Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i MacLife

SO FAR WE’VE looked at backing up to an external drive or to a networked storage drive. But you can also back up to the cloud. There are several key differences between cloud storage — OneDrive, Dropbox, and so on — and dedicated cloud backup services. The first and most important is that cloud storage is designed to give easy access to, and sharing of, files. Cloud backup services don’t do that; their job is to keep data safe and make it available in the event of disaster. In many cases, the only way to get files back is to ask for an entire backup, either as an online download or on physical media such as a USB drive. That’s not a bug. It’s a feature; if you’re not in…

THE BIGGEST SPACE hogs on your Mac are likely to be your photos, videos and music libraries. You can save space here without losing a thing. TOO MANY PHOTOS? The more megapixels your iPhone can shoot, the bigger the file size of the resulting photos and videos. If you have sufficient iCloud storage you can offload the high–resolution versions to Apple by selecting Optimize Mac Storage in Photos > Preferences. However, we’d recommend moving your Photos library to an external drive and include that in your backup. You could upload to Facebook, Google Photos or Flickr. However, there are limits — Facebook reduces the image quality while there are library limits of 15GB for Google and 1,000 photos for Flickr (unless you pay to upgrade) — and it can be laborious…

Once you have chosen your hardware and apps, it’s time to record your first podcast. Ideally, you should know what it’s going to be about before you begin — and who your intended audience is — as well as whether your podcast is going to be a one–off or an entire series with a workable plan for each episode. In other words, think about the starting point, the journey and the destination. It’s important for you and your guests to know what the key talking points are, then structure each podcast accordingly. That way you won’t test your listeners’ patience with your ramblings. Above all, think about your audience and how you are going to engage them and keep them listening. Think about what they might want to discover about…

1. Riverside.fm This web browser–based or iOS app records high quality streams locally at up to 4K and uploads recordings to the cloud. Separating each participant into their own tracks, it has a “magic editor” to save you time and even features voice–to–text transcription. There’s a free tier. Standard pricing starts at $15/month. 2. Zencastr.com Email a link to your guests and they can join your Zencastr session in their web browser. There’s CD–quality audio recording with local copies for safety, 1080p video recording with up to four guests, VoIP chat, and Soundboard, which lets you insert intros, ads and other content. Automatic post–production can mix and export everything for you. There’s a free plan. The pro plan is $20/month. 3. Squadcast.fm Squadcast uses progressive uploading with auto–saving to the…

Free 7–day trial, $4.99/month thereafter From captureone.com Made for iPad Needs iPadOS 15.0 or later For photographers who like to shoot in their camera’s Raw file format, to get every last scrap of sharpness and dynamic range, and to fill up their storage really quickly, the market for serious mobile processing solutions that can be run on an iPad has been narrow. Adobe Lightroom Mobile came in 2019, Affinity Photo a few years before, Pixelmator Photo in 2020. Capture One’s entry to the market is an interesting one. It’s long been a prestige brand for image editing, the more expensive choice to Lightroom, with a processing engine capable of getting the very best results if fed the very best files. The iPad, even the larger Pro models, isn’t ideal for…

ASK A GROUP of Mac users for their favorite built–in app and you’d be hard pressed to find many that would say Disk Utility. Yet, it has dug many of us out of trouble, fixed problems that looked terminal, and enabled us to do all manner of things with drives and volumes that would otherwise require investing in third–party software. Despite having a simple interface and being easy to use, Disk Utility’s use of some arcane terminology often puts people off using it. It shouldn’t. Whether you want to erase a drive, force an external drive to mount, create a partition (or container in APFS, more about that later), or fix a drive or volume that’s misbehaving, it’s straightforward to do in Disk Utility. Disk Utility is also a key…

WHY DO I GET A PRIVACY WARNING WITH A NEW ROUTER? This doesn’t mean your devices are vulnerable to attack; it shows your service provider can learn about connections made. If in doubt, try enabling iCloud+ Private Relay in Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Private Relay. Normally the warning will go away of its own accord. WHY DON’T I SEE SMS TEXT MESSAGES ON MY iPAD? Unlike iMessages, text messages are only received on iPhone and other devices with mobile phone connections, and don’t arrive through iCloud. To see and respond on other devices, on your iPhone use Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding to enable your other devices individually. HOW TO CREATE A TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR AN EPUB BOOK IN PAGES? Use consistent paragraph styles…

This is largely determined by who’s going to decompress those archives, and what’s in them. For general use with other Mac and PC users, standard Zip archives are universally accessible and reasonably efficient. Use Archive Utility, an app hidden in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications or found using Spotlight, ensuring its preferences are set to use Zip and not Apple Archive, which is Mac–specific. For your own use, you can be more adventurous and try more efficient methods like 7z, XZ and others offered in a utility like Keka from the App Store. Although not quite as efficient, Apple Archive format should prove quicker than most, particularly when used on Apple silicon Macs. Keka (keka.io) is also unusual in that it lets you run compression in the background so you can continue with your…

Disk Utility can convert Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volumes to Apple File System (APFS) format, but any holding Time Machine backups can’t be usefully converted. To convert your document volume in Disk Utility, select it in the list at the left. Check it’s not your backup volume, then Ctrl–click it for the menu with ‘Convert to APFS’ at its foot. This is a one–way trip: once converted, nothing can turn APFS back to HFS+. The problem with Time Machine backups is that those made to HFS+ are completely different in structure from those on APFS. The former rely on directory hard links to create the illusion that every backup is a complete copy of the original, but APFS doesn’t support those hard links. Instead, when Monterey backs up to an…

LANDSCAPES ARE A common source of photographic inspiration, so it’s no surprise that Luminar Neo is packed with landscape–enhancing tools. As well as a considered composition, a successful landscape relies on the weather to provide drama and impact. If you have the patience to wait until dusk, you might capture a romantic landscape scene bathed in the warm rays of the setting sun. However, if you’re on holiday, your family and friends may not appreciate having to hang about until the “golden hour” for you to enjoy a perfect landscape photo opportunity, so you’ll need to call upon Luminar Neo’s landscape–enhancing tools to save the day. Here, we will demonstrate how to summon warm “golden hour” lighting for any landscape and help overcome disappointing weather conditions to add beautiful sun–kissed…

2013 WAS A great year for iOS users. That’s when Apple introduced iOS 7, one of the biggest and most welcome redesigns of iOS in Apple’s history. It solved all kinds of iOS irritations and introduced one of our favorite features: Control Center. The first version was pretty good, but over time it has become even better and more useful. Control Center is designed to make it fast and easy to access key settings without having to venture into the depths of the Settings app. At first it only concentrated on your device’s settings, such as Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb or brightness. But over time Control Center grew to include more features including smart home controls, sleep tracking and Shazam song recognition. Those last two arrived in iOS/iPadOS 14, and…

THE WORLD OF art can seem lofty and cut–off, with too much to take in for those of us without an Art History degree. DailyArt makes some of the world’s greatest pieces, and the stories behind them, accessible. It sends you a daily notification highlighting a single work and provides accessible background information on it and the artist. The app works on iPhone, iPad and M1 Macs (and notifications can also appear on your Apple Watch). As well as being educational — DailyArt brings to attention works you may have never seen before — the app provides a nice moment of serenity during the day. The brief piece of writing that accompanies each artwork is accessible to those with little artistic knowledge, providing enough detail without being overwhelming. There’s also…

FOR THE NEXT little while, there’s going to be a steady, relentless drumbeat of expectation that an Apple virtual reality/mixed reality/augmented reality headset is juuuuuust about to appear. There’s no doubt that such a device is in the works — Tim Cook has hinted at it, and we’ve seen signs of “realityOS” in other software. And obviously the technology exists: Apple makes advanced processors, there are the right kind of hi–res screens, 3D–sensing software is become increasingly advanced… so we must be about to see it, right? The thing that seems to be forgotten is: why? And I don’t mean that VR or AR is pointless. I’m asking what do you think Apple’s purpose with launching it will be? Because I suspect that Apple could launch a headset any time…

> RUGGED APPLE WATCH DUE? Rumors say Apple is working on a “rugged” version of the Apple Watch designed for extreme sports and activities, possibly to be named Apple Watch Pro. It is said to be larger than current models, with a tough titanium casing and an even more scratch–resistant, shatter–proof face. Sources say the extreme sports model will be released alongside a standard Apple Watch Series 8, which will retain its present design. > NO LIVE ACTIVITES IN iOS 16 Apple has confirmed that iOS 16 will not include Live Activities at launch. The new feature — which will update such things as sports scores, your food delivery order, and workout info in real time — was made available to developers along with its associated API, ActivityKit, to build…

WHETHER YOUR MAC’S been stolen, splashed with a cup of coffee or driven off a cliff in a clown car, having all your stuff go “Whizz! Bam! Pow!” is heartbreaking, devastating and likely to make you a little angry. Don’t let it happen! The more digital our lives become, the more important it is to protect our data; it’s our memories, our videos of the kids’ first steps or the day we brought the dog home for the first time, our wedding photos and the photos of people we’ve loved and sometimes lost. As awful as losing your Mac would be, losing the memories that live on it would be absolutely devastating. But we have iCloud! Well, yes, we do. But iCloud is not a backup service. It’s a file…

Samsung T5 1TB USB SSD $193 FROM samsung.com/us Samsung’s external SSDs have a good reputation for reliability. While this is certainly a little pricier than some rivals it’s very neat, works happily with Macs running OS X 10.9 Mavericks or later, but it does cost more than Samsung’s newer T7 (at $140). Western Digital My Cloud Home $199.99 FROM westerndigital.com This is great value for a 2TB network drive, and you can go up to 8TB for $299.99. It’s unobtrusive and quiet, and while it doesn’t have RAID, WD makes a number of NAS drives that do such as the My Cloud Home Duo. LaCie Mobile Drive $79.99 FROM lacie.com At just $79.99 for 1TB and $169.99 for 5TB, this is an excellent affordable option that’s particularly good for travel…

NOW YOU’VE CREATED your first backup, now’s the time to optimize your Mac. Doing so will save you gigabytes of storage, while retaining easy access to your stuff. And for that, you’ll need to head to the Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage > Manage. Here we’ll look at the options that are contained there, and what they enable you to do. STORE IN iCLOUD Store In iCloud is a great option for freeing up space but bad for backups, because it only keeps optimized versions of your photos and videos on your Mac. That means your backup isn’t copying the highest quality originals, so if something happens to your iCloud you could lose those valuable high–res images or clips. We don’t recommend using this option on your main…

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GarageBand for Mac and iOS Free From apple.com Coming free with your Mac, iPad or iPhone, GarageBand is as adept with podcasts as it is with music. Record your voice tracks and add loops or music beds, as well as effects to give the whole thing a professional sound. Podcast Studio for iOS From $7.99 From spreaker.com Running on iOS, Podcast Studio lets you record, publish, distribute and analyze your podcast, making it a great solution. There’s a free trial, but unlocking the full feature set does require an in–app purchase. Steinberg WaveLab Cast $69.99 From steinberg.net Based on the WaveLab pro audio software, this has pro–grade recording and editing tools and effects for the discerning audiophile podcaster. It also connects to a number of distribution platforms, including Buzzsprout. Podcast…

The world’s best–selling laptop has finally been given the Apple silicon makeover it deserves, ditching the wedge–shaped design of its forebears in favour of a super–slim, uniformly flat design that’s 20% slimmer by volume than its predecessors — yet is still powerful enough to snap at the heels of its closest Apple sibling, the new M2 MacBook Pro 13–inch (Mac|Life #197). Measuring 11.97x8.46x0.44–inches and weighing 2.7 pounds, the new MacBook Air is slimmer and lighter than its M1–powered predecessor (still available for $999), yet comes with a bigger 13.6–inch Liquid Retina display, an upgraded 1080p FaceTime camera (up from 720p) and Apple’s next–gen silicon: the M2 system–on–a–chip (SoC), which promises up to 1.4x more performance than the M1 version and up to 15x faster performance than its Intel Core i5–powered…

Logitech has the premium mouse market pretty much sewn up — especially for Mac users, as it’s one of the few manufacturers that provides a Mac version of its Options app, which lets you customize the mouse controls to work just the way you want. Its MX Master 3 mouse has proven very popular — it’s the same price as Apple’s Magic Mouse, but provides additional buttons and features that make it more versatile. The Master 3 is a few years old, though, so it has just been replaced with the new MX Master 3S. Available in black or white, the Master 3S has the same basic design as its predecessor, with a textured rubber surface that helps you get a good, comfortable grip, and no less than seven buttons…

Keychron’s Q5 is a 96% size keyboard, making it just a fraction under full–size while still retaining a numerical keypad. Available in a range of colors and with a choice of Gateron switches, the fully assembled version comes with USB–C and USB–A cables, Windows keycaps that you can swap out using the pullers and keys in the box, and there’s a Mac/Windows switch on the rear by the USB–C port. The keyboard feels bomb–proof, finished in aluminum and weighing 2.3kg. Keychron details the finishing stages the metal goes through as well as the multiple internal components including two layers of sound–absorbing foam and a double gasket design with silicone pads that enables a very slight give to the typing action. The keycaps feel reassuring to type on with their indented…

APPLE’S CALENDAR APP for Mac, iOS, iPadOS and watchOS has plenty going for it. For one thing, it’s deeply integrated with Apple’s other apps and the operating systems themselves. And for some people, it may be all they need from a calendar app. However, for those of us who want more — good natural–language entry, for example — it doesn’t offer enough. Thankfully, there are plenty of alternatives, from Google’s free, but powerful app, to Moleskine’s stunning Timepage. In testing these apps, our key concern was that they should offer enough over and above the features in Apple’s app to make them worth the cost. We also wanted to know how well they sync across platforms and how easy they are to use, particularly when it comes to adding appointments…

$3.99/month, $17.99/year, $24.99 one–off purchase From camera.plus Made for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch Needs iOS 15.0 or later, UltraRes requires iPhone 11 or later Camera+ has been updated from version 2 to version 22, although this represents a new naming scheme based on the current year. A decade on from its debut, Camera+ remains one of the best camera apps available on iOS and although its busy interface has sometimes rather obscured its powerful features, the developers have worked to remedy this. The photo-capture screen has a pop–up grid of options accessible from the top which enable you to activate different modes. There’s full auto and manual, macro, portrait, action, slow shutter, Raw, and Monuments — which removes moving objects such as pedestrians. A Magic ML mode uses machine…

PERHAPS THE MOST frequently used tool in Disk Utility’s arsenal is Disk First Aid. It scans whichever drive you select for problems in the structure and integrity of the drive. If you select the whole drive, rather than a single volume, it checks the partition maps for the drive and directory, then checks each volume. If you only select one volume, it just checks that. Volumes appear under the main drive in Disk Utility’s sidebar. For example, the internal drive on your Mac has a Macintosh HD volume which has volumes for data and for system information. If Disk Utility finds problems on your startup disk, it will notify you but won’t attempt to fix them. That’s because to repair a drive it needs to unmount it and it can’t…

This depends on how much of it will be taken by snapshots, cache and virtual memory (VM) files. Although these can normally be dispensed with when the need for free space is pressing, they can block updates and installations that need large amounts of temporary storage. Updating macOS uses hidden volumes which could require an absolute maximum of 40GB at their peak. Assuming that Time Machine’s backup snapshots will never exceed 5GB in any 24–hour period, and VM and cache requirements are no larger, the free space required comes to around 60GB for the Data volume on your startup disk. To that you must add your own allowance to ensure that you’ve got headroom to use that drive, taking it perhaps to 100GB. You can get away with much less,…

If you can, avoid doing so. The best but most expensive solution is to use active noise cancellation, in AirPods Pro or Max, or their equivalents. You should then be able to listen without interruption by extraneous noise. Even if you can’t do that, you should think twice about changing the dynamic range of the files, as that can’t be undone once it has been applied to them. GarageBand has an audio compressor plug–in available in its Smart Controls. Open the audio file and in the View menu Show Smart Controls. Drop the Plug–ins section down at the lower left, and click on the bar just below the disclose mark to show the plug–ins menu. Select Dynamics > Compressor there and you’ll see both analog and digital controls. Threshold sets…

Although this has been not uncommon in the past, it’s now an unusual problem. It’s worth starting up in Recovery mode with the Cmd and R keys held, opening Disk Utility there, and running First Aid on that Data volume to ensure it’s healthy and make any necessary repairs. Once you’ve done that, start up with the Shift key held to enter Safe mode. Leave your Mac a couple of minutes, then restart back into normal mode. If this recurs after that, you shouldn’t have to restart your Mac to restore those icons to its Desktop. Instead, try opening the Desktop folder in the Finder, which forces it to be refreshed. If that method doesn’t work, try forcing the Finder to restart, and if all else fails, log out and…

1 Insta360 ONE RS 1-Inch 360 Edition $799.99 From insta360.com Insta360 is well–known for its top–notch 360–degree video cameras that capture great footage in a tiny, pocketable package. If you like the company’s existing products, there’s a new addition to the line–up in the form of the ONE RS 1–Inch 360 Edition. It packs a 6K video resolution of 6144x3072 pixels and dual one–inch sensors into its compact frame. Those twin sensors enable the camera to excel in low–light conditions, which along with its Leica F2.2 aperture lens, means you’re not held back by the time of day you’re shooting at. In addition to 6K video footage, Insta360 ONE RS 1–inch 360 Edition also enables you to capture 21MP 360–degree photos. And with its bite–sized form factor, you won’t be…

1 FREQUENCY It’s a good idea to have a routine (or use an automatic backup system) so that your Mac backups are always up to date. The more important your files are, the more frequently you should update; you can’t recover something if you never got around to making a backup copy of it. 2 REDUNDANCY Your Mac’s data is damaged! Oh no! So is the backup! Now what? If it matters to you, make sure you have more than one backup — and that the backups aren’t stored in the same place. Businesses often have one backup stored on site and another stored off the premises. 3 ONLINE BACKUP The big advantage of an online backup is that it’s stored on servers far away — so if something horrible…

FOR THOSE USING a metered backup service, the more data you back up the more you might have to pay — but even if you’re just backing up to an external drive it makes sense to get rid of any unwanted files, apps and media from your Mac. And, happily, doing that makes your Mac leaner and meaner and your stuff so much easier to find. If you do a lot of work with music, video or images you’ll find you can clear up huge amounts of storage by getting rid of redundant files. It’s worth getting into a routine to minimize how much redundant data or media you leave behind. For example, when we complete a Logic Pro project, we use Select Unused in the Bin to locate and…

Podcasts have become incredibly popular since evolving beyond the iPod from which they get their name. Now, you can listen to a podcast anywhere, streamed to your phone while on the move or even on your Apple Watch or Apple TV. The variety of subjects they cover ranges from global politics to the very niche and that’s because with a little time and the right equipment, almost anyone can create a podcast. Maybe you’re passionate about a certain TV series, or a particular sport. It’s never been easier to share your interests with the world. But podcasts don’t just happen. In addition to a good idea for the subject and a potential target audience you’ll need some equipment. And once you’ve refined your podcasting skills there’s the issue of monetising…

1. Most producers would suggest that authenticity is key. There are huge blockbuster shows and niche podcasts, all with dedicated audiences. The thing that popular shows all have in common is the feeling that everyone involved believes in what they’re doing — that’s why so many podcast fans want to give back by supporting or donating directly. Focus on something you love, have conversations you’d be having anyway and that will make for compelling content. 2. It’s crucial to be consistent. With your releases, whether you’re seasonal or weekly, pick a day and stick to it to ensure your show is a part of your audience’s life. Also, think about where people who would like your show are and go to them. That could be forums, social media groups or…

GEEKBENCH 5 SINGLE–CORE TEST This tests the capability of a single processor core. Many more common tasks on a Mac will only use a single core at a time. Geekbench 5 is a universal app running on Monterey. Index score (higher is better) HANDBRAKE VIDEO ENCODING We transcode a Blu–ray–quality video file into H.264 format using HandBrake to test the multicore processor performance. Handbrake is available as a universal binary. Duration (lower is better) TOMB RAIDER (1920X1080) For a real–world gaming test, we use the benchmarking tool in this game, with the graphics quality set to High, and the resolution set to 1920x1080. Not yet optimized for M1. Frames per sec (higher is better) DAVINCI RESOLVE In Blackmagic Design’s editing tool for video professionals, we exported an effects–laden, 2.5–minute project…

REPAIRING DRIVES AND volumes is far from all that Disk Utility can do. You can use it to partition a hard drive, or on an APFS drive create containers (see Partitions, Volumes, Containers opposite). Disk Utility can also create and manage Disk Images — a file that contains both the structure and contents of a volume or an entire storage device. When physical media was more commonly used, disk images were useful for making exact copies of one disk and transferring it to, say, a CD or DVD. However, disk images can still be useful for creating or duplicating installers. In Monterey, Disk Utility can be used to view and manage snapshots of APFS volumes. Snapshots are created by Time Machine and capture the state of an APFS volume at…

macOS first gained support for these new image formats in High Sierra, and more recent versions now work well with them. In Photos, open the image, select the Export 1 Photo command from the File > Export menu, then set the format to convert it to. Open any loose images in Preview, hold the Opt key and select the Save As command from its File menu. You’ll then be offered a choice of seven traditional formats and qualities for the converted image. Many third–party apps such as GraphicConverter 11, from the App Store, offer an even wider range of formats, controls and extended options when you use their Save As command.…

macOS Monterey usually can’t check and repair volumes containing its Time Machine backups when running normally. The simplest way around this is to restart into Recovery mode and use Disk Utility there. The reason this doesn’t work when running normally is that Disk Utility can’t eject the many snapshots of old backups from a special hidden volume. You can do this yourself, and that should let First Aid work on your backup volume. Check that Time Machine isn’t due to make a backup soon, or turn it off temporarily. In the Finder, eject each volume on the backup disk, then press Cmd+Shift+. [period] to show hidden files. Locate and open the path /Volumes/. timemachine/[UUID] where [UUID] is a long character and numeric name. Inside that are backups, with those towards…

AUDIO HIJACK IS an app that is able to intercept any audio stream on your Mac from a hardware source such as your microphone or a record player and also from any application or from macOS itself. Using a clever system of configurable drag–and–drop blocks, it lets you route one or more sources through a virtual recorder, capturing the sound to a digital audio file. You can even add effects like noise reduction, add multiple recorders for compressed and uncompressed recording, and schedule recordings to begin at specific times. While macOS allows some basic audio capture using QuickTime, Audio Hijack is far more flexible, making any audio recordable and letting you capture separate files or mix everything down to stereo. There are lots of uses for this, from hooking up…

IF YOU USE external displays with your Mac, you’ll know macOS doesn’t give you much control over them. That all changes when you install Lunar, a superb app that puts you back in the driver’s seat. There are lots of ways it enables you to tweak your monitors, with controls for beginners and experts alike. With Lunar installed on your Mac, you will be able to change settings for each monitor individually, save presets and set keyboard shortcuts, adjust the brightness above or below the constraints set by macOS, and much more; it really is the brightness tool Apple forgot to include with your Mac! You get even more from Lunar when you buy its Pro version, which costs $23. This unlocks a range of handy features, from ambient light…

SIRI IS MORE than just a helpful voice assistant on Apple’s devices. It’s become integral to the way we use them. Think about the suggestions that appear on screen recommending apps to launch, folks to contact, or tasks to complete inside apps. Those are all controlled by Siri. Shortcuts use Siri in lots of ways to make them easier to use and more powerful. Ever noticed that when you receive a text with a two–factor authentication code, the code appears at the top of the keyboard ready to be filled in while you’re in Safari? That’s Siri. If you use AirPods, Siri can tell you who is calling or read out incoming messages. You can ask Siri for more information in a song playing in Music, or invoke Shazam to…