Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2022 i MacLife

AFTER ANOTHER QUARTER of growth in revenue from Services, and risks ahead for hardware because of supply constraints, Apple is reportedly working on new Services. In its fiscal quarter ended March 26, 2022, Apple reported all-time-record Services revenue of $19.8bn (up from $16.9bn in the same quarter of 2021). Top earner is still iPhone ($50.6bn revenue in the quarter), but Services ranks second and brought in almost twice as much as the Mac (which grossed $10.4bn in the quarter, although this was a 15% rise year-on-year thanks to demand for new models with Apple silicon). Even more significantly, only Services rose quarter-on-quarter. While the iPhone, Mac, and Apple’s “Wearables, Home, and Accessories” segments all performed better than in any previous March quarter, each of these actually earned more in the…

TAP TO PAY ARRIVES? We reported in Mac|Life #192 that Apple has announced Tap to Pay on iPhone, which makes it possible to accept Apple Pay and contactless card payments on an iPhone with no additional hardware required. A video shared on Twitter shows the system up and running in the Apple Park Visitor Center, although possibly still on a trial basis. There is no further information on when a general rollout might be expected. TEENZ iPHONE In a survey of more than 7,000 teens in the US (average age 16.2 years, age range not specified), investment bank Piper Sandler found that 87% had an iPhone, and 87% also intend their next smartphone purchase to be an iPhone. 72% also owned AirPods and 30% an Apple Watch. Reporting the survey,…

1 Write that epic literatureandlatte.com, ulysses.app Whether it’s your debut novel or 1 a dissertation, if you’re planning a huge writing project then apps such as Scrivener ($19.99) or Ulysses (Free, offers IAPs) can help. They’re both described as writing environments rather than word processors because they enable you not just to write but to organize your research, keep track of structures and perform search and replace across multiple documents. And everything’s stored as text files so they run very quickly. Best of all, they also have immersive writing modes that get rid of every distraction and enable you to focus solely on your writing. While it’s absolutely possible to write entire books in Pages, these apps make everything so much easier. 2 ILLUSTRATE LIKE A PRO, FOR FREE vectornator.io…

24 Fix the web Safari Extensions and content blockers can completely transform your online experience. Vinegar ($1.99) strips the ads from YouTube and gives you more control over how videos play. Adblock Plus (Free) gets rid of pop–ups and other irritations, Social Fixer makes Facebook less annoying and Stop The Madness, the only one here that’s a paid product ($9.99), stops sites from disabling key features such as copy and pasting, dragging and dropping and so on. It also gets rid of extra tracking bits from web links for easier and clearer sharing, and removes most of the privacy invaders you’ll find on commercial websites. All the extensions mentioned here are available from the Mac App Store. 25 Organise everything for a trip away tripit.com Say goodbye to travel-related stress such as…

The LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor used by the rear cameras of the iPad Pro and recent iPhones is a key part of Apple’s grand plans for the future of AR and VR technology. The LiDAR sensor helps to improve camera performance in low–light conditions, but it can also calculate depth within an image or scene. This is similar to the TrueDepth technology used with the front–facing camera to map the contours of your face so that you can use Face ID to unlock the iPad Pro or an iPhone. However, the LiDAR sensor is more precise than Face ID as it uses lasers to bounce rays of light off objects and measure their distance from the camera. This enables you to shoot photos and videos that contain accurate…

Folio Cases are one of the most popular purchases for any owner of a new iPad, providing wrap–around protection for both the back panel and the front screen. Apple has two options; the basic Smart Cover ($39), or the Smart Keyboard Folio with built–in keyboard ($179-$199). Apple cases are expensive though, and there are some great alternatives, such as the Defender cases from Otterbox ($69.95-$89.95), or Logitech’s Keyboard Folio cases with built-in trackpad ($139.99-$159.99).…

$99.99 From hyperxgaming.com Features Tap–to–Mute sensor, boom arm and mic stand threading The HyperX SoloCast is an inexpensive way to upgrade the way you sound in meetings or on your Discord channel. It’s compact enough to place anywhere, and it can also turn 90–degrees in either direction, so you can even position the microphone below your display, if you so choose. While the small size is a benefit, ease of use is even better. Just plug it in to your Mac with the included USB–to–USB-C cable, and you’re off. It’s genuinely a plug–and–play microphone. While it doesn’t have much in the way of controls, a mute switch on the top makes it easy to access. The red LED light on the front of the device will turn off to indicate…

There are currently three models in the Garmin Dash range that look almost identical, yet span a price range of $170 to $260. With 180-degree FOV and Vault storage, Garmin’s new cloud storage solution, this is the latest flagship 67W. Compact, matchbox-shaped and subtle, the Dash Cam 67W packs a lot of tech into its small frame. The rear is taken up by a 2-inch display, controlled using four buttons on the right side – with the one for saving video protruding slightly to make it easy to press. As well as sensing impacts and saving the most recent portion of recorded video, the 67W has various extra features, including warnings when you drift out of your lane or the camera thinks you might collide with the vehicle ahead. There’s…

Anker has used Lithium batteries in its 521 power station to create the most portable model in its series. At just under 10lb in weight, it nonetheless has a cell capacity of 256Wh and is convenient enough to take on a trip without it feeling like too much of a burden. Its body is plastic but sturdy, with grilles on either end. It charges from the mains via the bundled 65W power supply or through its USB–C port at 60W, and you can connect solar panels or a car battery for input to the rear socket by adding adapters. The front panel contains a USB–C port providing up to 60W of output, two USB–A ports sending 2.4 amps each, a 12V car charger, and two AC sockets running at 110V…

CREATING YOUR OWN Shortcuts if you’re starting from scratch can be quite daunting. So Apple has a Gallery of pre–cooked Shortcuts in the app. All you have to do is decide which ones you want to use and how you want to activate them. Once you’ve got used to the way shortcuts work, you can edit them to make them do different things, or dive right in and create your own. When it comes to triggering shortcuts, you have a choice of using Siri, a keyboard shortcut, Spotlight, or placing an icon for the shortcut in the menu bar or Dock, or by including it in Quick Actions or the Services menu. In this article, we’ll start by showing you how to use and modify an existing shortcut and then…

Apple silicon models come with special high-speed memory mounted in the M1 chip carrier which can’t be upgraded or replaced, and their internal storage is soldered in, again for performance and security. While you can always add external storage, it’s essential to get both right when you order. M1 Macs use memory differently from Intel models. They don’t have any graphics memory, as all parts of the chip including the GPU share main memory to deliver the best performance. This doesn’t mean that you have to add on an allowance for graphics use, like the dedicated memory in graphics cards, as they use memory much more efficiently. But you do want to avoid them using ‘swap’ space in storage. For most users, 16GB is a good minimum, rising with your…

Normally, when an app opens a document, details of that are recorded by Launch Services, part of macOS which operates many of the features associated with the Finder and common human interface. Launch Services adds that to the list of documents opened by that app, and puts it into the list shown in the app’s Open Recent menu command. Not only is this accessible within the app itself, but those recent documents are also listed at the top of the menu shown when you ‘ctrl’-click on that app’s icon in the Dock. That lets you open any of those documents immediately, without having to open the app first then use its Open Recent menu command. For this to work, apps have to work with Launch Services, something built into support…

USE PREVIEW TO CONVERT IMAGES TO AND FROM LOTS OF FILE FORMATS THE MAC’S PREVIEW APP has evolved into a very useful tool for viewing, editing, converting, and annotating images and PDF documents. In fact, if you need to quickly resize an image, change its format, or add a comment or visual note to it, there are few better tools available. In this tutorial, we’ll focus on using it to convert multiple images in a batch from one format to another. One use case for this could be when you take photos on an iPhone, AirDrop them to your Mac and need to upload them to a website or server, or email them to a friend. By default, the images are saved as HEIC (High Efficiency Image File) format. That’s the…

EVER SINCE iOS 14 brought widgets to the iPhone and iPad, people have been looking for ways to spruce up their Home Screens with fresh new looks. With the Themify app (free, with IAPs) close at hand, that’s easier and quicker than ever before. In this guide, we’ll show you how to customize your Home Screen so it’s truly personal to you. Whether that means adjusting a few app icons and adding a video wallpaper or going for a complete visual makeover, Themify makes creating a new style quick and, dare we say it, even fun. Themify’s free version gives you plenty of content, but its premium version unlocks even more, including exclusive themes and extra widgets. It also removes ads and lets you install more than five app icons…

The Magic Trackpad doesn’t have any buttons or moving parts, but you can still feel — and hear — the trackpad ‘click’ when you press it. This technology is known as haptic feedback, and it enables devices such as trackpads to create the sensation of movement in response to actions such as pressure from your fingers. Apple’s version of haptic feedback is called the Taptic Engine, and it uses magnetic coils — similar to those used in speakers and headphones — to create vibrations that make it feel as though the trackpad is responding to your touch. If you turn the Magic Trackpad off and press down on it, you can feel that the surface of the trackpad is fixed in place and doesn’t move. But when it’s turned on…

THERE IS A long history of mid–range Macs being a slightly awkward thing to buy. Back in the day, plenty of people bought the lowest–end Power Mac not because of all the creative juice behind it, but simply because it gave them the best balance of price and flexibility for memory or storage. We had a golden age of mid–tier Macs for a while, with the 27–inch iMac and more powerful Mac mini variants providing a higher level of processor power and great memory options (especially when they had user–upgradeable memory). They were future–proof, they gave you headroom to get into Photoshop or video editing without complaints, and they were well–priced. Recently, the mid–range has felt a little forgotten again — especially if you wanted a good dose of graphics…

1 Dyson Zone $TBC From dyson.com Air pollution is a real problem, with harmful gases and particulate matter clogging up lungs in cities the world over. Dyson thinks it knows how to fix it, though, and its answer is the Zone. This quirky–looking device combines a set of headphones with an air filtration device. As well as a speaker, each earcup contains an air purifier and a miniature motor. These connect to the Zone’s magnetically attached mouth covering, which blows purified air across your face. Oh, and it also makes you look like Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. The plan seems to be to focus the Zone on cities where pollution is a real problem, and that makes sense. Will they become the next must–have fashion accessory the world…

9 LEARN AN INSTRUMENT fender.com, gibson.com Fancy being a guitar hero? Guitar makers Fender and Gibson both offer apps that’ll teach you to play like legends, and both have free trials — 7 days in the case of Fender and 14 for Gibson. They’re both brilliant apps for teaching guitar (and in the case of Fender, ukulele and bass too), but before you hand over your card details make sure you check out GarageBand first. GarageBand’s Smart Instruments enable you to mess around with guitars, basses, pianos and synths, and if you go over to your Mac you can download free guitar and piano lessons. And if there’s a specific song you’d like to learn, head over to ultimate–guitar.com where you’ll find guitar, ukulele and piano tabs and often video too.…

GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE Save money • Never miss an issue • Get every issue delivered to your door To order go to www.magazinesdirect.com/mcl/B2HMAG or call 1-844-779-2822 and mention code B2HMAG TERMS AND CONDITIONS Savings based off the US newsstand cover price of $8.99 per issue for 13 issues, and the retail price of Book of Amazing Technology digital edition of $6.99. Offer only valid on 1 or 2 year print or print + digital subscriptions. Book of Amazing Technology will be emailed 3-5 days after payment is processed. Visit us at magazinesdirect.com or call 1-844-779-2822 for other subscription options. Your first issue will arrive 4-6 weeks after your payment is processed, please allow additional time for overseas deliveries. Offer valid until December 30, 2022.…

As well as updating the iPad’s front camera to significantly improve the quality of video calls, the current iPad range can all use Apple’s brilliant Center Stage feature too. Center Stage uses machine learning technology to automatically pan the camera and keep you in the center of the image at all times. This enables you to put the iPad down and move around, perhaps while giving a presentation to colleagues or clients at work. If someone else enters the image, Center Stage can also zoom out to make sure that both of you are kept in view.…

APPLE CAN BE really annoying at times. The iPad, iPad mini, and iPad Air all start with just 64GB of built–in storage — which really isn’t enough. This means you’re pretty much forced to pay around $150 to upgrade to 256GB. However, that’s the maximum storage available for those iPad models, so if you need more than 256GB of storage, you’ll have to pay for a top–of–the–range iPad Pro. The iPad Pro can be upgraded to 512GB, 1TB, and even 2TB — although that 2TB option weighs in at almost $2,000. But don’t forget that the iPad mini, Air, and Pro now have USB–C ports, which enable you to connect an external USB drive or a flash drive. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it’s a lot cheaper than…

Sony remains a respected force in photography and videography, with its latest full–frame mirrorless in the Alpha A7 IV building on its Mark III predecessor from three years ago and reaffirming the seriousness of its maker’s intent. At the heart of this latest offering is a generous 33–megapixel full–frame sensor, pitched at both stills photographers and those recording video. The look and design of Sony’s A7 series has barely altered since its inception, even if there have been incremental shifts. We once again get a robust build and a design that resembles a downsized DSLR. This comes complete with a shooting mode dial, command wheel, and various buttons that will enable anyone trading in an old DSLR and swapping to this mirrorless system to feel on fairly familiar ground. The…

Lots of things end up on your doorstep these days: friends, neighbors, strangers, packages and the porch pirates who like to steal them. So, it makes sense to keep a close eye on what goes on out there. That’s the point of the new Eufy Video Doorbell Dual. Most video doorbells have one camera pointing straight out to show you who is ringing the bell, but the Doorbell Dual adds a second one pointing down to show you the packages that are waiting. There are two versions of the Doorbell Dual available: wired ($199.99) which uses an existing 16–24V doorbell power connection, and battery–powered ($249.99). The latter comes with a Eufy HomeBase, but if you already have a Eufy smart security setup, you won’t need it — in which case…

Satechi’s latest slim Bluetooth keyboard with numerical keypad costs quite a bit less than Apple’s Magic Keyboard while on paper at least, having more features. Weighing just 0.97lb, it’s well–built from aluminium and feels sturdy, shipping with a USB–C cable that can be used for charging and also, via a key combo, to put the keyboard into wired mode. Otherwise, it’s Bluetooth that you use to connect and up to four separate devices are supported, with dedicated buttons at the top right to switch between Macs, iPads, and iPhones without having to re–pair each time. The keyboard’s slim profile means that it tapers only a little from front to back but is still comfortable to type on, with the keys offering a pleasing level of tactile feedback. Optimized for Apple…

Free (IAPs), $11.99 for the full unlocked Pro Pack From creaceed.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 14.3 or later Your iPhone’s Camera app is designed to automatically capture true colors and tonal detail in a scene. However, you may want the freedom to take manual control of certain functions to produce more creative looking results — like a classic Digital SLR photographer can. With the Hydra 2 app, you can switch to Manual mode and swipe to adjust shutter speed. A slow shutter speed enables you to add dynamic motion blur to moving subjects. A fast shutter speed can freeze action in sharp detail — making it perfect for sports photographers. To help you set the exposure for bright or dark areas you can summon a classic…

$14.99 From monolithofminds.com Needs OS X 10.10 or later Lila’s Sky Ark is a psychedelic pixel art adventure where your protagonist, Lila, has to… well, that’s not immediately clear at the start. You run around the brightly colored world, throwing objects at enemies and talking to utterly bizarre allies, but why you’re doing all that is all a bit murky, at least at first. All you know is something has gone wrong with this world and that you need to fix it. You also learn that Lila’s world is one infused throughout with music. Mysterious signs talk of a drummer hoarding beats, while enemies wield violins, tubas, and cellos. There’s even a rockin’ ghost that loves guitar solos. In the end, the lack of initial exposition doesn’t matter that much,…

Now we all carry tiny computers in our pockets — also known as iPhones — it’s easier than ever to tune into great content. But choosing between the options on offer, from TV shows to movies, can be hard. Try the six apps here, however, and you’ll be a content maestro in no time. With seemingly countless streaming services available, simply finding something good to watch can often feel overwhelming. Does that sound familiar? If so, JUSTWATCH (free with in–app purchases from JustWatch, justwatch.com) could be the streaming guide you’ve been looking for. It lets you search over 500 providers to find out what is streaming where, so you never have to switch back and forth between your subscriptions. It combines your disparate watchlists and also offers recommendations, making finding…

ONCE YOU’VE MASTERED the basics of choosing shortcuts from the Gallery, running them, creating your own and sharing with others, you’re ready to dig deeper. The shortcuts we’ve discussed so far are simple, with only a few actions and limited inputs. However, they can include questions that ask for your input before running. Apple’s Home ETA shortcut, for example, asks for your home address and who you want to notify before it calculates an ETA. Shortcuts can also have ‘if then else’ statements, where the result of the action varies according to conditions set. And you can set and call variables to store content in a shortcut. Third–party apps you’ve installed on your Mac may have their own pre–cooked shortcuts. The note–taking app Bear, for example, has a shortcut that…

Is there a reliable way to check whether my Mac’s internal SSD is wearing out? Although macOS does monitor the condition of internal storage using SMART status indicators, the most information it gives about this is in Disk Utility, where it simply reports the disk status as ‘verified’, which is of no help in assessing SSD wear. There are two ways to estimate wear in an SSD. One is to check the disk’s SMART health indicators such as Life Percentage Used, which should be available for all recent Apple internal SSDs. The other is to work out what proportion of its life has been used according to the amount of data written to the drive. For either of these you’ll need a third-party app such as DriveDx from bit.ly/ml195drivedx. Each…

This is a feature in Skype sometimes referred to as Integrated Calling, in which the Skype app diverts calls which you had intended to go through FaceTime. It has long troubled iPhone users; it can now be disabled on iOS/iPadOS devices. On the Mac, its equivalent is a control tucked away in FaceTime’s preferences, and it appears that Skype may change this for you when it’s installed. Open the FaceTime app’s Preferences dialog and select its Settings tab. At the bottom is a menu to set Default for calls; change that from Skype.app to FaceTime.app, and you should be able to use Skype, Messages and FaceTime properly. If not, try signing out of Skype first, then change that preference setting in FaceTime. Older versions of the Skype app could also…

THE HUMBLE LINK has lots of different uses, and they are employed to great effect in Apple’s Pages, Numbers, and Keynote applications. You can use them for tasks as simple as directing your reader to a web page or opening an email with the address field populated. So far, so obvious. But links can also be used to accommodate online video from the likes of YouTube and Vimeo in your documents and presentations, and to direct readers to pages, or sections of texts. There are a few different ways to create links, depending on what you’re linking to. And there are some conditions attached. For example, if you want to link to a bookmark in Pages, you’ll need to set your document to be a word processing, rather than page…

FIND OUT ABOUT THE LATEST FEATURES IN iOS AND iPADOS 15 iOS AND iPADOS 15.4 were significant updates that introduced a host of new features. Among them are Face ID while wearing a mask, Tap to Pay on iPhone, improved SharePlay integration, Shortcuts notifications, changes to the TV app, Notes in iCloud Keychain, and custom domains in iCloud Mail. There are also new emoji to choose from, and plenty of other tools to discover and take advantage of. All devices from the iPhone 6s onwards can use iOS 15.4; this includes the original iPhone SE, the 2020 iPhone SE, and the seventh-generation iPod touch. HOW TO What’s new in iOS 15.4 1 Face ID with a Mask Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode. Turn ‘Face ID with a…

SINCE WE CLAPPED eyes on and fell in love with our very first Macs, we’ve been blown away not just by their performance or their power, as impressive as they are, but by the possibilities they offer. Where else can a single device be an artist’s sketchbook and a guitarist’s amp, a writer’s notebook and a photographer’s darkroom, a space cruiser’s cockpit and an architect’s easel? And that’s just scratching the surface of what your Mac, iPhone and iPad can do. In this feature, we’ll discover how you can do all kinds of amazing things on your Apple devices. We’ll discover the apps that’ll elevate your creative projects into something truly spectacular, and we’ll look for the cool tools that’ll make your life easier. We’ll discover how your Apple gear can…

17 Upgrade reality Apple’s augmented reality (AR) tech is really amazing, especially on more recent iPhones. By overlaying graphics over real–time images from your phone’s camera you can do everything from virtually trying out furniture to playing video games, and the number of AR apps (available from the App Store) is growing. Many of them also work on M1 Macs, albeit without the live camera view. IKEA Place enables you to see how various items of furniture will look in your rooms; NightSky overlays all kinds of planetarium things over the sky and even enables you to see space stations in your living room; Pokémon Go turns the real world into a Pokémon playground. All of which are free (some with IAPs). Human Anatomy Atlas 2021 ($24.99) shows 3D models of skulls…

When the iPad first launched in 2011, it was very much intended as a device for entertainment, rather than work, with a focus on web browsing, music, video and FaceTime. More recently, Apple has attempted to position the iPad — especially the iPad Pro — as a versatile and lightweight alternative to a laptop, providing enough graphical horsepower for serious design and video–editing work. Last year’s adoption of the M1 processor in the 11– and 12.9–inch iPad Pro — and now the 10.9–inch iPad Air in 2022 — takes the iPad into entirely new territory. A decade on from the iPad’s inception, these iPad models now provide the same levels of power as the M1–based 13–inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini or 24–inch iMac, making them a genuine alternative to a…

WHILE THE iPAD can’t quite match the Hollywood ambitions of the iPhone 13 Pro, with its three cameras and telephoto lens, it’s no slouch when it comes to high–quality video and photography. The cinematic baby of the group is the ninth–gen iPad, whose rear camera provides a relatively modest 8–megapixel (MP) resolution, which only allows it to record 1080p HD video at 25–30 frames per second (fps). However, all other iPad models can now record 4K video, with the iPad Air and iPad mini providing wide–angle 12MP rear cameras that can record super–smooth video at up to 60fps. The two iPad Pro models go one step further, providing two rear cameras — a 12MP wide–angle camera and a 10MP ultra–wide camera that provides 122° field of view. The iPad Pro…

AS WE’VE MENTIONED, the iPad is a tremendously versatile device, but most iPad owners still need to buy an assortment of cables and adaptors in order to connect the iPad to other non–Apple devices. Apple makes its own range of cables and adaptors, with options such as its Digital AV adaptors ($49-$69) for HDMI displays and TVs proving essential for many. Apple’s accessories are expensive, though, so it’s worth exploring alternatives from companies such as Belkin, which makes a wide range of Lightning and USB–C adaptors that enable the iPad to work with external displays, wired Ethernet networks, and audio devices. Of course, many iPad owners also have an iPhone, as well as AirPods and an Apple Watch, and we’ve seen some great multi–charger devices, such as the BaseLynx from…

MOST iPAD MODELS now support the latest Wi–Fi 6 standard, with only the entry–level iPad still using the older Wi-Fi 5 (formerly known as 802.11ac). However, cellular broadband is an optional extra that costs $150-$200, depending on which model you’re buying. Unfortunately, the iPad draws the short straw, only offering 4G LTE support for cellular broadband. In the US, the average download speed on a 4G network is in the region of 20–30Mbps. All other current iPad models support 5G mobile broadband, which currently provides average speeds of around 150Mbps. However, speeds vary a lot depending on your network provider and coverage in different parts of the country. Speedtest.net reports average mobile download speeds of around 61Mbps across the US. USE THE FACE, LUKE If you buy a “cellular” iPad…

JBL’s Flip 6 is designed to be taken anywhere including to the beach or the pool, with an IP67 water and dust–proof rating that means it can be immersed in water up to 3 feet with no ill effects. It charges over USB–C and a cable is provided in the box, plus there’s a warning that sounds if you try to charge it when there’s water in the charging port. Charging is a relatively slow 2.5 hours to full, but this does provide a solid 12 hours of playback and there’s a backlit meter on the body to show you its current charge level. Build quality is excellent, weighing just 1.2 pounds, and it feels sturdy with a carrying handle attached for convenience. It also comes in a choice of…

There’s no shortage of docks available these days, although choosing the right one can be difficult as they all tend to offer different combinations of ports and connectors. That’s not a problem with Belkin’s new Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock, which provides no less than 12 different ports for connecting just about every type of device or peripheral that you can think of. Despite that plethora of ports, the Connect Pro is surprisingly compact. Its sturdy metal case stands just 1.3in high, 7.9in wide and 2.9in deep, so it’ll fit under a monitor on your desk. It’s not portable, though, as it requires a mains power supply to handle all your connected devices. And, as the name suggests, the Pro Connect is aimed at professional users. It includes two Thunderbolt…

The iMac — new or old — can only be adjusted for tilt, but what if you want to raise the height of your screen to suit your head height? By adjusting the height of your screen’s display, you’ll hugely improve your ergonomics, so it’s clearly something that’s worth investing in. A stand can help you to achieve this, by raising it off the surface you’re working on. Some stands simply raise your iMac up, while others have built in storage, or even extra ports. All the stands included in this roundup work with external displays as well as iMacs, but it’s worth checking the footprint of your monitor to see if the stand you like will accomodate it. Twelve South HiRise Pro $169.99 From twelvesouth.com Features Internal storage, magnetic…

PICKING A MONITOR to compliment your Mac or MacBook is incredibly important. You may be spending hours in front of it, so you want something that offers bright colors without causing eyestrain, while high resolutions and larger screen sizes can give you more space to work on, and have multiple apps open at once. Buying a new monitor doesn’t have to be expensive, and there are some brilliant screens out there for less than $350. However, when buying a budget monitor, you want to avoid going for something that offers poor image quality, so in this guide we’ll take you through some of the best monitors out there that combine excellent visuals with unbeatable value. When looking for monitors, you may notice some super–affordable screens from obscure brands you’ve never…

$39.99/year or $59.99 lifetime From filmora.wondershare.com Needs macOS 10.14 or later Filmora from Wondershare positions itself as an “alternative to iMovie,” and it’s obviously designed with novices in mind. If you perform any action for the first time, a useful animation window pops up suggesting what to do next. This type of handholding is a very light touch. It doesn’t reappear if you perform the same action again, and it’ll be most welcome if you’re new to video editing. The editing process is straightforward: adding a clip to your project is done either by clicking its ‘+’ icon (which will insert it wherever the playhead is situated in your timeline), or by dragging its thumbnail and dropping it in its desired location. There doesn’t seem to be a way to…

SHORTCUTS STARTED LIFE as a way to automate tasks on iOS. So, you could, for example, create a shortcut that played the latest episode of your favorite podcast in the Podcasts app and trigger it by activating Siri and saying the podcast name, or by tapping an icon on the Home Screen. With the release of macOS Monterey, Shortcuts arrived on the Mac, taking over from the Automator app. Shortcuts on the Mac works the same way as, and syncs with, the iOS version. Though shortcuts you create on one platform won’t necessarily work on the other. Shortcuts are comprised of actions. Each action is a step in the process like, say, grabbing some text from an application, or passing that text to a different application. Actions are created and…

Although Apple doesn’t provide any explanation, this figure seems to derive from what’s known as active residency, the percentage of processor cycles that each core in the CPU is processing instructions rather than being idle. The number shown is the total of those percentages for each core, so if your Mac has eight cores, the maximum comes to 800%. There are two complications. Intel cores can use hyper–threading to effectively double their throughput when under stress. Each core can then run up to 200%, so those eight cores could come to a total of 1,600% when the pressure is on. ARM cores in M1 chips don’t have hyper–threading, instead their frequency or clock speed can change, most often seen in Efficiency cores. Unfortunately at present no allowance is made for…

HOW TO REMOVE AN APP FROM THE APP LIBRARY? As of iOS/iPadOS 15.4, you can’t remove an app from the App Library without deleting it altogether. All apps installed, even those offloaded to iCloud, are automatically added to the App Library. Touch and hold an app’s icon and you’re given the option to delete it altogether, not to remove it from the library. HOW TO STOP AN APP CRASHING REPEATEDLY? Removing it and reinstalling is often curative, but deletes all its data. Less destructive is offloading it by tapping Settings > General > iPhone Storage > [app name] > Offload App. A minute later, tap Reinstall App, and it may be fixed. Also check for updates in the App Store. IS IT SAFE TO USE A VACUUM CLEANER ON MY…

As your Mac is still supported by Apple, you should be able to obtain a replacement Fusion Drive, although that will need to be fitted by an Authorised Service Provider, and will possibly cost close to the resale value of the Mac. A better option, available at lower cost, would be to replace it with an SSD, which will also be faster. The most common problem doing that is the Mac then struggles to update its firmware with its new internal storage. You may be able to sort this by installing new versions of macOS on an external disk, which also updates the firmware in the Mac itself, but some Macs refuse. Either way, replacement requires tricky internal surgery, as the display has to be separated and left speaker moved,…

This is probably because you inadvertently installed Setapp, which is a subscription service to those apps. If you can find the Setapp app in your Applications folder, open it and use its Uninstall command in the Help menu to remove it and installed apps. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to try a manual removal. You’ll find there’s a full list of all the components the service could install in bit.ly/ml195setappfiles. These include the contents of ~/ Library/Application Support/Setapp, and two launch agents whose names start with com.setapp in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder. You can also remove any of the apps installed by Setapp in the normal way. SHARE WITH US! EMAIL: ask@maclife.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/maclife TWITTER: twitter.com/maclife…

PRIVACY HAS BEEN at the heart of many of Apple’s new features and improvements in macOS in recent years. And nowhere is this more evident than in Safari. Whether it’s preventing you from being tracked by cross–site cookies as you browse, or displaying a privacy report for the websites you visit, Apple has done much to make Safari more secure. In addition to those improvements, there are a whole host of ways you can tweak how Safari deals with websites that may want access to your microphone or camera, or auto–play videos, display pop–ups or notifications, or want to know your location. You can control what data websites have access to and how far they can go with putting content in front of you using Safari’s preferences. And you can even…

MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY ENABLES you to capture a close encounter with a wide range of objects. With the release of the iPhone 13 Pro range (and iOS 15.2), you can snap details that aren’t easily visible to the naked eye — such as a pollinating bee’s proboscis or flakes of peeling paint on a rusty sign. Unlike older iPhones, the Ultra Wide camera on the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max has an autofocus capability that enables you to capture macro shots from about an inch away from your subject. Here, you’ll learn how to shoot a variety of subjects using Macro mode and capture the background blur (bokeh) that’s the hallmark of macro photos. Your iPhone 13 Pro (or Pro Max) will automatically switch to the Ultra Wide (0.5x) camera…