Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2016 i Macworld UK

With the help of security researchers, Apple recently quickly blocked a cyberattack aimed at infecting Mac users with file-encrypting malware known as ransomware. The incident is believed to be the first Apple-focused attack using ransomware, which typically targets computers running Windows. Victims of ransomware are asked to pay a fee, usually in bitcoin, to get access to the decryption key to recover their files. Security company Palo Alto Networks wrote that it found the ‘KeRanger’ ransomware wrapped into Transmission, which is a free Mac BitTorrent client. Transmission warned on its website (transmissionbt.com) that people who downloaded the 2.90 version of the client “should immediately upgrade to 2.92”. Sneaking past the Gatekeeper It was unclear how the attackers managed to upload a tampered version of Transmission to the application’s website. But…

Why your base station and OS X might report different Wi-Fi rates Rich Knudson wants to know why his 802.11ac-bearing iMac from late 2015 isn’t giving him the performance he expects when connected to a new Time Capsule, which also has 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking. He compared AirPort Utility numbers to OS X’s hidden display, and writes:“The data rate/Tx [transmit] Rate and RSSI [received signal strength] are very different between Airport Utility and the extended Wi-Fi data you get when you option click the Wi-Fi icon in the top right menu bar. One of the benefits I was expecting with my new setup was to connect my iMac to the network using wireless-ac and see a step function improvement in data rate/ Tx Rate speeds.” A: As someone who has tested…

While email is slowly being replaced by other forms of communication such as text messaging, or services such as Slack, it is still the main way people do business. The average user receives about 90 emails per day, a dozen of which are spam. To help work efficiently with email, it’s a good idea to filter some of your messages. You may want to have separate mailboxes for your work and personal emails, or specific mailboxes for emails from close friends. If you’re using email for business, you may want to filter emails by client, or put support emails in one mailbox, and sales queries in another. There are many ways to filter email: in some cases you can filter your email directly on a server, so filtered messages don’t…

Long-time Mac users remember how software was distributed before the introduction of the Mac App Store. You could buy boxed software in retail stores, and you could download shareware that you could try out and pay for if you liked. There was also freeware. Some developers still practice the shareware model, but the Mac App Store has become the sole provider for much of the software people use on their Macs. This has its advantages: users are protected, since Apple validates the software; they don’t have to trust their credit card numbers to potentially dodgy websites; and it’s easy to redownload apps and get updates, all through a single app that serves as a storefront. Developers pay Apple a 30 percent commission, but Apple manages fulfilment and billing, and exposes…

WWDC, or the Worldwide Developers’ Conference, is a highlight of Apple’s yearly calendar. Due to run from 13 to 17 June, the annual get-together for the company’s software partners (not to mention representatives of the world’s media) always sees Apple unveil a range of new products. This year we’re expecting the latest versions of its operating systems, updates to Siri and Apple Music, and potentially new laptops. Apple Music According to Bloomberg, one of Apple’s focuses at WWDC 2016 will be its music-streaming service, Apple Music, which launched at WWDC 2015 and has received mixed reviews ever since. As we approach its first anniversary, most analysts would agree it has been a qualified success. Apple has established a solid subscriber base, passing 10 million paying users earlier this year, and…

From £1,049 inc VAT • apple.com/uk Apple finds itself in a simultaneously difficult and enviable position in 2016. Having cast its spell over the laptop, the smartphone and the tablet, it has run out of things to revolutionise, things to invent. It seems that Apple is starting to plateau, in both creative and financial terms, but (perhaps unfairly) it must live up to its own hype every time it releases a product. Such as this amazing MacBook, an update to the original 12in MacBook unveiled in 2015. Much like the original MacBook Air caused outrage among tech hacks by having only one USB port (Apple later relented and added a second), so the 12in MacBook courted controversy by featuring a lone USB-C port, which also serves as the power connector:…

The Night Shift feature in iOS 9.3 lets you adjust the colour temperature of the display, shifting away from blue spectrums of light, in the putative interest of improving sleep. But Apple makes no promises. On its website, Apple notes, “Many studies have shown that exposure to bright blue light in the evening can affect your circadian rhythms and make it harder to fall asleep.” In iOS, the feature is explained with “This may help you get a better night’s sleep.” In fact, this feature likely will have little or no effect on most people. Apple hasn’t misrepresented any of the science, but clinical work done to date doesn’t point a finger right at mobile devices or even larger displays. Night Shift also can’t remove enough blue to make a…

New games come out pretty frequently for the Apple TV, and while there are thankfully more games that work well with the Siri Remote, there are also many that just cry out for a dedicated gamepad. Many of these are console favourites – or console-inspired games – that just aren’t meant for a small touchpad, and a gamepad goes a long way toward making your Apple TV feel like a proper gaming machine. Included here are 12 of our favourite Apple TV games that are best experienced with a gamepad, but we’re not claiming that each individual game warrants an investment in extra hardware. Rather, collectively, they show how much widespread benefit you’ll get from a controller, and why it’s a crucial pickup if you have plenty of Apple TV…

Many of the apps on your Mac have a toolbar; that’s the grey section at the top of the window that contains a number of buttons and, perhaps, a search field. You see this in Safari, Mail, the iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote), and even in the Finder. The buttons available in these toolbars let you quickly access some of the most common functions of their respective apps. Tweaking the Finder toolbar can help you become more productive. You can add buttons for functions you use often, ones that might be harder to access via menus. You can add a specific button that offers most of the same menu items as the Finder’s contextual menu; this is great if you’d rather click a button than right- or Control-click. And you…

Apple put Siri, its voice-activated personal assistant, in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, but not the Mac. We assumed the company realised that people talking to their computers would be rage-inducing to those around them, but OS X has had dictation features for a while, and Apple has actually been testing Siri on the Mac for the past four years. The feature is almost ready to go, 9to5Mac reported recently (tinyurl.com/j4lnw99), and will be announced at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference as part of OS X 10.12 in June. The next version of the Mac operating system is likely to get a public release this autumn. So how will Siri on the Mac work? Kind of like Spotlight search, in that a Siri icon will sit in…

From £499 inc VAT • apple.com/uk The 9.7in iPad Pro, Apple’s appealing new mid-size tablet, proves that while laptops might still be the best tool for working on the go, they’re no longer necessary. We evaluate its build quality and new features, put the device through our rigorous speed benchmarks and battery-life tests, and compare the value for money it offers compared to other iPads (and rival tablets) on the market. Design If you’ve seen the iPad Air 2 then you’ve pretty much seen the 9.7in iPad Pro too. They’re virtually identical; the physical dimensions match up, down to the nearest gram or tenth of a millimetre, and the positioning of almost all the buttons, slots, apertures and so on is the same. Yet some minor and a couple of…

Kodi is a free, open-source media player. Kodi started off on the Xbox, where it was known as Xbox Media Center (or XBMC). The software is now available on a range of platforms and in more than 65 languages, and incorporates the work of hundreds of programmers. And it’s now known as Kodi, of course. A non-profit called the XBMC Foundation (tinyurl.com/zvqujcr) operates the project, and the work is done by volunteer programmers around the world, who are known as Team Kodi. Team Kodi foot soldiers can join the Foundation, and – if successfully elected – members of the Foundation can join the XBMC Board of Directors. You can also use Kodi to play video on an iPad or iPhone - just not officially, since the software isn’t available on…

We received an email from Thomas Staton, asking about backup strategies: “Since I have two backup drives, should I use Time Machine on both, or use cloning hardware on one and Time Machine on the other? I’m a great fan of belt, suspenders, duct tape, and a spare belt. Time Machine and clones have different purposes, though you can use them to the same end in the right case. If you have a non-recoverable drive failure, you can either use a clone or a Time Machine drive to restore to the last backed up point. Time Machine’s advantage is twofold in the right case. First, it’s routinely backing up, so even as you work, some files are being written in backup form. Secondly, it has archives of previous versions of…

One program you use all the time is the Finder. It’s your Mac’s filing system, organisational structure, and overseer. We all know how to open, move and copy files, but most of us go about this without ever considering the most efficient way to get these tasks done. As a prime example, you can use the Finder’s View menu options to view files and folders in four different ways, but most people don’t know why they’d bother. They stick to one view for all their windows when there are valid reasons to use each. Here’s how to use the right view at the right time, and save time and trouble in the process. Flexible Icon View OS X uses Icon View by default. Select it by choosing View > As…