Recently I realized that the latest macOS Sierra 10.12 upgrade also updated Apache and PHP to newer revisions (2.4.23 and 5.6.24 respectively), but reverted to the default configurations. My previous post on Enabling Apache and PHP on OS X 10.11 needed a slight change too.

My Time Machine backups have started to take longer and longer to process and complete. I realized that excluding folders containing temporary, frequently changing and large files would quite dramatically speed it up.

I've been a long time iOS 1Password user, but recently started looking at alternatives. I discovered KeePass, KeeWeb and MiniKeePass, all open source.

I recently discovered an alternative to remote control my Windows 7/10 desktop PC, instead of using Microsoft Remote Desktop. This method requires a computer with a modern NVIDIA graphics card with GameStream and works with iOS and macOS using a client called Moonlight!

Safari 10 on macOS Sierra has a useful Picture-in-Picture (PiP) feature to playback HTML5 videos in a small "always-on-top" window, just like on iPads with iOS 9+. To activate, just right-click a playing video and select Enter Picture-in-Picture. However, not all web videos seem to allow this, as they pop up their own menus without the PiP option. Here are two ways to try to enable PiP.

I've updated my MacBook to macOS Sierra, and it's rather underwhelming and half-hearted IMHO. And yes, dear eagle-eyed reader, Apple capitalizes the Mac in MacBook but not the Mac in macOS - what a confusing naming (lack-of-)convention. Still, macOS is a better name than OS X (can you say OS 10 10.X instead?)

On my Mac, by default, the keyboard cannot be used to navigate and trigger dialog box buttons. To “fix” this shortcoming - enable Full Keyboard Access to use the tab key to navigate controls! But beware of downsides too...

I was recently at an office using a Ricoh Aficio multi-function printer. I downloaded the PPD Installer version 2.2.0.0 (dated 17/09/2014) for OS X 10.11 from the Ricoh Aficio MP 2510/3010/2590/3090 driver page. But no matter what I tried, the printer either could not be found or would print blank or garbled pages...

Apps, even after being removed from the Launchpad or Applications sidebar in Finder, do leave preferences and other files scattered around. Where are they, typically, and how does one find them?

My previous Terminal Tweaks post had an incorrect prompt (PS1) setting, that caused lines to wrap on themselves! This is now corrected, with more details on the color options...

I discovered that Xcode includes a diff tool called FileMerge. Where is it and how do you launch it?

I just bought a MacBook Pro! Prior to this, I've only been exposed to Windows and a smattering of UNIX/Linux... until now. What really struck me was the price! Total sticker shock, and that was before Apple raised prices on 14 Oct 2015!

Forget the complex or manual steps, or costly tools to get screen shots scaled down from a retina display. I have a shell script that triggers an interactive window screen capture, saves the screen shot (assumed to be 2x retina display), re-sizes it to 1x and compresses the PNG further! Best of all, it does not require paid software or Automator.

A short list of free tools I find useful for blogging and web development! Includes Microsoft Visual Studio Code, ImageOptim, ForkLift 2 and Commander One.

Some tweaks to my OS X shell (Terminal.app) that I've found useful.

Apache and PHP 5.5.27 are installed already in OS X 10.11 El Capitan, so just a little enabling is required.

Updated 12 Oct 2016: See the slightly updated guide for macOS 10.12 Sierra, which has been updated to Apache 2.4.23 and PHP 5.6.24.