[Original Article: iTunes 11: Keyboard shortcuts for switching between different types of content in iTunes library • comment by: ra5ul]
Cmd + 0 = iTunes St …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

[Original Article: A script to sort the Downloads folder by download date • comment by: nateb]
And then save the script in ‘script’ format in the directory ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts (you may need to make this directory if it doesn’t already exist).

(Per http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/58145/how-to-add-folder-actions-in-mountain-lion …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

[Original Article: 10.7: Assign an application to a Space • comment by: sudont]
Works with Mavericks, t …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

[Original Article: Getting Java client apps to run the way you want • comment by: RMo]
Is this about a Java app or a Java applet? They are different. I wasn’t aware that Oracle planned to disable support for Java applets, so I’d like to see a document from them about that if it’s true, but I *do* know they are eventually requiring them to be signed (and are requiring it by default as of recent versions of the JRE, though this can be reconfigured).

On a related note, personally, applets have always been a bit awkward, and I much prefer standalone applications if I have to use Java, anyw …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

I sometimes find the Java setup on my various Apple devices to be a mystery.

Recently, I was trying to get a Java applet to run in the same way on 2 iMacs and my MacBook Air. The applet is a simple vpn client from Juniper that lets me access a Citrix Desktop from any Mac that I can install the Citrix receiver client on so I can work on ‘Company stuff’ from a large screen iMac when I’m sat at home or from my MacBook when I’m on the road (it works fine over 3/4G).

The first thing is that you have to do some configuring of both Java and Safari to get the applet to run at all.

Once that was all done, I could log in from all my Macs, fire up the applet and establish a secure connection.

On two of the Macs, as soon as I fired up the Citrix app, the Java vpn window would show ‘error’. The console showed a Java crash. But on the third Mac, everything worked fi …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

A few weeks ago, a number of people started reporting having trouble with Siri. Phrases like ‘Call my wife’ or ‘Tell my dad’ stopped working. Siri knew who those people were but proclaimed ‘Uh oh, I don’t have a phone number for Jane Isa Doe.” and beneath, there’s a message: “Content Not Available.”

I debugged this for over an hour and on a hunch, found a workaround that seems to work for nearly everyone who has tried it. All you have to do is delete the middle name of the person in *your* contact card where it is stored as a relationship.

I’m not sure why that works; it shouldn’t, but it does. That’s why I call it a workaround instead of a fix. I figure Apple is mucking around with Siri and perhaps caused a bug or some sort of corruption.

I’d be curious to know from MacOSXHints users whether they are experiencing this problem in the first place and if the workaround works for you, too. I’d also like to understand why this works and why the problem even e …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

By Alex Brooks Apple CEO, Tim Cook shows his Nike Fuelband at D11
As the age old saying goes, there is no smoke without fire—and my eyes sting because it’s really, really smoky round these parts. The last couple of months have reminded me of the lead up to January 2007, and maybe even more early 2010. The Apple rumour game, and arguably the world of technology were very different back then though.

As I sat on the concrete floor outside a conference centre in San Francisco on a frigid January morning in 2007 I remember discussing what Steve Jobs would get up on stage and announce later that day, Digg was pretty popular back then and there’d been a whole bunch of popular rumours that had surfaced (titled “iPhone After All?) in the small hours before the keynote. If you’re interested, here’s the rumour roundup. What I’m trying to say is, the iWatch stinks of this scenario all over again.
The scenarios for the iPhone and the iPad were simple, Apple announced the products before it filed for the primary patents, before it began mass production to prevent supply chain leaks, and before the majority of Apple knew about them. The rumours included no parts leaks, no name leaks (largely), and certainly no internal software leaks. This all led to a six month delay before the products hit market, so whatever happens on Tuesday, don’t expect the product to drop until early January—in line with rumours [1, 2, 3].
Anyway, things have changed a bit in the four and half years since the announcement of the iPad, rumour sites have more money, better sources (due to more money), and Apple is far larger and a little more careful with controlling the rumour mill—that is to say that if Apple was to only announce two iPhones on Tuesday then they would have killed these iWatch rumours.
Let’s take a look at what we know. For the sake of this write up I’m going to stick with iWatch as a name.
The Display
There are multiple reports that the iWatch’s display will come in two sizes, some suggesting to distinguish a male and female model (not uncommon in the real world). Initially rumours suggested a display size of 1.6-inch, and the addition of a 1.8-inch model. However, a separate report has claimed that a model could have a 2.5-inch display, for reference that’s the same size display as the current iPod nano (although hopefully a different shape).
Rumours also suggest that the iWatch will have a curved, flexible, OLED (organic LED is good on battery but bad in the sun) display, this display is said to be protected by a synthetic sapphire crystal—this author is unsure how it’ll remain flexible in that case with flexible glass not being market ready.
Functions
One thing we can be sure of, the iWatch will be able to display the time—although questions remain about whether the display is always on. What has been the topic of discussion surrounding the iWatch for years is the intended purpose, recently Apple has given us some clues but questions still remain.
The iWatch appears to be all about the sensors, and the wrist is a good place to put these sensors. With the introduction of iOS 8, Apple will also introduce HealthKit, described by Apple as “an entirely new way to use your health and fitness information”. On the surface Apple has showed HealthKit collecting data from things like FitBits, the Nike Fuelband, wireless scales and displaying steps taken, calories burnt, nutrition, etc within a simple to use dashboard with HealthKit. Apple of course has already begun some data collection with the inclusion of the M7 coprocessor which is capable of acting as a pedometer, and Apple appears to be building more into the iPhone 6.
The iWatch is rumoured to include 10 different sensors, although it’s not entirely known what these will be. It’s easy to guess that steps taken, calories burnt, sleep data, and possibly heart rate will be included.
In addition to being packed with sensors that can collect data when an iPhone isn’t nearby, the iWatch is expected to act as an extension of an iPhone capable of receiving notifications, messages, and phone calls. More recent rumours have suggested that it’ll be possible to develop apps directly for iWatch and that some select developers already have the Software Development Kit (SDK), which was the case with the iPad too.
The final functionality that has been rumoured is the inclusion of NFC to allow for payments, the rumours around NFC in the iPhone have also been strong and the NY Times claims that:
“Apple has teamed up with American Express, MasterCard and Visa to support the payment system, said several people involved in the partnerships. With the deal, these people said, iPhone owners will be able to use their devices as a sort of digital wallet, improving their ability to pay for items at select partner merchants without handing over cash or a credit card.”
The same New York Times article claims that the iWatch will be charged using wireless charging, claiming also that Apple had tested solar charging but to no avail.
Focus on Fashion
Apple by any measure designs and builds products that are fashion accessories, but recent rumours suggest that Apple is taking this approach more seriously with iWatch. With rumours just this weekend claiming that many fashion bloggers and editors have been invited to the announcement event on September 9—this despite it being New York fashion week.
iWatch is also said to have been tested with professional athletes such as Kobe Bryant and these athletes will be used to promote iWatch and add to its fashionable value.
Apple has also recently confirmed the hire of famed fashion designer Marc Newson, although it’s worth noting that Newson is long time friend of Jony Ive (Senior Vice President for Design at Apple) and that Newson is unlikely to have much impact on the current model of iWatch.
Apple has previously confirmed hiring former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve to work on “special projects”, in addition to a pair of health sensor hardware experts, Michael O’Reilly, M.D., the former Chief Medical Officer and EVP of Medical Affairs at Masimo Corporation specialising in pulse oximetry, and sleep expert Roy J.E.M Raymann from Phillips.
Trademark Filings
Apple traditionally tries to keep trademark filing on the down low, but with so many territories it’s been tricky this time round. Apple appears to have been filing for iWatch trademarks in Russia, Japan, and Jamaica as far back as December 2012. In dozens of other countries including the United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, Macau, and Australia the company appears to have used a shell firm called Brightflash USA LLC to file for iWatch trademarks.
Apple has also extended its own trademark of “Apple” to include jewellery and watches in Ecuador, Mexico, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
September 9 Event
Apple is hosting an event on September 9 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of De Anza College in Cupertino. Apple will offer a live stream of the event starting at the following times:
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
1:00PM – Eastern
6:00PM – London
7:00PM – Paris
9:00PM – Moscow
2:00AM – Tokyo (Wednesday 10th)
3:00AM – Sydney (Wednesday 10th)
iPhone 6
For everything iPhone 6, see the roundup of rumours from early last week.

Source: World of Apple

As of August 29, 2014, Google has decided to intentionally break old browsers. They say it’s not a bug, it’s by design here, even though Google’s support page says it accepts Safari 4 as a fully supported browser.

If you want Google searches to go back to the modern style, you need to change your User-Agent string. For Safari, enable the Develop Window and use an option in there that works. Internet Explorer 9 (Windows) works, for example.

[crarko adds: I don’t have an older system active at the moment to try this. It’s inevitable that older software becomes obsolete, the same way older hardware does. I think the actual hint here is a reminder that if a site misbehaves, changing the user agent can be an effective troubleshooting tool.]

Source: Mac OSX Hints

By Alex Brooks iPhone 6 Compared to Existing iOS Devices
September has arrived and in the world of Apple that can only mean one thing, the new iPhone is due to turn up. Not to mention a plethora of other devices and software updates; as we lead up to the holiday season September is undoubtedly Apple’s action packed month. This is by no means a detailed run down of iPhone 6 rumours, but it is aimed at giving a picture of what to expect.
Rumours about the iPhone 6 have swirled since the before the current iPhone hit the market but in recent months, as ever, rumours have reached fever pitch. And as with previous years Apple appears to have been unable to keep a lid on the vast supply chain that manufactures the devices with every single component being leaked in some form and more rarely some have managed to piece together a device and get it working.
Apple has confirmed that it will hold a media event on September 9, a date that falls in line with previous announcements. However, the venue is considerably larger than other used and Apple appears to be planning a particularly special show. Many are expecting the company to announce another wearable device at the same event, for now we’ll stay focused on the iPhone.

Two iPhones, Three iPhones, Four?
One the most consistent rumours leading up to September has been that Apple will release two models of iPhone, both with larger screens than the current iPhone 5s. The most consistently rumoured sizes are 4.7-inch, and 5.5-inch. No leaked parts suggest that Apple has any plan to continue manufacturing an iPhone with a plastic shell, and no rumours have pointed towards a continuation of devices with the current 4-inch display. This would suggest Apple will stick to just having 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhones on the market, but could supplement the lower end market with the current iPhone 5S, or put the case of the current iPhone 5c around iPhone 5s components.
iPhone 6 assembled display and case. Note the tapered finish to the glass.
The Display
With the 4.7- and 5.5-inch models all but confirmed it’s been the focus of much debate about what resolutions the displays will turn up in. Blogger John Gruber threw his weight (and maths) behind the idea that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will feature a 1334 x 750 pixel display at 326 pixels per inch while the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 will have a resolution of 2208 x 1242 with 461 pixels per inch. The current iPhone 5s features a 4-inch display of 1136 x 640 at 326ppi.
However, other rumours and guesses have suggested various other resolutions. The most notable of those was a claim from an individual in possession of a display for the iPhone 4.7-inch, the display which showed roughly 13 pixels per mm would suggest a resolution of 1472 x 828 at 355 ppi.
A lot of rumour has also focused on what will cover the display components. For years iPhones have made use of durable Gorilla Glass that is highly resistant to scratching but, as with all glass, is susceptible to smashing when exposed to sharp blows. With recent iPhones Apple began using Sapphire crystal, for example to cover the camera lens and the home button on the iPhone 5s.
Rumours at the start of the year seemed to suggest that Apple’s partner GT Advanced was looking to significantly ramp up production of sapphire crystal but disagreement has risen about whether Apple will use sapphire across the entire range or just for “higher-end” models. A recent Wall Street Journal article stated that Apple use the display material on the higher end 4.7- and 5.5-inch devices, it failed to explain what higher end meant in this context.
Whilst on the wild end of the rumours spectrum, this author has recently heard that Apple has at least explored the idea of a display with solar charging capabilities. Upon further research it appears that the rumour has surfaced in January of this year, but after corroboration the sources appear separate.
The Case
Without doubt the outer case is the first part to leak, and no surprise when case manufacturers are turning in billions of dollars worth of protective case sales so being first to the market is key.
iPhone 6 Compared to iPhone 5s
The cases for the 4.7- and 5.5-inch models appears identical in leaks, other than the obvious increase in size. The larger model appears to have a slightly thicker case though. The final dimensions seem set to be as follows, 4.7-inch: 6.9 mm thick, 138 mm long, and 66 mm wide; 5.5-inch iPhone 6 is said to be 7.1 mm thick, 158 mm long, and 78 mm wide. The current iPhone is 7.6mm thick.
iPhone 6 rear plate showing antenna markings and cutout for camera and flash
The case is almost fully aluminium with the antenna bands marked out in a lighter coloured rubber, there is no longer any glass on the back and the only other markings are the traditional Apple logo cutout and the camera and flash. The camera lens appears now too thick for the case and may stick out a little.
The Camera
Rumours disagree on the improvements heading for the iPhone 6, many suggest that the current 8 megapixel sensor used in the iPhone 5s will make its way to the iPhone 6, another singular rumour suggested a 13 megapixel sensor could arrive. Either way MPs are a poor measure of a camera.
Purported fully assembled iPhone 6 showing protruding camera lens
In other camera improvements it could be that Apple looks to build in Optical Image Stabilisation that works in conjunction with the position sensing gyroscope. This would allow for considerably sharper photos and video, particularly in low light.
Again, this feature has rumoured to only land in the 5.5-inch model.
In recent years Apple has made significant improvements to the iPhone camera using either software or technology that is difficult to discern in factory leaks.
The Innards
The specification of the new iPhones are not so easy to track down, but a recent flurry of leaks from the supply chain have supplied a surprisingly accurate range of data.
The biggest focus of attention is of course what processor Apple will use. The current iPhone makes use of a Apple’s A7 system on chip (SoC) powered by a 64-bit ARMv8 1.3-1.4GHz dual-core CPU. It looks like the iPhone 6 will make the jump to an Apple A8 featuring a 20nm manufacturing process, making it extremely power efficient. It’s difficult to gauge the specs of an unreleased SoC as Apple has tighter control on the parts but rumours suggest that the A8 will be a dual-core 2.0GHz with 1GB of RAM on board. That 1GB RAM figure would mean the iPhone 6 remains at the same number as the current iPhone 5s.
With gaming being a strong element of the iOS ecosystem it has become important for Apple to focus on the graphics capabilities of devices. Rumours point towards Apple continuing to use the same graphics as the iPhone 5s, a PowerVR G6430 GPU. But there are very few rumours circling around this particular element.
iPhone 6 internals compared to iPhone 5s. Note the Apple A8 SoC, and significant size difference in assemblies.
There are also few rumours around the storage capabilities of the iPhone 6. The current iPhone 5s ranges from 16GB to 64GB with many complaining about the limits. This may change with the introduction of iOS 8 and the change to the way photos are stored on the iPhone with them now primarily sitting in the cloud with low resolution thumbnails residing on the phone itself.
However, some rumours suggest Apple may bump the storage capacity of the iPhone to 128GB, in line with recent updates to the iPad. Some leaks have also spotted 16GB storage chips though, this may suggest that Apple could begin differentiating iPhones by storage size and screen size with some suggesting the 128GB model will only be available with the 5.5-inch model.
With the iPhone 5s Apple introduced the M7 coprocessor, capable of offloading data collection from the CPU. Currently the M7 tracks what a user is doing in terms of movement such as driving, walking, running, or sleeping. Upgrades in the iPhone 6 could see the addition of a atmospheric sensor offering details on current weather conditions like pressure and altitude data.
There’s been a number of other rumours that have pointed to numerous sensors making their way into the iPhone 6, capable of detecting temperature and humidity, altimetry, spirometry—a measurement of lung capacity.
The Battery
With a bigger device comes a bigger battery, although Apple has a habit of spreading out components in an effort to create thinner devices. However, rumours suggest Apple will make some improvements to the size of the batteries included with the iPhone 6, improvements may be unnoticeable though with larger displays on board too.
The current iPhone 5s battery is rated at 1560 mAh, compared that to a whopping 2800 mAh in the Samsung Galaxy S5 and there’s a reason Samsung shout from the rooftops about battery life.
Rumours suggest that Apple will include a battery rated at either 1810 mAh or 2100 mAh in the 4.7-inch model, and in the 5.5-inch model a possible 2915 mAh battery.

NFC or not?
I almost have to count of two hands the number of times we’ve got close to the release of an iPhone and a rumour has popped up about the inclusion of NFC technology (here’s a good example from 2011).
This time though, things feel different. Reliable sources have got on board with the idea, including Re/Code, John Gruber and the FT. And now a logic board leak suggests the chip is right there.
The case for Apple to jump on board with NFC hasn’t changed much though. Whilst a rumour suggests Apple has negotiated deals with big banks (now MasterCard and Visa too!) it is still unclear why Apple would pursue this route, other than the potential lucrative market of playing middle man to millions of transactions. It’s worth noting that Apple upgraded some pay terminals in US Apple Stores to NFC capable earlier in the year.
Contactless payments via a physical card and an NFC capable terminal are extremely popular in Europe with some 45 million contactless cards in circulation in the UK alone.
When?
Event Invite for September 9th
Apple has confirmed the event for September 9, and whilst we don’t know for sure that this is the iPhone event. All signs point to yes.
Traditionally following announcement the iPhone models would make their way to market within a week and a half, usually on a Friday. Which would land us on September 19. However, long standing rumours have suggested that only the 4.7-inch model will see a release on this date with a 5.5-inch model coming towards the end of the year, with some rumours suggesting early 2015.
Apple’s event will begin at 10am Pacific (6PM London) time on September 9, it’s not yet known whether Apple will offer a live video stream.
An iWatch
If we thought iPhone 6 rumours were at fever pitch then iWatch rumours are super sonic pitch. However the field is far more scattered and there is yet to be a signal part of design leaked. There will however be an a summary of rumours at some point, so watch this space.

Source: World of Apple

Usually I want to open Gmail in Chrome and URLs pointing to my development server in Firefox. For everything else I use Safari.

There is this nifty free app called LinCastor that enables you to register your own handler for an URL. Although it had beed designed to register your own non-standard URL schemes, it can intercept standard http and https as well.

In LinCastor (which you need to double-click twice to fully open for editing):
Add a new URL scheme
Choose AppleScript handler

Paste the following code in, (replacing the stub code at the bottom):

on handle_url(args)
if (|URL| of args starts with “https://mail.google.”) then
tell application “Google Chrome”
open location |URL| of args
…

Source: Mac OSX Hints