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Hands on with

the new Apple


Watch p14

The iPhone 6 is
Apples best ever
smartphone p10

Better than a new


MacBook Air? Meet
the latest Pro p58

MAC

iPHONE

iPAD

w w w. m ac l i f e .cO m

d ec e m B e R 20 1 4 N O.95

Turn off app


suggestions
View a stunning
Flyover City Tour

Tag music
with Siri

Add rich text


elements to
your Notes

Rotate a photo
to any angle

Tips
fOR
iOs 8

Delete and
export your
Health data

The iOS tricks that Apple


doesnt tell you p22

HOW TO :
Recover from Mac problems
Browse anonymously on iOS
Keep your files private
Improve autocorrect accuracy

D ec e M b e r 20 1 4 N O.95

w w w. M ac l i f e .cO M

Hidden secrets in iOS 8

Spectacular Mac projects

Shine like a star

With a new version of iOS comes new


features. Some of them are obvious, other
tricks and tips you might not know about
until you read this...

Your Mac is an amazing creative tool,


capable of producing things you may
never have thought of. So let us inspire
you with some creative new projects.

Youve got the talent, weve got the tips.


We can show you some innovative ways to
show off your creative talent, and maybe
sell a thing or two while youre at it.

Play retro games on


your Mac or print
out the perfect
paper airplane.

maclife.com DEC 2014 1

>>> Contents

58

70

13-inch Macbook Pro


with retina, Mid-2014

Divinity:
Original Sin

Has Apples latest Pro blown the


MacBook Air out of the water?

A nostalgic love letter


to the RPGs of old

Start

aPP life

reviewS

create

04

Digital|life

50

iDrive Online backup

58

78

Head on over to maclife.com


for the very latest news.

51

Dragon Quest iv

consider

51

foursquare 8.0

Editor-in-chief Chris Slate


talks iPhone 6 and watches.

52

80 Days

Share

53

thislife

62

xScope 4

Email us your thoughts at:


letters@maclife.com.

53

beyond Gravity

63

typinator 6

the science of iteration

53

Overcast

64

airStream Ma100

54

24me

66

beamer 2.0

06

08

10

13-inch Macbook Pro


with retina, mid-2014

60

Parallels Desktop 10

61

Sound blasteraxx
aXX 200

Apples iPhone 6 in context.

ask
Our Apple-loving expert
answers your burning
hardware and software
questions.

84

Sharing and exporting


your movies

86

Sharing between docs

88

recover from problems

90

browse anonymously
on iOS

11

farewell iPod classic


54

bik a Space adventure

67

voombox-Ongo

92

Keep private files locked

12

the long road to the


apple watch

55

rules!

67

blumoo

94

improve autocorrect

Stat me up

55

Hanx writer

68

Netgear Nighthawk

96

Next big things

56

8 Great educational apps

70

Divinity: Original Sin

71

total war: SHOGUN 2

72

Photoshop cc 2014

74

intensify Pro

Can the creative health of


Apple be assessed by the
quality of its adverts?

75

launchbar 6

75

acronis true image

$50 itunes card

76

Shooter Suite 12.5

What would you buy with a


$50 iTunes gift card?

77

QODe thin type

77

logitech Ultrathin

13

The month in numbers.

14

16

Hands on with the


apple watch
crave
The gear were lusting after.

18

20

68

Netgear ac1900
Nighthawk

the lifer

2 DEC 2014 maclife.com

A few final thoughts about


iPad Plus and iPhone 6S.

61

Sound
blasteraxx
aXX 200

Handmade

With the precision and care you would expect from master craftsmen.

Minimal

Clean and simple design with no excess.

Narrative

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online
Visit Maclife.com
The march of technology never
stops, so neither do we. Get the
latest Mac and iOS news on our
website at www.maclife.com.
Check out our new App of the Day
and easy Mac hacks. See whats

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Volume 8, Issue 12

GeT SoCiAl

FACebook: facebook.com/maclife
TwiTTer: twitter.com/maclife
Hands on with
the new Apple
Watch p14

The iPhone 6 is
Apples best ever
smartphone p10

Better than a new


MacBook Air? Meet
the latest Pro p58

MAC

our AppS

W W W. M AC L I F E .CO M

Turn off app


suggestions
View a stunning
Flyover City Tour

Tag music
with Siri

Add rich text


elements to
your Notes

Rotate a photo
to any angle

TIPS
FOR
iOS 8

Delete and
export your
Health data

The iOS tricks that Apple


doesnt tell you p22

4 DEC 2014 maclife.com

iPHONE

iPAD

D EC E M B E R 20 1 4 N O.95

HOW TO :
Recover from Mac problems
Browse anonymously on iOS
Keep your files private
Improve autocorrect accuracy

MAC|liFe DiGiTAl
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ConsIDER
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>>>CONTRIBUTORS

It was a long time coming, but Apple finally


showed us the iWatch I mean, Apple Watch.
(Sorry, thats going to take some getting used to.)
The September 9th unveiling not only marked
the companys entry into a new market, but it
was also the first time in the post-Jobs era that
Apple stuck its neck out and took a risk. For fans
like us who get giddy over this stuff, the event
which also introduced the iPhone 6 and iPhone
6 Plus had it all: slick promo videos, poetic
corporate philosophy, live demos by the usual
gang, and an introduction to the Apple Watch by
the smooth-talking Jony Ive. Tim Cook even used
Jobss classic one more thing line, which got
the biggest cheer of the day.
But back to the Apple Watch: I dig the design, I really like the look of the UI,
and it was introduced in about the best way possible But Im still not entirely
sold. I want to be, because Ive been waiting for Apple to make smartwatches
more interesting while Samsung and everyone else has struggled. I cant wait
to wear one for a week to play with it to sift through the M&M app icons on
the home screen, sketch silly messages, and share my heartbeat with somebody

Richard moss
Richard is a freelance
writer and journalist based
in Melbourne, Australia.
Hes contributed to Edge
Magazine, Eurogamer,
Mac|Life, Polygon, and loads
of other publications. When
not writing or trying to read
the entire Internet, youll find
him dancing, playing games,
or creating stuff.

but when tech lust isnt taking me over, I dont know if theres a single
defining function that justifies spending at least $400 after tax. There is no
game-changing epiphany here like, say, the first iPod, with its clear promise of
a thousand songs in your pocket.
Well, thats not entirely true: the health features do stand out a bit. The
Activity and Workout apps look simple and fun to use, in ways that might
make even a lazy sloth like me stick with a program. They provide a decent
justification for dropping a lot of dough. My guess is that Apple Watch will do
great out of the gate thanks to diehard Apple fans and outside observers who
want in on the next big craze. Beyond that, though? The device can never be
more successful than the iPhone, since every Apple Watch needs one to work. I
dont think it will match the iPad, either. My somewhat pessimistic prediction
is that Apple Watch will reach the level of Apple TV, a steady B-tier product.
Having said that, Ill likely get one anyway because its just too damn cool.
Thats the real killer app of any Apple product: they are so well crafted that you
cant help but appreciate them.

Look out for


in-depth guides to the

applE watCh
and iphonE 6 in
special digital editions
of Mac|Life. Visit Apple
Newsstand to get the
Mac|Life app

ChRIs slatE, Editor-in-Chief


Twitter: @ChrisSlate

6 DEC 2014 maclife.com

michael simon
has been covering Apple
long enough to remember
the system error bomb with
fondness. Hes sure he still
has a pizza box Power Mac
in his closet, and he wishes
Apple would retro release
the iMac G4. When hes not
writing, hes sharing his love
of technology with his son,
whose first word was wire.

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SHARE

Your opinions, rants & raves

There seems to be a trend of portable


devices getting bigger, but I am a
traditionalist who prefers the smallersized iPhone, primarily because it
fits in my pocket. I even traded my
original full-sized iPad for an iPad
mini because I can hold it in one hand.
The key for me is functionality. What
do you think? cRAiG GHolSToN
Im with you, Craig I need to be able
to comfortably carry an iPhone in my
pocket. But since I have roomy pockets,
a fatter phone like the iPhone 6 Plus
still fits in fine. I dont think that larger
devices will push out smaller ones, at least, I hope not. But rather, well
have a wider variety of options to more perfectly match our individual
needs. For example, if you already own an iPad, you might not need to
have a 5.5-inch iPhone. A 4-inch iPhone 5s or a 4.7-inch iPhone 6 might
suit. Dont own an iPad? The iPhone 6 Plus might be ideal.

wish You were Here?

Try not to look like


youre having too
much fun in your
photos, Jamey, for
your wifes sake.

Im going on a round-the-world trip


soon. Any way I can send photos
to my Apple TV at home while Im
away, so my wife can see my pics?
Right now, my Apple TV shows a
custom folder of fine art when TV
or Netflix is paused. Ill be traveling
with an iPhone 5 (maybe a 6) and
an iPad. JAmEY

Jamey, what youre asking


couldnt be easier: just make sure
your Apple TV is set up to view
your Photo Stream, and that
your ioS device has my Photo
Stream switched on in Settings
> Photos & camera. whenever
you connect to wi-Fi while
youre out and about, your latest
pics will automatically upload
to your photo collection in the
cloud. Your wife will be able to
view them via Apple TV, icloud.
com, or another ioS device that
shares your Photo Stream while
she curses your name for leaving
her at home.

off keys
I type a lot on my iPhone 4s, and
the thing I want most is a keyboard
with tab, esc, and arrow keys.
Arrow keys especially, because

SHARE wiTH US!


8 DEC
AUG 2014
2014 maclife.com
maclife.com

Dont like Apples onscreen keyboard?


With iOS 8, you can ditch it for another.

the touch placement of the cursor


can be hit or miss. The app called
Arrow Note uses arrow keys, and it
makes life so much easier. If Apple
doesnt at least make them an
optional addition to the keyboard,
I will buy an Android for my next
phone. mARk HilES
i figure this is a good opportunity
to remind everyone that ioS 8
supports custom system-wide
keyboards from third-party
developers such as Fleksy.
before long there should be loads
to choose from, with options
to serve just about anyones
preferences. i strongly suggest
giving them a go before switching
to the dark side.

burned
I never knew that Roxio (the
makers of Toast) had such a sense
of humor. While recently upgrading
my version of Toast, the company
tried to sell me a backup disk for
$16.99, a whopping 28 percent of
the upgrade price. How ironic! Im
buying software thats purpose is
to burn disks. For 39 cents, I can
burn my own backup disk using
guess what? Toast!
Rick obERNDoR

EmAil: letters@maclife.com
FAcEbook: facebook.com/maclife TwiTTER: twitter.com/maclife

START
FEED YOUR MIND. FEAST YOUR EYES.

GO
do more with
iPhone, iPad
and ioS 8
p22

The Science of Iteration


The iPhone 6 models are the latest evolution of a
smartphone that has been slowly improving since 2008.
BY DEAN EvANS

ThE NEw 64-BIT IPhONES are here

A YEAR lATER, Apple launched the 3GS.

IN 2010, APPlE REvEAlED the iPhone 4

the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch

In this case, the S stood for speed. The

with a new design (although incorporating

iPhone 6 Plus, both stunningly slim and

3GS used the same hardware design as

the antenna in the frame would prove

equipped with Retina HD displays and A8/

the 3G, but it offered other incremental

problematic). Not only did it get a speed

M8 processors. Apple has been steadily

improvements, notably Apples first

bump, but its 640 x 960 pixel Retina

improving aspects of the iPhone since

SoC (System On a Chip), which squeezed

display set the bar for smartphone

2008 when the 3G model introduced tri-

together an an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU and

screens. The iPhone 4 also got two new

band UMTS/HSPDA, A-GPS, 3G data, and

a PowerVR SGX 535 graphics chip. The

cameras a 5MP rear snapper and a front

a headphone jack that would work with

3GS wasnt just faster. A 3.2 megapixel

facing camera for iOS 4s new FaceTime

all 3.5mm headphones. The iPhone OS 2.0

camera replaced the original 2MP sensor,

feature. The iPhone 4 was the first iPhone

software memorably introduced a small

while video capture and voice control was

to support CDMA networks, the first to use

improvement known as the App Store.

supported in the new OS 3.0.

a micro-SIM, and the first iPhone in space.

10 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

Yes. Space. The iPhone 4 was shuttled


up into orbit to run experiments on the
International Space Station.
FOllOwINg ON FROM the wildly successful
iPhone 4, 2011s iPhone 4S (the first
iPhone launched by Tim Cook) applied
iterative improvements without messing
with the hardware design. The S did have
more Speed it replaced the A4 with the

A fond farewell to the


iPod classic
As the new iPhone 6 models launch, we say
goodbye to an old friend BY jERRY DONlAN

A5. Apple also upped the camera to 8MP,


while iOS 5 introduced iCloud, iMessage,
and the Notification Center. The S could
also stand for Siri, which appeared first
on the 4S.
ENTER ThE IPhONE 5 in 2012 and time for
an all-new look. Notable for its 4-inch,
640 x 1,136 pixel display, it marked the
first time that the LCD panel size had
increased. The iPhone also debuted a faster
A6 CPU, double the RAM, iOS 6, a 1.2MP
front camera, LTE, and the Lightning
connector. Oh, and Apple Maps.
All OF whIch BRINgS us to last years
iPhone 5S and 5C - the first time that
Apple launched two new handsets. The
5S was the speedy option, introducing the
Touch ID fingerprint sensor, improved
camera features, and a dual-LED flash.
It accelerated past the old iPhone 5 with
a 64-bit A7 processor, added an M7
motion coprocessor, and launched the
flat-looking iOS 7. The 5C was a colorful
revamp of the 5 with a polycarbonate case.
YOU cAN SEE hOw far the iPhone has
changed in only seven years. If the
changes dont seem impressive, consider
that 20 years ago, IBM launched the
worlds first smartphone the Simon
Personal Communicator. It could
send faxes and emails via its 4.5-inch
monochrome touchscreen LCD, plus it
included a calendar, calculator, and a note

wITh All ThE TAlk of iPhone 6,


iPhone 6 Plus, and the forthcoming
Apple Watch, you might not have
noticed that Apple has quietly retired
one of its most successful products.
After 13 years, we say a fond
farewell to the iPod Classic. The first
generation model was introduced way
back in 2001, and laying down $399
bought you 5GB of storage space
(enough for 1,000 songs), a mono
LCD, and a unique, mechanical click
wheel for scrolling effortlessly
through your digital music library.
Its impact shouldnt be
underestimated. Back in 2001, Steve
Jobs said: With iPod, Apple has
invented a whole new category of
digital music player that lets you put
your entire music collection in your
pocket and listen to it wherever you

go. With iPod, listening to music will


never be the same again.
How right he was. The iPod Classic
fundamentally changed the way we
listened to music. The Sony Walkman
might have freed us from home hi-fi
units, but the iPod enabled us to ditch
our cassette tapes and CDs, to skip
and shuffle through our songs, and to
create playlists of our favorite tracks.
Its FireWire transfer speeds, which
enabled you to you download an
entire CD into your iPod in under 10
seconds, seemed like magic.
When iTunes Music Store
integration was introduced in 2003, it
also changed the way we thought
about buying music. And by the time
the iPod Classic reached its sixth (and
final) generation, it featured a touchsensitive click wheel, 2.5-inch backlit
color display, and 160GB of storage
for an RRP of $249. It could also play
videos and display your photos.
So lets pour one out for the old
iPod Classic and remember the
clickety-clackity sound that its original
click wheel used to make. Sadly it has
no place in a new era of big iPhones
and stylish smartwatches, although
the wheel concept lives on in the
Apple Watchs new Digital Crown.

with iPod, listening


to music will never be
the same again.
ST EvE jOBS, 20 0 1

pad. The top phone seven years later was


the massive-selling (but technologically
poor) Nokia 3310, which had a 84 x 48
mono LCD and is best remembered for
Snake II. Weve never had it so good.

maclife.com DEC 2014 11

>>> Start

The road to the Apple Watch


The Apple Watch is the latest in a long line of digital
wristputers that stretches back over 40 years
BY DeAn evAns

All hAil The Apple Watch, with its

A year later, and Seiko-Epson launched

Walter White (Bryan Cranston) has one

Digital Crown, Force Touch cleverness,

the 06LC, the worlds first LCD watch.

throughout the magnificent Breaking Bad.

and colorful app neighborhoods. Its

It came with a groundbreaking six-digit

A CA-53W-1 if were not mistaken.

arguably the most advanced digital watch

display. Six whole digits. Fast forward

Still, watches werent exactly smart

since the first one appeared way back

to 1980, past the barely-remembered

and there were several failed attempts

in 1972. That first digital watch was the

Litronix Avatar and the HP-01 wrist

to combine a watch and the features of a

shiny Hamilton Pulsar, which used an

instrument, and Casios C-80 calculator

PDA. In 1994, the chunky Timex Datalink

LED digital display that lit up at the push

watch captured the imagination by

(I owned one!) enabled you to download

of a button. This digital revolution was

cramming a numeric keypad underneath

calendar appointments and phone

pricey though. The Pulsar cost $2,100 (over

the LCD display.

numbers via pulsating barcode patterns

$12,000 at todays prices).

It wasnt the first to do so and it looks

GO

Point your browser


at maclife.com
for more Watch
news

that strobed across your computer screen.

terrible today. But viewed through a

An optical sensor above the watchs

1980s lens, the C-80 was both useful

LCD received this data and the Datalink

and cool. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)

software subsequently decoded it.

wore a calculator watch in Back To The


Future. Sting wore one on the single

Fossils WrisT pDA caught the eye in

artwork for Wrapped Around Your Finger.

2003 - a chunky organizer watch running


Palm OS 4.1.2. It incorporated a 160 x 160
pixel, touch-sensitive grayscale screen,
8MB of memory, USB connectivity, and
even supported the Graffiti handwriting
system - a small stylus clipped into the

12 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

2016

The LG GD910 put


a 3G phone into a
watch. The idea never
caught on.

The year Apples 2.8 million


square foot spaceship campus
is due to open in Cupertino.
Remote-controlled drones flying
over the site show that work on
the giant glass-walled hoop is

clasp. But the Wrist PDA was ultimately

(MBW-150). Launched in 2007, it

too small and fiddly to be of any use.

was an analog watch featuring a thin

In 2004, Smart Personal Objects

OLED strip, which was used to display

progressing nicely.

Technology (SPOT) was Microsofts

text and caller ID notifications. More

approach to providing at-a-glance

digital daftness came in the shape of

Internet data on the wrist. It used the

the LG-GD910 in 2009, the first 3G

MSN Direct network to receive instant

watch phone. While the MBW-150 was

messages over FM radio signals - stock

designed to work with a phone, the LG-

updates, news, and weather forecasts.

GD910 could replace it. Incorporating

Apple Watch? Considering that

SPOT died a death in 2008, hampered

GSM and 3G HSDPA technology, you

Tag Heuers Monaco Calibre 12

by unreliable connectivity.

could use the 1.43-inch, 128 x 160 pixel


color screen to make video calls.

oTher ForgeTTABle follies include


the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth watch

$350

The suggested price of an

automatic chronograph costs


$6,300, thats a steal.

Did you ever try to wear a 6th


generation iPod nano as a watch?
Although not specifically designed to
be worn on the wrist, accessory makers
like kubxlab and LunaTik produced

The Apple Watch will


debut in 2015, in a
range of sizes, colors
and editions.

(and still produce) watch straps for


Apples square-screened music player.
Available in 8 or 16GB versions, the
nano watch was arguably better
specced than its smartwatch rivals.

12

In truth, the smartwatch only really


started to take shape when the Pebble
appeared in 2013. Funded through
Kickstarter, its 1.26-inch, 144 x 168
pixel e-paper display, accelerometer,
wireless connectivity (via Bluetooth),

The ideal number of random


mixed case letters, numbers and
symbols that should make up a

and ability to run a variety of apps

strong password. Protect your

struck a chord with the geek crowd.

iCloud data and make sure you turn

We have the Pebble to thank for

on two-step authentication.

the current crop of smartwatches,


including Apples Watch. Passing fad or
next big thing? The jurys still out.

maclife.com DEC 2014 13

>>> Start

We didnt expect the


Apple Watch to do so
much but it needs
an iPhone 5 or later

GO
see more At

hands on with
the Apple Watch
How does it look? How does it feel?
Will we want to spend $350 on one?
BY GAreth BeAvis

www.techradar.com
/1131043

The new interface is curious, but with the


Digital Crown and bubbled home screen,
I really think Apple has done better than most
with the way its approached interacting with a wristworn device.
The Apple Watch is neither a fitness band, watch or fashion
accessory though, despite taking a bit from each of those camps.
Its hard to define what it really is, which means that users may
struggle to justify the purchase. Apple is clearly aiming it at the
fashion market, as much as the person who loves to be an early
adopter given that the smartwatch market is still yet to take off,

While the Apple Watch wont be available until 2015, we did


get a chance to see it up close at Apples iPhone 6 launch event.

it makes sense to focus further afield.


I think its greatest chance of success is in the health market,

We say it, but its actually them. The Apple Watch will

as Apple has made this a decent choice for people looking to get a

be available in different versions: the Apple Watch, the Apple

little bit fitter and healthier. It uses the GPS from your iPhone, so

Watch Sport, and the Apple Watch Edition. And each of these

you can use the Apple Watch to track runs or bike rides, although

collections comes in two sizes.

the lack of Nike+ compatibility is surprising.

The Apple Watch itself looks like a small fusion of the iPhone 6

As a smartwatch, the Apple Watch is a pretty nifty device

and the iPod nano. Its not unattractive, far from it. This is one of

too. Its compact dimensions mean that, while its obvious when

the best-looking smartwatches around. But it is on the chunkier

it lights up, most of the time you wont know youre wearing

side of things. While it isnt round-faced like the Moto 360,

a smartwatch. One things for sure, the Apple Watch will give

the design is rounded, which works in its favour. The curved

wearables a big boost in 2015. This is phase one of a much longer

back, which features four visible-light LEDs and photodiodes to

product game and the Apple Watch 1 is a good start.

detect your heart rate, makes it feel comfortable, if a little heavy


(depending on the band) on your wrist.

14 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Book smart

contactless scanner
Floating optical array
Curvature correction
Page turn detection

http://Ez.com/maclife
2014 Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. All rights reserved. Fujitsu and the Fujitsu logo are registered trademarks of Fujitsu Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

CRAVE
THE GEAR WERE LUSTING AFTER

Canary
www.canary.is
$249
>>> This Wi-Fi connected house
monitoring system promises a
smarter approach to home security.
Yes, it includes IR-activated video
monitoring via a built-in HD camera
(with handy night vision mode), but
Canary also includes temperature,
humidity, and air quality sensors, so
it can alert you to other problems,
such as a house fire. Usefully,
Canary learns about your home over
time and adapts to your schedule,
so it will send fewer false alerts
to its companion iOS app. Finally,
because its a one-box system, it
can be placed on a shelf rather
than screwed into a wall ideal for
renters as well as homeowners.

16 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Om/One
http://omone.tilt.com
$179 ($299 for the Disco Edition)
>>> No, your eyes dont deceive you. The Om/One is a
gravity defying Bluetooth speaker that levitates above
its base using the power of electromagnetism. The
clever base also charges the device, with Om Audio
claiming that the final products battery life should
be somewhere in the region of 15 hours. It will be
available in three colors too: basic black, basic white,
and a glittering disco ball edition. The company is
hoping to have it ready in time for the holidays.

Mo-Fi Blue headphones


www.mofiheadphones.com
$350
>>> Decent headphones are a dime a dozen these
days. But Blue Microphones claims that its new Mo-Fi
cans are the first to combine a built-in audiophile
amplifier and ultra-premium drivers to deliver
true high-fidelity performance on every device.
Together with the amp, the twin 50mm hi-fi drivers
can boost and clean music from weak sources such
as smartphones and tablets. Theres also a passive
mode if you want to hook them up to an external
amp. These wireless cans should deliver 12-15 hours
of audio playback and will be available soon.

Noke Bluetooth Padlock


www.fuzdesigns.com
$89
>>> Following on from the success of its EverDock
charging stations for iPhone, Fuz Designs is poised
to produce what it calls The Worlds First Bluetooth
Padlock. The Noke uses Bluetooth 4.0 to pair with
your iPhone and, when a wireless connection is made,
it will auto-unlock when you press the shackle no
key required. The padlock is water resistant and its
battery lasts for a year. You can also set up push
notifications so you know if your Noke is being
tampered with. A morse code-style passcode provides
a backup if you lose your phone or its battery dies.

maclife.com DEC 2014 17

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

>the lifer
Apple might have taken a while to reposition itself
as the market leader, but as luke dormehl
explains, their ads are doing the talking for them

arely a week goes by without

honestly cant remember a single

were finally getting a good look at

Apple being celebrated for

Apple campaign thats been received

Tim Cooks vision for Apple. Instead of

something, but back in August it

so poorly.

the more of the same product lines

scooped up one award you may

Part of the problem seemed to

weve witnessed since he took over

not have been expecting: an Emmy

be a hangover from Apples rise to

as CEO, 2014 has laid out his vision

for Outstanding Commercial. The

being the kind of world conquering

in a way that has been significantly

ad in question was last Christmass

brand it is today. Out went the iconic

different from anything weve seen

Misunderstood iPhone commercial,

ads, depicting the company as rebels

before. By the time you read this,

in which a seemingly disinterested

against a colorless mainstream, and

well have learned of at least one new

teenager with eyes only for his

in came a whole lot of ads that didnt

device, bringing with it a range of

smartphone revealed that he had been

want to make Apple look like the

exciting new possibilities.

shooting and editing a family movie

biggest kid in the playground.

the whole time using various iOS apps.


What makes Apples win all the

What we got instead was wallpaper


music, self-congratulatory celebrity

sweeter is that it comes after an

cameos, and nothing remotely as

uncharacteristically subpar period for

memorable as the dancing silhouettes

advertising. Compared to Steve Jobs

iPod campaign from a decade ago.

laser-like approach to messaging,

With this best product pipeline in


25 years, Apples looking reinvigorated
and the ads show it. At last they

apples looking
invigorated at last
they have something
to talk about

Apples commercials since have often

we also witnessed enemies

felt banal with 2012s Apple Genius

Microsoft and Samsung taking more

campaign ranking as the worst. These

and more potshots at Cupertino, using

ads are causing a widespread gagging

exactly the same strategies Apple had

response, and deservedly so, noted

perfected in the past. Factor in the

former Apple creative Ken Segall. I

obscene amounts of money Samsung

have something to talk about.

was willing to throw at advertising and

Misunderstood might have been

its no surprise that the message would

singled out for an Emmy, but this

hit home for at least some people.

year has seen multiple top Apple ads:

So whats changed? Well, for one

Apples Misunderstood ad for the iPhone 5s


brought the quality back to their commercials.

from the fitness-tracking chicken

thing Apples taking charge. The

fat ad, to the superb MacBook Air

companys been working with the

Stickers ad celebrating user-driven

agency TBWA\Chiat\Day since the

customization. It seems that Apple is

return of Jobs in 1997, but recently it

once again asserting itself at the top

has brought more of its work in-house.

of the heap and that goes double

Apples always been a controlling

for the companys advertising. What

company, and assembling a 1,000-

was it that Richard Dreyfuss said in

person internal ad agency will

the Think Different commercial?

certainly give it that control.

Heres to the Crazy Ones

>>> Luke Dormehl is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula. He is a regular contributor

to Cult of Mac, Wired, Fast Company, The Sunday Times and The Guardian.

18 DEC 2014 maclife.com

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>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

$50 iTunes Card


How would you blow 50 bucks on music,
movies, books, TV shows, and apps?
BY dean evans

How GooGle
works
Eric Schmidt,
Jonathan Rosenberg
$12.99
If this was just another book
about the worlds biggest
search engine by a writer
on the outside looking in,
then most people wouldnt
be interested. I wouldnt be
interested. But this is an
inside story, penned by Google
Executive Chairman and exCEO Eric Schmidt and Googles
former SVP of Products,
Jonathan Rosenberg. They
pierce the Google veil and
write about the strategic
and management lessons
that can be learned from
Googles story, including the
observation that the only
way to succeed in this everchanging landscape is to
create superior products.

20 DEC 2014 maclife.com

THe MarTian

BiosHock

1989

Andy Weir
$9.99

2K Games
$14.99

Taylor Swift
$11.99

Soon to be a movie, Andy


Weirs extraordinary debut
novel has one of the most
potent hooks of anything that
Ive read. A few days into a
mission to Mars, a dust storm
nearly kills astronaut Mark
Watney and his crew evacuate
their damaged Martian base,
thinking him dead. Stranded
on the inhospitable red planet,
Watney has no way to tell
Earth that hes alive, and
even if he could send NASA
a message, his supplies wont
last until a rescue mission
arrives. Weirs novel hits the
ground running, spinning
a hard-edged, tech-heavy,
MacGyver-on-Mars tale that,
even when its about growing
potatoes, is utterly and
amazingly compelling.

If any proof were needed


that iOS is a powerful gaming
platform, then we need look
no further than titles like
X-COM: Enemy Unknown,
Civilization Revolution 2,
and Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas. Now Bioshock joins
the AAA list, ported by the
same 2K China team that did
such a fantastic conversion
of X-COM. There have been
some corners cut some of
the textures arent as detailed,
some of the effects have
been simplified. But thats
it. This is the underwater
city of Rapture, with all of
its Big Daddies and Splicers,
squeezed into a modern
iDevice (check compatibility).
Maybe now Ill get a chance to
finish it.

Taylor Swift has already


rocked the Billboard chart
with her single Shake It Off,
which debuted at a sky-high
no. 9. Its one of 13 tracks on
her fifth studio album, entitled
1989. Due out on October 27,
1989 is the year Swift was
born and she has said that the
songs on this album embrace
a 1980s vibe. If the anthemic
cheerleader chant of Shake It
Off is anything to go by, Swift
is straying from her country
roots a comparison with La
Roux is closer to the mark.

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>>> Feature

22 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Hidden features in iOS 8

pples new iOS 8 software is a riproaring success, brimming with new


features for iPhone and iPad. Weve no
doubt youre already looking at the big
hitters like iCloud Drive and QuickType,
but iOS 8 is also stuffed with hundreds
of smaller updates. Each one puts a tiny
flourish on an already powerful OS.
Rather than look at the things you already know about,
weve decided to dig deeper and find those dazzling
features hiding below the colorful surface.
Features like the incredible new Flyover City Tour,
which spins you around major cities; Swipe To Speak,
which quickly talks through any web page or eBook; and
showing life-saving medical details at the lock screen.
In this article, youll find memorable new iOS features
you havent heard of, both big and small. Weve scoured
the iOS 8 operating system to find the coolest quirks and
add-ons. Knowing these secrets makes iOS 8 even better.
So lets take a look at what iOS 8 really has to offer...

Instant

Flyover

Burst Mode

CIty tour

In Photos

We adore this.

Photos has a

Flyover has a

By
u
lo
y
le
rs
te
at
h

handy new feature called Instant

stunning new feature called

Burst Mode that makes it easy to

Flyover City Tour that whizzes

scan through the huge quantity of

you around famous landmarks.

images in Burst Mode. Instant

Open Maps and enter the name of

Burst Mode displays Photo Burst

city in Search. At the top of the

snaps as a single image in the

screen is a button marked 3D

Camera Roll, and you can quickly

Flyover Tour Of New York. Tap

determine which (if any) of these

Start to begin a 3D tour of the

shots to keep. Hold down the

city. Flyover points out fascinating

Shutter icon in the Camera app to

landmarks such as the Statue of

rapidly take a burst of photos.

Liberty and Empire State Building.

Now open the Instant Burst image

London, New York, Paris and San

in Camera Roll and tap on Select.

Francisco have Flyover City Tours

Tap on each image you want to

available, but were confident

keep, and tap Done. You get the

Apple is adding more cities as we

option to Keep Everything or

write this. If youve forgotten how

Keep Only the favorites (the

good Flyover can look, this is a

images you have tapped).

remarkable reminder.

maclife.com DEC 2014 23

>>> Feature

seParate FoCus and


exPosure In CaMera
Camera now has a
separate manual
exposure mode that lets
you to enhance photos
while you shoot. Tap on
the screen in the Camera
app to focus on that area.
Notice the new yellow
line to the right of the Focus Square? Slide your
finger up the screen to increase the exposure;
down to decrease it. This new function is useful
for increasing exposure in low light shots.

suBsCrIBe to

use touCh Id

rss In saFarI

to end

shared lInks

guIded

Safaris Shared

aCCess

Links feature isnt new to iOS. It

Owners of an iPhone with a Touch

was actually introduced in iOS 7.

ID sensor can now use finger

In iOS 8, however, Shared Links

recognition to swiftly exit Guided

now enables you to subscribe to

Access mode. Tap on Settings >

your favorite RSS feeds from

General > Accessibility > Guided

websites. How does it work? Glad

Access > Passcode Settings and

you asked. Simply visit a website

set Touch ID to On. Now you can

with an RSS feed in the Safari app,

use Touch ID to exit guided access

and tap Bookmarks, then choose

mode instead of having to enter

Shared Links. In the next menu,

your passcode.

tap Subscriptions > Add Current


Site. Current stories from the RSS
Feed will appear alongside stories
from your social media accounts.
This can quickly become an
essential way to keep up with the
latest news stories from your
favorite websites. Like maclife.
com. Or techradar.com.

add to FavorItes
If you still use bookmarks to jump to those
most-visited websites, then youll discover
that iOS 7s Bookmarks have been replaced
by Favorites as the default way to save pages. You can
mark a page as a favorite by tapping the Search bar and
pulling down to reveal the new Add To Favorites option. Sites
marked as Favorites appear above the Frequently Visited
section (when you tap Search) and under Bookmarks >
Favorites. You can also drag icons from Frequently Visited to
the Favorites to save them.

request
desktoP
sIte In
saFarI
This is handy: Safari now
enables you to request the
desktop version of a website.
If youd rather view the full
desktop version of a site, tap
the Search field and drag
down to reveal Request
Desktop Site. This new option
will reload the page in Safari,
overriding the mobile version.

24 DEC 2014 maclife.com

rICh text edItIng In notes


Notes now sports rich text editing
functionality so you can create
more elaborate notes. Tap and hold
on text to reveal the menu, and tap
More and then the BIU formatting
icon. This reveals the Bold, Italics
and Underline options that you
can use to stylize your text. These
are the only options available so
far (we would like bulleted and numbered lists too) but
theyre a vast improvement over plain text.

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>>> Feature

delete ICloud taBs

aCCurate

Were happy to report that you can now

BrIghtness In

delete iCloud tabs from any device. Open

Control

Safari and tap the Pages icon. Scroll down to

Center

reveal the iCloud tabs open on each of your devices. Slide

Sometimes its the little details

your finger to the left across any iCloud tab to reveal the

that count. Open Control Center

Delete button. Tap it to remove the iCloud tab.

and tap the brightness slider to


see the screen light back up.
Control Center in iOS 8 removes

quICk WeBsIte searCh

the dimmed effect when youre

The new Smart Search field allows you to

using the Brightness slider, so you

bypass Google and use a websites built-in

can accurately see how the

search engine in Safari. Tap the Search field

brightness setting will look in the

and enter the name of a website, followed by a search term.

actual iOS 8 interface: its a handy

So you can type wiki and apple to get a direct link to the

new touch and definitely one to

Wikipedia page for Apple (from Wikipedias search results).

play around with.

reMove IndIvIdual
notIFICatIons
You can now clear individual
notifications from the
Notifications screen. Drag
your finger down from the
top of the screen to reveal Notification
Center and tap Notifications. Slide your
finger to the left across the unwanted
notification and tap the Remove icon.

edIt today vIeW


You can customize the new
Notification Center. Notice the
new Edit button at the bottom
of the Today view in Notification Centre? Tap it
to add, remove, and rearrange items that
appear in your Today view. The defaults
provided with iOS 8 are Today Summary,
Traffic Conditions, Calendar, Reminders, and
Tomorrow Summary. More items will be
available here as you install compatible apps.

duCkduCkgo
searCh engIne
Privacy advocates will be
overjoyed to hear that
DuckDuckGo is now available as a default
search engine option in Safari. DuckDuckGo is a
search engine with an emphasis on keeping its
users privacy intact. Tap Settings > Safari >
Search Engine > DuckDuckGo to switch to
getting search results from it.

26 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Hidden features in iOS 8

usIng the all neW


Weather InForMatIon
Open the Weather app and
scroll down to reveal the
abundance of new weather information that
has been included in iOS 8. This new data
includes: the percentage chance of rain,
humidity, wind speed and direction, a Feels
Like temperature, precipitation, pressure,
visibility, and UV index. All of this extra
information appears because Apple has
replaced its weather provider, swapping
Yahoo for The Weather Channel. At the
bottom left of the app, tap The Weather
Channel icon to open Safari and get more
information direct from Weather.com.

Battery usage By aPP

usage tIPs

You can now track the battery usage of

When you view

each app, making it easy to identify

Battery Life in

power hogs. The new Battery Usage

Settings, it may

feature in iOS 8 enables you to identify, and potentially

show suggestions about

remove, apps that are sucking up too much battery life.

settings to get better battery

Click Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage to view

life seemingly based on how

the stats. You can view Battery Usage data by Last 24

your device is used. With

Hours or Last 7 Days using the two tabs. The figures show

Auto-Lock turned off, it

the percentage of your battery that is used by each app

suggested that we enable it,

when your iOS device is not charging.

and provided a shortcut to it.

eu Internet
There is a helpful
option in Cellular
settings when
traveling in the EU.
Tap on Settings >
Cellular and set
Data Roaming to
On to make the new
option beneath it,
labeled EU Internet, available. Set that to
On and then set the Data Roaming feature
back to off. Youll now be able to use the
iOS device when roaming in the European
Union, but not other parts of the world.
Apple is introducing this feature because the
European Union is working towards a ban on
roaming charges for calls, texts and data to
benefit its citizens, starting December 2015.
This may reduce the cost to visitors, though
you should check with your carrier whether
it will impose any extra fees of its own.

enter
MedICal Id
You can use
the new Health
app to create a Medical ID that
contains your personal medical
information. Paramedics can
access this essential data from
your iPhones lock screen. Open
the Health app and tap and
Medical ID > Create Medical ID to
reveal a range of fields to fill
out. There are options such as
Medical Conditions, Medical
Notes and Medications. You
can also tap Add Emergency
Contact and choose a person
from your Contacts list. People
can access this information by
tapping Emergency > Medical ID
at the part of the lock screen
where you enter your passcode.

searCh
keyBoard
shortCuts
Power users of
the iOS keyboard
shortcuts feature
will appreciate
the new search
and index
function. Tap on
Settings > General
> Keyboard >
Shortcuts to view
the new features.
You can use the
Search bar at the
top to search for
both the Phrase
and Shortcut. On
the right is an
A-Z that can help
you browse large
shortcut lists
(these are sorted
by shortcut, not
by phrase).
maclife.com DEC 2014 27

>>> Feature

enter health data Manually

do not dIsturB

The superb new Health app is designed

Its now possible to

to capture data from medical or fitness

mute individual

apps and hardware. Health will be empty

conversations in

to start with, but you can enter data into it manually.

Messages with a new Do Not Disturb

Open the app and tap on Health Data; now pick a

feature. Tap on Messages and pick a

category, such as Body Measurements, and a sub-

conversation from the list. Now tap on

category, such as Height, and tap Add Data Point. Fill in

Details and set Do Not Disturb to On.

the info and tap Add. Ensure that Show on Dashboard is

You will now get no more messages

set to On and tap the Dashboard icon to see the card with

from that conversation until you reset

that health data included.

Do Not Disturb to Off.

delete and exPort

Messages
share loCatIon
You can rapidly
share your
location during a
conversation by
tapping Details >
Send My Current
Location. Sharing
your current
location sends a
map link in your
Message showing
where you are.
You can also tap
Share My Location
to share your
current position
using the Find My
Friends app. Time
options are Share
for One Hour,
Share Until End
of Day, and Share
Indefinitely.
28 DEC 2014 maclife.com

your health data


You can remove unwanted
information from your Health app
by tapping Health Data, choosing a category, then
tapping Show All Data, and finally tapping Edit at
the top-right. Tap the Delete icon and then the
Delete button to remove a specific item (or tap
Clear All to remove all that type of data). You can
also export all your Health data by tapping on
Health Data, then All, and then the Share button. A
small spinning icon will appear in the middle of the
iPhone display as it cranks through all of the data
that has been collected by the app. This usually
takes a few minutes before spitting out a zip file
that you can share via the Mail app.

vIeW only
attaChMents In
Messages
Messages in iOS 8 has a
number of new features,
one of which is an
expanded Details view
that now displays all of
the attachments that
are in a conversation.
How does it work? Simply open Messages
and select a conversation from the list on
the left. Now tap on the Details button
in the top-right. Scroll down to view
all the attachments sent as part of that
conversation (these might include photos,
movies, audio clips, and other documents).
You can tap an image to view it full size. Tap
again to display the toolbar, and then tap
the list icon to view all the attachments as a
list. Tap Done and the persons name in the
top-left to return to the conversation.

keeP autoexPIrIng vIdeo


Messages
You can now quickly
send video clips in the Messages app,
and these expire by default after two
minutes. Be careful though, because
other people can keep the message in
their Messages app just by tapping the
Keep icon underneath the video clip.
You can also keep all messages
permanently by going to the Settings
app, tapping Messages > Expire and
changing the setting to Never.

Hidden features in iOS 8

Photo searCh

add FavorItes to

The Photos app has a new search icon

aPPle MaPs

(located in the top-right) and its a superb

Did you know that here is no

way to hunt down that photo you are

longer a bookmarks icon in

looking for. Tap it to search through all of your pictures.

Maps? Instead, you can add locations to your

You can search for photos by place, album and date. You

Favorites by tapping the Share button, and

will also find shortcuts in the search list for Nearby (which

then Add to Favorites. These precise map

shows pictures snapped near your current location),

locations appear when you tap on the Search

Favorites (mark a photo as a favorite by tapping the heart

field and choose the Favorites option. You

icon when viewing it), and recent searches that you may

can remove favorites from here, too, and

want to revisit.

also search the Recents and Contacts fields.

hIde or reveal the


quICktyPe keyBoard
You can hide Apples dazzling
new QuickType keyboard by
pulling it down. This replaces
the clever QuickType options
with a thin grey strip that has a white tab
in the middle (see the example below). If
you get rid of QuickType by accident, there
is no option to get it back in the Settings.
Dont worry though. You can reactivate
the QuickType keyboard by flicking up
that white tab just above the keys.

rotate a Photo to
any angle
You can now rotate an
image to an exact angle
in the Photos app. Choose the picture in
Photos and tap Edit and tap on the Crop
icon. Slide the Rotation circle around to
finely adjust the angle of the picture;
clean grid lines appear as you rotate the
image. The app silently looks at the lines
in an image, and you may see an Auto
option to straighten the image in an
instant, based on this analysis. Tap Reset
if you want to take the image back to its
original position. You can still rotate
through 90 degrees at a time using the
button at the top-left on iPad; and
bottom-left on iPhone.

hIde Photos
If you have a photograph
that is embarrassing, you
can now hide it from the
Photos app. Open a photo, then tap and
hold anywhere on the image to access
the new Hide option. A pop-up bubble will
appear with Copy and Hide options. Tap
Hide followed by Hide Photo.

turn oFF aPP


suggestIons
iOS will often suggest
apps that are relevant to
your location. If app suggestions start to
annoy you, turn them off via Settings >
General > Handoff & Suggested Apps
and flick the My Apps and App Store
switches here to Off.

maclife.com DEC 2014 29

>>> Feature

reMove the quICktyPe keyBoard

tag MusIC WIth sIrI

The charming new QuickType keyboard is great for quickly

Siri now supports Shazam. Just

tapping in words. But if you find it distracting, you can

activate Siri and say what song is

remove it by tapping on Settings > General > Keyboard and

this? Music tagged by Siri also

setting Predictive to Off. This turns off QuickType, but keeps the text

appears in the iTunes Store app: tap the Menu icon

suggestions (which are under the Auto-Correction setting). Setting the

in the top-right and choose the Siri tab to view all

Predictive option to Off makes the keyboard more like it was in iOS 7.

the music youve tagged in Siri.

sPeak the sCreen

enaBle graysCale Mode

One essential new feature is found in Accessibility. Its called

A new option in Accessibility

Speak Screen, and once switched on you can swipe two

enables you to view your iPhone in

fingers down the screen to speak the contents of any app.

black and white. If you fancy using

Head to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech and set Speak Screen to

your iPhone sans color, then you can do so by

On, then try it out with a web page in Safari. Speak Screen enhances the

clicking Settings > General > Accessibility, where

Safari app as you can quickly get a reading of a web page.

you can set the Grayscale option to On.

read out IBooks and kIndle Books


The Speak Screen option is outstanding when used in
conjunction with iBooks or the Kindle app. With it activated
in Accessibility settings, open a book in iBooks or the Kindle
app. Swipe two fingers downwards and iOS 8 will start to read the book out
loud. It will auto-turn pages and even read out the whole book if you want.
Use the Hare/Tortoise icons to speed up/slow down the reading speed.

reMove sPotlIght
suggestIons
Spotlight Suggestions
(mostly App Store results)
and Bing Web Results
are a new part of the
Spotlight search experience. If they
start to annoy you, turn them off
using Settings > Spotlight Search and
tapping on Spotlight Suggestions and
Bing Web Results to remove the checks
next to them. Alternatively, you can
change the order of Spotlight results
and move these items further down
the list so that they appear below
other search results.
30 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Hidden features in iOS 8

Mark addresses In MaIl


This clever new feature highlights
all addresses in the Mail app that
arent from one domain (typically
this will be your company address). If you work in a
company where you sometimes send sensitive
information by email, but wouldnt want to send it
to an external company, this can be a good way to
alert you when you are having internal versus
external conversations. Tap Settings > Mail,
Contacts, Calendars > Mark Addresses. Now enter
the name of the safe email address (just the last
part i.e. company.com). Now people you enter in
the To field with emails that end in company.com
will appear in grey, but other names and email
addresses are highlighted in red.

CustoMIze
MaIls neW
sWIPe oPtIons
Mail has enhanced
swipe gestures for
quickly dealing
with messages by
swiping left or right
on them. You can
customize these
options via Settings
> Mail, Contacts,
Calendars > Swipe
Options. You can
choose from None,
Mark as Read, Flag,
and Archive. For
Swipe Left, your
choice appears in
the list of shortcuts
that swiping
partway reveals, but
swiping all the way
deletes a message.

seParate language and

sharIng your

regIon settIngs

data WIth

Apple iOS 8 now has separate options

develoPers

for language and region settings

Apple is making it

(regional settings controls the default currency and date

easy to share your crash data with

and time settings). For example, you could set the

developers in iOS 8. You get this

language to English (U.K.), but the use United States for

option during setup, but you can

dates, times and currency. Tap Settings > General >

also access it manually under

Language & Region and change the iPhone language to

Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics &

your spoken language, then change Region separately.

Usage. To disable it, set Share

Handy for anyone who lives and works abroad.

With App Developers to Off.

BaCk out oF the


ICloud drIve
dIreCtory servICe
The new iCloud Drive
has a built in directory
service that enables
people using apps to
look you up by your
email address. They
will view your first and
last name, and apps will be able to link
to you. If this raises your privacy hackles,
you can turn the feature off by tapping on
Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Look
Me Up By Email. This lets you review the
apps that have permission to look you up
by your iCloud email address. You can also
limit which apps are able to do this on an
individual basis. At the moment, there is no
option to turn off the feature completely,
but we bet that this will change in a future
update to Apples OS.

ChInese,
heBreW and
IslaMIC
Calendars
iOS now provides support for
Chinese, Hebrew and Islamic
calendars in the Calendar app. Tap
Settings > Mail, Contacts,
Calendars and tap Alternative
Calendars. Place a check mark
beside Chinese, Hebrew or Islamic
to see dates from that calendar
under the Gregorian ones.

maclife.com DEC 2014 31

>>> Feature

notIFy Me In MaIl
If you have an email
conversation that is
important, you can get
notifications when a new
email arrives as part of
the conversation. When
you are in the Mail app
and a message comes up
that you want to keep
track of, tap the Flag icon, then Notify Me,
and then Notify Me again. Now when a new
email arrives you will get a notification alert.

auto delete

adjust the

your old

text sIze In

Messages

saFarI

By default, the

reader

Messages app in iOS keeps your

Safaris Reader mode now has

messages forever. This

two handy icons to adjust the text

permanent storage can be a bit

size (the same options normally

much if you send and receive a lot

found in iBooks). To use them,

of messages on a daily basis, and

visit a long web page using Safari.

it can gobble up a fair-sized chunk

Now tap the Reader icon (in the

of your onboard storage. Usefully,

left of the Smart Search field).

theres now a new option in

You will see the two icons for text

Settings > Messages > Keep

size at the top of the page.

Messages that enables you to


delete messages after 30 days or
after a year. When you first select
one of these options, it will ask to
delete messages older than that.
If you find Messages taking up a
lot of space on your iPhone, this
new feature is a good way to do
some quick housekeeping and
regain some space.

hey sIrI
You can now activate Siri on an iPad or
iPhone just by saying: Hey Siri or Hi Siri.
Follow up this cheery greeting by asking
your question as normal. You dont even have to pause; you
can just say Hey Siri what song is this to quickly tag a track,
or Hi Siri whats the weather like today. Hey Siri only works
when you are charging the device we imagine Siris
constant awareness drains the battery too quickly otherwise.
Its great to have an iPhone plugged in next to you that is
capable of pure voice-activated interaction though.

the neW
tIPs aPP
Youll find the
Tips app in
the Extras folder. Open it to
find regularly updated tips for
iOS 8 and tap on the Menu
icon to view them. You cant
delete the Tips app, and it will
often send notifications to
you. But you can turn these
off. Go to Settings >
Notifications > Tips, and set
Allow Notifications to Off.

32 DEC 2014 maclife.com

shared reMInders lIsts


One absolutely welcome feature
is the ability to create shared lists
in Reminders, so multiple people
can add items to the list. Open
the Reminders app and tap on a
list; now tap on the Edit button
and choose Sharing > Add Person
and enter the name of one of
your contacts, and then tap Add.
They will get an email message asking them if they
want to join the shared list. Items can now be added and
completed by both people.

15
>>> Feature

projects
to do
with
your Mac
Let MacLife inspire you
with some spectacular
creative projects youll
fall in love with your Mac
all over again!

Words Daryl Baxter, Matt Bolton, Dave Clews,


Ian Evenden, Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Rosie
Hattersley, Gary Marshall, Christopher Phin,
Lise Smith, Dave Stevenson

34 DEC 2014 maclife.com

15 projects to do with your Mac

Make a
comic

customize
a t-shirt

tiMe About an hour

youll need A t-shirt,


a design, an inkjet printer
with t-shirt transfer paper,
or a Cricut Explore with
fabric transfer material

youll need Comic Life 3, photos

lasqs coMic life 3 makes


short work of transforming
p
your photos into fine-looking
comics. Go to plasq.com and
download the free 30-day trial version.
Create a new page and select a panel
layout. Then use the Media browser in the
lower-right corner to find your photos
and drag n drop them into the panels.
Choose from the photo effects and then
go crazy with the buttons in the lower
panel to add classic comic-style speech
balloons, captions, and text effects. Once
you have it all looking great, you can share
your work in a range of formats, including
email, PDF or ePub. dc

Transform yourself
into a super hero and
create your own comic
adventures using
Comic Lifes excellent
templates and tools.

tiMe At least half an hour,


plus designing time

off the excess paper, you

kind of plastic with a

place it on the t-shirt and

heat-activated adhesive,

apply heat from an iron

and it comes in some

to melt the design onto

amazing colors, including

the fabric. (Remember to

glittery metallics. The

mirror it though, or youll

disadvantage is that, in

have a backwards design!)

practical terms, your

This technique is great

designs can only have only

for printing photos and

a handful of solid colors,

other complex designs onto

but the finished product

were talking

t-shirts, but the results

looks professionally made

t-shirts here, but the

can fade after a while,

and should be more hard-

techniques we describe can

and it does look a little bit

wearing. The design can

be used to add your own

homemade. You can always

be as complex as you like,

designs to pretty much

combat future fading by

although its easier to pick

any fabric. Youve got a

boosting image saturation

out the material to discard

couple of options. The

before you print.

with simpler designs.

up some t-shirt transfer

explore An alternative

is nothing stopping you

paper, either online or at a

is to use a Cricut Explore

mixing both, using t-shirt

stationery store. You print

($249). One of the many

transfer paper for photos

your design onto it, but

materials you can cut

and the Explore for the

then, when youve trimmed

using the Explore is a

bolder lettering. cp

>

And of course, there

traditional one is to pick

Make refrigerator magnets


and keyrings
tiMe 20 minutes or so, plus designing time
youll need An inkjet printer, some magnetic inkjet
paper and some shrinking inkjet plastic

>

For the keyrings,


youll need a special
inkjet-printable plastic that,
shrinks and gets thicker
when heated. Design your
keyrings, print them onto
this stuff, and then cut

these two projects

you commit. The key to

them out. Its a good idea

are fun to do with kids,

both is using specialist

to lighten the colors first

inkjet papers.

though, since they intensify

but they dont have to


have all the fun! Theyre

For the magnets,

when they shrink.


At this stage, use a hole

also projects to consider if

you can get sheets of

youre looking to promote

paper that are actually

punch to create the hole

your own business. Sure, if

backed with a magnetic

through which youll thread

youre planning on making

material. You design on

the finished tag onto your

hundreds never mind

your Mac and print just

keyring. Bake them in the

thousands itll be cheaper

as you would to any glossy

oven following the plastics

to pay someone to do the

paper and its easy to cut

directions. You can buy

work for you. But this is

with scissors or a scalpel.

punches that round off

a great method, either to

The magnetism isnt very

sharp corners from all good

make just a few magnets

strong, but its certainly

hobbycraft stores, and they

and keyrings for fun, or to

strong enough to stick

work with the media weve

try out your designs before

your ideas to the fridge.

been using here. cp

maclife.com DEC 2014 35

>>> Feature

create a cheap photo studio


tiMe About an hour
youll need A cardboard box, A3 tracing paper, A3 white card, a pair of lamps, tape, aluminum foil, a stiff board

>

this one isnt strictly

about an inch on each side. Place

object in the box, with a plain white

something you do with your

your tracing paper over these holes

background. Change out the white

Mac, but if you use your Mac for

on the outside of your box, and tape

card for another color if required.

editing photos, selling things online,

them securely in place.

For taking shots outside on a


sunny day, you can improve things

or making videos, it can be hugely

Now, inside the box, take your

useful. Taking photos indoors can

white card and tape it to the floor

using a reflector. Take a roll of

mean you struggle to get enough

and back wall of the box in such

aluminum foil and a piece of stiff

light, adding noise in your photos,

a way that it curves around the

board, and wrap the foil around the

while shots outdoors have lots of

bottom rear corner, giving you a

board carefully (so you dont crease

light, but only from one direction.

smooth white surface to photograph

the foil), taping it in place. You might

For just a couple of dollars worth of

against (if youre photographing

need a few strips, depending on size.

materials, though, you can fix that.

larger objects, you might want to

When done, hold it on the opposite

First is a DIY softbox, letting you

paint the inside of the box white,

side of your photographic subject

take well-lit pictures of small objects

too). Thats it built. To use it, put

from the sun, and see how it adds

on a clean white background. Get a

what you want to photograph

more even illumination for photos. If

large cardboard box and sit it so the

inside, then place a lamp with the

the foil does get creased, you might

opening is upright, facing forward.

shade off on either side, next to

get sharp light reflections that look

Next, use a craft knife or scissors to

the tracing paper panels. For best

like ripples, but you can use these

cut out large panels on the left and

results, use two identical bulbs with

to your stylistic advantage if youre

right sides of the box, stretching

a high brightness. Youll get even,

feeling creative they can look very

almost to the corners but leave

diffused light on both sides of the

cool in photos. MB

Choreograph your own


stop-motion music video

tiMe A weekend
youll need A digital camera, a tripod, a shutter remote control (optional), a stop-motion app, toys to pose, a music track

top-Motion aniMation is easy


to create at home thanks to digital
s
cameras and a range of dedicated
software such as Boinx, FlipBook,
iStopMotion, and Stop Motion Studio. These
apps make motion capture and editing pretty
simple. Making an animated dance using Lego
figures adds an extra layer of creativity and
fun to your animation projects.
First set up the space in which youll film.
Use a plain setting to keep the focus on the
action. Next, sketch out your ideas for the

36 DEC 2014 maclife.com

choreography. Its wise to draw certain key


frames/poses down before you start snapping,
so you can keep track of where in the action
you are. Get your characters using different
levels, orientations, formations, and body
parts to keep your choreography entertaining.
At iStopMotions default setting of
12 frames per second, eight counts of
choreography at a pop-dance tempo of
120bpm requires 48 frames, so be aware
that capturing and editing is likely to be
a weekend-long project. ls

setting up the shots


Use a good light source on
the action. Once youve
got your set and figures
in the frame, make sure
your camera is completely
immobilized. A shutter
remote-control can help to
avoid camera shake. But if
youre using this method,
be careful to avoid leaving
fingers in the frame!

15 projects to do with your Mac

Make your own teleprompter


tiMe A couple of hours
youll need An iOS device, a tripod, tools and supplies (listed below)

>

want to present videos to

a cabin hook; a thick piece of fabric to

camera? Dont underestimate the

drape over the top of the teleprompter;

value of a teleprompter. It reminds you

a 1/4-20 UNC bolt at least four inches

of your lines without you needing to

long, and at least three corresponding

look away from the camera. Make one

washers and nuts; some velcro strips; a

yourself using some basic tools, a little

piece of glass or perspex; masking tape;

time and around $80 worth of parts. You

a drill and a set of bits suitable for drilling

will need: two wooden picture frames

metal; screwdrivers; a suitable saw to

(large enough to sit your iOS screen

cut the metal. Youll also need a camera,

inside); a piece of strong metal or wood

and an iOS device running the necessary

at least 25cm longer than the shortest

teleprompter software, like i-PromptPro

side of your frames; a pair of butt hinges;

or Teleprompt+. ngB

how to

1 Remove the glass from your frames.

2 Cover one side of the metal bar with

Make sure the front is facing upwards,

masking tape. Mark a drill point near to

put masking tape along the bottom and

one end, and use the measurement from

top, then mark the mid-point of each.

step 1 to mark a second drill point on the

This is where youll attach the metal bar.

bar. Add a third two-thirds of the way

Measure the distance between the two

between your first and second drill point.

mid-points, put both frames back-to-

The final drill point depends on the size

back, and mark the location of each butt

of your camera. Drill the holes using a

hinge where the frames meet.

6.5mm drill bit, and file any rough edges.

4 Fit the cabin hook so it holds the

using onion-skinning

set Motion to Music

If you have a supported

Use music with a strongly

Nikon or Canon DSLR you

defined beat, and once

can use iStopMotions Live

youve imported the track,

3 Attach the camera bracket to the third

Preview. This allows you to

use audio view in your

hole from step 2 with a nut. Pass the long

top frame open at 45. Attach the

preview up to six frames

video editor to see where

bolt through the final hole, and tighten

teleprompter to the tripod, and bolt on

of action so you can

each beat falls. A click

with a nut. Screw the bracket onto the

your camera. Attach the hood to the top

compose your next shot

track can help if the beat

front of the bottom frame. Flip the

frame with the velcro strip, draping it

correctly. If your camera is

isnt visibly clear. Your

frame so the bracket is on the bottom.

over your camera. Then place your iOS

unsupported, the overlay

figures need a few frames

Join both frames together with the butt

device in the center of the bottom frame,

function lets you preview

to arrive in the required

hinges. Refit the back to the bottom

open your teleprompting app, and align it

one frame at a time.

position on the beat.

frame, and the glass to the top frame.

so you can see the text scrolling past.

maclife.com DEC 2014 37

>>> Feature

Design your
own teepee
tiMe An afternoon
youll need Five 1.8m bamboo poles, large sheet of 3m nylon tent fabric,
string/twine, Sketchbook Express, vinyl-coated adhesive printer paper, a
printer, dressmakers chalk

eepees are known for their striking designs.


Plain teepees without poles start at around $49
from Etsy (etsy.com), but you can make and
decorate one yourself. Splay out the bamboo
poles and lash them together. Cut out tall triangular fabric
segments and sew their sides together. Use dressmakers
chalk to mark out each triangle, and then add your designs.
Draw teepee symbols using Sketchbook Express or another
free Mac drawing app. For pattern ideas, head to tipi.com/
designyourown.html. Print your designs onto white
vinyl-coated adhesive paper (unless your teepee is made
from very light-colored fabric), cut them out and position
them on your teepee. Keep an eye on the weather though,
because the decals are splashproof, not waterproof. rh

Can there be anything


cooler than camping
out in your own handmade teepee?
Jennifer Chong / jchongstudio. CC Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0

publish your book


tiMe From 20 minutes (plus, you know, the time to write a book)
youll need A book to publish, an Internet connection

>

got a Manuscript sitting

make it easy to publish your

on your Mac that you think

novel. And in Amazons case, of

Make a choose
your own
adventure
game

Best of all, you dont need


to know any coding at all to get
started once you learn how the
links are made, youre set, and you
can be up and running inside five
minutes by referring to the guide

tiMe A few hours, depending on


the length of your creation
youll need A Mac, Twine

at auntiepixelante.com/twine. You

is ready for publication? Scared

course, the book then is made

of the inevitable rejection letters

readily available on its incredibly

from the book companies? Well

popular Kindle platform. For more

now you dont have to be at the

information about electronic self-

mercy of agents and publishers in

publication, flick forward to page

>

order to get it seen by the public,

44 of this magazine.

tool that makes it really easy to

variables to create more complex

produce text-based games that

branching story options, and even


a little bit of JavaScript.

as these days it can be pretty

But you can self-publish real

can also add images to your game


easily enough if you so desire. But
if you know a bit of programing,

twine (twinery.org) is a very

you can take things even further,

low-effort game-creation

such as adding HTML or CSS

easy to just publish it yourself and

paper books, though, and the

work just like the old Choose

to hell with the naysayers.

up-front costs can be low. With

Your Own Adventure books. You

services such as Lulu, your book is

write a page of text, including

eventual product is pretty much

available to you. The one you

printed on demand, with volume

some options for what the reader

just a web page. You could put

might already be thinking of is

discounts starting from just 15

could do next, as links. Each link

it on your website for people to

to go down the digital route:

copies. Whats more, Lulu can also

will connect to a new page of text,

play online, or send it to people

Platforms including Amazon,

push your book to Amazon and

so you can build up a story with

directly, who can then open it in

Nook, Kobo, Blurb, and Scribd

Barnes & Noble, too. cp

multiple paths quickly and easily.

any recent web browser. MB

You have a couple of options

38 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Once your story is finished, the

>>> Feature

redesign
your house
tiMe A few hours
youll need A house,
a measuring tape, a web browser

>

Visualizing how your


house will look after an

enthusiastic bout of DIY is tricky. As


far as painting goes, you can rely
on small tester pots for patches on
your walls, but for bigger changes
such as tiling or laying out a kitchen,
you either need a pretty good
imagination or some self-designed
charts and plans.
But fear not, as Homestyler,
from renowned design developer
AutoDesk (homestyler.com), can
offer you a considerably more
in-depth and precise view. You can
start by laying out a simple square
room, dragging the walls until
they match your measurements.
Alternatively, if you happen to have
the floorplans for your house as a
JPEG, GIF or PNG, you can upload
them as a background and simply
draw your walls over the top.
Windows, doorways, staircases, and
simple room openings can all be
added with a simple click-and-drag.
Once youve completed the
floorplan of your rooms, you can
get to work, dragging and dropping
from a very wide range of furniture,
paint colors, tiles, and flooring,
while Homestyler also gives you the
ability to flip between a top-down
2D view and a high-resolution 3D
view. Signing up gives you the ability

Make amazing
paper airplanes
tiMe A few hours (more if youre competitive)
youll need A printer, a pair of scissors, paper
or cardstock

to save your designs, and you can

But if youre looking for a sterner challenge,


most good inkjet printers have a straight-through
paper path that allows you to feed through thicker
paper and cardstock. This way you can experiment
with heavier models that may generate more lift
and fly further albeit at a greater risk of taking out
innocent onlookers with your bulky creations.
You might also like to try documenting your

give you and others an idea of your

>

own grand design.

persistence?) to build something that actually flies

distances in your yard and see who can modify their

fades with age. Head to amazingpaperairplanes.com

design and throwing technique to produce the most

real-world product models, with

and follow the simple instructions to build reliable,

spectacular distance or aerobatic feat.

brands such as Arhaus, Dacor,

far-flying paper darts. Usefully, the site includes

Hickory Chair, Jonathan Adler, and

PDF templates that can be printed out and followed,

want to try to beat the Guinness World Record flight

Pottery Barn represented. ds

allowing you to test out different models.

time of 29.2 seconds set by Takuo Toda in Japan

export 3D renders of your work to

A nice touch is the inclusion of

40 DEC 2014 maclife.com

the thrill of watching a paper airplane

endeavours in HD with your iPhones video camera,

take flight never gets old, but the ability (or

or for the competitive among you, mark out

The ultra-competitive among you might even

15 projects to do with your Mac

Make a
giant poster
tiMe An hour or more, depending on the size of the design
youll need A printer, some paper, The Rasterbator

he idea Behind
rasterbator.net is that
you feed it an image
and it tiles it onto
multiple sheets of paper so you can
stick them together to create
posters covering entire walls. Your
printer might already have a
similar feature, but whats great
about The Rasterbator is that it
applies a coarse halftone pattern to
the image that hides the huge
pixels youd get if you just blew up
even a 10 or 20-megapixel image to
this sort of size.
The Rasterbator spits out a PDF.
You then just print out the pages
following its instructions, tape
them carefully together into rows,
then tape those rows together if
you just want one giant poster.

You get a lot of control over that


halftone pattern, including what
shape and size the dots should be,
or if they should be lines. You can
choose to print in monochrome
or color, but be wary: if youre
covering sheet upon sheet with
solid blocks of color youll soon
empty expensive inkjet tanks.
A laser printer should be cheaper,
and printing with normal black
toner can still be dramatic in its
own way. Dont feel you have
to stick to white paper either.
Laser-printing black onto, say,
fluorescent yellow paper could look
amazing if you loved the 80s. Even
with a laser youll still be using a
lot of toner, but hey whats that
big printer in the corner of the
office for anyway? cp

back in 2010, or the American-held 2012 world


record for distance, which currently stands at
69 metres and 14cm. The secret to long-distance
paper flight, apparently, is a combination of good
materials, solid aerodynamic design, and having a
thrower who has biceps with the circumference of
a fire extinguisher.
Dont forget that Numbers offers an iOS
version, so you can create a results tracking
spreadsheet on your Mac, and then use iCloud to
pop in results once youre somewhere suitably
roomy using an iOS device. This saves you
scribbling the results down on easily losable
scraps of paper. The truly committed paper plane
designer could even try using a quad-copter drone
with a camera mount to create an in-flight film! ds

maclife.com DEC 2014 41

>>> Feature

Relive your mis-spent


gaming youth by
using a nifty retro
games emulator.

Turn your Mac


into a retro
games machine
tiMe As long you like! (But at least 10 minutes)
youll need A Mac, OpenEmu

nce, if we wanted to play retro games, wed


have to enter the attic, discover the long-lost
console of our childhoods, pray it still worked,
and begin untangling the cables. But the rise of
emulators has given fans of old consoles a different option,
and with OpenEmu on the Mac, its become even easier.
Its like iTunes for your nostalgic gaming needs. Yeah,
its possible to download games from certain websites,
but this is often illegal for commercially released games.

42 DEC 2014 maclife.com

The safer option is to buy a device called Retrode, which


transfers games cartridges that you already own to the ROM
file needed to play in OpenEmu much like ripping a CD
you already own. By dragging and dropping the ROMs into
OpenEmu, the game shows up in its respective console
section with its correct title and box art to boot. Right now,
you can choose from a range including the NES, SNES, Sega
Genesis, the Neo Geo, the Game Boy, and lots more. Choose
the consoles you want by going to Preferences and
choosing which Cores youd like to play from.
OpenEmu recognizes any controllers you have connected
to your Mac. If you normally use a PlayStation 4 controller
for newer games, thats fine. OpenEmu will recognize the
controller, and console joypad buttons will automatically
assign, ready to play. OpenEmu even expands functionality
by adding savestates. This feature enables you to save
your progress at any point in a game regardless of whether
the game originally supported saving. If you want to take
that nostalgic step even further, you can connect your Mac
to a TV by HDMI or AirPlay with an Apple TV, and start
Playing Sonic 2 in upscaled Full HD glory.
There are alternatives to playing older games on your
Mac, such as buying them from gog.com or Steam where
available there are often remastered classics and games
in their original form. Sega offers many compilations, as
well as Sonic 1 and 2 for iOS, remastered in widescreen, even
with a level scrapped from the original fully restored.
Now that youre ready to play, wrap a nostalgic blanket
around yourself and enjoy the games you loved once more,
all from the comfort of your Mac. dB

15 projects to do with your Mac

cure diseases and find aliens


tiMe 10 minutes
youll need BOINC software

>

Once youve chosen your

would you like your Mac

extraterrestrial intelligence, and

of alien life; Oxford Universitys

to change the world? Or at

calculating the answer to life, the

climateprediction.net, which

favored projects, all you need to

the very least help to improve

universe and everything. Imagine

aims to solve climate modeling

do is download the free BOINC

it a little? Then put a BOINC

millions of volunteer computers

problems; IBMs World Community

software, add your project and

on it. BOINC which stands for

working together on crucial

Grid, which runs research into

forget about it: the software will

Berkeley Open Infrastructure

projects. Thats BOINC.

cancer, AIDS, possible drug

automatically kick in whenever

treatments and clean energy;

your Mac is idle and still plugged

for Network Computing is an

Getting involved couldnt

open-source system that uses

be simpler. If you visit boinc.

and The Swiss Tropical Institutes

in to the electric socket. You can

your spare computer cycles to

berkeley.edu youll find a whole

malariacontrol.net, which aims

use the BOINC manager to limit

help with really big stuff. And by

range of projects looking for

to eradicate the deadly malaria

when it runs, how much disk space

big we mean really big were

volunteers, including SETI@home,

disease. You see, when we said big

it can have and how much CPU

talking curing cancer, looking for

which scans the skies for signs

we certainly meant it.

capacity it should use. gM

create a movie theater in your backyard


(and sell tickets!)
tiMe An hour
youll need MacBook, projector, film from iTunes or on DVD, a sheet or plain white wall,
Bluetooth speakers, email addresses of invitees

>

open-air MoVie theaters have

out sunlight. Unless its a low-key screening

become popular again, with many

for around five people, youll also need

towns hosting screenings of classic films.

to boost your MacBooks audio output.

So whats stopping you hosting your own al

Bluetooth speakers are ideal since theyre

fresco screening? All you need is a portable

wireless and can be positioned anywhere.

Mac, some speakers, and a projector, plus


some friends to throw popcorn at.
The projector is the main extra expense,

Download the film you want to watch


from iTunes or insert the DVD you want
to play. Check that both the sound and

of course expect to pay at least $350.

projected image work. Once everythings

Look for a model with a four-figure ANSI

set up, its time to invite friends to your

lumens rating; this indicates a strong,

open-air theater. You can create an

bright picture. Make sure your chosen

event and issue tickets using Eventbrite

projector has a DVI or HDMI connection,

(eventbrite.com). You cant charge for

because youll need to use your MacBooks

screening a film youve bought, because

DVI, mini-DVI, HDMI or mini-DisplayPort

you likely dont have a public broadcast

connection (depending on model). A VGA

license (though you could encourage

projector cant recognize the encryption on

friends to bring cake and popcorn). Make

iTunes films and wont play them.

sure you use the Private event setting and

Other elements are easier. Your screen

check the option to make your screening

can be a plain white sheet draped on the

a free event, with entry by presentation of

wall and secured with bricks so it doesnt

a ticket. Click Publish to complete your

flap about. You could also fence in the

ticket, then invite friends using the handy

screen at the sides during the day to keep

link that Eventbrite generates. rh

maclife.com DEC 2014 43

>>> Feature We can make you a star

e
k
a
M
n
a
c
e
W
Yo
uv
eg
ot
the
tal
ent
.W
ev
eg
ot
the
tip
s. g
ar
yM
ar
sh
al
l

44 DEC 2014 maclife.com

on the
a
r
t
o
f
s
e
lf
-p
romotion

our ground-breaking novel


hasnt been published, your
amazing photos are still in
Lightroom, your beautiful
paintings are drying and nobody has heard
your mind-blowing triple-concept album
However, now could be the time to share
your creativity with the world and it has
never been easier to do so. Whether youre an
artist, illustrator, filmmaker or crafter you can
cut out the middlemen and go directly to your
public. If you can find them, that is.
Because its so easy to put your work online,
more people than ever before are doing it the
downside is that this makes it even harder to
stand out from the crowd. So it helps if
you know some shortcuts
>>>

r
a
t
s
a
yo u

maclife.com DEC 2014 45

>>> Feature We can make you a star

get yourselF connected Connecting with


others boosts your profile. Musicians follow each other
on SoundCloud, which may tempt other bands fans to
check them out. Authors can go to Kindle forums or
post reviews on goodreads.com. Photographers chat on
Flickr or 500px, and youll find all kinds of creative
types on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and on blogs.
For crime author Ed James (edjamesauthor.com),
Twitter was a big game-changer, and he used it to
promote his debut novel. I tried loads of other stuff,
but nothing much seemed to work, he told us. James
also found that Amazon was the only outlet generating
significant sales: even on a bad day he sold twice as
many books on Amazon in a day than in six weeks on
Nook, iBooks and Kobo combined. Today his books are
Kindle best-sellers and he now has a literary agent,
a publishing contract and writes fiction full-time.

>>>

Become an ebook author


You can publish ebooks on iBooks,
Amazon, Lulu, Nook, Kobo, Blurb,
Scribd and Smashwords. Many of
these enable you to create and sell
printed books, too. Lulus good for
novels, and Blurb is great for
photography and illustration books.
Apple is quite happy to accept
your ebook submissions, provided
you make them either as EPUB files
or using Apples free iBooks Author
program. Youll then need to sign
up for one of two accounts: a
Free Books Account for giving
books away, or a Paid Books
Account if you plan to sell.
iBooks is great, but if you want
to go where the readers are, then
Amazon is definitely the place to
be: its Kindle Direct Publishing
program provides everything you
need to sell books online. You can
even upload comic books. Simply

upload your document and your


cover image, set the price and wait
for the rave reviews to roll in.
Its up to you to set the price
(but note the royalty rate: if you
charge a very low price for your
book youll only get a 35% royalty
rate; charge $2.99 to $9.99 and
you get 70%) and write the blurb.
Promoting your book means
finding people to talk about it, and,
crucially, to buy it: Amazons
people who bought this also
bought algorithms and genre
charts are important sources of
sales. Book bloggers can have a
huge effect on numbers too, but
the most powerful sales tool of all
is to have more than one book
available. That way you can offer
one book cheap or free, get new
readers hooked and then sell them
the rest at more sensible prices.

FolloW the leaders Its possible to get attention


by piggybacking on somebody more popular. Canadian
rock band Walk Off The Earth produced a clever cover of
Gotyes Somebody I Used To Know and have been
viewed 159 million times. Another member of the
million-plus club is the duo Pomplamoose, whose
joyous mash-up of Get Lucky and Happy comes with
a video thats had more than 1.5 million views.
YouTube singing star Tiffany Alvord has racked up
365 million video views thanks to covers of songs by
Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne, Justin Bieber, Haim and
Robin Thicke, and shes now using that platform to
promote her own material, her tours and her website.
But what makes Alvord stand out isnt her talent. Its
her work ethic. She actively sought out higher profile
YouTube stars to collaborate with in order to build her
own profile, and shes been a prolific uploader for
several years. Not only does she appear to cover every
hit imaginable, but she also uploads fan-pleasing video
logs about her favorite things, her family, and how she
does her make-up. You can see why her fans love her.
Artists like these know that the key to online
promotion is to connect with as many people as
possible. Those connections could be through YouTube
comments or Twitter conversations, Facebook
discussions or blog comments, but whichever forum
you use, its important to use it sensibly. Posting
endless commercial messages or tedious corporate hot
air rarely goes down well. Look at the people you follow
on Twitter, or on SoundCloud, or on Facebook, or on
Tumblr. Chances are you arent following people who
just post Buy my stuff! all day. More because they do,
say, upload or link to interesting things.

Tumblr blogs and sites such as Etsy and Folksy offer crafters the
opportunity to show off exactly what they can do its not all
macram, wobbly pottery, and papier-mch you know!

46 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Share your songs

Soundcloud is a great place for music lovers


and music makers to convene. You can also
further share your uploads to other social
media sites such as Facebook.

Its important to choose the right venue, too. If


youre a musician, youre more likely to get noticed if
you network on SoundCloud rather than Facebook.
Remember that users of the former are there because
they want to listen to music rather than idle at work.

ProMo no-nos Building an audience and getting


good reviews takes time, so why not cheat? The going
rate for 1,000 Twitter or Instagram followers is $1 to $3,
and $5 gets you a five-star book review on Amazon, a
single review on iTunes or a product review on Etsy.
Ebook superstar John Locke admits to buying 300 fake
reviews to boost his books profiles, and youll find
stacks of people posting requests for fake reviews on
sites such as freelancer.com.
There are two arguments against this. The first is
that its unethical, dishonest, and if youre a business,
illegal. The second is that its easy to spot and often
backfires. A new Twitter account that boasts thousands
of followers screams fake, as does a stack of five-star
reviews written by people whove never reviewed
anything else. But when your work attracts real
reviews, its important to take bad ones with the good.
Resist the urge to get upset. Unless theyre factually
wrong or trying to damage you, its a bad idea to argue.

Feed the beast The Internet is a hungry beast, and


the best way to feed it is to keep creating things for

One of the best places on the


Internet to share your music
is on soundcloud.com a social
network and streaming service you
can use to present your own work
and to connect with like-minded
musicians and fans. Its also worth
putting your music on bandcamp.
com, which delivers free streaming
and also doubles as an online shop.
One of the most important
music discovery services is Spotify.
But it isnt keen on dealing directly
with musicians, so youll need to
use a third-party service such as
cdbaby.com, which charges $12.95
to add a single or $49 to add an
album to services including iTunes,
which like Spotify, doesnt want to
deal directly with individual artists.
CD Baby also publishes to Amazon,
Facebook, Google Play, Deezer,
Last.fm, Rdio and Xbox Music.

However, the most important


music site of all is YouTube. Its the
most popular listening platform for
under-18s and its very easy to add
your own music. Since its all about
video, youll get more attention
with a clip of you playing live or
doing something goofy. Again, its
all about connections, so seek out
similar artists and interact.
So the question is, will any of
these services make you rich and
famous? The short answer is no.
Our CD Baby dashboard shows
rates of $0.00065992 for a single
Spotify stream and $0.00031918
for an Amazon play.
That doesnt mean you cant
make money, but for most
musicians their online activity
usually means more people at
shows rather than big wads of
cash from selling MP3s online.

people to enjoy. The more you upload, the more


chances there are to be discovered. If people like what
they find theyre likely to check out your other work.
For Ed James, sales were sluggish until he had
published several books. The first week I earned
$7.03, he recalls. Things didnt start moving until he
published his second DC Cullen novel, Devil In The
Detail. Sales jumped to $116 a week, and when he
released the third book, Fire in the Blood, sales doubled
again. Then it went mad around September last year,
he says. I had a publicity campaign, I ran adverts,
I changed the covers and sales topped $1.6K a week
since then its been consistent.
E-publishing isnt a one and done thing like
traditional publishing, James says. Its a job, and a
tough one. But if you write to a high standard and with
high frequency, people will get into it and love it.

maclife.com DEC 2014 47

>>> Feature We can make you a star

Get people excited about your images


There are lots of places to display and
promote your art online, such as 500px
for photographers and DeviantArt for
underground art, but there are far
fewer places that enable you to sell it.
One of the most interesting is artsicle.
com, a kind of Etsy for modern and fine
art. Its a search engine for discovering
artists, and behind the galleries theres
a thriving community sharing ideas.
Pixeltakeaway.com is a new online
marketplace for illustrators and people
who need things illustrated. Dont let
the low-priced Specials on the front
page scare you off: Pixeltakeaway
wants artists at all levels and at all
prices, so if you think your work is
worth a lot more, then youre free to
charge a higher price. At the time of
writing, more than 600 artists have

signed up, and most of them seem to


be charging sensible rates. You cant
say the same at fiverr.com, the unique
selling point of which is that everything
costs just five dollars.
One of the hardest art forms to get
paid for is photography, but there are
still outlets for talented snappers. Stock
libraries such as Alamy, Crestock and
Shutterstock are always on the lookout
for new images, but watch the numbers:
Crestocks and Shutterstocks royalties
can be as low as 20%. The higher
profile the service, the harder it is to
get in: Getty Images has a famously
rigorous sign-up process, while Corbis
is known for its exceptional pickiness.
You can also print your work, either
as individual prints or in book form.
Blurb.co.uk offers stand-alone

book-design software for the Mac, tools


that integrate with Lightroom, online
sales tools, and a good range of
reasonably priced products. Their
childrens books are particularly lovely,
and you can use the same tools to
produce ebooks as well as printed ones.

Pixel Takeaway is an online marketplace for


illustrators to sell and receive commissions.

Get crafty with your crafts


Pinterest and Tumblr make it easy
to show your work, your creative
process, and your inspirations but
dont misbehave. Pinterests terms and
conditions explicitly forbid large
amounts of unwanted or repetitive
stuff, unsolicited commercial
messages in comments, descriptions
etc and spammy behaviour.
The key to both services is to post
regularly, to interact with other users
and to make use of tags so, a cuddly
monster toy sold by Chelsea Bloxsom
(loveandasandwich.tumblr.com) on
Tumblr is tagged #monster #crafts
#artistsontumblr #plush #toy, which
makes it more discoverable in searches.
Its easy to sell arts and crafts on sites

48 DEC 2014 maclife.com

such as Amazon and eBay, but theyre


rather soulless. Thats one reason etsy.
com has thrived: the marketplace for
unique goods wants to re-imagine
commerce in ways that build a more
fulfilling and lasting world. The site
enables you to create an online
shopfront to sell handmade goods,
vintage items or craft supplies, and
its fees are low: listings are $0.20 for
four months, and the site takes a 3.5%
cut of each sale.
Etsys main rival, German site
dawanda.com, currently hosts 280,000
online shopfronts offering handmade
items. Like Etsy, you can sell vintage
items as well as your own creations,
and theres a per-sale commission too,

in this case, 10%. Dawanda doesnt


currently charge listing fees.
Etsy and Dawanda are global, but if
you fancy something more regional
theres folksy.com for handmade and
original items. It currently showcases
171,515 items from 6,252 British
designers, and its advice section is
packed with useful information for
sellers. Theres a great enthusiasm to
the site, whose owners urge sellers to
pop in to visit us sometime, theres
usually tea in the pot. Folksy offers
two tiers: the pay-as-you-go Basic
account, which charges $0.25 a listing
and 6% commission, and the $75 per
year Folksy Plus, which ditches the
listing fees altogether.

Become a video star


The entire Internet wants your videos: comedy ones on
funnyordie.com, home design videos on The Design
Network, or clips of all kinds on Daily Motion, Vimeo,
or YouTube. Vimeo is probably the one best suited to
filmmakers. Its ad-free, looks great and doesnt suffer
from the horrors of commenters but if you want to
reach the biggest number of people, you have to be on
YouTube. With more than 1 billion unique monthly
users and over 1 million people making money from
videos, its the most important video site on the net.
While YouTubes various software tools are rather
unnecessary for Mac owners, its analytics are great:
they tell you whats being watched, how its being
found, where the viewers are coming from, how many
likes, dislikes and favorites a clip is receiving, and what
technology your viewers are coming from.
YouTubes greatest hits have tended to be one-off
clips that went viral Charlie Bit My Finger, The
Gummi Bear Song, Gangnam Style but the people
really getting the most from YouTube are the ones with
popular channels. Take UK fashion vlogger Zoella: her
YouTube channel has more than 5 million subscribers,
and the charming, funny, and immensely likable videos
regularly break the million-view barrier.
Zoellas success isnt just down to natural charm:
she started her vlog when the sector wasnt saturated,
and it would be hard to replicate her success by trying
to do the same sort of thing now. Like so many niches,
the fashion blogging sector is now packed full of
copyists, so future vloggers will have to think of
a different unique selling point to stand out.

Things to watch out for


when promoting your work
Some creative people will do anything to get their masterpiece
noticed, and unfortunately that often means others might try to
take advantage of them. As-yet-unpublished authors should be
wary of vanity publishers who offer to put out their work in
exchange for a hefty fee. Then there are competitions that
come with big entry fees and no track record of launching
careers. Watch out for competitions whose only purpose is to
sell each entrant an overpriced collection of competition entries.
Always be cautious of any site or service that asks for money
upfront, of any commercial organization that wants to use your
work (but cant afford to pay you), and of anybody promising to
make you rich and famous while you sit back and relax.
Its important to watch the small print, too. If youre making
money youll often find that you cant get it until youve
reached a certain amount. YouTube, for example, will hang onto
your money until you reach $100. Some services charge levies
on the payments they make to you: if youre paid using PayPal it
takes 2.9% of every transaction plus 30 cents.
And be sure to keep an eye out for copyright or trademark
infringement. For example, you cant make a bag from Cath
Kidston fabric and legally sell it as a Cath Kidston bag, and you
cant just stick your favorite artists single on the soundtrack to
a video clip. So beware: copyright owners are very good at
spotting infringements and getting them kicked off the Internet.

YouTube is the ultimate platform


for video you name it, its on
there. And its all about viral
campaigns and originality to help
make your millions (and by that
we mean views, not money).

maclife.com DEC 2014 49

aPP liFe
ThiS monThS moST inTeReSTinG iPhone & iPaD aPPS

iDrive Online Backup


Free cloud storage! (Conditions may apply)
FRee (5Gb backup + 5Gb sync) Developer iDrive Inc. www.idrive.com
Platform Universal Requirements iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 7.0
or later

For mobile
device owners
only, iDrive
Online Backup
offers 50GB
for backup plus
another 50GB
for sync, all at
less than a buck
per year.

50 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Once upon a time,


Apples 5GB free
iCloud storage was
considered quite
generous. Three years later, the
same offer looks Scrooge-like in
an age where multiple devices
on the same account are now
capable of holding 64GB or even
128GB of data.
Enter iDrive, a service once
focused on Mac and PC backup,
now with a renewed focus on
mobile (currently iOS, Android,
and Windows Phone). iDrive
offers unique plans featuring
dedicated storage buckets across
any linked device: one allotment
for backup, another devoted to
syncing any files or folders copied
into it. Its free tier includes 5GB
per category, effectively doubling

Apples sparser offering. While


the free, universal app cant back
up apps or system files due to iOS
restrictions, the service covers
the most valuable type of user
data: contacts, calendar, photos,
and videos which are capable
of being uploaded automatically
with the tap of a button.
The beauty of iDrive is its
cross-platform nature. Files
backed up on iOS are available
to access or restore on Android
or other platforms. The service
maintains up to 30 previous file
versions, all protected by military
grade 256-bit AES encryption.
iDrive can even securely backup
Facebook photos and videos,
including those youve only
been tagged in.
iDrive Express is a free,
once-a-year service for Pro
Personal users (300GB for $49.50
annually). Instead of uploading
gigabytes of data over a slow
connection, iDrive ships a hard
drive onto which users copy up
to 3TB of data using the Express
software. Once returned with
the prepaid shipping label, data
is available in your account in a
matter of days.
The iOS app does have a few
caveats. Auto Camera Upload

No matter which device you use, iDrive


can back it up and restore files.

backs up Camera Roll and Photo


Stream, so we wound up with
redundant backups across
multiple devices; more robust
settings could prevent such
unnecessary uploads. Youll also
want to switch Upload Quality
settings to Original if iDrive
is your only backup, otherwise
photos and videos default to lessthan-archival Good.
The boTTom line. Despite a
few iOS app quirks, iDrive is a
cost-effective, far more generous
iCloud supplemental backup. Its
perfect for cross-platform device
owners. J.R. bookwalTeR
iDrive Online Backup
Cross-platform backup and sync
More generous, affordable storage
capacities than iCloud
Free iDrive Express skips the need for
lengthy initial Internet backup
Redundant photo and video backups
across multiple devices
Unable to perform system-wide backup
of iOS devices
Defaults to lower-quality photo and
video backups
GreaT

Tough testing, trusted ratings

>>> App Life

Dragon Quest IV
Chapters of the Chosen
Another legendary RPG hits iOS
$14.99 Developer Square Enix http://na.square-enix.com
Platform Universal Requirements iOS 7.0 or later
The latest Square Enix effort
to milk its past for all it's
worth comes in the form of
an iOS port of a Nintendo DS
remake of a PlayStation remake of a Super
Nintendo role-playing game. Dragon Quest
IV: Chapters of the Chosen was a brilliant
game over 20 years ago on the SNES,
famed for its day/night cycle and unusual
multi-character chapter-based narrative,
and it remains so now on iOS even if
the pacing does plod a little at times.
Your play is locked in portrait mode,
with a wheel-like virtual joystick at the

bottom and action buttons on the side


including one that lets you talk to your
companions at any time. What seems at
first to be a cookie-cutter story of a chosen
one saving the world turns out to be much
a much deeper affair, with a rotating cast
of five heroes each possessing their own
distinct dreams and shortcomings (and
even giving you an opportunity to run your
own weapons shop).
This iOS version boasts an extra new
sixth chapter at the end, as well as a bonus
dungeon to satiate Dragon Quest fans. But
it's otherwise very close to the DS version

Rotating your viewpoint reveals more about the


towns and dungeons that you can explore.

albeit with inferior touch-screen controls


and a sometimes-jarring background
graphics upgrade. It's worth another spin
if you've played before, and offers up a
romping good time if you haven't.
ThE boTTom linE. Dragon Quest IV:
Chapters of the Chosen lives up to its
reputation as one of the greatest RPGs of
all time in a solid iOS port. RiChARD moSS

excellent

Foursquare 8.0
This latest fun-finding iteration splits the service in two
FREE Developer Foursquare Labs, Inc. www.foursquare.com
Platform iPhone or iPod touch Requirements iOS 7.0 or later

Since 2009, foodies have


coveted Foursquare as the
best way to find and share
favorite haunts. But earlier
this year the company boldly evicted the
second half of that equation, putting rival
Yelp squarely on notice in the process.
With version 8.0, Foursquare has
become less about connecting with friends
and more about personalization. At first
launch, the revamped app queries users
for their favorite dishes and culinary
styles, which the service uses to tailor
search results to more specific tastes.
When those tastes change, a tap on
the logo at upper left allows the adding

or removing of personalized selections,


although based on our experience thus far,
this type of tweaking doesnt always make
a dramatic difference.
Confusingly, the banished check-in
option can still be found lurking on profiles,
but now launches the standalone Swarm
app. We arent big fans of this form of app
segregation, although the move does cut
down on the noise factor for those less
concerned about social interaction.
The rest of the Foursquare nation,
however, will find the changes quite
appetizing (pun intended). The cleaner
UI tends to get a little busy on the main
Find a Place screen, but everything else

Foursquare 8.0 will use these results to help


find places better tailored to your tastes.

is more centrally located with tabs for Here


(current location recommendations), Tips
(your submissions, as well as those from
other users), and Profile.
ThE boTTom linE. Foursquare 8.0 is
worth another look for Yelp refugees,
although ejecting check-ins ultimately
makes this app a more lonely place than
it used to be. J.R. bookwAlTER
great

maclife.com dec 2014 51

Tough testing, trusted ratings

There are 150 cities to


visit, and half a million
words of prose. 80
days just isnt enough.

80 Days
Get your travel fix and see the sights without
ever having to leave the house!

EDITORS
CHOICE

$4.99 developer Inkle Studios www.inklestudios.com


Platform Universal Requirements iOS 6 or later
A rendezvous in Paris.
A pause in Bucharest.
An incident in
Astrakhan. 80 Days
challenges you to beat the
famous record set by Phileas Fogg
in Jules Vernes novel Around the
World in 80 Days. The difference
here, however, is that this is a
steampunk alternate historical

52 DEC 2014 maclife.com

setting, and one that mixes


strategy and adventure to create
one of the most fascinating
experiences on the iPad.
On the grand scale, you
discover routes to unlock new
paths, from borrowing an
inventors new flying machine
to riding shotgun with fugitives
on the back of a steam shovel,
hoping that luck and strategy
produces a fast enough route.
Inside cities you get caught up
in opportunities and disasters
ranging from revolutions to
musical powered golems to
murders, with brisk but plentiful
prose building the world and
offering new dangers, delays,
and opportunities at every stop.
At times it can feel like youre
being rushed through these.
Likewise, a hefty reliance on

random elements and having no


real way to plan a route beyond
the next stop can annoy, plus
the strategy side of buying and
selling gear to fund the trip,
never really clicks. But 80 Days
really isnt about the deadline,
to the point that you wont even
consider it Game Over if you
dont make it. Its all about the
journey, a beautifully written
chance to see a very different
world, all bolstered by the ghosts
of other players on the paths
not taken. Theres no sense of
a golden route, no way to make
a mistake. Exploration may not
win bets, but it certainly unlocks
a world worth taking the time to
see, and a game that absolutely
understands that appeal. Wed
like to think that Verne would tip
his hat at the sight of this.
The boTTom line. A fantastic
conversion of Jules Vernes
wonderful novel. Full of discovery
even after several trips around
the world. RichaRd cobbeTT
80 Days
Deeply immersive
Beautifully written
Looks gorgeous
Merits multiple plays
Can feel a little rushed
awesome

Tough testing, trusted ratings

>>> App Life

ThisLife by Shutterfly
Useful but limited potential iPhoto replacement
FRee (up to 2,500 photos) Developer Shutterfly, Inc. www.thislife.com
Platform Universal Requirements iOS 6.0 or later

With iPhoto being pushed into


an early grave, Shutterflys
decision to acquire ThisLife
looks especially prescient.
The service features a wide range of
intelligent organizational tools including
stories (ThisLifes take on albums/events),
custom tags, facial recognition, automatic
duplicate removal, and geotagging, all in
a wonderful scrolling timeline view that
makes it easy to jump through months
or years' worth of photos.
The only thing missing is the ability to
actually edit or enhance those images, a
rather glaring omission in the Instagram
era. What the universal app can do is

automatically import device photos in the


background (and optionally, HD videos
on paid accounts), and we found ThisLife
consistently better at doing so than its
competitors. Images can also be pulled
from connected social networks, while a
Mac uploader imports from iPhoto libraries
but not from Aperture, which requires
manually dragging and dropping images
into the Computer tab, losing metadata
and project organization in the process.
ThisLife offers competitive entry-level
pricing ($79 per year for 25,000 files),
but uploads are capped at fixed storage
amounts, so power users with gigabytes
of content will ultimately find Picturelife

The Social Sources connection automatically


imports images from Facebook and Instagram.

or Adobe Revels unlimited plans less


restrictive (and less expensive).
The boTTom line. ThisLife by Shutterfly
is the most Apple-esque cloud photo
service to date, but paid storage caps and
the absence of image editing tools keep it
from being the perfect iPhoto replacement.
J.R. bookwalTeR

Good

Beyond Gravity

Overcast

$0.99
Developer Qwiboo Ltd www.qwiboo.com Platform Universal

FRee
Developer Overcast Radio LLC http://overcast.fm Platform iPhone or iPod touch

At first glance,
it doesnt seem
like theres
enough to this
simple platformer to keep
it interesting. All you do is
make an astronaut jump
from one spinning planet to
another, picking up bolts. You
time jumps so your trajectory
is the same as the lines of
bolts, making sure to land
safely on the next planet. The
only control is a jump, and at
first we found it rather slight.
The variety of obstacles are
minimal, too. Planets spin
in different directions at
faster speeds, and there are
occasional, annoying comets.

This podcast
app is all about
ease. Finding
streams to
follow is simple, and there
are features available that
make them easier to listen
to. The search function found
every podcast we tested it
with, and once added, new
podcast episodes download
to your device over Wi-Fi,
or over 3G/4G if you unlock
that function with an IAP. The
IAP also unlocks options for
playback, and the full range
lets you adjust the playback
speed at quite a granular
level between 1x and 2x
speeds while keeping the

Yet weve been playing a


lot, and really enjoying it. The
variety isnt really the point,
its the rhythm and feel.
Collecting complete rows
of bolts builds a multiplier,
making for a compelling
high-score system, and
collecting bolts, with a little
shudder of the screen each
time, is nicely satisfying. With
upgrades to collect too, its a
great little time-waster.
The boTTom line. Simple,
satisfying, jumpy fun more
of a high-score game than a
platformer, but feels great to
play. maTT bolTon
Great

pitch of voices normal. It also


sports a handy voice boosting
option that does a good job of
making speech stronger. The
Smart Speed option removes
sections of silence, and it
works pretty well, but it can
also ruin comedy or dramatic
timing. Overcast is missing
a couple of features right
now (streaming being a key
one), but its already a strong
standalone podcast app.
The boTTom line. A smart
podcast app with some very
useful features. It still has
room to grow, but is already
great. maTT bolTon
Good

maclife.com DEC 2014 53

>>> App Life

24me Smart Personal Assistant


Its just like having a little helper in your pocket
free Developer 24me Ltd www.twentyfour.me Platform iPhone or iPod touch
requirements iOS 6.0 or later

Billed as a remote control


over your daily life, 24me
intelligently assembles iPhone
calendar, contacts, and to-do
lists into one free app, blending in Google
Now-style reminders to help users keep
tabs on their personal or business lives.
At first launch, 24me greets users with
a nearly 10-second animated welcome
screen (this can be turned off in Settings),
followed by a swipe-friendly UI that puts
the most pressing tasks for the day front
and center. Information is displayed in
one of three views: a daily calendar, a
list view of current and future tasks, and
notifications already sent that still need

to be completed. Adding a new task is


a tap away, with voice and photo entries
rounding out traditional text-based data.
Undated tasks are tucked away under
Someday, which takes the pressure
off committing to a due date right away,
and the latest version finally adds support
for syncing with iOS Reminders, which is
something of a welcome feature.
Thanks to partners including Check
and TaskRabbit, 24me users can even pay
bills, keep tabs on bank accounts, and
in many U.S. cities, even summon other
professionals to run errands when time
is tight. 24me can also be set up to notify
users when Facebook friends and contacts

24me not only syncs your calendar and


contacts, but it can help pay your bills, too.

have a birthday, and set up a virtual gift


all without leaving the app.
The boTTom line. 24me delivers the
goods for productivity junkies, but those
used to traditional calendar and to-do
apps may be put off by the steep learning
curve required from its jack-of-all-trades
approach. J.r. bookwalTer
Good

Bik
Old-school space-themed adventuring
$1.99 Developer Zotnip http://bikgame.com Platform Universal
requirements iOS 6.0 or later

Bik wears its influences on its


sleeves. Zotnip's debut effort
is a point-and-click adventure
in the spirit of Sierra and
LucasArts classics like Space Quest and
The Dig, with pixellated graphics, chiptunestyle music, sharp dialog, and a twisted
sense of humor. And while it never reaches
the heights of the games just mentioned,
it's a solid throwback all the same.
You guide a young boy named Bik
waylaid by an alien abduction in the woods
together with an space mercenary named
Ammut (and his companion Tatenen), as
they stumble their way into a dark plot by
an evil corporate empire. As you search

54 DEC 2014 maclife.com

for Bik's home, you'll try not to get killed


by the overgrown bacteria living in their
spaceship's kitchen, or by a sentient army
of old socks (or a variety of other comedy
perils, some of which involve lasers).
It's never quite as silly as its influences,
but Bik contains more than its fair share
of hilarious jokes (tip: try to do stupid
things, just to see what happens), and its
plotlines carry enough charm and variety
to stay engaging. In a welcome move
away from adventures of old, Bik's puzzles
are seldom illogical and only sometimes
require experimentation or excessive
tracking back and forth. But on the flipside
its controls are often cumbersome, and

Bik provides lots of silly comedy fun, and a


satisfying old-school gaming experience, too.

despite attempts to satiate mobile needs


like autosave and a cheaty button that
reveals all interactive objects it has both
feet firmly rooted in the past.
The boTTom line. Bik captures much
of the silly fun and deadly adventuring of
LucasArts and Sierra games of old, minus
their greatest frustrations. riCharD moSS
Good

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Rules!
Follow the rules (if you can remember them)
$1.99 Developer The Coding Monkeys http://rulesgame.net Platform Universal
Requirements iOS 7.1 or later

Great puzzle games have a


simple hook, and in Rules!
that hook is, unsurprisingly,
that you need to follow the
rules. From this simplicity emerges total
chaos, as you struggle desperately to
remember all of the rules that the game
keeps fiendishly adding to the process.
Rules! is a game of memory and speed. It's
totally entrancing, and it'll soon have you
both frustrated and entertained in equal
measure at exactly the same time.
You're given an ever-evolving sequence
of rules about which cards to tap on a
4x4 grid. Rules may be easy to follow, like
"tap numbers in descending order" or

rather trickier when combined with time


pressures, like "tap adjacent monsters" or
"tap odd numbers." Follow one rule and
then you have to continue with the rule
from the previous round, and then the
round before that and so down the chain
until all the cards are gone.
Rules! grows ever more complicated
and pushes your memory and observation
skills to the absolute limit. You periodically
get a breather with resets and new cards,
and some other surprises, but that's pretty
much it: tap all the cards in the correct
order before the 20-second timer runs
down, then rinse and repeat over and over
through 100 levels. It's simple yet tough,

Rules! is full of colorful critters that you have to


identify in a pinch. Itll bend your brain for sure.

and an absolute blast to play, although its


repetitive nature may eventually wear thin
after protracted spells of card tapping.
ThE boTTom linE. Rules! is a fresh,
delightful, and entrancing puzzler from
the creators of Carcassonne that tests
your memory and slowly pulls you into
its ordered chaos. RiChaRD moSS
excellent

Hanx Writer
Gloriously old-time typewriter sim
FREE Developer Hitcents.com, Inc. www.hitcents.com Platform iPad
Requirements iOS 7.0 or later

My first typing experience


was on grandmas old manual
Royal typewriter, a behemoth
that eventually became a
faithful companion into my late teens.
That antique look, the hammering of keys,
and the carriage ratcheting back and forth
have all been faithfully recreated for the
modern era, courtesy of Hanx Writer.
The brainchild of actor Tom Hanks,
this free iPad app introduces users to
Hanx Prime Select, a virtual typewriter
described as a writers best friend and
confidant. The moment we started
tapping on its virtual keys, a sense of
child-like wonder and delight washed over

us. Its so authentic that we just longed


to drag our childhood friend out of the
closet to play again.
Thankfully we dont have to, because
Hanx Writer is a perfect blend of old and
new. True to its vintage roots, native iOS
auto-correction is stifled here make an
error, and youll have to tap the incorrect
word prior to being offered a substitute,
the virtual equivalent of Liquid Paper.
The on-screen keyboard is also pared
back to the basics, but the app still works
great via a Bluetooth input.
In-app purchases are similarly
neutered for authenticity, such as the
method of adding a photo to title pages,

Hanx Writer takes a different approach to autocorrection, which echoes Liquid Paper of old.

or a limited palette of ribbon color and


text justification options. Wed love to see
the addition of cloud storage support, but
for now, documents can be opened with
other apps supporting iOS file sharing.
ThE boTTom linE. Hanx Writer is a
fantastic throwback to a bygone era that
will have hardcore typists and casual users
alike squealing with glee. J.R. bookwalTER
excellent

maclife.com DEC 2014 55

>>> App Life

ROUNDUP

8 Great Educational Apps


Look and learn
BY ChRis ReeD

A new school year has begun, and


although it can be tough to get back
into that educational groove, there
are plenty of apps to help with
learning. Weve rounded up the
best ones to help you get the most
educational bang for your buck.
Learning to spell isnt easy,
but EndlEss AlphAbEt ($6.99,
universal) makes it fun. Its full of
interactive lessons to help young
kids spell a variety of words, some
of which are surprisingly long.
Each word is accompanied by a
short animation starring adorable
cartoon creatures. The other apps in
the series are also worth checking
out, including Endless Reader and
Endless Numbers.
homEr: rEAding & EducAtionAl
gAmEs (free, iPad) is packed full

of reading games designed for


children ages three to six. Homer
is a cartoon pigeon who guides
children through games and stories
to help improve their skills. It even
lets kids communicate with parentapproved contacts via email, so
grandma and grandpa can support
your childs lessons from afar.

Homer helps young children improve their


reading skills using cute games and stories.

56 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Not only does WolframAlpha help you find


the facts, but it whips them into shape, too.
drAgonbox AlgEbrA 5+ ($5.99,

universal) teaches algebra to


children as young as five (theres
also a version made for kids aged 12
and up). It starts with an easy-tograsp shape-manipulating game
and, as a child plays, the shapes are
gradually replaced with numbers
and symbols. Its a cleverly
designed app that gives kids a head
start on tricky math concepts.
The makers of myhomEwork
studEnt plAnnEr (free, universal)
know that being a good student
requires more than just learning
the material. This app keeps
track of everything from your
homework and tests to projects
and class times. With a $4.99 inapp purchase, it also lets you set
reminders and syncs between your
iPhone, iPad, and the web.
The tagline for khAn AcAdEmy
(free, universal) is that it allows
you to learn almost anything for
free. The app and corresponding
website offer an enormous wealth
of educational videos geared toward
K12 students, covering everything
from the sciences to the humanities
in wonderful detail.

Googles great for finding facts,


but it's not so hot at manipulating
sets of data. wolfrAmAlphA ($2.99,
universal) is here to help. This
computational knowledge engine
can tap into all kinds of reliable
data sets and splice the info any
way you want.
mindnodE ($9.99, universal) is
a mind mapping app that helps
you turn a jumble of ideas into
organized groups and sub-groups.
Begin typing every idea that pops
into your head, and once you see
patterns emerge, re-arrange them
and delete any that dont fit. The
app can turn the finished mind map
into an outline, and writing a paper
becomes a whole lot easier.
Studying for the SATs can be a
drag, but sAt up (free, universal)
makes it easy. This best-in-class
app sports over 3,000 practice
questions written by SAT prep
tutors. Each question comes with
a detailed solution to steer you
in the right direction if you get
one wrong. The app also offers
training sessions that adapt to your
strengths and weaknesses.

Khan Academy may have lofty claims, but


for the most part it follows through on them.

Smile.
Get to the finish line sooner.
You decide what comes next.

Redefine Productivity with the PDFpen Family of Apps:

for Mac

for iPad & iPhone

smilesoftware.com
Copyright 2014 SmileOnMyMac, LLC dba Smile. PDFpen, PDFpenPro, TextExpander and the Smile Logo are registered trademarks of Smile.

VISIT maCliFe.Com FOR ONLINE-EXCLUSIVE REVIEWS, UPDATED DAILY

ToUGh TesTinG, TrUsTeD raTinGs

13-inch MacBook Pro with


Retina display, mid-2014
Has Apples latest Pro blown the MacBook Air
out of the water?
$1,299 manufacturer Apple www.apple.com
Processor 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 ram 8GB 1600MHz storage 128GB
PCIe-based flash memory

EDITORS
CHOICE

13-inch MacBook
Pro with retina
disPlay,
Mid-2014
Doubles the RAM
Processor speed bump
Cheaper price
Not a huge update
awesoMe

58 DEC 2014 maclife.com

he mid-2014 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display isnt a huge


leap forward just a processor speed bump and a price drop. But this
model, the entry-level release, also benefits from a memory increase.
The previous entry-level Retina MacBook Pro had just 4GB of RAM, but this
new one has 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L onboard memory. The dual-core Intel
Core i5 processor is retained, but its now 2.6GHz instead of 2.4GHz.
Being a Retina MacBook Pro, you cant add more memory after purchase
because the chips are soldered onto the motherboard, so a shift to 8GB is an
excellent move. The price drop is another welcome change.
But the real story here is what its done to the viability of the MacBook Air.
At $1,299, its only a shade more expensive than the cheapest 13-inch Air,
and here youre getting a lot more notebook for your money. Both use dualcore Intel Core i5 processors, but with a clock speed of 2.6GHz, the Pro is
almost twice as fast as the Airs 1.4GHz CPU. Its 8GB of memory is double
the 4GB offered by the entry-level Air, too. The Pro has a better graphics
chipset, using Intel Iris Graphics instead of the Airs Intel HD Graphics 5000,
and, of course, it has that gorgeous Retina screen. A native resolution of
2560 x 1600 pixels certainly puts the Airs 1440 x 900 display in the shade.
The Air still has some advantages. At 1.35kg, its lighter than the Pro
(1.57kg), but is 220 grams such a huge difference? Also, with an advertised
12 hours of wireless web surfing on a single charge, the Air beats the
Pro (which offers nine hours of battery life). The Pros performance is
still excellent in this respect, so if you have specific needs that prioritize
lightness and battery life, you might consider the 13-inch MacBook Air. But
for the majority of users, this MacBook offers much better value.
The boTTom line. A superb release that builds on the success of previous
MacBook Pros, while dropping the price. ian osborne

For detailed
definitions of every
score on mac|lifes
ratings scale, go to
maclife.com/ratings.

The latest MacBook


Pro with Retina display
upgrades the RAM and
CPU, but remains the
same on the outside.

maclife.com DEC 2014 59

>>> Reviews

Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac


Run Windows on your Mac with this new Yosemite-ready OS
$79.99 (upgrade $49.99) Developer Parallels IP Holdings GmbH www.parallels.com
Requirements OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 or later; Intel Core 2 Duo or newer processor; 2GB RAM (4GB
recommended); 850MB of disk space for installation; 15GB or more disk space per virtual machine

Mac or Windows,
Parallels Desktop 10
allows Mac users to run
them side-by-side.

Parallels
DesktoP 10
for Mac
Ready for OS X Yosemite
One-click presets
optimize for best
performance based on
usage scenario
Adds Mac-style Save to
and Share options to
Windows
Upgrade required for
Yosemite support
iCloud Drive support
unavailable at launch
Yosemite not yet
optimized for usage as
guest VM
excellent

60 DEC 2014 maclife.com

There are many good reasons to run alternate


operating systems on a Mac, but this year Apple
gave us the best one yet, courtesy of the OS X
Yosemite public beta and the latest version
of Parallels Desktop not only delivers the
necessary 10.10 compatibility and guest virtual
machine support, but provides bits of the shiny
new desktop OS to Windows too.
Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac arrives right on
cue ahead of Apples now-yearly OS X refresh.
This timetable comes at a cost: Upgraders
are required to shell out 50 bucks to maintain
compatibility with the latest operating system,
despite Cupertinos tradition of giving it away.
While some veteran users may cry foul over this
policy, Parallels hasnt simply added Yosemite
compatibility and called it a day. There are
plenty of convenient new features on show,
with performance enhancements at nearly
every turn, and a fresh coat of paint that nicely
complements Apples new UI aesthetic.
Atop the list of improvements is real-time
virtual disk optimization, finally automating the
process of compacting VMs to reclaim space.

Users no longer have to fret about manually


retrieving that precious unused storage
simply check the settings option for each VM,
and forget about it. Parallels also managed to
increase battery life for MacBooks by as much as
30 percent, while accessing snapshots up to 60
percent faster, both immediately noticeable and
very welcome improvements.
Given the popularity of Windows, Parallels once
again fine-tuned integration with Microsofts
operating system. Opening Windows documents
is now 48 percent faster, while Office 2013
applications launch 50 percent quicker changes
that add up in daily use. In Coherence mode,
that controversial Windows 8 Start screen can
even blend into Launchpad, adding new apps as
theyre installed.
But its the little things that shine. Our
favorites are the ability to drag and drop files
onto a Windows VM icon to open them, while
Outlook now displays an Apple Mail-style badge
for unread messages. Office applications can
also now save files directly to Mac-hosted cloud
services like Dropbox or Google Drive, as well as
iCloud Drive with the arrival of Yosemite.
The boTTom line. Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac
gains a fresh, Yosemite-inspired look, welcome
performance tweaks, and a big helping of
convenient features. But existing users should
budget accordingly if they want to remain
current. J.R. bookwalTeR

Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac now plays nice with OS X


Yosemite. The Control Center is at home on 10.10.

Sound BlasterAxx AXX 200


Theres more to this Bluetooth speaker than meets the eye
$149.99 manufacturer Creative Technology http://us.creative.com
Requirements Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, OS X 10.5.8 or later, 1GB of RAM, powered USB 2.0 port; iOS 5.5
or later

reative seems to be unspeakably proud of


its latest release, and the AXX 200 is no
ordinary Bluetooth speaker. Its small, slim,
and has a built-in battery that can last for up to
15 hours. It comes with touch-sensitive controls
on the top, an array of function buttons on the
back, and a wide range of connectivity options,
including USB and mini USB ports, analog audio
inputs/outputs and a microSD card slot. You can
even use it to juice up your phone!
It also includes front and rear microphones,
a custom quad-core processor, and a huge
range of sound customization options, plus
voice conferencing facilities, an MP3 player,
a megaphone, a voice-changing feature and a
blaring emergency siren. It can even act as an

external sound card for your Mac. Going handin-hand with all these features are a slew of free
companion apps for the Mac and iPhone.
As a standalone Bluetooth speaker it does
a very credible job for both its size and price.
The portability makes it a great companion for
lounging around the house, garden, or further
afield, while its aluminum and plastic shell
ensures it can withstand lifes hard knocks. But
the other stuff? While we can imagine using some
of these functions occasionally, the AXX 200
comes across as a little gimmicky. It deserves
a better fate than that.
THe boTTom line. The AXX 200 is tough,
portable, and decent sounding, but its guilty of
trying to do too much. Rob mead-GReen

SOUND
BLASTERAXX
AXX 200
Good sound
Long battery life
Compact size
Too many features
Lots of controls
Gimmicky
GREAT

maclife.com DEC 2014 61

>>> Reviews

xScopes toolset
is insanely useful
for any Mac-based
designer out there.

xScope 4
Iconfactorys app for designers gets a major update and new tools
$49.99 Developer The Iconfactory www.xscopeapp.com
requirements OS X 10.8 or later, 64-bit processor

EDITORS
CHOICE

XSCOPE 4
Great Overlay and
Text tools
Tons of new features
and fixes
Extremely configurable
Slightly opaque
UI elements
AWESOME

62 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Two new tools have made their way into this


major update to Iconfactorys indispensable
app for measuring, inspecting, and testing
on-screen graphics and layouts. Text is a
powerful way to search, decipher and format
text. You can rifle through 100,000 Unicode
characters, convert strings, and measure glyphs.
Via the preferences, you define the fonts the
tool can access, and the end result is extremely
useful for programmers and designers alike.
Overlay is even more impressive. The
tools frame is attached to a browser window,
and you then define breakpoints for responsive
web layouts that you can snap to with a single
click. Additional tools provide the means to
add column grids or an image overlay that can

be toggled to quickly compare a mock-up with


a live site. For mobile and web designers, this
would be worth the price of admission alone.
All the old favorites remain, but with a
smattering of new features and a subtly updated
interface that should chime nicely with OS X
Yosemite. The Screens tool now boasts a useful
de-retinizer, which gives designers with
Retina Macs a quick indication of how their work
will appear on older displays.
For many designers, xScope has long been
an indispensable tool, and this latest update
remains an essential purchase.
The boTTom line. An excellent update to what
was already a first-rate Mac app, with plenty of
useful and vital changes. Craig grannell

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Typinator 6

Typinator is great for


letters, here pulling in
the date and address
from a file.

The typing assistant where doing less makes far more sense
$33 developer Ergonis www.ergonis.com
Requirements OS X 10.5.8 (installing on OS X 10.7 or later enables regular expression support)

Typinator is the cut-and-paste tool you can


only live without until youve used it for
about five minutes. Its an auto-corrector that
handles more than simple typos, and a way to
keep text, pictures, or HTML snippets just a
couple of keystrokes away.
And thats just the start. Those templates
can automatically include elements like the
current date or insert keystrokes like tabs
and carriage returns as easily as raw text.
They can make use of scripts, variables,
calculations and the clipboard to do anything
from adding a signature to creating an entire
letter thats ready to send. For an invoice,
that could mean having the payment date
in 30 days time automatically listed. For

web design, it can be as refreshingly simple


as having stock elements like the doctype
appear when you start typing.
This version includes support for regular
expressions, which respond to patterns
rather than simply triggers like invoice1
or mysignature. These are complex beasts
to actually create and not many presets are
provided right now. But they add plenty of
scope for more intelligent replacements and
easier shortcuts, like being able to set up one
repeated key to cycle through signatures.
The boTTom line. Great for anyone who
regularly types the same snippets, and
smarter than your average copy-paste.

TypinaTor 6

RichaRd cobbeTT

awesome

EDITORS
CHOICE

Extremely fast and


stable
Highly scriptable
HTML support
Few regular expression
demos

maclife.com DEC 2014 63

>>> Reviews

Monitor Audio AirStream


MA100
Looking good, sounding great
$1,099 manufacturer Monitor Audio www.monitoraudiousa.com
Requirements iPhone, iPad, iPod touch/iPod nano with iOS 4.3.3 or later, Mac
running iTunes 10.2.2 or later

Monitor Audio
AirStreAM
MA100
Big sound from small
boxes
Simple and stable
Airplay
Practical form factor
MASS speakers lack bass
No Ethernet port
greAt

64 DeC 2014 maclife.com

he brains of this outfit is the Monitor Audio A100 amplifier, for inside
its curvy casing is a wireless receiver that can stream from your
iPhone via AirPlay (or any DLNA music player over Wi-Fi), while
offering connections for your less mobile devices. And, with a decent DAC
and 50W p/c amplification, it has audiophile pretensions.
The MA100 system comprises the AirStream A100 amplifier and a pair
of MASS 10 speakers, but these are all available as individual components,
and theres an optional subwoofer too. The A100 is largely metal, sports a
pronounced curve, and comes in a choice of slick black or white finishes.
The accompanying MASS 10 satellite is a compact, diamond-shaped, twoway speaker that has brushed steel plates covering stout connectors that
channel your cables out of sight.
Like the Sonos Bridge, the A100 contains stereo amplification,
a DAC to convert your digital sources, analog and digital inputs, and a
Wi-Fi transmitter. Crucially, the AirStream also offers AirPlay and DLNA
streaming, so you can connect iOS devices via your home network.
But other features are thin on the ground. There are no sound modes,
just volume up and down. A little leaf-shaped remote control takes care of
this. Rear panel connections are equally sparse. There are analog inputs
for perhaps a turntable, provided you bring your own phono stage, analog
outputs for adding a subwoofer, a USB port, and an optical digital input.
Audio quality is clearly a priority. Assuming youre playing decent-quality
downloads or high-resolution rips, the treble rings out clearly, vocals sound
well-rounded, and basslines are snappy and tight. One thing thats missing,
however, is bottom-end bass, and these satellites could really do with a little
help from a subwoofer like Monitor Audios own MASS W200.
We also tried connecting the A100 to a pair of Monitor Audio Studio 12
floorstanders and were surprised to hear them sing quite happily. It didnt
solve the missing bass issue, as the 12s prefer a little more power, but it
proves that you can use your own full-range speakers with it.
The boTTom line. If youre looking for a sleek wireless hi-fi that can
access your online playlists from your phone, there are many to choose from.
But the Monitor Audio MA100 has the flexibility to flip between iOS, analog,
and digital devices with ease and the quality to do each one justice. Jim hill

Tough testing, trusted ratings

The Monitor Audio AirStream


MA100 offers sleek wireless
hi-fi throughout the house.

maclife.com DEC 2014 65

>>> Reviews

The main Beamer


interface is simplicity
itself: just drag and
drop video files.

Beamer 2.0
A handy tool that easily shares video from Mac to Apple TV
$15 Developer Tupil www.beamer-app.com
requirements OS X 10.9 or later, Apple TV

EDITORS
CHOICE

Beamer 2.0
Simple to use
Easier than
screensharing
Make playlists
Stream in high quality
awesome

66 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Beamer is a utility that aims to make sharing


video from your Mac to an Apple TV easy. Of
course, screen sharing from a Mac to an Apple
TV is already an option in Mac OS X, but Beamer
makes it easier and enables full HD quality, with
support for 5.1 surround sound.
Fire up Beamer and it offers a small window
onto which you drag video files. You can drop
multiple files on the window to create a playlist,
and if you have more than one Apple TV, you can
choose which one to beam the video to.
Beamer supports all the major file formats
youre likely to come across. It wont play copyprotected content, but can stream a VOB file
thats been ripped to a hard disk.
The best thing about Beamer is its speed and
simplicity drag and drop and video is playing

through Apple TV within seconds. You can even


use the Apple TV remote to control playback.
We tested Beamer with small video files stored on
our Mac and a 3GB video on a remote server, and it
never flinched. If we were being picky, wed say
that itd be nice if Beamer also handled images
and perhaps PDFs and so on.
Beamer is one of those small utilities that
replicates what is already technically feasible on
your Mac and yet makes the process that little
bit easier. If you have folders full of video files
and want to easily and quickly watch them on
your big screen, Beamer is just about perfect.
Its a top-notch tool and worth every penny.
The boTTom line. A superb little utility that
lets you quickly and easily stream video to your
Apple TV. ChrisTopher brennan

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Blumoo
Control all of your home entertainment
devices with one handy app
$129.99 Manufacturer Flyover Innovations, Inc. www.blumoo.com
Requirements iPhone 4S, fifth-generation iPod touch, iPad 3 or
newer; iOS 6.0 or later
Billed as a universal home entertainment appcessory,
Blumoo pairs a diminutive infrared transmitter with a mobile
app for iOS, enabling users to control more than 200,000
components from the palm of their hand including receivers,
televisions, speakers, and more.
Roughly two inches wide and three inches tall, the included
HomeBase hardware works within 150 feet via Bluetooth,
capable of throwing IR signals up to 30 feet. A short cable on
the back includes connections for AC power, an optional IR
extender, and bundled 3.5mm to RCA audio cable, which can be
used to stream audio from mobile device to connected receiver.
Blumoo can also create custom remotes and one-button
actions capable of performing multiple tasks at once (turn on
components and set inputs at the same time), but its nowhere
as intuitive as Logitechs Harmony Smart Control. We did find
HomeBase to be more reliable at sending IR commands.
The boTToM line. When it comes to hardware, Blumoo
is reliable and versatile, but the mobile app isnt nearly as
intuitive as the competition. J.R. bookwalTeR
blumoo
Single HomeBase replaces multiple remote controls
Mobile audio can be streamed via Bluetooth to any receiver
Detailed channel guide works with wide range of providers
App isnt particularly intuitive, especially with creating multi-function buttons
No remote control support for Apple TV or Roku
No native iPad support
solid

Voombox-Ongo
Voom! Shake, shake, shake the
room. Tic-tic-tic-tic, voom!
$69.99 Manufacturer Divoom
www.divoomusa.com
Requirements iPhone, iPad or other Bluetoothcapable device
With a design reminiscent of a Ghostbusters trap,
this all-weather Voombox Bluetooth speaker is
dust and water resistant, with a metal frame and
a ridged rubber surround that comes in black,
blue, red, green, or orange. Four springy buttons
on the top take care of on/off, stop/play, volume
and track-skipping functions, while a mini-USB and
an AUX socket hide beneath a rubberized flap.
Rugged describes it perfectly.
Obviously, ease-of-use is key and this Voombox
is simple to pair with an iPhone, iPad, or any other
Bluetooth device. An audio cable is provided for
hooking it up to non-wireless devices and a bike
mount is also included for listening to music on
the move. With a range of 10 meters, the Ongo can
pump out 7W of well-rounded sound, not too heavy
on the bass, nor too hollow at the high end.
The boTToM line. The Ongo is a great little
performer, compact, solid, and loud. The battery
lasts for 7-8 hours and theres even a built-in
microphone to answer calls. Dean evans
Voombox-ongo
Sturdy construction
Strong, clear sound
Dust and splashproof
Bike mount included
excellent

maclife.com DEC 2014 67

>>> Reviews

The sleek, stealthy design


of this Netgear Nighthawk
router could be wasted if you
hide it in a corner.

68 dec 2014 maclife.com

Tough testing, trusted ratings

AC1900 Nighthawk Smart


Wi-Fi Router
The triple-stream 802.11ac router that looks
a little bit like a stealth fighter
$249.99 manufacturer Netgear www.netgear.com
requirements Mac running OS X, Firefox 2.0 or higher, Safari 1.4 or higher,
Google Chrome 11.0 or higher, Internet connection

he Netgear Nighthawk is a router that squeezes as much as possible


onto its specification list. With a reasonably high price RRP of
$249.99, its a high-end model. But it comes with a 1GHz dual-core
processor and supports triple-stream 802.11ac connections for up to a
(theoretical) 1300Mbps. With TurboQAM supported over 802.11n, you can
also get 200Mbps per stream, rather than the standard 150Mbps.
The first thing youll notice is the design. The Nighthawk also sports a
black and dark gray angular look inspired by the USAFs Lockheed F-117
Nighthawk stealth fighter. even the antennas are polygon shaped. In terms of
connectivity, this radar-reflecting router has a USB 3.0 port at the front and
a USB 2.0 port at the back, with four Gigabit ethernet LAN ports and another
for WAN. The software interface isnt as high-tech though, the menus are
fairly basic and theres a minimal amount of graphics used. Theres a fairly
standard setup wizard, and as with most other high-end routers, it works
perfectly well if you already have another dHcP server on your network.
Live parental controls are configured via a combination of router settings
and a Mac or Windows software client download, and are offered for free.
Wireless setup allows changing wireless speeds and channel, but not between
20/40/80 MHz frequencies. If you dont have a laptop that can handle
802.11ac, the 5GHz frequency can be used for 802.11n.
We tested the Nighthawk on a 2013 MacBook Pro on both 5GHz 802.11ac
and 2.4GHz 802.11n at one meter and 10 meter distances. Most laptops come
with 2x2 wireless adaptors, so each stream can manage 433 Mb/s. But the
2013 MacBook Pro boasts 3x3 wireless connectivity (866 Mb/s max).
Short range 802.11ac results were astoundingly good. A peak transfer rate
of 71MB/s is up there with the best 802.11ac routers although this drops
off down to 23MB/s at 10 meters and 11MB/s in a far room. crucially, this is
more than enough for streaming Hd video. On 802.11n its equally promising.
20MB/s is excellent for 2.4GHz wireless at short range, and the Netgear
R7000 maintained a steady 9MB/s at the far end of the house.
The boTTom line. Although the Nighthawk is fast, it costs around the
same amount as the Linksys eA6900 and the Asus RT-Ac68U. They dont
look as good, but have much better software. That said, this is still a fine
router, unlikely to disappoint, and a worthy investment. oresTis basTounis

AC1900
NighthAwk
SmArt wi-Fi
router
Sleek and stealthy
design
Brilliant performance
Dual USB ports
Comprehensive parental
controls
Dated interface
Pricey
good

maclife.com dec 2014 69

>>> Reviews

Divinity: Original Sin


A classic modern RPG thats also a love letter to the RPGs of old
$39.99 Developer Larian Studios www.larian.com
Requirements OS X 10.8.5, Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM

Having two characters


isnt some gimmick.
Its part of the story,
and a big tactical
consideration.

EDITORS
CHOICE

Divinity:
Original Sin
Beautiful, flexible RPG
action
Fierce tactical challenge
Inspired magic system
Little forgiveness
aweSOme

70 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Divinity: Original Sin is what happens when


old-school RPGs are fused with the power of
modern technology and 20 years of progress to
create something that feels as innovative now
as its inspirations did back then. Its one of the
best RPGs in a long time provided youre up
for a challenge and can tolerate a few rough
edges when it comes to game balance and some
sloppy signposting of objectives.
Original Sin is the fifth Divinity game,
but also a prequel; no prior knowledge of its
predecessors is required. You play as a team of
two Source Hunters, backed up with a couple
of dumb Henchmen or scripted Companions
as you choose, whose mundane task of solving
a murder is soon upgraded to a full-on quest
to save the world that world being a flowing,
beautiful land of constant humor where
anything could be waiting around the next
corner. Its possible, for instance, to talk to the
animals, including having a dog find suspects
for you by having it sniff their underpants.
You play cooperatively, with each person
controlling a Source Hunter or you can play
as both yourself. Either way, the characters

evolve over time and their rapport is based


on how you play, which can involve anything
from heroically solving peoples problems
to emptying their houses and murdering
everyone. The overall story follows a linear
path, but within that you get plenty of freedom
for experimenting with the rules. If a clever
trick feels like it should work, it usually will, from
using furniture to create a barricade to outright
teleporting a boss away from its bodyguards.
This freedom helps make combat one of the
most interesting parts of the game. Its turnbased, tactical, and takes no prisoners. But
its easy to create a poor team, and theres no
option to rethink your characters abilities until
far too late in the game. Even basic zombies get
bows and powerful magic spells; tough fights
can take up to an hour. Its fair, though, and
hard for the right reasons, demanding strategy
as well as raw power, and in particular mastery
of the elemental magic system combining
lightning and rain will create quite the shock,
while rain and ice freezes in swathes.
Whether you remember the RPGs Original
Sin draws inspiration from or not, the result is
a must-play for all fans of the genre. Incredibly
smart, long, and tough as nails, Divinity isnt
just a great game, but a truly special one; an
adventure not just to enjoy, but to savor.
The boTTom line. This is, hands down, the
best RPG in a long time provided youre ready
for a real challenge. RichaRD cobbeTT

Original Sin is tongue-in-cheek throughout, with over 50


hours of fun things to discover.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Total War: SHOGUN 2 Collection

Authenticity of
presentation
ensures Shogun 2
looks impressive.

Feudal Japan arrives on Mac in a strategy bundle full of style,


substance and considerable violence
$49.99 Developer Feral Interactive www.feralinteractive.com
requirements OS X 10.9.4; 1.8 GHz Processor; 4GB RAM; 256MB VRAM; 22GB HD install
Historical battle strategy games its fair to
say they arent everybodys cup of ahem,
frothing mead? The Total War series is at the
grand scale of the genre, delivering sprawling
experiences with each outing. The last one to
arrive on Mac was Alexander, from the Total
War: Rome series, plundering the history
books for bouts of tricky bloodshed. This time
Shogun 2 transports players to 16th century
Japan, taking control of a clan rather than
any one historical tyrant.
However, the mechanics remain the same,
oriented around conquering a gorgeously
rendered world map. Here the pace is
more sedate and turn-based, providing a
myriad of options for developing armies
as the seasons shift. You quickly realize
the decisions you make here cultivating
religions and negotiating with rival clans
are critical to your future prosperity. Wage

war too early and battlefield embarrassments


will dent your short-term status. When you
do reach the battlefield though, the real-time
carnage is incredibly deep and limitless in
terms of its strategic possibilities.
A tutorial mode coaches the basics, but
ultimately victory is a numbers game, and
all about pitting the right units against the
right opponents. Presentation is Shogun
2s strongest point and the authenticity
of the Japanese art style throughout is
joyously exhaustive. Add to this the DLC
packs bundled with this Collection release,
including the Rise of the Samurai
campaign, and you have a worthy sequel.
The boTTom line. While tough for newbies,
Shogun 2 Collection blends a fresh challenge
with intoxicating period presentation to
provide incredible value and longevity for
strategy purists. mark billen

TOTAL WAR:
SHOGUN 2
COLLECTION
Japanese theme and
art style is exquisite
Nuanced battle
mechanics offer
fun challenges
Bundled DLC and
online modes offer
real depth
Demands patience for
significant progress
Those new to strategy
games may struggle
GREAT

maclife.com DEC 2014 71

>>> Reviews

Now that everyone


is getting used to the
idea of Creative Cloud
services, the benefits are
becoming apparent.

72 dec 2014 maclife.com

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Adobe Photoshop CC 2014


Whats inside the latest version of the worlds
most powerful image editor?
$9.99/mo or $119.88/year manufacturer Adobe www.adobe.com
Requirements Mac with a multi-core Intel processor and 64-bit support, Mac OS
X 10.7 or later, 2 GB of RAM, Internet connection

hotoshop cc caused a storm when it was launched in 2013. From that


point on, you couldnt buy Photoshop with a perpetual licence, you had
to rent it via an Adobe creative cloud subscription. This still causes
dismay amongst some users, but there are upsides free updates and an
increasing range of creative cloud services. And since its rocky launch,
Adobe has dropped the price and increased the value.
Adobes current Photography plan costs just $9.99 per month (if you
take out an annual subscription) and includes not just Photoshop cc but
Lightroom 5.5. Its a great double-act. Photoshop takes care of the editing,
Lightroom takes care of the organization.
Photoshop cc introduced an all-new Smart Sharpen tool designed to
maximize clarity and reduce noise, together with a camera Shake Reduction
tool that can analyze the direction of movement (trajectory) and then
reverse the blur digitally. cc 2014 introduces a new Focus Mask tool to go
alongside them, which can isolate the sharpest areas of your pictures.
But the biggest cluster of new features centers on Adobe camera Raw 8,
Photoshops companion RAW conversion tool. You can now carry out so
many everyday photographic enhancements in camera Raw that you may
need Photoshop less and less. Theres also a significant change to two of the
tools in Adobe camera Raw. This is Adobes raw conversion plug-in, and it
launches automatically when you attempt to open a raw file. The Graduated
and Gradient Filters now have a manual masking brush tool, which enables
you to mask the effect in specific areas.
Photoshop cc 2014 is a tough program to review because it doesnt really
have any rivals apart from the last perpetual version of itself, Photoshop
cS6. Some photographers may get by with lower-cost alternatives, including
Photoshop elements or Paint Shop Pro, but in reality Photoshop cc is out
there on its own when it comes to photo manipulation.
But to get the most out of Photoshop you do need to know what youre
doing theres precious little help here for beginners. And theres a strong
market in creative plug-ins which provide instant effects, inspiration and
creative options simply not available in the Adobe program.
The boTTom line. The improvements in each update of Photoshop cc
itself are relatively modest, but they accumulate and theyll carry on
accumulating for as long as you subscribe. The spectre of paid upgrades is
gone, we assume forever, and its getting harder and harder to argue against
Adobes subscription-based software system. Rod lawTon

edITORS
cHOIce

Adobe
PhotoshoP CC
2014
Subscription plans mean
lower cost entry point
New selection and blur
tools
Clear and simple
interface for a
complex app
Update installs
alongside Photoshop CC
Lightroom and
Photoshop need better
integration
Awesome

maclife.com dec 2014 73

>>> Reviews

Click Show while using


the brush tool to see
where youve painted
its off by default.

Intensify Pro
Theres plenty of depth in this image-editing app
$60 developer MacPhun Software www.macphun.com/intensifypro
Requirements OS X 10.7 or later, 4GB RAM

IntensIfy Pro
Plugs in to many apps
Good range of
adjustments
Custom presets speed
up work
No organization
features
great

74 DEC 2014 maclife.com

What might look like a simple preset-based


image editor turns out to have a lot more depth,
as MacPhuns Intensify Pro opens up into a
layer-based editing system with plenty of scope
for manual adjustments.
Intensify Pro is a standalone app that can open
most image formats as well as raw files, but it also
hooks into Photoshop (CS5 or later), Lightroom
(4 or later), Aperture (3.2 or later) and PS
Elements (10 or later, but not the App Store
versions) to take your images on a round trip
from one app to another.
Using a preset or creating your own as a
starting point, dive into the Adjust palette for
tweaks to contrast, exposure, sharpness and
color temperature. This doesnt offer much over
the likes of Aperture, although its Pro Contrast

and Structure sections offering control over


highlights, midtones and shadows are worth
experimenting with.
A brush tool enables adjustments to be
painted on selectively, and they can also be
applied across gradients and on layers for a
great deal of control over your final image. Once
your image is tweaked to your liking, Apply
takes you back to your original app if youre
round-tripping; otherwise, the Save & Share
icon, followed by the icon of your preferred
app, moves your image into, say, Photoshop
Elements. You can also export directly to the
MacPhun Print Lab.
The boTTom line. It might not add much for
CC renters, but as a companion for Elements,
this comes recommended. ian evenden

Tough testing, trusted ratings

LaunchBar 6
Its time for take-off with this great app
$35 Developer Objective Dev. www.obdev.at/products/launchbar
Requirements OS X 10.9 or later, 64-bit Mac

LaunchBar is essentially Spotlight Pro, enabling you to


search your Mac and perform actions on found objects. This
update sees a larger, more readable default theme aesthetically
matching rival Alfred, and the forthcoming OS X Yosemite
Spotlight revamp. But the strengths arent only skin-deep.
Along with improved file indexing, more rules exist,
providing access to Reminders lists, Emoji, Finder tags, plus
Safaris iCloud tabs, Top Sites and Reading List. The Reminders
functionality is strong, too. The other big win is in the new live
results. These occur as you add to Calendar and Reminders, but
also when searching Google and Wikipedia, which means you
can spend more time in the app.
Alfred still has the edge over this app on usability, but
LaunchBar remains faster and is excellent for categoryoriented searches. And both obliterate Spotlight.
The boTTom line. An excellent update to what was already
a first-rate OS X utility, adding some great new features and
welcome extensibility. CRaig gRannell
LAunchBAr 6
Great new look and features
Fabulous Reminders integration
New custom actions
A touch fiddly at times
exceLLenT

Acronis True
Image for Mac
A dynamite backup tool
$49.99 Developer Acronis, www.acronis.com
Requirements OS X 10.8 or later
Many of us use Time Machine for backups by
default, but you should always have a backup
of your backup. Acronis has branched out from
PC backup tools and launched True Image, a
lightweight backup tool for Mac.
Backup is a boring but necessary evil, so its
essential the software is easy to use and invisible.
In this regard, True Image is just about perfect.
The interface is clear, and only includes features
and options a home user would need. The speedy
backups dont hit performance too hard, so this is
a great backup tool. Getting your files back is also
a breeze. You can restore single files (or the entire
image should your hard drive fail) with little hassle.
A minor caveat is that True Image doesnt support
Macs with Fusion drives or Boot Camp partitions.
Backing up a large amount of info over even
the fastest Internet connection takes time, but
the security of having an offsite copy of your data
is priceless. The best backup software is largely
invisible to the user and does its job simply, with
minimal fuss. True Image fits the bill perfectly.
The boTTom line. A great back-up tool thats
easy to set up and use. The cloud pricing could be
better, though. ChRisTopheR bRennan
Acronis True imAge for mAc
Very easy to set up and use
Backs up without much fuss
Cloud and local back-up option
Expensive; no Boot Camp
greAT

maclife.com DEC 2014 75

>>> Reviews

The jewel in Shooter


Suite 12.5s crown
is PluralEyes 3.5,
which makes short
work of syncing
multiple video and
audio clips.

Shooter Suite 12.5


Six chambered editing software for slicker video production
$399.99 (upgrade $99.99) Developer Red Giant LLC www.redgiant.com
Requirements OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 or later; 2GB RAM; 30GB hard drive space for installation; Adobe After
Effects or Premiere Pro CS5.5 and higher (for Instant 4K and Frames)

Shooter Suite
12.5
PluralEyes magically
syncs audio
BulletProof makes
reviewing and backing
up footage easy
Instant 4K breathes new
life into older footage
Plug-ins incompatible
with Final Cut Pro X
Instant 4K lacks a shift
tool for reframing SD
footage
great

76 DEC 2014 maclife.com

As many filmmakers know, capturing a vision


on set is only half the battle the editing and
sound post-production process is often where
the real magic takes place. Red Giant Shooter
Suite 12.5 is a collection of six software tools
designed to streamline this process.
BulletProof 1.2 imports digital video files from
SD cards, easing the process of making multiple
verified backups. The software also allows
filmmakers to review footage, edit metadata,
and even preview color correction tweaks prior
to exporting to editing software. The included
LUT Buddy makes it easy to share color values.
PluralEyes 3.5 is the suites crown jewel,
importing and analyzing each sound track
(including media prepared in BulletProof), then
automatically sliding everything into sync with
a single click. The results can be exported for

further editing to Final Cut Pro (7 or X), Adobe


Premiere Pro, or Avid Media Composer, with
audio levels optionally optimized in the process.
The included plug-ins have no less impressive
skills: Instant 4K upconverts standard definition
video to HD (and beyond), Frames prepares older
video for integration into modern workflows,
and Denoiser II reduces grain and unwanted
artifacts. Unfortunately, these tools are mostly
limited to Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects
only Denoiser II works with Final Cut Pro 7, and
none will make the magic happen in Apples
most recent software.
The boTTom line. Red Giant Shooter Suite 12.5
is a powerful collection of prep and delivery
tools for producers on a budget, but half the
tools are badly in need of Final Cut Pro X
support. J.R. bookwalTeR

Tough testing, trusted ratings

QODE Thin Type


Keyboard Cover
The perfect aluminum accompaniment
to your iPad Air?
$99.99 manufacturer Belkin www.belkin.com
Dimensions 241.3x175.3x10.2mm Weight 362g battery life 79
hours active; 3,100 hours standby

Youd think this aluminum-clad keyboard cover for the iPad


Air would be a fine aesthetic match for the iPad given its black
and metal styling. But in practice, it doesnt quite pull it off.
The metal is a different color to the iPad, and its strangely
lumpy design doesnt really look right next to the iPads
sleek lines. Being a cover (rather than case), it just attaches
a hinge to the iPads side magnets and closes like a book cover
for carrying, until you pop the iPad in its stand for typing (at
a very comfortable angle). Its about 10% heavier than the
similar Logitech Ultrathin keyboard (reviewed on the right) at
362g, but ultimately isnt too heavy.
However, this is all dressing, as it falls short in its most
important function typing. The key size isnt too bad, and
youd get used to some of the layout, but little things such as
the quotes key being next to the spacebar drove us mad. The
Thin Type is well made and clever, but it only really ranks as
passable for us not great by any means.
The boTTom line. High quality and smart, but were not fans
of the look, nor its often-awkward layout. maTT bolTon
QoDe thin type KeyboarD cover
Solidly made
Some clever features
Disappointingly lumpy design
Awkward keyboard layout
SoLiD

Logitech Ultrathin
Thin and sleek, is this keyboard
cover for the iPad Air better?
$99.99 manufacturer Logitech www.logitech.com
Dimensions 240x173.6x6.4mm Weight 322g
battery life Up to 3 months
This keyboard cover is the Logitech Ultrathin. Its
different to the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover,
its still-available predecessor. This newer, changed
version has the shorter name. Its designed to be
thinner and sleeker than ever, even ditching the
flappy hinge that connects it to the iPad when
closed in favor of one that folds flush into the
device when youre using it as a keyboard. Its
stand is also now adjustable, which is brilliant
you can find a good viewing angle for your iPad
when typing in almost any situation. Logitechs use
of space for the layout of its keyboards continues
to be masterful, too. Our accuracy is always
perfect on them, with all keys exactly where your
fingers expect them to be.
However, Logitech has tinkered with its
formula a little too much. The keys feel much
less responsive now. Its still perfectly usable,
but noticeably less pleasant. Worse is that
disappearing hinge connector it barely grips the
iPad at all when you have the cover closed like a
book cover. This is the better keyboard of these
two, but we actually prefer its predecessor.
The boTTom line. Very sleek, with a perfect
portable keyboard layout. But the dead keys and
soft magnets are a shame. maTT bolTon
Logitech ULtrathin
Brilliant keyboard layout
Great adjustable hinge
Dull key responsiveness
Hinge doesnt hold iPad well
SoLiD

maclife.com DEC 2014 77

aSK

TeCh SUPPoRT & TeChSPlanaTionS

Some Automator
magic can rename
files as they are
added to Downloads.

DownloaD File name Change


I use the Outlook Web App to access my companys Exchange
email and to download work file attachments. When I do so,
they download correctly, but the file name has %20 in the
places previously occupied by spaces in the filename. It is
very time consuming to fix this manually. Is there any way to
prevent this in the first place?
When downloading files online, the
%20 is a web standard to replace the
spaces in words and phrases. You could
prevent this by only uploading files
with _ instead of spaces. However,
with a little Automator action, you can
completely rid your Downloads folder
of these issues by renaming files whose

78 DEC
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maclife.com

names contain spaces on-the-fly when


they are added to the Downloads folder.
In Automator, follow these steps:
01. In the template chooser, select
Folder Action
02. In the Folder Action receives files
and folders added to drop-down menu,

select the Downloads folder


03. Find the Get Folder Contents
action in the pane to the left, drag it
into the workflow, and check its option
for Repeat for each subfolder found
04. Add the Rename Finder Items
action into the workflow underneath
the previous action. When prompted,
choose not to add the Copy Finder
Items action as well, then set the
actions options to Replace Text, and
set Find to %20 (without the quote
marks), in full name, and put a space
in the Replace field
05. Save the action by pressing
Command + S, then specifying a name
Each time a file is added to the
Downloads folder, this action will run,

Tech Support & techsplanations

and it will automatically rename files


with names containing %20 to use
spaces instead.

Desktop Arrangement
im using an imac running mavericks
10.9.3, and i keep encountering a
problem where my desktop icons are
rearranging themselves all on their
own. They all tend to pile up on the
right-hand side of the screen when
unzipping a file. how can i fix this?
The Finder can automatically keep
files organized by a few different
attributes (name, kind, date modified,
etc.), and it sounds like that may
have gotten enabled somehow on
the Desktop. With automatic sorting
enabled, the Finder will keep your files
and folders organized by the attribute
you specify. Unfortunately, if this is not
what youre expecting, it may appear as
though something else is going on.
To change this setting, perform the
following steps:
01. Click on the Desktop
02. Press Command + J, or choose
View > Show View Options
03. In the window that appears, select
Snap to Grid or None under the
Sort by drop-down menu
Close the window to save this choice,
and the Desktop should no longer
reorganize files and folders by itself.

Setting the desktops Sort by preference to


Snap to Grid or None will stop its icons
being rearranged automatically.

>>> Ask

> Changing OS X Profile Picture


when i first set up oS X, i
selected one of the profile
pictures provided by the
setup wizard, but now i
would like to switch to a
custom photo. if i change
this photo, will it also
change my photo inside of
the messages application?
Thanks for the help!
Whether you have a
photo that is already on
your computer, wish to
select one of those included
with OS X, or want to take a
new picture, you can do so
in System Preferences.
To change your picture,
perform these steps:
01. Open Apple menu >
System Preferences
02. Open the Users &
Groups preference pane

03. Select your account


from the list on the left
04. Click the Password
tab to the right
05. Click the user profile
photo that is currently set
In the popover dialog
that appears, you can
choose from the many
pictures provided with OS
X in the Default category,
which are perfectly sized to
fit the allocated space.
To use a custom picture,
drag and drop it from the
Finder onto the slot that
contains your current
picture. Creating a new
picture is also easy as pie.
choose Camera on the
left to see the view from
your Macs camera and take
a photo of yourself.

Bad RAM?
i recently upgraded the Ram on a
mac mini im running the Yosemite
beta on. i couldnt find any Kingston
or Samsung Ram where i live, but i
bought TwinmoS Ram. my computer
was acting up, so i took it into an
apple reseller, and they said there
was a memory error. Should i replace
my Ram or is Yosemite currently the
cause of my mac mini problems?
Any time you run a beta operating
system, you should expect issues to
arise that you would not see in normal
operation. These bugs are to be
expected, especially in the early stages
of the softwares development cycle.
Unfortunately, RAM-related issues
are rarely caused by a beta operating

Its easy to change your profile


picture in System Preferences.

This will not change


your photo in Messages. To
change that, youll need to
do the following:
01. Open Messages and
select Window > Buddies
03. In the list that appears,
select your profile photo,
and then select Recents
04. Select the photo that
you applied to your account
in System Preferences, and
then click Done

system, but are a sign of a hardware


issue, potentially with the RAM itself.
You can use a utility provided with
your Mac, either called Apple Hardware
Test or Apple Diagnostics, depending
on the Macs age. It will alert you to
RAM issues it detects. If they are any,
then chances are the fault lies with the
RAM you installed as this is the only
new hardware change on your Mac.
To run the Apple Hardware Test
(commonly referred to as AHT), follow
these steps:
01. Power off your Mac
02. Press the power button on your
Mac, and hold down the D key
03. Once the utility appears, then (in
Apple Hardware Test) select Perform

maclife.com DEC 2014 79

>>> Ask Tech Support & Techsplanations

Wi-Fi Network Devices


is there any mac app that i can use to
list all of the devices, along with their
details such as iP, maC address, and
hostname, that are connected to my
wi-Fi network?
There are many apps that will do
your bidding. One that weve recently
used is iNet Network Scanner (available
from the Mac App Store: bit.ly/ml_inet),
which has worked beautifully.
After launching the app, it will scan
your local network and display all
devices on it. Click on any of the devices
to get more detailed information, such
as its IP and MAC addresses.

Alternate Email in Apple ID


iNet will display all of the
devices currently on your
local network, and can
even categorize them
based on their OSes.

>>>

extended testing, then click the Test


button to begin. In Apple Diagnostics,
you may be asked to choose a
language, after which the tests will run
for you automatically.
The tests will take a while. When
finished, youll see a summary of any
issues found with your hardware.
If your old RAM is available, try
reinstalling it and running the tests
again. If the tests succeed, then the
issue is with the new RAM.
For more about Apple Hardware
Test or Apple Diagnostics, see support.
apple.com/kb/ht1509 or support.
apple.com/kb/ht5781, respectively.

again to no avail. any tips?


It sounds like you have an older
version of FaceTime that is no longer
supported. Apple gave away an
beta version of FaceTime, with Snow
Leopard support, for free, but when the
Mac App Store opened, Apple made it a
$0.99 purchase from the store.
To fix the issue, you will need to
delete the current version of FaceTime
from your system using these steps:

FaceTime Not Working

Once the application has been fully


removed from your system, download
FaceTime from Apple (which is available
at this URL: bit.ly/ml_facetime). The
newest version for Snow Leopard
was released in April, and its release
notes say that it explicitly addresses
connection issues for that operating
system. Download it and sign in with
your Apple ID, and you should find that
FaceTime works again.

FaceTime has stopped working on my


imac running mac oS X 10.6.8. i am
unaware of any changes that may
have caused this. i have ensured that
FaceTime is on and that my email
is listed for people to contact me.
whenever i receive a call and it tries
to connect, i get a FaceTime failed
message. ive tried rebooting my mac
and turning FaceTime off and then on

80 DEC
AUG 2014
2014 maclife.com
maclife.com

when i created my apple iD, i created


an alternate email address (gmail) for
recovering my account in the future,
and to use it as a backup. i cannot
find a way to change this alternate
apple iD, however. will apple ever let
us change this address?
The alternate Apple ID can be used
just like your standard Apple ID, and
can be used in emergencies when you
get locked out of your account to reset
passwords, and more.
You should be able to edit or delete
the alternate address by signing in with
your main ID at appleid.apple.com. If
you find you cant do so, you have the
option of contacting Apple ID support
by visiting this URL: apple.com/
support/appleid/contact/

01. Close FaceTime


02. Move the FaceTime app, usually in
the Applications folder, to the Trash
03. Empty the Trash

Apple ID has its own support page for getting


in touch with Apple regarding issues.

Let the support team know your


situation, and they might be able to
reset your account information for you,
such as when the alternate address
changes and is no longer being used.

Missing Applications
i recently opened up iPhoto to get a
message saying the application was
missing. There was no icon for it on
my mac running oS X 10.7, and the
photo library itself, which i store on
an external drive, is greyed out and
says damaged or not available. my
external drive did recently break, and
i got a replacement. Could the new
drive have anything to do with it?
The potentially damaged iPhoto
library sounds like a result of your drive
failure. The library may also fail to open
if iPhoto is missing from your system.
The first step to troubleshooting
this issue is to reinstall iPhoto. Since
youre running OS X Lion, it may be
that your version of iPhoto came on an
iLife install DVD. If thats the case, then
reinstall it from that DVD; otherwise,
you can grab the latest version of
iPhoto from the Mac App Store at this
address: bit.ly/ml_iphoto.
Once a fresh copy of iPhoto is
installed, try to open your existing
iPhoto library by holding the Option
key and then opening iPhoto. This will
display a dialog from which you can
choose a library to open.
If that doesnt work, then you can
try rebuilding the library by following
the instructions in this support article:
support.apple.com/kb/HT2638
As a last resort, locate the photo
library in the Finder, right-click it, and
select Show Package Contents. By
navigating the folders that make up the
library, you you may be able to recover
most (if not all) of your photos.

> iTunes Quits Unexpectedly


whenever i open iTunes,
it runs for a few minutes,
but then crashes. when i
try loading an alternate
iTunes library, the issue
doesnt happen, but with
my main library, i can
always repeat this issue.
it is annoying because i
can no longer listen to my
music or sync my devices.
any clues as to whats
going on?
It sounds like your iTunes
library may have gotten
corrupted. Fortunately, you
can recreate your iTunes
library and (hopefully) solve
the issue in the process by
following these steps:
01. Backup your iTunes
library folder inside of [Your
Home folder]/Music

02. Quit iTunes


03. Locate your iTunes
library folder inside of [Your
Home folder]/Music
04. Open the iTunes Folder
05. Drag the enclosed
iTunes Library.xml and
iTunes Music Library.xml
files to the Desktop
06. Drag the iTunes
Library.itl (or iTunes
Library) file to the Trash
07. Open iTunes, but dont
add content to the library
08. Choose File > Import
Playlist from the menu bar
09. Find the iTunes
Library.xml file in the file
selector window, select it,
and then click Choose
This will re-create your
library files, and display
your music if everything
was processed properly.

In rare cases, corruption may


require a library to be recreated.

Note that if you dont


have a Library.xml or
iTunes Music Library.
xml file, youll need to
follow the steps at support.
apple.com/kb/hT1473 to
recreate them.
If you used the podcast
functionality in iTunes and
no podcasts are listed in
your library, then you may
want to add them back into
the library by following the
steps at support.apple.
com/kb/hT2562.

pause the music on the phone to keep


it from playing. why is it doing this,
and how can i stop it?
Many head units installed in cars will
automatically play music when an audio
player is connected. This is usually
because the player is in a paused state.
Try the following steps:

Stop Automatic Playback

01. Open the Music app


02. Disable Shuffle and Repeat options
03. Skip all songs to ensure that the
music player has stopped playing music
04. Plug in your device

when i plug my iPhone into the USB


port in my car, the music stored in
the music app automatically starts
playing. it did this with my 4s, and
is now doing this on my 5s. i have to

Often, force quitting the Music app


will result in nothing playing when
connecting your device. Do this by
double-tapping the Home button,

Often, force quitting the Music app will result in


nothing playing when connecting your device.

maclife.com DEC 2014 81

>>> Ask Tech Support & Techsplanations

The Desktop
Pictures folder
contains all of the
Apple-included
desktop images.

>>>

swiping horizontally until you find


the Music app in the list of recently
used apps, and then swiping up on
the thumbnail preview of the app.
This should avoid music playing
automatically on all but the most
adamant car stereos.

Desktop Backgrounds
i have an imac, and i was wondering
how to add my own photos to the
Desktop Pictures folder that is
listed in System Preferences. i would
also like to remove at least one
photo that comes up (the zebra eye
creeps me out). i currently have the
background set to change every 24
hours, and i want to mix in a few of
my photos.
Those desktop pictures are in a
folder thats tucked away, but you can
easily reach it by doing this:
01. Open a Finder window
02. Press Command + Shift + G (or

ShaRe wiTh US!

82 DEC 2014 maclife.com

select Go > Go to Folder...)


03. In the dialog that appears, type in
/Library/Desktop Pictures/ and press
Enter or press the Go button
The Finder window will open to
the Desktop Pictures folder, allowing
you to add, edit, and remove the files
that are contained inside. Note that
when deleting or adding files to this
folder, you may be required to enter an
administrator password due to it being
a system-owned folder.

Audiobooks Are Too Fast


i have an iPod classic that i use
to listen to audiobooks through
Ford Sync when i travel. i recently
downloaded an audiobook from
audible, and noticed that it and
others that i had already purchased
now play much faster than they
should. ive tried everything i can
think of to fix this, but nothing seems
to work. ive restored the iPod, and

even bought a new one, but the issue


is still occurring.
There is a setting on the original
iPods (including the iPod classic) that
lets you choose the playback speed of
audiobooks. Chances are this setting
has been changed, and that its the root
cause of your issue.
To change this setting, perform
these steps on the iPod:
01. Press the Menu button on the click
wheel until you get to the top level of
the iPods menu
02. Choose Settings
03. Choose Audiobooks
04. Choose a speed from the list of
three options that are presented here
slower, normal, and faster
This should resolve your audiobook
playback issues. Note that when
switching iPods, you most likely synced
over your previous iPods settings to
the new one.

email: letters@maclife.com
FaCeBooK: facebook.com/maclife TwiTTeR: twitter.com/maclife

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CreAte
HoW to do AnYtHinG on YoUr mAC, iPHone & iPAd

Sharing and exporting video


With your movie wrapped, its time to share it with other people
Adobe Premiere elementS 12 lets you

REquiRES

> Adobe Premiere


Elements 12, a
completed
video project
LEVEL

> Easy
it WiLL tAkE

> 30 minutes

organize your clips, import them into a


project, work in a simple or complex
interface, apply transitions and titles,
improve the audio, manipulate the volume of each
clip (to even out the sound throughout), colorcorrect clips (or apply a specific look to your entire
production), even pan and zoom across photos...
As powerful as all this is, theres one last step
needed to finish this journey, and thats exporting
your work into a format thats compatible with
whatever system you want to play it on. The
most obvious option is to send it online to media
sharing sites such as YouTube. But you may also
wish to carry your movie with you on an iPhone,
or save a higher-res copy on your Mac. Saving it to
DVD is possible, and Premiere Elements even lets
you create menus to make the process complete.

All in all, there are many options open to you


here to make sure you can share your film exactly
as you intended so lets take a look at a few of
them. bY Steve PAriS

quick
tip
When building a DVD, you
arent stuck with the
theme you originally
chose. While designing it,
you can click on the
Menu Theme button
to get back to the
categories window and
select a different one
from there.

84 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Revel in it
At the top-right of the interface is the export
menu called Publish+Share. Click on it and the first
option is for Adobes own cloud service, Revel. Once in,
you can rename your film, choose where to save it, and
enable or disable the ability to download your work.

Traditional services
If you select Social Websites instead, you
can upload to Facebook, Vimeo, and YouTube. Each
option comes with a series of presets so you can
get the best quality out of your video. You need to
authorize the app to gain access to your account.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

JARGON
BuStER
Put simply, a Web DVD is
a DVD with interactive
links, so it combines DVD
quality with a connection
to the web that enables
you to get more info.
Its not a new idea, as it
was first used in CD-ROM
titles many years ago.

Disc media
The Disc option is very interesting, not because
of the fact that you can still save your project to disc,
but because of all the options it offers. Select it and the
app asks if you want to include a disc menu. Click on
Yes and youll see a large list of different menus.

Chapter markers
You can create chapter markers throughout
your project. Click on the Scenes Menu 1 thumbnail
to show those that were automatically created. Move
the playhead to a specific location, then click the Add
Marker button to add a new chapter marker.

Customization
Theres a wealth of categories to choose from,
and each comes with a main page and a chapter index.
Select one, and the interface changes to allow you to
customize it. You can add a background image or video
to your front page, or double-click the title to alter it.

Marker options
You can double-click on a chapters title to
rename it. By default, the marker youve created is a
Chapter Marker, which means a link is created from the
scenes menu and you can skip to it with your remote.
But you can also convert it to one of two other options.
quick
tip

Customize and burn


You can also choose to have your thumbnails
animated or static on an individual basis. Should you
wish to have them all animated, click Apply to all
Marker Buttons. When happy with the results, click on
Done, go back to the DVD option, and burn your disc.

iOS export
For exporting to mobile devices, choose the last
option: Mobile Phones and Players. As youd expect,
the first choice is for your iOS devices, but you can also
export your work in Sony PSP format or for a generic
cell phone. Click on Advanced to tweak those settings.

Theres another export


option on the File
menu called Project
Archiver. With it, you can
save your work as an
editable project should
you wish to get back to it
in the future. It saves
everything in a
convenient single file
so that nothing gets lost
or deleted.

maclife.com DEC 2014 85

>>> Create

Share between documents


Copy and paste charts, slides and data in Pages, Numbers and Keynote
JuSt becauSe iWorkS word processor,

REQUIRES

> OS X 10.9 or
later, iWork 5.0
or later
LEVEL

> Hard
IT WILL TAKE

> 15 minutes

If you paste a picture


into a table cell, you
may have to resize it.

86 DEC 2014 maclife.com

spreadsheet, and presentation tools


serve different purposes, it doesnt
mean they work in isolation. All three
sport a shared user interface, and that collective
approach also applies when it comes to
populating your iWork documents. You can grab
a chart from Numbers to insert in your Keynote
presentation, or steal some text from a Pages
document to place above your spreadsheet.
Elements created in one application can be
copied and pasted to another, whether its text,
images, music, video, or in the case of Numbers,
some data sets and a chart or two. All you need
to know is what is and isnt transferred, and how
best to copy data from one document to another.
baSic copy and paSting The most common
element you want to cut and paste between
documents is text. Here you have two choices. To
copy only the text, simply select said text inside
its box or frame and choose Copy.
Switch to the other application document,
select where you want the text to go, and then
choose Paste. You notice that by default the
formatting of the original text is preserved.
If youre appending text to existing text,
select Edit > Paste and Match Style instead. You
also notice a third paste option Paste Formula
Results. If you select a formula in Numbers, this
option allows you to paste the current result of

Copy and paste the entire text box if you wish to include the
boxs own formatting, too.

that formula as opposed to the formula itself.


You can also copy and paste entire frames of
text just make sure you select the frame rather
than the text inside, and then copy and paste it
to recreate the actual frame (and its contents)
rather than just the text itself.
tranSferring imageS Its a similar story with
images. Select an image in one application and
then choose Edit > Copy. Switch to the target
document and paste it in it appears as a floating
image unless you inadvertently select a table cell,
in which case it is embedded there instead. All
existing styles and effects are preserved, unless
you choose Paste and Match Formatting. The
same is true for music and video, which preserve
any editing, looping or volume adjustments
youve made in the original document.
other page elementS Its perfectly possible
to copy and paste other page elements between
different document types too tables, charts,
shapes, comments, and even entire Keynote
slides can be shuttled from one to another with
no problem. With most of these elements, its
just a case of making sure its selected correctly,
then copying it before switching to your other
document and pasting it into place again,
choosing Paste to carry across all existing
formatting, or Paste and Match Style to make it
better fit in with its new surroundings.
Two particular elements come with additional
caveats: charts and Keynote slides. To find out
what options are available to you, check out the
step-by-step guide opposite. by nick peerS

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

How to
transfer charts and slides
between documents
Copy charts from Numbers
To copy a chart from Numbers to a Pages
document or Keynote presentation, you only need
to select the actual chart itself click on it, and
verify the entire chart is highlighted, not just a small
part of it. Right-click and choose Copy, then switch
to your Pages or Keynote document. Select where
youd like to place the chart and choose Edit > Paste.
You see your chart appear as a floating element,
allowing you to click and drag it into place. Open the
Format Inspectors Arrange tab to control how other
elements flow around it or that its fixed to the page.

Edit chart data


The data in this pasted chart can be edited
directly from Pages or Keynote. Just click the Edit
Chart Data button to change the values and figures,
allowing you to update and customize the chart
manually. If you copy and paste a chart in iWork 09,
you find an Update button appears next to the chart,
allowing you to refresh it with any changes made in
another version. Theres also an Unlink button.
In iWork 5, the simplest way to update your chart
after making changes in Numbers is to delete the
original copy then paste in the updated chart. If
youve only made minor tweaks, its quicker to just
edit the chart data manually.
If you generate your chart in Keynote or Pages,
copy and paste it into Numbers, but be careful where
you paste it. Like text and images, if youve selected
a cell, its pasted inside that as a non-editable image,
scaled to fit the cell. Paste it as a floating object and
the data set is pasted as a separate floating table to
the chart itself. Both remain connected.

Copy the entire Keynote slide to paste it into your


new document as a non-editable image.

Paste as a graphic
When you create a chart in Numbers and
copy it across to Keynote or Pages, its rendered
as a vector graphic, which allows you to scale it to
any size. If you want to copy and paste the chart
as a simple non-editable graphic, things get more
complicated. In Numbers 09, you could generate
a vector-based image of the chart by copying it,
then opening Preview and choosing File > New from
Clipboard. This makes a low resolution rasterized
image that degrades should you try to blow it up.
To produce a higher quality image, output your
Numbers document as a PDF: choose File > Print,
then hit Print. Make sure Best graphics is selected
under Presets, then click the PDF drop-down and
choose Open PDF in Preview. Once Preview opens,
select Tools > Rectangular Selection, then click and
drag around the chart you wish to copy. Adjust the
selection then right-click it and choose Copy. Select
File > New from Clipboard to create a vector copy
and can save as a PDF. Drag the PDF file from Finder
into your document window to import the chart as a
graphic. Its still rasterized, but the quality is higher.

Its easy to paste a


chart from Numbers
to Pages, and you
can still edit the
copied chart data.

Transfer Keynote slides


To copy and paste a slide into your Pages
document or Numbers spreadsheet you have two
options. Simply paste a non-editable image of the
slide into your other document, select its thumbnail
from the Slides pane, right-click and choose Copy,
and then paste it across. You cant edit its content,
but you can resize, crop and frame it.
To copy across a slide in fully editable form, select
content from the slide, then copy and paste that
across instead. Consider grouping the various text
frames and media objects before you copy them, to
make it easier to keep the slides elements together.

jARgon
bUSTER
Rasterized image: A
vector image that has
been converted into
bitmap format by taking
the vectors scalable
shapes, and converting
them into non-scalable
pixels or dots. The more
dots used, the higher
the resolution (and
therefore quality).

maclife.com DEC 2014 87

>>> Create

Recover from major problems


Tools to get you out of a sticky situation if OS X wont start
RecoveRy is a set of tools you can

REQUIRES

> OS X 10.7 or
later,
a Recovery
partition on
your startup
disk or a
Recovery disk
LEVEL

> Medium
IT WILL TAKE

> From a few


minutes
to several
hours,
depending on
the feature
you need

88 DEC 2014 maclife.com

depend on in a rare emergency


typically when something drastic
stops you getting into OS X. It looks a
lot like OS X proper, but its capabilities are
limited to essential maintenance tools that help
you get up and running after a critical problem.
Its even possible to download and reinstall the
whole operating system.
If the prospect of fixing something you dont
understand is daunting, theres one feature
youll find invaluable: its the web browser.
Using it, you can go online to book a Genius Bar
appointment at one of Apples retail stores,
or look up the contact details of an authorized
repair center if there are no stores close to you.
Recovery offers other features well walk
you through. One of them is the ability to
reset any user accounts password. While this
is undoubtedly useful, it also poses a security
risk to the files stored on your Mac if someone
accesses it. By alan stoneBRidge

Quick Look Recovery mode


Reinstall OS X
Recovery provides three ways to reinstall
OS X: rolling back to an earlier state using Time
Machine; installing OS X over itself to fix some
problems; and erasing the internal storage first
for a completely clean start.

Research a problem
The Safari web browser is available in
Recovery to research common problems.

Disk Utility
You can run diagnostic scans of your Macs
storage, or erase it altogether.

Additional Utilities
Firmware Password Utility increases security;
Network Utility tests connectivity; and Terminal is a
text-driven way to perform a detailed diagnosis.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

How to Use Recoverys options

Start Recovery Mode


To start Recovery from your Macs
internal storage, hold down +
at the
startup chime. To start it from an external
drive, hold
instead, and when a list of
available startup volumes appears, choose
the one with an external drive icon and
Recovery in its label.

Get Help Online


You can use this version of Safari
to browse and research your problem by
visiting support.apple.com, to look more
broadly with a search engine, and to
browse to www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar
to book a Genius Bar appointment for
professional help at an Apple retail store.

Reinstall OS X
This option downloads your
current version of OS X and installs it
over any existing copy, retaining your files
and settings. This can fix damage to the
system. The download is several gigabytes,
so it can take quite a while over slower
Internet connections.

Internet Recovery
If a Recovery partition isnt
available, holding +
starts Internet
Recovery (on models released since OS
X Lion, and some earlier models see
support.apple.com/kb/HT4904). This
shows a globe and a progress bar while
your version of OS X is downloaded.

Disk problems
If OS X wont start, choose Disk
Utility before resorting to more drastic
options and check your Macs drive is
shown in the apps left pane. Select the
row that shows disk capacity for options
to verify data and attempt to repair
structural problems.

OS X Utilities
When Recovery finishes loading,
it displays a list of four commonly needed
tasks. Get Help Online opens the Safari
web browser. However, if your Mac uses
Wi-Fi to get online, use the Wi-Fi icon at
the top right to ensure that its connected
to your usual network.

Restore backups
If you havent excluded system
folders from your backups, your Mac can
be restored to an earlier state. Choose this
option, identify your backup disk, pick an
earlier state from the list, and follow the
prompts to restore it from your startup
disk. Note: this can take a while.

Reset a password
If someone forgets their account
password, choose Utilities > Terminal.
Type resetpassword into that app and
press . In the next window, select your
startup disk, select the account from the
list, type a new password into the boxes
and press Save.

QUIcK
TIp
In Utilities > Network Utility, the Ping tab
lets you check that network traffic can
reach other devices on your network,
and websites outside of it.

maclife.com DEC 2014 89

>>> Create

Browse anonymously on iOS


How to keep your surfing habits completely to yourself
Many Of uS are becoming more and

REQUIRES

> iOS device,


Safari, Onion
Browser
LEVEL

> Medium
IT WILL TAKE

> 20 minutes

more concerned about having our


online activities tracked. Some of us
want to avoid a barrage of constant
marketers and spam, while others want to dodge
overzealous content blocking from their Internet
service provider. Generally, though, most of us
simply want to use the Internet as we please
without our browsing being snooped on and
logged by the authorities.
The iPads web browser, Safari, usually tracks
your web movements with cookies that enable

you to quickly return to the pages and products


youve looked at previously. It also saves your web
history, which can be useful if you want to quickly
return to a page youve visited before. You can use
a Private version of Safari that doesnt track you in
this way, as we show you below.
However, for proper privacy its better to use
a proxy server that can mask your real details. So
heres how you can temporarily surf in secret in
Safari, and how to use the Tor network and the
Onion web browser to surf stealthily all the time.
By rOSie HatterSley

Visual Guide Hide your location and surf in secret


Use Tor
Install Onion Browser (69p from the App Store),
tap to launch it and allow it to connect to the Tor
network. The initial connection will take up to a minute.

Spoofing your IP address


Connect your iPad to check.torproject.org and
youll get a message confirming that your web surfing
is now being routed through it. Youll see a message

showing the IP address your iPad now pretends to be


using this process is called spoofing.

Use anonymous search


You can now explore the web using Onion
Browser. It works well with the duckduckgo.com search
engine, which prides itself on its lack of tracking.

Unstick Onion Browser


Sometimes, typing in a web address in Onion
Browser has no effect. This is because it occasionally
conflicts with dormant apps in iOS. Tap the arrow at
the bottom of the browser screen to bring up its menu,
then tap Help/Support and click the force-quit link.
Then launch Onion again to start a new session.

Get a new IP identity


If you think your cover might be blown, tap
the arrow at the bottom of Onion Browser, then tap
New Identity in the menu that appears. A new IP
address will be generated for you.

Bookmark useful pages


You can still bookmark useful sites in the
usual way by tapping the menu arrow at the bottom
of the page followed by Bookmark Current Page. To
view these Onion bookmarks, tap the book icon at
the bottom right of the page.

90 DEC 2014 maclife.com

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

How to Stay anonymous in Safari

Delete yourself
If youre worried about someone
checking the websites youve visited, delete
your Safari browsing history by tapping
Settings > Safari > Clear History and also
Clear Cookies and Data. Next, tap Advanced
> Website Data, and tap Remove All Website
Data. To stop your web use being snooped
on, use a private browsing session. Launch
Safari and then tap the + sign in the top
right. Tap Private in the bottom-left corner.

A private session
A Close All Tabs? query box
appears. Tap either Close All or Keep
All, depending on whether you want to
return to those pages later. When you
surf in Private mode in Safari, web pages
are distinguished with a black URL bar.
Otherwise, browse the web as normal.
Tap Private again to revert to standard
web browsing. Youll get a prompt about
keeping tabs for sites youve just visited.

Lose trackers
Safari has a Do Not Track setting
you can switch on permanently, as well as
an option to limit the amount that your web
browsing is logged. In Settings, tap Safari
> Privacy & Security and turn on Do Not
Track. Not all advertisers respect it, but this
will stop some of them tracking you. We
recommend you turn on Limit Ad Tracking
and reset the Advertising Identifier under
Settings > Privacy > Advertising.

PRIVATE
nETWoRKS

Limit trackers
Apps that dont really require your
location often collect it to help advertisers
target ads. You can turn off Location
Services in Settings > Privacy > Location
Services, but this is a bit drastic. Instead,
switch off apps individually in the Location
Services screen. Tap System Services at the
bottom and switch off Diagnostics & Usage,
Location-Based iAds and Popular Near Me.
Finally, tap the Status Bar Icon to On.

See what tracks you


Although lots of services log what
you do online, the purpose of this tracking
varies greatly. To see what web trackers are
active, install the free Ghostery app from
the App Store. This lets you block or allow
trackers and analytics tools. Ghostery also
includes the DuckDuckGo search engine
mentioned earlier. Tap the blue Ghostery
tool icon in the browser to select View All
Trackers, Block All Trackers, and so on.

Tor is useful if you need to be sure that no one


can identify your iPad or the sites you visit, but
its slow. Another way to surf privately is to use
a VPN (virtual private network). This creates a
tunnel through which your iPad establishes a
web connection. If you need to send private
emails at an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot, using a
VPN is a must. Install TunnelBear VPN (free from
the App Store), create an account, then allow
TunnelBear to install its VPN software profile on
your iPad. Type your iPad unlock passcode to
confirm and tap Done. To use TunnelBear, select
it from the Settings > VPN menu and tap VPN to
enable it. The status will then show Connected.
You can now get online securely, although the
app requires a monthly subscription.

maclife.com DEC 2014 91

>>> Create

Keep private files locked


Shield files with OS Xs built-in features or free software
Encrypting filEs providEs a robust

REQUIRES

> Disk Utility, an


external hard
drive or flash
drive, GPGTools
(optional)
LEVEL

> Easy
IT WILL TAKE

> 5 minutes

way to protect their contents. Files


are scrambled in a way that makes
them unreadable unless a person can
provide a password. An empty drive can be
formatted so anything you add to it is encrypted
from the outset. This can also be applied to a
volume that only takes up some of the drives
capacity. This method is appropriate if youve
just bought a new drive (or erased an old one),
whether that drive will stay on your desk or if its
a portable one whose contents you need to keep
secure as you use it on a number of computers.
BacK up BEforE you go Its possible to encrypt

Encrypting with OS
Xs built-in features
requires a disk to
have a specific
structure called GUID.

a Mac-formatted volume that already contains


files, although its a good idea to make a copy
of those files elsewhere before using this route
in case an unexpected software problem occurs
during the encryption process. If you only
want to encrypt a few files, an alternative is to
create an encrypted disk image. You might have
encountered disk images if youve downloaded
software from outside of the Mac App Store.
They are files with the suffix DMG that appear in
the Finder as if youve attached a physical drive.
An enclave can start out small, and grow up to
a preset maximum size as you add files to it.
When creating an encrypted drive, volume or
image, you need to set a password thats required

Properly formatted volumes on correctly partitioned drives


can be encrypted even if they contain files.

to access its contents. The same old advice about


setting a strong, safe password applies here.
These options are fine if you only need to use a
disk or image with a Mac, but they wont work
with Windows and Linux out of the box. An app
called HFSExplorer allows encrypted images
to work with Windows, but its unable to write
back to them. We hoped to overcome this by
showing you how to use TrueCrypt, a free way to
encrypt disks thats been available since 2004
that is available for OS X, Windows and Linux
or at least it was until the project was recently
abandoned. Unfortunately, the latest version of
TrueCrypt (7.2) is a limited version intended to
help existing users migrate already-encrypted
data to an alternative format, while the last fullfeatured version (7.1) has been pulled from the
official site. Sadly, TrueCrypt appears to be dead.
Just in casE There is a fallback option that
encrypts files but not whole disks so you can
carry them around more safely. Symantec makes
software called Drive Encryption that costs 84
per copy, but we want a free option. The PGP
(Pretty Good Privacy) technology on which this is
built has been around for more than 20 years, and
free implementations are available for a range of
operating systems. Sadly, the last Mac version
to include a whole disk encryption feature was
released years ago for the classic Mac OS, but
PGP also allows for individual file encryption.
Well show you how to leverage this to keep files
secure while in transit. By alan stonEBridgE

92 DEC 2014 maclife.com

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

How to
Encrypt your files
Encrypt a volume
containing files
In Disk Utility, select the row of the drive that
contains the volume. Partition Map Scheme must
say GUID Partition Table, or the drive must be wiped.
Select the row that shows the volumes name.
Format must say Mac OS Extended. Open a Finder
window, right-click the volume in the left pane,
and choose the item that begins Encrypt Set a
password and a reminder. Click Encrypt Disk and the
menu item now begins Encrypting Ejecting and
reconnecting the drive prompts for the password.

Encrypt new or blank drive


First, eject and disconnect other external
drives so that Disk Utility shows only your Macs
internal drive and the one to encrypt. In that app,
select the row that lists the external drives capacity.
If its partition map scheme doesnt say GUID, select
the Partition tab, set the number of partitions to
create, then click Options and choose GUID. Press
OK, name the volume, and press Apply. Next, select
the Erase tab, set Format to Mac OS Extended
(Journaled, Encrypted), name the volume and
click the Erase button. Now set a password and click
Erase. The encrypted volume becomes available in
the Finder. Anything copied to it is encrypted.

Encrypt only some files


An encrypted disk image lets you choose
which files are encrypted. In Disk Utility, choose File
> New > Blank Disk Image Now provide an image
name and save it to your external drive. Set Size
to the maximum capacity youll need. Set Format
to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Choose either

PGP encryption requires a little more work on it, but it is


effective on a good many operating systems.

128-bit or 256-bit AES encryption. Leave Partitions


on its default value of GUID. Using read/write disk
image for the image format preallocates your
chosen size. Instead, choose sparse bundle disk
image. The image grows as you add things to it.
Click the Create button. Set a password, click OK and
the image is created and mounted in the Finder.

A disk image is an
option when you
havent got time
or space to meet
Apples encryption
prerequisites.

Cross-platform use
To encrypt files in a format that can be used
on OS X, Windows and Linux, use Disk Utilitys Erase
tab to change the volumes format to MS-DOS
(FAT), to which all can write. Install GPG Suite
(gpgtools.org, OS X 10.6 or later). GPG Keychain
Access requests your name and email to associate
with the key you use to encrypt files. Leave the
option to upload this unchecked. Its intended
for sending and receiving encrypted files among
contacts. Leave the advanced options on their
defaults (see bit.ly/gpgopts) except for the expiry,
which you uncheck to use the key in the long term.
Click Generate key and set a strong passphrase. In
the Finder, select files to encrypt, right-click one of
them and choose Services > OpenPGP: Encrypt File.
In the new window, check the box next to the key
you created, then click OK. The files are packaged
into an encrypted .gpg file. A PGP tool with your key
installed is required to decrypt this file.
In the GPG Keychain Access app, select your key,
choose File > Export and check Allow secret key
export in the save dialog. To get this onto other
computers, save it to a portable drive that contains
no files encrypted with it and store that in isolation
during transport. Files encrypted with this tool can
be copied to a volume thats readable and writeable
by Macs and other PCs with a PGP tool installed. On
Windows, the equivalent is Gpg4win (gpg4win.org).

jARgon
bUSTER
AES (Advanced
Encryption Standard) is
a method certified for
protecting US
government documents.
Its 128-bit form is
deemed suitable for
secret files, and 256-bit
for top secret files. In
2011, researchers
documented a
theoretical way to break
it. That is, one thats
computationally faster
than a brute force
attack, but its still far
from trivial to decipher
things encrypted with it.

maclife.com DEC 2014 93

>>> Create

Improve autocorrect
Make typing easier with a few careful tweaks
EvEn If youvE nEvEr

REQUIRES

> An iOS device


LEVEL

> Easy
IT WILL TAKE

> 5 minutes

experienced a full-on,
mortifying Damn
you, autocorrect
moment of the kind weve all seen
shared online to much hilarity,
youve probably still had your
irritations with the system on iOS.
We happen to think that
autocorrect is largely quite a good
thing, but its still useful to know
how to manage it effectively.
The first thing, which you most
probably know already, is that
you can cancel out its corrections
either as theyre happening, or
just after. If iOS is going to correct
a word as youre typing, it pops
up a bubble next to it, telling
you what it will correct it to. To
stop it changing, tap the bubble.

However, if the word is correct,


just press the space bar to add it
into the message youre typing.
If you realize it corrected a word
after typing, just hit backspace to
delete into the word and retype
autocorrect wont kick in again
unless you drastically change the
word. When you fix autocorrects
changes, the dictionary learns
your new words, so it wont bug
you for corrections next time.
You can turn autocorrect off in
Settings > General > Keyboard,
if youd rather, and if you feel
youd be better off starting with
the system afresh, you can reset
your autocorrect dictionary in
Settings > General > Reset > Reset
Keyboard Dictionary.
by Matt bolton

How to Cheat with textExpander

MacLife

Teach TextExpander
Theres a great but little-used
feature in iOS called TextExpander, which
lets you set shortcuts for longer messages.
Apples example is that you can type omw
and it autocorrects to On my way. This
ties into the general autocorrect system, so
we can use it to make some tweaks. Go to
Settings > General > Keyboard to begin.

94 DEC 2014 maclife.com

Specific replacements
If youve made autocorrect learn
a mistake that it should be correcting
(something like youre), use TextExpander
to fix it. Tap Add New Shortcut In the
Phrase field, write the correct word, and in
the Shortcut field, write the one that you
incorrectly type. Save it, and now when you
write the latter, it changes to the former.

Manually add words


Use TextExpander to add words to
autocorrects library. Add a new shortcut,
and type the word you want into the
Phrase field, formatted correctly as far
capitalization (or not) goes. Dont put
anything in the Shortcut field. Save this,
and the word is effectively added to your
autocorrect dictionary.

SUBSCRIBE
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TO SUBSCRIBE NOW!

>>> Next Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

Next Big Things


The gadgets, services, and issues that were looking forward to

Go iPad Pro (or Plus?)

iPhone 6s

Mac|life to the rescue!

Its been months since we heard anything


about the rumored iPad Pro, but that
doesnt mean that apples forgotten all
about the larger tablet. In fact, a 12.9-inch
iPad Pro (or will it be iPad Plus now?) is
well on its way to a 2015 release date,
according to sources at Bloomberg. They
claim that the massive iPad, three inches
larger than the current iPad air model,
has been in the works for at least a year
now. Unsurprisingly the sites sources also
said that the iPad mini 3 and the iPad air 2
will be debut in time for the 2014 holidays,
which will no doubt help iPad sales that
have reportedly slumped for two quarters
in a row. Would you buy an Xl iPad? Write
in and let us know.

With the iPhone 6 now out in the open,


apple has upgraded its smartphone
line with a Retina HD display, improved
camera, and a8 CPU. Since the original
iPhone, Cupertino has favored an iterative
approach to product development apple
never feels the need to cram its next-gen
handsets with every new technology.
So the 6 and 6 Plus models dont have
features that the rumor mill said that they
might, like Sapphire displays or wireless
charging. While this may disappoint some,
it leaves scope for techno-extras to be
added to the next model If apple sticks to
its naming conventions, that product will
roll out next year and be called iPhone 6S.

Next issue, we help you banish your


technology nightmares with the ultimate
guide to fixing all sorts of Mac and ioS
disasters. What do you do if your Mac
wont start? How can you keep your
system running smoothly? Why shouldnt
you use rice to dry out a wet phone? all
of these questions (and more) will be
answered in an issue that also features a
bucket-load of new reviews, 4K displays,
the iPhone 6, and the very best tutorials.

NEXT ISSUE oN SalE

NOV 11

96 DEC 2014 maclife.com

One Giant Leap Forward

The Worlds First 3D V-NAND SSD From Samsung


Go where no SSD has gone before with the SSD 850 PRO. Its unique 3D V-NAND technology gives it exceptional
performance, with class-leading* 150 Terabytes Written (TBW) lifetime endurance backed by a 10-year warranty.
*Based only on consumer-class SSDs
2014 Samsung Electronics America, Inc. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

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LT D. M A C A N D T HE M A C L O G O A R E T R A DE M A R K S OF A P P L E INC . , R E GI S T E R E D IN T HE U. S . A N D O T HE R C OUN T R IE S . F E R A L A ND T HE F E R A L L O G O A R E T R A DE M A R K S OF F E R A L IN T E R A C T I V E LT D. T HI S G A ME I S N O T L I CE N S E D
BY OR A S S O C I AT E D W I T H T HE F I A OR A N Y R E L AT E D C OMPA N Y. A L L O T HE R C OP Y R IGH T S OR T R A DE M A R K S A R E T HE P R O P E R T Y OF T HE IR R E S P E C T I V E O W NE R S A N D A R E BE IN G U S E D UND E R L ICE N S E . A L L R I GH T S R E S E R V E D.

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