Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Macworld

The release of the M1 processor was a milestone. Apple finally migrated the Mac to its fast, low-power mobile processors, and the results were incredible. They were a hard act to follow—and after about a year and a half, the M2 processor arrived with a (not unexpected) set of incremental gains. You can’t reinvent the wheel every time out, and clearly the M2 was a careful follow-on to the M1, designed to keep the ball rolling. But now reports abound that the M3 is on the way—not at the end of the year or in early 2024, as you might expect from the 18-month gap between the M1 and the M2, but very soon, perhaps as soon as late spring or early summer. Surprise! It turns out that Apple may be…

Security researchers have published a report detailing the arrival of new malware that goes after sensitive data that’s stored on your Mac, including passwords and credit card data. According to the security team at Uptycs, the “MacStealer” malware can attack Macs running macOS Catalina or later, with either Intel or Apple M-series chips. Uptycs found that MacStealer can get passwords, cookies, and credit card data from Firefox, Google Chrome, and Brave browsers. It can extract several file types, including .txt, .doc, .jpg, and .zip, and it can extract the KeyChain database. According to information Uptycs gathered from the dark web, MacStealer’s makers are working on the ability to harvest Safari passwords and cookies, as well as data in the Notes app. “The bad actor uses a .DMG file to spread…

SONOS ERA 100 The Sonos Era 100 is the best-sounding compact streaming smart speaker we’ve encountered; by itself, as a stereo pair, or performing as the rear surround channels with a Sonos soundbar. The Era 100 supports Sonos’ excellent Trueplay room-tuning technology, where you walk around your listening room while waving an iPhone or iPad up and down. The software uses the iOS device’s microphone to measure how test-tone soundwaves emanating from the speakers reflect off the walls, windows, furniture, and other objects in the room. The results are analyzed and used to optimize the speaker’s frequency settings, signal timing, volume level balancing, and more.—JONATHAN TAKIFF BENQ PD2706UA Designed with creative professionals in mind, the PD2706UA is a 27-inch display with a 4K resolution, making it a viable alternative to…

Mobile World Congress was held in late February to early March, and if you’re an Apple fan, there was a flurry of interesting stories you probably missed. MWC is basically an Android show, but there are some releases and announcements that will be of interest to iPhone users. We’ve boiled a week’s worth of events down to five announcements Apple fans need to know. REALITY PRO IS ALREADY CHANGING AR One of the biggest surprises of the show happened on day one. Android phone maker Xiaomi revealed a prototype for a pair of AR smart glasses with hand gestures, “retina-level” screens, and a fully wireless design. If it sounds like Apple’s rumored Reality Pro AR headset, you’re right. While the design is certainly an acquired taste and it’s only a prototype,…

It has been almost half a year since the release of the iPhone 14 Plus, and since Apple is refreshing the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus with a new yellow color, and we didn’t test and review the iPhone 14 Plus upon release, this felt like a good time to check in on it. In general, what applies to the iPhone 14 applies to the 14 Plus. It’s the same phone, only larger. The larger battery makes it last longer, but it is otherwise just a choice about what phone and display size is best for you. This is a good phone and a decent upgrade (especially if you’re coming from a model at least two or three years old), but it’s sort of hard to recommend. Starting at $900/£949, it’s…

For many years Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion fought a long battle to produce the best virtualization software for Mac users who needed to run Windows software on their Macs. Every time Apple released a new version of the macOS, we would see Parallels and VMWare release their own updates, and this competition was great for Mac users as it meant that both programs continued to offer new features and performance improvements every year. In recent years, though, VMWare has seemed to focus more on its high-end corporate products and, since the introduction of Apple Silicon in 2020, Fusion no longer really competes with the annual updates to Parallels Desktop anymore. Both programs work in basically the same way, allowing you to create a virtual machine (VM) that runs on your…

If you’re in the unique situation of needing to use two Macs at once, the task can be made easier if you can control both of them with one keyboard. Here are a couple of ways to do it. It is also possible to use the same mouse as we explain here: How to share one keyboard and mouse with multiple Macs. UNIVERSAL CONTROL Universal Control lets you share a mouse and keyboard across multiple Macs and iPads that are in proximity and logged in to the same Apple ID account. It has its limits: > You need the correct Macs (running macOS Monterey version 12.4 or later) and iPads (iPadOS 15.4 or later); click the link above for the minimum models you must have. > Your Mac has to be…

While everyone is expecting Apple to switch from Lightning to USB-C when it releases the iPhone 15 later this year, a new report suggests that it might not be the only USB-C product to make an appearance in 2023. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will also be launching a USB-C version of the second-generation AirPods Pro Charging Case. Kuo reports that the new case, which aligns with the model number that was spotted in the iOS 16.4 code, will ship in “2Q23-3Q23,” or between April and September. That means it could arrive alongside the iPhone 15 at the fall event and begin shipping in mid-September. Before the 2nd-gen model arrived, Apple previously updated the AirPods Pro case with MagSafe charging in October 2021. The new case isn’t expected to bring any…

CAN’T OPEN HTML PAGES IN SAFARI? ADD SAFARI TO FULL DISK ACCESS Viewing downloaded HTML pages or previewing pages from a text editor or Web site design app in a browser can be a routine activity for many of us. But what do you do when you get this unexpected error? Safari can’t open the page. The error is “The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 1.)” (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork:1) It seems like a deep and elaborate problem. Fortunately, the answer is straightforward: macOS is telling you that you haven’t given Safari permission to open files from local volumes. This is part of Apple’s general security profile in macOS that prevents apps from opening files in locations or of a type for which they haven’t been explicitly granted permission. There’s no real risk…

I’ve never felt the need to choose between the iPad and the Mac. I use and value them both. But over the last few years, it’s started to feel like both the Mac and the iPad are increasingly limited by an artificial barrier that Apple has placed between them. The iPad has slowly become more Mac-like without ever really reaching the promised land. The Mac, meanwhile, has failed to pick up many desirable features from the iPad. I admire the discipline Apple has had in keeping its product lines separate, but it feels like that decision is starting to harm the futures of both products. The Mac and the iPad are on a collision course, and I’m concerned that they’re both about to run into the brick wall Apple has…

If you yearn for the days of old Mac OS versions—we’re talking pre–OS X here—then your time has finally come. Software engineer Mihai Parparita has unveiled his latest project: Infinite Mac, which features 42 (!) virtual machines that run classic versions of the Mac operating system released between 1984 and 2000. The collection starts with the original Mac operating system, System 1.0, and goes all the way up to 9.0.4. Each VM runs within a browser; when you go to the Infinite Mac website and click a VM, it launches that version of the Mac operating system—and it’s fully operational. You’re essentially running a classic Mac OS on top of your current Mac. For #MARCHintosh this year I’m launching https://t.co/VHuLGI4Zto. It features runnable versions of almost every classic System Software/Mac OS…

Apple and the iPhone are always in the news, but lately it seems like it’s been for all the wrong reasons. Over the past week or so, many stories have painted the iPhone as a security risk and Apple as sneakily throttling charging speeds. None of those things are happening. Here’s the truth. iOS 16 ISN’T SLOWING DOWN CHARGING SPEEDS Apple introduced a new feature in iOS 16.1 called Clean Energy Charging that seeks to limit the impact of your iPhone on the environment by “selectively charging when lower carbon-emission electricity is available.” This feature has been enabled by default on all iOS 16 iPhones since October, but a few people just noticed it last week and made a bunch of noise about it on Twitter. People lost their minds, calling…

Artificial intelligence continues to be the latest buzzworthy buzzword floating around the tech industry. (Sorry, blockchain and non-fungible tokens, your 15 minutes are up.) And though Apple has plenty of ways it already leverages machine learning to power up its technologies, it’s hard to deny that there are some places where the company could still benefit from jumping on this latest bandwagon. So it’s interesting to hear a report in the New York Times that Apple engineers are actively looking into language-generating AI, similar to the systems that underlie chatbots like ChatGPT, for a number of applications. And a follow-up report by 9to5Mac that confirmed the tech, code-named “Bobcat,” is already being tested for tvOS 16.4 beta. How could this technology be used in Apple’s products? Well, as it happens, I can…

Every year, Apple introduces a new A-series processor with its iPhone upgrades in the fall. We don’t expect anything different this year. In fact, the jump to a new manufacturing process technology—TSMC’s 3nm process—gives the A17 an opportunity to be the most significant leap in performance and features in several years. By looking at the past decade of in-house Apple-designed A-series chips, together with what we know about the manufacturing technology available and the company’s direction and goals, we can piece together a pretty good educated guess about what to expect from the A17. JUST FOR iPHONE 15 PRO (OR ULTRA) Last year, the A16 was exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro, while the standard iPhone 14 used the A15. We expect a repeat of that pattern this year, where…

Starting in macOS Ventura, Apple’s Mail app always embeds a preview of any link you paste into a message from the Clipboard. This may not be desirable, but Apple offers no option to disable the preview by default. However, you can bypass the preview in sending messages in one of three ways. Let’s take a look. 1. INSERT LINK Instead of pasting in a link directly, press Command-K to bring up an insert link dialog, paste the link into that field, and then click OK. 2. CONVERT TO PLAIN LINK Another option is to paste the link, and then, when the preview appears, hover over the preview, click the downward-pointing arrow at its right, and choose Convert to Plain Link. For the remainder of that email message, whenever you paste…

After several weeks as a preorder, Apple Music Classical is now available as a free app for Apple Music subscribers. Users can download it in the App Store as a standalone app dedicated to “the complex data structure of classical music.” The interface is similar to the main Apple Music app, with four bottom tabs for Listen Now, Browse, Library, and Search tabs. The Browse section is divided into three main categories—Catalog, Playlists, and Instruments—which are further segmented into sections for composers, soloists, time period, mood, and much more. Each individual instrument also gets its own section of the app, with the latest releases, popular artists and works, and a full description of its importance to the genre. In a support document, Apple explains why classical music needs a separate app:…

The Edifier WH950NB Bluetooth wireless headphones look great, are comfortable to wear for long stretches, have easy-to-use physical buttons, and deliver solid active noise cancellation. Unfortunately, they’re also headphones that won’t deliver their best performance unless you’re using a Bluetooth playback device that supports the LDAC codec. For most people, these headphones won’t perform at a level that’s comparable to other quality headphones in its price range. That doesn’t mean they don’t deliver good sound at the lower-resolution SBC codec, but there’s no good reason to spend $180 on headphones that won’t take full advantage of what your playback device can deliver. ARE THE EDIFIER WH950NB WELL-BUILT HEADPHONES? The Edifier WH950NB headphones are available in black or white with gold accents. The earcups have a pebbled plastic surface that evokes…

This August the iMac will be 25 years old! Way back on August 15, 1998, Apple introduced the G3 iMac. Could we see an M3 iMac this summer to celebrate the anniversary? It’s possible. In a recent newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed that, according to his sources, Apple is “at an advanced stage of development called engineering validation testing,” which means Apple is already conducting production tests on a new iMac. This doesn’t mean the new iMac will be shipping imminently. Gurman says the new iMac is not expected to go into mass production for at least three months, and that it “won’t ship until the second half of the year at the earliest.” This new iMac is expected to feature the same screen size as the current model (24 inches) and…

ChatGPT made its debut last December, and this AI-based text-generation tool opens up a world of possibilities not just for anyone doing research on the web, but also for anyone who needs to write about any topic. It can quickly become an indispensable tool. And an equally indispensable tool we recently discovered is MacGPT, which is nothing less than a Mac Gem in the making. To access ChatGPT, you first have to sign up for an account on the ChatGPT site. Once you do that, you can use ChatGPT through a browser. But if you find yourself using ChatGPT often and want a more efficient way to access it, you can use MacGPT, a utility by Jordi Bruin. MacGPT simply loads the ChatGPT UI into a window separate from your main browser.…

Apple Pay Later, a buy now, pay later interest-free service announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2022, has finally began rolling out, but for the time being it will be open only to the lucky few. And we mean lucky in the literal sense, because Apple says the first people allowed to use the service have been selected at random. In a press release, the company said that starting March 28, it would “begin inviting select users to access a pre-release version of Apple Pay Later, with plans to offer it to all eligible users in the coming months.” Select can mean a lot of things (and implies some form of criteria) but in the small print, it clarifies that invitations will be sent to “randomly selected users.”…

When Apple announced the Apple Watch Ultra, I was especially interested in its introduction of an Action button, an additional bit of hardware that could be set to trigger just about anything on watchOS. I began to wonder if future regular Apple Watches might get their own Action buttons, too. Now I’m starting to wonder if the Action button might have been a sign of a major new Apple feature to come. What if the Action button came to…the iPhone? It sounds crazy—but it might happen as soon as this fall. BUT FIRST, THE APPLE WATCH Before I get you excited about the iPhone possibilities here, I need to break the uncomfortable news about the Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra: It’s not living up to its potential. This…

Despite the rise of two-factor authentication, password security remains a top priority. Unless your password is unique, is relatively long, and hasn’t been found in a database breach as plain text, you should probably change it. For some sites, you might not have changed the password in years—or ever. (Conversely, if any password for a given site you use is unique, long, and unbreached, there’s no valid reason to change it.) Apple offers a tool to help you fix your worst passwords. Security Recommendations can be found in iOS and iPadOS in Settings → Passwords. In macOS, find it in System Settings → Passwords (Ventura); or System Preferences → Passwords (Monterey); or Safari → Preferences/Settings → Passwords (all macOS versions). It’s easiest to manage on macOS, so the examples below…

Across years of releases of Mac OS X and macOS, Apple offered a power-scheduling feature in the Energy Saver, Battery, or similar places across System Preferences. You could set a time of day for your Mac to start up (or wake, if sleeping) or shut down. That time could be set to every day, every weekday, every weekend day, or a given day of the week. With the release of macOS 13 Ventura, the interface to those features disappeared. Were too few users making use of them? Were they irrelevant with the current energy efficiency of modern desktops and displays and the predominance of laptop sales? It’s unknown. (If you use a UPS, or uninterruptible power supply, to provide emergency backup power to your Mac in the event of a…

Over the last two decades, technology has reinvented much of what we do in our everyday lives, but the first major domino to fall was probably the advent of digital music. April marked 20 years since the launch of Apple’s iTunes Store (fun fact: a birthday shared with yours truly), which, though not the first way to obtain digital music online, was certainly the most far-reaching. The digital music experience has certainly changed in the intervening years, especially with the rise of streaming over the past decade, but when it comes to Apple’s take on the act of listening to music—well, there are some things that frankly haven’t changed enough. It sometimes feels like Apple believes that digital music is a solved problem, and the company is sitting back and dusting…

When Campfire Audio designed its Orbit earbuds, the headphone company didn’t veer from the solitary path it has blazed in a crowded personal audio market. These in-ear monitors sound incredible, look weird, and aren’t engineered to tick all the boxes the competition’s marketing departments have deemed critical to success. What you get with the Orbit are earbuds that sound far more expensive than they are but include none of the active noise cancellation, extensive customization, or high-quality phone call features you’d expect at their price. These are designed for listening to music, full stop. Campfire Audio makes some of the most highly regarded and expensive wired earphones on the market. It’s known for its aggressively funky design sense as well as a playful sense of itself as a lifestyle brand.…