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The truism that good things come in small packages reigns supreme in the case of the Envoy Pro Elektron. It’s small and it’s good–by good I mean it’s rugged, fits easily in a shirt pocket, and delivers 1GBps reads and writes over SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps. (If you’re not up to speed to the latest USB naming conventions, that’s USB 3.X Gen 2.) DESIGN AND SPECS The Envoy Pro Elektron is a small, silvery rectangle measuring 2 inches wide (the site says 2.1), by 3 inches long, by 0.5 inches thick. The bottom is heavily beveled on three sides with two rubberized strips inlaid crosswise to keep it from sliding about. The strips are surprisingly effective. On one end is the Type-C port, which is labeled USB 3.2 10Gbps so you don’t confuse it…

Apple has unveiled 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 before it arrives in the fall: the top features, system requirements, availability, and more. Let’s start with the key features. UNIVERSAL CONTROL Apple users often switch between devices, and with Universal Control, you can now use a single mouse and keyboard between your Mac and iPad. If you’re using a MacBook, you can use its keyboard and trackpad with the iPad. You can even drag and drop files between devices and perform gestures on the MacBook trackpad to navigate the iPad. Additionally, Universal Control can do something that Apple’s Craig Federighi said would appeal…

Over the years, I’ve used iPhones of all sizes. My first smartphone was the original 3.5-inch iPhone, and I’ve carried every size screen at some point—the 4-inch iPhone 5s, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s, the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus, the 5.8-inch iPhone X, the 6.1-inch iPhone 11, and most recently, the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini. So when the iPhone 13 launched, I naturally ordered the one missing from that list: the 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max. That’s a full 1.3 inches bigger than the iPhone 12 mini I’ve been using for the past 11 months, so it definitely took some getting used to. But along with the size and the weight—both not insignificant hurdles to overcome—I’ve learned some surprising things about the differences between Apple’s smallest and biggest iPhones. PHONES REALLY CAN LAST…

Paradise is a word used promiscuously by travel magazines, but this may well be it. There’s an azure sky, tufty clouds, and fields of wild flowers stretch into the distance to complete the masterpiece. More importantly, though, the scenic vista is dissected by smooth asphalt, a series of long straights connected via flowing corners. Perfect. Then our featured cars hove into view, though their V12 powerhouses have already trumpeted their arrival. Not that they’re anti-socially loud; no, here we have the muted bark of a chain-driven Italian V12 of the old school, tickled along rather than redlined, overlaid with the voice of another. It’s the sort of noise that echoes a vanished time, of beautiful people heading to beautiful locales in their beautiful Italian GT cars. Make no mistake, the Ferrari 365…

If you have a family of three or more where everyone has their own iPhone, Apple Watch, and maybe a pair of AirPods or two in there, you probably have a pretty messy countertop or table somewhere in a common area, with tangled snakes of charging cables and lots of plugs occupied by power adapters. Multidevice wireless chargers can help reduce this mess, but they don’t necessarily conform to your family’s needs. RapidX has a nice solution in its Modula5 wireless charging system. It’s a flexible set of charging “pods” that magnetically snap together on either side. The company makes a phone-charging pod (that works for AirPods with wireless charging cases) and an Apple Watch pod, so you just mix and match what you need for your family’s device makeup. SNAP IT…

NIKON Z 9 REVEALED Nikon officially unveiled the Z 9, a new full-frame flagship for its mirrorless Z system. The Nikon Z 9 doesn’t disappoint in terms of specs and offers clear advantages for pros and serious photographers over the Z 7II, the company’s previous top performance full-frame model. Built upon a new Nikon-designed and -developed 45.7-megapixel stacked CMOS sensor and a new EXPEED 7 processor, the Nikon Z 9 can capture RAW format images at the full resolution of the camera at up to 20 fps with a buffer of 1,000 frames in a burst. For even faster shooting rates, you can opt for full-resolution JPEGs at up to 30 fps or 11-megapixel JPEGs at a blistering 120 fps with continuous AF/AE. The camera completely omits a mechanical shutter, but…

The last time Amazon updated the Kindle Paperwhite, the changes were dramatic. Our review of the fourth-generation model called them a “raft of innovations,” with waterproofing and twice the amount of storage among the more standout upgrades. The enhancements in the new fifth-generation Kindle Paperwhite are less revolutionary. Outside of the larger 6.8-inch screen, they’re refinements—ones that make the digital reading experience more comfortable…and expensive. SPECS, FEATURES, PRICE Storage: 8GB standard version or 32GB Signature Edition Display: 6.8-inch, 300ppi, 16-level grayscale Front light: 17 LEDs with adjustable color temperature (white/amber) Dimensions: 6.9x4.9x0.32 inches (175.2x124.6x8.1 mm) Weight: 7.23 ounces (205g) for 8GB version; 7.34 ounces (208g) for 32GB Signature Edition Connectivity: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth Battery life: Up to 10 weeks on a single charge Charging: Via USB-C port (both versions), or optional 10W Qi-certified wireless pad (Signature Edition) Special offers: Ad-free…

Two new sports class paragliding competition series have been launched for 2023, taking advantage of the new breed of two-line EN-C paragliders which are coming our way. The Sports-Class Racing Series (SRS) is being organised by British competition organiser Brett Janaway using the Airtribune competition platform, while the Paragliding Grand Prix is organised by Polish pilot Przemysław Czerwiński. Both competition series have adopted a similar concept, offering EN-B+ and EN-C pilots the chance to compete throughout 2023 in a series of European competitions. Both series have said they are trialling the concept for 2023 and might expand beyond Europe if things go well. Sports-Class Racing Series (SRS) “The idea for a sports-class racing series has been around for years, but it feels particularly timely with the birth of the two-line EN-C,” organiser Brett…

On external monitors, 1440p resolution is supposed to represent the sweet spot, offering a sharper picture than HD without the high costs of 4K. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t agree. On Macs with M1 processors, Apple reserves Retina or HiDPI display scaling options for monitors with at least 4K resolution. Unless you set the display to its native 1440p—which can look insufferably tiny on smaller external displays—text and icons come out blurry and fuzzy. Programs that used to fix the problem on Intel-based Macs no longer work on M1 machines, and users have been complaining about it for months to no avail. Now a third-party developer has come up with a workaround. It’s called BetterDummy, and it essentially tricks macOS into thinking you’ve plugged in a 5K monitor. Using Apple’s display mirroring features, you…

Macs are undergoing a big change. Apple is switching its internal architecture from one that uses Intel CPUs, third-party graphics processors, and other parts, to the company’s own “system on a chip.” The first Apple silicon SoC for Macs is called the M1. It’s a big step for Apple and the Mac. But what does it mean for you? In this article, we cover what Apple’s system on a chip means to the user, how it affects what software you can use, and answer other frequently asked questions. WHAT IS THE ‘APPLE SILICON’ M1 SYSTEM ON A CHIP? “Apple silicon” refers to the chips Apple makes. In the Mac, they replace the Intel processors they have used for the past 14 years, and will eventually also replace the AMD graphics processors in higher-end…

With an overhauled MacBook Air reportedly just around the corner, experts are gearing themselves up for a new generation of computing. Likely to sport the M2 chip and an all-new design, the upcoming MacBook Air refresh could be one of the most significant to date. THE UPCOMING MACBOOK AIR Over the past couple of years, Apple has made something very clear: it means business when it comes to the Mac. Professionals and everyday users had grown frustrated with the Cupertino company’s approach to the Mac prior to 2020, with some calling the line-up scale and lagging behind competitors, especially in regards to price. But as Apple enters a new age with its own silicon chips, namely the M1 series and its Pro, Max, and Ultra counterparts, the company is once again being…

Editors’ Note: PCMag rates and evaluates all products based on their merits and effectiveness, not on any political or other considerations. However, due to the increasing censure and criticism of Kaspersky by US government agencies, foreign agencies, and informed third parties, we no longer recommend Kaspersky products. Because we have not found any hard evidence of misdeeds on the part of Kaspersky, though, we continue to evaluate and report on the company’s products for those who wish to decide for themselves. In the security business, it’s common to see a three-tier line of products: a standalone antivirus tool, a security suite with basic features, and a mega-suite with all the bells and whistles. Sometimes, though, the antivirus has so many features it’s almost a suite. With its completely new product line,…

I’ve tried several products to paint natural-metal finishes, including Testors Model Master Metalizer and Alclad II. Both produced finishes that looked like they were painted, so I wasn’t satisfied. In 2016, while visiting a local air show that featured several World War II aircraft, I had a revelation about what makes bare-metal aircraft look so unique. The colors of the individual panels vary, there’s a subtle grain in the aluminum, and rivets are visible. That prompted me to try metal foil as a finishing material. I ordered Bare-Metal Foil (BMF), a thin, self-adhesive foil that is available in several sheens; I use two sheens: Matte Aluminum and Chrome. The foil has subtle grain on the surface. I’ve used it several times and this is how I get the right look. Tools The…

With tech evolving ever faster, Apple must work harder than ever to compete and offer consumers and businesses cutting-edge software and hardware for the next generation of work and play. Edge computing and AI advancements could be the answer. APPLE IS ON THE EDGE The digital revolution has brought us to a point where we are more connected than ever. iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks have become an integral part of our lives, and we rely on them for various tasks, from communication to entertainment, from shopping to learning. However, as we become more dependent on these devices, we realize there are limitations to their capabilities. We need to find ways to maximize their efficiency and processing power. This is where edge computing comes into play. Edge computing is an emerging computing paradigm…

There’s no denying that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is a gorgeous and incredibly powerful piece of hardware. It’s easily one of the nicest pieces of tech I’ve ever held and the fastest iPad ever made, and it’s hard to imagine any tablet released in the next five years doing much to top it. Of course, I could have written the same thing about the 2020 model. The 2021 iPad Pro doesn’t look all that much different than the model it replaces or the 2018 iPad Pro before that. And the upgrades the new model brings—most notably, the Retina XDR display, 5G modem, and M1 processor—won’t be immediately noticeable to anyone using it. Unless you’re comparing it side by side to the 2020 model, in fact, you probably won’t be able to…

It’s a new year, and if you’re looking for a fresh start, you can begin with your iPhone. Just by changing a few settings you can vastly change and improve your overall user experience. Even if you’ve been using your phone for years, these often-overlooked toggles and tweaks can make your iPhone feel brand-new again. 1. SILENCE UNKNOWN CALLERS If it seems like robocalls have increased exponentially over the past year, it’s because they have. Spam callers have gotten more sophisticated and plentiful since the start of the pandemic, and they’re a regular nuisance on our iPhones. But you can put a stop to them without needing to block every number that comes in. In the Phone settings, you’ll find a toggle to silence unknown callers, which will stop your iPhone from…

“QUITE EARLY IN LIFE George Tracy discovered that if he were to be reasonably happy and prosperous he must pretend.” So begins a mesmerizing psychological novel by Charles Marriott, published in 1913. The tale of George’s lifelong obsession with an elusive frenemy named Mary, who has “the key to the side door of his nature,” has long been out of print. It’s remembered chiefly for its title: The Catfish. Yes, this century-old book gives us the figure of the modern-day catfish, the shrewd machinator who breaks hearts and passwords with nothing but Wi-Fi, cunning, and yottabytes of imagination. This conceit was reprised in the 2010 documentary by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, Catfish, which tells the story of a Michigan artist, Angela Wesselman, who used fake Facebook profiles and other online…

St. Augustine said of time, “If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain to him who asks, I don’t know.” Time is an elusive concept: We all experience it, and yet, the challenge of defining it has tested philosophers and scientists for millennia. It wasn’t until Albert Einstein that we developed a more sophisticated mathematical understanding of time and space that allowed physicists to probe deeper into the connections between them. In their endeavors, physicists also discovered that seeking the origin of time forces us to confront the origins of the universe itself. What exactly is time, and how did it come into being? Did the dimension of time exist from the moment of the Big Bang, or did time emerge as the universe evolved?…

Even before Apple’s M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBooks hit the market, rumblings of future Apple silicon were already hitting the wire. Dubbed the M2, this chip is the likely successor to the M1 that powers the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and the 24-inch iMac. According to reports, it will arrive in the first half of 2022. And look at the calendar—here we are in 2022. So if you’re wondering whether you should wait for the M2 instead of investing in an M1 MacBook Air or M1 Pro MacBook Pro, we’re here to help. M1, M1 PRO, AND M1 MAX Apple’s first three Mac chips are all built on the same architecture but they’re quite (see below). M1 SPECS Here’s how the different M1 chips compare. As you can see the chips are…

Apple might not always be first to the party, but there’s no denying the company goes above and beyond with hardware and software to deliver cutting-edge consumer experiences. But Apple’s slow and steady approach needs to change. With Siri lagging behind rivals and AI changing everything, WWDC 2023 will determine the future success of the company. SIRI IS LAGGING BEHIND Apple’s digital assistant Siri was once the market leader in voice-based AI assistants, but in recent years, it has fallen behind the competition, particularly Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. However, with the rise of large language models that drive groundbreaking AI tools like ChatGPT, Apple is struggling to keep up with AI innovation. In a new behind-the-scenes report in The Information, Apple’s efforts to catch up with competitors are explored, as well…

The P-51 formed a significant part of the Swedish air force immediately after World War II. More than 100 Mustangs, designated J 26 in Sweden, served well into the 1950s when they were replaced by jets. Meng released its 1/48 scale P-51D in 2016 as a kit designed to be built without glue. I was blown away by the excellent engineering and detail — this kit is nothing like the snap-together models many of us enjoyed in our youth. As good as the kit is, I wanted more detail, including Eduard photo-etched metal parts (PE) and a pre-painted Yahu PE instrument panel (No. YMA4820) for the cockpit, and BarracudaCast resin wheels. Research indicated that all Swedish Mustangs had fabric-covered elevators and rudder, so I replaced the kit parts with Ultracast…

Winter, given that we live completely off-grid, was challenging. It was one the dullest on record, providing December a very meagre 12 hours of sunshine. I knew it was going to be bad when my solar-powered wrist watch gave up the good fight and blanked out. When things are that dire I have a little Honda generator to aid the solar panels. We plan on doubling our panels this summer to completely cut out what little fossil fuels we use at home. Dull weather has been front and centre of our minds as we wire Oddity. Obviously we have an engine but this will only be used when required for propulsion or firing up the anchor windlass. As such, Oddity needs to be stand alone in terms of sustainable energy. We…

Steve Jobs’ impact was so significant that it’s difficult to find the words to describe his influence on business, technology, and society, even 10 years after his death. It’s hard to narrow down the products released under his watch to a list of just five. But we tried anyway. Here’s our list of the most memorable products released during Steve Jobs’ tenure with Apple. Also note that Apple has posted a film, Celebrating Steve, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Jobs’ death. 1. APPLE II Everyone remembers the Mac (see item two on this list), but the Apple II was the first product that really got Apple going as a business. The first mass-produced computer by the company in 1977, the Apple II (pictured) succeeded the Apple I, which was not a…

We’ve long wondered if it was simply impossible to have a thin Intel-based gaming laptop that didn’t howl like a banshee or if no one was bothering to even try. That all changes with XPG’s Xenia 15 KC, which is truly the thinnest, lightest, and—more important—quietest gaming laptop that we’ve ever touched. The Xenia 15 KC will look familiar to many as it is largely built on the same chassis as its predecessor, which we reviewed previously. The key changes include a more powerful CPU and GPU, a more useful screen for work, and impressive acoustic attributes. And we’re not just not throwing out the word impressive either—most of the time the Xenia 15 KC is dead silent where other laptops would be screaming. There’s a cost to the quietness, but not…

Late one night in 1982, a Yale University medical student named Martin Yarmush witnessed a harrowing scene at a local hospital. A toddler was admitted, and several nurses attempted to insert an IV needle into one of the child’s tiny veins. Each time they missed the vessel, the child screamed more shrilly, and the mother grew more worried. There has to be a better way, thought Yarmush, now a professor of biomedical engineering at Rutgers University. The incident changed his outlook on medicine. Thoroughly unnerved by the anguish he’d witnessed, Yarmush started to imagine what would happen if the process of drawing blood could be automated. At the time, automation was found primarily on assembly lines for cars, where robots were so powerful and dangerous that they were bolted to the ground…

LIFE LESSONS Tilda Swinton, the star of the film Orlando, sings the praises of her heroes For those among us dedicated to living a self-determined life, to a vibrant, engaged, inspired and convivial existence, to an allegiance to reason, friendship and beauty above all other ties, the beacon lit by the spirit of Bloomsbury flashes and glitters ahead, fresh as the day, more relevant and urgent than ever. Leonard Woolf simply described Bloomsbury as ‘a fortuitous aggregation of friends who happened to live together’. A century later, their example still leads onward: pacifist in the face of all wars, in painstaking revolt against the social assumptions of their ancestors, inclusively sensualist, intellectually liberationist, in worship of the enchantment of nature – human and otherwise – the passions of the gypsy heart, the reforming zeal…

Rudolf Nureyev couldn’t stand calm waters. He liked rough seas. I first saw him when he came to do a class with the Royal Ballet in London in 1961. We girls, members of the company, peered through the studio door to see this beautiful new person, and could tell something special had landed in our midst. We later learnt his story, that of a boy who grew up in the middle of nowhere, fell in love with dance and won a place at the Kirov Ballet in St Petersburg. He then defected to the West to be free from restriction – politically, as a dancer, and of course because he was gay, which was not acceptable in Moscow. He wasn’t willing to live a double life to hide it. Rudolf was fascinated…

After more than a decade with the same design, the iMac finally has a brand-new look, and it’s stunning. The 2021 iMac also has Apple’s super-fast M1 processor, a bigger display with even more pixels, a much-needed update to the FaceTime camera, and some pretty awesome audio capabilities. But is this enough, or would you be better off spending your money elsewhere? 1. PERFORMANCE AND PRICE One thing is clear: The M1 chip is far superior to the 8th-generation Intel quad-core and 6-core options in the iMacs it replaces. If you are just seeking a new iMac to replace an older generation of iMac, then you won’t be disappointed in the speed boost. There is little to distinguish the iMac from the other M1 Macs, though. We have tested all the M1 Macs…

We’ve heard rumors for about a year or so that Apple is on the verge of launching some products with Mini LED display technology. It could come to MacBooks, iPads, iMacs—really anything with a display, though it’s quite unlikely to ever end up in Apple Watch or iPhone (which use OLED displays). What is a Mini LED display and what exactly will it do for you? This short explanation may help you understand why this technology could represent such a big step forward into the future for Apple’s products. A BETTER BACKLIT LCD To understand Mini LED, you first have to know the basics of how a traditional backlit LCD works. That’s what we have in all our iPads, MacBooks, and iMacs today. It can get complicated, but in short, there’s a backlight (usually…

Your hard drive hasn’t been acting the same lately. It’s starting to make clicking or screeching noises, it can’t seem to find your files, and it’s moving really slowly. Every hard drive dies eventually, and when it’s near death, you’ll see the signs: Strange noises, corrupted files, crashes during boot, and glacial transfer speeds all point to the inevitable end. This is normal, especially if your drive is more than a few years old. On older spinning drives, moving parts such as the motor can degrade over time, and a drive’s magnetic sectors can go bad. “Your computer can notify you before data loss occurs, and the drive can be replaced while it still remains functional.” Newer solid-state drives (SSDs) don’t have moving parts, but their storage cells degrade a little every…

It’s been 12 years since the iPad first arrived, amid hype that it was the next iPhone and pessimism that it would never live up to that hype. After some dramatic early years, the iPad has become a comfortable business that’s raking in about $30 billion a year in sales. It’s not the next iPhone, but in terms of Apple’s platforms, it’s roughly the size of the Mac. What were the pivotal moments in the iPad’s 12-year history? What were the key events that led it from there to here? I’ve forced myself to rank the top moments. HONORABLE MENTION: THE iPAD LAUNCH (JANUARY 2010) Before we get started, I’m going to admit that the announcement of almost any product is perhaps its most important historical moment. How could it be otherwise? So I’m…

In April, after sitting on the floor of a Walgreens for three hours, I was finally injected with a tiny amount of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. It was a triumph for me to have remained healthy to this point, and a much larger triumph of medical science to have created, tested, and distributed vaccines for a completely new disease in such a short time. This is in stark contrast to the tech sector, which failed the world once with contact-tracing apps and seems poised to fail us once again with vaccine passports. AN APP TO KEEP US SAFE? You could be forgiven for having forgotten about contract-tracing apps. The idea was that our phones would silently keep tabs on every other person (with a phone) that came close enough to us to spread…

Apple launched HomeKit in 2014, and for many users it remains a bit of a mystery—an outlier in the smart home space that is wound up with the iPhone, Siri, and an unintuitive corner of the smart home universe. What is HomeKit, and is it appropriate for your home? Let’s dig in and break down what it is and how it works today. WHAT IS HOMEKIT? While HomeKit is exclusive to Apple and its licensees, it is really just a communications protocol, a framework of technologies that lets your iOS device work with any number of smart home products. Apple currently claims that more than 100 brands of products are now included in the HomeKit universe, including all the usual smart home suspects, such as smart plugs and switches, light bulbs, thermostats,…

Reputedly, Ernst Heinkel sketched the design for the Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 on the back of a cabaret wine list. More of a redesign of the W.12 biplane, Heinkel removed the upper wing, which was made possible because of the aircraft’s already rigid structure. Of course, sketching the monoplane on a wine list and getting it into production are vastly different propositions. Three prototypes came off the production line in January 1918: nos. 2204, 2205, and 2206. For performance comparison’s sake, they were each powered by engines from different makers (Benz, BMW, and Daimler-Mercedes). When the plane went into production, it was the 150-horsepower Benz Bz.III that won out. Wingnut Wings 1/32 scale Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 (No. 32010) is a beautiful kit, with immaculate detail and thorough research. However, there are painting and finishing techniques…

The release of the M1 processor was a milestone. Apple finally migrated the Mac to its fast, low-power mobile processors, and the results were incredible. They were a hard act to follow—and after about a year and a half, the M2 processor arrived with a (not unexpected) set of incremental gains. You can’t reinvent the wheel every time out, and clearly the M2 was a careful follow-on to the M1, designed to keep the ball rolling. But now reports abound that the M3 is on the way—not at the end of the year or in early 2024, as you might expect from the 18-month gap between the M1 and the M2, but very soon, perhaps as soon as late spring or early summer. Surprise! It turns out that Apple may be more…

HOW TO FIND OUT WHICH MAC APPS ARE TRACKING YOUR LOCATION The privacy issues associated with our location when we’re carrying an iPhone or iPad have gotten a lot of attention. But a Mac can reveal to apps where we’re located as well. No Mac includes a GPS or cellular modem, but between Wi-Fi positioning and cues and information retrieved by associated and nearby cellular devices of your own and those of other people, a Mac can often approximate its own position fairly well. Open the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences, click the Privacy button, and select Location Services from the list at left, and you can see all the apps to which you’ve given permission and for which you’ve revoked access. To remove permission to retrieve your location: Uncheck the…

Whenever you fly, wherever you travel, you need to know about active flying – and apply what you know. So let’s cover it here. In smooth air, glider and pilot glide in unison. When you fly through turbulent air though, your wing can become disturbed, causing you to swing in an unbalanced way, which can expose you to greater risk of collapse and rapid height loss. You need to calm the movement so you fly in harmony again. This is active flying. Most wings are designed to recover by themselves, so why do you need to do anything? Paragliders are incredible aircraft, but a little corrective input can greatly improve their recovery time. Developing your active flying skills also allows you to reduce the movements and hugely improve your gliding performance. Watch out!…

I know what you’re thinking. For the past five years, we’ve questioned, lambasted, and otherwise reviled the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. And now that it’s gone for—checks notes—a little over a week, we already want it back. But the problem with the Touch Bar wasn’t actually the Touch Bar itself. It’s that it wasn’t a Pro feature. The concept of a small touchscreen designed for carrying out common tasks was a good one—and we’ve heard from many people who enjoyed using it. The MacBook Pro just wasn’t the right product for it, and Apple’s flagship laptop is better without it. The most disappointing part of the Touch Bar was that Apple never really improved it. We got the Escape key back and developers worked it into their interfaces, but otherwise Apple’s Touch…

The Geminid meteor shower is best known for the reliable show it puts on during the winter holiday season. But the event is also unique because it stems not from a comet but from an asteroid: 3200 Phaethon. Phaethon’s true nature has puzzled astronomers for more than 10 years, ever since they discovered that it brightens dramatically and expels dust when it nears the Sun. That kind of behavior is usually reserved for comets. When a comet’s path brings it through the inner solar system, the Sun warms and vaporizes the ices on its surface, creating a bright tail extending up to millions of miles behind it. Escaping vapor can also dislodge some of the comet’s dust and rock, which is usually the debris that fuels meteor showers. But asteroids like Phaethon…

Mathematics has never been my strong point and I blame my lack of numeracy to assess depths for secondary ports on my Secondary Modern education. But there is another way, of course, even on a boat without an echo-sounder. Even on a boat without an echo-sounder, heading for a short-cut over a sandbank on a falling tide, in a rising wind while sailing solo. It is the sapling. Mine is a very strong… twig. Sycamore, I think, picked up in woodland after a coppicing exercise and taken back to my shed where I measured and marked a depth gauge in feet along its length. At each mark I cut around the young bark with a knife, peeled it away and used white undercoat to paint a ring. Now, armed with my blind…

Every year, Apple introduces a new A-series processor with its iPhone upgrades in the fall. We don’t expect anything different this year. In fact, the jump to a new manufacturing process technology—TSMC’s 3nm process—gives the A17 an opportunity to be the most significant leap in performance and features in several years. By looking at the past decade of in-house Apple-designed A-series chips, together with what we know about the manufacturing technology available and the company’s direction and goals, we can piece together a pretty good educated guess about what to expect from the A17. JUST FOR iPHONE 15 PRO (OR ULTRA) Last year, the A16 was exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro, while the standard iPhone 14 used the A15. We expect a repeat of that pattern this year, where the new A17…

Sitting in an isolated room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Frank Nielsen steeled himself for the first injection. Doctors were about to take a needle filled with herpes simplex virus, the strain responsible for cold sores, and plunge it directly into his scalp. If all went well, it would likely save his life. Nielsen was a cancer survivor and, once again, a cancer patient. His melanoma, which had responded to conventional treatments the first time around, had returned with a frightening aggressiveness. Within weeks, a lump on his scalp had swelled into an ugly mass. Unlike the first time, options like surgery weren’t viable — it was growing too quickly. As a last resort, his doctors turned to a cutting-edge drug known as T-VEC, approved in 2015 in the…

Apple’s latest smart device is the AirTag, a small, puck-shaped tracker that can help you locate misplaced or stolen items with the Find My app. AirTags costs $29 for one or $99 for a pack of four and can be engraved with letters or an image of your choosing for free. Accessories such as keychains, luggage tags, and loops, which hold the device, are sold separately. AirTags use ultra-wideband technology (UWB) and take advantage of Apple’s existing network of devices, which work as crowdsourced beacons to ping one another and determine a missing item’s location. Here’s what to know before you slap an AirTag on everything you own. WHICH iPHONES AND OSeS WORK WITH AIRTAGS? Compatible iPhones and iPads can use the Find My app to identify the approximate location of a missing…

Like many internet users, I love schadenfreude. And few things have given me more pleasure to read than August’s Twitter whistleblower story. It’s a veritable feast of terrible things. The company allegedly has half its 500,000 server fleet running an insecure operating system that’s no longer supported by vendors. And the site has allegedly experienced one security incident per week. Delicious! As thrilling as that is, there are other parts of the story that are a lot less entertaining. An internal report says in no uncertain terms that Twitter is completely unequipped to cope with misinformation and disinformation on its platform. That’s more than a little worrying, especially with the US midterm elections coming up. (In the company’s defense, Twitter says it’s working hard in advance of the midterms, which is good…

You’ll get plenty of sound career advice during your lifetime. Much of it will be valuable, but some of it will come at the wrong time or be the opposite of what you need to hear at that moment. Depending on your immediate needs and long-term desires, good career advice can turn out to be wrong for you. Curious to hear other people’s experiences, I asked around and collected ten pieces of career advice that don’t always hold up. 1. GO WHERE THE MONEY IS There are high-paying jobs, and then there are jobs that come with lower base pay but generous compensation packages that lead to more guaranteed money in the long term—and sometimes a happier life. The classic example: any job with a pension. If you collect a full pension for…

Darren Clark lives in Michigan, where he used to receive dismal internet speeds ranging from 2.5Mbps to 3.5Mbps. The DSL internet was so bad that he’d have to drive his family elsewhere to find faster broadband and finish software and game downloads. “Many times, we ended up going to McDonald’s or out to the local Meijer grocery store for internet access,” he told PCMag. But in recent days, Clark’s home internet is getting speeds between 10Mbps and 100Mbps. The reason? He’s among the first people to try out Starlink’s Best Effort tier, the latest offering from SpaceX’s satellite internet service. “I have to say, Starlink Best Effort is a lifesaver for me and my family,” he said. “My kids are amazed that a 1GB download can finish in a couple of minutes instead…

OLIVIER ROUSTEING, BALMAIN I first met Karl in 2011. “You’re the new Balmain boy?” he asked me. I said yes. “I used to be the Balmain boy – welcome to fashion.” A couple of months later, we sat together at a dinner and chatted. I didn’t want to speak with him about his job, so I asked, “How is life outside work, Karl – you know, outside of Chanel?” And he said: “We don’t ask that question, because work is my life, work is my love.” He has always been my biggest inspiration in life. He didn’t follow trends – he created fashion, and connected it to pop culture. Karl was the pioneer – the king – of all that we’re trying to do today. And he never stopped being curious…

Apple has matured its Photos app for macOS substantially in the several years since the company cut the thread for iPhoto and declared Photos its new approach. The current version mostly resembles the one introduced but with everything working reliably most of the time. However, Photos still has substantial missing pieces for managing libraries. Fat Cat Software’s PowerPhotos has filled that role since 2015, and the company released a major update in 2022 to version 2 that offers even more refinement. The app is the solution for many of the problems with Photos that people routinely write to us about at Mac 911. The program lets you merge Photos libraries, view multiple libraries without quitting Photos and re-selecting them (including in separate windows simultaneously), create libraries on external files, and move…

When that new 24-inch iMac arrives, you don’t want anyone or anything getting in your way as you unpack it and set it up. It’s an exciting moment, so go for it! But (of course there’s a “but”) after you’re done placing it perfectly on your desk, plugging it in, turning it on, and then sitting back to gaze upon it admiringly, take a little break. Pause for a bit, because now it’s time to set up your Mac for the work you want to get done. To get the most out of your Mac experience, there are a few things you should do before anything else. Many of these tasks are the type you need to do only once. When you’ve set things up, you will rarely need to address…

Ever since Top Gun hit theaters in 1986, I have wanted to model the needlelike enemy fighters in the film: the so-called MiG-28. Of course, the MiG-28 doesn’t exist, and the villains were actually Northrop F-5E Tiger IIs painted jet black with a Soviet-style red star on the tail. But most moviegoers didn’t really notice or care — neither did I. The U.S. Navy still uses F-5s as adversaries for training, and those aircraft were recently upgraded with advanced avionics and radar as F-5Ns. A few of these jets are painted gloss black and kept extremely clean. painted gloss black and kept extremely clean. Kitty Hawk’s 1/32 scale F-5E (No. KH32018) was a welcome release because the only other model of this iconic fighter in that scale is a 25-year-old Hasegawa kit.…

In September, Apple announced the new A15 processor in a peculiar way: by comparing its new chip to the Android competition, rather than the A14 that powered last year’s generation of iPhones. We were all left to try to infer the speed of the A15 based on Apple’s claims, wondering if the company was obscuring the performance improvements in the A15 because they weren’t particularly impressive. Recently things have gotten a lot clearer with the first reviews of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, as well as a look at what the iPad mini has to offer. Now we’ve got the cold, hard facts about the A15—and it’s more complicated and interesting than I guessed last week. The net result? Apple is making one chip but using it in three…

When I started working for MacUser magazine in 1993, I was assigned to a gray cubicle with an old Mac IIci inside. (The summer intern didn’t get the latest and greatest.) I don’t know how that was nearly 30 years ago, but here we are. Over the last few years, I’ve spent a little time buying a few old Mac models and getting them up to speed. Within five feet of me as I write this are a working G4 Cube, G4 iMac, Mac Plus, PowerBook 170, and even a Power Computing Mac clone. As much as using old computers can be a fun nostalgia trip, it also makes me appreciate what we have today all the more. You remember the good times, but forget the bad! As someone who recently had…

AMD’s $199 Radeon RX 6500 XT is here, bringing both real-time ray tracing and affordable graphics cards back to the masses—if it can stay well-stocked enough to remain on store shelves for close to its suggested pricing, that is. This ain’t your average graphics card, though. AMD needed to tweak and tune the Radeon RX 6500 XT to (hopefully) keep cryptocurrency miners at bay and hit the coveted, crucial sub-$200 price point. Putting this GPU through its paces took quite a bit more effort and explaining than usual. Head over to our comprehensive Radeon RX 6500 XT review for the complete rundown, but for folks who don’t feel like wading through thousands of words and dozens of charts worth of analysis, here are five key facts you need to know about…

Boasting the looks of an Apple display but at a more affordable price, the Alogic Clarity Monitor scores points on aesthetics and performance. Connected to a Mac mini or Mac Studio, this 27-inch display could recreate the glories of the now discontinued larger iMac. Apple sells two of its own displays, and, as you might expect, neither of them is particularly affordable. The high-end Pro Display XDR starts at $4,999 and the “entry-level” Studio Display starts at $1,599. Read our Apple Studio Display review. There are, of course, plenty of non-Apple displays available. At $650, the Dell 2720Q UltraSharp 27in 4K USB-C Monitor is less than half the price of the Apple monitor. Its 4K screen (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) is not up to the Studio Display’s 5K resolution but will suit…

It has been more three years since Apple last updated its streaming media box. The old Apple TV 4K was too good to need an update, really. With an A10X processor and Apple’s excellent tvOS software, it was already more responsive and performant than nearly all its competitors. There’s a very healthy app ecosystem, and it even supported Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Its biggest problem was its price: $179 for 32GB or $199 for 64GB. So what changes does Apple make after three years? Not many. The new Apple TV 4K replaces the A10X for an A12, which is a fairly small upgrade. It still costs $179/$199 for 32GB/64GB, and it even looks identical. The biggest upgrade is the new Siri Remote, which is a sweeping overhaul and a massive…

Considering the nightmare that was 2020, I don’t think I’ve seen a more collectively cathartic New Year’s celebration than 2021’s. Granted, what separates one year from another is largely arbitrary, and many of 2020’s problems have continued into 2021. But with COVID-19 vaccines trickling out, we can at least begin to vaguely imagine an end to the pandemic that made life in 2020 such a locked-down disaster. Hopefully, we’ll get past the mass death as soon as possible, but we’re going to feel the impact of this pandemic in all parts of life for years to come. Video games exist as part of this larger world. This young new console generation has already been shaped by the current crisis, in some ways we may never see. So as you prepare to…

The legendary Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX, to my mind, counts as one of the most elegant World War II fighter designs. How could it not, with its smooth aerodynamic lines, elliptical wing, and thin profile? Being Czech, I wanted to model the Spitfire DU-L MJ931 flown by Flying Officer Ladislav Světlík, a member of No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF, during the first half of 1944. In this aircraft, he shot down Lt. Georg Kiefner of I./JG 26 who piloted an Fw 190A. After the war, Světlík became a Czechoslovak Airlines captain. In 1950, he helped plan and execute the famous coordinated escape flight of three Douglas DC-3s from then-communist Czechoslovakia to U.S.-controlled Erding Air Base near Munich, Germany. FINAL THOUGHTS AT LAST, it was time to assemble the whole from the many subassemblies. For the…

Apple released a new iPad Pro in 2020—a year and a half after the prior update—but it wasn’t much of a change. A new camera module that included LiDAR and an Ultra Wide lens were fine features, but the iPad isn’t really the thing people reach for when they want to take great photos. The processor was updated to the A12Z, which was just the same as the A12X but with a single GPU core, disabled on the A12X, reenabled. The iPad had more storage, but that’s just a function of the inevitable march of time. So the iPad Pro was overdue for a more significant update, and with the new 5th-generation iPad Pro, we finally have it. Here are the highlights that make this year’s iPad Pro special. THE M1 PROCESSOR…

If you have a newer Mac, it likely uses a speedy solid-state drive to store files, apps, music, videos, and other important stuff. But there’s one thing you may not know about SSDs: They wear out over time. Since the SSD is such a vital part of your Mac, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on its health. While it usually takes a really long time to wear out an SSD—likely far longer than you’ll keep your Mac—problems can arise. Most recently, users started noticing that new M1 Macs and some Intel-based ones are showing advanced wear after just a few months of use, a troubling sign that could cause drives to burn out years before expected. So even if you have a brand-new M1 Mac, you might want to check…

After months—if not years—of fevered theorizing over Apple’s chip roadmap for the Mac, this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference at last gave us a tantalizing peek at the successor to the blockbuster M1, released a little over a year and a half ago. We learned a bit more about the M2 this week when the first round of reviews landed (see page 46). The 13-inch MacBook Pro is identical to the M1 model on the outside, but the inside is completely different, thanks to Apple’s latest chip. Benchmarks show a nice speed boost of around 20 percent, a significant jump in graphics performance, and a very good improvement over the already speedy M1. But, far more excitingly, now that we’ve got a second data point to work with, we can start to extrapolate…

Ship modelers frequently face the dilemma of how to differentiate their model from other builds of the same kit. In real life, hundreds and thousands of planes and tanks were built in multitudes of different variants, markings, and camouflage. In contrast, there was only one Bismarck, for example. There was only one battleship USS Arizona (BB-39), one heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38), and so on. So what are some ways you can make your ship stand out? Some things come readily to mind, like adding aftermarket photoetched metal (PE) details. Or scratchbuilding additions. Or modifying the base kit so the project can be called a kitbash or conversion. In almost every case, unique painting or finishing further elevates the model. Combining these techniques is what I call strategic detailing. When…

The Bay of Biscay may not command the romance of an Atlantic or Pacific crossing, but it is, nonetheless, a significant body of wild ocean that demands careful planning, meticulous preparation, and the utmost of respect. My wife Jenny and I bought our 2008 Regina 43 Arkyla in 2018 with the intention of heading south to the sun. Even with significant cruising experience, we felt that support would be wise for a first crossing of Biscay and so signed ourselves up to the World Cruising Club (WCC) ARC Portugal Rally. In olden, square-rigger days, the fear of becoming embayed in treacherous conditions made Biscay one of the most dreaded stretches of water in the world. Although advances in design and technology make it easier, a direct UK-Galicia offshore crossing, of 550-600 miles,…

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 of…

Fear can leech the enjoyment out of the sport. It’s usually why people give up paragliding. You might think of other reasons. You’ll rationalise it. But deep down it’s the fear that’s driving you away from something you once loved. Sometimes, I get scared. It’s a basic fear: falling, and being broken on something. I suppose even an egg has this fear, somewhere within its yolky consciousness. If we didn’t have this fear, we’d not have survived very long in this world. So how do we cope with this fear, and still enjoy the sport? You could try to ignore it. ‘Be tough, be strong’ … as if thinking that you are capable of anything will give you some protection. Be careful of this, it’s just a kind of ignorance that leads…

Back in 2003, it was impossible to appraise Manhunt on its merits. Depending on who you asked, it was either a plastic bag thrust over the head of society so that Rockstar could choke the decency out of it or a focal point for the defence of free speech in a maturing medium. Who could tell whether it was fun or not? Released at the peak of the Housers’ notoriety, and held responsible, by some commentators, for actual murders and causing US lawmakers to question the videogame industry’s ability to regulate itself, Manhunt was more cultural lightning rod than game. “This is Splinter Cell for sadists, but without the gadgets – an omission that makes Manhunt more demanding than its peers.” Now the conservative establishment has moved on, we can play with the…

The best free PC software programs aren’t about the cost (or lack thereof), they’re about a fresh opportunity—collections of code that put the dumb hardware in your computer to smart use, tools that can accomplish anything from balancing your household budget to helping cure cancer. Stocking your PC is an intensely personal task. But some programs are so helpful that we heartily recommend them to everybody. These free PC programs—a mix of must-haves and delightful auxiliary apps—deserve a place on almost any computer. There are times when a paid alternative makes sense, however. We’ve pointed out the circumstances where an upgrade over the free offering is warranted, along with our recommendation for the category. And if you’re selecting these programs as part of breaking in an all-new PC, be sure to check…

I’ll admit, I was pretty skeptical before unboxing the first smartwatch from OnePlus, aptly named the OnePlus Watch. At $159, it’s less than half the price of our Editors’ Choice winner, the Apple Watch Series 6 (which starts at $399). And while it doesn’t work with iPhones, it offers many of the same features as Apple’s market-leading wearable. So far, my skepticism appears to have been unfounded. The OnePlus Watch offers a large color touch screen, built-in GPS, 2GB of storage, a 402mAh battery that promises two weeks of power, and the ability to make and receive calls. It also has plenty of health and fitness features, including support for more than 110 workout types, automatic workout detection for jogging and running, rapid-heart-rate alerts, guided breathing exercises, stress detection, and the…

To be a positive and productive person, Barbara Hepworth believed one should sustain ‘proper coordination between hand and spirit on our daily life’. Throughout her 50-year career, the artist infused her sculptures and drawings with this philosophy, approaching the organic materials she used with a clear vision of what possibilities lay beneath their surface. ‘She was always pushing the boundaries of what sculpture could be,’ says Eleanor Clayton, who has curated a tribute to this 20th-century visionary to celebrate 10 years of the Hepworth Wakefield – a gallery that, since its opening, has become a cultural jewel in the crown of the artist’s hometown. Growing up in West Yorkshire, Hepworth was surrounded by dramatic landscapes of time-worn cliffs and nature-hewn hills, which were catalysts for the moulded monoliths that came to…

Fifteen years ago, on January 9, 2007, I sat on the floor of a Las Vegas Convention Center entryway and pondered the iPhone. While I was running around the Consumer Electronics Show looking at the latest LG Chocolate, Steve Jobs was over at Macworld changing the world. I’d been covering smartphones for three years by then, and they were complex gadgets for road warriors. With the iPhone, Apple simplified the smartphone and made it a must-have for everyone. This wasn’t solely about Steve Jobs’ brilliance. He struck when several other technologies were becoming available—3G for the mobile web and capacitive touch screens for finger-friendly interfaces. And he worked without the legacy-software hangovers that Microsoft, Nokia, and Palm all struggled through from the first generation of proto-smartphones. The iPhone has made a huge number…

The Apple Watch Series 8 looks exactly like its predecessor, but it offers some notable health and safety improvements that weren’t available on last year’s model. Its biggest upgrade is the ability to measure and track changes in your body temperature while you sleep, with a dual-sensor design for more accurate readings. If you have a menstrual cycle, the Series 8 can use your body-temperature data to estimate the date of your last ovulation. And on the safety front, the watch can detect whether you’ve been in a car crash and automatically call for help. With these upgrades, plus an already unrivaled user experience and app selection that’s further enhanced by watchOS 9, the Apple Watch Series 8 is still the best iPhone-compatible smartwatch for most buyers and remains our…

The Virtual Physiological Human Project is led by Peter Coveney, a professor at UCL and head researcher at the CompBioMed Centre of Excellence, a consortium of researchers using biomedical modelling to personalise medicine. Funded by the EU and powered by some of the world’s most advanced super computers, such as the MareNostrum 4 at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), the Virtual Human is an avatar combining X-rays, MRIs, CAT scans and other medical imaging to digitally recreate the physiology of a person’s body – including the skeleton, genetic code and complex organic mechanisms that bring it to life. Coveney says that one way to think of the Virtual Human is as a more advanced personal health record. In 2001, the Human Genome Project released a rough draft of our genetic blueprint,…