Índex per September 2017 a MacFormat

AirLink Audio amplification goes old school Getting an iPhone 7 doesn’t have to mean giving up your favourite wired headphones. With the AirLink, you can plug your headphones into the device and it’ll connect to your phone over Bluetooth. At £31, it could be a lot cheaper than buying a new set of headphones. But it’s not just for earpieces – you can connect your home speaker system, your TV and even your car’s audio to AirLink, as long as they are Bluetooth-compatible. And it works with Siri, so you can accept calls, set reminders and more without taking your iPhone out of your pocket. $39 (about £31) INCLUDES AirLink Bluetooth adaptor WEBSITE neorblab.com WORKS WITH Any iPhone…

3GHz PROMISED CPU SPEED BOOST OF POWER MAC G5 After launching with a 2.7GHz processor, Steve Jobs promised the 2003 Power Mac G5 would be upped to 3GHz “within 12 months”. This never materialised, and it took until the Mac Pro, released in 2006, for a Mac to hit those speeds. $429 MILLION PRICE APPLE PAID FOR STEVE JOB’S NeXT After a boardroom coup at Apple ousted Steve Jobs in 1985, he left to form NeXT. The firm was later bought by Apple for a princely $429 million in 1997. 1991 FIRST EMAIL SENT FROM SPACE Before the internet, there was AppleLink. It was used to send the first email from space, sent by the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on 9th August 1991. The crew signed off their…

For our latest subscription offer see page 40! Just when we thought the Mac Pro’s days were numbered, Apple surprised everyone and revealed it was working on a new model. In talks with John Gruber and other journalists, Apple’s marketing chief Phil Schiller described how Apple has a new model in the works, and said “we want to architect it so that we can keep it fresh with regular improvements.” What did he mean by that? Well, Apple is aiming to make the new Mac Pro a modular system, enabling high-end users to tweak and upgrade it to their needs. As Schiller said, “We think it’s really important to create something great for our pro customers who want a Mac Pro modular system.” This is great news if you’re a…

Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com LETTER OF THE MONTH! Keeping old kit going I get rather peeved when manufacturers of good, reliable peripherals cease to support them after a few years. Here are two examples: Firstly, I have a perfectly good inkjet printer which has served me well over many years. Obviously, the jets duly needed replacement but I found that the manufacturer had stopped supporting it: I was advised to buy a new printer! So the old printer is awaiting disposal. I also have a superb scanner which has unusual facilities which I make use of in my work. I know of no other scanner with these features. The manufacturer has stopped updating the driver software so I cannot use it on my recent…

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! SAVE 45%! “WILL VR BE A BIG PART OF APPLE’S FUTURE?” Paul says… Alex says… We’ve been waiting for a long, long time to get a decent iMac upgrade. Are you happy with it? Definitely. I love playing games on my Mac but it’s always felt a bit held back by the GPU. The new graphics cards will be great for us Mac gamers (a rare breed!) I think a lot of that is designed for virtual reality. Apple made a big thing of VR at WWDC, and talked about it on the Mac too. Will we be seeing an Apple VR headset in the not-too-distant future? I hope so! Apple is certainly putting a lot of emphasis on it. The sheer power of the iMac Pro (and…

The Messages app gained apps and stickers last year, but accessing all the ones installed by apps on your device has been a cumbersome process in iOS 10. Apple has redesigned the app drawer; app icons are shown in a scrolling row across the bottom of the screen, which you swipe to find the one you want. As you do so, the row’s height increases to make it easier to pick out the app you want – simply tap it to access stickers or other features. For a number of years, one of our greatest frustrations with Messages has been inconsistent records of communications when moving from one device to another. Apple’s solution to this is to store a copy of all the messages you receive in iCloud, and have…

There’s great news when it comes to taking photos and videos with your iOS device: on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, video is captured in HEVC format. This is the next-generation successor to the H.264 format you’re probably already familiar with after years of it being used in Apple’s and other manufacturers’ video cameras, and for content delivery from places like the iTunes Store. Sometimes referred to as H.265, the HEVC format allows for up to twice the compression compared to H.264. This is fantastic news if you bought an iPhone 7 with a low storage capacity and often find yourself running out of space. The underlying technique used in HEVC also applies to photos, so your iOS devices will no longer shoot in JPEG but High Efficiency…

Navigating with Maps in iOS 11 offers extra detail as you travel from A to B. The speed limit is displayed at the top left of the screen, and lane guidance appears across the top of the screen so you can get into the correct position ahead of the next junction along your journey. In iOS 11 the reach of Maps is extended to cover the interior of shopping centres and airports. For the former, you get detailed floor plans, along with a business directory and the ability to search for retailers, as well as browsing by floor. For airports, features such as checkpoints are marked, helping you to navigate the often labyrinthine structures and catch your flight. As with previous features added to Maps, the list of cities in…

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to open Safari tabs side by side, and then return to a single screen when finished YOU’LL NEED iOS 10 or later, an iPad that supports Split View (new iPad, iPad Air 2, iPad Pro, iPad mini 4) In iOS 10, Apple extended the Split View feature for working in two apps side by side, so that you can view two web pages next to each other in Safari. You can quickly split the screen in two from scratch, or open a link or move an existing tab to the right half of the screen. If you’ve connected your iPad to a Bluetooth keyboard, you can quickly create a new Split View pane using c+N. Note though, that Split View only…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to receive public beta versions of tvOS YOU’LL NEED Apple TV (4th generation) The latest tvOS is the easiest to install of all Apple’s public betas. There are no backups to make and no profiles to install; you only need the Apple ID you registered with the Apple Beta Software Program. With your Apple ID to hand, simply follow the three steps to the right to set up your Apple TV. Rather than supplying feedback from your Apple TV, which would be tedious to enter using its Siri Remote, Apple expects you’ll also be running the iOS 11 public beta. Feedback Consequently, if you have bugs to report or suggestions to make about the tvOS beta, you’ll need to open Feedback…

Q My Apple Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse randomly disconnect then reconnect to my MacBook Retina early 2015. My local Genius Bar has been unable to fix this despite replacing the motherboard. I can’t replicate the problem using the same keyboard and mouse with another Mac. What’s wrong? A This is a not uncommon problem in El Capitan and Sierra. For most, a useful preliminary check is to disconnect all other peripherals apart from any wired network connection, then start up with your keyboard and mouse connected using their charging cables, or using wired keyboard and mouse, holding the D key to enter Diagnostics or Apple Hardware Test. Ensure your MacBook is well ventilated, to help keep it cool. Chances are that those tests will return a normal result of…

iOS software quick-fire questions How can I cut back mobile data use? iOS provides fine control over apps and features eating into your allowance. In Settings, tap Mobile Data, and you can see how much apps have used, and stop them. Also consider turning off Wi-Fi Assist, which uses mobile data when Wi-Fi is poor and may be a luxury, and iCloud Drive, at the bottom. How do I tell which apps are compatible with iOS 11? Ensure you’re running iOS 10.3 or later; in Settings, tap General > About > Applications. This lists all installed apps which don’t run in 64-bit, the basic requirement for iOS 11. Any which haven’t been updated since September 2013 are doomed as they’re 32-bit. Can an iPad replace a laptop? Q I’d like…

Apple is world famous for the design that permeates its products. And as a design leader, it recognises exceptional design in third-party apps by doling out Apple Design Awards to worthy developers on an annual basis. The awards salute more than simple aesthetics. Winning apps are often praised for their novel mechanics, their commitment to accessibility or their thoughtprovoking visuals. This year Apple has decided to commend 12 apps on both iOS and Mac, from games and photo editors to productivity and writing apps. Over the next few pages, we’re taking a look at each winner to see why they caught the attention of the design gurus at Apple. Mushroom 11 Made by: Untame, Mushroom11.com Works on: macOS, iOS With Mushroom 11, destruction is the key to success. You control an…

To play back content in iTunes, your Mac must be associated with your Apple ID. You can have up to 10 devices associated with your Apple ID and iTunes at any one time, provided no more than five of them are Macs or PCs. This can be problematic as over time you may associate different devices with your Apple ID. To check how many you have, make sure you're connected to the internet, open iTunes and choose Account > View my Account. Once your account info loads, find the ‘iTunes in the Cloud’ heading and click Manage Devices. This will list any iOS devices, Macs or PCs linked to your Apple ID for automatic downloading or redownloading of iTunes Store purchases. Click Remove next to any device you no longer…

There are thousands of stations available as streaming internet services, and you can listen to many of them in iTunes. To get started, select Internet Radio from the menu at the top left. If you don’t see this option, click Edit Menu and follow the steps in the main article to view it. As there are so many stations, iTunes lists them by category, such as Classic Rock. Click the small grey arrow next to a category to see the available internet radio station, then double-click to begin streaming. If a radio station isn’t listed, go to File > Open Stream. Enter the URL and click OK. Any stations you stream in this way are automatically added to a new playlist named ‘Internet Songs’. You may want to click Edit…

You might be wondering if the iMac Pro, due out this December, should affect your Mac buying decision now. It’s a 27-inch 5K iMac, but it’s quite a different beast to the regular 5K iMac (which we’ll have a full review of next issue, but you can see some performance benchmarks for the latest model in the charts above). It has the same bright, widecolour display as the 4K and 5K iMacs in the same chassis (except it comes in Space Grey), but with Mac Pro-level innards, hence the name… and the price: it starts at $4,999, rather than the £1,249 of the 4K iMac. It’s eight-core as a minimum, rather than quadcore, and you can configure it with up to 18 cores. You can stick up to 128GB of…

£109 FROM WD, wdc.com FEATURES USB-C port/cable, USB-A adaptor, hardware encryption VERDICT A good, affordable drive with excellent speed and some appealing features. + Solid performance - Plasticky feel The first solidstate drive from WD is a small and light affair. It comes with a USB-C port that meets the USB 3.1 Gen 2 spec. WD says it can reach a transfer rate of up to 515MB/sec. The attractive ridged part might appear metallic, but it’s plastic, like the black section. Though WD says the drive is shock-resistant to 6.5 feet, it still feels a little cheap. The drive comes with a USB-C cable and a thumb- sized adaptor that attaches firmly to one end, so you can connect it to a computer with USB-A ports. It offers 256-bit AES…

£55 (case), £20–£100 (lenses) FROM Bitplay, bitplayinc.com FEATURES iPhone camera grip, tripod mount socket VERDICT The Snap! 7 case transforms the iPhone’s handling as a camera. + Extremely firm grip + Handy shutter button T he bigger iPhones become, the more ungainly they get when it comes to taking photos. The Bitplay Snap! 7 is designed to fix this issue, with a case that makes your iPhone 7 Plus feel more like a proper camera, as well as accessory lenses that screw directly into the case. We tested the iPhone 7 Plus case, which grips the phone tight and comes with a handy wrist loop. It has a mechanical shutter button on the top that operates the iPhone’s volume button to fire the shutter, and an optional screw-on grip for…

Bags are quite personal items; you often carry them around with you all day, after all. We’ve moved on from the time when people carried around an ugly black satchel – probably with some terrible rubberised elements – made by a laptop manufacturer. The 1990s were heady days, when laptops weren’t really that portable and even Apple manufactured its portables from odious grey and black plastic. Fast forward 20 years and we’re in an era of portability. Since the MacBook Air reveal (itself an incredible nine years ago), we’ve seen a succession of thin, light innovations. And even colleagues with ageing MacBook Pros know that they won’t be lugging a brick around indefinitely – they’ll upgrade to a new generation MacBook Pro eventually. And with laptop innovation has come baggage…

T his was a really tough competition. You could have any of these bags and be really happy with it, and that’s reflected in the scores – four bags achieved four stars. But in the end there has to be one winner, and that’s the STM Kings, pulling ahead of the Fjällräven Räven 28L (which is made out of recycled materials, if that’s what you’re looking for) due to its superior feature set. Both of those backpacks are superb laptop bags. As we said elsewhere, the Knomo is our choice if you want something to also look the part for business. As well as having the RewardTag tracking system, the STM Kings also makes a point of keeping your laptop away from the edges of the bag. It’s available in…

MONITOR ViewSonic VP2772 £676 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 £459 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 Epson Eco-Tank ET-2600 £190…

From the PowerBook of 1991 to the latest MacBook Pro, Apple has a long history of bringing out laptops that set the standard for the industry. We look back at the humble beginnings of the first portable Macs, right up to today’s stunning Retina display machines. Welcome to the world of the mobile Mac. The eMate and other portables The eMate 300 was a personal digital assistant; it ran the Newton operating system and was aimed at the education market. While other Newton devices relied on a pen for input, the eMate also had a keyboard in its greencoloured translucent case, which made it look like a laptop. Released in March 1997, it was discontinued when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and shut down the whole Newton product line. The…

Apple News, the news aggregation app released by Apple in 2015, will reportedly allow publishers to run ads on their articles inside the app very soon. According to a report from Ad Age, Apple will let publishers use their own technology to run ads, rather than having this functionality hosted by Apple itself. This will allow those media outlets that publish on Apple News a greater share of any advertising revenue. Apple has long positioned itself as suspicious of the business model of rivals like Google and Facebook, which involves collecting user data and serving relevant ads to readers. Tim Cook has previously said that that is “not the kind of company that Apple wants to be”, while the Safari app in iOS 11 will feature ad-blocking technology. Still, publishers…

Our top picks of what’s worth watching and playing this month [MOVIE] WONDER WOMAN £13.99 Raised as princess of the Amazons and trained as an unbeatable warrior, Wonder Woman must fight to end the war to end all wars. [PODCAST] 99% INVISIBLE FREE Design is all around us, so much so that we often don’t notice it. 99% Invisible explores the inner workings of this hidden world. [TV SHOW] THE AMERICANS £19.99 The fifth season of the Cold War drama sees the stakes and tension ratchet up and fine performances from the cast. A must-watch.…

Apple’s talk of a modular Mac Pro could see it return to an older, familiar form factor. The original Mac Pro, released back in 2006, was shaped much more like a traditional desktop PC than its 2013 ‘trash can’ refresh. It was the design of the latter that restricted Apple from offering component upgrades to the Mac Pro. With such a custom design, changing internal parts would have been tricky even for trained Apple specialists. As Apple’s Craig Federighi admitted, “I think we designed ourselves into a bit of a thermal corner.” The 2006 model, however, gave you much more flexibility when it came to changing the internal components because of its more open design. So does this mean that we’ll see a return to the ‘tower’ design in the…

N ow that the dust has settled on Apple’s WWDC arrivals, we’ve got a better idea of what’s A Big Deal and what isn’t. The new iPads are (you might have seen me gushing over the 10.5-inch Pro I’m using to write this column in last month’s issue), as are the new task switching and drag ’n’ drop options for them in iOS 11. The iMac Pro is too, even if it’ll never sell that many (£5K desktops aren’t exactly flying off the shelves in Currys). HomePod is… probably too expensive to be A Big Deal, right away, but I think it’s just a first step in bigger plan. Give it time. But there is A Bigger Deal than all of these, it’s just taken a few weeks to become…

The best digital painting app for Mac gets an update, and you can win a free copy for yourself! We’re giving away three copies of Painter 2018, courtesy of Corel, each worth £359.99. One of the most prominent new features this year is the addition of Thick Texture brushes, making Texture Painting even more dynamic than before. The new brushes mimic the thick texture of traditional paint, and can be layered and built up to create new textures and effects. Corel has updated and improved the workflow of Painter, with a new user interface and clone-source options. There’s a new Selection Brush feature, which lets you brush over an area you want to define quickly and easily, plus better lighting controls and a new natural-media brush library brimming with 112…

Apple says CarPlay is its safest solution for using your device in a vehicle, yet many of us simply don’t have this technology available. So it’s extending the Do Not Disturb feature to work while you’re driving. It uses Bluetooth to connect to your car or, if your car doesn’t have that, it employs your iOS device’s Wi-Fi to detect the Doppler effect and determine that you’re moving in a car. Your device then asks if you’d like to enable Do Not Disturb While Driving. If you accept, your device’s screen goes black and notifications won’t flash up on its screen. Try to wake the device and you’ll be reminded that the feature is enabled. You can override the block, so the feature’s effectiveness ultimately depends on your sense of…

NEW IDEAS Your in-depth guide to getting more from your Apple kit INSTALL macOS HIGH SIERRA 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 commaind+option+C, hold all but the last key, then…

IT WILL TAKE 1 hour YOU WILL LEARN How to sign up for and install Apple’s public betas of macOS, iOS and tvOS YOU’LL NEED A Mac that meets macOS Sierra’s requirements (see bit.ly/sierrareqs) Apple has made public beta versions of this year’s system upgrades available for you to try. Why would you want to run a version that’s likely to contain a few bugs? Aside from being helpful to Apple, you might want to check whether any of the apps or accessories you depend upon have any showstopping incompatibilities. It’s wise to do that as early as possible if you plan to buy a new device that’ll come with one of these systems preinstalled. The method of trying out High Sierra we present on these two pages makes it…

IT WILL TAKE 25 minutes YOU WILL LEARN Format text, apply ligatures, add equations, and improve pie charts YOU’LL NEED Pages for iOS 3.1 In 2014, Apple revamped its iWork office suite by ‘dumbing down’ the Mac version to bring it in line with the less powerful iOS iteration. Happily, since then it has restored missing features and added new ones, with iPad users gaining many excellent tools for the first time. Pages 3.1 for iOS is in this vein. It has new text formatting tools, including superscript and subscript formatting options, support for ligatures – see ‘Make use of ligatures’ opposite – and background colour control. When writing long documents, it helps to be able to rapidly navigate them. Our second step-by-step guide will show you how to use…

EXPERT ADVICE Our resident genius solves your Mac and iOS problems Q Since using Near Lock to unlock my iMac from my iPhone, the Mac has run slowly, with SafariDAVClient using resources heavily. Also, Apple’s apps like Preview won’t start up, as they quit when trying to open. What’s wrong? By NEIL YONGE A These symptoms are most probably caused by incorrect permissions set in parts of your Home folder, something which can sometimes occur if you set up Near Lock or MacID. To fix that, select your Home folder in the Finder and show its Get Info dialog using the command in the File menu. In the Sharing & Permissions section at its foot, ensure you’re listed as its owner, with Read & Write permissions. Then open the pop-up…

Mac Software quick-fire questions Is there a replacement for AdBlocker or UBlock? These old ad blockers cause many problems with recent versions of Safari. Consider whether you really want to block all ads. In many cases, blocking ad trackers is sufficient; a tool like Better would be more appropriate and less clumsy. Is there a good free app to scan for viruses? For manual scans, Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.com/ mac), Objective-See’s KnockKnock (objectivesee.com) and Sqwarq’s DetectX (sqwarq.com/ detectx) are each excellent and well supported. If you want background scanning, you’ll need to pay a subscription for a service from Kaspersky, Intego, or others. Keynote cannot open presentation Q I create presentations in Keynote 6.6.2 on my iMac, export to Keynote 09 format, and deliver them using Keynote 09 on my MacBook. This…

The iTunes application doesn’t always receive the recognition it deserves, as most us only tend to make use a handful of its features. Even ardent fans are sometimes bewildered by navigating the various types of media available. The situation isn’t helped by the fact that iTunes has undergone many changes in recent years, such as removing DRM (Digital Rights Management) from purchased music and scrapping iTunes Radio in favour of a paid service for Apple Music subscribers, and an interface revamp and subsequent refinements. In this guide, we’re focusing on some of the handiest yet less well known features of the app. Firstly, we’ll take a more literal approach hidden’ features by helping you to locate lost purchases from the iTunes Store, as well as how to move your iTunes…

BUYING ADVICE Our authoritative reviews help you make more informed choices 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display (Mid 2017) 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…

£1,449 FROM Apple, apple.com/uk FEATURES 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory, 256GB SSD storage, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports Since the end of last year, there have been two major attributes that distinguish the high and low end of the MacBook Pro line-up. Aside from screen size (and, consequently, weight), you must choose between high-end models with a Touch Bar and low-end ones with traditional function keys. With the latest refresh coming just seven months later, this distinction persists, with the Touch Bar remaining an exotic feature for people with close to two grand to spend. The model reviewed here is the latter, and though it offers a slower Intel Core i5 clock speed than its costly siblings, its memory spec is…

£53 FROM Yubico, yubico.com FEATURES USB-C connector (USB-A models available) VERDICT A reassuring (though partial) compromise if your Mac doesn't have Touch ID. + Protect your Mac - Not universal tech YubiKey is a means of verifying that it actually is you signing in to your account in macOS Sierra. It also works with popular sites that support so-called Universal 2nd Factor Authentication (2FA) tech, such as Facebook, Dropbox, and Gmail. Getting started with a YubiKey involves setting 6- to 8-character PIN and PUK codes, and an optional strong management key. A benefit of using the key online is that you can sign in as normal, plug in the key, then touch a contact on it to ‘prove’ your identity to a website, though the latter isn’t as reassuringly tied…

£150 FROM Pioneer, pioneerrayz.com FEATURES Lightning connector, HearThru ambient sound mode VERDICT Charge and listen at the same time, with great sound and top noise cancellation. Great sound quality Lightning port in cable T he iPhone 7 gave us a new problem: how to listen to wired headphones and charge your phone at the same time. Well, here’s one solution. These headphones have a Lightning port – you plug them into your phone, then plug the power into the headphones’ cable. But that’s not all – they're packed with extra smarts that make them cracking headphones. There's active noise cancellation that rivals the Bose QuietComfort range, a very smart automuting mic feature that cuts out all sound from your end on a call when you’re not talking, and they even…

Essentials £9.99, Pro £54.99 FROM The Omni Group, omnigroup.com NEEDS OS X 10.11 or later VERDICT An excellent upgrade to the premier outlining tool on the Mac. + Distraction-free mode - Tricky interface O mniOutliner 5 has a free trial, and paid-for Essentials and Pro editions. Essentials is a cut-down version of Pro, but is a capable outlining tool in its own right. Its interface is clutter-free, and there are multiple themes to choose from. Some new features are common to both Essentials and Pro, like live statistics and support for the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. Essentials reads and writes the same file format as Pro, so there’s no problem if you want to use that version later. While Essentials is great for getting started and for most outlining…

£3.99 FROM Kunabi Brother, euclideanlands.com NEEDS iOS 8 or later VERDICT One of the best, most thoughtful puzzle games around – an iOS classic, in fact. + Looks gorgeous - Linear level unlock E uclidean Lands is firmly rooted in turn-based adventure fare like Hitman Go and Lara Croft Go. Your aim is to slay opponents with your spear, whereupon you declare victory and move on to the next stage. This isn’t easy. Not only must you figure out how to manipulate the cube to reach your foes, but some enemies unsportingly move of their own accord. Also, stray into an aggressor’s line of sight and they’ll instantly impale you, forcing you to restart the level. Despite the weirdness of the game, your quest feels like a proper adventure. Much…

W elcome 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 highlighted the model of each product that’s ideally suited to your needs, whether you’re a recent convert or a seasoned Apple user. So be sure to 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, helping you 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 need to know where to begin. UPGRADER > A firm Apple user, you’re…

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). Watch this! Thank you very much You know you’ve done well on the pressie buying mission, when your recipient can’t wait to show off said gift on Instagram. So well done to those who seemed to know exactly what ‘man jewellery’ this Northern Ireland based photographer was after. Turns out he was very much after an Apple Watch Series 2 Nike+ with Leatherman Tread MultiTool and ChronoLinks… Nice. Very nice indeed! 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…

Ahead of the predicted September announcement, supply chain reports indicate that production of the components for a 3D-sensing front-facing camera system in the new iPhone 8 is ramping up. 3D sensors could be used in enhanced security and augmented reality applications in Apple’s next iPhone. The technology, which includes an infrared transmitting and receiving module, means the iPhone 8’s front-facing camera will be able to find the location and depth of objects placed in front of it. With potential applications including facial and iris recognition, this will open up a world of exciting new uses for the iPhone. As well as unlocking your phone, applications for augmented reality could result in your face appearing as a 3D model in apps and games. Jo says… 3D facial recognition should combine well…

T hose of you that are regular readers of the MacFormat news section will know there has been talk of Apple switching to a 10nm manufacturing process for its iOS chips for some time. Well, now that seems to have happened. Tech Insights reports that the A10X chip found in the second-generation iPad Pro was manufactured in this way by Apple supplier TSMC, and is the first Apple product to do so. As a result, the processor’s die size has shrunk from 143.9mm2 in the A9X to 96.4mm2 in the A10X, a reduction of around a third. That’s made even more impressive when you consider that the new chip is said to deliver 40% faster graphics performance and 30% faster CPU performance than the chip found in the previous-generation iPad…

1. 64 High Sierra will be the last release of macOS to support 32-bit apps “without compromise”. 2. 40% Video professionals rejoice – macOS High Sierra supports H.265 (HEVC) video encoding, which features up to 40% better compression compared to H.264. 3. 2,000 gigabytes If you’re using iCloud Family Sharing, the latest version of macOS will let you share up to 2TB of storage allowance with all your family members. 4. 10x Apple was keen to show off High Sierra’s Metal 2, and with good reason – it’s got 10 times the draw call throughput of Metal 1. Basically, it’s super powerful. 5 35% A bloated inbox can be taxing on your Mac, but not in High Sierra – Mail now uses 35% less disk space to store your messages.…

In the same interview with John Gruber, Apple said many of its pro users had migrated from the Mac Pro to iMac. That’s because the lack of upgradeability of the Mac Pro made its internals quickly dated; Apple updated the iMac more regularly, so it made sense to invest in one. Apple now looks like it’s catering to those iMac converts with the new iMac Pro, a powerful hybrid of Apple’s all-in-one and the Mac Pro. Is it enough to tempt pro users away from the Mac Pro? Well, as Keith Martin points out, the iMac Pro has a 5K display, which adds to the total cost of the machine significantly. That means the Mac Pro could cost less than the iMac Pro, with potentially equivalent or better specs –…

SCOTT FORSTALL eclipsedbroadway.com “It’s not one person… it was hundreds and thousands of people who made it happen.” The original iPhone was a huge team effort, says former Apple executive PHIL SCHILLER apple.com “We called it the going dark period… we were better to do nothing than to do more.” Secrecy after the first iPhone announcement was key, says marketing chief TIM COOK apple.com “It’s a core technology that we view as very important… [it’s] the mother of all AI projects.” Apple is focusing on artificial intelligence in autonomous cars JONY IVE apple.com “There aren’t any good soap dispensers.” Apple’s design guru on a problem that “really bothers” him…

LIVE SMARTER The smart home is here – live the Apple dream today! Life in the UK has been fairly eventful of late, so you could be forgiven for not noticing that it was Breathe Easy Week back in June. It’s more likely, though, that you’ve noticed a general increase in news coverage about air pollution. We often tend to think of ‘air pollution’ as something that happens outdoors, but it’s increasingly being recognised that indoor air pollution can be harmful too. That’s given rise to a number of devices that can be used to monitor the quality of air at home or in an office – and they all link up with your iPhone or iPad, so that you can monitor air quality and keep things fresh, as well…

Apple has revamped the way notifications are presented in iOS 11, which should help if you’ve ever found yourself disoriented by the differences in their arrangement between Notification Centre and the Lock screen. Your Lock screen always shows recent notifications, and you can swipe up to see older ones. When your device is unlocked, swipe down from the top of the screen to open Notification Centre; at first you’ll see only recent, unattended items. However, by then swiping up you’ll reveal a history of items going back chronologically through time. Though this sounds like a small change, it brings a greater sense of continuity, regardless of whether you’re checking notifications after plucking your iPhone from a pocket, or taking a few minutes out of doing something else to deal with…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to tame even the most intimidating inbox YOU’LL NEED AirMail 3, an active email account Email can be a source of much joy and the cause of immense irritation! Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the former without the latter? That’s what Airmail 3 offers. It’s designed to organise even the busiest accounts. Airmail integrates with stacks of thirdparty apps to share information, notes and events; it enables you to hide messages until you actually need to do something about them, and you can customise everything from its icons to what happens when you swipe the trackpad. At £9.99 it’s excellent value for money; the time it’ll save you will repay your investment over and over again. One of…

IT WILL TAKE About an hour YOU WILL LEARN How to use Photos to apply more advanced edits to your images YOU’LL NEED A Mac, a stock of photos Photos, Apple’s bundled OS X app for sorting your images, does some amazing jobs automatically. Sorting images by their geo-tags, dates and auto-detecting faces and assigning identities spring to mind, and that’s before you consider the computational gymnastics required to sync the photo library on your Mac with your iCloud account and Apple mobile devices. Still, while you might be aware that Photos can be used to edit your images, for most that stops at relatively straightforward changes such as rotating and cropping, or perhaps applying a few one-click filters. Here, we’ll look at the editing tools you might have missed.…

IT WILL TAKE 1 hour YOU WILL LEARN How to prepare your device and data then install the iOS 11 beta YOU’LL NEED iPhone 5s, SE, 6, 6s, or 7; iPad mini 2 or later, iPad Air or later, iPad Pro (any model), or an iPod touch (6th generation) Installing the public beta of iOS 11 is actually very straightforward, though it’s best to install it on a device you don’t depend on on an everyday basis – say, to check your bank account and pay bills. You can restore your device back to iOS 10 if you want to – or at least you can until a short time after the final public release of iOS 11, though Apple doesn’t say exactly when. Back up first If you decide…

Can I upgrade the processor in a new iMac? Unlike previous iMac models going back to 2012, the CPU isn’t soldered in but socketed, so it could be upgraded. Processor upgrades for older iMacs are possible but remain unusual. A significant benefit is that a failed CPU can be replaced; that would have to be performed by an authorised repairer. Which recent iMacs can have memory upgrades? The 21.5-inch models are problems: the 2015 version isn’t upgradable at all, and memory in the 2017 version is tough to reach, so a job for an authorised engineer. 2015 and 2017 iMac 27-inch models feature a small hatch making user upgrades simple, although the later version requires DDR4 modules. Graphics glitches at shutdown Q My iMac Retina 5K Late 2015 randomly displays…

1 Force Photos to quit Allow Photos up to an hour before giving up on it. Press command+option+esc together to bring up the Force Quit dialog. Select Photos there – it may be shown in red as ‘not responding’ – and click the button to force it to quit. 2 Repair default library Open a new Finder window, and navigate that to show the Photos app. Open the app with the option+command keys held down. Photos should then open this dialog offering to repair the current default library. Click on Repair and wait. 3 Select a library If the dialog isn’t shown, quit Photos and open it with the option key held, to select the library you want to use. Then quit the app, and use the option+command combination to…

If an album isn’t held on the Gracenote database, the music will be listed without artwork. In this instance, if you’ve already imported the album into iTunes, go to your music library and look under Recently Added. ctrl+click on the album’s placeholder artwork and choose Get Info. iTunes will ask you to confirm that you wish to edit multiple items. Click on Edit Items to open a new window. Select the Artwork tab. This will simply show a blank space. To set the artwork, either drag an image from Safari or Finder and drop it onto the space, or click the Add Artwork button to browse to an image stored on your Mac. At this stage, you may also want to click on the Details tab to update the album’s…

£1,249 FROM Apple, apple.com/uk FEATURES 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 processor, 8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 memory, 256GB SSD storage, Intel HD Graphics 615 processor Alex says… I really wasn’t a fan of the 2015 MacBook’s keyboard, but I have to say that it’s better this time around. While it still takes some getting used to thanks to the minimal key travel, it feels more natural to type on. The large keys also help to reduce the likelihood of spelling errors – very useful for my rather fat fingers. A pple hasn’t changed the ultra-slim MacBook much in the time since its 2015 debut, and that ethos continues here. A glance down the tech specs for this new 2017 model reveals that a lot of things remain unchanged, for better or worse:…

Adata SD700256G £105 FROM Adata, adata.com FEATURES 256GB mSSD drive, USB 3.1, IP68 certified Durability The drive is IP68 certified, so can survive a dunking in water as well as a rain shower. It happily survived falling from tabletop height (70cm) on to a wooden floor too, thanks to its rubberised casing. Performance The SD700 is the quicker drive of the two, despite being edged out in some read benchmarks. Its file-write speeds were very impressive – 430MB/s in extended file tests, 208 MB/s in standard write tests – and it’s quick in real-world tests too, writing 10GB of small files in under a minute. Connectivity The drive has a separate, replaceable cable with a standard Micro-B SuperSpeed connector. At 30cm in length, it should be adequate for life on…

Test 1 Comfort & quality As you’d expect from a roundup of such premium bags, there’s a lot of quality on show here. The Eastpak uses leather and looks the part, while the Knomo is the smartest of the bunch and is the choice for a combination of commuting and relentless meetings. The Ruitbag, Fjällräven and STM are great quality bags as well, although they might look a tiny bit scruffier over time. We found the STM the most comfy backpack to wear day-to-day, but the Eastpak and Fjällräven were not far behind, probably because they assume a more traditional backpack shape. We didn’t get on too well with the Booq because of its glossy straps, which we found slipped a little. The Ruitbag has plenty of padding at the…

£89 FROM Retrospect, retrospect.com NEEDS OS X 10.6.8 or later VERDICT Solid protection, with local, network and cloud-based insurance against data loss. + Scalable backups - No quick-start guides G ood practice for your backups is to have several copies of your files on multiple kinds of media and at different locations. Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, and online storage can do this for one person, but when you have multiple Macs to care for, the task can be made easier to manage with one point of protection. Setting up Retrospect requires installing its server on one computer, the client on those to be backed up, and then configuring what gets backed up, where to, and when. Catalogues of backups are saved separately to the backups themselves. You’ll want to…

Free FROM creaceed, creaceed.com NEEDS iOS 10 or later VERDICT For quick, accurate text recognition from images, Prizmo Go is absolutely ideal. + Great text recognition + Image stabilisation P rizmo Go is an app focused around optical character recognition (OCR). The free version enables you to snap a picture of any text document with your iPhone’s camera and turn the image into text. It comes with support for 10 languages, and the text can be read aloud using text-tospeech or VoiceOver. Buy the Export Pack for £4.99 and you can send the text to another app; or you can copy and paste text to another iOS app, or your Mac using iOS 10 and Sierra’s Universal Clipboard capability. You can also use Prizmo Go to import images from your…

Get to grips with the new iPad Pro’s speedy 120Hz refresh rate 1The new iPad Pro has a 120Hz refresh rate. This makes onscreen actions like zooming and scrolling feel far more natural. It’s even better when viewing content that can take advantage of this, like high frame rate video, fast-moving games and the augmented reality features of iOS 11. 2This also means that the device has lower latency, reducing any sensation of lag. This is a key benefit to artists and creative professionals using either their fingers or the Apple Pencil (sold separately) for fine, expressive details. The reduced latency not only feels more natural, but increases accuracy. 3The iPad Pro’s refresh rate is adjusted dynamically with ProMotion. The device knows when you need the faster refresh rate and…

ALSO INSIDE… Colour correct your video in iMovie Create great written documents Improve your spreadsheet skills Discover your Mac’s secrets New 27-inch iMac reviewed * Contents subject to change ISSUE 317 ON SALE 29 AUG 2017 DON’T MISS IT – SUBSCRIBE TODAY! IN PRINT & ON YOUR iPAD Our print and digital bundle gets you the paper magazine as well as our iPad edition myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/macformat ON YOUR MAC Read digitally on your Mac: subscribe with Zinio at zinio.com/macformat Zinio subscriptions do not include a print copy of the magazine.…