3 w4 /magzus.com/

Essential photo accessories for iPhone p50

Apps that make spring cleaning fun & easy p60

A stunning look inside iPhone, iPad, & more p37

MAC

iPHONE

iPAD

M AY 20 1 4 N O. 8 8

w w w. mac l i f e .com

GET more FOR LESS

How to find amazing deals, thrive with less power and storage, and get the most out of any Apple device! p24 The MacBook that has the most bang for your buck

Learn which carrier offers the best deal for iPhone

Top-quality cases that cost a fraction of Apple’s

Snag a new Mac for just $509!

HOW TO: Fix indoor photos >>Use hidden iTunes features >>Work smarter in Finder

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CONTENTS

M AY 2 0 1 4 V O L . 8 N O . 5

FEATURES COVER STORY

24 Get More, Spend Less

The Mac|Life guide to getting the most Apple for the least amount of green.

37 Inner Beauty Your Mac, iPhone, and iPad are beautiful objects, but we don’t often think about what’s going on under their enigmatic exteriors. Here, they bare all in revealing photo spreads!

50 Essential iPhoneography Accessories Expand your iPhone’s horizons with a mobile photography toolkit.

maclife.com MAY•14

1

12

72

22 Start

App|Life

Create

4 Digital|Life

54 55 56 56 56 57 57 58 58 58 59 60

Threes!

Paper—Stories from Facebook KORG Gadget OptimizeMe Swiftkey Note Beats Music Bloodstroke Dungeon Keeper Tales of Phantasia Lost Yeti Eliss Infinity The Cleanest Apps Around

78 ASK

62 64 65 66 67 68 70 71 71 72 74 75 76 77

Typo Keyboard Case MyPhotostream Moshi VersaKeyboard Vox 2.0 OmniGraffle 6 Pencil Mail Pilot for Mac Condense Cockatoo for iTunes SteelSeries Stratus Tomb Raider Octodad: Dadliest Catch Apogee MiC 96K X-Mirage

We’ll always love paper, but you can get your Mac|Life fix on the web, iPad, iPhone, Twitter, and Facebook, too.

6 Consider

A quick word from Mac|Life editor-in-chief Chris Slate.

8 Share

Email us at letters@maclife.com.

10 Still Making Mac Magic

Myst co-creator Robyn Miller discusses his new film and 30 years of Mac-based projects.

12 Mac Pro Essentials

Thinking of getting a new Mac Pro? If so, you’ll want to consider investing in some of these interesting add-ons.

14 Life After LogMeIn

Don’t like LogMeIn’s new pricing? Here are a few alternatives.

16 The “Candy Crush Saga” Saga

Is game-maker King also the king of all trolls?

18 CRAVE

The gear we’re lusting over.

20 The lifer

Rik Myslewski offers a snapshot of where photography is heading.

22 $50 iTUNES CARD

What would you buy with a $50 iTunes gift card? We give one to our editors and let them go wild.

2

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Reviews

Our Apple-loving experts answer your burning hardware and software questions.

84 Make More of Finder 86 iTunes Playback Controls 88 Rescue Your Indoor Photos 90 Facebooking with Mavericks 92 Get Rhythm in GarageBand 96 List View

A few final thoughts before we go.

54

$59.99 www.gamefly.com/elderscrollsonline

Available Now

>>>Digital| Life MORE MAC|LIFE, LESS PAPER

The Hottest Articles on MacLife.com

The 25 Best Games to Play With iOS 7 MFi Controllers

EDITORIAL EDITOR-In-Chief Chris Slate MANAGING EDITOR Chris Hoffman ONLINE EDITOR Mikel Reparaz contributing EDITOR Andrew Hayward copy EDITOR Mary Ricci CONTRIBUTORS Graham Barlow, David Biedny, Cory Bohon,

Matt Bolton, J.R. Bookwalter, Justin Cheng, Dan Crabtree, Ian Evenden, Nik Fletcher, Craig Grannell, Steve Haske, Adrian Hoppel, Joseph Leray, Rob Mead-Green, Nathan Meunier, Rik Myslewski, Ian Osborne, Steve Paris, Christopher Phin, Chris Reed, Giancarlo Saldana, Michael Simon

ART

ART DIRECTOR Robin Dick ART DIRECTOR John Seeger Gilman ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Mark Rosenthal PHOTOGRAPHER Mark Madeo

As of this writing, only a limited number of notable games actually support iOS 7 controllers, but there’s plenty of great stuff in the mix.

BUSINESS

VICE PRESIDENT, CONSUMER MEDIA Kelley Corten,

kcorten@futureus.com

VICE PRESIDENT, SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Nate Hunt,

nhunt@futureus.com

Associate sales director Stacy Gaines, sgaines@futureus.com REGIONAL SALES manager Michael Plump, mplump@futureus.com REGIONAL SALES manager Tad Perez, tperez@futureus.com REGIONAL SALES manager Austin Park, apark@futureus.com REGIONAL SALES manager Jessica Reinert, jreinert@futureus.com senior manager sales ops & monetization Michael Grinde,

www.maclife.com/BestGamesforMFi

mgrinde@futureus.com

iTranslate Voice 2 Review iTranslate is great for quickly converting text to other languages while on the go, but it’s less handy for actually holding a conversation. Thankfully, the developer has just refreshed its companion app, which harnesses the power of voice, as well. www.maclife.com/iTranslateVoice2

VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING & SALES DEVELOPMENT Rhoda Bueno DIRECTOR, CONSUMER MARKETING Lisa Radler NEWSSTAND DIRECTOR Bill Shewey

PRODUCTION PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Hollister PRODUCTION MANAGER Larry Briseno Project Manager Jennifer Lim PRoduction COORDINATOR Jose Urrutia

Future US, Inc. is part of Future plc. Future produces carefully targeted magazines, websites, and events for people with a passion. We publish more than 180 magazines, websites, and events, and we export or license our publications to 90 countries across the world. Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR).

8 Apps That Teach About the Universe The universe is infinitely vast, and despite millennia of studying the skies, we’ve barely begun to unlock its secrets. With these apps, you can gaze at cosmic beauty, learning juicy factoids about planets, stars, the cosmos, and all the known universe. www.maclife.com/AppsTeachUniverse

FUTURE US, INC.

4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080 Tel: 650-872-1642 www.futureus.com PRESIDENT Rachelle Considine VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE & BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Lulu Kong VICE PRESIDENT / GENERAL MANAGER, DIGITAL Charlie Speight GENERAL COUNSEL Anne Ortel director, human resources Eric Buska

FUTURE PLC 30 Monmouth St., Bath, Avon, BA1 2BW, England Tel: +44 (0)1225 442244 (Bath) • Tel: +44 (0)2070 424000 (London) www.futureplc.com NON EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN Peter Allen CHIEF EXECUTIVE Mark Wood

Final Fantasy VI Review Two decades past its prime and with a puristinfuriating new look, Final Fantasy VI’s leap to touchscreens is hardly flawless—but it’s nonetheless impressive, and it’s an easy way to slip into a true classic of ’90s console roleplaying games. www.maclife.com/FinalFantasyVI

Volume 8, Issue 5

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Our Apps >>> 4

MAY•14 maclife.com

Essential photo accessories for iPhone p50

Apps that make spring cleaning fun & easy p60

A stunning look inside iPhone, iPad, & more p37

MAC

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M AY 20 1 4 N O. 8 8

W W W. M AC L I F E .CO M

GET MORE FOR LESS

How to find amazing deals, thrive with less power and storage, and get the most out of any Apple device! p24 The MacBook that has the most bang for your buck

Learn which carrier offers the best deal for iPhone

Top-quality cases that cost a fraction of Apple’s

Snag a new Mac for just $509!

HOW TO: Fix indoor photos >>Use hidden iTunes features >>Work smarter in Finder

Mac|Life Digital Edition for iPad

MacLife for iPhone

Apple Newsstand

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MAC|LIFE (ISSN 1935-4010) is published monthly by Future US, Inc., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Periodicals postage paid at San Bruno, CA, and at additional mailing offices. Newsstand distribution is handled by Time Warner Retail. Basic print subscription rates: 12 issues U.S. $24.95, Canada: $29.95, Foreign: $39.95. U.S. prepaid funds only. Canadian price includes postage and GST #R128220688. PMA #40043631. Subscriptions do not include newsstand specials.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mac|Life, P.O. Box 5852, Harlan, IA 515931352. 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 @Gamer, Crochet Today!, Maximum PC, Official Xbox Magazine, and PC Gamer.

PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE: Mac|Life Customer Care, P.O. Box 5852, Harlan, IA 51593-1352. Online: www.maclife.com/customerservice. Phone: 1-888-7716222. Email: MCDcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com.

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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.

Lenses and accessories shown are not included

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Film Industry Quality Every feature of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera has been designed for quality. With 2 separate models, you can choose from the world’s most amazing EF or MFT lenses from crafters such as Canon™, Zeiss™ and more. For extreme high end work, you can shoot full 12 bit CinemaDNG RAW uncompressed files for incredible creative range in DaVinci Resolve color correction, as well as the world’s best chroma keying!

Accessories Built In High end cinema cameras often require thousands of dollars of extra accessories to make them work, however the Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes accessories you need built in! You get a large 5 inch monitor, super fast SSD RAW recorder and professional audio recorder all built in! You also get UltraScope software, used via the built in Thunderbolt™ connection, for on set waveform monitoring!

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>>>Consider

STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ON TWITTER: @MACLIFE

Apple shouldn’t be for everyone

O

K, so that title is a little inflammatory, and honestly, I only partly mean it. But it gets to what I think is an important point, or rather, a lesson that I hope the folks at Apple have learned as they prepare to launch big new products this year: that they don’t need to make things that dominate in market share, or even things that everybody wants. In some ways, it’s better that they don’t.

Going all the way back to its pre-iPod, Mac-only days, Apple’s success has never been built on having the biggest audience, but on cultivating customers who are extremely passionate.

Consider that Apple has become one of the wealthiest companies in the world without selling the most units in any major product category—Macs trail PCs, iPhones trail Android phones, and iPads account for just a slice of the glutted tablet market. But Apple users care enough about quality to pay a premium, and then are so engaged with their devices that they spend much more money than average on content. They crave Retina displays and sapphire crystal iSight cameras; fingerprint-reading Home buttons and ridiculously thin hardware profiles. I’d be tempted to call Apple a niche, boutique tech company if its sales weren’t still so huge.

Lately though, Apple appears to be a little at odds with its long-standing approach. While the company has, for the most part, kept its focus on premium products, it has also tried to compete against cheaper phones and smaller tablets—and

Tim Cook and company have made it abundantly clear that they really want to put iPads into every classroom. But quality iPhones and iPads are too expensive to be truly successful in these areas, and recent history has shown us that when Apple cuts features to make more Apple’s success cost-effective devices, people has never been aren’t very interested. The built on having the trade-off never seems worth it anyway, as Apple has a biggest audience habit of only going halfway with its second-tier products. What is the point, really, of the underpowered iPhone 5c and the Kindle-sized iPad mini, when they still cost significantly more than competing devices? When people choose Apple, it’s generally because they want the best.

So, as we close in on the next new Apple reveal—whether it be the iWatch, a new Apple TV, the iPad Pro, or whatever—I hope the Apple brain trust keeps all of this in mind. Consumers want Apple to surprise them and lead the way—they want to watch the world go nuts over the Next Big Thing, then be lucky enough to snag one and get that Christmas-morning feeling when they open up the box. They don’t necessarily want to pay an arm and a leg, but if it gets them the Chris Slate, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF TWITTER: @ChrisSlate best product possible, so be it.

>>>OVERHEARD AT MAC|LIFE THIS MONTH....­

“Why did I write a note that says ‘sport lobster’?”

—Mikel, while cleaning his desk.

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“Sport lobster? It’d be sexy and sleek and could go really fast!”—Chris H., after hearing Mikel talking about crustaceans.

“No, we don’t have to worry about any feral cats. Well, except for mountain lions.”—John, explaining why his woodland home is safe(?) for his cat.

“Hey Robin, I just burned my tongue on this really hot tea. Don’t you just hate that?”—Mark, airing one of his many small complaints.

“Stop grousing! We need Overheards, not Overhurts!”

—Robin, shutting Mark down before he really gets going.

"Finally, all my notes and documents are in one place, super easy to find, and organized in a style I love: that of a paper notebook"

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PDFs. Action items. All this information from different sources has you bouncing between your apps, desktop, and folders, looking for the items you need to complete your tasks.

nized feels natural. Add dividers to create sections and subsections, then ll the pages with your information. You can even add PDFs so that they appear as separate pages in your electronic notebooks.

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NoteBook's electronic notebooks look and work just like the paper notebooks you’ve used all your life, so staying orga-

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>>>Share

Your opinions, r ants & RAVES

letter of the Month I was reading the February issue of Mac|Life and got to the page sharing staff members’ memories of Macs, so I thought I’d share some of my Apple journeys and memories.

My Apple memories go all the way back to 1979–1981, when my best friend and I were selling and installing Apple IIs to anyone and everyone we could. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep any for myself.

Things changed and I was “forced” to make a living building, supporting, and networking Windows PCs. However, my love for Apple never left and I began collecting Macs when I could, creating my own Mac museum.

I now have the following iMac vintages: an indigo blue G3, a pedestal 17" G4, a 20" white G5, and a 27" mid2010. Also in my care are a G4 Cube with 15" Studio display, PowerMac G4 AGP, PowerMac Quicksilver with a 23" Cinema HD Display, and a PowerBook G4 15".

One day, I hope to build an appropriate Apple Store–type display table for them.

Resolutionary War My roommate is a huge fan of Apple, and while I respect Apple, I do not follow and use their devices with such simplemindedness. He has a Macbook Pro with Retina that he bought in January.

The posted resolution for the device is 2880x1800. He swears on everything because in one of the settings it reads 3840x2160 that the actual resolution, pixel by pixel, is 4k. He downloaded “pixel counting” software to prove his point. I tried to tell him that you can tell software

Of course, my Apple products don’t stop there. A third-gen iPad Wi-Fi/LTE and a silver iPhone 5s complement my 2012 15" MBP retina perfectly. Multiple Apple TVs provide AirPlay and extend my viewing pleasure.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to find and afford an Apple II and a Macintosh 512K to complete my collection. Of course, I’d have to make sure they both were in working condition.—Dan Scott Sounds like a nice collection! The last time we checked, prices for Apple IIs and Mac 512Ks weren’t too crazy, so maybe you’ll be able to complete that museum sooner rather than later. Good luck!

that each actual pixel is worth two or three, or hell, even 20. If you could please reply with a statement of the actual resolution that would help settle this.

—Timothy Newman The actual screen resolution of the 15inch Macbook Pro with Retina display is indeed 2880x1800 (220PPI). Anything else on the built-in screen is considered a scaled resolution. However, the computer is capable of outputting at 3840x2160 or even 4096x2160; those settings are meant to be used if you’re outputting to an external 4K monitor.

and that’s flattery/unintended praise.

And why? Because Apple products are consistently outstanding. You’re right; no one tries to emulate/parody Samsung or HTC ads. So, don’t let it bother you; every time you see one of the opposition’s ads, let it put a smile on your face! I would think that Mr. Ive has a smile on his face a lot of the time! —David Gaston It’s true; Apple’s competitors are constantly acknowledging that Apple is perceived as the leader in most regards.

Perhaps that, even more than imitation, is the sincerest form of flattery.

Can’t Find the Fun Every time I start up my iPhone, I’m reminded of The Wizard of Oz, in which the wizard is ultimately revealed to be nothing more than a guy who’s really good at making people see things that aren’t really there. How else to explain the belief that the look and feel of iOS 7 is somehow smarter and more visually appealing than all the versions of iOS that came before it?

On the contrary, Jony Ive’s intolerance for skeuomorphism has stripped all the fun out of iOS 7. Gone is the sense that you could actually feel the app icons beneath your fingers. Gone is the gorgeous wooden bookshelf in the book library. Gone are the background colors that brought screens to life. All replaced by flat, lifeless icons and dull, white pages. No, experienced users don’t need these digital representations of real-world objects, but they sure made using an iPhone or iPad a lot more interesting than now. This is progress?

Feels like a big swing and a miss.

—Dennis Globus

Ad It Up I think the real point about how other companies “attack” Apple through their advertising (as mentioned in “Christmas Jeer” in the March 2014 issue) is that they are all desperate to better Apple

8

MAY•14 maclife.com

Even several months after its release, iOS 7 remains controversial.

ACME Bread, Berkeley, CA

If business is really cooking, there isn’t always time to dash back to your desktop computer to update a price list or rearrange a brochure.

With PDFpen, you’re never far from a device to manage your PDFs. And with iCloud integration, the updated file will be waiting for you when you finally get back to your desk.

How Will You Use PDFpen? smilesoftware.com Copyright © 2014 SmileOnMyMac, LLC dba Smile. PDFpen, PDFpenPro, TextExpander and the Smile Logo are registered trademarks of Smile.

>>>Start

FEED YOUR MIND. FEAST YOUR EYES.

Still Making Mac Magic

Myst co-creator Robyn Miller discusses his new film and 30 years of Mac-based projects BY Andrew Hayward

Robyn Miller, 47, helped create iconic games like Myst and Riven before departing Cyan.

As he did with earlier artistic pursuits, Miller relied on Macs to help complete The Immortal Augustus Gladstone.

R

obyn Miller’s name is sure to be familiar to anyone who played Mac games in the early 1990s. Myst—which he created with his older brother, Rand, who together founded Cyan—was an instant hit upon release in 1993, and may well be the largest game to ever debut exclusively on the platform. That atmospheric first-person adventure game went on to sell more than 6 million copies across various devices, and the brothers followed it up with sequel Riven, which was similarly a smash.

Apple recently marked three decades of the Macintosh by featuring the brothers on its elaborate 30 Years of Mac website, lauding how their “attention to detail set the tone for video games for the next decade.” Speaking with Mac|Life following the big anniversary reveal, Robyn says, “It’s an amazing honor—and since we’re Mac fans, to say the least, it’s very cool.”

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The timing of the anniversary campaign is fortuitous for the younger Miller brother, as Robyn continues to utilize Macs to pursue his creative endeavors—most recently using them extensively for The Immortal Augustus Gladstone, a faux-documentary film due out on iTunes on April 1. We spoke with him to chart his decadeslong affinity for Apple hardware, as well as discuss how the movie’s eccentric premise and lead character came to be.

Robyn still remembers the day Rand brought home a preordered Mac in 1984. “He was absolutely one of the first people to receive a Macintosh,” says Robyn. “It was incredibly exciting and eye-opening, and I’d never seen anything like it.”

While it may not have been the most powerful computer he’d ever witnessed on a pure horsepower level, he says that accessibility was the biggest draw. “It’s the user interface that

Myst’s lush, prerendered backdrops redefined adventure gaming in 1993.

gave it that power, in a different manner of speaking. There was no barrier between yourself and the machine, and we just instantly started to try and use the Mac in whatever ways we could to do things, and make real stuff,” he explains. “I think that was what was so cool about it.”

At first, Robyn recalls using the Mac to generate artwork for entering magazine contests, but once the HyperCard programming tool launched in 1987, the brothers were able to create whimsical worlds for kids to explore. Early Cyan titles like The Manhole, Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel, and Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo lacked objectives and traditional adventure gameplay elements, but they were accessible and absorbing—and they helped set the point-and-click interface that would eventually give way to Myst and its sequels.

Robyn departed Cyan (eventually renamed Cyan Worlds) following the release of Riven in 1997, to pursue other interests, including 2005’s 1000 Years and 1 Day album by Ambo, his rock music collaboration with singer/songwriter Keith Moore. More recently, he’s been focused on film, with The Immortal Augustus Gladstone finding Miller as both the director and star. As Gladstone, Miller is almost unrecognizable—thanks to ample makeup and a wig—as he takes the role of a man who claims to be a 150-year-old vampire.

A fan of classic monster novels like Frankenstein and Dracula, Miller wanted to explore that kind of premise in a modern setting. “Here’s this monstrous being that is shunned by other people, but is trying to find a place in society,” he notes.

Only the so-called monster here is an overwhelmingly polite man who acts like a Southern dandy, squats in an abandoned Portland hotel, and posts YouTube videos about his past. “He believes he’s immortal, and he believes he’s a vampire, but he’s everything you imagine a vampire isn’t,” adds Miller.

The fictionalized documentary approach helps level out the absurd premise, as it’s initially unclear that actors (including Miller) are just playing roles, and the only real question is whether Gladstone is faking the routine or if he’s truly deranged. “I thought this would be a way to sell the story, because there’s so much that’s obviously not real,” explains Robyn, who also credits the improvisational core of the production. As the movie nears its climax, the premise begins to feel stretched and the believability wanes, but it remains entertaining and very distinctive.

Miller himself takes the role of Gladstone, a man who believes that he’s 150 years old—and a vampire.

Ever the Mac enthusiast, Miller relied on Apple hardware to edit the film and do other post-production work, as well as compose the original soundtrack. For him, it’s the ease of use that enables his creativity. “I know the power is there on other platforms, but I think Apple continues to make an effort with the accessibility,” he says. “It’s that same wall, that barrier to creativity. If something holds me back and doesn’t allow me to be creative, then I get really, really frustrated. I don’t love computers for the sake of computers, but I do like to create things.”

And he continues to create things as Gladstone becomes more widely available, noting that he’s working on a pair of very different film scripts; one’s a sci-fi story, while the other follows American expatriates in Japan, with a surreal edge. Robyn hasn’t been involved in making video games for nearly 17 years, while Rand continues to run Cyan Worlds—which recently raised more than $1.3 million via Kickstarter to produce Obduction, a Myst-style adventure coming to Mac and PC in 2015.

Asked if we can expect to see him working on games again, Robyn says it won’t be anytime soon, but plays it coy on a return to the form. “I certainly have my share of frustrations with where games are at…where games maybe could go, and they aren’t going.” Ultimately, he concludes (with a laugh), “I won’t say no.”

And that could be very good news for fans of his pioneering and long-absent voice in the world of gaming.

Augustus Gladstone premiered in Portland in September 2013.

maclife.com MAY•14

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>>>Start

Mac Pro Essentials Thinking of getting a new Mac Pro? If so, you’ll want to consider investing in some of these interesting add-ons BY Ian Osborne One of the key features of the Mac Pro is its expandability. The old-style pro-level Mac could be opened up, so you could add or swap storage drives, or slot in a new PCI Express card. The new design allows user access to internal components such as the SSD, graphics card, and memory sticks, but most of its expandability is done through its six Thunderbolt 2 and four USB 3.0 ports. The

ASUS PQ321Q 31.5-inch 4K $3,499 www.asus.com Ultra HD monitors such as this one have a pixel resolution of 3840x2160, which is four times that of a full HD 1080p display.

It gives incredible clarity, and is perfect for power users such as video editors, CGI animators, and game developers. It’s not as pretty as Apple’s displays, but it doesn’t look too bad next to your Mac Pro—and remember, the Mac Pro has the power to drive up to three 4K displays at once. 4K video is catching on, but given the growing popularity of Ultra HD displays, they’re likely to drop in price in 2014. As always, early adopters pay a premium.

speed allowed by the Thunderbolt 2 protocol means externally connected peripherals can match internal components for performance, and because you can daisy-chain up to six devices per port, you can have up to 36 Thunderbolt peripherals connected at once. Here are some of the more interesting and high-end devices for you to plug in and use with your new Mac Pro.

Harman Kardon Nova $299 www.harmankardon.com These gorgeous Harman Kardon speakers are a perfect match for the Mac Pro’s jet-engine aesthetic. They’re powerful (80 watts), and because they’re Bluetooth, you can position them anywhere within wireless range. Alternatively, connect them directly to your Mac using a 3.5mm connector cable. They have performance-tuned 2.5-inch drivers and 1.25-inch tweeters, and if you like your music with plenty of bottom end, switch on the Nova’s Bass Boost function.

Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 Price TBA www.lacie.com If it’s super-fast portable storage you’re after, look no further than LaCie’s Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2. It uses the fastest solid-state drive on the market, and when used with a Thunderbolt 2 connection, we’re promised speeds of up to 1,375MB/s, which is several times faster than any mobile USB 3.0 hard drive and twice as fast as the previousgeneration Little Big Disk. The new drive makes several other improvements over its predecessor. To accommodate the super-fast SSD, its interior design has been optimized to ensure it stays cool while still running almost silently. Its fetching new black metal finish is a great match for the Mac Pro, too.

12

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Pegasus2 R4 8TB $1,499 www.promise.com According to manufacturer Promise Technology, Pegasus2 is the world’s first and fastest Thunderbolt 2 hardware RAID storage solution. With speeds of up to 20Gb/s, it’s certainly fast enough to seamlessly edit and stream 4K (Ultra HD) video. It’s available with up to eight drive bays, and with 4TB hard drives slotted in each bay, it can give you an incredible 32TB of storage.

ColorWare peripherals Prices vary www.colorware.com The Mac Pro doesn’t have an optical drive, and it isn’t supplied with input peripherals of any description—you have to provide your own. Chances are you’ll want to use Apple gear, but off the shelf, Apple’s keyboards, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and USB SuperDrive are all aluminum-colored and/or white.

Ideally, you’d want to get your hands on black versions to match your new Mac, right? Minnesota-based ColorWare knows the score. ColorWare disassembles peripherals such as Apple’s and spray-paints them any color you like. You can buy ready-sprayed products directly from ColorWare, or send them your own for recoloring. As you can see here, Apple gear in jet black looks pretty damned good, too.

UltraStudio 4K $995 www.blackmagicdesign.com This rack-mountable Thunderbolt video-capture and playback solution is fast enough for even high-resolution video, including Ultra HD 4K. In addition to Thunderbolt, it also offers SDI, HDMI, and analogue video connections, and is compatible with popular video applications such as DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Avid Media

Composer, and Adobe Creative Suite. UltraStudio 4K supports popular compressed video formats such as ProRes and DNxHD and 10-bit uncompressed video, so you’re not locked into a single file format. It boasts an elegant design too, with a built-in LCD that shows what input you’ve selected, and it also displays video.

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LIFE AFTER LOGMEIN Don’t like LogMeIn’s new pricing? Here are a few alternatives BY J.R. Bookwalter Users of LogMeIn’s free remote-connection service had the rug pulled out from underneath them earlier this year, when the company abruptly switched gears to a paid-only business model.

Mac and PC owners now have to cough up $99 per year to access

EDOVIA SCREENS For those looking to skip the subscription route entirely, Edovia offers one of the most cost-effective solutions around with Screens, available as a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad ($19.99) or Mac ($29.99, Mac App Store). For the cost of just one year of LogMeIn, Screens users can remotely access an unlimited number of Mac, Windows, or Linux computers.

While Screens may not offer some of LogMeIn’s file-transfer and sharing niceties, these apps feature fast, painless connectivity to Macs or PCs using free Screens Connect software, the ability to snapshot a remote screen, and full support for the pasteboard and multiple displays, which can be viewed individually or all at once.

Screens also includes a fully customizable toolbar, scrollable shortcuts that maximize screen real estate, favorites syncing via iCloud, and support for hardware keyboards, all over a secure connection.

two computers via desktop, web, iOS, or Android. If you’re looking to join the ranks of former users proclaiming #LogMeOut, here are a few of our favorite alternatives—and with one exception, they’re cheaper, as well.

to fumble through the Finder, tapping tiny icons and menu options (an option also available from Parallels Access in Desktop mode).

Although the iPad app itself is free, Parallels Access requires a $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year subscription, but Parallels Desktop 9 owners receive the first six months free. Parallels allows access to 10 remote computers, which would cost $449 per year (!) with LogMeIn Pro.

Parallels Access provides a unique way to control any Mac or PC by “applifying” the experience, complete with an OS X-style Launchpad.

Skip the subscription: Edovia’s Screens offers LogMeIn ease of access for unlimited computers for one low price on iOS or Mac.

PARALLELS ACCESS Road warriors are increasingly leaving their laptops behind in favor of an iPad, making a service like LogMeIn Pro kind of overkill anyway—and that’s where a unique app from the creators of Parallels Desktop comes in handy.

Parallels Access isn’t just another remote connectivity app for the iPad—instead, it works in conjunction with free desktop software on a Mac or PC to “applify” the experience and make it more touch-friendly. Desktop applications first appear as fingerfriendly icons in a familiar, fully customizable Launchpad.

When launched, Parallels serves up each application window perfectly optimized for the iPad display, making remote access far more user friendly. By comparison, LogMeIn uses a virtual mouse

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BACK TO MY MAC If you happen to own an AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule and don’t need access to Windows computers, there’s an easy way to make the connection without spending a dime. OS X’s built-in Screen Sharing allows Mac computers to access and control one another from across the house or anywhere there’s an Internet connection.

To enable Back to My Mac, open System Preferences > iCloud and make sure the feature is selected. Next, launch AirPort Utility from Applications > Utilities and select the Base Station tab. Click the “+” button near the bottom and enter one or more Apple IDs; a green status light indicates setup was successful.

From each home computer you wish to access, open System Preferences > Sharing and make sure Screen Sharing, File Sharing, and Remote Login are enabled. These options determine which users can control the system and the folders they’ll have access to.

With Back to My Mac enabled, remote Macs will appear in the Shared section on the left edge of every Finder whenever there’s an Internet connection. Select the computer you’d like to access,

then click “Share Screen” or “Connect As” in the upperright corner to log in for either remote control or the ability to access files stored on that Mac.

GoToMyPC offers a full complement of file-transfer and remote-access features, including support for multiple displays as well as copy and paste between computers. Fair warning: GoToMyPC is a more Windows-centric service, and as such, features like remote printing, privacy settings, and sound can’t be used when accessing Mac computers.

Unfortunately, GoToMyPC is actually pricier for those who need access to more than one computer: A single-user, single system subscription costs $9.95 per month or $99 per year after 30-day free trial, which makes LogMeIn look like a bargain by comparison.

Mac-to-Mac remote screen and file access doesn’t cost a dime, thanks to OS X’s built-in Back to My Mac.

GOTOMYPC LogMeIn users seeking a more complete feature-by-feature alternative should look no further than GoToMyPC by Citrix, which adds Kindle Fire tablet support to the mix, along with iOS and Android, for Mac or Windows computers.

GoToMyPC checks off most of the same feature list as LogMeIn Pro, but is pricier for those with more than one computer.

>>>Start

The “Candy Crush Saga” Saga Is game-maker King.com also the king of all trolls? BY ADRIAN HOPPEl Candy Crush Saga is known for being one of the most popular, addictive, and profitable gaming apps on iOS. Chances are you’ve played it, or you know people who play it, or you hate watching people play it, because it seems like everyone is always playing it all the time. The game, however, is also becoming synonymous with something else: unscrupulous, ENCOM-like corporate greed.

Released in 2012, Candy Crush Saga became an overnight sensation, earning over $600 thousand a day. The game’s developer, King.com Ltd., has a lot riding on this sweet success: Candy Crush Saga brings in almost three quarters of King’s total revenue.

To keep that cash flowing, King aggressively pursues copycat developers. Many say too aggressively, as King not only wants to trademark the name of its games, but is attempting to include the individual words in the trademark—including “Candy” and “Saga”— which has sent chills down the spine of the gaming industry.

“King’s overreaching filing in its application for the trademark for its game ‘Candy Crush Saga,’ and its predatory efforts to apply that mark to each separate word contained in that name, are in opposition to the values of openness and cooperation we support industry-wide,” wrote Kate Edwards, executive director of the International Game Developers Association.

King is already flexing its trademark muscles against the small, independent game developer Stoic, regarding its game The Banner Saga. Banner Saga is nothing like any King game, except for using the word Saga. From King’s perspective, that’s more than enough.

Ironically, King itself is battling allegations they are biggest copycats in the room. Developer Matthew Cox claims he was in talks with King to license his game, Scamperghost. When the deal fell through, Cox states that King quickly launched Pac-Avoid, a game that Cox claims was developed by Epicshadows under instructions from King to take Scamperghost and “clone the game very quickly.”

(Pac-Avoid has since been removed from the App Store.)

It gets worse. King’s cash-cow, Candy Crush Saga, is itself a copycat game, according to developer Albert Ransom. Ransom states that his game, CandySwipe, uses almost identical “app icon, candy pieces, and even the rewarding, ‘Sweet!’” Furthermore, CandySwipe came out in 2010, two years before Candy Crush Saga.

How did King react to Ransom’s claims? King bought the rights to a defunct game called Candy Crusher, and is using it to shut down CandySwipe. Although Ransom states that Candy Crusher “is nothing like CandySwipe or even Candy Crush Saga,” the game came with trademark rights, and King is leveraging those rights to go after CandySwipe.

To many, it appears King is the company stealing games, and then using its deep pockets to legally outmaneuver anyone who cries foul. It’s an expensive game to use the courts this way, but having made over a billion dollars in revenue in 2013 alone, King can play all day long. An unchecked King could mean game over for many developers—something to keep in mind the next time you consider making a Candy Crush Saga in-app purchase.

Already, the public is in support of Stoic, Ransom, and Cox, and

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Candy Crush Saga developer King.com is using what many consider unfair practices to crush the competition.

While King accuses others of trademark violations, its games look very similar to other popular apps—for example, King’s Papa Pear Saga (above) and PopCap’s hit Peggle (below).

that outrage toward King might only grow. King recently filed to go public, and perhaps the added spotlight of an IPO will shed some light on their seemingly questionable dealings.

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>>>Start

Crave

The gear we’re lusting after

CHRIS H.

JOHN

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Speaker Band www.bemwireless.com $49.95 >>>OK, so it’s not exactly the iWatch, but Bem Wireless’s Speaker Band still looks pretty neat. This wearable Bluetooth speaker lets me listen to music no matter what I’m doing, and the microphone allows me to use it to answer phone calls or talk to Siri right from my wrist. You can get it in six colors: red, blue, green, grey, black, and white.

Galileo www.motrr.com $149.95 >>>The iPhone’s built-in camera is pretty great, but sometimes you need a little something extra to give your photos more “oomph.” Enter Motrr’s Galileo: a Bluetooth-enabled iPhone stand that can rotate your device in practically any direction. It allows you to take stunning 360-degree panorama photos with ease, plus it can do time-lapse shots and you can use it for remote monitoring.

ROBIN

Crock-Pot Smart Slow Cooker enabled by WeMo www.belkin.com $99.99 >>>Sure, I could just go home and cook like a normal person, or I could start cooking remotely with the Crock-Pot Smart Slow Cooker. By using the WeMo iPhone app, I can adjust the temperature or turn the slow cooker on and off, even when I’m still at work, plus it can send me reminders and help calculate cooking times, ensuring that dinner is perfectly prepared by the time I get home.

MIKEL

Soldier 7800mAh Power Bank www.digitaltreasures.com $89.95 >>>There are a lot of portable charging options out there, but the Soldier is specifically built for durability. Perfect for the next massive earthquake, flood, or zombie apocalypse, the Soldier is shockproof and dustproof, can withstand being underwater for up to 30 minutes, and has sealed USB and micro USB ports for extra protection.

There’s even a built-in flashlight.

CHRIS S.

Flir One www.flir.com $350 >>>The Flir One is a personal thermal-imaging device for the iPhone 5 and 5s—in other words, it’s an infrared camera that lets you see in the dark, view invisible heat sources, compare temperatures, and more. It comes with multiple color palettes (including black-and-white, rainbow, and arctic), and it allows you to capture both stills and video. Also, it’ll be awesome for when I re-create Predator with my kids.

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THE LIFER

Rik Myslewski offers a snapshot of where photography is heading A group of gifted guys from Galway, Ireland, is working on a way to take the “point” out of “point-and-shoot” cameras— specifically, the camera nestled in your iPhone.

What these researchers are investigating is a way that a handheld device such as your iPhone could capture full HD images of an entire environment—360 degrees in all three axes—and then be able to selectively view any part of that image, zoomed or not, completely distortion-free.

Sure, there are rudimentary devices, such as those made by Kogeto and GoPano (Google ’em), that can let your iPhone capture 360-degree video panoramas that you can scroll through horizontally, but at this stage in their development, they’re more fun curiosities than useful tools, being low-res and prone to distortion.

That “low-res” knock is, of course, more the fault of your iPhone’s relatively low megapixalage, which has been stuck at eight since the iPhone 4S. Although photo quality is determined by far more than merely how many pixels an image sensor has—think lens quality, sensor-pixel size, imaging software, and other niceties—if you want to get highquality 360-degree imaging, you’ll need to up your pixel count.

Which is exactly what such devices as the 41-megapixel Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone does. With that many image-capturing cells, you have the equivalent pixelage of nearly twenty 1920x1080-pixel HD video displays, and even when image-sharpening oversampling brings that down to 10x HD, you’re got plenty of pixels to work with, as our Galway friends point out.

“But what about lenses and

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distortion?” you may ask, knowing that Kogeto, GoPano, and their ilk work their tricks by using funhouse wraparound mirrors that capture light and feed it into an iPhone’s standard camera lens.

That’s where such developments as computational photography, multi-lens setups, and light field cameras such as those from Lytro and Pelican come in (more Googling, guys ’n’ gals).

But just for the sake of argument, let’s say it’s all doable. What would 360-degree, high-quality, distortionfree, zoomable video allow? The most obvious example would be the simple ability to capture an entire event in all dimensions, and then go back and view different parts of that event at different times—say, a three-ring circus, viewed ring-by-ring at your leisure.

The Nokia Lumia 1020’s 41MP camera gives us a bad case of pixel envy.

In the paper that the Galway guys presented at this year’s International Conference on Consumer Electronics (don’t miss that event if you ever get the chance—tons of geeky fun), they describe a pleasantly prosaic example of a school concert or play being captured by such a setup, and each kid’s parents

being able to use facial-recognition software to zoom in on their own precious snowflake, “but revert to a broader view of the stage when group activities are the focus.”

And, as any videographer or photographer knows—especially those who, like me, have tried to capture sports—being pointed at the right subject at the right instant is often more a matter of luck than skill. Why not

As any videographer or photographer knows, being pointed at the right subject at the right instant is often more a matter of luck than skill simply capture the entire event, then frame and crop the excitement later?

Sure, doing so in high-res will require significant increases in sensor quality and processing power, but those will come as surely as today’s multi-billion transistor chips followed Intel’s original 2,300-transistor 4004 processor of 1971.

There could also be a dark side to such devices. Imagine, if you will, a government wanting to keep close tabs on its citizenry, and installing all-seeing 360-degree digital snoopery throughout the land. But that might be tinfoil-hat thinking—after all, can you imagine a government so paranoid that it would invest enormous computing resources to peer into the digitized lives of all its citizenry?

After all, as Sinclair Lewis wrote in 1935, It Can’t Happen Here.

>> Rik Myslewski was editor-in-chief of MacAddict from 2001 until it transformed into Mac|Life in 2007, and now writes for The Register, which is “biting the hand that feeds IT” daily at www.theregister.co.uk.

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>>>Start

$50 iTunes Card How would you spend 50 bucks on music, movies, books, and more?

BY Justin Cheng

Sherlock: The Network $4.99

Rick and Morty Season 1 $16.99 (SD; $25.99 HD)

If I have one complaint about the otherwise-excellent Sherlock TV show, it’s that each season (or rather, series) is only three episodes long. (Granted, each episode lasts an hour and a half, but still.) Fortunately, you can experience more exploits of Sherlock and Dr. Watson—with actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman reprising their roles—in Sherlock: The Network, an iOS game in which you help the consulting detective solve 10 challenging cases.

Yes, Rick and Morty is a cartoon. No, it is not for kids. A crude, disgusting, and hilarious TV show by Dan Harmon (Community, Monster House) and Justin Roiland (perhaps best known as the voice of Lemongrab on Adventure Time), Rick and Morty tells the tale of a naïve kid named Morty and his mad-scientist grandpa Rick as they embark on all manner of insane adventures.

Thor: The Dark World $19.99 HD ($14.99 SD) The LEGO Movie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack $7.99 Certainly, the big draw of The LEGO Movie’s soundtrack is the infectious “Everything Is AWESOME!!!” by Tegan and Sara, who worked in collaboration with comedic rappers The Lonely Island. But you would be remiss in ignoring songs such as Shawn Patterson and Sammy Allen’s “unplugged” rendition of the signature track. Plus, prolific composer and Devo cofounder Mark Mothersbaugh does a great job with the score that comprises the majority of the album.

Dark Elves threaten the Nine Realms, and it’s up to the team of Thor and his villainous brother, Loki, to stop them in Thor: The Dark World.

As much as I enjoyed the movie, though, I’m excited about this home-video release, mainly because it comes with a brand-new short film called All Hail the King, which focuses on the Mandarin (who was last seen in Iron Man 3).

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Get More, Spend Less The Mac|Life guide to getting the most Apple for the least amount of green

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W

hen you look around an Apple Store, cheap isn’t exactly the first word that springs to mind. From the floor-to-ceiling windows to the glass spiral staircases, just walking through its doors can make you feel like a million bucks.

But you don’t have to leave feeling like you can’t afford anything inside. There may be $3,000 towers to ogle and 4K displays to marvel at, but everything in your local Apple Store doesn’t have to put you in debt. There’s a reason Apple sells so many products to so many different people these days—if you look hard enough, there’s an iPhone, iPad, and Mac built for every budget.

And that goes for accessories and apps, too. Whether you’re in the market for a powerful image editor or a full-

featured word processor—or just want to kick back and watch some must-see TV on your brand-new iPad mini— it doesn’t have to cost nearly as much as you think.

Over the next few pages, we’ll give you the best ways to get hooked up with fresh new Apple gear without spending an arm and a leg—not cheap stuff you’ll want to throw away in a few months, but honest-togoodness bargains that you’ll want to show off to your friends. No matter what you’re looking for, we’ve got it covered, from Bluetooth keyboards and mice to cloud storage solutions and high-def displays. And, of course, affordable Apple products in every category.

So, count your pennies, dig deep into your couch cushions, and get ready to do a little bargain-hunting.

BY MICHAEL SIMON

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Mac Hardware

It’s no secret that Apple makes some of the fastest and prettiest computers on the planet.

But as much as we’d all love an excuse to buy one of those super-cool Mac Pro cylinders, you don’t have to spend $2,999 to put a brand-new Mac on your desk.

Mac Desktops When Steve Jobs unveiled the Mac Mini in 2005, it was billed as Apple’s first BYODKM machine—bring your own display, keyboard, and monitor—and things haven’t changed.

But the mini’s loss is your gain, especially if you already have a USB or Bluetooth keyboard and mouse hanging around. That means you can put a brand-new Mac on your desk for less than $600—a downright steal for an Ivy Bridge 2.5GHz dual-core i5 with a respectable 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. And we’ve seen it as low as $509 through Apple’s refurbished store (see sidebar), giving you a few extra bucks for some nice, new peripherals.

If you need to buy a monitor for it, however, you might want to instead look at Apple’s entry-level all-in-one: the 21.5-inch iMac. Starting at $1,299, it’s a good deal more expensive than the mini, but you’re getting more than your money’s worth, with an Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and drop-dead gorgeous 21.5-inch display (along with more power and twice as much RAM and storage). You’ll still be paying a small premium for the cutting-edge design, but it’s something to consider, especially if you can catch one of the $1,099 refurbished ones.

It doesn’t get any cheaper than the Mac mini.

You won’t find a cooler Mac setup for less than the 21.5-inch iMac.

Mac Laptops Portable Macs don’t start quite at the bargain-basement prices of the stationary models, but you can still get in for under a grand. The super-sexy MacBook Air has come a long way since its expensive, underpowered roots, and today the 11-inch version costs just $999 for a whole lot of computer. Not only is it packed with the newest generation of Intel processor (a 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5), it features an absurd 12-hour battery—enough juice to use it from morning till night without having to reach for an outlet.

Also standard is a super-speedy 128GB flash drive for faster booting and nearinstant waking, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a 720p FaceTime camera—and it’s even got a blazingly fast Thunderbolt port for external expansion. Plus, it sports the same ultra-thin and super-light case that we fell in love with all those years ago— except now, everyone can afford one.

If you’re looking for a little more power, you can upgrade to the MacBook Pro’s family of powerful portables. We recommend the $1,299 MacBook Pro with Retina—as soon as you turn it on you’ll see where the extra $300 went. The 13-inch pixelpacked display ensures you’ll never look at a computer screen the same way again, and it has a slew of expansion ports and a built-in SDXC card slot. It’s our clear pick for the laptop with the best value.

For an extra $300 bucks, you’ll get a lot more Mac with the Pro.

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The MacBook Air only looks like it costs a bundle.

Anker’s ultra-slim keyboard is Apple’s cheaper twin.

As Good as New

Accessories Once you get your brand new Mac home, you’re going to want to pair it with some equally attractive accessories. Unfortunately, you won’t find any budget options at the Apple Store. The Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse will set you back $69 apiece, and the Thunderbolt Display costs as much as a MacBook Air—hardly options for someone looking to save a few bucks.

For a reasonable-quality mouse, AmazonBasic’s 3-button USB Wired mouse ($6.99) is about as cheap as you’re going to get. It might not be much to look at, but you’ll get precision optical tracking and a clickable scroll wheel in a small, lightweight package—and you can pair it with the Wired Keyboard for just $14.99.

If you need to go wireless, though, Anker’s 2.4G Wireless Compact Optical Portable Mini Mouse ($13.99) will work nicely with a laptop.

Featuring a high-definition optical sensor for precision The M325 mouse comes tracking and a DPI sensitivity selector, the mouse ditches the in an array of colors. cable for a tiny nano-receiver that’s more battery-efficient than Bluetooth, without any of the stubborn pairing issues.

While it might not have the slick aluminum finish of Apple’s offerings, our top wireless pick for the desktop is the M325 from Logitech ($29.99, but Amazon sells most models for less than $20). Compact and palm-friendly, it uses similar nano tech as the Mini Mouse and comes in a variety of colors and patterns, so you’ll be sure to find one that’ll make your Mac uniquely yours.

If you’d rather have something along the lines of Apple’s Magic Trackpad, it’s hard not to recommend Logitech’s Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 ($29.99 at Amazon). Not only is it a great keyboard option—with low-profile keys and a slim, condensed design—but it also includes a built-in Multitouch trackpad for gesturebased navigation. Another Samsung excellent budget keyboard is the makes a SuperDrive that’s super cheap.

Anker Ultra-Slim Mini Bluetooth 3.0 Wireless Keyboard that Amazon sells for $19.99. It’s made of plastic, but at a quick glance it looks exactly like Apple’s, at just a fraction of a price.

You won’t get a DVD drive with any of these budget Macs, but you can get a great one from Samsung for around $30.

USB-powered and travel friendly, the SE-208DB features 8x DVD writing and 24x CD-RW writing for speedy backups and ripping.

When it comes to displays, you’ll want something with a crisp picture and elegant looks—and you’ll find both in Samsung’s 23-inch S23C570H LED display. At just $189.99, it features a Mac-compatible HDMI connector and a design fit for a Mac. Equally attractive is Dell’s 21.5-inch S2240M LED ($129.99 at Amazon), which features a thin Apple-like bezel and tilt-swivel stand, but since it doesn’t have a DisplayPort input, you’ll need to buy a DVI adapter for around $10 to go along with it.

If you can stand the wait, your best bet at snagging a true bargain is Apple’s Certified Refurbished Store (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/ home/specialdeals). You never know quite what you’ll find, but it’s a great opportunity to get Macs, iPads, iPods, and more at extra-low prices. Apple ensures that every product will look and work like new—and to back that claim, they all come with the same one-year warranty as the full-priced factoryfresh ones. The site is updated frequently, so if you’re ready to buy, make sure to visit it daily.

Apple’s refurbished store is a bargain-hunter’s dream.

A good-looking screen like Samsung’s S23C57OH LED doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

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Mac Software

There are plenty of ways to max out your credit cards within the Mac app Store’s digital walls, but you don’t need to blow all of your savings just to get your hands on some top-notch apps. No matter what you plan on using your Mac to do, you can find a great tool that’ll help you get it done—and it doesn’t have to cost you a thing.

Creative It may have been a myth that Apple computers were only for artists and dreamers, but if you have a creative mind, your new Mac will provide no shortage of ways to express it. Photoshop, of course, is the gold standard, but now that Adobe has moved it to its exorbitantly expensive subscription-based cloud, it’s pretty much out of the question for anyone who isn’t using a corporate credit card. Thankfully, the GNU Image Manipulation Program has come into its own. You won’t find it in the Mac App Store, but version 2.8 of the open-source photo editor can be downloaded for free at www.gimp.org—and it will run perfectly on the very latest version of Mavericks (after a one-time trip to your Security & Privacy settings in System Preferences). Although GIMP doesn’t have the sophistication or professional features of Photoshop, its robust set of tools, powerful filters, and familiar layer-based workflow will give you excellent control over your photos and the power to turn them into true works of art.

Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro 6 is a fantastic painting program that’s great for artists, but at $59.99, it’s hardly a budget option. But SketchBook Express is. While you’ll be missing a handful of features reserved for professionals (most notable the ability to save layers), the free version of the drawing app is hardly the crippled trial you might think it is. Realistic pens and brushes make it easy to create stunning portraits, and a clever, intelligent spin on the toolbar will make experimenting with them a breeze.

GIMP is like Photoshop—if Photoshop were free.

Sketchbook Express won’t turn you into a starving artist.

Productivity We’d suggest that Apple’s suite of iWork apps was always a better deal than Microsoft Office, but before Tim Cook made the surprising move to give them away to anyone who purchased a new Mac, there might have been an argument to be made. Apple hit the reboot button on its trio of apps with version 5, but even with a clean start, you won’t find a better set of productivity tools.

Whether you’re looking to write a term paper or create a flyer for your band’s next gig, Pages will lend a skilled hand. A library featuring dozens of professionally designed templates will get you started, but there’s no limit to the creativity you can inflict on it. The interface might seem simplistic compared to Word, but nothing about it is underpowered, with advanced writing tools, powerful image mapping, and strong collaboration tools that keep everything in sync no matter where you are.

Building spreadsheets probably isn’t the reason you decided to buy a Mac, but Numbers will make you look at them a little differently. It’s more than a place to keep

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You probably won’t use Keynote as often as the other iWork apps, but when you need to make a professional presentation for work or class, it’ll be a lifesaver. Awesome visual effects and gorgeous transitions will make your slides shine, but its minimal, simple workspace is the star of the show, getting out of the way of your vision and making the process much more effortless than PowerPoint. You’ll pick it up in minutes, but everyone will think you spent hours crafting a presentation worthy of the biggest stage.

Apple supplies just about everything you need to make great work, but if you’re looking for a few fun fonts to spice up your work, you can add 56 unique ones to your toolbox with the aptly named Free Fonts, also available in the Mac App Store. From the funky Garavol to the futuristic Warp Drive, you’ll be sure to find something to add extra personalized touches to your layouts.

Thrifty PowerPoint users should switch to Keynote.

Numbers will make your spreadsheets sing.

If you want free fonts, look no further.

Entertainment Your Mac will be factory-fresh when you take it out of the box, but it won’t take long before it’s filled up with the songs and videos you love. Quicktime Player might be fine for iPhone-friendly MP4 files, but if you have a mountain of WMV, AVI, ASF, or MPEG-2 files lying around, you’ll need something a bit more versatile. MPlayer X will be able to play almost everything you throw at it, with no converting or thumb-twiddling whatsoever. You won’t be able to trim clips, but you can easily adjust the sound and the picture, and take a snapshot of what you’re watching with a single click. Add Multitouch controls and you’ve got the best video player on the Mac—all for free.

Music buffs will love iTunes—even more if you’re buying an iPhone or iPad to go along with it—but you’ll quickly find that there are some files that still give the music player fits, requiring lossy conversion in order to play. Vox has no such problems, offering a lightweight, attractive music player that doesn’t mind if you’re playing a FLAC or WMA tune. Easy controls, robust settings, and Airplay support make it a true iTunes replacement that won’t cost you a thing. (See p66 for a full review of VOX 2.0.)

Even if you bought an external DVD drive to go with your Mac, you’re going to grow tired of feeding it discs every time you want to watch a movie. You won’t be surprised to find that Apple doesn’t provide a neat, iTunes-like way to rip full-length movies from encrypted DVDs, but you’ll find a free, simple solution in Handbrake. You’re probably not interested in the technical details, but once you let Handbrake do its thing, you’ll have a digital file that you can play on any device you own.

MPlayer will handle all of your precious videos with care.

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Vox is more powerful than its lightweight interface looks.

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iOS Devices

Apple’s iOS line has gone from overpriced luxury items—the first iPhone cost almost as much on contract as today’s unlocked models—to downright affordable, but with many varieties to choose from, it can be hard to sort it all out.

iPhone If you listen to its critics, you’d think that Apple doesn’t make an iPhone that isn’t marketed for the rich and famous. That’s simply not the case. You can visit just about any cell phone store today and walk out with a shiny new iPhone 4S without handing over a single red cent. It might not be the newest phone in the world, but it’s still better than most of the Android ones we’ve used.

Cheap, capable, and cool, it’s a perfect introductory phone for your kids or anyone who’s used to getting free feature phones with their biannual upgrade. The screen is only 3.5 inches, but it’s still retina, and you’ll get to take full advantage of iOS 7 (minus the camera filters and AirDrop), not to mention Jony Ive’s timeless metal-and-glass design. For a two-year-old handset, we have to admit: it’s still pretty great.

But there’s one caveat: you’ll be stuck with it for a minimum of two years after committing to the same hefty contract as the moreexpensive iPhones. The 3G network and A5 chip might not seem so outdated now, but you might not feel the same in 2016 when you’re finally eligible for an upgrade.

In that case, there’s the 5c. For just $99—and be on the lookout for special savings and sales that knock off a few bucks—you’ll get 16GB of storage (twice as much as the 4S), a newer processor, LTE wireless networking, and a four-inch screen, plus Ive’s slick rugged design in a multitude of colors to choose from. And when your contract is up in two years, it’ll still be able to run the latest version of iOS 9.

The iPhone 4S is free and it’s still spectacular.

There isn’t a better $99 phone than the 5c.

iPad Apple bills its iPad mini as “every inch an iPad,” and we’re not going to argue with that assessment. In fact, for $299, you’re not going to find a better deal (unless you can get a $249 refurbished one, that is). It might be over a year old, but there’s nothing stale about its specs, from its impossibly thin and light case (that’s even been updated to match this year’s space-gray color), to its very capable processor and 5MP camera. It won’t have any problem running iOS 7, and with a 10-hour battery, you won’t even need to carry a charger when you’re traveling. It’s a nobrainer: if you want the best iPad for the least amount of money, the iPad mini is a sure bet. Honestly, the only argument we can possibly entertain for buying the older, pricier (and possibly soon-to-be-discontinued) iPad 2 instead is its larger screen, but we’d still try to talk you out of it.

However, if you’re looking for more bang for your buck, you can spend $100 more to pick up the iPad mini with Retina display. We can’t possibly say enough nice things about its crisp, vibrant display that looks even sharper than the iPad Air’s, but its selling points go far beyond the screen: a desktop-class chip makes iOS 7 and all those apps truly shine. Even if money was no object, we might still recommend it over its big brother.

All of the more affordable options are the Wi-Fi, 16GB models, and for the money-conscious, these really aren’t bad choices. The iPad isn’t the kind of device you’ll be whipping out of your pocket while walking down the street, so most of the time you’re using it will be within range of a router, and there are plenty of ways to make good use of those 16MB, which we’ll cover on page 34.

The iPad mini sure doesn’t look cheap—but it is affordable.

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Accessories While you can certainly get away with going caseless if you buy a 5c, you’re going to want to buy one for your 4S or iPad. For the iPad mini, our pick is i-Blason’s Slim Book ($24.99; $14.99 at Amazon), an attractive leather case available in an array of colors. There’s a handle for easy holding, Smart Cover–mimicking functionality, and a built-in stylus holder.

On the iPhone side, we love the Switcheasy Colors case for 4S ($14.99), or, if you want a budget option for an iPhone 5s, the Switcheasy Numbers case (also $14.99). Not only are they two of the cheapest cases we’ve found, they’re also very light and extremely flattering.

And if you’re looking for a Bluetooth keyboard, you can’t go wrong with our Mac pick— Anker’s lightweight and very portable Ultra-Slim model (see p27).

i-Blason’s Slim Book offers a lot of protection for little cost.

Give your iPhone 5c a little more personality with Switcheasy’s cheap and colorful Colors cases.

Best-Laid Plans An iPhone won’t do you a ton of good without a telecommunications company to keep you connected.

Though you’ll be paying a monthly bill no matter which iPhone you buy, there are some savings to be found between the major carriers. But let’s get this out of the way right up front: the new upgrade plans that require only small deposits at point of sale are not budget options. Quite to the contrary—you’ll end up paying hundreds of dollars more than you would if you simply fork over the initial subsidized price and stick to the terms of the two-year contract.

That being said, you’re still going to shell out a couple of thousand dollars no matter which plan you choose. They all offer unlimited messages and calls, but data plans vary, with Sprint coming in cheapest, at just $70 per month for a gig of

data. For the same 1GB plan, AT&T isn’t far behind at $85, and Verizon brings up the rear at $90.

For value, though, your best bet is T-Mobile. It operates slightly differently than the other carriers, in that it doesn’t subsidize the price of the phone. If you buy the 5c, for example, the $500 full cost will be baked into your bill each month, but since its 2.5GB plan is just $60, you’ll be paying about the same monthly bill as Sprint for far more data and less up-front cost.

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iOS Software

When you turn on your brand-new iPhone or iPad for the first time, you’ll want to immediately head over to the App Store to start filling it up with the hundreds of great games, tools, and utilities available for free. But before you start whittling away at your available space, you’ll have no trouble finding plenty of low-cost options to fill in the gaps.

Cloud Storage With the entry-level models, you’ll have about 13GB of usable space on your new iOS device, but once you starting loading it up with music and movies, you’re going to find that it disappears awfully quick. And iCloud won’t help—Apple gives you 5GB with every free account, but it’s not as useful as you’d think; for the most part, it only holds stuff you don’t really need on your device: photo stream photos, old messages, backup files, et cetera.

Google Drive doesn’t have such limitations. Just sign up for a Gmail account and you’ll instantly double your available space—using Google’s free universal app, you’ll have 15GB of virtual storage that you can access anywhere. And it’s a true online storage bin—cram it full of photos, music, movies, documents, presentations, and whatever else you need to carry, and you’ll be able to access it wherever you are without taking up a single megabyte of precious space on your device.

Google Drive is the perfect place to store giant files.

It might not have the fastest upload speeds, but none of the alternatives offer anywhere near as much storage.

While Dropbox offers a fraction of the Google Drive’s capacity—just 2GB for users of its free basic plan—it’s still an important space-saver. Many of the apps you’ll be downloading utilize the storage service to silently keep files in sync across your devices. So, even if you don’t use it directly to store anything, it’ll still help.

For music lovers, however, none of these options will do. It’s not uncommon to have more than 100 gigabytes of songs, and unless you want to keep strict tabs on what you feel like listening to whenever you leave the house, you’re going to need a virtual locker to store them. Apple and Amazon offer similar options, but Google gets the nod here, too. Not only will Google Play store up to 20,000 songs for free (good for around a hundred gigabytes), it’ll stream them without the need to download, so you won’t have to worry about losing space while you’re rocking out and playing Angry Birds.

You can rock out for nothing with Google Play.

Dropbox doesn’t give away much, but every little bit helps.

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Streaming Services Even if you don’t have a giant media collection to carry with you, streaming can still help maximize your phone’s precious space. In fact, there’s an excellent option for music that’s built right into iOS 7. If you don’t mind listening to occasional ads, iTunes Radio will give you free access to Apple’s enormous library of songs to deliver a fantastic, customized listening experience.

Also free (with ads, of course) is the stellar Pandora service. The originator of the uncanny playlist algorithm that digs through expansive catalogs to find the right song at the right time, Pandora’s excellent app also learns your tastes and personalizes stations— it’s hard to pick a favorite here. (Though if you must get rid of the ads, Apple’s option, which is bundled into its iTunes Match storage service, will cost you $11 less per year.)

When it comes to movies, streaming might be even more important to saving your storage, since even a small movie collection can zap nearly all of your free space. The major players (Netflix for $7.99 a month, and Amazon Prime for $79 per year) each offer vastly different catalogues, and it really comes down to your tastes. Netflix clearly has the largest library and widest range of selections, but Amazon’s the cheaper option—especially since you get unlimited two-day shipping along with it. Neither catalogue is stellar, but you’re sure to find something you like with either of the services.

TV fans will have much better luck. With either a Netflix or Amazon subscription, you’ll get access to a wide variety of classic and current shows, but Hulu Plus ($7.99 per month) is the premiere option here. Whether you’re into Family Guy, Modern Family, or Family Ties, you’ll get access to full seasons of hundreds of shows ready to stream.

Netflix offers a ton of titles for your streaming pleasure.

iTunes Radio isn’t only free—it’s built into iOS.

Pandora has a knack for knowing what you want to hear.

App Essentials You’ll find a veritable trove of games, books, readers, and time-wasters while exploring all the great free apps in the App Store, but there are a few essentials we think everyone should have.

If you’re into podcasts, you’ll have to download a player—Apple stripped the functionality from iTunes a few versions ago—but rather than Apple’s standalone app, we think you should give Swell a shot. Instead of downloading episodes each week, it strictly streams the latest podcasts and presents them as a carousel of stations that’ll help you discover new shows and personalize your listening. It’s like Pandora for talk radio.

Eventually, you’ll be doing all of your banking on your iPhone and iPad, but until you get that all set up, Mint will give you a gorgeous overview of all of your finances and help keep a handle on any overspending. Just plug in your cards, accounts, and investments, and Mint will dutifully monitor them with an array of charts, alerts, and advice that’ll make sure your saving stays on the right track.

Since social media will be taking up at least half of the time you’ll be spending on your new iOS device, you’ll need to download apps that let you tweet, post, and share with ease. Surprisingly, the official ones are fantastic. Twitter makes the best free client around, with timeline stats, quick retweeting, conversation threads, and easy photo editing, while Facebook’s new Paper app is a downright stunning way to view your News Feed and catch up on everything your friends and family are up to. (See p55 for full review.)

Swell is a nifty way to listen to podcasts.

Mint will track your money without taking any of it.

If you love Twitter, the official app is a great free resource.

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Inner Beauty Your Mac, iPhone, and iPad are beautiful objects, but we don’t often think about what’s going on under their enigmatic exteriors. Here, they bare all in revealing photo spreads! BY CHRISTOPHER PHIN Be honest: most of us don’t really know what a crankshaft is or what it looks like, yet that doesn’t hamper our ability to drive. Similarly, you don’t have to know what a stick of RAM looks like or even what it does before you can use your Mac to edit your snaps in iPhoto, compose a chart-topper in GarageBand, or just muck around in Facebook.

But sometimes it’s just plain fun to find out about stuff like that, as well as interesting. So let us be your guides to the guts of the stars of the current Mac and iOS range: we’ll discover the true meaning of a broken hard disk, what magnets and an iMac’s screen have in common, and the reason Apple doesn’t do removable batteries in its laptops anymore.

We wouldn’t feel right destroying Apple products to bring you these photos, so join us in raising a glass to our friends at iFixit, who have done it for us. If you’re looking for guides to repairing your Mac or buying tools and parts to help you do just that, there’s nobody finer than our friends at www.ifixit.com.

Your Mac, iPhone and iPad are beautiful objects—but we don’t often think about what’s going on under their enigmatic exteriors. Here, they bare all in revealing photo spreads! BY CHRISTOPHER PHIN

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Inside MacBook Pro

We’ve come a long way from the original Macintosh Portable; the current Retina MacBook Pro weighs less than a quarter of that beast, and unlike the Macintosh Portable, isn’t powered by what is essentially a car battery. And yet at the same time, Apple has managed to cram more and more power into the laptop’s svelte body. Let’s see what it’s made of!

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Trackpad

Before Apple started using etched glass for its trackpads, they could become worn and unresponsive. Now, your finger will wear out long before the trackpad will (at a cellular level, mind).

2 Wi-Fi Card Though the antenna that improves reception for Wi-Fi is separate, this little card is the thing that lets your MacBook connect to the Internet wirelessly.

3 SSD

Older laptops used spinning hard disks, but Apple is moving everything across to solid-state storage—all your data now lives on these little chips.

1 4 RAM Once, you could add RAM yourself; now, it’s soldered to the motherboard, so you need to spec as much as you’ll ever need when you order your Mac.

5 CPU and GPU This is the heart of a modern MacBook Pro—a meaty Core i5 or i7 Intel processor with its graphics card right next door.

6 Heatsink Even though modern processors throw out comparatively little heat, you still need to get that heat away from the CPU and GPU—this heatsink directs it to the fan.

7 FAN Heat still needs to be actively moved away from the processors and the other components inside your Mac, so this brushless fan helps vent it all to the outside world.

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Why No Removable Batteries?

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For many years, you could replace the battery in your Mac laptop if it stopped holding a charge. But in a trend that started with the MacBook Air in 2008, the battery in Apple’s modern laptops is essentially sealed in, and not easily replaceable. This might seem bad, but actually it’s done for very good reasons.

Take a look at the disemboweled MacBook Pro here, and you’ll see that the battery isn’t a straight rectangle; instead, Apple has filled all the spare space inside the chassis with battery cells—almost like it’s poured in a liquid. This more-efficient use of space means more battery cells can fit into the case for longer battery life, and the whole thing can also be made slimmer—something further contributed to by the fact that you can dispense with the extra space needed for bulky connectors, battery casings and gaps for tolerances to allow batteries to slot in and out.

So, when the battery wears out you’ll just have to throw it away since you can’t replace it yourself?

Not so. Take it into an Apple store (or another authorized service provider) and have them replace the battery for you. An Apple store won’t charge for labor, but depending on the MacBook model, you may have to also replace additional parts that are paired with the battery.

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Inside Mac mini Even though the Mac mini is small, it still has all the basic bits inside it that much bigger Macs have—well, with the exception of a screen! There’s not much you can upgrade— just the RAM—unless you tear one apart. Happily, that’s just what’s happened here!

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Wi-Fi Antenna

Just like an FM radio—because at a fundamental level, the technology involved is basically the same—your Wi-Fi Mac needs an antenna; this is the Mac mini’s.

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2 HARD DISK You can opt for an SSD or Apple’s SSD/hard disk hybrid, but the standard Mac mini comes with a hard disk. Inside this box are platters that are read and written to a little like a record player.

3 SPEAKER

This tiny black dot is the speaker built into your Mac. We would advise against relying on it for music, but it’s fine for the startup chime and alert sounds.

4 CPU This is the computer’s heart, the Central Processing Unit. Just above it is the integrated graphics system.

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5 POWER UNIT The Mac mini’s power supply is built in, so you don’t have an ugly transformer box on the floor. This is it!

6 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

This little daughter card houses the chips for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.

7 HEAT SINK You have to get the heat away, especially from the CPU and GPU, and this boomerang-shaped heat sink is Apple’s way of doing it.

8 FAN Push your Mac mini hard, and you’ll hear this fan spin up, working hard itself as it strives to exhaust the heat.

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4

Your Data is Fragile For more than two decades, we’ve stored our data on hard disks— spinning platters with data read and written magnetically in a spiral by a head floating an impossibly small distance above the surface; in its way, a slightly weird cousin of a record player.

Apple is gradually moving away from hard disks to SSDs—solidstate drives—which don’t use any moving parts; even though they’re still expensive per gigabyte when compared to spinning hard disks, we prefer them because they’re so much faster.

They’re more robust, too.

Although modern hard disks are pretty resilient, you’re still talking about lots of points of failure with its moving parts, and a sharp knock could send the read/write head careening onto the delicate surface and damage your data.

It’s can be even scarier than that, though! The platters in laptop hard disks—the very ones that are likely to get the roughest treatment— are actually often made of glass.

Tough glass, to be sure, but glass nonetheless—as you can see from the platter we smashed here in the name of science!

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8 Take care: the platters in laptop hard discs are made of glass!

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Inside iMac

The iMac has gone through some major changes to its exterior since the iMac G3 was introduced in 1998, but at a basic level, everything that’s inside is pretty much the same. Still, the current iMacs are 5mm thin around the edge, while the first iMac was nearly 90 times deeper than that!

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POWER SUPPLY BOARD

iMacs need to be able to switch between 110V and 240V, and convert the alternating current power your home supplies to direct current; this power supply board does all that.

2 SPEAKERS The surprisingly rich speakers in the iMac essentially fire the sound toward the back of the case, but it’s then channeled downward to emerge from thin vents along the bottom edge.

3 HARD DISK

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While hard disks can make your Mac feel sluggish—and SSDs are costly per gigabyte compared to them—Apple also offers the option of a Fusion Drive, pairing a hard disk and SSD together for fast, high-capacity storage.

4 FAN This big fan helps get the heat that the CPU and GPU generate, and pushes it out of the enclosed body of the iMac.

5 PCIe Connector New iMacs have this very fast PCIe connector that lets you connect an SSD to your Mac, either to use as the sole storage or to pair with a hard disk for a Fusion Drive. Apple can fit this when you order.

You can add it yourself, but you would have to wrench off the screen first.

6 CPU Hidden away under this assembly is the central processing unit, the main brains of the iMac.

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2

Opening the iMac The iMac G5 was easy to upgrade; you just slid the back off. When Apple went Intel—and aluminum— with the iMac, it looked like the whole thing was a sealed unit that you couldn’t get into if you wanted to replace a failed component or upgrade something. Actually, though, Apple had been very clever; the entire screen was held in place with nothing more than magnets.

Strong magnets, we must add, but magnets nevertheless. In order to get into the iMac, all you needed to do was attach a couple of suction cups and give a firm tug.

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Inside Mac Pro

Apple’s newest—and possibly most desirable—computing powerhouse is the Mac Pro, and it has done an amazing job of cramming huge power into a very small, compact shape. Amazingly, too, is that although it looked initially like it wouldn’t be very upgradeable compared to the old tower Mac Pro design, it actually is.

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FAN

The reason the Mac Pro is cylindrical in the first place is that it’s built around this fan, which pulls cool air up from the bottom to draw heat away from the hot internal components.

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2 UNIFIED THERMAL CORE The two GPUs and the CPU sit on each of the three sides of this triangle; heat is dissipated along the spines, and then drawn away by the circular fan.

3 GPU This is one of the two AMD FirePro graphics cards in the Mac Pro. They’re on custom boards, but they are—at least, in theory—upgradeable.

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4 CONTROLLER

The CPU board slots into this disc that sits at the bottom of the Mac Pro. This chip—which you might think is a CPU—is actually the controller hub, the thing that coordinates data flowing through the Mac Pro.

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5 PCIe Connector The new Mac Pro only comes with SSDs; you can specify up to a terabyte. But it, too, is replaceable, so you could leave the default smaller SSD in place when you order, and upgrade yourself later on.

4 6 CPU This is the main processor in the Mac Pro; the base model has four processor cores, but you can up it to 12 cores for an extra $3,000.

7 RAM

The RAM in the Mac Pro is the easiest thing to upgrade or replace—the three or four sticks of RAM that you’d get in the model you bought from Apple can just be popped out.

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8 PORTS

The only thing spoiling the lines of the slick black cylinder is this array of ports on the back. As well as USB, Ethernet, and so on, there are six Thunderbolt 2 ports, and because you can daisy-chain Thunderbolt devices, you could connect up to 36 devices at once. Could.

9 CPU SOCKET This is the motherboard socket into which the CPU is placed, but as you can see, the CPU isn’t soldered in. Although it’s not as simple as just popping out one CPU and popping in another to upgrade your Mac Pro, it’s theoretically possible.

10 Power Supply Board All the high-end components in the Mac Pro pull a lot of power, so the power supply board has to be able to convert your house’s alternating current to direct current, deal with different voltages, and not miss a beat.

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Inside iPhone 5

When you consider how powerful an iPhone is—the 64-bit iPhone 5s in particular—it’s remarkable that it fits in your pocket. It’s even more remarkable when you see that most of the space inside the iPhone is taken up by the battery, with most of the important components relegated to an almost chewing-gum-sized strip off to one side!

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SCREEN

3

The LCD and the digitizer—the part that detects where you’re touching the screen—are fused to the glass on the iPhone’s screen, so if you smash it, you’re not just simply replacing a sheet of glass.

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2 BATTERY

Yes, the battery is big, but you get roughly the same battery life from an iPhone as you would from the MacBook Pro: a testament both to the efficient ARM architecture inside the A7 chip, and to how Apple optimizes iOS.

3 CPU Under here is the A7 processor, the thing that handles most of the raw computing and also graphics tasks for the iPhone.

4 iSIGHT CAMERA Made, we think, by Sony, this lens and sensor assembly is capable of some terrific shots, which is remarkable when you consider how tiny it is compared to a traditional SLR.

5 SIM TRAY

Grumble all you like about Apple going for a mini-SIM, then a micro-SIM, and now a nano-SIM, but you can see now that Apple can’t afford to waste space inside its phones with the spare plastic that surrounds the actual important bit of a SIM card.

(This tray slots into the space on the main board, just below and to the left of where it’s sitting in this picture.)

6 TOUCH ID SENSOR

This Home button assembly also houses the Touch ID biometric security system; under the button is a CMOS chip not dissimilar to a camera sensor.

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7 SPEAKER

The microphone is on the strip to the left (beside the Lightning port), but this amazingly big component is the iPhone’s speaker.

Inside the A7 Chip There’s a huge amount of silicon packed into Apple’s custom chips—it’s just all very, very tiny. We normally think of the A7 as being all about the processor and graphics parts that make iOS devices such capable computers, but as you can see, they only take up about half of the chip’s space.

The two CPU cores on the left are more complex than ever, and sit with some dedicated memory caches. On the right sit the four clusters of the PowerVR Series6 graphics unit. Above the GPU is a large memory cache—this isn’t the chip’s RAM, but is instead a fast load of memory that helps to boost data transfer speeds for smaller files. The rest of the chip is taken up by connectors to other parts of the device (the display and so on) and some other dedicated components— though not the M7 co-processor.

The secure memory that stores your fingerprints is located here, as well as the image signal processor, which enables the speed and smart focusing and exposure when taking photos.

5

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USB COnnector

Display connector

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Memory cache

Processor

GRAPHICS

6 Apple’s A7 chip has great power (and great responsibility).

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INNER BEAUTY

Inside iPad Air

As with the iPhone, the most striking thing about the iPad, once you tear it apart, is the extent to which it’s just a giant battery with a screen stuck to the front. And we do mean stuck; despite their expertise and tools, you can see that iFixit distorted the two cells as they were trying to lever them out of the iPad. Still, at least here in the iPad Air, there are only two cells; the previous model had to pack three in.

1

DISPLAY

Unlike with the latest iPhones, the iPad’s LCD is separate from the glass of its screen.

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1

2 BATTERY The main thing contributing to the iPad Air’s slimness and lightness is 1 that it needs less power than previous models; since it needs fewer power cells, it doesn’t need to be as bulky to accommodate them.

3 GLASS We might see the glass and LCD become fused in future iPads to make them even slimmer, but even in the Air, the glass is separate.

4 SPEAKERS These two components are the iPad Air’s stereo speakers. Well, we say “stereo,” and they are—but when you have the iPad landscape to watch a movie, both speakers are pumping out to the side, spoiling the stereo effect a bit!

4

5 iSIGHT CAMERA This is the iPad’s rear-mounted camera—minuscule, isn’t it?

6 SIM TRAY We suppose Apple probably had a bit more space inside the iPad Air here and thus didn’t strictly need to go for a nano-SIM, but it makes sense to use the same SIM design right across its range of devices.

7 STORAGE This model has 16GB capacity, and this small black chip is where everything— the OS, your apps, games and data—lives.

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8 RAM There’s a gigabyte of RAM on the current iPad Air, and this is it here, tucked right next to the A7 CPU.

5

9 CPU Like the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air has Apple’s own A7 processor at its heart. Small, but there are over a billion transistors crammed onto it.

10 SIM SLOT

Once you put your nano-SIM into its tray, it slots into this component.

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The Priciest Part

9 8 6

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You might think that the most expensive component in an iPad would be something very obviously high-tech, such as the A7 processor. But in fact, research firm IHS has estimated that half of the cost of building the iPad Air is its screen.

This is partly due to the fact that Apple has changed the construction of the screen, using a new cyclic olefin polymer sensor under the Gorilla Glass. The whole screen assembly— which used to measure 2.23mm thick—measures 1.8mm in the iPad Air. Now, a difference of less than half a millimeter might not sound like much, but when you’ve got such tight tolerances and working to make devices that sometimes seem impossibly thin and light, it can mean a lot. maclife.com MAY•14

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Essential iPhoneography Accessories Expand your iPhone’s horizons with a mobile photography toolkit

BY MATT BOLTON PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK MADEO

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Essential iPhoneography Accessories

Photojojo Pocket Spotlight $30 www.photojojo.com This little video light is much beefier than the iPhone’s flash, providing balanced, less-harsh light for photos. It simply plugs into the headphone slot for power, and you can pay a bit more and get it with colored filters.

Joby GorillaPod GripTight $29.95 www.joby.com Carrying a big tripod around with your little phone isn’t exactly ideal, so grab this elaborately monikered flexible stand. The clamps hold any phone tightly, and you can make it stand just about anywhere.

Olloclip Quick-Flip Case $49.99 www.olloclip.com Normally, this is a simple protective plastic case, but it has a section that folds out to accommodate the Olloclip, which then doubles as a shutter button. It also has a tripod mount.

Olloclip Lens $69.99 www.olloclip.com This three-in-one clip-on lens slots onto your phone over the camera, giving you a superb macro lens, a fisheye lens with a roughly 180-degree view, and a wide-angle lens.

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Eye-Fi Pro X2 $99.99 www.eye.fi If you use a dedicated camera, an Eye-Fi memory card enables that camera to become wireless, letting you instantly transfer shots from it to your iPad without cables, so you can inspect them on a larger screen.

Corsair Voyager Air $159.99 (500GB), $199.99 (1TB) www.corsair.com If you take a lot of photos and videos, you might start to run low on storage on your phone. This wireless hard drive (500GB or 1TB) connects directly to your phone using Wi-Fi, so you can transfer files to it and free up phone space.

Photojojo Telephoto Lens $35 www.photojojo.com Ditch the iPhone’s digital zoom and get closer to the action with this telephoto lens, which offers 8x to 12x the zoom of the default lens. It looks odd, we admit, but the results are excellent.

Optrix iPhone Adventure Suit $99.99 www.photojojo.com This case is both protective and waterproof, with a builtin wide-angle lens for taking great action photos. It’s compatible with various mounts, so can be used on vehicles, on a helmet, or just splashing around in the water!

Triggertrap Mobile $29.99 www.triggertrap.com Arm yourself with the free app, the Triggertrap Mobile cable and dongle, and your iPhone, and you can activate a compatible camera (most manufacturers are supported remotely). Line yourself up for a family portrait, and then just trigger your shot! There are various modes and it’s very simple to use. maclife.com MAY•14

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>>>App|Life THREES!

Welcome to your new puzzle obsession BY ANDREW HAYWARD

Y

ou wouldn’t know it from the screenshots—what with that clean, minimal design and little faces on the number tiles—but behind the delightfully cheery exterior of Threes! lays a complex and calculated puzzle core. Its number-blending mechanics are simple on the surface and incredibly easy to pick up, yet careless play is quickly punished and low scores prove inevitable without constant consideration for each and every move made on the board. Success is often elusive in Threes!, yet seeking it has quickly become our favorite new single-minded pursuit.

Basic addition drives this latest

Creating larger-numbered tiles boosts your score significantly, but each step up takes longer and longer to concoct.

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collaboration from Greg Wohlwend (Hundreds) and Asher Vollmer, who previously paired for the also-sharp Puzzlejuice. Everything takes place on a four-by-four grid, wherein every tile is shifted by your swipe and the goal is to continually combine compatible tiles without filling the board. Blue (one) and red (two) tiles can merge to form a three, while all multiple-of-three tiles thereafter can only blend with an exact counterpart: a pair of threes becomes six, a couple of those turns into 12, merging those gives you 24, and so on and so forth.

Each swipe not only shifts the contents of the board up, down, left, or right, but also pulls in a new tile from out of view. As such, you’ll need to continually combine tiles to free up space on the board—and create larger and larger numbers—while simultaneously considering the placement of the incoming tile to accommodate the next potential pairing. At times, it feels like playing a sliding image puzzle, as you make moves to nudge certain number tiles around the board and ultimately toward a companion, but there’s a lot more going on here.

It’s tempting to make quick decisions early on when the board is bare and movement comes easily, but that’s a fool’s errand; obsessing over every little decision is key to setting sizable scores and enjoying the game for more than a few minutes per attempt. We regularly found ourselves embroiled in tense games, analyzing every possible action with the knowledge that one wrong move could botch an otherwise well-played board. You’ll flub a

lot of attempts, but Threes! is absolutely scintillating once you’re deep into a solid run and pairing triple-digit tiles.

Unlike many iOS puzzle games, Threes! isn’t meant to merely kill time or fill spare moments in your day. As you absorb strategies and labor over every little action, it’ll consume not only your time, but also your attention and brainpower. If that’s not the mark of an excellent puzzler, then we don’t know what is.

The bottom line. The game’s engaging mechanics add up to iOS puzzle perfection.

Eventually, the board will fill and the game will end; in time, you’ll anticipate when a move is your last.

Threes! 1.0.2 Sirvo www.threesgame.com Platform: Universal Price: $2.99 Requirements: iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 6.0 or later Brilliant game mechanics are easy to learn but ultimately elaborate and challenging. Wonderful UI design and intuitive touch controls.

Sound effects are a bit grating, but can thankfully be turned off independently from the great music.

AWESOME

Paper—Stories from Facebook Social news without the excess On the surface, Paper looks a lot like what might have happened had Facebook invented Flipboard before Flipboard got the chance, and then slapped on a moniker rather too similar to an existing hugely popular (but entirely different) iOS app. Move beyond the snark, though, and you realize something surprising: Paper makes using Facebook almost pleasurable again.

Facebook on desktop ceased to be fun a long time ago, and even the once-streamlined mobile app is increasingly full of cruft. The idea with Paper appears to be to strip back everything, bring stories to the fore, and turn the Facebook experience into a kind of edited newspaper.

By default, your own Facebook feed is loaded, but you can Paper— add broadly Stories from Facebook 1.0 defined Facebook sections www.facebook.com Platform: iPhone (“Tech,” Price: Free “Planet,” “Pop GOOD Life,” and so

OUR FAVORITE APPS

Chris S.

FxGuru Action Movie FX has been a big hit for a long time, so a copycat app seems well overdue. FxGuru (free, universal) is a worthy competitor, with a wide variety of à la carte effects (you can get six for about five bucks) that offer everything from UFOs and falling satellites to earthquakes and dancing skeletons.

on) full of stories picked by editors. Everyone sees the same thing, thus Paper lacks the granularity of Flipboard. There’s no means to define a single Facebook user or publication as a section, for example, but the no-nonsense approach means that the app is simple to set up and browse.

Standard Facebook notifications and messages are also accessible from within the app.

The largely intuitive UI is very reliant on gestures, which sometimes clash with iOS 7, and horizontal swipes on the large images at the top of the screen perform different actions depending on context. Also, “exploring” highres images by tilting your device around is a gimmicky, poorly executed feature. Flipboard is still a better bet for browsing a set of articles you’ve carefully curated yourself, but Paper’s simpler to get started with, focused, and pretty great for browsing Facebook itself.

The bottom line. Minor grumbles aside, Paper is a good start to Facebook’s news-oriented ambitions.—Craig Grannell

Everyone sees the same stories within a section, rather like a digital newspaper.

Each month, the Mac|Life staff gives you a peek inside our iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches to show you the latest gems, oddities, and WTFs that we’ve uncovered in the App Store

Mikel

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAA!!!

(Force = Mass x Acceleration)

The premise of this game ($0.99, universal) is simple: plummet off a futuristic floating skyscraper, fall through score markers, and tag buildings on your way to a (hopefully) soft landing. It’s even more addictive than the PC original.

Chris H.

Andrew

Banshee’s Last Cry

Dawn of the Plow

The digital equivalent of a ChooseYour-Own-Adventure book, Banshee’s Last Cry ($3.99, universal) tells an intriguing tale of murder and mystery. Tense situations, interesting characters, and a great localization will keep you hooked until you’ve experienced every ending.

Putting a fun spin on the bleak Midwest winters I’ve suffered through my entire life, Dawn of the Plow ($1.99, universal) puts you behind the wheel of a powder-pushing contraption as you clear roads for motorists. The frantic pace, retro style, and tough difficulty make for an amusing lo-fi treat.

Robin

Polamatic Officially licensed by Polaroid, Polamatic ($0.99, iPhone) goes above and beyond the common filters of other apps by letting you add dirt and other effects, write a personal note on the bottom edge with one of 36 fonts, and really nail the look of a justprocessed snapshot from way back when. maclife.com MAY•14

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KORG Gadget One gadget, many electronic music uses KORG continues its onslaught of cool iOS audio apps with Gadget, a slick, lovely sounding iPad offering with 15 synth devices—each capable of some true sonic mayhem, and all wrapped into a productive sequencing environment. It’s not hard to quickly whip up some pounding electronic dance music, especially once you get the hang of the interface, but there are significant holes in the slick veneer.

You’ll find beat boxes, polyphonic and mono synths, and a handful of weirder gadgets, including an 8-bit synth for video game–style sound effects. The fact that KORG decided to include all 15 devices at once is the reason the app is priced at just under $40— which, while expensive on the surface, is still an excellent per-device value.

Gadget’s recording and sequencing interface for putting down layered compositions is really a study in clear interface design, and you’ll find yourself quickly knocking out slick little dance tunes without breaking a sweat. However, it offers very limited MIDI implementation and lacks AudioBus or IAA (Inter-App Audio) support, while the effects offerings are inconsistent and tied to specific gadgets. The portraitonly orientation makes playing the synths a bit tricky, too.

The bottom line. For a little less then a few bucks each, Gadget delivers a great array of sound toys in a nice interface—but it KORG Gadget 1.0.1 still needs some work to be an absolutely KORG essential tool.—David Biedny www.korg.com Platform: iPad Price: $38.99

The controls for each synth take up the bottom of the screen, while note editors occupy the top part.

GOOD

OptimizeMe

SwiftKey Note

OptimizeMe doesn’t just keep a log of your daily activities, it also tells you how to improve them and how each one affects another, living up to its billing. The app organizes your manually inputted activities into four categories: health, creativity, routine, and pleasure. Whether it’s walking to work or taking a shower, you can record everything.

Each activity also lets you select your mood, and while this may sound silly and superficial, it can actually lead to an insightful analysis of your day. OptimizeMe takes all of your recordings and correlates them with one another, so it can shine a light on how to improve your productivity and mood throughout the week.

Apple won’t allow thirdparty keyboards within iOS, so TouchType went a different route: designing an entire notes app to house its fan-favorite Android typing approach. Using Word suggestions appear constantly what it calls “magical above the familiar keyboard, and it’s much smarter than Apple’s own prediction technology,” predictive tech.

SwiftKey Note offers three auto-correction options that are perched atop Apple’s usual keyboard. The center one will insert automatically by tapping the space bar, while the others must be tapped.

SwiftKey pays attention to your typing and intelligently parses such data to predict which words you might tap out next. We’ve found that Apple’s predictive typing has become less intelligent over the years, so using Swiftkey Note was like a breath of fresh air—but it’s only usable within this app, which is sadly limiting.

The bottom line. It’s not the alternative keyboard savior we’ve longed for, SwiftKey Note 1.6.4 but SwiftKey Note TouchType is still a great notewww.swiftkey.net Platform: Universal taking option.

Price: Free —J.R. Bookwalter

OptimizeMe 1.0.2 OptimizeMe www.optimizeme-app.com Platform: iPhone Price: Free GREAT

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Activities are separated into four separate categories, and a simple pie graph lets you see what you did most throughout the day.

The bottom line.

Manual logging can be a pain, but OptimizeMe gives you valuable tools to feel better and do more each day.—Giancarlo Saldana

GOOD

Beats Music Don’t forget about Dre’s service Streaming services have been trying to crack the modern music discovery conundrum, and Beats Music—which features the branding of the popular Dr. Dre–backed headphones—is the latest such offering, serving up more than 20 million tracks with a heaping helping of music expertise. Beats Music initially builds recommendations based on your selected top artists, with a “Just for You” screen suggesting tracks and albums, along with playlists matched with your own. And the more you use the service, the better it becomes at learning your tastes.

More adventurous listeners can use “The Sentence” to create mixes based on where you are, how you’re feeling, who you’re with, and what style of music you want to hear. For example, we flipped through the variables and inputted “I’m on the couch & feel like chilling out with my pets to the ’80s,” and got Madonna’s “Lucky Star” as a result, with other combinations yielding similarly suitable songs. We didn’t get much use from this feature, but the wide range of search options provided even this finicky listener with plenty to hear.

The only significant downside with Beats Music (which requires a $10-per-month subscription) is that it’s easy to drill down into the music and get lost—the app lacks a one-tap option for jumping back to the main menu.

The bottom line. Beats Music delivers effective music discovery within a stylish UI that encourages you to poke around and have Beats Music 1.0.3 fun.—J.R. Bookwalter Beats Music www.beatsmusic.com Platform: iPhone Price: Free (subscription required)

GREAT

Use “The Sentence” to describe your mood and surroundings—silly or serious—and get a specialized recommendation.

Bloodstroke Hardly a stroke of genius John Woo’s reputation as a director and filmmaker was built on graceful action set pieces and high-stakes melodrama. Unfortunately, his first foray into mobile gaming has neither. You play as a private security contractor code-named Lotus, whose task is to escort a brilliant, nervous doctor through a series of levels stretching from Hong Kong to Beijing, all while dispatching oncoming enemies.

Lotus has the predictable arsenal of guns, swords, and explosives at her disposal, and the key to Bloodstroke is striking a balance between them. Virtual buttons handle the shooting and grenade lobbing, but the close-quarters bloodletting is automatic; Lotus careens into enemies like a sword-wielding pinball, lashing out with her dao blade as soon as she gets into range.

Frustratingly, the auto-running mechanics suck all of the energy and enjoyment out of its combat. Both Dr. Koorse and Lotus sprint through each level on a set, on-rails path. As a result, controlling Lotus feels like driving a car that constantly pulls to the right, and John Woo’s influence is felt in the fantastic visuals, but his getting where you want to be means fighting the computer each trademark quality touch proves skin deep. step of the way. Any Bloodstroke 1.0 good will Bloodstroke might have garnered for its stark art direction is soured by an Chillingo economy that quickly turns against the player without an injection of cash toward in-app www.chillingo.com Platform: Universal purchases, as the game’s second half becomes brutally punishing.

Price: $2.99 The bottom line. Bloodstroke pays lip service to John Woo’s bloody brand of action, but WEAK it lacks any grace, efficiency, or flair.—Joseph Leray maclife.com MAY•14

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Dungeon Keeper A devilishly fun revival The original Dungeon Keeper series on PC turned the tables on oldschool fantasy conventions, making you a dark overseer—rather than a do-gooding hero—tasked with carving out a vast subterranean realm and populating it full of insidious traps, not to mention evil minions primed for slaughtering virtuous warriors. This streamlined, free-to-play iOS reboot is a different beast from its predecessors, but the series’ trademark humor and absorbing lair-crafting remains blissfully intact.

With a quick tap of your ungodly finger, you can harvest gold and ore resources, lay down defensive infrastructure, and send your imps scattering to do your bidding. Building out your dungeon and lording over its many moving parts occupies a good chunk of your time here.

Luckily, action-packed raids balance out the resource-gathering and dungeon-expansion elements nicely. Laying traps, flinging spells, and directing your creature defenders makes for intense battles when waves of invaders come knocking. The spoils of war also help you A successful raid can yield treasures that expand your might. keep trekking along in your quest for underworld domination.

Dungeon Keeper’s addictive realm building and wacky humor only slightly obscure Dungeon Keeper 1.0.51 its freemium-heavy infrastructure, however. Gems can be used to speed up just about Electronic Arts every facet of the game, and while not totally necessary, their inclusion still seems www.ea.com Platform: Universal omnipresent to the point of feeling a bit icky in implementation.

Price: Free The bottom line. Dungeon Keeper’s pared-down reboot is fun in its own right, even if it’s GREAT not quite the same as the classics.—Nathan Meunier

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Tales of Phantasia

Lost Yeti

Nearly 20 years after its debut, Japanese role-playing classic Tales of Phantasia makes the leap to iOS. Unfortunately, its new freeYou’ll fight a lot of generic bats just to get to-play format enough experience points to level up. and associated changes make it a less-than-enjoyable trip back in time.

Though its solid battle system remains intact and the voice acting brings emotion to the typical (but endearing) save-theworld story, its new approach ruins the experience. Battles last much longer than usual and offer little reward, which makes leveling up a repetitive chore. On top of that, in-game shop prices have doubled and critical save spots in dungeons are now missing.

What was once a fantasy classic is now just a sad, damaged grind.

The bottom line. Tales of Phantasia’s crass cash-in on nostalgia comes Tales of Phantasia 1.0.0 at the cost of its Namco Bandai own magic www.namcobandaigames.com Platform: Universal and value.

Price: Free —Giancarlo LAME Saldana

Lost Yeti’s retro-chic aesthetic is a throwback to an era long before mobile titles, and it’s undeniably adorable, Larger slabs of ice make things trickier in looking like these bite-sized stages. something that might’ve been released in the 16-bit era. Taking a page from the puzzle classic Lemmings, you don’t actually control the creature in Lost Yeti, and therein lays the challenge.

Apart from having to angle the little guy in the right direction (he only makes clockwise turns when hitting a barrier), you’ll need to slide certain sections of a level—including obstacles—on their x- or y-axes to guide him. You’re quickly forced to split your brain between guiding your yeti and avoiding hazards or enemies within the same space in real time, even as the clever mechanics ramp up in complexity.

Lost Yeti 1.0 The bottom line.

Neutronized Despite the often-tricky www.neutronized.com Platform: Universal difficulty, it’s tough not Price: $1.99 to be charmed by Lost EXCELLENT Yeti.—Steve Haske

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ELISS INFINITY An iOS classic extends its brilliance Eliss Infinity hurls you into an abstract universe where you sort planets for obliteration. They materialize somewhat randomly on the screen and must be manipulated by your digits, making them a suitable size to dump in “squeesars” that periodically appear and wink said planets out of existence. Naturally, there are twists that hamper any thought that you’ll be done with your planet disposal within mere minutes. As you move through Odyssey mode’s 25 sectors, it’s soon clear that each requires a different approach to succeed.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed and frustrated as your fingers perform an intricate dance atop your device, desperately holding back some planets while tearing and flicking others into the abyss. But even the toughest levels are solvable with the right approach, and Eliss is just so good—so perfect for iOS—that you won’t stop until you’ve beaten the entire game.

Savvy longtime iOS gamers will, of course, have experienced much of this in the original release of Eliss back in 2009. For them, the lack of new levels in Odyssey might disappoint; however, along with Retina, widescreen, and iPad support, the game now boasts a freeform sandbox, where you can fling planets around without losing, and the endless score-based Infinity mode. The last of those is the real prize: a frantic, faintly ridiculous, manic, and totally addictive juggling act.

The bottom line. What was innovative in 2009 remains fresh, tactile, and truly terrific today.—Craig Grannell

Seconds from death—too many planets to juggle!

ELISS INFINITY 1.0 Little Eyes www.toucheliss.com Platform: Universal Price: $2.99 AWESOME

The Cleanest Apps Around Getting your house in tip-top shape is easier than it looks

BY MICHAEL SIMON

No one likes cleaning. Tedious and toilsome, it can eat away at our precious weekends and force us into corners of our homes where no one should venture.

But it needs to be done—and for whatever reason, someone decided that spring is the best time to do it. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be as bad as you imagine. You might not realize it, but you’ve got a digital cleaning assistant in your pocket, ready to help take some of the hard out of all that work.

Before you can start straightening up, you’ll need to straighten out what has to be done. Errands To-Do List (free, universal) will keep track of every little job and then

for everything else in your life, the app will catalog and cross-reference your most prized possessions. Just snap a picture and add a description, and its digital shelves will tuck your valuables away for safe-keeping, so you’ll always be able to know what you have—even if you can’t quite get to it.

You might not realize it, but you’ve got a digital cleaning assistant right in your pocket, ready to help take some of the hard out of all that work

Rumgr is like having a garage sale that everyone can find.

Like its name suggests, Errands will keep track of all those chores you’d like to forget.

some. With an organizational system that prioritizes tasks with a smart set of icons, labels, and alerts, the app will keep you on track no matter how many rooms you have to scour. And with iCloud syncing (via $2.99 premium unlock), the rest of your family will have one less excuse to throw your way.

Once you know what you have to do, it’s time to decide who has to do it. You

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could waste time making up an elaborate chore wheel, or you can download Chorma for Chores (free, iPhone) and get to work right away. Built specifically for housework, the app gamifies the mundane tasks that need to get done, using a system of points and rewards to motivate even the laziest members of your family. You can assign higher values to tougher tasks, so your kids might actually start fighting over who gets to clean the gutters.

If you need a little help with busting through those stubborn carpet stains, you should check out Housekeeping from Howcast ($0.99, universal). With a library of simple step-by-step videos for everything from removing red wine stains to combating mildew odors, it’ll help you overcome any obstacle and get your house looking (and smelling) its best.

As you duck into crawlspaces and tear apart cluttered shelves, you’re bound to find stuff you thought was gone forever.

But before you put it back only to repeat the process next spring, you can use Items & Storage & Inventory ($4.99, universal) to keep tabs on it. Like Delicious Library

While you’re organizing what you want to keep, you’re undoubtedly going to come across plenty of stuff that you don’t need anymore. You could collect it all and waste another perfectly good Saturday throwing a garage sale, or you can start selling it on Rumgr (free, iPhone). With a community dedicated to selling used goods at fair prices, it’s safer than Craigslist and far more specialized than eBay, so you’re sure to find just the right buyer who wants to turn your trash into his or her treasure.

And when all else fails, you can always turn to Express Cleaning by Kutoto (free, iPhone) and hire a professional to get it done right. Just make sure to tip well—you know, just in case you see them again next spring.

No matter the stain, Housekeeping from Howcast will have a video on how to beat it.

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>>>Reviews

TOUGH TESTING, TRUSTED RATINGS

For detailed definitions of every score on Mac|Life’s ratings scale, go to maclife.com/ratings.

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Typo Keyboard Case Do the time warp?

W

e’ve all heard the questions from mobile users who can’t live without physical keys, but those incredulous remarks have largely faded over time, as touch devices—particularly iOS ones—have come to dominate the market. Still, for anyone who has held back on buying an iPhone due to its lack of physical inputs, or heavy mobile typists who still haven’t fully adjusted to tiny touch keys, the Typo Keyboard aims to bring you into the modern era of handsets by strapping a familiar-looking keyboard to the iPhone 5 and 5s.

Typo’s branding is an intentional (but clever) misnomer; in actuality, the device is designed to minimize typographical errors. It does so by packing in an entire QWERTY keyboard on the bottom, with a design that’s so similar to the old BlackBerry keyboards—complete with lightly slanted grooves to catch your thumbs—that BlackBerry has actually sued to stop its sale. Regardless of how that pans out, Typo has clearly pulled from the best, as the little keys are nicely responsive and solidly defined despite their tiny size, plus they’re optionally backlit for improved use in the dark. The case pairs via Bluetooth, and when in use, the virtual keyboard doesn’t appear, giving you up to 40 percent more screen space—a definite highlight of using the Typo.

The hard plastic case has a lightly rubberized feel to it, with an interlocking design that connects the top and bottom pieces halfway down the iPhone. It’s not a perfectly aligned design, however; the top piece didn’t appear perfectly straight on the left front side of our review unit, and we saw a bit too much of the phone’s border up top. Still, it’ll keep your iPhone reasonably shielded while adding the keyboard below, and it features the requisite array of port and button openings—though there isn’t much room around the headphone jack, so larger connectors may not fit. The Typo offers 7–14 days of battery life, depending on use, and charges via its micro USB port.

While the case adds a keyboard to the bottom of your iPhone, it also covers up your home button in the process—that’s a definite adjustment, especially for Touch ID users on the 5s. The lowest-right key on the Typo keyboard replaces the home button, and tapping it automatically brings up the password-entry screen for those with key codes and/or Touch ID protection enabled. While the replacement button is suitable for the most part, it’s more prone to being accidentally held down in a pocket than the real home button, triggering accidental Siri prompts while sitting or bending over.

Perhaps the Typo can convince non-iOS handset users to finally make the jump, but in our case—having used iPhones for several years—going back to physical keys diminished our mobile typing speeds. While we were tapping out more accurate messages, it was taking us twice as long to enter the same missives. In part, it’s due to Typo’s own auto-correct setting being very lackadaisical and not catching capitalization errors or nearly as many misspellings, plus with numbers and punctuation requiring use of the ALT key, we still felt like we were fumbling our inputs after a full week of use. Spending a few seconds at a time trying to add a mere period or comma was a recurring headache, among others.

The bottom line. Cumbersome design keeps this cool keyboard-case concept from being fully realized—but even so, we’re not sure it’s an upgrade for entrenched iPhone users.—Andrew Hayward

Typo Keyboard Case for iPhone 5/5s Typo Products www.typokeyboards.com Price: $99 Requirements: iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s Keyboard follows the classic BlackBerry mold, with responsive, well-defined keys. Did feel like we were typing more accurately, albeit slowly. Battery life is solid.

Reduced our typing speed compared to a touch keyboard.

Auto-correct doesn’t catch many issues. Covers home button, which renders Touch ID useless. Case design has some awkward spots.

OKAY

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MyPhotostream

iOS-caliber Photo Stream performance right on your Mac To read Apple’s description on its website, Photo Stream is a flawless cross-platform service that “just works” across all of our devices. Snap a picture with your iPhone and the photo will be magically beamed to all of your iCloud-enabled Macs and iPads, ready

What MyPhotostream lacks in interface design, it makes up for in speed and simplicity.

MyPhotostream 1.0.4 Raffael Hannemann http://raffael.me Price: $3.99 Requirements: Mac running OS X 10.8 or later with iPhoto or Aperture installed Ultra-simple interface. Lightningfast access to your Photo Stream.

Good menu of sharing options.

No editing or deleting of photos.

Can’t manually add images to Photo Stream accounts. No filtering.

EXCELLENT

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to be touched up in Photoshop or emailed to friends.

But while Photo Stream works as advertised across our iOS devices, it’s not quite as seamless on our Macs. Depending on the age of your machine, a trip to iPhoto can bring up the dreaded pinwheel of death, crippling your workflow while you watch it spin. Even on our 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display, loading our stream is far from instantaneous, often taking several minutes to populate the window with just a few days’ worth of new snapshots. MyPhotostream simplifies the process to the point of enjoyment. By taking Photo Stream out of iPhoto, this lightweight app strips away the bloat that slows things to a crawl and boils the iCloud service down to its two most basic steps: drag and drop.

The entirety of the interface consists of a single window. Each time it’s launched, MyPhotostream scans the iLifeAssetManagement folder in your user library directory to find the latest pictures in your stream and displays them chronologically. Photos are initially shown in batches of 50, but that’s a one-time nuisance; the number of photos displayed

at launch is customizable, and we saw no discernible difference in load time between “Few” and “All,” even with a maxed-out Photo Stream of 1,000 pics.

Double-clicking a photo expands it to fill the window and offers a basic set of controls and options. The same menu is more readily available by right-clicking on a photo (or photos) in the main window, but either way presents a number of options: email, Facebook, Flickr, Messages, and Airdrop sharing, along with shortcuts to any editing apps you may have installed. But for our money, the best part of MyPhotostream is the ability to quickly drag a photo right out of the window and drop it on our desktop.

Notification alerts inform you of any new photos

No matter what option you select, MyPhotoStream will execute it before iPhoto has finished opening.

that have been snapped or saved on another device, but unfortunately, you cannot add photos directly into your stream without opening iPhoto or Aperture. A similar quibble was the inability to delete photos using MyPhotostream. Both issues are due to Apple’s strict file-system permissions and unlikely to change. And its speed had us wishing there were ways to automatically filter out photos by source or screenshot.

The bottom line. MyPhotostream is a one-trick pony, but it’s a darn good trick.—Michael Simon

Moshi VersaKeyboard

An iPad Air case with a few tricks up its sleeve iPad owners rarely have reason to be envious of competing tablets, but even the most ardent Apple fan did a double-take when Amazon released Origami-style cases for its latest Kindle Fire line.

Now, the folks at Moshi have done it one better with a versatile case that literally carries a slim keyboard along for the ride.

Moshi’s VersaKeyboard combines a stylish, textured front cover with a rugged polycarbonate back that perfectly conforms to Apple’s latest iPad Air models for maximum protection. The thin, gray front is designed to fold up into a stand behind the iPad in portrait or landscape mode, although we found it better suited to the latter.

The back of the case also has a trick up its sleeve: two lengthwise grooves snugly hold an ultra-slim, detachable Bluetooth keyboard.

Although the durable keyboard makes up just over half of the VersaKeyboard’s 13.4 ounces, it can slide out of the case when not needed. In daily use, this approach didn’t feel significantly heavier than with one of Apple’s Smart Covers, while delivering full protection for the back of the tablet, as well.

However, combining the full VersaKeyboard case with our 128GB cellular-equipped iPad Air did tip the scales at nearly 30 ounces.

The rechargeable keyboard isn’t as lap-friendly as Logitech’s similarly priced Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, but VersaKeyboard supports auto-wake and sleep, and those front cover magnets serve double duty by attaching securely to the back while reading, even with keyboard attached. Moshi claims up to 130 hours of battery life on a single charge, and we’d be hard pressed to dispute that. A convenient keyboard shortcut can be used to find out exactly how much juice remains.

Typing on VersaKeyboard is largely the same as other iPad cases—not ideal, but better than the onscreen keyboard for longer sessions. Unfortunately, there’s no way to prop the keyboard into a more comfortable position; it lies completely flat on a desk or table. VersaKeyboard paired quickly with both iPad Air and MacBook Pro, although only one can be used at a time. Accessory junkies may also be disappointed that VersaKeyboard comes in exactly one color scheme—gray-and-black— although it’s quite a snappy look.

The bottom line. Moshi VersaKeyboard is best suited for infrequent iPad Air typists, and preferably those don’t mind doing so while seated at a desk or table.—J.R. Bookwalter

Moshi’s VersaKeyboard offers maximum portability by combining a stylish Origami front cover that folds up into a stand with a detachable, rechargeable keyboard.

Moshi VersaKeyboard for iPad Air Moshi www.moshimonde.com Price: $100 Requirements: iPad Air, USB AC power adapter (for charging) Full front and rear protection for iPad Air. Origami-style front cover acts as versatile stand when needed. Excellent construction and build quality.

Use as stand best suited to landscape use. Not designed with lap typing in mind. Heavy with keyboard piggybacked onto the case. Only available in gray-and-black.

GREAT

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Vox 2.0

A sleek, powerful audio player It’s hard to imagine now, but iTunes started out as a simple audio player. It didn’t try to sell you anything, nor did it support movies, TV shows, books, or apps. Depending on whom you ask, iTunes has grown either more feature-rich or bloated over the years. But in this multimedia world, what if all you want to do is play music from your computer? Then Vox 2.0 might be for you.

Vox is as streamlined as iTunes used to be, but it has a few features iTunes doesn’t offer even today. You can drag music into Vox from any Equalization settings let you tune your music to your liking.

but a $2.99 in-app purchase grants you access to thousands of online radio stations that offer something for fans of every music genre.

As thoughtfully designed as Vox is, however, navigating through a large music library is a laborious experience, thanks to poor keyboard navigation. To view all of an artist’s albums, for instance, you can’t just start typing the band’s name. Instead, you either have to scroll to them manually or key up a search, which displays the songs in a seemingly random order. The app’s lack of features could be viewed as a negative, as well, since it can’t do some basic things like import the iTunes playlists you’ve already created.

However, the pros outweigh the cons. Vox 2.0 is redeemed by its gorgeous design and ability to handle all kinds of audio files, from any folder or storage device you want.

The bottom line. Vox 2.0 isn’t for everybody.

If you’re happy listening to your music through iTunes, there’s little reason to download another audio player. But if you use file types iTunes doesn’t support, or you wish you could listen to music without opening that behemoth of a program, it’s definitely worth a look.—Chris Reed

The mini-player is beautiful.

Vox 2.0 Coppertino www.coppertino.com Price: Free Requirements: Mac with OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor Handles most audio file types.

Simple to use. Looks fantastic.

Navigating large music libraries can be rough.

GREAT

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storage device to create playlists, or you can have it absorb your entire iTunes library. It can even play file types that leave iTunes scratching its head.

The app looks fantastic, with a beautiful modern design that hones in on what’s important. You could almost mistake it for an iPhone app, with its tall, slim layout that all but disappears when you glance away. When Vox isn’t the selected window, it displays a gorgeous, dimmed view of the cover art of the selected track.

Though Vox is simple on its face, its capabilities go fairly deep. Audiophiles can adjust 10 equalization sliders to make the tracks sound exactly how they want, or they can use presets like Acoustic, Vocal, Small Speakers, and Rock. Vox is free to download,

Vox 2.0 looks as sleek as an iOS app.

OmniGraffle 6

Smart new features for the top diagram and wireframing app OmniGraffle is known for being the top diagram and wireframing app for the Mac. It’s gathered a loyal following for a feature set used for everything from app design to drawing up plans for a new kitchen.

OmniGraffle 6’s most visible change is its “onewindow” design. Inspectors to edit your document no longer float in separate windows; they live within one window alongside your document. While you can still open inspectors in floating panels of their own, this substantial change means the messy and overlapping windows found in previous versions are gone. Instead, there’s a more carefully considered approach to accessing the tools that live at the heart of OmniGraffle, and full-screen support (which arrived a few versions ago) finally sings.

The push to bring everything into one window is reiterated with the type inspector, allowing you to change fonts using a pop-up menu within the new inspector. For those who prefer the OS X font panel, that’s also still available. The type inspector also adds fine-grained control for kerning, and the ability to set up tracking for an entire word.

Managing templates and stencils within OmniGraffle is new, too. There’s no need to dive into the Finder, though it’s worth noting that users of version 5 must manually import any previously created stencils and templates in order for them to be used in this version.

We also like the in-canvas image masking: no more chopping up images in Photoshop before dragging them into OmniGraffle.

Syncing with OmniGraffle for iPad (and any other Mac you may use) is handled through “OmniPresence,” a free service from The Omni

Group. There’s no iCloud sync offered in the Mac App Store version, but OmniPresence is fast, free, and also available as a self-hosted option that companies can run in-house instead of on a third-party server.

We’ve been looking at the standard-edition features so far, but Pro (an additional $100 from The Omni Group’s website, or as an IAP on the Mac App Store) adds big features in version 6, too, particularly if you’re designing apps or working as part of a larger team. Resolution-independent display scaling for Retina-accurate wireframes, Xcode Project import, presentation mode, layered Photoshop document export, and shared layers across a document may double the price, but for heavy users, they’re worth it.

OmniGraffle 6 balances important big new features with tons of smaller additions. As a result, it’s easier for newcomers, and existing users will find themselves even more productive.

The bottom line.

OmniGraffle 6 raises the bar for diagramming apps on the Mac, and is easier to use than ever.

—Nik Fletcher

The app’s UI has seen a substantial redesign— everything is in one window, making it much easier to use.

No need to use Finder to manage your stencils and templates: use the Resource Manager.

OmniGraffle 6.0.4 The Omni Group www.omnigroup.com Price: $99.99 ($49.99 for upgrade) Requirements: Mac running OS X 10.8 or later, 64-bit processor, 50MB disk space New design is much easier to use. Improved stencil organization.

Image masking is fantastic.

Big price jump to Pro version.

AWESOME

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PENCIL

A magical stylus that helps you do and undo

W

hen Paper by 53 first appeared in the App Store, its beauty was in its simplicity. Unlike other iOS drawing apps, it didn’t try to emulate a desktop workspace by cramming a bunch of features onto a small screen; with an elegant set of digital tools, it redefined our expectations of art in the Multitouch era. In many ways, Pencil is the perfect complement to Paper’s singular style.

Designed to mimic the look and feel of a high-quality carpenter’s pencil, it doesn’t succumb to the usual stubby stylus pitfalls. When gripped like a normal pen, its soft, cushioned tip gives it a spongy, almost brush-like quality that belies its precision, while a touch of weight adds just the right amount of leverage.

Pairing is as easy as pressing Pencil’s point against a small circle in the toolbar, but if you leave Paper for more than a minute or two, you’ll need to repeat the process. Once connected, the full power of the app will be at your fingertips—including all brushes and the color mixer—along with nifty palm-rejecting technology that lets you rest your hand comfortably on the screen while you work (though you’ll still want to use your fingers to blend and undo).

Pencil responded well to our movements, and we only experienced the slightest bit of occasional lag, particularly when using the color brush. Building the eraser into the top of the stylus is a stroke of genius, as is the concealed magnet that firmly attached our walnut review model to the iPad Smart Cover while traveling.

The bottom line. Whether you’re a painter or a doodler, Pencil will help you get a grip on your creativity.

—Michael Simon

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK MADEO

Pencil FiftyThree www.fiftythree.com Price: $59.95 (Walnut)/ $49.95 (Graphite) Requirements: iPad (3rd generation), iPad mini, or later Elegant, smart design.

Excellent features when paired with Paper app.

Needs to be paired before every use. Slight lag while drawing with certain brushes.

EXCELLENT

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Mail Pilot for Mac

Email organization gets task-oriented Email hasn’t changed much over the years, but a new generation of mobile and desktop apps is out to challenge the status quo with unique new ways

OS X Mail users, we’re not in Kansas anymore: Mail Pilot for Mac treats email as tasks that can be acted upon in a variety of ways.

Mail Pilot for Mac 1.0.2 Mindsense www.mailpilot.co Price: $19.99 (in Mac App Store) Requirements: Mac OS X 10.8 or later; 64-bit processor Unique workflow makes email easier to organize. Threaded conversation views. Emails can be grouped into lists.

Limited to IMAP accounts only (no POP). UI is limiting. No draft email, junk management, or inbox rules. No gesture support.

GOOD

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stumbles when using folders to organize emails, requiring several clicks to file messages that Mail can copy or move via contextual menu.

Mail Pilot also isn’t built for users plagued with junk mail—there are no options to mark or file away unwanted emails, let alone spam filters to combat them. Incoming emails are all given equal treatment: there’s no way to color-code or otherwise create rules, although Mail Pilot does ping users via Notification Center and the dock when new mail arrives.

For casual users, Mail Pilot for Mac does offer a compelling alternative to email management.

For example, we did rather enjoy the satisfaction of checking off an email as complete, and rather than leave messages sitting in the inbox where they nag you daily, less important tasks can be set aside for later, with or without a builtin reminder—although this feature isn’t yet integrated with OS X’s own Reminders.

“Inbox zero” enthusiasts will also find plenty to like about Mail Pilot for Mac, such as the ability to group related messages into lists and view related message conversations as nested, flat, or reversed.

The app also offers intuitive keyboard shortcuts, but there’s a lost opportunity here for supporting gestures, which are completely missing-in-action.

The bottom line. Mail Pilot for Mac is the missing piece of the puzzle for those already using the iOS version, but compared to OS X Mail, we found its feature set too limiting.—J.R. Bookwalter

to wrestle incoming missives—or just put them on ice until a later date.

Mail Pilot for iOS debuted in early 2013, as a third-party attempt to build a better mobile email client. The developer has since turned its attention to the Mac platform, with the same modus operandi: incoming emails are treated as tasks that can be checked off, swatted aside, or resurrected in the future.

For those of us who tend to treat an inbox as a to-do list already, this sounds like a match made in heaven.

In daily use, however, Mail Pilot for Mac lacks the polish of OS X Mail. For starters, there’s no draft mode—the developers promise to add the ability to save unsent emails in a One of our favorite Mail Pilot for Mac features is the ability to treat an email as a future update. The app also reminder; unfortunately, they won’t sync up with the OS X Reminders app.

Condense

Scan-and-grab OCR made simple Optical character recognition (OCR) is pretty correction, which cleverly improves recognition of amazing technology, but a computer-science student angled text by first rotating the area being scanned. from Germany hopes to make it more convenient The bottom line. Condense may not be the with Condense, a Mac application that scans a usermost elegant OCR software, but its ability to selected block of text from anywhere on the screen quickly parse bits of text from anywhere makes it and extracts it into editable format. The app works in worthwhile for any typist.—J.R. Bookwalter windowed or menu mode, where a custom hotkey is used to initiate the process.

Three available contrast settings (normal, medium, or high) enable extracting type from any background, with the option to automatically copy to the clipboard, ready to paste into other apps. In our tests, Condense matched the accuracy of full-blown OCR software, although the actual scanning process tended to be a resource hog, occasionally freezing the cursor entirely on our MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

Likewise, the app’s somewhat non-standard UI could benefit from further polish.

On the plus side, the archive tab retains the last Condense has Focus mode, which compares the original image five scans, and version 1.4 offers manual angle scan against the extracted text, complete with autocorrect.

Condense 1.4 Thomas Johannesmeyer www.condenseapp.com Price: $1.99 Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor Hotkey-enabled OCR from any user-selectable area of the screen.

Archive retains last five extractions.

Focus mode offers side-by-side text editing against original scan.

Scanning process tends to tax system resources. Proper contrast setting requires trial and error. Large app size (> 400MB).

GOOD

Cockatoo for iTunes

This bird plummets like a lead balloon Cockatoo is major gripe— made to help there’s no search folks who spend tool of any sort. It’s time working on a tedious drag-andtheir Macs while scroll affair. listening to music, In testing by providing quick, Cockatoo, we easy control frequently found over iTunes ourselves opening while you’re in the Cockatoo other applications. window by In its current accident; there state, however, is no facility for Cockatoo is one requiring an The window on the left is the only one you’ll ever see for Cockatoo— notch above additional modifier even when you don’t want to see it, unfortunately. worthless—and key to invoke it. it’s not even free, unlike similar utilities.

Then there’s the recurring bug in which the window The Cockatoo interface is a single window that wouldn’t slide back off the screen—it simply can be programmed to appear when your mouse stays put, which is the only thing this software is goes to the extreme right or left side of your screen, supposed to do reliably besides play tracks. displaying album artwork, basic controls, and your The bottom line. If Cockatoo were free, we’d say playlists. You can also view a master playlist of all give it a test flight, but for $8.99, there’s no reason your music, but this is where we ran into our first to buy this dodo.—David Biedny

Cockatoo for iTunes 1.0.1 Nikolai Nagornyi www.intuitivecode.com Price: $8.99 Requirements: Any Mac with OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit processor Provides basic control of iTunes while using other apps.

No search command. No way to constrict pop-up behavior. Buggy.

TRAGIC

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SteelSeries Stratus Finally, a worthwhile iOS controller

T

he first standalone iOS 7 gamepad is also the top iOS game controller to date, as SteelSeries throws its hat in the ring with the Stratus Wireless Gaming Controller. While not quite a perfect specimen, this tiny Bluetooth option executes the fundamentals in a way that the recent Logitech and MOGA options (for iPhone and iPod touch) do not.

What’s initially most surprising about the Stratus is just how small it is. Photos without a basis for comparison can be deceiving; it’s actually about the size of an older iPhone in terms of dimensions, albeit a bit thicker. It’s a full-service controller, with two analog sticks, a d-pad, four face buttons, and four shoulder buttons, and it connects wirelessly via Bluetooth to any iOS 7 device with a Lightning port. With about 10 hours of battery life in tow, it’ll last about as long as a fully charged iPad—which is the ideal device to use it with.

MOGA’s Power Ace controller disappointed with unresponsive buttons, while Logitech’s PowerShell fell short with a crummy d-pad. Thankfully, the Stratus delivers solidly responsive inputs on all fronts, making it a great option for all kinds of games. Racers like Riptide GP2 and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed are significantly improved with an analog stick and buttons, as are Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and even Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The SteelSeries Stratus is the first iOS controller we’ve used that actually makes a physical controller seem worthwhile on the platform.

It’s a shame, then, that the pad is priced at $80—that’s cheaper than other current iOS 7 game controllers, sure, but it just doesn’t feel like a peripheral that should command such an investment. Modern console gamepads are sturdy and ridiculously refined to fit perfectly within hands of all sizes, and those cost about half as much as the Stratus. By contrast, SteelSeries’ controller is built of cheap-feeling plastic and feels too light and hollow, plus the cramped, overly condensed design puts the L2/R2 buttons too close to the center, making them a bit harder to use.

Still, for iOS gaming die-hards willing to shell out for a pretty good pad, it’s easily the best of the bunch, and the upsides thankfully outweigh the nagging concerns. The price is tough to swallow, but if you can get past that, the Stratus is a solid choice for early adopters.

The bottom line. While overpriced and lacking a premium build to match, the diminutive SteelSeries Stratus is a quality controller option for serious iOS 7 gamers.—Andrew Hayward

Stratus Wireless Gaming Controller SteelSeries www.steelseries.com Price: $79.99 Requirements: Pad Air/Mini/4th gen, iPhone 5/5s/5c, or iPod touch (5th gen) running iOS 7 Responsive buttons and directional inputs notably improve many supported games.

Solid battery life. Hard-plastic protective cover is a nice touch.

Overpriced, especially when compared to controllers on other platforms. Build quality doesn’t match the price.

Cramped design compromises use of L2/R2 buttons.

GOOD

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Tomb Raider

Lara’s revival is brutal and beautiful Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider reboot is a game about searching: for ancient relics, forgotten tombs, and undisturbed grottoes, yes, but also for the self-

Ditching the tired look of the past games, Tomb Raider is stunningly presented.

Tomb Raider Feral Interactive www.feralinteractive.com Price: $19.99 Requirements: Mac OS X 10.9.1 or later, 2GHz processor, 4GB RAM; does not support Intel GMA series, Intel HD3000, or NVIDIA 7xxx/8xxx/9xxx/3xx cards; Intel HD4000 cards require i7 processor or better Sharp camera work and beautiful environments make exploration a joy. Combat is dynamic and unpredictable. Tons of content, even after the game is completed.

End of the game is padded with extra fight scenes and plot.

Multiplayer is hobbled by platform limitations. Be aware that Lara’s deaths are particularly graphic.

GREAT

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handholds, rock faces, rooftops, and zip lines give Tomb Raider its sense of wonder and momentum.

It’s easy to get lost in the simple joys of traversal and movement, and the game’s action sections—a chase scene set in a burning temple, for example—greatly benefit from the solid framework of its climbing mechanics.

When fighting becomes necessary, it’s anarchic and desperate: Lara can’t shoot from the hip, has limited melee options, and her dodge-rolls are graceless and haphazard. There’s a sense of unwieldiness to Tomb Raider’s mechanics that gels with Lara’s revised origin story, but extended fight sequences dominate the second half of the game and wear out their welcome. Thankfully, Lara’s stealth abilities are both safer and more satisfying, the chaos of battle replaced with the sharp twang of a taught bowstring.

Curiously, the traditionally single-player Tomb Raider sports full-featured multiplayer options,

assurance necessary to transform from a shy archaeologist into a brutal killing machine.

Lara Croft’s baptism in blood—her own and, often, her enemies’— takes place on a fictionalized Yamatai, a hidden Japanese island full of pristine forests, snowy mountain ranges, and a sect of violent cultists who worship the shaman-queen Himiko.

The first several hours are tense and Surprising stealth attacks are Lara’s preferred method of execution. painful: shipwrecked, as well. Paired with a full complement of modes, alone, and impaled by a piece of stray rebar, characters, and unlockable upgrades, Tomb Lara searches for food and shelter before taking Raider’s loose combat makes multiplayer combat her first human life defending herself from a frenetic and chaotic, but it’s competently executed disturbingly touchy-feely scavenger. It soon turns and fun. Good luck finding matches, though: the into a full-scale action-adventure, complete with multiplayer is Mac-to-Mac only—plus, the Mac App gunfights, explosions, and undead samurai. The Store version doesn’t offer it at all—and at press combat is fun, but Tomb Raider is at its best when time, the servers were deserted. its focus is on climbing and exploration.

Each area of the island is dense with nooks and The bottom line. Tomb Raider doesn’t always crannies, extensive cave systems, and sprawling play to its strengths, but even its weakest moments vistas, hiding any number of collectible ceremonial display a developer with a keen eye for fusing fans or tribal masks. The sheer wealth of ledges, stealth, exploration, and gunplay.—Joseph Leray

Octodad: Dadliest Catch Secret octopus father of the year

Octodad: Dadliest Catch reconstructs the triedand-true gaming tradition of inescapable challenge in a new, orange cephalopod body—and a threepiece suit. It’s exactly as endearing as it sounds, occasional irritating objective aside, and it delivers a pleasantly confounding stumble through mollusk fatherhood. The titular Octodad is, in fact, an octopus masquerading as a human man with a wife and two kids—and the entire game is an extended pursuit to protect that loving façade. To that end, Octodad must preserve his cover by performing tasks that any normal father might, like making coffee, grilling burgers, buying cereal, or taking the family to the aquarium.

Perhaps more than in any other Mac game in recent memory, the Platforming scenarios experience is really defined by its prove wholly unique and willfully fumbly especially challenging as controls. The default controls call an octopus. for the left and right mouse buttons

if he accrues too much attention, the jig is up.

However, despite its obvious difficulty, Octodad’s bumbling is the most delightful gaming frustration in recent memory. Aside from one instance in the last level that took us more than a hundred attempts to complete, every errant slip and bungled grab served a dual purpose: it was hilarious to watch, and we learned better how to navigate his ungainly form.

Fumbling around the human world as a suit-wearing cephalopod delivers laughs aplenty.

to lift Octodad’s legs. Pressing the mouse wheel initiates arm mode, wherein both buttons function as grabbers, and the right mouse button navigates the vertical axis when held. If it sounds cumbersome, that’s because it is—even using a controller proves amusingly awkward—and that’s precisely the point.

Because of Octodad’s squishy body and unwieldy tentacles, doing even the simplest task inevitably involves fumbling to pick up anything or walk anywhere. Failing to adhere to established social norms—like not knocking over fruit stands, or say, not being identified as a cephalopod by a marine biologist—accumulates unwanted suspicion, and

But if there’s one journey that we enjoyed more than fitting into Octodad’s tentacles, it was coming to understand why this octopus would endure the harrowing terrors of normal human life, and why he’d try so earnestly to keep the truth about him secret. The answer eventually comes in the game; it’s encouraging, and it’s the kind of personal sentiment that indie developers (like Young Horses) condense so well.

The bottom line. Controlling a virtual man has never been so equally challenging, rewarding, and dumbfounding as when that man is an Octodad.

—Dan Crabtree

Octodad: Dadliest Catch Young Horses www.octodadgame.com Price: $14.99 Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later, 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent processor, 3GB RAM, Intel Core HD Graphics 4000, Nvidia GeForce GT 330M, ATI Radeon HD 4850 or better It’s a tentacle dance with the beautiful futility of hiding in plain sight. A worthy challenge for any player.

A couple of instances of maddeningly demanding play with unpredictable controls.

EXCELLENT

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Apogee MiC 96K

Your quest for an amazing microphone is over In the world of Mac audio hardware, Apogee has always been the Rolls Royce of interfaces and converters in professional studios, as well as the luxury choice for serious hobbyists. Apogee’s original MiC microphone is one of the more popular bus-powered mics for folks needing a single unit that works on both Macs and iDevices. This newest incarnation of that microphone, the MiC 96K, retains the cardioid condenser design of the original, but now includes a pristine 24-bit, 96KHz recording ability, bringing the already stellar sound quality up to the highest pro-level standards.

inconsistent; we plugged it into an external harddrive enclosure with an integrated USB port, and there were no problems.

There is a gain knob on the right side of the MiC, and a multi-color LED lets you know when the unit is powered but not being accessed by software (dim blue), powered and live in a recording app (dim green), picking up significant audio signal (bright green), hitting hot levels (orange), or clipping (red).

The box also includes a standard stand adaptor (the mounting thread is on the back of the mic, but this is a non-issue with the adaptor), as well as a

The Apogee MiC 96K is diminutive in size, but delivers expansive, crystal-clear recording quality.

Apogee MiC 96K Apogee Electronics www.apogeedigital.com Price: $229 Requirements: Mac with an Intel CPU and OS X 10.7.5 or later, or iPhone 4 (or newer) or iPad 2 (or newer) with iOS 6.1 or later Pristine sound quality. Durable hardware. Comes with USB, 30 pin, and Lightning cables.

Lacks carrying pouch; cables are a bit short.

EXCELLENT

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The very first thing you’ll notice about the MiC 96K is how solid it feels in your hand. It’s manufactured entirely in the United States, and the overall build quality of this almost-all-metal mic is a thing of beauty, largely justifying the premium price, especially compared to some mundane foreign-made mics we have on hand. There are three cables in the box: USB, 30-pin, and Lightning, making the unit ready to roll with any of the supported devices, and it effortlessly plugs into a iMac or iPad with no extra drivers of any sort—it works like a charm. We discovered that it would not always power up when plugged into a powered external USB hub, while other hub-powered audio accessories worked fine, but this hiccup was

small tabletop tripod—a really nice touch for using the MiC right out of the box. While Apogee sells an optional $20 hard case, there was no carrying pouch in the box, which really should have been included for the price. The three included cables are also a bit on the short side (3 feet), but Apogee does indeed offer longer cables as optional accessories.

The bottom line. The Apogee MiC 96K is the kind of hardware that you buy once and never replace.

It’s built like a small tank, and provides some of the best audio quality we’ve seen in a relatively inexpensive microphone. The fact that it plugs directly into an iPhone and an iPad simply rocks, and makes this a natural choice for your one-stop-shop mic needs.—David Biedny

X-Mirage

Bring the magic of AirPlay to your Mac With AirPlay, you can connect your iOS device to your Apple TV and enjoy what’s happening on your little screen on a much larger HD television. But not all of us have an Apple TV. Some might even be using a Mac mini as a media center, and despite the fact that Apple makes Macs, it isn’t allowing us to display our iOS devices on them.

Thankfully, third-party developers saw an opportunity.

X-Mirage is the latest app to offer this feature, and using it couldn’t be easier. Once installed on your Mac, the AirPlay function becomes accessible on your iOS device and you can use it to watch films on your Mac’s screen or let everyone enjoy the game you’re playing. Obviously, this offers great educational opportunities.

Any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad currently on sale is compatible with AirPlay. Older models may allow you to watch a movie, but mirroring (whereby you can see whatever’s on your iOS device on your Mac), may not be available.

A Mac, having a much beefier central processing unit than an Apple TV, offers features that wouldn’t be available otherwise, like being able to connect multiple iOS devices to a single Mac. The process is incredibly simple: just connect your devices via AirPlay and they’ll all appear in a long row across your Mac’s screen. The more are displayed, the beefier your Mac will need to be in order to see them all in real time.

Since any iOS device can connect to any AirPlayenabled Mac on the same network, it’s good that X-Mirage has the option to password-protect itself.

That way, only the devices you allow will be able to connect. Another great feature is the ability to

record your iOS screen: a big record button appears over the window as you mouse over it. You can record multiple screens at the same time, but again, this will seriously tax your Mac’s processor and lead to dropped frames if it isn’t powerful enough. But being able to record whatever action you perform

You can connect and record multiple iOS devices at the same time (as long as your Mac can manage the CPU requirements).

A few settings are at your disposal, including the ability to require an iOS device to enter a password before being displayed on your Mac.

on your iOS device is a fantastic addition for anyone wishing to create video tutorials.

The bottom line. If you’ve been looking for a way to display one or more iOS screens on your Mac, and record them all in real time, then X-Mirage will be a vital addition to your workflow. Since you can download a seven-day trial version to see if it meets your needs, you haven’t got anything to lose by taking it for a spin.—Steve Paris

X-Mirage 1.04.5 X-Mirage www.x-mirage.com Price: $16 Requirements: A Mac running OS X 10.6. or higher; any iOS device with AirPlay Launch the app and you’re ready—no complex installation required. Password protection and one-button recording. Can connect multiple iOS devices to a single Mac at the same time.

You need a powerful Mac to sustain multiple connections.

GREAT

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>>>Ask

Tech Supp ort & techs pl anation s

>>>The Case of the Invisible Files I accidentally downloaded three video files to my desktop, each with an MP4 extension, that are roughly 2.1GB. These files do not show up on my Desktop and therefore are not giving me the option to delete them. They are nowhere to be found in the Finder.

What is strange is that I can open VLC player and play them from where I initially played them when I first downloaded them. Can you help?

It’s entirely possible that the file you downloaded included a “.” as the first character of its name. Files that are named this way are considered “invisible” on Unix-based systems, and will therefore not be visible to you in the Finder. If this is the case, then you should be able to find and delete the file in the Finder after enabling the ability for the Finder to show invisible files. To do so, open the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities), and type the following command followed by the enter key: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE Then, restart the Finder by typing the following command: killall Finder After restarting the Finder, you will see all hidden files—they’ll be colored gray and contain a dot in front of the name. You can delete them just like any other file, but be careful not to delete any files that you don’t recognize, as some hidden files control the way Folders are configured.

Spread the Message Using my iPhone, is there a way to set up a group and send a text message to all in that group without adding them individually every time?

To use group messaging on the iPhone, you can create a message like any other, except each time you add another user, they will be included in the same message when you send the iMessage or SMS. There’s no specific way to designate it as a group, but once you create this initial group message, the message history is saved just like any other message. Tapping into this group

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When you’re done hunting down the hidden file, you can easily revert the Finder to the original state (not showing hidden files) by following the same Terminal steps above, replacing “TRUE” with “FALSE” in the first command.

Invisible files that appear in the Finder will show up as light-gray text. Only remove the files you recognize.

You can easily enable the Finder’s ability to show hidden files using a Terminal command.

message from the main Messages history screen, you can easily reply to those contacts in that same group without having to recreate the group each time. If you delete this group, however, you will need to re-create it.

With group messaging, if you don’t delete the group from the Messages history view, you can still message all of the group members without having to re-create the group each time.

View Times Two I have a 27-inch iMac (from 2012) and would like to use a secondary monitor. I would like to find a reasonably priced IPS monitor. Should I get HDMI, DVI, VGA, or another? Can you shed some light on this topic?

With a modern Mac, you only need to worry about the port that your Mac has for connecting to external monitors. Recent Macs will either use Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort. If you go with an Apple monitor, you won’t really have to worry about the connection or the setup; if you go with another monitor, you’ll need to get the appropriate adapter for your Mac. In each of the Mini DisplayPort and Thunderbolt categories, there are adapters to allow your Mac to hook up to a wide variety of monitors including VGA, DVI, and even HDMI. In 2014, we’d advise staying away from VGA-based monitors because they provide the lowest resolution of all the adapter types. Stick with an HDMI or DVI monitor and get one of the appropriate adapters for your system.

You can get cheaper Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort adapters through www.monoprice.com, or you can go through the Apple Store to find a full range of adapters.

Apple and third-party retailers sell Mini DisplayPort and Thunderbolt adapters for connecting to different monitor types.

Put It on My Card I am unable to copy files to my SD card from my iMac using Mavericks; I get an error saying the SD card is read-only. It’s been fine for the past year under the previous version of OS X. There are usually two reasons that your SD card would be giving you an error like this. The first issue is the easiest to fix, and that is to check and see if you’ve placed your SD card in write-protect mode.

On almost every SD card, there is a small switch on the lefthand side (if you are facing the SD card label). Sliding this switch up to the top will allow writing, but if you slide the switch down to the bottom, it will place the card in write-protected mode. In this mode, your computer will not be able to write to the card.

The second issue that you can occasionally run into is that the formatting of the card is wrong. Your Mac cannot read FAT32, NFS, or other non-HFS or non-FAT file systems. If your camera or other computer is formatting and using these specialty file systems, then your Mac will recognize them as read-only.

You can change the file-system format by opening Disk Utility (located in the Utilities folder under Applications). Once here, select your SD Card in the sidebar, and then select the “Erase” tab. In the Format menu, select “FAT” for ultimate compatibility

between your devices, then type a name, and click “Format.” It’ll erase the card and reformat it with a compatible format.

You can erase a non-supported formatted card by using Disk Utility.

When your SD card is switched to the Lock position, it will appear as read-only on the Mac.

Open the Window Is there a way to make a folder open in a new window (rather than a tab) when you double-click them in Mavericks? I can get the folders to open in a new window if I right-click or Commandclick, but what about a good old double-click?

Tabs are a new feature of the Finder in Mavericks that allows the Finder to operate in full-screen mode without interruption. However, if you’re not a user of full-screen mode, then you may not get the full benefit of tabbed browsing (especially if you’ve become accustomed to using multiple windows).

Fortunately, you can get the old functionality back in the Finder, although it’s a little convoluted. First, open a Finder window and press Command + , (comma), or select Finder > Preferences. Once there, select the General tab, and uncheck the option to “Open folders in tabs instead of new windows.”

Next, open the folder that contains the folder you’re trying to double-click to open. Go to the View menu (or right-click the folder’s toolbar) and select Hide Toolbar. Though you’ll lose the toolbar, you’ll gain the ability to open any folders within the current folder window by simply double-clicking. You’ll have to repeat this process, however, for any additional locations that contain folders you want to open via double-click.

You must hide the toolbar if you want to double-click to open a folder in a new window.

Finder Preferences let you revert back to preMavericks functionality without using the new Tabs feature.

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Photo Finder Where can I find my photos on my MacBook without going through iPhoto?

Photos can be stored almost anywhere in the Finder, but for most Mac users, photos are stored in the “Pictures” folder in your Home Folder. If you’re an iPhoto user, this is the default location of your iPhoto library that contains all of the photos stored inside of iPhoto.

You can browse your iPhoto library without opening iPhoto by navigating to [Your Home Directory] > Pictures. Once here, right-click on the iPhoto library file and select “Show Package Contents.” Inside of the folder that appears, navigate to the “Masters” folder. Here, you will find all of your Photos sorted by year, month, and date folders, with the pictures contained inside. Word of caution: moving or removing files from these folders will affect your iPhoto library.

iPhoto stores all of your photos in the Pictures folder inside of a special “iPhoto library” file.

Bluetooth Blues Ever since I synced my Bose Bluetooth speaker to my new iMac, I cannot re-sync it back to my iPad, even after removing it from the iMac. Can you please help?

With most modern Bluetooth speakers, multiple devices can be paired at one time. Assuming the devices have already been previously paired, you can easily switch between the paired devices.

For most Bose products, you can switch between your paired devices by first turning off the Bluetooth connection on the paired device(s) that should not be playing music. Ensure that only the device you want to play music through is currently connected to the Bluetooth speaker.

When your device is paired and ready to play music, you’ll hear a beep from the speakers. For more information on how to switch between Bluetooth devices, check out this video on the Bose website: http://bit.ly/ml_bosesound.

If that fails, delete the Bluetooth speaker from your iOS device by going to Settings > Bluetooth and pressing the small info button beside the name of the device you wish to forget.

Select the “Forget” option to remove the pairing from your iOS device. Then, try to re-pair the device from scratch using the instructions from the Bluetooth device manufacturer.

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With most speakers, multiple devices can be paired at once; you will need to switch between the devices in order to play sound.

Database Transfer I have a Microsoft Access database stored on my office PC that I’ve been using for years. Is there an easy way to transfer this data from Access into a Mac-based program and still maintain all of the records?

While Microsoft Access is not available on the Mac unless you’re running Windows and Access in VMWare, Parallels, or Boot Camp, you can still utilize your existing Access Databases on the Mac for free using Open Office (or Libre Office). Open Office can be downloaded at www.openoffice.org. Once downloaded and installed, you can easily import your Access databases by performing the following steps: 1. Export all the tables you need as CSV files (International format) and place them in a folder.

2. Start Open Office and create a new Database using the Database Wizard.

3. Select “Connect to an existing database,” and choose “Text.”

4. Continue to the next screen, click “Browse,” and then select the folder containing the CSV files (not the individual CSV files) 5. Select “Comma Separated Values” 6. Make sure the field separator/decimal separator is set properly for the International format, which is “comma and period.”

7. Click Next, and then Finish. Your CSV files will now show up as tables in the newly minted database.

Open Office is a free office suite that contains Database capabilities and can import CSV files generated from Microsoft Access.

Save the Date

Library Return

I want to find a weekly calendar solution that will let me print a calendar where I can enter all of my important dates (birthdays, etc.) that will carry over to the next year. Right now, I’m having to retype a year’s worth of important events that occur every year. In addition, can I print daily events using a program on my Mac? To answer your first question, yes, with Calendar on OS X, you can easily add recurring events. To do so, create a new event as you normally would, and enter the event details. Then, select the “Every Year” option from the “Repeat” drop-down menu. If you need more custom repeat options, then select “Custom” to customize the repeat schedule for this event. When you save the event, it will automatically be copied to all future events using the recurring schedule that you configured. If you delete the event in the future, you will be given the option to delete only the onetime event, or to delete all future recurring events.

For your second question, yes, you can also print a weekly calendar containing all of your events. To do this, select File > Print in the Calendar application. In the Print dialog that appears, select “Week” from the “View” drop-down menu, then select your calendars you wish to include printed, and any other options you would like to select. Click Continue to send the page to your printer.

I read your great article in the January 2014 issue of Mac|Life on “70 Mavericks Tips and Tricks,” but I’m still having trouble getting my Library folder to show up. Can you explain it in more detail? I’m running OS X 10.9.1.

In OS X Mavericks, Apple included an option in the Finder to display the “Library” folder inside the current user’s Home directory.

To get the Library back, first open the Finder. Click the Home folder icon (the one with your username). If the Home folder isn’t enabled in the Finder, then you can press Command + , (comma) and check the option to display the Home folder in the Sidebar tab.

Once inside the Home folder directory, press Command + J (or go to View > Show View Options), then, in the View Options dialog that appears, tick the option for “Show Library Folder.” After selecting this option, the Library folder will appear in your Home directory. This option is only available in OS X Mavericks (10.9.x) and not previous OS X releases.

The Library folder option is only visible when inside your user’s Home directory.

Creating a recurring event is very simple with the Calendar app in OS X.

Once you’ve enabled your Library folder, you’ll have access to things such as fonts, desktop pictures, and more.

Ask is written by Cory Bohon, a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer.

Printing a weekly calendar in the Calendar application couldn’t be easier.

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GOT A TECH QUESTION OR A HELPFUL TIP TO SHARE? Email ask@maclife.com or write to Mac|Life, 4000 Shoreline Ct, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080

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in depth in detail fully tested gear

>>>Create

HOW TO DO ANYTHING ON YOUR MAC, iPhone & iPad

Make More of Finder Discover how improvements in Mavericks help you work smarter

>>>WHAT YOU NEED

LEVEL:

easy

>> OS X 10.9 >> Some personal files Every new version of OS X adds some enhancements to file management, and Mavericks is no exception. It introduces important new features, some of which are immediately obvious even if you’ve used previous versions of OS X, but there are others that aren’t so “in your face.” That’s why we’ve compiled this guide to the Finder.

Finder is always running on your Mac. Its smiley face, at the left-hand end of the Dock, has been a key component of the Mac desktop since the 1980s. Clicking this icon brings any Finder windows that are open to the front, or if you don’t have any open,

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creates a new window. You can choose which folder appears in new windows in Finder > Preferences > General. Mavericks lets you create tabs in the Finder—like those in your web browser—to reduce the desktop clutter that stems from using multiple windows to manage files. When you have a lot of this sort of work to get through, you can take the Finder into full-screen mode to gain some much-needed extra space.

The Finder’s appearance can be altered in a few places. The settings in Finder > Preferences apply to all Finder windows.

Choose View > Show View Options to customize the current folder’s look, or to set its appearance as the default for all other folders. In System Preferences’ General pane, you can set the size of sidebar icons and other visual settings for OS X. The toolbar at the top of all Finder windows can be modified by right-clicking it and selecting Customize Toolbar… to reveal a sheet of controls. Drag the ones you want onto the toolbar.

You can change what appears in the Finder’s sidebar by dragging folders into the Favorites group. AirDrop is a handy way to share files, but it only appears on recent Macs (see http://bit.ly/ airdrop for a compatibility list).

One of the most significant additions in Mavericks is the ability to tag files with keywords when you first save them (though tags can be applied later, too). Then, using either the Tags group in the sidebar or the Finder’s search bar, you can easily find all files that belong to a project or pertain to a specific subject. Read on for other features, such as how to group files into a folder, copy them, and more. BY MATT BOLTON

1

Group Files into a Folder

Want to quickly move some files into a folder? Select them by dragging across their icons (or click the first, then hold Command and click each additional file in turn), then right-click and choose New Folder with Selection. Type a name, press Return, and you’re done.

4

2

Smart Copying

6

Manage Sidebar Tag

7

Quick Tip for Tags

Previously, when you tried to copy a file into a folder containing another file with the same name, you had to choose between the two. Now, you can keep both. If you click Keep Both Files, one has “copy” added to its name, so the two can coexist.

3

Create Tabs

Press Command + T to add a tab to the current window. Keyboard shortcuts for switching tabs are shown in the Window menu, but those used in Safari (Shift + Command + [ and Shift + Command + ]) also work. Choose Window > Merge All Windows to gather all Finder windows into tabs in a single window.

Tag Files

Apps that use the save dialogue provide a tag box—press Return after each word or phrase, or click in the box and choose from tags created previously. New tags are added to the Tags group in the Finder sidebar unless you turn off Finder > Preferences > Sidebar > Recent Tags.

5

Tag Existing Files

Select a file and press the Tag button in the toolbar for a pop-up list of existing tags, and a box to add new ones. In the Finder’s column view, right-click a column heading to add one that shows tags. In other views, press Command + I to see what tags are applied to the selected file.

Choose Finder > Preferences and click Tags. The order of tags in the Finder’s sidebar changes when you drag them up and down in this list. Click a tag to rename it. If you rightclick a tag and choose Delete Tag, you’ll be told how many items the tag will be removed from. The color tags can be renamed, and you can assign colors to own tags by right-clicking them. The Finder overlays up to three colored circles next to a file’s name if you apply different tags. Tags with a dashed checkbox to their right are currently visible in the Finder’s sidebar, but might disappear if you use others more often. Put a tick in the box to ensure this doesn’t happen. Clear the box to remove a tag from the sidebar, or right-click the tag in the Finder and choose Remove from Sidebar.

Up to seven tags can be dragged to the spots at the bottom of Finder’s Tags pane to make them available in the menu that appears when you right-click a file in the Finder.

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>>> Create How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

iTunes Playback Controls iTunes 11 has some handy playback controls with hidden features Even if you’ve never used iTunes before, you should easily be able to get comfortable with its basic controls for media playback. It uses all the standard, ubiquitous play/pause, skip forward and backward controls found on everything from an iPod to a home stereo. But iTunes also comes with a few neat additions in the form of an AirPlay mode, a MiniPlayer, and a great feature called Up Next to make things more fun.

Up Next is a way of seeing—and even changing—what gets played next or scheduling when a track is played. It was introduced in version 11 and gives you even more control over your music.

The MiniPlayer is an option that we think more people should make use of. It shrinks the amount of desktop space that iTunes takes up but still manages to squeeze some really useful features into a tiny space, which helps reduce desktop clutter. It can also optionally be floated in front of other windows, so the playback controls are always on hand.

Inside the MiniPlayer you can see what tune is playing next using the Up Next feature, and if you don’t like that particular song, you can search your entire music library for something else without having to leave the MiniPlayer. It’s worth making sure you’re signed into iCloud on your Mac when you use iTunes, because it now remembers the exact place you left off in a movie or song. So, for instance, if you open the same file on another device you’ve

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got connected to iCloud, such as your iPad or iPhone, playback restarts exactly where you need it to. This is not so useful for music, but it’s essential for watching movies.

Keeping your playback positions in sync is just one of the great new features in the latest version of iTunes. To get the most from Apple’s media-management and playback app, it’s useful to know how they all work. So, let’s get started with mastering the playback controls, and then venture into the MiniPlayer.

BY GRAHAM BARLOW

>>>WHAT YOU NEED >> iTunes 11 or later

LEVEL:

easy

1

Play/Pause and Skip

Play a track by double-clicking it in your Library, or by selecting it and then clicking the Play button at the top-left of iTunes.

Next to the Play button, you find the Skip Forward and Skip Backward buttons for moving through your playlist, plus a volume slider.

4

Shuffle and Repeat

7

Search Your Library

The Repeat icon is two arrows in an oval near the top of the iTunes window.

When it turns blue, it’s on; click it again and a “1” appears, meaning only the current track repeats. To Shuffle tracks so they play in a random order, click the icon of overlapping arrows, also near the top of the window.

The MiniPlayer also gives you access to the Up Next feature, and you can search for songs by clicking the magnifying glass. Click the + on a song to add it to your playlist, or double-click it to start playback immediately. To return to standard view, click the icon in the top-left.

2

AirPlay Mode

5

Up Next

8

Music Notifications

If you have AirPlay devices on your Wi-Fi network, such as AirPlay speakers or an Apple TV, an AirPlay icon is visible next to the volume slider. Click it and select which AirPlay device you’d like to play music to. The computer you’re using is selected by default.

Click the list icon at the far-right of the playback window and you see a pop-up showing what tracks are coming up, whether in order or shuffled. You can drag a track up or down the list to change the order, or remove a track by hovering over it and clicking the X.

3

AirPlay Volume

6

Go Mini

You can play your music over multiple AirPlay devices at once, but control the volume of each individually. In the AirPlay window, select Multiple, then set the volume for each device. This means you could have your music playing louder in the kitchen than the hallway.

The MiniPlayer gives you control of your music while doing other things (go to Preferences > Advanced to have it always float on top of all windows). To open it, click the MiniPlayer icon at the top-right of the iTunes window. Mouse over it for playback controls.

In Mavericks, iTunes can give you a notification when a new track starts playing (this can be turned off). When a notification comes up, hover over it to get the option to skip that track, or click it to open iTunes. Open Notification Center to see all your recent tracks.

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>>> Create How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

Rescue Your Indoor Photos Get perfect results by fixing red eye, noise, and more in Photoshop Elements Unfortunately, while most cameras can take good pictures with lots of light outdoors on a summer’s day, shooting indoors under artificial light can lead to disappointing results. Happily, software such as Photoshop Elements can go some way toward rescuing them, with tools for the removal of red eye (caused by light reflecting back into the lens from your subject’s retinas) and electronic noise (caused by amplification of the signal from the sensor, also known as raising the ISO).

However, there are some things that can’t be fixed. In dim conditions, your camera will try to keep its shutter open longer

>>>WHAT YOU NEED

to let in more light. If the subject moves, or the camera wobbles, you’ll get motion blur. Using a flash is an easy way around this, but it opens the door to the dreaded red eyes. The Mac App Store carries version 11 of Elements, but version 12, which we’ll be using here, has been available elsewhere for a while. Our photo fixes work with either version, as well as some earlier ones, but the interface may be different. We’ll also be using Expert mode throughout. BY IAN EVENDEN

LEVEL:

medium

>> Photoshop Elements >> Some photos

1

Red Eyes

In Elements 12, the red-eye removal tool is displayed on the main toolbar to the left of the interface.

Selecting it brings up options on the bottom bar—the most appealing of which may be Auto Correct. Try it, and you may get good results, but we think manual correction provides a better fix.

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2

Fix Red Eye

Auto mode guesses where the eyes are, but it’s better to tell it. Keep the tool selected, and click in the center of your subject’s eyes. If they’re still red, try multiple times, or use the sliders. (This tool did OK with the eye on the right, above.) Elements 12 has a Pet Eye option, which can remove the green/yellow effect seen in animals’ eyes.

3

Too Dark

Forget to turn on your flash and you can end up with a dark image. Digital sensors capture most information in the brightest parts of the image. This means that in darker areas, the signal-to-noise ratio is skewed toward the noise end, and brightening may lead to speckles or a grain-like pattern.

4

Enlightenment

Go to Enhance > Adjust Brightness > Shadows/Highlights. This is superior to Brightness and Contrast, because it allows more control. Don’t just adjust the Lighten Shadows slider, however, since this can leave the image washed out—try Darken Highlights and Midtone Contrast, too.

5

Layer Control

7

Reduce Noise

For total control, use a layer mask. Select Layer > Duplicate Layer, and a copy of the background layer appears at the top of the Layers palette. Select it, then use a tool, such as Quick Selection, to select dark parts of your image. Select Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection, to see your selection.

Noise is the speckly, grainy pattern that comes from raising ISO sensitivity in dim light. It’s more noticeable onscreen than in printed photos, but there’s an easy way to reduce it with Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise. However, if you raise the strength too high, you’ll destroy detail in the photo.

6

Levels

8

Color Cast

Anything you do to this layer will now only affect the parts you selected. We can use Levels to brighten them up. Select it from Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels and start sliding the grey triangle to the left. There will be a limit to how far you can slide it before you start to create more noise.

A yellowish or bluish tint is often caused by incorrect white balance. If your camera can shoot in RAW, this allows you to alter the White Balance setting; if not, Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color Cast will help. Click the dropper on different areas until you get a good result. maclife.com MAY•13

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>>> Create How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

Facebooking with Mavericks Mavericks keeps you in touch with Facebook contacts at all times Social networking means we can stay in touch with friends and contacts anywhere, anytime. We’re used to tweeting or sharing snaps from our iPhones, and we can also integrate with social networks using Mavericks. Here, we focus on Facebook, but the principles are the same for the other social networks that Mavericks supports.

Once you have Facebook configured, you can send things to it from a wide range of apps. Your Facebook friends are added to your Contacts, complete with profile photos, and any changes they might make to their details on Facebook are updated in the Contacts app.

Your Facebook notifications come straight to you in Mavericks’ Notification Centre. You can post to Facebook without needing to sign in through a web browser, because you’re already signed in with your OS! You can share photos, web pages, and all kinds of other content directly from the Share button, which appears in many apps: simply select Facebook from the list, add a note, click Post, and it’s done—you’ve updated your Facebook status.

If you want to share your location with your Facebook posts, you can do so by clicking the location indicator at the foot of the

>>>WHAT YOU NEED

Facebook Share Sheet. As long as Location Services is switched on and you’ve given Facebook access to it, you share with everybody exactly where you were when you clicked Post.

You can also choose to share each of your posts with a different group, rather than all your Friends. Do this by selecting a group from the drop-down list at the top-left of the Facebook Share Sheet.

If you opt to share a photo to Facebook, you can select the album you want to put it in. This option appears as a drop-down list at the top-right corner of the Facebook Share Sheet. If you don’t provide a selection here, your post goes by default to your Wall.

In these guides, we explain how to link your Facebook account to Mavericks, then show you some of the options this gives you in a range of apps. BY Rob Mead-Green

LEVEL:

easy

>> OS X 10.9 >> A Facebook account

1

Link Your Mac

Open System Preferences. In the fourth row down, click Internet Accounts.

This is where you manage your various online accounts for email, appointments and social networking for the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Click the “+” at the bottom of the left-hand pane.

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Choose Facebook

In the right-hand pane, you see a range of online services that integrate directly with Mavericks, including several social networks. Choose Facebook from the list, then enter your Facebook username and password. When you’re done, click Next to continue the process.

3

Permission Summary

Mavericks provides you with a summary of the permissions that you’re granting to it, including access to your Facebook contacts, the ability to post updates and photos, and working with apps. When you’re done reviewing this information, click Sign In to finish.

4

Contacts

7

Add a Message

Mavericks accesses all your Facebook contacts and imports them into your local Contacts so that you can use them from any application on your Mac. If you change your Facebook password, return here, click Details, and provide your new password to OS X.

You see a new Facebook Share Sheet. The drop-down list at the top-left determines who the page is shared with.

By default, this is all your friends, but you can choose a list, which must be set up via the Facebook website. Type your status update, then click Post.

a Photo 10 Post Sharing a photo via Facebook is just as easy as sharing a web page. In the Finder, locate the picture you want to share, then right-click it, and select Share > Facebook.

Now, simply choose the people you want to share it with, and add a brief message.

5

Update Photos

8

Use Location Services

You can also import contact photos from your friends’ Facebook avatars by selecting your Facebook account in the Internet Accounts pane in System Preferences. Click Get Profile Photos, and, when prompted, click Update Contacts to download the pictures to your address book.

You can automatically add your location to a post, too. On the bottom-left of the Share Sheet is an arrowhead, indicating Location Services.

If it’s not yet set up, click it and you’re taken to the Privacy options to configure the service to allow Facebook to use your location.

11

6

Share a Page

9

Privacy Options

Now that you’re set up, sharing a web page via Facebook is easy. In Safari, browse to a web page you want to share.

Click the Share button in the address bar and you see a drop-down list of sharing options. Select Facebook from the list to share a link to the page.

Here, you can select the applications that you want to have access to your location information. Ensure that Facebook is ticked, then return to the Share Sheet and click again to add your location, then click Post. For other privacy options, visit the Facebook website.

Add to Your Wall

At the top-right of the Share Sheet is a drop-down list that lets you choose where you want to post the picture. Select a photo album, or Wall to add it to your Facebook timeline. Click Post to publish it to your network of friends.

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>>> Create How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

Get Rhythm in GarageBand Use the new Drummer feature to give your songs some human rhythm GarageBand has always been strong when it comes to electronic music; a combination of MIDI editing and drum machines let you build up some banging beats. For more traditional songs, things have been tougher. Loops are limited in number, and few people have access to a real drum kit (or, for that matter, a tame drummer) for studio recordings that would add the human touch to songs that primarily comprise guitars. In GarageBand 10, Apple’s entry-level tool for musicians brings across a feature from Logic Pro: Drummer. Although a little cut down from its Logic incarnation,

GarageBand’s Drummer nonetheless gives you something akin to a session drummer inside your Mac, with scope for adding human rhythms to songs. The big limitation is you can only have one Drummer track, but you can always augment it with percussion from software instruments and loops.

Before we begin, throw together a basic song stub that has an intro, verse, and chorus (or use a simple one from another project).

We’ll use it to walk through a demo of how Drummer works.

BY CRAIG GRANNELL

>>>WHAT YOU NEED >> OS X 10.9 >> GarageBand 10 or later

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LEVEL:

medium

1

Add a Drummer Track

2

Cycle a Song Region

Click the cycle button and drag a Add a new track (click “+” on the tracks region in the ruler to match a section of the area menu bar or Track > New Track), select song. Click Play to preview that part of the Drummer, and click Create. GarageBand song, which now loops. When previewing selects the SoCal kit from the library and rock edits, you can use the track header to solo drummer Kyle. You can change this if you’ve the drums or temporarily increase their bought the “complete set of content” IAP. volume as you work.

4

Edit the Drums

7

Mix Your Dreams

Click on the drum kit to add/ remove types of drums (remember, patterns are based around what a human can play). Note GarageBand may occasionally override settings for end-ofbar fills. To add more percussion, click on the tambourine, shaker, or hand clap.

Click Smart Controls to show mix controls for the drum kit. Use the Mix dials to adjust the volume of each drum in the mix, and disable those you don’t want to hear by clicking the light next to a dial. Use Tone and Room to adjust the drum timbre and reverb, respectively.

5

Define Patterns

8

Adjust EQ

Use the three sliders to preview and select variations for percussion, hi-hats, and kick/snare drums. When the rhythm needs to be tight to other elements, click Follow and choose a track for the kick/snare to fit with. Use the Fills dial to adjust fills to suit your track.

3

Choose a Playing Style

Use the X/Y pad’s puck to adjust the complexity and loudness of the drum pattern. Drag right to add complexity to the drums and upward to hit them harder.

GarageBand updates the drumming audio region when you let go of the mouse button.

6

Create Variations

Select and delete the chorus region and Option-drag to copy your verse region into that space. Adjust parameters—with a chorus, you want more fills and energy.

Work similarly with the intro, but with two four-bar regions; make the first simple and the other fill-heavy.

Click the EQ tab. From the menu on the left, select Drums for options to adjust bass, mid, and high frequencies for the drum track. Preview presets and manually drag areas of the EQ curve to suit. If you prefer a vanilla sound, click the power button to the left of the presets menu. maclife.com MAY•13

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Bye-Bye, Birdie Flappy Bird has flown the coop. Send in the clones!

D

espite having been released back in 2013—and featuring simplistic gameplay that many would describe as terrible— free-to-play iOS game Flappy Bird inexplicably exploded in popularity in the last couple of months, reportedly earning more than $50,000 per day in ad revenue. But just as suddenly as the phenomenon started, it came to an abrupt end when developer Dong Nguyen pulled the game from the App Store in February, claiming that the game was too addictive to be allowed to exist. Other game makers have no such concerns, however, and are flooding the App Store with countless clones in an attempt to duplicate a fraction of Flappy Bird’s dumbfounding success. Here are a few of the most egregious.

Floppy Bird

Fly Birdie

With a title like “Floppy Bird,” you can tell the developers didn’t try too hard to hide their inspiration. It does feature four playable characters, though.

Considering the poor graphics and lack of animation, we’d suggest that it took us longer to write this paragraph than it took someone to make this game.

City Bird

Flappy Unicorn: Flying Adventure

Compared to other Flappy Bird clones, City Bird is bursting with innovation. Instead of dodging pipes, you need to dodge buildings. Plus, it’s in high resolution!

96

If Flappy Bird had a torrid affair with My Little Pony, it’d result in something like this. And what’s blasting out of the unicorn every time you tap the screen?

Bouncy Boo

Flappy Devil—The Bird Is Back

Some have said that Flappy Bird ripped off the Super Mario aesthetic. Bouncy Boo goes even further, starring a character that’s “borrowed” directly from Nintendo.

Flappy Devil is a nonstop deluge of ads disguised as a poorly made Flappy Bird clone. It’s a miserable experience that you should avoid at all costs.

SPLASHY FISH

MR. E

It may be a fish instead of a bird, but it’s the same tired gameplay. As with Bouncy Boo, the character is swiped straight from the Super Mario series.

Throwing a Mr. T impersonator into an awful Flappy Bird clone does make it better...but not by much.

The music and HUD are identical to those of Fly Birdie.

MAY•14 maclife.com

Blood and Gore Intense Violence Partial Nudity Sexual Themes Strong Language Use of Drugs

Hitman Absolution Š 2014 IO INTERACTIVE A/S. All rights reserved. IO INTERACTIVE and the IO logo are trademarks of IO Interactive A/S. HITMAN ABSOLUTION and the HITMAN logo are trademarks of Square Enix, Ltd. SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. Originally developed by IO Interactive. Developed for and published on the Mac by Feral Interactive Ltd. Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Feral and the Feral logo are trademarks of Feral Interactive Ltd. All rights reserved.