Indholdsfortegnelse for No. 163 i iCreate

“This is the only guide you’ll need to get a head-start on other Mac users” It’s all change on the Mac front, and we’ve been mightily impressed with what we’ve seen so far. macOS Sierra isn’t out until later this autumn (some time in October is our best guess), but that hasn’t stopped us diving into the preview beta version. Yes, it’s got a new name, but there is so much more to your Mac’s new operating system. That’s why we’ve compiled the complete user guide to macOS in this issue. We’ll introduce the features that you’ll be desperate to get your hands on – like Siri and Apple Pay – and show you how to master them. You’ve asked us loads of Sierra-related questions, and we’ve answered them all…

1 Back it up Before you start the installation process, do a full backup of your Mac. That way, if the worst does happen and something goes wrong, you won’t lose all your most important files. 2 Set up Time Machine Get a drive set up and have Time Machine back up your Mac regularly when it’s running the beta. That way, you’ll always have a recent backup on hand if anything happens. 3 Get updates Check the Mac App Store regularly for updates. New versions of the beta will usually remove bugs, fix crashes and generally make the operating system more usable, so staying up to date is very beneficial. 4 Read the notes Before you start (and when updates roll out) read the release notes and make sure…

Apps such as Tonality dramatically extend what you can do when processing your images. Although Tonality will work as a stand-alone app, it makes sense to plug it into Photos. By accessing Tonality from within Photos you can do your importing, black-and-white converting and sharing all under one roof, instead of having to jump back and forth between separate apps. Here’s how to get Tonality to appear from within Photos as a handy plug-in. “You can do your importing, black-and-white converting and sharing all under one roof” 1 Download Tonality CK Head over to macphun.com/tonality and click Try For Free to download a demo. Double-click to launch the stand-alone Tonality app and then close it. Go to System Preferences>Extensions and click Photos. Tick Tonality CK. 2 Launch the plug-in Open…

It can be a challenge to capture an atmospheric nocturnal spectacle. Unless there’s a strong moon bathing the scene in reflected sunlight your subject may disappear into darkness. The quality of nighttime footage may also suffer due to the camera’s need to increase ISO speed to make it sensitive to low light, which can make the clip look too grainy. To avoid this, most moviemakers will shoot their subject in daylight and then grade the clip’s colours and tones to create a more effective moonlit scene. A Day into Night filter is offered in iMovie, which adds a nocturnal hue to a clip, but we can produce a more convincing and unique nocturnal look by tweaking colours and tones manually. Step-by-step Transform day into moonlit night 1 Try the filter…

If you shoot a subject that is backlit by the Sun then you may notice lens flares appearing (as you’ll see in our downloadable source clip). Final Cut Pro X’s collection of lighting effects can enhance a clip’s existing lens flare effects or add new lens-related artefacts from scratch. Lighting effects such as bokeh circles can help fill empty space in the frame and add a dreamy feel to your footage. We’ll show you how to use keyframes to make your lighting effects temporarily fade when a subject (such as our source clip’s horse rider) passes in front of the Sun. We’ll also help you add a rippling heat haze effect to make the tarmac become baking hot, adding extra texture to the scene. Step-by-step Incorporate interactive light effects 1…

How good is your internet connection? Is your broadband quick and responsive? A poor connection causes slow software downloads and OS X updates, and it can cause movies and other streaming content to stutter. Measure your home broadband speed at websites like fast.com and speedof.me and then compare the results with friends to see if there is a problem, or if you need to speak to your ISP about an upgrade. Download speed, upload speed and responsiveness can be tested too. A high download speed means that several people in your home can watch movies, play games and work online at the same time. Here we cover the tools you need to effectively monitor your broadband. Step-by-step Test and monitor the internet 1 Assess performance Open Safari and go to…

Generally speaking, your Mac’s OS is very good at keeping things ticking. Behind the scenes, thousands of processes are running to keep your machine from slowing down, and we’ve even seen a few made a big deal of in recent years (think App Nap at WWDC). However, there’s still a place for great third-party apps to help make your Mac feel even snappier, and Memory Clean 2 is a great example. It keeps a close eye on your Mac’s RAM and how much of it is used, breaking down used RAM into its different components so you can see exactly what’s going on. Memory Clean 2 isn’t just a monitoring tool, though – with a click of the button it’ll free up even more RAM. Here’s how it works. Step-by-step…

1 Log out You can log out to swiftly quit all applications that are running and close all files. You can then safely unplug the drives. Alternatively, shut down the Mac and unplug the drives. 2 Use Disk Utility Open Disk Utility in the Applications>Utilities folder and the disks are listed on the left. Select a disk and click Unmount in the toolbar or the icon next to the disk.…

The genius of Ulysses is that it can take what would normally need to be done by multiple apps and house it all in one place. With a design that has been honed over many years, we now have a writer’s solution that offers a focused and minimal environment to create within, a simple interface to keep various documents visible and organised at all times and the ability to export your work in almost every format imaginable. There is consistency in the Mac and iOS versions with support for images, notes and keywords topping off what is a considerable feature set. If you have a need to write, Ulysses is likely the only tool you’ll need. Keep it safe As you work, Ulysses will automatically back up your work locally…

Design is of course about much more than mere visuals, and here we have a game that simply requires you to hold your thumb on the screen and swipe up to split the dot that you are controlling. Visually it is very simple, which complements the superb control system, and the end result is a game that is both as frustrating as it is addictive to play. If you have a spare five minutes or a free afternoon, this is definitely a fun little game we recommend.…

Realistic characters No game is worth your time without realistic characters, and here we have some beautiful animation used to create Lara and her enemies in a near-perfect style. Time to interact This is more than a simple GO game because you have to interact with different objects and spend time considering what each does. Some are useful, some are not. A beautiful setting The staging of this game is sumptuous to say the least. Everything from the carefully crafted shadows to the plants and trees has been rendered for clarity and captivation. It’s not easy If you’re struggling to get to grips with the game, you can purchase puzzle solutions for each level. Of course, you’ll get a much greater sense of achievement if you can avoid this! A…

No matter how much storage you have available on your iDevice, it’s likely that you’ll start to run out of space at some point. Whether you’re an avid gamer, music lover, frequent visitor to the App Store or someone who uses an iPhone like a mini-computer for all your creative work, there comes a time when you can’t squeeze much more on, meaning little room for that next update or must-have app. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to freshen up your iPhone and regain lots of space, and the same goes for iCloud too. The free 5GB iCloud plan only lasts for so long before you’re gnashing your teeth with frustration at the thought of having to pay for extra storage, but some simple tricks will pull…

If you’re fed up with the overused image filters offered by the likes of Instagram, Prisma may be the perfect solution for you. The app will completely transform even the most mundane amateur capture into an impressive artistic masterpiece. Using a powerful AI, Prisma will redraw your chosen image to make it look like it was painted by hand, transforming any picture on your smartphone using styles from a selection of famous artists. Through the user-friendly interface you’ll be able to create an exciting piece of art in just a few simple steps. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use and make the most of Prisma, from image selection and capture all the way to exporting and sharing. Step-by-step Transform photographs with artistic filters 1 Select an image First…

Knowledge base External microphone monitoring GarageBand supports additional recording peripherals, including guitar interfaces, MIDI keyboards or even footswitches. In this instance however, Audio Recorder acknowledges any external microphones, headsets or audio interfaces with support for monitoring signal input. Toggle this on by tapping the Input button and then the Monitor switch. Input button Tap here to view sliders for setting Input Level or choose Automatic via the switch. Toggle on the Noise Gate to reduce noise, setting threshold level via the slider. VU meter The big circular VU meter relates directly to the Input Level. It is here you can visualise the signal level or volume currently being picked up by your active microphone. Add some presets A set of eight preset buttons toggle on a variety of effects, ranging…

Knowledge base Pending for too long? If the Watch app shows Sync Pending for too long, then you have a problem. It could be that you haven’t placed your Watch on its charger or it may be that the music has not downloaded to your iPhone in order to be transferred to your Watch. It could also be that you are syncing a playlist that is too large for your Watch too. Songs Alternatively, you can set a song limit from 15 songs to 250 songs if you prefer to work in those kinds of numbers. Just tap the Songs option and make your choice. Playlist Limit Open up the Watch app on your iPhone and select Music>Playlist Limit. By default, you can store 1GB of music, which is around…

Adidas Originals Slim Case for iPhone SE £19.99/$29.99 www.amazon.co.uk On the surface, this Adidas case looks and feels the part. It has a soft leather finish and the type of classic, minimal design you’d expect from the clothing giant. Sadly, when it comes to performance and protection, it isn’t up to much. The frame of the case bent too easily, leaving horrible gaps between the edge of the case and the iPhone SE – it wouldn’t be long before dirt and all manner of things got inside. The case sits flush to the phone too, which leaves us worrying about protection in the event of a drop from height. Cobra CDR 875 G Drive HD £149.99/$179.95 www. .com Dash cams are becoming more and more popular. By recording the road…

George Cairns Your brilliant iPhone camera makes taking panoramas ridiculously easy, but how do you make them look exceptional? Load up Photos and let George show you on page 28. Dave Clews Dave has worked on records by Rihanna, Tom Jones and George Michael. So we couldn’t think of anyone better to write our three-part series on Logic Pro X’s Mixer, which starts on page 36. Stephen Ashby As iCreate’s former Features Editor, Stephen has seen many updates to his trusty Mac. He puts the latest, macOS Sierra, through its paces in our bumper ten-page guide from page 16. Facebook iCreateMagazine Twitter @iCreateMagazine Web icreatemagazine.com Email icreate@imagine-publishing.co.uk…

Apple Music is one year old already, and is about to receive a major update. It’s had its critics, but we have really enjoyed having a genuine alternative to Spotify. The For You service is worth the subscription fee alone! It’s amazing how many unknown features there are to Apple Music too, so this month we’ve put together guides to connect to Shazam on iPhone, make For You even more personal and create a ‘Loved’ playlist on your Mac. 1 Connect Shazam to Apple Music Shazam, the best free music identification service , recently updated to include support for connecting with Apple Music. So if you want to listen to a song you’ve just heard, you can almost instantly. 1 Open My Shazam Launch the Shazam app on your iPhone…

Auto Unlock If you own an Apple Watch, logging in to your Mac will soon be as simple as moving close to your machine with it on your wrist. Voila! Siri Making its debut on the desktop as an integrated system in macOS Sierra, Siri will have new specifically designed capabilities. Apple Pay Finally, Apple Pay comes to the Mac. When you see the icon, click the button and authorise the payment with Touch ID on your iPhone. Universal Clipboard Copy and paste can now work across all of your devices. Copy on your iPhone, paste on your Mac. Simple! Tabs upgrade A new system built-in to Sierra allows any app on your Mac to support tabbed browsing, including third-party apps. Optimized Storage This cool new feature will store your…

One of Siri’s new abilities to appear on the Mac is the option to add results to the Notification Center. In the top right of some Siri search results you’ll find a ‘+’ icon. Click this and the window will be added to your Notification Center’s Today view, so you can quickly access it. File searches If you ask Siri to find a particular file but want to save it for later, click the ‘+’ icon, and when you need the file you can just open Notification Center and drag it over to wherever you need it. Sports updates Ask Siri about an upcoming game from your favourite team and you’ll see all the details. You can then add this to Notification Center to keep an eye on the score…

Creating an effective black-and-white image is more than simply removing the shot’s original colours. By desaturating a photo you may end up with a drab wash of greyscale tones. Apps such as Tonality CK enable you to selectively lighten or darken specific tones to make various objects stand out more in contrast. This helps emphasise the shape and form of objects in your monochrome prints. Tonality is part of Macphun’s Creative Kit suite of apps. These will run as stand-alone apps or as plug-ins for Photos. Check out our guide across the page to install a free demo of Tonality CK, then follow our six-step tutorial to put the app through its paces. Step-by-step Create better black and whites 1 Choose a shot To make an effective monochrome print, start…

Photographs of a landscape are often disappointing to look at when compared with our memory of the photo’s subject. On location we can look left and right to take in the splendour of the scene. However, a typical photo’s aspect ratio is much narrower, so only a section of the scene is recorded. Fortunately, thanks to your Camera app’s Pano mode, you can capture a much wider panoramic view. This can be a challenge though – if the location has contrasting light and dark areas then some sections will be under or overexposed, or if you fail to keep the camera panning horizontally you’ll notice ugly black edges with missing data. Here’s how to use the Photos app to overcome these problems. Step-by-step Edit panoramas using Photos 1 Find Panoramas…

When you cut from one noisy clip to another, the abrupt change in ambient sound can emphasise the jarring nature of the cut. To rectify this you could add a Cross Dissolve transition between the two shots to mix the sound and picture in a softer way. Alternatively, you can detach a clip’s audio channel and use it to overlap the visual cut in a less jarring fashion. Here’s how to create a subtle but effective sound bridge between two adjacent noisy clips. “Detach a clip’s audio channel and use it to overlap the visual cut in a less jarring fashion” 1 Detach your audio In this example we have two adjacent clips. The sound cuts when the clips do. Right-click on a clip and choose Detach Audio from the…

Logic’s Mixer window is where you balance the volume level and adjust the tone of each track in your project, add effects and use automation to produce a final master version of your song. Designed to resemble the kind of mixing desk found in recording studios, the Mixer shows the channel strips for every track in your project, including audio, software instruments and master output channels. Over the next three issues, we’ll take you step by step through some of the most common mixing techniques you’ll encounter, beginning with an unmixed project and ending up with a finished mix. To follow along with the steps this month, just load the LPX Mixer Pt1 project located in the Tutorial Files folder on FileSilo. Step-by-step Working with Logic’s Mixer window 1 Open…

Although your Mac’s keyboard has its own preference pane within System Preferences, the language section is still linked up with your Language & Region settings. For example, adding a new keyboard language will automatically add it to your Preferred Languages list. To type in a different language to your main keyboard language, you’ll need to jump to your keyboard’s preference pane and add it as an input source. Get started by clicking Keyboard Preferences from Language & Region. “Adding a new keyboard language will automatically add it to your Preferred Languages” 1 Select a language Under the list of input sources on the left, click on the plus icon to bring up a list of languages that you can type with using your keyboard. As you select different options, you’ll…

Within its role as your Mac’s main media library, iTunes isn’t merely where your songs are kept, played and shared. In fact, the application is rather sophisticated when it comes to converting audio file formats to maximise performance and also manage storage space effectively. Typically this process relates directly to converting uncompressed formats such as AIFF or WAV to compressed files such as MP3 and Apple Lossless. Where there is often a slight reduction in resolution or quality, file sizes are reduced so you can store more. Songs can be converted from the library itself, from files in folders or from the disk, while keeping an original version alongside. Step-by-step Change your music’s file formats 1 Open iTunes Preferences Conversion starts with changing import settings and navigating to iTunes>Preferences from…

Managing useful habits can be extremely time-consuming and at times makes the entire process feel prohibitive. With Streaks, however, all of that changes thanks to the simplistic and colourful interface. Great care has been taken throughout to ensure that creating new habits only takes a couple of taps, and there is an emphasis on bold visuals, which means that updating each activity is obvious and efficient every single time. Indeed, the design is so clean that it is hard to think of any area that needs improvement, which clearly of careful and considered development. 1 Pick a task On the main screen, tap the Add Task option and select the type of habit you want to track. There are many already included, from exercise to drinking water, and some can…

1 The features An example project is displayed when you first open Ulysses, detailing most of the common features. There is a lot to explore, which makes it perfect for handling complex work. 2 Your first project Ulysses is able to handle anything from work projects to creating a novel. You can build your characters and keep every specific piece of data in view while creating the book itself. 3 Time to focus There is also the ability to open and customise the writing pane. This means you can focus on the actual creation of your documents without the need to worry about all of the extra data.…

Working out with a personal trainer is the ideal scenario to get fit, but they are expensive and not always convenient. Zova gets around this by offering a variety of exercise routines that are displayed clearly on an iPhone and which can be used even if you only have a few minutes spare. The clever integration with the Apple Watch ensures that you have full access to the workouts – and your heart rate – at all times, and it all comes together to offer a solution that is blissfully simple at heart. This will get you fit in no time. 1 Have a browse Take some time to scroll through the exercises on offer and make yourself familiar with the interface. This won’t take long, as it is incredibly…

INKS. is unlike any game you’ve ever played before. Being part pinball and part artistic experiment, INKS.’s style is far from what you’d expect from a classic electrical pinball table found in arcades. Oozing with creativity, it doesn’t feel digital at all thanks to the use of natural ink-style graphics, bringing a truly immersive quality rarely seen in today’s mobile games. The end result is an addictive game that you want to play again and again. 1 Aim straight The idea is to flick the ball from the bottom paddles in the perfect direction to touch each colour in the pinball table. Some practice will be required to complete each level in as few moves as possible. 2 Create and win After completing a level, you will be left with…

Knowledge base Intelligent AI What makes Prisma unique is that, instead of overlaying basic filters on top of the original image like Instagram and other similar apps do, it completely redraws your picture in the way that an artist would through various layers, using intelligent AI technology to transform it into an elaborate piece of art. Adjust the effect Change the strength of the art effect by sliding your finger to the left or right. The strength is measured in percentages. Square format Whether you shoot an image in the camera or choose one from your Camera Roll, they’ll be cropped in the square Instagram style format – 1:1. Export or save Prisma lets you share your newly created piece of art instantly to either Facebook or Instagram, or save…

Instant reverbs Three reverb effects in the form of Small Room, Large Room and Dreamy are available. Each adds Compression, Track Reverb, Original Volume and Chorus sliders for adjustment. Telephone and Bullhorn These presets give your sound some artificial speaker tones. Here the sliders include Compressor, High Mid Frequency, plus Overdrive and Distortion respectively. Chipmunk or Robot? These presets are probably only usable in small doses! Chipmunk adds that high-pitched squeakiness to voices particularly, while the Robot option layers on Phaser and Chorus to digitise things. More like a monster Last but not least, we have the Monster preset for ramping up the wacky effects! Here, sliders are available for tweaking Pitch and Gain, ideal for shifting vocals and layering on some ‘scary’ tonal bite.…

When you look at your Siri Remote, you will see six functions: a menu button that you can press once to take you back a screen, the Home button that returns you to the main display, the volume controls, your personal assistant Siri, the Play and Pause options that are great for manipulating media and – the largest of all – the touch surface. But did you know that you can use those buttons to perform all manner of different functions? There are lots of shortcuts and little tricks you can pull off to make the most of your Apple TV experience. Whether you want to use the apps or enjoy a full home theatre setup, you will find that the Siri Remote puts everything you need at your fingertips.…

WhatsApp An instant messaging app for iPhone and iPad that enables you to call, text and share photos and videos with other users. Public beta A program that lets you download test versions of new software for Mac and iOS devices. Remote access The ability to connect to and use another Mac or PC from within your current Mac or PC. Ethernet adaptor A portable Ethernet connector for Macs without Ethernet ports, like the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro. Lightning cable A cable that connects to your iPhone and newer iPad/iPod device to charge it and sync data. Cookie A small preference file generated by a website that stores useful information about you, such as your login details.…

Resetting your device will wipe all contents from it, but it can be a good idea if you want to start afresh with iOS 10. While some will manually try and wipe their iPhone of its contents, Apple provides a simple solution that does the work for you. 1 Find Reset option Head to Settings on your iOS device and open up the General tab. Scroll all the way to the bottom of this menu to find the Reset option. 2 What to reset? There are a myriad of choices here relating to areas of your device that can be reset. To do a full reset, select Erase All Content and Settings. 3 Confirm and reset You’ll now need to enter your passcode as a security measure. Your final step…

Ever since Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh for the first time in 1984 – or rather, the Mac introduced itself – the dream of being able to talk to your Mac and have it answer back has lived in the minds of Apple fans. With the release of macOS Sierra, that dream has finally become a real and powerful reality. When Sierra launches as a free download later this year, you will be able to use Siri on your Mac for the first time ever. But that’s not the only exciting prospect for those eagerly awaiting the all-new operating system, because this year’s update is packed with new features, tricks and technology to make your life easier, faster and far more fun. There are changes from the moment you wake…

Siri has grown up a lot in the last few years. Apple’s personal assistant has learnt about sports scores, gained new accents and even allowed activation by voice. And in macOS Sierra, Siri is appearing on the Mac for the first time ever, with some nifty new features on show. Of course, Siri will still be able to complete all of the same tasks as on your iPhone and iPad, like checking weather, setting alarms and contacting your friends, but there are some new, Mac-specific features that are being added to make working with your Mac easier than ever… How to access Siri In the Dock A new Siri icon will soon be sitting in your Dock as a default in Sierra. Click it and Siri will slide in from…

While using iMovie’s grading tools and filters to get a perfect picture we may forget to give our project’s audio components equal time and attention. This can lead to inaudible interviews that are drowned out by competitively loud music tracks or ambient sound. Fortunately, iMovie boasts an audio tool that automatically ensures that your main subject’s vocals are louder than any overlapping background music or sound effects. You can also manually duck a soundtrack’s audio levels by adding multiple control points, so the sound is loud or quiet as required. These professional audio tricks and techniques will help your project sound as good as it looks. Step-by-step Take control of sound levels 1 Have a listen Here we have an interview on one layer with cutaways and music running on…

Many of us already know that GarageBand does an incredible job of making music editing very simple. The beauty for novice users is that they needn’t have technical knowledge to assemble loops creatively or even start editing individual notes within regions. However, GarageBand still offers expert-level users the choice of utilising music theory where they have it via the Score Editor. Here you view MIDI regions in notation or sheet music form instantly, while allowing notes to be placed and manipulated directly within the stave or staff. In this guide we’ll look specifically at notation view, the various tools available and also how notation can be printed or exported to PDF. Step-by-step View and edit software instruments in notation view 1 Choose track You can only view Score Editor for…

Whether you’re lucky enough to spend your time in different countries or simply work with colleagues overseas, setting your Mac up to work with other languages and regions has never been easier. Tucked away in System Preferences is the Language & Region preferences pane. In here you’ll find everything you need to switch time zones, work with different currencies or type in an entirely different language on your keyboard. For a quick change, you can add a new country to your preferred languages or change the region setting, which will update almost every other detail for you. If you’d rather, though, you can dig down into the more granular settings in the Language & Region preferences pane. Step-by-step Edit your Language & Region preferences 1 Locate the pane Open up…

The menu bar at the top of the screen has been there forever and is a constant feature of the Mac’s operating system. Using it is obvious, but there are hidden features and settings that you might not be aware of that can make using the menu bar quicker and easier. For example, you can access many menu commands using keyboard shortcuts, hidden menus can be exposed by holding down a key, the menu can be set to hide when it is not being used, its colour can be changed and so on. We cover the best ways to use and configure the menu bar here, but don’t forget that there are some great apps in the Mac App Store that are able to add amazing features to it too.…

1 Compressed MP3 is the default here, while AAC offers better quality at similar bitrates. Apple Lossless Encoder (ALE or ALAC) compresses slightly without quality loss, saving as M4A. 2 Uncompressed AIFF and WAV offer no quality loss and no size reduction. Use this when the source is uncompressed, using Setting to pick custom parameters. These files are not iPod-friendly.…

You need an internet connection that is both fast and responsive. The speed of response affects the performance of the internet connection and is especially important if you play online games. Ping is used to measure response speed, and the lower the figure the better. The time taken to respond is also a measure of a web server’s speed, so you’ll get different results with different websites. “The speed of response is especially important if you play online games” 1 Ping a website Go to the Applications>Utilities folder and open Terminal. Type ‘ping -c 4 google.com’ to see how fast Google responds. Try it with other websites. No response or long times mean a slow internet or that the website is down. 2 Use Activity Monitor Run Activity Monitor in…

When you plug in an external disk drive or a USB flash memory drive, OS X mounts them and makes them available to use, and they appear in Finder and on the desktop. When you have finished with disks they should be ejected properly, which unmounts them. You’ll need to take care though, because files can be corrupted if you don’t follow the right procedure. One of the main causes of problems is pulling out the plug when files are open. This leads to corrupted files and you might be unable to save work you have open. Files must be closed and applications quit before drives can be ejected safely. This is to ensure that all the data is written to the drive. Step-by-step How to eject disks safely 1…

Learning visually is often the most effective way to work, and especially so with something as complex as the human body. In Complete Anatomy you can see the entire structure of the body, access specific areas and then share your learning with others. There are useful lectures built in as well as an in-app cloud sharing platform so that you can work alongside others. It will improve your knowledge of the human body in no time at all. The full setup In-app purchases let you pay to take advantage of the complete feature set. No matter what speciality you need to learn, it is available within the app. Detailed explanations When you click on any part of the body, full data is available for you to read and learn from…

Doing two things at once doesn’t sound too hard, but you’d be surprised how difficult it actually is to think on your feet while running and jumping in Chameleon Run! That’s a good thing though, as the end result is a colourful and exhilarating experience. 1 How to play The game offers a few help screens when you first open it that are designed to help you understand the basic controls. Experience and muscle memory are required thereafter. 2 Run, jump, switch When you play, you have to jump over black colours of varying lengths and tap again to switch to alternative coloured blocks while in the air. It’s much harder than you might think. 3 Collect rewards At the end of each level you will see what rewards you…

For creative projects, collaboration is vital, and with Frame.io we have an app that is capable of letting you gain instant feedback on any video clips you have created. The design is remarkably simple and the interface is incredibly easy to navigate, with the clips and comments pushed front and centre. The way the interface elements become invisible is very clever indeed and highlights how well it is made, as well as Apple’s understanding of the visual simplicity throughout. Add a comment Comments can be shared to solely the group with access to the video clip. Privacy has clearly been a focus in this app’s development and the collaboration setup is simple. Share with others Videos can be shared over a variety of services, and again the icon for this…

The idea behind Linum is simple, but playing it requires more mental dexterity than you may expect. You are taken through some helpful levels initially and once the controls click, you will be left to succeed at your own pace. It may look easy, but don’t be fooled. 1 Select a level The level progression in Linum is varied and at times quite surprising. Always expect the unexpected, as surprises will pop up continually. 2 Cover the circles Simply tap a line to choose which part of the shape to move and tap a circular link to spin it around. Hold a circular link in order to make it turn the opposite way. 3 Catch the stars Your goal is to cover each circle, which depends on manipulating the shape…

Auxy Music Creation lets you create complex music by simply tapping on the iPad screen in different places. It sounds random, but you will find that it doesn’t take long to start to understand what should go where. It’s a useful tool for learning the basics of song structure or for simply having fun, with the added bonus that the end results are almost always worth showing off to others. The design is also incredibly simple and logical on every level. 1 Create some notes Tap anywhere on the screen and sounds will start to play. The more you tap, the more beats will sound and you may be surprised at what you can quickly create. 2 Tap Done The riff you have created so far appears on a larger…

It’s fair to say that both the parallax effects on the home and lock screen, and the animations and transitions that you see whenever you open or close your apps, are not to everybody’s liking. But whether they make you feel sick or simply offend your aesthetic tastes, there’s another reason to get rid of them: they can slow down your iPhone, especially if you’re using an older model. Thankfully, Apple has a way of reducing the motion that will make your phone feel more responsive and immediate, especially on older models. You won’t be able to disable all of the animations in their entirety – to do that, you’ll have to jailbreak your device – but if you can live without the eye candy, it’s worth a try. Step-by-step…

Touch Instruments are at the very heart of GarageBand on iOS. These are the app’s software-based instruments you can play in a variety of engaging ways when recording track regions into your projects. However, within Touch Instruments can be found a slight exception in the form of the Audio Recorder. Here, you don’t actually play an instrument but instead capture external sounds via the iPad or iPhone’s built-in microphone. The background recordings are of course then added automatically to a new track, typically to provide vocals or whatever you wish. In addition, these new ‘dry’ sounds can have eight preset effects applied to create some stylised results in just a single tap. Step-by-step Record your own sounds in GarageBand 1 Tap the microphone On GarageBand’s Touch Instrument menu the Audio…

There are times when you just don’t want to be tied to your iPhone. Maybe you’re on a run or heading into the gym, or perhaps you simply don’t have any spare pockets. But if you still want to enjoy your songs as you put yourself through your paces, you can. By syncing a playlist on your iPhone to your Apple Watch, this stores the music on your Watch and enables you to listen to your tunes via a pair of Bluetooth headphones. While syncing is a simple enough process, it is also time-consuming, taking a few hours to sync a full list of some 250 songs to your Watch. As such, you may want to follow this tutorial just before you hit the sack so that it can do…

Is there a way to stop Safari creating a new tab every time I click a link on a webpage? Head over to the Safari menu and choose Preferences. Click on the Tabs option and uncheck the box labelled ‘ -click opens a link in a new tab’. Then quit Safari and relaunch for your change to take effect. How do I stop my remote Mac’s display from switching off when I disconnect the Screen Sharing client from my other Mac? Launch System Preferences and click on the Sharing icon. Untick Screen Sharing in the left-hand column, and tick the Remote Management option instead. Finally tick all the boxes in the pop-up window and click OK. Photos keeps trying to log in to Facebook with an old email address. Where…