Macworld October 2016

You know how to launch Mac apps: you click an icon in the Dock, or you double-click an icon someplace else, such as in the Applications folder. But there are also a number of ways that you can launch apps without taking your hands off the keyboard. Here are five ways to launch Mac apps from the keyboard. SPOTLIGHT The simplest way to launch an app from the keyboard is to use Spotlight. Press the Spotlight keyboard shortcut (by default this is Command- Space) and type the first couple of letters of an app’s name. For example, if you want to launch Safari, type saf. Spotlight should put Safari at the top of the list; press Return to launch it. If the app you want to launch isn’t the first one in…

Twitter has finally come up with a solution to muzzle trolls. The company recently published a blog post announcing two new controls for filtering your notifications (go.macworld.com/filtertwitternot). Twitter notifications are the primary method through which trolls can contact and harass users. The first new setting reduces the noise in your notifications stream. By default, anyone who mentions your Twitter username with the @ symbol shows up in your Twitter notifications. It doesn’t matter if they’re asking a simple question, offering constructive criticism, or threatening to cut your head off. Everyone shows up. The new setting filters your notification down to solely people you follow. The new filter works on Twitter’s apps and the website. It’s not clear if third-party Twitter apps can also apply it. Why this matters: Many—perhaps most—Twitter users don’t really…

Memories…light the corners of AI…misty programmed memories…of how to say my name… Barbra Streisand has already given us so much: some of the best chick flicks of all time, like The Prince of Tides and oh, my God, The Way We Were; the term Streisand effect; Fifty studio albums; a fun new way to spell Barbara. And now she’s getting Apple to fix Siri. Well, a small part of Siri anyway. And she’s even told us when it’s supposedly happening: in an iOS update allegedly coming September 30. Seems that our Babs has taken umbrage with Siri’s pronunciation of her name: Apple’s assistant says “STRY-zand” instead of “STRY-sand.” (If you want to hear her butcher it yourself, ask Siri, “Who starred in The Prince of Tides?” Well, unless you’re Blythe Danner, in which case…

I always resisted joining a music-subscription service. My former Macworld colleague Chris Breen was always a fierce proponent of them, first Rhapsody and then Spotify. (Now that Chris works at Apple, I assume he also likes Apple Music!) I was never comfortable with subscription services. I was comfortable liking what I liked, and buying new stuff from familiar artists as well as new stuff from artists I discovered…elsewhere, and didn’t see the value in an unending tap of music from every artist everywhere. The second was that I was concerned that by renting my music, I would end up trapped, with years of music discovery that would disappear (or have to be purchased at a high price) if I decided to cancel my subscription. I’ve been a paying Apple Music subscriber for…

THINK YOU DON’T NEED extra software for managing Internet downloads? If your web browser gets only an occasional workout transferring files one at a time, you’re probably right. But if you frequently pull down multiple things at once, you could certainly benefit from a management utility. In years past, the choice was simple: Yazsoft’s excellent Speed Download tackled everything you could throw at it with its familiar, iTunes-style user interface. But in early 2014, the developer suddenly called it quits. The application continued working until OS X El Capitan 10.11, at which point I finally had to say goodbye. Yazsoft did recommend an alternative to Speed Download, but it wasn’t quite the same. This supposed heir apparent wasn’t as user-friendly, and worse yet, the user interface was downright ugly. FOLX 5.0 AT A GLANCE Folx…

BACK IN THE pen-and-paper days, journaling required loads of effort. You needed to buy a dedicated notebook, keep it shielded from prying eyes, chronicle the day and date of each entry, and carve out a chunk of time to write in it. Things are a whole lot easier now. Aside from the numerous note-takers that can double as a journal in a pinch, there are several apps dedicated to the fine art of chronological self-tracking. Led by the majestic Day One ($30 in the Mac App Store; go.macworld.com/dayone), today’s digital journals are more than mere notepad imitators; with bold photos, location tracking, password encryption and powerful filters, they not only store your words, they actively encourage you to keep up the habit. Journaly ($15; emberify.com/journaly) might not yet be a contender to…