Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i MacLife

ALTHOUGH APPLE LAST revised its pro notebook line in May, it has introduced a new 13–inch MacBook Pro, starting at $1,299 — the same price as before — for a model with an M1 chip with 8–core CPU and 8–core GPU, 8GB unified memory, and 256GB SSD storage. A configuration with 512GB SSD storage is $1,499, and the same build–to–order options are available at the same prices as for MacBook Air. The 8–core CPU is up to 2.8x faster than the previous generation, Apple says, delivering game–changing performance when compiling code, transcoding video, editing high–res photos, and more. The 8–core GPU is up to 5x faster, promising super -smooth graphics performance. Machine learning (ML) is up to 11x faster. With up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing and up…

STEVE JOBS FAMOUSLY compared the computer to the bicycle – an artificial addition to the human body that makes it many times more efficient. It was a great metaphor, but maybe not ideally calibrated to a contemporary tech audience of Steve Wozniak-like nerds whose questionably coordinated attempts at riding a bike had probably ended in grazed knees and a lifelong commitment to on–screen pursuits. Read the room, Steve. Today, your Mac is more of a finely tuned semi–autonomous electric vehicle than a bicycle, and although it comes with sophisticated safety features and fewer ways to end up sitting in the gutter wondering where the chain went, most of us are probably driving it less efficiently than we could. In this article we will point out some dials and switches you…

When your Mac’s startup drive (called Macintosh HD by default, even if it’s an SSD) runs out of room, there are other places to store files. Even if you can’t upgrade internally, you can plug in external drives. Or you can keep more files in the cloud, which will probably mean upgrading your iCloud storage plan to more than the basic 5GB. Go to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud, click Manage at the bottom right, then Buy More Storage (or Change Storage Plan). 200GB is a good option for many people, at $2.99 per month. DRIVE HARDER iCloud Drive is a private online storage space that’s synced to your Mac and other devices on your Apple ID. You can create folders in it and save, copy or move…

ADDING A SECOND screen to your Mac can make a big difference to productivity. By arranging apps and windows on different displays (see support.apple.com/en-us/HT202351), you can avoid constant switching; keep a full–size preview of your work visible at the same time as your app’s tools and panels; or separate social media, Slack or Zoom from work you’re trying to focus on. Ergonomically, a MacBook is much better used as your second screen when you’re at your desk, with you sitting in front of a larger monitor and separate keyboard. An alternative to buying a monitor is to use Sidecar, introduced in macOS Catalina, to connect an iPad running iPadOS 13 or 14 as a wired or wireless second screen: see support.apple.com/en-us/HT210380. Both devices will need to be signed in to…

ARE YOU EXPERIENCING problems with your Mac? If so, don’t be scared and freak out because there may be a quick and easy way to solve the problem. Over the following pages, we cover the most common problems that people experience with their Macs and outline possible solutions to fix them. Of course, nothing is 100 per cent guaranteed to work perfectly, and you may have to try multiple work–throughs to solve a particular issue, but hopefully we have all of the possible solutions outlined here in some shape or form. Before you do anything, though, try working through the quick–fix solutions on the right, as often something as simple as restarting your Mac can resolve certain problems, especially if you aren’t in the habit of doing so. Not having…

$99 From Apple, apple.com Features S5 chip, AirPlay 2, Full–range drive with dual passive radiators, 360° sound, 4x microphones for far–field Siri, stereo pair capable, 802.11n Wi–Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, Thread, Ultra–wideband chip, 3.9x3.3in, 0.76lb If a week is a long time in politics, then three years is a lifetime in tech, something that’s particularly true for Apple’s HomePod. The $299 smart speaker was announced in 2017, arrived in 2018 to a flurry of positive reviews about its incredible sound quality, then more or less sank without a trace, overwhelmed by a tsunami of cheaper, inferior–sounding speakers featuring Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. While the HomePod sounded better than most of its rivals, its weak spots were its price and its Siri/Apple Music integration. Siri (still) has a lot of catching…

$79 From Skylum, skylum.com Needs macOS 10.13.6 or higher, Intel Core i5 or better, 8GB RAM Skylum has built on the success of its Luminar 4 photo editing software for Mac with Luminar AI, an entirely separate application that greatly expands the use of artificial intelligence to help you make quick and visually impressive edits to your images. We reviewed a late–stage beta version but found no significant issues, even with final snagging still to be done before the official release. Open one or more images and Luminar AI’s Templates mode provides “for this photo” suggestions based on its analysis of the contents of the picture. There are template categories for landscape, portrait, wildlife, analog, and more, each with an amount slider to apply as much or as little as…

$59.99 From Ausdom, ausdom.com Features 1920x1080 pixels (30fps), auto light correction, noise reduction mic, manual focus The AUSDOM AW635 webcam’s stand is versatile as it works as a traditional clip–on mount solution or on a flat surface. In either orientation, the top half of the camera rotates freely in a full 360°, and the camera tilts too. Set up is easy — just plug it in via USB and play. It records and streams video in 1080p high–definition resolution at 30fps with a wide-angle lens and low-light correction, but lacks autofocus capabilities. In testing, the webcam produced good visuals in well-lit environments, and it was able to keep up with hand–waving and other fast motions with ease. Colors in images produced from the webcam were muted rather than highly saturated,…

All Macs upgrading to macOS 11 Big Sur should expect a firmware update, which should extend in matching Security Updates to other supported versions, Catalina and Mojave Because firmware is installed into the logic board, each Mac can only run one version: you can’t switch between versions to start up in a different release of macOS. As Macs can’t ordinarily downgrade firmware, only upgrade, if you want to run both Big Sur and Mojave on the same system, your Mac has to run the newer firmware anyway. So long as the versions of macOS are reasonably close together, that normally works fine, and is supported by any necessary changes in the kernel and other components supplied in a Security Update, for instance. This becomes more tenuous when the two versions…

That particular Security Update had these effects on many of those who installed it. Sometimes simple solutions can resolve update issues quickly, such as resetting the SMC and the NVRAM. Starting up in Safe mode, with the Shift key held down, leaving your Mac a minute or two so that it clears its caches, then restarting back into normal mode, can also sometimes work. In this particular case, for those Macs most severely affected the only solution was to revert to Mojave as it was before that update. If you have a Time Machine backup running and can do this within 24 hours of the update, you may be able to roll back to the last snapshot made beforehand. Restart in Recovery mode, select Restore from Time Machine Backup then…

Version 10.1.2 of Safari was released for macOS Sierra, Yosemite and El Capitan in July 2017. It’s the last version of Safari which has been provided for Yosemite: El Capitan can run version 11, and Sierra version 12. At one time, Apple made new versions of Safari available as separate downloads, but the latest available under that scheme is even older, at version 5.1.10 for Snow Leopard. Some have also been offered in the App Store, but that doesn’t appear to apply to Yosemite or El Capitan. The only way that your Mac can run a more recent version of Safari is therefore to upgrade the whole OS. The current version 14 is available for High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina. Or you could switch to another browser such as Mozilla’s…

ONCE UPON A time, iTunes used to have a gorgeous Cover Flow view that presented your music in full screen on your Mac. It was the closest Apple ever came to letting us rifle through our music, crate–digger style. While Cover Flow is still MIA, the Music app in macOS Catalina has an alternative — the Full–Screen Player. It simply presents the artwork for the currently playing album against a lava lamp–like backdrop that takes its colors from the artwork itself. It looks rather lovely and can be invoked at any time by either selecting Window > Full–Screen Player from the menu bar or by using Shift+Cmd+F. It’s great for those times when you just want to pick a playlist and use your Mac as a jukebox while you do…

1 Display the Dashboard The Dashboard supersedes the attachments panel; for us it’s gone from something we never use to a constant companion. To show or hide it, click the icon at the top–right of the window or press Cmd+4. 2 Add an annotation You can use the Progress panel as a notepad: here we’re adding an annotation to a block of text to remind us to revisit it. That annotation appears as a link in the Annotations section of the Progress panel. 3 See your stats If you’re writing to any kind of numerical target, you’ll love the Statistics panel. It displays word, character, paragraph, line, and page counts. You can decide what to include or exclude here and specify your page sizes too. 4 Drag and drop One…

MACOS CATALINA AND Big Sur can’t run some older software. The best way to retain access to old apps that can print sticky labels, work with now–unsupported QuickTime formats, or which haven’t made it to 64–bit, is to run them in a Virtual Machine (VM). Provided yours is an Intel Mac, even if it can’t itself run that older version of macOS it can when installed in a VM in Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or another virtualization app. Running in a VM is often less trouble than trying to dual–boot between two different versions of macOS: the older may have problems with the newer macOS file system and other features. Dual–booting also only lets you run one macOS at a time, whereas with virtualization you can copy and paste between…

1 Take a selfie By default, Camo uses your iPhone’s rear camera for a better image. To use the selfie camera so you can monitor your video without having Camo Studio in the foreground on your Mac, select it from the Lens menu. 2 Tweak video resolution You may have to lower your video quality if your calling app imposes a limit or you want to save on bandwidth. Choose an option from the Resolution menu on the left side of Camo Studio. 3 Shine a light One of Camo’s best features is its flash support (this requires a Pro purchase), which helps light you up in dark surroundings. On the left, enable the “Flash level” checkbox, then adjust the brightness using the slider.…

There’s no need to spend ages fiddling with Camo’s settings if you just want to get into a video call. The app has five presets ready for you to use, all of which offer quick tweaks to your appearance. To load one, simply select it from the drop–down menu in the top–right corner. You can also save and load presets, which is useful if you want to use them on a different device without having to configure your settings again. Once you have tweaked Camo to your liking, just click “Save as” in the Presets section and choose a save location.…

TOWARDS THE END of the 1980s, Apple was a substantial computer company still trying to find its way. CEO John Sculley had survived the difficult launch of the Macintosh and reversed Steve Jobs’ planned boardroom coup with the help of colleague Jean-Louis Gassée. But he then clashed with Gassée, who commanded the loyalty of many Apple staffers, over a project, codenamed Drama, to create a more affordable Mac. Sculley — supported by senior executives including Bill Campbell, later one of Apple’s longest–serving board members — believed it was absolutely essential to grow market share against the IBM PC. Gassée insisted the Mac’s technical superiority was its selling point and its high profit margin Apple’s strength. The appropriately named Drama was killed off, but the idea of a budget Mac wouldn’t…

WITH THE SAME iconic 7.7–inch square design, the M1–based Mac mini now starts at $699, $100 less than the previous–generation quad–core model. The existing 3GHz Intel Core i5 model with 8GB memory and 512GB SSD storage remains in the line-up, for $1,099. The M1’s 8–core CPU delivers up to 3x faster performance than the previous generation, Apple says, and the 8–core GPU up to a 6x increase in graphics performance, enabling Mac mini to tackle intensive tasks like complex 3D rendering with ease. ML workloads run up to 15x faster than on the previous generation. In addition to Wi–Fi 6 for faster wireless performance, Mac mini offers more connectivity than notebook Macs, with two Thunderbolt (USB 4) ports plus HDMI 2.0, two USB–A ports (up to 5GB/s), and Gigabit Ethernet.…

Big Sur brings a revamp for those funny little icons that sit at the top–right of your screen challenging you to remember what they do without the aid of text. Obviously, text would take up too much room. Cleverly, Big Sur spaces out the icons, taking up too much room. It’s no good complaining to us, we don’t make the rules. Fortunately, it’s now easier to turn these little helpers on and off, and with many of them duplicated in the new Control Center, off can be a very practical option. Meanwhile, notifications and widgets have a whole new relationship. Aww. DRAG RACE Here’s a cool feature of Big Sur’s Control Center that you may not have noticed. Click the icon with the little sliders to drop down Control Center,…

1 SINGLE WINDOW Click and hold any app’s icon in the Dock to show which windows it has open. Select one to bring just that window to the front, while keeping the app you’re using visible. 2 EXPOSURE THERAPY Press Ctrl+Down for Exposé, which shows all of the windows open (in all Spaces) in the current app. Some apps also show recently opened files as thumbnails below. 3 SIDE BY SIDE Hover over the Full Screen (green) button at the top–left of any window and pick Tile Window to Left of Screen. Click any window thumbnail on the right to split–screen with it. 4 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED Press Ctrl+Up (or swipe up with four fingers on your Magic Trackpad) for Mission Control, which shows all windows open in all apps; click…

NOT MANY RECENT Macs can accept internal storage upgrades: it’s officially only possible with the Mac Pro, though feasible with an iMac given enough time and skill to remove and replace the display for access. Some older models have standard 2.5–inch SATA hard disks, which can be replaced — ideally with an SSD (referred to in macOS as “Flash Storage”) for a significant performance boost as well as higher capacity. Otherwise, external drives are the answer. As we keep reminding you, you should already be using one for Time Machine backups; you could keep more files in a separate APFS volume on the same drive, but then you’d want somewhere to back those files up to… So really, it makes sense to add a second external drive. After your first…

1 CHECK CPU USAGE In the CPU tab, click the % CPU header to show highest first. Select View > All Processes. If an app is maxing out the CPU or GPU, it may need a faster Mac. If the culprit is an obscure system process, Google it for tips. 2 CHECK MEMORY USAGE In the Memory tab, it’s normal to see a lot of GB in use while not doing very much — macOS may as well use it to keep stuff handy — but look for anything pushing it over the top. Extra RAM could help, if upgradable. 3 ZAP THE CRAP If your Mac behaves oddly, check here for unresponsive processes, which appear in red. Select and click the “x” in a hexagon to force quit. If…

1 RESTART YOUR MAC Turn it off and on again. Yes, that may sound like a tired old cliche, but often minor issues are resolved with a quick restart — especially if you haven’t done so in months. 2 UPDATE YOUR MAC Launch System Preferences and then click on the “Software Update” option to check that your system software is up to date. Sometimes an out–of–date OS can affect your apps. 3 FORCE QUIT APPS If certain apps are sluggish or unresponsive, then consider force–quitting them. To do this, click on Apple > Force Quit, select the app and then click on the “Force Quit” button. 4 CLEAN YOUR DESKTOP Having hundreds of files loose on your Mac desktop can cause it to perform sluggishly over time. Right–click on the…

From $699 (64GB) From Apple, apple.com Features A14 Bionic; 64, 128, or 256GB storage; 5.4–inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with 476 ppi pixel density; Ceramic Shield front; dual 12MP ultra–wide and wide cameras (rear); 12MP camera (front); Dolby Vision HDR video recording; IP68 splash, water, and dust resistant; MagSafe Is the iPhone 12 a bit too big for you? Then the iPhone 12 mini will come as a revelation. It has all the same features as its bigger counterpart, but it’s smaller. Thought the iPhone SE was a pocket–friendly performer? Think again — the iPhone 12 mini takes things to the next level. Put it up against the SE and you notice it’s even smaller, being both shorter and narrower, as well as lighter. Small hands rejoice! And then…

$199 From Plugable, plugable.com Features USB–C, 2x USB–A, 2x Thunderbolt 3, HDMI DisplayPort, Audio In, Audio Out The snappily named TBT3–UD1–85W Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station from Plugable is a compact hub for Thunderbolt 3–equipped Macs and PCs. It’s capable of delivering up to 85W of power through its Power Delivery USB-C port, which is more than enough for almost all Apple’s portables, with juice to spare to power other connected USB devices as well. Only the 16–inch MacBook Pro ships with a more powerful native charger, but will still charge through the hub, albeit slightly more slowly than with its own power supply. Sleek, unobtrusive and finished in a lightweight metal, the hub has a couple of ports on its front edge for convenience: one USB–C and one USB–A. The…

$69.99 From Papalook, papalook.com Features 1920x1080 pixels (30fps), stereo mic with noise cancellation, manual focus Papalook’s webcam is reasonably priced and offers high definition video capabilities with a simple plug–and–play setup. It sports a wide frame with the camera lens sitting directly in the center. The camera’s base is designed to clip onto the top of your monitor or MacBook lid, with a stabilizer on the back that keeps it all in place. The webcam can be rotated a full 360° horizontally, and you can make minor tilt adjustments too. The camera connects via a non–removable USB 2.0 cable, with a USB–A connector. Papalook’s camera captures and records video in 1080p HD resolution at 30 frames per second. The camera has a 65° wide–angle lens with an F2.0 aperture, and…

$99 (240GB), $149 (480GB), $199 (1TB), $369 (2TB) From OWC, owcdigital.com Features USB–C, IP67 rating, aluminum case Portable storage is especially important for people working with photos and videos who often need to back up many gigabytes of data when out in the field. OWC’s Envoy Pro Elektron comes in capacities from 240GB all the way up to 2TB. Compact and well–built in aircraft-grade aluminum, it’s dust–proof and waterproof to IP67. OWC says it’s also crush proof, and while we didn’t test that particular claim it does feel extremely solid. Powering over USB–C, it comes with a 10GB/s USB–C cable and a USB–A adapter for connection to older systems. It works with Macs, PCs or iPad Pro, and on first use you’re prompted to format it for your system. It’s…

$199.99 From Nanoleaf, us-shop.nanoleaf.me Features Seven Hexagon LED light panels, 16 million colors with 1200–6500K white light temperature, touch and sound enabled, Apple HomeKit and Siri compatible Interior designers will have you know there are three kinds of lighting: task lighting (handy for chopping vegetables with sharp implements); ambient lighting (for when your date/mate/partner comes around to sample said chopped vegetables); and accent lighting (handy for showing off your etchings during the aperitifs). Nanoleaf’s Shapes Hexagon smart lights do all three. Available in a Smarter Kit of seven LED light panels, this Shapes Hexagon pack also comes with a controller, a 240V power supply, eight “linkers” for connecting the panels and controller, and some double–sided tape strips that enables you to fix the panels to the wall (and rearrange them…

1 Echo Dot (4th gen) $49.99, amazon.com Its single, slightly weedy, speaker makes this a budget option rather than an audio whizz, but the Dot’s cheap enough to put Alexa in all your rooms. Previous generations have often been found a lot cheaper than their RRP, too. 2 Echo Dot (with clock) $59.99, amazon.com It’s an Echo Dot, except it also has a clock in it. That’s literally the only difference, bar the bump in price. If you need a clock, get this; otherwise, the bog–standard Dot will do just fine. 3 Echo Studio $199.99, amazon.com The Studio can be a little bit baffling: it’s a single speaker that can work with 3D audio, of which there’s basically none right now. Other than that, though, it’s loud and brash and…

FileVault originally performed this function, but has been replaced with more secure whole–disk encryption, so can’t encrypt your Home folder alone. Apple recommends that before returning your Mac for service, you enable FileVault encryption on the startup disk, giving the service provider your password. If you have sensitive information on your startup disk which you can’t allow anyone else to see, you should either move it to external storage or encrypt it separately. Keep your sensitive files in an encrypted disk image or sparse bundle. Create those using Disk Utility, DropDMG from bit.ly/mac359dropdmg or Spundle from bit.ly/mac359spundle. Open the encrypted file when you want access to the docs within it, and eject it when you’re done.…

Unfortunately, the built–in junk mail filtering systems in most mail clients are fairly basic, and often make errors like this. Apple’s Mail does give you the option of building your own rules which can be used to sort messages as you wish. But creating a set of rules which matches the performance of a good spam filter is far from easy, particularly when spammers set out to sneak past most simple rules. If you get a lot of junk mail, or you’re wasting time trying to correct the misclassifications made by other junk mail filters, try C–Command’s SpamSieve from bit.ly/mac359spamsieve. This runs as a proper app, and has plug–ins to enable it to work with a wide range of mail clients, including Apple’s Mail app. It also works with IMAP,…

1 Go full screen With the Music app open, either select Window > Full–Screen Player from the menu bar, or use Shift+Cmd+F. Now you should see the artwork, the name of the track, artist, and album. Plus a lovely lava–like animated glow. 2 Take control Mouse over the track title and artist’s name and the Full–Screen Player will reveal its playback controls. Available lyrics can be displayed by clicking the speech bubble on the right. The three dots menu displays a pop–up menu. 3 Pop–up and away Here you can do things like add the current track to a playlist; explore Genius Suggestions; and Love, Dislike, or rate your tracks. To leave Full–Screen Player, tap Esc or guide the pointer to the top of the screen to reveal the menu…

LET’S BE HONEST: your Mac’s audio settings are pretty basic. Volume up. Volume down. Left/right balance. And… that’s about it. But not with SoundSource, a great app from Rogue Amoeba that adds a popover control panel to the menu bar volume button. It gives you everything you need to manage audio on your computer. The great thing about this app is it can be as simple or as sophisticated as you need it to be. If all you want is a way to send music to your Bluetooth speakers but keep everything else coming out of your Mac, it can do that. And if you want to go in deep with EQ settings, audio effects, and custom sample rates, it can do that too. It’s all wrapped up in an…

1 Download installer Click the download link in bit.ly/upgmacosmojave to get the installer from the App Store. It will be downloaded by Software Update and throw an error when run. Keep the Install macOS Mojave app safe for Parallels to install. 2 Create a new VM Open Parallels Desktop, and if necessary set up its extension and privacy following the instructions. If you don’t see its splash screen, use the New command in its File menu, selecting the middle of the three options. 3 Select the installer If it doesn’t find the right installer, click on Choose Manually, and switch the Open File dialog to display All files. Open your macOS installer, agree creation of a bootable disk image file, and click Continue. 4 Save the new VM Give your…

1 Find a new angle Under the Post–processing section (Pro version), you can flip your video or rotate it. Once you have made your adjustments, use the “Focus position” slider on the right to make sure you’re properly in focus. 2 Zoom in on the details The zoom level has a slider on the left–hand side. Once you’re happy with the zoom, you can drag the center point using the box below the zoom slider. You get a live preview in Camo Studio. 3 In–depth image controls If you really want to get hands–on, the Pro version of Camo Studio has sliders for brightness, temperature, tint, shutter speed, and more. A few tweaks can tune up your video to perfection.…

APPLE LIKES TO keep your iOS device firmly locked down, and for the most part that’s fine. After all, most of us aren’t interested in jailbreaking our devices and the risks that come with that. But gaining more control doesn’t have to entail risks — with iMazing 2 you can take a deep dive into your device and keep it well–maintained in a safe and easy way The various tools provided in iMazing allow you to do several useful things that Apple won’t let you do, whether that’s through Finder or in the Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. For instance, iMazing adds features like a profile manager and file system browser that are simply not available from Apple. These provide an extra level of functionality for managing and maintaining your…

ACCORDING TO APPLE, MacBook Air is the most popular Mac model and the world’s best–selling 13–inch notebook. Starting at the same price as before, Apple says the new generation offers significantly better performance and “extraordinary battery life, with up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback — the longest battery life ever on a MacBook Air.” The $999 base model has the Apple M1 chip with 8–core CPU and 7–core GPU, 8GB unified memory, 256GB SSD storage, and two Thunderbolt (USB 4) ports. The $1,249 model adds an 8–core GPU and 512GB SSD storage, and there are limited build–to–order options. For an extra $200 you can increase the memory to 16GB (the maximum for M1–based Macs), you can upgrade the storage from…

1 DJI Mini 2 dji.com $449 >>> DJI’s new small drone is even smaller than its predecessor at just five inches long when folded, and weighs 0.5lb — it really is tiny. And its upgraded camera now takes up to 4K video at 30fps, though if you go with 1080p you also get a 4x zoom option. For stills it shoots JPEG + RAW, meaning you can do more with the shots when you get them back to your Mac. DJI’s new OccuSync 2.0 wireless tech gives it a six–mile control range, with 31 minutes of flight time at speeds of up to 36mph. You can send it on auto flight paths with just a tap in the app, too. 2 B&O Beosound 2 Gold Tone bang-olufsen.com $2,250 >>> To…

While we value our touch–scrolling Magic Mice and gesture–sensing Magic Trackpads, the frankly not–particularly Magic Keyboard is often the fastest way to activate commands. Even as the Mac’s legendary role as cursor–armed slayer of the green–screen command line slips into the mists of time, there’s still a little bit of an aversion, chez Cupertino, to keyboard navigation. But if you know your way around, with a few tweaks you can invoke many of the commands that you need without having to point a little arrow at them. 1 KEEP TABS WITH TAB You probably use Tab to move between text fields. You may know you can use it to switch the blue outline between buttons in a dialog box, then press Space to click (Return selects the solid blue button…

1 FINDER RENAME Select any number of files or folders, right–click and choose Rename. You can replace the existing file names, add text to them, or create your own format with numbering. 2 DRAGGED IN You’re using a folder in the Finder, but when you Save As in an app, you have to navigate there. Drag a file from the Finder window into the Save dialog to set the folder before typing a name. 3 MULTIPLE OPENINGS Need to edit several files? In the Open dialog of most apps (as in the Finder), you can Cmd or Shift+click to select several files within a folder and open them all at once. 4 EVERYTHING MUST GO Built up lots of unneeded open windows in the Finder or another app? Simply hold…

If your Mac feels like it’s struggling, the first step is to narrow down exactly what’s causing this. Age is one obvious possibility: there’s not much inside that will get slower before it actually dies, but hard disks and batteries can definitely get glitchier towards the end of their life. Ultimately, as you keep upgrading your OS and apps but not your hardware, it’s eventually going to fall behind. That’s due in large part to the CPU, which can’t be replaced, and this is why we have the Apple Store and its enticing selection of shiny new Macs. Before things get to that stage, though, your first port of call to find fixable causes of slow–downs and other shenanigans is Activity Monitor. It lives in Applications/Utilities, but it’s easiest to…

Free From Ginger Labs, twobird.com Needs macOS 10.13 or later, 64–bit processor Email rules all. It’s so important, in fact, that it’s no longer merely about messaging — these days your email encompasses your calendar, to-do list, reminders, and more. It’s that ever-expanding list of capabilities that the gorgeous, minimalist Twobird wants to get under control without stripping out useful functionality. Right from the start you see this philosophy in action. The left–hand column is as minimal as it gets: links for your inbox, low–priority emails (like newsletters and promotions), notes, and the calendar; everything else is hidden under a “More” expander. That puts the focus squarely on the main window, which houses your mail. Unread emails are clearly marked with only their title in bold, which avoids the visual…

So, you managed to bag yourself a new iPhone 12, eh? Lucky you. You’ll probably be wanting a case to protect your investment, then. Here we have four of the best that should do the trick. Each will keep your phone safe from accidental drops, and they all have magnets built in to the back so that you can snap compatible accessories to them; believe it or not, Apple wasn’t first with its own magnetic tech MagSafe. We will also be testing each case to see if they’re compatible with official MagSafe accessories, like Apple’s charger.…

From $12 From TripMode, tripmode.ch Needs macOS 11.0 or later Big Sur lacks its own tool to control mobile data use, but TripMode is a handy way to monitor and limit it. Version 3 has been redesigned to feel at home with the new OS’s look, and has been re-engineered to work robustly. Internally, it has switched to a Network Extension, Apple’s approved replacement for kernel extensions, making it fully compatible and a breeze to install. Its new Live Monitor keeps a real–time overview of all your Mac’s network traffic, functioning as a software firewall. This drop–down floating window can be detached from the menu bar and left on screen as you work. Its new Domains View lists all servers that apps connect with, so you can spot any suspicious…

No matter how hard we try, we all accumulate far too much fluff on our iOS devices. That’s compounded the longer we use them, with duplicate photos, incomplete contacts, and tons of unwanted emails flooding our devices and eating up precious storage space. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Add a few handy apps to your arsenal and you can quickly reclaim the space and declutter your device for good. Here, we have rounded up six apps that do just that — and best of all, most of them are free. Set them loose on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and your digital life will be the most ordered and organized it has ever been. CLEAN EMAIL Free (IAPs) Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch We all…

HOW TO COPY MY ADDRESS BOOK FROM MY MAC TO iPHONE? Data used by the Contacts app is heavily protected, and complex. You can’t simply copy it between macOS and iOS. By far the simplest way to access the same information from both your Mac and iPhone is to share Contacts data in iCloud, enabled in the iCloud section of your Apple ID on each device. HOW TO ADD A CUSTOM CATEGORY TO THE APP LIBRARY? You can’t. They’re the same categories used in the App Stores, selected from a list fixed by Apple. App developers get to choose which single category their apps go into, which is then baked into the app itself, so you can’t even change an app’s category. HOW TO ENABLE SIP WHEN IT HAS BECOME…

First, don’t leave fixed network devices like networked storage (NAS) devices connected using DHCP. Periodically, the DHCP server in your router will want to renew leases, and can assign any network IP address to your NAS when it does. Configure your DHCP server so that it leaves a block of IP addresses unallocated, and use those to assign fixed IP addresses to the NAS, any desktop systems, and laptops which spend much of their time on that network. This also makes it easier to trace network problems, as you can rely on most of your devices having the same IP address all the time. Setting a Mac to a fixed IP address is a simple process in the Network pane: set Configure IPv4 to its fixed IP address, then provide…

1 First steps After downloading the program installer from its website, open Porting Kit and choose File > New Custom Port. Type in the name of the application you’re installing to easily identify it. Click OK. An installer wizard will open. 2 Set Wine version Click Next, skim the license agreement and click I Agree. You’ll be prompted to select an engine: choose the latest 32–bit version (WS11WineCX19.0.1-1 or later). Leave the dependencies unselected and click Next. 3 Choose destination Click Next again to pick destination — Applications > Games folder by default, so click Change Install Location to change it to Applications or to create a new subfolder inside Applications for Windows apps. Click Save. 4 Select app installer Click Install and wait while the app wrapper is created…

WE’RE HUGE FANS of Ulysses, the do–everything writing app for macOS and iPadOS. No matter what we’re writing — a document for review, blog post, magazine article, tutorial, book, song lyric, or just a daily diary — we can write it in Ulysses and then share it with others in the appropriate format. Because everything we do in Ulysses is stored in plain text there’s no need to worry about using proprietary file formats; it also means Ulysses is blazingly fast. We can search our entire archive — many hundreds of thousands of words going back many years — and instantly find what we want. Version 20 is a big update to an already brilliant app. The biggest change is the new Dashboard, which is a sidebar at the right…

1 Adjust system audio At the top of SoundSource’s popover is the System section. Here you can raise or lower the volume for output, input, and sound effects. Move the sliders until you are happy with the result or click the speaker icon to mute. 2 Input/output devices To the right of each row is the Device section. This lets you change the device for output, input, and sound effects. Simply click the name of the currently selected device and choose a new one from the list. 3 Magic Boost Magic Boost is a clever feature in SoundSource. It boosts quieter sections of audio while leaving louder sections intact, without creating distortion. Click the upwards arrows under the Boost header to activate it. 4 Adjust per–app audio As well as…

FED UP WITH poor–quality webcam footage on your Mac? Camo is an app that uses the top–notch cameras on your iOS device to give your video calls a serious boost. All you need to do is download Camo on iOS and Camo Studio on your Mac, then connect the two devices using a Lightning–to–USB cable. All the processing is done on your iOS device, freeing up resources on your Mac. Camo offers adjustments so you can tweak your video image to perfection, and comes with a live feed of your video so you can see any changes you make in real time. There’s a pause button (and hotkey) should you ever need to put the brakes on, and the app has full Dark Mode support to ease the strain on…

1 It just works Camo automatically integrates with a lot of video–calling apps without you needing to do any heavy lifting. Most of the time you just need to pick Reincubate Camo from the list of camera options, such as here in Zoom. 2 Install extra integrations Some apps need a Camo integration to be installed. Click Help in the top–right corner, then find the one you want. Check for any additional instructions, then click Install Integration. 3 Troubleshooting If you’re having issues with an integration, there might be a permissions problem. In System Prefs, click Security & Privacy > Privacy > Screen Recording. Disable then re–enable the problematic video app.…

1 Back up your device Click Back Up in iMazing’s right–hand menu to begin backing up right away. Or click the Options button in the same menu. Here you can choose a backup schedule and location, adjust archive settings, and more. 2 Previous backup To go back to an old backup, click Restore a Backup in the right–hand menu, select a file, then click Choose. Select what you want to restore from this backup and click Next, turn off Find My, then click Restore. 3 Update iOS version Click Update iOS in the right–hand menu. If an update is available, iMazing will download it. Or, if you’ve downloaded an update file (such as in the example here), select it in the Browse panel, then click Update. 4 Reinstall iOS You…