Innehållsförteckning för December 2024 från MacLife

YOUR MAC CAN play all kinds of sounds from all kinds of sources, but how do you record and store them for personal use? For things plugged into your Mac, such as microphones and audio interfaces, you can use QuickTime Player or, if you want to adjust the sound, GarageBand. But to record from apps, online audio, or even from multiple sound sources at once, Audio Hijack ($77, www.rogueamoeba.com) is even better. We use it for all kinds of things, such as recording phone and FaceTime interviews, saving audio from videos we need to refer to later, and for recording from various apps. Audio Hijack can also do something very clever — it can transcribe audio files and turn them into text you can edit, copy, and paste. If you…

ONE OF THE things we love about Apple devices is how accessible you can make them, and your Apple Watch is no exception. Apple has put a lot of effort into making its smallest device usable by as many people as possible, including those of us with sight, hearing, or mobility issues. Whether you find it hard to see certain colors, need a bit more time adjusting your connected AirPods, or would like a friendly voice to guide you through the on–screen options, you’ll find lots of really useful features and settings under Settings > Accessibility. In this tutorial, we’re going to concentrate on the specific features underneath the Accessibility section, but there are other Apple Watch things made with inclusivity in mind; for example, the X–Large watch face was…

reMarkable 2 with Marker Plus, $449; Type Folio, $199 From https://remarkable.com Features Screen, 10.3-inch monochrome digital paper display, 1872 x 1404 resolution (226 DPI); Processor, 1.2 GHz dual core ARM; RAM, 1 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM; Internal Memory, 8GB (around 100,000 pages); Connectivity, Wi–Fi 2.4GHz and 5GHz, USB–C; Battery, 3000 mAh (about two weeks of use, 90 days of standby) THE PROBLEM WITH using a stylus on a tablet is the lack of tactile feedback. For those used to writing and drawing with a pencil and paper, it feels, well… wrong. Not so with this next–generation reMarkable tablet. It promises a paper–like experience, and actually delivers. reMarkable 2 has a 10.3–inch e–ink screen. It’s available with either a Marker (white) or a more expensive Marker 2 (black, reviewed here), which adds…

$199.99 From www.edifier.com Features 60W output, Hi-Res Audio/Hi-Res Audio Wireless certified, 3.5mm and USB–C, Bluetooth 5.3, USB, and AUX inputs, supports AirPlay 2 THE D32 SITS somewhere between Edifier’s hi–fi and portable ranges. Compact but well–built, it powers off the mains and has a rechargeable battery that can provide up to 11 hours of playback. The design is pleasingly retro, with buttons for playback, power, and input selection. These are mostly also available via the Edifier app, which lets you manage updates and provides a six–band equalizer (EQ). Around the back are two bass ports, which help the speaker achieve low-end reproduction. Internally, there are two one-inch tweeters with 15W of power and a 4-inch combo driver with 30W. It’s not true stereo — the dual tweeters don’t count —…

APPLE HAS INTRODUCED an updated iMac with M4 processor and an all–new, redesigned Mac mini line with M4 and new M4 Pro chips. The redesigned Mac mini has a footprint of just 5x5 inches — still a bit bigger than an Apple TV 4K, but over 2.5 inches less each way than the previous generation Mac mini, and about half an inch taller at 2 inches high. It starts at $599 — the same as before, but now with 16GB of unified memory — twice as much as before. The M4 chip has a 10–core CPU and 10–core GPU, delivering up to 1.8x faster CPU performance and 2.2x faster GPU performance over the M1 model, according to Apple. It also brings hardware–accelerated ray tracing to the Mac mini for the…

THOUGHT IPADOS 17 was pretty great? Then you’re going to love what happens next. iPadOS 18 takes the power and personalization of iPadOS 17 much further, enabling you to make your iPad truly yours — and if your iPad could handle iPadOS 17 then it’ll work with iPadOS 18, too. iPadOS 18 comes with a host of new features that will turbo–charge your texting, power up your photos, make your gaming experiences even more awesome, and make your smart home more helpful. Again and again, you will discover — in ways big and small — that iPadOS 18 takes everything you like about using your iPad, and makes it even better. There are actually two iPadOSes. The initial iPadOS 18 release in September 2024 didn’t include Apple Intelligence, (although the…

VERSIONS HAS BEEN A long–standing but often overlooked feature within the Pages, Numbers, Preview, and Keynote apps, enabling you to easily go back to previous versions of a document. That’s great for all kinds of reasons, as it means that you can either revert back to an earlier iteration of a document (when you mess up) or use it to recover items (such as images and charts) that you accidentally lost during your creative frenzy. Triggering the feature brings up a Time Machine–like interface where you can browse a stack of all the previously saved versions of your current document. You can bring up a preview of a selected version and copy elements from it, whether you then opt to restore it or not. By harnessing the power of Versions,…

IF YOU ENJOY Listening to podcasts, chances are that you use Apple’s eponymous Podcasts app. But there’s actually a better way to consume your favorite shows: with Overcast. This brilliant little app is chock-full with clever controls that are tailor–made to enhance your listening sessions far beyond what Apple’s rival can offer. Once you use it, you will wonder how you ever managed without it. As you will soon see, one of Overcast’s key strengths is its customization options. You don’t have to settle for the developer’s way of doing things — you can adjust audio playback controls, tweak notification settings on a per–show basis, and even redesign the app’s home screen to your own taste. Here, we will show you how to use Overcast, from mastering its intuitive playback…

APPLE’S RECENT INVESTMENT in gaming has surprised many people, including old timers like yours truly, who have been disappointed by Apple’s historic lack of interest in games. Cynics might suggest that this sudden enthusiasm for gaming has arrived just as Apple is looking for ways to boost sales of its expensive Vision Pro headset, but whatever the reason, we should probably just make the most of it and hope that we can look forward to seeing more triple-A games arriving on the Mac at last. In fact, it’s partly due to the success of games on the iPhone — and later the iPad — that the Mac is finally starting to play catch–up here. When the mobile gaming scene took off around a decade ago, Apple was forced to develop…

While the shuttering of Apple’s self–driving car project earlier this year was disappointing, the lessons learnt during its development may well prove useful on a smaller scale — in robotic devices for the home. The first Apple robot is expected to be a tabletop assistant arriving in 2026 or 2027, to be followed later by a more sophisticated mobile droid. So, could Apple reshape the smart home in the same way that it revolutionized smartphones, tablets, and wearables? The company’s move into robotics, combined with the power of its artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, Apple Intelligence, could transform not only the types of devices we have at home, but also how we interact with them. First up, the planned tabletop robot — codenamed J595 — is likely to serve as an…

$34.99 From https://silverliningstudio.co Needs macOS 10.12 or later THE STAR NAMED EOS is a point–and–click puzzle game that uses photography to explore the past. Those memories revolve around the protagonist’s mother, a photographer. With her absence now sharply felt, you seek to recapture the images she took and discover the experiences they portrayed. To complete each level, you must discover and unravel the puzzles strewn around the environment. These can involve combining symbols to open a lockbox or moving objects to reveal a hidden item. They present a fair degree of challenge, but won’t keep you up all night scratching your head. Some puzzle props are fleeting, but others weave their way throughout each chapter, reappearing right up until the game’s conclusion. Your camera plays a starring role. You can snap shots…

For years, Google has been an important tool for anyone looking to find answers on the web. In recent times, however, artificial intelligence (AI) has also begun to play a key role. Search Google today and you’ll likely see an AI overview delivered using the tech giant’s custom Gemini model, which is capable of multi–step reasoning to help with even the most complex of questions. More and more people are also turning to Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT, but such actions are not entirely without consequence. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a ChatGPT query requires nearly 10–times as much electricity to process as a standard Google search: some 2.9 watt–hours (Wh) of electricity compared with 0.3Wh. It’s a startling statistic that leads to questions about the sustainability of artificial…

A SLIDESHOW IS An entertaining way to share holiday highlights with friends and family. The Photos app can help present your images in eye–catching ways using a variety of visual themes. For example, the “Vintage Prints” theme places a color image on top of a scattered pile of monochrome shots, and uses “Ken Burns”-style pans and zooms to add motion and energy. There are seven visual themes to choose from, and each one has its own accompanying theme song. The movement and music of the themes helps hold the viewer’s attention while watching your images. Simply select a slideshow from any album you’ve created in Photos, choose a visual theme, and the corresponding music will be added automatically. If you’re happy, click Play Slideshow to present it on your Mac’s…

IN A MOVE That intensifies the rivalry with Google Maps, a public beta version of Apple Maps has been made available on the web. It lets you discover places while getting driving and walking directions. You can also find information about businesses, perform actions direct from the Maps Place Card, and check out what other people think by sharing it without using the Maps app on your computer. Go to https://beta.maps.apple.com on a Mac or iPad that is running Safari or Chrome, or a Windows PC running Chrome or Edge, and you will be presented with the Maps interface. It’s not as comprehensive as the app’s own interface, but it looks familiar, letting you quickly find what you need. We’d like to see a sign–in option so that your web…

WE’VE ALL BEEN There. It’s 3am, your eyes have started to open, and your mind begins to whir. Then your hand reaches out from beneath the duvet, grabs your iPhone, and an hour later, you’re still awake, having spent an hour mindlessly scrolling, with no real chance of getting any more sleep. It’s annoying and counterproductive, yet the problem could be resolved by installing the SleepTown app. It lets you set healthy sleep goals and routines by building a cutesy town containing more than 70 different kinds of cartoony buildings while serving up numerous surprises while you sleep. Touch your iPhone during the night, however, and constructions can turn to dust. Aside from effectively turning your sleep into a game, complete with holiday themes, the app also doubles as a…

$89.99 From www.elgato.com Features 2,900–7,000K color temperature range, 400 lumens brightness with USB–A port, 700 lumens with USB–C port, 1,000 lumens with 5V/3A power supply, preset buttons and brightness/color temperature dial, USB–A to USB–C cable, USB–A extension cable MANY WEBCAMS STRUGGLE to keep you well–lit in all conditions — even Apple’s Continuity Camera doesn’t always get it right. Could the solution be a dedicated light? The Elgato Key Light Neo is designed to be a compact, Mac–friendly device that sits on top of your monitor. It provides a soft light that is well distributed across your face. Setup is simple: screw the light onto the monitor stand, plug in the USB–A to USB–C cable, then switch on the light. It comes with four buttons: an on/off switch, a dial for…