Indice dei contenuti per Vol 4 2022 in iPhone User

groov-e SportBuds groov-e, www.groov-e.co.uk Price: £39.99/$49.99/43,99 € Do you like to watch videos or listen to music on your iPad while using your cross trainer, exercise bike or other such workout equipment? These sporting true wireless earbuds from groov-e feature an ear hook design to keep them in place while you work out and are rated IPX4 sweat resistant. Their carry case is a 1800 mAh Power Bank which lets you charge other mobile equipment as well as your earbuds. Theyʼre a great price too. Kanex MultiSync Aluminum Keyboard Kanex, www.kanex.com Price: £59.95/$59.95/59.95 € Like Appleʼs own desktop keyboards, this oneʼs made of aluminium but unlike Apple keyboards, it can sync with up to three Bluetooth devices and switch between them at the touch of a button. Just the thing…

Unlike most of AVM’s range of wireless routers, the FRITZ!Box 4060 lacks a built-in modem. This means regardless of how your network interacts with the Internet, you can use the 4060 by connecting it to your existing modem, which was probably supplied by your ISP. Whatever your type of Internet connection (be it ADSL, fibre, cable or mobile data), even if your Internet Service Provider forces you to use their own modem hardware, you can switch off the router section of your ISP-supplied device and connect the FRITZ!Box 4060 instead. But what advantages does this bring? As you’d expect, the router’s wireless capabilities include compatibility with the new Wi-Fi 6 protocol, which gives faster speeds, and is much better at dealing with multiple, simultaneous connections. If you’re working on your…

Twelve South has a reputation for making excellent Apple peripherals that are both useful and decorative. Unfortunately, TimePorter is not such a device. An accessory travel case and charging stand for your Apple Watch, TimePorter is the same size and shape as a spectacle case but with a hole on the top for you to fit your watch’s charging cable. You have to supply your own – there’s no Apple Watch cable in the box. So what you’re left with is a metal case with space for your spare watch bands and a rubber interior frame for wrapping your charger. Is this enough to justify the price? Not really. You could just as easily keep your cable and watch straps in a real spectacle case (who doesn’t have a spare?)…

If you’re lucky enough to have a FRITZ!Box router with DECT compatibility, you can connect up to six wireless phones and position them anywhere in the house. They connect to the phone line through your router, so they don’t need to be plugged into a telephone socket. FRITZ!Fon C6 is such a phone and it’s had an impressive makeover. The body of the phone is pleasingly ergonomic and although it’s pretty minimalist in design, a clever interface makes it easy to access its unique features such as Internet radio, answer machine, email, podcasts, RSS feeds and even a baby monitor. If you have more than one FRITZ!Fon in the house, you can make internal calls between them. The new C6 model has an excellent hi-res colour screen and you can…

Alert Indoor Security Camera is an affordable way to keep an eye on your home, but it doesn't lack in smart features. After connecting the camera to your Wi-Fi network and pairing it with the SWANN Security app on your iPhone or iPad, you can view and capture high-quality video in 1080p full HD. It has a passive infrared sensor that can detect movement at up to 32 feet, and it can also detect loud noises and heat too. The camera then sends a push notification to your phone and starts video recording. You get free cloud storage, which saves clips for seven days, and they're also stored locally for two days. A full 110-degree viewing angle decreases blind spots, and there's a mic and speaker built-in for two-way talk…

Western Digital’s My Cloud series of network attached storage (NAS), drives are highly respected. With support ending for older versions of the My Cloud operating system, and therefore My Cloud NAS drives that cannot be updated beyond them, it might be time to update to a modern release, such as this My Cloud Home single-drive device. It’s available in capacities from 2TB to 8TB, or 4TB to 20TB if you opt for the dual drive version. Here we’re reviewing the 6TB model with a single hard drive. The idea behind a NAS drive means instead of connecting it directly to your computer, you attach it to your network. As is typical for such a drive, you connect it to your router using the bundled Ethernet cable, after which you can…

Instead of fitting directly into your ear while the cables dangle underneath, Shure’s SE215 earbuds loop the cable over the ear and let the body of the buds rest in it. The body of the device clips neatly onto your shirt, and it has controls on the right-hand cable. It’s a little awkward at first, but when in place, it makes for a comfortable fit and a decent degree of sound isolation. The sound quality is excellent, as you’d expect from Shure. The balance is just right, with a rich bass underpinning a detailed mid-section and well realised vocals. A common criticism of Shure audio devices is they can be a little clinical and lacking in warmth. This is certainly not the case here. Your music loses none of its…

These days, you can never have too many USB device chargers. Macally’s Nightstand LED Light gives you four of them, set into the base of this handy lamp. A useful addition to your bedside table, the light has three levels of brightness; simply tap the metal ring atop the device to turn it on and advance through dim, medium and bright light, then again to turn it off. Much easier than feeling around in the dark for a physical switch. The lamp is white, with a false wood design at the base. It plugs into the mains to power both the lamp and the chargers. It's well designed, if a little cheap looking, and its four USB ports will undoubtedly come in handy when you need to charge several devices…

How small can a portable storage drive get? Back in the day they got thinner and thinner but their other dimensions were restricted by the 2.5-inch drives they contained. With the advent of SSD drives, which use solid state storage chips instead of hard disks, the size of portable storage drives fell once more. At 75 x 52 x 14mm (480GB version reviewed), the Envoy Elektron is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. As well as being small and easy to carry around, it’s also stylish, attractive and robust. Built from lightweight silver aluminium, it keeps its cool even when transferring files at its full 10Gb/s speed. It’s USB-C for the latest Macs and also compatible with iPad Pros that have this connector. The cable in…

It's amazing how much prices of top-quality displays have fallen over the last few years. This QHD (Quad High Definition) monitor offers 2560x1440 resolution and a 27-inch screen for under five hundred notes. Its low price certainly isn't at the expense of build quality. Solid and robust, its metal base has a very sturdy feel. You certainly won't knock it over by accidentally bumping your desk. It's very configurable too. You can adjust the height of the screen to suit, swivel it right and left without turning the stand and even rotate it 90 degrees into a portrait view. You can connect it to your Mac through HDMI or DisplayPort, and if you also connect a USB cable, there's a four-port USB 3.2 hub. It's a gaming monitor, so as…

It looks like a mouse, it does the same job as a mouse but it isn’t a mouse. Logitech’s Ergo M575 is, in fact, a thumb-operated trackball with mouse-like controller buttons. Pop in a AA battery (supplied) and plug the USB dongle into your Mac, then use the M575’s thumb-operated trackball to move your pointer around the screen. The device stays in one place on your desk – you don’t drag it around like a regular mouse controller. There are twin left and right buttons and a scroll wheel, just like a traditional mouse, and back/forward buttons within easy reach of your forefinger. Assuming you’re right-handed, of course. This is not a device for southpaws. As well as a USB dongle, the M575 is also Bluetooth-compatible; switch between connectivity methods…

The iPad has really come on as a go-to machine for both business and leisure. Today’s iPad is so versatile it can replace your notebook when you’re out and about. It’s with this in mind that Birmingham, Alabama startup Fledgeling built the Hubble for iPad. Available for the iPad Pro 12.9” and 11”, and the fourth-gen iPad Air, the Hubble connects to your tablet’s USB-C port. It’s not available for any iPad with a Lightning port or 30-pin dock. It greatly expands the iPad’s connectivity options, offering (from left to right): a headphone socket, HDMI port, SD and microSD card readers, a USB-A port, two USB-C ports (one for charging and one for data), and a travel switch for saving energy when you’re not using the iPad. The whole truth……

This handy, mains-powered device is more than just an iPad stand. Sure, it can hold your iPad Pro (2018 or later, either size), or iPad Air (2020), in Landscape or portrait mode, so you can watch media, draw with your Apple Pencil or type comfortably by connecting a keyboard and mouse. But it’s also a wireless charger for your iPhone and/or AirPods. Just place them on the pad at the foot of the stand. You can also buy an optional Apple Watch charger that fits on the side of the device. The stand connects to your iPad’s USB-C socket, and you can plug in peripherals using the ports at the back. There’s three USB 3 ports, a HDMI port and an Ethernet port. There’s an SD Card reader and headphone…

There are several reasons why you might prefer a trackball over a mouse. Those with RSI might find them more ergonomic. As the unit doesn’t physically move, they take up less room on your desk. Or you might just want a decent game of Missile Command. Whatever the reason, if you want a trackball, this Kensington model might fit the bill. It’s USB only, so make sure you have a spare port and aren’t too bothered about trailing cables. There’s a button on either side of the ball standing in as left and right mouse buttons, but you can’t press the ball itself for a third click. There is a scroll wheel surrounding the trackball, though. Download Kensington’s TrackballWorks app and you can configure the buttons, adjust the pointer speed…

The days when you had to spend a lot to get decent Bluetooth earbuds are long gone. These days, most mid-priced sets give excellent sonic reproduction, and are often packed with features that were previously only found in high-end models too. Take these TWS330 NB earbuds from Edifier. They offer active noise cancellation up to -38dB, deep neural network call noise cancellation for an excellent telephone experience, AAC HD audio decoding for higher-quality sounds and a companion app, all from a relatively affordable set of earbuds. The pellet-shaped carry case is comfortable in the pocket, and the earbuds are comfortable in the ears, though they’re a little difficult to get out of the case. They’re good for five hours on a full charge, and 20 hours when you throw in…

Here at AppleUser, we’re big fans of DxO Labs’ PhotoLab image editing software. A high-end image editing suite, it’s aimed firmly at the high-needs user; photography professionals and very keen amateurs. It’s not for the casual snapper but those who are serious about photography will find it a comprehensive and feature-packed suite that really brings out the best in your photographic art. This, the fourth version, introduces some great new features. The most significant is DeepPRIME, an artificial intelligence technology that learns from the millions of photos DxO’s laboratories have analysed over the last 15 years. This learning is used to better process photographs taken in the RAW format with regards to digital noise reduction and demosaicing (yes, that is a word). As a result, images look more natural. It’s…

Back in the day, you could gather your snaps in the Photos app, design a calendar, a book, greetings cards and more; and order them in print directly from Apple. You can’t do this any more but several third-party services have stepped in to fill the gap. Motif is one such service. Using the free Motif app for your Mac, iPhone or iPad, you can use your photos to create exciting books and calendars directly from your Apple device. On a Mac you can also create and order greetings cards but this feature has yet to make it to the mobile apps. Your pictures are curated automatically so your favourite memories and pictures are easily to hand; and it’s easy to make impressive, professional-looking designs. There are ready-made templates and…

Now here's a useful app to have on your phone. It can translate typed text into and out of 103 languages, as long as you've got an Internet connection. If you're offline, it can still translate 59 languages. If your typing finger is getting tired, you can simply point your iPhone's camera at a piece of text and translate it between 90 languages, or 50 languages at a higher quality if you use a photo. It can handle 95 languages using handwriting recognition and translate conversations in 43 languages. You can save translated words and phrases for future reference too. Naturally, it caters for all widely spoken European languages. It's a real boon for travellers. Not only can it make communication easier, if you're confused by signage or instructions, just…

OWC Copy That simplifies the process of saving photos and videos to an external hard drive. You can download the app for free, with a one-off IAP of £2.99/$2.99/3,49 € to unlock features such as verified and secure copying and deleting files from your mobile device after backing them up. It’s not very versatile though. You can choose whether to copy photos, videos, selfies and/or screenshots and (with the paid-for version) restrict it to certain dates but you can’t choose specific photos from a range of thumbnails or back up files other than snaps and flicks. There’s no backing up your music library, for example. Backups are incremental – you can choose to ignore or update files that are already backed up. When you’ve decided what to copy, you choose…

Evernote has long been one of the most popular note-taking apps available for Apple gear, though its relatively high price and very restricted free version could put off newcomers. Neither of these two criticisms were addressed in the latest update but the iOS version of this popular app did get a range of new features, with updates for the Mac, Windows and Android on the way. The Evernote notes editor has been streamlined. It’s now much easier to strip the formatting out of notes and also to add formatting features such as headers, tables, highlights and more. The formatting toolbar has been redesigned to keep popular edits to the fore and a new multi-function Insert button makes it easier to add content such as audio, photos, checkboxes, attachments and sketches…

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.…

Backing up isn't all about Time Machine. To be adequately backed up, it's best to back up twice. That's where Carbon Copy Cloner comes in. It's excellent for making bootable backups of your main drive, so if there's a problem, you can boot from your backup as if nothing had happened. You can also back up specific files, documents and drives, and schedule your backups to take place at a specific time and day. These scheduled back-ups kick in even if your Mac is in sleep mode at the time. Naturally, it can back up only new and modified files to save time, and you can choose to where you back up, such as external drives or another Mac on your network. With the latest version, Task Scheduling is improved.…

When it comes to communication, the faster your merry missives are delivered, the better, right? Not according to this highly original social media app. The idea behind Slowly is to encourage more extended writing by introducing a delay into the conversation. Your messages take time to be delivered; the further they travel, the longer they take to get there. As a result, instead of the more conversational interactions made possible by Twitter, Messages and Facebook Messenger, a Slowly message is more like an electronic letter to a pen friend. As you know you're not getting an instant reply, you set down everything you want to say in one go instead of as a series of soundbites. After entering your birthdate, sex and nickname, you make an avatar (options for this…

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.…

Keep It is a cross-platform notebook, scrapbook and organiser for Apple devices, and it’s been getting better with every release. This current version, available on Mac, iPad and iPhone, and lets you make notes to which you can add highlights, checklists, bulleted and numbered lists, links, dividers and more. You can add any sort of file to a note, such as images, text files, music files and so on. Text written directly onto the note can be formatted in all sorts of ways, far more so than those in the Notes app, and any note can be encrypted and password protected. If you install the app on more than one device, perhaps multiple Macs and/or your mobile gear, anything you’ve saved is shared between all your Apple devices. It’s paid…

If you've played the original Life is Strange, you'll be instantly at home with this sequel. The game mechanic hasn't changed; it's still a narrative-driven graphic adventure with the story interrupted – and guided – by regular multiple-choice options. These choices define the path the storyline takes and directly affect how it plays out. Like the first game, it's episodic, with the story split into five, self-contained chapters. However, this Mac version bundles all five together; we don't have to keep waiting for the next one to be released, as did console and PC gamers when it came out on those formats. It features a protagonist with a supernatural ability too. But for all its similarities, there's plenty that's new here too. The title no longer centres on college girl…

The First Tree had an unusual inspiration. Its developer, David Wehle, used it as a ‘creative outlet’ to deal with his becoming a father for the first time; and also losing his own dad. So naturally, family ties play a large part in this third-party exploration game. It centres around two parallel stories; a fox (the playable character) trying to find her missing family, and through narration, a son reconnecting with his estranged father in Alaska. Along the way, you uncover artefacts and stories from the son's life as he becomes intertwined in the fox’s journey towards The First Tree. Graphics are simple but enchanting, giving a real sense of being there when combined with the melancholy music. As you run through the snow-kissed plains of Alaska, a beautiful fern…

This sort of game could only happen in the digital delivery era. Can you imagine such a quirky and unique title, that takes only three or four hours to complete, appearing on a Nintendo cartridge? Or even a PlayStation CD? Yet as an inexpensive digital download for computers, consoles and mobile devices, it’s perfectly placed. FAR: Lone Sails is described as ‘a zombie-free post-apocalypse’ game. Civilisation has crumbled but there are no hordes of undead roaming the wastelands. Nor indeed hordes of anything else. Aside from yourself, there are next to no life signs at all; just dried-up seas and the ruins of civilisation. What caused the apocalypse is only ever hinted at and why you’re driving a beautifully realised land yacht along the shattered coast of the old seafront…

Building and world-creation games have always had a uniquely addictive quality that other genres can’t quite replicate. Sim City first showed gamers it could be fun to build as well as destroy, then the legendary Peter Molyneux came along and took things a step further with the equally legendary Populous. Minecraft has built up a dedicated following on every platform possible, with its mix of puzzles, survival and building. Yet it has never felt more at home, to this reviewer at least, then on the iPhone and iPad. The concept is – at first – very simple. The game throws you into a randomly generated, geometric world made up of cuboid blocks. There are trees, rocks, grass and water but all are created from different kinds of blocks. Holding your…

As a film bore, I take huge joy in spotting onscreen references to other flicks or catching the unofficial inspirations for those 'mockbusters' that litter the darker recesses of Netflix. Good Job Games' Epic Race 3D doesn't look to the silver screen for its obvious and COMPLETELY unlicensed inspiration. Instead, it turns to the TV. Epic Race 3D takes its inspiration from Ninja Warrior, or American Ninja Warrior, or Sasuke in Japan; a gameshow that pits contestants against a huge and increasingly tough series of obstacle courses, with more than a dash of parkour and insanity. In any of its guises and locational re-brands, it’s brilliantly fun and unmissably entertaining. The game follows the basics of the TV show, albeit in smaller, bite-sized chunks of two or three obstacles per…

Do you remember a little green monster who lived at the bottom of your iPhone’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…

Wow, that was some night. Or at least you think it was. You’re dirty, (almost) naked and your head is pounding, but you can’t remember the drinking session that caused your predicament. In fact, you can’t remember much of anything at all. Who are you? What are you doing here? Why is there a dead body hanging from a tree around the back of the flea-pit hostel you currently reside in? These are the questions you must answer as you solve the murder, and also sort out your personal issues as you go. Disco Elysium is a fusion of point-and-click adventuring and RPG-style character building. To begin with, you choose an ‘archetype’ for your booze-impaired detective. At your choice, he can be a Thinker, Sensitive or Physical being, each of…

It’s amazing how far display prices have fallen, while their quality continues to rise. Take this one, for example. It’s a specialist, quad hi-definition (QHD) gaming monitor with a giant 31.5-inch screen. It runs at 165Hz, has a 1ms response time and a 300 nits rating, yet it costs well south of 400 notes. The AOC CQ32G2SE Gaming Monitor features a tool-free setup. You can get it up and running out of the box in five minutes flat, without having to root around for the right spanner or screwdriver. Just snap the display onto the stand and fit the foot using a finger-turned screw. It’s no hassle at all. Around the back of the display are two HDMI ports and a DisplayPort. There’s no Thunderbolt connectivity (though you can use…

If you’re serious about your gaming, you have to get a decent controller. A joypad that feels comfortable in the hands, with all its buttons and inputs within easy reach. Something with a full range of controls, including four face buttons, a D-pad, two analogue sticks and twin shoulder buttons; a now-standard setup as used by recent Xbox and PlayStation consoles. A joypad like the GameSir G4 Pro. You can connect your G4 Pro to a Windows PC using a dongle that fits in the back of the joypad when not in use or via the USB-C charging cable supplied. Unfortunately, it’s not Mac-compatible and nor can it be used with an Apple TV set-top box. You can use it with your iPhone or iPad over Bluetooth and even with…

WaterField Designs makes deluxe bags for connoisseurs. They’re not cheap, but the quality is outstanding. You could use a WaterField bag every day of your working life, then give it to your grandchild and it would still be in good condition. This particular WaterField Designs product, the Zoom Crossbody Laptop Bag, is available in two sizes. The Compact version fits devices up to 11 x 8 inches, and is ideal for your iPad Pro and a Magic Keyboard. The Tall version can handle notebooks up to 12.75 x 8.75 inches such as Apple’s 13-inch range, including the new M1-powered MacBook Pros. It’s available in a range of colours, and sports a comfortable shoulder strap that holds your Apple gear in a portrait position. The main body of the bag is…

Risers for your computer or monitor aren’t exactly thin on the ground but as you’d expect, this model from Twelve South goes that extra yard with careful planning and design. As well as raising your iMac or external display to a more comfortable height, it features a handy space underneath for all your bits and pieces. The shelf, which is perforated for airflow, is the perfect size and shape for a Mac mini too. If you use Apple’s small form factor Mac with a monitor, Curve Riser is the ideal way to keep them tidy on your desk; saving space. Alternatively, use it for a USB optical drive, Thunderbolt hub, audio interface or just about anything else you can think of. The space underneath the riser is a good fit…

This home security camera is a different beast from the SWANN model covered elsewhere on the page. It lacks heat and noise detection, but it can detect motion at up to 16 feet. When it does so, it records 30 seconds of footage and uploads them to the cloud or your Dropbox account. It has a 130-degree angle-view and a fixed focus from between just under two feet to infinity. You can watch live too, of course, and, unusually for a security monitor, there's a privacy shutter you can activate when you don't want the camera to record you. Video quality is excellent and it works well both night and day. It's designed to stand on a flat surface. If you want to wall-mount it, you have to buy a…

Earlier in the year we saw the release of the NEO P2 4-Port GaN Charger. This is a remarkable and extremely useful multi-port charger that’s bristling with features and comes in at a fantastic price. However, MINX has since upped its game yet again and released the P2’s smaller but just as capable brother, the NEO P1. The MINIX NEO P1 is a three-port charging station, with a pair of USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 ports offering 65W, 5~15V/3A, 20V/3.25A and a single USB-A1 36W Quick Charge 3.0 port at 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A and 20V/1.8A. While it may lack an extra port over its sibling, it certainly makes up for that in portability. The NEO P2 wasn’t a huge charging station by any stretch of the imagination but the P1 is…

What an awesome set of earbuds. They’re for far more than just music. In fact the Jabra Evolve 65t is aimed at business professionals who spend most of their time on the go, taking phone calls and teleconferencing as well as listening to their tunes on the train or in their hotel room. With its four-microphone technology, phone calls are crystal clear. It sounds like the other person is sitting right next to you. They’re great for video chat with Skype or FaceTime too. They’re good for five hours on a single charge, with two full charges in the case. Naturally, these true wireless earbuds are Bluetooth-paired, but they also come with a USB dongle for your Mac or PC, so all you have to do to switch from your…

'Wash your hands,’ screams a dozen posters and TV adverts, all trying to keep us safe from the coronavirus. ‘Sanitise before entering the store,’ says the hand-written note next to the bottle of sanitiser in every shop doorway. Keeping clean is certainly the order of the day but what’s the point in washing and sanitising your hands every hour if they only get mucky again next time you pick up your phone? That’s where QDOS’ UV Gadget Sanitizer & Wireless Charger comes in. It’s a closed box big enough to take a phone of up to 6.7 inches in screen size or you could drop in your keys, earbuds, cables or other such items. Plug it into a USB charger (not supplied) with the USB-A to USB-C cable (supplied) and…

YubiKey 5Ci is an encrypted dongle that provides two-factor authentication for web services. In a nutshell, this means you have to plug it into your Mac or mobile device in order to log on. Even if a hacker breaks or steals your password, they still can’t get in without also connecting your dongle. It has a Lightning connector on one end for iPhones and iPads, and a USB-C plug on the other for Macs that have this facility. It’s not yet compatible with iPads that use USB-C and it’s not compatible with all sites and apps. For example, you can’t use it with the mobile version of Safari; you need to switch to a browser such as Brave. It’s compatible with several password management apps, such as 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane…

If you need a gaming headset but can’t justify splashing out on the latest Bluetooth model, these are a decent option. 50mm speakers deliver stereo sound and there’s a mic on a flexible arm that folds away when you don’t need it. The Spirits headset is cabled, with a 3.5mm jack and a bundled extension for connecting to USB dongles or aeroplane seats. It can be used on home consoles as well as Macs and mobile devices. At this price, you wouldn't expect them to replace your favourite music earbuds, and they won't. Bass is lively and intense, but the vocals and treble sound muted. The ear pads are comfortable and do a decent job of blocking out external noises, though, after wearing them for a while they make your…

If you prefer a traditional mouse to your Mac notebook’s built-in trackpad, Logitech’s mobile take on its MX Master 3 is for you. MX Anywhere 3 for Mac is a pocket-sized controller that’s small and light enough to take wherever you need it. The mouse offers Bluetooth connectivity and can switch between three different connected devices at the touch of a button found under the mouse. Just the thing if you want to use the mouse with your iPad as well as your Mac, which is entirely possible when you’re using iPadOS 14. It charges through USB-C and as the charging port is at the front of the mouse, you can carry on using it while charging. It lasts up to 70 days on a full charge and three hours…

We’ve all seen these devices before – gaming controllers that sandwich your iPhone between two sets of controls, effectively turning it into a mobile console. But the Backbone One is a controller with a difference. As well as being compatible with your iPhone games, including those downloaded with Apple Arcade, it also supports Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Google Stadia and GeForce Now. Subscribers to these services can stream games directly to their iPhone without needing their console or PC to be on. It also supports Xbox Remote Play, PS Remote Play and Steam Link, so you can stream your purchased games from your console or PC too. Backbone One is compatible with all iPhones running iOS 13 or later, and you can even connect a cable to any USB-C screen…

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…

Logitech Lift for Business is an ergonomic mouse for smaller hands. Instead of sitting flat on the table, it’s set at a 57-degree angle. It has a soft rubber grip and a thumb rest so you can use it for hours without triggering your RSI. You can connect it through Bluetooth to three devices at a time, switching between them with a button on the base of the mouse, or use a USB dongle offering Logi Bolt, Logitech’s secure wireless connectivity protocol that’s ideal for congested office environments. Available in white or black and in right-or left-hand versions, the mouse takes one AA battery which should last around 24 months. Atop the device are two mouse buttons and a scroll wheel, along with a smaller button that can be configured.…

If you enjoy going out and about with your digital SLR and your Mac notebook, take a look at this ruck sack. Manfrotto Street Slim Camera Backpack has a space for a laptop of up to 14 inches, as well as two separate compartments for your bits and pieces. The lower compartment, accessed by opening the zipped flap around the front, conceals a padded chamber with dividers that velcro into position and make neat safe areas for your camera and peripherals. The upper compartment is an open space for your extra gadgets. Of course, if you want to use the bag for a weekend away, perhaps, you can remove the velcro dividers and pack it with your clothes and overnight bag. There are other pockets too, such as a document…

Universal Purchases are awesome. Rolled out earlier this year, the feature lets developers bundle iOS, iPadOS and macOS versions of an app into a single purchase. Instead of having to pay once on the Mac App Store and again on the Mobile App Store, a single payment unlocks the software on all your Apple devices. GoodLinks is a read-later app that syncs your links across all your Apple gear and being a Universal Purchase isn’t the only thing it gets right. Using GoodLinks is very straightforward. When surfing the web in Safari or a third-party browser, you might come across an article you’d like to save for later perusal. Sure, you can bookmark it or add it to Safari’s Read Later list but GoodLinks gives a more comprehensive and flexible…

Ever come across a video on YouTube and wished you could download it for offline viewing, or cut it to DVD and watch it on your living-room TV? Of course you have. Everybody has. With Airy, you can do just that. It's easy to use. Simply navigate to the YouTube video you want to download, then copy and paste the URL into the field in the Airy app, choose a resolution and click Download. You can download videos as MP4, FLV, and 3GP, with HD, 4K and 8K Ultra HD resolutions supported, or go for MP3 to download only the audio. Airy can also be integrated into most popular web browsers, such as Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Explorer too, to download directly from your bookmarks bar. If you've a…

From the people that brought us Camera+ comes REC – Pro Video Camera, a new app that promises pro-quality videos and simple, intuitive controls. While the iPhone and iPad’s own Camera apps do a great job of general snapping and filming, they’re designed with simplicity rather than versatility in mind. If you plan to take your photography more seriously, you need a third-party app and that’s where REC comes in. Unlike Camera, REC gives you full control over settings such as focus and exposure; and you can set your own white balance, bitrate and more. For the audio side of things, you can record in regular stereo or choose a polar pattern, omni, subcardoid or cardiod. What does this mean? A polar pattern sets the sensitivity of a microphone as…

Big Sur brought big problems for the Parallels team. For security reasons, the latest version of the Mac’s operating system banned third-party kernel extensions, or kexts, something needed for performance by all virtualisation apps. Instead, Apple added its own hypervisor kext to Big Sur and Parallels had to move every kernel extension it used to Apple’s own system extensions, something that took over 25 man-years. But they managed it and as a result, Parallels is even faster and more secure than ever before. As you probably know, Parallels Desktop is a virtualisation app that lets you run alternative operating systems on your Mac from within macOS, so you can (say) switch to using Windows or Linux in a virtual machine without having to reboot your computer. Using Coherence Mode, you…

Slidepad is basically a web browser that sits off the desktop until you drag your mouse pointer to a user-defined edge of the screen. It can be as large or as small as you like, and when you’re done with it, you click an icon to hide it again. You can add as many ‘spaces’ as you like to the Slidepad window, either from the app’s list of popular web apps or by entering a URL. The advantages are clear. If you use services such as Gmail, Microsoft OneNote or One Drive, Google Calendar, Evernote and more, you can have them at your fingertips in a single mouse click. Or you could keep your social media and entertainment apps, such as Facebook, Netflix, Messenger and Readly on Slidepad, out of…

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).…

F-Secure ID PROTECTION helps stop hackers from using your personal information to take over your accounts and commit identity theft online. It protects your personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card numbers by alerting you if your online services are breached and by giving you specific instructions on how to recover from the incident with minimum damage. It also protects your identity by offering a secure storage for all your passwords and by acting as an easy-to-use password manager. It’s not difficult to use. Sign up online for an account and then add your devices, whether they’re computers, tablets or smartphones. F-Secure monitors both the regular Internet and the dark web for evidence of password breaches, credit card abuse and more. If it finds a password you use…

Nik Collection 5, by photo processing experts DxO Labs, is a suite of eight plug-ins that can be used within apps like Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Adobe Lightroom. If you don’t use any of those programs you can open each individual item in the suite as a stand-alone app, but according to DxO, almost 90% of its users launch them from Photoshop or Lightroom. It’s not yet 100% Apple Silicon native, but it works fine in Rosetta 2 and total compatibility is coming. There are four creativity-oriented plug-ins, namely Nik Color Efex, Nik Silver Efex, Nik Analog Efex and Nik Viveza. The other four plug-ins are designed to help the photographer to perfect their pictures on a technical level. These are Nik Dfine, Nik Perspective Efex, Nik HDR Efex and…

BBC News Developer: BBC Media Applications Technologies Limited Website: www.bbc.co.uk/news/ Get the latest news on your iPad, directly from the BBC. Stories are arranged in topics including top stories, UK news, world news, politics, business, technology and sport; and you can even play videos directly from the app. It’s regularly updated and benefits from the BBC’s huge army of journalists reporting from all over the globe. You can watch the BBC’s 24-hour news TV channel through the app too. Catchup Apps Developer: Various Website: Various If you like to watch TV on the go, why not use your iPad? There are many apps available for watching live or catchup TV right there on your mobile device. There’s the BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, My5 for Channel 5, apps for satellite services…

What a lousy start to the day. You wake up in a strange apartment, stark naked and covered in blood with a wound to your ribs and a dead body in the bathtub. You have no idea where you are or how you got there. What are you to do? Unmemory, the first game from a small team in Barcelona, offers a great new take on the text and graphic adventure. There’s a lot of reading to do but don’t let that put you off. The story is well written and engaging; and really draws you into the strange world of the protagonist. Every few paragraphs, the text is interrupted by a graphic of something nearby. You can frequently interact with these graphics, sometimes immediately, sometimes later in the story…

When attached to a game, the phrase ‘interactive visual novel’ often rings alarm bells. Too many titles of this ilk boast great storylines but no gameplay. Unfortunately, this is all too true here. If Found… gets off to a bad start. After a sequence involving a space ship flying past Jupiter and finding a black hole, there’s a barely-interactive trawl through the diary of the protagonist, Kasio, covering the whole month of December. You just read an entry, wipe it away by dragging your finger over the screen and then do the same on the next page, stopping just long enough to turn the volume down; the background music at this point sounds like a bad feedback loop. While the aesthetics soon improve, with hand-drawn pictures and relaxingly soft music,…

The football management simulation has been a huge part of the sport gaming genre since the early days of eight-bit computing; for a really simple reason. Being an armchair pundit, manager, player or anything really, just as long as you can work on your sofa’s butt groove at the same time, is the best job in the world. You answer to no one, you’re paid well in self-worth and, most importantly, you’re always right despite whatever you’re told to the contrary. Obviously, as armchair football managers go, I’m one of the best! Each week, I know better than the current gaffer of my beloved football team, be it squad, formation, transfers or even the away kit. Under my leadership, we wouldn’t be facing relegation we would be looking toward Europe…

For a long time, I ignored the advice: "The app is best experienced via headphones." And that was silly of me. Audio hasn't played a huge role in my mobile gaming. Let me explain. The touchscreen of my iPad, or iPhone, activates an invisible barrier between myself and my wife's inane droning, aka telling me about her day. The inclusion of sound would break the spell and alert her of my utter lack of interest and force me to pay attention. Having the realisation that sound – via headphones of course – plays such an important role in the immersion into my gaming has done little to improve communication with my spouse. Yet it's a small price to pay to experience mobile games as they were intended. Having stressed how…

Wow. Just… wow. Not only has the awesome turn-based tactical game XCOM 2 been released for the iPad and iPhone, but it’s a hugely impressive port with very few concessions made for the transition, and a huge amount of additional material included with no further purchases required. Along with the main XCOM 2 game, The XCOM 2 Collection gives you four DLC packs and the War of the Chosen expansion pack. At the price, that’s a bargain. Set in 2035, 20 years after XCOM – Enemy Unknown and XCOM – Enemy Within, this sequel assumes the humans lost the war. Aliens now rule the Earth through the puppet ADVENT Administration, and most XCOM members submitted to their rule. But not all. There’s an underground resistance dedicated to fighting back, and…

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…

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…

If you’re a fan of the Despicable Me/Minions movies, and also enjoy endless runners, you’ll love this. You play as one of the cute little minions from the movies, trying to become Employee of the Month by running as far as you possibly can. It’s not clear what the purpose of the run is, but unlike every other endless runner game, there is a storyline of sorts. Gameplay uses a three-lane system with swipes in four directions. As your minion charges forward, simply swipe Left or Right to dodge objects and avoid falling employees, cliffs and more. You swipe Up to jump over obstacles, and swipe Down to slide under laser beams and such. The game offers a few surprises that help distinguish Minion Rush from almost every other endless…

This wireless charger powers three of your Apple devices at once. The vertical stand on the left holds – and charges – your Apple Watch. The charger is built-in. You don’t have to use the one that came with your watch like you do with some charging stands, so you can keep that for travel. In front of it is a recessed area where you place your AirPods (2nd gen or Pro). On the right of the unit is a regular wireless charger for your iPhone, as long as it’s wireless-charging compatible. Three chargers in one. Unfortunately, there’s no USB port around the back for cabled charging. The charger is available in both black and white. The black model has a premium Ultrasuede fabric finish, while the white one boasts…

You can’t fault the price. For less than 60 notes, the Kami Indoor 360 Smart-Home Camera offers 340° rotation and 90° tilt, dual band wi-fi, two-way audio, night vision and 1080p high definition recording. It’s not at the expense of quality either. It’s robust and stylish, with an understated profile that sits discreetly wherever you wish to position it; and its recordings are sharp and smooth. It has to be used indoors, of course. The camera is not weatherproof or waterproof, so it cannot be set up outside. It has to be reasonably close to a plug socket too. A long USB lead is supplied so you can power it from the mains plug provided or a computer’s USB port but there’s no battery option. The Kami Indoor 360 Smart-Home…

Your brand-new iPhone 12 might well be the pinnacle of mobile phone gaming but is your controller up to speed? Do you even have a controller? If not, this amazing, pocket-sized add-on could be just what you’re looking for. The Kishi folds down when not in use for easy storage and portability. When opened up it stretches out to accommodate iPhones of all sizes. A Lightning connector plugs into your phone and a through-port lets you plug in your Lightning cable and charge while you play. There’s no need to cut your gaming short because your iPhone’s battery is almost drained. There’s a free app too but this is just for firmware updates and information; there’s no heavy setting up to do. Its comprehensive control set will prove familiar to…

If you remember the review we did of the devolo Magic 2 Wi-Fi Starter Kit back in Issue 2, you know that powerline adapters are a great way of extending the reach of your cabled and wireless network using your house's electrical wiring. A powerline setup consists of at least two plugs, which fit in your household mains sockets. By connecting one of them to your router using a supplied Ethernet cable and plugging the other into any mains socket in the house, you create a cabled connection between your router and the second adapter. This unit can offer a wireless access point for your network, Ethernet ports for cabled connectivity, or both. devolo’s Magic 2 LAN Triple powerline adapter starter set doesn’t offer Wi-Fi access, but it does have…

If you prefer traditional cans to in-the-ear audio, you might well have had your head turned by Apple’s own AirPods Max. When you saw the ridiculous £549/$549/612,70 € price point, you probably looked away just as quickly. Groov-e’s new Ultra headphones are at the other end of the price scale, so should you look this way instead? Out of the box, the Ultra Headphones are light on frills. You get the headphones themselves (of course), an optional 3.5mm jack cable for a wired connection to your audio player and a USB charging cable. Surprisingly at this price point, you can also use a Qi charger (not supplied). The headphones fold down when not in use but there’s no carry case to put them in. A full charge gives you up…

These cabled earbuds are made with mobile gaming in mind. They feature vibration effects, a removable mic that plugs into the left earbud and an optional extension with two 3.5mm jacks so you can use them with devices that require dual inputs. Although primarily intended for mobile games with voice chat facilities, you can use them with your computer or home console too. Despite the size of the earbud units, they feel very comfortable in the ears. They look good too. There’s onboard controls for volume, pause, taking calls, skipping tracks and Siri, and a second mic in the control unit is used for phone calls when the main boom mic is not connected. When listening to music, the sound stage is crisp and lively, but not quite as expansive…

Bluetooth headphones and earbuds are fabulous. You can listen to your music anywhere, without being hampered by annoying cables. But not every audio player has Bluetooth; this is where AirFly comes in. A small dongle that comfortably fits in the palm of your hand, it connects to the headphone socket of a non-Bluetooth device, from where it acts as a wireless transmitter. Just pair your headphones or earbuds with AirFly, and you can use them with anything that plays audio. Its onboard battery gives up to 16 hours of life on a single charge. The new AirFly Pro brings several new features. For the first time, you can pair two sets of headphones so that you can listen in with a friend; Just the thing for watching TV, for example.…

Netatmo’s Smart Video Doorbell has been around for a couple of years now, but thanks to two new transformers, designed and built to accompany it, the doorbell can now be installed in a wider variety of situations. These transformers, sold as separate items or in a pack with the doorbell, come in two varieties: a plug-in transformer that simply needs a wall socket, and an in-wall transformer that’s a little more demanding regarding installation. If you’re not a talented DIYer, you’ll need a professional electrician for the latter. Whichever transformer you use, the video doorbell can be used with or without a chime. When someone rings the bell, you get an alert on your phone. If you wish, you can also have it ring on your smart speaker. It’s compatible…

Here's a wireless charger with a difference. Install the iXpand Charger App and as well as charging your iPhone it also backs up your photos, videos and contacts. It's available in 128GB and 256GB capacities, so there's plenty of space for your snaps, and it isn't much more expensive than a regular QI charger. Obviously, it only works with iPhones that can charge wirelessly, but as it's QI certified, you can charge your AirPods or other QI-compatible devices too. After Bluetooth pairing the charger with your phone and connecting it to your local network, it’s simple to use; just place your phone on the pad and, as long as the battery is at 20% or more, it backs up your data. If you want to share the charger with more…

Mixcder is noted for decent headphones at an affordable price, and these E10 noise-cancelling cans are no exception. They've certainly done a decent job on the build quality. Its all-metal skeleton is finished with comfortable padding, and its understated design is perfect for those who prefer gadgets with a minimalistic look. The latest tech is incorporated too, with Bluetooth v5.0 for faster transmission and Advanced Apt-X Low Latency Technology. Battery life is 30 hours on a full charge, and if you're in a rush, five to eight minutes of charging can give you two or three hours of music time. In our tests, the ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) proved adequate rather than remarkable. It wasn't bad; just not perfect. The overall sound is impressive. Although activating the ANC reduces the…

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…

You can use this double-ended flash drive to transfer files between devices, and back up your photos and videos from your iPad or iPhone. Available in 64GB, 128GB or 256GB capacities, it has a USB-C 3.1 plug on one end, and a Lightning connector at the other. You can only copy media and contacts from an iPhone or iPad, using the iXpand app, but plug it into a Mac and you can copy any file. Transferring files to the flash drive is super speedy; it’s certainly faster than its predecessor, the iXpand Flash Drive Go. The iXpand app is easy to use too. It’s a great way of getting more from your mobile device’s internal storage, without clogging it up with things that could be stored elsewhere. Info// SanDisk www.westerndigital.com…

Everyone loves robots. Whether it’s Metal Mickey, C-3PO or the Terminator, we just can’t get enough of them. We all love dogs too. They’re cute, cuddly and playful. So you can’t go far wrong with a robot dog, right? Petoi certainly thinks so. That’s why they created Bittle the open-source bionic robot dog, an amazing mechanical mutt that can do tricks just like a real hound. Designed for coding and fun, Bittle operates on OpenCat, an open-source platform that offers amazing programming and customisation possibilities. It’s based on an Arduino-compatible board which you can connect to a Raspberry Pi or purpose-made modules and add-ons through wired and wireless connections. You can configure and control it through a dedicated iOS app. It’s great for learning about STEM and robotics.. Build a…

Airpulse’s latest offering, the P100X stereo Bluetooth speaker, should appeal to those who like their tech to be beautiful as well as practical. Inspired by traditional FM radios of old, it has a gorgeous mesh finish at the front and back, and an elegant cherry wood speaker casing at the top and sides. Sound-wise, it features a pair of custom-designed 10w tweeters and a 4.5-inch 40w mid-woofer, for 60w in total. The tweeters use an oval-shaped diaphragm to deliver a better high frequency response, accurately reproducing even the highest audio frequencies. The mid woofer is a 4.5-inch unit, featuring a hard anodised aluminium alloy cone suspended in a heavy, rigid cast magnesium alloy frame. The device connects to your audio source via Bluetooth v5.1, supporting the aptX HD codec, or…

Oclean’s new X Pro Elite Smart Electric Toothbrush connects to your iPhone through Bluetooth. A downloadable app keeps a record of your brushing, and offers tips to help you brush better. It’s stylish looking and feels very tactile in the hand, and is very quiet in operation. It even has a ‘Quiet Mark’, a symbol of approval from the Noise Abatement Society. The brush’s textured surface makes it easy to hold on to, and the conventional oval brush head (as opposed to a rotating circular head found on most electric toothbrushes) makes it very easy to use, especially if you have a small mouth or irregular teeth. It’s lightweight too, and well balanced. A rechargeable device, it comes with a charging cradle which connects to the mains through a USB…

Multiple award-winning Things is widely regarded as the best task management app for Apple devices. Those with power-user needs might prefer OmniFocus but for the vast majority of us, ease of use and a clear, Apple-like interface make Things the ‘getting things done’ (GTD) app of choice. But what makes it so good? Things is designed to help you organise every aspect of your life, from daily routines to long-term goals. When you first launch Things, there’s a tutorial project you can keep or delete. If you’re new to the app, it’s best to work your way through it; in ten minutes, you’ll have a decent understanding of how it all works and how to get the most from the app. You can then delete it when you’re done and…

JustStream is an excellent alternative to AirPlay. It can stream video from your Mac to any AirPlay or Chromecast compatible device, as well as smart TVs from Samsung and LG, Roku boxes, Apple TV and Sony devices. It's great for viewing slideshows of photos with the family, for example, and as it can mirror your Mac's screen to the television, it's good for presentations and demos too, as well as playing movies and videos. You can queue videos and play them in sequence, no need to keep running to your computer room to load the next five-minute holiday movie. Subtitles are supported, and the entire app runs from a menu bar icon and is never in the way while you're streaming. It's very straightforward to use. Click on the JustStream…

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…

'Prosumer’ is a dreadful word. It reeks of men in suits talking rubbish in management meetings, before going to the local wine bar for a liquid lunch and leaving the actual work to the marketing department. Yet however terrible the term, some of the software apps it’s applied to are genuinely awesome. Take Amadine. On the Mac, it was a revelation; a low-cost, high-powered vector graphics drawing app that’s a fraction of the cost of Adobe Illustrator and a lot easier to use. A year and a half later it’s been ported to the iPad and iPhone, and it retains all the features and only costs around a tenner for the full app; no subscription required. As well as offering the full range of features enjoyed by Mac Amadine users,…

Fotomagico 5 is the Mac's premiere slideshow maker, combining ease of use with in-depth features for those who need more than iMovie can offer. It's now arrived on the iPad and retains its versatility and flexibility, but at a high price. FotoMagico for iPad lets you compile slideshows with photos, videos, music and text. It's AirPlay-compatible, so you can stream your shows to AirPlay devices, or you can export them as high-definition stand-alone videos. The quality of your images and footage is preserved, so they look just as good in your slideshows as they do on your iPad. There are, of course, plenty of special effects to apply as you switch from one slide to the next, including Ken Burns-style pan-and-zoom, Creating your first slideshow is as simple as dragging…

What a radical overhaul. If you already have Luminar 3, you’ll find the fourth iteration of this popular photo-editor a very different beast, but thanks to a user-friendly interface and useful video tutorials it won’t take you long to get up to speed. Luminar 4 can be used as a standalone app or a plug-in for existing editors such as Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Apple Photos or Apple Aperture. New features include Sky Replacement, Skin and Portrait Enhancers, Smart Contrast and a Structure feature that boosts detail without damaging the rest of the photo. The most important new additions are Skylum’s artificial intelligence-based tools, built on its machine learning technology. One such tool is Sky Replacement. It’s simple to use. The software identifies the sky in your photo, including all…

One-click restoration is the proud boast of nearly all photo-editing suites these days, and RESTORE gets pretty close to this elusive holy grail. To get started, you can browse for or drag-and-drop a picture onto the app. Using the Restore Options pull-down, you select the image’s major problem, such as bad fading or a weak digital photo. You’re then offered nine correction options; choose the one that looks best, then make any manual adjustments you see fit, such as contrast, lightness, colour corrections and vividness. Vivid-Pix have a decent corrections algorithm in RESTORE, but the app as a whole is let down by some significant omissions and interface quirks. You can’t choose an output folder, for example, and the Buy/Activate option is still there when it’s bought/activated, leaving you to…

With Google Maps and Apple Maps covering almost the entire world, it seems there’s next to nowhere they don’t work. North Korea? True, but there’s also places you’re actually likely to go where the aforementioned cartography apps fall short. In the sea. That’s where savvy navvy comes in. Licensing UKHO, NOAA and other official hydrographic office charts from around the globe, savvy navvy offers essential marine information for costal waters, mostly in North America/Canada, Europe and Australia. You can view tidal information from over 8,000 stations around the world, check tidal streams with the apps visual chart overlay and check on high and low tides. GPS tracking shows exactly where you are in the water, and for sailing boats, a wind map show wind directions too. A Life on the…

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 iPhone screen and in the bottom-left on an iPad or Mac, you can play and pause the stream, or move to the next or previous local station. Tap the heart…

Although Apple has constantly pushed and developed the Mac’s ability to deliver a gaming experience akin to their PC counterparts, when held in direct comparison, the software differences are crushing to all those that have chosen the Microsoft gaming route. At the FPS genre’s inception, PC gamers could immerse themselves in the depths of hell with Doom while we Mac owners tried to convince ourselves that Marathon was just as good. It wasn’t! The Mac has never been considered a gamer's machine, yet over the years the blurring of the internal specs and the sheer horsepower of Apple’s machines has made bigger, better games possible. Why haven’t we seen a balance between big-name Mac and PC games? Take, for example, Feral Interactive’s Mac release of the fantastic 2016 game, BioShock…

This is more than just a racing game. It’s an entire online community. Three years in the making, the multiplayer-focused Street Kart Racing lets you race with other kart drivers from 60 different countries and keep up with the latest goings-on in a very well populated Facebook group dedicated to the game. Just the thing if you’re a competitive racer who likes going up against human beings rather than AI drivers. That’s not to say you can’t race computer-controlled opponents, though. You build your career by racing them in Cadet Karts. It’s not for the faint-hearted. Street Kart Racing is a serious simulation game designed with the help of professional kart racers to be as realistic as possible. Don’t expect to drop bananas on the track or fling turtle shells…

Remember the mazes in those old fashioned text adventures, where every location had the same text? Remember how you found your way around by dropping objects to mark your way, so you could map the maze and find your way out? The Unfinished Swan starts a little like this but with graphics. The first thing you see is a plain white screen. After experimenting with the controls for a while, you find you can fling black paintballs which spatter over the 3D environment, highlighting walls and openings. Soon you’re walking around first-person shooter-style as more and more of your surroundings are so marked. But why? You play Monroe, a ten-year-old orphan whose recently deceased mother painted a lot of pictures but rarely finished them. His favourite painting was an unfinished…

When you’re sick of blasting aliens, dismembering enemy combatants and generally leaving a blood-soaked pathway in your mobile gaming wake, try Puppoz. It’s free and it involves nothing more violent than dogs popping balloons. The aim of the game is to use the on-screen virtual joystick to guide your puppy through a timed course, bursting balloons on the way. Complete a level by popping every balloon to open the next one (there are 15 in total) and earn money to buy faster puppies. There’s three to unlock. Features include bonus levels, a skateboard to improve your speed and ‘mazes’, where you place your dog on one of four paths in the hope it will find a treasure chest at the end. Time limits are tight – expect a challenge. Puppoz…

Clearly inspired by the much-loved Nintendo Entertainment System’s Tecmo Bowl, UK-based developers New Star Games’ Retro Bowl takes on the NFL. Gridiron has been a staple of gaming since the beginning. Much like soccer, with the development and advancement of the hardware on which we play, the pick-up-and-play fun has been diluted by realism. This is certainly not the case here. The casual style is a perfect fit for iOS. Gameplay is split into two genres; Roster management features press duties and maintaining the egos and fitness of your players (try to keep them fit, as an injury lasts forever!) The second is based on the playing field. Although featuring a full roster of teams, players and tactics, the gameplay and the plays themselves are limited but always fun. The…

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 iPad and iPhone as a universal app. We wouldn’t recommend playing it on a regular-sized iPhone, 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 iPadOS 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…

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…

A long time ago, on a console far, far away (probably in the attic?), the LEGO Star Wars saga was unleashed. Despite having a bad feeling about it due to the child-friendly visuals, the comedic leanings of the cut scenes and the general sense of this being a ‘kid’s game’, it proved to be absolutely fantastic. It reached across age demographics by delivering an experience that was accessible enough for younger players but challenging enough for the more mature gamer. Plus the seemingly endless self-referential nods to the fan base were whoop-inducingly brilliant. All bases were covered. This was not only the Star Wars prequels in Lego form, but unlike their big-screen counterparts, it was fun and a pleasure to immerse yourself in. The games-buying public agreed, and the Traveler’s…