The Archive ( Read Only )

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/convert-aiff-to-m4a.jpg" alt="Convert AIFF to M4A" title="convert-aiff-to-m4a" width="619" height="303" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26644" /></p> <p>Using Mac OS X’s powerful built-in media encoding tools, large AIFF audio files can be quickly and easily converted to compressed high quality M4A audio, ready for use on in iTunes or an iPod, iPhone, or elsewhere. </p> <p>No additional downloads or software is required, the media encoding tools are free and bundled in Mac OS X since Lion. They should be available by default, but you can <…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/defaults-history.jpg" alt="defaults history" title="defaults-history" width="620" height="254" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26636" /></p> <p>It’s easy to lose track of all the defaults commands used to perform tweaks to Mac OS X, but with the help of the history command it’s easy to list every <a href="http://osxdaily.com/tag/defaults-write/">defaults write</a> and accompanying defaults delete commands ever used on a Mac. Launch the Terminal to get started.</p> <h2 style="font-size:1.2em;">See All Defaults Commands Executed<…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ftp-in-os-x-lion.jpg" alt="FTP Server missing in OS X Lion, but you can enable it anyway" title="ftp-in-os-x-lion" width="546" height="190" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21746" /></p> <p>If you’ve visited the Sharing Preference panel since upgrading to Mac OS X 10.7 you may have noticed there is no longer the option to enable an FTP server to share files and folders. It’s unclear why Apple pulled the easy frontend to FTP sharing, but if you still want to run a local FTP server (or SFTP) in <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/mac-os-x/">Mac OS X&…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/firefox-10.jpg" alt="Firefox 10" title="firefox-10" width="620" height="322" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26609" /></p> <p>Firefox 10 has been released and is available to download for Mac, Windows, and Linux users. The new version isn’t too different from <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/20/firefox-9-released-download-links/">version 9</a>, but includes bug fixes, better extension management, an auto-hiding forward button, improvements to CSS3 capabilities, and antialiasing support for WebGL, as well as some other additions that the av…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/airport-utility-6.jpg" alt="AirPort Utility 6 for OS X Lion" title="airport-utility-6" width="626" height="184" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26601" /></p> <p>Apple has released an all new version of AirPort Utility for OS X Lion with a redesigned user interface. The revised appearance makes it simpler to use, with the first screen showing a graphical overview of the network and all connected devices. </p> <p>Interestingly, the new Mac version looks practically identical to the current iOS version, as shown in screen <a href="http://www.…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/encrypt-file-openssl.jpg" alt="Encrypt and Decrypt files with OpenSSL" title="encrypt-file-openssl" width="620" height="246" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26580" /></p> <p>Need to quickly encrypt a file from the command line? With OpenSSL, you can encrypt and decrypt files very easily. </p> <p>For the purpose of this walkthrough, we’ll use des3 encryption, which in simple terms means a complex encryption algorithm is applied three times to each data block, making it difficult to crack through brute force methods. While we’re focusing on Mac…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/find-my-iphone-app.jpg" alt="Find My iPhone" title="find-my-iphone-app" width="620" height="165" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26587" /></p> <p>If you haven’t <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/12/how-to-setup-icloud/">set up iCloud</a> and Find My iPhone yet, now is a good time to do so. This friendly reminder comes to us from a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/nyregion/pursuing-iphone-thief-officer-knew-buttons-to-push.html?_r=1">New York Times article</a>, which details the story of a police officer using iC…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/pacifist.jpg" alt="Pacifist for Mac" title="pacifist" width="620" height="425" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26565" /></p> <p>Pacifist is a powerful Mac OS X utility that gives you full access to package and installer files and their contents, without running the installer itself. Using Pacifist, you can open installers, find out what is in them, discover what is going to be installed and where, and best of all, extract individual apps, files, and folders directly out of them. </p> <p>Beyond package (.pkg) files, Pacifist will also read and…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/safari-crash-ipad.jpg.jpg" alt="Fix Safari and app crashing on iPad with iOS 5" title="safari-crash-ipad.jpg" width="620" height="376" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26556" /></p> <p>We’ve been made aware of some ongoing issues with apps crashing constantly on iPads running iOS 5, both iPad and iPad 2 are impacted with Safari being particularly sensitive and seemingly crashing anytime javascript or a video loads and sometimes with just general web browsing. At worst, Safari won’t even launch and crashes immediately, and often the application instability …

<div class="KonaBody"><p>Adam Lashinsky, the author of the <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/25/inside-apple-a-book-on-how-apple-really-works-is-now-available/">newly released</a> book “Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired – and Secretive – Company Really Works”, recently appeared on an episode of InDay Speaker Series to discuss his work. The interview is about 50 minutes long and covers the corporate culture of Apple, how some internal processes work, and their legendary secrecy. If you’re interested in the business side of Apple, it’s worth watching the video below:</p> <p><iframe width="620" height="345" src="http://www.yo…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/authorize-itunes.jpg" alt="Authorize a Computer for iTunes" title="authorize-itunes" width="620" height="288" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26526" /></p> <p>If you have a new computer, you’re going to want to authorize it with iTunes and an Apple ID. Authorizing iTunes does quite a bit, it lets you sync apps, books, music, movies, and other content from the iTunes Store, re-download past apps from the App Store, it enables Home Sharing with iTunes, and also allows for some iCloud specific features like <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/17/enable-i…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/tmobile-iphone-4s.jpg" alt="T-Mobile iPhone 4S" title="tmobile-iphone-4s" width="500" height="375" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26533" /></p> <p>The iPhone 4S might not be offered officially for T-Mobile use, but if you <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/12/buy-unlocked-iphone-4s-now-from-apple/">buy an unlocked device</a> and set it up properly, you can use the iPhone 4S and Siri on the T-Mobile network without incident. In fact, over a million iPhones are already on the T-Mobile network, and the company is going to actively support unlo…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/change-secondary-click-mac.jpg" alt="Change the Secondary Click in Mac OS X" title="change-secondary-click-mac" width="620" height="493" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26512" /></p> <p>Macs have long kept things simple by keeping a single mouse button -or none at all- but while the two finger tap is very intuitive for most of us, newcomers to the Mac world don’t always remember it. If you’re switching someone from the PC world, <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/05/24/enable-right-click-mac/">enabling a literal right-click</a> can be really h…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/macbook-air-thunderbolt.jpg" alt="MacBook Air and Thunderbolt display" title="macbook-air-thunderbolt" width="620" height="403" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26507" /></p> <p>The MacBook Air is widely considered to be one of the best Macs ever made. It’s incredibly portable, but also powerful enough to serve as a workstation, and setups like this one sent in by Stephen V really show off the flexibility of the ultraportable Apple laptop. Combined with a Thunderbolt display, the MacBook Air can be docked and expanded into an impressive desktop machine whi…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/stop-resume-during-app-launch.jpg.jpg" alt="Stop Resume during application launch with the Shift key" title="stop-resume-during-app-launch.jpg" width="620" height="244" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26499" /></p> <p>If you want to stop OS X Lion’s Resume feature from reopening past windows, you can selectively <strong>stop Resume during an app launch by holding down the Shift key</strong>. This causes the app to launch with a clean slate and preventing any previously opened windows or documents from restoring, but it doesn’t <a href="http…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/action-movie-fx.jpg" alt="Action Movie FX" title="action-movie-fx" width="620" height="233" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26490" /></p> <p>Action Movie FX is a really fun free app that adds high quality special effects to videos, and it’s all done on the iPhone in a surprisingly easy package. Created by Hollywood studio Bad Robot Productions (makers of movies like Cloverfield, Star Trek, Super 8, and the latest Mission Impossible), the app came out a little while ago but has been updated to include another free special effect, demolition ball, alongsid…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/old-preview.jpg" alt="Snow Leopard Preview running in OS X Lion" title="old-preview" width="620" height="217" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26477" /></p> <p>Preview in Mac OS X Lion brought with it several improvements and new features like digital signatures, but it also removed some very useful abilities like the file size estimator, Save As, and added the sometimes obnoxious Auto-Save. </p> <p>If you miss the old version of Preview from Snow Leopard, and you either have a Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard machine or backup handy, you can restor…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/exclude-from-time-machine.jpg" alt="Exclude from Time Machine" title="exclude-from-time-machine" width="620" height="404" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26470" /></p> <p>Excluding folders and files from Time Machine backups is very easy and can make a big difference in the size and speed of backups on a Mac:</p> <ul> <li>Launch System Preferences and click on “Time Machine”</li> <li>Click on “Options”</li> <li>Drag and drop folders into the ‘Exclude items from backup’ list</li> <li>Click Save and…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/siri-ipad-2.jpg" alt="Siri on iPad 2" title="siri-ipad-2" width="585" height="331" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26456" /></p> <p>You can now run Siri directly on the iPad 2, thanks to the recent A5 jailbreak and a few third party tools. While Siri works as expected and will answer your questions and inquiries, getting this all put together isn’t exactly for the impatient and it’s a somewhat lengthy procedure with a fair amount of setup required. If you’re interested in this, here’s what you’ll need to get started:</p> <ul> <li><a…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/iphone-serial-number.jpg" alt="iPhone Serial Number" title="iphone-serial-number" width="620" height="237" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26446" /></p> <p>iPhone serial numbers aren’t just randomly generated, they actually contain some interesting information about the device and it’s history, including what factory it was made in and when, the color of the iPhone, and it’s storage capacity. </p> <p>If you want to follow along here with an iPhone, you can get the serial number by tapping on <strong>Settings > General > About</…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/scroll-horizontal.jpg" alt="Scroll Horizontally" title="scroll-horizontal" width="620" height="244" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26417" /></p> <p>If you use a traditional mouse with a scroll wheel and you need to scroll horizontally, <strong>hold down the Shift key</strong> and then use the scroll wheel. </p> <p>Holding shift isn’t necessary for those with a Magic Mouse, or of course anyone with an Apple trackpad, where the same task can be accomplished with a two-fingered swipe left or right. The feature works the same whether…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/startninja.jpg" alt="StartNinja for OS X Lion mutes the boot chime on Macs" title="startninja" width="620" height="242" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26438" /></p> <p>Macs have always had the classic boot chime that announces the system has begun startup or has rebooted, but if you’re in a quiet place you don’t always want that sound to play. You may know that you can <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2010/01/28/how-to-stop-the-mac-startup-sound/">temporarily mute the Mac</a> by holding down the Mute key during boot or reboot, but if you are look…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/human-readable1.jpg" alt="Human readable output" title="human-readable" width="604" height="114" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26421" /></p> <p>The default behavior for most <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/command-line/">command line</a> tools is to show sizes in bytes, for tiny text files that is fine but when you start working with larger items this becomes difficult to read and interpret. The solutions is fairly simple, pass a “human readable” flag with the command, which will convert bytes to a much more meaningful human readable f…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/inside-apple.jpg" alt="Inside Apple" title="inside-apple" width="250" height="372" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26403" /> Apple fans have another book to add to their reading lists, this time focusing on the business side of things. Titled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145551215X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=oxd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=145551215X">Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired – and Secretive – Company Really Works</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=oxd-20&l=as2&…

<div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/drive-password.jpg" alt="Drive Password in Mac OS X" title="drive-password" width="620" height="245" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26349" /></p> <p>We recently showed you how to <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/11/password-protect-files-folders-in-mac-os-x/">password protect files and folders</a> using encrypted Disk Images in Mac OS X, but if you have an external drive you can go a step further. By using encrypted disk partitions, any drive, be it a USB key, flash drive, hard disk, or whatever else, can be set to require a password befo…