diff --git a/INSTALL-mac.md b/INSTALL-mac.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..49c47e339
--- /dev/null
+++ b/INSTALL-mac.md
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+* install XCode
+
+* in the preferences, downloads, install Command Line Tools
+
+* install homebrew
+
+* install python
+
+```
+brew install python
+```
+
+* clean up some things
+
+```
+pip install pip --upgrade
+
+# yes this is necessary
+pip uninstall setuptools
+pip install setuptools
+```
+
+* install PostgreSQL latest
+
+```
+brew install --no-tcl postgresql
+```
+
+* install virtualenv
+
+```
+pip install virtualenv
+```
+
+* download helios-server
+
+```
+git clone git@github.com:benadida/helios-server
+```
+
+* cd into the helios-server directory
+
+* create a virtualenv:
+
+```
+virtualenv venv
+```
+
+* activate virtual environment
+
+```
+source venv/bin/activate
+````
+
+* install requirements
+
+```
+pip install -r requirements.txt
+```
+
+* reset database
+
+```
+./reset.sh
+```
+
+* start server
+
+```
+python manage.py runserver
+```
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 67248e364..c67767751 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,17 +2,18 @@ Django==1.4.5
 South==0.7.3
 anyjson==0.3.1
 celery==3.0.16
-distribute==0.6.24
-django-celery==3.0.11
-django-picklefield==0.1.9
-kombu==2.5.7
-psycopg2==2.4.1
-pyparsing==1.5.6
-python-dateutil==1.5
+django-celery==3.0.21
+django-picklefield==0.3.0
+kombu==2.5.13
+psycopg2==2.5.1
+pyparsing==1.5.7
+python-dateutil>=1.5
 python-openid==2.2.5
 wsgiref==0.1.2
-gunicorn==0.12.2
-requests==0.14.1
+gunicorn==17.5
+requests==1.2.3
 unicodecsv==0.9.0
-dj_database_url==0.2.0
+dj_database_url==0.2.2
 django-sslify==0.2
+django_webtest==1.7.5
+webtest==2.0.7
diff --git a/settings.py b/settings.py
index 5904a89eb..f4bf22ad5 100644
--- a/settings.py
+++ b/settings.py
@@ -185,10 +185,10 @@ def get_from_env(var, default):
     format = '%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s'
 )
 
-# BROKER_URL = "django://"
 
 # set up django-celery
-BROKER_BACKEND = "djkombu.transport.DatabaseTransport"
+# BROKER_BACKEND = "kombu.transport.DatabaseTransport"
+BROKER_URL = "django://"
 CELERY_RESULT_DBURI = DATABASES['default']
 import djcelery
 djcelery.setup_loader()