This is a bug in OS X 10.11.4 that affects prefPanes for some people. Please try redownloading the software as we have updated it on our server to work around this problem. If you are still having trouble, please download the software here: EarthDesk 7.3.1 Without Installer

Uncompress the zip file and then *DRAG* the resulting EarthDesk.prefPane file to the System Preferences window. Do not double-click the prefPane file or you will see the same error.

This can happen due to a bug in OS X that fails to remove the "quarantine" flag on downloaded files. To manually fix this, open Terminal and type the following:

     sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine

Leave a space after the word "quarantine" and then find your EarthDesk Preference Pane file which is located at one of the following places:

     /Library/PreferencePanes/EarthDesk.prefPane
     ~/Library/PreferencePanes/EarthDesk.prefPane

Drag the EarthDesk.prefPane file into the Terminal window and it will automatically type the full pathname as text. Press Return to remove the quarantine flag. You will be asked for your password.

AUTOMATIC UNINSTALL
There is an uninstall button located in either the License Tab (v5 & v7) or the Advanced Tab (v6) of the EarthDesk System Preference Pane. If you have partially removed EarthDesk, it is easiest to reinstall the software and use this button. In rare cases, there may be permissions errors on your machine that prevent the automatic uninstall from working. Please use manual uninstall in these cases.

If you originally installed EarthDesk for all users on your machine, after clicking the uninstall button, go back into System Preferences and control-click on the EarthDesk icon to fully remove it.

MANUAL UNINSTALL
You can manually remove EarthDesk by following these steps (note that some files mentioned may not exist):

1. Open Activity Monitor and be sure "EarthDesk Core," "EarthDesk Engine" and "EarthDesk Menu" are not running. If they are, select each one and choose "Quit Process" form the View Menu.
2. Remove the following PrefPane file (check both user and root level Library folders):
         (~) /Library/PreferencePanes/EarthDesk.prefpane
3. Delete the following files in your Preferences folder:
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.xericdesign.earthdesk.core.plist
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.xericdesign.earthdesk.engine.plist
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.xericdesign.earthdesk.prefPane.plist
4. Delete the EarthDesk folder located in ~/Library/Application Support/
5. Delete the EarthDesk folder located in /Users/Shared/
6. In System Preferences, click Accounts and remove EarthDesk items under the Login Items Tab.
7. Use the System Preferences utility to choose a desktop picture.
8. Remove the files at ~/Library/Caches/Desktop

At this stage, EarthDesk has effectively been removed from your system and can be reinstalled to start fresh, but we suggest you log out and back in first. You will need to enter your license key and configure your settings the next time you use EarthDesk.

In the Advanced Tab:

1. "Show EarthDesk on this display" should be selected. This is how EarthDesk generates images.

2. "Enable screen saver module" should be unselected.

3a. If you do NOT want EarthDesk images displayed on the desktop, set EarthDesk Mode to "Screen Saver Only".

3b. If you DO want EarthDesk images on your desktop (in addition to the screen saver), then set EarthDesk Mode to “Desktop Picture”.

4. Click "Show Support Files". A new window will open. Leave it there for a moment.

5. Go to Desktop & Screen Saver and click Screen Saver. On the left side, choose any style of screen saver, such as Floating or Origami. EarthDesk will appear in that style on your desktop.

6. On the right side, under Source, select Choose Folder. A sheet will slide down with a bunch of file names.

7. Go back to the Application Support window that opened in Step 4.

8. Under com.xericdesign.earthdesk, click the Desktops folder and drag it into the sheet with the file names.

9. Click "Choose".

Not currently.

EarthDesk 6 set the actual desktop picture, but Apple changed the way spaces work in 10.11 and thus we can no longer set the desktop picture on a per-space, per-screen basis reliably. Even in 10.10 and earlier we were using undocumented techniques to do it. To solve this, EarthDesk 7 uses a window to show the map image.

Path Finder also uses its own windows to take over the desktop. For EarthDesk to work with it, the two programs need to be able to communicate with each other so that EarthDesk's window can be placed in the correct z-order (front to back layering) so that it falls in front of the Path Finder desktop, but behind Path Finder's icons. Alternatively, EarthDesk could simply tell Path Finder that it has updated the desktop with a new image.

We have written to CocoaTech (the developers of Path Finder) numerous times (long before EarthDesk 7 was released) and have only received a single reply (in November of 2015). We would love to make our products work together, but it does require some help from the folks who make Path Finder.

Until we can get CocoaTech to respond, there is little we can do regarding this problem.

Click the main button (or slide up) at the top of the remote to display the Dock and, from there, use the main button and the MENU button to go in/out of the different settings screens.  You can click the MENU button (or slide down) from the main screen to hide the Dock.

Screens that use OLED technology deliver some of the best picture quality, but this technology can be susceptible to burn-in. Burn-in happens when a persistent part of the image on a screen (like a news ticker on TV) remains as a ghostly background no matter what else appears on-screen. To avoid this, it is best not to leave the same image on screen for prolonged periods.

If you have a TV that uses this technology, we strongly recommend configuring EarthDesk TV to use a moving centering point, such as a random position, or follow the track of the International Space Station. These can be set by clicking on the Position Tile and choosing a centering option from the list on the left side of the window.

You probably have Parental Controls enabled in the General System Settings of your Apple TV. This can block access to the store for subscriptions. To change this setting, look in System Settings under General > Restrictions > In App Purchases. It should be set to "Allow".

There is a conflict in the App Store infrastructure at Apple that can cause problems when purchasing a tvOS-only app on an iPadOS device. The purchase will appear to go through correctly, but the app will not appear in your "Purchased" apps on the TV. Please try logging out and back in on your Apple TV and restarting (NOT resetting) your Apple TV device. The purchase should show up so that you can install it on the TV. This does not affect purchases made on an iPhone, only an iPad.

This is a tropical storm and can be configured in the Internet Tab under "Storms".

In the Appearance Tab of the pref pane, click Graticule. A sheet will slide down with four boxes:

1. Parallels and Meridians
2. Equator
3. Tropical Circles
4. Polar Circles

Uncheck each of the four boxes, and then click Done.

That's where it's totally dark, with no moon. The lighter area is where the moon is shining, and the brightest part is full daylight.

You will see this change throughout the month as the moon waxes and wanes. The intensity of the moonlight will change with the phase of the moon and is most prominent in highly reflective areas, such as the sands of North Africa.

The shape of the dark area also changes, becoming more vertical near the equinoxes and more diagonal near the solstices.

In the Globe projection, you will see wedges of sunlight, total darkness and moonlight, which is how it actually looks from space.

No. The city lights are static photos. Clouds, earthquakes, named storms and the International Space Station are live data and are updated regularly.

Those are fishing boats. The Japanese eat more seafood than any other nationality and the fishing boats need to be on the sea all night to get the morning catch.

You can see lights along the Nile River, from Aswan Dam to the Nile Delta.

You can see the brightly lit highways linking Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al-Ain, in the United Arab Emirates.

You can see cooking fires in West Africa and Myanmar (Burma).

You can see a sharp contrast in the amount of light coming from South Korea versus North Korea.

You can watch hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons form, grow and head towards land.

You can see the ash from major volcanic eruptions. (It tends to be yellowish in color.)

Write to us and tell us your favorite things to see on EarthDesk!