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Java for OS X 2013-001 Update Patches Security Vulnerability

Feb 19, 2013 - 9 Comments
Java for OS X 2013-001 update

Fresh off the news that Macs at Apple’s corporate headquarters were hacked through (yet another) Java exploit, Apple has released an update for Java that closes that hole, and also disables Java on Macs that have not used the applet in over 30 days. The update is available to all OS X users running 10.7 … Read More

Kill All Processes Belonging to a User with pkill

Feb 18, 2013 - 3 Comments
Kill all processes belonging to a user

Activity Monitor and the traditional ‘kill’ command line tool are able to handle most process termination needs, but if you’ve ever needed to target and kill all processes belonging to a single user account, you know it can be a frustrating task. Though Activity Monitor allows you to sort “Other User Processes” and select multiple … Read More

iTunes Library Locations & How To Quickly Find iTunes Songs on a Computer

Feb 16, 2013 - 10 Comments
Show iTunes song in the file system instantly

Assuming you keep iTunes on the default setting and let the app manage your music files and songs, iTunes will store all of your media nicely in the Music directory of your home folder, with each song kept in a folder according to the album and album artist. Though you’ll usually never need to directly … Read More

How to Open a Zip File That Turns Into a CPGZ

Feb 13, 2013 - 68 Comments
Unzip a file from the command line and GUI

Ever had a zip file turn into a cpgz file? This is an infrequent problem, but here’s what happens; When the .zip file is attempted to be unzipped, it extracts into a .cpgz file, which then can also be launched in Archive Utility, only to then turn back into a .zip file, which then turns … Read More

How to Renew a DHCP Lease in Mac OS X

Feb 11, 2013 - 3 Comments
Network preferences in Mac OS X

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, and is commonly used to configure network devices so they can communicate with one another. Typically you’ll have a DHCP server (like a wireless router), and client machines on the local network (like a Mac, iPhone, PC, etc) that pull a dynamically assigned local IP address from that … Read More

Add an iOS Inspired Multitasking Bar to Mac OS X with TaskBoard

Feb 10, 2013 - 33 Comments
Taskboard in Mac OS X

The mobile world of iOS and desktop world of OS X continue to converge, but some features remain absent or different in either OS. One such example is how multitasking and running multiple applications is handled, which is managed quite simply in the multitasking bar of iOS. On the OS X side of things, the … Read More

Transfer Photos from Android to Mac OS X

Feb 8, 2013 - 43 Comments
Transfer photos from Android to Mac

The easiest way to copy pictures from an Android device and to a Mac is using one of the image transfer apps that is bundled with Mac OS X. That’s because all Android devices, including the popular Google Pixel, Nexus, Huawei, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Samsung Galaxy series, should be treated by the standard camera apps … Read More

Manage & Switch Between Default Web Browsers Quickly with Objektiv for OS X

Feb 7, 2013 - 2 Comments
Objektiv juggles default web browsers in Mac OS X

Between Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Canary builds, Opera, and the myriad of other apps, juggling between web browsers can be a pain. This is even more exaggerated since every browser wants to set itself as the default, and then, to go about changing the default web browser after the fact, you have to open Safari and … Read More

Fix Archive Utility When It Stops Working, Crashes, or Freezes in Mac OS X

Feb 6, 2013 - 21 Comments
fix for when Archive Utility is not working

Archive Utility is the little system app that launches anytime an archive needs to be dealt with by OS X, usually it launches itself, extracts a zip, sit, tar, gz, or whatever other archive file, then quits on it’s own. Lately there’s been widespread reports of weird problems with Archive Utility though, where a zip … Read More

How to Run GUI Apps as root in Mac OS X

Feb 6, 2013 - 10 Comments
Launch a GUI application as root in Mac OS X

Those familiar with the command line know that running things with super user privileges is typically just a matter of using the sudo command. That still holds true with launching GUI apps into the OS X with root privileges, but it’s not just a matter of prepending sudo to the otherwise useful open command, because … Read More

Simple Tricks to Improve the Terminal Appearance in Mac OS X

Feb 5, 2013 - 56 Comments
Improve the Terminal appearance

The standard terminal appearance is just boring old black text on a white background. Apple included a few nice preset themes too, but to really make your terminals appearance stand out you’ll want to take the time to customize it yourself. While some of these tweaks are admittedly pure eye candy, others genuinely improve the … Read More

Send a File to Multiple Remote Macs or iOS Devices from the Mac OS X Finder

Feb 4, 2013 - 4 Comments
Send a file from a Mac to multiple Macs and iOS Clients

A new contextual menu feature available in the OS X Finder make sending files out from a Mac faster than ever before, and perhaps even better, this trick can be used to send a file or document to multiple client recipients, be they on nearby Macs and iPads, or far away iPhones and iPod touches. … Read More

Stream iTunes Music to Multiple Devices with AirPlay

Feb 3, 2013 - 4 Comments
Stream iTunes music to multiple devices with AirPlay

AirPlay and iTunes let you stream music to multiple devices simultaneously. This means you can have the same music playing on your desktop computer in sync with devices in other locations, like an iPhone or iPod touch connected to a speaker dock, an Apple TV in the living room, a media center running XBMC, or … Read More

Strange Bug Causes Instant App Crashes in Mac OS X by Typing File:///

Feb 2, 2013 - 21 Comments
Crash a Mac App

An unusual Mac bug has surfaced in OS X that causes any application to immediately crash just by typing a short character sequence. The bug was first reported on OpenRadar and is thought to relate to the spell checking and autocorrection features, though the bug is also replicable in prior versions of Mac OS X … Read More

Use Option as Meta Key in Mac Terminal

Feb 1, 2013 - 6 Comments
Meta key in Mac OS X Terminal

By turning Option into the Meta key, you will be able to use familiar meta commands to jump around and navigate text in places like Emacs or bash shell without twisting your fingers around to poke at Esc. This won’t be applicable or useful to everyone, but it’s one of those must-use tricks for frequent … Read More

Take a Photo with FaceTime Camera After a Task Finishes in Mac Command Line

Jan 31, 2013 - 3 Comments

If you’ve ever wanted to document your reaction to an event, task, or specific command execution, now is your chance to get started. With the help of a fun little app called ImageSnap, you can snap pictures with the FaceTime or iSight cameras from the command line. That can be good enough on it’s own … Read More

Stop iPhoto from Launching When iPhone is Connected

Jan 30, 2013 - 11 Comments
Stop iPhoto from opening automatically

Surely you have noticed the default behavior for connecting any iOS device to a Mac is that either iTunes or iPhoto launches itself automatically. This happens when any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is connected to a computer, and which app opens depends on if the other one is already opened, or if one has … Read More

Preview All Text Files in Quick Look with the QLStephen Plugin for Mac OS X

Jan 30, 2013 - 4 Comments
Quick Look before

By now you’re probably familiar with Quick Look, used in the Mac Finder and Open/Save Dialogs to view an instant preview of any file simply by selecting it and hitting the spacebar or a tap gesture in OS X. It works amazingly well to see what something is before you open it, but if you’ve … Read More

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