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icloud explained

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Open any file in iOS

iCloud can do it all. Well, at least store it all, providing access to documents and photos wherever you are. Discover the hidden features that iCloud has to offer.

Work faster and smarter with your Mac! A comprehensive compendium of tips for getting things done more efficiently in OS X, so you can do more in less time.

Sometimes, someone will send you a file type that iOS doesn’t support natively.

Don’t worry, though: with our guide, you can open anything that’s thrown at you.

iCloud has a lot to offer… make sure you know all its hidden extras!

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maclife.com jul 2016 3

>>> Contents

59

06

Digital|life

82

61

56

Videorama

57

email – easilyDo mail

57

jottit

66

Head over to techradar.com.

08

12

14

15

16

Sky Safari 5

70

macfamilyTree 8

71

fantastical 2.2

72

Picktorial

74

falcon

75

cryptomator

75

incognito

76

Philips 276e6aDSS Quantum Dot monitor

78

Samsung T3 external SSD 1TB

102

79

Satechi Type-c uSB 3.0 combo Hub

104 make interactive ebooks

79

Satechi Type-c uSB 3.0 adapter

Brianna Wu considers how Apple approach to graphics tech is falling behind.

80

Owc aura 1TB SSD

82

Riva Turbo X

crave

83

Onkyo H500BT

83

iQunix Hima

84

The Banner Saga 2

85

Stellaris

58

iannotate 4

59

theSKimm

Share

The new vision

59

This by TinRocket

… for Apple’s stores. Plus, new and improved Wi-Fi.

60

warbits

apple’s new investment

61

inks

We look into Apple’s decision to invest in a Chinese ride-share service.

61

Star Knight

62

fallen london

early access Pre-release software and even lighter MacBooks.

63

6 apps for sharing what you love

The Shift

64

SnipNotes

David Chartier looks at how close we are to “bots.”

65

Trivia crack

6 companies we’d love…

65

cheatsheet

65

18

Game loop

94

How to: reply to an email from apple watch

$50 iTunes card What would you buy…?

95

Smarter Fridge Cam

4 jul 2016 maclife.com

Get smart Lifestyle-enhancing gadgets for your home.

96

The gear we’re lusting after.

20

Keep an eye on your home even when you’re away.

69

… to see Apple buy.

17

Smart home security

TaskPaper 3

Email: letters@maclife.com.

10

86

68

consider Matt Bolton on the cloud connection.

09

apple macBook air 13inch 1.6GHz mid 2016

80

apple TV Apps and hardware for your Apple TV.

98

ask Our Apple experts answer your burning hardware and software questions.

Browse the web in private

106 Perfect your landscape photos 108 Share calendars and to-dos 110

master iOS 9.3’s new features

112

install new fonts on iOS

114

Random apple memory The cool (for its time) Macintosh Portable. Plus, what to expect next issue…

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EDITORIAL Editor Matt Bolton opErations Editors Jo Membery, Ed Ricketts ContriBUtors Adam Banks, J.R. Bookwalter, Mark Chacksfield, David Chartier, Emma Davies, Ian Evenden, Craig Grannell, Kate Gray, Christian Hall, Tim Hardwick, Lucy Hattersley, Kenny Hemphill, Cliff Joseph, Sarah LeBoeuf Joseph Leray, Alastair Marr, Gary Marshall, Keith Martin, Howard Oakley, Nick Peers, Christopher Phin, Jenni Phin, Nik Rawlinson, Max Slater-Robbins, Dave Stevenson, Alan Stonebridge, Jordan Erica Webber, Brianna Wu ART art Editor Mat Gartside digital art Editor Seth Singh ContriBUtors Apple, Rama, Thinkstock BUSINESS viCE prEsidEnt salEs Stacy Gaines, stacy.gaines@futurenet.com viCE prEsidEnt stratEgiC partnErships Isaac Ugay, isaac.ugay@futurenet.com East Coast aCCoUnt dirECtor Brandie Rushing, brandie.rushing@futurenet.com East Coast aCCoUnt dirECtor Michael Plump, michael.plump@futurenet.com mid wEst aCCoUnt dirECtor Jessica Reinert, jessica.reinert@futurenet.com wEst Coast aCCoUnt dirECtor Austin Park, austin.park@futurenet.com wEst Coast aCCoUnt dirECtor Brandon Wong, brandon.wong@futurenet.com wEst Coast aCCoUnt dirECtor Tad Perez, tad.perez@futurenet.com dirECtor of markEting Robbie Montinola dirECtor, CliEnt sErviCEs Tracy Lam dirECtor, rEtail salEs Bill Shewey MANAGEMENT Editorial dirECtor Paul Newman groUp art dirECtor Graham Dalzell PRODUCTION prodUCtion managEr Mark Constance prodUCtion ControllEr Fran Twentyman projECt managEr Clare Scott prodUCtion assistant Emily Wood

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The cloud connecTion We’re in a period of change for the world of technology. Smartphones have already begun to revolutionize computing, moving a lot of the smaller tasks away from the desktop and into our pockets, but we all know they’re not suitable for every task. So if you’re a company that makes smartphone, tablet, and desktop computers, what’s the best experience for people who flit between those devices?

Should they all look and work roughly the same? Or should they all work however is best for the form factor, and make the experience seamless when it comes to your information, not its appearance?

Apple’s approach is the latter, and it’s worked well. Each device gets to play to its strengths: the iPhone stays simple, given its size; the iPad is picking up new features such as light split-screen support; and the Mac keeps working with overlapping windows and as many weird and wonderful utilities as you care to install.

The glue that holds it all together is iCloud. Considering how badly Apple stumbled with online services only as recently as MobileMe, you might consider this a small miracle (and it still doesn’t always get it right now – iMessage is behind other online messaging services both in features and technical reliability), but iCloud is working really well.

There are improvements to be made, but Apple has struck a nice balance between the many tasks iCloud needs to manage.

One of iCloud’s strengths is that it stays out of your way, but it’s useful to know exactly how it works, so you can take more control if you choose to. That’s the aim of our cover feature this issue: to make sure you’re getting the most from Apple’s syncing service, from its core features to powerful hidden extras.

I’m not sure where Apple will go with its approach to multiple devices from here. Will the Mac become more like iOS, or vice versa?

Will they both turn into something completely different? Probably Apple itself isn’t even sure yet. But I think that’s maybe the ultimate virtue of iCloud in Apple’s eyes – Apple can change how you interact with your computer, but iCloud will still make it your computer.

>>>ThE TEam

Jo Membery operations editor Jo’s favorite iCloud feature is photo syncing, for saving embarrassing moments.

Mat Gartside art editor Mat’s glad iCloud Keychain knows his passwords, because he has no idea.

Seth Singh digital art editor Seth loves iCloud Drive, because his USB drives end up in the laundry.

MaTT BolTon, Editor Twitter: @matthewbbolton

8 jul 2016 maclife.com

Your opinions, rants & raves

Faces on ioS In reading your article “40 ways Apple changed the world” (issue #114) I was surprised to find that most of Apple’s accomplishments listed were not actually Apple inventions or creations. Most were design enhancements, or improvements to products created by other people or companies. In fact 27 of the 37 accomplishments that you listed state “Apple did not invent the product” or “Apple wasn’t the first” or Apple “simplified,” “enhanced,” or “eliminated” something from the original creation or product. My point is that we can all see that Apple has a great track record of improving other people’s creations and inventions but not necessarily a great record of actually inventing or creating new products from scratch. So I’m wondering how long Apple will remain on top without a true creative spark, and with aging products that work less efficiently than they once did. lEn FEdUlio Invention is one thing; execution is another. Apple makes raw technology work in a way that people can understand better than other companies – as long as it keeps doing that, it can remain on top.

a big cloud I keep a large and ever-expanding collection of pictures in Photos which has been nicely backing up into iCloud until recently. Now it appears as though I have hit the 1TB limit of storage, which is Apple‘s largest plan. At this point, Photos has stopped backing up my pictures and it even shut down my email, as it claimed there was no storage left for that program either. I now have

Need more than 1TB of iCloud storage? You’re out of luck.

SHarE wiTH US!

pop-up messages daily telling me to upgrade my storage, but of course there is no plan larger than 1TB. Have you guys heard if/when Apple will increase their storage limits again? It seems like I can’t be the only one with this problem… billy i asked apple if it would offer more than 1Tb in the future, but it didn’t respond in time for publication. i think that your kind of usage is beyond what it considers standard for nonprofessional users! Google Photos offers more storage, but at a high cost: $99 per month for 10Tb. you might also split your Photos collection into different libraries, so that only some images sync to icloud – see our big cover feature in issue #115 for the details.

Your Letter of the Month (issue #115) answer to Tim Mathews suggests that Photo App “Faces” feature can be used in iOS (at least iPhone 6). We don’t own an iPhone 6, but rather we have an iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 and iPhone SE and iPhone 5s, and in none of these devices have we observed Faces capability in the Photos App. mikE

You can search for Faces in iOS and iCloud, but that’s all – for the moment.

ioS doesn’t have full support for Faces – you need to tag Faces from Photos on mac – but if you do have some Faces set up and are syncing over icloud, you can use the search tool in the ioS Photos apps to type in people’s names, and it will show Faces results. we hope ioS 10 will improve on this.

backup basics My MacBook Pro has been running quirky lately and takes forever to boot-up. I would like to reinstall OS X but I’m not sure what I need to backup before I pull the plug.

Jim GironE The basic rule is to have a Time machine backup on an external drive. This will save all your files and settings, so you can restore them after the install. we strongly recommend also making a clone of your mac’s drive to a second external drive using the free app Superduper! (shirt-pocket.com).

Email: letters@maclife.com FacEbook: facebook.com/maclife TwiTTEr: twitter.com/maclife

maclife.com jul 2016 9

StArt

Apple unveils new vision for Apple Stores San Francisco’s Union Square shows the future of Apple Stores worldwide

BY MAtt Bolton

10 jul 2016 maclife.com

Apple hAS reveAled its new ideal for what Apple Stores should be, starting with the opening of a new store in Union Square, San Francisco, not far from Apple’s Cupertino HQ. It still looks a lot like the stores of the past, full of long wooden tables showing off Apple’s products, with accessories lining the walls, and a large glass front keeping everything light and airy – but it’s focusing even more on openness. The store’s front is constructed of 42-feet-tall glass walls, and the central two panels can split apart, opening a huge walkway into the ground floor. At the back of the store is a rejuvenated outdoor area known as “The Plaza,” a public area open 24 hours a day, that provides free Wi-Fi and seating for anyone who wants to use it, and where Apple will arrange for musicians to play.

The idea is that Apple wants Apple Stores to become more a part of the community than ever. “We are not just evolving

Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

Wi-Fi is about to get both fast and slow Why future Wi-Fi will include separate new high-speed and long-range tech BY MAtt Bolton our store design, but its purpose and greater role in the community,” said Angela Ahrendts, senior VP of Retail and Online Stores. Apple’s intention is make the store a gathering place, and make it welcoming by removing doors, linking the inside directly to the square that houses it. “It all starts with the storefront – taking transparency to a whole new level – where the building blends the inside and the outside, breaking down barriers and making it more egalitarian and accessible,” said Jony Ive. there Are chAngeS in what you’ll find in the store. The Genius Bar is replaced by a Genius Grove, where Apple staff sit alongside customers at tables to help them, flanked by real trees inside the store. “The Avenue” will be an area of large displays, showing Apple products, with special staff to offer expertise in creative areas. “The Forum” will be an area indoors for people to gather, where Apple will invite guests to share knowledge, from developers, to entrepreneurs, to photographers. “The Boardroom” is a room where small businesses can get personalized advice and training from Apple’s experts.

Not all of these features will make it to every store (Apple plans to have more Plazas, for example, but only in certain flagship stores), and some will be scaled back as they go to smaller stores, but we’re fans of the accessible, community-focused direction Apple is taking for these spaces.

tWo neW WI-FI standards are coming soon, but they do different jobs. 802.11ad is also known as Wireless Gigabit (or WiGig), and is extremely fast – perhaps up to 7Gbps. 802.11ah is also known as Wi-Fi HaLow, and is very slow, but is capable of covering a huge area from a single router.

The normal 802.11ac technology being used now will also continue to evolve and improve, so why are future technologies going in different directions?

The answer, as with all complex things, is physics. A simple tenet of Wi-Fi technology is that you can increase data transfer speeds considerably by increasing the frequency of the signal, but as you do so, you decrease its range. If you have a dual-band router, using both the 2.4GHz band and 5GHz band, you might be aware that the latter is shorter range, though faster. WiGig operates at 60GHz, giving it massive speed, but limiting its use to pretty much a single room. The idea is that it can replace data ports, or even video connections: you can perform data transfers at speeds equivalent to USB 3 without any wires. It’s an exciting prospect for something like the MacBook or iPad.

a maximum data transfer rate of 18Mbps, though it will be less in practice. But this allows it a range of hundreds of yards – easily enough to cover even a large property – and to have hundreds of devices connected to a single router without confusion.

The idea is that this will be the perfect connection technology for the Internet of Things, where only a small amount of data is needed usually (sending a command to turn on or off, sending back a temperature reading or similar).

It’s basically Bluetooth, but with a colossal range – and like Bluetooth, consumes very little power.

Apple has always been at the forefront of Wi-Fi technology in its machines, and we suspect that it will support these technologies as soon as chips to enable that become available – as we said, the MacBook (and other notebooks) could benefit from WiGig, while HaLow could be a huge boost towards making the smart home and HomeKit less complex.

WiGig could replace ports in the MacBook.

hAloW, AS YoU might have already guessed, goes to the other end of the spectrum. It operates at a frequency of 900MHz, with

maclife.com jul 2016 11

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

Why Apple has invested in the “Chinese Uber” Apple announced a surprising $1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-sharing service.

We look at what it gets out of the deal

BY MAx SlAter-roBBinS

It’s now Apple vs Uber in China (stort of).

12 jUl 2016 maclife.com

Apple reCentlY announced that it has invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-sharing service that is comparable to Uber in the United States. It’s an interesting move for Apple, which usually shies away from making large public announcements unless it’s a big acquisition – such as Beats – or a new product. The company does of course make investments, but generally on a much smaller scale.

The motivations behind the deal, which came together in a period of just a few weeks, are mostly unclear. Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters that the company is “making the investment for a number of strategic reasons” including a fresh look at China, which

is one of Apple’s key markets, but saw a decline in iPhone sales last quarter of 20% – the largest drop in the world.

Whether the investment will provide insight to increase iPhone sales in China is up for debate, but Cook also said that the company expects to see a “strong return for our invested capital over time as well,” so the investment isn’t totally about the iPhone in China.

While the deal is different in size and circumstance, parallels could be drawn to Yahoo’s investment in Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce conglomerate, which turned out to be fantastically lucrative. Apple likely didn’t base its decision on what Yahoo did or does, but it shows a deal can be profitable if done right.

The $1 billion investment is not for a known percentage of Didi, which is valued at about $20 billion, but it does open Apple up to millions of taxi customers. Didi is, for all intents and

purposes, the Chinese version of Uber.

According to the company, its service is used for over 11 million rides a day, which is around 87% of the total market for private car hire in China.

Another MotivAtion could be Apple’s increasing focus on “services,” which emphasizes the stuff on your iPhone over the actual device. Apple Music, Pay, iTunes, iCloud, and the App Store, among others, all generate revenue for the company after a purchase has been made, helping Apple get more from its customers.

Even if the world has a limited number of iPhone buyers – which, ultimately, it

Didi has information on the car industry that Apple could use

does – Apple can still sell those buyers Apple Music, iCloud storage, apps and more. This, as analysts have pointed out, is a giant market – one that could amount to over $7.5 billion in revenue per month. Perhaps Apple is looking for expertise in new types of service.

Some have speculated that Apple’s fresh investment is a ploy to win favor with the Chinese government. For years, the iPhone was not on sale in China – which changed in 2013 – and, more recently, the iTunes Movies and the iBooks Store were shut down, without explanation. The path to getting these things back and investing a billion in a ride-hailing company isn’t exactly clear, but it does signal Apple’s interest in China, and the fact it chose Didi over Uber, which is itself spending an estimated $1 billion a year trying to break into China, is telling.

Tim Cook’s statement explicitly referenced “a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market.” And this reason is, most likely, the explanation behind the bid.

China is a big market for Apple, now and in the future.

Other companies have been doing something similar. Microsoft, for example, has made a special version of Windows 10 for Chinese government employees, while Cisco and Qualcomm have made similar moves.

The final possible explanation is that Didi has information on, or about, the automotive industry that Apple could benefit from, especially as its car project is now considered an open secret. With any Apple car still likely several years away, Apple may believe the future of personal transportation is moving more towards apps like Uber and Didi and away from actual car ownership on an individual basis.

Whatever the reason, Apple has chosen to get into the Chinese ride-sharing game – and it’s likely to be an amalgamation of them all – it could signal a new path for Apple.

maclife.com jUl 2016 13

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

early access

Pre-release games and software available now

ParkItect $17.99 This game of building a theme park gets back to the sim genre’s roots. You start with an empty plot of land and build elaborate rollercoasters of your own design, other simple rides, and give the whole thing a theme. The game’s basics are here, but it lacks a campaign mode so far, so is a little aimless (but still fun). versIoN tested: alPha 2a

New MacBook Pros might be a big change Lighter, thinner, faster, more flexible

By Matt BoltoN

eveNt horIzoN $5.99 Head out into the galaxy in a space ship you create yourself and explore! Well, kind of. You can build ships, customizing their engines, power plants, weapons, and armor, but it’s lacking any storyline, so you can pretty much just fight and trade - and they’re not especially fun. Keep an eye on this, but don’t buy it yet. versIoN tested: 0.11

14 JUL 2016 maclife.com

It's BeeN several years since the MacBook Pro line had a major refresh beyond the usual processor and storage boosts, but according to various sources, big changes are coming later in 2016.

They may even have been announced at WWDC by the time you read this, but it’s thought more likely to be around fall, and the back-to-school season.

The claim is that the new Pros will be thinner and lighter (it’s Apple, after all), retaining the 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. One of the more

interesting supposed features is that the function keys may be replaced by a touchpanel OLED screen (the same display type as the Apple Watch). The function keys could change depending on the app you’re using, allowing for useful customizable shortcuts to the shown. It will apparently still feature a good number of ports, but would include USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports (which share the same connector type), which would enable connecting an external 5K display over a single

cable – maybe Apple will reveal one of those, too.

The timing of this release also fits in with rumors that Apple may use brand new graphics technology from AMD in the new MacBook Pros, with AMDs nextgeneration highperformance and lowpower chips due to become available in the coming months.

If Apple can get the same battery life and maybe even improved performance levels over the current models in a lighter, more portable package, these could be the best MacBooks yet.

>the shift While a future integrated with robots is both daunting and exciting, it is on its way.

DaViD chartier looks at what to expect

S

ome think the inevitable spread of robots into modern society will ultimately doom us to a future that looks like something out of Terminator. Others think our little robotic friends will be more like Bender from Futurama or something from the The Jetsons.

Either way, we’re about to find out. What are now simply called “bots” have been here for some time, though relegated to limited use or niche industrial purposes. But a variety of companies have been working on bringing them to nearly every facet of everyday life, and we’re approaching the tipping point. Fast.

To set the stage: McDonalds has been testing bots that could replace cashiers and some preparation duties. Panasonic created medicine delivery bots that just won approval for use in Japanese hospitals.

Self-driving cars go on sale later this year, Amazon is testing delivery drones, and the list goes on and on.

Bots could soon be “assisting” us in everything we do.

Bots aren’t limited to the physical world, either. Facebook and its ilk are working on all manner of online bots. Some are for getting the news – to try a basic news bot now, search the App Store for “Quartz • News.”

Others are for customer service, handling everything from questions about an existing order to basic

Try some thought experiments: what happens when someone takes their self-driving car to a bar, gets drunk, and on the way home the car needs the driver to take over?

Who is at fault if a self-driving car fails to stop at an intersection and hits someone? What will the socioeconomic impact be when McDonalds replaces all its cashiers with bots and touchscreen terminals?

Or, in short: what happens to all these jobs and the people who need them?

Panasonic’s HOSPI robots are already being used to deliver medicine in some hospitals.

customer support stuff. You know those “automated phone assistants” that never worked too well? Turns out, they’re much better in text form.

Companies seem to believe the technology behind bots has matured (nearly) enough for broader society, but I am deeply curious about whether society is ready for them.

There are implications to study and adjust for at nearly every level you can imagine.

there is also the elephant in the room… surveillance. We’re already at a significant crossroads when it comes to both governments and corporations illegally spying and tracking us online, and we haven’t made much progress. Soon, a fleet of bots with internet connections, microphones, and cameras is about to flood the real world. I don’t believe privacy is dead, but we do need to draw some hard lines, and quickly.

Blockbuster doomsday scenarios and obnoxious bending units aside, I’m excited about bots. Sci-fi is leaping off the screen and into our real world, and in our lifetime.

Bots have the potential to change society in broader, more profound ways than any tech before them.

We’ll all just to have to hope it’s going to be for the better.

>>> David Chartier is a content strategist and writer with vast experience analyzing the tech world.

He runs the website Finer Things in Tech (finerthings.in) and hosts its podcast, The Finer Things In.

maclife.com jul 2016 15

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

6 companies we’d love to see Apple buy What if Apple decided to go on a really big spending spree?

BY GArY MArshAll

If Apple wants to get into VR, it could buy out Sony and all its attendant technology?

the possibilities of Apple and Tesla.

Apple has reportedly been trying to get an Apple TV subscription service off the ground for a long time, but perhaps buying Netflix would be an easy way to get thing moving.

EArliEr, wE looked at Apple investing in China’s home-grown Uber rival, Didi. The $1 billion price was big by Apple’s standards - it tends to invest smaller sums in smaller companies but it barely dented Apple’s cash pile, which is currently sitting at just under a quarter of a trillion dollars. And that got us thinking: What if Apple decided to spend some real money?

There is a precedent. Apple spent $3 billion on Beats so it could launch Apple Music; with its subscription TV service delayed yet again, acquiring a video service might be a smart move too. Then there’s Siri, who’s got hot competition. And of course, there’s the Apple Car, which is surely the worst-kept secret in tech. A few well chosen acquisitions could supercharge all of those…

Magic leap This 3D virtual interface may be the Google Glass that actually works – and the computer interface of the future, imposing graphics over the real world.

Tesla It’ll never happen – Elon Musk is too much of a maverick to work under Tim Cook, even if Apple wanted to drop $30 billion-plus on the car-and-battery firm – but imagine

Magic Leap superimposes 3D computergenerated imagery over real-world objects.

16 juL 2016 maclife.com

Netflix Buying Netflix wouldn’t be cheap – it’s bringing in nearly seven billion dollars a year, and growing fast. But if Apple could woo Netflix, it would boost its attempts to offer a streaming video service, which have stalled so far.

Viv labs Viv comes from the people who created Siri. It’s Siri but smarter, connected to pretty much everything and designed for every conceivable kind of networked device.

harman international industries Mad Money host Jim Cramer reckons that for around $10 billion, Apple would be able to own the Internet of Things for automobiles if it bought Harman, the market leader for car systems.

sony At around $35 billion, Sony’s market cap has fallen by more than half since 2000, making Sony relatively cheap.

Buying Sony would give Apple its 4K and camera tech, its PS4 business, and its VR division.

>game loop As a loyal developer leaves Mac behind, Brianna wu says Apple’s approach to graphics technology is becoming a problem

T

he canary in the Mac gaming mine has just died.

Unfortunately, Blizzard is not bringing its latest masterpiece, Overwatch, to the Mac. Since World of Warcraft came to OS X, Blizzard has been one of the most dependable stalwarts of Mac gaming. The blockbuster Starcraft 2 debuted on Mac in 2010, and the expansions followed. Diablo 3 came to Mac, and even Hearthstone was built with the Unity engine, making the port an easy affair.

Overwatch is the latest Blizzard game, a team-based shooter where you have to work in groups to complete objectives. And to the shock of many Mac gamers, it’s not coming to OS X. “With the technology behind Macs and the way Overwatch runs, it’s just too challenging for us at this point to support it,” said Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan. “Our focus right now is entirely on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.”

It’s an understandable decision, given the hardware and software

unfortunately for gaming, graphical power has clearly not been an apple priority

choices Apple has made since Diablo 3 debuted back in 2012. If you look at the Mac hardware line, graphical power has clearly not been an Apple priority. Instead, our laptops have become thinner and the battery has lasted longer.

Overwatch isn’t a particularly graphically intense game. It’s quite similar to Team Fortress 2, one of the modern classics of Mac gaming from 2010. Other than extra joints for animation and more detailed sets and characters, it’s not asking your hardware for much more.

But, it’s something many modern Macs simply can’t deliver. My main machine is a 2015 MacBook. It’s extremely thin and light, and will easily last an entire day of travel.

But it’s frustrating that it can barely run graphically simple games such as Day of the Tentacle.

That tradeoff of battery at the expense of graphical power is consistent across most of Apple’s laptops, including the powerful 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. But even when Apple does try to compensate for its hardware choices with software technology, developers aren’t lining up to use it. I’ll be heading to WWDC in a few weeks, and I have no doubt there will be gorgeous demos for Metal, Apple’s graphics software, onstage.

But, the truth is, developers are not flocking to Metal. Only a handful of major games on iOS have supported it - and even fewer on OS X. Take Overwatch. It will be coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The thing all those platforms have in common is using OpenGL, an increasingly cumbersome graphics technology.

While OS X does support it, Apple is slow to include the latest version in its operating systems. For consumers, that means more

Blizzard has decided that its just not viable to offer its latest team-based shooter, Overwatch, as an OS X release.

dependability. For Blizzard, it means increased costs of maintaining a separate version of their game.

For Starcraft, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone, the costs of maintaining a radically different Mac version have been worth it. But with Overwatch, Blizzard has decided that it’s not.

That should give everyone in Cupertino serious pause.

>>> Brianna Wu is the head of development at Giant Spacekat, developer of Revolution 60 on iPhone and iPad,

and is a regular speaker at industry events, as well as host on the podcasts Isometric and Rocket.

maclife.com jul 2016 17

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

CRAVE THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER

Circle meetcircle.com $99

>>> This many not be on the wishlist of our young, hipster readers, but those of a certain age and certain responsibilities – kids – will absolutely want this product. The Circle itself is, er, actually a three-inch cube that connects to your network, enabling you to set up restrictions on web content and access time for members of your family.

Instead of setting up controls on every individual device, you set it from the Circle app. There are pre-set filters, which you can customize. And you can simply pause the internet, should you want to schedule some all-important family time.

18 JUL 2016 maclife.com

Mr Beam II mr-beam.org Around $2,735

>>> How many times do you curse yourself for not having a laser cutter to hand? Okay, not many, but you’ll never know when you’ll just really need one! This Kickstarter-funded crafting tool aims to bring laser cutting and engraving into the home. Open the web app to your Mac, upload your design, and Mr Beam will get on with the fiddly, crafty side of things. The machine can handle a variety of different materials, from paper to aluminum. The frame is actually pretty bulky, but it’s been neatly designed, so won’t be an eyesore at home.

Hifi – Console departmentchicago.com $2,495

>>> We all want to enjoy great sound when we’re throwing a party or listening to a favorite classic, but finding a set of speakers large enough to pump out pleasing audio can have a real impact on your living room decor. Department Chicago’s currently crowdfunding this HiFi Console, which aims to check all the boxes for great audio and good looks. The Bluetooth-enabled console boasts a 100W stereo amplifier, and comes in a variety of room-friendly maple and walnut options. With a turntable on top, and your vinyl collection below, it looks stunning.

Lycan Powerbox renogy.com Around $1,800

>>> Gas generators tend to be noisy, bulky and harmful to the environment, but Renogy has turned to the power of the sun with the Powerbox. Thanks to what’s touted as the most reliable and cleanest battery on the market, this little unit can transform solar power into good ol’ AC, to power up smartphones, laptops, refrigerators, and more. The Powerbox can be fully charged in just three hours using two solar panels and, because it’s 100% battery powered, it’s safe to use inside and out – it’s also waterproof and wheeled, so is easy to move around. If the sun’s not out, you can charge it from a socket, or even from a car charger.

maclife.com JUL 2016 19

>>> Start

$50 iTunes Card How would you blow 50 bucks on music, movies, books, TV shows, and apps?

BY MaTT BOLTOn

Hail, Caesar!

George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Josh Brolin $14.99 The Coen brothers’ latest film is quintessentially Coen, from its amazing cast to its odd humor and considered shots – and, for some, an overall feeling of maybe not landing with the satisfaction that it should. Set in the ’50s, it follows a day in a movie studio, as Josh Brolin’s studio head tries to keep things together during conflicts between stars and directors, a kidnapping of a major actor, and keeping secret the real life of a “perfect” starlet. It’s full of in-jokes about oldschool Hollywood (and nods towards events such as McCarthyism), and is undeniably stylish and clever – and very, very Coens.

20 JuL 2016 maclife.com

OH, tHe plaCes yOu’ll gO! Oceanhouse Media $2.99 Our favorite Dr. Seuss book (the Cat in the Hat is a stressinducing jerk, okay?) gets the app treatment, with the book’s elaborate images of impossible, evocative fantasy lands given a gorgeous recreation on Retina displays.

The book is an inspirational message about striking out on your own in the wild world to do amazing things, and accepting that sometimes the world is both scary and disappointing, and that’s okay. It’s a really great book, and the app version comes with some extras, of course: a set of fun games and activities to discover by playing with the illustrations on each page.

epistOry typing CHrOniCles MP Digital LLC $14.99 This game takes you on an adventure as the muse for a writer, exploring a story that’s still being written. You move around a world that has a papercraft look, with new areas unfolding around you, looking like islands on top of stacks of paper. You interact with things by typing, revealing new areas or clearing puzzles and obstacles – it’s like a typing tutor mixed with a gentle role-playing game. It’s really beautiful, featuring different areas that have their own striking looks, and even comes in different languages, so you could use it as part of learning a new one!

a MOOn sHaped pOOl Radiohead $10.99 Radiohead’s first album in five years arrived suddenly, with effectively zero build-up, but it was worth the wait for fans. It’s a very Radiohead album, full of slow, haunting tracks, mixing emotive strings and piano with a light electronic touch, all punctuated by Thom Yorke’s distinctive voice. The result is something that feels threaded with melancholy, but not relentlessly so – it’s more thoughtful than sad.

TOTAL spend

$43.96

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>>> Feature

iCloud explained File storage, online apps, a backup tool, a place for your music and photo libraries… What exactly is iCloud? Nik Rawlinson digs deep to explain

eb-based applications and online storage are nothing new, and Apple was a Johnny-come-lately to both, just as it was to mobile phones and music players. As with so many things, though, it has zeroed-in on what matters: ease of use and a strong set of core features. iCloud is an integral part of OS X and iOS, and you can add support for it to Windows PCs, too. Many apps – including Pages, Numbers and Keynote – use iCloud Drive as their default location for saving documents, so your work is automatically kept in sync between your Macs and iOS devices. Developers who sell products in Apple’s app stores can make use of iCloud’s capabilities, too.

Better yet, if you find yourself without your computer, iPad or iPhone, storing your work online like this means you can sign into iCloud through a web browser on a computer, and use equivalent online apps to carry on working.

Apple’s online services aren’t all about work, though. iCloud also integrates with your music and photo libraries, enabling you to access them on whichever of your devices you have to hand.

There are so many different things you can do with iCloud, we’ve got a wide range of tips to help you to get the most out of Apple’s online service.

Let’s get started!

W

22 jul 2016 maclife.com

iCloud explained

maclife.com jul 2016 23

>>> Feature

Setting up iCloud iCloud isn’t confined to Apple products, but as you’d imagine, it’s much easier to set them up on those s et u p iC lo u d on yo u r MaC

set up iCloud on an ios d eviCe

For the full iCloud experience, upgrade to the latest version of OS X that your Mac supports. Apple lists requirements for each feature at bit.ly/iclreqs.

Support for iCloud features varies between versions of iOS. To use iCloud Drive, you’ll need iOS 9. If your device can’t run that, again check Apple’s feature matrix (bit.ly/iclreqs) to see which you can use.

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Open System Preferences’ iCloud pane and make sure you’re signed in. It’s easiest (and less confusing) to use the Apple ID you use with the App Store, though you can use a different one if you prefer.

Open Settings, tap iCloud and check you’re signed in. If you aren’t, enter your Apple ID’s email address and password in the top two boxes, then tap Sign In.

Enable the apps and services whose data you want to sync with iCloud and with your other devices by checking the appropriate boxes.

Turn on syncing of the apps and services built in to iOS whose data you want to sync with iCloud and your other devices.

Use the Options buttons next to Keychain, Photos and iCloud Drive to make additional choices, such as whether to enable the ability to create shared online photo albums.

Some features, such as iCloud Drive, have a rightwards-pointing arrow to their right instead of a switch. Tap them to investigate their more detailed options.

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se t u p iC lou d o n WindoWs iCloud isn’t built into Windows, so you’ll need to download the iCloud for Windows installer from bit.ly/ iclwindows on your PC, or in Boot Camp on your Mac, to sync information with it.

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24 jul 2016 maclife.com

Run the installer and you’ll be presented with an interface that’s very similar to the iCloud pane in OS X’s System Preferences. Sign in to iCloud here using the email address and password associated with your Apple ID. 2

In the window, choose what’s synced, including which folders are used to sync your photo library’s contents and to upload new pictures, and which web browser syncs bookmarks.

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>>> iCloud priCing In the background, iCloud for Windows will create the folders to store things, then sync your data. You can find these folders in Windows Explorer/File Explorer, where iCloud Drive appears in the sidebar.

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Every account provides 5GB of storage for free, but that’ll quickly be eaten up as you use iCloud in real life. Fortunately, it’s easy to upgrade on your Mac or iOS device, and it’s affordable for most people.

5gb 50gb 200gb 1tb

Free 99¢ per month $2.99 per month $9.99 per month

iCloud explained

What uses iCloud?

Apple’s service turns your devices into a team, and keeps the contents of your iPhone or iPad safe

pple’s online service is the glue that binds together everything you do on your Mac, iPhone and iPad. While sitting quietly in the background, it’s the conduit apps use to keep your data up to date everywhere: Photos sends your shots from your iPhone back to the library on your Mac; your Pages documents are always ready to work on, whichever device you’re using; and notifications from Reminders pop up on your Mac even if you set them elsewhere using your iPhone. This makes iCloud the ultimate timesaver, providing a seamless working experience as you switch devices.

The above uses are almost entirely passive; however, many apps require you to be more active in using iCloud. Screens can sync login settings for remote Macs using iCloud, and asks you to opt in when you first set it up, while other apps save to iCloud or local storage as you see fit, giving you the best of both worlds.

a

> p h otos your deviCes can share a photo library that’s stored in iCloud, keeping in sync every photo you import and every edit you make.

Switch on iCloud Photo library in Photos’ preferences on Macs, and in Settings > Photos & Camera on iOS devices.

Pictures added on those devices are then uploaded automatically and made available on other devices connected to this library. On each device, choose whether its copies are full quality or optimized for its screen and storage.

The originals are kept in iCloud.

> M usi C subsCribing to either Apple Music or iTunes Match enables you to use iCloud Music library, which makes all your music streamable to all of your devices – even stuff ripped from CDs. Both services try to match your tracks with items in Apple’s enormous collection of music, so you should only need to upload those tracks Apple doesn’t have. Once you’ve subscribed to one of these services, ensure iCloud Music library is switched on in iTunes’ General preferences on your Mac, and in Settings > Music on iOS.

> Mai l, ContaCts and Calendar synChronize your address book, appointments and email account settings by turning on the switches for the corresponding apps in System Preferences > iCloud pane on your Mac, and in Settings > iCloud on iOS. Turning on Mail in these locations makes email sent to your iCloud email address appear in Apple’s Mail app,

and you then benefit from its integration with Spotlight and handy features such as Smart Mailboxes.

On the other hand, you’re not restricted to using Apple’s app to read your iCloud mail. So, if you prefer a different app that will require manual configuration, use the settings at bit.ly/iclmail to set it up.

maclife.com jul 2016 25

>>> Feature

> notes Notes was radically changed in iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan, so to get the best out of it all your devices must run those operating systems.

The first time you open Notes on one of them, it’ll ask whether to upgrade its data in iCloud so you can use its new features. If you allow it, devices on older systems will no longer sync notes to iCloud. However, notes in the new format can include map links, checklists, images and web addresses (which show the page title, site address and a tiny preview).

On iOS, you can sketch with your finger, but the Mac version has no equivalent. Folders you use to organize notes are synced too, of course.

> r esto r i n g a dev iC e Fr oM an iCloud baCkup

Find the restore FunCtion If your iOS device backs up to iCloud, you can restore its backup to a new device, or to your existing one after it has been cleaned using Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

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26 jul 2016 maclife.com

use setup assistant Now you have a clean device, run through Setup Assistant, ensuring you join a Wi-Fi network and set a passcode, until you reach a screen that offers an option of setting up your device as if new.

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restore your baCkup Instead, tap Restore from iCloud Backup, sign in to iCloud, then choose the backup you want to use from the list of archives. These are time-stamped; you’ll most likely want the most recent one.

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iCloud explained

> i C lo u d.Co M Sign in at iCloud.com using a Mac or PC web browser and you can use online versions of many of the core Mac and iOS apps, including Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

Documents and data you’ve created in the Mac and iOS versions are available in the corresponding online apps, and you can browse iCloud Drive to manage its contents

> li M iting iCloud apps FroM using data and share files you’ve uploaded to it. Large files up to 5GB can be sent by email thanks to Apple’s Mail Drop technology.

You can view your iCloud Photo Library from the website, but you can’t use its contents in the online iWork apps. Web browser requirements for being able to use iCloud.com correctly are at bit.ly/iclwebreqs.

> sa Fa r i a n d k eyC hain Storing Safari’s data in iCloud means that the same autocomplete suggestions, your bookmarks, and the list of sites which you visit often are available on all of your devices.

Setting up iCloud Keychain takes Safari’s convenience even further by keeping your site logins and credit card details up to date across your

devices too. This means you can set stronger passwords without worrying about forgetting them; Safari fills out forms with the relevant info.

Passwords and payment data are protected with 256-bit AES encryption. Your keychain also syncs items in the Internet Accounts pane between your various Macs.

MaC and ios apps can store documents and other data in iCloud, enabling you to access the same things in equivalent apps on all your devices. In Settings > iCloud (on iOS) and System Preferences > iCloud (on a Mac), there’s a list of built-in apps and services that can use iCloud in this way. Turning off a switch next to one of these means anything you create or do in that app is restricted to that device.

Third-party apps can use iCloud too. Tap iCloud Drive on iOS or click Options next to it on your Mac, and set the switch next to each app to your preference. Turning off one of these switches on an iOS device stops the corresponding app saving to iCloud, and anything you then create in it is available only on that device. This isn’t true on a Mac though; turning off an app’s switch there hides the folder on iCloud Drive that shows the app’s icon, so it no longer appears in Finder on that Mac, but the app can still save elsewhere on iCloud Drive. On iOS, the switches prevent an app using iCloud.

On iOS devices with a mobile data connection, you can conserve your quota by restricting apps to Wi-Fi. In Settings > Mobile Data, under “Use Mobile Data For,” set each app’s switch as you want.

> baC kup Backing up a device (its installed apps and their data) to iCloud is exclusively available on iOS. Rather than backing up your iPhone or iPad to your Mac when you sync it with iTunes, set it to back up to iCloud and it’ll do so whenever it’s charging, locked, and online via Wi-Fi. Backups can consume a lot of storage,

so check for and remove outdated backups by going to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage.

You can instigate a manual backup at any time, such as before installing an iOS update, by going to Settings > iCloud > Backup and tapping Back Up Now. Be prepared to wait quite some time, though.

maclife.com jul 2016 27

>>> Feature

iCloud and your data Top tips for making the most of the data that your devices and applications push to Apple’s iCloud servers > n otes

> ap p le M u siC

> keyC h a in

You’re able to follow up on bright ideas anytime, anywhere

Streaming’s great, but what about when you‘re offline?

Take the pain out of remembering all those passwords

keep a note on one deviCe Notes you don’t want to sync can be stored locally on your Mac or iOS device. In iOS, go to Settings > Notes and turn on the “On My iPhone/iPad” account. On a Mac, choose Notes > On My Mac Account from the menu.

You can always move them to iCloud later.

Conserve your Mobile data You can restrict Music to use Wi-Fi only, so that you don’t accidentally use up your mobile data allowance by streaming from iCloud. Go to Settings > Music and switch off Use Mobile Data. Turning off the switch below that lowers bandwidth usage by reducing the quality of streamed music.

Cross-platForM keyChain You can’t use iCloud Keychain with Windows. Consider 1Password (agilebits. com) if you need cross-platform password syncing for a work PC or in Boot Camp.

Multiple aCCounts Notes can sync with other services. On a Mac, choose Notes > Accounts, and on iOS go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, then work your way through your various online accounts enabling or disabling syncing of notes. Other services don’t support all of iCloud’s features, so if you move a local note with an interactive checklist to a Google account, that list becomes a plain old bulleted one. searChing For notes You don’t need to remember the service to which you saved a note. The search feature on Notes for Mac’s title bar, and above each list of notes on iOS, aggregates results from every account you’ve configured. However, when searching in the web version of Notes at iCloud.com, you’ll only see results stored in iCloud, of course.

28 jul 2016 maclife.com

listen While you’re oFFline With an Apple Music or iTunes Match sub, you can download tracks from your iCloud Music Library to play without an internet connection. If the album, track or playlist you want is in Apple Music’s library but not your own, tap the three dots next to it, then tap the + icon (iOS) or choose Add to My Music (Mac). Next, tap the three dots next to an item in your library, then the cloud icon with an arrow (iOS) or choose Download (Mac).

Filter out online traCks If your iOS device has a limited mobile data allowance, you can restrict iOS’s Music app to show only tracks stored on the device. In the My Music tab’s view of your library, tap the category selector and then switch on Only Downloaded Music.

boost keyChain seCurity By default, attempts by new devices to access the keychain are verified by a sixdigit code. To increase security, switch to a complex or random security code instead.

In System Preferences > iCloud, click Options beside Keychain, then Change Security Code, followed by Advanced.

Manage keyChain Contents To manage web form credentials and credit card details in your keychain, go to Safari’s AutoFill preferences on your Mac, or on iOS, to Settings > Safari then Passwords or AutoFill, respectively.

Your iCloud Keychain contains other things besides website login details and credit cards, including passwords for email and other internet servers, Wi-Fi network passwords, and more. You can manage these on your Mac: open the Keychain Access app from /Applications/Utilities and simply click iCloud in its sidebar.

iCloud explained

> iCloud photo l i brary

> saFa r i

> M a il , Co n taCts a n d Ca l e n da r

All your memories on all of your devices, always!

Enjoy the same browsing experience on all devices

Hidden server settings for greater control of email

store More photos Your iCloud Photo Library counts against your storage quota, so don’t be surprised if you quickly use up the free 5GB allowance.

Fortunately, upgrades are affordable, starting at 99¢ a month for 50GB. Upgrade on iOS in Settings > iCloud > Storage > Change Storage Plan. On your Mac, open System Preferences and click the Manage button in the iCloud pane, followed by Change Storage Plan.

piCk up Where you leFt oFF You can open Safari tabs that you left open on another device. On your Mac, make sure there’s a check mark next to Safari in System Preferences > iCloud. On iOS, set the equivalent switch in Settings > iCloud to the On position.

In Safari on one device, click or tap the icon of two overlaid squares to see tabs you’ve left open on another device. You may need to scroll down to see iCloud Tabs, which are below the thumbnails of those already open on the device you’re using. In View > Customize Toolbar in Safari for Mac, you can add a button that lists iCloud Tabs as a menu instead.

get rid oF junk iMMediately Can spam by setting up server-side rules to delete offending messages before they’re even downloaded. In the iCloud Mail web app, click the cog, choose Rules, then click Add a Rule to construct criteria that judges messages and then moves, trashes or forwards them. To remove a rule, click the “i”, then Delete. Rules here aren’t as versatile as those in Mail for Mac, but they process messages even if your Mac is off.

keep an oFFline baCkup You can also optimize photo storage on your Mac – though we wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a second Mac, or a library on a large capacity external drive that’s set to store the originals – otherwise they’ll only be in iCloud; Apple recommends keeping a backup somewhere. Go to Photos’ preferences on your Mac and, on the iCloud tab, select Optimize Mac Storage.

Wi-Fi is iMportant Wondering why your latest iPhone shot hasn’t shown up on your Mac? Check that the phone is on Wi-Fi, as photos don’t upload over a cell network. Verify iCloud Photo Library is enabled on both.

reCover lost bookMarks Turning on Safari in iCloud’s settings also puts your bookmarks online, including the view that shows your favorite and frequently visited sites. As a bonus, you can recover accidentally deleted bookmarks.

Sign in at iCloud.com, click Settings, then Restore Bookmarks at the page’s bottom and select a date. The bookmark restoration feature rolls back all of your bookmarks to an earlier time, so be sure you first save any new ones you’ve added.

get three More addresses Also in the web app, click the cog, choose Preferences and then click Accounts. Here you can add up to three aliases in addition to your primary iCloud address. Messages sent to each alias appear in the same inbox as those sent to your primary address, but you can use rules to deal with them, such as moving their messages to another mailbox. set an autoMatiC response Also in the web app’s preferences, take a trip to the Vacation tab to set up an autoresponder that bounces back a message for each one you receive while you’re away. Don’t forget to turn this off when you get home!

maclife.com jul 2016 29

>>> Feature

Get more from iCloud Drive Simplify access to, and sharing of, your files by putting them in Apple’s online storage ather than carry files on a USB thumb drive, you can save things to iCloud Drive to make them available on all of your Macs and iOS devices with no extra effort. To use iCloud Drive, you’ll need at least OS X Yosemite, iOS 8, or Windows 7 or higher with the iCloud for Windows software installed.

On the Mac, iCloud Drive is found in Finder’s sidebar. Similarly, it appears in File Explorer’s sidebar in Windows. On iOS devices, most apps simply save to their own folder at the top of iCloud Drive. You can add an app for browsing Drive’s folders and sharing files; if you rejected iOS 9’s

r

initial offer to add this, go to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and switch on “Show on Home Screen.”

You can store any type of file on iCloud Drive, though no single file can be larger than 15GB, and you need enough room in your account. Deleting files immediately frees up space, yet they can be recovered for up to 30 days in case of accidental deletion using a hidden-away option in iCloud.com’s Settings app.

There are alternatives to iCloud Drive on the Mac, of course, and some iOS apps can use these rival online storage services too. Learn more about the major players on page 32.

> get F i l es Fro M ios to you r M aC

enable saving to iCloud drive on ios The simplest way to get documents from iOS to your Mac is to set the app in which they were created to sync to iCloud Drive.

In order for an iOS app to save data to iCloud Drive, the switch next to its name in Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive must be on.

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Make app Folders visible on your MaC On iOS, an iCloud Drive-compatible app will save to the folder that’s branded with its icon. In iCloud’s preferences on your Mac, click Options next to Drive, then ensure the box next to your app is checked; if not, its branded folder will be hidden on that Mac. 2

iCloud explained

> th e d o Cu Ment p iC ker e x plai ned

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1 broWse For Files The Document Picker in a Mac app opens to the app’s folder on iCloud Drive. You can browse all of iCloud Drive by selecting it in the sidebar. On iOS, tap the + icon at the top-left, then iCloud Drive.

2 vieW/sort Files You can switch a Mac app’s Document Picker between three views, and sort its contents by many attributes. iOS has two views, sortable by name or date. You can make a document from here, too.

Make your oWn Folder hierarChy As far as the Mac is concerned, iCloud Drive works just like any other drive; you can create your own folder structure on it, rather than being tied into using app-specific folders. Files you place in these folders are still accessible on iOS, though.

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3 searCh For Files If you’re unsure where you stored something, use the search bar at the top-right corner. Search bars appear above iOS’s picker and at the top of the panel that appears when you browse all of Drive.

4 share doCuMents The pickers on Mac and iOS let you duplicate or share a doc without opening it. On the Mac, you can select a document and press Spacebar for a larger preview before opening or sharing a file.

open your File on ios After adding a file to Drive on your Mac, you can open it in a compatible iOS app by using the iCloud Drive app. Tap and hold the file’s icon, then tap More in the options bar, then find the desired app in the Share sheet’s middle row.

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>>> Feature

iCloud Drive alternatives iCloud isn’t your only option for storing files online: consider these rivals, then mix and match as you choose, or based on what your apps support > dropbox

> o n e d r iv e

Fast, simple, and with great OS X integration

Generous with storage and apps

Dropbox (dropbox.com) integrates with a wide variety of Mac and iOS apps. As with iCloud Drive, a shortcut to it sits in Finder’s sidebar, and right-clicking a file in that folder lets you create a link to share the file.

A free account gives you 2GB, while Dropbox Pro gives you 1TB for $9.99 a month or $99 a year. See bit.ly/ dbboost for ways to boost a free account’s capacity (you’ll need to register for an account first).

OneDrive (onedrive.live.com) is the sharing hub for Microsoft Office, and as such it feels very much like Windows 10 in its presentation. Free accounts provide 5GB of storage and access to online versions of Word and Excel. 50GB is $1.99 a month, while subscribing to Office 365 (starting at $6.99 a month) upgrades your storage to 1TB. OneDrive allows you to upload individual files as large as 10GB.

> g oog l e d r ive

> box

Enterprise-level features with a friendly face

A generous package, but beware its file size cap

Every drive.google.com account comes with 15GB of storage, with upgrades starting at 100GB for $1.99 a month, up to a ridiculous 30TB for $299.99 a month (see bit.ly/ggldupg). That’s shared by Google Photos, Gmail and Google Docs, one of the better online office suites. Thirdparty app InSync ($25 for consumer use, insynchq.com) can convert to iWork-compatible formats when syncing documents to your Mac.

Box’s (box.com) free account is generous, giving you 10GB to play with, but the 250MB maximum file size might be an issue if you need to share things like iMovie projects or Photoshop documents. Its Personal Pro plan (about $10 per month) raises that to 5GB, and increases storage to 100GB. Many iOS apps can use Box as storage space, and its Shared Workspace feature lets you work with colleagues in a common folder.

> l i vedri ve

> su ga r sy n C

Backup, syncing or both – it’s up to you

Free-form folder syncing, but at a price

liveDrive’s (livedrive.com) Briefcase package gives you 2TB for syncing files between Macs and PCs for £8 a month (about $12), plus £1 monthly (about $1.40) for each computer you add. upgrade to its Pro Suite (£12 per month, about $17.50) to also back up five computers and a huge 5TB of storage space. You can share files, as with Dropbox, and pro users can even set up FTP or SFTP access to their storage.

SugarSync (sugarsync.com) doesn’t rely on you setting up a dedicated folder to sync – it can work with your existing folder structure, and you just tell it what you want to upload. Its free 5GB plan is a 90-day trial, after which it’s $7.49 a month for 100GB, $9.99 for 250GB, or $24.99 for 500GB. It has apps for OS X 10.6 and higher, Windows XP and newer, and mobile apps including one for iOS 7 and higher.

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iCloud explained

Become an iCloud genius Memorize our six top tips for doing more with iCloud and you’ll spend less time messing about, enjoy increased security, save money, and more…

device. Under the Backup Options heading is a list of apps whose data can be backed up to iCloud, and the space their documents and data take up. You may be able to pull back some precious space by turning off the switch adjacent to any app whose data you don’t care to back up.

Turn on two-step verification to add an extra layer of security to your account.

synChronize purChases iCloud syncs your purchase history of media from Apple’s stores to all of your devices, enabling each one to automatically receive things you buy on any device that’s signed in using the same account. Go to Settings > iTunes & App Store on iOS, or the Store tab in iTunes’ and iBooks’ preferences on a Mac, to set automatic download options.

Macs can also retrieve movies and TV shows.

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seCure your aCCount Two-step verification adds an extra layer of protection to your account by sending a temporary code to a trusted device, which is needed as well as your password to sign in to your account.

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engage drive In Finder or a dialog that opens or saves a file, press ß+ç+I to jump to the top level 3

FaMily sharing Family Sharing gives six family members a shared calendar and a shared photo album, plus access to each other’s app and media purchases from Apple’s stores. As a parent, you’re able to authorize or reject your kids’ purchase attempts right from your iOS device. The caveat is that every allowed purchase is billed to your credit card. Get started by tapping or clicking Set Up Family Sharing on the Mac or iOS device of whoever will be the family organizer.

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of iCloud Drive. If Finder is active but has no window open, this will create one for you at the same time. aCCess your MaCs reMotely Back to My Mac enables you to connect to one of your Macs from another remotely, enabling you to browse its storage or see and control its screen. You need to enable this feature in each Mac’s iCloud preferences, UPnP and NAT-PMP must be enabled on your router, and your firewall may need tweaking too. Full instructions are at bit.ly/iclbtmm.

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sliM doWn your baCkups If you’re short on space in iCloud, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage and check whether any of your iOS device backups are using a lot of space. If so, switch to the device in question, then go to the same settings and tap the name of the 5

Spread the love (and your apps) with a Family Sharing account.

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>>> Feature

Get more from iCloud.com Left your Mac or iOS device behind? Much of what you can do with iCloud can be carried out with a web browser > iWork Fo r i C lo u d The online iWork apps help you to stay productive with just a browser

The name and color you choose for attributing your comments are used in all shared documents.

By saving iWork documents to iCloud Drive rather than your Mac or iOS device’s storage, you have the option of working on them in a web browser on any computer.

There are some limitations, such as the fonts you can work with, but the web apps substitute others, and your original choices are reinstated when a doc is reopened on a Mac or iOS. The browser-based versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote also enable you to work on shared files: click the center icon at the top of the Document

Picker to see files others have shared with you. To share one of your own, right-click it, then choose Collaborate from the menu.

You can add a password and specify whether the recipient can edit or only view the file. By collaborating on documents in this way, you can keep a single copy in existence, rather than emailing copies between participants and having to keep track of which is the latest version. Make sure your name is specified so your changes are correctly attributed: Open a shared document, click the spanner icon, pick Preferences and check Author Settings.

Even in documents you’re working on in isolation, the iWork for iCloud apps track your changes, just like the Mac and iOS apps, though the interface for browsing older versions is less refined.

Reinstate an earlier version by right-clicking the document and choosing Browse All Versions, select one in the list, then click Restore. Unfortunately there’s no preview, as there is on the Mac and iOS versions.

Should you need a printout, click the spanner and choose Print to make a PDF, which opens in your browser, then use the browser’s Print command.

> ph otos

> F in d M y iph o n e

Organize and share pictures from your photo library

Locate a device to keep your data safe

The online version of Photos is convenient if you want to show off your pictures when your devices aren’t to hand. When viewing a photo, click the icon of a cloud with an arrow to download it. To get more than one, go to the timeline of them or open an album, click Select Photos, identify those you want, then click Download. You can

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even create a new album online using photos from all over your library, if you like: click + while viewing a photo, or select several and click Add To.

Ignore the deceptive name: this feature also locates your iPads and Macs. On each device you want to track, enable this feature in iCloud’s settings. To track a device, go to Find My iPhone at iCloud.com (or use the iOS app) and click All Devices. If you’ve mislaid a device at home, click its name, then Play Sound. If an iOS device is lost or stolen, click Lost Mode and enter a phone number and message to display on it until it’s unlocked by its passcode.

If that doesn’t help, the Erase option will remove your data from the device, but it’s a drastic last step, because the device will no longer be locatable.

iCloud explained

> i C lo u d.Co M s ettings 1 Manage apple id This link takes you to appleid.apple.com to update your address, trusted phone numbers (for two-step verification) and payment method.

You can opt in or out of Apple newsletters.

2 My deviCes Removing a device from here doesn’t rescind its access to your iCloud account.

Instead, use the Sign Out option in iCloud’s settings on that Mac or iOS device.

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> u si ng iCloud d riv e in i Clo ud.Co M Even without your Apple devices to hand, you have access to all of the files you’ve stored online using iCloud Drive’s web app

organize Work in Folders When accessed in a web browser, iCloud Drive looks just the same as it does in the eponymous app in iOS. Apps create their own folders to group their documents, but you can manually create your own by clicking the folder with a + on it at the top of the page.

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Clear the Clutter To delete a file or folder, click it once, then click the trash can icon at the top of the page. An alert will pop up warning you that the item will be deleted from all of your devices immediately, but don’t forget you can retrieve it later if needed (see the annotation above).

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upload assets To add a file to iCloud Drive, click the upload icon at the top of the page (a cloud with an upwards-pointing arrow), then select the file you want to upload from your Mac in the panel.

You can upload any kind of file of less than 15GB, provided its size does not exceed your remaining space.

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doWnload and share Select one or more files (hold ç to build a selection) and click the icon of a cloud with a downwards arrow.

Clicking the envelope instead opens a new iCloud Mail message window with the files attached. Mail Drop helps out if the attachments exceed 20MB. 4

3 restore options Deleted files, contacts, calendars, reminders and bookmarks are kept for 30 days, and are recoverable using the options at the bottom of this page.

4 sign out oF broWsers If you’re signed into iCloud.com elsewhere, sign in on another Mac or PC and go to the bottom of this page to find a link that’ll sign out all other browsers.

> a ppl e n eWs pub l ish e r Keep the world informed

Join the big leagues by publishing your blog or website updates to iOS 9’s News app. Apple News Publisher takes stories from your site’s RSS feed, which blogging tools like WordPress, Tumblr and MovableType are able to create, and makes them available in your channel in the News app. Apple has also introduced its own Apple News format.

You can apply to publish your content in News at icloud. com/newspublisher. It’s free, but your application is subject to Apple’s approval process.

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>>> Feature

Troubleshooting problems in iCloud In the event that something related to iCloud stops working, you may be able to diagnose and fix it yourself without contacting Apple CheCk iCloud serviCe status If anything seems to be broken, the problem may not be your end, in which case you’ll need to wait. Point your browser at bit.ly/applservstat for a rundown of every Apple service.

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synCing takes tiMe Be patient. We’ve found changes made on one Mac or iOS device don’t always immediately sync to every other device immediately. Give it time to filter through.

If one of your Macs is running OS X Server 5, it can cache personal iCloud data so that your other devices can obtain it from your network rather than downloading it.

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If you don’t see your calendar entries showing up on iCloud, check your default calendar isn’t set to local storage.

ForCe an update 3 Manually If you’re still not seeing timely updates in apps that sync data or documents, many allow you to force a manual refresh by scrolling to the top of their interface or document picker and then dragging your finger down.

CheCk Where data’s going If you’re entering data into an app such as Calendar or Reminders and it’s not 4

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If your Mac doesn’t show up in Find My Mac, make sure it’s connected to a Wi-Fi network.

showing up on another device, check in its settings that a local calendar or list isn’t set as the default place for new items to be stored. diagnose netWork issues If an app on your iPhone (or iPad with a mobile data connection) is having trouble communicating with iCloud, check the app is permitted to use mobile data (in Settings > Mobile Data), then temporarily switch off the iOS device’s Wi-Fi to determine whether the syncing issue is caused by your local network.

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Can’t traCk your MaC? If your Mac isn’t showing up in the Find My iPhone app for iOS or at iCloud.com, ensure it’s on Wi-Fi; this feature doesn’t work over Ethernet.

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iCloud explained

iF you’re loCked out…

If you’ve forgotten your account password, go to iforgot.apple.com and enter your Apple ID’s address to receive an email with a link (or answer your security questions) to reset it.

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low Power Mode in iOS 9 will prevent automatic syncing of iCloud data in the background.

CheCk the tiMe Make sure the time and date on your Mac, iPhone and iPad are correct, as discrepancies can cause problems. Go to Settings > General > Date & 10

aCtivation loCk status Buying a second-hand iOS device or Apple Watch? Ensure Activation Lock has been disabled or you’ll be unaimageble to register the device to your account. Enter an iOS device’s serial number (visible on its rear, or found in Settings > General > About) at icloud.com/activationlock.

On an Apple Watch that’s been unpaired from the current owner’s iPhone, find the serial number in the ring of text on its back.

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suspended synCing If your iOS device is switched on and connected to Wi-Fi but your photos aren’t appearing on your Mac, check its battery.

Syncing of some data suspends once the power level drops to 20%, or in Low Power Mode.

Time on iOS devices, and System Preferences’ Date & Time pane on a Mac, then turn on the option to set date and time automatically.

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Time and date mismatches can cause iCloud syncing to stumble.

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>>> Feature

Be more productive with your Mac Get things done faster with these tips for working more efficiently in oS X

Words: craig grannell, christian hall, hoWard oakley, christopher phin, alan stoneBridge

have you ever considered whether the way you take on tasks is the most efficient use of your Mac, and if taking just a bit of time to learn shortcuts and discover hidden features in tools you use daily could actually save you time in the long run?

Every issue of Mac|Life helps you with these things, naturally, but to make things really easy we’ve put together a collection of tips here to help you work faster on your Mac.

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The advice here will help you work with Mail more efficiently, create more advanced documents in iWork apps, speed up working with text, and more besides. However you use your Mac, there’s something to help you get more done.

All of the tips here have been written with the latest Mac OS, El Capitan, in mind. However, you’ll find that many of them work with older versions too – just give them a go.

Be more productive with your Mac

remotely access macs use screen sharing and network features to control and access other Macs

remote control >>> To perform a task on another Mac that requires you to control its screen, find that Mac under Shared in Finder’s sidebar and click Share Screen. If you are already signed in on the other Mac, its desktop should quickly appear, and response time should be pretty good over a typical home network. If Edit > Shared Clipboard is on, you can easily copy and paste between the two Macs.

Back to my mac >>> Back to My Mac lets you connect to a Mac over the internet. Both Macs must be signed in to the same iCloud account.

The feature must be switched on in iCloud preferences on the remote Mac, along with “Wake for network access” in the Energy Saver pane. With Back to My Mac checked in Finder’s preferences, you should be able to access files or share screens as per the last tip.

use messages >>> Friends can temporarily access each other’s Macs using Messages. open a conversation, then click Details (or right-click a contact in the sidebar and choose Details). click the overlapping rectangles icon next to the contact’s name and invite them to share your screen or ask to see theirs. if control isn’t granted, the viewer can still click to highlight areas of it.

use spotlight >>> another way to quickly connect is to search for the Screen Sharing app in Spotlight. opening it gives you a dialog box that needs the name or apple iD to connect to.

Enter one and click connect. the recipient will receive a notification and be asked whether they accept or decline the connection. if they agree, their desktop will appear in a window on your Mac.

access macs >>> if you have several Macs, it pays to set them up to share services over your network. you can do this in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. within that pane, you can give the Mac a unique name (useful if, for example, you have two Macs of the same type), and turn on the likes of Screen Sharing and File Sharing. the defaults should be fine, but you can limit access by accounts if needed.

BroWse storage >>> Select the Mac you want to browse in the Shared section of Finder’s sidebar, then click connect as in the top right corner of the window. connect as a registered user, and provide your username and password. the other Mac’s folders appear in the Finder window. they can then be browsed like local storage, and you can also copy documents to the Mac you’re using.

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>>> Feature

mail Mail makes it easy to sort your communications so you can see what’s important

mail drafts >>> In fullscreen mode, new messages are displayed in the middle of the screen, and in El Capitan you don’t have to save them as a draft in order to look at other messages. Clicking outside the panel causes it to slide out of the way to the bottom. To get the composition panel back, click the small bar at the bottom.

laBeling in mail >>> Mail shows your inbox by default, but if you organize your email in folders (or in Gmail’s case, by label), clicking the Mailboxes button in the top left corner of the window shows them. You can create a new folder by choosing Mailbox > New Mailbox, then give it a meaningful name and choose where you want to put it.

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sWipe to sort >>> if you have a Mac with a trackpad, you can triage emails with a swipe. Put the pointer over a message, then swipe two fingers left to trash a message, or right to toggle the read status. No trackpad? Press ∫ or ç+ß+u , respectively.

make a smart mailBox >>> choose Mailbox > New Smart Mailbox and enter a name – something like “old mail” to archive old messages, say – and set the criteria that messages must meet in order to appear in the mailbox, such as “Date last viewed is not in the last year.” click oK and you’ll have a collection of messages you’re unlikely to read again; you can then opt to trash them.

vips in mail >>> Mail has a ViPs mailbox that only includes your most important contacts, and it can notify you of messages from solely those people. to set a contact as a ViP, place the pointer over their name at the top of a message, click the arrow to its right, then choose add to ViPs. in Mail’s General preferences, set “New message notifications” to ViPs.

archive old mail >>> right-click the Smart Mailbox you made in the above tip, and pick Export Mailbox to save its contents outside of Mail. you can now delete the Smart Mailbox’s contents to clear out old messages, freeing up valuable space in your account. use File > import Mailboxes > apple Mail and choose the exported MBoX file if you need to refer back to archived messages.

Be more productive with your Mac

More on Mail process neW mail >>> you can use rules to process new mail. create and name a new mailbox. in Mail > Preferences, click rules then add rule. Set conditions, such as “if any,” “any recipient,” “contains,” then list known addresses. in the actions section, choose to move messages to the new mailbox.

apply rules >>> to apply rules to mail you’ve already received, select a mailbox, press ç+A to select all messages in it, then choose Message > apply rules.

markup menu >>> you can make quick annotations on images or PDF file attachments. Put the pointer over the image or PDF attachment within your email and you’ll see an arrow appear at the attachment’s top right corner. click this and select Markup from the popup menu. Scrawl away.

Setting icloud rules, signing documents, working with handoff, and Mail Drop…

sign documents >>> You can “sign” documents in Mail. Click the Sign button in the Markup toolbar and you’re asked if you want to write your signature by hand, using your trackpad.

The tool can also use your Mac’s camera to take a photo of your signature on paper.

icloud rules >>> As well as processing mail as it arrives on your Mac, you can set rules at iCloud.com to deal with any whose subject mentions, say, Viagra before it reaches your devices. In iCloud Mail, click the cog at the bottom of the sidebar and choose Rules.

handoff >>> OS X’s Handoff feature lets you start writing an email on your iOS device then switch to Mac to attach a photo or file.

Devices must use the same iCloud account, be on the same network, and be a model listed at apple.co/1I34axX.

mail drop >>> Can’t send using Mail Drop? Go to iCloud preferences, click Options next to iCloud Drive; put a check mark next to Mail in the list of apps that store data in iCloud.

Mail Drop doesn’t use space on Drive, though.

annotations >>> the Markup toolbar offers tools for adding text and shapes for annotating. the pen tool can be used for sketches, and they can be smoothed to look better, too.

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>>> Feature

pages, numbers and keynote Boost your productivity with these essential iwork techniques

text styles >>> Select some text, choose title style in the Format sidebar, then set formatting options. the asterisk next to “title” indicates the text’s look but isn’t precise. click update to amend it. to make a new style, format some text, click the triangle next to its name, then click + in the pop-up, and name your style.

capitalize >>> click the cog in the text pane of the Format sidebar, next to “Biu,” for a capitalization option.

Note that the mixedor lowercase text you typed is still stored that way behind the scenes; it’s merely transformed for display. this is handy if you go with an all caps caption style, for example, then need to change back.

cascade >>> if you always switch to Body style after using another style, you can instruct Pages to switch to Body when you press ®. Select a piece of text that’s formatted with, say, Pullquote style, then click More in the Format sidebar and ensure Body is selected for the “Following Paragraph Style” option.

placeholders >>> if you frequently update images in a document, use Media Placeholders to scale and crop them to the correct size, and apply styles automatically. Set up an image how you want it (with crops, borders, reflections and so on), then pick Format > advanced > Define as Media Placeholder. Just drag an image in!

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copy and paste styles >>> Quickly reuse settings for text, a picture, or a shape without defining a style: select the object, choose Format > copy Style, select another, then Format > Paste Style.

returns in cells >>> in Numbers, pressing ® usually goes to the next cell down. use alt+® to move to a new line in the same cell.

default >>> in Pages’ preferences, you can specify which template to use when you press ç+N. to change it, hold alt and pick File > New from template chooser, or press alt+ç+N.

apply styles >>> You can apply styles quickly by pressing ! through *. In the Format sidebar, click the downwards-pointing triangle next to the style name, place the pointer to the right of the style you want to associate with a function key and click the rightwards-pointing chevron that appears, then pick a function key under Shortcut. To use the shortcut on Macs without dedicated function keys, hold ƒ and press the corresponding number key.

templates >>> Once you’ve set up letterheads, styles and so on in Pages, you can easily share the template with others. Choose File > Save as Template. You’ll be given the option of adding it to your Template Chooser – the gallery that pops up when you create a new document – or saving the file externally to share with others; they only need to double-click the .template file, and they’ll be given the option of adding it to the Template Chooser for their version of Pages.

extend formulae >>> In Numbers, select a cell that contains a formula, then move the pointer to the center of one of its edges and drag the yellow handle that appears across adjacent cells. Numbers is smart enough to update cell references in the formula to be relative to each newly filled cell. You’ll find that this technique also works with a series of numbers or dates; enter at least two, then select them and drag from the yellow border.

Be more productive with your Mac

highlights >>> Hold Alt while the pointer is over a cell to highlight the cell’s row and column in blue. (Consider using Numbers’ Alternating Row Color format option, which makes it easier to read across spreadsheets.)

toolBar >>> You can customize the toolbar in many apps, but it’s really useful in iWork.

Choose View > Customize toolbar, then drag features you use often onto the toolbar, drag out those you don’t, and rearrange and group the buttons using spaces and flexible spaces.

concatenate >>> the ampersand symbol (&) has a special function on a spreadsheet: to bring together values from other cells into one. it treats them as strings of text, and is handy for grouping stuff. So, with surnames in column a, forenames in B, and titles in c, entering the line =c2&" "&B2&" "&a2 in column D would concatenate those values with spaces between them.

special cells >>> Numbers supports some special cells that make it easy to enter certain kinds of data, including clickable checkboxes, star ratings, and pop-up menus where you can pick from a range of preset values. with a cell selected, open the Format sidebar’s cell pane and click the Data Format pop-up menu (top), then pick one of the last group of five formats.

conditional format >>> You can have cells change their appearance based on whether criteria are met, such as making a total red if you go over budget. Select the cells to act on, open the Format sidebar’s Cell pane, and then click Conditional Highlighting to set rules and styles.

organize slides >>> Keynote lets you organize slides into sections. Grab one or more slides in the left pane (hold ç when selecting them) and as well as being able to move them up and down, you can group them by dragging them a little to the right.

Click the triangle next to the group’s top slide to collapse it. You can skip slides too: select some, right-click one of that selection, and choose Skip Slide.

comBine actions >>> Keynote slides can have several actions occuring at once. click animate, then action, then add an Effect. Pick the kind of animation you want to apply. actions run in sequence by default. to run them at the same time, apply the first one, click add action again, set up the new action, click Build order, click the new action and change “on click” to “with Build 1.”

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>>> Feature

make templates >>> You can change a Keynote template’s Master Slides by going to View > Edit Master Slides. You can save this adapted template for others to use by choosing File > Save Theme. To build a template from scratch, you’re better off picking the White template and amending that. Delete the slide types you don’t want, add any extras you need, and set them up how you want them before finally saving.

distriBute slides >>> It’s easy to distribute a recorded presentation. Choose Play > Record Slideshow and walk through it, recording yourself speaking. (Make sure the correct mic is selected by Alt-clicking the volume icon in the menu bar.) You can pause recording at any point. Once done, choose File > Export To > QuickTime and set the Playback option to Slideshow Recording.

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lock oBjects >>> Select a Keynote object, then press ç+l to prevent changes and deletion. to revert this and thus be able to make changes to the object, you need to select it again and press alt+ç+l.

custom Bullets >>> Pages lets you use anything as a bullet point. Set your list to use bullets, then replace the • with any character.

Press ≈+ç+Space to display a list of image bullets, including emoji.

set default text style >>> if you find yourself setting the same styles on every text box you create in Keynote, do it once, then pick Format > advanced > Set as Default text Box appearance.

Existing boxes are unaffected by this.

share a link >>> if you use Share > Share Link via icloud, anyone with the link can access the doc, and their changes (if you’ve allowed editing) are reflected in your copy. choose Share > Send a copy to give a copy independent to yours.

share a collection >>> create a Pages, Keynote or Numbers doc, then add and select some text (or an object in Keynote) and add a link to it (Format > add Link); paste the link to another doc hosted on icloud as the target. add more links, then share this master list.

reduce shared file sizes >>> choose File > advanced > reduce File Size to remove detail in highresolution images and delete parts of media beyond your chosen in/out points. this can help large docs fit in iwork for icloud’s 1GB limit and reduce upload/ download time.

Be more productive with your Mac

text editing and replacement Speed up working with text using quick selection techniques and shortcuts

master the Basics >>> It can pay to keep your hands on the keyboard and not get distracted by desperately trying to finding items buried in the menu bar. If possible, try to memorize commonly used shortcuts, especially Cut (ç+x), Copy (ç+C), Paste (ç+v), Undo (ç+z) and Select All (ç+A).

learn formatting Basics >>> Whether you’re working on a formatted rich-text document or a Markdown file, you will sometimes need to emphasize text. You can typically make a selection bold, italic or underlined by pressing ç+B, ç+I, or ç+U, respectively.

use arroW keys >>> The arrow keys move the insertion point a character or line at a time, but you can make larger jumps by combining them with modifier keys. Press Alt+“ or Alt+‘ to move the insertion point one word at a time. ç+“ or ç+‘ moves to the start or end of the current line. Alt+æ or Alt+æ moves to the start or end of the paragraph (usually – some apps vary), and ç+… or ç+æ jumps to the start or end of the document.

paste and match styles >>> in some apps, you’ll find the text style comes along for the ride when you paste a copied selection into another document. (to see this happen, copy from Safari and paste into textEdit.) to avoid this happening, use Edit > Paste and Match Style (or press alt+ß+ç+v).

select >>> Double-click to select a word, or triple-click to select its paragraph. Keep the button held on the last press then drag to extend the selection.

hold for extended characters >>> if you can’t recall shortcuts for accented and other common special characters, hold the key for the basic letter form. a pop-over menu will provide options: pressing the number below the one you want will insert it.

So for é, hold e and then press 2 when the pop-over appears.

corrections >>> if oS X thinks text is wrong, a popover suggests an alternative, which is used if you continue to type. (ç+z to revert.) if oS X often changes a correct word, right-click the correctly spelled word and choose Learn Spelling.

shift to select >>> hold ß when using keyboard shortcuts to navigate text and you’ll select text as you go.

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>>> Feature

Special characters replacements >>> In Keyboard preferences, click Text. On the left is an area where you can use OS X’s system-wide text replacement feature. Anything typed into the Replace column is replaced by the corresponding entry in the With column. Click the + button to add a new entry.

have a system >>> When adding replacements, don’t use plain words. For example, if you set “email” to become your full email address, every time you type that word, it’ll be replaced. Prefix the text to replace with a pair of symbols, such as two commas, that you’re unlikely to use in typical writing.

your details >>> Text replacement is useful for adding special symbols easily, or to speed up text you write regularly.

If you have a blog, you could use “,,blog” and replace it with the address. You can even use it for multi-line postal addresses: type the full text in TextEdit first, then paste it into the With column.

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go further >>> with careful planning, oS X’s text replacement system is hugely useful, but it has drawbacks – notably, some shortcuts taking time to become active (sometimes requiring an app restart), and limitations to formatting and content. if you feel restricted, try typeit4Me (£14.99, ettoresoftware.com), which enables images, advanced formatting, markup and macros, with better tools for managing snippets.

autocorrect >>> under text in the Keyboard preferences pane are options for activating spelling correction (which defaults to automatic by language). in many apps, you may have to manually turn on spelling correction: go to Edit > Spelling and Grammar, and activate the relevant options (check Spelling while typing and correct Spelling automatically).

add some personality to your typing with emoji and more

character vieWers >>> these tips explore oS X’s character viewers, which make it easier to find all sorts of exotic glyphs to insert into any text. in System Preferences > Keyboard > input Sources, turn on “Show input menu in menu bar” to add an icon you can click to open the Emoji & Symbols window or the Keyboard Viewer.

emoji & symBols >>> choose Show Emoji & Symbols from the menu bar icon. the characters window is displayed as a floating window belonging to the app you opened it from (several instances can exist, each from a different app and in different places on the screen). Select a category to filter the list, or use Search to find one, such as “phone” emoji or the letter “eth”).

favorites >>> if there are symbols you want faster access to, you have two options.

First, those you use often are collected under Frequently used (this can be cleared). or build a favorites list: select any symbol and click add to Favorites. this may seem like more work, but it’s beneficial with the pop-over version of this window.

pop-over >>> if you click the button in the top right corner of the characters window, it collapses into a simpler form, with a search field at the top, then frequently used and favorite symbols. access categories by clicking icons at the foot of the window. you can access this windows from many apps using ≈+ç+Space.

>>> Feature

open any file on ios

by Matt bolton one of the ways Apple has tried to simplify computing in iOS is by removing a visible file system as much as possible – but everything still runs on files, of course, from documents to images to music and more, often in strange formats. On Mac, it’s easy to find software to open even the most obscure file types, because they’re usually created from desktop software.

On iOS, it’s not always as obvious how you can open some file types if they’re sent to you via email, or if you download them from a website. iOS itself has built-in support for many kinds of files, enabling you to view them easily, though not necessarily to edit them.

Here, we’ll go through all the most common file types you might need to open on your iPhone or iPad, and show you exactly what apps you need to make sure your iOS device is ready for whatever people can throw at it.

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Open any file on iOS

how to Open fIleS On iOS share sheet You can open a file from one app into another using iOS’s Share sheet. Usually you tap the Share symbol to bring this up, but it can appear at other times – for example, in an email, you tap and hold on an attachment to bring up this view, from which you can choose an action for the file, or use Open In… to select an app to open it.

1

safari downloads If you open a link in Safari that downloads a file, you’re given two options of how to handle it. It suggests an app that’s compatible with the file type (if you have one), or you can use the Open In… option to select an app yourself. If you just need somewhere to store the file for now, send it to Dropbox, or an equivalent file storage app.

You can open the file later.

2

open froM airdrop If someone attempts to share a file with you over AirDrop, you get a notification telling you who is sending the file, and what kind it is (if iOS recognizes it). Once you accept and the file is transferred, iOS either opens it immediately in an appropriate app, or provides you with a list of installed apps that it believes are compatible with that file type.

3

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>>> Feature

office docuMents There’s a solution for just about every format currently in use Many people’s first concern when it comes to file compatibility is office documents. For the most common file types, you don’t even need to open them in an app to view them: Apple iWork and Microsoft Office files can be viewed just by tapping their attachment in an email. If you download them through Safari, you can view them within the browser, with buttons at the top to open them. This is also true for PDFs, plain text .txt files, and .rtf rich text files.

w h e n i t co M es to p d fs, t h e r e a r e M a n y g r e at v i ew i n g a n d a n n otat i o n to o l s Of course, you’ll probably want to edit these documents, not just view them. Naturally, Apple’s own .pages, .numbers, and .key files open in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, respectively. These apps can also open Microsoft’s files types, including .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, and .pptx. There may be compatibility problems with some formatting from Microsoft’s files, though, so in general we recommend opening Microsoft’s file types

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in their own apps: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iOS are all free for viewing and editing files (except on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which can only view files for free – an Office365 subscription is needed for editing files).

You can use Numbers to open .csv files.

Documents from OpenOffice or LibreOffice (.odt, .ods, and .odp files) are a little more complicated: you can view them with the dedicated free OOReader app or the file manager Documents 5 (also free), but neither can edit them. You can, at least, copy out some content to paste into more productive apps from there.

For editing, your only options are apps that use virtual machines – Documents U is a free app that does this, with a paid optional upgrade to remove adverts and add features. This app looks like Windows 98, and is clumsy as hell, but is functional for basic editing if you really, really need to. It’s worth noting that iOS uses a ZIP file icon for .odt, .ods, and .odp file types, but that’s just a quirk of how their file type works – as long as the file extension is one of those listed, you can still open them in our suggested apps.

You can open and edit .txt files in Pages, but .rtf files are more tricky: our recommended option is Documents 5.

When it comes to PDFs, there are many great viewing and annotation tools, including Documents 5 again, or the renowned GoodReader ($4.99), which includes all the editing and signing tools you’re likely to need.

Both of these offer Apple Pencil support on compatible iPads, but you can also annotate in other ways, and fill out forms using text.

If you’re likely to be sent encrypted PDFs – which may be used for sensitive legal documents – Adobe’s own free Acrobat Reader app can open these files, and has its own editing and annotation tools (and other advanced tools unlock with In-App Purchases).

Open any file on iOS

contacts, calendars, eMails How to open contact cards and calendar event files the standard file type for contacts is .vcf, which is a vCard file. If you export contacts from Apple’s Contacts app, this is what it uses, and it’s also used by the likes of Outlook and Microsoft’s Contacts app on Windows. iOS can read .vcf files by default – if you’re sent one, just tap to view it.

For calendar event files, Apple uses the .ics file type, and again, iOS can read this file type without any extra apps, so just tap the file to open it. If you’re sent a .vcs file, you can’t open it natively, but there is a workaround: copy the file to Dropbox (or a similar service) and rename it, manually changing the

file extension to .ics, then send it to yourself via email. It should now be perfectly readable.

If someone forwards you an email by attaching an .eml file, this should be readable by the default iOS Mail app, but in some cases, this may not work. Another option for these files, as well as .msg and .oft files, is an app named Klammer (99¢). It hasn’t been updated in a long time but remains functional.

You can also rename an .eml file to .txt (using the Dropbox method above) to turn it into a plain text file, to open and view in any number of apps. It’ll be full of formatting code, though.

Compressed files

Ebooks

Unlock the secrets of a ZIp file

Read downloaded books on your iOS device

> if you’re sent a compressed ZIp file, iOS is often capable of showing you the contents of the file by default: tap it, or long press on it and use the Quick look option.

However, this doesn’t decompress the file to give you full access to its contents. There are lots of files for managing .zip files on iOS, but our pick is the free iZip. Its look deviates from the iOS norm a little bit, but its functionality is

> there’s no built-in viewing option for ebook formats on iOS (with the exception of pDfs, though that isn’t a dedicated ebook file type). However, the main ebook file type you’re likely to see is .epub, and Apple’s own iBooks app supports that, so use the Open In… option in the Share menu to copy a file to iBooks, where it will be compatible with tools such as bookmarking.

If you’re sent a version of a book or similar as a .pdf

excellent: it can decompress .zip, .rar, .7z, .gzip, .zipx, and .tar files to extract the contents, enabling you to access contained files individually, and open them in other apps in turn.

It also supports opening password-protected and encrypted .zip files. If you upgrade to the separate iZip pro paid version, you can also import files into the app and compress them into ZIp format to send, including encrypting them.

file, you can choose to open pDfs in iBooks, which will store them in your library like any other ebook, and sync them over iCloud between your devices.

Apple’s own ebook format is .ibooks, and these can be opened in iBooks, of course.

The other main ebook types you’ll likely to see are .mobi, .kf8, .azw, and .azw3, which can all be opened using Amazon’s free Kindle app (several of these are actually Kindle-specific).

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>>> Feature

video Tricky, but with a silver bullet

Audio play tunes in just about any format > there’s built-in support for many common audio file formats in iOS, including .mp3, .wav, and .aiff. It can also playback .m4a files (no surprise, since that’s what iTunes uses by default) that are encoded in either the AAC or Apple lossless format, both of which are available as encoding options from iTunes. If you’re sent a sound file in these formats, you should be able to play it back immediately without needing the use of another app. If you want to trim or edit an audio file, use the free Hokusai Audio editor app. You can choose it from the Open In… option for audio files, but it also has Dropbox access built in.

The most commonly used audio types that iOS doesn’t support are .ogg and .flac, but you can listen to files in either format using the free VlC for Mobile app, which was developed to play as many audio and video file types as possible. It’s not exactly designed to manage a full audio library, but it’s perfect just for listening to the occasional file.

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video can be complicated, because you not only have to know what the file extension of the app is, but also which compression format was used for the video. iOS’s built-in video support covers the most common modern video types. It officially includes support for .m4v, .mp4, and .mov files assuming they’re encoded in H.264 (which is the standard used by almost all web video now, and is the default export format for apps such as iMovie) – up to 1080p Full HD, and up to 60 frames per second.

It also supports MPEG-4 encoding in these same file formats, but at much smaller video sizes (640x480 at up to 30 frames per second). The iPad Air 2, both iPad Pro models, and iPhone 6 and 6s models all are capable of playing 4K in H.264 format (the same format as its own 4K recordings). Any 4K playback beyond that isn’t guaranteed using iOS’s own built-in capabilities. iOS supports .avi videos, but only for the M-JPEG standard, and support is limited: the video can be up to 1280x720 in size, and up to 30 frames per second – in theory. This format is unpredictable in practice.

If you want to play almost any unusual video type, including .mkv files, a wide range of .avi files, .webm files, and some .mp4 compression types that Apple doesn’t support, you should use the free VLC for Mobile. It even supports the new H.265 HEVC encoding standard, which will replace H.264.

Open any file on iOS

photos You should have no trouble with mainstream image formats ios’s built-in image support enables you to view .jpeg, .tiff, and .png files without the need for any additional apps. You can use the Open In… command to open these images in many apps if you want to edit them – iOS does not lack for photo-tweaking apps! iOS can also view .gif images, but support for animated .gif files is limited. The best option is to open them in GIF Viewer, a free app for organizing your .gif files.

Raw images are where it gets complicated. iOS has no support for raw files directly – so you’re limited

to using third-party apps to view these images.

If you’re sent a raw image file that has been shot with a JPEG preview, you can open it with Pixelmator ($4.99), using the Open In… command. Note that what you’re viewing here is the JPEG, though, not the original raw file.

This is the same way that importing raw images from a camera or SD card to the Photos app via a Lightning adapter works: the raw is left alone, and JPEG version imported.

If you need to view a pure raw file, your best option is PhotoRaw ($9.99, but a free version that can store one image at a time is available).

Between this and Pixelmator, you should be able to view almost all raw images from Canon, Nikon, Leica, Samsung, Sony, and Fuji cameras.

graphics and creative You can view files from many advanced creative tools on iOS when it coMes to advanced creative file types, you’re pretty much reliant on third-party apps.

For Adobe Photoshop .psd files, Pixelmator ($4.99) is a great way to view them, and even make edits, though layers may be flattened depending on the complexity. Pixelmator’s own file type, .pxm, can be opened in that app, of course. You can view Adobe Illustrator’s .ai files and Adobe InDesign’s .indd files through SneakPeek ($9.99) – it’s another one that

t h e d r o p b ox a p p ca n p r ev i ew . p s d a n d . a i f i l es w h e n yo u s e l ect t h e M i n s i d e i t

hasn’t been updated in a long time, but still works. You can’t edit either of these file types, though. One useful thing to note is that the Dropbox app can preview .psd and .ai files when you select them inside it, though it’s limited.

There’s also a free app named ADOView that can view .indd files, but it requires the InDesign document to have been saved with an embedded preview, so requries some preparation.

If you need to work with a .svg vector graphics file, the free Concepts app can both open the file and edit it.

CAD files in 2D and 3D formats including .dwg, .dwf, .f3d and many more can be viewed in Autodesk’s free A360 app, with some useful tools once you get them there.

maclife.com jul 2016 53

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maclife.com jul 2016 55

APP LIFE THIS MONTH’S MOST INTERESTING iPHONE & iPAD APPS

Videorama – Video Editor & Movie Maker A fast, fun video editor that simplifies complex features and effects Free (with IAPs) Developer Apperto Ltd, apperto.com/videorama Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later

Videorama’s tools are accessible, yet powerful

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Videorama is one of the latest contenders in the video-editing market, with a focus on combining clips and photos with complex effects. Videorama sits in a clever space between a simple, fast editor and an effects powerhouse, happily charging only for what you need.

Videorama excels by keeping its feature set fairly simple and focused, in most cases for the better, but occasionally to a fault.

For example, even though you can create projects in landscape, portrait, or a 1:1 square, both the iPhone and iPad version are locked to running only in portrait.

That said, it’s easy to get started and add clips.

Videorama does a good job of holding your hand in the beginning, then it gets out of the way.

Adding things like text labels (animated, optionally), sound effects, and filters is

instantaneous, and the timeline makes it clear where those elements begin and end.

Videorama’s simplicity stumbles, however, in that some effects feel a little rigid. For example, if you want to add visual lightning from a friend’s hands, they must be moving horizontally; you can scale the size of visual effects, but you can’t rotate them.

Videorama’s developers profess that you can make videos as long as you want. While we didn’t attempt to give Peter Jackson a run for his money, the app handled five HD video clips just fine, most being several minutes in length. One of the standout features are the small badges along the timeline that denote how much footage you can use for various social media sites with strict video lengths.

Twitter’s Vine, for example, allows only six seconds, while Instagram is up to 60 seconds.

Videorama is free and, even though it can apply a number of complex video and audio effects – including explosions,

You can buy just the features you need, so you’re not wasting money or space.

magic spells, and applause – it’s small. It only downloads an effect when you choose to use it (typically requiring an in-app purchase of just 99¢), which means it won’t eat up previous space on your device for effects you don’t need.

Overall, Videorama offers a great deal of flexibility, and is worth having on your device for various different projects. the bottom lIne. Videorama is a simple, focused editor which rarely stumbles and makes complex effects easy and fun.

DAvID ChARtIeR Videorama – Video editor & moVie maker Easy and fast to get started Makes complex effects accessible Features, effects stay out of the way Simplicity occasional stifles creativity great

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Email - EasilyDo Mail A superb iOS email app with a truly terrible name Free Developer EasilyDo Inc, easilydomail.com Platform iPhone Requirements iOS 9 or later

Since the early days of mobile email we’ve been frustrated by iOS email apps: many of them are very good, but don’t quite hit the spot – and the ones that came close, such as Mailbox and Sparrow, were shut down. But now we’ve discovered EasilyDo Mail, which is pretty close to perfect.

Let’s get the imperfect bits out of the way first. Exchange and iPad support isn’t coming until late summer, and you’ll need to wait for the next build to use Gmail aliases.

And sometimes the formatting is a bit off.

Now for the good stuff. It’s extremely fast – much faster on Gmail than Apple’s Mail app – and it has smart Assistants that

automatically find and organize purchases, tickets and travel documents. It has a unified inbox, email snoozing, Undo Send and Undo Delete, and similar one-click unsubscribing to the Unroll.me online service. If that sounds rather like Google’s Inbox, that’s because it is – but it’s done so much better by EasilyDo. It’s as goodlooking as anything on iOS, it’s packed with useful customization options – including 3D Touch actions – and its Assistants are intelligent and useful. It can block email tracking and read receipts, its search makes Mail.app’s search look embarrassingly slow and it’s very fast even on enormous and overstuffed Gmail accounts.

Within the customization options, you can set what actions short and long swipes trigger.

For us, all that’s missing is Gmail aliases – so we’re one build away from binning our existing apps and embracing EasilyDo Mail as our everyday email client. It’s that good. the bottom line. Super-fast and super-smart, EasilyDo Mail is one of the best email programs we’ve used on any platform. GaRy maRshall great

Jottit Need to remember or schedule something? Just Jottit $1.99 Developer Xebula Ltd, xebula.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later

Jottit combines note-taking and task management in a single app, enabling you to create notebooks containing notes, checklists or a mixture of both. The core app covers the essentials – reminders, swiping to change items’ status, due dates – if you want themes, better organization of notebooks, Markdown light support and the ability to create master notebooks that can contain multiple notebooks inside them, you’ll need to pay an additional $1.99 to unlock the app’s Advanced Mode.

Once you’ve created a notebook it’s easy to add items and to set due dates and reminders. There are dedicated screens for

scheduled tasks and for reminders, and you can use half-swipes and full swipes to set reminders or mark items as done.

We like Jottit a lot, but there are a few issues. The huge blue plus button on the opening screen creates a new notebook rather than a new note or checklist, which seems backwards to us, and once you have a few notebooks on screen you’ll wish you could color-code them for quick identification. You can’t move notes from one notebook to another, and if you don’t buy the advanced mode In-App Purchase then the presence of buttons you can’t use is rather annoying. These are fairly minor issues we know, but little issues are a big

Jottit’s interface is stripped back and simple, focusing entirely on the job in hand.

deal if you’re using an app throughout every working day. As it stands, Jottit is pretty good, but it needs a little more tweaking to become pretty great. the bottom line. A few minor issues mean Jottit is good rather than great, but it’s an intriguing and potentially superb organizational tool. GaRy maRshall solid

maclife.com Jul 2016 57

iAnnotate 4 can also capture and mark up web pages, but the PDF conversion takes forever.

iAnnotate 4 Make your mark with a comprehensive scrawler $9.99 Developer Branchfire, iannotate.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 8.0 or later

iAnnotate 4 makes a great companion for iPad Pro with Apple Pencil.

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Although the iPad seemed originally positioned for media consumption, it’s now a popular productivity tool, and marking up image files and signing PDF documents is a common task. That’s what iAnnotate 4 is designed to tackle, but despite a comprehensive set of features, the user interface is in need of further refinement.

On the plus side, iAnnotate 4 introduces multitasking and native display support for both iPad Pro models, as well as for Apple Pencil, which makes the app’s slender, customizable toolbars easier to navigate. The tool icons tend to be a little on the small side, so Apple Pencil support is a real boost.

For the first time, iAnnotate can also be used on iPhone, but it’s a compromise at best. In portrait view, the truncated toolbar runs along the bottom of the screen, requiring users to open the stack in order to see every tool. Things get even more cramped when you open the Toolbox to customize which icons appear there, with most of the category header text completely chopped off.

When it comes to markup and sharing, however, iAnnotate 4 performs well. Annotations

include shapes, photos, or voice recordings as well as more traditional pen, highlighter, typewriter, and stamp tools, with an unlimited number of documents open in tabs at the same time. About the only thing missing is a crop tool, although in a pinch you can use Capture Image to chop things down to size and save the results.

The file browser is a little on the mammoth side, but at least iAnnotate 4 connects with cloud storage services Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and OneDrive (personal or business), as well as iCloud Drive. Users can also capture web pages to a PDF file and mark them up, although this tends to be a long process with graphics-heavy sites.

There are a few things left to address: annotations can’t be copied and pasted, nor can documents be viewed in a list.

Files and folders appear as a comically oversized grid of icons, with truncated names that make it difficult to know if you’re opening the right one. Also missing is offline sync – there’s currently no way to manualy download files from the cloud. the bottom line. An exhaustive toolbox, but the user interface remains a work in progress. J.R. bookwalteR

iAnnotAte 4 iPad Pro, Apple Pencil support Robust annotation tools Multiple customizable toolbars Unintuitive user interface good

Tough testing, trusted ratings >>> App

Life

theSkimm A bit of a smørgasbord of bite-size bits Free (subscription required) Developer theSkimm, theskimm.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later

The sheer number of ways we digest news and information in the mobile era can be overwhelming at times. Maybe what we need is an app that could skim the headlines, serve up news based on your particular interests, and even give a heads-up about future events right in your calendar.

That’s the premise behind theSkimm, a Universal app that starts you off each morning with a curated feed of the current day’s important news and events called the Daily Skimm. Instead of a long-winded article, theSkimm presents a bite-sized take on stories with a light-hearted, witty tone.

Should you prefer to take a peek at what’s on the horizon, Skimm Ahead provides a look at upcoming events and allows you to add those of interest to your calendar with just a tap. Readers can also “Skimmify” their calendar, which automatically adds everything planned in from the selected time zone so you won’t miss a single thing.

As a news source, theSkimm is far too broad for our tastes – there’s just not enough granular control over what pops up.

Unlike most news apps, theSkimm requires a recurring iTunes subscription starting at $2.99 per month, which is a bit steep considering the scattershot approach of

If you don’t want to trawl through news and events, theSkimm will select highlights for you.

what the service delivers. For that kind of regular payout, we’d expect some degree of selection. There is a free 30-day trial period, to find out if it’s right for you. the bottom line. theSkimm puts a lighter tone on the business of news and information, but it’s a little too all over the place for our liking. J.R. bookwalteR solid

This by TinRocket Annotation made very, very simple 99¢ Developer Tinrocket, tinrocket.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9.2 or later

This app sits very firmly in the minimalist category. Want to annotate your images without a plethora of typeface and color options to confuse? Then This will do the job very nicely.

Tap on the camera icon, then either take a shot or select one from your photo library, then tap on any part of the image you’d like to caption and you’ll see “(This)” text on the screen with a pointer. Hit the text element, and a text bar pops up. Simply overwrite the default text, choose from either black or white for your text and annotation marker and then choose what kind of arrow head you’d like – such as a bullet point or a heart.

So, elements you can vary are the black/ white options, arrow heads, and text size.

And you can reposition your pointer. And that is that for This. It’s bare bones done well. But it really is a case of bare bones.

You only get one sans serif font – and you can’t even play around with bold or italic, or text alignment… And there are no other color options for your arrows or text.

At 99¢, the app is inexpensive, but we’d associate this low level of customization with a free app. Apps like Skitch are free and offer a greater degree of tweakability.

The app is certainly stylish and you can share results easily to social networking sites, but we hope the developer is planning

This provides the user with a number of different examples to get a feel for the app.

to introduce updates that allow for a little more variation. While we like the fact that you’re not bombarded with choices, a little opportunity to play around would make the price totally reasonable. the bottom line. Easy to use with clean and clear results, but will be too simplistic for many. Jo membeRY solid

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Each level has different challenges to overcome - this one has big blocks you can’t remove.

Warbits Probably the cutest war you’ll ever have $3.99 Developer RiskyLab, riskylab.com/warbits Platform Universal Requirements iOS 6 or later

Some units are for support only, and aren’t able to attack or defend at all.

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If your childhood memories are soundtracked by the grunts of “we will bury them” from Command & Conquer or the chirpy music of Advance Wars on the GBA, then Warbits will feel like it was made especially for you.

It’s a strategy game with witty, if slightly confusing, dialogue that has you and your opponents trash-talking even as you bomb each other’s headquarters. You have the choice of a few units, each with specialties and

limitations, but all basically under three categories: infantry, mechs, and air. These three types face off against each other in a rock-paper-scissors fashion.

Light Infantry handle other infantry best; Gunners are bad against other mechs but can take out aircraft in one shot – and so on. It’s up to you to use each type to your advantage – if the field is full of mechs, you’re best off constructing your own Heavy Mech to take them down rather than throwing waves of cannon fodder soldiers at them.

The AI, representing your opponent(s), is pretty good – it seems to know where your weak points are, and goes for them like a tiger going for a steak, but it’s not too difficult to work out how to trick the AI by distracting it with a cheaper, less important unit. Which at least makes you feel clever.

Perks and special abilities are introduced a few levels in, giving you boosts like 25% extra attack power, movement, quicker takeover of buildings and the ability to move twice in one turn, but it sometimes feels like the campaign is moving ahead faster than you can keep up.

This can mean getting stuck on one level for a while, being forced to surrender as the enemy troops gain ground each turn or being stuck in a stalemate. It could be argued that this is a huge part of strategy games, though - trying again and again with different tactics and getting the feeling of satisfaction when you finally figure it out – but every level starts with the same moves from the AI, which can make it feel like a Groundhog Day-style slog.

The design is without fault, though – the units are all short and squat, making the whole thing seem very cute despite all the shooting and war and implied death, and the bright primary colors make it easy to see what’s going on. the bottom line. Though the AI can be manipulated quite easily, this strategy game is well worth it for any fans of the genre. Kate GRay Warbits Well worth the price Beautiful sound and world design An amazing mobile addition to the strategy genre Occasionally overly assumes familiarity with strategy games excellent

Tough testing, trusted ratings >>> App

Life

Inks Where pinball and Pollock collide $1.99 Developer State of Play Games, inksgame.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later

Think “pinball game” and your mind probably jumps straight to cheap thrills: flashing lights, gaudy graphics, high-score buzzers. Inks is a surprise – a minimalist table, almost devoid of color. A blank canvas, in fact. That is, of course, until you start playing. Hit any of the colored bumpers dotted around the table and ink blooms prettily, your ball drawing trails across the white background. Hey presto, you’re an artist!

Not only does your pigment-splattered play area look like Jackson Pollock: The Spirograph Years, it also serves as a visual record of where you’ve been; it’s a map of

which portion of each flipper (activated by tapping the lower edges of the screen) sends the ball on what trajectory. You’ll be glad of it, too, because this isn’t pinball in the traditional sense. Instead of chasing down points, replays, extra balls, you’re simply aiming to activate all of the bumpers on the table in front of you.

Lose your ball? Here, have another. Lose too many of the suckers? Here’s a black ball, which scrawls over everything in inky darkness. Nice work on ruining your masterpiece, like a kid who got overexcited and mixed together every shade of poster paint and spoiled things for the whole class.

The result is a set of puzzles that at times

We felt like the red really captured the inner workings of our pinball-thrilled soul.

require delicate perfectionism, yet never fall into the chasm of frustration as a result of the beautiful central mechanic. the bottom line. A puzzle game that straddles the divide between pixel-perfect precision and the simple joy of creating a riot of color. Just try to suppress your grin. emma Davies excellent

Star Knight A dark knight of the soul $2.99 Developer LeftRight, facebook.com/lnrgame Platform Universal Requirements iOS 7 or later

Platforming, especially on iOS, is a crowded marketplace. As well as other original offerings, you’re up against ports of console classics with years of goodwill behind them. In order to truly differentiate yourself, you’ve got to be either very distinctive or very good indeed. And that’s where Star Knight stumbles.

Armed with the usual backstory, you head out into a cutely animated 2D world.

There are ledges to leap between – some that crumble beneath your feet, others that shoot out spikes – plus doors to unlock and monsters to skewer. It’s all fairly competent stuff, with the levels often encouraging you

to explore in order to collect runes that unlock extra moves, and some pleasingly precarious parkour sections. The problem is, even at its best it’s missing that key spark of excitement.

Combat is a telling example. Ideally, you should feel either genuinely endangered, or gleefully overpowered. Instead, you hammer away at the “stab” button relentlessly, occasionally throwing in a special attack for good measure.

Dodging out of the way of some falling spikes or thrashing multiple enemies with one slash is about as edgy as it gets.

Solid, but never spectacular, Star Knight suffers when compared to the genre’s

The art is striking, but it’s not enough make a star out of this middling platformer.

leaders – not as brutal as Limbo, not as speedy as Sonic, not as satisfying as Cordy. Without a truly innovative central mechanic to drive it, this star needs a lot more polish to shine. the bottom line. Jumps in all the right directions, but never quite reaches the heights of excitement. emma Davies solid

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Some actions can be guaranteed with purchasable Fate.

Fallen London Go on strange adventures in a sunken world Free (with IAPs) Developer Failbetter Games, failbettergames.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9.1 or later

If a “menace” such as Scandal reaches level 8 it triggers negative consequences.

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Fallen London is a text-based roleplaying game set in an alternate-reality fantastical Victorian London under the sea, populated by the lords and ladies and merchants and urchins you might expect, as well as the devils and tombcolonists and tentacled creatures you might not.

It can be a little overwhelming at first, but the basic setup is a map with several unlockable locations that each feature several unlockable “storylets,” plus an “Opportunity Deck” of a limited number of cards with extra adventures.

Each storylet or opportunity begins with a brief description and one or more possible

actions that either end or progress the mini adventure, but since even death leads to more storylets, there’s no such thing as a wrong choice.

Actions often have requirements, such as a skill like “Persuasive” or “Watchful,” or that you possess certain objects or qualities, all of which are measured numerically.

Want to go to the ball? You’ll need to call in favors, an action that requires you to be level 7 connected to Society and for you to possess 500 Silk Scraps and 5 Scraps of Incendiary Gossip. You collect these from other tasks, leveling up with easier ones to reach the more interesting challenges.

You’ll often find yourself repeating the same action to grind until you’ve met the requirements for another, which can feel especially uninspiring

when you’re only allowed a maximum of 20 actions (40 for subscribers) before you have to wait for them to refill, but since you level up a little even for a failed challenge no action is really wasted. As you unlock more storylets it can feel tiresome to have to keep scrolling down to the same one over and over again, but the interface is good.

Of course, one major benefit to this pacing of the game is its longevity. It’s a perfect fit for iPhone, an ongoing adventure that you dip into every now and then, following your own path at your own pace, setting your own goals to explore parts of the world or form romantic relationships or make a name for yourself in whatever way you see fit. And with regular free updates, new stories each month for subscribers, and additional purchasable content, it’s an imaginative world you could spend a huge amount of time in. the bottom lIne. An expansive and engrossing alternate-reality universe that fits perfectly on your phone.

JoRDAn eRIcA WebbeR fallen london Well-written world to explore Lots of player choice Regularly updated Some repetition, especially for non-subscribers great

Tough testing, trusted ratings

rounduP

6 apps for sharing the things you love If you’re “into” something, get your thoughts out there and dare to share BY dAVid chArtier

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re taking a break from checking out what people are sharing online. If you too are itching to share what you love with the world, there are plenty of great ways to do it.

We’ve rounded up the best of them to help you choose where to share.

You could think of Pinterest (Free, Universal) as a public scrapbook, or scrapbooks. As one of the top 50 most-visited sites in the world, it’s where hundreds of millions of users go to find, pin (save), and share everything from recipes, to inspirational quotes, to home improvement ideas, to fashion gotta-haves. You can create multiple “boards” to organize “pins” however you like, and the whole thing is free and supported by advertising.

With aspirations to become the world’s largest retailer, AmAzon APP (Free, Universal) either already has a category, or will soon, for just about every product. Naturally, it also includes a wishlist feature for saving the things you want to buy, or gift list ideas for friends. If you need to save things from elsewhere on the web, Amazon’s desktop browser

Pin what you like to your board in Pinterest.

It’s great for creating a mood board.

Rex has organized “vaults” for showing off your taste in various categories.

extensions and iOS app extension can save items not found on its shelves. Lists can be public or private, and they’re free to use even if you don’t buy anything there.

If Pinterest and Twitter joined forces, the resulting product might look like reX (Free, iPhone). A new service for recommending things (get it? “Rec’s?”), it has a variety of preset categories you can use to show off your favorite books, movies, articles, apps, places, and more.

You can follow friends to see their recommendations in a newsfeed-like stream and check someone’s “Vault” to get a view on what they’re into.

Some people you share with might prefer something they can hold, in which case mosAic Photo Books (Free, Universal) is a great option.

It’s a free photo collage app that enables you to arrange up to 20 photos in a unique collage, print it as a high-quality book, and ship it to a lucky recipient. The app is free to use and doesn’t even require an account. Books cost $30 – $25 for the book, $5 for shipping.

One of the internet’s best ways to share what you love is by blogging,

where everyone can stumble on and see it, and we don’t think there’s a better or faster service for sharing than tumBlr (Free, Universal). It has an iOS app extension that lets you share whatever photo, product, or pretty much anything else you’re looking at in just two taps. Of course, you can always add commentary, your own media, or full-on blog posts. Tumblr is free to use, even if you hook it up to your own domain.

Most blog themes are free, though a few higher-quality options are available starting at $20.

Sharing what you love might not mean “with the entire world,” just with a few specific lucky individuals.

In that case, curAtor (Free, Universal) might be a great option.

With a grid-based visual layout similar to Pinterest, Curator is part modern-day scrapbook, part office pinboard. You can save text, images, and links into multiple boards, rearrange their layout, and even present them. The app is free to use, but a Premium account ($5/month or $20/year) unlocks larger boards, group collaboration, PDF exporting, sync between devices, and more.

Curator is a visual treat – before you’ve even added anything! This is smart scrapbooking.

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>>> App Life

watch apps and guides to get more from your watch

SnipNotes A smart notes app for the Watch $2.99 Developer Felix Lisczyk, snipnotes.de Platform Universal, watchOS Requirements iOS 8.2 or later

You know what’s odd? There’s no Apple Watch support for the Notes app built into iOS. Who couldn’t use the convenience of wrist-ready access to their notes? Perhaps it will arrive with iOS 10, but for now it feels like a pretty glaring omission.

Enter SnipNotes, a third-party alternative that takes most of its design cues from Apple Notes, but mixes things up just a bit.

Although it lacks some of the recent improvements to Notes (there are no checklist or drawing features, for example),

watch tiP

Change text size With its tiny touchscreen, some wearers squint to read text at default size on the Apple Watch. Go to Settings, tap Brightness & Text Size, and choose from six different levels using the

64 jul 2016 maclife.com

on-screen buttons or by turning the Digital Crown.

in many ways it’s a more powerful solution. For starters, you can send or receive content to and from just about anywhere using the iOS sharing extension.

With the latest 2.0 update, users can search across all of their notes. Notes can’t be organized into folders, but filters allow for quick sorting by favorites, creation date, or content type. Another nice touch is the auto-import feature, which automatically creates a new note from whatever happens to be in your clipboard when you open the app or Notification Center widget. Finally, contextual actions work in tandem with the widget, allowing users to dial phone numbers, open addresses, and more.

Thanks to watchOS 2 support, notes are synchronized to Apple Watch quite quickly (well, as fast as the device allows, anyway), with full display of text and images – but not active web links, since there’s no Safari for Apple Watch. With a Force Touch press on the screen, users can quickly dictate a note (which worked really well in our tests) or

save your current location to a new note, complete with map, address, and GPS coordinates.

While browsing notes, you can also delete entries from the Watch as well. the bottom line. Who cares if Notes ever comes to Apple Watch? We’ve got SnipNotes to tide us over. J.R. bookwalteR SnipnoteS Voice dictation from Watch Save current location to new note Missing some Notes features like checklists and drawing No folder organization great

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Trivia Crack

How to Reply to an email from apple watch

Fast, fun and factual!

Free Developer Etermax, triviacrack.com Platform Universal, watchOS Requirements iOS 7 or later

Fancy a game of trivia?

Apple Watch owners can now get a quick brain-flexing fix while the iPhone stays in your pocket, courtesy of Trivia Crack. The game itself is free, but there are In-App Purchases for coin/life packs, and you can pay $2.99 to go for the ad-free version.

Spin the virtual wheel, choose questions from six categories, and win the game by being the first to get six crowns – but stay sharp, there’s a rematch that could trip you up! You’ll first need to log in on the iPhone, but after

that the fun all takes place on your wrist.

Players compete in a variety of different languages with friends or random opponents around the globe.

Tap the wheel, confirm the desired category, then tap Play to get started.

Like all good trivia games, you’ll need to answer quickly to win. There’s limited content and the questions tend to be American in nature, so it’s not allencompassing, but it’s quite fun to play. the bottom line. Trivia Crack is as addictive as the name implies.

J.R. bookwalteR

Get UPDateD Make sure you’re running watchOS 2 or later – this feature doesn’t work on earlier versions.

(From the Apple Watch app: General > Software Update.)

good

Cheatsheet Platform Universal, watchOS Requirements iOS 9 or later

ScRoll Down From a new notification or an existing Watch email, scroll to the bottom and tap Reply.

If you find it difficult to remember things, Cheatsheet delivers snippets of information to a Notification Center Today widget or your Apple Watch. This quick notes app also functions as a keyboard extension for quick pasting up to 50 cheats from virtually anywhere on all of your iOS devices.

With a Force Touch on the Watch face, users can add new cheats or refresh existing ones added on another device.

Each entry can also be tagged with a hint icon to help remember what each one is

SPeak it You can choose from a list of preconfigured responses or select emoji. Better yet, tap the microphone to dictate a reply, then Done to confirm. Don’t forget to Send or your message will never leave your Watch!

Take the hint with this handy app Free Developer Christopher Adam Overholtzer, overdesigned.net/cheatsheet/

used for, with a Glance that shows your top 10 cheats. It’s great for small, short term hints, such as a hotel room number or temporary authorization codes, and the icons make it a breeze to search.

Although Cheatsheet is free, you’ll want to pay $2.99 for the Pro version in order to unlock additional hint icons, sync with iCloud, gain access to the Watch complication with offline support, an action extension, and more. the bottom line. Cheatsheet is convenient, but works best with the Pro upgrade. J.R. bookwalteR good

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VISIT MACLIFE.COM FOR ONLINE-EXCLUSIVE REVIEWS, UPDATED DAILY

TOUGH TESTING, TRUSTED RATINGS

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch 1.6GHz Mid 2016 The Air gets an upgrade… but only for its RAM $999 (128Gb); $1199 (256Gb) Manufacturer Apple, apple.com Features 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor, Intel HD 6000 graphics, 8GB RAM

W

Apple MAcBook Air 13-inch 1.6Ghz Mid 2016 8GB of RAM now standard Excellent battery life Incredibly fast storage No processor or display improvements Good

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e’ve been saying for a while that we think the MacBook Air’s clock is ticking, and Apple’s tiny update to the line this year hasn’t exactly changed our minds. While the super-thin MacBook got faster new-generation Intel processors, the 13-inch MacBook Air got… some more RAM. And that’s it. Still it’s better than the 11-inch Air, which received no changes at all. So the 13-inch Air has the same 1.6GHz fifth-gen Intel dual-core processor as last year, with Intel integrated graphics, but it’s now backed up by 8GB of RAM. This is what we recommend for most people as a minimum these days anyway, so it’s good that Apple’s caught up there – though the 11-inch Air is still stuck with 4GB as standard.

There are two versions of the 13-inch model in Apple’s line-up, but the only difference is storage capacity: 128GB or 256GB. That storage is still monstrously fast, though, capable of read speeds up to 1.4GB/s. It’s truly pro-level.

The unchanged processor and graphics performance from last year (which was only a small improvement from the 2014 model) is not so much pro level, but it’s still a fairly capable machine – it has no problem with light photo and video editing, and very light gaming. There’s also been no change in the screen, though, which is a 1440x900 non-Retina display. We can live with non-Retina displays (if we really have to), but the screen also lacks brightness, vibrancy, and visibility compared to all the other MacBook models.

Still, the MacBook Air has other usability factors in its favor. The keyboard is the same style as the MacBook Pros, rather than the new MacBook, which some will prefer. And you get two USB ports, Thunderbolt and an SD card reader, so it offers connectivity without the extra weight of a MacBook Pro. And the battery life is fantastic – offering over nine hours in our real-world tests.

THE bOTTOM LINE. With a Retina display, the MacBook Air would be a very tempting prospect – a nice balance of performance and portability. As it stands, we’d rather pay the extra to get either the power of the 13-inch MacBook Pro or the lightness of the MacBook. But if you want the middle ground, or want a cheaper option, and don’t mind the screen, it’s a good option. MATT bOLTON

The MacBook Air 13-inch – a consistently capable option, but lacking in major performance boosts for 2016.

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>>> Reviews

TaskPaper 3 Is time management taking too much of your time? $24.99 Developer Hog Bay Software, taskpaper.com Requirements OS X 10.10 or later

Changing the TaskPaper theme is simple if you learn a little basic CSS.

TaskPaPer 3 Very, very, very fast Can be scripted and themed Plain text can be opened in anything May be too simple for power users greaT

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If you’ve used apps as part of a time/task management system such as Getting Things Done (GTD) you’ll know that you can spend so much time creating the perfect system and formatting everything that you don’t actually Get Things Done at all. If that sounds familiar, TaskPaper 3 may be the app for you.

TaskPaper is designed for speed, and as a result it’s very simple: it uses plain text files and simple syntax to automatically format your projects, tasks and notes. That simplicity means that learning TaskPaper is easy. You create a new document and then add a project to it by typing a project title and then finishing with a colon; the first item underneath is automatically indented and you can indent further with the † key. Tasks are prefixed with a dash and a space, tags are added by prefixing them with an @ symbol, and notes aren’t prefixed with anything at all.

Putting information into TaskPaper may be simple, but that information is organized very intelligently. In addition to the (collapsible) sidebar listing everything, red dots automatically appear next to projects and tasks

in the main window; clicking the dots expands and collapses them for effortless navigation.

You can theme the interface using CSS/LESS formatting if you want, and the app has its own scripting system for automation and integration with other programs. Where things get really interesting is when you combine tags with searching. Search for “@maclife not @done” finds unfinished items with the appropriate tag, and you can save searches – so, for example, you might create an item called “Panic!” using the expression “Panic@search(@monday and not @done)” to see how you’ll be spending your weekend. The search system is very powerful, especially if you give some thought to your tags and tag absolutely everything.

It’s great stuff, but there are a few caveats to mention. Existing users with AppleScripts on TaskPaper 2 won’t be able to bring those across - it’s all about JavaScript now - and the move to LESS/CSS means XML layouts have gone too.

There’s no mobile app, either, although as plain text is the world’s most widely supported format you can simply stick your files in an iCloud Drive folder and use pretty much any app to edit them. the bottom line. TaskPaper may look simple, but it’s scriptable and boasts a superb search system. It’s a very effective project outliner. GaRy maRshall

Many TaskPaper users are sharing their own tagging systems, such as writer Matt Gemmell’s, shown here.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

SkySafari 5 Plus Enjoy the solar system from your desktop

“Tonight at a Glance” view is like a TV Guide schedule to the heavens, courtesy of SkySafari 5 Plus.

$29.99 Developer Simulation Curriculum, skysafariastronomy.com Requirements OS X 10.6.6 or later, 64-bit processor

Featuring a huge database full of responsive OpenGL-powered renderings for nearly every object in the Solar System, this app lets you simulate the sky from the comfort of your Mac. SkySafari packs 2.5 million stars, 31,000 deep sky objects, and more than 4,000 asteroids, comets, and satellites into a 379MB app. No internet connection is required, so it’s perfect for MacBook users, but if you own the iOS version, iCloud Drive keeps all of your settings in sync.

SkySafari includes several lifelike images of real-world locations, and users can import their own panoramic photos. You can also view the sky from any location by dropping a pin on a map or choosing a city.

Although SkySafari takes advantage of fullscreen mode, the view is slightly obstructed by the status bar across the

bottom, which can’t be disabled like the toolbar at top. “Tonight at a Glance” is like a cheat sheet for junior astronomers with a list of the day’s best views, or users can flow forward or backward through time with a press of the Spacebar to watch the sky move hours, minutes, days, or years in an instant.

Plus is the mid-tier version, offering an online repository and tour mode, more comprehensive databases, and enables control over wired or wireless telescopes.

We’d recommend investing in the $59.99 Pro version, which expands available content to 27 million-plus stars and adds a new 3D Galaxy view. the bottom line. SkySafari 5 Plus is a perfect way to put the heavens on your desktop, but the more robust Pro version is the best value. J.R. bookwalteR

SkySafari 5 PluS Full-featured, easy-to-use space simulator for Mac Animated flow time mode Bottom status bar can’t be removed in fullscreen mode No discounted upgrade path from Basic or to Pro version great

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>>> Reviews

MacFamilyTree 8 Create your family tree the easy way $59.99 Developer Synium Software, syniumsoftware.com/macfamilytree Requirements OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor

MacFamilyTree 8 offers a more robust Interactive Tree, even for the biggest families.

MacFaMilyTree 8 Redesigned user interface, Interactive Tree Can import/export GEDCOM files No drag-and-drop from sidebar lists Less intuitive with step, adoptive relationships greaT

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Charting your family tree is one of those thankless tasks computers were created to tackle. Unfortunately, native OS X software is often cumbersome, difficult to use, and less full-featured than superior Windows apps or many of the subscription-based web services available. With a complete interface overhaul and support for features such as Force Touch, MacFamilyTree 8 is the genealogy software Mac users have been waiting for. It’s intuitive, easy to use, offers an insanely comprehensive set of features, and more ways to visualize and share your family tree than you can shake a branch at.

The change is apparent at first launch, with all of the core functions intelligently organized in a way that takes better advantage of available screen real estate. The four core categories have been relocated across the top, with each set of tools neatly presented underneath as well as in a full-window overview for easy access.

Edit is where you’ll spend the bulk of your time, while Views, Reports, List, and Publish

provide every conceivable way to display and use data. This includes the ability to export everything you’ve found and organized to a printed book using predesigned templates, as a website for others to enjoy, or a GEDCOM file for importing to other genealogy applications; you can also append or merge existing files into MacFamilyTree 8 databases.

The sheer number of features can be a bit daunting, but Interactive Tree is the easiest way to get started. Otherwise it’s all pretty straightforward, with only a few limitations.

You can’t create links by dragging names from the redesigned Person sidebar list and dropping them onto a tree; adding adoptive or step relationships also isn’t particularly intuitive.

Synium also offers a $19.99 version for iOS. MobileFamilyTree isn’t some less-powerful companion app, but a surprisingly faithful port of the Mac edition with iCloud sync that allows smartphone and tablet users to pick up where they left off on the desktop with virtually the same user interface. A few features are missing (Web Search, Virtual Globe view, several Publish options), but aside from occasional screen refresh delays, it’s equally as powerful and looks great on iPad Pro and iPhone 6s Plus. the bottom line. MacFamilyTree 8 is the full-featured genealogy software OS X users have been waiting for. J.R. bookwalteR

Person records can include a ton of information, but you can’t link relationships via drag-and-drop.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Fantastical 2.2 A businesslike update to our favorite Mac calendar app

Upcoming events in your schedule appear in the list view, which can be detached from the main layout whenever you like.

$49.99 developer Flexibits, flexibits.com requirements OS X 10.10 or later

Fantastical has evolved over the years from an intelligent miniature calender and reminders app that lived in the menu bar to a fully fledged, fullscreen replacement for Apple’s stock app, boasting support for multiple calendar accounts and iCloud.

The app uses a color-coded layout to display your schedule and helpfully integrates reminders into your daily dealings. Key to its function is a list view of your upcoming events and reminders that augments the main window, and remains active regardless of the layout.

The alternative calendar app has also won over plenty of fans thanks to its use of natural language processing to create calendar events and reminders from simple text entries. It now also recognizes partial matches for place names.

Existing accounts can be added from the Accounts pane of System Preferences or

chosen from within Exchange, and you can link manually to accounts from within the app. This version also brings a new interface to the app for Exchange users that enables easier discovery of contact and meeting rooms availability, as well as the in-app ability to send and respond to meeting invitations. Elsewhere, multiple event drag-and-drop and the facility to “float” different time zones alongside each other are great for cross-continent administrators.

The big news here comes for corporate users. With its support for shared calendars, Google Hangouts and global address list lookup, plus the many other benefits for Exchange users, Fantastical 2.2 has laid down a marker for business calendar apps. the bottom line. The update marks a coming of age for the quintessentially convenient alternative to Apple’s stock Calendar app. tim hardwick

Fantastical Beautifully designed True Exchange support Intelligent event processing Calendar print facility awesome

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Tough testing, trusted ratings >>> Reviews

Picktorial A new photo-editing app with lots of tools and a clean interface $39.99 manufacturer Picktorial Innovations, picktorial.com Requirements OS X 10.9 or later

P

Picktorial Clean interface Packed with tools Suitable for all skill levels Doesn’t quite rival PS Elements great

hoto editing apps tend to go one of two ways. You’ve got your one-shot filtering programs, such as Priime Styles, and your more Photoshop-like apps which offer in-depth tools to edit your photos in any way you like.

Picktorial has aspects of both, however.

While there are no layers to work with, you do get non-destructive editing, skin-smoothing, raw image file support for a growing list of cameras, white balance adjustment, a curves adjustment histogram, and compatibility with existing Aperture catalog files – although it doesn’t feature that app’s organizational abilities.

The interface is clean and uncluttered, with editing tools in an “inspector” panel at the right, and file browsing to the left and below the main image window. Any of the side panels can be slid out of the way when you’re not using them.

Photo filters aren’t always to everyone’s taste, but happily Picktorial contains filmsimulation filters along with its more Instagramlike ones. They’re customizable, you can create your own, and there’s always the reset button nearby if things get out of hand. For some users that will be enough; this is a $40 app, however, so it’s gratifying it takes things further.

Head lower down the inspector and you’ll find cropping and rotating tools, more lightroom-

style sliders including exposure and white balance, and some clever color saturation settings that can alter the hue, saturation and luminosity of eight color channels, split between shadows and highlights. This is impressive stuff for such a newcomer to the imaging scene.

Retouching options include a Tone tool that only affects a pre-selected region of your photo, which you define by painting. You can then adjust color temperature, exposure, contrast and saturation over the defined area using a discrete set of sliders.

It’s a neat way of getting round the lack of a general selection tool such as Photoshop’s, and you can paint more than one region, flicking between them and fine-tuning your edits. It takes a steady hand if you want to be accurate in your selection, though. Overlays to add folds, cracks and frames to your images also feature, along with watermarking if you want to protect your creations with your copyright.

Picktorial is a very good image editing app.

The developer has put a great deal of thought into its design and feature set, and it would make a fine alternative to Aperture if you’re still looking to upgrade. the bottom line. A superb first release, and an app to watch in future. ian evenden

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>>> Reviews

Falcon Another Markdown note-taking app flies into your Mac $4.99 Developer Chintan Ghate, falcon.star-lord.me Requirements OS X 10.11 or later, 64-bit processor, iCloud for back-up (optional)

The split view live Markdown preview is excellent.

FALCON The split view preview is excellent Stable and reliable during testing Import/export is far too awkward Needs more flexibility throughout OkAy

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Falcon is an affordable and relatively simple note-taking app compatible with the Markdown formatting system. Visually, its three-column interface resembles a simplified Ulysses. At the far left, you select a notebook, and its notes are then displayed in the second column. Pick a note and it loads into the main pane. By default, Falcon provides assistance writing Markdown, with a “helper” pop-up. When this is clicked, shortcuts appear for creating a heading, blockquote or list.

A similar helper appears when selecting text, whereupon you can mark up the selection as bold, italic or a link. If the helpers irritate, they can be disabled, although you’ll need to enter Markdown manually. (You can use standard OS X shortcuts for bold, italic, and so on, but there doesn’t appear to be keyboard-based help for the likes of links and headings.)

The preview is more impressive when you collapse the two library columns. You then get a split view, with your Markdown on the left and a live preview on the right, which updates

as you type. This rivals even iA Writer’s equivalent feature, and – along with a built-in tagging system and some nice style options – hints at the app Falcon could become. Currently though, there’s a stiffness and awkwardness that pervades throughout, hampering usability and making Falcon difficult to recommend.

The developer wisely provides a free Apple Notes exporter (suitably named Exporter) on the Mac App Store, but getting notes into Falcon isn’t particularly user-friendly. You must open a notebook in Finder (by way of a contextual menu), quit the app, manually drag files into the relevant folder and restart. It’s like dragand-drop within apps never existed. And once notes are in, there’s no means to change the sort order or select multiple items. Bafflingly, you can’t export a note or move it to another notebook inside the app – you must use Finder.

It all ends up feeling a bit alien – or at least unfinished. For the Markdown-obsessed, iA Writer and Ulysses are better bets, even if they’re more expensive; and for note-taking, there are superior options out there. That’s not to say Falcon’s a write-off – there are some great ideas here, but this app needs serious refinement before it can compete. the bottom line. Falcon has the potential to be something great, but at present the app is lacking. CRaig gRannell

You can change the app’s theme – Falcon comes in Light and Dark flavors but you can tweak and build your own.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Incognito A thorough app for web privacy $9.99 Developer Denk Alexandru, incognitoformac.wordpress.com requirements OS X 10.10 or later, 64-bit processor, Safari/Chrome/Firefox web browser

Cryptomator Add extra encryption to cloud-hosted files Free Developer Tobias Hagemann, cryptomator.org requirements OS X 10.8.3 or later, any cloud storage account

Cloud storage looks secure, but what happens if your account gets hacked? Cryptomator provides a simple, if undercooked, solution that works on Mac, Windows and mobile – the desktop apps are free, but the iPhone version costs $4.99. It works through the use of “vaults” – special folders inside which AES encryption is applied to your files. Vaults are simple to set up – just select your location and choose a secure password. Your password is encrypted in a key file that’s protected against brute force attack – a good thing, seeing as the file is housed as clear as day in the folder that’s been encrypted. Once unlocked, your vault is mounted as a virtual drive in Finder.

As files are copied in or accessed, Cryptomator displays a graph tracking the encryption/decryption process, which is mercifully quick. There’s little in the way of additional features, such as password hints or reset, never mind options for sharing folders. If you’re looking for a no-frills, but simple, fast encryption solution, Cryptomator is okay, but if you want more options and less visible security measures, try an alternative like Viivo instead. the bottom line. A simple tool that delivers on the basic premise of adding extra security to your cloud files. nick Peers

Incognito selectively wipes out hidden browser data anytime, leaving no trace of your activity behind. The app lives in the menu bar, from where you can open the main window for granular control over each browser, or choose which ones are set up for automatic cleaning. The software works best with Safari, offering 13 options ranging from routine cleaning of cache files and notifications, all the way to up purging bookmarks, clearing stored passwords, or wiping out installed extensions with a single click.

Chrome and Firefox are supported, but there are fewer options. Incognito can be configured to purge data whenever you quit one or more browsers, or you can manually select an application from the left, and click Clear Now button in the upper right corner.

Incognito also works well as a troubleshooting tool, since it can reset preferences and restore browsers to the way they were when first installed. It’s not cheap and there’s no option to hide the app icon from the Dock, but otherwise Incognito gets the job done. the bottom line. Incognito protects your privacy with granular control over when and how browser data is purged. J.r. bookwalter

inCognito Granular control over cleaning web browser data Supports Safari, Chrome, and Firefox No option to hide app icon on Dock Expensive good

Cryptomator Simple, fast and effective Open source, so transparent Not as flexible as other options Master key stored with folder solid

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>>> Reviews Tough testing, trusted ratings

Philips 276E6ADSS Quantum Dot Color tech is as cool as it sounds $299 manufacturer Philips, philips.com/monitors Features 1920x1080, HDMI, DVI-D, VGA, audio pass-through

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PhiliPs 276E6ADss Near 100% Adobe RGB color rendering HDMI audio pass-through Cheap-feeling plastic body Awkward on-screen display controls soliD

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ost monitors produce color that almost anyone would be happy with, but if you’re serious about your Photoshop work, video editing, page layout or any other media design creation, you shouldn’t settle for average.

Philips says this new 27-inch display in its E-Line range reproduces “99% of Adobe RGB,” the color space that’s relied on by media pros.

This focus on color reproduction means it doesn’t have any extra features; there are no pass-through USB ports or built-in speakers, but it does have a pass-through audio jack if you connect using HDMI. It’s a moderately elegantlooking device, with a white bezel around the 27-inch LCD panel, and rests on a slim curved aluminum base. There’s a 25-degree range of tilt, although only five of those are leaning back from vertical. The specs state a viewing range of 178 degrees both vertically and horizontally; in other words, what’s on the screen looks the same until you’re so nearly edge-on that it’s pointless.

Philips says this is the first monitor with Quantum Dot Color Technology, using nanomaterial that produces more precise color control. That “99% Adobe RGB” claim is a bold one; there are monitors that do achieve this, but the vast majority resolve the color range of the more basic sRGB. We tested the display with Datacolor’s SpyderElite and found that our model achieved 98% of Adobe RGB – a negligible variance.

But it isn’t all roses. The gloss-white plastic casing looks good, but it’s rather thin and prone to bending if you grip the top or the sides. It also creaks and pulls slightly away from the actual LCD panel when you tilt it forward or back, somewhat undermining the display’s credentials as a high-quality device.

The buttons for power, displaying on-screen controls and configuring them are touch-sensitive spots underneath the screen’s front edge. There’s absolutely no tactile element here, so you’ll have to look very carefully to be sure you tap the right part of smooth plastic. the bottom line. A very high-quality LCD panel that achieves almost 100% Adobe RGB color rendering, better than almost anything in its class. The image quality is not matched by the build, though; the case is thin and flexible, and the on-screen display controls are awkward. Keith martin

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>>> Reviews

Samsung T3 1TB A massively portable external SSD, but costly $370 manufacturer Samsung, samsung.com requirements OS X 10.7 or higher Weight 1.8 oz Features USB-C port, USB-C to USB-A cable, AES 256-bit hardware encryption

T SamSung T3 1TB Future-proofed port Stylish and light Good performance Annoying ejection warning greaT

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he T3’s metal enclosure feels more suitably premium than the plastic body of its predecessor, the T1, though there’s no major practical difference between them – they’re both simple and stylish external SSDs. Capacities start at 250GB for only a little more than the T1 would have cost you before the new drive was announced, and the top capacity is now 2TB, which will cost you $748 – pretty much the same price as building a physically larger drive using a bare SSD and a less pretty enclosure. The difference between prices at lower capacities, including the 1TB model tested, falls accordingly.

The USB 3 solid-state drives we’ve tested lately all perform pretty similarly. Transfer rates on most peak around 430–440MB/s, so we were unsurprised

that Samsung’s new portable SSD followed suit with 437.4MB/s large transfers. Its overall performance was also what we expected for a USB-C-based drive.

So it’s fast, but so are other equivalent drives.

The drive offers encryption at the hardware level.

With this applied, you initially see a volume that contains a tool for password entry to unlock your files. Doing so caused the first volume to be ejected in such a way that OS X alerted us about premature ejection. If you’ll only use the T3 with Macs, you could use OS X’s equivalent (but software-based) encryption to avoid this minor annoyance, but it’s not really a big deal. the bottom line. The T3 is tiny and light, but you can save a bit of money if design doesn’t matter. AlAn Stonebridge

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Satechi Type-C USB 3.0 Adapter A must for MacBook owners $10 manufacturer Satechi, satechi.net Dimensions 1.2x0.7x0.5 in

Satechi Type-C USB 3.0 Combo Hub Add a few more ports to your MacBook $35 manufacturer Satechi, satechi.net Features 3x USB 3.0 ports, 1x microSD card reader, 1x SD card reader

The MacBook has one port, but sometimes you’ll need to plug a few things into it at once. This little strip from Satechi slots into the MacBook’s USB-C port, and gives you three standard USB 3.0 ports, a microSD card reader, and a full-size SD card reader. It’s a good little setup for photography lovers in particular – you can read SD cards easily and connect a large hard drive to back up photos to – but it’s also pretty handy for anyone with a MacBook and a bunch of USB peripherals. The downside is that you can’t charge your MacBook while using the hub – though Satechi does now make a version that swaps one of the USB Type-A ports for a USB Type-C port, which can charge to the MacBook. That version costs about $10 more.

We did have a problem with a hard drive failing to show up on two of the hub’s ports, but eventually it just started working.

The adapter seems to maintain USB 3.0’s speed just fine, too. the bottom line. If you just want a small adapter for the MacBook for emergencies, look to the right. This one works well for more complex connectivity. matt bolton

This tiny adapter is simple: it enables you to connect a single USB 3.0 Type-A device to a MacBook’s USB Type-C port. That’s it – but the point is that this little thing, which weighs just a third of an ounce, can go everywhere with you, so you need never worry about suddenly having to connect a USB device to your MacBook in a pinch. It even comes with a little plastic eyelet on the side, so you can connect it to your keyring or similar and never worry about forgetting it when you’ll need it most. Note though, that the eyelet is tiny – smaller than most keyring thicknesses – so you’d need to get a little metal loop or something similar to connect it.

It comes in colors to match the three original MacBook colors (gold, silver, gray), costs barely anything, and work perfectly: it made no different to file transfer speeds to external drives in our tests. the bottom line. We can’t think of any reason a MacBook owner shouldn’t invest in one of these, just in case. Cheap and useful. matt bolton Satechi type-c USB 3.0 adapter Tiny and light Maintains USB speeds Can connect to bag or keyring Very cheap aweSome

Satechi type-c USB 3.0 comBo hUB Good selection of extra data ports Pretty small and light Maintains USB speeds No charging in cheaper model Great

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Tough testing, trusted ratings

OWC Aura 1TB A way to upgrade the storage on recent MacBook Pros $649 manufacturer OWC, owcdigital.com Compatibility MacBook Pro with Retina display, 13-inch/15-inch, Late 2013/2014/2015

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OWC AurA Simple to fit Good performance High cost per gigabyte SMART status and TRIM unsupported greAt

ntil OWC announced this SSD for late 2013 and later MacBook Pro models (a version is also available for MacBook Airs from the same period), you were stuck with the amount of internal storage you chose when buying those models, so if you bought too little, you can breathe a sigh of relief. The Aura isn’t a cheap upgrade, admittedly, though if you buy this full upgrade kit rather than just the bare drive ($597), you also get an Envoy Pro uSB 3.0 enclosure to reuse your original storage.

Fitting the Aura isn’t difficult, though it requires care that you don’t drop any of the tiny screws from your MacBook’s bottom plate.

It’s sensible to set aside plenty of workspace so you can arrange the screws to reflect their original positions and ensure each goes back in the correct hole. After removing the screws, you pull the plate away from the body, undo one more screw that holds the PCIe storage in place, swap in the Aura, then apply the same steps in reverse. The upgrade kit includes the necessary Torx and Pentalobe screwdrivers, and installation took us about 20 minutes.

To transfer your existing installation, it’s best to first put a fresh installation of OS X on the Aura to add a Recovery system, then restore your existing installation from a complete Time Machine backup. If allocating more room to Boot Camp is a reason you’re

interested in the Aura, make sure you grab OWC’s Dual Boot Enabler (released since the drive became available), which allows Boot Camp Assistant to recognize the drive.

Note that if you’ve previously “expanded” your MacBook’s storage via the SD card slot using something like the Nifty MiniDrive, remove it (and disconnect any other external drives); there’s an issue, documented by Apple and not the Aura’s fault, that can halt installation, and which frustrated us because we’d largely forgotten about our SD card upgrade.

The Aura’s transfer rates didn’t match our MacBook’s original Samsung storage. However, Apple uses drives from various manufacturers even in the same range of Macs, some of which also don’t match up to our original drive’s performance. At 476.2MB/s on large sequential writes, the Aura is 259.1MB/sec slower, while large sequential read operations reached 722.5MB/s, which is down 64.9MB/s. We didn’t feel the effects of this in day-to-day use (and very few others would in practice), but you may if you perform large, lengthy transfers to Thunderbolt storage. the bottom line. Though it’s expensive, the Aura is a good way to delay a full MacBook replacement. We recommend you get the upgrade kit for the extra value of reusing your old drive. AlAn Stonebridge

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>>> Reviews

Riva Turbo X So loud that it goes up to 11 $299 manufacturer Riva Audio, rivaaudio.com Features 100 dB Turbo mode, Bluetooth enabled, long battery life Weight 3 lbs

T

RIVA TURBO X Loud. Very loud Tight, deep hi-fi sound Pretty expensive Quite heavy for a portable speaker gOOd

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he Turbo X is a mega-loud Bluetooth speaker.

Riva claims that it’s capable of blasting out tunes at 100 dB and can run at slightly lower volumes for 26 hours. Just so we’re clear: 100 dB is very loud. And 26 hours is a pretty long time.

The speaker is pretty solid, and features a metal grille, with seven touch buttons on top. These glow blue as you reach for the unit. There’s a 3.5mm mini-jack aux input, and micro and standard USB sockets. The panel has a rubber cover on the base for splashproof outside use. Under the hood are three 60mm full-range powered drive units – one on each side and one on the front, and four passive radiators – two on the back and two on the front.

Switch the Turbo X on, and it goes into pairing mode. Quick and easy. The Turbo X is LOUD. In fact, most likely in homage to comedy classic This is Spinal Tap, it actually goes up to 11 – aka Turbo mode. What Turbo mode actually does is compress the bass slightly, so that it doesn’t distort as it gets louder. It also manages to hold its sound without losing depth and thump. You get a tight, balanced,

hi-fi quality sound, and the bass is deep and solid, but not boomy or overpowering. The speaker is more than capable of filling a room. As well as Turbo mode, there’s a Surround setting for watching films and playing games. It gives a slight sparkle to the highs, and a slightly wider “audio image.” Not exactly surround sound, though.

The “Groundcontrol” app gives a software version of the hardware buttons. You can switch the Turbo off from the app, although you can’t turn it back on again. We found the app a little flaky – it was sometimes unable to tell that the speaker was actually connected and already playing music.

As for battery, we got over 20 hours before we needed to recharge. Not quite the 26 hours claimed, but we were lured into cranking it up to 11 on more than one occasion. The Turbo X takes about three hours to go from flat to fully charged. the bottom line. The Riva Turbo X is super loud, and lasts ages on a single charge. It’s far from cheap though, so if you’re after for value for money you may want to look elsewhere. AlAstAir mArr

Tough testing, trusted ratings

iQunix Hima Doesn’t quite stand up $49 manufacturer iQunix, iqunix.com dimensions 2.6x3.1x1.8 in

Onkyo H500BT Fuss-free hi-res audio headphones $234 manufacturer Onkyo, onkyo.com freq response 7Hz–40kHz (wired)/23.5 kHz (Bluetooth)

These Bluetooth or wired headphones are designed to support hi-res audio, and so offer a frequency range of 7Hz-40kHz. There is a caveat, though: that upper limit can only be achieved when you use the included audio cable. Over Bluetooth, the highest frequency range achievable is actually 23.5kHz. There’s nothing that fancy about the design of these headphones; they’ve been built for comfort. The housing feels sturdy, and when you place them on your ears they grip well.

In keeping with this unfussy theme, there are only two physical buttons. The power button is sunk more into the body of the device, and the Bluetooth button has been made bulkier. Swiping up or down on the button on the ear shell controls volume, left and right switches between tracks, and a tap will pause your music.

Performance is superb, whether you’re playing bass-heavy dance music or more stripped-back fare, while battery life is phenomenal – 16 hours or thereabouts. the bottom line. The Onkyo H500BTs are a solid, reliable, and great-sounding pair of headphones. While they don’t stand out in terms of looks, they do when it comes to the all-important sound. marc chacksfield

This sturdy metal stand seems ideal for holding, charging and syncing a Lightning-equipped iPhone or iPad in a small footprint. Its little base is equipped with micro-suction pads, so it sits fixed to the desk, meaning that even a 9.7-inch iPad can’t be easily toppled with an accidental brush while docked. The device leans against a padded rubber back, and there are rubber inserts of varying thickness that fit around the Lightning charger, to keep things from wobbling.

The Lightning connection is built in, so it doesn’t even use up one of your cables (a micro-USB cable plugs in the back to provide power and data transfer).

However, it’s not Apple-certified, so the Lightning connector is unofficial. This won’t definitely be a problem for you, but ours actually stopped working, so… yeah. Even ignoring that, you also can’t plug headphones into an iPhone while using this dock, because it covers the whole base. You might not mind that, but for us, having the option is important, so we still prefer Twelve South’s HiRise dock. the bottom line. A great dock idea in theory, but reliability concerns and the inability to plug in headphones spoil it. matt bolton

iQunix Hima Solid metal build Pretty cheap… …but maybe you get the reliability you pay for Covers iPhone headphone jack POOr

OnkyO H500BT Excellent all-round sound Great battery life Easy-to-use wireless Design is a little plain greaT

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>>> Reviews

The Banner Saga 2 Strategy with a captivating plot and beautiful hand-drawn art $19.99 Developer Stoic Studio, stoicstudio.com Requirements OS X 10.7.5 or later, 2GB RAM

When possible, isolate and dispatch enemies before they get a chance to surround your party.

THE BANNER SAGA 2 Combat is rich with possibility and tactically demanding Plot carries over from the first game but establishes its own tone and theme Combat can be dull or disorienting until strategies become clear Keeping your caravan stocked is a little too easy ExcEllENT

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The Banner Saga 2 benefits from recent exposure to its predecessor. For one, it opens in the aftermath of the Battle of Boersgard, the first game’s climactic finale. The broad strokes of the Banner Saga are still in place: in a world of men and horned giants, you lead a caravan away from a horde of villainous, stone-skinned “Dredge.” Your time is split between two groups: one, the convoy from the first game, complete with equipment and characters; the other, the Ravens, a mercenary band led by Bolverk, a brutish “Varl” who whittled his amputated horns into a set of twin war axes.

And again, the Banner Saga offers a mix of turn-based combat, resource management, and branching narratives, each under-pinning the other. “Renown” earned in battle buys supplies for the entire caravan; choosing the wrong path through a bog may get your most lethal spearman killed – both could dramatically alter your next skirmish. The interplay between phases imbues each with tension and meaning.

Combat is preserved whole cloth, including the series’ signature “strength” mechanic: the more damage a unit takes, the less it can deal.

New abilities and classes – namely the horseborn, who specialize in crowd control and damage over time – allow for new tactical possibilities. With patience and foresight, skilled players can use traps, taunts, and blockades to funnel enemies toward deadly chokepoints or let archers take potshots from behind impenetrable shield-walls.

The Banner Saga 2 is more intricate and sophisticated than its predecessor, but it takes a fair number of fights before the more interesting strategies crystallize.

The Banner Saga 2 raises the narrative stakes, pulling back from a few ragged field hands to the fate of the world itself. Where the first game was marked by a quiet sadness, this one explores loss, moral compromise, and the hardening of hearts in the face of existential threat. Dramatic irony, a bold plot, and the soothing rhythm of life on a hard-bitten trail compensate for prose and dialogue that sometimes fall flat. the bottom line. Both as a set of technical refinements and a captivating plot, the Banner Saga 2 brings a sense of energy and momentum to what could have been a middling stopgap in Stoic’s Norse trilogy. Joseph leRay

Bolverk is always spoiling for a fight. His shieldmaiden, Folka, may be the only person in the world he trusts.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Stellaris

The fleet in action, complete with a squidshaped spaceport.

Grand space strategy, but in an awkward package $39.99 Developer Paradox Interactive, paradoxplaza.com/stellaris requirements OS X 10.8.5 or later, 2.5GHz Core i5, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD 6750/GeForce 320 1GB

It’s unusual to want to spend hours at a time playing a game while not being all that crazy about it, but Stellaris manages to pull it off.

It takes grand strategy to space, putting you in charge of an interstellar empire. You can expand, research, and conquer to control star systems across the galaxy. At any given moment, there are plenty of things to micromanage: focus on scientific research or exploration; build military might; colonize new planets; engage in diplomacy… within all these elements are great ideas, and it’s easy to lose a good chunk of time taking all of these small steps towards a larger victory.

It’s just a shame that there’s not much to look at while this goes on. The presentation and interface are almost too simple for a game with so much happening. With so much of your game spent zoomed out, it’s

easy to miss the clever design on the various ships and species in the emptiness of space.

In contrast, actually playing consists of increasingly complicated menus, tabs, and text boxes, and the combination of these moving parts isn’t as organic as it should be.

Stellaris isn’t a bad game by any means, but it falls short of its potential. It takes hours for it to even begin to gel, and even when it does it’s missing a spark to tie it all together. Still, the strategy can be quite fun, especially when you’re on the verge of researching a technology that will allow you to colonize desert worlds or taking out a hostile alien faction. the bottom line. Stellaris feels like the outline of a great game. The parts are all there, but it doesn’t come together quite perfectly. Sarah leboeuf

StellariS Expanding your space empire is satisfying Pushes you to keep playing Lackluster design Interaction among all parts doesn’t feel organic Solid

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home liFe Better living through smarter technology

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> get started with…

smart home security The latest clever technology allows you to keep an eye on your home even when you’re away By cliFF JosePh

e all want to keep our homes safe, so it’s not surprising that so many companies have entered the home security market in recent years. For most people, a security camera is the obvious first choice.

There’s a huge range of options available here, and you don’t have to spend a fortune to keep your home safe either. You shouldn’t cut too many corners, though, as many cheaper cameras are really just designed for video calls with friends, or for use as a baby monitor. We’d recommend spending a good amount of money on a camera that’s specifically designed with security in mind.

The best security cameras that we’ve seen

w

recently generally come in at around the $200 to $300 mark, and should provide a resolution of at least 1280x720 pixels, or preferably Full HD resolution (1920x1080), as well as options such as a night-vision mode for 24-hour security monitoring. soFtware security The software included with these cameras is also important. Logitech’s Circle ($199) has a neatly designed app that can create a time-lapse video summary of the events it records each day. Another standout security feature is facial recognition technology used in Netatmo’s Welcome camera ($199), which scored a publicity coup recently when it

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>>> Home Life Smart home security

the swannOne kit is comprehensive, but you do need to pay a monthly subscription.

when you don’t want to be observed at home, you can cover the Myfox security Camera’s lens.

caught a burglar at an owner’s home in Paris. The Withings Home camera ($200) can also supply you with a time-lapse summary and offers additional benefits, such as two-way-talk and light and music sequences.

clever connections Most security cameras are designed to work on their own, but Netgear’s Arlo Q ($220) and Arlo Wire-Free ($160) cameras enable you to link up to 15 cameras together to monitor larger homes or offices. Some people find it a bit creepy having a camera watching them at home, so you could consider the Myfox Security Camera ($199), which includes a remote control shutter for privacy when you want it. Like a number of these cameras, Myfox requires a monthly subscription if you want to store your video recordings online, which is something you need to check before buying any security camera (see What Else Should I Consider…?, p91). the Netatmo welcome One other video option worth app displays the date considering is a video doorbell, and time of unknown and known people’s such as DoorBird’s D101 Video movement, and shows a Door Station ($350) or the live camera view. forthcoming Smart Video Doorbell ($TBC) from Smanos. Neither records video, but both have motion sensors and can warn you if there’s someone loitering around your front door, and you can stream the live video to your phone to see what’s going on.

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A camera can be a useful security tool, but putting one in every room can turn out to be pretty expensive. A more affordable option that you can use in several rooms is a contact sensor that can be attached to a door or window frame to alert you when an intruder enters your home. Contact sensors only work with individual doors and windows, but you can also buy motion sensors that can detect any type of movement within a room, or in an area around a door.

These sensors are generally sold as part of a larger security kit, with a hub that can control multiple sensors and other devices. The hub

a l w ay s c h e c k t o s e e i F there are any hidden costs, such as cloud storage Fees provides the tech that connects the sensors to your home network, allowing them to send an alarm to your iPhone or iPad when you’re away.

Samsung is perhaps the best-known name here. Its SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit ($249) includes a motion sensor, two contact sensors for doors and windows, and a “smart plug” that can turn lights or other devices on and off automatically. However, as this is designed more for home automation, you have to buy the camera separately ($170). You can buy additional sensors for about $40 each, so it

smanos’s w100 houses a l o u d s i r e n t h at w i l l P r o B a B ly w a k e e v e ryo n e w i t h i n a Five mile radius

doesn’t cost too much to extend the alarm system to other areas in your home. The Canary home security system ($199) doesn’t come with any contact sensors, but detects motion and records HD video with night vision, and can alert anyone nearby to an intrusion with a 90+ decibel siren. getting started If you want every cent you spend to go towards security, consider a starter kit from a company with a more specialized background in the field.

Smanos’s W100 is good value at around $190, because it includes a contact sensor and a motion sensor, and its eye-catching, retro-looking control hub also houses a massively loud siren that will probably wake everyone within a five mile radius. Another affordable option is the iSmartAlarm ($200), which includes two contact sensors and a hub, although the compatible Smart Switch is extra ($40).

If you really want to go to town, one of the most complete security kits we’ve seen to date is the SwannOne Smart Home Control Kit ($470), which contains an extensive selection of security devices, including a camera, two contact sensors, and a motion sensor with a microphone that allows it to analyze and recognize specific sounds, such as breaking glass.

If you go with the Canary, it does come with a range of cloud storage plans to factor in, although you get 12 hours’ video history and three hours of video download for free. On the other hand, the SwannOne Smart Home Control Kit comes with a monthly subscription fee in order to use its full range of features, which could work out to be expensive in the long run.

Extra fees like these aren’t always obvious, so you should always check to see if there are any hidden costs involved with this or any other security gear or cameras you might want to buy.

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>>> Home Life Smart home security

Five oF the Best We recommend the best five smart security devices for you

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doorBird video door station d101 $350 doorbird.com

netatmo welcome $199 shop.netatmo.com

arlo wire-Free From $160 arlo.com

smanos w100 $190 smanos.com

> The Welcome is one of the more expensive security cameras for home use, but it’s packed with clever and useful features. As well as motion detection, it features face-recognition technology (so it knows if an “intruder” is just a family member) and a memory card, so you can store video without paying for online storage.

> Netgear has a number of cameras in its Arlo range, but the Arlo Wire-Free is the most versatile model, partly thanks to its cable-free operation. As well as having a weatherproof design and six-month battery life for outdoor use, it’s available in sets with up to three cameras, to make sure you can cover your whole home.

> One of the most affordable security sets around at the moment, the W100 includes a contact sensor for doors or windows, a motion sensor to cover a room, and two remote controls. Its main control unit also includes a loud 110dB siren, and can be used to control cameras and additional devices you connect to it, too.

> One of the more unusual applications of this kind of tech, the D101’s motion sensor and night-vision mode enable it to detect movement around your front door all day long. It can stream a video image to your phone so that you can see what’s going on outside, no matter where you are.

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> what else shOuld i CONsider…?

the small Print Is your security and the chance of convicting an intruder worth paying a regular fee? ost security cameras will stream live video to your iPhone so that you can see what’s going on at home while you’re away. But there may be times when you need to record and store video clips as well – perhaps as evidence of a possible crime. That’s when you may find that you have to pay extra in order to safely store them online.

Netgear’s Arlo will store your videos for free for one week, beyond which it costs you $9.99 or $14.99 per month to keep them for 30 or 60 days. Logitech’s Circle only stores video for one day, with no paid options available at the moment.

In some cases – Nest, Myfox and Swann, we’re looking at you – there’s no free storage at all, so you

M

5 samsung smartthings home monitoring kit $249 samsung/com > This set includes a central hub and two contact sensors. You have to buy the compatible camera separately, but the hub is designed so that you can expand the setup easily with extra options such as the compatible motion sensor or water sensor, which are available separately.

have to pay for a subscription if you want to keep your recordings online.

Netatmo’s Welcome stands out here, as it includes an 8GB memory card that lets you store video on the camera. Netgear has just released a new Arlo Q model that includes a memory card slot, though you’ll have to provide the storage media yourself in this case.

Netgear’s arlo system has good video quality and cloud storage for one week.

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>>> Home Life Smart thermostats

> hOw tO

mo n i tor your ho me with welco me ARchivE yOUR OwN vidEO If you’re technically ambitious, you can set up your own FTP server – online, or by using OS X Server – to store video from Netatmo Welcome without any extra fees.

On the cards in many ways, Netatmo’s welcome is a typical security camera, but it has appealing extras, including both ethernet and wi-Fi connectivity, and an 8gB memory card to store video without needing to pay a fee for online storage.

in motion like any security camera, welcome can detect movement in its field of vision and send a warning to your phone. its app enables you to specify exactly how and when welcome should record a video or send a warning – only when you’re away, for instance.

JARGON BUSTER IFTTT (If This Then That) is an interoperability standard, similar to Apple’s HomeKit, that enables devices from different manufacturers to work together. Netatmo’s Welcome app can work with the IFTTT app (free, App Store) so that it turns on a Philips Hue lighting system, say, when the camera sees you enter a room.

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Face time if you can get your kids to stand still long enough, you can train welcome to recognize family members, as well as trusted friends or neighbors. it will ignore those people in the future, and only warn you if it detects a face it doesn’t know.

Video downloads as well as sending warnings, welcome’s app logs every time it detects motion or a face, so you can quickly keep an eye on things back home. You can also download videos from the app to your iPhone’s Photo library, though obviously this uses a lot of storage.

The premier source for everything video games, TV, films, and more.

www.gamesradar.com

>>> Home Life Better living through smarter tech

get smart ConneCted gadgets to enhanCe your lifestyle

Cocoon cocoon.life $432

>>> We weren’t able to include the Cocoon in our security feature this issue, because it’s only just emerging from its own crowdfunding shell on IndieGogo. It’s not due to go into full-scale production until this summer, but it could be a real game-changer for home security products.

The device ticks all the usual security camera boxes with a Full HD 1080p camera for video, night-vision mode, motion detection, microphone and a roof-rattling 90dB siren.

And, of course, there’s a compatible app.

There are plenty of other security cameras that provide those features, and at the $400 mark the Cocoon is quite expensive. However, nestling inside the Cocoon is a technological

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butterfly called Subsound. Many cameras use a microphone to enhance motion detection capabilities, but the breakthrough offered by Subsound is that it can detect subtle vibrations throughout your entire home, and it can analyze those sounds and vibrations to develop a profile that helps it to recognize unusual activity. If you’ve got kids, it’ll recognize that they charge up and down the stairs during the daytime, but if it then hears a quiet tread on the stairs when they’re at school, it’ll send an alert to your iPhone. The video camera will only allow you to see what’s going on in the room where the Cocoon is located, but at least you’ll have some idea of what’s happening at home.

Smarter Fridge Cam

>SMart hoMe living

smarter.am $TBA

>>> Samsung’s internetconnected Family Hub Refrigerator (see issue #114) is a bit much, but if you want to get your cold storage online without spending over $5,500, you could look to the new Fridge Cam instead.

Developed by Smarter, the company behind the iKettle, it sits in your refrigerator and takes snapshots of the contents for you to view on your iPhone, enabling you to quickly check to see if you need to grab milk on the way home. Smarter is yet to confirm the pricing, but it’ll be cheaper than buying a new appliance.

Not everyone “gets” Apple TV, but JenniFer Phin loves the view from hers

Parrot Pot parrot.com $99

>>> Parrot first muscled in on the gardening scene with its Flower Power sensor, and its new Parrot Pot goes a step further by watering plants for you.

Like the Flower Power, the Parrot Pot has a number of built-in sensors that monitor the levels of light, temperature, fertilizer, and moisture. However, the Parrot Pot can also store two litres of water, which it will automatically release in small doses when required. It’s perfect for when you’re away, or if you can simply never figure out how often you need to water the damn things in the first place.

>>> My reaSonS for buying one of the new Apple TVs are threefold. One, I watch a lot of TV; two, I am fancy; three, I want to spend the rest of my life explaining to guests what Apple TV is. One of my girlfriends asked, incredulous, “Why on Earth don’t you just plug your laptop into the TV?” as if I had spent $199 on a motorized spaghetti fork, or Paul Simon’s Graceland on LaserDisc.

I really do love it though; all my ondemand TV shows plus my film and music library in one place plus the dorky ability to track domestic flights and stare into the cold black eyes of captive sharks.

They’re so quick and simple to access, to the point where it’s sometimes too easy to spend 45 minutes watching a jet inching its way towards Belgium.

The thing I use it for most is the gorgeous screensavers. WAIT, DON’T GO! Stuck indoors during the long, bleak winter with my new daughter, these incredible slo-mo aerial views soothed my ravaged soul and cranky baby alike. Now I greet the sunrise flying over the Golden Gate Bridge instead of peering out into the local gray murk. The backdrop to our afternoon is the magnificent Great Wall of China, or valleys of lush tropical foliage and waterfalls of the sort my daughter won’t get to see in real life unless she becomes an explorer, resourceful castaway, or reality TV contestant. In the dead of night I am a benevolent ghost over London or Manhattan, peeking into office windows. Everytime I watch, I see something new – have you spotted the fire jugglers on the bank of the Thames?

Or the creepy, empty construction site in the middle of bustling Times Square?

I mean, it beats flying toasters any day.

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>>> Home Life

apple Tv The laTesT tvOs apps and The hOTTesT hardware

Hovercraft: Takedown Customized combat cars clash Free (with In-app Purchases)

Just can’t get enough of that aquatic action? There’s a whole ocean-full to be had here.

Underwater Webcam Under the sea, under the sea… $1.99

Call us geeks, but we’re fascinated with webcam apps that offer a view of something we might never see in real life. That’s exactly what you’ll get with Underwater Webcam, which explores the “enigmatic and uncharted world” that exists below sea level.

Dolphins, jellyfish, coral reefs, and maybe even a shark or two are yours to view!

Now you can sit back and enjoy marine scenery all around the world from the comfort and safety of your living room with magnificent underwater views. Choose high-quality webcams to explore subaquatic worlds in the United States, Canada, Maldives, or France. There’s no telling what’s going to swim by next, so you’ll have to keep watching and find out.

Developer Travel and Play has selected only cities with the best available webcams, allowing you to see what’s happening in real time. The experience is strictly for Apple TV, where viewers can appreciate big-screen glory. j.r. bookwalter

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Part Mad Max, part LEGO homage, Hovercraft: Takedown is an action game combining custom vehicle building with physicsbased combat racing. Start with a prebuilt design or create something completely new — a band of thugs have taken over the highways, and it’s your job to assemble a hovercraft capable of taking down the bad guys!

There are plenty of options for doing just that. Custom hovercrafts can be armed to the teeth with guns, missiles, and more, including long-range sniper cannons, 360-degree tracking

lasers, and triple-fire homing rockets for maximum impact.

You’ll be blasting your way through scenic rocky mountain passes in no time.

Of course, hovercrafts are made from blocks, so as you sustain damage the vehicle will start to vanish before your very eyes. Get knocked around too much and it’s back to square one — but half the fun is smashing enemy vehicles and watching them fall to pieces, causing big chain reaction explosions. Fair warning: This is a freemium game, so the best experience will cost you, but there are a few free card packs. j.r. bookwalter

Have you ever been on a real hovercraft? Trust us, it’s nowhere near as exciting as Hovercraft: Takedown would have you believe.

Better living through smarter tech

Play Doh Fun By kids, for kids (well, in theory)

home theater

Free

if your kids like to create with Play-doh, there’s now a free apple TV app that will keep them busy all summer long doing just that. The aptly-named Play doh Fun isn’t an officially sanctioned Hasbro app, but does offer plenty of ideas and instructional videos on how to turn everyone’s favorite flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil-based modeling compound into all kinds of cool stuff.

From assembling Play-doh activity sets to doll craft and fun time do-it-yourself projects like a paint set, corn-on-the-cob, and rainbow with a pot-o-gold, the ideas are endless. There’s even a video on how to create a smartphone out of Play-doh,

Make the most of home entertainment

What do you want to make next – an iPhone, a Minion, Pac-Man, or some fruit?

a Pac-Man complete with four ghosts, and of course, a Minion from the popular films. Many of the videos are hosted by Maria from HappyKids.tv, an exuberant youngster who guides you step-by-step through each new creation. j.r. bookwalter

FromSky by PureScreens

PanasonIc VIera tX-58DX902b £2,799 (arOUnd $4,100) PanaSOniC.COM Panasonic’s DX900 range isn’t out in the US yet, but we had to feature this model, because it’s the world’s first Ultra HD Premium panel. This is the new standard for high dynamic range 4K video, producing an image unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Watch out for its launch!

Soar high above the earth Free (with In-app Purchases)

if your television set always seems to be tuned to the Smithsonian Channel show aerial america, it may be time to expand your horizons just a little.

FromSky by PureScreens serves up on-demand landscapes from around the globe in high definition, all shot from above and accompanied by the atmospheric sound of wind as you soar through the sky. after installing the free app, there’s a brief delay as a moving Hd video preview background is downloaded, at which point you’ll be able to select from seven different, endlessly looping destinations.

The Balkans are included free with

If only there was some way to combine this with underwater Webcam.

download, but also available for 99 cents each are a pair of paradisiacal landscapes for Polynesia, the Mediterranean pearl of Greece, two different breathtaking views of iceland and a wild yet relaxing journey along the East Coast of the United States. j.r. bookwalter

GrIFFIn surVIVor Play $19 GriFFinTECHnOLOGY.COM Apple’s Siri Remote is almost too svelte for its own good.

Survivor Play is built for not just protection, but also comfort with a non-slip grip that makes it easier to hold while gaming.

The impact-absorbing silicone doesn’t get in the way, but protects the back of the remote.

Available in either clear or black.

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ASk

TECH SUPPORT & TECHSPLANATIONS

IP address on the same subnet as the router. The normal default address for many routers is 192.168.1.254, so give your iMac an address of 192.168.1.1, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Using Network Utility on your iMac, select the Ping tool, and prove that it can see the router by pinging its IP address of 192.168.1.254.

To ensure the router doesn’t try to allocate your iMac’s new static address to another device, connect to its admin page and set it to use DHCP to allocate addresses in the range 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.250. Make sure you turn off the DHCP server in any other devices connected to the network.

How can I delete the Olivernetko app?

Macs that seldom move are best assigned a static IP address.

LOst netwOrk cOnnectIOn My iMac is connected via Ethernet cable to a Devolo 1200+ Wi-Fi hub, and the Devolo at the other end connects via another Ethernet cable to another, fairly old but still useful router to reach the internet. Although this used to work fine, the iMac has now lost its internet connection, and its Network pane shows a self-assigned IP address. How can I restore the internet connection?

Check that all physical connections are solid and that none of the cables has been disturbed during cleaning. Inspect the Devolo adapters and ensure their LEDs are white. If they aren’t, refer to Devolo’s documentation to interpret what their current status indicates. If that

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doesn’t fix the problem, move your iMac and connect it directly to the other router using an Ethernet cable, to ensure that you can hook up correctly.

Unless your iMac is mobile – that is, you take it to other locations and use it on another network – assign it a static

I keep getting troubled by something called Olivernetko, which is also filling my logs with errors. I am told to get a new version every day, although I already have it and don’t want.

How can I get rid of it?

Although Olivernetko is not actually full-fledged malware, it is infuriating adware that tries to make money out of you. As it can also download and install other apps without seeking your permission, it could easily bring malware to your Mac. You need to remove and avoid it as a matter of top priority.

First, check in the extensions section of each of your web browsers’ preferences, and remove Olivernetko from any where you find it. Then check the folders ~/Library/LaunchAgents and ~/Library/Application Support for suspicious files, such as Olivernetko. download.plist. Remove any instances you find, perhaps moving them to a holding folder in your Documents folder for the time being, before putting them in the Trash.

Use an adware removal tool such as Anti-Malware for Mac (free, malwarebytes.org) to clean any remaining traces from your Mac. Finally scrub the adware from Safari pages: open Apple’s browser, set it to open new windows to an empty page (in its General

Tech Support & Techsplanations

> Getting Amazon Prime Video to work

MalwareBytes’ removal tool is free, and should be able to clear the last vestiges of Olivernetko from your Mac.

preferences), quit the app, then reopen it with ß held to clear its records of pages that were open during your previous session. Open its Search preferences and ensure Olivernetko hasn’t hijacked any of the settings there as well.

Adding Wi-Fi for speed? this might sound like a crazy idea, but would I get better internet speeds if I used both a wired and a wi-Fi connection at the same time on just one Mac? Ethernet and most modern Wi-Fi networks are much faster than the majority of internet connections. Hooking up your Mac to the same router using both Ethernet and Wi-Fi won’t make a positive difference to the net transfer speed, and could even reduce it slightly, as the Mac would have to process and route the incoming information from two different networks.

Keeping track Is there any sort of software out there which enables you to keep track of multiple timelines, such as characters’ history in a novel? It would be very useful for me as a writer.

Look first at Aeon Timeline ($50, Mac App Store). Although that might seem costly, it can lay out timelines from simple data entry, saving you the pain of drawing each individually. It exports to various image formats, PDF or HTML, and is useful for all sorts of business and organizational work, not just creative writing, as in your case.

I have taken out a free trial of Amazon Prime Video, but when I try to watch its streamed movies, I keep seeing an alert telling me that Microsoft silverlight is not installed. My 24inch iMac (early 2008) is running el capitan and has 4GB of memory installed.

Although I have installed silverlight several times, I cannot make that alert disappear so that I can watch Amazon’s movie library. Does Amazon Prime Video not work on Macs yet?

Yes, it does, but many other Mac users have reported similar problems in getting it set up and running. You should ensure that you have downloaded and installed the very latest version of Silverlight, as OS X will now block some older versions because they suffer from known security vulnerabilities.

Microsoft provides test and demo pages where you can confirm that Silverlight has installed and is working properly, such as the page at bit.ly/23ezVGF.

Saving messages to disk How can I get Mail to save incoming messages automatically into separate folders according to the mail address?

The most practical way to do this directly in Mail is by setting a rule, which requires AppleScript, so is a little fiddly. If you want to try your hand at it, there’s a helpful example at bit.ly/1VV4wNu that performs the same task for attachments, which will get you started.

You may find it easier to use a set of simpler rules, each of which calls a separate AppleScript to actually perform

With Silverlight installed and proven to be working, try accessing the Amazon Prime Video service using Safari rather than Firefox, as Safari is generally reported to be the more reliable of the two for this.

If you can’t get Safari to work, you may find the only way to view Amazon’s movies is to download and install the latest release of Chrome, which does not require the Silverlight plugin. Because the video playback functionality that’s required is built into Google’s browser, this one often proves to be the most reliable option of all.

Amazon provides further instructions for dealing with issues with the Amazon Video service at amzn. to/1trcuXU, which you may find helpful, including further Silverlight-specific troubleshooting.

the task of saving. For example, if you get a lot of messages from me@me.com, you could make a rule in Mail’s preferences which handles all messages from that address, and then simply calls your script to save each message to your designated folder for that sender.

The snag with these script approaches is that you will need to hard-code the path to each folder in which the messages are to be saved, which makes them inflexible and a nuisance to maintain. If you decide to move those folders, you would have to change every

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>>> Ask

change to tiny device icons, indicating that iOS’s automatic storage management will no longer clear those items off your device. To manually get rid of such an item, tap its ellipsis, then the device icon, and pick Remove Download.

To see only music that’s available offline, tap My Music, then the category selector (just under the Recently Added row) and turn on the switch labeled Only Downloaded Music.

lost Ethernet port

use rules in Mail to deal with new messages, but bear in mind this might mean coding in AppleScript.

>>>

one of the scripts. A much simpler approach, which does not require any AppleScript, would be to use a basic rule to move messages to different custom mailboxes in Mail according to the sender’s address, then to manually save from each of those mailboxes as needed.

junked mail Mail’s junk mail filter doesn’t seem to work for me. How do I fix it?

Ensure OS X is fully up to date, then try resetting filtering in Mail’s preferences, and letting it “settle” for a few days. If it still won’t work, consider an alternative such as SpamSieve ($30, c-command.com), which works with most mail clients, runs as a separate app, and learns very well indeed.

How do I prevent tracks disappearing from iPhone?

I don’t use itunes Match, and I am not even too sure which version of iOs my iPhone 5s is running, but the Music app keeps removing songs from my phone and putting them back into the

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cloud. this makes it impossible for me to listen to those tracks when I don’t have an internet connection.

How can I prevent this?

Discover which version of iOS your iPhone is running by going to Settings > General > About, and check Software Update alongside that – it’s worth updating to the latest version to gain fixes for security issues, and to smooth out earlier issues with iCloud, backup and other things.

It sounds like your device is automatically managing its storage – so, when it runs low on free space, it’s sacrificing songs in Music. When you tap the row for a track that’s stored in the cloud (which will be tracks you have bought from the iTunes Store), the Music app downloads a copy to your device – but it only persists there for as long as you have plenty of free space. To ensure an item stays on your device, tap the adjacent ellipsis, then tap the cloud with a downwards-pointing arrow. Download progress indicators appear next to relevant tracks, and will eventually

My iMac had been working perfectly on the internet, but when I restarted, it lost its ethernet connection, saying it had become disconnected. Its cables are fine. what can I do apart from connecting the iMac using wi-Fi? There are two likely explanations.

The most worrying possibility is hardware failure. Restart your Mac with just a wired USB keyboard and mouse connected, holding D before the gray screen appears at startup to run Apple Diagnostics on Macs released after June 2013, or Apple Hardware Test on Macs from before June 2013.

If it passes the tests, you can be fairly confident the cause is a software driver issue. Back in February, Apple pushed out a silent update to its security protection which inadvertently disabled Ethernet ports in some Mac models. Review your logs using Console, looking particularly in the seconds after it last started up, for complaints about a kernel extension (kext) being in the exclude list. Further information about this issue is available at this site: bit.ly/1Szrh4a.

An Apple inadvertently blacklisted the Ethernet connection on some Macs.

Tech Support & Techsplanations

Route to route How do I switch between two routers on one network?

Set up the first network connection in the Network pane, and save it as a new location using the pop-up menu at the top of the pane. Set up the other and save it as a different location. Switching between them is just a matter of changing the Location setting.

Powerline pondering Our house is fairly large so I’ve been thinking about connecting our various devices using powerline network adapters rather than going to the hassle of installing ethernet cables everywhere (I want to stream a lot of HD video data, so wi-Fi is less than ideal). However, are these actually any good for heavy network use?

With good-quality modern power cabling, powerline adapters can achieve the transfer speeds close to dedicated Ethernet connections. They can be more susceptible to electrical interference though, which Ethernet cabling is designed to minimize. If you can afford to run Category 5e or better cabling, Ethernet should deliver more consistent network performance.

Opening old AppleWorks spreadsheets I have several old documents that were created using the spreadsheet module in Appleworks. I’ve tried opening them using the current version of numbers, but it refuses, reporting that the version of Appleworks which I used is unsupported. How can I open them?

Unfortunately this may not be possible without access to an old copy of AppleWorks, which can’t be run on any vaguely recent version of OS X. Older versions of Numbers are more likely to be able to open such old

sHAre wItH Us!

> Two broadband lines, double the speed? we can’t get an internet connection faster than 4Mbps. could we double our effective bandwidth by getting a second broadband connection?

Yes, you could, but it isn’t as simple as just adding an extra modem and router.

This is because each Mac or other device will normally connect one network port, such as an Ethernet port, to a single router at a time.

If multiple devices use the connections, you can set them up to use one or other of the routers, making allocations to try to even the load on the two internet connections. Macs with two built-in Ethernet ports, such as the Mac Pro,

can be configured to use link aggregation to spread their load over each port, to separate routers.

You can configure link aggregation in System Preferences’ Network pane: ensure that both Ethernet ports are connected to discrete routers, and that both are activated in the pane. Click the button that’s labelled with a cog icon below the list of network interfaces on the left, then choose Manage Virtual Interfaces. In the next pane, click the + button to create a new link aggregate, and select the Ethernet ports to add to that. The two Ethernet ports will then work as one, using the

AppleWorks spreadsheets, but you will need to go back to that in iWork ’09 or earlier, which might still run under El Capitan. Alternatively, the free LibreOffice suite (libreoffice.org) may well cope with your AppleWorks files.

If neither of those works, the only solution is to find someone with an old Mac still running AppleWorks, although you will be very lucky to discover someone offering this as a service. Save your files in an accessible format such as CSV or tab-delimited text, so that you can import those files to modern apps.

link Aggregation Control Protocol (lACP) to balance the traffic load between their connections. unfortunately, standalone network devices that perform similar link aggregation are expensive, and not easy to obtain.

Missing mail why do some new messages not appear in Mail? Have I missed a setting somewhere?

Probably not. Try rebuilding your inbox (or the mailbox where new messages should appear): select it, then choose Mailbox > Rebuild. Some people have had problems, particularly with Smart Mailboxes, in older versions of the app; updating to the latest release of Yosemite or El Capitan should help.

Indeed, that’s good advice to bear in mind generally.

eMAIL: letters@maclife.com FAceBOOk: facebook.com/maclife twItter: twitter.com/maclife

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CREATE HOW TO DO ANYTHING ON YOUR MAC, iPHONE & iPAD

Browse the web in private Keep your online activity under wraps to avoid spoiling surprises

REQUIRES > Safari 9 LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 5 minutes

If you use the web to search for and buy gifts for a family member, or perhaps if you indulge in personal browsing on a work-owned computer during breaks, you may want to keep that activity hidden from other people’s sight.

Keeping browsing private, then, means you need to make sure the browser and your account forget you ever visited the web pages in question.

But there’s another consideration, in the form of tracking. You’ll have noticed that when you research a new purchase online, you seem to be pursued endlessly by adverts for the very products you’ve been investigating. That’s

Quick look Keeping your browsing private Shortcuts In View > Customize Toolbar, you can add buttons for your browsing history and favorite sites.

Show all tabs This displays all the open tabs from the current Safari window as thumbnails, as well as tabs left open on your iOS devices.

Private browsing Activity in a Safari window whose address bar is dark gray isn’t recorded on your Mac. This includes any files you download, which are omitted from the browser’s Downloads list.

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because your browser stores “cookies,” which track the pages you’ve visited, and that data is then used by advertisers to decide what adverts to show you. You probably don’t want an ad for a gift you’ve carefully researched to pop up when the recipient is using your Mac - or you might just not want to be tracked in this way.

If dealing with all that sounds like too much trouble, there’s another option. Safari, Chrome and many other browsers feature a mode where nothing you do and none of the sites you visit are recorded. By enabling this before browsing, none of the pages you visit are stored locally and you won’t be tracked. Kenny HempHIll

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

JARGON BUSTER Do Not Track (“Ask websites not to track me” in Safari‘s Privacy preferences) is a request made by a web browser to sites you visit, asking them not to track you. It’s up to a site whether it complies, however.

Start Private Browsing In Safari, choose File > New Private Window.

A new window with a dark gray address and search field will open. None of the sites you visit in this window will be remembered, and websites you visit will be asked not to track you.

Clear a period from History To remove a large amount of activity from your history, choose History > Clear History, then choose a duration. When you click Clear History, sites visited, cookies and cached data from that period are cleared from both your Mac and iCloud.

Close iCloud Tabs Left a page open on another Mac or iOS device that uses your iCloud account? Simply click the “Show all tabs” button in Safari’s toolbar, then scroll down to iCloud Tabs, put the pointer over the one to close, then click the X next to it.

Clear specific History items To clear the record of a specific page, choose History > Show History, then right-click on the page’s row and choose Remove. To clear several at once, hold ç and click each in turn to select them all, then press ∫ to delete.

QUIcK TIp

Clear a site’s cookies In Safari > Preferences, click the Privacy tab, then the Details button halfway down the window.

Scroll through the list of sites to find the one you want (or enter part of its name in the search box), select it, then click Remove.

Hide frequently visited sites Safari’s Favorites view shows sites you visit often, as well as those you’ve explicitly added to it.

To remove one of them, right-click its icon and choose Remove, or just drag its icon out of the group until the pointer shows an X, then let go.

The ultimate way to cover your tracks is to use your Mac’s guest account. Everything you do in it is deleted when you log out of it.

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>>> Create

Make interactive iBooks Use Apple’s free iBooks Author tool to create rich ebooks

REQUIRES > iBooks Author, iBooks, and some media files LEVEL > Medium IT WILL TAKE > 30 minutes

Apple’s iBooks platform is fantastic for digital publishing, and its iBooks Author app is a powerful and surprisingly easy tool for creating beautiful interactive books. Rather than basic Kindle-style ebooks, iBooks Author lets you create proper page layouts with beautiful typography, and enhance the pages with a range of interactive media features. It’s free, and so is publishing to the iBooks Store. You can keep your creations to yourself, but why not share them with the world? iBooks Author will feel familiar to anyone who’s used Pages, Keynote or even Numbers.

In fact, you can even import Pages and Keynote documents directly into an iBooks document. But before you begin, sketch out a plan. Seriously, get a pencil and paper and scribble out your ideas, then gather your media: photos, movie files, audio clips, and any writing you’ve done.

The structure of an iBook is quite straightforward. Everything is arranged in chapters, each chapter has one or more sections, and each section can have one or more pages.

Every one of these – chapters, sections and pages – can be set to use one of a range of ready-made templates. For pages, you can start with blank ones and build things yourself if you prefer, to make your own templates. It’s a fairly foolproof system, as long as you work with it rather than against it.

What makes iBooks Author really interesting are its “widgets.” These are ways of adding more interactive content to your pages, from slideshows and movies to multiple-choice quizzes, embedded Keynote presentations, and even custom HTML content. Widgets can be played “inline” in the layout or set to open fullscreen, hiding the rest of the page as they do. The one point to remember is that they show a preview image until they’re touched, and only then become active.

If you want more than the standard set of widgets, take a look at bookry.com and bookwidgets.com. Both sites have extensive libraries of widgets, many of them free. keith MArtin

How to Make interactive digital books

Choose a template The Template Chooser makes layout decisions extremely simple. If you want an easy life, just pick a template that you like the look of – for horizontal or portrait layout – and add your content to it. You can adjust almost anything about it.

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The Blank template Alternatively just pick the Blank template to get the kind of starting point you find in professional desktop publishing tools. Choose this if you want to create layouts from scratch, though we’ll work with a template.

Add a cover design Begin with your book’s cover, called Book Title on the left. This will be shown in your iBooks library and on the iBooks Store, so make it look good small as well as large.

Add an image, then enter and format a title (View > Show Format Bar).

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

Continued Make interactive digital books

Add an intro video The Intro Media stage, listed on the left, is optional. It plays a video when the book is opened. Use the Media palette to browse your videos, or drop one into this page directly. When this video ends, the first chapter is automatically shown.

The Keynote widget Click Widget in the toolbar, choose Keynote, then click the rightmost icon at the top of the Inspector to choose your Keynote file. Almost anything that works in a presentation played in Keynote itself will also work within an iBook.

Use it in your iBook Click Save & Preview to check the map widget’s appearance, then download it, unpack the Zip archive, and drag the widget file into your iBook. It’s branded with the Bookry logo unless you pay to remove it or write your own widget.

Add pages Under Insert > Pages, pick a template and add media to it. Text boxes are linked so that words flow from one to the next. Under Insert > Insert Chapters From, you can add text from Pages or Word docs, or layouts from IDML files.

Custom widgets How about adding a map to your book? We’ll use bookry.com to make one of these. Sign up on the site, then go to My BookShelf and start a new “book” to store your work in your Bookry account.

Click Add Widget and pick Google Maps.

Write your own It turns out that writing your own widgets isn’t all that hard; basic HTML5 skills are really all you need. Make a web page that displays what you need, such as a map, then use the guide at bit.ly/ ibookshtml to turn it into a widget.

The Media widget The Media palette enables you to browse and add items from your Movies folder, or you can just drag a video from Finder into your book to add it as a Media widget. Use the Preview icon in the toolbar to check your work in iBooks.

Configure widget In Google Maps, click the menu icon (three lines) and choose “Share or embed map.” Copy the code under Embed Map and paste it into Bookry’s Google Maps Link field. “Freeform” sets your widget to a specific size on a page.

A new perspective Some third-party media tools have started supporting widget production too. If you have a 360° camera, Pano2VR has a widget-making template (bit.ly/360widget) for embedding 360° panoramas in iBooks.

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>>> Create

perfect your landscape photos Get ideal landscape exposures with Mac App of the Year Affinity Photo

REQUIRES > Affinity Photo ($49.99, Mac App Store) LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 60 minutes

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A big problem for landscape photographers is the large difference in brightness that scenes often exhibit. Even on days with blue skies, the top part of an image can often be extremely bright relative to the ground in the bottom part of a shot. That means if you set your camera to provide the correct exposure for the sky, you can end up underexposing the ground beneath – or vice versa. This is why many professionals opt for a graduated filter. This sliver of glass is translucent at the bottom and dark at the top, graduating in between, so the bottom part of an image exposes faster than the top part. If you snap landscapes only occasionally, there’s a similar digital solution that takes seconds to apply, yet it can make a huge difference.

Here we continue our series looking at Apple’s Mac App of the Year, Affinity Photo. In this guide, we’ll use several adjustment layers to get our sky looking right, then use a graduated layer mask to blend our corrected colors with the unaltered foreground beneath. For more on Affinity Photo’s tools, see previous issues. DAve StevenSon

Quicklook How a digital graduated filter works Think pink Pink overlays show the parts of your image that will be affected by your changes in Affinity Photo’s Develop persona.

Basic edits These tools are normally used for initial editing.

You can use a graduated overlay to control where the edits show up.

Take control Until you leave the Develop persona, you can move the overlay by dragging the handles at either end of it.

Experiment This type of filter is usually applied to landscapes, but it can be used creatively with many other image types.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

How to Create a graduated filter

Developing agent One way to set a graduated filter is to use a series of adjustment layers, then put a layer mask over the top, which allows later alteration. We’ll use a method that can’t be changed after saving, but is faster. Switch to the Develop persona.

Fix exposure In the panel on the right, select the Basic tab and click the main Exposure slider at the top of that tab. As soon as you start dragging it left to reduce the exposure in your image, you’ll see the top part of your image start to change.

Move the gradient As long as you’re in the Develop persona, you can change your gradient.

Click the control blob at its top, say, and you can drag the gradient overlay side to side – useful if, as here, you’ve got bright white clouds towards a shot’s corner.

Set the foreground Before you go further, get the picture’s foreground ready, including saturation or exposure tweaks. Once you leave the Develop persona, any changes you make will affect the entire image, so get the foreground looking how you want.

Saturate weaker colors The main problem with this image is saturation – the sky isn’t blue enough to do the scene justice. Further down the Basic tab, drag the Saturation slider right to embolden the colors in your image.

New overlays In the Overlays tab, click the Add Gradient Overlay icon (bottom-right).

This will create a new gradient on top of your first one, allowing you to infinitely fine-tune your edit. Each gradient you add is listed here – click one to change it.

Create an overlay Press g to select the Gradient tool. Drag downwards from the top-center of your image and you’ll see a red overlay that fades at the bottom. For our image, we’ve dragged until the overlay’s bottom rests on the foreground’s top edge.

Go easy If your changes start to look a bit dramatic, it’s often worth dialing them back. Edits that look great on a glossy screen can look silly in print – you’re aiming to perfect your image, not make it unrecognizable from the original.

Fear of commitment Got it right? Click the blue Develop button near the top-left corner of the window and your changes will be saved; you can’t go back and change them now, but you can still work on your image with Affinity Photo’s normal tools.

maclife.com JUL 2016 107

>>> Create

share calendars and to-dos Set up your Calendar and Reminders apps to enable sharing

REQUIRES > iPad and iCloud Account, friend with iOS device (and iCloud account) LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 30 minutes

From setting up day trips through to arranging holidays and planning parties, we’d be lost without iOS sharing. The trick to getting more out of Calendar and Reminders is to set up sharing with family and friends. Once sharing is enabled, you can add events to Calendar, and they’ll appear on all the shared iOS devices. If you change an event, such as moving its time or location, it’ll automatically update on everybody’s device (including any alerts that you’ve set).

Sharing items in Reminders is even more useful. We often use Reminders to remember urgent tasks stuff, but it’s an excellent to-do list app. Reminders are ideal for DIY projects around the house, as well as for keeping track of all the chores that need doing. You can work on a project with somebody, and you can both add items to a list (and see them getting checked off).

There are a few different ways you can set up shared items in Calendar and Reminders. You can set up Family Sharing in iCloud. Family Sharing is mainly used to share Apple purchases, but has the useful second function of creating a separate calendar and list in Reminders, both called Family. Items added here are automatically shared with other members of your family.

Sometimes you just want to share items with friends or colleagues instead. No problem – it’s easy to create calendars and Reminders lists and choose who to share them with, too.

It’s a great idea to start using shared items on your iPad, so let’s take a quick look at all the different tricks available. We’ll show you how switching on Family Sharing enables quick access to shared accounts, and how to set up a shared calendar (or invite people to a single event,) and how to create a shared list. Lucy HattersLey

s H a r e d r e m i n d e r s a r e i d e a L Fo r p r o j ects a r o u n d t H e H o u s e , a n d t rac k i n g c H o r es

How to use Family sharing

Set it up Open Settings on your iOS device, tap iCloud and then Set Up Family Sharing (if you see just “Family” then it’s already turned on). Follow the instructions and add the members of your family (or another group, if you like) by entering their relevant Apple ID email addresses.

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Shared calendar

Family Reminders

Open Calendar and tap Calendars at the bottom. Under iCloud, you will see a new calendar called “Family.” Now tap the New Event icon and enter a Title and the Starts and Ends information. Tap Calendar and choose Family. The event will appear in their Calendar app.

As with Calendar, you also get a shared location in the Reminders app. Open Reminders and you will see Family under your iCloud section. Tap this and tap New to create a new Reminder. These Reminders will automatically appear in Reminders on other family member’s devices.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

How to create shared reminders

Outside of family It’s easy to create a shared list of reminders outside of Family Sharing.

Shared lists are great for working with non-family members, or if your family doesn’t use Family Sharing. Open Reminders and tap Add List.

Make shared lists Give your new Reminders list a name and tap Done. Now tap Edit and Sharing to reveal the “Share With” window. Tap Add Person, enter the other people’s email address and tap Add. Tap Done when you are finished.

Sharing Reminders Recipients receive an email invite.

When they tap Join Reminders List, they log on to iCloud and the Pending status in Sharing changes to Accepted. Any items added to the shared list in Reminders, or checked, will be updated on all devices.

How to set up a shared calendar

Shared events To share a single event with a person or group, use invites rather than create a shared calendar. Create a new event as normal, but tap Invitees. Enter the email address (or name in your Contacts) and press Enter. Tap Done.

Shared calendars If you want to share events on an ongoing basis, it’s better to create a shared calendar. Tap Calendars at the bottom of the app, and choose Edit > Add Calendar. Enter a name for the Calendar, pick a color and tap Done.

Shared with Select the calendar you just created in the Edit Calendars window, and tap Add Person under Shared With. Enter the name of the person you want to add to the group. Tap Add and they will receive an invitation.

> keep charge of your shared items Calendar comes with a built-in inbox, used to notify you of any changes.

Tap Inbox to view notifications and tap OK to acknowledge them. Tapping items in the Inbox opens the event information window. Here you can tap Edit to adjust the event. Alerts to any changes made in Calendar (or Reminders) will appear in Notification Center. If you don’t want other users to be able to make changes to events, you can stop them. Tap Calendars and tap View & Edit next to a person. Set Allow Editing to Off and they’ll be able to view, but not change, shared items.

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>>> Create

Master ioS 9.3’s new features Discover the improvements Apple made to the iPhone and iPad

REQUIRES > iPhone 4s or newer, iPod touch (5th or 6th generation, or an iPad 2 or newer.

OS X 10.11.4 (optional) LEVEL > Medium IT WILL TAKE > 20 minutes

Don’t be fooled into thinking that iOS 9.3 has little to offer. Yes, it fixes and tweaks some existing features, but it also adds some significant new ones. Its headline feature is Night Shift, which reduces the amount of blue light emitted by your device’s screen. Research suggests that this kind of light may disrupt your circadian rhythm and sleep quality. You can counteract this on the Mac, in the form of f.lux (Free, justgetflux.com).

If you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, more of iOS’s built-in apps offer 3D Touch shortcuts when you press firmly on their Home screen icons. The most notable of these is Settings, which provides shortcuts to Battery, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth pages.

The App Store now has an Update All action that takes you directly to its Updates page and starts downloading whatever is available – though we’ve found that sometimes that process fails to start.

Apple’s ebook reader, iBooks, now works better with ePub or PDF format items bought from places other than the iBooks Store: the app can now sync those items between your devices over iCloud. However, you still can’t annotate PDFs,

so you may prefer to stick with an app such as PDF Expert ($9.99, readdle.com) if you need that. You’re now able to redownload your past purchases of audiobooks, and they’re eligible for Family Sharing too. take note Notes already became far more capable in iOS 9 with the ability to add checklists, sketches, media and other items. Now you can lock individual notes too, and later gain access to them using a password or Touch ID. (The former method is also avalable in OS X 10.11.4.) There are new sorting options for arranging your notes, and shortcuts to help you start a new sketch or checklist, too.

There’s a lot more to discover in iOS 9.3, including improvements to Health and News, sharing Live Photos with Macs using AirDrop or Messages, enhanced support for hardware keyboards, and the ability to pair multiple Apple Watches with a single iPhone. We’ll walk you through the most important features, but check the full list at bit.ly/ios9info as well. alan StonebriDge

How to Feel more rested by using night Shift

Color temperature As you adjust the slider in Settings > Display & Brightness, the screen previews how things will look in Night Shift. The difference will seem extreme at first, so give yourself a couple of days to adjust before changing this.

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Schedule Night Shift Night Shift is usually active between sunset and sunrise, or you can tell it to switch on between times you want: turn on the Scheduled switch, tap the From/To row, select Custom Schedule, then dial in your desired times below that.

Manually enable it As you adjust to using Night Shift, you may find things are harsh to look at ahead of sunset or your scheduled start time. Though you can manually turn it on in its Settings page, there’s a shortcut in Control Center to save you going there.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

How to add an extra layer of security to your notes

Set up a password

Protect a note

In Settings > Notes, tap Password and enter one to use with this app only.

You can set a reminder (Apple can’t help with a forgotten password), and allow access using Touch ID – anyone registered to use it can unlock notes.

Open a note, then tap Share and choose Lock Note. You can’t protect notes that have audio, video, a PDF or an iWork document attached, and locking is available for notes stored on your device or in iCloud, but not other account types.

Reset the password When you unlock a note, all of them become accessible until you tap the lock, force the app to close, or lock your device. Changing the password updates notes protected by the old one. Resetting it leaves them alone, in case you recall it.

How to take greater control of your music library

Avoid library clutter Adding a track from Apple Music to a playlist also adds it to your library.

This is now avoidable thanks to a new item: switch off Add Playlist Songs to My Music in Settings > Music. There’s an equivalent setting in iTunes on the Mac.

Go to an album

Popular tracks

At the Now Playing screen, tap the track’s name to go straight to the album it’s from. This is especially useful if you’re listening to a “radio” station and it throws up a track by an artist or from an album you’re unfamiliar with.

With so many albums for you to investigate, Apple Music now displays a star next to popular tracks in its library, helping you to identify good starting points for artists or albums of which you have little or no knowledge.

> Improvements to photo editing The Photos app now grants the ability to make multiple versions of the same photo on an iOS device. Open an individual photo, or select more than one if you want to create copies of several at once, then tap the Share icon and choose Duplicate from the sheet’s bottom row. This also enables you to edit the still part of a duplicated Live Photo and retain the original with its moving part, where before you had to abandon changes to a Live Photo to watch its video.

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>>> Create

Install new fonts on iOS Use AnyFont to add custom fonts to use in iPad or iPhone apps

rEQUirES > iTunes, fonts to transfer, an iOS device running iOS 8 or later, AnyFont LEVEL > Medium it WiLL tAKE > 10 minutes

In the early days of computing, you were limited to a tiny selection of ugly fonts, but today’s computers typically come packed with plenty of much nicer typefaces. The only problem is that what you get on one system may not match what’s on another. For example, even if you’ve never added to your Mac’s font collection, it’s going to be a whole lot bigger than your iPad’s.

This would all be fine if people still used a single device to do everything; but with the magic of the cloud, you’re now just as likely to be sending presentations and other documents between a Mac and an iPad. If you’re very fortunate, the app you’re using on the iPad might take fonts included with OS X along for the ride, enabling you to keep using them.

Often, though, you’ll find that when an iPad app can’t recognize a font, it’ll switch it for something different. With AnyFont ($1.99), you can use a clever system to install fonts from your Mac (or your PC – we assume Mac use in the walkthrough, but you can also access fonts in Windows systems from the Control Panel) .

Alternatively, you can also grab new free fonts

from the web, to install on both your computer and iPad – Google Fonts is a good place to start.

You can add fonts you like to a collection, and then download them all as a ZIP. Every font install through AnyFont requires a separate profile to be created. On that basis, you’re probably not going to want to cram hundreds of new fonts onto your iPad. For a few key additions, though, AnyFont works great.

Our walkthrough shows the process when using iTunes; check out the tips for an alternative install method using Dropbox. CraIg grannell

Dropbox option If you only want to send a few fonts to your iPad rather than lots of them, you can use Dropbox instead of iTunes. Open the relevant file in Dropbox, tap the Share button, then Open in, and Copy to AnyFont. The font will end up in the screen mentioned in step 5 of the walkthrough.

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Create a document We created this presentation slide in the OS X version of Keynote, and used two third-party fonts: Lafayette Comic Pro (orange) and Tekton Pro in bold (white). As you’d expect, there are no problems displaying them on the Mac.

Load it on iPad The document is saved in iCloud. When we attempt to open it on the iPad, Keynote warns us that the fonts are missing. If we tap Open after this point, the resulting slide is radically different – everything’s turned to Helvetica, which is a little boring.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

JArGon bUStEr Much as images have different file formats – GIF, JPEG, PNG, and so on – so too do fonts.

AnyFont supports the following common formats: TrueTypeFont (TTF), OpenTypeFont (OTF), and TrueType Collection (TTC).

Prepare to copy Create a folder of fonts on your Desktop which you want to copy to your iPad. The quickest way to find specific fonts is by using Spotlight: type a name and then press ç+® to view the file in Finder. Hold Alt while dragging each to your folder.

Preview a font Back in AnyFont, tap “Install own fonts.” You should see the list of fonts you just synced using iTunes.

Tap one and you can then verify that it’s the right one by tapping Preview. Tap Close to shut the preview and continue with installing.

Connect to iTunes Connect your iPad to iTunes. Select Apps from the sidebar and scroll the main pane down until you see the File Sharing area. Select AnyFont. Drag the fonts you copied in the Finder folder to AnyFont Documents.

Click Sync.

Install the font Tap the big font file icon and Safari will open.

You’ll then be sent to Settings and asked to install a profile for your font. Tap install, type your passcode, and tap Next and Install (twice) to consent and confirm the font installation.

tAKE ControL

Force-quit apps You may need to force-quit apps for them to recognize the new fonts: double-press the Home button and swipe the app upwards to do this. Here’s our Keynote presentation after restarting, now correctly showing the two fonts.

Keep things tidy Your installed fonts should now be available to any app. However, if you later find you’re not using some, you can delete profiles from Settings > General > Profiles – just tap each one and then select Delete Profile.

If you’re unsure which fonts are already installed on your various devices, use Font Book on the Mac and compare its contents with the Already installed fonts tab in AnyFonts. Bear in mind that fonts you’ve installed yourself will also appear in this list.

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>>> RAM RANdOM ApplE MEMORy

Macintosh portable It wasn’t portable, but the Macintosh Portable was quite a Mac, finds Adam Banks

©Rama

Imagine sticking a car battery to the back of a 21-inch iMac and… voila.

decade, notebook users would learn to put up with just a quarter of that.

Hartmut Esslinger’s “Snow White” design, with its pale plastics and sleek ribbing, brought elegance to what could have been a clunky specification. Eight ports on the back included a full-size SCSI connector for daisy-chains of external hard drives, an unlikely mobile accessory.

Behind the neatly enclosed hinge, a rear cover popped off without screws to expose a tidy modular arrangement of upgradable components. And in an echo of the original Macintosh 128k, the inside of the baseplate bore the engraved signatures of the engineering team.

The base configuration, at $6,500, came with a single floppy drive; add the optional hard disk and modem and you’d break $7,000 – that would be $14,000 today, adjusted for inflation. And that wasn’t exceptional for its time. As noted by MacUser magazine at the time, this was “by far the most complex piece of machinery” Apple had ever sold. Just as importantly, as the cover photo of a swimsuit model floating beside her Mac Portable conveyed, it was the coolest.

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE NEXT MONTH

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>>> iOS 10 and OS X 10.12 in detail

>>> The easy guide to HomeKit

>>> Tips and tricks for Apple’s Mac apps

july 26

Contents subject to change

AT 16-17 lbs, depending on configuration, the 1989 Macintosh Portable was not what we might now think of as portable. In fact, it weighed the same as Apple’s contemporary Macintosh SE desktop models.

But it matched them in other respects, too. Its 9.8-inch 640x400 monochrome LCD was bigger and had more pixels than the SE’s CRT, and the performance of its 16MHz 68HC000 processor sat between the SE and the brand new SE/30. If the bulky chassis weighed about the same as the equivalent volume of actual bricks, that was partly because of a huge lead-acid cell – essentially a car battery – that kept it going for up to 12 hours. Over the next

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