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Easy way to open new Finder window in same folder as frontmost window

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:47:15 -0700

[Original Article: Easy way to open new Finder window in same folder as frontmost window • comment by: kirkmc]

On Mountain Lion, nothing happens when I do that.

--- Mac OS X Hints editor - Macworld senior contributor http://www.mcelhearn.com

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Use Flickr as a cloud drive

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:35:08 -0700

[Original Article: Use Flickr as a cloud drive • comment by: joelseph]

I agree with everything that has been mentioned in the other comments. Did anyone else notice this was posted by [user:kirkmc]?

Since the editor chooses which submitted hints are posted here, I suppose this doesn't make much difference... every hint that makes it onto the site has the editor's "blessing." But for some reason I found it disconcerting that our editor submitted this one himself.

We all use things/services/apps/programs in ways they're not intended� and it's great to share that. Look at all we'd miss if no one had ever dumped Mentos in Diet Coke� which were never intended to be mixed, but consumed separately. But doesn't it pay to be careful when novelly misusing services like Flickr? If we abuse it and they say "Forget dis!" and yank the offer, then we have a bunch of serious digital photographers seriously mad at us. They've got huge lenses and tripods and silvery-shiny umbrellas that flash... I don't know what they would do with all that equipment when they're angry, but I don't want to tempt them to use it in a way it wasn't intended by the manufacture ON ME!

Kirk, you do a great job on this site, but I think you missed the mark on this on ...

Create secure passwords with Siri

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:44:56 -0700

[Original Article: Create secure passwords with Siri • comment by: timrand]

You can also say "Wolfram password 20" for an insanely long password, for example. Or "Wolfram password numbers only" to have a digit strin ...

Easy way to open new Finder window in same folder as frontmost window

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:12:40 -0700

[Original Article: Easy way to open new Finder window in same folder as frontmost window • comment by: osxpounder]

Try Cmd O. If nothing in the Finder window is selected, a new copy of the same Finder window opens. That's what I get on Snow Leopard right now. It might be affected by a setting in Finder's preferences; I'm not sure about that, but it can't hurt to try.

--- Apple Support Communities are a pain in the ___.

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Use Flickr as a cloud drive

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:34:25 -0700

[Original Article: Use Flickr as a cloud drive • comment by: kbradnam]

I agree with the previous comments. Maybe MacOSXHints should even go so far as to try � where possible ��to enforce a policy of not posting hints that might violate the terms and conditions of 3rd party servic ...

Create secure passwords with Siri

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:44:35 -0700

[Original Article: Create secure passwords with Siri • comment by: Andrew Fletcher]

Wall from password Wolf ram password WolframAlpha pastorate Wall from password Warfarin password Wolf ram password Wolf from Alphard password WolframAlpha password Me: Finally! Siri: I don't know what that means. If you like I can search the web for "WolframAlpha password". Me: edits in the space Siri: ... 93TUL8pM ... I think I'll stay with my password wallet app ...

Cannot empty trash because item is in use

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:47:42 -0700

[Original Article: Cannot empty trash because item is in use • comment by: vykor]

There is another minor caveat with the rm-based alternative. If you rm a file while it is in actual use, you will most likely not get the disk space back until that file is released by whatever is holding an open file descriptor to it. The file will disappear from the Trash and directory listings, so if you just like to see an empty Trash icon, then ok. If you actually want the disk space marked as free for other uses, this is usually not enough. For large files, more comprehensive (though time consuming) solution is to use lsof | grep <filename> to check what process is holding the file open, and then killing that process. This way you can use empty trash from the GUI and guarantee yourself the disk space ba ...

Change OS X cursor size

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:22:13 -0700

[Original Article: Change OS X cursor size • comment by: RobHuska]

So would there be a way to change this preference through the terminal? The reason I ask is because i would like to set a keyboard shortcut to enlarge and decrease the size of my cursor so that when I go to a program like Photoshop I can shrink it quickly. If someone can come up with an if/else similar to this one here for showing/hiding hidden files so that I could put it into Automator, that would be awesome! Here is the hidden file script: STATUS=`defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles` if [ $STATUS == YES ]; then defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO else defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES fi killall Finder I sourced this from here: http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/index_files/quickly-show-hidden-files.php Than ...

Put Mac to sleep with Drafts on iOS

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:01:57 -0700

[Original Article: Put Mac to sleep with Drafts on iOS • comment by: gbrown]

There is a Macintosh application called "WakeyWakey" ($3.99 at http://www.gbrown.com/wakey/) and a free iOS app called WakeyControl that will do this t ...

Cannot empty trash because item is in use

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:02:19 -0700

[Original Article: Cannot empty trash because item is in use • comment by: zero216ca]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I was trying to take the advice posted here, and entered cd ~/.Trash rm -r * as two separate lines....now everything in my documents, downloads, desktop, and some other things are gone. Is there any way to undo this!? I'm freaking out, I have some important stuff that is not backed up (stupid, I kno ...

Put Mac to sleep with Drafts on iOS

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:24:35 -0700

[Original Article: Put Mac to sleep with Drafts on iOS • comment by: Supp0rtLinux]

I've been a UNIX guy for almost 2 decades and back in the day we used to write a custom script that would use a .forward file to pipe things out to the vacation program which would then execute a script. So I could email a server and have it run a report, reboot, etc., though caution had to be given to restrict addresses it could receive from and to include non-standard wording the subject or body. Try googling: "linux pipe to vacation program run script". To my knowledge this can still be done in even the latest versions of OS X. In fact, it can be done via txt messages now thanks to iCloud and Messages and doesn't depend on installing additional 3rd party apps. I used this years ago for a server that was known to freeze up� when BigBrother would email me that the server was down, I would send it an email from my phone to reboot it. Somehow its critical services would freeze up, but it could still process email and init, e ...

Use Flickr as a cloud drive

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:03 -0700

[Original Article: Use Flickr as a cloud drive • comment by: The Eck]

In response to SCIP: Well written counterpoint, and one which I agree with. I've been using Phanfare for six years or more having signed up for a perpetual account for $250, but recently they were bought out and the new management canned the perpetual free storage. Needing a place for photo albums to share among friends, family, the world (and some that I keep private), this new offer by Flickr was a no-brainer for me. For cloud backup I use Pogoplug with an unlimited plan that runs $5/mo and is fine for cloud storage. To implement this hint is nothing more than gaming the system that Flickr offers and has the potential of Flickr backing off its off ...

Use Flickr as a cloud drive

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:06:17 -0700

[Original Article: Use Flickr as a cloud drive • comment by: Unsoluble]

Agre ...

Use Flickr as a cloud drive

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:33:07 -0700

[Original Article: Use Flickr as a cloud drive • comment by: Mr. H]

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Use Flickr as a cloud drive

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:51:24 -0700

[Original Article: Use Flickr as a cloud drive • comment by: scip]

Hmm... This seems to be a weird hint for this site and also another reason why we can't have nice things. Given how awesome it is that Flickr is giving users 1TB of space for free and how that could potentially change the online storage marketplace, is it wise to help inform people how to abuse the system? This isn't dropbox, it's a free photo storage service. Encoding other types of files (MP3s, etc) into fake images and uploading them to Flickr would seem to violate their service terms, or at least violate the spirit of the service and potentially cause them to reevaluate the offer.

From Flickr's faq page
"Please note that the available amount of space is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. To avoid abuse of our free space, we monitor accounts for excessive usage or unusual upload and behavior patterns, as our goal is to ensure that everyone has reliable access to their amazing photos and videos on Flick ...

Take screenshots of sheets with Command-Shift-4

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:28:44 -0700

[Original Article: Take screenshots of sheets with Command-Shift-4 • comment by: ShawnLevasseur]

deleted by u ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:00:20 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: smartblogger]

to clear disk space basically I create rules, It helps me to manage my account more efficient ...

Work with PC-created Joliet Level 3 CDs

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:33:06 -0700

[Original Article: Work with PC-created Joliet Level 3 CDs • comment by: ecomatt]

Wow this thread is amazing iv been baffled by this issue for a while - as my old cd's work on 10.6 but not on mountain lion.
I guess mountain lion dropped support for joliet leve3?
can anyone help me update the script to work on 10.8, i replaced disktool with diskutil but it still gets stuck at this line? set diskIdentifier to text item 2 of unmountedVolLine
any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have tested it in terminal and it works doing the following
mkdir /Volumes/tempCD
sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/Contents/Resources/cd9660.util -M disk1s1 /Volumes/tempCD
sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/Contents/Resources/cd9660.util -u disk1s1 /Volumes/tempCD

i didn't know the diskutil command for disktool -r which i guess allows you to eject the mounted partition in the finder?
so had to use the -u command to unmount it.
also i like the idea of the script to automatically detect the correct unmounted volume. would save a lot of time on the 30+ disks i need to convert / re burn.

any help would be greatly appreciated.


try
	tell application "Finder" to set finderDisks to name of disks
	set currentDisks to do shell script "diskutil list"
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to return
	set currentDisks to every text item of currentDisks
	set unmountedVolLine to ""
	repeat with currentLine from 1 to the count of items in currentDisks
		if item currentLine of currentDisks does not contain "volName = ''" then
			repeat with i from 1 to the count of items in finderDisks
				if item currentLine of currentDisks contains "volName = '" & item i of finderDisks & "'" then
					exit repeat
				else
					if i = the (count of items in finderDisks) then
						set unmountedVolLine to item currentLine of currentDisks
						exit repeat
					end if
				end if
			end repeat
		end if
		if unmountedVolLine is not equal to "" then
			set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "'"
			set diskIdentifier to text item 2 of unmountedVolLine
			do shell script "sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/Contents/Resources/cd9660.util -M " & diskIdentifier & " /Volumes/temppccd" with administrator privileges
			
			exit repeat
		end if
	end repeat
	if unmountedVolLine is equal to "" then display dialog "There are no unmounted disks." buttons "OK" default button "OK"
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
on error error_msg number error_num
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
	display dialog "Error " & error_num & ": " & error_msg buttons "OK" default button "OK"
end try
  ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:06:28 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: Strod]

Actually you were partially right. The thing is that most email clients have an OPTION that allows you to keep copies of messages with or without attachments for offline viewing. For your desktop or laptop computer turning this option on makes a LOT of sense, and I believe it is the default for Apple Mail and Outlook. For other mobile devices like smartphones and tablets this option does NOT make a lot of sense so many mail clients don't even include ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:58:34 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: richie]

Thanks for the heads up. I found my downloads folder in the same place. Running Mountain Lion 10.8 ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:07:34 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: Makosuke]

Seriously.

I'm as big a fan of local storage as the next luddite, but when you try to access three different mail accounts from a home desktop, a home laptop, a work desktop, an iPhone, and an iPod Touch in any functional way, POP does not cut it. Besides, with offline caching, there's really not that much difference between IMAP and POP (unless the IMAP server instructs your local computer to purge the entire contents of a folder or something, in which case you're relying on your local backup). ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:03:43 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: Makosuke]

Interesting. I stand entirely corrected, then. I had always assumed, since when you first view an IMAP message with large image attachments you can see the image attachments queueing for download, that they were going into that folder. This being the case, this is a very valuable tip for those short on disk space (those of us with SSDs, in particula ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:24:13 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: demure]

You can use the following to wipe out the attachment dirs: find ~/Library/Mail -name "Attachments" -depth -exec rm -rf {} \; ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:16:31 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: demure]

I think they may be lin ...

Control iTunes AirPlay streaming with AppleScript

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:12:30 -0700

[Original Article: Control iTunes AirPlay streaming with AppleScript • comment by: emale]

Finally! Thanks for that hi ...

Disable swipe gesture to go back and forward in Chrome

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:11:30 -0700

[Original Article: Disable swipe gesture to go back and forward in Chrome • comment by: magnamous]

It drives me nuts, personal ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:54:30 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: barefootguru]

Under Mountain Lion my version of this folder is ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads @petersconsult not sure why you'd want to run POP in this day and age. I check the same e-mail accounts on 4 different devices, IMAP's the only way to stay sane doing that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Message_Access_Protocol#Advantages_over_ ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:40:00 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: mousyak]

Not really. Your comment made me test it - I disconnected from my internet connections and test-opened a bunch of attachments. They all opened no problem, without complaining that there was no connection to the IMAP server. I quit Mail, saw them deleted from the above mentioned folder, and repeated. Attachments are stored offline in Mail, and this folder is a duplicate location when the user decides to open the attachment... Just my 2 cents. ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:52:00 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: Makosuke]

Right--it actually makes a fair amount of sense on IMAP connections so you don't end up re-downloading large attachments repeatedly, since I'm pretty sure IMAP attachments are NOT downloaded along with the messages during a sync. Example: I have a message with 10MB of large images attached to it in an IMAP account. With the "delete on quit" option selected, every time I view that message, if I have quit Mail since the last time, it will need to re-download those 10MB of images to display them. For someone like me, who passes a lot of images around via email (business reasons), that would be incredibly annoying--it would render Mail.app nearly unusable, in fa ...

Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:33:14 -0700

[Original Article: Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail attachments • comment by: petersconsult]

I was going to say the same -- for IMAP connections, Mail keeps these offline so they're available without needing to re-download them each time... Just another reason to stick with good-ol' POP... Cheers, Pe ...