dr yr67j

57

new things to do with your Apple gear!

Make sweet music with GarageBand

On test: iOS apps to track the weather

MAC

iPHONE

iPAD

J U LY 2021 N O.1 82

FIRST REVIEW! 10 reasons why you’re going to fall in love with it HOW TO : Encrypt your data in Big Sur Use AirPods as hearing aids Read pages later in Safari Auto–update your apps

THE FUTURE OF THE MAC What amazing design will Apple come up with next?

Creating guitarists for more than 50 years NEW ISSUE

ON SALE

NOW

AVAILABLE TO ORDER ONLINE AT

www.magazinesdirect.com

Editor’s opinion

THE ALL–NEW iMAC This issue we’ve made a few changes to the look and feel of the magazine.

They’re relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but I thought it was about time we tidied things up a bit.

Apart from the obvious new color shots of myself and the team on this page, and Olivia — our new Production Editor —we’ve renamed some of the sections, added some info to help things make more sense, and taken away what didn’t.

As I said, you probably won’t notice the changes, but they are there! If there’s anything else you think we should change to make things better, then do let me know at the usual Mac|Life address: letters@maclife.com.

Speaking of changes, Apple’s all–new iMac, as you’ve already vhhq#rq#wkh#iurqw#fryhu/#lv#d#suhww|#vljqlĽfdqw#rqh1#Qrw#rqo|#duh# wkh#ylvxdov#vwulnlqjo|#glļhuhqw#wr#ehiruh/#wkhuh#duh#d#orw#ri# hardware changes too. In our review (p38) we lay down 10 of the big (and not so big, but still cool) reasons why you might want to purchase the latest generation iMac. It’s a thoroughly in–depth review, so be sure to get stuck in. Though it’s a serious piece of hardware, there are some minor caveats that you might want to consider before laying down your cash. I’m already looking at my aging (though relatively young, by non–tech standards) iMac 4K 21.5–inch (mid-2017), and though I do still love the classic aluminium unibody design, I’m smitten by the new looks, which hark back to the original iMac G3 (which I loved then) and the M1 performance, amongst other things. I’d love to know what you think about it, so do get in touch.

Vwlfnlqj#wr#wkh#vxemhfw#ri#orrnv/#exw#rq#d#glļhuhqw#wdqjhqw/# I’ve noticed recently how much Apple is promoting the eco– mindedness of its product design and the way said products are made. That’s all good, of course, but why then does Apple still insist on using animal skin (which isn’t good for the environment, or animals for that matter) in its accessories? Come on Apple, it’s the 21st century! Time to ditch the unethical materials.

>>>THE TEAM

Matt Lochrie Art Editor The refresh feels like a step back in time for Matt with the theme of: “Just one more change (thing)!”

Olivia Weaver Production Editor Olivia’s excited to join the team and has been enjoying learning about the world of Apple.

Craig Grannell

NICK ODANTZIS, Editor Twitter: @maclife

Contributor Craig is far too busy to leave home, but if he does he always sensibly checks the weather first! (p54.)

JUL 2021 3

J U L 2021 N O.1 82

M AC L I F E .CO M

12

28

68

57 things you never knew your Apple gear could do

Make music on your Mac

Mac to the future

If you’re a musician or like the idea of building on a pre–recorded beat, your Mac is the perfect partner for making awesome music.

Apple is at a turning point with Mac hardware — but where could it go in the next five or 10 years? We imagine what we’d like to see in the world of Mac.

We show you little tricks and amazing apps to help you maximize the full potential of your Apple products.

4 JUL 2021

50 — Genius Scan 6.0

52 — TouchRetouch

62 — Mechanicus

03 Consider

GEAR UP

53 Textsniper

38 iMac 24–inch

54 Group test: Best weather apps

The editor's thoughts on the all–new iMac 24–inch

06 Digital Life Sign up to the newsletter for more Mac|Life

74

Expert advice Our tech hotshot solves your Mac and iOS problems

46 Apple AirTag 60 Narita Boy 48 USB–C dock roundup 62 Mechanicus

07 The Shift Matt Bolton ponders the iPhone 12 mini's stumbling sales figures

08 Apple Music enhanced Subscribers get higher– quality music — but can they play it?

10

APP LIFE

63 Structured

50 Genius Scan 6.0

63 Sofa

51

64 6 apps to make the most of the summer

MacKeeper 5.0

52 TouchRetouch 66 Best of the best Mac|Life’s pick of the best apps

Crave The gear we're lusting after this month

80 Save web pages for later 82 Develop your shots 84 Keep your apps up to date 86 Encrypt your data 88 Power up your podcasts

38

90 Get outdoors with Komoot 92 Add photos to your contacts 94 Hear better with AirPods

46

96 How it works: 5G network standard

RAM 98 Adobe co–founder Charles Geschke

Image rights, clockwise from top–left: The Grizzly Labs, ADVA Soft, Games Workshop Limited, Apple.

JUL 2021 5

Stay up to date with the

latest Apple news

EDITORIAL EDITOR Nick Odantzis ART EDITOR Matt Lochrie PRODUCTION EDITORS Iain Noble, Olivia Weaver GROUP PRODUCTION EDITOR Steve Wright GROUP ART DIRECTOR Jo Gulliver CONTRIBUTORS Alex Blake, Matt Bolton, JR Bookwalter, George Cairns, Alex Cox, Craig Grannell, Kenny Hemphill, Charlotte Henry, Hollin Jones, Cliff Joseph, Carrie Marshall, Rob Mead–Green, Howard Oakley, Nick Peers, Alex Summersby ART ART CONTRIBUTORS Apple PHOTOGRAPHY Bath Photo Studio - Phil Barker COVER IMAGE CREDITS: Andy Works, Apple, TWC Product and Technology DIGITAL EDITION ART EDITOR Matt Smith DIGITAL EDITION SUB Rob Mead–Green

Future US, Inc. 15th Floor, 11 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036, USA www.futureus.com BUSINESS US CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Luke Edson, luke.edson@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Brandie Rushing, brandie.rushing@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Michael Plump, michael.plump@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Victoria Sanders, victoria.sanders@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Melissa Planty, melissa.planty@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Elizabeth Fleischman, elizabeth.fleischman@futurenet.com WEST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Austin Park, austin.park@futurenet.com WEST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Jack McAuliffe, jack.mcauliffe@futurenet.com DIRECTOR, CLIENT SERVICES Tracy Lam tracy.lam@futurenet.com ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Sheri Taubes INTERNATIONAL Mac|Life is available for licensing and syndication. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities HEAD OF PRINT LICENSING Rachel shaw licensing@futurenet.com MANAGEMENT CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER Penny Ladkin–Brand CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Angie O’Farrell CHIEF AUDIENCE & ECOMMERCE OFFICER Aaron Asadi MD TECH SPECIALIST Keith Walker GROUP EDITOR–IN–CHIEF Graham Barlow FINANCE DIRECTOR MAGAZINES & SUBSCRIPTIONS Dan Jotcham PRINT & PRODUCTION HEAD OF PRODUCTION UK & US Mark Constance SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Matthew Eglinton PRODUCTION MANAGER Frances Twentyman PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Emily Wood AD PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Emma Thomas SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE Mac|Life Customer Care, PO Box 5852, Harlan, IA 51593–1352.

Online: www.magazinesdirect.com Toll free: 1-844-779-2822 (Opening hours: Mon- Fri 8am to 7pm; Sat 10am to 2pm EDT).

New Orders: help@magazinesdirect.com Renewals/Queries: help@mymagazine.co.uk BACK ISSUES Phone: (718) 772-3598 Website: www.futureus.com

Sign up for our email newsletter at

We are committed to using only magazine paper derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and chlorinefree manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill holds full FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification and accreditation.

maclife.com Volume 15, Issue 7 MAC|LIFE (ISSN 1935-4010) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus a Spring issue following the April issue, by Future US, Inc., 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036 USA. Website: www.futureus. com.

Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices.

Newsstand distribution is handled by Curtis Circulation Company.

Basic print subscription rates: 13 issues U.S. $36.00, Foreign: $56.00. U.S. prepaid funds only.

Subscriptions do not include newsstand specials.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PO Box 2024, Langhorne, PA 19047, USA. Ride-Along Enclosure in the following editions: None. Standard Mail Enclosure in the following editions: None. Canadian returns should be sent to IMEX Global Solutions, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada.

Future US, Inc. also publishes Maximum PC and PC Gamer.

PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR LAWYERS: All contents © 2021 Future Publishing Limited or published under license. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored, transmitted, or used in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales.

6 JUL 2021

Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA, UK. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price and other details of products or services referred to in this publication. Websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any changes or updates to them.

Mac, iPad, iPhone, iOS, macOS, and other terms are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. This is a fully independent publication, not affiliated in any way with Apple or any other companies mentioned herein, and has not been authorised, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/ permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a license to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide, and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors, or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, or adapt all submissions.

Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR) www.futureplc.com

Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford Chief financial officer Rachel Addison-Horsley Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

Commentary for consideration

> THE SHIFT MATT BOLTON is wondering if the iPhone 12 mini’s (reportedly) stumbling sales are because it’s just come at the wrong time

HE LATEST NEWS about the iPhone 12 mini implies that it may not have been the hit Apple was hoping for. The glqnlhvw#lSkrqh#vhhphg#wr#Ľqdoo|# rļhu#vrphwklqj#iru#wkrvh#vd|lqj# the continuing “embiggening” of handsets is leaving them behind, but a report from Nikkei Asia says that Apple recently cut its planned production by 70%.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s under-performed by 70% compared to Apple’s hopes, but there have been multiple reports since its release that the iPhone 12 mini has been experiencing more mini sales than the clamor around it would suggest, and they’ve created enough smoke wr#vxjjhvw#d#wlq|#Ľuh1

T

Et tu, SE? The release of the iPhone SE 2, which is around the same size as the 12 mini, might have stolen its thunder.

Does this mean there isn’t really all that pent up demand for a smaller phone? Maybe, though I think it’s a phone that appeals more to people who don’t buy right away, so early sales don’t say much. I also think its audience likes to try things before buying, and the closure of stores for much of its life holds that back.

Even more, though, I suspect that the release of the iPhone SE 2 just six months before the iPhone 12 could be a big factor, because it also appealed to that audience. All the atmospheric energy of people looking for a new option already found its lightning rod, so when wkh#lSkrqh#45#plql#duulyhv/#lw#Ľqgv# that a lot of people had only just upgraded, and aren’t looking to buy phones again for a while.

And there’s the question of whether people who say they want a smaller phone would actually have bought one. Larger phones have been the only option, so that’s what they’ve been using, and that’s what they’re now used to. I don’t doubt that they mean it when they say they’d have liked a smaller one, and they’d totally buy it if Apple did one. But when you’re just saying you want something, you don’t have to give anything up to get it. If you’ve been using an iPhone X and its 5.8–inch screen,

Need a hand? The lack of ability to try the smaller phone as easily as previous years may have held it back.

but saying you want to go smaller, and here comes the mini… can you really live with a smaller screen now you’re used to the big one?

In your mind, a smaller phone was more usable, but did you truly imagine it with a smaller screen, or just with whatever screen you’re used to? Was the perfect iPhone mini of your mind the best of both worlds, impossibly? Switching to the real iPhone mini means giving up the canvas you’ve begrudgingly gotten used to and probably quite enjoy for videos. You are now, as poker players say, “pot committed” to bigger phones. So when the choice comes, maybe you just get the iPhone 12 and stay the course.

And so maybe the iPhone 12 mini turns out to be just a nice niche option, not a game–changer.

>>> Matt is the AV and smart home editor of Future’s fl agship technology website T3 and has been charting changes at Apple since his student days. He’s skeptical of tech industry hyperbole, but still gets warm and fuzzy on hearing “one more thing.”

Image rights: Apple.

JUL 2021 7

START THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF APPLE

Apple Music enhanced Subscribers get higher quality music — but can they actually do anything with it?

BY ALEX SUMMERSBY

A

PPLE MUSIC SUBSCRIBERS will be able to enjoy two major xsjudghv#wr#pxvlf#txdolw|/# dw#qr#h{wud#frvw/#iurp#Mxqh#ğ# provided their hardware is up to it.

Iluvw/#wudfnv#zloo#eh#dydlodeoh#lq# Vsdwldo#Dxglr#zlwk#Groe|#Dwprv/#dq# lpphuvlyh#dxglr#irupdw#wkdw#hqdeohv# musicians to mix music so it sounds like the instruments are all around you when you listen on a Dolby Atmos capable device.

All Apple Music subscribers using wkh#odwhvw#yhuvlrq#ri#Dssoh#Pxvlf#rq# lSkrqh/#lSdg/#Pdf/#dqg#Dssoh#WY#fdq#

playlists and a badge on the detail sdjh#ri#doexpv#dydlodeoh#lq#Groe|# Dwprv#wr#khos#|rx#Ľqg#wkhp1 Wkh#rwkhu#xsjudgh#lv#iru#vhulrxv# audiophiles: the entire Apple Music fdwdorj#ri#pruh#wkdq#:8p#wudfnv#zloo# eh#pdgh#dydlodeoh#lq#Orvvohvv#Dxglr/# vwduwlqj#zlwk#53p#wudfnv#dw#odxqfk/# zlwk#wkh#uhvw#wr#iroorz#e|#|hdu#hqg1# \rxġoo#kdyh#d#fkrlfh#ri#uhvroxwlrqv# wr#grzqordg#ru#vwuhdp#ryhu#glļhuhqw# vshhgv#ri#frqqhfwlrq/#iurp#Orvvohvv# +FG#txdolw|/#49Ğelw#dw#7714nK}/# vxlwdeoh#iru#fhooxodu#frqqhfwlrqv,/# wr#57Ğelw#dw#7;nK}/#zklfk#lv#sod|deoh# natively on Apple ghylfhv/#xs#wr#KlĞ Resolution Lossless +57Ğelw#dw#4<5nK}/# iru#ZlĞIl# frqqhfwlrqv#rqo|,1 Wkh#fdwfk/#dv# Apple notes in the Ľqh#sulqw/#lv#wkdw#KlĞUhv#Orvvohvv# ģuhtxluhv#h{whuqdo#htxlsphqw/#vxfk# as a USB digital–to–analog converter +GDF,Ĥ#ğ#dqg#Dssohġv#rzq#suhplxp# KrphSrg/#KrphSrg#plql/#DluSrgv# Sur/#dqg#DluSrgv#Pd{#gr#qrw#pdnh# wkh#judgh1#Wkhvh#ghylfhv#xvh#wkh# Eoxhwrrwk#DDF#frghf/#zklfk#grhv#qrw# kdyh#hqrxjk#edqgzlgwk#iru#wkh#kxjh# qhz#wrsĞtxdolw|#Ľohv/#hqfrghg#xvlqj# Dssoh#Orvvohvv#Dxglr#Frghf#+DODF,1# AirPods Max will not support the top irupdw#hyhq#ryhu#d#Oljkwqlqj#fdeoh/#

A P P L E M U S I C CATA LO G W I L L B E AVA I L A B L E I N LOSS L ESS AU D I O olvwhq#wr#wkrxvdqgv#ri#Groe|#Dwprv# tracks using any headphones. On Apple or Beats headphones with an K4#ru#Z4#fkls/#Groe|#Dwprv#pxvlf# plays automatically when available iru#d#wudfn1#\rx#fdq#dovr#khdu#Groe|# Atmos music using the built–in vshdnhuv#rq#d#frpsdwleoh#lSkrqh/# lSdg/#PdfErrn#Sur/#ru#KrphSrg/#ru# e|#frqqhfwlqj#|rxu#Dssoh#WY#7N#wr# d#frpsdwleoh#WY#ru#DY#uhfhlyhu1 New Dolby Atmos tracks will be dgghg#frqvwdqwo|/#zlwk#vshfldo#

8 JUL 2021

because its built–in DAC cannot handle more than 24–bit at 96kHz. Apple thinks Dolby Atmos is more vljqlĽfdqw#iru#pruh#xvhuv/#dqg#lq# d#w|slfdo#krph#ru#rĿfh#vhwwlqj/#ru# zkloh#zrunlqj#rxw/#|rx#suredeo|# frxogqġw#shufhlyh#dq|#ehqhĽw#iurp# Hi-Res Lossless anyway. But it looks a little lame that it lacks support in Apple’s own premium products.

Image rights: Apple.

The latest news from the world of Apple

News in brief Apple news in bite–size chunks

> AirTag abuse alert Warnings about potential misuse REVIEWS OF APPLE’S nifty little AirTags have been resoundingly positive. (See Mac|Life’s own definitive test on page 46.) But a handful raise security concerns.

A Washington Post columnist says the device does not have sufficient safeguards against stalking. AirTag does have built–in precautions against “unwanted tracking,” as Apple calls it.

Your iPhone will detect if someone else’s AirTag is traveling with you, and alert you. After a while, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there. But the Post columnist says these alerts are ineffective — the sound plays only after three days and is just 15 seconds of “light chirping” measured at 60 decibels from 3ft away. That seems too little and too late for those concerned about privacy and potential domestic abuse situations.

It is also possible that AirTag’s speaker can be disabled.

Plus, since AirTag works exclusively using the Apple Find My network, the “alien AirTag” alert won’t appear on Android phones, making AirTag a powerful tool for tracking people who don’t have an iPhone, the columnist claims.

Image rights: Apple.

Apple’s VP of iPhone marketing, Kaiann Drance, addressed some of these concerns in an interview, saying: “These are an industry–first, strong set of proactive deterrents. It’s a smart and tunable system, and we can continue improving the logic and timing so that we can improve the set of deterrents.”

Separately, MacDailyNews reports that a German security researcher was able to hack into an AirTag and reflash its microcontroller so tapping the AirTag with an NFC–capable device redirected to the researcher’s own website instead of the Apple site that displays the owner’s contact information when the AirTag is in Lost Mode.

MacDailyNews comments: “Everything can be hacked. Since Apple’s secure Find My network is required for AirTag’s Lost Mode functionality, Apple could employ a server–side defense against modified AirTag units.”

But all this is an early warning that every great idea is potentially open to abuse, and users should be vigilant.

> MACBOOK IN COLORS COMING? Reports claim a redesigned MacBook is coming soon, with a choice of case colors echoing the design of the new 24–inch iMac line. Like the iMac, the new laptop is said to be ultra–thin — barely thick enough to accommodate the USB–C port, without the wedge shape of the current MacBook Air. The bezel around the screen will be off–white, like the iMac’s, instead of black. The MacBook Pro could be offered in a narrower range of more subdued colors than the consumer models, and reportedly features a new generation of Apple silicon with up to 64GB of memory, compared to the current max 16GB on the M1 Macs, plus the return of an SD Card slot and a MagSafe charging connector.

> MACBOOK ALREADY BOOMING Apple’s laptop shipments rose 94% year–over–year in Q1 2021, according to Strategy Analytics. With the Covid pandemic, total notebook shipments rose 81% across all major vendors, but Apple outpaced the trend. Apple does not disclose sales by model, but reported that Mac revenue rose 70% year–over–year to $9.1bn this quarter, the quarter it started shipping the M1-based MacBook Air and 13–inch MacBook Pro.

JUL 2021 9

>>>

Start

CRAVE THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER

XGIMI Horizon Pro $1,099 From us.xgimi.com >>> This surprisingly affordable compact projector throws a full–fat 4K HDR picture up to 300 inches in size. It’s based on the True 4K pixel shifting system which uses a non–4K image sensor to create the 8.3 million distinct pixels required for a 4K picture. Brightness is 2200 ANSI lumens with an LED light source rated at 30,000 hours. There’s also a neat AI image– sensing system which autofocuses and auto keystone corrects the picture. The 8.2 x 8.7 x 5.5in body has an aluminium frame with a 16W Harman Kardon speaker system, Bluetooth-enabled for wireless music streaming. Apps are available via the Android TV 10 OS which uses Google Assistant voice control, or hook it up straight to your TV streamer of choice.

Linn Klimax DSM Around $40,000 From linn.co.uk

>>> Just wow. Wow to the looks of Linn’s Klimax DSM, which absolutely maintains the company’s reputation for high-end uniqueness and irrepressible class with its machined aluminium frame, the mirrorhidden display, and the cut glass dial floating on a brass bearing with 100 indicator lights shining through. Wow to the quality of the internals, all designed to be completely isolated from room vibrations and, indeed, between the

10 JUL 2021

digital, analogue, and digital power stages. And wow to Linn’s DAC innovation, abandoning third–party chips for the first time in order to debut its own Organik architecture, based around an FPGA processor, a discrete converter, and Linn’s ultra–precise in–house circuit board layout tech.

The Klimax DSM is a premium music streamer, ready for 24–bit 384khz and DSD256 transport.

Image rights from top: Xgimi, Linn.

The gear we’re lusting after

LG SP11RA Soundbar $TBC From lg.com >>> LG’s soundbar and TV departments are drawing closer with its 2021 range, which universally supports the company’s AI Sound Pro feature. This makes for easy switching between sources, and shares the TV’s sound modes and audio processing capabilities with the soundbars for optimal output. There’s a host of new models, each carrying hi–res certification, tuning by Meridian Audio, and both Dolby Atmos and DTX:X compatibility. The premier entry is the SP11RA. It’s a booming 770W 7.1.4 channel setup, including up–firing speakers in its rear satellites for huge 3D audio, and 4K passthrough with Dolby Vision support.

Master & Dynamic MW08 True Wireless $299 From masterdynamic.com >>> We can see the MW08’s ceramic– coated earpieces becoming a new in–ear style icon, particularly in their blue spin.

The fact that those angular cases coddle a set of serious 11mm beryllium drivers means they sound superb, too. And then there’s the tech package, which includes Bluetooth 5.2 with subtle external

aluminium antennas, a six–mic array for wind–reduced talk, and sound–tweaking smarts including customizable EQ and both two modes of ANC and two modes of transparency. You should get around 12 hours’ play time before the MW08s need to hit the striking charging case, or ten hours with ANC.

LG UltraWide 34WN780 $596.99 From lg.com

>>> The LG Ergo concept first showed up on a pair of UltraFine displays last year, and it has obviously gone down well: LG has brought it to a pair of its UltraGear series of gaming monitors and this, the 21:9 UltraWide 34WN780. The Ergo system replaces the traditional monitor stand with an arm that bolts onto the back of your desk, offering you the

Image rights from top: LG, Master & Dynamic, LG.

chance to reclaim a bunch of tabletop space and position the screen at a precise height and distance. The actual monitor part isn’t half bad either, with HDR10 and FreeSync support, 99% of the sRGB color gamut covered, a 3440 x 1440 resolution and a price which, while not outrageously cheap, is on the more affordable end of extra–wide screens.

JUL 2021 11

U O Y S G THIN W E N K R E V E N E L P P A YO U R O D D L U O C R A GE Surprisingly great things from little tricks to amazing apps WRITTEN BY CARRIE MARSHALL

HAT DO YOU love most about your Apple devices? For us it’s that every one of them is packed with possibilities.

There isn’t a single day that passes when we don’t discover something new our Apple devices can do, whether that’s a cool thing baked into the operating system, an app that opens up a whole new world, or a toggle that can wxuq#rļ#vrph#ri#olihġv#luulwdwlrqv1# In this handy guide, we’re going to share some of our favorites from the whole Apple hardware family. Whether

W 12 JUL 2021

you’ve got an M1 Mac or an iPad Air, an Apple TV or an Apple Watch, an iPhone ru#dq#lSrg#wrxfk#ğ#zh#wklqn#|rxġoo#Ľqg# some surprising things in these pages.

We’ll look at apps that excite and delight, features that will save you valuable time, tools to help you get things done, and things that will bring you some fun when the work or school day is done. Some are serious, some are spectacular, and some are a bit silly. Whether you’re a Mac beginner or an experienced Apple dĽflrqdgr/#zh#wklqn#|rxġoo#Ľqg#vrph# useful ideas, apps, and projects here.

Image rights: Apple.

Image rights: Apple.

JUL 2021 13

>>>

57 surprising Apple tips & tricks

Surprising things you can do on your Mac Work, play, and everything in between

DO MORE WITH SPOTLIGHT Spotlight isn’t just there to find files and launch apps, although of course it’s very good at that. It can also save you from opening Safari when you need to perform a quick calculation or conversion. For example, if you press Cmd+Space and then type “999 USD in GBP” it’ll do the currency calculation for you; if you type 85F it’ll convert it to Celcius; and if you type “1299/36” it’ll work out the monthly cost of buying that new iMac over a three–year period.

Spotlight also enables you to search with specific criteria, such as “kind: PDF,” to get definitions by using the keyword “define,” to get the weather for a particular location by typing “weather New York” or get football scores with “NFL scores.”

02

SEE YOUR MUSIC

01

In the Music app you can display a psychedelic light show which reacts to the music as it plays. Press Cmd+T to start and the ? key to display the keyboard controls: M changes display mode, A and S add and subtract bits to or from the light show and I shows or hides the track info. If you want to kick it old–school,

03

SIGN YOUR NAME

Need to sign a document? No problem: if you have a Mac laptop or a Magic Trackpad you can handwrite on the trackpad to sign PDFs. Simply open the document in Preview, click on the Markup logo next to the Search box, and then look for the Signature icon. Select Create Signature and you can now sign with your finger.

14 JUL 2021

select Window > Visualizer Settings > Classic Visualizer and you can see the visualizer from the original iTunes. It’s the same menu option to go back to the modern visualizer, but this time just choose Visualizer.

Want to see it on your smart TV? If it’s got AirPlay you can mirror your Mac display and see the light show on the big screen.

PRINT T-SHIRTS Avery makes T–shirt transfers that enable you to print your designs and then iron them on to any garment, and it also has an online tool to help you with the design. Pop along to avery.com > Templates > Avery Design & Print and you can do everything in Safari. The best part is — once you’ve printed the transfer it takes just two minutes to apply. Easy!

04

Image rights: Apple.

MAKE SECRET NOTES Keychain is a great 05 password manager, but it’s also a great place to keep secure notes that nobody else can access. Launch the Keychain Access app (it’s in Applications > Utilities) and then click on File > New Secure Note Item. Once you have saved it, the note will be password–protected so only the title is visible.

READ TO YOU

06

The accessibility features in macOS X include something that’s really useful for everyone: Speak Selection. Once enabled in System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content you can highlight text and press Option+Esc to have your Mac read it out. It’s really handy for writers and for giving your eyes a break.

MAKE A MEME

07

Internet memes are visual dad jokes for every age and gender, and making them on your Mac is really easy even if you don’t have a photo editing app installed. For example, in Preview you can open an image, bring up the Markup toolbar, and then add text over the top. Change the font to Impact for that all– important meme look and then either save the image or export it in the appropriate format.

If you’d rather do it with even less effort, Mematic – The Meme Maker (free, IAPs) has popular memes ready for you to edit, and you can drag and drop your own images to create new ones too.

Or you could point Safari at Imgflip’s meme generator (imgflip.com/memegenerator).

Image rights: Apple, Imgflip.

SEND BACKGROUNDS TO THE BIN You don’t need an image editor to remove backgrounds or put someone from photo A into photo B: all you need is Preview. You can do all kinds of things here, if you want to get rid of stuff that’s a certain color you can bring up the Markup Toolbar, select the Instant Alpha icon — it looks like a magic wand — and drag on the color you want to make transparent.

08

If you want to copy a person or object from one photo to another, change the selection tool in the Markup toolbar to Smart Lasso and then simply trace the person or thing you want to copy. Also, keep in mind that you don’t need to worry about being accurate; Preview analyzes the image to find the object or the subject’s outline.

JUL 2021 15

>>>

57 surprising Apple tips & tricks

EXPAND YOUR APPS USE YOUR OTHER DEVICES AS CAMERAS OR SCANNERS Since the release of Mojave and iOS 12, your Mac has been able to use a brilliant feature called Continuity Camera. This enables you to use the camera in your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad directly from your Mac. You can take a photo and add it to your Keynote presentation, or scan a document and embed it in Pages.

The feature is available in Pages, Numbers, Finder, Mail, Messages and many third–party apps too.

You’ll need the appropriate iOS or iPadOS device to be using the same Apple ID as your Mac, and both it and your Mac will need to have Bluetooth and Wi– Fi on. Ctrl–click anywhere in your document (in Finder, Ctrl–click on the desktop or Finder window) and select Import From iPhone or iPad. In some apps the option will say Insert rather than Import, but it’s the same thing.

You should now see the available iOS or iPadOS devices, when we do it our iPhone and iPad both appear. Now all you need to do is choose what you want to do: take a photo, scan a document, or add a sketch.

09

16 JUL 2021

10

Photos and GarageBand both support plugins that add new features. For Photos, many plugins are included with other apps, for example the filtering app FX Photo Studio shares its filters and frames with the Apple app so you don’t need to leave Photos to get filtering. Pixelmator shares its Distort tool, adding warp, bump, pinch, and twirl to your Photos toolbox.

You’ll be pleased to know GarageBand is expandable too, with plugins adding extra instruments, controls and effects. The choice is huge and ranges from fun free tools such as Izotope’s Vocal Doubler (izotope.com) to the same pro–level plugins designed for Logic Pro X: guitar, amp, and synth modellers; compressors; mastering plugins; and much more.

PUT MULTIPLE FILES IN ONE PDF

11

You can send a collection of images or PDFs as a single PDF. Open one of the files, press Cmd+Shift+Opt+S for the Save As dialog, and save it as a PDF. Go to Edit > Insert > Page From File to bring in the other PDFs or images. You can re–order them in the thumbnails sidebar, and if you want to annotate your pages it’s just a matter of bringing up the Markup toolbar and scribbling or adding text boxes. When you’re finished, save your document and use the Share icon to send it.

You can also extract individual pages from PDFs. Simply Ctrl–click the page thumbnail and select Export As. You can export that page as a PDF or image file.

Image rights: Apple.

MAKE YOUR DESKTOP INTO EMOJI You can use custom icons for folders and external drives. Open the image you want to use in Preview and copy it to the clipboard with Cmd+C; then Ctrl–click on the folder, folder alias, or drive in Finder. Choose Get Info, click on its icon in the info window and press Cmd+V to paste.

You can replace all your folder and drive icons with emoji by getting images of them from Google Images, but you’ll usually find that they don’t have transparent backgrounds. So, open the image in Preview, bring up the Markup toolbar, and use the Instant Alpha tool to select its background. Tap delete to remove the background and then Cmd+A, Cmd+C to select and copy the emoji.

12

13

COPY BETWEEN DEVICES

Universal Clipboard copies from your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch to your Mac or vice–versa. Provided both devices share the same Apple ID it’s just a matter of copying on one and immediately pasting on the other, such as copying a link or text from Safari on your phone and pasting it into Pages in your Mac.

LOOK FOR ALIENS BOINC enables your Mac to take part in cutting– edge scientific research such as the search for signs of alien life or the cure for deadly diseases.

Download the BOINC app from boinc.berkeley.edu, pick the project you’d like to support, and your Mac will donate spare processing capacity when it can.

14

15

QUICKTYPE IN APPS

If you like the autocorrect suggested words you get when you type on iPhone or iPad, you can get the same feature in many Mac apps such as Notes and writing apps: press Alt+Esc to bring up a drop–down menu of word suggestions.

You can navigate through the list with the arrow keys and then press Enter to choose one.

Image rights: Apple, Google.

EXPLORE FORBIDDEN PLACES

16

One of the most fascinating things you can do on your Mac is explore the world.

Maps’ 3D city views are great, but things get really interesting when you use the rival Google Maps and go down to street level in Safari.

Fancy seeing inside the control room of Chernobyl? Visit tinyurl.com/ mfcontrolroom and you can see inside, as well as explore the area

around the ruined, radioactive reactor in complete safety. Other Street View places include Abbey Road Studios, Macchu Picchu, the black waters of Loch Ness, and the Base Camp on Mount Everest. You can access these on all your devices but we think they’re most impressive on a Mac that has a big screen or is using AirPlay to mirror its screen to a big TV.

JUL 2021 17

>>>

57 surprising Apple tips & tricks

Surprising things you can do on your iPad Experience art, make music, and explore faraway places

DRAW ON YOUR MAC If your iPad and Mac are connected via Wi–Fi or Bluetooth you can draw in Mac documents with your iPad, finger, and Apple Pencil. Ctrl–click in your Mac document, choose Add Sketch from the shortcut menu, and select Done to add it to your Mac document. You can use your iPad for Markup in PDFs and images too.

18

PLAY THE DRUMS

17

One of our very favorite features in GarageBand is its smart instruments, which enable you to play guitars, bass, and keyboards even if you don’t know how to play them. By far the best of these is Drummer, which effectively puts a human drummer inside your iPad. That’s because Apple has sampled a range of professional drummers playing on a variety of

different kits in all kinds of musical styles, and those samples have then been teamed with a very clever bit of software that plays and sounds just like a real drummer. It’s completely customizable and packed with presets, and you can even get it to listen to your playing and adjust what it’s doing accordingly. And the best thing of all — it’s completely free to use.

19

SHARE WITH KIDS WITHOUT FEAR

Your iPad is a wonderful device for entertainment and education, but there are lots of reasons why you might not want to share the entire thing with a small person: there may be content you don’t want them to access, games you don’t want them to play, or data you don’t want them to accidentally delete.

That’s where Guided Access comes in.

Once enabled in Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access, all you need to do is open the app you want them to use and then tap the Home button three times (or triple–click the top button if you have an iPad without TouchID). Rest assured that you can now disable specific parts of the screen as well as turn off the volume buttons, keyboards, touch screen, and other features.

18 JUL 2021

Image rights: Apple.

20

EXPLORE CLASSIC ART

Many art galleries provide very high–res images of their artworks, so for example at the National Gallery (nationalgallery. org.uk) you can get closer to a Vermeer than you ever imagined; the Rijks Museum (Rijksmuseum.nl) does the same for Rembrandt. It’s amazing to see these artworks in such incredible detail.

EXPLORE EARTH Google Earth enables you to zoom from orbit to street level anywhere in the world. What makes the app special isn’t just its massive maps; it’s the Google Earth Voyager and the guided tours from the likes of the BBC, Nasa, National Geographic, and many more. We particularly love Voyager’s time–lapse tours.

21

BE NOSY

22

Wish you weren’t here? Go somewhere else and let your iPad screen be a window on another part of the world. We’re writing this looking at a beach in LA via Earthcam.com, but if we preferred we could visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Woltsztyn Steam Train Depot in Poland courtesy of worldcams.tv.

There are lots of webcam apps for iPad but we’d recommend sticking with Safari instead: live webcam sites tend to be free and apps usually charge money. One of our favorite sites is WindowSwap, which lets you take a look out of someone’s window. It sounds boring but it’s fascinating, and if you don’t like one view you can see another.

Image rights: The National Gallery, Google, Inter IKEA Systems B.V, WindowSwap.

HAVE FUN WITH FURNITURE

23

Apple’s adventures in Augmented Reality (AR) could change the way we shop: instead of going to the store, the stores bring their stuff to you. One of the best–known retailers experimenting with AR is IKEA, whose IKEA Place app enables you to see how items of furniture will fit and how they will look in your actual home. So hopefully this will save you from having to return pieces of furniture you’ve ordered that don’t actually fit in your space.

The Wayfair app has similar functionality, placing 3D models of furniture items over the view from your camera. Also, the interior design app Houzz has a View In My Room feature that places products in real–time camera views.

If you want to get really serious about home design, the Magicplan app uses AR and (on the iPhone 12) LiDAR scanning to create detailed room plans and 3D models with a minimum amount of effort on your part.

If you need something a little less powerful, PLNAR also uses AR to create room models in a flash.

JUL 2021 19

>>>

57 surprising Apple tips & tricks

Surprising things you can do on your iPhone Be the iPhone Indiana Jones, explore AR, and make some noise

DIG UP DINOSAURS

24

Augmented Reality (AR) apps make the impossible appear in front of you, and ARcheology — Dig Up History is a great example of that. It puts dinosaurs under your floorboards, in the garden, in the park or anywhere else you can point your phone’s camera, so you can discover a T–rex under the terrace or a diplodocus under the dinner table.

The App Store is packed with great AR apps now, with Mission To Mars AR enabling you to drive the Mars Rover, Civilisations AR bringing treasure directly to you, and Big Bang AR showing you the beginnings of the universe. And if you’d rather blow things up than blow your mind there are tons of great AR apps that enable you to cause chaos from the safety of your sofa.

25

KEEP PHOTOS PRIVATE

It’s nice to let friends or family see our latest photos, but that doesn’t mean we want them to see everything in our library. That’s why we love the Photos app’s Hide Photos option, which can hide photos or videos. Just tap the photo or video’s Share button and then tap Hide to move it to your Hidden album.

20 JUL 2021

SCAN DOCUMENTS EASILY

26

iOS has a built–in document scanner which is great for capturing things like business cards or receipts, but if you really want to use your iPhone as a scanner it’s worth investing in a dedicated app such as Genius Scan 6.0.

Those of us who used handheld and flatbed scanners in the bad old days can only sit in open awe of its features, which include ignoring unrelated objects and shadows, detecting and fixing hard edges, automatically adjusting the white balance, automatic keyword detection and tagging, batch scanning, and cloud storage and sync. Not only that but its optical character recognition is incredibly fast and very accurate, turning scanned documents into editable, exportable text.

Image rights: Uprooted Software, The Grizzly Labs, Apple.

28

FIND THE SECRET SCANNER You probably know that your iPhone’s Camera app can recognize and decode QR codes, but you might not know that there’s also a dedicated Code Scanner app on 27

SET SHORTCUTS

29

The Shortcuts app is an amazing tool for tinkerers, enabling you to set up automation based on “if this happens, do that,” but many iPhone users may not be aware of its powers. Open the app and tap on Gallery to see some existing shortcuts you can add to your phone.

Image rights: Apple, AmpliTube.

your phone that you can only find via search. You should know that this app opens links without sending them to Safari, so when you close the app it closes the linked page too.

MEASURE LIKE MAGIC

If you have an iPhone SE or later or iPhone 6s or later you can use the built– in Measure app to — yes! — measure things by pointing your phone at them.

And it’s even better on the iPhone 12 Pro / Pro Max thanks to LiDAR scanning.

Simply set the start and end points and Measure calculate the distance instantly.

BE A GUITAR GOD

MAKE A GIF

30

31

Guitar pedals and amps are so last century: with apps such as AmpliTube you can use your iPhone as an entire guitar rig, creating original tones or replicating some of the world’s greatest guitarists and recording into your favorite music app. All you need is an audio interface such as the $39.99 iRig 2.

To turn one of your videos into an animated GIF you can create your own Share shortcut using the Shortcuts app, or you can install a dedicated GIF app such as Giphy, which enables you to make and share GIFs without any programming. It also has a search engine to help you find the right GIF for any message.

JUL 2021 21

>>>

57 surprising Apple tips & tricks

TAKE PHOTOS WITH EARPODS No, your EarPods don’t have a camera in them — but you can use them to take pictures using the volume up or down keys. Just open the Camera app, point your phone at whatever you want to take a photo of, and press the button.

You can reassign the touch controls in AirPods but so far you can’t use them to do this.

36

MAKE NIGHT MODE BETTER If you’re not quite getting the results you’re looking for when you take photos in Night Mode, tap on the Night Mode icon at the top of the app and you’ll now see a slider: 32

slide it to the right to make the camera take a longer shot. This works for the main camera (iPhone 11 onwards) and selfie camera (iPhone 12).

TAP THE BACK

33

On the iPhone 8 onwards you can turn the Apple logo into a button using Back Tap. Go into Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap and you can now choose a function for a double tap and triple tap, such as Spotlight, muting audio, or taking you to your Home Screen. Back Tap works even if your iPhone is in a case.

GET A BABEL FISH

WATCH YOUR BABY

Google Translate is the electronic equivalent of the translating fish in the Hitch– Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and nobody has to stick anything living in their ear. It gives you real–time translation of images and of actual live conversations, removing communication barriers and making the world a better place.

If you’re traveling with multiple iPhones, you can use FaceTime to turn one of them into a really good baby monitor.

Just position one phone in the room, call it via FaceTime, and then mute the audio. The downside to this is that it will really deplete the phone battery, and if there’s no Wi–Fi it could incur data charges too.

34

22 JUL 2021

35

SEE INSIDE YOURSELF

37

Human Anatomy Atlas is an extraordinary app that enables you to see and explore any part of the human body in 3D, and each model comes with textbook descriptions and definitions.

There are complete male and female models and you can even use AR for those times when you want to see somebody’s spleen on your sofa.

Image rights: Apple, Argosy Publishing.

39

HUM A SONG We’ve all had those moments when we want to know what a song is but can only remember a small part of the tune. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just hum that bit 38

and our iPhones could tell us what it is? That’s what Soundhound does, and while it doesn’t recognize everything it still has a very impressive hit rate.

SILENCE SPAM CALLS MAKE YOUR LOCK SCREEN LIVE You’re not limited to using static photos for your Lock Screen wallpaper: you can use any of your Live Photos, and your chosen photo will animate if you press down on the screen before unlocking your phone. Move and zoom the image as you would with any other and then tap Set > Set Lock Screen.

40

Image rights: Apple, SoundHound Inc, iCandi Apps Ltd.

41

Are you sick of sales calls and spam calls? If you go into Settings > Phone and scroll down you’ll see an option marked Silence Unknown Callers.

This will send any call from a number that isn’t in your contacts or recent calls list straight to voicemail, and you’ll get a silent notification instead of a ringtone.

SCREENSHOT FULL PAGES

In Safari you can capture an entire web page in a single screenshot, even if it’s much bigger than what you can see on screen and you haven’t scrolled through it. Take your screenshot as normal and then look at the top of the screen. If you tap Full Page, you can now save or share the whole thing.

SEE THE STARS

42

Night Sky is our favorite award–winning stargazing app, and while it’s available across the Apple family we think it works best on iPhone — stomping around in the dark seeing the skies on our screen never gets old. It’s a brilliant educational resource and the app makes great use of AR.

JUL 2021 23

>>>

57 surprising Apple tips & tricks

Apple TV Banish hotel bills and never miss a mumble BANISH HOTEL BOREDOM

DON’T MISS MUMBLES

Avoid hotel room boredom and pay–channel bills by using your Apple TV with your hotel room TV, streaming TV and movies from your iPhone or iPad. Hotel Wi–Fi isn’t great for this, but if your iPhone or iPad has a strong 4G or 5G connection, create a Personal Hotspot and connect to that.

Have you ever missed a crucial bit of dialogue because of a mumbling actor, a chatty partner, or noisy children?

Hold down the Siri button on the Siri Remote and say “what did he/she say?” Siri will rewind a few seconds, turn the volume up, and temporarily enable closed captioning to help you too.

43

45

44

GET FIT

Apple TV isn’t just for entertainment — it’s your own personal trainer. Apple Fitness+ connects your Apple Watch and Apple TV to give you useful workouts that track your activity and your progress.

LEARN ANYTHING ANYTIME

46

In addition to education apps you can mirror or AirPlay from your iPhone, such as the free Kahn Academy or the useful Udemy, there are dedicated Apple TV apps to broaden your mind too.

For example the entire TED Talks library is available for free, and there are also useful paid apps from the likes of Coursera and Skillshare.

ENTER TEXT EASILY Are you sick of slowly typing text into your Apple TV with the remote? Use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch instead. Make sure both devices are signed in with the same Apple TV and that both Bluetooth and Wi–Fi are on.

You’ll get a notification any time there’s a text field on your Apple TV; just tap it and type.

47

24 JUL 2021

SEE FROM SPACE Ever wanted to have an astronaut’s view of Earth?

Earthlapse Pro turns your Apple TV into a window on the International Space Station, with 2GB of 4K HDR 48

visuals captured by astronauts as well as live views from the ISS’s own cameras. You can adjust the playback speed and swap the soundtrack for your own choice of music.

Image rights: Apple.

Apple Watch

WORK OUT A TIP

Make music, get supple, and get angry weather forecasts MAKE MUSIC

RECOGNIZE ANY SONG

The Apple Watch isn’t the first device you think of when it comes to making music, but the $3.99 WatchFunk enables you to play piano, drums, synths, and even trumpets on your wrist. It’s a fun, inspirational app and its interface makes great use of the limited screen space.

If you install the Shazam app you can use your Apple Watch to automatically recognize whatever song you can hear, instantly. The recognized songs are saved straight to My Music on your iPhone, and provided the place isn’t too noisy Shazam’s accuracy is impressive.

49

50

55

We love this incredibly useful feature in the Apple Watch calculator: If you tap in the total of your restaurant, bar or café bill and tap on Tip, you can use the Digital Crown to select a tip percentage and the number of people paying. The app then works out how much everyone’s fair share of the bill should be.

SHARE YOUR FACE GET ANGRY WEATHER

TAKE THE MICKEY

CARROT Weather isn’t like other weather apps: it’s much nastier, providing weather information and forecasts with a serious side order of snark.

There are five modes ranging from the fairly pleasant Professional to the foul–mouthed Overkill, all of which can appear in Watch face complications.

The Mickey and Minnie Mouse Watch faces can speak in their inimitable squeaks. Make sure Speak Time is on in the Apple Watch app — it’s in My Watch > Clock — and you’ll be able to hear Mickey or Minnie whenever you tap the display (or double–tap if your Series 5 or 6 is dimmed).

TRACK THE KIDS

UNLOCK WHILE MASKED

Don’t put your cellular Apple Watch on eBay when you upgrade: give it to the kids. Family Setup enables you to use any Apple Watch from series 4 onwards as a GPS– enabled child tracker, you’ll need an airtime contract to take advantage of its location features: or it’s Wi-Fi only.

Apple introduced this handy feature in iOS 14.5 because Face ID can’t see through masks. In your phone, go to Settings > Face ID and Passcode and then enable Unlock With Apple Watch. You’ll need to tap in your passcode for the first unlock each day; after that it’s automatic.

51

53

Image rights: Apple, IO Assembly 2020.

52

Have you created a Watch face with the perfect collection of complications? Don’t keep it to yourself: press and hold the display and then tap on the Share icon and you can now send it to friends or family. There’s a “don’t include” option that enables you to specify which complications to exclude.

56

54

LEARN YOGA There are lots of yoga apps for your iPhone, but it isn’t always easy to see what’s on screen when you’re contorting yourself. That’s where Start With Yoga comes in: it’s a $2.99 app that puts poses and routines on your Apple Watch so you can learn yoga without straining to read.

57

JUL 2021 25

Subscribe to MAC

iPHONE

iPAD

Ahead of the curve, and endlessly entertaining…

Choose your perfect package GET THE DIGITAL EDITION

GET THE PRINT EDITION

Instant digital access on your iPad, iPhone, and Android device.

Can't get out of the house? Get every issue delivered to your door.

Only $18

Only $36

Every Year

Every Year

26 JUL 2021

GET THE COMPLETE PRINT & DIGITAL BUNDLE

Get both the Print & Digital editions for only

$41 Every Year

SAVE

Get the print edition of Mac|Life delivered direct to your door, plus instant access on your iPad, iPhone, or Android device.

75%

“Mac|Life is the essential magazine for Apple lovers, as beautiful as an Apple product, and packed with informative features, reviews, and tutorials.”

NICK ODANTZIS, Editor

Subscribe online today…

http://bit.ly/maclifesub2021

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Offer closes 07/20/2021. Offer open to new US subscribers only. Pricing is guaranteed for the first 12 months and we will notify you in advance of any price changes. Please allow up to six weeks for delivery of your first subscription issue (up to eight weeks overseas). The full subscription rate is for 12 months (13 issues) and includes postage and packaging. If the magazine ordered changes frequency per annum, we will honor the number of issues paid for, not the term of the subscription.

For full terms and conditions, visit www.magazinesdirect.com/terms. For enquiries please e-mail: help@magazinesdirect.com or telephone Toll free: 1-844-779-2822 (Opening hours: Mon- Fri 8am to 7pm; Sat 10am to 2pm EDT).

JUL 2021 27

28 JUL 2021

Image rights: Apple, Ian McKinnell.

Whether you’re a talented musician or like the idea of building on a pre–recorded beat, when it comes to making music, your ư&0 1%" -"/#" 1 - /1+"/

M

Written by Carrie Marshall

acs and music were made for each other, and it’s never been easier to make music on your Mac — no matter what kind of music you want to make.

It’s also incredibly easy to share your musical masterpieces with the rest of the world; you can start a song in the morning and share it on Soundcloud that day.

Your Mac isn’t just great for writing songs or recording

performances. It can also be an incredibly powerful recording studio, especially when you start experimenting with plug–ins.

Plug–ins are little apps that plug in to your music app and give it new powers; plug–ins include cavernous echoes, digitally modelled guitar amplifiers, retro synthesizers and a whole collection of special effects.

Once you’ve mixed your song to make it sound brilliant, your Mac can handle the final step

too: mastering. Mastering is when you ensure that your songs sound as good as they possibly can, that the gentle ballad isn’t twice as loud as your heaviest track and that there’s a consistency to the overall sound (if you want there to be). Last, and not least, you can then export the finished product and share it online.

Let’s discover how your Mac can help you make, mix and share any kind of music.

JUL 2021 29

>>>

Make music on your Mac

A N Y O N E C A N P L AY G U I TA R :

GARAGEBAND BASICS

Every Mac comes with GarageBand. It’s free — and it’s brilliant

W

e love GarageBand.

That’s not just because it’s free. It’s because it’s useful, easy to use, and delivers some of the best features of its big sister, Logic Pro X. And it works really well with the iOS app, which you can use as a virtual keyboard, drum kit, or guitar, or record when you’re out

and about. You can then open the project on your Mac. Like many music apps, GarageBand works with multi–track audio. A track could be a small bit of music repeating as a loop; notes you played on a MIDI keyboard or created by hand in the editing window; or a recording of someone making music.

Each component of the song gets its own

track, so for example you might have a track for the drum machine, another for the bass, a couple of tracks for synthesizers and one for the lead vocal.

Or you might record multiple tracks of the same thing to get a bigger sound.

First, let’s discover how you can make music in GarageBand without actually having to play a musical instrument.

>>> WHAT YOU NEED: ADD-ONS AND PLUG-INS AMPLITUBE 5 SE

1989VERB

REVERSE

OZONE ELEMENTS

Around $245, ikmultimedia.com

$45, ugritone.com

$49, adsrsounds.com

$129, izotope.com

If you’re a fan of the big reverbs of 80s pop and rock, this cool little plug–in makes it easy to recapture the era–defining sound. It’s brilliant on drums and drum machines, too.

This plug–in is useful for hip–hop, EDM and generally messing around. It reverses the audio, and you can mix the original and the reversed audio to achieve some interesting effects.

Ozone enables you to make your recordings sound more like the records you love thanks to Master Assistant, which is packed with useful presets to prep your mix and make it sound massive.

With Amplitube, recreate a wide variety of famous amps and guitar effects with incredible accuracy from your Mac. The software is often at a discounted price.

HOW TO | Start making music

Pick a genre When you run GarageBand, you’ll be greeted by the Project window. Click on Project Templates. This enables you to choose the kind of music or project you intend to create. In this tutorial, we’re going to have fun with Hip-Hop.

30 JUL 2021

See the beats Don’t worry, this is simpler than it looks. The big yellow strip to the right of Beat Machine (Anton) is a Drummer track, and if you select it with the mouse you can use the controls at the bottom to change what it plays.

Make some noise If you click on the next track, Sweeping Arp, you should now see a blank grid in the lower section. Ctrl– click and choose Create Note to add a note. You can now move that note, expand it, or copy and paste it.

Image rights: Apple.

EXPLAINED… GarageBand’s main bits

DISPLAY ICONS Icons display or hide the instrument library and help, and they let you switch between Smart Controls and the track editor.

CONTROL BAR The options in this bar control recording and playback, time signature, tempo, and key. There’s a tuner, count–in, and metronome here too.

Get creative To repeat a section, hover the cursor over the top–right of the track and the cursor changes to a looping arrow. Drag it to repeat. Here, we’ve looped our notes and copied them to the Deep Sub Bass track.

Image rights: Apple.

TRACK CONTROLS From here, you can adjust track volume and stereo position.

Also, mute or solo tracks and monitor your instruments.

REGIONS AND LOOPS These are the elements of your music: MIDI tracks, audio recordings and Drummer tracks that make your song.

Add a loop Click on the loop icon at the very top–right to open the GarageBand loop library. Click a loop to hear it or drag it on to the tracks to add it to your project. Dragging to an area that doesn’t have a track creates a new one.

SMART CONTROLS These enable you to make changes to a selected track, such as changing Drummer patterns or reverbs.

LOOP LIBRARY GarageBand provides a huge library of tracks and samples you can drag into your project instead of or alongside your own creations.

Edit your audio If the loop is too long, that’s not a problem. To trim a loop, move the mouse over the bottom–right corner of the loop in the main window. The cursor should now change to a <]> shape. Drag to adjust the length.

JUL 2021 31

>>>

Make music on your Mac

O NE S TEP B E YOND:

NOW ADD REAL INSTRUMENTS

T

Adding vocals and live instruments couldn’t be simpler

o connect a microphone or a guitar for recording you’ll need an audio interface, which sits between the mic or guitar and your Mac. Most MIDI keyboards can connect directly to a spare USB port.

Interfaces typically connect via USB and add one or more audio connections.

Some include pre–amplifiers to give you a warmer sound for vocals and acoustic instruments; some enable you to record multiple tracks at the same time; some enable you to connect powered, studio–style condenser mics.

When you’re recording vocals, the better the mic and the quieter the room, the better the results. Use a pop shield on your mic too: pop shields are made of

a mesh that diffuses and reduces the intensity of plosives, which are the loud “puh!” and “duh!” sounds we make with the letters P and D. Plosives can ruin an otherwise puh!–erfect puh!–formance.

NO STUDIO? NO PROBLEM! Apps such as Logic Pro are packed with digital models of studio compressors, reverbs, equalizers, and even studio live rooms. For example, if you go into Logic’s Space Designer you can find spaces like Berlin’s Hansa Studio.

If you don’t have facilities to record a full live band, you can use Logic’s

own virtual amps or plug–ins such as Amplitube or BIAS FX — which work with the major music apps — to recreate guitar and bass amplifiers with amazing results. They also give you great flexibility; because your original recording is completely clean, you can change the sound after recording it.

HOW TO | Editing real instruments and vocals in GarageBand

Create the structure We’re using the same project as before, but we’ve used copy and paste to make it longer and give it some structure, with instruments dropping in and out. Now for some vocals. Click the “+” icon at the top–left.

32 JUL 2021

Choose your weapon You can add three kinds of track here: a MIDI track where you play a keyboard or other MIDI controller; Audio, where you record a microphone or instrument; and Drummer, which is GarageBand’s virtual drummer.

Choose a sound Click the Library icon at the very top–left and navigate to Voice. Click on the different presets to hear the one you like best; you can adjust it in the control area at the bottom. Select the new track, click Record, and sing.

Image rights: Apple.

Macs don’t have dedicated guitar or studio microphone inputs, but you can add them instantly with a USB audio interface.

>>>WHAT YOU NEED: INSTRUMENTAL SE ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT SE2200

If you’re not sure you like what you’ve recorded, no problem: you can record multiple versions and choose the one you like best. Just go back to the beginning of the song or section and record in the same place.

Around $155 focusrite.com

To record performances rather than programming, all you really need is a good microphone and something to connect it to your Mac. A MIDI keyboard enables you to play or program all the virtual instruments in your music app.

Amy Winehouse recorded her vocals for Back To Black with one of these, and it can be used for vocals, broadcasting, and podcasting. It’s a warm and detailed microphone for voices and acoustic instruments.

KOMPLETE AUDIO 6

AKAI APC MINI

LAUNCHKEY MINI MK3

$249 native–instruments.com

$94.05 akaipro.com

Around $141 novationmusic.com

We’ve used these to record albums and to turn our laptops into live rigs. With six inputs, six outputs, two headphone outs, 48V power and a Kensington security slot, they’re a great choice for live recording and performance.

Try another take

$299 seelectronics.com

FOCUSRITE SCARLETT SOLO

There are lots of MIDI controllers out there for apps such as Ableton, enabling you to control and mix your clips and scenes in real time. The APC mini is cheaper than most, really easy to use, and offers typical AKAI quality and rock–solid reliability.

This is the device for home music makers, enabling you to connect a microphone and/or guitar or bass to your Mac via USB–C. Built–in preamps make vocals really sing and there’s 48V power for mics.

The LaunchKey offers the best of both worlds: it’s a MIDI keyboard and a MIDI controller too, with pads that enable you to control apps such as Ableton. The Mini is the 25–key version, which is super–portable for mobile music.

Pick a performance If you Ctrl–click on a section with multiple takes, you’ll see options.

Selecting the name of the take (like Take 2) makes that the version to play.

If you’re sure that’s the one, Delete Unused Takes gets rid of the others.

Image rights clockwise from top: sE Electronics International Inc, Focusrite, Focusrite, Apple, Native Instruments GmbH, inMusic Inc.

JUL 2021 33

>>>

Make music on your Mac

THESE GO TO 11:

BEYOND GARAGEBAND

G

Where to go when you’ve outgrown GarageBand

arageBand has its limits; it’s designed to make creating and recording music easy, but it isn’t intended to do all the things the Mac in a recording studio is expected to do. That’s why it lacks even really simple, standard features such as exporting “stems” — separate files for each track in your

project that you can then share with other artists or producers or give to a mixing engineer. If you do need to do that in GarageBand, you have to export the same song to disk multiple times, each time with all but the selected track silenced so that only one track is exported at a time.

Most of the music you’ll hear on Apple Music or Spotify was recorded, produced,

mixed and mastered on one or more Digital Audio Workstations, or DAWs for short. The best known ones are ProTools, Ableton Live and Apple’s Logic Pro X, but there are many more including FL Studio, Cubase, Persona Studio One, Reason, and Reaper. Some are free; some are expensive.

HOW TO | Save and export your recordings

Choose your destination You might want to export your recordings to share the song you’ve created with other people or to work on it further in another app. You’ll see the available options in GarageBand’s Share menu.

Share to Soundcloud Share To Soundcloud enables you to upload to the popular music sharing service. If you don’t already have a Soundcloud account, you can create one here. Standard accounts are free and enable you to share quite a lot of music.

34 JUL 2021

Share for yourself If you want to export your song to the Music app, Share To Music does exactly that. It’ll ask you for the title, artist and other data, and you can choose the quality. Highest Quality is fine for personal listening.

Export for others If you’re sending music to someone else to master it, or uploading to another online service, choose Share To Disk. This enables you to output your finished song in the format of your choice: Uncompressed AIFF or WAVE.

Share a section If you look at the bottom of the export pop–up, you’ll see the option to Export Cycle Only. If you’ve selected a cycle area by drawing it on your timeline, you can export just the section of song you’ve highlighted.

Open in Logic We like to demo songs in GarageBand and then finish them off in its much more powerful sibling, Logic Pro X. Logic can open GarageBand projects from its File > Open dialog and it brings everything in perfectly.

Image rights: Apple.

Tait and Gilmour share their mixing and production tips online at novasound.net/novaskills.

Apple’s Logic Pro X is like a super– powered GarageBand, and its similar interface means it’s easy to learn.

If you’re moving from GarageBand, Logic ($199.99) is the easy option; it can open GarageBand files perfectly and you can even make it look like GarageBand too. But it’s much more powerful than GarageBand because it’s a fully fledged DAW designed for pro users.

Different DAWs have different features but they

typically enable you to record multiple artists and instruments simultaneously; tweak and edit audio down to each individual note; restructure your songs by moving entire sections; apply complex chains of effects; and add professional–sounding enhancements such as stereo widening, compression, and even equalization.

Ableton Live is a fantastic DAW for loop–based music and live performance. A Lite version is often bundled with music hardware.

TOP TIPS FROM THE GIRL WHO CRIED WOLF

advice. It helps your efficiency when the ideas are truly flowing.

When Audrey Tait and Lauren Gilmour aren’t recording as alt–pop duo The Girl Who Cried Wolf, they’re the production wizards at Novasound studio (novasound.net).

They also share their skills online in video tutorials and free cheat sheets at novasound.net/ novaskills. “Most of our regular clients have invested in home setups now,” Audrey told us. “And we’ve met a whole lot of new artists — digitally! — who’ve had time to create at home that they didn’t have before.” Here are Audrey’s top tips for making home recordings.

2: MAKE TIME Getting the best sound and performance takes time and effort, but it’s worth it.

1: KNOW YOUR DAW Get familiar with your software, watch tutorials, learn shortcuts, and ask for

3: CLEAN UP Decide on your takes, edit accordingly, and organize things in a tidy way so that you or a mixing engineer can focus on the most important thing: your mix!

4: LABEL THINGS PROPERLY Label your tracks and include BPM. It’ll save you so much time later.

5: HAVE A VISION Whether it’s production or mixing, use references to describe the sound and feel you want for your song.

Anything from songs to pictures, words and colors can be helpful.

BEST ONLINE RESOURCES FOR MUSICIANS FENDER PLAY

BANDCAMP

SOUNDCLOUD

GEARSLUTZ

fender.com/play

bandcamp.com

soundcloud.com

gearslutz.com

The guitar–making legend has a brilliant online school for guitar, bass and ukulele and it can teach you to play just about anything.

Bandcamp is one of the best places to sell music or merchandise online. It regularly waives the seller fees on Bandcamp Fridays.

Soundcloud enables you to stream your music. It’s a good place to connect and build relationships with music fans and artists.

These forums are an incredible resource for every kind of music–maker and producer. And the awful name is changing soon.

Image rights clockwise from top–left: Apple, Novasound, Ableton Live.

JUL 2021 35

The home of technology techradar.com

TOUGH TESTING, TRUSTED RATINGS HERE AT MAC|LIFE we believe you should only buy the things that you really need, which is why our Reviews section is so important to us, and you. We don’t want you to waste time and money on inferior products, and while we aim to include only the best hardware and apps, occasionally we like to include products that look promising, even if they don’t always deliver.

We only use carefully selected experts, with vshfldolvw#nqrzohgjh#lq#wkhlu#uhvshfwlyh#Ľhog/#vr# no matter which review you’re reading, you can be frqĽghqw#wkh#shuvrq#zkrġv#whvwhg#lw#nqrzv#wkhlu# vwxļ/#doorzlqj#|rx#wr#pdnh#dq#lqiruphg#sxufkdvh1 Hdfk#uhylhz#lv#udwhg#xvlqj#d#ĽyhĞvwdu#v|vwhp/# with half stars, which is easy to understand because we give an explanation next to each one. The surgxfwv#wkdw#uhdoo|#vwdqg#rxw/#wkrvh#zlwk#d#ĽyhĞ star rating, get a Mac|Life Editor’s Choice award.

APP LIFE EDITOR’S CHOICE

Only the best…

The products that really stand out in the mag — those that receive a five–star rating — get the Mac|Life Editor’s Choice award. It doesn’t get any better than this, so you’d be mad not to buy anything bearing this mighty accolade.

The most interesting Mac, iPhone and iPad apps 50 Genius Scan 6.0 51

MacKeeper 5.0

52 TouchRetouch 53 Textsniper 54 Group test: Best weather apps for iPhone and iPad 60 Narita Boy 62 Mechanicus 63 Structured 63 Sofa 64 6 apps to make the most of the summer 66 Best of the best

GEAR UP The best hardware you can get

Mac|Life’s pick of the best apps

38 iMac 24–inch 46 Apple AirTag 48 USB-C dock roundup

Image rights left to right: Apple, Future, The Grizzly Labs, Clario Tech Limited.

JUL 2021 37

>>>

Gear Up

Apple iMac 24–inch (2021) The all–new iMac 24–inch is an incredible machine to behold, but it has some limitations From $1,299 From Apple, apple.com Features 23.5–inch Retina display (4480x2520), Apple M1 chip, 8GB unified memory (16GB available), 256GB storage (512GB, 1TB, and 2TB available), 802.11ax Wi–Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 2x Thunderbolt 4/USB Type–C ports (4x on the upgrade model)

T

he Apple iMac 24–inch (M1, 2021) is all–new internally and externally.

The characteristics of Apple’s M1 chip mean that the computer can be just 11.5mm thick, not including stand, but still pack in eight cores of potent processing power — and run silently.

The 4.5K resolution screen is larger than the 21.5–inch model it replaces, but the whole unit is only 2cm wider and 1cm taller — and much less voluminous. It is, simply, much more computer in a smaller space. Mostly.

There are a few changes in the iMac 24–inch that won’t be as welcome as the upgrades we’ve mentioned, and there’s one notable thing that hasn’t changed but really should have. But overall it’s maybe the most exciting Mac in years, and with its seven jaunty colors it feels less like a new electronic appliance and more like a computer from the days when getting a new Mac was cool and thrilling.

PRICE AND SPEC The iMac 24–inch starts from $1,299, which gets you an M1 with an eight– core processor, seven–core GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and two USB Type–C/Thunderbolt 4 ports; and it’s available in green, pink, blue and silver.

However, this version doesn’t come with Touch ID fingerprint security on

38 JUL 2021

its keyboard, or an Ethernet port on its power brick.

If you step up to the $1,499 version you get the M1 with an eight–core GPU, two additional USB Type–C ports (making four total), keyboard with Touch ID, and an Ethernet port.

From here, you can customize the iMac 24–inch in two ways: RAM and storage. Neither can be upgraded in the future by the user, so you’ll need to buy smart. The RAM can be upgraded to 16GB, but that’s the maximum. The storage can be raised from 256GB up to a maximum of 2TB. FEATURES AND WHAT’S NEW What’s new in the 24–inch iMac compared to the 21.5–inch model it replaces? Literally everything. Not a single aspect remains unchanged.

Let’s start with the screen, which is a 23.5–inch, 4480x2520 display — Apple is calling this “4.5K,” which makes sense if you know that 4K just means “any screen around 4,000 pixels wide.” This one has slightly more pixels. Easy! Apple has done 24–inch screens before, but not since 2009, so this is a blast from the past.

The screen offers 500 nits of typical brightness and P3 wide color gamut support, both of which are big improvements on your average

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number one: All–new design takes up less desk space, and looks amazing.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number two: The 4.5K Retina screen is gorgeous.

JUL 2021 39

>>>

Gear Up

monitor, which is likely to be about half as bright and without such wide color support. You also get Apple’s True Tone system, which adjusts the colors based on the lighting in your room and makes a big difference to eye comfort, we think.

The screen has always been one of the big draws for iMacs because you don’t find a huge number of 21– to 24–inch 4K displays at all, let alone at this level of quality; and if you do they cost most of what this entire machine costs, without adding all the actual computer parts.

For power, you’ve got the Apple M1 chip in an iMac for the first time, replacing the Intel processors and graphics used in the previous model.

That’s an eight–core processor, with four high–power performance cores and four lower–speed “efficiency” cores. You can get it with 8GB or 16GB of RAM — a drop from the 32GB max that the older model offered, which will be annoying for some pro users, though it isn’t a problem for the average buyer.

The M1 also provides graphics, with seven or eight cores of GPU power depending on the model you choose. It also includes a “Neural Engine,” which can be used by apps that include machine

W H AT ’S N E W I N T H E 24– I N C H i M AC ?

EV E RY T H I N G . N OT A S I N G L E AS P ECT REMAINS UNCHANGED

Benchmarks: Our analysis explained > GEEKBENCH 5 SINGLE– CORE TEST

> HANDBRAKE VIDEO ENCODING

> TOMB RAIDER (1920X1080)

This tests the capability of a single processor core. Many more common tasks on a Mac will only use a single core at a time. Geekbench 5 is a universal app running on Big Sur.

We transcode a 30–min Blu-ray– quality video file into H.264 format using HandBrake to test multicore processor performance. Handbrake isn’t yet optimized for the M1.

For a real-world gaming test, we use the benchmarking tool in this game, with the graphics quality set to High and the resolution set to 1920x1080.

The game isn’t yet optimized for M1.

In Blackmagic Design’s editing tool for video professionals, we exported an effects–laden, 2.5–minute project to the H.264 format. Version 15 of the app doesn’t run natively on the M1, so runs under Rosetta 2.

Index score (higher is better)

Duration (lower is better)

Frames per second (higher is better)

Duration (lower is better)

iMac 24–inch M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2021)

iMac 24–inch M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2021)

iMac 24–inch M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2021)

iMac 24–inch M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2021)

1745

Mac mini M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2020)

23 mins 36 secs

Mac mini M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2020) 1742

iMac 27–inch 3.6GHz 10-core Intel Core i9 (2020) 1365

40 JUL 2021

23 mins 42 secs

iMac 27–inch 3.6GHz 10-core Intel Core i9 (2020) 7 mins 33 secs

> DAVINCI RESOLVE

108.4

Mac mini M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2020)

27 mins 38 secs

Mac mini M1 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (2020) 28 mins 42 secs

30

iMac 27–inch3.6GHz 10-core Intel Core i9 (2020) 59

iMac 27–inch 3.6GHz 10-core Intel Core i9 (2020) 9 mins 19 secs

Tough testing, trusted ratings

learning tools to massively speed up tasks — this is niche, but some Mac apps are starting to make good use of it.

At the top is a 1080p Full HD webcam, which uses the M1 chip for image processing, though disappointingly it doesn’t include the useful “Center Stage” feature seen in the iPad Pro (2021), which keeps you in the middle of frame even if you move around. Apple pushes this iMac as being as much for the kitchen or living room as an office desk, and this would be a really useful feature.

There’s also now a better array of mics that Apple describes as “studio–quality,” which will always remain as slightly wishful thinking when the average home office is lacking several other crucial qualities that studios have, but should still help to pick your voice and avoid other sounds around you.

The speakers are one of the most interesting upgrades. There are six drivers in total, with three in each of the bottom corners. The really clever part is the use of two woofers in each side, positioned exactly to oppose each other (one facing forward, one back). Force– opposing drivers are used to cancel out residual vibrations from powerful speakers, so you can put loud and

impactful sound into something where you don’t want shaking to happen — they’re used in high-end subwoofers for home cinema, and in Apple’s 16–inch MacBook Pro, as well as here.

These are then paired with a dedicated high–end driver. In combination, it means a lot of speaker power, and Apple says it can create a “Spatial Audio” effect, which is Apple’s name for 3D audio.

Finally, let’s talk connections. Other than the RAM, this is where you might think that things have gone backwards.

Whichever version of the iMac you get, you only get USB Type–C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, plus a 3.5mm headphone jack. No regular USB, no SD card slot, no regular HDMI port. You do get an Ethernet port on the more expensive model.

The reason appears to be simple: the body is too thin for them. The problem is also simple: if you’re replacing an existing iMac with this lovely new one and you have USB hard drives or other accessories, you’ll also need to buy a way to connect those peripherals to this machine.

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number three: Integrated Touch ID with the keyboard is a total gamechanger.

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number four: Peripherals are color–matched. Lovely!

JUL 2021 41

>>>

Gear Up

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number five: Loads of fresh colors to choose from!

T H E i M AC ’S K EY B OA R D I S LOV E LY, W I T H C L E A R F E E D BAC K A N D A CO M FO RTA B L E A M O U N T O F T RAV E L In principle, we don’t mind Apple moving ahead with its all–USB–C future, it’s just frustrating that there’s no hub or solution to this problem that’s actually as good–looking as the iMac itself. You get a sleek computer and then you might need to drastically un–sleek it, but there are at least plenty of options in that regard.

The iMac supports up to Wi–Fi 6 for connectivity (802.11ax and before), and includes Bluetooth 5.0 too.

In the box, you get the keyboard and mouse or trackpad (your choice) in a matching hue to your iMac. Pleasingly, the included USB–C to Lightning cable (for charging the mouse and keyboard) is

42 JUL 2021

color–coded too, with the same lovely braided finish as the power cable.

DESIGN AND ACCESSORIES We’ve already talked about loving the overall look of the new iMac 24–inch, especially the colors and how thin it is, but let’s get into the design nitty gritty that’s not so obvious.

Apple’s images don’t show this well, but the front chin of the iMac is actually made of glass and is a seamless piece with the white bezels and actual screen above it. This means that there are effectively three different tones of the same color on the machine — the dark aluminium color used on the sides and back, the lighter aluminium color used on the stand, and

then the lightest version of the color, on the glass.

We say the glass is the lightest, but it depends — being glass and slightly translucent, light bounces on and in it differently. This is most obvious in bright sunlight; in darker settings it looks closer to the stand’s hue.

The included cables have lighter versions of the color in their braiding, and look great. The power cable also attaches magnetically, which is neat.

No assembly is required for the stand, and the lightness of the screen makes it really easy to adjust the angle, generally. Having said that, though, the base of the iMac isn’t especially good at holding itself still on smooth surfaces, so on a classic white Ikea desk we found that trying to re–angle the screen usually meant a bit of accidental sliding around.

The keyboard, mouse and trackpad come in the same aluminium color as the stand of the iMac, plus white to match the display bezel.

The keyboard is lovely, needing only a little pressure, with clear feedback and a comfortable amount of travel.

It’s a good size, too. Having the Touch ID button in the top–right is something we’ve wanted for ever, and it works perfectly — the only downside is it’s an optional extra ($50) on the base model.

Apple’s Magic Mouse is an ongoing design question, with the question

Image rights top: Apple.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

being “Why isn’t this better?” In its basic mouse usage, it works fine, though there are plenty that sit more neatly in the hand and offer better feedback when you click. We don’t like the double–rail pads along the bottom — it feels much less smooth over almost any surface than other mice we’ve tried.

The fact that it has a touch surface all over for scrolling and other gestures is… okay. Scrolling works pretty well, other gestures are hit and miss. But the final annoying flourish is that it’s impossible to charge and use at the same time, as the port is right on the bottom. You can get a long period of use from a quick charge of just a few minutes, but that’s not really the point. This is the least–changed aspect of the iMac from the last version, and we don’t know why Apple can’t come up with a better mouse design.

If you pay a bit more, you can swap it for the Magic Trackpad. It’s got a lovely big area — much larger than any laptop — which makes it easy to use for dragging stuff across the big display. And you can charge and use it at the same time!

PERFORMANCE The story with Apple’s M1 processor is that it’s more than powerful enough for most people. There’s no variation of speed or number of cores because there doesn’t need to be: it’s more powerful than the highest–end chip in the Intel– powered 16–inch MacBook Pro, and that’s

Image rights top: Apple.

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number six: Super–fast connectors.

more than enough for the vast majority of people. So no worries there.

In Geekbench 5 the iMac scores 1745 in the single–core benchmark and 7660 in the multi–core benchmark. Compare that with the eight–core Intel Core i9 16– inch MacBook Pro, which earns 1100 and 6900 in those tests respectively.

For some high–end pros this still won’t be enough processor power, but if that’s the case this slimline machine was never really the one for you anyway. Most tasks you use a computer for are single–core, so having such serious performance in that area is great. And in practice, the iMac is wonderfully fast to do everything,

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number seven: Crystal clear 1080p webcam.

JUL 2021 43

>>>

Gear Up

from booting up to loading apps. It doesn’t quite hit the dream of making everything as instant as it is on your phone — it’s still dealing with a different, older style of software after all — but it’s among the speediest machines we’ve ever tested.

Running intensive tasks such as video transcoding reveals that it won’t run 100% silent all the time — when you really push it, you’ll definitely hear some significant fan noise. But that was the only time the iMac made any noise during our time with it.

It’s a similar story to the processor specs when it comes to RAM. The 8GB it comes with as standard is miserly in cost terms, but will be enough for a home user. Being able to upgrade to 16GB gives solid headroom for people with more advanced ambitions, though Apple is charging far more than is reasonable. It’s a shame that 32GB isn’t an option, because there is a niche of people for whom this is powerful enough otherwise, but need more than 16GB of RAM. Graphics is the area that the iMac 24–inch could be improved. The M1 is graphically very impressive inside the MacBook Air, but in a desktop it feels relatively weak. Obviously, the GPU is still capable — there’s enough power to help make standard photo or video editing a breeze, and it can run slightly older games at decent resolutions, even when the games haven’t been optimized for the M1 yet. But it’s not powerful in the overall scheme of desktop parts — in Geekbench 5’s computation benchmarks, the entry– level GPU in the previous 27–inch iMac is 50% more powerful.

SCREEN, SPEAKERS, CAMERA The iMac’s screen has been one of its crown jewels for years, and this version is no different. It’s incredibly detailed at normal viewing distances, though even if you squish your face into it, it’s hard to see the pixel seams. Its brightness of 500 nits is higher than almost all consumer monitors, which

44 JUL 2021

I T ’S A M U C H – N E E D E D R E D ES I G N W I T H LOA DS O F P OW E R, A ST U N N I N G S C R E E N FO R P R O WO R K , A N D S O M E N E AT E X T RA F E AT U R ES are often around half the brightness or slightly more. This makes a huge difference for visibility — it not only makes everything more vibrant but it also just cuts through bright sunlight better too, making things clearer and easier to see during the day. The colors are vibrant and punchy, it offers decent contrast, and detail is impeccable. This is pro–level stuff, though anyone will appreciate it, with the only downside being that it’s a little on the reflective side.

The new speakers punch well about their weight and provide a true feeling of separation between left and right, producing sound that’s bigger than just the width of the iMac. What’s impressive is how robust they can be for handling bass in music while also ensuring that treble stands out clearly.

There’s equal clarity and depth.

However, as for the “Spatial Audio” feature and the idea of it offering a kind of surround sound for movies, it’s less impressive. All the same advantages are here in that the sound is generally rich and sturdy, but the voices can be a little lost in the mix. It’s more like doubly effective stereo than

the true 3D effect you get from Spatial Audio on the AirPods Pro or Max. The built–in webcam works impressively in terms of visibility.

Number nine: Stunning six–speaker system.

Number ten: Color–coded magnetic cable.

Image rights (9): Apple.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

It handles mixtures of light better than even a good dedicated webcam, helping dark areas to appear light; and it appears to add a little extra warmth to the image, which is not unwelcome. However, the image was also softer than the Logitech webcam we compared it to, and so doesn’t feel like it’s fully taking advantage of its Full HD resolution.

The iMac 24–inch is a fun, fast, desirable desktop, with a gorgeous screen. There’s more than enough power here for the average user, and the M1 chip is capable enough to allow some major headroom beyond that — complex video editing and similar tasks are well within what it can handle.

It’s a great package, its only irritations being the lack of port variation, limited GPU power, and Apple’s cheap approach to RAM. Again, though, none of these will impact people using it for standard home tasks, with the exception of the ports.

It’s not cheap, but the iMac has always been good value considering its screen

10 reasons to love the all–new iMac, number eight: Super–thin chassis.

— a display this good would cost well over half the price on its own.

The biggest competitor to the iMac is the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), MacBook Pro 13–inch (M1, 2020), or Mac Mini M1 with your own screen. You’ll struggle to get the same quality of display as the iMac, but you could put together a cheaper package. The iMac 27–inch is still around too. Powered by Intel, it has a 5K

display that’s just as good as the 24–inch version, and offers lots of configurability and ports.

THE BOTTOM LINE. A much–needed and brilliant redesign of the iMac, with loads of power, a stunning screen for pro work, and some neat extra features. But the lower–price machine doesn’t offer quite the full experience and it’s awkward for ports. MATT BOLTON

APPLE iMAC 24–INCH (2021)

Extremely fast Beautiful design and colors Extremely fast Cheapest version is missing some features Only USB Type–C ports GPU and maximum RAM may be limiting EXCELLENT

Image rights bottom: Apple.

JUL 2021 45

>>>

Gear Up

Apple’s own AirTag key rings, loops, and bag charms are all sold separately, starting from $29.

Apple AirTag Find lost things — with some caveats $29 (4–pack $99) From Apple, apple.com Features U1 chip for Precision Finding (U1 chip needed in iPhone for Precision Finding), Near–Field Communication, Bluetooth, Siri support, IP67 rated, CR2032 replaceable battery

You can get your AirTag engraved with letters, numbers, or emojis.

Unlike the accessories, this is a free option.

APPLE AIRTAG

Easily find lost things Find My ready No keyring attachment Privacy concerns SOLID

46 JUL 2021

Nhhslqj#wudfn#ri#|rxu#vwxļ#fdq#eh#wulfn|# dw#wkh#ehvw#ri#wlphv1#Duh#|rxu#nh|v#lq# |rxu#mdfnhwB#Zkdw#derxw#|rxu#lSkrqhB# Thankfully, that last one is easy to Ľ{#wkdqnv#wr#Ilqg#P|#ğ#wkh#dss#dqg# lForxg#vhuylfh#wkdw#pdnhv#lw#hdv|#wr#wudfn# Dssoh#ghylfhv1#Exw/#vhulrxvo|/#zkhuh#duh# your keys?

Hqwhu#DluWdj/#dq#DssohĞeudqghg# wudfnhu#wkdw#frpsulvhv#Eoxhwrrwk/#dq# xowudĞzlghedqg#X4#fkls#dqg#QhduĞIlhog# Frppxqlfdwlrq#whfk/#dqg#Ilqg#P|#wr# khos#|rx#Ľqg#mxvw#derxw#dq|wklqj#|rxġyh# dwwdfkhg#lw#wr1 Wkh#lwhpĞwudfnlqj#frqfhsw#lvqġw#qhz1# Wloh/#Fklsror#dqg#Vdpvxqjġv#VpduwWklqjv# doo#rļhu#Eoxhwrrwk#wudfnhuv#dqg#kdyh#grqh# vr#iru#|hduv1#Krzhyhu/#Dssohġv#ehodwhg# hqwu|#lqwr#wkh#vhfwru#frxog#eh#d#jdph# fkdqjhu#ğ#wkdqnv#wr#lwv#delolw|#wr#fuhdwh#

lqwhuvhfwlrq#srlqwv#ehwzhhq#kdugzduh/# vriwzduh/#dqg#vhuylfhv1#Wkh#txhvwlrq#lv=# krz#pdjlf#lv#wkh#DluWdjB Wkh#DluWdj#frvwv#'5<#dqg#lv#voljkwo|# eljjhu#wkdq#d#frlq#dqg#durxqg#wkuhh#wlphv# dv#wklfn/#zlwk#d#fkurph#iurqw#dqg#jorvv|# zklwh#edfn1#Wkh#glvf#vsulqjv#lqwr#olih#wkh# vhfrqg#|rx#uhpryh#wkh#wdj#wkdw#dfwlydwhv# wkh#vxssolhg#FU5365#edwwhu|1#Rq#dq# lSkrqh#xsgdwhg#zlwk#lRV#4718/#wkh#DluWdj# dsshduv#rqĞvfuhhq#vr#|rx#fdq#sdlu#lw#zlwk# |rxu#ghylfh/#zlwk#d#phqx#rļhulqj#d#udqjh# ri#suhvhw#qdphv#dv#zhoo#dv#d#Fxvwrp#Qdph# rswlrq1#Wkh#DluWdj#wkhq#olqnv#lwvhoi#wr# |rxu#Dssoh#LG/#dsshdulqj#xqghu#wkh#qhz# Lwhpv#wde#lq#wkh#Ilqg#P|#dss#rq#lSkrqh/# lSdg/#dqg#pdfRV1 Lq#Ilqg#P|/#|rx#fdq#sod|#d#vrxqg#xvlqj# wkh#DluWdjġv#exlowĞlq#vshdnhu#ru#li#|rx# rzq#dq#lSkrqh#44#ru#lSkrqh#45#zlwk#d#X4#

Image rights: Apple.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

fkls/#xvh#wkdw#fklsġv#fdsdelolwlhv#wr#khos# Ľqg#h{dfwo|#zkhuh#dq#lwhp#lv1#Wkh#Ilqg# P|#vfuhhq#vkrzv#gluhfwlrq#duurzv#dqg# |rxu#skrqh#jlyhv#kdswlf#ihhgedfn/#zkloh# dovr#vkrzlqj#wkh#glvwdqfh#wr#wkh#DluWdj#lq# ihhw1#Rqfh#lwġv#irxqg#dq#lwhp/#Ilqg#P|# vd|v#ģLwġv#Khuh1Ĥ# Rq#rwkhu#Dssoh#ghylfhv#zlwkrxw#d#X4# fkls/#|rxġoo#mxvw#eh#jlyhq#dq#lghd#ri#dq# DluWdjġv#olnho|#orfdwlrq1#\rx#fdq/#krzhyhu/# vwloo#wds#wkh#Vrxqg#exwwrq1#Fxulrxvo|/# wkrxjk/#wkh#pdfRV#yhuvlrq#ri#Ilqg#P|# grhvqġw#jlyh#wklv#rswlrq1#Dqg#wkh#vrxqg# wkh#DluWdj#pdnhv#lvqġw#sduwlfxoduo|#orxg/# vr#|rxġoo#qhhg#wr#eh#lq#d#idluo|#txlhw#sodfh1 \rx#fdq#dovr#sxw#dq#DluWdj#lqwr#Orvw# Prgh1#Wklv#hqdeohv#|rx#wr#dvvljq#lw# d#skrqh#qxpehu#vr#wkdw#dq|rqh#zkr# Ľqgv#lw#zlwk#dq#QIFĞhqdeohg#ghylfh# fdq#uhwxuq#wkh#lwhp#wr#wkh#rzqhu1 TESTING, TESTING Wr#whvw#wkh#DluWdj/#zh#hpedunhg#rq#dq# DluWdj#wuhdvxuh#kxqw#lq#rxu#KT#ğ#zlwk# wkh#ghylfh#rxw#ri#udqjh/#Ilqg#P|#wrog#xv# wr#pryh#wr#d#glļhuhqw#orfdwlrq1#Diwhu# wudyhuvlqj#doo#Ľyh#ľrruv#ri#wkh#exloglqj# zlwk#qr#vljqdo/#zh#jrw#d#ģFrqqhfwhg1# Vljqdo#lv#zhdn1#Wu|#prylqj#wr#d#glļhuhqw# orfdwlrqĤ#phvvdjh#ehiruh#Ľqdoo|#slfnlqj# up a signal strong enough for the tracking rq#dq#lSkrqh#45#Sur#wr#zrun1#Zh#pdqdjhg# wr#slqsrlqw#wkh#h{dfw#orfdwlrq/#frqĽuplqj# zlwk#wkh#xvh#ri#wkh#Vrxqg#exwwrq1#

Apple gives you a number of preset labels to name your item, or a custom option.

Image rights: Apple.

Vr#zh#irxqg#wkh#DluWdj/#exw#lw# wrrn#d#zkloh1#Wklv#zdv#sduwo|# ehfdxvh#wkh#exloglqj#zdvqġw# ryhuo|#rffxslhg#zlwk#Eoxhwrrwk# xvhuv/#dqg#sduwo|#ehfdxvh#zkloh# wkh#DluWdj#frqwdlqv#dq# dffhohurphwhu/#lw#grhvqġw#kdyh# dq#dowlphwhu#vr#zh#frxogqġw#whoo# zklfk#ľrru#lw#zdv#rq1 Wkh#eljjhvw#lvvxh#lv#sulydf|1# Dssoh#vd|v#lwġv#hqvxuhg#wkdw# DluWdjv#duh#vhfxuh/#dqg#|rx#duh# zduqhg#li#wkhuhġv#dq#DluWdj# qhdue|#wkdw#grhvqġw#ehorqj#wr# |rx1#Krzhyhu/#wkh#rqĞvfuhhq# zduqlqj#rqo|#zrunv#li#|rxġuh#rq# lRV#4718#dqg#grhvqġw#zrun#rq# Dqgurlg1#Dssoh#vd|v#dq# xqghwhfwhg#DluWdj#zloo#dovr#sod|# d#vrxqg#ģryhu#wlphĤ#ğ#dowkrxjk# lw#grhvqġw#vshfli|#krz#orqj1# Pd|eh#wdnh#Dssohġv#sulydf|# dvvhuwlrqv#zlwk#d#judlq#ri#vdow/# wkhq1#Ru#li#|rx#gr#glvfryhu#rqh# wkdw#grhvqġw#ehorqj#wr#|rx/#srs# rxw#wkh#edwwhu|1 Ilqdoo|/#wkhuh#duh#wkh# dffhvvrulhv/#dqg#DluWdjġv#exlog# txdolw|1#Zkloh#Wloh#dqg#rwkhuv# lqfoxgh#d#kroh#lq#wkhlu#wudfnhuv#wr#pdnh# wkhp#hdv|#wr#dwwdfk#wr#dq|#nh|ulqj/#Dssoh# grhv#qrw#ğ#lqvwhdg/#lw#vhoov#DluWdj#nh|# irev#dqg#orrsv/#zklfk#udqjh#iurp# dļrugdeoh#wr#h{shqvlyh1#\rx#pljkw#dovr# zdqw#wr#lqyhvw#lq#d#surwhfwlyh#Ľop#iru#|rxu# DluWdj1#Rqh#ri#rxuv#kdv#rqo|#ehhq#lq#sodfh# iru#d#ihz#gd|v#exw#lwv#fkurph#dqg#sodvwlf# erg|#lv#douhdg|#vwduwlqj#wr#jhw#vfxļhg1# Sduhqwv#pljkw#dovr#zdqw#wr#pdnh#vxuh# wkdw#wkh#DluWdj#lv#nhsw#dzd|#iurp#vpdoo# fkloguhq#ehfdxvh#lwv#uhodwlyho|#vpdoo#vl}h# dqg#hdv|ĞwrĞrshq#edwwhu|#frpsduwphqw# duh#srwhqwldo#kd}dugv1#Lwġv#dovr#zruwk# qrwlqj#wkdw#xqohvv#|rx#vwrz#DluWdjv# gholehudwho|#rxw#ri#vljkw/#wkh|ġuh#suhww|# hdvlo|#uhpryhg/#zkloh#wkh#vklq|#Ľqlvk/# Dssoh#orjr#dqg#idvklrqĞiruzdug#orrsv#dqg# irev#duh#srvlwlyho|#dwwhqwlrqĞvhhnlqj1# THE BOTTOM LINE.#Wkhuhġv#d#orw#wr#oryh/# exw#wkh#DluWdjġv#ľdzv#duh#vljqlĽfdqw# hqrxjk#wkdw#zh#fdqġw#jlyh#lw#wrs#eloolqj# |hw1#ROB MEAD-GREEN

Use the AirTag to find your missing keys. The directions will guide you.

JUL 2021 47

>>>

Gear Up

The best USB–C docks for MacBooks Expand the capabilities of your machine with these docks

T

wo USB–C ports and a headphone jack — that’s the extent of today’s MacBook wired connectivity. Thankfully, accessory makers turned this shortcoming into opportunity with third–party docks for connecting external monitors, USB

devices, gigabit Ethernet, and more.

We tested four of the best on the market and found they had a lot in common. Aside from high–quality 4K 60Hz video — the standard for smooth motion on screens — they all provide excellent data transfer speeds. There

are drawbacks though, notably the lack of dual external monitor support on M1–powered MacBooks, and AC power bricks practically as large as the dock itself. Which one is worth your time and money? Read on to find out.

JR BOOKWALTER

> OWC Thunderbolt Dock (2021 model) > iVANKY Dual USB–C Dock $249 From Other World Computing, owcdigital.com

$139.99 From ivanky, ivanky.com

Features 3x Thunderbolt, 4x USB, Ethernet, SD reader

Features Dual USB–C cable, 12 ports, independent PD charging

BEST ON TEST

If you crave Thunderbolt 3 and future USB 4.0 compatibility look no further than OWC’s latest, which delivers a trio of such ports on the back (plus a fourth on front for connecting your Mac). Each operates as an independent daisy chain, so devices can be removed from one without affecting others, and there’s also support for bus–powered external Thunderbolt storage.

Another unique feature is the fancy backlit LED on top of the dock with the OWC logo, which glows blue when connected to a computer and white when disconnected. (The LED can be dimmed or turned off completely by inserting a paper clip into a hole on the front.) This is also the only dock in our roundup to offer Kensington security slots on one end, a nice touch.

Made for professionals

48 JUL 2021

No HDMI port EXCELLENT

This unit has the unique distinction of being the only dock designed expressly for MacBook owners, thanks to a heavy– duty hardwired 17–inch cable with dual USB–C plugs at the end.

Substituting aluminum for a glossy black plastic enclosure, this model is also a couple inches shorter than other docks in our roundup yet manages to pack in the highest number of ports — 12 in total, including dual HDMI 2.0 and four USB–A 3.0.

Although iVANKY includes a pair of USB–C ports, these are only for data transfer (no video output), although one provides 18W (9V/2A) of PD power, enough to fast–charge an iPhone 12 Pro Max at the same time your 16–inch MacBook Pro receives a dedicated 96W of juice. It’s also the least–expensive dock here.

Small but loaded

Strictly for MacBooks. GREAT

Image rights from left: Other World Computing, iVanky.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

> StarTech Thunderbolt 3 Dual 4K Dock (TB3DK2DHV)

> Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (F4U097tt)

$323.99 From StarTech.com, startech.com

$299.99 From Belkin International, belkin.com

Features HDMI, Ethernet, VGA

Features SD reader, Ethernet, USB–A 3.1

Have an old VGA monitor laying around you want to repurpose as an external display for a Thunderbolt 3–equipped Mac? This is the dock for you. A single connection provides wired Ethernet, dual displays (DisplayPort and your choice of 15–pin VGA or HDMI), and a pair of fast–charging USB–A 3.0 ports.

It’s a bit expensive considering the limited number of ports (there’s no SD card slots or audio output), and there’s also no support for USB–C equipped iPads — despite sharing the same connector, this is strictly a Thunderbolt–only dock. On the plus side, at only 2.3–inches deep, StarTech’s unit is a little narrower than competitors, and a bit tidier when it comes to cable management since the sole Thunderbolt port is on the front.

One of the larger docks in our roundup, Belkin’s is one of the more durable as well thanks to a rugged aluminum enclosure.

Thoughtfully designed, the front features both USB–A 3.1 and data–only USB–C ports plus an easily accessible SD card slot and 3.5mm audio in/out jack. Seven more ports on the back — four USB–A 3.0, gigabit Ethernet, DisplayPort, and USB–C — help reduce cable clutter on your desk.

However, this dock proved consistently buggy, causing our M1 MacBook Pro display to be incorrectly positioned after connecting the dock more than once or twice. (A reboot was required to get things back to normal.) The lack of HDMI is also a limitation for those without DP or USB–C monitors.

Works with VGA

Too expensive SOLID

Image rights from left: StarTech, Belkin.

Good mix of ports

M1 MacBook undocking GOOD JUL 2021 49

>>> App Life

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Genius Scan 6.0 Fast scans and excellent OCR Free (IAPs) From The Grizzly Labs, thegrizzlylabs.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS/iPadOS 13.0 or later

One of our favorite iOS features is the ability to use your device’s camera as a scanner for things like business cards, receipts, and so on. Genius Scan takes that idea and doesn’t so much run with it as strap it to a rocket. It’s a fully featured scanning app that uses your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch’s quality camera and processing power to deliver scanning and text recognition.

Genius Scan 6.0 is available for iuhh#dqg#rļhuv#vpduw#vfdqqlqj#zlwk# document detection and background removal, distortion correction, and d#udqjh#ri#Ľowhuv#dqg#wrrov#wr#jhw#wkh# best possible quality from your scanned document. You can export to PDF and create multi–page PDFs either by scanning multiple pages or by combining scans and existing photos and PDFs, and you can tag and add metadata to your

You can export scans as PDF, JPG or text files to email, Files, or cloud storage.

50 JUL 2021

documents. We particularly like the Batch Scanning feature that makes light work of grabbing documents.

Where things get even more interesting is when you go for the $7.99 paid–for version, Genius Scan+. This introduces multiple cloud service support and a superb OCR engine that extracts text from documents and enables your PDFs to be searchable.

It can also scan business cards and create contact information from them.

The paid–for version also enables you to protect your scans with Face ID. The OCR works very well and very quickly — single–page recognition was instant on our iPhone 12 — even when the font sizes are fairly small, although like most OCR apps it expects normally formatted documents. Complex layouts can be confusing and documents with very thin fonts or very light text require good lighting for recognition.

Accuracy isn’t quite 100% but it’s close enough to save you a great deal of typing, and if you export your scans as text and then delete the originals you can store a lot of documents in very little space. Your export options are PDF, JPG and text, and you can share via email, cloud storage, Files, and even FTP.

Perhaps the best way to describe Genius Scan+ is this — within arm’s reach of our MacBook there’s a ľdwehg#vfdqqhu#wkdwġv#shupdqhqwo|# connected to our Mac. Since we started using Genius Scan, we haven’t missed it at all.

THE BOTTOM LINE.#Idvw/#ľh{leoh/# and useful scanning with good OCR. CARRIE MARSHALL GENIUS SCAN 6.0

Fast OCR Multi–page PDFs Password and Face ID Expects simple formatting AWESOME

Image rights: The Grizzly Labs.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

MacKeeper 5.0 Security, privacy, and clean–up rolled into one $10.95/month; $71.40/year ($89.40 for three–Mac license) From Clario, mackeeper.com Needs macOS 10.11 or later, 2GB RAM, 93MB HD space

MacKeeper is a jack of all trades, but sadly masters none of them.

MACKEEPER 5.0

Good cleanup tools Slick user interface Lackluster protection Far too expensive OKAY

Image rights: 2021 Clario Tech.

Remember MacKeeper? It used to be synonymous with scamware, but that’s all in the past. New owner Clario has just unveiled version 5.0 of the app to try and establish a new reputation for itself.

PdfNhhshu#813#lv#hļhfwlyho|#44#wrrov#lq#rqh/# split over four categories: security, cleaning, performance, and privacy. That sounds like great value for the price, and you can give all ri#wkhp#d#urdgĞwhvw#iru#iuhh#ğ#rqh#iuhh#Ľ{#lv# provided for each, but after that you’ll need to buy a subscription.

Security is provided by two tools: Antivirus and Adware Cleaner. The antivirus uses Avira’s engine rather than Clario’s own security product, but still performs well in AV–Labs tests. Both are no–frills, don’t cover all threats, and the real–time protection isn’t set up by default.

A Safe Cleanup tool quickly goes through |rxu#kdug#gulyh#Ľqglqj#srwhqwldoo|#uhgxqgdqw# lwhpv#ğ#|rx#fdq#uhylhz#zkdw#lw#Ľqgv/# ensuring you don’t accidentally delete

anything. Also, there’s a Duplicates Finder and Smart Uninstaller tool that will clean up leftovers. All are easy to navigate thanks to MacKeeper’s user interface.

Performance comes with a memory cleaner, startup manager, and update tracker, which locates updates for non–store apps. The tool will even try to apply this dxwrpdwlfdoo|#ğ#zlwk#pl{hg#uhvxowv1 Finally, Privacy provides a VPN, ad– blocker, and ID Theft Guard. This latter tool lets you scan for password breaches lqyroylqj#|rxu#hpdlov1#Wkh#YSQ#lwvhoi#rļhuv# private connections through a choice of around 300 servers. But aside from the lackluster antivirus, there’s no information about who’s providing the VPN server, which undermines its privacy and transparency.

Lastly, there’s a “Premium Services” vhfwlrq#zklfk#rļhuv#vxssruw#yld#d#fkdw#wrro1# Exw#grqġw#jhw#wrr#h{flwhg#ğ#wklv#uhtxluhv#d# vxevfulswlrq#wkdwġv#pruh#h{shqvlyh#wkdq# MacKeeper itself. This is the app’s problem ğ#wkh#frvw#lv#h{shqvlyh#iru#d#surgxfw#xvlqj#d# free antivirus engine while not revealing who supplies its VPN service. Better to spend your money on a trusted source: Norton, or even Clario itself.

THE BOTTOM LINE. It’s now perfectly legit, but MacKeeper fails to inspire. NICK PEERS

The checkup may be free, but Premium Services requires an extra subscription that costs more than MacKeeper.

JUL 2021 51

>>>

App Life

EDITOR’S CHOICE

TouchRetouch One–touch object removal for photos $1.99 From ADVA Soft, adva-soft.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 12 or later

Removing objects from images used to be a lengthy and complex process carried out by graphics professionals, but the advent of algorithms and machine learning has meant it’s now available on your Mac and iOS devices. TouchRetouch is an dļrugdeoh#dss#wkdw#uxqv#rq#doo#uhfhqw# iPhones and iPads and aims to make object removal and repair simple.

Load up an image from your Camera Roll to see your options. The Ľuvw#lv#wkh#Remhfw#Uhprydo#wrro/# which sets your brush size. You can use a lasso tool and erase unwanted parts of the green mask if you’ve gone too far. When you hit Go, the app works its magic analyzing the area around your selection, and pdnhv#lwv#jxhvv#dv#wr#krz#wr#Ľoo#wkh# mask and remove the object.

Lw#lv#h{wuhpho|#hļhfwlyh#dw#grlqj#

Smaller details can also be removed — simply set the required brush size.

52 JUL 2021

this. However, an object on a uniform background will always be easier to remove than something on a busy background.

You are able to zoom in, which makes more precise selection much easier and the results even more accurate. A before and after button is a helpful inclusion. The Object removal larger the object you is performed by want to remove, or the drawing with a more cluttered the image brush or lasso around the object, the around the trickier it may be. The object to be app does a very replaced. impressive job with its guesses and produces good results.

A Quick Repair tool works similarly but on blemishes and dust, removing those rather than whole maintaining full resolution or areas of content. There’s also a Line shrinking down for email.

Removal tool, where drawing over a THE BOTTOM LINE. This is a highly line will remove it. Finally, a clone hļhfwlyh#dqg#hdv|#remhfw#uhprydo# stamp tool lets you replicate sections tool for your photos. HOLLIN JONES of an image.

Any retouching of this kind has to TOUCHRETOUCH be done carefully and strokes that Very easy to use are too broad will not work well, but Great results you can undo and try again. With a little care it’s easy to completely Attractively low price remove unwanted elements with Full res output option this app. Export options are good AWESOME too, with solid format options for

Image rights: ADVA Soft.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

TextSniper EDITOR’S CHOICE

An image OCR that’s faster than a bullet $6.99 From Valerijs Boguckis, textsniper.app Needs macOS 10.15 or later

Recognition is lightning fast, very accurate, and copes well with non– English characters.

TEXTSNIPER

Incredibly fast Great accuracy Multilingual Additive clipboard AWESOME

Image rights: Valerijs Boguckis.

Scanning text to edit it, quote it, or reuse it can be a pain — and the apps that do it can be expensive. Not here. TextSniper can extract and recognize text from your Mac’s screen incredibly quickly. It’s cheap, too.

TextSniper can handle all manner of text we see on our displays: celebrities’ insincere apologies screenshotted in Notes and shared on social media, text with graphics behind it, scanned or photographed documents, app dialog boxes and options, recipes shown on video, text from presentations or displayed in embedded document readers, text from uneditable PDFs… it’s a very long list.

TextSniper can also read bar codes and convert QR codes.

When you run TextSniper it puts a little icon in the menu bar and gives you a new keyboard shortcut: Cmd+Shift+2. Simply activate the shortcut or select Capture Text from the icon drop–down and draw the selection rectangle over the text you want to recognize. You’ll see a thumbs–up icon and the message Copied To Clipboard. Then paste the recognized text into your document.

The whole process is incredibly fast. We’ve tried TextSniper on an M1 Mac and on an ageing iMac and it delivered instant results on both machines. And it’s accurate too: provided the source text doesn’t get involved in too much design madness or hasn’t been through 15 photocopiers it copes admirably with colored text, outlined text, text with umlauts and accents, and even very small print. We chucked page after page of PDFs, tweeted images, scans and anything else we could think of at it and it achieved exceptional accuracy even when the text was a little blurry or in multiple languages.

Li#|rx#Ľqg#lw#grhvqġw#uhfrjql}h#sduwlfxodu# words, such as legal or medical terms, you can add them to the custom dictionary.

By default, each new copy replaces what’s already in the clipboard, but you can set it to an additive clipboard that appends new text to what’s already there.

You can also use the app as a fast text–to– speech reader.

The app isn’t perfect: it’s purely for text and can get a bit confused with symbols and other design elements, and sometimes it did strange things with line breaks. But these are plqru#ľdzv#lq#dq#rwkhuzlvh#h{fhswlrqdo#dss1# THE BOTTOM LINE. TextSniper is small, speedy, and could save you lots of time and frustration. CARRIE MARSHALL

TextSniper sits unobtrusively in your menu bar. You can activate it with Cmd+Shift+2.

JUL 2021 53

>>>

App Life

GROUP TEST

REVIEWED BY CRAIG GRANNELL

ON TEST... > Carrot Weather > Dark Sky > Hello Weather > (Not Boring) Weather > Weather by Tomorrow.io > Weather Underground

BEST WEATHER APPS FOR iPHONE AND iPAD Ensure your day’s never ruined by a downpour or sunburn with these great weather apps 54 JUL 2021

Image rights: The Dark Sky Company LLC, Andy Works LLC.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

T

HERE’S A LINE of thinking that weather forecasts are redundant. Just look out of the window! But that only works for about ten minutes into the future. As everyone who’s marched out of the door wearing a T–shirt and subsequently been drenched will attest, longer–term forecasts are handy things.

These days, you needn’t rely on newspapers or the TV to help you plan: you can put a meteorologist in your pocket. Not literally, obviously — we’re referring to weather apps. Apple provides one in the form of the imaginatively named Weather, but search the App Store and you’ll find a range of third–party alternatives.

This round–up explores why you might look further afield. Our apps on test provide rich feature sets, customization and unique interfaces that might gel with you more than what you get in Apple’s app. Also, there’s nothing stopping you installing several. Use each app for a specific function, even if you stick with Apple’s for an at–a–glance indication of whether you need to head out with sunscreen, an umbrella, or some trusty snowshoes.

How we tested Counter–intuitively, we didn’t get hung up on weather forecasting accuracy. Doing so would have been scientifically illiterate, because you can only test accuracy for a single location at specific points in time.

Instead, we concentrated on usability and clarity, along with each app’s wider feature set and options. Our primary test device was an iPhone, but we also used each app on an iPad to see if any weather app developers are optimizing their output for Apple’s tablet.

Image rights: TWC Product and Technology LLC, Grailr LLC.

JUL 2021 55

>>>

App Life

Things to consider… >>> Available sources Weather forecasting is complex and accuracy varies wildly. Apps that allow you to switch between a range of sources can therefore be a boon. >>> Pricing and subscriptions You might balk at subscribing to a weather app, but weather data costs developers a lot of money. Consider the value proposition for what you need.

A free version might be enough. >>> Settings and units Decide how much you want to bend an app to your will and have that govern your selection. Some are inflexible even with units. Others have many settings. >>> Data access How much weather information do you need — just the temperature and a weekly outlook? You’ll be set with any app.

1

> CARROT Weather

> Dark Sky

Free or $4.99/month; $19.99/year From Grailr, meetcarrot.com/weather

$3.99 From Apple, darksky.net/app

Like a weather forecaster combined with HAL 9000, CARROT Weather dishes out forecasts and snark. This gives the app lashings of character, which alongside its AR mode and location game makes for the most unlikely of things: a fun weather app.

But there’s a serious side to the user interface. Tap almost anything and you can dig deeper, be that to unearth weather data in the main view or settings when holding tabs. Elsewhere, a cards system shows info while using little screen space. On iPad, this is the sole app on test

1

56 JUL 2021

where it feels like the creator cares about Apple’s tablet.

But Interface Maker takes CARROT Weather the extra mile. You use a drag–and– drop system to craft custom set–ups. The only downside is this and other key features like notifications, widgets, and complications are behind an IAP. Still, the price matches feature–packed rivals — and the app itself betters them.

Excellent customization Great on iPhone and iPad Character and clarity Maps aren’t the best EXCELLENT

The original Dark Sky dazzled with cloud–like neon rainfall predictions billowing across black maps.

Hyperlocal forecasts peeked an hour into the future, aiming to help keep you dry.

Now, the app’s more conventional in appearance yet recalls its minimalist roots in a forecast view that’s easy to scan. A single scrolling pane houses cloud cover, precipitation, and temperature information.

The map exists in static thumbnail form and a bespoke Map tab. The latter’s full globe view — with barely any delay — is the most fluid and gratifying on the App

2

Store. And beyond the glitz, a powerful notifications system provides daily summaries and alerts based on user– defined data points.

Omitting Home screen widgets is a blow, though, and the lack of alternate sources will sting if Dark Sky isn’t accurate where you live.

Apple’s purchase of the app also means its long–term future remains unclear. For now, though, it’s a solid buy.

Easy to read forecast First–rate precipitation map Single purchase and no IAP No Home screen widgets EXCELLENT

Image rights: Grailr.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

2

3

4

> Hello Weather

> (Not Boring) Weather

Free or $1.99/month; $12.99/year From Electric Dream Machine, helloweather.com

$1.99/month; $14.99/year From Andy Works, andy.works

Hello Weather’s sunshine icon provides an indication of what’s to come. This breezy app has chunky visuals and revels in simplicity, rather than deep data dives.

That’s not to say it lacks information. Tap the “Right now” section and you can view humidity, pressure, and UV details. The week’s forecast can be switched between bar charts and written form. The Home screen widgets are the best we’ve seen on iPhone — just don’t expect to tap something and be inundated with numbers and graphs.

Think you’ve seen apps that are design playgrounds? This one takes things to the extreme, initially feeling more graphic design experiment than weather app. If it’s sunny, a red orb sits before you, with a temperature readout below you can see from across the street. When it rains, chunky raindrops fall across the screen from a rotating cloud.

Below these animations you can access daily or weekly forecasts, scrubbing across them to update the main display. It’s wonderfully playful, but it’s awkward to switch between views. Other

3

Notably, the free version is also barely compromised from a visual standpoint, merely adding an upsell button to the forecast screen.

It’s ideal for the basics or if you want a vibrant weather app. Go pro and unlock data sources beyond Dark Sky, a great Apple Watch app, and more settings. You should weigh up the value proposition for your needs.

Vibrant, friendly design Superb Home screen widgets Impressive Apple Watch app Sluggish radar view GREAT

Image rights: The Dark Sky Company, Electric Dream Machine, Andy Works.

4

drawbacks include widgets mentioned in the app’s settings not showing up on the Home screen and a subscription charge that’s ambitious given the paucity of data.

Still, if you want a fresh approach to weather apps and are keen on other Andy Works apps (all unlocked with the same subscription), this one’s worth a look.

Unique visual design Playful and fun Awkward view switching Comparatively pricey SOLID

JUL 2021 57

>>>

App Life

5

6

> Weather by Tomorrow.io

> Weather Underground

Free or $19.99/year; $49.99 lifetime From The Tomorrow Companies, tomorrow.io

Free or $3.99/month; $19.99/year From Weather Underground, wunderground.com/download

Examine several iPhone weather apps and Weather by Tomorrow.io seems solid but struggles to stand out. The unfussy interface clearly outlines current conditions, and a “Show Details” button reveals a table with eight further data points for anyone desperate to know what the dew point will be at noon. There’s a jerkily animated map, news stories to browse, and options for notifications and units.

The Activities tab is more interesting. Here, you define activities you partake in, and can assign them to any of

A few years ago, Weather Underground was an impressive free weather app. It deftly packed in data and looked great.

Since then, it’s regressed, with a comparatively decompressed interface that forces you to scroll too much.

Fortunately, there’s still a lot to like. The daily forecast pane makes it easy to spot rainfall and temperature trends over the coming week, and the sun/moon pane is brilliantly designed.

The best bit, though, is the “Wundermap.” A small version exists on the main screen, but tap that and it

5

58 JUL 2021

your locations. Bar charts then detail when would be optimal, good, acceptable, or bad for things like walking or driving. We’d be hard– pressed to splash out $19.99 annually for this app’s premium incarnation, which removes the ads and provides unlimited alerts, but as a freebie for the activities stuff it’s certainly worth a download.

Clean, pleasant interface Activities recommendations Map is pretty poor No alternate sources GOOD

6

fills your display. It’s not as pretty as Dark Sky’s map, but is slick and responsive as you pinch–zoom to view rainfall and temperature readings.

Handily, it doesn’t lurk behind the IAP — this app’s premium tier merely removes adverts and adds “smart forecasts.”

So stick with Weather Underground’s free version and get a first–rate weather map on your phone.

Useful, fluid, responsive map Great daily forecast pane Decompressed design No Home screen widgets SOLID

Image rights from left: The Tomorrow Companies, TWC Product and Technology.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

CARROT WEATHER Feature–packed forecasts with a funny outlook

F

LEXIBILITY, FEATURES, AND fun combine to make the best weather app on both the iPhone and iPad. From an objective standpoint, CARROT Weather blows the competition out of the water. It doesn’t better its rivals at everything — Dark Sky and Weather Underground have superior maps; Hello Weather is bolder and friendlier; there’s no equivalent of Weather by Tomorrow.io’s activities recommendations — but it gets things right where it counts.

The app is packed with features and it’s hugely flexible, with a superb interface designer. It

Image rights: Grailr LLC.

doesn’t flood the screen with information, but leaves deep data dives only a tap away. And it is equally impressive and optimized for iPad. The snag is that you pay for that quality, but the price tag is pretty reasonable.

Anti–subscriptions? Go for Dark Sky — assuming Apple doesn’t remove it from play. Happy to pay monthly but want something simpler than Carrot?

Get Hello Weather. And if you don’t fancy paying any money but are bored with Apple’s Weather, go for the free versions of the CARROT and Hello Weather apps.

JUL 2021 59

>>>

App Life

Narita Boy Can you wield the Techno–Sword?

Around $28 From Studio Koba, naritaboy-game.com Needs macOS 10.14 or later

S

ome games try to disguise your role as world–saver, but not Narita Boy. You are the hero prophesized to deliver the believers from the arch–demon HIM and restore the memories of the Creator. The Digital Kingdom exists inside a Narita One games console designed by Pearl, given religious significance by its digital denizens.

60 JUL 2021

The mystic religiosity takes place in a retro–futuristic land awash with neon lights and pixels. There is even a faux CRT filter you can apply for that extra 80s touch. This is a game that embraces its throwback feel and runs with it, and the results are downright breath–taking. We loved stumbling upon a techno–temple or exploring the Creator’s memory bank, torn asunder

by HIM; the latter was one of the

game’s highlights, a beautiful dream space that gradually explains the game’s story in a moving and highly rewarding way.

The superb visuals are complemented by a brilliant soundtrack, brimming with pulsing synths and driving beats. It is the perfect cyberpunk accompaniment that whisks you to the past and the future simultaneously.

Image rights: Studio Koba

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Narita Boy’s world is a gorgeous graphical creation.

It is a shame, then, that the level design cannot keep up. Narita Boy’s world is a maze of countless rooms that requires frequent backtracking.

This would not be so bad if you were provided with a map, but there are no such indulgences here. Without it, you are never sure if your frequent back–pedaling is helping you towards your destination or merely getting you more and more lost in the labyrinth.

Combat is disappointing. Hacking and slashing is enjoyable at first, but it is far less so in later levels when you have to grapple with swarms of adversaries, all moving in different ways, that stop you getting into a rhythm. This is compounded by Narita

Image rights: Studio Koba.

The game’s mystic lore is complex, layered, and a little hard to follow.

Boy’s irritating keyboard layout. Enemy attack patterns are predictable, even on the toughest foes, and while each boss requires different tactics, few are downright fun to beat. You will die a lot, which does not help lessen the game’s repetitiveness.

There are other issues. Your movement feels slippery, which is a problem when landing on a narrow platform sees you skidding and dropping to your death. And there are many names to remember, covering holy sites, artifacts, and more, so staying abreast of where to go, never mind the overarching lore, is hopeless.

If Narita Boy were a movie, with no interactive elements, it would be

superb. But when you look beyond its audio–visual mastery the cracks begin to show. It is a game in desperate need of better level design and an improved control scheme for keyboard warriors.

THE BOTTOM LINE. A beautiful game that never reaches its potential.

ALEX BLAKE

NARITA BOY

Phenomenally pretty Excellent soundtrack Far too repetitive Combat is hit and miss SOLID

JUL 2021 61

>>>

App Life The row of portraits across the top of the screen dictate the turn order.

Mechanicus A tactics game of metal against metal $11.99 From Bulwark Studios, mechanicus40k.com Made for iPad Needs iPadOS 13.0 or later

While many characters are melee–only, they hit hard.

62 JUL 2021

Bizarre amalgams ri#ľhvk#dqg#phwdo# iroorzhg#durxqg#e|# ľrdwlqj#vnxoov/#lwġv# kdug#lq#d#zd|#wr#wklqn#ri#wkh# Whfk#Sulhvwv#dv#wkh#jrrg#jx|v# lq#Phfkdqlfxv1#Exw#wkhq#wklv# is Zdukdpphu#73/333/#dqg# wkhuhġv#dozd|v#vrpherg|#zruvh# rxw#wkhuh1 Phfkdqlfxv#lv#d#wxuqĞedvhg# wdfwlfv#jdph#wkdw#jrw#srvlwlyh#

uhylhzv#zkhq#lw#duulyhg#rq# SF#lq#534;1#Wkh#lSdg#yhuvlrq# exqgohv#lq#wkh#Khuhwhn# h{sdqvlrq#sdfn#iru#d#wrwdo#ri# 83#kdqgĞfudiwhg#plvvlrqv1# Li#|rx#nqrz#rqh#wklqj#derxw# Zdukdpphu#73/333/#lwġv# suredeo|#wkh#Vsdfh#Pdulqhv/# dqg#wklv#lvqġw#wkhp1#Wkh#Whfk# Sulhvwv#ri#wkh#Dghswxv# Phfkdqlfxv#duh#wkh#hqjlqhhuv# dqg#vflhqwlvwv#ri#wkh#vdph# hpsluh#ri#vsdfh#idvflvwv# ghwhuplqhg#wr#zlsh#rxw#dolhq# olih#lq#wkh#jdod{|1#Wkh|#ghwhfw# d#vljqdo#dqg#lqyhvwljdwh/# glvfryhulqj#Qhfurqv#ğ#xqghdg# phwdo#vnhohwrqv#zlwk#d# pxughurxv#dwwlwxgh1#Wkh#jdph# sod|v#rxw#dv#d#vhulhv#ri# lqfxuvlrqv#lqwr#wkh#Qhfurqvġ# zruog#dv#wkh#edg#jx|v#zdnh# iurp#klehuqdwlrq1 Pxfk#ri#wkh#hqmr|phqw#ri# Phfkdqlfxv#frphv#iurp#wkh# Sulhvwvġ#elfnhulqj1#Vrph#duh#

h{flwhg#e|#wkh#dolhq#whfkqrorj|# zkloh#rwkhuv#vwlfn#wr#lpshuldo# grfwulqh#dqg#zdqw#wr#ghvwur|#lw1# Wkh|ġuh#doo#dxjphqwhg#lq#vrph# zd|/#dqg#kljko|#fxvwrpl}deoh# dfurvv#vl{#vnloo#wuhhv#wr#fuhdwh# k|eulgv#ri#w|slfdo#wdfwlfv#dqg# jdph#fkdudfwhuv1 Wkh#Sulhvwv#fdq#fdoo#lq# dgglwlrqdo#wurrsv#wr#Ľjkw#iru# wkhp1#Wkhvh#jhw#vwhdglo|#pruh# srzhuixo#xqwlo#|rxġuh#Ľhoglqj# jldqw#urerwv#dqg#vqlshuv1# D#v|vwhp#ri#Frjqlwlrq#Srlqwv# jdlqhg#iurp#sur{lplw|#wr#dolhq# vwuxfwxuhv#doorzv#h{wud#vkrwv# dqg#pryhphqw/#ru#ohwv#|rx# whohsruw#lq#pruh#wurrsv1#Wkh# Qhfurq#irufhv#duh#srzhuixo/# vr#lwġv#d#jdph#ri#klw#dqg#uxq1 \rxġoo#vrrq#eh#Ľhoglqj# wurrsv#wkdw#fdq#vwdqg#wrhĞwrĞ wrh#zlwk#wkh#ehvw#wkh#Qhfurqv# kdyh#wr#rļhu1#Wkh#odfn#ri#dq|# fryhu/#pl{hg#zlwk#wkh#srzhu# ri#phohh#zhdsrqv#dqg# ģrssruwxqlw|#dwwdfnv/Ĥ#ohdg#wr# d#pruh#djjuhvvlyh#vw|oh#ri#sod|1# Wklv/#dqg#wkh#dujxphqwdwlyh# f|erujv/#udlvhv#Phfkdqlfxv#xs# deryh#wkh#iud|1# THE BOTTOM LINE. D#ixq# dqg#ixwxulvwlf#wdfwlfv#jdph# edfnhg#e|#vrph#jrrg#zulwlqj1# IAN EVENDEN MECHANICUS

Blast the aliens Argue with your boss Slow to get going Visuals can be poor GREAT

Image rights: Games Workshop Limited.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Structured Quick and easy day planning Free (IAPs) From Leonard Mehlig, structured.today Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS/iPadOS 13.2 or later

Struggling to organize your tasks? Structured offers a fresh way of doing things.

Rather than presenting a simple list of your tasks, Structured places them on a timeline running from top to bottom. Each day has a timeline, with a weekly calendar at the top letting you go from one day to the next. Tasks sit in the middle of the timeline, while a box to check off jobs when they are complete lies to the right.

To create a task tap Add Task, enter a description, a start time, and a duration, then tap Create Task. The app assigns an icon to each task based on its description.

Compared to standard task apps, Structured’s approach presents a much clearer view of not only what is on your plate, but how long each task will take to complete. Instead of looking at your task list and wondering when you should do each one, you can now integrate your jobs directly into the day ahead. The result, as the app’s name implies, is a much more ordered day.

There is still room for improvement, though. Although Structured has a weekly calendar, a full monthly view would be welcome. A lot of useful features, including notifications and recurring events, are locked behind

The timeline view makes planning your day’s outlook straightforward. a $4.99 Pro upgrade, and without notifications you might find it hard to stay on track. The price is not egregious, though, and worth it if you are a fan of the timeline method.

THE BOTTOM LINE. Structured is a novel approach to planning your day’s outlook. ALEX BLAKE GREAT

Sofa: Downtime Organizer To–do lists you’ll actually want to do Free (IAPs) From Astrio, sofahq.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS/iPadOS 14.0 or later

If you’re anything like us your organizer app is full of things you meant to check out and never quite got around to — this podcast, that movie, the TV show everybody’s been raving about.

But using notes or reminders apps to store such things isn’t ideal because it’s easy to add things to the list and then never ever think of them again.

Sofa is an alternative to that. It’s a place to record all the things you want to check out, from video games to podcasts, and it grabs their details and links. If it’s an album it gets the cover art and links to it on Apple Music; if it’s a podcast it gets

the description and links to Apple Podcasts or Overcast; if it’s a book you get the cover and synopsis.

There are two ways to add things. You can add them to a specific list or group, such as video games, or you can just throw it on The Pile. That’s where you put things you can’t be bothered filing, or that don’t fit into your lists and don’t require one of their own. If you wish you can also track your activity as you check out the various items you have added to your to–watch, to–read, to–hear or to–play lists.

Sofa is free, but you can support the developers by buying add–on themes to

Image rights from top, left to right: Leonard Mehlig, Astrio, RCA Records, Bella Union.

Unlike notes or reminders apps, Sofa’s interface is designed for entertainment. customize its appearance. If you’ve been looking for an app to organize the entertainment you want to check out, it’s well worth downloading before you forget all about it.

THE BOTTOM LINE. An excellent to-do app for entertainment and apps.

CARRIE MARSHALL GREAT

JUL 2021 63

>>>

App Life

///listens.masses.rings Share

6

Navigate

Save

apps to... make the most of the summer

A serving of apps that earn a place in the sun

Summer is the ideal time to get out of the house and enjoy the sun, especially after the year we’ve all endured. While you shouldn’t let your iOS device get in the way of the glorious weather, a few judiciously chosen apps can help enhance your enjoyment during the long days and warm nights. We’ve picked six of the

best apps for this purpose, from travel planners and organizers to apps packed with ideas for great outdoor activities. Some act as your guide every step of the way, while others provide simple snippets of help when needed. Whatever you want to do, though, there’s a summery app for that. ALEX BLAKE

TRIPIT Free (IAPs) From tripit.com Made for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch

PACKR Free (IAPs) From packr.app Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Wherever you go this summer, knowing what’s on your plate is key, and TripIt is the perfect way to stay organized.

Instead of juggling tickets, reservations, and itineraries in a million different places, use TripIt to keep everything together — just forward your confirmation emails to the app and it adds them to your master itinerary. It even has handy destination guides for when you arrive.

You don’t want to turn up at your destination only to realize you’ve forgotten half of what you meant to set out with. If that sounds familiar, try Packr.

Just tell it where and when you’re going and what activities you’ll do, then it will get to work, producing a packing list based on the weather at the destination and the inputs you’ve specified. You can customize the list as you like, too.

64 JUL 2021

WOLFRAM SUN EXPOSURE REFERENCE APP $0.99 From products.wolframalpha.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Nothing ruins a beautiful summer day like a bad case of sunburn. Add this app to your arsenal, though, and you’ll be more protected wherever you go. It takes numerous factors, from your skin type to your location and the level of sunscreen you’re using, then calculates how long you can stay in the rays without burning.

It also shows a UV map for your area.

Image rights from left: Concur Technologies, JeremieLeroy.com, Wolfram Alpha.

9.2 miles

01:43:34

11.15 min/mil

Recorded Elevation

12:24pm Activity Time

00:22:47

ALLTRAILS Free (IAPs) From alltrails.com Made for iPhone, iPod touch, Apple Watch Going for a walk or hike is a great activity for a sunny day, and AllTrails is the perfect way to make the most of the great outdoors. Enter your location and it presents curated lists of nearby walks, from popular trails and family friendly tours to those less–travelled or encompassing stunning panoramas.

Whatever you’re looking for, AllTrails will have an enjoyable summer walk for you.

Image rights from left: AllTrails, Fifth Star Labs, what3words.

UV

75 10

SKY GUIDE $2.99 From fifthstarlabs.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch

WHAT3WORDS Free From what3words.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch

Few things beat stargazing on a summer night. Instead of trying to figure out which constellation you’re looking at, hold your device to the sky and this app will do the rest. It uses AR to superimpose star maps overhead, bringing the firmament to life. It can even show where heavenly bodies will be in the future, letting you snap the perfect photo right on time.

Summer trips can land you in unfamiliar places, but instead of trying to direct friends to your next meet–up point with vague instructions, use what3words.

It divides the world into three–meter squares and assigns a unique three–word identifier to each one. Just use the app to get your identifier and group travel will be made far easier.

JUL 2021 65

>>>

Best of

Best of the best Can’t find the hardware or app you’re looking for in our reviews section? Then check in here — we’ve highlighted the best in every major category, as voted for by us > HARDWARE CATEGORY

PRODUCT

WEB

PRICE

MESH ROUTER

Zyxel Multy U

zyxel.com

$269.99 AC2100, 3 nodes, tri–band, MU–MIMO

4K USB–C MONITOR

BenQ EW3280U

benq.com

$799.99 32–inch 4K IPS, HDR, USB–C, 65W charging

THUNDERBOLT DOCK

Brydge Stone Pro

brydge.com

$239.99 11 ports, 87W power supply, dual display

KEYBOARD

Logitech MX Keys For Mac

logitech.com

$99.99

Backlighting, number pad, USB–C

PRINTER

Epson Expression Photo HD

epson.com

$349.99

Wide–format, wireless printing, 200 capacity

EXTERNAL HDD

iStorage diskAshur M2

istorage-uk.com

$169

7-15 digit PIN, IP68 rated, shockproof

NAS DEVICE

WD My Cloud Pro PR2100

wdc.com

$399.99 Up to 20TB, 4GB RAM, 2x Gigabit Ethernet

Qi CHARGER

Belkin BOOSTCHARGE TrueFreedom Pro belkin.com

$129.99

HEADPHONES

Bose NC700

bose.com

$399.95 10 noise–cancelling steps, 20 hours battery

IN–EAR HEADPHONES Apple AirPods Pro

apple.com

$249

SECURITY CAMERA

EufyCam 2C (two–pack kit)

eufylife.com

$239.99 Battery–powered, floodlight, local storage

SMART SPEAKER

HomePod mini

apple.com

$99

360–degree sound, stereo pair, AirPlay 2

21.5–INCH MONITOR

Dell P2219HC

dell.com

$149.99

1920x1080, IPS, HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, USB–C

66 JUL 2021

FEATURES

2x 10W charging, supports 3mm thick case

Noise–cancelling, wireless charging case

Image rights from left to right: Doist Ltd, The Grizzly Labs, Silvio Rizzi.

> iOS APPS

NEW!

CATEGORY

PRODUCT

WEB

PRICE

NEEDS

TO DO (PRODUCTIVITY)

Things 3

culturedcode.com

$9.99

iOS 10 or later

WRITING

Scrivener

literatureandlatte.com

$19.99

iOS 9 or later

EMAIL

Spark

sparkmailapp.com

Free

iOS 10 or later

PHOTO EDITOR

Pixelmator for iPad

pixelmator.com

$4.99

iOS 11 or later

VIDEO EDITOR

LumaFusion 2.0

luma-touch.com

$14.99

iOS 11 or later

CAMERA

FiLMiC Firstlight

filmicpro.com

$7.99

iOS 13 or later

RSS READER

Reeder 5

reeder.app

$4.99

iOS 14 or later

IDEAS ORGANIZER

OmniOutliner3

omnigroup.com

Free (IAPs)

iOS 11.2 or later

NOTE–TAKING

Notability 10

gingerlabs.com

$8.99

iOS 12 or later

MIND–MAPPING

MindNode 6

mindnode.com

$14.99

iOS 11 or later

DOCUMENT SCANNER

Genius Scan 6.0

thegrizzlylabs.com

Free (IAPs)

iOS 13 or later

CALENDAR

Fantastical 3

flexibits.com

$4.99/month

iOS 13 or later

WEATHER

Carrot Weather 5

meetcarrot.com

$4.99/month

iOS 13 or later

WEB

PRICE

NEEDS

> macOS APPS CATEGORY

PRODUCT

TO DO (PRODUCTIVITY)

Todoist

todoist.com

$35.99/year

OS X 10.11 or later

WRITING

Ulysses 21

ulysses.app

$49.99/year

macOS 10.14.4 or later

EMAIL

Canary Mail 2

canarymail.io

$19.99

OS X 10.10 or later

PHOTO EDITOR

Affinity Photo

affinity.serif.com

$49.99

OS X 10.7 or later

VIDEO EDITOR

Final Cut Pro

apple.com

$299.99

macOS 10.13 or later

SCREEN CAPTURE

ScreenFlow 9

telestream.net

$129.00

macOS 10.12 or later

MUSIC CREATION

Logic Pro X

apple.com

$199.99

macOS 10.12 or later

FILE ORGANIZER

ForkLift 3

binarynights.com

$29.95

OS X 10.11 or later

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Adobe InDesign

adobe.com

$20.99/month

macOS 10.13 or later

BACKUP

Carbon Copy Cloner

bombich.com

$39.99

OS X 10.10 or later

VIRTUALIZATION

Parallels Desktop 16

parellels.com

$79.99

macOS 10.13 or later

TIME–TRACKING

Tyme 3

tyme-app.com

$3.99/month

macOS 10.13.2 or later

PERSONAL FINANCE

Quicken

quicken.com

$35.99/year

OS X 10.11 or later

JUL 2021 67

MAC TO THE FUTURE Apple is at a turning point with Mac hardware — but just where could it go in the next five or 10 years? Let’s imagine…

WRITTEN BY ALEX COX

PPLE SILICON HAS changed the game. It’s

not Apple’s first big platform change — while it seems silly to include the 6502, the Mac has seen 68000, PowerPC and X86 chips before the M1 — but it is the most significant in, if not the Mac’s lifespan, at least a generation. The ARM64–based Apple silicon is a more flexible and more versatile system–on–a–chip (SoC) processor and, crucially, it’s Apple designed…

A

68 JUL 2021

Image rights: Apple.

Future Macs could come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, including the G4 Cube–like Mac Pro mini.

Image rights: Apple.

JUL 2021 69

Mac to the future

>>>

A “MacPad” could team an iPad–like tablet with a keyboard/battery base for extra oomph when you’re deskbound.

f there’s one thing Apple treasures above all else, it’s control over its own platforms.

Apple silicon, starting with the M1 chip, gives the company precisely that — an almost entirely closed shop.

The MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and most recently, the iMac (p38) have gone the route of the M1. The rumour mill suggests the

I

The M1 chip provides superior performance with in–house Apple silicon advances.

70 JUL 2021

Mac Pro (already behind M1 laptops in terms of rendering power) will get its refresh in 2022, with a Mac Pro mini also anticipated. What happens after that? Apple has never been afraid of radical innovation, so why vkrxogqġw#qrz#eh#wkh#mxpslqj#rļ# point for a new generation of Mac hardware? There’s a lot to be learned from the changing direction of the PC, and much to be gained from incorporating mobile innovations.

Ohwġv#gxvw#rļ#wkh#+dgplwwhgo|# udwkhu#vfxļhg,#Mac|Life crystal ball and look at what we’d like to see in the world of Mac. Real–world rumors swirl about a future MacBook with a completely non–mechanical nh|erdug/#qr#vflvvru#ru#exwwhuľ|# vzlwfkhv/#mxvw#d#ľdw#h{sdqvh#ri# touch–sensitive nothing. This sounds, frankly, like a horrible idea, so let’s start our journey into this imagined future with something better: the MacBook Touch, a laptop zklfk#sxwv#Ľqjhuv#Ľuvw1# The MacBook Touch brings the apparently doomed Touch Bar (we’ll

kdyh#wr#zdlw#iru#wkh#qh{w#PdfErrn# Sur#wr#vxuidfh#wr#Ľqg#rxw#li#lw#vwd|v#ru# jrhv,#lqwr#wkh#qh{w#jhqhudwlrq1#Dssoh# makes it far larger, perhaps half the height of the keyboard, and gives it frqwh{wxdo#lqwhudfwlrqv#iru#hyhu|# app, or full customization which gives the cleverly–titled “Genius Bar” a versatility it’s never had ehiruh1#Shukdsv#wkh#vfuhhq#h{whqgv# on to it in the style of Asus’ ZenBook Sur#Gxr#odswrsv/#rļhulqj#h{wud#uhdo# estate to secondary apps; maybe Dssoh#Ľqgv#d#zd|#wr#lqfoxgh#wkh# iPhone’s 3D Touch functionality, haptics, or even a morphing screen which can include bumps to delineate buttons or windows.

But why stop there? Let’s give the MacBook Touch a proper, full wrxfkvfuhhq>#rqh#zlwk#ĽqjhusulqwĞ resistant glass so you can work hļhfwlyho|#zlwkrxw#shhulqj#wkurxjk# d#Ľop#ri#rlo1#Dgg#ixoo#Dssoh#Shqflo# support, an Apple Brush with a wh{wxuhg#dqg#ľh{leoh#wls#iru#pruh# immersive artwork, and borrow from mid–range convertible Windows

Image rights: Apple.

CUTTING–EDGE PCs

tablets, allowing the screen to be ľlsshg#doo#wkh#zd|#ryhu#dqg#vhw#dw#d# customizable angle for sketching and art work. Do the same for the iMac, on a larger scale. Wacom shuts up shop. The game is over.

COST–EFFECTIVE OR ELECTIVE If we’re taking inspiration from PC tablets, Microsoft’s Surface begs to be borrowed from. So Apple does, wdnlqj#lw#wr#wkh#qh{w#ohyho#zlwk#wkh# MacPad. The base of the unit is a keyboard, battery and discrete graphics combo, ultra thin and probably portless; the screen is an iPad–like tablet device, able to run on its own without the keyboard attached. When it’s loose it can communicate wirelessly with the base to access additional storage.

Zkhq#grfnhg#lw#fdq#sxoo#h{wud# processing power and recharge itself from the guts of the base. Maybe this doesn’t spell the end of the iPad, but rļhuv#sxufkdvhuv#d#frvwĞhļhfwlyh# upgrade path — pick up a MacBase, and you’ve got yourself a Mac.

“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass!” said Phil Schiller in 2013, right before Apple innovated its way into perhaps its most divisive product ever, the “trashcan” Mac Pro. That was its last big design salvo. Apple has since stuck with glass, metal and even (at times) been called boring, all while its main competition, the PC, has been allowed to run wild.

Asus’ ROG Zephyrus G14 puts a dot matrix LED pixel display on its laptop lid; Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus places an e–ink screen there instead; Acer’s ConceptD 7 Ezel laptop has a floating screen, which can be positioned for artistic and creative purposes. The PC desktop features cases of all shapes and sizes, screens on everything from water cooling blocks to RAM. Big names have innovated with pre–built systems, like the Corsair One, or the Alienware Aurora. There’s a world of inspiration for Apple to draw from — will it be bold enough?

The 2013 Mac Pro was certainly unique — so where has that fearless design gone?

Does the iBook design deserve a comeback?

Absolutely not — eww — but its semi– transparent plastic might.

The PC market has two worlds that Apple simply doesn’t cater for —the low–end, where underpowered laptops sell in their thousands for peanuts, and (let’s be honest here) the high–end enthusiast market. If Apple wants the Mac to be more populist, it needs to push it everywhere, which is why our imagined future sees Apple entering both markets.

Rq#wkh#Ľuvw#frxqw/#wkh#frpsdq|# unleashes the MacBook SE, transferring its success in the low–cost phone game to the Mac. This is a proper MacBook with all the trappings of macOS, running on a fairly minimal Apple silicon platform. There’s less RAM and a last–gen processor, integrated graphics, and a downgraded screen.

The whole lot is packaged in bright plastic, in your choice of one of four hip colors, with slightly more vtxduhgĞrļ#hgjhv#exw#vhulrxv# university appeal nonetheless.

The fanless MacBook SE costs $550, hļhfwlyho|#uhljqlwlqj#wkh#ľdphv#ri# the Mac vs PC war; you won’t be able to game on it, but you will at least be deoh#wr#dļrug#lw1 To satisfy those looking for power, d#PdfErrn#Sur#Pd{#gursv1#Xqolnho|/# we know, but it’s fatter and heavier

JUL 2021 71

>>>

Mac to the future

A fatter, heavier “MacBook Pro Max” could boast powerful graphics and the ability to easily upgrade.

than other MacBooks to make room for a powerful laptop graphics solution and upgradeable components — something even the PC laptop market can’t (or won’t) rļhu1#Dssoh#hyhq#glyhujhv#iurp# Apple silicon, partnering with AMD wr#surylgh#dq#[;9#surfhvvru/#rļhulqj# game publishers the opportunity to make easy ports from PC without having to refactor titles for a RISC (reduced instruction set computer) FSX/#dqg#vrfnhwlqj#lw#wr#hqdeoh#

owners to switch in an upgrade. At the same time, Apple keeps the M1 (or an M2, or even multiples of them) for compatibility elsewhere.

This idea is, we’ll admit, more on the ludicrous side, but it’s not outside the realms of possibility — particularly if Apple transitioned it to a desktop form factor.

DESKTOP DOMINATION The PC’s big advantage is its openness. At one point in time,

Dssoh#eulhľ|#doorzhg#rwkhu# manufacturers to build third–party Mac compatibles. It didn’t last, and isn’t likely to happen again. But what if Apple could take control of not only its own bespoke hardware but that of third parties too? What if it could, beyond what it already does zlwk#wkh#Pdf/#ghĽqh#dq#hqwluh# anti–PC and dictate its future?

Introducing the Mac Platform.

D#fxudwhg#vhohfwlrq#ri#wkh#Ľqhvw# computing components in the world,

THREE TIMES APPLE BROKE THE MOULD

iMac (1998)

iPod (2001)

iPhone (2007)

The Bondi Blue beauty dropped at a time when prior Macs, and PCs of the era, were distinctly beige — and in the heyday of translucent blue plastic — turning the Mac into an iconic desktop essential.

Apple’s first major step outside its comfort zone wasn’t the first hard drive MP3 player, but it defined what said device could be. Superb control, a great interface, and Dieter Rams–esque looks.

Smartphones were floundering when the iPhone launched, mainly due to Microsoft’s abysmal mobile OS. Apple took a leap, set the standard, and everyone else was forced to follow.

72 JUL 2021

Image rights: Apple.

THE FUTURE OF macOS It’s hard to pinpoint what the true future of Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems will be.

But map the trajectories of Big Sur and iPadOS 14 and the two potentially collide — Apple silicon and the A–series chips of mobile devices are from the same family, meaning Big Sur can run iOS and iPadOS apps natively.

It’s likely that Apple goes the whole hog, completely aligning its desktop and mobile operating systems as one. In mobile mode, an iPhone could act like an iPhone, but dock it with a monitor and you’d get a more complete macOS interface. Samsung has tried similar with DeX, bringing detailed desktop apps to docked S–series phones, and it works well, even if it’s not too widely used. There’s probably too much value in Apple’s laptop and desktop division for it to abandon non–mobile hardware, but there’s a vast existing userbase which Apple could drag on to the desktop with little effort.

Catalyst no more — there’s no app translation required on Macs running Apple silicon.

Image rights: Apple.

A “Mac Platform” could take inspiration from the Mac Pro and come with top–of– the–range components.

licensed from the likes of Nvidia and AMD, guaranteed to work perfectly together, repackaged into premium materials, and each given that Apple aesthetic nudge. An evolution of the Mac Pro ethos, with its gorgeously designed case, custom motherboard, and powerful frpsrqhqwv#wdnhq#wr#wkh#qh{w#ohyho1# You can bring your own (Apple– fhuwlĽhg,#judsklfv#fdug1#\rx#fdq#dgg# Apple RAM, Apple storage, switch out your Apple processor. You can treat your Mac as if it were a walled– garden PC. There’s no reason the Mac Platform would have to stay in

A resurrected Cinema Display would be smart, super–high resolution, and dockable.

a Mac Pro–style case. Apple might vhoo#glļhuhqw#fdvhv#lq#glļhuhqw# materials, and this same idea could eh#dssolhg#wr#wkh#qh{w#jhqhudwlrq#ri# Mac mini, with DIY upgrades made simple and guaranteed to be compatible. And every component is given such a heavy Apple touch that the company brings back that delightful late ’90s transparent plastic to let you see inside. Why not a Mac Slim, a machine like the Mac mini but with four–times the case space, ready for a discrete graphics card? And all of this, of course, heralds the return of the Apple Cinema Display, a glorious 5K OLED that does not go pink around the edges after just a couple of years’ use.

Of course, the alternative — and perhaps more likely — future is that Apple’s new reliance on SoCs leads to completely the opposite outcome, and future Macs abandon the idea of upgradeability altogether.

Everything soldered on and tucked away — don’t worry about the hardware, just look at the shiny case!

That approach can and does work, but we can always dream.

JUL 2021 73

ASK

EXPERT ADVICE Our resident genius solves your Mac and iOS problems

Email Mac|Life at ask@maclife.com

TECH SUPPORT & TECHSPLANATIONS

A steady hand on the SSD LIKE ANY NEW technology, we have much to learn about the working life of SSDs in M1 Macs. Alarming reports of rapid wear must be tempered against use. Take any low–end Intel Mac with limited memory and work it hard with high use of virtual memory, and its SSD wears out faster. Unlike rotating hard disks, which can keep spinning for a decade or more if you’re lucky, the more your Mac writes to an SSD, the shorter its life.

It’s only when we’ve gained experience with a broad range of Apple silicon and usage that we’ll have a better idea of whether their SSD’s working life is going to eh#dq|#glļhuhqw#iurp# Intel models. Neither is there anything peculiar to Big Sur which should cause premature ageing.

The SSD in our iMac Pro is still as fresh as a daisy, and it hardly ever uses virtual memory.

74 JUL 2021

> Better App Store updates How do I go about updating App Store apps reliably?

These problems are widespread. Some advocate killing processes that might be involved, but it’s better to adopt a more systematic approach. Updates may appear days after they’ve been available. When you open the App Store app, select Updates and press Cmd+R to force it to refresh and offer any delayed updates now.

Rather than updating all available at once, try one at a time. In most cases, they download fairly quickly until their progress indicator reaches the 10 or 11 o’clock position, then pause for many minutes or even hours.

Be patient: most should eventually complete,

and you can start another updating in the meantime. If they don’t complete, quit the App Store, open it again after an hour or so and repeat the process.

Other useful checks are that your Mac is properly signed in using Apple ID, in its pane, and that there are no known problems with the App Store service identified on Apple’s System Status page at bit.ly/ml182sysstat.

If you have multiple Macs to update, run the Content Caching Server (in the Sharing pane) on one to minimize downloads. If you still can’t make any progress, contact Apple Support as it may be a server problem.

Force the App Store app to refresh its list of updates using Cmd+R to ensure it lists all that are available.

Image rights: Apple.

Tech Support & Techsplanations

Get official documentation at support.apple.com | Get help with hardware at support.apple.com/repair

> Invert + Dark Mode = Confusion I use Invert modes on my iPhone to help me see its display. These work correctly when using Light Mode, but fail in Dark Mode. How can I fix that?

There’s a very common misunderstanding that Dark Mode is another form of inversion. It’s more complex, so interactions with inversion modes result in strange effects. If you find the Smart or Classic Invert modes help you read your iPhone’s display, use them only in Light Mode.

Inversion modes alter colors by optical inversion, which changes everything that’s black to white, and the reverse. Classic Invert applies that to the whole display contents including images, but makes images unintelligible, which Smart Invert addresses by preserving the original colors of those elements which it identifies as images.

Dark Mode aims to do something quite different, in setting dark shades as the background instead of light, using different colors including near–blacks and near– whites according to context. Unlike Invert modes, it can’t change the contents of images or documents which specify colors, so it won’t alter the appearance of images or PDF documents. Some documents are now designed to work with Dark Mode though: this is growing among websites, and is available in rich text (RTF and RTFD) documents too, where Apple has extended the RTF standard with modeless background and foreground colors.

Image rights: Apple.

Quick–fire questions & answers HOW WELL PROTECTED IS iCLOUD SECURE BACKUP? Data, particularly “keybags” used to access private information, is encrypted before being sent to iCloud, where it remains encrypted.

Secure backup only occurs when a device is locked, connected to a power source and has a Wi–Fi connection.

Together these ensure that even Apple doesn’t have access to data.

Classic Invert Mode will make some images unintelligible.

Use Smart Invert with Light Mode to get best results.

HOW TO KEEP NOTES ON MY iPHONE RATHER THAN iCLOUD? First enable local storage of notes. Go to Settings > Notes, then enable “On My iPhone” Account. To make that the normal location for notes, set it as the Default Account. Ensure that you back your iPhone up then, as local notes aren’t stored on iCloud otherwise.

Using both Invert and Dark Mode is therefore asking for two different and conflicting display effects at the same time, and is guaranteed to set them working in opposite directions, resulting in something which is neither inverted nor of dark appearance.

JUL 2021 75

>>>

Ask

HOW TO CHECK THE INTEGRITY OF FILES IN iCLOUD? iCloud Drive doesn’t have direct support for integrity checking but, contrary to rumors, it appears reliable at preserving files for several years. Dintch and Fintch (free utilities from bit.ly/ mac365 dintch), can be used to attach checksums to files and check them when you wish.

BEST APP TO INVESTIGATE BLUETOOTH ISSUES? The best was Apple’s free Bluetooth Explorer, supplied to developers with Xcode 11.4 but now unsupported and failing fast. iStumbler from the App Store is an excellent Wi-Fi utility with a useful Bluetooth display which includes devices like Apple’s wireless keyboard, mice, and trackpads. There are others in the App Store which are inferior.

76 JUL 2021

> Fixing FaceTime

FaceTime relies on your Mac’s clock being set accurately, and selecting the correct time zone.

Check these in Date & Time.

FaceTime has worked fine for me in the past, but after upgrading to Big Sur it just churns for a few seconds and fails to connect. What’s wrong with it?

FaceTime has a couple of quirks that can occasionally catch users out. It relies on the time on your Mac being accurate, and your time zone correctly configured in the Date & Time pane. They’re best set automatically to ensure that they remain exact. Also, check you can log into your account at appleid.apple.com, and that your Mac is signed in properly with the Apple ID pane.

Close the FaceTime app and open Photo Booth to check your camera. If that’s OK,

try using the Messages app to send a short message to the person you want to connect to using FaceTime. As the two communication systems use common technologies, Messages can be a useful indicator of underlying problems in FaceTime too.

Finally, if that hasn’t helped, quit FaceTime, restart your Mac and try it again.

If it still doesn’t work, re–installing Big Sur should solve the problem.

> Is that app signed?

I use Little Snitch as a software firewall, to protect from malware and apps phoning home. Sometimes it reports that an app I have been using isn’t correctly signed. Why’s that?

When an app tries to make an outgoing connection from your Mac, Little Snitch detects that and, depending on the rules which you have set for such connections, will check details of that. Those include the remote server and the signature of the app which is trying to make that connection. This is because Apple revokes the certificate of any signed malware which it detects. If Little Snitch is unable to confirm that the code has been correctly signed, then it reports that, as it may well mean that the app trying to make that connection is malicious.

Recent versions of macOS make the same checks on app signatures, which require connecting to Apple’s servers, so the whole process is complicated, and could give rise to a situation in which Little Snitch doesn’t get the right answer. If you’re in any suspicion that an app may not be correctly signed, check it yourself using a free tool such as What’s Your Sign? from bit.ly/ ml182yoursign, or ArchiChect from bit.ly/ ml182archtct. They’ll give you a clear answer which lets you decide whether to remove that app and inform its vendor that it has a problem.

Image rights from top: Apple, Alf Watt.

Tech Support & Techsplanations

> Back up to networked storage When I upgrade to Big Sur, can I still back up to my Drobo networked storage using its new version of Time Machine?

A major new feature in macOS 11 is the ability of Time Machine to make backups to disks which are in Apple’s new format APFS. For those with external disks, this is easy to adopt, and results in faster, more reliable backups. Networked storage (NAS) is more complicated, because the connected disk doesn’t normally use either format now supported by Time Machine, so backups are performed into a disk image or sparse bundle kept in the shared storage.

For this, macOS supports two network protocols: older AFP and newer SMB. To enable networked storage to use Time Machine’s new APFS option, your storage needs to use SMB not AFP, so that Time Machine will create a sparse bundle in APFS format on your network share. That’s already supported by some networked storage systems, and their users are reporting significant improvements as a result. APFS backups are proving both faster and more reliable than those to HFS+.

Networked storage can use Big Sur’s new Time Machine to APFS provided that it supports the SMB protocol.

Drobo currently doesn’t support the SMB protocol, only AFP. As a result, it recommends you keep your Time Machine backup in the older Macintosh Extended, or HFS+ format.

That’s still supported by Time Machine in Big Sur. So, you can continue using your existing backups too, which you couldn’t if you were switching to APFS. Hopefully, Drobo will soon support SMB and give users the choice of backing up to HFS+ or APFS.

CAN AIRDROP BE EXTENDED OVER OUR NETWORK? No. AirDrop uses Bluetooth to establish connections, then transfers files over Wi– Fi. Although you can extend the latter, if the Bluetooth connection can’t be made, it will fail. Bluetooth intentionally limits range to around 10–13 metres between the two devices.

WHICH WI–FI DOES MY MAC SUPPORT? Go to About This Mac > System Report > Network > Wi–Fi. Under Supported PHY Modes, you’ll see a list of the supported modes, such as a/b/g/n/ac.

Little Snitch’s code signature check should be reliable, and can be tested against other utilities.

Image rights clockwise from top: Drobo, Apple, Objective Development Software GmbH.

JUL 2021 77

>>>

Ask

> Keeping a low Profile When using System Preferences, I noticed that a new pane had appeared named Profiles, containing one entry for iMovie_27_Sep. What did that, and what should I do?

The update to iMovie 10.2.3 unintentionally came with this provisioning profile, but you can safely delete it.

WHY DO SOME IMAGE THUMBNAILS LOOK BAD? QuickLook builds an initial thumbnail very quickly, but that may contain Moiré noise which can deface images. A few seconds later, that first attempt should be replaced with a higher– quality version, so the noise should then vanish. There’s nothing you control which can change that.

HOW CAN I CHANGE MY LONG AND SHORT USERNAMES? Don’t try this unless it’s essential. Although there are commands intended to make this work, many features of macOS and apps depend on knowing your short username to access the Home folder.

Although they shouldn’t suffer if you do, in practice you’ll waste time fixing everything that this breaks.

You’ll need to log in as a different user, open the Users & Groups pane, then Ctrl–click on the user whose name you want to change.

The contextual menu offers Advanced Options which allow you to do that, if you must.

78 JUL 2021

This is a temporary and harmless aberration which came free with the App Store update taking iMovie to version 10.2.3.

Provisioning Profiles are used quite widely in managed Macs, for example across corporate networks, and they may also be used by developers when preparing and submitting updates for the App Store. They simply provide additional information about some of the app’s requirements, and are tucked away in a file named embedded. provisionprofile inside the app. When an app with a Provisioning Profile is installed,

macOS copies its profile into those for the system. If you don’t have any other profiles installed, this makes the Profiles pane appear, with just that one inside it. You don’t need to remove it as it doesn’t do anything, but if you want to make that pane vanish again, select the profile in the list at the left and click the “–” underneath. macOS will then remove it from the pane, although the file remains inside the app.

Hopefully, before releasing the next update to iMovie, Apple will remember to remove its Provisioning Profile.

> Can’t empty a backup from the Bin I deleted a Time Machine backup which I now can’t get rid of. Whenever I try to empty the Bin, it tells me that files in that backup are still in use. How can I remove them?

macOS is now very protective of Time by the Put Back command in the Bin, then it Machine backups, and not only sets their may be simplest to restart from an external permissions to prevent this, but may use disk and then try emptying the Bin. System Integrity Protection (SIP). Additionally, Sometimes that won’t work, and the only way this has changed in backups made by Big Sur is to use the rm command in Terminal. That’s to APFS disks. risky and should only be a last resort. You’ll To delete all backups on a volume need to be certain that the path is correct, containing no other files, the simplest way is and use the “rm –rf path” command. to reformat that volume using Disk Utility. To remove one or more backups but keep the rest of the backup set, do this in the Time Machine app rather than the Finder, or use the tmutil command in Terminal, although that’s complicated.

The Time Machine app only lets you do what’s safe, and fortunately won’t damage your other backups.

If you can’t put that backup back into its original Rather than perform surgery directly on Time Machine backups, it’s safest to do only what the Time Machine app allows. location, which can be aided

Image rights: Apple.

Tech Support & Techsplanations

> Recovering Stocks losses When I was editing my listings in Stocks, all entries suddenly disappeared. Can I restore them from my Time Machine backup?

The Stocks widget is more complex than meets the eye. It also isn’t entirely independent, relying on the Stocks app, which depends on News. There’s no simple way to restore its data or settings from a Time Machine backup, as those are spread across at least three places in your Home Library folder. You may find it simplest to open the Stocks app and set up its entries from scratch. The solution might be simpler if your Stocks are shared using iCloud, which you can check in the iCloud item in your Apple ID pane. Disable that sharing immediately on your Mac, and check whether

the list remains intact on another device connected to that same iCloud account. If they’re unaffected, it means the change hasn’t yet synced up to iCloud, which can then be used to sync down to your Mac. Leaving the Stocks item unchecked in iCloud, ensure the Stocks app and widget are closed and restart your Mac. Check if they’re still absent once it has started up again. Then close the Stocks app and widget, open the Apple ID pane and check Stocks there to share it again. Give your Mac time to sync with iCloud, and with a bit of luck your list of stocks will have synced and returned.

The Stocks app and its widget are part of News, and can’t simply be restored from a Time Machine backup.

HOW CAN I FIX THE SUDO BUG IN HIGH SIERRA? Apple has security updates for Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur which fix this bug.

Macs running an older version of macOS are vulnerable and there’s no official update on offer. Installer packages for old versions of macOS are available from Todd Miller’s site at bit.ly/ml182sudo.

SHARE WITH US! Image rights: Apple.

WHY IS MY MAC’S GATEKEEPER SO OUT OF DATE? If your Mac was running during the last update to Gatekeeper’s data in 2019, then it’ll show the latest version as 181. Apple stopped updating that data with Catalina, and Macs without an earlier release now show version 94 from 2016. It’s no longer used, and there’s no way to update it.

EMAIL: ask@maclife.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/maclife TWITTER: twitter.com/maclife

JUL 2021 79

CREATE HOW TO DO ANYTHING ON YOUR MAC, iPHONE & iPAD

Save web pages for later Curate your own reading list using Safari in macOS Big Sur REQUIRES Safari, macOS 11 or later; Pocket and Instapaper optional YOU WILL LEARN How to save web pages so you can read them at a more convenient time IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes

APPLE’S MACOS BIG Sur rļhuv#sohqw|#ri#zd|v#wr#vdyh# lqwhuhvwlqj#frqwhqw#iru#odwhu1# Iru#h{dpsoh/#|rx#fdq#kljkoljkw# wh{w#rq#d#zhe#sdjh#dqg#gudj#lw#wr#d# grfxphqw/#zklfk#fdq#wkhq#eh#vdyhg#wr# uhdg#dq|zkhuh1#Wkdw#lv#Ľqh/#exw#Vdidul# rļhuv#ehwwhu#rswlrqv1 Pdq|#ri#wkhvh#phwkrgv#duh#exlow#uljkw# lqwr#wkh#eurzvhu1#Uhdglqj#Olvw#ohwv#|rx# vdyh#dq|#duwlfoh#wr#d#oleudu|#iru#odwhu1#E|# ghidxow/#|rxu#vdyhg#duwlfohv#uhtxluh#dq# lqwhuqhw#frqqhfwlrq#wr#ylhz/#exw#|rx#fdq#

vdyh#wkhp#iru#rŀlqh#frqvxpswlrq1#Vdidul# h{whqvlrqv#olnh#Srfnhw#dqg#Lqvwdsdshu# +erwk#iuhh,#rļhu#h{wud#ihdwxuhv#ryhu# Vdidulġv#Uhdglqj#Olvw1#Iru#lqvwdqfh/#Srfnhw# ohwv#|rx#vhh#zkdw#rwkhu#shrsoh#kdyh#vdyhg# dqg#iroorz#lqwhuhvwlqj#fxudwruv1# Lqvwdsdshu/#phdqzkloh/#ohwv#|rx#wzhdn# wklqjv#olnh#irqwv#dqg#froruv#wr#pdnh# uhdglqj#hdvlhu#dqg#pruh#frpiruwdeoh1# Wr#ohduq#krz#wr#xvh#Uhdglqj#Olvw#dqg# frpelqh#lw#zlwk#Vdidul#h{whqvlrqv#iru#d# wrsĞqrwfk#frqwhqw#froohfwlrq/#uhdg#rq1# ALEX BLAKE

HOW TO Start and manage a reading list

GENIUS TIP Make all articles available offline by default by clicking Safari > Preferences > Advanced, then select “Save articles for offline reading automatically.”

80 JUL 2021

Save your first page

Read saved articles

Hover over the Safari URL bar and click the “+” button to add a page to your Reading List, or press Cmd+Shift+D. Now click the Safari sidebar button, then click the Reading List button to see all your saved content.

Click an article in the sidebar to read it.

When you get to the bottom of the page, keep scrolling and you will move to the next saved article. Similarly, scroll upwards at the top to return to the previous article.

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

JARGON BUSTER

Filter saved pages In the Reading List sidebar, scroll upwards, then click the buttons that appear at the top to filter between all saved articles and just those you have not read. You can also search through your saved articles here.

Save offline If you are going to be travelling without an internet connection — or just prefer to read things offline — you can save a page straight to your Mac by Ctrl–clicking it in the Reading List, then clicking Save Offline.

Read or unread?

You can mark a page as read or unread regardless of whether you have actually read it. In the Reading List sidebar on the left, Ctrl–click a saved page, then click Mark as Read or Mark as Unread to change its status.

Safari extensions add extra tools and features to your browser. Open Safari and click Safari > Safari Extensions to find them in the App Store.

Remove pages Finished reading a saved page in your Reading List? You can remove it by Ctrl– clicking the page summary in the sidebar, then clicking Remove Item. Alternatively, click Clear All Items > Clear to remove everything.

GENIUS TIP To add your Reading List to your Safari start page, open a new Safari tab, click the three–line toggle button at the bottom, then enable Reading List.

Save as web archive You can also export a page as a web archive, which saves text, images, and links.

This is useful for saving receipts, for instance.

Click File > Save As, then select Web Archive in the Format drop–down and click Save.

Image rights: Apple.

Try Pocket After installing Pocket and creating an account, simply click the Pocket button every time you want to save a web page. You can add tags to saved items, and view your collection by clicking “…” then Open My List.

JUL 2021 81

>>>

Create

BEFORE

AFTER

Develop your shots Master the photo editing features in ACDSee Photo Studio 7 REQUIRES ACDSee Photo Studio For Mac 7 $99.99 YOU WILL LEARN How to make more fine–tuned adjustments IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes

LIKE APPLE’S FREE Photos app, Photo Studio 7 enables |rx#wr#Ľ{#frpprq#slfwxuh# sureohpv#zlwk#froru/#wrqh/# dqg#frpsrvlwlrq1#Lq#erwk#dssv/#|rx#fdq# xvh#volghuv#wr#vhohfwlyho|#oljkwhq#vkdgrzv# zlwkrxw#ryhuh{srvlqj#kljkoljkwv#iru# h{dpsoh1#\rx#fdq#dovr#errvw#zhdnhu#froruv# zlwkrxw#ryhuĞvdwxudwlqj#vwurqjhu#rqhv1# Ghvslwh#wkhvh#vlplodulwlhv/#Skrwr#Vwxglr# :#lv#zruwk#sxufkdvlqj#ehfdxvh#lw#erdvwv# h{wud#wrrov#wkdw#doorz#|rx#wr#dgmxvw#wrqh#

dqg#frpsrvlwlrq#zlwk#juhdwhu#suhflvlrq1# Skrwr#Vwxglr#:#hqdeohv#|rx#wr#xvh#euxvkĞ edvhg#wrrov#wr#oljkwhq#ru#gdunhq#vshflĽf# remhfwv/#vr#|rx#fdq#grgjh#dqg#exuq#dq|# vxemhfw#olnh#d#gdunurrp#sur1#\rx#fdq#dovr# xvh#judglhqwv#wr#fodz#edfn#plvvlqj#vn|# ghwdlo#zlwkrxw#xqghuh{srvlqj#fruuhfwo|# h{srvhg#odqgvfdshv#dqg#forqh#rxw# xqzdqwhg#remhfwv1#Khuh/#zhġoo#irfxv#rq# krz#Skrwr#Vwxglr#:#rxwshuirupv#wkh# Skrwrv#dss#zkhq#lw#frphv#wr#skrwr#Ľ{lqj1 GEORGE CAIRNS

HOW TO Make selective tonal adjustments

Clipping warnings Due to high–contrast lighting, the girl and dog are underexposed and the overexposed sky lacks detail. By clicking the triangular exclamation sign, we can summon clipping warnings to identify exposure problems.

82 JUL 2021

Graduated change Click on the Linear Gradient icon. Position the gradient at the top of the overexposed sky. Drag the Exposure slider left to darken details gradually towards the top of the shot.

This restores detail to the clipped sky.

Develop brush Choose the Develop Brush.

Set the Smart Brushing drop down to Magic. This enables you to quickly select a complex shape in red. You can then adjust a slider such as Fill Light to selectively lighten the selected areas.

Image right: ACD Systems International.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Counteract distortion

Geometric distortion Certain lenses cause lines to bulge outwards or inwards. To straighten lines, click on the Geometry tab. Toggle open Lens Distortion and tweak the Distortion slider.

Perspectival distortion When shooting a tall building from a low angle, its walls may converge toward the top of the frame. In the Perspective panel, drag the Vertical slider so converging lines run parallel.

Horizontal distortion When shooting from a side angle, horizontal lines may converge toward the right of the frame. The Horizontal slider can make it look like you were standing directly in front of the subject.

HOW TO Remove unwanted people and objects

Heal or clone The Photos app’s Retouch tool produces smudgy results when removing subjects because it blends transplanted pixels with new surroundings. In Photo Studio 7’s Repair panel, click Clone, not Heal.

Let us spray For more accurate editing, adjust the Width and Feathering of the Clone tool’s brush tip. Ctrl–click to define the area that you want to transplant. Click to spray the sampled pixels over the unwanted subject.

Little and often For greater control, keep Ctrl– clicking on adjacent areas to sample and extend pixels over the unwanted subject. Here we’ve cloned the wall of the house and grass over the woman, and tarmac over the car aerial.

> KEEP THE NOISE DOWN

Reduce ugly artifacts in a more controlled way In low light conditions, your camera may use a high ISO setting to make it more sensitive to light. This can add specks of color (chrominance) and brightness (luminance) noise to your shots. Apple’s Photos app has an all–in–one Noise Reduction slider. Photo Studio 7 has individual color and luminance noise sliders for greater control over removing noise without blurring key objects. You can also reduce the presence of color fringing (chromatic aberration) on specular highlights (something you can’t do in Photos).

Image rights: ACD Systems International.

JUL 2021 83

>>>

Create

Keep your apps up to date Banish outdated apps with this brilliant Mac tool

REQUIRES MacUpdater $14.99, macOS 10.14 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to quickly update all your apps in one process IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes

KEEPING ALL YOUR Mac apps up to date is important but doing it quickly and with minimal fuss is certainly easier vdlg#wkdq#grqh1#Lwġv#Ľqh#li#|rxu#dssv#duh# from the App Store, but what if you have apps that you downloaded direct from the developer’s website? Then things take a bit longer and get a bit more complicated.

Unless you use MacUpdater, that is.

Wklv#dss#vfdqv#|rxu#Pdf/#Ľqgv#zklfk#dssv# are installed, then looks for updates. If it Ľqgv#wkhp/#lw#ohwv#|rx#xsgdwh#doo#|rxu# apps at once with a few quick clicks. It

only takes a couple of minutes and makes keeping your apps current and secure totally painless.

MacUpdater is highly customizable, from the types of apps it scans for right down to the color of the text it uses. Want to only scan for Apple silicon–compatible apps that are sandboxed and not downloaded from the App Store? You can do that by tweaking MacUpdater’s settings. It is this combination of power and simplicity that makes it a great addition to any Mac user’s toolbox.

ALEX BLAKE

QUICK LOOK The MacUpdater app and widget

TABS The Apps and Discover tabs let you switch between updating your apps and finding new ones.

UPDATE You can either update apps one by one (right column) or update them all with the button at the bottom.

UPDATE LIST This list shows all your Mac apps that can be updated, along with the current and new version numbers.

MENU WIDGET You can quickly update apps using MacUpdater’s menu bar widget without opening the main app.

84 JUL 2021

Image rights: CoreCode Limited.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Quickly update your apps

Menu bar icon MacUpdater uses a menu bar icon for quick access. Click it, then click Quick Select to highlight apps to be updated. Or you can Cmd–click multiple apps at once. Click the Update Selected option to get started.

Custom rules Choosing the custom rule option opens a window with many customizable options. You can hide 32–bit apps, hide Intel–only apps, hide audio plug–ins, hide screen savers, and much more, giving you tons of control.

Scanning This section determines how often MacUpdater will scan for app updates, when scans should be skipped, and where it will look for apps to update. You can even decide whether the scan speed is throttled.

Image rights: CoreCode Limited.

Open the app Click the Refresh button to make MacUpdater check for pending updates again. The gear button in the top–right corner opens MacUpdater’s settings, while the Open button launches the main window of the app.

The Discover tab The Discover tab in the top-left helps you find new apps to install. You can browse by app categories, by popular apps, or see recently updated ones. You can also use the search box to find a specific app.

Updating This lets you make backups of your apps and enable security features while updating. You can also install the Privileged Install Helper Tool, which updates apps without needing your password every time.

The main update list The app’s main window shows a list of apps to be updated. Use the drop–down list to filter apps: You can show all apps, hide Mac App Store apps, hide all un–updateable apps, or set rules.

General Settings Click Settings to find MacUpdater’s options. The General Settings tab lets you choose if the app launches at login, where the app icon is displayed, what double–clicking an app in MacUpdater does, and more.

Ignores The Ignores tab lets you specify apps or updates that MacUpdater should ignore. MacUpdater can send you reminders to clear out this list periodically, and it can also automatically remove old list entries.

JUL 2021 85

>>>

Create

Encrypt your data Encrypt important data in Big Sur for better security and safer sharing REQUIRES macOS 11, external drive optional YOU WILL LEARN Different ways of encrypting things in Big Sur IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes

ENCRYPTION IS A great way to keep your personal data and Ľohv#vhfxuh#ğ#lw#phdqv#wkdw# wkh#rqo|#shuvrq#zkr#fdq# dffhvv#|rxu#gdwd#lv#|rx1#Lq#wklv#wxwruldo/# zhġoo#glvfryhu#krz#wr#hqfu|sw#|rxu#Pdfġv# vwduwxs#glvn/#h{whuqdo#gulyhv/#dqg#Wlph# Pdfklqh#edfnxsv#ğ#dqg#zhġoo#dovr# glvfryhu#krz#wr#fuhdwh#glvn#lpdjhv#wkdw# |rx#fdq#vkduh#vhfxuho|1# Dv#idu#dv#|rxu#Pdf#lv#frqfhuqhg#d#glvn# lpdjh#lv#olnh#dq|#rwkhu#glvn/#exw#dv#lwġv#

JARGON BUSTER A volume is a storage container for your data.

You can split a physical disk or SSD into multiple volumes, each of which appears as a separate drive.

86 JUL 2021

You can also encrypt PDFs in Preview — go to File > Export as PDF and check the Encrypt box.

d#yluwxdo#gulyh#|rx#fdq#kdyh#pruh#wkdq# rqh#rq#d#vlqjoh#vwrudjh#ghylfh1#Glvn# lpdjhv#duh#lghdo#iru#hpdlolqj/#iru#pdnlqj# dydlodeoh#dv#grzqordgv/#ru#iru#xsordglqj# wr#vkduhg#forxg#vwrudjh1#Exw#gr#pdnh#vxuh# |rx#grqġw#vhqg#wkh#sdvvzrug#zlwk#wkh# lpdjh#ru#|rxġoo#ghihdw#wkh#zkroh#sxusrvh# ri#hqfu|swlqj#|rxu#gdwd1 Wkhuh#duh#irxu#nh|#rswlrqv#dydlodeoh#wr# |rx#khuh1#D#uhdg2zulwh#glvn#lpdjh/#dnd#d# 1gpj>#d#vsduvh#lpdjh>#d#vsduvh#exqgoh># dqg#d#FG2GYG#pdvwhu1#Zlwk#1gpjv#|rx# qhhg#wr#vshfli|#wkh#Ľoh#vl}h/#zklfk# lv#xvhixo#li#|rx#nqrz#wkdw#|rxġuh#ghdolqj# zlwk#d#Ľoh#vl}h#olplw#iru#xsordgv#ru#hpdlo1# Vsduvh#lpdjhv#duh#pruh#ľh{leoh>#wkh|#fdq# jurz#li#pruh#vsdfh#lv#qhhghg#e|#wkh#Ľohv# wkh|#frqwdlq1# Wkh#glļhuhqfh#lv#wkdw#d#vsduvh#lpdjh# lv#rqh#Ľoh#dqg#d#vsduvh#exqgoh#lv#pdgh#ri# pxowlsoh#Ľohv/#vr#li#|rxġuh#edfnlqj#xs#dqg# rqo|#d#ihz#wklqjv#kdyh#fkdqjhg/#wkhq# d#edfnxs#v|vwhp#vxfk#dv#Wlph#Pdfklqh# rqo|#qhhgv#wr#edfn#xs#wkh#fkdqjhg#elwv# ri#wkh#exqgoh/#qrw#wkh#zkroh#wklqj1# CARRIE MARSHALL

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Create an encryption container

Use FileVault By far the easiest way to encrypt a drive is by going into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault, but you can only use it on your Mac’s boot disk. You’ll need to log in as an administrator.

Encrypt external drives To encrypt an external drive, use Disk Utility from Applications/Utilities.

Select the drive and click Erase; available format options will vary depending on the drive.

Encrypt Time Machine When you pick your Time Machine destination, there’s a check box for Encrypt Backups. To add encryption later, you need to choose a different drive then choose the original drive.

Image rights: Apple.

Choose how to unlock If you try to restore your FileVault data, you’ll need to unlock it, and you have a choice — use your iCloud account, or create a Recovery Key. If you go for the second option, don’t lose the key.

Pick a password Your encrypted data will be protected with a password (unlike with FileVault, you can’t use your iCloud account). That means it’s crucial to pick a password that isn’t easily guessed, and make a note of it.

Make an image To create a disk image in Disk Utility, choose a drive and click File > New Image. Select a new, blank image of a size you specify so you can add files, or select a folder and create an image from the folder and its contents.

Change your mind If you change your mind, removing FileVault is simple — again it’s System Preferences > Security & Privacy, but this time you’ll click on Turn Off FileVault. You’ll need to be logged in as an administrator.

Encrypt your existing data If the drive isn’t blank, use Finder. Ctrl– click on the drive, choose Encrypt and you’ll be asked to create a password; as with a recovery key, if you lose this you can’t restore data.

Pick your format There are lots of formats here.

A read/write image creates the same .dmg files you might have seen used by app downloads, or you can choose a sparse disk image or sparse bundle if you want your disk image to grow.

JUL 2021 87

>>>

Create

Power up your podcasts How to find, organize, and play all the best shows REQUIRES Podcasts app, macOS 10.15 or later YOU WILL LEARN The key features of the Podcasts app IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes

PODCASTS WEREN’T INVENTED by Apple, but they wouldn’t exist without it; podcasts were made vshflĽfdoo|#iru#olvwhqlqj#wr#rq#lSrgv/# khqfh#wkh#qdph1#Wkh#Ľuvw#srgfdvw#zdv# xsordghg#lq#5337/#dqg#dffruglqj#wr# Srgfdvw#Lqvljkwv#wkhuh#duh#qrz#4/<83/333# shows and 47 million episodes.

D#srgfdvw#lv#hļhfwlyho|#d#udglr#vkrz# wkdw#|rx#grzqordg#lqvwhdg#ri#wxqlqj#lqwr/# dqg#pdq|#udglr#vkrzv#duh#qrz#dydlodeoh#

GENIUS TIP If you have an M1 Mac, you can run many iOS and iPadOS apps — so, for example, our favorite mobile podcast app, Overcast, runs on our Mac too.

88 JUL 2021

Apple’s app isn’t the only place to find podcasts.

Spotify has a podcast section with good exclusives.

dv#srgfdvwv#wrr1#Li#|rx#fdq#lpdjlqh# it, somebody has a podcast about it — and that presents a problem, because qrw#doo#srgfdvwv#duh#jrrg1#Krz#gr#|rx# Ľqg#wkh#gldprqgvB Dssohġv#Srgfdvwv#dss#kdv#wkuhh#zd|v# iru#|rx#wr#Ľqg#lqwhuhvwlqj#srgfdvwv1# The Browse section is a curated collection ri#srgfdvwv#jurxshg#e|#wkhph/#vxfk# dv#ģuhodwlrqvklsv/Ĥ#ģkdyh#d#odxjk/Ĥ# dqg#ģvhoiĞfduh/Ĥ#dqg#lw#dovr#kdv# d#ģelqjhzruwk|Ĥ#vhohfwlrq#ri#vrph# ri#wkh#prvw#julsslqj#vkrzv1 Dqrwkhu#zd|#wr#Ľqg#jrrg#srgfdvwv#lv# to look at the Top Charts section in the dss1#Srsxodulw|#lvqġw#dozd|v#dq#lqglfdwru# ri#txdolw|/#exw#lwġv#zruwk#orrnlqj#dw#zkdwġv# wuhqglqj#dv#vrph#ri#wkh#prvw#srsxodu# srgfdvwv#duh#juhdw1 Wkh#wklug#zd|#wr#Ľqg#srgfdvwv#lv# wkurxjk#uhodwhg#uhfrpphqgdwlrqv1#Zkhq# you select a show or episode, the app jlyhv#|rx#uhodwhg#srgfdvwv#ğ#vr/#iru# h{dpsoh/#li#|rx#vhohfw#wkh#PDQVodxjkwhu wuxh#fulph#srgfdvw/#wkh#Srgfdvwv#dss# will also show you other podcasts such as P|#Idyrulwh#Pxughu and Criminal.

CARRIE MARSHALL

Image rights from top: Apple, Spotify.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Pick and play your podcasts

Explore the app

Start to subscribe

Apple’s Podcasts app looks like the Music app because they have the same parent: iTunes. There’s a sidebar and search box, a Now Playing toolbar, and details of the currently selected podcast in the main window.

If you subscribe to a podcast, the app will automatically download new episodes as they’re released. All you need to do is find a podcast you like and then click on the large Subscribe button toward the top–right.

Open the notes

Create a queue

When you click on a podcast, the Podcasts app will give you lots of info, including details of the hosts and guests so you can find related podcasts. Click on the “i” icon at the top–right to see any show notes.

Never miss updates Unless you turn them off, the Podcasts app will show you Notifications whenever one of your subscribed podcasts has been updated and downloaded. You can play the episode by clicking on the Notification.

Image rights: Apple.

If you Ctrl–click on a podcast episode you’ll see several options such as Play Next and Play Last. This adds the selected episode to your playlist. Add multiple episodes and they’ll appear in Playing Next.

Speed it up If you’re in a hurry or find a particular podcaster talks too quickly you can adjust the playback speed by clicking Controls > Playback Speed. The “one and a quarter” speed option is the least chipmunk–sounding.

Explore your episodes Click on the Listen Now link in the sidebar and you’ll see a screen like this one with thumbnails of podcasts you’re subscribed to. This shows the most recently updated podcasts.

Adjust the order In the Playing Next queue (which you can view/hide with the icon at the top–right), you’ll see a “hamburger” icon — this enables you to reorder your playback queue by dragging episodes into whatever order.

Sync with iOS Go into Prefs > Advanced to enable or disable two key features: automatic deletion of episodes once listened to, and iCloud sync. The latter option keeps your iOS/iPadOS devices up to date with your podcasts.

JUL 2021 89

>>>

Create

Get outdoors with Komoot Whichever outdoor sport you love, Komoot has a route for you REQUIRES iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch; iOS 11.4 or later; Komoot (free with IAPs) YOU WILL LEARN How to use Komoot IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes

NOW THAT SUMMER is here and we’re all keen to get our fresh-air downtime, many of us are heading outdoors for exercise and to reacquaint ourselves with the towns and countryside around us.

There are several apps that can help make the most of that, and one of the best of the bunch is Komoot.

No matter whether you enjoy hiking, cycling, or mountain biking, Komoot will help you plan the perfect route and make the most of the sights and facilities along

the way. You can even plan routes to take account of surface, elevation, and glĿfxow|1#Nrprrw#doorzv#xvhuv#wr#vxeplw# favorite places, photos, and routes for rwkhu#xvhuv#wr#hqmr|/#vr#|rx#jhw#wr#ehqhĽw# from others’ experiences when you plan your route. Once you’ve planned it, you can save it for later, even for when you’re rŀlqh/#ru#jhw#vwduwhg#vwudljkw#dzd|#zlwk# turn–by–turn navigation. You can sync routes across devices, including Apple Watch, and you can link it with the Apple Health app. KENNY HEMPHILL

HOW TO Get going with Komoot

GENIUS TIP Paying for the premium version allows you to plan multi–day tours, switch between maps for different sports, and check on the weather conditions.

Get started with Komoot Once you’ve downloaded Komoot, you’ll need to create an account — complete your profile by following the on–screen instructions.

You can then choose your favorite sports to receive personalized notifications.

90 JUL 2021

Start planning a tour Tap Plan then Plan New Route. Choose your sport and fitness level, and whether you want the trip to be a round trip or one way. Tap “Choose starting point”— you can then choose Use Current Location.

Image rights: komoot GmbH.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

JARGON BUSTER

Continue planning your tour You’ll need to tap Plan New Route, then tap Choose Destination. Either use the search bar to find a location, or tap Choose on Map then tap to set a location. Tap Set as Destination.

Begin a saved tour Tap Profile at the bottom of the screen, then Planned. Tap the tour you want to start.

When you’re ready, tap Start Navigation for turn–by–turn instructions. From here, you can also share tours and invite others to join you.

Finalize your tour To add waypoints, tap the green bar above the map then tap Add Waypoint. Choose a type of waypoint, like Food and Drink, to see locations on the map. Tap one, then Include on Route. Tap Save to save the route.

A Waypoint is a marker on your route that often denotes somewhere of interest or somewhere to just stop and take a bit of a break.

Discover tours Instead of creating your own tour, you can follow one someone else has added. Tap Discover then the sport–type icon at the top.

Search or scroll down the page to see tours and then tap one to find out more.

GENIUS TIP The Discover section allows you to comment on tours shared by other users, as well as follow users whose tours you’re interested in.

Record a tour To add a tour as you walk, run or cycle, tap Record, then Record a Tour. To add a photograph, tap the Camera icon; or to pause the recording, tap Controls then Pause Tracking. Tap Finish Tour when you’re done.

Image rights: komoot GmbH.

Share a tour Once you’ve created a tour, you can make it public or share it with friends. Tap Profile, then tap the tour you want to share.

Tap Share and choose whether to share it publicly or with certain people.

JUL 2021 91

>>>

Create

Add photos to your contacts Use Contact Pics Adder to assign images to all your contacts REQUIRES iPhone, iPad or iPod touch; Contact Pics Adder ($1.99), iOS 14 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to quickly add photos to your existing contacts IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes

SET UP AN iPhone or iPad and you’re encouraged to take a photo of your beautiful self, which is then added to your card in Contacts. In fact, every card allows you to add a photo (or some other image) to represent that particular person.

Doing so is a smart idea. These images are displayed elsewhere on your mobile devices and Mac as thumbnails. You’ll see

GENIUS TIP Contact Pics Adder can mimic the Contacts app’s ability to draw images from Photos — just tap Library to use an image from that resource.

92 JUL 2021

Contact Pics Adder doesn’t force you to grab images from online sources. If you have something suitable on your device, tap the Library button and select it.

them in apps like Mail and Messages, providing an at–a–glance indication of who each communication is from. That’s good because it’s typically faster to browse a list by looking at faces than it is by reading names.

However, Apple doesn’t make it terribly easy to add new photos to your contacts.

To do so, you must go into the Contacts dss#dqg#Ľqg#d#frqwdfw#zlwkrxw#d#slf1# (Unhelpfully, the main list view in Contacts doesn’t show these images.) You can then press Edit and Add Photo, and choose a snap from your library — or opt to depict the person as a Memoji or icon, should the urge take you.

Contact Pics Adder (App Store, $1.99) pdnhv#wkh#surfhvv#idu#pruh#hĿflhqw/# speeding everything up by focusing purely on adding new images to your contacts.

Our walkthrough shows how to use the app to add images from Bing web searches, Twitter, and Facebook. Prior to getting started, we’ll assume you’ve already installed the app on your iPhone or iPad and granted it access to your contacts. CRAIG GRANNELL

Image rights: Volker Koch.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Source images for your contacts

Choose a contact Contact Pics Adder initially displays your contacts in alphabetical order. You can opt to display only those contacts lacking an image by tapping Without Picture, or use Search to quickly find a specific person.

Try Twitter Should Bing not deliver a usable image, try using Contact Pics Adder’s social network buttons instead. Twitter is the simplest option. Tap the TW button and you’ll see a Twitter search for your contact’s name.

Head to Facebook Facebook is slightly more involved than Twitter. First, you’ll have to sign into the service. At that point, you can then peruse your friends list, select a photo and add it as normal — if you’re using an iPad.

Image rights: Volker Koch.

Do a web search Select a contact and the app will use their name for a Bing search.

A row of blue buttons enables you to refine the search term by using information drawn from that person’s details stored within the Contacts app.

Find a profile If you don’t see your contact but know their Twitter handle, search for it in the Twitter search field. Tap the person’s profile image to view it. Tap it again and you’ll get the same crop options shown in step 3.

Take a screenshot On iPhone, Facebook has a habit of refusing to load full–size images, or demanding you tag who’s in them. Contact Pics Adder enables you to get around this shortcoming by way of the Screenshot button…

Crop your image Once you find a suitable image, tap it. In the next screen, drag and pinch to best frame the image within the circular region. When happy with it, tap Save. If you want to revert the contact to how it was, tap Cancel.

Remove a photo Note that should you at any point add the wrong image to a contact, there is no undo. However, you can overwrite any image, or remove an existing image by selecting a contact and then tapping the No Pic button.

Fine–tune your snap Tap Screenshot to see the crop screen.

Resize the iPhone screenshot within the circle so your image fits. Since contact photos are small, screenshot– originated images are of usable quality.

JUL 2021 93

>>>

Create

Hear better with AirPods Apple’s headphones have lots of useful accessibility features to explore REQUIRES iPhone or iPad; AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max YOU WILL LEARN How to use your AirPods as hearing aids IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes

WITH THE F E AT U R E SW I TC H E D O N , YO U CA N U S E YO U R i P H O N E ’S MICROPHONE AS YO U R “ E A R S”

94 JUL 2021

APPLE’S AIRPODS, WHICH now includes three devices — AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max — are about much more than listening to music, podcasts, and telephone calls. Thanks to some thoughtful additions and prglĽfdwlrqv/#|rx#fdq#xvh#|rxu#DluSrgv# dv#d#ghylfh#wr#doorz#|rx#wr#pruh#hdvlo|# hear what’s being said on the other side ri#d#urrp/#nhhs#dq#h|h#rq#ghfleho#ohyhov/#

The Hearing button in Control Center lets you monitor the decibel levels of your AirPods.

dqg#dgmxvw#wkh#wrqh#ri#wkh#dxglr#wkh|# uhsurgxfh#wr#vxlw#|rxu#hduv/#xvlqj# Headphone Accommodations. These ihdwxuhv#vlw#dorqjvlgh#wkh#dffhvvlelolw|# features Apple has been adding to iOS iru#vhyhudo#|hduv1#Rwkhuv#wkdw#zrun# in conjunction with AirPods include Voice Control, VoiceOver, Spoken Content, Audio Descriptions, and Vrxqg#Uhfrjqlwlrq/#zklfk#dohuwv#|rx# zkhq#wkh#plfurskrqh#ghwhfwv#vshflĽf# vrxqgv#|rx#vshfli|1# Of these, it’s the hearing aid feature, known as Live Listen, that’s most impressive. It works in conjunction with |rxu#lSkrqh1#Zkhq#wkh#ihdwxuh#lv#vzlwfkhg# rq/#|rx#fdq#sodfh#|rxu#lSkrqh#dq|zkhuh# zlwklq#Eoxhwrrwk#glvwdqfh#ri#zkhuh#|rx# are positioned and use its microphone as |rxu#ģhduv1Ĥ#Wkh#dxglr#slfnhg#xs#e|#wkh# lSkrqh#lv#ehdphg#gluhfwo|#wr#|rxu#DluSrgv1# You will need to have AirPods connected dqg#lq#|rxu#hduv1#Qrwh#wkdw#Wudqvsduhqf|# prgh#lv#rqo|#dydlodeoh#rq#DluSrgv#wkdw# vxssruw#qrlvh#fdqfhoolqj/#fxuuhqwo|#wkh# Pro and Max. KENNY HEMPHILL

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Set up AirPods as hearing aids

Set up Control Center Go to Settings > Control Center. Swipe up until you see More Controls. Tap the “+” next to Hearing to add it. Now when you pull up Control Center, you’ll see the ear icon that will let you access Live Listen features.

Start Live Listen With your AirPods connected to your iPhone, swipe down from the top–right corner of the screen to activate Control Center. Tap the ear icon, then tap Live Listen. You should now hear what your iPhone’s mic is picking up.

JARGON BUSTER Accessibility is the name Apple gives a suite of features designed to make using its devices easier for people with visual, hearing, or motor impairments.

Set up Accommodations Tap Settings, then Accessibility. Scroll to Audio/Visual, tap it, then tap Headphone Accommodations. Toggle the switch on then pick one of the Tune Audio For options. Choose what to apply the settings with.

Customize the setup In Headphone Accommodations, choose Custom Audio Setup then tap Continue twice.

Follow the instructions, choosing which version of each music clip sounds best. Or tap Cancel to go back to Accommodations.

GENIUS TIP From Settings > Accessibility > AirPods, you can modify the Press Speed or Press and Hold Duration of the AirPods sensor or button.

Customize Transparency Transparency mode enables you to hear what’s going on around you. Navigate to Headphone Accommodations again, and tap Transparency mode. Toggle Custom Transparency mode on to see the options.

Image rights: Apple.

Further refine Use the sliders to alter amplification, balance, and tone. Transparency mode is activated from the Control Center volume control, from Hearing, or from the force sensor on AirPods Pro or button on AirPods Max.

JUL 2021 95

>>>

Create

5G network standard The clever but controversial communications tech explained

HOW IT WORKS

YOU WILL LEARN Why 5G has incredible potential for enhancing communication and tech experiences

YO U CA N M A K E A LIVING ON YO U T U B E CLAIMING B I L L GAT ES INVENTED 5G TO S P R E A D CO R O N AV I R U S

KEY FACT 5G mobile phone technology is better than 4G in every key area. It can deliver much faster peak and sustained data transfer speeds, it’s much less susceptible to interference, and it enables you to connect many more devices simultaneously. That’s because it uses multiple frequencies and multiple antennas to get the best possible connections.

96 JUL 2021

IN JANUARY 2020, a Belgian newspaper started a conspiracy theory that would end up with people in England vhwwlqj#Ľuh#wr#skrqh#wrzhuv1#Wkh#Het Laatste Nieuws published an article pointing out that since 2019, several 5G mobile phone towers had been erected in Wuhan in China… coronavirus came from Wuhan, therefore the conclusion for vrph#zdv#wkdw#ģ8J#fdxvhv#frurqdyluxv1Ĥ# You can now make a good living on \rxWxeh#whoolqj#shrsoh#wkdw#Eloo#Jdwhv# invented 5G to spread coronavirus so that we’d all get microchipped and forced to run Windows XP as the operating system iru#rxu#eudlqv1 It’s a shame that 5G has become vrphwklqj#vrph#shrsoh#ihdu1#Lwġv# a potentially world–changing communications technology that’s ghvljqhg#vshflĽfdoo|#iru#wkh#ghpdqgv#ri# a society where everything is connected wr#hyhu|wklqj#hovh#ğ#dqg#lw#doo#mxvw#zrunv1 WHAT IS 5G ANYWAY? Wkh#J#vwdqgv#iru#jhqhudwlrq/#dqg#8J#lv# wkh#Ľiwk#jhqhudwlrq#ri#preloh#skrqh# whfkqrorj|1#Wkh#Ľuvw#jhqhudwlrq#xvhg# analogue radio signals and was only capable of making voice calls; 2G went digital and introduced SMS texting; 3G delivered mobile data; and 4G delivered it pruh#hĿflhqwo|#dqg#pruh#txlfno|1#

Apple’s investing heavily in Augmented Reality (AR) technology, for which 5G is an important component.

4G was when mobile broadband became d#uhdolw|1#Ehiruh#wkhq#preloh#gdwd#zdv#wrr# vorz1#Mxvw#dvn#dq|rqh#zkr#erxjkw#wkh#Ľuvw# lSkrqh#lq#533:#ğ#lw#glgqġw#hyhq#xvh#6J1# Instead, it used an enhanced version of 2G skrqh#whfkqrorj|#fdoohg#HGJH1#Orrnlqj# back it was absolutely awful, with terrible coverage and a theoretical top speed of mxvw#6;7Nesv1#Wrgd|/#Dssoh#vd|v#lwġv# achieving 4Gbps with the iPhone 12 in the XV1#Wkdwġv#43/749#wlphv#idvwhu1 HOW 5G WORKS Like all mobile phone connections, 5G xvhv#udglr#zdyhv1#Exw#lw#xvhv#wkhp#lq#d# much smarter way than previous phone jhqhudwlrqv1#Lw#xvhv#vrphwklqj#fdoohg# Ruwkrjrqdo#Iuhtxhqf|#Glylvlrq# Multiplexing (OFDM) to transmit its vljqdo#dfurvv#pxowlsoh#glļhuhqw#fkdqqhov# simultaneously; and it uses Multiple Input Multiple Output antennas (MIMO) to wudqvplw#dqg#uhfhlyh#rq#wkrvh#fkdqqhov1# Wkh#uhvxow#lv#pxfk#ohvv#lqwhuihuhqfh/#ohvv# odj#ğ#wkh#jds#ehwzhhq#uhtxhvwlqj#gdwd# and receiving it — and much faster data wudqvihu#vshhgv1#8J#fdq#klw#shdn#vshhgv#ri# 20Gbps, with sustained data transfer udwhv#ri#ryhu#433Pesv1 8J#fdq#gholyhu#wkh#ehvw#ri#erwk#zruogv1# Orz#iuhtxhqflhv#+9JK}#dqg#ehorz,#wudyho# pxfk#ixuwkhu#dqg#vxļhu#iurp#ohvv# interference than high ones, so 5G uses wkrvh#iuhtxhqf|#edqgv>#exw#kljk# iuhtxhqflhv#nqrzq#dv#ppZdyh#+57JK}# and upwards) can transmit much more gdwd#pruh#txlfno|/#vr#8J#xvhv#wkrvh# iuhtxhqflhv#wrr1#ppZdyh#lv#rqh#ri#wkh# whfkqrorjlhv#Dssohġv#8J#udglr#xvhv#lq#wkh# lSkrqh#45/#doehlw#rqo|#lq#wkh#XV#uljkw#qrz1# By using both very high and very low iuhtxhqflhv/#8J#qhwzrunv#fdq#gholyhu# more reliable and faster coverage, and they have much more capacity than roghu#skrqh#whfk1#Wkdwġv#lpsruwdqw#lq#rxu# increasingly connected world, where everything from wristwatches to luggage

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

> WHEN TECH TERRIFIES

The groove in the right edge of US iPhone 12s isn’t there in other countries; it’s for the mmWave 5G antenna.

wdjv#fdq#kdyh#d#preloh#gdwd#frqqhfwlrq1# 5G networks can handle roughly 100 times wkh#wudĿf#ri#7J#rqhv1 WHY DOES 5G MATTER? When every iPhone and every Mac can jhw#Ľehu#eurdgedqg#vshhgv#iurp#wkh# mobile data network, all kinds of lqwhuhvwlqj#wklqjv#ehfrph#srvvleoh1#Lwġv# olnh#Zl0Il#lq#wkdw#uhvshfw1#Rqfh#lw#ehfdph# srvvleoh#wr#frqqhfw#orwv#ri#glļhuhqw# things around your home without cables, people started coming up with useful zd|v#wr#wdnh#dgydqwdjh#ri#wkd1#Zkhwkhu# it’s wireless security cameras streaming to your iPhone, being able to answer calls on your iPad, or being able to work across doo#|rxu#glļhuhqw#Dssoh#ghylfhv#dqg#slfn# xs#zkhuh#|rx#ohiw#rļ#dv#|rx#pryh#iurp# ghylfh#wr#ghylfh1 5G does the same on a much wider vfdoh1#Zh#nqrz#Dssoh#lv#ehwwlqj#wkh#idup# rq#Dxjphqwhg#Uhdolw|#ehlqj#devroxwho|# huge in the future, and 5G is a key frpsrqhqw#ri#wkdw1#D#sdlu#ri#Dssoh#DU# glasses with 5G connectivity could deliver and display data instantly whether you’re navigating a city, trying to pick a new

Image rights from left: Apple, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson.

5G is the latest of many tech scare stories. In the 2000s, the panic was over “killer Wi-Fi”; in the 90s, mobile phones; in the 80s, electric power lines. Before that we were scared about radiation from TVs. Sometimes scares contain a grain of truth, so for example the “don’t sit too close to the TV, you’ll ruin your eyes” concern stemmed from a problem with General Electric TVs in 1967. A manufacturing error meant that some TVs were blasting out X– rays at a rate of up to 100,000 times the safe limit. But most scares come from misunderstandings, such as the belief that any form of radiation will melt our brains — powering the panic over phones and Wi–Fi. Radiation is just energy radiating from something, such as the light from your laptop screen or radio waves.

couch, or meeting your friends yluwxdoo|#lq#d#uhdoĞzruog#vsdfh1# Dqg#wkhq#wkhuhġv#wkh#Dssoh# Car, which could use 5G to communicate with a city’s parking system and drive you to a free space, or communicate with other cars wr#urxwh#durxqg#frqjhvwlrq1 Some of the most profound ehqhĽwv#ri#8J#zrqġw#eh#txlwh#vr# 5G panics aren’t new. Every generation of mobile phone tech has had its scares. vflĞĽ/#wkrxjk1#Zhġyh#vhhq#krz# srzhuixoo|#wkh#Dssoh#Zdwfk# can help us with our health dqg#Ľwqhvv>#8J0hqdeohg#khdowk#wudfnhuv# KEY FACT could help people manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, providing Most of the 5G rollouts much better data to healthcare providers around the world have dqg#zduqlqj#ri#dq|#sureohpv1#Orz0 used frequencies of 6GHz powered sensors of all kinds could make and lower, but the fastest all kinds of infrastructure smarter, form of 5G uses extremely gholyhulqj#wkh#ģvpduw#flwlhvĤ#zhġyh#ehhq# high frequencies of 24GHz surplvhg#iru#vr#orqj1# upwards. This mmWave Of course, none of these things will version, is available in dsshdu#ryhuqljkw1#Exw#8J#lv#od|lqj#wkh# some urban areas of the irxqgdwlrqv#iru#vrph#suhww|#dpd}lqj# US and is supported in wklqjv#zhġoo#vhh#lq#wkh#|hduv#wr#frph1# the iPhone 12.

CARRIE MARSHALL

JUL 2021 97

Image Credit: MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images / Contributor

RANDOM APPLE MEMORY

Charles Geschke — Adobe Co–founder Charlotte Henry reflects on the life of Charles Geschke and his clashes with Steve Jobs LaserWriter printer. However, Dr Geschke eventually clashed with Jobs over Adobe Flash. Apple refused to let the software onto the iPhone. In his infamous “Thoughts on Flash” open letter published in 2010, Jobs accused Adobe of being “painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms.”

“We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash,” he continued. “We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now.”

For his part, Dr Geschke responded: “There have been times when Apple has changed its strategy on hardware or on operating systems that didn’t meet our product cycle.”

He also stated: “As a result, there have been periods of maybe six months where we didn’t keep up with their latest release.

But that’s our own business model; we can only afford to re–implement our products at a certain rate. We have never, ever abandoned Apple and we don’t want to abandon them today.”

Despite their disagreements, Dr Geschke was one of the attendees at Jobs’ funeral in 2011. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Nan Geschke, three children, and seven grandchildren.

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE NEXT MONTH

98 JUL 2021

>>> iPhoneography masterclass

>>> Mac to the basics: Part one

>>> Group test: Summer speakers

JUL 20

Contents subject to change

CHARLES GESCHKE, the co–founder of Adobe who helped develop the PDF, passed away aged 81 on Friday, 16 April, 2021. At university, he studied Latin and liberal arts — before falling into computer programming in the 1960s he hardly seemed a likely candidate to be one of the people who would reshape desktop publishing. Yet, alongside Steve Jobs and Apple, that’s what he and his company did. Dr Geschke certainly lived an eventful life too, including being captured at gunpoint in 1992 and held for ransom.

His kidnappers freed him unharmed after four days.

For a time Adobe had a good relationship with Apple, which adopted the PostScript language for the

GET MAC|LIFE FROM $1.31 PER ISSUE* GO DIGITAL! Our digital editions iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.

come with the same resources included in the print edition!

ENJOY INSTANT READING TODAY! You can subscribe today and get your favorite magazine instantly on your device to read from the comfort of your home.

Even better we have an offer you can’t miss out on - for a limited time you can take out a digital subscription to any of our best-selling magazines from just $1.31 per issue

This offer is ONLY available via our online shop

www.magazinesdirect.com/maclife-magazine Available on iOS or Android

9000

9001