iCreate

The big MacBook discount for students is all part of Apple’s Back to School promotion, which is available to higher education  students, their parents, faculty, staff and home-school teachers through the Apple Education Store. All you need to do is s

Sidecar is a very clever feature that leverages the iPad screen in a way that many have dreamed of ever since the iPad was launched. It doesn’t quite allow you to run macOS on your iPad, but it does let you use the iPad as a second display to show a

With Sidecar enabled you have the ability to use your Apple Pencil in apps such as Affinity Photo and Illustrator with no extra financial outlay at all. You will be creating on your iPad and the input will be instantly displayed on the macOS screen w

Safari has grown over time to be the default browser for many Mac users who would never consider looking at the competition. The improvements continue in Catalina with a redesigned start page that is much more than a mere grid of favourites that you

Voice Control was highlighted by Apple in the Catalina keynote and it not only showed Apple’s continuing commitment to accessibility, but that we have reached a whole new level which is especially beneficial in macOS. The sheer scope of the control t

Up until now Reminders has been a very basic app for quickly capturing things you need to do and overall it has done what it needs to effectively. It is very reliable and simple in its visual presentation, but it has been severely limited for anythin

The fact that Apple is already some distance ahead of rivals in terms of privacy and security is not stopping the company from doubling down on its efforts to make everything even more secure. In Catalina you have more integration with the T2 Securit

Once you’ve added a theme to your project you can pop up to Titles or Transitions. Here you’ll discover extra themed titles and transitions that you can add to the clips in the timeline. Click here to change the current theme of the project. By click

Choose File>New Event. Label it ‘Kaleidoscope Event’. Click ‘OK’. Choose File> Import Media. Browse to select our supplied start clips. Drag Mirror_source to the timeline. Choose Window>Show in Workspace> Effects or choose the Color & Effects worksp

You don’t have to have your media files within a Finder folder of course. If the files you wish to import into GarageBand are on your desktop instead, you can simply drag them in from here. Imported, prerecorded audio tracks show as brown regions. As

So to begin, you want a new or existing project open. You can choose to have audio or software instrument (MIDI) tracks created or GarageBand will add them automatically. Browse to your media files within Finder. In our example we have four of the l

For best results, images used as custom track icons should have a transparent background so the grey of the track header surrounds them. First, find your source image. We’re using a photo of a hardware device that we’ve taken specially for the job.

Open the Bookmarks Editor and then Ctrl+click Favourites to add new folders. These become dropdown menus in the Favourites bar and are a great way to organise the websites you often use. If you have bookmarked websites, click and drag them to the fol

If the Favourites bar is not at the top of the Safari window, go to the View menu and show it or press Shift+Cmd+B. Remember the shortcut and use it in full-screen mode. When you are browsing the web and find a page you want to save, instead of book

Choose what will trigger this rule by selecting something from this menu. The most useful are ‘is addressed to’, ‘is from’ and ‘has subject containing’. Use the first to apply the rule to all mail. Click ‘Add a Rule’ to create a rule to apply an acti

Open the Mail app and then select Preferences in the Mail menu. To automatically forward or redirect emails we need to create an automated rule. Click ‘Rules’, then ‘Add Rule’. Click in the Description box and then enter a name for the rule. An exam

Open the Applications folder and then run Automator. Click the button to create a new document when asked to select one and then choose ‘Application’ for the document type. Select ‘Library’ in the first column and type ‘new’ into the search box abov

Replace the Automator icon. Find an image, open it in Preview, select a 192x192 area and then copy it. Click the icon in the app info window and press Cmd+V to paste the image. Search the Automator library for ‘new’ and find several useful apps for c

Download EasyFind from devontechnologies.com/apps/freeware or the App Store. Everything you need is on this one screen. The search box is at the top. Before searching, choose where to search from the dropdown list on the right. By default, it search

Insert bookmarks and link to them using the Insert>Add Link menu. With page layout documents, like magazines and newsletters, you can link to other pages in the publication using the same menu. There are new templates waiting to be discovered and use

The app costs £9.99 which may seem a high price, but when you consider that it could potentially keep your Mac running for much longer it really is a small price to pay. Upon the first launch you will be asked if you want the app to open at login. W

Open a document in Pages and select a heading. Select the Style tab in the text format panel and choose one of the new fill options, like Gradient or Advanced Gradient. Click the colour chips at the ends of the colour bar to select the colours for t

iCloud Control (http://bit.ly/30zknHS) is not in the Mac App Store, so it must be downloaded and unzipped. Ctrl+click the app (the first time only) and then click ‘Open’. The app shows this help screen. Open System Preferences>Extensions and enable

The Accessibility section in your iPhone Settings app is a veritable treasure trove of cool features and functions for your device, but unless you had a specific need to browse and enable certain settings – such as a visual, hearing or physical impai

Apple recently updated the iWork suite of apps on the iPhone, iPad and Mac and there are some great new features. Here we take a look at our favourites in Numbers on the iPhone. Some features are common to all apps and they work in similar ways, so t

Apple has found the golden key to how a smartwatch should work and as such will naturally enhance watchOS very carefully each year. There is not much visual space to work within and of course power is limited given the diminutive size of any wrist-ba

What is the most effective and safest way to uninstall Mac software that I no longer use? Jag Singh Oh the irony! Go to freemacsoft.net and then download the free AppCleaner app. Launch it and the interface will consist of a small window into which

There is, although it isn’t done via an easy-to-access toolbar bar or anything like that. No, instead you must know the secret characters that you have to apply either side of the word you wish to format in order for the magic to happen, which we wil

Smart USB recording • Bluetooth • Integrated speaker • Free 7-inch scratch record reloop.com amazon.co.uk DURING VINYL’S FIRST coming, the concept of portability was as far fetched as, well, the idea of having your entire record collection stored

Bluetooth 4.0 (up to 30m) • NFC • Smart Link • 100 Watt output reloop.com amazon.co.uk SEEING AS HOW RELOOP is a brand associated with hefty PA and DJ monitoring speakers, we weren’t expecting its latest Groove Blaster portable speaker to be small

USB-C • 256-bit AES encryption • Integrated fingerprint scanner verbatim-europe.co.uk amazon.co.uk USING A COMBINATION of AES 256-bit hardware encryption and biometric technology, Verbatim’s Fingerprint Secure Portable 2TB Hard Drive takes informa

Motion detection • Two-way talk • Wi-Fi • MicroSD slot ezvizlife.com amazon.co.uk IF YOU WANT to add a little extra security to your home then EZVIZ’s new Wi-Fi Indoor Smart Home Security Camera is the perfect entry-level device to cast an eye ove

If you find that most portable chargers are too bulky and weighty to carry around with you then Mophie has shrunk its popular Powerstation range down to fit in the pocket. The Powerstation Mini is a 5,000mAh portable battery, adorned with stylish fab

macOS 10.9 or later • 64-bit processor • 128MB incredibox.com App Store IF YOU WANT to make music but lack the skill set or even the patience to master any particular sound app then Incredibox could be the answer – a completely bonkers beat-boxing

iOS 11.2 or later • 87.3MB pacemaker.net App Store REMIXING SONGS IS a lucrative business that can either be masterful or a piss-take. On the one hand it can enhance and mould a mainstream track for a more dance-orientated market; on the other it c

iOS 10.3 or later • 40.5MB App Store https://auxy.co PROVIDING A SIMPLE take on music making, Auxy lets you create beats and sonic compositions simply by placing sounds on a grid. You start off by tapping ‘New Project’ to access the onboard instrum