Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i MacLife

THERE’S BEEN a lot of discussion about using an iPad Pro as a writing or drawing tool. But can you use it for professional game development? I wanted to find out, so I bought one and tried to make usable assets for our upcoming Steam release of Revolution 60. There’s lots of good news. The iPad Pro has a definite place in a professional game pipeline. Some of the tools aren’t as good as their OS X counterparts, but others are an improvement. Here are a few. UMAKE By far, the hardest part of starting 3D game development is learning polygonal modeling. uMake is an ambitious program that’s looking to provide intuitive modeling on a tablet to a new generation of developers. The bad news is, while you can certainly…

THE HANGER-ON OLD MACS ARE the easiest Macs to upgrade, because they were built before Apple started sealing its cases and soldering more components onto the logic board. The bad news, though, is that the older yourmachine is, themore difficulty youmay have in finding newmemory. Crucial, who we recommend for most memory upgrades, didn’t have the memory we needed to boost our 13-year-old anglepoise iMac G4, so our only option was to revert to second-hand sites such as eBay. We have less confidence buying second-hand memory, because you don’t know its history and can’t tell how carefully it was removed from the original host computer. However, if you decide to go down this road, we’d still recommend using a memory finder tool – either the manual Advisor Tool or the…

PATA > Parallel ATA has a blue connector on a gray ribbon cable. It’s used in older models of Power Mac to connect drives to the logic board. SATA > Serial ATA has a black connector on a red ribbon cable. It’s used to connect drives at higher speeds than PATA, which it replaced. USB > Universal Serial Bus is a robust port that’s used to connect external devices: printers, scanners, storage, media players, and more. FIREWIRE > Also known as IEEE 1394. Developed by Apple, used on the original iPod, and once a stalwart of the video community; increasingly rare. THUNDERBOLT > A high-speed interface used to connect monitors, storage, and also able to power peripherals. It can also be used to network two Macs. USB-C > A small…

THE HANGER-ON SAFARI 9 only works on Macs running Mavericks and later, so if your OS is older you’re out of luck. Meanwhile, support for versions 6.2.8 and earlier (on Mountain Lion or earlier) has been discontinued. The most recent versions of Chrome and Firefox support operating systems as far back as Snow Leopard (10.6), so if you’re running any version between 10.6 and 10.8 we recommend switching to one of those. FURTHER BACK If you need to go back further, consider TenFourFox (bit.ly/1IvVWy2), which runs on Macs with PowerPC G3 processors and later, yet supports HTML5 and promises fast JavaScript performance. It requires Tiger or Leopard, while a sister project, Classilla (bit.ly/1ljAg09), supports OS versions all the way back to 8.6, allowing you to keep truly ancient Macs online.…

SWITCH BETWEEN these basic modes in the Camera app by swiping left and right on the screen in portrait, or up and down in landscape. If you have an iPhone 5s or later, holding the shutter takes many pictures so you can pick the best one. HDR shots merge three exposures and can provide more richness; switch it on at the top of the app, and choose, in Settings, whether the non-HDR shot is also saved. Finally, the self‑timer isn’t just useful for group shots, but also for reducing shake from pressing the shutter. Activate it, press the shutter, then steady yourself. 1 PHOTO This is the basic photo mode, but even this has extra features. Remember what you’ve read about exposure, HDR and timed shots, and turn on the…

$1.99 Developer Code Organa, codeorgana.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 8.1 or later When it comes to photo editing, people tend to fall roughly into one of two camps: the casual dabbler, who just wants to make their snaps look sweet on Instagram, and those who seriously know their way around a camera and want control over every element of their photographs. Relight seems to aim for a happy midpoint, but it isn’t entirely successful. It’s both a photo capture and editing app. When you use it to take a photo, it automatically touches it up a little – lightening, brightening and so on. This makes it good for taking pictures in darker conditions, but for the most part the results differentiate little from those taken using the HDR mode on…

$3.99 Developer Toca Boca, tocaboca.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 6 or later Welcome to the colorful world of Toca Blocks! Aimed at children aged 6-8 (although we found that the app held its appeal with far older children), Toca Blocks encourages kids to become architects of their own environments. You get three different characters lined up to explore your blank canvas (although pre-made templates are also available). Blocks are then easily placed, either one-by-one by tapping on the options at the bottom or using the pencil tool for adding a number of blocks more quickly. The blocks are colorful and quirky – some are bouncy, some are sticky, some sparkle! – and they can be combined to create customized blocks, which are then added to the options. Children build their…

$4.99 Developer BulkyPix, bulkypix.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 6 or later Light Apprentice is an interactive comic book. You tap to reveal the next panel, and at certain points in the story you’ll be able to “adventure” – that is, direct the characters to move from room to room, encountering enemies and solving simple lock-key puzzles. As is popular these days, these turnbased encounters can be resolved peacefully, in this case by choosing to defend yourself until the opponent wears themself out. Your moves in battle are represented by mini-games, such as tapping a shrinking circle at the right time to defend or tapping escaping stars to heal. As you might imagine, this means combat quickly feels repetitive, especially if you choose the pacifist route; defending still leaves you vulnerable…

We’re all for adventure – setting off into the great unknown and having a great time along the way. Thankfully, iOS has a wealth of games to take you on imaginative jaunts, on scales both great and small – and with difficulty levels ranging from the equivalent of a pleasant stroll in the woods to surviving in Arctic tundra with only a pointy stick and a Hershey’s bar to your name. Take THE ROOM (99¢, iPad; also on iPhone): you spend the entirety of its few hours in… a room. But the scope of invention is impressive, as you work your way into varying boxes of tricks and tumble down a sinister, supernatural rabbithole. Tactile and immersive, it’s the iPad equivalent of a real-life room escape – and a magnificent…

$2.99 Developer Film Hubble, rachelhigley.com Platform iPhone and watchOS Requirements iOS 9 or later Until we adopt a decimal clock system (which, given where we’re at with the metric system, will probably be centuries after the rest of the world), calculating how long there is between now and your next calendar event can sometimes be a bit tricky. “Okay, it’s 3:07 now, let’s just call it a quarter after three, and my meeting is at 4:45, so that’s 3:15, 4:15 – one hour – plus another 30 minutes; so, about an hour and a half, I guess? Oh, but minus the time it took me to work this out?” This app, which is designed purely to run as a Complication, shows you how long until the next event on your…

$260 ($49.99 for non-Pro edition without native raw support available from Mac App Store) Developer Macphun, aurorahdr.com Requirements OS X 10.9.5 or later, 2GB free hard drive space, 1280x800 or higher display resolution High Dynamic Range images (HDR) look great when done well, pulling out detail from the shadows and recovering burned pixels from the overexposed parts of a photo to provide a vivid, often other-worldly result. Done badly, though, they’re awful. So, we fired up Aurora HDR in the hope it would help us sidestep creating HDR horrors and produce something suitably stunning. We weren’t disappointed. Our starting point was one of its 40-plus one-click adjustments that apply a tonemapping preset to a single shot or several shots at different exposures, the latter of which will help it extract…

$149 (Free and Enterprise editions also available) Developer Etwok LLC, netspotapp.com Requirements: OS X 10.6.8 or later, 802.11a/b/d/g/n/ac network adapter, MacBook recommended NetSpot is a Mac app that surveys Wi-Fi networks, capturing data points from locations around your home or office. By importing a floorplan, the software visualizes wireless strength and range; you can use a PDF scanned from an existing floorplan, or NetSpot can help create one. Survey mode guides the user step-by-step. The data is easy to comprehend, thanks to graphically rich charts and heat maps; info can be exported to PDF or PNG. Discover mode displays surrounding networks in list view. The results update at intervals (default is 10 seconds), but double-clicking an SSID displays a tabbed window with more details. NetSpot Pro includes a single-user commercial…

1 HONEYWELL LYRIC $249 honeywell.com > Honeywell’s Lyric combines the familiar dial controls of its traditional thermostats with a number of useful hightech features. Its geofencing features know when you’re coming home or going out, and can adjust the temperature automatically, and it can monitor humidity and weather conditions. 2 ALLURE EVERSENSE $349 allure-energy.com > The somewhat over-the-top design of the EverSense includes built-in speakers so that you can stream music to it over your home network. Fortunately, it works well as a thermostat too, with features such as geofencing, a humidity sensor and a built-in app for displaying weather reports. 3 NEST LEARNING THERMOSTAT $249 nest.com > The most well known smart thermostat, thanks to its $3bn takeover by Google. Nest sets the bar high, with a bright, attractive…

$2.99 Apple’s screensavers show you some choice views of the Earth, so to mix it up, why not look at a few glorious HD images of the Sun? Filtered, high-res images from the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory have been stitched together into some pretty astounding videos, showing our star roiling and pulsing. Through different filters, sometimes it’s a writhing sea of lava, sometimes an electric purple cloud lashing out into space, sometimes a golden ball covered in gossamer strands of light. Each clip isn’t very long, but they’re truly impressive. The problem with this app, though, is the music. You can’t play your own in the app – if you try to choose a soundtrack through Siri, it plays for a few seconds, but then abruptly stops. Instead, the app…

LG 55EF9500 $2,999 LG.COM Right now, this TV is pretty much unparalleled when it comes to video quality. It’s a 4K panel for awesome detail, and supports High Dynamic Range for much richer videos. Both technologies are in their infancy, but even without them, this OLED screen is awesome. And expensive. The 65in version will set you back another $3K… TIVO BOLT $299 TIVO.COM Got an Apple TV but not ready to cut the cable cord just yet? The BOLT media box integrates traditional cable (with the right cablecard) and 4K streaming into a seamless single system, plus Skip Mode enables you to jump past commercials in recorded shows with a single press. With four tuners, you can record up to four shows at once.…

REQUIRES > iPad, iOS 9, iMovie, video footage, music tracks LEVEL > Medium IT WILL TAKE > 20 minutes VIDEO CLIPS recorded on your iOS devices can be quickly turned into movies or trailers. Movies use a range of different templates such as News, Travel or Neon for different styles; trailers are templates packed with overlays and effects into which you drop your footage to make Hollywoodstyle trailers with themes like Fairy Tale, Romance and Superhero. When making your first movie, be sure to shoot in landscape mode as it’ll be easier to frame and edit. Also, shoot in short bursts – unless you’re Alfonso Cuarón, you need to keep your edits short and snappy. Shoot lots of footage with a variety of subjects, in close-up, middle- and long-distance, so…

I’VE CONSIDERED EVERY magazine and website I’ve worked for to be a family, made of my co-workers and our readers. So it’s with a full heart that I tell you I’m moving on from Mac|Life – and Future US, where I’ve happily spent the better part of my life – to try something new. I joined Mac|Life four years ago at a strange time, amid the excitement of the iPhone 4S and Siri announcements, and the sadness that surrounded Steve Jobs’s passing. The two extremes exemplified the unique world Apple fans inhabit, where every morsel of tech news is a meal, and we care deeply about those in charge of a corporation. I was lucky to be here for the rise of iPad and iCloud, the launch of Apple Watch,…

THE GREAT PROMISE of Thunderbolt has always been that, with a connection speed as fast as internal computer connections, you could plug exterior components into your notebook and they can perform as if they were built into it. This is how it’s been with storage, even allowing for huge, ultra-fast setups of multiple hard drives. But that was supposed to only be the start of it. In the past, we’ve seen proof-of-concept devices that enable a high-end graphics card to be attached to a notebook, giving it desktop performance when needed without compromising its size and weight – but nothing practical ever came of it. But with the arrival of Thunderbolt 3, that’s changing. Intel has already shown two external enclosures that combine being a Thunderbolt 3 hub (adding extra…

AS TRANSFORMATIVE as it’s been, the iOS App Store has had a tumultuous relationship with developers. Core necessities have been missing since day one, such as timed trials, paid upgrades, and direct communication with customers. A number of key developer rules are vague at best, and Apple often wildly changes its mind, sometimes stopping entire small businesses in their tracks. The Mac App Store shares many of these problems, and more. It still lacks many of the App Store’s features, and updates for popular apps have sometimes inexplicably waited for months in review. As we covered last issue, App Store problems have forced many developers to abandon their apps or, in some cases, the store altogether. Unlike iOS, Mac apps were sold for decades before Apple’s store. More importantly, a…

>>> YOU SHOULD always wipe your Mac completely before selling it, to ensure you’ve removed all of your personal data. Restart while holding down ⌘+ R to enter the Recovery system. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and securely erase the Mac’s internal drive (as described above) to remove all of your data and the OS. Quit Disk Utility, and then use the option to reinstall OS X to set up a clean copy of the system. When it restarts, resist the temptation to run through Setup Assistant; leave this for the new owner to enter their personal details.…

1 IDENTIFY RESOURCE HOGS Activity Monitor shows you which processes (including background operations and active apps) are accessing the processor (CPU), memory, storage and network, and which are consuming the most power, which is useful if you’re using a laptop. 2 AT A GLANCE Click the heading at the top of a resource’s column to arrange processes with the most greedy at the top. If your Mac is running slowly, diagnose it in the CPU and Memory tabs. If your hard drive is very busy, click Disk to see what’s accessing it. 3 KILL… WITH CAUTION To halt a resource hog, select it and then click the X button on the toolbar. Be careful: you’ll be forcing it to quit, which risks losing data. Anything with “root” in the User…

THE HANGER-ON THE EARLIEST MACS of the new generation (introduced immediately after Steve Jobs’ return) had Ethernet but lacked Wi-Fi. Apple fixed this in 1999 when it introduced AirPort, an optional add-in card for the iBook, which was later added to the PowerBook, eMac, iMac and Power Mac. If your computer was produced between 1999 and 2003 (when AirPort Extreme debuted), you need the original AirPort card, which you can pick up on eBay for around $10 (search for part number M7600LL/A). Recent versions of OS X offer several protocols that enable one Mac to connect to another, including SMB, NFS and FTP, but Macs running OS 9 or earlier only support AFP (Apple Filing Protocol), which is a development of the original AppleTalk networking protocol. This isn’t supported natively…

THE HANGER-ON THE MAIL APP might not look much different on your vintage Mac to the way it does now, but it has changed significantly under the hood. You can’t index messages using Spotlight if you’re not running at least OS X 10.3 Panther, your IMAP downloads will be far less responsive if your Mac is not running OS X 10.5 Leopard, and you have no Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 support without OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. So, it pays to update to the most recent version that’s available or, if possible, manage your messages using a browser. OLDER MAIL If you need a new email app for an earlier operating system, check out OldApps (bit.ly/1mPRinr), which maintains download links for Mozilla Thunderbird going back to version 1.5.0.2, which runs…

THE BEST THING about taking photos and videos on your iPhone is that you can quickly and easily edit them to ensure they’re as striking as possible before you share them. There are some surprisingly useful tools built into iOS to let you do this, and there’s a wealth of other apps and services you can use. Let’s start with photos. Even before you press the shutter, you can apply filters to your shots; tap the three overlapping circles at the bottom right corner of the Camera app and you’ll get a live preview of the eight different filters you can apply. Tap the one you want, and when you hit the shutter, that filter will be applied – you can change it or remove it afterwards. SIMPLE EDITS -…

AERIAL SCREENSAVERS > Apple continually updates the aerial screensavers. To make sure you receive the latest, browse to Settings > General > Screensaver, select Aerial from the Type field, and change Download New Videos to Monthly, Weekly, or Daily. You also have the option of using albums from a Photos library instead in this menu. AUDIO OPTIONS > When a video is playing, swiping down on the Touch surface displays a menu with audio options, where you can switch to alternate audio tracks or display subtitles. There’s also an option to output audio to a different source, such as Bluetooth speakers and headphones, or AirPlaycompatible hardware. LOUD NOISES > If you like to watch TV late at night when others are sleeping, tell Siri to “Reduce loud sounds,” to compress…

$24.99 Developer DK Consulting, productivity-code.com Platform iPad Requirements iOS 9 or later When it comes to serious scheduling, Gantt charts are widely considered the gold standard for business projects. This bar-chart-style breakdown packs a lot of data into a compact space, making it ideal for devices like the iPad – but most of the existing apps to create them are overpriced, underpowered, or plain clunky. Project Office is none of these things. Featuring a more elegant, intuitive user interface than competing apps, it’s also more affordable than popular alternatives such as OmniPlan. Built for speed, Project Office Pro makes it easy to juggle multiple projects, assign contacts or materials, track any remaining work to be done, and head off potential bottlenecks at a glance. Up to three copies of each…

$9.99 Developer Native Instruments, native-instruments.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 8 or later The original iMaschine was a flexible electronic music creator. You got four tracks, and could quickly merge some beatbox sounds tapped out on a grid of pads with bass and synth parts entered using the on-screen keyboard. The means to import samples (via IAP or entirely of your own making) gave it a little more scope than “toy” music apps, but then it had a price tag to match. iMaschine 2 continues the app’s development, with key new features (note, though, that this version is a new purchase, not an upgrade option). Drums have a step mode, so you can create beats without worrying about precise live play; an arranger enables you to quickly transform loops and scenes…

$2.99 Developer TheCodingMonkeys, onebuttontravel.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later One Button Travel is an interesting idea poorly executed. Once you’ve pressed the titular button, the game is almost entirely text-based, a conversation with a fictional character in which you choose from pre-written responses. Sometimes you have to wait for an answer while the recipient is away, which is an interesting touch – but you can turn this off in the options if you like. Even without that option, this method of delivery feels unrealistic. The recipient reports on their situation line by line, like that particularly needy friend who tells you every little thing they’re doing via social media, stretching particularly noteworthy events to appear word… by… word to increase the drama. Indeed, the devs’ boast that the…

$1.99 Developer Tamper, tamper.io Platform iPhone and watchOS Requirements iOS 9 or later APPS AND GUIDES TO GET MORE FROM YOUR WATCH Here’s the premise: raise your wrist, launch Curiosity and discover interesting places around you. You’ll see a photo, a snippet of text, and a location, which you can tap for Mapspowered directions. It’s not a new idea of course – so-called augmented reality apps have been doing this sort of thing for years – but in theory, this is just the sort of app that should shine on the Apple Watch. There’s certainly nothing wrong at a technical level with how it’s made, but unfortunately real, messy life gets in the way in this particular case. The data itself comes from Wikipedia, which is again completely fine in…

1 PAIRING OFF To control a Keynote presentation using your Watch, you first have to pair the iPhone linked to your Watch to use it as a remote in Keynote’s preferences. 2 MINIMIZE DISTURBANCE This is optional, but it’s a good idea to temporarily turn the “Wake Screen on Wrist Raise” behavior in the Watch’s Settings to the “Previous Activity” setting. 3 DO YOUR STUFF Now, open the presentation on your Mac, launch Keynote on your Watch, and tap the screen to advance through slides. Press firmly to bring up more options.…

$349 Manufacturer XYZPrinting, xyzprinting.com Features 100-400 micron resolution, enclosed print tray, quick calibration Dimensions 16.5x16.9x15 in Weight 33 lbs The da Vinci range of 3D printers aims to give the less tech-savvy user an inexpensive way into 3D printing. The Jr. is the smallest and lightest of XYZPrinting’s models, but can really only be called “junior” compared to the rest of the line-up – it’s still a big unit. However, it’s relatively light at 33 lbs, and transporting the printer is easy enough – although unlike its larger sibling, the da Vinci, there are no hand-holds cut in the side. The entire printer is covered with a solid top, sides and base so there’s no way that stray fingers can get burnt during the print process, as long as the…

‘IF THIS…THEN that’ is a standard programming procedure, used to ensure that one action is followed by another if a condition is met. It’s also the idea behind IFTTT, a system that can be used to connect smart devices so that they work together. You can use the IFTTT app, or ifttt.com, to create “recipes” that combine devices and actions. Many home automation devices work with it, so you could use the auto-away feature of the Nest Thermostat to create a recipe that says “If Nest sees that I have left home then turn off my Philips Hue lighting system.” Recipes work with lots of other devices too, such as fitness bands or sleep monitors. That’s very similar to the way that Apple’s HomeKit is supposed to work, but Apple…

99¢ This is a seemingly simple arcade game with easy enough Siri Remote controls – you are MoBu the ape, and you swipe on the touchpad to swing your arms, taking you through a forest. Thanks to a chance encounter with MaGu the magician, MoBu’s arms can extend to a ridiculous degree, assisting you greatly in your quest. Swipe quickly through short swing arcs and you can build up some good momentum and speed, but there are obstacles that kill you if you don’t dodge them, and bananas to collect. So maybe you swing slower – but you also have to finish the level in good time all the while, so you can’t dawdle your way through the difficult parts in practice. It’s a weird one to get the hang…

My three-year-old Mac mini is always warm to the touch in the morning. According to Apple’s own website, the Mac mini is only supposed to use 1.5 watts when it is sleeping, but mine is using between 13 and 15W (measured with a meter from my electricity supplier). What is causing it to use so much power when it is supposedly asleep? If your Mac mini is compatible with Power Nap, it can perform a limited range of tasks while it’s otherwise asleep. Apple warns that this can make a Mac warm to the touch (see apple.co/1NkCd2Y). Try turning off Power Nap in Energy Saver preferences. Alternatively, a process or service may be preventing the Mac going to sleep. In Activity Monitor, click the Energy tab and try quitting apps…

REQUIRES > Disk Utility LEVEL > Hard IT WILL TAKE > At least 10 minutes WHEN YOU buy a new hard drive, or want to encrypt files to carry around on portable storage, or when files are corrupt or apps exhibit unexpected behavior such as crashing, you’ll need Disk Utility. This isn’t an “every day” app, which is why it’s stored in Utilities (found within your Mac’s Applications folder) – though that’s only one of the places you can run it from. In the event of a problem that stops you getting into OS X, you can start up in the Recovery system to run Disk Utility’s First Aid feature, which diagnoses and tries to repair damaged drive structures. Disk Utility isn’t just about fixing problems. If you buy an…

I just read that Apple is discontinuing support for Macs made in 2008 and 2009. I just bought a new iMac last April, which – after getting it home and setting it up – I discovered was a late-2013 model. I’m happy with my purchase, but what will happen in 2023 or later? I bought the iMac because my early-2007 Mac Pro couldn’t be upgraded past OS X 10.6.8. I know computers can become obsolete very quickly, but when you spend money on the best, you kind of expect it to stay viable a bit longer. ED ERCOLE Apple generally considers Macs to be obsolete once they pass the sevenyear mark, which means they discontinue hardware support and stop producing replacement parts. That doesn’t make repair impossible by a third-party…

POI $14.99 If you want a 3D Mario game for Mac, Poi is the closest we’ve seen. It’s a colorful 3D platformer that sticks closely to the template laid out by Nintendo: each world is a playground with multiple tasks to complete, and lots of different ways to move and explore. It’s 90% of the way to being Nintendo quality, and we’re loving it. VERSION TESTED: 909355 UTOPIA 9 $11.99 When your dream holiday destination turns out to be full of aggressive aliens, it’s time to pick up a pistol and shoot your way to safety. This top-down shooter is a tad on the clunky side, and using a controller on Mac can have some issues, but it’s fun. That said, it’ll be much improved with more variety in early…

IF YOU DON’T often hear the phrase “not invented here” around Infinite Loop, that’s probably because it wasn’t invented there. But it’s often attributed to Apple’s design ethos, pointing at an engineering team that’s unwilling to incorporate other companies’ components or ideas. Of course, Apple does sometimes buy in hardware and software, it’s just that people like marketing chief Phil Schiller are much happier when they can hail new releases as unique originals. But occasionally, with hindsight, it can be better to leave it to someone else… 1 30-pin dock Inherited from the iPod, the 30-pin connector was the iPhone’s most annoying feature, non-standard and always the wrong way round. Then it was replaced, making accessories obsolete, unless we all paid up for the per-device adapter. Stellar. 2 iTools Announced…

1 ANT-MAN Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas $19.99 When Paul Rudd’s down-onhis luck career criminal gets the chance to become a superhero and redeem himself in the eyes of his family, we get Marvel’s smallest adventure yet. Even if you’re feeling superhero film fatigue, Ant-Man is a refreshing and heartfelt film, centered around families rather than global destruction, and with some brilliantly witty moments. It also looks amazing, thanks to the clever use of macro photography when Ant-Man becomes half-an-inch tall – rather than create CG locations, the environments are super-close-up shots of highly detailed sets. 2 MINI METRO Dinosaur Polo Club $9.99 This fiendish little Mac puzzle arcade game tasks you with building the subway lines for an ever-expanding city. Stops can appear anywhere on the map, and…

THE HANGER-ON IF YOU’RE running Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier, put your original installation DVD in the drive and hold C while restarting to start up from the optical disc. If you’re reinstalling because you’ve been having problems with your storage (and, if possible, you’ve taken a recent backup), open Disk Utility to erase your Mac’s storage at this point. (Beware: only do this if you’ve backed up, since all of your data will be erased from the drive). Once that’s done, return to the OS X installer’s screen, click Continue, then work your way through the steps to begin the installation. THE SWITCHER RECENT VERSIONS of OS X create a hidden partition on the hard drive in which they store a minimal version of the system in case…

THE HANGER-ON UNLESS YOU’VE replaced it already, your Mac’s internal hard drive could well be approaching the end of its life. It won’t be expensive to replace in a five- to 10-year-old Mac (storage prices are falling all the time), but replacing the data on it, in the event of catastrophic failure, could prove impossible. Now is the time to do something about it. Start by connecting an external drive and manually dragging your files across to it to create a copy of them, if your version of OS X doesn’t support Time Machine (which needs OS X 10.5 or higher). Also consider making a bootable copy of your drive by following the instructions for Switchers (below). Of course, the drives in the drilled aluminum Mac Pro and the Power…

>>> IF YOUR EXTERNAL devices work with Windows 7, 8 or 10, they’ll almost certainly work on the Mac, and they should be detected automatically. Before moving an external drive from your PC to your Mac, back it up on your PC and consider reformatting it using Disk Utility on your Mac – use the “OS X Extended (Journaled)” format. You can then copy the old data back to it over your network. If you’ll still need to use it with the PC, format it as MS-DOS (FAT) if it’s less than 32GB, and ExFAT if it’s larger – it will then be writable on your Mac as well. To switch to a USB audio device, hold Alt while clicking the speaker icon in the menu bar. If that icon…

iTUNES SHARING iTUNES HAS LOCAL sharing built in, using either Home Sharing or simple library sharing. The former exposes your library to everyone on your network who signs in using the same Apple ID on a Mac, iOS device, or Apple TV; the latter makes your music available without an Apple ID, and allows you to restrict which playlists are available and to set a password. Library sharing has been available since iTunes 4.0.1, so it’s the best choice if you have Macs of different ages. 1 SIMPLE SHARING Open iTunes’ Preferences, click Sharing and check the box next to “Share my library on my local network” to expose your media over your network. 2 RESTRICT CONTENTS Click the circle next to “Share selected playlists,” then set which to make…

ALTHOUGH ALL iPhones (and all but the earliest other iOS devices) can do the basic job of taking a photograph, later models, of course, can usually do more. It’s worth being aware of what each generation of device is capable of doing so that you can work within the limitations. We’ll focus on the iPhone here, since it’s the most popular photo-taking device in the iOS range. SENSOR RESOLUTION - Although some photo features are unlocked by upgrading to later versions of iOS, most are built into the hardware, and so in order to get them you need to upgrade your iPhone. That said, it’s definitely worth updating your device to the most recent iOS version it supports in order to ensure you’re getting as many features as possible, such…

PURCHASING MOVIES & TV SHOWS > Purchasing or renting movies and TV works the same way as before, but with a few added benefits. You can switch between multiple users from Settings > Accounts > iTunes and App Store, to see different bought items. If you have Restrictions in place, you can require a four-digit passcode for new purchases instead of your iTunes ID password. PHOTOS > In the Photos app, you can view My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing. To turn on these options, go to Settings > Accounts > iCloud and select the source(s). Recent photos appear in Activity; swipe left or right, or select a photo to view fullscreen. My Photo Stream or shared albums work similarly; the latter can display comments when clicked; a second…

THIS MONTH’S MOST INTERESTING iPHONE & iPAD APPS $2.99 Developer d2i, momentoapp.com Platform iPhone, iPod touch Requirements iOS 8 or later Keeping a journal in the digital age should be frictionless. After all, the iPhone in your pocket already knows where you are, everyone you know, and is capable of storing an entire lifetime’s worth of memories. Sprinkle in content shared across various social networks, and modern journaling really ought to require little effort. That’s the concept behind Momento, which has been reimagined from the ground up for its third major release. It’s now less a competitor to manual journaling apps such as Day One and more of an automated repository for content extracted from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Swarm, Moves, and even Uber. You can still manually create entries, of…

Free Developer Benjamin Giboudaud, facebook.com/returnapp Platform iPhone and watchOS Requirements iOS 9 or later This app does that simple thing of dropping a virtual pin in a location and then giving you turn-by-turn directions back to it using the standard Maps interface – so you get driving/walking/transit options and the Watch wrist-taps, plus the directions also push back to your iPhone. So far, so meh – you could access all that kind of stuff in Maps on your iPhone – but having it on your Watch is useful in more ways than one. There’s a Complication which does nothing more than launch the app, but from there you can quickly tap a “+” to drop a new pin and assign it an icon; this quick access from the watch face…

$269 Manufacturer Samsung, samsung.com Connectivity Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Dimensions 9.1x6.1x6.1 in Quite a few speakers have a circular or cylindrical design, but the shape is often just for show, and many of these speakers still tend to emit sound in a relatively narrow area immediately in front of the speaker. But, for the R6, Samsung developed a “ring radiator” that is able to emit sound in a full 360-degree range. The result is pretty impressive, as this 9-inch high speaker pumps out a firm, full sound that is perfectly capable of filling a room. We found that just 25% of maximum volume was more than loud enough for casually listening to music, and at 60% we started to worry about annoying the neighbours. The compact unit includes just a woofer and…

$1.99 Developer Langui, Langui.net Requirements OS X 10.10 or later New File Menu is a brilliant little utility app that can take away one of the potential areas of friction when using your Mac. It adds the ability to create new files to the contextual menu in Finder (or on the desktop), so all you need to do is right-click to be able to make a fresh document. By default it gives you options for new text documents, iWork documents and Microsoft Office documents – but the key thing is that you can expand on this list. Open up the app properly (most of the time, it will be invisible in the background) to go into its preferences and you can remove file options you won’t use, but you can…

$3.99 Developer Everyday Tools, everydaytools.mobi Requirements OS X 10.10 or later Mr Corner is a little utility that kind of expands on OS X’s Hot Corners concept. Run the app, click its menu bar icon and you can assign three apps to each corner of your screen. Then just hover the mouse over that corner and the apps’ icons appear – you can click one to open it. You can also add folders or files, for quick access to them: in the app, just drag whatever you want in from Finder. If you’re thinking “But I can just put these things in the Dock,” then… yeah. You can. In fact, putting things in the Dock makes them more useful than using Mr Corner, since in Mr Corner’s case, you can…

$189 Manufacturer ISAW, isawcamera.co.uk Features 4K, 2.7K and Full HD 60fps video recording, 16-megapixel sensor, 170-degree 7-element lens The ISAW Edge is packed with features, with 4K capture, 120fps slo-mo at 720p resolution and Wi-Fi. The camera is waterproof to a depth of 40m; the case has good seals on the back and the compression lever locks tight. On the base is a standard GoPro mount, and ISAW will be producing a range of its own mounts. The ISAW Edge is a neat camera. The sevenelement lens is fixed at f/2.5 and has a 170-degree field of view. On one side are three ports – USB, microSD, and HDMI. Images – both video and stills – are captured with clarity by the Sony 16-millionpixel CMOS sensor. On the other side…

$14.99 Developer Thunder Lotus, jotungame.com Requirements OS X Yosemite, 2.4GHz Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel Iris graphics Jotun is full of vibrant colors and expressive animations, and that’s no surprise: from Rankin/Bass’ animated film of The Hobbit (1977) to Stoic Studio’s 2014 game The Banner Saga, hand-drawn cel animation has long been the visual language of pop Norse mythology, as it is in this game. Developer Thunder Lotus’s first project is more explicit about its source material than either of those predecessors, however: you play as Thora, a dishonored shieldmaiden trapped in limbo, who hopes to prove herself to the pantheon of Æsir and ascend into Valhalla. To do this, Thora must summon and slay five titular jötnar, towering mythological beings. Despite Jotun’s violent premise, there is little combat.…

REPEAT PERFORMANCE To save time, most thermostat apps enable you to create a schedule for one day, and then quickly copy and paste that schedule onto other days. JARGON BUSTER Some thermostats offer a “geolocation” or “geofencing” option that can use GPS on your iPhone to create a perimeter around your home. When you leave the perimeter the app will tell your thermostat to turn the heat down, and to turn it up again when you return home. 1 Hot Stuff Ecobee’s iOS app is designed to emulate the touchscreen controls of its main thermostat. In the center of the display is the current room temperature and humidity. The smaller number on the right indicates the target temperature, and you can adjust this with a tap of your finger. 2…

$4.99 This release is a scrolling shooter of the old-school kind – you move your plane around the screen, and blast the enemies that are constantly heading towards you. It’s best played with a controller, and is pretty sharp. Each level has several objectives, but you won’t be able to complete them all at first. In fact, many levels will kill you harshly during your initial runs, but they’ll also provide the resources to improve your craft, so they might be manageable next time (and there’s a lot you can add to your craft over time). The long-term play, and bountiful number of levels, makes the game great value. You also get high scores from the levels, so can compete against your Game Center friends. It’s a really pretty game…

REQUIRES > OS X 10.11, an email account LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 10 minutes MAIL IS THE default app to receive and read email on a Mac. It’s been around since the start of OS X but has seen many changes. It might seem oldfashioned to use a dedicated email app instead of your web browser to get your mail, but there are several advantages to using Mail. At first glance Mail hasn’t changed much in El Capitan, compared to the Yosemite version, but if you look more closely you’ll find that there are plenty of new features. It can automatically identify event details, show you addresses and spot updated contact information. You can use natural language searching, so for example if you search for “emails from…

REQUIRES > A Mac running OS X 10.11 El Capitan, or an iOS device running iOS 9 LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 15 minutes APPLE’S MAPS app has come a long way since it debuted in 2012. As well as improved data about points of interest, the version of Maps in El Capitan and iOS 9 has access to accurate information about public transport routes and timetables – though in the UK, this is currently limited to London. Maps is even able to figure out travel times to help you plan your journey. This capability extends to Calendar, which combines information you add to events with travel times from Maps, helping to ensure you are punctual. When you receive an email that contains an invitation to an event,…

REQUIRES > Pages, a compatible web browser LEVEL > Easy IT WILL TAKE > 20 minutes PAGES’ COLLABORATION and commenting features are useful until you need to work with people who don’t have the app, or who don’t have a Mac. Commenting and editing plays a key role in many teams; several people might need to look over a press release, contribute to a newsletter, or review a document. We can’t be alone in keeping a copy of Word handy for documents that require other people’s input. Things have changed, however. Recent improvements to the iCloud version of Pages enable you not just to share documents with people who don’t have Apple hardware, but to collaborate with them too. In this tutorial we’ll explore two kinds of collaboration. First, we’ll…

REQUIRES > Remoter VNC, a Wi-Fi network LEVEL > Hard IT WILL TAKE > 10 minutes If you manage and store most of your stuff on our laptop or desktop computer, it can be very useful to be able to control your Mac remotely. That way, even when you’re not actually in front of your Mac, you can see if a download has completed or to open or quit an app, for example. You can do this from your iPad or iPhone. There are a number of apps that make this possible, and they work over VNC (Virtual Network Connection). This is quickest over your local network, but can also be used in conjunction with apps like TeamViewer to keep you connected to your Mac even when you leave the…