Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i MacLife

APPLE HAS ADDED an entirely new high–performance headless computer to its desktop lineup, aimed at professionals who need raw grunt for tasks such as 3D rendering, code compilation, image processing, or video encoding. Mac Studio looks much like a pumped–up Mac mini, with an identical footprint of 7.7 x 7.7 inches but 3.7 inches high, half an inch less than three Mac minis stacked on top of each other. It is designed to sit on your desk, tucked under a monitor, for easy access to its ports — more about these in a moment. Mac Studio comes in two flavors, both with Apple silicon. The base model with M1 Max processor (with 10–core CPU and 24–core GPU), 32GB of unified memory, and 512GB SSD storage starts at $1,999, just $200…

THE SALES OF 5G smartphones surpassed those of 4G for the first time in January, according to Counterpoint Research. China had the highest 5G penetration in the world at 84%, followed by Western Europe (76%) and North America (73%). Apple dominated the latter two markets, with sales shares of 30% and more than 50% respectively. Globally, iPhones accounted for more than one third of all 5G smartphone sales, followed by Samsung with 12% and Xiaomi and Vivo at 11% each. The release of the third–generation iPhone SE (see review, page 42), which supports 5G, will be a big factor in many markets, especially price–sensitive emerging economies, but analysts urged potential buyers to check network compatibility with their carriers — in the US, for example, the iPhone SE will not work…

Alongside their multitude of new features, Apple’s latest operating systems change how to tackle many of our everyday problems. Here’s your up–to–date toolkit FIXING PROBLEMS IN our Macs, iPhones, and iPads can be tricky as the devices continue to evolve. You can’t employ the same tools and techniques when the chips keep changing, and each year brings a full suite of new operating systems. Tricks we once relied on, like repairing permissions, are now long gone. With its signed and sealed System volume, that once–popular fallback of clean re–installing macOS is seldom of any use today. Fortunately, if you want to check whether Monterey is in mint condition, all you need to do is restart your Mac, and MacOS checks every single file on its System volume against Apple’s blueprint.…

$359.95 From caldigit.com Features 18 ports, 98W laptop charging Needs USB–C, Thunderbolt 3 or 4, macOS 11.4 or later Caldigit’s Thunderbolt Station 4 has 18 ports and is compatible with all USB–C devices, with some functionality and top speeds being dependent on the computer you connect it to. The dock is very well built and can supply up to 98W of power to a laptop and extra to USB devices. There’s a dizzying array of ports on offer. The front panel contains full size and micro SD UHS–II slots, an audio combo jack, USB–A port, and two USB–C 3.2 ports. On the rear, there are four further USB–A 3.2 ports, DisplayPort 1.4, another USB–C, and Thunderbolt 4/USB4 to computer — your main data connection. Two further Thunderbolt 4 ports provide…

$1,149.99 From dell.com Features 32–inch IPS display with anti–glare, 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, 400cd/m2 brightness, 2,000:1 contrast, 5ms pixel response, 98% DCI–P3 color coverage, 60Hz refresh rate, 100mm x 100mm VESA, DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, USB–C with 90W PD, audio out, DisplayPort out, ethernet Whisper it, but LCD monitors with high–contrast HDR capabilities are ultimately cheats. They use various forms of local dimming to achieve contrast performance that the LCD panel itself cannot deliver. Enter the new Dell Ultrasharp U3223QE. It boasts what Dell claims is the world’s first use of IPS Black technology, capable of 2,000:1 contrast. That’s true static contrast from the panel itself, no local backlight dimming required. It’s a big step up on the maximum 1,300:1 contrast of the best existing IPS monitors. Indeed, many only…

$19.99 From theblueplum.com Needs macOS 10.14 or later The idea of logging and managing inventories of your possessions has been around as long as computers have been in homes. And the Mac has had its fair share of very good apps that do just that. Home Inventory, you won’t be surprised to learn given its name, does just that. Home Inventory makes good use of modern macOS features such as Continuity Camera, allowing you to take pictures or scan documents on your iPhone or iPad and add them directly to your inventory. As well as adding document scans and images to items, you can assign them to rooms, supply a value for them, and add tags. You can even create separate inventories for different locations. Home Inventory supports creating custom…

HOW TO GET LARGER AIRPODS PRO TIPS THAN APPLE’S? Extra large tips aren’t readily available, but if you can acquire or make your own earbud tips using memory foam, you can fit those inside Apple’s large silicone ear tips to bulk them out. To test them go to Bluetooth in Settings, and select the Ear Tip Fit Test in the AirPods info button. CAN I PAIR AIRPODS MAX WITH MULTIPLE DEVICES? When each device is signed into the same iCloud account, AirPods Max will switch between them without additional pairing. Set them up with an iOS, iPadOS, or macOS device first, holding them close within a minute of removing them from their case. Follow the instructions and they’ll switch automatically. INSERT ACCENTED CHARACTERS IN PAGES? There are at least three…

Both of these are effects which are built into Keynote, and they can be easily applied to your presentations. To zoom into a high–resolution image, first you need to add a new slide suitable for the image and drop the image onto that slide. Adjust that to form the starting position and zoom level. If you were then to use the Animate tool to add an effect, it would form a transition to the whole slide. To apply a zoom effect to the image itself, select the image first, then the Animate tool at the top of the sidebar, and click on Action. Click “Add an Effect” and then select Scale from the effects listed in the pop–up menu. Set the Scale controls to zoom in to the correct level…

This is the result of a memory leak, in this case almost certainly in the first general release of Monterey, version 12.0.1. At least four different leaks have been identified there. The first affects the new Accessibility feature for colored cursors, and was fixed completely in macOS 12.1. The other known leak fixed in that update affected the Control Center, particularly those who used it frequently to access Apple’s Music app and Playing Now. These and other fixed bugs in Monterey updates make it essential that you update without delay. There are no workarounds for those leaks. Two other leaks weren’t fixed in 12.1. The more troublesome of those occurs when you use the Finder’s Find command to search for files, although it doesn’t appear to affect regular Spotlight search,…

WHILE THE NEW features in Messages in macOS Big Sur were focused on bringing into line with the iOS version of Messages, and allowing you to have conversations in groups, among others, Messages in Monterey is all about sharing. Messages is the hub for the Shared with You feature in Monterey that surfaces links, photos, podcasts, and other content others have shared with you. The idea is that when you, for example, open a new homepage in Safari, you see thumbnails of the links others have shared with you in Messages. Or, when someone in your Contacts sends you a photo of you or from a location where you where present, it appears in a Shared with You section in the sidebar. There are also Shared with You sections in…

AS I WRITE this, stories in the news about Apple’s supposed headset for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are swirling. They’re predicting that the headset will arrive this year, and that it’ll also feature chips as powerful as those in the new MacBook Pros, which would put its capabilities way beyond the equivalent models from Oculus. Sorry: Facebook. Sorry: Meta. THE AR/VR VISION? SURELY APPLE’S HUMAN–LED DESIGN SENSE WILL SAVE US But this will also put its price way beyond those models too, and more in line with buying a laptop than an iPad or games console. So it’ll be interesting to see whether Apple’s early pitches for the product focus on professional use (where price will matter less) or as part of the attempts to push VR…

TO ACCOMPANY THE new Mac Studio, Apple has introduced a matching monitor, the Studio Display, priced at $1,599. It has a 27–inch 5K Retina screen (5,120 x 2,880 pixels at 218ppi), with 600 nits brightness, P3 Wide Color, and support for 1 billion colors. True Tone technology automatically adjusts the display’s color temperature as the ambient light changes for a more natural viewing experience. A range of reference modes is available to ensure color accuracy. The “all-screen” design has narrow borders and an all–aluminum enclosure. The display can tilt between -5° and +25° on the built–in stand, and build–to–order options include a tilt– and height–adjustable stand ($400) with counterbalancing arm that makes the display feel weightless as it is adjusted. A VESA mount adapter is also available, which supports landscape…

From $429 From apple.com Features 4.7–inch Retina HD (1344 x 750) display, A15 Bionic chip, 5G, 12MP (f/1.8) Wide camera (rear), 7MP (f/2.2) FaceTime HD camera (front), Touch ID, 64GB/128GB/256GB storage capacity, IP67, 5.45 x 2.65 x 0.29 inches, 5.09 ounces The 3rd generation iPhone SE is here, two years after the previous generation handset was launched. The 2020 version was a revelation for those wanting a small, relatively inexpensive iPhone, and the new–for–2022 version continues this theme with aplomb. Ostensibly, it’s the same device we reviewed back in July 2020 (#169), with a few choice upgrades that bring it up–to–date, and ensure that those wanting a small iPhone don’t have to compromise on performance. There are some aspects of the 3rd generation iPhone SE that are lacking slightly compared…

Barebone version $169, Full version $179, Full version with knob $189 From keychron.com Features Double–gasket design, hot–swappable Needs MacOS, Windows, or Linux, USB–A or USB–C Keychron’s Q2 is one of the most customizable mechanical keyboards you can buy. It’s a compact 65% sized model but deceptively solid and heavier than it looks at 56 oz, thanks to its machined aluminium frame and multiple internal layers, including double gaskets and insulating foam that allow a slight give while also minimizing noise when typing. This gentle spring to the entire keyboard is barely perceptible but results in a quieter and more forgiving typing experience. The company’s new OSA Profile double–shot PBT Keycaps feel responsive under your fingertips. Available in a range of colors, your customization options when purchasing are extensive and include…

ON TEST… > Anker SoundCore Life Q35 > Apple AirPods Max > Bowers & Wilkins PX7 > JLab Studio Pro ANC Over–Ear Headphones > Sennheiser Momentum 3 > Shure Aonic 40 > Sony WH–1000XM4 > Urbanista Los Angeles > Yamaha YH–E700A WHEN IT COMES to audio fidelity, over–ear headphones are almost always going to offer a superior listening experience compared to earbuds. This is due to their bigger size and the fact that their drivers are many times larger, which enables them to move more air and thus achieve a richer soundstage. An over–ear design means that the ear cups completely surround each ear, minimizing sound leakage both in and out. Additionally, noise cancelling technology, when activated, analyzes ambient sound and then cancels it out, providing you with an even…

You’d probably conclude that any app or other process which relies on the M1 chip’s efficiency (E) cores would run at half the speed on the M1 Pro/Max chip with its two E cores, compared with the original version of the M1 with four. If the cores were running at the same clock speed, that would be expected, but macOS manages them differently so the newer version of the M1 chip isn’t slower than the original. Few third–party apps use the E cores much, as they’re largely interactive and run preferentially on the Performance cores instead. Most of the tasks done by the E cores are macOS background activities like Time Machine backups and Spotlight indexing. When the E cores in the original M1 are working on those, they’re run…

For the Photos app to recognize people’s faces in the images in your library, it has to work through analyzing each image first. This is performed by the background service photoanalysisd, which only runs when your Mac is awake, is connected to mains power rather than running off battery, and the Photos app itself is closed. Even then it may not kick in for a while, as it often takes its time getting going so you have to be patient with it. When your Photos library is large, it can take several days to complete its first run, but after that, analysing updates is usually quicker. Open Activity Monitor and sort the process names alphabetically to make it easier to spot photoanalysisd and its sister background process photolibraryd to see…

The kextd kernel extension manages the loading and unloading of other kernel extensions, which shouldn’t result in it using large amounts of memory itself. There doesn’t appear to be a known bug in that version of macOS Mojave, and even if there were, it’s over two years since Apple last fixed any bug other than security vulnerabilities in that old version. The cause of your current problem is therefore most probably because the system itself has become damaged, or it’s the result of a third–party kernel extension installed on your Mac. As this has occurred relatively recently, it’s worth looking back carefully to discover whether you might have installed or updated anything, particularly software containing a kernel extension. Check those listed in the /Library/Extensions folder for anything bearing a suspicious…

IN THE FINAL part of our Apple Music tutorial series, we’re going to deal with libraries. In Apple–speak, your music library is where Music stores details of all the files you have imported, downloaded, or added from Apple Music’s streaming service — as well as information about your playlists. The library is not, as we’ll see, necessarily where the music itself is stored. That could be on Apple’s servers, in a different folder on your Mac, or on an external drive. It’s likely that the music you play in Apple Music is stored in multiple places. And if you use iTunes Match, everything will also be stored on Apple’s servers, whether it’s downloaded, streamed, or ripped, or even your own songs made in Logic or GarageBand. In the latter case,…

ONE OF THE least heralded but most useful tools on your iPhone is the Magnifier. This handy utility enables you to use your iPhone like a magnifying glass to enlarge text and objects. It uses the back camera to capture the image and displays it on the screen so you can zoom in and out of it. However, it does more than just enlarge whatever you point it at. You can apply color filters to make text easier to read, invert the text, or adjust the brightness and contrast. And you can save a magnified object as an image to your Photos library, or share it using a share sheet. Auto–brightness will adjust the brightness on screen according to the ambient light on the object you’ve magnified, and you can…

UNIVERSAL CONTROL IS here. Although still in beta as we go to press, the feature makes it possible to use the keyboard, mouse, or trackpad on one Mac to control and work on another nearby Mac, iPad, or both. As distinct from Sidecar, which allows you to use an iPad as an external monitor, Universal Control leaves all the devices operating separately, each with its own screen and apps, but enables you to jump between them — so you can move from typing on one device to another with the same keyboard, or copy–and–paste between devices, or drag–and–drop from one to another. Universal Control requires macOS Monterey 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 on supported devices. Find the details at support.apple.com/HT212757.…

1 Emerge Wave-1 $450 From emerge.io >>> Virtual reality headsets are a great way to see a new world, but they’re not always adept at making you feel that novel experience — what about your sense of touch? The Emerge Wave–1 is an unassuming box that could rectify that by emitting ultrasonic waves that produce a tactile sensation in your hands. Just reach your arms out and you get an extra level of immersion in your virtual world that takes the whole thing up a notch. For instance, when you reach out to hold someone’s hand in virtual reality, the Wave–1 blasts a precise wave of pressure towards your palms so you can “feel” the other person. Instead of focusing on sight and sound like most standard VR devices, the…

YOU WOULD THINK that managing collections, no matter what they are, would be a straightforward part of any tech product or software. It feels as though it fits within the natural database structure of many apps and operating systems, but the choices are surprisingly varied and at times overly complex and hard to use. It can make finding the best way to catalog your collections a time consuming process, but we can help with that as we detail a variety of methods that will suit collections of different types. The choice will be yours as to if you want an all–in–one solution that can manage many different aspects of your life or tools that are aimed at particular objects or areas of collection, but there is definitely enough choice for…

From $599 From apple.com Features 10.9–inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone, M1 chip, 64 or 256GB of storage, Wi–Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi–Fi+Cellular option, USB–C, 12MP Wide camera (rear), 12MP Ultra Wide camera (front) When the fourth–gen iPad Air arrived in 2020, it marked a remarkable shift in design and ambition for Apple’s mid–tier tablet. Its successor, the new fifth–gen iPad Air, shifts the dial in small but significant ways. Outwardly, little has changed. 2022’s iPad Air retains the design of the previous generation, although it now comes in new colors — Space Gray, Starlight, Pink, Purple, and Blue. The entry–level Wi–Fi–only model is $599 with 64GB of onboard storage. The step–up 256GB model costs $749. As before, the iPad Air is also available in Wi–Fi+Cellular variants and both…

$49 From jlab.com Features 8–hour Bluetooth playtime, microphone for phone calls, 0.42 oz each There are times, such as when walking in a busy environment, when you want the benefits of wireless earbuds without putting anything in your ear, to remain alert. The Jbuds Frames clip onto any pair of glasses (they don’t fit chunky sunglasses, however) and come with sleeves to adapt to thin stems. Although they add slightly to the weight of your glasses at 0.42 oz each, their position by your ears means this weight isn’t noticeable. They do, unfortunately, look a bit like security tags though. Supplied with a USB–A to dual magnetic charging cable, they charge in two hours and provide up to 8 hours of battery life, pairing easily with your device over Bluetooth…

Electron is an extensive cross–platform app development framework widely used by many vendors who want to reduce the cost of development, primarily when creating versions of their products for Apple platforms. It’s viewed with disdain by dedicated Mac app developers, who rightly maintain that it’s always better to take the time and effort to engineer software for macOS using its native tools and interface. They have a good point, as the interface of Electron apps often feels clunky and unnatural, and lacks many of the controls and design features you’d expect in good Mac apps. However, as with all development systems, there are better Electron apps where more effort has been made, and others which are simply horrible to use. Electron apps are developed using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, similar…

The presentation of services like this has changed. When installed in the usual folder of ~/Library/Services, they no longer appear in the Services sub–menus when you open the contextual menu, instead being listed as Quick Actions. This applies to Automator workflows installed yourself. Elsewhere, they may still be listed as Services. They’re also managed in different places. Most should be in the Extensions pane and listed from the Finder item, which now includes Quick Actions and some third–party preview support. There’s also the Shortcuts tab in the Keyboard pane, which controls availability and any key combination for other items in the Services menu.…

DATA VISUALIZATION IS one of those buzz phrases that people, especially in business, like to throw around. Distill it down to its core principles, though, and data visualization is just fancy charts and graphs. And there are few better tools on the Mac for producing fancy charts than Keynote. Its close integration with Numbers and Apple’s eye for good design make it a brilliant tool for wowing audiences with your data presentations. In this tutorial, we’ll focus on the latest addition to Keynote’s library of chart options, the radar chart. Radar, or spider’s web as they’re also known, charts enable you to plot multiple series of quantitative variables on one two–dimensional chart. Each series has its own axis and the axes meet at the center of the chart. They’re great…

IF YOU WANT a brilliant example of how far phone technology has come in just a few years, the scanner built into iOS 15 is it. You can scan entire documents and turn them into searchable, editable text in seconds. Remember how hard it used to be to persuade huge flatbed scanners to scan legibly, let alone perform OCR? We used to spend more time fixing the errors in scanned and optically recognized documents than it would have taken to simply retype them. One of the best apps for scanning things into is Notes, because as we’ll discover, images you scan in Notes are automatically recognized and made searchable — so whether it’s a contract, a business card, or a recipe, you can find it instantly from the Notes search…

PUBLIC WI–FI IS so widely available these days that most of us are able to find a network to connect to when we need to get online with a Mac or an iPad. But there are occasions when your Wi–Fi is just not available. There are also occasions when your home or office internet connection disappears and so Wi–Fi is useless. When that happens, the only way to get online is to use a 4G or 5G mobile network. Some broadband providers will, depending on the contract you’re on, supply you with a Wi–Fi enabled 4G hub for that purpose. But if you don’t have one of those, there is another solution — use your iPhone as a Wi–Fi hotspot. That feature, known as Personal Hotspot, allows you to connect…