Indice dei contenuti per November 2016 in Macworld Australia

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

THE KENSINGTON SD1500 USB-C Mobile Dock ($89.99 MSRP; go.macworld.com/sd1500dock; $80 on Amazon; go.macworld.com/ sd1500docamz) is another in an ever-larger collection of docks intended for Apple’s MacBook and for other USB-C–equipped devices. The SD1500 combines 4K monitor support (over HDMI), gigabit ethernet, USB 3.0, and VGA video. What it doesn’t have is power pass-through. It’s clearly intended as a dock you throw in a bag to use for presentations, but not for a working day at a desk. The built-in cord neatly bends into a curved slot for storage. The combination of VGA and 4K makes the SD1500 stand out from some other docks that feature just an HDMI or DisplayPort connection. VGA is still widely used in corporate conference rooms and classrooms, and it’s clear Kensington knows that market. Adding…

In the age of the iPhone, the art of managing a calendar is so efficient that we barely have to spend any time thinking about it. Like a high-priced personal assistant, our calendars work even when we’re not staying on top of them, dutifully pulling dates from emails and messages, and making sure we never forget a friend’s birthday. The smart, sophisticated iOS interface has turned calendar-keeping from an active, urgent responsibility into a passive one, and pretty much everyone who owns an iPhone now partakes in some form of day planning. The best iOS calendars in the field don’t just look great, they offer their own unique concepts, distinguishing themselves by how they handle and present our data. Whether it’s event input, intelligence, social integration, or notifications, calendar app…

Keeping your Apple Watch powered on the go isn’t as easy as you’d think—especially since it can only be charged via Apple’s special magnetic charging puck. Sure, you can plug your charging cable into a regular portable battery, but do you really want to tote around a tangled, 2-meter-long charging cable? I didn’t think so. This charging conundrum—coupled with the fact that the Watch’s “all-day battery” isn’t quite as all-day as Apple would like you to believe—has accessories companies scrambling for the perfect solution: portable wireless Apple Watch chargers. We tested four of these power banks, which are formulated specifically for the Apple Watch and its 2-meter-long charging cable, to see which ones will make your life easier and more powerful. CLEARGRASS AMBER ClearGrass’s Amber watchcase power bank (cleargrass.com/amber) has…

If you’ve ever looked at the Console app in OS X, you’ve seen how frustrating it can be to glean any useful information from its overladen logs. Console displays log information that can help you troubleshoot problems (go.macworld.com/ consolelog) on your Mac, but it also records a plethora of status messages. Wading through a never-ending stream of messages in Console has always been difficult, but Apple has reworked Console in macOS Sierra, making it a lot more usable. Here’s a brief overview of what’s new. In the current Console, log entries show up as long lines of text. The names of processes and applications are bolded, but that’s about it. In Sierra, Console gets a whole new display. As you can see on the next page, there are now columns…

One of the most frequently asked Photoshop questions is how to turn a photo into a painting. Unless you’re a fine artist who’s skilled at digital painting, it can be a daunting task. Fortunately, the mortals among us can use a combination of Photoshop filters to get it done. This technique works especially well on landscape shots, wherein you don’t have to worry about distorting facial features. This column teaches you how to use Photoshop CS6 or CC 2015, specifically, to create a fairly realistic painting complete with canvas texture (your author learned this technique from Jack Davis of wowcreativearts.com). PREPARE THE PHOTO In Photoshop, choose File → Open As Smart Object and navigate to the soon-to-be-painterly photo. If the photo is already open, activate the layer(s) and convert it…

How to make Sidebar shortcuts for removable drives Q: All of my Sidebar shortcuts go to folders on an external hard drive where I keep all my working files. I use shortcuts to these folders often, but when I disconnect the hard drive to pack up my laptop on the go and reconnect my external hard drive, the shortcuts are gone. Is there any way to save the shortcuts and reinstall them? — Glenn Ruga A: Apple treats its Sidebar shortcuts differently than the aliases you can make in the Finder for the desktop. Even though the document describes them as an alias, they’re a different sort of creature, because when you eject a volume on which a Sidebar shortcut exists (whether the drive itself or anything on it), the…

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

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

FOR MANY MAC owners, the built-in Disk Utility is all they’ll ever need. After all, Apple’s software handles the basic task of formatting HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT volumes and partitions, along with the occasional need for one-click verification and repair of native OS X disks. (And with macOS Sierra, the RAID tools make a return; go.macworld.com/configraidsierra.) However, there are plenty of valid reasons for wanting to do more with your drives, and not all are exclusive to technically inclined users. A few examples would be optimizing OS X, Windows, and Linux file systems, performing a secure wipe, or backing up data in a more effective manner than Time Machine. If there’s anyone who knows what makes these file systems tick, it’s Paragon Software. Founded over two decades ago, the company…

Apple released an update to iOS 9 on August 25—iOS 9.3.5—that patches multiple critical zero-day vulnerabilities that have been shown to already have been deployed, allegedly by governments to target activists and dissidents, according to a report from Citizen Lab and Lookout Security (go.macworld.com/iphonereport). Apple turned around an update within 10 days from when the company received Citizen Lab’s initial report. The update is recommended immediately for all iOS 9 devices. When used together, the exploits allow someone to hijack an iOS device and control or monitor it remotely. Hijackers would have access to the device’s camera and microphone, and could capture audio calls even in otherwise end-to-end secured apps like Whats-App. They could also grab stored images, track movements, and retrieve files. Some of the exploits may have been…

WHEN YOU SHOOT with the iPhone’s built-in Camera app, there are various ways to tweak focus and exposure, both before and after you hit the shutter. You might first tap and hold or swipe to adjust and lock focus and exposure. After the shot, you have options for adjusting saturation, contrast, sharpness, and more. That’s in addition to the optional HDR, or Live Picture settings and effects filters. Microsoft Pix (free on the iTunes Store, go.macworld.com/pixapp), a photo and video shooting and editing app for iOS, doesn’t want you to work that hard. It offers an effortless point-and-shoot alternative to the iPhone Camera app with a promise of superior results. BURST MODE To accomplish that, Pix relies on AI-based algorithms to automatically adjust each shot on the fly, responding to…

Apple’s laptops rely on flash storage, and prices really shoot up if you want more local storage (the actual storage in your computer)—if the model you want offers an upgrade in the first place. The new Optimized Storage feature in macOS Sierra (go.macworld.com/ macos-sierra) is designed to help free up precious storage space on your Mac. Optimized Storage requires iCloud, Apple’s online service. Apple provides 5GB of free iCloud Drive storage per Apple ID, so you may want more to take full advantage of Optimized Storage. iCloud storage pricing as follows: 5GB for free; 50GB for $1 per month; 200GB for $3 per month; 1TB for $10 per month. Apple has instructions (go.macworld.com/icloudstorageupgd) on how to buy more iCloud storage. To access the Optimized Storage options in macOS Sierra: 1.…

This month, I am in a place where I can’t work directly with my servers to test the NetInstall steps and images, so…we’ll take a brief detour and look at your Mac’s built-in dictation features. I CAN HEAR YOU NOW You may think you have to wait for Siri to appear in macOS Sierra before you can talk to your Mac, but your Mac already has a way to listen to everything you say and to turn what it hears into text. You can enable this feature, which supports over 30 languages and many more dialects, using the Dictation & Speech preference in System Preferences. Apple’s speech-to-text features are turned off by default, so before you can use this feature you need to turn it on. 1. Open System Preferences.…

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

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

Just one week before Apple showed off the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the company launched a 2TB iCloud storage tier for $20 a month. That’s a significant amount of space, but Apple is reportedly gearing up to add a 256GB option to its upcoming iPhone lineup. As 9to5Mac noted (go.macworld.com/9to5mac2tb), Apple typically offers iCloud storage plans that are eight times the size of the iPhone’s internal storage options. The iPhone 6s tops out at 128GB, and the previous iCloud storage max was 1TB. Does that confirm a 256GB iPhone? No. Apple has a 256GB iPad already, so maybe its cloud storage options are finally catching up with Pro-level usage. The new Desktop and Documents feature (go.macworld.com/ deskdoc) coming in macOS Sierra is poised to eat up tons of…

FITNESS TRACKERS ARE a dime a dozen, but devices that focus on your mind instead of your body are typically overlooked—mental health is incredibly personal and can be difficult to define, which makes it even harder to measure. That’s what makes Spire (go.macworld.com/ spireamz), a breath-tracking device that aims to curb stress, stand out. This device was released in 2014 but got a boost this summer with an Apple Store retail presence and an overhauled iOS app, so I decided to give the company-described “mind and body tracker” a closer look to see if it really combats stress. Spire (spire.io) is a graphite-colored oval-shaped stone attached to a silver clip. You wear it on your pants or tucked inside your bra with the clip facing out. But its simple looks…

The iPhone we’ve been hearing rumors about for months (go.mac-world.com/iphone7rumors) is finally real, so let the anguish over its confirmed lack of a headphone jack begin. (Since this might have been the worst-kept secret in Apple history, hopefully you’ve worked through a few stages of grief already.) It’s true. Apple used the space freed up by removing the headphone port to add a Taptic Engine under the hood, as well as a second speaker to the bottom of the device. The company says this will give you stereo sound, and the speakers did sound louder, but the busy demo area was just too crowded and noisy to properly evaluate how much of a difference the second speaker makes. In fact, during my limited hands-on time after Apple’s September 7 event,…

Your Mac’s menu bar is a useful tool. It displays “menu-bar extras,” little icons that give you status information about your Mac, or that offer quick-access menus to certain settings. For example, you can click the Wi-Fi icon to turn Wi-Fi on or off, or to select a Wi-Fi network. You can click the User icon to go to the login window, or to select a different user and switch to their account. Or you can click the keyboard icon to change input methods, if you work with different keyboard layouts. It’s not just OS X that puts menu extras at the top of your display; third-party apps do as well. Some offer similar features, such as access to oft-used functions, and others can provide status information. But all this…

Photoshop CC is ideal for creating promotional video pieces, portfolio-based slideshows, and sellable videos for your photography business. Best of all, you don’t have to learn another program—you’ll use tools you’re familiar with. In this column, you’ll learn how to create a wedding video by mixing stills, video, and text. GATHER YOUR FILES AND CREATE A NEW DOCUMENT Photoshop links to video and audio files, so start by gathering video clips, stills (including your logo), and audio files into a project folder. Happily, linking results in nondestructive video editing—Photoshop applies your edits to a copy of original clips upon export. Use sequential filenames to put files in the order you want them to play in the video. Create a new document by choosing File → New. In the resulting dialog,…