iCreate

iPad 5 production reportedly ramping up for September launch

Stephen Ashby — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:12:56 +0000

Martin Hajek has come up with several fantastic mockups of the iPad 5 based on rumours and leaks

DigiTimes is reporting that Apple will soon begin trial production of the new 9.7-inch iPad 5, with mass production starting up in July, according to supply chain sources in Taiwan. The report says that the smaller, thinner iPad will be available as soon as September, maintaining the 2,048 x 1,536 Retina display of the current iPad but using new technology that will enable the tablet to be thinner and lighter than the current model:

“The new display is built on a glass substrate of 0.2mm, thinner than the 0.25mm one for the 4th-generation device, the sources said, adding the new table will has a narrow bezel. The touch panel solution for 5th-generation iPad is GF2 (1 layer of glass and two layers of ITO film) instead of G/G bonding used in 4th-generation iPad, the sources added.

The new iPad will use one LED light bar for backlighting, compared to two LED light bars used in 4th-generation iPad, the sources noted. The 5th-generation iPad is estimated to be 25-33% lighter than the 4th-generation one, the sources indicated.”

This report lines up with several rumours over the last few months, all of which suggested the new iPad will take design cues from its little brother, the iPad mini. It’s expected that the new iPad will feature thinner bezels on either side of the screen, as well a thinner shell that curves in a similar way to the mini.

This mockup, from http://www.ciccaresedesign.com, was designed for macrumors.com based on leaked information

Empire: Total War – Gold Edition Review for Mac

Stephen Ashby — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:13:25 +0000

Minimum System Specs: • 2.0 GHz processor • 4GB RAM and 256MB VRAM • OS X 10.7.4

Learn more… • www.feralinteractive.com

Available from… • Mac App Store

Price: £27.99/$39.99

When it comes to strategy games, the Total War series has been around for longer than most. This latest Empire version adds a number of new features, including Naval Combat, and its Gold status means the extra downloadable content is automatically included, free of charge.

The game puts you in command of a nation and sets objectives. Whether you’re taking over a nearby stronghold or negotiating peace with neighbouring factions, the action is non-stop. In the world map you’ll need to organise your armies, manage your cities and ensure your borders are safe. Engaging with an enemy, on land or sea, will take you in to battle.

This is where the game really starts to show off. While you have the ability to quickly let the computer decide battles for you, taking control of your various troops and directing them on the battlefield is an intense experience. After strategically placing your troops you’ll have to control them wisely, using artillery, calvary and infantry to ensure victory. Battles can be incredibly close, although the AI often acts less than intelligently, meaning higher difficulty levels are required for a real challenge. It looks gorgeous, too – you can zoom right into a fight between two units, before panning all the way out and overlooking the entire battlefield in one smooth motion.

The graphical high point, however, is the naval battles, in which you control a fleet of ships fighting for the best positions. With
a choice of ammunition and the option to board, the tactics used in these battles are markedly different from those on land. And, with some of the best water effects we’ve seen, and beautifully animated crews that react to your orders, it’s a visual treat.

Empire: Total War will last you for months. The game has that ‘just one more turn’ feeling to it that will have you sitting in front of it long into the night. There are several campaigns to play through, and each one will last you anything between several days and several weeks.

You can also re-create famous battles, and play with friends over a LAN connection. Feral has said it hopes to update the game with full online multiplayer capabilities through your Mac’s Game Center.

There’s plenty to keep you busy until then, however, and despite the sometimes poor AI, this is one title that will keep you coming back for more time and again.

Buy now?

Pros A huge, graphically beautiful title that will eat up your life

Cons The AI is a little weak in some places

Verdict:

iPhoto Tutorial: How to create an action-packed slideshow

Freddie Harrison — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:50:06 +0000

When you return from a holiday, you’ll often have hundreds of photos that you’ll want to share with your friends and family when they come over to see you. However, watching someone flick through endless numbers of photos can be incredibly boring, so simply scrolling through your snaps will quickly become dull. Thankfully, there are a few great ways to make your shots more interesting to those who weren’t there with you, and iPhoto’s Slideshow setting lets you customise the way your images will look to keep your viewers entertained through every one of your photos. For the most heart-pounding ride through your trip, you can create an action-packed slideshow using fast-paced music and dynamic transitions to keep your friends and family enthralled. In this tutorial we take you through the process of making an exciting photo slideshow that will allow you to relive your holiday like never before.

Step 1: Get creative

First of all, select the photos you want to use and click on Create in the bottom-right corner of the iPhoto window. Select Slideshow from the list.

Step 2: Entitled

To give your slideshow a title, either type it into the sidebar on the left of the window, or simply double- click the title and type what you want it to say.

Step 3: Thematic

Now you can add a theme. Click Themes in the bottom-right to see a list of the themes available. For our action slideshow Shatter worked best.

Step 4: What’s playing?

Next, click Music in the bottom-right. You’ll have access to all kinds of music, including iTunes and songs built into iPhoto. Pick something fast-paced.

Step 5: It’s a set up!

In the Settings panel you have access to options such as slide length. Check this box and iPhoto will adjust this to match your music track’s length.

Step 6: Super effective!

You can also use this panel to add effects to your slides, such as Antique. We rarely apply these to action slideshows, but they can sometimes work.

Step 7: Aspects

The Settings area also holds the option to adjust the aspect ratio. Depending on how you’ll be showing off your slideshow, you may need to adjust this.

Step 8: Previews

To get a taste of what your finished slideshow will look like, hit Preview. The slideshow will play within the window with all the effects applied.

Step 9: Export

When you’ve finished your slideshow, hit the Export button. You’ll have options for how to export, and when you’re done hit the Export button again.

(Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)

iPhoto tutorial: How to create an interactive web gallery

Stephen Ashby — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:56:04 +0000

There are plenty of ways to share your photos with iPhoto. Whether you’re creating cards or printing a calendar, the app features all kinds of choices for getting creative. However, one of the least-known options comes in the form of a web gallery that can be exported quickly and easily and then uploaded to your own site – it’s the perfect way to share your shots quickly with friends without having to spend hours with other apps importing photos and building galleries.

What’s more, it’s really simple and features plenty of customisable options. If you just want the photos to display, it’s easy, but you can also upload titles, descriptions and location data. When you’re finished you’ll need to upload your selection to your own website manually, but iPhoto creates all the parts you need for a brilliant photo gallery.

1: Make a selection

Choose the photos you want to add to your web gallery; you can either click an event or album, drag a box around the photos you want, or choose Select All.

2: Export

Unlike most other creations in iPhoto, the web gallery option is pretty hard to find. Click File, then choose Export from the drop-down menu to find it.

3: Web Page

You will now see four options along the top of the Export window. The second is the one that we’re really interested in – click it and give your gallery a title.

4: Customising

Next, customise the gallery. You can change the number of rows and columns on a single page. We always use the Framed option for our galleries.

5: Thumbnail options

In the bottom-left you can alter the maximum size of thumbnails, as well as turn on options such as showing each photo’s title and description under the thumbnail.

6: Full size

You have similar options for the full-sized images, but there is more scope. Switch on Metadata to give info about the camera settings for each shot, for example.

7: End with export

When you’ve finished tweaking the settings for your gallery, hit Export. This will save your files with everything needed by your website for uploading.

8: Create a folder

When you see this screen, hit New Folder in the bottom- left and name your new folder. This will keep the numerous files that iPhoto creates nice and tidy.

9: Preview

To preview what your finished gallery and photos will look like, open one of the index files in the folder you just created and the page can be viewed offline.

Click Image to Enlarge:

GarageBand Tutorial: How to use Flex Time to fix your tracks

Freddie Harrison — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:04:42 +0000

Scratch the surface of Apple’s entry-level DAW and you’ll find that GarageBand is actually an extremely versatile and powerful bit of kit, especially considering that it comes free on every new Mac. One of the more advanced features found lurking under the hood is the Flex time functionality, borrowed from GarageBand’s sibling app, Logic. This essentially lets you treat audio files, or ‘Real Instrument’ regions, as if they were MIDI regions, so you can separate, pick up, move, and stretch sections of audio waveforms in much the same way that you can edit MIDI notes. Along with Groove Matching, which lets you select one master track to automatically align the timing of everything else in your project to, GarageBand’s Flex functionality makes it a breeze to fix wayward timing issues when editing your projects. Here’s a basic rundown….

Step 1: Select target region

Double-click the region you want to edit in the Timeline to view it in the waveform edit pane. Our example shows a vocal phrase.

Step 2: Adjust placement

In the Control menu, turn off the Snap to Grid function and adjust the position of the region until the first word of the phrase is on the correct beat.

Step 3: Point of no return

Position the cursor in the upper-half of the region in the edit pane and it transforms into the Flex pointer. Click on the first part of the waveform you want to edit.

Step 4: Flexitime

You’ll probably be asked to enable that track’s Follow Tempo & Pitch feature. Click Continue and GarageBand will analyse the audio in the project for you.

Step 5: Flex of gold

A flex marker should now appear. The areas around the marker change colour to indicate which parts of the waveform will be stretched or compressed.

Step 6: A nice example

Drag the marker left or right to adjust the position of the waveform. Here, we’re moving the third word in the phrase so that it falls on the second beat of the bar.

Step 7: Flex in effect

Use the pointer to insert additional markers to adjust the positioning of adjacent parts of the waveform, gradually shaping the phrase to fit the project tempo.

Step 8: Star performance

Select the track you want to align the timing of everything to, and click the star in the box that appears when you hover over the left-edge of a track’s header.

Step 9: Match of the day

Click Continue, then tick the checkboxes in the headers of the tracks that you want to align to the groove master and watch the waveforms snap into line.

Click the image below to zoom in and view the annotations.

Mac malware found, bypasses Gatekeeper and stores screenshots

Freddie Harrison — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:34:33 +0000

Image courtesy of f-secure.com

Mountain Lion’s Gatekeeper might be another line of defence against an increasing backdrop of Mac malware but, according to security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, it’s been breached.

Appelbaum made the discovery at a human rights conference where a suspicious-looking macs.app was found on an attendees machine. The malware itself, which is being called OSX/KitM.A, installs itself onto machines using a signed Apple Developer ID to bypass OS X Mountain Lion’s Gatekeeper functionality.

Early research indicates that the malware itself is relatively harmless (it currently saves and stores screenshots in an infected Mac’s Home folder) but the fact that it easily bypassed a security feature designed to stop Malware is concerning. It’s worth noting, however, that Gatekeeper does allow Apple to block install attempts from this particular developer ID, although existing infected machines would need to have it uninstalled manually.

According to Mac Rumors, it’s easily uninstalled by deleting the macs.app entry from your machine’s login items and unisntalling the app which could be located in a number of places including your Mac’s home, applications or downloads folders.

You can find out some more specific details about the malware over on F-Secure.

If you’re interested in finding out more about protecting your Mac from spyware or malware, check out our Secure Your Mac feature in issue 120 of iCreate.

iCreate 120 is on sale in all good newsagents and supermarkets now. You can also grab the digital edition of the magazine, or get hold of it from our online shop.

Apple releases iTunes 11.0.3 with MiniPlayer improvements

Stephen Ashby — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:50:21 +0000

A comparison between the old MiniPlay (top) and the new MiniPlayer with progress bar and volume control (bottom)

Apple has released an update to iTunes 11, bringing improvements to the MiniPlayer, as well as support for multi-disc albums and the ability to view album artwork when in Songs view. The update weighs in at 187.5MB, and is available to download through the Mac App Store’s Updates section, or through Apple’s website.

Release notes:

This version of iTunes comes with several new features and improvements, including:

- New MiniPlayer. MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.

- Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.

- Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.

This update also provides performance improvements when searching and sorting large iTunes libraries.

The new volume control on the iTunes MiniPlayer

Click the artwork on the left of the MiniPlayer to see it in full

Top 5 iPhone Security Tips

Stephen Ashby — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:52:27 +0000

In recent years, it’s become easier and easier for thieves to make a quick buck from stealing iPhones and selling them on. Because the devices are so expensive they’re the target of many pickpockets, so it’s incredibly important that you do everything to make sure your phone is safe. Your device holds all kinds of information about you and your friends, but with these quick tips you can not only be sure that thieves won’t be able to unlock your phone and access your details, you’ll also be able to block your phone completely and track it down so the police can find out where your stolen device has gone should the worst happen. These tips could save you a huge amount of money, time, and stress.

You can find more security tips and tricks in issue 120 of iCreate, which is on sale in all good newsagents and supermarkets now. You can also grab the digital edition of the magazine, or get hold of it from our online shop.

1 Use complex passcodes

Setting a lockscreen passcode on your iPhone is one thing, but if you want to go a step further, head to Settings>General >Passcode Lock and tap the Complex passcode toggle.

2 Find my iPhone

Chances are you’ve already got an iCloud account, so setting up Find My iPhone should be easy. Ensure its toggle is set to On under the iCloud heading of your Settings app.

3 Restricting access

If you’re concerned about a potential thief disabling Find My iPhone, you can always restrict access to location settings in Settings>General>Restrictions.

4 Lock those downloads

To stop any unwanted or surprise purchases, you can disable App Store downloads and In–App Purchases in the Restrictions menu of Settings – it takes less than a minute to set up.

5 Where’s my IMEI?

Should your iPhone ever be stolen, you’ll need its IMEI number to block it with your carrier. You can get this by typing *#06# into your device’s Phone app.

Google’s new Hangouts app now available for iPhone and iPad

Freddie Harrison — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:42:53 +0000

This year’s Google I/O was packed with announcements, but Google Hangouts was certainly a highlight, now it’s available for iPhone and iPad on the App Store.

The Hangouts app is free and universal, although oddly it only works in portrait orientation on the iPad. It combines all of Google’s legacy chat and instant messaging services, bringing together group and one-to-one chat and video calling.

The Hangouts iOS is fully integrated with Hangouts on Android, Chrome and on the web via Google+. What’s more, notifications sync up across devices, so if you were to read a new message one device, alerts for it on others would be dismissed.

It’s a strong offering from Google in a relatively overcrowded market for IM apps and it certainly puts the pressure on Apple to up its game when it comes to WWDC next month.

Google’s cloud services “better than Apple’s”

iCreate Team — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:22:47 +0000

Editor of renowned publication Android Magazine has claimed that Apple’s iCloud service will never match what’s offered by Google. “Most Apple users don’t really know what iCloud offers, or how it works,” states Andy Betts. “Unlike Google, people don’t know what benefits iCloud offers, and while Google ensures all its services are compatible with the cloud, Apple can’t say the same. At present, Google has a cloud service Apple could only dream of.”

Google in particular has embraced cloud computing across all its services, and many would argue that it works even more effectively than iCloud. Whether it’s Gmail, Drive, Google Play, Calendar or Google+, everything works in the cloud and offers a fantastic platform for its users.

Google’s cloud services have proved very popular to users across different platforms

Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all been pushing their cloud services strongly over the past year or so, and this seems to have paid off, with Android devices selling by the bucketload, the Kindle Fire proving popular and Windows 8 giving the old OS a new lease of life.

On top of that, services such as Dropbox, Photobucket, Flickr and Netflix allow you to store files, share images, watch movies and much more through the cloud, and aren’t constrained to just one platform or device.

“iCloud is a service that Apple could certainly be pushing further”, stated Jon Gordon, Editor of iCreate magazine. “It offers a whole range of fantastic benefits, especially to those who own a number of iDevices. However, in some ways the services offered by the likes of Google and others are outshining iCloud, and Apple could learn a thing or two from them. Once people become familiar with what it has to offer though, it can really help keep your life in sync.”

Cloud computing itself has become big business. Allowing you to store work, films, music and more online means you can access everything you need wherever you are in the world, on virtually any device.

With a huge range of guides to show you how to get more from iCloud, Android, SkyDrive, Dropbox and more, The Cloud Computing Book Revised Edition is packed with step-by-step tutorials to help you get the most from the cloud, and show you how it can help you in every area of your life.

The Cloud Computing Book is on sale now from the ImagineShop, and all good newsagents priced £12.99.

Check out this beautiful camera app from the makers of Clear

Freddie Harrison — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:01:21 +0000

When Realmac Software (the brains behind the gesture-based to-do list, Clear) told us they were launching a new camera and photo filters app for iPhone, we couldn’t help but get a little excited.

The company teased the new app, Analog Camera, today, which features a gesture-based interface (much like its predecessor, Clear) and eight stunning photo filters that draw upon Realmac Software’s Analog for Mac.

As well as the built-in camera (which has three modes as well as touch focus and exposure), you can quickly access your Camera Roll and Photo Stream to use images from elsewhere and send the finished result to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all manner of other apps.

If the teaser video (below) is anything to go by, it looks like Analog Camera is built for speed as much as anything else, with the big and bold buttons aiding a fast operation. The app is due to hit the App Store later this month for a price of £0.69/$0.99. We’ll be reviewing it as soon as it drops.