MacFormat October 2020

When macOS Catalina arrived last year, Apple finally did what many of us Mac users have been asking for for years, scrapping the bloated, unwieldy iTunes and replacing it with three sleek new apps – Music, TV and Podcasts – which brought Apple’s media efforts into line with what they already had on iOS and iPadOS. If the results for you haven’t been entirely successful, then our feature on page 16 should help. In it, we take an in-depth look at the Music app (and the Apple Music service), plus TV, Podcasts and Books, and explain how you can get the best from them. iTunes, of course, originally made its debut on the Mac in January 2001, when Mac OS X was barely out of beta. On page 54, we…

The 12-inch MacBook looks set to make a stunning return in October, if current internet rumours are to be believed. And it looks like there’s good news on the 13-inch MacBook Pro front too. First, the 12-inch MacBook. In July, prominent Apple news leaker Komiya (@komiya_kj) released what he said was inside information on Twitter about the new ultra-portable Apple laptop, which will be powered by an Apple silicon A14X System on Chip (SoC) and will feature a choice of 8GB or 16GB of memory, with storage available in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB SSD flavours. The best news is that the new 12-inch MacBook will offer an incredible 15-20 hours of battery life between recharges. More controversial is the return of the much derided butterfly keyboard – although hopefully this…

Apple is already one of the greenest technology companies on the planet – and it’s planning to do even more over the next ten years. Its corporate operations, including the datacentres that power things like iCloud, already use solar, wind or other carbon-neutral power methods; while products like iPhone and Mac are free of environmentally damaging chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs), mercury and arsenic. Additionally every product Apple makes now includes some recycled content – the MacBook Air, for example, is made from 100% recycled aluminium. However, Apple’s now committed to making its entire supply chain carbon neutral – aiming to reduce its emissions by 75% and using carbon capture and recovery methods for the remaining 25%. Over 70 suppliers have already committed to using renewables to make…

Apple seems to have emerged largely unscathed from its public grilling in July at the hands of the US House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, which has been investigating antitrust and anti-competitive behaviour by the big four technology companies. Apple’s Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Jeff Bezos from Amazon all gave testimony, reading from prepared statements and answering questions from members of the committee. Tim Cook argued that Apple is not the dominant player in most of the markets it operates in, and that protecting the privacy of its users was a primary concern. However, questions remain over Apple’s policy of taking 30% of revenues earned by developers from the App Store (although this has now been reduced to 15% on subscriptions lasting longer than a year).…

Luminar is one of our favourite photo editors on the Mac – so much so we made it an Editor’s Choice in the May 2020 issue. Now it’s been given a major update with new tools and features. Heading up the list of newbies is a revised Photo search tool, which makes it easier than ever to find images in your photo library. Plus, the 4.3 update now includes 500px integration, so you can show off your best images on that photo-sharing platform too. Developer Skylum has boosted performance, making the app run smoother and faster even on older hardware. Improvements include better handling of Raw images, so they open faster, plus a smaller memory footprint. Other goodies in the 4.3 update are a new Crop and Rotate tool (under…

We are all busy these days, and it is getting more and more important to stay on top of our schedules. If you are looking for a productivity app, Things 3 is as good as they come, winning two Apple Design Awards and earning four stars in MF351. This issue, we are giving away the complete line-up, helping you overhaul your work on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Unlike some other apps, Things 3 takes a comprehensive approach to productivity. Instead of having to flit around between different apps, you can do it all in Things 3, from adding reminders and to-do lists to scheduling tasks and managing your calendar. That makes it a superb tool to have in your daily arsenal. All this power could become overwhelming, but not with…