Table of contents for February 2012 in Macworld

When Apple announced its new iTunes Match service, I was skeptical. I had just been released from my annual $99 payment to Apple for MobileMe, thanks to iCloud. I wasn’t excited about a new annual subscription taking its place. I figured I’d pay $25 for iTunes Match just for the first year. I’d use the service once: to upgrade all my older music tracks to high-quality versions provided from Apple’s iTunes Plus library. (You can get details about how to do this—and a lot more about iTunes Match—in “iTunes Match: What You Need to Know,”Playlist, page 68.) I expected that once the upgrade was complete, I’d stop using iTunes Match and then never pay again. Perhaps Apple hadn’t made the details of iTunes Match clear enough. Perhaps I was too…

Thunderbolt is the new interface for connecting peripheral devices that Apple recently began including in all new Macs—including the MacBook Pros. It combines PCI Express and DisplayPort technologies to offer fast and versatile connectivity. In this quick guide, we take a look at the different ways you can connect devices to Thunderbolt. Where you place devices in a Thunderbolt daisy chain is important. Connect One Thunderbolt Device to a Mac The simplest connection involves attaching a Thunderbolt-equipped peripheral to a Mac’s Thunderbolt port using a Thunderbolt cable. When you buy a Thunderbolt peripheral, it may not include a Thunderbolt cable. Such cables cost $50 and are sold only by Apple. The company’s Thunderbolt Display has a nonremovable Thunderbolt cable (it also has a rear Thunderbolt port). Daisy-Chain Multiple Devices All…

Apple has a new Adapter Replacement Program in the United States, which will give users a replacement adapter, free of charge, if their current adapter displays signs of strain—that is, fraying near the MagSafe connector, or intermittent charging. The program applies to both out-of-warranty and in-warranty adapters. You can take your damaged adapter to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or an Apple Store for an evaluation and replacement. Apple does note that not all adapters are covered under its program: If, say, your adapter shows signs of accidental damage, you won’t be eligible. If you’ve purchased adapter replacements in the past, you may be eligible for the proposed class-action settlement. According to the MagSafe Power Adapter Litigation website (www.adaptersettlement.com), eligible users include those who purchased certain models of MacBook or…

Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 update, released in November, looked to stop the excessive battery drain that has been going on with devices running iOS 5. The results have been decidedly mixed. While some users have reported that their iOS devices aren’t as power hungry as before, even Apple acknowledges that it’s still trying to get a handle on iOS 5’s power demands. Not content to wait for Apple to finish that investigation? Check out these four areas, which could account for some of your power problems. Location Services Your iOS device can tell apps where you are, but that puts a burden on your battery. You can switch location services off entirely by going to Settings Location Services and flicking the Location Services switch to the Off position. But that’s an…

One of the most widely used cameras in the world isn’t a DSLR or even a point-and-shoot—it’s the one that comes built into your iOS device. Certainly, the main reason for that is convenience, but iOS photographers also have a number of great tools at their disposal, as evidenced by our favorite photo and video apps from the past year. When it comes to taking quality iPhone photos, there’s no bigger name than Camera*—and for good reason. Version 2.0 of the all-in-one tool made an already impressive app even better, with a significant speed boost, more photo effects, and a new design. What makes Camera+ so addictive are its simple and effective editing options. Users can immediately enhance their images by choosing photo scenes, such as Food or Portrait; cropping;…

The iPad has been making inroads in the classroom ever since its 2010 debut. If Apple’s tablet is going to continue on this course in education, it will be with apps like our two favorite educational offerings leading the way. Toontastic is a creative learning tool aimed at the younger set (ages 4 through 7 for some of the app’s categories, and 8 through 10 for others). It’s obvious when you launch Toontastic that kids will have fun with it for at least a moment. What’s not so obvious is how they can lose themselves completely in the app and their imaginations—and they’ll be eager to share their creations with you. The app playfully walks young animators through the process of creating full cartoon stories. They pick the setting, the…

Drop Ban on Mac ’Bootleggers,’ Analyst Advises Workers are spending their own money on Mac laptops to access their company’s resources, a Forrester Research survey reports. But 41 percent of those firms block all use of corporate resources from Macs, pro-hibiting the Mac users from retrieving email messages and barring connections to the corporate network. “That leaves a lot of employees to find their own ways to get around corporate prohibition,” Forrester researcher David Johnson said in his report, dubbing the strategy “bootlegging.” The problem, he said, is that enterprise IT responsibilities have shifted from assisting users to serving as the gatekeeper that governs and controls what tools employees work with and what they do with those tools. “End users don’t like that, and if IT doesn’t change, they’ll vote…

If you’ve signed up for iTunes Match, you can replace your old music files with shiny new 256-kbps AAC versions. First, create a smart playlist with the following rules: Bit Rate Is Less Than 256 Kbps, Media Kind Is Music, iCloud Status Is Matched, and iCloud Status Is Purchased. (To add that last conditional, you need to Option-click the plus-sign [+] button.) Now open the playlist, select all of its tracks, and then hold down the Option key while pressing Delete. If iTunes offers to move the files to the trash, allow it to, but do not select the box that would delete them from iCloud. Select all of those tracks again, control-click on the selection, and choose Download. iTunes begins the long process of redownloading all your files.…

A MATCH MADE IN ... I was wary of spending $25 for iTunes Match, but after just a few days it’s my new favorite feature—and totally worth the money. Playlist syncing pushed me over the edge: I hate creating a playlist on my computer and forgetting to sync it with my iPhone before I go out. Now, when I make changes to my music library, they’re seamlessly pushed everywhere. Another thing that really stands out for me is getting my music to my wife. I’m surprised and delighted with this service and the integration is great. Now I see that I will be paying for this feature for a very long time. massenkoff, via the Macworld.com forums I love that Match automatically syncs my starred songs. I gave a song…

Apple promised that iOS 5 would allow iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users to install iOS updates directly from their devices without having to visit iTunes. The iOS 5.0.1 update was our chance to see that promise in action. Here’s how it works. On your iOS device, launch Settings, tap General, and then tap Software Update. Your device displays details of an update, along with a Download And Install button. iOS then suggests that you plug your device in during the upgrade process to conserve battery charge, but that’s not a must unless your battery is less than half full. (With less than 50 percent power, you can download the update, but you have to plug in the device before you can install that update.) With the relatively small 5.0.1…

Rolling Stone Headed to iPad Wenner Media plans to release an iPad-optimized version of Rolling Stone, the music and pop culture magazine, by early 2012. The tablet version will augment articles from the print edition with song samples and interviews. Another app from Wenner, Rolling Stone’s Beatles Album-by-Album Guide (macworld.com/7579), hit the App Store in December; it’s designed for the iPad and features detailed articles and multimedia content focusing on the Beatles’ music. —JOEL MATHIS Livestand ’Digital Newsstand’ App Debuts It may have launched several months after its promised debut, but Yahoo’s Livestand (macworld.com/7554) has hit the App Store. The free app delivers articles, photos, videos, graphics, and ads from Yahoo sites and from third-party online publications in a format optimized for Apple’s tablet. Livestand can also tailor…

INKLING 2 Inkling shows what reading on the iPad should be like. Inkling licenses textbooks from traditional publishers, and then adapts the content for the iPad. But those adaptations aren’t just replicas of the print original. Rather, the texts are completely revamped to take advantage of what the tablet can do. Chapters are broken down into “cards,” which scroll continuously up and down the screen. Within those cards, interactive multimedia augments the static illustrations—you get full audio and video, but also animated diagrams and rotating wire frames that you can examine from every angle. Version 2.0, which came out in August 2011, adds social tools: You can now share notes and annotations with classmates and others using the same text. Inkling has adapted more than 50 undergraduate and graduate textbooks…

Each year as we hand out App Gems awards to the top iOS apps, a few familiar faces always seem to be among the contenders. They embody the best of what the iOS platform has to offer, and continually introduce enhancements that make them the class acts of the App Store. Our App Hall of Fame recognizes these apps for continually raising the bar. 1Password Pro (macworld.com/5943) works as well on the iPad and iPhone as it does on the Mac—which is to say superbly. You can keep your passwords and other sensitive information (credit card numbers, PINs, software key codes, and more) under 1Password Pro’s protection. Remember the password for 1Password Pro, and you can forget all others—and rest easy knowing that you’ve protected your most crucial data even…

Few App Store categories saw as much upheaval in the past year as news delivery apps did. Efforts by developers to create more-personalized apps or bring streaming video straight to your iOS device have led to the creation of a number of interesting news apps. Two in particular caught our eye. Many apps followed the lead of Hall of Fame app Flipboard to deliver news that reflects specific interests, whether it be from sources you follow or links your friends post on social networks. Our favorite in 2011 was Zite, which surveys your Facebook and Twitter feeds to pull together stories on topics the app thinks will interest you. Zite stands out from the news aggregator crowd, thanks to its elegant interface. It also learns your preferences from the stories…

HARDWARE Amazon Kindle Fire Despite its slick veneer and unparalleled shopping integration, the Kindle Fire fails to impress as either a tablet or an e-reader. The Kindle Fire is best considered a relatively inexpensive, hassle-free, but flawed way to consume books, music, and videos purchased through Amazon. As a tablet, though, the Fire can’t hold a candle to the best ones available today: It has subpar specs, a limited interface, and a surprisingly messy app store. Clearly, Amazon had to make several trade-offs to achieve the Kindle Fire’s $200 price. It’s easy to dismiss some of its weaknesses as necessary compromises for the low price point. But if you’re looking for something that’s similar to the Apple iPad 2, the Fire will disappoint you. ; $199; Amazon, amazon.com B&W…

HARDWARE Apogee Jam When Apple announced GarageBand for iPad back in March 2011, the company showcased the $99 Apogee Jam as a way to connect your electric guitar or bass to your iPad or iPhone. Sure, other companies were already making guitar interfaces for iOS devices (like IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube iRig), but the Apogee Jam was the first product to support the iPhone 4 and use the dock connector instead of the headphone jack. The dock connector provides a higher-quality connection with less cross talk than the headphone jack. A little bigger than a lighter, the Apogee Jam has a clean and simple design, and a 1/4-inch input on the bottom lets you connect your electric guitar or bass using a standard instrument cable. With its ability to plug…

AT&T Mystery Data Usage A friend told me that his iPhone had mysteriously racked up over 200MB of data in just a matter of days and he was being charged at the overage rate. Upon investigation, he found that the heavy data usage appeared to happen mainly at night, at a time when both he and his iPhone were asleep! He eventually switched off the Cellular Data option on his iPhone, and that prevented further excessive usage. (On your phone, go to Settings ▸ General ▸ Network, and turn off Cellular Data.) But I dug deeper and learned this: While AT&T’s billing may cite the usage as having occurred in the early morning hours, this is most likely not when it actually happened, as billing may account for data transmitted…

REVIEW The new MacBook Pros have fairly modest improvements when compared to the models they replace, but there’s still plenty to like about the upgrades. The $1199 entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.4GHz dual-core Core i5 chip, which is a slight bump over the 2.3GHz dual-core Core i5 processor in its predecessor. The $1199 model also now has a 500GB hard drive, an increase over the 320GB hard drive in the older model. The $1499 13-inch MacBook Pro now sports a 2.8GHz dual-core Core i7 processor and a 750GB hard drive; the previous model had a 2.7GHz dual-core Core i7 processor and a 500GB hard drive. The 13-inch models use the same Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics as the previous 13-inch MacBook Pros. The 15-inch models were updated…

AUTOMATIC UNMOUNTER: Jettison 1.1 ; $2; ST. CLAIR SOFTWARE, STCLAIRSOFT.COM One hassle of using a laptop is that before you pack up and go, you must unmount all your external volumes. With Jettison running, you just close your MacBook’s lid (or, on any Mac, otherwise put the computer to sleep). Jettison delays sleep long enough to allow it to safely unmount external volumes (USB, FireWire, and Thunderbolt hard drives; thumb drives; and network shares); then it plays a confirmation sound of your choosing and puts the computer to sleep. Once you hear that sound, it’s safe to unplug and go. If a Time Machine backup is running, Jettison gracefully stops the backup before ejecting your Time Machine backup volume. If for some reason Jettison can’t unmount a volume—for example, because…

Apple famously turned its back on supporting the mobile version of Adobe’s Flash technology on its iOS devices. Now Adobe is following suit—the company announced that it’s no longer developing Flash for mobile platforms. “Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores,” wrote Danny Winokur, Adobe’s vice president and general manager of interactive development, in a November blog post (which you can read at macworld.com/7556). Instead of working on Flash for mobile platforms, Winokur says, Adobe will focus on improving its HTML 5 tools and letting developers write mobile apps using Adobe’s cross-platform AIR runtime component. And, of course, Adobe plans to continue developing Flash on the desktop, where it…

HARDWARE Amphipod Beltpod SmartView The water-resistant Beltpod Smartview keeps your iPhone or iPod touch safe from sweat and light rain. The case features a pouch with a cushioned back and a clip that latches onto the waistband of your shorts or sweats. A thick, clear plastic front lets you access your iPhone’s screen without having to remove it from the pouch. There’s no built-in headphone connector, so you can’t zip the pouch entirely shut, but your device should be mostly safe from the elements. ; $22; Amphipod, amphipod.com Incase Origami Sleeve There’s nothing complex about the folds of the Origami Sleeve. Available in either black or fuchsia, the Sleeve provides a snug fit for both iPad models, but it also doubles as a viewing stand, with folding tabs that adjust…

Our three favorite music apps have something in common besides offering great ways to make music on the go. This trio appeals to all iOS device owners, from experienced musicians to someone who’s hardly ever picked up an instrument. Learning how to play a song without the benefit of sheet music can be hard, but the flawless execution and gorgeous interface of Capo make the task go more smoothly. The app lets you play any DRM-free song stored on your iPhone or iPad. From there, you can slow it down, adjust the pitch, or add markers and loop points to help you master the particulars of playing back a song. The App Store features a lot of terrific virtual synthesizers. Trouble is, most require that you know how to operate…

HARDWARE ioSafe Rugged Portable SSD 120GB If you work on an oil rig or at heights that rival Mount Everest—or even if you don’t do either of those things—ioSafe’s Rugged Portable SSD promises to protect your data in extreme situations. According to the company, the drive can absorb up to 2500 pounds of pressure and survive a 20-foot drop. It can stay submerged in 10 feet of salt water or freshwater for three days, or in a foot of various oils, such as diesel, for up to an hour. The Rugged Portable is made of aluminum and shaped like an oversized iPod. It’s fast (it broke two Macworld Lab records) and light (only 1.15 pounds), it comes with an extensive warranty (including data recovery services from DriveSavers), and it’s a…

For now, iTunes Match only works with iTunes libraries that have 25,000 or fewer tracks (not including those you’ve purchased from the iTunes Store). There is a way around this size limit: Use a different library. To do so, quit iTunes, hold down the Option key, and relaunch the app. Choose the option to create a new library. When iTunes opens, choose Turn On iTunes Match from the Store menu. Enter your Apple ID and password, and click OK. Now open iTunes’ preferences, click the Advanced preference, uncheck the Copy Files To iTunes Media Folder When Adding To Library option, and click OK. Next, select File ▸ Add To Library and browse for tracks that you want added to iTunes Match. When you’re finished, choose Store ▸ Update iTunes Match.…

XtremeMac Tango Bar Upgrading an aluminum iMac’s speakers, or looking for speakers to match your Cinema Display? XtremeMac’s $100 Tango Bar could be what you want. This compact sound bar slips underneath your display and uses a single USB cable to get both power and audio. (You can also power the Tango Bar from an AC adapter, and then connect it to an iPhone, iPad, or other audio source via its line-in jack.) The company claims that the Tango Bar can deliver twice the audio output of most USB speakers, using six drivers that produce impressive range despite the compact design. You also get a headphone jack, as well as a subwoofer output port to connect an external powered subwoofer. An amber-backlit volume knob on the end completes the package…

Apple: TV or Not TV? I’m writing this during the most depressing time of year for any tech pundit: after Apple’s autumn iOS event but before the new-product drought breaks in January. Fortunately, we have rumors about an Apple-branded HDTV to mull over. Those rumors have been floating around for years, but they got kicked into the bigs with the publication of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. The late Apple CEO is quoted therein talking about an integrated television set: “It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.” The rest of Isaacson’s book makes it pretty clear that when Steve said he had come up with an idea, it usually meant, “Lots of engineers have been working on lots of ideas, but I…