Here an overview of the latest Apple tips from Mac OS X Hints

- Get picky iTunes Store artwork
- Create hyperlinks to local files in Numbers
- A GrowlMail alternative
- Easy Finder links to open websites at login
- Delete 'Where From' metadata from files
- Collect the text of selected e-mails in Mail.app
- Analyze WiFi packet traffic via command line
- Preview scan crops in Image Capture
- Web based filtering of RSS feeds
- Waking up a NAS device (a complete solution)
- Type tab or return symbols in Pages’ search fields.
- Global keyboard shortcut for rapid Shut Down
- Fix for Internet Radio Dropouts
- A Git client for the Mac
- Restore contacts in Gmail
- Transfer a Time Machine volume to a larger disk
- Preview - add an image to a PDF file
- Evade Full Page Ads with Safari 5 Reader mode
- Find lost photos after failed Image Capture import
- 10.6 Virtualize machine-specific OS X Server in Fusion
- Create scalable PDF vector graphics with Preview
- Safari: An unread count for Gmail
- IOS printing via CUPS
- Another way to create a screen sharing shortcut
- Merge keychains easily
- Prevent deactivation of Find My iPhone
- Quick fix for Save/Open folder bug
- Automate reverse VNC connection using Vine Sever
- 10.6: A New Service to Shorten URLs
- Share iPhoto '11 Photos a la iPhoto '09
- Prevent SSD wear by using a RAM disk for cache
- Manually set extended attributes on arbitrary files
- Automate reverse VNC connection using Vine Server
- Outlook 2011 Resend Workaround
- 10.6: Another way to lock your screen
- Recover from freezes with blind invocation of Terminal
- 10.6: Show creation and modification dates in search window
- Stop constant wireless usage
- Pause app loading in iOS
- View Firefox page source in an external editor



Get picky iTunes Store artwork

This hint is for people that like having iTunes Store artwork for their music. It's for times when you know that the iTunes Store has the album artwork, but it just won't download no matter how much you change the metadata. As far as I know this only works if the file is in an mp4 container with one of Apple's extensions.

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Create hyperlinks to local files in Numbers

One drawback preventing me from switching over completely to Numbers from Excel is its inability to create hyperlinks to local files. I work around this by serving the files on my local machine using Mac OS X's built-in Apache Web server.

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A GrowlMail alternative

I really like GrowlMail but it isn't up-to-date with OS X. So here's an AppleScript alternative.

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Easy Finder links to open websites at login

It can be useful to have a clickable file on your Desktop or in the Dock that takes you straight to a specified website. It can be even more useful to have websites open automatically when you log in to your computer.

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Delete 'Where From' metadata from files

Recently, I was asked to find a way to delete the 'Where From' link in the Get Info box of the Finder, because the info key was too incriminating. I didn't want to download any software, so I set about looking in the file's metadata. After running mdls and xattr on the file, I finally hit upon a way to delete the key.

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Collect the text of selected e-mails in Mail.app

I have several hundred e-mails which would be better dealt with as a single document. I wrote this Applescript to put the text of all selected e-mails in Mail into a new TextEdit .rtf document.

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Analyze WiFi packet traffic via command line

Many Mac OS X users lament the lack of sophisticated network analysis tools, often prevalent and seemingly prolific on Linux systems. What many don't know is that Mac OS X comes with a built-in command-line tool to do all sorts of nifty things with Wi-Fi networks, from packet capture (traffic sniffing) to scanning nearby networks' signal to noise ratios.

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Preview scan crops in Image Capture

I just happened upon a helpful key combination that can temporarily display a preview of a scan in Image Capture.

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Web based filtering of RSS feeds

I use Google Reader and various clients (NetNewsWire for Mac and Feeddler for iPad). On NetNewsWire Mac I can create smart lists (saved searches across multiple feeds). I cannot get this feature on the iPad on any reader, and the saved searches don't sync to Google Reader since it doesn't support search (go figure). I want to aggregate my RSS feeds, but I want more control (saved searches) and I want the same content on all platforms and all computers.

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Waking up a NAS device (a complete solution)

I purchased a LaCie NAS device, and I make use the Deep Sleep mode available on the device to reduce the power comsumption. The device has a software called LaCie Network Assistant and there is a function to Wake Up the device. According to the manual this function should remember the MAC address after the first use but it does not. That's why I started looking for another way of waking up the device automatically.

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Type tab or return symbols in Pages’ search fields.

In Pages' find dialog you have to use the pull-down menu if you want to search for returns or tabs, since typing tab or return will move through the fields or select the 'Next' button.

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Global keyboard shortcut for rapid Shut Down

I rarely use the menu bar by hand, and I got tired of switching to the mouse, clicking the Apple menu, choosing Shut Down and then clicking OK. I loved the built in keyboard command (Command+Option+Eject) to sleep the computer, and wanted something similar for shutting down.

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Fix for Internet Radio Dropouts

Many Internet radio listeners report problems with dropouts, and have to re-select the station again in order to continue the radio broadcast. This is particularly annoying when listening to radio away from the computer, so that you have to go back to the computer to re-select the station. Here is a work-around for that problem.

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A Git client for the Mac

If you do software development, you know how important source code configuration management is. Apple currently supports CVS, Subversion and Perforce in Xcode 3.x.

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Restore contacts in Gmail

Google just added the ability to restore deleted contacts to Gmail. It's good for up to thirty days worth of 'undo.' So if you do remove someone by accident, or sync with some device that messes up your contact list, there is a fix.

Read about it here.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. This is a much needed addition.]

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Transfer a Time Machine volume to a larger disk

Transferring a Time Machine backup to a larger disk can be challenging, as a simple file copy operation in the Finder does not work.

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Preview - add an image to a PDF file

I wanted to add a logo PNG image on a document I had in PDF. It is fairly simple to do this in Preview

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Evade Full Page Ads with Safari 5 Reader mode

I've noticed more and more sites displaying full page ads over the content which only disappear after the advertisement is finished playing. Safari 5 provides a quick way to get to textual content without viewing the ad.

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Find lost photos after failed Image Capture import

I used Image Capture to import photos to iPhoto, with the option to delete the photos from the camera after import. Image Capture finished the import with apparent success, but iPhoto did not show the photos.

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10.6 Virtualize machine-specific OS X Server in Fusion

I did all this on a new mid-2010 Mac mini Server (with an external MacBook Air SuperDrive), with OS X Server 10.6.5 (re)installed on the upper drive (*disk1*) and OS X client 10.6.5 (and Fusion, many other apps, etc.) installed on the lower drive (*disk0*): i.e., with the computer used mainly as a client desktop rather than a server; so, virtualizing the server OS might be the most convenient solution, while - if desired - also being able to natively boot into the server (at least as an experiment).

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Create scalable PDF vector graphics with Preview

It is easy to create a scalable vector graphics file, which can be later included elsewhere (LaTeX users will appreciate this).

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Safari: An unread count for Gmail

You can add a bookmark to Safari's Bookmarks Bar that will display the number of unread Gmail messages you have.

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IOS printing via CUPS

The recently released iOS 4.2.1 allows Apple iOS devices (iPad, iPhone) to print using a new system called AirPrint. Currently this is only supported by a few select hardware manufacturers. This hint points to an alternative method using open source software, namely the CUPS system (included with Mac OS X) and the Avahi Bonjour services discovery software.

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Another way to create a screen sharing shortcut

Recently, I read a hint about how to use Automator to execute a shell script to open a screen sharing session to another machine. It turns out that there is a much simpler (and faster) way to accomplish this.

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Merge keychains easily

Normally when copying Keychain items from one to the other, the Keychain Access program will ask you for your password for each and every item. Here's a time saving workaround.

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Prevent deactivation of Find My iPhone

Currently if you do not have a password on your device a thief (or child) could deactivate Find My iPhone. However most people don't know that you can prevent this by using a passcode. (This might require iOS 4.2 or later; I didn't have an earlier version to test it.)

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Quick fix for Save/Open folder bug

We have a few older iMacs running 10.4.11. When saving a document, the save button always means save whether or not any folder is selected in the save dialog (sheet).

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Automate reverse VNC connection using Vine Sever

If you provide tech support for your family, you know this frequently needs you to remotely control their Mac and fix their problems for them. You could use Screen Sharing or iChat but unfortunately your relative's computer is behind a firewall. How do you set this up beforehand so it's not painful to talk them through the screen sharing activation steps?

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10.6: A New Service to Shorten URLs

I submitted a hint a while ago, regarding a way to create short URLs using Perl, AppleScript and Automator, which also required that one download a package of software.

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Share iPhoto '11 Photos a la iPhoto '09

When iPhoto '11 was released, how you shared your photos changed. Instead of sending photos as simple attachments, they were now imbedded within the message using iPhoto as your Email client. To share photos as simple attachments meant exporting your photos by selecting, File - Export, and saving them for later use in an Email. For most users, this was not an acceptable.

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Prevent SSD wear by using a RAM disk for cache

Installing a new OCZ Vertex II SSD in an old 2006 iMac really speeds things up (and is documented in photos here).

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Manually set extended attributes on arbitrary files

Files downloaded using Safari have their source URL recorded within the file's metadata in the form of the com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms extended attribute. In particular, this is convenient because the information is available in the Finder (using 'Get Info') or can be used as the basis of Spotlight searches.

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Automate reverse VNC connection using Vine Server

If you provide tech support for your family, you know this frequently needs you to remotely control their Mac and fix their problems for them. You could use Screen Sharing or iChat but unfortunately your relative's computer is behind a firewall. How do you set this up beforehand so it's not painful to talk them through the screen sharing activation steps?

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Outlook 2011 Resend Workaround

One of the first features missing when moving from Entourage to Outlook was the absence of the Resend function in the message pulldown. Until it gets added into the full product the AppleScript below is a nice workaround. It will duplicate the message with attachments and recipients.

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10.6: Another way to lock your screen

Security is a requirement at my workplace, and I noticed all my Windows using colleagues quickly lock their screens with a key combination before getting up to leave their desks. When they return, they need their username and password to resume their working session. There are multiple ways to lock your screen on the Mac, but this one takes the cake for me, as it mimics the same easy get-up-and-go process Windows users enjoy.

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Recover from freezes with blind invocation of Terminal

Your Mac has frozen hard, and you've tried all the usual things to unstick it, including Cmd+Opt+Esc, and nothing works.

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10.6: Show creation and modification dates in search window

The Snow Leopard Finder search window you get after using Spotlight or pressing Command+Shift+F (to search for files names) or Command+F (to search inside files) does not show the creation and modification dates of items on Mac OS X 10.6.4. At least not by default.

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Stop constant wireless usage

After searching long and hard, (and finding people with the similar problems) I finally found the solution to my constant wireless network usage (0.3KB/s down, 0.1KB/s up), even when I wasn't accessing the network -- turning off the AirPort menu bar icon stops the traffic.

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Pause app loading in iOS

When an app is loading on iPad or iPhone you can pause the loading process by touching the app with your finger.

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View Firefox page source in an external editor

I use Firefox as my primary browser, and I spend a fair bit of time looking at source code. I've always just opened the source view in Firefox (Command+U), then copied-and-pasted the text to Coda or BBEdit, etc. if I needed to do something with it. While searching for something else today, though, I stumbled on a couple of advanced Firefox settings that let me save the copy-and-paste step -- Command-U now opens the page's source directly in Coda.

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