tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90301252894437387492024-03-08T13:05:46.247+00:00Time SinkerI've sunk the time so you don't have to ;)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-74168435833703707352020-10-08T11:33:00.006+01:002022-10-24T23:34:08.157+01:00iPhone black screen of death<p>So your iPhone is stuck with a white Apple logo stuck on a black background. You've searched the Internet and somehow ended up here...</p><p>I've found that if you try the following you can get it restart again ok:</p><p>1) Put the <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263" target="_blank">device into restore mode </a></p><p>2) Hold down the power button till it reboots</p><p>3) Once it starts rebooting try clicking the power button and/or home button for a few seconds at a time</p><p>4) It either restarts normally, or try again - go back to step 1/2</p><p>I know it seems a bit random but it can work if nothing else does. Though it probably indicates there's a hardware problem with your device if this keeps happening even after you do a full restore or two...</p><p><b>Update (Oct22):</b> If you're seeing a black screen on a newer iPhone (e.g. 10+ onwards) with only three buttons (i.e. power, volume up and down) then you can try the hard reset sequence:</p><p>1) Tap on volume up</p><p>2) Tap on volume down</p><p>3) Hold down on the power button until it reboots</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-9585854768736379112020-10-01T13:06:00.011+01:002020-10-13T11:34:10.533+01:00UKC19TRACING - What is it?<p>If you've been taken here after scanning a UK COVID venue QR code - your device offering to search for "UKC19TRACING" - then to make use of this QR code you'll need to load the <a href="https://covid19.nhs.uk/" target="_blank">UK NHS COVID19 app</a> on your device so you can "check in" to the visited venue where the QR code is displayed. This is the app that is based on the purportedly privacy preserving <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_Notification" target="_blank">Apple and Google Exposure Notification</a> system so in theory your 'check-in' is anonymous and probably preferable to writing down your address/phone at said venue.<br /></p><p>On an Apple iPhone/iPad when you scan these QR codes from the lock screen camera it will attempt to search for "UKC19TRACING" - which why you may have arrived here. Curiously this doesn't happen when the device is not locked and instead says "No usable Data found". </p><p>If you extract the content from one of these [big!] QR codes (with one of the many QR code scanning apps) it starts with "UKC19TRACING" and is then followed ":1:" and after that the main section is encoded in JSON Web Signature (JWS) [See <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7515" target="_blank">RFC7515</a>] format. Basically this consists of the following; after the "UKC19TRACING:1:" part there's three sequences of base64 separated by a dot("."), the second of which contains the venue name and postcode, and the other contain the signature and associated details - see <a href="https://www.revk.uk/2020/09/how-not-to-qr-nhs-c19-app.html" target="_blank">here for more details</a>.<br /></p><p>If you're interested in creating a QR code for your venue see the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/create-coronavirus-qr-poster" target="_blank">the relevant gov.uk site</a>.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-12240320525913684862019-08-30T14:14:00.002+01:002019-09-02T21:12:21.540+01:00cat: -: No such file or directoryA weird error that took me a while to track down. I came across it in the <a href="https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/networking/iproute2" target="_blank">iproute2 </a>configure script which was setting the TMPDIR environment variable before using a <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">cat</span> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_document#Unix_shells" target="_blank">heredoc</a> statement (e.g. when you include some data in a shell script which demarked using markers - in this case 'EOF'):<br />
<pre>TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d config.XXXXXX)
cat >test.c <<EOF
stuff and more stuff
EOF </pre>
The problem is that the TMPDIR variable is used by the cat command. And in this case the TMPDIR is set to the output of <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">mktemp</span> which creates a temporary directory in the current working directory, but this is not usable by the cat command and results in the above error - it seems that cat command will only accept a TMPDIR if it is in /tmp and fails if it is set to another base directory?! According the man page mktemp is supposed to default to using /tmp but it's not working on Linux - It works fine on MacOS. Anyway so one just need to make the following change:<br />
<pre>TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d /tmp/config.XXXXXX)</pre>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-61510526358139941912018-03-26T11:49:00.001+01:002022-10-24T23:36:10.239+01:00Fix: Text message (SMS) Not DeliveredSo your iPhone/Phone is unable send text messages - It shows a red exclamation mark <span style="color: red;">(!)</span> beside the message and says <b>Not Delivered</b> - you've tried to send an SMS (Green coloured message boxes) to a few people over a few days and it's still not working. You've tried <i>Settings->General->Reset->Reset Networking Settings</i><b>, </b> <i>Settings->General->Reset->Reset All Settings</i>, restarting your iPhone, pulling the SIM in/out and read <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht204065" target="_blank">Apple's help page</a> - all to no avail.<br />
<br />
Then the problem may be down to an issue with the Short Message Service Centre (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Message_service_center" target="_blank">SMSC</a>) setting on your phone - which is used when sending SMS messages. It can be checked/modified from the normal Phone app - type in the the following codes into the keypad and hitting the call button to see what the current SMSC setting is:<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">*#5005*7672#</span><br />
You should then see a grey box fill the screen with a message:<br />
<br />
<b>Setting Interrogation Succeeded</b><br />
<b>Service Centre Address</b><br />
<br />
Immediately below this text you'll see the number that your phone is using as your SMSC. You can search the Internet for your operator's SMSC and if it doesn't match the one you see above then you can set it to the correct one using the following general code - you'll need replace in the SMSCNUMBER with your operator's SMSC (to the get the plus(+) symbol you need to hold your finger down on the zero key):<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>**5005*7672*SMSCNUMBER#</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><br /></i></span>
e.g.: For Talk Talk UK:<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">**5005*7672*+447785011324#</span><br />
e.g.: For Vodafone UK:<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">**5005*7672*+447785016005#</span><br />
<div>
e.g.: For O2 Prepay UK:<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">**5005*7672*+447802092035#</span></div>
<br />
After you hit the call button it will bring up another grey box saying:<br />
<br />
<b>Setting succeeded</b><br />
<b>Service Centre Address</b><br />
<b>No Address</b><br />
<br />
This means it's done and SMS/texting should work now - Try it and see! (If not then revisit my suggestions in the first paragraph).<br />
<br />
For other phones (e.g. Android) the above should work, but you can also apparently bring up a special Phone information screen where you can check and modify your SMSC by typing this code on the Phone keypad:<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">*#*#4636#*#*</span><br />
<br />
The SMSC is usually stored in the SIM card on your phone - for SIM card reader folk (see my other <a href="http://timesinker.blogspot.com/2016/04/using-cheap-sim-card-readers.html">article on SIM readers</a>): it's at EF SMSP (short message service parameters), the full path to the file is <em>7F10 / 6F42 </em>or using AT commands:<em> </em>AT+CSCA?<em>. </em><br />
<br />
As to why the SMSC might have changed - feel free to comment on that!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-37804455386761835922017-07-03T14:59:00.002+01:002017-07-04T12:20:08.904+01:00Websites (e.g. TfL) not working in FirefoxHave you been trying use websites, like Transport for London (TfL) <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/" target="_blank">journey planner</a>, in Firefox recently (or for a while) and found that they seem broken - e.g. TfL only shows the bus route?! Well you're not the only one. Since Firefox version 42 Mozilla has enabled <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Privacy/Tracking_Protection" target="_blank">Tracking Protection</a> which is generally a very good thing (as there's way too many trackers out there keeping tabs on where/when/what you're up to). Sadly some sites aren't designed to cope with that so they fail to work properly - like TfL and others.<br />
<br />
Fortunately it's easy to fix once you know how: When Firefox blocks tracking elements it helpfully puts an additional 'shield' <img align="centre" border="0" data-original-height="21" data-original-width="18" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DUpM3HptsLQ/WVt5ZXe95AI/AAAAAAAAAgE/i0cvYzsOlSc2myvgecKDAudqYTWjEzoUgCLcBGAs/s1600/shield.png" />
icon in the URL bar to indicate the fact. If you click on the shield icon it shows a button to 'Disable protection for this site' - which disables tracker blocking for that site - you'll then see a line drawn through the shield to indicate this.<br />
<br />
One other thing is that if you also use other blocker plugins/extensions in Firefox (e.g. uBlock, Ghostery, AdBlockPlus) you may also need exempt the site in those too.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-69427332362080986202016-11-10T11:15:00.001+00:002016-11-10T11:15:26.812+00:00Delete pending Calander invites - without notifying sender So we all get these calendar (iCal) invites which the MacOS/OSX Calendar app then notifies us about in its badge icon and on the '+' button in the app. But what if you don't want to accept or reply to these invites - annoyingly enough there is no way to just delete them without sending some form of notification.<br />
<br />
So how to go about getting rid of them? Well there's actually a way to do it - You create a new Calender (File->New Calendar->iCloud) and just leave the default 'untitled' name, then you find those pesky invites and right click on them and assign them to this new 'untitled' calendar. Then you right click on the untitled calendar and select delete - it then finally asks you if you want to delete without notifications! Gone. Done. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-16837448463439586002016-06-07T14:11:00.002+01:002016-06-07T14:11:43.592+01:00Regenerate missing modules.dep.binIf you're seeing a problem with a missing <code>modules.dep.bin or modules.dep </code> file(s) on your Linux/Ubuntu/Arch box (e.g. libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod.c:XXX kmod_search_moddep: could not open moddep file '/lib/modules/kernel_release/modules.dep.bin'), then it may be rebuilt using the depmod command:<br />
<pre>sudo depmod</pre>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-49821901625058249432016-05-02T21:36:00.002+01:002018-04-11T13:54:46.743+01:00Fix Handbrake crash on OSX(10.11) El Capitan I just tried to use <a href="https://handbrake.fr/" target="_blank">Handbrake</a> (version 0.99) to rip a DVD on OS X 10.11.4 and it crashed halfways through so I ran Handbrake's update (0.10.5) but it still crashed ;( It turns out that OSX El Capitan has removed a software library that is used to decrypt DVDs (libdvdcss) from the system - so if you've got an older dodgier version (of libdvdcss) lying around it works but crashes. Either that or Handbrake fails to find anything on the DVD you're trying to rip, as <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/osx/comments/3n6gz4/el_capitan_apparently_broke_handbrake_ripping/" target="_blank">mentioned on Reddit</a>.<br />
<br />
To fix the problem you need to install an up to date version of libdvdcss - either by <a href="http://download.videolan.org/libdvdcss/1.2.12/macosx/libdvdcss.2.dylib" target="_blank">downloading</a> a slightly old version and copying it into the /usr/loca/lib e.g. if the downloaded library file is in Downloads:<br />
<pre>sudo cp ~/Downloads/libdvdcss.2.dylib /usr/local/lib
</pre>
Or you can build/install the latest version using <a href="https://www.macports.org/" target="_blank">Macports</a>, <a href="http://brew.sh/" target="_blank">homebrew</a>, or from <a href="http://www.videolan.org/developers/libdvdcss.html" target="_blank">source</a>. If you use Macports then you may need to link the macports installed version to /usr/local/lib (so that Handbrake can find it):<br />
<pre>sudo ln -s /opt/local/lib/libdvdcss.2.dylib /usr/local/lib
</pre>
Now start Handbrake and you should be good to go... <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-6293243945184715382016-04-29T21:18:00.000+01:002017-01-31T10:49:15.479+00:00Using cheap SIM card readersI ordered one of those cheap SIM (Smart card) card readers (often in blue plastic) that take a while to arrive from China. When it showed up I plugged it into my on Linux box and it was recognised as:<br />
<pre>$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 017: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port
...
</pre>
And it had created a serial device: /dev/ttyUSB0. So how do you actually use the thing? It ships with a dodgy mini-CD full of some apparently even dodgier Windows software - not much use. If you try to connect to the serial port using minicom etc you don't get much.<br />
<br />
However it is possible to use it on Linux (Whilst OSX has shipped with the relevant deamon <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">pcscd</span> for a while, it seems that <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">openct</span> is not fully supported so it may not work with this little blue one - unless someone ports it). There are two ways to use it - the simplest way is to use apps that can talk directly to the serial port and communicate with the device such as <a href="http://www.ladyada.net/make/simreader/index.html" target="_blank">pysimreader</a> or <a href="http://wiki.yatebts.com/index.php/PySIM" target="_blank">pysim</a>.<br />
<br />
The second more advanced way requires some setup on Linux - so you'll need to install a few packages:<br />
<pre>$ sudo apt-get install pcscd openct pcsc-tools
</pre>
Then to get the SIM reader going you need to add the following to the openct config file (/etc/openct.conf) - so it knows where to find the SIM reader (it's known as a "phoenix" style reader):<br />
<div>
<div>
<pre>reader phoenix {
driver = phoenix;
device = serial:/dev/ttyUSB0;
};
</pre>
</div>
</div>
And uncomment the following lines in openct config file for pcscd (/etc/reader.conf.d/openct) - so that it recognises openct devices:<br />
<div>
<div>
<pre>FRIENDLYNAME "OpenCT"
DEVICENAME /dev/null
LIBPATH /usr/lib/openct-ifd.so
CHANNELID 0
</pre>
</div>
</div>
Then you make sure the SIM reader is plugged in and restart the daemons:<br />
<pre>$ sudo /etc/init.d/openct restart
sudo /etc/init.d/pcscd restart
</pre>
Then you should be good to go. You can check the device has been recognised by using the pcsc_scan utility - and you should see it find the OpenCT Reader as below:<br />
<pre>$ pcsc_scan
PC/SC device scanner
V 1.4.22 (c) 2001-2011, Ludovic Rousseau <ludovic.rousseau@free.fr>
Compiled with PC/SC lite version: 1.8.10
Using reader plug'n play mechanism
Scanning present readers...
0: OpenCT 00 00
Fri Apr 29 16:25:33 2016
Reader 0: OpenCT 00 00
Card state: Card inserted, Shared Mode,
ATR: .....
</pre>
<br />
Then you can try out apps like <a href="http://pannetrat.com/Cardpeek" target="_blank">cardpeek</a> and others - install it using apt-get:<br />
<pre>$ sudo apt-get install cardpeek</pre>
<br />
One can use it to read any compatible smart card chip using the reader. If you want to try reading a credit card you'll need to chop out the smart card section to make it into a SIM shape so it can fit into the unit. There's a bunch of more esoteric apps/libs on Github for this stuff like <a href="https://github.com/mitshell/card" target="_blank">card</a>, <a href="https://github.com/kamwar/simLAB/wiki" target="_blank">simLAB</a>, etc. It is also possible to use the device <a href="https://ohnomoregadgets.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/free-wifi-with-eap-sim-on-a-desktop-computer/" target="_blank">to authenticate to EAP-SIM/AKA WiFi</a> (thanks to this guy for his blog post that helped me on some of the above).<br />
<br />
Note: If you find that the apps aren't working properly (check the logs for weird behaviour - enable logging - in openct edit /etc/openct.conf and add/modify debug = 9, for pcscd start it manually: sudo pcscd -a -d and then you'll have them both log to syslog) you may have a buggy version of openct (I had a problem with openct 0.6.20-1.2ubuntu1) so you'll need to get the latest version from the <a href="https://github.com/OpenSC/openct" target="_blank">openct</a> site and install that instead. Note that you'll probably need to build it from source e.g:<br />
<pre>$ git clone https://github.com/OpenSC/openct.git
cd openct
./bootstrap
./configure --enable-pcsc
make
sudo make install
</pre>
Then you'll need to edit the openct config file for pcscd (/etc/reader.conf.d/openct) - so that it uses the newly installed version of openct in /usr/local:<br />
<div>
<div>
<pre> LIBPATH /usr/local/lib/openct-ifd.so
</pre>
</div>
</div>
Then restart things:<br />
<pre>$ sudo /etc/init.d/openct stop
sudo /usr/local/sbin/openct-control init
sudo /etc/init.d/pcscd restart
</pre>
Now you should be on track again. <br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Updated: 5may16: Adding simple serial apps]</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-12235651132969371182016-02-24T12:41:00.002+00:002016-02-24T12:41:28.404+00:00Headphone jack stopped working on your iPad?The headphone jack on my iPad just stopped working - i.e. when I plugged in my headphones sound still came out of the built-in speakers and I heard nothing in my headphones (the plug was fully inserted). Darn it the jack must have finally broken...?! But then again it could just be a software issue (iOS9.2.1) - so I powered off my iPad and then switched it on again. Low and behold the headphone jack was back to normal! (This fix may also work for iPhones...).Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-43247969605269940242016-02-23T11:31:00.000+00:002016-02-23T18:11:29.379+00:00Sharepoint access fixed in Office 2016 for MacSome people may have noticed that the previous Office update (15.18 (160109)) <a href="http://microqueska.com/office-2016-mac/63459-Sharepoint-access-broken-in-latest-Mac-Office-update#more-63459" target="_blank">broke</a> their 'Online Locations' access to Microsoft SharePoint woskspace servers on Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The latest update (15.19.1 (160212)) fixes this problem - Get it by going to Help->Check for Updates.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-55177401617537782482015-12-01T14:27:00.000+00:002015-12-01T14:30:02.327+00:00The iPhone “...” cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all the selected itemsWhen you start syncing your iDevice in iTunes and then you get this annoying message (especially when it tells you it needs like 1.4MB and there is 300MB available?!): 'The iPhone/iPad “iPhone(insert name)” cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all the selected items'. What do you do?<br />
<br />
Basically the problem, in many cases, seems to be that iTunes thinks it has too many updates to install on your iPhone/iPad and it isn't smart enough to load them one at a time when there's not enough space to do them all??<br />
<br />
Fortunately it can often be side-stepped by just taking your iPhone/iPad and clicking on the App Store app, then tapping on the Updates tab, and then tapping on 'Update All' at the top right. If that complains that there's not enough space you can let do some updates then try again (and again) and will update the rest of the apps. Then the sync should be fine with iTunes. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-12119337827389896982015-11-25T18:58:00.001+00:002016-05-03T13:50:35.471+01:00iOS9 on older devicesThe performance of iOS9 (9.0.2,9.1) on older devices iPad mini 1,2 is terrible (and to a less degree the iPhone 4s) - no amount of settings tweaks (like Settings-Accessibility->'Reduce Motion' off, Background refresh off, Hard reset etc) as mentioned across the Internet make much difference. There is a substantial lag in performance and speed as compared to iOS8.4.1 or earlier. Don't upgrade if you haven't already!<br />
<br />
Note: It's no longer possible to revert to iOS8.4.1 (or 9.0.2 for that matter) as Apple is <a href="https://ipsw.me/signed" target="_blank">not signing older</a> versions of iOS prior to iOS 9.1. To explain: Apple cryptographically signs iOS on every single device it is installed onto provide for enhanced security and integrity protection - and <i>secure booting</i> - as detailed in their <a href="https://www.apple.com/business/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf" target="_blank">iOS Security Guide</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Update[May16]: iOS 9.2/3 does improve things somewhat on the older devices (but I'd still advise staying with 8.4.1 unless you need particular iOS9 features/fixes). </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-20109194919243881352015-09-30T11:40:00.000+01:002015-09-30T12:21:46.336+01:00MythTV on Kodi (XBMC)I've been playing with <a href="http://kodi.tv/" target="_blank">Kodi</a> (once known as XBMC) which is a slick open-source media centre system that runs on almost everything (OSX, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Android, Windowz, even [jailbroken] iOS). I wanted to connect it to <a href="https://www.mythtv.org/" target="_blank">MythTV</a>, which is rather a handy open-source DVR for TV streaming and recording. So in Kodi (v15.1) I went to <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">System->Settings->Add-ons->My Add-ons->PVR Client->MythTV PVR Client</span> and then added the IP address of my MythTV server. That's all then I thought... so how does it work...?<br />
<br />
It's not entirely obvious - but very simple when you know how - you then need to go to <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">System->Settings->TV->Enable</span> and just enable it! Then a new TV menu item appears on the main screen with various options for interacting with MythTV - like watching live TV, or recorded shows etc.<br />
<br />
Also it seems that one can reduce the CPU load when running Kodi with the current versions by switching off the RSS display on the main screen by going to <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">System->Appearance->Show RSS news feeds</span> and disabling the option. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-60012926726699385642015-08-20T16:09:00.001+01:002015-08-20T16:09:16.349+01:00Apple Bluetooth keyboard problemsIf you've got an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard it may be working fine then one day it just seems to stop working (in a variety of ways such as; the caps/shift lock light not coming on, certain keys working (like alphanumeric) whilst others do (e.g. arrows keys)). So you search the Internet for 'Apple keyboard reset' or 'Apple keyboard fix problem' etc. There's a bunch of pages out there suggesting to just take out the batteries on the keyboard and then put then back in and reconnect the keyboard over Bluetooth.<br />
<br />
But it can also be caused by [temporary] software issues on your computer (with the Bluetooth drivers) - so try rebooting your machine (or iPad etc) and try again. It may well fix the problem - as the lack of a caps lock light etc isn't necessarily due to the keyboard itself.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-1408877012648543182015-07-13T10:48:00.001+01:002015-08-11T15:32:22.559+01:00Stopping iPhone Voice Control appearing (so much)Does the iPhone's Voice Control keeping appearing when you hit the home button? It's annoying as it is basically useless. So how does one disable it?? Well unfortunately without a jailbreak you can't (With a jailbreak you can install the Activator app and set the 'long hold' action on the home button to no action).<br />
<br />
However I've found that if you have the triple click Accessibility Shortcut enabled (for stuff like Invert Colours, Greyscale, Assistive Touch etc) then Voice Control seems to pop up a lot more. So if you want Voice Control to appear less often then try switching off the Accessibility shortcut - by going to Settings->General->Accessibility->Accessibility Shortcut and unticking all options. I think I've also noticed a slight overall responsiveness on the phone too (this is under iOS8.3 on ye olde iPhone 4S).Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-18061812675315926362015-01-30T12:38:00.004+00:002016-02-23T23:46:14.253+00:00How stop an iOS app from being upgraded by iTunes<div class="wmd-preview" id="wmd-preview">
So there's that app that you like the current version and newer ones just suck but iTunes doesn't make it easy to stop arbitrary apps from being upgraded. The problem with trying stop
an old app from being upgraded is that it's all or nothing - you can
either switch off automatic updates or you have to manually select the
apps you want to upgrade every time.<br />
<br />
The way to stop this is
to change the permissions on the app so that it's can't be deleted (nor
upgraded) by iTunes - first locate the app (e.g.
/Users/test/Music/iTunes/Mobile\ Applications/Twitter\
2.19.ipa )
Then you set the immutable flag on the app from the Terminal:<br />
<br />
<pre><code>chflags uchg /Users/test/Music/iTunes/Mobile\ Applications/Twitter\ 2.19.ipa
</code></pre>
<br />
When iTunes tries to update the app it tries to delete and
replace it with the newer version but it fails ('Saying the original
file can't be found'). But you can ignore that warning.<br />
<br />
If you want to upgrade it at another point you'll need to just delete it and rerun iTunes so that it fetches the new version.<br />
<br />
<br />
Note: That apps are unique to your user ID so you can't just copy an app (an .ipa file) from someone else an install it on your device, though you can with if you have older copies of an app for your device installed with that user ID.<br />
<br />
Update:27nov15: Unfortunately it's not clear that this technique does stop iTunes from upgrading the apps in all situations;(<br />
<br />
Update:23feb16: If this doesn't work you can copy the desired version of the app ipa file elsewhere and then delete the app from iTunes and then copy in the older version and sync again.<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-13666213255383442042015-01-15T16:46:00.001+00:002015-12-01T14:28:04.064+00:00iTunes stopped syncing with iPhone?The other day - as had happened a few times before - when I plugged my iPhone/iPad into my Mac iTunes failed to automatically start. Indeed iTunes didn't even seem recognise that my iPhone was plugged in - neither when directly plugged into USB nor when trying to 'sync over WiFi'. Another odd symptom was that my iPhone suddenly started to ask if I wanted to Trust this computer (that I have always synced to the past). A reboot had usually fixed this in the past but that's a pain so I snooped around for other answers - The usbmuxd daemon seemed to be complaining about weird stuff in the logs so I figured lets try and kill it! And low and behold that fixed the problem - usbmuxd restarted (probably care of launchd) and all was well again - iTunes saw my devices and wanted to talk to them again - a handy quick fix.<br />
<br />
Here's the command line way to kill it - to be safe quit iTunes and unplug your iPhone beforehand:
<br />
<pre>sudo killall usbmuxd </pre>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-91720754450761079712014-07-09T20:01:00.001+01:002014-07-09T20:03:22.708+01:00Hide twitter app worldcup menuSince the World Cup started the Twitter app has been suggesting I look at the latest World Cup game. I'm not that interested anymore but it keeps on bothering me. <div><br></div><div>The good news is that you can disable or hide the world cup menu in the Twitter app by tapping and holding on the world cup banner till you get an option to "Hide" or "Never Show Again", or "Cancel". Choose Hide or never show again and it's gone forever.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-64273032292972589152014-07-08T16:45:00.002+01:002014-10-22T11:18:58.980+01:00Spotlight not working?You just tried to use Spotlight and it found nothing apart from a dictionary word?! Spotlight seems to shut itself down for a variety of reasons - one being lack of disk space - it seems to need about 5% of your disk space to free to operate effectively. Here's one way to fix it.<br />
<br />
Firstly you can check if Spotlight has indeed stopped (from a terminal):<br />
<pre>mdutil -s /</pre>
If it says: "No index." then you can re-enable it again - making sure you have about 25GB free if you have a 500GB hard drive - you'll need to type in your password as it requires root privileges:<br />
<pre>sudo mdutil -i on /</pre>
It should say "Indexing enabled" - sometimes you have repeat this last step a couple of times until it says "Indexing enabled".<br />
<br />
If you have no joy enabling it you can go one step further and try erasing and rebuilding the Spotlight index:<br />
<pre>sudo mdutil -E /</pre>
<br />
Or as a last resort try removing it manually - firstly you should disable Indexing:
<br />
<pre>sudo mdutil -i off /</pre>
And then remove the index:
<br />
<pre>rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100</pre>
And finally re-enable Indexing:
<br />
<pre>sudo mdutil -i on /</pre>
<br />
Once you have enabled Indexing again be prepared to wait for a few hours before it's finished (it'll tell you roughly how long if you click on the Spotlight icon). However you can actually use Spotlight whilst it is building the index - it starts to provide some results fairly soon after it begins indexing.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-86065360632146312812014-06-28T14:16:00.000+01:002015-02-28T19:52:32.270+00:00Uninstall Silverlight on OSXIt seems that even <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/Get-Started/Install/Default.aspx">Microsoft</a> can't explain how to remove their own software (they omit the first step) so here's how to do it:
<br />
<pre>sudo rm /var/db/receipts/com.microsoft.SilverlightInstaller.*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/Silverlight.plugin
sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/Silverlight.pkg</pre>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-33213766730569006142014-06-22T09:58:00.000+01:002016-12-16T10:43:28.809+00:00Mounting OSX Time Capsule shared drive on Linux If you've been trying to mount an OS X Time Capsule disk over the network using Samba/CIFS/SMB and you've recently run into the problem: "mount error(13): Permission denied", and you KNOW the password is right then this may help. Basically you now need to inform Linux CIFS of the specific security mechanism to use (sec=ntlm). E.g. To mount the drive as root (where <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">share_pwd</span> is the password required to access the drive):<br />
<pre># mount -t cifs //server_ip/Data /mnt/Data -opasswd=share_pwd,sec=ntlm</pre>
<br />
As an alternative it is also possible to use the Netatalk package under Linux to mount the Time Capsule drive using Apple Filesharing Protocol (AFP).<br />
<br />
PS: If you were hoping to <a href="http://timesinker.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/accessing-contents-of-time-capsule-disk.html">mount the Time capsule drive</a> that you either had plugged in or removed from inside your Time Capsule see my earlier post.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[28jun14: Updated to clarify that this regarding network mounting]
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-29051063007313847782014-05-11T23:29:00.000+01:002014-05-28T16:15:08.961+01:00Cure unresponsive iPhone voicemail (and gain some space)It seems that Apple's 'Visual Voicemail' is all very well but when you delete a message it doesn't actually get deleted - it gets put in a "recycle bin" taking up space and slowing the phone down or 'freezing' it (and hanging around when you though they had gone). This seems to be a particular problem on iPhone 4's running iOS7, though can also affect newer iPhones such as the 4S, 5, and 5S.<br />
<br />
To fix this open the Phone app and select voicemail, then scroll right to the bottom of the list of voicemails where it says 'Deleted Messages'. Tap on that and you'll see all your old voicemails - to get rid of them tap on 'Clear All' at the top right and they're finally wiped away. You might also want to delete some of you existing voicemail messages to gain some additional space, and generally speed up voicemail and the Phone app a bit more.<br />
<br />
If you're having trouble with iPhone freezes, or it going slow, when attempting to delete all those voicemail messages then try switching on Airplane Mode and deleting them all, then switching it back off again when you're done.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-15702128510049205442014-02-14T09:46:00.000+00:002014-04-17T17:45:27.313+01:00Viewing Preview's PDF annotations on iOS If someone sends you a PDF document that has been annotated on a Mac using OSX Preview the default PDF viewer in iOS (Iphone/iPad) does not show the annotations (which is a bore). A search doesn't reveal an immediately useful answer so I thought I'd create one. So far I've found two free apps to view Preview's PDF annotations:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id370889037" target="_blank">PDFMate</a> by realazy</li>
<li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/documents-free-mobile-office/id306273816" target="_blank">Documents Free</a> by Savy Soda</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9030125289443738749.post-26897374613352849492014-01-21T10:42:00.002+00:002016-11-28T18:01:14.247+00:00Ghostery app's new WiFi Protection featureI'm a fan of the <a href="https://www.ghostery.com/" target="_blank">Ghostery</a> apps and plugins - they allow one to keep an eye on just how many other people are trying to snoop over my shoulder when I'm on the web.<br />
<br />
The latest version of the iOS Ghostery app (v1.4) mentions a new feature called 'Wifi Protection via proxy automatic file (aka PAC file)', but with little explanation as to what it is... I took a look at this new version at it seems they've come up with a way to add tracker blocking for ALL apps when connected to WiFi. They have done this by creating a custom PAC file which you need to copy and paste into your WiFi setup which then provides for filtering (in Javascript) of trackers for all connections when on that WiFi network (you will need to copy and paste the PAC file for each WiFi network you connect to for it work on all WiFI networks you connect to). To enable it you click on the WiFi button in Ghostery and follow their instructions.<br />
<br />
If you're paranoid you can download their Javascript PAC file and host it on your own server (and modify the PROXY entries so it uses your own server to return 'HTTP/1.1 204 No Content').
<br />
This looks like a pretty nice feature, though they caution that one should use Chrome or Ghostery as Mobile Safari may be a bit slow.<br />
<br />
One thing that comes to mind is that us of PAC files could provide for a nasty security hole as you can basically fill them with an arbitrary JavaScript function that could do all sorts of fun stuff like redirect your more sensitive web visits elsewhere. This is not to say Ghostery is doing this but it just brought to mind the possibilities - so beware of random PAC files.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com