" & (path to desktop) & "quicktimeFile.m4v") using settings preset "480p" before the close line. The presets you can choose from are defined in the File > Export dialog:

Check the actual dialog for further details on the presets (note that they are "up to" the resolution listed - it will fit into the horizontal pixels available, so "480p" gives you 640x400 for a 16:10 recording). As far as I know, you can't make custom presets.

If you want to capture your system sounds, and not mic/line-in audio, check out this question: Can I get system sound along with QuickTime Player screen recording?

For the curious, there are a couple notes about why the original script doesn't work and QuickTime Player's AppleScript peculiarities:

The set newDoc […] line tries to grab the most recent document with the string "Untitled" to account for the newScreenRecording reference becoming invalid once the recording is stopped (which is probably a poor design decision, but oh well). However QuickTime Player under Lion (and possibly Snow Leopard) auto-saves screen recordings as "Screen Recording", "Screen Recording 2", etc., so it was finding no documents. Having it grab just the most recent document solves this, and future proofs it to a degree.
The export line references a preset that no longer exists (or has been renamed). Unfortunately neither QuickTime nor AppleScript gives any errors about this, it simply fails silently (more poor design).
The AppleScript dictionary for QuickTime Player lists a save action, but I couldn't get it working—I suspect the functionality was killed, but the dictionary entry wasn't removed. You'll note that there's no Save functionality in the GUI, only export (and auto-save). So if you want to change the save location without exporting a new file, you'll have to get the file location, then move it through the Finder.


Reclaim lost (unpartitioned) space on Fusion disk

I believe the commands below will return the free space to your "Macintosh HD" volume.

newfs_hfs  -J  -v  "Recovery HD"  /dev/disk1s3
diskutil  resizevolume  disk1s3  650M
diskutil  unmount  disk1s3
diskutil  cs  resizePV  2110ADEC-ADAD-46C8-AE19-24B589F695E7  0
diskutil  cs  resizeLV  F8F6DA73-C7F8-42FD-AF12-A896F44CD1BB  0


High Sierra: Converted to APFS and Finder not updating available capacity

Since you asked if anyone else is having these kinds of issues, yes, I can share that almost a year later, on the current version of High Sierra, this is still a bug. You basically can't trust the available space number now. I'll leave open the possibility that someone has a workaround.

In my case, we moved 20GB of files off the boot drive and deleted another 10GB (emptying the trash immediately). The free space number didn't change (other than to actually decrease slightly. I fiddled with checking various things – Finder Get Info on the disk, also had the false number. Finally as I was staring at the number at the bottom of the Finder window (the status bar) it snapped from 47GB to 77GB before my eyes.

I'll avoid giving my honest advice for how to get this basic feature working since it would not technically be an Apple-related answer so it might be ruled as off-topic.


iPad browser that looks like desktop to website

Yes. Use a browser that allows you to change the user agent. Two examples are:

Atomic Web Browser

Terra.


Is it possible to have a Dvorak keyboard on the iPhone?

App Store -> type "Dvorak" -> Dvorak for All -> Have fun!

There are also a couple of paid apps.


Can I update to OS X Mavericks if I get a new graphics card?

Which model of Mac Pro do you have? If it really is a 2006 model, that sounds like a MacPro1,1, which isn't supported after Lion (10.7) as it has 32-bit EFI even though its CPU(s) are 64-bit. The fact that you have a Radeon X1900, which was an option on the 2006 model, suggests that you may well be out of luck when it comes to upgrading.

Mavericks system requirements are here - as you can see, only early 2008 and later Mac Pros are supported. That said, if you're that way inclined, there are ways of getting Mavericks (and Yosemite, in fact) working on unsupported machines - see this guide, for example, or this guide from LowEndMac.

Basically, you need to use a modified EFI bootloader to boot the newer versions of the operating system. Should any of the earlier links expire, searching for "Tiamo boot.efi" should find an updated link. You will also need to replace your graphics card - newer versions of Mac OS no longer support the X1900.

You can confirm the exact model number by checking About this Mac -> More Info... and then verifying the Model Identifier. Basically

Update 2015-08-3: Add further detail, add Yosemite detail


I was also running into the same issue for a very long time and stumbled upon this post which explains the same problem.  At last, I got it working today.

Here's how I got it to work:

Open "Keychain Access" application
Everything will be empty
Go to View -> Sort By -> Keychain (By default, it will be sorted by Name)

After you do this first sort, every entry in the keychain will start showing up magically.  You can later change the sort order to anything.

I got the clue from Console logs:

4/22/14 11:36:19.792 PM Keychain Access[1575]: * -[KeychainStore _keyKeychainItemsByKeyOrItemClass:itemClass:attributes:]: Ignoring exception * -[NSMutableArray sortUsingFunction:context:]: function pointer cannot be NULL

Try it!


Why doesn't the screen saver delay that I set persist after restarting my Mac?

Try repairing permissions with Disk Utility.


Is there a way to set a Finder Shortcut for 'Tags…' in macOS 10.14 Mojave?

In Finder, go to preferences, then Tags. Remove all favorite tags, and the shortcut should work.


Is it good to keep apps closed on iOS devices?

iOS at its core now has its own multitasking API built in. The only way for an app to even go into the background it has to use these API's, so even poor programming experience still can't ruin things too much (and, with the flip side of that, poor developer experience could make the app while its running use more resources than needed).

All in all - this shouldn't be an issue. Those apps in the tray don't mean they are running - it literally is also a recently used app tray. And again, the background tasks they can do are limited by the backgrounding API, so like audio, VOIP, navigation, uploads, etc.

As far as being faster, have longer battery life, etc - no. At least not on an average. You may feel that it runs different, and yes there may be a rouge app doing something odd,  and forcing it closed may help.

But in general, no - this shouldn't affect speed or battery life, unless those apps are currently doing background tasks such as location, audio, uploading files, etc. Otherwise, their RAM state is saved for quicker relaunch, but no processing power is being used.


IMO your best bet would be to use launchd to make sure that OneDrive is always running no matter what.

(launchd is a bit like cron but much more powerful.)

Save this file as ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.tjluoma.keep-onedrive-alive.plist (where ~ is the home directory on the secretary's computer):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.tjluoma.keep-onedrive-alive</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/MacOS/OneDrive</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Then load it in launchd using this command:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.tjluoma.keep-onedrive-alive.plist

That will:

a) Launch OneDrive

b) Re-Launch OneDrive if it is quit or crashes. Basically anytime it stops running, it will automatically start again.

Note that you should UN-check the option in OneDrive's preferences to open at login, because launchd will be in charge of running it.


Educational Volume Purchase and B2B (iOS apps)

Answer from telephone support: yes.  The B2B program interfaces with the Educational Volume Purchase Program the same way the regular Volume Purchase Program does.


sync sent mail between iPhone and mail.app

Solution for Gmail:
Gesendet must the the label of the mailbox that you use for sent mail on the iPhone. (info: gesendet is German for sent)
I believe the default label is named Sent Messages created once you set up Gmail on your iPhone using IMAP.


If it looked like this:

you just entered Time Machine. From Apple:

  Time Machine is the built-in backup that works with your Mac and an external drive (sold separately) or Time Capsule. Connect the drive, assign it to Time Machine, and start enjoying some peace of mind. Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents. But what makes Time Machine different from other backup applications is that it not only keeps a spare copy of every file, it remembers how your system looked on any given day—so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past.

It's not a hidden feature but it does aim to stay unobtrusive and out-of-the-way until you need it.

You can get to Time Machine any time you want by clicking this icon in your menu bar and selecting Enter Time Machine.

If you don't see the Time Machine icon in your menu bar go to System Preferences -> Time Machine and make sure the Show Time Machine status in menu bar option is checked.


iOS-based devices:

iPad (3rd Generation) (Wi-Fi + 3G CDMA) - NQV
iPad Air 2 (Wi-Fi + Cellular) - 5YN
iPad mini Retina (2nd Generation) (Wi-Fi) - CM9
iPhone 6 - 5MG
iPod touch (5th Generation) - 4JR

iPods (pre-iPod touch):

5th Generation (Late 2006) - V9K, V9P, V9M, V9R, V9L, V9N, V9Q, V9S, WU9, WUA, WUB, WUC, X3N (complete list per Apple)
5th Generation U2 Special Edition (Late 2006) - W9G (complete list per Apple)
Classic (120GB) - Y5N, YMU, YMV, YMX (complete list per Apple)
Nano (3rd generation) - YOP, YOR, YXR, YXT, YXV, YXX (complete list per Apple)
Shuffle (2nd Generation) (Early 2008) - 1ZH, 1ZK, 1ZM, 1ZP, 1ZR (complete list per Apple)

For names, we use:

iPad - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201471
iPhone - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201296
iPod - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1353
Apple TV - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200008


This is just a slightly more efficient re-hash of the existing answer...

set gIsThisTime to false

repeat until gIsThisTime is true
    delay 60
    set myTime to time string of (current date)
    if myTime > "1:15:00 pm" and myTime < "1:20:00 pm" then
        set gIsThisTime to true
    end if
end repeat

set myDate to date string of (current date)
set myDateTime to myDate & " - " & myTime
display notification "time = " & myDateTime

Notes:
leaving out am/pm means it will trigger on either am or pm, whichever it hits first
it doesn't work on 24-hour clock, so 13:15:00 will not trigger


Make sure your Airport Express is updated to the latest firmware. Up until recently the Airport Express would get an IPv6 address for itself but would not issue them via DCHP which is why you needed to do it manually. This may be what's happening for you. The Airport Extreme only gained DHCP support for this at the last firmware update so I'd assume the Express did too but I don't have a newer AE to know for use and the older model doesn't support IPv6 at all.


I would like to delete all the contents on my Iphone but the LCD and touch sensitivity is gone. What should I do?

I don't really know what you mean by the LCD and touch sensitivity is "gone", but try this:
- Connect your iPhone to your Computer
- Open iTunes
- Select your iPhone
- On the Overview Panel select restore
- Follow the instructions

I hope it works.


Cannot repair disk0s2 with mavericks utility disk on a SSD

If you have booted from other media and tried Apple's tools then the only thing(s) left are 3rd party tools.

My go-to is Diskwarrior and while some drives with a lot of files will cause it to fail (so I have heard) I've, personally, never had an issue with it. It has always worked and almost always fixed the problem.

Failing that TechTool pro and Prosoft Engineering are a couple of other places to look.


What does that mean of PgIn[ST3P], RdMeta[ST3UP] when use fs_usage in osx

From the fs_usage man page:

  CALL  The name of the network or filesystem related call, page-in, page-out, or physical disk access.

PgIn and PgOut are page-in and page-out.
RdMeta and WrMeta are reading and writing file metadata.
RdData and WrData are reading and writing to the file.


Hidden files saved by Mac OS X into USB drive

In the normal course of events, I would not expect any information about your Mac to be transferred to a USB drive.
TextEdit can be configured to contain the Author's name in metadata for Rich Text files (.rtf), but not Text files (.txt). See TextEdit's Preferences dialog, or File > Show Properties.
The Finder might save a .DS_Store file to the drive, which would contain data about the folders on the disk.e.g. custom icons, position in windows, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.DS_Store
No logs or info about your Mac or your username should be copied.


Open settings and navigate to

Settings > General > Accessibility > Home Button

Toggle "Rest Finger to Open".

For every other situation it is not possible to perform Home Button actions without pressing it.

Please let me know if this answers your question.


Profiling Time Machine on OS/X Mavericks

The two best tools I have discovered are tmutil which is bundled with OS X and BackupLoupe which is excellent software for deeply inspecting your backups.

I would start with the graphical program BackupLoupe and try out a command like tmutil compare to see what Apple's tools provide to show you what will be part of the next backup interval.


How to create several partitions on an external hard, recognizable by both windows and mac?

It might be difficult to re-partition your disk from outside the Mavericks boot without destroying it. So I would use the Mavericks' Disk Utility to do this. And make sure you have everything backup because this looks like a difficult task.

This 200Mb partition you're seeing is probably the EFI boot partition, Mac OS X needs it to boot. Since you're booting Mac OS X, you cannot use a MBR partition scheme, I doubt Disk Utility will even let you change it. You'll have to stay in GUID

In Disk Utility, you can create as many partitions as you want, except for NTFS partitions which are not natively supported by Mac OS X (you can read, but not write). You can create FAT32 or exFAT, which have the advantage of being readable and writable by windows, mac and linux. FAT32 technically has a limit of 2TB partition, but I've managed to make it work on one of my hard-drive anyway.
You can read up on different filesystems on here.

Any reasons you're keeping the Snow Leopard installation disk? That sounds like more trouble and wasted hard-drive space, unless you actively need it.


Is it possible to have a playback indicator in OSX menubar?

Here is sample code for doing this in Cocoa (you can paste it in a new XCode project and build it) :

AppDelegate.h :

    NSStatusItem* statusItem;

AppDelegate.m :

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification
{
    [[NSDistributedNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                                        selector:@selector(iTunesNotification:)
                                                            name:@"com.apple.iTunes.playerInfo"
                                                          object:nil]; //registering for notifications from iTunes

    [NSApp setActivationPolicy:NSApplicationActivationPolicyProhibited]; //No icon in the dock, menubar only

    statusItem = [[NSStatusBar systemStatusBar] statusItemWithLength:NSVariableStatusItemLength]; // For the icon in the status bar
}

- (void) iTunesNotification:(NSNotification *)note {
    NSDictionary *information = [note userInfo];
    NSString* state = [information objectForKey:@"Player State"];

    if([state isEqualToString:@"Paused"]) {
        //hiding the indicator
        [statusItem setTitle:@""];
    } else if ([state isEqualToString:@"Playing"]) {
        //showing the indicator
        [statusItem setTitle:@"▶"];
    }
}

The only flaw i could see in this sample is i'm using a character for the play icon and not a image. It could be a problem when the encoding messes something up.


Should there be a problem making a Time Machine Backup with a sparse disk image containing a bootable installer on my current drive and volume?

I would absolutely encourage you to stop and make a Time Machine backup. There’s no harm in trying to manually twiddle things, but wouldn’t it be better to make your first backup in 150 days to an actual drive that’s connected?
You won’t run into issues with installers being downloaded - those are just are large files that get saved one time and then don’t change in the next hour’s backup.


When I have had problems with the App Store, I have found that the boot volume was entered in the System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Privacy pane.  If the boot volume is included, it is EXCLUDED from the Spotlight indices, and the App Store uses those indices to determine what applications are installed.

Once the volume is removed, and the indices updated (you have to wait...), the App Store started finding updates.


How do I get Launchpad to see apps on an external disk?

I just figured this out.  All I had to do was drag the folder containing the apps to the Launchpad icon on the dock.


How to change attributes of ALL master slides in a KEYNOTE theme at once?

I don't think that it's possible. Each of the Keynote masters are pretty different items, with completely different fonts, objects, etc. It's a failing of the system.


How can iPad battery remain on 100% charge over night?

I assume most (if not all) the other devices you refer to were various Android models? If so, how long has it been since you've used a device with a very recent version of Android?

The reason I ask is that Apple's iOS has always been more efficient in its battery management. This is why Apple gets away with using batteries of lower mAh ratings. And it's the reason why Google launched Project Volta - because they needed to make Android more efficient at its core.

In a nutshell, Project Volta resulted in improved efficiency starting with Android 5.0 Lollipop. It achieved this through a series of optimisations (e.g. a new battery saver mode, job scheduling APIs which restricted certain tasks to only activate over Wi-Fi, and performing tasks in batches to minimise the overall time that internal radios were active.

Of course, since that time Apple has also made improvements in how iOS manages power consumption.

However, in terms of answering your question Are these measures true, correct and verifiable? when referring to an iPad still displaying 100% after being idle with Wi-Fi activated all night, the only way for you to know that in your exact circumstances is to do some testing, keeping in mind you need to ensure:

that you have the exact same apps running during these tests
all apps (and iOS itself) must be the same version
the start and end times (and therefore also duration) are identical
the ambient temperature at the time was identical (in other words, you'd have to do this in the same air-conditioned environment set at the same temperature)

In a nutshell what you would do is something like the following:

Fully charge the iPad and disconnect it from AC power at 10pm
At 8am play a movie at full volume and full brightness
At conclusion of the movie, take note of the battery percentage
Play the movie again (still at full volume and brightness)
At conclusion of the movie, take note of the battery percentage again
Play the movie yet again (still at full volume and brightness)
At conclusion of the movie, take note of the battery percentage again (assuming you've still got a charge)

Now fully charge the iPad and leave it connected to AC power until 8am the next day, at which point you disconnect from power and perform the same test (i.e. same room, same movie, same volume, same brightness, etc).

Compare the differences in your battery percentage and determine how accurate that 100% reading is.

I suspect that in reality an iPad will use some battery power overnight with the screen dimmed off and WiFi connected, but that the usage will be quite negligible.

Only you can decide, based on your test results, how true, correct and verifiable the measures (i.e. battery charge indicator) are.


I want to use iMac as my second screen via cable.

You can’t.  The iMac doesn’t accept any video signal as input (the operating system doesn’t matter).  This model iMac does not support Target Display mode.

There are a couple potential products to turn your Mac into a secondary display for another Mac

AirDisplay for Mac
Luna Display

The last product that supported connecting from a PC to a Mac as a secondary display was Air Display 2, but has since been discontinued.


WD External Drive Automatically Unmounts

Oh! It's same things happen to me.
I could use it by JBOD format after few weeks.
But recently It suddenly start 'UN-mount' behavior.
I use iMac5k 2014 with OS X 10.10.5 (14F27)
I tried another TB cable, but fail.


Is there an app for the iPhone 4 that tells the pitch of a note through an audio input?

Garageband can do this. Open a new (or existing) project and add a new "real" track with no effects. On the bottom edge of the window you´ll see a LCD-like window which usually displays the current time or measure in the track; depending on which version of Garageband you´re using, you can now either use the up-/down-arrows to switch to the tuner (tuning fork symbol) or click on the tuning fork symbol directly to select the tuner. Every sound that is picked up by your Mac´s microphone will now be displayed as note (with off-pitch)


The washed out appearance happened to me once on a failed copy, in my case the files all had an improper creation date. In fact changing the date on the file fixed the issue for me. I think I used the info on this page to change the created date of the files. http://blog.grapii.com/2010/07/change-a-files-creationmodified-date-on-mac-os-x/


In Bash, can I output text from cut into a new command?

Assuming your command results in a number of PIDs

sudo kill $(lsof +D /Applications/appIDontWant.app/ | cut -d " " -f 2)

should do the trick.


Macbook Pro early 2011 Thunderbolt to USB

Looking at the Traktor Pro 2 Specifications page, doesn't have any requirement that the USB port must be bus powered or host only.  In fact, they even state there is an optional Power Supply available:

So, the PS is only required if you can't get the 5V .5A from the bus (host).  In this case you have a couple of options

Use the Power Supply
Use a powered hub

As for going Thunderbolt to Firewire then to USB, I am a proponent of using the "right tool for the job."  Can you do it?  Yes.  But it's a bodge.1

Insead, go directly from TB to USB with a  [Thunderbolt to USB adapter][2]

Finally, you never did say why your USB connector doesn't work nor which one. In my experience, it could be a very inexpensive fix to repair the connector.  This is definitely something you should look into.

1 Bodge:  Verb. 1. To do a poor job or repair.
2. To cobble (something together). E.g."I bodged together that furniture out of driftwood and old egg boxes." From A Dictionary of UK slang.


Connect MBP 2015 to external monitor 2560 x 1080 resolution?

You can connect your monitor to a Thunderbolt port using a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable like this one; other lengths are available if 3 Feet is not long enough for your purposes.

I connected my LG 25UM65 (2560x1080 native resolution) to my MacBookPro11,3 (mid 2014 15" Retina) three different ways, HDMI to HDMI, Thunderbolt to DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt to HDMI. The Thunderbolt to HDMI connection is not useful (the maximum resolution it offers is 1920x1080), but the other two connections both work at 2560x1080@60Hz, and the visual quality is comparable across the two connections (but both look blotchy compared to the Retina display). A UHD display (3840x2160) is a better choice than 2560x1080 to maximize the display quality of Thunderbolt 2 (DisplayPort 1.2).

It's possible that a better HDMI cable will improve the display quality (the one I'm using is labeled HDMI HIGH SPEED). You can determine (and change) the resolution and refresh rate from System Preferences (Display) by choosing Scaled rather than Default for display (using the Alt key while choosing Scaled can provide more choices on some displays). A 2015 Mac's HDMI port is capable of driving 2560x1080@60 Hz, provided the display has a suitable HDMI input (HDMI 1.3 is sufficient, but HDMI 1.2 probably isn't). If your display has multiple HDMI inputs, you might try all of them to see if that makes a difference.


iMovie question (possibly need a different apple product? IDK)

See How can I combine 30,000 images into a timelapse movie?

ffmpeg

In answers to this question the community suggest using the open source tools Avidemux or ffmpeg. For example the ffmpeg approach is:

  This will create a video slideshow (using video codec libx264) from series of png images, named named img001.png, img002.png, img003.png, …

  Each image will have a duration of 5 seconds, change the variable according to your choice.

ffmpeg -f image2 -r 1/5 -i img%03d.png -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p out.mp4

  If your images have four digits, use %04d, etc. If your images do not have this pattern, you can use shell globs, at least on Linux and OS X:

ffmpeg -f image2 -pattern_type glob -i 'time-lapse-files/*.JPG' …

  You can also change the output framerate by specifying another -r after the input.

Also see:

ffmpeg: create a video from images
http://electron.mit.edu/~gsteele/ffmpeg/ for a researchers use of ffmpeg to combine individual images into a movie.

Homebrew

You can use Homebrew to get ffmpeg onto your Mac:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Then install ffmpeg with:

brew install ffmpeg


Tabs opening in a minimised safari window, not the active one

I believe the default behavior of Safari is to open a link in the oldest open window. Minimized windows tend to get old, hence the annoyance of Safari bringing up minimized windows when opening a link from another app.

You can easily test this. Wait for it to happen. Then re-minimize the window. The behavior should be repeatable infinitely. Next copy the URL of the window you want minimized and close that window. Open a new window, paste the URL, hit return, and minimize it. Then open the external link and it will no longer go to that window.

Of course this doesn't help - it just explains the behavior. The only thing that might eventually help is filing a bug report:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/safari.html


Does apple pages sharing strictly require an iCloud account?

On Mac, it's -

Share menu > Send a Copy > Mail

on iOS -

Ellipsis menu > Share > Mail

In either case, the choice of email account is set from within the mailer software, before sending.


UK MBA keyboard layout vs Apple external keyboard layouts

Regarding the extra key to the left of the z, you should get that with any "ISO" keyboard sold in Europe.  In the US, keyboards are "ANSI" and are missing that key.  Other countries may vary.  See this note:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2841


Ctrl + → to have the same effect as ⌥ + →


Is there a way to make Photostream take up less space on an iPad without turning it off entirely?

a) figure out how much space Photostream is occupying on the device

Go to settings
General -> Usage
wait until the top is done and then click on Photos and Camera
The next page under Photo and Camera has the space used for Camera Roll, Photo Library, and the Photo Stream.

b) reduce space.

After taking photos you can edit and crop, delete the ones that you do not want.  It saves the last 1000 photos for 30 days so if you take a lot of photos, copy them when you can.  Photo stream is there for you to easily sync your photos from one device to all.  After you have the photo, copy it to your mac and remove them from your photo stream.  After 30 days or over 1000 photos you might start to lose photos.


How do I Reauthorize Screen Sharing for Quicktime?

You can reset the screen recording permissions for QuickTime Player using tccutil:

tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX

After running this command, you need to quit QuickTime Player (if it was open). Then open QuickTime Player again and choose "New Screen Recording..." from the File menu. That will cause the prompt dialog to pop up again so you can grant permission for Screen Recording.


How does OS X decide when to switch graphics processors?

On a high level, it's like an automatic transmission - when you press the gas gently, the throttle increases but when you stomp on the accelerator pedal the engine downshifts the transmission to increase the mechanical advantage.

You can influence switching to the powerful GPU by hitting the API with significant work and expect the "transmission" to dispatch that load to the non-integrated GPU.

The documentation on the API are all in Xcode (and online too, but I prefer using search on Xcode to hunt for a document).

I would start with:

xcdoc://?url=developer.apple.com/library/etc/redirect/xcode/mac/1153/technotes/tn2335/_index.html (online web link of the same article)

Those links cover the Mac Pro and the "What you should know when using OpenCL" section contains a helpful note that WWDC 2013 Session 508: Working with OpenCL describes how to switch between two GPUs in a Mac portable using power considerations.


How to start scripting automation on OS X without AppleScript or Automator?

There is mention in another post which references this somewhat recent and seemingly well documented project BrendanThompson/rb-scpt


Update to iOS 9.
Go to Settings, Sounds, Vibrate on Silent and deactivate it.


Can I control the ringer volume based on a timer/clock?

Apple does not allow apps to "play with" that system setting. That's the technical reason why there's no app for it. It might be able using a jailbreak tweak if it has to change every day (for example: monday between 2 and 4, tuesday between 2 and 3 etc.)

However if you go to:

Settings
Do not disturb
Scheduled
Pick the time of your desire
You're done


Mapping ⌘→ to ^Q→ in iTerm2 doesn't work

I found this on iTerm2's FAQ page. I'm not sure if it answers your question. Let us know.


By the wording in your question - it appears that two things are in order:

Short answer on what a backup is
Short answer on how to start one

Answering the how to backup is easiest. From the view menu, be sure you choose "Show Sidebar" so that you have a place in the main iTunes window to see the device when it gets connected over USB. Make sure the main window of iTunes is visible and connect your phone. If you have a Mac, the phone usually shows up under Devices within half a second or two. On a PC, you may need to wait for antivirus scanners, or the OS to recognize the device and perform a step or two in the OS to allow the computer to talk to the phone. It too should eventually show up in the sidebar. Either way, once it appears, use the mouse to click once on it. It should show the summary tab, but if not, click that at the top of the window just below and to the right of the play/pause button.

Now iTunes will show you one of many screens to manage the device where it normally shows the store or your music library.

Here you can see on the left where the device might be configured to back up to iCloud. You can change that or leave it as it appears. On the right, you can click Back Up Now and get a local backup.

Now to answer the "what is backed up" - you can read over this article while your backup is running. HT4946: iTunes: About iOS backups In particular, music is not backed up since it either came from a computer or from the cloud, so iTunes and iOS assume you back up your computer and they back up the cloud so you don't need to waste space on your computer and time backing up something that was just synced to the iOS device as opposed to being created there or only being stored there.

Once your backup is complete - click on the info tab and perhaps consider syncing the contents from addresses and calendars which will make a copy of that data available on your computer as opposed to having it stored away in a backup file where you can't really get to the contacts other than restoring them again onto a phone (replacing the contacts that were on that device in the process).


Can I create an iTunes U course indepedent of an educational institution?

You can inspect the agreements that Apple wishes you to accept as part of the enrollment into iTunes U as an instructor from the web page:

https://itunesu.itunes.apple.com/coursemanager/

You will need to sign in with an Apple ID or make a new Apple ID to access this page. It asks you to define your affiliation with some sort of school - so that might be a problem if you don't have a school that will permit you to represent them. You could of course form a school since the categories look broad (Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle, High School, Undergraduate, Graduate, Professional and/or Vocational) and it's not clear based on where you live what legal requirements are present to form a school.

There is a second registration step for each institution to establish a public iTunes U page that also might have more detailed requirements to vet the existence of a formal organization, but the footnote 3 on the main marketing page for iTunes U lists:

  Teachers not affiliated with schools that have public iTunes U sites are limited to 12 courses and 50 students per course.

So, you might either find a school that allows you to begin publishing or consider forming one. The system is clearly designed / worded to prevent just anyone from joining, but I don't know how strict Apple would be in approving an application. I'd say you wouldn't want to waste your time making a fictitious school or being dishonest on the application, but if you were unaffiliated, you might list that and see how the application process goes.


chat bookmarks only work locally on your machine, these are not synchronized across different machines

more over, chat history is stored locally but normally last 30 days update/sync across different machines


so what i just did was to download cursorcerer pref pane.  then i unzipped it.  then showed package contents.  then simply double clicked the resource called cursorcerer.app.  now my cursor is invisible -- even after moving.  so you could call this app from the terminal.  quite debilitating in my environment, but could be very helpful in others!

http://doomlaser.com/cursorcerer-hide-your-cursor-at-will/

i was able to get my cursor back by running the preference pane.


Do I need to keep any cautions in mind when transfering an external SSD into my Macbook?

Nothing that I can think of.

My own experience was just - clone, test for a few days, decide all was good.
Then, eventually retire the old drive for good.

You might want to check that the new drive has the correct Recovery Partition in place before making the final swap.

Disk Utility can tell you if the partition is present, if you set the Debug menu to 'show every partition', but I'm not sure how to tell whether it's the Yosemite recovery partition.

Booting into it with no other drive connected would be the certain way; assuming no-one else comes up with a nifty way to ask Terminal etc.


What are the networking requirements for AirPrint?

AirPrint only works with AirPrint compatible printers, unless you have special software to connect to the printer running on a machine the printer is locally connected to. A great solution for a work environment is the xPrintServer. It's a network adapter that attaches via ethernet to your network and is supposed to make any printer on the network it's attached to AirPrint compatible. It's available for preorder now. I'd partner with your network administrator to see if this is something that is right for your workplace.


You have several apps available on the App store now - just search for Furigana.

I have a friend that likes this one, but YMMV:

Furigana Reader - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/furigana-reader/id529433422?mt=8

It does not work offline, so it doesn't meet your requirements unless you fail to find any offline software and can relax that constraint.


iTunes 11 Mini Player disappeared off screen

After a couple of minutes of trying, I got the window back. Since I couldn't find this solution on Google, I'm answering it here for other people if they run into the same issue.

To get the Mini Player window back if it's off screen, use the iTunes View > Show Up Next menu entry. In my case, it moved the Mini Player window to a location right beneath the OS X menu bar and displayed the Up Next list, allowing me to move the Mini Player to a location of my choice.


Terminal prompt 'saving' certain commands on up-arrow

You're not escaping the non-printing characters in your prompt. See this article, and use "\[" and "\]" around the colors, something like this (untested) for example...

PS1="\n\e[0:\[${color}\]m[\W]\n\e[0:\[${color}\]m[\u]-> $reset"

You may need to tweek that. Like I said, this is untested so I may have inserted a "\]" in the middle of a colour code. For my prompt I do the escaping when I initialise the colour variables:

PS1_FG="\[$(tput setaf 223)\]"  # Prompt foreground colour (223 = pale orange/brown)

For what it's worth, I can highly recommend using tput when you're dealing with control codes. It makes your scripts more portable, and (IMHO) is easier to read.


How to eject all drives from the command-line

You can use the in-built AppleScript solution, as mentioned in this thread and this page, by adding this to ~/.bash_profile:

alias ejectall='osascript -e "tell application \"Finder\" to eject (every disk whose ejectable is true)"'

This will require you giving permission to Terminal to control Finder, or you will get this error:

execution error: Not authorised to send Apple events to Finder. (-1743)

If you want a pure bash solution, here is a function that you can call with ejectall. If you renamed your startup disk or have different Time Machine backups, you may need to edit the condition that filters out the drives.

ejectall() {
    total=0
    ejected=0

    for v in /Volumes/*; do
    if [[ $v != *"Macintosh HD" && $v != *"com.apple.TimeMachine"* ]]; then
        echo "Ejecting $v..."
        diskutil eject "$v"

        if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        ejected=$(($ejected + 1))
        fi
        total=$(($total + 1))
    fi
    done

    if [ $total -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "No drives to eject"
    else
    msg="$ejected drive(s) ejected"
    failed=$(($total - $ejected))
    if [ $failed -gt 0 ]; then
        msg="$msg, $failed drive(s) failed to eject"
    fi
    echo $msg
    fi
}

Both methods will also work for CDs.


Apache 2 `UserDir` problem in OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) Server after upgrade from Lion (10.7)

It seems that the Apache configuration files in /etc/apache2 are not at all considered by the Apache version provided by the Server application.

With the Server application, all configurations are in /Library/Server/Web/Config/apache2

As the ReadMe.txt of this directory says, the default apache configuration file is httpd_server_app.conf, and I just had to uncomment the line Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf in this file!

problem solved.

[EDIT]
As notified by Kristopher Johnson, it may also be necessary to uncomment LoadModule apple_userdir_module