That ugly garish purple travesty shows up in the menu bar whenever your screen is being recorded by any number of apps. From Apple's perspective, they probably consider it a good thing, as it lets a user know their screen is being recorded, and I understand that logic. But it als … | Continue reading
I absolutely love Logitech's Mac MX Keys keyboard and MX Master mouse (though I've now updated to version 3 of the mouse). And generally, their software has been pretty good, too. But a recent update added an "AI Prompt generator" feature to the mouse side of things, which is abs … | Continue reading
I stumbled upon this simple AppleScript while looking for something else, but it's incredibly useful for scripting System Settings…so I'm posting it here in case the original site ever goes away. To get the names of all the anchors for a selected pane in System Settings, just run … | Continue reading
I use Keyboard Maestro a lot—a quick search here reveals how often I write about it, and I use it much more than I write about it. I back up my macros reliably, as part of my overall backup plan. I also sync them between my Macs. And a while back, that caused an issue:… Read More … | Continue reading
I ran into this while working on a Keyboard Maestro macro that creates hard links: The macOS version of cp won't create links, at least not in Sonoma. In Ventura, it works even though it throws the same error as it does in Sonoma. Copying as hard links is part of the cp feature s … | Continue reading
I use Terminal a fair bit, for any number of things. But I don't use it all the time, and that means I sometimes struggle to remember syntax of commands. "Was it rsync source destination or the other way around? Or was it ln that was backwards of what I thought it should be?" You … | Continue reading
Back in the early Mac OS X iTunes era, there was a wonderful small window available that had control buttons, volume control, a visual progress bar, and a text display showing the artist, song, and album—it could even display a graphic equalizer in lieu of the artist-album-song i … | Continue reading
2023 Update: Over the span of some 14 years since I wrote this (wow), all of the YouTube links broke. I've fixed them (except for two that sadly vanished), though you may see a "view on YouTube" message instead of being able to watch them as overlays here. I also added three more … | Continue reading
macOS Sonoma introduces a revised Screen Sharing application that lives in the Applications → Utilities folder1Though that's not really where it is, but that's not important…. It presents a list of recently-connected devices: Select one, and you'll see the username and password d … | Continue reading
I upgrade my phone every two or three years; I just moved from the 13 Pro to the 15 Pro, primarily for the new camera features. I'm not a pro photographer, nor even a prosumer photographer. I do like seeing how things have progressed, however. So here are three photos shot with e … | Continue reading
My blog's general appearance dates back to 2014, with a face lift in 2017. But the site was still using a (very!) old theme as its base, and that old code was throwing a ton of errors into the logs (mainly warnings). I felt it was time to find a new base to build from,… Read More … | Continue reading
As of macOS 13.4, there's supposed to be a "Beta updates" button in System Settings > General > Software Update, as seen here: Sure enough, that button is there on my iMac…but it wasn't on my MacBook Pro. Everything I read on Apple's site and elsewhere said it should simply exist … | Continue reading
Although I'm a Mac person, I've almost always had a Windows PC in the house—partly to stay current on the competing OS, but mostly because I enjoy many PC games that never make it to the Mac. I tend to keep these machines much longer than I do my Macs, though—my 2008 PC lasted un … | Continue reading
Way back in 1989, Mazda introduced the MX-5 Miata, its take on the two-seat convertible sports car. To say the car has been successful would be an understatement; it's perennially well reviewed and still going strong 34 years later. Over the years, we've been lucky enough to own … | Continue reading
This is definitely a "first world problem and solution," but in case anyone's in the market soon, I thought I'd share… We'd had our dishwasher for over 12 years, and by last summer, it was starting to show its age—two of the modes couldn't be used at all (the buttons wouldn't act … | Continue reading
If you often take your photos out of Photos1Dear Apple, please stop naming products after their associated nouns!, you should be aware of a big "gotcha" just waiting to bite you: Unless you're careful with how you get your photos out of Photos, you'll lose those photos' location … | Continue reading
If only there were some way to add to the Favorites (or Smart Mailboxes or etc.) section in Mail's sidebar… …oh wait, there is. As long as you magically hover in exactly the right general area to see the previously-invisible UI for adding favorites. Thankfully, you can also right … | Continue reading
Our family (four of us) flew on Alaska Airlines to Colorado for the holidays; we left on the 20th, and were set to come back on the 27th. We watched the news of the mass cancellations on Southwest and others, but as we were set to fly back after the worst of the weather, we […] | Continue reading
One major change in macOS Ventura is that Preview can no longer display PostScript files. Apple hasn't explained why they've made this change, but many think it's due to possible security issues with PostScript files. Whatever the reason, this change broke one of my most-used Ter … | Continue reading
This weekend, I finally migrated my 2019 5K iMac from Mojave to Ventura. There were many reasons for remaining on Mojave, starting with the fact that I liked the OS and it worked very well for me. But I also had a couple 32-bit apps I relied on, as well as a number of 32-bit […] | Continue reading
Updated and republished for macOS 13.0.1; skip it unless you really really care about all the macOS releases. Originally published on November 14th, 2005. Below the break is a table showing all major releases of macOS (previously Mac OS X) from the public beta through the latest … | Continue reading
Update: I have updated this recipe to show all measures in grams, as well as fixed some formatting and typos. Given the approaching holidays, I chose to republish with a new date, as it's been a few years since I posted this. Growing up, around the holidays my mom would bake some … | Continue reading
I recently assembled an IKEA cabinet and shelving in the corner of a room. It's a darker corner, so I added lighting to the cabinet and the shelves, all of which is then plugged into a HomeKit-compatible power plug. I can now easily turn the lights on and off with Siri, but I wan … | Continue reading
Here's another entry in my "remind myself without searching the entire internet" series of posts. I often want to convert a non-native video into a QuickTime-compatible format. In one oft-repeated use, I have a time lapse camera that outputs AVI files that QuickTime cannot read. … | Continue reading
I had two short video clips I wanted to merge into one, each about 8MB in size. I first did this using QuickTime Player's Clips feature, but the end result was over 100MB in size. For my second try, I switched to ffmpeg, which can be installed via Homebrew, MacPorts, or some othe … | Continue reading
This post is another in an ongoing series where the sole point of the post is to make it easier for me to find this information in the future—instead of searching sites and finding tons of wrong answers, I can just search my blog and find the right answer. If it's useful to anyon … | Continue reading
I have a couple of WordPress sites that live behind HTTP basic authentication—they're family-related blogs that I don't want publicly accessible. Everything works fine behind the authentication except for automatic updates (and other WordPress cron tasks). This bugged me a bit, b … | Continue reading
This post is probably of interest only to me, and I'm posting it just because I'm getting tired of remembering where I stored this tidbit on my Mac. Our home router is a Protectli box running pfSense firewall/router software; the Protectli box is connected to a CyberPower UPS. Wi … | Continue reading
Yes, it's the return of the return of Web Search via Shortcuts, now at version 3.0 and much better than either of the previous versions. This is my Keyboard Maestro macro that lets you easily search web sites via a pop-up menu and an abbreviation: The above would search DuckDuckG … | Continue reading
This is a stupid-simple Unix tip, posting more as a reminder to myself than anything truly insightful—I keep forgetting these details, so by doing the work to create a post about it, I'll never forget them again… I've been using unix time from the unix side of macOS quite a bit l … | Continue reading
Jan 14 2022: Version 2.5 is out, with a bug fix and a new check for updates button on the help panel. Download the macro, or get the update by manually running the Update check macro within the 2.4 release. Jan 14 2022: Version 2.4 is out, with an optional "no text" input dialog, … | Continue reading
Note: This post is no longer updated. Please see the version 2.0 post for current details and download links. This post remains because it has a fair bit of information about the macro in general. Nearly five years ago, I wrote about my simple Keyboard Maestro web search macro th … | Continue reading
I use a VPN on our home router, which runs pfSense. When I'm on my laptop, I connect to the VPN for two reasons. The first is security when using unknown wifi connections. The second is for ease of access to my home Macs and network—when on the VPN, my laptop appears as part of [ … | Continue reading
My mother has been baking holiday cookies for as long as I can remember—at least 50 years and counting. Many years ago, she gave me a binder with her cookie recipes in it, which I basically ignored for a long time. But in 2009, when our eldest daughter was six, I started making s … | Continue reading
Monkey bread is a nice bread to make for a party—it's made up of lots of bite-sized pieces. You can read more about it in this blog post, but here's the recipe. This is very time consuming to make, mainly due to multiple long waits for the dough to rise. Load recipe in LoseIt: Mo … | Continue reading
These cookies are very soft, and have a wonderful mix of flavors and spices—as long as you like raisins! They puff up during cooking, and remain puffed. Softness is retained well in storage, but add a piece of bread to enhance their shelf life. Load recipe in LoseIt: Jumbo Raisin … | Continue reading
These cookies are nut-laden and hard to describe—they're like a small ball of sugar and nuts that sort of crumbles in your mouth. Make sure you get crushed pecans, not chopped pecans—you want them in very small pieces. Load recipe in LoseIt: Dream Kiss Cookies The Recipe Ingredie … | Continue reading
This dough can be tricky to work with, as it's quite dry, but it's worth the hassle—the resulting cookies are light and flaky and melt in your mouth. Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I've found I can't taste the difference, so I see no point in adding more sodi … | Continue reading
These cookies are shaped with a cookie press—I imagine you could use cookie cutters, but I've never tried. I don't have any experience with the linked presses; I have a 1960s vintage cookie press that works wonderfully well. Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I'v … | Continue reading
A thin slightly-chewy cookie. The frosting can take a long time to dry! Load recipe in LoseIt: Sand Tart Cookies The Recipe Ingredient Volume Weight Butter ½ cup 113.5 grams Sugar 1 cup 188 grams Eggs 1 (beaten) -- All-purpose Flour 1¾ cups 218.8 grams Baking Powder 2 teaspoons 5 … | Continue reading
These cookies are light and softish at first, though they tend to dry out relatively quickly (add a piece of bread or two to the storage bin to help that). Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I've found I can't taste the difference, so I see no point in adding […] | Continue reading
Deliciously soft and airy gingerbread cookies—I much prefer soft gingerbread to the hard crunchy type, though I'll admit it's much worse for making gingerbread houses! Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I've found I can't taste the difference, so I see no point i … | Continue reading
Of late, my Mojave-running iMac has been having major Spotlight problems: Occasionally I'd find it rebuilding the main index, despite me not having done anything to require such an action. Even worse, though, is that it would stop working entirely in Mail until I rebooted. My mai … | Continue reading
Over my many years of running Mac OS X Hints, a huge number of defaults write hints were published. For those who aren’t aware, defaults write is a Terminal command that can be used to modify… | Continue reading
Have you ever needed to create an empty folder structure with many levels of repetitively-named folders? This doesn’t happen a lot, obviously, but if you try using Finder for this task, you&#… | Continue reading
Yesterday, instead of having a productive afternoon at home, I had the privilege of sitting at the bank for a couple of hours, resolving a problem completely of my own doing: I fell for a phone sca… | Continue reading
What follows is a lengthy dive into a semi-recent massive performance improvement in openssl speeds in macOS. As it’s long, here’s a tl;dr version: From 10.14.4 to 10.14.5, a change in … | Continue reading