Inhoudsopgave van April 2017 - MacFormat

iMAC G5 FINAL iMAC TO USE POWERPC PROCESSORS Apple’s decision to switch from PowerPC processors to Intel was controversial at the time, and the iMac G5 was its final PowerPC Mac. It was also the first Apple computer to use the PCI Express expansion bus. 640×480 POWER MACINTOSH 8500 A/V The Power Macintosh 8500 was the first personal computer to include near-broadcast quality audio/visual input and output. It was so good that no hard drive could keep up! 1.86KG WEIGHT OF THE POWERBOOK DUO LAPTOP Introduced in 1992, the PowerBook Duo was the lightest and smallest of Apple’s contemporary PowerBook range. In fact, only the MacBook Air, 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and 12-inch Retina MacBook have weighed less.…

Last year something happened that sent tech writers reeling the world over. No, Steve Jobs hadn’t returned from the dead; people had found the first Mac ransomware. Every Mac user is familiar with the adage that ‘Macs don’t get malware’, but is that still true? Do you need anti-malware apps for your Mac? Naturally immune Traditionally, there have always been two main reasons why Mac antivirus software has been seen as superfluous: macOS’ low market share, and its UNIX base. Windows enjoys an operating system market share of almost 90%. That makes it a highly attractive target to malware authors: the larger the market share, the greater the chance you’ll find someone to exploit. And unlike Windows (based on MS-DOS), Macs are UNIX-based, which makes them much more complicated to…

JIMMY IOVINE apple.com “Apple… was the one that understood why artists make things.” Apple Music impressario explains how Apple has merged tech and music DAVID SPARKS macsparky.com “Apple should add features to iOS that allow users to be more productive.” Noted Apple blogger feels Apple needs to do more to help boost iPad sales KEN SEGALL kensegall.com “He did not force us to follow a rigid process, even after we went into production.” Former Apple ad guru says Steve Jobs’ management style was key to success TIM COOK apple.com “Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do.” Apple chief opposes Trump’s immigration policies in letter to staff…

What about HomeKit? nitially, HomeKit didn’t work with cameras, but that changed with iOS 10, and you can control them with the Home app provided with it. When new HomeKitcompatible models from the likes of Withings and D-Link arrive, you’ll be able to link them to other HomeKit accessories, perhaps telling the camera to turn on the lights so that it can get a good picture of a night-time intruder. Wired or wireless? Most smart security cameras conveniently make use of your Wi-Fi network, enabling you to move them around. If a room has poor reception, fortunately Netatmo, Netgear, Withings and D-Link make cameras that use an Ethernet cable. here’s no doubt that we see more information about security cameras than any other type of smart home product. In fact,…

1 Pin oft-used sites You can pin tabs for sites you use often so they’re immediately accessible in any Safari window that has the tab bar visible. Either ≈-click and choose Pin Tab, or drag a tab to the far left of the bar. 2 The Favorites Bar Choose View > Favorites Bar, then visit a site, click in the address bar and drag the site’s icon to the bar to pin a shortcut there. In Safari‘s General prefs, new tabs can be set to show your favourites. 3 Share web pages Click the Share button and you can add the current page to your reading list for later perusal (access it by pressing ≈+commond+2), add it to your bookmarks, or send it to a number of other services. 4…

1 Use iCloud When first used, iBooks asks if you want to use iCloud. If you do, items you add will be synced across your devices that use the same account. To activate it later, turn on iBooks in iCloud > iCloud Drive in System Prefs on your Macs and Settings on iOS devices. 2 Don’t use iCloud Yes, we know what we just said, but if you keep your books only on one Mac, you can use the app purely as a reader for eBooks and PDFs – the latter open in Preview. (If your iCloud account has plenty of free storage, you might leave iCloud on anyway.) 3 Sort and view more By default, iBooks puts recent additions at the top left, which you can change in View…

1 Format your notes Click the format menu (Aa) to give notes titles and headings. In Notes’ preferences, you can set the first line of new notes to be a title or heading. Even if you don’t format notes, be mindful the first two lines are shown in the sidebar. 2 Work with attachments The Share buttons in Safari and Maps can add content to specific notes as a visual preview and large button. In Notes, click the button that shows four squares to browse such attachments by category. 3 Temporary lists Click the checklist button (or use s+c+l) to turn the current or selected lines into a checklist. Click, or press s+c+u , to mark an item as done. This is great for quick lists, but it’s wise to…

NEW IDEAS Your new-look guide to getting more from your Apple kit TURN AN iPAD INTO A TOUCH BAR FOR MAC p50 Understand iOS gestures A tap is a brief contact of (usually) one finger on your device’s screen. To drag is to move a finger across the screen to scroll or pan around content. Swipe means move one or more fingers across an item or the screen, then let go. A flick is like swiping, but it’s quicker, and is often used to scroll content more quickly. Pinch means move two fingers together or apart, usually to zoom in or out. Touch and hold means lightly rest your finger on an item and wait for a reaction. Master Mac keyboard shortcuts When you see a shortcut like command+option+C, hold…

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to set up and use the Clock app’s Bedtime feature to get a good night’s rest. YOU’LL NEED iOS 10’s Clock app Bedtime aims to ensure you get a good night’s rest and helps keep an eye on your sleep patterns You may think you know about every single way you can use the Clock app, but in iOS 10 it has gained a new feature, Bedtime, that’s well worth checking out. As its name suggests, it’s all about helping you get a good night’s rest, and it’ll also give you some insight into your sleep patterns. Tap Bedtime’s icon in the app’s bottom bar and you’ll be asked a few questions, one at a time, such as how many hours…

Hardware quick-fire questions Can I upgrade my 2013, 21.5-inch iMac’s memory? The memory in your Mac can be boosted to 16GB, but late 2012, 2013, and Mid 2014 21.5-inch iMacs can only be upgraded by an Apple Store or Authorised Service Provider. Most other models have userreplaceable memory. However, in late 2015 21.5-inch iMacs, it isn’t upgradeable at all. Where is my Mac’s hardware UUID? Choose the About This Mac command in the ? menu, then click the System Report button to open the System Information app. The last item in the app's right pane shows your Mac’s UUID, which is completely different from its serial number. You can select and copy it from this window. What’s up with text legibility? Most of the time, the contrast on my 2012,…

iOS software quick-fire questions When should I use VPN on my iPad? Virtual private networking uses an encrypted connection, which is important , if not essential, when using a public Wi-Fi network. Although the HTTPS protocol used on the internet is still secure, plain HTTP connections could readily be intercepted by others, enabling viewing of sensitive information going between your device and the internet; you’ll find a tutorial in MF310. I want to be able to translate some French words In Settings General Dictionary, enable iOS’s French-English dictionary. With that done, when you want to translate a word from French to English, select the whole word and then tap Look Up in the bar that appears. Why does AirPlay Mirroring drop out? My iPhone 7 Plus keeps dropping out when…

£349 FROM GoPro, gopro.com FEATURES 4K video capture at 30fps, 2.0-inch touchscreen, 12MP still images, waterproof up to 10m, USB-C port Alexs says… Yes, the Hero5 Black is waterproof out of the box, but I’m still a little concerned considering we experienced some slight water leakage. Still, that’s countered by the boost to video quality and improved usability – anything that makes a GoPro easier to use is good in my book! G oPro has finally made its famous action cameras a bit more user friendly. In this instance, the new additions include a rear touchscreen display, voice activation and easy one-button control, while the overall shooting experience has been abridged to make capturing the action as painless as possible. Video resolution sits at 4K at 30fps; you get 12MP…

Wave goodbye to deadspots £300 for three pack FROM BT, bt.com FEATURES Dual-band Wi-Fi, 1x Ethernet port per node Price Mesh systems are designed for large homes and many of us will be able to make do with a more powerful standard router. But for far less money these BT units are good value, and work with all broadband providers, not just BT. Performance With three in a pack, you’d need to have a very large (or tall) home before you ran out of connectivity. Signal remains very strong throughout and you could easily use it to stretch signal to an outbuilding or garage with clever placement (you’re helped with this during setup). Design BT’s disc design isn’t ugly, but it’s hardly attractive and you need a reasonably big, flat…

MONITOR ViewSonic VP2772 £650 viewsonic.com If you’re not fussed about 4K but still want exceptional image quality, this IPS display is truly superb. It offers 99% coverage of the Adobe RGB colour space, 10-bit colour and a 2560x1440-pixel resolution. It has HDMI 1.4, DVI and Mini DisplayPort connections, and four USB 3.0 ports for expansion. NETWORK STORAGE QNAP TS-251+ 6TB £480 qnap.com We know a good NAS drive when we see one, which is why the 6TB TS-251+ won MF302’s group test. It’s one of the quickest NAS drives we’ve seen lately, with transfer rates of over 105MB/sec for large files. It has an HDMI port and a remote control for watching your media directly on your TV set. Four USB ports top it off. PRINTER Brother HL-3150CDW £108 brother.co.uk This…

W hile several companies have teased the idea of an inductive Apple Watch charging band, few have delivered. However, it now looks like Apple itself is weighing up the idea, as has been detailed in a recently published patent. The patent shows a charger embedded in an Apple Watch band, which would charge the device while it is being worn. It would work in a similar way to Apple’s existing Watch charger, via inductive power charging, but could also draw power to charge its own internal battery. The other possibility outlined in the patent is a charger that would attach itself to an existing Watch band. This would be hidden on the underside of the Watch. The patent also outlines a concept wherein sensors would be included with the charger…

Our top picks of what’s worth watching and playing this month [MOVIE] HELL OR HIGH WATER £9.99 Two brothers try to rob a bank in order to save their ranch, with only a grizzled sheriff to stop them. Oscar nominated neo-Western thriller. [PODCAST] THE INFINITE MONKEY CAGE FREE Brian Cox and Robin Ince share irreverent thoughts on science, blending serious talk with comedic wit. [TV SHOW] THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON NETFLIX The infamous murder trial gets the small screen treatment in this highly acclaimed – and highly charged – drama.…

The cloud stores info, but does nothing with it. That will change Apple products have always been about improving the experience. Even the Apple I, with its homebrew origins, was unusually user-friendly by being a complete box that needed just a keyboard and display, and available in a built form. The exact nature of the experience changes over time – from the addition of a GUI in the Macintosh to the “digital hub” of the iMac and iLife combination, and beyond – but the core is always making things friendlier, and reducing friction. Right now, the core of the experience is shifting again to the cloud. You’re probably thinking that I’m an idiot, and that iCloud is already at the centre of things, but I’d say you’re only half right.…

Cocoon £159 cocoon.life As well as its 1080p camera and night-vision mode, this UK-based crowdfunding success uses Subsound tech to detect sound and vibrations throughout your home. As well as sending alerts to your iPhone, it has a seriously loud 90dB siren. Logitech Circle £159 logitech.com/en-gb Though there are more technically advanced cameras available, we like Circle’s ease of use and semi-portable design. It’ll spend most of its time in its mains-powered dock, but its rechargeable battery means you can move it for up to 12 hours. Netatmo Presence £250 netatmo.com Presence is expensive, but is also one of the best outdoor cameras you can get right now. It provides 1080p resolution with night vision, and has a floodlight to scare away intruders. You can save video to an SD…

View the sidebar You can browse your library with or without a sidebar; without it, views and playlists are accessed through the arrow next to Library in the navigation bar. To toggle it, choose View > Show/Hide Sidebar. Switch media type This menu enables you to switch between types of media, or you can press c+1 through to 9. You can edit its contents: pick Edit Menu from it and leave check marks next to items to keep visible. See the status bar The Status Bar is hidden by default, but you can make it visible with View > Status Bar. It shows the current view or selection in terms of storage size taken up, duration of running time, and an item count. Edit cover art If album art is…

1 Collaborate! Pages, Numbers and Keynote enable working on docs with other people at the same time. Click Collaborate on the toolbar to invite people to work on your doc using the Mac, iOS or iCloud.com apps. 2 Access word count To keep an eye on how wordy a Pages document has become, choose View > Show Word Count. Move the pointer over the counter and a pop-up indicator appears; click it to change the unit that’s used. You can drag the counter anywhere over your doc. 3 Remove a background Add an image, click the Format button in the toolbar and click Instant Alpha. Click and drag on an area of the image to make that colour, and similar ones, transparent. The effect is applied contiguously, so similar colours…

1 Sidebar speediness Choose View > Show Sidebar to get a pane of page thumbnails for your document. That menu also contains options to switch to a table of contents, highlights and notes, bookmarks, or even a thumbnails-only contact sheet. 2 Change your view Preview uses a continuous scrolling view of single pages by default. If you’ve opened a comic or magazine, View > Two Pages is better suited to a wide screen. Fancy slowly reading in automated fashion? Try View > Slideshow. 3 Add highlights For basic edits to a PDF, use the Highlight button in the toolbar. Select some text, click the button’s downward arrow, and choose a colour – or use strikethrough to flag something for deletion. Save the file to keep your markings. 4 Make major…

1 Filter out junk In Mail Preferences, click the Junk Mail tab and turn on filtering. You can define what the app does with junk messages, and you can exempt certain messages to avoid false attribution. This also adds a Junk mailbox in the Mailbox List sidebar, too. 2 Sort and filter Messages are usually sorted in reverse chronological order; click the ‘Sort by’ menu at the top left of the list to change this. Alternatively, click the filter button (top right), then the filter’s description left of that to see only messages from VIPs, say. 3 Save attachments Open a message and put the pointer over the separating line between its body and the sender’s info above it; if the message has attachments, click the paper clip button that…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to report and stop annoying or risky numbers that keep calling you YOU’LL NEED iOS 9.0 or higher Hiya warns you on the Phone app’s incoming call screen about suspected scam callers These days it’s easier than ever to stay in touch with people all over the world, but it has a downside in that it’s also easy for unsolicited calls to reach you. One cause of this can be that you’ve given your personal data to social networks, apps or services, perhaps because they require it as part of setting up an account. Even if you trust that they won’t share your details, a security breach could leak data and lead to fraudsters, phishers, and identity thieves calling you to…

Yes, although doing it yourself is a moderately difficult task as it requires some disassembly, which can prove quite fiddly. You’ll need to remove its memory modules, fan, and Wi-Fi aerial before you reach the first drive. Several online videos demo this, such as bit.ly/2l2rt3T. You’ll need a 2.5-inch SSD with a SATA-III (6Gbps) connector. The drive doesn’t have a separate sled or mount within the Mac, but takes two small mounting bolts which you must transfer from the side of the old drive. If you don’t fancy doing this yourself, a trained Mac service engineer should be able to do it for you in a few minutes. Once done, start up the Mac from a USB drive with the Sierra installer on it (apple.co/ 2laroP0); restoring directly from a…

IN PRINT ON iPAD & iPHONE ISSUE 310 MARCH 2017 Become a Mac Genius Multi-monitor setups made easy Get smart: automate your home Use an old Mac as a Time Capsule ISSUE 309 FEBRUARY 2017 Get more from Apple Music Make your MacBook last longer Discover the full power of 3D Touch Create your own typeface ISSUE 308 JANUARY 2017 Amazing macOS timesavers Go pro with your iPhone and iPad Smart devices to keep luggage safe Learn to paint on your iPad To order back issues of the print magazine, go to bit.ly/macformat_back or phone +44 (0)844 848 2852 and we’ll post them out to you. Download back issues onto your iOS device at any time and keep them forever in your personal library. bit.ly/macformatipad GET 3 ISSUES FOR £5!…

Apple is known for running a notoriously tight ship, and it’s a rare leak indeed that escapes its sleek, svelte glass walls. That’s not to say leaks do not exist, of course. Just as well, because it lets us take a look at what we can expect Tim Cook and friends to unleash upon the world in the upcoming year. Depending on your perspective, 2016 was either a big step forward for Apple or a huge disappointment. The iPhone 7 got a load of performance boosts and an amazing dual camera setup for the 7 Plus, but ditched the headphone jack, to much consternation. We got shiny new MacBook Pros with the flexible, functional Touch Bar, but many users felt let down by the so-so spec updates. And then there…

Free FROM Notion AI, notion.ai NEEDS iOS 9.0 or higher E mail is a pain in the apps; it’s hard to find something that suits your specifications – whatever you use it for, it always feels like the app is optimised for someone else. Notion Email Intelligence works pretty damn well, especially for something that’s free. The main draw of the app is that it uses artificial intelligence to figure out who and what is important to you. It’s not entirely obvious how it does it, but after 25 to 60 minutes of thinking about it when you first set up the app, it does pretty well. It’s a little creepy having a list of ‘people that are the most important to you’, especially if it’s a business email account…

GET ON INSTAGRAM Share your images with us by using the hashtag #MacFormat and we’ll print the best here in the magazine. While you’re there, follow @MacFormat (Twitter) and @MacFormatUK (Instagram). Monastic Moment BY SHAUNG2 2 EQUIPMENT iPhone 7 @shaung22 captured this warm-tone moment of a Buddhist monk reflecting on his journey – on an untold number of levels, no doubt. According to Instagram, @shaung22 likes to use his iPhone 7 and the FujiFilm X-Pro 2 to take shots while travelling and stopping off for the odd cold beer. Thanks for sharing the shot! Share your pics with us using the hashtag #MacFormat on Instagram. In each issue we’ll pick our favourites to feature on this page. WHAT TO DO! 1 Open an Instagram account. 2 Follow @MacFormatUK (of course).…

APPLE RUMOUR iPhone X A wrap-around OLED display could be headed to iPhone Whatever the next iPhone is called, be it iPhone 8, iPhone 7S or even the hotly tipped iPhone X – the X denoting the 10th anniversary of the launch of the first iPhone, one thing is looking more and more likely – it won’t be cheap. A report by Fast Company, citing a “source with knowledge of Apple’s plans”, suggests that the next iPhone will be well north of $1,000 thanks to a new OLED display that will go edge to edge, and extra memory, which will be more expensive because of a strong dollar. And that’s without counting on any additional tech that Apple packs into the device. OLED screens are more flexible and lighter than…

A pple is famously profitable, but even this is impressive. In the fourth quarter of 2016, Apple took a whopping 92% of global smartphone profits. The number is even more impressive when you consider that it only accounted for 18% of smartphone sales, according to investment banking company Canaccord Genuity. In contrast, Samsung took 9% of smartphone profits in the same period, while Sony took 1% and BlackBerry collected less than 1%. The figures add up to more than 100% because other smartphone companies lost money. These include LG and Microsoft, according to Canaccrd Genuity. Michael Walkley, an analyst from the firm, said that Apple benefitted from strong sales of the iPhone 7 Plus, as well as Samsung’s recall of its Galaxy Note 7 phone. Samsung phones sold for an…

1 1.2 million Although not directly employed by Apple, the company claims to have created 1.2 million jobs in Europe thanks to the iOS and App Store ecosystem. 2 116,000 The total number of full time Apple employees – about the population of Bruges in Belgium. 3 Out of over 77,000 workers Apple employs in the US, only 85 (just 0.11%) are craft workers – many of whom are likely working on Apple Campus II. 4 45 With fewer than 50 employees, Denmark has one of the fewest counts of Apple workers in Europe. The UK, in contrast, has 6,500. NEXT ISSUE We know all about Steve Jobs, but what about Apple’s other CEOs? 5 25% Apple has drawn criticism over its Irish tax practices, but its Cork facility houses…

Turn to page 46 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! SAVE 54%! Graham says… “WHAT’S THE BEST APPLE PRODUCT YOU’VE BOUGHT?” Alex says… It has to be my iPhone 6 Plus I was reluctant about getting such a large phone at first, but the bigger screen is fantastic for watching videos and reading articles I’m still on an iPhone 5s! Now I’m back on MacFormat I’m looking forward to expanding my Apple armoury – I’ve already got my hands on the new MacBook I’ve shied away from the latest MacBook – the keys are too shallow! I’m sure I’d get used to it, but it would still be hard pressed to knock my 6 Plus off its shiny pedestal Looking back, getting the first iPhone was pretty special. There really was nothing like it…

LIVE SMARTER The smart home is here – live the Apple dream today! What’s inside 22–25 SMART HOME SECURITY CAMS Keep a watchful eye on your property with a clever security system 26–27 TUTORIAL How to set up face recognition to tell apart family from strangers Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com Keep up to date by following us on Twitter @macformat Join the conversation at facebook.com/ macforma Get the latest subscription offers at macformat.com Barely a year after we last looked at security in Apple Home, it’s undoubtedly the smart home category that’s seen the greatest growth in recent months. That’s hardly surprising, though; smart fridges and voice-controlled lighting are fun to play with if you’ve got a bit of spare cash, yet security is…

Use pinch gestures You could drag the resize slider on the toolbar, but it’s much more pleasing, if your Mac has a trackpad, to pinch to zoom. Pinch gestures also open or close the image that’s under the pointer. Edit your photos After opening a photo, a button with three slider controls appears in the toolbar; it takes you to editing mode; or, press R while viewing a photo or selected in an album, to go straight to editing it. Get info Press c+I to bring up the contextual Info window. With one image selected, it shows camera info and settings. For an album or a multiple selection, it summarises dates, places, keywords and more. Browse faster With a photo from an album or the timeline open, swipe left or…

1 View the sidebar Click the Calendars button to open the Calendar List sidebar. Use the checkboxes to show or hide events by calendar. There’s also a smaller calendar to help with looking up dates; drag up on the line above it to see more. 2 Fine-tune Calendar In General prefs, weekends can be omitted from Week view by setting ‘Days per week’ to 5; if on 7, any day can be the week’s start. ‘Scroll in week view by’ sets the arrows around the Today button to advance by a week or a day. Speed up entering event details Drag over the calendar to set an event’s duration over hours or days, then enter details. Or, more quickly, click the + button and use plain English, such as ‘Lunch…

1 Explore views Each view has its own advantages: Map makes roads more visible; Transit shows public transport routes; and Satellite shows overhead photos and a pseudo-3D view in some cities. In the Map and Satellite views, View > Show Traffic shows congestion. 2 Find points of interest Click in the search field to see your recent searches for places and directions. If you have a Touch Bar, it will show shortcuts to food and drink, local shops, and entertainment. Or, type a general description of what you want to find, such as ‘Chinese food’. 3 Share your searches Using the Share sheet, you can send your current selection to apps and other services, or to iOS. Choose Send to iPhone and you’ll receive a notification on that device; tap…

1. TextEdit Apple’s text editor may seem basic, but it’s surprisingly feature-rich. Do you want to format to a specific page size? Choose Format > Wrap to Page, and then pick a paper size in File > Page Setup. Need to export to a PDF file? Easy: choose File > Export as PDF. It’s well worth visiting the app’s preferences, too. In the Open and Save tab, you can dictate how web pages open; by default, drag an HTML file onto TextEdit’s icon and it’ll open as formatted text rather than code – handy for quickly copying and pasting content. Change the HTML setting in the top group to see the code behind web pages, if that’s what you prefer. In the New Document tab, the Format section dictates the…

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN Set up dynamic address; create and connect to a VPN YOU’LL NEED An always-on Mac running macOS Server. A free, dynamic DNS address. A dynamic DNS address stays linked to your public IP address, even when the latter changes. Genius Tip! If you’re using a third-party router, you may need to explore its settings to verify IPSec and L2TP passthrough are enabled for VPNs. If you frequently access the internet through other networks, such as a public Wi-Fi hotspot, you should use a virtual private network (VPN). Using a VPN provides you with a secure, encrypted connection over any network, even insecure ones. A VPN is typically used to provide a safe connection to a private network, such as a server at…

EXPERT ADVICE Our resident genius solves your Mac and iOS problems Q My 2011 MacBook Pro, with a 320GB drive, is running out of space. Much of its storage is being taken up by music and movies. Can I move them to an external drive, or put them in the cloud? by EUGENE HARREL SON A Apple provides storage as part of iCloud, but to free up a lot of space on your Mac, you’ll have to rent more on iCloud – you get 5GB for nothing, and if you want more, you’ll incur a monthly charge; you can have up to 2TB of iCloud storage at this time – see apple.co/2jBePMe for pricing. For movies and TV shows bought from the iTunes Store, it’s simplest to stop storing them…

macOS quick-fire questions Why can’t my UPS shut down my MacBook Pro? In the Energy Saver pane, an uninterruptible power supply connected using USB can be set to shut down a desktop Mac automatically after mains power outage. macOS doesn’t support automatic shutdown of MacBooks in the same situation, as they can switch to their internal battery for power. How can I check for old extensions? You can look in the Extensions folders in /System/Library and /Library, but it’s much better to make use of the System Information app: click Extensions in the left pane, click the ‘Obtained from’ heading to group third-party items, and then check dates and other details of the non-Apple items. There’s a file missing from my backup When I deleted a column in an important…

BUYING ADVICE Our authoritative reviews help you make more informed choices Ou WACOM INTUOS 3D p93 Manifesto – our ratings explained Our reviews are totally independent; we’re not affiliated with Apple or anyone else, nor are we influenced by advertisers. You can trust us to give an honest assessment of a product’s worth. The prices quoted for products are correct at the time of writing and are the best we can find from a reputable online dealer, excluding delivery. A brilliant thing in all regards, and worth every penny Strongly recommended; any flaws are only minor concerns Worth considering, though there may be better options Fundamentally flawed; look at alternatives as a priority A waste of your money and everyone’s time; do not buy! The MACFORMAT Awards Awarded to a…

£2.99 FROM Samer Azzam, exactoapp.com NEEDS iOS 8.0 or higher C utting out an image on your iPhone is never easy. Apps have to balance ease of use with accuracy; Exacto’s solution is a tool not unlike Photoshop’s pen tool. Tap to add blue dots (your anchor points), then tweak your lines into curves with the black dots added between your anchor points. This proves to be an accurate, if time consuming, method. It’s worth it though. Each point’s position can be adjusted, aided by a useful two-finger zoom function, to ensure close accuracy. Tap and hold to move a point and it temporarily disappears, creating an unobstructed view of your cutout and making point editing easier. Once you’ve finished creating your selection, you can add another layer to add…

Welcome to MacFormat’s Store Guide, the place to go to find out about all the Apple kit that matters, whether you’re looking for your next iPhone or a powerful new desktop Mac. We’ve chosen our top products from Apple’s product line-up, plus the best third-party kit that meets our quality standard. Whether you’re a recent convert or a seasoned Apple user, we highlight a model of each product that’s ideally suited to your needs. So, check our handy tables to see which Mac, iPad or iPhone is best for you. We’ve also highlighted the gold standard in audio, storage, cameras, and many other categories to complement your Mac or iOS device with the best accessories. Who’s it for? ENTRY LEVEL You’re just getting started in the world of Apple and…

Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com LETTER OF THE MONTH! Do I need Anitvirus? Is it a good idea to buy or use antivirus software? Is it necessary with a Mac? I have an ageing 17” MacBook Pro with top bespoke spec for NLEditing (FCP or Avid). Recently I’ve been getting unsolicited pages coming up on Safari, but also a page from MacKeeper telling me I have over 2,000 viruses that need cleaning (if I pay for their licence). Is the antivirus software itself the cause of the problem? Perhaps it could have been downloaded accidentally, because I seem to have its basic free program installed with my applications? Or is such software good and I might well have viruses that need attending to and if…

At its launch in 1998, the iMac instantly became a classic. Nothing had looked like it before, and it is even credited with turning around the fortunes of the company. Here we take a look at the history of one of Apple’s best-loved Macs. A Mac of many colours The iMac brought a touch of colour to the previously beige world of home computers. After the initial 1998 Bondi blue model launched, Apple introduced 13 different candycoloured plastic cases with names like Sage, Indigo and Blue Dalmatian on offer. The colours remained until the 2002 iMac G4 was released. January 2002 Apple introduces the faster iMac G4 with a radical new design, featuring an adjustable arm. It includes both OS 9 and OS X. September 2003 A 20-inch widescreen version…