Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2019 i MacLife

Unless you’re new to the Mac, you’ve probably dipped into System Prefs before, but look closer. Although its many panes may bewilder newcomers, it’s a treasure trove of settings and alternative behaviors, many of which can improve your Mac experience. SECURE YOUR MAC In Security & Privacy, set whether your Mac requires a password to access after it wakes from sleep or the screen saver has started. You needn’t choose Immediately on a desktop Mac at home, but it’s a sensible choice on a portable Mac. Either way, pick a short duration. Elsewhere, this pane enables you to restrict your Mac to running apps from the App Store, or also permit those installed from identified developers. This feature, known as Gatekeeper, no longer has a more general option to allow…

OFTEN USE A menu item that has no keyboard shortcut shown to its right side? Add a key combo of your own. But, be mindful of issues when doing so. Menu item names must be entered exactly, including any ellipsis. Duplicated items (such as folder names in Mail) won’t work consistently if you apply a shortcut. Also, try to avoid reusing key combinations that are used already, especially when you want yours to work seamlessly with all apps. To get started, go to System Prefs’ Keyboard pane and click the Shortcuts tab. In the list on the left, most sections are used to turn on or off various built in shortcuts. Select App Shortcuts, though, to add new ones. QUICK PDF EXPORT Click the + button to add a shortcut.…

Free From Takeshi Ogihara, www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~ogihara/en/macOS.html Needs OS X 10.9 or later, 64–bit processor Typist has been around since the early 90s, but the current developer, Takeshi Ogihara, has regularly updated it over the years, with the recent version 3.0 adding support for features such as Dark Mode in macOS Mojave. The app is free to download and focuses on traditional touch–typing skills, starting with the correct placement of your fingers on the main ‘home keys’ on the middle row of the keyboard. There are three main options, depending on how experienced you are with typing, with Quick, Standard, and Long courses that provide exercises with different levels of complexity. There’s also a set of exercises that focus on improving your typing speed, as well as exercises designed for people who…

$79.99 From Satechi, statechi.net Features USB–C rechargeable port, Bluetooth Looking for a new Bluetooth keyboard for that 2018 Mac mini? Satechi’s Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard has plenty to offer. The first thing you’ll notice is that it looks great and is very well constructed. The second is that it has a numerical keypad, something sorely lacking in Apple’s own Magic Keyboard. The Satechi keyboard also has a button that allows you to quickly switch between devices — handy if you have a Mac and iPad/iPhone sitting side by side. Setting up the keyboard involves nothing more than a trip to System Preferences’ Bluetooth pane. It charges via a USB–C slot and comes with a USB–C to USB–A cable. We found the keyboard reasonably comfortably to type on, although the keys are…

$19.99 From Studio MDHR, cupheadgame.com Needs OS X 10.9 or later The post–battle results may say C-, but the feeling when you finally beat a stage in Cuphead is A+. Beating enemies can be slow and sometimes painful, but the surge of euphoria when you do is undeniable. Seconds into a battle, you’re often fending off multiple threats. With just three hit points, there’s little margin for error, and once you’ve begun to acclimatize to an attack pattern, you’ll restart if you take damage in that phase. That’s the first sign that Cuphead has got its hooks into you. Delivering a killing blow overwhelms with relief and satisfaction. The clock will say it took a few minutes, but the relentless, exhausting intensity makes fights feel five times that. The reward…

$9.99 From Duet, Inc, duetdisplay.com Needs iOS 7 or later, OS X 10.9 or later If you have an old iPad sitting around, or if your iPad languishes unloved while you’re working, why not make it earn its keep as a second display for your Mac or PC? That’s what Duet Display delivers. Simply connect your iOS device to your computer, install the software on both devices, and you’ve got a second, touch–enabled display with no lag. It works exceptionally well, and if you’re running on battery power you can reduce the frame rate and image quality to reduce the load on your laptop even further. As with normal displays you can adjust the relative positioning for smooth movement between screens, and you can also use the virtual Touch Bar…

WHEN YOU’RE MANAGING your HomeKit accessories, it’s only natural to head for Apple’s own Home app. That’s logical, and it’ll certainly get the job done, but it’s not necessarily the best choice. Home’s design pushes certain aspects of accessory control into the background — try tweaking the color of your lights, for instance, and you’ll need to navigate through at least two screens before you’re given that specific option. Even if you don’t own a single Eve accessory, the Eve for HomeKit app is one you owe it to yourself to try. It’s fully compatible with everything HomeKit, and in many cases it makes it much quicker and easier to get things done. You can see the exact status of all your accessories and access their basic controls from a…

THIS IS THE third and final part of our series on starting a podcast using Anchor for iPad. If you’ve followed the first two parts, you’ll have edited and published at least one episode, and hopefully have plenty of ideas for more. Now it’s time to grow your following by seeing what improvements/tweaks you can make. This author’s podcast, The Outpost Show, has a running theme of interviewing guests about their iPad usage, but also includes ‘break’ episodes featuring composers and journalists from the games industry. The show also ran a special episode with three guests on to discuss Apple’s media event in October. See how much you can mix things up within the constraints of your show; this will keep things fresh and may attract new listeners who will…

THERE ARE PLENTY of organizer and to–do apps in the App Store, but Planny 2 is slightly different. In addition to date and time deadlines, it has room for reminders that are more vague, such as the things we know we ought to do but often don’t: exercising, perhaps, or practicing a musical instrument, or just remembering to clean the oven. If you add such things into its Routines section, either on particular days of the week or a specific day each month, they’ll pop up in your daily list of recommended tasks. If you don’t want to do them, you can move them to a different day or just ignore them altogether. You can also set deadlines for entire projects. For example, you might want to arrange all the…

1 Leica M–10P Bold Gray leica-camera.com $7,995 Looking like it was found in a time capsule from the cold war, the M–10P Bold Gray is a special version of Leica’s high–end, smaller mirrorless camera. The anthracite gray finish is meant to help it have a stealthy appearance, for getting natural shots of people, but really we just love the retro style. The M–10P itself is still an awesome camera of course, with a full–frame 24MP sensor, touchscreen, and viewfinder. It comes with a Summicron–M 1:2/35 ASPH lens, making the price a bit less crazy than it first appears (but still pretty crazy). 2 SoFlow Flowbike so-flow.us $1,499 Mini e–vehicles are going to be huge in the next few years, and the Flowbike is a great example of how clever they…

1 MOVE FILES QUICKLY Drag files over a folder and it’ll pop open soon after. Repeat till you reach the intended destination, then let go. You can adjust the opening delay in System Prefs’ Accessibility pane, in Mouse & Trackpad. Or, press the spacebar to open instantly. 2 DOCUMENT LOCATIONS Put the pointer over a document’s name in its window’s title bar. Click the arrow that appears and you’ll see the document’s location displayed in the Where pop–up menu; select an alternative location from that menu to move the doc. 3 SMART FOLDERS In Finder, choose File > New Smart Folder, and use the + button and the pop–up menus to set criteria for your search. Save this folder to the sidebar and you have one–click access to a dynamic…

We all know it’s wise to back up our computers, and you've probably found out how easy macOS makes it by plugging in a drive and confirming that’s what it’s for. Once it’s active, you can expect the Time Machine backup feature to do its work quietly in the background while you do yours. But when you need to dip into its backups, there are some tricks that’ll help you. Typically that’ll be to restore an old version of a file over the latest one, but there are other things you can do, such as deleting all copies of a file you didn’t intend to back up. Here are our top tips. 1 SELECT AND RECOVER Like in Finder on the desktop, you can select one or more items from…

This set of tips is for making changes to the Dock that Apple doesn’t provide in System Prefs. These require Terminal (located in / Applications/Utilities) and are safe and, in each case, reversible. Do take care, though, to type in the commands exactly as shown. 1 ADD DOCK SPACERS When you enter the following command: defaults write com.apple. dock persistent–apps-array-add '{"tile-type"="spacer-tile";}', a movable spacer is added to the Dock. Use these to form groups within the left. To remove one, Ctrl–click it and pick Remove from Dock. 2 INDICATE HIDDEN APPS To make apps whose windows you’ve hidden (with Cmd+H) identifiable, by making their icons semi–transparent in the Dock, use the following command: defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden-bool yes (To revert, enter that again, but change yes to no.) 3 CREATE…

There’s a ‘what you see is what you get’ reputation to the iPhone and iPad. Although they are more locked down than Macs, that doesn’t mean they’re devoid of settings for fine–tuning your experience. In fact, there’s quite a lot of customization on offer — provided you know where to look. We’ll show you various options for doing this throughout the rest of this feature. On this page, we’ll primarily concentrate on the Home screen, Dock, Spotlight searches, and Control Center. As ever, explore and experiment to make your iOS device just right for your needs.…

Although iOS is a more streamlined operating system than macOS, that doesn’t mean it’s obvious where its best bits are. In fact, many great features are nestled within its Settings app. Similarly, many of the best apps are not those that come with your iPhone or iPad. Across these two pages, we explore some of our favorites… 1 MANAGE STORAGE Go to Settings > General > [iPhone/iPad] Storage. You’ll see an overview of what’s using space on your device — apps, mail, and so on — and options for removing space hogs, which vary based on other Settings choices. 2 OFFLOAD APPS Tap Enable next to Offload Unused Apps and your device will remove apps you rarely use (but not their data) automatically when free space is tight. An offloaded…

EXACTLY 50 YEARS ago, without any fanfare, unnoticed by most, unrecognized even by many who were right there in the room, the future arrived. It was December 9 1968, a Monday. At the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, Douglas C Engelbart gave a presentation of a revolutionary approach to computing, which demonstrated for the first time a whole complex of concepts fundamental to computing as we know it today — a windowed interface with which you interact using a keyboard and mouse, direct on–screen text editing, copy and paste, and much more. Bear in mind that at the time, a computer filled a room and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the usual way to interact with it was to have a technician feed it punchcards or…

$4.99 From macEnhance, cdock.macenhance.com Needs OS X 10.10 or later The macOS Dock has become indispensable for most users, allowing us to launch apps, force quit them when they misbehave, allocate them to Spaces, and quickly access folders like Documents and Downloads. However, save for a few basic options — like where to place it and whether or not to display it permanently — there are very few options for customizing it. cDock is a tool that changes this by offering dozens of options for changing the way the Dock is able to both look and behave. If you’ve ever lamented the inability to make your Dock look the way you want it to, cDock may just be for you. However, be warned that with this freedom comes a couple…

$449.95 From Insta360, insta360.com Features 5.7K video resolution, gyro stabilization, micro SD card slot Want to shoot 360 ‘virtual reality’ photos and videos? Insta360’s new ONE X is the latest in this field. We checked out the ONE X Camera Bundle, a kit containing everything you need, including monopod and a ‘bullet time’ handle with mini tripod legs. The ONE X captures everything around it at once, thanks to a pair of fisheye lenses, one each side of the compact body. Just hold it up and press the shutter button to grab a 360 photo or begin a 360 video. This does mean your thumb is prominent at the bottom of the shot, but that’s easy to avoid: simply stick it on the monopod and use the iOS app to…

$24.99 (free seven–day trial) From Nevercenter, nevercenter.com/pixelmash Needs OS X 10.9 or later, 64–bit processor Today’s Retina screens are sharp enough that you can’t see the pixels. But what if you like pixels? After all, there’s a whole genre of artwork that makes a virtue of low resolution as seen in such mediums as illustrations, GIFs, retro games, and icon design. One way to create pixel art is to just make a very small document in your favorite image editor, zoom in, and paint individual pixels. Pixelmash, however, works smarter, with a canvas that exists at a higher resolution than you’re aiming for. The default is a 320x320 document for 32x32 artwork, but you can pick any size and scale factor. A button toggles between viewing what’s actually stored and…

$19.99 From Klei Entertainment, klei.com Needs macOS 10.7 or later, 2.4GHz dual–core Intel processor, discrete GPU with 512MB VRAM Mark Of The Ninja was originally released back in 2012, but this ‘remastered’ version was recently updated with 4K graphics, improved audio, and an extra level. At first glance, Mark Of The Ninja looks like a fairly straightforward 2D platformer with all the usual running, jumping, and enemies to be despatched as your unnamed Ninja attempts to rescue the kidnapped Azai, the master of his Ninja clan. However, there’s a lot more to the game than just running and jumping, as your Ninja will often prefer to use stealth to hide in the shadows and creep past enemy soldiers, rather than simply skewering them on his sword. The remastered graphics work…

$299 From TP–Link tp-link.com Features 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, Zigbee–compatible, MU–MIMO, built–in antivirus When you creep towards the higher end of the mesh router market, it starts to get harder to determine the exact benefits of that extra investment. Here’s a case in point: at $299, TP–Link’s two–node AC2200 package doesn’t wow in terms of those on–the–box specs, and would appear to offer far less than three–node packages of a similar (or lesser) price. But let’s not get hasty; there’s a lot more to a router than a few numbers. How those numbers are used proves just as important, and TP–Link’s juggling of its 400mbps 2.4GHz radio and twin 867mbps 5GHz radios is quite magnificent. By default, one of the 5GHz bands is used as backhaul, a radio channel which deals…

$3.99 From Podcast Media LLC, pocketcasts.com Made for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Needs iOS 11.0 or later Pocket Casts is a veteran among podcasts apps, with well-liked apps for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch as well as an ace Apple Watch complication. It’s particularly good for power users who listen to a lot of podcasts. And while it’s perfectly simple for beginners and casual listeners, it’s packed with enough features to help you tame even the most packed playlists. This seventh version introduces a number of new functions including the ability to play a podcast without first having to subscribe to it; automatic syncing, so that when you reach the end of one podcast you don’t need to wait to download the next one in your queue; a useful…

Free (IAPs) From Lofopi, lofopi.com Made for iPad Needs iOS 11 or later There’s a glut of painting apps for the iPad, but Art Set 4 distinguishes itself with its DIY interface. By default, you get just a pencil tool in the bottom toolbar; even changing stroke width means delving into the pop–up menus. Tap the pencil to choose a brush, which can then be tweaked from the Adjust tab. Or tap the + icon to see other options, from geometric shapes to tone adjustments. Once you start to see the options you need, you can drag their icons out of the menus and onto the toolbar — or to the other sides of the screen to create toolbars there. Keen artists who like their tools set up just right…

Mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad have ushered in a revolution in digital music making. Not only have they given professional musicians a new way to access their mixers and audio workstations while on the road, they’ve also demystified many aspects of the music production process to make them more accessible. We’ve rounded up the best and most affordable music–oriented iOS apps for experts and beginners alike. Whether you want to create complex breakcore tracks, record live DJ mixes, or just collect musical snippets on your iOS device, you should find something of interest here. GROOVEBOX Free (IAPs) Made for iPhone, iPad This free entry–level app from Novation is great for fledgling recording artists, as it offers a relatively easy–to–use interface and hundreds of patterns and sounds for putting…

THERE ARE SO many features in Apple’s operating systems that you may have trouble finding them all. Yes, there's that many! Whether you’ve just bought your first Apple device, you’ve upgraded for the first time in a while and you want to brush up on the latest system features, or you simply just want a refresher to do more with your current hardware — whichever it is, you’re in the right place to boost your Apple know–how. Here you’ll find compelling tweaks you can make to the Mac’s interface, things you didn’t realize macOS’ backup feature can do, an iOS enhancement made possible with Apple’s Shortcuts app, plus many more helpful techniques. You’ll also find a few third–party app suggestions that enhance the macOS and iOS experiences. So make sure…

The Mac popularized working with a bunch of windows. The snag is that these days Macs are powerful enough to run dozens of apps — each with many windows — at once. Fortunately, Mission Control lets you make sense of them all. You can quickly get at windows, make multiple desktops (referred to as spaces), and work full–screen during times when you really need to focus on something. 1 OPEN MISSION CONTROL Tap the Mission Control key (F3), press Cmd+Up arrow key, swipe three fingers up on your trackpad, or double–tap two fingers on a Magic Mouse to see open windows and workspace names; then move the pointer to the top to see previews of spaces’ contents. 2 USE A HOT CORNER To open Mission Control with thumbnail previews visible…

1 UNLOCK WITH WATCH If you have an Apple Watch, go to System Prefs’ Security & Privacy pane. Under General, tick ‘Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac’. Now you’ll no longer have to laboriously type in your password to wake up your computer every time you return to it. 2 INVEST IN A LAUNCHER You can open all sorts of items using Spotlight, but if you regularly work with specific apps, docs, or files, consider adding BetterTouchTool ($6.50, folivora.ai). It can assign key combos to lots of actions, like opening an app or file, or resizing windows. 3 FILE COHERENTLY If you make lots of files, make sure they’re easy to find. Get used to naming files sensibly, adding status/project tags in Finder, and put files in project…

The Files app is like iOS’s version of the Mac’s Finder. It is split between Recents and Browse tabs. The former lists recently opened and shared docs. The latter provides a traditional file browsing experience. In the Browse tab, tap Edit above the Locations list, then tap switches to integrate relevant installed third–party apps with Files. Examples include cloud storage providers Dropbox and Google Drive, productivity apps like PDF Expert and Yoink, and FileBrowser, which can access computers on your local network (to access shared folders on your Mac) and remote servers. MANAGE FAVORITES In the file browser on the right, tap a download icon to store a file locally, or tap the file itself to preview it (if possible on iOS). Hold a finger on a file or folder…

$12 From MacPlus Software, commandtab.noteifyapp.com Needs OS X 10.10 or later If you’re a fan of the App Switcher in macOS but feel that it’s rather limited, Command–Tab Plus may just be for you. Command–Tab Plus only displays the apps designated to the Space you’re working in when you press Command–Tab, and allows you to show only those that are active. So, if you have lots of applications open but are only using three or four, it will only show those. It also makes it easy to cycle through different open windows in an app. Command–Tab Plus allows you to configure your own keyboard shortcuts, so it’s up to you if you use it as a replacement for the App Switcher, and you can customize its appearance too. In use,…

$399.95 From G–Technology, g-technology.com Needs Thunderbolt 3 port Superfast SSDs are all the rage at the minute, thanks to Thunderbolt 3’s big 40Gbps bandwidth. That enables external drives to promise performance like never before — in this case, up to 2,800MB/sec. However, as ever with marketing of storage devices, you have to bear in mind that figure is only the best possible case scenario. In our tests, the drive came up a little short of that, peaking at 2,710MB/sec when reading data. Minimum rates in BlackMagic Disk Speed Test, which repeatedly performs large single–file transfers, were 1,043MB/sec when reading and 2,203MB/sec when writing. Yes, those are the minimum; mean averages were 1,286 and 2,234MB/sec, respectively. As for managing heat, BlackMagic’s test showed occasional spikes in reading to around 1,700MB/sec. The…

About $250 From Philips, philips.co.uk Features Ultra–wide color, Quad HD, 3W speaker base, VA display The latest monitor through our doors is the Philips ‘Curved LCD monitor with Ultra Wide–Color’ (or 328E9FJAB/00 if you insist), a 32–inch, 2560x1440 pixel LCD screen with a distinct horizontal curve. This uses a VA (Vertical Alignment) LCD panel. This is less expensive tech than IPS (In–Plane Switching) but doesn’t look as consistent when you aren’t flat–on to the display. Contrast shifts can creep in: fine for spreadsheets, but not great for graphics or video work. Hence the curve; it means the full width of the screen faces you directly, eliminating those shifts — as long as you’re seated in roughly the right spot. The curve’s focal point is about 1.3m from the surface. This…

FOR UNDER $250 THE PAPERLESS OFFICE is a myth. We all need to print, so we all need a printer. But we also need to watch our budgets. You might think a multifunction printer/copier/scanner will either be wallet–bustingly expensive or not worth touching. The phrase ‘jack of all trades’ might even come to mind. However, the four different devices tested here show just how useful a mix of multifunction capabilities can be, even at the affordable end of the market. We included both inkjet and laser printers in our round–up. Everyone will have their own key requirements, so the technical print process should be seen as simply another point of differentiation. Of course, if you’re just into printing photos, get an inkjet and some good photo paper; if you need…

Energy prices are not going down. The average standard tariff is now some 20 per cent more expensive than it was five years ago, and production prices, even as energy companies transition to renewables, will rise for some time to come. So what can be done? Reducing the ecological and economic aspects of energy use is very much a personal thing. It’s on us to use less energy in the first place. Switching off high–drain items when they’re not in use, using more efficient hardware and, most importantly, becoming aware of how much energy we’re using. Over the page, we’ve pulled out some of the cleverer offerings from the smart plug market. These go further than the standard power–switching variety, keeping tabs on how much juice is flowing through them…

Hot topics right now Make sure you check out these important support articles on Apple’s website to better understand the latest features. PREVENT WIRELESS INTERFERENCE If you suspect that your Wi–Fi or Bluetooth devices are being impacted by wireless interference, the help article at bit.ly/ml151ask1 will firstly show you how to locate the source of the problem and then how to deal with it. CONNECT A BLACKMAGIC EGPU TO YOUR MAC The Blackmagic eGPU and eGPU Pro will significantly enhance your Mac’s graphic performance. Here’s what you need to know to start using one bit.ly/ml151ask2. FIXING VIDEO ISSUES ON EXTERNAL DISPLAYS If your external display is blank or problematic in some way when your Mac is switched on, go through these steps to aid you in remedying the issue: bit.ly/ml151ask3.…

WHEN YOU’RE WORKING hard in the moment, you don’t want to be distracted. So there’s nothing worse than working on something on your iPhone, then having to break your flow by emailing it to your Mac so you can continue there. It’s fiddly, it takes time and, ultimately, it can make you lose your focus. Luckily, Apple has created a number of methods that let you quickly and easily move tasks between your Mac and iOS devices. Whether you want to offload a task to your Mac using Handoff or copy some important text to your iPhone with Universal Clipboard, these great tools enable your devices to work seamlessly together, aptly demonstrating the value of Apple’s integrated ecosystem. Here, we’ll show you how to master these tools, as well as…

YOU DON’T NEED to be a professional athlete to know that the motivation to achieve something always increases when you know there’s something at stake. One of the great new features in watchOS 5 is the ability to set up activity competitions with your fellow Apple Watch–wearing friends. These competitions start in the morning and run for seven days, providing a great incentive to get up and increase your activity levels. There are also badges to be collected and won, not to mention bragging rights among your peers. But apart from the fun of playful rivalries, these new activity challenges are sure to improve your health and fitness. That’s because each person earns points for closing their Stand, Move, and Exercise rings, with extra points being awarded for those willing…