Showing Hidden Files in OSX Finder

Just like when using Windows, sometimes it is necessary to make special hidden system files visible to Finder.  There is no preference for it, but with a simple Terminal command, things can be made visible very easily, on a privileged user account.

Simply open the ‘Terminal’ application, and at the prompt, type:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

and then:

killall Finder

This will cause all Finder windows to close and then reopen with the hidden files, visible and identifiable with a ghost-like appearance. You should be able to interact with them normally now.

Screen Shot 2013-11-28 at 11.00.54 pm

Syncing Google Contacts with iMessage (and Contacts) on OSX Mavericks

You may remember earlier in the year I took issue with the super secret hidden checkbox in the Mountain Lion’s version of Contacts which magically syncs your Google contacts with OSX Contacts and Messages. As it seems, Apple have finally fixed the SSL problem stopping you from syncing through the Google option in System Preference’s Internet Accounts setup.

Getting the sync to work now is as trivial as adding a Google account to your Internet Accounts list, log in and turn on the items you want to sync. Screen Shot 2013-11-26 at 9.46.42 pmHurray! Easy peasy.

It’s beyond me that it wasn’t like this before.

 

Pipe Viewer (pv) in Mac OSX

 

Update:
Forget what I said.  Install Homebrew (really, do it now) and use HomeBrew to install it.


Pipe Viewer (pv) – is a terminal-based tool for monitoring the progress of data through a pipeline. It can be inserted into any normal pipeline between two processes to give a visual indication of how quickly data is passing through, how long it has taken, how near to completion it is, and an estimate of how long it will be until completion. However, it isn’t included by default in Mac OSX.

The good news is that there are several ports of pv, you just need to go and grab one:

  • HomeBrew: Run “brew install pv” to get the latest version.
  • MacPorts: Run “port install pv” to get the latest version.
  • Or (recommended) install the Rudix pv port (a simple package installer)

Pv allows you to get a really awesome progress of your terminal commands to see how things are going; especially useful for long operations (such as cp or tar etc) so you know everything is ticking over time (and perhaps even giving an ETA for completion):

13.2GiB 1:33:17 [3.57MiB/s] [================================>                ] 67% ETA 0:44:4

I highly recommend this for anyone doing long, large or complicated terminal commands.  It’s outstanding! To learn more about using Pipe Viewer, this is a great resource.