Indice dei contenuti per March 2024 in Macworld UK

Apple has released the macOS Sonoma 14.3 to the general public. The release comes after the release candidate beta was distributed to developers and public beta testers recently. NEW FEATURES Sonoma 14.3 has the collaborative playlist feature for Apple Music. This feature had appeared in betas prior to 14.3, but was pulled. Along with collaborative playlists, users can make emoji reactions to tracks. Apple also updated the AppleCare & Warranty section in the General System Settings to show coverage of all devices signed into your Apple ID. The update also includes bug fixes and security patches. The security patches are detailed in Apple’s security release notes: macOS Sonoma 14.3 introduces enhancements to Apple Music, as well as other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac. • Collaborate on…

Following the dramatic news in December that its flagship Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches were being banned from sale, Apple has been hustling ever since to get them back on the market and keep them there. The problem is that the ITC has ruled that blood-oxygen sensors in the devices infringe patents owned by another company named Masimo. The initial ban lasted only a few days, with an appeals court granting Apple’s request for a temporary stay, but the future remains uncertain. The company wants the ban to be paused for the entire appeals process, which could last a year or more and comfortably take us through to the launch of the next generation of Apple Watches, but the ITC for one finds Apple’s arguments for this…

It’s something of a running joke among Windows users that Macs are rubbish for gaming. Traditionally the Mac hasn’t been considered a great choice for gaming. There are Macs that can play games well, but they are generally much more expensive than the equivalent PC. Also the fact that upgrading a Mac to meet the requirements of a graphically-demanding modern game is pretty much a no-no makes Macs the least future-proof option for gamers (who often like to be able to tinkle with their computers to build the ideal machine for their purpose). But Macs have become a much better choice for gaming enthusiasts with the advent of Apple’s first M1 Macs in late 2020, the subsequent M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra, then the M2, M2 Pro, M2…

Got a new Mac? If this is the first one you’ve ever owned, a hearty congratulations! Your new Mac is easy to use and more powerful than it’s ever been. As easy as the Mac is to use, doing some things may not be instantly obvious. You owe it to yourself to make sure you’re getting the most out of your new investment. Here are 12 things that you should do right away that will help you get started down the path toward being a Mac power user. Most of these will cost you absolutely nothing except a bit of time to set up. 1. ENTER YOUR APPLE ID AND PASSWORD There’s a good chance that if you’re buying a Mac for the first time, you already use an iPhone…

HOW TO MAKE YOUR iPHONE PHOTOS APPEAR IN THE CORRECT ORIENTATION The Camera app on an iPhone or iPad makes it a snap (sorry for the pun) to take pictures in either portrait or landscape orientation. But what do you do when the rotation is incorrect, either when making the shot or reviewing it later? Check for the rotation in the interface Camera uses subtle signals to let you know that your photo will be captured in landscape or portrait. Certain text and icons rotate to the position that Camera registers the photo will be captured as. In the figure, you can see that if your iPhone or iPad is in portrait orientation, the symbols at the top and the text for magnification appear in that orientation (note the magnification…

While Apple announced that the Apple Vision Pro would have an M2 System on a Chip, we now know one more detail about said chip. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (fave.co/3U7YTkG), the Vision Pro’s M2 will have 8 CPU cores (4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores), and 10 GPU cores. That’s the higher-end version of the M2, which is in the 15-inch MacBook Air and the £649 and £849 Mac mini. We already know it will likely have 16GB of RAM, so since Apple promotes its Studio Display to go along with the Mac mini, the Vision Pro is kind of like having a Mac mini with a 100-foot display sitting on your head. (Yes, I know, the Studio Display and Vision Pro have different screen resolutions… I did…

Google has released an update to its Mac Chrome browser that includes four security fixes. Three of the vulnerabilities were reported by third-party researchers, while the fourth was discovered by Google internally. Google recommends updating the browser to version 120.0.6099.234. To check Chrome’s version, launch Chrome and go to Chrome > Settings, and click About Chrome in the left column. In the main About Chrome window, the version number appears. If an update is available, you need to click the Relaunch button, which will quit the app, install the update, and re-open it. The three reported vulnerabilities are recorded in the National Vulnerability Database. Here’s a list: CVE-2024-0517 (fave.co/3SpJEkH): Out of bounds write in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 120.0.6099.224 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption…

In recent years, the number of great games for Mac has declined because many are no longer supported. Every new version of macOS tends to break a few games, but macOS Catalina in 2019 meant that lot of games that used 32-bit code were no longer Mac compatible. At the same time that Apple went 64-bit only it also introduced Metal for 3D graphics, which left a lot of games developers with a decision: make new Mac versions of their games or stop making them. Unfortunately many chose the latter. This will hopefully change now that macOS Sonoma is here. With Sonoma, Apple provides two things: a new Game Porting Toolkit to make it easier for game developers to bring their games to the Mac; and a new Game Mode…

With the current M-series Mac line-up, Apple is taking absolutely no prisoners. In this dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest release cycle featuring the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, Apple demonstrates that it prioritizes perpetual progress. Apple has one chip left in the M3 series to be released, the M3 Ultra, and if history is any indication, it is poised to be an incredible powerhouse. On paper, the M3 Max MacBook Pro is inferior to the top-end M2 Ultra Mac Studio, but in practice, its performance in real-world scenarios gets very close. Both the performance and efficiency gains of the M3 Max lead to a potentially groundbreaking chip with the anticipated M3 Ultra. A new report claims the M3 Ultra is due to arrive this summer using a new enhanced 3nm process,…

Apple’s eagerly awaited Vision Pro mixed-reality headset has arrived in the US. We assume it will eventually come to the UK and other countries, but no time frame has so far been given for the wider release. According to a new report, however, that may come a little sooner than expected. In a recent article (fave.co/3Hp2naJ), the reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that Vision Pro is likely to launch outside the US before WWDC 2024, which likely takes place in June. That gives us an upper limit of four months’ delay, and potentially rather less given that Apple won’t want news coverage of the wider launch to bleed into publicity for WWDC. Could Apple make the announcement at its traditional spring event in March/April? Perhaps that would be pushing it.…

The prominence of the iPhone in North America and much of Western Europe belies a simple fact: Apple has never been the top-selling smartphone brand across the globe. Blame it on Apple’s unwillingness to compete in the budget phone space, perhaps, but the number one spot usually belongs to Samsung. While Apple no longer gives sales figures for the iPhone, market analysts track shipments carefully, and now two of them, IDC and Canalys, both say that Apple sold more smartphones in 2023 than any other brand. Samsung dropped to the number two spot. The gap is close to be sure. Canalys says both brands round off to 20 percent, with Apple having the slight edge. IDC says that Apple shipped 234.6 million smartphones, to Samsung’s 226.6 – just a few…

Getting new Apple hardware can be an exciting experience, but for customers who are finally switching from an Intel Mac, the experience is a little different than a simple upgrade. The recently released MacBook Pro with the M3 chip is filled to the brim with changes. Even if you’ve been using an older M-series MacBook, there are still a few surprises. For users new to the M3 MacBook Pro experience, let’s take a look at what’s in store, from the hardware at your fingertips to the software you use. If you haven’t made a purchase yet, these titbits can help you decide what model to get. And if you already have one, I’ll cover a few things to help you get the most out of the laptop. SPACE BLACK You…

Apple launched two new watches in 2023: the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Series 9. It also still sells the Watch SE from 2022. With the arrival of the two new models, Apple discontinued the Series 8 and the original Apple Watch Ultra, however, you may still be able to buy those older models from resellers and from Apple’s Refurbished Store. In this guide, we will help you decide which Apple Watch is best for you. We’ll compare the features, specs and price, as well as offer advice on choosing cases, colours and straps in our Apple Watch comparison chart so you can be confident you are choosing the right Apple Watch. Here’s what you need to know before buying an Apple Watch. FEATURES Practically every Apple Watch offers the…