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Techradar |
- Tutorial: 10 cool things you didn't know your Mac could do
- Apple under pressure over 30 per cent subs cut
- Is Apple planning to make televisions?
- Buying Guide: Best gaming headset: five pairs on test
- Review: Audiovector Ki 3 Signature
- Review: Emillé Ara integrated valve amplifier
- Tutorial: Apple Mail tips and tricks to help you work smarter
- Review: Okki Nokki JB1 record cleaning machine
- Review: Bryston BDP-1
| Tutorial: 10 cool things you didn't know your Mac could do Posted: 20 Feb 2011 12:00 AM PST  The number of cool things you can do with your Mac will probably surprise you. For example, did you know you can use it to catch a burglar, take over somebody else's Mac or even save the world? Yes, it's all true! Here we'll show you some of the cool tips and tricks the MacFormat team have picked up over the years, using Macs day in and day out. Of course, seasoned pros will know most of these tricks, but we expect there could still be a few in there that will surprise even the most gnarly old Mac expert. So, let's start our little tour with a look at how to turn your Mac into a home-security camera. 1. Catch a burglar
See that camera leering at you from your Mac? Well it's got more uses than just making FaceTime calls or taking amusing pictures. It can keep a watch over your house while you're out. Using an app such as EvoCam ($30), you can use the camera as part of your home security system. Another option is SecuritySpy (from £30). Then there are apps such as iAlertU (free), or Lockdown (free) that sound an alarm and take a picture if someone meddles with your Mac, so they'll be put off and you'll know who it is. It's a great way of protecting your kit if you're somewhere public and you've had to leave your Mac alone for a moment (of course, you'll have locked it down with a Kensington lock too, won't you?). 2. Create stopmotion classics
Sure, if you wanted to create a stop-motion movie, you could buy software such as iStopMotion, but in fact you don't have to spend a penny. Set up your stills camera on a tripod pointing at your scene, take a picture, move your characters, take another, repeat. If you want to take a time-lapse film, connect your camera over USB, open Image Capture (in Applications), choose File > Take Picture. Tell it how frequently you want a shot taken. Once you have your image sequence, launch QuickTime Player 7 choose File > Open Image Sequence, choose a frame rate and click OK. 3. Turn it into a retro games machine
Most Mac gamers know the joys of digital download services, such as Steam, but few are aware of the Mac-emulation scene. Thanks to emulator programmers such as Richard Bannister, you can play classic games of yore from just about any platform you care to remember. While emulation software is perfectly legal, the issue of acquiring game images, or 'ROMs', is murky. Some developers permit fan sites to host releases no longer on sale (such as www.lemon64.com), but other archives operate under the hazy rubric known as 'abandonware'. Be wary of your sources and use them at your own risk. OS X offers support for many USB game controllers, but drivers are needed to use an Xbox 360 gamepad. You can find one here. 4. Plug in and use any scanner
Your Mac can scan without installing any software, by doing it directly from Preview or Image Capture. First of all, plug in your scanner. To scan using Preview, from the File pull-down menu, select 'Import from Scanner' and choose your model of scanner. A scanning window opens, from where you can do a preview scan, select an image format, scan in colour, black and white or text, set the resolution and more. You can even correct the brightness, tint, temperature and saturation. Scanning through Image Capture is very similar. Open the app, and a connected scanner should appear in the side bar. Select your scanner, and it works in exactly the same way as scanning through Preview. If you don't need comprehensive controls, both applications have a Show/Hide Details button that toggles between a full control window and the bare minimum of settings for a quick and easy scan. 5. Use it without a mouse
The mouse (or trackpad) has been integral to Apple and its OS pretty much since the year dot, but with a few smart keyboard shortcuts, you can do a huge amount on your Mac without going near it. Aside from the obvious keyboard shortcuts that you'll see listed next to menu items, meet the application switcher. Press Command+Tab to bring it up. Hold down Command and press Tab repeatedly to cycle through your open apps; add Shift to move in the opposite direction. That's all well and good for switching between programs, but if you've got several windows open in a single app - say a couple of Pages documents - press Command+' to cycle through the open windows. And if your web browsing's built around tabs, press Ctrl+Tab to cycle through these in Safari. As with the application switcher, simply include Return to flick through them in the opposite direction. When you're navigating your files and folders in Finder using the arrow keys, you've no need to move your hand anywhere to open anything. Pressing Command+Down Arrow opens whatever you've got selected, while Command+Up Arrow opens the next folder up in the hierarchy. And if your Mac's set to open each folder as a new Finder window, you can override this by holding down Option as you press one of the above commands, which will close the current window as the new one opens. A few other shortcuts that are worth knowing about are Ctrl+Eject to bring up the Sleep/Restart/Shut Down dialog, and Ctrl+F3 or Command+F3 to access different Exposé features. 6. Take over somebody else's screen
How many times have you had a call from somebody who owns a Mac and needs your help? If you're anything like me it happens quite often. It would be so much easier if you could actually see their screen, so you could know exactly what they were talking about. Well, you might not know it, but all Macs have the built-in ability to look at, and take over, somebody else's Desktop! So long as you're both on the internet and running OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later, all you need is iChat. Fire it up, then start a chat session. The next thing you need to do is get them to choose 'Share My Screen from the Buddies' menu. You'll then have the ability to control their Mac using your keyboard and mouse - it's so easy! During screen-sharing an audio chat is initiated automatically, too, so you'll be able to talk them through any changes you're making. 7. Automate actions
Everyone forgets about Automator, the application that lets you automate repetitive tasks. It works by clicking together actions into a chain of events. Look at the Library of Actions at the left of the Automator window and you'll see that they're split into categories, which are grouped by type. Say you want to recreate a Workflow; we use a lot to prepare CMYK images in various formats, into RGB JPEGs. We start by defining which files we want to convert; do this by specifying a range of files manually using the options in the Files & Folders library, or by effectively running a Spotlight search looking for specific types of file. Next, drag in whatever Action you want to apply to those files defined in the first step - you'll see that the steps 'link' together to remind you that these workflows are chains of dependent steps. After converting to JPEG and applying the RGB ColorSync profile to change the colour space, we've used the very helpful 'Rename Finder Items Action' to force a JPG file extension. Whatever Workflow you create, you can run it from within Automator, or save it as a self-contained application (File >Save As). You could, for example, have a rule set up in Mail to trigger an Automator app or script so you could have your Mac at home perform actions by sending yourself an email. Finally, remember you can save Workflows as plug-ins for Finder, Folder Actions and more, so that you can run them by right-clicking on files or even just dropping files into a particular folder. 8. Use it as a dumb hard drive
If you connect a MacBook to another Mac by a FireWire cable then hold down T while you start it up, then it boots up into a special FireWire Target Disk Mode. You can now effectively use it as a removable hard drive, which is ideal if you need to transfer files from one Mac to another, or if you've got a problem that prevents the original Mac from booting properly. With the FireWire port not being included on the latest range of Apple's MacBooks this cool tip is falling out of favour, but it can still be a lifesaver for older white MacBooks, iBooks and MacBook Pros. Make sure you disconnect all other FireWire devices before you attempt this tip though, and remove any firmware passwords first. 9. Save the world!
Do you want to join the fight against cancer? Or perhaps you'd like to help look for aliens? Believe it or not, you can do both with your Mac. Distributed computing projects let you put your computer's spare processing power to good use. The project organiser's server downloads small amounts of information or 'packets' to your Mac over the internet. Your machine then processes this packet and returns the results to the server. Projects include Folding@home, which analyses the way proteins fold and has already advanced our understanding of how cancers begin. And SETI@home looks for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence by analysing radio telescope data. 10. Doing your maths homework
Forget that expensive scientific calculator in your bag, chances are your Mac is all you'll need to solve those tricky problems. You probably know about the Calculator app, but did you know you can use it in scientific or programmer modes? Use the View menu to choose how it appears. If you just want to do a quick calculation, you can type it into the Spotlight search bar instead of launching Calculator - how cool is that? And here's the really good bit - hidden away in Applications/Utilities is a little app called Grapher. This will draw you 2D and 3D graphs in a number of formats. Just select the one you want, type in your equation, press Return and your line or plane will appear instantly. It does a whole lot more besides, including integrals and differentials, should you need them. When you're done, save, print or export as an image. 
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| Apple under pressure over 30 per cent subs cut Posted: 19 Feb 2011 05:58 PM PST  Anti-trust regulators in Europe and the United States are investigating the fairness of Apple's decision to take a 30 per cent cut of all in-app subscription payments. The company, which launched the service last week, will stop magazines and newspapers linking out to external websites and insist that all subscription collections go through the App Store. That means that Apple will be able to pocket 30 per cent of the selling price while, from June 30th, content providers will be banned from offering consumers a better deal on their own websites. Pressure is now mounting on both sides of the Atlantic for Apple to think again about the 'subscription tax' Is it fair? There are two issues that publishers deem unfair and unlawful. The first is the size of Apple's slice of the pie and secondly the closed system that forces customers to buy through them. The announcement has the trade police banging on Apple's door with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the Federal Trade Commission is examining whether Apple's actions break anti-trust laws. In Europe, the International Newspaper Marketing Association warned that "publishers simply can't afford to invest in new technology, products and services when the platform charges them 30% of total revenue." The group has called for an official investigation. The consensus seems to be that the levy is a bit drastic, but then the App Store does offer a fantastic opportunity for publishers to push their content in a new medium to a new audience. Perhaps a compromise is in order, but we certainly can't see Apple willingly entering into such an accord. 
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| Is Apple planning to make televisions? Posted: 19 Feb 2011 06:19 AM PST  A job posting on Apple's website suggests the company may be looking to bring its brilliant display tech to full-blown television sets. Cupertino is currently advertising for someone to work on "Apple's next-generation Macintosh platforms spanning from notebook computers, desktop computers, servers, standalone displays, and TV." The posting which is specific to "new power management designs and technologies" has many speculating the Apple might be preparing to enter the television game. Apple TV for real? The hype obviously arises from Apple's use of the word "TV" in the job description but, while it's fun to speculate, it would be difficult to see Apple entering an already-congested gogglebox market. We'd hope for continued upgrades to the affordable, yet feature-shy, Apple TV set-top box. 
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| Buying Guide: Best gaming headset: five pairs on test Posted: 19 Feb 2011 04:00 AM PST  If you love playing games but there are other people in the house/office that would rather not be subjected to the sounds of your speakers cranked up to 11, then you should invest in a pair of gaming headsets. But which are the ones to buy? Here, we've taken a look at five of the best gaming headsets for 2011. 1. Sony DR-GA500 - £100 Sony seems to have taken a leaf out of the Mass Effect design book with its headphones, which look like something Commander Shepard would wear while bouncing around the galaxy. They're designed specifically for PC gamers, and they ship with a relatively large digital signal processing unit, which connects to your sound card or USB port. I'm not convinced by the ability of a stereo connector to deliver a 7.1 channel output, as Sony claims. According to Sony's blurb the unit narrows the sound field, too, so that subtle sounds such as footsteps are enhanced whereas explosions are muted. It wasn't a hugely noticeable effect, though. The DSP box of tricks is impressive, but you would probably be better off investing in a decent sound card and headphones for the money. What's more they're not hugely comfortable, especially when you feel your skull crack slightly upon putting them on. Verdict: 63% 2. Logitech G930 - £132 Logitech's headset has rapidly become my favourite cans of all time and not without reason: It's a wireless headset that actually works. The sound is incredibly clear and expansive, with subtle bass and a nice wide treble. The technology of Logi has actually managed to get surround sound working on it, as well. They're rather weighty, but even weight distribution means that they are never uncomfortable. Like Microsoft's Sidewinder, they can be charged while you're using them, and unplugged when they're full. There are a couple of minor issues, however. The buttons on the side only occasionally seem to let you control Windows media centre, and the sound sometimes cuts out for a few seconds very. Other than that, though, this is a pair of cans that actually deserves the high price tag. If you can afford them, you can't afford to miss them. Verdict: 90% 3. Sennheiser PC333D - £100 USB soundcards are all the rage these days, and every headset in our round-up comes with one. Sennheiser's is the of the smallest of the bunch, consisting of a mere switch to enable Dolby, and the ubiquitous mic-in and headphone-in ports. The headset itself is comfortable to wear, and one of the cups handily bends back at an angle so you can actually hear what's going on in the real world. A nice tight fit means that background noise isn't too much of a distraction, and the mic is clear and doesn't pick up too much ambient chatter. The only problem is that at £100 these are massively overpriced for what they offer. All the steel-looking bits are actually plastic, the cable is low-grade and that USB sound card can't have cost much over £10 to make. If they were about £60 they'd be worth picking up, but at the moment they're simply too expensive. Verdict: 82% 4. Sharkoon XTatic - £106 This is a bit of an oddity from Sharkoon. These cans are marketed as a headset suitable for both consoles and PCs, provided they have SPDIF optical audio outputs. It takes the optical output, and converts it into 7.1 sound before chucking it out to the headphones. It sounds like a great idea on paper, but my PC - and most in PCF towers - don't have optical outputs. They have digital coaxial out, yes, but there's no option to connect Sharkoon's headsets via that popular format. You can connect it via USB, but it seemed to merely generate a crackly mono signal. A totally missed opportunity from Sharkoon, then. As comfortable and well-made as the headphones are, if there's no way to connect them to a 3.5mm jack or coaxial source, they're going to be fairly useless to most PC gamers. Unless you buy a sound card, which kind of negates the point. Verdict: 57% 5. Creative Sound Blaster Tactic - £54 PC Format magazine was filled with high hopes for Creative's latest headset attempt. It was a chance for the sound expert to redeem itself after its risible WoW headset. After all, its Fatal1ty headset is still going strong and still sounds great. The Tactic 3Ds are the cheapest in our test and they do feel slightly plasticky. There's the unusual decision to hollow out the 'phones, which means that putting them on is akin to holding a seashell to each ear. It means that certain background noises - such as clacking keyboards - are weirdly accentuated and echo. The mic isn't great, either, and it didn't generate a very high volume. Installing software usually sorts these problems out, but Creative's Control Panel failed to do anything other than crash. A shame, because these are the most bargalicious cans on test, and THX approval actually counts for quite a lot - when it works. Verdict: 76% 
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| Review: Audiovector Ki 3 Signature Posted: 19 Feb 2011 03:00 AM PST  The Ki-series is relatively new and also relatively inexpensive by Audiovector's standards. The Ki 3 Signature are the sole floorstanding models in a range that also includes a standmount and home cinema oriented variations. But each Ki-series model comes in three versions – Standard, Super and Signature – with superior engineering features as one moves up the ladder. We've chosen for this review the £1,890 per pair top-of-the-ladder Ki 3 Signature, but a key Audiovector feature is the option to upgrade from the base model to those higher up the hierarchy. Unconventional performer All three Ki 3 variations share the same basics, which are themselves somewhat unconventional. The unique upgradeability has already been mentioned, but no less interesting (if a little more common) is the quarter-wave bass loading this model uses. It's a relatively unusual technique that has something in common with tuned-column and transmission-line loadings, but in this case the shape of the tapered column behind the drivers leans significantly towards horn-loading. A handful of speaker companies have adopted this approach in recent years, the most prominent being Castle Acoustics with its 'twin pipe' models. The Ki 3s have just the one internal quarter-wave column, which forms a V at the bottom front edge and is created by a partition set at a narrow angle so that it stops well short of the top and roughly bisects the depth. The partition, therefore, creates a rather narrow horn behind the two bass/mid drivers, with a very small 'slot mouth' created between the enclosure base and the plinth. Three driver two-way The two identical main drivers are 130mm units, allowing the enclosure to have an exceptionally slim front view. They operate in tandem right up to the 3.2kHz crossover point and feature 90mm diaphragms made from a woven mix of glass and carbon fibres, impregnated, sealed (and damped) within a polymer matrix.
The tweeter has a transparent 25mm woven fabric done, driven from a neodymium magnet with high-viscosity ferro-fluid damping. This Signature version exclusively uses rubber grommets in the mounting to isolate it mechanically from the cabinet above 2.5kHz. The crossover network is a deliberately simple, minimalist affair, as care is taken to optimise the drivers to make this possible. It's fed from twin terminal pairs, permitting bi-wiring connection or bi-amp drive. The enclosures are nicely finished in a choice of four real-wood veneers (cherry, black ash, rosewood and maple) – a silk white paint finish is available at extra cost. Besides the decoupling tweeter mounting, the other feature exclusive to the Signature Ki 3 is a so-called Superstand – a neat, if rather small plinth. Nicely shaped and finished in silver, it does extend the stability footprint a little. Crucially, however, it incorporates a leaf spring in the fixing for the front spikes, so mechanically decoupling the speaker from the floor. Another feature, this time shared with the Super version, is extra reinforcement for the front and back panels. The top half of the front panel, where the drivers are mounted, is laminated with an extra silver-painted panel 8mm thick; the back is laminated by a shaped and much thicker (up to 24mm maximum) panel, again painted silver but extending the full height of the enclosure. Needing some space The Ki 3 came with the confident recommendation that it should be used fairly close to a wall, in order to provide some mid-bass reinforcement. This didn't entirely correlate with our far-field in-room averaged response measurements, which indicated that free space actually gave a marginally flatter overall response. However, wall reinforcement only showed a mild excess and was actually preferred subjectively. That's probably because the quarter-wave loading seems to be inherently less resonant than the more common reflex ported approach – it certainly sounds that way. Best subjective results under our conditions were obtained with the backs of the speakers about 30mm out from the wall. The main driving system comprised a Naim NAC552 preamp with NAP500 and NAP135 power amplifiers, driven from Naim CDS3/555PS and Rega Valve Isis CD players, as well as a Magnum Dynalab MD106T FM tuner. Vinyl record players included a Linn/Rega hybrid using a Soundsmith Strain Gauge cartridge. Cables were from Naim, Phonosophie, The Chord Company, TM Systems and Vertex AQ. Smooth operator First impressions did reveal some limitations, in both bass weight and dynamic expression. But this speaker also shows a smooth and even overall balance, a wide dynamic range and good basic coherence. Stereo imaging is particularly good, with very little evidence of boxy effects, and very fine central focus. Furthermore, while the bass might lack some ultimate weight and scale, it does possess the liveliness and clean, crisp character associated with quarter-wave loading, which is musically more useful. According to the designer, the Ki 3s were designed: "to be used as both traditional hi-fi speakers and as party speakers," and they were equally at home with heavy electronic stuff and more familiar material from English-speaking bands like Tool, System of a Down and Audioslave. While the Ki 3 shows good loudness capability and handles plenty of power without distress, its mild upper-mid forwardness is happier operating at low and medium volume levels than playing appropriately heavy material at 'party' levels. It can certainly do the latter, but the consequences tend to be an aggressive rather than a comfortable experience.
This is a speaker that does a very good job of disappearing, sonically speaking. It might have certain limitations in terms of dynamic vigour, and doesn't really offer the grip and tension one might find with a larger speaker. It could also do with a little more sweetness and transparency at the top end of the band, but the good enclosure control means that the actual dynamic range and coloration levels are both low. On balance, Audiovector's Ki 3 is rather impressive. Its super-slim front and suggested near-to-wall location certainly makes it a very attractive and discreet package. The taut, tight and clean bass is a particular joy, underpinning a generally smooth, if somewhat forward tonal balance. The sound is basically free from coloration, with fine stereo imaging. The only significant criticisms are that the sound is a little small in terms of weight and dynamic expression and can become aggressive when playing at high levels. And a somewhat larger plinth would certainly improve the overall physical stability. Related Links
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| Review: Emillé Ara integrated valve amplifier Posted: 19 Feb 2011 02:30 AM PST  Emillé takes its name from a giant, ornate bell that is considered a national treasure in its native Korea. Its range of well thought-out integrated, pre/power amplifiers and phono stages is entirely valve-based and has worn commensurately high-end price tags up until now. The £2,450 Ara is not exactly cheap, but is comfortably Emillé's least expensive integrated amp ever and targets a rather more accessible and competitive price point. The good news is that there is little sign of cost-cutting. The Ara is built in the same factory as the larger amplifiers and there is little sense at any stage that this is a 'poverty spec' product. The valve complement differs from the rest of the range and, in fact, differs from most other valve amplifiers on the market. Alongside a relatively normal choice of 6922 valves for the preamp section, the Ara makes use of four 7591a valves for the power section instead of the more usual choices of EL34 or KT88. These endow the Ara with an output of 22 watts at credible distortion levels. While not a huge amount of power, the 20-watt boundary is an important one in terms of system-building and gives the Ara the ability to work with speakers with sensitivity in the high 80s, as well as more specialised 90dB/w plus designs. Input innovation The other very interesting feature can be found nestling unobtrusively on the rear panel. As well as a pair of RCA line inputs, the Ara is fitted with an SP/DIF and a USB input. This is not something we have ever seen before on a valve amp and makes the Ara rather more flexible in connectivity terms than might otherwise be expected. The digital board is entirely solid-state and makes no use of any additional valves. The feature set is rounded-off with a headphone socket and remote control for the volume. Slightly limited number of analogue inputs aside, this is a well-specified product with considerable flexibility in how you might go about using it.
Aesthetically, the Ara is designed in the Emillé house style. Two large knobs serve as the power switch and input selector, while the central knob is the volume control. A full-sized covering cage is supplied to protect the valves which does make the Ara respectably childproof. We tested without the cage in situ, as we preferred the appearance, but given the cage is included in the asking price, it is a useful thing to have. Fit and finish is also very good. Controls move with a precise and solid feel, the panel gaps are minute and the connections on the back are high-quality and rock-solid. If the Ara was a 'normal' valve amplifier with only analogue inputs, it would be good value. With the unique options afforded by the digital inputs, it looks more like a bargain – depending, of course, on how good those digital inputs are, more of which later. No stereotype Starting by listening to the standard analogue inputs, the Ara makes a convincing case for itself. There is no sense of excessive warmth or bloom to performance or any other stereotypical 'valve sound' traits. The Ara has an incisive, detailed and fabulously real presentation. There is no softening of frequency extremes or flabbiness in the bass which allows the Emillé to demonstrate superb timing that is better than many solid-state amplifiers. The Ara makes good use of the 22-watt output and should generate all but the most ballistic of listening levels from speakers of reasonable sensitivity. At the same time, there is a sense of space, air and presence to vocals and instruments that is hard to realise with anything other than a well designed valve amplifier. Vocals, in particular, are staggeringly well presented, never separated from instruments or their surroundings, but completely attention-grabbing and placed perfectly in a wide and believable soundstage. Given that the digital input board on the Ara represents the company's first attempt in the field of digital reproduction, we were not entirely sure what to expect. The USB is not an asynchronous type and neither will it handle hi-res formats, but it connects correctly to both PCs and Macs and proves silent and stable in use. More importantly, the performance is excellent. The overall sonic balance of the Ara is unchanged by the digital inputs which is superb achievement. There is something surreal and yet strangely satisfying about seeing the Ara turn in the same superb performance it does from the analogue inputs, from a laptop playing your iTunes collection. There is always a sense that performance of this nature ought to be something that entails more fiddling around or sacrifices in convenience. The Ara rejects this thinking entirely. Lossless files The electrical digital input is if anything, even better. A fair amount of listening was conducted with the unlikely partnership of an £80 Pure i-20 connected digitally to the Ara. This duo proved a very happy one. Fed on a diet of AAC lossless files, the Ara loses none of the captivating detail and timing from this compact source and the 21st-century slickness of the iPod interface sits brilliantly with the retro tech of the Ara. CD proved equally satisfying. Superb value The digital inputs are an interesting feature. If you are using a high quality standalone CD player, the Ara will have to be considered as a two-input amplifier with a digital board that might prove useful going forward. If you are considering a more wholesale upgrade to your system, the Ara is superb value for money. If the performance over the analogue inputs is to your liking, the digital inputs offer sound quality comparable to most £1,000 sources and allow the connection of streamers, iPod docks, or a CD player with a digital output. The Ara is a superb amplifier and the combination of well implemented 'old' technology and latest thinking is one that we like very much and highly recommend. Related Links
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| Tutorial: Apple Mail tips and tricks to help you work smarter Posted: 19 Feb 2011 02:00 AM PST  Life without email is now hard to imagine. Luckily, your Mac comes with a great little program to send and receive emails and there's a lot of power lurking behind its friendly interface. We're going to help you unleash some of this, to help you work better, faster and smarter with your daily email, leaving you with a few extra minutes to concentrate on other tasks. Firstly, let's tailor the toolbar to your needs. Right-click it and you'll see an option to Customize Toolbar. This drops down a window with all the buttons you can add – there are plenty to choose from. Simply drag and drop the ones you need to build your perfect toolbar. If you decide you'd rather have the original one back, drag the set at the bottom onto the toolbar to restore it. You can also decide if you'd like the buttons to appear as icons, text, or both. You'll be amazed at how much time you can save by having your frequently used commands close to hand. If you've got several email accounts, you can add each one by going to Preferences > Accounts and clicking the + button. With a lot of accounts, you won't even need to type in server details, because Mail will work them out for you. Most people end their emails with some sort of signature, which is a useful way to have your contact details, website address and more in one place. Signatures are account-specific, which is great if you've got both your personal and work addresses set up – you don't need to remind your family of the fact you're the managing director when you send them your holiday photos! In Preferences, click Signatures, select the account you want to create the signature for, and click the + button. Give it a memorable name, and enter the details you want in the text frame. You can even use an image.
Then tick the Place signature above quoted text box, so that it doesn't get lost below any emails you reply to. Add as many signatures as you like. Use the Choose Signature: dropdown to pick which is the default, or to have a random one chosen each time. When you next compose an email from this account, your signature will appear, or use the Signature menu to pick another. While we're in the Compose window, did you know you can customise its toolbar as well? Right-click it in the same way you did in the main Mail window. And then there are the fields at the top: do you ever wish there was a Bcc line there? Click the little menu below the Subject line and choose Customize… to tailor the window to your needs. If you've got more than one account set up, you'll see a From: drop-down there as well. By default, your emails will come from the account you were viewing when you clicked Reply or New Message. Now, those of you who have a large screen might be interested to know you can open multiple Mail viewer windows. This is a great way of monitoring two accounts at once. To open an additional window, press Option+Command+N or go to File > New Viewer Window. Now, here are more ways to work smarter with email… How to work better with your emails 1. Optimise your viewing options Unread messages need to stand out, so go into Preferences, click Viewing and tick Display unread messages with bold font. At the bottom of the Viewing pane, you'll see a Message threading option – tick this to highlight related messages in your inbox. Say you've invited some friends over for dinner by sending a group email – when you click one reply, it will highlight all the others in your inbox, helping you spot them quickly. Use the colour box to determine what shade is used. Beware, however, that Mail's way of linking messages in this way isn't always perfect, so it may end up highlighting messages with the same subject line, even if they're unrelated. For this reason, we suggest you don't use this feature to actually group messages together (which you access via View > Organize by Thread). Use the top drop-down in the Viewing Preference pane to set up what headers you see when you receive mail – that's the From, Subject, date and other details at the top of a message. If you frequently find yourself needing to see routing information, for example, use the Custom option to specify what you see. 2. Rules, rules, rules If you receive lots of email, keeping on top of it takes time. Rules can help by automatically performing tasks on mail as it comes in, based on criteria you set up. Say you're subscribed to several mailing lists for theatres and cinemas in your area, and you get a couple of messages from each list a week. Most of these won't be time-critical, meaning you don't need them cluttering up your inbox, but you'll want to go over them at your leisure later. You can set up a rule that says all emails coming from certain addresses should be moved to a given folder. Rules can be as simple or complex as you want, so you can build yourself a sophisticated filtering system that helps you sort the wheat from the chaff. To create rules, go to Preferences > Rules and click Add. You can choose whether to apply them retrospectively as well. If you find things are ending up in the wrong places, tweak the offending rule to make things work how you want. 3. Smart mailboxes
Smart mailboxes group messages together if they match certain criteria. You might wonder what the point in them is when you can create rules. But smart mailboxes don't move the email, so it remains in its original place. These mailboxes can include messages from any folder, including Sent. Editing a message in a smart mailbox alters the original. Say your business gets lots of emails from customers, as well as advertising and other messages. It's important you reply to each customer message, so set up a smart mailbox to display all the mail sent to your customer service address that hasn't been replied to. As you work through the list, they'll disappear from the smart mailbox, but you'll still have them stored safely. Smart mailboxes have their own unread count. Set one up in Mailbox > New Smart Mailbox…. 4. Fight the spam
No matter how careful you are about giving your email address out, the odd unwanted message can still find its way into your inbox. Most email providers screen mail before it comes to your Mac, but Mail has its own system to complement that. Go into Mail's Preferences and click Junk Mail, then tick the top box to switch on filtering. Below, decide what you want Mail to do when spam comes along. If you don't get much, it's best to leave the top option selected. You can also choose to exempt messages from people in your Address Book, or from those you've previously conversed with. If you find yourself inundated, select the third radio button and then click Advanced… to set up more sophisticated rules. It may also be worth ticking Filter junk mail before applying my rules, so that junk mail doesn't find its way into your other folders. 
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| Review: Okki Nokki JB1 record cleaning machine Posted: 19 Feb 2011 02:00 AM PST  Okki Nokki distributor Ken White has been selling second-hand records since the nineties, so he knows a thing or two about filth, enough it would seem to have sought out this strangely named machine and decided to bring it to the UK. It's certainly priced right at £395 – we don't know of a cheaper alternative that has built-in vacuuming capabilities and the ability to spin in both directions. Not only that, but it comes complete with concentrated cleaning fluid and a goat's-hair brush. The name, incidentally, is Dutch for 'thumbs-up'. Float on The true test of a record cleaner is how well it achieves its aim and how much effort is required to do so. But that's not all, there is also the question of reliability. A lot of cleaning machines need to have their reservoirs drained quite frequently – as often as every eight to ten records – this is because excess fluid will eventually work its way into the vacuum motor and damage it if not removed. One very useful feature of the Okki Nokki is that it has a float mechanism, that stops it operating when the fluid needs to be drained, so there's never any danger of water getting into the motor. Which given its electrical nature, has got to be a good thing. Operation is via two switches: one for forward/reverse and the other for suction, but first you need to dilute the cleaning fluid in a litre of condensed water and then pour a little back into the bottle which has small spout for ease of use. Inconveniently, this bottle has no lid so needs taping-up. The fluid itself is soap rather than alcohol-based and doesn't require rinsing. Sucking-up to vinyl The Okki Nokki is rather attractive in its white finish and it's not too big. More importantly, the vacuum motor isn't excessively noisy and does the job quickly. It's not as well finished as the Hanns Acoustics RC20 we looked at last year and doesn't look or feel quite as solid, but it's substantial enough for the job, even if the clamp is a little basic. The supplied brush is good quality and parts like the suction arm are very nicely executed, alternative length arms for seven- and ten-inch discs are available, as are replacement velvet strips which stop the tube damaging the vinyl. Another useful option is a dust cover at £49.95 – the last thing you want is dust on the foam-faced platter. Scrubber The cleaning process is pretty straightforward and once you've done it a couple of times, it's not too slow either; you can do what it suggests in the manual in about a minute per side. With dirty records, this process needs to be repeated up to three times and it's necessary to scrub for a bit longer than the indicated two revolutions. The result is that vinyl sounds relatively 'fresh' because the highs are clearer, which not only adds sparkle to the treble but brings greater definition across the range. Both an ancient Nina Simone album and a more recent Joni Mitchell one benefited quite obviously and curiously, a second clean proved worthwhile, even if the law of diminishing returns had started to kick in. It also gets rid of some sources of noise such as pops and clicks, not the ones caused by actual damage of course, but by larger deposits of detritus. Keep it clean There is no such thing as a record cleaning machine where you put a dirty record in at one end and get a clean one out at the other, they all require a fair amount of elbow grease. The Okki Nokki works as well as any we have tried, but costs less and has a safety feature that should stop users from inadvertently damaging it. Record-cleaning is not the most fun you can have with your clothes on, so an affordable machine that makes it painless is very welcome indeed. Related Links
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| Posted: 19 Feb 2011 01:30 AM PST  The engineers at Bryston have made the radical decision to build the BDP-1, a digital music player that doesn't stream music from a computer. Their angle is that streaming is bad, but digital music files are not. Is this then a brief diversion from the tidal onslaught of streamed music over solid software, or it could signal a new angle that brings us music files without the complications of streaming. Bryston's approach is to let you access music files stored on USB drives, be they thumb drives or hard drives which you stock up with music on the computer and then plug into the player. Drive on This approach is already available on a number of the streaming devices we have seen and does mean you can avoid the occasional glitches of wireless streaming, but it also makes getting new music a bit more cumbersome, albeit not significantly more than the traditional disc in a draw system that we have enjoyed/endured for so long. The BDP-1 has four USB inputs, the two on the front being for flash drives or powered hard drives, while the two on the back can power any attached drives. The idea is that you hook up larger terabyte drives to the back panel for a full collection of music and play new pieces with thumb drives through the front sockets.
You can't transfer data from one drive to another and each time you connect one it has to be scanned by the player so that it can update itself and show you what's on there. There are a number of ways to find what you want to play, out of the box you can navigate via the front panel display (this is not a large thing so you need to be close to it in order to read it) and you have to be close to it to scroll through it with buttons on the facia. The BDP-1 does not come with a remote control, that's an optional extra, but there are other control options. One is to drive it from a computer using an add-in for Firefox called Minion and the other is to download an app called mPod onto your Apple touchscreen device be it a Pod, Pad or Phone. Both these latter routes require an Ethernet connection between the player and your router, a connection that one would have thought could easily be used to stream through. We used the mPod app on an iPod Touch and found that it was easy to install and intuitive to use if a little slow to respond, but that's something you get used to. What takes a bit of familiarisation is the operating style of mPod, which is clearly geared toward playlist style use. If you have a track playing, for instance, and then choose another one, the system will let the first track finish before starting the next unless you press the next key. You can choose to play all the tracks on an album in sequential or random order, or do the same with a whole directory – that is the contents of a given drive. It's not up to usual iPod usability but comes close enough and you can show album art or a track listing but not change volume, the BDP-1 doesn't have an analogue output let alone level control.
Signal is output via one of two electrical digital outputs that don't include a RCA phono socket, but rather opt for the technically better but less common BNC connection – the BDP-1 is more a digital transport than a player. Data delivery Bryston is renowned for the build quality of its products and offers a five year warranty on digital products. The BDP-1 is built much like one of its preamplifiers with a solid aluminium front panel, clear two-line display and steel casework. It has pretty minimal socketry for four USB devices, Ethernet, digital outputs, RS232 connection and voltage triggers. The controls are much like those on a CD player except for the addition of the four navigation buttons which let you find your way around the attached drive(s). In technical terms, it's ability to play files up to 24-bit/192kHz puts it among the leaders in the music file game, but this is something that can be achieved with a computer via USB and, in both instances, you require a DAC that can accept this density of information. Bryston says the system's advantage is that it accepts raw data from a USB drive which means jitter is not an issue, but it's hard to see how the data sent from an attached drive differs from that streamed from a remote PC or hard disk, in both cases jitter only becomes an issue when the signal is converted to SPDIF or AES/EBU and sent to a separate DAC. This is why streamers from Naim and Linn have onboard converters and these are the products that the BDP-1 has to beat. Naim's Uniti is an all in one streamer/CD player/DAC and amp for £2,100, while Linn's Majik DS is £1,840 and doesn't have USB, but does include a DAC and volume control. Engaging results The BDP-1 does sound good when paired with Bryston's £1,950 (HFC 316) BDA-1 DAC, but then that's a pretty good DAC in its own right, nonetheless the 'player' is capable of pretty engaging results with all manner of music and we could easily have whiled away far more time than was available listening to familiar pieces and a selection that distributor PMC had supplied on a terabyte drive. Once you have familiarised yourself with mPod, it's quite a pleasurable driving experience as well, the software's playlist mentality means that the latest selection will be added to the list of tracks to play rather than take over from what's currently on, but you can jump to the desired piece with ease. It lags slightly when compared to a CD in a regular player via the same DAC, with the disc having a lighter touch and less 'glare' around treble sounds, cymbals for instance have a slightly unnatural brilliance with the BDP-1. But taken on its own the BDP-1 is quite convincing, it can deliver the dynamics, atmosphere and scale of a full-on orchestral piece, as well as the finesse and delicacy of more subtle music. It reveals the advantages of hi-res files quite well too with Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances revealing a lot of its soundstage depth and huge dynamic swings. There is an appealing fluidity to the result that's uncommon with digital sources and while you wouldn't mistake it for a turntable (it's basically too quiet for that) there is something of the analogue in its sound that keeps you listening. Next to a Macbook laptop playing via USB into the DAC, the BDP-1 put in a richer and more substantial performance, but we get the impression that the Bryston DAC's AES/EBU is a rather better input than its USB, so the playing field was not completely level. Late in the day another tasty DAC turned up in the form of the Antelope Zodiac + and this proved to be rather more revealing than the Bryston – now we could hear right into the mix and enjoy nuances that have rarely been encountered previously. Essentially it showed that the BDP-1 is a more capable device than its partnering DAC suggests. Brave step Bryston has taken a brave step by producing such a niche product and while the results are really impressive they do not strike us as being that much better than units that add streaming and usually iPod playback to those offered here. Then there is the issue of control, with the remote as a not inexpensive extra and other options requiring a link to a router, you are left with a small screen on the unit to scroll through a lot of music. While the sound is clearly impressive and build quality high, we feel that the limited functionality undermines the BPD-1's ability to compete with the best in this fast moving sector. Related Links
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