We’re back once again with another issue, packed full of creative guides, fantastic tutorials and informative reviews. We’ve spent a lot of this month thinking about the best ways that you can improve your Mac, and in our main cover story we’re discussing everything from speeding up your machine to customising it with some amazing apps. Whether you want a more secure Mac, or just one that is a little different from everyone else’s, this feature will undoubtedly appeal to you.

We’ve loaded it up with tips and tricks for saving a little space on your Mac, as well as tutorials for adding more RAM and protecting your Mac from those dreaded thieves. We’ve also taken a look at some of the best options for customising your beloved computer, with everything from Geektool to  Lion Designer to help you pimp your Mac.

Our creative feature this month focuses on Garageband, and it’s a monster. At 25 pages, this workshop is the ideal guide to take you from Garageband beginner to Music-Making Expert in just a few hours. We’ve covered both Mac and iOS devices, so whether you’re tapping out  tune on a touch-screen keyboard or closely editing a track on your Mac, there’ll be something useful for you here.

While we’ve been focusing on Garageband and playing music this month, that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about our other favourite sections. In News this month we’ve taken a look at what the next 12 months could mean for Apple as a whole; with the company’s value shooting up after the new iPad’s launch, what could the rest of the rumoured announcements do for their stock prices? Could they really reach $1000 per share?

iCreate Magazine is available in  shops and newsagents in the UK, US, Australia and all over the world. We’re also available in Apple’s  Newsstand, so you can get hold of the app on your iPad and iPhone, then get your copy downloaded automatically for the next time you pick up your device. If you’d rather feel the high-quality paper that we use, though, check out our amazing deals on magazine subscriptions over on Imagine Publishing’s new subscriptions website.

Finally, we’re now also available on Zinio. This awesome new app means you can view iCreate on all your devices, including your very own Mac; you can either get a subscription or choose a single issue over on Zinio’s website, all available at a discounted rate.

Games are now a huge part of the iPhone and iPad revolution. However, while there have been literally tens of thousands of 69p/$0.99 games for sale in the app store, more expensive games that offer a greater amount of content and a larger game world are few and far between. Some argue that iOS devices will only ever be a place to play ‘casual’ games that can be picked up and thrown away quickly, but the newly formed Camouflaj studio disagrees.

They’re developing a game called Republique that offers a high-res, high quality gaming experience on your iPhone or iPad. The developers, who have worked on console franchises like F.E.A.R., Metal Gear Solid and Halo, have now set out to create an iOS game from scratch that rivals the console exprience. The game starts with your iPhone ‘ringing’, and a scared woman starting a video chat with you. After that you have to help the woman escape her captors, using your phone to hack into various cameras and machines to aid her in her plight.

Currently, the team have an incredible Proof of Concept video, which we’ve included below, and some amazing ideas. The game looks fantastic, utilising motion-capture technology and high-quality voice acting to ensure that you get a full gaming experience. It’s backed by Logan, the team that produced and directed the console smash hit Skyrim: Elder Scrolls. However, without the help of the paying community, the game won’t see the light of day.

The game is currently a Kickstarter Project which you can back to help it to full production. It’s aiming high, but there’s plenty of time for it to achieve it’s funding goal. You can back it on their Kickstarter page if you like the look of the game. We think the ideas behind this game are fantastic, and we’d love to see it hit it’s goal. If you agree back them and get a copy for free when it launches.

You might also like:

• Dead Space HD Review
• Shadowgun for iPad Review
• Portal 2 for Mac Review
• I Want One of These: OnLive for iPad

Click here to view the embedded video.

The MacBook Touch might not necessarily be an entirely new concept but, if nothing else, this video is the nicest and most realistic render we’ve seen in a long time. The idea of a touchscreen iMac might have been stopped in its tracks a long time ago and a MacBook Touch might seem unlikely given that we’ve already got a great touchscreen device in the form of the iPad but that’s not say it’s not totally possible.

The only real stumbling block with this concept, in our opinion, is the design. We think it’s a little too simplistic and that the screen would far more likely flip over and cover the keyboard rather than have it face-down on a surface getting scratched up.

What do you think? Could this be Apple’s next big thing? Is this concept way off the mark? Let us know in the comments below, Tweet us @iCreateMagazine or write on our Facebook page’s wall.

On 7 March 2012 at a press event in California, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the new iPad. Technically the third iteration of Apple’s flagship tablet device (although Apple have dropped the numerical naming system previously used for the iPad 2), the new iPad might be a tad thicker at 9.4mm (compared to the iPad 2′s 8.8mm) and slightly heavier (51 grams more than the iPad 2), but there’s good reason for it. Apple have packed some amazing new tech into everyone’s favourite glass and aluminium slate. Here’s some of the highlights.

Retina display

The new iPad sports a 2048 x 1536 pixel, 9.7-inch display, and packing that many pixels into such a small space equates to a whopping 264 pixels per inch, in other words Retina resolution. This all might seem a little technical, but the result is that you can now view photos and videos and read text on your iPad with the same clarity you’d get from the iPhone 4 and 4S where individual pixels aren’t visible to the naked eye. The difference between the display on this iPad and the iPad 2 is huge, there’s four times as many pixels to display your images, books and movies, but it’s not the only improvement Apple has included. The new iPad’s display now features 44% more colour saturation than previous models, giving you a more accurate image and making photo editing with the new iPhoto app (more on this later) even more immersive.

The new iPad’s retina display might not have come as a surprise to anyone in the loop, in fact it’s been a mainstay of the ‘iPad 3′ rumour mill for some time, but it’s definitely a killer feature of Apple’s latest device. With a million more pixels present than in a 1080p HD TV, it’s more than capable of showing your favourite movies in the highest definition available , which is handy considering iTunes in the Cloud now supports movies and TV shows for instant downloads and syncing between your devices. The increase in colour saturation makes using its 5-megapixel camera (again, more on this later) an even more attractive option for filming and photography and all of this is before we’ve even looked into its rendering of text in iBooks or graphics in games.

A5X Chip with quad-core graphics

It might not have been the most exciting addition, but the A5X chip that sits inside Apple’s new tablet device introduces quad-core graphics, and this combined with the Retina display, makes the new iPad a hugely powerful gaming machine. Apple’s keynote saw three different games app developers take to the stage to show off exactly what all of this new tech means for the gaming experience on the new iPad, and the results were pretty impressive. Aside from being blisteringly fast to handle advanced gameplay such as combat and driving, the new iPad allows developers to include advanced graphics rendering techniques that are more likely to be seen in animated films than on a tablet.

The A5X chip isn’t all about enhancing graphics, though. The chip is also put to great use elsewhere on the new iPad in areas like the revamped iMovie app, shooting and editing your home movies is now faster and easier than ever before and editing images with the new iPhoto app is a lot snappier on this device than any previous iPad or iPhone. In short, the iPad’s new processor means more than just a speed bump.

5-megapixel iSight camera

It might not quite reach the dizzying optical heights of the iPhone 4S’ 8-megapixel camera, but the new iPad’s 5-megapixel offering offers a huge improvement to what traditionally a great camera for moving images but below average for stills. The iSight camera features some dramatically improved optics, a la the iPhone 4S, with a larger aperture and an improved sensor, more light is let in to the camera than ever before (meaning it’ll perform a little better in low-light situations, despite still lacking a flash) and the colours that appear in the resulting images are far more accurate.

What’s strikingly obvious from all three features so far, is that they’re all geared towards shooting great photos and movies, editing them on your iPad and viewing them on the retina display. In other words, the new iPad is geared up for great visuals more than ever before. However, there’s more than few updates that extend the new iPad’s capabilities beyond imaging.

4G LTE connectivity

The new iPad supports more wireless bands than ever before. As well as WiFi, the coveted Bluetooth 4.0, UTMS, HSPA and HSPA+, Apple’s latest tablet now supports 4G LTE. For the UK and Europe, this doesn’t mean too much, but for our friends across the pond, it means that iPad users can access the high-speed LTE data networks that are being rolled out across the United States. US owners don’t get all the fun though, if you purchase the new iPad with Wifi + 4G connectivity in the UK or Europe, you’ll be able to connect to an LTE network whenever you travel to America, meaning the feature is still worth shelling out for, if you travel stateside often enough. You can now also use the iPad as a personal hotspot, providing your network provider sorts it – useful if you’re without an iPhone with the same capabilities and browsing a websites where (on the rare occasion) iOS Safari doesn’t quite cut it.

Siri-Like dictation

The new iPad now supports Siri-like dictation in any situation where the virtual keyboard is used. Simply tap the microphone icon, dictate anything you want typed out and let iOS crunch through it and type it up. It’s no fully-featured assistant like Siri on the iPhone, but for anyone who uses their iPad as a serious business tool, it makes a lot of sense and could save some time when it comes to working in Pages or replying to emails.

Pricing and availability

Apple have set a personal best for product roll-outs with the iPad 3, securing an on sale date of 16th March in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland and the US Virgin Islands, with a plethora of other countries receiving the third iteration of the tablet the week after. In terms of how much you’ll be shelling out for the new iPad, prices have remained the same as the iPad 2, starting at £399/$499 for a 16GB Wifi model all the way to £659/$829 for a 64GB Wifi + 4G version.

Look out for Issue 106 of iCreate for a full guide to the new iPad and the iPhoto app with more hands-on photos.

Apologies for the website crash, we’re up and running again but we’re going to put a hold on the liveblog briefly to save it from happening again. Make sure you follow @iCreateMagazine on Twitter for more live updates and check back tomorrow morning (GMT) for a full round-up of all of tonight’s news.

Be sure to check out our iPad 3 rumours round-up and make sure you’re following @iCreateMagazine on Twitter  for updates live from the London streaming event. Feel free to get in touch with us as well, we’d love to hear your reaction to the event as it unfolds as well as your take on any of the rumours. You can leave a comment below, Tweet us, or post on our wall on Facebook.

UPDATE: Apple’s Press Announcement is scheduled for Wednesday March 7th at 10am PST. We’ll be covering the announcement live on Twitter (@iCreateMagazine) and will blog about the event as soon as it is finished. Below is the Invitation Image sent out by Apple yesterday. For now, we’re left with the rumours…

If the rumours are anything to go by, the iPad 3 is imminent. That is, if imminent means somewhere towards the end of March (according the pretty reliable John Gruber). But the question that every tech blog worth its salt is trying to answer is, “What on earth is it going to feature?”. There’s plenty of fire to fuel that rumour mill in the form of a possible retina display, LTE chip, thicker form factor, thinner form factor, etc. etc., but what does it all really mean? Well, in the true spirit of being excellent to you all, we at iCreate have rounded-up what we consider to be the most credible reports of what might make up the iPad 3 when it launches (supposedly) this year. As ever though, nothing is certain and we’re just as prime to getting things wrong as the next guy, so feel free to Tweet us, write on our Facebook wall, email us or leave a comment at the bottom of this post if you think we’ve got something wrong or completely missed a trick. We promise we won’t get too upset…

The iPad 3 will feature a retina display

Without doubt, this is the strongest rumour in our round-up, mainly because it’s the one with the most traction and credible sources (we’d certainly count Bloomberg’s report as a credible source). The retina display has been the jewel in the iPhone’s crown for some time now, with a resolution that makes pixels invisible to the human eye, it certainly takes graphics on portable devices above and beyond what’s been achieved before. But with many tablet and phone manufacturers playing catch-up with, and even surpassing, Apple as far as resolutions and display sizes are concerned, it’s time Apple rolled out this ground-breaking technology to the iPad 3.

Our verdict? This one is almost a given. It’s proved challenging for Apple to make a reality (read on to find out more about that), but it’s certainly something they’ll have to add to their tablets sooner or later.

So far, this much-hyped iPad 3 retina display has appeared to be a little problematic. If the rumours are anything to go by, Apple has already dropped Sharp as the manufacturer of the iPad 3′s screens in favour of LG and Samsung because Sharp’s output didn’t hit the necessary quality control requirements. This could be down to a number of factors, but what we know for certain is that the rumoured XQGA display (with a whopping 2048 x 1536 resolution) has presented Apple with a whole host of problems, which leads us neatly on to rumour number two…

The next iPad will sport a thicker/thinner form factor

Okay, this isn’t exactly a rumour, more a debate, but it’s an important one all the same because it’s pretty much up in the air right now. The obvious way to go here would be to assume that the iPad 3′s form factor will be thinner, ‘because Apple always make a thinner model’, right? Well, not exactly.

This rumoured retina display means that there needs to be a lot more backlighting to ensure that a screen with such a heavy pixel density is bright enough all the time. Put simply, it’s like trying to shine a light through a piece of cardboard vs. a piece of paper. You’re going to need a lot more light to do the former. A recent report by iLounge may go some way to confirm this thicker form factor rumour, but it’s worth noting that the prototype that editor Jeremy Horwitz viewed could’ve been anything up to six months old.

Our verdict? We wouldn’t be surprised if the iPad 3 gained a little weight to incorporate all this extra new features and, to be honest, we wouldn’t mind either.

Apple’s next tablet will feature a FaceTime HD/1080p HD video camera

We’re going to go out on a limb here and say that this is fairly probable, despite their not being a huge amount of speculation surrounding this. This speculation, however, could be seen as an indication that this is almost a given. 1080p HD recording is already a reality with the iPhone 4S, and we’ve seen how closely the iPad mimics the iPhone’s camera specs in the past. The only thing that gives us any reason to doubt these predicted specs is the fact that…well…the iPad is pretty huge and a bit impractical for taking photos and shooting video with. That said, where it does excel is with video chat and FaceTime, so we wouldn’t be at all surprised (read as: really really really really really want) to see a FaceTime HD camera on the front of the iPad 3. Why? Because it just makes sense. Need we say any more here?

The iPad 3 will shop with a new version of iOS – iOS 6

Get ready for the unlikely alarm. We’ve seen this rumour crop up once or twice over the last few weeks and we really don’t think it’s worth the pixels its displayed with. iOS 5 was a pretty substantial upgrade that was only released towards the tail-end of 2011. On top of this, we’ve not even a substantial point upgrade to the latest version of iOS yet, so why would Apple kill it off so quickly? The only real logic behind this is if they’ve got some sort of incredibly feature to launch, but in our opinion, 2011 was a year of software for Apple (see: iOS 5, iCloud, iMessage, Lion et. al.) and this year will be Apple’s year of hardware (more on this at a later date).

Our verdict? Don’t hold your breath for iOS 6 this time of the summer.

You’ll be using Siri to control your new tablet

We’re going to sit on the fence with this one, whilst there might already be reports of Siri-like dictation cropping up in iOS 5 betas, we can’t see this extending to full-fledged Siri functionality on the iPad 3. Why? Because of connectivity. When you ask Siri a question, it needs to contact Apple’s servers to decipher what you’ve just said then search around for an answer. All of this requires a stable, solid internet connection and if you’re out and about with your WiFi-only iPad 3, this might not be possible. Siri-like dictation would be lovely, but technically it could be a bit of a nightmare. Plus, it wouldn’t be the first time Apple’s engineers have dropped a false feature into a beta to throw us off the scent, would it?

Odds and ends

There’s a few other rumours that are worth a mention before we sign off and leave you all to discuss it all in the comments. For starters, that Bloomberg report we mentioned earlier spoke of the iPad 3 featuring an LTE chip. This is pretty feasible, but perhaps only in a top-of-the-range model. There’s talk over in our Twitter mentions of pro apps like Aperture coming to the iPad and we wouldn’t be surprised to see them sneak in to the iPad 3 announcement, albeit in a slimmed-down format. What do you think? What would you like to see in the iPad 3? Take a good guess via Twitter, Facebook, email or in our comments section to let us know. We’ll try and keep this blog updated as and when rumours break and change, so yours could up on here too!

(Originally posted 16th Jan 2012)

Hot off the heals of Issue 103, February’s iCreate is a WiFi extravaganza. We get emails all the time from people suffering WiFi woes so this is our way of rectifying them in one fell, magazine-shaped swoop. There’s everything you need to know here, from protecting your network, making friends with your router settings, setting up wireless hard drives to accessing your iTunes library across your home network. Even if you’re not having problems with your network, there’s certainly some ways you can improve it to really enhance your digital life and it’s all in here.

Not a fan of WiFi? Not a problem! Alongside our usual plethora of iPhoto, GarageBand, iMovie, and third-party tutorials, we’ve got two amazing creative features for you to sink your teeth into. Skip over to page 12 where we’ll show you the number one secret to creating great photo albums. Is it good quality printing? No. Is it an amazing camera? No. It’s taking great photos in the first place. We’ll walk you through the accessories, apps you can use to make your photos, and eventually your photo albums, truly great.

So that’s still images covered, but what about those moving ones? Well, if you own and iPhone and iPad, you’ve got everything you need to be the next Spielberg. No, really. If you’re not convinced, check out our Make Mobile Movies feature over on page 82 to find out more and you’ll be filming your feature lengths on the move in no time, we’re sure of it.

As ever, we’ve topped off this veritable trio of features with a sprinkling of news, reviews, tutorials and more. What’s not to love? Grab a copy of the mag at your local shop or newsagent and dig in. We won’t disappoint, we promise.

iCreate 104 is available in all good shops and newsagents, on our Newsstand app, and via subscription now. In fact, if you’re a subscriber, chances are you’ll already have the mag sitting on your coffee table, and you’ll have saved a little on the high-street price too. Sound appealing? Check out our subscriptions site now and grab yourself a great deal.

Competition now closed!

All entries made now will not be counted, but if you want to check out sweet setups, check our entrants gallery below!

And the winners are…

Luke Doran and Val Corallo! Edit: We initially missed off our third lucky winner who is…Kevin L! Please email us at icreate@imagine-publishing.co.uk with your postal address to claim your prize. Commiserations and thanks to all of those who entered but didn’t win, we’ll be holding another competition in March though, so keep your eyes peeled!

There are a couple of things you should know about us. First of all, we love seeing how people have all of their Apple gear set up, because some people go to some serious effort to make their home or office look amazing, and secondly we have a cupboard full of prizes that we really need to get rid of.

After a few weeks of pondering these points, we came up with a brilliant solution – combine them for a fantastic giveaway! Here’s the deal: All you need to do is take a snap of your desk with your Mac, iPad, iPod, iPhone etc (or any combination of those items) sitting proudly in place, and then post it below in the comments section of this post. We don’t care whether your desk is a complete mess or the epitome of cleanliness, as long as your Apple set up is incredibly cool and fantastically functional you’re in with a chance of winning. We also don’t mind if you’re running a little MacBook all on it’s own; you have just as much chance of winning a prize as those with three Thunderbolt Displays, two MacBooks, an iMac, a Mac Mini, four iPads, six iPods and an iPhone 1G (we’re sure there’s someone out there…).

To post your picture you’ll need to upload it to a hosting site, such as Flickr, Instagram or ImageShack, then copy the link of your picture and post it below. We’ll check all of them out and update this post as regularly as possible when new set-ups are posted. The competition closes on the 14th of February at 10am GMT, and by that point we should hopefully have a Set-up Gallery, from which we will be picking our three favourite set-ups. These three lucky people will win a prize or two from our cupboard – we have all kinds of things in there, for iPads, Macs, iPhone and iPods, so there’s sure to be something you will use!

If you prefer, you can also email us a photo of your set-up to iCreate@imagine-publishing.co.uk, or tweet it to us @iCreateMagazine. So there you have it! You have everything you need to enter, you know that the closing date is a week from today, and you know that we have some incredibly cool prizes to give away. What are you waiting for?!

Bonus! Here’s a video by Dom Beno (@dombeno on Twitter) about his own Apple Setup:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you own an iPad, it’s likely that you know just how difficult it is to type long articles or other pieces using iOS’s software keyboard. While the layout of the keyboard is great, for prolonged periods of typing, a Bluetooth keyboard, or often just a Mac, is much easier to use. For those who can touch-type especially, the software keyboard presents a problem. Not any more, however.

The iKeyboard started life as a Kickstarter project which earned more than 6 times it’s target by raking in more than $26,000 after just a few weeks. Now, though, just over six months later, the project is finished and ready to ship to consumers around the world. And we really want to try one.

The keyboard uses strips of gentle adhesive to attach to the front of the iPad, and when you’re not using it you can either remove it completely or stick it to the top of your device. If you want to store your iPad, the iKeyboard is thin enough that a Smart cover will fit neatly over it (although we’re still not sure whether the screen lock would work – we will test it). It should also play nice with a number of cases, and those it can’t cooperate with will just mean you need to remove it before storage of your iPad.

There are instructions over on the company’s website on how to use the keyboard which neatly demonstrate the simplicity of the idea. There are no actual keys here, and nothing that needs powering, so really all you have to do is stick it to the front of your iPad in line with the Virtual keyboard and you’re ready to work. The raised bumps will provide feedback to enable quick typing, and while we don’t see this being so revolutionary that we throw out our Wireless Keyboards, it is so much more portable that it’s well worth the $35 it’s currently selling for on Amazon. It’s available there in black and white, but at the moment it seems both are out of stock, so we’ll be checking back regularly in the hope that the next shipment has arrived.

Over the last few weeks there seems to have been a huge increase in the number of rumours about Apple making a TV set of its own. Several sources claim the company plans to create a TV for release in the next year or two, and when this many people seem to have the same information about a product, it seriously increases the likelihood that it’s correct.

This got us thinking. Of course, with the Mac, iPhone, Apple TV and most recently the iPad, Apple has been slowly edging their way further into our day-to-day lives. For some people, it’s now common to step into their home and use Apple devices for a full evening, watching movies, doing work, talking to friends, playing games and even reading.

What if Apple’s TV set (which we will henceforth be referring to as iTV to distinguish it from Apple TV) is just the next step in their plan for your life to be completely locked into their own products? Considering Apple TV runs iOS, the same operating system as iPhone and iPad, it’s fair to assume that the iTV would also use this system. And with many suggesting that Mac’s OS X and iOS will be merging into one system in the future, it’s possible that all your gadgets will be running the same system, communicating wirelessly, and working as one large device.

Of course, if this is the plan, there’s no reason that it couldn’t cover your whole house. Imagine stepping into your home and have Siri welcome you back. An iPhone and iPad app would turn the devices into controls for things like the lighting system or iTV, or you’d have the option to speak to Siri to get things done. Your iTV would not only receive HD content from iTunes, it’s specially-designed interface would enable you to quickly choose between watching live TV channels or playing the shows you’ve previously recorded to your Mac’s hard drive. Of course, if you wish, you can also use iTV to play games; with it’s dedicated graphics card, the iTV would let you play HD titles in full 1080p, controlling it with your iPad or iPhone, or even your mouse if you wanted. The iTV would be the epicentre of your entertainment experience, and everything you needed would be built into the mouth-watering hardware.

Of course, if you’re not in front of the iTV, you still have access to all your media, as well as other services. In the kitchen, for example, your surface would contain a large, tough touchscreen, that would allow you to look up recipes, write shopping lists and check what you have in your cupboards and fridge. In your bedroom the large picture frame on the wall would be a screen that cycles through the latest pictures that you added to your holiday album, and when you want it to, switches to the iTV function to let you catch up on your favourite shows in bed.

All of these features may still be science fiction, but this is surely the direction that technology is moving. Just over ten years ago, Apple really only made one kind of device – the Mac. It sat on a desk in your office and was used for work and, perhaps, getting creative, and the rest of the time it would be left alone. Now, millions of people carry around an Apple device in their pockets all day, get home and play games and read books on the iPad, and use Apple TV to watch the latest movies. Apple is slowly making its way more and more into our lives, and making it even easier to do the things we love. In the next few years, with the advances in technology that will surely be made, just think where we could be, and what we might be able to achieve with our Apple products. It may be a bit of a leap to say that you will be able to control your entire house with your voice, like Tony Stark, but if Siri makes its way into more than just the iPhone 4S in the next few years, just remember – we called it.

Below is just a glimpse at what your home might look like in the future. Click the image for a larger view: