Category Archives: tips

Forced reinstall of application downloaded from Mac App Store

Context:
In Mac OSX Lion, I opened Launchboard and deleted an app that I had previously downloaded from the Mac App Store
Problem:
I was no longer able to download it, always getting the same annoying message from the Mac App Store software:
“A newer version of this app is already installed on this computer”

After spending hours trying to find the fix that does the trick (and, man, did I try them all: removed spotlight indexing from my HDD, removed launchpad db files, removed various folders and files), countless Trash emptied and reboots, I finally found the fix.

Here’s what worked for me (via stackexchange):
I opened up Terminal.app, pasted the line below, then pressed Enter:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

A few minutes of waiting, and when it was done I launched the Mac App Store app and.. miracle: I was able to, once again, download my favorite app from the store.

I hope this will save a few hours for you as well

Secure your Mac – Password protected screen lock

When your nosey coworkers enjoy peeking on other people’s desktops when they are gone, or you simply don’t want your kids to accidentally erase your soon-to-be-complete Pulitzer story while you were in the kitchen, your mac has the quick and simple solution, one that few people know exists: the screen lock

Enabling screen locking is pretty easy, although hidden where you leaste expected it. Here’s how it’s done:

You’ll need to open up Keychain Access, a utility app that comes preinstalled on your Mac and can be found inside the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. Once there, you’ll open up the Preferences menu (press ⌘, or as the submenu of Keychain Access menu). In the General tab, make sure the checkbox ‘Show Status in Menu Bar’ is checked. A tiny lock icon will appear in the menu, somewhere on the right. Clicking on it will reveal the long awaited option: Lock Screen.

PS. Make sure you know your mac password before clicking on it, because only those who know it will be able to unlock the computer.

Dropquest 2011 – Or how to get over 1GB extra free Dropbox space

If you don’t already use Dropbox, you probably should. Dropbox is the amazing file sync service and utility that I’ve told you about it in a post from a few months ago. You might also remember that it has a neat referral program, giving out 250MB extra space for each friend referred to the service.
What I didn’t know and only learned about today is that, this year, Dropbox has a pretty awesome internet contest / puzzle / scavanger hunt, called Dropquest 2011, with various prizes.
Now, since I missed the actual contest, I didn’t qualify for the mega prizes(which included 50GB of space, branded t-shirts and more). However, for all those who answer some(or all) of the puzzle questions, there’s a consolation prize of up to 1GB of space to be added to your Drobox account.
The complete list of questions and answers, as well as explanations for those, can be found on several places online; I found the most thorough solution page to be that of erroneus, with other versions available over at tuqiri or boio. For your convenience I’ll shamelessly paste, below, the walkthrough from tuqiri/erroneous:

And before I leave you with this resourceful online quest, here are a few of the tricks you can use to increase your Dropbox free account quota(for the full list check out this page):

  1. use a referral link when signing up with Dropbox; it will give both you and your referee an extra bit of space
  2. complete any of the tasks from this page and connect with Dropbox on Twitter/Facebook, for up to 640MB extra
  3. complete the Dropbox “Get Started” tour for another 250MB of space
  4. refer other friends to it; make sure they use other email addresses, and that they install the Dropbox client on different machines than yours

.. and now on to Dropquest2011

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Do it yourself – Fullscreen mode for your Mac apps

Everyone knows that multitasking is usually bad for your productivity, and that in order to get ‘in the flow’ one would need to focus on the task at hand and nothing more. Having your app maximized to your screen size might be enough most of the times, but a real full-screen mode(that is, covering also the Dock and the MenuBar) would be even better.
Apparently the next operating system version for your Mac(OSX Lion) will add native support for full-screen apps. But until then, neither of these two options are made easy by the current Mac OSX version.

If you’re in the same place as I am and too impatient to wait for your full-screen productivity boost, I found a temporary solution. An awesome one which, best of all, is completely free(although donations to their developers are welcome)!
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Firefox 3.6, Fullscreen and WebDeveloper

After updating to Firefox 3.6, I started having issues with WebDeveloper, the single favorite Firefox extension I’m using on an almost daily basis.
Namely, the keyboard shortcut I was using most frequently ⌘-⇧-F had been overwritten by the latest Firefox update; instead of calling the ‘Display Element Information’ function from WebDeveloper, it now called View in Full Screen mode.
Frustrating, to say the least.

Since I didn’t want to change my typing, a bit of Googling led me to KeyConfig, an amazing Firefox extension (more info here http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=72994) which allows you to change almost ALL keyboard shortcuts in Firefox and the installed extensions.

Hope this proves useful to someone else as well.

Essential tips to make your Mac the king of USER FRIENDLINESS

Dock

It’s a common symptom among new Mac users to be really ecstatic about their new MacBook, praise the speed and functionality, then after a month or so start seeing some flaws; much like in any relationship, where your passionate blind love from the first weeks starts to fade, giving way to more realistic assessments.
Some hard-core Linux geeks will probably miss their configuration files, kernel hacking and source code install. Windows users might miss their favorite software(Picasa, Winamp or Total Commander). I didn’t miss my Windows machine one bit, partly because I got used to other essential Mac software, partly because I use my Windows software from within Windows virtual machines, and mostly because I realized the Mac offers me all the productivity tools I ever wished for, out of the box or for free.

This article lists several essential but frequently forgotten configuration tips that make the most of your Mac. A future article will cover some vitally important FREE (or really inexpensive) Mac OSX software for your daily chores.

Faithful readers might have already read these tips here, on HackTheDay, but I do hope they’ll learn a few new things as well.

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How to seamlessly sync your iCal with Google Calendar

Quick question: what is the One and only most essential tool for any productivity fan?

You guessed it – the calendar.

There are many reasons why you’d want to use Google Calendar for your time management: first of all, it’s free; second, it’s online(you can access it from everywhere). Third, it has SMS alerts, which is probably the single feature I use most. The one major downside of Google Calendar has is… being an online tool; a less than perfect user interface, less than instantaneous responsiveness. Luckily, this all is in the past as of today:

Google announced CalDAV support for Google Calendar in Apple’s iCal(version 3.x – on Mac OS X v10.5+ ). In layman’s terms, this means seamless bidirectional synchronization of calendar events. No more awkward emails, no more missed meetings(actually.. this isn’t such a good news, as we all know it – meetings are productivity killers).

Here’s a step by step walkthrough in setting up Google Calendar synchronization:

1. First, you download on your OSX 10.5 mac the setup tool, called Calaboration. It’s in zip format, so you’ll want to unarchive it. Go ahead and run it, entering your Google login credentials, then click Sign In.

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How to display the date in OSX Leopard Menu Bar

If you don’t want to fumble around just to learn the current date, you can display it in Leopard’s Menu Bar, right by the clock, to always have under your eyes.

What I did was to follow TUAW’s tutorial, but here’s a quick summary, just in case you’re in a hurry:
1. in System Preferences, International, Formats submenu. Select Customize date, then chose the format you want, and COPY it (select all, Cmd+C).
copy_date_format
2. Press Ok, then from the same window, Customize for the Times part. Move the cursor before the time format, press Cmd+V(Paste). Press OK.

leoparddatemenu

Easy peasy.

Get rid of the MobileMe sync icon in Leopard’s menu bar

Phew, the title took more to write than what the post really should contain, that is:
SystemUIServer
Keep Command key pressed while dragging the Sync icon out of the menu bar.

Now, why would you do this? Maybe, like me, you have a fresh Leopard install and you NEVER use MobileMe, and you want to declutter the menu bar. Easy, ain’t it?

Create any kind of charts easily with Google Visualization API

Google just released Google Visualization API, which is a really cool great way to generate and embed beautiful charts into any webpage.
While the API is really Javascript based targeting web developers, the really cool thing about it is that you’re now able to generate Gadgets from within any Google Docs spreadsheet.

Easier done than said, actually. Just take a peek at this nice chart attempt:
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