Indice dei contenuti per November 2023 in MacFormat

While it’s looking increasingly likely that the first M3 Macs won’t arrive this side of Christmas, there is one upgrade you can get your hands on: macOS 14 Sonoma. Starting on p20, you’ll be able to discover all the key features of this amazing – and free – update with plenty of tips and tricks to help you make the most of it along the way. We’re particularly fond of the changes Apple’s made to Messages, and Sonoma’s new wallpapers too. Talking of tips and tricks, turn to p60 and you’ll find 28 hidden features of iOS that’ll work on almost any iPhone, which is handy, as starting on p75 we also have in-depth reviews of the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15. While Apple’s making a big fuss…

Intel has introduced Thunderbolt 5, the latest version of its Thunderbolt connectivity standard, which will go live at some point in 2024. The company promises this will double the bidirectional data transfer rate from 40Gbps to 80Gbps. That should make it a more interesting change than the upgrade from Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 4, when data transfer rates remained the same. There is also a ‘Bandwidth Boost’ feature that allows a device to transmit up to 120Gbps speeds for video content. This mode is only activated when a compatible device is attached to a high-bandwidth display. According to Intel, the new version of Thunderbolt will be able to support multiple 8K displays or three 4K monitors at 144Hz. It can also support refresh rates of up to 540Hz on a single…

APP OF THE MONTH Apple’s Weather app on the Mac is packed with useful data, but sometimes that can be overwhelming. Mercury Weather, meanwhile, is far more succinct, yet never veers too far the other way by omitting key info you really need. It’s excellently balanced, convenient, and really easy to use. Helpful graphs showing temperature highs and lows are front and centre, with current conditions and the hourly forecast at the top of the app. All the information is neatly contained – you can just click the daily forecast to see more detailed stats, for example – which means everything is there when you need it and gone when you don’t. We particularly like the app’s menu bar item, which pops out to show temperatures, rain forecasts, plus hourly…

The way the Mac uses widgets has had a very welcome overhaul. In previous versions of macOS, you had to open the Notification Centre by clicking on the time and date in the menu bar. In macOS Sonoma, you can drag them out of the Notification Centre and place them anywhere on the desktop. You can then review the information they offer at a glance. So they don’t distract, when you open an app on your Mac, the widgets blend into the background, intelligently lifting colour from the wallpaper behind them. It’s easy to get back to the widgets. All you have to do is click on the desktop, and application and Finder windows are then pushed to the edges of the screen, just like they are when you do…

Finish in Pages Ever started typing a note in the Notes app, and wished you’d done it in Pages? In Sonoma, you can turn a note into a Pages document, quickly and easily, and with no copying and pasting required. In the Notes app’s toolbar, click the Share icon. From the Share menu, select Open in Pages and the Pages app is launched, and the note you were working on is turned into a Pages document. Images are carried across as well as text. The PDF (Portable Document Format) is a very important type of file, and one that many of us use a lot today. The way we work with PDFs has been enhanced and improved in macOS Sonoma. Using machine learning, text fields in PDF forms are identified…

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to share your Mac’s screen YOU’LL NEED macOS 12 or later for SharePlay Genius tip! You can’t use Screen Sharing and Remote Management at the same time. So, when you enable Screen Sharing, make sure Remote Management is off. There are dozens of reasons why you might need to share your Mac’s screen with someone else or access the screen of a friend or family member. Perhaps you left a file on a Mac at the office and need to open it at home. Or maybe you have a ‘headless’ Mac running upstairs and you need to troubleshoot it on your MacBook. Need to help a friend or family member with a problem on their Mac? A FaceTime call with screen…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to make your iPhone display at-a-glance info when it’s charging YOU’LL NEED iOS 17 or later Genius tip! Go to Settings > StandBy to switch to a red-tinted Night Mode in low ambient lighting. You can also allow/ disallow notifications and hide notification previews. One of the most eye-catching features of iOS 17 is the new StandBy display. When your iPhone screen is locked, turned into the horizontal position and charging, StandBy appears automatically, displaying widgets, a full-screen clock or your favourite photos, depending on the mode you’re using. The feature operates best if you have an upright MagSafe charger but it’ll work well if you simply prop up your iPhone. In either case, StandBy turns your iPhone into a useful…

IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to share files, media and your contact details with ease YOU’LL NEED iOS 17 or later Introduced in 2011, AirDrop has become one of Apple’s most useful features. It has allowed you to select a file, such as a photo, open the Share menu and choose a nearby Apple device to send it to. And, as of iOS 17, AirDrop has now become even easier to use by allowing transfers to take place simply by bringing two iPhones close together – while allowing some transfers to continue even if the handsets actually become far apart. As well as allowing photos and videos to be shared, you can now more easily share contact details using NameDrop and media via SharePlay. It’s also…

POWER ZONES WORKOUT VIEW watchOS 10 contains a lot of important improvements for cyclists, including the ability to calculate personalised power zones from your activity and from connected devices such as cycle computers. watchOS 10 can then estimate your Functional Threshold Power, which is the highest average power you can sustain for an hour, and tell you what power zone you’re in. In addition to the colour-coded zone indicator – ranging from blue for easy to dark red for super hard – the view shows your elapsed time, your time in the zone, your cadence in RPM and your power output in watts. Speaking to Outside magazine, Tim Cook said that “I really believe that if you zoom out to the future and then look back and ask, ‘what has…

From £399 (41mm)/£429 (45mm) FROM apple.com/uk FEATURES 41mm or 45mm size, Apple S9 chip, Always-On display, up to 18 hours’ battery life, GPS, mobile connectivity options Apple says the dual-core S9 has 5.6 billion transistors, making it 60% faster than the previous S8 Apple’s latest smartwatch looks little changed on the face of it – but looks can be deceiving. In fact, the Apple Watch Series 9 is packed with all kinds of changes, most of them good. For a start, this year’s Apple Watch is slightly cheaper than before with prices starting at £399 for the 41mm and £429 for the 45mm, netting you a £20 saving over the Series 8. It also comes in new colours, with the aluminium version available in Pink, Midnight, Starlight, Silver and (Product)…

£249.99 FROM uk.jbl.com FEATURES Bluetooth 5.3, AAC, charging case with 1.45in touch display; 10 hours battery (8 hours with noise cancellation) The charging case has a 1.45in touch sensitive screen VERDICT A little pricey, but good sound quality, and battery life, and an ingenious charging case. ★★★★☆ + Good sound + Impressive battery life + Innovative charging case - Average noise-cancellation JBL’s Tour Pro 2 earbuds look like just another AirPods clone, with small oval earpieces that sit inside your ear and a ‘stem’ that provides access to touch-sensitive controls. However, a quick look at the charging case tells you that JBL has brought some of its own ideas to the table too. Available in black or silver, the little earbuds are light and comfortable, and rated IPX5 for water-resistance,…

U-Turn Orbit Theory Turntable >From $999 (about £980) > From uturnaudio.com > U-Turn turntables are a rare breed of tech – they’re all made by hand – and the vinyl-playing specialist has recently given the range a revamp. The Theory turntable is the most advanced in the upgraded line-up. The precision gimbal Orbit Arm 3 tonearm, made from a single piece of magnesium and an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, ensures accurate tracking, vibration damping and low distortion. The external silicone belt drive, in combination with the inverted main bearing, results in an ultra-quiet motor so your audio takes centre stage. And the hardwood Theory model use 100% walnut, ebonised oak or oak for the plinth, rather than a veneer effect used in some ‘wooden’ turntables. As the players are…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use all of the best features in the Arc web browser YOU’LL NEED Arc, macOS 12 or later Most of us probably stick to the tried-and-tested web browsers, be that Safari or Chrome or Firefox. But venture outside of the box and you can find some really interesting apps that are pushing the boundaries of what you can expect to find when you surf the web. One such browser is Arc, an upstart app that rips up the web browser rule book in a host of different ways. It rethinks tabs, lets you save live widgets to your own mood boards, and even enables you to redesign existing web pages. There are built-in notes, a pop-out video player, and tabs…

YOU WILL LEARN How Apple’s MagSafe merged with Qi to create Qi2 wireless charging Key fact Most Qi chargers can provide up to 15W of power, but Apple originally limited Qi on the iPhone to just 7.5W. That was increased to 15W with MagSafe on the iPhone 12, but you could only get 15W from Apple’s MagSafe chargers, or third-party chargers that were approved by Apple as ‘Made For MagSafe’. However, Qi2 is now based on MagSafe, so Qi2 chargers should provide 15W as well. Apple was a bit slow in adopting the Qi wireless charging technology, but it now looks like one of the first to get in on the act with the new Qi2 (pronounced ‘chee-two’). In fact, you could argue that it’s mounted something of a…

£109.99 FROM lenco.com FEATURES Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm audio input, DAB/FM tuner Mac FORMAT VERDICT Light, compact design and built-in radio make the PDR-045 a good travelling companion for radio buffs. ★★★★★ + Light, portable design + Bluetooth speaker with DAB/FM radio There are lots of portable Bluetooth speakers available these days, but Lenco’s affordable PDR-045 stands out by also doubling up as a handy portable radio, supporting both DAB and FM radio. Available in black or silver, the compact little speaker measures 68mm high, 180mm wide and 55mm deep, and weighs just 407g, so it’s easy to just slip it into a backpack. It’s sturdily built, though, with a retractable aerial, a smart wooden control panel on top, and 2.4-inch LCD display on the front for selecting input modes and…

Group test Reviewed by HOWARD OAKLEY ON TEST… > 1Password > Bitwarden > Dashlane > Keeper Password Manager > LastPass > Strongbox Competition is fierce among password managers, as they vie for your subscription. As a result, most have near-identical core features, including auto-fill support for a range of browsers from Safari to Chrome, and time-based one-time passcodes (TOTP) as used in two-factor authentication (2FA). In addition to web login passwords, most support encrypted storage of payment cards and other secrets. They also use biometric security, including Touch ID on Apple silicon Macs, and Touch ID or Face ID on mobile devices. They differ more in who looks after your secrets. Most keep your vault in their cloud, making you dependent on their security protection; a few like Strongbox give…

Free FROM ulaa.com NEEDS macOS 10.13 or later Each of its six user modes runs in isolation of one another VERDICT Best suited to those with Zoho accounts, its user modes are innovative, and serious about privacy. ★★★★☆ + Isolated user modes + Privacy and ad blocking - Limited Mac integration - Separate password manager Privacy and control of advertising have grown increasingly important features in web browsers. Safari offers Private Relay with iCloud+, competitors promise private or incognito browsing, and there’s no shortage of ad blocker extensions. Ulaa, developed by Zoho, is one of few that seem serious enough to sacrifice income from Google and other advertising platforms. There’s an inner irony as Ulaa is built on open-source Chromium, at the heart of Google Chrome, uses the same Widevine…

Bigger isn’t always better. But, for some apps, a bigger screen really transforms the way we interact with them. Whether it’s just down to more space for the interface, or easier touch controls, the iPad screen lends itself particularly well to some apps. Here, we’re taking a look at apps for reading, art, video creation, music making, styling documents, and even exploring our galaxy. These examples work well enough on iPhone, but if you want to expand your screen horizons, try them on your iPad. Alex Blake Procreate £12.99 procreate.com iPadOS 15.4.1 or later One of the iPad’s best uses is as a large drawing pad, and Procreate shows exactly why so many artists are drawn to Apple’s tablet. The app pairs up perfectly with an iPad and an Apple…

EXPECTED NOV 2023 UPDATED APR 2021 iMac From £1,399 Ever since the Bondi Blue iMac debuted in 1998, Apple’s all-in-one desktop computer has been setting standards for design and performance. The current 24in model is certainly Apple’s finest yet – thanks to its 4.5K (4480x2520) Retina display and the Apple-designed M1 chip, which is available with either an 8-core CPU/7-core GPU at the entry-level, or an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU on the mid-range and top-tier versions. All models come with 8GB of memory as standard (upgradeable to 16GB), with solid-state drive (SSD) storage ranging from 256GB on the entry-level and mid-range versions to 512GB on the top tier, although you can add more – up to 1TB on the entry-level and up to 2TB on the mid-range and top-tier models if…

When it introduced the iPhone 15 Pro in September, Apple touted its increased repairability, especially for the glass on its reverse. What the company didn’t say was that this means repair costs for the back glass are now much cheaper. Repairing the rear glass of an iPhone 14 Pro would cost you a whopping £519. Now, however, the same process for the iPhone 15 Pro will set you back a much more reasonable £169. Last year’s regular iPhone 14 came with a new chassis that could be opened from the front or the back, which resulted in much lower repair costs. The Pro models missed out on this change, but now they have adopted a more repairable chassis too, which permits the pricing change. The iPhone 15 Pro is cheaper…

When it comes to Macs, there’s usually a decent chance that Apple will launch new models in the Autumn. However, that may not happen this year, if reports from numerous Apple analysts and leakers prove accurate. So, if you’ve been holding out for a new machine, you just might have to wait a little while longer. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and journalist Mark Gurman have both noted that M3 Macs – including potentially the iMac, 13-inch MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro – are now due to arrive in 2024. Apple leaker Revegnus, meanwhile, believes the delay is due to issues chip maker TSMC is having with yields. The setback is disappointing because the M3 chip is widely expected to be a sizeable upgrade over the M2. According to the rumour…

Once again, a new version of the Mac’s operating system, macOS, arrived in the Autumn packed with useful new features and enhanced capabilities. For the last decade, Apple has named each new version of macOS after a Californian landmark, and this year’s release – macOS 14 – is no exception. macOS Sonoma takes its name from a city in the North Bay region of San Francisco Bay. Wes Craven’s Scream was partly filmed there, but the new version of macOS is certainly no horror story. Sonoma takes a fresh look at screen savers and adds widgets to the desktop. New video conferencing features let you place your own image on top of your presentation, and Game Mode lets your games run better by giving priority to the CPU and GPU.…

NEW IDEAS Your in-depth guide to getting more from your Apple kit Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com Master Apple shortcuts macOS Cmd isthe Command key. Alt orOpt isthe Option key. Ctrl isthe Control key, also shown as ‘^’ in shortcuts in the menu bar. The thick, outlined up arrow is the Shift key. The thin, left arrow or outlined pointer with ‘X’ inside is the Delete key, which deletes to the left. Pressing the Function key (Fn) and the Delete key deletes to the right. The thin, right arrow key with a small vertical line at the end is the Tab key, which shifts the focus between some controls. iOS A tap is a brief contact of (usually) one finger on your device’s screen. To drag is…

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to sync and back up your files using Dropbox YOU’LL NEED Dropbox, macOS 10.13 or later The beauty of Dropbox lies in its simplicity… but there are extra features Back in the day, sharing files with yourself and others over email was the done thing. But it’s hardly an ideal method, as it’s an inefficient way to manage your files and clogs up your inbox to boot. A much better way is to use Dropbox, an app that helped change the way we manage our files across multiple different devices. It lets you drop files into a folder that then If there are things you don’t want to see in the Dropbox folder on Mac, hide them in Prefs > Sync…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to create and use Safari Profiles YOU’LL NEED iOS/iPadOS 17 Genius tip! Safari Profiles don’t replace Safari tab groups, so you can have two or more different profiles, each of which has their very own tab groups. One of our favourite iOS/ iPadOS 17 features is Safari Profiles, which enables you to have separate and different personalities when you browse the web. You might have a Work profile that you use during office hours. And then you might have a Play profile for the fun stuff such as social media and other non-work activities. Each profile exists separately from the other(s): if you’ve watched Severance on Apple TV+ it’s a bit like that but without Christopher Walken. And if like us…

NEW FACES This year’s new Apple Watch faces are Snoopy and Palette. The former, featuring Charles Schultz’s famous cartoon dog, may well be the cutest Apple Watch face yet – and Palette may well be the prettiest. Whether you’re wearing an Apple Watch Series 4, an Apple Watch SE or an Apple Watch Ultra, watchOS 10 will make your Apple Watch feel brand new. In addition to the usual selection of new features, watchOS 10 also changes the way your Apple Watch looks and works. The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s visually quite different. Apple’s own apps are brighter and more glanceable, with a unified design that’s coherent, consistent and very clear. The Control Centre has been moved to the side button to make space for a new…

£449 FROM sonos.com FEATURES 4x tweeters, 2x woofers, 6x amps; dual-band Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth 5.0 A tweeter on top is angled upward to enhance the sense of spatial sound VERDICT If you want a highquality one-piece speaker that supports Dolby Atmos, the Era 300 is hard to beat. ★★★★★ + Excellent sound quality + Dolby Atmos support + Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and AirPlay - Expensive The cylindrical design and £249 price tag of the Sonos Era 100 make it the most obvious rival for Apple’s HomePod, but it’s the top-of-therange Era 300 that stands out from the crowd. Admittedly, the 300 is more expensive, costing £449, but its support for Dolby Atmos, larger design and more powerful sound leave the HomePod looking a little underpowered. Available in black or white,…

£24.98 (Pro £34.99)/year FROM eset.com NEEDS macOS 10.15 or later It’s protection imposes remarkably little overhead and remains unobtrusive throughout Threats from malware, phishing and other online crime keep growing. Although security protection built into macOS has improved greatly over the last few years, you may feel that more is required to keep on top of those increasing risks. ESET Cyber Security claims to provide real-time protection against malicious software, including potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) as well as real nasties, together with protection from phishing and other attacks over the web and in email messages. To be of any value, security software needs to be complicated. ESET Cyber Security consists of an app with helpers and two system extensions, one of which uses the built-in Endpoint Security system, while the…

£49.99 FROM hellogames.org NEEDS macOS 12.3 or later There are 18 quintillion planets to explore, but don’t try to visit every one VERDICT An interesting and rewarding experience, but only if you focus on the journey instead of the destination. ★★★☆☆ + Huge amount to explore + Visuals and acoustics very good - Weak storyline - Planets can feel samey No Man’s Sky was released with great fanfare on Windows and the PlayStation 4 in the summer of 2016; seven years ago. N It’s since appeared on the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S in 2020, and even the Nintendo Switch in 2020. Yet it didn’t appear on the Mac – asystem that’s more than capable of running it – until this year. On its initial release, No Man’s…

Forget its new A17 Pro chip, the new 48-megapixel camera and the new Action button, the real superpower of the new iPhone 15 Pro is its ability to instantly turn your iPhone 14 Pro from being a splendid state-of-the-art pocket-sized supercomputer into being a dead weight in your hand in seconds. It does this by ditching the steel enclosure of the previous model and replacing it with ‘aerospace-grade’ titanium. Titanium just sounds better, doesn’t it? Why settle for steel when you can have titanium? And in four different colours, too! Setting the standard The advantage of titanium is that it’s as strong as steel, but half the weight and therefore it gets used in everything from surgical equipment and implants to the Mars rover. But this isn’t Apple’s first experiment…