Issue 298 April 2016 macformat.com @macformat
W K! NE O LO
The UK’s best-selling Apple mag!
Work smarter in
El Capitan Trackpad tips, security advice, Mail enhancements and more!
PLUS! Make an AirPlay receiver
SECR E TS O F The ultimate guide to making even more of your music, movies, photos and files across all your Apple devices
40ways
APPLE changed the
Use it to go further with your home entertainment
world Action! Rugged cameras on test
Extend your Mac’s desktop space
Which one will be the toughest?
Tricks for better productivity
Mac
iPhone
iPad
Watch
iCloud
iTunes
Photos
iOpener Game-changing tech from the world of Apple and beyond Though the MB169C+ isn’t of the quality of Apple’s Retina display, it more than doubles your mobile workspace when carried with a 12-inch MacBook.
Only one cable is needed, since power is drawn over USB-C from your MacBook.
USB-C portable displays Second screens add millions of pixels to the MacBook The MacBook looks set to get a major productivity boost after January’s CES 2016 event, where Asus announced the first USB-C external display for Apple’s newest MacBook. Since the MB169C+ makes use of USB-C for both power and data, it’s very easy to set up and use. Its screen measures 15.6 inches diagonally and has a 1080p resolution, and at 800g the display is light and portable enough to carry around without being a burden. It’s an IPS panel, too, so you can expect brilliant colour accuracy and wide viewing angles. It’s available to buy right now. £185 INCLUDES Asus Smart Case, USB-C cable WEBSITE asus.com WORKS WITH MacBook (Early 2015)
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Life with ‘the cloud’ is so ingrained in modern computing we feel at a loss without it. As Apple users iCloud has to be part of our lives, but do you really know exactly how iCloud handles your documents and data and how to get the most out of it all? We explore the inner workings of iCloud Drive, iCloud Photo Library, iCloud Music Library, iCloud.com and more. Confused about the cloud? Need help unpicking the Document Picker? Turn to page 30 where our in-depth cover feature explains all. This month we say Happy Birthday to Apple, which turns 40 on 1 April, 2016. We take a trip down the Silicon Valley memory lane to bring you our top 40 ways in which Apple really changed the world of computing and beyond! Head over to page 80 for our special anniversary feature. Now a special mention to the many readers who have been in touch about the redesigned MacFormat. Thanks for your feedback and support and we hope to keep bringing you the magazine you’ve asked for – there’s simply too many responses to include in our letters pages! On that note, Apple Home is proving as popular as hoped, and this month we look at how the Apple TV can truly be the entertainment centre of your smart home. And if you fancy making more of AirPlay, why not try making your own AirPlay receiver for your stereo equipment on the cheap? We reveal how to do it on page 62.
Meet the team
CHRISTIAN HALL EDITOR editor@macformat.com
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Alan Stonebridge Production Editor Alan is anxiously awaiting Apple Watch news – well, at least news of the black Milanese Loop that briefly appeared online a while ago.
Alex Blake Commissioning Editor With winter over, Alex is breaking out his shades and sun cream in rather eager antipation of summer. A bit early, perhaps?
Paul Blachford Managing Art Editor This month, Paul’s excited about the rumoured ultra slim MacBook Pro, iPad Air 3, Watch 2, and maybe a Mac Pro update, not much then…
Seth Singh Digital Art Editor Seth has been creating ginormous posters of Sci-Fi characters using rasterbator.net – it’s really not a waste of paper!
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 5
Issue 298 April 2016 macformat.com
8
30
APPLE CORE 8
RUMOUR & NEWS
The core Apple news you need to know about
11
APPS & GAMES
Our top picks of the month for Mac and iOS
12
APPLE FACTS
Amazing stats from the world of Apple
14
NEWS FEATURE & OPINION
SECR E TS O F
iCLOUD CLOUD Explore the many features of Apple’s online service to ensure you’re using your devices in the smartest way possible
Going deeper into the hot topics of the month
18
SPLIT VIEW
The team’s views on the latest Apple tech
APPLE HOME 21
APPLE HOME
Build the smart home of the future today
22
GET STARTED WITH APPLE TV
Put the latest model at the heart of your home
26
STREAM MEDIA TO APPLE TV
Send audio, video or even your Mac’s desktop
28
HOME GADGETS
80
40ways
APPLE changed the
world
Get an intelligent fridge and other smart tech
6 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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Issue 298 CONTENTS
GENIUS TIPS
90
67
GENIUS TIPS
Howard Oakley solves your Mac and iOS issues
68
PERIPHERALS
Clear up your confusion about connectors
GET 3 APPLE CHOICE ISSUES FOR* £5! 89
70
MAC OS X
Stop desktop difficulties dragging you down
72
iOS SOFTWARE
Swipe away your touchscreen troubles
APPLE CHOICE
54
Our verdicts on the latest hardware and apps, including a case to improve an iPhone’s sound
104 STORE GUIDE Get help with picking your next piece of Apple hardware and the best add-ons to go with it
Turn to page 46 *INCLUDES PRINT AND DIGITAL EDITIONS
21
APPLE SKILLS
APPLE HOME
49
Discover great add-ons to make you more entertained by the latest Apple TV
50
74
BACK ISSUES
Head here if you’ve missed an issue
110
NEXT MONTH
What’s coming in MF299, on sale 12 April
111
LETTERS
Have your say on all things Apple-related
SECURE YOUR APPLE ID
Add a second level of identity verification
52
REGULARS
APPLE SKILLS
Expand your knowledge with our tutorials
75
LOVE YOUR MAC Inspiring ideas for revamping old Apple kit
POWER UP YOUR TRACKPAD
Take control by creating your own gestures
54
EXTEND YOUR DESKTOP
Three methods for increasing your workspace
58
MASTER AFFINITY PHOTO
Learn how to lift the subject out of a photo
60
SEND LARGE FILES BY EMAIL
Use Mail Drop to overcome attachment limits
62
PROJECT: AIRPLAY RECEIVER
Send music to your hi-fi using a Raspberry Pi
112
PHOTOS
Our pick of the best of readers’ photographs
114
BACK PAGE
Apple kit given a modern makeover
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 7
What’s inside 8–10 RUMOUR & NEWS The core Apple news you need to know about
11 APPS & GAMES
EDITED BY
CHRISTIAN HALL
Our top picks of the month for Mac and iOS APPLE RUMOUR
12 APPLE FACTS Amazing stats from the world of Apple
14–15 NEWS FEATURE Is how you use your Apple kit harming you?
16 OPINION Adam Banks discusses second-guessing Apple
18 SPLIT VIEW The team’s views on the latest Apple tech
Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com Keep up to date by following us on Twitter @macformat Join the conversation at facebook.com/ macformat
8 | MACFORMAT
MacBook Pro 15-inch (Early 2016) The time has come for Skylake and more… The last time we saw Apple’s main laptop line get a refresh was early in 2015 with the introduction of the Force Touch trackpad, first in the 13-inch model, then the 15-inch shortly after. Intel’s Broadwell processor architecture was given a miss entirely for the 15-inch Pro, with the 2015 model staying with Haswell tech inside, but that can only mean one thing: Skylake is on its way to the MacBook Pro, perhaps for both size models. Skylake made its Apple debut in the late 2015 iMac, and updating the 15-inch MacBook with it will offer a generational boost to Apple’s largest laptop. Apple may choose to once again stagger the releases of the MacBook Pro models, perhaps pushing out 13-inch Skylake models first, maybe as early
Alan says…
Thunderbolt 3’s USB Type-C plug may help shave off a little bit of thickness
as March or April, with 15-inch versions arriving around May or June. We also think it’s time for a chassis upgrade too. We know all about Apple’s terraced battery tech from the 12-inch MacBook. That space-saving solution means the MacBook Pro could go even thinner, yet boost battery life. The butterfly keyboard is also a likely change to bring these two types of MacBook in line with each other. 1
1
BUTTERFLY KEYBOARD Some complained that the butterfly keyboard mechanism was a little cramped on the 12-inch MacBook. The 15-inch MacBook Pro could give it the breathing space it needs to be even better.
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Rumour APPLE CORE
2
3
CLOSER TO THE EDGES
EVEN THINNER
The overall size of the MacBook Pro could be reduced by a few millimetres if the black bezel around the Retina display can be made narrower. Coupled with a thinner profile, the overall affect would be a more svelte MacBook.
The current MacBook Pros are just 1.8cm tall. The 12-inch MacBook is an incredible 1.13cm. So somewhere in the region of 1.6cm is a realistic aim for a Pro model based on the same terraced battery technology used in 2015’s MacBook.
THE POLL WE ASKED… If you absolutely had to leave iOS, which would you choose?
BlackBerry
3% 68%
Windows Phone
29% Android
2
Log on and see next issue’s big question! twitter.com/macformat facebook.com/macformat
Hot on the heels of the tech giant’s latest moves…
1
BACKDOOR DRAMA Apple is apparently developing encryption that counters the FBI-requested access workaround that’s caused such a furore lately.
2
“HEY, SIRI!”
4
The inclusion of Siri is being touted as the top feature of OS X 10.12, available this autumn. Reports claim a Siri icon will be a default in OS X’s menu bar… We’ll see!
4
THUNDERBOLT 3 3
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It’s time for USB-C to fulfill its promise and deliver Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 speeds. The MacBook Pro is the perfect home for this, possibly allowing two 4K displays to be driven from it.
3
MAGNETIC BAND
According to recent patents, Apple Watch 2 may get a strap containing magnets that can turn the strap into a useful stand.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 9
APPLE CORE Apple News
Double vision The evolution $150 of iPhone MILLION camera tech
CLASSIC APPLE FACTS
MICROSOFT’S INVESTMENT IN APPLE
On 6 August 1997, Bill Gates joined Steve Jobs on stage during a keynote address to announce Microsoft would buy this amount in non-voting Apple stock, that Mac OS would include Internet Explorer, and to commit to future versions of Office for Mac.
,000 50 NEWTON
Apple’s investment in imaging specialists may bear fruit this year he iPhone’s camera is lauded as the world’s best smartphone camera in the world, with legions of devotees filling up Photo Streams the world over. Now, news has emerged that it’s set to get even better with the addition of a second camera alongside the existing lens on the back of the iPhone. Both would take a picture simultaneously, with the data being combined for more detailed, higher quality images. In 2015, Apple purchased Israeli camera firm LinX, whose tech offers improved light sensitivity, better low light performance and multiple sensors, resulting in a smaller size. This should allow the camera to sit flush to
T
the iPhone’s body, and even enable it to have an optical zoom. As a demo, LinX compared photos taken with its multicamera device and an iPhone. Its images showed more vibrancy and brightness, with less noise and greater detail at high zoom levels. Most commentators have speculated that Apple’s spending spree on imaging firms has implications for the rumoured ‘Apple VR’, yet it looks like the acquisitions could also have an impact on the beloved iPhone camera. It’s expected a dual-camera setup will feature in an optional variation on the iPhone 7 Plus model, as supply constraints make it unlikely Apple could roll it out on all versions.
MESSAGEPADS UNITS SOLD IN NEWTON’S FIRST THREE MONTHS Apple’s ultimately doomed personal digital assistant didn’t get off to a great start. Today, it’s two million early iPad Pro sales that have analysts concerned.
20MB THE AMOUNT OF STORAGE IN iDISK
Apple unveiled iTools, its first suite of internet services, five days into the 21st century. It included iDisk, iCloud Drive’s precursor.
10 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
iOS devices have the lowest failure rates Android devices have nearly five times Apple’s crash rate ave you ever had a catastrophic failure of your iPhone or iPad? It isn’t impossible, but we’ve rarely come across it, usually fixing iOS device issues with a hard reset or a full restore. Android devices, though, take a whopping 85% share of mobile device failures, and at the bottom of the pile of manufacturers is Apple’s great rival Samsung, which takes a 27% share of all device failures. The figures come from research firm BTG and cover the fourth quarter of 2015. So, what type of failures are we talking about? The most common problems globally were reported to be with cameras, which
H
Relatively poor reliability is an area in which Apple will have no qualms about Android devices taking the top position, far above iOS device failure rates.
accounted for 10% of device failures. Touchscreens failed in 9% of cases, battery charging was an issue in around 8%, and microphones accounted for problems in 6%. The nondescript “general performance” category represented around 6% of all mobile devices surveyed. Looking regionally, the biggest gripes in Europe related to phone signal failure, but in North America is was again “performance” that was the biggest cause of failed devices.
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Apps & Games APPLE CORE
APPLE TV
APP OF THE MONTH
Our top picks of what’s worth watching and playing this month
[M AC A PP]
Airfoil 5 £26
[ MOV I E]
Make your Mac the heart of a multiroom sound system This well-established app for streaming audio from any app on your Mac around your home has gained a lick of paint in its latest version, but it’s the practical new features it packs that will pique your interest if our recent Apple Home pages about multiroom wireless audio captured your imagination (see MF297); in addition to AirPlay devices, Airfoil now supports Bluetooth speakers, and
you can group outputs so that audio only plays in the rooms where you want it. Airfoil has new intelligence too, detecting when an app that was playing something has stopped, resulting in silence, at which point it will disconnect from the speaker so someone else in your family can send audio to it. The free Airfoil Satellite counterpart app turns your Mac or iOS device into an audio receiver, and enables remote control of Airfoil.
STEVE JOBS £9.99 If you can overlook this film’s artistic liberties, it’s worth watching for Kate Winslet’s BAFTAwinning portrayal of exec Joanna Hoffman.
[A PP]
ZINC £2.29
[iO S A PP]
[iOS GAME]
[A PPL E M USIC]
BBC MUSIC FREE
PRISM £3.99
MAN MADE OBJECT (GOGO PENGUIN)
Play any track featured on BBC Radio in the last seven days, and put things in a playlist that you can transfer to Spotify, Deezer or YouTube. Tell this app what you like and it’ll serve you a personalised feed of performances to save you scouring the airwaves. Why you need it: Curated playlists from music experts. What’s it best for: Discovering hot music with little effort.
The bar has been raised time and time again when it comes to iOS puzzlers, but we still found a place for Prism to impress us. Part brain-teaser, part work of art, Prism sees you line up a series of dots to unlock the next part of the puzzle – lateral thinking ahoy! Why you need it: It’ll sap your time, but it won’t waste it. What’s it best for: If you admire style and substance!
British jazz trio GoGo Penguin, with two successful albums under their belt, finally switched to the big time with a move to the Blue Note record label. Their third outing sees a further advance into the electronic fusion that gained them their following. Why you need it: Modern instrumental jazz at its best. What’s it best for: ‘I’m not sure what mood I’m in!’
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Zinc makes it easy to bookmark content from the internet, then watch it from the comfort of your Apple TV. It’s like an Instapaper service for videos!
[GA ME]
ZEN PINBALL FREE This classic pinball sim for iOS now looks better than ever on the big screen. Marvel, Star Wars and other movie franchises abound.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 11
APPLE CORE Facts & Figures
App Store IN NUMBERS The App Store opened in 2008, the year after the iPhone, and has enjoyed a meteoric rise ever since, but how successful has it been for Apple?
$144 million
1 January, 2016 marked the biggest day in App Store history with customers spending over $144 million. It broke the previous single-day record set just a week earlier on Christmas Day, 2015.
3
1
by 2020
According to iOS analytics form App Annie, the App Store is expected to have generated in excess of $100 billion by the time the App Store reaches its 12th birthday. It will pass the $50 billion mark in 2016.
5 22.49%
725,000
The share that the Games category has of all App Store downloads. Games is number one out of all 20 categories. The next biggest are Business and Education at 10.38% and 9.44%, respectively, according to Statista.com.
NEXT ISSUE Discover how Apple changed the world of mobile computing with the iPad in 2010. 12 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
6
2020: $100 billion
The top-grossing app for most of 2015 was Supercell’s runaway success freemium title. At the height of its popularity last summer, Clash of Clans pulled in an astonishing $1.56 million a day on iOS alone! It’s been a close tussle between Clash of Clans and its main rival Game of War for the top spot in the last six months.
2016: $50 billion
$100 billion
Clash of Clans
4
2
The number of native iPad apps in the App Store today.
China
The country with the largest population is also the world’s biggest downloader of iOS apps. The US is in second place. More than 130,000 of the 1.5 million apps on the store are Chinese. macformat.com @macformat
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APPLE CORE News Feature
For our latest subscription offer see page 46!
INVESTIGATES
Can Apple kit harm you? Is your MacBook or iPad causing you pain? It doesn’t have to be this way WRITTEN BY ALEX BLAKE here’s no doubt that MacBooks and iPads have completely changed the way we work and play on the go, but often that’s come at the cost of aching backs and stiff necks from hunching over our devices for too long. They’re productive and beautiful machines – but ergonomic, they are not. Unfortunately, the main problem lies in the way that laptops in general are designed. According to Jim Taylor, Head of Design and Wellbeing at ergonomics firm Orangebox, your display should sit at arm’s length away from you, with the top of the screen parallel to your eyes, as this helps keep your head level and your neck straight. Since a laptop’s display is attached to its keyboard, it can be difficult to achieve this. Raising your MacBook to a good height can cause your arms to ache due to them being raised for so long. The alternative – pushing your MacBook further away from you – causes you to hunch your shoulders and back because it is so low down, causing further back pain. That discomfort is increased further if you rest your MacBook on your lap rather than on a higher, stable surface.
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14 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
The easiest change you can make is to buy a separate mouse and keyboard
Heads are heavy, after all, and keeping yours balanced correctly on your shoulders is important. Levent Caglar, a senior consultant ergonomist at the Furniture Industry Research Association, explains: “when you use a laptop, your ears are further forward than your shoulders. That’s like taking a weight and holding it out at arm’s length”. This situation is even worse where iPads are concerned, as most people do not use an external keyboard with them and instead make do with the on-screen keyboard.
This diagram illustrates the ideal posture to avoid aggravating injury when using a computer.
Perfect posture This doesn’t mean that using Apple’s portable devices condemns you to a lifetime of back pain and aching joints. By adopting some good habits, these issues will be avoided. The easiest change you can make is to purchase a separate keyboard and mouse for your MacBook, so your forearms are flat at 90° to your body. Devices like the iPad Pro’s Smart Keyboard aren’t ideal, as they attach to the iPad itself, though they are better than holding your wrists at an angle to tap on the screen. Consider buying a Bluetooth keyboard and a stand like the Compass 2 (£35, twelvesouth.com).
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Ergonomics and health APPLE CORE
If you have to use your MacBook on your lap, propping it up can help – but it’s far better to place it on a desk when possible.
Also ensure your neck and back are kept straight by raising your MacBook or iPad on a stand (or a pile of books, as is the way in the MacFormat offices) if you intend to use either for a long period of time. If you can’t use a stand for your iPad, angle it at 45° (from flat) if it has to be on your lap, and around 60 degrees if it’s on a desk. You should also try to keep your feet flat on the ground and your hips slightly higher than your knees – no slouching or sliding down in your seat! As Apple Watch owners will no doubt be aware, it’s important to take regular breaks to get up and move around, and stretch if you’re feeling pain. Sitting still for prolonged periods puts a lot of strain on your muscles because they are being held in the same position for a long time. In fact, Taylor recommends changing your posture frequently and not using any device for longer than 20 minutes at a time. There are other considerations than just the way you sit and hold your devices. As dry as it sounds, it’s also important to ensure your workstation is properly set up.
No pain, more gain You may not have noticed among the deluge of announcements at CES in January that Asus announced something that could improve posture for MacBooks – at least with the 12-inch model. The company released the MB169C+, a 15.6-inch external display that
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Raising your MacBook to an off-desk height helps avoid strain and makes for a more comfortable environment.
A repositionable USB display – like this one from Asus – is an easy way to improve your posture when using a laptop.
Carry a laptop in a bag with two straps to distribute its weight
gets its video signal and power from the MacBook’s USB-C port (you can read more about this display in iOpener, p3). It’s a simple idea, really, but one that could help greatly improve your posture when using a MacBook because it lets you position the screen at a much more ergonomic angle and raise it to a comfortable viewing height. As we spend so long sitting down when using these devices, getting an ergonomic chair – one that supports your lower back and which is set at a proper height for prolonged use – is also a no-brainer. A major benefit of modern Apple laptops is that they are relatively lightweight. Still, it’s best to carry them in a bag with two straps, rather than over one shoulder, as this distributes the weight of your MacBook (and anything else you’re carrying) evenly over your upper body. The Knomo James backpack we reviewed in MF295 is a good example. Even a solution as simple as Mountie (£19, tenonedesign.com), which clips your iPad to the side of your Mac, can help keep your head level and pain allayed. So, ‘iPad Neck’, as this sort of pain has been nicknamed, is easily avoidable, and your body will thank you in the long run. After all, we all love our Apple devices, and no one wants to go through serious discomfort in order to use them. As Taylor puts it, “let technology be a tool to help you live your life and don’t be a slave to it”.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 15
APPLE CORE Opinion
ADAM BANKS… GOING DEEPER THAN A FORCE CLICK WITH MUSINGS ON THE WORLD OF APPLE I’ve been a Mac magazine columnist for 20 years, so it’s my job to watch what Apple does and try to figure out why the heck it did it. Plenty of other people, however, are happy to take on this task free of charge. Not just in the Huffington Post, but all over social media. The wisdom of crowds says this should enable us to figure out more accurately than ever what Apple’s up to. Nope. It just means we can be wrong faster. This month’s example is error 53. A few people reported that when they tried to update iOS on their iPhone 6 it said, “An unknown error occurred (53)”, then halted. Forever. Apple killed my iPhone! The story snowballed. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that error 53 meant iOS had detected interference with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and, as a security precaution, disabled the phone. Heated debate ensued. This was a consumer issue, and Apple needed to fix it! No, this was a security issue, and Apple shouldn’t compromise on that! Serious arguments were advanced on both sides. Then came a third side: conspiracy theories. The Home button was typically replaced when repairing the LCD. Apple was trying to kill the screen replacement market! The idea of Apple deliberately breaking your Mac, iPod, iPhone or tinfoil hat to force you to buy another one has been around ever since Apple stopped being an underdog and started being an Illuminati-funded global plot. But a simpler explanation for poor repairability is that Apple designs stuff to be the slimmest, lightest and cleverest, not the easiest to build, or rebuild. As Cupertino’s chip chief Johny Srouji recently told Businessweek: “Hard is good. Easy is a waste of time”. In practice, Macs have always had longer useful lives than rival computers, and other Apple products have followed suit.
Some theorised that Apple was trying to kill off the screen replacement market
16 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
Far from trying to kill older devices, each new version of iOS works with millions of them. iPad sales have slowed precisely because iPads don’t stop working. As for error 53, we all had the whole thing wrong. It wasn’t even a new story. Tech writer Mike Wehner had hit the problem as long ago as April 2015, when bemused Apple Store staff told him, “It’s like your phone is pretty much cursed”. The truth, as Apple finally explained, was more mundane: the error was part of a factory check routine and should never have been seen by users. It was true that Touch ID couldn’t be reinstated after the Home button was repaired elsewhere, but the rest of the device should be unaffected. This doesn’t exonerate Apple. The right to third-party repairs is important, and Apple Stores should either be able to reactivate Touch ID – following a full factory reset if necessary – or cut the price customers pay for an authorised screen replacement to market rates. It’s ridiculous that it took nearly a year to identify the issue, and sadly consistent with a history of unwillingness to admit to manufacturing flaws. Thankfully, those flaws are relatively rare, and that’s because Apple takes pride in its hardware. If only it would pay as much attention to communication, we might not all be stuck in this echo chamber talking to ourselves about its intentions.
ABOUT ADAM BANKS Adam is Apple to the core, having reported on the world of Macs since the 1990s. As a writer, designer, art director and print production contractor, he divides his time between the Northern Powerhouse and the Creative Cloud.
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APPLE IN QUOTES TIM COOK apple.com
“We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.” Apple CEO opposes building a ‘back door’ into iOS for the FBI
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The MacFormat team debates the hot Apple issues of the day, using their iPhones of course!
“IS THERE MUCH OF A FUTURE FOR THE MAC APP STORE?”
Alan says…
Turn to page 46 *INCLUDES PRINT AND DIGITAL EDITIONS
Alex says… I noticed the other day that there isn’t much in the way of new ideas on the front of the Mac App Store. Mostly it’s games, writing tools and productivity apps.
fosterandpartners.com Yeah, I find myself visiting the store less these days. There are some gems in there but many well-known developers have a negative outlook and have pulled apps.
“The building is an echo of the ethos of Apple.” Apple Campus 2 architect on the parallels with the company it was built for
I can see why some developers have done that, often citing sandboxing and other restrictions as key reasons for leaving. I understand why these constraints exist, but they get in the way of what some developers want to do.
JOHN GRUBER daringfireball.net
“Apple has higher standards for hardware design and quality than it does for software.” The commentator feels Apple is dragging its feet on software design
JONY IVE apple.com
“[It is creating] something that was the dream of the company from the very beginning.” The Apple Watch is making technology much more personal, says the famed Apple designer
18 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
I was dismayed to see that even Sketch has gone. Beyond being unable to implement certain features, its blog noted the continued lack of upgrade pricing as an issue.
Perhaps what concerns me most is that other developers aren’t going to bother with the Mac App Store because they’re discouraged by well-known apps disappearing, and that the store will just wither on the vine from here.
Let’s not forget there’s a ray of hope. Phil Schiller is now responsible for the app stores and developer relations. I hope we’ll see some changes announced at WWDC in June to get developers on board again.
NEXT ISSUE Are we impressed by the new, small iPhone?
Siri...ously?
“What does Siri mean” tap to edit
It’s a riddle wrapped in an enigma, tied with a pretty ribbon of obfuscation
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What’s inside 22–25 APPLE TV Make the reimagined box the heart of your entertainment system
EDITED BY
NEW SECTION!
CLIFF JOSEPH
26–27 TUTORIAL How to stream audio, video and more from other Apple devices
28–29 HOME GADGETS Essential kit to elevate your abode from ‘home’ to ‘smart home’
It’s not a hobby anymore – the new Apple TV puts games, apps and Siri voice control right at the heart of your home t last, Apple is getting serious about Apple TV. The device’s App Store looks set to kick-start a new generation of apps and games, and the Siri Remote shakes things up by making it easier to find films, TV shows and other entertainment using voice recognition. It appears Apple has even bigger plans ahead as the little black box is being positioned as the hub that’ll allow you to control lighting and other home automation gadgets based on the company’s HomeKit
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The smart home is here – live the Apple dream today!
technology. Some of that’s still in the future, but Apple TV is already well positioned to become the lynchpin of your home entertainment system. So, here are the best tips and accessories to help you make the most of the new fourth-gen Apple TV.
Apple TV can do more than previous models, because Apple allows developers to make apps in the same way as iOS.
APPLE HOME Apple TV
GET STARTED WITH…
APPLE TV Here’s all the kit you need to build a great entertainment system around your fourth-generation Apple TV fter keeping third-party developers and apps at arm’s length for years, Apple has finally seen the light and announced that “the future of TV is apps”. By opening up a new App Store on your television, Apple is inviting developers to produce content that simply wasn’t available for previous versions of the device. Of course, the Apple TV by itself is just a little black lump of plastic. You’ll need a few other pieces of kit to make the most of all your music, video and games, so here’s our guide to the best accessories available for it. It’s not essential to go out and buy a new screen to go with Apple TV, but there’s a lot going on in the TV industry right now, so it’s worth thinking about the sort of set that you’ll want in a few years’ time. The biggest change that’s occurring is the introduction of a new generation of 4K televisions, which typically provide an image resolution of 3840x2160 pixels – four times as many pixels as a conventional, 1080p high-definition TV. The new Apple TV has been criticised because it can still only output video at 1920x1080 resolution, and it would certainly have made sense for Apple to future-proof the Apple TV by upgrading it to provide 4K output. However, there isn’t much in the way of 4K films or TV shows available at the moment, so support for this isn’t essential in a relatively low-cost device such as the Apple TV right now. However, 4K is definitely coming, and replacing your TV set will be a lot more expensive than replacing a little Apple TV box. If you’re going to buy a new TV in the next couple of years then you should definitely think about stepping up to 4K. The good news is that this technology is
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What about 4K? Apple TV’s lack of 4K video output is a little disappointing, but there’s very little 4K content available at the moment. Few people actually own a 4K TV, let alone have the mega-fast broadband needed to stream 4K video from the internet. We think you’ll have to wait until big-name 4K films reach the iTunes Store before Apple TV is updated to support it.
Why doesn’t the Remote app work? Apple’s Remote app for iOS didn’t work with the latest Apple TV at first, but a recent update fixed this. However, make sure you also update the tvOS software on the Apple TV itself. Go to Settings > System > Software Updates to check you have the latest software. Also enable Home Sharing in Settings > Accounts, and in the Remote app on your iOS device.
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rapidly coming down in price, and we’ve seen big-name brands such as Panasonic and Sony selling 4K televisions for as little as £600. We’re rather keen on Samsung’s JU6500 range of curved TVs, which work really well for watching films – and playing games, too – which start at around £699 for a 48-inch model.
Easy listening Most televisions have fairly basic speakers built in, so it’s worth investigating audio upgrades to enhance your set’s sound quality for films, TV and games. Apple TV uses Bluetooth to pair with its Siri Remote, and you can use that to connect the box with other devices too, including headphones and
It’s not essential to buy a new screen for Apple TV, but a lot’s going on with them right now speakers. A set of Bluetooth headphones is a good idea when you’re playing games, or for listening to music on your own. There’s an abundance of Bluetooth headphones available from a variety of manufacturers, including Apple’s Beats range. We like the warm, textured sound of Sennheiser’s headphones; its Momentum Wireless model has received great reviews, though its a bit pricey at about £400. So, we would probably opt for the less expensive Momentum On-Ear Wireless model, which we’ve seen online for around £260. Speakers are a more complicated matter, with many technical details to think about
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Apple TV APPLE HOME
iFacts… 100Mbps The peak transfer rate of Apple TV’s Ethernet port, which is far greater than most people’s broadband.
410mAh The capacity of the Siri Remote’s integrated battery. Ours lasted three months before needing a recharge.
2GB That’s the amount of memory available in the fourth-generation Apple TV, matching 2015’s iPhone 6s.
Explained tvOS The software that controls Apple TV is called tvOS. Unsurprisingly, it’s based on iOS 9, which makes it easy for developers to convert iOS games and apps to run on Apple TV. Navigating the Home screen is tailored to be more suitable for the larger screen of a TV.
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APPLE HOME Apple TV Apple TV outputs HD video, but the falling cost of 4K means you should consider it for your next screen.
Guitar Hero Live sports one of the more exotic game controllers for Apple TV.
Trying not to wake your family? Connect Bluetooth headphones to your Apple TV.
What does 4K really mean? T The term comes from the digital screens used in cinemas, which have a resolution of 4096x2160 pixels. However, 4K television sets actually have a slightly lower resolution of 3840x2160 pixels. Due to this, some TV manufacturers prefer to use the term UHD (ultra-high-definition) instead. So, when talking about television sets, the terms 4K and UHD are essentially interchangeable.
Wi-Fi won’t work? Apple TV uses the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology, which is both fast and reliable. However, there’s also an Ethernet port on the back of Apple TV for wired connections in places where Wi-Fi may not work very well. We’re also fans of Powerline adaptors, which allow you to extend your network by connecting Ethernet cables to a mains power socket in any room.
beyond basic sound quality. You can use any ordinary Bluetooth speaker, but a wired connection will provide better audio quality and allow you to use a wider range of speaker systems. Most HDTVs have their own audio output connector, so you could just use an HDMI cable to connect your Apple TV to your television, and then route the audio through the TV into a soundbar or a set of surround sound speakers that are designed specifically for use with in a home cinema. To get the best of both worlds, your best option may be something like the Sonos Playbar, which looks like a regular soundbar that sits under your TV screen and connects to your TV using a digital optical cable. However, the Playbar also has its own built-in Wi-Fi, which enables you to stream music from a Mac or an iOS device to it, and you can even use the Playbar as part of a multiroom setup with other Sonos speakers (see Apple Home in MF297 for more about multiroom audio). The Playbar is expensive at £599, and it costs the same again to add its optional subwoofer, but there are plenty of less expensive alternatives. A good option is Philips’ range of soundbars, which start at just £100, although the sweet spot for us is the HTL5140B model, which includes Bluetooth streaming and a fat subwoofer for just £299.
Hands on Apple has high hopes for the gaming potential of the new Apple TV. The Siri Remote includes a gyroscope and an accelerometer, which allow you to use it
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like the motion-sensitive game controller provided with Nintendo’s Wii games console. That’s good for things like sports games, where you get to leap around and wave your arms in front of the TV. If you like that sort of thing, investing in a protective sleeve such as Griffin Technology’s Survivor Play (£14) might be a wise precaution. The little trackpad on the Siri Remote isn’t ideal for shoot-’em-ups or other high-speed action games. Bluetooth connectivity comes in handy again here, allowing you to connect game controllers that are certified for use
Apple has high hopes for the gaming potential of it fourth-generation little black box with iPhone and iPad, and new ones that are explicitly made for use with Apple TV. Notably, the play/pause button found on many iOS controllers serves the same purpose as the Siri Remote’s Menu button. Our favourite of all the iOS and Apple TV controllers is the SteelSeries Nimbus (£40, see MF295). There are also more specialised gaming gadgets, such as a Bluetooth guitar for the latest Guitar Hero game, and figurines that unlock content in Disney Infinity 3.0 and Skylanders SuperChargers. Although it’s early days for gaming on Apple TV, the iOS gaming scene quickly took off when Apple introduced the App Store on the iPhone. We’re looking forward to seeing what games and gear developers make in the next few months.
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Apple TV APPLE HOME
Although it’s early days for gaming on Apple TV, the iOS gaming scene quickly took off when Apple introduced the App Store on iOS
FIVE OF THE BEST Our best buys in home entertainment accessories
Samsung UE48JU6500 £699 samsung.com/uk A big, curved screen with 4K resolution is a bit like having your own personal IMAX cinema. This one won’t cost you a fortune either. It packs in a 48-inch screen, Wi-Fi, 20W speakers, and a six-month sub to Netflix’s premium 4K channel.
Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear Wireless £260 sennheiser.co.uk These great-sounding headphones work with both Bluetooth and wired connections. The soft, padded earpieces are comfy, and they can be adjusted to get a good fit. They fold flat too, which is terrific for travelling.
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Sonos Playbar £599
Philips HTL5140B £299
SteelSeries Nimbus £40
sonos.com
philips.co.uk
store.apple.com/uk
The Playbar looks like a conventional soundbar, with an elongated design that fits right under your TV. However, it also packs in Wi-Fi connectivity, and has a companion iOS app that allows you to use it as part of a multiroom system along with other Sonos speakers.
This kit is great value for money as it includes a powerful soundbar with HDMI and optical audio connectors for your TV, along with Bluetooth connectivity for your iOS devices. It also features a beefy subwoofer that pumps up the volume to a roof-rattling 320W.
The Nimbus was one of the first game controllers designed specifically for Apple TV, and it’s already selling like hotcakes. As well as pressure-sensitive gaming controls, it has useful extras such as a Menu button to navigate Apple TV’s menus for music and video content.
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APPLE HOME Apple TV 1
ADDING ACCESSORIES The Other Devices menu allows you to connect Bluetooth headphones and speakers to your Apple TV, as well as gamepads and other gear. You can also use the Remote app to control Apple TV from your iPhone or iPad.
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POWER OFF 2
The Control TVs And Receivers command allows you to turn your TV on and off directly from the Siri Remote. Just press and hold the Home button for five seconds to put Apple TV to sleep, and your TV should nod off as well.
Explained MFi
It’s worth exploring Apple TV’s Settings app to discover many little-known yet practical features
The new Siri Remote has clever tech built into it, but it’s not very good for playing games. However, gamepads and other gaming gear that carries Apple’s MFi (Made For iPhone) certification tends to work with Apple TV as well.
HOW TO Stream media to your Apple TV Genius Tip! If you’re a power user you’ll find that universal remote controls, such as the Logitech Harmony, can control Apple TV as well as your TV, DVD player and other audiovisual equipment.
1 Conserve Apple TV storage 2 Stream audio from a Mac HD video takes up about 2GB per hour, but the latest Apple TV only has 32GB or 64GB of storage. Fortunately, you can stream media stored on a Mac or an iOS device to it; ensure AirPlay is turned on in Apple TV’s Settings app.
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Click the speaker icon in iTunes on your Mac to see Apple TVs and AirPlay speakers detected on your network. Click one to select it. Alternatively, direct all of your Mac’s audio output by going to its Sound preferences.
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Apple TV APPLE HOME
WHAT OTHER THINGS SHOULD I CONSIDER?
APPLE TV VERSUS
APPLE TV Which Apple TV is best for your existing entertainment setup? pple giveth, and Apple taketh away. The new, fourth-generation Apple TV has an App Store and the cool, voice-activated Siri Remote. However, for some reason Apple decided to remove the optical audio output (also known as Toslink) that was a feature of the third-generation Apple TV. That shouldn’t be a problem for most people as the HDMI interface that connects the box to your HDTV is capable of outputting a digital audio signal, including 5.1 and 7.1 audio for surround sound speaker systems. Most current HDTVs have their own audio output connectors
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Two generations of Apple TV are available, and the newer one isn’t the best in every regard.
that will allow you to route digital audio from the Apple TV to a set of external speakers. However, audiophiles who use a separate amp or receiver may still prefer to have an additional output. The good news is Apple still sells the third-generation Apple TV for £59. It has a measly 8GB of internal flash storage, but this model is really all about streaming from the cloud or other devices. It also lacks an App Store, and the only apps for it are preinstalled as part of the device’s operating system. Also, you can’t use a Siri Remote with it, only the bundled aluminium remote or the free Remote app for iOS devices.
Jargon Buster
3 Mirror, mirror…
You can stream media from other Mac apps, such as QuickTime Player (in El Capitan only). You can even ‘mirror’ your Mac’s display on your TV using the AirPlay menu bar icon, or extend your desktop to it (see page 54).
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4 Stream from iOS
Flick up from the bottom of the screen to open Control Centre, then tap AirPlay to see a list of available receivers. You can stream music, photos or video from individual apps, or simply mirror your iOS device’s entire screen.
AirPlay is Apple’s proprietary protocol that enables Macs and iOS devices to detect Apple TVs and AirPlay speakers on the same network and, without extra configuration, stream media to one you choose. Some devices support this without a network.
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APPLE HOME Gadgets
WHAT YOU NEED NEXT…
HOME GADGETS Indoors or outdoors, here’s the tech you need to create your new smart home
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator $5000
For even more smart home advice subscribe today! See page 46
samsung.com/uk Samsung’s new super-fridge sounds absolutely bonkers, but it does make a warped kind of sense. Your current fridge probably has an assortment of notes and reminders stuck on its door, along with pictures drawn by your kids and a selection of animal-shaped magnets. Samsung is simply bringing that idea into the digital age with its new Family Hub Refrigerator. To replace all those bits of paper, this super-fridge has a 21.5-inch HD screen built into one door, and it has Wi-Fi connectivity that allows it to connect to your home network and become part of the great Internet of Things. You can use the screen to view calendars and notes, display recipes or photos, and you can even watch TV or stream music to the fridge, courtesy of its built-in set of 4W speakers. And,
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The fridge’s companion iOS app lets you see if you need to pick up milk on the way home if you’re having people over for a party, it can stream music all through your home to external Bluetooth speakers. The gonzo high-tech ideas don’t stop there, either. Three cameras inside the fridge take snapshots each time you close the fridge door, and you can use the companion apps for iOS and Android phones to check the fridge’s
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The iMac-sized HD display on the right door is a smart way to consolidate the clutter you’d normally find on a fridge.
contents to see if you need to pick up milk or something else on the way home from work. Samsung is even working on a scheme with MasterCard that will allow you to order your groceries from that app so that you don’t need to bother with anything as tedious as visiting a supermarket yourself. What we like best, though, is the more down-to-earth FlexZone feature. As well as a standard freezer compartment in the bottom half of the fridge, you can adjust the FlexZone section’s temperature to suit your needs, reallocating it as either additional fridge or freezer capacity as required. Samsung hasn’t announced a UK price just yet, but the Family Hub Refrigerator will be available in the US this spring, where its price tag will be about $5000. Believe it or not, there’s a smart oven in the works, too.
You can stream music to the fridge’s speakers, which may save your phone from getting covered in flour.
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Gadgets APPLE HOME
SwannOne Alarm Starter Kit £300 swannone.com SwannOne was one of the first companies to produce affordable smart security systems, and it recently updated its starter kit to work with other smart devices, such as the Philips Hue lighting system or the Nest Thermostat. The starter kit equips you with two door/window sensors, one noise sensor, and one motion sensor. You could link the door sensors to your Hue lighting system to make the lights come on when you enter your home, or turn on a light if the noise sensor detects the sound of breaking glass.
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Steljes MS2 Music Streamer £69 steljesaudio.co.uk The major drawback of many multiroom speaker systems is that they tend to tie you in to using speakers from just one manufacturer. Steljes Audio has an affordable alternative in the form of its new MS2 Music Streamer. This little black box includes dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, along with digital and analogue audio connectors. You can connect any existing speaker system to the MS2 and then use Wi-Fi to connect it to your home network, either on its own or as part of a multiroom sound system. You’ll need one MS2 for each room or speaker, but that’s still a lot cheaper than buying completely new speakers, and the MS2 also lets you use the Spotify app with your old speakers as well.
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Hozelock Cloud Controller £115 hozelock.com Despite the name, this thing doesn’t actually control clouds – that would be a bit much to hope for. However, this new gadget from the gardening gurus at Hozelock can help with the tedious chore of watering the garden this summer. The Cloud Controller is basically a smart valve that connects to a tap, and it can be used with most existing sprinkler systems. Wi-Fi connectivity enables you to control the watering schedule from your iPhone or an Android phone, and the app can also check weather reports online and adjust its watering schedule if there’s rain on the way.
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Illuminating ideas for making your home wired up to smart lighting…
Smart ideas HERE IN MY CAR CarPlay hasn’t made many headlines lately, but it’s been bolstered by the announcement of new car models that support Apple’s entertainment and navigation system, including a smart new Honda Accord. The biggest CarPlay news for 2016 is Ford’s announcement that all its new models will include the system. If you buy a new Ford in 2016 then CarPlay will be available as an optional extra, and from 2017 onwards it’ll be a standard feature in all models sold in North America, with Europe to follow. However, that pales in comparison to the steady stream of hints that Apple is working on its own self-driving car, codenamed Project Titan. Elon Musk of Tesla Motors recently said: “It’s hard to hide something if you hire over 1,000 engineers to do it”. It isn’t clear, though, whether Apple will manufacture a car, or if it’s developing an operating system that it could then license to car makers, potentially becoming the standard for the entire industry.
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S EC R E TS O F
iCLOUD File storage, online apps, a backup tool, a place for your music and photo libraries… What exactly is iCloud? Nik Rawlinson digs deep to explore the diverse features of Apple’s massive online service for the Mac, iOS… and even Windows PCs 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, so these days iCloud is one of the best cloud services going. 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
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documents, so your work is automatically kept in sync between your Macs and iOS devices. Developers who sell 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 in to 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, so we have many tips to show you that will help you to get the most out of Apple’s online service.
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Set up iCloud on your Mac
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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.
Enable the apps and services whose data you want to sync with iCloud and with your other devices by checking the appropriate boxes.
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Open System Preferences’ iCloud pane and make sure you’re signed in. It’s easiest to use the Apple ID you use with the App Store, though you can use a different one if you prefer.
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Use the Options buttons next to Keychain, Photos and iCloud Drive to make additional choices, such as whether to enable you to create shared online photo albums.
Set up iCloud on an iOS device
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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.
Turn on syncing of the apps and services built in to iOS whose data you want to sync with iCloud and your other devices. For most of them, the decision is simply whether syncing is on or off.
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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.
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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.
Set up iCloud on Windows
! iCloud pricing Every account provides 5GB of storage for free, but that’ll quickly be eaten up as you use iCloud in earnest. Fortunately, it’s easy to upgrade on your Mac or iOS device, and it’s affordable for most people.
5GB 50GB 200GB 1TB
Free 79p per month £2.49 per month £6.99 per month
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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.
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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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.
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In the background, iCloud for Windows will create the folders to store things on your PC/in Boot Camp on your Mac, 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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iCLOUD SECRETS
What uses iCloud? Apple’s service turns your devices into a team, and keeps the contents of your iPhone or iPad safe Music >
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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: you don’t need to explicitly copy photos to your Mac or save your reminders in a particular folder. 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.
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 a small amount – 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.
Backup > 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 using 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.
RESTORING FROM iCLOUD >
1 Find the restore function 2 Use Setup Assistant If your iOS device backs up to iCloud, you can restore its backup to a new device, or your existing one after it has been cleaned using Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
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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.
3 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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Mail, Contacts and Calendar >
Safari and Keychain >
Synchronise 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 features such as Smart Mailboxes. You’re not restricted to using Apple’s app to read your iCloud mail. So, if you prefer an app that requires manual configuration, use the settings at bit.ly/iclmail.
Putting Safari’s data in iCloud means the same autocomplete suggestions, your bookmarks, and the list of sites 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 bank card details up to date across your devices too. This means you can set stronger passwords without worrying about forgetting them; Safari fills in forms with the relevant info for you. Passwords and payment data are protected with 256-bit AES encryption. Your keychain also syncs items in the Internet Accounts pane between your Macs.
Photos >
iCloud.com >
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 optimised for its screen and storage. The originals are kept in iCloud and count against your storage quota, but photos taken with iOS devices aren’t included in that device’s backup in iCloud.
Sign in at iCloud.com using a Mac or PC’s 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 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 – see p60. You can view your iCloud Photo Library here, but you can’t use its contents in the online iWork apps. Web browser requirements are at bit.ly/iclwebreqs.
Notes > iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan radically changed Notes, so to get the best out of it all your devices must run those 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 organise notes are synced too, of course.
LIMITING iCLOUD APPS > 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 is 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
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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.
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iCLOUD SECRETS
iCloud and your data Top tips for making the most of the data your devices and applications push to Apple’s iCloud servers Notes >
Apple Music >
Follow up on bright ideas anytime, anywhere
Keychain >
Streaming’s great, but what about when you‘re offline?
Take the pain out of remembering passwords
Notes can search all your notebooks, synced from other services as well as iCloud, simultaneously.
If you’re going offline for a while, use the category selector to check what tracks you’ve downloaded.
Removing an item from iCloud Keychain affects all of your devices, not just where you deleted it.
Keep a note on one device
Conserve your mobile data
Cross-platform keychain
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 bar. You can later move local notes to iCloud.
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Multiple accounts
Listen while you’re offline
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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
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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.
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You can restrict Music to Wi-Fi 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.
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). On iOS there’s a device icon next to downloaded tracks. iTunes on the Mac shows a cloud next to items you haven’t downloaded.
Filter out online tracks
3
If your iOS device has a limited mobile data allowance, or you’re in an area with poor coverage, you can restrict iOS’s Music app to only showing tracks on the device. In the My Music tab’s view of your library, tap the category selector and then switch on Only Downloaded Music.
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.
Boost keychain security
2
To keep your keychain ultra-secure, switch from using a six-digit security code to verify attempts by new devices to access it, to a complex or random security code. In System Preferences > iCloud, click Options beside Keychain, then Change Security Code followed by Advanced.
Manage keychain contents
3
To manage web form credentials and bank card details in your keychain, go to Safari’s AutoFill preferences on your Mac, or Settings > Safari then Passwords or AutoFill, respectively, on iOS. Your iCloud Keychain contains other things besides website login details and bank cards. On your Mac, you can manage these other items, which include passwords for mail and other internet servers, Wi-Fi network passwords, and AirPlay accessory pairings. To do this, open the Keychain Access app from /Applications/Utilities and simply click iCloud in its sidebar.
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Mail, Contacts and Calendar > Hidden server settings for greater control of email
Get rid of junk immediately
iCloud Photo Library >
Safari >
All your memories on all of your devices, always!
Enjoy the same browsing experience on all devices
1
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 define a response: move, trash or forward them. To remove a rule, click the ‘i’ next to it, then Delete. Rules here aren’t as versatile as those in Mail for Mac, but they process messages even if your Mac is off.
Get three more addresses Save space on a device with little storage by switching to photos that are optimised for it.
Bookmarks, favourites and even your browsing history are synced between all of your devices.
Store more photos
Pick up where you left off
1
1
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 79p 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.
Keep an offline backup
2
You can also optimise 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 Optimise Mac Storage.
Wi-Fi is important
3
Wondering why your latest iPhone shot hasn’t shown up on your Mac? Check the phone is on Wi-Fi as photos don’t upload over a mobile network. Verify iCloud Photo Library is enabled on both.
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You can open Safari tabs you left open on another of your devices. 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.
2
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
3
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!
Recover lost bookmarks
2
Turning on Safari in iCloud’s settings also puts your bookmarks online, including the contents of the view that shows your favourite and frequently visited sites. As a bonus, you can recover accidentally deleted bookmarks. The bookmark restoration feature rolls back all of your bookmarks to an earlier time, so you may want to drag any you’ve added (since the date of the backup you’ll restore) from the sidebar in Safari on your Mac to Finder, and later reimport those. Sign in at iCloud.com, click Settings, then Restore Bookmarks at the page’s bottom and select a date.
The iCloud Mail app at iCloud.com is host to some invaluable server-side features.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 35
iCLOUD SECRETS
Get more from iCloud Drive Simplify access to and sharing of your files by putting them in Apple’s online storage
R
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 on 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 and sharing files from it; if you rejected iOS 9’s 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 one 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 30 days in case of accidental deletion using a tucked-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 43.
You can store any type of file, up to a max size of 15GB, on iCloud Drive
GET FILES FROM iOS TO YOUR MAC >
1 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.
36 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
2 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.
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iCLOUD SECRETS
The Document Picker explained 1
3
Browse for files The Document Picker in a Mac app opens to the app’s folder on iCloud Drive. Browse all of iCloud Drive by selecting it in the sidebar. On iOS, tap the + (top-left), then iCloud Drive.
Search for files 2
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.
3 4
1
2
4
View and sort files
Share documents
You can switch a Mac app’s Document Picker between three views, and sort its contents on many attributes. iOS has two views, sortable by name or date. You can make a document from here, too.
The pickers on Mac and iOS each 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.
3 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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4 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 (see p36). Hold a finger on the file, then tap More in the options bar, then find the desired app in the Share sheet’s middle row.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 37
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iCLOUD SECRETS
Become an iCloud genius Memorise our six top tips for doing more with iCloud and you’ll spend less time fiddling about, enjoy increased security, save money, and more
Family Sharing
6
Turn on two-step verification to add an extra layer of security to your account.
Synchronise purchases
Access your Macs remotely
1
4
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.
Secure your account
2
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. There’s a full guide to this on page 50.
Engage Drive
3
In Finder or a dialog that opens or saves a file, press ß+ç+I to jump to the top level of iCloud Drive. If Finder is active but has no window open, this will create one for you at the same time.
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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.
Apple understands that we’re increasingly becoming multi-device homes, hence the existence of Family Sharing, which gives six family members a shared calendar and a shared photo album, and access to each other’s app and media purchases from Apple’s stores. As a parent, you’re able to authorise or reject your kids’ purchase attempts right from your iOS device. The caveat is 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 organiser.
Slim down your backups
5
If you’re short on space in iCloud, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage and check whether any of your iOS devices’ backups are using a lot of space. If so, switch to the device in question, then go to the same place and tap the name of that 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 claw back some precious space by turning off the switch adjacent to any app whose data you don’t care to back up.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 39
iCLOUD SECRETS
Get more from iCloud.com Left your Mac or iOS device behind? Many of the tasks you can do with Apple’s iCloud-powered Mac and iOS apps can be done in a web browser iWork for iCloud > The online iWork apps help you to stay productive with just a web browser 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 a computer that isn’t yours. There are some limitations, such as the fonts you can work with, but the web apps gracefully substitute others, and your original choices are reinstated when a document is reopened on a Mac or iOS. The browser-based versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote also
You can roll back to older versions of documents, just like on a Mac
enable you to work on shared files: click the centre icon at the top of the Document Picker to see files others have shared with you. To share one of your own, hold ≈ and 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 under 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
The name and colour you choose for attributing your comments are used in all shared documents.
for browsing older versions is less refined. Reinstate an earlier version by ≈-clicking the document and choosing Browse All Versions, select one in the list, then click Restore. You need to have some idea of when the document was in the desired state as there’s no preview like on the Mac and iOS. 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.
Photos >
Find My iPhone >
Organise and share pictures from your online photo library right from a web browser
Locate, lock or wipe a lost device to keep your data safe
The online version of Photos is convenient when you need a picture to illustrate a Facebook or blog post or if you want to show off your snaps 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 even create a new album online using photos from all over your library: click + while viewing a photo, or Photos at iCloud.com lets you share and select several and click Add To. delete images, and create albums from them.
40 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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 as the device will no longer be locatable.
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iCLOUD SECRETS
iCloud.com Settings 1
3
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 too.
Restore options 1
2
2
My Devices
4
3
4
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 (which also stops you tracking it).
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
1 Organise work in folders 2 Clear the clutter 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.
To delete a file or folder, click it once, then click the trash can icon at the top of the page. Although an alert will pop up warning you that the item will be deleted from all of your devices immediately, don’t forget you can retrieve it (see the annotation above).
3 Upload assets
4 Download and share
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.
Sign out of browsers If you think you might’ve left yourself signed in to iCloud.com on a work or a public computer, sign in on another Mac or PC and go to the bottom of this page to find a link that’ll sign out all browsers.
Using iCloud Drive in iCloud.com
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Deleted files, contacts, calendars, reminders and bookmarks are kept for 30 days, and are recoverable using the options at the bottom of this page. After that they’re gone forever.
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 if the attachments exceed 20MB, but you must first enable it (see page 60).
Apple News Publisher Join the big boys 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 is set to introduce its own Apple News Format soon, which will allow for bespoke layouts. 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. You can add multiple RSS feeds to a channel, enabling followers to focus a specific topic by tapping it in the navigation bar at the top of your channel in News. Subscribe to updates from MacFormat by searching for our name in News.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 41
iCLOUD SECRETS
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 >
Google Drive >
Fast, simple, and with great OS X integration
Enterprise-level features with a friendly face
Dropbox (dropbox.com) integrates with a wide variety of Mac and iOS apps. Like iCloud Drive, a shortcut to it sits in Finder’s sidebar, and ≈-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 £7.99 a month/£79 a year. See bit.ly/dbboost for ways to boost a free account’s capacity.
Every (drive.google.com) account comes with 15GB of storage, with upgrades starting at 100GB for about £1.40 a month (see bit.ly/ ggldupg). That’s shared by Google Photos, Gmail and Google Docs, one of the best online office suites. Third-party app InSync (about £17, insynchq.com) can convert to iWork-compatible formats when syncing docs to your Mac.
Livedrive >
OneDrive >
Backup, syncing or both – it’s up to you
Generous with storage and apps
LiveDrive’s (livedrive.com) Briefcase package gives you 2TB for syncing files between Macs and PCs for £8 a month, plus £1 monthly for each computer you add. Upgrade to its Pro Suite (£12 per month) to also back up five computers and for 5GB of syncing space. You can share files, like with Dropbox. Your files are stored in the UK rather than going overseas.
OneDrive (onedrive.live.com) is the sharing hub for Microsoft Office, and as such it feels Windows 10-like. Free accounts provide 5GB of storage and online versions of Word and Excel. 50GB is £1.99 a month, while subscribing to Office 365 (starting at £5.99 a month) upgrades your storage to 1TB. OneDrive allows you to upload individual files as large as 10GB.
Box >
SugarSync >
A generous package, but beware its file size cap
Free-form folder syncing, but at a price
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 (£7 a month) raises that to 5GB, and increases storage tenfold. Many iOS apps can use Box as storage space, and its Shared Workspace feature lets you work with colleagues in a common folder.
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 about £5.20 a month for 100GB, £6.94 for 250GB, or £17.35 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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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 43
iCLOUD SECRETS
Troubleshooting 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
1
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.
Check the time
Syncing takes time
10
2
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, particularly if you’re using the iCloud Drive app for iOS. 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 from the internet.
Force an update manually
3
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
4
If you’re entering data into an app such as Calendar or Reminders and it’s not 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
5
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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For some apps, such as Calendar, you can set a default place for them to save new items. This is a per-device setting, so check they all send to iCloud.
Can’t track your Mac?
6
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.
Make sure the time and date on your Mac, iPhone and iPad are correct, as discrepancies can cause syncing headaches when iCloud can’t work out which is the most recent update. For simplicity, go to Settings > General > Date & Time on iOS devices, and System Preferences’ Date & Time pane on a Mac, then, on each of your devices, turn on the option that sets date and time automatically.
Activation Lock status
7
Buying a second-hand iOS device or Apple Watch? Ensure Activation Lock has been disabled or you’ll be unable to register the device to your account. Enter an iOS device’s serial number (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.
Making sure the date and time is set correctly on each of your devices is critical to reliably syncing data.
Suspended syncing
8
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 below 20%.
If you’re locked out…
9
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.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 45
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 47
What’s inside 50–51 SECURE YOUR APPLE ID Protect your account with a second level of identity verification
EDITED BY
NEW SECTION!
ALAN STONEBRIDGE
52–53 POWER UP YOUR TRACKPAD
Your new-look guide to getting more from your Apple kit
Create your own gestures to speed up working with your Mac
54–56 EXTEND YOUR MAC’S DESKTOP Boost your workspace with Chromecast, Apple TV or an iPad
EXTEND YOUR DESKTOP p54
58–59 MASTER AFFINITY PHOTO Learn how to lift your photo’s subject out of its background
60–61 SEND BIG FILES WITH MAIL DROP Bust through the size cap for attachments to share files the easy way
62–65 BUILD YOUR OWN AIRPLAY RECEIVER Wirelessly send music to your hi-fi system using a Raspberry Pi
Understand iOS gestures A tap is a brief contact of (usually) one finger on your device’s screen.
Swipe means move one or more fingers across an item or the screen, then let go.
Pinch means move two fingers together or apart, usually to zoom in or out.
To drag is to move a finger across the screen to scroll or pan around content.
A flick is like swiping, but it’s quicker, and is often used to scroll content more quickly.
Touch and hold means lightly rest your finger on an item and wait for a reaction.
Master Mac keyboard shortcuts When you see a shortcut like ç+å+C, hold all but the last key, then press that one.
≈ means the Control key, labelled ctrl, and shown as ^ in shortcuts in the menu bar.
ç is the Command key, which is also labelled cmd.
ß is the Shift key, which is typically just labelled shift.
å means the Option key, labelled alt or opt.
∫ means the Delete key, which deletes to the left of the
insertion point. Press ƒ+ ∫ to delete to the right. † is the Tab key, which shifts the focus between some controls in windows and web forms. Turn on Full Keyboard Access in System Preferences to jump between all controls.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 49
APPLE SKILLS Mac Software
Secure your Apple ID Protect your personal data with a second level of identify verification IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to boost protection of your Apple ID and iCloud account by using two-step verification. YOU’LL NEED At least one Mac or iOS device with an internet connection.
In addition to a password, access to your Apple ID will require a code that‘s sent to a trusted device
A while ago, Apple received criticism when a number of celebrities claimed their iCloud accounts had been hacked, leading to personal photographs being published online. Apple’s response was to remind people to keep their passwords safe. However, security experts argued that this couldn’t have happened if Apple had adopted a security technique known as two-factor authentication. This adds a second layer of security to your Apple ID, sending an extra security code to your iPhone or iPad that must be entered in addition to your normal Apple ID or iCloud password before anyone can gain access to your account. That was back in 2014, and Apple still hasn’t adopted two-factor authentication properly. To be fair, it has built the technical underpinnings for it into El Capitan and iOS 9, which is no small task. Unfortunately, twofactor authentication for Apple ID is being rolled out slowly, and it’s currently available only to select users; you can check whether it’s available for your Apple ID by following the instructions given at bit.ly/Apple2FA. Apple’s two-factor authentication also has a big limitation: it’s only available if all the
devices linked to your Apple ID are running Apple’s latest software – the web page just mentions details of the system requirements for Apple devices and Windows PCs. So, if you use your iCloud account on one device that isn’t running, or is unable to run, the latest software, you won’t be able to benefit from the stronger protection afforded by two-factor authentication on any of your other devices. However, in the wake of the celebrity hacking scandal, Apple introduced a security measure it calls two-step verification. Though it bears a similar name and works in a similar fashion to two-factor authentication, it merely sends a four-digit verification code to you; two-factor authentication’s codes are six digits long, and are pre-empted by details of an access attempt’s location, so you can reject it immediately rather than receive a code. In the long run, two-factor authentication will be the stronger option. However, until everyone can use it, two-step verification is worthwhile because it adds extra security to your Apple ID to help keep your data safe. Also, you don’t need to be running iOS 9 or El Capitan to benefit from it, so having one bit of hardware running an older operating system won’t hold you back. Cliff Joseph
HOW TO Add extra protection to your Apple ID
1 Manage your Apple ID
To set up two-step verification, go to appleid.apple.com using a web browser on any device. Right now only the email address and password associated with your Apple ID are needed to sign in, but that will change in a moment.
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2 Request to turn on
Under Security, click Get Started next to Two-Step Verification. Apple will send a confirmation email. If you’ve made significant account changes recently, this email can take three days to arrive; your account works as normal in the interim.
3 Confirm it’s you
When you receive the email, return to your Apple ID account page and click Get Started again. A message will explain two-step verification sends an extra verification code to one of your devices. This code can only be used once.
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Set up two-step verification APPLE SKILLS
CONTINUED… Add extra protection to your Apple ID
4 A trustworthy phone
5 Other trusted devices 6 Verification codes You can add other trusted devices to your account, and send the verification code to any of those devices. During this step you should make sure that all your devices are awake, signed in to your Apple ID, and connected to the internet.
Each device or phone number that you identify as trusted receives a special one-off verification code. You can read the code on that device and then enter it on the Apple ID management site to confirm the device is in your possession.
7 Your Recovery Key
8 Who goes there?
9 Device defence
10 Purchase protection 11 Third-party apps
12 Manage them
Now you have to provide a ‘trusted phone number’. This doesn’t have to be an iPhone, or even your own phone – but it should obviously belong to someone that you trust, and the phone must also be able to receive text messages.
Your final line of defence is a special recovery key. Should you forget your password, or if your trusted devices are lost or stolen, you can use this key to regain access to your account – so commit it to paper and keep it safe!
Extra protection now applied on any Mac or iOS device linked to your Apple ID. Here it has kicked in when we tried to buy an app on our iPad. A code is also needed to sign in to iCloud on a new device, or to use apps such as FaceTime.
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In future, when you sign in to your account, you’ll be asked to enter your password as usual. However, there’s now a second verification step, so you’ll be asked on which of your trusted devices you want to receive a verification code.
Apps such as Fantastical connect to your iCloud account but provide no way for you to enter a verification code; an app-specific password is needed to grant them access. Edit your account’s security settings, then click Generate Password.
We’ve sent the verification code to our iPhone. On whichever trusted device you choose, the code will appear after a few seconds. Enter the code on whatever device you were using to sign in to your Apple ID and access your account.
In your app’s password request box, immediately enter the generated password. You can create up to 25 appspecific passwords. If you alter your main one, all of these will be revoked and you’ll need to generate new ones for your apps.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 51
APPLE SKILLS Mac Software
Power up your trackpad Create new trackpad gestures to speed up working with your Mac IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use BetterTouchTool to create new Multi-Touch trackpad gestures and enhance existing ones. YOU’LL NEED OS X 10.6 or higher. A Magic Trackpad (either model) or a MacBook trackpad. BetterTouchTool.
Unleash your trackpad’s full potential by defining your own gestures
Modern Mac trackpads have learned a lot from iOS devices. The gestures you can perform have become increasingly elaborate and useful, making it possible to more easily trigger commands and manipulate on-screen content. Though it all seems clever, your trackpad’s actually even smarter than you might realise, which becomes clear on installing BetterTouchTool. This app unleashes the full power of your trackpad by enabling user-defined gestures. You decide in each case how many fingers to use, the gesture they should perform, and what that should trigger. You can get a 45-day trial of the app from boastr.net, after which it’s ‘pay what you want’ with a paltry £3 minimum to keep using it. When you open the app, select Gestures in its toolbar and then select Trackpads from the list of devices below. In our first walkthrough, we set up a five-fingered swipe left to make a window fill the left half of the screen. Try also creating a gesture that does this for the right-hand side, and a five-fingered downwards swipe for minimising windows by mimicking a press of ç+M. (Keyboard shortcuts are covered in our third walkthrough, on the opposite page.)
Our second walkthrough deals with a change in OS X El Capitan, in which Mission Control no longer displays thumbnail previews of your various workspaces. This demonstrates how BetterTouchTool can improve on Apple’s gestures, and how you can override what OS X provides. Our third walkthrough uses a swipe in from a trackpad edge to open Spotlight.
Uncover many new gestures There’s a wealth of additional gestures and actions to try, many of which are more easily unearthed by using the search fields at the top of the Touchpad Gesture and Predefined Action pop-up menus. If you have a Force Touch trackpad, check out the extra gestures it supports. You can use Force Touch to trigger actions by using a hard press on a corner of the trackpad, or by pressing hard with multiple fingers anywhere on it. One nifty idea: set a hard press with three fingers (listed in the app as 3 Finger Force Click) to trigger the Show Menubar in Context Menu action. This puts the current app’s menu bar contents right underneath the pointer. BetterTouchTool also has loads of options for Magic Mouse, keyboards and remote controls, so explore them all! Craig Grannell
HOW TO Snap windows with a swipe
1 Create a gesture
Select Global on the left and click Add New Gesture. In the Touchpad Gesture pop-up, expand Five And More Finger Gestures and select 5 Finger Swipe Left. In Predefined Action, choose Maximise Window left (in Window Resize & Move).
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2 Test your gesture
Switch to Finder and open a new window, then perform your gesture. The window should immediately snap to the left half of the display. (Note: some apps have minimum window widths, which may take up more than half of small displays.)
3 Practise gestures
If you find it hard to consistently trigger a gesture, click Show Live View (bottom-left). The new window shows the positions of your fingers on the trackpad. Perform gestures and it’ll state what action they would have triggered.
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Unlock more gestures APPLE SKILLS
HOW TO Override a built-in gesture
1 Turn off a setting
Go to the Trackpad pane in System Preferences and click its More Gestures tab. If the gesture for Mission Control (Swipe up with three/four fingers) has a check mark next to it, clear it. Return to BetterTouchTool and add a new gesture.
2 Define your override
In the Touchpad Gesture pop-up, open the Three Finger Gestures group and select 3 Finger Swipe Up. In the Predefined Action pop-up, expand OS X Functionality and choose Mission Control & Immediately Show Desktop Preview.
3 Try Mission Control
Swipe three fingers upwards and Mission Control will open, and the Spaces bar will expand to show desktop previews after a brief pause; El Capitan normally requires you to move the pointer to the top of the screen to display them.
HOW TO Use edge swipes
1 View Notification Center 2 Add an edge swipe In System Preferences, go to the Trackpad pane’s More Gestures tab and ensure Notification Center is checked. Drag two fingers in from the right edge of your trackpad and Notification Center will slide in from the right of your display.
In BetterTouchTool, add a new global gesture. Set it to use the 2 Finger Swipe from Top Edge gesture. Next, click in the Custom Keyboard Shortcut box and press ç+[spacebar], which is OS X’s default keyboard shortcut for opening Spotlight.
3 Open Spotlight
Swipe two fingers down from the top of your trackpad and Spotlight’s search window will appear. You can, of course, change the resulting action to something else if you want. Bear in mind you still have two more edges to use!
Multi-step actions Have a tap trigger a sequence of commands If you regularly perform a series of simple actions, such as positioning Mail and Calendar next to each other, assign that entire process to a single gesture. Begin by creating a 5 Finger Tap Gesture. Click the Predefined Action pop-up, expand Controlling Other Applications, select Open Application and then select Mail. Next, click Attach Additional Action and select Maximize Window Left. Add two more additional actions to open Calendar and put its window on the right. The gesture will now bring those apps to the front and place them side by side.
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 53
APPLE SKILLS Mac Software
Extend your Mac’s desktop Maximise your available workspace using an HDTV or an iPad IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to extend your Mac’s desktop to a TV, or to an iPad over USB. YOU’LL NEED A second-generation or newer Apple TV, or Google Chromecast and AirParrot 2, or an iPad and Duet Display.
Sometimes a second screen is simply your best option for productivity 54 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
Your Mac provides various ways to help you work well within the constraints of a single display, but sometimes extending your workspace onto a second screen is simply the best route to improved productivity. When you haven’t got a traditional computer display to connect using a cable, you can use an HDTV or an iOS device. Here we look at three options: Apple TV and AirPlay Display; Google Chromecast and AirParrot 2; and Duet Display paired with an iOS device. Costs start at £11.99 for Duet Display (if you have an iOS device already), up to the price of an Apple TV (from £59) and an HDMI cable. If you have none of these things, AirParrot (about £10) and Chromecast (£30) is the most affordable option, but there’s more to consider than just price tags.
Apple TV and AirPlay Display This is your most reliable option precisely because it’s an official feature of Apple’s devices. It’s the perfect option for use at
home, and is really only dependent on you having a comfortable place to set up your Mac near your HDTV. If you want a system that will work when you’re travelling though, you’ll need to take an HDMI cable, and a power cable that’s suitable to your destination. The absolute minimum requirement for using AirPlay Display is one of the Macs listed at bit.ly/airplayreqs (look under ‘Requirements for using AirPlay’), running at least OS X 10.8. On the Apple TV side of things, you’ll need a second-generation or newer model. If your Apple TV is a second-generation or the initial third-generation model (A1427), it will need to be on the same network as your Mac. The revision A (A1469) third-generation Apple TV and the fourth-generation support a peer-to-peer connection, though this also needs a 2012 or later Mac with at least OS X 10.10. When establishing a direct connection, Apple TV shows a four-digit code to enter on your Mac to verify the attempt. Your Mac will display an AirPlay icon in its menu bar when it sees an Apple TV. If this
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Extend your desktop APPLE SKILLS
EXPLAINED… Your hardware options 1
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Your Mac
iPad
Each of our solutions has different Mac requirements: bit.ly/airplayreqs, bit.ly/parrotreqs, or bit.ly/duetreqs.
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Apple TV Depending on your model, you may not even need a network to extend your Mac’s desktop to an Apple TV.
doesn’t happen when you expect it to, go to the Displays preferences pane and check the ‘Show mirroring options…’ box. Click the AirPlay icon and then your Apple TV’s name to broadcast to it. If your TV shows a replica of your Mac’s display, click the icon again and choose Use As Separate Display. If the screen edge over which the pointer moves between the screens is disorienting, go to the Displays preferences pane, click the Arrangement tab and drag the blue rectangles to positions that reflect the screens’ physical layout. When you’re finished with the TV, click the AirPlay icon and choose Turn AirPlay Off.
Chromecast and AirParrot 2 When you’re away from home, Chromecast lets you shed some of the bulk you’d get with an Apple TV. The second-generation model is compact and has a short HDMI cable built in. It draws power from a TV’s USB port (our TV’s 5V port worked), but if that doesn’t work with the TV that’s available to you in, say, a hotel – or if you can’t be certain you’ll have a TV with a suitable USB port – take the compact mains adaptor that comes with Chromecast, or try Apple’s folding plug (£25, bit.ly/applefold) or The Mu (£15, themu.co.uk) if you dislike the prongs on UK plugs. For international travel, consider the Mu System (£34).
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This is the heaviest option, yet in some ways it’s the best one when portability is paramount.
Chromecast 2
4
Chromecast’s drawback is that it must be connected to the same network as your Mac. The trouble here is that ad hoc networks created from the Wi-Fi menu in OS X 10.10 or OS X 10.11 can’t be protected with encryption and a password, and using an unprotected network carries the risk of someone snooping on your network traffic. So, you really need to be sure suitable infrastructure is available where you’re staying, or else take a device such as Apple’s AirPort Express (£79, bit.ly/ airexpr) to create one for you alone to use. If you can meet these requirements, using Chromecast and AirParrot 2 is almost as straightforward as Apple’s own system. Open AirParrot 2 and click its icon in the menu bar. (The app makes OS X think Chromecast is a projector, so the AirPlay icon may appear too.) Choose your Chromecast under ‘To’. Above that, choose what you want to send to it. This is where AirParrot gets interesting: you can mirror or extend the desktop, just like you can with AirPlay, or you can show a single app in isolation, framed with a black border. Like AirPlay, AirParrot can redirect your Mac’s sound output to Chromecast. It’s also able to stream various video formats to your TV (see bit.ly/parrotmedia for a list of them). If you find AirParrot’s performance lacking, click the cog at the bottom of its menu and
This receiver is compact, but you’ll need to connect it to a network for it to communicate with your Mac.
Jargon Buster AirPlay Display is what Apple calls extending a Mac’s desktop to give you extra workspace. AirPlay Mirroring puts the same content you see on your Mac’s main display on an Apple TV, which you might use to deliver a business presentation or in a classroom environment.
Genius Tip! A 1080p HDTV doesn’t sound very impressive these days, but things can look small on one across a room. Consider setting your extended desktop to 720p to enlarge its contents.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 55
APPLE SKILLS Mac Software
choose Preferences, where you’ll find settings for quality and frame rate, and a separate quality slider for streaming videos.
An iPad and Duet Display
Jargon Buster Google uses the term casting to describe the act of streaming a tab from its Chrome web browser to a TV.
Our third and final method is especially good if you already carry an iOS device with your Mac. If not, you need to be okay with a few hundred grams extra in your bag; an iPad with a 9.7-inch or 12.9-inch screen is ideal for this. Your Mac must be running at least OS X 10.9, and the iOS device must be on iOS 7 or higher. Duet Display (£11.99, duetdisplay.com) can extend your desktop over a USB cable, taking away concerns of whether your devices can join a network. You’ll need the Mac app from
the aforementioned website, and the iOS app from the App Store. Like AirParrot and AirPlay, Duet Display integrates with OS X’s Displays pane, where you can set the arrangement of your Mac and iPad. It goes even further than AirParrot with preferences to balance the clarity and size of your extended desktop against performance. Try out the various resolutions it offers you; the app worked well with our late 2013 MacBook Pro, even using its integrated Iris Pro GPU, but you’ll need to experiment to find out what’s best for yours. As an added bonus, the extended desktop responds to touch interactions. So, you can tap to position the pointer and click, or drag a finger to build a selection. Alan Stonebridge
HOW TO Tweak Duet Display for your Mac
1 Get started on your Mac 2 Extend the desktop With Duet installed on both your Mac and your iOS device, open the Mac app. Duet’s icon will appear in the menu bar, but it’ll be dimmed. If you click it, you’ll see a prompt to open the iOS app and run a USB cable between the devices.
When you open the iOS app, your Mac‘s display will flicker momentarily, just like when you connect a display using Mini DisplayPort, Thunderbolt or HDMI. When the desktop reappears, it should immediately extend onto your iOS device.
3 Pick a resolution
4 Low power options
5 Pick your GPU
6 Absent visual effects
If lowering the overall crispness of the extended desktop doesn’t appeal, look at the third and fourth groups of options – frame rate and pixel quality – which contain settings that reduce the power that Duet demands from your Mac.
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On a MacBook Pro with two GPUs, click the cog in Duet’s top-level menu. Under Preferences you can choose which is used, regardless of other apps’ needs; the discrete one may boost performance, but it’ll be at the expense of battery life.
Click Duet’s menu bar icon and put the pointer over your iPad in the list that appears. The top group of performance options set the iPad’s desktop resolution, starting with a low quality that may work better for you with a low-spec MacBook.
OS X’s Reduce Transparency option kicks in while Duet is running. This is also to aid performance, and it should switch back when you quit Duet. You can force transparency on in the cog menu, but you may then see rendering glitches.
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APPLE SKILLS Mac Software
Isolate a photo’s subject Learn how to remove either the subject or the background from an image Being able to remove (or add) elements to an image is one of photography’s oldest tricks – look up the Cottingley Fairies to see how long cunning photographers have been pulling wool over people’s eyes. Being able to select parts of an image has a virtually limitless list of benefits – your eBay photos will look more polished, and you’ll be able to seamlessly merge images together. For example, in a group shot where one person is blinking, you can excise them altogether or drop in a better snap of them. There are several ways to skin this cat: the most straightforward is to use Affinity Photo’s freehand selection tool, laboriously dragging around the item you want to select, but being precise is difficult, undoing mistakes is fiddly, and a selection is gone for ever when you delete it. Finding a non-destructive method is preferable, which is where paths, selection refinement and layer masks come in. Clipping paths – the product of using the Pen tool – are related to selections, but are
IT WILL TAKE At least an hour YOU WILL LEARN How to draw paths to make selections. How to refine selections to make high-quality cutouts. YOU’LL NEED Affinity Photo
TUTORIAL SERIES PART 3 OF 5
NEXT MONTH! Learn how to use cutouts creatively.
vastly more flexible. For example, a clipping path can be comprised of straight lines and curves, allowing you to precisely follow the contours of your subject. Unlike normal marquee selections, paths can be named, saved and copied between layers or images, and reopened and edited.
Selection refinement Clipping paths can prove tricky on fiddly areas. The classic example is hair, which is detailed and laborious to select. Other common stumbling blocks include detailed foliage in landscape shots and TV antennas in urban landscapes. Selection refinement is a powerful tool that allows Affinity Photo to do a lot of the hard work, detecting what to keep or discard. The only way to recover a deleted selection is to use Affinity’s history tool, undoing all the steps you later took. Layer masks are easy to create, can be edited for ever, and they allow you to redo masking work in isolation from other changes you make to an image. Here’s how to apply these tools. DAVE STEVENSON
EXPLAINED… Tools for refining your selection 1
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Overlay Cutouts can be intricate, so it’s helpful that you can preview them against a variety of backgrounds.
Masked hero
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Adjustment brush The adjustment brush helps when you need to make manual adjustments to a selection.
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Rather than delete a precise selection, use a mask to retain the original data for increased editing options.
Checkboard charlie 2
This chequered pattern indicates transparency; layers below it will be visible in the final image.
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Affinity Photo guide APPLE SKILLS
HOW TO Create a cutout in Affinity Photo
1 Find a challenge
2 Make a path
4 Save your work
5 Convert to a selection 6 Background style At the left-hand side of the context toolbar, click the button that’s labelled Selection and your path will be turned into a selection. You’ll see a ‘marching ants’ pattern surround your subject. Now choose Select > Refine Edges.
This tool can preview your selection on white, black, a chequered transparent background, or overlaid on the original image. We’ll initially use black. Drag the ‘Border width’ slider until the selection includes all the hair of your subject.
7 Ramping up
8 Manual adjustments
9 Create a layer mask
People with hair are hard enough to isolate from their backgrounds, so a fur-covered mammal is the ultimate trial. Here, we’re going to leave our furry friend sitting on his platform, but remove the bucolic background.
When you’ve outlined your subject, click on your path’s first point to close the path. The next step will erase your path, so if it was particularly laborious to draw, hold ≈ and click the (Curve) layer in the Layers panel, then choose Duplicate.
The result will be somewhat scrappy, so drag the Ramp slider right. Put it at a percentage that includes your subject’s hair but not too much (ideally none) of the background. Use ç++ and ç+to zoom in and out of the preview.
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We’ll start by creating a rough path. The first bit’s easy: press p and click where you want your path to begin. Move the pointer to where your straight line will end, click again, and the first segment of your path is created.
Set Preview to ‘Black and white’. If the background is bleeding into your cutout, remove it manually: under ‘Adjustment brush’, select Background and then drag over areas where the background ghosts into the selection.
3 Close the path
Now draw around your subject. When creating a new point, drag to make a Bézier curve between the new point and the previous one. You needn’t be very precise on a job like this; just keep your path slightly inside your subject.
When you’re happy, choose ‘New layer with mask’ from the Output pop-up menu. This will leave you with the original image, complete with its background, and a new layer that contains only the subject that you cut out of that image.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 59
APPLE SKILLS Mac/iOS Software
1
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Total file size Though you’re unlikely to hit Mail Drop‘s 5GB attachment cap, a cumulative total is shown.
Download from iCloud Mail on the Mac downloads items sent using Mail Drop for you, yet the iOS version, the iCloud Mail web app (shown) and other apps instead prompt the recipient to download them manually, list each item’s size, and give the date until which they’re available.
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iCloud Mail Unlike Mail for Mac and iOS, the iCloud Mail web app reminds you how much space is left for more attachments.
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Send big files with Mail Drop Bust through the size cap for attachments to share files the easy way IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How Mail Drop works. How to use it on your Mac and iOS devices. YOU’LL NEED OS X 10.10 or higher, or iOS 9.2 or higher. An iCloud, IMAP or Exchange account set up in Apple’s Mail app.
Mail Drop stores things in iCloud, but attachments aren’t counted against your usual quota 60 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
Mail Drop enables you to email much larger files than usual by uploading them to iCloud, and then substituting them in your message with a download link. This avoids burdening the recipient’s bandwidth as soon as they receive your message, and it enables you to send much larger items than most mail servers will accept – up to a hefty 5GB! For certain types of attachment – images, for example – the recipient will see a preview of what you’ve sent to them. For many other file types, they’ll see each attachment’s name, size and a download link – so, it’s still sensible to keep an eye on attachment sizes and confirm the intentional inclusion of these links and what they’ll give the recipient. Mail inserts an advisory note above the attachments to tell the recipient the date until which the files will be available to download. Mail Drop works a little differently between the Mac and iOS devices. On your Mac, you’ll need to perform a one-off bit of configuration, after which Mail Drop is automatically used whenever you try to send attachments whose total size is greater than 20MB, or whatever maximum your mail server allows. iOS asks
whether to use Mail Drop or just send large attachments as part of the message each time you send suitably large items.
Storage space You must use Mail for Mac or iOS, or the web app at iCloud.com, to benefit from Mail Drop. The feature stores your attachments in iCloud, though not in the storage quota that’s used by other features such as iCloud Drive. Instead, your email account – if it’s an iCloud, IMAP or Exchange account – is allowed to send a fairly generous maximum of 1TB in a 30-day period. If you run up against that limit, you’ll need to wait for older attachments to expire. Mail Drop imposes a few other limits too, which you can read about at bit.ly/droplimits. It’s also worth considering that anyone who obtains links to your attachments can freely download them. However unlikely it is that someone would stumble upon the lengthy addresses used by Mail Drop attachments, you may want to wrap sensitive documents in an encrypted disk image (see MF295), assuming the recipient is also using a Mac, or another encrypted format for cross-platform use. Alan Stonebridge
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Email large files APPLE SKILLS
HOW TO Use Mail Drop on Mac and iOS
Jargon Buster
1 Enable it on your Mac
2 Test it right now
3 If Mail Drop ever fails
4 Use Mail Drop on iOS
Open Mail’s preferences and go to the Accounts view. Mail Drop has to be enabled for each account you want to use it with, so select one, then click Advanced to the right and turn on ‘Send large attachments with Mail Drop’.
If you ever have trouble sending things with Mail Drop, you can check the status of the service at apple.com/uk/support/systemstatus; given how many things this page details, you may find it’s worth bookmarking.
If you want to try out Mail Drop and you don’t already have a large file to send, open Terminal, enter cd ~/desktop, then enter mkfile 20m testfile.dat. Now attach and send that file to yourself or a willing recipient.
Although the text Mail Drop inserts into emails refers to what you’ve sent as an attachment, it isn’t treated as such by Mail for Mac and Mail for iOS. Neither of them shows a paper clip icon on messages with a Mail Drop ‘attachment’, so bear that in mind if you use a Smart Mailbox to monitor incoming files. Strangely, iCloud Mail does show the icon.
There’s no setting to enable on iOS. Select one or more large files – perhaps in the iCloud Drive app, image-laden presentations in Keynote, or many pictures in the Photos app – then tap the Share icon and choose Mail.
Genius Tip! To send large files in iCloud Mail, click the cog below the sidebar, choose Preferences then click Composing and turn on Mail Drop.
5 Send many photos by email 6 A missing option Even with Mail Drop available, Mail offers to resize photos to reduce the data that’s sent. If you allow this and your photos still amount to 20MB or more, you’re then asked if you want to use Mail Drop to ensure receipt.
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Searching Settings for ‘Mail Drop’ reveals one item, Limit Mail Drop Over Mobile Data, but the switch is nowhere to be found when you tap this. Apple is aware of this, but there’s no word on which iOS update will fix it.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 61
APPLE SKILLS Project
Build an AirPlay receiver Wirelessly stream music to your hi-fi system using a Raspberry Pi Zero IT WILL TAKE At least 2 hours YOU WILL LEARN How to set up a Raspberry Pi Zero and Pi MusicBox to stream audio to your speaker system using AirPlay. YOU’LL NEED Raspberry Pi Zero, a MicroSD card, and other accessories listed in the tutorial.
The parts used in this project will only cost you about £50 62 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
AirPlay is great for wirelessly piping music through your home, but even basic AirPlay speakers come with a hefty price tag attached. You may already have a perfectly serviceable stereo system in place, so why spend a fortune on new speakers when you can put together your own wireless AirPlay receiver for under £50? This project was inspired by a desire to make full use of a 25-year-old Pioneer stereo system that sounds as good as the day we bought it. We hoped the receiver would make good use of this stereo’s stunning sound, but even we couldn’t have foreseen just how spectacular the results would be. The components used in this project will cost you about £50, and some soldering is involved. The good news is that it’ll give you a full-blown music receiver that can do much more than simply act as an AirPlay receiver, though that’s the sole focus of this tutorial. Your AirPlay receiver will consist of a number of components, and you’re free to
trade up or down as you see fit. We picked the Pi Zero because it costs about a fiver, but you can easily adapt this project to any Raspberry Pi model – doing so may cost more, but you’ll avoid the need to do any soldering and you’ll even have the option of turning your AirPlay receiver into a standalone system – all you need to do is provide speakers – find out more in the Genius Tip on page 64. To follow our project exactly, you’ll need the following items – feel free to shop around for better deals, but these are the items and sellers we used during this project. You’ll need a Pi Zero (£4.20), of course, for which you’ll want to add: the Essential Raspberry Pi Zero Kit (£6), which contains necessary adaptors and a GPIO header; a USB Wi-Fi dongle (£6); and a Pi Zero power adapter (£6), all of which you can get from thepihut.com. You’ll also need the Pi-DAC Zero (£15, iqaudio.co.uk), which offers twin phono outputs to hook up the Pi Zero to your stereo sound system. There’s also a Pi-DAC Zero Headphones add-on (£15), if you want a private experience.
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Make an AirPlay receiver APPLE SKILLS
Here’s our Pi Zero after we soldered the GPIO header onto it. Not bad for our first ever soldering job!
Start by soldering a single pin on each corner of the GPIO header to ensure you’ve got it straight.
You’ll want a case for your Pi Zero; we used a Pibow Zero case (£4) – If that’s still out of stock at The Pi Hut, try shop.pimoroni.com. We hope IQaudIO will, in time, produce a dedicated case to house the Pi Zero and its audio cards. For now, the Pibow Zero case keeps your Pi Zero snug while allowing the IQaudIO card to sit on top of it. Finally, you’ll need a Class 10 MicroSD card. It only needs to be 1GB in size, although if you plan to store music on the Pi Zero itself, you’ll want it to be a much larger capacity – 16GB at minimum. Shop around to limit your cost to £5. Also visit the Audio & Video section of lindy.co.uk if you need a phono cable (about £3) to connect to your hi-fi. The cost of these parts, excluding postage and the optional headphones add-on, comes to about £49.
If you aren’t keen on using the trailing USB converter cable, buy the USB to microUSB OTG Converter Shim (£2, shop.pimoroni.com).
holes at the back of the board, with the shortest pins facing down. If you turn the Pi Zero over, you should see the pins protrude just above the board, which is where you’ll solder them into place. Use a suitable object – such as the female GPIO header – to prop up the circuit board while you apply the solder. If you’ve never done anything like this before, there’s a video of someone soldering a GPIO header onto a Pi Zero at bit.ly/pizerosolder, which we strongly recommend you watch. Place the soldering iron in the stand, dampen the little cloth on the stand, then switch on the iron and wait for it to heat up. While waiting, dip the end of the solder wire into the flux to help prevent it sticking. When the iron is hot enough, dip its tip into the flux.
Jargon Buster A DAC is a digital-toanalogue converter, and is the technology used to convert digital music such as AAC files into an analogue audio signal.
Physical construction The biggest task you’ll face with the Pi Zero is having to solder on a GPIO header, which is required to connect the DAC. If this is your first project of this kind, check your local hardware store for a soldering iron, a stand, suitable solder and a tub of flux. Alternatively, you can get all this from toolstation.com for £15 including delivery, for example. Make sure the Pi Zero is the right way up and insert the male header into the correct
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Genius Tip!
You can add a headphone jack to your new AirPlay receiver for just £15 – it’s a plug-and-play enhancement.
Pi MusicBox can receive audio from other sources too, including Spotify, online radio stations, and DLNA- and UPnPcompliant devices.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 63
APPLE SKILLS Project
EXPLAINED… What you’ll need 1
2
3
4
Pi Zero
Pi Zero accessories
PI-DAC Zero
Wi-Fi adaptor
The project will also work with other Raspberry Pi models, but the cost will be greater; Pi Zero is about £5.
You’ll need a GPIO male header, as well as a power adaptor, a MicroSD card and a Micro-USB converter cable.
This low-cost DAC plugs in to the top of the Pi Zero and delivers music to your stereo via a suitable audio cable.
The Pi Zero lacks a built-in Ethernet port, so this Wi-Fi adaptor is an essential part of the setup.
2 1
2 3
4 2
Jargon Buster A GPIO header is a series of 40 pins that are soldered onto the Pi Zero to allow it to accept plug-in cards to expand its functionality.
Now place the tip against one of the corner pins. Introduce the solder to it and wait for a bit to melt off and fix the pin in place. Repeat for the pin in the opposite corner. At this point, switch off the iron and wait a few seconds for the Pi Zero to cool down. Pick it up and turn it over to verify the solder has taken and the pins remain straight. Flip the Pi Zero over again, and solder the other 38 pins. As you gain confidence, you’ll find you can quickly move from one pin to the next. Remember to clean the soldering iron tip on the damp pad every now and then, and keep adding flux to prevent sticking.
Final steps
Genius Tip! If you’d like your Pi Zero to serve double duty as a video player try the OSMC (free, osmc.tv) media centre instead of Pi MusicBox.
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One of the frustrating things about the Pibow case we’ve used is that it seals off the MicroSD card slot, so the storage card needs to be inserted before you can put it in the case. Follow the first three steps of the walkthrough (see page 65) to prepare your MicroSD card with Pi MusicBox, the software we’re using here. At the time of writing, the latest version (0.6) is incompatible with the Pi Zero, but we found a specially modified build that works perfectly, which is the version you’ll download in step one – or you can visit Pi MusicBox’s site, pimusicbox.com, to see if a newer official version that works with the Pi Zero is ready.
Once your MicroSD card is ready, insert it into the Pi Zero, attach the Wi-Fi adaptor and switch on the Pi Zero. You’ll notice you don’t need a keyboard or monitor – Pi MusicBox is designed to work headless, allowing you to access and administer it remotely using any web browser. Direct your Mac’s web browser to musicbox.local to do that. After verifying that everything’s working correctly, click System and choose Shutdown to power off the Pi Zero. Disconnect all cables, leave the MicroSD card in place, and then assemble the Pibow case. Once that’s done, plug the Pi-DAC Zero into the Pi Zero’s GPIO header. It should fit snugly and securely. You can now power the Pi Zero back on and follow the final two walkthrough steps to finish basic configuration. Connect the Pi-DAC Zero to your stereo, set the correct input, then test the connection using your Mac, iPhone or iPad. When selecting an AirPlay device, you should see MusicBox is listed as an available target on your network. Select it and enjoy your music full blast through your stereo. Now you’ve built your first AirPlay receiver, why not put the savings you’ve made to good use and build another to place elsewhere in your home, or check out the Genius Tip to the left for a way to expand the capabilities of your new system. Nick Peers
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Make an AirPlay receiver APPLE SKILLS
HOW TO Set up Pi MusicBox Best Buys!
1 Create bootable image
Download the archive containing a Pi Zerocompatible version of Pi MusicBox from bit.ly/ pimusiczero and extract the IMG file from it. Next, get Pi Filler from ivanx.com/raspberrypi. Open this app and point it at the image you just extracted to create a bootable MicroSD card.
2 Locate configuration file
Once your bootable MicroSD card is ready, eject and then reinsert the card. Open the card in Finder, go to the config folder on it. Hold ≈ and click the file named settings.ini, then choose Open With > Other. Select TextEdit and click Open to edit the file in plain text mode.
Looking to build a full-blown AirPlay stereo system? You’ll need a Raspberry Pi Model B+ (about £19) and the following add-ons from iqaudio.co.uk – once constructed, all you’ll need is a set of speakers to connect to it!
Pi-DigiAMP+ This combines a DAC with an amp capable of driving two 35-watt speakers, and carries a £55 price tag.
3 Add Wi-Fi details
Locate the [network] section and add your wireless network’s SSID to the line that begins ‘wifi_network = ’. Type the password required to access the network to the right of the line that begins with ‘wifi_password = ’. Save the file, eject the card and you’re good to go.
5 Change audio output
In Pi MusicBox’s administration page, choose Settings, then expand Audio, click the HDMI pop-up menu and choose ‘IQ Audio DAC’. Flick the ‘Downsample USB’ switch to the Off position. Expand the MusicBox section and flick ‘AirPlay Streaming’ to the On position.
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4 Boot and access
Insert the card into your Pi Zero and switch on the computer. A flashing green light should indicate it’s booting correctly. Wait a few minutes, then open Safari on your Mac and enter musicbox.local in its Smart Search field. You should see a page like the one above.
6 Test connection
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click ‘Update settings (reboot)’. Wait while your Pi Zero reboots, then connect the Pi-DAC Zero to your stereo system’s auxiliary input and try to stream using AirPlay from your Mac or iOS device to Pi MusicBox.
Pi-CASE+ This £16 case has been specially designed to house your Pi B+ and Pi-DigiAMP+ safe and snug in a single unit.
15V Power Brick Your stereo speakers will require some extra oomph. This 15V power brick (£25) will do the job nicely.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 65
The home of technology techradar.com
What’s inside 67 MAC SOFTWARE Fix the Mac App Store when it won’t receive software updates
EDITED BY
NEW SECTION!
HOWARD OAKLEY
68–69 PERIPHERALS Enlightening answers to your questions about external devices
70–71 MAC OS X Sage advice to help you overcome the worst Mac maladies
72 iOS SOFTWARE Swipe away your touchscreen troubles and love iOS once again
El Capitan has left the Mac App Store stuck and unable to install updates Since my iMac was upgraded to El Capitan, it has had problems with the Mac App Store. That app’s Dock icon appears stuck with one update, but when I open the app I cannot see the Update page at all. As a result I am still running OS X 10.11.0, and have been unable to update that either. How can I fix this?
Q
by D A V I D W I G L E Y
First ensure your internet connection is sound and fully functional. Then go to the App Store pane in System Preferences and check that you’re correctly signed in with your Apple ID. Updates depend on records stored in /Library/ Receipts, in the file named InstallHistory.plist. Browse there in Finder (you’ll find it easiest in Column view) and select that file to preview it. If the file or its folder are missing, that may explain your problems. If that file is present but (almost) empty, it strongly suggests your upgrade didn’t complete correctly, leaving you with a severely dysfunctional installation.
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Our resident expert solves your Mac and iOS problems
Make careful and reliable backups of all your work and important files as a sensible precaution, then install El Capitan again: restart in the Recovery System by holding ç+r when you hear the Mac’s startup sound. When the system finishes loading, choose the option to install El Capitan and proceed to reinstall it over the top of your existing installation, without wiping the drive. On completion you should have no shortage of updates ready and waiting. If a system update messes up your Mac, try running the OS X installer from within OS X Recovery to fix it.
GENIUS TIPS Peripherals
Peripherals Untangle your FireWire cables from your Thunderbolt with our help for external devices Peripherals quick-fire questions Which display with FaceTime support works with an early 2009 Mac Pro? > The only display with full audio and video – is Apple's Thunderbolt Display, which requires that your Mac has a Thunderbolt port. To get these features on your older Mac Pro, you’d either have to replace your Mac, or buy a separate display, a USB camera, an external mic and a speaker kit.
Would a 43-inch 4K LG display work with my Mac Pro? > The late 2013 Mac Pro supports up to two 4K displays over HDMI (one of which you’d connect using a Mini DisplayPort adaptor). LG’s 43-inch 4K Smart TV seems an excellent choice. Ensure you see it in use, and are happy with its picture quality, before buying one.
You need a High Speed HDMI cable to run a 4K HDMI display.
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Why won’t my NAS work properly with Time Machine? I've been having problems with Time Machine making backups to my Seagate Central NAS drive, although it is less than a third full. My Macs run OS X 10.9.5 and 10.11.2, and the same NAS provides other services too. Every few weeks the Macs, independent of one another, start making a fresh backup again, so I only ever have backups going back a week or two. What is wrong with the NAS?
Q
by D A V I D P E R R Y
he only network-attached storage systems Apple guarantees to work with Time Machine are its own Time Capsules and AirPort Extreme base station; the latest model of the latter is the first on which this is officially supported. Originally Time Machine didn’t work with any third-party NAS, but it has become more accommodating and vendors have learned how to cater for its foibles; try to run only the latest OS X release for maximum compatibility. Apple still doesn‘t endorse other products as supported, though.
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Time Capsule and the latest AirPort Extreme are the only methods Apple supports for backing up over a network.
Others have reported problems in getting your particular model of NAS to work well with Time Machine, and many claim that it can be quite slow. Before doing anything else, ensure the drive’s software is up to date. Next, turn off all other services provided by the NAS. If that restores normal backup function, you can try turning those services back on, one by one, until Time Machine runs into trouble; that tells you which is breaking its backups. You should also report this to the vendor's support desk, as it is probably a bug in the NAS software, and that will enable the company to get it Even if your NAS claims to work with Time Machine, only its manufacturer fixed, perhaps providing you with will be able to offer proper support for fixing any issues you encounter. a complete solution sooner. macformat.com @macformat
Peripherals GENIUS TIPS
Clutter on your desk can interfere with Bluetooth signals, but glitches with it dropping out are more likely to come from OS X.
Bluetooth disconnects at random I have a Magic Trackpad, a Magic Mouse, and an Apple Wireless Keyboard for my maxed-out Retina 5K iMac (late 2014). Each of these randomly disconnects, and then randomly reconnects. I have tried everything, including fresh batteries, resetting the SMC and NVRAM, and more. Is this a problem with my iMac?
Q
by P E T E P A G A N
It might be, but it’s more likely to be an issue caused by running a version of El Capitan prior to OS X 10.11.2. Older versions can experience a variety of problems like this with Bluetooth connection reliability, which may manifest themselves as apparently random dropouts. If you haven’t already done so, bring OS X up to date by going to the Mac App Store’s
A
Updates tab. Your problems should then vanish completely. If they don’t, look next at the position of these devices relative to your iMac. Odd things, like piles of paper and metal, can interrupt Bluetooth's low-power radio connections. Trying out different positions of the input devices could help. If the problems persist, suspect that your Mac has a hardware fault: get it checked at a Genius Bar, or by a qualified Apple technician.
Early versions of El Capitan can exhibit a variety of Bluetooth connection problems
Trouble starting up from an external drive I bought an external Thunderbolt SSD for my 27-inch iMac (Mid 2011), with the intention of starting up from it. I cloned the internal hard drive to the SSD using Carbon Copy Cloner, and then restarted from the SSD. Now when I try to empty the Trash, the process hangs, and copying apps to the SSD also fails to complete. How can I fix these problems?
Q
by M I K E O ' B R I E N
Check using Disk Utility that neither of the drives has been converted to a Core Storage Logical Volume Group (LVG): select the drive rather than a volume on
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When adding an SSD as an external startup disk, use Migration Assistant to safely transfer things to it.
I want to keep the hard drive in my 2014 mini. Could I speed it up with an external SSD? > Any Mac with a hard drive should get faster if you start up from a USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt SSD. The snag is that you mustn’t disconnect that drive, or your Mac will grind to a halt.
How can I use my Magic Trackpad 2 more like a graphics tablet to draw and paint? > Trackpads use relative position, but tablets use absolute position, making art much easier. The inklet 2 app (about £17, tenonedesign.com) supports absolute position and pressure sensitivity, as well as palm rejection so that unintended contact doesn’t interfere with what you’re drawing.
it, and the summary on the right will tell you. If either is an LVG, that may be the cause, as cloning tools cannot yet cope with them. Although Carbon Copy Cloner is the benchmark disk cloning app, El Capitan has made this type of manoeuvre increasingly difficult, and sometimes it proves impossible to make a perfect copy of a startup disk that functions correctly. In your case, it’s most likely that your SSD has ended up cross-linked with your hard drive, or even with broken links. Tracing such problems is slow and tedious. You’re better off initialising your SSD, installing a fresh copy of El Capitan on it, then moving apps and documents from your hard disk to the SSD by using Migration Assistant. At least it should then work properly.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 69
GENIUS TIPS OS X
Mac OS X Shine a spotlight on sagacious solutions to your most maddening Mac maladies Software quick-fire questions
How can I tell whether my Mac has the right codec installed to play a video format? > Codecs are mostly stored in the QuickTime folders within /Library, /System/Library and the Library folder hidden in your user account’s folder, but files there don’t reveal which formats they handle. Open OS X’s System Information app, click System Report, then select Components under Software on the left; video codecs are types imco and imdc.
My Nokia’s old AVI clips freeze iMovie I have been using iMovie on my Retina 5K iMac (Late 2015). Among the clips I’ve incoporated into my first project are some from an old Nokia phone, with the extension AVI. When I try to close the project or quit iMovie, the app hangs, and I have to force it to quit. My logs complain of problems with AVF errors and the ProTranscoderTool. Is this a bug?
Q
by C L I F F B U C K L A N D
Although this should not happen, it is most probably an issue with those old AVI clips. Unfortunately AVI is a loose ragbag of different formats, some of which are ancient and were only ever buggy at best. iMovie and other media apps rely on software components called codecs, which act as the encoder and decoder for imported clips.
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Those log errors suggest that the codec that iMovie is trying to use to access some of your video content is breaking when it tries to tackle those AVIs. Create a new iMovie project, import your other, more recent clips, and assemble them in the new project’s timeline – there’s no need to edit them properly as this project is just for testing purposes. If this project functions and plays fine, you know that the old AVI files are to blame for the issues with the other one. Some apps from the Mac App Store and elsewhere claim to be able to convert movies from old formats to QuickTime, which will work with iMovie. If the clips from your Nokia phone are important, consider running them through one of these apps and importing the results into iMovie. But, you may just have to accept that their format is too old to use any more.
Where can I get a codec that will play a particular video? > Apple lists sources of a few major ones at bit.ly/ qtcodecs. Sites such as bit.ly/codecguide offer downloadable packs; enter 'quicktime codec' and the name of your video’s format in that site’s search bar.
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Apps such as Movavi AVI Converter (movavi.com) can convert old AVI clips to QuickTime format.
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OS X GENIUS TIPS
Safari is stuck on Bing. Could the Feelbegin extension be the cause of this?
Folder Sync hasn't been updated for a while, but still works well with its rich range of synchronisation options.
DropSync 3 costs a little more, but appears to be better maintained, and is also highly capable at syncing folders.
How can I keep these folders in sync? I need to keep three folders in sync with one another: one is in iCloud, another is on Dropbox, and the third is a local folder. Is there a simple way to do this automatically, saving me copying files to each of the three locations by hand?
Q
by S A R A H W A T S O N
Keeping folders in sync is a complex task due to the choices that have to be made when handling different versions of the same file. Folder Sync (£6.99, Mac App Store) does this job well on demand. Other excellent apps include DropSync 3 (£11.99, Mac App Store). If you fancy writing some AppleScript, it isn’t too difficult to create a Folder Action to
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attach to a local folder, so that every time you add a file or folder to that location, OS X automatically copies it to the other places. You may find a blog entry I posted earlier this year helpful, particularly if you want to use command line tools. You‘ll find that post at bit.ly/oakley260107. It also discusses some other syncing and backup apps, and scenarios to which they are best suited.
You can use AppleScript to create a Folder Action that automatically copies files to another location
> Yes. Remove that, as it messes with search engine settings and, on Windows at least, has been associated with sporadic infections by malware. Your Mac will be happier if you keep it well away.
When searching in Google, I just get lots of commercial sites. How can I exclude them? > You cannot exclude them, but reduce their occurrence by using extra search words to narrow the range of hits. Try terms which you want in the result, but which don't appear in online stores and ads.
HOW TO Stop Mail sending inline images
1 Plain text as a one-off
When writing a message to Windows users, who often complain they cannot cope with inline images in emails, choose Format > Make Plain Text. This affects only this individual message. Images you add to it then appear as attachments.
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2 Default to plain text
If you want all messages to default to plain text, open Mail’s preferences, click the Composing tab, and set Message Format to Plain Text. If you ever want to show images inline in a specific message, choose Format > Make Rich Text.
3 Send a Zip archive
Alternatively, compress images in a Zip archive and attach that to a message instead; archive contents aren’t shown inline. Simply select the images in Finder, hold ≈ and click one of the selection, then choose ‘Compress <number> Items’.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 71
GENIUS TIPS iOS Software
iOS Software Swipe away your touchscreen troubles and rekindle your love of Apple’s mobile devices iOS software quick-fire questions Does Office 365’s Outlook for iOS support message categories, like the Mac version does? > Currently, Outlook for iOS provides no way to view or sort messages by category. However, you can filter messages by entering something like 'Category:personal' in its search box to see only messages in that category, but it’s a kludgy workaround.
I am going sea fishing soon. Which is the best set of tide tables for my iPhone? >The better commercial products like AnyTide require annual licences or tables, which can get expensive. Tides UK runs in perpetuity, but it’s UK only. AyeTides covers the world and also has no time limit.
Why won’t Mail on iOS stick with the server types I provide to it? Each time I try to add an account to a new iPad mini, specifying BT’s POP and SMTP mail servers, I end up with an IMAP account instead. How can I get it to configure correctly?
Q
by R U S S E L L C A P L A N
Unless your mail service provider is very quirky, the best way to set up a new account is to allow iOS to automatically configure it. Ensure that iOS is fully up to date, as there have been problems with accounts in earlier versions of iOS 9. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, then tap Add Account. Unless you’re adding an account from one of the major providers listed there, tap Other, then tap Add Mail Account. Enter your account details in the boxes, taking extra care to ensure the email address,
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Don’t be surprised to find your mail service provider’s site contains out-of-date settings such as myaccount@btinternet.com, and the password are correct. When you are confident that they are, tap Next to have iOS check the connection and set up the account for you. Switch to the Mail app. You should see the newly created account listed there, but when you first open it, it will only have an Inbox to begin with. Open the inbox, then tap on the
72 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
Let iOS 9.2.1 set up a mail account automatically, because it’s very likely to get the connection settings right.
icon that creates a new message, provide a recipient’s address, a subject and a body, and then tap Send. If that does not work, you will need to check the recommended manual settings in your mail service provider's support pages, and go back into the account in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars to tweak them. However, automatic configuration is more likely to get the correct settings, and you may find your provider’s pages are lamentably out of date.
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E R T T O A N M M RE E O G NT3.C O C TT A GET FIT FAST IN 2016 WITH THE VERY BEST TECH FOR RUNNING, CYCLING AND MORE…
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74 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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NEW SECTION!
What’s inside
Inspiring ideas for revamping old Apple kit
76–77 MAINTAINING AN iMAC G4 It still looks great, and it can run surprisingly modern software
78 FORCE LEOPARD ONTO A SLOW POWERPC MAC It’s a workaround, but you can get OS X 10.5 to run on PowerPC Macs
EDITED BY
LUIS VILLAZON
The iMac G4 is a design masterpiece, but can this old beauty be made useful again without adding any new hardware? his month I’ve bagged myself an iMac G4. Technically, it belongs to MacFormat’s IT department, but it wasn’t being used for anything… shh, it’s fine. They probably won’t even notice it’s gone. The ‘anglepoise’ iMac, as I’ve said many times, is probably the prettiest Mac ever made. Unfortunately, although the design is timeless, the hardware inside is 14 years old. My phone has about twice as much computing power. I don’t want to play games on this Mac, but I’d like to rehabilitate it for light office duties. If I can check my email, browse the web and write this column on it, I’ll be happy. That’s still
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quite a tall order though, as I intend a purely software makeover. The goal is to find the most up-to-date apps that’ll run on a computer built the year Star Wars: Episode II was released, and the first target on my hit list is the upgrade from System 9 to OS X.
LUIS’S APPLE CLASSIC! The Power Mac G4 Cube is literally a museum piece. While the 500MHz G4 processor is 15 years old, the unique ‘floating’ design of the acrylic case that housed it has earned the Cube a place in the New York Museum of Modern Art. The Cube was one of the worst-selling Mac models when it was current but as soon as it was obsolete, it became desirable. If you can find one, a working Cube will still cost you around £250 on eBay today, despite being too small for a fish tank.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 75
LOVE YOUR MAC iMac G4
Hardware quick-fire questions Can I fix a blank iMac G4 screen? > If the iMac makes the usual startup sound (which indicates general good health) but the screen looks blank or very faint, you may have a fault with the LCD backlight. This could be a hardware fault with the inverter board, but it can also sometimes be due to a glitch in the Power Management Unit. You can reset the PMU by unplugging all the cables from the iMac, removing the bottom cover and then pressing the reset button behind the plastic cover, next to the AirPort card socket. Be careful to only press it once though, or you can crash the PMU.
Updating the iMac
Give your old G4 a second chance with some simple hardware upgrades 1
1024x768-pixel screen The resolution is low by today’s Retina display standards, but those are overkill for most home office applications anyway. 2
700MHz CPU The biggest restriction is the PowerPC G4 processor. This is actually the slowest processor in the iMac G4 range.
2
3
128MB memory Again, this is the entry-level specification. The RAM could be expanded to 1GB, which would improve performance in OS X.
3
How do I tighten a loose neck?
4
40GB hard disk
Images: www.ifixit.com
> G4 iMacs often end up with wobbly screens, especially if they are routinely picked up by the neck. You’ll need to remove the bottom plate and dismantle all the internal components in order to reach the neck screws from the iMac’s underside.
1
4
This is tiny, but it simplifies backups and I could easily double the available storage with an inexpensive USB memory stick. 5
Ethernet port There’s no built-in WiFi either. Adding a WiFi Ethernet bridge is probably easier than hunting down a compatible AirPort card. 6
Three USB 1.1 ports 5
76 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
6
This model doesn’t have Bluetooth, so I need to use a wired keyboard and mouse to control it.
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Resurrect a PowerPC LOVE YOUR MAC
OS X 10.5 Leopard’s minimum processor requirement can be overruled on low-specification models of iMac G4 handy app, which is free.
utting El Capitan on this iMac is, unfortunately, a non-starter. Quite apart from the minimum memory and hard disk requirements, recent versions of OS X will only run on Intel processors. We need to go all the way back to OS X 10.5 Leopard, to find an operating system that will run on the older PowerPC family of chips, which includes the G4 processor in this iMac. Leopard can’t access the Mac App Store, but there’s still plenty of software available for download elsewhere. Installing Leopard isn’t straightforward, though. Apple requires at least an 867MHz processor, whereas my iMac is the entry-level one with a 700MHz CPU. The Leopard installer actually checks the clock speed and refuses to proceed if your Mac doesn’t clear the bar. To get around this I could use my Mac mini to install Leopard on an external disk and then clone this across to the iMac G4. This is quite complicated, because I’d need to install it on an external disk formatted as a GUID partition for the Intel-based mini to start up from it, and then clone this across to a partition formatted with Apple Partition Map on another disk, which the PowerPC G4 would recognise. Then I’d need to clone it a second time to transfer it from there to the internal drive on the G4.
P
TenFourFox is an open-source version of the Firefox web browser that’s intended to bring modern features of the web to PowerPC Macs.
only runs on OS X. So the upgrade sequence is: install OS X 10.4 Tiger on the iMac, install LeopardAssist, and then install Leopard. Once I have an operating system that is only seven years old, instead of 14, I can start adding applications. The default Mail app still works perfectly well, but the web browser is hopelessly behind the curve. The last version of Safari that runs on PowerPC processors is 5.0.6, which has only limited HTML5 support, so lots of modern sites will behave strangely, and Google’s Chrome browser
Apple introduced people to the iMac G4’s stunning design with classy adverts like this.
Upgrading early models of iMac G4 to Leopard can be challenging, but it is possible.
Faking the megahertz Instead, I opt for an even sneakier cheat. LeopardAssist is a free utility available from leopardassist.sourceforge.net that temporarily inserts a hack in the NVRAM of the G4 so that it will claim to have a faster processor than it actually does. This is enough to fool the Leopard installer, and after that it resets the advertised speed back again. The only problem is that LeopardAssist itself
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Nothing useful’s been added to Word since the wiggly red lines first appeared under all of my typos APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 77
LOVE YOUR MAC iMac G4
HOW TO Get around the 867MHz CPU requirement
1 A longer way round
If you don’t want to risk hacking your iMac’s NVRAM, you can install Leopard using another Mac the installer runs on. If you can’t connect the iMac G4 in target disk mode, get the same result by using two external drives. In Disk Utility, erase the first in OS X Extended (Journaled) format and a GUID partition map scheme.
2 External install
Run the Leopard installer and select the blank disk prepped in step one as the destination. To avoid having to physically transplant the iMac’s internal hard disk, you’ll need another external hard disk with a FireWire port, because PowerPC Macs can’t boot from USB drives. Format it with the Apple Partition Map scheme.
doesn’t have a PowerPC version at all! Firefox works up to version 3.6, which is still five years old. Thankfully there’s an open-source project to build a modern PowerPC version of FireFox, called TenFourFox, which is available for free at bit.ly/mftenfour.
Vintage software Always hold on to old software installation DVDs. Who knows if you’ll need them again someday.
Next Issue! Luis takes a firstgeneration iPad, some perspex and a suction cup and builds something to satisfy his 80s retroarcade nostalgia.
78 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
For actually getting work done, I have gone back to my old copy of Office 2004 I picked up for free at an expo, back when the world was young and dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Is it unsupported? Absolutely! But it still works, and I’m unaware of any definitively useful feature that has been added to Microsoft Word since the wiggly red lines first appeared under all my typos. A great attribute of the iMac G4 is how easily you can push it aside. Its neck screws may need tightening, though.
3 Cloned Leopards
Clone the Leopard installation from the GUID disk to the APM disk using a third-party utility such as SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Connect the APM disk to the iMac and clone it to the iMac’s own hard drive. If you need to convert from a FireWire 800 socket to FireWire 400, adaptors are about £5 on Amazon.
If I feel the need to upgrade, Office 2008 will run on a PowerPC Mac and you can get copies of it for around £30 on eBay. Alternatively, there’s iWork ’09, which is routinely available for under £20 on eBay. It’s missing the iCloud integration of the latest version, but it’s otherwise essentially the same app. At this point, my revitalised iMac is capable enough to be useful as a standalone machine. If I wanted a distraction-free Mac for writing a novel, tucked away in a study, it would do just fine. For me, though, the real draw is using it as extra screen real estate. I have it sitting on my desk next to the 30-inch Thunderbolt display and the anglepoise screen is perfect for flipping out of the way if I need extra desk space. I can leave Safari open at a Wikipedia page, or play a long video without interfering with the important stuff on my main screen. Eventually, I might gut the internals and connect an HDMI-in socket so that I can literally use it as a second monitor, but that’s another job for another day. Until then, this refurbishment gives me a lot of the same functionality without needing to crack open the lovely case, or solder anything.
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 79
40ways
APPLE changed the
world
As Apple turns 40, Alex Summersby celebrates the impact of the DVWRQLVKLQJO\ LQĂ XHQWLDO FRPSDQ\ 80 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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Apple I Though it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the first microcomputer, the Apple I (1976) was a milestone on the road to personal computing. Almost all its predecessors came in kit form, cost thousands of dollars, or both, but the Apple I was an
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elegant, ready-assembled motherboard for $666.66. Plus, you could attach not just switches and lights for input and output but a keyboard and monitor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Steve â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wozâ&#x20AC;? Wozniak eventually secured three patents for display controller technologies.
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Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story began here, with a largely prebuilt yet expandable computer.
Apple II
Applications
The first ready-to-use, affordable personal computer for consumers, not just hobbyists, 1977â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Apple II came out of the box with circuit board, switching power supply, sound card, integrated speaker, colour output, and also expansion slots. Over 16 years it sold millions. Along with the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, which shipped later that year, it kickstarted the personal computing revolution.
Early hobbyist computers had to be programmed, and early business systems ran only preloaded programs, but the Apple II came with prebuilt software including Checkbook, Breakout and a Star Trek game, and the key thing was that you could add more. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world of â&#x20AC;&#x153;thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an app for thatâ&#x20AC;? grows directly from this model of adding new functions by adding distinct, preprogrammed packages.
Colour graphics were one of the Apple IIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most signiďŹ cant features.
In the late 1970s, Apple led the way with the ďŹ rst app revolution.
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 81
40 YEARS OF APPLE
The spreadsheet
The graphical interface
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VisiCalc (1979) for the Apple II was the first â&#x20AC;&#x153;killer appâ&#x20AC;? (meaning software worth buying hardware for), and the first software with no direct real-world equivalent, marketed as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a magic sheet of paper that can perform calculations and recalculationsâ&#x20AC;?. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t an Apple invention, but the platform made it possible; in turn it made the Apple II a hit and turned the personal computer into a business essential.
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Mac fonts
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82 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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The Mac was not the first computer to display text graphically, but it had proportional fonts. (They were designed by the brilliant Susan Kare, who also created the Macâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enormously influential icons.) Coupled with a 72dpi display with square pixels â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which later also enabled unprecedented support for non-Latin alphabets â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Macâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s font technology took text handling to a new level and, though the Mac was at first derided by some as â&#x20AC;&#x153;just a toyâ&#x20AC;?, it made WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get, pronounced â&#x20AC;&#x153;wiz-eewigâ&#x20AC;?) page layout Just think how this widely available for would look with the first time, leading ďŹ xed-width fonts. in turn to DTP.
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40 YEARS OF APPLE
Recoverable trash
Connectivity
When Apple sued Microsoft in 1988 for copying its GUI, Apple lost on all counts but one: the courts ruled that the Trash name and icon were protected by copyright. Ironically enough, Apple probably wasn’t first with either. The Mac did, however, establish one of the essentials of the Trash (or Recycle Bin) as we know it: the capability to undo deletion of files and folders. Until the Mac, deleting was final; ever since, we expect to be able to undelete – and since System 7 in 1991, to recover deleted items from the Trash even after a restart.
Apple didn’t invent the concept of connecting peripherals to computers, but it did pioneer and popularise many of the technologies that made this possible. For the Apple II in 1978, Woz designed the first-ever external
11
Desktop publishing Laser printing was invented by Xerox, but Apple’s LaserWriter (1985) included two groundbreaking features: easy AppleTalk networking, which meant one printer could be shared among a dozen or more Macs, and Adobe’s PostScript markup language. Along with Boston Software’s MacPublisher (1984) and Aldus PageMaker (1985), this created a ‘perfect storm’ that transformed publishing and graphic design forever.
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floppy disk controller (it’s one of his four patents). The original Mac wasn’t easily expandable, but in 1986 the Macintosh Plus featured the then-revolutionary SCSI parallel interface, which enabled you to attach up to an astonishing seven peripherals by daisy-chaining them.
The 3.5-inch floppy In 1984, the Mac came with a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. Sony invented the format, and HP had shipped an external drive with its HP 9121, but this was the first computer with the drive built-in. The format evolved from single-sided to double, and there were competing, incompatible data formats, but Apple was instrumental in establishing the 3.5-inch floppy disk standard.
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Death of the floppy In blazing the trail, Apple has been accused of forcing the pace. When it released 1998’s iMac, the first “legacy-free personal computer”, without a floppy disk drive, it sent shockwaves through an industry always anxious about backwards compatibility. But the iMac was a huge hit, and it rewrote the rules. As it did with the floppy, Apple has dropped optical drives from all but one Mac model, the spec of which dates from 2012.
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CD-ROM In the 1990s, Apple was the first manufacturer to include a CD-ROM drive in every computer it made. Did it simply foresee the trend? It was certainly in the vanguard. 1993’s immersive graphic adventure game Myst, developed on the Mac using a combination of HyperCard and QuickTime (see page 84), was regarded as something of a ‘killer app’, driving the adoption of CD-ROM. Surprisingly, Myst became the best-selling computer game of all time until 2002.
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DTP was amazing in the mid-1980s, even at low screen resolutions.
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Myst’s remakes include realMyst, in which the graphics are rendered in 3D in real time.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 83
40 YEARS OF APPLE
USB Apple didn’t invent USB (Intel did) and wasn’t the first to use it (USB expansion cards were available for PCs), but when it built USB into the first iMac it kickstarted demand for USB devices and helped establish USB as a standard. It did something similar for FireWire too, called i.Link on Sony devices: for some time, FireWire became the standard for digital video transfer, and the combination of this with consumer software like iMovie and Adobe Premiere, brought computerbased video editing to the masses, although FireWire has now largely been supplanted by newer versions of USB.
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A backlit keyboard makes a difference, so much that we lamented its absence on 2010’s 11-inch MacBook Air.
Backlit laptop keyboards In 2003, Apple’s 17-inch PowerBook G4 featured the world’s first fibre-optic backlit keyboard. This portable Mac also featured ambient light sensors that regulated the brightness of the display and of
19
USB-A has been on Macs for 18 years.
Flash as a standard
Wi-Fi AirPort and built-in wireless connectivity democratised Wi-Fi. Apple didn’t invent Wi-Fi, but it worked with Lucent to bring the nascent IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence WLAN technology to market in the innovative AirPort Base Station. Prior to this, wireless networking had been too expensive for the home; now it was just $299, and it took off – literally: with typical showmanship, Phil Schiller demonstrated Wi-Fi at Macworld Expo New York in 1999 by jumping from a platform while clutching an iBook.
84 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
Apple’s first ultralight notebook, 2008’s MacBook Air, incorporated many technologies associated with previous MacBooks (or PowerBooks before them). Its 2010 revision was the first mass-market computer to have a solid-state disk drive as standard instead of a cheaper but slower hard disk. As well as helping popularise the ultralight category, “it made solid-state storage make sense”, Time Magazine said.
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Apple even made routers look nice!
the keyboard backlighting. Apple said, “This truly integrated display and lighting solution is an industry first, and will be warmly greeted by professionals who spend long hours in front of computer screens in low light conditions”.
QuickTime was a popular format for videos included on CD singles.
QuickTime video QuickTime was the first video playback system on a personal computer, and it “kickstarted digital video”, Time Magazine said. The tech was “groundbreaking when it debuted in 1991. Its descendants are in every Mac, iPhone and iPad, and the standards it shaped led to the era of YouTube and Netflix”.
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Though the Air’s appeal is fading, flash made it great for a few years.
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40 YEARS OF APPLE
Hyperlinked stacks
Digital photography
HyperCard, introduced in 1987 and distributed free with Macs until 1992, was a unique application for creating stacks of on-screen ‘cards’, which could contain text, images, media and hyperlinks or other interactive objects, complemented by a simple-to-use scripting language called HyperTalk. It was used to create innumerable interactive databases, presentations, books, and games, but its most enduring legacy may be its acknowledged influence on modern hyperlinkbased systems such as the web.
In 1994, Apple released the first ‘consumer’ (under $1,000) digital camera, the QuickTake 100. It was made by Kodak, but Kodak didn’t want to risk bringing it to market. Its specs were modest – it could store only eight full-screen, 640x480-pixel images, or 32 at 320x240, in its internal flash memory – but was easy to connect to a Mac using a serial cable, and it paved the way for modern digital photography. In 2010, Time Magazine included it among its 100 most influential gadgets since 1923 (the year Time was founded).
Photo editing
A slight diversion
Although dedicated digital retouching systems existed before Photoshop came along, they were hugely expensive even to rent time on. Thomas and John Knoll leveraged the Mac’s unequalled graphics capabilities to create a powerful yet accessible image editor, used for film effects at Industrial Light and Magic, and released by Adobe in 1990. It was Mac-only until 1992, when Windows’ graphics handling caught up. Early versions lacked layers and editable text, but it was an instant hit.
At its debut, Maps changed the world in unwelcome ways: familiar landmarks warped into surreal shapes, half of Cambridge vanished, and various tourist attractions moved. Yes, even Apple gets things wrong. Actually, Maps does promise better things, such as vector images for smoother zooming, but it has no Street View equivalent. It remains to be seen if Apple can redraw the landscape here!
Photoshop’s real home is on the Mac.
If only you could zoom in closer…
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Coloured plastics The original iMac set a worldwide design trend not just for all-in-one computers but for translucent coloured plastic and curved shapes. This extended way beyond computers and peripherals, to home appliances, games consoles, steam irons and many other consumer products. The fad has waned a little now, but the look has proved to be surprisingly perennial.
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Even 18 years later, colourful iMacs take our breath away.
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 85
40 YEARS OF APPLE
UX-based design Beyond just coloured casings, Apple rewrote the rules of tech product design. As Steve Jobs expressed the design philosophy, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Fortune magazine added: “For Jobs, how a product looked, felt and responded trumped raw technical specifications”. This focus on the user experience led not just to minimalist product design but to a division between those who want spec-led products they can customise and those who want products that ‘just work’.
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The Stevenote Steve Jobs turned product announcements into events. Apple watcher Gary Marshall says: “Steve Jobs’ keynote speeches were legendary, and they’ve been widely imitated – with good reason, because Jobs was an extraordinary and disciplined showman. Whenever you see a CEO deliver a three-act presentation with numbers at the beginning, a simple, positive message, then a big reveal at the end, you’re watching someone who’s watched Jobs”.
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Living without Flash Apple’s iOS devices proved that you don’t need Adobe Flash, which dominated streaming video and online animation for almost 20 years but was widely disliked for its glitchy performance and endless security issues. One commentator called it “the world’s most hated software” and declared: “It’s time for it to die”. Apple led the way, and now Google has ended AdWords advertising dependence on Flash, and Adobe itself has all but killed the Flash brand.
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86 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
The Apple shopping experience The first Apple Stores opened in 2001, yet they weren’t the first single-maker outlet – Gateway tried and struggled – but they transformed expectations of the PC shopping experience. They’re not just commercially significant, but changed the customer’s relationship with the brand, with direct support
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and tuition as well as products. More than third-party dealers and repairers, they represented the cool, high-tech ethos of the brand as a physical presence in the high street. They also see overnight queues for every new product release. (Well, we didn’t say these are all ways Apple has changed things for the better!)
Big event advertising Apple’s strength has always been as much in selling good products as in making them, says The Independent. “And its first spectacular go at doing so was the ‘1984’ Super Bowl commercial. As well as introducing the Apple Macintosh to the world, it also did much of the work to spawn the very idea of high-budget, film-like Super Bowl commercials [which would] become expected across all TV events that draw big audiences”.
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40 YEARS OF APPLE
Easy networking In the past, AppleTalk, LocalTalk and Ethernet (which Time Magazine called “a startlingly advanced feature for a home computer” on the original iMac) all made it possible to network relatively easily with an inexpensive cable, but Apple has kept going further. Network administrators dislike its chatty autodiscovery networking, though it means many devices can connect easily, without requiring expertise. AirDrop is as simple as peer-to-peer networking gets, and Handoff tries to make it possible to do stuff on any Apple platform, anywhere, almost seamlessly.
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The post-PC age The iPhone and the iPad have redefined how we do computing now. As Steve Jobs put it at the time, the iPad’s use of touch created “an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before”. Gary Marshall sums up the difference this makes: “With the iPad, you just do what you want to do. Play piano? The iPad’s a piano. Write a letter? It’s a typewriter. Read a book? It’s a book. Fire exploding birds? It’s a catapult.”
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Touch vocabulary Not only has the iPad changed the landscape of personal computing, others are following the path laid by Apple. Touchscreen devices from every manufacturer use Apple’s gesture vocabulary – tap, swipe, pinch-tozoom and so on. Apple wasn’t first to make a touchscreen device, but it pioneered multi-touch capacitive screens and made the tech work intuitively and reliably for consumers, building on the efforts of acquisition FingerWorks. As with the GUI, Apple defined how we do things, even on non-Apple devices.
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Siri Siri’s imitators don’t yet do what it does. Google’s voice search, for example, generates a regular search query. Siri isn’t just about a single search but interpreting a spoken, natural language interaction and collating responses from multiple sources – having a conversation. Google’s spiders along with human-curated results will likely dominate search for a while yet, but how we get and interact with results can change herein. Siri potentially represents a paradigm shift, a step from understanding how to use tech towards tech that understands us.
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iTunes+iPod The iTunes ecosystem revolutionised the way we buy and consume music, particularly after the iTunes Store’s debut in 2003, and hence changed the music industry, forcing the labels to change their business models. The iPod (2001) wasn’t the first portable music player, but when the iTunes Store and its pioneering micropayments system also enabled you to find and buy tracks, Apple delivered the first end-to-end system incorporating purchase, management and playback of music (and later other media). It hasn’t been perfect, but it changed the multimedia world.
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 87
40 YEARS OF APPLE
iPhone The iPhone didn’t break new ground because it’s a mobile phone – there were plenty of others before it – and it wasn’t even the first touchscreen phone, but it has reshaped the smartphone industry because it defines modern mobile connectivity: it combines a cellular phone with mobile data and connectivity anywhere, and its capabilities are expandable via apps. When Steve Jobs introduced it, he had to explain what it was: “An iPod. A phone. An internet communicator. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone”. It changed the way we go online, the way we shop and the way we consume entertainment, as well as the way we keep in touch.
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Apple Pay Apple Pay is a particularly clever implementation of contactless transactions, with an ingenious security system using fingerprint authentication and ‘tokens’ that mean your card or account details are never shared with the retailer, or stored on your device. Apple is one of the few companies with the clout to entice banks and retailers worldwide to sign up. Barclays, the only major UK bank outstanding, promises it will support Apple Pay by early April.
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The App Store
The app economy
Everyone wants to emulate the App Store’s closed-ecosystem business model. Fortune says: “The so-called ‘ecosystem’ concept may be one of Steve Jobs’ most lasting contributions to global business. The idea is simple: create a closed universe of hardware, software and services that – thanks to tight integration – provide a superior experience for users.”
Apple and its App Store have hugely democratised software development and generated an entire industry around apps. Apple retains an iron grip on the store, vetting all apps, and paradoxically this has created a ‘safe harbour’ where buyers are happy to buy apps regardless of
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88 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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who’s produced them. Apple’s development tools are relatively simple and inexpensive, and today millions of app developers are, collectively, making billions of dollars from apps that are sold for tiny amounts. Apple estimates that the iOS app economy is responsible for creating and supporting 1.9 million jobs in the US, 1.2 million in Europe and 1.4 million in China.
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What’s inside 90–95 MAC HARDWARE A flexible wireless hard drive and other great kit
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EDITED BY
NEW SECTION!
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100–101 MAC SOFTWARE
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+++++
the best we can find from a reputable online dealer, excluding delivery.
Worth considering, though there may be better options
+++++
+++++
A brilliant thing in all regards, and worth every penny
Fundamentally flawed; look at alternatives as a priority
+++++
+++++
Strongly recommended; any flaws are only minor concerns
A waste of your money and everyone’s time; do not buy!
The MACFORMAT Awards Awarded to a five-star product we believe is truly exceptional in its category. Given solely at the discretion of the Editor.
Given to a hardware or software product that might not be the very best in its category, but is a noted for affordability.
Our group test winner gets this award for being the best of its kind when pitted against other comparable products.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 89
APPLE CHOICE Mac Hardware
Sony
7R II
More pixels and faster performance Reviewed by ANGELA NICHOLSON £2,599 (body only) FROM Sony, sony.com FEATURES 42.4MP full-frame sensor, five-axis image stabilization, 4K video recording ony followed up 2012’s RX1, an impressively small compact camera, with the Alpha 7 and 7R models in December 2013. That’s when we really started paying attention: these were the world’s first compact system cameras to feature a full-frame sensor. The latest addition to the range is the Alpha 7R II, the highest resolution model yet, trumping its predecessor’s 36 million pixels with an effective pixel count of 42.4 million. That’s coupled with Sony’s Bionz X processor, which enables a native sensitivity range of ISO 100–25,600, with expansion settings taking the range to ISO 50–102,400. To push detail resolution even further, the sensor has no optical low-pass filter. Adding to the list of impressive features, Sony has used copper wiring instead of aluminium on the sensor, and this helps to increase the sensor’s read-out speed by 3.5 times over its predecessor. In addition to boosting image transfer times, this should help improve autofocus speed (it’s possible to shoot at up to 5fps with continuous autofocus), and assist in combatting the rolling shutter effect in video mode because the information is relayed quicker. The camera feels very solid, too, with a pleasant density, but the front grip creaks when it’s held tightly. This model is very much aimed at videographers as well as photographers, and it’s the first compact system camera to offer in-camera 4K recording. In another first for a full-frame camera, it has in-body five-axis image stabilisation, which helps reduce image blur in stills and jitters in video footage. One of the best things about this slender camera is that it’s highly customisable. The control wheel on the back of the camera, for example, can be assigned to adjust one of six settings, and one of 62 functions can be assigned for access via each of the four Custom buttons. Three of the navigation
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The A7R II packs an awful lot into such a small frame that’s far lighter than its DSLR competitors.
Christian says… Despite its tiny form factor, this camera can do a lot. I’m considering upgrading my camera, and this little number is giving me pause for thought. The lack of lenses bothers me a tad, but I’ll wait to see what Sony brings to the table when it finally releases compatible optics.
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buttons and the centre button on the back of the camera can also be used as shortcuts to features, and 12 of 34 functions can be assigned for access via the Function menu. The 2,359,296-dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) is superb for composing images. It’s clear, and plenty of detail is visible with no obvious texture, although its preview is a little more vibrant than both the scene and the captured image. Don’t worry too much – the captured image itself is a good likeness of the scene when viewed on a Mac. In decent light the magnified view in the viewfinder, or on the excellent 3-inch tilting screen, makes focussing manually a breeze.
Testing testing From our real-world and lab tests, it’s clear to us that this camera can resolve a whole lot of detail – but then that’s the whole point of having a sensor with 42 million pixels, after all. By packing in a full-frame sensor, Sony has enabled the photosites (pixels) in this model to be made larger than on an APS-C format sensor of the same pixel count, so image quality is noticeably better. It also
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Sony A7R II APPLE CHOICE
ALTERNATIVE CHOICES
offers the ability to restrict depth of field dramatically, to blur backgrounds and to emphasise subjects. The results are just beautiful. Amazing, even. While the most obvious use for a 42MP camera is shooting landscapes, still life and portraits, most enthusiasts and many pros want a camera that can do a bit of everything. With that in mind, the A7R II’s autofocus system is pretty good. It’s capable of getting moving subjects in sharp focus quickly, and can even track them in fairly low light provided there’s a reasonable level of contrast. When this drops, for example when shooting indoors, the autofocus can unfortunately become rather ponderous. It’s also hard to predict exactly where the focus point will be when using Lock-on AF mode – although it does a good job of tracking a subject, the precise point of focus may be very slightly off where you want it to be. Video quality is very good on the whole, with Sony’s S-Log2 setting enabling a much wider than normal range of tones to be recorded – dynamic range is increased to up to 1300% to retain highlight and shadow
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Canon 5DS (body only) £2,699
Nikon D810 (body only) £2,349
SPECIFICATIONS FROM canon.com 50.6 megapixels Full frame sensor ISO 100–6400 (50–12800 extended) 5fps burst rate 1080p video recording at 30fps
SPECIFICATIONS FROM nikon.co.uk 36.3 megapixels Full frame sensor ISO 64–12800 (32–51200 extended) 7fps burst rate 1080p video recording at 60fps
detail, and generate footage that looks very flat straight from the camera but which is ideal for post-capture grading. It’s also worth noting that the rolling shutter effect the copper wiring was introduced to fight is still visible when you pan the camera quickly, but it’s not too bad.
Alpha to omega One of the most attractive aspects of the Alpha 7 series is that the cameras are small for full-frame models, yet have an extensive feature set and lots of control options. We’re pleased to report that that’s no different with Sony’s latest offering. The AF system may not quite match that of similarly priced SLRs, but it’s more than good enough for general photography, and the camera comes with an excellent viewfinder that enables you to see what you’re going to get, a very capable stabilisation system, and high-end video features. However, pros who are used to DSLRs also want a wide range of high-quality lenses. Sony is working on this, promising to have 20 directly compatible optics available by early 2016.
VERDICT Not perfect, but it’s a great all-rounder capable of top-quality, high-resolution images in a wide variety of situations.
+++++ Superb image quality Lots of customisation 4K video capability Few available lenses
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APPLE CHOICE iOS/Mac Hardware
Asus Travelair N Stream lots of media on the go £104 FROM Asus, asus.com/uk FEATURES 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) network, power and Wi-Fi LEDs, mains adaptor his 1TB portable drive looks a lot like any other, though it’s chunkier than most out there. It broadcasts its own Wi-Fi network so you can transfer files and stream to a Mac or iOS device. You can change the name and visibility of the network, and turn on WPA2 security. Up to five devices can connect to it, and the network is fast enough to stream music or video to several devices at once, lasting up to eight hours. The Travelair N is battery powered, and it has a power button on its right-hand side.
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VERDICT Though it’s slightly bulky and has a few niggles, this is a capable drive.
+++++ Good Wi-Fi features Flimsy slot covers
An internal battery makes this portable drive a bit bulkier than most.
The SD card slot on its left side and the USB port on the bottom edge are covered by protective flaps, which feel a bit flimsy. The former tends to stop the drive sitting flat when a card is fitted. Those niggles aside, the drive feels solid, and it has an IP43 rating for water resistance, so it’ll survive accidental splashes. The drive can connect to your home Wi-Fi network to act as a NAS drive, or you can
use USB 3.0 for fast transfers. The AiDrive app lets you browse, stream, share and manage contents from iOS. Though expensive for a 1TB drive, consider the extra capabilities on offer. The drive feels a little cheaply made in places (the port covers and the moulding on its base), but overall this is a good option for its price if you need mobile storage you can share between devices. IAN BARKER
Bamboo Spark From doodle to iPhone to document £100 FROM Wacom, wacom.com FEATURES 1024-level pressure sensitivity, 14.8x21cm active area DIMENSIONS 20.6x25.3x3cm WEIGHT 535g here have been countless attempts to marry the immediacy, tactility and nuance of drawing on paper and the shareability, searchability and chance for further manipulation of digital media. Wacom decided nobody had cracked it yet, so it made one more. While it hasn’t cracked it yet either, this is a good attempt. The idea is that you sketch and write in a paper notebook using what looks like a regular ballpoint pen, but these doodles can be
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VERDICT Some potentially useful tech, but it’s a little fiddly, and the pen feels a bit cheap.
+++++ Converts writing
A bit of a faff
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This model has a pocket for gadgets. There’s a £103 model that fits the iPad Air 2.
transferred over Bluetooth 4.0 to your iOS device. What’s more, it promises to convert your handwriting to text. By jingo, it works! Oh, we’re not surprised that it should for digitising sketches (even if it feels a little bit like magic, especially since you can get some subtlety of line from the pressure sensitivity), but handwriting recognition works too, even if you’re not especially careful. Sure, it’s
imperfect, but it’s far more accurate than you may expect. Still, we don’t love the Spark. Its digitised sketches are low-resolution, and the welcome searchability of notes is hit-and-miss. There’s a layer of faff to charging and syncing, and the pad and the writing action of the pen feel pretty cheap. You can swap in another A5 pad, but you must use Wacom’s ballpoint refills.
CHRISTOPHER PHIN
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Esquire 2 speaker APPLE CHOICE
Harman Kardon Esquire 2 The latest Esquire speaker doubles up on size and volume Reviewed by CLIFF JOSEPH £200 FROM Harman Kardon, harmankardon.co.uk FEATURES Bluetooth, Aux-In, quad-mic speakerphone
This Esquire speaker has the business traveller very much in mind
VERDICT It’s a bit pricey, but good sound and battery life ensure that the Esquire 2 is well-suited to life on the road.
+++++ Compact design Good sound quality Speakerphone mode Higher frequencies can sound harsh
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e really liked the compact little Esquire Mini that Harman Kardon released last year, and we expected the new Esquire 2 to have the same pocket-sized design as its predecessor. It turns out the Esquire 2 is a very different beast, though. The two speakers do look similar, as the Esquire 2 has the same slimline design and aluminium grille on its front panel, along with a handy stand that folds out of the back of the speaker. That’s where the similarity ends, though, as this new model is more than twice the size of the Esquire Mini. In fact, its 3.4x13x19cm dimensions mean it actually looks more like a rather fat iPad Mini. It’s also heavier, tipping our scales at 600g. However, the extra weight and the sturdy metal faceplate ensure that the speaker feels reassuringly solid, and it should be more than capable of coping with the occasional bump in a backpack or briefcase – and it does look as though Harman Kardon has the briefcasewielding business traveller very much in mind for this model, as the Esquire 2 boasts a noise- and echo-cancelling, 360° ‘quad-mic’ speakerphone setup for voice calls. Like many speakers nowadays, the Esquire 2 primarily relies on Bluetooth connectivity for playing music, though it has an auxiliary input on its side for wired connections as well. Its 3200mAh rechargeable battery should last about eight hours when playing music, but the USB port on the side of the speaker also allows you to give your iPhone’s battery an emergency top-up when you’re on the road. Our only real complaint about the Esquire 2, especially given its higher £200 price tag, is that a travel case isn’t bundled with it.
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The Esquire 2 combines slimline design with a full-bodied sound.
The Esquire Mini packed an impressive punch for such a small speaker, and the Esquire 2 does even better. It houses four separate drivers that provide a total of 16W output. That’s not going to have the roof rattling, but it’s more than adequate for giving an impromptu presentation in a coffee shop, or chilling out in a hotel room in the evening.
A class act Sound quality is very good too – clear and detailed on the mid-range frequencies, and with a respectable amount of bass given the speaker’s slimline design. However, there’s one minor weakness that the Esquire 2 shares with its smaller predecessor. We found that higher frequencies could sound a bit harsh at higher volumes. To be fair, a compact speaker such as this isn’t designed to pump up the volume at party time, so you’re not going to be hitting maximum volume very often, but that could still be a bit irksome if you’re partial to a bit of Queen or Muse falsetto shrieking every now and then. The Esquire 2 isn’t perfect then, but it’s still a classy bit of kit, and with added extras such as its iPhone charging functionality and speakerphone features, it should appeal if you’re a business person in need of a versatile, portable audio system for your travels, or as a consumer seeking an impressive speaker.
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APPLE CHOICE iOS/Mac Hardware
Arcam MusicBoost Ramp up iPhone music quality and battery life £120 FROM Arcam, arcam.co.uk FEATURES DAC, headphone amp, Micro-USB (sync and charge) rcam’s MusicBoost is an iPhone case with a built-in DAC (digital-to-analogue converter). And if that isn’t enough, Arcam has also found room to fit a spare battery in there. It claims the 2,800mAh battery will double the life of your iPhone between charges. Slot your iPhone into the case and the Lightning port connects to the MusicBoost, allowing it to take over digital audio decoding duties, as well as providing power to your iPhone when it needs it, and acting as a headphone amp. There’s a Micro-USB port on
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VERDICT If audio quality matters to you, MusicBoost is an easy way to improve it.
+++++ Noticeably improves sound quality Doubles the thickness of iPhone
the bottom to charge your iPhone as well. We tested MusicBoost using Onkyo ES-HF300 headphones and noticed a significant difference in the audio played from both the Music app and several other sources. AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long was rather lifeless and uninspiring to start with, but sprang into life when the MusicBoost was plugged in. MusicBoost also supports FLAC-encoded audio and drives headphones with a higher impedance rating than the iPhone alone. However, the device isn’t perfect. As a case, it doesn’t offer protection for the top half of either side, nor the top
Light, compact and a joy to use – but it’s a tight squeeze with an iPhone 6s.
edge of the iPhone. And while the iPhone 6 fits comfortably in the case, it takes a bit of a push to fit a 6s and a lot of wiggling to get it out.
KENNY HEMPHILL
Parrot Zik 3.0 These third-gen touch-sensitive cans go ‘wireless everything’ £250 FROM Parrot, parrot.com FEATURES Bluetooth, Noise cancellation, touch controls arrot was onto a winner with its Zik 2.0 headphones designed by the renowned Philippe Starck, which were probably the most tricked-out cans around. So what’s changed? Well, the plush over-ear, closed-back ear cups now come in several stylish looks, such as crocodile-skin leather. Going beyond cosmetics, it’s Qi-compatible wireless charging that Parrot’s touting as the new must-have feature, but you’ll need a charger.
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VERDICT Just a nip and tuck for the third-gen Zik, but the stellar audio quality remains.
+++++ Best noise cancelling that we’ve heard Short battery life
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The left ear cup holds the rechargeable battery, which still offers a disappointing five to six hours’ listening in wireless mode, although the supplied USB cable now lets you charge and listen at the same time. The right ear cup is where the touch controls live, while a handy ‘head detection’ feature pauses playback if the cans are removed. The adaptive noisecancelling still bests all other cans we’ve tried – even Bose. The iOS app’s equaliser and acoustic settings mean audio can be tweaked to genre, and it sounds outstanding in wireless and wired modes.
The black crocodile-skin leather is a luxurious touch on these well-designed cans.
It’s evolution rather than revolution for the Zik – 2.0 owners needn’t upgrade; for everyone else, these are some seriously capable headphones.
TIM HARDWICK
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Reviewed by CHRISTIAN HALL
Head to Head APPLE CHOICE
Olloclip Studio for iPhone 6/6s Ideal if you already own Olloclip lenses £80 FROM Olloclip, olloclip.com NEEDS iPhone 6 or 6s (also available for Plus models)
Case features +++++ Olloclip’s effort is geared more towards outdoor shooting, with its excellent two-finger grip for holding the iPhone away from you and keeping it fairly still at the same time. The Studio includes useful ‘shoe’ accessories for tripod attachment but, sadly, there are no lenses bundled with it.
Fit and ease of use +++++ The case is a tough, almost rugged, rubberised affair that provides ample protection and is relatively easy to fit. The sliding two-finger grip has enough friction to stay in place too, meaning it won’t move when you tilt the iPhone.
Value for money +++++ The Studio lacks the lenses and flash of Manfrotto’s system, making this a very expensive option when you add the cost of Olloclip’s lenses to it. However, it better caters for handheld shooting, which may be preferable.
Image results +++++ Olloclip has long held the top spot for iPhone lenses, and this case system perfectly complements its reversible 4-in-1 lens system. As usual with an Olloclip kit, you get a wide-angle lens, whereas Manfrotto opts for a zoom lens instead. Wide-angle shots show slight aberration.
A very good case system if you’ve already bought into Olloclip’s lenses. Sadly lacking as a complete studio system, and expensive overall.
Manfrotto KLYP+ Deluxe Photo Kit A complete studio out of the box £100 FROM Manfrotto, manfrotto.co.uk NEEDS iPhone 6 or 6s (also available for Plus models)
Case features +++++ Manfrotto’s bundle is a more complete package, with lenses, a mountable flash and tripod attachments. Being from a tripod manufacturer, you’d expect it to be more geared towards use with a tripod at all times, and that proves true, yet it’s still useful for handheld shooting.
Fit and ease of use +++++ The KLYP case is more cumbersome to fit, being hard plastic rather than rubber. You’ll probably worry about it scratching your iPhone, but ours came away unscathed. The threadable lenses and mountable flash are superb.
Value for money +++++ The Manfrotto system is the better starter kit and all-rounder for the budding iPhoneographer. Zoom and fisheye lenses come in the box, along with the incredibly bright flash; you get neither with the Olloclip Studio.
Image results +++++ The lack of a wide-angle lens as standard is disappointing, but images are just as sharp as their Olloclip equivalents. The 3x zoom is oddly distorted however, and requires some post-processing to correct. KLYP’s lens stability is better overall, thanks to being screwed into the case.
A better all-round system for iPhone photos, and its screw-in lenses and slide-on flash are a winner. Some will hate the plastic case, though.
+++++ VERDICT +++++ macformat.com @macformat
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 95
Six of the best action cameras, from under £150 to 4K-shooting pro models Reviewed by DAVE STEVENSON
he continued improvement of the iPhone’s camera – uprated to shoot 4K video on Apple’s latest handsets, the 6s and 6s Plus – might have sounded the death knell for dedicated camcorders and compact cameras, but rugged, waterproof action cameras show no sign of slowing down. They do a job your iPhone can’t, because they are purposebuilt to shake off knocks and splashes, while also shooting with ultra-wide-angle lenses that work fantastically for fast-moving action but would make selfies taken down the pub dispiritingly distorted. GoPro leads the way: its top of the range Hero4 Black (£410) shoots 4K video at up to 30fps, and GoPro’s success has paved the way for a glut of other manufacturers. Satellite navigation pros Garmin and TomTom have both entered the fray, while photographic stalwart Polaroid has resurrected itself with the fun Cube range. Imaging expert Sony, which makes the image sensors you’ll find
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in GoPro cameras as well as other contenders, has also unleashed a range of powerful options, including the X1000V reviewed here. We’ve looked at options covering a range of prices, from cameras with pro-level bells and whistles, to fire-and-forget options. Impressively, all this month’s cameras include wireless and accompanying iOS apps, but different levels of ruggedness, waterproofing, video resolution and, of course, video quality, which means it’s worth thinking carefully about which model is the best fit for you before shelling out. We’ve put these cameras through their paces, testing each for how it handles fast action and low light, and we’ve assessed each model for ease of use. This includes both the camera hardware itself – it’s no good having the ultimate skiing companion if you can’t push its buttons while wearing gloves – as well as any accompanying apps. Chucking yourself out of a plane soon? This group test is a must-read.
How we tested Our primary test looked at video quality. Motion handling is critical, so we secured our cameras to the dashboard of our trusty car and shot on a variety of roads to test for smearing, rolling shutter effect and overall picture quality. All footage was loaded into Premiere Pro and compared side by side to arrive at a ranking. We also shot a still-life photo to test for image quality and low-light performance, using Lightroom’s Compare view to determine each camera’s performance.
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CAMERAS ON TEST… Garmin VIRB X G-Metrix GoPro Hero4 Session Isaw Edge Polaroid Cube+ Sony FDR-X1000V TomTom Bandit
Things to consider… Find the perfect action cam, however extreme you are
1
Waterproofing
2
Video resolution
Every camera here is waterproof, but the Polaroid Cube+ and TomTom Bandit are merely splashproof. The others are more waterproof, either inherently or with their included case.
1080p is so 2005. It’s not unusual for action cams to shoot higher resolutions, up to 4K. Not all cameras are created equal though, so watch for reduced frame rates on some.
3
Mounting possibilities
Action cams cry out to be stuck on more than just a tripod: suction mounts for helmets, handlebar mounts, surfboards and more. GoPro has arguably the widest mount range.
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4
Time-lapses
5
Pinpoint your location
Top-notch video is the stock-in-trade of these cameras, but that’s not all they do. Each shoots stills and time-lapse videos, useful for sunsets right through to construction projects.
The iPhone’s advantage is it can attach location data to images. If you like that, look for an action cam with GPS. This can also track speed, proving your mettle after the fact.
6
Manual modes
Most people will be happy strapping on a camera and pressing record. For flexibility, look for a model that can lock exposure, limit ISO, or measure scene brightness from a specific point.
Higher… For access to many mounts, GoPro’s Hero4 Black (£320) can shoot 4K video at 30fps, and it has plenty of options for imaging pros.
…or lower? The Dbpower (£47) shoots 1080p at 30fps, but can’t do time-lapses. We haven’t seen one, yet there are 320 positive Amazon reviews.
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APPLE CHOICE Group Test
Test 1 Video quality
Test 2 Usability
Picture-perfect or the pits?
Which cameras put up a fight?
There’s consistently high quality among these cameras’ output, but pay attention if you aspire to production-quality footage or are keen on pro-level editing. Sony’s is the priciest camera here, so it’s fair to expect good things from it. It’s the only camera to do full frame rate 4K video, and its video quality is beautifully clear. The lens is a corker too, with no purple fringing apparent in high-contrast areas. Sony, GoPro and Isaw offer advanced options such as ISO limits and spot metering, and can leave clips unsharpened. GoPro and Sony rule the roost in fast motion handling, yet TomTom, Garmin and Isaw are very close. Polaroid’s Cube+ was far from a disappointment, particularly at its price, but we saw some purple edges and a small bit of rolling shutter effect during very dramatic camera movement. Most won’t notice it.
The only contender with a screen that shows what’s being recorded is the Isaw Edge. Its 1.5in screen is clear, and for framing time-lapses and stills it’s great, but we hardly used it while filming. The screen is useful for altering settings, but the text-only screens of the TomTom, Sony and Garmin offer comparable utility. The GoPro Session and TomTom Bandit get praise thanks to the faint backlighting on their menu screens; it’s handy for setting up time-lapses at night. The Polaroid Cube+ and GoPro Hero4 Session force you to use their remote control apps to change settings. Otherwise, usability is all about how easily you can press buttons. No contender fared terribly on this front. The GoPro’s flush record button could be a touch tricky to operate wearing gloves – the polar opposite of Garmin’s chunkier offerings.
TEST RESULTS
TEST RESULTS
Garmin VIRB X G-Metrix +++++ GoPro Hero4 Session +++++ Isaw Edge +++++
Polaroid Cube+ Sony FDR-X1000V TomTom Bandit
+++++ +++++ +++++
Garmin VIRB X G-Metrix +++++ GoPro Hero4 Session +++++ Isaw Edge +++++
Polaroid Cube+ Sony FDR-X1000V TomTom Bandit
+++++ +++++ +++++
Test 3 Build quality
Test 4 Companion app
How will they hold up to extremes?
Are the cameras’ iOS apps any good?
If you want to dive, the Garmin VIRB X is waterproof to a whopping 50m, and its waterproofing is internal, so you don’t need a case. GoPro’s Hero4 Session also has integrated waterproofing and is rated to 10m – more than sufficient for most snorkelling. The Isaw Edge also gets kudos; pop it in its bundled case and it will survive plunges of up to 40m. Sony’s X1000V comes with a well-made waterproof case that protects the camera to five metres for half an hour. To take either the TomTom Bandit or Polaroid Cube+ for a dip, you’ll need to shell out for their waterproof lens or case respectively, both of which cost around £30. The two heaviest cameras here (TomTom and Garmin) feel substantial, but we don’t appreciate Garmin’s odd, proprietary USB connector; lose the cable and you’re scuppered.
Polaroid’s app wins the award for simplicity. You can cycle through video resolutions and frame rates, set up a time-lapse and trigger the stills camera, as well as browse the memory card’s contents. Previewing the camera’s view was impressively smooth and lag-free in our tests. TomTom’s Bandit app is also good, automatically recording big shocks to the camera and marking them as highlights in its recordings. GoPro’s app is outstanding: its hardware hides a multitude of options, and the app makes getting around easy. Isaw’s app feels a little spartan compared to others – it’s usable, but aesthetically pleasing thrills are thin on the ground. Sony’s largely text-based app isn’t much better, yet it’s intuitive and was stable during testing. Finally, intelligible icons and lag-free recording in Garmin’s VIRB app made it a firm favourite.
TEST RESULTS
TEST RESULTS
Garmin VIRB X G-Metrix +++++ GoPro Hero4 Session +++++ Isaw Edge +++++
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Polaroid Cube+ Sony FDR-X1000V TomTom Bandit
+++++ +++++ +++++
Garmin VIRB X G-Metrix +++++ GoPro Hero4 Session +++++ Isaw Edge +++++
Polaroid Cube+ Sony FDR-X1000V TomTom Bandit
+++++ +++++ +++++
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Action Cameras APPLE CHOICE
THE WINNER GoPro Versatility wins the day e’re used to video quality being the deciding factor in group tests like this one, but the difference between the lowest-ranked Polaroid Cube+ and the top-ranked Sony X1000V, while detectable, is small enough that most hobbyists won’t appreciate the extra visual oomph afforded by Sony’s 4K wonder. Being able to shoot above 1080p – on all here except Garmin – gives you room to crop. Sony’s camera is particularly impressive.
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Video quality is so similar among our contenders that it alone isn’t enough to distinguish our winner Its admittedly high price also gives you GPS, a waterproof case and advanced recording options. In this company it excels, but you need to be sure you’ll use all its bells and whistles. Garmin’s VIRB X makes a good case for itself, if you’ll use its ability to overlay GPS
Alex says… It’s reassuring to know that you don’t have to spend a huge amount to get an action camera capable of capturing good footage. It helps to calm my nerves over being a bit rough with kit that costs several hundred pounds, even if it’s designed to take a few knocks.
The GoPro Hero4 Session is the Bear Grylls of action cams.
and accelerometer data on videos, and the Isaw Edge’s 40-metre waterproofing and £180 price are appealing. The best balance, though, is struck by the GoPro Hero4 Session. Its compact design, excellent app, top-notch video quality and sub-£160 price make it a terrific all-rounder.
How do they compare? >THE SPECS
>GARMIN
>GOPRO
>ISAW
>POLAROID
>SONY
>TOMTOM
PRICE
£216
£157
£180
£130
£279
£242
RESOLUTIONS AND FRAME RATES
1080p (30 or 25fps) to 480p (120 or 100fps)
1440p (30 or 25fps) to WVGA (120 or 100fps)
4K (10fps) to 720p (120, 60 or 30fps)
1440p (30fps) to 720p (120, 60 or 30fps)
4K (30 or 25fps) to 480p (240 or 200fps)
4K at 15fps to WVGA at 180fps
TIME-LAPSE
0.5–60 second intervals 0.5–60 second intervals 0.5–30 second intervals
1- or 3-second intervals
1–60 second intervals
1–60 second intervals
WIRELESS
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi, GPS
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
BATTERY LIFE
2 hours
2 hours
1 hour 40 minutes
1 hour 30 minutes
2 hours 5 minutes
3 hours
WATERPROOFING
50m
10m
40m with included case
IPX4 splashproof, Splashproof, 10m 5m for 30 minutes with optional case (£25) with included case
IPX7, or IPX8 with optional waterproof lens cover (£30)
DIMENSIONS (WDH) 7.7x3.7x4.1cm
3.8x3.6x3.8cm
5.9x2.2x4.1cm
3.5x3.5x3.5cm
2.4x8.9x5.2cm
3.8x9.4x5.2cm
WEIGHT
152g
74g
67g
54g
93g
190g
USABILITY
+++++ +++++
+++++ +++++
+++++ +++++
+++++ +++++
+++++ +++++
+++++ +++++
BUILD QUALITY
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
COMPANION APP
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
FINAL VERDICT
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
+++++
VIDEO QUALITY
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APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 99
APPLE CHOICE Mac Software
Launchey Who needs the Dock anyway? £2.29 FROM Nice Apps, getniceapps.com NEEDS OS X 10.10 or higher aunchey has a simple purpose: it enables you to launch apps on your Mac from the menu bar. With a bit of setting up, and if you’re in the right frame of mind for what it can do, you might find that to be a great thing in practice. At first, we didn’t find Launchey to be all that useful. You can click its icon to bring up a full list of all the apps in the Applications folder, in alphabetical order, which isn’t that useful if you’re like us and have hundreds, because they’re presented in a list
L
VERDICT A smart and useful utility that can let you keep the Dock hidden away.
+++++ Useful Top 5 feature Not for everyone
Launchey can seem unwieldy if you don’t manage its list of apps.
that scrolls on and on down the screen. However, you can change which folder the app looks in, so you could add a subfolder to the Applications folder consisting of only your most-used ones, and then have Launchey show only its contents. That’s certainly an improvement, but it’s still not hugely interesting. The best bit of Launchey is its Top 5 feature. This tab in the app’s preferences enables
you to add icons for five apps directly to the menu bar, thus letting you launch them with a single click. You can also easily assign keyboard shortcuts to launch them without touching the mouse or trackpad at all. If you mostly only use a few core apps, this is a great way to be minimal – you could even hide the Dock entirely – and really highlights Launchey’s potential. MATT BOLTON
NetSpot Pro Become a network expert £132.05 FROM Etwok, netspotapp.com NEEDS OS X 10.6.8 or higher, MacBook recommended etSpot is an app that surveys local Wi-Fi networks, capturing data points from locations around your home or office. By importing a floor plan, the app visualises wireless signal strength and range. You can use a PDF scanned from an existing floor plan, or NetSpot can help create one. Survey mode guides you step by step. The resulting data is easy to comprehend, thanks to graphically rich charts and heat maps. Info can also be exported to PDF or PNG to be used elsewhere.
N
VERDICT Good for visualising and optimising even the most complicated Wi-Fi networks.
+++++ Visualised heat maps Requires a floor plan
100 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
NetSpot visualises wireless networks as a useful heat map.
Discover mode displays a list of surrounding networks. This updates at an interval (which defaults to 10 seconds), and double-clicking an SSID displays a tabbed window with more details. The app’s especially useful when you move into a home with a new layout – say, going from a one-floor apartment to a two-storey house – and find your Wi-Fi signal struggles to reach every corner.
NetSpot Pro includes a single-user commercial license with more than 15 visualisations and unlimited data points. There’s also a free version, which visualises only signal-to-noise and signal-tointerference ratios. Running the app on a MacBook is recommended, because networks must be sampled from three or more different locations by its Survey mode.
J.R. BOOKWALTER
macformat.com @macformat
Mac Software APPLE CHOICE
Boxy Boxy delivers Google’s Inbox concept as a native Mac app Reviewed by GARY MARSHALL £3.99 FROM Francesco Di Lorenzo & Fabrizio Rinaldi, boxyapp.co NEEDS OS X 10.10 or higher, Gmail account
Control over notifications is fairly basic in comparison to Inbox for iOS
oogle’s Inbox app is its latest attempt to revitalise email, and it’s clever stuff, presenting your Gmail account with a friendlier interface and some useful organisational features. Inbox is available for iOS and Android, and it’s accessible in your Mac’s web browser. Boxy is for those of us who’d rather keep our email in a dedicated Mac app. Boxy essentially puts Inbox in its own window, so it’s not a great surprise that it looks and works just like Inbox does on the web. There are a few app-specific additions, though. It has notifications and a collapsible sidebar, and there’s a Safari-style reading view that hides everything bar the text of the current message so that you can concentrate on that without distractions. Boxy’s notifications are fairly basic: unlike the Inbox iOS app, there’s no option to be notified of emails meeting certain criteria; it’s all or nothing. And if you have multiple email accounts, Boxy will only notify you of new messages in the one you’re currently using. The main reason to use Boxy over another email client is the ability to ‘bundle’ messages,
G
VERDICT If you like Inbox on the web, you’ll like Boxy. It’s simple, friendly and fun.
+++++ Attractive interface Snooze emails Basic feature set Notifications are too noisy for power users
macformat.com @macformat
Boxy’s simple interface and easy-to-use features make it a breeze to quickly sift through your messages.
which is a more advanced version of Gmail’s inbox filtering. Incoming messages are checked against categories like Purchases, Finance, Social, Promos, Trips, and Forums, and enabling bundling for those categories can make your email more manageable. Bundled messages can be configured on a per-category basis to appear at specific times, so you can tell Inbox to show your social media updates once a day or once a week. There’s also a Mailbox-style snooze feature that enables you to temporarily hide email messages for specified periods.
Updates in the mail Trips is the most useful category: book a hotel or a flight and it’ll automatically appear there. Key info is shown in a Google Now-style card, so a hotel booking shows the street address, for example. You can then email those details to others with a quick click. Many of Boxy’s problems are already known to the developers. There isn’t a standalone compose window, which is something we’d expect from any email app; the developers say they’re on it. There are also issues around Inbox itself; it doesn’t support multiple accounts, so you can’t have Boxy running two accounts simultaneously. It’d be nice to be able to change the font size, too. If you’re a power user inundated with email or running multiple aliases, Boxy isn’t for you. It doesn’t give you the complex rules, formatting and other features you’ll find in Apple Mail, though that doesn’t mean it’s a bad app. If you don’t deal with huge quantities of email and want something a bit more attractive than the default Mail app, Boxy is friendly and fun. Judging by the developers’ blog, the next version should be better still.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 101
APPLE CHOICE iOS Software
Project Office Pro Hard work has never been so easy £18.99 FROM DK Consulting, productivity-code.com MADE FOR iPhone, iPod touch, iPad hen it comes to scheduling, Gantt charts are the gold standard for business projects. These bar chart breakdowns pack a lot of data into a compact space, but most apps for making them are overpriced, underpowered, or just plain clunky. Project Office is none of these things. Featuring a more elegant, intuitive user interface than competing apps, it’s also more affordable than popular alternatives such as OmniPlan. Built for speed, Project Office Pro makes it easy to juggle
W
VERDICT A cost-effective, full-featured solution for Gantt charts and scheduling on iPad.
+++++ Great user interface No user collaboration
Create Gantt charts like a pro with this app’s friendly, intuitive user interface and features.
multiple projects, assign contacts or materials, track any remaining work to be done, and head off potential bottlenecks at a glance. Up to three copies of each project can be backed up to iCloud, although this has to be initiated manually. The app lacks a comprehensive means of collaborating on a project with other people, though projects can be sent via email or saved in PDF format.
More traditional HTML task or resource reports can also be generated or shared with other apps. Sadly, Project Office Pro lacks a tutorial to help novices get up to speed – there is basic in-app help, though. The app works best on iPad, though it also supports iPhone. Also, it’s already optimised for the iPad Pro, and it works great on that model’s larger screen.
J.R. BOOKWALTER
MaxCurve For the histogram lovers £2.29 FROM Wanman, maxcurve.net MADE FOR iPhone, iPod touch, iPad diting an image using Photoshop’s Curves palette is the sort of thing that can put people off ever doing it again. But in MaxCurve, almost everything is a curve, so you’d better get used to them. Curves let you tweak how images look across a range – say, from blacks to highlights – by raising or lowering sections of a line, literally creating curves. In MaxCurve, many adjustments come in ‘kits’. The familiar colour curve adjustment is referred to as an ‘RGB kit’, and this is
E
VERDICT A strong editing tool that can dig deep into your images, but has limited appeal.
+++++ Deep colour editing Intelligent layout
102 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
Adding points is easy, but it’s easier on an iPad than an iPhone.
complemented by a Lightness Kit for exposure, gamma and colour temperature. There are also kits for editing colour saturation, and for working in the LAB colour space. The kits are further broken down into channels, each with its own histogram and tone curve, with real-time previewing of your changes. It’s impressive, especially for an iOS app. However, the developers must have had
the iPad in mind rather than the iPhone, since turning the latter to landscape orientation to maximise a histogram leaves your image trapped in a narrow box above it. The app’s functionality goes beyond that of Photos (for which it offers an Extension), and the link to Photoshop on the Mac is nice. It’s great to have this level of control on an iOS device.
IAN EVENDEN
macformat.com @macformat
iOS Software APPLE CHOICE
Grayout Aphasia? Don’t let it faze ya £2.29 FROM Neven Mrgan, mrgan.com MADE FOR iPhone, iPod touch, iPad aking up in hospital with amnesia is no one’s idea of a good time, but waking up with amnesia and aphasia is a special kind of hell. Grayout is a prequel to the censorship simulator Blackbar, but it’s not concerned with the suppression of language; it’s about the struggle to form sentences in the first place. Alaine wakes up at the Neighborhood Hospital in the care of Dr. Groznik, and it becomes clear that this is no place for recuperation. The story unfolds as you choose
W
VERDICT An intriguing story and a clever concept, but too limited to be truly memorable.
++ ++++ Unique design Far too linear
Coloured backgrounds reflect Alaine’s mood, from calm teal to panicked red.
from the jumble of words on the screen to form meaningful sentences. Since Grayout is all about the story, to discuss it is to ruin it, but it’s a tale of totalitarianism and rebellion told through dialogues and speech. Groznik takes the florid tone of an egomaniac, while Alaine’s monologues read like cringeworthy creative writing exercises. Grayout’s biggest problem is its linearity; puzzles seem to
only have one solution (we played it through twice to confirm), with no prospect of branching narratives. This is not interactive fiction so much as reconstructing a script from verbal puzzle pieces, and when some puzzles involve bizarre leaps of logic, it’s frustrating to be lost for words. That’s fitting given the subject matter, but not so satisfying to play.
ALAN WILLIAMSON
Proud A different kind of time machine £7.99 FROM Peter Szwach, useproud.com MADE FOR iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Apple Watch ere we go: another list-making app – but this one is different. Yes, its first tab, Lists, resembles countless other apps. Here you create tasks, which can optionally be broken down into sub-tasks and reordered. Ho-hum. But things get interesting when you assign a deadline to a task and Proud’s line of thinking becomes clear: you don’t set a precise hour but a more human ‘tomorrow’, ‘evening’ or ‘next week’. The app also endows you with ‘superpowers’. Seriously. Double-tap a tab and a secret
H
VERDICT An interesting take on task management that can genuinely save you time.
+++++ Suits human thinking Has a learning curve
macformat.com @macformat
Proud’s ’superpowers’ augment an already strong list-making app.
dashboard is revealed. In the Lists tab there’s a de-stress breathing tool. Reminders houses a work/rest Pomodoro Technique-style timer, and a superb ‘Give me more time!’ button that defers all tasks by a couple of hours, a day, or until next week. The History tab lists completed tasks and provides a wiggly line to show your recent achievements. Proud isn’t cheap, and it isn’t the most immediate app
either. Although it’s visually clean, it lacks the polished minimalism of Realmac’s Clear. Also, that it works so hard to avoid precise times for tasks means it’s unsuitable as a calendar replacement if you must know what you’re doing every hour of the day. But, for mapping out things that need doing in a more general and friendly manner than most list-making apps, it excels.
CRAIG GRANNELL
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 103
STORE GUIDE Apple Kit
UPDATED OCT 2015 EXPECTED LATE 2016
EDITED BY
ALEX BLAKE
Your essential guide to the very best Apple hardware and third-party accessories elcome to MacFormat’s revamped Store Guide, the new place to go to find out about all the Apple kit that matters. We’ve chosen our top products from Apple’s product line-up, plus the best third-party kit that meets our quality and value standards. Whether you’re a recent convert or a seasoned Apple user, we highlight a model in each product category that’s ideally suited to your needs. So, if you’re looking for a new Mac, iPhone or iPad, just head to our handy tables to see exactly which model is best for you. We’ve also highlighted the gold standard in audio, storage, cameras, and many other categories so you can complement your Mac or iOS device with only the best accessories.
W
Who’s it for? ENTRY LEVEL
UPGRADER
HIGH END
You’re just getting started in the world of Apple and need to know where to begin.
A firm Apple user, you’re ready to move on and get even more from your tech.
Apple is your life. You prize quality and want the best that money can buy.
iMac Ever since the famous Bondi Blue iMac debuted way back in August 1998, Apple’s all-in-one desktop computer has been setting standards in gorgeous design and powerful performance. Apple’s spirit of innovation was as clear back then as it is today – the iMac was the first Macintosh to abandon the floppy disk in favour of USB ports, and its bright, colourful aesthetic set it apart as a playful pretender in a world of staid beige boxes. These days Apple is again pushing boundaries with the iMac, blessing all of its 27-inch models with the world’s best display, which has a massive 5K (5120x2880) resolution. Add in a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (configurable from 3.2GHz up to 4.0GHz), 8GB of RAM, a fast and capacious Fusion Drive, and a powerful AMD Radeon R9 graphics processor – and the large iMac is the desktop system to own. In 2015, Apple lowered the price of the top-spec 27-inch model by £150 and introduced the first 21.5-inch iMac with a Retina 4K display. All iMacs (except the entry-level, 21.5-inch model) have a quad-core processor.
Choose an iMac
Monitor ........................................107
Wireless speaker.............108
MacBook ...................................105 MacBook Pro ........................105 Mac Pro .......................................105 Mac mini .....................................105 iPhone..........................................106 iPad...................................................106 iPad Pro.......................................106 Apple Watch...........................106
Ultra HD monitor .............107 Portable storage..............107 Network storage..............107 Wireless router...................107 Thunderbolt dock ...........107 Printer...........................................107 MacBook stand..................107 MacBook bag........................107
Desktop speaker ..............108 Portable speaker .............108 On-ear headphones.....108 In-ear headphones........108 Portable battery...............108 IP camera..................................108 iPhone stand.........................108 Apple Watch stand ........108
104 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
ENTRY LEVEL
iMac.................................................104
PRICE
21.5-inch 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
RAM 8GB of 1867MHz LPDDR3 GRAPHICS Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 STORAGE 1TB (5,400rpm) DISPLAY 1920x1080 (IPS, sRGB gamut) ALSO Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard
£1,049
UPGRADER
Inside your buying guide…
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
21.5-inch 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
RAM 8GB of 1867MHz LPDDR3 GRAPHICS Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 STORAGE 1TB (5,400rpm) DISPLAY Retina 4K (IPS, P3 gamut) ALSO Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard
£1,199
HIGH END
MODEL
27-inch 3.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
RAM 8GB of 1867MHz DDR3 GRAPHICS AMD Radeon R9 M395 STORAGE 2TB Fusion Drive DISPLAY Retina 5K (IPS, P3 gamut) ALSO Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard
£1,849
macformat.com @macformat
Apple Kit STORE GUIDE
UPDATED MAR 2015 EXPECTED SOON
UPDATED MAY 2015 EXPECTED SOON
UPDATED DEC 2013 EXPECTED Q2 2016
MacBook
MacBook Pro
Mac Pro
The baby of Apple’s laptop family, the MacBook is a marvel of compact design and ultra-portability. Weighing in at just 0.92kg, it’s Apple’s most lightweight laptop and easily stows away in a backpack for use on the move. The pixel density of its 12-inch Retina display stands at 226ppi, which is almost as high as the MacBook Pro. The MacBook is powered by an Intel Core M processor (at 1.1GHz, 1.2GHz or 1.3GHz), which doesn’t require a fan to keep cool, so the MacBook runs silently. It was also the first Apple notebook to feature a Force Touch trackpad, which can trigger different responses as you apply more pressure. All models come with 8GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 5300, while there are options for either 256GB or 512GB of flash storage. It’s available in three colour options: Silver, Space Grey and Gold.
Following hot on the heels of the MacBook, the MacBook Pro recently gained a Force Touch trackpad. At the same time, the MacBook Pro range saw small boosts to its Intel and graphics processors. The top-of-the-line model is currently the only one to offer a discrete graphics processor, in the form of the AMD Radeon R9 M370X – the other models have an integrated Intel Iris or Iris Pro graphics processor. All except the entry-level MacBook Pro are equipped with a Retina display, in either 13-inch or 15-inch sizes. They also have two Thunderbolt 2 and two USB 3.0 ports, an SDXC card reader, and their flash storage ranges from 128GB to 1TB, depending on the model you pick as a starting point. Battery life is also improved, with the 13-inch model lasting 10 hours and the 15-inch model going strong for nine hours.
If you need power – and we mean serious power – this is the computer for you. Even the entry-level model comes with 12GB of RAM, a quad-core 3.7GHz processor, 256GB of speedy PCIe flash storage and dual AMD FIrePro D300 graphics cards. However, with a price point to match, it last being updated in 2013, and Thunderbolt 3 just around the corner, consider holding out for the next version.
RAM 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 GRAPHICS Intel HD Graphics 5300 SSD 256GB
£1,049
12-inch 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Core M
RAM 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 GRAPHICS Intel HD Graphics 5300 SSD 512GB
£1,299
12-inch 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core M
RAM 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 GRAPHICS Intel HD Graphics 5300 SSD 256GB or 512GB
£1,249 or £1,419
macformat.com @macformat
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
PRICE
ENTRY LEVEL
ENTRY LEVEL
12-inch 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M
MODEL 13-inch 2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
RAM 8GB of 1866MHz LPDDR3 GRAPHICS Intel Iris Graphics 6100 SSD 256GB
£1,199
UPGRADER
PRICE
UPGRADER
MODEL
Choose a MacBook Pro
15-inch 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
RAM 16GB of 1600MHz DDR3L GRAPHICS Intel Iris Pro Graphics SSD 256GB
£1,599
HIGH END
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
HIGH END
Choose a MacBook
15-inch 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
RAM 16GB of 1600MHz £1,999 DDR3L GRAPHICS AMD Radeon R9 M370X SSD 512GB
From £2,499
UPDATED OCT 2014 EXPECTED LATE 2016
Mac mini
From £399
A welcome update in 2014 brought a £100 price drop to the most affordable Mac. The mini has some interesting talking points: the entry-level model has a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM, making it akin to the entry-level MacBook Air but with a 500GB hard drive and no display. Higher end models come with 1TB storage (a Fusion Drive option is available), 8GB of RAM, a better graphics processor and either a 2.6GHz or 2.8GHz Intel Core i5 for £569 and £799, respectively. Those models can be upgraded to Core i7 processors, though there are no quad-core options available – you’ll need an iMac for that.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 105
STORE GUIDE Apple Kit
UPDATED SEPT 2015 EXPECTED SEPT 2016
UPDATED SEPT 2015 EXPECTED SOON
UPDATED NOV 2015 EXPECTED LATE 2016
iPhone
iPad
iPad Pro
Apple brought 3D Touch to the iPhone with the 6s and 6s Plus, providing extra interactions depending on the level of pressure you apply to the screen. For example, a light press on an email lets you ‘peek’ at its contents, so you can decide whether to delete it or, with a firmer press, ‘pop’ it open to reply to it. The 12MP rear camera produces fantastic images, although you only get optical image stabilisation on the 6s Plus. But with support for 4K video recording, the 6s camera has been taken up a notch. All models have front-facing cameras for video calls. There’s also Live Photos, which capture the moments before and after you take a photo to make a short video. The largest capacity iPhone 6s comes with 128GB of storage, twice that of the iPhone 6. Avoid the 16GB model – that really isn’t enough space.
Aside from the beautifully gargantuan iPad Pro, there was a small but very welcome change among Apple’s other tablets. The iPad mini 4 was unveiled alongside the Pro back in September 2015, and it’s essentially an iPad Air 2 in a smaller chassis. The iPad Air 2 hasn’t changed since late 2014, though. On the software side, iOS 9 has brought multitasking features, which are a boon for productivity. You can slide a second app over the right side of the one you’re working in (great for quickly checking email), then dismiss it to get back to work. Picture in Picture enables you to watch video in a corner of the screen – but it may be a bit too small on the mini. Those two features work on the Air, mini 2 and Pro and newer models. There’s also Split View, on the Air 2, mini 4 and Pro, which lets you work on two apps side by side.
The largest iPad packs in a 12.9-inch display, and comes in 32GB and 128GB capacities. Every model has Wi-Fi, and the most costly one also works with mobile networks. Its A9X processor is the most powerful in any iOS device, and it has an impressive four-speaker sound system, too. Add the pressuresensitive Apple Pencil and it becomes an accomplished drawing tool that’s surprisingly lightweight for its size.
iPhone 6
CAPACITY 64GB PROCESSOR A8 3D TOUCH No CAMERA 8MP photos, 1080p video recording
£539
iPhone 6s
CAPACITY 64GB PROCESSOR A9 3D TOUCH Yes CAMERA 12MP photos, 4K video recording
£619
iPhone 6s Plus
CAPACITY: 128GB PROCESSOR: A9 3D TOUCH Yes CAMERA 12MP photos, 4K video recording
£789
106 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
MODEL
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
PRICE
ENTRY LEVEL
ENTRY LEVEL
PRICE
iPad mini 2
CAPACITY 32GB PROCESSOR A7 CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi CAMERA 5MP TOUCHID No
£259
UPGRADER
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
iPad Air
CAPACITY 32GB PROCESSOR A7 CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi CAMERA 5MP TOUCHID No
£359
HIGH END
MODEL
UPGRADER
Choose a iPad
HIGH END
Choose a iPhone
iPad Air 2
CAPACITY 128GB PROCESSOR A8X CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi CAMERA 8MP TOUCHID Yes
£559
From £679
UPDATED SEPT 2015 EXPECTED MID 2016?
Watch
From £299
Apple’s first foray into the world of high fashion certainly turned heads when it arrived on the scene. Apple has since released a slew of updates in the form of watchOS 2, which expands the capabilities of third-party apps, as well as a range of new case colours and strap options (although hardware specifications are unchanged). Among the new straps are several Hermès models, available as Single Tour, Double Tour or Cuff bands, and Product(RED) and two different white versions of the Sport Band. The Watch comes in aluminium, stainless steel or 18-carat gold cases, the first of which now has Gold and Rose Gold colours.
macformat.com @macformat
Mac Hardware STORE GUIDE
BEST BUYS… curated picks of third-party kit MONITOR
ULTRA HD MONITOR
PORTABLE STORAGE
ViewSonic VP2772 £569
AOC U3277PQU £574
Samsung T1 SSD From £88
viewsonic.com
aoc.com
samsung.com
If you’re not fussed about 4K but still want exceptional image quality, this IPS display is truly superb. It offers 99% coverage of the Adobe RGB colour space, 10-bit colour and a 2560x1440-pixel resolution. It has HDMI 1.4, DVI and Mini DisplayPort connections, and four USB 3.0 ports for expansion.
The recent winner of our 4K displays group test, this 32-inch screen is a joy to work with, and a monitor of this size is the perfect setting for 4K to really come into its own. From stunning picture quality and top-notch contrast ratio to the reasonable price for such a wide display, it’s a winner all round.
Light, speedy and astonishingly small, the Samsung T1 is the definition of portable SSD storage. As well as having an attractive design, it is among the best-performing drives of its kind that we’ve tested, features AES-256 hardware-based encryption, and is more affordable now than when we reviewed it.
NETWORK STORAGE
WIRELESS ROUTER
THUNDERBOLT DOCK
Western Digital My Cloud Mirror £255
Netgear Nighthawk X4S £252
CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2 £180
wdc.com
netgear.co.uk
caldigit.com/uk
Winner of MF294’s NAS group test, the My Cloud Mirror provides Apple-like ease of use – but it’s no Time Capsule knock-off; with top performance (thrashing its group test rivals when it came to writing large files), whisper-quiet operation and a good range of features, it’s great if you want more from a NAS.
This aggressively-named router may be expensive, but it’s one of the best that money can buy. Sporting four aerials, the Nighthawk boasts four separate signals for a total speed of 2.5 gigabits per second. And with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, AirPrint support and an excellent app, it’s one powerful router.
Our MF297 group test winner got the nod for its beautifully compact form and superb menu bar tool, which lets you eject individual drives as you please (something its rivals failed to offer). It’s not the most laden with ports, but has everything that most people will need, and comes in at a great price point.
PRINTER
MACBOOK STAND/DOCK
MACBOOK BAG
Samsung Xpress SL-M2026 £50
Henge Docks Horizontal €449 (about £325)
Knomo James £169
samsung.co.uk
hengedocks.com
knomobags.com
For simple home printing at an affordable price, you just can’t beat this mono laser printer. For £50, you get 20 pages per minute printed at great quality, plus a rack of eco-friendly options, beating its main rivals at this price point. It doesn’t print colour, but if that’s not an issue for your documents then this is a no-brainer.
This is a seriously powerful dock. With more ports than you can shake an Apple Pencil at (13, to be precise), thermal vents to keep your MacBook cool, plus an elegantly simple design, it’s useful as well as beautiful. You can add up to three displays, two audio devices, six USB 3.0 devices and much, much more.
A beautifully made bag with a surprising amount of space inside. You’ll love the little touches, such as its big chunky zips and flashes of colour. It’s easy to turn the Knomo James into a smart office bag by removing the backpack straps, and Knomo provides each bag with a tracking ID in case yours goes AWOL.
macformat.com @macformat
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 107
STORE GUIDE iOS/Mac Hardware
BEST BUYS… curated picks of third-party kit WIRELESS SPEAKER
DESKTOP SPEAKER
PORTABLE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Wireless £499
Roth OLi POWA-5 £200
Kef Muo £299
bowers-wilkins.co.uk
rothaudio.co.uk
kef.com
This airship-inspired speaker is certainly striking, but it’s more than just a looker, with crisp, clear treble and refined bass output over previous Zeppelin models. Support for Bluetooth, Spotify Connect and AirPlay makes for plenty of connectivity, and dynamic EQ ensures controlled bass at all volumes.
Just one listen to these desktop speakers will tell you they’re in a class of their own. Their firm bass and detailed, rich sound packs a punch thanks to 80W output, and they feature Bluetooth streaming and a wide range of analogue and digital inputs. Hi-fi quality audio for £200? Sounds great to us!
Hi-fi king Kef brings its audio know-how to the portable speaker world and blows away the competition. Firm bass, a rich, detailed sound and sturdy build combine to form one impressive package, while you won’t be let down by the solid battery life. It’s one of the best portable speakers you can buy.
ON-EAR HEADPHONES
IN-EAR HEADPHONES
PORTABLE BATTERY PACK
Plantronics Backbeat Pro £125
RHA MA 750i £90
Apple iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case £79
plantronics.com
rha-audio.com
apple.com/uk
Wireless headphones are often blighted by meagre battery life, but not so with these cans, which run for more than 25 hours. They offer active noise-cancelling, brilliant wireless range, superb comfort and a huge range of intuitive touch controls, making these the wireless headphones to beat.
These in-ear buds impress on nearly every level. They come with easy-to-use inline controls and a steel-reinforced cable, while faultless low and mid range reproduction and a crafted, premium feel make them earphones of distinction. They are a world away from Apple’s cheap earbuds.
Despite that silly-looking hump on its back, the official battery case for the iPhone 6 and 6s is impressive. It’s easy to fit, the buttons feel great, and the soft inner lining protects against scratches. It isn’t the largest capacity case, yet it has more than enough juice for busy days, and the bump is surprisingly comfy.
IP CAMERA
iPHONE STAND
APPLE WATCH STAND
Netgear Arlo From £180
Just Mobile AluBolt £41
Nomad Stand for Apple Watch £50
netgear.co.uk
just-mobile.com
hellonomad.com
This home security system’s cameras are totally wireless, enabling you to mount them where you want; night vision, weatherproofing and a 130° field of vision makes them ideal outdoor eyes. Video quality is excellent, the cameras look smart, and your footage is stored in Netgear’s free cloud storage.
Charge your iPhone in style with this simple yet elegant stand. From the curved backstop to the rounded aluminium base, it oozes Apple-esque design chops and will fit right in among your other Apple kit. The Lightning connector can be tilted to help mount your iPhone on it, which is a nice touch.
Nomad’s stand is an absolutely gorgeous Apple Watch charging dock – carved from a single piece of curved aluminium, it looks like it could have been designed by Apple. Its weighty base keeps everything in place and the cable management is so tidy that it looks like there’s no cable there at all.
108 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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Have your say on all things Apple! LETTER OF THE MONTH! INTERNET OF FEAR I was rather surprised to see that your new Apple Home section extolling the virtues of devices all over the house broadcasting over Wi-Fi ignored the danger of home firewall breaches this can involve. A few years ago, a neighbour’s IT advisor pointed out that our HP printer was broadcasting open access to our otherwise protected home Wi-Fi network. We turned off that feature on the printer straight away! Now we are being urged to have our kettles and thermostats do the same thing. Worse, this idea that my network advertises “empty house” to the outside world or “quick, he’s coming back soon” is particularly frightening. Isn’t there an option of convenience and security in the ‘smart home’? Not if you simply ignore the latter and hope for the best. by J A M E S B A L L
CHRISTIAN SAYS… The more internet-connected devices we get to achieve the true smart home raises a good point about security. Fortunately, existing protocols are in place to ensure that it’s actually pretty robust. The IoT Security Foundation, which assesses developments in smart home security, was formed rather late in 2015 but now looks at emerging smart technolgies and their implications. Though it was late to the party doesn’t mean it has significant catching up to do. The tech available today is using existing router-level security protocols and proven smart technolgies (such as Z-Wave) that were being security tested as early as 2008.
UNFAIR iCLOUD Apple’s iCloud is such a wonderful thing to keep data safe and synced, but once you have many devices you discover how unfair Apple is to its customers. You can have more than five devices, but you are still allocated the 5GB (free) that a user who bought one device gets. Just imagine if you bought five cars from one company, and it only provided four tires for all of them! My question: Am I right that one is entitled to 5GB free irrespective of the number of devices one buys? If so, why aren’t people pressuring Apple to be fair to its customers and allocate 5GB per device? by G E O R G E D . H A D D A D
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ALEX SAYS… It’s reasonable that Apple allocates the 5GB for free per Apple ID. The fact that you may have multiple devices is optional, and iCloud is used to save duplication across devices. If you take a lot of photos you’ll use a lot of space, but the 79p per month for 20GB iCloud storage is excellent value, surely?
FINDING APPLE TV APPS Firstly, congratulations on the new design of MacFormat – it looks great! I purchased the new Apple TV on launch day last year, and overall I am very happy with it. Whilst it is far from perfect, it is definitely an upgrade on previous models, and hopefully it will
Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com
keep getting better with updates. My biggest gripe with it, though, is the fact you cannot easily find all available apps on the new store. Yes, it has a section to see top charts and Apple’s recommendations, but there is no easy way to see all available apps. Am I missing something? Or is there a website online which lists them all? I feel like I may be missing out on some really good content! by K E I T H R O B E R T S
CHRISTIAN SAYS… Look in Categories for some of the best apps. The search page becomes bearable if you use the iOS Remote app to type in it. Also check Purchased for great apps you bought for iOS that also work on Apple TV.
CONFUSION DRIVE? I am trying to put Alan Stonebridge’s very good article (MF296) into practice to create a Fusion Drive for my MacBook Air. However, I’m unable to find the installer for OS X 10.10.5 in the Mac App Store to create a flash drive with the OS X installer on board. What’s the best way to achieve this? by J A C K S I V E W R I G H T
ALAN SAYS… Thank you for the feedback on the Fusion Drive article. Apple lists only the latest OS X version in the Mac App Store, but you’ll find links to download previous versions you’ve obtained from the store by switching to its Purchased tab. Do you see OS X Yosemite listed there? If so, clicking the Install button at the right end of its row will download it (named something like Install OS X Yosemite) to your Mac’s Applications folder. This installer will be for the latest minor revision to that major version of OS X. Please let us know if you don’t see the installer for OS X Yosemite in your list of purchases.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 111
PHOTO STREAM Shot of the month
GET INVOLVED!
Dedicated to the memory of Andy Toulson 9/4/1963 – 10/2/2016
The iPhone is the world’s most popular camera, but it takes a bit of work to get a truly excellent shot. Why not show us your creations? Simply email us at photos@macformat.com and your work could be showcased on these pages!
Winter Sun by N I C K T O U L S O N
EQUIPMENT iPhone 6 I’d gone to Bude for the day to pick up an iPhone 5c for my son – he’d never had one before so I said I’d show him some features. I went through the basics, then we went for a walk along the path above the sea pool, and I said I’d show him the camera. I used my iPhone; it was just one of those moments where everything falls into place. When I got home, I used Google Photos and Snapseed to add the vignette and adjusted the light and colour. Then, after downloading it to my photos, I edited it further by altering the highlights/ shadows and black point.
112 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
WHY IT WORKS… IN MINIATURE
PASTEL COLOURS
POSTCARD LOOK
With just the right amount of depth-of-field from Nick’s vantage point, he’s given the scene a ‘toy town’ look.
With plenty of tinkering in the colours and black point, Nick gave an effective pastellike wash to whole picture.
To finish off a nice day at the seaside, Nick added the vintage border to make it look like an old-fashioned postcard.
MY PHOTO APPS GOOGLE PHOTOS FREE I used Google Photos’ assistant on my iPhone to create the frame, then I simply adjusted the light and colour in Google Photos and then a bit further in Photos on my iPhone.
PHOTOS FREE A while back I sold my Canon EOS 550D and pretty much use my iPhone 6 all the time for photography now. Apple’s built-in Photos app, though not fancy, is just the thing for those initial edits.
ENLIGHT £2.99 When I have a bit more time I dive into this excellent iOS app. For just a few quid you can create some stunning effects that make pictures look like you’ve spent hours in Photoshop!
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Your pictures PHOTO STREAM
Get the look... Photo album Learn how to get fantastic iPhone shots like the pros
Great shots that make it into our gallery
1 Depth of field
Open your photo in Snapseed, then tap the pencil icon to edit it. Add the Lens Blur filter and pinch to set the elliptical focus to an oval shape, then swipe horizontally to set the blur strength to around 30.
Kendal, Cumbria Jonny Gios took this dramatic image of the devastating January floods with a 6s Plus.
Bishops Sutton, Hampshire These leading lines make a great woodland shot from Rachel Bristow’s iPhone 5s.
2 Pastel wash
Now you’ve softened parts of the pic, saturate and warm it up. Tap the pencil, pick the Brush tool, select Temperature or Saturation, then swipe over the areas to affect. The brush is applied on a new layer.
3 Stylised border
With the picture taking shape, finish its vintage feel with a darkroom-style border. Tap the pencil, pick the Frames filter, and select number 10. This perfectly complements the style we’re after.
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Cafe, Lyme Regis Last month we included a stormy sea picture from Victor Carmelo Sciberras. We couldn’t help but include this one too, shot at the same time from a cafe on the seafront. We love the inside/outside contrast.
APRIL 2016 | MACFORMAT | 113
TIME MACHINE Classic Apple kit given a unique makeover
“Always believe in your soul…” – Spandau Ballet would be proud of a Retina iMac in nothing but gold!
The Gold 5K iMac After the MacBook, Midas touches the desktop Even a new iMac from Apple isn’t quite as shinily ostentatious as this 24-carat beauty! Luxury goldsmiths Goldgenie started gold-plating iPhones, iPads and MacBooks a few years ago, and now you can get a real gold iMac too. Okay, a 27-inch Retina display model will cost you at least £6,000, but that hasn’t stopped one Chinese web development company, which has ordered 50 of them to take centre stage in its new offices! If gold iMacs really take off in the Far East maybe Apple will seriously consider a gold colour for the next iMac. It worked with the 12-inch MacBook, on which it looks great with the black keyboard and screen bezel. £6,000 WEBSITE goldgenie.com DIMENSIONS 51.6x65x20.3cm
NEXT ISSUE ON SALE Tuesday 12 April 2016 114 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2016
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