Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i MacLife

ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION (ANC) is just one of the features added in Apple’s new AirPods Pro, but is closely related to others. The technology dates back to the 1980s, when audio companies Bose and Sennheiser each published designs for headphones that would use “antisound” to cut background noise. Bose was first to release a product, supplying a prototype for the Rutan Voyager, which completed the first round–the–world non–stop flight, and later winning US military contracts. The principle of antisound is that a microphone picks up ambient noise and electronics generate an opposite waveform, with peaks matching the detected sound’s troughs and vice versa. Early experiments in small rooms failed because waves reflecting from the walls interfered, preventing the sound and antisound cancelling out. But in headphones it worked almost perfectly…

1 Google Daydream Who needs an expensive VR helmet when you can strap your Android into a set of felted goggles? Turned out most of us needed neither. Cancelling Daydream View and a planned standalone version in October, Google said it would focus on AR. Now that’s what we call a reality check. 2 RED Hydrogen The movie camera company’s inexplicably 3D–equipped smartphone was sold as the gateway to a world of high–end accessories, including movie cameras. None of them ever showed, and in October director Jim Jannard called “Cut!” 3 Apple MacBook 12–inch The slimmest ever MacBook bowed out in July. Cheap, powerful, versatile — it was none of those. Ironically, Apple’s only fanless notebook had plenty of fans, but was killed by the Air. It lies in the…

1 USE MEANINGFUL NAMES You’ve got 255 characters to play with when naming things, so give images, documents, and everything else names that make it clear what they are: “Karen attacked by furious monkey” is easier to identify and find than “IMG1698.png”. 2 STICK IT IN THE CLOUD If you have an iCloud subscription you can mirror Desktop and Documents Folders, deleting local copies to free up space. Ctrl–click and select Remove Download — a little icon appears to show it’s now stored in the cloud. 3 TAG EVERYTHING Tags are brilliant, and Finder makes them simple. By creating descriptive tags in Finder > Preferences > Tags and using them to classify your files, you’re making it easy to find related files by picking the appropriate tag in the sidebar.…

1 LIFX MINI COLOR $44.99 lifx.com A color–changing bulb compatible with Siri, Alexa and Google, the LIFX Mini allows you to select from hundreds of color options from the app. There’s no bridge needed, and you can control them with your voice. 2 AMAZON FIRE TV CUBE $19.99 amazon.com Command your TV using your voice with Amazon’s Alexa–enabled Fire TV Cube. This streaming TV box gives you access to 4K content and there’s support for Dolby Vision and HDR, and HDR10+. 3 NETATMO SMART INDOOR AIR QUALITY MONITOR $99.99 netatmo.com As well as monitoring air quality, this has temperature, humidity, and noise sensors. It’s HomeKit–enabled, and you can add multiple devices to get the best home environment. 4 NETATMO SMART HOME WEATHER STATION $179.99 netatmo.com Working with HomeKit and Amazon…

1 KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY NUCLEUM $49.99 kingston.com The Nucleum is the perfect partner for your MacBook. The USB–C hub can host up to seven connections with two USB–C ports, two USB–A ports, SD and microSD slots, and an HDMI connector. 2 VERBATIM FINGERPRINT SECURE 2TB Around $175 verbatim.com Verbatim’s Fingerprint Secure is a hard drive with powerful security. It comes with AES 256–bit hardware encryption and a fingerprint scanner that supports eight identities and one administrator. 3 BASEUS USB–C HUB $39.99 baseus.com Turn your MacBook into a wireless charging station for your Apple Watch while adding HDMI 4K, USB–C charging, 3.5mm audio output, and two USB 3.0 ports. With a stylish mirror glass panel, it’s perfect companion for your Mac. 4 SEAGATE ONE TOUCH SSD SPECIAL EDITION 500GB $85.99 seagate.com If…

$249 From Apple, apple.com Features Active noise cancellation, 4.5 hours listening time, 3.5 hours talk time, Wireless charging case, Sweat and water resistant (IPX4), Height: 1.22–inches, Width: 0.86–inches, Depth: 0.94–inches, Weight: 0.19 ounces Apple’s AirPods Pros have arrived just in time for Christmas. The Pros give you a proper in–ear fit, gym–friendly sweat and water resistance (IPX4), and a wireless charging case as standard. They are also full–on noise–cancelling headphones, taking on a small band of in–ear rivals such as Sony’s chunkier WF–1000XM3. There are also clever additions such as a test to see if they’re fitted properly in your ears; adaptive sound that optimizes audio based on your ears’ construction; and a new touch–based control system, replacing the taps you had to use on the original. There’s also all…

From $79.99 From Parallels, parallels.com Needs macOS 10.12.6 or later There are now even more good reasons for running a different operating system within a virtualisation environment like Parallels Desktop. You may need access to Windows apps, want to play a non–macOS game, or access old apps which can’t run in Catalina. Parallels 15 is now fully compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina, both as host and running in a VM. Parallels is providing an update with final tweaks to ensure it works fully with Sidecar and Sign in with Apple in the release version of Catalina. You can use Sidecar with an Apple Pencil to interact with Windows 10 in its tablet mode. It’s hard to find an operating system which Parallels 15 doesn’t support in a virtual machine. Not…

$399 From Sonos, sonos.com Features Voice control, weather–proof, drop–resistant, indoor charging base The Sonos Move is everything you’d expect from Sonos, but it ventures outdoors too. It sits on a barely noticeable charging pad, and you can also charge it via USB–C. The speaker manages 10 hours of playback per charge, with a power-saving mode keeping it alive for five days if you don’t use it. The Move is set up via (and runs on) the same app as any other Sonos speaker, and can access the same streaming services. The Move supports AirPlay 2 and has your choice of either Alexa or Google Assistant on board. As with many Sonos speakers, you can pair two Moves into a stereo pair, though only indoors. For indoors, there’s dual–band Wi–Fi with…

PAGE LAYOUT IS a task we all attempt from time to time, yet desktop publishing software is a relatively neglected category. If you’ve never delved into Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress, you should see what you’re missing. And if you have used the high–end heavyweights but baulk at their prices — $239.88 per year for InDesign, $299.99 a year for QuarkXPress — we’ve got some cheaper contenders. The gold standard in this field is, of course, InDesign. QuarkXPress remains an equally strong choice, but it’s favored more by large publishers and corporates than individual designers and studios. That’s at least partly because InDesign is part of Adobe’s broader Creative Cloud suite, which is unbeatable value if you need several of its apps. Affinity Publisher, launched by Serif in the summer to…

The media streaming market has been growing steadily in recent years. With faster internet connections and ubiquitous wireless making it a feasible proposition in just about any situation, streaming has completely changed the way we consume media — and it’s only going to get bigger. But is that really a good thing? The first wave of streaming services, with Netflix sitting proudly on top and services like Amazon Prime and Hulu chasing close behind, offered subscribers a huge amount of highly varied content for a nominal fee. Now, everyone wants a slice of the streaming market, from Disney to NBC to CBS and beyond — and Apple is no different, having launched its Apple TV+ service in November. From one big streaming service we’ve arrived at six or seven, with…

HOW TO CHECK MY IPHONE’S BATTERY CONDITION? Recent versions of iOS show this in the Battery section in Settings. Tap Battery Health to get an instant diagnosis. If you haven’t fully recharged your phone recently, it’s worth doing so and checking this again to confirm that it’s capable of reaching 100% of its capacity. DOES MY IPHONE XR NEED A CASE FOR SAILING? Although all recent iPhone models are quite waterproof, and when new can withstand 30 minutes immersion at a depth of a metre, additional protection is worthwhile in wet conditions, as is buoyancy to stop your iPhone sinking if lost overboard. This is probably a more important issue. A soft plastic pouch with a waterproof seal is ideal, with a lanyard and sufficient buoyancy to keep it afloat.…

A NEW APPLE Watch with an always-on display and some iPhones weren’t the only highlights of Apple’s September event: it meant the launch of watchOS 6 too, which brings some useful new features to every Apple Watch. Some of the latest additions are really subtle, such as the much more useful collection of complications that are finally available for the Infograph Modular face, and some are really quite huge — like having the App Store on your wrist. From watchOS 6 onwards you’ll no longer need to hunt for apps on your phone and transfer them across to your Apple Watch. You can browse the App Store right from your Watch. If you install iPhone apps that have Apple Watch companions, don’t worry; you don’t need to find the Watch…

On full Auto mode, cameras perform an Auto White Balance (AWB) operation to capture more accurate colors. On detecting cold blue color temperatures they warm up the shot. With warm color temperatures they attempt to cool down the shot to counteract an orange cast. You can give a DSLR or compact camera a hand by using manual presets to tell it what sort of light it’s shooting in, such as Tungsten or Flash. The white balance eyedropper tools in Photoshop Elements do a similar job of identifying and counteracting color casts.…

CREATE YOUR OWN tags in Finder’s Preferences to make it easy to classify and find related files. 1 Change how your folders are displayed To change how Finder displays a folder, open any folder in Finder and then click on View > Show View Options. Choose how the contents should be grouped and sorted, and also specify if you want the folder to always open in List View. You can also use shortcuts: Cmd+1, 2, 3 or 4 displays icon view, list view, column view and gallery view. 2 Declutter your desktop Show View Options also works on the desktop to set Stack and sorting options, icon sizes and spacing, and the size and positioning of text labels. 3 Change global settings and sidebar You can adjust global settings for…

1 Get the hang of gestures Mission Control makes great use of trackpad gestures. You can open it with a three–fingered swipe upwards, and close it by doing the same thing downwards. Swipe left or right with the same three fingers and you can move between open windows. You can customize these gestures in System Preferences. 2 Get hot in the corner You can automatically access Mission Control features by assigning Hot Corners, which activate when you move the pointer to that corner and which can open Mission Control or focus on the current window. A big time saver. 3 Use the arrow keys If you don’t want to use Hot Corners or trackpad gestures, you can hold down Ctrl and use the arrow keys. Ctrl+Up Arrow will open Mission…

1 DEFUNC TRUE GO $49 defunc.com With 14 hours of playtime, great audio and touch control, the True Go earbuds represent an affordable alternative to Apple’s AirPods. The earbuds feature Bluetooth 5.0, offer really powerful sound, and come in a choice of colors. 2 AIRPODS PRO $249.99 apple.com The Pro’s Active Noise Cancellation allows you to get lost in your music, but a quick switch to Transparency mode lets the outside in for a while. Sound quality is clear, rich and wide ranging, and you get up to five hours of listening time from a single charge. 3 TWELVESOUTH FERMATA $49.99 twelvesouth.com If you love your wireless headphones, you will love the Fermata stand. The beautiful leather–clad pad not only showcases your cans, but charges them as well. It even…

1 GAMESIR G6 MOBILE GAMING TOUCHROLLER $35.99 amazon.com Improve your mobile gaming skills with this iPhone gizmo. It lets you combine your touchscreen prowess with an analogue controller that comes with 10 configurable buttons and a joypad. 2 CLASSICBOT IBOT G3 $39 classicbot.com If you owned the iMac G3, why not grab this collectable? Complete with a keyboard and the infamous “hockey puck” mouse, the iBot faithfully recreates Apple’s classic Mac. It’s available in Bondi Blue or Tangerine, with magnetic removable arms. 3 STM MYTH DAPPERWRAPPER $29.95 stmgoods.com Carrying accessories when travelling doesn’t have to be a hassle. This offers multiple pockets and compartments, and a secure magnetic closure. Available in Granite Black, Slate Blue and Windsor Wine colors. 4 CLASSICBOT CLASSIC $31 classicbot.com For all lovers of the classic…

ELEMENTS USES ADOBE SENSEI AI TECHNOLOGY TO ANALYZE THE SHOT FOR THE MOST PROMINENT SUBJECT, WHICH IT THEN SELECTS WITH A MARQUEE $99.99 From Adobe, adobe.com Features Auto Creations, one–click selections tools, and new guided edit modes to replace backgrounds and remove unwanted objects Apple’s Photos app does a great job of enabling you to fix common problems with color, tone, and composition. However, when it comes to producing more creative results (such as creating layered composite images) you’ll need Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020. Although Photoshop Elements is considered a cut–down version of Photoshop CC, it’s perfect for your creative photo editing needs. It even boasts tools that are absent in the full version of Photoshop, such as the ability to “open” (or to be more accurate “replace”) closed eyes…

$15.99 From Mografi, jennyleclue.com Needs Mac OS X 10.8, Intel i5 Quad–Core, 2 GB RAM, Intel HD 4000, 2GB available space Jenny LeClue is a young detective with a knack for solving crimes, even if her mom would rather she did her chores first. Jenny must embark on her most exciting adventure yet, with her journal and magnifying glass in hand. Set in the picturesque small town of Arthurton, the game wins hearts right from the off with its gorgeous, colorful design. From its sun–drenched campus and cosy living rooms to its creepy night–time vistas, this is one of the most beautiful platform games in years. Jenny absolutely steals the show, supported by likeable secondary characters and excellent writing. Though a little slow to start, the gameplay is fun and…

$4 From Rony Fadel, fadel.io Needs macOS 10.13 or later Mission Control divides users into two groups: those who swear by it and those who never use it. But for users with lots of apps running and windows open it makes it easy to cut through the clutter and find the window you need. But Mission Control, useful though it is, isn’t perfect — and Apple has done little to add to its features over the years. Step forward Mission Control Plus. This handy little app makes Mission Control even more useful, allowing you to close windows while they’re all still displayed on screen. It also has a handful of keyboard shortcuts so you can hide windows, open apps, or quit them quickly. In use, Mission Control Plus is deceptively…

Email Mac|Life at ask@maclife.com What’s the best way to merge photo libraries in Aperture? Before upgrading to Catalina, I’d like to merge a couple of photo libraries from Aperture. Can you tell me what’s the best way to do this? Apple’s Aperture isn’t fully 64–bit compatible and won’t run in Catalina. Before upgrading to the new macOS, you’ll need to convert its libraries to Photos or another more modern app. If you also need to merge them, you can either do that first within Aperture in Mojave then migrate the merged library, or migrate the individual libraries first then merge them. Before you attempt either, ensure you have full backups of both libraries. You should try this first following the instructions in Aperture’s Help book to merge the libraries and…

IF YOU WANT to place your subject against a different scene, it’s surprisingly easy. By shooting them against a green (or blue) backdrop, you can use iMovie’s layer–based keying tools to replace the colored background with a different video clip from a parallel layer. This clever compositing technique provides an effective way of adding variety to your video productions. You can place your subject in an exotic location or add special effects to your drama productions. You could also use the green screen technique to make a personal appearance in a clip on your YouTube channel, for example. When it comes to shooting footage for compositing, it’s best to use a green background for your subject. In the movie industry, green backgrounds tend to be more popular than blue ones…

> APPLE REPORTS HIGHEST Q4 REVENUE EVER Apple has reported its best–ever July–September fiscal quarter, with revenue of $64bn, up 2% from the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue from iPhone was down 9% from the year–ago quarter, but other segments more than compensated. Services, which includes Apple Music, Apple News+, and iCloud, was up 18% to $12.5bn, accounting for 20% of the revenue mix. Apple’s “Wearables, Home, and Accessories” category set revenue records in every market, rising 54% year–over–year. Apple forecasts continuing Services growth, with the active installed base of iPhone and of Mac at an all–time high. And more than half of Mac and iPad purchasers, and about three–quarters of Apple Watch purchasers, are first–time buyers. > PHOTOSHOP FOR IPAD Adobe has released Photoshop for iPad. Until now, it…

RECENTLY, I ATTENDED a launch event for Microsoft’s newest range of hardware — its laptops, hybrid tablets, new headphones and more. The company held a panel discussion with some of its lead hardware engineers, including Panos Panay, Chief Product Officer. In some ways, it was just a more intimate keynote (though, mercifully, shorter and more engaging) to highlight what’s cool about the products. But we also got to ask specific questions about the hardware, and there was a moment where Panay gave a great answer that made me flash back to earlier Apple, and when Steve Jobs used to answer questions at the end of Macworld keynotes. It made me realize what’s been missing from recent Apple explanations of its more controversial design decisions: conviction. Someone asked Panay why Microsoft…

1 Fujifilm X–Pro3 fujifilm.com $1,699 >>> Rolling analog charm into new high–tech gear is all the rage, and Fujifilm does it better than anyone. The new X–Pro3 mirrorless has the style of classic rangefinders, and includes a new shooting mode that simulates film. That’s all in addition to ultra–modern features: a live HDR mode with multiple settings, 30fps shooting, 4K video recording, an EVF, and two(!) screens. One is a big standard panel, while one is smaller, and ideal for viewing just a few key settings. Oh, and the 26MP sensor is pretty hot too. 2 Gita Cargo Bot mygita.com From $3,250 >>> It’s nearly 2020 — shouldn’t we have robots to do all the hard work for us by now!? Well, Gita takes us one step closer: it’s a…

1 Let Siri suggest stuff Catalina adds Siri Suggestions to your favorite apps. In Safari, Siri can suggest websites you might want to visit; in Contacts it focuses on the people it thinks you’re most likely to contact; in Mail it recognizes events in emails and adds them to a Siri Suggestions calendar. If you’d rather not have those suggestions you can turn them off on a per–app basis in System Preferences > Siri. 2 Find system features Siri enables you to access system and app features as well as to look things up, so for example if you have “Enable Ask Siri” checked in System Preferences > Siri you can say “turn on Do Not Disturb”, “create a meeting for today at 11am” or “How much free space do…

Well, it’s that time of year again. The festive season, where there’ll be lots of food and fun to be shared with family and friends. And, of course, Christmas is a time for giving and receiving! Make your Christmas shopping easy, fast and fun with Mac|Life’s selection of perfect presents for you and your loved ones. Well, okay, maybe mainly you! Whether it’s to protect your iPhone, organize your desk, supercharge your home or power up your gadgets, we have something for everyone. We might give you a few ideas for people you’re buying for, or you can casually leave the magazine lying around on a coffee table with a few Sticky Notes to help anyone buying for you! Either way, we’re here to help you have a Merry Christmas!…

1 BELKIN BOOST UP WIRELESS CHARGING STAND $59.99 belkin.com Engineered for Qi–enabled devices, this offers 10W of power for fast charging. It cradles your phone in either landscape or portrait mode, so you can carry on using it while it’s being juiced up. 2 CATALYST IMPACT PROTECTION CASE $39.99 catalystcase.com Despite delivering superior drop protection, the Impact iPhone case only adds 35g. The 1.2mm raised bezel protects the screen, and there’s also a lanyard. 3 TWELVESOUTH BOOKBOOK VOL 2 $69.99 twelvesouth.com This premium leather iPhone case has a detachable wallet that can double up as a stand. There’s a protective pocket for cards, and a cutout for the iPhone’s camera. 4 MOSHI ALTRA CASE $44.95 moshi.com With a textured pattern on the rear for superior grip, and a detachable wrist…

Free (IAPs) From Bare Bones, barebones.com Needs mac OS 10.14.2 or later, 64–bit processor Do some word association about BBEdit, and terms like “powerful” and “flexible” spring to mind. After all, this is a hugely capable app for manipulating text and code in a variety of languages. It’s packed with features, and its preferences pane has so many options it has a search field. BBEdit 13, though, follows BBEdit 12.5 in emphasizing accessibility — in the sense of unlocking the app’s power. The older release debuted a Lorem Ipsum generator and the Commands command — effectively a BBEdit–specific Spotlight that gives keyboard–based access to menu commands like clippings and open files. The latest update further boosts productivity by way of entry points into powerful find and replace functions, and the…

When the days are darker and colder, it’s just an opportunity to have more fun indoors – especially with holiday season approaching. We’ve got apps here that can help you get family, friends and neighbors around for a shindig, or that can help you while away the winter nights on the sofa. If you’re in a state where winter can bring dangerous weather, you’ve got to make sure you can stay on top of your safety and need for supplies. Even when it’s not dangerous, it can still cause problems you need to know about. Here are some apps to help you stay on track when the snow comes. Need some help clearing the snow so that you can actually get somewhere? This app connects you with general yard and…

TAKING, EDITING AND sharing photos is one of the most common groups of activities on the iPhone. So, it’s no surprise that Apple ups the ante in terms of the features of both the camera hardware and the software with every new iPhone and version of iOS. This time around, the Photos app gets new features designed to present your best photos from every day, month and year, while keeping screen grabs, selfies gone wrong, and other undesirable shots hidden away until you particularly want to find them. It’s the new editing improvements we’re interested in here, however. And there are plenty of those. Whether it’s dialling down the new high–key mono effect, or changing the intensity of the Portrait Lighting, we will show you how to do it. One…

WE LOVE IPADOS. It keeps everything we like about iOS but takes advantage of the iPad’s power and much bigger screen. That’s true of the interface, which now lets you to do a lot more in the same space: where iOS on iPad sometimes felt like a phone operating system made big, iPadOS is better and bolder. If, like us, you wished you could get more things on screen at once, you’re going to love the changes to the Home screen and Today View. Both are really easy to customize so that you can get the widgets you want alongside your app icons. It doesn’t sound like a big change but just having your to–do list (or anything else important) visible when you unlock your iPad is really useful. There…

IPADOS, THE IPAD’S own operating system, has a boatload of new productivity features built into it. So much so that this year may well be the year when the iPad, especially its Pro version, becomes a serious work computer for the masses, replacing a desktop. Here we’ll show you what your iPad will be capable of once you install iPadOS. And we can guarantee that you’ll love it! While some of the new features are designed to take advantage of add–ons such as external keyboards and the Apple keyboard, many others only need the iPad itself. In this walkthrough we’ve focused on the new features that’ll make you more productive on your iPad, and that don’t need any extra kit to work. All of the tips here will help you…