January 2010
3 posts
3 tags
Apple Publications Style Guide
The Apple Publications Style Guide provides editorial guidelines for text in Apple instructional publications, technical documentation, reference information, training programs, and the software user interface.
Writers, editors, and developers can use this document as a guide to writing style, usage, and Apple product terminology. Writers and editors should thoroughly review the guide so that...
2 tags
October 2009
2 posts
3 tags
Windows 7 and Boot Camp
from the kbase:
Apple will support Microsoft Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate) with Boot Camp in Mac OS X Snow Leopard before the end of the year. This support will require a software update to Boot Camp.
Note: The following models will not be supported for use with Windows 7 using Boot Camp.
iMac (17-inch, Early 2006)
iMac (17-inch, Late 2006)
...
4 tags
Filter Google Wave in Twitterrific (Mac)
Tired of seeing folks retweeting to try and get Google Wave invites? Me too.
Just run this command in the Terminal, then restart Twitterrific:
defaults write com.iconfactory.Twitterrific tweetTextFilter -string \
“[gG]oogle[wW]ave|[gG]oogle [wW]ave”
Now, tweets containing “googlewave” or “Google Wave” will be filtered and hidden from your timeline.
September 2009
4 posts
2 tags
4 tags
Edit binary (and normal) plist files with vim →
This tip on Mac OS X Hints is from 2005, and it is still terribly handy.
To load a vim script to automatically read and convert binary plists, run this in Terminal (all on one line):
curl http://www.macosxhints.com/dlfiles/vim_plist_script.txt > ~/.vimrc
4 tags
Command-Line Tools
There are a lot of handy command-line tools stashed around OS X that are very useful when deploying, maintaining, and supporting Macs. These are a few my favorites:
asr efficiently copies disk images onto volumes, either directly or via a multicast network stream. asr can also accurately clone volumes without the use of an intermediate disk image.
Example: $asr restore -source...
Screenshots on the Desktop? No more!
Run this command in the Terminal to change the default location of screenshots to some place where they won’t make such a mess:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location “~/Pictures/Screenshots”
via Jeremy Knope dot com
August 2009
4 posts
Smaller Footprint and New Math
There’s been a lot of talk about Snow Leopard’s smaller footprint, and its “new math”.
Lots of folks have been dismissing the smaller footprint and saying gains in free space are all due to the new math.
Well, the people saying that are wrong.
Take my desktop machine, for example. Under Leopard, it reported having 30.42 “GB” free. That’s really...
Going The Distance with K64
In my previous post about Snow Leopard, I posted a link to a chart about the 64-bit kernel (aka “K64”) in Snow Leopard, but that’s not really useful at all. All it takes is one step to see if your machine is 64-bit capable, and another to turn it on.
Open up Terminal, and run the following command:
ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
If you see EFI64 on the next line,...
Snow Leopard
Its out. Its awesome. Everyone loves it except Paul Thurott, but he’s a big dummy.
Anyway, here’s the short list of stuff I’ve gathered so far:
Will it work? or: Should I wait for 10.6.1?
If you have an Intel-based Mac, yes and it is glorious. If you do not have an Intel-based Mac, and you’ve got a G5, G4, or older, sorry. Is it fast?
Yes. Basically everything is...
What to do when a CD or DVD won't eject
Sometimes, discs just don’t want to hang out in your computer. The optical drive is a warm, dark place, and they like it there.
If you try to eject a disc, but it won’t work, here’s some things you can try.
First, open up Terminal, and type in lsof | grep (there’s a space after grep) and drag the disc’s icon from the desktop onto the window. Then, press enter....
June 2009
5 posts
Extra Details in the Airport Menu Extra
When you are connected to a wireless network, you can hold down the option key while you click on the Airport menu to get extra details about the networks:
1 tag
WWDC 09
I’ll be out at WWDC next week, learning more about iPhone development, and catching up on IT and Snow Leopard.
Before I get into all that, though, I’ll be at the Keynote on Monday morning.
I’ll start updating when I’m on my way to the Moscone Center over at @ex_genius, so be sure to tune in for all the action!
1 tag
App of the Moment: The Unarchiver
I just heard about The Unarchiver, and it already earned a permanent spot in my Utilities folder.
The Unarchiver is, well, an unarchiver. It takes the place of the built-in BOMArchiveHelper that usually opens zip files, and handles many more formats. It will even expand Stuffit archives!
In short, The Unarchiver is an awesome utility, and you should go download it right now.
PS: Have you...
May 2009
2 posts
1 tag
SendStation Mini DisplayPort Adapters →
SendStation is now selling their own Mini DisplayPort Adapters, most notably including an HDMI adapter.
2 tags
Improve Safari's Security
The Mac web has been abuzz recently with word of a particularly heinous vulnerability that was patched by Sun, but not by Apple.
What does this mean for you? Well, you should turn off the Open “safe” files after downloading option, as well as disable Java.
Here’s how.
First, open up the Safari preferences, from the Safari menu:
Under the first tab, General, you’ll...
March 2009
6 posts
Alarms without iCal
Its easy to set up an alarm to go off every hour, half-hour, or quarter-hour without even touching iCal. In fact, we’re going to set it up in System Preferences.
Open System Preferences, and then the Date & Time preferences.
Now, under the rightmost tab, “Clock”, you can select to announce the time:
And that’s it, you’re all set!
Full Disclosure: Affiliations
I want to be clear about my affiliations and membership in affiliate programs.
One: I worked at the Apple Store for 4 years. I spent over a year as a Genius, and know lots of people in many different parts of the company. I’m not interested in posting anything that will put anyone in an awkward position, and do not intend to.
Two, as far as affiliate programs… From here on out, any...
New Hardware - Mini Takeapart
Apple released some new hardware today, and there’s a new Mac mini in town.
Its a pretty major change for the rugged little machine that analysts love to hate, and I love to throw at users.
I’m currently planning to get one of these machines as soon as possible and completely disassemble and document it as much as possible. I’ll post more as it comes together.
Let’s...
Apple: Cosmetic Damage Keeps Us From Replacing... →
Here’s an unusual take on it, from the comments:
As an expert in product safety, I have to agree with apple on this one. From the safety aspect, the enclosure completes both the fire and electrical enclosure, and having this ghip in the enclosure violates the applicable safety standards (in other words, the enclosure no longer complies with the safety standards) If apple were to replace...
February 2009
3 posts
Content Survey →
I’d really love it if you’d take a minute or two to let me know the kind of thing you’d like to see me post here.
I’m currently thinking things like takeapart and upgrade videos, with the occasional blog post thrown in. Any preferences?
Let’s do this!
Coming soon: content!
Can I get a “Woohoo!”? Maybe not? Ok…
Anyway, I’ve been thinking a out what to do here, and I think I’m going to post how-to’s and tutorials. I find that there is a lot of info online is that’s too hard to access or apply, ya know?
I’d also like to work on building a library of videos, from screencasts to takeaparts and upgrades.
If you have...
Hello world.
*tap, tap tap*
Is this thing on?