I have been using the Macintosh computer off and on since 1989. On Friday, I'll share some tips and tricks using the computer and various accessories. All reviews and tips are my own.
I have been using the Macintosh computer off and on since 1989. On Friday, I'll share some tips and tricks using the computer and various accessories. All reviews and tips are my own.
A list of all the Blog Posts in this category.
Sometimes I need a way to count a selected group of text. Usually, it's to see if it's long enough for a particular field.
If it was on a website, I would copy that text into BBEdit or another text editor. Then I would look at the status bar to see the number of words or length of the copied text.
There has to be a better way,
So I decided to create a LaunchBar action. It was really easy to do and a good task to brush up on my JavaScript skills.
Now when I need to get the information, I just follow these steps.
I get instant info on my selected text.
I figured other people may want to use this so I am making it publicly available.
Download the action. After downloading, double-click on the zip file to uncompress it. Then double click on the file to install in LaunchBar
Apple Quicktime has the ability to record video and audio files. This is a quick way to digitalize audio. For example, if you want to send an audio message in an email or a social media post.
There are two settings for audio:
Setting | Description | |
---|---|---|
High | 44100 Hz AAC audio | |
Maximum | 44100 Hz, uncompressed Linear PCM 24-bit AIFF-C audio |
The output audio is off, by default. You have to adjust the volume to hear the recording.
Shortcut for creating a new audio recording is Shift Command N
The recording settings that Quicktime starts with are the same as the default sound input. This is defined in the System Preferences - select Sound.
When you have the QuickTime Inspector open, it shows you the current settings that you have set up.
Earlier this week I had a bunch of Apache log files that I wanted to combine into a single file. I was trying to figure out the best way to do it. A quick Google search showed me a solution from 2014. The purpose of this post is to say that it still works!
Here are the steps to quickly merge a bunch of files:
Alternate Way
Another solution is to use the Cat Unix command in Terminal. Here's a sample of what that would look like:
cat access.log.* >> website.log
One of the complaints that people have with Apple's Mouse is the location of the charging port. It's located underneath the mouse. This means that you can't use the mouse when you charge it.
So people end up just setting up a reminder to charge the mouse at night - once a week.
The problem with that is, if the computer is on, there's no way to quickly put the computer to sleep using the keyboard.
There's is if you have LaunchBar.
LaunchBar has a built in action for Sleep. Simple type in the Command Space short cut and then type in Sleep and hit return.
Your computer goes to sleep.
Want to shut it down instead, Simple search for Shut and then hit return.
This is just one of many cool things that makes LaunchBar useful. I would highly recommend getting it.
There's no action available in Spotlight. When you search for Sleep and select it, you are presented with the Energy Saver System Preferences.
Are you experiencing serious performance issues with Microsoft Teams? Are you having to close out applications like Slack and Chrome before you connect to a meeting?
Is Microsoft Teams maxing out the computer CPU?
Chances are that there's a simple settings adjustment that should be done. You'll need to disable the GPU hardware acceleration. On some older Macs, this may cause a considerable amount of slowness.
The GPU Hardware Acceleration is done in the settings panel of Microsoft Teams. Here are the steps:
This is what it should look like when completed:
I would suggest restarting the computer. It's not necessary as part of the steps, but it couldn't hurt.
You should see improvement in the next meeting. Your computer won't go to a crawl and you shouldn't have any drop frames during the meeting.
Recently I connected a new camera to my iMac. After it was connected, I was wondering what applications had camera support that I could try out the new camera.
I know that Apple has apps like Quicktime, Facetime, and Photo Booth that support the camera. What about other Apps on my computer?
The easy way to find out what apps have Camera support is to look at the Camera permissions.
Simple steps to find what Apps have Camera access:
Note: That you have to allow Applications to have permission to access the camera. If you haven't used the camera functionality in some apps, you may not have been asked for permission to use the camera.
Using the "New Movie Recording" in Quicktime Player was the fastest way that I found to get RAW video on the computer.
The keyboard shortcut: Option Command N is good one to remember.
This is the capture options that you have:
High | H.264 video and 44100 Hz AAC audio |
Maximum | Apple ProRes 422 video and Linear PCM audio |
Every now and then, I like to look back at some fonts in my CD collection. Some of the fonts that I have are outdated and can't be used in the latest macOS. There are a few that are still usable.
One of the fonts in my collection that I found interesting is the Zephyr Font. Benn Coifman, the developer, named the font after the Zephyr trains.
What caught my eye about the font is that it is very similar to the GoPro Logo font. Here's an example of the font:
After you have installed the files, "Zephyr.suit", "CZHer", and "CZHeralds.bmap" in your font folder, restart your word processor and print out a copy of "Zephyr Legend" (If you don't have Microsoft Word, I hope your translator can handle the new fonts). The top 2/3's of this file demonstrate the Zephyr font. At the bottom, you will see a couple of special characters that are in CZHeralds font. Note that the California Zephyr logo is split into three letters so it will have a lower probability of crashing your printer.
Zephyr font, all of its accompanying files, and train icon are © 1994-5 Benn Coifman. (that looks so nasty now that I typed it)
This still works in MacOS 11.3 even though it is 27-years old (Created July 24, 1995). In fact, the copy I had was from a CD that was also about 27-years old. This means that I installed the same font that was released 27-years ago - I didn't just download it.
There is a similar font called Rail RoadRoman available on FontFreak. I wasn't able to find the Zephyr.suit font. There are other Zephyr fonts, but they didn't look the same.
Font was created using Altsys Fontographer 4.0.4D2 7/24/95
There are a couple of Easter Eggs in the font collection:
I am a huge fan of FontDoc - an application that lets you see the various font faces that you have installed. You can select the preview word, and copy and past the content into any document while maintaining the font format.
Recently I became aware of another Font Manger called TypeFace. So I thought I check it out and see how it might be better than FontDoc. TypeFace cost $19 and FontDoc is Free.
By default TypeFace uses "Hamburgefonstiv" as the preview word. This is a "filler text" use to test the appearance of a typeface. You can easily change it by toggle preview input.
I can "dig down" in the fonts and see all the characters.
There's no way to copy the preview text and font style into another document.
You can tag fonts! This is a nice way to organize fonts that you use for different projects. This way when you select a collection on the left, you can see all the fonts that is used. For example, you may have a collection for Facebook Posts, Holidays, or Videos.
You can easily import fonts from folders, this makes it easy to identify which fonts you want installed. When you find the one you want, right click on it and select Activate.
When you are done with a font, perhaps it's something that you don't use anymore, you can also deactivate it. This will remove it from the system font menu making it easier to find the fonts you want.
I am not going to purchase this application. It looks great and works great too! However, I really don't need this kind of font management.
I am more interested in finding font styles that work great for the text I am using right now. I don't think I'll be needing to create various collections.
Maybe someday, but not now.
This is a cool application, and I had fun playing around with it.
If you have an active SetApp subscription, you can just download TypeFace.
I was looking for something unique to blog today. Since this day "N" of the A-Z April challenge, I was looking for something that started with the letter "N." Here are some of the topics that I was thinking about:
None of those applications really sounded interesting to write about. So I decided to head over to the finder and do a search in Help for the letter "N."
To my surprise. I found something interesting. One of the search results was for NSMenuItem. I thought it was a weird menu name, so when I selected it, the help arrow pointed to an empty area above the word "Tag" in the File menu.
I checked a couple of computers and they had the same results. There is no NSMenuItem in the File menu, yet it appears when you do a search for in. (Only in the Finder)
According to the Apple Developer site, the NSMenuItem is a command item in the app menu.
Apparently this is a legitimate item, but whoever worked on the Finder's File menu didn't hide the feature properly. This bug appears in macOS Catalina, so it's been there for a while.
If you have a Mac, try this:
Select the Finder, then the Help menu. Type in NSMenuItem, or simply 'N.'
You'll see one of the search results will be the mysterious NSMenuItem, select it and you'll see that it points to the same place as the above screenshot.
Do you want to write better blogs'
One way, is to use a program like Hemingway. Its purpose is to help you write better sentences.-
Information From their website:
Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear. It's like a spellchecker, but for style. It makes sure that your reader will focus on your message, not your prose.
Too often, our words are like our thoughts ' innumerable and disorganized. Almost any bit of writing could use some cutting. Less is more, etc.
So, the Hemingway Editor will highlight (in yellow and red) where your writing is too dense. Try removing needless words or splitting the sentence into two. Your readers will thank you.
Abraham Lincoln would have benefited from the Hemingway App.