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Welcome iCreate 179
“As Apple fans know, the Fall is a time of great excitement” There is something magical about this time of year, most notably the golden leaves falling to the ground that signify the end of a cycle and the slate being wiped clean for new beginnings. And as Apple fans know, the Fall is a time of great excitement as it is traditionally when new product ‘drops’ – such as the iPhone X and the latest macOS. So this issue is packed full of insightful tutorials to help you get the most out of iOS 11 on your new iPhone and discover all that is new and improved about macOS High Sierra. This issue we also celebrate gaming. With the introduction of iOS 11, ARKit has become the biggest Augmented Reality platform in the world and what are the most popular AR apps? Games. So we take a look at the very best games available on macOS, iOS and watchOS and also provide a few handy pointers for getting started with coding. There are several good standalone apps and web services available to help you turn your great gaming ideas into a reality and you will be amazed at what you can do. Enjoy the issue!
Ryan Butt Editor
Meet the experts Roland Waddilove
Shaun McGill
George Cairns
An all-round expert in all things Mac and iOS, this month Roland has been drilling down into the High Sierra update to guide you through some of the hottest new features.
This issue has been all about gaming for our tech expert. Not only has Shaun uncovered the best games for Mac, iOS and Watch, he also helps you start creating your own.
Our creative expert has pitched in with more ways to enhance your Photos, iMovie and Final Cut Pro projects, including editing with curves and getting very creative with lighting.
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Tutorials
Get more from your devices 24 Photos s How to apply creative editing with the new ‘Curves’ tool
26 iMovie s How to import and edit iOS iMovies on your Mac
28 Final Cut Pro X
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Master the new features of the High Sierra Notes app
s How to use creative lighting to make your projects shine
30 GarageBand s Discover how to add tracks remotely with iCloud
32 Logic Pro X s Learn how to transpose audio regions
36 macOS
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Solve all of your Wi-Fi and internet connection problems
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Discover how to track family members using the Messages app
s Master High Sierra’s muchimproved Notes app s Manage your time better with the Be Focused app s Create a functional and inspiring Chrome tab s Keep a record of your emotions with Lifecraft s How to solve Wi-Fi and internet connection issues s How to hide folders
60 iOS s How to configure your Control Centre in iOS 11 sHow to type one-handed on your iPhone Plus sRecord your screen in iOS 11 sCreate a Live Photo loop sHow to use Long Exposure sCreate ambient music with the SoundForest app sTrack your family with Messages in iOS 11
74 watchOS sHow to create your own custom Watch faces sHow to monitor your heart rate on your Watch
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Also this month… Features, reviews and expert advice 08 Trending News Has Apple lost the knack of innovating in favour of evolving? We examine the evidence
10 5 Things Find out what we discovered this month, including the surge in AR apps and even more emojis!
12 5-Minute Projects Tips on how to get more out of your macOS and iOS apps and settings
80 Genius Bar Fix your common Apple problems with our resident Apple Genius
98 Time Machine Take a trip down memory lane with classic Apple hardware
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#Trending
Is Apple still innovating? iPhone production may lack collective ‘wow’ factor, but you only need to look at Series 3 of Apple’s smartwatch to see true innovation So Apple’s major product and software reveals are over for another year. iPhone 8, iPhone X, Apple Watch Series 3, 4K Apple TV, a long-awaited Mac Pro update and many others to boot. But for some critics, Apple has lost its mojo; lost its creative sparkle; lost its insatiable appetite to innovate. In the six years since the passing of
Apple Michigan Avenue in Chicago is the first in a new generation of Apple’s most significant worldwide retail locations
8
founder Steve Jobs, it has been the biggest criticism of Apple. Too much evolution and not enough revolution. But is there any truth in that view? The question of a perceived lack of innovation was put to Apple Services Chief Eddy Cue recently. This is what, unsurprisingly, he had to say: “No way! First of all, the iPhone is ten years old. The iPad came after that and the Watch came after that. So,
“The Apple Watch Series 3 is packed with enough innovation to make other technology giants blush” I disagree vehemently with that and I think we’ve been incredibly innovative. That doesn’t even take into account the work that has been done on the Mac, iOS and macOS, from that standpoint where I think we’ve led the market. You can’t do revolutionary new
products, every two months or six months or whatever. They take time.” Eddy’s got a point, you know.
Watch this space Take the Apple Watch Series 3 as an example. Its introduction at September’s iPhone X launch
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Apple Watch Series 3 gives you the freedom to go anywhere with just your Watch
received nowhere near as much fanfare, but quietly it’s packed with enough innovation to make other technology giants blush. The introduction of an eSim, embedded deep into the Apple Watch, means `V\ JHU ÄUHSS` \ZL [OL ^VYSK»Z most popular watch without the constraints of an iPhone. This means that you can answer a call on your wrist while swimming, send a text and stream music to your heart’s content without being tethered to your phone. The great potential of smartwatches is ÄUHSS` ILPUN YLHSPZLK “We believe the addition of cellular will transform the way people use Apple Watch, providing a new sense of freedom since they can stay connected with or without their iPhone,” said Jeff Williams, (WWSL»Z JOPLM VWLYH[PUN VMÄJLY during the unveiling. Make no bones about it, the eSim shows true innovation in the wearable market. It could be great news for consumer
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cent smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus. Apple is innovating in the hardware space, but maybe we’re too blind to actually see it. The same goes for contactless payments with Apple Pay and Touch and Face ID’s biometric security. We take them for granted, and Apple might not have invented them, but they are genuine game-changers. Innovation comes in many different forms, too. Let us not forget how Apple has revolutionised the high-street retail experience. Entering an Apple store is like no other shopping experience. Every bit of detail is taken into consideration, and Apple stores are the envy of its rivals. On unveiling Apple’s UL^ ÅHNZOPW *OPJHNV ]LU\L Apple Michigan Avenue, Angela
choice, enabling users to switch digitally between carriers as they wish. Apple will control your eSim (at the moment of writing, EE is the only UK network that offers a data package) but you are not locked to a single carrier. eSims are going to be big news in the next few years. Did you know that the European Commission has ruled that every new car from 2018 has to IL Ä[[LK ^P[O HU L:PT PU H IPK to make it easier for emergency services to contact your vehicle in case of an accident? The tiny size of the eSim makes it perfect for Internet of Thingsconnected devices around your smart home, too. Apple is now at the forefront of this technology, showing genuine innovation in the process.
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Ahrendts, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail, said: “Apple 4PJOPNHU (]LU\L L_LTWSPÄLZ our new vision where everyone is welcome to experience all of our incredible products, services and inspiring educational programs.” It’s not all about buying products, it’s about being invested in the whole Apple experience. The Apple Watch proves that Apple hasn’t lost its ability to innovate in the slightest. With the iPhone and iPad, the real innovation happened on launch ten years ago. But it would be a mistake to regard what Apple has done in the past decade to those devices as not innovating. Innovating means changing people’s life and transforming the way they use their devices. In that sense, Apple is still very much top of the pile.
“The iPhone X adds screen size, resolution and pixels per inch in a package 18 per cent smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus” iPhone X is the future of the smartphone in a gorgeous all-glass design with a beautiful 5.8-inch Super Retina display
Game-changers Elsewhere in Apple’s hardware line-up, the upcoming iPhone X adds screen size, resolution and pixels per inch in a package that’s 18 per
9
#Trending
Things we learned this month
Apple makes senior legal appointment Apple
Apple one of the ‘greenest’ companies Apple
Katherine Adams will join Apple as general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Global Security at the start of 2018, replacing the retiring Bruce Sewell. It might not seem like an eye-catching role, but of Sewell, CEO Tim Cook says: “He has tirelessly defended our IP, our customers’ right to privacy and our values”. So this role can’t be underestimated. Adams, who currently works in a similar role at Honeywell, sounds like she’s up for the challenge, though, saying: “I’m excited to help Apple continue to grow and evolve around the world, protecting their ideas and IP, and defending our shared values.”
Apple has been named as the second ‘greenest’ company among the 17 biggest consumer technology companies in the world. The Guide to Greener Electronics report by Greenpeace ranked Apple behind only Fairphone, a company built with minimal environmental footprint by
10
design, and way ahead of the likes of Google, Samsung, Sony and Amazon. The report states that, “Apple leads the sector for its effort to adopt renewable energy for manufacturing and Apple is also strong on chemical management in both products and manufacturing”. Greenpeace added that Apple had fallen behind on repairable product design, though. Over to you, Cupertino…
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Games are the most popular AR apps With the introduction of iOS 11, ARKit became the biggest Augmented Reality platform in the world, and developers have been super busy trying to get their AR apps into the wild as soon as possible. We’ve already seen some brilliant offerings (check out Apple’s official @madewithARKit Twitter page for some of the very best) and now new data can reveal which genre is the most popular. The report by analytics firm Sensor Tower found that out of the first three million AR apps to be downloaded, 35 per cent were games. In fact, games occupy four of the top five highest
grossing AR apps, too. Utilities are the second most popular ARKit category with 19 per cent of apps, while entertainment apps account for 11 per cent and just seven per cent are in the education category.
“Out of the first three million AR apps to be downloaded, 35 per cent were games and 19 per cent utilities apps”
There are more emojis on the way! iOS Hundreds of new emoji, including more emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, clothing options, food types, animals and mythical creatures, are coming to iPhone and iPad with iOS 11.1. Among the standout emojis are an ‘I Love You’ hand symbol taken from the American Sign Language, and the new set includes those that were previously announced on World Emoji Day, including Women in a Headscarf and a Breastfeeding emoji. The new batch of emoji debuted in the developer and public beta previews of iOS 11.1, and will be available in upcoming software updates for iOS, macOS and watchOS.
Two-thirds of Americans own an Apple device Apple Ever wondered just how popular Apple products are? A new survey in America shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans own an Apple device. The survey by CNBC found the exact figure was 64 per cent, up an eye-watering 50 per cent since a similar survey in 2012. “I cannot think of any other product – especially any other product at a high price point – that has that kind of permeation with the public and level of growth,” says Jay Campbell, pollster with Hart Research, which conducted the survey along with Public Opinion Strategies. Let’s see what the iPhone X does to these already impressive figures!
11
#Trending 3
5 TO TRY TODAY
MINUTE PROJECTS
Hopefully by now you will have had the chance to fully digest most of the cool new features in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra. But the beauty of Apple’s operating systems is that there are always little things to discover further along the line, which is what our projects are based on this issue. Here we take a look at a few of the lesserknown features tucked away within the new updates, including the ability to annotate screenshots and take pictures in FaceTime.
Mark up your screenshots 1
The iOS 11 update brings lots of big, bold features to your iPhone, and plenty of subtle ones too. Here we explore one of those – the ability to take screenshots and instantly annotate and share them.
1
2
1 Take a screenshot
2 Open and mark it
3 Save the image
On your iPhone running iOS 11, take a picture of your screen by pressing the side/lock button and the Home button together. You will see a thumbnail in the Dock – tap it.
The screen that you took will now be opened in Markup mode, where you will be able to use the tools to make annotations to the image. You can tap ‘+’ for more options.
When you have finished all the marking up on your screenshot, tap on ‘Done’ in the top-left corner and you will be able to save the image to your Photos app or delete it.
Start using Slide Over mode 2
Photo Stream is a neat feature of iCloud that automatically uploads photos taken on your iPhone to your Mac (or any other device connected to the same iCloud account) when connected to Wi-Fi.
1 Add from Home screen
2 Enabling Slide Over
3 Using Split View
You can select two apps to sit side-byside from any of your Home screens. Tap the icon of the first app and start to drag it then, keeping hold, tap the icon of the second app.
Slide Over view will slide the dragged app in front of the other. Drag the icon on to the screen and release it. It will then automatically position to the right. You can also employ Split View…
If you prefer Split Mode, which puts the apps side-by-side, simply drag the icon as far left or right as possible. A black area will appear for you to release it into.
1 Connect with FaceTime
2 The new button
3 Get notified
Open up the FaceTime app on your Mac and then connect with someone else. When the live feed is established, start moving your cursor over the FaceTime window.
You will now notice that a new shutter button is present within the FaceTime interface – this is how you capture still images from your FaceTime conversation. Click it to take a picture.
When you capture a still image in FaceTime a notification will appear in the window. The person on the other end of the live feed will also be notified that you have taken a picture.
Take a photo in FaceTime 3
One of the new, lesser-hyped features in the High Sierra update is the option to take still images from live FaceTime conversations thanks to the inclusion of a new shutter button. Here’s how it is done…
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Everything you need to know in order to master High Sierra’s newest features s macOS updates go, High Sierra isn’t exactly earthshattering – but this is a good thing. We had precious few gripes with how macOS 10.12 operated, so there seemed little point in altering things unnecessarily merely for hollow crowd ‘whoops’. So what High Sierra does is only focus on areas where genuine improvements could be made, such as how you can tailor individual site settings in Safari,
A
getting better responses from Siri and making it easier to navigate your photo library and apply more varied edits to your images. Of course, much of what the High Sierra update offers is behind the scenes. For example, in APFS macOS has a new file system for the first time in about three decades, a new video compression technology for 4K (High Efficiency Video Coding, or H.265 for short) and the arrival of Metal 2,
the very latest version of Apple’s graphics API – future-proofing macOS for new tech such as virtual reality and bringing macOS and iOS closer together than ever before. So while at face-value the marquee features may seem in short supply, there is plenty to digest in High Sierra and over the coming pages we are going to drill down to expose all of what is new and help you become an instant expert.
Step-by-step Update to macOS 10.13 High Sierra now If you haven’t already updated then we will guide you through the process here.
1 Go to App Store
2 Alternate method
3 Go to ‘Featured’
Open the App Store on your Mac and click on ‘Updates’ at the top of the interface. You should see the High Sierra update at the top of the screen. Click ‘Update’.
You can also click on the Apple menu and choose ‘About This Mac’. On the System Information screen, under ‘Overview’, will be the ‘Software Update’ button.
If the High Sierra update isn’t displayed in Updates, click on ‘Featured’ and you should see it flagged at the top of the screen. Click on it and then click ‘Download’.
15
macOS High Sierra Safari notifications The ‘Notifications’ tab was previously in Preferences but is now in the new ‘Websites’ section.
A more personal Safari How to get the most out of High Sierra’s improved Safari experience Safari has probably benefited the most from the High Sierra update, certainly in terms of practical daily use. Whereas before we had to endure
cluttered sites, auto-playing videos and infernal pop-up windows, the High Sierra update now allows you to tailor each site you visit to be exactly how you want it.
How to adjust the settings for a website Although you can tailor the settings for websites that you visit regularly in the Safari
preferences, you can also do so for new sites on the fly. So if you are visiting a new
1 Right-click
2 Selecting settings
3 Enabling Reader
While on the new web page, right-click on the Search/URL bar and a floating menu of options will appear that includes the ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste and Search’ options.
You will also see the ‘Settings for this Website’ option, so select that and a new menu of options will appear in which you can adjust options individually per site.
If you prefer certain websites in Reader mode, whereby the pages are de-cluttered and the text made more legible then tick the ‘Use Reader when available’ option.
4 Enable content blockers
5 Page zooming
6 Disable auto-play
If the ‘Enable content blockers option isn’t on by default then it is a good idea to tick its box as soon as possible – unless you like being bombarded by pop-up windows, of course.
If you prefer the text size to be larger on some websites or smaller on others, click on the ‘Page Zoom’ menu and select a new default size for the page.
It’s annoying when videos start playing on web pages without your consent. Put a halt to this by clicking on the ‘Auto-Play’ menu and selecting the ‘Never Auto-Play’ option.
16
site for the first time you can quickly tailor the settings to suit your needs.
In Safari>Preferences>Extensions there is an option to automatically update extensions from the Safari Extensions Gallery to ensure they stay up to date.
Safari site options
Extended site options
How to access and tailor bespoke site settings Right-click bar
Reader mode
Explore sitespecific options
By right-clicking on Safari’s dual URL/Search bar you will bring up a small menu. Here you will see an option called ‘Settings for this Website’ – selecting this will open up this menu of bespoke site options.
By enabling the ‘Use Reader when available’ option, the current site will always load in Reader mode, as evident by this Reader icon. In Reader mode sites are cleaner, much less cluttered and the text is easier to read.
Disabling auto-play
Customise toolbar Remember that you can right-click on the toolbar at the top of the Safari interface to set it up however you want. For example, dragging the ‘iCloud Tabs’ icon to the toolbar will provide quick and easy access to sites open on your iOS devices..
Auto-playing videos can be a real pain in the ass when surfing the web but now, mercifully, we can turn them off on the sites we like by changing the Auto-Play setting to ‘Never Auto-Play’. Thank heavens for that!
Certain websites may present an extended range of bespoke options. For example, if you visit apple.com then you will have additional settings relating to Camera, Microphone and Location. In this instance you can click and hold on the menu next to each option and choose between Ask, Deny or Allow. Make a point of accessing this settings menu for all of your favourite websites to see what options for personalising it are available.
New-look Extensions store The place to go to add functionality to Safari
1 Preferences
2 Click on Websites
While in Safari, click on the ‘Safari’ menu and choose ‘Preferences’. You will bring up the main preferences window that features a few changes since the High Sierra update.
Jump straight to the new ‘Websites’ section and you will see a menu of categories on the left and a list of currently open websites in a window to the right.
3 Adjusting mulitple settings If you click on ‘Auto-Play’, for example, you will see sites you’ve already configured at the bottom and other open sites not configured at the top.
4 Change settings
5 Block-changes
6 Tailoring plug-ins
You can now configure other open sites from one window, as opposed to individually within the Safari browser. You can also click on configured sites and click ‘Remove’ to delete them.
There is another option within each category that allows you to apply the same settings to all other sites you visit. Click the ‘When visiting other websites’ menu and adjust accordingly.
Another useful feature is the freedom High Sierra gives you to turn individual plug-ins on or off easily. Scroll down the left column to see the full list and configure the ones you want.
You can expand and tailor your Safari experience still further with extensions. These provide extra functionality to your Safari interface and now have their own special section in the Mac App Store. To access them, while in Safari, click on the ‘Safari’ menu item and choose ‘Safari Extensions’. You will then be directed to the Apple Safari Extensions website where you can click a link to access the Extensions section within the App Store app.
17
macOS High Sierra Apple has improved the ‘People’ album with larger image thumbnails and more accurate groupings.
More organised albums in Photos
How to work with Live Photos in the Photos app
1 Open one of your Live Photos0
An even more accessible photo library and even more features and effects The Photos app is an area that has enjoyed particular attention in the High Sierra update. An ever-present sidebar makes it easier than ever to find specific images and an improved editing suite provides a greater
Turn a Live Photo into a GIF
array of editing tools and filters to really make your photos stand out. We will explore the numerous key changes here in more detail and also highlight some of the lesser-known changes to the Photos app.
Click on the ‘Media Types’ item in the sidebar and then choose ‘Live Photos’. Double-click on the Live Photo you wish to edit and then you will see the various options at the bottom of the screen.
2 Choose an effect 1 Select a section
2 Click on Curves
3 Drag to adjust
Double-click on an image to open it, click on the ‘Edit’ option in the top-right corner and then use the tabs at the top of the interface to make adjustments, add filters or crop.
If you click on ‘Adjust’ you will see a selection of categories in the right column. New categories include ‘Curves’ and ‘Selective Colour’. Click Curves.
You can make adjustments to the tonal range of your image – such as lightening a dark scene or boosting the contrast – by clicking the diagonal RGB line and dragging it.
Click on the ‘Live’ menu and you will be able to choose other effects, such as ‘Loop’, ‘Bounce’ and ‘Long Exposure’. For the purposes of creating a GIF, select the ‘Loop’ option.
3 Re-apply sound 4 Adjust separately
5 Selective Colour
6 Using filters
You can also focus on Red, Green and Blue separately by dragging the anchor points on the graph. The image changes in real time as you make adjustments.
Another cool new addition is the Selective Colour feature, which lets you accentuate certain colours within your image, adjusting the Hue, Saturation and Luminance.
Clicking on ‘Filters’ lets you try out the new filter effects, which are now variations on three styles: Vivid, Dramatic and B&W. You can also continue to edit with filters applied.
18
Your Live Photo will now be played repeatedly, but by default the sound will be cut. You can re-apply the sound by clicking on the speaker icon to the left. Now tap ‘Done’ and your Live Photo will be saved.
When editing ‘Curves’ in photos, you can use the pipettes to pick a colour to set a black point, grey point and white point, just like in Photoshop.
Your Photo Library How to find your way around the High Sierra Photos interface
Browse how you want You can view your photos organised by when they were taken by clicking on the tabs at the top of the interface which include ‘Moments’, Collections’ and ‘Years’.
Drag to arrange In the enhanced Photos interface you can re-arrange the categories (Library, Devices, Albums, etc) in the sidebar by clicking and holding and then dragging them up or down, locking them into place simply by releasing the mouse button.
Work with multiple photos
Using filters
If you wish to perform a certain action to a group of photos, just highlight the ones you wish to work with and then rightclick on one of them. You can now perform actions such as marking them as favourites or rotating them.
If you want to find particular photos fast then you can narrow down your searches by using filters. Click on this menu and then choose from categories such as ‘Favorites’, ‘Edited’ and ‘Videos’ to find what you want quickly and easily.
Step-by-step Edit from third-party apps In the High Sierra Photos app, when you open a photo in a third-party photo editing app from the Photos app, any edits that you make will be automatically saved in the Photos library. Here’s how it works.
1 Right-click photo
2 Choose ‘Other’
3 Open and edit
Right-click on an image in your photo library (you can double-click on it to make it bigger first if you wish) and then highlight the ‘Edit With’ option from the menu.
If the third-party app you wish to edit with isn’t displayed in the menu, choose the ‘Other’ option and then navigate to the app you wish to use in your Applications folder.
Click ‘Open’ and then you will be able to make edits to your photo within that app. When you’ve finished, save the image and the changes will be reflected in Photos.
19
macOS High Sierra
A new split-screen interface in Mail A cleaner interface for composing emails and enhanced search results In macOS High Sierra, Apple has sprinkled a smattering of new features across the apps that we use most frequently – as we have already
demonstrated with Safari and Photos. Well the good news is that Mail also gets some worthwhile additions. With more emphasis on space-consumption, all of your received
emails will now take up less space on your Mac and an enhanced interface provides a cleaner, more focused way to compose new emails. Check them out…
Your Mail interface Introducing the High Sierra Mail enhancements
Split-view When using Mail in fullscreen mode a split-view mode will automatically kick in when you choose to compose a new email, only to snap back out when you send it. It’s a cleaner interface that makes using the app much easier.
Improved search results A new element called ‘Top Hits’, which is powered by Spotlight, provides a big boost to your Mail app’s search capabilities. It puts all of the emails most relevant to your search at the top of the results list based on the emails you’ve read, who you reply to, your VIP contacts and more.
More space-conscious messages As with other aspects of your Mac, High Sierra also makes storage optimisations in Mail, with the messages in your inbox using roughly 35 percent less space than before. Every little helps, right?
Step-by-step Road-test the new split-view The Mail app has been slightly updated in High Sierra and now boasts a neat new view that splits the display between your inbox and the message that you are currently writing. Here’s how to get it up and running.
1 Enter full-screen mode
2 Start composing
3 Send and continue
Click on the green ‘expand’ icon in the topleft corner. This makes Mail go full-screen. To cancel this, hover your mouse in the top-left corner of the screen and click the icon again.
In full-screen mode, click on the compose icon and your inbox will shift to the left and a composition window will take up the other half of the screen.
When you have finished composing your email, click to send as usual and the app will instantly snap out of split-view back to the expanded usual interface.
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Fancy mixing things up? Simply ask Siri to “shuffle songs” and songs from your iTunes library will be played in a random order.
A supercharged Siri Your personal assistant gets an intelligence hike in High Sierra If you read the Apple press blurb prior to High Sierra’s release then you’ll probably already know that Siri has undergone a few High Sierra enhancements.
These include a more natural-sounding voice, an expanded repertoire of answers for a wider selection of questions and a new option to type questions instead of asking them.
Superstar DJ
Request genres
Customise shortcuts By default, you can enable Siri with the default Cmd+Space or by clicking on the Siri icon in the top-right corner of your Mac’s menu bar (if you have this option enabled). However, you can also create a custom shortcut.
Whereas previously you could ask Siri to play something specific, like a certain song or something by a particular artist, you can now request “something mellow”, for example, and Siri will dig out something interesting.
Want to listen to something different? Let Siri guide your ears Subscribe ibe b Unless you are asking for something specific from your iTunes library then you must be a paidup subscriber to Apple Music in order to get the best out of Siri in this area as Siri will source music from the Radio section.
1 Open System Preferences Launch System Preferences and then click on the Siri pane to display all of the options relating to Siri, such as the language, voice style and more.
Name that tune
Mark them
Siri incorporates the power of the Shazam service, so if you ask Siri to name a particular tune then it will listen for a few seconds and then tell you the name of the track and possibly the album it was on.
If you like something that Siri has picked out for you then click on this star icon and select the ‘Play More Like This’ option. This will ensure that your radio station is more tailored to your tastes.
How to enable ‘Type to Siri’ Previously, one of the stumbling blocks when it came to Mac users not getting the most out of Siri was probably having to audibly
ask it questions. Thankfully, Apple has now implemented a new option for the more selfconscious among us to type questions instead.
2 Shortcut menu Click on the dropdown menu next to the ‘Keyboard Shortcut’ option and you will be able to choose an alternate shortcut to launch Siri. Now click on ‘Customise’.
1 Open System Preferences
2 Enable ‘Type to Siri’
3 Type your questions
3 Create new shortcut
Open up your Mac’s System Preferences and then click on the Accessibility pane that is situated in the same row of icons as the Siri pane.
Scroll down the left-hand column within the Accessibility preferences and you will see a Siri section – click on this and tick ‘Enable Type to Siri’.
Now click on the Siri menu bar item and you will notice that it says ‘Type to Siri’ – so use your Mac’s keyboard to type whatever you wish.
You will now be invited to type in the new shortcut. You will be alerted if the shortcut is used by another command.
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macOS High Sierra
Everything else… A round-up of all of the other notable new High Sierra features
Get to know iTunes 12.7
No App Store
Discover what is new in the iTunes High Sierra update
If you click on the menu in the top-left corner of the iTunes 12.7 interface then you will notice that the iOS App Store is no longer included. It appears that all app purchasing is now done exclusively on your iOS devices.
Sidebar The sidebar, which is viewable under the ‘Library’ tab, has a new entry – Internet Radio. This allows you to access your favourite iTunes radio stations quickly and easily. Click and hold on a category in the sidebar and drag it up or down to reorder.
Your profile Select the ‘For You’ tab to create your own iTunes profile for connecting with friends and sharing new music. You can choose to ‘follow’ people exactly as you would in popular social media services.
Access Mini Player If you hover your cursor over the playback display window then a small icon will appear in the topleft corner – click on this and you will immediately scale the iTunes window down to the less intrusive Mini Player.
Share music See what friends are listening to in iTunes
Collaborate in iCloud Drive How to give other people access to your files High Sierra adds a lot more versatility to iCloud Drive, allowing you to grant other people access to your files so you can collaborate, moving it closer to the likes of Dropbox.
In iTunes 12.7 you can create a profile so that you can connect to your friends and see what they are listening to. It’s a good way to share music recommendations and discover new music that you would otherwise
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overlook. To get started, click on the ‘For You’ tab followed by the ‘Start Sharing with Friends’ flash in the top-right corner. You will now be able to create a handle, add a picture and choose who can follow your activity.
Right-click on a file in your iCloud Drive folder and then choose Share>Add People. You will now be able to choose how to send the invitation and choose the access privileges.
In High Sierra, anything copied (Cmd+C) on one Mac can now be pasted (Cmd+V) on another Mac as long as you are logged into the same account.
The new file system Introducing Apple’s new universal, space-efficient file system
Introducing the Mac lock screen The new quick and easy way to secure your Mac Our iOS devices have had them for ages so why not the Mac? If you are stepping away from your Mac and just want to protect what is on it without having to put it to sleep then you can now click on
the Apple menu and choose a new option called ‘Lock Screen’. Select this and your Mac will instantly switch to the standard lock screen that requires a password to get into.
A more powerful Spotlight Though you may not be aware of it, Macs have traditionally utilised a file system known as HFS+, but this has been changed to a much more universal system in macOS High Sierra that works across iOS too. The new system, named Apple File System (APFS) has already been implemented on iOS with the 10.3 update; it ensures that all of your files take up less space and has been optimised for flash storage.
The APFS system encrypts each file individually for added protection and records data across multiple locations to aid recovery in the event of a system crash. If you use the same flash drives across multiple platforms (such as Mac and Windows) however, note that after inserting a flash drive into your Mac the APFS file system will be implemented without prompting.
How to get flight information from your Mac’s search engine Spotlight has been given an intelligence boost in macOS High Sierra and now produces better results than ever based on your search criteria. For example, you can now get up-to-the-minute flight information
through Spotlight just by entering your flight number into the Spotlight search bar. Within a second or two of entering your flight number, Spotlight will check back with gate numbers, flight durations and more.
“You can now get up-to-theminute flight information through Spotlight”
Step-by-step Shared iCloud storage
Better note-taking The Notes app also enjoys a host of enhancements. These are covered in depth on page 36.
Got cloud storage to spare? Then share it with your family. As many of us will have discovered, the free 5GB iCloud space allocation doesn’t go very far, but if you pay extra for additional space then you may find that you hardly make a dent in it. However, in the High Sierra update you can put spare iCloud space to good use by sharing it with family members. Here’s how.
1 Manage Family
2 Apps and services
3 Start sharing
Provided you have already set up Family Sharing on your Mac, go to System Preferences>iCloud and then click on the ‘Manage Family’ option underneath your profile picture.
You can add family members by clicking the ‘+’ icon in the left column, but for now, click on ‘My Apps & Services’ at the top and you will see sections including ‘Purchase Sharing’, ‘Apple Music’ and ‘iCloud Storage’.
Click on the ‘iCloud Storage’ option and you will see the option to ‘Start Sharing’. Click on this and all of your connected family members will be able to share your iCloud storage plan.
23
Photos
Take control with curves Fix exposure problems by changing the shape of a curve in High Sierra’s Photos Difficulty
With High Sierra OS, the Photos app now boasts a wider range of image editing tools. One of the most powerful new tools is the Curves panel. By changing the shape of a curve you can Time needed selectively lighten or darken specific tones. This helps you tackle problem shots such as our backlit start image. Due to the scene’s high contrast lighting the camera has struggled to get detail in both the shadows and the highlights. By adding Download available points to a curve we can claw back the castle’s under-exposed po Download available shadow detail without blowing out the sky’s correctly exposed highlights. Curves is an exciting addition to Photos, elevating it to a more high-end post-production digital darkroom.
10
Before
After
Step-by-step How to adjust exposure
1 Import problem picture
2 Summon histogram
3 Add control point
Go to File>Import and browse to our supplied Backlit_start.NEF image. By editing a Raw format file we can restore more shadow and highlight detail. Click ‘Review for Import’.
Double-click on the imported photo’s thumbnail. Click ‘Edit’. Choose View>Show Histogram. The graph is peaking at the left, indicating strong dark shadows.
In the Curves panel click the Add Points icon (at the right of the three eyedroppers). Click on a dark part of the castle. A control point will appear near the bottom of the curve.
4 Adjust the curve
5 Sample brighter areas
6 Fine-tune histogram
Drag the curve control point upwards to brighten the shadows and reveal more of the castle’s detail. The curve will bulge upwards and lighten some midtones and highlights too.
Click on ‘Add Point’. Click to sample some of the lighter clouds. This places a new control point near the top right of the curve. Drag the point down to restore detail to the highlights.
After making tweaks, go to the Light panel. Drag the slider right. The histogram graph will now have a wider spread of shadows, midtones and highlights.
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When editing with curves you can produce dramatic changes to colour and tone. Keep an eye on the shot’s original look by holding down the ‘M’ key.
Find your way around Curves
Global adjustments The Light panel brightens the shadows, midtones and highlights equally. Once you’ve created a more balanced exposure using the Curves panel you can fine-tune the overall exposure using this slider.
Selectively lighten shadows and darken highlights Adjust control points By dragging a control point upwards you brighten the tones on the underlying histogram. Here we’re predominantly lightening the shadows towards the left of the histogram.
Darken highlights This control point overlaps the brighter parts of the histogram. By dragging it downwards we can darken the highlights and midtones to help stop them from being over-exposed.
Knowledge base About Curves By default the curve is a straight diagonal line overlapping a histogram. The bottom left of the curve adjusts the shadows at the left of the underlying histogram. If the curve bulges upwards in middle this will brighten the midtones in the middle of the histogram. Adjust the top right of the curve to alter the highlights at the right of the histogram.
Add control point This tool enables you to add control points to a curve more accurately. Click on this icon and then click on a problem part of the photo (such as the under-exposed castle). A control point will appear on the part of the curve that controls the sampled tones.
Creative colour curves On your Mac’s display each photograph’s millions of colours are reproduced by mixing Red, Green and Blue channels together. By default, the new Curve tool changes the brightness of the RGB channels equally to create lighter or darker versions of the shot’s colours. However, if you tweak an individual colour channel’s curve independently of the other channels you can produce creative shifts in colour and mimic oldschool darkroom film development techniques. Here’s how to get started…
1 Warm up the shadows
2 Golden hour effect
Import our Creative_start.NEF file and click on the Edit button. In the Curves panel, set the RGB drop down to Red. Drag a shadow control point upwards to lighten the Red channel and warm up the shadows.
Set the Curves channel dropdown to Blue. Click on the curve to place a control point near the highlights. Now drag the point down to reduce blue in the highlights and create a sunset ‘golden hour’ look.
25
iMovie
Import iOS iMovies onto your Mac Start editing an iMovie project on your iPad, then finish it on your Mac Difficulty
Much of the material that you use in your iMovie projects will be captured on mobile devices such as an iPhone or iPad. Thanks to the iOS version of iMovie you can start editing your footage Time needed immediately on that same device. This gives you the freedom to begin a rough iMovie edit wherever you happen to be, whether it’s on location or from the comfort of your living room sofa. The iOS version of iMovie may look a little different to the Download available de desktop version, but it enables you to view your raw footage, Do load available cut it together and even add titles, transitions and filters. You can then transfer the iOS iMovie project to your Mac’s copy of iMovie and fine-tune the project before sharing it.
15
Finishing touches Complete your mobile iMovie project on a Mac
Import mobile project You can use this command to import an iOS iMovie project that you started editing on an iPad or iPhone. Just browse to a project file in the Downloads folder with a .iMovieMobile suffix.
Titles and transitions The mobile version of iMovie has nine simple titles that you can apply to your timeline. The desktop version has a much larger selection, so feel free to fine-tune your project with alternative titles.
Shared assets All the video clips that appear in the iOS iMovie project’s timeline will be transferred to the desktop version of iMovie, so you can continue cutting and trimming the clips to fine-tune your programme.
Knowledge base Smoother slow motion You can use the Speed command in the iOS and desktop versions of iMovie to slow down a clip’s action. However, this retimed footage can look jerky. For smoother slow motion clips, shoot your subject using the Slo-Mo option in your Camera app. This captures the action at a higher frame rate, creating a much smoother slow motion sequence.
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Share it Once you’ve refined your iOS iMovie project using your desktop version of iMovie, click on this icon to share your work with friends, family or clients using the appropriate icon.
Any edits, filters or titles that you add in the iOS version of iMovie can be removed or adjusted in the desktop version of the project.
Step-by-step Transfer iOS iMovie projects to your Mac
1 Create a new project
2 Trim a clip
3 Add to timeline
In the iOS iMovie app, go to Projects and press ‘+’. Choose the ‘Movie’ option in the New Project window to go to the Media panel then tap ‘Video’ to view raw footage.
Tap on a clip and drag the yellow handles to choose a shorter section. Click Play to preview the trimmed clip in a small window. Click the blue tick, then click ‘Create Movie’.
The trimmed section appears in the timeline. Tap Play to view the clip in a larger window. Tap ‘Video’ in the Media panel to add another clip to the project by tapping ‘+’.
4 Change transition
5 Make the cut
6 Terrific titles
You can trim the clip in the timeline. By default a dissolve transition appears between each clip. Tap on the transition to replace it with a wipe, slide or a cut (choose ‘None’).
Tap on a clip and drag to view a particular frame. Click on ‘Actions’ and then choose an option such as ‘Split’ to make a cut. Drag the new section elsewhere on the timeline.
Feel free to experiment by adding titles and colour grading filters to the footage. You can easily modify titles and filters after transferring your project to the Mac version of iMovie.
7 Share to Mac
8 Import project
9 Complete your project
Click ‘Done’ then click Share. If your iOS device and Mac are using the same Wi-Fi connection then use AirDrop to transfer your iOS iMovie project to your Mac.
In your desktop version of iMovie, choose File>Import iMovie iOS Projects. Browse to the iOS iMovie project which is stored in your Mac’s Downloads folder. Click ‘Import’.
All the clips, cuts, transitions, and colour filters in the mobile versions of iMovie will appear in your desktop version, so you can continue editing with a bigger display.
27
Final Cut Pro X
Creative lighting effects Enhance clips with lighting effects, from floating bokeh artefacts to sci-fi lens flares Difficulty
Time needed
20 Download available
Some filmmakers deliberately allow light-related artefacts such as lens flares to appear in their footage as this adds extra colours, shapes and textures to the scene. Final Cut Pro X is full of lens-related effects that can enhance a wide range of clips, from scenic landscapes to sci-fi scenarios. Drifting blobs of floating bokeh help add movement to a static summer scene. Thin streaks of lens flare help add a sci-fi vibe. You can even e v fill an interior space with animated shadows to add extra atmosphere. We’ll show you how to modify Final Cut Pro’s light effects to suit a range of genres. We’ll even animate light effects courtesy of key frames to create a roving spotlight effect.
Using light effects Combine layers of effects Natural effects
Lighting artefacts
As people walk through the scene and obscure the bright light sources, the lens artefacts will vanish and then flare up again naturally due to the Threshold setting in the Inspector. Check out our Edited Light Effects video for an example.
The star-shaped flares and blue sci-fi streaks are added to our scene’s brightest light sources using Final Cut Pro X’s light effects. You can layer up multiple light effects as we have here.
Editable properties Each light effect has editable properties that you can tweak in the Inspector. The Threshold slider makes the light effect more or less sensitive to the intensity of light sources in the original clip.
Control handles Many light effects (such as Streaks) have editable control handles that enable you to modify the light effect. Here we’ve used a handle to add a slant to the originally horizontal blue streaks.
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Knowledge base Lens flares Traditionally filmmakers regarded lens flares as unwanted artefacts that spoiled the shot. Lens flares are caused when a bright light source (such as the sun or a spotlight) shines directly into the camera’s lens, revealing parts of the mechanism such as the hexagonal iris. That’s why Final Cut Pro X’s Bokeh effect features the option to add hexagonally-shaped artefacts.
You can add lighting artefacts in-camera by placing a starlight filter over the lens. This produces star-shaped artefacts similar to Final Cut’s Dazzle effect.
Step-by-step Apply creative lighting effects
1 Bokeh effects
2 Modify the look
3 Star effects
Import our supplied clips into a new event. Drag the ‘Bokeh’ clip into the Timeline. Press Cmd+5 for the Effects browser. Go to ‘Light’ and drag ‘Bokeh Random’ onto the clip.
Go to the ‘Bokeh’ panel in the Inspector. Set Type to ‘Hexagons’. Increase the Number. Drop Blur Amount to 14.0 to see the hexagonal shape more clearly. Play the clip.
Now add the ‘Sci-Fi’ clip and drag in the Dazzle effect. This adds star-shaped flares to the brightest lights. In Inspector set Threshold to 89. Increase Spike Count to 8.
4 Sci-Fi streaks
5 Add a spotlight
6 Modify light properties
Next, add the Streaks effect. By default the streaks are too strong. In the Inspector set Amount to 25 and Thickness to -1.5. Drag the angle control handle to slant the streaks.
Add ‘Spotlight’ source clip to the timeline. Drag Spot effect onto the clip. This adds a circular point of yellow light you can modify and animate to create a roving spotlight.
Drag Spotlight to the right using its control handle. In Inspector, increase Amount to 90 for a brighter light source. Increase Contrast to 80 to darken areas outside the Spotlight.
7 Set a start key
8 Set an end key
9 Creative shadow effects
Scrub playhead to frame 1 of the Spotlight clip. In Spot Inspector, tick diamond-shaped ‘Add a keyframe’ icon by the Centre attribute. This chooses the start point for the Spotlight.
Scrub playhead to near end of the clip. Using its control handle, drag the Spotlight right so it illuminates the elevator. Automatically added key frames cause Spotlight to move.
Add ‘Shadow’ source clip to timeline. Drag Shadows effect onto the clip to add a film noir-style venetian blind shadow. You can change the shadow to leaves in Inspector.
29
GarageBand
Add tracks remotely with iCloud Discover how iCloud allows you to continue Mac songs on iOS Difficulty
Time needed
20
Among GarageBand’s recent updates, Apple has again responded to the desire for cross-platform workflows. With the app long established as a go-to for musicians making music on their Macs, iPads and iPhones, project sharing has again been enhanced. In the official literature this is described as ‘adding tracks remotely’ and basically refers to being able to share to GarageBand for iOS. Utilising iCloud access, which is essential, you can export and upload a GarageBand for macOS es song in iOS format and indeed develop the song on the road. Subsequent song changes are then synced to iCloud and can be observed when reopened and continued back on Mac.
Step-by-step How to add tracks remotely
1 iCloud enabled
2 iCloud Drive on
3 GarageBand documents
You must start by opening settings in iOS, tap your name for Apple ID then iCloud. Scroll down to iCloud Drive and tap the switch next to GarageBand to toggle iCloud ‘on’.
Similarly on your Mac, you’ll want to make sure you have iCloud access. Visit System Preferences>iCloud and ensure the iCloud Drive item is toggled on by the checkbox.
Click the ‘Options…’ button to the right. In the ‘Documents’ tab of the pop-up prompt, scroll down and ensure GarageBand is toggled on before clicking ‘Done’.
4 iCloud Folders
5 Sharing command
6 Select destination
Open a macOS Finder window and browse iCloud Drive in the side panel. You may see some GarageBand folders for Mac and/or iOS – these being where projects are shared.
In GarageBand for Mac, open a project you wish to export for working on within iOS and navigate to Share>Project to GarageBand for iOS from the main app menubar.
In Export to GarageBand for iOS, name the project in the Save As box, then choose ‘iCloud Drive’ or ‘GarageBand for iOS – iCloud’ from the ‘Where’ dropdown.
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The shared project will not appear in the ‘My Songs’ browser in GarageBand for iOS if you don’t export to the GarageBand for iOS Cloud folder.
Seeking a share Identifying the most important points when exporting from GarageBand for macOS
Project to GarageBand for iOS Navigate to Share>Project to GarageBand for iOS… from the main GarageBand for macOS menu to export a special version of an open project, creating a .band project file only iPhones and iPads can open.
Import from iCloud Navigate to File>iCloud>Import GarageBand for iOS Song… from the main GarageBand for macOS menu when you want to retrieve the edited project from iCloud, save a version and then open to continue working on the song.
Source tracks The original project’s multiple tracks will be ‘mixed down’ into a single, solo audio track within the new GarageBand for iOS project. Overall project settings such as tempo and key are also observed in iOS.
Knowledge base Song restrictions
Save As prompt
Share to iOS is great for taking a Mac project ‘on the road’ to add new tracks and song ideas remotely. However because the original song is mixed down to a single track, it cannot be edited again directly. Additionally, if the re-imported song on Mac contains a Remix FX track from iOS, it is applied as a Master track automation.
Name the newly created export as desired here, adding any descriptive tags if applicable. In the Where dropdown, the file should be saved within iCloud’s GarageBand for iOS folder so it shows in the My Songs browser.
7 My Songs
8 Adding tracks
9 Back on Mac
Moving over to GarageBand for iOS, view the ‘My Songs’ browser where you should now see the shared project with an iCloud icon in the corner. Tap the song thumbnail to open.
The project opens as a single track mix shown here with two new tracks recorded in iOS below. Changes are saved and synced to iCloud upon return to ‘My Songs’.
Switching back to Mac, visit File>iCloud> Import GarageBand for iOS Song… before picking the song from the selection window and choosing a new ‘Save As’ name.
31
Logic Pro X
Transposing audio regions Logic Pro X 10.3.2 makes it easy to transpose individual audio regions Difficulty
Prior to the advent of Logic’s latest 10.3.2 update, if you wanted to change the pitch of an audio region within a project, it was a bit of a kerfuffle to say the least. Now though, it’s Time needed possible to transpose an audio region from the arrange window just like you’d do with a regular MIDI region or Apple Loop – by selecting the required transpose value directly within the region inspector box. This improvement alone will have prompted Download available cheers and general merriment from Logic Pro users worldwide, ch Download available as it’s a long-awaited addition to an already generous feature list. So in the steps below, we’ll break down exactly how to achieve the effect and show you how to make use of it.
20
Make your pitch The ins and outs of transposing individual audio regions Jump to it Clicking on the small up/down arrow icons allows you to transpose in full octave jumps, up to a maximum of three octaves (36 semitones) up or down.
Global transpose You can transpose multiple regions across multiple tracks at once, which is great for trying out changes of key for a whole song. Just select all the musical elements with the Marquee tool, then transpose.
All in the name
Go to zero To compare or revert to the original, untransposed pitch, uncheck the Flex checkbox to temporarily disable the transposition effect
Knowledge base Flex modes As we’ve seen, different Flex modes produce different results – Monophonic works well on bass, vocals or single-note guitar lines, while options like Rhythmic or Slicing are better suited to drums and percussion parts. Polyphonic works best on more complex, chord-based musical material. Speed leaves pitch untouched, so is no good for transposing. while Tempophone is used mainly for special granular effects.
32
After transposition, the transposition amount in semitones (relative to the original pitch) is displayed in brackets after the region’s name.
The transposition effect can be used on singular regions within a track, or on entire tracks – just select what you want to transpose.
Step-by-step How to use the transposition effect
1 Launch project
2 Key issues
3 Inspection!
First, launch the Transpose Audio Regions demo project – you’ll find all of the files you need for this at www.filesilo.co.uk. Note that the guitar part is currently muted.
Most of the track plays in the key of C minor, but the guitar track is in a totally different key. Unmute it and you’ll hear that it’s currently playing a phrase in the key of Bb minor.
To correct this, select the guitar region and open up the region inspector pane in the topleft corner (if not already open) by clicking the disclosure triangle.
4 Select parameter
5 Tune it up
6 Track changes
In the parameter list, click in the empty area right of the Transpose section. Hold down the mouse button and scroll up or down to transpose the required number of semitones.
To get our guitar loop in tune, we need to go up two semitones, so enter a value of +2 in the Transpose parameter area. Hit ‘Play’ to hear it back, now playing in the correct key.
The transpose works by using Flex Time, Logic’s time-stretching function. Open the Track inspector to see which Flex mode has been used by default – ‘Slicing’ in this case.
7 View flex modes
8 Check result
9 Fine-tune
Flex Time uses several different algorithms or Flex ‘modes’ to analyse audio files based on the type of material they contain. Click here to view them all.
Logic doesn’t always choose the best mode every time. In this case, ‘Slicing’ has produced some artefacts, so we’ll switch to ‘Monophonic’ for a smoother result.
If the pitch of your audio is only slightly flat or sharp, you can use this parameter to tune it up or down a number of cents, rather than whole semitone increments.
33
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Notes
Master the new features of Notes The improvements in Notes in macOS High Sierra make the app even more useful Difficulty
Apple has tweaked the Notes app in macOS High Sierra and has added a couple of great new features that you are sure to find very useful. One is the ability to pin notes and this means Time needed that important ones or ones that you often refer to can be made sticky in the sidebar list of notes. They stick to the top and are not pushed down when new notes are added. The other great new feature is the option to insert a table Download available into a note. Previously you had to use spaces or tab characters in to put items into columns and rows, and frankly, it wasn’t that good. Now you can add a table and it makes storing certain types of information much easier.
10
Step-by-step How to insert tables
1 Create a note
2 Insert a table
3 Fill in cells
The toolbar in Notes has buttons for all the functions, but buttons may be hidden if the window is too narrow. Make sure it is wide enough and click the ‘New Note’ button.
Click the new insert table button to add a table to the note. It has only 2x2 cells and no obvious way to add more, but we will see how to extend it to the size we need.
There are four cells in the table. Click in a cell and then start typing to enter any information you want. If the cursor is in the first cell, tab to the one on the right.
4 Add extra rows
5 Add more columns
6 The rows menu
Use the Tab key to move from cell to cell. Place the cursor in the last cell in the bottom right corner and press Tab again to add an extra row of cells to the table.
There is a little gadget above the column with the cursor in. Click it to select the column. Click the down arrow on the right and select ‘Add Column After’ or ‘…Before’.
Place the cursor in a row and click the gadget on the left of the table. Click the down arrow and you can add rows above or below, or delete the row from the table.
36
A word of warning for people who have more than one Mac. Notes that contain tables cannot be opened on Macs without macOS High Sierra.
New in Notes See how the new features work
Pinned note Right-click a note and select the option to pin it. It appears at the top and just above is the title Pinned Notes. The dividing line below the last pinned note is thicker.
Table gadget This little gadget at the top and on the left is used to select a column or row in the table. Drag columns left or right and drag rows up or down to rearrange them.
Insert table Click this button to insert a table into a note. It is initially only 2x2 cells, but more rows and columns can be added to make it as big as you need.
Row/column menu When a row or column is selected by clicking the gadget, there is a little down arrow in the corner. Click it to add or remove rows and columns in the table.
Knowledge base Lock your notes Notes are stored on your Mac’s disk, which is encrypted and also in your iCloud account, which is secured online. However, you might still want to lock your notes, perhaps because other people use your computer. Notes can be locked with a password by Ctrl-clicking the note in the sidebar and selecting ‘Lock Note’ from the menu.
Pin your notes The number of items in the Notes app steadily grows as you use it and, unless you spend time deleting old notes, you probably have quite a large number by now. Notes with important information can be buried right down near the bottom of the list and this can make them hard to find, or at least tediously slow. There are no sorting options, so the notes are in random order. Here is the solution for hard-to-find notes.
“Pinned notes appear at the top of the list where they are easy to find”
1 Pin your notes
2 Unpin pinned notes
Don’t let notes that contain important or often used information end up at the bottom of a very long list of notes. Right-click the note on the left and select ‘Pin Note’ from the menu that is displayed.
Pinned notes appear at the top of the list where they are easy to find. It’s hard to see, but the dividing line between notes is slightly thicker after the last pinned note. Right-click on a note to unpin it.
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Be Focused
Stay focused on your work Discover how the free Be Focused app can help you get more done Difficulty
Be Focused is a free app in the Mac App Store that helps you stay focused on work and personal tasks you do on your Mac. Whether it is writing a report for work or updating your blog, Be Time needed Focused tracks the time you spend on it. It uses the Pomodoro technique and divides your time into work and rest periods. However, it goes further than that and it also works as a to-do list manager and time tracker. Using Be Focused you can Download available add the tasks you need to do and tick them off when they are ad done. For people that need to track the time spend on projects, Be Focused shows how much time each task took and you can view weekly, monthly and other reports. It’s first-rate!
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View productivity reports See when you worked and what you worked on The task
Filter the view
Before starting the timer, click here to select the task you are about to work on. The work period is then added to the time spent on the task and can be seen in the report.
Click the gear icon and select ‘Reports’ to open this window. Click this menu and select either ‘All tasks’, or select a specific task to see when you worked on it and for how long.
The timer Work periods are 25 minutes and rest periods are five minutes by default. Click the timer to start work and do not stop until Be Focused tells you to stop. You will get more done.
Knowledge base The Pomodoro technique See work details The green bars in the report chart show when you spent time on tasks. Clicking a bar shows the tasks you worked on and how many work periods (25 minutes is the default), you worked.
The Pomodoro technique is a method used to focus on tasks and avoid distractions. A timer is started and you work until it counts down to zero and an alarm or notification tells you to stop. There is then a rest period before you begin another work period. The idea is simple, but it is surprisingly effective and focuses your attention.
Remember to select a task before starting the work timer. This enables you to see how much time is spent on each task in the reports.
Step-by-step Track your tasks and time
1 Open Be Focused
2 To Do list
3 Add your tasks
When Be Focused is run, it adds a timer icon to the menu bar. Click it and a panel opens with a big 25:00 in the middle. Click the list button in the bottom-left corner.
The To Do list shows the tasks you need to do and right now it’s empty. You must add items to it before using Be Focused. Click the plus button in the bottom-left corner.
Any task you perform on the Mac, whether it is work or personal, should be added to the ‘To Do’ list. Use the ‘+’ button to add multiple items and then return to the timer.
4 Start the timer
5 Complete tasks
6 Remove Done tasks
Back at the timer (Step 1), select a task from the menu at the top. Click the timer play button and start working! Continue until you are told to stop in 25 minutes time.
In Step 3 we added tasks to the ‘To Do’ tab. When tasks are completed, click them and they are moved to the ‘Done’ tab. Select it to see all of the tasks you have completed.
All completed tasks are stored so that you can analyse them and see the time spent. You don’t need to remove completed tasks, but the option is on the Ctrl-click menu.
7 Add time periods
8 Adjust the times
9 Select the sound
Sometimes you might work on your Mac and forget to start the timer to record your activity. Ctrl-click a task and select ‘Edit number of intervals’. Enter the number worked.
Open the Be Focused panel, click the gear icon and select ‘Settings’. Use the controls to customise the length of the work interval and short and long breaks as you prefer.
When a work or break period is completed, Be Focused can play a sound. Select the one you want or, if you prefer silence, select ‘None’. There is also a chronometer sound.
39
Momentum
Get a motivational Chrome tab The Momentum extension provides inspiration and tools for today’s tasks Difficulty
We love Safari for browsing the web, but Chrome has such an incredible range of extensions that we also use that too. If you are a Chrome user, you will find the Momentum extension Time needed provides a useful inspirational and motivational boost every time you open a new tab in the browser. It has lots of features for free and even more with a paid upgrade. The most striking thing about Momentum is the photo used on new tabs, and it Download available changes daily. It shows the time and a personal greeting. It also ch has a quote of the day to inspire you and it shows the main task to focus on today. It has to-do lists, weather, links and more. It transforms Chrome so it’s useful and beautiful.
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Momentum Chrome tabs Get an amazing new tab with all these features Weather forecast Click the small weather symbol to show this large weather forecast panel. Click each of the days to see a larger version with a little more detail and use it to plan your week ahead.
Your to-do list Favourite links Put your most visited sites here where they are easy to access. This and the other panels can be made sticky in settings and this makes them always open, visible and accessible.
You no doubt have many tasks to do each day and here you can build a to-do list. Tick the checkboxes when tasks are done and click ‘Today’ for a menu with more options.
Knowledge base Free vs paid All of the features we have covered in this tutorial are free. In fact, there are a few more free features we couldn’t fit in. There are many more features and settings with the paid version of the extension and you can see them in the settings panel. Extra features have a green Pro label. Free or paid, this is a great extension.
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Focus task This is a typical new tab and near the bottom is the main task to focus on today. Click the checkbox when it is done and then enter the next task to focus on.
There are two types of to-do task. The main one is written in large text on new tabs and sub-tasks and to-dos are in the Todo panel.
Step-by-step Make Chrome tabs more useful
1 Set up Momentum
2 Enter your email
3 Enter a task
Open Chrome, go to momentumdash.com and install the extension. When it is first opened, it asks for your name so it can greet you personally on new tabs. Enter it.
Enter your email address and then think of a password. A free Momentum account is created so that your settings, to-do lists and so on, can be synced across computers.
What is the one main task you should be concentrating on today? Enter a brief title for it when asked for your main focus. You will see it every time you open a new tab.
4 Open a tab
5 Check the weather
6 Add to-do tasks
Your new tabs will not look like ours because the photo changes daily, and the time, your name and the focus task will be different. However, it will be similar to this.
A mini weather report is in the top-right corner. Click it to open the full panel. It shows the current condition and temperature and a forecast for the next five days.
Click ‘Todo’ in the bottom-right corner, click ‘New Todo’, and type in a task. Add more tasks and create a list. Checkboxes are used to tick off done to-do tasks.
7 Add favourite links
8 Customise settings
9 View previous content
Although Chrome has bookmarks, it can be useful to put your most used websites in the Links list where they are easy to access. Type the name and URL, and press Enter.
Click the gear icon in the bottom-left corner to open the settings panel. There are multiple sections and this is the General one. Choose the features you want to see.
Momentum stores the previous photos and quotes so you can see them again. Select ‘Quotes’ for example, and you can read the feel-good quotes of the day for inspiration.
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Lifecraft
Keep a record of your emotions Keeping a diary just became a lot easier thanks to Lifecraft Difficulty
For many people the idea of recording their happenings in a daily diary is the most natural thing in the world, but in an age where digital rules it has become something of a lost art. Time needed With Lifecraft, however, you can not only note down important events, but you can also record the emotions that they inspired and then look back at your emotional state over long periods. The ability to use the app on all of your devices is present and Download available emphasis has been placed on simplicity and usability above all em else. Here we will show you how to use Lifecraft which should prove to be a logical and simple experience from the very first use. Let’s start capturing those emotions for prosperity.
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Step-by-step Capture your thoughts every day
1 Set it up
2 The helper
3 Useful examples
When you open Lifecraft you will be offered some simple instructions which are followed with a request for a password. Enter a secure one and you will be ready to start.
The option to enable the helper should be taken, in our view. It will add a small icon in the status bar for you to click whenever you want to add a new journal entry.
We would advise you to take a look at the two example entries because they highlight the formatting that can be included in each entry. The visual impression is superb.
4 Time to type
5 Add a photo
6 Don’t forget locations
You can now click the ‘+’ icon and start typing in the large panel to begin creating your first entry. The more you can write, the more useful your journal will be.
Click the camera icon to include a photo in your entry. One photo added every day will add a huge amount to the meaning and will bring back memories more readily.
The location icon lets you search for and specify a place that is relevant to the day you are adding an entry for. An extra feature that adds more detail to your diary.
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Lifecraft works on iPhones, iPads and Macs so you have no excuse not to keep a detailed and regular journal wherever you are.
Emotional simplicity
Capture everything The ability to use text formatting, images and locations within any journal entry means that you can capture the important parts of every single day in seconds. It is a very efficient setup.
Get to know the logical interface
Emotional separation You can create multiple journals to add more focus to each part of your life. Consider one for work, one for family and one for your deepest feelings. Separation is useful when looking back.
Build history Over time you’ll find Lifecraft becomes more and more invaluable. You are in effect recording your emotional and practical history which offers a wide range of personal benefits.
Knowledge base Go Pro The Pro version of Lifecraft is available via an in-app purchase and comes with a free trial. It includes the ability to synchronise between macOS and iOS devices, unlimited journals, emotions, a password lock and much more. Try the trial and see if the app becomes indispensable enough to pay for the extras. We suspect it will.
Pick an emotion You should choose to add a specified emotion to each entry as this will be one of the most useful indicators of how much a day in history affected you. Filtering the emotions is an added bonus.
Gather your emotions There is an emphasis throughout on the emotions you experience as different events occur and this is evidenced through the use of simple colourcoded bars for you to select when you add new entries. You may be surprised at how revealing this feature is when it comes to the emotions you experience. This could be the best feature in the app and it is unique in its implementation.
“The self-learning here is very impressive”
1 Capture that emotion
2 The emotion tree
Click one of the bars in the right-hand side of the entry panel and then if you click again you’ll see further options within an emotional span. You really can narrow down how you felt on a particular day.
Clicking the emotion tree icon lets you filter all of your entries by type. This means that you can easily view days that made you happy, sad, inspired or anything else. The self-learning here is very impressive.
43
Wireless Diagnostics
Solve connection problems If you have problems connecting to the Wi-Fi network, follow these tips Difficulty
Everyone experiences wireless network connection problems or internet access problems from time to time and it can happen at home with your Mac or when using public Wi-Fi hotspots. Time needed What can you do if your Mac cannot connect to Wi-Fi or if it connects but can’t access the internet? Here we share the best tips to restore the network connection quickly. The fault is usually easily corrected. The solutions range from rebooting Download available the router to choosing the right network when several are within th range. The final step is a particularly useful tip when you are out of the home or office with a MacBook and the public Wi-Fi hotspot is not working. It will get you online in no time.
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Network settings and menus Get to know the advanced network features Sort into order The Mac connects to networks in the order listed, which may cause it to use the wrong one. Click and drag networks up or down the list and put the one to use at the top.
Extended Wi-Fi menu Hold down Option and click the Wi-Fi icon for an extended menu. Use it to access Wireless Diagnostics and to see the IP address of the Mac and router, and security settings.
Connect/disconnect from Wi-Fi You could connect to the wrong router accidentally at home or in public hotspots. Check the name and click ‘Disconnect from...’ if the Mac is connected to the wrong network.
Knowledge base Move your Mac Delete networks If there are networks you don’t use, select them and click the ‘–’ button to delete them. If the Mac cannot connect to a network, delete it to forget it, then reconnect to it.
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Sometimes poor Wi-Fi or no network at all is caused by dead spots. They are areas within a building where the Wi-Fi signal does not reach. Try moving. Move your Mac to a different place, such as a different room or even a different part of the same room, or, if possible, try moving the router to a different room or position.
If you have a connection problem you can work through these tips in the order here, or jump straight to the one you think is the cause.
Step-by-step Solve Wi-Fi connection problems
1 Check the Wi-Fi
2 Log in
3 Turn off Wi-Fi
Click the Wi-Fi icon and make sure you are connected to the correct network. Some may have similar names and in public places some may be reserved for staff/business use.
If you use a public Wi-Fi hotspot you may need to log in before internet access is granted. If a login page is not automatically shown, open Safari and visit a website.
If the Mac cannot connect, log in or access the internet, try turning off Wi-Fi by clicking the menu bar icon and selecting ‘Turn Wi-Fi Off’. Turn it back on after ten seconds.
4 Restart the Mac
5 Restart the router
6 Use your phone
Still no Wi-Fi or internet access? Try restarting the Mac. Some people leave it running for months, which is okay, but a reboot can clear minor Wi-Fi problems.
The router can sometimes get in a muddle and restarting it can solve them. Switch the power off, wait ten seconds and switch on or log into the router and use the restart option.
Is the fault with the router or internet connection? On the iPhone go to Settings> Personal Hotspot and turn it on. Connect to the iPhone and see if the internet works.
7 Turn off Bluetooth
8 Forget the network
9 Run Wireless Diagnostics
There is no reason why Bluetooth should affect Wi-Fi, but some people have reported that turning it off fixed their Wi-Fi or internet connection problems. Try it and see.
The Mac remembers Wi-Fi networks, so bad settings may be stored. Go to System Preferences>Network>Advanced and remove it. Reconnect with the Wi-Fi menu bar icon.
Option-click the Wi-Fi menu bar icon and select ‘Open Wireless Diagnostics’. Click the ‘Continue’ button till you reach the end and see what advice is offered. It can help.
45
OnyX
How to hide files and folders Keep files, folders and apps on your Mac private Difficulty
Are the files on your Mac safe and protected from other people snooping on you? You might think so, but if you have ever stepped away from your Mac to grab a coffee or bite to Time needed eat, someone could access your Mac while you are gone. It only takes a minute. If you carry files on a USB flash memory stick, what if you lost it? Someone might find it and then have access to your files. Here we take a look at the different ways Download availabe to protect your files and prevent other people having access to them. The techniques range from locking your Mac to hiding files and folders to creating secure vaults that can be used on pocketable flash memory sticks. Stay safe!
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Step-by-step How to stay private
1 Log out
2 Login window
3 Use a screen saver
If you are stepping out for a lunch break, consider logging out of your Mac to prevent anyone from accessing your files. Remember to close any open apps before doing so.
If you don’t want to close your apps and logout, click your name/icon in the menu bar and select ‘Login Window’. It locks your Mac until you log back in with your password.
You might step away from your Mac for a minute and forget to lock it, so go to System Preferences, Desktop & Screen Saver and set a ‘1 Minute’ timeout to lock the Mac.
4 Active screen corners
5 Get OnyX
6 Hide a folder
A quick way to lock the Mac is by pushing the mouse into the screen corner. Click ‘Hot Corners’ and then set either the top-left or right corner to ‘Start the Screen Saver’.
OnyX is a free app (www.titaniumsoftware.fr) that has the ability to hide drives, folders, files and apps. Run it, click the Utilities icon and then ‘Visibility’.
Let’s hide a folder. Click ‘Hide Folder’, browse the drive, select a folder and click ‘Choose’. A second or two later and it is gone from Finder. Don’t forget where it is!
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If you forget a hidden file or folder’s location you will have a hard time finding it! Choose an obvious place like the desktop.
Hide your stuff! Hide files, folders, apps and lock your Mac
Lock the Mac If you are about to leave your Mac, if only for a minute or two, click this icon or your name and go to the Login Window. No one can access your files without your password.
Hide limitations Take note of this message. It simply means that you cannot hide system files or applications in certain folders. Don’t worry, it will not affect hiding your own files and folders in your home folder.
Hide your stuff There are Hide buttons for drives, (nonsystem) folders, files and applications. Click the button and then select the item you want to hide from Finder and applications. Remember the name and location.
Knowledge base Encrypted disk images DMG files are used to distribute apps and you will have encountered many. They aren’t just for apps and by setting the image format to read/write disk image, they can be opened like a disk and used to store files. Adding encryption and a password means it is safe to carry on USB flash drives and or send over the internet.
Unhide items Any file, folder or app that is hidden cannot be seen or used by you or anyone else. Click the ‘Show’ button and then file the item and select it. It then reappears in Finder.
7 Hide a file
8 Use Disk Utility
9 Create disk images
Click ‘Hide File’, select a file to hide and click ‘Choose’. To make a file or folder visible again, just click ‘Show File’ or ‘Show Folder’. You need to remember where they are!
Create encrypted .dmg files to secure files on flash memory drives. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder. Click the File menu and then select New Image>Blank Image
Enter a name and where to save the disk image. Click ‘Encryption’, choose 128-bit AES and enter a password to lock/unlock it. Set the required size and click ‘Save’.
47
Get Into Gaming
GAMING
H
Get inspired by the best Mac and iOS games available and discover how to start coding your own
istorically, macOS has not been viewed as one of the premier platforms for gaming, with the focus aimed mostly at standalone games consoles and Windows PCs that have been spec’d to offer the kind of performance only the most powerful computers can offer. Games have become more sophisticated and graphically complex in a short space of time and this does not marry well with Apple’s slow and steady approach to hardware improvements in the Mac arena. Macs are, however, very powerful from a specification standpoint and they are more than capable of offering a high-end
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gaming experience. It’s just that you may have to search a little harder for the best games and that some of the most popular titles take time to arrive on the platform. Despite the Mac focus on getting things done and portability, we will demonstrate just how flexible and powerful the Mac platform is and how you can not only enjoy a superb gaming experience, but also create games yourself if you have the talent and patience. By contrast, iOS offers by far the best mobile gaming experience in terms of the depth and breadth of what is available today. There are literally thousands of high-quality games available from arcade adventures
to ultra-realist racing games to immersive puzzlers that will keep you coming back time and time again. The limitation is that iOS, mostly because of security, do stop developers from creating certain types of games, but only the most negative of Apple commentators would ever say that gaming on iOS is lacking. In some ways iOS could be considered the most popular gaming platform in the world in terms of numbers, and it is likely to continue growing as customers buy the games and the developers look for ever more innovative ways to take advantage of the powerful mobile processors Apple offers.
Check the specs Before buying any game, it is crucial that you check that the specifications of your Mac match the requirements
Check all requirements Make sure that you check every requirement listed. At times there will be mention of unusual specifications such as a lack of support for case-sensitive volumes so be aware and check every possible area for incompatibilities.
needed. This process is very simple and should only take a minute, and will save you from wasting money on a game that
is too resource hungry for the Mac you own. Developers are usually very good at highlighting what is needed.
Do they match? Most developers include a list of compatible graphics cards that will work with their game. The list can be quite long, but take your time and make sure that the one listed in ‘About This Mac’ is included.
About your Mac Click the Apple logo top left and then select ‘About This Mac’. You will be presented with a series of specifications of which the ‘Graphics’ will likely be most important for the purposes of gaming. Read each section carefully.
Before you buy If gaming is an activity you expect to undertake often, be very careful when purchasing a new Mac. Some are designed for portability and generic tasks which may make them incompatible with the most graphics intensive games.
49
Get Into Gaming
Build a game Get started with Unity Creating a game is not easy, of that there is no doubt, but if you are adept at programming you may want to take a look at Unity which many consider to be the perfect gateway to game development. We will show you how to get started and what it will let you do, but be aware that everything else will be down to your talent.
1 Explore your options
2 Multiple components
Go to unity3d.com and click the ‘Get Unity’ link. Take some time to understand exactly what components you need to download for your development needs.
You will be given the opportunity to download specific components for each platform. We would advise you to grab all that you may potentially need in the future.
3 A personal account
4 Complex and confusing?
5 A perfect mix
If you are just starting, choose the free option during the setup process. You can always pay for a higher option later if you find success in a short period.
The interface may look complex at first, but there is more than enough help at the Unity site to get you up and running in no time. Be patient.
The marriage of coding and graphical elements works well to ensure that you do not go down a rabbit hole and need to correct lots of code later on.
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A game listing In the Mac App Store the gaming app listings tend to follow a simple template which gives you all of the information
you need to make an informed decision. From specifications to easy links to screenshots, you will be able to
do your research and decide if the title is compatible with your Mac and if it is worth your money.
Read it all
Check the links
Read every part of the description and in particular the specifications that are required to run the game smoothly. It will only take a minute and will easily pay off in the long run.
We would also advise you to check out the developer’s website before you purchase. A website can tell you a lot about the people behind a game and the least you should expect is easy to access support.
The visuals
Space and power
It is easy to be taken in by clever screenshots, but take some time to study them and to make sure that they accurately represent the way the game will display. They are likely to be accurate, however.
Over to the right you will see the amount of memory the game requires, the last updated date and other details that will prove handy to know. The more you know, the more likely that you will love the game.
Understand Game Centre Game Centre has been sent to the background by Apple in recent times and
doesn’t gain much publicity, but it still has value and is worth keeping enabled if
1 Where is Game Centre?
2 Minimal settings
You’ll find Game Centre hidden away in Settings these days so simply do a search for it from the home screen of your iOS device and the correct result will appear. Go ahead and click on it.
You can now play with the two settings available. One is to turn it on and off, and the other lets you allow nearby Game Centre players to make contact with you so you can play multiplayer games.
you are a regular game player. The setup process is also almost non-existent.
3 Save scores and compete with friends When you play a supported game, your best scores will be saved for prosperity which alone makes it worth using. You can also compete with friends at any time.
51
Get Into Gaming
of the best iOS 10 games ever You can download and buy almost any game within any genre for your iPhone or iPad and you will almost certainly find options that keep you entertained for hours on end or for when you have a few spare minutes. We have reached the point where the
Alto’s Adventure Ad t
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most difficult aspect of iOS gaming is knowing what to choose and so here we present a selection of the very best titles from a variety of categories to get you started. For very little money you can have hours of fun no matter where you are.
F1 2016
INKS.
Plague Inc.
Pokémon GO
Alto’s Adventure does not look like a special game on the face of it, but the implementation and subtle gameplay ensure that you can play it in a variety of ways. Whether you are trying to reach a specific goal or simply want to fly through the air, this is a thrilling and calming arcade game that works on every level.
A true arcade experience on a phone? F1 2016 delivers this with stunning graphics, decent AI opponents and a career mode that is truly deep. The best feature of all though is the precise turning, breaking and strategy you need to use to be the best which makes this feel like a console quality title in your hand.
INKS. stands apart purely for the way it is presented and the organicfeeling animations which genuinely make you feel as if you are filling the playing surface with ink. Imagine pinball married to throwing paint on the floor in a very defined way and it is still hard to work out what it is, but it is a superb experience.
Oh my. Your task is to destroy every living being on earth and if you succeed you will actually find yourself feeling good about what you have done. It sounds ghastly, but there is a huge amount of strategy involved in succeeding in this game and the end result is an absorbing classic that will grab you and not let go.
How could we not include the game that took over the world for a few months and which is still played by millions of people every day? Pokémon GO truly does marry your phone with the real world and as time goes by, you will still feel the need to collect as many as you can. A brilliantly put together game.
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
One finger gaming just became a reality. A brilliantly absorbing game.
A wonderful racing game which feels bigger than the device it plays on.
This is a buttery smooth visual feast with deceptively simple gameplay.
A fantastic strategy game which involves destroying the world!
Bring the outside world to your phone and enjoy new experiences.
“For very little money you can have hours of fun no matter where you are” SpellTower
Really Bad Chess
8 Ball Pool™
Not all great games need to be based on amazing graphics and speedy animations because sometimes you just want to take a moment and play with words. In SpellTower you will find yourself taking many minutes looking for one word and then blazing through a series of solutions that will make you feel great. A classic word game for everyone.
It sounds impossible to take a game like Chess and make it play in a completely different way that still feels familiar, but the developer has done so here. In this game Chess becomes more accessible to people who struggle to play it and the number of different elements on show makes it potentially a very important development.
iPhones connect us to our friends and colleagues with ease, but the very best games can connect us to people anywhere in the world. This style of gaming feels more realistic and personal than simply playing against an AI opponent and over time you may find yourself getting more than a little involved in trying to beat a stranger.
Summary
Summary
Summary
One of the best word games available on any platform.
It’s hard to believe that Chess has been tweaked this way.
A simple pool game that stirs the emotions.
Space Age: A Cosmic Adventure Mobile games are typically considered to be of the genre where you can play for a few minutes and then put them down again. Space Age, however, will take you through a journey that is varied, at times perplexing and always interesting. It is a true adventure game with lots of personality thrown in.
Summary It will take many hours to navigate through the wonders of Space Age.
Threes! Originality is the name of the game here because it feels like a completely new gaming concept that others are already trying to copy. It’s a simple tile game offering a highly impressive environment to play in and a mechanism which makes it one of the most addictive gaming experience anywhere. You won’t be able to put it down.
Summary Numbered tiles have never been this much fun.
53
Get Into Gaming
Install a macOS gaming emulator Get started with Unity Emulators are available for a number of classic platforms and OpenEmu attempts to cover them all. With the addition of some game ROMs you will be able to play retro classics that somehow feel harder to play than their modern counterparts. Be sure to only ever use ROMs that you already own – it is not legal to simply download games and you run the risk of obtaining files that can damage your Mac.
1 Install the emulator
2 Choose your platforms
Go to openemu.org and click ‘Download Now’ to start the installation process. The app itself will be a standalone file that you can move to Applications straightaway.
When you first start up OpenEmu you will be offered the opportunity to choose which platforms you want to play. You can always change your preferences later on if needed.
3 Understand the controls
4 A new game
5 Time to play
Go to Preferences and the ‘Controls’ tab to see the controls for each platform and how they relate to your Mac keyboard. You can edit these to a scheme that works for you.
You can now move any compatible ROM from Finder to OpenEmu by simply dragging it to the main window in the emulator. Remember to only use allowable ROMs.
You may be surprised at how well many games play in OpenEmu. The sounds and graphics should run fine on any modern Mac to bring back many enjoyable memories.
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Perfect emulation You can emulate a whole raft of games from many different platforms on your Mac in full screen or a small window which will give you the opportunity to increase your gaming library
exponentially. From simple arcade puzzlers belonging to the early days of digital gaming to console quality racing adventures, it is all possible on your Mac and without straining the processor
or graphics card too much at all. Take some time to set things up properly and only use legal ROMs to ensure the best possible gaming experience that will keep you entertained for months on end.
Customise the experience The ‘Controls’ feature means that you can easily set up specific movements to work with the keys you want to use on your Mac. The end result will be a gaming setup that feels perfectly designed for your needs.
Any platform All of the major platforms have been emulated and a growing homebrew selection of ROMs means that you can play a myriad of games safe in the knowledge that the files are secure and that you are doing nothing illegal.
It stands alone OpenEmu, like many other emulators, is a standalone file that does not install in the usual way. You can, however, drag it to the Applications folder to treat it the same as any other app that you have installed.
Colour and audio There is no reason why you cannot experience perfectly emulated graphics and audio from the original games on your Mac. It will only take a few seconds to immerse yourself in the experience so you can relive some classics from the past.
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Get Into Gaming
of the best Apple Watch games
5
The Apple Watch is obviously not designed for playing games, but developers are designed to pick up a challenge and create great things. For those moments when you have a few spare minutes and want to try something different, the Apple Watch can work as a fun distraction and in
some cases it actually enhances a game by adding an extra element that is more accessible and easier to control than even an iPhone. So don t discard the Apple Watch as a gaming platform because there are some excellent titles available which we will explain in detail.
“Don’t discard the Apple Watch as a gaming platform”
Lifeline
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Pong for Apple Watch
If ever a game summed up how the Apple Watch can add a new entertainment dimension it is Lifeline. Throughout the day you will receive notifications from your mysterious counterpart and your job is to help them survive and hopefully get home. It makes the Watch feel like the future and is the ideal game for such a small screen.
Two bats and a ball make for a surprisingly addictive gaming experience and this has been the case with Pong for decades. For those of you who remember the original, it will be a joy to play it on your Watch as it feels exactly as it should. Who would have ever thought such things would be possible?
Summary
Summary
Probably the best Apple Watch game you can buy.
An arcade classic that works perfectly on the Apple Watch.
Letter Zap Letter Zap could not be simpler and merely involves tapping a few tiles to try to make words. It may not be the most original of games, but it has been programmed to display with great clarity on the Watch screen and it feels natural to play every single time. One of the very best time killers available.
Summary A simple letter-based game that works very well on the small screen.
Tiny Armies
Solitaire
Tiny Armies may look basic, but underneath the simple tile-based environment you’ll find a strategic engine that will test your brain to levels you may not have thought possible on a watch. The game works perfectly in terms of the tiny graphics and really is hard to put down once you understand what is required.
While a game like Solitaire is not visually ideal for the small Apple Watch screen, it certainly is still more than playable and we found that after a few minutes all of the fun comes through despite the limited real estate on offer. Solitaire highlights just what can be done by developers who put in some serious effort.
Summary
Summary
A surprisingly deep strategic game that is highly addictive.
The most popular card game ever fits on a watch!
Connect a gaming controller to your Mac Connect a console controller A keyboard works very well for controlling most games, but there is no doubt that a dedicated game controller will do a better
job when playing fast-paced games such as racing and fighting titles. It is actually not too difficult to connect a console
game controller to your Mac if you use a simple app to help you. Here’s how to do it with Joystick Doctor‌
1 The right app
2 Connect and play
3 Use the help
There are a few options in the Mac App Store that will let you connect a games controller to your Mac, but in this tutorial we will use Joystick Doctor.
If you directly connect a controller via USB it should connect instantly. For wireless controllers you may need to download a special driver for it to work. w
There is extensive help available within the app so make sure you use it if you run into problems. For some controllers you will need to jump through some hoops.
The best Mac for gaming There is one simple rule when it comes to buying a Mac for gaming and that is to buy the best machine you can at the current time. There will always be a better Mac around the corner, but if you concentrate on certain specifications you will be able to enjoy a vast array of games with smooth frame rates and impressive graphics. Think about the processor and graphics above all else, but
considering more RAM and internal space will certainly pay y off in the long run. When you buy a new Mac yo ou get the opportunity to select exact specifications so be patient, check up on what you will need and then decide if the e upgrades are worth the money y. You have the potential to creatte a Mac gaming powerhouse which can cope with anything if you have the funds available.
“Think about the processor and graphics above all else 57
Get Into Gaming
5
of the best Mac games
Many believe that Windows is a better platform for gaming than macOS and, while it is true that there are more games available for the most popular platform,
Radiation City
there are some excellent options on the Mac. From top of the range first person shooters to adventure games that will take you months to complete, a fine selection
Machinarium
BioShock Infinite
can be purchased or trialled which should mean you end up with a great library of games. Our picks will give you a good introduction into the world of Mac gaming.
Real Racing 2
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
This game pushes the limits in terms of graphical prowess and the way the characters are animated in such a realistic way. It is a fine example of what is possible away from a dedicated games console and will blow your mind from the first time you start playing it. You could be playing it for some time.
There is no other game like Machinarium – it is definitely completely unique. The graphics are almost scary at times, but it is in the puzzles that it truly excels. It can be extremely difficult at times when you spend a long time trying to work out the way forward, but overall we have nothing but good things to say about this game.
Visually this game is brilliant and this is only beaten by the way the story is told through a variety of different mediums. It is such good fun to play and also interesting and educational at the same time so there is no reason not to give it a try if you are looking for something a little different than normal.
Real Racing 2 is a classic on macOS and iOS and is arguably as good, if not better, than Real Racing 3. With near endless gameplay, an amazing sense of speed and loads of competition, it’s the one racing game you should definitely own on your Mac. Only much more expensive racing games come close.
The Disney touch is present throughout this game and the graphics mix well with the audio to bring a magical atmosphere to this platform. There is lots to play with and many decisions to make so your children and you can buckle up and enjoy the ride every day. It offers an atmosphere few other games can manage.
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
A beautifully rendered and complex game you’ll love.
Weird, wonderful and unique in every way. A must try!
Storytelling done exactly as you would want it to be.
An incredibly realistic racing game full of serious speed.
A perfect game for children and adults alike.
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Create a game without code How to build your own games the easy way If your knowledge of coding is virtually non-existent or if you simply cannot find the time to learn, there is a solution called Stencyl that lets you create games for all of the major platforms without the need for in-depth coding knowledge. We will show you what you need to do to get started, but the rest is up to you.
1 Download the app
2 Some Java needed
Go to stencyl.com and download the app for your Mac. The install is fairly light so should not put too much strain on your Mac’s system resources when in use.
You will need to install Java to use Stencyl which is unavoidable. If you really do not want to use Java for a specific reason, you will need to look for another solution.
3 Visually guided
4 Extensive help
5 Be proud
You will notice that the entire interface is visually based with very little coding. The idea is that you can code without the need for actual code behind the scenes.
You will be offered help throughout the development process and we would recommend taking advantage of this. It’s easier than coding, but still far from simple.
After some effort and lots of learning you may well be able to claim your first game and even publish it for any platform you like. The feeling will be intensely satisfying.
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Control Centre
Customise the new iOS Control Centre The Control Centre in iOS 11 can be customised by adding or removing 18 available options Difficulty
Time needed
5
Swipe up from the bottom edge of your iPhone or iPad screen and you’ll access the Control Centre. This puts a host of useful features at your fingertips, allowing you swift access to the camera or the calculator, for instance, while letting you activate Do Not Disturb and other important functions. With iOS 11, the new Control Centre allows for customisation letting you add an alarm, an Apple TV Remote, a magnifier, notes, voice memos, wallet and more. The only controls you can’t add or remove are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio playback, Do Not Disturb, Airplane Mode, Cellular, screen mirroring and lock screen rotation.
Step-by-step Add options to Control Centre
1 Launch Settings app
2 Customise controls
3 See what’s included
To begin adding options to the Control Centre, simply open the Settings app within iOS 11 and scroll down the screen until you see the entry for Control Centre. Tap it.
On this screen, you can determine whether or not you want to access the Control Centre within apps. For our purposes, however, you will need to tap Customise Controls.
You will now see two sections: one is called Include and it shows you the options that currently appear in the Control Centre. The other lists the extras available to you.
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Don’t worry about removing controls from the Control Centre – they are not deleted. Instead, they are placed in the section More Controls for future use.
Organise the order of controls
View the order Find you use one control more than another? Then ensure their relevant priority is reflected within the Control Centre by altering the order in which they appear.
Once you have customised what should and shouldn’t appear in Control Centre, you can configure the order
Select a control Select a control that you wish to move by pressing and holding the three-bar icon to its right. It will then pop out of the screen, ready for moving.
Drag a control Reorder a control by dragging it up and down the list, before dropping it into place. It will then pop into the relevant spot, letting you select another if need be.
Knowledge base 3D Touch the controls Once you’ve customised the Control Centre, you should take some time to play around with it. That’s because the controls are tappable, with many of them bringing up expanded menus when you tap and hold or use 3D Touch. To start with, press the panel containing Airplane Mode and Wi-Fi. It’ll call up extra options for AirDrop and personal hotspot.
Less is more Try not to over-populate the controls you include in your list. The more controls you include in the Control Centre, the more confusing and cluttered it is bound to become.
4 Adding a control
5 Removing controls
6 Finish up
Scroll through the options under More Controls, tapping the green ‘+’ button next to any you wish to add. Those you select – such as Alarm – are placed under Include.
If you don’t want a particular control to appear within the Control Centre then you can remove it. Tap the red ‘–’ button to the left of the option and select ‘Remove’.
Continue adding and removing the controls that you want and don’t want until you are satisfied. Your selections will be reflected in the Control Centre when you next swipe up.
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iOS 11
Type on your iPhone using one hand Install iOS 11 and you can benefit from Apple’s onehanded keyboard which allows for easier typing Difficulty
Time needed
2
It is near-impossible to type one-handed on an iPhone Plus – the 5.5-inch screen stretches the keyboard a tad too far. With the same problem facing iPhone X users, Apple has introduced a new feature: you can now shift the keyboard left and right. While it only works in portrait mode (and not on the iPad at all), it effectively creates an iPhone SE-sized keyboard. You’ll still need to reach for functions at the top of the screen (we yearn for a URL bar at the bottom of Safari). But you can still doubletap the Home button to lower the screen and put the top half in reach (unless you have an iPhone X where it’s been dropped).
Step-by-step Activate left and right keyboards
1 Open an app
2 Use the keyboard
3 Tap globe icon
First of all, open any app that requires you to make use of Apple’s built-in keyboard, be it Safari, Messages, Pages, Notes, or one of the dozens of others.
You’ll see that the keyboard stretches across the whole screen. When used with one hand, it can prove a stretch for your digits to reach across to the other side. But worry not.
If you’re struggling, simply tap and hold down on the globe icon at the bottom of the keyboard (sometimes it will picture an emoji). You will now see three keyboard options.
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The keyboard will remain in the position you set it until you decide otherwise which means you can move from app to app with ease.
Alter the keyboard settings As well as shifting the keyboard left and right, you can make typing easier in other ways via the Settings app
Keyboard settings Access this screen by opening settings and going to General>Keyboards. Tap Keyboards to see the keyboards you have installed and to add new ones.
Automatic options Move the sliders next to these options and the keyboard will automatically cap relevant words and correct the spelling. If auto-correction is annoying, you can, of course, turn it off.
Predictive text With predictive text, iOS places choices for words and phrases above the keyboard which you can tap to save time. This can be turned on or off via Settings.
Knowledge base Where is Microsoft’s Word Flow? Apple isn’t the first to come up with left- and righthanded keyboards by any means. Back in 2016, Microsoft released Word Flow on to iOS in the United States and it featured a unique ‘arc mode’ that curved the keyboard and placed it to one side of the screen for easier typing. The app was scrapped in July this year, however.
Smart punctuation This new feature in iOS 11 lets you substitute some forms of punctuation. It’s more typographical and rather subtle in nature, acting to slant quotation marks in the main.
4 Left-sided keyboard
5 Right-sided keyboard
6 Go full size
Press the first icon to shift the keyboard to the left. This option makes it easier to operate the keyboard solely using the left hand, putting the right-side buttons in reach.
Conversely, pressing the icon to the right, shifts the keyboard right. Select this if you’re using your phone with your right hand, making those left buttons more manageable.
If you want to get back to two-handed typing again, you can either select the centre icon or you can just tap the white arrow to the left or right of the keyboard to ‘reset’.
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iOS 11
Record your iPhone screen Get to know one of the many new iOS 11 enhancements and make iPhone screen recordings Difficulty
Time needed
10
Previously, if you wanted to record your iPhone screen with any degree of quality you had to connect it to your Mac and then record it through the QuickTime Player app. Well if that proved too cumbersome then the good news is that you can now do it straight from your device thanks to a new Control Centre feature in iOS 11. To get the most out of this feature, go to Settings>Control Centre and enable the ‘Access Within Apps’ feature so that you can record any app currently on your screen and then add the Screen Record feature to your Control Centre. You can then tap the Record button within your Control Centre to take a recording of your screen. These recordings will then be added to your Photos app.
Step-by-step Set up Screen Recording
1 Enable the feature
2 Access Control Centre
3 Record and save
Go to Settings>Control Centre>Customise Controls and then scroll down to the Screen Recording control. Tap on the green ‘+’ icon next to it to add it to your Control Centre.
Now, when you are in the app or feature that you wish to show in the recording, swipe up to access your Control Centre and then tap on the record button. Swipe down to exit.
While you are recording your screen the menu bar will be red. To cancel the recording, swipe up to access your Control Centre and tap the same button to stop.
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Photos
Turn a Live Photo into a video loop Have you taken a Live Photo containing a lot of movement? You can convert it into a looping video DifďŹ culty
Time needed
2
Live Photos were introduced with the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, allowing you to snap an image while capturing anything that happened 1.5 seconds before and after. It has led to some dynamic photographs but Apple has gone further in iOS 11 with a looping feature that plays the best part of a Live Photo over and over. Here we look at how you can access this tool and share it on social media. To get the best out of the loops, we’ll have to wait until the likes of Instagram and Twitter catch up. In the meantime, though, you can have a lot of fun and also experiment with another cool feature called Bounce.
Step-by-step To create a looping video from a Live Photo
1 Launch Photos app
2 Open Live Photos
3 Select an image
First you need to find a pre-snapped Live Photo that you are able to work with. Open up the Photos app within iOS 11 and tap the Albums icon at the bottom of the screen.
All of the Live Photos that are on your phone are located within the Live Photos album. Scroll down the screen until you find this before tapping on the folder to open it.
You will now see all of your Live Photos. Scroll through them and tap the one that you wish to use. It will open in full on the screen, ready for converting into a loop.
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Any Loop Photos you create from your Live images can be found by tapping the Albums tab in the Photos app and selecting the new album, ‘Animated’.
Share your looped videos
Share via email It is also possible to share your looped videos via email or Messages. Again, just tap the relevant apps, this time selecting who you want to send the loop to.
One of the main reasons for creating a looped video is to produce something amusing and share it on social media
Instagram accounts If you try and upload your looped video to Instagram, you will get an error telling you that videos for this service have to be at least three seconds long.
Share button In order to see which social media accounts you can share your looped videos to, tap the Share button when you’re viewing the image and you’ll see the available options.
Knowledge base Turn Live Photos into GIFs Apple’s Loop doesn’t create GIFs – it produces short, looping videos from your Live Photos. But if you prefer GIFs, try Google’s Motion Skills app (https:// itunes.apple.com/gb/app/motion-stills-createlive/id1086172168?mt=8. Using video stabilisation algorithms, it converts your Live Photos into smooth GIFs, keeping the background steady while looping. You can then share the GIFs with others.
Upload to Facebook Looped videos cannot be shared on Twitter but you will see that they can be uploaded to your Facebook account. Just tap the Facebook icon in order to do so.
4 Swipe up
5 Select the Loop
6 Make it bounce
Place your finger on to the image and swipe up to reveal a new set of controls within iOS 11. You will now see a selection of effects, one of which will be labelled ‘Loop’.
You will already see a Preview of the loop. If you like what you’re viewing, tap ‘Loop’. Your Live Photo will now display on your screen and it will play over and over again.
Don’t worry if you don’t like it – the conversion isn’t permanent. Change it back to a Live Photo or even select ‘Bounce’ – this plays the video and then reverses it.
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Photos
Snap long exposure photographs Capture time and movement in your shots by mimicking the special effects of a DSLR camera Difficulty
Time needed
2
If you fancy taking long exposure images on your iPhone like a DSLR-owning professional, then all you’ve needed in the past is a tripod and a good third-party app that lets you control the shutter speed and sensitivity. A couple of quid dropped on Slow Shutter Cam and a bit of patience has, after all, allowed you to capture amazing light trails and stunning effects. Today, however, you can cheat your way to success by turning any Live Photo into a long exposure shot. As long as you have iOS 11 installed, you can get a very effective result thanks to a new effect within Photos. Here’s how…
Step-by-step Create a long exposure shot
1 Take a photo
2 Open Photos app
3 Now swipe up
Open the Camera app, set it to Photo mode and ensure Live Photos is on by pressing the icon at the top of the screen. You can now press the Shutter button to take the shot.
Once you have captured your Live Photo, launch the Photos app. Select the Albums tab at the bottom of the screen before finding the image in the Live Photos album.
With the image that you want to convert into a long exposure now displaying on the screen, you can use your finger to swipe up and see the effects that you are able to use.
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You can actually take a Live Photo via FaceTime if both of you have iOS 11 installed. It could make for some nice, remote shots.
Take perfect long exposure images If you want your long exposure shots to stand out, then it is worth taking your time to get your Live Photo right
Keep it steady Although the Photos feature will work its magic regardless, you will get a better long exposure image if you keep your device very still. Consider using a tripod or find a bench or some railings to rest on.
Have some movement Long exposure images look great if the subject remains motionless while items in the background are moving. Similarly it works well if the subject is moving while the background is still.
Get some light If you’re working in low light, make sure the Live Photo you snap has captured enough detail so that when it’s converted to long exposure, the focused parts look sharp.
Knowledge base Keep the original shot If you want to experiment with long exposure while keeping your original shot separate, you can duplicate your Live Photo and work on the copy. Simply select your image and tap the Share button before swiping left on the bottom row and tapping ‘Duplicate’. You can now convert this to long exposure and play around in the app’s editing suite.
Consider an iPad Although you can edit your shots perfectly well on an iPhone, if you have an iPad then you may want to take advantage of the bigger screen it affords.
4 Select long exposure
5 Edit the image
6 Share your photo
Swipe left within the Effects part of the screen until you reach the last of the four options. Tap the image and your Live Photo will be converted into a long exposure shot.
To make further refinements to your image, select ‘Edit’ at the top of the screen. You can now auto-enhance and crop your photo, apply filters or adjust light and colour.
Tap the Share button and you can upload your image to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by tapping the relevant icons. You are also able to share via Mail or Messages.
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SoundForest
Create music with SoundForest SoundForest lets you and your children create original music using creatures DifďŹ culty
Time needed
10
If there is one type of app the iOS world is not short of it is music creation apps. They are numerous, varied and some really can help you to create original music no matter what your current talent level. SoundForest follows the traditional screenbased grid pattern, but it adds original elements that make it suited to children and those who want a bit of fun. The use of musical creatures and the way the graphics are presented are highly unusual and perhaps suited to certain visual tastes, but the end result is a clean and friendly environment that takes away any reservations you may have if you are new to composing. It takes just minutes to create your first tune.
Step-by-step Compose tunes in a grid
1 The personality
2 Pick a note
3 Change the tempo
Throughout the app you will notice personal choices that the developer has made to create an engaging environment. It works in every screen and is also very instructional.
To select a note, simply swipe along the bottom bar and then tap one of the icons to select it. You can then tap on any part of the screen and its position is set.
Changing the tempo of the tune is also easy. All you need to do is double-tap the sky and you will hear the change immediately. Keep tapping until it is how you want it.
4 Build it up
5 Multiple tunes
6 Fully featured
As you select more notes and place them, the tune will start to take shape. Notice how colourful and inviting the screen becomes, which is perfect for younger children.
Tap the bottom left-hand to icon to return to the tune selection screen. You can create as many tunes as you like simultaneously and easily access them at any time.
You can unlock all of the features for a small fee, but the good news is that you get plenty of time to play with the app before you decide to do this. It’s good value.
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Currently, the tunes you create will stay on your device so don’t expect to be creating exportable files that you can use anywhere.
Colourful and practical Get to know the simple musical grid
“Even the youngest of children will be able to use the app in minutes” Touch the sky
Tuneful icons Each icon within the grid represents a note and its positioning represents when it will play within the tune. It really could not be easier to manage.
Tapping the sky will change the tempo of the tune and doing so again will make another change. It’s simple, effective and very quick to use.
Knowledge base The extras Create an album You can create as many tunes as you like and access them by tapping this area. The controls are minimal, but more than enough for your needs.
Pick and play Tap an icon at the bottom and then tap within the grid. Even the youngest of children will be able to learn and use the app in minutes.
There are six pitch levels for each music note and 160 elements which are each unique in terms of their sound. These features alone give you unlimited possibilities in what you can create and the more you play with it, the more skilled you will become. The only limit is your patience and the amount of time you have available.
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Messages
Track your family How to locate and get directions to family members in the Messages app Difficulty
Time needed
5
One of iOS 11’s new features is the facility to track family members, for example, in the Messages app. Picture the scene, one of your children is out with friends, they get separated and are unsure of how to get home. As long as they have Location Services turned on and share their location with you, you can stay in touch via the Messages app and, without having to leave that app, see their exact location pinpointed on a map and then get step-by-step directions straight to them. It’s an incredibly useful service. The map data is also updated in real time, so if they are on the move you will be able to see this and the directions on how to get to them, if you are using them, will be updated as they move.
Step-by-step Get directions to family members
1 Share location
2 Go to Messages
3 View on a map
Ensure family members have location sharing turned on. They must go to Settings>Privacy and turn on Location Services, then tap on ‘Share My Location’ and ensure it is on.
You can now track that person through Messages. Open up a message conversation with the person you wish to track and tap on the small ‘i’ icon in the top-right corner.
The location of the person is now displayed on a map. From here you can send them your location or stop sharing your location. Tap on the map to open it full-screen.
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You can instantly share your location with other people in Messages by tapping the Maps icon at the bottom of the interface and tapping ‘Send’.
Tracking through Messages
Map location As long as family members share their location with you then you will be able to pinpoint their location on a map within the Messages app.
Tap the ‘i’ icon to start tracking…
Make calls You will also see the facilities to call or FaceTime your family member – all without having to waste time leaving the Messages app and launching other apps.
More options If you tap on the map then it will be opened in full-screen and you will be able to select the ‘Directions’ option to be guided straight to the person in question.
Knowledge base Family Sharing As well as the Messages app, you can also track the location of family members through Family Sharing. This is set up by one family member by tapping on their name in Settings and tapping on ‘Set Up Family Sharing’. Once Family Sharing is set up, family members can share their locations with each other and if one member loses their iPhone then other family members can help them find it via the Find My iPhone service.
Read Receipts Ensure that the ‘Send Read Receipts’ option is turned on. That way, whenever you send new messages you will be able to see instantly if they have been received and read (or not).
4 Open the Maps app
5 Get directions
6 Meet up
When in full-screen map mode you will be able to tap on the small ‘i’ icon in the lowerright corner to change the style of the map and open the proper Maps app.
Tap on ‘Directions’ and you enter navigation mode – you will be presented with directions on how to navigate to your family member. Choose a mode of transport and tap ‘Go’.
Your iPhone will now act like a sat nav device to provide spoken instructions on exactly how to reach your family member – useful for safety, especially if they are out alone.
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Apple Watch
Create custom Apple Watch faces Any image within the Photos app of iOS 11 can now be chosen and customised as a Watch face e Difficulty
Time needed
5
You’ve long been able to customise your Watch face using your own images, but altering the image has meant having pictures within a synced album. With iOS 11, however, there’s a new ‘Create Watch Face’ share sheet option within the Photos app of the iPhone. You also have the opportunity to turn your images into a fun kaleidoscope. You can also pick up to ten images to use as your custom watch face, each of which will change on your Watch whenever you lift your wrist.
Step-by-step Make your own custom faces
1 Open Photos app
2 Create Watch Face
3 Choose Watch Face
Open the Photos app on your iPhone and navigate your images to find up to ten images that you would like to use for your Watch face. Tap ‘Select’ and highlight each one.
Now tap the Share button which you’ll see in the bottom-left corner. Look at the options at the bottom of the screen and tap the newlyintroduced icon ‘Create Watch Face’.
You have two choices. Select the ‘Photos Watch Face’ – in which case your images will be shown in full – or (if you have selected just one image) the ‘Kaleidoscope Watch Face’.
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In order to create a custom watch face, you must have iOS 11 installed on the iPhone linked to your Apple Watch.
Create a kaleidoscope Watch face
Preview the image Here you can see how your image will look as a kaleidoscope but you’ll only be able to manipulate it (via the Digital Crown) once you’ve tapped ‘Add’ and it’s on your Watch.
If you select a single image in Photos, you have the option to be creative and turn it into a kaleidoscope
Keep customising Continue changing the complications to suit your needs, altering the top-left, top-right and bottom positions. You can also turn complications off for any or all of these slots.
Different styles Here you can change how your kaleidoscope will look by selecting one of the three different styles that are available. Simply tap the one that you want.
Knowledge base Making changes on the Watch Once your customised face is on your Watch, you can make amendments straight from your wrist. Tap and hold the face and select ‘Customise’ before tapping various positions, swiping and using the Digital Crown to make any available amends. In this sense, it works just like any other Watch face, giving you added control over the look.
Complications Tap any of these complications and you will be able to cycle through the available options for the listed position. You can add a battery indicator, for instance, or a calendar.
4 Customise the face
5 Change time position
6 Add Complications
As well as seeing what your Watch face will look like, use this screen to select an image under Photos (if you’ve chosen more than one) and to alter the look of the face.
You can position the time, selecting ‘Top’ or ‘Bottom’ under Time Position to move it up and down on the face. This stops it getting in the way of a nice part of your image.
Add extra features to your Watch Face – above or below the time – by selecting items under Complications. When finished, tap ‘Add’ and the face appears on your Watch.
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Apple Watch
rate with your Watch Th he Apple Watch’s Heart Rate feature has been much improved in watchOS 4 m Difficulty
Time needed
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Apple is big on health which is why, with watchOS 4, it has looked to make the monitoring of your overall wellbeing one of its priorities. To that end, it has overhauled the Heart Rate app for all but the original 2015 Watch, adding resting and walking rates to your current reading while allowing you to view your day’s result in an easy-to-view graph. You can also view your heart beat as you exercise thanks to its integration within the Workout app. At the same time, Apple has added a new real-time complication for your watchface as well as notifications should your heart rate become higher than normal. This defaults at 120 beats per minute but you can change it via the Watch app on your iPhone, visiting My Watch, selecting ‘Heart Rate’, tapping ‘Elevated Heart Rate’ and choosing a different alert threshold. We start our tutorial by quickly showing you how to turn on that notification in the first place.
h
1 Get heart rate alerts
2 View current rate
3 See resting rate
Launch the Heart Rate app for the first time and you’ll see a new feature that notifies you when your heart rate exceeds 120 beats per minute. Tap ‘Turn On’ or ‘Skip’.
Now view your current heart rate. You’ll see the last recorded heart rate and the time it was taken but you can also tap the screen in order to take a current recording.
A resting heart rate measurement is now included too. This indicates your beats per minute when you’re not active. Tapping it shows a graph of your day’s highs and lows.
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To change the metrics in Workout open the Watch app on your iPhone and go to My Watch>Workout>Workout View. Tap a workout and select metrics.
Check your heart rate during a workout You can now monitor your heart rate while you exercise thanks to a new feature in the Workout app
Different workouts Open the Workout app and choose which exercise you want to take part in. You can select an outdoor walk, run or cycle, for instance. You’ll end up on a screen like this.
Keep fit After a countdown, you can begin getting fit. As you do so, the stopclock ticks away and you can see how many active calories you’ve burned as well as the distance, if relevant.
Beats per minute Your heart rate is also shown by default, in beats per minute. As you continue on your workout, you can simply glance at this for better monitoring of your health.
Knowledge base Turn Heart Rate on and off Although the Watch monitors your heart rate by default, you are able to prevent it from doing so – the usual reason being to improve the battery life. To do this, launch the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tap ‘My Watch’ and scroll down to Privacy. Tap this and turn the ‘Heart Rate’ button off. You can, of course, turn it back on whenever you wish.
Swipe right Swipe right and you have the option to lock the screen, end or pause the session or start a new one. Heart rate data is stored in the Health app on your iPhone.
4 View walking average
5 Add watch complication
6 Use the complication
There is also a measurement of your walking average. Like with the preview options, tap this to view a graph. Put together, these measurements better monitor your heart.
To constantly see your heart’s health, add the new real-time heart rate complication. Press firmly on a Watch face, tap Customise. Swipe left and tap a complication.
Turn the Digital Crown, select ‘Heart Rate’ and press the Digital Crown. This gives an at-a-glance view of your heart rating. Tapping the complication opens the Heart Rate app.
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Apple TV
Sync your Apple TV home screen Ensure your favourite home screen layout is replicated across all your Apple TVs Difficulty
An increasing number of Apple users have more than one Apple TV in their home, ensuring the entertainment follows them around the house. But what if you want to keep the Time needed experience the same? Do you really want the hassle of having to manually order your apps on the home screen of both devices so that they match? Introduced by Apple in tvOS 11, One Home Screen keeps your apps and the home screen Download available up-to-date across multiple Apple TVs as long as each one is up logged into the same iCloud account. As you can imagine, this makes it infinitely easier to find your content when you switch between the devices.
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Step-by-step Enable Apple TV’s One Home Screen
1 Launch Settings app
2 Select iCloud
3 Begin sign-in
If you want the home screens of your Apple TVs to look the same, activate the new One Home Screen feature. To do this, launch the Settings app and select ‘Accounts’.
In order for One Home Screen to work, each of your Apple TVs will need to be signed in to the same iCloud account. So make sure you select ‘iCloud’ from the menu on each one.
If you are already signed into iCloud, the One Home Screen option may be activated by default (it’ll say ‘on’). If you are not, then select ‘Sign In’ from the iCloud screen.
4 Input your password
5 Match Home Screens
6 On and off
Select your iCloud account username from the onscreen list (or input your username) and then enter your iCloud password. Do this on every Apple TV if need be.
You will be prompted to turn on One Home Screen. Select ‘Match Home Screens’ to do this and replicate your decision across your other Apple TVs. Home screen syncing is on.
Once signed into your iCloud account, toggling One Home Screen is simply a matter of selecting ‘One Home Screen’ from the iCloud page and clicking for On or Off.
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The great thing about One Home Screen is your Apple TVs don’t have to be on the same network. You could sync one at the office and one at home.
Create a perfect home screen
“Log in and all of your home screen content will automatically appear”
You can customise the home screen of your Apple TV by rearranging apps and creating folders Create a folder
The top row
Apps can be placed into folders just like they can with iOS. This makes the home screen neater and easier to navigate since you can lump similar apps together.
It’s a good idea to position the apps that you use the most in this top row, making them much easier to find each time you use your Apple TV.
Knowledge base Restoring Apple TV Deleting apps You can also delete apps from your home screen. Just press and hold on the icon of the app you want to remove and, when it jiggles, press the Play/Pause button and select ‘Delete’.
Rearrange your apps By highlighting an app and pressing and holding using the Remote’s Touch surface you will make the icon wiggle. You can now move it to a different location on the home screen.
If you need to restore your Apple TV for any reason, it was once the case that you’d have to manually download and install all of your apps once it was back up and running. With One Home Screen you don’t need to. As long as you log in using your iCloud account, all of your home screen content will automatically appear.
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Genius Bar Our Apple devices and the software on them are some of the finest products on the planet, but even they have their moments. We’re here to give you expert advice and get you back up and running in no time Facebook iCreateMagazine
Glossary The place to come for key terms made easy to understand
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It is easy to save emails as drafts and keep them tucked away until times of need…
3D Touch Touchscreen technology first introduced with the iPhone 6 and 6s Plus that lets you access new features depending on how hard you press down on the screen.
4K This is a new type of TV and monitor standard that is replacing HD and is so-called because it will have around 4,000 horizontal pixels.
Passcode Usually four-digit, passcodes are a means of securing your device and add an extra layer of security to other methods of unlocking your device, such as TouchID.
How do I save emails as drafts on my iPad? It seems that every time I start composing one the kids distract me! Helen Swift
Widget These are accessible by swiping right from your iPhone’s home screen and provide access to certain features from built-in and third-party apps that you have installed.
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1 Start composing
2 Save as draft
3 View as a list
Start composing an email as normal in your iPad’s Mail app and then when you want to save it as a draft, press and hold on the subject line and swipe downwards.
If done correctly, the email should be moved down to the bottom of the screen so that only the subject line is visible. You can tap on this to resume typing.
You can save as many drafts as you like by swiping down. If you would like to view all current drafts then you can press and hold on the ‘Compose’ button.
If you change your mind after cancelling a subscription, find it in the ‘Expired’ section and then reactivate it by selecting a payment option.
I would like to cancel my Apple Music subscription as I no longer need it. How can I do this? Brenden Cole
Apple Expert The one-stop column for Genius advice
1 Go to Settings
2 View Apple ID
3 Check your subs
Open the Settings app and then tap on your name as it appears at the top of the screen. Then, tap on the ‘iTunes & App Store’ section in your Apple ID screen.
Next, tap on the ‘View Apple ID’ option in the pop-up menu that appears. You will then need to sign into your Apple ID. Once done, head to ‘Subscriptions’.
All of the subscriptions that are currently running will now be listed. Tap on one to view the details and you will then have the option to cancel.
I have tried connecting a set of external speakers to my Mac but no sound seems to come out – why? Wendy Smith Input/output tabs Within the Sound section in System Preferences are tabs to select the devices plugged into your Mac’s sound input and output. Ensure that the speakers are plugged into the right socket on the back of your Mac and the speakers should show up here.
Expand options By holding down the Option (Alt) key as you select the sound menu bar item you will be able to change input and output devices from there…
Adjusting the volume level
Enable volume in menu Check this option to enable quick and easy access to key sound settings straight from your Mac’s menu bar, including the volume bar and your output device.
You can make even finer adjustments to the sound output of your Mac by holding Shift+Option (Alt) then using the volume keys as normal.
I created a GarageBand project on my iPhone and then uploaded it to my Mac version of GarageBand via iCloud Drive to make some edits. However, when I try to move the project back to my iPhone it says that it cannot be opened. Can you tell me why this is? Sadly you can’t send GarageBand projects back to your iPhone if they have been modified on your Mac as the Mac version of GarageBand has features that cannot be reproduced on the iPhone. Try sharing the Mac project as an audio file to iTunes and then sync the audio file to your iPhone. You should then be able to add this file to a new GarageBand project on your iPhone. I have heard that there is a quick way to find words in web pages on the Mac but I can’t remember how to do it. Can you help? You can find specific words within Safari web pages simply by typing the word into the dual URL/Search bar. Once done you will be able to scroll down through the standard search results and you will see a section called ‘On This Page’ and the number of possible matches listed below.
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Genius Bar Apple Expert The one-stop column for Genius advice Both myself and my wife have iPhone 7s (although they are with different carriers). Both accounts are in my name but we have separate phone numbers, email addresses and Apple IDs. The problem is that we often receive each other’s messages, emails and sometimes calls. I have checked that each device is using different Apple IDs, and they appear to be. So why is this happening? There may be some accidental crossover in the details tethered to each Apple ID, so check that all of the right numbers and email addresses are applied to each account. Also, go to Settings>FaceTime and ensure that you haven’t got each other’s phone numbers or email addresses listed under the ‘You can be reached by FaceTime at’ option. If the problem still persists, go to appleid.apple.com and you will be able to reset both of the Apple IDs from there. I have heard that there is a way to get instant dictionary definitions on web pages. How? Simply highlight the word in a Safari web page and then press Cmd+Ctrl+D to get an instant definition.
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I am slightly confused as to how to type certain symbols on my Mac! Is there a way to find out which key does what? Simone Park
Show keyboard Go to System Preferences>Keyboard and then click on the ‘Keyboard’ tab. You can enable the option to show the keyboard viewer in the menu bar. Do so and then select ‘Show Keyboard Viewer’ from the menu. You can now press and hold keys to see which combinations produce which symbols.
Typing emojis To type fun characters such as emojis on your Mac, press Ctrl+Cmd+spacebar to open the characters window. Here you can browse through the various emoji categories and then select different characters to insert straight into your text.
Special characters You can press and hold certain keys on the keyboard, such as ‘E’ to bring up a floating widget of the various character variations. Select one from the menu and it will be applied to the text.
I managed to accidentally call the emergency services using my Apple Watch recently. Is there a way to disable this function to prevent such embarrassment occurring in the future? Marcus Tucker Ah yes, by default this is done by pressing and holding the side button on your Watch. To disable this function, open the Watch app on your iPhone and then tap on the ‘My Watch’ tab. Scroll down and select ‘General’ and then on the next screen tap on the ‘Emergency SOS’ option – by default this will be turned on. To disable it, move the green slider next to ‘Hold to Auto Call’ off.
As I do a lot of online research using Safari, I often have to copy and paste text from various web pages. However, when I paste the text into a new document it keeps the formatting of the web page. Can I stop this? Ian Lowe There certainly is. If you want to strip formatting from text that you have copied from the web, or elsewhere, press Shift+Alt+Cmd+V and the text that you copied will be pasted in plain format. This will save you from having to reformat the text and should become your default way of copying and pasting content.
Holding down the key combination will strip out the formatting…
You can set a Watch passcode that is longer than four digits but to do this you have to unlock the Watch with your iPhone and input the code on there.
Can you please tell me how to set a new passcode to help protect my Apple Watch? Chris Farleigh
Set code You can set a passcode to secure your Watch in the Watch app on your iPhone. Just go to ‘My Watch’ and then tap on the ‘Passcode’ option.
Use iPhone For greater convenience you could have your Watch unlock whenever you unlock your iPhone. Put this option to green to enable this feature.
Change code There’s always the chance that someone could spot what you are typing for your code so it’s good practice to change it every so often.
Set a limit If someone stole your Watch they could try to crack the code many times. Slide this and your data will be wiped after ten attempts.
I have recently purchased Apple TV and would like to know if there is a way to limit the access that my children have to unsuitable content? Duncan Raisey As you have discovered, Apple TV is great fun for all of the family and the good news is that you have complete control over who can view what. By enabling the restrictions (see below) you can determine exactly what can be purchased in the iTunes Store, set age ratings
for films and TV shows and even block explicit words in books. We would recommend that you take your time to go through each category in turn and carefully consider what restrictions to apply. Once set up the settings can’t be changed unless the passcode is entered again.
1 Open Settings
2 Restrict iTunes
3 Setting guidelines
To access the parental controls within Apple TV you must first open the Settings app then navigate to General>Restrictions. By default the restrictions will be turned off.
After entering a passcode, you will then be able to go through the various restrictions options. For example, you can restrict iTunes rentals and purchases.
If you are worried about your children viewing inappropriate content in films and TV shows then you can select the applicable age ratings to help protect them.
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Genius Bar Since updating to iOS 11 my iPhone enters ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ mode without me enabling it. How do I disable this feature? Louise Tillforth Repeated calls
You can determine which widgets are displayed and the order they appear in
Is it possible to determine which widgets are displayed when I swipe to the right from my iPhone’s home screen? Although I find some useful, others are more of a hindrance! Kai Jones After swiping to the right, simply scroll down to the very bottom of the displayed widgets and you will see the ‘Edit’ option. Tap this and you will be able to remove currently displayed widgets by tapping the red ‘–’ icons and then add new ones by scrolling down further and tapping the green ‘+’ icon next to a currently unused widget. You can also change the order they are displayed by holding the list icon to the right and moving it.
Allowances
It is good practice to enable the ‘Repeated Calls’ option as you never know who may try to contact you in an emergency. A second call from the same number in quick succession will breach Do Not Disturb.
Remember, when enabling Do Not Disturb mode, you can tap on the ‘Allow Calls From’ option to make sure that certain numbers are allowed to contact you during these periods. Tapping this option will allow you to enable specific contacts or contact groups.
Auto reply On this screen you will also find options relating to how your iPhone responds to people who try to contact you when ‘Do Not Disturb’ is enabled. Take time to set these options up accordingly as it is good to let people know that you aren’t ignoring them.
Set option When tapping ‘Activate’ you will be faced with three options: ‘Automatically’, ‘When Connected to Car Bluetooth’ and ‘Manually’. Choose the latter option.
Is it possible to clear the Spotlight history on my iPhone as I want to delete old searches? Marion Fisher
Is there a decent spirit level app for my iPhone because I work in the building trade and am constantly misplacing my physical spirit level in times of need? Shaun Carter Your iPhone actually has a built-in spirit level app, although you would be forgiven for overlooking it as it is well hidden. Simply locate and launch your Compass app (which is usually tucked away in the ‘Extras’ folder) and then swipe to the left when the compass interface appears. You should now notice an unfamiliar ‘level’ interface. Remember, it flashes red for bad angles and green for good ones!
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1 Go to Settings
2 Turn it off
3 Relaunch it
Go to Settings>Siri & Search and you will see a couple of options called ‘Suggestions in Search’ and ‘Suggestions in Look Up’.
To remove your previous Spotlight search history you need to move the sliders next to both of these options to the ‘Off’ position.
If you only wanted to clear previous searches and don’t mind building up a new search history, simply turn the option back on.
A file association is the link between a particular filename extension, such as .rtfd and the application installed on the Mac, like Apple’s TextEdit.
Apple Expert
When I double-click on documents to open them on my Mac, is there any way that I can change the application that opens them? It is seldom the one that I want! Fiona Derbyshire
The one-stop column for Genius advice I accidentally closed some important Safari tabs on my iPad. Is there a way to retrieve them as I really can’t remember how to access some of them? Tap on the tabs button in Safari to display all currently open tabs and then long-press on the ‘+’ icon. A menu called ‘Recently Closed Tabs’ will then appear and you can select any that you accidentally closed to re-open them. I often keep far too many windows open on my Mac desktop. Is there a way to keep it relatively uncluttered while still having access to all of my numerous open windows? There is a very clever, very hidden tip for doing just that! If your desktop becomes horrendously congested with open windows, click on the ‘Windows’ option in the Finder menu bar and then you will see an option called ‘Merge Windows’. Select this and all of your open windows will be merged into one. You can still access the windows that you need from the one remaining open one simply by clicking on the tabs at the top of the window. It’s a great way to free up some muchneeded desktop space to continue working.
1 Show extensions
2 Open a file
3 Change default
Go to Finder>Preferences and then select the ‘Advanced’ tab and tick the ‘Show all filename extensions’ option.
Double-clicking a file in Finder will open it in an app, but which one? Ctrl-click the file and ‘Open With’ shows the default app.
If you always want to open a file with a specific app, Ctrl-click it, hold down Option (Alt) and select the new app to use.
4 A new default
5 Get the info
6 File association
This doc was set to always open in TextEdit when double-clicked but double-clicking any other file opens it in the default app.
Select a file and press Cmd+I to open the info window. Halfway down is ‘Open With’ – set to ‘TextEdit’ and click ‘Change All’.
To change a file back to opening with the default app, click the app, TextEdit, and select the default or alternative app.
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Reviews
You can connect any device to the e255 decoder thanks to a multitude of Optical and Auxiliary inputs‌
With a Dolby and DTS decoder, the e255 system will greatly enhance your Apple TV movie viewing experience
Edifier Luna e255 Theatre ÂŁ599/$999
The decoder also features touchsensitive buttons and an OLED display to put you firmly in control
Key features
Learn more
Available from
7IRELESS SURROUND SOUND s $OLBY $43 $OLBY 0RO ,OGIC ))
edifier.com
amazon.co.uk
We really liked the Luna Eclipse e25 speakers that we reviewed in issue 175 and were keen to see how well they scale up to a 5.1 surround sound system. Comprising of four speakers, a subwoofer and a decoder unit, the e255 Active Home Theatre speaker system sounds great, even without an HDMI port. The obscene curves in the design really turn this sound system into a feature. And while we appreciate that the design isn’t to everyone’s taste, we must applaud the fact that it is a largely wireless system that will slot effortlessly into your home entertainment setup – even if the subwoofer does look like Kenny from South Park! You can connect to the e255s via Bluetooth from your Mac or iOS device to stream music or, if you’re intend to plumb it into a home entertainment
setup then there are three Optical ports and an Auxiliary socket. Once set up the system purrs into life and the OLED display helps you adjust and fine-tune the various settings. When connected via Bluetooth the system ran faultlessly with no audible stutters at any point. Straight out of the box the powerful drivers deliver clear, crisp detail without you having to do much manual tinkering. However, if you are using the system mainly for Apple TV and streaming films and shows from Netflix then the overall quality of sound largely depends on how well the sound of the content has been balanced during production. While some shows sounded great, others stacked too much on the decoder speaker instead of fanning it out to the 2.1 channels. But generally, this is a great system at a very reasonable price.
Verdict A great all-round setup that massively enhances listening and visual entertainment. The e255s make familiar music sound new and exciting, and it will take your ďŹ lms and gaming to new levels of epicness.
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MW60 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones ÂŁ499/$549 Key features
Learn more
Available from
#USTOM MM .EODYMIUM DRIVERS s "LUETOOTH WITH !PTX
masterdynamic.co.uk
amazon.co.uk
We have tested a wide range of overear headphones in recent issues of iCreate, in all shapes, sizes and prices ranges, but the MW60s from Master & Dynamic trump pretty much everything – they’re seriously good. And as soon as you remove them from the packaging you can just smell the quality. Hand-assembled using the finest components, each set of MW60 headphones comprises of aluminium casings with stainless steel components. Heavy grain premium cowhide forms the exterior of the headband and earcup accents, while comfort is provided on the interiors with soft lambskin – they’re comfortable to wear with a tight seal around the cups that is very effective at blocking out exterior noise. They
also come with lots of extras, such as a 1.25m standard cable for ‘wired’ connections (complete with a 3.5/6.3mm gold plated adaptor), micro USB charging cable (of course), leather cable box, canvas cord case and a canvas headphone case. When you start listening to music you will be mightily impressed with what the 45mm Neodymium drivers can throw out. Connected via Bluetooth, we noticed no loss of signal or distortion, even up to about 50ft and the quality of sound was rich, warm and thunderous when ramped up. With a built-in noise-isolating microphone and a 16-hour battery life, the MW60s certainly satisfy all of the demands of the mobile music fan, all the while looking and sounding amazing.
Verdict A premium set of cans that deliver on all fronts. Made from the ďŹ nest components and comfortable to wear, these are without question the best-sounding wireless headphones we have experienced.
The right cup features simple volume and play/pause buttons to help you control your music on the move
This switch on the underside of the left cup enables you to turn the headphones on/off and pair them using Bluetooth 4.1
They come with lots of extras, including a 1.25m standard cable for connecting them in a ‘wired’ capacity
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Reviews
Orbitsound ONE P70W £399/$399 Key features
Learn more
Available from
!58 "LUETOOTH 7I &I CONNECTIVITY s AIR3/5.$ TECHNOLOGY
orbitsound.com
orbitsound.com
Generally speaking we’re not huge fans of soundbars. Big, bulky boxes that lack the myriad of placement options sported by more conventional speakers. We were keen to trial the P70W though – Orbitsound’s first attempt at adding Wi-Fi as a connectivity option. Sure enough, as well as connecting to your Mac or iOS device by the more old-fashioned means of the 3.5mm jack cable or Bluetooth, you can also download a free Orbitsound app for your iPhone or iPad that lets you connect to your P70W and stream your music around your home over Wi-Fi. Certainly, connecting to the P70W is quick and easy via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and what we were then soon to discover was that this soundbar sounds surprisingly good. While we understand
The unit itself is quite minimalistic with a small LED display on the front and a panel of buttons on the side…
A small box of accessories includes an optical cable for connecting the speaker to a source and a remote control
The unit itself can be positioned flat or vertically, and you can even twist the logo in accordance with the orientation
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that soundbars provide all-in-one solutions for a more clutter-free audio set-up, this usually comes at the price of being able to easily trace the sound back to the device, in the sense that they traditionally don’t do a good enough job of projecting the sound out to fill every ounce of room space. However, the P70W successfully negotiates this issue with airSOUND technology that pulses the sound out evenly around the room thanks to top and front 2-inch Orbitsound MK4 drivers and a low-profile 5.25-inch bass driver. The result is a very good depth and width to the sound that makes a mockery of the relatively cheap asking price. Orbitsound has definitely produced a soundbar worthy of turning any ears here. Great sound, great value.
Verdict A soundbar that is loaded with connectivity options that fills large expanses with a warm and crisp soundscape. Definitely worth considering at the unbelievably low price.
The monitor comes with a glareobscuring shading hood and easily clips onto the screen surround
BenQ SW2700PT Adobe RGB Monitor
All of the ports a photographer requires are situated on the side, including a USB3 hub and an SD card reader
£610/$599 Key features
Learn more
Available from
v7 X 1($ s !DOBE 2'" WITH )03 s 3HADING HOOD
benq.co.uk
amazon.co.uk
BenQ’s 27-inch Adobe RGB Colour Management Monitor is purpose-built for photography and is perfect for helping you get the most out of macOS High Sierra’s new photo-editing capabilities, and indeed the more specialist photography suites available for your Mac. This wide-gamut screen offers 99 per cent Adobe RGB colour, a high resolution 2560x1440 display, built-in hardware calibration and a black and white photo mode. It also comes with a detachable shading hood and a micro USB remote controller, which lets you effortlessly switch between your preferred colour modes. The colour modes consist of Standard, AdobeRGB, sRGB, B&W, Photo and Low Blue Light and you can set up your own custom calibrations. You can also connect various
graphics adaptors using the DisplayPort, DVIDL and HDMI inputs and there are two USB 3.0 sockets and an SD card reader on the side of the monitor for the easy transferral of images. The resolution of the SW2700PT provides plenty of onscreen workspace and the 178 degree viewing angles (both vertical and horizontal) maintain the colour and brightness no matter how wide you go. For video the blacks and contrast are very good and the screen updates quickly with no noticeable ghosting, making it well suited to gaming as well. Excellent value for money, you would certainly struggle to find another monitor that comes close to offering the same high standard of colour, contrast and saturation for the same price as the SW2700PT. Highly recommended.
The micro USB remote control allows you to quickly select your favourite colour modes…
Verdict A feature-packed and highly versatile monitor that provides a wide range of features and an extremely sharp and crisp display. Perfect for professional photographers and graphic artists.
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Reviews
A button on the underside of the right casing lets you pair devices and there are also 3.5mm AUX and micro USB ports
The ear pads are comfortable when worn but they do require plenty of adjustment, which can lead to issues…
Libratone Q Adapt Wireless Headphones £219/$249
The touch-controls, identifiable by the illuminated bird logo, provide plenty of functionality from your fingertips
Key features
Learn more
Available from
"LUETOOTH OR !58 s #ITY-IX !DJUSTABLE !.# s HOURS OF BATTERY
libratone.com
amazon.co.uk
Libratone’s Q Adapt on-ear headphones are the cleverest cans that we have experienced for some time. Touch-sensitive controls on the outside of the right case allow you to play and pause your music, activate Siri (if you are connected via Bluetooth and you hold anywhere for two seconds), adjust the volume (by sliding your finger around the outside) and instantly mute them to let in outside noise (by holding your hand over the controls). They will also automatically pause your music when you remove them from your ears. They’re clever bastards alright, but the responsiveness of the controls resulted in a few issues when we instinctively kept reaching up to adjust them only to keep pausing the music. Certainly, as a result, the first few hours were very stop/start until we got used to the control system.
These headphones also utilise something called CityMix. By pressing the function button on the underside of the right casing (which is also used for Bluetooth pairing), you can control the noise control level, choosing how much of the outside world you wish to let in or block out. There are two intensities of active noise cancellation (ANC) and the more intense setting did a good job of blocking out engine noises and the rattling of rails, but in quieter conditions we did detect an unwanted bit of hum. With a very good battery life of up to 20 hours (depending on the mode), the Q Adapt headphones are pretty good for long commutes and the freedom that you’re given to finetune them certainly provides plenty of initial entertainment. The sound isn’t brilliant though.
Verdict Packed with interesting features and an intuitive control system, the Q Adapt headphones are nevertheless let down by the sound that they produce. We have yet to be truly rocked by a set of on-ears…
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Reviews
Accessories Trendz Touch Screen Gloves £4.99/$5.99 prezzybox.com These gloves will help you dramatically reduce the risk of frostbite while idly prodding your iPhone screen on cold train platforms this winter. They provide a satisfyingly responsive touch action while keeping your fingers nice and toasty and come in a wide range of colours to help you stay accessorised. Unfortunately, they’re only available in a medium size, so huge-handed adults need not apply, but they’re certainly ideal for teens – especially at this cheap price point. A perfect stocking-filler.
Xqisit S30 Speaker £49.99/$59.99 xqisit.com At first glance, the S30 bluetooth speaker from Colognebased tech firm, Xqisit, resembles a stylish case for your glasses. But that at least should give you an idea of how compact and lightweight a unit it is – perfect for slipping into your bag or pocket. The S30 provides up to 15 hours of playback on a full charge and can also double up as a 2500mAh power bank. While it produces crisp, punchy sound at lower volumes, the twin 3W speakers start to sound very tinny if pushed too far.
92
Minim Wireless Earbuds
CFX iPhone Case
£89/$89 avancaproducts.com Winner of the prestigious Red Dot Design Award for 2017, Avanca’s stunning Minim Wireless Earbuds are equipped with Bluetooth 4.2, house superior speaker drivers and provide passive noise cancellation to enable a warm and immersive listening experience. They also come with an elegant slide-open aluminium case that allows you to stow the buds and charge them at the same time. Comfortable to wear with the added benefits of singletouch control to adjust volume and take calls, these are a highly recommended alternative to Apple’s Airpods.
£24.95/$39.95 elementcase.com Available for iPhone 7, 8, 7 Plus and 8 Plus, Element Case’s CFX offers solid protection for your device while resembling a Transformer that has been compacted in a crusher! Featuring MERC 3 technology that combines aerospace grade carbon fibre with rigid polycarbonate to create a reinforced chassis and offer plenty of impact dampening in the corners, the CFX is built for active individuals who want to marry style with piece-of-mind protection.
Booq Daypack £75/$75 booqbags.com Designed to safely house your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air up to 15.6” in size, the Daypack from Booq features a spacious, 19-litre interior and a very nice array of compartments for documents, stationery and other assorted tech. Contoured shoulder straps and a padded back panel provide comfort and the bag is finished off with an attractive twotone colour scheme and leather tags. It’s worth considering as a cheaper alternative to STM’s ‘Banks’ bag, but it doesn’t offer the same levels of innovation in all-round protection.
93
Reviews
Drag and drop You can drag any song from YOUR I4UNES LIBRARY INTO THE APP window to get started‌
Break it down 4HE APP DECONSTRUCTS SONGS AND PROVIDES ALL OF THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO PLAY ALONG SUPPOSEDLY
Capo 3 ÂŁ48.99/$48.99 Requirements
Note perfect? 3ADLY THE APP STRUGGLES TO PICK OUT THE RIGHT CHORDS FROM MORE COMPLEX PIECES OF MUSIC
“The app doesn’t always pick out the right chords and sometimes misses chord changes‌â€? 94
MAC/3 OR LATER s BIT PROCESSOR s -"
Learn more
Available from
supermegaultragroovy.com
Mac App Store
This curious app could revolutionise the way you learn to play an instrument or, at the very least, make it easier for you to pick apart and play specific songs. To get started, you simply click on File>New and a small Capo window will appear on your desktop. You can then drag any song from your iTunes library into this window and, after a few seconds, the contents of the song file will be deconstructed and laid bare along with all of the tools you could ever need to dissect and absorb the music. A spectrogram shows exactly what is going on throughout the song over the full frequency range and, rather impressively, the app also auto-detects the chords played in the song and presents them in tabs so you can instantly pick up your instrument and start playing along. The app lets you change the speed, slowing down a song’s tempo without changing the pitch, and loop sections so that you can play along and
practise them repeatedly. You can also extract or eliminate non-applicable instruments and vocals to isolate only the parts that you want to learn, add virtual capos and metronomes and share projects between your Mac and iOS devices with the Capo touch app (purchased separately). Capo 3 is certainly a useful tool for helping you deconstruct basic songs and learn specific parts, but it struggles when tested with more complex, densely-layered pieces of music. For example, the app doesn’t always pick out the right chords and sometimes misses chord changes altogether – which is understandable when there are a lot of instruments playing simultaneously, but such mistakes are not what you are paying 50 big ones for. Okay, the app does provide the facilities to manually correct any mistakes you encounter, but it all feels a little over-priced for the standard of technology on display.
Verdict Not quite the be all and end all of learning to play new songs, but deďŹ nitely a very good, if over-priced starting point.
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Reviews
Creature comforts 9OU CAN MANIPULATE THE OTHER CREATURES TO PERFORM TASKS BY STOMPING OR CHIRPING SWEETLY
Shed some light 4HE PUZZLES CAN BE FIENDISH AND REQUIRE A GREAT DEAL OF TRIAL AND ERROR TO SUCCESSFULLY OVERCOME
Toki Tori 2+ ÂŁ9.99/$9.99 Requirements
Big, bad, world 4HERE ARE NUMEROUS ZONES PACKED WITH CHALLENGING LEVELS TO PLUNDER and traverse‌
“You play as a plump little bird but, naturally, you cannot actually fly�
MAC/3 OR LATER s BIT PROCESSOR s -"
Learn more
Available from
twotribes.com
Mac App Store
This game is a great way to wind down your working day and chill out – you can even play it one-handed for maximum loafing factor. Unlike most games, you’re not told what to do or even what the controls are – you’re just dumped in a forest and must proceed on your merry way by interacting with the various creatures that you meet. You play as a plump little bird but, naturally, you cannot actually fly (that would kind of defeat the object of the entire game) and you can barely jump. But all is not lost. By doing pathetic little stomp or chirping actions you can either scare creatures away from you or attract them to you, transforming them into handy objects to help you scale the terrain. So, while you can easily hop up little steps, larger ones need logic to overcome, which is where the other woodland creatures come in. For example, you can manipulate hermit crabs to plug
gaps and sacrifice small bugs to frogs so that they belch out a bubble to entrap you and gently elevate you to previously inaccessible areas. You can even employ other birds to carry things for you as long as you keep them close by constantly chirp a-cheeping. Dotted throughout the levels are collectibles to pick up and you can also learn ‘Melodies’ to chirp (long-pressing Space for a longer note and tapping it for short notes) that enable you to use a camera to take images of the creatures and items of interest along the way (for an album that is accessible from the pause screen), view the world map, fast-travel, reveal the direction of unclaimed collectibles and restart the last checkpoint. Although it looks like it’s aimed at a younger audience, the sharp challenge of the puzzles means that anyone who enjoys problem solving will enjoy it. Cute, but mentally strenuous.
Verdict A massively challenging puzzle game coated in an adorable wrapper that everyone can traverse at their own chilled-out pace.
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