Resetting Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad

My Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad have been gathering dust in the office recently after I changed from using my MacBook in clamshell mode connected to an external monitor to using in front of the monitor, so I decided to setup them up on my iPad Mini. Trouble is they were paired to my MacBook so didn’t show up in Bluetooth settings on the iPad to pair them and I couldn’t remember how to reset them.

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Managing Trackpad on MacOS when using external mouse

Following my desk space re-organisation this weekend I am back to using my MacBook keyboard again for the first time in quite a while. Having worked predominantly with an external mouse and keyboard with my MacBook in clamshell mode in a vertical stand I decided I would like to disable the MacBook trackpad. Simple you would think? Apple do kindly offer a setting in the Mouse & Trackpad Accessibility preferences to do this very thing, however after switching on the option I found my trackpad was still fully operation even with my Logitech MX Master connected.

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macOS Monterey QuickLook still flaky

We are probably only a month or so away from the release of the latest macOS version Ventura but the current latest version, Monterey, still has the same QuickLook issue that it has had since release.

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Keyboard Maestro

I have been running the eval of Keyboard Maestro for a few weeks now and although I am by no means using it to its full potential I have been getting enough benefit from it that I decided it was time to pay the developers their due. $$

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Testing Obsidian/Working Copy on iPad

So this post was written in Obsidian on my iPad and synced to GitHub Pages by Working Copy. A few weeks ago I happened across a previously owned Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad 12.9" on Amazon at a big discount. I have tried to justify £350 for a keyboard since I bought the 12.9" iPad Pro but just couldn’t find a compelling enough reason but when I saw this one I figured I would take a punt and if it was no good I could always return it.

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Signal uncovers Cellebrite flaws

This blog article on the Signal web site is fascinating and well worth a read. I find it a little hard to believe that Moxie Marlinspike just happened to come across a Cellebrite toolbox complete with the latest version of their software that just happened to have “fallen off the back of a lorry” but for the purposes of the article can let that go ;) What is amazing to me is that a company whose entire existence depends on finding and using flaws in other companies software have engineered their own product so poorly.

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Hidden Bar - menu bar management for macOS

Mac menu bar utiities are great for quick access to apps that perform simple tasks and that don’t need to sit in the dock or occupy space on your desktop however they do tend to proliferate and before you know it the list of little icons at the top right of your menu bar can get out of control. There are a couple of utilities that aim to help with this.

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Images of Prototype Apple Macintosh With Clear Casing Shared Online

This would look really nice alongside all my old Macs…

New MacBook day

OMG ! New MacBook Air ( M1 Edition ) arrived this afternoon and just wow…. I am so glad I was tempted by the Amazon Black Friday £100 off and 5 months interest free credit deal now. Before I saw the Amazon deal I had been toing and froing for a few weeks since the new M1 Macs were launched. Now I am setting it up and synching photos etc and after an hour and a half on my lap its not even warm !

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New MacBooks...

I haven’t had a MacBook now for the last couple of years (after I selflessly handed my 13" MacBook Pro onto my eldest daughter…). My Mac computing needs have been handled by a 2018 Mac Mini which is a super little machine, quiet, powerful enough for my needs and very unobtrusive. I have still been hankering after a new MacBook though but the promise of new Apple Silicon based hardware has kept me from shelling out.

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