Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2016 i MacLife

EXPERTS SAY virtual reality will be an 150 billion dollar market by 2020. Augmented reality, products such as Microsoft HoloLens that project 3D on top of your field of vision, will only add to this number. Clearly – as discussed on page 12 – this is an area Apple should be exploring, but how prepared is it? The biggest challenge of VR is getting hardware into consumers’ hands. If people don’t have VR devices, developers have no way to make money from making content. Unfortunately, VR hardware that doesn’t make you nauseous is extremely expensive. The consumer version of Oculus will cost over $600 and will require a $1,200 PC. The HTC Vive is expected to cost more than $800 at launch, and Microsoft’s HoloLens dev kit will cost $3,000.…

1 Gather some information In Terminal, type diskutil list and press ® to list partitions, grouped by disk under rows starting /dev/diskX (where X is a number). Two rows below, use the Size column to work out which disk identifiers refer to your internal HD and your SSD. 2 Protect partitions To avoid wiping the partition that contains the Recovery system and, if it exists, one for Boot Camp as well, examine the output for a row that lists the name of the partition that contains OS X. Note its identifier to the right, which will be in the format diskXsY. 3 Logical volume group Type diskutil cs create Fusion followed by a space, then the identifier of your SSD, another space, and then the identifier of your OS X…

$1.99 Developer Tantsissa, heartwatch.tantsissa.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 8.4 or later HeartWatch uses data collected by Apple Watch’s sensors to keep track of your pulse. It splits the day into four categories: waking, workout, regular (for most of the day) and sleep (if you wear your Watch in bed). Data is well presented, making it easy to detect “triggers” of increased pulse. Commute to work on the train? A quick look will show how that journey affects you, stress-wise. Workout data splits your heart rates into four colored zones of increasing intensity (green, blue, yellow, and red), showing how long you’ve spent in each zone. Notifications warn when your heart rate exceeds or drops below a level you specify. You can zoom out to a max of 12 weeks to…

$2.99 Developer Yooshr Ltd, infltr.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 8.1 or later This photo-editing tool gives you both more and less than other apps. It claims to offer infinite filters you can apply to your photos (which is impossible to verify unless someone wants to give an infinite number of chimpanzees an infinite number of iPhones), which you can view just by pressing your finger on the screen and dragging it around. As you move, you go through random filters, from color casts to contrast tweaks to grain, and loads more. There’s a little button to activate a vignette too, and this changes just like the filters. If you don’t want to drag, you can just double tap the screen to get a new filter. In practice, this is both…

$2.99 Developer Black Pants Studio, blackpants.de Platform Universal Requirements iOS 6 or later It must be disappointing to have a superpower that comes with a big limitation. And, by that logic, Blown Away’s cartoonish hero – like a sinister greetingscard creation come to life – must be somewhat disheartened. Sure, he can teleport from ledge to ledge through his windblown surroundings like Mary Poppins on a cafferine high, but he needs to keep his batteries charged. We don’t mean that metaphorically: each space-time shift depletes a battery, which will only recharge while he’s in contact with the ground. This means that obstacles and gaps between ledges can be tricky. You’ll need to get as close as possible, to maximize the juice refilling your tank – but not so close that…

From the smallest apartment to the biggest mansion, every home can do with a bit of TLC. A few little changes can make an enormous difference to your home, and a few little apps can make an enormous difference to how much fun you’ll have doing it. HOUZZ (Free, Universal) is a good place to start. It’s packed with design ideas ranging from the sensible to the spectacularly unrealistic, and you can use it to scrapbook your favorites and find products that’ll look just great. It’s a fantastic app for finding design inspiration. If you’ve ever ordered furniture only to discover that it was too big to fit in or just looked plain weird with the rest of your furnishings, you’ll appreciate the value of the excellent HOMESTYLER INTERIOR DESIGNER…

Free Developer Edmund Mai, edmundmai.wordpress.com Platform iPhone, watchOS Requirements iOS 8 or later The theory here is laudable. The developer has identified the nine most common phrases you might need if stuck abroad, presenting them on your iPhone as a grid of icons. Tap one and it shows the appropriate translation, after detecting your location; it’s all preloaded, so no data connection needed. And having this on your Watch – which you’re likely always to have with you – would be a boon. Unfortunately, all the Watch shows is the icon and a word, not the phrase, and there’s no way of manually selecting the language – for rehearsing ahead, or just for countries where multiple languages are spoken. Indeed, the developer doesn’t even tell you what languages are included.…

$29 Manufacturer iQunix, iqunix.com Dimensions 3.9x3.9x7.1 in This is a simple idea that works surprisingly well. It’s a very well-made aluminum iPad stand that holds your tablet using a sticky pad. But it’s not a chemical adhesive – it uses micro-suction-cups to hold the smooth back of your iPad tight just using physics, so leaves no residue afterwards. All you do is press the iPad to the black pad (fairly firmly, but it doesn’t take much effort) and it will stay right there – and this means it works with any iPad, including the Pro. Getting your iPad off easily requires learning a bit of a technique (pulling from one corner first, basically), but is no hassle. It’s also got a pad on the stand’s base, keeping it firmly in…

Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi connections used by multiroom speakers are a bit more complicated than the well-established wireless standard of Bluetooth audio. The Wi-Fi link has to be controlled by the apps provided by each individual manufacturer, which means that you’re dependent on the features that are built into those apps. Most manufacturers include Spotify in their apps, but none of them currently works with the Apple Music service. Bose, Pure and Philips get around that problem by cleverly using Bluetooth (in some cases, combined with Wi-Fi) – which can be a bit fiddly to set up, but allows you to listen to Apple Music on their multiroom speaker systems. Sonos speakers don’t have Bluetooth, so that route is not an option. However, Sonos is planning to update its Controller app…

THE APPLE Watch can be used to control other apps and devices, but we’re now starting to see a new generation of wearable tech that lets you control devices with your body – or even your brain. A company called Myo has developed an armband containing sensors that can detect the movement of your arm and hand. The Myo can pair with your Mac, PC or iOS devices using ordinary Bluetooth, allowing you to control apps such as iTunes with a quick wave flick of your wrist. Other developers are producing their own apps for Myo too, including Parrot, which has released an app that lets you guide its flying drones with the movement of your arm! But the ultimate in remote control will be devices such as the MindRDR…

IT’S EASY TO become a slave to routine – I know I’ve been guilty of it for long periods over the years. When we know how to do something (or even just think we do), it’s common to fall into that rut and just do it the way we always have. And equally, it’s easy to not think about the things we could do a little differently to make our lives easier, because we’re focused on what we do already. Our big feature this issue aims to help break those habits. Macs are incredibly versatile machines, and gain new abilities all the time. Partly it’s about maybe re-learning tasks you already do, in a way that’s faster and more efficient; partly it’s about picking up new things that can just…

APPLE HAS MANAGED to deliver big advances in its own processors every year, pushing its iOS devices ever closer to its desktops. This gets harder and harder to do over time, but Apple does have options to keep on the cutting edge. TSMC is a chip-manufacturing company that currently makes 30-40% of Apple chips, but that might increase in the future. It has developed integrated fan-out (InFO) packaging, which allows chips to be mounted directly on top of each other, without requiring a substrate. This takes up less space than the A9 chip, and so could lead to a thinner and lighter iPhone – the perpetual Apple dream. However, it’s also possible that Samsung – Apple’s primary chip manufacturer – might take over all of the A-series chip production if…

CHANCES ARE, you and most of the people you know, think of adult education as a traditional university. It’s probably an endeavor involving at least four years, probably longer, but that’s all changing these days. A variety of schools and “bootcamps” are drawing new lines around teaching people new skills and education, and it’s going to change the way we learn, do business, and grow as a culture. Trade schools are nothing new, but they typically involve a commitment of a year or two. A newer approach to skill training are these bootcamps: short-form, intense courses that focus on a specific skill for a specific industry. Some are part-time or online, while an increasing number are full-time periods of around 8 to 12 weeks, usually learning from and working with…

1 Kodak Super 8 Camera kodak.com $TBC >>> For the 50th anniversary of 8mm film, Kodak is bringing it back in a big way. Its new line of Super 8 film cameras combine digital benefits with the sheer style of old-school movie-making. You record onto 8mm film, but Kodak is making sure you can still use a digital workflow: when you’ve used a pack of film, just send it to Kodak and it’ll be processed and digitized for free. The camera also includes a 3.5-inch LCD display for seeing what you’re recording, and has a microphone that records to SD cards. Add to all that a great retro design from Yves Béhar, and we’re happy to be back in the ’70s. 2 Acer H7 acer.com $499 >>> This is one…

DISABLE SIP El Capitan’s System Integrity Protection feature locks down your Mac’s System folder for better protection. If you need to temporarily disable it, restart your Mac with held down, then choose Utilities > Terminal. Type csrutil disable and press, then restart. When you’re done tweaking, return here and type csrutil enable to switch SIP on. TWO-STEP VERIFICATION Apple is rolling out two-factor authentication; where you enter a verification code the first time you use your Apple ID and password on an unrecognized device. If you want to tighten security, look to enable two-step verification too, which will require you to enter a four-digit verification code sent to a trusted device each time you sign into key services or make purchases from a new device. Go to apple.co/1N9SqsI. AVOID WEBSITES…

1 THE INSTANT ALPHA TOOL Place an image in your document then select it. Open the Format inspector (click the paintbrush in the toolbar) and click the Image tab, then “Instant Alpha.” First, put the crosshairs over an area of the background you want to remove. 2 SELECT AN AREA TO REMOVE Hold the mouse or trackpad button and drag in any direction – the area that will be made transparent increases, and changes color. Drag too far and the foreground will be included; drag back in the opposite direction to fix it. 3 ERASE AND REPEAT When you’ve selected the right amount, release the mouse or trackpad button to remove it. Now click elsewhere on the background and repeat until you’ve cleared the background. Click Done when only the…

MAGIC KEYBOARD IN BOOT CAMP If you’re running Windows in Boot Camp or a virtualized environment, such as Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion, use for the Windows key, Alt+instead of Windows’ Alt Gr key, for Pause/Break, for Insert, and ƒ plus the …, “or ‘ arrow key for Page Up, Page Down, Home and End respectively. MULTIPLE KEYBOARDS If you’ve bought two or more keyboards with different language layouts, switch between them automatically by opening the Keyboard pane in System Preferences and putting a check mark next to “Automatically switch to a document’s input source” in the Input Sources tab. Checking “Show Input menu in menu bar” displays a national flag that, when clicked, lets you switch manually. ACUTE ADVICE Alternatively, if you only occasionally need to type an accented…

1 GO TO PHOTOS If you have dead time or unwanted footage at either end of a video, or you just want to make it shorter to upload to Facebook, you don’t need a special app – you can trim it in the Photos app. 2 SELECT THE VIDEO TO TRIM In the Camera Reel, tap the video’s thumbnail and then tap Edit. If you’re having trouble picking out your video clips, go to the top of the Albums view and select Videos to hide still photos. 3 TRIM AWAY IN EDIT VIEW Drag either end of the yellow border around your clip inwards to trim footage from the corresponding end of the video, then tap Done. You can save the trimmed clip as a new file or overwrite the…

WITH YOUR IPHONE connected to your Mac using USB, videos can be transferred to your Mac in two ways. Firstly, you can open iMovie to import them directly into the editor using File > Import Media, where the phone shows up as a camera so you can browse its contents. Secondly, you can use Image Capture (in /Applications/Utilities) on any Mac to transfer your videos to a folder. The resulting QuickTime files can then be dragged into iMovie or another editor. The iPhone compresses video using the H.264 codec. While this is a clever capture format, it requires a lot of computational power to edit. If you’re editing 4K on a slower Mac, such as a 13-inch MacBook Pro or an older model, it may help to convert 4K videos…

This is the hardware we used to create our Fusion Drive. You might be able to save a few bucks on the SSD price (different brand/capacity), but our pick is a good deal. SANDISK CRUZER FIT Any USB 2.0 or 3.0 flash drive can be used to create an OS X install disc. Its capacity only needs to be 8GB; this one cost us $7. SAMSUNG 850 EVO The 250GB version of this drive sells for just $90. That’s almost double the flash storage capacity used in Apple’s largest Fusion Drives! STARTECH S2510BPU33 This USB 3.0 enclosure requires no tools to open and fit an SSD, for $19. There’s also an option with integrated cable for a mere $25.…

$2.99 Developer Wanman, maxcurve.net Platform Universal Requirements iOS 7 or later THIS MONTH’S MOST INTERESTING iPHONE & iPAD APPS Editing an image using the Curves palette in Photoshop is the sort of thing that can put people off doing it again. In MaxCurve, however, almost everything is a curve, so you’d better get used to them. Curves let you tweak how images look across a range (from blacks to highlights, say) by raising or lowering sections of a line – literally adding curves. The app can open images from your photo library, access the camera, or even take images from desktop Photoshop, via Adobe’s little-used Remote Connections option, if your desktop and iOS devices are on the same network. The first two tools are cropping and sharpness/grain/vignetting, which are pretty…

99¢ Developer Francisco Cantu, macrecon.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later Split View on the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro puts two apps side by side. Unfortunately, it doesn’t enable you to run two instances of the same app next to each other, such as two Safari tabs. Sidefari gets round this using Safari View Controller, the “in-app” browser Apple provides to developers. Fire up Safari, then open Sidefari in Split View, activate Safari “Send to Sidefari” Share sheet extension, and you can view two web pages side by side, as well as send links between the apps. Sidefari works with installed content blockers and retains its own history. There’s a “modal” view in apps that support it, which loads a page in an overlay…

$4.99 Developer Auxy, auxy.co Platform iPhone, iPod touch Requirements iOS 9 or later Auxy attempts to get more people making music on mobile, primarily by rethinking interface design conventions. This results in an app that’s approachable and usable, whether you’re a relative newbie or an old-hand to composing. New projects begin life as a blank grid, comprising four tracks of 16 empty loops. When editing loops, you tap out notes on a piano roll note grid, much like in GarageBand, but the playhead moves vertically, which is optimal for an iPhone in portrait. For bass and leads, this works well, although drums lack labels, which is awkward. Also, while you can pick a key and scale, octaves are restricted to seven notes. Loops can be expanded from one to four…

$3.99 Developer Oddrok Oy, oddrok.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 7 or later If being a crime-fighting robot on a hoverboard wasn’t your dream as an angsty teenager, you were clearly lacking in imagination. But if it was? This is the game for you! The setup is simple: your avatar speeds around on his futuristic skateboard, and all you need to do is press the left and right side of the screen to steer him. Levels are labyrinths of ramps (off which you grab “sick” “air”), rails (along which you grind automatically) and spikes (upon which you don’t want to become a metallic kebab). There are also environmental hazards, such as the undulating bodies of giant sand snakes, or beach balls that inflate a moment’s notice. Your primary aim – aside…

APPS AND GUIDES TO GET MORE FROM YOUR WATCH $19.99 Developer Karelia Software, karelia.com Platform Universal, watchOS Requirements iOS 9.1 or later To-do apps are everywhere, but since this one costs significantly more than most others, and especially since the App Store is stuffed with apps like the powerful, free Wunderlist, it had better be pretty special. Happily, it is. A quick overview of the iPhone app first. You can have multiple lists, grouped into folders, jobs can be tagged (as you go, or by assigning them to tag trees you’ve already built), and you can view jobs by tags. Set due dates and start dates and your tasks that need actioning now will show up in a Today view, while others will be in Upcoming. Usefully, tasks can have…

1 SYNC PLAYLIST To play music from your Watch to Bluetooth speakers or headphones, sync a playlist from the iPhone using the Watch app; note options for limiting size. 2 PAIR SPEAKERS Put the speakers/headphones into pairing mode and then go to the Settings > Bluetooth section of your Watch; tap them to connect. 3 CHOOSE SOURCE Launch Music on your Watch; it will default to your iPhone, but press firmly and tap Source or scroll to the top of the screen to reveal a source toggle.…

$4.99 Developer It’s About Time Products, helloiat.com Requirements OS X 10.8 or later, 64-bit processor Arriving is a Mac application with support for nearly 100 worldwide carriers, including USPS, FedEx, UPS, and DHL. But it’s not necessary to select a carrier, because Arriving will parse and auto-detect tracking numbers copied to the clipboard, so all that’s required is to optionally name the package. The interface looks familiar… Arriving is a shameless copy of Junecloud’s Deliveries, right down to the list-and-map layout. Arriving does offer a few unique touches, such as the ability to expand entries for tracking info, or preview entries from the menu bar. But overall, it lacks the fit and finish of Deliveries. Deliveries color-codes package entries by carrier; packages look the same in Arriving, and sometimes display…

BETTER LIVING THROUGH SMARTER TECHNOLOGY Bluetooth is a great way to steam audio. but has its limitations, both in terms of range and audio quality, and the need to “pair” your Mac or iOS devices with individual speakers means that your music is usually stuck in one room at a time – unless you pick up the speaker and carry it around with you. The next step for true musical flexibility in the home, therefore, is the addition of Wi-Fi connectivity, which allows you to connect multiple speakers to your home network. This means that you can stream music to any room in your home – or even to several rooms all at once. The greater speed and bandwidth of Wi-Fi also provides much better audio quality, as well as…

BLUETOOTH OPTION Don’t forget that most multiroom speakers have a Bluetooth option, which means that you can connect them to an Apple TV in order to boost the sound for films and TV programmes. JARGON BUSTER Dual-band Wi-Fi routers such as Apple’s AirPort range can transmit on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. The 2.4GHz signal has greater range but is more susceptible to interference, such as microwave ovens. Check to see which speakers also connect at 5GHz. 1 Getting started With the exception of the Philips Izzy, all these speakers use an app on your iOS device to set up and connect to your home network. Here we’re using the Sonos Controller app to set up the Play:5 in our living room. 2 Wireless setup The app automatically detects the…

Free Featuring pinball tables licensed from high-profile entertainment properties such as Marvel, Star Wars, The Walking Dead, and others, Zen Pinball has made the leap from mobile devices to the big screen — and all those In-App Purchases you’ve already made will carry right over. While the action is more traditionally vertical on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, Zen Pinball has adapted rather nicely to the horizontal HDTV screen. Naturally, instead of moving your device around to shift your silver ball, here the Siri Remote acts as a stand-in to get things rolling. Tap on the Touch surface to get those flippers moving, and you can simulate the physics of abusing a real-world pinball table by shaking the Siri Remote. Best of all, it works with your existing Game Center…

PANASONIC TX-65CZ950 £8,000 (US release TBA) panasonic.com 4K may be overkill for Apple TV, but excess is exactly what Panasonic is going for with the TX-65CZ950. This 65-inch model throws perhaps the best OLED display ever onto your wall, but at the moment it’s not available in the USA, and if you have to ask how much, you probably can’t afford it. PHILIPS FIDELIO B5 $899 usa.philips.com At first it looks like just another soundbar, but Philips Fidelio B5 has some serious, Transformerlevel skills. Within seconds, this curvaceous piece of hardware goes from 2.1 to 4.1 surround thanks to detachable Bluetooth speakers at each end. It’s pricey and stereo sound may be on the weak side, but this is seriously cool stuff.…

REQUIRES > OS X 10.10 or higher LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 15 minutes THE TODAY VIEW in Notification Center was first introduced in OS X Yosemite to mirror the one that’s become so useful and popular in iOS. Not a lot has changed in El Capitan, but are you using it properly? The Today view is reached by clicking on Notification Center’s icon, which is right-most in the menu bar, then clicking the Today tab at the top of the slide-out pane that appears. While originally intended as a place to go to find out what’s happening today, it has become a repository for all kinds of widgets from Apple and third parties. To some extent, it’s taken the place of the deprecated (but not yet defunct)…

REQUIRES > OS X 10.9 or higher. iOS 7.0.3 or higher. LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 20 minutes PASSWORDS, BANK CARD numbers, email account settings… living in the modern world requires us to memorize more obscure info than ever. No wonder so many of us pick a single, easy-to-remember password and use it across every service, from webmail to online banking. While that might make life easier, it certainly doesn’t make it secure, as a breach of any one of those systems leaves every site you ever sign in to – as well as your Mac – potentially vulnerable. Fortunately, iCloud Keychain can help. This feature, built in to OS X and iOS, syncs your account credentials between each of your Apple devices, so you can set obscure,…

I’ve been a loyal subscriber since the early MacAddict days. I love almost every issue of your great magazine. One thing I’d like to see more coverage on is safeguarding Apple users’ privacy. As an American, I sometimes feel like I’m living in East Germany with Stasi – AKA Google – watching over my every online move. I’ve learned a few privacy protection tricks over the last few months but I’d like to see Mac|Life devoting more space to privacy protection. Apple has pledged to never track its customers. I hope you can teach us more about how to protect our privacy and not feel like we live in the Soviet bloc. For example, one product I now use is Disconnect.me; can you tell us how safe such products are?…

MAGICAVOXEL FREE Voxels are pixels in 3D (so, cubes), and this tool lets you build sculptures out of them. You start with a large cube of voxels, which you can remove or add smaller cubes to, to make fun shapes. You can add color to your creations, and then render them with di􀄼erent material e􀄼ects applied. Get it from ephtracy.github.io VERSION TESTED: 0.97 GIFROCKET FREE This is an easy, low-touch tool for turning your videos into GIFs, so you can share them easily online. Just drag a video into its window to start the conversion, or use the con􀄽guartion tool at the top right before you start to specify only a small portion of the clip, the GIF’s size and its quality setting. It’s prone to freezes, but works well.…

1 THE MARTIAN Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels $14.99 It’s Ridley Scott doing science fiction! What could be better? Promethe-what-now? Anyway, this is an adaptation of a hit book, following Mark Watney after he’s left stranded on Mars alone when a storm forces his team to abandon their mission. At the start, he’s left without any way to contact Earth – and even if he could, he doesn’t have enough food to last him the time it would take a rescue mission to arrive. The film follows him as he thinks and works around these problems, and is a great paean to ingenuity – though we do think it loses a little too much of the difficulty and effort presented in the book. 2 BLACKSTAR David Bowie $9.99 David…

1 MAX YOUR APP Start by clicking the green button at the top left corner of one of the two apps you want to use to switch it to fullscreen mode. Don’t worry about the menu bar disappearing: moving the pointer to the top of the screen will reveal it. 2 ADD YOUR SECOND APP Press Mission Control (F3); hold Alt and click the previous space in the top bar (to show spaces when you put the pointer over it). Now you can see the windows in that space, drag one from a second app on to the first app’s space in the top bar. 3 REAPPORTION SPACE As you drag the window, you have a choice of dropping it onto the left or right side. Make that choice, and…

1 INSTALL CYBERGHOST CyberGhost’s free service is suited to free, unencrypted Wi-Fi hotspots, though it works elsewhere too. Go to bit.ly/cg_ml and click “Free Download.” Open the disk image and drag the app to the Applications folder. 2 SIGN UP Open CyberGhost and install the helper app when prompted. When the main window appears, click the power button to connect via VPN – you’ll have to wait in a queue, but it only takes a few minutes before you’re automatically connected. 3 BEEF UP SECURITY You’ll be assigned a random location (you can specify a country) and once connected everything you do will be encrypted and sent securely. The connection will automatically close after three hours – just reconnect to go again.…

1 SET UP AN APP Download and open Album Artwork Assistant (bit.ly/albumartassist). Choose Album Artwork Assistant > Install iTunes AppleScript. Switch to iTunes. Select the album with missing artwork, choose Scripts > Find with Album Artwork Assistant. 2 ADD ARTWORK A new window will open to a list of potential image matches – use the one with the largest dimensions (500x500 pixels), then click Add Immediately and it’ll be added to all the tracks that are listed, which come from your selection in iTunes. 3 ADVANCED TIPS You may need to tweak search terms. Try adding the artist name. Beware titles like “Greatest Hits,” which will pull in matching tracks regardless of artist. If necessary, select tracks you don’t want to change, choose Edit > Delete.…

iPHONE 6S OR 6S PLUS Both of Apple’s latest iPhone models are able to shoot the same quality of 4K video. However, the 6s Plus also has the advantage of optical image stabilization – this enables much steadier handheld shots. 4K-CAPABLE CAMERA Some photo cameras offer better low light performance and a cinematic shallow depth of field for 4K video. Our camera recommendations include Panasonic’s G7, GH4, LX100 and the Sony A7S II. A MAC WITH A RETINA DISPLAY The Retina 5k Or 4k Imacs can both display 4K videos’ detail in full, and are powerful enough to edit them. 15-inch models of the MacBook Pro are also capable of smoothly editing 4K video. iMOVIE OR FINAL CUT PRO X For beginners, iMovie (on iOS or OS X) offers a simple…

1 OPEN IMOVIE If the iMovie app isn’t on your iPhone, you can install it from the App Store – it’s free when you buy a new phone. 4K editing is available on the iPhone 6s & 6s Plus, iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro. 2 CREATE A NEW PROJECT Tap the + icon and you’ll be given a choice of creating one of two types of project: a new movie or a new trailer. Select the former and then choose a theme, then tap Create. 3 SELECT YOUR CLIP Tap the icon that’s film and a musical note to add videos and other media to your project: tap an item, then the downward arrow. It will move to your at the gap nearest to the playhead. 4 EDIT YOUR…

1 iMOVIE ON A MAC When you’ve finished editing in the Mac version of iMovie, choose File > Share and take a look through the list of places and methods to which you can publish your creation direct from the app. 2 CHOOSE WHERE TO EXPORT Unless you want to send video to a single, preset destination, such as Facebook, we suggest picking “File” as it keeps quality, as well as flexibility to use that highquality copy in multiple places. 3 CHOOSE A FILE FORMAT Your edited masterpiece will be saved as one large file. Choose an output resolution – for example, 4K, 1080p or 720p – on this screen and click Next to start the export process going.…

$4.99 Developer Peter Szwach, useproud.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later Everyone could use more time in their day, but most productivity apps feel like they weren’t designed for people. Proud takes a more flexible approach, encouraging downtime to catch your breath when there’s too much to do. That’s not to say Proud doesn’t work like traditional to-do apps, but here lists and tasks work the same. Tasks can include unlimited sub-tasks, so busy users can pile on as much as they want and trust Proud will have their back. Proud offers three views: Lists, Reminders, and History. The first shows a complete picture of what needs to get done, the second focuses only on what’s coming, the third shows everything accomplished so far. New tasks are added with…

Free Developer Hulab, mapstr.com Platform iPhone, watchOS Requirements iOS 7 or later Building a list of locations and plotting them on a map – restaurants you want to try in your home town, spots you want to visit in the city you’re vacationing at next month, client locations for work – is hardly an original idea, but Mapstr does it well. You can add locations on your iPhone by searching around you, by typing (or photographing!) an address, or importing from contacts, Foursquare or even .csv or .kml files. Then, on your Watch, you can quickly pull them up and get pics and useful information (including opening times, where supported), and Maps-powered directions. Or, on the Watch, tap to save your current location; a little annoyingly, it won’t just drop…

$2.99 Developer Nice Apps, getniceapps.com Requirements OS X 10.10 or later Launchey has a simple purpose: it enables you to launch apps on your Mac from the menu bar. And with a bit of setting up (and with the right frame of mind), you might find that a great thing. To start with, we found Launchey not that useful. You can click its icon to bring up a list of all the apps in your Application folder, in alphabetical order – not great if you have loads. But you can change which folder it looks in, so you could add a subfolder of only your most-used apps, and then have it only show those. But the really nice bit is its Top 5 feature. This tab in Launchey’s preferences enables…

$590 Manufacturer Transcend, transcend-info.com Features Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 ports Transcend’s StoreJet 500 portable SSD has both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt ports, and can be powered over either connection. We tested both interfaces using QuickBench, and while Thunderbolt was quicker by up to 40MB/sec in the small files tests, the USB port not only matched its write speeds (289MB/sec), but actually outperformed Thunderbolt in the read tests (421MB/sec and 435MB/sec versus 387MB/sec and 391MB/sec, respectively). We’ve seen this difference between the two port types before, with a portable drive from Elgato. However, this just serves as encouragement to avoid the Thunderbolt premium if your Mac has USB 3.0, and to buy or build a USB-only SSD. These speeds are much quicker than traditional hard drives, but are eclipsed by our…

1 BOSE SOUNDTOUCH 20 SERIES III $349 bose.com > This compact speaker still manages to produce a big, room-filling sound. It features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi streaming, so you can play music from most apps and services. The Mac version of the SoundTouch app works well too, and there’s even a 30-day free trial. 2 PHILIPS IZZY $129 philips.co.uk > The Bluetooth-powered Izzy’s sound quality is respectable rather than impressive, but if you want to buy several speakers for different rooms then it’s the most affordable option in this group. It’s also the easiest to set up and use, thanks to its simple twobutton control panel. 3 PURE JONGO T4X $329 pure.com > Pure’s “caskeid” audio syncing system, which combines Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, is a little confusing to set up, but…

1 DoorBird D101 doorbird.com $360 >>> The DoorBird can be installed using the wiring from an existing doorbell or intercom, but includes a microphone and video camera. The DoorBird also includes Wi-Fi and Ethernet so you can connect it to your home network. It can use the DoorBird app to link the intercom to up to eight iPhones or other mobile devices, allowing you to speak to the visitor even when you’re away, and if your iPhone has an internet connection that’s fast enough, the DoorBird can send a video image of the caller as well. The video camera boasts night vision, and there’s a 180° motion sensor that can scan the area around your front door and alert you if someone’s hanging around. Accessories include the BirdGuard camera, which…

$2.99 If watching online video is what you crave, Zinc makes it super-easy to bookmark content from all over the internet, then watch them from the comfort of your Apple TV. It’s sort of like an Instapaper for videos — forget about saving YouTube links or trying to remember where you saw a funny video, because Zinc wants to become the only app you’ll ever need to watch them all. Zinc There are a few different ways to bookmark videos: on your iPhone, use the sharing extension to add videos from Safari and other supported apps. There’s also a Safari for Mac extension along with bookmarklets for Chrome and Firefox, making it easy to bookmark from whatever platform you happen to be using at the time. A universal app for…

99¢ Those slick Apple TV screensavers may look great on the big screen, but they pale in comparison to a live feed of Earth beamed directly from the International Space Station. And that’s exactly what you get with ISS SpaceWatch — nothing more and nothing less. Actually, there is a little more: in addition to a bird’s eye view of this big blue marble 24/7, there’s a separate live feed of the HDEV Earth Viewing Experiment. If that’s not enough, you can tune into NASA TV’s Public NTV-1 channel, which is usually a bunch of science nerds sitting around doing something way more important than you are. Naturally, it’s all presented in glorious 1080p, and for under a buck, it’s the best entertainment value you’re likely to find, assuming you’re…

How can I use emoji on my Mac? Also, I sometimes struggle to distinguish them on an iOS device. Is there any way or setting to enlarge them? Some apps offer an Emoji & Symbols command in their Edit menu. Otherwise, go to System Preferences > Keyboard and select “Show Keyboard, Emoji & Symbol Viewers in menu bar.“ Click the new icon in the bar and use the Emoji Viewer to insert the one you want. In iOS, emoji which are embedded in regular text are displayed at the same font size as the surrounding text. The only way to make those emoji larger in most apps is to increase the font size in the app’s preferences.…

REQUIRES > OS X 10.10 or higher, iOS 8 or higher, Bluetooth 4.0 in both devices, Touch ID LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 10 minutes NOT EVERYONE USES password protection to lock their Mac, but everyone should. With so many sensitive details like bank accounts accessed online, the last thing you want is anyone peeking at your private data. The only bugbear about locking and unlocking your Mac repeatedly is that you end up typing your password over and over again. Apple’s newer iPhones and some iPads have Touch ID, a fingerprint scanner that you can use to unlock the device and authorize actions, such as Apple Pay. MacID is a clever app that harnesses the power of Touch ID to streamline the process of securing your Mac.…

REQUIRES > An iOS device running iOS 9 or later, VideoGrade 4.0.3 or later, some video clips LEVEL > Medium IT WILL TAKE > 30 minutes ONE PROBLEM WITH shooting videos is that the world can be uncooperative. You might capture a perfect moment, only to later discover it looks like your video was filmed in a cave, or that a serene living-room scene was set on the surface of the sun. VideoGrade (Universal, $5.99) is a color editor for HD video, for applying color grading that can radically alter your clips. But along with going all “Hollywood,” you can use the app for subtler changes: brightness, contrast and vibrance settings, removing color casts, and improving footage by way of adjustments to shadows, highlights and sharpness. This is a Universal…