I would like to take a calendar in iCal and turn it into a list of events with times / locations. Basically turn a schedule that I've built in iCal into format suitable for text distribution to a bunch of different people. Seems simple! But I can't figure it out. Copying and pasting events from iCal into a text document randomizes the order, which is a huge hassle. Help me, hive mind!
posted by sixswitch
on May 23, 2013 -
2 answers
I, sadly, have to keep an eye on an Exchange e-mail account. There is no IMAP. Is there a small Mac app that will live in the menu bar and notify me of new e-mail that actually works? Bonus if I can quickly reply to the e-mail when it appears.
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posted by michaelh
on May 23, 2013 -
4 answers
I have a number of (self-published) photobooks which are currently PDFs, with each side on a separate PDF page, as one would normally expect. However, the book is laid out as diptychs, meant to be consumed 2-page spread by 2-page spread. I want to produce a PDF which is the same book, but each page is the 2-page spread.
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posted by unSane
on May 1, 2013 -
9 answers
What device do I get to connect from preamp out to Mac via USB for better sound quality in converting cassettes and vinyl to digital media using my existing stereo and existing Mac mini? I don't want or need to buy a new sound system or computer.
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posted by brokeaspoke
on Apr 25, 2013 -
9 answers
I'm looking for a standalone clipboard manager for OSX that has LaunchBar's "Paste and Remove from History" functionality.
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posted by backwards guitar
on Apr 12, 2013 -
1 answer
I purchased a massive external drive to serve as my media HD. I use it for iTunes, Aperture, etc. It works like a charm except that it sometimes powers down during a restart, meaning the drive doesn't always show up after a restart. Even worse, iTunes finds the backup of this drive and uses that instead. Obviously, the solution is to always check to make sure the drive mounted after a restart... but that leaves room for human error.
Is there an app that checks to make sure certain drives have mounted? Or is there some other trick I can use to make sure all drives have mounted after a startup?
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posted by 2oh1
on Apr 10, 2013 -
9 answers
Looking for an OS X equivalent of
Legal Billing from Chaos Software, or just any good law firm billing software package for Mac. Specific requirements inside.
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posted by DavidNYC
on Apr 10, 2013 -
4 answers
I would like to be able to run windows occasionally on my Macbook Air (probably via parallels), but find all the versions of windows a bit overwhelming. What would be the simplest and cheapest setup that would allow me to run the latest version of internet explorer for testing purposes, and maybe Microsoft Publisher for the random pub file I receive? I am guessing I could get by with Windows 7? Thank You.
posted by travis08
on Mar 27, 2013 -
14 answers
I have a late 2008 MBP, 8GB RAM, with an SSD, running Lion without problems. Should I upgrade to Mountain Lion right now? Have the battery life and other issues been resolved? I'd like to upgrade because I've finally encountered a program that requires Mountain Lion and I'd like to use it.
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posted by michaelh
on Mar 18, 2013 -
6 answers
A few minutes ago, my macbook pro (OSX 10.6.8) played what I think was the Skype incoming call chime. I didn't think Skype was running, and as I was Cmd-Tabbing through applications to see if I'd accidentally left Skype turned on, the webcam light briefly flashed. Skype wasn't running, but I double-checked by starting Activity Monitor, and didn't see any processes with Skype in the name.
I'm not totally sure it was the skype chime, because I don't use skype often. I do have google chat running in gmail with video chat enabled, but there were no visible notifications in the gmail window. I suppose it could've been a deceptive flash ad in a browser tab, but it's the webcam light that creeps me out. Any ideas what might have happened? Should I find a malware scanner? Is that even a thing? The last ask.metafilter match for "osx malware" is almost 2 years old.
posted by moonmilk
on Mar 14, 2013 -
4 answers
In order to reduce eyestrain when on the computer, I use the basic OSX (10.6.8) Text to Speech (System Prefs -> Speech -> Text to Speech) software for the computer to read out long-form articles found online. This works great! Except....sometimes when I ask "Alex" to read out to me it will skip or garble words from the highlighted article, usually one word per sentence or after
x number of words. Why?
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posted by carabiner
on Mar 11, 2013 -
1 answer
MPB late 2011, Thunderbolt native running 10.8.2 will not light up Thunderbolt display I bought today at the Apple Store.
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posted by digitalprimate
on Feb 24, 2013 -
7 answers
I'd like to produce an offset-print-quality map, modeled after airline flight path maps, which graphically reproduces hundreds of point-to-point connections: in this specific case, between radio transmitters and reception locations. What software is capable of producing some variation on this, perhaps by putting in GPS coordinates? (OS X please.)
posted by mykescipark
on Feb 22, 2013 -
4 answers
Is there a correct sequence for turning on, and plugging in, my MacBook Air, to make it play nicely with a generic HP external display?
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posted by roofus
on Feb 22, 2013 -
4 answers
Hi all,
I have a project I'd like to do that involves the use of
Broderbund's Load Runner game. I have a 4 year old Macbook Pro running Mountain Lion. I have found various sites to download the game, but so far none of the downloads work.
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posted by LizardOfDoom
on Feb 19, 2013 -
10 answers
I have a Mac with OSX Mountain Lion. My university uses Oracle Calendar 9.0.4. In the past, I have set up syncing to my iCloud calendar using my iPad with SyncML pro, so I know I can do this, in principle. What I'd like to do is find a way of syncing to my iCloud calendar
without an iOS device - preferably an OSX application. Why is this so hard to figure out how to do?
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posted by Philosopher Dirtbike
on Feb 18, 2013 -
4 answers
What are the available OSX native educational kids games that will run on an iMac G4 (I have the 400mhz one)? I bought the Jumpstart games off ebay, but those seem to be ClassicOS games that they just slapped a wrapper on, and as such they don't work very well. 640x480 in a tiny window not-well, for instance.
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posted by BeeDo
on Feb 15, 2013 -
6 answers
I'm desperately trying to become an adult (finally!), but I can't wrap my head around 'classic' budgeting software. Suggestions and tips to find what I really need?
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posted by hanov3r
on Feb 14, 2013 -
28 answers
DVD-R data archives from an old computer are showing up as blank disks on all the new computers I've tried them with. What can I do to get my data?
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posted by gauche
on Feb 13, 2013 -
18 answers
I use Apple's Mail app with three mail accounts and I would like somehow to differentiate emails other than the tiny little label they show.
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posted by xmutex
on Feb 10, 2013 -
5 answers
I need to do a complete reinstall of OS X on my iMac, and I'm looking for advice on how to back up to make sure that I don't accidentally lose anything in the reinstall process. I'm running Lion 10.7.4, and I have an external drive doing Time Machine backups. What should I check before going back to square one? And do I need to do anything special with apps that required online activation (I'm thinking specifically of Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite)?
posted by philosophygeek
on Feb 1, 2013 -
3 answers
I need a way to see and do a simple search on two large xml files under OS X.
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posted by zadcat
on Jan 31, 2013 -
8 answers
OS X has spaces. I can assign programmes to different spaces. What I can't have (it seems) is one of those spaces/second desktops show up on the external monitor, it is always an extension of the desktop I am using. So I get a double-wide desktop A (Mac + monitor), then swipe across and get a double wide desktop B (Mac + Monitor) when I go to a different Space. I want A on my Macbook and B on my monitor.
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posted by Brockles
on Jan 24, 2013 -
4 answers
I do a Spotlight search for "foo." I have at least a dozen files with "foo" in the name. I do the search while looking at foo.pdf, foofighting.pdf, etc. right in the Finder right in front of me. But when running the search, none of them show up. Why?
Under System Preferences for Spotlight, I have Folders, Files, and PDF Files all checked. Any idea why Spotlight is blind to these files?
posted by megatherium
on Jan 22, 2013 -
8 answers
I have an iMac desktop running OS X 10.6.8 and a newly acquired MacBook Air running 10.8.2 and I want to make them be as friendly with one another as possible. Can you hope me?
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posted by broadway bill
on Jan 17, 2013 -
6 answers
After running Avast, I discovered some infected Java files on my macbook (10.5.8). I deleted them in Avast, but how do I know if I've gotten rid of it all? Is it on my Time Machine back up? Do I need to change my passwords? Do I need to take this to a Genius Bar, or can I fix it myself?
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posted by min
on Jan 15, 2013 -
3 answers
If I'm using Word for Windows, I can double click at the bottom of a page to create one big page. But if I double click at the bottom of a document inside Word on MacOS it opens up the footer prompt. Does Word for Mac have a similar "join pages" feature?
posted by professor plum with a rope
on Jan 12, 2013 -
12 answers
Is there any calendar/scheduling software for OS X
and Windows that can sync info with Google Calendar?
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posted by zardoz
on Jan 6, 2013 -
7 answers
Migrating from Thunderbird to Apple Mail (on OSX Lion). Apple Mail takes about an hour to get messages from the IMAP server whereas Thunderbird gets them instantly. What may be going on?
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posted by vacapinta
on Jan 4, 2013 -
7 answers
I'm selling my mid-2010 iMac on eBay. In the ad, I want to say that I'll include a copy of Mountain Lion on a USB stick so the buyer can install the OS once they take possession of the computer. What I don't know is what will happen if the buyer doesn't yet own a copy of Mountain Lion and they try to install the copy I give them which was downloaded using my Apple ID.
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posted by Effigy2000
on Jan 1, 2013 -
8 answers
Is there a Unix command (Mac OS X Terminal) or a command-line program that will rename a series of plain-text files based on the first line of each?
posted by megatherium
on Dec 29, 2012 -
13 answers
How do I take a bunch of files that are in the Trash in OSX (Mountain Lion) and restore them to where they used to be?
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posted by Pater Aletheias
on Dec 2, 2012 -
5 answers
Why is Time Machine trying to backup 35 GB of data every single day when I'm only using 300 GB of my 500 GB HD and I know I have not changed or added that much in the time since my last backup?
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posted by pwb503
on Nov 29, 2012 -
12 answers
I'm planning on getting a Mac Mini with Lion Server. I don't have much experience with security or setup. Point me to some basic articles, sites, or books, please. I'll also take any advice the hivemind might have as well.
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posted by nevercalm
on Nov 29, 2012 -
1 answer
I'm trying to hack together an OS X script that's dependent upon my location. Problem is, Apple's location services doesn't know where my home router is - and I don't have an iOS device to tell it. Is there any way I can suggest or hint to the server where my IP is located?
posted by Apropos of Something
on Nov 23, 2012 -
10 answers
I can't make Spore run on my Macbook Pro. My 9 year old is nonplussed. Please help...he's getting pouty....
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posted by digitalprimate
on Nov 20, 2012 -
12 answers
Upgrading a mid-2008 aluminum macbook from leopard to snow leopard (and eventually on to Lion). The superdrive is broken, and I am trying to boot the OS from a usb drive but having problems. Details inside.
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posted by Thanquol180
on Nov 18, 2012 -
4 answers
A friend of mine is having an issue with her USB flash drive. I'm gonna post what she sent here; can anyone help recover her files?
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posted by andrewcilento
on Nov 15, 2012 -
5 answers
Development on OSX. I lots of kiddie-pool programming experience, but I'm starting to do learn web dev and working with frameworks is leading to a lot of confusion regarding paths, dependencies, permissions, and file structure. What's a good resource that lays out the "how & why"?
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posted by victory_laser
on Nov 14, 2012 -
10 answers
At work, my wifi connection frequently stalls (MacBook Pro 9,1, OS X 10.8.2). The connection never drops, but websites will "hang" while loading and I am unable to receive/send mail. Although I'm still connected, if I click the Wifi icon on the menu bar so that it starts "Looking for Networks", the connection is immediately restored. This happens every 4-5 minutes.
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posted by Yiggs
on Nov 13, 2012 -
10 answers
I've got an old Mac font suitcase (OS 9) containing fonts I'd like to use on my OS X (10.7) Mac. I'm not sure what format they're in but copying the file over to my new Mac results in a 0-byte file. I think I have to convert them to TTF on my OS 9 iMac, but not sure what to do it with. Any suggestions? Free would be great, since I don't plan on doing this again, but cheap would be okay.
posted by tommasz
on Nov 4, 2012 -
2 answers
I am using an iMac with Mountain Lion as my desktop, and an iPhone 4S with iOS6 as my cell phone. I use OSX's and iOS's native apps for email, contacts, and calendar, which are provided by Google Apps.
What I need is a GTD (to do) application for the Mac, which a) has an iOS version, and b) supports syncing to iCal or Google Calendar.
I currently own Omnifocus, but as of Mountain Lion, it no longer supports iCal sync. I want to be able to sync deadlines and tasks to my calendar, this really is a pretty basic feature that seems to be missing from a lot of GTD applications.
Wunderlist doesn't support this. I've looked at Things, but it doesn't seem to support it either.
Any recommendations?
posted by Unhyper
on Nov 3, 2012 -
4 answers
I have a early 2008 Macbook Pro that has just now come down with the
dying logic board problem. I bought it outside the 4-year period (so no free replacement) and have a new MBP anyways, so how can I get rid of it such that maximize my return value?
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posted by RyanAdams
on Oct 27, 2012 -
7 answers
