List the 64-bit GUI programs on your Mac

The evolution in computing horsepower is more of everything—first it was more gigahertz, then more cores, and on top of that, more bits for the integer registers inside the CPU. Whereas 32-bit registers have been the historical norm, 64-bit processors are taking over. A CPU with 64-bit registers can address much more RAM than can a 32-bit CPU, which is a big advantage to programs that require large amounts of memory. Today’s Intel Core 2 Duo are 64-bit chips, as but one example.

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View exactly which files Time Machine backed up

You may occasionally notice Time Machine is backing up an unexpectedly large amount of data, or maybe you're just curious as to what actually changed between backups. Perhaps you'd like to tailor your exclusion list to keep the backup size down. Unfortunately, the Time Machine interface provide no means to find out what it is actually being backed up. Luckily, we can use the fact that Time Machine creates hard links of unchanged files to explore what it did back up, after the fact. timem is a Perl script (4KB download) which does just that. Use it like so:

$ cd /Volumes/TM/Backups.backupdb/myhost
$ timem -d 5 -l

By default, timem will examine the most recent backup, compare it to the one prior, and report all changed files. The -d flag controls the directory depth of reporting, -l disables reporting for symbolic links (for which Time Machine seems to create a new copy of the link each backup). You can also specify a backup of your choice as an argument, though it must also have one prior backup with which to compare.

This script should be safe, but standard warnings apply regarding mucking with your TM database.

How to Save images from Safari with iPhone 2.0 software

If you want to save an image in Safari with the iPhone 2.0 software, simply touch it and hold. A dialog will appear that offers Save Image or Cancel. Choose Save Image, and the image will be stored in your iPhone's photo library, and will be transferred to iPhoto on the next sync.

Mac security: How to secure Macs in business

As Macs make their way into the enterprise, IT needs to address these six security flaws before disaster strikes

Macs are immune from security threats, right? It's Windows we have to worry about. That water-cooler wisdom needs to be flipped on its head, security experts and IT managers warn. Microsoft has gotten its security act together with Vista and its current security-response program; meanwhile, Apple is fast becoming the company most in need of getting its security mojo going.

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Increase frequency of Mac to MobilMe/iPhone synch

Feeling conned by the promised "push" technology of MobileMe, specifically when making changes on your Mac, only to find out that it will not push, but instead, sync at 15-minute (60 minutes in 10.4.11) intervals? I found the .plist file that controls the "Automatic" sync interval for MobileMe, and changed it from 15 minutes to 1 minute. The file is located in ~/Library » Preferences » ByHost » com.apple.DotMacSync.your_MAC_address.plist.

Open this file in Property List Editor, find the AutoSyncInterval key, and then set it to the number of minutes after which you want it to sync with the server. I have it set to 1 right now, and it syncs every minute which is good enough for me at the moment. Hopefully this will be of value to anyone who needs something more immediate than a 15-minute sync, and doesn't want to bother with Manual sync.

Make the Snap Links add-on work with Firefox 3.0

On your Mac, assuming you've installed Snap Links, quit Firefox and navigate to your user's Library » Application Support » Firefox » Profiles » [random].default » extensions » snaplinks@snaplink.net folder. In that folder, open install.rdf in a text editor. Change the MaxVersion number from 3.0beta number to just 3.0 and save the file. Now launch Firefox, and Snap Links should appear in the addon list as available now.

Use MobileMe push email with any email address

You can set up MobileMe to use any email address as a 'push' email on the iPhone. The first thing you need to do is set your non-MobileMe (.Mac) email address for auto-forward to your MobileMe (.Mac) account.

When you create the email account, make sure you set it up as Other (not as a .Mac or MobileMe account.) Then select IMAP as the type of account. Enter the name and auto-forwarded email address. (This is the email address that will show as the "From" email, even though you're using your MobileMe account.)

For your mail server settings, use your MobileMe settings:

• Incoming settings:
     — Host Name: mail.mac.com
     — User Name: MobileMe user name
     — Password: MobileMe password

• Outgoing Settings:
     — Host Name: smtp.mac.com
     — User Name: MobileMe user name
     — Password: MobileMe password

• Advanced:
     — Use SSL - On
     — Authentication - Password
     — Server Port - 587

Now you're able to receive 'push' email from your non-MobileMe account, and reply without using the @me.com address.

Take screenshots with iPhone 2.0 software

Running the new iPhone 2.0 software? Want to grab a screenshot of something? Turns out it's amazingly easy. Hold the Home button down, then tap the power button on the top of the phone. The screen will flash white, and that's it -- the screenshot has been taken.

Open your iPhone's Photos app, and you'll see the just-taken photo in your image library. This works amazingly well, and it's nice to see a factory-bundled solution for those of us who write about the iPhone!

Let your mac Sings Songs

Just a quick tip, with a your Mac built-in voice, you can make your Mac sings several nice songs with Terminal...

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What will you do with your Mac?

What will you do with your Mac? designing, browser web, enjoy dvd... If I were you, I think I will..

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Add Welcome Message to Your Mac use Terminal.app

In your Mac login window, you can add a welcome message right below the Apple and System Status. You only need to perform this following command line:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText "Hi, I am Mac"

Characters inside double quote will be displayed as your welcome message. You can try this,if you want to delete it as soon as you've finished trying. So, here is the command line to delete your Mac welcome message:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText " "

If you're geek enough to read until the rest of this entry, you will also find two articles interesting:

Customize the Mac OS X Login Screen from osxdaily.com
5 Login Window Tips from macosxtips.co.uk

View PDFs inline in Firefox 3

There have been several other hints dealing with PDF plug-ins for Mac browsers -- the Adobe plug-in only supports Safari) -- and this represents the first real solution for Firefox 3.

There is now a Firefox extension named firefox-mac-pdf, available for Firefox 3 under OS 10.5 that utilizes the built-in PDF support in OS X to display PDFs in-browser. In my testing, it appears to work very well. It doesn't have the nifty fading bezel that the Safari PDF viewer does, but it supports all the same keyboard shortcuts and you get the standard Mac OS PDF contextual menu when you control-click on a displayed PDF.

iPhone 3G: What you need to know

Although there are still some things we don’t know about the iPhone 3G—and probably won’t until we’ve had some extended face time with the updated phone—here’s what we’ve figured out after talking to AT&T, scouring the Web, and racking our brains.

What does the “3G” in the name mean?

If you’re familiar with iPod naming conventions, the term 3G might make you believe that Apple is releasing its third generation of iPhone. No, you didn’t sleep through an iPhone product introduction—3G in this case stands for third-generation mobile technology. It’s a wide-area wireless technology that allows for much faster data transmission than the EDGE network used by AT&T with the iPhone right now.

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Use Time Machine to create a bootable backup

In the event of a drive failure, Time Machine has the ability to create a bootable backup. It takes some preparation, however, which must be done before disaster strikes.

Using Disk Utility, create a partition on the drive you are using for Time Machine (see Disk Utility Help for instructions on how to do this without erasing your Time Machine backups). The new partition must be large enough to hold the contents of your computer's drive, plus 10 or 20Gb of elbow room. If your system weighs 85Gb, then the new partition should be 100Gb or so. Leave this partition blank, and go on with your life.

Now, when (not if!) your Mac's drive fails, do the following. Make sure your Time Machine drive is plugged in and powered on, then insert your Mac OS X Install disc and restart your Mac. In the installer, choose Utilities » Restore System from Backup. Click Continue in the resulting dialog, then select your Time Machine volume. Choose the Time Machine backup that you want to restore (probably the most recent).

Then, when you are prompted for a destination volume, choose the empty partition you created on your Time Machine drive. Time Machine will create a bootable duplicate of your system, which you can use until you replace your faulty main drive. When your Mac is healthy again, you can reinstall your system from the backup drive using either Time Machine, or Migration Assistant (from the new bootable volume you created).

Keeping your Mac locked down: a Mac OS X security primer

Mac users need to think about security, too

Apple's approach to security can be a little bewildering at times. It's a well-trumpeted aspect of the OS, marketed in detail on the website. Mac OS X has integrated smartcard support and Apple has certified the OS under the Common Criteria guidelines; a section of Apple's developer site is devoted to the subject of security.

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