MacworldDecember 2021的目錄

The other shoe has finally dropped. A year after the release of the first M1 Macs ushered in the Apple silicon era for the Mac, Apple has addressed how it plans to serve the needs of users for whom iPad-level performance, impressive though it might be, just isn’t enough. With the October announcement of the M1 Pro and M1 Max, Apple has connected the dots and revealed two new chips that propel the MacBook Pro to new heights. Two connected dots make a straight line–and that line points to the future of the Mac. Here’s a look at what might be coming next. PUSHING THE PRO It seems obvious that the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips are destined for computers beyond the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Even though they’ve…

Some file optimization and application removal programs on the Mac reach for the stars, trying to perform every possible task of optimization, file cleanup, operating system customization, and malware removal the developers can think of as part of an overarching package. Other apps have been more streamlined, seeking to perform fewer functions and executing them well. DaisyDisk, the brainchild of developers Taras Brizitsky (who programmed the original idea, interaction, and graphic design) and Oleg Krupnov (who now handles the code and technical support), as well as a large group of translators and contributors, belongs to the latter group. The application (version 4.20.3 reviewed here) focuses on locating file clusters, groups them by size, and offers a quick and easy means of dragging them to a delete icon and getting rid…

Every time Apple drops a major new operating system update—whether it’s for macOS or iOS—there’s the question of whether you should upgrade right away or wait for things to shake out a bit. Certainly, there’s a case to be made either way and there are plenty of variables at play. What are your needs? How willing are you to live with a few problems? How stable are the latest beta releases? What features are you going to gain? Over the last several years, the latest version of iOS has been released at any time in the days following a September event—everything from the day after (in 2020) to nine days later (in 2019). Now that iOS 15 has launched (as of September 20), the question is once again: Should you…

Just hours after Apple unveiled the new MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro and M1 Max processors at its “Unleashed” event in October, it was Google’s turn to grab the spotlight with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. And while the October events brought very different products, Google’s strategy with its newest phones seemed awfully familiar. It’s not like anyone will mistake the new Pixel for an iPhone. After looking like a cheap iPhone knockoff for years, Google finally broke out with a unique design that actually looks pretty good. The marquee feature is the camera bar, a bulbous strip across the back of the phone that houses a row of cameras. It’s a nice departure from the square array used by the iPhone and previous Pixel and Galaxy phones…

If not for the arrangement of the cameras, the iPhone 13 would be nearly impossible to distinguish from the iPhone 12. There are other subtle differences—it’s a hair thicker, the volume and side buttons are lower, the notch is smaller, and the colors are a bit more subdued—but the main differentiator is the diagonal placement of the rear camera lenses. Like everything about the iPhone 13, that subtle change is more meaningful than it seems. You get the same wide and ultra-wide camera system as on the iPhone 12, but the diagonal placement is necessary to accommodate an advanced camera system. It’s a classic Apple upgrade—seemingly superfluous on the outside but hiding much bigger things on the inside. The iPhone 13 will garner its share of annual buyers, but it…

We live in a world where data about what you do is very valuable, and people who want this data constantly look for ways to collect it. Your email is one such resource, and it’s possible your emails are embedded with an image that’s practically invisible and can be used to track you. This can be a message sent from a massive company, a tiny firm using a mailing list service to manage its transmissions, or an individual using mail software designed to embed a tracking email. Tracking pixels embedded in emails allow a sender to know whenever the message is opened and track each date and time, and will alert them if the email was forwarded. The BBC reports that most emails now contain such trackers. Apple offers only…

On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was venturing into the field of music and unveiled the very first iPod in a small room. Although the reaction from the crowd was positive, there was a whole lot less fanfare than today’s release events have. “Why music?” Jobs asked in his introduction on that day. “Well, we love music, and it’s always good to do something you love. More importantly, music is a part of everyone’s life. Everyone! Music’s been around forever; it will always be around. This is not a speculative market.” Twenty years on, Apple’s pocket digital music and media player has evolved through multiple generations, designs, functions, and styles, such as the Mini, Nano, Shuffle, and Touch models, and has inspired some of Apple’s greatest products,…

The Drop + THX Panda headphones are top-tier in overall sound, but distinguish themselves from the pack with absolutely the cleanest sub-bass reproduction I’ve heard. I’m talking about the frequencies below 60Hz that emanate from the 18-inch woofer in the trunk, the rumble of earthquakes in a movie theater, and so on. They’re pricey at $399, and I didn’t find them to be the most comfortable to wear with a short haircut, but that sub-bass is a real wow factor. DESIGN AND FEATURES The basic black-on-black Drop + THX Panda feature 55mm planar ribbon drivers. This is my first dance with this technology, and it works quite well. Fellow reviewer Theo Nicolakis was equally impressed when he reviewed Oppo’s planar ribbon implementation in the since-discontinued Oppo PM-2, which were even…

Now that Apple’s Mac event has come and gone, we’ve probably seen the last of Apple’s 2021 releases. It’s been a great year, with a redesigned iMac, iPad mini, and MacBook Pro, the launch of AirTag, and a bunch of impressive updates. But 2022 could be even better, with several rumored products ready to launch. Here’s what we’re expecting in the new year. RELEASED IN 2021 > AirTag > Apple TV 4K > iPad Pro (11-inch/12.9-inch) > 24-inch iMac > iPad (ninth-gen) > iPad mini > Apple Watch Series 7 > iPhone 13/iPhone 13 Pro > AirPods (3rd-gen) > MacBook Pro JANUARY–MARCH 2022 Mac mini Like the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the Mac mini was one of the first Macs to get an M1 processor in late 2020, but there’s still…

The ZMI PowerPack No. 20 (Model QB826G) is the closest thing I’ve seen in many years to the kind of outboard laptop battery popular in the days when batteries burned through stored energy as quickly as sparklers. The PowerPack No. 20’s prosaic name hides its massive output: up to 210 watts across three output ports simultaneously! The name also undersells this sleek, surprisingly dense gray and black lithium-ion power pack, which has ports just on one end to access the 90 watt-hour (Wh)/25,000 milliampere-hour (mAh) battery. That’s about 50 percent more than an M1 MacBook Pro’s battery. (ZMI lists 3.63 volts and 90Wh; the MacBook Pro has a spec of 58.2Wh, and we can back out from the battery’s known mAh to get 11.3V as its discharge rate.) You’ll pay…

Another year, another new version of iOS. Some of the big new features in iOS 15, released on September 20, will totally change the way you use your iPhone. But like all new iOS releases, iOS 15 also comes with a bunch of tiny changes—little hidden features and tweaks that you won’t even notice if you don’t know where to look. Sometimes it’s those little changes that make all the difference. Once discovered, you’ll wonder how you got along without them! Here are ten of our favorite little, hidden, you-might-miss-them features of iOS 15. 1. TRANSLATE ANYWHERE With iOS 15, you can translate text just about anywhere, in almost any app where you can select text. Just tap and hold on a block of text to show the text selection…

Let’s go back to the fall of 2020. Remember that thundering boom that shook up the tech industry? That was Apple’s M1 making its debut. It exploded on the scene and amazed the Mac and PC world with its astounding performance. After the M1’s debut, the question was, how can Apple follow up such a successful launch? A year later, Apple has delivered another thundering boom that is shaking up the tech industry, this one possibly even bigger. This time it’s two systems on chips, the M1 Pro and M1 Max, and they blow away the M1. After spending some time with the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro, it’s clear that Apple is on a roll with its silicon. The M1 Pro is simply an incredible chip. If…

Wirelessly connected peripherals are a boon to the modern office, particularly when we’re working at home, and not dealing with cables helps with sanity and organization. Battery-powered mice, trackpads, and keyboards can function for several weeks to many months on a single full charge over USB or with rechargeable batteries. But Apple doesn’t display this charge in an obvious place as it does with a laptop’s battery level, since you don’t need to be quite as worried as you do about having your mobile computer suddenly run out of juice. You can find the current charge of most peripherals in one or more places when a wireless device is turned on and awake. On some equipment, that means moving your finger on it, moving it around, or tapping a key.…

Email may seem quaint to some people, but billions upon billions of messages are sent that way every day. (Some of them we even want to receive!) Apple’s iCloud service includes an email address and the ability to send and receive email. But you may occasionally be stymied when you’re sending a message and you don’t get enough detail in an error message to know why iCloud rejected it. Here are the most common reasons: Invalid iCloud address: Apple can’t check whether an email address is legitimate at other domains, but if you try to send email to someone with an address that ends with icloud.com, mac.com, or me.com, and that address doesn’t exist, your email app and iCloud.com will refuse to send it. Your app may not tell you…

Apple has announced three new colors for its HomePod mini smart speaker: blue, yellow, and orange. The new colors are available immediately, and join the existing white and space gray for a total of five different color options. But the arrival of new HomePod mini colors isn’t the only audio announcement Apple made in its “Unleashed” event on October 18. There’s also a brand-new Apple Music tier that’s half the price of the individual plan. THE $5 APPLE MUSIC VOICE PLAN Apple Music has always distinguished itself from other music services, particularly its rival Spotify, by not offering a free ad-supported tier. You have to pay at least $9.99 a month for an individual plan or $14.99 per month for a family plan, or subscribe through the Apple One services bundle.…

HOW TO DISABLE THE CAMERA SHUTTER SOUND ON AN iPHONE OR iPAD Apple tries to simulate the experience of a snapshot camera when you take a picture in the Photos app on an iPhone or iPad by issuing a little click sound. Many of us prefer to avoid that sound. Remarkably, there’s no click on/off switch in the Camera settings! You have three alternatives: Enable Live Photo: If you’re hearing a click, you don’t have this feature turned on, which retains some still images from before and after the point at which you take a pictures, providing some animation—and audio. If the click were on, it would be captured in a Live Photo. You can have Live Photo always on when you launch the Camera by enabling Settings → Camera…

The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are incredible machines that anyone would love to have. But with a starting price of $1,999, they’re not exactly affordable. However, Apple has a new model in the works that is rumored to bring all of the style of the MacBook Pro without the eye-watering price tag. A new rumor by Dylan (@dylandkt), who accurately forecast the 24-inch iMac and details of the new MacBook Pro, describes the upcoming MacBook Air redesign. Here’s what he predicts: > It will be thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro. > No tapered design or fans. > Color options similar to 24-inch iMac’s. > Off-white keyboard and bezels. > Mini-LED likely, but no ProMotion. > MagSafe and Thunderbolt (USB-C), but no SDXC slot or HDMI. > 1080p…

BOWERS & WILKINS ZEPPELIN Bowers & Wilkins turned heads when it brought the highly unconventional Zeppelin to market 15 years ago. The speaker’s shape is no gimmick, but B&W’s engineers have gone back to the drawing board to reimagine the Zeppelin for today’s streaming age. It supports AirPlay 2 and several music-streaming services, and you can also stream music directly from your phone via Bluetooth. An onboard microphone array will support Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant, but the company says it has no plans to also support Google Assistant.—MICHAEL BROWN BEYERDYNAMIC DT 700 PRO X The Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X headphones are aimed at content creators: folks working on the production of music, podcasts, and similar pursuits in home studios and on the road. They’re also for folks who…

Last year, the iPhone 12 Pro Max was more than just a larger version of the iPhone 12 Pro. Apple gave it a slightly different camera system, which meant if you wanted the best iPhone you also had to get the biggest iPhone. With the iPhone 13 Pro Max, things are back the way they should be. This phone is identical in features and performance to the iPhone 13 Pro; it’s just bigger. Bigger means heavier (naturally) and gives Apple room for an even larger battery. That larger battery, together with the other power efficiency improvements in the iPhone 13 Pro, make the Max the new battery life champ. It lasts much longer than the already impressive iPhone 12 Pro Max. As the iPhone 13 Pro Max is identical to…

Apple’s latest Mac operating system is macOS 12 Monterey, the first major update to macOS since the big shift in macOS 11 Big Sur. There are a bunch of new features and we’ll cover everything you need to know about the update: the top features, system requirements, availability, and more. Let’s start with the key features. UNIVERSAL CONTROL macOS Monterey launched on October 25 without one of its most interesting new additions, Universal Control. Apple says that feature will be coming later this fall in a Monterey update. Here’s a preview of what Universal Control will do for you. Apple users often switch between devices, and with Universal Control, you can use a single mouse and keyboard between your Mac and iPad. If you’re using a MacBook, you can use…

Bluetooth can be a useful technology for short-range connections, aka personal area networks. We use Bluetooth for fitness bands, earbuds and headphones, hotspot tethering, and input peripherals. But sometimes your Mac seems to get the wrong idea about one or more devices. Even after unpairing and repairing a device, you can’t make a connection. Or, even worse, macOS won’t let you remove a paired device from the Bluetooth preference pane. Apple keeps the Bluetooth reset options hidden in the Bluetooth menu. Here’s where to find them: > In any version of macOS, hold down Shift and Option and click the Bluetooth menu in the menu bar. (If that menu doesn’t appear, open the Bluetooth preference pane and check “Show Bluetooth in menu bar.”) > In Big Sur or later, click…

The beginning of Apple’s turnaround has been pegged to a lot of dates: when Steve Jobs returned to the company as part of its acquisition of NeXT in 1997, the debut of the original iMac in 1998, even the release of Mac OS X in 2001. But if you’re looking for the date that Apple truly charted its course for the market-dominating position it finds itself in today, you’ll have to go to October 23, 2001, on the calendar—just about 20 years ago. That was the day when Apple took the wraps off a most unexpected product, one that would go on to change everything for the company: the original iPod. IT’S ABOUT THE MUSIC I remember vividly where I was at the time of the original iPod’s announcement. Roughly…

Over the last two years, Apple has gone from selling one AirPods model to selling four. You can currently buy three different earbuds—the 2nd-gen AirPods, 3rd-gen AirPods, and AirPods Pro—or the AirPods Max over-the-ear headphones. Let’s set that last option aside for a moment. If you’re willing to spend $500 or more on a pair of cans, you’re making a whole different buying decision than if you want true wireless earbuds. AIRPODS SPECS COMPARED Here’s how the AirPods compare. But that still leaves three relatively similar-seeming earbuds to choose from. So which is right for you? FEATURES AT A GLANCE Maybe the best way to make a buying decision is to see how the three current AirPods stack up side by side (see above). DESIGN The most obvious difference between…