Innehållsförteckning för No. 170 från iCreate

There is nothing more frustrating than a slow Mac. Waiting minutes for your desktop to appear, constant app crashes and sluggish performance can weigh down even Macs that are a little over a year old. This month’s cover feature is guaranteed to speed up your Mac, and includes critical system tweaks and performance optimisation tips and tricks to turn you into a true power user. The iPhone is the world’s most popular camera, so it’s only fair that we show you how to make the most of it in this issue’s Photography Masterclass feature. Inside you’ll learn how to shoot, edit and share the perfect photo. We’ve packed the issue with over 50 pages of tutorials too, including guides to brand-new Logic and GarageBand features. This issue marks my last…

When Apple launched the Mac App Store in 2010, it promised unrivalled convenience for developers. Suddenly selling an app didn’t come with the burden of hosting downloads, generating licenses or taking payments. Apple handled it all for a 30 per cent cut — a revenue model it had standardised with the iOS App Store some years earlier. Since then, the Mac App Store has lost its shine for some developers. Many are back to simultaneously selling apps themselves or pulling their offerings from the App Store altogether. The result of pulling your apps from sale in the native App Store isn’t as dramatic as you might think, either. In a blog post titled Making More Outside The App Store, Rogue Amoeba’s Paul Kafasis detailed the experience of pulling their app,…

Our Apple devices are slowly replacing old-fashioned ways of enjoying a huge range of media. We listen to music on our iPhones, watch YouTube videos and catch-up TV on our iPads and devour seasons of our favourite Netflix shows on our MacBooks. Sound quality is therefore of great importance. There are a few settings tweaks that can be made in both iOS and macOS to make sure you’re getting the best experience too, as we show you below. 1 Limit volume output This could be a good tip for any parents out there with young kids using their iPhones and worrying about the health of their eardrums. It’s hidden in Settings, but you can limit volume when headphones are plugged in. 1 Go to Settings From your iPhone’s home screen…

Login Items in System Preferences shows some items that run when the Mac starts, but it does not reveal all of them. There are hidden folders that contain references to additional items that are started upon login. They usually don’t show any indication on the screen, but each one adds to the startup time. Find out what is loading and uninstall it. 1 Agents and daemons Open Finder, select the Mac’s disk, then Library. There are three folders – LaunchAgents, LaunchDaemons and StartupItems. These list the apps that start with macOS and slow it down. Don’t delete the files, uninstall the apps they refer to instead. 2 Private items Global items for all users were shown in the previous step. Each user has private folders that load more apps. In…

When shooting indoors (or in low-light conditions) your camera may need to emit a burst of light to capture a well-exposed shot. However, if your subject is looking directly at the lens, the flash can reflect from the blood vessels in their retinas and hit the camera’s sensor. This can produce a portrait in which the subject’s eyes are glowing a vibrant red, making them look more like a character from a scary film. Fortunately, Apple’s Photos app can heal nasty cases of red-eye and quickly restore glowing red pupils back to a healthy-looking shiny black. In most cases the Auto red-eye tool will fix the problem in a click, but we’ll also show you how to make manual adjustments. Step-by-step Fix cases of red-eye 1 Find a photo In…

Apple’s Markup is a simple app that enables you to add text and graphics to an image file. Introduced with OS X Yosemite, you could use Markup to scribble notes or draw lines and shapes on an image attached to an email. In the latest version of Photos the Markup extension is automatically installed, making it even easier to add simple graphical components to your shots. You can use Markup to point out areas in a photo that need retouching, and even magnify those sections with a darkroom-style photographer’s loupe view. You can even add copyright details to a shot using Markup’s text tools, to help protect your image when it’s shared on social media. Step-by-step Use Markup to annotate your photos 1 Access Markup Double-click on a photograph and…

Due to the media’s ever-growing need for video content, you could start generating some extra income by selling short video clips via stock sites such as Pond5 and Shutterstock. A photo may generate a meagre $0.25, but a 30-second video clip of the same subject can net 100% more (depending on the downloaded clip’s resolution). However, you will need to get your clips approved by a stock site’s quality control inspectors before they can start earning you a passive income. We’ll show you how to use iMovie to fix common reasons for rejection – such as incorrect exposure, camera wobble and colour casts – and we’ll also talk about stock-friendly output settings. Step-by-step Make your clips suitable for stock 1 Fix underexposed clips A stock site’s inspectors will reject clips…

When filming subjects that move, you should change your camera position to capture the subject using different angles and shot sizes. As well as giving you more ways to tell your story in the edit, a wider range of camera angles and shot sizes helps add visual variety to the project. We’ll show you how to use Final Cut Pro’s frame-accurate Precision Editor to cut a series of clips together and make the action flow as a single sequence, rather than as a series of clips captured at separate times and places. We’ll also show you how to quickly insert cutaways (and replace sections of the timeline with new footage) to create a tighter and more interesting sequence. Step-by-step Edit with precision and accuracy 1 Import assets Choose File>New>Event. Label…

Whatever you can do from the macOS graphical user interface you can usually do from the command prompt in a Terminal window. Although Apple removed the time remaining indicator from the menu bar, macOS still keeps track of the status. It is there in Terminal and with the right command you can see the time remaining. Not as convenient as the app, but useful to know nonetheless. 1 Open Terminal Click the Go menu in Finder and select Utilities. Run Terminal and a small window opens with the command prompt. Type in ‘pmset -g’ and a list of interesting power management settings is displayed, such as sleep and hibernate options. 2 Check the battery The pmset command can display the battery charging status and time remaining. At the command prompt,…

It is curious that, in a time where Apple has made great strides to integrate iOS devices and macOS in such seamless ways, that we still cannot use a Mac as an AirPlay receiver. Even if you own an iMac that incorporates loud, good-quality speakers, and in some models huge high-definition screens, the idea of using it as a sound system or even a replacement TV has been left on the table. However, you can use an app called Airfoil, one of a number of solutions available, to add this functionality to your Mac. We will now show you how to build a feature that Apple has not deemed necessary, and how to enjoy all the benefits it brings. Step-by-step Build your own AirPlay receiver 1 Download the app(s) Go…

When capturing a fast-moving subject (such as a pet), hold your finger down on the shutter icon. You’ll hear multiple shutter clicks and see a counter indicating the amount of shots that you’ve captured. In Photos you’ll see a single thumbnail with a Burst label, with the amount of shots that you captured in the burst appearing in brackets. Click Select at the bottom of the screen and scroll through the individual images captured in the burst. Tick the images that you like and click Done. You can then keep your favourites and delete the unwanted frames from the burst.…

Olloclip Varies Include wider fields of view or capture a close-up macro encounter by clipping lenses onto your iPhone. There’s a range of lenses and prices for a host of iPhone models available, such as the 4-in-1 Lens for the 5/5s and SE models. Snap! £40/$49.99 This range of iPhone cases helps you take photos in a more natural way. They have a grip and a physical shutter button so that you can shoot as you might with a DSLR. You can buy additional lenses to add variety to your shots. Manfrotto Pixi Mini Tripod with phone clamp £34.95/$34.99 This tripod helps you shoot in a more disciplined and considered way, leading to improved composition. It also holds your video footage rock steady, resulting in more professional-looking footage (rather than…

For many, emojis won’t be something that you access a lot of the time when using the Messages app on your iPhone. Sure, they’re a bit of fun, but until recently, they have tended to be more of a nuisance than anything else. In iOS 10, however, the way we can use emojis in our messages has completely changed, with Apple introducing new ways to make incorporating them into our texts faster, easier and better than ever before. At the heart of these changes is a new predictive mode, which will provide on-the-spot recommendations for any phrases it notices that can be substituted for an emoji. There are even options for sending large emoji icons, combining them with the Bubble effects, and did we mention that there are now 37…

Knowledge base Create from scratch Momento also includes a DIY GIF tool. From the main menu, press on the + button in the top-right corner. From here you can collate the images of your choice into one handy GIF, before using the editing tools we’ve explained to transform it into your own personal collection. However, this is a paid feature that users will need to purchase. Implement text Not only is the choice of fonts in Momento impressive, the app enables users to really customise how their text looks. Add colour, alter sizing and improve readability in seconds. Customise with stickers Users can find hundreds of sticker packs available in Momento, although many have to be paid for. These can be applied to any part of your GIF and resized…

Think clearly You will likely be carrying highly secure data on your mobile device such as credit card numbers and passwords. Make sure all of it is hidden beneath at least one layer of security. Big passwords Some apps will offer passwords and you should use these when you can. Some are so complex that you will not be able to remember them, which is the ideal security situation. The open web The web is a place where you should always be aware of what you are doing. Using a secure web browser will help you remain safe without any extra effort.…

The amount of time you’ll get from a single charge of your Apple Watch depends very much on how you are using it. Play lots of games, pack it with multiple data-hungry apps and have it regularly check for emails, and you’re unlikely to get anywhere near the 18 hours of ‘normal’ use. For that reason, it’s good to get into the habit of keeping on top of what you have on the Watch and how you use it. Do you tap Stop Directions once you’ve arrived at a destination using Maps, for instance? If not, it’s a sure-fire way of running out of juice well before the day’s end. Likewise, do you receive lots of notifications? Then slap the Watch into Do Not Disturb mode in the Control Centre.…

There are two reasons for wanting to change the name of your Apple TV. You either find the default name just a tad uncreative and want it to be more personal, or you have more than one box and you need to identify which is being used when you’re hooked into a network. In either case, it’s a simple process. The procedure explained here will only work with fourth-generation devices, since Apple shifted the Settings menu around a bit when it upgraded the kit. But don’t worry, you can still change the name on an older Apple TV: you just need to head to Settings and select General>Name to do it. Either way, the result is the same. Step-by-step Change the name of an Apple TV 1 Open Settings app…

Bluetooth A wireless technology used by Apple’s peripherals, such as trackpads and keyboards. Auto-Tune The name for an audio plug-in designed by Antares that corrects the pitch of vocals in songs. Do Not Track A proposed standard for informing online advertisers not to track you across websites. 4K A video resolution of around 4,000 x 2,000 pixels, available for recording from the iPhone 6s onwards. Touch ID Apple’s fingerprint-recognition technology used for authentication. PCI-E PCI Express, a connection standard used by Apple for solid-state storage that is not directly soldered onto the Logic Board.…

I’ve seen a few people run their MacBooks closed while hooked up to a monitor. Do I need a third-party app for this? This is called clamshell mode and is built in! The only requirements are that your Mac is hooked up to a power supply and you’ve got an external keyboard and mouse/trackpad to control everything. Why might I need to buy a Thunderbolt 3 cable instead of a USB-C cable to connect my new MacBook Pro to my display? It naturally depends on your usage, but if your display has Thunderbolt 3 support, it may be able to provide power to your Mac through the same single cable, for example. Thunderbolt 3 is also the way to go for ‘daisychaining’ displays. I’ve read that MacBooks never need to…

“Having one convenient menu bar icon serves to make everyday tasks more simple” Requirements OS X 10.10.5 or later Learn more parallels.com Available from parallels.com Parallels Toolbox is a collection of simple, but useful tools for the Mac and in this latest version there are 15 items on the menu. Some of them open submenus with more items, so there are actually 25+ tools, all available from a menu bar icon. Many of the tools are very basic and can be found elsewhere, sometimes for free. In fact, some of them are built into macOS. For example, there is a tool to hide all the icons on the desktop. You can do that at a Terminal command prompt, but it is certainly far easier to click the icon…

Dave Clews Recording engineer Dave is iCreate’s resident Logic Pro X expert, and this month he’s looking at Logic’s brand-new update. Find out how to work with Track Alternatives on page 32. Freddie Harrison Has the Mac App Store found a genuine rival in the shape of Setapp, the Mac’s first subscription service for apps? Turn to page 8 to find out what Freddie thinks in this month’s Trending feature. Roland Waddilove There is no such thing as a slow Mac with Roland around. His brilliant cover feature, which starts on page 14, is packed with tips and tricks to give your Mac a new lease of life.…

A new Mac is fantastic; it is amazingly fast and macOS is so responsive it is a joy to use. That new computer feeling does not last forever though and if your Mac is struggling to perform as it once did, you can freshen it up and make it run like new with our collection of top speed-up tips. Without spending any money you can clean up the disk and tune up the system to boost performance. A clean Mac is noticeably quicker than one packed with software, junk files, adware and disk errors. We show how to reduce the load on the processor and memory so that the system runs faster. It is surprising how much of a difference a cleanup can make to the performance. A common theme…

Activity Monitor is a tool in Utilities that enables you to view apps that are running, as well as the processing power, memory and disk activity used. When your Mac is running slowly, checking these stats can sometimes tell you why. 1 Check CPU usage Open Activity Monitor and then select the CPU tab. Click CPU to sort the items with the highest at the top. Is an app using too much CPU? Close it to increase the Mac’s speed. 2 View memory usage Select the Memory tab and look at the Memory Pressure chart. It uses traffic light colours – green, orange and red. If it is red, close apps that are using a lot of memory. 3 See disk activity Solid-state disks are extremely fast and they can…

The recent Logic 10.3 update brought with it a total interface overhaul and a number of production workflow enhancements. Among these, Track Alternatives is definitely one that will appeal hugely to anyone used to using Avid Pro Tools. Track Alternatives enables you to store multiple different versions of the same track on the same channel strip and select between them at will. This is incredibly useful for trying out different arrangement ideas, vocal performances or audio edits within a project, as each alternative plays through the same effects chain. To follow along with this tutorial, download the Track Alternatives tutorial project files from FileSilo. Step-by-step Basic Track Alternatives workflow 1 Open project Open the Track Alternatives tutorial project. As shown here, you should find a drum track and a bass…

If you have activated all four corners of your Mac’s screen with actions, you will find that you action tasks accidentally throughout the day. This is frustrating, but there is a workaround using modifier keys. This means you have to hold down a key of your choice (like Command, Shift or Alt/ Option) when you head to a corner to activate a task. Without this key pressed, nothing will happen. Here’s how it works. 1 Secret option Adding a modifier key is a secret feature in macOS. Go to System Preferences>Mission Control>Hot Corners like before, but now hold down a key like Command when choosing which action you want to activate as a Hot Corner. 2 Add modifier You’ll see the Command icon prefixes the action. Keep Command pressed and…

In a recent macOS update Apple removed the option to display the battery time remaining in the MacBook’s menu bar, to many people’s annoyance. For years you could see the battery charge percentage and how many hours and minutes the battery would last for. Now it shows just the percentage. So why did Apple remove it? One reason is that it could be inaccurate. The time remaining would show many hours, but switch to an app that taxes the system (like a game) and the battery would not last anywhere near what you expected. Despite this, it was still useful and you can put back the time indicator with Battery Health 2, free from the Mac App Store. Step-by-step Add a battery time remaining indicator 1 Show the menu We…

iMyFone Umate is a Mac utility used to clean up iOS devices. It can remove junk files, temporary files, large files and more. Of course, the iPhone and iPad work for many years without problems, but some people like to take control themselves rather than leave everything to iOS. With a tool like this you can free up space that is normally inaccessible. This can be important when more space is needed to install the next iOS update, as sometimes they require a gigabyte or more of storage space. Go to imyfone.com/iphone-space-saver and scroll down to the bottom of the page to download the utility. Step-by-step Clean up and manage your iOS devices 1 Start iMyFone Umate Run iMyFone Umate from the Applications folder and it waits for you to…

Anker Selfie Stick £8.99/$11.99 When shooting a selfie you’re very likely to obscure the shot with a finger. The Anker selfie stick lets you trigger the shot remotely. It also gives you a wider frame of view rather than limiting you to arm’s length composition. Clas Ohlson 6700 mAh Powerbank £14.99/$N/A Snapping, processing and uploading photos on your iPhone can use up your battery, so to avoid missing a photo opportunity, pick up a charger. This one will recharge an iPhone 6 up to three times while out and about. Veho Muvi X-Lapse tripod head £29.99/$29.99 This clever clockwork tripod head rotates slowly but very smoothly, enabling you to add pans to your iPhone’s time-lapse sequences. It has an iPhone-friendly mount and can be picked up for less than the…

Improve composition Click here to access your Photos app’s cropping tools. Drag corner handles to crop the shot to remove unwanted edge objects. Drag the angle dial to counteract tilted horizons. Before and after While editing the shot’s colours and tones, you can tap on the image to toggle between a before and after version of the shot. When you’re happy with the look, click Done. One-tap fix The Magic Wand icon causes Photos to analyse the shot’s colours and tones. In may cases this can boost contrast and create more vibrant colours instantly, but some shots will need manual adjustments. Selective adjustments Tap this adjustment icon to summon tools that enable you to adjust exposure and colour more effectively. You can also create more impressive black and white shots.…

Photos and apps like Camera+ enable you to change an image’s mood using filter effects. Indeed, you can add effects as you snap a shot, but this gives you less choice than you’d get by adding a filter to a shot in the editing stage. 1 Apply filters in-camera Before taking a photo with your iPhone’s camera, tap the Filter button. Nine thumbnail preset previews will appear indicating a range of different looks. Tap the look that you prefer and snap the shot. 2 Apply presets in post To apply a filter in Photos, tap the Edit Photos icon, then tap the Filters symbol. Swipe through the filter preset previews to see how the shot might look. Tap a preset to apply the look to your photo. 3 Fine-tune filters…

If you want to share a collection of shots, you can set up a shared album so that a group of friends can enjoy your pictures. Your friends will need an iCloud account to view your shared photos in their own device’s Photos app. 1 Turn on Sharing In your iPhone go to Settings>iCloud. Tap Photos. Scroll down to iCloud Photo Sharing and turn it on. This setting also enables you to view shared albums created by other iPhone users. 2 Create an album Go to Photos. Tap Select and choose the thumbnails of photos that you want to share. Click and drag to choose multiple thumbs quickly. Press the Share icon. Click Next and tap iCloud Photo Sharing. 3 Share the album Tap iCloud Photo Sharing. In the next…

1 Family combos Family-based emoji icons now come in ten new combinations. These include icons for single parents, male-only parents and different icons for children. These icons work with the new skin tone feature as well. 2 What’s your sport? Apple has introduced a plethora of sport-related emojis in iOS 10. These cover many of the premier Olympic events, so if you’re fan of cycling, basketball or even weightlifting, make sure to check it out. 3 Get drenched with this pistol The eagle-eyed among you will notice that Apple has ditched the handgun emoji that was present in iOS 9. Instead it has been replaced with a colourful new water pistol.…

“It works with any two sites you want to view simultaneously, with Safari resizing them to fit the corresponding windows” Back in iOS 9, Apple introduced the ability to have two apps working side by side. Fast forward to iOS 10, and the feature has been expanded to work with dual websites in Safari. This feature is exclusive to iOS 10, so it’s imperative to make sure your device is updated; we should also mention that it only works on specific iPad models, so owners of older iPads may be out of luck. One of the best things about the feature is that it works with any two sites you want to view simultaneously, with Safari resizing them to fit the corresponding windows they’re given. As you’d expect, it only…

Back in 2015 you may have heard about and wondered why Apple acquired music plug-in maker Camel Audio, the guys behind a product called Alchemy. Fast-forward two years later and Alchemy was not only added to Logic Pro X in August, but it now finds a home in GarageBand for iOS. The 2.2 update promises a full mobile version of the software integrated as a virtual synth boasting a wealth of sounds to discover. Alchemy features an eight-way Transform Pad that can be controlled with gyroscopic motion to apply fluid real-time effects. In this introductory guide we’ll pick out Alchemy Synth’s key features and explain how to control the myriad of possible sounds. Step-by-step Get to grips with Alchemy in GarageBand iOS 1 Synth selection Finding Alchemy within GarageBand’s revised…

With more and more apps being released for Apple TV, it’s very easy to end up with a cluttered device. This not only makes it harder for you to find apps you wish to use, but such clutter will reduce the amount of space you have to play around with in the future. The answer is effective management: putting most-used apps easily to hand and removing any you don’t need. With the fourth-generation Apple TV you can rearrange apps to your heart’s content, even placing third-party apps in the top shelf – a place once reserved only for Apple’s pre-installed offerings. With good use of folders as well, you’ll be mega-organised in no time. Step-by-step Manage your Apple TV apps 1 Rearrange apps Use the Siri Remote to select the…

1 When searching for AirPlay devices Grab your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and play a song. Now AirPlay it to your Apple TV and you’ll see the name of your Apple TV appear on the screen of your device as an available option. 2 When using iTunes Fire up iTunes on your Mac and select the AirPlay icon. You will see your newly renamed Apple TV appear in the list of options. Never get the wrong device again.…

Why don’t I hear the ‘blips’ when I adjust the volume on my Mac anymore? They were a really handy feature! Apple reversed the old behaviour for silencing audible volume feedback. To hear feedback as you adjust the volume, simply hold down Shift on your keyboard. Let go and it’ll be silenced again, which can also be handy too! My Notification Centre icon is greyed out and I’m not receiving any notifications. What’s going wrong here? It sounds like Do Not Disturb is enabled. Try holding Alt on your keyboard and clicking on the Notification Centre icon to see if it turns black. If it does, and notifications start to arrive again, you should be all set. When I select a document in Finder then press the Spacebar to view…

STM Blazer laptop sleeve £34.95/$45 www.stmgoods.com Don’t let the cheaper price tag put you off this laptop sleeve. Okay, so it’s not made from leather, but the fabric on the outside is water resistant so is sure to stand the test of time. We liked our on-trend Frost Grey colour, but there are also Black, Moroccan Blue and Steel options. Your MacBook is protected by a high-density 8mm foam layer, while a soft nylex lining wraps it safe. The Blazer sleeve isn’t built specifically for MacBooks, so there is some extra space with a 13-inch Pro inside it. You can squeeze a charging cable in there at a push. There is a separate zipped compartment too, as well as a removable and adjustable shoulder strap. Mujjo sleeve for 13-inch MacBook…

“Alchemy uses a Transform Pad to dynamically switch between preset sound ‘snapshots’” Requirements iOS 10.2 or later • Alchemy: iPhone 6 or later, iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 Learn more apple.com Available from iTunes Within just weeks of 2017 getting started, Apple fulfilled a significant New Year’s resolution. Yes, January saw GarageBand for iOS receive a major update worth shouting about for a number of noteworthy enhancements. To begin, a less clunky sound browser now groups most menu items by basic instrument types to improve usability. More exciting here though are the new additions and the biggest is the Alchemy synth found under Keyboards. Joined by 150 Apple Loops, Alchemy uses a Transform Pad to dynamically switch between eight preset sound ‘snapshots’ either by dragging or…

 While many of us may still be getting used to Apple’s AirPods, that hasn’t stopped the company from designing a new connector type for iPhone, iPad and other Apple accessories. Titled the Ultra Accessory Connector, the eight-pin connector is touted to be thinner than USB-C and half the width of the standard Lightning cable. The primary use of the cable is for manufacturers to save space inside their devices, with the smaller connector requiring only a miniscule amount of space. “It’s believed that the UAC cable will be interlinked to other core Apple connectors, allowing seamless integration” It’s believed that the UAC cable will be interlinked to other core Apple connectors, allowing for seamless integration between the two. For example, manufacturers will be able to build Lightning-to-UAC adapters, while headphone…

There are several issues that can arise with the storage in a Mac and they all have an effect on its performance. The obvious one is that the disk is full and elsewhere we look at ways to clear space by removing clutter and apps. The disk structure can develop faults and at first they are minor and don’t cause problems, but they can grow and become serious. Disk Utility in macOS and OnyX (www.titanium.free.fr) are useful tools for repairing the disk. Use them occasionally to check that the disk is healthy and fix any problems. Use Disk Utility to spot errors Run First Aid on all your drives to fix errors First Aid Problems with the drive hardware are very rare and most disk problems are with the filing…

Is Safari unresponsive? There are some simple techniques to speed it up. Reduce the amount of work Safari has to do and you’ll be able to browse faster. Installing an ad blocker can help, as can removing unnecessary extensions. 1 Block web ads Click Safari>Extensions to open the catalogue. Install an ad blocker like AdBlock, AdBlock Plus or Ghostery to block ads. When ads are not displayed, web pages load faster. 2 Uninstall extensions Few extensions speed up Safari and ad blockers are an exception. Some slow it down, so go to Safari> Preferences>Extensions. Select unnecessary extensions and uninstall. 3 Remove shared links Select View>Show Shared Links Sidebar. Items here add to the work Safari must do and removing them boosts performance. Click Subscriptions and delete away.…

If you have an old MacBook, replace the mechanical disk drive with an SSD to boost performance. Some have small-capacity SSDs and replacing them increases storage. Here’s how to replace the SSD in a 2012 15-inch MacBook Pro. 1 Remove the screws Every MacBook update has a different internal component layout, but the techniques used to take them apart are similar. Start by removing the ten Pentalobe screws on the base. 2 Disconnect the battery Prise the cover off from the hinge. Peel back the battery connector label, and using a spudger tool, lift the battery connector up from its socket. Bend the battery cables away. 3 Remove the SSD Remove the T5 Torx screw holding the SSD in place, lift the left side slightly and slide it out of…

If you are seeking the maximum performance from your MacBook and you have a recent model, USB-C runs at such stunning speeds that you won’t believe it until you give it a try. Start saving, because you should aim to replace all your USB 2 or 3 accessories with new, super-fast USB-C models. G-Technology 500GB G-Drive £130/$229.95 This solid state drive from G-Technology has a capacity of 5TB. It is small, slim and attractively designed, but the best feature is the 10GB/s data transfer rate. That’s an astonishing 540MB/s transfer rate. LG UltraFine 4K Display £471/$524 LG’s 4K display is perfect for your USB-C equipped MacBook and it has brilliant picture quality at 4096 x 2304 pixels. The screen connects to the MacBook using USB-C and charges it at the…

If you have a pet in your picture then its eyes can also suffer from rather creepy flash-induced reflections, though due to the difference in eye structure the pet’s pupils will glow green instead of red. Photos’ Red-eye tool is unable to counteract animal red-eye (unlike apps such as Photoshop Elements that do have an animal red-eye removal option). However, there is a workaround in Photos you can use to replace any green pupils with black (and add a shiny specular reflection). 1 Sample black pixels Go to Edit Photo. Click to activate the Retouch tool (or press R.) Alt/Opt+click to sample an area of pure black. Click to spray the sampled black pixels over the green pupil. You may need to spray a few times. 2 Add reflection Spray…

As well as adding text and shapes to annotate an image you can also use Markup’s tools in a more creative way. After cropping a photo to give it a square aspect ratio, we can use Markup’s Shape menu to add a Polaroid-style border. We can then use Markup’s Text tools to add a handwritten label to our Polaroid and create a smooth, Valentine’s-style heart with a quick scribble of the mouse. 1 Draw a border Select the Border tool from the bottom of the Shapes drop-down menu. Draw a border and use the control points to re-size it to a Polaroid picture shape. Go to Fill Color and replace the semitransparent border with white. 2 Add text and shape Click the Text tool to summon a text box. Type…

When it comes to drums and throwing down great backing tracks quickly, GarageBand has few rivals. The enviable choice across Apple Loops and the more dynamic Drummer track means that all genres are catered for, but more advanced composers can quickly feel limited in the originality stakes. Many of us will gravitate to our favourite beats first and then yearn for a bit more uniqueness, so that’s when we have to start cutting and pasting a bit. Thankfully, GarageBand makes editing real instrument or MIDI drum tracks simple with the ability to split, rearrange, splice together and re-loop percussion regions as desired. Step-by-step Duplicate, stack and split drum regions 1 Track setup To begin we need an initial drum track, so we’ll start with a real audio loop. Here we’ve…

macOS has an unfair reputation for not being customisable, but sometimes you just need a gentle nudge to realise that you can make your Mac work exactly how you want it to. Failing that, a trip to System Preferences is always well recommended. Take Hot Corners as an example. You might have heard of this macOS feature, but are you actually using it? Probably not. Hot Corners enables you to perform a multitude of functions when you move your mouse’s cursor into one of the four corners of your screen. The Hot Corners feature is hidden in System Preferences, but once you know where to look, you’ll find out how easy it is to activate and use. Step-by-step Activate and use Hot Corners 1 System Preferences As with most system…

Safari is a perfectly good web browser on the Mac, but it is not the only web browser available. Opera is an alternative, but why would you want to install another? One reason is that it has features built in that are not available in Safari. For example, Opera can block annoying adverts on web pages and when this feature is turned on, it can speed up the loading of web pages by up to 66 per cent in our tests. Another great feature in Opera is a VPN, which makes web browsing private and more secure. Normally you have to download and install extra software for a VPN and also pay for access, but Opera has it already integrated. Download Opera from www.opera.com. Step-by-step Browse faster and safer with…

It is possible that you will experience connection problems with Airfoil from time to time, but the solution is very simple and should get you back on track straight away. Simple steps are needed to resurrect the connection, but in our experience Airfoil has proved to be largely reliable even over complex networks. When you understand the tricks, it’s easy to send audio and video anywhere on your network. 1 Where is it? You may find that the Airfoil connection is not available when you open the iOS app or try to connect from elsewhere. Try quitting both the iOS app and the desktop app and then restarting them. This should fix things. 2 Multi-usage If you see a message saying that your Mac is being used by someone else,…

Live Photo When this option is activated your iPhone will create a three-second movie. To hear and see your moving Live Photo, hold down your finger on the image in Photos. Use HDR setting When shooting a high-contrast scene, turn on the High Dynamic Range option. This snaps a series of exposures and merges them together to reveal shadow and highlight detail. Try the flash If your subject is backlit by a brighter light source, try turning on the flash manually. This could fill in the underexposed foreground subject’s shadows and reveal more detail. Fine-tune the exposure Drag this slider up to open the aperture for a brighter exposure, or down to close the aperture. This helps you compromise between revealing more shadow detail without blowing out the highlights. Zoom…

The Camera+ app enables you to expand your iPhone camera’s functionality and make it easier to use. Its interface enables you to control exposure settings much more easily than dragging the iPhone’s tiny Sun icon up and down. The iPhone uses a single rectangle to adjust focus and exposure from one part of the screen. Camera+ enables you to set exposure by sampling one section of the image while focusing on another, which gives you more creative control. It also enables you to use DSLR-style White Balance presets to help ensure accurate colours in different lighting scenarios. 1 Adjust exposure You can slide a purple square around the screen to set exposure and focus at the same time. You can fine-tune the exposure by dragging the large scroll wheel up…

1 Choose your shots In the Photos app, tap to select images that you’d like to share. In portrait orientation you’ll see a range of sharing options below the selected thumbs. In landscape orientation click Next. 2 Share your shots Tap a destination for your selected images (such as Facebook). Type in an explanatory caption for your images. You can also tag friends and check-in at places before tapping Post.…

iOS users are taking more photos than ever before, and why wouldn’t you? Both the iPhone 7 and many older iOS devices have fantastic cameras, enabling users to capture the world around them without the need for a bulky camera. Momento enables users to transform their photos into fully moving GIF files. These animated files are small in size, but highly customisable and compatible with all leading social media channels. Why Momento is considered one of the best GIF-creation apps on the App Store is due to its number of impressive editing tools that are available, which we’ll be covering in detail over the course of this tutorial. Step-by-step Turn your photos into GIFs 1 Process your photos When you first open the app, Momento will take a while to…

It’s easy to presume that your iOS device is secure, because Apple takes time to check each app before it is allowed on the App Store and because of the inherent security built into the operating system. But when humans are involved, there is always the chance that your data could be compromised. Whether it be through accidentally sharing usernames and passwords or by visiting websites that are insecure in some way, there are tools out there that can ensure you remain safe at all times. Common sense is your main advantage, but if you look closely at the apps we have listed here, you will be able to rest easy in the knowledge that you are doing all that you can to keep your information safe. 1Blocker 1Blocker lets…

1 Transform Pad The Transform Pad consists of eight sections called snapshots including Ensemble, Phased, Solo, Pulse, Soft Pad, Stutter, Bounce and Underwater. A rectangular framing box is dragged over these preset snapshots to transform sound settings accordingly. 2 Sound controls Control knobs define each snapshot sound, which can be tweaked manually. Delay and Cutoff controls are joined by six more knobs as you swipe right, which are used for adjusting Reverb, Resonance, Swing, Unison, Stutter and Vibrato. 3 XY pad controls Aside from the control knobs, you can swipe right to view two XY pads. Simply drag each blue puck within the XY parameters assigned to the axis of each pad, which are Multimix 1 and 2 plus Phaser and Panning.…

It is important that nobody is excluded when it comes to technology. Indeed, tech has the power to be very much inclusive, which is why Apple’s Accessibility features for the Watch are so widely welcomed. They enable all users to get around the Watch interface regardless of their level of sight, hearing and motor ability. This is thanks to the power of VoiceOver, the Taptic Engine and specially tailored workouts. Getting to grips with these entails playing around with the Settings app on the Watch itself as well as on the Watch app for the iPhone. Some of the features – notably VoiceOver – take a little bit of getting used to, while others such as On/Off labels next to various settings are much more straightforward. A few of the…

Is it true that I can now turn on read receipts in Messages for some of my contacts but not others in iOS 10? Yes you can! Tap on the ‘i’ icon in the top-right corner of a conversation in Messages to view that contact’s settings and the Send Read Receipts toggle. Simply tap that to turn read receipts for that conversation on or off. I was asked to toggle Airplane mode to see if it helped with my iPhone losing signal but nothing is happening! Sometimes if you leave an area with low or no signal, it can take a second for your iPhone to catch up. Turn on Airplane mode, wait for a few seconds, then turn it off again. Now wait a few more seconds and you…

“The new interface design is clean and sharp, with a flatter, more modern look” Requirements OS X 10.11 or later • 4GB RAM • 1,280 x 768 or higher display resolution Learn more apple.com Available from Mac App Store Neatly timed to coincide with the 2017 NAMM Show, Apple’s flagship Digital Audio Workstation app has been updated to version 10.3. Aside from a refreshed interface design and several major new features, the new update adds compatibility with the Touch Bar found on the latest MacBook Pros. This can display a miniature piano keyboard, drum pads, smart controls, key commands and even an overview of your entire project. The new interface design is clean and sharp, with a flatter, more modern look akin to that of Ableton Live. Most of…