Innehållsförteckning för February 2023 från Macworld UK

Apple customers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Poland can now use the company’s iPhone self-repair programme, which launched in the US in 2021. After years of resistance to user repairs, Apple finally moved to offer some accommodation for anyone who wishes to fix devices themselves, and it is now welcoming even more DIY repairers into its programme. The European countries have been added as drop-down menu options on the company’s selfservicerepair.com website. It’s not clear at this point if and when Apple plans to add more countries. The programme lets users order certified genuine replacement parts and repair tools for their Apple products (limited to the iPhone and Mac at present), and offers free manuals to help them perform the repairs. The company also encourages…

A new report from Bloomberg (fave. co/3IhFwzv) claims that Apple has once again shifted its ambitions around producing its own vehicle. According to the report, the car’s target launch date has been pushed back about a year, to 2026, and it won’t have its most lauded feature. The vision for the entire project appears to have shifted. Dubbed Project Titan within the company, the Apple car was said to be a fully autonomous vehicle, without even a steering wheel or pedals. This new report claims that Apple has decided it simply isn’t possible to achieve this with current technology, and instead intends to produce a vehicle with full driving controls and is only fully autonomous on highways. According to the report, the current plans are to let drivers do things…

Sometimes it’s easy to think of Apple as above it all. The company is so big, so beloved, and so successful that surely it can’t be touched, its momentum can’t be slowed. But of course, that’s not true. Apple is of the world, not above it, and when the company warns all of us that it can’t predict the future in the era of Covid, we really ought to take it at its word. When I predicted what 2022 would be like for the Mac, I clearly didn’t foresee how the company’s ability to assemble Macs would be sidelined by a spring pandemic lockdown. The result was that my predictions for the Mac’s ahead-of-schedule transition to Apple silicon were entirely wrong – but to be fair, Apple was taken by…

We’ve reached the start of the year, and just like last year that means it’s time for me to look ahead at what’s coming for us in 2023. These are my fearless predictions. Okay, maybe there’s a slight bit of fear. Don’t look directly into my eyes. I’m sensitive that way. While 2022’s Mac line-up was a little less than I expected – probably due to supply-chain issues – I suspect that’s going to result in a huge 2023 for the Mac. And on the iPad side, while I expect a quiet year, there’s still a wild card that might make a bit of noise. THE RISE OF THE SUPER MACS Apple promised the end of the Apple silicon transition in two years, and that was two years ago, so……

Price: £149 from fave.co/3Bhlukv Apple has the best streaming box out there. It’s the fastest and most responsive, with the best audio and video quality (support for both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision), and with the update in 2021, it finally has a great remote, too. The operating system works well, shows are consolidated neatly in the TV app for most major services (with the notable exception of Netflix), and the Siri voice commands are for the most part convenient and reliable. If you use other Apple products, the synergy between them makes it even more delightful to use. Unfortunately, the Apple TV 4K has also maintained its spot as the most expensive of the popular streaming platforms – by far. With a starting price of £169, it was easily…

If you’ve been anxiously awaiting the launch of the Apple silicon Mac Pro and dreaming of the fastest Mac ever, you might be in for a disappointment. A report last month from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (fave.co/3i3a7X5) said that Apple is having major problems producing the so-called M2 Extreme chip that was supposed to power the new machine. As a result, Gurman says, the top-of-the-line Mac Pro will likely have a slightly faster M2 Ultra chip with 24 CPU cores and 76 GPU cores. Granted, that’s still a very fast chip, but for Mac Pro buyers who have been waiting to see the next speed evolution of Apple silicon on the Mac, it’s likely to be a disappointment. The gap between the Mac Pro and the next fastest Mac is supposed…

Printers might be boring devices in the world of tech but we all need one at some point and even more so with the increase of working from home that’s now normal due to the pandemic. Printers can be hard to find in the current climate, but we have rounded up the best we’ve tested. You might want to print a calendar, gig tickets, a boarding pass or some photos you’ve taken on your phone. Many printers are multifunction and therefore also handy for scanning and copying, too. Whatever your needs, buying a new printer can be a confusing process. Not only do you have to worry about the upfront cost and whether it can print a good photo, but you’ve also got to consider print speeds, ongoing costs and…

FACETIME GOT YOU UPSIDE DOWN? TURN THAT FROWN AROUND The orientation lock is an easily overlooked option in iOS/iPadOS Control Centre that lets you prevent apps from rotating their view when your device detects it’s turned a corner. This can be useful when viewing a video, reading a book, or engaging in other activities that you don’t want to have the app reformat from portrait to landscape or landscape to portrait. FaceTime honours the orientation lock in a way that might confuse other people: they always see your locked orientation. If you don’t remember that you have orientation lock enabled, other participants in a call may think it’s their fault that they can’t get you in the right direction. With rotation lock off, you can rotate your device, and you…

Apple deployed illegal means to suppress unionization in Atlanta this year, according to a ruling from the NLRB. The Cupertino company is accused of “interrogating and coercing” employees, Bloomberg reports (fave.co/3WX1r31), discriminating against union supporters, and holding mandatory anti-union meetings. Despite the ruling, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has no power to impose punitive damages, but its actions may lead to a federal case if Apple declines its remedies. The NLRB concluded that Apple violated federal law by interrogating and coercing employees, and while the board has historically declined to rule against mandatory anti-union meetings, it is indicating that this may change in the near future. General counsel Jennifer Abruzzo argues that “captive audience” gatherings are inherently coercive and illegal, and is pursuing cases against other companies that may…

Apple’s mixed-reality headset, arguably its most highly anticipated new product launch, has been hit by yet another delay. The respected industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that it may have been pushed back from the second quarter of 2023 to the second half of that year. In a Twitter thread largely focused on the impact of the delay on supplier firms, Kuo cites unspecified “software issues” as the reason for the change. One result of this, he says, is that fewer than 500,000 units will be shipped in 2023, down from the previous estimate of between 800,000 and 1.2 million. My latest survey indicates that the mass shipment schedule of Apple’s MR headset may delay to 2H23 because of software-related issues (vs the previous estimate of 2Q23). (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) 4…

At the time of writing, the end of the year is nigh, and with it comes a host of pieces looking both back at the year that was in Apple news, and forward to the year that will be. And who am I to eschew such a trend? 2022 was dominated perhaps, more than anything else, by economic challenges for Apple, including the disruption of the global supply chain, continued pandemic-related problems, and of course, inflation. But despite what is charmingly termed ‘headwinds’ by market watchers, the company persevered and delivered yet another impressive slate of products, with the financial performance to back it up. When it comes to major moves the company itself made in 2022, they may not always be obvious at first glance. You can’t always directly…

Apple’s 2022 was a little slow on the Mac side, but there are brighter days ahead in 2023 if you ask me. But what about the iPhone, Apple’s most important product? And what about the rest of Apple’s product line-up – including product lines not yet introduced? 2023 promises to be a big one. Here are my predictions for the iPhone, AirPods, HomePod, and Apple foray into an AR/VR headset. AN ALL-NEW iPHONE – SORT OF By all rights, 2023 should be the year when Apple performs a makeover to the iPhone’s overall design language since the current design has been around for three model years since the iPhone 12 line was introduced in late 2020. But the iPhone line isn’t what it once was. Now there are two distinct…

Recently I decided to update my 2017 Apple TV 4K to a newer 2021 model after writing about a killer Amazon deal: I bought the 32GB model for £99 on something of a whim. But it was the smartest purchase I’ve ever made. I didn’t need it, mind you. Even with a five-year-old chip, my 2017 Apple TV box was as fast and responsive as the day I bought it, and I had long jettisoned the terrible first-gen Siri remote for a Caavo one. But for £70 off, I decided to update to the 2021 model even though the 2022 update is now available. Here’s why it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I NEED ETHERNET AND WANT THREAD With the 2022 Apple TV, Apple made the…

If your Mac is slowing down, frequently freezing, regularly running out of RAM or just not behaving like it used to, then it probably needs a clean. No, we don’t mean you need to get a cloth out and dust it. What you need is a Mac cleaner app that will delete the clutter and digital debris from your system and free your RAM from memory hogs. Thankfully, there are a wealth of tools available to rectify that can clean up your Mac and get it working properly again. We’ve picked some of the best clean-up apps for Mac below so you can find one that suites you. The apps included in the list below all offer free trial versions. Some of these trials will merely show you how much…

Price: £119 from fave.co/3GcEh36 Owned since 2020 by GN Audio, a Danish audio company with a history dating back to the telegraph, Jabra has long enjoyed a strong reputation in the earbud and wireless headphone field. The manufacturer now sells six different pairs of true wireless earbuds at retail list prices ranging from £80 all the way up to £170. The Jabra Elite 5 true wireless headphones sit squarely in the middle of the product range, and they’re well designed earbuds with an array of features that will appeal to casual listeners. Are there better-sounding ANC earbuds on the market? Sure (the second-gen AirPods Pro spring to mind), but few can match the Jabra 5’s balance of convenience, performance and price. When you take the buds out of the case…

If you’re dying for Apple to make a foldable device (according to a certain phone commercial, you are), then this rumour will give you something to look forward to. According to South Korea-based The Elec, Apple is working on a device that features a 20.25-inch OLED display that measures 15.3 inches when folded and could be available as early as 2026. The Elec’s original article is in Korean and a Google Translate version of the article includes mentions of the MacBook and iPad as points of comparison. The Elec speculates that “it is highly likely that this project product will be in a form close to a MacBook (laptop)”, but there are no details on what the design of this 20-inch MacBook would be and how components such as the…

It’s been an eventful year for Apple. Not only did we get a new iPhone and iPad, updates to the Apple TV and AirPods Pro, a new standalone display, and a slew of software features, but we also got the first brand-new Mac and Apple Watch in years. But among all those new products, Apple also killed several older devices in 2022. Here are five Apple devices you won’t find for sale on Apple.com anymore. 1. APPLE WATCH SERIES 3 If there was one product we would have bet a bundle on reaching retirement age in 2022 it would have been the Apple Watch Series 3. Approaching its five-year birthday with an aging design, pokey chip, and single sensor, it was overpriced at half of its £179 MSRP. Unfortunately, its…

We’ve made it through 2022. The past couple of months might have been a little slow, especially on the Mac front, but it was still a big year for Apple. And now we can turn our eyes to the horizon, to the undiscovered country that is… 2023. With the biggest moves of 2022 in our rear-view mirror, it’s time to pontificate on what Apple might have in store for the year ahead. What will we be looking back at, a year hence, as the company’s biggest moves in 2023? Here then are my picks for the areas that most deserve your attention over the next 12 months. GET REAL At this point, I’ve predicted enough times that Apple ought to make a virtual reality game where Lucy holds a football…

As a new year rolls around, there are plenty of stalwart devices that we know we’ll see in 2023 – new iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple Watches will all make appearances through the year. But there are also sure to be some surprises that no one saw coming – except us. Here are three completely unexpected products that may debut in the early months of 2023. APPLE SECURITY KEY Apple has announced that it will introduce support for physical security keys for Apple IDs to add extra protection for users worried about their iCloud data being hacked. We’ve already seen the feature in the iOS 16.3 beta, which we expect to arrive early this year. Essentially, if you choose to use it, this will replace the current two-factor authentication method…

At the heart of every Apple device is an Apple processor. Apple has been using its own processors in its iPhones and iPads for some time, while the Mac line-up has nearly completed its transition away from Intel chips. Apple has far more devices with its own silicon than Intel’s now – all that remain are the higher-end Mac mini and the Mac Pro – and before the end of 2023, every product Apple makes will likely be powered by a home-grown chip. What’s remarkable about Apple silicon is its performance – major PC and Android chip manufacturers can’t ignore Apple’s chips because they’re being outpaced. But all chips aren’t created equally. Understanding the performance differences between each chip will help with your buying decisions, especially when you’re deciding between…

Price: Free from fave.co/3WzFS8A Though so many antivirus and security products charge annual subscriptions, there are still free options out there with little or no strings attached. The freebies typically offer more basic or limited protection, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth using. One such product that fits the bill is AVG Antivirus for Mac. Designed to block viruses and spyware, AVG offers real-time and on-demand scanning to prevent malware from infecting your Mac. If you are happy to pay there are plenty of options but, for a free program, AVG covers all the bases, blocking viruses and malware from websites, downloads and email attachments. AVG can scan applications and files on your Mac for potential threats and automatically remove them. Running in the background, the program’s Resident Shield…

Price: £1,699 from fave.co/3PL4o4k Audeze isn’t the first headphone manufacturer to try to gain an advantage by enlisting a Grammy-winning audio engineer to endorse its product, but the open‑back, over-ear Audeze MM-500 planar magnetic headphone might be the only one that doubles as both a professional-grade studio tool and an excellent option for home audio enthusiasts. The ‘MM’ in MM-500 is Manny Marroquin, who’s one of the most successful audio engineers of the past two decades with hundreds of sessions since the early 1990s with artists as diverse as Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Imagine Dragons, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Migos, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Leon Bridges, Ariana Grande, Juice WRLD, Vampire Weekend, Post Malone,…