Innehållsförteckning för January 2017 från Macworld UK

Beware the five-second video that will bring your iPhone to a complete halt. Recently, a corrupt video link with the potential to crash any iOS device started making the rounds. Clicking on the MP4 link in question will play a video that will cause your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to overload and eventually freeze to the point of making the Home button, the power button, and the touchscreen totally unresponsive. The only way to get your iOS device working properly is to perform a hard reset. Clicking the link generates a loop that will force your iPhone to crash about 10 seconds after the short video ends. The Verge tested the link on several devices running iOS 10.1, as well as the iOS 10.2 beta. They all became unresponsive.…

Apple is reportedly done with routers. While the company hasn’t said anything publicly, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (who has an excellent track record with Apple rumours) reports that Apple’s wireless router division has been disbanded. The engineers who were working on products like the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule have been moved to work on other projects over the past year, according to Gurman. Apple’s work on routers has been relatively quiet in recent times. We last looked at the AirPort Express in 2012, and the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule last received updates in 2013. These routers are strong enough, but as we noted in the AirPort Extreme review, you can get better performance and features elsewhere. That’s not to say Apple’s offerings don’t have their appeal…

Where to find System Preferences The System Preferences application is found in your Applications folder and is also available at any time from the Apple menu at the top-left of the screen (click the Apple logo). It may also be in your Dock at the bottom of the screen. When launched, it provides access to a number of panes that deal with various aspects of how your Mac works, appears and behaves, such as screen resolutions, wallpaper images, parental control settings and internet accounts. How to use System Preferences When System Preferences is first launched, you’ll see rows of icons, each corresponding to a specific group of related options. Click on any icon to access the relevant pane. Alternatively, you can access a pane if you click-hold, Ctrl-click or right-click…

Troubleshoot a swollen Photos cache Q: I have a massive Photos library and use iCloud Photo Library stored on an external HD to maintain a local backup of all pictures. However, my wife and I use a large number of shared albums to share our pictures with each other, and these keep eating up space on my MacBook Pro in com.apple.cloudphotosd. My MacBook Pro keeps filling up, rendering Photos completely unusable. Michael McKissak A: You’re not alone in experiencing this. And it’s definitely a loose thread in how Apple manages photo storage. The ~/Library/Containers/com. apple.cloudphotosd folder is a cache, not part of your Photos library. It’s used both for temporary storage, as images are synced and transferred to your library, and as local storage for shared iCloud images. For most…

Over the past few years, development of and interest in the virtual reality arena has truly begun heating up, but the same can’t yet be said for its close cousin, augmented reality. The most prominent product in the category to date was the much-maligned Google Glass, which never really cracked the consumer market. But that doesn’t mean that the interest isn’t still there. Microsoft has been investigating the mixed reality concept with its HoloLens visor, a device that seems to actually make a compelling argument for the technology, and Snapchat has garnered some attention with its new Spectacles glasses, which feature built-in cameras and integrate with the popular messaging app. And now there are rumours that Apple is throwing its hat glasses into the ring. But is this merely the…

Apple recently let go of Sal Soghoian, who was the company’s Product Manager of Automation Technologies – meaning he was responsible for AppleScript and Automator. The news about Soghoian, who worked at Apple for nearly 20 years, raised concern in the Mac community that Apple no longer was interested in automation features in macOS. Maybe the latest news from Apple will help ease the concerned. According to 9to5Mac, one of its readers sent an email to Apple Senior VP Craig Federighi about the future of macOS automation. The reader received the following response and forwarded it to 9to5Mac, which has verified the email: Hi [redacted], We have every intent to continue our support for the great automation technologies in macOS! Thanks for being an Apple customer! — craig As you…

As far as theft and fraud are concerned, you face (and willingly accept) a moderate amount of risk when you shop online or out in their local neighbourhoods. This holiday season is no different, but the risk is elevated some, because criminals are looking for easy marks and low-hanging fruit. With that said, here are a few tips to help you keep your money, gadgets, and information safe this holiday season, as well as the year ahead. Card skimming While shopping, or stopping for fuel, be mindful of credit card skimmers that can copy or read your card data as you swipe. Criminals use the captured information to create fake cards or go shopping online. The skimmers can be attached to a cash point, or even installed inside of a…

The Christmas shopping season is in full swing, but while you’re considering gifts for friends and family, you should also treat yourself – to new Mac games. We’ve picked out the 10 biggest and brightest games worth checking out. If you don’t mind something dark for the holidays, isometric role-player Tyranny could be worth a deep dive, while quirky adventure Headlander, the slick Motorsport Manager, and programming puzzler Shenzhen I/O lead the rest of the pack. 1. Tyranny Price: £34.99 from the Mac App Store If you enjoyed 2015’s Pillars of Eternity, a strong throwback to isometric role-playing classics like Baldur’s Gate, then you’ll definitely want to check out Tyranny. Not only does it hail from the same developer (Obsidian Entertainment), but it also uses the same engine and has…

The new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar is fantastic. But you don’t have to shell out any money to get a Touch Bar on your Mac. Red Sweater’s Touché (tinyurl.com/hgycf46) is a free application (donations accepted) that simulates the Touch Bar on your Mac’s screen. Before you install Touché, you need to have you Mac updated to macOS Sierra 10.12.1. Now, it has to be a specific build of macOS 10.12.1, the build with Touch Bar support, which is build 16B2657. We tried to install Touché on a 2014 15in MacBook Pro running 10.12.1, but it wasn’t that specific build and it didn’t run. Fortunately, you can download the update and install it. Touché runs like any app, and you can use a keyboard shortcut to toggle it on or off…

Apple has released a product that isn’t a phone or a watch or a computer. It’s a 450-page book documenting the past 20 years of Apple design, or, in other words, a book of photos of Apple devices. At £249, it costs more than some of those devices. Designed by Apple in California, comes in a large (413x330mm) and a cheaper, smaller (324x260mm) size. The smaller version is a mere £169. Both versions are available to buy online at tinyurl.com/zf5wb4z or in select Apple Stores. The book documents the creation of the 1998 iMac through the 2015 Apple Pencil and took eight years to develop, Apple said. It is dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs. “While this is a design book, it is not about the design team, the…

Apple is working on wearable digital glasses that would connect wirelessly to the iPhone and show content in the wearer’s field of vision, according to a news report. The iPhone maker has indicated previously its interest in augmented reality. Unlike the simulated world of virtual reality, AR supplements with images and information the user’s normal view of the world. “We are high on AR for the long run. We think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity,” Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed in an earnings call in July, talking about the need for Apple’s devices to work with other developers’ products, such as the successful Pokémon Go game. The company has also hired VR and AR experts and made some acquisitions that could help it meet…

From £1,449 inc VAT • apple.com/uk Apple gave its new MacBook Pro a thinner, sleeker case, which demanded a new, lower-travel keyboard, a new venting system, and even a smaller battery. But while we appreciate a Mac that’s smaller and lighter, we’d rather have a Mac that’s easier or just more fun to use. These 13- and 15in MacBook Pros with Apple’s new Touch Bar are both. The Touch Bar brings our favourite things about the iPad Pro’s software keyboard to the Mac. The amount of useful shortcuts it adds is ridiculous, and this is before most third-party developers have even had a chance to add Touch Bar support. Even for a premium price – and these Macs aren’t cheap – we think the Touch Bar makes this a much…

If Father Christmas is about to bring you a shiny new gadget for Christmas, or you’re buying one for someone else, you’re probably not thinking about what to do if there’s a problem. The new Consumer Rights Act covers things like faulty products and late deliveries, and we explain the law so you know how to return a product for replacement or refund. Computers and gadgets do fail from time to time, so it’s important that you know your rights. Almost all products come with at least a year’s warranty but, depending on exactly when the problem arises, you might need to deal with the retailer rather than the manufacturer itself. In October 2015, the new Consumer Rights Act became law and it replaced the 1979 Sale of Goods Act,…

Macworld reader Les Rosenbaum asks: After five years, I am considering the purchase of a new iMac. In migrating from the old to the new is the best choice Migration Assistant, Time Machine, or SuperDuper? It depends on the vintage of machines you’re migrating from and to. If the new Mac can run the same operating system as the old one, we’d lean towards using SuperDuper (tinyurl.com/6krpz) or Carbon Copy Cloner (bombich.com). However, if you can’t run the same version of macOS/OS X on both computers, a clone won’t work: it can’t boot on the new machine, and you need to pick Time Machine or Migration Assistant. If you want to use a cloning tool, follow these steps: • In SuperDuper or CCC, make a full clone of your current…