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Quick Tip: Troubleshooting Mac App Store Download Problems

Jonathan Garro — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:34 +0000

An appealing aspect of the Mac App Store, for many users, is the ease of transferring purchased apps to new machines. Whilst re-installing apps on new and secondary computers is generally straightforward, the process can occasionally go awry with no indication of what’s causing the problem.

The most vexing of these problems arises when you delete an app, only to have the app store show it as installed. Such an error on the store’s part will prevent you from installing the app on your computer. More frustratingly, if you deleted the app with no intention of using it anymore, you might continue to get notifications to update the app.

Unfortunately, this root of this problem is difficult to diagnose, considering that Apple doesn’t even give you an error message. In this tutorial I will show you how to troubleshoot the issue.

App Updates on Other User Accounts

The first time I ran into this problem, it was on a shared iMac. I had installed a few apps, but had then deleted my user account. Other users on the iMac received alerts stating that there were updates available for installed apps. When the App Store window opened, the list of updates would be empty.

The problem in this case has to do with the way the operating system determines what apps you have installed, and to do this, it uses Spotlight. The index that the system has created incorrectly thinks that an app is installed, and fixing this mistake is as simple as re-indexing.

Step 1

Click the Apple icon in the far left of your menubar and select System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy tab.

We’ll start by opening the Spotlight preferences pane.

Step 2

Add the Macintosh HD (or whatever you might have renamed your primary HD) to this list by clicking on the + and selecting the HD, then close the System Preferences window. This will tell OS X to stop indexing this drive. No files will be deleted – All we are doing is helping reset the index that the system uses to quickly identify files for searches.

Next, open the Privacy tab.

Step 3

Simply closing the System Preferences window should be enough, but to make sure that OS X stops indexing, I’d recommend logging out of your account and logging back in. Click the Apple logo in the top left of the menubar, and select Log Out . Log back in.

Step 4

Navigate back to the Privacy tab of the Spotlight pane in System Preferences. Select your Macintosh HD and remove it by clicking the - sign. Close the System Preferences window. The system will begin to re-index everything on your HD.

You can verify that this is happening by looking at the magnifying glass in the top right of the menubar, which will temporarily display a dot in the center. Depending on the size of your drive, this might take some time, and as the process can be rather intensive on the processor, you might hear the fans spin up. You can continue using your computer, but wait until the dot has gone from the magnifying glass icon before proceeding.

Step 5

Open up the Mac App Store and click on the Updates tab to verify that the missing apps are no longer asking for updates on other user accounts.

Apps Incorrectly Show Up as Installed

You might run into an issue where the Mac App Store incorrectly shows that a particular app is currently installed and therefore won’t allow you to download it. There are a couple of reasons why this might happen.

The Mac App Store may tell you that an app is installed, when it actually isn’t.

First, ensure the app isn’t installed on an external drive or other partition. If you have another drive plugged in, the Mac App Store will recognize that you have it already and won’t let you download it. If this is the case, move the apps by dragging and dropping them onto your primary drive, eject and unplug the external drive, then trash the app and empty the trash. Re-open the Mac App Store and navigate to the app’s page.

If you don’t have the app lurking elsewhere, the root of the problem is a bit deeper. To fix the problem, we are going to reset some caches and property lists (also known as “plists”). To do so, we will need to trash a few folders and let OS X rebuild them.

We can either navigate to the folders, or to save time, we can use a few simple Terminal commands.

Step 1

Open Applications > Utilities > Terminal.

Step 2

We are first going to reset three plists. Copy the first line, paste it into your Terminal window, and hit enter. Repeat for the remaining lines, (again, separately).

rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.appstore.plist rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.storeagent.plist rm ~/Library/Cookies/com.apple.appstore.plist

Step 3

Next we are going to reset two caches. Again, copy and paste each line separately into Terminal, hitting enter after each.

rm -r ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstore rm -r ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.storeagent

Remember to enter each line separately, followed by the Return key.

Step 4

Follow the steps above regarding resetting the Spotlight index.

Step 5

Restart your Mac. Navigate to the Mac App Store and download the the desired app.

Conclusion

In this Quick Tip, we have run through a few easy ways to troubleshoot a common problem with the Mac App Store. While you may experience these problems separately, both are rooted in errors in how OS X determines what apps are installed. In order to fix this, we simply use Terminal to reset the files that the operating system uses to make that determination. If this was your first time using Terminal and are interested in learning more about it, I highly recommend checking out James Cull’s excellent tutorial on Terminal commands for beginners.

The troubleshooting steps outlined in this tutorial should help resolve the most common problems with Mac App Store download errors. Have you run into another problem with the Mac App Store’s download process? What steps have you taken to fix it?

Relocate Your Home Folder to Another Drive or Volume

Jordan Merrick — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000

If you’re wanting to invest in a new SSD drive to give your Mac a speed boost but can’t afford one large enough for all your data, or your boot drive is running out of space, in this tutorial I’ll show you how you can relocate your home folder to another drive or volume quickly and easily.

One Question: Why?

The most common reason would be because of an SSD drive. You’ll often find your home folder (which contains your music, videos and photos) is usually just too big to fit on to the SSD or it uses up the vast majority of the space. If you have an additional HDD available then you could locate all your data on that, freeing up space on the SSD to be used as your primary boot volume and place where apps are installed.

For example, I used to run a 13” MacBook Pro with a 60GB SSD and a 500GB HDD fitted. This was done using an MCE OptiBay, a device that fits as a replacement for the internal optical drive and provides space to mount a hard drive. At the loss of my rarely used DVD drive, I gained the ability to have a second hard drive fitted.

The MCE OptiBay provides MacBook Pro owners the ability to fit a second hard drive

My home folder was around 300GB, far too big for my lowly 60GB SSD! Instead, I kept my OS X installation on the SSD and, instead, located my home folder on the separate 500GB HDD. This meant I could take advantage of the super quick boot times and rapid loading of applications yet still have all my music and videos accessible at all times.

You’ll often find your home folder is just too big to fit on to the SSD or it uses up the vast majority of the space…

Another reason would be if you are running out of space on your primary boot volume but have additional hard drives (if you’re running a Mac Pro) or you use a high-speed storage solution such as a Thunderbolt storage drive. You can move your home folder that takes up most of the space to another drive and this, in turn, frees up space on your Mac’s boot drive, preventing problems and space constraints.

I’d recommend only using this method if you have an SSD and HDD that are internal drives such as a modified MacBook Pro or Mac Pro with multiple drives. Whilst you will be able to relocate your home folder to any drive, including external ones, the performance hit you may receive from storing your home folder on something like an external USB drive wouldn’t make it practical. Thunderbolt storage devices would be an exception due to their exceptional speeds but there is no substitute for an internal drive.

1: Backup!

Yep, as always – make sure you have a backup! If you are unsure how to do this, read Marius Masalar’s article Create a Foolproof Backup System for Your Mac.

2: Copying The Home Folder

Before we tell OS X that we’re changing the home folder’s location, we need to copy it first. OS X won’t do that for us, it’s up to us to copy it to our new location.

Step 1

Create an additional user account with administrator privileges in System Preferences > Accounts. Log out of any accounts and then log in with this new account.

Creating a second administrator account means we can make changes to the account we’re modifying as we won’t be logged in to it

Step 2

We’re going to copy the home folder of our account called portable. Launch Terminal and enter the command ls /Users. This will list the home folders in the Users folder. As you can see, the folder I want to relocate is simply called portable.

We need to confirm our old home folder’s name

Step 3

Enter the command ls /Volumes and make a note of the hard drive or volume you want to relocate the folder to. In this case, I am using the drive called External Device.

Now we just confirm the location we’re copying it to

To copy the home folder, we’ll use a handy Terminal command called ditto. I will be relocating my home folder using the following command:

sudo ditto -v /Users/portable/ /Volumes/External\ Device/Users/portable

We use ‘ditto’ to copy the home folder to its new location

The effect of that command is this: sudo means to run this as the root user, meaning I can copy all the files regardless of permission. It’s important to use this otherwise files will be missing and errors will occur.

ditto is the command to run, OS X’s version of a copy command. The -v just adds the feature called Verbose mode and will print a line to the Terminal window every time a file is copied (it’s a nice way of seeing how it’s progressing).

The first path, /Users/portable is the target folder that I want to copy and the path afterwards is where I want to put it. If the new location doesn’t exist, it will just create it for us. External Device has a backslash in it’s name because a space cannot be used on its own as it usually separates commands. The backslash just means “the character after me is part of the name, don’t assume it’s the next part of the command”.

Tip: You don’t need to always enter the full path of a folder, you can usually press Tab and it will attempt to autocomplete it for you.

Once the copying is complete, the terminal window will go back to a prompt and you’ll be able to start entering new commands. At that point, you can quit Terminal.

3: Change The Home Folder Location

That’s the hard part over! Once the folder has copied, let’s confirm it has indeed done so.

We can navigate to our home folder’s new location and confirm it’s there

it’s time to tell OS X we’ve moved home… folder!

Step 1

Open System Preferences and click on Accounts.

We’ll now be going back to System Preferences

Step 2

Right-click on the user account you’re relocating and select Advanced Options…

This is a built-in feature of OS X but one rarely used

Step 3

This section looks a bit daunting, with random numbers and red writing! Don’t worry, we’re not going to be making any drastic changes. All we need to do go to where it says Home Directory and then click Choose…, and finally select the new home folder we copied using Terminal before.

This is a built-in feature of OS X but one rarely used

Now once you’ve chosen the new location, the Home directory path should reflect the change.

The new home directory location will appear

All done!

4: Test it Out

Now, log out and restart your Mac. Log in as the user who’s folder we copied and as long as you see the desktop and all the files where they should be, you’ve done it! To confirm the home folder is in the new location, open a new Finder window and go to your home folder. Right-click on the window’s title and it will bring up the full path.

If everything’s gone well then your home folder will now be located elsewhere!

As you can see, the home folder here is running from my external device.

5: Delete The Old Home Folder

Now, we only copied the home folder. That means it is still there in the Users folder, so we’ll need to delete that.

Step 1

In the Finder, use the menu and select Go > Go to Folder…. Type in /Users and press enter.

Using the terminal command earlier only copied the home folder, it didn’t move it or delete it for us.

Step 2

Locate the old home folder and move it to the trash.

Wrapping Up

You’ve now successfully relocated your home folder to a new location! This will free up plenty of space on the SSD or the drive the home folder was previously located on. So whether you’re wanting to run an SSD as your boot drive and keep your home folder elsewhere or you use multiple drives and your boot volume is running out of space, you’re now able to do so.

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Joel Bankhead — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:20:45 +0000

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Over 15 Cool Ways to Personalize Your Mac

Jacob Penderworth — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:49 +0000

On days when I have nothing to do, I look around my Mac for cool features I haven’t tried before. I’m always learning more about what all those info screens in Activity Monitor mean, and you can never know enough about Terminal. Last time I had a look around, I discovered that holding the Command key and then dragging an icon on my menu bar would allow me to reorganize the order. This got me thinking: maybe there are some other cool ways to personalize things on OS X. In this article, I’ll go over a bunch of different ways that you can turn your Mac into a device that works for you.

Appearance

It’s always good to give things a different look. There are even whole websites dedicated to the theming of Macs. Instead of using third-party tools for different looks, let’s play with what Apple has already provided.

1. Automatically Change the Wallpaper Every Few Hours, or Days

Setting the wallpaper to change at intervals.

If you head to the Desktop & Screen Saver pane of System Preferences, you can set your desktop wallpaper. That’s the most basic of personal settings you can get on a Mac, but there’s actually more to it. Once you select a wallpaper that’s in a folder of others, you have the option to change it automatically. Check the box beside “Change picture” and then select which option you prefer. It can be anything from five seconds to one day, and there are even special options for when you wake your computer or log in.

Tip: Click the box beside “Random order” to shuffle your wallpapers.

To keep things organized, use a folder in iPhoto to store your wallpapers. The Desktop & Screen Saver pane always keeps them up to date, so you don’t have to worry about adding one when you download something new. Alternatively, you can use any folder on your computer, so long as it holds more than one image.

2. Use Hot Corners to Activate Your Screensaver and Other Things

Adding Hot Corners to the Mac for quick actions.

When you set up a screensaver in the Desktop & Screen Saver preferences pane, you may have seen the Hot Corners button in the bottom right corner. In a nutshell, this acts as a shortcut to a system feature. It uses all four of your screen’s corners to activate this feature. The options include starting and disabling the screensaver, opening Launchpad and Notification Center, showing the desktop, and more. When you move your mouse to the defined corner for a feature, it stays active until you do so again.

3. Add Spacers to the Dock

The dock can get cluttered, so why not divide things up? Spacers do just that, but not in the way you’d expect. Unlike that bar the dock already has, spacers are removable. They’re also invisible: like an icon, they take up space, but there’s nothing actually there.

Dock spacers are like white space on your dock.

Because it’s not actually an OS X feature, you have to add one of these to your dock using Terminal. Copy and paste

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add ‘{“tile-type”=“spacer-tile”;}’

into a new Terminal window, then type

killall Dock

to close and reopen the dock. Your spacer will appear right before the built-in divider on the right. It’s not a movable element, but you can delete it by right-clicking the empty space and selecting Remove from Dock.

4. Change the System’s Color Scheme

Changing up the color selection.

Are you bored with all your selected text being blue? Maybe it’s time to change that. In the General pane of System Preferences, there’s an option for “Highlight color”. Change it to any color you wish. There are eight default options, but you can always use OS X’s color picker to choose a custom one.

Selected text can be different colors.

There’s another appearance options here, too. You can change the buttons, menus, and windows of all apps to a more monochrome option called Graphite. Sadly, there are no more than two options available here, but if you like a very dull look without those colorful close, minimize, and zoom buttons in your window bars, this may be perfect.

5. Add Dock Magnification, Hide It, and Change Its Position

Give your Mac character with dock magnification.

Out of the box, your Mac’s dock will not jump out at you like you’ve probably seen it do on your friends’ computers. That’s because magnification isn’t enabled. To switch it on, click the Apple in the top left corner of your screen, select Dock, and click Turn Magnification On. This menu also gives you the option to hide your dock, which can be nice if you like a lot of screen space. When hidden, you can show the dock by moving your cursor to the part of the screen it resides in.

Lastly, you can change the position of your dock and place it on the left or right side of your screen. The appearance of the dock will also change if you move it. It becomes more 2D and reminiscent of OS X Tiger.

In the Menu Bar

Most people don’t use the menu bar to their advantage. Some apps use it for extra information, but there are some other really creative things you can do with the system’s presence there.

6. Add Seconds and A Date to the Time

Personalizing the date and time appearance on OS X.

It’s rather boring to just display the time when you can have so much more. Click the current time and select Open Date & Time Preferences to expand things. In the main tab you will find a place to set the date and time. If that’s correct, skip to the Clock tab. Here you can change the time from digital to analog (it’s hard to read at such a size), display seconds, flash the time separators, use a 24-hour clock, show or hide the AM/PM indicators, show or hide the day of the week, add the date to your menu bar, and even announce the time on the quarter, half, and full hour.

OS X has so many cool time options hidden away. It’s nice to have the date displayed in your menu bar, and seconds can be helpful if you’re hoping to be punctual. Also, don’t forget that you can change the date format in the Language & Text pane. I’ll talk more about that later.

7. Add Battery Percentage and Life Time

More info on the battery.

If you have a portable Mac and your menu bar’s battery indicator is nothing more than an icon, we need to change that. When plugged in, click it and select Show Percentage to give you a reading charge. Then unplug your MacBook’s charging adapter and test things out.

There used to be an option to show how long your battery would last in current use, but it was removed in Mountain Lion. If you’re using an earlier version of OS X, click the battery icon and look for that option. Otherwise, a small third-party utility called Battery Time Remaining will bring back the depletion time. It’s available on GitHub.

Personal Preference

Everyone likes to adjust things to their own special presets. This is the section for the little things.

8. Change What Inserting a CD or DVD Does

Change what your computer does when you insert a disc.

You don’t always want to have DVD Player launch when you insert a video disc — provided you even have a drive for that. To change the behavior, open the CDs & DVDs pane of System Preferences. Click whichever function you wish to modify and select “Open other application…” Or, to simply switch off the feature entirely, select Ignore. You can also run an AppleScript for a custom function.

9. Adjust What Spotlight Can Search Through and How It’s Ordered

Modify the way Spotlight displays results.

Do you have some private files that don’t need to be found when searching? You can exclude them from a full system Spotlight query. Here’s how:

Launch System Preferences and click Spotlight.
Click the Privacy tab.
Click the + button to add a folder or entire disc you don’t want to be displayed.

You can also adjust the way Spotlight displays your search results. In the Search Results tab, deselect whatever category you don’t want to see, or drag them into your own personal order. Here you can change the Spotlight shortcut, too.

10. Change Your Default Dictionary

Add dictionaries that better suit you, or help you in class.

Apple’s Dictionary app is one of the most useful tools on the Mac. It’s simple and gets the job done. But if you’re like me, you enjoy looking up words in a true English dictionary: the British one. To enable an alternate language in the app, head to its Preferences window and check the box of whichever you wish to have in the main window. There are ten dictionaries and thesauruses included with your Mac, and two of them are more resources than dictionaries (the Apple one and Wikipedia).

11. Change App Icons

Be ironic with icon changes.

The most fun you’ll have customizing your Mac will be changing all your app icons. There are utilities for this, but the process of changing an app’s icon manually is simple.

Download an icon from the Internet. If it’s a standard .icns file, don’t worry about the next step.
Select your .png or .jpeg icon and open it with Preview. Click Edit, Select All, and then copy the selection. Regular .png files do not work because they don’t always have transparent backgrounds.
Find the app you wish to modify, select it, and click Get Info (CMD + I).
Click the small icon in the top left corner of the app and paste your new one.
To remove a custom icon, select the small one in the Get Info window and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

12. Make Finder Open in a Different Folder Than All My Files

Change Finder’s default landing page.

New Macs show the All My Files directory by default when you launch Finder. Since not everyone likes that, there’s a way to change it. Head to Finder’s Preferences, select the General tab, and choose a folder from the drop-down menu below “New Finder windows show”. Click Other to use any folder on your hard drive.

13. Region Options

Correct the region specifics to reflect your home country.

Living in the United States doesn’t mean your date must be formatted the same as the rest of the country. You can customize that, and other things, in the Language & Text pane of System Preferences. Once there, click the Region tab. Here’s a list of what you can do:

Make the week start on any day: If you like your calendar’s week to actually start on a Monday, then by all means tell the OS! Click the drop-down menu beside “First day of the week” to do this. You can select any day for your week to start on, so have fun with it.
Change the date format: Click the Customize button beside the Dates section and reorganize things the way you want them. Apple made things extremely simple so you can drag and drop the values and arrange them however you wish. There’s even an option to add the era, AD.
Change the time format: Milliseconds are part of time, so why not include them? Apple gives you a choice in the Customize screen of the Times section. Again, it’s a drag and drop process.
Modify currency separators and decimal characters: Some people like their decimals to be commas and commas periods. If that’s you, click Customize below the Numbers section and change things up. You can change the values to any character.
Move to a new currency or measurement unit: Last, but not least, there are options for the currency and measurement units you’re using. There are a lot of currencies, but the measurement units are only offered in US or Metric.

Finder

OS X’s file browser deserves to be made your own.

14. Organize Folders Automatically

OS X can reorder folders in Finder automatically.

It’s annoying to see a folder completely disfigured due to bad organization. Finder has settings for such things, and they’re located in the toolbar. Click the button that looks like a small list of icons and then select whichever method of organization you wish to have. Name is the best to use because it always looks in place. However, you can do anything from kind to size and label. Alternatively, drag things off the grid to mess them up a bit.

15. Remove Mounted Discs From the Desktop

Maybe you don’t want to see your CD or external hard drive cluttering up your desktop. To disable it, open Finder’s Preferences and deselect one of the “Show these items on the desktop” options in the General tab. That will remove some unnecessary stuff from your desktop.

16. Bring Back the Status Bar

Get more information with the status bar in Finder.

There used to be a status bar at the bottom of Finder which displayed the size of a selection, number of files in a folder, and other useful information. It was removed in Lion, but you can always bring it back with a quick keyboard shortcut: Command + / Alternatively, click the View menu and select Show Status Bar.

What are Your Tricks?

I’ve shown you how to organize things, change your default dictionary, reorder Spotlight results, show off different wallpapers, and recover hidden features that were in older versions of OS X. Quite an extensive list, isn’t it? Not really. There are actually a lot of other things you can do to your Mac, like change the dock’s appearance drastically by theming it. The same can be done with the rest of the OS, though it does take a while to get things perfect. Have you found some cool customizations of your own that you’d like to share? Please do below!

The Complete Guide to iCloud on Your Mac

Jordan Merrick — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:54 +0000

Love it or hate it, iCloud is a big part of Apple’s ecosystem and it has a number features of which OS X can take advantage. In this guide, I’ll show you how to set up and begin using iCloud on your Mac, as well as the features and benefits it provides.

What is iCloud?

iCloud is Apple’s cloud syncing and storage service

iCloud is Apple’s ‘cloud’ service that is available, free, to anyone using an iOS device or OS X Lion or Mountain Lion. It originally started life as MobileMe (which started out as .Mac, which started out as iTools) as a paid-for email service and method to keep more than one Mac in sync with regards to certain data such as calendars and contacts. This meant you could add a contact to one Mac and it would appear on another Mac or iOS device if you were signed in.

iCloud builds upon this and still provides an email service as well contacts and calendar syncing. The main difference is that iCloud is predominantly a free service that provides a 5GB account, with the option to pay an annual subscription to increase this, depending on the space required.

iCloud builds not only an array of features designed to make using multiple devices much easier but also online storage of documents and pictures to make accessing them as easy as possible.

Signing Up

To sign up for an iCloud account, you must be using a device capable of using iCloud. The reason is that not everyone can sign up, you have to be using at least one Apple device that’s iCloud compatible. If you’re running OS X Lion or Mountain Lion then you can sign up very easily through System Preferences.

iCloud can be enabled (and an account set up) within System Preferences

Step 1

Launch System Preferences and then select iCloud.

Signing up to iCloud requires something called an Apple ID. If you’ve ever purchased anything from the App Store or iTunes, you already have an Apple ID. Simply sign in with your existing Apple ID information (this will be the email address and password you use for making iTunes or app purchases) and you’ll be prompted to create a new iCloud account. You can skip the next step and jump right to Step 3.

If you have an Apple ID already then you can simply sign in to create a new iCloud account

Step 2

If you’re new to the Mac platform and have never purchased anything from the iTunes Store before, then you’ll need to set up an Apple ID. There will be a small link that says Create an Apple ID – go ahead and click it.

You’ll be prompted to enter some basic information such as name, address and data of birth, as well as set up a password and some security questions. You can specify if you’d like to create a new email address with iCloud or if you already have an email address you’re happy to continue using.

iCloud requires some basic information, remember to keep it safe!

You’ve now created an Apple ID ready to use with iCloud. You will also be able to use this for any iTunes or app purchases you might like to make in the future.

Step 3

To begin using iCloud, sign in with your Apple ID (it will already be signed in if you just created your Apple ID) and you’ll be prompted if you’d like to use iCloud’s services as well as Find My Mac.

On the first time you sign in to iCloud you’ll be prompted if you’d like to enable its services

Features

Here’s a quick rundown of what iCloud can do and the services it offers that would benefit Mac users:

Email (Your very own @icloud.com email address)
Synchronising Contacts
Synchronising and sharing Calendars and Reminders
Synchronising Notes
Synchronising Safari Bookmarks, Tabs and Reading List
Photo Stream
Documents in the Cloud
Back to My Mac
Find My Mac

All of these features can be enabled and disabled through System Preferences by toggling the checkbox for each one. The great thing about this preference pane is that when you enable one of the services it automatically sets it up so you don’t need to.

iCloud is all configured within System Preferences

Email

All iCloud accounts have the option of using an @icloud.com email address. If you already had an Apple ID or just created one but opted to still use an existing email address, you can still use an iCloud email address if you wish. It operates as a completely separate email account but if you’re happy with the email provider you have or would prefer not to have another email account set up, you can log in to iCloud.com and have iCloud forward all your incoming mail to your existing email address.

iCloud automatically configures Mail if you want to use it as an email account

iCloud mail shares the 5GB of storage that your account comes with which is more than enough for most users.

The great thing about the iCloud preference pane is that when you enable one of the services it automatically sets it up so you don’t need to.

Contacts

Since the days of .Mac, Apple has been providing contacts syncing. What this means is that any person you add to Contacts in OS X, their details will remain in sync across any devices you also use iCloud. So if you have an iOS device as well as your Mac then as soon as you add a contact to either, it will appear on the other device.

iCloud syncs your contacts all the time so all your devices are constantly up to date

Calendars

Calendars is also a feature that’s been around since .Mac but just like contacts, it was heavily updated to new server-based technologies rather than the more unreliable syncing service it previously used.

iCloud offers exceptional calendar services complete with enhanced features such as calendar sharing

iCloud features a great calendar system that not only works across all your iCloud devices, but you can also share calendars with other iCloud users. This sharing isn’t limited to just reading the calendar either, you can share calendars with other users who can also make changes. This is great if you’re needing a family calendar to keep track of errands!

Step 1

Launch Calendar and select the (iCloud) calendar you wish to share. If you’d like to create a new calendar instead, you can do so by selecting File > New Calendar > iCloud from the menu.

Step 2

As you hover the cursor over the calendar you wish to share, you’ll see a “share” icon appear. Select this and then enter the email address of the person you wish to share the calendar with (just remember they need to also be an iCloud member).

iCloud calendar sharing lets others get involved and make changes to your calendar

You can enter multiple email addresses and you can modify whether that person can read and write to the calendar, or just read it, by clicking the down arrow next to their address.

You can delegate access rights so certain users can only view the calendar, not make changes

That person will then receive an email notification asking them to confirm. Once confirmed, they’ll be able to see the calendar and, if allowed, make changes to it.

Reminders

With the Reminders app, you can ensure your to-do list is always up to date, and the Reminders app in OS X is very capable. It works in the same way as Calendar and you can even share reminder lists in the same way too.

Reminders is yet another great feature of iCloud

This means other iCloud users can share your list and add or check items as they’re done.

Notes

Notes is now a completely separate app in OS X and looks almost identical to Notes for iOS. iCloud can keep these in sync.

Notes serves as a capable alternative to the more traditional (and ageing) Stickies app

Safari

iCloud can keep three features of Safari in sync: Bookmarks, open tabs and Reading List.

Bookmarks

Any bookmarks you add to Safari are automatically pushed to all of your other devices and Macs that are signed in to iCloud. Add a bookmark on your iOS device and it will appear on your Mac almost immediately.

Tabs

A great feature of iCloud is iCloud Tabs. If you often find yourself switching between Macs or Mac and iOS device and would like an easier way of continuing reading a web page without having to enter the address again, this is how to do it.

iCloud can sync your currently open tabs so that you can start reading on one device and finish on another

Whenever you have an open tab or window in Safari, iCloud syncs what the address is and makes it available to any of your iCloud devices. For example, if you were reading this on your Mac and decided to switch to an iPad, you could simply open Safari, tap on iCloud Tabs and then see what pages were currently open on your Mac. It’s a feature that has no configuration, no customisation but it’s an example of a feature that genuinely makes life that little bit easier!

Reading List

If you’re a Reading List user, a feature of Safari that can temporarily save web pages for offline access to read later, then iCloud will also sync your reading list to all your iCloud devices automatically. Again, just like with Safari Tabs, it requires no interaction and means your content is always available.

Photo Stream

A popular feature of iCloud is Photo Stream. iCloud keeps the last 1,000 photos you’ve taken for 30 days. Whilst this feature is seen as a benefit just to iPhone users who take photos, this also applies to iPhoto and Aperture.

If you do have an iPhone then Photo Stream is the perfect way of syncing photos from your iPhone to your Mac since you don’t even need to connect them together. Just launch iPhoto or Aperture and all your photos will be there and downloaded from your Photo Stream automatically.

Photo Stream works by keeping you last 1,000 photos available online at all times for 30 days

Perhaps you use a digital camera instead of an iPhone? iCloud will sync the last 1,000 added to any of your devices and it does this on your Mac using either iPhoto or Aperture. Any photos you add to either of these apps will automatically upload to Photo Stream. This will then push down to your iOS devices and even be viewable on your Apple TV.

Documents in the Cloud

iCloud attempts to tackle one of the hurdles when dealing with multiple devices – keeping work in sync. Now, whether or not iCloud has the best implementation of file syncing, for those users who are fairly new to technology then it seems quite a simple solution.

Documents in the Cloud aims to simplify how we sync documents between devices by doing it automatically

Using any number of iCloud-enabled apps, or within Mountain Lion, you have the ability to save a file directly to iCloud. It’s still kept on your Mac but it’s also pushed to iCloud for access via another device. Let’s create a new iCloud document using TextEdit.

Step 1

Launch TextEdit from the Applications folder.

Step 2

From here, there’ll be a small tab on the top left that’s labelled iCloud and On My Mac. Select iCloud.

You can toggle between iCloud and On My Mac in most OS X apps, just remember that any documents stored on iCloud can only be accessed by that app alone

Now you can store new documents here. They will only be accessible via the app so if you create a document in TextEdit and save it to iCloud, you’ll only be able to access it with TextEdit. But you’ll be able to access it using TextEdit on any other Mac you are signed into iCloud with.

However, if you were to do the same with Pages, you can access it using either OS X or iOS, since the app is available for both platforms.

Pages is an example of an app that can access iCloud documents on both OS X and iOS

Back to My Mac

This service is one that’s often overlooked simply because it requires a lot of configuration to work. Add to this that services such as Dropbox and to a certain extend, iCloud’s Documents in the Cloud feature, then it is almost redundant (it’s not even listed as part of iCloud’s features).

Back to My Mac on a basic level is simply a way of always being able to access your Mac that’s at home or in the office over the internet. It works just like a network connection to a server, except when you’re signed in to iCloud then the Mac will always appear under the Shared tab in the Finder. Apart from this additional service, there’s nothing about it that’s any different from setting up file sharing on the Mac. In fact, Back to My Mac needs the File Sharing service to be switched on.

For a service that’s of little benefit to most users, the time and knowledge needed to ensure things like ports are forwarding, NAT is traversing, and all these other bits of technical jargon make it a service that is probably best left alone. If you would like to look further into Back to My Mac then Apple has an excellent setup guide that you can follow.

Find My Mac

Just like Find My iPhone, iCloud is also able to let you track your Mac should it go missing.

Since it’s a service that requires knowing your location, it has to be explicitly turned on – that’s why there’s two options when setting up iCloud for the first time.

Find My Mac works the same as Find My iPhone and is even usable on an iOS device as well as the iCloud website

Find My Mac works exactly the same as Find My iPhone, you can locate your Mac using either icloud.com or the Find My iPhone app for iOS. What’s more, you can even remotely lock and wipe your Mac if you think it’s fallen into the wrong hands.

Tip: If you enable Find My Mac, ensure you have a very strong password and security credentials only you will know. The only thing worse than misplacing a Mac is if someone is able to gain access to your iCloud account and remotely wipe the Mac!

What We’ve Learned

iCloud may be pitched more towards iOS users than those on the Mac but its feature set as well as the ability to keep not just iOS devices but Macs in sync make it one of those services that seems almost silly not to use. I use iCloud for my personal email as well as contacts and calendar services all the time and have done since the days of iTools. It’s a service I couldn’t see myself without and one that, despite its flaws, I’d continue to use if it was ever charged for again.

Do you use iCloud? What features do you use the most and which work best for you? Let us know (as well as any feedback or even requests for future articles) in the comments below!

Quick Tip: How to Put Preferences Panes in the Dock or Launchpad

Alex Arena — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:00:58 +0000

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for ways to cut down any given workflow into a quicker and easier process. To that end, I was always frustrated by the fact that I was unable to add individual System Preference panes to my dock, like I would any other application.

As a solution to this problem, I created Preferences Quick Launch, a tool that breaks each System Preference pane out into it’s own application. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to take full advantage of Preferences Quick Launch by adding preferences to your Dock or even your Launchpad.

Preferences Quick Launch simplifies access to your System Preferences.

Quick Tip: How to Put Preferences Panes in the Dock or Launchpad

How to Create a World Clock App

Johnny Winter — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:00:58 +0000

Such is the nature of my role that I find myself working not only with colleagues in the United Kingdom, but with those in Australia, Europe and the United States. These multiple timezones could easily hinder the planning of conference calls; I need a way to work out a convenient time for any team to get together on a Skype call.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a Dock icon that gives you ready access to the timezones that are important to you — and more besides. Whilst there are menubar applications that do this, in the Mac App Store, my method avoids adding another icon to your (already crowded) menu bar and it does not cost anything.

Before We Begin

Before we begin, we will need to ensure that we have the following:

An internet connection to access to time.is via a web-browser
A suitable clock icon of 512x512px, or 1024x1024px for HiDPI (retina) displays
Fluid app

How We Create Our World Clock “App”

To create and customise our timezones is very straightforward. This is the process:

We are going to be using a website called Time.Is where we will customise a web page for our own personal requirements.
We will create a custom clock icon.
We will then create an “app”, for OS X, using a handy little tool called Fluid app.
We will locate our new app in the Dock.

1. Creating and Customising our Timezones

This part of the process is quite straightforward, involving little more than visiting a website and customising it to your particular requirements.

Step 1. Visit Time.Is

Visit the time.is website, in a browser of your choosing, and time.is will default to the current time in your timezone.

The time.is website

Step 2. Removing Timezones

In addition to your current timezone, the time being displayed in large letters, the time.is website will also display the time in some other timezones. If the suggested timezones don’t meet your requirements, click on the one you wish to remove to change to that time and then click on the Remove from favorite locations link. Repeat this process for all timezones that you wish to remove.

Removing timezones

Step 3. Adding Timezones

Envato is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. I often need to know what time it is, down under, so this will be the first timezone that I need to add.

Adding timezones is very simple. Use the search box at the top of the webpage and enter the city for which you need to know the time. As you type, time.is will suggest cities and will narrow these down as you continue typing.

Select the correct city and then click the Add to favorite locations link. Repeat this process for all the places that you need to know the time. Each time you add a city to favourite locations, a small box with the place and time will be added to your web page.

Adding timezones

Step 4. Customising the Displayed Information

Given that I am in the United Kingdom, the way we display our dates and times will be different to the way in which, say, an American would be familiar. The time.is site defaults to a format familiar to my American colleagues, but I would like to Anglicise it a little.

To do this, click on the More >> link at the top the page to reveal an extended menu and then select Customize to reveal the settings that can be changed.

One of the first things I’m going to do is correct the spelling by selecting British English. I am now customising things.

Customising the displayed information

I can continue to change the way the date is displayed to the rather more logical DD-MM-YY. European users may wish to choose the, even more logical, ISO format of YY-MM-DD. You can choose whichever suits you best, or just stick with the default American MM-DD-YY format.

Choose whether you wish to retain the social buttons and whether you wish to invert the colour to white on black. When you are happy with your customisations, right-click on the link that says right-click on this link and copy it to your clipboard (CMD C). You may wish to paste your customised link into a text document for safekeeping. That said, as long as you permit browser cookies (which is the default behaviour of all the major web browsers) then your settings will be stored for next time you visit the time.is web page.

Saving your customisations

2. Create a Custom Clock Icon

It is not imperative that you perform this stage, but if your intention is to put an icon on the dock, you might want it to fit aesthetically, too.

In order to create my icon, I took a screenshot of the Mondaine Swiss clock icon in the iPad Clock app. I then transferred this screenshot to my Mac.

Opening the screenshot in Pixelmator (you may use a different graphics editing app), I trimmed down the screenshot into a suitable image for an icon. For the purposes of OS X, your icon will need to be 512×512 pixels, or 1024×1024 pixels for a retina display.

Export your final image as a .png (Portable Network Graphic) file, ensuring that it has a transparent background. Make a note of the location to which you exported your newly created icon.

Using Pixelmator to create the app icon

Tip: If you do not have the time, or the inclination, to create your own custom clock icon, feel free to use the Mondaine Clock that I created for this tutorial.

3. Create an “App” With Fluid App

Next, we are going to bring our customised web page and our custom icon together into an “app” which we will create using a handy app called Fluid, from Celestial Teapot Software.

Fluid allows us to create a Mac app by turning our web site into an OS X desktop app.

Step 1. Creating Your Custom App

Download and open Fluid app. Locate the customised URL string that you saved from Step 4 in customising the time.is website.

Enter your customised URL and an appropriate name for your app.

Entering the criteria to create an app

Step 2. Attach Your Custom Icon

To create your app with your custom icon, select Other in the Icon field and browse to the location where your custom icon is saved.

Creating the app

Step 3. Create Your App

When you have entered the required information, click the Create button and then Launch now.

The Word Time app in the Dock

Your app will be created, placed in the Applications folder. An icon will be created on the Dock and the app will launch.

You may drag the app icon to wherever you want it to be located in the Dock. You can even drag it from the Dock if you prefer it not to reside there. If you wish to keep your time app in the Dock, right-click and check that it is pinned to the Dock (this should be the default behaviour).

Keeping the app in the Dock

Using Your Custom App

You now have ready access to your customised time.is app giving you the current times in different timezones of interest. Knowing whether it’s OK to Skype call colleagues in Melbourne, Mammoth Lakes or Manchester is now just one click away.

Whether you choose to locate your time app in the Dock, or not, is up to you. Either way, remember that you can launch it very quickly if you use Spotlight or Alfred. Use the CMD Spacebar or Option Spacebar keys, respectively, to launch these apps. A great solution for people who find the keyboard more productive.

The end result. (Note, you can continue to customise your “app” in the same way as described in section 1, step 4)

All Done!

Yes, there are apps out there that do a similar thing by putting access to global timezones into your Menu Bar, but they usually cost money and where’s the fun in that? Fluid app is much more flexible, so why not set up your global times zones, and more besides, and support Fluid app by purchasing a licence, if this works for you.

In this tutorial, I have shown how to customise a web app and create an “app” within OS X, using a tool called Fluid, to give quick and easy access to timezone information from the Dock. My approach frees your Menu Bar from additional icon clutter and it does not even require you to locate the app in the dock – you can use your favourite quick launcher to fire up access to global timezones whenever you need to know what time is it somewhere else.

Let us know, in the comments below, how you set up your timezones, or if you have any other tips or tricks.

The Complete Guide to Buying an External Display for Your Mac

Jordan Merrick — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:31 +0000

Apple sells more portable Macs than desktops – but that’s a lot of Macs with a display of 15” or less. You can use an external display on any portable Mac and iMac but so many different display types, connectors, sizes, how do you know what type of display to go for? In this guide we’ll explore how you can find your perfect second (or third) display.

Why An Additional Display?

If you often find yourself ⌘-Tabbing between apps on your Mac or you’ve ever attempted to use an app such as Xcode on an 11” Macbook Air then you may benefit from some additional screen real estate. Having a second display allows you to make use of many more pixels. To best explain how a second display can aid your workflow, I’ll briefly describe my set up.

My Mac is an 11” MacBook Air. I love it to bits and it’s honestly the best Mac I’ve ever owned. However, I’m a freelance web designer and working on an 11” MacBook Air is not only difficult, it’s counter-productive.

I also have a 24” display attached to the MacBook Air. It supports a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 which means I can happily work all day at my desk with my MacBook Air effectively becoming a desktop Mac with a 24” display. In addition, I use a stand for my MacBook Air so I also have the benefit of an 11” display that I have Mail or Safari open in at all times.

An external display can give you more room to work

In addition to being able to have more open on your screen at once, apps such as Aperture or iMovie have some great features that take advantage of a second display. For example, iMovie on a single display tries to show the movie timeline, preview and Events viewer all on the same window, with the preview squeezed into the top-right corner. Using a second display, you can have the preview on the smaller display and have the iMovie project on the larger display.

Having a second display allows you to make use of a lot more pixels…

I’ve seen users base their decision for purchasing an iMac simply because the display was bigger without realising portable Macs have the ability to use an external display.

Are Two Displays Better Than One?

For some users, the thought of two displays side by side can be a little overwhelming – or unnecessary. What if you want the benefit of an external display but don’t want to have two displays? Apple’s portable Macs include a function called Closed Clamshell Mode.

Introduced way, way back with the PowerBook G4, Closed Clamshell Mode lets you use your portable Mac whilst it’s closed. You will need an external (wired or wireless) keyboard and mouse though (since your Mac will be closed).

You can also use your external display whilst your Mac is closed

With the lid on your portable Mac closed, simply connect your display, power supply, keyboard and mouse. Your portable Mac will wake up and you can now use it just like a desktop! What’s more, there are plenty of stands from companies such as Henge that specifically take advantage of this so you can have your Mac taking up almost no room on your desk so it’s ready to use as soon as you’re wanting to start work.

Companies such as Henge offer unique docking solutions for your Mac

Connector Type

Over the years there’s been a number of different connector types for displays and all of them are currently in use today on displays.

VGA
DVI
Dual-Link DVI
HDMI
Mini DisplayPort
Thunderbolt

VGA

Compatible with: VGA only displays

VGA Connector

VGA is a connector that is still in use on many computers today. It dates back to the days when CRT displays (some of you may be too young to remember these, you lucky people) were the norm and it’s included on modern LCD displays simply to allow them to work with VGA-equipped computers.

It’s described as an “analog” connection – it transmits channels of red, green and blue (RGB) as well as horizontal and vertical sync and some other display settings. However, your Mac is digital which means your Mac has to convert a digital image to analog, transmit it over the cable where the monitor converts it back to digital and then displays it. Because it’s an analog connection, it’s susceptible to interference that would distort the image – this distortion can appear as static or a shaky image.

The rest of the connector types are digital which means there’s no interference – either the image will appear or it won’t.

DVI

Compatible (via adapters) with: VGA, HDMI displays

DVI Connector

DVI was created specifically to work with digital displays such as LCDs. Unlike VGA, it’s a digital connection which means there’s no conversion and the image is transmitted as data.

Some Macs shipped with Mini-DVI, it’s the same as DVI but used a smaller connector that required an adapter to be used regardless.

Dual-Link DVI

Compatible (via adapters) with: VGA, DVI, HDMI displays

DVI operates over a single channel – think of it as a single cable. Dual-Link DVI is the same type of connector (with some slight changes to the pins) and operates over two channels – it’s like there’s two cables running inside. This means it can support resolutions well beyond what DVI or VGA can support, such as 2560 x 1600 found on the old Apple 30” Cinema Display. Compared to an 11” MacBook Air which is 1366 x 768, that’s a huge difference!

HDMI

Compatible (via adapters) with: VGA, DVI displays

HDMI Connector

HDMI is an evolution of DVI and not only provides support for a digital image but also supports audio as well. You’re likely to have something such as a DVR or games console that is connected by HDMI.

Mini DisplayPort

Compatible (via adapters) with: VGA, DVI, Dual-Link DVI, HDMI displays

Mini DisplayPort Connector

Mini DisplayPort is Apple’s implementation of DisplayPort – designed to replace VGA and DVI. Despite the fact it’s been around since 2009, it hasn’t been widely adopted.

Thunderbolt

Compatible (via adapters) with: VGA, DVI, Dual-Link DVI, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort displays

Connector-wise, it’s the exact same connector as Mini DisplayPort. However, Thunderbolt is a whole new generation if connectivity. It’s still based upon the DisplayPort standard but Thunderbolt allows displays to have even more features such as Apple’s Thunderbolt Display which offers USB, Ethernet and even daisy-chaining. This means that whilst Thunderbolt is the same connector type and standard as Mini DisplayPort, a Thunderbolt display won’t work with a Mini DisplayPort Mac.

Although Apple is (currently) the only manufacturer of a Thunderbolt display, it’s important to mention that it has an ace up it’s sleeve. Thunderbolt displays can be daisy-chained. Even on my 2012 11” MacBook Air, I could use two Apple Thunderbolt displays simultaneously in addition to my MacBook Air’s own display. That’s three displays in total! What’s more, with a Retina MacBook Pro, you can run two Thunderbolt displays and a third display via HDMI which totals a staggering 4 displays from one Mac!

Thunderbolt allows for some pretty amazing display setups!

Tip: It’s always best to use the correct display that matches your connector type. Whilst there is a plethora of adapters out there that will let you connect different display types to your Mac, you can avoid headaches by matching the best display accordingly.

Video Adapters

You will have noticed that for each connector type, I’ve included adapter options. For example, if you have an external display that only has HDMI, you will be able to use it with a Mac that has either a DVI, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI or Thunderbolt through the use of an adapter. Most display connector types are backwards compatible, so a Thunderbolt enabled Mac can connect to a DVI display. However, a Mac with a DVI port won’t work with a Thunderbolt display.

Currently, the Apple Store online stocks the following adapters:

For Thunderbolt-equipped Macs, you simply use the Mini DisplayPort.

What to Look For in a Second Display

There’s a number of factors you must consider when looking for an external display which we’ll look at in this section.

Screen Resolution & Aspect Ratio

The larger the native screen resolution, the higher the number of different resolutions you can use.

Ideally, the higher the resolution a display can use, the better. If you work with HD video then you’d want to make sure you find a display that can output 1920 x 1080 (1080p). Some displays might only offer 1680 x 1050 which would mean your video would not display at it’s native resolution. Most displays are usually 1080p or above which should be the minimum you’re looking for.

Any Thunderbolt-equipped Mac should be able to support resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 which would mean that my humble 11” MacBook Air would be compatible with the 30” Cinema Display with a suitable adapter.

For Macs that include DVI or Mini DisplayPort, it’s recommended to check the Apple Tech Specs page to find out what resolution your Mac can support since this can vary from model to model.

Aspect Ratio refers to the proportion of width the to the height of the display. Most displays are 16:9 or 16:10 which allows a wider display and has been in use by Apple on it’s portable range for a number of years. If you remember the Apple PowerBook 12”, that had an aspect ratio of 4:3 which is very square.

Tip: LCD displays work best at their native resolution – in other words it’s highest setting. Anything less and the display won’t look anywhere near as good.

Screen Size

Display size is measured diagonally.

This is an important factor that’s based primarily on your workspace. You don’t want a huge 30” display if you’re on a small desk. Likewise, a 19” display would be too small on most workspaces.

On the flip-side, a 22” display that outputs 1080p will appear sharper than a 24” display of the same resolution since the pixels would be larger so bigger isn’t necessarily better.

Tip: Screen size is measured diagonally on a display, so a 24” display will be 24” from corner to corner.

LCD, LED, IPS?

When choosing the type of display to use you’ll no doubt see that a number of different models describe themselves as an LED or IPS display. However, this can be a little confusing since all LED and IPS displays are still LCD.

Before the advent of LED backlights in computer displays, there were a number of lighting tubes (very similar to fluorescent lighting and called Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps – CCFL for short) that ran across the width of the display. Whilst they were very bright, the backlight could not be truly uniform (since the tubes would have a bit of a gap between them) which meant some areas could look a little darker. Worse still, CCFLs take time to warm up so the screen wouldn’t be at full brightness for about 20 minutes.

LED backlighting works differently and provides a truly uniform backlight on the display, meaning no warmup time and a consistent backlight that avoids dark patches.

IPS (In-Plane Switching) is relatively new and is best known for it’s use in the iPhone and iPad. Unlike traditional LCD displays that have a small viewing angle before the colors appear to change and distort (you’ll notice this if you’re looking at a display almost side-on), IPS allows consistent viewing and colours from all angles. The benefit is that colours are consistent and more accurate.

Response Time

This is the time it takes for a pixel to change from one color to another. It’s usually measured in milliseconds (ms) and a display with a slow response time can suffer from an effect known as ghosting (or motion blur). For gamers, a display with a very quick response time is one of the most important factors to consider.

Viewing Angle

Unless you’re looking at an IPS display then viewing angle can be very important. The wider the angle, the better the image will be when looking at in from an angle.

Tip: In addition to checking the angle from left to right, check the display’s viewable angle from top to bottom.

Brightness

This is simply how much light the display produces. Displays are commonly found hovering around 250cd/m2. If you’re editing video or are using it to watch movies or play games, look around to see if a higher brightness rating is available.

Contrast Ratio

Contrast Ratio is defined on Wikipedia as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black). That would mean the higher the contrast ratio, the better… right?

Unfortunately, there’s no standard for Contrast Ratio. This means manufacturers often use their own “interpretations” of what the contrast ratio is. Some display manufacturers quote ratios of 1,000,000:1 yet compared to another manufacturer that quotes 50,000:1 there might be no visible difference. It’s important to always check product reviews on places like Amazon as well as check the display whenever possible. Buy a display from a reputable retailer that offers a good returns policy so that if the display isn’t right for you, you can return it.

Connectivity

Some displays include additional functionality such as USB hubs and speakers. Whilst this is great to have, it shouldn’t be the basis of your purchase choice as often the speakers are average and a USB hub can be purchased very cheaply.

Versatility

Some manufacturers such as Dell include mounts that rotate so you can even have your external display in Portrait

Many displays feature a built-in stand as well as the ability to wall-mount it or mount it onto a custom display stand. Ideally, ensure a display has a tilt and swivel stand so that you can easily adjust it to achieve the best possible viewing angle. Additionally, some manufacturers such as Dell include mounts that rotate so you can even have your external display in Portrait.

Budget

At the end of the day, all the features we’ve talked about are dictated by budget. We’d all love to own one (or two) of Apple’s Thunderbolt Displays but unfortunately it’s priced out of reach of many users. However, don’t be disheartened as there are many displays out there that not only match the quality of Apple’s offering, they exceed it. Companies such as Acer, AOC, Dell, LG and Samsung manufacture some amazing displays.

Tip: Just like the companies I’ve mentioned, Apple don’t manufacture the LCD panel themselves. This is usually done by specialised manufacturers, such as LG, so often you will find that other manufacturers may even use the same display panel in their own offerings.

Wrapping Up

In this guide we’ve discussed how an external display can extend (or replace) your existing smaller screen. Whilst there’s a lot of information when looking at external displays, it’s always worth focusing on what’s important to you and starting from there. Don’t be afraid to check reviews and recommendations, head to electronic stores and try them out before using them.

Do you use an external display with your Mac? Let us know what you use in the comments.

Creating an AppleScript to Switch Between Multiple iTunes Accounts

Michele Ivani — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:00:45 +0000

Introduction

If you own an Apple device, you’ll have an Apple ID which will also be your account for shopping in iTunes. Some Apple owners may have multiple Apple IDs: perhaps work, personal, for shared content with family members or even Apple IDs for iTunes stores in different countries.

If you have multiple Apple IDs that you use with iTunes, you’ll already be familiar with the hassle of changing accounts frequently and having to type the credentials each time.

In this tutorial, I’ll be showing you how create an AppleScript that enables easy switching, between all of your Apple IDs, with a single click inside iTunes.

Before We Begin

Before we begin, it is important to understand that this is an advanced tutorial using AppleScript. If you are unfamiliar with AppleScript, you are first advised to check out some beginner tutorial published on Mactuts+. I’ve listed them below.

1. The Aim

The aim of this tutorial is to code an AppleScript that enables you to:

save all your Apple ID accounts in a plist file
log in into iTunes using a registered account
delete all registered accounts

The script saves all of your Apple ID accounts in a plist file with following structure: each file row has as key a label that identify the account, and it has as value an array that contains the Apple ID email address and password.

Tip: Note that the password fields, in the plist file, are not encrypted. In order to protect this, it is recommended that you set up a password on your OS X user account. Consider setting up separate user accounts in OS X if you share your Mac with anyone else.

The image below shows an example of the plist file updated with two Apple IDs registered.

Accounts Plist file

If you are unfamiliar with plist files, I recommend you read the documentation about it on the Apple Developer site.

2. Launch the AppleScript Editor

Launch the AppleScript Editor app. You will find the application inside Applications > Utility. Alternatively, type the app name into Spotlight (or Alfred app) to launch it.

AppleScript Editor

The AppleScript Editor is your development environment where you can write, edit, compile and test your AppleScript code. Once you have opened the app you can start to write the script.

3. Begin Coding the Script

The script has some functions that simplify the main code so it will be more readable and clear. Let’s code the functions.

Step 1

The first function allows the creation of a plist file which contains all of your Apple ID accounts. The code below defines the function.

-- Function to create a plist file
on createAccountsFile(filePath)
    tell application "System Events"
        -- Create the Root Dictionary
        set rootDict to make new property list item with properties {kind:record}
        -- Add the Root Dictionary to a new plist file saved in filePath
        set plistFile to make new property list file with properties {contents:rootDict, name:filePath}
    end tell
end createAccountsFile

The createAccountsFile(filePath) function has one parameter filePath which is the POSIX path of your plist file. Line 5 creates the Root dictionary and line 7 saves it to the new plist file.

Step 2

A second function allows you to add a new Apple account to plist file. The addAccount(filePath, label, email, pass) function has four parameters:

filePath is the POSIX path of plist file
label is a label to identify the Apple account
email is the email of Apple ID account
pass identifies the account password

The code below implements the function defined.

-- Function to register a new Apple account
on addAccount(filePath, label, email, pass)
    tell application "System Events"
        -- Open the plist file
        tell property list file filePath
            -- Get the plist file content
            tell contents
                -- Append a new row with all account info to the Root Dictionary of plist file
                make new property list item at end with properties {kind:list, name:label, value:{email, pass}}
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
end addAccount

Step 3

The function coded below returns a list of all labels of each account. The getLabels(filePath) has one parameter only: the filePath that is the plist file POSIX path.

-- Function to get all accounts labels
on getLabels(filePath)
    -- Define an empty list that will contains all labels
    set labels to {}
    tell application "System Events"
        -- Get the plist file content and save it in fileContent variable
        set fileContent to property list items of contents of property list file filePath
        -- Scan each file row and add each label to labels list
        repeat with account in fileContent
            set label to name of account
            set end of labels to label
        end repeat
    end tell
    -- Return the list with all labels
    return labels
end getLabels

Step 4

Another important function is getAccountInfo(filePath, selectedAccount) that returns information (email and password) about a registered Apple account. The function below has two parameters:

filePath is the POSIX path of plist file
selectedAccount is the chosen account when you run the final script

The code below implements the function.

-- Function to get email and password of a selected account
on getAccountInfo(filePath, selectedAccount)
    tell application "System Events"
        -- Open the plist file and get its content
        set fileContent to property list file (filePath)
        -- Get information based on selectedAccount
        set info to value of property list item selectedAccount of fileContent
    end tell
    -- Return the info array
    return info
end getAccountInfo

Step 5

The getPath(fileName) function coded below, implements a utility function that returns the absolute POSIX path of a file specified by the parameter fileName. In our case, the file name will represent the plist file with all Apple accounts.

-- Function to get the absolute path of a file
on getPath(fileName)
    tell application "Finder"
        -- Get the absolute path of parent folder of your AppleScript file.
        set _path to parent of (path to me) as string
        -- Transform the path in a POSIX path
        set _path to POSIX path of _path
        -- Concatenate the folder path with the file name
        set _path to _path & fileName
        -- Return the POSIX path of plist file with name 'filename' that is inside the folder of AppleScript file
        return _path
    end tell
end getPath

Step 6

Finally, let’s code the last function: the core function. It allows us to sign into iTunes, automatically, with any account registered in the plist file. The iTunesLogin(info) function has one parameter only: info represents an array which contains email and password of an Apple account.

To login to iTunes automatically, AppleScript language simulates the manual operations you would do to achieve the following:

Launch iTunes
Click on Store > Sign In…
Type your email
Type your password
Click on Sign In button

The function below does all steps above for you.

-- Function for iTunes sign in
on iTunesLogin(info)
    -- Launch iTunes
    tell application "iTunes" to activate
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "iTunes"
            set frontmost to true
            -- Logout before executing a new login
            try
                click menu item loginBtn of menu "Store" of menu bar 1
            on error
                click menu item logoutBtn of menu "Store" of menu bar 1
                delay 2
                click menu item loginBtn of menu "Store" of menu bar 1
            end try
            delay 1
            -- Type account email
            keystroke item 1 of info
            keystroke tab
            delay 1
            -- Type account password
            keystroke item 2 of info
            -- Press the return key
            keystroke return
            delay 3
            keystroke return
        end tell
    end tell
end iTunesLogin

In this function, there are two global variables loginBtn and logoutBtn. They represent the buttons for signing into and signing out of iTunes. The button names are base on the system language; you have to set them correctly for the AppleScript to work.

4. AppleScript Main Code

Once you have finished coding all previous functions, you can write the main code of your AppleScript. Inside the AppleScript, place you cursor at the top of file.

Step 1

The first step to complete our tutorial is set some variables and do some checks.

-- Set the name of plist file which will contains all your Apple accounts
set fileName to "accounts.plist"
-- Get the absolute path of plist file using the 'getPath(fileName)' function
set filePath to getPath(fileName)
-- Define the iTunes login and logout buttons name based on your system language
property loginBtn : "Sign In…"
property logoutBtn : "Sign Out"
tell application "Finder"
    -- Check if the plist file already exists. If false let's create it with 'createAccountsFile(filePath)' function
    if not (exists filePath as POSIX file) then
        my createAccountsFile(filePath)
    end if
end tell

Step 2

The next step is to display a dialog box which asks the user what they want to do? Our AppleScript has following features:

Choose Account (for iTunes sign in)
Add a new Apple Account (to the plist file)
Reset Accounts (empty the plist file)

Actions Dialog

The code below implements the dialog.

-- Display the actions dialog box
set dialogResult to display dialog "Switch Apple Account" buttons {"Choose Account", "Add Account", "Reset  Accounts"} with hidden answer

Step 3

Now it’s time to parse the user choice.

-- Parse the result
if dialogResult = {button returned:"Add Account"} then
    -- Click on 'Add Account' button
else if dialogResult = {button returned:"Choose Account"} then
    -- Click on 'Choose Account' button
else if dialogResult = {button returned:"Reset Accounts"} then
    -- Click on 'Reset Accounts' button
end if

If the user clicks on Add Account button the script ask to him to insert the credentials for a new Apple account. It will display three dialog boxes with input fields for account label, email and for the password. The code below implements this process.

-- Click on 'Add Account' button
-- Ask to insert the account label
display dialog "Insert a label for the new Apple account" default answer ""
-- Save the field value in label variable
set label to (text returned of result)
-- Ask to insert the account email
display dialog "Insert the email of Apple Account" default answer ""
-- Save the field value in email variable
set email to (text returned of result)
-- Ask to insert the account password
display dialog "Insert the password of Apple Account" default answer "" with hidden answer
-- Save the field value in pass variable
set pass to (text returned of result)
-- Insert the new account inside the plist file using the 'addAccount(filePath, label, email, pass)' function
addAccount(filePath, label, email, pass)
-- Display a success messagge
display dialog "The " & label & " account was registered successfully!" buttons {"Done"}

If a user clicks on the Choose Account button, the script displays a dialog with all of the registered accounts. When the user chooses an account, the script runs iTunes login. Let’s implement the action.

-- Click on 'Choose Account' button
-- Get all accounts labels using the 'getLabels(filePath)' function
set labels to getLabels(filePath)
-- Check if the user has inserted at least one account
if the (count of labels) is not 0 then
    -- Display all available accounts
    choose from list labels with title "Apple Accounts" with prompt "Login in iTunes with:" OK button name "Choose" cancel button name "Cancel"
    -- Save the choice
    copy the result as string to selectedAccount
    -- If user has not pressed the Cancel button go ahead
    if not selectedAccount is equal to "false" then
        -- Get the account info about chosen account using 'getAccountInfo(filePath, selectedAccount)'
        set info to getAccountInfo(filePath, selectedAccount)
        -- Run the login
        iTunesLogin(info)
    end if
else
    display dialog "No accounts registered yet! Insert a new one!" buttons {"Done"}
end if

If the user clicks on the Reset Accounts button, the script overwrites the plist file with an empty one. The code below calls the createAccountsFile(filePath) function again to complete the process.

-- Click on 'Reset Accounts' button
try
    -- Ask user to confirm the action
    display dialog "Do you want to delete all inserted accounts?"
    --  If user does not cancel the action overwrite the plist file
    createAccountsFile(filePath)
    -- Display a success message
    display dialog "All accounts are deleted successfully" buttons {"Done"}
on error
    -- Do nothing
end try

5. Run the Script Inside iTunes

The last task required, in order to finish the tutorial, is installing your AppleScript into iTunes so you can easily access it anytime it is required.

Step 1

First, export the AppleScript. Inside the AppleScript Editor app click on File > Export… from the top menu.

Inside the export panel you have to:

export as “Access To iTunes”
choose as location your Desktop
choose Script as file format
and select the Run-only option

When you are ready click the Save button.

Export Script

Step 2

Now move the exported script into iTunes. To do that, launch Finder app and choose Go > Go To Folder from the top menu.

Complete the panel input field with /Users/Your.System.User/Library/iTunes/ and click on the Go button.

Go To Folder

Now move the the Access To iTunes file from the Desktop to the Script folder (if this folder does not already exist, you will need to create it first) to complete the process.

Move Script

Step 3

Another important step to ensure your AppleScript works correctly is to enable access to assistive devices: open System Preferences app, choose the Accessibility icon and check Enable access to assistive devices. The image below show the panel with this option.

Accessibility

Step 4

Now you are able to trigger the AppleScript directly from iTunes.

Trigger Script

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have completed the AppleScript. If you have followed all of the steps you will be able to use the AppleScript from within iTunes. In this tutorial you have learned how to code an AppleScript, to switch between your Apple accounts, without having to repeatedly type in different email addresses and passwords. You can easily adapt this AppleScript to work with Mac App Store, too. Simply modify the iTunesLogin function. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, let me know how you get on with the scripts and any comments or questions that you have using the comments section, below.

How to Import DVDs Into iTunes

Jacob Penderworth — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:35 +0000

There was once a time when all the music we listened to was stored on 700 MB CDs. I still purchase these shiny bits of polycarbonate plastic to have physical copies of all my favorite albums, but things are definitely progressing into the digital age of the iTunes Store. That brings us to the topic of films, which very much in the same ship. Soon even Blu-Rays will be out of date, but there are still many DVDs laying around in the corners of your friends attic. Rummage through them now, because I’m going to show you how to import them all into your iTunes library.

The Necessary Tools

My generic Blu-Ray/DVD/CD drive.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a costly venture. The only thing you might need to purchase (if you don’t already have one built-in) is a DVD drive. My recommendation is the AmazonBasics USB 2.0 external DVD Drive, because it’s simple, affordable, reliable, and easy to use. Alternatively, you can use the Remote Disc feature to share one Mac’s optical drive with another, but that’s only if you have an older iMac or MacBook Pro.

Three applications are required for this tutorial: HandBrake, MetaZ, and VLC.

Once you’ve worked out what DVD drive you’ll be using, it’s time to get some software. For this tutorial, we’ll be using a combination of HandBrake (for transferring), VLC (for decoding), and MetaZ (for tagging). All three are freeware, though if you plan to do a lot of ripping I recommend making a donation to show the developers your thanks.

Also, since VLC 2.0 changed the code library it uses, you’ll need to download and manually install libdvdcss.pkg. HandBrake will prompt you to do so, but its link is incorrect and leads to a 404 page.

Insert the DVD and Open Handbrake

Inserting my copy of Pirates of Silicon Valley into my DVD drive.

Providing you have installed all the tools I recommend, it’s time to begin transferring your DVD collection to your computer. Insert the first DVD on your list. If you’re planning to add a whole TV series to iTunes, I suggest beginning with the first disc and going in order to keep things organized.

Selecting the correct DVD in HandBrake.

When you insert a DVD, OS X automatically opens DVD Player. Quit that app and launch HandBrake. Right away the app will open a file browser. In the sidebar, select the DVD you’ve inserted and click Open. Wait a few seconds while HandBrake loads the chapters and prepares to read the files from the disc.

Adjust the Settings for Your Video

HandBrake’s main screen looks very complicated, but don’t let that scare you away. Technically, there are only a few things you need to know about the ripping settings.

Step 1: Check the Title

Selecting a title is especially important when ripping TV shows with multiple episodes on a disc.

Before you begin ripping a DVD, always make sure you have the correct chapter selected. This is especially important with TV shows since each episode is separate. With Pirates of Silicon Valley, the film I’m ripping today, the first title was automatically selected because it was the longest. However, with TV shows, discs store up to ten episodes at times, so things can get very complicated.

The Preview Window gives you an idea of what the encoded video will look like, and it helps you identify what episode you’re importing.

To make identifying an episode easier, select a title and click the Preview Window button in the top right corner of the app. If you’ve seen the episodes before, you’ll know exactly what they are by moving the slider to preview the scenes. Alternatively, you can click Live Preview in the Preview Window to generate an actual video. Beware that this will slow things down: it takes some time to render things with your presets in effect.

Step 2: Verify the Filename and Destination

Using the File field under the Destination section, give the video you’re ripping a title and store it somewhere safe. I personally use my 2 TB external hard drive because my MacBook Air doesn’t have enough space for all the films I own.

Step 3: Use the Presets

Presets will help you along by applying all the settings for you.

If you’re adding a video to your iTunes library it’s probably because you want to transfer it to an iOS device. Should this be the case, open the Presets Drawer (CMD + T or Toggle Presets in the top right corner).

Here you will find preconfigured settings for many Apple devices, and even two Android options. Note that there are not currently options for the iPhone 5 or Retina iPads. For these, I recommend using the Universal preset at the top of the Devices section. It uses loose encoding for across the board application.

Another good preset is Normal, which will look good on any device — Apple, HTC, Roku, etc. Last, is High Profile. You should only use this if you don’t mind waiting a few hours for a significantly larger file. The quality is noticeably different when converting a 720p or 1080p video, but not a standard DVD.

For Apple TV users, there are presets available for each generation of the device. If you’ll be playing the video on just an Apple TV, use the applicable preset as it will be the best available option for the hardware. Universal also works well.

Start Ripping; Using the Queue

The transfer is in progress.

Once you have all your video’s data configured, it’s time to start transferring the file. Click the Start button in the top left corner and wait for the disc to spin up, then you’re off! On average, a two-hour film took my computer 45 minutes to transfer so don’t panic if things are taking a while.

The queue will keep things going automatically when you’re away.

While you’re waiting for HandBrake to rip your DVD, you may want to add more to the queue. If you are ripping a TV show, select the next title (episode) on the disc, name it, and then click the Add to Queue button. You can then check the progress of things with the Show Queue button.

Lastly, if you’re an advanced user who likes to see what’s going on behind the user interface, click the Activity Window button to display a live log of what HandBrake is doing. It will also help you if there’s an error (scratch on the disc).

Add Metadata with MetaZ

Now that you have a video file on your hard drive, it’s time to give it some sorting information. MetaZ is an updated version of MetaX, an app that’s no longer in development. Sadly, that that doesn’t mean it is without bugs. In fact, the app can be very confusing at times. I’ll try to go over everything you need to know.

Step 1: Open All the Videos in MetaZ

MetaZ asks what type of file this is.

If you’ve ripped a lot of different videos, open them all in MetaZ by clicking the + button in the bottom right corner or by using the CMD + O keyboard shortcut. Hold the Command key and clicking each video you wish to import. Upon clicking Open in the file browser, you’ll be asked what type of video file you’re adding tags to. Select whichever is applicable to continue.

Step 2: Add Tags

Some fancy options for the video’s info. These will affect the way it appears in iTunes.

MetaZ uses tagChimp and The TVDB to locate metadata for your videos. Once you import them, the app will search this database for a match and show the results in a list to the left. On the right you will find your list of files. Select whichever one you wish to modify and either manually input the metadata into the fields in the center of the app or find a matching search result. To apply a tag from the Internet, select it and make sure things are correct, then double click it and all the data will be imported. Alternatively, you can check the boxes to add each item individually.

Step 3: Write the Tags and Add to iTunes

Switch on Add to iTunes plugin for automatic importing.

Now that all the tagging business is taken care of, it’s time to save your changes to the video files so the metadata is visible to iTunes. Before proceeding, I recommend heading to the Preferences window, clicking the Plug-ins tab, and checking the box beside Add to iTunes. This will automatically import the videos you are writing tags to.

Writing options in the top left corner and some search results for an episode of M*A*S*H.

You have two options for writing tags: Write, which saves the tags only on the file currently selected or “Write all”, which saves changes to all the files in your queue. Once you select either of the options, a progress bar at the bottom of the screen will appear and your changes will be saved. Please allow a few moments for this to complete and do not panic if the artwork doesn’t show up immediately — it takes an extra few seconds.

Do You Have Some Tips For Us?

The end result in iTunes.

And that, folks, is how you import a DVD into iTunes. It is by no means simple, but I hope my explanation aided you in completing the task in a decent amount of time. With practice, it can all be done much faster. One could even write a script to do all of this automatically, but I don’t have the coding talent for that.

What are your tips for us on ripping DVDs? Is there something you do differently? How is it better?