No new hints today

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:30:00 -0700

Macworld's offices are closed today in celebration of Independence Day in the United States. Hints will return as usual on Monday. -rob.

Enable the Debug menu in Safari 4

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:30:05 -0700

So robg and I were discussing another hint submission of mine, one that robg couldn't understand because it referred to a menu he didn't have. After some back and forth, it turned out that the core of the suggestion for this new hint was actually on the site for a year, but buried at the bottom of a lengthy comment string.

The original hint covered how to enable the Debug menu in Safari, and dates back to 2003. With the advent of Safari 4, this command no longer worked. But somehow, I had a Debug menu and robg did not. The key is in a comment made by chleuasme, posted at the tail end of the comment thread on the original Enable the Safari debug menu hint. In the latest v...

Force Safari 4 to re-render a page

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:30:04 -0700

I've been having troubles with Safari 4 and rendering issues on my Mac. Pages will load fine, but then any little thing, such as scrolling, can cause display issues, as seen in the image at right (click it for the full-size version).

Instead of reloading the entire page, which can be a slow process depending on connection speed and page complexity, I use Safari 4's Debug menu (Enable the Debug menu in Safari 4), which has a new Force Repaint command (Shift-Command-R). If the page can be rendered correctly, it will be done instantly, without waiting on a reload. This works to fix my rendering issues, at least until I can figure out the cause of my display issues.

10.5: Wake a sleeping Mac with via Automator

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:30:03 -0700

I have a Mac mini in my living room hooked up to my TV. I wanted to be able to control the mini from my iMac in my office. Using Screen Sharing built into Leopard, it's a simple click of the mouse to do this. With a little Automator love, I created a simple workflow that turns the Screen Sharing step into a click of an icon in the dock.

However, even with the power efficiency of the 2009 Mac mini, I don't want to leave it on 24/7. After searching through several solutions that used Python and shell scripting (neither of which I know or could make work), I found this nifty Applescript from Mark Muir that I adapted to solve my problem. Here's my modified code:

Delete digits in iPhone OS 3.0 Calculator

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:30:02 -0700

For all those missing the backspace key in the Calculator (to remove a number you just tapped), just think like Apple: a little swipe over the display will do it.

Seems quite consistent to me, as you also do this to delete stuff in other parts of the UI, like lists. I don't really understand why this isn't mentioned in the User's Guide -- are they betting on when someone finds out? ;-)

[robg adds: I don't know if this worked in iPhone OS 2.x]

Make SMB shares appear in Devices section of Finder sidebar

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:30:01 -0700

It was driving me nuts that SMB shares from my Windows server would not reappear under DEVICES in the sidebar. However, I then figured out that I can do this:

Open System Preferences » Network
Click the network interface you use for the shares
Click on the Advanced button at lower right
Click on WINS tab, and manually enter the workgroup name of the server
Click the '+' under the WINS Servers list
Enter the IP of the server (you are using static IP on your server, right?)
Click OK, Apply, etc. until you're done

The next time I dragged a mounted share to Devices, it then showed up there automatically after the next unmount/mount. My shares seem to mount much faster now, as well. Now if only I could find a way to increase the transfer speed...sigh.

Remove Safari history files on logout via shell script

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:30:00 -0700

If you'd like to remove your Safari history files when you log out, first create the following shell script:

#!/bin/bash# Point this at your user folder.useroot=/Users/your_user# Clear Safari History (except for bookmarks).rm -f $useroot/Library/Safari/Downloads.plist $useroot/Library/Safari/History.plist rm -f $useroot/Library/Safari/HistoryIndex.sk $useroot/Library/Safari/TopSites.plist rm -f $useroot/Library/Safari/WebpageIcons.db $useroot/Library/Safari/LastSession.plist# Add any additional clean-up here.

Save the script somewhere, make it executable, and because it runs as root, make sure it is protected from modification. Then copy and paste this command into Terminal, modifying it to point to wherever you put the above script:

sudo defaults w...

Define which MobilMe account is used for iPhone uploads Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:30:00 -0700 After upgrading to an iPhone 3GS, I was pleased to see the new option to send photos and movies to MobileMe. I have two MobleMe accounts configured in Mail on my iPhone: my 'primary' MobileMe account, and a MobileMe sub ('family') account. The primary account is set to only sync Mail to my iPhone, and the family account is set to sync Mail, Contacts, Calendars and Bookmarks (since you're only allowed to fully sync/push one MobileMe account on the iPhone.) The problem I found was that when trying to send a photo or a movie to MobileMe, the account that the iPhone insisted on using was my primary account. I searched settings and could not find anywhere to change this. I called Apple iPhone tech support, and although they understood the problem, they did not have a solution. (I called the day after the iPhone 3GS release, so they were understandably swamped!) I just could not believe that the iPhone would not allow me to choose a different MobileMe account. Frustrated, I...Create a Reload button on Safari 4's bookmarks bar Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:30:00 -0700 One thing I hate about Safari 4 is the relocation of the reload button to the right side of the URL entry area. Sure, you can still use Command-R , but for those who prefer navigating with their mouse alone, here’s a cool tip to somewhat solve your problem! So, drag any of the buttons from my post to the far left of your bookmarks bar, and you’ve got a simple JavaScript reload button, just half an inch away from where the old one used to be! I've even been nice enough to create different designs using the "Special Characters..." dialog box in all Cocoa applications. The simple javascript is:javascript:location.reload(true) I made them into buttons using some special characters like these: ⤶  ⌘ ⏎ ⎋ Create spoken caller ID ringtones for iPhone via AppleScript Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:30:00 -0700 For a long time, I've wanted the ability for the iPhone to speak the name of the caller, based on matching the inbound number to the numbers in Contacts. I waited and waited for iPhone OS 2.x ad then 3.x to do this for me, and do it better, but got sick of waiting. So instead, I wrote an AppleScript app I call Contact Caller ID + Sound Ringtone Maker [44KB download; Mac OS X Hints mirror (v 1.1)]. I've used this script to generate over 100 in-use ringtones, and use it to customize a ringtone for a contact or two almost daily now. This AppleScript will generate a spoken name file, optionally looking for first, last, and nicknames, for selected Address Book Contacts. For example, "Jennifer Frickin' Connelly is calling....". It will optionally add a traditional (or other) ringtone of your choice to either the beginning ... A shortcut to edit the last-sent Skype message Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:30:00 -0700 Here's a really quick way to open an edit window on your last-sent Skype message -- simply press the Up Arrow key, and a text area with the last message pops up. This is the same action as selecting Edit Message from the contextual menu that appears when you Control-click on your last message, but it's definitely faster! Convert Entourage groups to Mail/Address Book groups Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:30:00 -0700 I have found a workaround to the vexing question of how to transfer group mailing lists from Entourage to Mail. This is really much less difficult than a 12-step process might seem, and most Mac veterans will pick it up quickly, but I wrote it here in great detail for the benefit of any newbies. As the Mac veteran knows the Mac is intuitive and as usual much more difficult to explain in words than to actually do in practice, and it works! Read on for the detailed step-by-step... Create or open a previously-sent group email in Entourage from Sent Items. (I usually send to group mailings with the addresses in the BCC address field to protect the recipients' addresses from being seen by other members of the list.) From the toolbar of the previously-sent group email select Resend. The message appears as it was originally sent. In the BCC field (if you use that for your group addresses) you will see the names of your group email recipients listed across the... A possible solution for contextual menu crashes Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:30:00 -0700 Recently, I noticed that whenever I right-clicked in any program, the beach ball would show up, and Force Quit would be my only option to close the offending app. After some digging, I figured out that the problem was with the DropBox contextual menu plug-in. I never use it so I just deleted it, but a later test showed that a reinstall also fixed the problem. If you'd like to disable it on your system while troubleshooting contextual menu issues, you can find it here: ~/Library » Contextual Menu Items. [robg adds: I've heard other reports of issues with the DropBox plug-in, so thought this might be worth sharing.] Solve an apparent 'stuck Safari' crash without losing work Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:30:00 -0700 Yes, I know, if you use haxies you get what you deserve. But to this day, Spotlight, enhanced custom keystrokes and all, and in spite of my overall hatred for the mouse versus a good keystroke combo, there are just a ton of things I find easier to do with a right-click and Contextual Menu action when I am in certain work (or leisure) modes, especially Web research and just plain surfing. But the price is getting higher. Summary of this hint: I was having a spinning beacbhall hang issue in Safari. After some work, I figured out that it was caused by FruitMenu's contextual menu support. Temporarily disabling the contextual menu support -- without quitting or logging out -- instantly ended the Safari hang-up and I was able to start using it again without losing any work. Read on if you'd like more background on the Safari problems I was having, and how I diagnosed and solved them... Background: So since around 10.5.6, and the later versions of Safari 3, I started having f... One way to quickly connect to a Cisco VPN Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:30:00 -0700 In February, this hint explainted how to install vpnc as a replacement for the Cisco VPN client. I finally got it working with a little tweaking and divergence from the original instructions, based in part on follow-up comments. But what I really wanted was to have my VPN as easy (or easier) to activate than using the (otherwise awful) Cisco application: largely because I use my company's VPN in conjunction with 3G mobile broadband, which has a habit of dropping connection when my commuter train goes through a tunnel, requiring regular reconnection! I tried using Shimo and vpntool with no success, and finally got it working using the following solution... Install vpnc using Fink (as per earlshango's suggestion in the original comments). You need to add the 'unstable' repository when you configure Fink, since vpnc is... Open parent folder from search results in Finder Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:30:03 -0700 When working with a search results window in Finder, if you select one of the found files and press Command-Up, it will open the enclosing folder for that file. [robg adds: This normally wouldn't be a hint -- Command-Up Arrow is listed in the Go menu as the shortcut for Enclosing Folder. However, when looking at a search results window, this menu item is grayed out, and can't be selected. Because of that, I'd been using the Finder's Open Enclosing Folder contextual menu item, not even thinking to try the shortcut. But it seems the shortcut is independent of the menu item's status, because it works perfectly.] Mark shows as watched on Apple TV 2.4 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:30:02 -0700 After installing the latest update to my Apple TV, I was having a look to see what had changed. There are a couple of things that have been posted on the net; for instance, the new Remote app for the iPhone/iPod touch, the new UI that sorts shows with the oldest first rather than the newest, and the ability to display unwatched episodes only. However, one feature that I have not seen documented is that when you have a TV Show or Movie highlighted, if you press and hold the center button on your remote for a second or so, a menu will appear allowing you to mark the item as Watched. Fix for slow-responding taps on an iPhone 3GS Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:30:01 -0700 When I got my iPhone 3GS, I played with all the new features, like everyone else. Then they wore off and I was back to normal use. While playing games, specifically Wild West Pinball, it seemed like all the taps weren't registering properly. Also, when I pressed both flippers at the same time, there was a slight delay. I thought this was a glitch in the game. But as I used more multi-touch games, it seemed something was wrong with my phone. Before resorting to complaining to Apple, I thought of what could be different from using my old iPhone. Of course, I had turned on the Zoom feature (in the Accessibility section of General Preferences) for no reason other that it was cool that I could do it. When I turned off the Zoom feature, the taps went back to normal and the multi-touch taps respond quickly again. Edit Safari's list of User Agents in the Develop menu Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:30:03 -0700 Do you find yourself constantly using the 'Other...' item in Safari's Develop » User Agent menu to simulate User Agents that aren't shown in the list? If so, it's easy to permanently add your own favorites by editing the UserAgents.plist file in the Resources directory of the bundle. I recommend making a copy of Safari.app, then Control-click your copy and select Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Navigate into Resources and edit the file UserAgents.plist in any decent text editor to include your faves. Simple, yet effective. Restore SMS history from one phone to another Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:30:02 -0700 Imagine you've purchased a new and shiny iPhone 3GS. Imagine as well that you had an equally-shiny iPhone 3G since day one of its introduction (more or less one year). You set up your 3GS as a new phone in iTunes, in order not to mess with settings and whatnot, only to discover that one year's worth of SMS are lost in your new unit! Well...fear no more, as you can easily restore the SMS database into your new unit, starting from the backup of the old unit. Read on for the how-to... First, disable the option Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected in iTunes before starting this procedure (assuming it's enabled in the Summary tab of your iPhone). Then follow these steps: Navigate to the folder ~/Libary » Applications Support » MobileSync » Backup. In the folder found above, there will be n subfolders containing your n iPhone backup sets (those iTunes makes when you connect your iPhone to your computer). In my c...

Tips - Private feed

No new hints today

Enable the Debug menu in Safari 4

Force Safari 4 to re-render a page

10.5: Wake a sleeping Mac with via Automator

Delete digits in iPhone OS 3.0 Calculator

Make SMB shares appear in Devices section of Finder sidebar

Remove Safari history files on logout via shell script

Define which MobilMe account is used for iPhone uploads

Create a Reload button on Safari 4's bookmarks bar

Create spoken caller ID ringtones for iPhone via AppleScript

A shortcut to edit the last-sent Skype message

Convert Entourage groups to Mail/Address Book groups

A possible solution for contextual menu crashes

Solve an apparent 'stuck Safari' crash without losing work

One way to quickly connect to a Cisco VPN

Open parent folder from search results in Finder

Mark shows as watched on Apple TV 2.4

Fix for slow-responding taps on an iPhone 3GS

Edit Safari's list of User Agents in the Develop menu

Restore SMS history from one phone to another