Review roundup: All the Mac apps in GemFest 2014
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Author: Macworld Staff
Our favorite iOS Apps, September edition
As we do every month, Macworld staffers got together to chat about the best apps they’ve been using recently. Here are some that have recently captured our imaginations (and perhaps a spot on our homescreens), whether they’re tiny apps from budding developers or the top-grossing apps that everyone is using. Our hope is that, while you might recognize some of these apps, others you might never have encountered. All of them, we think, are worth a look.
Chris Breen: Lords of the Waterdeep
After a long break from gaming, I’ve rekindled my interest not only in computer and console gaming, but board games as well. In particular I’ve been looking at strategy games. These tend to be complicated and invariably include dense manuals. I learn better by doing and so I use the iOS equivalents of some of these games to show me how the game is played.
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Everything you ever needed to know about the Terminal
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Automate your Mac: 10 ways to speed up iTunes, Safari, and more
Insert passwords
Tool: Keyboard Maestro
Apple has (wisely) made it impossible to auto-expand text in certain secure fields—password fields, for example. That makes it hard to use standard keyboard expansion utilities (including Apple’s own) to fill in password fields. However, Keyboard Maestro is happy to paste templated text into such fields with the press of a keyboard shortcut. So that’s the tool I use when working with convoluted passwords and inflexible fields. I would definitely not implement this on a shared Mac where I wanted to keep my passwords private, however.—Christopher Breen
Lock your Mac when you leave
Tools: AppleScript, Dropbox, Hazel, IFTTT
I have a job that’s somewhat security-sensitive, so I make a point to lock my Mac’s screen whenever I step away. As a backup, I have a screensaver set to activate after 10 minutes which requires a password to deactivate. Occasionally I forget to lock my Mac before I leave the office. But using my iPhone in concert with IFTTT, Hazel and Dropbox, I can automatically trigger the screensaver to activate and lock the screen whenever I leave the immediate area, even before that 10 minutes is up.
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Why Apple’s mobile-payments system might actually work
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Our favorite iOS Apps, August edition
As we do every month, Macworld staffers got together to chat about the best apps they’ve been using recently. Here are some that have recently captured our imaginations (and perhaps a spot on our homescreens), whether they’re tiny apps from budding developers or the top-grossing apps that everyone is using. Our hope is that, while you might recognize some of these apps, others you might never have encountered. All of them, we think, are worth a look.
Serenity Caldwell: Fly
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Use Shazam for Mac to recognize background music from TV shows
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BrandPost: Staying in touch: great ways to save, manage, and recover your iPhone contacts
The Rolodex was put out to pasture years ago. Today, most address books and contact lists live on smartphones. While your iPhone makes for an incredibly convenient way to keep the names, addresses, and phone numbers of everyone you’ve ever met ready at a moment’s notice, it isn’t always easy to make sure everything’s up to date. People move. Email addresses change. How do you ensure your contact list has the latest information? Relying on one device to maintain your contact list also puts that data at significant risk. What happens if your phone gets lost or is stolen?
Don’t let your iPhone’s address book be a passive document, and don’t limit your potential (or leave your data at risk) by using it as your sole resource for staying in touch. Turbocharge it with these essential apps.
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The dream of open, shared Wi-Fi is alive at Recode
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Apple’s multi-terabit, $100M CDN is live–with paid connection to Comcast
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Do the math: Figuring out what Apple’s really worth
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iOS 8 FAQ: What we know so far about Apple’s next-generation mobile OS
Given iOS 7’s major visual overhaul last year, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Apple decided to take a step back and focus on small under-the-hood improvements in iOS 8. But that didn’t happen: iOS 8 looks like it’ll be every bit the game-changer that its predecessor was.
But this time, the focus is on system features and app improvements more than visual tweaks. In particular, the impending update will see a seismic foundational shift in the way apps communicate with each other, opening the door to a richer, more colorful experience for all Apple’s mobile users.
Make no mistake: There’s a lot of new stuff in iOS 8. Here’s what we know about it so far.
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Apple to live stream WWDC keynote
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Four myths about Apple design debunked
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Apple’s iMessage issue goes from bad to worse with server glitch
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