Table of contents for September 2012 in Macworld

Two Roads, Diverged When you come to a fork in the road,” Yankees great Yogi Berra once remarked, “take it.” That seems to be Apple’s current plan for its two major platforms. While some users worry about platform fragmentation, and others worry that the juggernaut of iOS will subsume their beloved OS X, it seems pretty clear that the company is splitting future development into two separate but parallel paths. I was in the audience at June’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, when Apple rolled out its plans for both iOS 6 and Mountain Lion. It occurred to me then that the coincidence of features is creating parity, not convergence, between the two operating systems. For example, the goal of adding iOS-first apps (such as Reminders and Notes) to Mountain Lion…

REVIEW The new Mac Pros have the same upgradable case, the same graphics cards, and even the same ports as its predecessor. However, Macworld Lab’s test results show that the new Mac Pros are considerably faster than the systems they replace. The Mac Pros aren’t cheap. The new low-end Mac Pro costs $2499 and comes with a 3.2GHz quad-core Xeon W3565 processor and 6GB of 1066 DDR3 RAM. The $3799 Mac Pro has a pair of six-core 2.4GHz Xeon E5645 processors, and 12GB of 1333 DDR3 RAM. Both systems have 7200-rpm 1TB hard drives and ATI Radeon HD 5770 PCI Express graphics cards with 1GB of video memory. The new Mac Pros lack Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, and the latest processor technology. It would’ve been nice if Apple had included Thunderbolt…

The Latest on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and App Store Mountain Lion may be getting all the attention these days, but there’s no need for iPhone and iPad owners to feel left out—your OS update is coming soon. During its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple gave the world its first glance at iOS 6, the next major update to the company’s mobile operating system. Continuing Apple’s tradition of an annual iOS update, this latest version boasts plenty of new features and enhancements—more than 200, according to Apple. We can’t possibly cover all of them here, but we have an overview of what to expect from iOS 6. The Basics You’ll have to wait a bit before you can install iOS 6. Apple says it’s not going to arrive…

Not every new iOS feature gets its fair share of time in the spotlight. We may be focusing on Siri and Maps when it comes to Apple’s next mobile operating system, but this fall’s update promises a number of little changes that are each impressive in their own way. Here are three iOS enhancements you might have overlooked during Apple’s iOS sneak peek. New Share Screen In iOS 5, when you tap to share a photo, you get a long list of sharing actions to choose from—posting to Twitter, sending an email or iMessage, and other options. iOS 6 adds Facebook sharing as an option—part of the systemwide Facebook integration planned for this update—along with sharing to various Chinese social networks. (That’s a nod to how important the Chinese market…

The next time you’re waiting to catch a flight, an iPad could be on hand to help you pass the time—if your flight departs from a terminal where restaurant operator OTG does business. Over the summer, OTG began deploying more than 7000 iPads at three airports. Travelers at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, and the Toronto Pearson International Airport will soon be able to use the tablets to order food at OTG’s eateries, check their flight status, surf the Web, and otherwise unwind before boarding their flights. OTG has set up iPads in both the restaurants it operates and the hold areas around gates. A visual menu lets users order food from OTG’s restaurants via the iPads, with orders delivered in 15 minutes or less. The…

Ski Safari GAMES Great gameplay is enough to get you started with an iOS game, but it’s the evolving challenges that keep you coming back for more. Ski Safari delivers on both counts. The side-scrolling casual game puts you in the ski boots of a mountaineer trying to stay one step ahead of an onrushing avalanche: Your mission is to survive as long as possible, performing flips, collecting coins, and picking up creatures like penguins and yetis along the way. Mini-challenges such as performing a triple backflip or hitching a ride on an eagle increase your bonus points and keep your interest in Ski Safari from melting away. —PHILIP MICHAELS iPhone/iPad | 4.5/5.0; $1; Defiant Development Maplets 2.4.1 REFERENCE Maplets boldly goes where the built-in Maps app doesn’t—to national parks,…

ORGANIZATION: Gemini 1.1 Gemini 1.1 (4.0/5.0) makes finding duplicate files on your Mac a bit easier—and a bit more fun. Gemini combs through your folders, spitting out snarky phrases while you wait. Once it has scanned your files, the app morphs into an iTunes-esque interface, showing you where your dupes are hiding. Gemini’s sniffer engine matches the content of the duplicate rather than the filename alone; if you’ve named the same picture with two different titles, the app will tie them together as duplicates ($10; MacPaw; macpaw.com). —SERENITY CALDWELL UTILITIES: Speed Download 5.3 In a sense, Speed Download (3.5/5.0) is really two applications in one—a simple download manager and a more complex download and FTP manager—and the app allows you to switch between the two. Speed Download can download individual…

UTILITIES: Battery Status 1.11 Battery Status (4.0/5.0) will appeal to Mac laptop and desktop users who also own Apple’s Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse, or Wireless Keyboard: It provides information about the battery status of each of those devices. Battery Status’s menu-bar icon displays a graphical representation of the battery level of one of the supported devices or, for MacBook users, your laptop’s battery level—you choose which in the app’s preferences window. Alternatively, you can display the numerical percentage next to the icon, and you can choose whether that icon should be black and white or use colors to indicate status: green for a good charge, red for almost empty, and yellow for a range somewhere in the middle ($2; Taylor Marks; macworld.com/7876). —DAN FRAKES UTILITIES: Clusters 1.5.6 Clusters (3.5/5.0) is…

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER BELANGER Apple isn’t afraid to stir things up, making people rethink how they use technology. In recent years, most of that innovation has focused on the iPhone, the iPad, and iOS. But the MacBook Pro with Retina display, released at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2012, now directs attention back to the Mac. With all the exhilaration surrounding the debut of Apple’s pioneering Retina MacBook Pros, it’s easy to overlook the upgrades to the rest of its laptop lineup. The company updated a pair of 13-inch and a pair of 15-inch non-Retina MacBook Pros, and these new “regular” models offer a speed boost over their late-2011 predecessors. The MacBook Air has also evolved, with better performance, enhanced expansion capabilities, and lower prices. Read on to get the complete…

The 17-inch MacBook Pro has learned that bulkiness can be dangerous to your health: Apple has discontinued the largest member of its laptop line. If you’re looking to pick up one of these behemoths, they may still be available—but only while supplies last. You might be able to pick one up in the refurbished section of the online Apple Store, or get a brand-new model by calling Apple’s online store or visiting your local Apple Store. With the 17-inch model gone, it may seem as though Apple has lost some versatility in its portable lineup. The leviathan of Apple’s laptops usually featured the most powerful processors and graphics cards available, and only it and the 15-inch MacBook Pro of the same generation offered an antiglare option. But if you’re looking…

Q&A Early Mac screens weren’t cluttered. But then, early Macs allowed you to open only one application at a time—and sometimes only one window. OS X’s Mission Control lets you manage today’s advanced computing environment by providing a bird’s-eye view of all your open apps and windows. When you learn how to manage Mission Control’s features, you’re the one in control. Q: How do I activate Mission Control? A: Activate it with a press of a function key, a trackpad swipe, or any keyboard shortcut you wish. If you have a newer Apple keyboard or laptop, press F3. Otherwise, F9 is the default (Fn plus F9 on a laptop). You can set your shortcuts via System Preferences in up to three different places: The Mission Control Pane Choose from a…

REVIEW Finding a stable surface at the right height for working comfortably can be a challenge. Uncaged Ergonomics’ WorkEZ line of portable, adjustable stands makes it possible to try a standing-desk setup without spending money on a new desk. These flexible packages also let you switch easily between standing and sitting. Tabletop Options I reviewed the $130 Executive Standing Desk combo, which consists of the Executive stand for your laptop or tablet, a stand for your keyboard (I opted for the more compact Professional version for an extra $5), and a Mouse Pad. Each stand comprises a flat platform with a pair of three-segment, articulated legs that lock independently at 15-degree intervals. That means you can pretty much take your pick of positions as long as you keep the sides…

Q&A In this installment of Ask the iTunes Guy, I answer questions about playlists, metadata, sorting, and sharing. Q: How can I make a random smart playlist that limits the number of tracks included for a specific artist? A: Start by making a new smart playlist. Choose File ▸ New Smart Playlist, or press and hold the Option key and click the gear icon (the plus icon turns into that when you press Option) at the bottom left corner of the iTunes window. The new playlist defaults to a single condition: Artist Contains. Click Contains and choose Is from the pop-up menu that appears (unless you want to include albums in which there are multiple artists; in that case, leave it as Contains). Then check the box next to Limit…

HARDWARE: JBL OnBeat Xtreme The OnBeat Xtreme is a Bluetooth-enabled dock-cradle speaker system for the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. So that it can be all things to all devices, the Xtreme ships with a pair of adapter clips for its cradle. Its appearance might not suit everyone, but even if you like the futuristic look, you should ask yourself how you intend to use the system. If you like to frequently pop iPhones and iPads in and out of compatible speaker docks for charging and music playback, the OnBeat Extreme is certainly not ideal—you’re not going to want to pry off a clip and put a different one on it each time you switch devices. But if you plan to dock a single device or to primarily use Bluetooth playback—and…

When reviewing photos using the LCD on the back of my camera, I find it fun to hold down the navigation button and let the camera quickly zip through all the images. Especially since I frequently shoot in burst mode—holding the shutter button to shoot several shots in succession—the effect is enticing, almost like watching a stop-motion animation movie. So on my daughter’s birthday, I thought, why not try to achieve the same effect on the Mac? Instead of pulling out just a handful of really good photos, I’d combine them all to make a movie that resembled the experience of scanning all those shots on the camera. Build in iMovie Here’s how to do it. 1. Import the photos into iPhoto, where they appear grouped into a new event.…

Answering Your Questions and Sharing Your Tips about Getting the Most from Your Mac Make Mail Dock Icon Show Important Messages Seeing the important email messages among all the others cluttering your inbox is difficult. But one reader figured out a way to have the badge on Mail’s Dock icon display only the count of the messages you really care about—those from people you know. To set it up, first create a new rule: Go to Mail ▸ Preferences and click Rules, and then Add Rule. Name the rule ‘Personal Email’ and then define it: It should match any of the following conditions: Sender Is In My Previous Recipients or Sender Is In My Address Book. For messages that match one or both of those criteria, the rule’s action should…

Gifting Mac Applications Q: Is there a way to gift an application from the Mac App Store as you can within the iOS App Store? Via the Internet A: Unlike the App Store on your iOS device or in iTunes, the Mac App Store doesn’t provide a Gift This App link. What I suggest you do instead is launch iTunes, click the iTunes Store link, and then click the Buy iTunes Gifts link on the store’s home page. On the resulting iTunes Gifts page, click the Buy Now link in the Email Gift Certificates area, purchase a gift certificate that covers the cost of the application you want to gift, and then issue the gift certificate to the object of your affection. Next, open the Mac App Store, select the…

Moving Mountain Lions ROARING TO THE SCENE Apple is not a company that revels in legacy technology. The answer is clear: If you don’t want to use Mountain Lion, you don’t want to use a Mac. Either accept it or find a new platform. Jasonmwa, via the Macworld.com forums Drag-and-drop files in screen sharing might be a small addition, but it will prove incredibly useful! jowie, via the Macworld.com forums I have been using a Mac for the last seven years, and I am honestly happy with the direction Apple is taking with this upcoming OS. The convergence of social media with OS X will make my MacBook a truly personal computer. Some people may be turned off by this, but if you use your Mac for work, remember that…

REVIEW With the same $99 price as its predecessors, the new AirPort Express Wi-Fi base station is powerful enough to serve a single-floor home or to act as a main base station to which other base stations are chained. Previously, doing either of these things would have required Apple’s $179 AirPort Extreme base station, or a Time Capsule. In a significant improvement, the Express now lets you use both 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands of 802.11n at once (known as simultaneous dual-band). Previously, you had to choose one band. The old AirPort Express had a single ethernet port, but the new model includes a second one. One ethernet port (labeled WAN) is used to connect to a broadband modem; the other port (labeled LAN) can be used by a single computer…

Siri learns a few new things with iOS 6, and it gets a new venue in which to show off its knowledge. Previously, Apple’s voice-activated personal assistant could only respond to queries from iPhone 4S users. Now, third-generation iPad owners will be able to pepper Siri with questions once iOS 6 arrives in the fall. And Siri will be able to handle more types of questions then, too. Sports Siri has apparently been studying the sports pages since its fall 2011 introduction, because now it can tell you the scores of last night’s game if you ask. Siri can also answer questions about individual player statistics (What is Joey Votto’s batting average?), standings (Who is in first place in the American League West?), and schedules (When is the New York…

Who needs contracts? Certainly not iPhone users anymore—as long as you’re willing to pay a higher price up front. A pair of prepaid wireless carriers—Cricket and Virgin Mobile—now offer wireless service for both the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S. And the monthly fees compare quite favorably to those of the iPhone’s three major U.S. carriers. Cricket’s $55 a month prepaid plan includes unlimited voice, SMS, and data—although that last category comes with an asterisk, thanks to the company’s fair usage policy, which limits data to 2.3GB a month before data delivery gets throttled. Virgin Mobile offers 300 minutes for $30 per month, 1200 minutes for $40 per month, and unlimited minutes for $50 per month. (Note that those prices reflect a $5 discount that applies when you opt for…

Your iPad is getting some backing from Apple in the form of the iPad Smart Case (macworld.com/7844). Like the Smart Cover it replaces (4.0/5.0; macworld.com/7055), the Smart Case folds up into a stand and automatically puts your iPad to sleep and wakes it as you close and open the cover. But unlike the Smart Cover, this $49 iPad accessory protects the back of your tablet as well as the front. The polyurethane Smart Case comes in dark gray, light gray, blue, pink, green, and (Product) red; it doesn’t have a leather option, but you can get custom laser engraving on the back of the case if you order it from Apple’s online store.…

HARDWARE: Adonit Jot Flip Adonit’s Jot Flip looks to fill the need for the stylus-pen combo still treasured by those users who cling to paper and pen. Rather than settling for the cheap-feeling ballpoint found in other two-in-one models, the Flip has a silky smooth pen tip that’s a pleasure to work with. The Flip’s body also boasts the proper weight and balance for writing on an iPad screen. 3.5/5.0; $40; Adonit; adonit.net Flygrip Navigating your iPhone 4 or 4S with a single hand becomes a little easier with the Flygrip. A little piece of plastic, the Flygrip lets you hold your iPhone in a more comfortable, secure manner, offering your grip a greater range of motion. It also doubles as a kickstand that’s usable in both portrait and landscape…

AUDIO: READOMATOR 1.0.2 Instapaper has been a favorite app among iOS users since it first launched in 2008. Now Instapaper fans have Readomator (3.5/5.0), a client that works with iTunes to convert your saved Instapaper articles into podcasts. Launch Readomator and sign in with your Instapaper account, and you’re greeted with a list of your saved Instapaper articles. Turn the podcast switch on, and iTunes begins converting your saved articles into podcasts. The podcast quality is surprisingly good, though getting used to the cadence of the automated voice took a while. Play around with the settings in Readomator’s preferences until you find a voice and speed that works for you ($4; Gray Goo Labs; graygoolabs.com). —KARISSA BELL MUSIC: Enqueue 1.0.1 Since iTunes doesn’t support FLAC, the open-source lossless audio format…

SOCIAL NETWORKING: Favs 1.0.4 Every day, I “like” posts on Facebook, bookmark articles in Instapaper, mark favorite tweets on Twitter, and save videos on YouTube. Sometimes I forget where I first saw an interesting story or link. Favs (4.5/5.0) integrates with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instapaper, Delicious, Google Reader, Instagram, Pinboard, and Vimeo to bring your favorites together into one sleek, comprehensive package. Favs loads your favorites from each authorized social network and separates them by source in its main window—it makes sense of all that content by organizing it into a manageable state ($10; Dirk Holtwick; favsapp.com). —BRENDAN WILHIDE PRODUCTIVITY: CAFFEINATED 1.2.2 No matter how many times I try to make a Google Reader Mac client part of my daily routine, I always seem to go back to Google’s Web…

If you do nab a new Retina MacBook Pro, be warned: It might be a while before your apps look as sharp as the screen itself. Apple is already updating its own applications for the Retina display, but third-party developers such as Adobe and Autodesk say that they’ll need time to ship Retina-optimized versions of their apps. While Apple used Photoshop and AutoCAD in its intro-ductory demo of the Retina MacBook Pros, those were both unreleased versions. Adobe expects to release an updated version of Photoshop later this year; Autodesk does not yet have any officially stated plans for AutoCAD. Such lag times for Retina-optimized Mac apps shouldn’t create major problems, but it may remind some users of what happened when Apple upgraded the iPad to a Retina display: Unoptimized…

In a few short years, the MacBook Air has gone from an expensive technology experiment to a successful product firmly established as the heart of Apple’s laptop line. In fact, the new models might just be making the MacBook Pro line a little nervous. FAMILIAR ON THE OUTSIDE The laptop’s external design has remained essentially the same. Both the 11-inch and 13-inch Airs are thin wedges of unibody aluminum—just under 0.7 inch thick in the back and just over 0.1 inch thick in the front. The 13-inch Air weighs just under 3 pounds, with the 11-inch version weighing in at just under 2.4 pounds. The screen is, as before, great. With a resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels on the 11-inch model and 1440 by 900 on the 13-inch one,…

GreenSmart’s $55 Kea Laptop Daypack, a medium-size backpack with a built-in laptop sleeve and plenty of smaller pockets, is very comfortable to wear, and it’s eco-friendly too, as it’s made from recycled plastic bottles (store.greensmart.biz). The backpack has a 14-inch, padded laptop sleeve that’s a great fit for a 13-inch MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. It also includes two smaller mesh pockets (either of them great for an iPhone) and one larger zippered pouch (suitable for your MacBook’s charger). A zippered pocket on the outside of the bag hosts a mesh flap, four slots for cards, two pen slots, and another pocket. GreenSmart’s Kea would be a great option for students who take their laptops to class, or as a carry-on bag—the bag’s comfortable mesh padded shoulder straps and back…

Google+ Hangouts, Google’s online video-chat technology, offers a simple way for people to get together and meet, no external software required. The video service also integrates with Google’s other free tools, so that you can talk while working with others on a Google Doc or share a computer screen when troubleshooting. Start a Hangout Most online chatters are familiar with using Skype (www.skype.com) or Apple’s iChat, but Google+ Hangouts eschews the separate software requirement in favor of browser-based videoconferencing. This helps keep Google+ Hangouts simple for participants and makes it possible to chat without difficulty even if people are on other platforms, such as Windows. To start a hangout session, you need a Google+ account. If you already have a Gmail account or another Google service account, those credentials will…

Spotify is moving into Pandora-style Internet radio with a revamped iOS app that includes a mobile radio service for paid and free users (www.spotify.com). Spotify’s new service is similar to what it already offers through its desktop app, and it mimics competing services from Pandora (www.pandora.com) and Slacker (www.slacker.com). Spotify’s radio feature lets you create a station (essentially an automated playlist) based on a particular artist, song, or genre. You can also base your Spotify stations on one of your own playlists or on a friend’s. You don’t get to pick the songs, but you can skip over songs you don’t like (you can’t backtrack through the list, however). Free-User Limitations Spotify’s radio stations allow users unlimited listening. You can also “like” a particular song to add it to a…

Elgato Game Capture HD Capturing your gaming exploits and posting them online for others to marvel at has become a lot easier with the release of Elgato’s $200 Game Capture HD. The shiny black box, about the size of a portable USB hard drive, works on both OS X Lion and Windows 7 to capture footage from the iPad, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and other HDMI-enabled devices, and captures at up to 1080i resolution from sources that do not have HDCP copy protection. The software includes simple editing capabilities and lets you share your feats directly to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter; export them to Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone; and send them via email. Additionally, you can send them to iMovie or save them to your Movies folder—useful when you…

Cameras don’t take great photos—but they come with controls that allow people to do so. Unfortunately, it isn’t always obvious how to use those settings. Let’s look at the most common exposure modes in popular cameras and talk about why you would use each one. Auto Mode I probably don’t need to say a lot about your camera’s Auto mode. If you’re new to photography, or just a snapshooter who doesn’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about options, you probably leave your camera in this mode most of the time. In Auto mode, your camera chooses the shutter speed and aperture, and it probably automatically increases the ISO in low-light situations. This mode is easy to find—look for the word Auto or a green camera icon. Program…

Q: My .Mac address works perfectly well on my iPhone and iPad but doesn’t work in Mail on my MacBook Pro. I get login errors whenever I try to use it. I’ve entered my password time and again (I even tried some older passwords), with no luck. Is there a way to reset the account so it works again? Matthew Hansman A: You could start over. To do that, launch Mail, open its preferences, click the Accounts tab, select your iCloud account, and click the minus-sign button (–) below the list of accounts. Then click the plus-sign button (+). In the Add Account sheet that appears, enter your iCloud email address and password, and then click Create. Mail then sets up your account, and all should be well. It doesn’t…

The Splintering of OS X If you’ve been waiting for a new Mac Pro, you were likely disappointed by the recent (minor) speed-bump upgrade—the first revision to the Pro model in almost two years. But that update is only the worst case of Apple’s neglect; none of the Mac models are exactly burning rubber on the upgrade track. It’s been a year since the last Mac mini upgrade, and more than a year for the iMac. Similarly, with the exception of the MacBook Pro with Retina display (read the review, page 46), Apple’s laptops have seen only minor changes in the past couple of years. Don’t expect the pace to pick up soon. In an unusual hint about Apple’s future plans, Tim-Cook recently told a Mac Pro customer: “We’re working…

News and Analysis about Macs, OS X, and Apple Apple is advertising OS X 10.8—Mountain Lion—as dead simple to install. But as with every major upgrade to OS X, there are a few things you can do before Mountain Lion is released to ensure that your Mac is ready. To install Mountain Lion, you need a compatible Mac (see “Is Your Mac Compatible?”) running either OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or any version of 10.7 (Lion). This last requirement is very important. Mountain Lion will be available only via the Mac App Store, which requires Mac OS X 10.6.6; and version 10.6.8 provides a number of enhancements that make upgrades to 10.7 or 10.8 go more smoothly. In addition, Apple recommends that you install the very latest updates to Snow…

Wrapsol Original’s Protective Film Wrap If you’re the proud owner of a new MacBook Pro with Retina display, you are probably interested in keeping its screen smudge-and scratch-free. But don’t forget about its body. Why use a bulky covering that not only adds weight to the laptop, but also hides the beauty of the MacBook Pro design? Wrapsol Original’s $45 protective film wrap is made of thin polyurethane and provides an extra layer to prevent wear from everyday use. It’s ultrathin, stretchy, and transparent, with an easy application process (and detailed instructions in case you need them). The film not only protects the laptop, but it’s grippable, too. Wrapsol’s generous warranty includes a lifetime replacement guarantee, so the film will last as long as your MacBook does (wrapsol.com). —LEAH YAMSHON…

Soon you won’t have to ask your friends, “Are you there yet?” Your iPhone will tell you on their behalf. As part of Apple’s iOS 6 overhaul, the company’s Find My Friends app (macworld.com/7853) is set to add a new geofencing notification system. This lets you set up an alert for any of your Find My Friends contacts; when they leave or arrive at a given location, you receive an alert or a banner notification. Like many parts of Find My Friends, this is one part creepy, two parts useful. On one hand, it’s nice to offer people a way to check up on your journeys. For example, when I lived in California, I’d frequently make the drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back again to visit my…

Families who use a number of data-intensive devices could get a break on monthly charges, thanks to the shared data plans Verizon launched in late June. Verizon’s new plans feature unlimited minutes and unlimited texting, with charges differing mainly based on the amount of data shared between devices. You can have up to ten devices on a single account, from any mix of basic (read: nonsmart) phones, smartphones, tablets, and other devices, such as USB modems. You still have to pay a flat monthly line-access fee per device, with the exact amount depending on the nature of the device: $30 for basic phones, $40 for smartphones, $10 for tablets, and $20 for nontablet devices. Data plans start at 1GB for $50 per month, rising to 2GB for $60, 4GB for…

One of the rare apps that started life on the Android platform before coming to iOS, Any.do 1.2.2 (macworld.com/7847) has brought its approach to managing to-do lists to the iPhone. Users can manage their lists with gestures, pulling down to create new tasks or swiping across tasks to mark them as completed. Any.do features autocompletion suggestions for when you type in tasks; you can also enter tasks through dictation. Any.do is a free download.…

It’s a great time to be a Mac user. Yes, Macs are great, but what makes a computer useful is the software that’s available for it. And now, more than ever, the Mac boasts an abundance of free and low-cost software. To help you figure out which ones are worth your time, we researched and tested dozens of free and low-cost Mac programs, and we feature the ones worth writing about in the following pages. Since the parade of new programs never ends, be sure to check out our regular Mac Gems section in each issue every month, our Mac Gems blog (macworld.com/macgems) online, and our Twitter feed (twitter.com/macgems). ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN SNOOK…

ORGANIZATION: Stock Keeper 1.1.4 Stock Keeper (3.5/5.0) offers a way to easily track and manage your digital assets without spending a fortune. The app uses tags, license, payment, date, notes, and other information to help you organize your files. Customized smart folders, like those in the Finder, automatically collect images and other media as you add them to your Stock Keeper library based on criteria you define, making it easy to locate your files quickly. One of my favorite features is Stock Keeper’s Web Search Groups, which uses an integrated Web browser and bookmarks to save websites from which you download stock images or other media files ($19; Minder Softworks; mindersoftworks.com). —JEFFERY BATTERSBY ORGANIZATION: FORMAL ADDRESS 2.3 Let’s say you find an address online that you know you’ll need later…

GRAPHICS: JPEGmini 1.1 JPEGmini (4.5/5.0) produces slimmed-down photos that—to the naked eye—are indistinguishable from their bulkier predecessors. It shrank my image files considerably, reducing 25 14.1-megapixel photos from 85MB to 41.2MB, and I didn’t spot any differences between the compressed files and the originals. This isn’t a tool for professionals, but it works well on an overflowing photo collection ($20; ICVT; www.jpegmini.com). —PHILIP MICHAELS GRAPHICS: ImageOptim 1.4 ImageOptim 1.4 (4.5/5.0) optimizes your .png, .jpg, and .gif files (including .gif animations), shrinking their file sizes—often quite significantly. And it does so without affecting image quality. That’s all it does, but that one feature makes ImageOptim awfully useful to Web developers and iOS and Mac app developers—smaller file sizes save bandwidth for everyone. The app works efficiently, is easy to use, and…

The regular MacBook Pro still has significant appeal for a particular segment of Apple’s audience: professionals who want substantial computing power, but not necessarily a super-high-resolution display—or the steep price that goes with one. Though they’re not creative pros, they may want to occasionally do creative work in addition to everyday business tasks. With the Retina MacBook Pro catering to creative pros, Apple has reinvented its laptop lines. The MacBook Pro covers the business market, and the Air appeals to users who prize portability above all else. SIZE AND WEIGHT The first thing that stands out about the regular 15-inch MacBook Pro is its size and weight. It’s just under an inch thick, but at 5.6 pounds, it’s a humongous beast by the standards of the MacBook Air or the…

It’s been more than six years since Apple first introduced MagSafe, the magnetic power connectors used in the company’s laptops. Now Apple has upgraded the MagSafe on some of its new models. If you pick up a new Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, you’ll note that those laptops now sport a slimmer version of the MagSafe adapter—a technology Apple has dubbed MagSafe 2. The advantage of MagSafe 2 over the original MagSafe is simply its slimness: It’s easier to fit the new, slimmer port into very thin Mac laptops. The MacBook Air uses a 45W MagSafe 2 power adapter; the Retina MacBook Pro uses an 85W MagSafe 2 adapter. If history is a guide, you’ll be able to mix and match those MagSafe 2 adapters, but the lower-powered one…

Once, I actually named my scanned water bill Invoice.pdf. What was I thinking with a name like that? Looking at my water bills folder, I saw no standard naming format; I couldn’t tell if some of the files, such as Invoice.pdf, were even related to the water utility. To make matters worse, my telephone, electrical, and waste management folders for the same year also had files in them called Invoice.pdf. So I had multiple documents from about the same time with exactly the same name. Just swell. Here are some lessons on file organization from a reformed sinner. Keep Filenames Descriptive and Consistent Take some time setting up your filename taxonomy. Make sure you’re comfortable with your rules, because you’re going to be living with them for a long time.…

HARDWARE: D-Link DIR-605L Cloud Router The D-Link DIR-605L Cloud Router isn’t a top performer. It lacks 5GHz support, which is particularly disappointing for city dwellers, who often knock each other off the narrow 2.4GHz band. Its two-by-two antenna array supports top speeds of only 300 mbps (new routers with more antennas are rated at up to 600 mbps). Still, this router boasts easy-to-use remote-access features that will appeal to small businesses and consumers who want to keep close tabs on network activity without spending a lot. The Cloud Router supports iPhone and Android apps that let you log in over the Internet and see which devices are connected and which websites they’re accessing. If you don’t like what you see, you can block connected devices. These kinds of features aren’t…

In a world that’s dominated by Apple’s media technology, other means of purchasing and consuming media sometimes get overlooked. One such option is Amazon MP3 (macworld.com/7861) and its accompanying Cloud Player (macworld.com/a/1158943). Access Amazon Music Amazon provides 5GB of free storage through its Cloud Drive service. Tracks you purchase from Amazon MP3 are also available via Cloud Drive but don’t count against the storage limit. Buyers of a storage plan (starting at $20 per year for 20GB) can upload and access an unlimited number of tracks. Accessing that music is much easier thanks to the free Amazon Cloud Player (macworld.com/7862). The app allows you to not only play and download the music stored on your Cloud Drive, but also play any music stored on your iOS device—music you’ve transferred to…

Half the fun of iPhone photography is editing your photos in various photo apps. And with iPhoto for the iPhone and iPad, users have a great all-in-one photo-editing tool at their fingertips. iPhoto is one of the most packed and powerful iOS photo apps out there, so there’s a slight learning curve when you’re using it to spruce up your photos. Here’s how to use some of the app’s tools to make basic edits. Instructions are based on the iPad version of iPhoto for iOS, but it’s easy to extrapolate the same techniques to the iPhone 4 or 4S. Navigate the Edit Toolbar To enter Edit mode, tap the Edit button in the top right corner while viewing a photo. An editing toolbar appears on the bottom of the screen.…

REVIEW Adobe has a winner of an upgrade in InDesign CS6. The improvements to digital publishing tools and PDF forms authoring, and the numerous workflow refinements, all add tremendous value. Digital Publishing The most visible improvements center on digital publishing—converting content for one medium or device to another platform and intelligently linking content between documents, so that changes made in one place are reflected in the other. In CS6, you can link from one object in an InDesign layout to objects in different layouts in the same document. You can define one frame as a Parent and link it to Child frames in other layouts. If the Parent content changes, the Child items indicate that change with a warning badge so you can update the link and its content. One…

Old Flash Player and New Safari Safari 5.1.7 disables all out-of-date versions of Adobe Flash Player as part of its installation process. However, as Apple explains in a support document, Safari is still capable of working with the older versions of Player (if you prefer not to get the latest one for some reason). To reactivate a previously installed Player version, go to the root-level Library folder on your drive and locate the Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled) folder. From within this folder, find Flash Player.plugin and drag it to the Internet Plug-Ins folder in the same Library folder. Quit and restart Safari. Problems after Using ‘Apply To Enclosed Items’ If you select Get Info (command-I) for a folder in the Finder, and then select the Action menu at the bottom, you’ll…