Table of contents for June 2012 in Macworld

Syncing Ship When Apple introduced iTunes in 2001, it served one purpose: It was a music jukebox. But that was a long time ago. These days, iTunes is simultaneously Apple’s most important and most problematic product. It’s a music and video player. It’s a store where you buy music, videos, ringtones, and apps. And it’s a syncing system, connecting the Mac to a range of Apple devices, from the iPad, iPhone, and iPod to the Apple TV. Apple has packed almost everything relating to media and app management, purchasing, and playback into this single app. As a result, iTunes is now bursting at the seams. The app has become a complete mess and needs an overhaul. Confused and Confusing I use iTunes every day to listen to music on my…

HOW-TO I rarely need to check my Mac’s manual. But when I want to find out something directly from Apple and I can’t find what I’m looking for on Apple’s website, I check my Mac’s manual. Manuals have a lot of good information—you might be surprised at what you find. For example, the manual for the Early 2009 MacBook Pro has a section called “Boost Your MacBook Pro,” with directions on how to upgrade the hard drive and RAM. The Mac manuals also have a helpful troubleshooting guide. Digital copies of manuals are easy to access; you can keep them in Dropbox or another online storage service, so they’re just an Internet connection away. However, not every company provides digital copies of its manuals. Thankfully, Apple does provide them. In…

Apple has announced that the iWork.com public beta will close its virtual doors on July 31, 2012. The free online service for syncing and sharing iWork (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) documents debuted back in 2009. However, in a post-iCloud world, Apple has decided to permanently shutter the service. There are two likely reasons Apple is shutting down the service: The first—and the one that Apple highlighted in an email to iWork.com users—is the launch of iCloud, which lets you store documents, music, photos, and more, syncing them wirelessly and automatically between your devices. Because you can share iWork documents via iCloud, iWork.com has become a bit redundant. The second reason Apple is probably happy to be ending the iWork.com experiment is the simple fact that the service, while not terrible,…

Avira Free Mac Security Avira’s free antivirus and malware-detection program is available for both consumers and businesses. The software can perform scheduled scans of your Mac, and all scans occur in the background so you can continue to use your Mac. You can create different scan profiles that inspect specific files and folders, or you can scan your whole Mac. Avira updates itself automatically so that it can catch the latest virus and malware threats. The included Avira Management Console lets you use the software on a server to provide protection to networked clients. The software avoids any unnecessary complexity, offering a straightforward one-touch interface that scans your Mac and gets rid of infected files. Avira requires OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion) and is available in both…

We now have some idea as to just how limited an unlimited data plan can be, thanks to AT&T. The carrier said last summer that it would throttle the data throughput of its heaviest users. In March, AT&T published a Web page (macworld.com/7731) that lays out precisely whom the policy affects. AT&T will now send a text message to customers with unlimited 3G data plans warning them when their data usage approaches 3GB within a single billing cycle. If they go over 3GB, the company reduces their data speeds for the remainder of the cycle, though it doesn’t say by how much. Once a new billing cycle begins, speeds return to normal. Customers using the carrier’s 4G LTE network will only see their speeds dialed down once they hit 5GB.…

Byword Brings Its Way with Words to iOS Writers who enjoy working with the Markdown language can now turn to Byword (macworld.com/7729), an iOS version of the Mac text editor. Metaclassy’s $3 mobile version, optimized for both the iPhone and the iPad, only works with plain-text formats, but it also syncs with Dropbox and iCloud, letting users move documents between their Macs and mobile devices. Users can also print documents directly from their iOS devices using AirPrint. —JOEL MATHIS Camera+ Improves Sharing, Bulk Editing The 3.0 update to Camera+ (macworld.com/7576) introduces what developer Tap Tap Tap calls “dramatically improved” sharing functions—users can now share photos via Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. The $1 app also features bulk importing for bringing images in from an iOS device’s photo library for editing, and…

HARDWARE Orbotix Sphero Promising hours of fun—for you and your pets—the Sphero is a glowing, app- controlled orb that connects to your iOS device via Bluetooth to allow you to control the ball from up to 50 feet away. The free Sphero Drive app (macworld.com/7734) lets you control the orb’s movements, but other free iOS downloads enable it to capture video and photos or follow a course you sketch out on an iPhone or iPad—you can even play a round of golf using the Sphero as your ball. You can tweak the Sphero’s behavior for the best performance on different surfaces. Orienting yourself to the Sphero can take some getting used to, but it’s a fun and versatile iOS-controlled toy. 4.5/5.0; $130; Orbotix; www.gosphero.com Scosche Kickback g4 The built-in kickstand…

The big change (besides the fact that Calendar used to be known as iCal) is that Calendar in Mountain Lion brings back the dedicated Calendars sidebar. Instead of requiring that you click a but-ton to view your list of calendars, Calendar provides that list, organized by calendar type, in a Snow Leopard-style sidebar on the left side. Below that list is a mini calendar view that, by default, displays the current and upcoming months. One small—but welcome—change is the addition of Apple’s OS X search tokens for Calendar’s events search (tokens allow you to filter results by sender, recipient, subject line, and other parameters). Calendar intelligently tries to suggest categories while you type; categories can include organizers, event titles, and notes associated with an event. Just as with Finder and…

Account Sync Mountain Lion lets users sync their accounts across computers. This feature may not be as complete as iOS’s Restore From iCloud Backup, but any kind of account parity between computers—especially if this brings back the ability to sync passwords and Dock items—is a welcome addition. Improved Screen Sharing Every Mountain Lion user who relies on screen sharing gains drag-and-drop file-sharing privileges. Multiple-Disk Backup Mountain Lion lets you use Time Machine to back up automatically to several disks at once. And since OS X supports backup to networked drives, you can keep files current in several physical places without doing any extra work. Accessibility In the past, Apple’s Universal Access preference pane presented a panoply of options to the user and was a bit intimidating. Mountain Lion’s revised Accessibility…

If you visit a store simply to score some free Wi-Fi or take in the scene, don’t be worried you’ll have to buy something to justify the trip. Employees by and large understand the pull of shiny electronics; they generally won’t hover over you to pressure you to exit the store if you want to check your email or test a pair of $600 Bose speakers with your iPod. The Apple Store I worked in was located in a mall, and we often had employees from other retail outlets come in on their lunch break to read their RSS feeds or play an iPad game or two.…

Editor’s Note: Stephen Hackett is a former Apple Store Genius. This is an excerpt from his ebook, Bartending: Memoirs of an Apple Genius (Hackett Technical Media, LLC, 2012; geniusmemoirs.com). Hard-drive failures, like car crashes, are inevitable. Hard drives have spinning platters and fast-moving arms. Like all things with small moving parts, they are very fragile, almost designed to fail. As you can imagine, Geniuses have to give people bad news about their drives (and their data) all the time. Her name was Susan. She was a middle-aged woman who had a 15-inch PowerBook with a hard drive that sounded like a tin full of rocks going through a clothes dryer. Even though I could guess the problem as soon as I heard the grinding noise, I went ahead and went…

OPINION Some call it (p)insanity. Others are straight up addicted to pinning. And some people just don’t get it. Pinterest (www.pinterest.com) is undeniably the social networking darling of 2012. The site launched in beta mode in March 2010 and remains invite-only. Despite its exclusivity, Pinterest’s user base soared past the 10 million mark in December, and, according to Google DoubleClick, now has 31 million worldwide unique visitors per month. But is this site just another blip on the trend-o-meter or some-thing that’s worthy of your attention? From Tacky to Timely To be honest, Pinterest looked like a messy collage to me when I first saw it. The site lets you “pin” linked images from the Web onto your personal pinboards, and follow your friends’ pinboards as well. But last fall…

White House Proposes Online Privacy Rights The White House unveiled a plan to create a “bill of rights” for consumer privacy on the Internet, and announced that Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have agreed to comply when consumers choose to protect their online tracking habits. The Bill of Rights is part of a 62-page PDF document describing a framework for protecting privacy on the Internet (find it at macworld.com/7709). Among those rights are the following: > Consumers have a right to exercise control over what personal data companies collect from them and how they use it. > Consumers have a right to easily understandable and accessible information about companies’ privacy and security practices. > Consumers have a right to expect that companies will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways…

The iTunes Store is the most popular retail outlet in the United States for buying music, and it has become a digital bazaar, selling everything from TV shows and movies to ebooks and audiobooks. But Apple could improve its usability in a number of ways. Here are seven ideas for making the iTunes Store a better experience for customers. 1: Add Tabs Tabs are practical. I almost always open webpages in tabs rather than in new windows, so the pages all stay grouped in a single window. Why is it that when I select a link in the iTunes Store to view an album or movie, I constantly have to click the back arrow to return to the previous page? The iTunes Store is just a bunch of webpages displayed…

Communication can get quite dull when it’s confined to the civilized serif and sans serif crowd. Bored? Lift a pint to Bat Country (free), typographer Laurie Jackson’s homage to bad boy illustrator Ralph Steadman. This wild, blotchy, ink-streaked TrueType font is extreme, and made for extreme statements. The cover of a Hunter S. Thompson book seems appropriate. The designer hand-drew all 54 characters while he was a first-year student at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Jackson digitized and finessed the electronic version in Fontstructor, in a process that he describes as “a solid week in underpants in front of a computer.” After Jackson gets cleaned up, we’d like to shake his hand for keeping the spontaneity of the original font alive in this vector-based format. Bat Country…

HARDWARE Apogee Mic The Apogee Mic is a diminutive microphone that’s compatible with both computers and iOS devices. While it’s both portable and flexible, the Mic’s tradeoff is sound that’s good for many—but not all—portable recording situations. The Mic is solidly built and attractive. It supports 24-bit, 44.1/48kHz audio and can easily fit in a pocket. Its recording quality can be quite good for capturing acoustic instruments, if you’re careful about its placement. Where the Mic came up lacking was with voice—specifically spoken voice. It produces very clean results, but it lacks bottom end, and it was impossible to get a DJ-style baritone timbre out of this microphone. The Mic produces far better results than the microphones built into Apple’s iOS devices, and its native support for those devices, plus…

Troubleshoot Messages Beta on a Mac You send a message to a friend from your iPhone (running iOS 5), but it never makes it to your Mac version of Messages. There are several potential fixes. First make sure that you have a single entry for your friend in your Address Book and Contacts databases. Assuming you have a phone number and an email address for this person, make sure that both are listed in the same entry. Your iPhone looks first for a phone number to identify the person, while your Mac looks for an email address. If one of these items is missing from the entry, or if they are in separate entries, the iOS and Mac versions of the software may not coordinate. Second, make sure that you…

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad Macworld Readers reflect on their favorite iPad accessories, grumble over AT&T’s throttling decisions for users with unlimited data, and wonder why we’ve phased out Snow Leopard tips in this age of Lion. (Answer: Sadly, we have only so many pages in our magazine!) AT&T throttles down on data speeds In Europe all “unlimited” data plans have speed limitations after reaching a threshold. To my knowledge nobody has complained about this. These speed limitations are noted in the contract—and though they’re written in small characters, they aren’t hidden away somewhere. If AT&T said it will throttle speed after usage reaches a certain limit, I don’t see what there is to sue about. If AT&T kept this hidden, then it was false advertising. pakitt, via the Macworld.com…

Ardent users are clamoring for quicker upgrades to Apple’s Mac Pro, while an unknown timetable for new hardware in the high-end desktop has raised concerns about the company’s commitment to professional users. Apple last upgraded the Mac Pro in July 2010. Mac Pro users now want the models upgraded to Intel’s recently announced Xeon E5-2600 chips to keep up with the increased horsepower required for tasks like video editing. The long wait for a Mac Pro upgrade has raised doubts about Apple’s interest in supporting its high-end workstation. Apple has not announced plans for a new Mac Pro; the company does not comment on future products, a company spokeswoman said. Creative professionals widely use Mac Pros for multimedia creation and editing. These users value the Mac Pro’s flexibility in terms…

Waiting to make the jump to OS X Lion or Mountain Lion because of incompatible finance software? Wait no more. Intuit has released a new, Intel-compatible version of Quicken 2007. The software costs $15 for a download or a shipped software CD. Though Intuit is suggesting that new customers purchase Quicken Essentials for Mac, they can also opt for this Lion-compatible version of Quicken 2007. This version can open data files from Quicken 2005 through 2007, as well as files from Quicken Essentials. Stalwart users of Quicken 2007 who attempted to move their old Quicken files to Quicken Essentials will find joy in how the revamped 2007 handles those files—it simply opens them. Essentials, in contrast, had to convert earlier Quicken files, stripping out potentially important information in the process.…

If you’re the proud owner of a brand-new iPad, here’s some good news for you. Because the third-generation version of Apple’s tablet is nearly identical to the iPad 2, the market is already flush with compatible accessories. But that also means there are so many options that you may not know where to start. Not to worry. We’ve combed through the vast expanse of iPad accessories to come up with some recommendations for equipping your new tablet. Cases A good case can keep your iPad safe wherever you go, protecting the tablet from accidental scrapes and drops during use. Some cases even include built-in stands to make it easier to watch videos or view photos hands-free. But beyond those basics, cases vary widely. One thing to keep in mind: The…

A year after Apple rejected its initial offering, the Readability service for reading Web articles has released an app for the iPhone and iPad. Like its Web-based namesake, the iOS version of Readability (macworld.com/7733) lets readers save Web articles and view them in a stripped-down format. When you see an article you want to read in Readability’s built-in browser, a tap of the app’s Read Now button creates that stripped-down article; tapping Read Later adds the article to your reading list. You can also save articles from your desktop browser to your iOS device with the help of a bookmarklet. Apple rejected Readability’s first attempt at an iOS version because the service tried to create a subscription model in which publishers and writers would get a cut of its revenues—and…

The iPhone is a device that usually keeps us from sleeping, with late-night email and Twitter activity. But MotionX Sleep (macworld.com/7728), a $1 app from MotionX, goes against the grain by trying to help you get some shut-eye. The app uses the motion sensors in your iPhone to track your sleep, and offers weeklong and monthlong analytics to help you determine if you’re reaching your sleep goals. It also works as a pedometer, tracking your movements to determine your activity levels, and sounding a “Get Active” alert if it determines you’ve been sitting still too long.…

PREVIEW Any time a new operating system debuts, there are bound to be lots of questions about its new features and capabilities. And when that operating system’s unveiling comes unexpectedly, those questions take on extra urgency. Not to worry: We’ve had a chance to spend some quality time with the next incarnation of the Mac OS—version 10.8, or Mountain Lion—and we’re prepared to answer any questions you might have about its availability, added features, and enhancements to existing applications. (Keep in mind that Mountain Lion is in beta, and Apple may change a few things before releasing the OS upgrade.) And don’t worry if you’ve still got lingering questions—we have a while before Mountain Lion arrives to sort everything out. Photography by Peter Belanger AVAILABILITY Q: Has Apple announced when…

Refined search interfaces, sharing integration, and clear-cut password storage are just three of the things you have to look forward to in Safari, come this summer. Here are a few brief impressions of Safari’s new features. Unified Field The browser now sports a single field that you can use to type in a URL; to pull up the top result in your selected search engine from a keyword; or search the Web, your bookmarks and history, or the page you’re currently viewing on. URLs themselves have taken on a Chrome-esque look, automatically removing the http:// at the beginning of the link and graying out everything in the URL following the root domain. RSS and Privacy Apple has excised RSS entirely from Safari. If you have an RSS program installed and…

The changes to Mail in Mountain Lion are subtle, though there are some nice improvements—along with one significant omission. Mail in Mountain Lion gains a Safari-like inline find feature: Press 1-F (or choose the Find command in the Edit menu) and type your search string in a field just above the body of the current message. The message text is dimmed, while every occurrence of your search string is highlighted. You can use the arrow buttons next to the search field, or their keyboard-shortcut equivalents, to cycle through these occurrences. You still have the capability to use find and replace, however. Whenever you do an inline find while composing a message, a Replace checkbox appears; check that box, and you can enter your replacement text, with options to replace just…

You need to schedule One-to-One training sessions, Personal Projects, workshops, and Genius Bar appointments in advance. You can do so on Apple’s retail website (apple.com/retail) after selecting your store or through the Apple Store iOS app. One-to-One members can also do so on their personal portal (onetoone.apple.com). If you plan to stop by the Apple Store for any of these services, it’s advisable to make your appointments at least a day in advance for Genius Bar appointments, three to five days in advance for workshops, and one to two weeks out for One-to-One sessions. There are only so many knowledgeable bodies who work at the stores, and their time fills up quickly. If you’re looking to make an appointment on short notice, I’ve found that sessions and Genius Bar appointments…

Many of us whiz our way to beaches and family homes for the summer holidays, carrying a plethora of electronics. Sadly, on arrival you may find that your cousin canceled the cable service, storms downed your DSL, or your cell coverage vanished into a black hole. What can you do? Before leaving home, plan for the worst-case scenario. Use Your iPhone or iPad as a Personal Hotspot The best mobile modem is the one you have with you. As you’re a Macworld reader, you probably own an iPhone, which has included a software-based Personal Hotspot since iOS 4. Apple added Personal Hotspot to the third-generation iPad model with 4G LTE mobile networking, although only the Verizon Wireless model allows you to use it. Use this to turn your phone into…

Computers excel at performing repetitive tasks. So why are you opening the same menus and submenus, looking for the same commands, again and again? OS X lets you assign keyboard shortcuts to menu commands so you can trigger them faster. And you can tailor application shortcuts to your work habits. But a more productive way to use this capability is to set up shortcuts that work everywhere. Setting up a systemwide keyboard shortcut is a cinch: In the Keyboard system preference, go to the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Click Application Shortcuts on the left, and then click the plus-sign button (+) under the list. In the sheet that appears, select All Applications from the Application menu and type the name of the menu command in the Menu Title field. Enter the…

REVIEW The new model of the Apple TV looks and acts exactly like the previous model, and I’m here to report that it’s much like its predecessor—with one major exception. That difference is its support for native 1080p video, as streamed from iTunes, over the Internet, or via AirPlay from a third-generation iPad. Not all HD video is of the 1080p variety. In the various Apple TV menus, the trick is to look for the HD symbol on a TV episode or movie and then see if it says “1080p” next to it. If it doesn’t, then the video is only 720p. A few of my purchased movies and TV shows are in 1080p, but a lot of them aren’t—presumably Apple will continue to upgrade its content library and make…

HARDWARE Audyssey Audio Dock Air Audyssey’s Audio Dock Air is, simply put, a black, upright, rectangular slab of an AirPlay speaker. Featuring some interesting physical design choices, it also generates impressive sound. The Audio Dock’s rear panel includes a port for plugging in the system’s power brick, a 1/8-inch (3.5mm) auxiliary-input jack for connecting an audio source directly, and a pairing button. In our testing, setup was easy and AirPlay playback worked great. We successfully streamed music from a MacBook Pro and a trio of iOS devices with nary a stutter over many hours of listening. You’re not going to hear a wide stereo field with a speaker of this shape, but we were satisfied with the Audio Dock’s ability to fill even big rooms with sound. Even at full…

It seems everyone these days is taking photos of their food and uploading them to Twitter—before they’ve taken their first bite. While some of these photos offer mouthwatering results, most are a mess, poorly lit and unappetizing. Here’s how you can take a good food photo with whatever camera you have on hand. Camera Settings Get comfortable taking photos outside auto mode. First, turn off the flash. Second, practice manual focusing so that the target food item—say, your cupcake—is the center of attention. Third, master the manual exposure control. Aperture priority is the preferred option for photographing food. Most cameras have automatic macro settings. Get the Right App If you’re using an iPhone, find an app that will let you shoot and edit photos without applying retro or lo-fi filters,…

Use the Dark-Linen Pattern on the Desktop If you’ve been using OS X Lion, you’ve no doubt seen the dark-linen pattern that Apple uses as a background for the login screen. The same pattern pops up in iOS 5, too. If you like that look and would like to use it as your everyday desktop background, there’s a way to make that so. In the Finder, choose Go ▸ Go To Folder, and enter /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/Resources/. In that folder, look for the file that’s named NSTexturedFullScreenBackgroundColor .png. Copy this file (select it and press command-C), and then go to your Pictures folder and press command-V to make a copy of it there. Next, Control-click (or right-click) on the desktop and choose Change Desktop Background. In the Desktop & Screen Saver preference…

Make More Desktop Elbow Room Q: I keep a lot of files on my desktop, but there’s so much room between them that it doesn’t take long before they overlap one another. Is there anything I can do to squeeze in these icons a little tighter? Brad Cramblett A: Yes. Just click on the desktop and press command-J, and a Desktop window appears. Within this window you can change the size of your desktop icons and—perhaps more important in your situation—the size of the desktop grid. To get your icons closer together, make the grid smaller. I’ve found that an icon size of 32 by 32 is large enough that I can discern what an icon is as well as select it with little trouble. I then play with the…

When Apple unveiled the new iPad at a special press event back in March, the world watched. And that’s nothing new; it seems every Apple event garners tremendous attention before it’s announced, nonstop live coverage while it’s happening, and endless analysis and punditry once it’s over. Isn’t that something? The Apple Event Life Cycle Apple events like March’s iPad event have a life cycle all their own, and it’s a lengthy one. For months, there are rumors about what Apple may or may not be working on. There are even rumors about when Apple will host its next special event. Once Apple announces an event, news agencies rush to report that fact—incredibly, even the confirmation of the event’s date is considered newsworthy. At some point, Apple emails invitations to chosen…

Apple answered the question on many analysts’ and investors’ minds—namely, what the company planned to do with its almost $100 billion in cash. Later this year, Apple will begin paying out a dividend and will start buying back shares. The dividend program, which will begin in the fourth quarter of its 2012 fiscal year, will see payments of $2.65 per share to shareholders—pending an official declaration from the company’s board of directors. In addition, the company will start repurchasing shares ultimately worth $10 billion in its 2013 fiscal year, which starts on September 30. Apple expects the process to take around three years, and says that the intention behind the program is “neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs.” According to Apple…

FILE HANDLER: Hazel 3.0 4.5/5.0; $25; NOODLESOFT; WWW.NOODLESOFT.COM Despite the influence of iOS on OS X, we still drag and drop files from one folder to another, and we still assiduously follow our own file-naming conventions—which explains why Hazel is so useful. This utility monitors folders on your Mac for predefined events—adding or modifying a file, for example. When particular events take place, Hazel automatically initiates actions that you’ve defined, such as moving the file to another folder, renaming it, or changing its label. You configure Hazel 3 using its System Preferences pane. On the left is a list of the folders Hazel monitors; on the right is a list of the rules you’ve defined for the selected folder. Add a folder, and you can create Mail-like rules for it,…

March’s iPad update may have been a modest one in terms of introducing new features to the tablet. But consumers didn’t care: They snapped up the third-generation iPad in record numbers. Apple says that it sold 3 million third-generation iPads in the weekend after its March 16 release. Compare that to the 2010 release of the original iPad, which took 28 days just to hit the 1 million sales mark. It would be 80 days before the first-generation iPad hit the 3 million mark. (Of course, that first iPad was a U.S.-only launch; the third-generation iPad debuted in ten countries.) There’s another recent iOS device we can look to for comparison’s sake—the iPhone 4S. The opening weekend for last year’s smartphone update saw sales of more than 4 million. But…

Disney’s Where’s My Water? (macworld.com/7737) may have made history as the app that pushed the iOS App Store past the 25 billion download mark in March. But the physics puzzle game for the iPhone and iPad is significant to the entertainment giant for another reason: It’s the first mobile game from Disney to feature an original character. Earlier iOS efforts involved either movie tie-ins or games Disney bought from other developers. Bart Decrem, Disney Mobile’s senior vice president and general manager, credits the development team’s focus on gameplay for the popularity of this game, in which you use your finger to direct water past obstacles and into the pipes of a shower-loving alligator named Swampy. “We told the team to build just the best experience you can,” Decrem says. Where’s…

GarageBand 1.2 MUSIC We’ve sung the praises of GarageBand for iOS before (February 2012), and the latest update keeps making beautiful music. Chief among the changes is the ability to delete, move, and adjust notes, just as you can in the Mac version. Another smart instrument—Smart Strings—joins the mix. A Tracks Merge feature packs in far more tracks, and it’s easier to share songs. And the Jam Session feature, which lets four people play and record together, makes GarageBand something to enjoy with others. —CHRISTOPHER BREEN iPhone/iPad | 5.0/5.0; $5; Apple Filmic Pro 2.5.2 VIDEO Filmic Pro aims to give you as much manual control as possible over your iPhone’s video-shooting capabilities, creating an experience similar to what you’d get using professional-grade equipment. Three different shooting modes—Full Frame, Single Reticle,…

Apple hasn’t officially announced which Macs will be able to run the new OS. However, the following models are supported by the initial developer preview version: > iMac: 2007 and later > Mac mini: 2009 and later > Mac Pro: 2008 and later > MacBook: Late 2008 and later > MacBook Air: Late 2008 and later > MacBook Pro: 2007 and later > Xserve: 2009 Some models that Lion supports aren’t in that list—just because your Mac can run Lion doesn’t mean it will be able to run Mountain Lion. Specifically, the following models can run Lion but aren’t compatible with the initial developer preview of Mountain Lion: > iMac: 2006 > Mac mini: Mid-2007 > Mac Pro: 2006 and 2007 > MacBook: Early 2008 and earlier > MacBook Air:…

Many iOS users will welcome Contacts, formerly known as Address Book, based on the name change alone—now they can launch an address book in Spotlight by typing contacts. But the biggest improvement is the return of the three-column layout. No more do you have to click a virtual bookmark to turn virtual pages ever so slowly; instead, you choose from three display modes: card (single column); card and contacts (two columns); or card, contacts, and groups (three columns). To retain the app’s book-like design, the three-pane view narrows your contacts list, allowing the Groups sidebar to sit on the far left of the page. Contacts additionally includes Mountain Lion’s Share button at the bottom of each card; you can export that card (in .vcf format) as an email or iMessage…

A work of art,” “a place to learn,” “lines that stretch down the block”: You don’t normally associate those phrases with retail outlets (except perhaps for that last one). But each one has been used to describe Apple’s retail stores. What began in 2001 as an experiment—one that many retail experts derided at the time—has become a retail revolution: Consumers love Apple’s stores for their clean, modern design, their extensive selection, and their Geniuses; other companies envy them and sometimes try to copy them. Whether you’re an Apple Store regular or a newbie, there are probably things in it you don’t know about. So take a deeper look past those glass doors to find out how you can make the most of the Apple retail experience. PEEK, PLAY, BUY How…

When Ted Ellis—a desktop support engineer at Announce Media in Mountain View, California—needs help, he can make a same-day appointment at the Apple Store for service. If a laptop will be out of action for a while, he can get a loaner to temporarily replace it. And if a new employee needs some instruction on how to use that laptop, Apple will do the training. These are all services that Apple Stores now offer under the year-old Joint Venture program, a business-focused service that caters to corporate customers as well as individuals at Apple’s retail outlets. Businesses pay a starting annual fee of $499 to participate in their local Apple Store’s Joint Venture program. That fee covers five “systems”—an employee outfitted with a company-issued MacBook, iPhone, and iPad would count…

Spigen SGP’s $63 Klasden Neumann shoulder bag (www.spigen.com)—available in charcoal, violet, red, navy (shown here), and gray—isn’t the fanciest bag on the market, but it does its job well. This simple, rugged-nylon courier pouch includes a recessed, zippered pocket on the front, and another on the back for miscellaneous objects. The Klasden Neumann is designed to fit laptops up to a 13-inch MacBook Pro. Its main strap consists of a smooth polyester—similar to a high-end seatbelt—with an adjustable hook-and-loop clasped shoulder pad for ergonomic support. The bag’s body is curved to sit nicely against your waist, so that even when it’s packed full, it doesn’t stick out or bounce around. If you’re looking for a good all-around shoulder bag, this one is worth checking out.…

HARDWARE Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer A small inkjet multifunction printer with an overlong name, the $100 Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer is well suited to tight spaces, and it offers excellent output quality and ease of use. The unit’s main drawbacks are its merely average ink costs, pedestrian speeds at the default settings, and lack of automatic duplexing. Epson equips its printers with more print-quality modes than other vendors do. The Fine output is about as good as you’ll get from an inkjet, with deep blacks and sharp text. Color graphics exhibit excellent detail on both plain and glossy paper. Unfortunately, the Stylus NX430’s speed doesn’t quite measure up to its print quality. Full-page color photos print at only 0.28 ppm—slothful even by entry-level inkjet standards. Ink…

If this were a movie, it wouldn’t have a happy ending. Zediva, the now-shuttered scrappy upstart that attempted to offer cheap online movie rentals in a novel way, has announced that it won’t be refunding money to its customers. Zediva streamed DVDs without studio limitations like multiweek new-release lockouts and rental-only discs that lacked any extras. The company’s clever trick was that it streamed the DVD’s contents directly to your Mac, giving you remote control of one of its hundreds of DVD players. The downside to Zediva’s unique approach was that courts deemed it illegal. The Motion Picture Association of America filed suit against Zediva in April 2011; by August, a U.S. district court judge had issued a preliminary injunction to stop the company from streaming movies. If that action…

Adobe has its head in the cloud—the online cloud where creative projects go for viewing, syncing, and collaboration—and it wants artists and designers to be there right alongside it. That’s because Adobe now views its new subscription-based cloud service—called Creative Cloud—as its primary vehicle for delivering software, social networking, training, and community exchange. With the planned rollout of its Creative Suite 6 package of applications for creative professionals well under way, Adobe has now linked this major product line (which includes updates to Photoshop, InDesign, and Premiere Pro) to its new cloud strategy. Not only has Adobe announced CS6 simultaneously with the new Creative Cloud subscription service, but CS6 and its companion apps are the cornerstone of that offering. Essentially, Creative Cloud is Creative Suite 6 with benefits. Suite or…

Animated GIFs have been around for almost two decades, allowing users to create and share simple animations online. These days people have taken to converting short video clips into animated GIFs for posting to blogs and social networking sites. To create a video GIF on your Mac, you can upload a video clip to Gifninja (www.gifninja.com) or manually assemble an animation using Adobe Photoshop. But the most efficient way is with GIFBrewery from Hello, Resolven ($3; macworld.com/7736). Here’s how. Step 1: Pick a Video Clip Choose an existing video file on your Mac, or make a video with your iPhone, iPad, or digital camera. Then find a 2-to-5 second segment to convert to GIF. GIFBrewery only supports video files that Apple’s QuickTime can play, but you can expand the number…

Deal with Spam When Mail Won’t Q: I entered my iCloud email address on a site that was nothing but a spam generator. I’ve marked messages from this site as junk, but I continue getting spam. I’d like to create a blacklist and whitelist in Mail but can’t find a way to do it. Dave Griep A: Although Mail has no specific feature for creating blacklists and whitelists, you can create them with Mail’s rules. Here’s how. On your Mac, launch Mail, click the plus-sign button (+) at the bottom left corner of the Mail window, and choose Add Mailbox from the menu that appears. In the resulting New Mailbox sheet, choose iCloud from the Location pop-up menu and enter a name such as ‘Blacklist’ in the Name field. Follow…

What I Want in OS X As Apple readies OS X Mountain Lion for release, there are still a bunch of things I’d like to see in the editions of OS X that will follow. Today, OS X is still focused on maintaining multiple windows, each “owned” by a discrete app. That worked fine in the 1980s, when we were lucky to keep three programs running at the same time, and we had barely enough storage for a two-page letter and a desktop note reading “Tuesday: Meet with R at J about the HJH for 80-00.” Back in 1985, Microsoft stumbled bass-ackwards into the correct approach. Windows 1.0 used tiled panels instead of overlapping windows. What if OS X 11 had a separate Easy Mode in which you could always…