Innehållsförteckning för Sep-13 från MacLife

MORE MAC|LIFE, LESS PAPER The Hottest Articles on MacLife.com iPad mini Case Review Round-Up Size-wise, iPad mini is the middle child of the iOS family, but hand-me-down clothes aren’t really an option here. Luckily, case makers have been quick to produce cases made especially for Apple’s mid-sized tablet. We’ve reviewed every one we’ve been able to get our hands on, and as we review more, we’ll update this gallery http://bit.ly/ML_iPadminiCases Limbo Review Limbo begins in darkness and silence, and doesn’t stray much from either over the course of the side-scrolling adventure. What could feel aimless is instead thoroughly gripping, as Limbo’s brilliant quest makes exploring the unknown thrilling, terrifying, and ultimately fulfilling. http://bit.ly/ML_Limbo 8 Apps for Home-Brewing Enthusiasts Whether you’re working on your first-ever batch of beer or you have…

Apple’s forays into cloud-based software have traditionally been limited to its own ecosystem, but the upcoming iWork for iCloud marks one of Cupertino’s most direct attempts to compete with Microsoft and Google head-on. iWork’s transition to the cloud means that—much like Google Drive and Office 365—the popular productivity suite will soon be available not only on Apple’s own computers, but also on Windows machines. That’s a significant shift for Apple—which has traditionally limited its cross-platform options to iTunes and the Safari browser for Windows—and one that could have farreaching implications for the company as a whole. Bringing iWork to the cloud means that consumers with or without Apple devices will have access to Apple’s Pages word-processing software, its Numbers spreadsheet program, and its Keynote presentation software. By all accounts, the…

THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER JOHN IZON VIEW www.steminnovation.com $159 >>>There are several options for Wi-Fi enabled, iOScompatible, app-controlled security cameras, but what I especially like about Stem Innovation’s IZON View is its night-vision functionality. Thanks to a row of infrared LEDs on the front of the camera, I can use the IZON view to keep an eye on what’s happening outside my house to make sure my family stays safe, even in the dead of night. ROBIN THE CUBE www.dreamcheeky.com $34.99 >>>The Cube wireless speaker from Dream Cheeky is just plain cool. Its textured checkerboard pattern makes it look like a piece of modern art as much as it does a speaker, and its Bluetooth capabilities let me stream music from pretty much any device for up to five…

Apple already has a lot of security features baked into the Mac. From its strong, well-tested Unix foundation to the built-in privacy features of OS X, it’s one of the most secure operating systems available to consumers. A lot of users, however, make mistakes in their daily usage that can severely compromise the security of their Mac. We’ll show you these pitfalls and help you lock down your Mac to make your privacy, digital information, and even your hardware less likely to be compromised. We’ll cover everything from user accounts to the physical security layer of your computing workflow—and we’ll even throw in some iOS safety tips for good measure. SECURING YOUR USER ACCOUNTS It has been said that a computer is only as secure as the user. That’s why…

The more convoluted your password is, the harder it is to crack. Most passwords being cracked today rely on sophisticated computer programs that utilize dictionaries containing common words. Good passwords (or passwords that are harder to guess for both computers and humans) follow some pretty simple rules. Your password should be at least eight characters long. Longer passwords mean that computer password-cracking programs take longer to crack them. This is a deterrent from all but the most sophisticated cracking programs. Your password should not contain your real name, company name, or username. This information is easily obtainable from websites, social networks, and through social engineering. Ensuring that your passwords don’t contain this information is one step toward creating a more secure password. Your passwords should not contain dictionary words or…

Not long ago, the idea of hosting your own website from home would have seemed hopelessly optimistic. Ten years back, most of us went online using dialup—a painfully slow technology that made home-hosting impractical. It wasn’t only the hardware that put a damper on things, either. The software that underpins a home server was both expensive and tricky to manage. How things have changed. Alwayson connections are widely available and relatively cheap, and you can recycle an old Mac for use as a home server with some free or low-cost software. It takes a couple of hours and very little in the way of expertise, thanks to some well-thought-out routines and a lot of automation. It’s a great way to set up a staging server for testing web pages before…

Evernote This month, I’d finally had enough of Apple’s Notes app randomly deleting my notes, so I looked for an alternative and discovered what many of you already knew: Evernote rocks. With the latest update, the free, universal app can even tie notes to reminders and to-do lists. Also, it doesn’t delete my notes. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Seeing the 2003 epic RPG release on iPad was a surprise, but it works beautifully. KOTOR ($9.99) delivers the same involving, morally ambiguous story and satisfying lightsaber combat as the original, and while it looks weirdly dated, it’s still brilliant. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD This lively legal series has been on iOS before, but it looks better than ever in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD (free;…

With a vivid, interactive interface inspired by the Montessori color tablets, Intro to Colors just might turn your child into the next Picasso. The app teaches your child the basics of colors through a series of matching and ordering games, starting with the primary group of red, blue, and yellow. Simple sounds offer feedback while a recorded voice plainly enunciates each color, reinforcing correct answers after a match. Lessons are fairly elementary and will likely be completed very quickly, so the app has two extra sections—a painting app that uses primary colors to explore mixing, plus a searching game—to keep kids occupied long after the learning is over. We just wish it had more activities to offer for the price. The bottom line. Intro to Colors will brighten your kids’…

Most multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games are on computers, but Solstice Arena shows that the team-based approach can thrive on iPhone and iPad. The free-to-play title provides the ideal balance of portability and strategy without skimping out on what makes the style of play so fun to begin with, serving up three-on-three battles in which each squad tries to dominate the other’s base. Smart in-match upgrades are needed to survive the constant pummeling, and not only does Zynga’s effort give veteran players plenty of tools, but it’s also friendly to newcomers. Online matches ran without lag in our testing, and the free model lets you try a rotating selection of characters without paying. However, permanent player leveling means you might end up in misbalanced matches. The bottom line. Solstice…

We’re well into the Major League Baseball season, and the dog days of summer will soon give way to some truly thrilling divisional races. As someone who watches most of my games on TV (or streaming online), it’s amazing how much being at a game in person can make me feel so oddly disconnected. Where’s the commentary and the constant array of stats and trivia bits? I crave that extra layer atop the game when it’s absent. An iPhone or iPad can really come in handy in these moments. As much as you should enjoy the action when you’ve shelled out for a big-league—or heck, even a minor-league—ballgame, having a few apps on hand can enhance your experience. The next time I’m packed in tight in the Wrigley Field stands,…

GPS is great for everything from automatically tagging photos to finding the nearest Apple Store. But what if you bought a Wi-Fi-only iPad, or an iPod touch? The Bad Elf GPS receiver attaches to your Dock Connector, giving you the benefits of GPS without having to buy a new device. Using the Bad Elf is about as simple as could be. You plug it in, and your device will recognize the GPS signal. A green LED on the Bad Elf reports its status via different blink patterns. We tested it with navigation apps, and were easily able to make our way around San Francisco using a Wi-Fi-only iPad mini. Be warned, though: Bad Elf draws power from your device, and GPS is a known power-hog. Thankfully, the dongle features a…

While Apple touts 10-hour battery life for the iPad mini, there are times when extra juice can really save the day. iOS accessory maker PADACS apparently thought so, too, and decided to build an entire case around this need. The result is the Enduro Mini for iPad mini, which stitches an 8000mAh Li-ion battery pack into the front cover of an attractive polyurethane case available in your choice of black, pink, or blue. The manufacturer claims the exterior is scratch-resistant, although we did manage to scuff it up a little using the edge of a metal ruler. The battery pack is slim, but it adds considerable heft: with an iPad mini inside, the case weighs just over 26 ounces, with a thickness of 1.125 inches. Using a magnetized strap, the…

Online storage is all the rage, with many companies offering a range of cloud storage options. Alwayson access to your files from anywhere is obviously the draw, but keeping track of it all can be a bit of a headache. MyFiles (soon to be renamed Docs) aims to streamline cloud storage, allowing you to access five of the most popular storage services—DropBox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, SugarSync, and Box—from a single app. The first step in using the program is simple: you log into all your accounts from MyFiles and you can then browse through all your files and folders. This has the added advantage of not necessarily needing to sync a local copy of the files as you would in some of the native applications. It’s easy to create…

When Apple introduced the Lightning connector to late-model iOS devices, it left a lot of orphans. For years, accessory makers have been building speaker docks using the 30-pin Dock Connector. With WaveJamr, you can convert your old dock to Bluetooth, and get some more life out of your gadgets. WaveJamr is incredibly simple. Plug it in to your speaker dock, and the Bluetooth receiver automatically goes into pairing mode. Enter “0000” to pair with WaveJamr and you’re ready to rock. There’s a blue LED in the top-right corner of the WaveJamr, but it blinks all the time, so it doesn’t really do much as a status indicator—although the blink does “stutter” momentarily when you connect a device. It would be nice to see different blink patterns when a device is…

FROM HOME COMPUTER TO SFTP How can I set up my Mac as an SFTP server to access my files from any computer? I always seem to forget to bring along presentations! Can it be set up to allow directory browsing through a web browser, and allow web downloads? Also, how can I set up a free DNS name so I don’t have to worry about typing my computer’s IP Address? In order to enable SFTP, you must first enable SSH on your Mac. Before we begin, though, you’ll need a Mac running OS X, a router with port-mapping features (we’re using an AirPort Extreme), and an SFTP client (we’re using Transmit, available on the Mac App Store). Step 1: Configure Ip Address and router Settings To begin, you need…

Everybody has heard of Siri, Apple’s powerful voice system for iOS that can be used to control apps, answer questions, tell jokes, and dictate messages, emails, and notes. Fewer Mac fans know that you can also perform dictation in OS X. It’s an incredibly useful feature to become familiar with. Although you can’t control a Mac using your voice like Siri, you can dictate emails, messages, and documents using the built-in Dictation feature. Many people overlook Dictation because it’s not switched on by default, and it doesn’t talk back like Siri (yet). Up until the last couple of years, voice control has had a pretty poor reputation on computers. However, the advent of cloud computing and advances in speech recognition have transformed speech-to-text software, and the results these days are…

STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ON TWITTER: @MACLIFE Every new version of iOS undergoes a certain amount of scrutiny, but iOS 7 seems to have set off an especially large amount of debate online. Whether people love it or hate it, they are certainly passionate about the new UI, which will mark the single biggest change iOS has undergone since the launch of the first iPhone. Personally, I adore iOS 7. And while nothing can ever please everyone, I think there are some pretty good reasons why iOS 7 is objectively awesome. First, it’s just good, common-sense design for the system’s core apps and features to share a standardized look and functionality. The comparatively disjointed design of previous iOS versions wasn’t an especially big problem, but it’s so much nicer…

When Apple makes a keynote presentation, it’s about the company’s own products first and foremost. So when Apple CEO Tim Cook chooses to share his forum with an outside developer, people tend to take notice. That’s what happened several weeks ago at the Worldwide Developers Conference when newcomer Anki was invited to demonstrate Anki Drive, a technologically advanced miniature car-racing game powered by iOS. “They’re using iOS devices and the iOS platform to bring artificial intelligence and robotics into our daily lives,” declared Cook. Boris Sofman, Anki’s cofounder and CEO, stood in front of thousands of Apple enthusiasts to help Anki Drive make its debut. “It was an honor to launch on the WWDC stage, and a really cool experience at that,” he admits. “We’ve been working tirelessly for over…

Apple’s OS X Mavericks adds a number of nifty features—I’m particularly jazzed about improvements to the Finder, Safari, and the Calendar app—but even more interesting to us in the geek community are a trio of under-the-hood items that boost both performance and battery life. The first goes by the oh-so-cute name of App Nap—definitely a “What took you so long?” feature. App Nap keeps an eye on the apps you’re using and the pages you’re viewing in Safari, and when one of them is hidden behind a window or in another tab, it puts that app or page into a low-power state, thus saving precious battery juice. If you don’t think this is a big deal, hie yourself over to Applications/Utilities and fire up Activity Monitor. Then launch the exceptionally…

With a little help from System Preferences, you can further lock down your Mac to prevent unauthorized access to your computer. TURN OFF AUTO LOGIN Having your Mac automatically log into your user account poses a huge security risk. You can reduce this security risk by visiting System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Options. Once there, ensure that the drop-down menu option for “Automatic Login” is set to “Off.” Note that if you’ve turned on FileVault, then Auto Login will be turned off by default. TURN ON PASSWORD REQUIREMENTS When you leave your Mac unattended without any password requirements, then anyone can easily walk up to your machine and access the entire computer, files and all. To curb this issue, OS X features password requirements that can be…

SETTING A PASSCODE Just like with OS X, you can lock down your iOS device, as well. To do this, visit Settings > General > Passcode Lock, and tap on the button labeled “Turn Passcode On.” You’ll then need to specify and repeat a 4-digit passcode that will be used on the Lock Screen of iOS in order to gain access to your iOS device. This can keep a thief from using your device, or a nosy person from perusing your data. It’ll also keep your important stuff secret if you were to lose your phone or tablet ENABLE FIND MY iPHONE Find My iPhone is just plain useful. There’s no reason that anyone should not have this feature enabled at all times; it makes finding your device super-easy. To…

Throw a virtual rock inside the App Store and you’ll hit any number of titles touting support for venerable Microsoft Office documents, but all of them have one problem: they’re not from the folks in Redmond. That situation has finally changed with the arrival of the poorly (but accurately) named Office Mobile for Office 365 Subscribers, a free mobile companion for Microsoft’s productivity suite. While the app mostly performs as advertised, it has Achilles’ heels on both feet: First, it’s limited to users of the company’s $9.99-per-month Office 365 service, and second, it’s only for the iPhone and iPod touch—at least for now. While the former limitation shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, the latter is a bit of a head-scratcher, especially considering the number of leaked images…

Waldorf’s synth pedigree dates back decades, and the company specializes in a branch of sound generation called “wavetable synthesis,” which blends sampled sounds and synthesized filters together for slick sonic goodness. Its iPad app, Nave, is a bold monster, with tons of deep programmability, and a thick, gorgeous sound that truly rivals pricey hardware synths. Nave draws from a library of primary samples, or waves—including every single one from the family of Waldorf hardware synths—and displays them with a slick 3D graphic representation. Newbies will find a wealth of existing sounds in an insane collection of more 500 presets, including everything from basic retro video game sounds to the most luscious, dense, and complex tones to ever come out of any iOS synth app. The basic four-track recorder is handy…

Pairing Disney’s biggest original iOS hit with the company’s most iconic character, Where’s My Mickey? XL delivers another breezy physics puzzler that tasks you with guiding a stream of liquid to the cartoon mouse. With a classic Mickey Mouse aesthetic and animated cut-scenes, the game maintains the winning formula that propelled Where’s My Water?, though a lack of challenge makes it less memorable than expected. Where’s My Mickey? adds weather modifiers to the environmental puzzle approach, including clouds you can fill with water and empty as needed, plus wind that can be let loose to push the clouds to other parts of the screen. Otherwise, solving a stage typically requires scrubbing away sand to create pathways, plus avoiding or nullifying hazards like acid. This iPad-exclusive XL version includes larger bonus…

Avengers Alliance can be a chaotic mess in moments. Translated from the casual Facebook social game, this superhero-themed role-playing battler gets off to a rocky start, thanks to complex underpinnings that are awkwardly explained and an obtuse storyline that feels utterly disjointed at best. Still, there’s something about the nerdy RPG combat that strikes a chord. With a long cast of Marvel heroes to add to your team, there’s an addictive pull to the ebb and flow of combat and resource gathering that the foundation is built upon. However, the busy, jumbled interface is tricky to navigate, and a need to stay connected to the Internet limits the fun. The bottom line. Marvel die-hards may not mind, but Avengers Alliance’s high points are marred by some pretty notable flaws. AVENGERS…

When the iPad first launched, it was criticized (by some) for being more of a consumption device than a workhorse. Three years into the iPad era, however, plenty of people know differently. Add a keyboard, and an iPad turns into a capable work machine. Belkin’s Ultimate Keyboard Case attempts to make that easier, pairing an all-around case with an ultra-thin built-in rechargeable keyboard. Thanks to the power of magnets, the Ultimate Keyboard Case allows you to type with your iPad in three different positions. More magnets along the long edge also keep the case closed when you toss it into a bag. It’s available in black or silver. Installing the case is a simple matter of snapping your iPad into the plastic frame, which has generous cutouts to allow access…

It was the slightest of falls. My cat, no doubt complaining about the state of his food bowl, knocked the Mophie Juice Pack Air–clad iPhone 5 to the floor from my nightstand. It landed butter—er, case-side up. The iPhone, which absorbed all the hit, was fine. The Juice Pack, not so fine. That’s the last time it worked. Which is a crying shame, because until that fateful day, the Juice Pack had rapidly become my favorite iPhone 5 accessory. I would almost never make it a full day on a standard iPhone 5 charge. With the Juice Pack, I streamed a full baseball game on a road trip, used the iPhone 5 all evening, and still had some life in it in the morning. With the Juice Pack, I never,…

Jonathan Ive’s giving iOS a radical new look, but why wait for someone else to get bored with your Mac’s graphic user interface to come up with something different? Third-party developers have always offered up novel ideas for customizing the Mac’s interface and giving it a more individualized look. Flavours (no, it’s not a typo) is one of the latest apps that aims to do just that, allowing you to quickly change the look of your Mac by building custom themes. With Flavours, you can change any of the major elements you interact with in standard windows. Items you can alter include the menu bar, pull-down menus, and window elements like the status bar and toolbar, all the way down to individual items like buttons, tick boxes, and progress bars.…

Getting your iPhone’s battery to last all day can be a challenge. We’ve all got chargers stashed around work, home, and our vehicles, but, obviously, none of those are very helpful when you’re nowhere near a power connector. By tossing the Powerskin PoP’n in your bag, you can effectively double your iPhone 5 battery life. Since it’s not a form-fitting case, the PoP’n will also charge other lightning-port-equipped devices. The Pop’n case attaches to the back of your iPhone via suction cups. While we’re not overly thrilled with the connection—the iPhone still shifts a bit while suctioned—it really isn’t a deal breaker. The Pop’n can usually be kept in your bag anyway, to be connected when you need to charge up. Though Powerskin markets this as a case, we find…

It’s been 10 years since Max Payne—the perpetually beleaguered detective who brought bullet time, John Woo-inspired acrobatics, and noir monologues to shooters—made his last appearance on Mac. No matter; Max Payne 3 is a strong, stylish comeback for the middle-aged Max, who now finds himself battling kidnappers and drug gangs as a bodyguard in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Like a lot of modern shooters, Max Payne 3 channels players through detailed but linear environments filled with bad guys to shoot and objects to take cover behind, and it does an excellent job mixing an old-school run-and-gun sensibility—exemplified by Max’s ability to dramatically slow time and leap into enemy fire, guns blazing—with newer, more strategic elements, like the ability to stick to cover, a three-weapon arsenal, and enemies who actively try not…

For anyone interested in making music, there’s never been a better time to delve into technology. Music-creation software can be absurdly cheap, and will give you pretty much limitless scope in terms of instruments and atmosphere. One of our favorite apps is DM1, a drum machine that includes dozens of drum kits, from classic sounds through to extreme electronics. The app can be used as a sequencer, letting you put together entire rhythm tracks, but it’s better used as a tool for creating loops that can subsequently be used in apps like GarageBand and Logic. In this walkthrough, we work with the OS X version of DM1 (Mac App Store, $4.99), but the app’s also available for iOS and is very similar. Export is the main thing that changes between…

The iPad’s a great text-editing platform, but when it comes to applying complex formatting, changing styles, and editing HTML code, things start to get a bit too complicated for the tablet. Even with an external keyboard attached, which gives easier access to the chevrons and digits used in HTML, you still spend more time than you should reaching forward to tap the screen to add a non-standard character. Fortunately, there’s a better way. Markdown lets you apply complex formatting using common characters like [, ], #, -, and *. Once exported, they’re converted to HTML or Rich Text Format (RTF). Not only do they save you the chore of learning a new way of working, they’re also entered with a single tap of the keyboard, leaving you free to carry…

YOUR OPINIONS, RANTS & RAVES Liger Lover I just went back to the April 2011 issue and reread the “Apple’s Next Species” feature. In case you forgot, the feature said that you found an old Lisa computer and it told you what the OS X species would change to after Apple ran out of cats to use: birds of prey, prehistoric beasts, and animals from Beatles songs. Apparently the Lisa was wrong about its prediction. Personally, instead of Mavericks, I would prefer a hybrid name like Liger, Tigon, or Jagger. —Owen Sears Man, I was happy with “Mavericks” until you put “OS X Liger” into my head. How awesome would it have been to see Napoleon Dynamite’s Liger drawing incorporated into the OS X logo? Should There Be a ‘Basic’…

This year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) show, held June 11–13 in Los Angeles, was heavily focused on the impending holiday launches of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, but it wasn’t hard to find great-looking games on every platform, including numerous promising games for iOS (some of which will be available by the time you read this). One of the highlights was undoubtedly The Walking Dead: 400 Days. This gory add-on for The Walking Dead: Season 1 sets the stage for season 2 by introducing five new characters and showing how their stories unfold over the course of—you guessed it—400 days. It should be out now on iOS as well as Mac. As usual, publisher Gameloft had a variety of high-production-value, consolequality iOS games on hand. One of the…

POKER NIGHT 2 $4.99, Universal I’m normally not a fan of poker sims, but gambling isn’t really the focus of Poker Night 2. The game’s true appeal is that it brings together licensed characters from disparate universes—namely The Venture Bros.’ Brock Samson, Evil Dead’s Ash, Borderlands’ Claptrap, Portal’s GlaDOS, and Sam from Sam & Max—and offers the opportunity to watch their bizarre conversations as you play. That the poker’s pretty good certainly doesn’t hurt, either. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES DAFT PUNK $11.99 Featuring mostly analog instruments, collaborations with numerous artists, and a sound that’s closer to disco and soft rock than electronica, Daft Punk’s new album is a little jarring for a longtime fan—but once I’d adjusted my expectations, it became irresistible. The oh-so-catchy “Get Lucky” is great, but it’s the…

OPEN “SAFE” FILES By default, Safari will automatically open files that have been downloaded from the Internet. According to this Safari preference, only “safe” files will be opened automatically. However, we always prefer to have the last word over which files are opened on our system. You can disable this feature by visiting Safari > Preferences > General, and unchecking the box labeled “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading.” TURN OFF AUTOFILL It has been shown in the past that websites can steal your data using hacks that trick Safari (and other browsers) into submitting user data through its AutoFill feature. To combat this, you can disable the AutoFill feature of Safari by visiting Safari > Preferences > AutoFill, and unchecking the boxes for “Using info from my Contacts card,” “User…

While technically not gone for good, seven generations of Creative Suite are definitely in Adobe’s rear-view mirror now that the software publisher has isolated the latest versions of its biggest and best products behind a subscription-based wall. Adobe Creative Cloud is now an all-or-nothing affair for most users, combining pro design, web, and video tools with the legendary Photoshop, free cloud storage, and a host of services and mobile apps. For those willing to pay each month, Adobe offers a limitless playground of creativity tools once costing thousands of dollars in a shrink-wrapped box. But many longtime users have balked at the prospect of paying up to $600 per year for software that stops working when the subscription ends, and includes products they may never want, need, or use. Make…

Vine essentially used Instagram’s photo template to deliver a similar social sharing experience around video earlier this year, but with the new 4.0 release, Instagram one-ups its biggest competitor by adding its own video-sharing ability. Simplicity remains the driving force for Instagram’s streaming video–sharing service, but there’s a bit more room to breathe and customize here than with Vine. Video clips can stretch out to 15 seconds apiece, and shooting’s a smarter process thanks to the ability to delete the last segment without starting over, as well as utilize an effective stabilization option. And in classic Instagram fashion, there are numerous filters to use to further tweak the look of your footage. Despite additional features, the video functionality doesn’t feel bloated or inaccessible to the average user, nor does it…

It’s tough to be wowed by a common notes app anymore, but Vesper—the product of three industry heavyweights—is anything but average. With a minimal interface and few features, it aims to change your approach to mobile note taking by stripping away the clutter and focusing on finding your thoughts quickly and effortlessly. What it does do, it does extremely well. Vesper’s elegant interface is built for speed and organization. The main window contains a clean, chronological list of your notes separated by spaces; tapping on a note expands it with a smooth animation and instantly presents it for editing. Meanwhile, a smart system of tags organizes your thoughts without the use of folders. The bottom line. Vesper is an impressively stylish and effective notes app, though it may be too…

The original Kingdom Rush remains one of the App Store’s most enticing time sinks, and sequel Frontiers makes little effort to reinvent the formula. It’s the same core tower-defense experience that we loved last year, albeit with fresh terrain and tower upgrades, plus a couple of light twists along the way. Considering the immense quality of the original, it’s tough to argue with that approach. Once more, the goal is to prevent increasingly aggressive waves of enemy creatures from reaching your base(s) by placing offensive towers in the available plots. Limited resources must be used intelligently to combat the diverse foes, and the four tower types can be upgraded several times over to deal with advanced threats. New upgrade levels and tweaks shake up the strategy a little bit, but…

Turn-based strategy darling XCOM: Enemy Unknown proves an excellent fit for iPad and iPhone, with its isometric battlefields, uncomplicated menu-driven controls, and methodical pace all perfectly suited for a touch-based interface. It’s really lost impressively little in the translation from consoles and computers. Part tactics game and part management sim, XCOM tasks you with running a secret multinational agency, whose mission is to fight off an alien invasion of Earth. Your time is split between running things behind the scenes—i.e., building up your underground base and overseeing R&D—and directing squads of operatives in the field against increasingly tough and bizarre threats. It’s long, involving, and tense, and can also be surprisingly emotional. XCOM on iOS doesn’t look anywhere near as good as on Mac, but that’s not so surprising. It’s…

Tablature is a method of notating music for guitars. Rather than a traditional score, tabs note the string and fret number of each note or chord. Tabular is an affordable Mac application that lets you create tabs by hand. Unfortunately, it does some simple tasks poorly, although some more-advanced tasks are handled well. When I bring a song to rehearsal, I like to bring a quick chord chart for reference. It’s a relatively simple task that proved difficult in Tabular. For starters, because there is no chord database, I had to use the Chord Editor to create the chord before inserting it into the score. To further compound the problem, Tabular only creates chords in the first position on the guitar fretboard. I can use the editor to create a…

Consumers may have embraced the concept of feature-rich, multifunction inkjet printers whose replacement ink is more expensive than buying a whole new unit, but this isn’t an ideal scenario for businesses that require sturdier hardware capable of pumping out a high volume of pages each month. HP comes to the rescue with the Officejet Pro X551dw, delivering professional-quality output far more robust than low-end inkjets, while offering twice the speed and half the cost of comparable color laser printers. It’s also built to handle up to 75,000 pages per month, a number few small companies are ever likely to hit. The X551dw is something of a behemoth, weighing in at 37.8 pounds and requiring a wide 20.3x15.7x16.3-inch footprint on your desk or table. It definitely feels like you’re getting what…

The newest member of Wacom’s high-end graphics tablet family is an upgrade to the previous 12WX model, and fills the gap between the high-end (and high-priced) Cintiq 22HD ($1,999) and the high-end Intuos 5 ($469 for the large model). The Cintiq’s unique selling point has always been the ability to draw onto the screen, and with its 13.3-inch screen and 1280x1920 resolution, it’s bright and responsive, making the user experience as intuitive as ever. The screen has a matte coating that makes drawing feel tactile, and unlike its bigger brothers, it doesn’t have the problem of overheating, so you can safely use it on your lap. It comes bundled with a new Pro Pen stylus, which features the same high level of pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition that we have…

If you’re on the hunt for a professional-looking backpack to haul your daily tech, you could do a lot worse than the ECBC Harpoon Daypack. Made of durable water-repelling ballistic nylon, the Harpoon is a great choice for commuters and adventurers alike. For work, this pack features pockets for everything a cubicle warrior might carry, all in compact form. The Harpoon fits an iPad and 17-inch laptop with just enough padding to protect the two. It also has the usual pen organizers, document pocket, fleece-lined top pocket for sunglasses or other delicate goods, key hook, and even expandable side water bottle pockets. Despite its large capacity, the pack never felt unwieldy or cumbersome, even on my 5-foot-3-inch frame. The Harpoon won’t comfortably fit enough for a weekend trip or even…

Mousechief’s 7 Grand Steps is an intricate mix of strategy board game and family-management simulation—with the look of an antique coin-op fortune-telling machine—that tasks players with guiding a family, generation by generation, through 5,000 years of human history. That family will contain farmers, doctors, empresses, and priests, all of whom fall in love, have children, make friends, and fight with their siblings. And all of them will die—by war, starvation, or pestilence. During the Sack of Rome, marauding Goths slaughtered Faustine, our most successful family member, at the height of her power in the Imperial Senate. All of the game’s action is governed by tokens. They allow players to move along the circular game board in search of beads, but they’re also used to educate any children the family has.…

One of the most frustrating aspects of any computer user’s life is having to perform the same actions over and over, whether it’s typing the same phrase time and time again or clicking through a series of menus and dialog boxes repeatedly. Thankfully, Word has several useful tools designed to help you save time performing repetitive actions. (Excel and PowerPoint have many of the same features.) Some of Word’s most useful tools are based on its AutoCorrect engine. It’s capable of quite a lot, but its main use is to quickly correct typos. If you’re lucky, some typos are automatically corrected by AutoCorrect, but it often needs a helping hand. Word flags suspect or regularly misspelled words with a red wavy line. Right-click this, select AutoCorrect, and a list of…

Now that we’ve crossed off a couple dozen items on our iOS punch list thanks to Jony Ive’s stellar work, we can fully turn our attention to his other job: making insanely great iPhones and iPads. It’s been about a year since there’s been any new iOS hardware to speak of, and quite frankly, we’re chomping at the bit to get our hands on all the new things he’s been cooking up. While we will probably only get an incremental “5S” upgrade to the iPhone this year, we still think Jony’s got a few surprises up his sleeve. Slimmer Shell (iPad) A lot has changed since we were first introduced to the iPad in 2010, but for the most part, it looks pretty much the same as it did all…