Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Macworld UK

Apple’s latest quarterly results are in, and they’re just what you’d expect: the portrait of a company that’s massively profitable and successful, but whose main product is lagging behind while new product lines are growing just fast enough to make up the difference. I guess we yawn at $53.8 billion in revenue these days – that’s a record for Apple’s sleepy third fiscal quarter, but up only 1 percent over 2018’s record Q3. As always, the devil’s in the details – and fortunately for us, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri spend an hour on the phone once a quarter to provide a few little details – or as they like to say on these calls, “more colour” – that can help us understand the current state of…

The race to 5G just added a new lane. Following a report in the Wall Street Journal, Apple confirmed that it will be acquiring the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem chip business, which went belly-up earlier this year. The transaction is valued at $1 billion and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, Apple said in a press release. Intellectual property exchanging hands between industry giants isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, but this deal has significant ramifications. Just four months ago, Apple and Intel were partners on the development of the iPhone’s 5G modem, but that abruptly ended in one fell swoop when Apple and Qualcomm settled their long-time court case and Intel “announced its intention to exit the 5G smartphone modem business and complete an assessment…

Price: Free from fave.co/2Zx8imp It’s been four years since Microsoft scooped up Wunderlist fave.co/2Zy6tG3, the popular cross-platform to-do app. Although that software has thus far received a stay of execution and remains available, the introduction of Microsoft To-Do two years later with no native Mac app in sight had many longtime users adding ‘Find a new to-do app’ as a new task. For those who made do with just iOS and web apps over the past couple years, Microsoft To-Do has finally arrived in the Mac App Store. Overall, the free app is a faithful port from Windows, although those who prefer the dark theme found in that edition will be disappointed to find it missing here, nor does the Mac version currently support Mojave’s built-in dark mode. Made for…

Safari is probably the most frequently used app in macOS. Fortunately, with the upgrade to macOS Catalina, Safari gets a few helpful new features. Here’s a look. Start page The start page has a new way to help you get to the websites you want to visit. It still shows Favourites and Frequently Visited websites as in previous versions, but now there’s a Siri Suggestions section that lists recently-visited sites, Reading List links, iCloud Tabs, links sent to you via Messages, and more. Tab switching When you type in a URL, if that website is already open in another tab, Safari will display the option to switch to that particular tab. Not only should this help cut down on the number of open tabs that you have, it can also…

If you’re not using keyboard shortcuts on your Mac, you’re missing out on a big part of the reason why so many people love Apple’s desktop operating system. Thanks to the firm’s integration of hardware and software, you’ll rarely have to reach for your mouse or trackpad once you learn to speak the language of the keys. MacOS has many shortcuts, but I consider these the ones everyone should know. I’ve tried to avoid (still useful) shortcuts with related Windows counterparts – such as ⌘+A to select all or ⌘+F open the Find prompt – and focus on shortcuts you may not be familiar with if you’re new to Mac. And let’s talk about that '⌘’ symbol. That’s the Command key, and it’s the key to all the shortcuts listed…

Apple has announced that it plans to buy the “majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business”, following recent rumours to that effect. The deal will cost Apple about one billion dollars, and should close in the fourth quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approval. For the price, Apple will acquire approximately 2,200 Intel employees along with intellectual property, equipment, and leases. The deal will greatly boost Apple’s patent portfolio, taking the company to over 17,000 patents related to current and future wireless technology. Apple is only acquiring Intel’s smartphone modem business, however. Intel will still be able to develop modems for non-smartphone applications such as PCs, smart cars, or IoT applications. Intel CEO Bob Swan painted this as a win for its company. “This agreement enables us to focus on…

Price: £1,499 (inc VAT) from fave.co/2YRP6Db Apple’s recent revamp of its MacBook line-up makes it a lot easier to understand the target audiences for Apple’s laptops. And with the release of the new 13in 1.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro, Apple also made it easier to pick a 13in model. It’s easier now because you don’t have to decide if you’re willing to sacrifice any features when picking an entry-level model over the higher-end ones. Before the newly-updated base model was released, there was a division within the four 13in models. Apple offered two entry-level models without the Touch Bar, and two high-end laptops with it. (The entry-level editions were lacking some other features, as well, but the main missing feature was the Touch Bar). So when it came down to…

Want to run the next version of macOS? You can if you join Apple’s Public Beta programme, which is available for anyone willing to try the new OS before it is released. Getting started To install, the 10.15 Public Beta, you must enrol in the Public Beta programme. Then, you can install the update through macOS’s Software Update (About This Mac > Overview > Software Update.) What is it? MacOS Catalina is the current version of the Mac operating system. Apple makes a public beta version of Catalina updates available for people to try out, test against their favourite software, and report bugs to the company. Since this is beta software, there’s a good chance it could cause problems on your Mac. You may encounter frequent freezes and crashes, or…

For iPhone and iPad users who still connect their devices to a Mac for syncing and backups (and there are a lot of people who still do this), there are changes coming in the next version of the Mac operating system. In macOS 10.15 Catalina, the iTunes app is gone. Now you use the Finder, similar to how you see a hard drive or a server. Here’s how to use your device in the Finder and how to back it up. Your iOS device in the Finder When you connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac using a Lightning cable, it will appear in a Finder window. In the macOS Catalina Public Beta, your device is in the left column in the ‘Locations’ section. (If this is the first…

For the first time in nearly a decade, a brand new MacBook Pro may be on the way. Rumours have been ramping up for months regarding a brand new 16in flagship notebook, expanding Apple’s laptop line-up beyond the 13- and 15in models its been selling since 2012. Here’s everything we know so far. Design With the first new size in eight years, it seems likely that Apple will also usher in a new MacBook design to go with it. Way back in February, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted the new model would have an “all-new design”, so we’re inclined to believe him, especially since his other two rumours at the time – a modular Mac Pro and a 31.5in display – were on the money. But there have been few details…

In the wake of backlash over a Guardian report that exposed employees who were tasked with analysing Siri recordings for accuracy and quality, Apple has announced it is temporarily suspending the programme as it decides how to proceed. In a statement to TechCrunch, an Apple spokesperson said the company is “committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy. While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally.” Apple added that users will have the ability to choose whether they want to participate in the programme as part of an upcoming software update. The Siri grading process was exposed in July when one of the contractors contacted The Guardian claiming that they “regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex”…

Price: £1,099 (inc VAT) from fave.co/2YoskDq There are updates, and then there are updates; and the new MacBook Air for 2019 is more iPhone XS than Mac Pro 2019. Not all that much has changed since the previous generation – which isn’t necessarily a problem, because (like the XS) it’s still an excellent device, but it’s unlikely to tempt many one-year upgraders. In our review we put the 2019 Air through our rigorous lab tests to see how it performs in terms of processing speed, graphics power, battery life and more, and test out things like its keyboard and new True Tone screen tech. We also rate its design and pricing to help you decide if this is the best laptop for you. Price Apple has finally dropped the older…

With the public beta out for macOS 10.15 Catalina, you might be a thrill seeker and want to test out the in-progress version. But maybe you’d like to hedge your bets. In the past, you’d need to partition your startup drive, which could turn into a lot of effort, or get an external drive – preferably SSD – and install and boot from that. However, there’s a better way to have your Catalina and boot it, too. It’s even a path Apple documents and recommends. With Apple’s not-quite-so-new APFS file system that replaces the long-running HFS+, drives are no longer organized into partitions, but volumes and containers. A container gets a pool of a fixed amount of storage on a drive when it’s configured, but containers can have multiple volumes.…

When it comes to the performance of Mac laptops, it’s safe to say that Intel is in the driver’s seat. Unless Apple shows some sign of either switching to AMD or producing its own laptop processors, the MacBook line will be inextricably linked to Intel’s CPU releases. That’s why the launch of Intel’s 10th-generation Core processor (formerly known by the code name Ice Lake) is so important to Mac users. It’s the company’s first truly high volume chip on its 10nm manufacturing process, and the first to use the new ‘Sunny Cove’ processor core design. CPU: lower clocks, but better performance Intel launched 11 new 10th-generation processors. Five are Y-series processors, with a nominal TDP (thermal design power) of 9W. Note that this is an increase from the 5W TDP…

When Steve Jobs came back to Apple, one of his early moves was to vastly simplify what had become a bloated line-up of Mac hardware. He famously showed off a two-by-two product grid: pro and consumer, desktop and portable. Filling the grid were four products – iMac, PowerMac, iBook, PowerBook – each addressing one of those combinations. The two-by-two grid lasted for several years, until the debut of the category-busting Mac mini in 2005. Since then, there’s been an almost magnetic impulse to cite the grid as the holy grail of Apple product design aspirations. Every time the firm releases something a new Mac, pundits try desperately to figure out how to shove the latest addition into the already bulging grid. With this week’s rearrangement of its portable line-up, Apple…