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Mac 101: Use Spotlight for quick review of Calendar events
Here's a quick way to browse Calendar events (I still want to say "iCal") in the Finder with Spotlight. Simply enter your search keyword into Spotlight. The results are sorted by type, as usual. Move your cursor over a matching Calendar result and a pop-up appears, showing the event's placement in Calendar, as well as other surrounding events from the day. Click any event in this pop-up window to jump right to it in Calendar. Note that this works with iCal in Lion as well as Calendar.app in Mountain Lion. Sorry, Snow Leopard users. To extend your Mac calendaring fun into the menu bar, check out Fantastical or QuickCal.
Mountain Lion 101: Power Nap
One of OS X Mountain Lion's lesser-known features is the curiously named Power Nap. It's roughly analogous to an actual sleeping mountain lion; while he's catching some Zs in a tree, his brain is constantly aware of what's going on around him, monitoring sounds and scents that might spell danger or food. Likewise, Mountain Lion's Power Nap will keep your Mac a tiny bit awake. Just enough of the system will be active during sleep (on certain Mac models) to grab email, notes, reminders and messages, run backups, and download OS X updates. All of this is done without turning on a screen, powering up a fan, or doing anything else that could appear to be "waking" your Mac. It's enabled for both plugged-in and battery-only setups by checking the appropriate Power Nap box on System Preferences > Energy Saver. Power Nap in OS X Mountain Lion works only on current MacBooks that only ship with built-in flash storage -- the MacBook Air (2nd generation, meaning 2011 or later) and Retina MacBook Pro -- so this isn't a feature you're going to see on every Mac today. Will we see this extending to more Macs in the future? I certainly hope so; it could theoretically work on any Mac with proper power management circuitry and a boot SSD. I've enabled it on my 2011 MacBook Air and it works quite well. Previously, if I hadn't awakened the MBA for several days, I could count on having the Mail app spin for quite a while as it downloaded my email. Now when I open my Air's cover, I can be sure that it's going to be up to date with most, if not all, of my email. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Mountain Lion 101: Multi-volume Time Machine
It's the little things. Since the introduction of Time Machine in OS X Leopard, Apple's built-in backup utility has provided a safety net for millions of Mac users by delivering effective, dead-simple data protection. Every hour, the latest versions of our files are neatly copied to external drives or to our Time Capsules, and we are happy. Some of us could be happier, however, if we had a no-hassle way to use Time Machine with rotated media. Taking a drive offsite while keeping one at home is a long-standing backup best practice, and swapping them every week or month is a great way to protect against local disasters (floods, fire, electrical overload) that take out both your computer and the nearby backup media. Time Machine has supported multiple disks previously, but you could only target one drive at a time; you had to manually reset TM to point to your drive of choice. In Mountain Lion, that changes. Time Machine has gained full support for multiple listed target volumes; just add the additional backup drives in System Preferences. Time Machine will automatically rotate backup targets, using all drives alternately -- or if only one is available, it will target that until the other drives come back. Restores default to using the most recent available backup set, as they should. Not everyone's been waiting for this particular Mountain Lion feature, but I sure have been.
Ten things you might not know about Mountain Lion, via Hello Tips
I've written about developer Saied Ghaffari and his company It's About Time before; well, they have another new Mac app that's pretty amazing, and the great thing is that TUAW readers can get a free sample of the app right here, right now. The new app is called Hello Tips, Tricks & Secrets (US$1.99) and it's full of OS X tips that you might not know -- including a bunch of new tips especially for OS X Mountain Lion. Saied made ten tips available in the sample web app that I've embedded below, but there are over a hundred tips in the Mac app, all presented in an easy-to-understand video format. Give the example below a try (click the Next button to start cycling through the tips), and then consider buying the app. It's a great way to learn some tips that you can show off to your friends and relatives, and they'll end up thinking you're an amazing Mac whiz! var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-33507452-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();
Getting ready for Mountain Lion: checking for compatibility
Does your Mac qualify for Mountain Lion? Not every system does, although if you're already running OS X Lion, chances are good that you'll be able to upgrade. Still, you'll want to check. The following hardware models will support Mountain Lion, according to Apple's specifications page: iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) Mountain Lion requires 2GB RAM or more (we recommend putting in as much RAM as your computer can hold; it's probably the most cost effective high-value upgrade you can give your system) and 8GB of free hard drive space (we recommend 15-20 GB at least, preferably more). You can upgrade from OS X Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) as well as Lion (OS X 10.7). Make sure you update to OS X 10.6.8 first, the latest Snow Leopard release. From there, you can purchase Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store and install it to your computer. Upgrading will not wipe away any user accounts or user data you have installed on your computer. For the most part, you can upgrade, and then pick up working wherever you left off. You may find that some apps won't make the leap, but most will -- although that's a topic for another post. Not all Mountain Lion features work out-of-the-box on all systems. To use AirDrop, the feature that lets you share files between computers using configuration-free drag-and-drop, you need a fairly recent system: MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer), MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer), MacBook (Late 2008 or newer), iMac (Early 2009 or newer), Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer), Mac Pro (Early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card, or Mid 2010). My personal 2009 Mac mini doesn't support AirDrop. AirPlay Mirroring, which lets you transmit your computer's screen to Apple TV, requires mid-2011 hardware or newer for the most part. You can work around both of these limitations, if you have a mind to. We posted directions on how to enable AirDrop on older systems. You can use a third party solution like AirParrot to add your own screen mirroring to nearly any Mac, including those running older operating systems. For many new Mac owners, your move to Mountain Lion represents your first major upgrade. To help users prepare to make the jump, Steve Sande and I wrote Getting Ready for Mountain Lion, an Amazon/iBooks eBook. It's aimed at first-time upgraders and people looking for hints and tips about smoothing the transition. We're sharing some of our tips on TUAW in a series of posts about the 10.8 upgrade. OS X Mountain Lion will be offered for sale in July 2012 for $19.99. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Ask TUAW: How do I setup a Mac with both an SSD and a regular hard drive?
Reader Mark R. Friedman wrote in to ask about setting up a Mac Pro with an SSD in the second optical drive, keeping the /Users folder on another drive; he wasn't sure how to do it. Macworld just discussed one method, using the built-in home folder path controls in System Preferences. The magic begins with right-clicking or Control-clicking the user name in the Users preference pane, which allows you to access the Advanced Options that control where the home folder lives on your drive. This was the same approach my friend Jon Deal detailed in an article explaining how to Move Your Home Folder Off Your SSD Boot Drive in OS X way back in November 2009 (because he's a huuuuuge nerd. I kid because I love, Jon) but his information is still relevant. If you want to move your entire /Users/ folder to another drive, or to a different partition on the same physical drive, Jon's instructions will work fine. There are, of course, other ways to do it. Matt Legend Gemmell rightly points out that while moving the entire /Users/ folder is straightforward, it may not be your best option. He recommends only moving some specific folders to the non-SSD drive, specifically Downloads, Movies, and Pictures (for some users, Music may also fit in that category). Those folders tend to be the largest ones, and can easily be symbolically linked from your non-SSD drive. (A symlink is the UNIX equivalent of an OS X alias or a Windows file shortcut, but in some edge cases and for some applications it behaves more predictably than an alias would.) Having used a MacBook Air for about a year now, I can't stand to use a non-SSD drive anymore. Even accessing files on an HDD is slow enough that I want to avoid it whenever possible. Another option for setting up your new SSD-based Mac Mark asked for instructions for setting this up on a Mac Pro, which has plenty of drive bays for additional hardware. Laptop users (who ordinarily would not have space for two fixed drives) may be considering replacing the SuperDrive with an SSD. The user folder process is the same for any of them. Step 0: I'm borrowing this from Jon, but before you do anything else make sure you have a working backup of all of your stuff. Check to make sure. Disconnect any drives which don't need to be connected during the install to reduce the chance of accidentally installing it on the wrong drive. Step 1: Install Mac OS X directly on your SSD (if it isn't already). With Lion this will mean downloading the Lion Installer from the Mac App Store and following the steps to install it on your SSD. Step 2: Don't migrate your apps and settings. If you're switching to a completely new drive, now is a good time to make a clean break from cruft you don't really need: apps you installed but never used, leftover project files from 2007 that you'll never look at again, that folder of animated GIFs from Geocities, etc. Start with a clean installation of OS X. Only install apps as you need them. Step 3: Use your non-SSD as a reference drive. It will appear as /Volumes/{drive name} and you can access your old files as you find you need them. For the purposes of this article, let's assume that your old drive is /Volumes/OldDrive. You will see a bunch of folders in there, including /Users/ which is where your old home account is located, including your old iTunes and iPhoto libraries, if you use them. Matt Gemmell explained how he linked some folders to their usual spots (if you want to do that and are not comfortable with using Terminal.app, I recommend SymbolicLinker which will make it easier to manage.) One potential tricky part is that OS X does not want you to delete some "default" folders, so it makes it difficult to do so. You can either fight it, or you can just leave the system folders where they are and just tell various apps to look elsewhere for their data. For example, if you start iPhoto or iTunes while holding down the Option/Alt key, it will ask you where to find their library. If your libraries have gotten out of hand, this is a good time to start over. It is particularly easy in iTunes to put the media (songs, videos, podcasts, etc) on an external drive, but keep the actual library files on your SSD. Having the library files on the SSD will makes iTunes faster than you've ever seen it before (iTunes is still one of my least favorite apps, but at least it's faster). Most Mac web browsers will default to saving files to ~/Downloads/ but you can change that in preferences to /Volumes/OldDrive/Downloads or anywhere else on the non-SSD drive. The same goes for movie/video files. They don't have to be in ~/Movies, that's just where OS X defaults to putting them. Which trade-offs do you prefer? Now you have are three options for using an SSD plus HDD: Move Your Home Folder Off Your SSD Boot Drive in OS X as Jon Deal suggested. Keep everything on your SSD except for a few linked folders as Matt Gemmell suggested. Use the SSD and change applications to point to your HDD as I have suggested by changing preferences where possible. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Jon's is the easiest, but you lose some of the advantages of the SSD for applications which store library/cache files in your $HOME. This is probably the best solution if you have a small SSD. Matt's method has you tinkering around with folders Apple really doesn't want you messing with, but it will work with all applications, even ones which don't let you define where their data is kept. If you want to dive in, set everything up, but then not have to worry about changing much after the initial setup, Matt's ideas may work for you. If you have specific applications that you use which cannot change where their files are stored, this is your best option. My suggestion tries to maximize the SSD benefits for those willing to change some app settings. It works especially well if you've been lugging around a bunch of files that you don't really use that often and are ready for a clean start. I've done this with a 250 GB SSD, and currently have 168 GB free. My large downloaded files, movies, music, and pictures are all on external drives. I use DiskAlarm (US$2, Mac App Store) to keep an eye on available space on the SSD. When it starts to get low, I go through ~/Downloads and ~/Desktop delete files I no longer want or need, or move them to external storage if I no longer need them. Of course, I am also using a MacBook Air, which means that I don't have the option of a second internal hard drive. If you do, you may want to do things differently.
Mac 101: Encode media from Automator or the command line in Lion
There's an easy way in OS X 10.7 Lion to convert video or audio from one format to another, using a fixed suite of conversion settings. One approach uses Automator and can be launched from the Finder. The other uses the Terminal application and the afconvert (for audio) or avconvert (for video) command-line utilities. Behind the scenes, though, Automator is simply serving as a convenient front-end for the CLI tools. (You can also use the free Hoot app from the Mac App Store to do the same audio conversions.) The Automator method is the easiest to start with. Simply select the video or audio file you want to convert in the Finder. Under the Finder menu, choose the Services submenu, then "Encode Selected Video Files" or "Encode Selected Audio Files." You can also get to the Services submenu via the Finder's contextual menus; right-click the target file (or control-click, or on a trackpad, two-finger click) and the Services choices will be at the bottom of the pop-up menu. Finder menu / Services submenu Contextual pop-up menu Either approach will launch a dialog box where you can select your media conversion settings and the target file's destination. You can process one file at a time or, if you select multiple files, they'll be tackled in a batch conversion. The settings are slightly different for audio and video files, as appropriate to their media types -- you can experiment with the different settings to find the format that works for you. Video encoding settings Audio encoding settings For those of you more comfortable with the command line, you can use afconvert to encode an audio file from one format to another or avconvert to do the same with video. Type "afconvert -h" in Terminal to get a list of all the options you can use in the audio conversion. The avconvert tool is new in OS X Lion. Besides transcoding, it also lets you extract the audio or video track from a clip, change frame rates, add closed captioning and more. You read more about Automator video encoding and audio encoding at the Mac OS X Automation website. Additional information on the CLI commands can be found in Apple's Mac OS X Developer Library.
Mac 101: Disable automatic uploads to Photo Stream
It seems as though Apple is designing a lot of new Mac and iOS features from the perspective of people whose internet access is the equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet. Photo Stream is a perfect example. The feature, built into Apple's new iCloud service, automatically uploads photos taken on any of your devices to iCloud, which gives you near-instant access to them on all of your devices. It's a great feature, and it's already streamlined the process of getting photos from my iPhone onto my iPad and Mac. But it was only this morning that I realized with grim horror what might happen if I imported 8 GB of RAW files from my DSLR into Aperture. With Photo Stream's default settings, those multiple gigabytes of data would be uploaded to iCloud automatically -- and since I live in an area with strictly metered data and very expensive internet access, a single import session in Aperture could cost me dearly. Fortunately, both Aperture and iPhoto allow you to disable automatic uploading very easily. Go into the preferences for whichever application you're using and select the Photo Stream pane. Once there, uncheck the box next to "Automatic Upload." As easily as that, your photo manager of choice will no longer send hundreds of photos into the cloud the next time you connect your digital camera. The followup question you must be asking now is, "That's great, but what if I want some of my imported photos to go to Photo Stream?" Fortunately, Apple made it easy to manually upload photos to Photo Stream. Just select the photos you want, then drag them to the Photo Stream item in the sidebar. You should see a green plus sign when you hover over Photo Stream. Release the photos, and they'll be uploaded into the cloud. Whether you're trying to avoid massive data charges or simply don't want hundreds of photos clogging up your Photo Stream all at once, it's quite fortunate that Apple has made it so simple to disable automatic uploading and manage your Photo Stream uploads manually instead.
Mac 101: Format choices for USB flash drives
The overwhelming majority of USB flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats: FAT32 or NTFS. The first format, FAT32, is fully compatible with Mac OS X, though with some drawbacks that we'll discuss later. If the drive comes formatted in NTFS, which is the default file system for Windows, you're going to want to re-format the drive because Mac OS X can't write files to NTFS-formatted volumes (at least not without a bunch of extra work that's beyond the scope of this article). How do you tell which format your brand-new USB drive has? Hook it up to your Mac and launch the Disk Utility app, located in your Utilities folder (which is in Applications). Your new drive should appear in the left-hand column, and clicking the "Partition" tab will bring up info on the drive which includes its current format. If the drive's format comes up as MS-DOS (FAT) or, less likely, ExFAT, you may be able to simply leave the drive as-is and not bother reformatting it. If the drive is listed as NTFS-formatted, you're going to need to format it to something else if you want full compatibility with Mac OS X. There are several possible file system formats you can use for a USB flash drive, and changing them in Disk Utility is as easy as selecting the number of partitions you want on the drive (usually just one), picking the format you want for the drive, and clicking "Apply." Note that this will erase all information on the drive, so make absolutely sure you've got copies of everything before moving forward. Disk Utility gives you five different choices for drive formats in OS X Lion. Unless you have extraordinary needs, you can safely ignore two of them: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) and Free Space. I'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the other three formats below. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - This is the default file system format for Mac OS X drives. Advantages: Formatting your USB flash drive this way will give you full interoperability with Macs. It also includes support for features from OS X Lion, such as Versions. You can even set up an OS X startup drive if you have the right files, the know-how, and a big enough flash drive, which will allow you to boot your Mac off an external disk if something goes wrong with your built-in drive. The "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" option will have the highest degree of support for Mac OS X features, and there's no limit to the size of files you can put on the drive. Disadvantages: Windows-running PCs can read files from drives formatted this way, but they can't write to them (at least not without the same amount of work it takes to get OS X to write to NTFS-formatted drives). If you're transferring files from Macs to PCs, this won't be an issue; however, transferring files from PCs to Macs won't be possible if your drive is formatted in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)." If you will only be working with Macs and not PCs, this may not be an issue. Otherwise, you may need to consider one of the file formats discussed below. MS-DOS (FAT) - This is Disk Utility's name for the FAT32 filesystem. Advantages: FAT32 offers near-universal interoperability with virtually every computing system on the planet. A drive formatted this way can easily transfer files between Macs and PCs. You can also move files to video game systems like the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Virtually all cameras and videocameras support FAT32, too. It's the closest thing we have to a universal file system format, which is why most flash drives are formatted this way right out of the box. Disadvantages: FAT32 doesn't support files larger than 4 GB, and that's its greatest drawback. You also can't create a startup drive for your Mac using this format. Furthermore, FAT32 doesn't support OS X Lion's Versions feature -- something users have discovered the hard way when working directly off of files stored on a USB flash drive (something we recommend against doing). However, those downsides may be more than outweighed by FAT32's near-universal support, and if you don't think you're going to be dealing with files bigger than 4 GB, this may be the optimal choice. ExFAT - A newer file format, supported in Mac OS X 10.6.5 or later. Advantages: exFAT has many of the same advantages as FAT32 in that it's a disk format that offers interoperability between Macs and PCs. It has one big advantage over FAT32: exFAT supports file sizes larger than 4 GB, so if you have a need to move huge files between Macs and PCs, this is likely the format you'll want for your flash drive. exFAT is supported by the following operating systems: Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.5 or greater) OS X Lion Windows XP SP2 or later (with an additional update for exFAT support) Windows Vista SP1 or later Windows 7 Disadvantages: As a relatively newer file system format, exFAT isn't supported in older versions of Mac OS X (anything prior to 10.6.5) or anything older than Windows XP SP2. If you won't be dealing with older Macs or PCs, this may not be a problem. Of greater issue is that most consumer electronics (cameras, camcorders, video game systems) don't support exFAT, either. If you need to transfer files between your Mac and one of these non-PC devices, you're almost certainly going to have to format your flash drive in FAT32 instead. The Bottom Line Here's a basic rundown of which format we recommend for your USB flash drive, broken down by use case. If you absolutely, positively will only be working with Macs and no other system, ever: Use Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between Macs and PCs: Use exFAT. In all other cases: Use MS-DOS (FAT), aka FAT32.
Mac 101: Easily show the user Library folder in Lion
More Mac 101, tips and tricks for novice Mac users. Those of you who've explored your Finder a little bit in OS X 10.6 or prior might have noticed a folder in your user folder called "Library." The Library folder houses all sorts of files needed to keep your user account running smoothly. Many of these files are created automatically by apps on your Mac -- like preferences and settings on how you want a certain app to look or run. Other files inside the Library folder include screen savers and widgets and, well, a ton of things you'll never need to worry about but are pretty much essential to having a healthy Mac. In OS X 10.7 Lion Apple decided to hide the user's Library folder (although not the root Library folder on the top level of the hard drive). The primary reason Apple did this is so users couldn't easily go into the folder and delete important files needed by apps or OS X itself. This became all the more important after Apple introduced the Mac App Store. Files inside the Library folder allow you to delete an app, then re-download it at a later date while retaining all the settings it had the last time it was on your Mac. If you want to see the contents of the Library folder, there are actually several ways to do it; for simplicity's sake, we're going to show you the easiest, non-techie way, courtesy of the folks at CreativeBits: In the Finder, select the Go menu from the menu bar at the top of your screen. You'll notice a list of folders across your system such as Desktop, Downloads, Home, etc. While the Go menu is displayed, hold down the option key on your keyboard. Like magic, the Library folder will appear between the Home and Computer folders. Click on it to open a Finder window displaying all of the files inside your Library folder. Again, if you're not too familiar with the contents of the Library folder it's best to leave what's in there alone. However, it doesn't hurt to explore the folder and see how some essential files are arranged and stored on your system.
Mac 101: Creating a recovery disk using Recovery Disk Assistant
Lion's recovery partition is a wonderful idea, but doesn't really help out if your hard drive fails. That's why yesterday's announcement of the Recovery Disk Assistant from Apple was welcome news to a lot of people who were trying to figure out how they could easily create a recovery disk on external media. Here's how you can do make your own recovery disk using the assistant. First, you'll need to download the Recovery Disk Assistant app. It's a small file -- a little over a megabyte in size -- and once it was downloaded I opened the disk image and dragged the Recovery Disk Assistant app into my Utilities folder. Next, you'll need media. The "disk" part of Recovery Disk Assistant is a bit misleading, since you can't actually use a blank DVD. I'd recommend going to your local OfficeMax / OfficeDepot / Staples / Walmart / Target to pick up a 4 GB flash drive. They're cheap -- most outlets are selling them for less than US$10. If you already have one, realize that the Recovery Disk Assistant is going to reformat it, so make sure you take all of your files off of it. Now fire up the Recovery Disk Assistant app. You'll be required to agree to a software license agreement, so be sure to take some time and read every last word in the agreement (I am kidding). Click the Agree button, and now you'll be asked to plug the flash drive into an available USB port. After noting that your disk is going to be erased, click Continue. The process takes less than a minute, after which you'll be instructed on how to use the recovery disk in the event of an emergency (below). Basically, if your boot drive is toast, connect the flash drive to your machine, restart while holding down the Option key, and then select the Recovery Disk. You'll have four options available to you -- restore from a Time Machine backup, Reinstall Mac OS X, Get Help Online, or Repair or Erase a disk using Disk Utility. Under the Utilities menu are three more options -- the Firmware Password Utility, the Network Utility, and everyone's favorite, Terminal. It's so easy and inexpensive to create a recovery disk for your OS X Lion installation that you should not only create one, but seriously think about carrying it on your keychain for those emergencies you encounter while away from home.
Lion: Deleting apps in Launchpad, and starting clean
Launchpad in Mac OS Lion shares a key behavior with its iOS counterpart: deleting an app from the launcher also uninstalls it from the computer, as long as the app was purchased from the Mac App Store. Of course, it's quick and easy to redownload the MAS apps if they're needed. While this insta-delete, complete with jiggling icons, may be counterintuitive for longtime Mac users, it makes perfect sense to iPhone or iPad users where there's a one-to-one mapping between apps on the launcher screen and apps installed on the device. On other mobile platforms, that's not necessarily the case: both Android and Blackberry devices have the ability to hide or subset visible apps versus the full suite of installed programs. The flip side of this strong linkage between installation/removal and visibility of MAS apps in Launchpad is that non-MAS/conventionally installed apps cannot be deleted from the Launchpad UI. If you don't want all that app clutter, the only default options are to move the space-wasting apps into Launchpad folders (laborious) or move the apps themselves out of the Applications folder in the Finder (boneheaded, and actually won't work, per commenters). Even resetting your Launchpad (as Erica noted last week) still includes all your apps in the launcher's pages. There is another way, however, to blank out your Launchpad and start clean. Web developer Loren Segal points out the 'nuclear option' of deleting all the app records from the Launchpad database, which lets you select individual apps to include by dragging their icons onto the Launchpad dock icon (command-click to select multiple apps before dragging). He suggests backing up the relevant database file beforehand, in case of issues, and I concur. Here's the process in the Terminal, line by line: mkdir ~/Desktop/DB_Backup [makes a folder on your desktop to back up the data files] cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db ~/Desktop/DB_Backup/ [copies the database] sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db 'DELETE FROM apps;' && killall Dock sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db 'DELETE from apps;' \ ' DELETE from groups WHERE title<>""; DELETE from items WHERE rowid>2;' \ && killall Dock [deletes the app records from Launchpad's database, and restarts the Dock process; you'll see your minimized windows pop back to the screen. Update: Loren posted a new version, as above, that fixes the folders issue.] Blank Launchpad! You may notice that any folders previously in Launchpad will still be there, albeit vacant. To get rid of them, simply load at least one app into Launchpad, then drag the app into & out of the folder. It will 'evaporate' when it's empty. If you do decide that you prefer the full-list Launchpad, you can either restore the database to its original location, or follow the tip in Erica's post to reset/rebuild and get all your apps back.
Mac 101: OS X Lion's new window resizing features
In all versions of Mac OS X prior to Lion, re-sizing a window meant either clicking the green "traffic light" button in the upper left corner or clicking and dragging the bottom right corner. Windows switchers in particular have found this a frustrating departure from the behavior in other operating systems, where you can generally resize a window from any edge. Switchers (and the rest of us) can rejoice now that OS X Lion is out, because in Lion you can resize a window from anywhere along its edges, not just the bottom right corner. Simply point your mouse pointer along a window's edge, and it should change to two opposing arrows indicating the direction in which the window can be resized. Clicking and dragging a window's horizonal or vertical edge will resize it horizontally or vertically. As in earlier versions of OS X, clicking and dragging along the corners will allow you to resize the window in both dimensions at once. Also new to OS X Lion are optional modifier keys while resizing a window, as described by developer Daniel Jalkut. Holding down the Option key while resizing will cause the window to expand in equal dimensions on both sides at once; in other words, holding Option and dragging one horizontal edge will cause both horizontal edges of a window to "grow" simultaneously. Holding the Shift key while resizing will cause the window to retain its current proportions while resizing, so if you have a window that's perfectly square or a 4:3 rectangle, it will stay that shape even as you shrink it or make it bigger. That may come in particularly handy if you do a lot of graphics work on your Mac and want to keep your windows' proportions constrained when resizing images. This is not to be confused with the double arrows you may see in the top right corner of certain apps' windows, like Safari, Mail, or iPhoto. Those arrows activate full-screen mode for the application and cause it to fill your Mac's screen. If you activate this feature accidentally, reverting the window to its original size is easy. Move your mouse pointer toward the upper-right corner of your screen, and the menubar should roll down, revealing a blue icon with white arrows facing each other. Click that icon to exit full-screen mode and restore your window to its original size.
Mac 101: Using Keynote as Motion in a bind (Updated)
Update: KeynoteUser.com notes that it's easy to export your Keynote animations with an alpha channel, making it much simpler to work with them in pro editing apps or in Motion. On this trip to WWDC I packed light. One backpack, a MacBook Air and a camera light. I haven't had my Air for very long, and I've been trying to install only essential software on it and see what I can do without. I've been impressed enough with iMovie's capabilities (once you get past what I consider to be a terrible UI), so I didn't bother loading Final Cut Studio. I forgot, however, to whip up some "bumpers" (intro/outro) for our videos before I left. I'm used to using Apple's Motion to handle that, but I found myself looking for an easy alternative. The solution I found was Keynote, and a grand solution it is. I'm certain many of our intrepid readers have used this method in the past, but it was new to me. If you've never used Keynote, think of it as PowerPoint on a type of steroids that automatically make presentations not look like steaming piles of bullet points. With the animation and build tools available in the object inspector, I was able to drag in a couple of logos, type a little text and create a five-second intro in about five minutes. I created the whole thing in one frame, easily timed and sequenced the animations and output a QuickTime file ready to drop into iMovie. I have to say, the process was a thing of beauty. Below is a sample of the results, created in Keynote and soundtracked in GarageBand. I won't claim they're genius, but it was a surprisingly elegant solution in a pinch. Even if you never use higher-end production tools, keep Keynote in mind next time you need custom titles or video intros. Combine it with some loops in GarageBand and have some stylish video ready to go in just a few minutes. You can grab Keynote in the Mac App Store as a standalone app for US$19.99.
iTunes 101: Making the most of contextual menus
I love contextual menus. In Mac OS X, you find them when you right-click, two-finger-click (on a trackpad) or when you hold down the Control key and click. They're handy in scores of applications and in the Finder; if you're looking to supercharge your iTunes usage in particular, Macworld's Kirk McElhearn has published 10 ways to use contextual menus with iTunes. One particularly useful option is to "Start Genius" from any track. When selected, iTunes will instantly create a genius playlist from that track. The "Add to playlist" option is also useful. When selected, you get a hierarchical menu all available playlists (smart playlists are excluded). Simply click the one you're after and the track is added. Contextual menus also work on multiple tracks at once. Make your selections by either Command- or Shift-clicking, then right-click one of the highlighted songs to see the contextual menu. From there you can add that group to a playlist, adjust ratings, convert tracks to Apple Lossless format, and so on. There's an important iTunes contextual menu that didn't make Macworld's list. If you connect your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to your computer, you can right-click the device's icon in the iTunes sidebar to see a specific contextual menu for that iOS gadget. You can quickly eject, restore or back up your device; also, if you're about to update your version of iOS but iTunes is warning you that you need to transfer purchased items from your device back to iTunes pre-update... well, here's where you do it, via the Transfer Purchases command. For all ten Macworld tips, read Kirk's article. In the meantime, please share any favorites with us below.
Mac 101: Six steps for tracking down hard drive space hogs
More Mac 101, our ongoing series of tips, tricks and helpful hints for new Mac users and curious veterans. "Your startup disk is almost full." This simple sentence can trigger all the stages of grief: denial ("That can't be right!"), anger ("This is a 500 GB drive!"), bargaining ("If I delete the podcasts, will you let me download the new iOS update?"), depression ("Ugh, this is going to take all day. Am I going to have to replace my hard drive?") and acceptance ("I can fix this!"). Before you rush out to buy a new hard drive, here are six simple (and free) steps that may help you reclaim "lost" hard drive space.
Mac 101: Pronouncing Mac OS X
In our Mac 101 series, TUAW introduces basic OS X concepts to new Mac users. This is going to be a quick one, because there's not too much to it -- but it's a critical note when talking to other people in your newly adopted community. Editor's Note: Please keep your comments civil and relevant. Remember that Mac 101 is aimed at novice users, not the grizzled Mac veterans who clearly are going to keep pronouncing things however the heck they want. Off-topic or abusive comments will be deleted; repeat offenders will be banned. It's pronounced "Oh. Ess. Ten," not "Oh. Ess. Ex". (Yes, Apple has a KB article on this point.) Mac OS X is a Unix-based operating system with roots reaching back to the Mach project at Carnegie Mellon and the NeXTStep OS in the late 1980's -- NeXT was a spin-off corporation founded by Steve Jobs during his exodus from Apple. Mac OS X was the version following Mac OS 9, even though the two systems are entirely different under the hood. The "X" is the Roman Numeral for ten. It may look a little redundant when written out, but when you see "OS X 10.6.6", you can say "Oh. Ess. Ten. Point. Six. Point Six." or even "Oh. Ess. Ten. Six. Six." It's perfectly okay to drop the second ten.
How the Mac App Store works, and get Twitter for Mac free
The new Mac App Store is online, and ready for you to use. It's an incredibly simple way to find, install, and manage your favorite software. First of all, to see the Mac App Store at all, you'll need to run your Software Updates (under the Apple menu) and get Mac OS X 10.6.6 System Update, or run the combo update you can download here. After you reboot, you'll see a new icon in your dock, right after the Finder icon. Click that to launch the app store. If you don't want it taking up dock space, you can also get to the Mac App Store through the Apple menu, right under Software Update. The app store looks and works almost exactly like the iPad App Store, featuring the same home page of new and popular apps. Most apps cost less than you may have seen them at retail, but some, like Things, are priced higher than we've seen them in bundles. In the Gallery accompanying this post, you can walk through getting the much-anticipated Twitter for Mac app. The release was teased yesterday and showed up on time early this morning. As expected, the app is free. Its predecessor -- known as Tweetie before its developer was acquired by Twitter -- hadn't been updated in quite a while, so folks looking for Tweetie 2 will want to check this out. Check out all of the steps to installation in the gallery below. We'll have an in-depth review of Twitter for Mac up soon. Enjoy! %Gallery-112983%
Mac 101: Finding App Store on your Mac
This morning it was all "Where's Waldo?" on my computer as I hunted and hunted for the new app store after spending far too much time updating my system. It turns out that I don't need to upgrade my glasses, just my recognition skills. The new App Store icon is automatically installed into your Dock under 10.6.6, just to the right or below the OS X finder icon, into the second slot on your Dock. App Store is an application, just like most of the other items in the top or left portion of your Finder Dock. Removing it from the Dock adds a little room back into your applications collection -- and you can do this without losing access to it from Finder. The secret is that App Store is built right into the Apple menu at the top-left of your finder window. Why take up precious Dock space when you can get to the app so easily? If you're looking to conserve space in your Dock (and, frankly, what Dock-aholic isn't), you can easily remove it and still find it when needed. To remove App Store, just drag it out from the dock into the finder. You'll be rewarded by a lovely visual poof and an accompanying sound effect. Of course, if you change your mind and decide that you want App Store back in your dock, just hop into your Applications folder and drag the icon from the folder window right back over into the dock.
iPhoto 101: How to delete photos
Whether your Mac contains a mechanical hard drive or an SSD, everyone needs more space. We're all used to dumping Finder's trash frequently to reclaim drive space, but what some of you might not know is that when you delete pictures from iPhoto, they remain on your computer since iPhoto has its own trash. If you've never done this, you may have hundreds (or for that matter, thousands) of pictures or videos in iPhoto that are just clogging up your drive. There are two ways to delete the iPhoto trash. One way is to just right click on the word Trash in iPhoto's menu bar, and select Empty Trash. The other, and possibly more telling way, is to single click on the word Trash in the menu bar. You'll be presented with all the unnecessary photos and videos along with the total number held in trash. On the top right is an Empty Trash button that will delete them completely. In both cases, you'll be presented with a warning message asking you if you really want to do this. Click OK, and you'll get back some space. If you've never done this, the amount reclaimed can be dramatic, but if you are in the habit of doing this, you won't get back all that much. I deleted 82 pictures, and my hard drive space increased from 97.23 GB to 97.26 GB. See how much you can get back. [via Lifehacker]
