Table of contents for Vol 3 2022 in Mac & MacBook User

The 13-inch MacBook Pro has long been a favourite of Mac users with high needs who also want portability. It has long had an amazing screen, a strong, solid body made from a single piece of aluminium and an amazing battery that keeps you going all day. And now it also has the second-generation Apple Silicon processor, the amazing M2 chip. As you read earlier in this magazine, the M2 chip features a next-generation eight-core Central Processing Unit with advancements in both performance and efficiency cores, along with Apple’s next-generation Graphics Processing Unit, which now has up to ten cores — two more than M1. And with its active cooling system, MacBook Pro is designed to sustain pro performance for those with more demanding workflows. For users working with RAW…

Stage Manager lets you focus on the app you’re currently using without being distracted by open windows from apps you’re not. Activated from the Control Centre, it groups windows initially on a per-app basis and sends open windows as bundles to the side of the screen. Opening a new app brings it to the centre of the desktop, and the one you were previously using joins those on the side of the screen. Clicking on an already-open app that sits aside the screen also brings it to the fore, with the previously centred app moved to the side. If an app has more than one open window, the top one in the side pile is centred. You can toggle through them by clicking on the app’s pile again. You can…

Tab Groups, introduced with macOS Monterey, allow you to organise browser tabs into groups of related websites. With macOS Ventura, you can share them with other people too. If, for example, you’re collaborating with work colleagues on a shared project, planning a road trip with friends or shopping for furniture with your partner, you can make a Tab Group of relevant websites and share it so everyone involved can take a look. You can see which tabs your friends are looking at, and you can use the sharing menu to connect through Messages or FaceTime too. If Apple gets its way, passwords could become a thing of the past. Instead, we might use passkeys. On logging into a website using a password, you’re invited to create a passkey, a unique…

What is macOS Ventura, and why should we be excited? macOS Ventura is the latest version of the operating system that runs on Apple’s Mac range. It’s packed with great new features and improvements to functions you already have, and like all recent versions of the Mac’s operating system, it’s free too! Ventura brings the Weather and Stocks app to the Mac, and adds some great new features to Mail and Messages. Stage Manager makes it easier to organise open windows on your Mac, and improvements to Spotlight include Quick Look in Spotlight search results and the ability to search your photos. Continuity Camera lets you use your iPhone as a webcam, Metal 3 makes the Mac more attractive to games developers and more. Is macOS Ventura safe to use?…

World Clock 1 The first tab is World Clock. The time for your current location is already there. To add cities and towns from across the world, click the ‘+’ icon (top right) and type the name of the location you want to add in the Search field. 2 You can add a number of locations, which are shown on the world map above the clocks, and the time difference and other details are shown below them. To delete a location, hover the pointer over it and click the ‘X’ in the corner. Alarm 1 Click on the Alarm tab to switch the Clock app to the Alarm page. To add an alarm, first click the ‘+’ icon, top right. You can then set a time and a day or…

1 To open Stage Manager for the first time, click the Control Centre icon in the menu bar (the one that looks like two switches), and in the Control Centre window that appears, click the box titled ‘Stage Manager.’ 2 You’re now shown a screen that explains the new feature of Stage Manager, and invites you to switch it on. Click Turn on Stage Manager to open it, and you see all your open windows move to a space on the left of the desktop. 3 Click on a window on the left, and it’s brought to the fore. Click on an app icon in the Dock and it opens. If a window is too close to the left side of the desktop to allow Stage Manager to be seen,…

A Accessibility: A series of tools and features designed to make an Apple device such as the Mac and mobile devices easier to use by those with disabilities such as vision or hearing impairments. You can find the Mac’s Accessibility features and customise them in System Preferences. AirPlay: A protocol for streaming sounds and video from an Apple device to a set of compatible speakers, or a device such as an Apple TV. It’s wireless, and easy to use as well. AirTag: A small Bluetooth device that can be tracked using the Find My app. It’s used to locate property like keys or luggage. App: Short for ‘application’, another name for a computer software program. Your Mac comes with a selection of pre-installed apps, and you can buy more from…

A new phone in five exciting colours As expected, the Autumn refresh also brought us a regular iPhone 14 model with a 6.1-inch screen (measured corner to corner), but we also got an iPhone 14 Plus, a larger model with a 6.7-inch screen. This is a first for the regular iPhone – previously, only the iPhone’s Pro models came in regular and larger sizes. One thing we didn’t get is an iPhone 14 mini. This is surprising considering the iPhone 12 and 13 series enjoyed a smaller version, but perhaps they weren’t selling. Whichever size of iPhone 14 you buy, it retains the ‘notch’ housing the TrueDepth camera. No Dynamic Island here. Five Exciting Colours The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus come in five different colours; midnight, blue, starlight,…

First Steps with FaceTime 1 To start a FaceTime conversation from the Contacts app, first find the contact card of the person you wish to call. If that person’s email or phone number are registered with FaceTime, you can see FaceTime icons for both audio (the telephone receiver) and video (the camera). Tap one to make the call. 2 There are several ways of starting a FaceTime call from the FaceTime app. Tap the New FaceTime button (top right). Add the name of the person you want to call (or their phone number or email address if they’re not in your Contacts), then tap a button for either a video or audio FaceTime call. 3 The FaceTime app also shows a list of recent FaceTime calls, showing whether they were…

1 For this function to work, both your Apple Watch and your iPhone must have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on, though you don’t need to be connected to a network. Your Apple Watch must be on your wrist and unlocked, and it must have Passcode and Wrist Detection turned on. 2 To set up Unlock Your iPhone with Apple Watch on your iPhone, open the Settings app and then tap Face ID and Passcode. Type your passcode, and then turn on Unlock with Apple Watch. If you’re asked to turn on Wrist Detection, do so now on your Apple Watch. 3 With the feature switched on, even when your face is covered, you can unlock your iPhone by simply raising it or tapping its screen. You get a haptic feedback from…

PureRAW 2 is designed for serious photographers. Harnessing the power of DeepPRIME learning, the app corrects errors and blemishes that can reduce the quality of a photograph taken as a Raw file; the photo format favoured by pro snappers with quality cameras. According to developer DxO, over ten million photographers use the Raw format, and 90% of them also use Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. DxO’s PureRAW 2 is designed to work hand in hand with Adobe’s apps, and can be used as a stand-alone app or as a plug-in for Photoshop or Lightroom. As professional photographers know, Raw is a lossless photo format with the absolute minimum of processing, as produced by the camera’s image sensor. PureRAW 2 analyses a Raw photograph and removes distortions such as mosaicking and noise.…

Musicians rejoice! StaffPad is built for composers, and it’s an amazing piece of software. With StaffPad, you can write and edit musical notation in your own handwriting, using your finger or better still, with an Apple Pencil. Handwriting is converted into a typeset score, and it even makes corrections where necessary and lets you know if you put too many or two few beats in a bar. After putting together a composition, you can have the app play it back to you. You can play, import, record and edit audio too. The core library, bundled with the app, includes over 55 instruments. If you need more, StaffPad has partnered with sample library producers such as Cinesamples, Orchestral Tools, Spitfire Audio and others to compile extra sounds available as in-app purchases.…

Feral Interactive’s Mac and Apple mobile conversions of SEGA’s Total War strategy games have quite a following. Fans of the franchise have long lauded Medieval II as one of the best, perhaps the best game in the series; and it’s now available on the tablet and smartphone as a universal app. We wouldn’t recommend playing it on a regular-sized smartphone, though. It’s far too fiddly on the small screen. Set in the Middle Ages, the action takes place across three continents – Europe, North Africa and the Middle East – as 17 playable factions vie for supremacy. Six factions are available at the start; England, France, Venice, The Holy Roman Empire, Spain and The Moors. The other 11 must be unlocked by defeating them in the main campaign game, or…

The tower defence game is a staple of the App Store. The real-time weapons placement and short gameplay bursts seem perfect for a portable touchscreen device. While we’re big fans of this genre, we’ve found ourselves getting a little tired of the predictable gameplay. The setting and plot may change, but the concept of defending your base using various static weapons from waves of approaching enemies has remained the same. However, just as fatigue appeared to have set in, Anomaly Warzone Earth has blasted onto iOS and tabletOS and flipped the tower defence genre on its head. This time you take control of the attacking craft as they battle through the landscape, avoiding or destroying the enemy’s defences. Role reversal This role reversal is the key to the huge success…

The New M2 Processor As you might already know, Apple’s Mac lineup is being transitioned to new Apple Silicon processors instead of the Intel models used by older Macs. We’ve already seen several iterations of the Apple Silicon M1 processor, namely the M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra, all designed to maximise performance while using as little power as possible. With most of the Mac range already using M1-series processors, it’s time to lift the lid on the next generation of Apple Silicon – the M2. Many processors increase power to gain performance, but the Apple Silicon chips, including M2, do things differently. Power-efficiency is focussed throughout, maximising performance while minimising consumption. It’s built using an enhanced second-generation five-nanometre process, which makes it very thin. This improves power…

If you want a new pair of true wireless earbuds to go with your new Apple gear, you’re in luck. As well as the new iPhones and Apple Watch models, Apple has released the second generation of its popular AirPods Pro. They offer significant advantages over previous models, with a better overall sound and some great convenience features. “The new AirPods Pro deliver even better sound quality, a more immersive listening experience and transformative audio features. With up to double the noise-cancelling power of their predecessor, the world’s bestselling wireless headphones just got even better.”Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing A New Build From the outside, the design of the AirPods Pro hasn’t changed much. How could it? They have to fit in your ears after all.…

When you’re searching for a document, file or folder in Spotlight, you can now peek at the results using Quick Look. Just click on the item in question in your Spotlight search results, and tap the space bar. You get to see what it is without having to open it. A Spotlight search can also find images from your photo library. Type (for example) ‘Cats’ and it will find all your pictures with a cat in them. It also integrates with Live Text. Type a search term and Spotlight searches for that text inside a photo as well as in text-based documents. Other new features available through Spotlight include starting a timer and running a shortcut. As always, you can use Spotlight to search the web for information, but in…

A quick look at the Mac’s games roster tells a different tale, with exciting new releases very thin on the ground. This isn’t helped by the paucity of interesting titles on Apple Arcade, a subscriber platform that promises far more than it delivers. Could this change with Ventura? The new operating system offers a new version of Metal, Apple’s application programming interface (API) for graphics processing in apps such as games. Metal 3 offers impressive programming tools such as MetalFX Upscaling, which renders rich, complex scenes even faster than before. Game loading has been improved too, with a new fast resource-loading API. Of course, all these excellent tools are only as good as the games they produce, and to date, developers haven’t been quick to take advantage of what the…

1 In this sidebar, you see the locations you’ve saved in the Weather app. Click one to see the weather in that particular town or city. 2 Use this icon to collapse and open the sidebar. 3 The Search field. Use this to find other towns, cities and locations, which you can add to your sidebar. 4 Here you see the current temperature, weather along with the high and low forecast for the location you’ve highlighted in the sidebar. 5 Your by-the-hour forecast. Scroll it left and right for more information. 6 Your ten-day forecast, showing the high and low temperature, and general weather. 7 A precipitation map. Areas where it’s likely to rain are shown in blue. 8 An air pollution indicator. At the moment, it’s low. Useful information…

According to Apple, this exciting addition to macOS Ventura is coming ‘later this year’. The idea behind Freeform is to give people collaborating on a task a digital whiteboard to use during online meetings. If you’re on a FaceTime group call, with a single tap you can bring up a Freeform board for scribbles, illustrations and general brainstormings. Every time someone adds something, it appears in real time on everyone’s Freeform board. You can use colours, various weights of pen, stickers, typed text and more. You can even pin pictures, videos and PDFs to the Freeform board. If you run out of space on the screen, no problem – just scroll to a blank section. As people edit in Freeform, their name appears next to where they’re working, so you…

Universal Control is available with compatible Macs and iPads running macOS Monterey and iPadOS 15 respectively. They have to be signed into the same iCloud account, and both must have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on. When using Universal Control, you can drag your Mac’s pointer off the Mac’s screen and onto the iPad’s screen, and then operate the iPad with the keyboard and mouse/trackpad from your Mac. Unlike Sidecar, Apple’s earlier Continuity feature that let you use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac, Universal Control lets you use your iPad’s own apps and features, and even drag files between your computer and your tablet. Here’s how to set up and use Universal Control. On Your Mac Open System Settings from the Apple menu (top left), and go…

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max Apple’s flagship phones To no one’s surprise, the iPhone 14 range includes an iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. These are Apple’s high-end models, top-of-the-range models for top-of-the-range needs. As expected, there was a price increase over the launch prices of the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, but this wasn’t as hefty as we thought it might be. So let’s take a look at the iPhone 14 Pro, and its larger stable mate, the iPhone 14 Pro Max. New Colours iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are made from surgical grade stainless steel, and are available in four new colours, namely space black, silver, gold, and a gorgeous deep purple design that looks far better than the more…

The People tab 1 Tap the People icon at the foot of the screen. To start sharing your location with friends or family members, tap Start Sharing Location. Enter the name, Apple ID email, or phone number of the person you want to share with. 2 As is usual, you can tap the + sign to the right and select a person from your Contacts app. Add as many people as you wish, and tap the Send link. Then you can choose whether to share for an hour, the rest of the day or indefinitely. 3 The people you shared your location with can now see you as a blue spot on the map. Pinch and spread to zoom in and out. Tap a name for options. From here, you…

The Freeform App It’s coming soon, but it wasn’t ready in time for iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura. The Freeform app helps you work collaboratively across your Apple devices by offering a flexible digital canvas available to all parties during a FaceTime chat. Ever been in a meeting where ideas were expressed on a whiteboard? If FaceTime video chat can replace the meeting, Freeform supplies the whiteboard. You can add images, notes, scribbles, documents, web links, PDFs and more. Edits are made in real-time, and everyone can pitch in with their ideas. The Freeform app is due for release ‘later this year’, and will probably arrive with an iOS 16 update. Door Detection A new accessibility feature helps users who are blind or have very poor vision. Door…

As you’d expect from a monitor in AOC’s respected AGON range, the Pro AG324UX is built for gaming. That’s not to say it isn’t a capable screen for creative design or general computing, but the focus is on keeping the joypad jugglers happy with fast, smooth updates at a very high resolution. The IPS screen is 31.5 inches corner to corner, and has a pixel resolution of 3840 x 2160; that’s over eight million pixels in total. It has a refresh rate of 144Hz and a response time of 1ms. These are excellent figures, but if the screen rate drops, a little ghosting is evident; make sure you have a Mac that has the power to keep things snappy. The display can connect to your Mac through its DisplayPort 1.4…

At AppleUser, we’ve long championed devolo’s excellent range of powerline adapters. By connecting an adapter plug to your router, and positioning the others around the house, you can extend your cabled and wireless network using your home’s electrical cabling to transfer data. The powerline adapters plug into your regular electrical sockets and offer Ethernet ports for cabled connections, wireless access points for Wi-Fi or both. What plugs you get, and how many, depends on the pack in question, but whichever you buy, you can always purchase and add individual adapters later. This particular pack is devolo’s Magic 2 WiFi 6 Multiroom Kit, which gives you three powerline adapters, all of which offer two gigabit Ethernet ports and a Wi-Fi 6 access point. Wi-Fi 6 is the latest wireless standard, and…

An ISO file, or image if you prefer, is a computer file that recreates the contents of an optical disk. It’s ideal for backing up CDs and DVDs, and also for downloading a disk image and burning it to a disk or onto a flash drive as bootable media. These are the tasks UUByte ISO Editor is built to do, as well as managing and organising files on an ISO, or even creating one from scratch. It’s easy to use. From the Home page, you can opt to Burn (make a bootable disk or USB flash drive from an ISO), Extract (access the contents of an ISO), Create (make a new ISO), Edit (add, delete and rename an ISO’s content), or Copy Disc (make an ISO from an optical disk).…

Rogue hackers have infiltrated cyberspace, spreading disinformation and trying to influence votes. Data that passes through unsecure servers is potentially compromised too. Did you know telecom providers have to store the content of voice calls, data, images and text messages on these servers for six months, and their metadata such as: time, location, message sender and recipients, for 3 years? Worrying, isn’t it? SpyBuster, a free security app from Kyiv-based developer MacPaw, identifies applications, services and sites connected to potentially unfriendly countries, and blocks them if you wish. It also analyses app behaviour on the fly, scanning connections in real-time and alerting you if any are compromised. You can then choose to disable them, or place them on a whitelist for those you’re happy to allow.SpyBuster is a great free…

Do you remember a little green monster who lived at the bottom of your smartphone’s screen? He was just about the cutest little monster ever. Om Nom was his name, and he was rather hungry; famished, in fact, and if you didn’t feed him up pronto he might just waste away. You didn’t want that on your conscience, right? I certainly didn’t, and I wasn’t alone. Om Nom and his Cut the Rope series went from strength to strength, not only on the App Store. Cartoons, toys and the usual merchandise turned heads for a while until the series’ mainstream appeal waned, returning the series to its gaming origins. Fortunately, the game itself was brilliant! It was 250 levels of rope-swingy, physics-based puzzle gameplay that kept you well entertained. The…

Part game, part interactive movie, when Another World was first released for the Amiga it was more than just another game. It was a real interactive experience. Rather than falling into one of the established genres of the time, Another World was neither a puzzle game, a shoot-’em-up nor a platformer, but it was all of these and more. Playing it now it’s easy to forget how revolutionary it was at the time. The spookily realistic sprite animation still looks very nice, but it was gob-smacking in 1991. The game begins with a scientific experiment gone wrong, which transports the main character to a strange, dream-like world and so begins the adventure where you take on challenge after challenge as you try to stay alive and figure out a way…

Major franchises tend to have an instalment that fans consider a misstep. A few (un) popular examples; Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier, Super Mario Sunshine, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, any Star Wars movies that don’t have Part 4, 5 or 6 in the subtitle… The list is endless and, of course, 100% personal. But what about those games or movies that were largely ignored or disdained despite being not bad at all? With that in mind, let’s head back to Liberty City, albeit in a way you’ve never seen before, or again. Launching with very little fanfare in 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was the first original instalment in the monster franchise developed with the handheld market in mind. Retaining the core of the current 3D console…

As a retro gamer I love the fact that Apple’s mobile gear is creating a new platform for classic games, and Dragon’s Lair 30th Anniversary (a subtitle which I will now ignore as it essentially screaming “YOU ARE SO OLD” in my face!) is one of the best to join this trend. In the arcades, the game used a laser disc at the core of its technology. You had to press the joystick or the button at the correct time to cause the disc to skip to the next section. Press the wrong direction or take too long and the disc skipped to one of the many comic-book death sequences. This version of the game is just like the original, but with all the crisp, hand-drawn animated graphics preloaded on…

The first Mac to benefit from the new M2 system-on-a-chip is the latest model of Apple’s ultra-portable notebook, the MacBook Air. Once again, it delivers excellent performance, portability and battery life, but with a few new features thrown in for good measure. The new MacBook Air is based around a whole new form factor. The wedge shape, whereby the rear end of the closed notebook tapered into a thinner front, has been replaced by a new look that’s equally thin but a little more balanced. It’s based on a unibody aluminium enclosure, that is, each notebook body is carved from a single piece of aluminium, making it both strong and light. Efficient integration of internal components results in a 20% reduction in volume when compared to the previous model. The…

Ever sent an email then realised you addressed it to the wrong person, or forgot to add an attachment you were meant to deliver? In the next version of the Mail app, you can recall the email using the forthcoming Undo Send link. This feature is long overdue, and could do much to prevent email embarrassment. In Ventura’s Mail app you can also schedule an email. Simply write the email in the usual way, and instead of clicking Send, you click a chevron in the toolbar that lets you send it at a later time. Conversely, if you’ve received an email you want to go back to later, the new Remind Me feature does exactly what you’d expect. Swipe the message preview to the right and click Remind Me, and…

The Handoff feature, which lets you start a task on one device then seamlessly switch to another, is coming to FaceTime. If you take a FaceTime call on your iPhone while away from your desk, when you get back home or to the office you can transfer the call to your Mac simply by bringing your iPhone close to it. A notification appears inviting you to switch the call to your Mac; click it and it’s transferred without interruption. This works between Macs, iPhones and iPads, in any direction. The Mac’s FaceTime camera has improved with recent releases, but it’s still not as good as the camera on your iPhone, and it probably never will be. So why not use your iPhone as your webcam? With Continuity Camera, you can.…

1 This is the front page of the Stocks app, that is, what you see when you open it for the first time. If you’ve already saved some stocks using the iPhone or iPad version of the Stocks app, they’re synced in iCloud and shown in the sidebar. 2 To find a company and see its current share price, type either its name or its ‘ticker’ – a four-letter abbreviation of the company’s name used by the stock market – in the Search bar. Click the company in the search results. 3 As well as seeing the company’s current share price (top right), you also get a graph showing the fluctuating stock value over time. Drag your mouse over the graph to find the price at a certain time on…

Having to log into websites and apps can be annoying, but with Passkeys, the procedure is greatly simplified. A feature arriving with macOS 13: Ventura, iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, Passkeys is a new authentication method that uses Touch ID or Face ID to sign in. Passkeys are synced through iCloud, and you can even use them on non-Apple devices using a QR code. Passkeys can only be used on websites that have made them available. On Passkeys-compatible websites, you can log on using your Face ID, Touch ID or mobile device’s passcode, without having to enter your username and password. This has a number of advantages. As your Passkey never leaves your device, phishing attacks – whereby a user is conned into giving away his or her login details…

Finder Shortcuts These shortcuts are available when you’re using Ventura’s Finder features, like windows and folders. Command + [ …………………. Go to the previous folder Command + ] ……………………. Go to the next folder Command + …………………… Navigate up one level Command + ……………………. Navigate down one level Option + Double click ………………… Open the selected folder in a new window and close the current window Command + Double click ………… Open selected folder in a new tab Command + Tab ……………………… Cycle forward through your opened applications Command + Shift + Tab ……………. Cycle backward through your opened applications Space ………………………………………….. Launch Quick Look Command + A ………………………… Select all items in Finder Command + Option + A ……………………. Deselect any selected items Command + N …………………………. Open new…

Continuity Camera is macOS Ventura’s and iOS 16’s new feature that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam, connecting wirelessly with your Mac and giving access to the iPhone camera’s great features such as Centre Stage, Portrait mode and Studio Light which illuminates a user’s face while dimming the background. If your iPhone has an Ultra Wide camera, you can enable Desk View, which simultaneously shows your face and an overhead view of your desk. To set up and use Continuity Camera, use these simple steps. 1: On the iPhone, open the Settings app and go to General > AirPlay & Handoff, and tap the switch marked Continuity Camera Webcam. Close the Settings app. 2: On the Mac, open whichever video app you intend to use, such as FaceTime,…

1 To unlock your Mac with your watch you can use any model of Apple Watch, as long as it’s running watchOS 3 or later. Your Mac must be running macOS Sierra or later, and be reasonably new. On your Mac, open System Settings Then click the Touch ID & Password option. 2 Under ‘Use Apple Watch to unlock applications and your Mac’, check the box next to your current Apple Watch. If it isn’t there, your Mac’s too old. Your iPhone and Apple Watch must be nearby and unlocked. Enter your Mac’s password when asked, and wait until the feature is switched on. 3 From now on, when your Mac is asleep and you approach it with your Apple Watch unlocked and on your wrist, it wakes up. Your…

Sites that collate Internet radio stations aren’t exactly thin on the ground, but Radio Garden does it differently. Instead of listing broadcasters by genre or country, it locates them on a globe which you can rotate on the screen, and zoom in and out of for a better view. Every shining dot on the map is a radio station (or for pedants, an Internet streaming broadcast). Click on a dot, or drag the globe until it’s in the centre of the circle in the middle of the screen, and that station plays. Using the controls at the foot of an smartphone screen and in the bottom-left on an tablet or Mac, you can play and pause the stream, or move to the next or previous local station. Tap the heart…

The latest release of the popular Carbon Copy Cloner backup software offers several major advances over previous releases, but the app has gained a major drawback; thanks to changes in macOS rather than any failing on the application’s part. The Carbon Copy Cloner user interface has had a major overhaul. It now offers Dark Mode, as well as a smaller, tighter window with clearer controls. While a cloning is in progress, you now get a detailed visual indicator of what’s going on, including data transfer rates and an estimated completion time. The menu bar app has been overhauled too. As well as starting, stopping and monitoring your backup tasks, it now also tracks the disk usage consumed by snapshots. Built for speed… Perhaps the most impressive update is a speed…

We all love the macOS App Switcher; hold CMD and tap the Tab key and you can cycle through the apps that are currently open on your Mac, switching from one to another quickly and easily. But if you’ve previously used a PC, you might miss the Windows switcher. That’s where AltTab comes in. With this free app installed, two new keyboard shortcuts are added. The first lets you cycle through all currently active windows, not just the apps that created them, and the second does the same for all windows associated with the app you’re currently using. So if you have, say, three different Safari windows open, you can use AltTab to get straight to the one you want. Unlike the macOS App Switcher, it opens windows that have…

Remember Mokoko, the awesome Mac game that drew its inspiration from arcade classics such as Volfied, Qix and Gals Panic? Remember how you patrolled the perimeter of the gaming area, nibbling away at the central, silhouetted area until you’d captured a given percentage of the screen? Remember how the enemies would maraud around, causing you to die if they touched or shot your trail while you pressed on into enemy territory? If you completed the game but would welcome more of the same, developer NAISU has released a sequel; Mokoko X. The new game offers 32 levels in total, comprised of 24 levels with unique bosses and minions, and eight mega-levels where you fight three bosses from the previous levels at the same time. There are eight different anime-influenced girls…