Innehållsförteckning för September 2016 från Macworld Australia

When you get a new Mac, how can you make sure you’ve set it up to be as secure as possible? If you walk through a completely fresh installation process, Apple tries to guide you into making the most-secure choices among alternatives, but it’s probably the worst time to try to sort out the options available and make those decisions. A reader asked for advice for the next time they start from scratch, and I can offer that in this column. However, all of my suggestion can work just as well as later additions, whether you’re reinstalling OS X, installing and then migrating from a different Mac, or just continuing to use an existing installation. It’s better to set this up first, but it’s never to late to add layers.…

IT HAS A FIXED HEIGHT THAT RAISES IT JUST THREE INCHES, AND HAS JUST A –5 TO 15 DEGREE TILT SWING. A 2015 OR 2016 MACBOOK has a neat complement in the 1440p 27-inch Acer H277HU (on Amazon; go.macworld.com/accerh277hu) display. You can connect the MacBook’s sole USB-C port directly into the back of the H277HU using an included (albeit short) cable, and the H277HU acts as a second display while also charging the laptop and adds two USB 3.0 Type-A ports at the rear of the display. The display is sharp, bright, and expansive, with its front glass extending to the top, left, and right edges. Hidden on-screen display (OSD) buttons are underneath the bottom-left edge. Testing the display with apps and with live-action and animated high-definition video, there are…

Taking your iPad Pro and iPhone out on the road? These apps can help you get some serious work done without a computer. Whether you’re on a business trip and forced to connect to random Wi-Fi networks, or you’re spending the day at a local coffee shop for a change of scenery, you can remain productive while keeping your data safe and secure. PROTECT YOUR DATA Something we hardly think about when we’re at home or in the office is someone snooping on our Wi-Fi traffic, looking for bits and pieces of personal information as we go about our daily tasks. But when you’re using public Wi-Fi networks, you should constantly think about just that scenario. You’ve probably used one without even thinking twice about it—I know I used to…

INSTAGRAM MAY HAVE popularized the “faux film” look on mobile, but Hollywood has to create it the hard way. As any filmmaker will tell you, the talents of a good color timer are crucial to creating the right atmosphere or mood for a feature film, and the process is far more involved than choosing the right preset. TRUE COLORS Koji Go, $3 on the iTunes Store (go.macworld.com/kojigoaopp), is a stripped-down mobile version of the company’s film-emulation plug-ins for Mac and Windows. Like Koji Advance ($199) and Studio ($799), Koji Go taps the talents of Dale Grahn, the veteran color timer responsible for crafting the look of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Francis Ford Coppola’s monumental Apocalypse Now Redux release, and hundreds of other films. Compared to those efforts, a mobile…

It’s been several weeks since macOS Sierra was announced by Apple, and I’ve gotten a chance to spend some time using it. If you’ve only seen the highlights from Apple’s WWDC keynote, though, you may have missed a bunch of cool features that have flown beneath the radar. Here’s a look at some of those interesting features. STORAGE MANAGEMENT IS COMPLICATED Apple’s pitch about Sierra being better about freeing up your disk space (especially on comparatively cramped flash-storage drives) is true, but on stage Apple’s Craig Federighi presented a very simplified version of the concept. The reality is that this isn’t a single feature, but a whole collection of them. Yes, you can now sync your Desktop and Documents folders with iCloud, and (separately) give your Mac the option of…

Before you can begin using the NetInstall service, you need to make sure you have a few basics in place. Unlike setting up Profile Manager (go.macworld.com/ pipm), we don’t need to worry about certificates, or Open Directory, or user accounts. In fact, you really don’t need to do much more than switch this service on and it just works. But there are a few things you need to make sure you have in place before you get started, otherwise you may discover that what should have been a boon turns out to be a boondoggle. What are the basic requirements? > ethernet > high-speed network switch > DHCP NETWORK The NetInstall service requires high-speed networking in order to work properly, which means an ethernet network with your server and all…

Once you’ve created your first NetInstall image, which we did in the previous article, you have what you need to begin using the NetInstall service. But, to start the service up, you’ll need to configure some settings. To test the NetInstall service, in addition to your Mac running Server, you’ll need to have another Mac connected to your ethernet network to connect as a client. Remember, every Mac using this service needs to have an ethernet connection. CONFIGURING THE NETINSTALL SERVICE Before you set the service up, let’s take a look at what NetInstall looks like before you configure it. Open the Server app and click NetInstall in the Advanced section of the app’s sidebar and take note of the current settings: > The service is off. > The Storage…

Photos for OS X and Smart Albums Q: I have created a date range Smart Album and there are specific pictures I want to remove from the album. However, when I try, it only gives me the option to delete the photo from my computer altogether. Is there a way to remove it from the album but not delete the photo entirely? — Bruce Martens A: My immediate thought was: No. Smart Albums match a set of criteria as opposed to regular albums, which you assemble intentionally. Deleting an item from a Smart Album de facto can’t work, because that photo only appears because it matches one or more conditions! But with a moment’s reflection, I realized there’s a perfectly straightforward way you can simulate the effect of customizing a…

BUT DESPITE THOSE CHANGES, THE iOSIFICATION OF THE MAC HAS NEVER REALLY HAPPENED. While big updates like iOS 10 (go.macworld.com/ ios10ishere) and massive rethinks like watchOS 3 (go.macworld.com/watchos3) might have commanded the lion’s share of attention during Apple’s WWDC keynote and the ensuing aftermath of discussion and Zapruder-level dissection, it’s worthwhile to pause for a moment and consider the state of Apple’s most venerable platform, the Mac. No longer burdened by its increasingly dated X-laden moniker, the rebranded macOS got a major addition in the form of Siri, as well as some more minor improvements sprinkled throughout the OS. But to me, the big message to take away from Apple’s recent presentation is that the company is all too happy for the Mac to share features and technologies where it…

IT’S NOT HARD to spice up photographs in just a few clicks of the mouse these days. The more difficult part of the process is finding an app with quality filters worth using—and one of the better mobile solutions around has finally made the leap to the desktop. 101 STYLES Priime Styles, $30 on the Mac App Store (go.macworld.com/priime styles), is a Mac version of the popular Priime photo editor for iPhone. The two apps share the same impressive catalog of “styles,” what we typically refer to as one-click image filters or presets. Created by dozens of the world’s top photographers, there are over a hundred styles to choose from—101 to be exact, although the apps offer them up in different ways. Priime for iPhone (go.macworld.com/priime) is free to download,…

I’ve tested out a variety of fitness bands, from activity trackers disguised as analog timepieces to powerful cardio-focused watches and everything in between. There’s a different audience for every fitness tracker on the market, but I’ve found that most people are looking for a basic band that tracks daily stats and sleep. A solid app dashboard that presents information in an easy-to-digest way is also essential, otherwise there’s no point in tracking all that data. But if an activity tracker doesn’t fit into your life, you’re not gonna wear it no matter how many features it has. That’s why companies like Fitbit and Misfit, which was acquired by Fossil last year, have designed fitness bands that are fashionable and discreet enough to be worn all day and night, from the…

Before you begin using the NetInstall service, it’s a good idea to gain a basic understanding of how it works and to learn about the four different types of NetInstall images. During the course of this series, we’ll create basic versions of every type of NetInstall image and create images that incorporate some the NetInstall service’s more advanced features. The NetInstall service consists of three components: > NetInstall server > NetInstall image > NetInstall client The NetInstall server acts as a repository for NetInstall images, hosts the NetInstall service, and delivers NetInstall images to NetInstall clients. NetInstall images are specialized disk images designed to be hosted on a NetInstall server. A NetInstall client is any Mac that is using your NetInstall server to install an operating system or application package,…

In the previous article, we configured the NetInstall service and started a Mac using an installer image hosted on a server. Now we’re going to up our game a bit and create a disk image we’ll use at a later date to create NetBoot and NetRestore images. CREATE A DISK IMAGE USING AUTODMG Previously, we created an installation image from a fresh copy of the El Capitan installer. Now we’re going to use a tool called AutoDMG to install OS X (or is that macOS?!?) and a couple of other apps onto a disk image we’ll use to create our next two NetInstall images. AutoDMG is a phenomenal app that creates bootable disk images you can use to restore a single image to a single hard drive using Apple’s Disk…

For a long time, it was hard to beat the buzz around Adobe’s Content-Aware Fill feature, a function in Photo-shop CC that “sees behind” unwanted objects to automatically fill in appropriate background content. Later, Adobe expanded content-aware capabilities with additional functions like Patch and Move. Now, Content-Aware Crop joins the arsenal in Photoshop CC 15.5, part of the company’s Creative Cloud (go.macworld.com/cc2016update) 2016 update. Other new Photoshop features in this release include Face Aware Liquify, Match Font, and a new Selection and Masking space. These join recently announced updates to Adobe’s video app suite (go.macworld.com/ adobeccvr) and performance improvements. These updates are available immediately to all Creative Cloud subscribers. Why this matters: With Creative Cloud, Adobe needs to constantly add innovative features without disrupting the workflows of busy creative pros.…

When sharing an Apple ID creates iMessage and text message confusion Q: Our family has a single Apple ID/iCloud account. We keep getting each other’s text messages. How do we stop that from happening? — Danielle Gibbons A: Unfortunately, an Apple ID and the associated iCloud account are a single entity—there’s no way to split out multiple, different text messaging or iMessage delivery addresses. However, it is possible to use third-party messaging apps, like WhatsApp (go.macworld.com/ whatsapp), and third-party apps that handle sending and receiving text messages, like Text Free (go.mac world.com/textfree), because you can set up a unique account with those services. WhatsApp is free to use, but all the people with whom you’re communicating have to also use WhatsApp. Text Free and other apps that support mobile-network SMS…

JPEGMINI PRO is a handy Mac application (go.macworld.com/jpeg minireview) for reducing the size of JPEG image files with virtually no distinguishable difference from the original. At the time, it offered no way to optimize files directly out of my favorite image editing software, but I’m happy to report this oversight has now been addressed. ONE-CLICK SAVE In addition to a stand-alone application and Adobe Lightroom plug-in, JPEGmini Pro now includes an extension for Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 and higher. Rather than save files using Photoshop’s cumbersome native export options, generating an optimized, high-quality JPEG file can now be done in just one click. The JPEGmini extension opens in Photoshop as a sparsely populated panel with a single blue button. Clicking Export With JPEGmini saves the current file to the location…

AFTER YEARS of using email, those messages start to consume valuable internal storage space and can eventually slow down your Mac, where a copy of every single email is cached locally. That’s why it’s a good idea to occasionally archive and purge older messages. FULL-FEATURED BACKUP As the name implies, Mail Archiver X, $40 (mothsoftware.com), is a Mac application for offline storage of messages, folders, and entire accounts. Instead of saving messages as flattened PDF documents or exporting mailboxes into MBOX format that are only readable by the same email client, Mail Archiver X faithfully archives messages into its own Valentina database from which they can be viewed, searched, or further saved to a variety of common formats in a few clicks of the mouse. This comes in especially handy…

There was a time when WWDC belonged to the iPhone. From the S cycle to the Retina display, FaceTime, and the App Store, some of the earliest iPhone breakthroughs were unveiled at Apple’s annual developer’s conference, with long stretches of keynote time devoted to specs and speed instead of software. These days there’s a better chance of an Android app making an appearance on the big stage than a new iPhone. But even as WWDC has consciously shifted away from splashy hardware releases, the iPhone is still very much the star of the show. The iOS portion of the presentation is both the longest and the most significant, not just because it spotlights major changes and feature upgrades, but also in how it sets the tone and direction Apple’s next…

IF YOU PREFER Apple Maps to Google’s own, Streets 3 provides the missing link that restores Street View to iOS devices. iOS 6 will be remembered as one of Apple’s more controversial product launches. It wasn’t only the decision to replace Google Maps with a less-reliable alternative that made iPhone users howl, but the lack of features we’d come to depend on, like panoramic street views, which remain absent nearly four years later. TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREETS There’s no telling if or when Apple will introduce their own take on Street View, but it’s hard to imagine Cupertino doing it better than Streets 3, $2 on the iTunes Store (go.macworld.com/ streets3app). This stand-alone app cleverly works in conjunction with Apple Maps to deliver 360-degree panoramas for nearly any location…

iPAD CUTTING BOARD If you like to take your tablet into the kitchen, the $25 Bamboo iPad Cutting Board ($25 MSRP; fancy.com) is a nifty accessory: It includes a slot for displaying your iPad, a transparent screen shield to keep food from splattering onto the display, and side storage for up to eight knives. MICROSD READER The microSD Reader (coming soon; lexar.com/lexar-microsd-reader) is a Lightning-equipped device that lets you add memory storage to your iPhone or iPad. If you have extra documents, photos, videos, or music to save, the Reader can help you off- or on-load the content in a jiffy; you’ll just need to download the Lexar Mobile Manager app to help you keep things organized. DXO ONE We’ve written about the DxO One ($499 MSRP; dxo.com/us/dxo-one) before, and…

One of the toughest things you have to tackle in your IT life, beyond the Sisyphean task of keeping everyone you deal with happy, is deploying devices in a way that doesn’t require touching every single computer you’re responsible for. Apple’s NetInstall service (go.macworld.com/nis), which is one of the features available in Apple’s Server app (go.macworld.com/sapp), offers a simple yet efficient set of tools to help you create and distribute images to every Mac in your environment. Over the next several articles, we’ll take a look at the NetInstall service, so you can get a leg up on imaging and make it easier for you to deploy Macs in your environment. As was the case with our recent Profile Manager Primer (go.macworld.com/pipm), you’re going to need a copy of Apple’s…

Before you can turn the NetInstall service on you need to create a network disk image to boot from. The easiest image to create is a NetInstall image, which lets you install or update an operating system on any Mac. DOWNLOAD A FRESH COPY OF EL CAPITAN Before you can create a NetInstall image you need to make sure you have a fresh copy of the El Capitan installer downloaded to your hard drive. 1. Open the App Store on your Mac with the Server app installed. 2. Click the Purchased tab in the App Store. 3. Locate OS X El Capitan in the list of purchased apps. 4. If you see OS X El Capitan in the list, make sure it says Downloaded on the button next to the…

When it comes to showing off your pictures and videos, nothing beats a great slideshow. Seeing your digital memories overtake your entire screen, set in motion through smooth animations and transitions, complete with background music, is a uniquely personal cinematic experience. Happily, the Photos application makes creating slideshows a snap both on your Mac and on your iOS devices. We’re not talking slideshow projects, wherein you spend hours crafting every single slide, oh heck no. In this column, you’ll learn how to make instant slideshows, where all you have to do is pick the images you want to include and then click a couple of buttons. INSTANT SLIDESHOWS ON YOUR MAC You can start an instant slideshow in Photos on your Mac in a variety of ways, depending on what…