Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2015 i Macworld

Arriving for everyone on September 30 was El Capitan, OS X 10.11, but I’ve been using it all summer. In these days of free operating-system updates, major OS X updates feel a lot more routine than they used to. Apple has chosen not to roll out major OS X features piecemeal throughout the year, though, so this will be the biggest change your Mac is to experience this year. El Capitan, named after the large granite rock formation inside Yosemite National Park, is very much a refined version of OS X Yosemite, a recognizable progression from its predecessor. (In iPhone terms, it would be Yosemite S.) Apple says this update is all about a refined experience and improved performance. But it’s traditional for Apple to take its no-big-deal updates and…

CLOUD STORAGE SERVICES have alleviated many complications for users, but convenient access to those files often comes with an entirely different set of headaches. Drag-and-drop to and from a web browser isn’t very reliable, while installing desktop applications for each service winds up taxing even the fastest of systems. For only $50, ExpanDrive (expandrive.com) is the more commonsense choice: Multiple cloud services which can be mounted as readable, writeable drives on your Mac, visible from the Finder and other applications alongside locally-attached storage devices. EXPANDRIVE 1.0 AT A GLANCE ExpanDrive 5 makes accessing popular cloud services and servers as easy as mounting a local hard drive on the Mac. PROS • Mount cloud storage and network servers as local Mac drives • Fast background transfers for most popular services…

The $400 Spatia (moshi.com) is a wireless AirPlay sound system that not only looks great, but was designed to work specifically with Apple devices. According to Moshi, the Spatia “fills your home with spacious, high-fidelity sound,” thanks to its five individual speakers: Two silk dome tweeters, two mid-range drivers, and a downward firing subwoofer. The Spatia also has a dedicated app that acts as a remote, helps you get your speaker set up, and allows you to customize and save preferred sound profiles through it’s adjustable equalizer.…

VIDEO To view this video, go to go.macworld.com/blocksafari Call it anti-tracking and privacy software, bandwidthreduction management, or ad blocking. By whatever name, it’s popular in desktop operating systems like OS X and Windows. A study released midyear found nearly 50 percent of U.S. and 40 percent of routine online newsreading consumers employed blockers. With the release of iOS 9, these kinds of filters can be installed in Mobile Safari. Content Blocking Safari Extensions, as Apple calls them, are filters created by third-party apps. The apps either include a prefabricated and updated list, or offer options to configure which kinds of content to block, including whitelisting and blacklisting sites. The filters start with a URL pattern using standard “regexp” (regular expression) pattern, which can match an individual page on a site,…

Although my family currently subscribes to cable (a bargain at only $10 per month more than high-speed internet alone!), we count ourselves as “cord-cutters” since the majority of our viewing is streamed from services like Hulu. I’ve also largely abandoned collecting physical media in favor of movie and TV show purchases from Vudu, iTunes, or Amazon Instant Video. With so many services in play, keeping up with which titles are available where and for how much becomes something of a juggling act—not to mention content vanishes from services like Netflix when the rights lapse, or hits the digital bargain bin shortly after you just paid full price for it. JUSTWATCH AT A GLANCE JustWatch is the easiest way to browse through your favorite movies or TV shows to see…

GOLDGENIE If you are looking for a higher degree of luxury (or just happen to have money burning a hole in your pocket), the Gold iPhone (iPhone 6s and 6s Plus; $4,045 to $16,200; goldgenie.com) may be for you. It’s an actual iPhone adorned with 24k gold, rose gold, or platinum. Because it’s a real iPhone, you can pick between a 16GB, 64GB, or 128GB version—all unlocked, so it will work with any carrier. If 24k gold isn’t enough for you, you can pick a different style, ranging from the basic “gold elite” to fancy croc-leather patterns and even diamond-studded themes. Each iPhone comes with protective armor, too. PROPORTA The Dual Shield (iPhone 6/6s; $27; proporta.com) combines a sturdy exterior with a rubber lining to keep your iPhone free of…

A crowded slate of Mac apps aim to make building a full-featured, modern website drag-and-drop simple. Many even support one of the most crucial new web trends: responsive design, which can automatically switch up your layout to look good on a widescreen monitor, a tiny smartphone, or anything in between. While no single program currently offers all the power, flexibility, and simplicity I’d hoped for, I did find two particularly strong contenders that at least came within shouting distance of that ideal. TOP CHOICE FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS: BLOCS If you have no idea how to start building a site, start with Blocs ( blocsapp.com). At $70, it’s $10 cheaper than most of the other programs in this roundup. And thanks to its extensive library of well-crafted chunks of code,…

Your Mac gets a bit slow and creaky as it gets older, and we can probably all identify with that. Unlike with our stupid, weak-willed bodies, though, we don’t have to accept our Macs’ slowing down and eventual obsolescence as a crashing inevitability. There is a lot you can do to breathe new life into your aging computer to extend its useful life, and though some options cost money—albeit vastly less money than it would take to buy a new Mac—many are free. This isn’t about those wacky, cutesy projects to turn your iMac G3 into a fish tank or a Cube (go.macworld.com/cube) into a tissue dispenser, nor is it about celebrating the zen of using an old, slow Mac that’s cut off from the Internet as a distraction-free writing…

YOU’LL EITHER LOVE or hate the new OnHub Wi-Fi router (onhubapp.com) that Google and TP-Link have cooked up. If you’re of the “I just want it to work” mindset, you’ll dig it. If you’re an enthusiast who likes to bend hardware to your will, tweaking knobs and being aware of everything that’s going on under the hood, it will drive you nuts. The OnHub is a dual-band router co-designed by Google and TP-Link (manufactured by the latter) that operates networks on both the 2.4GHz (802.11b/g/n) and 5GHz (802.11n/a/ac) frequency bands simultaneously. But both networks use the same SSID, and the router decides for you which network each client should use. As I discovered during benchmarking, those assignments can change without notice if the router decides it can provide better service,…

Philips recently added HomeKit support to its $60 Hue Bridge system (meethue.com), which means users can now control their Hue light bulbs from their iPhones via Siri. With HomeKit, users can adjust the lighting through voice commands on the iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, and they can also set more complicated “scenes,” such as one that turns off all the lights and turns down the thermostat for the night. Existing Hue users won’t have to replace any of their bulbs, and can get the new hub, which acts as the link between the smart bulbs and other devices on the same local Wi-Fi network, at a discounted price of $40 for a limited time. New users can get it for $60, and the new hub will be included in Hue…

“Should I upgrade to iOS 9?” is the question I hear the most around launches like this, even more than, “Should I buy a new iPhone?” People generally know if they want the new hardware, but whether or not to put a new OS on a device they already own seems like more of a gamble. I’m here to tell you: iOS 9 is a pretty safe bet. First of all, it runs on every device iOS 8 runs on, going all the way back to the iPhone 4s. (And when I find the iPhone 4s I bought back in 2011, and was in service as my husband’s phone from 2012 through 2014, I’ll thoroughly test it and let you know if iOS 9 is usable on the thing.) Since…

PLEX 4.0 AT A GLANCE Plex for iOS turns digital media into a secure personal cloud viewable from anywhere there’s an internet connection (or offline, with a paid subscription). PROS • Streamlined UI with mini-player • Free with device playback limitations • Improved Mobile Sync CONS • Plex Pass subscription required for premium features • Limited functionality without paid activation • Requires free Plex Media Server PRICE Free COMPANY Plex WHEN IT COMES TO media player apps, many stream content from the cloud, while others require users to transfer files directly to the device. Plex (go.macworld.com/plex) is a different breed of player, one that creates a personal cloud securely hosted on a computer or networkattached storage (NAS) device at home. If you’re already converting discs into digital files, Plex…

iCLOUD PHOTO LIBRARY answered my mobile photo prayers—until I realized there was no way to adjust date, time, or geolocation data from iOS. This meant my Canon T3i photos shot alongside the iPhone would be out of order in the Moments view if I forgot to adjust the time after the switch to daylight saving, triggering my obsessive-compulsive tendencies in the worst possible way. GET ORGANIZED At first glance, an app with a generic name like Organizer (go.macworld.com/organizer) might not sound like the remedy to such first-world problems, but it wound up being the cure for what ailed me. Much to my surprise, developer Genady Okrain gives away this excellent software free of charge. (And does so with grace: There are no ads, but an unobtrusive, in-app “tip jar” is…

“The only thing that’s changed is everything,” says the slogan Apple unveiled along side the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus (apple.com/iphone/). It’s an attempt to address the perception that the odd-year “s” updates to the iPhone line are minimal and uninteresting. Yes, the “s” models look more or less like their predecessors, but for quite a while Apple has used these cycles to upgrade a lot of the stuff on the inside. This year is no different: The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus offer some major improvements, with better cameras (front and back), much faster processors, more responsive Touch ID, and the single biggest improvement to the iPhone’s user interface in its history. But other than that, y’know, no big deal. 16GB iPhone 6s and 6s Plus 64GB…

Apple Music’s free three-month trial, which began when the service launched on June 30, is winding down for those who signed up on day one. Now it’s time to decide whether Apple deserves your monthly payment, or if you should return to the streaming service you abandoned for the last three months with your head hung low in shame. For some, the decision was made shortly after the trial began, when iCloud Music Library ran roughshod over carefully curated iTunes catalogs. For others, the marriage of purchased tracks with streaming ones is the ultimate music solution (go.macworld.com/applemusic10). There were some early bugs that have been mostly worked out, and three months in, it’s time to decide whether to pay up or split. So, let’s break down the pros and cons…

When you come to a fork in the road, take it, Yogi Berra is alleged to have said. Microsoft chose this bon mot to guide its Windows 8 strategy, converging mobile and desktop in a way that pleased no one. And now the new iPad Pro sits beside the 12-inch MacBook to suggest Apple is approaching that very same fork. I was confused during Apple’s introduction of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which has a display so large, it can nearly fit two iPad Air 2s side by side. The Pro’s focus on drawing seems highly specialized. And despite some other productivity features, the iPad Pro doesn’t seem to have a natural audience. Yes, it has amazing specs, but can a bigger, pencil- and keyboard-compatible iPad really be the answer to…

THE VIRTUAL EQUIVALENT of Post-It notes, Stickies have a storied history on the Mac, dating way back to the release of System 7.5 in 1994. More than a decade ago, this utility became something of an afterthought for Apple, who evicted the cute little squares from the Finder beginning with OS X Tiger, where they settled peacefully into retirement as Dashboard widgets. Perhaps sensing Mac owners had bored of colorful desktop notes, developer Chronos soon abandoned its own third-party take on the concept. Apparently you can’t keep a good sticky down, because StickyBrain (go.macworld.com/stickybrain) has been resurrected for a new generation. But can it remain relevant in a mobile-first world? STICKYBRAIN 1.0 AT A GLANCE StickyBrain returns after a 10-year absence in an attempt to make virtual Post-It notes on…

Runtastic’s $130 Moment (runtastic.com) looks like a regular watch, but actually counts your steps and active minutes. A quick glance at its face will show you not only the time, but also your progress toward the day’s goals. You’ll still have to fire up the companion Runtastic app on your iPhone to see your actual step count, but the watch’s dial can you show you if you’re halfway there, almost there, or just getting started. In the app, you can set goals based on steps taken, active minutes, or calories burned, and whatever you choose in the app will be indicated by the watch’s second dial. Runtastic is offering the Moment in four collections, each with a slightly different style. All of them feature stainless steel cases, scratch-resistant glass, and…

OneRx OneRx (onerx.com) helps you get the cheapest possible version of your prescription drug. Enter your drug in the app and choose a nearby pharmacy, and then the app will compare prices for you while adding in deductions for insurance and coupons. Just show the app to your pharmacist when you pick up the prescription to claim your savings. Ballpoint Ballpoint (go.macworld.com/ballpoint) is a $1 app for iOS that lets you create “precision art,” either by freeform drawing or by importing and adapting images from your photo library. It offers a 4096-by4096 pixel canvas, and the color palette holds 24 colors at once. Genius Sign The $1 Genius Sign (thegrizzlylabs.com/genius-sign) bills itself as “the best app to sign, date and annotate your documents.” Docs in the app…

Backing up a Mac with a terabyte or two of internal storage poses no particular challenge. [For Macworld’s recommended backup strategies, see “Backup basics, (go.macworld.com/backupbasics)” “Bulletproof backups (go.macworld.com/bulletproofbackup),” and “How to restore data from the cloud (go.macworld.com/cloudrestore).”] Creative professionals, however, tend to generate massive quantities of new photo, video, or audio files on a daily basis, resulting in multiple terabytes of data that may require a more elaborate backup approach. SPLIT DECISION My first recommendation for creative pros is to think of your backups as two separate operations: one for your large media files (which may be on external storage anyway), and one for everything else. You can tell Time Machine to exclude a folder or volume that stores your media files by opening System Preferences → Time Machine, clicking…

Remember when you just pressed Play on your iPhone or iPad to start listening to music? Those were the days. Now, you actually have a trio of playback options to choose from when it comes to iOS’s Music app: Play, Play Next, or Add To Up Next. (You can also pick Start Station to create a streaming playlist based on a song, artist or album, but that’s for another day.) If you’ve been studiously ignoring Music’s confusing Up Next features, I don’t blame you. That said, it’s worth your time to get acquainted. Up Next does a great job of letting you create an on-the-fly playlist, perfect for perusing your tunes without abruptly jumping from one song to another. Up Next also keeps track of all your recently played tunes,…

Find out which iOS app is requesting your Apple ID password Q: I was traveling overseas a couple of years ago for a friend’s wedding. While there, I spent an afternoon with a long-lost acquaintance. Somehow, for whatever reason, he shared an iOS app with me, installing it on my phone and using his Apple ID. Up until I bought a new phone and restored it from backup, everything was fine. Now, however, the phone is asking me for his Apple ID credentials. I don’t even remember which app it was he installed for me. Is there any way to easily find which app is causing the problem without uninstalling every app on the phone and re-installing them until I find what I am looking for? —David Nicklin A: You…