MacFormat August 2016

ioLight A high-quality microscope for your iPhone The ioLight is a device that claims to solve a problem you hadn’t even thought of. High-end laboratory microscopes cost upwards of £3,000 and are fiddly to use, while cheap options simply aren’t good enough for the pros, so ioLight claims to be the mid-range solution that promises the best of both worlds. Okay, it’s not for everyone, but it’s great for people who need a portable microscope for fieldwork or teaching. It displays the resultant images on your iPad, so you can view them in even greater detail and back them up to iCloud for safekeeping. £840 includes ioLight microscope website iolight.co.uk works with iPads running iOS 8.1 or higher…

We’re used to Apple’s computers saying “hello”, and it’s never been more true than with the re-emergence of the Mac OS name (now styled macOS). So, that means it’s goodbye to OS X, a name that’s been with us for 15 years. This year’s WWDC kicked off with a packed keynote announcing four brand new operating systems: macOS Sierra, iOS 10, watchOS 3 and tvOS 10. We’ve analysed every bit of information available to bring you an early look at how your Mac is changing, in anticipation of their full release in the autumn. We’ve looked at the major features for all four systems, concentrating on the key new features of Siri, Continuity, Apple Pay on the web, Photos, HomeKit and a Lock screen overhaul in iOS 10. As it’s…

While there was much to whet our appetites at Apple’s WWDC event on 13 June, we still can’t help but feel a little disappointed there was no mention of an updated MacBook Pro. Sure, we can’t wait to get stuck in with macOS Sierra, and Apple Music is getting an overhaul, but what about Apple’s well-loved workhorse notebooks? Given the recent updates meted out to the 12-inch MacBook and the MacBook Air range, the Pro is sticking out like a sore, neglected thumb. But it’s not all bad, if you believe the rumour mill. There has been a barrage of news, opinions and ‘leaks’ regarding the MacBook Pro, so much so that it’s hard not to feel that something is just around the corner. We’ve seen shots of the alleged…

CLASSIC APPLE FACTS $10.9bn VALUE OF ALL 2015 APPLE PAY TRANSACTIONS The analysts might be claiming that Apple Pay is on the rocks, but $10.9 billion sounds like a lot to us! It’s the total value of all Apple Pay transactions carried out in 2015; we’d expect it to go from strength to strength hereafter. $6.56 THE PRICE OF AN APPLE SHARE IN 2003 Today an Apple share will set you back about $100, but it wasn’t always so pricey. After the slump of the ’90s and the devastation of the dotcom bubble, it hit this low in April 2003. $782m APPLE’S TOTAL R&D EXPENDITURE IN 2007 A decade ago, Apple spent less than $1 billion on research and development (although that’s still a princely sum). These days it spends…

Although Apple doesn’t want you to know the exact numbers, it’s the opinion of many that the Apple Watch has failed to sell as many units as the Cupertino giant had hoped. However, the latest news from the supply chain is that Apple is going on the offensive with Apple Watch 2. Tim Cook’s firm has reportedly placed a higher volume of orders for Watch components to its suppliers than expected – enough to ship up to two million units to customers per month. The supply chain source described these orders as “rather aggressive” given the apparent disappointing Watch sales so far. The chips and components used to make the Apple Watch are expected to ship in the third quarter of 2016. That would place them in the region of…

We’re big fans of Airmail here at MacFormat, with version 2.0 getting the runner-up spot our last round-up of alternatives to Apple Mail (see MAC291). So, another big update was always going to be welcome, particularly when it adds headline features such as Smart Folders for enhanced mail filtering, VIP contacts, and support for ‘send later’ in Gmail and Exchange accounts. The app also has a handy iCloud trick up its sleeve, finally: you can now sync your account preferences across all your Macs and iOS devices, so rules, folders and VIPs are the same on every device you use Airmail on. One of the app’s big boons, praised in our group test, is the ease of setting it up. That’s enhanced by its iCloud connectivity, saving you recreating settings…