Macworld March 2017

MacPaw, the company behind the famous CleanMyMac hard-drive cleaner, has launched Setapp, a subscription-based alternative to Apple’s Mac App Store. With Setapp, a single subscription currently lets you access more than 60 curated Mac apps for a $9.99 fixed monthly fee. MacPaw says it will eventually offer up to 300 apps for that price, as new apps will be added every month. While I was quite familiar with Mac- Paw’s own CleanMyMac, as well as assorted other popular apps like Chrono- Sync Express, Hype, Polarr, RapidWeaver, Ulysses, and XMind, there are many others in the suite I’m hearing about for the first time. Getting started with Setapp is easy and free for a one-month trial period, during which time all apps are completely operative. You’ll need to first register on the site,…

Ever since the release of the new MacBook Pro, which introduced two features never before seen on the Mac—namely the Touch ID sensor and the Touch Bar—it’s been an open question. When will those features go from being available only on the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro, and move across the entire Mac product line? It’s probably only a matter of time before the Touch Bar and Touch ID sensor crop up on the MacBook, if for no other reason than it’s a laptop and Apple has already showed how to integrate those features into a laptop. (But given how svelte the MacBook is, it might take a while.) The real question is on the desktop. Yes, it’s true that roughly two-thirds of the Macs Apple sells are laptops. But Apple still…

Recently, I spent some time with a couple of friends who both have Windows laptops and I found myself experiencing a hitherto unfamiliar feeling while watching them use their computers: envy. Let’s be clear: I’m not talking envy for Windows. Throughout my life, I’ve spent a not inconsiderable amount of time untangling problems created by Microsoft’s operating system, and I have no desire to switch from macOS. No, what drew my eye was one specific hardware feature that their laptops—a Microsoft Surface Book and a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga—shared: a touchscreen. Look, I know. I know that touchscreen notebooks are supposed to be toaster-fridges, hybrids that aren’t as good as either a full-blown touch-based device like the iPad or a traditional laptop. But as I watched them swiping away at the screen,…

The user reviews in the iOS and Mac App Stores can be a mixed bag. Sometimes, a user provides useful information to help you make a purchasing decision. But often the user reviews are filled with complaints about problems that were encountered while using the software. When a software developer addresses those problems in updated software, the user review lingers. In a future update to iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, developers will have a chance to address user reviews in the App Store. The release notes for iOS 10.3 state that developers will be able to respond to a user review, and the response will be available for others to see. The notes also say that this feature will be available in the Mac App Store. Apple doesn’t provide any information on…

If there’s one breed of app every Mac and iOS user should own, it’s a password manager. After all, it’s no longer possible nor advisable to repeat the same easily-guessed login credentials across all the websites and services we use, and nearly impossible for most of us to remember so many combinations of letters, digits, and special characters. For my money, 1Password (for Mac and iOS) is hands down the best choice, and one I highly recommend to others. But not everyone will benefit from that software’s more advanced features, while others are simply unwilling to shell out hard-earned cash for the convenience when jotting passwords onto a piece of paper gets the job done. (Sadly, my own mother is guilty of this!) Secrets (free on the App Store) strips away most…

The perfect USB-C dock doesn’t yet exist, but CalDigit’s simply named USB-C Dock ($150; available on Amazon) comes close. The dock, which works with all 2015 and 2016 MacBook and 2016 MacBook Pro models, has a full array of ports, including two different video inputs, as well as high-speed USB charging via Type-A and USB-C jacks. It’s not a cheap option, but it’s reasonably priced for all it offers. The USB-C Dock’s only significant drawback comes from supporting only, under macOS, two monitors that mirror one another through its full-sized Display- Port and HDMI jacks with a 2016 MacBook Pro. You can’t have two external displays act independently and expand the desktop. CalDigit says this is an Apple feature choice, and I’ll explain it and more display details in-depth later in…