Índex per June 2021 a MacFormat

Big Sur was a Big Deal when it landed last November, effectively ending the macOS X 10.x era, while heralding the arrival of Apple silicon. It also had a completely different look and feel – sometimes with mixed results. Given the size of the transition, things have gone pretty smoothly, even if us Mac users sometimes chafe at the changes, quirks and bugs found in the new macOS 11. To that end, this month’s lead feature (p18) reveals the tips, tricks and secrets you can employ to make the most of Big Sur – from handy keyboard shortcuts, to customising the Control Centre or easily sharing albums in Photos. We hope you’ll find our comprehensive guide useful and informative. While Big Sur and Apple silicon mark two major shifts in…

WE ASKED… How much iCloud storage do you have? Log on and see next issue’s big question! twitter.com/macformat facebook.com/macformat Possibility of a super-size iMac The iMac is on course for its biggest revamp in a decade, and a new leak indicates it could even come in a new size. Reputable Chinese leaker L0vetodream, who has an impressive record with Apple leaks, has stated on Twitter that “The iMac’s screen is really big, bigger than the biggest one.” The current largest iMac screen measures 27 inches across. Apple’s all-in-one is expected to get thinner bezels and a correspondingly larger display, which could end up being around 29 inches. Alternatively, Apple might go even larger and release something close to 32 inches across, which would be in line with the Mac Pro’s…

Rumours have swirled for a while now that Apple is working on a mixed-reality headset that would combine augmented reality (AR) with virtual reality (VR). Now, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shared new info surrounding the device, including details on its lenses and rough weight. Kuo believes the headset will weigh as little as 150g. As noted in his report, most VR headsets weigh at least 300g, with many clocking in much higher (the Valve Index, for instance, weighs 809g). Apple will achieve this low weight by ditching heavy materials and instead incorporating fabric in much of the headset’s body, says Kuo. The analyst claims another way Apple will lower the weight is by using plastic Fresnel lenses instead of glass alternatives, which will allow the lenses to be made…

1 Fujifilm X-E4 > £799 (body only) > fujifilm-x.com Over time technology trickles down, but the X-E4’s tech inheritance has come from the pro-level X-series cameras in something of a torrent. Despite being priced to appeal to amateurs and enthusiasts, this interchangeable-lensed snapper gets the full-on 26.1 megapixel X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor from its far more expensive forebears, as well as lightning-fast autofocus, face- and eye-tracking, superior colour-tweaking smarts, and video shooting from Full HD/60p all the way to 4K/30p. There’s also an obvious aesthetic nod to classic film cameras in its 32.7mm-thin old-school casing. This is the perfect antidote to modern mirrorless devices, which stay chunky for no good reason – particularly considering the extensive list of X-mount lenses ready and waiting to extend the X-E4’s capabilities. 2 Earin…

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost every aspect of our lives, not to mention the industries we depend on both professionally and personally. One that might not immediately spring to mind for many people is the production of electronic devices, and, in particular, the chips that sit at the heart (or maybe the brain…) of such products. It should though. Semiconductors – including memory chips, microprocessors, and integrated chips – have been in short supply in the tech industry, and all those that rely on them are in the midst of a genuine crisis. While Apple is better placed than many to ride out the storm, nobody is quite sure at this point when it will end. What’s the problem? Like so many workplaces around the world, the factories that…

1 Change picture Big Sur comes with 40 new desktop wallpapers, including different phases as they change during the day. To choose one, go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop Pictures and make your selection. 2 Add an accent colour To change the colour of buttons and sidebar glyphs in apps, go to System Preferences > General and choose a colour from the Accent menu. Multicolour leaves apps at the developer’s default, other colours impose your choice. 3 Change the sidebar Big Sur’s full-height sidebars in windows allow for more or bigger icons. To add more, go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar and select. To make them bigger, it’s System Prefs > General > Sidebar icon size and small, medium or large.…

1 Find a GIF to send Click the new message button or click on a message thread in the sidebar. Type your message in the box, then click the ‘A’ to display the available options. Choose ‘#images’. Scroll through the GIFs to find the one you want. 2 GIF with a message You can also use the search box to find images. When you’ve found the one you want, click on it to add it to your message. Press send to send the message, or press the ‘X’ in the corner of the GIF to remove it. 3 Image with effects Effects play an animation over the whole screen of an iOS device or window in macOS. Follow the steps above to create a new message. This time, when you…

One of Catalina’s biggest changes was the end of iTunes and its replacement with separate apps, Music, TV, and Podcasts. It’s no surprise, then that these apps don’t get huge updates in Big Sur. The biggest change in Music is the replacement of For You with Listen Now. Similar to its predecessor, and like the iOS version, Listen Now suggests music, artists and interviews it thinks you might like based on your previous listening habits. Search has been improved, too, with new filters. Listen Now also pops up in the Podcasts app, making it easier to find the next episode of podcasts you listen to. 1 Go social Apple Music allows you to find out what friends are listening to and share what you listen to with them. Click on…

>The biggest change to Siri in Big Sur is that it can now answer a wider range of questions by searching the web. In addition, Siri in Big Sur can tell you about your Mac’s system, so you can ask ‘How fast is this Mac’. It can also search for files and you can ask follow up questions. Siri can also make intelligent suggestions to you based on how you use your Mac, such as prompt you to create a calendar event for something you discuss in Messages. Siri can also change system settings, such as turning Wi-Fi on and off, or switching on Do Not Disturb. You can search within apps, say for notes or photos, and you can launch apps using Siri, too. It’s pretty smart, so if…

Apple’s macOS Big Sur offers plenty of ways to save interesting content for later. For example, you can highlight text on a web page and drag it to a document, which can then be saved to read anywhere. That is fine, but Safari offers better options. Many of these methods are built right into the browser. Reading List lets you save any article to a library for later reading. By default, your saved articles require an internet connection to view, but you can save them for offline consumption. Safari extensions like Pocket and Instapaper (both free) offer extra features over Safari’s Reading List. For instance, Pocket lets you see what other people have saved and follow interesting curators. Instapaper, meanwhile, lets you tweak things like fonts and colours to make…

1 Clipping warnings Due to high-contrast lighting, the backlit girl and dog are underexposed and the overexposed sky lacks detail. By clicking the triangular exclamation sign, we can summon clipping warnings to identify exposure problems. 2 Graduated adjustment Click on the Linear Gradient icon. Position the gradient at the top of the overexposed sky. Drag the Exposure slider left to darken details gradually towards the top of the shot. This restores detail to the clipped sky. 3 Develop brush Choose the Develop Brush. Set the Smart Brushing drop down to Magic. This enables you to quickly select a complex shape in red. You can then adjust a slider such as Fill Light to selectively lighten the selected areas.…

In low light conditions, your camera may use a high ISO setting to make it more sensitive to light. This can add specks of colour (chrominance) and brightness (luminance) noise to your shots. Apple’s Photos app has an all-in-one Noise Reduction slider. Photo Studio 7 has individual colour and luminance noise sliders for greater control over removing noise without blurring key objects. You can also reduce the presence of colour fringing (chromatic aberration) on specular highlights (something you can’t do in Photos).…

Encryption is a great way to keep your personal data and files secure: it means that the only person who can access your data is you. In this tutorial, we’ll discover how to encrypt your Mac’s startup disk, external drives and Time Machine backups. We’ll also discover how to create disk images that you can share securely. As far as your Mac is concerned a disk image is like any other disk, but as it’s a virtual drive you can have more than one on a single storage device. Disk images are ideal for emailing, for making available as downloads, or for uploading to shared cloud storage, but do make sure you don’t send the password with the image or you’ll defeat the whole purpose of encrypting your data. Four…

1 Explore the app Apple’s Podcasts app looks like the Music app because they have the same parent: iTunes. There’s a sidebar and search box (left), a Now Playing toolbar (top) and details of the currently selected podcast in the main window. 2 Start to subscribe If you subscribe to a podcast, the app will automatically download new episodes as they’re released. All you need to do is find a podcast you like and then click on the large Subscribe button towards the top right. 3 Explore your episodes If you click on the Listen Now link in the sidebar, you’ll see a screen rather like this one with big thumbnails of the podcasts you’re subscribed to. This shows the most recently updated podcasts in your subscription list. 4 Open…

1 Set up Control Centre Go to Settings > Control Centre. Swipe up until you see More Controls. Tap the ‘+’ next to Hearing to add it. Now when you pull up Control Centre, you’ll see the Hearing (ear) icon that will let you access Live Listen features. 2 Start Live Listen With your AirPods connected to your iPhone, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to activate Control Centre. Tap the ear icon, then tap Live Listen. You should now hear what your iPhone’s mic is picking up. 3 Set up Accommodations Tap Settings, then Accessibility. Scroll to Audio/Visual, tap it, then tap Headphone Accommodations. Toggle the switch on then choose one of the Tune Audio For options. Choose what to apply the settings with. 4 Customise…

They also share their skills online in video tutorials and free cheat sheets at novasound.net/novaskills. “Most of our regular clients have invested in home setups now,” Audrey told us. “And we’ve met a whole lot of new artists – digitally! – who’ve had time to create at home that they didn’t have before.” Here are Audrey’s top tips for making studioready home recordings. 1: Know your DAW Get familiar with your software, watch tutorials, learn shortcuts and ask for advice. It gets you into good habits and really helps your efficiency when the ideas are truly flowing. 2: Make time Getting the best sound and performance takes time and effort, but it’s really worth it. 3: Clean up Decide on your takes, edit accordingly and organise things in a tidy…

IN PRINT ON iPAD & iPHONE ISSUE 364 MAY 2021 Go further with iCloud Improve your online security Top tips for Notification Centre Use a thumb drive with your iPad ISSUE 363 APRIL 2021 Boost your home network Classic Apple – 40 years of amazing kit Master the Home app and HomeKit Incredible art apps for iPad ISSUE 362 MARCH 2021 Move to a new Mac – the pain-free way AirPods Max: the definitive verdict Make the most of widgets in iOS Create playlists in Apple Music To order back issues of the print magazine, go to bit.ly/macformat_backissues or phone +44 (0)330 333 1113 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…

£331.99 FROM OWC, owcdigital.com FEATURES 4x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports (1x with 90W PD), 3x USB-A 3.2 ports, 1x USB-A 2.0 port, Gigabit Ethernet, SD 4.0 card reader, 3.5mm audio in/out, Kensington Security Slot, Nano Security Slot; Thunderbolt 4 cable You’ll find a USB-C port with 90W Power Delivery to keep even a 16in MBP juiced up While the current iMac has enough ports for most of the things you’re likely to want to connect to, the same can’t be said for the rest of Apple’s line-up. The M1 Mac mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air only come with two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports apiece, meaning you’ll either be forever reliant on a dongle or five, or you’ll need an external dock. And that’s where the Thunderbolt Dock from OWC comes…

$209 (about £140) FROM Vissles, vissles.com FEATURES 15.6in IPS display, 1920x1080 resolution, 2x USB-C, 1x mini-HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack Many of us have a second, large display for our MacBook or desktop Mac. But there are times when a smaller, more portable display can be useful. The Vissles-M 15.6-inch display has a relatively modest 1920x1080 resolution, but the display is bright and clear and fine for web browsing or streaming video. At 620g, the slimline display is easy to carry, and most of the screen is just 5.3mm thick – although the ports and connectors on the lower section swell it out to 10.16mm. There are two USB-C ports and a mini-HDMI port on the right, with both cables included, while the headphone socket, power and menu buttons sit on…

$49.99 (about $35) FROM Vivid-Pix, vivid-pix.com NEEDS OS X 10.7 or later Apps such as Vivid-Pix Restore can give vintage prints a new lease of life on our social media feeds Thanks to our ever-present iPhone, it’s a quick and easy task to snap and share colourful, high-quality images of our daily activities with friends, family, and social media followers. However, many of us have collections of hard-copy photos that are lingering unseen between the pages of old albums or hidden in boxes in the basement. To help your old analogue photos compete with today’s pristine digital prints, you’ll need to boost their faded colours and restore washed-out contrast. Fortunately, apps such as Vivid-Pix Restore can give vintage prints a new lease of life on our social media feeds. Restore…

From £999 Apple’s thinnest, lightest laptop now also gets the M1 treatment. But without a price hike! Prices still start at just £999. The next step model (with increased SSD storage and eight-core GPU) even costs £50 less at £1,249. Like the MBP, Apple’s own unified memory silicon enables faster performance and better graphic speeds. And the 16-core Neural Engine results in nine times faster machine learning. It may be Apple’s most affordable laptop, but the MacBook Air certainly doesn’t feel like a budget machine, thanks to its 100% recycled aluminium unibody, and 13.3-inch LED-backlit Retina display, which has a resolution of 2560x1600 (227ppi) and True Tone, which automatically adjusts the display’s colour temperature depending on the ambient light. The inclusion of the M1 chip has changed none of the…

From £149 Apple’s media streamer has been around since 2007, when it ran Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Four generations later and it’s a different beast entirely, running its own OS (tvOS) and available in Apple TV HD (£149) and Apple TV 4K (from £179) guises. Both enable you to rent and buy movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store. Plus you also get Apple TV+, as well as access to third-party content using apps such as BBC iPlayer. You can also use it to play Apple Arcade games, stream photos and your music library, and more.…

The Apple Car is one of the most talked-about Apple rumours of recent years – possibly of all time – yet we still know very little about it. Over time, ideas about the project have ranged from an actual self-driving car to just the tech powering such a product, and everything in between. Now, one reporter has attempted to winkle some details out of Tim Cook himself – and the Apple CEO shared a few interesting morsels in response. In an interview with The New York Times’ journalist Kara Swisher on her Sway podcast, Cook was characteristically tight-lipped, yet did have some interesting things to share. When asked about whether the company was testing autonomous vehicles, Cook responded: “In terms of the work that we’re doing there, obviously, I’m going…

CyberLink’s PhotoDirector 365 has landed on the Mac for the first time, letting you rework your photos from small tweaks to artistic reinterpretations. PhotoDirector uses artificial intelligence (AI) to take the heavy lifting out of tasks. That includes replacing skies and lighting, selecting and isolating objects, and applying artistic painting styles to your photographs. Included in the price is access to an extensive library of premium material from Shutterstock, including hundreds of thousands of photos, videos, and audio clips. This update also comes with a range of interface enhancements to make everything simpler and more intuitive. If you’ve been looking for a new way to let loose your artistic side on photos and videos, this could help get your creative juices flowing. Keep an eye out for our review next…

>There aren’t any new system-wide keyboard shortcuts or gestures in Big Sur. However, the Reminders app gets a few new ones. There are now keyboard shortcuts for switching between lists and for changing due dates to, say, today, tomorrow, or next weekend. To configure system-wide shortcuts, go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts. Check or uncheck the box next to a shortcut to switch it on or off. Click on the shortcut itself to edit it. To manage gestures, use the Trackpad or Keyboard pane in System Preferences, depending on which you use with your Mac. Check and uncheck gestures and use drop-down menus to select how they are performed. For example, you can choose to invoke Mission Control by swiping up with either three or four fingers.…

1 Create the album In the sidebar in Photos, hover over Shared Albums and click the ‘+’ next to it. Give the album a title and type the names – if they are in your Contacts – or email addresses of people you want to share with. Click Create. 2 Invite more people To invite more people after creating an album, choose the album under Shared Albums and click the People icon in the toolbar. Click ‘+’ next to Invite People and type the name or email address of the people you want to invite. 3 Shared album web page If you want to share an album with people not on iCloud, create a web page. Click the people tab in the album view and choose Public Website. This creates…

>Messages is finally on a par with its iOS counterpart, and with other messaging apps on the Mac. You can now pin up to nine messages to the top of the messages list, reply inline to specific messages in a group conversations, ‘mention’ participants in a group conversation, and choose its photo. GIFs and Memoji stickers come to the Mac and you can also create and edit Memoji’s in Big Sur Messages. When you first begin a conversation with someone new, you can choose whether to share your name and photo, or you can use a Memoji image or monogram instead. If you’re a fan of message effects in iOS, like fireworks and balloons, you’ll be pleased to see those are now in the Mac version, too. And if you…

>If you have more than one Mac or iOS device, you can use a service called Content Caching to reduce the amount of data you download over the internet and speed up OS updates and the retrieval of other data. With Content Caching set up, whenever a Mac or iOS device on the network downloads an update, the update is stored on a Mac on the network. The next time a device requests the update, it’s delivered from the cache, rather than being downloaded again. And it’s not just OS updates. Content Caching supports apps, app data, such as GarageBand songs, Books, and iCloud data like photos and documents. To switch it on, go to System Prefs > Sharing and check the box next to Content Caching. You can choose…

Other benefits of subscribing to the UK’s best-selling Apple magazine… ✓ For more than 25 years, we’ve been helping Apple fans get the most from their kit. ✓ Our tutorials and guides empower you with the knowledge to get things done in smarter and faster ways. ✓ MacFormat is for Apple fans of all experience levels. Whether you’ve just bought your first Mac, iPhone or iPad, or have been using one for years, we’ll ensure you don’t miss out on top tips and techniques. Choose your package! DIGITAL ONLY NO GIFT £36 every 12 months 13 issues of MacFormat in digital, and save 44%. Gift not included with a digital subscription ANNUAL PRINT EDITION + GIFT £65 every 12 months 13 issues of MacFormat in print over 12 months and…

1 Save your first page Hover over the Safari URL bar and click the ‘+’ button to add a page to your Reading List, or press Command+Shift+D. Now Click the Safari sidebar button, then click the Reading List button to see all your saved content. 2 Read saved articles Click an article in the sidebar to read it. When you get to the bottom of the page, keep scrolling and you will move to the next saved article. Similarly, scroll upwards at the top to return to the previous article. 3 Filter saved pages In the Reading List sidebar, scroll upwards, then click the buttons that appear at the top to filter between all saved articles and just those you have not read. You can also search through your saved…

1 Geometric distortion Certain lenses can cause horizontal and vertical lines to bulge (barrel) outwards or inwards (pin-cushion). To straighten curved lines, click on the Geometry tab. Toggle open Lens Distortion and tweak the Distortion slider. 2 Perspectival distortion When shooting a tall building from a low angle, its walls may converge towards the top of the frame. In the Perspective panel, drag the Vertical slider to make the converging lines run parallel with the edge of the frame. 3 Horizontal distortion When shooting a subject from a side angle, its horizontal lines may converge towards the right of the frame. By tweaking the Horizontal slider, you can make it look like you were standing directly in front of the subject.…

Keeping all your Mac apps up to date is important but doing it quickly and with minimal fuss is certainly easier said than done. It is fine if all your apps are from the App Store, but what if you have apps that you downloaded direct from the developer’s website? Then things take a bit longer and get a bit more complicated. Unless you use MacUpdater, that is. This app scans your Mac, finds which apps are installed, then looks for updates. If it finds them, it lets you update all your apps at once with a few quick clicks. It only takes a couple of minutes and makes keeping your apps current and secure totally painless. MacUpdater is highly customisable, from the types of apps it scans for right…

1 Use FileVault By far the easiest way to encrypt a drive is by going into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault, but you can only use it on your Mac’s boot disk (usually Macintosh HD). You’ll need to log in as an administrator. 2 Choose how to unlock If you try to restore your FileVault data, you’ll need to unlock it, and you have a choice – you can use your iCloud account, or you can create a Recovery Key. If you go for the second option and lose the key, you’ll be locked out. 3 Change your mind If you change your mind, removing FileVault is as simple as enabling it was: once again it’s System Preferences > Security & Privacy, but this time you’ll click…

1 Choose a contact contact Contact Pics Adder initially displays your contacts in alphabetical order. You can opt to display only those contacts lacking an image by tapping Without Picture, or use Search to quickly find a specific person. 2 Do a web search Select a contact and the app will use their name for a Bing search. A row of blue buttons enables you to refine the search term by using information drawn from that person’s details stored within the Contacts app. 3 Crop your image Once you find a suitable image, tap it. In the next screen, drag and pinch to best frame the image within the circular region. When happy with it, tap Save. If you want to revert the contact to how it was, tap Cancel.…

Macs and music were made for each other, and it’s never been easier to make music on your Mac – no matter what kind of music you want to make. It’s also incredibly easy to share your musical masterpieces with the rest of the world; you can start a song in the morning and share it on Soundcloud the very same day. Your Mac isn’t just great for writing songs or recording performances. It can also be an incredibly powerful recording studio, especially when you start experimenting with plug-ins. Plug-ins are little apps that plug in to your music app and give it new powers; plug-ins include cavernous echoes, digitally modelled guitar amplifiers, retro synthesisers and a whole collection of special effects. Once you’ve mixed your song to make it…

1 Pick a genre When you run GarageBand, you’ll be greeted by the Project window. Click on Project Templates. This enables you to choose the kind of music or project you intend to create. In this tutorial, we’re going to have some fun with Hip-Hop. 2 See the beats Don’t worry, this is simpler than it looks. The big yellow strip to the right of Beat Machine (Anton) is a Drummer track, and if you select it with the mouse you can use the controls at the bottom to change what it plays. 3 Make some noise If you click on the next track, Sweeping Arp, you should now see a blank grid in the lower section. ctrl-click and choose Create Note to add a note. You can now move…

Apps such as Logic Pro are packed with digital models of studio compressors, reverbs, equalisers and even studio live rooms: for example, if you go into Logic’s Space Designer, you can find legendary spaces such as Berlin’s Hansa Studio. If you don’t have the space or the soundproofing to record a full live band, you can use Logic’s own virtual amps or plug-ins such as Amplitube or BIAS FX – which work with the major music apps – to recreate guitar and bass amplifiers with amazing results. They also give you great flexibility; because your original recording is completely clean, you can change the sound after recording it.…

Fender Play fender.com/play The guitar-making legend has a brilliant online school for guitar, bass and ukulele and it can teach you to play just about anything. Bandcamp bandcamp.com Bandcamp is one of the best places to sell music online, and you can sell merchandise too. It regularly waives the seller fees on Bandcamp Fridays. Soundcloud soundcloud.com Soundcloud enables you to stream your music. It’s a good place to connect and build relationships with music fans and other artists. Gearslutz gearslutz.com These forums are an incredible resource for every kind of music maker and producer. And the awful name is changing soon.…

iMac (1998) The Bondi Blue beauty dropped at a time when prior Macs, and PCs of the era, were distinctly beige – and in the heyday of translucent blue plastic – turning the Mac into an iconic desktop essential. iPod (2001) Apple’s first major step outside its comfort zone wasn’t the first hard drive MP3 player, but it defined what said device could be. Superb control, a great interface, and Dieter Rams-esque looks. iPhone (2007) Smartphones were floundering when the iPhone launched, mainly due to Microsoft’s abysmal mobile OS. Apple took a leap, set the standard, and everyone else was forced to follow.…

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£44.95 FROM Moshi, moshi.com FEATURES Qi wireless charging (up to 15W), USB-C port (1m USB-C cable included), non-slip silicone surface ring and base; supports cases up to 5mm thick While the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro sport Apple’s MagSafe tech, every iPhone since the iPhone 8 has supported wireless charging. You just place your iPhone on a Qi-compatible pad and, well, wait… sometimes for rather a long time. While wireless charging isn’t necessarily quick, it is convenient – you don’t have to rummage around for a Lightning cable, or worry about sticking said connector into a rapidly fluff-filling port, you just plop your iPhone down and go. Moshi’s already impressed us with its £164 Symbus Q charger (MF364), but the Otto Q is a cheaper and simpler proposition. It shares…

Any of the apps on test will fulfil your essential task management requirements. TickTick offers a competitive and well-rounded feature set for a sensible price and is also the only app that includes full iOS functionality with your purchase. Things 3 is the most Mac-like and could almost have been designed by Apple, though its collaboration capabilities are lacking. OmniFocus is arguably the most technical-feeling app on test, and has much for power users but won’t receive collaborative tools until a future update. But it’s Todoist that hits the sweet spot with its attractive design and clever workflow that puts a multitude of tools at your fingertips while remaining friendly to use. Even though the free plan is quite limited, the eminently affordable £3.99 per month plan unlocks all but…

£4.99/month (Apple Arcade) FROM Lykke Studios, lykkestudios.com NEEDS macOS 11 or later Sparks fly and crackle in celebration when you complete a round Lumen is a game that is full of allure and character yet, despite its gorgeous looks, it is prone to repetitive gameplay. It boasts a huge number of levels, but this is a game that is best enjoyed in short bursts. You must complete puzzles contained within an old music box-style contraption that once belonged to a woman named Olivia McLumen, who has hidden details of her life within the box. Solve its riddles and you can relive these moments through photographs and recordings of her voice. The main game board is adorned with various buttons and lights that display your current progress, allow you to replay…

From £1,299 In November 2020, Apple rather surprised the tech world with an earlierthan-expected release of the first MacBook Pro with its own custom designed 5nm Apple M1 chip. The eight-core CPU is said to offer 2.8 times faster performance over its predecessor, while the eight-core GPU has five times faster graphics. The 16-core Neural Engine completes the powerhouse spec sheet for advanced machine learning. All this, coupled with a 61W battery, translates to the longest battery life for a MacBook Pro so far, with an impressive 17 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video play. The Pro comes with 8GB of unified memory but you can upgrade to 16GB. Storage starts at 256GB SSD, and can be configured up to 2TB. The physical build remains the same…

From £699 In October 2020, Apple launched the iPhone 12 family of handsets. The Pro features Apple’s A14 Bionic chip, with either a 6.1-inch or 6.7-inch (Max version) Super Retina XDR all-screen OLED True Tone display, and comes in 128, 256 or 512GB storage options. The 12MP camera system incorporates Ultra Wide, Wide and Telephoto lenses with Portrait mode, plus HDR video with Dolby Vision. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini have the same A14 Bionic processor as their pricier sibling, but come in 64, 128 and 256GB storage options. Both boast the Super Retina XDR True Tone display. The standard screen size is 6.1-inch, while the mini is 5.4-inch. These phones feature 12MP Wide and Ultra Wide cameras, but can also record HDR video with Dolby Vision. All…

The M1 chip used in Apple’s latest Macs is an integrated system on a chip (SoC), which means its memory, storage, processor and graphics components are all housed in one combined unit. Yet that has not stopped some enterprising engineers in China from discovering the memory and storage can be upgraded with new parts that are then recognised by macOS. The technicians replaced the 8GB of memory and 256GB SSD in their test MacBook Air with 16GB and 1TB equivalents and macOS did not reject them as illegitimate. The problem? All of these components are soldered in place, meaning the engineers had to dismantle the SoC, which is highly risky and voids the MacBook’s warranty. While it shows that the M1 chip can be upgraded after you have bought it,…

The Apple TV could be in for a major revamp featuring a 120Hz refresh rate and a new remote. Both features have been referenced in beta code for the Apple TV’s operating system, tvOS, suggesting that the device could be updated imminently. According to MacRumors, the Apple TV remote could be redesigned to include a central button. Uncovered tvOS code contains the phrase “Press the center button or the touch surface to continue”, yet the current remote has no such button. One possibility is that Apple is looking to design the remote after the iPhone’s Apple TV virtual remote, which does have a centre button. And what about 120Hz? The current Apple TV is limited to a 4K resolution at 60Hz due to its HDMI 2.0 port, yet 9to5Mac has…

Big Sur has been with us a while now but even if you upgraded on the first day available, it’s likely you’re not yet making full use of all its features and additions. And, let’s face it, there are plenty. From the redesigned interface, to the new Control Centre, and beefed up Messages and Maps apps, there’s plenty to get to grips with. And that’s before we get on to the new privacy features in Safari and the App Store. Don’t worry though, we’ve got you covered. In this feature, we’ll get beneath the surface of macOS Big Sur and reveal the tips and tricks to help you get the most from it. We’ll sidestep the more obvious, and instead reveal the things you may have missed. And we’ll cover…

>Extensions in Photos allows you to access many of the editing features in apps such as Pixelmator, Affinity Photo, and Luminar without leaving the Photos app. There’s even a category on the App Store that lists the apps that have Photos extensions. To see that, double-click any photo then choose Edit from the top-right corner of the window. Click on the More button (…) and choose App Store. In that menu you’ll also see an option called Manage. Click that and you’ll be taken to the Extensions pane in System Preferences, from where you can enable extensions for those apps that support them. Once enabled, the apps appear in the Edit menu. Some apps have only one option, others have several. The difference is that, say, Pixelmator offers one option…

Safari and Messages have both had big updates in Big Sur. As has been the case with many Apple updates in recent years, much of the focus is on privacy. Safari’s new Privacy Report details all the cross-site trackers it has blocked over the last 30 days and displays the privacy practices for websites you visit. You can even add the Privacy Report to your newly customisable start page. Safari now also warns you if any of your saved passwords have been involved in a data breach and helps you to change them. It’s faster and more power efficient and displays favicons on open tabs, making it easier to identify them. Mail didn’t get a big update this time around, but it did benefit from the OS-wide interface enhancements like…

Like Apple’s free Photos app, Photo Studio 7 enables you to fix common picture problems with colour, tone and composition. In both apps, you can use sliders to selectively lighten shadows without overexposing highlights for example. You can also boost weaker colours without oversaturating stronger ones. Despite these similarities, Photo Studio 7 is worth purchasing because it boasts extra tools that allow you to adjust tone and composition with greater precision. Photos Studio 7 enables you to use brush-based tools to lighten or darken specific objects, so you can dodge (darken) and burn (lighten) any subject like a traditional darkroom pro. You can also use gradients to claw back missing sky detail without underexposing correctly exposed landscapes and clone out unwanted objects more effectively. In this walkthrough, we’ll focus on…

1 Heal or clone The Photos app’s Retouch tool produces smudgy results when removing subjects because it blends (heals) transplanted pixels with their new surroundings. In Photo Studio 7’s Repair panel, try clicking Clone instead of Heal 2 Let us spray For more accurate editing, adjust the Width and Feathering of the Clone tool’s brush tip. Control-click to define the area that you want to transplant. Click to spray the sampled pixels over the unwanted subject. 3 Little and often For greater control, keep Control-clicking on adjacent areas to sample and extend appropriate pixels over the unwanted subject. Here we’ve cloned the wall of the background house and grass over the woman, and tarmac over the car aerial.…

1 Menu bar icon on MacUpdater uses a menu bar icon for quick access. Click it, then click Quick Select to highlight apps to be updated. Alternatively, you can Command-click multiple apps at once. Click the Update Selected option to get started. 2 Open the app Click the Refresh button to make MacUpdater check for pending updates again. The gear button in the top-right corner opens MacUpdater’s settings, while the Open button launches the main window of the app. 3 The main update list The app’s main window shows a list of apps to be updated. Use the dropdown list to filter which apps are shown: You can show all apps, hide Mac App Store apps, hide all un-updateable apps, or set some custom rules. 4 Custom rules Choosing the…

Podcasts weren’t invented by Apple, but they wouldn’t exist without it: podcasts were made specifically for listening to on iPods, hence the name. The first podcast was uploaded in 2004, and according to Podcast Insights there are now 1,950,000 shows and 47 million episodes. A podcast is effectively a radio show that you download instead of tuning into, and many radio shows are now available as podcasts too. If you can imagine it, somebody has a podcast about it – and that presents a problem, because not all podcasts are good. How do you find the diamonds? Finding material Apple’s Podcasts app has three ways for you to find interesting podcasts. The Browse section is a curated collection of podcasts grouped by theme, such as ‘relationships’, ‘have a laugh’ and…

1 Get started with Komoot Once you’ve downloaded Komoot, you’ll need to create an account then complete your profile by following the on-screen instructions. You can then choose your favourite sports to receive personalised recommendations. 2 Start planning a tour Tap Plan then Plan New Route. Choose your sport and fitness level, and whether you want the trip to be a round trip or one way. Tap ‘Choose starting point’; you can then choose Use Current Location. 3 Continue planning your tour You’ll need to tap Plan New Route again to add a destination, then tap Choose Destination. Either tap on the search bar to search for a location, or tap Choose on Map then tap to set a location. Tap Set as Destination. 4 Finalise your tour To add…

1 Display icons These icons display or hide the instrument library and help, and they also enable you to switch between Smart Controls and the track editor. 2 Control bar The options in this bar control recording and playback, time signature, tempo and key. There’s a tuner, count-in and metronome here too. 3 Track controls From here, you can adjust track volume and stereo position. You can also mute or solo tracks and monitor your instruments. 4 Regions and loops These are the actual elements of your music: MIDI tracks, audio recordings and Drummer tracks that combine to make your song. 5 Smart Controls These enable you to make changes to a selected track, such as changing Drummer patterns, guitar sounds or reverbs. 6 Loop library GarageBand provides a huge…

1 Create the structure We’re using the same project as before, but we’ve used copy and paste to make it longer and give it some structure, with some instruments dropping in and out. Now for some vocals. Click the ‘+’ icon at the very top left of the window. 2 Choose your weapon You can add three kinds of track here: a MIDI track where you play a keyboard or other MIDI controller; Audio, where you record a microphone or instrument; and Drummer, which is GarageBand’s virtual drummer. 3 Choose a sound Click the Library icon at the very top left and navigate to Voice. Click on the different presets to hear the one you like best; you can adjust it in the control area at the bottom. Select the…

1 Choose your destination There are two reasons why you might want to export your recordings – to share the song you’ve created with other people, or to work on it further in another app. You’ll see the available options in GarageBand’s Share menu. 2 XShare for yourself If you want to export your song to the Music app, Share To Music does exactly that. It’ll ask you for the title, artist and other data, and you can choose the quality. Highest Quality is fine for personal listening. 3 Share a section If you look at the bottom of the export pop-up, you’ll see the option to Export Cycle Only. If you’ve selected a cycle area by drawing it on your timeline, you can export just the section of song…

Apple silicon has changed the game. It is not Apple’s first big platform change – while it seems silly to include the 6502, the Mac has seen 68000, PowerPC and X86 chips before the M1 – but it is the most significant in, if not the Mac’s lifespan, at least a generation. The ARM64-based Apple silicon is a more flexible, versatile system-on-a-chip (SoC) processor, and crucially it is Apple designed… If there is anything Apple treasures more than anything, it is control over its own platforms. Apple silicon, starting with the M1 chip, gives the company precisely that. An almost entirely closed shop. The MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and the Mac mini have gone M1. At the time of writing, a number of iMac models had also been killed off,…

It’s hard to pinpoint what the true future of Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems will be. But map the trajectories of Big Sur and iPadOS 14 and the two potentially collide – Apple silicon and the A-series chips of mobile devices are from the same family, meaning Big Sur can run iOS and iPadOS apps natively. There’s more than a chance that Apple goes the whole hog, completely aligning its desktop and mobile operating systems as one. In mobile mode, an iPhone could act like an iPhone, but dock it with a monitor and you’d get a more complete macOS interface. Samsung has tried similar with DeX, bringing detailed desktop apps to docked S-series phones, and it works well, even if it’s not too widely used. There’s probably too…

Є 14.99 (about £13) FROM Rapoo, rapoo-eu.com FEATURES Qi wireless charging pad (up to 10W), USB-C port (1m USB-A to USB-C cable and charger included); supports cases up to 5mm thick Hailing from mainland China, Rapoo specialises in affordable wireless tech, including mice, keyboards, gaming peripherals and wireless chargers. First things first, the XC145 wireless charger certainly feels the complete opposite of the Moshi Otto Q (see above) in terms of pricing, yet comprises a 10W wireless charging pad with one-metre USB-A to USB-C cable and a mains charger with UK plug. It’s fair to say, though, that the XC145 lacks the Otto Q’s build quality, being made of cheaplooking black plastic – a feeling reinforced by the 64.7g weight of the charging pad, which has a tendency to tip…

Third-party keyboards have evolved far beyond the standard, basic models of old. And with working from home the new normal for many of us, freeing yourself from your laptop or getting more features than Apple’s smaller Magic Keyboard offers can be a good move. Priced the same as Apple’s keyboard and in some cases a little less, these can all work in wired or wireless mode, pair with more than one device at once, and be used across multiple operating systems. There’s never been a better choice of wireless keyboards on the market. Penclic KB3 £79.99 FROM Penclic, penclic.se FEATURES Slim design, good looks, clever key labels 1 Penclic’s KB3 is the smallest on test but has full-size keys and a low profile to help keep wrists level and prevent…

£599 (or £24.92 per month/£299 per year) FROM Corel Corporation, corel.com NEEDS macOS 10.15 or later Extensive toolsets are accessible to newcomers; powerful and customisable for the more experienced Whether you’re painting pixels, developing digital images or fairing Béziers, you’re spoilt for choice of apps. CorelDRAW is justly popular on Windows, but hasn’t yet become as widely adopted on macOS. This year’s version adds a host of new features from perspective projection to cross-platform remote working, but most of all is aiming to make a name for itself on M1 Macs. It’s centred on two major apps: CorelDRAW is intended for vector illustration and page layout, while Corel Photo-Paint handles image editing and pixel-based painting. There’s also AfterShot 3 HDR which is a Raw image editor and HDR generator, the…

£6.99 FROM Webin, readkit.app NEEDS iOS 14 or later When it comes to aggregating RSS newsfeeds with ‘read later’ services like Instapaper, ReadKit has been our go-to desktop app for some time. With support for favourite services, smart playlists, and custom reading controls, there’s a lot to love. Over the years, however, our reading habits have shifted away from the desktop and onto mobile devices like iPhone and iPad, where ReadKit was unavailable – until now. Available on iOS and iPadOS at last, ReadKit is every bit as remarkable as on macOS. That’s particularly true on iPad, where the larger display mimics the Mac’s three-column layout with subscribed feeds on the left, reader view on the right, and a list of article previews in between. ReadKit offers support for a…

Last year was one of the most stressful in recent memory, and so far this year hasn’t been much better! So it’s understandable if you’re looking for ways to increase your happiness. Thankfully, there are lots of apps on hand to help you take back control and feel more positive. There are apps that help you improve your sleep and wake up with peace of mind; there are apps that declutter your brain and enable you to overcome troubling thoughts, and there are apps that let you take stock of all the positive things in your life that you can overlook. Combined, they can help you lead a happier life in 2021 and beyond. Headspace Free (IAPs) NEEDS iOS 12 or later An App Store Editor’s Choice, Headspace is something…

From £699 Despite a near two-year wait for the last update to the Mac mini, within just eight months, Apple released it again in November 2020 with the homegrown M1 chip. The processor boasts far superior processing and graphics performance to the Intel innards of the previous incarnation. Like the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, the base model starts with 8GB of memory that can be boosted to 16GB. The SSD options go from 256GB all the way up to 2TB. The Mac mini now supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. You get two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, as well as two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.0 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The entry level Mac mini is available for £699. Taking it to its max memory and SSD capacity…