Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2020 i TechLife

If you want to get the best possible speeds out of 5G with an iPhone then you might have to buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max, as a source has claimed that the cheaper iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Max, and even iPhone 12 Pro will only support Sub-6 5G. That’s according to “a wireless industry source” speaking to Fast Company, who said that only the largest and highest end iPhone 12 model (rumored to be called the iPhone 12 Pro Max) will support millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G. That’s in addition to Sub-6, which as noted every model is rumored to support. The difference between these two forms of 5G is that mmWave 5G uses higher frequency radio spectrum, allowing for much higher speeds. However, it doesn’t penetrate buildings and other…

From $229, https://au-shop.nanoleaf.me Walls – without pleasing paint colours or artwork, they can be boring. But if you have neither in your home, then Nanoleaf might have just the thing for you. The company has been making light panels for a while, with two previous sets already under its belt – and we’ve been big fans of the square-shaped Canvas panels since their launch in late 2018. Now Nanoleaf has taken a leaf (ahem) from nature’s book and brought us hexagonal panels to jazz up our walls. Like the older panels, Nanoleaf Shapes are modular LED lights that need to be wall-mounted to convert that drab surface into an interactive wonderland of vivid colours. The hexagonal Shapes are touch-sensitive, can be controlled by your choice of smart assistant and, best…

Radioactivity levels have spiked in the atmosphere over northern Europe, and that could indicate damage at a nuclear power plant in western Russia, according to a Dutch health agency that has analysed the data. The radioactive spike suggests damage to a nuclear fuel element. However, the Russian nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom has denied problems related to facilities in Kola and Leningrad, the two nuclear plants operating in the region. Several Scandinavian watchdog agencies detected the elevated levels of the radionuclides, or radioactive isotopes. Radionuclides are atoms whose nuclei are unstable; the excess energy inside the nucleus gets released through radioactive decay. In particular, concentrations of the radionuclides cesium-134, cesium-137 and ruthenium-103 rose in parts of Finland, southern Scandinavia and the Arctic, confirmed Lassina Zerbo. Though these pose no harm to…

A number of things of varying interestingness have crossed Guru’s desk this month. First, sent completely unsolicited from the lovely folks at Innr, the FL 120 C Smart Light Flex 2M Colour. It is a Hue-compatible LED light strip which, like every other Innr thing GaGu has tested, does a really good job. The colour range is decent, the hardware itself looks well built as far as LED strips go, and Guru assumes it’s slightly more cheap than the equivalent product from Philips. He says ‘assumes’ because Guru cannot actually find this for sale in Australia. Perhaps that’s coming soon. Second, the really rather cool Nighthawk XR500 router from the guys at Netgear. Outwardly it almost manages to sidestep the designers’ predilections for creating unsavoury plinths which look like they’re…

US$199.99, www.coros.com The Coros Pace 2 is available in two colors at launch – navy and white – with either a nylon or silicone band. The case is plastic, but with a matte finish that means it doesn’t look cheap, and it’s surprisingly light on the wrist. Whereas the original Pace tipped the scales at 48g, the Pace 2 weighs a mere 29g if you opt for the nylon strap. Fancy a change? Turn the watch over and you’ll see a pair of quick-release pins that are large enough to undo with a fingernail – no screwdrivers necessary. Like the original Pace, the Pace 2’s 64-color memory-in-pixel screen is very impressive for a fitness tracker. We recommend activating the gesture backlight (easily toggled through the settings menu) to make it…

Fall Guys It’s a Knockout dialed up to INSANITY. US$19.99, PS4, PC, www.fallguys.com Fall Guys is a battle royale like no other. Lobbies fill to a maximum of 60 players, each represented by cutesy bean-like avatars customised as owls, dinosaurs, pineapples, and more. Only one player can walk away with Fall Guys’ coveted crown, and the stress of surviving until the end is just as riveting here as fighting to reach the final circle under a barrage of gunfire in your typical battle royale experience. Thankfully, Fall Guys eschews anything resembling guns or grenades. Instead you’ll find a wide variety of colourful party games that are so fun and hilarious that your enduring failure to win never threatens to break your spirit. A full match takes anywhere from three-to-five rounds,…

$2,725, business.panasonic.com.au Field workers often find themselves in harsh environments where a standard consumer grade tablet just wouldn’t be able to withstand the cold, heat, rain or other conditions they encounter which is why they turn to rugged tablets such as Panasonic’s new Toughbook A3. The company’s latest rugged tablet is the successor to its Toughbook A2 that launched back in 2016 and a number of upgrades have been made to the device that make it an even better fit for those in working in industries such as the military, construction, government, law enforcement, healthcare and enterprise. We’ve spent the last few weeks trying out the Toughbook A3 and getting a feel for how first responders and other mobile workers could benefit from Panasonic’s most rugged Android tablet yet. In…

“You’ll get an insane 12GB of RAM which, coupled with the 90Hz refresh rate in the display and plenty capable chipset, makes for a solid gaming platform” $999, oppo.com/au It’s been a year since we reviewed the Oppo Reno 5G, and both the Chinese phone manufacturer and the 5G network have come a long way in that time. That handset and the newly launched Find X2 Neo share many similarities, but with a retail price $500 less, is the Neo better suited to today’s market? Both the face and rear of the phone are minimal, with the latter home to small Oppo branding and the quad camera array, and the former comprised almost entirely (89.7%) of its gorgeous display. The display is a vibrant 6.5-inch AMOLED number which, save for…

$69, www.mi-store.com.au At first glance, the Mi Smart Band 5 at first glance doesn’t look all that different from the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. It still pairs up a similar-looking tracker module with a TPU plastic strap that comes in six different colours (compared to eight for the Chinese version). It’s a bit of plain in terms of design, and less stylish than Fitbit’s trackers, but it feels well built and nowhere as ‘cheap’ as some trackers at this price point. It’s the display that really elevates this tracker above the competition, though. Xiaomi uses a 1.1-inch, 126 x 294 resolution AMOLED touchscreen, which is a bump up in size and resolution on the 0.95, 120 x 240 resolution screen on the Mi Band 4. Xiaomi has also upped things…

AU$549, sony.com.au There’s an unsurprising heir to the wireless, noise-cancelling throne, and while Sony certainly hasn’t strayed far from its regal headphone lineage, the WH-1000XM4 is better for it. Quite frankly, it was hard to imagine what could be improved upon when reviewing the forebears to these new cans, but Sony has added enough polish to the WH-1000XM3 crown to keep its gleam intact and add some new precious gems in the process. From a design sense, very little has perceptibly changed – the lightweight, comfortable, and subtly stylish pair of headphones that you’re used to has returned unscathed, albeit with a tiny bit more padding on the earcups and a touch less on the headband. Battery life remains the same, which is great, but so does the lack of…

In the past we used to joke that if something didn’t quite go to plan, “Just turn it black and white, add some grain and call it art.” The most difficult part of being creative at home is getting started. As a portrait photographer, I mainly work outdoors, or on location with a larger team. So I initially felt a little stuck creating a project at home. This is usually the case when I’m presented with a project that doesn’t involve other people to photograph or bounce around a few ideas. I always intended to create an abstract project. In the past we used to joke that if something didn’t quite go to plan, “Just turn it black and white, add some grain and call it art.” Joking aside, it’s…

1 START RESEARCHING DRUPAL THEMES Drupal is a sophisticated CMS that you could fritter away a lot of time on, but this wouldn’t leave much room for photography. Once you’ve got some basic content uploaded to the CMS, you can install a theme to give it a professional look and feel. Have a play – go to to www.drupal.org/project/project_theme and take a look at the available themes. 2 TAKE A LOOK AT SHOWCASE LITE Useful search terms for themes that are relevant to photography include ‘Photography’, ‘Gallery’ and ‘Portfolio’, although you can also search by newness or popularity. One theme that will work well for a photography website, however, is Showcase Lite. It has a clean, uncluttered design and is ‘responsive’ – this means it’s optimised for use on mobile…

1 ‘My Spoons Runneth Over’ by Peter Baker “Searching for inspiration for a camera club competition entry, I spotted a picture with a spoon being tipped and syrup starting to overflow. From there it was a short leap to one spoon with syrup being poured into it and overflowing, but it looked a little empty, so I built up the frame from there. My wife helped me overcome the challenge of all the things that had to be held: three spoons, a syrup bottle, a flash and a remote trigger.” TechLife says: From the top of the frame to the bottom, this is a very well-executed image. Aside from the meticulous composition, with the spoons all arranged at complementary angles, and the even lighting, which Peter set up without blowing…

Will iOS 14/iPadOS 14 work on my device? Yes. If your device is currently running iOS 13/iPadOS 13 then the new update will work just fine. Compatible devices consist of the iPhone 6s and later, the iPad Air 2 and later, the iPad 5th-gen and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and all iPad Pro models. Home Screen All of your apps will be automatically organised into the new App Library so that you can find them easier, and you will be able to hide existing Home Screens filled with apps to reduce the visual clutter on your device. Widgets You can now drag and drop widgets onto your Home Screens to sit among your app icons and pick from one of three sizes to suit your needs. The Smart…

SKILL LEVEL Anyone can do it Tricky in parts SUITABLE FOR… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 The Your Phone app is a recent addition to Windows 10, but a powerful one. It enables you to use your Android phone closely with Windows 10, and works in tandem with an app on your phone. That app, Your Phone Companion, is available from the Google Play store for Android phones, and it’s that we’ll be using for the tutorial below. If you have an iPhone, there isn’t a direct equivalent – Apple restricts other apps from controlling iOS, so it’s not possible to use an iPhone alongside Windows in the same way as it is with Android. There is, however, a corresponding app in Apple’s App Store called Continue on PC…

In 2019 scientists witnessed a massive star, millions of times brighter than the Sun, disappear without a trace. Recently, a team of astrophysicists attempted to solve the case of the disappearing star by providing several possible explanations. Of these, one twist ending stands out: perhaps, the scientists suggested, the massive star died and collapsed into a black hole without undergoing a supernova explosion first, a truly unprecedented act of stellar suicide. “We may have detected one of the most massive stars of the local universe going gently into the night,” said researcher Jose Groh. “If true this would be the first direct detection of such a monster star ending its life in this manner,” said study lead author Andrew Allan. The star in question, located about 75 million light years…

There’s some exciting developments in the emerging tech space this month with the first manned flying car flight, a working brain chip demo using pigs, neverending batteries and a giant mech suit Kickstarter that’ll let backers race through the forest. Google has added a heap of 3D AR models of museum artifacts that you can look at in your home and Apple is bolstering its AR content available on Apple TV+, which should make lockdown a little more bearable. AI this month is tackling the grill in White Castle restaurants and rendering photorealistic portraits of Roman emperors from sculptural inputs… oh and it’s also crushing F-16 pilots in simulated dogfights. XR AI takes down F-16 pilot in VR $NA, darpa.mil/news-events/2020-08-07 While the list of things that humans can still do…

Eve Echoes Free with IAP Eve Online is one of those MMORPGs that you either absolutely love or absolutely hate. It is an incredibly complex, detailed and socially demanding game, that focuses inherently on long term planning and strategy. This detail and the player-run dynamic of its world is why it has been running for almost 12 years. Eve Echoes is essentially a mobile version of the PC game – controls and the UI have been redesigned for touch, and some of the game systems have been softly simplified, but at its core it is still the same demanding system of galaxy wide conquest. Gameplay on the surface involves a variety of various quests and activities in space involving mining, combat, trading, manufacturing and so forth – the developers have…

“MSI has managed to pack all of this extremely powerful tech into such a streamlined and appealing desktop tower.” $6,499, msi.com Many creative professionals require PCs that perform at a much higher level than what generally sits on the store shelf, but while enthusiast gamers are generally invested enough to build their own computers, this can be a level of technical knowledge that isn’t overly prevalent in the creative professional space. MSI’s Prestige range hopes to cater to this growing subset of customers by creating powerful pre-built PCs that offer top shelf performance straight out of the box. The Prestige P100 is designed to compliment the Prestige PS341WU 34-inch display that we cover on page 32, by ensuring that there’s enough grunt to run demanding applications in 5K HDR. The…

$13,500, au.leica-camera.com The idea of a digital version of Leica’s M rangefinder camera got off to a shaky start in 2006 with the M8, but the concept has been evolving ever since and the M10-R is arguably the best execution yet. The challenge for Leica has been to balance the key traditional elements of its legendary 35mm RF cameras with the consumer expectations of a contemporary digital camera… which is hard to do without compromising something somewhere. Consequently, these will never be mainstream cameras – and, in fact, Leica sees the exclusivity as being desirable – but M10-R owners can expect competitive imaging performance… just in a very different package to a DSLR or a mirrorless camera. At the heart of this is the M10-R’s 40.8 megapixels full-frame sensor, which…

$649, buy.garmin.com Physically, the Garmin Venu is more of an understated tracker than a distinctive timepiece. Besides a grooved stainless steel band around the bezel, the circular polymer body is otherwise pared-back, bordering on generic – and it’s not instantly distinguishable from the Vivoactive 4. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, provided you want a sporty smartwatch that flies under the radar. It makes less of a style statement than the Apple Watch, but it’s also subtler than the bold frontage of the Suunto 7. You could easily wear the low-key Venu from gym to office without raising eyebrows: the 12.4mm depth means it sits slim beneath a sleeve, while the quick-release catch makes it easy to switch up your look with 20mm straps. The metal ring around the case…

$249, ifi-audio.com The iFi hip-dac, is simply put, the best-looking portable DAC we’ve ever seen – and it performs pretty well too. iFi is a big player in the world of portable DACs (digital-to-analogue converters), which for the uninitiated, are designed to improve the sound quality of your smartphone, laptop, tablet, or MP3 player. While these devices contain DACS themselves, an external DAC is designed to make your music sound great, as well as driving power-hungry premium headphones – in short, a portable DAC is a crucial part of any audiophile’s arsenal. Coming in at $249, the iFi hip-dac isn’t too pricey for the specs it offers, and it looks great, to boot. Its luxurious petroleum-blue and copper finish alongside its hipflask-like design (hence the name) means it is, weirdly…

1 WHERE IT ALL BEGAN I saw the salt and pepper pots on our table. The see-through plastic pots stood out against the darker plant pot and wooden table behind. Originally I had shot into the light of the window on the right, but it just became a huge white scene, with little or no detail. Having different levels of light across the image pulled it together. 2 SEEING CREATIVE PATTERNS I’ve always seen great poster-style photos of books on bookcases or records on shelving, so I tried this next. I wanted to shoot quickly without thinking too much. A little like running, once you stop, it’s hard to get going again. Keep moving and try not to worry about what the object looks like until it’s blurry. 3 LOOK…

Another boon of spending more time at home is that you can finally get around to displaying some of your favourite images. But there’s an intermediate stage between editing and printing, and that’s image presentation. This could be adding artistic borders, arranging a series of photos in a grid, or combining thematically linked shots into a triptych. We’ve covered these areas in previous issues, through the digital gift that we give away in every issue, but it feels like a good time to curate the best of these into a complementary collection, so you can easily take advantage of them all! WHAT YOU’LL NEED Some of your favourite images Photoshop CC and a printer Time required: 1-2 hours – or more! IMAGE PRESENTATION MEGAPACK 97 Files to help present your…

In June, Apple used its virtual Worldwide Developer Conference to showcase the latest, upcoming versions of its operating systems and the star of the show was undoubtedly iOS 14, a more powerful system that is easier to use and more adept at helping us navigate our lives and stay connected with the people who are important to us. Available this Spring, iOS 14 will work on the same devices that currently run iOS 13, so no older Apple hardware will be set adrift after the update and nobody should feel any pressure to upgrade their existing devices. Of course, iOS 14 runs on iPads, too, and all iPad users will be able to enjoy the same features that aren’t specific to the size and mobility of the iPhone, plus many…

Wi-Fi 6 is probably the most exciting thing to happen to your wireless network in years. Now it’s launched, you’ll start to hear the term increasingly bandied about by router makers and ISPs. But what exactly is Wi-Fi 6, and how can it benefit you? Here, we take a close look at what Wi-Fi 6 promises and explain the impact it can have on home networks. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the standard, including how to upgrade your network to get the most out of the new tech. You may have already come across Wi-Fi 6’s previous name: 802.11ax. Thankfully, the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit organisation that ensures Wi-Fi products meet certain standards, acknowledged that the former naming conventions were far too convoluted. As Edgar Figueroa,…

As it happens, you really can have too much of a good thing. Here at TechLife we have been champions of the Dolby Atmos technology since the very beginning, and we love this ultimate example of surround sound cinema heaven. But Dolby Atmos is everywhere. While we love to see the standard supported by more home cinema amplifiers and speaker packages, its appearance on soundbars, TVs and even smartphones concerns us – is this really the Dolby Atmos we know and love? After all, how can these products possibly deliver true three-dimensional sound, as Atmos promises? And if people believe that’s what the next-gen sound format is all about, what chance do we have to convince them that they can do so much better? That’s why we believe that seeing…

“I’ve opted to warm up this portrait image with some yellows in the highlights and reds in the shadows, to create a tonally interesting shot.” Split-toning is a technique that dates back to the days of black-and-white film photography, when skilled developers learned how to add limited colour to their prints. They might treat a photo with a type of toner for a short time, then apply a distinct second toner. In this way, first the highlights and then the shadows would change colour. Lightroom is a digital darkroom at heart, so it’s no surprise that it offers controls that reproduce this technique. Split-toning gives a photo an old-fashioned feel by limiting the colour palette, and is very fashionable right now. So let’s give it a try! By splitting the…

Run-Up US$119, kck.st/3gJgUhB Sweatbands haven’t been ‘in’ for ages, so maybe now is the perfect time to reinvent them by adding some new Bluetooth speaker tech and launching them on a crowdfunding site. Between true wireless headphones, non-occluding wireless headphones and even audio-passthrough over-ear headphones there’s a lot of options to choose from when it comes to sport audio, but none of them give you the retro style of strapping speakers to your head using a headband like the new Run-Up band does. To be fair, they probably will be better than some sports headphones for vigorous workouts. JabberMask US$29, kck.st/2GbvXEd Here at TechLife we totally agree that wearing facemasks outside is a public health benefit in the current health crisis, so if the only way you are going to…

From $2,799, www.apple.com/au The design of the new iMac 27-inch remains pretty much unchanged from previous models, except that with the move to SSD storage, the device is slightly lighter. The only other noticeable difference in the design is that the Retina 5K display now comes with nano-texture glass – but that’s an optional extra. Otherwise, the looks and dimensions of the new iMac are the same as previous models, and even the most ardent Apple fan will probably acknowledge that it’s due a bit of a refresh. The current design has been around since 2012 (and that was a relatively minor tweak from the design used since 2009), and while it’s aged better than other PC designs from that period, it’s starting to look its age in some respects.…

“As I wrap my hands around a folded Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, I remember what it’s like to carry around a small smartphone. The tall but narrow design is easy to grasp with one hand, like I’m holding a rod – a very, very expensive rod.” Jaded about smartphones? Think you’ve seen it all? The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the one piece of tech that has wowed me in 2020, and it’s only been 24 hours. Every time this phone folds in half, it impresses. People in a socially distant New York City, not eager to make small talk right now, are stopping me to ask what this thing is and if it’s worth it. That second question will have to wait for our full Z Fold…

Massive, underwater rivers have been discovered hidden off Australia’s coasts by robotic ocean gliders. These rivers could be critical for moving material from the coasts to the deep ocean, scientists have said. Called ‘dense shelf water cascades’, the hidden rivers form when shallow water on the coasts loses heat during the colder months. This water is already highly salty due to evaporation during the summer months. This cold, salty stream of water in the inner portion of the continental shelf – the edge of the continent that’s typically submerged in shallow water – is denser than deeper water. Driven by the difference in density, this river of water flows offshore along the ocean floor. Now a group of researchers at the University of Western Australia has analysed data collected between…

The windows of Guru Towers are perpetually curtained, because GaGu must do anything possible to maintain his local reputation as a spooky technological vampire. He uses Ikea’s block-out range (the Majgull and Hilleborg lines) for inconspicuous super-dark drapes. On those windows without curtains Guru didn’t need to stray far, with Ikea’s Fyrtur smart blinds doing a credible job of squashing the influence of that pesky glowing orb in the sky. “If you are a sun-hater, just be sure to stock up on vitamin D supplements!” Conservatories are, as we all know, the absolute worst. They just are. GaGu, naturally, has two of them, being both a glutton for punishment and something of a liar. To treat the polycarbonate one, he’s used special film; there are loads to choose from, some…

Sea of Thieves is getting dogs, and yes, you can pet them For many, Rare just announced its most important Sea of Thieves update: dogs. Woofing, circling, huggable good boys and girls. That’s right – not only can you pet the dogs, you can hug them. It might not be the most piratey thing to do, but what kind of monster could resist? There’s also a new and permanent voyage being added for Gold Hoarders, which Rare says we’ll hear more about at a later date. Hitman 3 out January 20, includes free next gen upgrade if you buy digital This means that Xbox owners who choose to download Hitman 3 will get the game on both Xbox and Xbox Series X via Microsoft’s Smart Delivery service. With Sony offering…

This year, as it does every year in June, the biggest week in the videogame industry rolled around. And then it kept on rolling – well into the tail end of the month, and through half of July. We thought seven days of E3 was exhausting; two months of it has proved devastating to our very perception of time itself. Technically, we shouldn’t call it E3. Back in March, just as Covid-19 started to take a firm hold in the west, the ESA cancelled the expo the industry has traditionally built its entire schedule around. Much has been made of the slow death of E3 over the past few years, as publishers and platform holders have increasingly migrated away from the biggest showfloor in the world and further across the…

$2,999, www.dell.com Simply put, the Alienware Aurora R8 is a beast of a computer. Keeping its predecessor’s understated yet gaming-centric design, and filling it up with more powerful components like 9th-generation Intel processors and discrete Nvidia graphics, this new model is certainly an appealing upgrade. It should be able to handle the wants and desires of any gamer out there. The Alienware Aurora R8 sets you back a hefty $3,000 or more. However, it might not be outrageous for what you get when you add in all the bells and whistles. This gaming desktop PC is very customisable and upgradable, which definitely eases the pain of its price tag. It comes with a software that is well-implemented, as well as an easy to access chassis for the tinkerers out there.…

“The mechanical switches beneath the left and right mouse buttons are rated for 50 million clicks, and the mouse’s battery is rated for 400 hours of use on a single charge.” $189, www.razer.com The Razer Pro Click has been designed in partnership with Humanscale, one of the world’s top manufacturers of ergonomic peripherals for the workplace. The result is one of the most comfortable mice Razer’s probably ever put out. Engineered to keep the user’s wrist at an optimum angle of 30 degrees, the palm rest curves under your hand in a way that keeps you from anchoring your wrist to the desktop surface and forces you to use muscles in your arm and shoulder which are bigger and less-inclined to tire after a full day’s use. The look of…

$679, www.remarkable.com The ReMarkable 2 is the best digital handwriting and sketching experience you can get this side of a paper pad and pencil, without a doubt. It improves upon its ReMarkable Tablet predecessor in almost every way, leading to a premium tablet experience that excels in its key purpose – letting you sketch and take notes without distractions. It’s an expensive device, given that its e-ink ‘Canvas’ screen technology only allows for greyscale document editing and note-taking – there’s no app store here, nor web browser or video playback support. But that’s almost exactly the point – this is a device for creation, not consumption, syncing your ideas in the cloud for access wherever you may be. With improved pen responsiveness, a sleek new hardware design and smart upgrades…

“The spatial audio tech that the Quantum One hangs its hat on is certainly cool, but it wouldn’t always match the direction I was facing.” $499, www.jbl.com.au A new challenger enters the gaming headset ring with the JBL Quantum One, a brand-new flagship model of JBL’s new Quantum range of audio options. It’s a bit on the pricey side at $499, but the JBL Quantum One provides studio-level sound at an affordable price. And not just for one console, either. Interchangeable between the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, this headset is adaptable to however you play with both a 3.5mm headphone wire and a USB audio mixer included in the box. The look and feel of the headphones are sure to impress right out of the box:…

1 23 MULTI-IMAGE GRID TEMPLATES Use these to break up a subject into a multi-image set of interlocking close-ups. 2 26 HAND-PAINTED BORDERS Look no further for an ideal way to give your photographs instant artistic appeal. 3 15 MOSAIC GRIDS These grids are a great starting point for generating vibrant, creative images in Photoshop CC. 4 33 HAND-PAINTED TRIPTYCH TEMPLATES Create cool three-in-a-row presentations around a theme that links the images.…

Those of us with a keen eye for detail will have noticed that when Apple was revealing the new macOS update at WWDC20, the ‘About This Mac’ screen shown in the demo revealed the update to be called ‘macOS 11’. So after 15 or so additions to what was originally Mac OS X, version 10 has finally been retired. These new beginnings are fitting because macOS 11, subtitled ‘Big Sur’, features some major enhancements to the system. Big Sur delivers a spacious new design that makes navigating your Mac easier, while putting even more controls at your fingertips. With a richer palette of colours, more rounded windows and reworked app icons in the Dock (tweaked to be more consistent with those in iOS), Big Sur looks beautiful and feels more…

All the big router manufacturers have Wi-Fi 6 routers available already, or are due to launch them imminently. For example, Asus’s RT-AX88U is the company’s first Wi-Fi 6 router. It’s dual-band and offers up to 6,000Mb/s of Wi-Fi throughput, along with four antennas, and eight LAN ports. Asus also has the gaming-oriented ROG Rapture GT-AX11000, a tri-band router that can keep one 5GHz band dedicated to gaming. There’s also the Asus AiMesh AX6100 Wi-Fi System, which is a mesh Wi-Fi system that can cover the whole home. As one of the biggest names in networking, it’s no surprise that Netgear is going all-out on Wi-Fi 6, and the company has a number of Wi-Fi 6 routers already available. The Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) offers eight streams of wireless connectivity, 160MHz…

THIS MONTH Q&A Your questions answered WINDOWS Master the Your Phone app MAC Set up tasks in Fantastical iOS MS Office on the move ANDROID How to switch to a new Android SECURITY & PRIVACY Network attacks HOME NETWORKING Getting started with your ownCloud FITNESS Discover the natural wonders of the world A/V Dolby Atmos is everywhere DIGITAL DARKROOM Split your tones Unexplainable data loss I have an HP Elitebook that is currently fitted with a 2.5-inch SSD as the main Windows 7 drive, and a 1TB mSATA that contains working files and a majority of VirtualBox images as both VHD and VDI files. I have recently swapped out the 2.5-inch SSD with another one and installed Windows 10 on it, which has gone very smoothly apart from one issue:…

REQUIRES iPhone running iOS 12 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to use Microsoft Office on iOS IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes GENIUS TIP You’re not just limited to Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud service here. You can connect to other services such as Dropbox in the app’s settings. Microsoft has made some big changes to Office on iOS, at least on iPhone – instead of having separate apps for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Notes and Office Lens, it’s combined them into a single app. Not only does that make it easier and faster to access your various Office documents and tools, but it also reduces the amount of space needed for Office on your device. Microsoft has done a superb job here. It still feels like Office, but this isn’t a desktop…

If you’ve been paying any attention at all, you’re probably aware by now that cloud sync services like Dropbox or Google Drive have issues. You can’t easily share and store data without having to place your trust in a third party, and many of those third parties haven’t exactly been the best stewards of privacy. So why not create your own cloud service? You can store your files on a server at home or in your own office and access them from anywhere on any device. You can share and link files to friends, family and co-workers without ever making them accessible to a third party. There are a number of tools available for creating your own cloud service. Unfortunately for Windows users, many of the best ones – like…