Ok, I solved it. A simple restart didn’t do the trick, but this is what worked for me:

Disconnect every external hard drive from my mac
Shut down the mac
Wait 10 seconds and start the mac


Contacts.app: How to merge duplicate contacts?

This is in macOS 10.12.6 and Contacts 10.0:

Select the cards you wish to merge.
Then in the Card menu, select "Merge Selected Cards."


How do I get my S1300 scanner to show up in Yosemite Preview File > "Import from scanner" option?

You can only scan into Preview and other applications which use Apple's standard scanning architecture (such as Image Capture) if the scanner is provided with an ICA scan driver. Fujitsu do not supply ICA drivers for the ScanSnap scanners (at least as far as I know) and therefore the ScanSnap scanners will not work with preview or Image Capture etc. Fujitsu supply their own scanning drivers which other applications have to support directly, and some do (such as Mariner Software's Paperless).


Is it possible to see the IP address of the stolen phone? How could I
  see that?

Yes.

If you want to get it from Apple, you'll have to subpoena them for it.  To get the address and owner info of that IP, you'll need to subpoena the ISP or carrier.

Apple will tell you where your phone is, but they will not tell you give you the details of who who owns those things without sufficient a sufficient legal basis to do so.

However....

You can get your IP from different services, like gmail, dropbox, etc. When these services periodically check in, they can tell you from what IP address it checked in with.

For instance, I use Outlook.com and using their Activity feature, I can get the IP of my last sign in:

It will not, however, tell you the actual address, to get that, you'll need to subpoena the ISP.  The location data that they give you is not the actual location of your phone, it's the location of NOC that handed out that IP.

Bottom Line

All of this information is obtainable.  Police departments can (quite easily) obtain IP, GPS coordinates, cell tower identification, etc.  However, the costs of doing so often outstrip the value of the device. Other peoples identifying information is protected (even if they did steal your phone) and you (or the police) need to go through the legal process to obtain this info (lawyers cost money even if they work for the city).

I'm not saying all is lost, if you can help them with location info and enough probable cause for the police to search (assuming you're in the US) and you can actively ping the device that points them to location (i.e. you sharing Find My Phone data with them real time), they can execute a search.  The "Make a Sound" feature can help them "proof positively" identify your device for further action.

It's far better to use the Find My... geo location data than an IP because you don't need to process any legal paperwork to (accurately) find out where you or your device is or has been.

Get this data and file a police report.


How do I "isolate" one of the vocal parts (bass, tenor, alto, soprano) in an audio (MP3, etc) file?

The short answer: notch and peak filters. You can use the master buss EQ to notch out or boost frequency ranges that correspond, primarily, to the instrument or voice you're trying to remove or isolate. Notches are for removing and peaks are for boosting.

It's less than perfect in GarageBand because the built-in EQ facilities are somewhat simplistic, but you can make a reasonable go of it if you're patient.

Let's talk about removing something. Boosting something is the same approach, you just turn the gain up on the notch instead of down.

First, you'll need to identify approximately what range of frequencies you want to cut. I'll usually consult something like the Interactive Frequency Chart. It shows you, for any instrument, what the dominant frequency range it covers. You're mostly concerned about notching out the fundamentals of the instrument since they tend to be the strongest component of the instrument's sound.

At the bottom of the chart is the frequency plotted in 1/3 octave bands. If we wanted to, for example, remove an oboe from our track, we're looking at removing the fundamentals from approximately 200 Hz up to 1.5 kHz.

That's a pretty broad range. If we removed that much content we'd be taking lots of other instruments with it. But we can use this as a starting point for our filter.

Head in to GarageBand and call up the master EQ strip by pressing the Smart Controls button in the upper right hand corner:

Select EQ and Master from the toolbar over the smart controls:

Now add a notch filter (there are four available on the EQ strip, I just picked the one to the left because we're doing lower frequency content removal). Center the notch at 650 Hz ((1500 - 250)/2 = 650), which is the midpoint of the oboe's range. You can either drag the dot left and right until it says 650 Hz in the lower righthand corner, or you can click on the value and just enter it directly:

And then set the gain as low as it'll go by dragging the dot downwards or entering -24 dB for the gain in the lower righthand corner directly:

The width of the notch, called the Q, is at its maximum value -- the filter is removing the most content at 650 Hz, but it's also removing a lot of content above and below 650 Hz. We want to narrow it so it's covering really just the 200  Hz - 1500 Hz range. It won't be perfect because it's only a second order filter, but it should be good enough. You can click on the Q value in the lower righthand corner of the EQ strip to enter a value. 2 is about right:

With this starting point for your notch filter, solo your track and play it. Now, as the track plays, adjust the mid-point of the notch up and down until the oboe is at its quietest. If there's a portion of the track where the oboe is the lone instrument, loop that and do your manual adjustments there, otherwise feel it out. Once it's as quiet as you think you can make it, play with the Q until it's more or less still that quiet, but the Q is as high as possible. This gives you the narrowest possible notch -- the least amount of information you can remove to cut the instrument out of the overall sound.

Repeat, adding additional notch filters, until you've removed everything you want removed.

And, as I said earlier, to boost instead of remove, just reverse the gain. The process is, otherwise, the exact same:

And you can combine cuts and boosts to truly isolate just a small part of the frequency spectrum in a signal to study it. Though, you may find that without harmonic content, the instrument is a little hard to decipher. It depends on how strong or weak the fundamental of the instrument is in relation to the harmonic overtones it produces.

Some good old trial and error, using your ears as your guide, is the best teacher here.


Plugging anything into Thunderbolt inc bare cables causes kernel task overload

I've actually had the same issue forever with my mac. The same device as yours.

I took it in to get fixed just before my 3 year warranty expired and unfortunately I thought it was fixed, but it wasn't. (Very regrettable that I didn't notice it wasn't resolved till after the extra 90 day warranty had expired.)

I honestly think it's a defect in the device, but have no idea how to fix it. I've tried many solutions over the years and just found your post as I'm restarting my search.

It is so frustrating to not be able to use the second monitor I have sitting here.

Not a solution, but one thing that helps a little with the kernel overload is running an actual fan across the surface of your computer.

If you've come up with anything, please do share.


Troubleshooting "Unexpected argument" error when running defaults write

There are backs lashes (\) in your path that should probably be forward slashes (/). You also use curly quotes (‘ and ’), which are weird at best. Try using straight quotes ('), although in that case straight double quotes (") should do as well:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location '/Users/tommy/Google Drive/Sync/iMac/iMac Screenshots'


AppleScript : separating number from text in variable

number of MyResult obtains the length of a string.  "6 days" just happens to be 6 characters long, whereas "Account Value:$478.01" is 21 characters long.

The most straightforward method to extract numbers from a string would be to split the string into words, then test each item of the list individually to see whether it can be coerced into a number:

set MyResult to "Account Value:$478.01"
set MyResultWords to words of MyResult

repeat with w in MyResultWords
    set w's contents to coerceToNumber(w's contents)
end repeat

set MyResultNumbers to every number in MyResultWords

to coerceToNumber(x)
    local x

    try
        x as number
    on error
        x
    end try
end coerceToNumber

This won't handle string representations of numbers in scientific notation, e.g. 1.234E+09, as the method AppleScript uses to delimit its words results in {"1.234E", "+", "09"}.  In this case, you can set text item delimiters to space, and perform the same operation on the text items of My Result.

  I have a script which calculate the timeframe between date and return the result in days or month or years.

I do question, however, why your script is producing a result that is a string value of "6 days".  It makes me believe the script you are using to calculate time intervals between dates is not doing it in as an amenable way as it could.  Partly, this depends on the input your script receives, but in many cases, you should consider converting the input into AppleScript date objects, which then allows you to calculate differences easily and returns to you an actual number that you can manipulate to acquire a measure in days, minutes, hours, etc.

The example script below assumes an ISO 8601-formatted date string as input, i.e. "yyyy-mm-dd", although you could adapt the script to cater for other input formats:

# The units parameter is optional, and defaults to measurements in seconds.
# To choose a different unit, pass one of the constants 'hours', 'days',
# 'minutes', or 'weeks' (without quotes).
on timeInterval from startDate to endDate by units : 1
    tell (current date) to set [startDate, ¬
        day, [year, its month, day]] to ¬
        [it, 1, words of startDate]

    tell (current date) to set [endDate, ¬
        day, [year, its month, day]] to ¬
        [it, 1, words of endDate]

    (endDate - startDate) / units
end timeInterval

timeInterval from "2012-06-03" to "2019-04-01" by days    --> 2493.0
timeInterval from "2012-06-03" to "2019-04-01" by weeks   --> 356.142857142857
timeInterval from "2019-03-31" to "2019-04-01" by hours   --> 24.0
timeInterval from "2019-03-31" to "2019-04-01" by minutes --> 1440.0
timeInterval from "2019-03-31" to "2019-04-01"            --> 8.6E+4 [ = 86400 ]


What Macbook have you tried QuickerTek QCard2 with?

Buyer beware since this is a total ripoff. I bought one of these overpriced MacBook Pro QCard2 – 3 Port for $149, which turned out to be a used late 2013 13″ MacBook Pro Retina airport/bluetooth card. iFixIt has these for $79.95, so I got ripped off by these bozos.


How do I make my Mac stop responding to an Apple remote?

OS X 10.5: Go to Security in System Preferences.app, then select Disable remote control infrared receiver at the bottom.

newer versions of OS X: Go to Security and Privacy in System Preferences.app, then click on Advanced at the bottom and select Disable remote control infrared receiver.


Chrome is updated automatically by a process that runs in the background. Though sometimes I have to launch it and update it from the"About Chrome" menu selection, that may me being to picky avoid what Little Snitch tells me about...

Anyway you don't (or shouldn't) have to do anything, it will update all by itself with no loss of anything. Just check "About Chrome" in the Chrome menu.


Issues with the SSD storage system on Mac OS

Several points to make  here:
First and foremost - the difference between the two screenshots is not just that the "Other" category shrunk. If this was the case, I can understand why you argue that this must a bug of some sort. However, if you look closely you'll see that a new row appeared named "Other Users" - and this accounts for the changed numbers as it takes up 12,49 GB of its own.
Essentially when you open that window, the system displays the information currently available to it - while at the same time scheduling a new calculation in the background. This means traversing part of a disk index in order to group the storage used into meaningful categories.  In your case that means that another user on your Mac has 12,49 GB of files in their account.
This is by no means a consequence of "how the OS is coded", nor are your memory problems caused by "OS coding". The window you're looking at, and the calculations that continually update, are not in any way part of the operating system kernel.
I would strongly recommend using a program such as Disk Inventory X or DaisyDisk to locate large files, and see if there's something you can do without, or perhaps move to secondary storage, in order to clear up space.
The reason you're seeing the "Force Quit Applications" window a lot is that you have programs running that are filling up your physical RAM. As you have a relatively small capacity of 8 GB of RAM, programs like Google Chrome will quickly fill it up. Some times you can save lots of memory by using alternative browsers such as Safari or Firefox. You could also consider upgrading the RAM capacity, if that is possible with your model of laptop.
Normally though, applications filling up the RAM won't result in the "Force Quit Applications" window. Instead the operating system would automatically use part of the disk drive to offload RAM in order to keep all applications running - a process known as "swapping". If this happens a lot, you will end up with a slower system - however you won't have to quit applications. When your disk is completely full, as yours seem to be, swapping becomes impossible, and you'll have to quit applications instead.
Contrary to your statements, it is not so that this process is different with SSD than with traditional hard drives. It is exactly the same process. Swapping is done in exactly the same way with SSDs as with traditional hard drives. However, as SSDs are usually much faster, the performance hit taken by swapping is not as severe here.
The reason rebooting your Mac helps is because this stops all the running programs - and thus reclaims all RAM they have been using. This also means that any disk space used for swapping is reclaimed as the programs using that space are no longer running. This is why you see the amount of free disk space go up a bit after rebooting. If you continue to run the memory hogging programs, the amount of free disk space will go down again eventually when the system swaps data out from RAM.
However, none of the above is because the operating system uses "SSDs as system cache", or because SSDs are treated differently than "disk drives from before".
I wouldn't recommend that you spend time on researching kernel programming for solving this problem. Judging from your questions, you'll have an extremely long learning curve, as you would first need to understand how operating systems work, and the basic concepts. However, it is not so that Apple "won't let you" fix this problem - nor that they "won't let you" do kernel programming. You can do all the kernel programming you want.
However, it is completely the wrong direction to take in order to solve this problem, as it is not caused by an operating system bug, or a deficiency in operating system functionality compared to other common desktop operating systems.


Problems while installing Python 3 on El Capitan

Once you have determined that it's not a homebrew problem using their troubleshooting guide my first suspicion would be that you are picking up the wrong version of the enum module. Make sure you are not setting PYTHONPATH anywhere (echo $PYTHONPATH at the command line will tell you) and try again.

The other possibility I would check is that you are running the right version of Python. which python should return /usr/bin/python (the version Apple installs), if not then you might want to check your PATH shell variable and temporarily set it to something else.


Modify existing Little Snitch rule to be Effective in all profiles

AFAIK you could simply move the rule from your current profile into your 'Effective in all profiles' Profile. But rules in your current active profile will override your 'Effective in all profiles' rules which means they have a higher precedence.

And allowing outgoing connections for your browser on http and https should not be a big security risk IMHO.


It sounds like you have the external display set as the primary display.  Take a look at this article on how to set your primary display.

Set the Primary Display on a Mac


MacBook 2017 (USB-C) to Apple Cinema Display 30"

When selecting an adapter, you have to know what sources you are going from to what you are going to.  One important thing to keep in mind is that you want to limit the number of conversions/connections you make; more conversions = less reliability.

The 2017 MacBook has just a single USB-C port.  However, it supports the following:

  Charging
  USB 3.1 Gen 1 (up to 5 Gbps)
  Native DisplayPort 1.2 video output
  VGA output using USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter (sold separately)
  HDMI video output using USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter (sold separately)

(Emphasis mine)

The Apple Cinema Display has a Dual Link DVI port.

So, you need to go from USB-C DisplayPort to DualLink DVI Adapter like the Tripp-Lite U444-003-D (The product must indicate that it supports Dual-Link DVI or it won't work)

Keep in mind, that this particular display is getting long-in-the-tooth so to speak and it will become increasingly difficult to find newer interfaces for older, unsupported monitors that has a small market share (Everybody had DVI, only a few could afford DL-DVI).


Photos & Reducing Clutter on macOS High Sierra

This largely depends on how you have photos imported to the Photos app. Photos > Preferences has an Importing checkbox. If this checkbox was ever disabled when you imported photos, you may not have all photos in the library itself and may exist in other places on your computer.

If you are not using iCloud Photo Library, consider selecting the image or movie in Photos, and using File > Show Referenced File in Finder. This will allow you to see exactly where the file lives.

You could export all your movie files from Photos and move them to a different hard drive or cloud storage solution, or delete the movies in Photos and replace them all with the Importing checkbox selected. You should export originals via File > Export > Export Unmodified Original for x Videos.

I also recommend making sure you have good backups via Time Machine or another service. If you make a mistake when deleting files, you can recover files.


Is there an Ubuntu documented build to run on 2018 MacBook Pro?

This is something that must be extrapolated as the 2015 through 2017 MacBook Pro's aren't vastly different than the 2018-2019 MacBook Pros.   The key functions:

* Audio                   → Not Working
* Suspend & Hibernation   → Partially Working
* TouchBar                → Partially Working
* TouchID                 → Not Working
* WiFi                    → Working on 13,2; 13,3; 14,2; 14,3

These will follow with the same statuses as MacBook Pro models 13,2 through 14,3 as noted.

Now, one very safe bet is to go for the main LTS build of Ubuntu as it is exceptionally well documented and has several dedicated support sites as well as this Q&A site.

Now, it's entirely possible that nothing works because of the new T2 chip that encrypts and controls the storage meaning you have to disable all boot security unless Apple signs your OS.  Given that, running Ubuntu on a 2018 and beyond MacBook Pro computer will be limited to virtualization - VirtualBox, Parallels, VMWare, etc. (IMO) this is a better path to pursue.

You can disable external boot and run externally, but the T2 SSD aren’t available for any OS other than Windows or macOS in 2020 due to secure boot and lack of drivers for the T2.


How do I take a screenshot without the shadow behind it?

I know this is an old question - but I can never find this information when searching for it (just the information in the accepted answer to turn it off globally), and end up just trying random keys each time.
If you hold option while clicking (after doing the Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + 4, Space dance), the saved screenshot will not have the drop shadow.
I'm unsure if this only applies to Mountain Lion and later.


Is it good practice to edit photos from the Photo Stream using iPhoto?

Edited photos in iPhoto on iOS is an interesting situation - one that there is not much documentation on, and one that seems like a one-way street. Photos can enter, but cannot "escape". You can edit photos, but you can't deleted Edited photos from the iPhoto app.

It is safe to edit your photos that are currently stored in Photostream without fear of losing them for good.* When you edit a photo, it is stored in the "Edited" album of iPhoto. Even when that photo is deleted from Camera Roll (if it was ever there), and Photostream (I have tested this to verify accuracy), it will not be deleted from the Edited album in iPhoto.

There is no need to transfer these photos to your iPad before editing them.

*The only thing that I would be a little concerned about is if the iPad dies (prompting a restore), or the app gets deleted. It is very likely that if the app is deleted from a working iOS device, that the edited versions of all edited photos would be lost. Keep in mind that iOS iPhoto edits are non-destructive, so it likely comes down to a file that is saved somewhere within iPhoto that remembers these changes - how that works when the "Edited" photo is deleted I don't. Perhaps those photos are then saved in the app.

If the iPad is wiped, and then restored, iCloud should remember those edits, and with the restore, it should (this theory hasn't been personally proved) restore those edited copies.

However, both of these problems probably exist even if you transfer the photos to your iPad.


I don't know for sure whether the extra characters required for Maltese (ċġħż) might all be available in the layout for another language or not.  It would be kind of tedious to check.  But there are a couple apps, Unicode Map and UniKey, which let you create a sort of custom keyboard layout using any Unicode characters which can be used for copy/paste, etc.

You should also search the app store on Maltese to see if anyone has created a keyboard for that for copy/paste or email, etc.  I see there is an app called 1Hand Mail/SMS Maltese Keyboard that may be useful.


External monitor stays black after "locking" (or sleeping)

When I faced this issue, I pulled the StarTech Adaptors in and out multiple times and the issue would resolve itself. Now I found a better solution as described below.

I  went to System Preferences -> Display -> Arrangement and toggled the Mirror Displays checkbox (ie check and then un-check it again).


OS X reinstallation and Amazon software.

I the first place, there are ways of resetting the Administrator's Password.

Answering your questions, yes, you can reinstall the computer without this password. Just follow Apple's instructions.

And, yes, you'll be able to re-download the software from Amazon, as stated in its Help Page:

  You can download an unlimited number of times for personal use. To re-download, go to Your Games and Software Library through the "Your Digital Items" link at the top of the screen and click the download button.

And, again, yes, making a clean installation will make a new Administrator user, with a new password which will be chosen by you.

Note: Both of the links regarding OS X reference Lion, as you never stated which version of OS X you are using. These instructions, though, will work for Mountain Lion too.


Resetting the Homebrew repository fixed this for me:

cd $(brew --repo) && git fetch && git reset --hard origin/master && brew update

Via Homebrew - Update Bug
Via Kevin Deldycke - homebrew/update


Allow button not working in system preferences

This worked for me on High Sierra 10.13.4:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Select 'All Controls'

Then:

System Preferences > Privacy & Security > Press 'Tab' until 'Allow' is selected > Press 'Spacebar'

*Note: the Privacy & Security page may need to be unlocked before 'Tab' will work.

*Note: After open Security & Privacy and selecting General tab you should push tab key to select allow button after that push space bar key!

Hope this helps!

Credit to @dansanduleac's answer on GitHub


Resizing a partition on El Capitan 10.11.6?

The command below should remove disk0s5.

sudo diskutil erasevolume "Free Space" "" /dev/disk0s5

The command below should remove disk0s4.

sudo diskutil erasevolume "Free Space" "" /dev/disk0s4

The next command expands your Macintosh HD volume (disk0s2) to contain the free space. This command will also automatically move the Recovery HD volume (disk0s3) to the end of the drive.

sudo diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk0s2 R

  Note: I am not sure if the prefix sudo is necessary. (But, it will do no harm if you include the sudo)

There are more complex steps that can be employed to remedy your problem, but I will not post these steps unless the one of the commands given above fails to work.


Where does Siri acquire it's list of recognized locations from?

The Reminders application does something similar, it knows three locations: Home, Work, and Other. When you assign a location to a reminder, you are presented with the current location, those 3 previously mentioned locations, and a "Choose Address" option. The 3 locations are taken from the address book's contact information for yourself. The contact that represents yourself is determined by the setting under Settings > Safari > AutoFill > My Info.

I'm guessing that Siri uses the same My Info setting to determine locations such as Home.

Note that the name of a contact has no effect on the Reminders app. Even if you have a contact named "Home" it will not present this as a default address unless the contact is also assigned to the My Info setting.

Update: Siri has its own My Info setting which is the exact same one accessed in Safari (i.e. they always have the same value).


Removing the builtin command-line utilities from PATH, zsh

Add the following to your path to replace the OS X tools with Homebrew Coreutils:

$(brew --prefix coreutils)/libexec/gnubin

Per zsh syntax…

path=($(brew --prefix coreutils)/libexec/gnubin $path)


In the illustration on the Help page in Apple Support you will see a picture of the watch face.  The 'Info' Icon should be at the top right corner.

EDIT: Pairing the watch only needs to be done if a reset is needed.  If you stray too far from you iPhone or it is otherwise disconnected, it will reconnect when both are again on and in range.  Be sure to keep Bluetooth turned on your phone.  For more information, see the User's Guide.


OS X Server 10.6 and Fully Qualified Domain Names

No, the only way to get a FQDN is by using a DNS server, either external to your Xserve or run on the Xserve itself. It's recommended with setting up Mac OS X to set up DNS first before anything else.


Danger of damaging 13" macbook pro by charging it with 85w charger?

No.  You cannot damage a laptop by charging it with a charger rated more than what it originally came with.

When a device has a power requirement of 10W it means it will only draw up to 10W.  A power supply with a rating of 45W will supply up to 45W.1

A general rule of thumb is that you can always get a bigger power supply, never smaller.  Think of it like your electrical circuits in your house.  In the US, it's common to have 15A or 20A circuits.  Can you plug in vacuum cleaner that uses 12A?  Yup.  Can you run 2 at a time (24A) on the same circuit?  Nope, it will pop.  Can you run 1 vacuum and a 1A lightbulb (13A)?  Sure.

So, you can plug a device with a 60W draw into an 80W power supply, but it's not recommended to plug the same device with a 60W draw into a 45W power supply.

What can happen?

With the new USB-C ports on the Mac, most likely a slow charge.  With devices in general - you could damage/destroy the device and/or the power supply.

1 This assumes the same voltage.  USB-C will auto negotiate the power delivery.  Older devices that don't do this; too many volts can fry your device.  More amps than necessary won't harm anything.   Also see:  Choosing power supply, how to get the voltage and current ratings?


How change option+key result in macOS Big Sur En-Us keyboard?

You need Ukelele (freeware).

Ukelele is a Unicode Keyboard Layout Editor for the macOS.
Ukelele aims to simplify keyboard layout editing by providing a graphical interface to .keylayout files, where the desired characters can simply be dragged onto keys as needed. (The Character Viewer or Character Palette, available in the Input menu if it has been enabled in System Preferences, and shown with Show Emoji & Symbols, is a great place to find the characters.)


Explanation for wrong charging wattage / slow charging?

85 W = maximum power used by your charger on the power supply side on AC.

49 W = actual power received by your MacBook internal power managment on DC.

Where is evaporating the missing 36 W?

Within AC -> DC transformation.
Joule effect within all conductors. This explains why your charger is heating (and incidentaly heating the atmosphere of our hosting Earth). This consumption is high because it is depending on the square of I (RI²) and on low voltage I is high.
A part is diverted by the PMC to power different parts of the computer based on its energy saving state.


How to sync photos from iOS to MacBook just as songs sync from MacBook to iOS

Okay, so both solutions are great and I am also shock why isnt your photos syncing across device if they are both connected with the same WiFi and logged in with the same iCloud account

However, these are my two suggestions:

Update both your iPhone and Mac device to the latest software version. Check this site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264 on how to do that and how to turn on iCloud for photos
Read a little about AirDrop. AirDrop is powerful. I use it daily and it is my style of transferring things between my Apple products. Please check this site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204144 on how to use it. It is easy and VERY fast to use. It is probably the most fastest way to solve your problem

I hope this will solve your problem. Have a nice day !


How to dim non-jailbroken iPhone below dimmest factory setting?

If you find the minimum brightness still too bright for night-time reading, Apple has finally added a screen filter in iOS 8.  Typically Android offered a way to reduce the minimum brightness via apps when the screen was still too bright for nighttime reading even when set to zero but now you can enable this in iOS:

Go to Settings → General → Accessibility → Zoom.
Enable Zoom.
Triple-tap on the screen to bring up zoom options.
Choose filter: low light.
Go back to Settings → General → Accessibility → Zoom and change the zoom region to full screen.
Turn Zoom off.
Go to Settings → General → Accessibility → Accessibility Shortcut and set it to Zoom.

Now when you push your home button 3 times quickly it will dim the entire screen for night-time reading.


iPhone 6 Plus battery reduced to a fourth of what it was recently

iOS 9 lets you see exactly what's using battery over the past day and the past week.

Go to Settings > Battery
Wait for the list to populate
Tap "Show detailed usage" to see a breakdown of foreground and background usage for each process
Switch between "Last 24 Hours" and "Last 7 Days" to see what might have changed for you 2 days ago.

For much more on this feature, including some advice on how to make sense of the data, see http://www.imore.com/how-see-whats-using-battery-life-your-iphone-or-ipad


Can Mavericks behave like Lion on multiple screens?

For your second menubar problem, you can unset the last checkbox in Mission Control preferences panel.

To do this: System Preferences > Mission Control. Uncheck the fifth checkbox "Display have separate spaces"


Email on iPad not showing after some days

If you have an Exchange account or even a Gmail account configured as an Exchange account, there is an option in the email settings for Exchange to only sync up to a certain number of days worth of email. By default, it it set to 3 days. You can change this by going to Settings > Mail, Contacts & Calendars, tap on the email account in question and change the "Mail Days to Sync" option from 3 days to whatever you desire (I use No Limit).

Hope this helps.


While you can’t disable the screenshot overlay as if iOS 11.0 you can swipe it away.

Take a screenshot
As soon as the screenshot overlay appears swipe it to the left. You will be able to tap the area occupied by the screenshot without having to wait for the screenshot(s) to disappear.


Mac Pro 2008 running but no video out, is it a failing graphics card?

It seems that there have been problems with these cards and Apple is still fixing them.  I found this article about the ATI 2600 (http://www.itproportal.com/2011/02/21/apple-extends-warranty-mac-pro-video-cards/) which stays that Apple will replace the cards if they are a part of a bad batch they've identified.  I hope that helps.

-K


USB Hard Drive HFS+ Encrypted Partition Formatted / Recovery

I think unless you can recover the directory information, you have little chance.

Recovery apps rely on being able to rebuild directory data from fragments, or discern recognisable file patterns in the data.
If the data is encrypted, there are no patterns to discern.

I would be happy to be wrong, in this instance.


I updated my iPod touch (3g) to the iOS 4, but my hard drive filled up 1/2 way through

Since yesterday there is the iOS 4.1 update. Maybe this can be installed without problems. Or, you should be able to reset the iPod (use the link "restore iPod" under "search for updates", maybe different words, I'm using German iTunes).

BTW: You didn't try to update your iPod Touch to iPhone 4 but to iOS 4 ;)


In Keynote, how to change no-fill color from black to something else?

Click on the object of interest and on top right click on format. The in the right sidebar click on style. The sidebar should look as shown below. Directly above the "No fill" pulldown is a box with a red diagonal line (shown with a blue rectangle around it). Click on that box and select your color.


You need a SATA to USB connector kit or 2.5" SATA External USB Enclosure, either will do.  Read-Only access is all that you need to retrieve the User Data you want to save.

Example of SATA to USB connector kit

Example of 2.5" SATA External USB Enclosure


How to DNS resolve also subdomains to same host as the domain itself using wildcards?

This is how i usually do:

Add primary domain example.com
Add Machine Record example.com (inside domain example.com) with ip : 192.168.0.22
Add alias vhost1.example.com -> example.com
Add alias vhost2.example.com -> example.com

... etc
you can add other records as usual


The best way to find out is to note the Process ID (PID) listed in Activity Monitor for the mysterious "-i" process.

Then open Terminal.app and execute the following command:

sudo lsof -p 1234

where 1234 should be replaced with the PID number you've found in Activity Monitor.

The lsof command will give you a list of files that are opened by the mysterious process. The first line of output will tell you the "cwd", which is the current working directory of the process. It is probably not going to tell you much.

The second line of output is usually a "txt" file descriptor that will tell you the name of the executable (i.e. the program) that is running in the program.

This should tell you which program is running as "-i".


How to send predefined/canned SMS/iMessages?

You can use the Keyboard shortcuts.

Go to

  Settings • General • Keyboard • Shortcuts

From there, you can add shortcuts, like omw for "On my way."


Ubuntu bootable USB drive does not show up as bootable

You don’t mention which Mac you have, OS Version or anything like that. It’s as if this question belonged on Ubuntu’s forums :)

In any case, I’m assuming you have some Mac computer and want to install or Boot an operating system other than Windows via BootCamp or the native OS X. In your example you need to boot from Ubuntu.

Turns out your Mac uses EFI instead of the archaic BIOS. So you need a little “helper” program in the boot process to tell the EFI to also look elsewhere.

The steps for installing the tools and the process are perfectly described in the Ubuntu Community Wiki.

Before you go there, bear in mind the following things:

The instructions do not work for new iMacs.
The instructions are for CD booting (tho you have a link for USB at some point in the document).
You will need to install rEFIt, I did it on an old Macbook (White) and had zero problems, but the usual warning about “have a backup” applies.


Encrypting a PDF during Hazel processing

I would go with option #2.

You can use command line tools to handle the encryption. A quick google search reveals a free, for non-commercial use, tool

http://community.coherentpdf.com/

which you can call using applescript like this:

do shell script "cpdf -encrypt AES \"pass\" \"\" in.pdf -o out.pdf"

This way there are no dialog boxes to enter a password. It will encrypt them with the same one if that is ok. Less secure but more convenient.

HTH


Reboot an Application when it Takes too Much Memory

You can try cleanMyMac. It will show you available ram and allow you to clear it. You could also create a cron job that executes sudo purge to try to fix some of these issues. (though I know that solution isn't without its detractors and skeptics)

In my opinion, Applescript itself is a huge memory hog.

I've been trying to OCR a large number of documents via an Applescript that calls Abbyy Fine Reader. It will run for about an hour and then it crashes the mac (just prior I get an error saying all available application memory has been used).

I initially thought it was an issue with Abbyy and the size of the documents. But it turns out the problem is actually applescript. The My system has 16GB of memory. But Applescript would chew through that in less than an hour with this document dump.

I even tried hacking things by creating a cronjob that executes sudo purge every couple of minutes. That helped. But ultimately not a whole lot. The only thing that freed up the memory situation was to exit from Applescript.

All this led us to switch to controlling Mac applications with ruby using the rb-scpt ruby-gem. (That gem allows us to control any applescript scriptable application via ruby).

https://rubygems.org/gems/rb-scpt/versions/1.0.1

The ruby script solution fixed the problem of repeated crashing due to lack of available memory. I've been processing these docs for days (not hours) without a single problem. My available memory hasn't budged since I started the script. (ram monitored by CleanMyMac)

Applescript is fine for small jobs. But it simply isn't up to the task of doing serious work.


"Disk Utility stopped repairing Macintosh HD. Disk Utility can't repair this disk." What now?

With some minor skills and lots of luck you can try to repair it.

While holding the Command-S restart.

When it is done (if it boots) type "fsck -fy".

This will try to repair your disk.

You could spend $120 and get the more professional tool called DiskWarrior.

In any and all cases, back up your stuff.


Transfer custom ringtones to iPhone using a computer running Linux

Getting ringtones onto an iPhone is one of those things that's never been as easy as you'd expect.

Might be because Apple never thought it was important. Might be because Apple also sells ringtones in the iTunes store. Whatever the reason, fact is, there aren't a lot of ways to do it.

I don't know of any Linux way of getting them on the iPhone directly.

I believe that the iOS app GarageBand is the only app on the iPhone capable of adding a custom ringtone. Therefore, if you can get your ringtone from your Linux machine onto your iPhone (perhaps by emailing it to yourself and then using the "Share" feature on the iPhone to send it to GarageBand, that might work.

GarageBand is a very large app, but it's free, so worth checking out, I'd say.


Which display controller board to use for 13" MacBook Pro (mid-2012, unibody) display panel?

I'm pretty sure you can get the part you need via Louis Rossman's site (mailin.repair) and probably schematics as well. Or st least pointers towards them.


Enabling "Warn Before Quitting" should prevent that from happening. You can find that option in the Chrome menu in the menubar.

When enabled, you need to hold down ⌘+Q for a bit before it actually quits.


Is the 3G network used by the iPad the same as the 4G network used by the iPhone?

iPhone 4S supports HSPA+, while iPad 2 doesn't.

HSPA+ is technically not 4G, but is being advertised as 4G by networks like AT&T and T-Mobile in US. Pre-iOS 5.1, Apple wasn't calling HSPA+ a 4G network, but they have started calling it 4G now to match AT&T's other "4G" phones that are using the same signals and protocols as the iPhone.

If you are in HSPA+ supported area, you should hopefully get better speeds on iPhone 4S.


How to fix when Mac fails to reboot, instead hangs at a black screen, while unplugging USB devices continues boot?

After a few hours of fiddling with USB and USB devices I found the solution.

In "Apple menu" > "System Preferences" > "Startup Disk" there was no longer a disk selected that I would like to use to start up my computer from.

After selecting the corresponding Mac OS X system, I could reliably reboot again, without pausing/hanging at the black screen during boot.


Are there disadvantages to using different Apple IDs for iCloud and Store purchases?

As of right now, there are no disadvantages. In fact, my fiancée and I do this right now. We share an AppleID for store purchases and set up Home Sharing so that our iPads and MacBooks can share apps, but we have separate iClouds on our machines and everything works fine.


Applescript : Click at position not working

The following works for me in macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 and Google Chrome 67.0.3396.99.

Example AppleScript code:

set NoteforGoogleCHrome to "click me"

tell application "Google Chrome" to activate
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events"
    click (every UI element of toolbar 2 of front window of application process "Chrome" whose help is "Multi-highlight")
    delay 1
    key code 48 -- # Tab Key
    delay 0.2
    keystroke NoteforGoogleCHrome & space
end tell

As you can see in the image below, it highlighted all occurrences of click and me.


How can I remove a site from the reading list in Safari on my iPhone?

To remove an item, just swipe your finger to left over that particular entry. A red "delete" button will pop up.


How do Aperture stacks work in the Photos app?

Here's what I know about Photos Version 1.0 (209.52.0):

Albums you make in Photos are only sortable by date ascending or manually (drag the photos in the order you wish)
Shared Albums are not sortable - last in on the bottom
The All Photos album isn't sortable - last in on the bottom (and imports are multi-threaded, so don't expect photos to be arranged in any order like they were on the filesystem when you let the app loose on an import of more than one photo.)
Burst photos seem to stay grouped (most of the time) and Aperture stacks do not ever stay grouped.

Basically, the rule is you don't even have a sort option enabled and when you do, it's one direction by time so you get one default sort to sometimes enforce in Photos 1.0


There is no way to change the default Recently Added criteria.

As you already discovered, you can make a Smart Playlist with a limited set of criteria, included Date Added.  However, iTunes doesn't allow a sort by Date Added when viewing as albums, unfortunately.


How to restore default Apple Version of Git after renaming it in Mac OS Mojave and linking git to homebrew version?

Shells remember the paths to commands you've executed during a session. You can use the hash command to manage the remembered paths (from man bash):

hash [-lr] [-p filename] [-dt] [name]
For each name, the full file name of the command is determined by searching the directories
in $PATH and remembered. If the -p option is supplied, no path search is performed, and filename
is used as the full file name of the command. The -r option causes the shell to forget all
remembered locations. The -d option causes the shell to forget the remembered location of each
name. If the -t option is supplied, the full pathname to which each name corresponds is printed.
If multiple name arguments are supplied with -t, the name is printed before the hashed full pathname.
The -l option causes output to be displayed in a format that may be reused as input. If no arguments
are given, or if only -l is supplied, information about remembered commands is printed. The
return status is true unless a name is not found or an invalid option is supplied.

Run hash -r to clear any command paths your shell has cached (or hash -d git to just remove the entry for git). Opening a new Terminal tab/window has the same effect.


Finder wants to make changes. Type your password to allow this System: 10.10.3

I would recommend you updating to 10.13.2 macOS High Sierra. It should resolve the problem.


How to Change default fallback font (for non-latin languages)

You were almost there!
Add it in the Language Preferred Fallback List as you did, but make sure you are using the PostScript name for the font. It has to be exact!
<array>
    <!-- for Thai  -->
    <string>th</string>
    <!-- below is the case sensitive PostScript name  -->
    <string>CSPraJad</string>
</array>

References:
https://gist.github.com/Moligaloo/3180490
https://github.com/zerustech/font-fallbacks-tutorial
https://github.com/zonble/tcfail/


Sending messages to an iPhone without iMessage

On all of your iPhones go to Settings > Messages.

You will see an option to Send as SMS. Toggle this on so your messages can be sent as normal text messages when the iMessage service is unavailable.

Hope this helps.


Giving an app permissions to my documents folder without admin

You will not be able to make the change from the command line if you can’t make it from the GUI.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/control-access-files-folders-mac-mchld5a35146/mac

Look in settings for Profiles - if you see them, the people managing settings will need to grant your app permissions or let you become an admin or make the allowance for you.


How to get current input language of the input source

One possible work-around is to configure the input source so that Caps Lock is used to switch to English.  Then you can tell the IM is in that state by the green light on the keyboard (if it has one for capslock).


User's home folder path displaying problem

Try doing this:

Delete the sidebar shortcut of johndoe
Press ⌘ + ⇧ + G
Enter /Users/johndoe into the textbox
Press Go
Now drag the home icon at the top of the fider window to the sidebar

Or try right clicking on the home folder and click open in new window


Is there a way to shut down, restart or log off without seeing the popup?

There are a few methods to shutdown without confirmation (this will not remove the confirmation from the original method):

In Terminal: shutdown -h now, but this force quits all applications
Make an Applescript and save it as 'Application,' save it somewhere easily accessible, but not prone to accidental clicks:

on run
  do shell script "shutdown -h now"
end run

The shortcut Control-⌥ Option-⌘ cmd-⏏ Eject
Clicking shutdown with ⌥ Alt / ⌥ Option held down (as you said)
If using Alfred, you can summon the Alfred window and start typing "Shut down" or "Restart" and then pressing Enter. No Power Pack needed, no force quits, no dialog and no countdown.

You could also try following this method by WZZZ, but I haven't checked if it works. It reduces the time to auto-quit apps, so do:

defaults write org.x.X11 wm_auto_quit_timeout -int x


Is using a key shortcut for restart (Cmd + Ctrl + Power) bad in any way?

Command + Control + Power button will force a restart without any intervention from the system. Applications will not be closed in a proper way and everything that is not yet written to disk will be lost.

It is definitely not safe.

You could use Command + Option + Control + Power button to shutdown and then Power button to start.

  Quit all apps (after giving you a chance to save changes to open documents), then shut down the computer


What is the need of the Facetime app in the MAS?

As you said, FaceTime for Mac only started shipping built-in with macOS Lion 10.7, whereas the FaceTime app on the Mac App Store runs on macOS Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (which does not have it built-in).

The Mac App Store download allows customers unable/unwilling to upgrade past Snow Leopard to FaceTime with Mac users on 10.7 or newer, or those on iOS.

As to why Apple does not tick it off for you, it’s simply that this isn’t exactly the same app that ships with 10.7 and above. Case in point, you can’t easily uninstall the FaceTime app that ships built-in, but you could uninstall the one from the App Store, just as easily as you’d uninstall any other app. The version from the App Store also hasn’t been updated in years, as evidenced in your screenshot.


Reinstall Purchased Mac App from AppStore

In essence, unmount the volumes with those apps and the App Store will let you download things.

I noticed after the upgrade to lion when my TM volume was connected some apps in the app store appeared to be already installed. So try to disconnect or shut off your external HDD and restart the app store so you can reinstall your apps. After that you can re-activate your TM volume. This isn't normal, since spotlight shouldn't look inside the backup volume and see an app installed, but it happened once so it could happen to you as well.


TV lagging when watching regular TV channels while Apple TV is on

Apparently (as thought) the solution had nothing to do with the Apple TV but rather the TV itself being horribly built.

In short, the reason is interference. If the HDMI cable and the TV cable were too close to each other the power/throughput from the HDMI cable would destroy the data coming through the TV cable. Yeah - what a genius build quality from Samsung.

The solution? Pick the HDMI port the furthest away from the TV cable and bend them in opposite directions and you're good to go. "What if I have several HDMI devices" you may ask? Your only solution seems to be to turn them off when you don't use them.


What constitutes Date Usage on an iPhone 5?

You need to contact your Carrier, i.e. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint etc, to see what they define as Data Usage.

That said, generally speaking, any communication that you send/receive/request over their network while directly connected to their network, and while Roaming, is typically counted under Data Usage.  This could be emails, websites, pictures, videos, etc. Typically when connected to a Wi-Fi Access Point then Data Usage Accounting is not counted against your monthly Data Usage allotment.


macOS Catalina 10.15.4 - MacBook Pro Retina, mid 2015 - dual screen bug

Besides trying the normal stuff like Resetting NVRAM and SMC, you might want to double check your Energy Saver settings and make sure "Automatic graphics switching" is enabled.

If you still have trouble, check under the About This Mac--> System Report--> Graphics/Displays. Then take a picture of that and send it over. I'm curious if your MacBook Pro is having trouble with the AMD Radeon card or the drivers that support it.


The mid-2011 iMac uses 4 - 204-pin PC3-10600 (1333 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM, so it seems that you've purchased the correct memory. The most likely cause of the problems you're seeing are improperly inserted- or faulty RAM. It can help to blow out the memory slots with compressed air and ensure that the RAM does not have grease or grime on any of the contacts prior to installation.

One method of debugging these problems is to try varying combinations of the RAM to determine which (if any) of the sticks is faulty. Try booting to 3 sticks and swap around. If one of the SO-DIMMs is faulty, you should be able to determine which it is and exchange it for another module.


I'm using Hazel to move photos from the iPhoto catalog into Lightroom. Is this a terrible idea?

As long as your Hazel script is working properly and you don't care about the iPhoto library, I don't see any downsides to this approach. I would just make sure you have all your photos backed up incase something goes wrong.


Best rsync options to transfer data between two Mac

Personally, I'd be inclined to drop the z switch. Compression is only really useful over very slow connections (mobile data, dial-up) as the CPU is likely to become the bottleneck. I've certainly seen a drop in throughput with compression enabled.
Assuming your network is trusted, you would do well to use a more efficient, but perhaps less secure SSH cipher as this will probably speed up the operation a little (it certainly helps with VNC over SSH, or X11 forwarding over SSH).

Run ssh -Q cipher on both systems and pick a cipher common to both
Use it with rsync -vhaHE --progress -e "ssh -c aes256-cbc" andrea@imac:/remote/dir /local/dir/ 2> errors.log

PS: I also use the -h switch to get more human readable numbers in MB/s as opposed to b/s


How can I open a file in its default application from the command line in OS X?

Use:

open foo.doc

or, alternatively:

open -n foo.doc

to force it to open a new instance if one is already open for that app.


does WiFi Assist of iOS 9 work when cellular data is turned off?

In your case the off switch for mobile data will prevent the use of data across the board.

You won't get any benefit from turning on "assist" nor will you incur any downside or costs due to data usage.


How can I stream my desktop to another device so I have complete control over it?

I'm working from home on an iMac, accessing two iMacs at our office through a VPN, and I'm using the "Screen Sharing" app that comes with Macs by default (at least up to Mojave) and is located in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications (again in Mojave, I think they have moved it around depending on the version). I have my home computer with five Spaces, one work computer with four Spaces and a second work computer with just one Space.

It works pretty well, but any gestures that work with Mission Control or switch between applications are caught by the machine you are physically working on.

As a workaround, I've been putting the Mission Control application on each remote computer's dock, so I can bring it up manually and switch between Spaces, etc. on the remote computers. The keyboard ⌘ Command ⇨Tab does seem to work in that it switches between applications on the remote computer, so that might be a workaround for swiping between apps.


Your question may be considered as too broad or primarily opinion-based, and because of that could be closed. Protecting privacy can mean so many things to different people, but since your question specifically talks about internet privacy and ISPs, I will attempt a factually based generic answer that will give you what you need.

The most obvious way to protect your internet privacy is to disguise your IP address (and therefore a whole heap of other information about you, including your browsing habits). And the best way to do this is to use a VPN service.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is totally legal (although some people use them for illegal purposes).

You can use your search engine of choice to research VPNs and decide whether this is for you and, if so, which one best suits you in terms of location, price, your needs, etc).

For example, if you're a heavy torrent user, some VPNs won't be suitable. Likewise, if you're trying to bypass geolocation restrictions to access media content, some VPNs will work for that and others won't. Regardless of the VPN they will provide instructions on how to use them for each of your devices.

On the other hand, if all you're concerned about is masking your internet usage on Apple Macs, iPhones and iPads, you can just use software such as Tunnelbear.

Regardless of the option you pick, a VPN basically disguises your location by making your IP address appear as though you are in another location (usually another country). And because all traffic is routed via the VPN, it doesn't matter whether you're just browsing the web, playing a game, or using any other app that sends/receives data online. All that traffic is routed via the VPN.

Note: If you intend to use an Apple TV you will need to connect it to another device that is routing all traffic through the VPN, as an Apple TV won't connect directly to a VPN.


Why is Xcode 11.2.1 not appearing in the App Store updates tab?

Xcode 11.2.1 GM seed is available at https://developer.apple.com/download/ after sign in.

I just started (and stopped) the download.


Are DropBox files viewed on iOS devices taking up space on them?

Yes.  The files are cloud based until you favorite them.
Straight from DropBox:

How much can I store on my phone or tablet?
The Dropbox iPhone app can save as many files as your iPhone or iPod
Touch can hold or Dropbox space allows. If you find yourself running
out of space on your iPhone, removing files from your Favorites list
will clear up space on your device. If you're running out of Dropbox
space, you can delete files from your Dropbox, or you might want to
consider upgrading to a bigger Dropbox.


Full-screen applications on 90 degree rotated external monitor incredibly laggy

The problem lies with the fact that the monitors are connected via DisplayLink. The DisplayLink drivers are notoriously known for having extremely bad performance when rotation is used. This has been a problem for years.

The same type of problem exists on other platforms such as for example Linux. My understanding is that at least part of the problem is that instead of the graphics hardware doing the rotation, it is actually done in software on the main CPU inside the DisplayLink driver. This makes it much slower than ordinary.

The only real solution is to use a different dock that doesn't use DisplayLink. Usually you would need a Thunderbolt 3 dock. Those usually offer DisplayPort and/or HDMI. You could also connect the rotated monitor directly to the MacBook Pro assuming you have a left-over Thunderbolt 3 port.


Macbook Pro 13 2017 suddenly shutdown then stuck at apple logo

Let me re-post all the hard work you did with the results and add some more you can try.

- Used CMD + R, but it doesn't go to recovery mode.
 - Used CMD + Option + R, nothing happens after recovery using internet.
 - Used Shift to enter safe mode, it doesn't go to safe mode.
 - Used CMD + Option + P + R, it doesn't fix anything. Still stuck at apple logo.
 - Used CMD + S, I just showed a verbose mode and the line said "End RandomSeed"
 - Used CMD + V, the last line prompted "End RandomSeed" and then freezes.
 - Pressed D, but nothing was seen defective in hardware.

Try following since it is still alive and "working" but not passing the End RandomSeed:

Disconnect all external devices
Hold Option key at reboot
Boot from USB
Do cool it down in the Fridge (not a joke)

Here is some background info. The End RandomSeed supposedly has to with failed RAM check.


Mac Pro 2013 Blank Displays And Can't Hard Reset

I think this may be one of the few times that recommending reset of the SMC &  NVRAM might be in order.
NVRAM stores display config, amongst other things - see The Eclectic Light Company - What is stored in NVRAM? (generally a knowledgeable resource)
SMC stores external video source in some Macs. I'm less certain this is going to be the useful step, but the same resource, The Eclectic Light Company mentions that treating them as a pair can be useful. SMC first, then NVRAM.
Persistence: EFI, SMC and NVRAM


I finally fixed it by restoring from an iCloud backup. But I read that this does not seem to work for some users.

I personally think, iTunes' quality is really bad and I'm tempted to move over to Amazon's music service but I love the Apple ecosystem and they probably have other issues. Sigh.


What sense it has to set copyright info when creating app in iTunes Connect?

Apple does not assume who owns the copyright. The copyright field is provided for you to explicitly state who claims copyright for the uploaded product.

Apple's iTunes Connect documentation states:

  Copyright (required) The name of the person or entity that owns the exclusive rights to the app, preceded by the year the rights were obtained (for example, 2014 Example, Inc.). The copyright symbol is added automatically.

Copyright is a large and complex issue. If you are unsure or have legal questions, you are best contacting a legal expert for the jurisdictions you intend to operate within.

You may also find this question helpful, Understanding copyright field in the iTunes Connect app submission.


What is this menubar icon with NW-SE double-headed arrow?

Apparently it's VMware Fusion Start Menu.


Prevent iTunes from resetting my music library location

You can make "iTunes Music" an alias to your music folder on your network drive. That should keep iTunes' smartness at bay.


Are you sure it isn't just an intermittent hardware issue with the home button ?

I'm on my fourth iPhone 4 now, after the first three all developed problems wit the home button. In each case replacing the hardware fixed the problem, for a couple of months.


Mac book pro charger came with twisted connector tip

You don't have to do anything. The cable is made of a couple layers of isolation warped around copper. Each material has its own elasticity and there is friction where the materials meet. The metal inside the cable is not irreversibly bent. It's the friction that's keeping it this way. Everything will move back in place.


Transferring songs from iTunes to iPhone

Alright I got ya.

iOS 8/ iOS 9

In order to sort your songs in your Music App on these Operating Systems, you have to:

Find under the tab "My Music", an arrow pointing down next to the text "Song", this is a drop down menu, tap it.
It will bring you to a list where you can select the sorting method, there are several options you can choose from here.
Finally select the option "Album" in order to sort every song in its own album.

iOS 10

I'm with you, sorting songs on iOS 8/9 can be not intuitive or fast to use, but there are great news!
In the upcoming iOS 10 update (coming this fall) the whole interface of Apple Music has been redesigned.

So, now in order to do what you asked for, it will be as easy as opening the Music App, tapping the "Library" tab, and finally tapping on the Album option to see all your songs sorted in their Albums.
Take a look at the new cleaner design:


Importing preferences from a Lion time machine backup to Snow Leopard

This isn't something that Apple tests well (or perhaps at all) - so you might have some crashes, but in general these are minor or confined to one app.

If you do the downgrade, just be systematic about watching for crashes, keep all the backups. You can always trash the preferences if you have odd feelings or just trash them all after the restore to start "clean" with Snow Leopard defaults but all of your Lion data.

It would be much better to export the data from Lion and restore from your last Snow Leopard backup, but your time may be spent there for no need or you could be "committing" your time later to debugging things.

It really depends on how much changes you made and the details of what changed file by file, preference by preference. Some will not notice a thing, you'll want a little luck on your side if you try it, but perhaps not even need it.

Let us know how it goes!


If you are close to an Apple store, I would take them in for a factory reset / genius bar. See if they have any suggestions on monitoring. Unless you could use an otoscope or camera to show the ports clogged with ear wax - the total sound pressure can't be affected by some minor amount of cruft.

Also - in that setting you can close your eyes and have the tehnician move the balance and you can tell them when to stop the pan. If you're accurately hearing the sound output, it should be clear to everyone that you're carefully calibrated your ears and you are getting a different stereo mix when you use the same iPhone with wired headset and AirPods.

At that point, I would expect them to offer a full reset procedure and then a replacement set to be sure yours are not defective. At that point, once they are sure you're not getting proper volume, they might want to do an engineering capture / get you brand new set and/or refund your money.

I don't doubt you're getting poor volume and if you can get the support staff on your side - they might even fix the bug for us all. Sorry it's on you to prove it's hardware - but I had to go in to learn the reset procedure and a factory reset on AirPods was something you want on the service record if you want to get a paid swap / refund since it did solve volume and sound quality issues for me on one pair of AirPods.

Since I do live close to stores, I wouldn't do any cleaning other than what Apple says - and I request staff to instruct me how to clean it - possibly pointing out the cleaning KB and I'll review with them what force is safe from canned air, vacuum, etc... I wouldn't even go down the path of "suck on it” since the force from the suction could probably unhinge / break many headphone speakers unless they were internally vented in a very clever manner. (AirPods may in fact be, but I'm sticking with Apple on how to clean / maintain these.)


How can I remove a sim lock when I'm no longer an Orange France customer?

From http://assistance.orange.fr/desimlocker-votre-mobile-2839.php:

obtenir le code de désimlockage pour les anciens clients Orange mobile
Si vous n'êtes plus client Orange mobile, pour désimlocker votre mobile, vous devez envoyer un courrier à l'adresse postale suivante :

Orange service clients Mobile
41965 BLOIS CEDEX 9

Dans ce courrier, précisez : votre nom, prénom, adresse mail, numéro de mobile résilié et le numéro IMEI à 15 chiffres du mobile concerné par votre demande.


Why does the Terminal app icon show an unread message?

That badge indicates a "beep" that happened while the terminal was not in the foreground.

To see it, you can send a beep command to your terminal. Type this command, hit return, then click to another window that is not a terminal window:

sleep 5 && tput bel

Are you saying that it went away (as it should) if you view all open Terminal windows or tabs? Or is it stuck on? Or you were just wondering where it came from?


How can I check the size of a OneNote notebook on iPad?

Hi if you've taken the path of least resistance and defaulted to using Microsoft's OneDrive for storing OneNote documents,

then you can follow this route:

First make sure that OneNote documents you are interested in are synced.

On the ipad's onenote screen the 2nd icon in on the purple ribbon is a notebook,
touch that and select 'sync this notebook'
This ensures a copy is with stored on the One Drive.

Now you need a separate Apps store app to look at the OneDrive, which handily is called OneDrive.
Download that from the app store,
login to your onedrive,

You'll now be able to see your OneNote document, and the size is shown by default.


Just found an open source backup script Counterpart (jedda.me) which does exactly this, seemingly does stuff CCC misses too.


Is the internal calendar or clock something an app is allowed to change?

No.

Source: This Stack Overflow answer.

Makes sense. Apple hardly allows apps to modify system-level stuff. It's easy to guess that the heavy sandboxing also means they cannot touch something as crucial as system time. Many things depend on the system time and even if Apple allowed apps to do that, it would take a lot of effort to make sure it worked without messing up other processes.


Macbook Pro 2020 13" and bad image quality with external VGA monitor

Since we don't have the the setup to compare and can't see how much the difference is, we can only make an educated guess. According to the information here, I believe the operating system running on 2009 MBP should be OS X 10.11 "El Capitan". On the other hand, MBP 2020 should be running Catalina, which is the latest for now.

There are some posts on the web (e.g., here, here, or here) which mention that the font smoothing on modern MacOs versions, especially Catalina has evolved so that the text looks much worse on displays which does not have dense pixels such as the retina screens or the 4K screens of sizes between 21 - 27.

If the problem is not related to the conversion of signal to VGA, using the solution stated in here should decrease the problem just a bit. I had the same problem with a 24" 1920x1200 HP monitor lately, and these settings helped to some extent.

Nevertheless, it looks like Apple has optimized its software and smoothing algorithms for the high resolution displays and therefore, MacOS Catalina seems to be not as forgiving as the older MacOS versions. On the other hand, currently, Windows and Linux does not have this problem and can do better with lower resolution screens as of now.

Hope this helps.


If I mess up the EFI System Partition, will Mac OS X be unbootable?

If it happens you mess it up, you can download it from Apple.

EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs

This article lists firmware updates that were released for Intel-based Macs. They update the firmware that originally shipped from the factory. If your computer isn't on this list, then you don't need an update to the factory firmware.


You first have to install El captain X
You might not can install the sierra if you ox system was made in the early part of 2009


What versions of the OS X support Safari 6?

Safari 6 can be run on OS's Lion and Mountain Lion. The initial release of the browser was for Mountain Lion as stated here.


Right click the toolbar and select "Customize toolbar", then drag the icon away from it.


I recommend the option System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Reduce motion.

This causes the transition to become a simple fade, which is also much quicker than the screen pan especially when using ctrl+1, 2 etc shortcuts.

I also use this option on iOS for similar reasons.

There's also TotalSpaces2 which apparently allows complete removal of the transition. I've not used it myself though.


Bootable USB without an OS shows as Windows in Startup Manager

Obviously something went wrong in making the bootable USB stick.
It should be 8GB.
Why not use a little tool that does it for you:
Diskmaker_X,  see http://diskmakerx.com
You have to have the OSX installer on your disk: if you already installed it and it is gone, download it again from the Purchased tab of AppStore.


On iPhone X can you see the most recent running apps?

If you swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold for a moment, you will see the most recent applications. You can then swipe left and right to select.


How can I restore one photo in iPhoto with Time Machine?

It might not be the most user-friendly way, but one possibility would be to locate the backup file in finder (very probably in Backups.backupdb/latest on your TimeMachine drive), navigate to Macintosh HD/Users/[user]/Pictures. Right-click the iPhoto-library, and choose 'show package contents'. Then open the Masters folder, and navigate to the date (year-folder / month-folder / day-folder). There will be a few folders in there with seemingly random names (on closer inspection you'll see this are the dates and times when they were added if i'm not mistaken), each of them will contain the pictures made on that date. In this way you'll be able to copy the picture you need.

Just be sure to COPY the picture in stead of moving the picture from there, otherwise you'll mess up the library.


Cannot send invitation in iOS Developer program

When you fill the invitation form, you must specify both iOS Developer Program and Safari Developer Program access type. So if you forget to set Safari Developer Program to "No access" for instance, the button "Send Invitation" stays disabled.


Transferring Apple ID purchases to another Apple ID

You didn't have to change the Apple ID, you needed only to change its associated email address.

The account "name" can be Fred@one.com, the associated email can be joe@two.com
The "name" is just that, a name. It doesn't actually even have to be a valid email address, other than for the initial setup.

All of which is leading to…
No, you cannot transfer purchases from one account to another, except if you set them both up as part of Family Sharing

From Apple KB -

  Change your Apple ID

  Learn how to change the email address that you use as your Apple ID.

  In most cases, your Apple ID is also the primary email address of your Apple ID account. You can change your Apple ID to any other email address you control, as long as it's not already in use as an Apple ID. If your email address ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, it's already an Apple ID.

  Use these steps to reset your Apple ID:

  Sign out of iCloud, the iTunes Store, App Store, FaceTime, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, and iMessage on each device that uses your current Apple ID for these services.
  Go to My Apple ID.
  Select Manage your Apple ID and sign in. Forgot your password?
  Select Edit next to Apple ID and Primary Email Address.
  Enter the email address that you want to use as your Apple ID, then select Save Changes. Apple will send a verification email to that address.
  Open the email from Apple, then click Verify Now. Didn't receive the email?
  When the My Apple ID page opens, sign in with your new Apple ID email address and password. When you see a message that verification is complete, you can start using your updated Apple ID.
  Update the features and services that you use with Apple ID, so that each one is using your updated Apple ID.

  If you need to change the Apple ID that's signed in to your iOS device, use these steps to sign out, then back in with a different Apple ID.


How do I go about replacing the LCD on my 2014 macbook air?

I essentially need the repair completed within 24 hours

If you need to ask, you do not have the necessary skills, parts and tools to repair it in that time frame.

Also unlikely any service centre can turn it around in 24 hours.

So your options are:

Get an external monitor. The condition of the internal screen then becomes irrelevant.
Buy a new one, copy your data with Migration Assistant.

Given that the screen is typically the most expensive sub-component, and requires near total disassembly to change, you need to decide between the high repair cost to get an old machine back, or a bit more to get a brand new one with warranty, bigger storage etc. etc.


How can I find out which Mac apps are 32-bit?

In the Finder hit cmdF to get a search window.

Choose Search: This Mac
Hit the first search criterion and choose "Other..." and here "Executable Architectures" "Is" "i386"
Hit the + button and add a second criterion "Executable Architectures" "Is not" "x86_64"

and you will get a list of all i386 only (i.e. 32-bit) apps.

In Terminal this is done with:

mdfind "(kMDItemExecutableArchitectures == 'i386') && (kMDItemExecutableArchitectures != 'x86_64')"


Problem with bootcamp on SSD: error 0xc00000e9

I don't know where the error came from (in particular not from AHCI usage as some people told me), but I got rid of it by switching to a more recent version of Windows 7.


As far as I am aware, there is no function to automatically dial 911.
However, anyone with possession of an iPhone can dial an emergency call from the lock screen without unlocking the phone.

Whether that's more likely than you dialing and not remembering it (whether amnesia immediately following a trauma, or shock from the impact to your body or head is hard to guess as an outsider that wasn't there.


Viewing Text Message Histories on Windows PC

iExplorer is the app I use on macOS both personally and professionally to access iDevices. There is a Windows version available as well. I've been able to extract text messages and associated images from these messages, too.

Disclaimer: I'm a very satisfied user of iExplorer and have no financial or other interests in Macroplant LLC.


How do I send files from one Mac to another via Terminal?

Enable "Remote Login" in the preferences of the target/remote mac. Then use

scp file user@remotehost:

with user being the short name of the remote user. You will be asked for the password of the user on remotehost.

If you want to avoid using passwords, you can set up ssh key pairs. See here for details.


How to hide screen when logged into remote iMac

Awhile back, I discovered an even better, simpler, more reliable, and free way to accomplish the goal of screen sharing without people being able to mess with the remote mac or observe you working.  All you have to do is:

Create a secondary user on the remote mac.
Screen share into your account (assuming it's the one that has the screen locked).
Use fast user switching to switch accounts to the secondary account
Lock the screen of the remote mac using the apple menu -> "Lock Screen" option
End the screen sharing session
Screen share into your account again (which no longer is showing on the screen of the remote mac).

Viola!  You can now work without anyone messing with your keyboard or watching what you're doing.  Much more reliable of a method than Shades and free too.


Only the first AirPods Pro I put in my ear works

I had the exact same issue with my right AirPod and I bought them about 2 months ago also!!!  I think there may have been a bad batch of AirPods Pro.  I called apple and they sent me a new right AirPod and they work perfectly now.  I suggest doing the same thing.
Also, when you get the replacement, I had to unpair, then reset the AirPods a couple times before it would connect to the new one.


No, Apple just publishes the source code as a snapshot with each release of macOS. The dev repositories aren‘t public.
If you want to propose changes regarding the published code (e.g. porting a Linux system call into the Darwin/xnu kernel), use https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/


Copying printer preset .plist files (Mavericks)

It turns out that preferences are cached in Mavericks (and presumably Yosemite), and therefore copying preference files will not make them immediately available.

A generic cache cleaning tool such as Onyx can be used to clear the caches or if you're happy using the command line the following command will reload the cached preferences:

killall -u <yourusername> cfprefsd

Thanks to the MacOS Hints Forums for this useful gem.


PHP 5.5.30 (cli) (built: Oct 23 2015 17:21:45) is the version of php shipped by Apple with OS X 10.11.3.

You can use brew to install a current version of php – without affecting the built-in version.

brew installs its binaries in /usr/local/Cellar. A modification to your PATH ensures the brew installed version is found before the OS X provided version.

MacPorts uses a similar approach. Which package provider you use is a matter of personal preference.

Install php via brew

To install php via brew, first install brew using the instructions on their web site:

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

Then install php:

brew install php

Remove php via brew

When you need to remove php installed via brew – thus reverting php back to the version shipped with OS X – run:

brew uninstall php


Not able to remote desktop from my mac to windows from iphone hotspot

I solved this. It seemed FQDN is no more a thing. I tried putting the direct IP Address to the connection & used no gateway. It worked.

However, I am a little curious to know why MRD won't recon Computer Name while being on the same Network? That's what made me click to do more research. Not able to still digest a suitable answer.

In contrary to having used the personal hotspot, I started experimenting with a local vendor ISP & were assigned a static IP. I used the Computer Name & that worked but with personal hotspot - it didn't, I had to always use the direct IP.


Problems syncing MobileMe mail with an iPad 2

To help you in focusing your troubleshooting - here are the variables:

Your MobileMe account status
The network between the iPad and the MobileMe servers
The steps you take to configure it
on the iPad
The software on the iPad
The iPad hardware

You seem to have tried #3 again - so unless you have never successfully entered a MobileMe account into an iOS device and had it work, it's unlikely having someone else do the entering will help solve your problem.

To really rule out #4 - I would transfer all purchases and back up the device. Then I would rename the device to "test" and restore it. Once it's restored, I would not load a backup and set it up as a new device. Second thing after joining a network would be to try MobileMe setup. If it still fails you can rule out #4. Then you could restore your backup to get everything and the iPad name correct again.

You'll need to take your account to another device to rule out #5. This is unlikely since if the hardware is failing, everything should fail equally. There's no little chip inside the iPad that computes the sync data - it's all software for that.

Eliminating #2 should be easy and it's highly unlikely to be the cause - possible, but very unlikely.

Lastly, you will need to get help from Apple MobileMe support if you need someone with access to the servers to see if your account is having problems. I needed their help last year to realize that my iDisk was over quota and syncing having errors as part of that space was needed to store my data during a sync. MobileMe is an evolving thing and something that caused problems in the past might now be fixed and new things could be causing your account to not show other data to be synchronized.


iPhone 7 battery quickly discharges after using Philips dual USB car charger

I highly recommend using M-Fi certified chargers and certified usb wall blocks! These are crucial for the health of your iPhone’s battery! Your battery may not have been charged well with that kind of chord and wall/car socket! I suggest buying a certified car kit! They sell them on amazon for like $20 max


Why did the contacts on my husband's iPhone sync to the iPhone I just activated?

A few possibilities:

Somewhere down the line, one of you accidentally combined and synced your contacts.
You added a non-iCloud account in "Mail, Contacts, and Calendar" that contains the contacts unknowingly.
You restored from a backup during setup that contained the contacts.


First of all, I'll address the how to uninstall Soundflower problem:

A number of people have run into problems uninstalling it in the past. The main problem seems to be that you have to reboot your machine after running the uninstaller but if that doesn't work for you try removing it from the Audio MIDI setup.

Open Audio MIDI Setup in the utilities folder and look for Soundflower listed there, select it and click the minus near the bottom left to remove it.

Now that you've removed Soundflower, you need to set the headphones as your default output device:

Connect your headphones
Open System Preferences and Open the "Sound" panel
Go to the "Output" tab
Select your headphones here
Close system preferences

Your system should now default to the headphones whenever you plug them in.

If you run into further problems, you can try a couple of advanced steps:

Open Finder and in the "Go" menu, select "Go to Folder..."
Type ~/Library/Preferences and click Go
Locate two files called com.apple.systempreferences.plist and com.apple.audio.AudioMIDISetup.plist and move them both to the trash
Reboot your computer
If you're still having problems reset PRAM by rebooting again and holding command-option-p-r as soon as your computer boots up, keep holding until your computer restarts again and you hear the startup chime.

Follow all the above steps from the beginning of this post and one of them should solve your problem, make sure you check each time if your headphones are now working by default.


Force OS X to use Bluetooth dongle instead of built in controller

To force the system to use USB Bluetooth dongle by default, run the following command:

sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always

This will modify your boot kernel arguments.

To do opposite, use never. The change would be applied after the reboot. To return to the default, run:

sudo nvram -d bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior


Found a socket called "chaos_control" in my home directory, what is it?

If you look at the output from "ls -l" you see that the first letter is an "s". This means that the file is not really a physical file on disk, but is instead a "socket link".

A "socket link" is not the socket itself, but as the name suggest merely a link. It is used when two processes running on your computer want to communicate. In order to "find each other" they use the socket link in the file system. Both programs open that and they can exchange messages.

You cannot use the "open" command to open a socket link, as it is not really a disk file and it doesn't make any sense to open it in for example TextEdit.app. Similarly opening it with "vim" does not make any sense either.

Having a socket link is in itself not a "bad thing", if this is your worry. It doesn't really take up much space on disk - and it's only a link, not a socket in itself. So if you close the communicating processes (or for example reboot the Mac) - the socket will automatically be closed.

Any (non-sandboxed) program could potentially create a socket link named chaos_control. So it is not possible conclusively to say which program created it by looking at the file name.

As it has been created a year and a half ago, it is plausible that you did some action that caused this file to be created. For example when using a new program that you aren't using anymore.

You can just delete the socket link (use the "rm" command) and it is gone. However there's no real risk or disadvantage in having it around except that it shows up in folder listings.


sry cant comment (reputation)
i have an older Macbook Air mid 2009 13" with 2GB of RAM and SSD, but found that many user experience similiar bugs as i do on Yosemite:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6624349
(some on macbooks, some on iMac's)

it seems like i solved mine (for now, had no problems for the whole day) by resetting PRAM/NVRAM multiple times in a row. Im still not sure which caused the problem. Alternatively if i will go back to Mavericks or Mountain Lion. Yosemite feels to me like Windows Vista (altough i like the design)


Transfer mp3 files to Nokia Lumia from a Mac?

You can use the Windows Phone 7 Connector software, made by Microsoft specifically for OS X.

Download here


Is it safe to always leave a Macbook Pro on?

From a software standpoint, it's perfectly fine to leave your Mac on continuously. It can even be considered recommended, since Mac OS X has a number of optimization scripts that run on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, but can only do so if the computer is on.

From a hardware standpoint, it depends on your model. If you have an older (pre-2008) MacBook with a removable battery, leaving it on and plugged in continuously will kill the battery quick. In that case, you should remove the battery from the machine, only putting it back in occasionally, charging it to around 60%, to keep it in good working order.

The new MacBooks with non-removable batteries are designed to be able to be left plugged in constantly. The battery has circuitry to optimize the charge cycles so that the life of the battery is not adversely degraded over time (more than just normal use causes).


How to find how long a Mac App Store app installation will take

The App Store tells you how long something that you have just purchased will take to download.

Once the purchase has been made, just switch to the Purchases tab, and see the progress bar and the time estimate.

Obviously for large files, the estimate is based on how much more data is left to download divided by the current download rate; so your estimated download time will vary as the transfer of the file progresses.

The same is true for downloads on the Updates tab also.


How do I know the IP addresses of other computers in my network?

Method #1

The easiest way would be to access your network router's administration page. It will have information about any other devices on the network, including IP address.

Method #2

If you know the computer's network name you can ping it in the Terminal. It will return the computer's IP address.

Method #3

If you don't know the computer's network name, there's another trick you can do using ping. Find your IP address and your subnet mask. Both should be visible in the Network preference pane of System Preferences. Line up your IP address and your subnet mask, and replace any 0 values in the subnet mask with 255 in the same relative position of the IP address. For example, if you have the following IP address and subnet mask, respectively:

192.168.1.151

255.255.255.0

The 0 is in the last field of the subnet mask, so you replace the last field of the IP address with 255 and ping it: ping 192.168.1.255

You should get a response with the IP address of any device on the network capable of responding to pings.

Method #4

Last trick is to use the terminal command arp -a. This will show the IP and MAC address of all devices on the network that it knows about.

Last two tricks courtesy of this Macworld article.


Listing Frameworks folder on Mac gives different results due to EWSMac.framework

The / matters

This is the Unix file system and use of relative and absolute paths .

All Unix files and directories are in one space all under the root directory /

An absolute path is one beginning with / and is always seen the same.

If the path does not beginning with / it is a relative path and if used it is appened to your current working directory.

So in the first case you are in your home directory which the shell shows as ~.  The shell expands ~ to the absolute path of your home diurectory which is usually /Users/me if your user name is me. You then cd to a directory that adds the parameter you pass to cd to the current directory e.g. you cd to /Users/me/Library/Frameworks which contains frameworks just for your user which in this case is EWSMac.

To see this after you cd in both cases enter the command pwd to show what directory you are in.


Change the way how finder truncates file names

I don't believe there is a way to change that - it's thought that it is more common to have the part of the file that differs be at the end of the name (i.e. Holidays and other important days 2010.xls vs. Holidays and other important days 2011.xls).

As to the dates and file sizes being truncated, are you using the List view in Finder? You can change the column width to see more.


Share only iTunes Match between two devices

In Settings -> Store, make sure you’re signed into the account that has all the music/media/etc. (iOS lets you have one Apple ID signed in for iCloud and another for store purchases).

Then, in Settings -> Music, turn iTunes Match on. In iTunes for Mac, go to Store -> Turn Off iTunes Match.

The iTunes Match will then only be on your iTunes devices, but your Macs won’t have any iTunes Match.


Switching off communications modes from the lock screen panel is overridden by the OS each night - they wil be back on in the morning, though I'm not certain what time they trigger.
You can avoid this by using Do Not Disturb instead.
Settings > Do Not Disturb. You can set it manually or on a schedule.


I would take the device to a computer that runs iTunes and update off the air. Check your backups too in case you need to restore instead of upgrade.


Get yourself a Belkin MDP (Thunderbolt video) to HDMI adapter, and a handy HDMI cable you might have lying around, or get a Belkin all-in-one MDP > HDMI cable and it will work. I use both models at work to connect many MacBooks with Thunderbolt video ports to connect to HDMI-equipped monitors.

After years of testing, my institution trusts Belkin adapters to be the most robust and applicable for the task.

Disclaimer: I have no financial or other ties to Belkin; just a satisfied user.


Why is OS X giving me a warning about installing apps when I try to open an XML file with Webstorm?

Open Terminal and type xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine followed by a space, then drag the file or folder of files that you can't open directly into the Terminal window, and push return. You should now be able to open the file directly.


repair an out-of-warranty Thunderbolt port

For that Mac, the thunderbolt port is a part of the motherboard (on the left, 3rd from the top):

So unless you're able to source the parts, perform a package exchange that clearly is a machine solder and then test things, the most economical repair would be to exchange the whole motherboard. As long as there is no physical damage inside, this would be a flat rate repair ($280) for Apple and probably cheaper than buying a logic board used. The flat rate repair would fix anything else wrong with the Mac. But, if you're up to reflow that part and do advanced soldering - there are lots of people that can attempt this repair even though it's not a trivial one.


How can I trigger scripts (lock screen) when leaving a specific WiFi on OSX?

I believe that you're actually looking for a setting in OS X:

System Preferences → Network → Advanced


The default banner on macOS does not have any option to change orientation.

However, figlet is available in Homebrew:

  brew install figlet


Register a prepaid sim card to a used iphone 4

if the phone is unlocked, this shouldn't be a problem. I have a 4s that I use in the US with an AT&T account, and in Europe, with a pre-paid SIM. My phone is unlocked as AT&T allow/enable this after a 2-year contract period. I don't know about other carriers.

Depending on your iPhone software version, it may be possible to unlock the phone with various software. The legality of this is questionable, as is the result. For example, you won't be able to update the iPhone software to iOS7 until another unlock (jailbreak too) is made available.

Hope this helps.


Unpacking a tarball via terminal like the Finder

The option you are looking for is --strip-components (from man tar):

  --strip-components count

  (x mode only) Remove the specified number of leading path elements.
  Pathnames with fewer elements will be silently skipped.

But it is not 100% equivalent to the way the Finder works: you still need to know the directory depth to strip.

Fortunately, it can be calculated with this command:

while read; do echo -n "$REPLY" | wc -c; done < <(tar tvf <tar archive name> | egrep -v '^d' | sed 's:[^/]::g') | sort -n | uniq | head -n 1

Since you have to replace <tar archive name> with the name of your tar archive, it is not as convenient as simply double clicking it in the Finder, but it can be useful in Bash scripts.

If the tar archive contains several files in different paths, the command above calculates the maximum common directory depth:

tar archive contents          =>      extracted files using --strip-components

dir1/dir2/file1               =>      file1
dir1/dir2/dir3/file2          =>      dir3/file2
dir1/dir2/dir3/dir4/file3     =>      dir3/dir4/file3

For example, if you create a tar file like this:

mkdir -p a/b/c/d/e/f
touch a/b/c/d/e/f/myfile1
touch a/b/c/d/e/myfile2
tar cvf file.tar a

so that:

tar tf file.tar
a/
a/b/
a/b/c/
a/b/c/d/
a/b/c/d/e/
a/b/c/d/e/f/
a/b/c/d/e/myfile1
a/b/c/d/e/f/myfile2

you can extract all files (with the shortest directory depth) as follows:

Calculate maximum common directory depth:

while read; do echo -n "$REPLY" | wc -c; done < <(tar tvf file.tar | egrep -v '^d' | sed 's:[^/]::g') | sort -n | uniq | head -n 1

Command returns 5.
Run tar passing the result of the previous command to --strip-components:

tar xvf file.tar --strip-components 5
x f/
x myfile1
x f/myfile2

Instead of running two commands, if your shell is bash or zsh, you can use $() to pass the result directly to --strip-components:

tar xvf file.tar --strip-components $(while read; do echo -n "$REPLY" | wc -c; done < <(tar tvf file.tar | egrep -v '^d' | sed 's:[^/]::g') | sort -n | uniq | head -n 1)
x f/
x myfile1
x f/myfile2

This command also properly deals with the case of a tar archive without a directory hierarchy:

touch myfile3
tar cvf file2.tar myfile3
tar xvf file2.tar --strip-components $(while read; do echo -n "$REPLY" | wc -c; done < <(tar tvf file2.tar | egrep -v '^d' | sed 's:[^/]::g') | sort -n | uniq | head -n 1)
x myfile3


As mentioned in the Independent docks across displays thread, you can't do it with the native Dock system.  You will need a third party utility like DockSpaces.


Attribute appropriate amount of resource to run Mac OS + Windows + Ubuntu simultaneously

I use Parallels for virtualization but I also run three OS simultaneously (OSX, Windows 7 and Windows 8).

My settings are:
2 cores and 2 GB of RAM for each VM and more important VT-x support enabled, in your screenshot the first checkbox under Advanced Options.


Eclipse is not good at updating its configuration :). go ahead and check for the right JRE in the following spots:

Eclipse global preferences (Eclipse preferences > Java > Installed JREs)
Project properties > Libraries

I had the same problem using ant build. The way to fix it there is by going to Run > External Tools > External tools configurations... and adjusting the JRE on the JRE tab


Is there a performance issue with GNU Screen, Tmux, and other similar development tools on the MacBook Air?

The basic question is compared with what?

Yes it will be slower than a new MacBook , iMac etc but we programmed with those tools 10 years ago on slower machines.

All you can say is it slow for you and if so you need to get a faster machine:)

Which is why I have always programmed on a desktop machine as they are faster than laptops of a similar vintage