Mac OS Mavericks 2013 – Google Calendar issue

Problem

If you just get upgrade/fresh install the free Mac OS X Mavericks, then you might be scratching your head on this issue.

When you attempt to enable “Calendar” for your Google account under System Preferences -> Internet Accounts, you will see a spinner and after a few minutes, it displays an error message “A secure connection couldn’t be established”.

Unfortunately no solution so far and it is quite annoying. However I found a few peoples are having the same issues and you can check these forums and see if any solution helps:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/calendar/f7BGvVBbvaI

Note that some solutions proposed might work – but not completely. For example:

• Use Google caldav server: This only allows you to import your Google Calendar into Mac Calendar as read only. You cannot update any Google calendar entries in your Mac or add new Google calendar events in Mac Calendar.

Meanwhile, I just have to manage my Google calendar from my iOS devices rather than Mavericks.

UPDATE

09/12/2013 – After several tries and checked the forum above, finally the following works for me:

1. Thanks Ben Blazak and others that suggested the solution at http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/calendar/f7BGvVBbvaI and https://discussions.apple.com/message/20175844#20175844. There is a tweak or something that needs to be aware, where I found out why it works for others but not me.
2. Open iCal in Mavericks.
3. Go to Calendar -> Add Account…
4. Make sure you select “Add CalDav account….”
5. Enter your username (this is the tricky part): I use my gmail username without @gmail.com, and this is the trick that you need to be aware of. Use the full google account name, if your email address is test@gmail.com, then you enter the full email address.
6. Enter your password and type “www.google.com” as the server name.

Mac OS X 10.7 - Mavericks - Workspace

If you have recently upgraded to Mavericks or just start using Mavericks 10.7 Mac OS X, you might be curious about what is workspace and how to assign certain applications only open in specific workspace.

Workspace

Workspace can be defined as a copy of your desktop that you can create and use it to open different applications.

Imagine you have to different bundles of physical files and papers that you need to organise and work on, and you have a few tables. You can organise each related bundle on one table and work on them one at a time. Every now and then you can switch between them, but your focus is a specific table at any one time.

Workspace is the same. You can create multiple workspaces, and group any similar applications in one workspace.

How to create a workspace

If you are using Mac, press F3. This will trigger what we called "Mission Control". If you are using trackpad, swipe up with three finger and it will have similar effect.

You will see a screen similar to the following

The top part of the screen shows your current workspaces, with the left most being the dashboard. Dashboard is another “workspace” that contains all your widgets. You can switch between different workspaces by swiping four fingers left or right.

If you hover over the top right corner, you will set a “+” symbol. That allows you to add additional workspace to your current collection.

If you want to remove specific workspace, hover over the workspace at the top of Mission Control, after a second, there will be a “X” symbol shown at the top left corner of the workspace, clicking on the X will remove the workspace.

If you want to switch between workspaces but not in Mission Control mode, you can swipe four fingers in the trackpad (left or right).

How to assign applications to specific workspace

Now you have learnt how to create and use workspace to group applications together. You might be wondering what if I want certain application to open in a specific workspace only?

In Snow Leopard, you can do this in Settings. However, there is no such setting in Mavericks anymore.

The easiest way to assign application to specific workspace is:

• Choose the application that you want to assign a workspace to (preferably in the Dock)
• Right click on the application and select Options.

• You will see the options of “Assign To”. In this case, I have two monitors, which corresponding to Display 1 (External monitor) and Display 2 (Macbook Pro).
• Each desktop has its own name and I have two workspaces created in Display 1.
• Pick one of these options and you are done.

The nice thing about assigning applications to specific workspace is when you restart your Mac, all applications will be open in their assigned workspace.

If you do not assign any workspace to application before you restart your Mac, all applications will be opened in current active workspace, and then you have to move applications to the relevant workspace.

Further information

Please visit Mac support to understand more about Mission Control.

Mac OS X - How to show filename extensions in Finder

This post describes a simple trick to enable filename extensions to be displayed at all time in Finder.

I like to know and see what is the filename extension - because sometimes I would like to change them to different type.

By default, Mac OS X will not display the file extensions for known file type, such as .pdf. This could cause confusion because you might see some files that has filename extensions, but some don't.

In order to set Finder to display all filename extensions, go to Finder -> Preferences. Click “Advanced”.

Ensure “Show all filename extensions” is checked.

What you have now is all files will be displayed with filename extensions.