If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, you can remotely wipe the device with the help of an excellent free service offered through iCloud called “Find My iPhone” (or Find My iPad, etc). This is perfect for situations where a lost device is long gone with no chance of recovery, because it erases anything that is personally identifying, be it emails, texts, contacts, apps, quite literally everything.

If you don’t have this configured yet and you don’t know how to use the Find My and remote wipe feature, set aside some time to learn, it only takes a few minutes.

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If you keep the Applications folder in the OS X Dock for quick app launching you’ve probably noticed it’s just a giant list of all the apps installed. Sure you can change the display to use a grid, list, or fan, but if you have a lot of apps you’ll still end up with a humungous unsorted launcher with a lot of apps you probably don’t want in there.

Here’s an easy way to get around those limitations and annoyances by creating a separate app launcher for the Dock that is sorted by defined categories, featuring only the applications you want. This is perfect for anyone with large amounts of apps installed who likes to keep things organized.

1. First things first, pull the existing Applications folder out of the Dock
2. Now create a new folder, preferably somewhere in the users Home directory like ~/Documents/ and name it “Applications”
3. Within the newly created Applications folder, create subfolders for app categories, like “Productivity”, “Games”, “Music”, etc
4. Open the primary Applications folder in a new window (Command+N followed by Command+Shift+A), and then drag and drop apps from the primary Applications directory to the respective categories folders you just created – in OS X 10.7 and 10.8 this automatically creates aliases rather than moving the app out of the Application folder, earlier versions of OS X will want to manually create aliases with Command+L
5. Repeat until you are satisfied with the sorting, and then drag the sorted Applications alias directory to the OS X Dock
6. Right-click on the new Applications folder and choose “List” as the view type
7. Click to use the newly sorted and well organized Mac app launcher

You may want to remove the “alias” reference from each app name, or rename them as you see fit in general. Additionally you can complete the overhaul by copying the primary Applications folder icon to the sorted folder of aliases, this gives the appearance of it being the normal Application directory.

If you keep the Dock hidden by default don’t forget to remove the hide and show delays for much quicker Dock access too, it makes menus like these even more useful by rapidly speeding up their accessibility.

Thanks for sending in the great tip Jay!

Photoshop CS6 is arguably the best release of the image manipulation app from Adobe in a very long time. It’s feature packed and generally quite fast, but not everyone is pleased with it’s performance on some hardware.

With that in mind we’ve compiled a list of tweaks, adjustments, and tricks to speed up Photoshop. Some of these tips are gathered from a Google Docs file that was sent out on Twitter (hey follow OSXDaily there!) and we’ve added a few comments to those tricks and added some of our own performance recommendations as well. This list was aimed at Mac OS X but there’s no reason the tweaks wouldn’t benefit a Windows PC too if that’s what you’re stuck with at work.

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Everyone knows how easy it is to get music onto an iPod, iPhone, or iPad with the help of iTunes, but have you ever tried to get music off an iPod or iPhone and onto a new computer? As it turns out, transferring music from an iOS device and to a new or different computer isn’t a feature that is supported in iTunes. Nonetheless it’s easy to do on your own, and we’ll walk you through exactly how to copy all your music from a device and back to a computer.

The end result? The entire music library copied from an iOS device to a computer, ready for iTunes or whatever other media player you want to use. Let’s begin!
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If you bought a new Mac with OS X Lion (or later) pre-installed you probably already have the voice of Siri enabled by default. Siri is actually called “Samantha”, but if you upgraded to OS X Lion manually from Snow Leopard you may have missed the addition of Siri’s voice completely, so here’s how to add it to a Mac.

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The recently released update to Redsn0w 0.9.12 brings the untethered jailbreak to virtually all iOS 5.1.1 users. The latest version of redsn0w has two paths to the untethered jailbreak and which you use will depend on your iOS device, with A5 hardware being the simplest and other hardware requiring the traditional DFU mode method. Neither is particularly challenging, here they are grouped by device, the instructions below cover both.

Super Easy: iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPad 3

Moderately Easy DFU Method: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen, iPad 1

Note: if you are already jailbroken tethered, launch Cydia to search for and install Rocky Raccoon untether. You do not need to rejailbreak your device.

Jailbreaking iOS 5.1.1 Untethered with Redsn0w

Upgrade to iOS 5.1.1 before beginning, quit iTunes beforehand as well. Depending on hardware you may or may not need to go into DFU mode:

• Download Redsn0w 0.9.12 (direct link for Mac or Windows) and launch redsn0w
• Connect the iOS device to the computer and click “Jailbreak”
• For iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and iPad 3, click “Next” and let redsn0w run the jailbreak
• For iPhone 4 & 3GS, iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen, and iPad 1, put the device into DFU mode: hold Power button for 3 seconds, continue holding Power and now hold the Home button for 5 seconds, release Power button but hold home button for another 15 seconds>
• Let Redsn0w run and install the jailbreak, the device will reboot itself and you will be able to find Cydia on the home screen to verify the device is jailbroken

When finished, you can reboot the device freely without having to connect it to a computer for a tethered boot. The ability to freely reboot is the primary difference between a tethered vs untethered jailbreak.

The popular Redsn0w jailbreak utility has been updated to bring untethered jailbreaks to iOS 5.1.1 on most iDevices. Versioned as redsn0w 0.9.12b1, the tool supports the following hardware on 5.1.1: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen, and Apple TV1 and ATV2. The A5 support is identical to that found in the recently released Absinthe 2 for iOS 5.1.1, which focused on the new iPad and iPhone 4S.

If you are already jailbroken tethered with iOS 5.1.1 you can use Cydia to download the Rocky Raccoon untether, you do not need to re-run Redsn0w. Likewise, if you’ve already installed the rocky-raccoon package to untether a 5.1.1 jailbreak there is no reason to download or use the new redsnow tool.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.12b1

These are direct download links from the iPhoneDevTeam:

• Download for Mac
• Download for Windows

Windows users must run redsn0w in administrator mode.

If you like to follow guides, here is a simple tutorial on using Redsn0w for an untethered iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak.

Setting up SSH bookmarks within Terminal app is an easy way to quickly connect to remote machines. If you haven’t noticed these in Terminal before it’s probably because they aren’t labeled as bookmarks, and therefore the feature gets frequently overlooked by even the most advanced Mac users. Here’s how to create bookmarks within Terminal, and also two quick ways to access any of those bookmarks from just about anywhere in Mac OS X.

Setting SSH Bookmarks in Terminal

This guide is intended for SSH but it would also work for Telnet:

1. Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/ folder)
2. Pull down the “Shell” menu and choose “New Remote Connection”
3. Choose SSH on the left side, then click the [+] plus icon to add a new server bookmark
4. Enter the IP of the server – Important note: if you use a custom port and username enter those in the URL field as the following syntax: “-p port user@host.com”

For example, if I use port 24 and the username “dude” for server3.osxdaily.com, the syntax would be: “-p 24 dude@server3.osxdaily.com”


5. Click “OK” and you’ll find the standard command line syntax for connecting to an SSH server is printed in the connection window
6. Click “Connect” and away you go, using the custom port and username you specified

You’ll notice we ignored the “User” field in this example because we set a custom port. If the server you are connecting to uses the default port 22 (like the OS X SSH server does) you won’t need to do this.

2 Ways to Quickly Access Terminal Bookmarks

Now that a bookmark has been created, quickly access the bookmarks from just about anywhere using these two methods:

• From Terminal, hit Command+Shift+K to open the New Connection window
• From anywhere in Mac OS X, right-click on the Terminal Dock icon and choose “New Remote Connection”

Both of these will bring up the connection window where the bookmarks reside. Connecting to a bookmark will request a password unless you have SSH keys set up for passwordless logins.

If you live and breathe in the command line you’ll likely find that making SSH shortcuts with aliases is a faster method to access any frequently used server, however.

You’ve been downloading tons of apps, books, music, and movies galore, and when you go to download the latest great app you find yourself unable to, confronted with a “Cannot Download – There is not enough available storage” message. What are you supposed to do when your iPhone, iPad, or iPod runs out of disk space?

The simplest and fastest answer is to free up some storage capacity by focusing on apps you no longer use, we’ll show you the fastest way to do this so you can quickly get back to downloading the new apps or content you want.

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Ever wondered what to do with that dusty old bricked Mac hardware? Rick H. is a Mac consultant from New Jersey who seems to have found the perfect answer for some old PowerMac G4’s; recycle them into saddlebags for his motorcycle!

As you can see, two PowerMac G4’s are mounted aside the seat to function as saddlebags. Each case is arranged so the natural door opens away from the Moto Guzzi, revealing perfectly functional storage compartments to store parts and even Rick’s MacBook Pro while he’s out on service calls. This is by far the most creative yet functional use of old PowerMac tower cases we’ve seen.

Check out more pictures below.
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Have you ever downloaded a file from the web, and then down the road wished you could retrieve the origin download address? Maybe you want to redownload the file or send the direct download link to a friend. Whatever the reason, you can get the downloaded files URL and copy it to your clipboard easily in Safari.

We’re going to demonstrate this on a Mac with Mac OS but it’s possible in all versions of Safari that are able to download files (Mac OS X, Windows, sorry iOS).

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This weeks Mac setup comes to us from Ilter C., a computer science student who uses his Apple gear for web and iOS development. Hardware shown includes:

• MacBook Pro 15″ mid-2010 Hi-Res, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD
• External 500GB hard disk connected to MacBook Pro
• LG Flatron IPS225 21.5″ LED monitor
• iPhone 4S
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi and Wacom Bamboo Stylus
• iPod Classic 160GB & iPod Shuffle 2GB
• Apple Wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse

This is about as good as it gets for a student setup (or any setup really), there’s plenty of the right gear for both work and play.

On a side note, for anyone with a MacBook Pro or Air as their base machine do yourself a favor and get an external display and at least a mouse or trackpad. I know we go on about this often, but the productivity gains from docking to a larger display can’t be overstated.

Send us your Mac and Apple setup shots with some hardware details to osxdailycom@gmail.com, we are super backlogged with awesome setups but we’ll try to post the best of them!

Diablo 3 system requirements are fairly lenient but as many Mac users have discovered, performance on some computers just isn’t that great. Even some of the newest Macs with the best GPU’s are experiencing performance issues. The good news is that Blizzard is on the case and actively working on patches to address many of these graphics issues in Mac OS X, but nobody is quite sure when that patch will be released. Until then, here are some optimization tips to improve the games playability in OS X.

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Whether you’re a designer, gamer, or you just frequently switch color profiles to use different external displays, you’ll find ProfileMenu useful. As the name implies, ProfileMenu stores all color profiles in an OS X menu bar item that can be accessed from anywhere, allowing you to instantly switch from one profile to the next on the fly. This is much faster than switching profiles yourself through System Preferences, and really it feels like a feature that should be included in the optional Displays menu.

• Get ProfileMenu free from KHI Ltd

Setup is as easy as double-clicking the app, you can select to launch it at login if you’d like otherwise there isn’t much else to it. All in all it’s a simple yet very handy tool for anyone who flips through different color settings with any regularity.

ProfileMenu comes to us from the same developer who created the excellent Consultants Canary tool, while you’re over on the devs site it’s also worth downloading.

Cricket Wireless will become the first carrier in the USA to officially bring the iPhone to the pre-paid plan market. Anyone can already unofficially use an iPhone on a pay-go plan through AT&T, but the Cricket plan is likely a better deal.

Customers will have the choice of the following two iPhone options without a contract, available in either black or white:

• iPhone 4S 16GB – $499
• iPhone 4 8GB – $399

Interestingly, the contract-free prices offered through Cricket are slightly cheaper than the no-contract 4S pricing from Apple, suggesting the devices will be locked to Crickets network to fund the minor subsidization.

The pre-paid plan itself is just $55 a month for unlimited SMS, phone calls, and data, though there’s an artificial transfer cap of 2.3GB per month after which data becomes throttled. That rate is nearly half the cost of an average monthly iPhone plan on the competing cellular networks of Verizon and AT&T, and Cricket estimates the average customer will save about $1000 over the course of two years.

For those interested, the device will be made available on June 22 with pre-orders beginning online on June 15. Be sure to check the Cricket coverage map to see if your area has service.

I recently gave my iPad a pretty serious scratch doing something that I’ve done hundreds of times – sliding the device across a wooden coffee table. I’m not sure exactly what caused it, but the surface of the table probably had a tiny flick of sand or dirt on it, and the sliding motion allowed it to gouge a 3″ mar into the otherwise pristine iPad 3 rear shell. This got me thinking about scratch protection for iOS devices in general, and who needs protectors and who doesn’t.

Who Needs Scratch Protection:

• You want to keep Apple hardware in pristine condition
• You intend to sell the iPad, iPhone, MacBook, within a year or two to stay on the latest and greatest upgrade cycle and want maximum resale value
• You want protection from wear and tear without a bulky case

Who Doesn’t Need Scratch Protection:

• Scratches, scuffs, and wear & tear don’t bother you
• You have no interest in maintaining hardware in pristine condition
• You won’t sell the product and if you do you don’t care about maximum resale value
• You already have a good protective case for the device

Which camp do you belong in? Only you will know, but in hindsight I wish I had put a rear protector on the iPad because I’m one of those people that is obsessive about keeping their hardware in pristine shape. Too late now, but maybe I’ll pick one up for the screen just to be safe.

For some general recommendations, I used to have a ZAGG shield on an iPhone 3GS and it was extremely effective so they generally get my nod of approval (on a sidenote, the old plastic iPhone 3G/3GS cases were actually easier to maintain because you could buff out the scratches with toothpaste), though I don’t have any direct experience with their products for iPad and other aluminum Apple hardware.

If you’re in the camp that does want to use a scratch protective film, the ZAGG invisibleSHIELD and Bodyguardz line are popular and well-rated products, both of which can be bought at a nice discount from Amazon.

If you’ve been following Apple long enough you’re undoubtedly familiar with the late Steve Jobs regular appearances at the annual All Things Digital conferences. Those interviews with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher have all been extremely interesting, and a few even spawned some funny memes. Now AllThingsD has placed all 6 years of those video interviews onto iTunes for anyone to download and watch. Here’s how they describe the series:

There’s lots of video of the late Steve Jobs, primarily from his famous introductions of Apple products over the years, and his oft-quoted Stanford commencement address. But, by far, the largest trove of video of the legendary innovator candidly answering unrehearsed questions and explaining his views on technology and business comes from his six lengthy appearances at our D: All Things Digital Conference, from 2003 to 2010. As a memorial to a great man, and, in the spirit of sharing a priceless piece of history, we are making all six of these appearances available free, in high quality. We thank Apple for its cooperation in making these videos available for all.

They’re all well worth watching for any Apple or Jobs fan.

• Download and watch them all from iTunes

Don’t miss the Tim Cook AllThingsD interview highlights from this years conference too.

The newer versions of iOS include a fantastic text to speech engine that lets you select any text and have it spoken to you. This basically means you can have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch read you the content of any web page, notes, text files, or even eBooks and iBooks. Before you can use the text to speech function though, you have to enable it.

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