GPT looks valid. Diskutil sees empty disk

The problem turned out to be the PMBR.  My first attempt was to copy sector 0 off a GPT formatted memory stick.

Examined that with fdisk and it had partition of type EE, but start and end cylinders were the same.

I edited partition 1 and accepted defaults.

fdisk on mac will report "can't get exclusive access to write sector back, reboot required"  It lies.  You don't have to reboot.

After doing this diskutil was able to see both partitions.

I was unable to repair the first partition, used for time machine, and ended up reformatting it. (Even after it was a recognizable partition, diskutil would start on it, and give up in a few seconds.)  (I didn't try very hard.  The really important stuff is stored on drop box, on a mirrored disk on another machine.)

@Klanomath deserves credit for GPT disk.  I had found this, but missed the fact that it provided Mac binaries.  I'm not used to binaries on Source forge.  GPT disk appears to be a useful tool for dealing with this sort of situation. It would have been a better way to go.


Those two styles for the glorious magsafes are physically different. If it fits without an adapter you have the right prong for your machine.
An overview for which Apple (don't call it)laptop mobile devices need which can be found here.

The menubar not reflecting what the charger is telling you may be caused by something else.
You indicated that your charger is declared as having the right power rating. Since it is apparently not an Apple product giving you problems, you might want to check if it really delivers the amount of power adversed.

Trying an SMC reset and making sure the connector for the charger on the MBP is clean would be the next steps. Defective chargers cannot be ruled out entirely. Since it's new, go let it be checked out.


You are correct.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201322

You can't unhide an app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, but you can redownload an app. You don't have to buy the app again.


The account does not exist in bugreport.apple.com

You have to create a developer account which will be accessible with your actual account (AppleID):
Apple Developer web


Allow all applications to access Desktop, Documents, and Downloads in Catalina

This functionality is referred to by Apple as “Transparency, Consent, and Control” (TCC), Access Control, and Privacy Preferences Policy Control (PPPC). It is designed to give a user control over Apps to protect their privacy. In some cases an App will request access to something that App really doesn't need and the user can block the App from accessing that data or filesystem path. It is annoying, but it's typically a one-time event per App.  So unless you are frequently clean installing macOS it wouldn't be super annoying.
Apple provides a way to build a Configuration Profile payload to whitelist applications so the user approval prompts do not appear.  An Mobile Device Management (MDM) server would be the best way to deploy the payload.
You might be able to build a custom XML Plist Configuration Profile and manually load it on macOS Catalina without an MDM and it might work to whitelist the Apps you specify. But it's a lot of work and as of macOS 11 (10.16) Big Sur will break. Big Sur simply won't trust a Configuration Profile unless it comes from a trusted MDM.
If you want to try whitelisting the Apps and manually installing a custom profile you can review that sample here:
https://support.apple.com/guide/mdm/privacy-preferences-policy-control-custom-mdm9ddb7e0b5/1/web/1 You can use Apple Configurator to create the Configuration profile with this payload and double-clicking the .mobileconfig should install the profile.  There's a command line profiles command as well.
Those who use MDM typically deploy a bunch of Apps and configurations and they whitelist kernel extensions and PPPC/TCC entries via Configuration Profiles. They can lockdown a great many things on macOS/iPadOS/iOS. Admins would whitelist Apps so the users are not flooded with a bunch of user approval prompts but also seeing fewer of them will help a user be surprised when they see one and hopefully make an appropriate choice or at least call the Help Desk.  You don't want users clicking through frequent prompts without thinking about the question being asked. Most Macs managed by an MDM wouldn't even grant administrator rights to the users and they would provide a company specific App Store where pre-packaged and prepared Apps are provided.  Those Apps would all be whitelisted on PPPC/TCC approvals.  The Mac App Store may be blocked to the user.  Those Apps can be deployed by the MDM via VPP (Volume Purchase Pricing) integration with the companies procurement department.
So unless you setup your own MDM server and manually create a Configuration Profile to whitelist all the Apps and update that list over time. Then deploy it. There isn't really a good answer here. It's still a lot of work to manually specify every app in an XML file and only really useful if you are doing it across many Macs.
There is a Python tccutil.py utility on Github that can whitelist individual apps to the tcc.db but access to the tcc.db is blocked by SIP (System Integrity Protection) since Sierra. TCC was updated since Mojave to add the user approval to Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc. This tool won't work unless you disable SIP. Disabling SIP is NOT RECOMMENDED.  Since Catalina, the System volume is Read Only.  So you would have to not only disable SIP but also get around the Read Only System APFS volume which is possible.  Again, NOT RECOMMENDED. It is a lot of work that is frankly, not worth the effort to get around a one time prompt per App.
There is a published exploit where a malicious App could impersonate a trusted App identifier and signatures to bypass the PPPC/TCC protections.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
The X11 based apps such as Fontforge, Gimp, Inkscape, etc. do not run as true macOS applications.  They run a wrapper around a command line binary then load the X11 resources into the wrapper.  Therefore you must grant permissions to the Terminal App where these applications actually run.
Try going to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Full Disk Access -> Unlock the panel and click + and add the Terminal App. This is fairly dangerous and has security implications but according to the Github issues regarding Gimp, Fontforge, etc. This may resolve the problem as a work around.  It is unlikely these applications will fully resolve this issue. They have made some recent changes to help alleviate the problem on macOS.


iTunes Smart Playlist - currently playing track

I think there's a two-step solution to this:

First create a smart playlist for tracks that are unrated or have 3-5 stars.

Second, set that playlist as the source for iTunes DJ, and play tracks using that. Last I checked, tracks would play through even if they wound up getting tagged in mid-play in a way that would remove them from the smart playlist.


Block an Application for a certain amount of time

Try self control. It blocks websites rather than apps, but if you know where the app resolves to (I presume its online play) then you can block its access.

Next best thing is willpower.


You should set up Virtual Hosts.

In /etc/apache2/httpd.conf uncomment the line:

#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Now edit /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf. Remove the example vhosts, but do specify a default vhost as the first one. Here's an example config.

NameVirtualHost *:80

<VirtualHost *:80>
        DocumentRoot /Library/WebServer/Documents
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName myproject
        DocumentRoot /Users/username/Sites/myproject
        <Directory /Users/username/Sites/myproject>
                Order Allow,Deny
                Allow from all
        </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Restart apache by running apache2ctl restart.

You should add an entry to your /etc/hosts file so that your servername resolves:

127.0.0.1  myproject

Now, when accessing the http://myproject, your rewrite rules will be relative to the right document root.


This restored the default mouse behavior for me, though it looks like I had a different problem.

Open keyboard settings in System Preferences > Keyboard
Click Modifier Keys... button in bottom right of panel
Select your mouse from the dropdown
Click Restore Defaults button to restore default behavior.

If that doesn't work, you might also try these instructions for removing your keyboard profiles and then restarting.


Enable 3-finger swipe for home and end in Chrome

BetterTouchTool is the answer!
You can get it from here. It helps you configure all gestures globally or for a specific application. It also includes some special gestures not embedded by default on Mac OS.
With gestures, I can scroll through tabs, reload page, close tab, go up and down.

It works for the macbook trackpad, the Magic Mouse and the magic Trackpad.

A bliss ;)


Transfer Bootcamp over from a separate hard drive to a partition of a hard drive

If I read correctly you merely created a partition using bootcamp assistant, which essentially doesn't do anything but create an FAT formatted partition.
OS X will only show you bootable partitions (meaning partitions it finds a system on). You will first need to copy over your data, either including the system or reinstalling and moving over only certain data you want on the SSD.
If you want to do it 1:1 there's also tools like Winclone


pfctl - howto add an anchor and make it active / load it

In my understanding of pf your major anchor is missing. You may either use Apple's anchor(s) or a user defined anchor.

A user defined anchor is preferred:

Modify /private/etc/pf.conf:

Add two lines to pf.conf like this:

...
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"

#
# usr.home anchor point
#
anchor "usr.home/*"
load anchor "usr.home" from "/etc/pf.anchors/usr.home"

Create a file usr.home. In the example below I create an anchor SSH blocking SSH access from a local network to some IPs of the host:

sudo nano /etc/pf.anchors/usr.home

and add

#
# usr.home ruleset, referred to by the modified /etc/pf.conf file.
# See notes in that file regarding the anchor point in the main ruleset.
#

#
# SSH anchor point.
#

anchor "SSH"
load anchor "SSH" from "/etc/pf.rules/pfssh.rule"

Now create a new directory

sudo mkdir /etc/pf.rules

and the referenced file with:

sudo nano /etc/pf.rules/pfssh.rule

and the following content:

block in quick inet proto { tcp, udp } from 10.0.0.0/8 to { 10.128.8.145, 10.129.8.145 } port 22

Parse and test your pf.conf and your anchor file to make sure that they are error-free:

sudo pfctl -vnf /etc/pf.conf
sudo pfctl -vnf /etc/pf.anchors/usr.home

Reload pf:

sudo pfctl -d
sudo pfctl -e -f /etc/pf.conf

You can add additional anchors to your major usr.home anchor as demontrated in the major com.apple anchor.

You can also add additional dynamic sub-anchors with the following command (here I add a temporary block HTTP rule similar to the SSH rule - check the creation of a transitory sub-anchor: usr.home/HTTP here!):

echo "block drop in quick proto tcp from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 80" | sudo pfctl -a usr.home/HTTP -f -

The temporary anchor doesn't survive a reboot!

One possible command to remove the temporary rule immediately is:

echo "" | sudo pfctl -a usr.home/HTTP -f -

A handy script to check all loaded anchors and rules is pfdump:

pfdump.sh:

#!/bin/bash

function pfprint() {
  if [ -n "$1" ];then
    sudo pfctl -a "$2" -s"$1" 2>/dev/null
  else
    sudo pfctl -s"$1" 2>/dev/null
  fi
}

function print_all() {

  local p=$(printf "%-40s" $1)
  (
    pfprint r "$1" | sed "s,^,r     ,"
    pfprint n "$1" | sed "s,^,n     ,"
    pfprint A "$1" | sed "s,^,A     ,"
  ) | sed "s,^,$p,"

  for a in `pfprint A "$1"`; do
    print_all "$a"
  done
}

print_all

All files mentioned require an empty new line at the end!


Apple Remote Desktop over internet "without" port forwarding

Unfortunately, not any more. It used to be possible using Back to my Mac, which was abandoned at Mojave.

See Does Apple Remote Desktop connect to computers over the internet? for how it used to work.

Also ref: Wikipedia - Back to my Mac


Not able to open print setup in my mac. I use OS X EI Captain 10.11.1

It's not entirely clear from your question, but I think you're just looking in the wrong place. The Printers & Scanners control panel is a 'set & forget' control, one you really only need if you add a new printer.

You deal with the regular task of adjusting printer defaults for a given print job from the Print menu in your current application - this example from Safari


MacBook Pro randomly discharges from 100% to ~90% when plugged

This is normal behavior.
The key to your question is your estimation:

After some time, when it gets to 88-92%

That is right at the line (93%) where Apple estimates that charging will appear to stop.  A couple of percentage points is well within the margin of error and it's safe to say it wasn't a scientific observation you were making.
From Apple Support: About Mac notebook batteries

My battery won't charge to 100%
Occasionally, the battery might not show a full charge (100%) in macOS, even after the power adapter has been connected for an extended period of time. The battery might appear to stop charging between 93 percent and 99 percent. This behavior is normal and will help to prolong the overall life of the battery.

The thing is, depending on use, it may go a little lower than 93%.  Most things done with battery is done based on calculation of what's measured so 93% is a calculation.  The point is, a hard 93% would not be that the demarcation of when to start charging.  Like everything else, it is based on the measurement; and in this case, most likely the measurement of the remaining charge and max charge values read directly from the battery itself and not a calculation displayed by the OS.
Regarding Catalina
Catalina introduced a Battery Health Management feature  and released it to the public June 1st 2020 in the 10.15.5 Update.  The Support article I sourced the info from above is from May 26th, 2020 (Pre-Catalina, see image below).

Apple has a habit of not dating things or just showing you when things were updated so, took a screen grab for posterity
It's also been in the public beta for some time judging by the ample blogs/articles written about it.  Now, it wouldn't be uncommon for Apple to implement a portion of the the feature (like changing the max charging limit) into earlier versions of macOS.  The full "Battery Management" feature allows you the ability to control it.


How to change the color of text highlighting in Preview using a shortcut?

As you probably know the Preview does not have the short cut for that function.

Here is the list of shortcuts that Preview does has.

And many other OS applications shortcuts.


How to use Apple Mail as default email program in Windows 8 running under Parallels?

Yes, this should be possible!
First things first: I have Parallels 8, but I expect this setting to not have moved significantly since.

Open your virtual machine's configuration
Go to options
Select "Programms"
On the right side you'll see "E-Mail" and a drop down list where you can select "Open in Mac" or along these lines.

Mind you, I have a German installation, so this is freely translated by myself, the wording might be slightly different.


Does a purchased iTunes song contain my Apple ID?

Yes. Purchased .m4a files contain the purchaser's name & email address used in the related Apple ID.

A quick way round it is to just re-encode them as AAC.

With iTunes in Music view, My music

right click the column header & make sure 'Kind' is showing.
click that column to sort by Kind
scroll to find 'Protected AAC' songs.
right-click/Get Info [or  ⌘ Cmd   i  ] then see the File tab [iTunes 12] or the Summary tab [iTunes 11 or earlier] This will show the purchaser info.

To remove...

Preferences > General > Import Settings... Make sure it's set to AAC Encoder (& iTunes Plus for better quality)

Then for each protected song...

right click or File Menu - Create AAC Version.

Then delete the old protected versions. You'll have to do that alphabetically, as in your current sort view, they won't show in the same place in the list.

Examples of tagging before & after re-encoding as AAC...
Incidentally, it was proved empirically back in 2007 that the audio itself contains no watermark. EFF: DRM-free iTunes files carry “more than just names and e-mail addresses”

Before - from iTunes Store
 I've blurred anything that could possibly be identifying

After...


Why are swiffy files without sound on iPads?

HTML audio has shaky compatibility across all the different browsers.

For this to work correctly, the audio would need to be converted into MP3, OGG and WAV formats. (in addition to converting the video, which different browsers prefer different formats, too)

In short, HTML audio and video is young, and a fuller experience will come once the standards mature, and the browsers homogenise format compatibility.


Use copied file path in terminal (from applescript and automator)

No need for Automator.

Just use AppleScript (Change /opt/local/bin/tesseract to the output of which tesseract):

set myFile to (choose file with prompt "Choose a file to convert") # Get the file to convert
set myFilePOSIX to the POSIX path of myFile # Get terminal friendly path
set myLocation to (choose folder with prompt "Choose a location to save your file") # Get location to save the file
set myLocationPOSIX to the POSIX path of myLocation
tell application "Finder"
    display dialog "Choose a file name" default answer (name of file myFile as string) # Type the name the file
    set myName to the text returned of the result # Get what user typed
end tell
do shell script "/opt/local/bin/tesseract " & quoted form of myFilePOSIX & " " & quoted form of myLocationPOSIX & quoted form of myName # Do the terminal command


Need tighter connection with my Time Capsule as external drive

Your Time Capsule has that "lag" because the drives spin down (goes to sleep) if there has been no activity for a certain amount of time.

This is also the reason that it gets disconnected after a certain amount of time.  The drives go to sleep for two reasons:  one, it's to save power; there's no point in spinning drives that aren't being used, and two it's to maximize the life of the drive.

I wouldn't recommend this method for sharing and/or storing files as the TC was meant for backups.  If you need storage for your files I would definitely recommend a NAS like the Synology or an external Thunderbolt drive.  I personally use the Synology with my Mac and have no problems whatsoever.

"Hack" to Keep the Drives Spinning

Since the drives spin down when there is no activity for a given amount of time, a quick and easy hack would be to access the drive for some minor operation to create activity.    A simple bash script would work perfectly:

#!/bin/bash
# Script to create activity on time capsule to prevent drives going to sleep
# It creates an empty text file named tempfile.txt then removes it

touch /Volumes/<Time Capsule Volume Name/tempfile.txt
rm /Volumes/<Time Capsule Volume Name/tempfile.txt

exit

Save that bash script as keepalive.sh or something that makes sense to you in a easily accessible location like a "Scripts" subdirectory in your Documents folder.  Make sure it has the "executable" attribute by issuing the command chmod +x keepalive.sh.

Now, using crontab you can easily set this script to run every X mins, hours, days, etc.

Open crontab for editing by issuing the command crontab -e
add the following line to your crontab file:

*/15 * * * *   /bin/bash        /Users/<username>/Documents/Scripts/keepalive.sh
The time is set for every 15 minutes.  If the lag is still present, you will need to adjust that value to something smaller.  Just use crontab -e to edit.

NOTE:  most likely your "editor" environment variable defaults to vi (default).  It's not difficult to use, but it's definitely not intuitive for new users.  Use nano instead by invoking the crontab editor with this command (pay attention to case):

env EDITOR=nano crontab -e

You will then be able to use Ctrl"Key" combinations (i.e. Ctrl"S" for "Save").  The commands will be at the bottom of the screen.


There are 2 issues:

First, you can't delete applications from Launchpad. You need to delete them from Applications.

Second, you can't delete some system applications (that are essential part of OS X) from Applications by dragging them to Trash. You can only delete applications that you've added. (Actually you can delete system applications, but not by dragging to Trash; it requires some command line interface usage).


11D167 is iOS 7.1.

The version shown in the device About will show the entire version number.


Do I need a credit card on file to get free apps?

You can set your payment details to none when you set up your Apple ID. This way you can download free content without the use of a creditcard.


Is it possible to add a note to a ToDo in Mail.app

The only feature I was able to find is that in the list of ToDo items one can add a Notes column and enter text into there for each ToDo.

To add the Notes column to the list, view your list of ToDo's and then select the Notes item from View->Columns

I couldn't find a way to view multi-line notes for a ToDo item, but I could type option-return to insert a return character.


What's the "@"mark at the file description?

It means that the file has extended attributes. To see these attributes, run xattr -l file, to see the extended attributes of a particular file, or ls -l@ to see the extended attributes of all files in a particular directory.

See the man page for xattr as well.


Wallet and Pay and Reminders disappeared after re-pairing Apple Watch with watchOS 6.1

Accidentally, I found the solution, which I'd like to share here:

Reminder app has never appeared in the list of installed apps, neither in the Watch app on the iPhone, nor on the Apple Watch itself (in contrast to Calendar, and in contrast to the situation before the upgrade to watchOS 6).

BUT: while configuring the watch facet, I saw Reminder as a possible complication to choose. I tried it to select and it opened the new version of Reminders app. It was a bit laggy, but it worked: all reminders were synchronized with the iPhone.


Question regarding how Mac Security works with FileVault off

Every file is protected by permissions. Permissions are like laws: You can choose to follow them or not. Files are like property.

Laws:

John owns this file and controls who and what people can do
Bob, Johns friend,  can Read this file but can't Write to this file
Sam, Johns colleague, can read and write to this file
Everyone else is unable to read or write to this file

Note:  You can see these permissions by selecting a file and pressing CMD + I. Under "Sharing & Permission" there is a list of users and there corresponding permissions.

It is up to the operating system/user to follow these laws (permissions).

Jack, Johns enemy, can look at the file and see that he does not have permission by John, the owner, to view this file.  Jack is a bad guy and decides that he is going to look at the file anyway.

Jack can do this extremely easily by booting onto a flashdrive/external drive and following this guide: https://larryjordan.com/articles/mac-os-set-hard-drive-permissions/ or some many other various ways including booting from an external drive.

Scenario 1: The File is not Encrypted

Jack views the file and steals all the information on it.

Scenario 2: The File is Encrypted

Jack tries to view the file but the file is unreadable because it is encrypted. Jack yells "DARN!" in frustration and continues on to his next victim.

Scenario 3: The File is Encrypted but John Uses an easy to guess password
Jack tries to view the file but the files is unreadable because it is encrypted. He decides to see if he can guess John's password and guesses "John123". Jack is correct and unencrypted the file. He yells "Stupid John" and steals all the information on it.

Moral of the story:

Permissions are like laws.  Most law abiding operating systems and users will...well..abide by these laws. But some criminals (hackers or your average Joe) can very easily ignore these permissions.  To prevent these people from accessing your information you have to encrypt the file with a strong password, otherwise the criminals can guess/brute force/hack the password and access your data.

FireVault encrypts your entire disk. I would suggest keeping it on if you have any important information on your disk.


Safari 8: Delete key no longer deletes text inside the form fields

Just in case someone else has this issue: the problem was with Click2Flash Safari extension. If you are experiencing a similar issue, try disabling all extensions and restarting Safari. You can also try disabling JavaScript to confirm that this is an extension related issue.

Removing Click2Flash and restarting resolved this issue for me.


Show Dialog Window if User logout on High Sierra

Yes this is possible.

You can use the "User Policy Banner" feature.

Although used mainly in cafes and other public places to make user agree to a ToC this feature can be used to create a dialog box.

From the related Apple support article:

A policy banner is a banner that you can display at the login window that requires a user to acknowledge it before proceeding.

  Create a banner

  You can set a login message that appears at the login screen of your
  Mac. You can also set a "policy" banner to display a longer message
  that you must accept before you can log in. This can be useful in
  situations where you need users to agree to or acknowledge terms or
  conditions before using the computer, such as an Acceptable Use
  Policy.

  Use these steps to create a policy banner:

  Create a plain text (.txt) or rich text (.rtf) document named PolicyBanner that contains your banner.
  Copy the PolicyBanner file to the /Library/Security/ folder.

  The next time you restart the computer, the banner you created appears
  when you would normally see the login screen.

The banner will look like this:


New MacBook Pro: Migration Assistant or Time Capsule?

It actually doesn't matter. If you install Lion you can use the Time Machine backup as the source for restoring all data through Migration Assistant. It works exactly the same as if you put your old machine into target disk mode and use it as a drive for Migration Assistant.

(I was really surprised to find this out a couple of days ago when shuffling hard drives - 3 bad SSDs in a row, long story - and I was not allowed to select Time Machine to restore from because it was too large for the 240GB SSD, after using a 750GB spinning disk for a while - even though I had carefully excluded enough data to be sure it would fit. Then when Migration Assistant came up it allowed me to use the Time Machine drive to restore all the data I wanted anyway - all 90GB of it. All's well now, and this unexpected feature of Time Machine saved me some time.)


Lion sleep (or hibernate) closes all applications

I think this is the feature of logging out after inactivity that can be set in System Preferences. This is in the General tab of the Security pane with the option of "Log out after ... minutes of inactivity".

An Apple page describing this feature is available here.

Additionally, this issue is described in another Stack Exchange question that I saw recently.

I'm only on my iPad so can't check this out at the moment but seems like it might be responsible.


I use PDF Pen Pro to fix up scans and OCR them (optionally) and see as PDF. Depending on what "fix" them up is, the preview app might be fully capable for your needs.

PDF Expert also gets great reviews, but I've not needed anything as Preview and PDF Pen Pro have my needs covered.

https://smilesoftware.com/PDFpen
https://smilesoftware.com/PDFpenPro


Is an iPod Touch 5th generation a good testing device for iOS (react-native) development in 2018

No, an iPod 5th gen would not work for testing your app for these reasons:

Software incapabilities. The 5th generation iPod came out in 2012 and is using a 32 bit architecture, therefore, it is unable to update to software requiring a 64 bit architecture. Which means it is stuck at iOS 9.

Why this matters:

iOS 10-11 brought many new features and speed improvements to all apple devices. If you are testing your product on a device that does not have these enhancements, you will not be able to provide a quality product to people using the newer versions of iOS

Processor problems. The iPod 5th gen came with Apple's A5 chip and a 32bit chip

Why this matters:

Plain and simple, your iPod will crash when it runs the app.


Open the terminal, and execute

touch /Applications/Xcode.app

A zero-sized file named Xcode.app will be created under that path. Now you are able to see and hide the DEVELOPER catalogue in System Preferences -> Spotlight. Just like this:


Mac Mini white screen - no recovery / no os installed

Try a SMC/NVRAM reset while no device is plugged in. If that doesn't work, then connect it to another Mac and use Target Disk Mode to reinstall OS X


Why do messages I send display to receiver as an email address and not a phone number?

The setting for this is in Settings > Messages > Send & Recieve. From there you can scroll down to the "start new conversations from" header and choose your phone number.


If you open the PDF in Preview, you can manually add keywords to the PDF. There is no need to highlight the words first.

Open the Inspector (Command - i) and the click the tab that looks like a magnifying glass.  Click the + button on the bottom left and you can add the keyword.


How to prevent re-ordering of app icon locations after apps re-enabled on a MDM-enrolled device?

Kidslox have a workaround they call Icon Fixer.  I haven't tested this, but came across it a while ago.

  ... Once downloaded, the Icon Fixer ‘app’ will appear as a greyed out icon on your device. It’s basically an app that never fully installs and this frozen state is what keeps the apps in order when using Kidslox.


How to uninstall individual Office365 components in Mac OS X

Just trash the apps you no longer want.

Office 2011 no longer uses a dedicated uninstaller.  See this Microsoft support document for more information.


How can I diagnose my iPhone 4-Time Capsule wifi connection problems?

Have you tried testing the connection coming straight from the modem? The only good way to really test this is by connecting a computer directly to the modem over ethernet and seeing what kind of connection you have.

Does Airplay work for you? If so, another reason why I think there's nothing wrong with the router. Have you done a hard restart of your modem. Try that first as it's the resist thing to do.


Get List of Purchased Items on App Store

Unfortunately the only way to do this is if you have access to a Mac (or Virtual Machine) running OS X El Capitan (10.11). I have an iMac that can't be upgraded beyond 10.11 so I'm able to do this pretty easily. I'll explain how for anyone who might be interested enough to do this in 2019 or beyond.

The App Store in El Capitan had a "Debug" menu, (which was removed in 10.12), which you can enable by entering this command in Terminal.app:

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

Once enabled, you will find the Debug menu at the far right of the App Store menus. One of its options is: "Save page source to disk"

If you open the "Purchased" tab in the App Store app, and then select "Save page source to disk" it will save the HTML to:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.appstore/Data/Library/Documentation/pageSource.html

(I think it was /tmp/pageSource.html in an earlier version of OS X, but I'm not sure.)

From there you can use the HTML file to produce a list, or just use the HTML file if you prefer. I have a script that transforms the pageSource.html into https://mas.luo.ma for me.

I don't know how long Apple will support El Capitan accessing the App Store, but I believe they still support back to 10.7 / Lion, so I'm hopeful it will continue for a good long time.


Is there a way to easily move between albums/artists when listening to music on iPhone/iPod touch

The best way I have found to do this is to create a playlist on iTunes on my Mac and sync my iPhone with that Playlist.  If I sort by Artist in iTunes before syncing, it is synced that way on my iPhone.  I then scroll through the playlist on my phone to select an album or artist, instead of selecting the artist or album directly.  This way my music app will go to the next artist or album after my current album is finished.


Some SD cards' firmware will lock the device to read-only if any write error occurs.

If this happens, the only solution is to copy all data off it & discard.

SD/flash is not worth the effort of trying to fix, once it starts to go wrong.

Things to try…

Double-check the physical lock has not been flipped by accident.
Reboot the computer & try again
Try it on another computer/device
Once you have all existing data copied from it, attempt to format.

If none of this is successful, throw it away.

I work with hundreds of (admittedly very cheap) SD cards for work, & this is our standard practise if they start to fail.

Golden rule
Never store any important data on SD without having a safety copy on some more reliable medium.
I'd even extend that to - if you have to use SD to carry data from one machine to another - home/work etc - use 2 cards & keep them manually in sync with your work.


Put your device in airplane mode and disconnect from wireless. Now you can open the calendar app and settings app and clean any accounts or subscribed calendars.
Track down all the events you feel are wrong and delete them, make note of which calendar they reside.

https://support.apple.com/HT211076

From there, you can likely turn on networking and test you removed the data that was added as a subscription.


Is there a way to see what permissions an ios app store app asks for, except manually opening it?

If the app is installed go to Settings -> AppName and the list of permissions will be there


How do i disable messenger on the iMac but not my MacBook/iPhone

Assuming you mean the Messages app, all you need to do is sign out of it on the iMac.

To do this:

Launch the Messages app on the iMac
Go to Messages menu > Preferences
Select the Accounts icon
Click on your account (in the left-hand column)
Click on the Sign Out button (on the right-hand side)

When you exit the Messages app it will no longer receive your messages.


Terminal on Mac won't launch a shell - stuck on login: incorrect

What worked for me was:

Completely close all terminal windows.
Open Finder from the Dock.
Press Command+Shift+G and type in ~/Library/Preferences/, then press enter.
Locate the file called com.apple.Terminal.plist and rename it (using highlight and then single click) to com.apple.Terminal.OLD.plist.
Re-open the terminal app.

Note that the file might also show up in Finder as com.apple.Terminal if you do not show extensions by default.


How does App Store "complete my bundle" work when I've spent more than the bundle cost?

Since you’ve already paid more for one app than the total cost of the bundle, you get the rest of the bundle for free. This is why it says GET without a price.

If you had to pay anything, it would show you a price instead. For instance, in my case I see $3.99 where you see GET.

iTunes albums work the same way. Every time you purchase a track on an album, the cost to complete the album goes down, as reflected on the Purchase button. If the cumulative cost you’ve paid for the tracks on an album exceeds the cost of the album as a whole, the button changes to GET and you can download the remaining tracks “for free.”


How to ctrl+click without right clicking?

Use Karabiner (Download-link: https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/) for this. With Karabiner it is possible to reassign every single key.

So you can use the control-key for example for letter i (meaningless, but useful for your problem).

Lock at the picture below, there I have change the function for control-right to write the letter i.

So now I hope you can use Ctrl + Click on this website!


Thunderbolt VGA adapter not working on Macbook Pro Retina late 2013

I've solved problem buying a original adapter apple thunderbolt/vga. I still can't understand why my mac not works with compatibile adapter only with long vga (with short vga cable works with compatibile adapter as well) cable (20mt)  while the others mac works with it.

Bye


What is a method for sharing an Aperture library?

Put the library file in a folder that is accessible to other computers and set permissions so that it can be accessed/edited by other users. You also need to be certain that only one person is editing the file at any given time – the software isn't designed as a shared database and I don't know what, if any, protections it provides against this scenario.

You can also use referenced images instead of managed and put those images in a shared space. However, other users will only have access to the master images and you will want to beware of external edits that are destructive to those master files. Changes to that file hierarchy itself (file moves, renames, etc) made outside of Aperture will result in broken links and you'll have to relocate the images from inside Aperture. . I prefer the simplicity, security and beauty of a managed library.

In what way is this lock-in? It's a simple case of access to a database file. Granted the file — a sparse bundle containing images, metadata and edit instructions in which your master images are stored in their original format — is proprietary to Aperture but the master files remain available should you lose Aperture for some reason.

Accessing the files contained within the Aperture Library package using a right (control)-click

Inside the library bundle your master images are filed, hierarchically by import date, in their original format. They can be copied out as you wish.

I fail to see this as an example of Apple forcing the eco system on you. You are not forced to use Aperture if you don't like it's features and limitations and departure is a simple export (of versions and masters) or "unbundling" of the library file (masters only) away.

Beautiful indeed.


What is the MacOSX.sdk file? Where do I find it?

As mentioned by Mark in the comments the instructions are made for older versions of Xcode.

In my opinion you can simply link a MacOSX sdk to /Developer/SDKs:

sudo mkdir -p /Developer/SDKs
sudo ln -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.8.sdk /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk

additionally you can add a link named MacOSX10.6.sdk

sudo ln -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.8.sdk /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.6.sdk

Another tip is to edit build/core/combo/mac_version.mk and changing:
mac_sdk_versions_supported := 10.6 10.7 10.8
to
mac_sdk_versions_supported := 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10

I strongly recommend to use a virtual machine (Mountain Lion) and an older Xcode version (4.6.3). This version as well as all other versions are freely available with an Apple ID at Downloads for Apple Developers


The oracle Java 7 does not remove the Apple supplied Java 6. It does however change /usr/bin/java to start the Oracle Java.

To start a jar with Java 6 instead of just using java on the command line put in the full path to the java i.e. /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java


Adobe Acrobat Ridiculous Document Protection – How to prevent an image from being copied from a PROTECTED document?

You shouldn't rely on that feature for serious protection of your document. It is simply not possible to restrict access to the image by third party software if you still want the user to be able to view it. I.e. it is not really a bug in Preview, it is a limitation in what's actually possible for Adobe to enforce.
You could take a screenshot of the final, composed product and use that in the PDF instead of your original material. That way the image will be blended together with the rest and cannot as easily be separated again.


Can I use Linux in a 2011 Macbook Pro with a defective discrete GPU?

Yes, you can user Linux on a 2011 Macbook Pro that has a defective discrete GPU.

I just installed Ubuntu 14.04 on mine and it's working correctly. I followed these instructions:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2157775

Update:

In this MacRumours thread you can find a procedure to disable the discrete GPU by modifying the EFI variables:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/force-2011-macbook-pro-8-2-with-failed-amd-gpu-to-always-use-intel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/


When does it help to restore an iDevice using iTunes, as opposed to "erase all content and settings"?

Erase all content and settings does exactly that, it erases user data and restores default settings - but leaves the current version of iOS intact.

Performing a full restore through iTunes is the only way to completely erase the device and perform a fresh installation of iOS.

If you've any doubts then the iTunes restore is probably your best option as it will update your version of iOS, with the option of backing up and subsequently restoring your apps, music and other settings with the minimum of effort.


LyX start every time as a new application

I finally realized that the folder /Applications/LyX.app/ didn't have write permissions not even for the proprietary user, differently from all other *.app folders in /Applications, so the execution of the command
chmod +w /Applications/LyX.app

solved the problem.


It's been a while since I played with Applescript, but I think it's just 'window 1' [without quotes] for the frontmost window.


How to enter iphone passcode, which contains Foreign characters, on a Mac?

On the Mac - open System Preferences.

Keyboard

You can use the Input Sources section to add Unicode Hex Input and enter any of the 120,000 characters in that standard by value. You might also know which type of characters you need and choose a country's input source to get accented or currency characters typical for that region.


You can use AppleScript to click twice using click at and a delay.

tell application "System Events"
  click at {10, 10}
  delay 0.1
  click at {10, 10}
end tell


Crash during Boot Camp restoration. How do I remove my Windows partition?

Resolved by removing what was listed as "Free Space" in Disk Utility and re-partitioning it to Macintosh HD.


Set different volume for phone and clock

There is a free application, called Nightstand Central (the one with the moon symbol) that lets you set the volume of the alarm as you like without changing that of the iPhone.


What exactly is meant by PPM002, PPM003, PPM004?

Apple doesn’t share technical documents like that outside being a certified repair tech. In the end, if the RAM is soldered to the board, it means call for a repair but I understand wanting to see high quality repair manuals, they are awesome for learning how things work and how they break.
I don’t know of any place that broke NDA and shared the manuals covering this - so you probably would get an answer indirectly by engaging  Apple support. Based on what they fix, you may be able to learn what was wrong, but most repairs do whole board swaps and don’t go into sub component repair.


Equalizing volume of different songs in itunes

I use an external tool (MP3gain) for this. It works fine without touching the mp3 coding. The linked one is windows only, but there is also a Mac version, if I remember correctly.


Playing with the equalizer seems to be effective, and there are some presets that help isolate vocals, or boost vocals.


Why can't find you open source software in the app store?

You can find open source in the app store e.g. The Unarchiver source is on BitBucket

However app store only provides apps and these have to be standalone and not depend on other apps and have other restrictions, thus Unarchiver suggests you download from outside the App Store

Most things in Macports and Homebrew are command line tools or at least launched from the command line so could not be in App Store. Also historically Macports and Homebrew existed before the app store

There are also license issues to go in the App Store you have to include some Apple non open source code - for some licences e.g. GPL this can't be done - if you get all the coders to agree you can do this but if only one contributor disagrees then the app can't go in the App Store e.g. vlc


I don't think Calendar will automatically change the time zone. In fact, it probably shouldn't, otherwise it could be confusing if the user didn't notice it has changed.

However there are two things you can easily do:

Enable Set time zone automatically using current location in System Preferences > Date & Time > Time Zone. This will ensure that the machine time zone is always correct.
Then, in the Calendar, select the time zone in the top right corner. In this dropdown, there should normally be all the time zones associated with the calendar events, as well as the current time zone. Select the current one, and that should do it. Since this setting is saved, you only need to do it once every time you change the time zone.


How do I transfer a single app with data from one iPhone to another?

The best practice in storing app credentials is the Keychain. If you really need to recover the password check out this guide http://www.iphonehacks.com/2013/08/transfer-passwords-to-new-iphone-itunes-backup.html

  In iTunes, go to the “Summary” section, scroll to Backups, and enable
  the “Encrypt iPhone backup” option.

After recovery, feel free to wipe the new iPhone.

In case the app did not store in Keychain, you can use this technique to migrate app data individually http://lifehacker.com/5891964/can-i-transfer-app-data-and-game-saves-from-my-iphone-to-a-new-ipad

Before we start, we should note this works for any iOS device. So if you want to back up and transfer data for iPads, iPhones, or between the two, this works. To manually backup and transfer data, we're going to use the free Mac and Windows program iExplorer. You don't need to jailbreak your iPhone to use iExplorer and it's easy to pull data from your iPhone to transfer it to your new device. Here's how to do it.

Download the app you want to transfer data to on your new iPad.
Plug your iPhone into your computer.
Start up iExplorer and wait for your device to show up in the file
browser.
Click the arrow next to your device name.
Click the arrow next to Apps.
Find the app you want to transfer data from and click the arrow.
Inside the app's main folder is a folder called Documents. That's
where your saved data and game saves are located. Copy it to your
desktop.
Disconnect your iPhone from your computer and plug in your iPad.
In iExplorer, find the app you want to transfer data to on your iPad
using the same steps from above.
Locate the Documents folder and copy all the data you just copied
 to your desktop folder onto the iPad.

That's it, you're done. Different apps use different save files and occasionally the above process will require you to copy several files over. Other times you only have one file. This process works for most apps, but not all of them. Let's take a look at a few of the instances where data doesn't transfer over properly.

Don't forget to look at the caveats because sometimes this technique does not work.


Why does my iPhone 4S go blank due to over heating?

The store guy is telling you crap, there is no such thing as a sleep mode that would exhibit the symptoms you describe.  Demand an exchange.


You can also copy to clipboard with

command+control+shift+3 for the whole screen
command+control+shift+4 for a part of the screen
command+control+shift+4 followed by space for a single window

and then paste the screenshot in a messaging application. As far as I see Skype for Business does not allow images in the chat. So you will have to use email or some other alternatives.


How to determine when a Mac is in Power Nap state?

There is the simple answer and the clever answer.

The simple answer is listen for the external drive spinning. If it's sleeping, you will not be interrupting data transfer (but you will be yanking an open filesystem from a sleeping computer but that's not a new issue introduced by Power Nap).

The more clever answer is to observe other things that may be happening like network traffic by sniffing the traffic and seeing if the machine is sharing files or available to ssh into if you have sharing turned on. This takes more work and an iOS device or another computer and certainly won't be faster than just opening the lid of the Mac and knowing it's not napping anymore.

In the end - it's probably worth re-training your workflow to just open the lid and eject things properly. Since Power Nap is only supported on Mac that have Apple supplied integral SSD and ridiculously fast wake times, the delay to perform the eject cleanly is less than 10 seconds excluding however long your external drive takes to wake.


Check / remove proxies from iPhone USB Personal Hotspot

Old question but for anyone else that hits this problem:

Within Terminal.app issue the command:

networksetup  -setwebproxystate iPhone\ USB off

Afterwards, you can check that is disabled by using:

networksetup -getwebproxy iPhone\ USB

This should return Enabled: No Server: 127.0.0.1 Port: 8888


How can I select an item from the icon bar alongside the menu bar using only keyboard keys?

I just figured this out. The answer is Ctrl-F8 (at least by default, assuming no shortcut customisation), or on some keyboards Ctrl-Fn-F8.


How can I disable MySQL from starting at boot?

Open terminal, then:

sudo launchctl list | grep -i mysql

launchctl remove xxx.xxx.mysql

Where "xxx.xxx" is included in the output of the first command, for example "org.macports.mysql". The password for the "sudo" command is your own user account's password.

True, sudo isn't needed to "list" but because you already gave a sudo password for the first command, it is stored for a short while in session memory and isn't required for the second command (which is privileged). Otherwise, just skip sudo on the first command and use it on the second. There are more ways than one to skin a cat.


How to get Mac to give Ethernet connection priority?

According to Apple Support:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Network.
Click the Action pop-up menu , then choose Set Service Order.
Drag a service, such as Ethernet, to the top of the list.
Click OK, then click Apply to make the new settings active.

Full article is here.


Unable to place folder or file to left border of desktop

Snap to Grid is turned on
This happens if Snap to Grid is turned on.

You can adjust the icon size and grid spacing in View Options (⌘J or View > Show View Options) to get your desired results.


Acronis True Image / Noron Ghost equivalent for Mac

There are a number of utilities that will capture a Mac's disk image from a live system. CCC is one of them and works well, SuperDuper is another which also works well. But to get many of the features that would be equivalent to Ghost or Acronis... I am not sure as my needs at work are pretty simple as I only have a few Macs.

I hear that FileWave has a solution but I have no experience with it, but it might be worth investigating.

The folks at afp548.com have an active community of Mac SysAdmins and they cover a number of workflows that allow you to image large numbers of Macs in similar ways as Ghost and Acronis. It might be worth your while to check that out.


Is it possible to assign custom Keyboard Shortcuts to Styles in Pages 5.0?

I'm afraid there is no way to do it. Apple apparently removed the feature and it is also not possible to do it via the OS X shortcuts because there is no Menu entry for choosing styles in Pages.

Here's a discussion in the Apple Support Communities where people are pretty upset about this truly annoying feature regression: https://discussions.apple.com/message/23628178#23628178


How long to hold key combinations when booting a Mac?

In general, you should hold the key(s) down until they take effect. For single-user and verbose modes, that means hold them until you see text start to appear. For the others, it's generally ok to let go once you see the Apple in the middle of the screen (the Apple is drawn by the booter, which loads after the firmware has detected startup options).

If you have FileVault 2 (full volume encryption) set up, things are a little more complicated, since some key combinations (mainly single-user, verbose, and safe boot) don't take effect until after you've authenticated to unlock the startup volume. It currently seems to do a good job of detecting the key combos before the authentication screen, then having them take effect after you "log in". But if that's not working for you, try holding them down as you press return on the FV2 authentication screen, and keep holding them until you see them take effect.


My terminal on osx 10.11.6 will not accept `[` character

So I have found the cause in my .inputrc

[[ $- = *i* ]] && bind TAB:menu-complete

I don't know why it's the cause of the problem but it was resolved by removing this, and to be honest I am not even sure what the reason for this being there was

if anyone knows the reason this causes it please feel free to answer and I will accept that answer over this


nohup or persistent process on Mac OS X ssh

One thing that always works is screen. http://ss64.com/osx/screen.html it seems to be available on Mac OS X per default.

Edit: http://web.archive.org/web/20130413070916/http://macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/07/06/unix_gems.html another tutorial abut screen.

Additionally, here is some quick tips on how to use screen

Open a new 'screen' instance

$ screen

Once, in the screen, you can 'detach' (or close out of it) the screen like this:

ctrl+A and then press D

To resume a screen, you typically do this:

$ screen -x

If you have more than one screen instance, it will tell you their IDs, in which case you can choose which one to resume like this:

$ screen -r <screen id>


Open-Xchange internet bookmark appeared on Homescreen

Found out the reason. I had a profile installed for an email account (that uses open-xchange servers) which was adding a Web Clip to the homepage. I disabled that Profile, and added the servers for the email account manually. Icon disappeared and problem solved! :)


Within Numbers there isn't such a function since you can only see one sheet at a time:

All the other sheets than the one displayed are hidden.
The function to switch from one sheet to another one is provided by clicking on the wanted one whithin the sheets column.


Music Transfer from Laptop to Phone for Immediate Use

Under Settings > Music on your iPhone, what is the position of the iTunes Match and Show All Music settings? If Show All Music is off, only tracks that have been recently played or explicitly downloaded from the cloud will appear in the Music app.


Not enough storage space on MacBook Air SSD

You could just drag the files from the iCloud folder to the DropBox folder.

Do them a bit at a time to ensure that you have enough disk space to complete the transfer.

If your available disk space is less than the size of the largest file on your iCloud Drive (i.e. you have few, very large files) - you could upload it on the DropBox web site to store it in Dropbox without requiring extra local storage right away.


Try Growl and the GrowlMail plugin, simply click to view the message, and it's free! http://growl.info/


Unable to create Shortcut for creating new note in Evernote

You need to use the 'Ask for Input' action before the Evernote app.
This way, you will be asked to enter text that can then be used in Evernote (with the 'Provided Input' variable).
Note that the 'Shortcut Input' variable takes the content from where you called it (for example a website in the share sheet).


How to recover a forgotten Apple ID without access to a trusted device or a IOS device

It's possible to recover an Apple ID even if you have forgotten your login email and password. Refer to the Apple Support article, If you forgot your Apple ID.

  Use your Apple ID account page

  Go to your Apple ID account page and click Forgot Apple ID or password.
  When you're asked to enter your Apple ID, click If you forgot your Apple ID, you can look it up.
  Enter your first name, last name, and email address. If you enter the wrong email address, you can try again with a different one.


How to convert multiple .caf audio files to .wav?

You can use ffmpeg (binary or install with Homebrew):

ffmpeg -i sound.caf sound.wav

This can be run on an entire folder using find:

find /path/to/folder/ -name "*.caf" -exec ffmpeg -i {} {}.wav \;


Any Thunderbolt docks compatible with 4K at 60Hz?

I have an AMH 399U capable of 3840x2160@60Hz with its DisplayPort 1.2 input.

If I connect my AMH 399U to a Thunderbolt port on my Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Dock, with a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable, I can then connect the other Thunderbolt Port on the dock to either my iMac15,1 (Retina iMac) or my MacBookPro11,3 (15" Retina MacBook Pro), and I get 3840x2160@60Hz on the AMH 399U, with either Mac, the same resolution and refresh rate that I get if I connect the Mini DisplayPort end of the cable directly to a Thunderbolt port on either mac.

I bought both the monitor and the dock on Amazon. They can be seen at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PAPMSLE and http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XTVGM7C


It’s the “Inactivity Sound,” called “Bass,” that Assistly plays by default when  you haven’t been using it for a few hours.

And I thought my computer was overheating!

I can’t understand why anyone would make a web app that non-obviously plays a repeating, scary sound on repeat hours after the user last interacted with it.

Terrible.

Anyway, that’s one mystery solved.

You can +1 my relevant feedback to Assistly here.


Do three finger navigation gestures work in System Preferences?

No, unfortunately three-finger swipes do not work in System Preferences.


After upgrading to macOS High Sierra, my Japanese and Chinese input methods disappeared

Reboot into Safe Mode (hold Shift while restarting). You can then log in (it will be slower than normal) and add your input methods again. Reboot again and the changes will have persisted and you should have your Input Sources back.


I was curious about what you wanted, but you can't just have "Text" instead of icons, but you can have icons that are "text" :)

check out this link on how one user solved his issue.

http://arctictransfuse.deviantart.com/art/Gill-Sans-Text-Dock-Icons-154466636

the download link is over on the right side.

how to change your icons in OSX http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2493

i think this is what you were going after...


Where file revisions are stored on OS X?

Versions are stored within the same file so a myfile.pages will have all there versions stored within it.

A version is only stored when you save from the file menu or use cmd- S

The version is just a bit of text that details the changes made since the last version so is not a copy of the file at that stage.

So if you sent the file to someone else they should get all the previous versions as well.


Is it possible to have the auto display sleep less them a minute some how?

This prints all power saving settings:
pmset -g

You will see that units are all in minutes (while '0' means 'never'):
man pmset

In other words, it is not possible.


iMac's built-in microphone doesn't work on Windows 8

Turns out I'm dumb. For some reason the upper slider was set to 0, effectively silencing the microphone. Setting it to 100 solved my problem.


App Recommendation for automatically stitching screenshots together on iOS

AutoStich Panorama
...has been my choice for the iPhone. You still need to take the pictures manually fist. You can choose all the pictures which you want to stich from your camera roll.

up to 18 megapixels are supported for stitched panoramas
camera images in any order or arrangement (vertical, horizontal, mixed).
option to stich using high res images for better result


Any way to move contacts between groups on iPhone?

Go to "groups" in "Contacts" and uncheck all the groups except the one the contact you want to move is in.
Search for the contact you want to move and "Share" the contact  to your own email address or phone # via text.
Click "edit" on the contact you just sent and delete it.
Go back to Groups and uncheck the group the contact was sent from.
Leave only the Group you want the contact in checked.
Go to your email/text and import the new contact.  It will automatically be added to the only active group which you selected.
Go back to Contact Groups and select all the groups you want showing on your phone.

Voila!


In order to move the formula you have to drag the yellow circle on the bottom of the cell:


Is there a way to order all the files and folders automatically?

Instead of using Clean Up By, use Arrange By. This both cleans up the layout and sets the default sort order for the folder for the future so that any modifications to the folder will update the sort order.


Making Homebrew and R.app live together happily

You can install R with hombrew so you avoid conflict.

brew tap homebrew/science
brew install gfortran r


4 devices on 1 Apple ID no have problems

Use different Apple IDs on each device. Using the same Apple ID will mean that the devices will be indistinguishable to FaceTime/iMessage/etc.


External hard drive unrecognizable in disk utility but found in System Information

If several Macs and a Pi have all failed to read the disk, then I'd suggest it's not a software problem.
It's likely that the hard drive has failed in some way. WD drives are known to have poor enclosures, but getting the drive out of a portable drive shell is not easy.
You can try taking it to a data recovery firm, but it will be expensive. If you have a backup, just toss it. (This one, not the backup.)
Otherwise, you can try data recovery software yourself, but if the drive won't even be recognised, it's unlikely.


say command says wrong text (for some voices)

These voices come from Nuance. If you try their Vocalizer Demo you can hear that "seq" is replaced by "the following" there as well.

This appears to be similar to Nuance's recognition of "homographic abbreviations", where Nuance will attempt to convert an abbreviation into the full word.

I have noticed that there are other words that are interpreted

e.g. "for example"
sat. "Saturday"
mar. "March"


Where does Yosemite store cache files for exchange accounts?

You are pretty close for the Notes. If you have an Exchange account set up for Notes then you should have a folder at this location with your Notes.

/Users/USERNAME/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/CoreData/ExternalRecords/B059E164-CC3A-44ED-AB92-C703BDD09455/EWSNote/_records/


I had the same problem, trying to use drag-and-drop (as I'd always done) to add a media file (audiobook) to the iPhone.

When dragged to the iPhone, the item appeared in a small gray box with a red/white number such as "58." No idea what the number meant. In any case, I now know that the small gray box with the number is a visual cue that the dragged item will not be transferred to the phone.

After setting preferences to manual synch, this worked for me on a PC:

Connect the device to iTunes.
Select the device at the top of the screen (not in the sidebar). The iTunes Library view is replaced with your iphone view for "Settings" and "On My Device."
In Settings>Summary, scroll to Options and check-in (or out) Sync your synching method.
In Settings>Audibooks, check-in "Selected audiobooks." No need to actually select books from the list.
Switch back to regular iTunes Library (at the top of the screen, click the " < " (back arrow).
From the Library, select the media type and show it in grid view.
Select the grid item (tile?) for the media file you want to transfer.
Drag the item to the iphone. If drag-and-drop is working, then the entire iPhone and expanded content will be enclosed in a blue box.

Notes

After completing all of the steps, on the iphone, I had to leave "Synch" (see step 4, above) checked in. If I unchecked it, then all selected types of media were deleted from the iphone.
My environment: iPhone 10; Windows 10; software for both is up-to-date.

Apple updates its applications' behaviors more frequently than I transfer files. Consequently, figuring out what's changed and writing the steps for yourself seems to never be sufficient.

Having said that, I hope this helps at least a few people in the short term.


How to manually edit locations in iPhoto 9.5 ('11) in a bigger window?

I also miss Google Maps in the newer iPhoto, so I use Picasa (which uses Google Maps) to add location data and keywords to the image files before importing them into iPhoto. Using Picasa for this is easier and has the added benefit that if I export them later as "originals" they have the location and keyword data embedded in the exif part of the file. When you add location and keywords to photos (or even change the name) in iPhoto, it stores the info in a database, not in the image file. I work only with JPEGs, so I don't know how Picasa handles RAW files.

Here's my process using standard apps already on my Mac (Mavericks) and Picasa 3.9 (free download):

Use Image Capture to import photos to a folder on my desktop
Use Automator to rename the images with the date and time, for example IMG-2014-01-02-143612. By including the time down to the second, every image has a unique name which will sort chronologically. This might also be a good time to add something descriptive to a group of photo titles, like IMG-2014-01-02-143612-Mount Everest :-)
Open folder in Picasa 3.9 to add location and keywords. Picasa will write this information to the exif part of the file and won't touch the actual image data.
Import images to iPhoto which will make use of the location data and keywords added in Picasa. If you export an "original" from iPhoto later, your location and keywords will be intact.


With 16-GB of memory, what is a reasonable limit to the number of open desktops?

That is heavily dependent on the apps on each desktop and how you have them all configured (desktop picture, icons, etc.)

I would open up Activity monitor and start adding desktops and see where it takes you.


How big external monitors will a Macbook Pro Retina support?

Here's one example of someone running two 27" displays at 2560x1440 via Thunderbolt/DisplayPort plus an HDMI display at 1920x1200:
http://blog.macsales.com/14241-macbook-pro-15-with-retina-display-can-run-3-external-displays

The Thunderbolt ports officially support up to 2560x1600 so that resolution shouldn't be any problem either:

  Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on up to two external displays, at millions of colors
  http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

To get up to that resolution, you're limited to either Thunderbolt/MiniDisplayPort or Dual-Link DVI via an adapter - single link DVI and VGA adapters won't go that high.

For the HDMI port, I haven't seen any specific maximum resolution. This person got up to 2048x1280: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3121_7-57460642-220/how-to-power-four-simultaneous-screens-with-the-retina-macbook-pro/

Generally, external monitors work fine in Windows. I see no reason why it would be any different on the Retina model or on Windows 8 specifically.


If you want it to ask for the password again, assuming it hasn't been stored in your Keychain, you need to eject the disk image, e.g.:
 diskutil eject projects

BTW, the disk image is mounted at /Volumes/ not the Desktop. (In Terminal, run the mount command.) It just gives access to it from the icon on the Desktop


There is no sensor to detect moisture that will shut down  a Mac.  There are moisture indicator strips that will let a technician know if it was exposed to liquid, howver.
Now, if you got the MacBook wet, it can cause damage to the logic board where it will stop working.  Note that I didn’t use the term “shut down.”  This is because liquid damage can short out electrical contacts causing the machine to simply power off where you lose data unlike a shut down that cleanly turns off your computer.  It’s like pulling the plug on a desktop machine.
It may be too late, but you should still review this post:  What procedure should be followed post spilling fluids onto a MacBook keyboard?
The fact that it doesn’t turn on at all means you need to take it in for service.


How can I print varying number of multiple pages per sheet on Mac? (Standard layout / print multiple pages option does not suit)

I wait to be corrected, but I'm not convinced that any 'simple' software exists to do this easily. (I'm wondering whether Safari will split up PDF content for printing in the same way as it does for web pages -- though of course that can cut the page in the middle of a line of text.)
Your best bet is to manually place each PDF page onto the fixed pages of some DTP software, like Affinity Publisher, or Scribus, or InDesign. Unless you've got more than 100 pages, this shouldn't take too long.
Having written a number of python scripts that interact with MacOS's CoreGraphics, it is conceivable that a utility could be written to 'consolidate' the pages onto the pages of a new PDF; though this would require some work.


Is it possible to connect a single Dropbox Mac app with two or more Dropbox accounts?

You can't do it out of one copy of the app, but it seems that you can duplicate the app. You can see (somewhat complicated) instructions here:

http://maketecheasier.com/run-multiple-dropbox-accounts-in-mac-and-linux/2010/05/24

I haven't done this personally, but this looks like it should work.


SSH to a device that connects to the internet via shared LAN

Yes, this is possible. It depends on the network addresses you assigned the mac and the Raspberry Pi. For example, if your mac has one interface (en0) on one IP range and the other interface (en1) on another, you can log in via the connection (either en0 or en1) that is on an accessible network.

In my case, I can reach my home computer via a port forward from the internet. This is done by using a router that allows me to forward specific ports to specific internal IP addresses.

 -> (port 22 ssh) -> <172.16.0.5:22>

So, once I'm on my internal machine <172.16.0.5> I can then ssh to a machine connected to my machine via the en1 (wireless network) say 192.168.0.5

So, if you set up a connection from your mac to your raspberry pi on a private network, you can just ssh to your main machine and then to the private ip.


You have to select AppleAPFS on the top, click Erase but if you try to run recovery option, it will install Mojave again. So to have Sierra, I would suggest the following steps:

First, connect your Macbook with an ethernet cable as it takes an hour to get full installation (basically depends upon the internet speed also).
After this, turn off your computer and Reinstall from macOS Recovery mode with a combination of Shift-Option-⌘-R (this allows to install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.)

Basically, as per Apple Guidance:

Command (⌘)-R
Install the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.

Option-⌘-R
Upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.

Shift-Option-⌘-R
Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.

Let me know how it goes.


Disable and hide all keyboard shortcuts for one application

There is a cool application called CheatSheet which can display all the shortcuts in any application on screen.


Try Omni Disk Sweeper which will tell you exactly what files, even hidden ones, are taking up extra storage on your Mac


If both .bash_profile and .profile exist, bash reads only .bash_profile when opening a login shell. So try adding the line to .bash_profile instead.


Google Calendar sync not working in Mountain Lion

I started encountering a similar problem with my Google for Business account last week. Mail.app was okay but Calendar refused to sync, returning the error message that "Your calendar URL is not a location that supports this request." every time Calendar tried to sync.

The solution was delete the account completely from System Preferences -> Mail, Contacts & Calendars. Generate a new one-time password for the account (I use two-factor authentication on all my Google accounts). And the re-add the account in that System Preferences pane.

All is well now after doing this.


Automator: "Run Shell Script" throws error because of missing "on" command

on run {input, parameters} is AppleScript syntax, not a valid shell command. If you want to execute AppleScript in the service, use the Run AppleScript action instead of Run Shell Script.


There is a problem with Outlook and Mojave talking to Spotlight (maybe specifically after an upgrade?), I've also found that this is an issue with Fusion Drives as well as it slows down Spotlight indexing. Microsoft is aware of the issue and is looking to investigate.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/search-doesn-t-work-in-outlook-for-mac-after-macos-upgrade-b73de6f1-aeb9-4720-bbbe-de65ab50012e

I've tried all of their steps in your link previously, currently, I'm using Onyx to fun the full maintenance scripts (Launch Services, and Spotlight Index). It's worked for me, for now...


How to use Notification Center widgets on Desktop?

You can use the Widget Simulator to use widgets in a separate window. However, this isn't available in the Applications folder or via Spotlight searches.

Using the Calculator widget as an example:

Within Finder navigate to: /System/Library/Frameworks/NotificationCenter.framework/Resources/
Find and launch the Widget Simulator app
Now go to /System/Library/Frameworks/NotificationCenter.framework/PlugIns/
Drag and drop the com.apple.ncplugin.calculator.appex file onto the Widget Simulator icon in the Dock
This should open the Calculator widget in a Simulator window

Now you can use the Calculator widget as you normally would and it remains open within the Simulator until you close it. This allows you to return to it after using other apps. It also allows you to use multiple Widgets simultaneously (see below screenshot showing both the Calculator and World Clock widgets open together):

Accessing Widgets

Not all Widgets are located in the same location. By default the Calculator, World Clock and Find My Friends widgets are located in:

/System/Library/Frameworks/NotificationCenter.framework/Resources/

However, other widgets such as Stocks, Weather etc are located in:

/System/Library/CoreServices

In some cases you will need to show package contents to access them. Using Stocks as an example:

In Finder navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/
Right-click on the Stocks application and select the Show Package Contents option
In the window that appears, navigate to /Contents/PlugIns/
Now drag the Stocks extension to the Widget Simulator window (or just double-click on it)

NOTE: In the case of 3rd party widgets, these will usually be installed within the package contents of the application. That is, if you download XYZ application it'll be installed in your Applications folder. You would right-click on the XYZ application and select the Show Package Contents option and then navigate to the  /Contents/PlugIns/ folder to access the widget you can run in the Widget Simulator.


Why are USB devices drawing power, but not being recognized by the OS?

Well - if the port works, and you can plug in multiple other devices into the port it sure looks like the problem lies in the composite device and not the mac.

The only way to know if that type of device is broken or is just not compatible (and the mac is shutting it off immediately on detection to protect itself) is to take that device to another mac of the similar hardware and test.

Experience would say just that device is broken - but you'll have to test to know for sure.


iPod Touch will charge but won't play when connected to a Sony docking system

I found a product description on the Best Buy website:

  The ICF-CS15IP is Compatible with most iPod® and iPhone® models, including iPhone 4. Works with: iPod touch® 2nd, 3rd, & 4th generations, iPod nano® 3rd (video), 4th (video), 5th (video camera), & 6th generations, iPod classic®, iPhone® 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G.

Your 4th generation iPod Touch is listed as supported by this device, so you should contact Sony and expect them to help you.


Changing iPad Air 2 passcode with only having Touch ID

Yes and no. There's no easy way to just change your passcode.

There is a way to reset your passcode, but it involves erasing your iPad. You may need to know your Apple ID password.

Apple has steps here.

Those instructions basically involve going to iCloud.com or iTunes to erase your device. You then would be able to restore from a backup if need to.

I'm not sure if having Touch ID helps in any way. If you don't have a backup you can, possibly, use iTunes to make a backup first, unless it's brand new and you don't need to worry about restoring anything anyway.

Possibly you can just do erase all contents and settings in Settings > General > Reset and enter your Apple ID passcode too, but I'm not sure.

Whatever you do, avoid rebooting the iPad, because then TouchID will no longer work and you'll be forced to use the iCloud or iTunes erase and restore.


MBP resolution changes when connected to an external display

I guess you have selected Scaled resolution with "More space" option for your MBP screen.
Have a look at that once you connect the second screen. For me connecting external display switches this option to "Default" for my MBP screen automatically.


I wouldn't buy a new software just to do that task, so I can think in another way to achieve your goal. Send the project to someone who does have Final Cut Pro. There are always someone willing to help in a Editing Forum. It doesn't matter if the person does not have your media files, as long as he/she exports a XML file from your project, which in 99% of the time is a very little file (both the project and the resulting XML). Get that XML back and than use that file to import your timelines and connect all your media into iMovie or another decent software like Premiere or Vegas.

Plus you can use this workaround to get accurate results:
http://alex4d.com/notes/item/import-final-cut-pro-x-projects-into-imovie

Import Final Cut Pro X projects into iMovie using hidden workaround

Editor and plugin maker Andy Mees has discovered that you can import Final Cut Pro X exported XML into the new version of iMovie. Here you can see the source timeline in Final Cut. It was exported as an .fcpxml file and imported into iMovie.

The reason why the timelines don’t match up is because iMovie timelines have variable scale. Although the faint grey vertical lines are equally spaced, the times they mark aren’t equally spaced (in this case some are marked as denoting 9.4, 10.9, 15.8, 20.3, 24.4, 27.2 and 32.1 seconds).

iMovie doesn’t implement all Final Cut Pro X features such as multiple connected video clips at the same time or auditions. Despite this, you can see iMovie displays an audition icon on one of the audio clips in Andy’s timeline. If you attempt to edit the audition in iMovie, you’ll see an imcomplete UI:

iMovie doesn’t have an ‘Import Final Cut Pro X XML…’ command. Andy discovered a simple workaround.

Control- or Right-click the iMovie icon and choose ‘Show Package Contents’ from the shortcut menu
Open another window that shows the iMovie icon and drop your .fcpxml file onto the icon.
In iMovie you’ll see a dialogue box that asks which iMovie library you would like to import your XML file into:

As well as reading his blog, keep up with Andy by following him on Twitter.


Email client with Send Later and colour-coded flags features

This function is less about the client and more about the server supporting server side rules. Send later needs both to agree on that functionality. Color coding is certainly a client side feature and possibly server side if you expect those to sync to other clients or webmail.

One client certainly has all of what you ask:

Microsoft Outlook - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-outlook/id985367838?mt=12

One such combination you'll want to check is Microsoft O365 Subscription and Outlook 2016 for Mac. It works really well for sending later and the color categorizations that mimic the colored flags.

Tons of automation and other features are available as well including server side rules and archiving, etc... but it hits your two main requirements out of the park for several organizations as well as individuals I support.

You could also set up AppleScript automation to fire and launch mail and send a message, but that would be pretty complicated to set up and maybe not as reliable as outlook.  I’d start there for free trial or for a month paid to see if that suits your needs.


About this MAC/Storage showing incorrect SYSTEM size

It seems illogical but it is really not. The important distinction to note is that the screenshot does not say "192.29 GB free", rather it says "192.29 GB available".

This is because the system part (shown as 159.77 GB) includes disk caches. Most of these disk caches are purgeable, meaning that they can be automatically freed up when space is needed.

So you have 191.29 GB available for you to use when you want - but while you're not using them, the system is using them to speed up operations using caching.


Had the same issue. Fixed it by clearing caches from the Develop menu and restarting Safari.


Why is it difficult to drag with the Magic Trackpad 2?

I also have problems with my hands and using force to press down on the trackpad. I have mine set up to not need any pressing down at all, by enabling "Tap to click" in the Trackpad settings and using the options under Accessibility to enable dragging by quickly double tapping the trackpad and then keep moving my finger.
To set up this drag mode, go to System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Pointer Control -> Trackpad Options... and check the box in front of "Enable dragging". I use it with drag lock so that I can reposition my finger if I run out of trackpad to drag on, but you can try either way to see what feels best for you. There's also a three finger drag option here, so try them out and see if any of them feel better.


Expand APFS container using free space located before the container within macOS

I copy the contents of the container to a new disk / volume and then evaluate if it's faster to erase the entire drive or I want to merge / rearrange things.
The short answer is the tools are designed to have one container for the entire storage so you can move date between volumes without running into ordering issues. One container per drive is how I run boot volumes to avoid painting myself into a corner like you have done here.
The long answer is use volumes inside a container so you're working on a synthesized disk as opposed to a physical disk.
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +499.9 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume macOS - Data            327.0 GB   disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 255.2 MB   disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                664.6 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      2.1 GB     disk1s4
   5:                APFS Volume macOS                   15.2 GB    disk1s5
   6:              APFS Snapshot com.apple.os.update-... 15.2 GB    disk1s5s1

So, in your case, here is what a machine might look like as you prepare to upgrade to Big Sur where you can maintain a Catalina / Mojave and Big Sur beta Volume alongside the Big Sur shipping version when it's time to upgrade Macintosh HD to Big Sur.
me@dev ~ % diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         250.1 GB   disk0s2
   3:       Apple_KernelCoreDump                         655.4 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +250.1 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data     71.9 GB    disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 81.2 MB    disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                525.8 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      3.2 GB     disk1s4
   5:                APFS Volume bitbucket               99.7 GB    disk1s5
   6:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            11.5 GB    disk1s6
   7:                APFS Volume Big Sur                 761.9 KB   disk1s7
   8:                APFS Volume Mojave                  761.9 KB   disk1s8
   9:                APFS Volume Catalina                761.9 KB   disk1s9

Also, now that I said you can't do it - can you shrink the files on disk0s3 so that it fits in disk0s2 / move the data, then delete disk0s3 and grow disk0s2 to consume the now free space at the end of the physical disk?


How can I Access my files from a different start up disk

You'll need to add your user account to the folders and files using the Get Info (CMD + I). Unlock the gold lock and click the + add yourself with Read & Write permissions to each folder and the files within.
Since that is quite tedious you can do it from the command line in an easier fashion.  Open Terminal and do the following:
($ is the prompt for a normal user and # is the prompt for root or sudo elevated equivalent. You don't type the $ or # symbols)
$ sudo -s (type your password when prompted)
# chown -R <username>:staff /Volumes/<internal_disk_name>/Users/<username>

It will take a while for the ownership to cascade down all the files in your home directory on the internal disk. Let it run.  The -R means recursively drill down the entire tree of files and folders from your old home folder the whole way.  There are likely a great number of files to process.
Once it finishes go back to Finder and you should be able to copy your files to back them up.  Then you can delete everything on the internal disk and re-install the operating system and restore your data from the external disk.


Is it possible to transfer an application bought under one Apple ID to another Apple ID?

No. All applications downloaded by one Apple ID (free or not) and non-transferrable. iTunes support will tell you the same. There is nothing that can be done outside of retrieving/ resetting your password to the original Apple ID associated with the purchase. Then you can download the application again. Contact iTunes support to reset your Apple ID password.


Remove black bar on Mojave split screen?

The black spacer in-between the two screens is part of the feature.  I don't believe there's any way to remove it or shrink its size.


Running Apple Arcade Alongside Other Applications

This is a basic premise of computing.

Only one application can be frontmost at any given time. That is the one that will accept input from any connected devices, mouse, keyboard etc.

There is some leeway for such as the scroll-wheel, which can scroll any window the cursor is over, whether foremost or not, but that is an exception rather than a rule.
Also, such as a video or audio stream will continue to run, so you can watch YouTube or listen to the radio in the background

Games tend to alleviate the control issue by pausing when backgrounded - it saves your poor avatar from being squished/killed/juiced etc whilst you're not actually controlling it.

There is no way round this.


Some keys on Apple Wireless keyboard not working

There is no setting or keyboard layout that will render an entire row of keys disabled.

Consider checking the keyboard by pairing it with other device that you have access to such as another Mac, Windows PC equipped with Bluetooth, an iPhone/iPod or an iPad.

If the behaviour reoccurs, than most likely the keyboard is kaput. If the keyboard is still covered under original warranty or the accompanying Mac is covered under original warranty or Apple Care, you can get it inspected or replaced at an Apple Store or authorised Apple service centre.


To summarize the comments: rsync does not handle the transfer of files between a case-sensitive filesystem (typically used on Unix/Linux), and a case-insensitive filesystem (typically used by Windows and MacOS).

When 2 different source paths (eg d/x and d/X) are the same after notional conversion to, say, lowercase, then rsync does not notice, and may transfer d/x, then overwrite the same destination file with d/X.
If the files do not contain the same data, and have the same timestamp, the files will always be updated on future rsync runs.

There does not seem to be any solution proposed by rsync. One can identify potential problems by going through the source files to list the ambiguities:

find . | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | LC_ALL=C sort | LC_ALL=C uniq -d

Alternatively, a case-sensitive destination can be created.


No, that 3-in-1 adapter will not drive multiple monitors.

What you need is either a system that combines 2 monitors, or a system that chains them. While DisplayPort allows for daisy-chaining displays, this only works on supported hardware. This means your monitors need to both have two DisplayPort connectors and official support from the vendor and inside in the chipset to make this work.

I believe that you aren't going to buy two expensive chain-able monitors since, well, you don't want to buy an expensive adapter ;-) The next stop would be stuff like Matrox's DualHead2Go. That is a device that allows 2 displays to be connected to a computer as one big display. http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/digital_se/
It does cost quite some money, so it might be in your category of 'expensive adapters'...

The problem with your question is that it is rather specific. It's a niche that most people don't even know about, and not a lot of sales or development is happening there. While it could probably be done cheaper, there simply aren't a lot of options here.

Just remember: one video port can only ever drive 1 display, unless it's a daisy chained display port system or a device that turns 2 screens into 1 big virtual screen for the video port. There is no cheap 2-in-1 adapter to make this happen.

Small addition: you might be able to solve your problem with a USB DisplayLink adapter if you do not need 3D video or accelerated 2D video. It's a video card with a USB connector on one end and a video port on the other. It won't be fast or high-performance, but if you simply want more desktop space, it might work for you. You would end up with one of these: http://www.displaylink.com/shop/adapters


Can I print to an Airport-shared printer from Linux? from iOS?

I found a document called the "AirPortExpressSetupGuide.pdf", which has an answer to the first part of my question:

  All of the compatible computers on
  the AirPort network, both wireless and wired, can print to it.

So there seems to be no restriction on where you can print from.

iOS seems to have removed the ability to print to any printers except the 2 new ones HP is selling, so that's out.  Oh well.


How to stop iTunes from syncing voice memos from my iPhone?

Most likely you have voice memos sync enabled:

Connect your phone via USB.
Go to phone > Music tab.
Uncheck 'Sync voice memos'.


Can I create a Desktop Shortcut/Alias to a Folder from the Terminal?

It's possible to do it in one line of Terminal. Let's say you want to alias to the file "/Users/me/Library/Preferences/org.herf.Flux.plist".

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder"' -e 'make new alias to file (posix file "/Users/me/Library/Preferences/org.herf.Flux.plist") at desktop' -e 'end tell'

You should replace to file with to folder if you have a folder.

Here's a shell script that allows you pass in a file or folder path to create the alias:

#!/bin/bash

if [[ -f "$1" ]]; then
  type="file"
else
  if [[ -d "$1" ]]; then
    type="folder"
  else
    echo "Invalid path or unsupported type"
    exit 1
  fi
fi

osascript <<END_SCRIPT
tell application "Finder"
   make new alias to $type (posix file "$1") at desktop
end tell
END_SCRIPT

If you name this script make-alias.sh, chmod u+x make-alias.sh and put it in /usr/local/bin, you can run e.g. make-alias.sh ~/Library/Preferences.


Can't establish a ssh connection to my Mac OSX Yosemite

config.vm.boot_timeout - The time in seconds that Vagrant will wait for the machine to boot and be accessible. By default this is 300 seconds. (got this from) ServerFaqs

I'd increase this until you are able to vagrant ssh in.


How do I grant root access to user files in Mojave?

As documented in this post among some other places, MacOS Mojave implements additional security protocols that even affect root's access to user data.

The solution in the linked question provides the basic method I used to resolve my issue.

For custom-built scripts that will run through launchd, the administrator of the computer on which the script is to be run must add that script to Security & Privacy to give that "app" permission to access user data.

It was not necessary to add launchd or rsync (in my case) to Security & Privacy.

I have not researched if there is a way to do this via Terminal, which it seems would be necessary for those administering a large number of clients.

========

Update: I've also learned that if you add a script, and you later make changes to that script, you need to delete it from the Security & Privacy-->Full Disk Access, then add it again. Perhaps macOS creates a hash that is checked?

========

Update w/ Catalina: I do not recall if I had System Integrity Protection disabled on Mojave, but it appears to be required to be disabled in Catalina. I know SIP doesn't have to be disabled for OS versions prior to these.

Disabling macOS SIP allowed the script in question to start running again. This is not ideal, so I'll be researching other approaches.


Is my system vulnerable to Apple's new password-in-clear-text bug?

As stated in the article linked in the question:

  Anyone who used FileVault encryption on their Mac prior to Lion, upgraded to Lion, but kept the folders encrypted using the legacy version of FileVault is vulnerable. FileVault 2 (whole disk encryption) is unaffected.

The password shows up in /var/log/secure.log. To look for it, log in as an Administrator, open Terminal.app and run

sudo grep -i passwordAsUTF8String /var/log/secure.log

Have a look at the result (if any) to see whether passwords appear in plain text.

For additional information see

Apple update to OS X Lion exposes encryption passwords
Apple Legacy Filevault Hole


How can I wirelessly transfer photos from my iPhone to my computer without using Photostream?

You could use an iPhone app like WiFi Photo Transfer (There are a few of those available in the app store), but I don't think this is going to be any more convenient than simply plugging your phone in.

Another way would be to take the photos with Dropbox. The Dropbox iPhone app let's you take phones, which would just appear in your Dropbox folder on your Mac.


FaceTime - How to direct communication to specific devices?

When you Facetime, the caller chooses either your phone number or the email address associated with your Apple ID. If it chooses the email address, it will ring both your computer, and your iPhone (as well as any other devices you have logged in with that Apple ID such as an iPad), and you may answer on either device. If the caller chooses your phone number, then just your phone will ring. In this case, the caller could use this to choose which device to ring you on.

As I'm sure you are already are aware, the device must be connected to wifi in order for it to ring (I believe there are cellular company outside the US that allow Facetime over the air as well), otherwise it will just ring and ring on the caller side without ever ringing you.


Mac Mini Thunderbolt ports to 2 Mini Display Ports

Yes.

According to Apple's own Tech Spec page for the Mac Mini it has

  Support for up to two displays at 2560 by 1600 pixels, both at
  millions of colors

Specifically with the Thunderbolt Port:

  Thunderbolt digital video output

  Native Mini DisplayPort output
  DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter (sold separately)
  VGA output using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (sold separately)
  Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately)

Keep in mind that Thunderbolt 1/2 is a "multiplexing" of DisplayPort and the PCIe bus on one cable.  This is why you can use native mini DisplayPort adapters in the Thunderbolt port.

So, as far as your two Cinema Displays, you just plug the each of the mini DP plug into each of the Thunderbolt ports and you're done.


how do I create a resource (room) in Exchange so it can be viewed like a calendar using iCal/Calendar?

There is no way to directly view Availability (free/busy) information in either Apple iCal/Calendar (Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion) or Microsoft Outlook 2011 (through SP2, at least) for an Exchange 2007/2010 room or equipment resource.

However, you can grant shared access for your account(s) to the Exchange resource calendar through Exchange management tools. Once that is done, you can add it the client for review of its schedule, as if it were another person's calendar for which you have sharing/delegation rights.

Apple iCal/Calendar: Preferences > Accounts > Select your Exchange account > Delegation tab. Click the "+" to add the resource calendar for which you have access.

Microsoft Outlook 2011: File > Open > Other User's Folder. Enter the resource calendar's information as the User and choose "Calendar" as the Type.

As long as your account has shared access to the resource calendar, you will be able to see it listed as another calendar in either application's sidebar. This sidebar entry will persist until you remove it.