Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i MacLife

APPLE HAS BROUGHT the M1 chip to iPad Pro as well, delivering up to 50% faster CPU performance and 40% faster graphics performance than the previous generation. This promises console–quality, high frame rate graphics in games — and iPad Pro now also supports PlayStation and Xbox controllers, with haptics, for a great gaming experience. The 11–inch iPad Pro, starting at $799, has a 2,388x1,668–pixel, 264ppi Liquid Retina display with 600 nits peak brightness, ProMotion adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, True Tone, P3 Wide Color gamut, and ultra–low reflectivity. The 12.9–inch model, starting at $1,099, introduces a stunning 2,732x2,048–pixel Liquid Retina XDR display with 1,000 nits of full–screen brightness and 1,600 nits peak brightness (HDR), alongside all the display technologies of its sibling. It uses an array of over 10,000 mini–LEDs with…

APPLE HAS UNVEILED a redesigned Podcasts app, podcast channels, and Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favorite creators alongside the millions of free shows available. Premium subscriptions, available in more than 170 countries from both independent voices and leading brands, include a variety of benefits curated by creators, such as ad–free listening, extra content, and early or exclusive access to new series. Channels are groups of shows curated by creators. Just as they can with shows, listeners can browse free channels, making it easy to find more shows from their favorite creators, as well as paid channels and channels that provide additional benefits for subscribers. With iOS 14.5, a redesigned Apple Podcasts app features an enhanced Search tab with quick access…

BIG SUR HAS been with us for a while now, but even if you upgraded on the first day available it’s likely you’re not yet making full use of all its features and additions. And, let’s face it, there are plenty. From the redesigned interface to the new Control Center and beefed up Messages and Maps apps, there’s plenty to get to grips with. And that’s before we get on to the new privacy features in Safari and the App Store. Don’t worry, though, we’ve got you covered. In this feature, we’ll get beneath the surface of macOS Big Sur and reveal the tips and tricks to help you get the most from it. We’ll sidestep the more obvious and instead reveal the things you may have missed. And we’ll…

1 CHANGE PICTURE Big Sur comes with 40 new desktop wallpapers, including different phases as they change during the day. To choose one, go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop Pictures and make your selection. 2 ADD AN ACCENT COLOR To change the color of buttons and sidebar glyphs in apps, go to System Preferences > General and choose a color from the Accent menu. Multicolor leaves apps at the developer’s default, other colors impose your choice. 3 CHANGE THE SIDEBAR Big Sur’s full–height sidebars in windows allow for more or bigger icons. To add more, go to Finder > Prefs > Sidebar. To make them bigger, it’s System Prefs > General > Sidebar icon size and small, medium or large.…

Extensions in Photos allows you to access many of the editing features in apps such as Pixelmator, Affinity Photo, and Luminar without leaving the Photos app. There’s even a category on the App Store that lists the apps that have Photos extensions. To see that, double–click any photo then choose Edit from the top–right corner of the window. Click on the More button (…) and choose App Store. In that menu you’ll also see an option called Manage. Click that and you’ll be taken to the Extensions pane in System Preferences, from where you can enable extensions for those apps that support them. Once enabled, the apps appear in the Edit menu.…

SAFARI AND MESSAGES have had big updates in Big Sur, and much of the focus is on privacy. Safari’s new Privacy Report details all the cross–site trackers it’s blocked over the last 30 days and displays the privacy practices for websites you visit. You can even add the Privacy Report to your newly customizable start page. Safari now also warns you if any of your saved passwords have been involved in a data breach and helps you change them. It’s faster and more power efficient and displays favicons on open tabs, making it easier to identify them. Mail didn’t get a big update this time around, but it did benefit from the OS–wide interface enhancements like full–height sidebars and new icons. 1 Import data from Chrome or Firefox You can…

MAPS MAY NOT be as useful on the Mac as it is on a mobile device, but there’s still plenty you can do with it, such as plan journeys and explore far–off cities. Big Sur adds several new features to the Mac version, the most significant of which is Guides. Currently only available for London in the UK, curated Guides enable you to discover the best places to visit, eat, and explore. They update automatically as other users add places and you can create your own. Guides will expand to more cities during 2021. Big Sur also sees Maps gain 3D Look Around, electric vehicle charging points, cycling routes, and indoor maps. Again, some of these features are limited to a small number of cities worldwide, but will be expanded.…

WE’RE SURE YOU haven’t fallen for the old fallacy that Macs are somehow impervious to harm. If not, the recent revelation that a new form of malware has targeted 30,000 Macs (including those with the new M1 chip) should be your wake–up call. But it isn’t simply a case of installing anti–virus software and carrying on as before. You need to close other security and privacy holes too, most of which are linked to the online world, from web browsing and shopping to email and messaging. Over the following pages, we’re going to help you give your Mac a thorough security checkup. After installing security software, you’ll give your passwords a full audit and find ways to protect your online accounts from hackers. We’ll reveal how to make web browsing…

Virtual Private Networks allow you to connect to the internet safely wherever you are, even if your only option is the dodgy unsecured Wi–Fi network in your local bar. Your data is encrypted before being transferred through a “tunnel” that’s impervious to attacks. When it reaches its destination, the data is decrypted — with the same happening in reverse. Your anti–virus tool may come with a limited free VPN built–in, but if you’re willing to pay, our VPN of choice is ExpressVPN (from around $13 a month, expressvpn.com) because it’s fast, secure, and covers all your devices. If that’s too expensive, try Windscribe’s free option (windscribe.com).…

Norton 360 $84.99 FROM us.norton.com Norton is one of the longest–established names in security, and Norton 360 both excels in basic protection (perfect AVTest scores) and in offering a raft of tools to boost your privacy online and off. Bitdefender Antivirus $59.99/year FROM bitdefender.com Bitdefender’s protection is so good you’ll often find other tools use its anti–virus engine. It consistently scores perfectly in the AVTest labs and doesn’t slow your Mac. Avira Antivirus Pro Around $50 per year FROM avira.com The free version provides solid protection against malware — perfect scores from the AVTest labs — but upgrade to gain added anti–ransomware, web, and email protection. Intego Mac Internet Security X9 Around $70 FROM intego.com This scores consistently well in lab tests, and while it’s a little heavy on resource…

$8.99 (IAPs) From Ginger Labs, gingerlabs.com Needs macOS 10.15 or later Notability is one of our favorite note–taking apps for iOS and iPadOS, and we’ve described its simple but powerful note–taking abilities as near–perfect. The Mac app comes courtesy of Apple’s Catalyst, which makes it easier to port iOS apps to macOS. Although it looks slightly different on a MacBook it’s essentially the same app, right down to the instructions to tap on icons and to resize images with your fingers. Some of the features in Notability require additional payment. Handwriting recognition to turn your writing into editable text and math recognition to turn equations into hi–res images are $2.99 each, and the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter themes are $0.99 apiece. The interface is organized into four sections including…

$199.99 From Razer, razer.com Features Gorilla Glass 3 lens, 1080p, 60fps, low–light sensor, microphone, braided USB–A to USB–C cable Razer is known for PC gaming, so why use its Kiyo Pro webcam on a Mac? Well, this remarkably well–made device exudes quality, from its rock–solid construction to its lengthy braided (USB–A to USB–C) cable. Its primary draw, though, is its adaptive low–light sensor. First, a major caveat: Razer’s Synapse app, which adjusts brightness, field of view, and more, does not work on Macs (Razer told us an app is in the works, though). Your video–calling app might let you adjust these settings, and if you also have a PC, you can adjust settings in Synapse there and the Kiyo Pro will remember them on your Mac. Basics like autofocus and…

$9.95/year per computer From iDrive, zipdrive.com Needs macOS 10.13 or later; iOS 13 or later; iPadOS 13 or later iDrive taps into ’90s nostalgia for Iomega’s popular successor to the floppy with its cloud–powered ZipDrive. The new service has more in common with Pogoplug, an early “personal cloud” which allowed users to remotely access files via web or mobile. ZipDrive fills the same niche, but wisely eliminates purchasing branded hardware to get connected. Beyond an active internet connection, all that’s required is host software for macOS, Windows, or Linux, and a $9.95 per year fee for each computer you want to access. On Mac, ZipDrive is a menu bar app used to enter your license key, plus a toggle switch that controls access to that computer. Other settings determine which…

It’s fully possible to transform your patio into a second lounge. We’ll leave the comfy seating choices up to you, but for entertainment Samsung has you covered. Its 2020 range introduced the Terrace TV, an IP55–rated 4K HDR screen built to be mounted on an outside wall. The Terrace isn’t cheap (the 55–inch model is $3,499, while the largest 75–inch edition costs $6,499) and it doesn’t sound great (you’ll probably need to shell out for Samsung’s tie–in Terrace Soundbar, $1,199) but it is, at least, an outdoor TV. If you have a “little” more to spend, try the LED–driven C Seed 301. You’ll need a big garden, both to accommodate its fold–out–of–the–floor mechanism and because it’s 301 inches corner–to–corner. The Austrian–made luxury screen costs around $1.5 million!…

Ensure you have good backups of its contents, and deauthorize any apps and iTunes accounts. Sign out of iCloud on that Mac, and allow time for all iCloud data to be removed from it. Next, sign out of your account in Prefs in Messages. The final step is to erase its internal storage and pre–install macOS ready for its new user, which you must perform with it connected to the internet. Start it up in remote Recovery mode, holding the Cmd, Opt, and R keys. Open Disk Utility there, select the startup disk, and click on the Erase tool. Set security options to erase free space, where available, choosing a level between the extremes for a balance between speed and security. Quit Disk Utility and select Reinstall macOS. Your Mac…

Using Migration Assistant to move your music library should convert its contents, including all playlists, so they’re fully functional in the Music app. Many users have found their playlists don’t work as well as they should, so it’s worth preparing just in case. On your old Mac, open iTunes and export all your playlists by going to File > Library > Export Playlist… Keep those safe, and use only copies of those originals. Then perform the migration to your new Mac. If the new Mac is missing music or playlists, copy your original iTunes Library to a location accessible to that Mac. Hold the Opt key when opening the Music app to browse to your original iTunes Library and try upgrading it again. Sometimes deleting the file at Music/Music/Music Library…

1 Enhance AI To fix a contrasting shot lacking detail in both the shadows and the highlights, click on the Edit module. Toggle open Enhance AI. Drag the Accent slider right to simultaneously lighten shadows and darken highlights. 2 Tonal tweaks Drag the Enhance AI right for more sky detail. Toggle open the Light panel. Manually reveal more color and sky detail by dragging the Highlights slider left. Reveal more underexposed detail by dragging Shadows right. 3 Delicate detail To create a print with more punch, open the Structure panel. Drag the Amount slider right. This increases midtone contrast and makes delicate details stand out more. Increase Boost to add extra impact.…

A JPEG format file provides a shorthand description of a scene’s colors and tones. A Raw format file tells the whole story. The photos in this tutorial were shot as Raw format files. Luminar AI can reveal more missing color and detail from a Raw file compared to a JPEG. More importantly, Raw files contain fewer compression artifacts. Any editing will exaggerate a JPEG’s artifacts, creating jagged blocks of color in graduated skies, for example. You can shoot in Apple ProRAW using an iPhone Pro 12 and edit the files in Luminar AI.…

EMAILS AND MESSAGES are all very well, but sending your correspondence in the post is sometimes necessary, or simply just a bit nicer. If you’re sending annual greetings cards, a family round robin, or a community newsletter to a few people, though, you end up with a lot of envelopes to sort. Nobody wants to have to sit down and write out dozens or even hundreds of postal addresses. Luckily, that’s where macOS’s Contacts app comes in. Use the Group or Smart Group function in the app and you’ll be able to keep all the relevant contacts grouped, and you’ll also be able to use that group as a mailing list for the thing(s) you want to send. Even better, select all the names in a group and click File…

1 Browse to images At the left of Photo Studio 7’s Manage workspace is the Folders pane. Toggle open the Local label to browse to folders full of photos located on your Mac. Click on a thumbnail in the File List pane to target it. 2 Rate images Go to the top of the Organize pane on the right. Here you can click to assign a color label (such as green to keep a good shot or red to reject a bad one). You can also numerically rate shots in order of preference. 3 Bigger picture To get a better look at a shot, click the View icon (top–right). This combines a filmstrip view with a bigger picture display. Shift–click on the selected image to add ratings or color labels…

1 Privacy controls Tap your profile icon in the top–left, then tap “Privacy.” Here, you can toggle read receipts, typing indicators, link previews, and much more. “Enable Screen Security” hides app content when using the App Switcher. 2 Secure the app In Privacy settings you can lock the app using Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode, and reset your Signal PIN. You can also choose to require this PIN if you log into your Signal account on a new device. 3 Add personalization Change your overall chat wallpaper in Settings > Appearance, or for one contact by tapping their name. There is also a toggle (disabled by default) to use your device’s contact photos for contacts in Signal.…

1 Erase your USB If you’re starting with a blank USB drive, it may not be blank — many manufacturers include utility apps. You can delete them manually or you can erase the drive in Disk Utility (it’s in Applications > Utilities on your Mac). 2 Change the format Many USB sticks are formatted for Windows in FAT/ExFAT formats. They should work on your device but it’s prudent to format them as Mac OS Extended in Disk Utility unless you need to use the drive on non–Apple hardware. 3 Drag your data Save files to your drive from inside apps or drag and drop them in the Finder, as shown here. One of the quickest ways is to open the external device, then open a new tab for the folder…

Shazam may be Apple’s in–house option but it isn’t the only music recognizer out there. One of its biggest rivals is SoundHound, which is really a showcase for its developers’ audio recognition expertise — their Houndify platform is used by the likes of Honda, Mastercard, and Motorola. Its iOS app offers Apple Music and Spotify integration, synchronized lyrics, voice control, and music discovery. It’s a very solid Shazam alternative. It can even recognize songs by listening to you sing! If you’d rather see the video than stream the audio, Genius may be the audio fingerprinter for you: when it recognizes a song it can show you the lyrics and take you to the official video. If it’s lyrics you’re after, Musixmatch Lyrics Finder uses Shazam–style song recognition to identify songs…

SEVERAL DAYS AGO I saw essentially the same “news” story pop up on Google from two different national newspapers: it was a “hack” for using your iPhone to store your receipts and other important documents. If you’ve been reading Mac|Life for a while, you might have the same reaction I did: why would you need a hack for that when you can just do it in the Notes app? And it turns out that’s what the hack was — to use the feature in the Notes app that’s designed exactly for this purpose. This got me thinking about two things: 1) Apple’s impossible task to let people know what features iOS has (especially after an update) without annoying people by giving them homework every time; and 2) what it really…

Control Center is new in Big Sur and works similarly to iOS. It groups together settings like display and keyboard brightness, volume, Wi–Fi, and Bluetooth. (You can still choose to have some of those settings in the menu bar.) Notification Center now combines notifications and the widgets that previously appeared in the Today tab. Widgets are grouped by app and nested. So if, for example, you have multiple Calendar notifications, you’ll see a stack. Click on it and all the notifications will be displayed. Notifications are now more interactive, so you can accomplish some tasks without opening the application. And you can add and remove widgets from third–party apps. Click on Notification Center, scroll to the bottom, and choose Edit Widgets. Click the “–” in the corner of any widget…

Now that Photos allows you to edit videos, and Big Sur expands that to allow cropping and filters, you might be wondering why you should bother with iMovie. But iMovie allows you to do a great deal more than just crop, trim, and add filters. For example, iMovie has 29 themes that make it really easy to turn your photos and movies into Hollywood–style trailers. It also allows you to add transitions and fades to your videos, as well as apply picture–in–picture, green screen effects, and speed up or slow down clips. iMovie also allows you to apply image stabilization to shaky clips, add Ken Burns–style effects to still images, adjust the color, and apply lots of different audio and video effects to clips. iMovie is well integrated with Photos,…

1 FIND A GIF TO SEND Click the new message button or click on a message thread in the sidebar. Type your message in the box, then click the “A” to display the options. Choose “#images.” Scroll through the GIFs to find the one you want. 2 GIF WITH A MESSAGE You can also use the search box to find images. When you’ve found the one you want, click on it to add it to your message. Press send to send the message, or press the “X” in the corner of the GIF to remove it. 3 IMAGE WITH EFFECTS Effects play an animation over the whole screen of an iOS device or window in macOS. Create a new message and this time, when you press “A,” choose Message Effects.…

ONE OF CATALINA’S biggest changes was the end of iTunes and its replacement with separate apps, Music, TV, and Podcasts. It’s no surprise, then, that these apps don’t get huge updates in Big Sur. The biggest change in Music is the replacement of For You with Listen Now. Similar to its predecessor, and like the iOS version, Listen Now suggests music, artists, and interviews it thinks you might like based on your listening habits. Search has been improved, too, with new filters. Listen Now also pops up in the Podcasts app, making it easier to find the next episode of podcasts. 1 Go social Apple Music allows you to find out what friends are listening to and share what you listen to with them. Click on Listen Now, then on…

The biggest change to Siri in Big Sur is that it can now answer a wider range of questions by searching the web. In addition, Siri in Big Sur can tell you about your Mac’s system, so you can ask “How fast is this Mac?” It can also search for files and you can ask follow–up questions. Siri can also make suggestions to you based on how you use your Mac, such as prompt you to create a calendar event for something you discuss in Messages. Siri can also change system settings, such as turning Wi–Fi on and off, or switching on Do Not Disturb. You can search within apps, say for notes or photos, and you can launch apps using Siri, too. Additionally, instead of speaking to your Mac…

Let’s start with the most fundamental aspect of security: installing anti–virus software. Skip to page 37 for a rundown of five of the best all–in–one solutions; you’ll also find plenty of free options available, starting with the free version of Avira Antivirus (avira.com), which provides real-time protection against viruses. Avira’s free offering does leave some gaps, so install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (malwarebytes.com), which can root out infections missed by other anti–virus tools. It’ll install as a fully functional 14–day trial with real–time protection before reverting to a free version that enables you to manually scan your system and remove any nasties you find. Be sure to set yourself a reminder to run a regular weekly scan. PROTECT ONLINE ACCOUNTS Are you still using the same passwords to protect your online identity?…

THE VAST BULK of your time online is spent in your web browser, and whether you’ve stuck with Safari or opted for one of the many alternatives, there’s plenty you can do to tighten security. Start by performing an audit of all those extensions (also known as add–ons) you’ve installed — in Safari, you’ll find them under the Extensions tab after selecting Safari > Preferences. Uninstall any you don’t recognize or don’t need, plus enable any that have been installed by your security software, which can offer additional protection (for example, Bitdefender’s TrafficLight extension will scan pages for potentially harmful content). Before proceeding, find and install your password manager’s browser extension to speed up logging into websites (and generating new, strong passwords when you set up new accounts or change…

EMAIL IS ONE of the most insecure forms of communication on the internet. By default, all messages are sent in plain text, which makes intercepting them a breeze. It means sharing sensitive data via email is a no–no unless you – and your email correspondent – are willing to encrypt your messages. The easiest way to do this is to both sign up for a dedicated email account with the likes of ProtonMail (protonmail.com), which provides encrypted email as standard between ProtonMail users. The step–by–step guide reveals the process required to generate an encryption certificate and key to scramble your emails using Mail — but it’s a one–time job, and can also be used to digitally sign your messages to prove your identity. Once set up, open Mail, select your…

Free (optional gratuity) From Click on Tyler, textbuddy.app Needs macOS 10.15 or later When you work with text, you often need to manipulate it. Text editors provide tools for doing this, but not necessarily all the ones you need. If one’s missing, chances are TextBuddy can come to your aid. Throw text into the app — be that plain text or mark-up — and you can do all kinds of things with it. There are over 100 commands to transform, filter, sort, and convert text. Need to pull text from HTML? Easy. Markdown to HTML? Simple. Open every URL within a document? Done. Remove every line containing the word “Microsoft”? Can do. Actions are instant and there’s a Spotlight–like Quick Command window that filters available commands as you type. Meanwhile,…

$19.95/year or $44.95 one–time purchase From MacPaw, macpaw.com/gemini Needs OS X 10.10 or later; 64–bit processor Since launching in 2016, Gemini 2 has become the quickest, most effective way to find and delete duplicate files. Featuring a simple drag–and–drop user interface with powerful tools to root out unwanted copies that consume valuable disk space, it’s hard to imagine this utility getting any better. Flash–forward a few years, and developer MacPaw has found a way. The latest version introduces Duplicates Monitor, an optional menu bar app that keeps tabs on specific disks or folders, notifying users in real–time as duplicates pop up. Best of all, Gemini quietly works in the background without needing to launch the full application. After being activated from Preferences, Duplicates Monitor begins scanning from the last location…

Free (IAPs) From Electronic Team, ftp-mac.com Needs macOS 10.12 or later With Mac OS X recently turning 20, now is a good time to acknowledge how far the Finder has come. But despite these advances, there are still Mac owners who feel it doesn’t go far enough — and that’s where alternative file managers come in. Commander One 3.0 is a versatile dual–pane solution with support for unlimited tabs, hotkey shortcuts, built–in Command Line bar, and FTP client that not only speeds up everyday tasks but also eliminates the need to purchase third–party Mac utilities. To some degree that includes the developer’s own CloudMounter now that Commander One directly accesses cloud storage services Google Drive, OneDrive, Mega, and pCloud, as well as Dropbox and Box. Launching Commander One 3.0 for…

$7.99 From Playdigious, playdigious.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 13.0 or later A punishing difficulty and permanent death that erases your progress can be great assets to a game. You’re forced to rapidly improve, learning new skills and tactical thinking as you take on each level. Every time you die, you know it was your own fault, yet you want to dive back in and give it another shot. Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee tries this but hits some major hurdles. The goal is to explore dungeon levels and power up new rooms. You then go back to the start, pick up your spaceship’s crystal, and transport it through the level to the exit point. Unpowered rooms spawn enemies, and picking up the crystal triggers them to…

These days, you don’t need to be a parenting expert to excel at raising your children. Aside from all the classes, books, and other resources available to you, there is an ocean of top–notch apps that make the whole process a little smoother. Whether you’ve just welcomed a new member into your family or are looking for a helping hand with a young child, there are plenty of apps that can help. This issue, we have focused on six of the best, ranging from early years helpers packed with advice to useful monitors that protect your kids from unsuitable content. Let’s take a closer look… THE WONDER WEEKS $3.99 (IAPs) From thewonderweeks.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Raising a baby can be tough if you don’t know what’s causing them…

HOW CAN I TURN OFF ACTIVATION LOCK ON MY iPHONE? The way to do this is changing, and currently depends on where in the world you are. In the United States, Apple now provides an online self–service system at bit.ly/mac364 activlock1. For other countries, you can enter the system with its guidance through bit.ly/mac364activlock3. HOW TO MINIMIZE APP UPDATES WHEN MY DEVICE IS USING MOBILE DATA? Open Settings, then App Store. Disable Automatic Downloads there, and set the App Downloads option to read Always Ask. This ensures that when there are updates available, you will always be free to postpone or decline them until your phone is back on a Wi–Fi network. ERROR WHEN INSTALLING A PACKAGE? This is most probably because the developer who built that Installer package didn’t…

That’s correct, and one of several oddities which you’ll discover in Big Sur. These arise because it’s no longer just a mass of files in a System volume, but what you’re seeing are the contents of a file system snapshot of a volume which isn’t even mounted. This new Sealed System Volume is created whenever macOS is installed or updated. Once its files have been installed, a cryptographic “hash” or checksum is calculated for them. More hashes are calculated for those hashes, and so on up to where there’s a single hash known as the Seal, which guarantees their overall integrity. Within that, dates of creation and modification are of little value, as the hashes verify integrity. Using a single common date and time of creation for all files makes…

This is an excellent time to get this done, given the diminishing supply of and support for scanners. There are good tools to enhance and retouch scanned images, but sharing them over a network is more of a problem. So long as you’re working with thousands not hundreds of thousands of images, Photos is a natural first choice, but it isn’t designed to work with networked libraries. The other alternative, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, is even more stringent and doesn’t work with fully networked libraries at all, only local ones. The next step up is a content management system, which is designed to be networked, but is considerably more expensive and complex. The danger with Photos Libraries is that two or more users could simultaneously modify their contents, something that the…

1 Notification Center basics Swipe right on a notification to hide it. Click the time and date in the top–right corner to open Notification Center. Here you can act on your alerts, see more details, close them, and more. 2 Stacked alerts Multiple notifications from the same app are grouped in stacks. Click the top notification in a stack to expand it and see the others, or hide them by clicking Show Less. Clear (or Clear All) removes the stacked alerts. 3 Take action Each notification has one or more options, such as snoozing an alarm or replying to a message. Hover over the notification to see the options (you might have to click a downward arrow to expand the options list). 4 See more Some notifications, such as those…

1 Color casts Different light sources can add warm or cold color casts to a shot. Cameras attempt to perform an auto white balance (AWB) operation to remove casts and show true colors. This doesn’t always succeed. 2 Manual correction Toggle open the Light panel. You can try choosing WB presets from the menu, such as Tungsten. For more accurate results, click the eyedropper tool on an area that should be white. A warm image will cool down. 3 Fine–tune color Open the Color panel and drag Vibrance to boost weaker colors without over–saturating skin tones. The Remove Color Cast slider is not as effective as performing a custom balance correction.…

WHEN APPLE’S iLIFE creative suite made its debut in 2001, one of its key attractions was the ability to edit home movies in iMovie. You could then burn them to new–fangled optical discs using iDVD — perfect for reliving happy family occasions and holidays on a DVD player. It seemed like the future. Twenty years later and you’re more likely to share your iPhone movie footage on YouTube than on a spinning piece of plastic, but macOS Big Sur still gives you the ability to create DVDs — albeit without the animated menus and seamless workflow that iDVD (which Apple retired in 2011) once did. Or the ability to play the discs back in DVD players, come to that. For that level of sophistication, you’ll need something like Roxio Toast…

1 Pick a card, any card We’ve created a group of contacts called The Appleseeds for the purposes of this tutorial, but you could actually print out every person’s card in Contacts if you wanted to, with each person given their own address label. 2 Choose a print option Select all of the contacts you want to print, and go to File > Print (Cmd+P) to bring up Contacts’ Print dialog. Under Style, select Mailing Labels, then under Page choose the label brand. 3 Choose a label type There are dozens of different label types, so make sure the Print dialog option you choose under Page matches what’s on the labels you’ve bought — this ensures they print correctly. Here we’re using Avery Standard 8768. Now, print!…

MANY OF US are finding things really hard right now, and sadly the thing that’s making things so difficult for so many — COVID-19 — is also making it hard for people to access the support that could help them. What if technology could step in? That’s the promise of mental health apps such as Woebot (free), which is being described as “the future of mental health.” It’s described as a “therapeutic relational agent” — basically, a chatbot for therapy. The idea behind the app is that you check in every day and talk to it just like you would talk to a human therapist. Through a combination of AI and natural language processing it can understand and adapt to your emotional and cognitive state, helping you discover ways to…

1 Contacts on Signal Tap the Pencil icon. If you give the app permission to access your contacts, friends using Signal will be shown here (pull down on the list to refresh it if they do not appear). Tap their name to start a conversation. 2 Group messages Start a group chat by tapping “New Group” at the bottom, or tap the pencil icon, then New Group. Tap the names of the people you want to add, then tap Next. Name your group, add a group photo, then tap Create. 3 Search by number Start a new chat or group by adding a friend’s phone number. Tap the Pencil icon, then “Find by Phone Number.” For groups, tap New Group then Find by Phone Number. The new message window then…

Recently, interest has surged in both Signal and Telegram. But which is the better app? If privacy is on your mind, get Signal. Every conversation you have is end–to–end encrypted by default, whereas in Telegram you must opt in (and there is no encrypted option for groups). Telegram has its benefits, like being able to send files up to 2GB in size versus 100MB in Signal. You can also use its web interface, whereas using Signal requires the app. Signal is more private, while Telegram has some nice extras. Get the one that most suits your needs.…

A GOOD NIGHT’S sleep is important for our overall well–being, yet too many of us stay up late at night scrolling on our iPhones. Ironically, though, your iOS device can actually help you get to sleep thanks to a handy feature in the Health app. That feature is Sleep Mode, which lets you define a bedtime schedule for the days and weeks ahead. When this schedule is active, your iPhone’s Lock Screen is dimmed, Do Not Disturb is enabled, and you’re encouraged to start relaxing for bed. Part of that process is Wind Down, which begins before your stated bedtime. If you have enabled this handy feature, Do Not Disturb mode starts from the moment Wind Down is active instead of waiting for your bedtime. You can also set Shortcuts…

IT’S EASY TO think of Apple and Microsoft as enemies — they’re certainly rivals in many fields and there have been some high–profile clashes. Look beyond the cliché, though, and the two companies have periodically come together to form mutually beneficial partnerships. A perfect example of this is Word, and the wider Microsoft Office suite. On 24 January 1984 the two companies announced Macintosh computers would run, amongst other things, Word. Macintosh Word was launched on 18 January 1985. Adapted directly from Word for DOS, it was the first graphical version of the software. Other related software followed for the Mac — the Spreadsheet tool Excel in September 1985, and presentation software PowerPoint in April 1987. It all added to the functionality of the newcomer machines as Apple fought to…

APPLE HAS ALSO announced the next generation of Apple TV 4K, built around the Apple A12 Bionic chip, boosting graphics performance, video decoding, and audio processing. Starting at $179 with 32GB storage or $199 with 64GB, Apple TV 4K now supports high frame rate HDR and Dolby Vision video, meaning that fast–moving action at 60fps plays more smoothly — great for sports streamed in high frame rate HDR. Plus, with high frame rate support in AirPlay, videos shot on iPhone 12 Pro can be displayed in full 60fps Dolby Vision. Apple TV 4K can use the light sensor in compatible iPhone models (those with Face ID) for color calibration, adjusting the video output to deliver truer colors and improved contrast. The all–new Siri Remote features an innovative clickpad control with…

1 DJI FPV dji.com $1,299 All it takes is a little move to turn a camera drone from a serene filming experience into a full–on thrill ride of a flyer; placing the camera on its nose makes DJI’s first–person–view drone the latter. Of course, the idea is you’ll be using the FPV to make a big move rather than a little one, so it’s a camera made to be viewed through goggles at speed: an 150–degree 4K viewpoint — broadcast at HD resolutions back to DJI’s own face setup at up to 120Hz — gives you a slick experience, essential in a world where low frame rates can cause motion sickness. Every early report says it’s an absolute blast to fly, and while we don’t see DJI troubling the dedicated…

There aren’t any new system–wide keyboard shortcuts or gestures in Big Sur, but the Reminders app gets a few new ones. There are now keyboard shortcuts for switching between lists and for changing due dates to, say, today, tomorrow, or next weekend. To configure system–wide shortcuts, go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts. Check or uncheck the box next to a shortcut to switch it on or off. Click on the shortcut itself to edit it. To manage gestures, use the Trackpad or Keyboard pane in System Preferences, depending on which you use with your Mac. Check and uncheck gestures and use drop–down menus to select how they are performed.…

1 CREATE THE ALBUM In the sidebar in Photos, hover over Shared Albums and click the “+” next to it. Give the album a title and type the names — if they are in your Contacts — or email addresses of people you want to share with. Click Create. 2 INVITE MORE PEOPLE To invite more people after creating an album, choose the album under Shared Albums and click the People icon in the toolbar. Click “+” next to Invite People and type the name or email address of the people you want to invite. 3 SHARED ALBUM WEB PAGE If you want to share an album with people not on iCloud, create a web page. Click the people tab in the album view and choose Public Website. This creates…

Messages is finally on a par with its iOS counterpart, and with other messaging apps on the Mac. You can now pin up to nine messages to the top of the messages list, reply inline to specific messages in a group conversation, “mention” participants in a group conversation, and choose its photo. GIFs and Memoji stickers come to the Mac and you can also create and edit Memojis in Big Sur Messages. When you first begin a conversation with someone new, you can choose whether to share your name and photo, or you can use a Memoji image or monogram instead. If you’re a fan of message effects in iOS, like fireworks and balloons, you’ll be pleased to see those are now in the Mac version too. And if you…

If you have more than one Mac or iOS device, you can use a service called Content Caching to reduce the amount of data you download over the internet and speed up OS updates and the retrieval of other data. With Content Caching set up, whenever a Mac or iOS device on the network downloads an update, the update is stored on a Mac on the network. The next time a device requests the update, it’s delivered from the cache, rather than being downloaded again. And it’s not just OS updates. Content Caching supports apps, app data such as GarageBand songs, Books, and iCloud data like photos and documents. To switch it on, go to System Prefs > Sharing, and check the box next to Content Caching. You can choose…

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If you have been relying on the same passwords to protect all your accounts, you need a password manager like Bitwarden (bitwarden.com). This allows you to create a secure vault inside which all your sensitive data — passwords, credit card details, and so on — can be stored safely. The vault is encrypted using a master password, the only one you need to remember going forward. (Make sure it’s a long one, with numbers, such as “WelcomeToTheJungle1987” — so long as it’s not easily guessable.) Bitwarden also comes with a password–generator tool to create the strong, random, and unique passwords you need. Plus, as with all good password managers, it offers extensions for all major browsers as well as mobile apps to make entering those passwords into websites easy.…

1 Set strong passwords Change your account passwords to something stronger. Use a password manager like Bitwarden to generate strong, random 12–character passwords. Make sure they’re saved in your vault. 2 Add 2FA Visit authy.com to install a two–factor authentication (2FA) app on your Mac and/or iPhone/iPad. Log into your social accounts and look in the security section for an option to switch on 2FA. Use Authy to store this info. 3 Check other settings Take the time to work your way through each account’s individual privacy and safety settings — make sure only those people you trust can see your content (such as Friends on Facebook). Always err on the side of privacy. 4 Secure networks Resist the temptation to log on to your social networking sites through insecure…

1 Apply for a certificate Go to bit.ly/mac364actalisfec to obtain your secure electronic mail certificate. It’s a simple two–step process, clearly laid out: first, enter your email and prove your identity, then request the certificate. 2 Obtain certificate Copy the password from the confirmation web page into your password manager as a secure note. Open the email, click the portal link, and choose “Access the Personal Area” to log in using your email and CRP code. 3 Update CRP After logging in, paste in the CRP from the email again, then generate a new private 8–16 digit CRP. Safari’s auto–suggestion is too long, so use your password manager’s generator or enter it manually. Click Submit. 4 Download certificate Click to return to the personal area, then click “Manage your certificates.”…

$8.99 From Lozange Lab, rip-them-off.com Needs macOS 10.13 or later This 2D game of “questionable ethics” has a jazzy soundtrack, visuals that owe a debt to the iconic posters of Saul Bass, and a tongue–in–cheek tone that fits nicely with these increasingly corporatized times. Your mission is to build lots of stores to attract “dupes” and then — you’ve guessed it — rip them off. If you don’t rip them off to a sufficient extent, the board will give you the boot. To prosper you have to decide where to place your stores and what kind of stores they should be. Get it wrong and you won’t make enough money to keep the board content. You can use your profits to add more stores and make more money, advancing up…

$8.99 From Charles Games, attentat1942.com Needs macOS 10.15 or later The premise of Attentat 1942 seems simple — you interview survivors of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia to discover information about your grandfather. The more you play, though, the more it reveals the complexity and ambiguities of trying to survive amidst such brutal repression. Why was your grandfather arrested by the Gestapo? How did your grandmother survive the war? These are the surface questions of the game, but they in turn reveal deeper uncertainties — by agitating against resistance activities, are you a collaborator or a survivor? Should you fight back even if it triggers violent retaliation against innocent people? Attentat 1942’s characters react to these questions in different ways; the past is complex, the truth hard to discern. Much…

THE POPULARITY OF True Wireless headphones — that is, headphones that connect to your devices over Bluetooth, have no wires between each unit, and fit inside your ear with buds — has exploded in recent years. But why not on– or over–ear wireless headphones? While the audio quality of on– or over–ear headphones is generally better, they’re not as flexible. True Wireless headphones are tiny, by comparison, easily fitting in your pocket; they’re barely noticeable in use; and they’re more comfortable. They’re also superior when it’s hot outside or when you’re working out — many are even water resistant for that reason. True Wireless headphones are also housed in a case which charges them when not in use — a big benefit when you’re on the move. Nowadays you can…

While some other smart lighting brands stick sensibly to the inside of your home, and others (like LIFX) make only slight excursions to the outdoors, Philips Hue has really cemented its outdoor expansion recently with a wide range of new outdoor bulbs and illuminators. Philips runs its own low voltage system to the garden, which allows you to daisychain together certain products for easy installation. And new devices like the (rumored, at press time) Hue Wave Linear (which feels an awful lot like an outdoor version of the Hue Play Bar) can sensibly take advantage of it. Note that you’ll often find the Bluetooth option missing from Hue’s outdoor bulbs, which does make sense; while it’s a neat addition to its newer indoor hardware, you’re not likely to want to…

Your two greatest considerations are your iMac’s internal storage and which apps you use. If it has an internal hard drive, then mandatory conversion of that to APFS format would impair its performance significantly and be disruptive. If your iMac has an SSD instead, then upgrading is likely to improve performance, as the new file system is designed for SSDs. Fusion Drives are somewhere between and depend on usage and the size of the SSD part of the drive. Check the versions of the apps you have installed. Mojave still runs older 32–bit apps, and Adobe CS6 remains usable for most. But later versions of macOS don’t run anything 32–bit; that would make it necessary to take out a subscription to Adobe’s replacement CC suite, for example. Similar considerations apply…

Not only can Numbers do this simply, but it performs non–linear regression, with basic and more detailed options. The quick and dirty way is to select two columns of X and Y values and create a 2D Scatter chart from them. In the Format sidebar, select the Series tab and choose one of the Trendlines, which offer both Linear and several non–linear regression lines. It will even display the equation and R^2 (R squared) value using the checkboxes below. To access numerical values for the gradient and Y–intercept elsewhere, use its more formal formulae of SLOPE and INTERCEPT on the same two columns of data. For standard error, sums of squares, and other values in addition to slope and intercept, use LINEST to return an array.…

LUMINAR AI’S TEMPLATES provide a quick way to creatively grade your images to produce a range of attractive looks. However, by using a template you do run the risk of making your shots look somewhat “standardized.” Your photos may also suffer from problems with under — or overexposure, color casts, and lens–induced distortion. Fortunately, Luminar AI boasts a digital darkroom — the Edit module — that is packed full of tools that can overcome common picture problems. While the latest iPhones use Smart HDR to combine multiple exposures into a single well–exposed shot, if you shoot on DSLR cameras you may find it more challenging to capture detail in contrasting shadows and highlights. Luminar can selectively adjust contrasting tones to reveal missing details. Of course, many of Luminar’s Edit tools…

1 View noise In low–light conditions, your camera may use a high (fast) ISO speed to capture more detail. However, this can lead to nasty specks of color and luminance noise. Press Cmd+1 to zoom in by 100% and check for noise. 2 Reduce noise Toggle open the Denoise panel. Drag Color Denoise to 100%. This reduces rainbow specs of color noise. Drag Luminosity Noise right to get a compromise between smoothing out noise while preserving key details. 3 Reduce distortion Every lens adds some distortion to a shot (causing straight lines to curve or barrel at the edges). Scroll down to the Professional section, toggle open Optics, and select the Auto Distortion Corrections box.…

1 Export an iMovie project In iMovie > Projects, click the “…” icon next to the project you want to export. Choose Share Project > File, then choose a title, tags, and a suitable video resolution. Click Next to export the file. 2 Copy the file to a DVD While this method doesn’t create a VIDEO_TS file that enables your movie to be played on a DVD player, you can still use the DVD to share video files or create a backup. Insert a blank DVD and choose Open Finder in the window that appears. 3 Burn, baby, burn Drag and drop the file you exported earlier onto the DVD image — it will appear as an alias there. In Finder, click the Burn button, then in the pop–up that…

IF YOU’VE BEEN taking photos for many years you’re likely to have thousands of images scattered across a range of locations, from your Mac’s Pictures folder to a motley collection of removable hard drives. This can make it a tedious challenge to find specific files, especially if you can’t remember when a particular photograph was captured or which drive it’s stored on. Fortunately, you can use a Digital Asset Management app such as Photo Studio for Mac 7 to round up and organize thousands of stray shots. In part one of our look at the app, we’ll demonstrate how to use key asset management tools such as ratings, color labels, and keywords. You can also place images in easy–to–browse custom categories (such as cats, dogs, portraits, etc). You can then…

1 Say hello Woebot is a chatbot, designed to talk and interact like a human counselor — albeit one with a lame sense of humor. When you first run the app, Woebot will tell you a little about who they are and what they’re here to do. 2 Start chatting It’s important to feel at ease in these conversations, so the app takes a bit of time to get you comfortable with the character. Many of your responses are canned replies, such as the “really” and “that’s strange” options here. 3 Answer questions Woebot bases its sessions around simple questions. For example, here it’s asking us to think of three things we’re grateful about. This is to introduce us to the idea of gratitude journalling, recognizing the good things in…

1 Take a picture Tap the camera icon on the home screen to take a photo. You can flip the camera, toggle the flash, or choose from your photo library using buttons on screen. Tap the “+” button to take and send multiple pictures. 2 Blur faces Once you have taken a photo, you can blur faces by tapping the hatched circle button at the top of the screen and enabling the “Blur Faces” toggle. Draw with your finger to blur additional areas that you want to hide. 3 Tweak your image After taking a photo, you can add text to your image, doodle on it, crop it, and save it to your phone. In the bottom–left there’s a button to stop the image from being viewed more than once…

iPADS AND iPHONES don’t have expandable storage — but you can use external USB sticks and memory cards to transfer or store files you don’t need to keep on your device. Things are easier if you own an iPad Air or iPad Pro equipped with USB–C, since you can connect USB–C sticks directly. However, often you’ll need an adapter, especially when using a memory card, or an iPad or iPhone equipped with Lightning. In that case, to connect USB sticks, you will need the Lightning to USB Camera Adapter or the Lightning to USB–3 Camera Adapter; to connect memory cards, the Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader or the USB–C to SD Card Camera Reader. While USB sticks don’t use as much power as external hard drives, they still need…

1 Upcoming alarms Open the Health app, tap Browse, then tap Sleep. Scroll to Your Schedule and tap Edit to adjust the next upcoming alarm on your schedule, toggle the alarm on or off, snooze the alarm, and more. Tap Done. 2 Adjust regular timetable Tap Full Schedule & Options, then tap Edit to adjust your current schedule. Here, the settings apply to every day that Sleep Mode is active. You can also choose which days it runs on. 3 Add a new schedule Tap Add Schedule for Other Days to add another schedule in addition to an existing one. You could have one for weekdays and one for the weekend, or a special schedule if you regularly travel on a certain day. 4 Track your sleep goals Under Additional…