Tabla de contenidos para No. 230 en iCreate

When it comes to Apple devices, fortune favours the curious when it comes to burrowing down into the operating systems to discover new, faster ways of doing things. For example, you can set up dictation to speak your text instead of typing it, you can create multiple desktops to never lose what you need and, as of macOS 12: Monterey, our Macs also get the Shortcuts app that allows us to set up automations and access them easily through the menu bar. And that’s before we get to the hundreds of keyboard shortcuts. Starting on page 14, we have compiled the 96 best Apple time-savers for Mac and iOS, a collection of must-know tips and tricks for speeding up your productivity with the minimum amount of effort. Also in this…

Photos Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed The iPhone provides plenty of tools to help you compose a perfect picture when using its Camera app, such as an overlay grid to create an aesthetically pleasing image. You can set up the Camera app to display objects at the edge of the frame to make sure you aren’t missing anything and also adjust the composition by changing lenses or by choosing a particular aspect ratio for your photo. Then you can use the Photos app to crop a photo or remove unwanted objects. In this guide, we’ll give you tips and tricks on re-composing your shots before and after you’ve taken a photo, so that you can always capture the perfect picture. Crop to improve composition Re-frame the photo after it’s…

Garage Band Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed I magine your GarageBand song is ready to export. You click Play on the MP3 but it sounds either too quiet or overly loud compared to commercial music. Why? Well it’s a question of loudness. By default, GarageBand automatically normalises the loudness of exported projects if required. However, it’s best to turn this off and handle it manually, using a plugin to more effectively monitor overall loudness. Luckily, the free Youlean Loudness Meter by Julijan Nikolic is exactly this and measures LUFS across the project Master Track. You can then use GarageBand’s native Limiter plugin to boost up to a desired ceiling level, while avoiding peak clipping. Learning Youlean Pointing out the plugin’s most important gauges for monitoring loudness Integrated LUFS This…

Finder Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Most apps only run when you click them in the Dock or Applications folder, but some apps automatically start when you log into your Mac. They may appear on the screen after you log in, but they may not and they could run silently in the background in order to perform tasks or provide services. Sometimes it is useful to have an app start when you log in. However, everything that loads at login slows down the Mac a little because they need time to load and run. They also steal a bit of memory, which leaves less for working with other apps. Here is how to manage both obvious and hidden login items. Control startup items Choose what runs when you log…

Preview Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Preview is a great app for annotating images like photos and screenshots. Double-click an image in a Finder window and it opens in Preview. Press shift+cmd+A and the markup toolbar appears above the image. It can be used to add shapes like arrows, and you can enter text. At any point, you can click on an object you added and drag it, resize it with the handles at the ends or corners. Text can also be edited. Save the image and the annotations are fixed. The annotations cannot be edited. This is a problem if you need to change something. The solution is to use a PDF. Annotations in PDFs are editable, even after saving and loading. JPG vs PDF annotation Edit PDF…

WatchOS 8 continues the trend of Apple adding useful features without overhauling the entire experience. This is inevitable because above all else, stability and speed have to be at the top of Apple’s priority list and so the way watchOS 8 works will feel largely similar to watchOS 7. This does not mean, however, that there is not a lot to enjoy here because all of the small changes add up to an even more positive experience than previously, and they fit in with the idea that the Apple Watch is mainly there for when you need it. The idea of making the Apple Watch the best fitness tracker you can use and the ideal personal assistant persists in watchOS 8, but more than ever before, you can use it…

FaceTime Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Even though FaceTime has been limited to Apple users, YouGov America says it’s the number one social calling app. Now it’s set to become more accessible because Apple is allowing you to create a link on an iPhone, iPad or Mac and share it through Messages, Calendar, Mail or third-party apps with Android and Windows users. Available in iOS 15, the process is simple. There is, however, still a little way to go. As it stands, Android and Windows users can only react to a link by tapping or clicking on one. Doing so launches FaceTime in a web browser. There’s no dedicated app for Android or Windows devices. Control a FaceTime chat You host any FaceTime chat that you create a link…

Facebook Messenger Developer Facebook, Inc Difficulty Time needed You’ve likely heard of emoji. Well, now you can listen out for Soundmoji, which are essentially the same but accompanied by short sound effects. Introduced by Facebook Messenger and available to use within the iPhone app, they’re merely a bit of fun but if you’ve ever felt the ghost emoji could do with some spooky laughter, then you’re sure to be satisfied by this. Messenger is certainly being creative. It’s added soundbites to some of the soundmoji, accompanying images with clips from film, TV and artists. It’s also going to build up the library to help keep it fresh. Make use of the new emoji too Update iOS for 217 emoji with support for skin tones Loving it! Facebook isn’t the only…

Readwise Developer Readwise, Inc Difficulty Time needed Readwise performs a specialist task, but it could be highly valuable. By highlighting sections of books or articles, you can learn so much more about your reading material. To do this, however, you need to view the highlights you have made and this is where Readwise comes in. It automates the process and is capable of letting you access all of your highlights from the most popular services. Simply having them all in one place makes it the ideal assistant for research, education or entertainment. Take your time to understand it and you may use it forever. Step-by-step Organise your highlights with tags 1 Add tags to content Tapping the tag icon lets you add a tag to a highlight. Over time you…

Settings Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Although you could allow everyone in your household to access Apple TV using one account, it can start to get messy and impersonal. If one family member has been watching a particular series, it will be their content hogging the ‘Up Next’ list. Recommendations will also reflect everything watched by a household. And that’s before you get to content preferences and purchases. It’s a lot better and easier to allow every individual to access their own account. That way, their experience is more tailored to them. It’s super easy to do, takes very little time, but you will have to keep switching between accounts because it’s not possible to have more than one open at any one time. Here, we take a look…

David Crookes This issue, our iOS expert will show you how to import passwords to iCloud, set timers on your HomePod and find out if anyone is piggybacking on your precious Wi-Fi. Shaun McGill Our tech expert guides you through all of the must-know features of watchOS 8 and shows you how to publish your podcasts onto YouTube to broaden your audience. George Cairns Our creative genius will show you how to optimise your images in Photos, shoot iMovie video footage like a pro and combine multi-angle footage in Final Cut Pro.…

iMovie Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Download available Professional film makers set their camera to capture desaturated clips with a flat contrast because this gives them more choices when grading their clips’ look in iMovie. FiLMic Pro is an iOS app that can capture clips using a flat colour profile. It also lets you perform professional camera moves such as pulling focus from a foreground to background object or smoothly zooming from wide to close (or vice versa). FiLMiC Pro’s sister app, DoubleTake enables you to simultaneously capture two different shot sizes, which gives you more editing choices. We’ve captured FiLMic Pro and DoubleTake clips for you to use in iMovie… Third-party camera apps Use FiLMiC Pro to take more control of your camera Check exposure Once you’ve tapped…

Logic Pro Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed The Channel EQ plugin derives from the way Logic’s Mixer window layout is modelled on the broad format mixing consoles found in professional studios since the 70s and 80s, with row upon row of intimidating knobs. These desks would boast multiple channels – at least one for each track on the tape machine – so a large portion of these knobs were dedicated to each channel’s EQ section. In a similar way, each track in Logic features its own dedicated Channel EQ plugin, that can be used to cut or boost selected frequencies across the high, mid and low ranges for whatever’s on that track. Set the tone Explore the sound-shaping powers of Logic’s Channel EQ Thumbnailed it Every adjustment made to…

macOS Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Everything you need to manage Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections is in a menu. However, some of those menus are hidden. Menus are deliberately kept simple. Complex information and functions are hidden from view. This is fine for novices, but if you are experiencing connectivity difficulties with Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth devices, you need to know how to access the hidden menus and features. You need some technical knowledge, but there are useful functions to help you solve connectivity problems. Even if you do not have a problem, you may find helpful information displayed in these hidden menus in the macOS menu bar. Access hidden menus Find and use hidden connectivity features Fix Wi-Fi problems If you have a problem with the wireless network…

FusionCast Developer Guilherme Rambo Difficulty Time needed There are multiple platforms on which you can publish your podcast, and they all vary in terms of popularity. From WordPress to Spotify to Apple Podcasts, it really does become a battle to ensure that your podcast is on every popular platform, but in a world where YouTube is somewhat dominant for quick and easy entertainment – it seems strange to not be on it. FusionCast is a macOS app that performs a very simple task, but it solves all of your ‘Podcasts on YouTube’ problems in an instant. Building a video from an audio file only involves a few clicks, and you will find it to be very efficient if you choose to upload all of your older episodes. Simplicity hides a…

Screen Time Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed You can’t keep your eye on your iPhone at all times. There will be moments in the day when it will be put to one side, perhaps when you’re sleeping. We’d hope you can trust the people around you, but you can’t always be certain curiosity isn’t going to get the better of them. Someone may decide to see who you’ve been messaging. You can find out if your iPhone has been breeched in this way, by delving into Screen Time to see when your device was used. In some cases, a snooper can discover things without even unlocking your iPhone. So here we are going to look at how you can turn detective. Secure your iPhone when it’s locked Don’t make…

Home Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed One of the HomePod’s most useful features is the ability to set timers. A downside to doing so, however, has been the inability to quickly see what timers you have set. You’ve had to say, “Hey Siri, what’s the status of my timers” to hear them all or “Hey Siri, how much time is left on the [task] timer” for an individual check. It’s always felt a little cumbersome. By updating your Apple devices, though, this little problem has been solved and it now makes using the feature much more accessible and easy to manage. Here we take a look at how it works, from setting up a timer to managing it. We also come across the Alarms section, to schedule specific times…

Wallet Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Given that many crowded indoor spaces, such as nightclubs and music venues, as well as large outdoor festivals and sporting events, require proof of COVID status to gain entry, it is well worth generating your own COVID-19 passport to ensure entry. Thankfully, the process is quick and easy. To generate your own digital NHS COVID Pass, you will first need to install the free NHS App and then set up your NHS login (which is made easier if you happen to know your NHS number, although a name, DOB and postcode should suffice). You will have to go through several security processes, such as entering a security code, but once this is done you’ll be able to generate a new NHS COVID Pass…

Apple Watch Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Being able to enjoy your photos from the comfort of your wrist is one of the benefits of owning an Apple Watch. Yet if you’re not careful, the number of images being synced from your iPhone could easily become overwhelming, making it difficult to sift through images and taking up lots of storage space too. Given that an Apple Watch tops out at 32 gigabytes (and that just 26.6 GB is available to you once the watchOS operating system is taken into account), you soon discover your device has little room left for apps and music. Sometimes, a lack of space can even prevent you updating watchOS. The answer, then, is to limit the number of photos making their way over. Here,…

• Processor: 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5 with 10 MB L3 cache and Turbo Boost up to 3.9 GHz • Memory: 12 GB of 1866 MHz DDR3 EEC memory • Hard Drive: 256 GB PCIe-based SSD • Graphics: Dual AMD FirePro D300 graphics processors with 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM each, 1280 stream processors, 256-bit-wide memory bus, 160 GB/s memory bandwith, 2 teraflops performance • Connectivity: 4x USB 3.0, 6x Thunderbolt 2, Dual Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 1.4 Ultra HD • Original price: £2,499/$2,599 • Price now: £1,679/$1,899 The Mac Pro is the most powerful computer created by Apple and typically features a high concept design to go with the high performance benchmarks that it sets. The second-generation model was the first to ‘go rogue’ in its design, comprising of…

Download available Tutorial project files All the assets you’ll need to get creative with our projects. Look out for the above icon to see if there are downloads available. Exclusive video tutorials Discover how to get more out of your devices with a selection of iOS and macOS video guides from MacMost. Loads of other cool stuff! Customise your Mac with stunning wallpapers, grab some royalty-free fonts and watch more how-to guides. Log in to www.filesilo.co.uk/icreate Register to get instant access to this pack of must-have creative resources, how-to videos and tutorial assets Free for digital readers too! Read on your tablet, download on your computer The home of great downloads – exclusive to your favourite magazines from Future Publishing Secure and safe online access, from anywhere Free access for…

We are creatures of habit that can easily fall into the trap of using our Apple devices in certain ways, while neglecting to drill down further into the inner workings of macOS and iOS to discover how these processes can be made easier. Our Macs, for example, have always come with keyboard shortcuts that can shave seconds off of the functions we perform tens, if not hundreds of times every day, but do you know them? And as macOS has evolved, there are certain settings that can be tweaked to speed up everything from writing to finding things quickly. The same can be said of iOS, which is similarly packed with handy tricks to streamline the effort needed to perform everyday tasks. Over the following pages, we aim to showcase…

Final Cut Pro Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Download available One way to make a ‘talking head’ interview or a musical performance more interesting is to film it simultaneously from different angles, using different shot sizes and camera moves. However, this gives you the challenge of syncing the separate clips together so that you can cut from one clip to another. You could manually place the clips in parallel layers in the timeline and use their audio waveform to sync them manually. A quicker way is to let Final Cut Pro automatically sync them into one Multicam clip. You can then cut between each angle using the number keys on you keyboard. Combine multiple angles Create a Multicam clip Angle view The Angle view displays the three tracks embedded…

Finder Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed There was a time when everyone would plug their iPhone or iPad into a computer and use iTunes to sync data or make a back up. This practice largely went out of fashion once iCloud became the go-to method of keeping information safe. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t continue to use your Mac in such a way. Indeed, even though Apple dropped iTunes from 10.15 Catalina onwards, it retained the ability to sync and back up with the Mac, it just moved the feature to Finder. Here we take a look at how it all works and explore two methods: one requires you to connect your device with a wire and the other allows you to use Wi-Fi. Back up your…

Safari Developer Apple Inc Difficulty Time needed Password managers have been around a long time and you may have used one at some point in the past. iCloud Keychain is a superior password manager for Apple users because the company is privacy-focused and your passwords are synced and are available on every Apple device. How do you transfer passwords from a password manager to iCloud Keychain? Most password managers have an export function and Keychain has an import function. However, the two are incompatible and there is no direct method to get passwords into Keychain. We’ll walk you through the solution. Import passwords Copy passwords to iCloud Keychain Import into Safari Open Safari and use the ‘Import From’ function on the File menu. Here, we import from Chrome, but other…

Many Apple geeks and macOS experts work with the command line in a Terminal window. Powerful commands are available that are not accessible through the point and click macOS user interface. You may come across tips for the Mac that involve typing commands into a terminal window, and it is useful to know a few basic commands and how it works. Here, we take a look at Terminal commands for accessing files, moving them, deleting them, renaming and copying them. You will also learn how to specify files and folders in the Home folder, cope with spaces in filenames, list the current folder and more. This is not everything you need to know, but it is a good start and these commands will help you become much more familiar with…

Fing Developer Fing Limited Difficulty Time needed It’s easy to lose track of devices connected to your Wi-Fi network. Even if you’ve connected them all yourself, you may look at a list and wonder what all of them actually are. In that sense, it’s not that easy to know if someone else is hooking into your network and potentially posing a security risk. But regular use of an app such as Fing can help identify any problems. It allows you to scan your network and generate a list of connected devices. From there, you can obtain lots of useful information and figure what each one of them is doing. You may spot some rogue devices straight away, in which case you should change your Wi-Fi password. But even if you…

Raindrop.io Developer Rustem Mussabekov Difficulty Time needed Bookmarking is a function that has been somewhat lost in recent times, thanks to the increased abilities of modern browsers and the various apps that can help you to organise the information you need access to. If, however, you want to take the idea of saving and organising a library of instantly accessible links further, then Raindrop.io is worth considering. You get a huge amount of functionality for free and if you do need some of the advanced features, you can pay the subscription charge, but either way we are sure that you will appreciate the way it works. The visuals work perfectly to help you manage and access massive numbers of links and items that you need to refer to, and it…

Waze Navigation & Live Traffic Developer Waze Inc Difficulty Time needed The days of standalone GPS devices appear to be numbered thanks to the rise of the all powerful smartphone, but the downside is that phone screens tend to be small. This means that you are constrained by the size of phone you wish to use and so we would suggest that you can use your iPad to make the experience easier, safer and more fun. The fun side comes from the Waze app because it takes a different approach to what is on offer from other navigation services and the safety comes from having a larger screen attached to your dashboard. A cellular iPad helps a lot because it will have GPS built in, but location services still work…

Apple has deliberately made the Apple Watch, and by association watchOS, as easy as possible to use. It is for this reason that the vast majority of users are only aware of the main features and interface options, and for Apple, this is a good thing. It means that the watch works as expected at all times and that most people can understand it, but if you dig a little deeper you can find different ways to interact with it every day. You can also try more advanced features that are already available, and together they will combine to create an even more powerful wrist experience than you currently have. The remarkable thing is that the hidden tricks we are listing here are likely just the tip of the iceberg,…

£179.99/$189.99 Key features • Bluetooth 5.0 • Supports LDAC, AAC & SBC codecs • 50 hours of playback Learn more audio-technica.com Available from amazon.co.uk DESCENDING FROM AUDIO TECHNICA’S LEGENDARY ATH-M50 STUDIO MODELS, this latest iteration of the acclaimed M-Series wireless over-ear headphones features several enhancements to performance and usability. Perhaps the most notable of these is the battery life. Offering over 50 hours of playback, which can be topped up by three hours on a ten-minute rapid charge, the ATH-M50xBT2 headphones are built for leisure and long stints in the studio. These headphones also offer clearer phone calls and communication thanks to the addition of dual mics and beamforming microphone technology, as well as a built-in Alexa voice assistant (a tap of the small button on the underside of the…