Innehållsförteckning för July 2023 från Macworld

In 2023, Apple is sitting on top of the world. At times ranked as the most valuable company around, its influence in technology and media—and even some realms beyond—exceeds that of almost any other single corporation. But it wasn’t always that way, and much of where the company is today can be attributed to a product released 25 years ago: the original iMac. I vividly remember the first time I saw a picture of that machine: Sitting in my high school library, just a few days shy of graduation, I was leafing through my copy of this very publication, in classic dead-tree format, devouring the cover story on this weird new computer that, unbeknownst to any at the time, would set the course for Apple for years to come. As…

While we’re all wondering when a chip update is coming to the current iMac, Apple is working on potential new features we could see down the road. Patently, Apple reports that it has been granted a new patent for a feature that would allow the iMac to project an image on a wall, desktop, or other surface. Patent US-11630485-B2 is titled “Housing structures and input-output devices for electronic devices,” and Paul X. Wang and Joshua P. Song are listed as the inventors. The patent’s abstract describes a “rear housing wall [that] may have a glass portion or other transparent structure through which projectors project images onto nearby surfaces” and says there could also be sensors that receive light, feasibly for wireless connections. The patent also states that the iMac would include “gaze…

CANON EOS R100 The EOS R100 is aimed at content creators looking to step up from shooting video on an iPhone. This mirrorless camera takes its cues from Canon’s popular EOS Rebel and EOS M cameras and features a 24.2 megapixel sensor, 4K (24 fps) and Full HD (60 fps) video, autofocus with eye and face detection, wireless connectivity. The EOS R100 has interchangeable lenses and is compatible with Canon’s lineup of RF and RF-S lenses.—ROMAN LOYOLA THERMACELL LIV The Thermacell LIV is a highly-effective mosquito-repellant system that consists of a central hub that plugs into an outdoor electrical outlet and connects to your home Wi-Fi network. It works by vaporizing metofluthrin (EPA-registered for use around children and food-prep areas, and safe for pets) in a 20-foot radius. An…

Apple and Google recently announced a joint initiative to prevent the misuse of Bluetooth online tracking devices, such as Apple’s AirTag. The two companies have developed a specification that they are proposing as an industry standard for iOS and Android and that has the backing of many third-party companies offering such trackers, including Chipolo, eufy Security, Pebblebee, Samsung, and Tile. “Apple launched AirTag to give users the peace of mind knowing where to find their most important items,” said Ron Huang, Apple’s vice president of Sensing and Connectivity. “We built AirTag and the Find My network with a set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking—a first in the industry—and we continue to make improvements to help ensure the technology is being used as intended. This new industry specification builds upon…

What’s orange and black and can run your fridge, CPAP, or laptop for hours on end? That’s Jackery’s Explorer 1500 Pro, obviously. With its trademark orange accents and folding cooler-style carry handle, the new Jackery Explorer 1500 Pro provides high capacity and high performance in a relatively light and compact body. We say relatively because, for its 1,500 watt hours, it’s actually pretty light at 37.5 pounds. Compare that to the competing Goal Zero Yeti 1500X, which—despite having the same battery capacity—weighs about 8 pounds more than the Jackery. Like the Goal Zero, the Jackery Explorer 1500 is probably the limit for what most people will want to carry to a campsite or up a flight of stairs while still offering a lot of power. We know this from trying…

Macs have a high price, so it’s understandable that many Mac users will want to put off replacing them for as long as they can. But just how long should you expect a Mac to last? You may also be considering buying a secondhand Mac and wondering how old is too old. For example, is that 2017 iMac for $400/£400 a good deal, or would you be better off spending a bit more on a newer model? One factor to consider is the age at which most Macs start to experience issues, such as random shutdowns and degraded batteries that no longer hold their charge. Unfortunately, at one point repairing your Mac or MacBook will no longer be a viable option and you will need to look for a replacement.…

Apple has added a couple of new features with Apple Maps and Music to help users discover and explore live shows. New hand-curated Guides in Maps showcase music venues and allow you to browse their upcoming shows right in the app. In the Music app, a new Set Lists space lets you browse the set lists for major artist shows and tours. The Guides are somewhat limited. You can access them here, or just browse Guides for one of the selected cities. While there are over 40 guides total, that’s only enough to span 10 cities worldwide: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, and Mexico City. The guides may be useful if you happen to live in or near…

The Shure brand might have you thinking of pro audio gear more than consumer electronics, but the Shure Aonic 40 noise-cancelling headphones deserve to be compared to what market leaders Bose and Sony have to offer. And considering that Shure started out building innovative microphones starting in 1925, these headphones do a great job with phone calls. The Shure Aonic 40 is a closed-back, over-ear set of headphones with 40mm dynamic drivers. Those drivers utilize neodymium magnets and have a frequency response range of 20Hz to 22kHz. The headphones feature a sleek and stylish design, with a matte-black finish and chrome accents. The earpads are plush and comfortable, and they create a good seal around the ears, which helps block out external noise even before you turn on ANC. The…

Everyone wants to talk about AI. Most of them don’t know what it is (artificial intelligence), but they still want to talk about it. Who’s got it and who doesn’t. What industries it’s ripe to disrupt. And the one company that’s not in the middle of that conversation is Apple. Viral images generated by Stable Diffusion and pathological chatbots from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google are the story of the day. Apple, meanwhile, has nothing. Or perhaps, considering the current state of Siri, less than nothing. Apple’s nowhere when it comes to AI. That’s the narrative. The thing is, that narrative is not true. At least, it’s not true yet. PRESENTING THE NEURAL ENGINE It’s hard to imagine that you could portray Apple as a company that’s been asleep at the…

MacBooks can quickly and easily hook up to external displays for greater desk-based screen space. While the plain M1/M2 MacBooks support just one extra screen, the 16-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Max) supports up to four monitors. On its own, the built-in 16-inch screen is gigantic compared to that on the 13-inch MacBook Air, but rather poky when you’re working on a complex spreadsheet or wanting to enjoy a big-budget streaming movie in more glory than in-flight entertainment. What the large built-in laptop screen does offer, of course, is portability. You can’t lug that 32-inch 4K Samsung display to your local coffee shop or fit it on your airplane-seat foldout tray. You can buy portable external displays at up to 17 inches—not much larger than the laptop’s own. The INNOCN Portable…

For years, iPad Pro owners have complained that the “Pro” is certainly evident in the hardware, but the software is consumer-grade, making the high-end tablet just a very expensive way to run iPad apps that already run as fast as you could want on far more affordable iPad models. That has improved in small steps over the past few years, but the iPad Pro still doesn’t feel like a Pro device, and it’s a software problem. The most obvious example has been the lack of Apple’s own professional content creation software on the platform. Now, with the release of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad, it’s a little easier to justify the “Pro” in iPad Pro. REAL PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE I am in no way a professional video editor or sound…

This spring saw a host of innovations announced at developer conferences. Google’s I/O conference kicked off the fun in May, followed by Microsoft’s Build in late May, and finally Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (the one we care about most) in June. Developer conference keynotes are fun because you get to see what the companies are working on and what new products and features are in the future. And sometimes we get a bunch of cool new stuff nondevelopers care about too. That was the case with the Google I/O keynote, which brought numerous new products and features—several of which we hope Apple paid close attention to. Here are five Google I/O announcements we wish had come from Apple instead. 1. MAGIC EDITOR IN GOOGLE PHOTOS Google used its AI research to…

Thinking about buying a new iPhone? We have plenty of advice in our iPhone buying guide, but rather than just telling you which iPhone might be best for you, we thought it might be a good idea to review some common iPhone-buying pitfalls. Whether you’re switching to iPhone for the first time or replacing an older model, here are five ways to make sure you avoid the most common traps people fall into. 1. DON’T DISMISS THE HIGHPRICED PRO MODEL When you buy an iPhone, you have more to consider than whether you want the bigger size. The iPhone line is divided into the regular iPhones (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus) and Pro iPhones (iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max). There’s even talk of a future “Ultra” model that…

As an editor who’s been covering Apple for a long time, I’m often asked by family, friends, and acquaintances about which Mac to buy. I have knowledge and insight that people can tap into conveniently through a conversation, saving someone from hours of research, a task that can be daunting, intimidating, and confusing. When using Google or another search engine, results appear as a list of websites, and then it’s up to you to find the information you need. That could take a lot of time, maybe even several hours. But generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard can possibly cut that time down to a few minutes, akin to the conversations I have. However, the buzz about how empowering generative AI tools can be was accompanied by reports and…

If you have a subscription to Apple Music, you surely noticed that you have an infinite playlist. As soon as you no longer have items queued for playback, the Music app on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac starts up with an algorithmically selected set of items collectively organized as the Playing Next list. What if you don’t want music to play continuously? Finding the “off” button is a bit tricky. There’s no item or preference labeled Autoplay in the interface except within the Playing Next list. Here’s how to turn off Autoplay in Apple’s operating systems. 1. STOP AUTOPLAY IN iOS AND iPADOS 1. In the Music app, start music playing. 2. Tap the song bar at the bottom of your iPhone or iPad. 3. If you don’t see a…

HOW TO UNLOCK A DECEASED PERSON’S REMAINING DEVICES WITHOUT LEGACY ACCESS The last few years have seen highly elevated levels of unexpected deaths of those around us. Preparations people might once have made as they aged or experienced a terminal illness are overlooked when they are gone in a moment. Survivors are left with loss and the material remains of that person’s life, including their hardware. The saddest thing I have to tell people who write in after someone close to them has passed away is that they can’t access the stored photos, letters, and other parts of a person’s life. In some cases, of course, people wish their life’s digital record to end with them. Most of the time, it’s an accident, due to a lack of planning or…

Thanks to Apple’s move to its own chips, the Mac has been on a roll recently, after a frustrating spell of bad keyboards, poor ports, and overheating with pre-M1 Macs. But not all of those old Macs are bad—many of them are actually still cherished by their owners. For example, the Intel-equipped 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air were tremendously popular and held down the fort on the affordable end of the MacBook lineup for many years. These laptops may not be considered “modern” by the new standards set by Apple, but they are still supported with the latest version of macOS. They were somewhat upgradeable, easy to fix, and had tons of spare parts available. Within the secondhand community, even Macs with soldered-down components are looked at as having…

Some security products that offer both Windows and macOS versions seem to devote equal time and resources to both versions. Others more heavily favor the Windows version, leaving the Mac edition lacking certain features and options. Such is the case with F-Secure Total for the Mac, which seems to be a full-featured security program at first glance but isn’t quite on par with its Windows counterpart. INSTALLATION To use F-Secure Total, you can select one of the paid subscriptions right off the bat or go for the free 30-day trial, all of which prompt you to set up an account. The trial requires no credit card and even gives you free technical support if you need it. At the main screen, you’re asked if you want to add your own…

Apple recently offered a preview of a wide range of new accessibility software features for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The features, intended to make Apple’s devices easier to use for those with or at risk of cognitive, vision, hearing, speaking, and mobility disabilities, will roll out later in 2023, but the company made the announcement to tie in with Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which fell this year on Thursday, May 18. “Today, we’re excited to share incredible new features that build on our long history of making technology accessible,” said Tim Cook, “so that everyone has the opportunity to create, communicate, and do what they love.” ASSISTIVE ACCESS The first new feature is designed to make it easier for those with cognitive disabilities to use the iPhone and iPad.…

Apple on Thursday increased the maximum value of trade-ins for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs. Overall, the values haven’t gone up significantly—only $30 or £25 at the most, and only on items that were released within the past four years—but it’s relatively rare for trade-in prices to increase at all. In some cases, the maximum value offered has decreased, especially in the U.K. The prices represent the maximum value on a trade-in, but the criteria to get that value is very strict, applying to devices that are in near-perfect condition and have higher-end components, such as higher memory, storage capacity, or processors. Signs of use, visible damage, lower storage and memory, and slower processors affect the value adversely. Apple doesn’t always offer a trade-in option for your device, especially…

It’s a long-held belief of Mac users that their computers are immune to the kind of malware and viruses that plague Windows PCs. While there is some credibility in this idea, we shouldn’t get overconfident when it comes to Mac security, as there are exploits criminals can use to hack your Mac and leave it like a wide-open door through which they can steal your data or worse. In this article we take a look at whether Macs can be hacked, how to tell if your Mac has been hacked or if someone is spying on your Mac, and what you can do if your Mac is being remotely accessed. Here’s what you need to know—and what you need to do. CAN MACS GET HACKED? Apple has gone to great…

Several years ago, Apple finished deploying a “solid-state” trackpad in place of the mechanical kind it had used starting in 1995. This new kind of trackpad first appeared as part of the short-lived 2015 12-inch MacBook. Instead of having internal switches and other moving parts, this Force Touch keyboard simulates a response using haptics. When you press the trackpad, a motor inside vibrates in a rapid way that makes you feel as if the trackpad moved. You can try out how it feels when “dead” by powering down your Mac—it’s just an inert piece of electronics. If you’re moving from an older Mac that predates the Force Touch or you customized a previous Mac with this technology and didn’t realize that you adjusted its settings, you might be taken aback…

Pro-Ject remained committed to vinyl during the dark days early in the 21st century, and it continues to manufacture a wide variety of turntables, phono preamplifiers, and accessories that appeal to new listeners, hardcore audiophiles, and anyone who falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. The Pro-Ject Record Box E is a phono preamplifier with a built-in analog-to-digital converter and USB output that allows a user to plug into a computer and make digital copies of their vinyl collection. The Record Box E, which is a modified version of Pro-Ject’s entry-level $89 Phono Box E, is one of the least expensive ways to add digitization capabilities to a turntable you already own. WHO NEEDS A RECORD BOX E? Despite the massive music catalogs on streaming services such as Apple…