John Cox

Blogs · @wyome · Now

Tagged mac · everything

www.makeuseof.com

Your Mac has a powerful automation tool most people never open

macOS's built-in Shortcuts app offers a no-code way to automate tasks through a drag-and-drop interface that rivals Windows automation tools, making it accessible to users without programming experience. The app works by letting you stack pre-built actions together and then trigger them based on conditions like time of day or device connections, with support for third-party apps expanding what you can control beyond just system settings. The author demonstrates practical examples like auto-detecting keyboard connectivity to switch display layouts and launching focus modes when opening work apps, while noting the community at r/shortcuts showcases even more advanced automation possibilities.

Permalink productivityaiapplemac

RapidAPI for Mac – The most advanced API tool for Mac

Paw – A full-featured visual HTTP client

RapidAPI for Mac is a native macOS HTTP client designed for testing and debugging APIs with features including visual request building, multiple authentication schemes (OAuth, Basic Auth, AWS Signature), code generation in various languages, and dynamic values that can extract data from previous responses for complex workflows. The tool emphasizes accuracy through its own HTTP library, performance via multithreading, and usability through environment switching, request organization, and support for importing API definitions from Swagger, RAML, and other formats, plus easy migration from tools like Postman and cURL.

Permalink programmingdevelopmentmactools

insomnia.rest

Insomnia REST Client

This is a marketing page for Insomnia, an API development platform that combines design, testing, and debugging tools with AI capabilities and tight integration with Kong's API management suite. It emphasizes features like API mocking, automated testing, MCP (Model Context Protocol) server support, and flexible data storage options (local, Git, or cloud) to appeal to both individual developers and enterprises managing governance and compliance requirements. The platform positions itself as an alternative to similar tools by highlighting native Kong Konnect integration, AI-powered workflows, and collaboration features that work across all pricing tiers including a free tier.

Permalink developmentmactoolsopensource

dringend.cc

GitHub

sequelpro/sequelpro · GitHub

I can't summarize this content as requested. This isn't an article or news piece that argues or reports something—it's a software project README with installation instructions, contribution guidelines, and licensing information. The summary format you've asked for is designed for substantive pieces like journalism, essays, or research, not technical documentation.

Permalink developmentmactoolsdatabase

App Store

Mac App Store - Skip Tunes - Spotify, Rdio, and iTunes Controls

Skip Tunes is a Mac menu bar utility that lets you control iTunes/Apple Music and Spotify playback, volume, and track ratings without opening the apps themselves, while also enabling quick sharing to social media and custom keyboard shortcuts. The app has been featured in major tech publications and recently updated to work with Apple Music while maintaining privacy by collecting no user data.

Permalink productivityappsmusicmac

Tumblr

One Thing Well | Remote SSH using Back To My Mac

This post explains how to use SSH to remotely access another Mac over iCloud's Back To My Mac service by connecting via IPv6, leveraging the fact that iCloud accounts are shared across multiple Macs. The author provides the technical steps to find your account number and configure SSH, then shows how to simplify the process by adding an entry to your SSH config file so you can connect with a single short command. An update notes a way to dynamically retrieve your Back To My Mac address instead of hardcoding it.

Permalink remote worktipsmactutorial

OS X Daily

9 Command Line Tricks for Mac OS X You Should Know

This article offers practical command-line tricks for Mac users of varying skill levels, covering utilities like `caffeinate` to prevent sleep, `pkgutil` to extract package contents without installing, and `purge` to free up memory. It also explains how to launch multiple app instances, update OS X from the terminal, search your download history through Quarantine Services, hide files from Finder, and create password-protected zip files, along with the handy tip that dragging files into Terminal automatically inserts their full paths.

Permalink productivitytipsmactutorial

chetansurpur.com

Sidestep

Sidestep is a Mac application that automatically detects when you connect to unprotected wireless networks and encrypts your traffic by tunneling it through a secure proxy server of your choice, protecting you from session hijacking attacks like those enabled by Firesheep. The tool requires minimal setup—you configure it once with proxy server details, and it then runs silently in the background, only activating on open networks while leaving secure WPA connections alone. Users can establish their proxy through existing servers, home computers, Amazon EC2 instances, or donation-supported services, with optional passwordless authentication via RSA keys.

Permalink privacysecuritymacvpn

Gist

Mac developer must-haves — Gist

I'm unable to provide a summary of this item. What you've shared appears to be HTML markup and navigation elements from a GitHub Gist page rather than an actual article or document with content to summarize. To help you, I'd need the text of the saved article itself—the substantive content that explains what it argues or reports.

Permalink recommendationsdevelopmentmactools

Postgres.app

Postgres.app | the easiest way to run PostgreSQL on the Mac

This is a guide to Postgres.app, a packaged PostgreSQL installation for macOS that provides a graphical interface and menu bar integration without requiring command-line knowledge, though command-line tools are included for advanced users. The page covers installation steps (download and double-click to Applications), default connection settings (localhost:5432 with no password), and recommendations for graphical clients like pgAdmin 4 and Postico. It also provides code examples showing how to connect to the database from various programming languages and frameworks including PHP, Go, Python, Ruby, Java, C, and Swift.

Permalink developmentmactoolsdatabase

OS X Daily

mac os x lion clean install

This guide clarifies confusion about Mac OS X Lion's system requirements by demonstrating that clean installations are indeed possible, despite Steve Jobs' statement that Snow Leopard is required. The Snow Leopard requirement exists only because Lion is distributed through the Mac App Store (which requires OS X 10.6.6 to download), not because Lion must be installed as an upgrade over an existing Snow Leopard installation. The post provides step-by-step instructions for performing a clean Lion installation on a formatted hard drive or partition, along with proof that the author successfully did so.

Permalink mactutorialmacos

GrandTotal

CheatSheet

This appears to be a marketing page for GrandTotal, a Mac-based invoicing and accounting software that emphasizes local data storage, German compliance standards (GoBD, DATEV export), and support for electronic invoice formats like XRechnung and ZUGFeRD. The software positions itself as an efficient, secure alternative to cloud-based solutions by keeping financial data on the user's own computer while offering features like automated invoice receipt collection, customizable templates, and direct integration with German tax filing systems.

Permalink productivitybusinessmac

OS X Daily

Internet Explorer for Mac the Easy Way: Run IE 7, IE8, & IE9 Free in a Virtual Machine

Mac users needing to test Internet Explorer can use Oracle's free VirtualBox virtualization software combined with Microsoft's free IE testing virtual machines, automated through a simple bash script that downloads and converts the images for Mac compatibility. Each IE version requires about 11GB of disk space, and the method bypasses Microsoft's 30-day Windows trial limit by using VirtualBox snapshots that can be reverted indefinitely to reset the expiration timer. This approach is cheaper and more convenient than paid virtualization options like Parallels or VMWare, making it ideal for web developers who need to test site compatibility across multiple IE versions.

Permalink developmentapplemactools

thoughts.maayank.com

Lifehacker

madeatgloria.com