News and Updates

DssW's latest news and information. Announcements, insights, and guides all appear here first.

How to Shut Down When UPS Power Drops

Power Manager can shut down your Mac when the remaining power of an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) drops to a critical level. This recipe walks through how to set this up.

An uninterruptible power supply provides an extra level of protection for a Mac. Used in environments where power cuts are frequent or where sudden loss of power risks critical systems, UPS devices are essential. A UPS typically provides a few minutes of power to keep systems up and running. During this time your Mac can gracefully stop critical systems and be shut down cleanly. …

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Battery Guardian Recommended by GreenIT

Thanks to Frederic Bordage, GreenIT, for recommending Battery Guardian. Frederic's article reviews Battery Guardian and provides a welcome overview of its battery prolonging capabilities.

Thanks to Frédéric Bordage, GreenIT, for recommending Battery Guardian. Frédéric’s article reviews Battery Guardian and provides a welcome overview of its battery prolonging capabilities. …

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Scripting Batteries and UPS on Mac OS X

Power Manager provides scripting access to the power sources of the Mac, including Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). You can access the power source information using AppleScript or through the command line.

Developers can use Power Manager’s Software Development Kit (SDK) to integrate this information into your tools. Power Manager provides a range of triggers and conditions that deal with power supplies and their states. When we created these triggers and conditions, we discovered there was no scriptable way to access to this information as a user. To rectify this, we added the Power API. …

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Battery Guardian Recommended by Technology Personalized

Thanks to Alex Serban, Technology Personalized, for recommending Battery Guardian. Alex's article talks about how to extend your MacBook's battery life.

Thanks to Alex Serban, Technology Personalized, for recommending Battery Guardian. Alex’s article talks about how to extend your MacBook’s battery life. Technology Personalized recommends Battery Guardian …

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Announcing Power Manager and Power Manager Pro v4.1.4

We are pleased to announce Power Manager and Power Manager Professional 4.1.4 are now available. This latest update introduces three new Schedule Assistant tasks and fixes bugs.

We are pleased to announce Power Manager and Power Manager Professional 4.1.4 are now available. This latest update introduces three new Schedule Assistant tasks and fixes bugs. Power Manager will automatically check for updates every so often, so there is nothing to do. The update will automatically be offered to you during next few weeks. …

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authbuddy - Introducing our new authorization rights tool for Mac OS X

We are pleased to announce the launch of authbuddy for Mac OS X. authbuddy lets system administrators edit the /etc/authorization file on Mac OS X without resorting to hand editing property list files.

We are pleased to announce the launch of authbuddy for Mac OS X. authbuddy lets system administrators edit the /etc/authorization file on Mac OS X without resorting to hand editing property list files. …

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How to Schedule an External Shell Script

Power Manager can schedule an external shell script to run at specific times or on-demand. An external shell script is separate from your Power Manager event and is often an executable file containing a bash, perl, python or ruby script.

We recommend embedding your scripts with Power Manager events. Embedded scripts can not be accidentally moved or changed without realising they are part of a greater workflow. Events with embedded scripts can also be shared easily; the schedule file contains everything needed. See our recipe about creating an event with an embedded script. …

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How to Schedule a Hard Drive to Unmount or Eject

By limiting when your back up drive can be accessed, you minimise the chances of accidental deletion and mistakes that risk the contents of the drive.

A hard disk drive physically connected to your Mac can be either be mounted or unmounted. Only if the drive is mounted can the contents of the drive be accessed. Most of the time you will want all your drives mounted and available to use. …

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How to Make Events Conditional on Running Applications

Power Manager events can perform a wide range of actions to a schedule. Eventually you will want to create an event that only performs if a specific application is or is not running. For many, this is the first step from creating simple events to creating more sophisticated schedules.

Power Manager events can perform a wide range of actions to a schedule. Eventually you will want to create an event that only performs if a specific application is or is not running. For many, this is the first step from creating simple events to creating more sophisticated schedules. …

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How to Schedule a launchd Job

launchd manages Mac OS X services. These services include a mix of critical processes, such as the WindowServer, and optional services like screen sharing. We are going to use Power Manager to turn on and off services according to a schedule.

launchd manages Mac OS X services. These services include a mix of critical processes, such as the WindowServer, and optional services like screen sharing. We are going to use Power Manager to turn on and off services according to a schedule. …

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