Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i MacLife

Apple TV+ is successful. Creatively, at least. In July, Zack Van Amburg, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video, proudly responded to the streaming service’s 72 Emmy Award nominations across 16 shows. “It has been an immensely rewarding morning,” he said, going some way towards justifying the $20 billion Apple has spent on original programming so far. Yet all is not entirely well. That huge sum has paid for a relatively small number of shows, certainly when compared to Apple TV+’s rivals, notably Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. From the start, Apple decided to go for quality over quantity, yet despite spending big to snap up high–profile talent, the service has only a 0.2% share of TV viewing in the US. Apple is now reassessing its strategy. According to a report by…

YOU CAN EVEN IMPROVE ON THE ORIGINAL BY ADDING COLOR AND FACIAL DETAIL IN PART ONE of this feature last month (ML223), we explored a variety of hardware and software solutions to rescue old analog prints, slides or negatives and give them a new lease of life as digital format files. Being digitised is the first step to rescuing an old photo as much more work needs to be done to restore it to its original look. Indeed, you can even improve on the original by adding extra properties such as color and facial detail courtesy of artificial intelligence (AI) tools as we’ll demonstrate. This tutorial features a grainy old photo from an early 20th century family album. The picture suffers from faded tones due to the passage of time.…

OVER TIME, MOST MACS accumulate electronic lint — things that live in dark corners gathering digital dust. And some of those things are apps you’ve long forgotten about, moved away from or just don’t need any more. Uninstalling them can free up lots of space on your Mac without also removing any documents, photos, videos or other things you might have made with them. They’ll stay where they are in folders such as Documents, Pictures and so on. The fastest way to uninstall many apps is to open Launchpad, press and hold on the app you want to remove and then click on the “X” icon. But that only works with apps you’ve installed via the App Store. Other apps need a bit more effort, and some apps can be…

AT THIS TIME of year, our thoughts often go to our gardens. Whether you have a backyard, a community garden or a couple of acres of land, you can have fun — and save a few bucks — by growing your own vegetables. What could be better than digging up a few potatoes, pulling some carrots and cutting down a cabbage on a Sunday morning, and then cooking them for dinner? You can’t get fresher than that. SOW THE SEEDS And guess what? There’s an app for that. Several in fact. Here we’re looking at Bento Software’s Veggie Garden Planner, a planning aid with the allotment or vegetable patch in mind. There’s more to planning a vegetable patch than you might think. Some vegetables get on well when planted next to…

SHORTCUTS ARE INTENDED to make it easier to perform everyday tasks on your Apple devices. Ironic, then, that many users have taken one look at the Shortcuts app and felt that it looks rather complicated. In some respects it is: shortcuts can be so complex, they are almost like mini apps. But you don’t need to get bogged down in the finer aspects of a shortcut to make use of them. Most are simple to create, and since lots are pre–made everyone can benefit. WHY CAN’T I JUST STICK TO USING MY APPS? There’s absolutely nothing wrong in using your apps and devices in the manner to which you’ve become accustomed — that is, by launching different apps as and when you need them and by delving into the settings…

Shortcuts are supposed to make performing tasks more efficient, so it’s rather fitting that they could save you lots of time and make you more productive when you’re working. As you look through the actions available to you in Shortcuts, you’ll find a bunch of them relating to Pages, Numbers and Keynote which work across iOS, iPadOS and macOS. They can get you up and running in seconds, leaving little room for procrastination. You can make work life even more fluid on a Mac if you make your shortcut available in the menu bar. With the shortcut in editing mode, you only need to click the Details icon (“i”) and select Pin In Menu Bar. You can access multiple shortcuts this way so if you need access to one file…

$199 From https://soundblade.com Features Two front–firing full range drivers, 80mm woofer, 120W peak power Needs USB, Bluetooth or 3.5mm audio port AN IMAC OR mid–range monitor actually does a passable job of audio playback despite the physical limitations of their thin design. But as with TVs, you’re never going to get really big sound or deep bass out of them. The Soundblade is essentially a sound bar that’s designed to sit under your iMac or monitor and solve this problem. Available in five colors, it has a fairly plastic but solid enough feel and comes with a remote control as well as having some touch–sensitive buttons to one side of its top surface. There are three connectivity options and cables are supplied in the box for USB–C, USB–A and 3.5mm audio,…

$699.99 (8TB), $379.99 (4TB) From www.westerndigital.com Features USB-C port (USB-C cable included); 10Gbps (read)/9Gbps (write) speed; APFS Trim support; 3.91in x 3.91in x 1.58in; 9.5oz ENTERPRISE SOLID–STATE drives have been available for a while in capacities of 8TB and more for those who can spare an arm and a leg. This year, SanDisk and Samsung have brought them to the consumer who’d rather keep all their limbs, but are they really worth up to four times the price of a hard drive? SanDisk’s Desk Drive has a distinctive design that won it one of this year’s Red Dot product design awards. It’s intended to sit on the desktop, connected to its own power supply rather than drawing what it needs over its USB–C cable. Plug it in and hook it up…

$79.99 From www.dictation.philips.com Features 32GB storage, mono microphone, 16kHz sample rate, weighs 0.85oz NOTE–TAKING OR minuting is an unavoidable part of many peoples’ working day and seems like something that technology should be able to help with. Recording conversations is easy enough, since all our smartphones, placed on a desk, can do it. But it’s a technique that draws attention to itself and can just leave you with a slightly tinny MP3. The Philips VoiceTracer is a pen — a regular pen, not any kind of special touch–sensitive one — that incorporates a 360° microphone that can be activated with a simple flick of a switch. You can record by just leaving the pen on a table or when writing with it, and it comes with six spare ink cartridges.…

Andrew Cottle Art Editor Andy is dusting himself down after reading about the strange Apple products that time forgot on p60 and hunting through the loft for much-loved old gear. Ian Evenden Production Editor Ian has been thinking about getting a new Mac after a few years using an M1 iPad Pro instead of a laptop, but the iOS 18 guide on p12 makes him wonder if he needs to. Howard Oakley Contributor Problems with your Mac, iPhone or iPad? Luckily, Howard’s waiting on p46 to answer all your hardware and software questions.…

YOUR MAC IS a desirable piece of kit, so it’s inevitable someone else will want to use it from time to time — be that a family member, friend or guest. Trouble is, handing over your Mac when it’s logged into your account is a path to potential danger. Another user could access your files, make changes to your settings, download apps and much more. But you can avoid all that stress by setting up extra accounts. With macOS, you can easily add and remove users, determine what they can and can’t do, and prevent your Mac from being misused. You will, in effect, be giving users their own little separate islands (unless you grant full administrative privileges), protecting your files and settings. In the case of guests, you’ll also be…

ONE OF THE most useful things on your Apple Watch may be hiding in plain sight. That’s because Apple moved the Control Center when it launched watchOS 10, so it’s easy to forget it’s there: the upwards swipe that used to open Control Center now brings up your widgets instead, and Control Center now requires you to press the side button. FAST ACCESS While the Control Center has been relocated from watch face to watch button, it’s still very useful, and while of course it’s a lot simpler than Control Center on your iPhone or iPad it does the same job; it gives you fast access to commonly used features and settings. It can also help you find your iPhone if you’ve misplaced it. In this tutorial, we’ll discover how to…

Move your Music library I’m trying to transfer my Music library from an old iMac running macOS 10.15 Catalina to my new Apple silicon iMac, as the final step in migration. What’s the best way to do that? Before moving your Music library to a new Mac, ensure it’s well backed–up, then choose File > Library > Organize Library, and select “Consolidate files”. That places copies of all files within your library, even though some files may also remain in their original locations. If your library is already stored on an external drive, you can connect that to your new Mac, open the Music app with the Opt key held down, and select that library. You could alternatively use Migration Assistant, in the Utilities folder in Applications, to move just…

Work–related shortcuts are not restricted to Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Take a look in the Gallery and you’ll find shortcuts such as Break Timer, which lets you take a breather while remaining focused, and Create Meeting Note which checks your calendar for upcoming gatherings and gets a note ready for you. It’s worth mentioning that workflows you may have created using Automator (Shortcuts’ effective predecessor on Mac) can also be imported into Shortcuts (File > Import) and converted. You may need to make some tweaks to get them working, though. HOW TO Improve your workflow 1 Convert images The HEIC image file format saves space but a shortcut activated via the Share menu can convert it to other formats. Tap Add Action > Media > Convert Image, select a file format…

THE JOURNEY FROM the scrappy Apple of the 1970s to the world–conquering trillion–dollar titan of today has been a long one, and Apple hasn’t always travelled that road in a straight line. Nestled among Apple’s many blockbuster products, you’ll also find many products that didn’t quite catch on in the same way as the iPhone. Some were years ahead of their time, some were ideas that Apple simply decided not to explore further, and some really should have been left in the meeting room. As we’ll discover, Apple has also made some very beautiful versions of its best–known products in order to raise funds for the charity Product (RED) — products that have sold for more than most people spend on a house. Over the next few pages we’re going…

$49.99 From www.logitech.com Features Bluetooth, USB–A dongle, dedicated AI prompt button LOGITECH’S SIGNATURE AI Edition M750 wireless mouse is a compact and lightweight mouse. It’s powered by a single (included) AA battery, which should last up to 24 months if using the bundled Logi Bolt USB receiver which can be stored in the base of the mouse, but is USB–A: slightly inconvenient if your Mac only has USB–C ports. The mouse has six buttons including a smart scroll wheel which is able to detect your finger speed for either precise scrolling or fast zooming down pages. You can customize and remap the buttons’ functions using the Logi Options+ application (a free download). The mouse can also remember several devices, which is helpful and means less re–pairing if you move between devices regularly.…

$249.99 From www.soundcore.com Features 100W output (140W with bass boost); water resistant to IPX7; Bluetooth 5.3 with AAC, USB-C charging port, 10W power bank, 3.5mm audio input, up to 20 hours battery life WE LIKED THE compact and portable Motion X500 speaker from Soundcore, but the new Boom 2 Plus is a different proposition. It’s still portable — just about — but it’s much larger and more powerful than the X500, and fully lives up to its boombastic title. The speaker weighs a hefty 8.6lbs, but has a built–in handle and detachable shoulder strap to help you carry it around. It’s sturdily built, with metal grilles on the front and back and an IPX7 rating that can cope with total immersion in water up to three feet deep. A rubber…

Biggest data breach ever? Nearly 3 billion Social Security numbers and other personal data leaked A HUGE “DATA SECURITY incident” has leaked up to 2.9 billion records containing personal information, affecting potentially “the entire population of the USA, Canada and the UK.” The data was held by National Public Data (NPD), a background–check company based in Florida. It has acknowledged the incident, although an official data breach notice filed in Maine by NPD says only 1.3m records were involved. The breach came to light in April, when a hacker known as USDoD, who has a track record of selling stolen data, started offering the huge data set on the dark web for $3.5m. Parts of the data were subsequently leaked and at least some of it was validated. In August…

ARE YOU EXCITED? This year’s update to the iPhone’s operating system is iOS 18, and there are some major changes coming. The most important update is the introduction of Apple Intelligence, which Apple describes as “the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac”. It’s integrated into all three device categories, and it offers opportunities to create text and pictures right there on your iPhone. The Home Screen and Lock Screen have been overhauled, with new ways of customizing your iPhone. You can even change the color of the app icons. Control Center also gets a boost, with opportunities to adapt it to your own needs. You can add far more controls, and spread them across multiple pages too. The popular Photos app gets its biggest ever redesign, including a…

THERE’S PLENTY MORE in iOS 18. For example, Game Mode was introduced into macOS with Sonoma, and it comes to iOS with this year’s update. When you’re playing a game, Game Mode activates automatically and gives the game priority over processing resources. It also doubles the Bluetooth sampling rate, reducing latency for connected devices such as your AirPods and game controller. You can format external drives connected to the iPhone, and Podcasts supports chapters, making it easier to navigate your way around a show. For safety, you can send videos to emergency workers using a feature called Emergency SOS Live Video. Siri gets a makeover too. If you also have a Mac running macOS Sequoia, iPhone Mirroring lets you control your iPhone from your Mac. The iPhone screen appears in…

Apple’s Notes app provides more than a simple text box for jotting down your immediate thoughts or placing content you’ve come across. It also enables you to structure projects, flesh out your ideas using different media, create sketches, produce checklists, scan documents and sync everything to your other devices via iCloud. And that’s just scratching the surface. When macOS 15 (Sequoia) arrives, Notes is going to get even better — but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t focus on the cool things it can do already. It won’t take long for you to figure out how you can best organize your notes to suit your needs, for instance, or collaborate with others so that you can brainstorm and get the most out of a project. With powerful note searching, the ability to…

THERE’S A CHANCE you haven’t even heard about the Apple Support app even though it’s been around for eight years. After all, if you have an immediate problem with your devices, your first port of call is likely to be a search engine. Yet, if that’s the case, you’re doing things the long way around. Apple Support is a mine of information that lets you discover more about your devices, learn how to get the most out of them and perform useful tasks such as discovering your most recent Apple Store orders, learning about Apple Trade In and resetting your Apple ID password. You can use it to find your nearest Apple Store, book a Genius appointment and arrange device repairs. It’ll also save you from scouring the web looking for…

APPLE’S WORLDWIDE DEVELOPERS Conference in June 2022 was remarkable for many reasons — from the launch of the Apple silicon M2 chip, macOS Ventura, iOS/iPadOS 16 and watchOS 8 to something Apple called “the next generation of CarPlay”. CarPlay, of course, is the name Apple gives to your iPhone’s ability to interact with your car, bringing features such as Maps and Apple Music to its “infotainment” system. The aim of next–gen CarPlay was to kick things up a gear, bringing even more of your car’s controls under Apple’s wing, while giving you extensive customization options — like being able to override your car’s electronic dashboard and replace it with one styled in Cupertino. To enable you to use CarPlay 2.0, Apple of course had to get the world’s carmakers on…

Bring Help windows to the front Why doesn’t macOS bring Help windows to the front when I open them, instead of hiding them? This problem may have been made more obvious with Stage Manager in macOS 13 Ventura. The most likely cause is a hidden preference setting that you may have changed long ago. Open Terminal, and enter the command defaults read com.apple. helpviewer DevMode If that returns 0, Developer Mode is turned off. Turn it on again, using com.apple.helpviewer DevMode-bool true If the first command returns 1, you need to turn it off instead, so type com.apple.helpviewer DevMode-bool false Log out, and log back in again, as this will ensure that the new setting takes full effect, although it can be applied immediately. You may also find utilities like…

There are so many shortcuts you can use when you’re out and about. You could try the “Walk to Coffee Shop” shortcut, for example, which uses Maps to give you directions to the nearest outlet. This can be customized by, say, changing “coffee” to “burger”. There’s a Share Location shortcut, too. Edit the shortcut, tap Recipients, choose who you want to invite and run it when you get to where you’re going. Your recipients will be told exactly where you are. Not sure how to get back home? The Directions Home shortcut will sort that once you input your address. Need to meet more friends later but you’re not going to get there on time? The Running Late shortcut will work out where you’re supposed to be based on your…

Free; full feature set $2.99/month/$14.99/year From https://mercuryweather.app Needs iOS/iPadOS 16 or later EVEN IF YOU don’t scroll, Apple’s Weather app will provide you with a lot of at–a–glance information. It’ll show you the current temperature and conditions, let you see how both unfold over the following five hours and display part of the 10–day forecast while allowing you to see how likely it is to rain. But although the information is clearly presented, Mercury Weather does a better job. Not only does this iOS app find space to add humidity, wind speed and the UV index, it plots the hourly forecast as a graph. It makes it easier to see the temperature highs and lows and you can easily view the daytime forecast over eight days. Clear design is one of…