What I really want is a water lock sound to flush all the water out of the speaker. On the phone.
Miscellaneous stupid Mac tricks, cool Mac tricks, and stupid cool Mac tricks Thread
- Thread starter xoa
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Until such time as it is implemented by Apple, you can get this functionality from a third-party shortcut:
https://www.smartprix.com/bytes/how-to-eject-water-from-your-iphone-yes-theres-a-hidden-trick/
From a Mastodon poster called @Setok:
MacOS has a secondary clipboard completely distinct from the main one.
Position the cursor in a text document. Hit control-k and everything between the cursor and the following line break is cut and copied into the second clipboard. Use control-y to paste.
Apparently this is because the vast majority of Mac apps inherit certain key bindings from
MacOS has a secondary clipboard completely distinct from the main one.
Position the cursor in a text document. Hit control-k and everything between the cursor and the following line break is cut and copied into the second clipboard. Use control-y to paste.
Apparently this is because the vast majority of Mac apps inherit certain key bindings from
emacs.
That was my reaction too! I remember reading about the whole "native textboxes support emacs keybindings" (being a vim user this wasn't super useful for me) but I didn't realise there was a whole separate clipboard, wow.
In iOS: when typing text, if you see an earlier mistake and want to position the cursor to fix it, don’t bother trying to use your fingertip—that’s an exercise in frustration.
Instead, touch and hold the spacebar. The entire keyboard turns into a trackpad with which you can easily position the cursor!
Instead, touch and hold the spacebar. The entire keyboard turns into a trackpad with which you can easily position the cursor!
The long delay before you can use the track pad compared to the same feature on Gboard is the main reason I use an Android phone instead of an iPhone. You didn't have to hold the space bar so long on a 2010 era iPod Touch keyboard.
This belongs in the Rants thread, but back in the day when Apple tried cool new things and then killed them quickly they included Force Touch* in the ENTIRE SCREEN. With one of those phones you could hard-press ANYWHERE on the keyboard to get a cursor. It was glorious, and I miss it every. fucking. day. If you still have an Xs or Xr, cherish it while you can.
* What a horrible name for such a great feature. It's "3D Touch" everywhere else (e.g. trackpads). Why not for the phone?
Could be worse-- when Apple removed Force Touch from the hardware in the Apple Watch Series 6, they removed it in software from all previous models that upgraded to watchOS 7.This belongs in the Rants thread, but back in the day when Apple tried cool new things and then killed them quickly they included Force Touch* in the ENTIRE SCREEN. With one of those phones you could hard-press ANYWHERE on the keyboard to get a cursor. It was glorious, and I miss it every. fucking. day. If you still have an Xs or Xr, cherish it while you can.
* What a horrible name for such a great feature. It's "3D Touch" everywhere else (e.g. trackpads). Why not for the phone?
Thirty-four days ago, I upgraded from Big Sur 11.7.10 to Sequoia 15.6.1. Today I noticed something I liked better (other than battery life on hardware that isn't 10 years old) for the first time: Finder gives me an envelope icon that leads to the email message that I downloaded that file from as an attachment.
Want to really blow your mind? Right click on any of those files and you'll see a section of the contextual menu with actions you can perform related to the sender of that attachment. It's all very slick, useful, and something I use all the time. And I don't remember Apple ever announcing or celebrating these new features. They just "showed up."
Do you use Apple Mail for Mail and do you have Siri enabled? I don't think it requires Apple Intelligence, but it does require allowing Siri access to your content.
Hm, I think I had Siri on for Mail. I'll try with Spotlight as well. But if it needs Intelligence on, I'll pass.
You know how, for the longest time, we’ve been pissing and moaning about Apple's persistence in using the shittiest ABS plastic for its laptop keycaps, and how they wear to a shine* real quick?
Well, Apple hasn’t stopped using the shittiest ABS plastic for its keycaps, but you can give your laptop a mini glow-up with a new set!
https://selfservicerepair.eu/en-GB/macbook-pro-14-inch-2021/keys
*NGL, the number of people on Reddit who think it’s because they’ve got greasy fingers is hilarious. We don’t correct the Redditors, though, because anything to get those weirdos washing their hands more is to be encouraged.
Well, Apple hasn’t stopped using the shittiest ABS plastic for its keycaps, but you can give your laptop a mini glow-up with a new set!
https://selfservicerepair.eu/en-GB/macbook-pro-14-inch-2021/keys
*NGL, the number of people on Reddit who think it’s because they’ve got greasy fingers is hilarious. We don’t correct the Redditors, though, because anything to get those weirdos washing their hands more is to be encouraged.
IIRC, it's more to do with the ph of some people's sweat that kills them. I've never worn the keycaps on any keyboard down (aside from some minor WASD wear), although I always have a shiny patch on the left of the spacebar (some people are left thumb, some are right thumb, it's fun to mention that fact in an office setting 
! ).
! ).
Likewise, batch rename from a right-click on multiple files. No idea when that happened, but it’s saved me from going to Automator a lot of the time.
I have this feature, and I’ve never enabled Siri and (last time I checked) Apple Intelligence isn’t even available in the UK…
I don’t remember exactly when this was added either, but it’s been a minute. It might not have been a headline feature, but it was announced somewhere. I remember rushing to my Mac to try it. Better Finder Renamer still gets plenty of work, but the built-in function is really good for much of what I need in a batch-Renamer utility.
Definitely. If I get a pile of files sent to me from some fuckwit who can’t stick to a basic naming convention then I may need to look elsewhere, but the built-in Finder option mops up about 50% of my day-to-day use cases now.
Found via the Tom Scott newsletter: someone used the hinge sensor in their Macbook to make it sound like an old, creaky wooden door (and a theremin, if you scroll down!):
https://hachyderm.io/@samhenrigold/115159295473019599
https://hachyderm.io/@samhenrigold/115159295473019599
If you need to find a file in the Library folder of an old machine's Time Machine backup (and you have to open it through the sparse bundle instead of the pretty UI), the Library folder won't appear under the user folder by default. You have to press Shift+Cmd+. to make all the hidden folders appear under the user folder.
Isn't that normal behaviour? The ~/Library folder is always set to hidden. The attribute just copies over to the TM backup, I guess?
Yes, the point is that the rest of the UI makes it difficult to get to those files, since the folder is magically hidden. If you open a backup through the sparse bundle you can't get to the user's library folder because it's not accessible through the terminal, and the way you're supposed to hold it (which is to open the library by pressing alt at the go menu and invoke the time machine screen from the folder) doesn't work because it's not a backup of your disk. Also there isn't a menu option to make those files visible, you have to know the keyboard shortcut, which makes this a stupid trick.
If I wanted to make it a complaint I'd add that it's annoying that Apple likes to name features using terms that exist elsewhere (like time machine and shortcuts) which resist quick searches because the results are mostly other subjects.
That's my own library and not the one in the backup I wanted to look at.
Huh? Is this a permission issue or what? Can't you just sudo around it?
I can't replicate your exact setup as I don't have any backup from other machine at hand, but
Bash:
cd /Volumes/OtherTimeMachine/2020-03-01 [tab autocomplete]
cd Users
cd LibraryI might somewhat argue that it's working as intended, as TM's interface is intentionally made as easy/dumb (pick two) as possible for everybody, including the restore (intended to be a full restore from the last snapshot including ~/Library/Preferences et cetera, without the users mengling with it). Yet I get your frustration. TM could certainly do with some UI overhaul, instead all we got this year was Apple Ass and the deletion of Launchpad...
Oh, and did I yet tell the story of TM actually crashing the kernel while trying to configure it with "multiple" machine backups on the same TM disk (it was the same machine, just older OS and different name)?
I think my rant about that was around 10 pages back or so...
IMHO that's nothing. I had a perfectly good TM backup from 2025 on an external disk, which for some dumb reason stopped being recognised as this computer's TM backup after some OS updates. The files are still there, yet the only way I can access them is via Terminal – Browse other backup disks doesn't work, and even though TM interface itself (!) shows up the 2025 backup, CLICKING ON THE 2025 DATE DOES NOTHING.
Given the general enshittification of Google search (entirely intentional back then since worse search results means users spend more time on google.com and thus see more ads ‑‑‑> $$$profit, or at least "so they thought" in famous last words), I don't think it makes any meaningul difference nowadays. It's more like pure luck. Of course, there were some very notable product‑naming SEO bungles, like the
Pentax * DSLR camera 
And yes, since we are in the Rants thread, I am starting to feel more and more that Apple is rapidly approaching a Googol‑level enshittification singularity. Just give them a few more years
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OK, just type "open" in Terminal and then drag and drop the Time Machine back up folder and navigate to Users within the TM backup and append Library.
Hitting tab will auto complete.
I needed to see my user’s Library folder in a TM backup in the past. Yes, it’s annoying that it's hidden by default on both the local user folder as well as on TM backups. But you can use Terminal or in Finder
Next stupid Mac trick: In macOS Tahoe you can no longer ESC out of the cmd tab app switcher while still holding down the cmd key. Now you need to hit the . (dot) instead…
cmd shift . to get there. On a sidenote open . opens the folder you’re currently in in a Finder window. Handy if you like to continue browsing via GUI.Next stupid Mac trick: In macOS Tahoe you can no longer ESC out of the cmd tab app switcher while still holding down the cmd key. Now you need to hit the . (dot) instead…
Remember 'Command-Shift-.' will toggle display of 'hidden' files in all currently mounted files systems.
That's what my original post suggests, this it was supposed to be a quick tip to get to the folder in the finder user interface.
Since we are into the terminal:
Unfortunately , if you cd into the Volume as it's shown in the terminal you get:
Bash:
cd /Volumes/Backups\ of\ cheese
ls
ls: .:Operation not permittedThis does work, the actual folder will be /Volumes/.timemachine/<a guid>/<the backup name>/Data/<path>.
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open . is probably my most used Terminal command, right after sudo rm /rf ;-)That's just bad. Fucking bad. WTF were they thinking, if thinking at all? Reminds me to stay on Sequoia as long as possible.
Hey, I know it's the wrong format for rm that I used (sorry), but done properly, it would certainly wipe the smile off one's face...
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This was a feature on iPadOS as well, until a few years ago when Apple silently and inexplicably removed the separate clipboard (you can still use C-a/C-e/C-k). I am still bitter over this regression.
Cmd-. is an escape alternative. I’ve used it on my iPad cause my Magic Keyboard predates having a function row.
In this case the . works cause of the pressed cmd.
Of course, there’s no reason escape shouldn’t work, IMO.