Terminator

Can I ditch Sprint without paying an early termination fee?

What happens when you sign a two-year contract with a carrier and you soon discover that network is painfully slow?

Unfortunately, you may be stuck with that service. In this edition of Ask Maggie, I offer some advice on what one Sprint customer can do to get out of his contract without paying a hefty early termination fee. I also offer some information on the new Sprint 4G LTE deployment in Atlanta.

Breaking up with Sprint

Dear Maggie, I have a family plan with Sprint. I have an iPhone 4S and three iPhone 4's on Sprint. We love the … Read more

How to use SSH host names for tabs in the OS X Terminal

While the OS X Terminal is not a familiar operating environment for most Mac users, those who have had experience with Unix-based systems will find it to be an invaluable tool for managing their systems. One of the most common uses of the Terminal is to establish a remote log-in session on a system using the secure shell (SSH) command, and sometimes invoke multiple connections to the same system and different systems at the same time.

As a result of this, you might find you have many windows open at once to manage these connections in, though starting with Snow … Read more

Terminal fun: Deleting repetitive files in OS X

To manage various settings, both OS X and Windows will often place small files within folders that help the system manage their contents. A common file of this type in OS X is the .DS_Store file, and a common type in Windows is the Thumbs.db file. While these files are usually hidden, in some cases (especially those where multiple operating systems share the same storage spaces), you may see these files show up and contribute to window clutter.

If you want to remove them and tidy up your filesystem, there are several utilities that can do this for you, … Read more

Using the OS X Terminal instead of the Finder to copy files

While in OS X people often copy individual files or small groups of files between locations using the Finder, there are times when you might copy hundreds if not thousands of files at a time, especially for the purposes of backing up or migrating data from one drive to another. For the most part, the Finder's copying process is perfectly adequate for moving these files; unfortunately it does have some drawbacks that can hinder the copying process.

When the Finder copies files, it first catalogs all files to be copied and then treats the copy process as one all-or-nothing … Read more

How to repeat commands in OS X Terminal

The OS X Terminal is a commonly used utility for troubleshooting OS X, because it allows you to run custom commands and scripts for looking up information and adjusting system settings. While useful, the Terminal is intended primarily for power users who have an understanding of the UNIX underpinnings in OS X.

Often when running commands in the Terminal, various iterations of the command will be executed to try different settings or perform slightly different tasks, which in the Terminal can be frustrating as it can require you type out sometimes extensively long commands over and over again.

For instance, … Read more

Flame virus spread through rogue Microsoft security certificates

Microsoft revealed yesterday that the infamous Flame virus gained a foothold by spoofing one of its own security certificates.

Specifically, the virus tapped into rogue certificates for Microsoft's Terminal Server that appeared to be signed by the company and were therefore seen as legitimate. In response, Microsoft has taken several measures, including the release of a Windows patch to fix the security hole in Terminal Server, a feature that allows for remote desktop connections. The company detailed the discovery in a blog posted yesterday.

We have discovered through our analysis that some components of the malware have been signed … Read more

Managing automatic application termination in Lion

A confusing aspect of OS X for those who regularly use other operating systems like Windows, is that quitting an application is separate from closing all of its windows. As a result, people used to Windows may simply close all windows and end up with numerous applications open at the same time, which can hog resources like RAM, use CPU time, and potentially result in slowdowns and reduced battery life.

In OS X Lion, Apple dealt with this problem in part by implementing a feature called automatic application termination, which will quit applications that are not in use. I covered application termination in a previous article, … Read more

How to manage file-in-use errors for OS X applications upgrades

Many applications in OS X are self-contained packages that you install by dragging and dropping to your Applications folder. Since all of the program's required resources are within this package, when you need to update or upgrade the software, you can download the update and drag it to your Applications folder, replacing the current version you have installed.

This method of managing programs is very straightforward and usually works without error; however, at times you might run into problems when upgrading where the system gives an warning claiming that a component of the application is in use.

Recently I … Read more

Liquidmetal and Apple's path to becoming Skynet

My fellow residents of Nerdville, we are on the front lines. If there is to be an early warning system for the impending robot apocalypse, it must come from this community of readers, techies, and general smarty-pantses. That is why I've gathered your eyeballs here today to discuss the signs of Apple's inevitable transformation into Skynet.

For some time now it has seemed that Google might be more likely to be the first worldwide network of information and machines to become self-aware and start a global war between handsome humans and handsome robots (with handsome future governors playing both sides) -- given the company's lock on the world's data, that whole Android thing, and Google's clever "Don't Be Evil" propaganda.

But over the past year a pattern has emerged that points to Cupertino, Calif., as the home of a sleeper cell that could pose an even more grave and existential threat, capped off by this week's rumor that Apple is considering using a liquid metal material -- a clearly sinister product cleverly hiding in plain sight under the name Liquidmetal -- to house its next iPhone. … Read more