Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2014 i MacLife

MacLife.com The march of technology never stops, so neither do we. Get the latest Mac and iOS news on our website at www.maclife.com. Check out our new App of the Day and easy Mac hacks. See what’s hot (and what’s not) on iTunes and whether you agree with our pick of the best new iOS games. We’ll also alert you to the best Apple deals plus keep you informed and entertained until the next issue. In a sea of cookie cutter bags and cases, the North Carolinian leathersmiths ColsenKeane handcraft is the kind of head-turning bag you’ll consider an heirloom. The No. 4313 Satchel: hand-stitched beefy aged hide, eight hours of artisanship, copper rivets and four heavy-duty buckles comprise the last bag you’ll ever own. Guaranteed for life. The acme…

It could have bought Spotify instead SUBjEcT TO REGUlATORY approvals, Apple will buy Beats Electronics and its associated Beats Music service later this year for $3 billion. The question is: why? Beats doesn’t make the best headphones. In fact, they are often criticized for their poor sound quality. Nor does it have the best streaming service; Beats Music has around 250,000 subscribers compared to Spotify’s 10 million paying users. BUT ThERE IS A plAN here. Beats Studio and Solo headphones are wellbuilt and superbly marketed. Beats sells a lot of them, even though they are expensive and technically inferior to audiophile favourites like Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic. It’s worth noting that the premium headphone market has shifted from a focus on sound quality to fashionability. Beats, Skullcandy and Urbanears are electively…

iOS 8 has no significant changes to maps so far APPLE UNLOADED many of its plans for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite at June’s WWDC, but very little was actually said about one of Cupertino’s more controversial software efforts: Maps. There may be a good reason for that. TechCrunch originally reported that internal strife within Apple’s engineering teams may have contributed to the absence of any real news about new Maps features during the WWDC 2014 keynote event. Aside from featuring vector maps for China, an unnamed Apple insider claimed that "there were multiple improvements that didn’t make it into iOS 8." In addition to "more reliable" data, public transit directions, and additional points of interest, those improvements were also said to include labels that made it easier to…

Qi versus PMA versus solar sapphire THE RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT that Starbucks has begun a national rollout of Powermat wireless charging spots in stores right across the US sounds like fantastic news for mobile device owners. "Rather than hunting around for an available power outlet," said Adam Brotman, chief digital officer at Starbucks, "[customers] can seamlessly charge their device while enjoying their favorite food or beverage offering right in our stores." Starbucks could be welcoming legions of Apple owners in the near future too. There are strong rumors that the iPhone 6 will launch in September with a bigger screen, a new A8 processor, speedier LTE, NFC, and support for wireless charging. But even if Apple does squeeze wireless charging technology into the next iPhone, which technology will it choose? There’s…

How would you spend 50 bucks on music, movies, books, TV shows, and apps? 1 HYPNOTIC EYE Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers $10.99 Released on July 29, Hypnotic Eye is the 13th album from the legendary rock band and their first since 2010. It features 11 straight hard-rockin’ tracks including the irresistible, thrumming bass-line of "American Dream Plan B" and "U Get Me High," which starts softly before amping up the screaming guitar solos. "Red River" sounds like the Tom Petty of old — melodious and less obviously brash. Look out for a North American tour featuring Steve Winwood, kicking off in August. 2 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson $19.99 HD ($14.99 SD) After the destruction of New York in The Avengers movie,…

Notepad Discouer the ancestors of the modern Mac operating system When you’re busy makiny photo books in iPhoto, browsing the uieb in Safari, or prepariny rich, beautifully laid-out documents in Pages, it’s easy to forget about the operating system that powers a modern Mac. This, after all, is the soul of your computer. Broadly speakiny, these days it’s the only thing that differentiates a Mac from a PC and what makes it special. There are two great ayes of the Mac OS; the first started with the introduction of the original Macintosh a full 30 years ago, and the second started in 2001 when OS X made its formal debut. It might be that what follows here is a louely warm hug of nostalgia as you remember icons and quirks…

A charming platform puzzler $8.99 Developer Mike Bithell www.mikebithellgames.com Platform iPad Requirements iPad running iOS 6.0 or later Thomas Was Alone’s Pong-style visuals feel like a throwback to the dawn of the videogame age - but gameplay trumps graphics every time. You control Thomas, a red rectangle, representative of an AI inside a computer mainframe. Thomas can move left or right and he can jump. So your aim is simply to guide Thomas across a series of dark, two-dimensional landscapes to a series of Thomas-shaped exit doors. The early levels are easy, introducing you to this simple move-jump game mechanic. At the same time, a story unfolds; we learn what Thomas thinks and feels about his predicament, all memorably narrated by British funny guy Danny Wallace. At its core, Thomas Was…

$3.99 Developer Bosco Ho www.jot-app.com Platform iPhone or iPod touch Jot goes retro in its approach to fixing text selection on iOS, adding a red selection tool that’s reminiscent of the little mouse pointer nub from ThinkPad laptops. It sits above the normal iPhone keyboard, and when you want to move the cursor a little, you can just swipe on it, like an on-screen joystick. This can help to speed up fixing little mistakes, but Jot also adds extra punctuation and Undo/Redo options, and adds the ability to easily revert words that autocorrect mangles. You can also use the dot to quickly select words, sentences or paragraphs for copying and so on. It works pretty well, especially if you just make a small mistake a couple of letters back or want…

FREE Developer Centrallo LLC www.centrallo.com Platform Universal To-do list apps have been a staple of the App Store from the beginning, but Centrallo goes beyond basic list-making apps by allowing you to create an unlimited number of hierarchal lists and even attach photos, voice memos, URL links or videos to them. Centrallo features a user-selectable black or white UI with tabs across the bottom for one-tap access to Priorities, Lists, new entries, Inbox and Settings. Unfortunately, we found the overall navigation could be better streamlined. Also available on the web (with an Android app coming soon), Centrallo includes an email forwarding address that can be used to import external content. The only real limit is what you’re willing to pay: the universal app is free, but you’re capped at 100MB of…

It’s brick-breaking mayhem, surprisingly $0.99 Developer Konstantin Gonikman www.bricksgame.com Platform Universal Requirements iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 7.0 or later There isn’t exactly a dearth of Breakout/Arkanoid clones on the App Store, but Bricks creatively reimagines the old-school formula by ditching the paddle and putting the bricks in a ring around the edges of the screen. Messing with a classic is always risky, but developer Konstantin Gonikman has hit on something good here. Bricks feels like more than the sum of its parts, and it serves up a solid and entertaining blend of novelty and depth. You control the ring of bricks that surrounds the ball, twisting it by either rotating your device or dragging your finger around. The latter proves easier on an iPad, but the former makes…

Control your Mac from any device with an Internet connection $35 (Mac) / $20 (iOS) Developer Edovia www.edovia.com Requirements OS X 10.9 or later Screens is a VNC app that enables you to control your Mac (and, for what it’s worth, also PC and Linux boxes) from just about any device over any network connection. Screens 3 is technically an update, but one that required a complete rewrite of the previous version, so by any measure it’s a new application. In fact, there are two versions, one for Mac and one for iOS devices, which can be purchased separately. Controlling a computer from afar is nothing new, but the best VNC applications let you access devices quickly too. Here, Screens 3 is already up to speed; our local network machines…

Stream any audio app to Pure’s wireless speakers $330 Manufacturer Pure www.pure.com Requirements Any iOS device T he Pure Jongo T4 may have been around for a while, but Pure has breathed some new life into it with a clever new feature called Bluetooth Caskeid (pronounced "cascade"). This lets you stream any iOS audio app through multiple speakers using a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. In other words, you’re completely unrestricted in what you can play wirelessly. The Pure Jongo T4 is a mid-range speaker, giving you 50W of power. It comes equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for streaming, and you can pair multiple ones to make a multiroom system. So you can listen to a different track in the bedroom to the living room, or pair two to play…

The closest you’ll get to a Swiss Army stylus $21 Manufacturer HexStyli www.mobilefun.com Requirements Any touchscreen device When is a stylus not just a stylus? When is a pen not simply a pen? When it’s a HexStyli 6-in-1 Stylus Pen, a multifunctional tool that’s as good for iPad tapping as it is for helping you put up shelves. This brushed chrome stylus has a soft omnidirectional tip on the end for prodding an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch display. This tip is fairly large as tips go — about 0.2 inches in diameter — and is designed for general use rather than pixel-perfect pointing. At the other end, you’ll find a black ballpoint pen. It’s not the best we’ve used, but it’s solid enough. As you can see here, the…

Retouch photos without the expense of buying an image editor $87 (home license for app or plugin) $98 (home license for app and plugin) $154 (business license for app and plugin) Developer AKVIS akvis.com Requirements Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32/64-bit), 4GB RAM, 2GB disk space AKVIS Retoucher is available as both a standalone app and an image editor plugin, and is a great way to remove dust, scratches and watermarks from old photos. You can select and mask large areas to correct, or make finer corrections using features such as the Clone Stamp and Chameleon Tool, the latter of which is similar to Photoshop’s Pattern Stamp. When working on large areas, you can adjust parameters such as the sample size and search radius to limit the effects of…

$59.95 Manufacturer Gumdrop Cases www.gumdropcases.com Requirements iPad Air The Gumdrop Bounce looks almost edible. But even if you did try to bite it, you’d still struggle to make a mark on it, such is its ample rubberized protection. A snug fit all-round, the rubber outer contains "air chamber protection", which means that there are air bubbles within the silicon that help to disperse impact shock. Buttons and ports are easily reached via the precision cut-outs and both cameras have their own little porthole too. The only downside to this one is that it’s a bit hefty and would look faintly ridiculous in a business meeting.…

Hider provides a vault on your Mac to help protect your sensitive files $20 Developer MacPaw macpaw.com requirements Mac OS X 10.8 or later Recent revelations about government snooping and security holes in software mean the safety of Lles and personal information is high on the agenda right now. For most, the chances of keeping government-level secret data on your Mac is slim. However, there’s still a lot of information and data to protect. Step forward Hider 2, which olers a secure and simple way to protect your Lles and folders. The idea of Hider is to provide a hidden and encrypted vault for Lles and folders that leave them invisible to the casual observer, but readily available to you, the end user. Simply create a vault, give it a password…

TECH SUPPORT & TECHSPLANATIONS USB: UNSTABLE SERIAL BUS? Is there a technique to increase or maintain the connectivity of USB connections? I’m having an issue where my printer in OS X is showing that it is disconnected whenever I try to print. Unplugging and plugging in the printer seems to fix the issue, but it starts after only a few days again. I’m using a USB hub that connects to the computer, and the printer. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, USB issues can plague the best of us. But there are quite a few troubleshooting steps with regards to printers that we can try and they may resolve the issue that you are having with your Mac connected to your printer. Follow these five steps, and we’ll see…

Tips to help your movies look their best with Premiere Elements YOU’RE PROBABLY FAMILIAR with the typical workflow when making a movie in Premiere Elements: import footage, edit using a single or multiple layers of video and audio, add transitions at the appropriate moment and use titles, special audio effects and a musical score. At this point your movie looks good, but there’s something else you might need to work on you might not have considered: color correction. There are many reasons to do this type of post-production work, but you can narrow them down to two: improve the tone of your shots so they don’t look over-bright on the screen, or to make sure the colors remain consistent as you cut from one shot to another. You can also…

Introducing the options A Graphics switching Higher-end MacBook Pro models have two graphics processors. One is for simple tasks, such as email or web browsing, and the other for intensive processes, such as gaming or Photoshop work. OS X is smart enough to toggle between the two processors so it uses the less power-hungry hardware, but, when required, switches on the high-powered card (but only for as long as it is needed). B Choose your setup OS X can be set to work differently on mains power and battery power. When on mains, you don’t need to worry as much about CPU usage, screen brightness and display sleeping. Under the Battery option, you should have different settings, such as faster screen-dimming and a sleep option to preserve power. C Display…

WHEN LESS IS MORE THE ANNUAL WORLDWIDE Developers Conference came and went with no sign of the fabled iWatch, a revamped Apple TV, or even the next iPhone or iPad, just the expected updates to Apple’s operating systems. Surprisingly though, I wasn’t at all let down: OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 are that good. With Yosemite, OS X is finally as fresh and appealing as last year’s transformative iOS 7. And while iOS 8 lacks a headlining feature as marketing-friendly as Siri, the platform paves the way for big payoffs down the road. With over 4,000 new APIs to utilize, developers can build a much broader set of features into their apps, such as deeper iCloud integration, more robust sharing options, and Touch ID verification. They can even swap…

What is a DuckDuckGo and why is it now part Of Apple’s Safari? YOU MIGHT NOT have heard of DuckDuckGo, but at WWDC 2014, Apple announced that the fledgeling search engine will become a core option in OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. Developed by Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo positions itself as "the search engine that doesn’t track you". It’s a response to what Weinberg called the "filter bubble", a process by which big search engines — specifically Google — "filter" search results based on past searches, location and other information gained through a myriad of means. DuckDuckGo wants you to be able to search the web without handing over your right to privacy. All DuckDuckGo searches are encrypted using the most up-to-date encryption standards, a fact Weinberg is immensely proud…

48 If Apple starts building HEADPHONES that connect via the LIGHTNING CONNECTOR instead of the traditional 3.5mm jack, it could allow audiophiles to enjoy lossless stereo 48KHz digital audio with supported files. 89% The number of APPLE DEVICES running the current iOS 7 software. According to Tim Cook’s keynote at WWDC, only 9% of Android devices are running its latest version, KITKAT. $3 billion The money Apple eventually plunked down for BEATS MUSIC, BEATS ELECTRONICS, DR. DRE and JIMMY IOviNE. It’s Apple’s most expensive and highest-profile acquisition to date.…

1 The Big Turtle Shell www.outdoortechnology.com $230 Wireless speakers are a dime a dozen these days, but very few give you 110 decibels over a range of 32 feet. Fewer still are IPX5 dust-proof and water-resistant, and even fewer include a USB port to charge mobile devices. The Big Turtle Shell Bluetooth 4.0 wireless speaker does all this and more, making it ideal for beach parties and backyard BBQs. 2 Honeywell Lyric lyric.honeywell.com $279 Like the stylish Nest thermostat, Honeywell’s Lyric brings an awareness to home heating. Pre-programmed schedules waste energy heating your house when you might not even be home. Lyric, on the other hand, tracks your location (via the Lyric smartphone app), factors in outdoor weather conditions, and adjusts the temperature of your heating accordingly. 3 Movpak www.movpak.com…

Post WWDC 2014, we look ahead to the big changes coming to your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. T his year’s apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) might not have unveiled any new hardware. No iPhone 6. No new Macs. Not even a snil of an iWatch. But this 25th anniversary gathering of coders and app-builders did reveal the name of the next Mac OS, wowed us with some fantastic new features heading for iOS 8, and took software swipes at Android, Dropbox, and Google Now. WWDC also introduced us to some new buzzwords that we’ll be hearing more of in the future, words such as “Continuity” and “Extensibility.” Here’s everything you need to know about WWDC 2014... OS X Yosemite IT’S NAMED FOR THE NATIONAL PARK, NOT SAM... AFTER…

Time to tell your story - the iPad way FREE Developer Adobe Systems www.adobe.com Platform iPad Requirements iPad running iOS 7.0 or later Adobe Voice is a tablet-only app designed to help you convey stories without the need to shoot a single frame of video. The app takes the painstaking work out of pitching a new idea or communicating an inspiring concept to an audience - and best of all, it’s absolutely free, with no In-App Purchases either. Packed with more than 100,000 royalty-free images, 25,000 icons, a variety of stock music or songs imported from an iTunes library, and template themes for any occasion, Voice confidently guides you every step of the way. Using the iPad’s built-in microphone, you can convey your narrative message one line at a time while…

Google’s office apps flee the nest to set up on their own FREE Developer Google www.google.com Platform Universal Requirements iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 7.0 or later The long-awaited arrival of slick, touch-friendly Microsoft Office apps on the iPad apparently inspired Google to unshackle its own productivity suite — although more apps aren’t necessarily better... Formerly tucked away within the confines of Google Drive, Docs and Sheets would appear to be Mountain View’s response to mobile Word and Excel, and even one-up Microsoft by running natively on any iOS device. The newly standalone Docs and Sheets apps aren’t appreciably better than when they were part of Drive, though. Like their web-based equivalents, Google’s apps offer a more rudimentary alternative to Redmond’s word-processing and spreadsheet juggernauts, and they’re absolutely free.…

$9.99 Developer Flexibits Inc flexibits.com Platform iPad Fantastical 2 for iPad sets a new standard for universality, taking everything good about the iPhone app and making it bigger and better. It takes full advantage of the iPad’s extra screen real estate, limiting gestures and showing event details without sending you to a new screen. Adding appointments uses the lauded language parser, but there aren’t really any new features here - it’s all about the beautiful interface. Upon launch, you see the full calendar, joined by a list of your upcoming events and the brilliant DayTicker, which gives an at-a-glance look at you day - all uncluttered. Pulling the ticker expands it to display your events and appointments, while long-pressing on a day starts a new event. It’s all very smooth and…

$6.99 Developer SHAPE GmbH www.shape.ag Platform iPhone " Business cards! ATry as we might to live digitally, those rectangles keep coming. But now there’s finally a way to tame the cardstock beast once and for all. Although it’s on the pricy side, Business Card Reader Pro turns any iPhone into a portable scanner with direct hooks to LinkedIn, Salesforce and Evernote, which recently beefed up its own business card feature. While both apps do an admirable job with character recognition, BCRP can tackle 15 different languages (including Chinese, Japanese and Korean) and includes a built-in Card Holder, whether or not you add them to Contacts. BCRP does display a kitschy ’scanning’ animation, but effortlessly scans batches of cards in a single session — a godsend for anyone with more than a…

The Force will be with you. Always Whether you’re into pinball or pew-pew, we promise you’ll find something to suit your needs in this rundown of the best Star Wars games in the App Store. The concentration it takes to master fast-paced pinball wizardry can be a lot like using the Force. STAR WARS PINBALL 3 ($1.99, Universal) lets you get in the zone with a little touch of both to perfect your paddle reflexes and mental sharpness. Gorgeous tables and authentic sights and sound sequences from the films make this a real treat. How could you possibly make Angry Birds even cuter and more addictive? Mash it up with the Star Wars universe, that’s how. ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS ($0.99, Universal) is a tour de force of rebel bird-finging…

Apple liked them so much it bought the company... but do these toned-down cans still deliver when it comes to sound? $380 Manufacturer Beats by Dre www.beatsbydre.com Requirements Device with a 3.5mm audio output minijack B eats headphones are known for their big. bass, but can a more subtle sound win over the fans? This second iteration of the Beats Studio Wireless (2014) headphones is completely redesigned inside and out. The new look is certainly not as eye-catching as before, but we prefer the subtler appearance. While headphones have to look good, the main reason you’re spending hundreds of dollars is incredible sound that you can wear every day. Here the Studio Wireless excels. The redesigned ear-cups are extremely comfortable, and we found long stretches of listening were possible without…

A comprehensive suite of tools for creating screencasts on your Mac $90 Developer Shinywhitebox www.shinywhitebox.com Requirements OS X 10.9 or later, 70MB disk space, 4MB RAM This app lets you capture what’s happening on your screen as a "screencast", so you can add footage, annotations, and soundtracks. You can then export the finished thing to a file or to YouTube or Vimeo. Recording footage is simple: open the app and hit the big red "record" button. You can also select a microphone and camera to record a voiceover and a second stream of video at the same time. Performance is good, with no obvious frame-dropping. When you stop recording, the app opens up a new window with your recorded footage to start editing. You can easily trim the beginning and…

No need to wonder if you’re getting enough exercise - just look at the red bar of guilt... $130 Manufacturer Garmin www.garmin.com Requirements iOS device for optional Garmin Connect drive T he Vivofit is a glorified pedometer with enough unique features to keep you moving throughout the day. Its central module clips into a comfortable wristband, which comes in small and large sizes, and a bright range of alternative colors. The band and clasp are best compared to the Fitbit Force/Flex, while a single button cycles through features, akin to Nike’s FuelBand. The Vivofit has an always-on LCD display, which isn’t backlit, but this gives it the advantage of up to a year of battery life from two standard watch cells. The fewer times a life-tracking wearable has to be…

An emotionless killing machine... starring a hitman $25 Developer Feral Interactive, www.feralinteractive.com Requirements OS X 10.9 or later, 2GHz processor, 4GB RAM, 512MB graphics card, 24GB HDD space Hitman Absolution is the latest in a long series of games to put you in the shoes of master assassin Agent 47. This time he turns on his old employers, attempting to save a young girl from living a life like his; fortunately, you don’t really need to know anything about the previous titles to get a handle on this one. The USP of the Hitman series is that each mission is a miniature sandbox, letting you complete it how you want. Killing your targets without detection is the aim, but while you can simply shoot and run away, exploring the areas reveals…

A trio of super protective shells Urban Armor Gear Scout Case $49.95 Manufacturer Urban Armor Gear www.urbanarmorgear.com Requirements iPad Air With a design that seems more suited to the battlefield than the boardroom, this case from Urban Armor Gear can take a serious battering and your iPad Air won’t feel a thing. It is very bulky however, and the hard, gummy shell does lend it the appearance of one of those stowaway boxes you store power tools in. That said, the Scout case is deceptively light and the build quality is excellent. It doesn’t support the smart wake feature but it can be fashioned into a stand for both portrait and landscape use.…

Does this Bluetooth speaker system sound as good as it looks? $200 Manufacturer Edifier edifier-international.com Power output 2x 37W Frequency response 30Hz-20kHz Connectivity Bluetooth, 3.5mm analogue audio input Designed to look great on your desk or in your living room, the Luna Eclipse seems to have a lot going for it. It comprises two separate speakers with built-in amplifiers, front-firing high-range tweeters and 3-inch full-range woofers, plus two 3-inch passive bass radiators that fire towards each other. You get a remote control, and touch-sensitive controls on the side of the right speaker for power and volume. At modest volumes, it delivers a crisp, clean and detailed sound. However, things can get untidy the louder the speakers go, with high frequencies sounding harsh. And it’s then you notice the other flaw: by…

Recreate the look of a classic darkroom photo-processing technique CROSS-PROCESSING was originally a technique used in traditional dingy ^itS/j^ darkrooms, and involved developing print film using chemicals designed for use with slide film or vice versa. The results of the technique could sometimes be a bit hit-and-miss, but when it worked, boy, it really worked. The shift in hue, boost in saturation, and increase in contrast created wonderful, eye-catching images. Cross-processed blues often took on a green color, for example, and shadows might feature a hint of magenta. But let’s skip forward to the modern era of digital photography. It’s clear to see the cross-processed look is still popular, especially with fine art, fashion, and stock photographers. Unlike the days of the traditional darkroom (where you had to mix chemicals…

Share files with Windows MANY PEOPLE THESE DAYS have more than one computer at home. If your Mac sits on the same network as a Windows PC or two, being able to share files between them is a must. Because Windows and OS X use different methods of file-sharing, it used to be quite tricky getting one to see the other, never mind transferring files quickly between them. Things have changed in OS X, thanks largely to Apple’s support for the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol, which is used by Windows PCs to provide shared access to iles, printers and other devices over a network. As each version of OS X has evolved, the process has become simpler and simpler, to the point where it’s practically set up to work…

The gadgets, services, and issues that we’re looking forward to 1 A NEW iPAD AIR Post WWDC 2014, there’s been speculation about an improved iPad Air. The Internet rumor mill has been grinding with soft whispers of a next-gen, Retina-equipped iPad Air 2, packing a newfangled A8 processor, Touch ID sensor, and an upgraded 8MP camera. But don’t expect an iPhone 6 just yet. That should launch in September alongside the release of iOS 8, while no one expects an iWatch (or whatever Apple ultimately calls it) until October at the earliest - they need time to make it "wow." But there is chatter from Tim Cook about Apple working with "new materials." Could this be the sapphire displays we’ve heard about? 2 MORE ACQUISITIONS As the dust settles on…

I liked a lot of what I saw from Apple at WWDC, but by far, I’m most excited for the new Family Sharing features in iOS 8. I mean, THANK GOD. My husband and I gave our old iPads to our kids, but since we both buy content using our own Apple IDs, it’s been a nightmare sharing all that stuff. I also love that I’ll be able to set up iOS 8 so the kids can attempt to buy stuff on their own, which will prompt me on my device to authorize the purchase before payment goes through. Brilliant! ASHLEY BAKER Many of us at MaclLife are in the same situation, and we couldn’t agree more that Family Sharing came as very welcome news. The feature set isn’t getting…

Are we becoming slaves to the machines we rely on? ACCORDING TO PEW Internet Project’s mobile technology research (January 2014), 90% of American adults own a cell phone, 58% of American adults have a smartphone, 32% of American adults own an e-reader, and 42% of American adults own a tablet computer. What’s worrying is that there is increasing evidence that we are becoming addicted to these devices, and the manners passed down from generation to generation are being forgotten in the blink of a tweet. It’s not unusual for people to pull out a phone and start tapping away while you are in direct face-to-face conversation; it’s called "phubbing", and admit it: you’ve probably done it yourself. "Abusing and sometimes compulsively using our smartphones can be a real problem," explains…

Mac|Life talks to Pixar veteran Andrew Dayton about swapping movies for games ANDRE WDAYTON HAS worked on The Incredibles, Toy Story 3 and Brave for Pixar, but his latest project is something completely different. Flyhunter Origins is a new side-scrolling iOS and Mac platformer from Californian developer Steel Wool Games. The game, which follows a bumbling alien spaceship janitor trying to recover his spaceship’s cargo of exotic insects, takes full advantage of Dayton’s background in art, animation, storytelling, and production. ML: Can you tell us a bit about how Steel Wool came to be formed? AD: I had been working with Joshua Qualtieri of ZombieSmith on a small short based on one his IPs, "Quar." [vimeo.com/20259569]. We had a lot of fun working together we thought it would be a…

It’s not exactly open-source just yet, but Apple is opening up its systems. RIK MYSLEWSKI explains why this can only be a good thing for us as users A T APPLE’S ANNUAL Worldwide Developers Conference this June, Cook & Co. unveiled iOS {8 and OS X Yosemite - I can’t hear one Canaanite yelling to another, "Yo! Semite!" - but they weren’t the most important things that debuted at the annual Cupertinian coder confab. This year, those hardworking folks were rewarded with both the tools and the trust they’ll use to improve your Mac and iDevice experiences from now on. LET’S START WITH a TLA (three-letter acronym) called API (application programming interface). Simply put, an API is a messaging format that a developer uses to enable her app to get…

From five-minute triage sessions to the best tips and techniques, we present a handy guide to fixing problems with your Mac and iOS devices T HE MAC AND your iPhone: these devices have become essential to the ways we work, play, and communicate. So when they don’t act the way they’re supposed to, it’s a cause for concern, and it’s easy to feel helpless. Most of us lack access to a full-time Mac Genius to help us solve our problems, and finding a tech person to help can be an exercise in teeth-grinding. But as complicated as these devices have become, we’re still their masters on the following pages we’re going to walk you through what you need to know to take back control of your technology, to get a…

Cute robot mends world, hearts $2.99 Developer Matthias Titze www.goldentricycle.com Platform Universal Requirements iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 6.0 or later This starts off as a simple block-moving game, taking the vaguely WALL-E-like CLARC through levels, solving puzzles. At first, moving blocks is all there is to it, then power switches and lasers come into play, and after a while, every puzzle room is mayhem - a web of broken walls, semi-regular hot laser death, blocks in almost impossible-to-reach places, and a solution somewhere in the middle. It’s all carried along by a story told in ways that veer between sweet, clever, and funny, but is also, somewhat disappointingly, needlessly gendered-you’re basically trying to rescue a pink lady missile named CLARA. It’s not really a big deal, but neither…

Let’s dance... put on your iPhone and dance the blues $3.99 Developer Game Oven http://playbounden.com Platform iPhone or iPod touch Requirements iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 6.1 or later It’s hard to understand Bounden until you either see two people caught up in its playful entanglement or experience it for yourself. The creators of Fingle and Bam Fu have figured out a way here to get you dancing without even realizing it. You and a friend hold either ends of the device, then tilt it and move it to guide a small token through a series of rings on a sphere. The catch is that you’ll only be able to hit those rings if you work together to swing your arms and move your bodies, thereby being sucked unknowingly into…

No more excuses for missing a notification $3.99 Developer Joost van Dijk www.getnotifyr.com Platform iPhone Requirements Phone 4S or higher running iOS 7.0 or later iPhone push notifications are great while on the go, but less convenient when the device is tucked away while working at the Mac. Using low-energy Bluetooth, a new app called Notifyr promises to beam those missives straight to the desktop, reducing the need to reach into pockets or purses just to keep updated. Notifyr is actually two components: this paid app, which intercepts push notifications on the device, and a free OS X preferences pane that serves this data to Notification Center. Launch the iPhone app, pair it with the Mac using a six-digit PIN code and notifications begin to flow onto any recent (that is,…

Comic-inspired deathchasing, anyone? $1.99 Developer Little Chicken http://sxpd.com Platform iPad Requirements iPad running iOS 5.1 or later Equal parts digital comic and video game, SXPD drops you into a frightening world of high-speed hoverbike combat that’s filled with punk terrorists, nameless all-female police officers, motorcycle cults, disturbing killer dolls, and enough mystery to justify a lengthy multi-volume story. You can blitz through the story mode in a single sitting, though. There’s a beautiful fluidity to the experience as SXPD seamlessly transitions from expressive comic panels into first-person death-defying action. You steer your bike by tilting left and right, touching the screen with one finger to fire and two fingers for a nitro boost. Slaloming through stark industrial environments in pursuit of your foes feels exhilarating, and it gets especially intense when…

Apple’s ultra-portable notebook gets an incredibly minor update $1099 (11-inch), $1199 (13-inch) Manufacturer Apple www.apple.com RAM 4GB, 1600MHz storage 256GB Processor 1.4GHz Intel Core i5 T he MacBook Air has really come into its own with later revisions and price cuts, which is why it’s mildly disappointing that the mid-2014 model is a very minor refresh, with just two significant changes. The processors are a mere 0.1GHz faster: now 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPUs are used throughout the range, replacing the 1.3GHz chips inside the mid-2013 models. Perhaps more significantly, the prices are down by $100 across the range, including both the entry-level 11-inch and 13-inch models, and the high-end versions that boast 256GB of storage. Everything else about them is the same, but since they were already outstanding,…

Could this nifty app help you recover your stolen Mac? $49 for one Mac, $59 for up to five Macs (one-off fee, no subscription) Developer Orbicule orbicule.com Requirements OS X 10.6 or later, 20.2MB disk space Being robbed is incredibly stressful, especially if you lose your Mac, but with Orbicule’s Undercover installed you stand a decent chance of getting it back. Simply log in to your account at undercoverhq.com and report your computer as stolen, and this lightweight, invisible app will then begin gathering evidence as soon as it’s used or goes online. Keystrokes are logged, photos are taken with the webcam and screenshots of the desktop are saved. It even monitors your Mac’s location - information that you can bundle into a theft report for the police. Version 6…

Draw websites! Clean, responsive code! Is this too good to be true? $179 Developer Macaw LLC www.macaw.co Requirements OS X 10.6 or later, Intel Mac Macaw is ambitious. Its small team aims to kickstart a revolution in how professionals and enthusiasts alike create websites. "Stop writing code, start drawing it" is the manifesto, and the interface is akin to a desktop publishing package. But the canvas is a live web view, in theory, providing immediate, accurate feedback of your site in a browser. The layout tools are basic, driven by the limitations of the web, but an in-context inspector provides access to a wide range of properties and values. You can assign breakpoints at specific viewport sizes and adjust your design accordingly. As layouts grow complex, selecting items becomes fiddly,…

Full of fluff and spectacle, but short on dynamism or urgency $39.99 Developer Aspyr www.aspyr.com Requirements OS X 10.9.2; 2.2 GHz Intel i3 dual-core processor; 4GB RAM; 512MB VRAM; ATI Radeon HD 4850, NVIDIA GeForce 640M, or Intel Iris graphics processor By the time Infinity Ward released Modern Warfare 3 in 2011, Call of Duty’s style was well-established: the single-player mode should be bombastic, jingoistic, and cinematic, while a robust and quick-paced multiplayer portion comprises the bulk of the experience. But it also depends on an eager player base and densely populated servers. Unfortunately, Aspyr’s Mac port, released three years since, has neither. Aspyr’s Mac version of Modern Warfare 3 supports cross-platform competitive multiplayer, but its benefts have been blunted by the passage of time. Most of Modern Warfare 3’s…

$89.99 Manufacturer Incipio www.incipio.com Requirements iPad Air This rugged case offers multiple layers of protection and will be of particular interest to those who use their iPad Air in the great outdoors. There’s a removable, 360-degree rotating neoprene hand strap, which is a useful addition. However, there’s no kick-stand or any added features, bar a screen protector. The soft interior, splash, and dust resistant outer and thick, shock-absorbing bumper around the perimeter will keep your pride and joy from harm though.…

The world’s first compact system camera with 4K video shooting - but is it any good for stills? $1700 (body only) Manufacturer Panasonic www.panasonic.com Requirements OS X 10.5 or later for Silkypix software, USB 2.0 port A Ithough the GH4’s headline feature is its ability to shoot 4K video, Panasonic hopes it will gain greater respect than the GH3 asaistills camera. Yes, its Digital Live MOS sensor is a relatively small 16.05MP, but its readout speed of 200Mb/s is double that of the GH3. The sensor is paired with the new Venus Engine IX quad-core processor to help with the demands of 4K video processing. There’s a 49-area autofocus (AF) system too, and a Custom Multi mode that enables you to limit the active AF points to a row or column…

Point and shoot, baby $70 Manufacturer Incipio Technologies www.incipio.com Requirements iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s, Bluetooth connection, iOS 6.1 or later Incipio has a new case that’s sure to make mobile shutterbugs jump for joy. The handsome, two-piece Focal Camera Case snaps onto an iPhone 5/5s with ease (and slides off just as effortlessly), converting the smartphone into a faux point-and-shoot digital camera, right down to the handy wrist strap. Focal also includes power, physical zoom and shutter buttons located along the right side of the case, leaving the volume and mute buttons accessible. There’s a slight hump on the lower half that mimics a digital SLR handgrip, which conveniently houses a small battery used to power the case. The only downside is the hump makes for an awkward fit with…

Video editing is not just about visuals - there’s sound too THE ERA OF THE silent film started in 1894, and finally ended in 1937. These days, it’s difficult to imagine a movie being made without sound. There are notable exceptions of course, such as Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie or the recent French film The Artist, but for the vast majority of movies, sound is a crucial component. In fact, the quality of the audio affects the viewers’ perception of the movie’s visual quality. So it’s good to know that even though Premiere Elements is a consumer-grade video-editing application, it does offer some means of working with your clips’ audio. As you might expect, though, some of the necessary tools are only available in Expert mode, but the concept of…

Get the maximum battery life from your Mac laptop with these tips APPLE’S PORTABLE COMPUTERS have become the company’s best-selling Mac models, which is no doubt down to them being thinner and lighter than ever before. However, this puts a limit on how big their batteries can be, and although the technology has improved, battery life in laptops is still an important factor. As good as OS X and Intel’s latest processors are at minimizing power drain, our expectations of how long we should be able to go between charges have also increased. The good news is there are quite a few things you can do to squeeze as much as possible out of a single charge. It helps, for example, if you can install OS X 10.9 Mavericks, because…