Weekly Wrap: Reviewing the newest iPads, mastering software, easy backups

Lex Friedman @lexfri

 

Sandy kept us from publishing a Weekly Wrap last Saturday. But we’re back now, and our Macworld Doppler radar shows a lot of huge stories from the week gone by. It’s cloudy with a chance of MacBooks. Or more accurately, iPads and Mac minis. But MacBooks sounded better.

A closer look at new Apple hardware

We reviewed the two newest iPads in town: the fourth-generation iPad, and its little brother, the iPad mini. We like them both. We also reviewed the iPad mini Smart Cover—and we didn’t even knock it for fitting the fourth-generation iPad so poorly.
It looks like some of you bought the new iPads before our reviews ran; Apple sold 3 million of them in their first three days on sale. We’re confident that if we hadn’t liked them, you’d totally have returned yours, right? RIGHT?!
As you might expect, we podcasted about the new iPads, too.
The Macworld Lab put the Mac mini with Fusion Drive to the test. Somewhere an energy drink company marketing executive regrets never trademarking “Fusion Drive.”

Master your software

Here’s a guide to setting up your addresses in Messages. Aperture isn’t the Roach Motel: You can get your pictures back out of the software.
Our Mac 101 guide continues, and on the menu this time is … menus. Dive into the File and Edit menus. And if you find any typos in that story, feel free to file an edit.
You can rid your close-up photos of dust and scratches with Photoshop, and that story shows you how. It gives a whole new meaning to starting from scratch.
Whatever you use your Mac for, we don’t want your day-to-day data to get lost. (We do, however, relish the opportunity to use the phrase “day-to-day data.”) If you need a quick, better-than-nothing backup solution and you’ve been putting it off for too long, these backup basics can get you started. If you’re ready for more advanced backups, we offer a bulletproof approach to protecting your data, too. And if you’re relying on a Time Machine backup, here’s how to move it from one Mac to another. Unbelievably, there’s still no way to send your newfound Time Machine knowledge into the past.
Other software we looked at includes text editor Folding Text, fashion-themed role-playing game The World Ends With You, unnecessary tie-in of the month Angry Birds: Star Wars, the new-to-the-iPad accounting app FreshBooks, the new-to-the-Mac todo list app Clear, industrial-strength font management utility FontAgent Pro 5, and task management tool Organize.

Elsewhere

We looked at four kickstand cases for the iPhone 5, so if you’ve ever wanted to master such cases, that roundup should give you a leg to stand on.
We reviewed two Bluetooth speakers from Brookstone, and they’re pretty great. Give the review a read; give the speakers a listen.
You might have heard a rumor that Apple’s looking to ditch Intel processors in favor of its own hardware in future Macs. That may happen one day, but don’t expect it anytime soon.
There are, on the other hand, some things you can expect to see soon: AT&T is bringing FaceTime over cellular to more customers; and another Macworld/iWorld conference looms on the horizon.
Finally, if you’ve been wondering how you’d keep your iOS devices alive if a natural weather disaster left you without power for a week or more, wonder no longer. And since this reporter lives in New Jersey—new state motto: “Hurricanes followed by Nor’easters or your money back!”—he’s rushing to finish this edition of the Weekly Wrap before the power goes out aga-