Macworld August 2019

There’s an old joke about a bad writer blaming his tools—a sad excuse that it was the typewriter and not poor writing skill that was to blame. When macOS Mojave was announced last year, featuring four apps that originated on iOS and had been moved to the Mac by something we now call Catalyst, many of us were quick to blame Catalyst for the strange design quirks of those apps, which seemed simplified in ways that were jarring. Recent statements by Apple software head Craig Federighi, including his interview with John Gruber during WWDC and a subsequent interview with Jason Hiner of CNet, make it worth revisiting that assumption. “When I read some of the initial reviews of those apps, people were saying, ‘Obviously this technology is causing them to do things that…

Apple has announced a recall for owners of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. If you bought such a laptop between September 2015 and February 2017, it could have a battery that is at risk of overheating. Apple will replace the battery in these laptops for free. To see if your laptop is part of the recall, click on the Apple menu and select About This Mac. In the overview section of the About This Mac window that appears, you should see the OS as the main header. Just underneath that is the listing for your Mac. If it says, “MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015),” take note of the serial number. Then go to Apple’s website and submit the serial number to see if your 15-inch MacBook Pro is part of the recall.…

Apple might have just updated its 13- and 15-inch laptops with better processors and a tweak to the much-maligned butterfly keyboard, but there might be a completely new model arriving later this year. Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to afford it. Echoing a previous report by Ming-Chi Kuo, IHS Markit analyst Jeff Lin says that Apple is planning to release a 16-inch MacBook Pro in September, marking the first new size for Apple’s flagship notebook since the 13-inch model was introduced in 2009. It would also represent the biggest MacBook since the 17-inch MacBook Pro was discontinued in 2012. Little is known about the new model, but Lin says it will be using a 3072 x 1920 LCD, higher than the 15-inch model’s 2,880 x 1,800 screen but not…

Being a big business is all about making choices. Even the most successful, most profitable company can’t pursue all possible avenues. Decisions have to be made, even if they mean ignoring a segment of the market that might address some consumers. Such is the reality with Apple. It can’t possibly make all of the products that its customers want—it just doesn’t have the time, money, or people. But some of the choices that Apple has made about products to not pursue have been surprising. Especially when it seems as though the market in question is desperately in need of a solution that would be right up Apple’s alley. Earlier this month, during the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, I noticed a few places where it seemed as though Apple…

Need to get your iPhone screen fixed (or your MacBook keyboard) but the nearest Apple store is over an hour away? Don’t fret. Apple announced a partnership with Best Buy to offer certified repairs at all of its nearly 1,000 locations in the U.S. According to the release, Best Buy’s Geek Squad has nearly 7,600 newly Apple-certified technicians that can make same-day iPhone repairs and service other products. Best Buy stores will use official Apple parts and their repair work will be backed by Apple. Apple has been under pressure to reduce backlogs, wait times, and crowding for repairs at its Apple Stores, and this should help a lot. According to Apple, this partnership means that there are now over 1,800 third-party Apple authorized service providers in the U.S.—three times as…

When I reviewed Picktorial 3.0, I noted how the software took a few unconventional approaches to photo editing and employed a clever way to save non-destructive edits. The new Picktorial 4.0 adds some new editing features, but mostly focuses on the organizing side of working with your library of images. AN EDITING ASSISTANT When you’re making adjustments to a photo—retouching in particular—you want to view the image at actual size to see how the edits are affecting the pixels. The new Assistant Viewer splits the editing area so you can view the full image in one pane while you’re applying corrections at 100 percent in the other pane. It’s a simple and effective alternative to zooming in and out repeatedly to see how the edits look. However, the panes are not…