Category Archives: free & cheap software

fixed : my GoCube is out of sync with the pictures in the app

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Question :
I have a GoCube digital Rubik’s cube and it works great !
I hadn’t used it for a long time, so I even had to reinstall the GoCube.app. All seemed okay at first, but when I saw the (picture of) the cube in the GoCube.app one layer was in a different position in the picture than in the actual cube. Restating the app didn’t solve the problem. Niether did disconnecting the cube from bluetooth and reconnecting. I can’t beleive my GoCube is broken… this must be a software problem…

Is there any way tho get the GoCube.app and the physical GoCube cube back in sync ?


Answer :
Yes, there is !
To get your GoCube.app back in sync with your physical GoCube cube, do this :

  • make sure your GoCube cube is charged (it doesn’t need to be ‘solved’)
  • keep your GoCube cube next to your iPhone
  • open the GoCube.app on the iPhone
  • in the window that opens, below the “LOGIN WITHOUT A CUBE” stripe, there should be another stripe with “GoCube” (or the name you gave to your GoCube cube) in it
    –> if if the stripe with “GoCube” in it doesn’t appear, move the physical cube closer to your iPhone and check if Bluetooth is switched ON on your iPhone
  • then, tap on the “GoCube” stripe
  • now, on your iPhone “Connecting” will appear, then the actual cube will light up and on your iPhone you will see your personal Account with the “Quick Timer”, “Solver”, “Stats” and “Cubing” buttons beneath it
  • then, click ont he Avatar&List-button (top-left)
  • when the pulldown menu appears, make sure thet “3D Tracking (IMU)” is switched ON (blue slider to the right)
  • then, just below “3D Tracking (IMU)”, click on “Load Cube State”
  • if your physical GoCube cube is in ‘solved’ state, you can now try clicking the “Load Solved Cube” button and your problem might be solved
  • if that doesn’t work, or if your physical GoCube cube is not in ‘solved’ state, you need to recreate the color patern of all the sides of the physical cube on the image of the cube inside the GoCube.app
  • you can do this step-by-step :
  • make sure the same middle tile color is facing you in both the physical cube and the image
  • then make sure that the top and the right middle color are in sync
  • then click on a color in the curve of coloured dots and then click on all tiles on the front face of the in-app image that have that color on your physical GoCube
  • repeat this for all colours, until the pattern of colors in the in-app image is an exact copy of the pattern on your physical GoCube
  • to color tiles on a different face of the in-app image, you need to click on the triangular arrow at the right of the GoCube image : it will rotate after each click, in a loop of Front face (white centre), Right face (blue centre), Back face (yellow centre), Left face (green centre), Top face (orange centre), Bottom face (red centre)
  • when you have made an identical copy of the physical GoCube’s color pattern in-app, click the blue “Load Colored Cube” and you your problem should be solved : your cube and your app should now be recalibrated and in-sync with eachother
  • if you happen to still run into the out-of-sync problem, just repeat the above and try again

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

tip : a more affordable alternative for the Apple Studio Display

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Question :
I used to have an Apple Cinema Display and I loved it… I have had it for about 15 years, but recently it broke down… I tried to find someone or someway to repair it as I thought it could just be something simple, but since it’s so old there isn’t any warranty and no repair parts…
I will have to buy a replacement… but the current Apple Studio Display (from 2022) and the Apple Pro Display XDR are completely over-budget… since they cost at least €1.500…
I understand that some professional users might have a need for something like that, but for me, something a little more basic (and cheaper) would probably do just fine…

Is there any more affordable display that is especially suited for use with my Mac ?


Answer :
Yes, there is.
BenQ has released a display (in 2 different sizes) that is specially developed for allround use with a MacBook (or Mac mini) : MA270U and MA320U.
These are both 4K-screens (both 3840×2160 pixels, so no need for the 32″ if you are within 1m of the screen), and the rest of the specs are equal : tilt-able screen (90º rotation), adjustable stand, anti-reflective screen surface, 2x USB-C, 2x regular USB-A, 2x HDMI2.0, 2x 3W stereo speakers and a headphone-jack. One of the USB-C ports is 90W powered to allow for ‘single cable’ data & charging connection to a MacBook (Pro/Air). And using the FREE BenQ Diplay Pilot 2 software, you can clone, sync & adjust the display (and audio) settings from your MacBook (Pro/Air).

This is the download link for the Display Pilot 2 software.

The regular price of the 27″ version (MA270U) is €500, so check out below if you can get a better price on Amazon [we get a tiny fee if you buy anything using these links, but you will not be paying anything extra] :

BenQ 27″ Monitor for MacBook (MA270U) on Amazon US
BenQ 27″ Monitor for MacBook (MA270U) on Amazon UK
BenQ 27″ Monitor for MacBook (MA270U) on Amazon DE

The regular price of the 32″ version (MA320U) is €600, so check out below if you can get a better price on Amazon [we get a tiny fee if you buy anything using these links, but you will not be paying anything extra] :

BenQ 32″ Monitor for MacBook (MA320U) on Amazon US
BenQ 32″ Monitor for MacBook (MA320U) on Amazon UK
BenQ 32″ Monitor for MacBook (MA320U) on Amazon DE

Note 1 : as mentioned before, both of these screens are 4K, so you will not get more pixels (so no extra screen space), just bigger pixels (which some might even regard as a ‘less sharp’ picture…), so do you really want to pay €100 extra for that ?

Note 2 : using the BenQ DP1310 docking station, you can hook up 3 monitors with 4K-resolution simultaneously to any Silicon (M1/M2/M3) Mac.
(due to hardware limitations only Macs with the M1 Max, M2 Max and M3 Max cpu-versions can directly connect to more than 2 monitors with 4k-resolution simultaneously, find more retails on this here).

The regular price of the DP1310 Dock is ca. €300, so check out below if you can get a better price on Amazon [we get a tiny fee if you buy anything using these links, but you will not be paying anything extra] :

BenQ beCreatus DP1310 dock on Amazon US
BenQ beCreatus DP1310 dock on Amazon UK
BenQ beCreatus DP1310 dock on Amazon DE

Note 3 : the BenQ Display Pilot 2 software can also be used for other BenQ monitors :
EW2790U 
MA320U / MA270U 
RD240Q / RD280U / RD280UA / RD320U / RD320UA
PD3220U / PD2725U / PD3420Q / PD2706U / PD2706UA / PD2705U / PD2705UA / PD3205U / PD3205UA / PD2506Q / PD2705Q / PD3225U / PD3206U / PD2706QN
and the previous version of the Display Pilot software (version 1) is available for these BenQ monitors :
PD2500Q / PD2700Q / PD2700U / PD2720U / PD3200Q / PD3200U

enjoy 😉



fixed : Power Pete / Mighty Mike game for current macOS

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Question :
My kids asked me which computer games I liked to play when I was their age. I said I was most fond of an arcade game of a cartoonish Rambo-guy in camo clothes who fought dinosaurs trying to rescue little bunnies, using various cartoon-guns like a whipped cream shooter… I think it was called Peter Power or something… I would love to show the game to my kids (and play it myself once again)… but if I remember correctly it was no longer playable when OSX abandoned the Calssic mode…

Is there any way to let my kids play it themselves ?

Answer :
Yes, there is.
The game is called Power Pete (released by MacPlay) and was Best Arcade Game of 1995.
The origanal developer Pangea Software re-released the game in 2001 as Mighty Mike.
And recently, Pangea has granted a developer known as Illiyas Jorio the honours of releasing a FREE version of the game that works on all recent computers running current-day versions of macOS, Windows and Linux.
The current version of Mighty Mike can be found on GitHub. The download link is provided on the Pangea website :

Mighty Mike by Pangea Software

Even though Pangea Software’s website states that Jorio’s version of the game will work on “Mac OS X and 11” (probably refering to all Mac OSX 10.x versions up to macOS 11 Big_Sur from 2020) the latest release on GitHub (Mighty Mike 3.0.2) is even playable on the current version of macOS (macOS 15 Sequoia) and not only on Intel-based Macs, but also on the current Silicon-based M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs.

Just keep in mind that the graphics haven’t been updated, so you will get that pixelated retro-feel also… and you can still adjust the settings to play it with a joypad or game controller instead of your keyboard.

Enjoy 😉

fixed : Mac’s internal storage nearly full due to iOS Files

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Question :
My Mac is slow, and I can’t install updates anymore… I found out, by looking in Settings > General > Storage, that I only have about 5 GB of free space… and after the waiting for the internal storage volume bar to color up and indicate which types of files take up most space, I found out (by clicking on it) that the Applications have two sections : not only Applications (which are the installed macOS Applications I presume), but also something called “iOS Files” which take up about 45 GB…

What are those iOS Files ? and can I delete them to free up memory space ?

Answer :
Yes, it can be a good idea to free up some free space on the internal memory of your Mac by deleting those iOS Files. They are in fact backups of your iPhone(s), which you don’t need on your Mac if your iPhone is being backed up to iCloud.
Basically there are 2 ways of deleting these iOS Files from your Mac, one is deleting them without connecting your iPhone to your Mac, the other is a way that requires your to connect your iPhone. But if you have so little free space left (only a few GBs) you will need to combine the two to solve your problem :

  • first, make sure your iPhone is being backed up to iCloud, so open your iPhone
  • then, open the Settings.app
  • in the Settings window that opens, click on your Account ( your Own Name )
  • in the Account window that opens, click on iCloud
  • in the iCloud window, go to the “Saved to iCloud” chapter and click on “See All”
  • in the Saved to iCloud window, make sure taht everything that you want to include in your backups turned ON
  • then, go back into the iCloud window, go to the “iCloud Backup” chapter and click on it
  • in the iCloud Backup window that opens, make sure that “Back Up This iPhone” is switched ON
  • then, click “Back Up Now”
  • when the backup is finished, go to your Mac
  • on your Mac, open the Finder.app
  • when the Finder window is open, press the [CMD]+{SHIFT]+[G] key combo on your keyboard
  • in the search window that opens, in the search field, typ the following :
  • ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
  • then press Enter
  • in the Finder window that opens you will see a folder named Backup
  • drag&drop that Backup folder onto your Trash
  • then, empty the Trash
  • when warned that some files can’t be deleted, just continue
  • when the emptying has finished, open the Trash and drag the Backup folder back into the location that it used to be in ( which is in the MobileSync folder inside the Application Support folder )
  • now your Mac should have a lot more memory space freed up, but you’re not finished yet
  • now, connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB or USB-C cable
  • on your Mac allow “trust this computer’, and unlock your iPhone by using your unlock passcode or face-recognition
  • NOTE : if you get a warning that a software update is needed for your Mac to recognise your iPhone, install that update first
  • now, your iPhone will appear in the sidebar of the Finder
  • when your iPhone shows up, click on it
  • in the iPhone’s settings window that opens, click on the General tab
  • then, in the General tab, in the Backups chapter, choose “Backup your most important data on your iPhone to iCloud”
  • then, go on to the Options chapter, make sure that only “Manually manage music, movies and TV shows” is checked and click the Apply button
  • then, exit the iPhone in the Finder and unplug the iPhone’s cable from your Mac
  • now, open the Finder.app again and press the [CMD]+{SHIFT]+[G]
  • in the search filed that opens, again, typ the following :
  • ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
  • and press Enter
  • now, in the window that opens, click on the Backup folder
  • when the Backup folder opens, drag&drop all it’s contents ( usually only one folder with an unpronounceable name ) to the Trash
  • then empty the Trash
  • and close the Finder.app
  • That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : Nokia glass fiber modem all lights flashing but no internet

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Question :
I have no internet signal on my Nokia XS-2426G-B glass fiber modem. Only the power light was flashing when I first discovered the problem. So I restarted the modem by taking out the power cable for at least 30 seconds and plugged it back in, but that did not resolve the problem. Now, all lights are flashing, and they keep flashing, there’s no progression in any way… Trying yet another restart by temprotarily disconnecting the power doesn’t change anything… All light keep flashing and noting happens, the internet doesn’t come back on…

What can I do ?


Answer :

The flashing of all lights indicates that the power adapter is broken. The obvious way to fis this is by contacting your glass fiber internet provider and asking for a power adapter replacement. But that will resolve your problem very quickly, as it will take a few days for you to receive the part, and that isn’t going to get you back online as soon as possible…

The quickest way to fix this is to find another power adapter with similar specs and get your modem the power it needs to reconnect to the internet.

The specs for the power adapter are :
output : 12V DC 3A
connector : 5.5 * 2.5mm tip (tube shaped)
polarity : inner centre positive (+) and negative (-) on the outside

So to resolve your problem, do this :
-1- contact your glass fiber internet provider and order a new (original) power adapter ; ask how long it will take for you to receive it and choose one of the following to save you in the mean time :
-2A- see if you have a 12V DC adapter with a 5.5 * 2.5mm inner centre posisitve tip and at least 3.0A lying around that you can temporarily use
-2B- if you don’t have one lying around and you need to get back online a.s.a.p., go to your local electronics shop or DIY shop or hardware store and get yourself a universal 12V DC power adapter that can be adjusted to 3.0A and can be fitted with a 5.5 * 2.5mm inner centre positive tip
-2C- if you can do without cabled internet (e.g. because you can do with 5G mobile telephone internet) for about 24 hours and you want a cheaper 12V DC power adapter, buy one online with overnight delivery and make sure it meets the above mentioned specs.

On Amazon you can get several power adapters that will do the job :
[ we get a fee if you buy on amazon using these links ]
on amazon.com : multi-purpose 12V DC Power Adapter max 3A
on amazon.co.uk : multi-purpose 12V DC Power Adapter max 3A
on amazon.de : multi-purpose 12V DC Power Adapter max 3A

So, once you receive the official/original power adapter from your glass fiber internet provider you can use that one, and you can keep the other adapter as a spare in case of emergency.

That’s it !

enjoy 😉