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SECURE YOUR MAC WITH
CATALINA
Master your Security & Privacy Tighten up your online security Use the enhanced Find My app
TURN YOUR iPAD INTO AN IN-CAR ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM NOW!
BACK UP YOUR iOS DEVICES IN FINDER
ISSUE 207
CREATE USEFUL SIRI REMINDERS | SCAN DOCUMENTS IN MAIL | MASTER MUSIC IN iOS 13
100 greatest apps THE BEST HEALTH & FITNESS APPS Activity++ There is no doubt that the Apple Watch tracks fitness brilliantly, but the Activity app can be difficult to follow at times. Activity++ takes the data from your watch and presents it in a simplistic way that should help you get fitter than ever before.
Zombies, Run! Going for a run can be boring at the best of times, but with this app you will be enjoying an audio experience to keep you motivated. It actually gets scary as you run away from virtual zombies while getting fitter at the same time.
Color Therapy Coloring Number You will not need much talent to enjoy this painting experience because it is a marriage of painting by numbers and pure sketching. There is a community as well to converse within and the whole experience is designed around fun and enjoying yourself.
MindMate – For a healthy brain
Sleep Watch by Bodymatter Install Sleep Watch on your iPhone and Apple Watch and you will receive a detailed sleep report each day you wake up which is a feature not officially supported by the Apple Watch. The level of detail is immense and easy to learn from.
Memory games are quite common, but few offer as much variety as MindMate. At times it almost feels like a mobile Nintendo Wii experience, the quality is that good, and so you can enjoy yourself while you improve your brain. A very clever app.
Calorie Counter + The best way to lose weight is to truly understand how your calorie intake affects your body mass. With this app you can track your food and drink intake in seconds and then study the results at your leisure. It really does work.
Instant Heart Rate+ HR Monitor You really can check your heart rate using just your iPhone camera lens and this clever little app. The results are surprisingly accurate and if you pay a little extra you can receive detailed reports which may help you check for potential health problems.
Carrot Fit The snark that this app throws out is amusing and it brings a unique twist to the experience, but at its heart the exercises are genuinely useful and you will see improvements in your fitness and your body in a very short time.
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Quit Genius – quit smoking No matter the price of this app, the potential benefits could not be more important. Everything about the app is designed to help you and we have struggled to find anything negative to say. If you want to quit smoking give this a go.
WWF Free Rivers For a subject as natural as an ecosystem it makes sense to present the learning using AR and in this app you play around and be God for a few moments. Your actions will have a major impact on the rivers in front of you.
Photos
Add autumn colours Creatively grade a photo by making selective hue, lightness and saturation adjustments Developer
Apple, Inc Difficulty
Time needed
10 Download available
A
utumn’s russet red leaves provide attractive photo opportunities for photographers, especially in rural locations. However we may not always get the chance to visit a suitable site before the leaves fall and the trees become bare as winter draws in. Fortunately we can creatively grade our out-of-season shots to add dramatic autumnal colours. The Photos app’s Selective Colour panel enables us to target and tweak the lightness, hue and saturation of specific colours. For example if we adjust the hue of lush green leaves we can shift them to a more autumnal looking red, without running the risk of changing other colours such as skin tones. We’ve provided you with a shot to work with but you can apply this selective colour grading techniques to your own images if preferred.
Selective adjustments Change hue, saturation and lightness Target a colour
Adjust colour hue
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After
Knowledge base
Custom colour sample
Some objects consist of a mix of colours. For example summer leaves tend to feature yellow and green. If you’re not sure which particular colour icon to tick in the Selective Colour panel, choose the eyedropper icon. Click the eyedropper on the shot to sample a specific object’s colours. You can then change the hue, saturation and luminance of a mix of colours.
You can select a colour in a photo by ticking the appropriate colour box. Here we’re targeting the original green colour of the photograph’s leaves. For a more complex mix of colours you can use the custom hue eyedropper (see Knowledge base).
Once you’ve sampled a colour you can experiment with different looks by dragging the Hue slider left or right. Bear in mind that all examples of the sampled colour throughout the shot will also change their hue.
Before
The Selective Colour panel in the Photos app lets you apply autumnal shades to any image…
Range The targeted colour may vary according to lighting conditions (such as direct sunlight and shade.) To include more versions of the sampled colour in the adjustment, drag the Range slider to the right.
Vignette The Vignette slider is designed to counteract darker edges produced by the camera’s lens. You can use it creatively too. Drag Strength right to dramatically darken the edges of the frame or left to create an overexposed border.
iMovie
Turn day to night Use iMovie’s grading techniques to create a moody moonlit movie
Developer
Apple, Inc Difficulty
Time needed
10
U
Download available
nless there’s street lighting or a strong moon, when you’re filming at night your subject may disappear into darkness. If the camera uses a high ISO speed to make it sensitive to low light this can make the clip look grainy. Many film makers shoot their subject in daylight and then grade the clip’s colours and tones to create a more effective moonlit scene. Indeed shooting ‘day for night’ is such a common technique that iMovie offers a Day into Night filter that attempts to add a nocturnal hue to a clip. We can produce a more convincing nighttime look by tweaking colours and tones manually. We’ll also add a CG moon to complete the nocturnal illusion!
Using iMovie’s editing tools you can transform daytime footage into a convincing night scene…
Step-by-step Turn day to night
1 Try the filter
2 Increase contrast
3 Reduce brightness
4 Desaturate colour
5 Moody blues
6 Add the moon
Import our Day to Night_start.mov and Moon.psd file into an iMovie project. Add the clip to the timeline. Click the Clip Filter effects icon and choose the ‘Day into Night’ preset.
The location’s daylight colours are still too vibrant, so drag the Reduce Saturation slider to the left to create a more subdued and atmospheric colour palette.
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The filtered version isn’t too convincing. Click ‘Reset’. Click the Color Correction icon. Drag Adjust Contrast left to add dramatic dark shadows and a brighter moonlit sky.
The daylight sourced colours are still too warm. To add a wash of moonlit blue, drop the Temperature slider to the far left. This creates a cooler looking nocturnal hue.
Drag the central Reduce Brightness slider left to create a more dimly lit scene that mimics the weaker reflected sunlight bouncing off the moon onto the subject.
Drag the Moon.psd into the timeline as a cutaway layer. Extend its duration to match the clip. By default the moon has a Ken Burns movement added to it. It’s the wrong size too.
Final Cut Pro X
Create the illusion of identical triplets Developer
Apple, Inc Difficulty
Time needed
15 Download available
How to combine spilt-screen, green screen and animated masks
T
he split-screen effect is as old as cinema itself. By filming somebody in one half of the screen and then filming them in the other half you can combine the two clips to create the illusion of identical twins. To make the effect look more believable you can have the twins interact. By animating the position of the split-screen you can make one twin place a piece on a chessboard and then watch the other twin pick up the same piece. By adding green screen to the mix you can place a third identical clone behind the first two, creating the illusion of triplets. In this guide, we’ll
Using split-screen you too can create the illusion of triplets
show you how to overcome common green screen problems such as holes in objects and fringes around the edge of your subjects.
Combine clips using keying
Refine green screen composites
Sample Color This tool enables you to draw a rectangle on the clip to sample the colour that you need to become transparent (such as the green curtain). If the lighting on the green screen is uneven you can draw more than one sample box, creating a cleaner key.
Three source clips To create the illusion of triplets we filmed our actor Sam playing chess in the right half of the screen, then in the left. A mask was used to combine both versions of Sam together in a single shot. We used green screen to add a third clip of Sam watching from behind the table.
Fill Holes This very handy slider enables you to fill holes in your subject. The nearby Spill Level slider reduces green light reflecting on the subject.
Knowledge base Filming your footage When shooting a split-screen sequence it’s important that none of the props move, or they may become misaligned when you mix the two clips together using a split-screen effect. We used blu tack to stick our chess board to the table. Try to avoid any shadows on the green backdrop as these can cause unwanted patches to appear in the composite clip.
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Matte tools A keyed subject may have a sharp outline that makes it look ‘cut-out’. You can soften the hard edge using a combination of the Shrink/ Expand, Soften and Erode sliders.
Logic Pro X
Automated EQ sweeps with Logic’s Modulator Developer
Apple, Inc Beginner
Time needed
20
Create synced modulation effects with the Modulator MIDI plugin
L
ogic’s MIDI plugins are a mysterious bunch – huddled away in their own submenu away from all the other plugins, they’re often overlooked and little-used as a result. Get to know them, however, and you’ll find that they’re capable of some pretty useful tricks, so this month we’re going to check out the MIDI Modulator plugin.
Logic’s MIDI plugins are a powerful set of tools and with the Modulator plugin you can experiment with frequencies…
Modulators are generally used to modulate or change things, and this plugin lives up to its name. You can assign it to control more or less any parameter of any other plugin within Logic, which makes it a pretty powerful tool – in this example, we’re going to use it to control a single frequency band within a Channel EQ plugin to produce a rhythmic, automated filter effect.
Mod you later
Control plugin parameters via MIDI with Logic’s Modulator Smoothing/steps per LFO Use the Smoothing slider to round off the edges of waveforms like the square wave, for instance. Changing the waveform shape will affect the timing and feel of the modulation effect.
Output graph This smoothly-animated graph plots the movement of the LFO at its current settings, giving you a handy visual reference to how it’s altering the selected parameter.
Knowledge base What’s an LFO? Found in the modulation circuits of almost all synthesizers, an LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) generates a slow, regular pulse that can be used to control almost any parameter in any plugin in Logic via MIDI continuous controller (CC) messages. You can also use the one in the Modulator plugin to send continuously varying pitchbend and aftertouch messages.
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Wave hello You can switch LFO shape between triangle, sine, square or random waveforms. The symmetry control slews the shape of the waveform left/right, changing a triangle wave into a sawtooth wave, for example.
Offset control The Offset slider controls the overall depth of the effect. In the centre position, the wave is at maximum amplitude in both its positive and negative phases.
Safari
Customise Safari’s new windows and tabs Show what’s important in your Safari windows and tabs Developer
Apple, Inc Beginner
Time needed
10
W
hen you start Safari to browse the web, what do you see? Your favourite home page like Google or DuckDuckGo? Why go there when searches can be performed from the address box anyway? There are several ways to customise the content that appears when a new window or new tab opens in Safari and with the right content on display, it could make it easier and quicker to access what you need on the web. One of the things you can do for example, is get suggestions of websites to visit from Siri or you could show favourite websites from your bookmarks. Not just any or all favourites, but a specific set of favourites that include sites you use the most. Put the content you want and need most in Safari.
Safari startup configuration From favourites to top sites to Siri suggestions, choose what appears in Safari Select content Ctrl+click an empty part of the page and choose the items you want to see. If there are more items in a section than will fit on the screen, a ‘More’ menu appears.
What do you want to see when you open a new Safari window? You have full freedom to decide…
Start with Favourites Set Safari to open with a new window and then set new windows to open with Favourites. New tabs can be configured to open with the same different content, such as a homepage.
Choose favourites When new windows or tabs open with Favourites (bookmarks), choose which favourites are shown in this menu down below. Bear in mind the limited space on the new window or tab page.
Knowledge base Privacy problems It is all very well putting favourite websites, recently visited sites and Siri suggestions on the startup page or new tab pages, but if you use your Mac where someone can see your screen or look over your shoulder, they might see something you would prefer to keep private. For this reason, you might want to start Safari with a blank page.
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Control Siri suggestions Enable this Siri Suggestions startup section in System Preferences>Siri and then customise items that appear by Ctrl+clicking them. Tell Siri not to suggest a site if you prefer to hide it.
Finder
Edit Mac photos on iOS devices Open photos on the Mac on your iPhone or iPad to edit them with a finger or Apple Pencil Developer
Apple, Inc Beginner
Time needed
10
D
id you know you can edit photos on your Mac using your iPhone or iPad? The Photos app syncs photographs and you can edit them on either device of course, but with macOS Catalina and iOS 13 there are new ways of working and your iOS device is like an extension to your Mac. Using Quick Look in Finder, photos appear simultaneously on Mac and iPhone or iPad and you can use a mouse, trackpad, touchscreen or Pencil to edit them. Editing features and methods are different on computers and mobile devices because of their interfaces and operating systems, and sometimes one has features or capabilities the other doesn’t. Being able to edit on any device opens up new possibilities.
You can start editing images on your Mac straight from Finder’s Quick Look feature and the Markup tools
Markup on iOS Use iPhone/iPad Markup tools
Knowledge base Use Apple Pencil
Fingers and Pencils Use whatever tools you have on the iOS device to mark up the image. The Mac does not have a touchscreen, but you can use a finger on the iPhone or Pencil on the iPad.
Browse and markup Either select a photo or other image in the Finder window and press the spacebar or use Gallery view and then click the Markup button to view it. Then you can edit it on iOS.
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Although marking up images with your finger on an iPhone is possible, it is best on a recent iPad with a Pencil 2. Double-tap the lower section of the Pencil to switch between the current and last tool or current tool and eraser. Configure the option in Settings>Apple Pencil. Drag the tool palette around or minimise it for more space.
Done or revert When you have finished editing on the iPhone or iPad, tap ‘Done’ on the device’s screen. On the Mac, click ‘Revert’ to undo all the markup actions or click ‘Done’ to save it.
Connect/ disconnect iDevice Click this button in the Mac’s Markup editor to connect or disconnect an iPhone or iPad. The device is woken and the photo then appears on the screen in the iOS Markup editor.
Secure your Mac with Catalina
Basic Security & Privacy settings
The first line of defence for securing your Mac can be found in the System Preferences. Here you will find a section called Security & Privacy. But remember, to make changes you will first need to click on the padlock icon and then enter your administrator password. Let’s get started…
General security prefs The first step to securing your Mac is to ensure that the basic security settings are as watertight as possible. To get started, head to System Preferences>Security & Privacy and then click on the ‘General’ tab.
Require a password Make sure that you tick the ‘Require password’ option and then set it to ‘Immediately’. That way, whenever your Mac goes to sleep, nobody will be able to access and use it after the screen saver begins.
Advanced settings These settings allow you to set your Mac to log out of your account after a specified period of inactivity – handy if you get called away unexpectedly, and require an administrator password to access systemwide preferences, which is also recommended.
App downloads Disable automatic login Make sure that this box is ticked to ensure that your Mac doesn’t automatically log in, thus allowing anyone to access the contents.
All applications downloaded from the Mac App Store are guaranteed to be safe, so for peace of mind, select the ‘App Store’ option here to ensure that no apps can be downloaded from the internet and risk contaminating your Mac with malware.
LIMIT AD TRACKING
USING FILEVAULT
A new addition to your Mac’s Security & Privacy preferences in macOS Mojave was the ‘Advertising’ section. This is still present in Catalina, so click on it and tick the ‘Limit Ad Tracking’ box to opt out of receiving ads targeted to your interests. You should also click on ‘Reset Advertising Identifier’. If you do opt in, click on ‘View Ad Information’ to see what info you are sharing.
FileVault is a handy feature that encrypts all of the files on your Mac and to decrypt them you will need to type in your account password or recovery key that you create when you turn the feature on. The downside is that you’ll need to type in your password every time you open a file and the time it takes to encrypt everything in the first place can be considerable.
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Settings
Delete all of your Siri recordings Remove your audio history and don’t allow your Siri audio to be shared with Apple Developer
Apple, Inc Beginner
Time needed
02
A
pple revealed in August 2019 that it was allowing contractors to listen to the voice recordings of Siri users. After it came to light, Apple apologised and explained that it granted such permission in order to grade Siri requests so that it could make future improvements to its service. Even so, it proved alarming. The audio included confidential information captured when Siri was accidentally activated so Apple promised it would make changes to the system. Sure enough, with iOS 13.2, it added a new option that allows you to request that Siri audio is deleted from Apple’s servers. Regardless of how security-conscious you are, we would recommend that everyone uses this option as there is really no reason why other people should be allowed to listen to what you ask of Siri. The decision to opt in and allow recordings to be stored is now yours to make and in this tutorial we look at how you can do both. If you want to know what happens to your recorded data, just ask Siri…
Step-by-step Remove audio from Apple servers
1 Update your iPhone
To see the options for this tutorial, you need iOS 13.2 installed on your iPhone. Check this is the case by opening the Settings app and going to General>Software Update.
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2 Select Siri settings
With iOS 13.2 installed, you can now request that the Siri recordings Apple stores on its servers are removed. Again, open the Settings app. This time select ‘Siri & Search’.
3 Check the details
At the very bottom of the Ask Siri block of options on this next page you will now be able to see an entry called ‘Siri & Dictation History’. Simply go ahead and select it.
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iPad
OS iPadOS
Turn your iPad into an in-car entertainment system Developer
Apple, Inc Difficulty
Time needed
15
Your iPad could potentially be the best upgrade you can give your car. It does everything you need
T
here is no doubt that iPads tend to be used in the home by the majority of users and by others at work and when out and about. We do not, however, tend to think of the iPad as a device that can be used in the car, but when you really think about it, the device has all of the features and tools you could need to help any journey progress. The Tesla cars highlight how big screens work in cars and if you follow the law and the safety guidelines you will be able to do much more than you may expect with an iPad mounted in a vehicle. We will highlight what can be done and will leave the rest of the experience to you to build.
There are many ways in which your iPad can be used as an in-car entertainment system‌
Step-by-step Create an iPad in-car system
1 An impressive sample 2 Safe navigation Apple Maps is superior to the majority of in-car GPS systems. With features such as worldwide coverage, traffic management and ease of use, it works so well.
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The Night mode in Maps will trigger automatically so that you are not distracted while driving and you can quickly get in touch with someone if needed in an emergency.
3 Audio entertainment
If your car has Bluetooth or a USB jack you can connect the iPad to your in-car stereo to play the music at full volume. Apple Music will give you every track you want.