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Mac 101: Using the OS X application switcher for more than moving between apps
Command-Tab key combination is familiar to most experienced Mac users. It brings up the Application Switcher, allowing you to switch from one application to another just by hitting the Tab key to cycle through the running applications. If you know the correct key combinations you also can close or hide apps as well as use them to open documents. Moving beyond just tabbing through the open apps is easy, just use this cheat sheet of key combinations as a guide: Command-Tab: Will move you forward through the open apps. Command-Shift-Tab: Will move you backward through the open apps. Command-Tab-Q: Will close the app selected in the switcher. Command-Tab-H: Will hide the app selected in the switcher. Command-Tab-1: Will show the open windows of the app selected in the switcher. Drag Finder document to Command-Tab: Start to drag a document in Finder, hit Command-Tab to launch the application switcher and drag the doc to the appropriate app in the switcher. If you have your own tips and tricks that work with the application switcher, please share them in the comments.
Mac 101: How to use OS X macros to quickly enter long strings of text
Text substitution is a useful OS X feature that has been around since Snow Leopard. These macros allow you to type in a short string of characters, such as "omw" and have those characters automatically replaced with a longer string such as "On my way!" The feature is easy to setup, even easier to use and best of all, available without any additional cost since it is bundled into OS X. Creating Macros in System Preferences. The first step to using text macros is to setup a few of them in the system preferences as follows: Open System Preferences (it's in the Apple menu at the top of your screen). Open the Keyboard panel and select the "Text" pane, which will show a list of text substitutions. Click the + button at the bottom to add a new item. Be sure to type in the both the shortcut in the "Replace" column and the longer text in the "With" column. You also use smart quotes and dashes as described here. Be careful not to enter common phrases like "go" in the "Replace" field as you only want trigger a replacement under specific circumstances. If you want to use a common phrase, then add a modifier such as a parentheses, "(go)." Enabling Text Replacement Text replacement works on a per-application basis, with some apps not supporting the feature or disabling it by default. Once you create your text replacement list, you must allow text replacement in an app in order to use it. Just right-click within any text entry area to access the contextual menu, which contains a Substitutions submenu. Select this Substitutions submenu and see if Text Replacement has a check next to it. If there is a check, then the feature is enabled. If there is no check, then select Text Replacement to turn it on. Using Text Replacement Once you've defined the shortcuts and enabled Text Replacement, the next step is to use the feature. Type your phrase, hit the space key and your full text should automatically appear. There may be a slight lag as OS X replaces the text, but try to ignore it and keep on typing.
iPhone 101: Control Center getting in the way? Here's how to disable it
Apple introduced Control Center in iOS 7, making it easier for users to access commonly changed settings such as WiFi, brightness, volume and more. You can open the Control Center drawer by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, and you can close it by swiping down. Though incredibly easy to use, Control Center can be an annoyance when it interferes with apps, especially games that use a similar swipe-up gesture. If you find yourself accidentally pulling up the Control Center drawer when you mean to swipe in for a kill, then you should take a few minutes and learn how to disable Control Center when you want it out of the way and enable it when you want to restore the feature. Open the Settings app. Scroll and then tap on Control Center. Click the toggle to enable or disable "Access Within Apps." If the toggle is green, then the feature is enabled. While you are in the settings, you also can decide whether you want Control Center on your lock screen. (I leave it enabled because I often use the flashlight feature and don't want to unlock my phone just to turn on the light.) Keep in mind that this method removes Control Center from opening when you are working in an app. The feature is still available when you are viewing your home screen.
How to copy text when previewing a document using Quick Look in OS X
Quick Look is a fantastic feature that makes it easy for you to preview documents in the finder window with just a simple tap of the space bar. You can make the feature even more powerful with this terminal command that adds a copy function to any text you are viewing in the Quick Look window. As reported by LifeHacker, you can use the following terminal command in the OS X terminal app to enable text selection in Quick Look: defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool true killall Finder Once the text function is enabled, you can select text as shown above in blue and then use command-C to copy it to the clipboard. If you want to turn off the text selection and copy option, just change the value of "true" to "false" in the terminal command as shown below: defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool false killall Finder Once this feature if turned off, Quick Look will return to its original state, allowing you to read a document and not select any text.
3 simple ways to clear up "other" memory on your iOS device
The truth of the 16GB iPhone and iPad is that they really don't have 16GB of usable space, it's more like 12GB. With storage at a premium and a whole wonderful world of apps just waiting at your finger tips you've probably found yourself looking at your iPhone memory information and quietly cursed the name of Other. Yes "other" memory, the nonspecific space hog that greedily takes up memory on your phone without adding value to your life. Is there a simple way to reclaim those precious GB back from your phone without restoring it? Yes dear reader there is. Here's how. Step One: Delete your browser caches There's a good chance that you've never thought to clear your web browser cache on your iOS device. After months or years of heavy browsing there's a decent chunk of memory that's taken up in your Other section by all these forgotten webpages. Lets clean it out. For Safari users simply go to Settings -> Safari and then click the "Clear History" and "Clear Cookies and Data" buttons. If you use Chrome the process is a little more complicated. Open Chrome and then select the drop down menu, signified with the three horizontal lines. Then go down to the History button, and click Clear Browsing Data. Step Two: Delete your old text messages Whenever you send a text message with a picture that picture has to be stored somewhere. That somewhere is your Other memory. Sadly there is no easy way to mass delete text messages. We suggest plowing through and manually deleting conversations next time you sit down to a night of Netflix. It's easy to do as a secondary task, just make sure you don't accidentally delete an important conversation. Step Three: Delete old voice recordings with iFunbox iOS has a killer voice recorder, but if you hoard recordings they really start to eat up your memory. Normally you'd have to delete these voice memos one by one, but if you'd like to save yourself some time iFunbox is a great application for both Mac and Windows that will allow you to quickly delete all of them at once. Simply click on the Voice Memos tab, select the messages you'd like to get ride of, and delete them. I cleared up almost 2GB of space on my iOS device just by deleting old memos. If you sync with iTunes, however, you can upload these to your computer normally and delete them off your device with no need for a third-party application like iFunbox.
iPhone 101: How to find which iOS apps were recently updated and what they changed
iOS 7 now allows for the automatic downloading of app updates in the background, which is convenient for users who have a lot of apps installed on their iPad or iPhone. The downside to these automatic updates is that developers sometimes roll out a major overhaul to an app that takes a user by surprise. Even someone experienced as me can be taken aback for a few moments when an app icon changes or a UI is completely different. If you have automatic updates turned on and want to find out what apps were recently updated, you can find this information easily in the App Store app. Just open the App Store app and tap on the "Updates" button on the right-hand side of the bottom bar. You will then see a list of all recent app updates. Tap on the "What's New" link to view the changelog, which lists all the new features and other changes the developer made. You can turn on automatic updates using these instructions.
How to tell how much space your trash is using in OS X
Are you a trashophobe? I am. I delay, delay, and delay some more when it comes to emptying my OS X trash because I always worry about throwing something away that I'm going to need to recover later. I've made enough mistakes in life that I'm really cautious about hitting that Empty Trash option. This morning, when I checked my system in preparation for writing up this how-to, I found endless old software betas and more screenshots than you could possibly imagine clogging my trash can. In total, I had more than 100 GB sitting in my bin. It was time for a deep cleanse. For many Mac users, it's not immediately obvious how to check how much space your OS X trash occupies. You don't get much help from the Dock's contextual pop-up menu in Mavericks. What you need to do instead is this. Open the trash to a new Finder window, and with that window frontmost select File > Get Info (Command-I) from the Finder menu. If you're like me, it may take a minute or two for Finder to finish calculating the size. Once I realized exactly how much space I was using, I knew it was time to move on. And now my Trash looks like this. It won't last like that for long, but it's nice to have the confidence to make a fresh start every now and then. Thanks, robotive
Play It On A Mac: Final Fantasy VII
In this weekly series I'll show you how to get your favorite Windows-exclusive PC games running on OS X using a variety of options. For more information on the programs used, check out the Play It On A Mac explainer. For suggestions and/or questions about any game, feel free to contact me on Twitter at @MikeWehner. Unlike every Final Fantasy game that came before it, fan-favorite Final Fantasy VII has never made its way to an Apple platform. You can play Final Fantasy I through VI on iOS, but that's where Square's retro RPG love ends for Apple diehards. This cannot stand! Thanks to the Windows-exclusive Steam re-release of FFVII last year, complete with 1080p support, Mac users finally have a chance to play the game via several avenues. Let's get to it! CrossOver Unlike last week's Goat Simulator, CrossOver 13 users will find FFVII is supported, albeit unofficially. It currently holds an unofficial "Gold" rating, and plays faithfully. Testing revealed the game's framerate -- which, it's important to note, is locked to 30fps during exploring and 15fps during combat -- is solid in 1080p with no visible drawbacks. This one gets a big CrossOver thumbs up! Parallels A predictably quick download, quick installation, and quick boot-up provides a perfectly playable Final Fantasy VII experience via Parallels. The game is not particularly demanding in terms of graphics, thanks in large part to its locked frame rate and admittedly chunky character designs -- remember, this is a game born in 1997. Thanks to the start-stop-start nature of the gameplay, it's a great game to leave running in the background for whenever you have a few minutes to kill. The minimum settings our test machine required to run the game at its pre-determined frame rate with no issues are as follows. Parallels 9 settings: CPUs: 4 (out of 8) Memory: 4GB (out of 16GB) Video memory: 512kb Performance: Faster Mac Power: Better Performance This should allow you to run your (wink wink) "work" programs on your Mac along with Parallels and FFVII without issue. If you find any frame rate issues pop up, boost your available video memory a bit and they should smooth out. Additionally, turn of Linear Filtering in the FFVII settings menu. Boot Camp As you might imagine, a game that runs perfectly in both CrossOver and Parallels runs equally perfectly on Boot Camp. Zero issues on the graphics front and aside from the default keyboard controls, which are horrible and should be immediately changed as soon as you start the game, everyone's favorite Final Fantasy runs silky smooth. Well, at least as smoothly as a locked 15fps frame rate can look. Verdict Regardless of which method you choose, bit it CrossOver, Parallels, or Boot Camp, you'll find Final Fantasy VII to be just as you remember it on the original PlayStation, only this time in crisp HD resolution. Game on!
iPhone 101: How to use Lost Mode to find a missing iOS device
We lost an iPhone a few weeks ago while hiking and had no idea where on the trail it had dropped out of our bag. It was only partially configured -- iCloud was enabled, but not location services. I thought I was out of luck and had to re-hike the entire trail while looking for my phone, but then I remembered "Lost Mode." Lost Mode is a feature of Find My iPhone that is available in iOS 6 or later. It locks your device, displays a custom message and turns on tracking so you can see its location, even if location services was originally disabled. Here is how to use Lost Mode to find a missing device: Sign in to icloud.com/#find with the Apple ID that you use with iCloud. This will launch the Find My iPhone feature that is available in Apple's iCloud service. Click All Devices at the top of the interface and then select the device you want to track and lock. Click the center "Lost Mode" button (iOS 6 or later) as shown in the image below. Follow the onscreen instructions to lock the device, add a custom message and enable tracking. Note that if your iOS device already has a passcode, that passcode will be used to lock the device. If you don't have a password, you may be asked to enter one and that passcode will be required to unlock the device. Don't forget this passcode! You also may enter a phone number where you can be reached and that number will appear on the device's lock screen. Lastly, you may enter a message that will appear on the device's lock screen. If your device is online, it will lock itself and tracking will begin. If Location Services was turned off on the device, it will be temporarily enabled to allow your device to be tracked. If your device is offline, the passcode lock and tracking will go into effect the next time it connects to the internet Once detected and locked, a confirmation email with your phone's location details will be sent to your Apple ID email address. Besides email location alerts, you also can view your device's location on the map in iCloud. Once you have recovered your device, you can login to Find My iPhone on iCloud and click the "Lost Mode" button and then "Stop Lost Mode" to unlock your phone and stop tracking.
Hate obnoxious autoplaying video? Here's how to disable it.
As a pacifist I seldom wish actual violence upon another human being, but when it comes to whoever came up with the idea of autoplaying advertisements, I wish nothing but suffering. Advertising is an important part of the relationship between content providers and readers. We provide free content with the understand that you'll click an ad every now and then to help us keep the lights on. Autoplaying ads are a violation of readers expectations. There is never any justification for causing my computer to loudly play audio that I haven't specifically triggered or asked to be played. I can promise that once your product is featured in an autoplaying ad you will lose me as a customer. There are steps you can take to help keep yourself from being subjected to these obnoxious interruptions into your every day life. Below you will find solutions for blocking this content in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox -- the three most popular browsers for the Mac platform. Enjoy, and thank us by clicking on one of the nice, polite advertisements you see around TUAW. Chrome Disabling autoplaying video in Chrome is the easiest of all three browsers. Simply enter chrome://chrome/settings/content into the search/address field, scroll down to "Plug-ins" and change it from "Run Automatically" to "Click to Play." This will help you block the majority of autoplaying advertisements that you'll encounter. Safari Safari doesn't offer a quick solution like Chrome for turning off automatically running plugins, but the fix is still simple. Safari users should consider the ClickToPlugin and ClickToFlash extensions for Safari. These tools can be downloaded for free right here. These extensions block Safari from launching plug-ins and replace content with a placeholder image like those seen below. When you want to play content simply click on these place holder images. Mozilla Firefox As with Safari, simply changing a few settings won't rid you of autoplaying ads, but for Firefox there's help in the form of Flashblock. The Flashblock extension blocks all Flash, Shockwave, and Authorware content until you give it the okay to go ahead and play. Simply visit this site, download the extension, and restart Firefox. This will take care of most autoplaying ads you'll encounter on your web browsing adventures. We get that advertising is an annoying part of dealing with online content, but it's also one of the things that helps keep sites like TUAW free to enjoy. There are extensions available that block all advertising, good and invasive alike, and frankly they're bad for the online economy. If you enjoy the content you find on a site, it's important to support the people who are providing that content, especially if they're not monsters who rudely insert ads into their content that start loudly playing a random Baha Men song without your consent. We hope that by helping you avoid those advertising jerks, you'll give our polite advertising a look when you really enjoy an article you've just read.
Mac 101: Adjust the volume or brightness in smaller increments using these handy tips
Recent MacBook Pro and Air models have a wonderful keyboard that allows you to quickly adjust the volume of the system and the brightness of either your display or backlit keyboard. When you tap these brightness buttons, the levels are adjusted in single increments between 0 and 16. This is useful, but what if you want finer control over your volume or brightness level? Apple has provided a way on most recent versions of OS X to adjust the volume and the brightness levels in quarter increments using the Option+Shift keys. Just use the following combinations to make these finer changes: ⌥ + ⇧ + Volume Up/Down ⌥ + ⇧ + Display Brightness Up/Down ⌥ + ⇧ + Backlit Brightness Up/Down The volume and display adjustments are easily heard and seen as you change them, while the backlit changes are much more subtle. These keyboard tricks are available on OS X Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion and earlier. It was disabled for a short time in OS X Lion between version OS X 10.7 and OS X 10.7.3, but you can use an AppleScript to achieve a similar effect. These keyboard combinations were restored in OS X 10.7.4. For brightness levels, there also is an auto-brightness feature that automatically adjust levels based on your ambient light levels. You view the settings for the display by opening the Apple menu > System Preferences. Then click on the Displays pane, and then click on the tab for Display. Select the option to turn on/off ambient light sensing. The keyboard backlit option is similar, just go to Apple menu > System Preferences. Then click on the Keyboard pane, and then click on the tab for Keyboard. elect the option to turn on/off ambient light sensing
Mac 101: How to change the email addresses for individual contacts in a group
Like most good contact managers, the OS X Contacts app allows you to create a contact group that you can use to send emails to several people at once. Contact groups are indispensable for users who communicate with a variety of different friends, associations, organizations and more. One question I often see about these contact groups is how can you select the correct email address for individual members when the address book entry lists two email address. For example, you want to add your co-worker to your business contact group, but you want to use his business email for the list and not his personal gmail address. Selecting the email address for individual contacts in your group is easy once you know where to look in the OS X Contacts app. To find this setting, just select "Edit" from the menu and then select "Edit Distribution List" near the bottom. This will allow you to select a group and then edit the individual members. If a contact has two email address, you can choose the default address you want to use. You can determine which email is the default one as it will be bolded.
Patch GrowlVoice using Keyboard Maestro to prolong its life
Google recently made some changes to the way Google Voice responds to some requests, and GrowlVoice stopped working. Update (2014-05-10): There is now a much easier way to do this now. See http://github.com/szhu/fix-growlvoice for instructions on patching this which does not require Keyboard Maestro. Background: As I understand it, there has never been an official API for Google Voice, so developers have had to figure things out on their own and build a workable solution without the tools they really need. Google has announced plans to integrate Google Voice into Google Hangouts, and the recent change which broke GrowlVoice was part of that. Could GrowlVoice be patched to fix this? Probably, but how long will it be until Google changes something else? And how long will it take Apple to approve the update for the Mac App Store? With no official API for Google Voice, and Google Voice's entire future uncertain, I don't think I'd want to try keeping the app working either if I was the developer. However, just as clever developers found a way to make Google Voice work without an official API, someone else has figured out how to make Google Voice's current setup work with GrowlVoice, to extend its life, at least until Google changes something else. Elliot Kroo (@ellkro) came up with an ingenious solution to patch the information that comes from Google Voice so that GrowlVoice can understand it. His instructions can be found at: https://gist.github.com/kroo/11205755. A big-time hat-tip and thank you to Terry McCall (@hagure) for telling me about Elliot's instructions! Unfortunately, even after you download the necessary files, this fix requires that you run a Terminal command every time GrowlVoice launches. You can probably already guess what I thought when I heard that: "Wait... you have to do something every time something else happens? Can I automate that?" Spoiler alert: yes. How? Say it with me: Keyboard Maestro. Here are the (non-automated) steps involved Before we can automate it, we have to know what steps to take to make it work manually. Download the files described in the 'gist' Launch GrowlVoice Wait for an alert panel that looks like this: Press OK Run command OK, now that we know the steps, we can automate them. How to do this in Keyboard Maestro Create a new macro which will run the following commands every time GrowlVoice launches: "Pause Until" there is a button "OK" Press "OK" button Run Terminal commands Now, that last step is a little tricky because one of those commands has to be run with elevated "permissions" which can be done, but requires some extra work. There are two ways to accomplish this: with AppleScript or with sudo. (N.B: Step 3 will also download the necessary files if they are not already installed.) AppleScript This way is a little easier, because you don't have to get into the Terminal. However, you have to enter your administrator password every time GrowlVoice launches: sudo Requires that you add an entry to your /etc/sudoers file via visudo But once the initial configuration is done, everything else can be automated, meaning that you do not have to enter your password each time GrowlVoice launches. This is the line you need to add to /etc/sudoers: %admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /Users/luomat/Dropbox/etc/fix-growlvoice/cycript However, you need to change /Users/luomat/Dropbox/etc/fix-growlvoice/ to the correct path on your Mac. If you aren't sure what any of that means, use the AppleScript version. Download Download and install one of these into Keyboard Maestro: Fix-GrowlVoice-with-AppleScript Fix-GrowlVoice-with-sudo Whichever one you use, you will have to edit the line in the shell script section: DIR="$HOME/Dropbox/etc/fix-growlvoice/" change that to be wherever you want the files to be kept. (If you use the sudo version, $DIR should be the folder where the cycript command is found.) Regardless of which version you choose, the first time you run it, the necessary files (as referenced in the "gist" above) will be downloaded and installed the directory you set as $DIR. It's not a fix, it's a patch If GrowlVoice's developer doesn't update the app, this patch will only work until Google changes something else, and it will have to be run each time the app launches. It might not be the most elegant solution ever, but it's better than not having GrowlVoice at all. Again my thanks to Elliot Kroo (@ellkro) and Terry McCall (@hagure). Some days I really love the Internet.
How to keep your OmniFocus 2 beta up-to-date
The OmniGroup has announced that OmniFocus 2 for Mac is now available as a public beta and is due to be released in June. Anyone interested in testing it can download it for free and is encouraged to send feedback via the forums. One of the most important things to do when running beta builds is to make sure that you are running the latest version of the beta. Towards that end, I have written a shell script which will: download and install the latest beta check every hour to make sure you are running the latest version, and if not, it will download the new version quit the current version (if running) and move it to the trash install the new version re-launch the new version (if the app was running before it was updated) If you have either terminal-notifier or growlnotify installed, the script will use them to alert you if there is a newer update available. A plain text log file will also be saved to ~/Library/Logs/. The Easy Way If you want to install the script and launchd plist, the easiest way is to use the installer. Just download it and run it and it will download and install the necessary files. If you are already running the beta, it will check to make sure that you are current. If you aren't running the beta yet, it will download and install it for you. (The package was made with Payload-Free Package Creator.app from Rich Trouton. Thanks again, Rich!) The Nerdy Way If you prefer to do things manually, use the links below to download and install the com.tjluoma.keep-omnifocus2-beta-up-to-date.plist Install this to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ and then either: restart run this command in Terminal: launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.tjluoma.keep-omnifocus2-beta-up-to-date.plist keep-omnifocus2-beta-up-to-date.sh Install this to somewhere in your $PATH (I recommend /usr/local/bin/keep-omnifocus2-beta-up-to-date.sh) and make sure it is executable by running this command in Terminal: chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/keep-omnifocus2-beta-up-to-date.sh How To Uninstall OmniGroup has said that the official version will be released in June. When the time comes to remove the beta check scripts from your site, just delete the two files: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.tjluoma.keep-omnifocus2-beta-up-to-date.plist /usr/local/bin/keep-omnifocus2-beta-up-to-date.sh After removing the files, reboot your Mac and they uninstallation process will be complete. Feedback? Feedback for the script can be made at the OmniGroup discussion forums since I assume most testers will already have an account there, and it would be good to keep all the feedback in one place! Update (May 9, 2014) The OmniGroup changed the format of the filenames used for downloads, which broke my existing script. I have posted detailed instructions on the OmniGroup's discussion forum explaining how to update the script so that downloads will work again.
Mac 101: Use this tip to easily map a contact's address in OS X Mavericks
Traveling to a friend's new house and not exactly sure how to get there? if their new address is in your Contacts, then you can quickly and easily pull up a map to see where they live. Once you have Maps open, driving directions are just few clicks away. To Map a contact's address, just open the Contacts app in OS X and select the name of the contact you wish to map. If you added an address to the contact, it should appear below their phone number, email and home page information. Just hover your mouse cursor over the address and you should see a link for "Show Map" appear on the right side of the address. Just click that link and address will open in Apple Maps. The address will be highlighted by a pin, which you can use to view additional information about that location. Just click on the pin and then click on the "i" button to open a dialog that allows you to add that address to your bookmarks or get driving directions to that location. You can read more about syncing Maps bookmarks between your iOS and OS X device in an earlier Mac 101 or watch a handy video tip that shows you how to send driving directions directly to your iPhone.
iPhone 101: Troubleshooting iTunes error codes
Have you ever encountered a weird error code when you connect your iPad or iPhone to your Mac? These may pop up when you are updating your iOS device software or backing up your iPad or iPhone to your Mac. Below you will find a list of these errors, an explanation of what they mean and some instructions to help you resolve them. Before you start down a rabbit hole of power cycling modems and modifying security settings to resolve errors, you first should try these few simple steps and see if they fix your problem. Download the latest version of iTunes Check your version of iTunes by going Help > Check for Updates on a Windows machine or iTunes > Check for Updates on a Mac. Download the latest version if you don't already have it installed. Check for System Software Updates On a Mac, you can easily check for updates by going to the Mac App Store and clicking on the "Updates" icon in the menu bar. You also can open the Apple Menu and then select Choose Software Update. PC owners can visiting Microsoft's Update website. Unplug any extra USB devices, keeping only your mouse, keyboard and iOS device plugged into your computer. Restart your computer and soft reset your iOS device by holding both the "Home" button and the "Power" button until the screen displays the Apple logo. Restarting your devices often fixes small errors and is often the first thing I do to fix unusual glitches I encounter. Quit virtualization software like Parallels or VMware that is running on your Mac. Try Again. Unplug and plug in your iOS device to try again. Communication Errors with iTunes Update server Errors: 17, 1004, 1013, 1638, 3014, 3194, 3000, 3002, 3004, 3013, 3014, 3015, 3194, or 3200. There errors usually indicate there is a communications error between iTunes and Apple's update server. Along with the code, the error also may say "There was a problem downloading the software," or "The device isn't eligible for the requested build." You can quickly check to see if your connection is working by typing in "GS.APPLE.COM" into your web browser if you reach a placeholder page or a 404 page on Apple's website then your connection is working properly. If you can't access the internet, then you should check your internet connection to make sure if it active. Check WiFi on your computer to make sure it is turned on, check your routers and modems to make sure they are plugged in and power cycle your modem. Apple has a list of tips to help with this process. If entering "GS.APPLE.COM" redirects to another website, then you need to check the hosts file or TCP/IP filtering to ensure there are no communication issues between iTunes, ports, and servers. Security software Errors: 2, 4, 6, 9, 1000, 1611, 9006, 9807, or 9844. Sometimes third-party security software interferes with the connection between iTunes and Apple's servers. While troubleshooting each security software package and individual proxy server settings are beyond the scope of this article, Apple has some handy tips on configuring your software with the proper port information and domain settings for Apple's servers. There's also information on connecting to the iTunes store without using an Internet proxy. USB connections Errors: 13, 14, 1600, 1601, 1602, 1603, 1604, 1611, 1643-1650, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2009, 4000, 4005, 4013, 4014, 4016, "invalid response," and being prompted to restore again after a restore completes. Sometimes a loose cable or a faulty USB hub can cause your connection to iTunes to fail. The easiest solution to this problem is often to try a new USB cable and remove all hubs and docks by plugging your iOS device directly into your Mac. If those simple steps don't fix the issue, you can follow these detailed steps provided by Apple. Hardware issues Errors: 1, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 1000, 1002, 1004, 1011, 1012, 1014, 1667, or 1669. Sometimes undiagnosed hardware errors can interfere with the connection between your Mac and your iOS device. Follow the steps above to eliminate any errors with the internet connection, security software, cables and USB hubs before you start considering issues with the internal hardware on your Mac or iOS device. You also can determine whether you Mac or iOS device is causing issue by connecting different devices to different Mac. For example, you can connect your iOS device to a known working Mac. If you are able to sync with iTunes, then your iOS device is working properly. If it fails, then there likely is something wrong with the hardware or software on your iOS device. Likewise, you can connect another known working iOS device to your Mac to see if it sync. A successful sync rules out hardware problems with your Mac, while a failed sync may indicate of a problem. If you've gone through extensive troubleshooting and still see an error, then you should contact Apple support for more comprehensive hardware troubleshooting options. Enter recovery or DFU mode to restore your device Errors: 1015, "The required resource can't be found." If you are running a beta version of iOS, have jailbroken software on your device, or are trying to install an older version of iOS, you may have to enter recovery mode of DFU mode to restore your device before you can sync it successfully. This method erases your device, but you may be able to recover your data by restoring a saved backup after you have completed the recovery process. You can read more about the differences between DFU Mode and Recovery mode here. You can also glean some tips from our own Steve Sande whose iPhone 5 entered a continuous boot loop while running iOS 7 beta software.
iPhone 101: How to use the Wish List in the iOS App Store
Do you find killer apps in the iOS App Store, only to forget them a few minutes later? One handy feature of the iOS App Store on your iPhone or iPad is the ability to save apps to a Wish List that you can view later. Follow these steps below to add items to your Wish List: Tap the App Store icon to launch the App Store app Locate an app you want to remember Tap the iOS Share icon at the top of the screen Tap Add to Wish List at the bottom Once you have saved apps to your Wish List, you can use the following steps to view it again. Tap the App Store icon to launch the App Store app. Tap the Preview History icon in the upper right hand corner (it looks like a bulleted list with lines) Your Wish List apps will appear. You can scroll down through the list of apps and delete individual apps by swiping The iOS Wish List is limited in that it only works with paid apps that you do not own. It also is a straight list with no ability to organize your list items. Despite these limitations, the Wish List option is useful for short-term storage of apps that you intend to buy in the near future.
Mac 101: A handy list of startup options for Macs running OS X
Need to reboot you Mac to access a new startup disc or launch with safe mode enabled so you can troubleshoot problems with OS X? Then read on for this handy list of startup options for Mac OS X machines. Manually restart: Hold down the power button on your Mac until it shuts off. It takes about 10 seconds. Release and then press the power button again to start your Mac. Though easy, this is not the recommended shut down method as you may lose unsaved changes in open documents. Use this as a last resort when the computer is so locked up that everything else fails. Prevent automatic login: Do you have automatic login enabled and want to disable it temporarily? Then hold down the Shift key when you see the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear) to force your Mac to the login screen. Disable login items and Finder windows from opening when you log in: This is handy if you want to open OS X with a minimal number of apps running. After clicking the login button in the login window, hold down the Shift key to enable this mode of strartup. Select a startup disk: Press the Option key when you restart. If you need to open the optical drive when choosing a startup disk, press Command(⌘)-Period(.). Start up from a CD or DVD: Press the C key when you restart. Eject removable discs: Hold down the mouse or trackpad button or press the Media Eject key (⏏) or F12 key when you restart. Use OS X's Recovery Tools: Press Command(⌘)-R when you restart to launch the recovery tools, which allow you to format a drive, restore the version of OS X and more. Start up from the default NetBoot disk image: Press the N key when you restart. This allows you to access a disk image of OS X that is stored on a server and install it over a network connection. Use Apple Diagnostics or Apple Hardware Test: Press the D key when you restart. Start up in Target Disk Mode: Press the T key when you restart. Target Disc Mode (TDM) allows you to boot using the operating system of another Mac when your Mac is having issues. The Macs have to be compatible (same version of OS X with similar hardware configurations) and they must be connected via FireWire or Thunderbolt. Reset parameter RAM (PRAM): Press Option-Command(⌘)-P-R when you restart. When you are having issues with your speakers, display or other peripheral items, you may be instructed by Apple's support team to reset PRAM. Settings stored here depend on your machine's configuration, but may include startup disk information, display resolution, speaker volume, and other information. Start up in Safe Mode: When you hear the startup tone, immediately hold down the Shift key. Release the Shift key when you see the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear). Safe Mode is useful for troubleshooting Macs as it prevents most software from automatically opening. A check of the startup volume is forced by the OS and only essential OS X items are started. As a result, some features and apps may not work correctly. Show detailed status messages (verbose mode): Press Command(⌘)-V when you restart. Verbose mode displays text-based information about the startup process and is useful for troubleshooting issues during startup. Start up in single user mode: Press Command(⌘)-S when you restart. Single user mode is another troubleshooting mode that allows you to interact with your Mac via text input. It's useful when you need to troubleshoot startup issues causes by a corrupted file of troublesome application. Use with caution as you can cause more problems than solve if you do not know what you are doing.
How to port your Google Voice number to your iPhone
Earlier this week, I saw this post from @GrowlVoice: As of today, Google has officially shut off GrowlVoice's access to Google Voice as part of their integration of Google Voice into Hangouts. Google has also shut off 3rd-party access to Google Voice VoIP, and it seems that the writing is on the wall for Google Voice as a standalone product in any form. I have a Google Voice number that I really like and wanted to keep, so I decided I wanted to port it out of Google Voice and onto my Verizon iPhone. I wasn't even sure this was possible since Google Voice isn't really a cell phone provider like Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon, but Dan Moren of Macworld was kind enough to point me in the right direction to an encouragingly titled page at Google: Port your number out of Google Voice. In sum, on the Google side of things, there are two steps to porting your number out of Google Voice: Go to https://www.google.com/voice/unlock and follow the few steps there to say that you want to unlock your Google Voice number. Pay Google $3 as "a one time fee to port your number away from Google Voice" unless you are using a number that you ported into Google Voice. I did both of those steps and then decided to call Verizon. There may be a way to do this without having to talk to Verizon customer support, but since it was an unusual situation, I thought I'd be better off talking to another human being. Verizon has about eleventy-milion phone numbers for various technical/customer support issues. The number I called was 800–922–0204. When prompted, I pressed 3 for tech support. At the next prompt I said "Porting a number" and then "Porting to Verizon wireless" when it asked what kind of port I wanted. Lastly I was asked if I wanted to add a line to my account or replace an existing account, so I said "replace" since I was going to replace my current iPhone number. After that I was on hold for 5–10 minutes before being connected with "Jason" at Verizon Wireless. I explained what I wanted to do, making it clear that I wanted to move a number to Verizon, not the other way around. There were five pieces of information that Jason needed: The name of the account holder on the Google Voice account. The "billing address" for the Google Voice account. I wasn't sure what to use for that, so we just used the same billing address that was already associated with my Verizon account. The phone number that I wanted to port to Verizon. My "account number" with the carrier which currently held the number I wanted to port over. We used my Google Voice phone number. A password, if any. At first Jason thought this meant he was going to need my Google Account password, but it turned out there was an option for "No Password" so we used that. Once the whole thing went through, the system said that it would take 4–24 hours before it would take effect, and I would have to power cycle my iPhone for the new number to be recognized. (That turned out to be incorrect. Read on.) Jason said that in his experience it usually only takes about 2 hours, but it could take longer, and if it hadn't happened in 24 hours, give him a call back. After I hung up the phone, I realized that there were a few sites which used my current iPhone number to send me SMS login verifications for Two-Factor Authentication systems, most notably Paypal and Twitter. (Most others use the Google Authenticator, which I use with Authy.) For Twitter, I had to go to https://twitter.com/settings/security and choose "Don't verify login requests" and then to https://twitter.com/settings/devices and choose "Delete My Phone." Once the number was ported, those were the two URLs I needed to re-add my iPhone. For PayPal, I had to go to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/customerprofileweb?cmd=%5fsecurity%2dtoken and "Deactivate" my "PayPal Security Key" and after the number was ported, I had to go to https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_register-security-key-mobile to enable my Security Key with my new iPhone number. Then it was just a matter of waiting. I went back to https://www.google.com/voice/unlock and say that my Google Voice number was now listed as "Unlocked (Approved [1])" and they added: "You have a Google Voice number that has been unlocked. You can now initiate porting with your new provider. We will notify you by email once the number has been ported away." (Spoiler Alert: I never received an email from them.) Still later, I went back to that page and it said: "Google Voice has successfully approved your request, but the carrier to whom you are porting hasn't completed their necessary action. If you are still having issues and your number doesn't successfully port in 2–3 business days, please contact your new carrier for support, as Google Voice is unable to take any additional action." Waiting Two hours passed, four hours passed, 24 hours, 36 hours, and nothing. However, this morning when I sat down at my Mac, there was an alert panel from iMessage, asking if I wanted to use my Google Voice number for iMessage. I clicked yes, and then checked my iPhone by going into the Phone app, and inside the Phone app I tapped on the "Contacts" tab, and scrolled all the way to the top. It still showed my old iPhone number, even after restarting it. I tried to send an SMS (not a blue-colored iMessage, but a green-colored SMS) and it failed to send. I tried making a phone call, and was greeted by an automated message that they could not authenticate my iPhone. I tried rebooting again, but still nothing. I thought about going to Settings » General » Reset » "Reset Network Settings" but I knew that would also remove all my saved Wi-Fi passwords, so I decided to wait a few more hours and try again. In the meantime, iMessage and FaceTime both showed my Google Voice number as associated with my iCloud account, and I could use Verizon's 3G and LTE data networks, I just couldn't make any calls or send any SMS messages. Eventually I called Verizon (#8899, as the automated message suggested). After about 20 minutes on hold I was finally connected with someone, explained what had been going on, and she said "You aren't on that phone now, are you?" Well, of course I was, because I don't think calling #8899 from my landline was going to get me to Verizon Wireless tech support. She asked if there was another number where she could call me back, and I gave her my number, but asked: "If I wasn't on my iPhone right now, what would you have me do?" "Reset your network settings," she said. She wrote down my landline phone number and promised to call me back in about 10 minutes. I reset the network settings, my iPhone rebooted, the Verizon logo showed up, the LTE logo appeared, I went into the Phone app, looked up my own number and -- my old phone number was still there. I was in the car and had my iPhone on the windshield mount, but there wasn't anywhere I could pull over, so I just left it unlocked on the screen showing my old phone number. About two minutes later, the number changed right before my eyes. One second it was the old number, and then it was the new number. Success! Finally I could make calls, send/receive regular SMS messages, and everything else. Summary of Steps If I was starting over from the beginning, here's what I would do: Go through my texts for the past month or so and look to see what (if anything) is using my iPhone number for SMS instead of my Google Voice number. Temporarily disable any two-factor authentication systems which rely on SMS. Go to https://www.google.com/voice/unlock and pay Google $3 to unlock my Google Voice number. Call Verizon (800–922–0204 worked for me) and navigate the phone options for "Tech Support" and then "Port a phone number" and then "Port to Verizon" Verizon will need your name (as it appears in Google account), your Google Voice number is the number you want to port and your "account number" and there is no password for porting a number out. Accept that you may have to wait 2–3 days, and be on the lookout for iMessage or FaceTime to tell you that your Google Voice number has been associated with your account. Don't bother just rebooting your iPhone to see if that does it, bite the bullet and choose "Reset Network Settings." Tip: Whenever I am somewhere that has a Wi-Fi password, I always save the network name [SSID] and the password in 1Password, so if I do have to reset my network settings, I will still have the Wi-Fi passwords for the various networks that I use. Once the port has been completed, be sure to reenable any two-factor authentication systems which use SMS. Although these instructions were for a Verizon iPhone, I would assume that the process is similar for AT&T or Sprint, with the obvious exception of who you'd call to initiate the port from your carrier.
iPhone 101: Add a useful message or contact information to your lock screen
Unlike OS X which has a native setting for adding a message to your lock screen, iOS lacks this option. You still can add a message to your lock screen -- you just have to be a bit more creative and must spend a little extra time creating a custom wallpaper with this information. The easiest way to create a custom wallpaper with your contact information is to use one of several iOS apps dedicated to this purpose. Be careful when browsing through the app store for wallpaper apps as many of them do not support the addition of custom text. Be careful to download one that mentions the addition of text or ICE (In Case of Emergency) information. For iPhone users, I recommend LockInfo+, which is available as a Pro version (99-cents) and a free version with limited options and ads. Both versions allow you to create a lock screen with text and save it to your lock screen within minutes. On the iPad, you can use Contact Lockscreen Info. It doesn't have as many options as LockInfo+, but it supports the larger screen of the iPad. You also can create a lock screen manually using your own photos and an image editor like Acorn, Pixelmator or Adobe Photoshop Elements. If you size the image correctly, you even can create a wallpaper with your contact info that supports Apple's parallax effect. Use these guidelines below for sizing your wallpapers properly for each device and these tips to create the perfect parallax wallpaper for your iPhone and iPad. iPhone 4s Static: 960 x 640 Parallax: 1,196 x 740 iPhone 5/5s/5c Static: 1,136 x 640 Parallax: 1,392 x 744 iPad 2/iPad mini Static: 1,024 x 1,024 Parallax: 1,262 x 1,262 iPad 3/4/Air/mini 2 Static: 2,048 x 2,048 Parallax: 2,524 x 2,524 With the iPad, keep in mind that you need to make a square image to support both the portrait and landscape orientation. The text needs to be placed away from the edges so it will always be on the screen regardless of how the person is holding the device. If you have any other tips, please share them in the comments.
