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How to Make a Bootable MacOS Mojave Installer Drive

written by applenws

Want to make a MacOS Mojave bootable USB installer drive? It’s pretty easy to do, as long as you have the MacOS Mojave installer app and a USB flash drive.

Much like prior versions of Mac OS, you can easily create a bootable install drive for MacOS Mojave 10.14. These boot install drives allow for things like easily formatting a Mac to perform a clean install of macOS Mojave, installing macOS Mojave onto multiple Macs without them each having to download the installer, or even as a troubleshooting tool since it can be booted from by any compatible Mac at any time.

This article will show you how to create your own macOS Mojave bootable install drive out of a USB flash key.

Requirements for making a bootable MacOS Mojave Installer Drive

Beyond those two simple requirements, you’ll need some familiarity with the command line, patience, an internet connection, and of course a Mac compatible with macOS Mojave.

One thing to note is that if you originally downloaded the macOS Mojave installer and already used it to update the Mac it was downloaded on, the installer file itself will have deleted itself upon completion of updating to Mojave. Thus in such a situation you’d need to re-download the MacOS Mojave installer again from the Mac App Store (available in the Purchases tab), or download it to a different Mac.

How to Make a MacOS Mojave Installer USB Boot Drive

Remember that creating a bootable MacOS Mojave USB installer drive will erase all data on the destination USB flash drive or volume, this is necessary in order for it to become the bootable installer disk.

Building a macOS Mojave bootable install drive is relatively simple, here are the steps:

  1. Confirm the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” installer file is located in the /Applications directory
  2. Connect the USB flash drive to the Mac, if the drive is not yet formatted to be Mac compatible go ahead and do that first with Disk Utility first
  3. Launch the Terminal application found in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder, then issue the following command (replace ‘UNTITLED’ with the name of the USB flash drive you want to convert to the MacOS Mojave installer – warning: the target volume will be erased completely to become the installer)

    4. sudo /Applications/Install macOS Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/UNTITLED --nointeraction && say Mojave Drive Created

  4. Hit return and enter the admin password (as required by sudo) and then hit return again to begin creating the Mojave installer drive

    5. Command syntax for creating the macOS Mojave boot install drive

The creation of the macOS Mojave boot drive can take a little while, but the Terminal window will update the status as it goes through erasing the USB flash drive, then copying the files to the flash drive and making the disk bootable. Finally it will report when the install media has completed and where it is located with a volume name.

“Erasing Disk: 0%… 10%… 20%… 30%… 100%…

Copying to disk: 0%… 10%… 20%… 30%… 40%… 50%… 60%… 70%… 80%… 90%… 100%…

Making disk bootable…

Install media now available at “/Volumes/Install MacOS Mojave”

Once you see the ‘Install media now available at “/Volumes/Install MacOS Mojave”‘ message (and hear the verbal confirmation) your macOS Mojave boot install disk is complete and it’s ready to use.

You can use the freshly created MacOS Mojave installer to update any compatible Mac to macOS Mojave, to perform clean installs, to format disks, and much more.

How to Boot from the MacOS Mojave Installer USB Drive

Now that your macOS Mojave installer drive is complete, you can boot from it with any compatible Mac.

  • Connect the MacOS Mojave installer USB drive to the Mac you want to boot it from
  • Reboot (or start up) the Mac and immediately hold down the OPTION key on the keyboard
  • At the boot selector screen, choose “Install macOS Mojave” from the startup options

Once you boot from the macOS Mojave installer drive you will see the familiar macOS Utilities screen from which you can start the macOS Mojave install or update process, use Disk Utility, access the Terminal, or any other task. To install macOS Mojave or update to macOS Mojave, choose that option which will quickly launch the installer.

Install macOS Mojave screen

Installing or updating to macOS Mojave takes about 45 minutes to an hour or so, perhaps longer or shorter depending on the Mac model and disk performance.

That’s it! MacOS Mojave has a variety of new great features worth checking out, and it should be a worthwhile update for many Mac users.

Do you have any questions or comments about making your own macOS Mojave bootable install drive? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comments below!

Source: OSX Daily

September 26, 2018 0 comment
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How to Fix Blurry Fonts in MacOS Mojave for Non-Retina Displays

written by applenws

Do you think fonts and screen text looks fuzzy, blurry, or excessively thin in macOS Mojave? If so, it may be due to changes in anti-aliasing in Mojave, particularly for users with non-retina displays. If you are running macOS Mojave on a Mac without a retina display, or with an external monitor that does not have an ultra-high resolution screen, you may have noticed that some fonts and text can appear as fuzzy, blurry, or excessively thin and difficult to read. Fortunately, with a little effort you can make some adjustments to how MacOS Mojave handles font smoothing and anti-aliasing which may improve the appearance of text and fonts on your Mac screen.

We’ll show you a few tips on how to adjust font smoothing in MacOS to attempt to remedy any problematic font rendering or blurry text in macOS Mojave for non-retina displays.


These font smoothing settings are not recommended to change on a Retina display Mac, though if you feel like doing so you certainly can experiment with the settings on a Retina Mac as well, if you do then please report your experiences in the comments below.

3 Ways to Adjust Font & Text Anti-Aliasing in MacOS Mojave

We’ll cover three different methods of adjusting font smoothing and text anti-aliasing settings in macOS Mojave. The first is quite simple through a preference panel, but the latter options are more advanced and require using the Terminal. You can use any or all of them, and how each appears will differ depending on your particular Mac and the screens you use (and your personal preferences and perhaps eyesight).

How to Enable Font Smoothing in MacOS Mojave

  1. First, go to the  Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”
  2. Choose “General” preference panel and check the box for “Use font smoothing when available” to that is enabled (or disabled)

How to enable font smoothing in macOS MOjave

You might instantly see a difference in simply toggling that setting on or off, and that alone may resolve the issues you are experiencing with fonts in Mojave.

The animated GIF below shows the before and after effect of simply toggling this setting, which looks better to you depends on your particular screen and individual preferences, but in this animation you can see the ‘enabled’ setting has a slightly bolder font that includes more anti-aliasing:

animated gif of font smoothing on macOS Mojave enabled or disabled

If that settings adjustment is sufficient you likely won’t want to proceed further, however there are more tweaks and adjustments you can make to how macOS Mojave handles font smoothing and text anti-aliasing.

How to Enable Font Smoothing in macOS Mojave by Terminal

If the above trick doesn’t resolve your blurry fuzzy fonts issue, then proceed with the more advanced tips further below to adjust how font smoothing works further.

  1. Open the “Terminal” application, found in /Applications/Utilities/
  2. Enter the following command syntax exactly:

    3. defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool NO

  3. Hit Return, then log out and log back in (or reboot the Mac) for the font smoothing settings to change and take effect

This particular change was extremely subtle for my particular Mac, screen shots in animated GIF form attempt to capture the difference with the thicker bolder font the result after the defaults command was issued and the thinner version before:

Font smoothing defaults settings enabled or disabled in macOS Mojave

Again some Mac users may notice this change alone is sufficient to remedy any complaints they have about font blurriness, fuzziness, font weight or text being too thin or hard to read.

But for some Mac users they still may have complaints, in which case you can also go further to manually adjust anti-aliasing settings in Mac OS.

How to Adjust Mac Font Smoothing Settings via Defaults

Next you can also manually attempt to change the strength of font smoothing settings (anti-aliasing) in Mac OS, this also relies on defaults commands entered into the Terminal.

Strong font smoothing defaults command:
defaults -currentHost read -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 3

Medium font smoothing defaults command:
defaults -currentHost read -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

Light font smoothing defaults command:
defaults -currentHost read -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 1

You will want to log out and back in again, or reboot the Mac, for the changes to take effect.

How obvious or subtle the changes will be for you depends on your Mac, the display in use, and perhaps even individual preference and eyesight. Thus if you have any issue with the way fonts appear in macOS Mojave you might want to try each of the settings individually to find what works best for you.

Remove all adjustments to font smoothing in Mac OS and return to default settings

This command will remove any custom font smoothing setting:
defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing

This command will revert the change to rendering font smoothing settings back to the default in macOS Mojave:

defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool YES

Again, restart the Mac or log out and back in again for the change to take effect.

All of this may or may not apply to you and your particular Mac, screen, and display, but the cause (if this does apply to you) is apparently due to a change in how macOS Mojave handles font rendering and anti-aliasing.

Variations of this tip have been covered here at OSXDaily.com many times before, in fact many users originally noticed way back in Snow Leopard that font smoothing settings had changed in Mac OS X then, and again later (and still relevant today) when a Mac screen sometimes looks blurry or fonts appear fuzzy, and yet again in Yosemite where font smoothing became an issue too, and here we are with macOS Mojave with a similar round of issues with fonts not looking quite right.

These changes to font smoothing were first noticed during the beta period of Mojave, but persist today. Thanks to dev.to for the Mojave specific reference to this tip and the CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled defaults command string.

Source: OSX Daily

September 26, 2018 0 comment
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8 Great MacOS Mojave Features You’ll Actually Use

written by applenws

MacOS Mojave is one of the more exciting MacOS system software releases in quite some time, with many new interesting features and capabilities tucked throughout the new release.

Some of those new features are more interesting and or useful than others however, so we’re going to focus on a handful of new features in macOS Mojave that you’re most likely to actually use and appreciate.


Obviously you’ll need macOS Mojave to enjoy these new features on a Mac, if you haven’t done so yet you can prepare for and install MacOS Mojave or go ahead and download macOS Mojave now to update to the latest MacOS version.

1: Dark Mode

Dark Mode is perhaps the biggest obvious pull for many users to update to macOS Mojave, and it’s also the most prominent new feature available to MacOS Mojave. Much as the name implies, Dark Mode turns all user interface elements away from the bright white and gray default to a deeper dark interface scheme, which not only looks great but for some users it may even offer a less distracting visual environment to work in.

Dark Mode on macOS MOjave

Users can switch between the two interface themes at anytime by going to the “General” system preference panel and selecting either Light or Dark mode.

Dark Mode or Light Mode

If you’re on macOS Mojave, you absolutely must try out Dark Mode, it’s visually interesting and maybe you’ll find yourself even more productive when using it! And if it’s not your cup of tea, no sweat you can switch back to Light Mode through the General preference panel in System Preferences.

2: Desktop Stacks

Desktop Stacks aim to clean up a messy desktop by placing all desktop files into organized ‘stacks’ that can be clicked on to access more of that file type (you can also choose to arrange Stacks by various date settings and tag, though Kind is probably the most useful for most people).

Desktop Stacks cleans up a messy desktop instantly

If you have a cluttered Desktop then Desktop Stacks is a great feature, particularly if you’ve gotten to the point of simply disabling and hiding the Desktop on a Mac to manage the desktop file mess. Now there’s no need, simply enable and use Desktop Stacks and your desktop will appear much tidier with minimal effort.

To enable Desktop Stacks, go to the Mac desktop then pull down the “View” menu and choose “Use Stacks”. You can also change how Stacks are sorted from the View menu by adjusting the ‘Group Stacks’ setting.

Clean desktop clutter with Stacks

Once Stacks are enabled, you can click on the file type Stack (or however you sorted them) to reveal all of the files contained within.

3: Finder Quick Actions

Finder Quick Actions allow you to perform simple tasks like joining multiple files or images into a single PDF, or rotate a picture, directly from the Finder.

Finder actions on Mac

This is a great feature for power users and regular users alike, since you’ll no longer have to open Preview app to perform simple tasks like this.

Finder Quick Actions

Quick Actions can be accessed from the Finder Preview pane, or from the right-click contextual menu.

4: Finder Preview Panel Shows Metadata

The updated Finder Preview panel now reveals additional helpful information, including metadata about files and images.

The Finder Preview panel shows metadata and more

The new Preview panel can be accessed in Column and Gallery view, then simply clicking on an image or file will show the preview options.

If for some reason Preview is not visible (or maybe you want to disable it) you can show it (or hide) through the View menu by selecting “Show Preview”.

5: Quick Look Markup

Quick Look has been around for a long time on the Mac, and now it’s more useful than ever thanks to built-in Markup tools. You’ll see the Markup tools available right at the top of a Quick Look window:

Instant Markup from a Quick Look window

Having Markup in Quick Look means you can quickly add text, shapes, arrows, highlights, crops, signatures, and other simple image adjustments without ever leaving a Quick Look window.

6: Continuity Camera Captures Images from iOS to Mac Instantly

If you are a Mac user with an iPhone or an iPad (updated to iOS 12 or later) then you’ll have access to a great feature set that allows you to quickly import an image or scan to the Mac from an iPhone or iPad, by using the iOS devices camera.

Import image to Mac from iPhone or iPad

In the Finder simply right-click on the desktop or in a folder of the Mac Finder, and choose “Import from iPhone or iPad” then select either Take Photo or Scan Documents. You can also access the Continuity Camera feature from apps like Pages and Keynote via the File menu. Then you’re able to use the camera on the iOS device to quickly snap a picture or scan of something that will immediately appear on the Mac.

7: Privacy Controls for Microphone, Camera, Location, etc

Have you ever wanted to know exactly which Mac apps have access to things like your location, contacts, calendars, reminders, Photos, Camera, Microphone, full disk access, and more? MacOS Mojave makes this easier than ever before, making the latest MacOS release particularly nice for the privacy conscious.

New privacy controls on Mac

Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy to see and control which apps have access to these features of your Mac and more.

8: New Screenshot Tools & Keystroke

Taking a screenshot on the Mac has always been a fairly simple affair of pressing Command + Shift + 3 for a full screen capture, or Command + Shift + 4 for a single window screen capture. Those tricks still work in Mojave, but now MacOS has a new keyboard shortcut which will bring up a little screen shot capture utility with a full range of capabilities, including taking complete screenshots, partial screenshots, capturing windows or apps, and even screen recording tools.

New Screenshot Tools and options in Mac OS Mojave

Hit Command + Shift + 5 to bring up the new screenshot tools in MacOS Mojave. Screen recording and capturing has never been easier on the Mac.

–

Do you have any favorite features in MacOS Mojave? Share them with us in the comments!

Source: OSX Daily

September 25, 2018 0 comment
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How to Update MacOS Mojave Beta to Final Version

written by applenws

If you’re running a beta version of MacOS Mojave you certainly will want to update to macOS Mojave final version, but you may have noticed that visiting the Software Update preference panel shows no available update despite the final version of macOS Mojave being available to download now. Does that mean you’re stuck running the beta version or that you need to reinstall macOS Mojave? No!

If you are seemingly stuck on the macOS Mojave beta and want to update to the final stable build, you’ll find that updating from macOS Mojave beta to macOS Mojave final is pretty easy, but you’ll have to go through a few different steps you might not be expecting.

How to Download & Update to Final MacOS Mojave from Beta

This is the process for how you can update from the macOS Mojave beta to the macOS Mojave final version, the steps are the same regardless of whether you’re running macOS Mojave public beta or developer beta.

  1. From macOS Mojave beta, click this link to open the Mac App Store to the Mojave page, or open the Mac App Store and search for “MacOS Mojave”, and then click on “Get” to download macOS Mojave final

    2. How to update macOS Mojave beta to final version

  2. The “Software Update” preference panel will now open, reading “Finding Update…”

    3. How to update macOS Mojave beta to final version

  3. In a moment you’ll see a pop-up window asking “Are you sure you want to download macOS Mojave 10.14?” – choose “Download” to start downloading the full final version of macOS Mojave

    4. How to update macOS Mojave beta to final version

  4. The download of macOS Mojave installer will begin within the Software Update control panel, showing a progress bar with a time remaining estimate *

    5. How to download the final version of macOS Mojave to the beta build to update to final

  5. When the download is complete, the “Install MacOS Mojave” window will immediately launch and be ready to update

    6. How to update macOS Mojave beta to final version

This will download the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” installer app into the /Applications folder of Mac OS. If you want to make a USB boot installer, now would be a good time to do so, otherwise just proceed with the update.

Now you’re ready to go. If you haven’t done so yet, you can prepare for the macOS Mojave installation by installing available software updates to apps, and backing up the Mac, and then you’re ready to go.

Once you have completed installation of the final version of macOS Mojave, you might want to remove the beta profile from the Mac running macOS Mojave so that you no longer receive beta system software updates to that computer. Removing the beta profile is done through the “Software Update” preference panel in macOS Mojave, doing so then insures all future software updates to macOS Mojave will be final builds (for example macOS 10.14.1, macOS 10.14.2, macOS 10.14.3, 10.14.4, 10.14.5, etc) rather than any beta testing release. And yes you can always opt back into beta testing macOS if you feel like it.

* For what it’s worth, you can also track the download progress of the full macOS Mojave installer from the Mac App Store Updates tab, though presumably that won’t be the case for any future software updates to macOS Mojave since the update mechanism has relocated back to System Preferences.

Thanks to JR for leaving this great tip in our comments! If you know of any alternate methods or approaches to update to macOS Mojave final from the beta version, or to download the final installer from the beta version, share them in the comments below!

Source: OSX Daily

September 24, 2018 0 comment
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How to Prepare for and Install macOS Mojave

written by applenws

Now that MacOS Mojave is available to download for all Mac users, you may be interested in updating to the latest and greatest Mac system software release. But before diving in with the installation, it’s often a good idea to prepare a Mac for a major system software update.

This article will go through a handful of simple tips that can help to prepare a Mac for the MacOS Mojave update.

Update now, or wait?

Many Mac users are going to be excited to install MacOS Mojave right away, and features like Dark Mode will be a particularly strong pull to many. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with updating immediately, and you’ll be amongst the first users to experience all the new features macOS Mojave has to offer, others might want to take a more cautious approach and wait a little while before installing any new system software.

Some Mac users will wait for a later point release update to come along before installing a new system software version, with the idea being that the first (or several) point releases will include bug fixes and enhancements that could improve the overall experience. Maybe that could be macOS 10.14.1, macOS 10.14.2, macOS 10.14.3, or even a later version. Or maybe they need to wait for a particularly important third party app to support the latest macOS release. Maybe you decide to skip Mojave entirely because you’re thrilled with Sierra or El Capitan or whatever you’re currently running, that’s OK too. It’s your computer, do what works best for you!

Check Compatibility

MacOS Mojave has some stricter system requirements than prior versions of Mac system software. The list of Macs compatible with MacOS Mojave is as follows:

  • MacBook – early 2015 or later
  • MacBook Air – mid 2012 or later
  • MacBook Pro – mid 2012 or later
  • Mac Mini – late 2012 or later
  • iMac – late 2012 or later
  • iMac Pro
  • Mac Pro – late 2013 or later
  • Mac Pro – mid 2010 or mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable graphics processor, including MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 and Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580

Aside from having a Mac which supports the MacOS Mojave release, it’s also a good idea etc have around 20 GB (or more) of free disk space available to install the software update.

Backup the Mac

Having a full backup of your Mac and all important data is critical, especially before installing a major new system software update.

Don’t skip the backup process. A failure to complete a full backup of the Mac could lead to irreversible and permanent data loss if something goes awry during the software update process. Having backups can prevent that from happening.

It’s very easy to use Time Machine to backup a Mac as discussed here. You can also use another backup service of your choosing, as long as you are backing up your Mac and the important data on it.

Consider App Compatibility & Update Apps

Most Mac apps will work fine in macOS Mojave, and most active software developers will be updating their apps to fully support macOS Mojave if they have not done so already. Nonetheless it’s a good idea to consider app compatibility, and to update apps so that they work in the latest macOS Mojave release.

If you have a single app that is absolutely mission critical to your workflow and productivity, you might want to investigate that app specifically for compatibility with macOS Mojave before installing the system software update. Often the easiest way to do that is usually by going to the app developers website, support section, or contact the app developer directly via customer service to see if there are any special notes about macOS Mojave compatibility.

Often simply going to the Mac App Store “Updates” tab and installing all available app updates will get the job done too, and over the weeks after updating to macOS Mojave it’s a good idea to return to the Updates section of the App Store to install them as they come in too.

Ready? Install the MacOS Mojave Update

So you’ve determined you have a compatible Mac, you updated your apps, and you backed up the entire computer so that your data is safe… now you’re ready to install macOS Mojave!

The final version of MacOS Mojave is available to download now, and installing the update is quite simple:

  1. Backup the Mac if you have not done so already
  2. Download the MacOS Mojave installer app from the Mac App Store here
  3. The MacOS Mojave installer will launch automatically*

    4. Install macOS Mojave

  4. Run through the installer and update to MacOS Mojave, the Mac will reboot automatically when complete

That’s it! Updating to macOS Mojave is simple and relatively quick, if you already have the installer downloaded it’s about 45 minutes on the Macs I have tested the process on.

* If you wish to make a bootable USB installer for macOS Mojave for using to install on other Macs or as a boot drive, quit out of the installer first and then proceed with that process. If you run the installer and install MacOS Mojave, the installer will delete itself from your Applications folder when complete.

–

Did you update to macOS Mojave already? Will you update right away or are you going to wait a while? What has been your experience? Share your experiences, comments, and thoughts below!

Source: OSX Daily

September 24, 2018 0 comment
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How to Show Full URL & Subdomains in Google Chrome 69

written by applenws

The latest versions of Google Chrome web browser default to not showing the full URL of a website, stripping away any subdomains, including the “www” subdomain prefix, and URL schemes, which are labeled as ‘trivial’ by Chrome. This is controversial given that many websites use subdomains and “www” to host completely different websites, but nonetheless the setting is the new default in the Chrome browser.

If you’re a Google Chrome browser user and you want to always show the full URL including “www” or any subdomain, you can re-enable the display of full URL schemes in Chrome 69 or newer.


The setting adjustment applies to all new versions of Chrome, and while the screenshots demonstrated here are for Google Chrome on a Mac, the setting is the exact same on Google Chrome for Windows, Chrome for Linux, Chrome for Chrome OS, and Chrome for Android too. Thus, regardless of what operating system you’re using Chrome on, if you’d like to you can adjust the setting to show the complete URL and subdomains.

How to Make Chrome Show Subdomains & Full URL Again

  1. Open Chrome if you haven’t done so already
  2. In the URL bar of chrome, enter the following link to access the Chrome URL subdomain setting:

    3. chrome://flags/#omnibox-ui-hide-steady-state-url-scheme-and-subdomains

  3. Locate the setting named “Omnibox UI Hide Steady-State URL Scheme for Trivial Subdomains”
  4. Pull down the menu next to “Omnibox UI Hide Steady-State URL Scheme for Trivial Subdomains” and choose “Disabled” from the dropdown menu list

    5. Show the full URL and subdomain in Chrome

  5. Restart the Chrome browser (you can click ‘Relaunch Now’ once it appears, or manually quit and relaunch Chrome) for changes to take effect in Chrome

When you relaunch Chrome with “Omnibox UI Hide Steady-State URL Scheme for Trivial Subdomains” set to ‘Disabled’ you’ll see the full URL and any or all subdomains for any domain or link again.

This URL and subdomain setting applies to Chrome in MacOS, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, and Android.

Why this change was made in Chrome isn’t entirely clear, but a somewhat similar URL obfuscating default setting exists in Safari on the Mac, which defaults to showing only the domain (including the subdomain however) while stripping away the rest of the URL. Many Safari users also want to see the full link however, in which case users can toggle a setting to show the full website URL in Safari for Mac as instructed here. It’s uncertain why many popular modern web browsers are going out of there way to hide portions of website URLs is not entirely clear, but many web users do like to see the complete URL of a website, and web developers in particular are generally highly attuned to full website URLs.

Another notable change in the latest versions of Chrome browser is the redesigned interface, and while that’s much more of a visual preference some users may like to remove and disable the new Chrome theme UI and return to the classic appearance of the browser.

If you have any tips, thoughts, or suggestions about Chrome showing or hiding subdomains of a URL, URL schemes, or otherwise, share with us in the comments below!

Source: OSX Daily

September 11, 2018 0 comment
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How to Disable Google Chrome UI Theme Redesign and Return to Classic UI

written by applenws

If you have updated Google Chrome web browser recently you likely noticed there is a new themed visual overhaul called Material Design that comes along for the ride. The new themed Chrome appears to come as the default in Chrome version 69 or later. While some users may be pleased with the new theme look in Chrome and the different user interface, others may prefer Chrome to respect the operating systems default visual appearance instead of using a unique theme.

If you’d like to disable the newly redesigned Chrome browser themed interface, you can do so by toggling a vaguely named setting in the Chrome app.


Disabling the theme is demonstrated here on Chrome for a Mac, but the flag and setting to disable the new theme should be the same on Chrome for Windows and Linux too.

How to Disable Chrome UI Redesign in Chrome 69+

Want to return Chrome to the regular classic interface rather than the new themed appearance defaulted in Chrome 69 or later? Here is how to do that:

  1. In the URL bar of chrome, enter the following link:

    2. chrome://flags/#top-chrome-md

  2. Search for “UI Layout for the browser’s top chrome” *
  3. Pull down the submenu next to “UI Layout for the browser’s top chrome” and select “Normal” from the dropdown list of options

    4. How to disable Chrome interface theme redesign

  4. Restart the Chrome browser (quit and relaunch) for the visual change to take effect

Once Chrome relaunches, Chrome will no longer feature the redesigned rounded interface that differs from the rest of the operating system, and instead it should have the regular classic interface again.

Here’s the regular Chrome interface UI renabled:

Chrome back to normal interface UI

And here’s what the newly redesigned Chrome UI looked like before:

Chrome UI theme redesign

While this is demonstrated on Chrome for Mac, the setting should be the exact same in Chrome for Windows and Chrome for Linux too, because each uses the same settings://flags system, and each now features the redesigned interface for the latest versions.

That’s all there is to it. You can always change the interface back again if you’d like, or choose one of the other drop-down settings from “UI Layout for the browser’s top chrome” and see what it looks like or if it suits your visual preferences.

* The curiously labeled “UI Layout for the browser’s top chrome” and the associated paragraph attempting to explain the setting is a bit of a nondescript word salad, but believe it or not changing that setting to “Normal” will remove the new theme interface in Chrome and return Chrome to the default classic user interface of the operating system.

If you enjoyed this tip, you may appreciate some of our other Chrome tips here too.

Source: OSX Daily

September 10, 2018 0 comment
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How to Use Maps in Globe View on Mac

written by applenws

Have you ever wanted a little digital globe you could interact with, spinning the Earth around to see the continents, oceans, and features of our planet? If so, you’ll be happy to discover that the Maps app on the Mac has a hidden globe view that allows you to interact with and spin planet Earth as a virtual globe.

The hidden globe view in Maps can be a great feature for obvious geography reasons, whether it’s for informational, exploration, educational uses, just having a little fun, or any other reason you’d like to reference a globe. Even more interesting is that Maps Globe view uses satellite data to show the Earth surface relative to the sun, making both day time and night time views visible depending on the time of day. The whole Globe view is quite interesting and fun to play with.

Read on to learn how to access Globe view in the Maps application for Mac.

How to Access Globe View on Maps for Mac

Ready to switch the Maps app into Globe view? Here’s how you can do that:

  1. Open the “Maps” application on the Mac

    2. Maps icon on Mac

  2. Choose “Satellite” view by clicking the button in the upper right corner

    3. How to access Globe view on Maps for Mac

  3. Now zoom out in Maps view, you can zoom out by clicking the minus “[-]” button in the bottom right corner of Maps app or by using a pinch gesture on a tracking surface

    4. How to access Globe view on Maps for Mac

  4. Keep zooming out until you see Maps has entered into Globe view

    5. How to access Globe view on Maps for Mac

  5. Interact with the Maps app as usual, you can spin the globe, rotate it around in just about any orientation with a click and drag, zoom in and out, etc

You can zoom in and out of globe view quite fast with the pinch and spread gestures on a tracking surface.

One of the more compelling aspects of Globe view in Maps is that it uses updated satellite imagery based on time of day and the Earth position relative to the sun, so you can see where night and day fall on the globe.

Maps Globe view showing where night and day meet

The daytime view is brightly lit as you’d expect and makes identifying continents, oceans, and land features pretty easy. The night time view of the world is quite fascinating as well because it uses detailed satellite imagery to show light pollution on the surface of Earth, making it easy to locate cities, developments, and the human behavior on the planet, visible much like the glowing activity of humans is from the International Space Station, NASA imagery, or some other satellite or space craft (maybe this trick could be extra helpful to any aliens out there floating around in space looking down at Earth but haven’t figured out quite where to land yet).

Maps Globe view showing night time on part of Globe view

And yes if you’re an iOS user and you were wondering, the Maps app on iPhone and iPad also has globe view that is accessible in basically the same way as this, hidden behind Satellite view and requiring lots of zooming out to see.

Exiting out of Globe view is just a matter of either choosing the “Map” mode of Maps app, or zooming into any surface on the Earth close enough so that the globe is no longer visible.

Some Maps features work in Globe view while others don’t, for example you can drop pins and share a location while in Globe view, but features like scale indicators and saving Maps as a PDF don’t entirely work while in Globe view. You can also use “Show Labels” to toggle off or on the labeling of cities and continents.

Pretty cool, huh? If you have any other interesting tips, tricks, or insight about the Maps app or the hidden Globe view, share with us in the comments! Or check out other Maps tips for both the Mac and iOS platforms.

Source: OSX Daily

September 10, 2018 0 comment
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How to Disable True Tone on MacBook Pro Display

written by applenws

The latest MacBook Pro models include True Tone capable displays which automatically adjust the screen colors to resemble external ambient lighting conditions. This feature can make the screen appearance more pleasing to the eye in some lighting situations, but if you require color accuracy for your work, you may find the True Tone feature to be a hindrance to your workflow, and thus you may want to disable True Tone on the MacBook Pro.

Quickly, it’s important to note that True Tone is a different feature from Night Shift, which has similar effects on color hue, but Night Shift warms the display only in the evening and night time hours, whereas True Tone will adjust the display hue and colors all day long in any lighting conditions. Additionally, Night Shift is software only, whereas True Tone works by detecting ambient lighting conditions and then adjusting the onscreen colors of the display to be more consistent with ambient lighting, typically making the screen hue more warm or cold as it shifts depending on.

How to Turn Off True Tone on MacBook Pro

If your MacBook Pro has a True Tone capable display, here is how to turn off that feature so that the screen colors are always consistent no matter the ambient lighting conditions:

  1. Go to the  Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”
  2. Go to the “Displays” preference panel and choose the “Display” tab
  3. Uncheck the box next to “True Tone” to disable True Tone on the Mac

    4. Disable True Tone on Mac display

  4. Close out of System Preferences as usual

If you disable True Tone the effects are immediate, and if the feature is currently active it will disable and the colors will shift back to their default state.

Of course you can reverse this decision at any time and re-enable True Tone on the display by toggling that setting back on again.

If you’re going to disable True Tone but want to have the screen colors to be softer on the eyes in the evenings and night times only, using Night Shift on the Mac is highly recommended on a schedule. It’s important to remember that Night Shift should be temporarily disabled for any color accurate work requirements as well.

While True Tone is a new feature to only certain model MacBook Pro machines (the 2018 hardware release and onward), it’s likely to expand further into the Mac lineup, and the feature also exists on some devices in the iOS world, including the iPhone and iPad Pro. Similarly, many users who require color accuracy on those devices may want to disable True Tone on iPhone and disable True Tone on iPad as well. Again, True Tone is hardware specific even in iOS, but Night Shift in iOS is available for every iPhone or iPad model and can be set on a schedule too.

Whether or not you like or use True Tone is probably going to depend on your particular work. Many casual users likely won’t even notice True Tone and thus will keep it on, and perhaps many Mac users who mostly work with text environments will find it to be most useful. However for Mac users who require color accuracy for their work, typically for design, photo editing, video editing, and other similar multimedia activity, disabling True Tone is likely going to be a necessity so that they can maintain an accurate color profile of their work.

Do you use True Tone on the Mac? Did you disable True Tone for Mac for color accuracy reasons, or for another reason? Let us know in the comments!

Source: OSX Daily

September 8, 2018 0 comment
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How to Get Octal File Permissions from Command Line in Mac OS

written by applenws

Command line users are likely familiar with using chmod to set file permissions in numerical or octal format, for example running a command like ‘chmod 755 filename’, but have you ever wondered how you can get file permissions in octal format?

If you want to see or view the octal numerical value of permissions of any file or folder via the command line, you can turn to the stat command in Mac OS to do so.

We’re assuming you have a reasonable level of experience and comfort at the command line, if you don’t then this article likely isn’t relevant to you. Most Mac users will only ever view or change file permissions through the Mac Finder as described elsewhere (if even that), whereas this particular article is aimed at more advanced users.

How to Get Numerical chmod Permissions Values on the Mac

To get started, launch the Terminal app from /Applications/ on the Mac and use the following commands:

stat -f %A file.txt

For example, that command may output something like the following:

$ stat -f %A wget-1.18.tar.gz
644

Where, in this example, ‘644’ is the octal value of that files permissions.

Alternatively, you can use -f and %OLp (yes that’s an upper case ‘o’ and not a zero), the output will be the same assuming the file is too:

stat -f %OLp /Applications/System Preferences.app

Example output for that command may look like the following, showing the numerical octal value permissions for the target item:

$ stat -f "%OLp" '/Applications/System Preferences.app'
775

In this example, the “System Preferences” application has a octal permissions value of 775.

How to get file permissions as octal value on Mac from command line

You should not need to use quotations, though if you need for some reason to escape a file name or path, or for scripting purposes, they’re easy to place like so:

stat -f "%OLp" '/Applications/System Preferences.app'

The -f flag is for format, you can read more about specific formatting options for the stat output from the manual page on stat with ‘man stat’.

In the latter command case, the “O” (upper case o) is specifically for achieving octal output.

Knowing the exact numerical permissions of a file or folder is wildly useful for so many reasons, and it can be helpful to know this if you’re adjusting the permissions of various items, or even if you’re moving files on the Mac and want to maintain the exact permissions and to verify it after the fact. There are countless other uses as well, particularly if you’re running a server of any sort from the Mac.

These commands should work the same for retrieving octal permissions in just about any version of macOS, MacOS, or Mac OS X, regardless of how the naming convention is capitalized. Notably however, is that the approach to getting octal permissions on the Mac is different from the rest of the Linux world, thus if you’re coming to the Mac from the Linux world you’ll need to adjust the stat command flags to accurately get the permissions in octal format, we’ll cover that quickly next.

Getting Octal File Permissions from Command Line in Linux

For the sake of being thorough, we’ll briefly discuss getting octal permissions values in the Linux world as well, where you can use the following to get the octal file permissions:

stat -c "%a %n" /Path/To/File

You can also more simply use the stat -c command:

stat -c %a /Path/To/File.txt

The numerical value output will be the same regardless, as long as the inputted target file is the same of course.

Again, these latter two approaches are linux specific, and you’ll need to use the methods outlined further above to get octal values of permissions of a file in Mac OS.

Do you know of any other methods or approaches to retrieving the numerical value of file permissions on a Mac? Share them in the comments below!

Source: OSX Daily

September 6, 2018 0 comment
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