Dark mode for macOS Script Editor

is still virtually absent as of Sequoia:

Script Editor's "dark mode" in Sequoia

Happily, Late Night Software has released its legendary Script Debugger free of charge with full dark mode support (Settings → Themes → Active Theme → Default Dark) and a deep feature set:

Script Debugger 8

Sadly, after 30 years, development has ended. Big thanks to Mark and Shane for crafting and sharing such an exceptional tool.

❧ 2025-08-23

Export Safari tabs to PDF, URL list, or Markdown links via AppleScript

Safari tabs to PDF

-- Set the destination folder for PDFs (Desktop)
set destinationFolder to (path to desktop folder as string)

-- Get all Safari tabs
tell application "Safari"
    activate
    set allWindows to every window
    set tabCounter to 0
    
    -- Loop through all windows
    repeat with aWindow in allWindows
        set allTabs to every tab of aWindow
        
        -- Loop through all tabs in each window
        repeat with aTab in allTabs
            set tabCounter to tabCounter + 1
            set tabURL to URL of aTab
            set tabTitle to name of aTab
            
            -- Clean the title for use as filename
            set cleanTitle to my cleanFilename(tabTitle)
            
            -- Create unique filename with counter
            set pdfFileName to (tabCounter as string) & "_" & cleanTitle & ".pdf"
            set pdfFilePath to POSIX path of (destinationFolder & pdfFileName)
            
            -- Switch to the tab
            tell aWindow to set current tab to aTab
            delay 0.5
            
            -- Use System Events to handle the save dialog
            tell application "System Events"
                tell process "Safari"
                    -- Open Export as PDF dialog
                    click menu item "Export as PDF…" of menu "File" of menu bar 1
                    delay 1
                    
                    -- Wait for save dialog to appear
                    repeat until exists sheet 1 of window 1
                        delay 0.1
                    end repeat
                    
                    -- Clear existing filename and enter new one
                    set value of text field 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 to pdfFileName
                    delay 0.5
                    
                    -- Navigate to Desktop using keyboard shortcut
                    keystroke "d" using {command down, shift down}
                    delay 0.5
                    
                    -- Save the file
                    click button "Save" of sheet 1 of window 1
                    
                    -- Wait for save to complete
                    repeat while exists sheet 1 of window 1
                        delay 0.1
                    end repeat
                    delay 0.5
                end tell
            end tell
        end repeat
    end repeat
    
    display dialog "Saved " & tabCounter & " tabs as PDFs to Desktop" buttons {"OK"} default button "OK"
end tell

-- Function to clean filename by removing illegal characters
on cleanFilename(originalName)
    set illegalChars to {":", "/", "\\", "|", "*", "?", "\"", "<", ">", "[", "]", "{", "}"}
    set cleanName to originalName
    
    repeat with illegalChar in illegalChars
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to illegalChar
        set textItems to text items of cleanName
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "_"
        set cleanName to textItems as string
    end repeat
    
    -- Remove leading/trailing spaces and dots
    set cleanName to my trimText(cleanName)
    
    -- Limit filename length (leaving room for counter and extension)
    if length of cleanName > 200 then
        set cleanName to text 1 thru 200 of cleanName
    end if
    
    -- Ensure filename isn't empty
    if cleanName is "" then set cleanName to "Untitled"
    
    return cleanName
end cleanFilename

-- Helper function to trim text
on trimText(someText)
    set theChars to {" ", ".", tab}
    repeat while first character of someText is in theChars
        if length of someText is 1 then
            return "Untitled"
        else
            set someText to text 2 thru -1 of someText
        end if
    end repeat
    
    repeat while last character of someText is in theChars
        if length of someText is 1 then
            return "Untitled"
        else
            set someText to text 1 thru -2 of someText
        end if
    end repeat
    
    return someText
end trimText

Safari tabs to URL list

set urlList to ""

tell application "Safari"
    repeat with w in windows
        repeat with t in tabs of w
            set urlList to urlList & (URL of t) & linefeed
        end repeat
    end repeat
end tell

-- Save to Desktop
set filePath to (path to desktop as text) & "Safari_URLs.txt"
do shell script "echo " & quoted form of urlList & " > " & quoted form of POSIX path of filePath

display notification "URLs saved to Desktop" with title "Safari URL Export"

Safari tabs to Markdown links

set urlList to "# Safari Tabs - " & (current date) & linefeed & linefeed

tell application "Safari"
    repeat with w in windows
        repeat with t in tabs of w
            set urlList to urlList & "- [" & (name of t) & "](" & (URL of t) & ")" & linefeed
        end repeat
    end repeat
end tell

-- Save as markdown file
set filePath to (path to desktop as text) & "Safari_URLs.md"
do shell script "echo " & quoted form of urlList & " > " & quoted form of POSIX path of filePath

display notification "Markdown links saved to Desktop" with title "Safari URL Export"

❧ 2025-08-18

Access classic Windows options that Microsoft buried

This collection catalogs useful legacy components in Windows 11 Pro 24H2 that are hidden (e.g., the classic background chooser), moved (e.g., Folder Options in File Explorer), or hijacked (e.g., Control Panel entries like "Devices and Printers" that redirect to Settings).

Quickly launchable items (e.g., Device Manager via Start search) are excluded. Components on the Start menu are also omitted, though many behave inconsistently depending on launch method (e.g., Administrative Tools ignores dark mode when opened from its Start shortcut (corresponding to control /name Microsoft.AdministrativeTools) but partially honors it when opened via shell:::{D20EA4E1-3957-11d2-A40B-0C5020524153}), illustrating Windows 11's fragmented UI.

The list spans Control Panel applets, MMC snap-ins, executables, shell commands, and control commands:

Desktop background chooser

shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageWallpaper

Desktop background chooser

Devices and Printers

control /name Microsoft.Printers
shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}

Devices and Printers

File Explorer Options

control folders
shell:::{6DFD7C5C-2451-11D3-A299-00C04F8EF6AF}

File Explorer Options

Local Users and Groups

lusrmgr.msc

Local Users and Groups

Network Connections

ncpa.cpl
control netconnections
shell:ConnectionsFolder
shell:::{7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E}

Network Connections

Notification area icons

shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}

Notification area icons

Print Management

printmanagement.msc

Print Management

System Properties

sysdm.cpl
- SystemPropertiesComputerName.exe
- SystemPropertiesHardware.exe
- SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe
- SystemPropertiesProtection.exe
- SystemPropertiesRemote.exe

System Properties

Theme selector

shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921}

Theme selector

User Accounts

netplwiz
control userpasswords2
shell:::{7A9D77BD-5403-11d2-8785-2E0420524153}

User Accounts

Note

In a few cases, prepending explorer to shell: commands or appending .exe to control in the Run menu was required.

Sources / Related

❧ 2025-08-18

Windows 11 black screen after upgrade to 24H2 in UTM

Missed the warnings on MAS:

v4.6.5 reverted a change from v4.6.4 due to reports of crashes and kernel panics on some machines. As a result, there will be issues when upgrading to Windows 11 24H2 where the screen will go black. An alternative fix is provided as a driver update. Please update the Windows driver from the CD icon -> Install Windows Guest Tools before updating Windows.

and GitHub:

v4.6.5 reverted a change from v4.6.4 due to reports of crashes and kernel panics on some machines. As a result, there will be issues when upgrading to Windows 11 24H2 where the screen will go black. An alternative fix with an updated driver will be provided as soon as possible, but for now if you plan to upgrade to Windows 11 24H2, it is recommended you do it from v4.6.4 before updating UTM.

Startup sound confirmed the VM was running. Used Alt+F4 then Enter to shut down gracefully (auto-login had been enabled previously).

In Display → Emulated Display Card, switched from virtio-ramfb to virtio-gpu-gl-pci (GPU Supported) as documented by chadlwilson (aidangoettsch adds that installer and SPICE ISOs must be ejected also).

Display returned, but keyboard and mouse required manually capturing input via the top-right Capture input devices icon (Cmd+Opt to release).

Downloaded and installed the latest Windows Guest Tools https://getutm.app/downloads/utm-guest-tools-latest.iso, which hung near completion; after a forced VM restart, input and display worked normally.

❧ 2025-08-18

Windows 11 desktop background slideshow interval

Windows 11’s default background slideshow (Settings → Personalization → Background → Slideshow) exposes only six rotation frequencies:

1 minute
10 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour
6 hours
1 day

while the legacy background chooser, still accessible via shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageWallpaper, offers 16:

10 seconds
30 seconds
1 minute
3 minutes
5 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
20 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour
2 hours
3 hours
4 hours
6 hours
12 hours
1 day

Even finer control may be possible in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Personalization\Desktop Slideshow, though intervals <20s are reportedly unreliable.

❧ 2025-08-16

Robocopy reminder

One-off directory copy:

robocopy C:\Source D:\Destination /E /ZB /COPY:DATSOU /DCOPY:DAT /MT:8 /R:3 /W:5 /V /NP /LOG:D:\RobocopyLog.txt

Flags:

/E: Copy all subdirs (incl. empty)
/ZB: Restartable mode; fallback to Backup mode if access denied
/COPY:DATSOU: File properties to copy (Data, Attributes, Timestamps, Security, Owner, Auditing)
/DCOPY:DAT: Directory properties to copy (Data, Attributes, Timestamps)
/MT:8: 8 threads (default = 1, max 128)
/R:3: Retries on failed copies: 3
/W:5: Wait time between retries: 5 seconds
/V: Verbose output, including skipped files
/NP: Suppress % progress (less noise in log)
/LOG:<file>: Output status to log file (overwrite)

❧ 2025-08-16

THE TWO GLASSES

THERE sat two glasses, filled to the brim,
On a rich man's table, rim to rim.
One was ruddy and red as blood,
And one was as clear as the crystal flood.

Said the glass of wine to his paler brother:
"Let us tell tales of the past to each other.
I can tell of banquet, and revel, and mirth,
Where I was king, for I ruled in might;
And the proudest and grandest souls on earth
Fell under my touch, as though struck with blight.
From the heads of kings I have torn the crown;
From the heights of fame I have hurled men down;
I have blasted many an honored name;
I have taken virtue and given shame;
I have tempted the youth, with a sip, a taste,
That has made his future a barren waste.
Far greater than any king am I,
Or than any army under the sky.
I have made the arm of the driver fail,
And sent the train from its iron rail.
I have made good ships go down at sea,
And the shrieks of the lost were sweet to me.
Fame, strength, wealth, genius, before me fall,
And my might and power are over all.
Ho! ho! pale brother," laughed the wine,
"Can you boast of deeds as great as mine?"

Said the glass of water: "I cannot boast
Of a king dethroned or a murdered host;
But I can tell of hearts that were sad,
By my crystal drops made light and glad.
Of thirsts I have quenched, and brows I have laved,
Of hands I have cooled and souls I have saved.
I have leaped through the valley and dashed down the mountain;
Slept in the sunshine and dripped from the fountain.
I have burst my cloud-fetters and dropped from the sky,
And everywhere gladdened the landscape and eye.
I have eased the hot forehead of fever and pain;
I have made the parched meadows grow fertile with grain;
I can tell of the powerful wheel o' the mill,
That ground out the flour and turned at my will,
I can tell of manhood, debased by you,
That I have uplifted and crowned anew.
I cheer, I help, I strengthen and aid,
I gladden the heart of man and maid;
I set the chained wine-captive free,
And all are better for knowing me."

These are the tales they told each other,
The glass of wine, and its paler brother,
As they sat together, filled to the brim,
On the rich man's table, rim to rim.

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in Kingdom of Love: And, How Salvator Won (Chicago: W. B. Conkey Company, 1901), p. 90

❧ 2025-08-16

I am the happiest person ever.

I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness. I funded a lot of important museums and arts groups in San Jose, the city of my birth, and they named a street after me for being good. I now speak publicly and have risen to the top. I have no idea how much I have but after speaking for 20 years it might be $10M plus a couple of homes. I never look for any type of tax dodge. I earn money from my labor and pay something like 55% combined tax on it. I am the happiest person ever. Life to me was never about accomplishment, but about Happiness, which is Smiles minus Frowns. I developed these philosophies when I was 18-20 years old and I never sold out.

—Steve Wozniak in a reply to registrations_suck's comment ("Sold his stock: Smart man. Great engineer. Bad decision. Happens to all of us. Had I not sold some of my Apple stock when I did, I'd be worth some $50M right now. Difference between me and Woz? I'm not a smart man. I'm not a good engineer.") on Slashdot. (H/T)

❧ 2025-08-15

Grasping ever at pleasure, forever missing it

We saw treasures heaped upon the victors, but even as the riches increased the faces upon the screen became more animal and more cruel. Down, down they sank from one generation to another. We were shown signs of lascivious dissipation or moral degeneracy, of the accretion of matter and decline of spirit. Brutal sports at the expense of others had taken the place of the manly exercises of old. There was no longer the quiet and simple family life, nor the cultivation of the mind, but we had a glimpse of a people who were restless and shallow, rushing from one pursuit to another, grasping ever at pleasure, forever missing it, and yet imagining always that in some more complex and unnatural form it might still be found. There had arisen on the one hand an over-rich class who sought only sensual gratification, and on the other hand an over-poor residue whose whole function in life was to minister to the wants of their masters, however evil those wants might be.

—Arthur Conan Doyle, The Maracot Deep

❧ 2025-08-14