10.9: Terminal text shortcuts still work in Safari

I should have stumbled on this one years ago but I have just realised typing in Safari’s address bar and unconsciously doing Ctrl+a to go to the start of my query, that it works.

We recall these life saving Unix text editing shortcuts:
‘Ctrl+a’ : go to start of the line
‘Ctrl+e’ : go to the eol
‘Ctrl+k’ : delete all chars to the right of the cursor

I have tested those with success in various standard Dialog Boxes, TextEdit windows andin Safari’s address bar; it seems to be a relatively system wide standard. Of course no luck with MS apps, they use their non-standard Alt+arrows (when most other Mac apps use the widely known Ctrl+arrows).

First my sincerest apologies to all those who knew and if there ever was a similar hint since 2003 in the DB. [crarko adds: At the time this hint was originally submitted the site’s search function was not working.]

Ever watchful of posting eti …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

    

Automatically restart Logmein Hamachi

If you are having trouble with Logmein Hamachi starting up correctly, the following script will check to see if the connection is up. If it is, it will attempt to restart and then send you an email when it’s done.

You’ll need to update these variables with your own data:

email_address=’XXXXXXX@gmail.com’

hamachi_network=”xxx-xxx-xxx”

Also update the machine names and IP address (e.g. test_ip_address) in the case statement.

You can use the command hamachi list (from a Terminal window) to get your network ID and IP addresses.

Once you set this up, you can run this from any of your connected machines and it will try to connect to the other machine. If it cannot, it attempts to get Hamachi working again.

Here’s the script:

Source: Mac OSX Hints

    

Placeholder info for AppleTV in Profile Manager

While importing a placeholder for some iPads into Profile Manager I was peeking through profilemanager.log, when I found this gem.

[351] [2014/05/22 16:17:21.942] I: Imported placeholder device “MH-Gary Ho_iPad Mini45”, SerialNumber=F7NMXXXXXX84, IMEI=, MEID=, UDID=, DeviceID=, AirplayPassword=

What I did next was add a new column AirplayPassword= to the placeholder CSV file and put a password in. I then uploaded the placeholder for an AppleTV and it added the Airplay password to my AppleTV Device in ProfileManager.

Just yesterday I added 20 AppleTVs to Profile Manager, I could have saved a few steps with this hint.

[crarko adds: If you don’t know about Apple Profile Manager for OS X Server …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

    

10.9: Convert gitolite managed git repositories to Xcode Server

So you finally want to take the plunge and convert from gitolite managed repositories and Jenkins to doing everything with Mavericks’ Xcode Server? It turns out it’s actually not that hard.

Disclaimer: I just figured this process out, everything appears to work (pulling the repository, committing/pushing back to the repository after making changes. I think that everything should be working properly outside of my very basic tests, but they were very limited.
Converting gitolite repositories for Xcode server.
Find your repositories folder (for me i had a special ‘git’ user so the repositories folder was in /Users/git/repositories).

Create a tarred gzip file (as admin with following settings) to create carbon copies of the directories preserving ownership and permissions:
sudo tar cpz -P –exclude .DS_Store -f repositories.tgz /Users/git/repositories …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

    

Bypass Chromes SSL/certificate blockades

There’s something with Chrome (and Firefox as well) that has driven me crazy for some years: when browsing the web via a proxy server while at work I can’t access some pages via the HTTPS-protocol.

Chrome and Firefox are showing error messages like this one and this one (sorry, both are in German). Safari just shows a blank page and I’m not able to open that specific web site although I’m sure that this site is not going to harm my computer or myself. For example this problem appears when I try to access my router at home or some other sites having problematic certificates – but they play fine when I’m at home.

Finally I found a solution for the problem.

Unfortunately there’s neither a visible setting to set Chrome to warn me but allow the warning to be ignored, nor is that one in about:flags. But you can start Chr …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

    

iOS: Maps wrong destination Work-around

It just so happens that the building where I work has no street address, as it is part of a university campus. When I asked Siri where I was, it gave me an address, which I put as my work address in my contact card. However, whenever I asked Siri to give me directions to work, it would lead me astray – about a mile down the road. Yet when I double-checked by asking Siri where I was, it aid I was at the address previously reported. I also discovered that if I manually touch the address in my contact card and touch Directions to here I would get directed to the correct spot! I played around with Siri today and figured out a work-around so that I could ask Siri for directions to work and get there properly.

I believe this is all due to some sort of Apple Maps bug. Manually touching to get directions versus asking Siri for directions to the same address should give you directions to the same place. I suspected that Siri was using different address mappings than Maps was …

Source: Mac OSX Hints

    

We’re back

As I’m sure most of you have noticed, MacOSXHints was not in action since mid-May. There was an issue with the site software, but I’m really happy to say that is now fixed, and I look forward to resuming publication of new hints. This is especially pleasing as the Public Beta of OS X Yosemite approaches, and the new goodies in iOS 8 as well.

I’ll just say it’s good to be back.

Craig A.

Source: Mac OSX Hints

    

What to Expect at WWDC 2014 – In Conversation

By Alex Brooks Moscone West in San Francisco ready for WWDC 2014 | Flickr
Things may have been quiet around these parts (the pressures of life) but two things seemingly never change. The first is that I never stop loving the Apple rumour game (and the associated news cycle), and the second is that those that know me, both online and off, never lose the impression of me as the person to go to to find out the latest Apple gossip. It’s a bit like your friends discovering that you’re “that guy” that knows how to fix their Windows PC and never being able to step foot in a house without being pounced upon with a problem—yesterday I visited a friends new house, within 15 seconds of arriving I was staring at the admin panel of their internet router.

So over the last month or so I’ve been discretely jotting down notes of what the people around me ask about the Apple rumoursphere in a hope of forming a short ‘conversation piece’ (think of it like a glorified Q and A) to cover the pertinent elements as we head into Apple’s only conference, and therefore only guaranteed event of the year.
Anecdotally what I do note is that people ask less, people are interested a little less in what Apple is up to. Whether this can be attributed to Apple “losing it’s cool” or not is another wider discussion. And probably something for a wider pool or people.
What is WWDC and why should I care?
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is as of recent years the company’s only headline event. Whilst Apple is almost guaranteed to host other events later in the year, this event signals the start of the busy season but also sits firmly in the calendar—as it has done for years.
Traditionally the event focused on developers and their needs, and in some cases was not a very consumer facing event. But with the demise of Macworld several years ago it’s been the job of WWDC to be a consumer focused event and to be the flashy show off keynote that we all remember Macworld to be (just look at 2007 to see why). But the only part of WWDC that is consumer focused is the opening two hours, what is known as the opening keynote.
WWDC has in the past hosted all sorts of announcements, from nothing of interest to consumers all the way up to iPhone releases, but in recent years has shifted to a software focus—this year is expected to be no different.
Why should you care? I dunno, you’re the one asking me the question.
What happens after the keynote?
Well after the keynote there are two large sessions that happen effecttively behind closed doors. The press are ushered out the building and the next keynote is called the ‘State of the Union’, this is a very frank and detailed look at the current status of Apple’s hardware, software, and services. This is the best insight into Apple’s future direction as an outsider is ever likely to get. Following this event is the Apple Design Awards (ADAs as their affectionately known) which are exactly as you’d expect.
The rest of the week is formed of sessions focused on individual aspects of OS X, iOS, and services. It is after all an event focused on harbouring good developer habits and by extension awesome software.
So the new iPhone (insert other iOS device) is coming out Monday?
In short, no.
Apple hasn’t released (or announced) an iPhone at WWDC since 2010 (iPhone 4) and appears to be firmly embedded into an annual cycle of announcing iPhones in late September. I conveniently wrote this a few years back to explain the relationship between Apple’s software releases and at what point the hardware comes. But in short, you can’t develop major software upgrades without developers testing on it first and Apple’s doesn’t flaunt new iOS hardware without giving it some shiny new software to go along with it.
This is a software only show then?
Now you’re getting it. Don’t discount the idea of some hardware but we’ll come to that.
It’s a dead cert that we’ll see iOS 8 and OS X (Yosemite?) to be shown off on Monday.
What about hardware though? I bloody love hardware.
Tim Cook said earlier in the year that Apple will be releasing products “across 2014″ which is not entirely true so far. There’s also a whole lot of hardware that is due a refresh or going to be refreshed because it happens anyway.
iPhones and iPads will get refreshed in late September/early October. The Apple TV is expected to be refreshed later in the year or early next year and iPods (or should I say iPod touch) usually slot in around the iPhone and iPad releases to coincide with the release of iOS.
Mac hardware is getting overdue in some cases with only the MacBook Air getting a minor refresh so far this year. Which leaves the MacBook Pro, iMac (that’s a WWDC nope), the Mac mini, and Thunderbolt Display as possible options. Traditionally if Mac hardware is in the WWDC keynote then it’s pro focused.
There are of course some outliers such as the long rumoured “iWatch”, a larger iPad, and more recently an ARM-powered Mac. I wouldn’t hold your breath for any of them.
Software then, what’s in store next week?
Well two big announcements as outlined above, we’re expecting iOS 8 which is the software that runs on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and a majorly revamped OS X which runs on your Mac. Think of it as the reverse of last year, iOS got all the attention and this year OS X will get most of it.
I’ve got an iPhone so that sounds good
Last year came iOS 7, you’ll probably remember that because it was the biggest overhaul to iOS since the iPhone was released in 2007. And when you eventually installed it on your phone in September it completely changed everything, and it was a bit buggy.
iOS 8 is expected to be an evolution of 7 with some impressive additional features piled on top. Unfortunately it looks like Monday’s announcement could be a little hobbled by some features not being show ready.
Purported screenshot showing Apple’s upcoming HealthBook App
Healthbook is expected to be Apple’s headline feature. It’s expected to be an app (like Passbook) that aggregates information from lots of sources like other apps and hardware accessories. This data is based around health and fitness and could be setting up future hardware releases based around fitness monitoring (think the Fitbit or Nike Fuel Band).
Healthbook will be capable of tracking data for heart rate, blood pressure, nutrition, blood sugar, sleep, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, weight, and activity
Healthbook will also look at things like steps, calories burnt, miles walked. Something that’s already possible with the M7 in the iPhone 5s, albeit through third party apps.
Maps will also feature heavily in iOS 8. Apple will continue its efforts to compete with Google and will bring a big overhaul to the mapping data presented through the Maps app including the long awaited transit information that has caused the big surge in third parties over the last couple of years. Maps is one of the features that may not be demoed or be ready to ship with iOS 8 when it finally hits the market in September.
Song identification in Siri is an additional feature that’s expected to hit the ever expanding repertoire of Siri features. Ask Siri what song is playing and it’ll come back to you with a song ID, according to sources this feature is being done in partnership with Shazam.
There’s also expected to be further third party integration like there is now with OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha. Think along the lines of being able to reserve a car rental or a hotel.
Notifications will also see a minor overhaul, notably the rather useless ‘Missed’ tab will vanish in favour of just ‘Today’ and ‘Notifications’ with the latter receiving a cleanup. It’s unknown whether Apple will continue to expand the features of ‘Today’, the company has recently acquired a company called Cue who focused on personal assistant features.
Apple is said to be designing iOS versions of Preview and TextEdit that’ll sync over iCloud with their Mac counterparts. It’s currently rumoured that these apps will be view only apps with editing functionality being encouraged by other apps, notably Pages for the latter.
Leaked screenshot of iOS 8
A rather odd rumour but backed by numerous good sources is plan to offer split screen apps on iPad in iOS 8. This would be a feature similar to that of the Microsoft Surface where two apps can be displayed side-by-side. This feature is poised to make it easier to share information between apps and to reference other apps but raises questions about how the mode would be entered (without the existence of windows) and how developers would prepare their apps for half size operation.
It’s now claimed that the feature won’t make it to WWDC.
And finally iTunes Radio is expected to be broken out as a standalone app to help compete with its competitors. The recent acquisition of Beats will play no part in Apple’s current music offering until early 2015 at best so Apple will continue to push the uptake of iTunes Radio as its offering to compete with other streaming services even though recent comments by Apple’s Eddy Cue may have indicated that Apple doesn’t see Radio as a streaming service as such.
That’s not wildly impressive, what about OS X then?
For the first time in a long time it looks like OS X is going to be the centre of attention. The most rumoured update to OS X 10.10 (Yosemite is the best bet for a name) is a brand new look. The best rumours suggest Jony Ive and his team have spread their iOS 7 look over to the Mac and now the operating system will feature bring colours, lots of white space, sharp corners, a lack of depth, and icons and text designed for higher resolution displays.
Apple won’t just leave it at a redesign though, and is also expected to port over some iOS features such as Control Centre, Siri, and cross platform AirDrop.
OS X 10.10 banners going up inside Moscone West this week
The ancillary apps to OS X are also expected to slowly be ported over to the new look with iLife and iWork apps being the usual suspects for demo during a WWDC keynote. Those who watched last year will remember the cringe-worthy demo of iWork’s cloud based features.
That’s it?
Looks like it.
Keynotes follow a fairly set structure, opening with some message about Apple’s current stance (last year was design, previous years were cross of liberal arts and technology) probably something around the ‘Your Verse’ advertising campaign followed by a run down of stats. Then jump through the executives and their related products until a summary at the end.
How exciting, when and where?
Well if you want to see it in person then you’re out of luck unless you’re currently in San Francisco and have splashed out $1500. But luckily Apple will be streaming the keynote online for all to see.
Apple’s WWDC 2014 kicks off Monday June 2 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 (Tuesday 3rd)
4:00AM – Sydney (Tuesday 3rd)
World of Apple will provide detailed analysis after the keynote and during the week. Follow myself @alexbrooks on Twitter for regular updates on WWDC goings on and the keynote and follow @worldofapple for major announcements.

Source: World of Apple