The words “generative AI” are on everyone’s lips at the moment. These technologies can create text, images, or video clips from simple prompts, and could change the media landscape as we know it. Adobe certainly thinks generative AI is worth further investigation, and is putting its marketing muscle behind Generative Fill, a new Photoshop feature that allows you to edit or manipulate your images in entirely new ways.

You can see for yourself how it works in the image below: drag the slider left and right to see the before and after. The blank areas were filled in–which is to say, extrapolated from what’s in the rest of the image–by Photoshop’s artificial intelligence. Thanks to technologies like this it has never been easier to transform images in portrait format into landscape format.

Generative Fill is still officially in beta. We’ve been using the Photoshop beta for several weeks now, and continue to be surprised by it on an almost daily basis. Some of the results are incredibly realistic. Others are so inaccurate they’re funny.

Installing and using the Photoshop beta

If you’d like to install the Photoshop beta, you’ll need a valid license for Adobe Creative Cloud and an active internet connection, as the Generative Fill feature requires cloud processing. Once you’ve got a license, open Creative Cloud and select Beta Apps in the lefthand tab. Select this and you can then install the Photoshop beta and start using it straight away.

Save 30% on Adobe Creative Cloud

Photoshop Generative Fill: Limitations

With great power comes great responsibility. Fortunately, Adobe knows that you can do great damage with AI, so there are many rules to maintain “the high quality of creative content.” Anyone who does not follow the Adobe Generative AI beta user guidelines risks having their account blocked.

Adobe prohibits the use of generative AI for certain purposes:

• Pornographic material or explicit nudity
• Hateful or highly offensive content that attacks or dehumanizes a group based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, serious disease or disability, gender, age or sexual orientation
• Graphic violence or gore
• The promotion, glorification, or threats of violence
• Illegal activities or goods
• Self-harm or the promotion of self-harm
• Depictions of nude minors or minors in a sexual manner
• Promotion of terrorism or violent extremism
• Disseminating misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive content that could lead to real-world harm
• Personal or private information of others (like full name, home address, phone number, email address, government-issued IDs, or any other information relating to an identifiable individual)

Photoshop Generative Fill: How to get started

The Generative Fill AI saves time. A lot of time. It retouches unwanted picture elements, enables new perspectives, and creates new things, all via text command. The possibilities are limitless. You simply select the area, using the appropriate selection tool (shortcut: M), in which the AI is to do its work.

To fill in the rest of an image, you’ll want to leave the search field blank to let Adobe’s AI scan the image and fill in the blank area. Photoshop then creates three different variants for you to choose from.

You can cycle between the different options. If you don’t like any of the options, you can try the process again or add some descriptive words to the search box.

Photoshop Generative Fill: False realities and extraordinary landscapes

At first glance, this appears to be a normal picture. At a second glance, you notice minor inconsistencies, such as the door handles and the house’s windows in the background. Things aren’t quite right.

Photographed Neuschwanstein Castle in portrait orientation, but want something more panoramic? No problem, Photoshop will fill in the rest.

Of course, the results have nothing to do with reality. Anyone familiar with the surroundings of Neuschwanstein Castle will recognize that the content created by the AI is artificial. It’s an image manipulation. But to the untrained eye, it’s pretty spectacular.

Photoshop still has big problems with people and animals. While the dog in the image below looks quite realistic, it’s immediately obvious that something is wrong with the man’s face.

Hands also pose a problem for Photoshop’s AI. The fingers are often distorted and look unnatural and occasionally have extra digits.

Realistic textures and large-scale AI content can also be problematic. It depends entirely on the subject. While AI can handle images from nature well, architecture is evidently more of a challenge.

AI manipulation is easiest to spot if you know the original image, of course, but large-scale changes can also be obvious. Small changes are the key to success. Would you even notice if we only extended the image by a few pixels? The AI proves particularly handy in cases where, for example, you want to turn a 3:2 image into a 16:9 one.

In another test, we took an image of a church tower (left), cropped it (center), and then set Photoshop to reconstruct the tower (right). Other than the church clock, the result is quite respectable.

This article originally appeared on Macwelt and was translated and edited by David Price.

Professional Software

Threads is a new app from Meta made as a text-based offshoot of Instagram. If that sounds like yet another competitor cashing in on the Twitter turmoil like Bluesky, Mastodon, or Post, you’ve got the right idea. The existence of the app and service was first revealed a few months ago and has been in testing with lots of celebrities, brands, and influencers. You can download the Threads app from the App Store, where a preorder placeholder has been available for a couple of days.

The app is designed to get a boost from one of Meta’s most popular services, Instagram, with heavy integration between the two. Threads is listed as “an Instagram app” in its titles on app stores, and users will log in with Instagram accounts, where they can then very easily follow all the accounts they follow on Instagram. If you’re verified on Instagram, that will carry over as well.

Looking for Macworld on Threads or Instagram? We’re @Macworld_hq.

You’ll be able to post text up to 500 characters–shorter than Twitter’s new limits but much longer than the older 280-character limit–along with photos, links, and videos up to 5 minutes long.

Privacy and protocols

While the app and service is now open to the public, it’s worth pointing out that the 100-country launch does not include any within the European Union. Meta has been at odds with the EU over privacy laws for some time now, and it appears that Threads will not meet the EU’s requirements there.

Just a glance at the App Privacy label in the App Store should tell you why: Instagram (i.e. Meta) is grabbing tons of data that can be linked to you, including obvious stuff like usage data and diagnostics but also Financial Info, Contact Info, Purchase History, Heath & Fitness data, and more. Apple has protections in place to make some of this stuff opt-in, but suffice it to say that Threads is going heavy on user tracking, perhaps even more than most major social media networks do.

Meta has promised to build support for the ActivityPub protocol, the same decentralized network protocol used by Mastodon. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri explained that it’s coming, but not in time for launch, saying, “We weren’t able to finish it for launch given a number of complications that come along with a decentralized network, but it’s coming.” You’ll one day be able to use Theads to access the “fediverse,” but for the time being Threads is just what it claims to be: “an Instagram app.”

Online Services

Best Prices Today: Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s SuperDock! But what makes Sonnet’s latest Thunderbolt 4 laptop docking station so super?

The super-ness is not the 19 top-end ports, although these are certainly impressive. It’s not the 2.5x faster Ethernet connection. And it’s not the backward-compatible Thunderbolt 4 technology that is certified to the very latest Intel standards.

What makes the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock so super is its built-in M.2 NVMe SSD slot which means you can add up to 8TB of SSD storage to your system without connecting an external storage device to the dock or computer.

But first, let’s look at the abundance of ports this dock boasts to connect devices at top speed.

Specs and features

The Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock has a copious 19 ports. The “20” in the Echo 20’s name includes the power supply port, which we don’t usually count in our port countdown.

• One upstream Thunderbolt 4 port (40Gbps, 100W)
• Two downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports (40Gbps, 15W)
• One HDMI 2.1 video port
• Four USB-A ports (10Gbps, 7.5W)
• Four USB-C ports (10Gbps, 7.5W)
• Internal M.2 NVMe SSD slot
• 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet
• UHS-II SD card reader (312MBps)
• 3.5mm combo audio jack (front)
• 3.5mm microphone jack (back)
• Two (right and left channels) line out RCA jacks (back)
• 150W power supply

The Echo 20 has more ports than we’ve seen with any docking station. Even the Caldigit TS4 Dock has only (!) 18, and it’s this kind of Thunderbolt 4 docks that Sonnet is gunning for. Read our fuller roundup of our other recommendations for the best Thunderbolt docks for Mac.

Thunderbolt 4, USB-C and USB-A ports  

All the Echo 20’s USB ports are at least 10Gbps (twice the bandwidth of the many docks’ USB ports). The TS4 has as many (8) but the Echo 20 has one more USB-C, while the TS4 has the extra USB-A. As more devices eschew Type A for Type C, we applaud Sonnet for having as many USB-C as USB-A.

You can daisy-chain up to six Thunderbolt devices via the two downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, although the devices connected will be sharing the 40Gbps bandwidth upstream to the laptop.

Rather than add the maximum possible three downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, Sonnet includes two plus a high-end HDMI 2.1 video port so the user can add a direct external display without the need for an adapter.

If you plan to connect an HDMI display, that makes more sense than a third Thunderbolt 4 port.

Adding internal storage

The Echo 20 doesn’t ship with an SSD, so you need to purchase one yourself. A 1TB SSD can be found for under $50, 2TB for around $100, 4TB for $250. 8TB SSDs can cost between $800 and $1,000.

If you were configuring a new MacBook with 8TB of internal storage, Apple would charge you $2,200, so adding it to your connected docking station at half the price makes a lot of sense, and you can swap it out with other capacities as you desire.

It must be an M.2 NVMe SSD. With the right SSD, transfer and access data rates are up to 800MBps.

SSD installation is simple if you know how to use a screwdriver and don’t have shaky hands. Unscrew the two screws securing a panel cover on the back panel of the dock. Insert the SSD and re-secure the bottom cover.

However, we would have preferred Sonnet to include the correct screwdrivers with the dock as what you need—a tiny crosshead—may not be in the average toolbox.

The Echo 20 isn’t heavy but even with its compact power supply it’s not particularly portable, so what you store on that SSD isn’t going with you when you disconnect the laptop from the dock. It’s great for backups, archiving, and for large files you don’t need with you on the road.

There’s also a fast SD card reader for more portable storage…

Portable storage

The Echo 20 features just one SD card reader for portable storage, while the TS4 has both SD and MicroSD readers.

Having both formats offers more flexibility, and the two slots can be used at the same time, so the TS4 wins if you prefer portable storage to be installed.

Most MicroSD cards come with an SD adapter so the lack of MicroSD doesn’t stop you from choosing between the two memory-card formats on the Echo 20. MicroSD cards are usually cheaper than full-size SD.

Tiny memory cards were once the preserve of professional users such as photographers who use them to quickly transfer files. However, anyone can buy a quality 512GB card for around $75/£75, and they offer an inexpensive way of upping the storage in your laptop and are super portable, too.

The Echo 20’s UHS II SD card reader is rated fast at 312MBps—the same as the TS4’s.

As with other docks, if you prefer portable storage there are other options, too. For example, you could add a pocketable SSD enclosure, such as Ugreen’s M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure Adapter, available for around $30 (also not including the SSD itself).

Dock display options

You can connect an external display via the HDMI 2.1 port (without the need for an adapter), and another screen via one of the Thunderbolt ports, or two via both the downstream Thunderbolt ports.

Dual-display support means M1/M2 Pro, M1/M2 Max and M1/M2 Ultra Macs can hook up either a single 4K/5K/6K screen or two HD/4K/5K/6K displays.

A Mac with an M2 Pro/Max/Ultra chip can support up to a single 8K display at 60Hz, or two HD/4K/5K/6K displays (both 4K at 60Hz).

Windows PCs and Chromebooks sporting Thunderbolt 4 can support up to a single 8K display at 60Hz, or two HD/4K displays at 60Hz.

If you install DisplayLink software you can run two displays off connected plain M1 and M2 Macs, which otherwise are limited to one display. Learn more about adding multiple screens to M1 or M2 Macs in our tutorial and solution recommender.

An interesting difference between the Echo 20 (HDMI 2.1) and the Caldigit TS4 (DisplayPort 1.4) is the choice of video port.

HDMI is the more popular port on displays but DisplayPort has traditionally been superior on the specs front. However, HDMI 2.1 has more than caught up with DP 1.4 so is a fine option even for high-end pros. HDMI 2.1 is a big leap up from HDMI 2.0, which is found on most other docking stations with a video port.

Audio ports front and back

Visuals aren’t the Echo 20’s only strength. There are four audio ports available. At the front is a 3.5mm combo jack for either wired headphones or a microphone, and at the back are separate left/right channel RCA line-out jacks that can deliver a clean signal to powered speakers or an amplifier, plus an extra 3.5mm microphone jack.

The TS4’s three audio ports are all 3.5mm. While there is no noticeable difference in sound quality between RCA and 3.5mm connectors, a lot of consumer A/V equipment still supports RCA connectors, which also provide a more secure connection than 3.5mm connectors.

Audio enthusiasts would prefer a Digital Audio port to connect directly to their amplifier, speakers, or home theatre receiver for the highest-quality, pure audio playback. Caldigit’s Thunderbolt 3-based TS3 Plus dock has one, but the audio ports on the Echo 20 will be good enough for most users.

Super-fast Ethernet

Another bid for “Super” status is the Echo 20’s super-fast 2.5Gb Gigabit Ethernet, which has the potential to be 2.5 times faster than standard Gigabit Ethernet. This again matches the wired-network port on the TS4.

To take advantage of the 2.5GbE speed, you need a connected device—such as a router/network switch—that is 2.5GbE or above

The 2.5Gb Ethernet port is backwards and forwards compatible with other speeds of Ethernet, so will work with a standard Gigabit Ethernet network.

Docking power

With 100W Power Delivery (PD), the Echo 20 can keep even the largest connected laptop powered up in full use.

Each USB port on the Echo 20 has a minimum charging power of 7.5W, and the downstream TB4 ports can offer 15W to power connected devices.

While this is impressive, it’s one area where the Caldigit TS4 has more muscle. Its 230W power supply is the most powered-up docking station we’ve ever tested, and one of the front USB-C ports can charge at a generous 20W–enough, for example, for fast-charging an iPhone via USB-C.

The Echo 20’s 150W power supply should, however, be powerful enough to charge a 100W laptop and have enough left for a few connected devices.

Design

Docking stations either lie horizontally, like the Echo 20, or stand vertically, like the TS4. Vertical docks save desk space but horizontal docks can offer a cleaner look.

Personally, I prefer the vertical design, but most docks, if doing their job correctly, soon blend into their desktop environment anyway.

Most docks place the upstream Thunderbolt 4 port (to the host laptop) at the front, which means a trailing cable messing up your desk. Both the Echo 20 and TS4 handily position the upstream port at the back of the dock.

The Echo 20 is jet black, while the TS4 is metal gray, although this is unlikely to be a decider when choosing between these two excellent two docking stations.

Price

The Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock costs $299.99, which measures up very favorably against the Caldigit TS4’s $399.99 and other Thunderbolt 4 docks such as Kensington’s SD5700T ($369.99).

Given its top-end specs, this is easily the best-value Thunderbolt 4 dock we have tested.

Note that there’s no SSD included with the Echo 20 so you need to factor in this if you want to add the internal storage, but it’s not even an option with other docks so doesn’t spoil the comparison.

Even if you don’t need the SSD enclosure now, the Echo 20 still represents great value for money.

Verdict

We didn’t think that Caldigit’s TS4 could be beaten but the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock is a very close match for the number and quality of ports but for $100 less.

It lacks a MicroSD card reader and doesn’t offer as much multi-device power, but it has other benefits—most noticeably the internal storage enclosure—and is specced high enough for most users.

The 19 ports are all top-end—Thunderbolt 4, 10Gbps USB-C and USB-A, 2.5Gb Ethernet, HDMI 2.1—and the inclusion of the onboard M.2 NVMe SSD slot gives the Echo 20 our crown as the new Thunderbolt 4 docking station of choice.

Computer Accessories, Tablet Accessories

Apple’s 4th-generation AirPods and 3rd-gen AirPods launch is approaching, and a major leak has revealed some new details about the next version of the company’s hugely popular wireless earbuds. These include new health features (covering both hearing and body temperature monitoring) and a switch from Lightning to USB-C.

The leaker-analyst Mark Gurman focused on the next generation of AirPods in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, and while some elements have been mentioned before by Gurman and others, the article is a useful summation with some new tidbits and further detail in certain areas.

We already know, for example, that Apple is deeply interested in hearing health and how AirPods can help with this. It’s been shown that current AirPods Pro models can double as cheap hearing aids, and the Conversation Boost feature was launched years ago.

More recently, Gurman himself said in an earlier edition of Power On that hearing health would be the next area for AirPods innovation. But at the time this was comparatively vague, mentioning the “ability to get hearing data of some sort.” The new report expands on this considerably. There will be, Gurman predicts, a “new hearing test feature that will play different tones and sounds to allow the AirPods to determine how well a person can hear. The idea is to help users screen for hearing issues.” In other words, as well as serving as an effective hearing aid, the next AirPods will be able to flag up potential hearing loss earlier so it can be treated more effectively.

A separate health function Apple is looking to add to the AirPods is body temperature measurement. Again, this is an area we already know is of interest to the company, whose most recent Apple Watches are designed to measure body temperature via the wrist for fertility tracking and overall well-being, but the ear canal is a better and more accurate source of such data. Apple is accordingly working on adding a temperature sensor to a future set of AirPods, Gurman says, although this may not be ready for the fourth generation.

What will be here in time for the next model is the widely predicted switch from Lightning to USB-C on the case charging port. This makes sense since Apple is strongly expected to make the same transition on the iPhone starting in late 2023. However, while Gurman has previously said he expects all three AirPods models to move to USB-C by the end of 2023, he’s now signaling that the company may be prepared to wait a little longer for the non-standard models; the AirPods Pro, he says, will stick to their current release cadence, which means the next model, presumably based on a USB-C connection, isn’t likely to arrive until the fall of 2025. It’s unclear whether a new case will be rolled out before then as with the MagSafe case in 2021.

Finally, the idea that Apple will look at cutting the price of its cheapest AirPods, aired again in the new report, has been knocking around for years. They have generally been referred to as the AirPods Lite and are expected to compete with sub-$100 earbuds.

The current (standard) AirPods launched in October 2021, and while Apple refreshes its headphones less frequently than its phones, tablets, and laptops, work will be well underway for the sequel to this highly successful product. A glance at Apple’s AirPods release history (September 2016, March 2019, then October 2021) would suggest that the next standard edition of Apple’s wireless earbuds is likely to arrive in or close to the spring of 2024.

You can keep up with all the latest news and rumors by bookmarking our regularly updated new AirPods superguide.

Headphones

Apple’s 4th-generation AirPods launch is approaching, and a major leak has revealed some new details about the next version of the company’s hugely popular wireless earbuds. These include new health features (covering both hearing and body temperature monitoring) and a switch from Lightning to USB-C.

The leaker-analyst Mark Gurman focused on the 4th-gen AirPods in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, and while some elements have been mentioned before by Gurman and others, the article is a useful summation with some new tidbits and further detail in certain areas.

We already know, for example, that Apple is deeply interested in hearing health and how AirPods can help with this. It’s been shown that current AirPods Pro models can double as cheap hearing aids, and the Conversation Boost feature was launched years ago.

More recently, Gurman himself said in an earlier edition of Power On that hearing health would be the next area for AirPods innovation. But at the time this was comparatively vague, mentioning the “ability to get hearing data of some sort.” The new report expands on this considerably. There will be, Gurman predicts, a “new hearing test feature that will play different tones and sounds to allow the AirPods to determine how well a person can hear. The idea is to help users screen for hearing issues.” In other words, as well as serving as an effective hearing aid, the next AirPods will be able to flag up potential hearing loss earlier so it can be treated more effectively.

A separate health function Apple is looking to add to the AirPods is body temperature measurement. Again, this is an area we already know is of interest to the company, whose most recent Apple Watches are designed to measure body temperature via the wrist for fertility tracking and overall well-being, but the ear canal is a better and more accurate source of such data. Apple is accordingly working on adding a temperature sensor to a future set of AirPods, Gurman says, although this may not be ready for the fourth generation.

What will be here in time for the next model is the widely predicted switch from Lightning to USB-C on the case charging port. This makes sense since Apple is strongly expected to make the same transition on the iPhone starting in late 2023. However, while Gurman has previously said he expects all three AirPods models to move to USB-C by the end of 2023, he’s now signaling that the company may be prepared to wait a little longer for the non-standard models; the AirPods Pro, he says, will stick to their current release cadence, which means the next model, presumably based on a USB-C connection, isn’t likely to arrive until the fall of 2025. It’s unclear whether a new case will be rolled out before then as with the MagSafe case in 2021.

Finally, the idea that Apple will look at cutting the price of its cheapest AirPods, aired again in the new report, has been knocking around for years. They have generally been referred to as the AirPods Lite and are expected to compete with sub-$100 earbuds.

The current (standard) AirPods launched in October 2021, and while Apple refreshes its headphones less frequently than its phones, tablets, and laptops, work will be well underway for the sequel to this highly successful product. A glance at Apple’s AirPods release history (September 2016, March 2019, then October 2021) would suggest that the next standard edition of Apple’s wireless earbuds is likely to arrive in or close to the spring of 2024.

You can keep up with all the latest news and rumors by bookmarking our regularly updated new AirPods superguide.

Headphones

The macOS sleep mode lets your computer mostly rest its burden, reducing energy consumption during those periods. For laptops, it’s particularly useful in conserving battery life. For an AC-powered desktop Mac, however, sleep these days has a very modest reduction in wattage, and you may want your Mac to stay alert to perform actions or respond to remote queries, like a remote screen-sharing session.

Ventura made these settings harder to understand, so much so that I didn’t realize until testing a remote-access app that my Mac was going to sleep, as the Monterey settings didn’t produce the same result.

You may have thought your Mac wasn’t sleeping in this fashion, also as I did, if you tried to access it over your local network and it was quickly responsive. That would be the case if you had what’s called across the computer world Wake-on-LAN and is found in Energy Saver in Ventura as “Wake for network access.” With this setting active, your Mac is listening for a special wake signal while it slumbers; an attempt to access it from another network device sends that signal. While this can be enabled to work over the internet, it’s a much more complicated setup and may fail. It’s better to disable sleep while allowing the display to go into standby than rely on Wake-on-LAN.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

MacOS

The macOS sleep mode lets your computer mostly rest its burden, reducing energy consumption during those periods. For laptops, it’s particularly useful in conserving battery life. For an AC-powered desktop Mac, however, sleep these days has a very modest reduction in wattage, and you may want your Mac to stay alert to perform actions or respond to remote queries, like a remote screen-sharing session.

Ventura made these settings harder to understand, so much so that I didn’t realize until testing a remote-access app that my Mac was going to sleep, as the Monterey settings didn’t produce the same result.

You may have thought your Mac wasn’t sleeping in this fashion, also as I did, if you tried to access it over your local network and it was quickly responsive. That would be the case if you had what’s called across the computer world Wake-on-LAN and is found in Energy Saver in Ventura as “Wake for network access.” With this setting active, your Mac is listening for a special wake signal while it slumbers; an attempt to access it from another network device sends that signal. While this can be enabled to work over the internet, it’s a much more complicated setup and may fail. It’s better to disable sleep while allowing the display to go into standby than rely on Wake-on-LAN.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

MacOS