This user submitted Mac setup comes from Chris K and is primarily used for video editing with Final Cut. The dual displays are powered by a Mac Pro sitting under the desk, while a MacBook Pro 15″ sits to the left and an iPad 2 rounds out the right. Great setup!

For those wondering, the screen saver is Fliqlo in the topmost picture.

Thanks for sending this in Chris

You can submit your own Mac & Apple hardware setups to us at osxdailycom@gmail.com

In nearly all Installer and Package apps, you have the option to view exactly what files will be installed and where the installer wants to place them. This is an often overlooked feature of the OS X Installer, and it you’ve ever wondered what and where on earth that random .pkg wants to throw its contents, this will show you exactly that.

• Launch any Installer or .pkg in Mac OS X
• Hit Command+i or pull down the File menu and choose “Show Files”



• Scroll through the list (it’ll often be very long) and use the arrows to expand folders, or use the search box to look for specific locations

If you’re a cautious individual, this is a great way to discover why exactly an installer wants administrative privileges, but it’s also great if you’re just curious.

Of course the other use for this is to aid in uninstalling Mac apps, which is much easier in Lion thanks to LaunchPad, but for some apps that litter tons of content around your Mac you could use the installer list to track down the pieces left behind.

Enjoy this? Check out more Mac tips and tricks.

Apple looks to be experimenting with quad-core ARM CPU’s, possibly for future iPhone, iPad, and even MacBook Airs, as references in Xcodes default compiler reveal. This was first discovered by ArsTechnica, who proposes three possible scenarios for why the CPU support exists:

• Quad-core processor could be included in next-gen iOS devices like the iPad 3
• The quad-core chip could be coming to the MacBook Air (earlier rumors suggest a move away from Intel is possible)
• The CPU is being used for iOS and OS X prototypes

Ars concludes the third option is most likely, suggesting that Apple is using the CPU for prototypes:

“most probable in our opinion, is that Apple is using the Marvell chip in prototypes of future iOS device designs (or even an ARM-based MacBook Air that is rumored to exist somewhere inside One Infinite Loop) for testing purposes. An Armada XP-powered prototype logic board would allow iOS or Mac OS X software engineers to experiment with performance tuning and other optimizations”

Since the discovery, Apple has been quick to remove the source, the original page no longer exists although several references are still found on this page.

Update: the references have since been removed from the second page as well.

If you’ve been using Nocturne to get the black menubar in Mac OS X but don’t care for any of the features outside of the darker menu bar, check out MenuBarFilter. All it does is turn the Mac menu bar color into a dark black gradient, closely resembling iOS.

Download MenubarFilter now or head to the github page.

MenuBarFilter is extremely lightweight, just uncompress the app and double-click on the Panda icon to turn your menubar black. There are no configuration choices or menu items, so if you want to quit the app you’ll have to find it in Activity Monitor and kill the process, or type this into the Terminal:

killall Finder

Why would you want to stop running this gorgeous little add-on? Bugs of course. MenuBarFilter certainly works in Lion but it doesn’t play that well with Mission Control or full-screen apps, and you’ll see some display artifacts and mismatched colors here and there. I’ve been using it since last night and as long as you don’t expect a perfect fit quite yet, MenuBarFilter is a very nice looking customization to Mac OS X.

Speaking of bugs, if you’re crafty and want to try and troubleshoot the display oddities yourself, you can grab the source code through git with:

git clone git://github.com/eece/MenuBarFilter

Thanks to TJ for the heads up in our comments

By enabling a hidden debug feature in Disk Utility, you are able to both view and mount hidden partitions on hard drives in Mac OS X. Hidden partitions include things like Linux swap, Windows Recovery drive, and OS X Lion‘s Recovery HD, and once they’re mounted they can be edited or formatted just like any other drive. Here is how to get there:

Show & Mount Hidden Partitions with Disk Utility in OS X

First you need to turn on the debug menu:

• Quit out of Disk Utility, and launch Terminal to type the following defaults write command:
  defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1

• Relaunch Disk Utility and look for “Debug” to appear alongside ‘Help’
• Click on the new Debug menu and pull down and select “Show every partition” so that a checkmark appears next to it

• Now the hidden partitions will displayed alongside mounted visible partitions, but they will appear grey rather than black
• Right-click on the greyed out partition to mount and choose “Mount [Drive Name]“

Going back to the Finder, you’ll now find the hidden partition is now visible as any other drive, and it will even appear on the Desktop if you have icons shown there. Be aware that if you start moving or deleting files on crucial partitions like Recovery HD, they very well may not work when you need them to.

It’s really not recommended without a compelling reason (like downgrading to 10.6), but you can delete “Recovery HD” using this method to make the drive visible.

Disable the Disk Utility Debug Menu
To hide the debug menu again from Disk Utility, use the following defaults write command:

defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 0

This may be only available to Lion users, I no longer dual boot between 10.6 and Lion so I’m unable to check the Snow Leopard side.

Mac OS X 10.7.2 build 11C62 has been released to developers today with no known issues. The second update to OS X Lion primarily focuses on iCloud support, suggesting the software update will likely be released alongside iCloud, iOS 5, and whatever iPhone is announced at the October 4th event that Apple has planned.

Other than native iCloud support, OS X 10.7.2 includes a variety of bug fixes, as the apparent final release notes from MacRumors show:

The 10.7.2 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. It also includes support for iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content on iCloud and push it to all of your devices. iCloud on OS X Lion includes the following features:

• iCloud stores your email, calendars, contacts, Safari bookmarks, and Safari Reading List and automatically pushes them to all your devices.
• Back to My Mac provides remote access to your Mac from another Mac anywhere on the Internet.
• Find My Mac helps find a missing Mac by locating it on a map and allows you to remotely lock the Mac or wipe all its data.

Getting started with iCloud is easy. After installing the update, OS X will automatically present an iCloud setup panel. Simply enter an existing Apple ID or create a new one and then follow the on screen instructions. To learn more about iCloud visit http://www.apple.com/icloud.

The 10.7.2 update also includes Safari 5.1.1 as well as fixes that:

• Allow reordering of desktop spaces and full screen apps in Mission Control.
• Enable dragging files between desktop spaces and full screen apps.
• Address an issue that causes the menu bar to not appear in full screen apps.
• Improve the compatibility of Google contact syncing in Address Book.
• Address an issue that causes Keynote to become temporarily unresponsive.
• Improve VoiceOver compatibility with Launchpad.
• Address an issue that causes a delay in accessing the network after waking from sleep.
• Enable booting in to Lion Recovery from a locally attached Time Machine backup drive.
• Resolve an issue that causes screen zoom to stop working.
• Improve Active Directory integration.

Not mentioned in the the release notes are the variety of persistent Wi-Fi issues that are effecting some Lion users, although independent reports from those using the update suggest wireless connectivity is improved in the release.

At least one of the devices to be launched by Apple on October 4th looks to be named ‘iPhone 4S’ after all. The proof comes in the form of several pictures of an Otterbox case, clearly showing the iPhone 4S monicker printed on the packaging, which were discovered and posted to Twitter by jailbreaker @chronic.

Perhaps more interesting is that the volume buttons appear to have switched places to the right side of the iPhone, matching the iPad, which is seen clearly in this picture:

Moving the volume button to the right side is compelling because:

• It gives credence to several iPhone 5 cases which show the volume buttons on the right side
• This breaks from the long established norm of existing iPhone and iPod touches

Chronic suggested the move is simply related to the volume button shutter features in iOS 5, but it’s also likely that Apple intends s to make all iOS devices consistent with their button locations.

Can’t turn on your MacBook Pro or Air’s keyboard backlighting? No it’s probably not broken, it’s most likely the light sensor. If the ambient light sensor on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models detects too much light, the keyboard illumination will disable itself and refuse to turn on, showing the above locked image instead.

You can force the keyboard illumination to turn back on by covering up this ambient light sensor, which is located directly to the left of the iSight/FaceTime camera on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models:

If you look carefully at that area on the screens border, you’ll see tiny perforations where light is detected. Covering the sensor will enable the backlit keys to turn on, usually instantly, and you can then adjust the backlight as usual with the F5 and F6 keys.
Read more »

Would you buy an iPad from a vending machine? Never thought about it? Me neither, but pushing aside the old iPod vending machines that have been around a while comes an all new iProduct vending machine, this time including iPad 2. Of course there are also iPod touches, shuffles, AppleCare, and assorted other tech products, but the iPad is what makes this notable.

This was noticed by the Consumerist at a Macy’s mens department, I wonder if these will catch on?

We recently showed you how to delete iTunes, which is typically done for the purposes of downgrading iTunes to a previous version. If you’ve done this and you are now encountering an error about “iTunes Library.itl” not being readable due to it’s creation by a newer version of iTunes, here’s the fix via iDownloadBlog, which is nice and easy:

• Remove the newer version of iTunes and install the older version as originally intended
• Hit Command+Shift+G and type ~/Music/iTunes/
• Rename “iTunes Library.itl” to “iTunes Library.old” – this serves as a backup in case something goes wrong
• In the same iTunes folder, open “Previous iTunes Libraries” and track down the most recent version of an iTunes Library file, these are named by dates of iTunes installations in the format of “iTunes Library 2011-08-29.itl” etc
• Copy the most recent version of that file to your desktop (or elsewhere, or use cut and paste)
• Navigate back to ~/Music/iTunes/ and move or paste the file here, renaming it to “iTunes Library.itl”
• Relaunch iTunes

iTunes should now load trouble-free and without the “iTunes Library.itl cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes” error message.

Note: If you have moved the iTunes Library to another location, you’ll need to enter that directory path rather than ~/Music/iTunes/. Likewise, if you’re using Windows the iTunes directory is going to be located in My Documents > My Music > iTunes.