How do you unshare or remove a person from your iCloud photo album?

On the Photos app on OS X:

Open the Photos App
Go to the "Shared" tab
Select the album you'd like to modify

Click on the circle with a face inside icon on the top left of the app, a menu will appear

Select the person you'd like to remove from the album, and click on the arrow right next to their name

A new menu will pop up; select "Remove subscriber".

On the Photos app for iOS:

Go to the "Shared" screen, select the album you want to modify

Look at the bottom of the screen for the "People" button, and tap on it.
A preferences menu will appear, with the name of the people you've shared the album with on top. Select the person you'd like to stop sharing with.

It will show you the contact for that person (if you have it on your phone). Scroll to the bottom and tap on the "Remove Subscriber" text in red.


Use the power of the graphic card on a MacBook?

Have you looked at CUDA (nVidia only) or OpenCL to do just this? Both technologies are made to leverage the GPU.


"Unable to verify account name or password" on outlook.com Exchange server (browser works)

I've struggled with this problem for months. My old hotmail account, which I've had since before MS bought it, stopped working on my Mac.  Webmail worked fine, iOS worked fine...just wouldn't work on Mac Mail.  Finally got it solved today.

If you have 2-step verification enabled on your Exchange account, you can't use your normal password with the Apple Mail client...you must generate an "app password" on the Exchange site, then use that in Mail.  NOTE: creating this "app password" does not change your regular email password.

To create an "app password":
- log into your Exchange account via the web
- click on the "you" icon at the top-right, then click View Account
- click Security near the top of the screen
- click the "More Security Options" link below the other option panels
- scroll down and click on "Create a new app password"
- use the resulting app password in your Mail client


How can I get my iPhone to automatically download podcasts I have subscribed to?

Indeed, check the "Refresh Podcast" option and set it to every hour.
Also, set Auto-Downloads to ALL


Is it possible to omit password from fast user switching and/or login screen?

Is it possible to be tweaked so that OS X won't ask for password when switching users? Or so that OS X won't ask for password in the login screen?

As long as they are not administrative users, yes. (Since you indicated you still want passwords for administrative tasks.)

  It is also essential that password is required for any remote login attempts — as they're in the default installation — be it SSH, SMB, VNC or the like.

In that case, you must only allow logins for administrative users.


How do I transfer a note with 6+ images from an iPhone to a Mac?

duplicate the note as many times needed.
erase photos in the duplicate notes so that there are 5 or less of them  pic 1 to 5 in the first note, pic 6 to 11 in the second - and so on ...
airdrop them to the computer - assemble the notes in one (or put in a folder) on the computer.


Why is my podcast validating correctly but getting rejected by iTunes?

Well, it looks like the problem may have been related to http vs https.

I found this interesting note on Apple's "Podcast best practices" page at https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/#/itc2b3780e76

"Pick a reliable podcast host and be sure to host podcast episodes, artwork, and XML on an HTTPS-authenticated server. Podcast providers are reliant on the up-time, security, and speed of the podcast host distributing their RSS feed, podcast artwork, and episode files. For more information, see Podcast Partner Search."

So I added an SSL cert, cleared the cache, and resubmitted. This time, I got an email back saying, "Your podcast feed, [ https://www.loatoday.net/feed/mp3/ ] was successfully added and is now under review."

This is particularly weird because Roger Wilmut1 over at discussions.apple.com told me that Apple used to refuse https feeds. So apparently this is a change they instituted sometime in the past year or two. Maybe it is an outgrowth of the Apple vs FBI controversy over the terrorist's iPhone earlier this year? Who knows?

All I know is that by changing http to https I was able to get Apple to accept my submission for review.


Can't Authenticate my work gMail — I get right through the OTP dance then it simply fails

mitch   [1:20 PM]
This happens to me also. I have found a workaround.

WORKAROUND:

In gmail, go to My Account (from your user icon), then Sign-in and Security, Allow less secure apps must be turned on.

Then, if you don't know your actual gmail password to use: In OneLogin, on the App Home page, click the Pencil icon next to the New App button top right, then click the icon you use to access GMail. In the resulting pop-up window, click the Change Google Apps password link and enter a password.

Now, go to System Preferences -> Internet Accounts, Add Other Account..., then configure gmail with plain ole IMAP (imap.gmail.com, smtp.gmail.com). PRESTO! Gmail working in Mail.app.


How do I get rid of the Notificationexec error in OS X Lion?

OK. Here is the solution I found, which is terrible but it works. Basically, I went to the Finder, opened the Search Criteria and searched for anything with named Maxtor and Seagate. After deleting several files, one of which had the word notification in it, I don't see the popup anymore. Most other solutions on Apple support site refer to removing files from Library -> Driver Support but I had no such folder. So if no other solution works for you, I suggest that you go to the finder and delete everything as I described above.


How To Recover Specific Items When MacBookPro Won't Boot

I would recommend a different approach to avoid unforseen problems and make it more predictable:
Install macOS on the external disk and boot from it. Mount the internal disk and copy files over manually to a 3rd location - either a separate APFS volume on the external disk or a 3rd external disk. Once you've copied and verified all files, wipe and restore the backup on the internal disk.


bash does expansion of $@ different than all other environment variables to preserve white space etc in arguments. From bash(1):

@ Expands  to  the  positional  parameters,  starting from one.  When the expansion occurs
  within double quotes, each parameter expands to a  separate  word.   That  is,  "$@"  is
  equivalent  to  "$1"  "$2" ...  If the double-quoted expansion occurs within a word, the
  expansion of the first parameter is joined with the beginning part of the original word,
  and  the  expansion  of  the last parameter is joined with the last part of the original
  word.  When there are no positional parameters, "$@" and $@  expand  to  nothing  (i.e.,
  they are removed).

So you basically should be able to call rar within the Shell Script action without any parsing:

/usr/local/bin/rar a ~/archive.rar "$@"


How to divert (only) certain numbers to voicemail?

As of iOS 11.0 it is (still) not possible to selectively forward specific phone numbers to voice mail.


Reinstall Mac OS X Lion and do selective restore from Time Machine backup

As I answered in this recent question your Time Machine drive will also appear as a valid Migration Assistant source if you opt for wipe and reinstall - I was surprised. When you use Migration Assistant you do get some control over what you install and what you leave behind.


Command in bash shell script to find path to that script?

See the answers on Get the source directory of a Bash script from within the script itself. The accepted one recommends

#!/bin/bash

DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"

but reading all the answers gives a lot of alternatives (and insights into how shells work).


Does "Background App Refresh" only refresh data or does it also allow the app to update in background?

Background app refreshing is just checking for new content and updating it in the app while the app is running in the background. I've never heard of an app actually updating itself and calling it a background refresh, and if it did that would certainly be a case of the developers mistaking the meaning of 'background refresh'.

Automatic updating is usually a separate setting (either in the app's preferences or the app store, depending upon which app you are talking about).


Its a pinch motion just like mobile safari.  To activate it, make sure Pinch Open and Close is ticked in System Preferences


Assign a key combination for each input language

First enable all necessary layouts in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Input Sources

Download, install and open Karabiner
Open in the menulet Karabiner -> Preferences
Open the tab Misc & Uninstall
Hit the button Open private.xml
Open the file private.xml with an appropriate editor
Enter customized input source definitions and keycodes

Example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>

  <vkchangeinputsourcedef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTSOURCE_US</name>
    <inputsourceid_equal>com.apple.keylayout.US</inputsourceid_equal>
  </vkchangeinputsourcedef>

  <item>
    <name>Change input source to US by right shift key + U</name>
    <identifier>private.change_input_source_to_us</identifier>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::U, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R,
      KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTSOURCE_US
    </autogen>
  </item>

  <vkchangeinputsourcedef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTSOURCE_GERMAN</name>
    <languagecode>de</languagecode>
  </vkchangeinputsourcedef>

  <item>
    <name>Change input source to German by right shift key + D</name>
    <identifier>private.change_input_source_to_german</identifier>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::D, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R,
      KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTSOURCE_GERMAN
    </autogen>
  </item>

  <vkchangeinputsourcedef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTSOURCE_UNICODEHEXINPUT</name>
    <inputsourceid_equal>com.apple.keylayout.UnicodeHexInput</inputsourceid_equal>
  </vkchangeinputsourcedef>

    <item>
    <name>Change input source to HEX by right shift key + H</name>
    <identifier>private.change_input_source_to_hex</identifier>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::H, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R,
      KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTSOURCE_UNICODEHEXINPUT
    </autogen>
    </item>

</root>

In the example hitting right shiftu will enable the US layout, right shiftg the german layout and right shifth the hex layout.

A comprehensive list of vkchangeinputsourcedefs is available here.
Save the file
Open in the menulet Karabiner -> Preferences the tab Change Key
Hit the ReloadXML button
Enable all "shortcuts". They are listed at the beginning.


Which of iOS apps allow customizing font size?

(please contribute to the list with any other apps, and feel free to edit to make the list more accurate--this is a community wiki answer)

Notation for the list below:

With few exceptions, any app falls into on of these categories:

it supports System Settings > Dynamic Type and Bold Text (I mark it as "Dynamic&Bold" below)
OR also supports System Settings > Larger Text (I mark as "Larger Text")
OR has its own app-specific font size settings ("App settings")
OR has NO font size customization whatsoever ("No customization")

For each app, I also specify how its maximum text size compares to standard system apps at maximum Dynamic Type setting if different (the app font is Smaller or Larger than in system apps)--to make it easier for a given app to understand its text size limit, given only few minutes with built-in apps only at Apple outlet.

Social networks

Facebook:
 - all UGC (News Feed, User Timeline, Individual post and comments): Dynamic&Bold (since 2015-Nov-06); much Smaller
 - app interfaces: No customization; smaller

Twitter:
 - timeline: App settings (3 sizes); smaller
 - settings screen: Dynamic&Bold

Google+: No customization; Much smaller

Instagram: No customization; Much smaller

VKontakte (both iPad- and iPhone apps): No customization; Smaller

Email apps

Mail:
 - plaintext emails: Dynamic&Bold
 - HTML emails: font scales only with Larger Text, but not with Dynamic Type(!); but can be much smaller than for plain text emails / than in other apps

GMail:  No customization; Smaller (both for plaintext and HTML emails)

Google Inbox:  No customization; Smaller (both for plaintext and HTML emails)

AirMail: Dynamic Text, App Settings; no LargerText support (text gets smaller instead)

Calendar (by Apple): Dynamic&Bold

Task managers

OmniFocus:
- Dynamic&Bold throughout the app
- LargerText for leaf-level outline items and Note editing only; No for outline groups

Things: No customization; smaller

Instant Messengers

Messages (iMessage):
- history of chat with a contact: LargerText
- list of contacts on left sidebar: Dynamic&Bold

Skype: No customization; Much Smaller

Telegram:
- history of chat with a contact: Dynamic Type (no Bold Text); smaller
- list of chats: No customization; Smaller

Web browsers

Safari:
- regular browsing: No customizaion; pinch to zoom leads to horizontal scrolling. Smaller.
- has a special Reader Mode with App Settings: wide range of sizes, comparable to the range of Larger Text. Works only for article-type web pages, not everywhere.

All other browsers tried (Google Chrome, Opera, Yandex Browser, iCabMobile): No Customization; pinch to zoom leads to horizontal scrolling. Smaller.

Office documents

Google Drive: No Customization

Google Docs: No customization: only document zoom, leads to horizontal scrolling. Smaller

Google Sheets: No Customization: only document zoom, leads to horizontal scrolling. Smaller

Maps

Google Maps: No customization; Smaller

Apple Maps: Dynamic Type only

Other built-in apps

Settings: Dynamic&Bold

Notes: LargerText

Reminders: LargerText

home screen: No customization

built-in keyboard: Bold Text only

Other third-party apps

Pocket:
- list of articles: Dynamic&Bold
- aricle body: App settings: wide range of sizes, comparable to the range of Larger Text

Google Keep: No Customization. Much Smaller.


Middle row of keyboard (a-;) duplicating top row (q-p)

The keyboard in your Mac may need to be replaced, but you could try just disconnecting and reconnecting the keyboard using a guide from iFixit for repairing polyurethane MacBooks. Select your model from the list and then select keyboard replacement. I've repaired a slightly older MacBook than a 2010 for one of customers before, and it wasn't all that difficult, but just take a look at the guide from beginning to end to make sure you're comfortable with the repair before you attempt it.


How can I format a USB stick that's falsely marked as read-only?

Try to partition the disk first.

If fails then by using Vendor and Product IDs of you flash drive find manufacturers' utility to perform low-level format. You will need Windows for that.


What is the significance of 1946-02-14 08:34:56?

I heard that it was the day ENIAC was revealed to the world:

  The completed machine was announced to the public the evening of February 14, 1946 and formally dedicated the next day at the University of Pennsylvania

The theory being that there were no "files" in existence prior to that date.

With regard to the time, 0x4F3AFDB0 (from Finder.h above) mod 86400 (seconds in a day) is 2096. 2096 seconds after midnight is 12:34:56 AM. This is almost certainly the intent: that it reads "123456" on the specified day when time zone adjusted.


I would go with the general thrust of the suggestion of NoahL in comments (i.e. move the inProgress folder to the trash, disable SIP, empty the trash, reenable SIP, and then try backing up again).

However, if you do not know how to disable/enable SIP, you can follow these steps:

Start your MBP
Immediately hold down the commandR keys to boot into recovery
Click the Utilities menu and select Terminal
Type csrutil disable and press return
Close the Terminal app
Select Restart.... from the  menu

Once you've rebooted, empty the Trash (assuming you've already placed the inProgress folder in the Trash). Once emptied, shutdown your MBP and follow the above steps again, except that at Step 4 use csrutil enable instead of csrutil disable.


What's the difference between "loving" a song and clicking a song's heart in iTunes?

It's the same thing. Unfortunately there appears to be a bug where the UI doesn't update one when you select the other, but it's stored the same and will appear the same next time iTunes refreshes that playlist/etc.


Difference in encrypting a sparse bundle for Time Machine before or after mounting the drive?

Encrypting via Disk Utility after the sparseimage is created consistently failed with

Mounting disk
Unable to create a new Core Storage logical volume group.
Operation failed…

The answer to my question is that encrypting the mounted drive is not an option, the image must be created with the encryption flag.


How do I switch tabs when using iTerm2 with Z shell

Use the keyboard shortcuts Shift + Command + ] and Shift + Command + [ to switch to next and previous tabs respectively. The same are also available under iTerm2 Menu Bar → Window menu.

The keyboard shortcuts remain the same irrespective of the shell you are running.


I switched to Catalina and enabled ZSH now my home/end key do not work in terminal

The other answers didn't work for me when connecting over SSH to the Mac. I had to add the following lines to my ~/.zshrc to get Home and End to work:
bindkey "^[[H" beginning-of-line
bindkey "^[[F" end-of-line


First delete all your apps except the ones you can't then download the ones you want.


Is it Possible to Manually Organise Imported Movie Extras in iTunes

When sold from iTunes, extras come in a package called (appropriately enough) iTunes Extras. An XML document describes the layout of the extras and where they are located. Apple provides a specification document that you could use if you wanted to build your own package.


Why use ps -ef check the process every time the pid will change?

Every time you run this in Terminal two new processes for ps and grep are created, run to do their job and then terminated successfully. So each invocation gets new PIDs.

To properly exclude the process grep search_string from grep'ing for search_string in the ps result use:

ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep search_string

or

ps -ef | grep [s]earch_string

e.g. ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep safira or ps -ef | grep [s]afira


Is there a secure shell client for Mac similar to Secure CRT for Windows?

I'm a great fan of ZOC Terminal Emulator for MacOS.

It has a host list, tabbed interface, very similar features (the two programs (ZOC and SecCRT) appear to copy-cat each other's features always within a few months).  Like SecureCRT it is commercial.

See also this question/answer on superuser (the guy there quotes someone saying it's the closest thing to SecureCRT).  User comments on MacUpdate are mostly favorable.

.


How to enable file sharing for the new 'private' folders in Catalina?

This is probably a bug. You can solve it by deactivating the file sharing option in the Sharing section of the Preferences window and then reactivating it.


How to disable / change the photoshop cc splash screen (on Mac)

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2043396 This maybe?

Or

Search the Photoshop Libraries for Image files. Most likely the image file can be replaced with a different file?


On 10.7 Finder now suggest merging folders when you copy and paste over an existing folder:


Can one use Apple's Bootcamp drivers on a Parallels VM?

This is unlikely to work, though I haven't tried it. If I may esplain...

The bootcamp drivers are for windows running on a specific number of Apple Macintosh computer models. In other words the drivers are for specific computers.

The Parallels VM is an emulated PC that may or may not have any compatibility with the Apple hardware.

It's kind of like going to the Dell drivers download site, downloading drivers for an (lets say...) Optiplex 9020 and than hoping those drivers will work on the new HP you just brought.


Permanently Dismiss "New iCloud Terms and Conditions" on MacOS High Sierra

It is requesting all the time as your already logged into iCloud.

If you go to:
Apple -> System Preferences -> iCloud
Then click 'sign out'

MacOS will not ask for you to agree to the iCloud T&Cs anymore.


“SIMBLAgent.app“ wants access to control

These messages are part of the new security measures in Mojave. You are giving up control of your system to apps you may not intend, so you should deny those requests until you’re sure it is not malware or something you don’t want typing / interacting on your behalf.

Consider, an app could copy text like passwords or just watch for you typing / save screen captures using these permissions. Not all do, but you might use caution before disabling security.

You can try giving the app full disk access in the System Preferences.app > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access. Add the application by using the [+] icon or by dragging to the list.


You already have a 'budget' GPU inside the Mini. I would expect the Intel integrated unit to be more than capable of your workload.
There is a danger that you spend a lot of money on a GPU and not notice any performance benefit.
You can always check Activity Monitor to see if your GPU is being 'overloaded' by your work, using the GPU History panel. It's worth checking to see whether any lack of performance is caused by the GPU, or whether it's just shonky Adobe code.


Minimum charging voltage for an iPhone 6

I'm not entirely sure you're asking the right question, because voltage is different to current.

All iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, etc) charge at 5 volts. So, if all you need to know is voltage, then 5 volts is the official requirement for charging.

However, the rate at which a device will charge is partly dependant on the rate at which the charge is flowing (known as current). I say 'partly' because the state of your iOS device also has an impact (e.g. it will charge quicker if it's not being used, it will charge slower if you're watching YouTube videos, etc).

So, in summary, iPhone chargers are typically rated at 5 volts and 1 amp while iPad chargers are rated at 5 volts and 2.1 amps.


Go to Settings -> Safari -> General, Authorise yourself and try to update your password there.


Lost access to admin user account in my mac book pro

You can recover the admin privileges easily by rebooting into Apple’s Setup Assistant tool. This will run before any accounts have been loaded, and will run in “root” mode, allowing you to create accounts on your Mac. Then, you can recover your admin rights via the new administrator account. After that, you can reboot into your recovered admin account and delete the interim administrator account.

Start up the Mac whilst holding down ⌘-S. After a few moments, you'll see the Mac boot to the command line.

/sbin/fsck -fy

/sbin/mount -uw /

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

After that, simply enter reboot and your Mac will restart and boot normally. Only this time, Setup Assistant will launch. This will run before any accounts have been loaded, and will run in “root” mode, allowing you to create accounts on your Mac.


Foolishly left old beta on my iPhone that has now expired, is my only option to restore and lose everything?

Simply download the IPSW of the final build of iOS 8.1 from developer.apple.com, connect your device to iTunes, alt-click the Update button and select your IPSW.

No data will be lost and your device will be updated.


How do I list my unwatched iTunes purchases on Apple TV?

Apple TV used to have a feature that let you see a list of unwatched shows. Unfortunately, no more.

Just create a smart playlist with the criterion of "plays" equals zero, or less than 1.


Apple is known to design the ARM used in the iDevices. But Apple definitely does not design everything. For example the GPU is a PowerVR G6430 and the ARM architecture is derived of ARM's V8-A.

On the Desktop/Laptop it's done by Intel since it's their CPU.

Apple's latest A7 are made by Samsung, but it's believed to shift to other manufacturers (for example TSMC) since Samsung is a major competitor for Apple.


Create MacOS style screenshots with drop shadow using Imagemagick

The following appears to work. I've done it twice -- once to show the shadow more explicitly, and then once to show the desired, finished output.

# adds the shadow
convert source.png \( +clone -background black -shadow 100x40+0+16 \) \
+swap -background none -layers merge +repage output.png

# adds the additional space like MacOSX
convert output.png -bordercolor none -border 32 target.png

Caveats:

The padding on should be 20px less on the top and 20px more on the bottom; this solution is not perfect in that regard.
The OSX screenshow draws a white border around the image, including the rounded corners. I could not duplicate that.
The shadow from osx screencapture looks more blurred but I don't know how to measure the blue and calibrate the solution to that.

Highlighted shadow to show shape and blurring


A couple of options:

1)  Use an external DVD drive connected via USB to boot into the Disk Warrior DVD

I use a spare IDE DVD-R drive from an old PC connected with a Newer Tech USB to IDE adapter.  I have had to do this a few times with a Mac Mini Server.  The only problem is that booting this way is VERY slow.

2)  If you have access to another Mac, connect the problem machine to the good mac with a Firewire cable and boot the damaged machine holding down the "T" key to enter Firewire Target Disk Mode

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Then run Disk Warrior from the good Mac on the problem Mac's drive.

For the future:  These are better options but probably not as easy at this point.

I try to have a USB flash drive around with a clone (via Carbon Copy Cloner) of a working system that contains the emergency utilities like Disk Warrior.  I can then boot from it if needed.

I also like keeping a bootable clone on an external hard drive with Disk Warrior already installed as part of my backup strategy.

You can select an alternate boot volume when turning on the machine by holding down the <option> key.


Sharing mac WiFi over Ethernet breaks all internet connections

The order of your internet connections is reversed.

For internet connection sharing to work it should be:

"Share your connection from Ethernet"

"To computers using Wi-Fi".

Here are the instructions:
http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/internet-howto/sharing-your-internet-connection-via-wi-fi/


Is there keyboard shortcut to deselect text on a mac?

It is app specific as to whether there is a keyboard shortcut for deselecting text.

The finder uses: Command + Option + A, while Pages uses Command + Shift + A, while Notes, Reminder, and Safari don't have an option.


For an exhaustive list, you can simply do ls for all of the directories in the shell's $PATH variable--that's what the shell uses to search for a command when you type it.

ls ${PATH//:/ }

The above runs ls using the path variable as an argument, but with the $PATH's usual : separators replaced by a space.


Bluetooth mouse that doesn't require a USB dongle

The Logitech V470 Cordless Laser Mouse for Bluetooth® may suit your needs.

BTW: I've used Logitech mice for a long time now and can say that they're built very well. They're a pleasure to use. The MX1000 is the greatest mouse ever built in my opinion. I've yet to use a Bluetooth mouse though.


Sending Control+Alt+  to terminal in iTerm2

I finally sorted out the various issues to come up with a solution.  The problem seems to be that if the Control key is part of the keyboard shortcut  then no other modifier keys that are also pressed will change the code that is sent by that keypress.  If Control + i produces the ^i (tab) character then adding more modifiers to the shortcut will still produce the same ^i code, at least when using iTerm2.  This may be occurring at the OSX level or perhaps at the Unix level where a termcap table handles the translation of "terminal keys" to "output codes." It can be observed with iTerm2 by using "cat -v" or "vis -o" to see the output being generated and is also seen when using Key Codes (without iTerm2 running) which makes OSX the more likely culprit. That conclusion is supported by noting that the general user is not able to redefine certain keyboard shortcuts (without difficulty) that are reserved for basic OSX functions (such as Command-Tab for program switching).

It is possible to programmatically differentiate any set of modifiers pressed with a character key but those modifier flags are accessible programmatically within OSX and by a totally unique set of codes for every different set of keys pressed. To witness this, use Key Codes and while holding the Control key and pressing a character key and then doing the same while pressing additional modifier keys at the same time, note that it is always the same character code that is produced. Yet Key Codes has access to the various keys being held and is able to display them to us in the "modifier" field that it reveals. And, if iTerm2 could only see the standard codes produced from various key presses and not also see the modifier flags then iTerm2 itself wouldn’t be able to define the range of shortcut keys that it is actually able to define.  On the other hand, after identifying each set differently modified keys in a unique manner, iTerm2 appears to pass it’s generated codes to OSX where they are handled in the same way as if they’d been keyed on a keyboard, resulting in identical output for groups distinguishable keystrokes.  So, for example, iTerm2 may pass the unique Control + Alt + i determined code(s) out for the use of tmux but OSX takes them and tosses out a few details before delivery, making the code appear to be just ^i when it finally arrives for tmux to handle. The shortcut binding in tmux expects to receive the code we thought we were sending but along the way OSX has removed the information about the Alt (Meta) key, the same as it would do if the keyboard shortcut had been typed on a keyboard.

The solution is to find a key combination that won’t be used for something else and that can be transmitted without being changed to another key combination that you do want to use. That’s where Key Codes is useful since it let's you test many key  combinations and find what the key presses are translated to be "unique enough."  Here’s the process I used to make it work for me:

Goal: Running tmux in iTerm2, I want to be able to press Command-Control-i and have tmux execute the "select-pane -U"command.

Choose an esoteric key press that you won’t be using. Consider a multi-key sequence with the tmux escape character followed by another unusual key press making it much less likely to be needed.  I’m choosing to send the standard tmux escape character (0x02 = ^b) followed by the ansi code sequence for F1 (0x1b 0x4f 0x50).  Good keys to look at are the less used characters generated on a Mac by holding down Alt (Option) and Shift with another character key.
Within iTerm2 open Preferences and define the Command+Control+i shortcut in either the global key shortcuts or as a keyboard shortcut for a specific profile.

Press the + button to add a new shortcut.
Click in the Keyboard Shortcut field and hold down the Command and Control keys while you press the "i" key.
Use the mouse to select "Send Hex Code" in the Action drop-down. (Trying to use Tab to leave the Shortcut field will change the value for the shortcut.)
Type the string "0x02 0x1b 0x4f 0x50" (without the quotes and assuming that you are using the default tmux escape character, ^b = 0x02).
Press the OK button to commit your shortcut. Close Preferences.

Within iTerm2, invoke a tmux session and define the key binding for the codes iTerm2 will send.

Invoke tmux as you normally would.
In the tmux window type the command: "tmux bind-key F1 select-pane -U" (without the quotes.)

Test it by splitting your tmux window into several appropriate panes and try using Command+Control+i to move through panes vertically. If successful, you'll probably want to record your key-binding with the start-up bindings invoked by tmux on startup.

This method worked fine for me and should work well unless you have somehow used all the possible keyboard combinations for other uses.  Methods like this one combined with practice and experience guessing the inner workings of a system should can help work around situations like this one that may feel foreign and overwhelming. Some parts of the above explanation are reasonable guesses as to what is occurring or that may assign blame to the wrong process but I hope that it’s helpful as a guide to how problems like this can be approached with less than a complete understanding of the whole system.


2013 Macbook Air not showing 1440p Option on External Display

Did you check if you have a Display Port on the monitor apart the HDMI?
I had the same issue with my late 2012 mac mini, and I had to buy a mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort to use the 1440p resolution


Volume on MacBook Pro low after disconnecting from Bluetooth speakers

I had the same problem, I solved resetting the NVRAM


Quarter circle with self-filling edge when mouse pointer is near the corner in Big Sur

I figured it out. When you select Show Keyboard Viewer within the keyboard input menu in the menu bar, it automatically enables Accessibility Keyboard, in the same way as though you had checked Enable Accessibility Keyboard in System Preferences > Accessibility > Keyboard > Accessibility Keyboard.
Now, this feature has its own hot-corner functionality (the default setting is Hide / Show Home Panel in all four corners), but it only gets activated if the cursor keeps touching (or “dwelling on”) one of the corners for 1–2 seconds. After this delay, the keyboard viewer is hidden or shown once again. It is during this short delay that the quarter circle appears and its white edge gets gradually filled up with gray—see the picture below.


What is the significance of the aliases field in the user preferences?

A user name alias functions as a simple way to create a shorthand version of an account name.

For example, if a users full account name is “Buscar웃SD” (which would be difficult to type every time to log in), one could setup an alias as “BSD” and just login with the shortened version instead.


How to re-span a cron-like launchd script in case of script error?

It seems it can be done partially. Basically the problem was that KeepAlive in combination with SuccessfulExit implied a RunAtLoad (the program was launched right at the start and not at the specified StartCalendarIntervall.) Setting the additional parameter AfterInitialDemand (which is undocumented) will change this behaviour and the program is first launched at the specified calendar time:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.example.backup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Volumes/Example/backup.sh</string>
    </array>

    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>Hour</key>
            <integer>2</integer>
            <key>Minute</key>
            <integer>15</integer>
        </dict>
    </array>

    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <dict>
        <key>SuccessfulExit</key>
        <false/>
        <key>AfterInitialDemand</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
    <key>ThrottleInterval</key>
    <integer>3600</integer>

    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/com.example/backup_error</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/com.example/backup_output</string>
</dict>
</plist>

The only problem is that if the program/ script fails then ThrottleInterval will overrule the StartCalendarInterval, so depending on time of error and the set interval the program/ script would not launch exactly at the specified calendar time after a day has elapsed (assuming it failed until then) and might continue at odd time offsets (until it succeeds.)

But to sum it up: the trick is the undocumented AfterInitialDemand set to true.


How to force quit an AppleScript script launched from toolbar?

Ok, first off, when you are using AppleScript’s “with administrator privileges” you should not use sudo

Second, you need to send the job into the background if you want the AppleScript to finish.

The easiest way of doing that is to put the command in a shell script, like so:

#!/bin/zsh -f

/usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start &|

exit 0

(Note the &| at the end of the line. That tells the process to go into the 'background')

Save those 3 lines to a file named something like /usr/local/bin/start-mysql-server.sh and then do

chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/start-mysql-server.sh

to make it executable.

Finally, change your AppleScript to

do shell script "/usr/local/bin/start-mysql-server.sh" with administrator privileges

and it should launch and then the gear should disappear.


Auto vpn connection dependent on Wifiname

Perhaps something like ControlPlane would do the job for you?


"Force Sticky Console": Safari devtools shifts away from Console to DOM inspector on reload

This is currently not possible, if you keep the developer tools docked in the window. If you undock the developer tools, the tools respect that they have been opened using Show Error Console.

You can provide feedback to Apple here:

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


Applescript change folder and terminal commands

General when using the do shell script command, you will need to use the quoted form property of text objects. In other words, do something like this.

set command to "ls"
set result to do shell script quoted form of command
display dialog result


Having small video files from iphone videos, either compressing large ones or recording them so they are small in the first place

Apple makes a pro app for Mac, Compressor, that can handle this task, but might be overkill. It can handle batch jobs etc.

There is also Roxio Toast which is a DVD burning utility but has a nice suite of tools for video conversion. You could use this to make DVDs or Blu Rays of all those vids and then get them off your system entirely. A Blu Ray burner is around $100-200 these days.

I use Panasonic 50-year-archival BD-R media, which was about $100 for 25 discs that hold 25 GB each whenI bought it last year. I burn all my HD videos to those, then delete it off my computer entirely. Then to watch it just throw that disc into your Sony PS4 or XBOX One, or Blu Ray Player attached to your TV.

Ideally you could do both: archive the big HD files to BD-R for backup purposes and posterity, and keep highly compressed files on the Mac for the occasional viewing.


For that kind of things I use Hazel. I have a very easy way to filter PDF contents based on rules. The below image contains a rule that I use to organise my invoices. Hazel keeps watching a folder, and acts on every new file there based on your defined rules.


Any way to override wifi requirement for downloading apps/app updates larger than 150MB?

The best wayto do that is to tether to another mobile device so that your iPhone on the beta sees a WiFi connection. I know this is a workaround and not a solution, but I’ve not heard of any way to trick / hack / override this.


You could use TestFlight for external beta testers. This will allow you to test with up to 2,500 external testers. You do not need to know their UDIDs, only their email addresses.

However, I assume you think your app won't be able to pass even the less restrictive beta app review.

In that case, you could distribute your app in a "half-baked" form. Instead of giving out the Xcode-project including sources, which you state you do not want, you could distribute your app as compiled, but not yet signed, binaries.

In order to make it easy for your customers, you would have to build or get built a simple tool that the user can run that codesigns the binaries with the user's AppleID. They wouldn't need to be registered Apple Developers.

The tool would need to alter the bundle name in Info.plist and use the "codesign" tool to sign the app:

To make the bundle name unique, just add any random identifiers to the bundle name in the plist file.

The codesign tool can be used with a command like this:

codesign --force --sign "my identity"  <path for .app file>

where "my identity" is the identity (apple-id) of the end-user.


Error 23 trying to restore original iPad from iTunes

From Resolve iOS update and restore errors

Check for hardware issues
Related errors: 1, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 1000, 1002, 1004, 1011, 1012, 1014, 1667, or 1669.

These errors mean that your device or computer may have a hardware issue that's preventing the update or restore from completing.

Check that your security software and settings aren't preventing your device from communicating with the Apple update server.
Then try to restore your iOS device two more times while connected with a cable, computer, and network you know are good.
Confirm that your security software and settings are allowing communication between your device and update servers.
If you still see the error message when you update or restore, contact Apple support.


How can I transfer iMessage/SMS messages from Mac to iPhone?

Starting with iOS 11.4 and macOS 10.13.5 High Sierra, Messages in iCloud lets your messages sync across devices over iCloud.

On iOS, you enable this feature by toggling Messages under Settings → General → [Your Name] → iCloud.

On macOS, open the Messages app, then go to Messages → Preferences… → Accounts → iMessage and check Enable Messages in iCloud.

This feature will upload all the messages from each of your devices to iCloud, and merge them with messages uploaded from other devices.

From there, each device will only keep a cached copy of recent conversations, and download additional messages from iCloud whenever you try to view them. Once the merge/sync is complete, if you delete a message in one location, it will be deleted from all your devices.

Note that both iMessages and SMS/MMS are included as part of Messages in iCloud.

As a bonus, just like iCloud Photo Library, your messages will no longer be backed up as part of your daily iCloud Backup. This should save you storage in iCloud by no longer requiring duplicate backups of your messages for each of your iOS devices.


Remove duplicate photos in photos app in Yosemite

Few ways to do that.

I would use the DIY way to make sure it is not deleting unwanted stuff.

Sort by name and decide what to delete.

Use apps like: Duplicate Cleaner For iPhoto

Create Automator workflow (it is not worth the time creating and testing it).

Use Terminal (although not recommend due to possibility of deleting wrong stuff).

Just an example:

Open Terminal from Spotlight or the Utilities folder.

Change to the directory (folder) you want to search from (including sub-folders) using the cd command. At the command prompt type cd  for example cd ~/Documents to change directory to your home Documents folder.

At the command prompt, type the following command:

find . -size 20 \! -type d -exec cksum {} \; | sort | tee /tmp/f.tmp \ | cut -f 1,2 -d ' ' | uniq -d | grep -hif /tmp/f.tmp > duplicates.txt

This method uses a simple checksum to determine whether files are identical. The names of duplicate items will be listed in a file named duplicates.txt in the current directory. Open this to view the names of identical files.


Is there a formula or function for Numbers that returns the number of days or weeks for a given year

Try using the DATEDIF(start-date,end-date,calc-method) divided by 7 to determine number of weeks.

For example:

DATEDIF returns the number of days between to dates.  Dividing that by 7 should result in the number of weeks.  This can be rounded as desired and calculated against.

From the Formula reference:

  The DATEDIF function returns the number of days, months, or years between two dates.
  DATEDIF(start-date, end-date, calc-method)
  start-date: The starting date. start-date is a date/time value (the time portion is ignored) or date string value.
  end-date: The ending date. end-date is a date/time value (the time portion is ignored) or date string value.
  calc-method: A modal value that specifies how to express the time difference and how dates in different years or months are handled.
  “D”: Return the number of days between the start and end dates.
  “M”: Return the number of months between the start and end dates.
  “Y”: Return the number of years between the start and end dates.
  “MD”: Return the days between the start and end dates, ignoring months and years. The month in end-date is considered to be the month in start-date. If the starting day is after the ending day, the count starts from the ending day as if it were in the preceding month. The year of the end-date is used to check for a leap year.
  “YM”: Return the number of whole months between the start and end dates, ignoring the year. If the starting month/day is before the ending month/day, the dates are treated as though they are in the same year. If the starting month/day is after the ending month/day, the dates are treated as though they are in consecutive years.
  “YD”: Return the number of days between the start and end dates, ignoring the year. If the starting month/day is before the ending month/day, the dates are treated as though they are in the same year. If the starting month/day is after the ending month/day, the dates are treated as though they are in consecutive years.


How do I speed up the network discovery of windows servers from my mac?

Only using Finder the workaround that works for me in macOS 10.14.5 is:

In Finder menu bar select Go > Connect to Sever...
Use your windows machine IP address to make a Connect


Change of default behaviour when connecting to external display: mirror mode

Just press ⌘ + F1 after connecting the display to your Mac and your screen will mirror.

ps. you might have to press fn as well. This depends on how you've set up your F-keys.


Override and restore the normal functionality of Apple keyboard media keys in VLC?

You can use Karabiner-Elements to set the play/pause button (on my keyboard fn+F8) to always control iTunes from any App (I know Apps besides just VLC also commandeer the iTunes buttons sometimes).

Just add something like the following rule to ~/.config/karabiner/karabiner.json

{
   "description": "Play/pause button should only control iTunes.",
   "manipulators": [
      {
         "from": {
            "key_code": "f7",
            "modifiers": {
               "mandatory": [
                  "fn"
               ]
            }
         },
         "to": [
            {
               "shell_command": "osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to previous track'"
            }
         ],
         "type": "basic"
      },
      {
         "from": {
            "key_code": "f8",
            "modifiers": {
               "mandatory": [
                  "fn"
               ]
            }
         },
         "to": [
            {
               "shell_command": "osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to playpause'"
            }
         ],
         "type": "basic"
      },
      {
         "from": {
            "key_code": "f9",
            "modifiers": {
               "mandatory": [
                  "fn"
               ]
            }
         },
         "to": [
            {
               "shell_command": "osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to next track'"
            }
         ],
         "type": "basic"
      }
   ]
}

Get rid of the "modifiers" part if you normally press F8 without pressing fn to play/pause iTunes.

Then in Karabiner-Elements you'd add your new rule as a complex modification:


The answer is yes - the logs are available. Either historical or as they occur.

This is the script I use. The -f argument follows the live Time Machine messages:

#!/bin/sh
#
# show time machine logs
# -f = follow

PRED='subsystem == "com.apple.TimeMachine" AND processImagePath CONTAINS "backupd"'

if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
    log stream --style syslog --predicate "$PRED" --info
else
    log show   --style syslog --predicate "$PRED" --info | sed -e 's/ localhost / /' \
         -e 's/ (TimeMachine) / /' \
     -e 's/[[]com.apple.TimeMachine.TMLog/[/' \
     -e 's/\.[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]\+[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9] / /'
fi

Note you will need to run this with sudo to access all log data.


Has Apple made any announcements that they will patch Krack on iOS 10-only devices?

The answer to both questions is... probably. :/

There seems to be some speculation as to whether it has or hasn't but there's a very detailed post on Stack Exchange's security site: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/172721/did-ios-11-1-fix-krack-for-only-iphone-7-and-newer


Find all hidden ".idea" folders in system

You can do it from Terminal.app. Navigate to the topmost directory with:

cd /

Then type this command:

find . -name ".idea" -exec rm -r {} \;

This will remove all .idea directories which are owned by You (more specificaly You have the rights to delete them). If You want to delete all of them, add sudo in front of this command.

NOTE: calling sudo without knowing what You are doing can be dangerous.


Is there a faster app switcher than a keyboard shortcut linked to an Automator service?

I ended up getting Alfred's power pack and setup a hotkey there. It's much much faster than the automator service.


The archive "Xcode_9_beta_4.xip" is damaged and can't be expanded

I just kept deleting and downloading again, and finally it worked. Not the best experience. I think it was the 4th or 5th time.


French Numerical might help.
I found this article whilst Googling -

  Numbers on the Belgian keyboard

  If you opted for the French or Belgian Apple wireless keyboard, you
  may experience a strange behavior when using the number keys. On the
  AZERTY keyboard, the numbers appear on the second top row of keys,
  together with the accented and special characters.

  Apple Wireless keyboard frHowever, it may be so that when pressing the
  Caps Lock On, you still get the accented characters instead of the
  expected numbers. This is a bit of a challenge when needing to enter
  series of figures.

  If so, you have to change the default keyboard in the system
  preferences, to “Français – numérique” instead of “belge”. Go to
  System Preferences, in the Language and Text section. Then in the
  “input method”, select the “Français – numérique” keyboard, and
  deselect the “Belge” keyboard. From now on, when Caps Lock is on, the
  number keys will actually return numbers.

The Keyboard Control Panel has changed slightly since that article was written - it's now accessible on a separate sheet, after hitting the + at the bottom of the pref pane.


How can I online stream from my iPad Air to an older model Viera TV without Apple TV?

I take a glance at Panasonic Viera TC-L37e3 manual and as I understood it has DLNA feature. Have you try to use it? Because there are several streaming apps for iPad working with DLNA devices (Infuse, nPlayer, ArkMC, VLC). They give you a possibility to wirelessly connect your iPad and TV.
The only problem is if they work with Youtube videos. I definitely know that ArkMC streams Youtube videos, but what about others, I doubt.


I would keep on the vendor to explain how to debug this sync failure.
If they don’t make you happy, the team that make a ARQ software has a history of resolving issues for their clients (in my circle of Mac admins and consultants).

https://www.arqbackup.com/

If you’re technical and prefer command line, I can’t recommend rsync.net highly enough either. Their price point is attractive as is the detailed logging capabilities for troubleshooting - if you can set it up, you can troubleshoot it easily. Go for arq if ease of setup is your preference.

https://rsync.net/products/attic.html


iPhone, so many wifi points, mine won't appear in the list!

If you can see the connection OK from your Mac, then try elevating its priority - which you can't do from the phone, but is simple on the Mac.

System Prefs > Network > WiFi > Advanced...

You can drag access points into a preferred order. If you move your WiFi to the top of the list, this should then sync to your iPhone & it ought to then choose that as its preferred connection.


The "invalid node structure" and "disk I/O" errors you see in verbose mode are both indicative of a failing hard drive.

The invalid node structure points to a problem with the data cataloging mechanism of the operating system, basically that system that keeps track of where all the data is stored.  One off reports of this aren't so bad but coupled with the issues you're seeing and the other error message I imagine it's a result of a failing drive.

The Disk I/O error pops up when the hard drive is inaccessible, either for a split second or several minutes.  This can usually be attributed to any of the following:

SATA port on the logic board going bad (not very likely)
Hard drive cable going bad (somewhat likely)
The hard drive itself failing or starting to fail (much more likely)

Because the disk is temporarily unavailable you often see system corruption (such as the invalid node structure error above) occur as a result.

So, what to do from here...

Definitely don't try to install a new operating system.  The process of doing so is one of the most taxing procedures a hard drive is likely to go through in normal use, on a failing drive it can stress it to the point of complete failure.
Backup your data if you haven't already.  If your Mac does manage to boot again I would strongly encourage you to copy whatever important data you might have (pictures, documents, etc) to a thumb drive or external hard drive.  If you're unable to do this then I would recommend checking with local AASPs (see two paragraphs down) to see about data recovery options.
Repair.  Depending on your comfort level working with computers you might attempt to repair your Mac yourself.  As I mentioned, the hard drive is the most likely culprit, iFixit has a guide that walks you through the process - MacBook Pro hard drive replacement. Almost any 2.5" SATA hard drive will work as a replacement.
If you prefer to have someone else repair it you can find Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) and Apple retail stores using Apple's locate tool.  If your Mac is under warranty (you can check with this tool) then the repair would likely be covered by both Apple and/or an AASP so long as it wasn't a result of accidental damage.  If it's not covered then I would get a quote from each shop.

Hopefully that helps or at the very least gets you started.


According to this Apple document:

    Autodesk’s FBX for QuickTime enables QuickTime as a 3D viewing solution that supports content from any professional 3D package. With FBX for QuickTime, digital artists can share, view, and interact with 3D content seamlessly, efficiently, and at no cost. Now available for both Mac OS X and Windows.

So, I'm guessing that's a yes.

If you want to take that 3D movie and convert it to 2D, you can most likely use MPEG Streamclip for that.


No, there is no way to do this on iOS 5.1 or on any earlier version of iOS.

It's doubtful that Apple will add this feature, given their usual proclivity toward not including features that could be difficult to configure and support, particularly on iOS.

This of course means that each app developer can implement their own passcode locking mechanism. It's just not an API that Apple provides to developers to ask again for the same passcode before it operates as opposed to locking the entire device.


As you know, since the previous owners installed a version of the iLife pack you couldn't run on macOS Sierra, you've had to update the individual apps to their current versions.

Where you've fallen down a little, is that while you could install current versions of GarageBand and iMovie, there is no current version of iPhoto as it was superseded by the launch of the Photos app. More specifically, iPhoto was discontinued in April 2015 and has not appeared on the Mac App Store since.

Instead, what you need to do is use the Photos app. This should be on your MacBook Pro as it would've been installed as part of macOS Sierra. By default it should be on your Dock, but if it isn't you should be able to find it within your Applications folder.

If you have an old iPhoto library, Photos can convert it to a Photos photo library.

For more information, refer to Photos Help.


How do you change an iPad back from Korean to English?

Here is a link that shows step by step with images:


Moving the focused window to the bottom/top monitor with a shortcut

Moom
You can:

Move & Zoom to Full Screen
Move & Zoom to Left Half
Move & Zoom to Right Half
Move & Zoom to Top Half
Move & Zoom to Bottom Half
Move & Zoom to Top Left Quarter
Move & Zoom to Top Right Quarter
Move & Zoom to Bottom Right Quarter
Move & Zoom to Bottom Left Quarter

Define size and position and assign a shortcut.

Use a predefined shortcut and then use arrow keys to move the window.

Use a shortcut to move the window to another monitor.

For the record, Moom is usually 10$, but now is 5$.


Re-install the App Store application on OS X 10.6.8

Download and re-install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
at the link above.


How to fix lsregister failing associations after reboot?

The LaunchServices database is built with data from as many as four domains. (See 'lsregister --help' for more info on these domains.) You might not be rebuilding the LaunchServices database correctly.  This is the command I use to rebuild the database on my Mac:

sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of file associations (plus a whole lot more) and want a nice GUI to boot try installing RCDefaultApp.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/14618/rcdefaultapp


"A recovery key has been set" but remains invisible with macOS FileVault

Yes, it is correct to assume that macOS handles the recovery key internally and securely. There's no need for you to write something down.

In case you need to do recovery because you have forgotten your login password, you can use your iCloud account to unlock FileVault. Just make sure you can remember your iCloud login details!

When you choose to use iCloud as your recovery mechanism, the settings will still show that a recovery key has been setup - so that's perfectly normal! There's no option in the settings to display the recovery key to you.


Why won't my MacBook Pro automatically sleep?

To help debug sleeping issues, try the pmset command in the terminal:

$ pmset -g assertions

Assertion status system-wide:
   ChargeInhibit                           0
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep             0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep              1
   NoRealPowerSources_debug                0
   CPUBoundAssertion                       0
   EnableIdleSleep                         1
   PreventSystemSleep                      0
   DisableInflow                           0
   DisableLowPowerBatteryWarnings          0
   ExternalMedia                           0

Listed by owning process:
  pid 2520: [0x0000012c000009d8] PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "com.apple.audio.'AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,2:0'.noidlesleep"

In this case, it's the process 2520 messing up. Check it out in activity monitor and kill it (/usr/sbin/coreaudiod started by iTunes).

After that, run the command again:

Assertion status system-wide:
   ChargeInhibit                           0
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep             0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep              0
   NoRealPowerSources_debug                0
   CPUBoundAssertion                       0
   EnableIdleSleep                         1
   PreventSystemSleep                      0
   DisableInflow                           0
   DisableLowPowerBatteryWarnings          0
   ExternalMedia                           0

No flags for PreventUserIdleSystemSleep.


Backup iPhone contacts etc to move to new iPhone (no iCloud)

Switching Apple IDs

If you go to Settings > iCloud and Sign Out, everything should stay safely on your phone with the exception of iCloud Drive documents and photos from your Photo Library. If you were to then sign into a different Apple ID, such as a newly created one, you could turn things like Contacts and Calendars. I say should because if you get any warnings saying something will be deleted, you should take them seriously.

Unfortunately , this requires taking extra precautions for iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Drive. If you do have things in iCloud Drive or iCloud Photo Library, you can go to www.icloud.com on a computer and perhaps download your documents and photos from there so that they are safe on a computer.

The Alternative

Contacts and Calendars are a tricky thing to backup without iCloud as they don't seem to be included in the catch-all iCloud Backup.
There may be many alternatives to the above, but the only one I thought of off the top of my head was to check with your carrier about using your SIM card for that purpose.


How can I change sleep mode's wallpaper?

Unfortunately what you are asking is not possible. Because the Sleep Mode just displays a blurred version of your desktop background, you cannot make it different than your desktop background.

You might try and find a script that changes your desktop background as soon as you sleep the computer and change it back as soon as you unlock it, but that would not be very feasible for everyday use.


Why does Car Play disconnect when I go in/out of WiFi range?

I finally found a solution to this. I removed the CloudFlare 1.1.1.1 app from my phone.

That app provides fast, secure DNS connections. It looks like a VPN profile to your phone, although it is not actually a VPN. Apparently 1.1.1.1 (and maybe some other VPN apps) are breaking CarPlay. I don't know why there is an interaction between networking and CarPlay, but in my before and after tests, it was rock solid once I got rid of the CloudFlare app.

The DNS app seemed like a good idea, but it was not worth all the trouble it caused.


Change font size of mail list in Mail.app

Yes, you can. Go to Mail's preferences (Mail > Preferences... in the menu bar). Click on the Fonts & Colors tab. There you will find an option for "Message list font." Simply change the font size to your liking.


Update to latest libssl for Mountain Lion without MacPorts?

This is how I fixed this, it's based on a couple of threads on Stack Overflow.

sudo cp /Library/PostgreSQL/9.1/lib/libssl.1.0.0.dylib /usr/lib
sudo cp /Library/PostgreSQL/9.1/lib/libcrypto.1.0.0.dylib /usr/lib
sudo ln -fs /usr/lib/libssl.1.0.0.dylib /usr/lib/libssl.dylib
sudo ln -fs /usr/lib/libcrypto.1.0.0.dylib /usr/lib/libcrypto.dylib

Please take note of what the links you are replacing looked like before you overwrite them so you can put it back the way it was if it causes you grief.  I am not convinced this is a good idea yet, but it's working so far.  I'll edit if it comes back to bite me in the arse.


After my MacBook Pro sleeps some gestures don't work anymore

A workaround is to bring up Terminal and then type "killall Dock" at the prompt which restarts the dock. This fixes the problem. It’s odd that Apple have failed to pick up this bug at the last update. It seems to be pretty commonplace.


What are the benefits of iPhone jailbreak?

I Jailbroke my iPhone 4 as soon as the jalibreak was released and had my iPhone 2G Jailbroken before that.

For me it's not about illegally installing applications, it's about intsall tweaks and applications which Apple can't or won't allow into their App Store, for example:

Winterboard:     Complete themeing system.
SBSettings:      Easily enable/disable settings from within
any application.
Infinifolder:        Remove the 12 Application limit from iOS4 Folders.
QuickReply SMS:      Reply to SMS messages directly from the message
alert with a popup keyboard and then
instantly return back to what you
were doing.
Cyntact:     Show contact pictures in Contacts.
BossPaper:       Rotating wallpapers (Was available before iOS 4 allowed
them)
Categories:      Allowed Apps in folders years before iOS4 did!

The few short weeks I had my iPhone 4 without it being Jailbroken I found it hard to use as I'd got so used to the small tweaks I'd installed my Cydia, most of them I had purchased.-


In all likelihood, the variation in speed you're seeing is happening due to congestion on your connection to the internet, not because of your home network setup. Even the Early 2005 Mac Minis could theoretically manage speeds of 12.5 MB/s, with a real-world throughput somewhere around 10 MB/s. The first Intel-based Mac Minis could handle 10x that.

Unless you notice the speed reliably changes based on whether or not you are connected over Thunderbolt, I'd assume the speed is actually varying because either the server you are downloading from is overloaded, or your internet connection is. If you're located in America, consider that at the hour you posted this, most people are going to bed, freeing up bandwidth for you to use.


How can I add shells to the list in Run Shell Script in the Automator?

The list of these shells in this action come from this PLIST file --> "/System/Library/Automator/Run Shell Script.action/Contents/Resources/Shells.plist"

Edit this file to add others shells (need administrator's password)

    <key>/Users/iain/Library/Frameworks/zsh/Programs/zsh</key>
<dict>
    <key>args</key>
    <array>
        <string>-c</string>
        <string>%</string>
        <string>-</string>
    </array>
    <key>script</key>
    <array>
        <string>cat</string>
        <string>for f in "$@"&#10;do&#10;&#09;echo "$f"&#10;done</string>
    </array>
</dict>
<key>/opt/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/</key>
<dict>
    <key>args</key>
    <array>
        <string>-e</string>
        <string>%</string>
        <string>--</string>
    </array>
    <key>script</key>
    <array>
        <string>ARGF.each do |f|&#10;&#09;puts f&#10;end</string>
        <string>ARGV.each do |f|&#10;&#09;puts f&#10;end</string>
    </array>
</dict>


Yosemite and Teac A-H01 sound driver- alternatives?

I have same issue, contacted Teac support and recieved the following

Thank you for contacting TEAC-Audio.
Our engineering department is currently working on this issue. Please be so kind to check our webpage periodically for further info, or a possible driver update.
Thank you for your understanding.
MfG / Sincere Regards
Jürgen
Customer Support
TEAC-AUDIO Europe
Liegnitzerstr. 6
D-82194 Groebenzell / Germany
Tel.  +49-(0)8142-4208 141


Remove graphic from background of PowerPoint slides

It's possible the image is part of the slide background.

From the Slide Master, choose Background Styles → Format Background….

See if a picture has been inserted and replace it or change to another fill type.


How do I add a label to identical cards in Wallet?

This doesn't appear to be possible at present. (See Apple discussions 8208759 and 8126880.)

As you point out, the only currently available options seem to be sorting your cards in an order you can remember or relying on details like a card balance or the last four digits of a card number.

On the other hand, if it's important enough to warrant the trouble (not to mention the awkwardness), you could perhaps create your own dummy cards and use them as labels, naming each for a card you want to identify and sorting it above the card it refers to.

You can request a feature at https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html.


What files do I need to remove to wipe every trace of iTunes from my Mac filesystem?

The ones I know of are:

~/Library/iTunes/

/Library/iTunes/

~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.plist + more similar .plist files

However there are probably a LOT more hidden throughout the OS. As soulshined pointed out there are parts of the OS that depend on having iTunes, and removing it would break them. I am curious as to why you need to?


How to sync OS X Reminders with Android?

There is an app called Reminder For iCloud on Google Play, which I believe can meet your need. It can sync reminders of iCloud.


This seems to be exactly what you are looking for: LaunchControl


Try these two solutions:

From the Finder, ⌥-click the Go menu and select Library whilst still holding ⌥.
Move the folder ~/Library/Mail/ to the desktop or another convenient location.
Launch Mail.app.
From the File Menu choose Import Mailboxes…
Choose Import Data from Apple Mail.
Navigate to ~/Desktop or wherever you moved ~/Library/Mail/ to.
Click on Choose.
Wait until it imports.

or

In a Finder window, navigate to ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData, and delete any file that begins with Envelope Index, such as "Envelope Index" or "Envelope Index-shm" or "Envelope Index – awl". In my case, I had all 3 of these Envelope indexes, and moved them to the trash.

Note: When accessing Library, keep in mind that your home Library is hidden in Lion.  To access it, from the Finder, ⌥-click the Go menu and select Library whilst still holding ⌥.
Restart Mail. It will then rebuild a new list of messages, which can take some time, so be patient.

Another note for Exchange users: After removing the Envelope Indexes, my Exchange account email content was blank. To revive it, I had to delete my Exchange email account and add it again fresh.  After adding it from scratch (and the download took a while since I have about 12K messages), the mystery Unread Message notifications were gone.


Does the touch resolution of the new iPad match it's retina display resolution?

Having just googled, I can't find a definitive answer to your question.

However, intuitively, I'd say that I can't see any way that, with a finger, you could select a point with accuracy anywhere close to 264 pixels per inch (see the Display section of the iPad technical specs).

And none of the Stylus reviews I've seen (such as this recent one from The Verge) suggest that any available styluses/stylii can reach a significantly greater accuracy than a finger - presumably because of the capacitive nature of the display: see e.g. this from Wikipedia

  Capacitive touchscreens are more expensive to manufacture and offer a
  significantly lesser degree of accuracy than resistive touchscreens.


Lithium cells degrade over time so getting a new cell is always better three years shelf life or worse. Worse, if the part falls into deep discharge, it will be ruined. I have no issue with old batteries but I charge them up to 50% every 6 months to avoid deep discharge.

When you can get a cell that you know was put into long term storage properly, then buy from the vendor that you trust most. In this case, you're rolling the dice that the Apple part was made towards the end of the production run and not the beginning. You always have to do extra work with aftermarket parts, since some manufacturers cut corners and are even unsafe.

Here's Apple's take on this: http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

Store it half-charged when you store it long term.

If you want to store your device long term, two key factors will affect the overall health of your battery: the environmental temperature and the percentage of charge on the battery when it’s powered down for storage. Therefore, we recommend the following:

Do not fully charge or fully discharge your device’s battery — charge it to around 50%. If you store a device when its battery is fully discharged, the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life.

Power down the device to avoid additional battery use.
Place your device in a cool, moisture-free environment that’s less than 90° F (32° C).
If you plan to store your device for longer than six months, charge it to 50% every six months.
Depending on how long you store your device, it may be in a low-battery state when you remove it from long-term storage. After it’s removed from storage, it may require 20 minutes of charging with the original adapter before you can use it.


Find who is intercepting traffic on port 80

You can use the following command in the Terminal:

pfctl -s all

It will display a list of all sets of filter rules, translation rules, limits, etc. set on the network packet filter.


Scaling external Display on Macbook Pro Mid 2012

You're best off using Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable for this.
  HDMI would work but you'd need to make sure your mDP to HDMI adapter
  and HDMI cable were compliant. It's just easier to buy one mDP to DP
  cable.

The easiest way is to hold Alt when you click on the Scaled option, which will force macOS to show the additional scaled resolutions in the list.

Here's Displays for my Apple Cinema HD Display as standard:

And then after Alt-clicking the Scaled option:

Alternatively, you can use a menu bar app called RDM (download link at bottom of readme) which lists all available resolutions, with retina resolutions marked by the ⚡ lightning bolt emoji:


How do I restore a jailbroken iPhone 3G?

All you need to do is plug your iPhone into iTunes, click on it under Devices:

And click "Restore":

iTunes will make sure that you do actually want to restore:

Jailbreaking does not make any permanent changes; a restore will put your iPhone back exactly the way it was before you jailbroke it.


Full screen enabled ipad to windows streaming VNC

Have you tried RDP? There are several Remote Desktop apps, eg PocketCloud that can connect to a Windows PC using the native RDP server.


When searching for an app on my iPhone I get a black, blank screen

From Use Search on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Swipe to search

Swipe down from the middle of the Home screen.
Tap the Search field, then enter what you're looking for. As you type, Search updates results in real time.
To see more results, tap Show More or search directly in an app by tapping Search in App.
Tap a search result to open it.

Emphasis added by me on step 1.

If the above default method is not working for you, then restart the iPhone and see if the issue persists.


Can't unlock Macbook after sleep until powering off and on

This was happening to me as well with very similar error message. When I saw it was saying it couldn't find a display I tried plugging in an external display.. sure enough it turned on. I think this happens if the screen goes to sleep while plugged into an external display. Pretty awful bug. Note that I am testing it by plugging in the identical display.. not sure if another display would fix it.


MacOSX Maverick 10.9 - How do I stretch a window across both of my dual screens on my dual screen setup?

I haven't tested it myself, but according to John Siracusa's review at ars, if you disable the "Displays have separate Spaces" checkbox in the Mission Control preference pane, the old behavior (including ability to split a window between displays) returns.


How can I make my 27" iMac and my 27" Thunderbolt display the same height?

I'd recommend buying this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Thunderbolt-Kid-Memoir/dp/0767919378/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1330596630&sr=8-7

It's exactly 1" thick, put it under the monitor.


osx trackpad gesture to switch between chrome tabs

You can use Better Touch Tool to assign custom gestures to any application. Here's an example how You this would look like in BTT (tip tap gestures to switch tabs):


Mini Mouse Stop it from pairing with another computer?

On his computer, go to System Preferences → Bluetooth and delete the mouse from the list:


On my Macbook Pro running Sierra, it is not installed.  However if it is, you should be able to remove it with pip remove mutagen, and reinstall it with pip install mutagen. It should automatically download, build and install mutagen.  Also, make sure your python is updated to the latest version (i. e. 2.7.10).  If not, you may want to install Homebrew and upgrade it through that.

Homebrew can be installed by /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)", and python can be updated with brew update; brew upgrade.

Link to Homebrew's official website


Hide contact's name when sending an email

Use the nickname field instead.
afaik, that doesn't transmit. (At least, no one's ever complained to me about what I call them ;)


Not able to select a disk to reinstall OS in safe mode

When the drive isn't selectable, you almost always will want to choose Disk Utility and erase that volume.

Once it's totally erased, then run a repair operation to be sure the basic structure is good. Of course, you lose all data to do this erase, so be certain your backup isn't connected and is verified.

If the installer continues to fail, then you either have:

Wrong disk format entirely - post what diskutil list or disk utility shows for all the specifics of the volume format (APM/GPT) and the filesystem details (HFS / APFS / which flavor of the previous or some other like ext/fat)
A faulty installer
Some faulty hardware


Make iPhone use GPS-only location services

The iPhone's systems are optimized for battery life. From the chip design to the OS, battery conservation takes precedence over all.

GPS chips are massive power consumers. Read these answers for more information on GPS chip power use. Due to this, the iPhone will always prefer to find its location with wifi/cell tower triangulation, then refine with GPS.  The phone will often quickly cycle the GPS chip on and off, confirming location as needed. (remember, computers think in microseconds or smaller)

Since the iPhone is not a dedictaed GPS, you likely will never find a way to force it to become one. You might try an iPhone GPS application, many of which seem to 'force' the GPS chip (and drain the battery).

For more, learn about Assisted GPS, which explains how GPS works on your phone, including iPhone. This may also explain why your carrier might be a challenge, as it might not be providing you with Mobile Station Assisted data.


The formula you are trying to install is deprecated. There was an announcement the 19 january 2018:

  By 31st March 2018 we will deprecate and archive the Homebrew/php tap. Unfortunately we have been unable to maintain an acceptable, consistent user or contributor experience and CI workload through non-core formula taps in the Homebrew organisation so we are continuing to migrate widely used formulae into Homebrew/core and encourage more niche formulae and options to be supported outside the Homebrew organisation.

Some of the PHP extensions are maintained by Kevin Abel in its Github repository but there is no mcrypt extension.

Moreover mcrypt is itself deprecated and is considered as an abandonware for nearly a decade. It is removed from PHP 7.2. Read  this stackoverflow question for alternatives: mcrypt is deprecated, what is the alternative?


Do the “Print to PDF” / “Save to PDF” options embed fonts in the PDF file?

Yes to all your questions. OS X’ Quartz PDFContext generator embeds fonts (unless the font forbids it, it seems). I couldn’t find any document that expressly states this (it’s implied in this bit of Pages help, for instance) but I have been sending out PDF proofs with fonts not installed on the recipient’s computer long enough to know it does.

As long as you use the OS X routines for PDF generation, i.e. go through either the “Save as PDF” dialog or an option upstream of that, like Pages’ “Export” dialog, your fonts will be embedded – Microsoft’s Office suite is no exception. Anything that uses its own PDF generation routines (like OpenOffice/LibreOffice/NeoOffice do with their “Export” option), however, might or might not embed fonts, depending on its settings.

Finally, as already stated, “embedded” means “contained in the file”, which in turn means “viewable on other computers without the font installed”.


iPhone 4 camera capabilities to read QR code

I use the RedLaser app on my iPhone 3GS and it can handle just about every QR code that I've thrown at it. I would venture to say it would work even better with the higher resolution camera and enhanced image processing in the iPhone 4. Good lighting is probably going to be key.


How to scan/fix bad sectors on USB connected Ext HD even if SMART is unsupported w/o buying tools

In general you can't get SMART status of a drive in an external case. Some cases will support it, some do only with vendor-supplied software.

But SMART isn't all that useful. It's good at telling you the drive HAS a problem, not so good at telling you the drive might have a problem soon. And bad sectors on modern (21st century) drives are already mapped out by the drives controller - any sector that doesn't read reliably will just be mapped to a spare sector and you won't know about it.

Was the Seagate running when it was dropped? If no, no problem. They're designed to take some minor abuse when turned off. If yes, and you do manage to detect even a single bad sector then just replace the drive. Any bad sector that reaches user levels means the drive is out of spares, and that's probably because the head crash caused by the fall is now dragging a tiny bit of metal all over the platter.

In short, if you have any doubts about the reliability of spinning drives these days the most cost-effective route is to replace it. At $25-$60 per terabyte it just isn't worth the considerable time to verify the drive.


Since Apple has a support department to help paid developers, have you made use of that support?

https://developer.apple.com/support/technical/

From your description, it's likely you are not making a mistake and the problem is on the server end, but it could also be something where a warning is being dismissed as whining and the information is there for you to assemble and act on.


Looks like the Sophos Antivirus 'update failed' icon.

Ref: Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac menu bar shields


This is a tricky error. A couple options to try, based on successful reports from this thread and this one:

Run redsn0w as administrator and in Windows XP (SP2) compatibility mode. Also try other compatibility modes, such as Vista SP1.
Move redsn0w to a place where it will have a short file location - something like C:/redsn0w/redsn0w.exe - and put the stock IPSW in that directory too.

It'd be interesting to see if those steps work. If they don't, another option is to simply use sn0wbreeze instead, which is available here: http://www.ih8sn0w.com/ - it supports building custom firmware for the same devices that redsn0w does.


How can I see what photo the photos app is currently downloading from iCloud?

Several things.

Open https://www.icloud.com/#photos and you can see / download the full resolution photo.
Then for the same photo - choose File -> Export -> Export Unmodified Original and compare the metadata and size difference between what came from your App and from the "truth" directly from the cloud. (Dragging or normal exports seem to be a different resolution than either the internal reduced version or the full, unmodified original in my experience.)

As to monitoring thing, that's easy too. Open the terminal app and use this command to monitor all cloud file operations up to and down from the cloud.

brctl log -w

Like many terminal command line tools, you need to send the exit signal or close the window/app to get it to exit. Control and C is that command. Two follow on items, the Photos 1.1 is a bit better, so you might upgrade your OS and you can also pause the download if you wish in the iCloud preferences for Photos. It lets things stabilize so you can see what you have and not be testing as things change/download from the cloud.


Cannot format MacBook Air SSD, stuck at waiting for disks to reappear

It is completely possible that the SSD is toast. It is also possible that Disk Utility just can't fix it. There are other disk repair utilities out there like DiskWarrior, Drive Genius and the like.

If you don't have one, you should. you won't use it often but will be glad you have it when stuff like this happens.

Failing that and assuming that you already have a backup you can boot to the recovery partition and use disk utility to remove the current partition and reformat a new one. Then use internet recovery to re-install the OS.

If Disk Utility won't format/re-partition the SSD then the drive is likely toast and you should make an appointment with an Apple Genius to have it repaired.


Command for resolving ip address for host entry in /etc/hosts?

On macOS you can use dscacheutil, the Directory Service Cache Utility, for this purpose.
dscacheutil -q host -a name localhost

The output looks like:
name: localhost
ipv6_address: ::1

name: localhost
ip_address: 127.0.0.1

(On Linux, the equivalent is getent.)


iOS 8: Prevent Safari Mobile from reloading tabs by default

As you have read, this is down to memory management. iOS will remove background tabs from memory when that memory is required for something else. The device you're using is more significant than the version of iOS. An iPhone 6 with 1GB of RAM will close tabs more aggressively than an XS with 4GB.

As others have mentioned in the comments, iOS keeps a thumbnail of the page in memory so that you know which tab is which. This thumbnail requires much less memory than a full web page rendering context.

Reclaiming memory used by inactive apps/tabs is actually a feature. You wouldn't wan't an app to fail to launch because your phone is out of memory, so iOS automatically makes space for it. For the same reason it's not necessary to "close" apps, as iOS will remove apps from memory when necessary.

Apple doesn't include RAM in the specs published for iOS devices, but wikipedia has a handy summary of iOS device specs.


How can I configure the keyboard layout for the FileVault 2 unlock screen?

The following works.

System Preferences -> Login -> Login Options -> Check Enable Show Input menu in login window


Using an external boot drive and the app store

Boot from the external drive and then eject the internal drive (use Disk Utility or right-click and eject the drive via Finder).

The Mac App Store will no longer see the internal drive when evaluating what apps have been purchased and are installed on the external drive.


Mac Mail saves the emails on the hard drive. I would try to find A mail app that doesnt save the mail to the hard drive but just sees the mail from the cloud email server.

If you use Gmail as a mail client for those emails then I recommend Mailplane. Others like Spark, CanaryMail, Mailspring and Polymail are all good alternatives along with others in the Mac App Store.

Other email clients should offer an option to store less emails offline and limit the size of your cache to a manageable size.

While there are steps to clean out the space for Mac Mail, I personally think signing out of it altogether and using an alternative might be best.


Preview is Not Remembering Window Sizes and Positions on Startup (after Update to High Sierra)

Preview does remember the position of windows containing images (JPG, PNG, etc) but for some reason does not restore the position of PDF windows. I suspect this is a bug.

The saved state for Preview is located at: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.Preview.savedState

Meanwhile, you can use an app like Stay to remember and automatically reset the position of any window. It’s a bit heavy handed for this use case but it would let you carry on until the bug is fixed.

You might also look at window managers such as Tiles or Rectangle that allow easy manipulation of windows.


Transfer file from iOS to macOS without internet, natively?

If the file in question is a large video or image file visible in the Photos app on your iOS/iPadOS device, you can connect the device directly to your Mac via a cable (Lightning and/or USB-C on iOS/iPadOS device, USB-A or USB-C on Mac) and use the Image Capture.app on your Mac to directly transfer it.

If it's a file stored in one of the apps installed on your iOS/iPadOS device that supports File Sharing, you can again connect the iOS/iPadOS device to your Mac directly via cable, and use iTunes (macOS Mojave and earlier) or Finder (macOS Catalina) to directly transfer it.

If none of the above applies, and your large file is accessible via the Files app on your iOS/iPadOS device, you can use a removable storage media, to transfer the file natively.

iOS/iPadOS supports transferring files by connecting removable storage. Invest into one of the USB-C or Lightning removable storage device. You can even find some listed on Apple Online Store:

Storage - Mac Accessories - Apple

Example:

SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Go: 256GB, 128GB, 64GB.
SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C: 128GB, 64GB.

The same or a similar product can be connected to an iOS/iPadOS device, and Apple's Files app can be used to transfer the file to and from the storage. The same can also be connected the a Mac.

Connect external devices or servers with Files on iPad


Based on this answer and personal experience with a Yosemite iMac I recommend

Hold ⌘+R during boot to boot to recovery console.
Use Disk tool to erase main partition.
Exit disk tool, launch system reinstallation instead.

I was very surprised that skipping step 2 I ended up with a fresh install which nevertheless contained the account I had on the machine before. Not factory default.

The disk erase step allows choosing the tradeoff between speed and security. So if you have personal data on the machine, better do a slow but thorough erase there.


How to run privileged programs without elevation by sudo?

The low hanging fruit is to make an alias in your shell to avoid having to type sudo

Assuming bash, add this to your ~/.bash_profile (or other dot file of choice)

alias mtr=‘/usr/bin/sudo /usr/local/sbin/mtr’

Then close your command / shell / window or paste the alias command after saving it for next shell start to be active. I would recommend against adding this to the sudoers file, but I’m sure someone will edit this to post how to do that or post another answer if that’s viable. I’d also advise against moving the tool or setting the uid of the tool to be root permissions on the filesystem. Discussion on that decision is happily well covered at the source:

https://github.com/traviscross/mtr/issues/204#issuecomment-487325796


Cleaning up my .bash_profile: Can I delete some of this?

The .bash_profile.macports-saved... are not actually executed, they're just backups. You can remove them if you don't need them.

.bash_history contains the last commands you executed on the shell. There's no point in deleting it, but you can remove it if you want.

If you uninstalled MacPorts (and deleted /opt), you can remove from your PATH all the subdirectories of /opt.

Just look in .profile, .bash_profile and .bashrc for any modification of your PATH.

For example, in my .profile MacPorts added:

export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH

You can remove lines like this, or just single directories.


Sleep/wake Mac mini by pressing power button

You can no longer just tap the Power Button on a Mac to put it to Sleep. On any Mac running Mavericks or newer the Power Button should function as follows:

Power Button:
1~2 second hold = Sleep
3~5 second hold = Options Dialog
8~12 second hold = Force Shut Down

Alternatively, if you have a keyboard hooked into the Mac you should be able to hit: Control+Shift+(Power Button on the Mac or Media Eject on Mac keyboard) to put your Mac to sleep.

To wake it up just hit the Power Button, or enable Wake On Network if you want to remotely wake the system.

EDIT:
If you need to sleep your system across the network (with no physical access), and have access to the command line you can do one of the following.

Using AppleScript from the command line.osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to sleep'
From any command line connection you can also try.pmset sleep now

ADDITION:
Network traffic (active network connection allowing file sharing for example) can stop the standard Sleep action on a Mac when hitting the power button. You need to make sure that there are no active network connections, especially if you have "Wake on Network" enabled.

On some system you will need to make sure that the System Preferences... -> Energy Saver settings are set properly to allow the power button to sleep the system. Depending on the Mac hardware you are running on (Mac Mini vs MacBook) some settings will or won't be on the Energy Saver panel.

For a complete list of Energy Saving info, and to learn more about Apple Power Setting for El Capitan head over to Apple's website.


In AppleScript or JavaScript how can you click menu item?

Since the OP is tagged with both AppleScript and JavaScript, and are two entirely separate languages, and it was not explicitly and specifically stated that the solution had to be only in JavaScript, here it some code that should work. I say "should work", because it does work on the applications tested on, but I do not have Sourcetree installed to test explicitly and specifically with it.

AppleScript code:

tell application "Sourcetree" to activate
delay 1
tell application "System Events"
    click menu item ¬
        "Dark" of menu 1 of menu item ¬
        "Theme" of menu 1 of menu bar item ¬
        "View" of menu bar 1 of application process "Sourcetree"
end tell

Note: The value of the delay command may need to be adjusted for your system.

JavaScript code:

menuItemClick("Sourcetree", ['View', 'Theme', 'Dark'])

function menuItemClick(strAppName, lstMenuPath) {
    var oApp = Application(strAppName),
        lngChain = lstMenuPath.length,
        blnResult = false;

    if (lngChain > 1) {

        var appSE = Application("System Events"),
            lstApps = appSE.processes.where({
                name: strAppName
            }),
            procApp = lstApps.length ? lstApps[0] : null;

        if (procApp) {
            oApp.activate();
            var strMenu = lstMenuPath[0],
                fnMenu = procApp.menuBars[0].menus.byName(strMenu),
                lngLast = lngChain - 1;

            for (var i = 1; i < lngLast; i++) {
                strMenu = lstMenuPath[i];
                fnMenu = fnMenu.menuItems[strMenu].menus[strMenu];
            }

            fnMenu.menuItems[
                lstMenuPath[lngLast]
            ].click();
            blnResult = true;
        }
    }
    return blnResult;
}

Note: The JavaScript code comes from jxaClickAppSubMenuItem.applescript by bumaociyuan and was forked from RobTrew/jxaClickAppSubMenuItem.applescript.


Does Safari have the feature "Select an element in the page to inspect it" as Chrome does?

Yes, Safari (I'm using 10.1.1 on Sierra) has it, and it is the same shortcut (command shift c). You may need to have the debug and/or develop menu enabled. The debug console can be reached by pressing command option u.


Has anyone used a lightning + Micro USB to USB-C cable

I have personally never seen a cable like this. i have seen Micro USB to Lightning adapters like this.

Personally I would be more careful than usual and just not force the cable if it doesn't go in as then you could be inserting the Micro USB to not damage the phone. After all if this was sold legally this must have been verified.

So in conclusion just be careful and don't force it in.

Also as mentioned by the OP be careful with the two pins.

After taking a closer look the adapter doesn’t seem certified so I recommend throwing it away.


Why does OS X Mavericks block the purge command in Terminal?

You need to run this command with root privileges. Try:

> sudo purge

WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:

Enter your account's password and it should run the purge command.

Apple probably made the decision for security purposes. The only disadvantage is you have to type in your admin password. The advantage is, for non-admin users, they can not run this command and potentially harm their OS.

Usually commands that require sudo in order to run at all are potentially destructive or invasive. Two other commands with this requirement are dtrace and xcode-select.


Nothing that I have run into personally but I just ran across this:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/os-x-mavericks-breaks-multi-monitor-setups-with-some-usb-displays/

Which indicates major issues witht he author's USB monitor (DisplayLink) so I would not upgrade untill you are either sure you have updated drivers or can do without your second monitor.


How can I reset my iPhone 1 without using the (broken) power button?

I don't know about the yellow alert symbol, but a quick google for "iphone recovery mode utility" revealed RecBoot, which looks like exactly what you're looking for.

Also, Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings should restart your iPhone.


iMac w/ Bootcamp and 2 external Mini DisplayPort?

Nope. Minidisplayport and Thunderbolt work off the same driver in Windows 7 as far as I'm aware, and the driver is garbage. So, if one doesn't work, since MDP and Thunderbolt use exactly the same interface to send video data, the other one won't work either.


I rely on Charles Proxy for web analysis. It's not clear if that's all you need - but it's a great start for many apps that call API.

How do you watch HTTP requests an iPhone app is making?

If you need actual packet capture, Apple describes how to do that on macOS / iOS / iPadOS and other operating systems here:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/network/recording_a_packet_trace


HOWTO convert documents to Kindle / mobi format?

I didn't enjoy Calibre.  But then I realised that it comes with a bunch of command line utilities, and that made things easier for me.

Imagine you have a bunch of epub files.

for f in *.epub
do
  anytomobi --dest-profile=Kindle "$files"
done

That's the Linux command line to convert them all to mobi using the calibre tool.  Except I think the command line toold have changed name in the newest release.

Here's a website, from the Calibre pages, that claims to by a guide to converting HTML to e-book formats, including mobi.

http://amalthia.mediawood.net/tutorials/ebooks/index.html

This page seems most important for your question, it has nice screen shots for the settings used.

http://amalthia.mediawood.net/tutorials/ebooks/steps.html