Innehållsförteckning för July 2023 från MacLife

I WAS PRETTY skeptical about the Vision Pro, but I came away very impressed with it and how immersive and intuitive it is. First, my reading glasses were scanned so Apple could fit the headset with lenses. Next up was scanning my face to make sure I got the right size Light Seal. It was just like setting up Face ID, simply turning my head in a circle. And then I turned my head side to side to customize the spatial audio. Navigating visionOS is delightfully simple. The interface works so well that it makes everything else — including the Meta Quest Pro — look downright dated. I’ve never been a big fan of 3D movies, but I was blown away when I watched the 3D version of Avatar: The…

ONE OF THE greatest advantages of Apple gear is simply how easy, user–friendly, and intuitive they are to use. You don’t have to dig your way through endless patches before your apps are compatible with your hardware, or puzzle through quirks and hiccups caused by multiple versions of your phone’s operating system. Instead, to use Apple’s oft–quoted marketing slogan, "it just works". But what about when it doesn’t? What if something goes wrong, and you don’t know what to do? You’ve just plugged in a flash drive, but it isn’t recognized by macOS. How do you solve this? Your iPhone is lost or stolen. How do you locate it? You’ve plugged your iPad into the wall, but it isn’t charging. What could be wrong? In this article, we provide a…

Quick–fire questions & answers ARE 2M THUNDERBOLT 4 CABLES AS GOOD AS 1M ONES? In the past, 2m Thunderbolt 3 cables often didn’t provide as good USB 3.x support, and some couldn’t sustain Thunderbolt’s full 40Mbps, dropping to half speed. While reputable manufacturers like CalDigit claim its 2m active Thunderbolt 4 cables overcome those issues, they’re also a much higher price. HOW TO CONNECT MY THUNDERBOLT 2 DISK TO A NEW MAC? Apple’s Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adaptor can’t provide power to the disk. The StarTech Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter (www.startech.com) offers 12 watts to the peripheral. However, it’s pricey and may not be fully compatible with Apple silicon Macs. > Slow writing to an SSD My USB 3 SSD was fast when I first bought it, with…

Your iPhone is designed to automatically get the best–looking shot in a range of scenarios. It analyzes different areas in a scene and processes them separately to reveal color and detail throughout the image. There are plenty of ways for you to manually capture even better looking snaps… 1 iPhone versus DSLR Your iPhone is the perfect accessory when it comes to capturing a wide variety of stunning vacation shots. Models such as the iPhone 14 Pro Max let you change lenses in a tap (without the need to rummage around in a travel bag to find and attach different lenses to a traditional DSLR camera). Your iPhone won’t trouble your baggage allowance either, so you can ditch the heavy DSLR and bring back more souvenirs. If you have a…

Free; $39.99 yearly; $79.99 lifetime From www.reincubate.com Needs macOS 10.13 or later, iOS 12.0 or later WHEN CAMO STUDIO first launched, it showed you could get top–notch video output from your iPhone without the help of a webcam. Now that Apple has followed suit with Continuity Camera, is there any need to use Camo? Well, the app’s developer Reincubate believes there is, and it’s just launched Camo Studio 2 with a slate of new features to prove it. Let’s not beat around the bush: Camo Studio 2 is a superb webcam app that offers far more than Apple bundles into Continuity Camera. For one thing, Camo Studio 2 now works with any camera you can connect to your Mac, not just iPhones. That includes DSLRs, action cams, monitors with built–in…

$55–$60 From https://getrocketbook.co.uk Features Embedded NFC hotspot, erase notes with water, scratch–resistant & vegan leather cover, OCR THE PAPERLESS OFFICE hasn’t arrived. Sure, more and more documents and information have gone digital. We can fill in and even sign PDF forms, keep digital diaries, calendars and address books, access instruction manuals online instead of getting printed versions, and more. But we all need to make handwritten notes every now and then. That’s where Rocketbook Pro comes in. Available in Executive and Letter sizes and Sage Green, Black and Coast Blue colors, this refillable vegan leather, scratch–resistant hardcover volume uses paper that can be reused, over and again. Write on the supplied paper (20 sheets) with the bundled Pilot FriXion pen (black supplied, red and blue available from the online store), and…

Andrew Cottle Art Editor Andy read about VR as a teenager in the 90s, and never thought it would happen, but now thinks it will be part of normal day-to-day life. Rachel Terzian Production Editor Rachel thinks the ability to capture memories, and relive them later in an in-depth, highly immersive space, looks incredibly exciting! Ian Osborne Contributor Ian reckons Vision Pro is too expensive, and hopes Apple will follow up with a cheaper SE version, to get the headset out there on the market.…

RECENTLY, APPLE AND Google (with support from Samsung) announced a plan to create a new framework so that unwanted tracking devices, such as AirTags or Tile devices, can be detected by any phone, whether it’s iOS or Android, and warn you that someone is following your movements. I find it strange that it’s happening this slowly, long after AirTag stalking made it into the news, and with only a draft proposal submitted now that may turn into something final at the end of the year. Of course, I realize that it takes time to plan and negotiate changes between two tech giants, but the COVID exposure frameworks were integrated into phones much more quickly than this, and was a similar cross–platform system. THERE’S NOTHING STOPPING APPLE AND GOOGLE CREATING MORE…

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REQUIRES Mac (M1 chip or later), Windows 11, Parallels Desktop 18 YOU WILL LEARN How to install Windows 11 on a silicon Mac IT WILL TAKE 40 minutes IF YOU WANT to run Windows applications on Apple silicon, then you don’t need to find a workaround anymore. Although BootCamp remains off the table for M1 and M2 Macs, Microsoft is now officially supporting the ARM version of Windows 11 on these computers, and this enables you to easily run Microsoft Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise through virtualization software. While you could use Windows 365 Cloud PC, we prefer Parallels Desktop 18. It has many handy features, such as enabling you to run Mac and Windows apps side by side and drag and drop files. It’s also quick to install, letting you…

REQUIRES Launchpad (free, with IAPs), iOS/iPadOS 15 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to make great music, even if you can’t play an instrument IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes WE LOVE MAKING music, but learning instruments isn’t quick or easy. That’s why we’re so fond of GarageBand’s magic instruments, and of Launchpad. Both apps enable you to experience and share the sheer joy of music without the sore–fingers frustration of traditional music making. That’s not to say serious musicians can’t make great use of these apps — they can and many of them do. But as we’ll discover in this tutorial, when you have an app like Launchpad, you can create music in any genre pretty much immediately, and that opens up the world of music making to many more people,…

HOW IT WORKS YOU WILL LEARN How Wi–Fi 7 works, and how it differs from previous versions of Wi–Fi YOU CAN BUY A WI–FI 7 ROUTER RIGHT NOW, BUT THEY PROBABLY WON’T BE WIDELY AVAILABLE UNTIL LATER THIS YEAR JARGON BUSTER The term “Wi–Fi” is really just a marketing label, but all versions of Wi–Fi are based on an international technology standard known as 802.11, which is continually under development. Wi–Fi 5 was based on 802.11ac, while Wi–Fi 6 and 6E use the newer 802.11ax. However, Wi–Fi 7 is such a big step forward that the 802.11 tech adopts a new “b” suffix, with the full title of 802.11be. LIKE MANY PEOPLE, you may still be using home broadband with an old router provided by your ISP that runs Wi–Fi…

SHARE WITH US! EMAIL: ask@maclife.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/maclife TWITTER: twitter.com/maclife > Restart into Recovery mode Is it possible to restart my M1 MacBook Pro going straight into Recovery mode, or will I have to shut it down first? The normal and recommended way to enter Recovery mode for any Apple silicon Mac is to shut it down first. You should then wait a few seconds, before starting it up and holding down the Power button until it displays that it’s loading startup options. That should always be your preferred method whenever possible. If you do want to restart more quickly, then immediately after the screen goes black after restarting, press and hold the Power button, releasing it when you see that it’s loading options. That doesn’t actually load the same Recovery system,…

There are so many interesting sights to snap when you visit a new destination that it’s hard to resist the “rapid–fire” approach to photography. Before you tap that shutter button, take time to consider your creative options while you compose a shot. Here we’ll look at ways to capture photos that show off both the highlights of your vacation and your skills as a photographer. 1 Shoot in Raw JPEG and HEIF files are compressed, so they lack information about a scene’s colors and tones. Compressed files are also more prone to artefacts such as banding, where a gradient in a sky appears as jagged bands rather than a smooth blend of light to dark blues. On a Pro model iPhone, Raw files are stored as DNG (Digital Negative) files,…

WORDPRESS HAS BEEN the platform of choice for bloggers for over a decade. But you can do much more than just start and maintain a blog with it, as it is now a fully featured website creation tool. Before you start building, it’s worth thinking about the content you want to host and whether you do want to run a blog, which is updated regularly and typically features the most recent post at the top of a stream of posts, or a website that has mostly static pages that are updated infrequently and laid out however you choose. You could also have a static site with a blog section, which is a good way of adding new content (so beloved of search engines) to an otherwise static site. We’re using WordPress…

THE BOTTOM LINE Over half the price of Apple’s full–size Magic Keyboard, and nearly every bit as good. + Great typing feel + Switchable wireless + Fantastic battery life + A bit of a steal AWESOME $59.99 From www.cherry-world.com Features Switchable Bluetooth/2.4GHz RF wireless, magnetic support bar, 13 extra function keys, Nano–USB receiver, 5.12 x 17.32 x 0.59in, 24oz Needs macOS 10.13 or later, Bluetooth 4.0, USB–A APPLE’S FULL–SIZE Magic Keyboard is a brilliant wireless option for typists wanting the best feel possible, but at $129, it’s far from affordable. Cherry’s KW 9100 Slim for Mac offers a similar package, for $69 less. On paper, it doesn’t feel like anything obvious has been sacrificed, either. If anything, you get more bang for your buck. A full–size ‘board, the KW 9100…

Free (requires Netflix subscription) From www.layashorizon.com Needs iOS 15.0 or later, A12 Bionic chip or later IT’S EASY TO see that Laya’s Horizon comes from the same developer as Alto’s Adventure, and the effervescent momentum that made that title such a hit courses through the veins of its latest effort. It’s swift, fun, and beautiful to behold, and a welcome antidote if you’re sick of high–pressure, high–intensity mobile games. You play as the titular Laya, a member of the Windfolk who traverse their island home by flying through the air with the help of wingsuit–like capes. Along the way you meet friendly island inhabitants, unlock new capes and charms to boost your abilities, and explore the skies on the gusts and thermals. Flying controls are intuitive and easy to learn.…

Apple AR headset arrives “Introducing a new era: spatial computing” APPLE HAS INTRODUCED its long–anticipated Augmented Reality headset. Apple Vision Pro, available next year, will transform the way you interact with apps, experience movies and TV shows, connect via FaceTime, and view photos and media content. Like Meta’s Quest Pro mixed-reality headset (but unlike other VR gear out there), Apple Vision Pro is designed to seamlessly blend digital content with the physical world around you. App windows float in front of you, casting shadows that dynamically match the actual light conditions in the room, creating scale and distance that make them feel physically there. You can reposition and resize them, and add as many more as you want, giving you infinite virtual screen space — and although the device has…

I found the DAC article in the April issue quite interesting, but one topic wasn’t addressed. I play music from my MacBook Pro via an HDMI cable to one of the HDMI ports on my AV receiver. I do this either from my older MacBook Pro, which I keep around for video streaming, via a USB–C to HDMI adapter; or from my M1 MacBook Pro via its HDMI port. Would a DAC device make the sound even better, or does my AV receiver take care of upgrading the sound quality? And are there DAC devices that take a signal from USB–C and output HDMI, or would I want to use an alternative input on the receiver? Thanks for any info on this. STEVE JOHGART Cliff Joseph wrote this feature for…

REQUIRES Numbers, macOS 12 or later/iOS 15 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to use Numbers to create a family budget IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes BUDGETING IS ALWAYS a good idea, but it’s especially important with the ever–increasing cost of living. With soaring energy bills and prices rising for everyday essentials such as gas and food, managing our family’s monthly expenditure has become more crucial than ever before. Creating a budget isn’t just about managing expenditure, however. It also enables us to plan for exciting vacation trips and other large outgoings. And while there are lots of specialist apps that will help you create and manage a budget, there’s also one that’s completely free to download and use, works on all Apple devices, and syncs with iCloud. It also enables…

REQUIRES macOS 10.15 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to back up and sync Music tracks to your iPhone IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes IT’S NEVER BEEN easier to enjoy all kinds of music on your Apple devices — whether you prefer to stream the latest chart–toppers on Apple Music, or just want to listen to an existing music library on the go. Apple offers three main ways to do this: you can subscribe to the Apple Music streaming service (currently $10.99/month); subscribe to iTunes Match (currently $24.99/year) and put your existing song collection online; and you can connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac and sync your music collection either via a physical cable or over Wi–Fi. It’s that last option we’re going to look at here. Note, though,…

WITH SUMMER VACATION season fast approaching, we’ll all hopefully have a bit more leisure time to take some photos. Vacations provide fantastic photo opportunities that should inspire you to swipe to your iPhone’s Camera app and capture pictures of your family and friends enjoying amazing architecture, beautiful beaches, and exotic food. In this in–depth photography feature, we’ll show you how to set up and use your iPhone camera to make the most of both a little jaunt to somewhere local or a more far–flung destination, so that you can populate your WhatsApp groups or social media feeds with stunning snaps. We will also give you tips and techniques on making your photographs look their best when it comes to quality and composition, so that your shots stand out from the crowd.…

After shooting a photo, you may need to tweak color, tone and even composition to improve it. Fortunately, iOS 16’s Photos app boasts a powerful suite of digital darkroom tools to help you fix and flatter your subject. You can also share your perfected picture with friends and family while you’re still on vacation. 1 Tonal tweaks When shooting at a sunny location, your iPhone may struggle to capture detail in both the shadows and the highlights. In the iOS Photos app, the Adjust panel’s Shadows slider enables you to lighten underexposed shadows without overexposing brighter highlights. The Highlights slider helps claw back missing sky detail without underexposing a darker landscape, especially if you’ve snapped the shot in Apple ProRAW format. 2 Tints and casts Capturing true colors can be…

NOW THAT YOU’VE set up your website and published your very first post, it’s time to add a bit more polish. Categories and tags will make posts easier to navigate and allow visitors to find older posts more easily. You can also add some static pages and customize them. Once you’ve completed the steps here, if you want to take things even further, you could use plug–ins to add more features, like e–commerce. On wordpress.com, plug–ins are only available with the paid–for Business plan. However, if you install WordPress on your own hosted domain, many plug–ins are free to use. Using your own domain to host WordPress is something you should consider seriously if you want your website to be more than a bit of fun to share with friends and…

$249.99 From https://us.ankerwork.com Features Wireless recording of lossless audio, touchscreen operation, mono or stereo, Lightning, USB–C or analog connection Needs macOS 10.14 or later, iOS 11 or later (AnkerWork software) WHILE THE VIDEO capabilities of iPhones and digital cameras have improved dramatically in recent years, their audio performance remains a distant second. With so many people creating and broadcasting video content, a dedicated wireless microphone is an essential tool. AnkerWork’s M650 is designed to take the hassle out of recording sound. It bears a passing resemblance to a beefed–up pair of earbuds, with a USB–C charging case that houses two transmitters and a receiver. Settings are made on the receiver unit, which has a small but useful touchscreen and an easy–to–use interface. It can fit directly to the hotshoe mount…