Use iExplorer to transfer game progress between idevices without Jailbreaking

Have you ever wanted to transfer a game from one device to another, without losing your status? or wanted to restore a game's progress? This is how I did it.

 

BACKGROUND
I play Smurfgrabber on the iphone. It does not transfer game status by using Game Center even though Game Center registers its existence. I wanted to play the game on the iPad without losing my status or progress. I asked on the forums and found from Beeline that you can't do this transfer (like you can with many other games) with this game. But I found a solution.

[If you've had your new device for some time, you cannot "restore" using an old backup to sync your single game. You've already started playing other games, and you have data that you don't want to disrupt. All you want to do is sync up this one game. Restoring using an old backup would revert not just this game or app, but EVERYTHING.]

Another use for these directions is to save your Game Saves for a game that you want to move off of your device. Maybe you want more space for games and apps that you use more regularly and only want to come back to the game when an Update is released.


DIRECTIONS
Download the app from the App Store for the Game that you want to transfer.
Do NOT open the App until you are completely done and ready to Test.

Download iExplorer from http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/index-c.php?utm_expid=15979170-15

Plug in your original device

Find the game or app that you want to transfer or back up

Double click on the App in the middle panel until you find the Documents folder. In some cases the Documents folder is not enough to do the complete transfer, so for safety's sake, also find the LIBRARY folder.  You might not need it, but if you do end up needing it, you won't need to go back and plug the original device in again (like I did).

Right click on the Library folder (or choose Action in the menu above) and choose Export to Folder.
Unplug original device and plug in new device if you are doing a transfer. If you just want a back up, you're done. Now save these folders in a Safe place, LABEL it with the Name of the GAME! And then bookmark this page.


Wait for the software to recognize your new device.

Find the same Document folder once your new device is  mounted. Delete the Document Folder Contents.

Drag and Drop to Replace the contents of the corresponding Document Folder with what you saved on your desktop.

To test, open the App on your new device and check to see if your progress corresponds to your old device.

If you see none of your progress, your transfer failed. You may have to try the Library Folder.
Repeat the process.  Before you Test, delete the App from your new Device and reinstall a clean version. Then copy over both Document AND LIbrary Folder contents.

MacMail: Hide Flagged Folder in Mountain Lion and Mavericks updates

I just updated my OS to Mountain Lion. With this update, your MacMail user interface is slightly changed. Most of the changes don't bother me. I've been through this before and I know how to fix most of the issues.

But with this update, by default, a FLAGGED folder is listed below your Inbox. I do NOT like this. The number 35 to the right of FLAGGED, nags at me.

I already know that I have these flagged and there is a reason that I want them flagged. Also, many of these are flagged from previous years. I need to find these in the future, but I can create a smart folder to triage them. (that was done last year).

So I was looking for something to remove them. According to the APPLE forums, there is no easy way to remove or hide them.

But, here is a solution!

Eelco Lempsink of Tupil (creators of Beamer) has already done the work and included an auto - Installer for it. Yah!

Download this for Mavericks OS X: http://eelco.lempsink.nl/NoFlaggedMailbox.zip
(Contact me for the previous version.) Download and double click on the Install file.

Eelco's contact info
Tupil: http://tupil.com
Beamer: http://beamer-app.com

Find the original thread here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/62614/how-to-hide-the-flagged-folder-in-mail-app-mountain-lion

Note: with the OS update 10.8.4 from Mountain Lion, this plug-in is disabled. But all you need to do is download the plugin software and install it again. It worked for me. Let me know if it works for you!

Convert .mpg file to .mp4 using VLC for Mac

Backstory

My kids participate in studies for Infant Cognition and Language Lab at UC Berkeley. This last visit, I asked if they could forward a copy of the videos to me afterwards. Because my husband went into my son's study and I went into my daughter's study, we both wanted to see how the other kid participated. They are about 20 months apart, so they are studied and separated into different age range and development groups.

The Lab shared the video by google docs and I was able to download the .mpg. My husband didn't have the ability to open the .mpg without the mpeg 2 plug-in for quicktime. So I wanted to use VLC and convert it so my husband wouldn't have to download new software.

BTW - I have a mac and my husband uses a PC and he is NOT tech savvy.

Objective

This tutorial will help you  maintain the audio. I made various choices in the past that did not allow me to maintain the audio. No watermark is made by this software onto your final file. You will end up with an .mp4 that you can listen to on your device or within iTunes and Quicktime.

Steps

Drag and drop your file into the window shown above and into the Playlist folder.

Go to the FILE pull down menu and choose Streaming/Exporting Wizard.

Choose Transcode/Save to file and click Next

 

Select the actual file. Click NEXT

 

Check Transcode video and choose the MPEG-4 Video Codec. 

Check Transcode audio and choose MPEG 4 Audio. Leave the bitrate for both alone.

 

 Choose MPEG 4/ MP4, click NEXT

Click on Choose

A drop down will appear. Insert a file name. Do NOT use an file extension. Choose the file or folder where you want to find your file after export. Click Save.

Check the extension that appears after you click Save. It should be .mp4. If not, go back and check your settings so far. Do not check the box for Local playback. This will only slow your export down. Click NEXT.

 

Click Finish.

http://www.macxdvd.com/mac-video-converter-free/
An easier to use piece of software: MacX Video Converter Free Edition
This will allow you to choose the actual use (iphone, ipad, itunes, Music) and it makes the decisions for you! If I didn't already have VLC, I would have only downloaded this software. I am going to use both in the future, depending on the ultimate use.