Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från Macworld

Macworld columnist Jason Snell recently wrote about how Apple should take more risks with its products—and I wholeheartedly agree, especially when it comes to the Mac. Makers of Windows PCs often implement odd features to stand out in a crowded marketplace—it’s something Apple doesn’t need to do because Apple relies on the Mac’s elegance, reliability, and role in an ecosystem that works well. But unique and daring features could breathe new life into the Mac and help it grow. So, taking cues from what’s in current PC laptops and what was shown at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, here are five features I’d like to see Apple interpret and use in its Mac products. Some of these are wild, and way out there, and they wouldn’t sell in huge numbers—kind of…

Along with the launch of the new M3 MacBook Air in March, Apple shifted around its laptop range to make room for a new budget model. Gone is the M1 MacBook Air that had been in the lineup since 2020 and in its place is a new $999 model: the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air. While the price is the same, the newest budget laptop is a huge upgrade in value. The M1 model had Apple’s old design, chip, and screen, while the M2 model is an upgrade in every way. It has a newer design with slimmer bezels, a larger and brighter display with rounded corners, 1080p FaceTime camera, and spatial audio support. Apple is offering the M2 MacBook Air in the same four colors as the M3 models—midnight, starlight, space…

With the Everyday Backpack, Peak Design has created a backpack that’s robust and adaptable for many activities. And it looks chic, too. In the backpack’s notebook compartment, Peak Design came up with a very clever height adjustment. If you have a 13-inch MacBook Air, you don’t have to reach very deep to pull it out. The compartment is well padded, so even if you drop the backpack your precious MacBook is protected. The large main compartment can be divided using three Velcro separators. Without a separator, the compartment is big enough to hold, say, a stack of three A4 binders and books, along with a separator to make room for a camera at the bottom, and books or an iPad above it. The main compartment can be accessed from three…

After years of the market complaining that Apple is “behind” on artificial intelligence, the company is poised to make a big push in the technology with its platform updates this year. It’s a rare move that’s been confirmed by no less than CEO Tim Cook himself, who said in the company’s most recent financial results call that the company would “share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year.” Of course, the company’s not really a stranger to this space: Apple has spent plenty of time deploying machine learning technology in a variety of areas for years, from photography to autocorrect. But the industry’s focus of late is on generative AI, the technology that underlies the products that have captured the zeitgeist, from chatbots like ChatGPT…

If you’ve been on Facebook or TikTok recently you might have seen a warning, filled with scary icons and rhetoric, about a new iPhone setting that shares your name and location. Like most viral warnings about the iPhone, it’s not true. Before we explain why it’s nothing to worry about, here’s how to turn it off: > Go to the Settings app. > Open the Privacy & Security tab. > Scroll down to Journaling Suggestions and tap it. > Toggle the Discoverable by Others option off. OK, now that you’re completely safe, let’s review what this setting does and why your data and location aren’t at risk. The feature is tied to Apple’s new Journal app that arrived in iOS 17.2. Like most stock apps, it automatically appears on your…

Over the years, we’ve touted the MacBook Air as the laptop for just about anyone—it’s an ideal combination of performance, features, and price. It became even more compelling when Apple redesigned it and upgraded to the M2 chip in 2022 and released a 15-inch M2 model in 2023. The MacBook Air now joins the M3 party that Apple started last fall. It’s practically the same laptop as before—besides the chip upgrade, there are only two other new features in the new M3 MacBook Air. A lot has not changed with the Air, and neither has our perception of the laptop: The MacBook Air continues to be the best laptop choice for just about anyone. SPECIFICATIONS The MacBook Air gets an upgrade from the M2 to the M3 chip. It does not…

Apple offers a wide variety of USB-C chargers corresponding to the many models of MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro it’s made that remain available or that it offers replacements for. You might think because these are so specific, like a 29W or 140W charger, that you must use exactly that wattage adapter for a given device. Fortunately, that’s not the case. While it was true before the widespread adoption of the USB-C plug type by Apple and everybody else, USB-C makes it even easier as there’s only a single kind of jack you can plug into any port. Power management is a fundamental part of USB generally; USB-C improved on it by allowing for power to flow either direction on a cable (and by adopting the most advanced parts…

You can’t knock something that comes for free, especially when it works well and meets almost all of your needs. This is the core philosophy of Intego’s VirusBarrier, the free version of its antiviral software, and arguably the teaser that segues to its more robust subscription-based products. Here, the developers sought to perform a few tasks well, and for the most part they have achieved this, VirusBarrier being a far simpler version of the veritable army of many-featured security software suites that has emerged on the market in recent years. If you’re looking for something simple and effective, you’ll find it here. Just download VirusBarrier Scanner from the App Store, grant it full access to your hard drive, and you’re ready to go. A simple interface lets you easily customize…

JBL is a major player in the portable speaker market, offering Bluetooth speakers ranging from the very small Clip and Go series to the giant Boombox. In between are the medium-size options: the Pulse, Flip, Charge, and Xtreme. The model names are well established in our minds, and most of the speakers are now in their third or fourth generation. At CES in January, JBL presented the mischievous Clip 5 and Go 4, as well as the long-awaited piece Xtreme 4. The Xtreme series has been something of a favorite among our editors. Optimal for those who want to take a slightly larger speaker with them, whether it’s to the pool, the beach, or a gathering in the park. With a fairly compact body weighing 4.6 pounds (2.1 kg), the…

The $1,999 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro System on a Chip is $400 more than the base 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 SoC. While that higher price tag looks like a lot, the $1,999 laptop ends up being a better value. You get a faster CPU and GPU, more memory to work with, and more flexible connectivity options. This review looks at how the $1,999 MacBook Pro compares to the $1,599 model. A full review of the $1,599 MacBook Pro M3 is available for a more in-depth analysis of that laptop. SPECIFICATIONS Apple offers two standard configurations of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with a M3 Pro chip. The model in this review is the $1,999/£2,099 version. Our guide to the M3 chips explains the differences in greater detail.…

In the latest version of the paid edition of the “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple has OS redesigns in mind. The company is focused on one for iOS 18, which will debut this summer at Worldwide Developers Conference. Gurman also reports that a macOS redesign is in the works, too. However, the iOS 18 facelift is Apple’s priority (as usual), and the macOS one won’t be ready for WWDC. More likely, it’ll be introduced within the next two years. Since the macOS redesign has just begun, no specifics are provided as to what the redesign will entail. Apple last redesigned macOS with Big Sur in 2020, which would be more than five years old when this new design overhaul is expected to arrive. Apple’s approach isn’t…

FUJIFILM X100VI MIRRORLESS DIGITAL CAMERA Social media is in love with Fujifilm’s latest, and with good reason—it’s a small yet powerful camera that’s easy to use for novices but has features pros will love. This fixed-lens camera has a 40.2- megapixel sensor that can capture 6K video, five-axis in-body image stabilization, a hybrid viewfinder, and 20 film simulation modes to help you get the look you want. WACOM ONE 13 TOUCH Wacom’s tablet display works with the Mac--if you’ve always wanted to be able to use a stylus for graphics arts, connect this 13-inch display to a USB-C port on a Mac, and you can put your digital pen to digital paper (so to speak). The display also offers multi-touch capability so you can use your fingers, too. BENQ…

Adieu, Project Titan, we never knew ye. But while Apple’s ambitious car project may have been left in the dust, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a valuable experience, nor that it doesn’t continue to pay some dividends for the company. After a decade of work, billions in investment, and the work of hundreds of engineers, you’d better believe that Apple cutting its losses doesn’t mean that everything Titan-related has been packed up into a white cardboard box and thrown into Apple Park’s attic. We already known that many of the people who worked on Project Titan will be reassigned elsewhere. But it’s more than just the personnel who worked on the Apple Car; it’s the technology developed for Apple’s automotive project that will surely work its way into other places…

I’ve reviewed a bunch of impressive portable multi-device wireless chargers recently, and this newcomer, the Matrix Ultimate, lives up to its name. It offers maximum fast iPhone and Apple Watch wireless charging with the ability to detach the iPhone charger as a power bank and the Watch charger to slot into any USB-C port. The whole package is portable and even comes with a soft but stiff felt carry case, mini USB-C wall charger, and cable. But the most impressive feature is magnetic MagSafe wireless charging support (iPhone 12 and later), thanks to a removable 5,000mAh battery pack. There are smaller and higher-capacity alternatives, but the Matrix Ultimate is one of the few that charges three Apple devices while delivering a full 15W to an iPhone. MODULAR THREE-PIECE DESIGN Alogic…

Every fall Apple releases four iPhones, but this excess of choice seems less intimidating once you realize that these are really just two phones wearing different clothing. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is essentially a bigger version of the iPhone 15 Pro—same processor, same camera setup, same features—while the iPhone 15 discussed in this article is a shrunk-down version of the 15 Plus, which we reviewed last year. In this article, I’ll be focusing on the areas where the iPhone 15 differs from the 15 Plus: namely, portability, the screen, and battery performance. I’ll sum up our findings in the other departments as well, but for a fuller rundown read my review of the larger model. DESIGN AND BUILD If you want the latest look to emerge from Cupertino’s design…

Few computer-related disasters can quickly drain the color from your face quicker than losing a document you’ve been busily working on. Whether your Mac crashed or froze, you forgot to save, or you accidentally clicked on delete, all might not be lost. We’ll show you how you can recover that vanished Word document. If everything is working as it should, then it’s quite hard to lose a file in Word. Word has an autosave feature that means that in the event of an accident, you should still have the bulk of your work, except for the last ten minutes. Our top tip would be to save a document as soon as you start working on it to ensure that it autosaves regularly. But that’s not why you’re here. If you’ve…

We all probably know someone (or we arethat someone) who wears AirPods all the time. Well, you might be seeing even more people leaving their AirPods in their ears if the latest report on a future feature pans out. In the paid edition of the Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the upcoming iOS 18 update will come with a “hearing aid mode” that will work on the AirPods Pro. Details on how this feature works were not provided and it’s not clear if the hearing aid mode will work with the current AirPods Pro or a new model that has yet to be released. Apple will unveil iOS 18 at its Worldwide Developers Conference. While the dates for the event have not been set, it usually occurs in…

Apple wants you to avoid damaging your hearing when you’re using an iPhone or iPad (but, strangely, not a Mac). In Settings → Sounds & Haptics → Headphone Safety, enable Reduce Loud Audio, and you can set a threshold above which your iPhone or iPad will moderate sound. It doesn’t create an abrupt cutoff, but it keeps you from hearing sounds above a particular level, measured using standard decibel units. However, once you enable this setting, it affects all external audio devices, not just wired and wireless headphones and earbuds. Because Bluetooth doesn’t allow a phone or tablet to know what’s connected, just the kind of Bluetooth data that’s requested, Apple throttles the maximum sound to all Bluetooth devices, including your externally connected speakers. If you forgot that you enabled…

More than four months after unveiling the M3 chip in the new 14-inch MacBook Pro, Apple has finally updated the other laptops in its family, the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air. The new machines are essentially a specifications bump that should make buying a laptop a simpler process. Apple’s three plain-Jane M3 machines range in price from $1,099 to $1,599, and this time around you won’t need to be a computer scientist to figure out which one to buy. Here’s how the pricing breaks down at the simplest level: > M3 MacBook Air, 13-inch, 8-core CPU/8-core GPU, 256GB: $1,099 > M3 MacBook Air, 13-inch, 8-core CPU/10-core GPU, 512GB: $1,299 > M3 MacBook Air, 15-inch, 8-core CPU/10-core GPU, 256GB: $1,299 > M3 MacBook Pro, 14-inch: 8-core CPU/10-core GPU, 512GB: $1,599 Rounding…

Apple makes nice displays, but sheesh, they are expensive. So when a display like Dough’s Spectrum One with Gorilla Glass is released, it certainly catches a shopper’s eye. Priced at $898 (that’s $799 for the display and $99 for the stand), it’s considerably cheaper than the $1,599 Apple Studio Display. It’s easy to find a 27-inch, 4K display that’s cheaper than the Studio Display, but they are not usually on par with Apple’s quality. The Spectrum One, however, comes very close—so close that for a lot of people, it’s a viable alternative to the Studio Display. As you might expect, a few compromises are made, but you also get a few features that you either can’t find or have to pay extra for in the Studio Display. If you are…

The U.S. Department of Justice, joined by 16 state and district attorneys general, has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple for monopolization or attempted monopolization of smartphone markets in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. You can read the full text of the filling here (PDF). The government alleges that Apple used contractual restrictions and technological restrictions to limit developers in such a way that it is more difficult for them to compete with Apple’s own products and services, and more difficult for iPhone users to switch to Android. “Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make users less reliant on the iPhone, promote interoperability, and lower costs for consumers and developers. Apple exercises its monopoly power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists,…

Mobile World Congress was held this past February in Barcelona, and we understand if it passed you by. While Apple and the iPhone are on everyone’s mind, MWC is primarily an Android show. But there are still some announcements that will get Apple fans a little jealous. Here are five that caught our eye—and we hope Apple is paying attention. 1. GALAXY RING As if Samsung was reading the rumor blogs, right after reports emerged that Apple had explored the development of a smart ring, new details emerged of the upcoming Galaxy Ring, which reportedly won’t work with iPhones. We don’t know much about it other than it will track most health metrics that a smartwatch does—sleep, heart rate, fertility, and so on—and will last about a week between charges.…

Photographer Chase Jarvis said, “The best camera is the one you have with you.” And for just about everyone, that means it’s a smartphone camera—and unless you’re a serious photographer, you’re not carrying another camera wherever you go. You know what else people aren’t carrying with them? Printers to output any photos shot on a smartphone camera. If you do find yourself in a situation where you’d like to have the ability to instantly print the photos you shoot with an iPhone, you don’t have to lug around that hefty all-in-one. As part of its Instax product lineup, Fujifilm has portable photo printers that are very easy to carry. This review looks at the $99 Fujifilm Instax mini Link 2, a smartphone printer that can produce beautiful photos of your family,…

Apple has launched a new page for customers that brings together a lot of separate elements across its website into a single resource. The new Manuals, Specs, and Downloads page will help you find all the information you need for any of the Apple products you own. It’s organized by product category and includes tech specs, user guides, information pages, and repair manuals (when applicable) for Apple products going back decades—even including tech specs for the old iMac G3. Some pages include links to software downloads like EFI and firmware updates (for older Macs) or things like the Pro Display XDR calibrator software. The Software category is for downloads and manuals for Apple’s consumer, professional, and productivity software. It should be noted that info such as Tech Specs pages has not…

Resembling an integral part of a Stealth Bomber, Ugreen’s gunmetal gray Revodok Max 213 Thunderbolt Dock is a mean-looking desktop accessory. Built for a vertical orientation, it resembles the mighty CalDigit TS4 Docking Station and is priced accordingly. We’ll compare the two docks, plus a third contender, later in this review. The Max 213 has an impressive range of high-end ports, starting with its Thunderbolt 4 connection to your MacBook, two more TB4 ports and a dedicated DisplayPort 1.4 port to connect your main monitor. It can support two 4K displays at 60Hz, and boasts superfast 2.5Gb Ethernet. SPECS AND FEATURES The Ugreen Revodok Max 213 Thunderbolt Dock has 13 top-end ports. > One upstream Thunderbolt 4 port (40Gbps, 90W PD) > Two downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports (40Gbps, 15W) >…

With tvOS 17, Apple added the ability to make FaceTime calls with the Apple TV 4K. Since the Apple TV 4K doesn’t have a camera, Apple implemented Continuity Camera, which allows the Apple TV 4K to connect to an iPhone and use its camera. That, however, introduced a new problem: What do you do with the iPhone when making a FaceTime call on Apple TV 4K? Prop it up under your TV against a book? Awkwardly hold it in your hand while looking at your TV? Use some two-sided tape and stick your iPhone on the wall above the TV? Thankfully, Belkin has released a solution to this first-world problem. The new iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Apple TV 4K allows you to put the iPhone in a proper place…

HOW TO MOVE ITEMS BETWEEN MAC APPS USING THE APP SWITCHER You can always find some hidden magic in macOS’s Finder, even if you think you know all the tricks. It’s only recently that I realized I had been underutilizing what you could call “drag, tab, drop” or “drag-switch.” Anywhere in macOS, you can invoke the app switcher using the shortcut Command-Tab. It shows all open apps in the order of last invoked from left (newest) to right. While holding down the Command key, pressing Command-Tab or Command-Shift-Tab cycles you forward or backward through those open apps. You can also use arrow keys or a scroll wheel, touch area, or trackball on a mouse or pointer. (While holding Command after pressing Command-Tab, you can add Escape to exit the app…