The next time you’re browsing the web and come across a link that points to Twitter, you can immediately jump to the Twitter app if you want to. This is a new ability included in iOS 6 onward.
To access the feature, pull down from the top of Safari when a Twitter link is opened, and you’ll see a menu item that shows if Twitter is available or not, an option to install the app if it’s not, and the “Open” button shown in the screenshot. Tapping that Open button is what immediately launches Twitter, passing the current link to the Twitter app. This is great if you’ve come across a link to a tweet and decided you want to follow the user, or just explore their timeline more through the official Twitter app.
That type of behavior works with some other apps and content as well in the newest versions of mobile Safari, including PDF’s, ebooks, and epubs.
The history command is a useful way to find specific commands that have been used in the past, and it can also be used to discover what your personal most used commands are with the following command string:
history | awk '{a[$2]++}END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}' | sort -rn | head -15
The output strips any flags or parameters, providing only the root commands shown by the most commonly used. Example output may look like the following:
$ history | awk '{a[$2]++}END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}' | sort -rn |head -n 15
56 traceroute
35 nslookup
35 ssh
31 ls
28 curl
25 sftp
23 gcc
23 make
18 cd
18 cat
17 round
15 python
13 kill
13 clear
10 defaults
The number to the left indicates how many times the command has been used, per what is listed in bash history. Clearing bash history will obviously change those numbers, as will any adjustments to the length of commands stored in bash_history, and having it disabled completely will obviously cause the entire command to report back nothing.
If you’d rather see the most used complete commands, perhaps to make aliases or for another purpose, simplifying the command string by removing awk will accomplish that;
history | sort -rn | head
Leaving the -n flag off of ‘head’ will default to list 10 items, but any number can be applied by specifying it with -n.
These commands will work in OS X and Linux, and should work in other unix variations as well.
Every time Apple launches a new product, a bunch of comedy surfaces around it to give us all some laughs. Now it’s late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s turn, and he’s jumping on the the good-humored iPad Mini bashing bandwagon in an amusing comparison of past and present Apple products. No further spoilers, but check out the video below:
Jailbreakers will be pleased to discover that iOS 6.0.1 can already be jailbroken by using existing versions of Redsn0w. Currently, only the iPhone 4, iPod touch 4th gen, and iPhone 3GS are supported, and you’ll have to point Redsn0w at the older 6.0 IPSW, but otherwise the process is pretty much the same as any other recent tethered jailbreak. The simple walkthrough below guides you through the process, but the Redsn0w app itself also is fairly explanatory these days.
Before beginning, it’s a good idea to perform a manual backup, this lets you easily undo the jailbreak without losing anything. Use iCloud to backup manually or go the traditional route with iTunes, but don’t skip this step.
Launch Redsn0w, click “Extras”, then “Select IPSW”, and choose the iOS 6.0 IPSW file you just downloaded, then go back to the main Redsn0w screen and choose “Jailbreak”
Follow on screen instructions to enter DFU mode by holding the Power button for 3 seconds, then while holding Power also hold the Home button for 5 seconds, finally release Power button but hold home button for another 15 seconds, Redsn0w will notify you when DFU has been successful
Be sure to check auto boot in Redsn0w to automatically boot the device tethered upon restart, if you missed that step go to the primary redsn0w window and select “Extras” followed by “Just Boot” to boot tethered
When iOS reboots you should find Cydia on the home screen, signifying the jailbreak was successful. If you don’t see it or it doesn’t launch, you probably didn’t boot tethered, which is required. The whole tethering thing is the primary downside to these types of jailbreaks, as you’ll need to connect it to a computer with Redsnow each time the device reboots or runs out of battery.
If you decide to undo the jailbreak, just connect the iPhone or iPod touch to the computer and choose Restore, selecting the most recent backup stored locally or within iTunes.
The simplest way to move everything from an old Mac to a new Mac is to use the built-in Migration Assistant tool. Migration Assistant can be used at any time, but ideally, it will be used on first boot of the new Mac, that way when it’s finished everything on the new machine will be exactly where you left off on the old machine, except all your files, documents, and apps, will be on the new Mac. This is what I recently used to migrate from a failing old MacBook Air to a new MacBook Air (a technically used Certified Refurbished model from Apple), and it allowed me to never miss a beat. If you’ve never used it before we’ll walk through how to do this, as it’s by far the best way to basically duplicate one Mac over to another.
Alongside the public release of the iOS 6.0.1 update, registered Apple Developers received access to the first beta of iOS 6.1. Included in the release are a variety of minor UI changes, and a new Map Kit aimed at developers to help the built-in Maps app.
iOS 6.1 beta 1 arrives as build 10B5095f, and is compatible with iPad 2, iPad 3, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 4th and 5th gen. Curiously, the early releases of iOS 6.1 beta did not include IPSW for iPad 4 or iPad mini, but those should arrive shortly. Alongside iOS 6.1 beta is also a new version of Xcode 4.6, which is required to build apps for the latest beta iOS.
The iOS 6.0.1 update provides some invaluable bug fixes, and every iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch user should update to take advantage of them. The vast majority of users are best served updating directly on their iOS device by using OTA update, found in Settings > General > Software Update. Connecting an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iTunes will also trigger the automatic update procedure. Nonetheless, some advanced users prefer upgrading directly by using IPSW firmware files, and those downloads can be found here.
iOS 6.0.1 IPSW Download Links
These ipsw files are hosted by Apple, right-click on each link and choose “Save As”, the file extension should be .ipsw only.
Again, if you don’t have prior experience using IPSW for updating iOS, it’s best to go the automated routes of Over The Air or through iTunes. You can read more about using firmware files here.
iOS 6.0.1 has been released, the software update includes several significant bug fixes for all iOS users, particularly those with iPhones. Curiously, those with iPhone 5 must first download a patch that allows OTA updates to work, prior to being able to download and install iOS 6.0.1.
The 6.0.1 update appears to address several prominent bugs, including an apparent resolution to the iPhone-specific “No Service” after signal loss and regain problem that impacts a fairly large number of users who are in areas with spotty cellular reception, a fix aimed at the iPhone 5 Wi-Fi speed issue, and a resolution to the peculiar keyboard glitch. The full list of bug fixes is shown below.
The iOS 6.0.1 software update can be downloaded through iTunes or Over-the-Air Update on the device itself by tapping on Settings > General > Software Update. Direct download links for iOS 6.0.1 IPSW firmware are also be available for those who wish to go the manual route.
If you want to buy a used Mac to save a bit of money, the best place to do so is directly from Apple’s Online Refurbished Store. We’ve bought used Macs from just about everywhere under the sun before, from friends, coworkers, Craigslist, and eBay, but nothing beats the official Certified offerings from Apple. Why? Apple Certified Refurbished products have been thoroughly tested, cleaned, and any defective item has been replaced. For portables, Apple Refurbs usually get brand new batteries too. You can read more about the official refurb process here, but we’ll elaborate on six main reasons why we think buying refurbished is the way to go when buying anything in the used Mac market.
Siri works from the Locked Screen in iOS, letting you get things like the weather, make quick phone calls, and a variety of other incredibly useful tasks, but for the privacy and security buffs out there, this may be considered undesirable.
You no longer need to create music playlists in iTunes and then sync them to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, because the entire process can be done easily directly in iOS itself. The next time you leave home without creating a playlist, just make one quickly on the go by doing the following:
Launch Music in iOS and tap the Playlists tab
Tap on “Add Playlist…” and give the playlist a name
Now sort through the song list and tap the blue (+) icon on each song to add to the playlist
Tap “Done” when finished, and enjoy the playlist
You can also edit playlists and change the playlist order of songs, clear the contents of playlists, or delete the playlist completely.
If you do connect to a computer later, these playlists should sync fine with iTunes on a desktop PC or Mac. If it doesn’t happen automatically because of your management settings, you can always export the playlist manually to transfer it over to your computer too.
This feature has been around since iOS 5, so just about all iOS devices should be able to do it.
Recent benchmarks for iPhone 5 were very impressive, but now those impressive numbers have been broken by another Apple product: the iPad 4. Not only is the iPad 4 faster than the brand new iPhone 5, it’s much faster than the iPad 3, offerring over two times the performance of the previous model.
For those who like the technical details of performance, the iPad 4’s speed boost is achieved with an A6X dual-core 1.4GHz processor alongside 1GB of RAM, as revealed by the Geekbench app where the benchmarks came from. The A6X CPU at 1.4GHz is slightly faster than the A6 CPU included in the iPhone 5, which runs at 1.3GHz.
You can see the full benchmark information at PrimateLabs, and you can download the GeekBench app yourself and run it on your own devices to see how they stack up.
Conan O’Brien is having a lot fun with the iPad Mini launch, roasting the device yet again in a new hilarious video that touches on Apple’s newly multiplied iPad lineup. It’s pretty funny, watch through the embed(s) below, one is through Conan’s website which should be viewable by worldwide audiences, and the other is through YouTube which may be region restricted.
The Help menu that’s always visible in Mac OS X and within Mac apps is far more powerful than just serving as a knowledge base for questions about the app in use; it can also function as a full-fledged action launcher for any menu items.
This is useful for when you’re either still learning keyboard shortcuts, can’t remember where something is in menus, or just want to quickly perform a task and you don’t know the shortcut. It also lets you interact with menu tasks that don’t have a keyboard shortcut.
Searching the file system for a specific document or file is easy and very fast. Though most users are best served using Spotlight from the menubar, there are times when either Spotlight isn’t working, you need more paramaters, you’re working in the Terminal, operating with a remote machine, or perhaps just would like to use an alternative search function.
You’re in luck, we’ll show you how to find files and folders directly from the command line using two different tricks. The first method is operating system agnostic, meaning you’ll be able to use the search function with Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, and many other unix variations, whereas the second trick for searching utilizes a Mac-only model of finding files from the command line. Let’s read on and learn how to use these great abilities.
Though we have long been able to add automatically dialed extensions to contacts on the iPhone, the newest versions of iOS handle extensions much more intelligently, allowing you to create a “Dial Extension” button to any specific contact. That extension dialer can be activated manually, making the navigation of telephony menus infinitely easier.
Mac OS X has a myriad of multi-touch gestures that have been expanded upon in modern versions of Mac OS X, and one of the better gestures is the two-fingered swipe left or right to go either back or forward in a wide variety of apps.
This gesture is borrowed from the iOS world and it’s quite useful as a back / forward quick action.
This great multi-Mac setup belongs to Terry R., a Vice President at a leading cybersecurity firm. You’ll find a wide variety of gear and software in use, with three different Macs and a handful of iOS devices, all of which provide an interesting look into how Apple hardware is used at the executive level. Hardware shown includes:
MacBook Pro 13 (2012) – 2.9GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 750GB hard drive, OS X 10.8.2, MS Office for MAC
Apple Thunderbolt Display 27” display
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard
Henge Dock
This first Mac is used primarily for standard day to day activities, including document development, emails, business development, proposals and program execution. Next up you’ll find a MacBook Pro:
MacBook Pro 15 (2011) – 2.2GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive, OS X 10.8.2
MS Office for MAC, Adobe Acrobat CS6, VMWare Fusion, Windows 7, Office 2010, Project, Vision, and Mathlab
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard
Griffin Elevator stand
The MacBook Pro is used for emails, video, photographic, and mathematical processing for engineering, system designs, and business development, proposals, business management. Finally on the Mac front, there’s a MacBook Air, which is used for a variety of day to day activities, document development, emails, business development, proposals, and naturally also serves as the primary traveling computer.
You’ll find a handful of other Apple gear throughout the setup as well, including:
iPhone 4
iPad (2?) with Apple Wireless Keyboard
Apple TV 2 connected to an Asus 23″ LCD
Apple Time Capsule 3TB (out of view) used by all MacBooks for real time backup
Here’s another angle of the desk arrangement:
How’s that for a great Mac setup?
Do you have an interesting Mac setup you want featured? Send a good picture or two, a list of hardware, with a brief description of what the workstation is used for to osxdailycom@gmail.com
Siri works from the 
