Table of contents for February 2015 in Macworld

It should be such a simple thing: you’re just going to make a video call. If it were a phone call, you’d dial a number and you’d either get through or you’d be directed to the other person’s voicemail. But with video, there are too many variables. Which service will you use? Which software? Is the other person on my buddy list? Are they online? What if you want more than one person on the call? Do all participants have sufficient bandwidth? What if you want to share a screen? And on and on. You can’t “just” make a video call with a random person without thinking through these things. Even with all those questions answered, technology might not cooperate. I used to have a regular video conference with two…

HOME TECH I’M NOT SURE WHY coffee tables are called coffee tables. The one in my living room spends more time buried under a pile of remote controls than it does holding up cups of coffee. Of course, the holy grail for anyone with even the most modest media setup is a universal remote that “just works,” to steal a phrase from Apple. Logitech’s Harmony Ultimate Home is the latest in a progression of remote controls that attempts—and mostly succeeds—in simplifying not only your entertainment center, but your lights, door locks, thermostats, and other smart devices. The Harmony Ultimate Home bundle includes the namesake remote, the Home Hub, a pair of IR blasters (for use with gear tucked behind doors), a charging cradle for the remote, and all the required…

Do you have trouble concentrating? Do you forget where you put your keys; have difficulty recalling words; find it hard to remember names? If so, join the club. We all have problems with memory and cognitive acuity. But as we age, these problems can increase, and some app developers have stepped in to help us train our brains. These companies—which use words like “neuroplasticity” to discuss the science behind these apps—claim that you can “improve your brain health,” “improve focus, speaking skills, processing speed, memory, math skills,” and “train memory, attention, and more.” A word of caution: publications like Nature (go.macworld.com/nature) and Scientific American (go.macworld.com/scientific) are skeptical of these claims, and a BBC study (go.macworld.com/bbc) of 13,000 people showed that these apps don’t really have any benefits. Despite that, many…

iPADS OUR IOS DEVICES aren’t built for efficiency. Unlike OS X, where we can simultaneously work in multiple apps and position windows and folders on our desktops for optimal output, iOS has a far greater focus on individual tasks. Even accomplishing something as simple as copying text from Safari and pasting it into a note requires a set series of steps and hoops, and any kind of real multitasking is hampered by the safeguards Apple has built into the system. iOS 8 has begun to alter this line of thinking. Instead of creating isolated islands, developers are now able to build bridges to nearby apps, eliminating the clunky workarounds that they were previously forced to implement. From widgets to extensions, iOS is suddenly alive with expandability and customization. And now…

APPLE’S LEATHER CASE If you’d like to stay within the Apple family of products, the Leather Case for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus ($45 to $49; store.apple.com) is the way to go. This hard-shell case is a step up from the basic Silicone Case, adding a leather finish for a hint of sophistication. It keeps a super-slim profile as well, which is especially important to keep in mind if you have the ultra-sized iPhone 6 Plus. The Leather Case is available in black, red, midnight blue, olive brown, and soft pink. (If you have a gold iPhone, we highly recommend the mid-night blue version, which contrasts well with the white and gold.). EXOVAULT EXO23 EXOvault’s beautifully designed EXO23 cases ($250-$300; exovault.com) feature metal frames (black aluminum, silver aluminum, and…

It’s not your imagination: your Mac’s overall performance can slow down over time. Most often this happens because we gradually add more apps and background processes, have more and more documents and browser tabs open, and don’t restart very often. All these things take a cumulative toll on your Mac’s performance. Cutting back on the number of things you have open is therefore one of the easiest strategies for putting some zip back into your Mac. Adding RAM (go.macworld.com/ram)—if your Mac supports it (go.macworld.com/restrict), switching from a hard drive to an SSD (go.macworld.com/speed), and keeping your software up to date are also effective quick fixes for performance problems. But if I may rant for a moment, I want to call your attention to two oft-touted remedies for slow Mac performance…

When I reviewed PowerPoint for iPad version 1.0 (go.macworld.com/ppt) back in April 2014, I found a lot to like but dinged the app for a few notable omissions; I also noted its dependence on a paid Office 365 subscription. Now at version 1.3, PowerPoint for iOS (go.macworld.com/pios) works on iPhones as well, and has adopted a new freemium model in which most of its features are available even to those who don’t pay for Office 365. It almost looks as though Microsoft turned my list of cons from version 1.0 into its to-do list—every major complaint has been addressed. Audio and video now play correctly, and you can add video (though not stand-alone audio) from your iOS device. You can now add and edit animations, and you can crop images.…

How to uninstall MacKeeper from your Mac Q: How do I get rid of MacKeeper? Michael Downend A: I won’t go into why you’d want to. Some people have found MacKeeper useful, others not. But many people I’ve encountered are confused about how to delete it. Versions of MacKeeper made in the last couple of years are actually pretty easy to uninstall, but the process isn’t entirely straightforward. If you click on the MacKeeper menu in the Mac’s menu bar you won’t find aQuit command, which might lead you to believe that it can’t be quit. Force quitting doesn’t seem to work either. What you have to do is launch the MacKeeper app in the Applications folder and then quit it. (If this is your first time running it, no,…

No Mac is an island, and every iPad is part of the main. But Apple has, for many years, had trouble with letting a group of allied people—let’s call them a “family”—make best used of shared devices and shared digital purchases. Family Sharing is the latest attempt by Apple to facilitate families’ sharing (if not caring). It comes with a hidden curse, though: Families that share together can have all their devices wiped together and all track each other’s locations, regardless of one’s age. One could argue these are good things when you’ve chosen to opt into Family Sharing and location sharing. But, as your faithful writer keeps stressing, you have to know the risks in order to evaluate them. FAMILY PLANNING Family Sharing (go.macworld.com/sharing) requires all the latest everything:…

GADGETS MOBILE WALLETS ARE finally starting to get some traction. Apple Pay is driving new interest in digital payments, but relatively few people actually have an iPhone 6. Even if you do, you’re likely to find that Apple Pay far from universally accepted. It only works with a few major credit cards, and chains like Wal-Mart and CVS are shutting Apple out in favor of their own, proprietary payment system. That’s an opportunity for LoopPay. CardCase is the company’s newest electronic payment system. It’s a case for the iPhone with a detachable electronic card that you can use to make purchases almost anywhere you’d ordinarily swipe a traditional credit card. It’s unaffected by the Apple Pay lockout, so in general, if you can swipe your magnetic stripe credit card, you…

HOME TECH I SUCK AT grocery shopping. If I remember to inventory my pantry and refrigerator, I inevitably forget to bring my shopping list to the store. That renders my lizard brain easy pickings for the in-store merchandising that triggers impulse buying. I go in needing milk, eggs, and barbecue sauce; I come out with beer, chips, and salsa. If I use the Hiku scanner consistently, it should eventually pay for itself by reducing those impulse buys. Hold the puck-shaped Hiku between your thumb and forefinger, aim its lens at the bar code of the product you need to restock, and squeeze. The Hiku scans the UPC code and adds the item to the shopping list on your iPhone (an Android app should drop by November 28, according to the…

As our lives increasingly go digital, security is a major concern not only for the various online services we use, but also for the devices on which we save our data. Chances are that if you’re reading this article, you own a Mac. And on your Mac, you’d like much of the work you do on it to be kept private. While OS X is relatively secure by default, there are some additional steps you can take to ensure the data on your Mac is only accessible by you, even if your Mac is stolen. Take the following tips to heart to better protect your Mac and its data. 1 Enable the OS X Firewall The firewall in OS X is a network filter that allows you to control which…

The way banks, airlines, wireless carriers, and even governments do business could soon change if Apple and IBM have anything to say about it. The two companies now have 10 apps (go.macworld.com/10apps) designed to streamline business operations behind the scenes, which may lead to better service for the rest of us. The new apps are the first wave in a lineup that’s expected to include up to 100 iOS apps for business. IBM is firmly entrenched in enterprise, while Apple’s presence in the halls of giant corporations has been largely unofficial, in the form of employees using their personal iPhones to send company emails. So the two companies partnered up in July (go.macworld.com/partners) to bring their complementary strengths to businesses on iOS. One app called Incident Aware will give police…

For an incredibly meaningful gift, look no further than a wall calendar hand-crafted in iPhoto. Apple’s calendars are nice and big (13 by 10.4 inches), beautiful, and affordable—$20 for a gift that lasts 12 months! Each one is wire-bound, with lots of room for pictures above the date grid. You can customize each month with text and titles, import holidays and events from iCal, and plop photos into individual date squares. It’s printed on gloriously thick matte stock, and even the packaging is a treat—it arrives inside a classy white envelope. While you’ll pay a little less for a calendar from shutterfly.com, mpix.com, or snapfish.com—or more for one from pinholepress.com—they’re not as big, and the quality isn’t as good. Plus, you’d have to upload photos to those sites and use…

iPADS LAPTOP USERS who occasionally need more screen real estate can benefit from an additional display. And there are quite a few iOS apps (with companion Mac apps) that let you use an iOS device as that display. But, up to this point, what they lack is speed due to the slow Wi-Fi signal that allows the two devices to communicate. A team of ex-Apple employees address this issue with Duet Display, an iOS app that works in conjunction with a Mac app and a wired connection between your Mac and iPad. Just how bad is using a Wi-Fi connection? Try to play a web video on the iOS screen, for instance, and the experience is choppy at best. If you move that movie window around, the video will typically…

RUNNING FOR WEIGHT LOSS Running for Weight Loss (go.macworld.com/running)—the free couch-to-jogging app—has been updated with iOS 8 in mind—it includes integration with Apple Health, but also includes a redesign, a new icon, and graphics created to properly fit the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. —JOEL MATHIS Step Buy Step Step Buy Step: A Pedometer Adventure (go. macworld.com/adventure) is a $2 fitness app that make a game of walking. Every step you take moves you closer to purchasing animal companions. You’ll accrue a menagerie to accompany you as you stride around the world.—JOEL MATHIS Email+ Email+ ($3 go.macworld.com/emailplus) is supposed to make email on your iOS device a frictionless experience—if you don’t sign in, the app will automatically use your iOS email address for sending and receiving. It integrates…

Back April 2014, I wrote about the first release of Microsoft’s Excel for iPad (go.macworld.com/exipad), and I found it to have a well-designed UI and most of the features of the desktop version. It was missing some things, like the ability to print, but it was an impressive debut. The biggest issue, of course, was cost: You needed a $100 per year Office 365 subscription to create workbooks. As of version 1.2, released in early November, that restriction has vanished: Excel for iOS (go.macworld.com/exios) can now be used to create spreadsheets, for no cost at all. The only caveat is that you must sign in using a free Microsoft account. If you don’t have one, you can register directly from the app’s home screen. The form isn’t overly complicated, though…

Browsing the App Store for new photo-editing software can be overwhelming. There are dozens of image editors, and it’s difficult to tell which is the right one for your needs. If you’re already using iPhoto or Aperture, stick with those programs until Photos is released in 2015—it may be all you need. If you’re willing to pay for more features, here are all the big (and subtle) differences between today’s top image editors to help you choose the software that’s best for you. iPHOTO This image database and non-destructive editor will be replaced by a new app named Photos this year, though it’s still one of the easiest places to import, manage, correct, and share your photos. Instead of editing your originals, it stores your edit requests in a database,…

Put away that spreadsheet, because I’m about to ruin any chance of having a productive work day. YouTube has quietly released an animated GIF-making tool that let’s you meme-ify video clips from the site, complete with text and an easy way to share and embed them. We have no idea if this feature is just a pilot that could disappear soon or the beginning of something much bigger. But it is publicly available for anyone that wants to try it out. We’ve asked Google for more information and will update this story should the company respond. The impact on you at home: Creating an amusing animated GIF or choosing just the right GIF for a blog comment is already an art form online—so much so that it’s surprising YouTube didn’t…

When you think about all the variables involved in producing a well exposed photo, it’s a wonder any photo turns out halfway decent. If you’ve got a great subject but terrible color, the following shot-saving solutions can come to the rescue in a variety of apps. BLACK AND WHITE Take the color out of the equation by converting the photo to black and white. You don’t even need image editing software—Automator, installed on every Mac, can convert whole batches of photos to black and white. To convert to black and white in iPhoto, select an image and click the Edit button in the toolbar. Click the Effects tab at upper right and then single-click Black & White or repeatedly click Fade. You can use iPhoto’s Adjust panel to tweak contrast.…