Here’s another good fix for a MacOS X default-
How to expand all Open/Save Dialogs on MacOS X:
defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool TRUE
One of the more interesting features of MacOS X 10.7 Lion is the ad-hoc, wireless, peer to peer networking feature called AirDrop. Unfortunately, this is only supported on the very latest hardware. It turns out that you can easily enable AirDrop for many older Lion systems with a simple visit to the Terminal.
At the commend line, you need to enter:
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 1
Then, restart the Finder with the following:
killall Finder
Open a new finder window and you should now see AirDrop listed on the left-hand side under favorites.
After upgrading to MacOS X Lion 10.7, you’ll find that the system conveniently hides the Library folder in your home directory. If you’re wondering how to view the /Library folder after the upgrade, here’s how.
Of course you can still view it by using the Finder’s “Go to Folder” feature. Just type command-shift-g in the finder and enter:
~/Library/
But if you’d like to keep it visible all the time, you can change the hidden flags on that directory with the following command:
chflags nohidden ~/Library/
update: I just noticed that Dan Frakes over at Macworld has posted a completely over the top 18 ways to view the ~/Library folder in Lion. I think this hint is now complete.
iTunes offers a bit rate conversion feature which allows you to load more music onto your iPhone, iPod and iPad devices by downsampling high bit rate audio files. This was initially introduced with the diminutive iPod Shuffle, but has available for all devices since iTunes 9.1.
This iTunes conversion feature is most useful if you have songs that have been imported directly from standard audio CDs to Apple Lossless or other high bit rate formats.
Upon enabling the “Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbs AAC” checkbox in the device options screen, iTunes converts all music set to transfer to the iPod, iPhone or iPad. This conversion happens during the sync process. All original music is left intact in your iTunes library, and the compressed audio is stored solely on the device.
This conversion process does reduce the quality of your music, but you’re likely not to notice if you use Apple’s included earbuds or other inexpensive compact headphones. It’s perfect for listening on the go.
Turning off the Safari option to open “safe” files automatically is generally considered a good security practice. To do this on a single machine, simply visit the Safari preferences and uncheck the box “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading” at the bottom of the “General” options.
It turns out that deploying this change to a large number of managed Macs is quite simple as well. The following terminal command can be used to “uncheck” the box en masse using Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) and the “Send Unix Command.”
defaults write com.apple.Safari AutoOpenSafeDownloads -boolean No
37 Signals has posted a nifty tip for accessing your Basecamp account directly from the Mac menubar.
Here’s a neat trick: You can use the new Basecamp Mobile UI as a Fluid menu bar app on your computer. That way you can get a quick view of your Basecamp projects straight from your menu bar.
The trick uses Fluid to create a new menu item. Very cool!
I find myself using Dropbox to transfer large files around quite frequently. For people I frequently share with, I have a shared folder. But, when I’m sending one-offs, like podcast demos, it’s helpful to use a simple, public URL.
The only problem is that most people will click the URL and it will load within their web browser as an inline file with no obvious way to save or load into a more appropriate media player. Fortunately, there is a simple trick to make these files download rather than display.
The tip for making dropbox public links download rather than display is to simply add ?dl=1 to the end of your link. When this link is loaded by a web browser, it will download instead of displaying inline.
For example, a url like:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/555555/myaudiofile.mp3
Becomes:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/555555/myaudiofile.mp3?dl=1
Ever since Safari 4 introduced page zoom, rather than just font zoom, I’ve been using it to view webpages on my TV setup. This evening I finally decided to do a bit research to see if if a default zoom level could be set so that I wouldn’t have to hit “Command +” several times with search new Safari window or tab.
It turns out that the solution is quite simple. The zoom level can be set in an external stylesheet.
body {
zoom: 135%;
}
The zoom factor is set with values of more or less than 100%. On my setup, 135% seems just about right.
Save the values above to a new .css file, then go into the Safari preferences and chose Advanced. Select your new stylesheet and all new windows will be zoomed appropriately.
This hint will work on both Mac and Windows Safari. I’ve uploaded my stylesheet for anyone who’d like to use it.
This week, Facebook opened up their chat service to an industry standard protocol- XMPP, otherwise known as Jabber. This means that Facebook chat can now be used directly from within iChat.
Here’s how to set it up-
Go to iChat’s Preferences
Click the “Accounts” tab and add a new account
Select “Jabber” from the options
Type your screen name (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) and password.
Set “Server Options” to chat.facebook.com at port 5222 (do not check SSL)
Facebook also has instructions posted now on their site.
In MacOSX, there are two simple ways to make files invisible from the command line: (both methods do require the installation of Apple’s Developer Tools)
Method 1:
Make invisible:
/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a V ~/Desktop/MyDoc.txt
Make visible:
SetFile -a v ~/Desktop/MyDoc.txt
Method 2:
Make invisible:
chflags hidden ~/Desktop/MyDoc.txt
Make visible:
chflags nohidden ~/Desktop/MyDoc.txt