Guide to Cleaning Your Mac

Here's what you do when the little air can isn't enough...

But sometimes a bit of compressed air isn’t enough. So, here is our guide to cleaning everything from mice to laptops.

[From Complete Guide to Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Mac ]

iTunes Refuses to Store Your Password?

Does your iTunes program keep 'forgetting' your password. If so, this fix may work for you. Basically, go into your iTunes account via the program (yes, you'll have to put in your password) and click "Reset Warnings" down at the bottom. You can also try Deauthorizing and then Reauthorizing your computer via iTunes, but this didn't work for me.

What seems to have worked for me (in addition to resetting warnings) is to delete the SC Info folder as detailed below.

After iTunes 9.0.1 was released, a number of users were annoyed that the check mark button for saving their password no longer worked. As a result, each purchase or app-upgrade triggers iTunes to prompt for a password.

[From Fix for iTunes 9.0.1 refusing to save your store password | iPhone Atlas - CNET Reviews]

Quit iTunes and any other open applications until only Finder is open.

Choose Go > Go to Folder.

Type /Users/Shared/SC Info and click Go.

If Finder is not already set to column view, set it by choosing View > as Columns.

Select the SC Info folder and move it to the Trash by choosing File > Move to Trash.

Restart the computer and open iTunes.

Authorize your computer to play your purchases. Note: If you have multiple accounts you will need to authorize your computer for each account. For more information on how to authorize your computer, see this article.

[From iTunes repeatedly prompts to authorize computer to play iTunes Store purchases]

Careful Musicians: Apple Denying Service for Tobacco Smoke

Apple touts Logic's Mainstage 2 and its portable Macs as a performer's must-haves. Problem is that performers mostly work in clubs, and many clubs throughout the world still allow smoking. So, how can a company legally deny warranty service to musicians using its product as the company intended, simply because a venue employer's customers smoke? This sounds like a class action in the making. How can Apple tell the difference between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco smoke from the Mac's owner? Will they really claim that musicians should only work in clubs that don't allow smoking?

According to the Consumerist, Apple has denied computer repair to at least two known Mac users after they took in their computers for repair. The reason? They're smokers and according to the Apple repair technicians, the problems may have been a result of second-hand smoke.

[From Apple Denying Support to Smokers | Mac|Life]

Microsoft: Windows 7 design inspired by Mac OS X

Finally, an admission. Although, Vista itself was inspired by OS X! They're not admitting that here. Any idiot could figure that out. However, Vista sucked. I hear Windows 7 is a better ripoff of OS X...LOL! The really funny line is when they claim that their copy of OS X is more STABLE than OS X. I'll believe that when I see it.

When it looked to redesign its dominant operating system after the struggles of Windows Vista, Microsoft reportedly turned to Apple's Mac OS X for the "look and feel" of Windows 7.

Simon Aldous, partner group manager with Microsoft, told PCR that the graphical style of Windows 7 -- which he calls "Vista on steroids" -- was inspired by the look of Apple's Mac OS X. The new Windows operating system launched in October.

"One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use," Aldous said. "What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 -- whether it's traditional format or in a touch format -- is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We've significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance."

[From AppleInsider | Microsoft official admits Windows 7 design inspired by Mac OS X]

Tweetie Avatar Cache Faux Pas

Tweetie is probably the best Twitter client out there, but it has an annoying bug. Yes, the dev says it's Twitter's fault, but it's frustrating to the average user and no other Twitter client has this problem. Even deleting my entire avatar cache did nothing to bring on my new avatar. Yes, I uploaded a 640x480 profile pic (people should be able to see a larger version when they click on your avatar).

I just tried uploading a smaller avatar to test (<200 x 200 px), however, and it did nothing. Deleting the cache again did nothing. Come on dev...fix this BS. I shouldn't have to reinstall the app to get my avatar back. You're charging for this app, so please do your work.

Twitter has been having issues with profile images recently. It turns
out, if you've updated your profile image in the last week (and it was
a big image) it wouldn't be scaled down properly.

[From Twitter Profile Images - atebits - random stuff ]

SL Mail Fix: Copy Address w/o Carrots

Open the Terminal, type or copy and paste this in, and hit RETURN. Say bye, bye to the less-than and greater-than signs you see when you copy and paste an email address in Mail. If you prefer, use TextWrangler or some other editor to edit the com.apple.mail.plist file directly, though using the Terminal is easier.

defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool NO

[From Mac Daddy World » Blog Archive » Fixing “Copy Address” in Mail on 10.6]

MS Copies Apple Again: Store w/"Guru Bar"

Can these guys come up with anything on their own? Do they even have an R&D department? They copy this and copy that from Apple. And then they lambaste Apple. Probably shouldn't criticize your unpaid, external R&D department there, Steve Ballmer.

All of this image and distribution re-imagining on Microsoft’s part is great news for one company: Apple. There’s no better sign that you have your main competitor on the ropes than when it resorts to parroting your moves. All Apple needs to do is continue to set the trend, and watch as Microsoft tries to follow it.

[From Microsoft Becoming Apple With First Retail Store, Online PC Sales ]

Now Firewire Gone in New Unibody MacBook

Same price for the new polycarbonate MacBook; some features enhanced and others lost, including the Firewire 400 port. Bad news for us musicians and video editors who NEED that Firewire port. Guess we'll have to fork out the extra bucks for the MacBook Pro (by design).

Just like the unibody aluminum MacBooks released last year, the latest version of the plastic MacBook has no Firewire port. This also means that the last Firewire 400 port in the Mac lineup has vanished – all new Macs, save the Firewire-free new MacBook, now have Firewire 800 only. Farewell, Firewire 400, we hardly knew ye.

[From New unibody MacBook loses two ports]

Post-SL: Use Your Contextual Menus Again

One unfortunate consequence of upgrading to Snow Leopard is that Apple tossed contextual menus onto the Abandoned Apple Technology dungheap. Not much help to those of us who've grown dependent--dare I say, addicted--to the use of these right-click wonders. The replacement? A greatly improved Services system that has a contextual component. We'll have to wait for developers to catch up. In the meantime...

Here's one way to keep using your 32-bit CMs, though not a very elegant solution; it's better than nothing.

What is it?

Shortcuts is a Mac OS X application to assign hot keys to contextual menu items. It works only with menu items added by contextual menu plug-ins. Version 2.0 also allows you to display a menu with items added by CM plug-ins.

[From Abracode Shortcuts]

Great iPhone Power Management Tips

Running out of juice too early? Here are some great ways to manage your battery between charges. I do all of these, but my greatest advice is to TURN OFF features you're not using--like Bluetooth, WiFi, Notifications (like Push notifications), auto mail fetching (do it manually), Location Services, and 3G. Unfortunately, some of these are spread out and need a little tapping to turn them all off. If you just need it to be a phone and iPod, turning off the previously mentioned services will greatly expand your battery mileage.

If you only need the features of an iPod or PDA, Apple makes it easy: Just flip the Airplane Mode switch under Settings.

Every iPhone user knows that the battery life isn't fantastic. Well, us heavy users anyways. If all you do is type out 10-15 texts a day or maybe make a phone call the iPhone will last easily. For those of us using WiFi, and browsing the web, and constantly reading our feeds, checking emails, testing out applications, and who knows what all day, the battery life can be a little bit on the lacking end. Here are a few of my personal tips to help you get a little bit extra out of your battery.

[From iPhone Battery, How To Help Make It Last | iGadget Junkie | iPhone App Reviews & Giveaways ]

Why MobileMe ISN'T Worth It

Once upon a time, MobileMe was called ".Mac" (pronounced dot-mac). I bought this service for one year, and though it was cool having an exclusive email address like shane@mac.com, there wasn't much else that justified the $100 I paid. For one (then and now), the storage space was too minimal (you can get free space using DropBox that's the equivalent of MobileMe's paid space). For the same $100 a year, I have a business-level web hosting account with ixweb.

The real deal-breaker for me with MobileMe was the syncing between computers, which NEVER WORKED. My understanding is that it still doesn't work right. The iPhone now makes that irrelevant for me. If you don't have an iPhone then a normal cellular phone or Google probably makes that irrelevant for you too.

It's true that the Find My iPhone feature is tempting, but if Apple was smart about this, they'd recognize that most features they're selling with MobileMe are available free online. They should sell just the Find My iPhone and Back to My Mac features for a cheaper cost; they'd make more money. I'd subscribe for those features, if the price was right.

“Is a MobileMe subscription worth the money?”

Umm… It’s complicated.

[From Why MobileMe is really worth it | Web Services | MacUser | Macworld]

100 Tips, Tricks, and Features of Snow Leopard

Self explanatory. Go there, read, and be happy with your new, fast kitty.

After installing Snow Leopard on our Macs, the Mac|Life staff began scouring the inner crevices of 10.6 looking for all the features we can. While Snow Leopard has been advertised as more of a speed increase and "tightening of screws" of the OS, it still has some great features that'll help you work faster.

After spending the weekend with the new OS, we found 100 features, tips, and tricks that should help get you up to speed and make you a Snow Leopard power user.

[From 100 Snow Leopard Tips, Tricks, and Features | Mac|Life]

Slow iPhone YouTube Over WiFi Workaround

I discovered this problem on my iPhone too and it's annoying. Fix it Apple! Changing my Airport Express settings each time isn't an option.

Currently, the wireless network is set to G-Only since this was the best setup for our office. It was only when I switched the Wireless Network Mode to B-Only that YouTube videos began watchable again. None of the other settings had any effect.

[From YouTube Slow on iPhone through Wi-Fi - RESOLVED » Media and Internet Marketing Blog]

What Apple's Snow Leopard Has In Store

I'll be going for it once I know my recording gear and software will behave with this kitty.

Here’s a look at how three of these additions to Snow Leopard—64-bit computing, Grand Central Dispatch, and OpenCL—work and how they could improve your Mac experience sometime soon.

[From Inside Snow Leopard's under-the-hood additions | Mac OS X | Macworld]

And then, the smaller stuff...which in some ways is more exciting than the major stuff:

[From Snow Leopard's smaller changes | Mac OS X | Macworld]

HandBrake + VLC = Movies on iPhone

Chris Breen gives some great advice for users wanting to move some of their DVD movies over to, say, an iPhone or iPod. Free software makes it easy.

If you’re a Mac user interested in ripping your commercial DVDs to a format playable on an Apple TV, iPod, or iPhone, the free video transcoder, HandBrake 0.9.3, is one of the easiest ways to go about it. With a copy of the free VLC installed on your Mac, HandBrake can rip most DVDs made today, and the results it produces are quite watchable.

[From Beyond HandBrake's defaults | Entertainment & HDTV | Playlist | Macworld]

ACL Found But Not Expected Weirdness

If you see a bunch of these messages when repairing permissions, here's how to deal with it:

if you try to repair permissions and get a bunch of acls found but not expected

to fix this some chmod commands need to be executed in the terminal.

Essentially open up a terminal and do the following:

cd /
ls -le

look at the Applications and Library folders in the listing and you should see they have specific ACLs. On one of my machines the Applications folder had 2 and the Library had one. On the other both had just one.

to remove these ACLs do the following:

sudo chmod -a# 0 "/Applications"
sudo chmod -a# 0 "/Library"

[From InsanelyMac Forum > How to repair "ACL found but not expected" message in disk utililty]

MacBook Freeze and Heat While Sleeping

I was having this issue while deployed and it was driving me nuts. Basically, Safe Sleep is a pain in the butt and causes this problem in the newer Macs. Also, there's more on Apple's Discussion Forums. A widget is available (called Deep Sleep) that will allow one to avoid using the Terminal. Also, more info about disabling Safe Sleep here on macosxhints.com; Apple really needs to rethink this one.

So, To Disable Safe Sleep:

Type these two commands in the Terminal, and hit return:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=false

Presto, instant fast sleep, and no more crashing!!

Now if you want to reclaim some hard drive space, an amount of space equal to the amount of RAM your computer has, do the following:

In the Finder, choose Go To Folder... from the Go menu

Type "/var/vm" into the prompt and hit return

Don't touch the swapfiles, they are important. But if there is a file in that folder called 'sleepimage', just drag it to the trash and you're good to go.

[From MacFixer - Does Your MacBook Freeze When You Close It's Lid?]

iPhone Updating Same Songs Fix - UPDATED

The bottom contains the original post that I THOUGHT had fixed the problem; turns out that it didn't fix a thing. However, my frustration was apparently the frustration of many others, and the solution was forthcoming.

It turns out the culprit is jacked up ID3 tags. The solution is right in iTunes. Right-click on the offending files and select "Convert ID3 tags..." In the dialog, select the latest version of tags and then resync. Problem solved!

I updated the ID3 tags of my continuously re-synced 24 songs to the latest version 2.4 (you can do this in iTunes by right-clicking on the songs). It worked in 23 cases (1 song could not be updated as it is in .aac format because I had bought it in iTunes).

I must admit I didn't figure this out myself, this guy actually did it: http://www.kgarner.com/blog/archives/2009/07/15/itunes-keeps-syncing-the-same-44-songs-over-and-over-solved/

[From Apple - Support - Discussions - iTunes keeps syncing the same 4 songs ...]

::ORIGNAL POST:: (ignore this...it doesn't work)

This hasn't worked for everyone with this problem, but it did the trick for me. Once I reset Sync History, I stopped updating the same 20 songs from iTunes with each sync, which had been adding to the sync time and had ticked me off. All better now!

Thanks to Lynn at Apple Support

Basicall I had to reset the sync history. To do this:

Open iSync in applications
Menu item iSync / Preferences
Select Reset Sync History

The next time I sync'd my iphone it worked flawlessly (and didn't reload all my content, which I thought it might do).

[From why is my iphone "updating files"? - Mac Forums]

Professional Musician Switches From Apple to Ubuntu

A sign that Apple should pay attention to. If people can "switch to Apple," they can also switch away from Apple. It's not impossible to make good, lucrative art with other machines. Making a great, easy-to-use system more difficult to use by subtracting documentation (or changing a great iMovie program into a stupid one) isn't the way to go. Those kinds of decisions aren't what made you strong, Apple.

Then, during my 2009 spring tour, my PowerBook G4 exhibited signs of age, with missing keystrokes, intermittent backlighting, the failure of a RAM slot, and reduced performance. As an alternative to repairing the PowerBook, I investigated what a new MacBook Pro and upgrades for all my software would cost.

[From Create Digital Music » Linux Music Workflow: Switching from Mac OS X to Ubuntu with Kim Cascone]

iPhone/Wii Video Streaming from Netflix

Coming to an iPhone, iPod Touch, or Wii near you!!! This is great news for my family. Will likely only be WiFi, however.

A new player is about to enter the arena: Netflix itself, who intends to bring "Watch Instantly" video streaming to the iPhone/iPod touch and the Nintendo Wii. At present Netflix streams over 12,000 movies and TV shows over a large variety of devices including Intel-based Macs.

Todd Spangler of Mutichannel.com speculates, and I agree with him totally, that when released, streaming will be limited to Wi-Fi only.

[From Netflix expected to release a Watch Instantly video streaming app]