Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Macworld UK

Last month, according to leaker Mark Gurman and others, Apple held a glitzy showcase event where its 100 most influential employees got to see the latest progress of the mixed-reality headset project. This project is expected to culminate in a public launch later this year, likely at WWDC in June, which means the showcase event should have had an air of both finality and celebration, but it appears this was not entirely so. Discussing the behind-closed-doors event in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter (fave.co/3ZnVHjB), Gurman explained that Apple has run secret internal demos of the headset every year since 2018, but that this one was different: it was grander and more polished, essentially, taking place in the same Steve Jobs Theatre as far higher-profile public announcements. This…

After several weeks as a preorder, Apple Music Classical is now available as a free app for Apple Music subscribers. Users can download it in the App Store as a standalone app dedicated to ‘the complex data structure of classical music’. The interface is similar to the main Apple Music app, with four bottom tabs for Listen Now, Browse, Library and Search tabs. The Browse section is divided into three main categories – Catalogue, Playlists and Instruments – which are further segmented into sections for composers, soloists, time period, mood, and much more. Each individual instrument also gets its own section of the app, with the latest releases, popular artists and works, and a full description of its importance to the genre. In a support document (fave.co/3ZueidY), Apple explains why…

It seems as though everyone but Apple is jumping on the AI bandwagon, but according to a report, that might not be the case for very long. As uncovered by 9to5Mac (fave.co/3z8oPAH) in the tvOS 16.4 beta, Apple is testing new language generation AI capabilities for Siri. The technology, code-named ‘Bobcat’, is very limited in scope right now, but could eventually expand to greater capabilities and devices. A recent New York Times report (fave.co/3z717oy) explained how the original trio of AI assistants – Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa – are very limited in their capabilities and have been soundly surpassed by generative AI based on large language models like ChatGPT. ChatGPT’s capabilities have captured the imagination of the tech community and, together with generative AI like Midjourney, Dall-E, and Stable…

Of the big Apple events of the year, WWDC is the most reliable: in each of the past 16 Junes, like clockwork, Apple has held a big get-together for its developer partners and announced a raft of important software updates. The September iPhone launch and the March/April spring event seem almost unpredictable by comparison. Over the following pages we list the major announcements (and some of the smaller titbits) you can expect to hear about at WWDC 2023 this June. Some of these – updates to the five big Apple operating systems, most obviously – are as predictable as the timing of the event. But we reckon Apple will spring a few surprises too. At the time of writing, we don’t know when WWDC 2023 will kick off, but 5…

Unfortunately in recent years a number of great games for Mac have declined because many are no longer supported. Every new version of macOS tends to break a few games, but macOS Catalina in 2019 meant that lot of games that used 32-bit code were no longer Mac compatible. At the same time that Apple went 64-bit only it also introduced Metal for 3D graphics, which left a lot of games developers with a decision: make new Mac versions of their games or stop making them. Unfortunately many chose the latter. However, despite this and contrary to popular belief, Mac gamers still have plenty of top games titles to choose from – indeed, the most difficult part is narrowing down the options, and then finding the money to buy and…

Apple has created 15 known gestures for your fingers to use on a Multi-Touch trackpad in order to perform a function. At least a couple of them are undoubtedly already second nature in your daily use, but you may not have had a chance to learn others that might really help you out over time. If you can remember the following 10 gestures, you’ll take steps toward being more efficient with your trackpad use while reducing strain on your hands. Even if it takes a moment to remember them all, there’s one additional benefit beyond saving time by using gestures. There should also be a reduction in the frequency that an annoying and task-disrupting gesture is used accidentally on the trackpad. 1. TAP TO CLICK Tapping with one finger to…

Apple Pay Later, a buy now, pay later interest-free service announced at WWDC in June 2022, finally began rolling out today, but for the time being, will be open only to the lucky few. And we mean lucky in the literal sense, because Apple says the first people allowed to use the service have been selected at random. In a press release, the company says that starting 28 March, it “will begin inviting select users to access a pre-release version of Apple Pay Later, with plans to offer it to all eligible users in the coming months”. Select can mean a lot of things (and implies some form of criteria), but in the small print, it clarifies that invitations will be sent to “randomly selected users.” In fact, we suspect…

Apple acquired a start-up specializing in AI-based video compression earlier this year, it has emerged, but it isn’t yet clear how the company plans to use the technology. As is generally the case when Apple makes an acquisition, there has been no official announcement from Cupertino, nor have the terms of the deal been disclosed. In this case, however, a co-founder at the acquired firm, WaveOne, wrote about the acquisition on LinkedIn (fave.co/40qN8py), in a post that TechCrunch discovered (fave.co/3M07vpf) and recently reported: “Last week we finalized the sale of the company to Apple. We started our journey at WaveOne, realizing that machine learning and deep learning video technology could potentially change the world. Apple saw this potential and took the opportunity to add it to their technology portfolio.” Aside…

Artificial intelligence continues to be the latest buzzworthy buzzword floating around the tech industry. (Sorry, blockchain and NFTs, your 15 minutes are up.) And though Apple has plenty of ways that it already leverages machine learning to power up its technologies, it’s hard to deny that there are some places where the company could still benefit from jumping on this latest bandwagon. So it’s interesting to hear a report in the New York Times (fave.co/3z717oy) that Apple engineers are actively looking into language-generating AI, similar to the systems that underlie chatbots like ChatGPT, for a number of applications. And a follow-up report by 9to5Mac that confirmed the tech, code-named ‘Bobcat’, is already being tested for tvOS 16.4 beta (see page 19). How could this technology be used in Apple’s products?…

At the time of writing we’re still waiting for the official announcement, WWDC is coming. In just a couple of months, most likely the first week in June, Apple will unveil the next version of macOS and show off all of its new features ahead of its release later this year. Rumours about new features have been light – all we know so far is that Apple has shifted some macOS resources to xrOS – but there are plenty of features we expect and hope to see make an appearance on the big stage. Here’s our feature wish list for macOS 14 [insert name of scenic California locale here]: DYNAMIC ISLAND FOR THE MAC With the iPhone 14 Pro, Apple introduced the Dynamic Island, which uses the pill-shaped cutout for…

Price: £949 from fave.co/40F0QoB It has been almost half a year since the release of the iPhone 14 Plus, and since Apple is refreshing the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus with a new yellow colour, and we didn’t test and review the iPhone 14 Plus upon release, this felt like a good time to check in on it. In general, what applies to the iPhone 14 applies to the 14 Plus. It’s the same phone, only larger. The larger battery makes it last longer, but it is otherwise just a choice about the phone/display size that’s best for you. This is a good phone and a decent upgrade (especially if you’re coming from a model at least two or three years old), but it’s sort of hard to recommend. Starting…

If you’re planning to be out with your MacBook and you want to make sure you have battery life that will last you all day, you can turn on Low Power Mode. Low Power Mode automatically turns down the screen brightness and system clock speed, thereby reducing the amount of power being used and saving the battery. Apple redesigned the System Settings in macOS Ventura, but Low Power Mode is still there. Here’s how to turn it on. 1. BATTERY SYSTEM SETTINGS Open System Settings in the Apple menu, and then in the window that appears, scroll in the left column until you see Battery. Click it. 2. LOW POWER MODE SETTINGS At the top of the main section of the window is the setting for Low Power Mode. You…

Security researchers have published a report detailing the arrival of new malware that goes after sensitive data that’s stored on your Mac, including passwords and credit card data. According to the security team at Uptycs (fave.co/3TUbEgg), the ‘MacStealer’ malware can attack Macs running macOS Catalina or later, with either Intel or Apple M-series chips. Uptycs found that MacStealer can get passwords, cookies, and credit card data from Firefox, Google Chrome, and Brave browsers. It can extract several different file types, including,. txt,. doc,. jpg and. zip, and it can extract the KeyChain database. According to information Uptycs gathered from the dark web, MacStealer’s makers are working on the ability to harvest Safari passwords and cookies, as well as data in the Notes app. “The bad actor uses a. DMG file…

After several years of antitrust disputes and investigations across multiple sectors and nations, things are looking up for Apple in the US, where political factors may mean the company escapes further regulation for this year at least. CNBC reports (fave.co/40oQtFJ) that Apple, along with fellow tech giants Amazon and Google, is likely to get a “reprieve” because Republican leadership is losing its appetite for the fight to impose strict antitrust regulations. This is partly based on comments from Ken Buck (R-CO), a long-time critic of the big tech companies who was passed over for the position as chair of the Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust. “I don’t think Speaker McCarthy, Chairman Jordan or Chairman Massie are advocates for the antitrust, pro-competition solution to the Big Tech problem,” he said in an…

Google Glass is a failure. That isn’t exactly news, but it is now official: the company has finally discontinued the business version of the product, which itself replaced the deeply unpopular consumer devices whose wearers were subjected to mockery and occasional physical violence, and coined the term ‘Glass-hole’. An inglorious tale has come to an end, and not a moment too soon. Then again, the timing is notable and a little surprising because it comes mere months before Apple is expected to make its own entry into the world of face-mounted computing with a mixed-reality headset. (Sceptics may point out that we’ve been waiting for the headset for years and insist that they will believe it when they see it, but the chorus of leaks and rumours is becoming deafening.)…

It’s something of a running joke among Windows users that Macs are rubbish for gaming. Traditionally, Apple’s computers haven’t been considered a great choice for gaming. There are Macs that can play games well, but they are generally much more expensive than the equivalent PC. Also, upgrading a Mac to meet the requirements of a graphically-demanding game is a no-no since they aren’t upsgradeable. Macs have, however, become a much better choice for gaming enthusiasts, with the advent of Apple’s first M1 chips in 2020, the subsequent M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra, and now the M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max. In the past only the most expensive Macs offered the discrete graphics necessary for gaming. While M-series Macs don’t feature discrete graphics, their capabilities are far beyond…

Video games have changed in lots of positive ways since I was keen on them in the 1990s, from improved graphics to a broader outlook that caters, with only a small amount of acrimony, to hardcore and casual gamers alike. But one thing that’s got indisputably worse is the growing dominance of downloadable content (DLC) culture, where studios shamelessly launch half-finished games and then milk their most loyal fans with years of subscriptions and paid-for extras. It makes me nostalgic for the days when you only had to pay once for an eternal masterpiece like Cannon Fodder or Sensible World of Soccer. Why are you thinking about DLC, David? Because Apple has repeated its annual trick of launching a new colour midway through an iPhone generation, wowing fans with the…

HOW TO MAKE TIME MACHINE BACK UP TWO VOLUMES HOURLY Some people want a belt and suspenders on their backup: two Time Machine volumes that are both kept up to date in the worst case of failure. Apple lets you attach multiple volumes to your Mac directly or over a network to act as Time Machine destinations. But macOS alternates each hour among attached volumes. Is there a way to have macOS back up hourly to both without manually clicking the Time Machine system menu and choosing Back Up Now? Not precisely. You can try one of two alternatives: • Use TimeMachineEditor (fave.co/3zkQX3I), a free utility (donation requested) that lets you control certain aspects of Time Machine backups. You could change the frequency to every 30 minutes, so neither backup…