Table of contents for June 2023 in Macworld UK

Based on a flurry of recent reports, Apple is gearing up to release new Macs during its WWDC keynote on 5 June. Now it seems that Apple itself has leaked confirmation that new Macs are indeed coming soon. As spotted by developer Nicolas Álvarez, who poked around the code of the configuration file for the Find My app, there are three new identifying codes for unknown Macs: Mac14,8; Mac14,13 and Mac14,14. Since they’re new, we don’t know what Macs those identifiers are associated with since Apple uses generic ‘Mac’ modifiers for both desktops and laptops. However, Álvarez points out that these Macs have the ‘left behind’ notification disabled, which is what Apple does with desktop Macs. Mac14,8, Mac14,13 and Mac14,14 spotted in Find My configuration. I think they are in…

While we’re all wondering when a chip update is coming to the current iMac, Apple is working on potential new features we could see down the road. Patently Apple (fave.co/42lgGFN) reports that Apple has been granted a new patent for a feature that would allow the iMac to project an image to a wall, desktop, or other surface. Patent US-11630485-B2 is titled, Housing structures and input-output devices for electronic devices and Paul X Wang and Joshua P Song are listed as the inventors. The patent’s abstract describes a “rear housing wall [that] may have a glass portion or other transparent structure through which projectors project images onto nearby surfaces” and that there could also be sensors that receive light, feasibly for wireless connections. The patent also states that the iMac…

MacBooks can quickly and easily hook up to external displays for greater desk-based screen space. While the plain M1/M2 MacBooks support just one extra screen, the 16‑inch MacBook Pro (M2 Max) supports up to four monitors. On its own, the built-in 16-inch screen is gigantic compared to that on the 13-inch MacBook Air, but rather poky when you’re working on a complex spreadsheet or wanting to enjoy a big-budget streaming movie in more glory than in-flight entertainment. What the large built-in laptop screen does offer, of course, is portability. You can’t lug that 32-inch 4K Samsung display to your local coffee shop or fit it on your airplane-seat fold-out tray. You can buy portable external displays at up to 17 inches – not much larger than the laptop’s own. The…

ChatGPT made its debut last December, and this AI-based text-generation tool opens up a world of possibilities not just for anyone doing research on the web, but also for anyone who needs to write about any topic. It can quickly become an indispensable tool. And an equally indispensable tool we recently discovered is MacGPT, which is nothing less than a Mac Gem in the making. To access ChatGPT, you first have to sign up for an account on the ChatGPT site. Once you do that, you can use ChatGPT through a browser. But if you find yourself using ChatGPT often and want a more efficient way to access it, you can use MacGPT, a utility by Jordi Bruin. MacGPT simply loads the ChatGPT UI into a window separate from your…

AI art generators have moved from novelty to niche to even commodity in just months, with numerous services promising the ability to create generative AI art instantly using natural-language text prompts. The best AI art services offer superb imagery and superior tools, either for free or for a low price. Why use AI art? Many of us can appreciate a great painting, photograph, or drawing, without the ability to draw it ourselves. We may also be able to describe what we want to see, and that’s where AI art comes in. Instead of searching for a piece of art that matches that description, the service actually generates it, matching what it knows of the scenes depicted in its image database and comparing them to the scene and style you specify.…

I n 2023, Apple is sitting on top of the world. At times ranked as the most valuable company around, its influence in technology and media – and even some realms beyond – exceeds almost any other single corporation. But it wasn’t always that way, and much of where the company is today can be attributed to a product released 25 years ago: the original iMac. I vividly remember the first time I saw a picture of that machine: sitting in my high school library, just a few days shy of graduation, I was leafing through my copy of this very publication (in classic dead-tree format), devouring the cover story on this weird new computer that, unbeknownst to any at the time, would set the course for Apple for years…

Mac fans have a lot of reasons to be excited about the M3 chip, which will reportedly bring a better speed boost and longer battery life compared to the M2. But according to a new report, we’re going to have to wait a little bit longer to see what the new chip can do. According to Revegnus (@ Tech_Reve) on Twitter, the M3 chip destined for the iPad Pro and next-generation Macs, won’t arrive until next year. Apparently, TSMC, which manufactures the chips, is currently unable to meet Apple’s demand “due to yield issues”. Update: No M3 Mac or iPad for this year. Due to yield issues with TSMC not being able to supply enough of the M3 to Apple, Apple has delayed the release of the M3 until next year.…

For a long time, Mac users have been able to sit back and watch as Windows users had to deal with increasing ransomware attacks. But according to new evidence, there may come a time in the not-so-distant future when Mac users won’t be so immune. According to security research (via Wired, fave.co/3nscmpl), hackers are putting more effort into creating macOS versions of malware attacks that are prevalent on Windows. MalwareHunterTeam (fave.co/413DPvo) has found that a collective known as LockBit is working on ransomware encryptors that work on both Macs using Apple M-series chips and Intel processors. The findings indicate that LockBit is in the early stages of development and may not have ransomware that’s completely ready to be unleashed. But the collective is working towards that end. “It would be…

Parallels Toolbox is included in our review of the best cleaner apps for Macs, as it includes a number of tools and features that can help you to fully uninstall apps, and clear out old or duplicate files that are taking up unnecessary disk space. However, there’s a lot more to Toolbox than that simple handful of features. When it was first launched, Toolbox consisted of a fairly small collection of utilities that were – and still are – included free of charge along with Parallels Desktop. Since then it has continued to grow and is now available as a standalone product for both Mac and Windows, with an annual subscription fee of £20.99 a year. There’s also a 7-day free trial available so that you can try it out…

Bing’s new AI-powered chatbot is basically ChatGPT with ads…and one that refuses to do your homework for you. Well, sometimes. That’s not necessarily a derogatory criticism; the new Bing is pretty amazing. In your first few minutes with the new Bing chat interface, you’ll probably see even more sophistication than the free version of ChatGPT currently offers, with lengthy, detailed responses that can help you in many walks of life. But they may end with a jarring ad that looks (and probably is) ripped straight from Bing. That said, the fresh AI experience already work shockingly well more often than not. The new Bing experience is basically two parts. There’s the traditional search, with a list of search results and a new contextual interface to the right; and the new…

ChatGPT (fave.co/3AV5yUm) is all the tech world can talk about lately, and with good reason. The AI-powered tool is impressive, but there are plenty of worries too – copyright infringement, plagiarism, use in classrooms, even lost jobs, so it’s no wonder people who write for a living are stressing about AI that can seemingly write well. But there are also starry-eyed tech companies who see the future– the ability for computers to converse naturally and create content that businesses can actually use, at a scale, speed, and cost humans can’t possibly match. But ChatGPT, Google Bard (fave.co/3LEzVDC), and Microsoft’s Bing Chat (see page 34) are just one small part of the generative AI revolution. The art world has been buzzing about new generative AI art tools for the past year…

The iMac made an instant impression when Apple first unveiled it in May 1998. But it didn’t start to really shake things up until it began to ship, which happened on August 15, 1998. Arguably the most influential desktop computer of the last decade, the original iMac’s specifications seem quaint by today’s standards. For £1,299, you came home with a 233MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 32MB of RAM, a 4GB hard drive, a 15-inch built-in monitor, and stereo speakers, all in an amazingly stylish case. The Bondi Blue wonder heralded the return of Steve Jobs as a visionary leader for Apple, and it halted Apple’s mid-1990s financial freefall. Initially marketed as an easy-to-use gateway to the Internet, the iMac transcended that simple role and redefined the desktop PC market – not…

Rumourmongers frequently make predictions about individual Apple products switching from LED to the more advanced OLED screen technology: the iPad Pro and MacBook Air, for example, are both expected to get the upgrade in 2024. But a new report goes a step further, indicating that almost all of the company’s devices will have OLED displays by the year 2027. The forecast comes from the research company Omdia and was highlighted late last month by Bob Raikes of Display Daily (fave.co/44rxdtG). Omdia believes shipments of OLED displays in the IT market will increase from 9.7 million units in 2022 to more than 70 million in 2028, and that this growth will be catalysed by wholesale adoption by Apple: in the iPad Pro in 2024, MacBooks in 2026 and iMacs in 2027.…

The release of the M1 processor was a milestone. Apple finally migrated the Mac to its fast, low-power mobile processors, and the results were incredible. They were a hard act to follow – and after about a year and a half, the M2 processor arrived with a (not unexpected) set of incremental gains. You can’t reinvent the wheel every time out, and clearly, the M2 was a careful follow-on to the M1, designed to keep the ball rolling. But now reports abound that the M3 is on the way – not at the end of the year or in early 2024, as you might expect from the 18-month gap between the M1 and the M2, but very soon, perhaps as soon as late spring or early summer. Surprise! It turns…

Some security programs offer a wide range of tools and advanced features to not only combat malware but to protect you from ransomware, phishing attacks, suspicious websites, intrusive online ads, identity theft, and more. Others focus solely on antivirus defence, offering basic AV protection but little else. As designed for macOS, ClamXAV is a product that falls into the latter category. INSTALLATION Installing ClamXAV is quick and easy. Browse to the ClamXAV website (fave.co/3LAzASa) and click the Free Trial button, and the installation file is automatically downloaded. The trial version is fully functional and lasts for 30 days. After the guided installation, you’re prompted to click the Free Trial button to try before you buy or the Purchase button if you want to start your subscription right off the bat.…

ChatGPT (fave. co/3LAkjAU), a powerful language model chatbot developed by OpenAI, has revolutionized the way we interact with artificial intelligence. With its advanced natural language processing capabilities, ChatGPT can help you with a wide range of tasks, from answering trivia questions to composing poetry. Here are 10 fun, practical ways to put ChatGPT to work. 1. CREATE FUN RECIPES One interesting thing ChatGPT can do is generate recipes based on user preferences, ingredients, or specific dietary requirements. Give it a starting point by providing certain information about the desired dish, such as the type of cuisine, the main ingredients you want to use, or any dietary restrictions you may have. ChatGPT will then provide a recipe with step-by-step instructions, ingredient quantities, and cooking tips. I asked ChatGPT to create a…

The Mac games scene is – not to put too fine a point on it – a bit of a mess these days. Apple has never been very interested in games on the Mac, and this has meant that Macs have never enjoyed the same range of A-List games titles as owners of Windows PCs or games consoles like the Sony PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox. And, just to make things worse, the arrival of macOS Catalina (10.15) a few years ago – which moved the macOS to 64-bit software and no longer supported older 32-bit software – killed off a lot of popular Mac games too. There are, sadly, many games still available on the Steam store that will only run on pre-Catalina versions of the macOS, and we recently…

CAN’T OPEN HTML PAGES IN SAFARI? ADD SAFARI TO FULL DISK ACCESS Viewing downloaded HTML pages or previewing pages from a text editor or Web site design app in a browser can be a routine activity for many of us. But what do you do when you get this unexpected error? Safari can’t open the page. The error is “The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 1.)” (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork:1) It seems like a deep and elaborate problem. Fortunately, the answer is straightforward: macOS is telling you that you haven’t given Safari permission to open files from local volumes. This is part of Apple’s general security profile in macOS that prevents apps from opening files in locations or of a type for which they haven’t been explicitly granted permission. There’s no real risk…