Indice dei contenuti per October 2020 in Macworld UK

The iPad Air (2019) has long been the sweet spot between price, performance, and features in Apple’s tablet line. At its Time Flies event, the company unveiled a new iPad Air that further cements its position as the best iPad for most people. Here are the most important things to know about the new redesigned 2020 iPad Air. 1. IT LOOKS A LOT LIKE AN iPAD PRO The new iPad Air (2020) takes some design cues from the much more expensive iPad Pro. It features the same flat-edged design with relatively thin bezels all the way around. Like the Pro, a more useful USB-C plug replaces the Lightning connector. This tweak to the Apple design language is likely to appear in the iPhone 12 as well. 2. IT’S…

The Apple Watch SE may be the newest member of Apple’s wearable family, but like the iPhone SE, it’s not a new device. Not exactly, anyway. The Apple Watch SE is a little Series 4, a little Series 5, and a little Series 6, all wrapped up in a lower-priced aluminium body. Here are six surprising things Apple delivered in its newest affordable device. 1. APPLE WATCH SE HAS THE SAME DISPLAY AS SERIES 6 With the £199 Series 3 watch using the older square watch face, we fully expected the Apple Watch SE to go retro as well to cut costs. That’s not the case. The Apple Watch SE has the same 40mm and 44mm bodies and larger retina 448x368 displays as the Series 6, just without the…

The Time Flies event was packed with new products, so you can be forgiven for missing this. Apple revealed that its mobile operating systems – iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and watchOS 7 – would be available from 16 September. So you can download them now. If you own an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > Software Update and then click Download and install. If you own an Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your connected iPhone. Then tap General and Software Update. Alternatively, on your Apple Watch itself, open the Settings app, then tap General, then Software Update. You can download and install the update directly from your Watch.…

With each major new release of iOS, Apple tightens the screws on apps and services that would violate users’ privacy without their knowledge or permission. With iOS 14, Apple’s got a lot of new privacy-minded features, and issued a notice to developers on 3 September about two of them. When iOS 14 is released, Apple will require developers who distribute apps in the iOS or Mac App Store to submit information about all the data the app collects and how it is used in a host of common categories. This information will be presented in a special section of each app’s App Store listing, so users can see what information they’re going to give up before installing an app. Apple’s statement informs developers that they will be able to submit…

Sure as summer turns to autumn, sure as pizza is the most delicious food, sure as a shark will devour whatever lies in its path, Apple is once again gobbling up smaller companies. Over the summer, we heard of at least three acquisitions that Apple made. Whether it’s because the companies have developed some sort of technology that Apple wants for itself (or to deny its competitors) or because the Cupertino-based company is looking to hire more people with certain specialities, Apple tends to acquire smaller companies regularly. According to comments from Tim Cook last year, it’s at a rate of roughly one company every two or three weeks, which is, well, a lot of acquisitions. While you can’t always draw a straight line from the firms that Apple decides…

On 15 September, Microsoft made its Project xCloud service to stream Xbox games is available to the public. Provided that public owns an Android device. Anyone with a Game Pass Ultimate subscription will get to stream over 100 games from the cloud, using their Xbox login credentials and cloud saves. But there won’t be an app for your iPhone or iPad, because Apple doesn’t want people playing games unless they get a cut. APPLE’S FLIMSY EXCUSE Why won’t Apple allow Xbox game streaming (or Google’s Stadia, or GeForce Now)? The company gave Business Insider its official reason: The App Store was created to be a safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps, and a great business opportunity for all developers. Before they go on our store,…

Price: Free (in-app purchases) from fave.co/3hcXq5w Smartwatch owners love being able to customize the appearance of the Apple Watch face. With just a few taps on the screen or rotations of the digital crown, no two wrists look the same. But in typical Apple fashion, that personalization stops just short of perfection, since there’s no way for developers to create truly unique third-party watch faces of their own. Instead, Apple Watch lovers must rely on an extensive battery of complications to populate favourite watch faces with data relevant to each person. For those looking to go beyond this limitation, there’s now an ingenious app designed to automatically display a wide range of complications on a given schedule throughout the day. It’s the closest we’ll likely come to custom Apple Watch…

really wanted it to work. A couple of weeks ago I closed my MacBook on a Friday afternoon with no plans to open it for a week. I wasn’t going on holiday – rather, I was testing the theory that the iPad could actually be ‘a computer’. My set-up was as high-end as you could get: a 12.9in iPad Pro with 1TB of storage and cellular connectivity, a Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil – a set-up that’s more expensive than the 13in MacBook Pro I got it in 2016. It looked great on my desk and felt every bit like the future Apple sells. When I snapped the iPad into its magnetic enclosure, I truly hoped it could replace my MacBook with a sleek, modern and versatile device. Sadly, it…

If you’re familiar with Apple’s popular and economical 7th-generation iPad (introduced about a year ago), you already know what to expect from the 8th-generation model. As the new base-model iPad, the 8th-gen iPad is essentially just the 7th-gen model with an upgraded processor. The 7th-gen model had an A10 processor, which offered very good performance for the price. The newly updated model features an A12, which is a big upgrade. First introduced in the iPhone XS, the A12 is much faster than the A10. Apple says it offers 40 per cent faster CPU performance and double the graphics performance. Looking at our performance benchmarks (fave.co/3izHXOp) of the iPhone XS (featuring the A12) and comparing it with the iPhone 7 Plus (which features the A10), those figures seem about right. Apple…

Online fitness services such as Peloton and Daily Burn have become very popular, and now Apple wants in on the business. They will soon offer Apple Fitness+, the latest service for Apple users. Fitness+ combines your Apple devices, videos, and collected exercise data to allow you to have satisfying workouts. Here’s all you need to know. WHAT IS APPLE FITNESS+? Internet-based fitness services and apps that work on your iPhone has been around for a while from companies like Peloton, Daily Burn and YogaGlo. They saw a huge growth in popularity thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. With the Apple Watch, Apple has a device that’s perfectly made to help people get the most out of their workouts. The new Apple Watch Series 6 includes new blood oxygen monitoring and an…

For Apple enthusiasts who want to use Microsoft’s Office software on a Mac, iPad or iPhone, you can now download the full Office 365 bundle, or any of its individual apps, from the Mac App Store. The bundle includes six apps: Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook and Word. You can download them individually from the iOS App Store. There is a free one-month trial, after which the subscription is £59.99 a year, or £5.99 a month. As part of the subscription software updates are applied automatically as they are rolled out.…

If you are interested in getting a game by Epic in Apple’s App Store, you’re out of luck. Apple has terminated Epic’s developer account, and games made by Epic are no longer available. The move by Apple is the latest in the battle between the two companies, which started in August when Epic provided an option in Fortnite to buy directly from them. This was a direct violation of Apple’s App Store rules, and Fortnite was removed from the App Store. If you don’t know, Fortnite allows players to buy in-game stuff (outfits, dance moves, that sort of thing) with a virtual currency called V-bucks. It’s akin to the gems, diamonds, energy and other virtual currencies used in so many other mobile or free-to-play games. In August, Epic announced that…

You’ve seen the stories (see page 33): it’s an epic (eye-rolling pun intended) war between two technology giants. In one corner is Apple, accused of being a greedy colossus using its tight-fisted control over its platforms to stifle innovation and ruin consumer choice. In the other, Epic Games, accused of posing as the victim of a controversy it manufactured in the name of keeping more cash for itself. Who do you back? Choose your side. The thing is, I don’t really back all the actions of either party in this kerfuffle. Instead, I’m squarely on the side of the people who use technology. Let’s leave aside the tech giants. What are the outcomes that would most benefit regular users? EASIER TO BUY STUFF There’s no doubt about it. Apple’s restrictions…

Price as reviewed: £4,499 (inc VAT) from fave.co/35swbRU This could be it, you know. There’s a pretty good chance this is the last version of the iMac as we know it, with its iconic all-in-one design and Intel processors. Maybe there’s a chance that those Intel processors get a speed bump upgrade before switching over to Apple silicon, but regardless, they’re on their way out. The iMac isn’t going out quietly, though. The 2020 27in iMac gets your attention by being a top performer with a CPU boost, SSD storage and updated graphics. It has other features to take into consideration – namely, a new nano-texture glass front – but the emphasis is on speed. If you rely on software that takes advantage of multiple processing cores (video editors, graphics…

Price: £34.99 (inc VAT) from fave.co/32bVV2V Every Mac (other than the Mac Pro and Mac mini) includes a built-in webcam, which Apple calls a FaceTime camera. And every single one, without exception, is total rubbish. They top out at a paltry 720p resolution, with the exception of the iMac Pro’s 1080p model. Resolution aside, they produce video that is grainy, blotchy, underexposed and with horrible dynamic range. This is weird, because Apple also makes some of the best cameras you can buy on a phone or tablet. The iPhone and iPad’s cameras put not just Apple’s crummy Mac webcams to shame, they outshine any webcam. Even the front-facing iPhone cameras. Enter Camo, a handy utility by Reincubate that turns your iPhone into a Mac webcam. It’s not the only method…

PURGE YOUR CALENDAR OF ACQUAINTANCES’ BIRTHDAYS Social media has devalued the birthday by flooding our timelines with the felicitous anniversaries of people far beyond our close friends, family and colleagues. This is nowhere clearer than in your calendar, which you might find unexpectedly clogged with birthdays every day of people you might not even remember. How does this happen? It’s a combination of legacy and modern synchronization and import, for most of us. In the past, Apple provided closer integration between Facebook and its operating systems. You may also have imported or synced contacts between Google and your Mac, iPhone, or iPad or have active sync still in place. If you’re like me, you may also have the detritus of contacts exported across many pieces of software across many computers,…

Apple has launched a new Apple Watch Series 6, bringing a new high-end wearable to join an inaugural mid-range model and a brand-new service that’s powered by Apple’s iconic wearable. But while it might not seem like this is a huge upgrade, it’s actually bigger than it seems. Here’s why: 1. APPLE’S BLOOD O2 SENSOR IS BETTER THAN FITBIT’S As rumoured, the Apple Watch Series 6 can measure the oxygen levels in your blood, thanks to a new sensor that uses red and infrared light to calculate the colour of your blood and determine its oxygen level. Unlike Fitbit devices, which only measure your blood-oxygen levels while you sleep, on the new Apple Watch you can take a Blood O2 reading in just 15 seconds at any time of…

Apple has several subscription services available, and now you can save some cash by signing up for Apple One, a pricing plan that bundles Apple’s services together for discounts. In effect, it replaces expensive à la carte pricing with cheaper pricing bundles. Here’s what you need to know. WHAT SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE IN APPLE ONE? All of Apple’s services are available for bundled pricing: Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple Music, Apple News, Apple TV+, and iCloud. (Apple Fitness+ will not be available until late 2020.) If Apple introduces new services, they’ll probably adjust the Apple One plans accordingly. Please note: AppleCare, Apple’s warranty and support programme, is not part of Apple One. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Apple has three Apple One plans. Each plan offers a different set of…

Apple has released an update to iMovie for the Mac, iPhone and iPad. It includes new comic-based filters that give your video a ‘hand-drawn look’. There are three comic filters on the iPhone and iPad, and five on the Mac. The release notes for the iPhone and iPad update details the other updates: • Choose from 25 new soundtracks – in genres including action, chill, and sentimental – that automatically adjust to match the length of your movie. • Give your videos a hand-drawn look with three new filters: Comic, Comic Mono and Ink. • Addresses an issue that could prevent the viewer from updating after duplicating a photo in the timeline. • Improves reliability of Redo when editing a trailer. • Includes performance and stability improvements. Here are the…

Need help with your Apple product? You should start with the Apple Support app (available from fave.co/328pRwT). The app offers step-by-step instructions and guides for many common problems and questions. What’s more, you can talk to an actual person to help you troubleshoot. You can also make support reservations, including taking your product to the Genius Bar at your nearest Apple Store. The Apple Support app doesn’t get much attention (perhaps because it is not pre-installed on iPhones and iPads?), but it’s a great resource for the less technically inclined. Apple recently updated the app to version 4.1 with several welcome changes. If you make an appointment at the Genius Bar, you’ll find a pass in your Wallet for easy check-in. Advisors are also available in more languages and there…

For those of us who spend a lot of brain power thinking about where Apple is heading next, this month has been a bit of a head-scratcher. New reports from the China Times suggest that the first Mac with Apple silicon will be a tiny laptop, directly contradicting the suggestion from reliable supplychain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that the first Apple silicon Macs would be an iMac and a 13in MacBook Pro. Conflicting reports about the future of the Mac?! What’s a tea-leaf reader to do? I wonder, though, if both of these reports can be true. And if so, the roll-out of Apple silicon potentially makes a lot more sense than it seemed before the head-spinning report from the China Times. FIRST THINGS FIRST For years, as rumours rumbled about…

Price: £69 (inc VAT) from fave.co/35hACyU At this year’s WWDC, the Mac took a giant step closer to iOS in terms of hardware. The announcement of a transition to ARM-based Apple silicon over the next two years sent a chill down the spine of everyone running Windows via Boot Camp, since there’s no indication at the time of writing such a feature will remain feasible without Intel inside. This potential roadblock applies equally to virtual machines, and despite the virtualization experts at Parallels successfully demonstrating Linux running on ARM, the company remains tight-lipped about the fate of Windows. In the meantime, it has released the latest annual upgrade to its flagship Mac software, which once again arrives with plenty of welcome improvements and – for the moment at least –…

Millions of users have their online accounts compromised every day. Password lists are traded on the dark web, and bad actors use automated processes to try them against lots of accounts and services. Sophisticated phishing attacks attempt to trick you into giving away your password (or the info necessary to reset it) by posing as legitimate services or customer support. Obviously, the best defence against this sort of thing is to have a different, strong, hard-to-guess password for every single account you own. A good password manager like 1Password (fave.co/3320MD2) or LastPass (fave.co/3bAzJCX)is a key component in managing that. But good passwords are not enough. Not a month goes by without another report of millions of passwords potentially compromised, and a computer infected with a virus can simply watch the…

The Apple TV: perhaps the most unloved of Apple’s major platforms? Even though the Apple TV has been around about as long as the iPhone – it was actually shown off by Steve Jobs before the iPhone’s announcement, though it was then called the ‘iTV’ – the set-top box has long seemed an afterthought for the company. That’s only increased more recently as Apple has embarked upon partnerships with third-party makers of televisions and set-top competitors to expand the footprint of its Apple TV+ service, bringing those devices features such as the Apple TV app and AirPlay 2. Still, recent rumours suggest that an updated Apple TV may be waiting in the wings, though what enhancements it might feature are largely anybody’s guess. But with all of the changes in…