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The Apple Gift Guide
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Worried about Santa turning up with another pair of new socks this year? Then leave our handy Gift Guide open on your coffee table! All the best gear to wish for.
How to plan, record, edit, and market your own video productions. Check out our top tips and hardware recommendations to help you make amazing movies.
Last issue, we introduced macOS Sierra. This month, we dive right in to help you make the most of the great new features.
From setup to final edits, we’ve got all the top tips for broadcasting your own footage online.
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maclife.com dec 2016 3
>>> Contents
59
06
Digital|Life
76
62
56
Dials Calendar
66
Apple Watch Series 2
57
Alto – Email Organized for You
70
Notebooks
71
PDF Expert 2
57
Timelines – Time Tracking
71
Budget Planning
80
84
Head over to techradar.com.
08
Consider Matt Bolton re-evaluates the Apple Watch.
09
10
12
14
Email: letters@maclife.com.
58
Vintage Design
72
Hydra
Smart bots and screens
59
Sidekix
74
Live Home 3D
Is Apple keeping up with AI advances? And microLEDs.
59
Mondly: Learn Languages
75
Archiver 3
75
iMazing 2
60
Highly – Highlight to Share
76
Drobo 5N
Cloud control
Lifestyle-enhancing gadgets for your home.
94
Apple TV Apps and hardware for your Apple TV.
98
Ask
77
Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless
David Chartier says apps need to keep up with new iOS developments.
61
Submerged: Miku and the Sunken City
77
Samsung 750 Evo 500GB
6 great Mac projects
62
Battlefleet Gothic: Leviathan
78
Nikon D3300
80
Netgear Arlo Q Plus
81
Adam Elements iKlips Duo
104 Encrypt email anywhere
81
GekkoXL
106 Tailor your style in RapidWeaver
82
Mafia II
83
Rocket League
The Shift
Game Loop Brianna Wu advocates apps that entertain and educate.
Crave
64
6 of the best security and privacy apps Outpost Defender
65
AnyList
65
Shazam
65
How to: maximize rewards with Wallaby
The gear we’re lusting after.
18
Get smart
Pattern – Design Drawing
63
16
92
60
Get organized and creative over the winter season.
15
How to record and watch 4K video at its best.
Share
Apple is bringing its cloud team together to improve its services.
13
4K video
$50 iTunes card What would you buy…?
Our Apple experts answer your burning hardware and software questions.
100 Discover the new features in Photos 102
How to use Sierra’s Optimized Storage
109 Manage iMessage apps 110
Learn iOS 10’s Lock screen
112
Organize email on iOS
114
Random Apple Memory The pull of the “One more thing” catchphrase… Plus, what to expect next issue.
43
Parrot Swing
4 dec 2016 maclife.com
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Visit techradar.com The march of technology never stops, so neither do we. Mac|Life’s website is now part of the new and improved TechRadar, so you can grab your fix of Mac and iOS news over at www.techradar.com.
You’ll get all the latest news and tutorials for Mac, iPhone and iPad, as well as other trusted reviews, news, and how-tos that have made TechRadar one of the world’s top tech sites. We’ll see you there!
Read more news, reviews, and tutorials at techradar.com
EDITORIAL Editor Matt Bolton operations EDITORS Jo Membery, Ed Ricketts CONTRIBUTORS Adam Banks, Gareth Beavis, J.R. Bookwalter, David Chartier, Amy Davies, Craig Grannell, Kate Gray, Christian Hall, Phil Hall, Tim Hardwick, Lucy Hattersley, Kenny Hemphill, Leif Johnson, Hollin Jones, Cliff Joseph, Sarah LeBoeuf, Gary Marshall, Amber Neely, Howard Oakley, Nick Peers, Jennifer Phin, Dave Stevenson, Alan Stonebridge, Matt Thrower, Brianna Wu ART aRT editor Mat Gartside Contributors Apple, Susan Kare, Joe Ravi, ThinkStock BUSINESS vice president sales Stacy Gaines, stacy.gaines@futurenet.com Vice President Strategic Partnerships Isaac Ugay, isaac.ugay@futurenet.com East coast account director Brandie Rushing, brandie.rushing@futurenet.com East coast account director Michael Plump, michael.plump@futurenet.com mid west account director Jessica Reinert, jessica.reinert@futurenet.com west coast account director Austin Park, austin.park@futurenet.com west coast account director Brandon Wong, brandon.wong@futurenet.com west coast account director Tad Perez, tad.perez@futurenet.com director of marketing Robbie Montinola director, client services Tracy Lam Director, retail sales Bill Shewey MANAGEMENT Editorial Director Paul Newman GROUP ART DIRECTOR Graham Dalzell PRODUCTION HEAD OF PRODUCTION UK & US Mark Constance PRODUCTION controller Fran Twentyman Project Manager Clare Scott PRoduction assistant Emily Wood
FUTURE US, INC. One Lombard Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: 650-872-1642 www.futureus.com global chief revenue officer Charlie Speight vice president, marketing & operations Rhoda Bueno vice president, product development Bart Jaworski finance director Frederick Alfredo senior hr generalist Mary Mauck FUTURE PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1225 442244 (Bath) • Tel: +44 (0)2070 424000 (London)
Volume 10, Issue 13
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MAC|LIFE (ISSN 1935-4010) is published monthly by Future US, Inc., One Lombard Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94111 (650) 872-1642. www.futureus.com. Periodicals postage paid at San Bruno, CA, and at additional mailing offices. Newsstand distribution is handled by Curtis Circulation Company. Basic print subscription rates: 13 issues U.S. $24.95, Foreign: $39.95. U.S. prepaid funds only. Subscriptions do not include newsstand specials. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PO Box 2024, Langhorne, PA 19047, USA. Ride-Along Enclosure in the following editions: None. Standard Mail Enclosure in the following editions: None. Canadian returns should be sent to IMEX Global Solutions, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada. Future US, Inc. also publishes Maximum PC, Official Xbox Magazine, and PC Gamer. PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE: Mac|Life Customer Care, PO Box 2024, Langhorne, PA 19047, USA. Online: www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/youraccount. Toll free: 1-844-779-2822 (Opening hours: Mon- Fri 8am to 7pm; Sat 10am to 2pm EDT). Email: contact@myfavouritemagazines.com. REPRINTS: Future US, Inc., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Phone: (650) 872-1642. Fax (650) 872-2207. Website: www.futureus.com. AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR LAWYERS: Entire contents copyright 2016, Future US, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. Future US, Inc. is not affiliated with the companies or products covered in Mac|Life. All information provided is, as far as Future is aware, based on information correct at the time of press. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to products/ services referred to in this magazine. We welcome reader submissions, but cannot promise that they will be published or returned to you. By submitting materials to us, you agree to give Future the royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive right to publish and reuse your submission in any form in any and all media and to use your name and other information in connection with the submission.
URSA Mini lets you shoot true digital film quality that’s dramatically better than a DSLR! Record in RAW, ProRes and more
Blow your clients away with URSA Mini 4.6K, the only camera that lets you shoot with the true digital film quality of a high end Hollywood feature film! You get a handheld, Super 35 digital film camera that works with your existing Canon DSLR lenses, has a 4.6K image sensor with 15 stops of dynamic range. URSA Mini 4.6K records video as camera RAW and ProRes so you can edit, color correct and deliver results that are far superior and look better than anything you can shoot on a DSLR!
You never have to stop recording because URSA Mini features two CFast 2.0 recorders! When one card is full, recording continues on the next so you’ll never miss an important moment! Unlike DSLRs that heavily compress video, URSA Mini records 12-bit RAW files that preserve all the dynamic range and quality captured by the sensor. You can also record ProRes files that are easy to edit and use less storage!
Dramatically better than DSLR Video
Includes DaVinci Resolve
URSA Mini features a custom 4.6K digital film sensor that shoots up to 60 frames per second with 15 stops of super wide dynamic range! That means your images will retain shadow and highlight detail simultaneously without clipping. You’ll get clarity and textures that are impossible to capture with a DSLR or regular video cameras! Imagine shooting indoors with the correct exposure and still seeing every detail through the windows outside!
URSA Mini includes DaVinci Resolve 12.5 Studio, the same professional software used to edit and color correct Hollywood feature films, television shows and commercials! With DaVinci Resolve 12.5 Studio you get the world’s best professional editor and color corrector, along with incredible new effects so you can edit, color correct, add effects and deliver projects from start to finish, all in one single software tool!
Lightweight and Portable URSA Mini’s perfectly balanced body is rugged, yet lightweight and comfortable for all day shooting. There’s even an optional shoulder mount kit that lets you move from tripod to handheld in seconds! Everything you need is built in, so you don’t have to carry around extra equipment. You get a super bright 5” fold out touch screen for monitoring video, displaying timecode, histograms, audio meters, focus peaking and more!
www.blackmagicdesign.com
Blackmagic URSA Mini From All models include DaVinci Resolve 12.5 Studio for editing and color correction. Electronic Viewfinder, lens and accessories sold separately.
$2,995
ONE TO WATCH? In this issue, you’ll find our review of the Apple Watch Series 2 (p66). I know a lot of our readers don’t think the Watch is worth considering, but as I said last issue, and we mention in the review, a second look is definitely warranted if you previously dismissed it. Partly, that’s down to things changing with the Watch itself. You’ve got the new models, the Series 1 and Series 2, both of which include a faster processor than the original model. Then the Series 2 adds better waterproofing, built-in GPS, and a brighter screen. Then you have watchOS 3, which is not far off being a total do-over for the Watch’s software. It changed how some of the most fundamental parts of the OS worked, changing key ways of navigating, and even demonstrating a slightly different design language, with easy shortcuts to key options prevailing over using the fiddly Digital Crown to select things. It makes for something that’s more useful – I use the analogy of it being a “remote control for your iPhone” a lot, because I think that pretty accurately describes both why it’s useful (it means you don’t need to pull your phone out and delve into apps for light information as often), and how necessary it is. Which is to say: not necessary at all. Just like TVs decades ago, your iPhone is totally functional without it. But it’s nicer to have it. But there’s another reason I think it’s worth taking a second look: it tells us a lot about Apple, and the company’s future. It’s a move further away from the “trucks” of computers, as Steve Jobs called them, which are unwieldy for light information tasks. Apple made the phone and tablet the place to go instead. And then it looked at what tasks could be even smoother on a wearable – notifications and Siri being key, so you spend less time in apps. Apple is shifting things that don’t require constant attention to ever more invisible devices. Can a product similar to Amazon’s Echo Dot (p37) be far behind? I think Apple expects artifical intelligence to be part of this – adding convenience through automation. It’s computing as part of your lifestyle, not as a hobby, and the Watch is a huge step on the way.
>>>the team
Mat Gartside Art Editor Mat wants 12 Lightning cables as his gift this year, to pre-empt losing them.
Jo Membery Operations Editor Jo wants an end to tangled wires. She’s asked for a Wi-Fi printer, or a machete.
Hollin Jones Contributor Hollin wants an iKlip AV to turn his iPhone into a pro camera setup.
Matt Bolton, Editor Twitter: @matthewbbolton
8 Dec 2016 maclife.com
Your opinions, rants & raves
My 2009 iMac is running under OS X 10.6.8 and works perfectly. I use it mainly for database, Excel, and Word and don’t want to upgrade since several programs such as FileMaker and Quicken are not compatible with the latest version of OS X, and I really don’t want to spend the money again to upgrade the software when the current versions are fine. I don’t want or need iCloud, or the host of other new features which come with the later versions of OS X. My iPhone SE will not sync with my iMac. Since I print a monthly calendar for my desk from my iMac, I am forced to do double entry, once on the iMac in iCal, and once on the iPhone in its Calendar app, which is a pain. Is there anything you can suggest that would force syncing the calendar apps between the two? Gary Moliver By far the best option is to use a cloud service – in your case, Google Calendar, since iCloud requires OS X 10.7. You only need to set it up with your devices once, after which it will work in the background, without intruding on you. Any other solution is limited by the age of your OS X version.
App awareness
Remember, you can stop apps from unknown sources being able to run.
In the Ask section of your October 2016 issue (#120), a reader wrote to you about Bitdefender on his Mac. You responded by saying it is intended to clear out iffy software, but it’s controversial, and you strongly recommend removing it. I was perplexed and concerned by this, because Bitdefender as a security suite (anti-virus, firewall, etc) was rated by Maximum PC (a sister magazine to yours) as a top pick for security suite software in a feature many months ago. It’s as a result of the article I purchased Bitdefender security/anti-virus software for my Mac and PC, and to-date have been pleased with the results. Now I am concerned. Can you help me understand if there is a difference between what Bitdefender offers on the website as security software suites, versus
SHARE WITH US!
the link the reader clicked in the email which populated his/her Mac with a Bitdefender app which should be removed? John Lee There’s no problem with a legit, purchased copy of Bitdefender! But if it just appears on your Mac without you knowing what the source is, then A) it could be an altered, malicious version of the software, or B) it could be legit, but still a free version designed to encourage you to pay for it, which may annoy you. Always err on the side of safety.
Key problems For years, I’ve been using QuicKeys to switch between applications using the function keys. Last month, iTunes upgraded to 12.5.1, and now, when I press
Some older apps can have issues with newer versions of macOS.
some of the function keys, they no longer work as programmed, instead they bring up iTunes and either restart the track I was listening to or start a new track. I phoned Apple Support and they were clueless, suggesting that I update to OS X El Capitan. It took 28 hours to do so, and the problem still remains. Any suggestion on how to fix this? Dan Eggleston QuicKeys 4 only “substantially” works with OS X 10.7 or later, so lots of things may have gone wrong. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard and check the “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” box, to see if that helps. Otherwise, try reinstalling QuicKeys, in case that kicks things back into gear.
Band practice I read in Mac|Life #120 that you are thinking of doing a GarageBand article. That would be awesome! I want to learn how to create a song, but can’t seem to get the hang of GarageBand. Roger Shaver Quite a few of you have got in touch about this… so we’ll do it!
Email: letters@maclife.com Facebook: facebook.com/maclife Twitter: twitter.com/maclife
maclife.com dec 2016 9
Start FEED YOUR MIND. FEAST YOUR EYES.
Okay, we’re not expecting Siri to turn into this, but it does need to get smarter.
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AI is the future, but is Apple keeping up? The bots are coming, and there’s concern over Siri’s stagnating smarts BY Matt Bolton
10 dec 2016 maclife.com
Most tech industry watchers are in agreement that the next playing field for the big companies is artificial intelligence, in the form of smart bots that can recognize your sentences and give relevant answers. Siri is the obvious archetype of this, but you’ve probably seen bots appearing in some of your apps too: Facebook has several bots you can chat with to request things, Slack has a built-in bot assistant for certain tasks, Mondly (reviewed p59) and Duolingo include bots you can have a brief conversation with to learn a language… and it’s spreading. Even Amazon has Alexa on the Echo devices to chat to at home. This is inevitably causing an arms race to have the smartest bot – and there’s concern that Siri isn’t keeping up. Siri’s ability to understand speech has been improving dramatically over the years, but what it can do with those words still feels frustratingly limited. Integration with
Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.
Meet microLED, the next display tech Thinner, brighter screens BY Matt Bolton Apple’s personal apps (Contacts, Calendar, and so on) isn’t bad, and Apple has web sources for certain kinds of information on board, but if you ask it general questions, it often falls flat. Walt Mossberg of recode.net recently wrote of his frustrations that Siri couldn’t tell him when the next presidential debate was, and when he asked about the weather in a particular location, it found a less obvious place with the same name. Google’s Now assistant had no problems with the same questions. John Gruber of Daring Fireball noted his frustration that Siri’s contextual understanding is nowhere near where we’d expect it to be. Even if you ask Siri about an event and it tells you the date and time, ask it to add that to a calendar and it’s stumped. And the problems are fixable: Apple corrected Siri’s responses to the phrases Mossberg highlighted shortly after he revealed them. But that doesn’t help people at the time they need the information – and if people give up on Siri, it won’t matter if Apple actually makes it smarter. The assumption will still be there that it’s not worth using. We know that Apple is working on big developments in AI, no doubt including more Siri smarts – but it needs to move quickly to change people’s minds, and most of all it needs to work on Siri’s consistency. An assistant that only gets it right 50% of the time won’t cut it – especially with Samsung, Google, and more all touting their own new, smarter assistants on new devices.
As we write this, the internet (well, some of it) is excited by rumors that the next iPhone may use an OLED screen, which offers richer contrast and lower power usage than the LCD displays currently used in all Apple products except the Apple Watch (which already uses OLED). OLED means “organic light-emitting diode,” where each pixel actually generates its own light (unlike LCD technology, which requires a backlight to be shone through its pixels). OLED is currently the pinnacle of the display world… but there’s another screen technology on the horizon that could knock it off that position. Known as microLED, it’s kind of exactly as it sounds: screens would be made up of thousands of tiny LEDs. And we mean tiny. A functioning display was shown off in 2011 where each LED was just 12 microns in size, or 0.012mm each. That’s much smaller than the pixels used in Apple’s current LCD displays – it’s more like the size of the light-receiving pixels in the camera, rather than the screen. In practice, you’d use several of these microLEDs grouped together to reproduce the equivalent of one pixel of an LCD screen. And they work just like a larger LED, emitting their own light, so the screen wouldn’t require a backlight. This means that microLED screens could be much thinner
than current displays, show more detail, use much less power, but also be much brighter and more visible in sunlight. It’s highly likely that Apple is working on this kind of display: it bought a company named LuxVue Technology in 2014 that specialized in the technology. Sony is also a leader in this area, showing what it branded a Crystal LED HDTV prototype back in 2012. It then didn’t show the technology again until 2016, when it revealed a variant of the technology named CLEDIS, designed for large information boards (such as advertising), with the expectation that it might be used in home TVs as soon as 2017. Early products will be extremely high-end, though – it’s hard to say when they might be cost-effective enough for Apple’s products, but we can’t wait.
Sony showed off its huge 8K CLEDIS microLED display this year.
maclife.com dec 2016 11
>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.
early access
Pastebot Free From Tapbots, the team behind the excellent Tweetbot Twitter client, comes this app for managing your clipboard content. You can easily search things you’ve copied, and apply clever filters to alter the content while pasting it (such as making text lowercase). Eventually, your clipboard will sync between Macs. Version Tested: 2 beta 8
©Joe Ravi CC-BY-SA 3.0
Pre-release games and software available now
Apple makes its cloud teams clearer Cloud services staff will come together in 2017 BY Matt bolton
Airheart $14.99 This twin-stick shooting game tasks you with flying around in an airplane you can customize, trying to catch “skyfish” while defeating pirates, and flying ever further up until you reach the stratosphere. Its colorful, looks great, seems technically solid, and has lots of replay value from tinkering with your craft. Version Tested: 0.1
12 Dec 2016 maclife.com
Apple’s history with cloud services has always been a little bumpy, but iCloud works very well for most people. However, there are arguments that it’s still behind the competition: iCloud Drive lacks some of Dropbox’s advanced file management features, Apple Music’s cloud library could be flaky when matching tunes, there can be conflicting file problems when devices get stuck offline… problems that most services can have, but we expect the best from Apple.
It looks like Apple is making changes to get more from its cloud services. Currently, different services within iCloud are handled by teams scattered around Apple’s many buildings. In 2017, the cloud teams will all be moved into one place (possibly 1 Infinite Loop, according to a report, since all teams based there currently will move to the new “spaceship” campus). The idea is that the different teams can better collaborate if they have easier working access to each other, so that current
services can not only be improved, but there can be more innovation in new services and how current ones are used. Apple is also said to be working on a new cloud infrastructure named “Pie,” which is intended to replace its reliance on Amazon and Google’s cloud systems for iCloud’s underlying framework. We’re pleased to see Apple make big moves in this area: the cloud is right at the heart of computing’s future, and getting it wrong creates issues for us users more than anyone.