Take a look at the different parts of the Finder window like the Toolbar, Status Bar, Sidebar, and Path Bar. You can show and hide these elements, as well as customize them and what appears in each one. (more...)

If you don’t have Numbers, you can use Pages to create simple spreadsheets. Just use the tables inside Pages to create small spreadsheets that can use formulas to perform calculations. You can even sort and use basic and conditional formatting. (more...)

With iDVD no longer available for new Mac users, it is important to find an alternative if you still wish to make DVDs. Roxio Toast 11 is a program that has been around for a long time and used by many Mac users to create DVDs. It has a simple but powerful interface for burning [...] (more...)

The new iTunes U app for iPad lets you subscribe to entire college courses. The courses can include video, audio, reading materials, apps, web links and other items. You can follow along with the course and take notes. (more...)

The new version of iBooks for iPad allows you to read advanced textbooks. These can include interactive images, 3D objects and even review quizzes. You can add your own notes and then review them as Flash cards. (more...)

Take a quick look at iBooks Author, the new tool from Apple that lets you create textbooks for the iPad. You can design and layout pages like in iWork Pages. You can also add special elements like photo galleries, quizzes, 3D objects and interactive images. (more...)

Two transitions in Keynote allow you to animate between similar slides. The Magic Move transition will animate the positions between objects from one slide to the next. This give you infinite variation and also allows you to create simple motion graphics for use in videos. The Anagram transition allows you to create an interesting build [...] (more...)

Sometimes you need to place a watermark, like the word DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL, behind text in a document. You can do this using text boxes that are made into background items and then set them to appear across all pages in the document. (more...)

You can use the COUNTIF function to count the number of times an item appears in a column. You can also use COUNTIFS to total the number of rows based on several conditions in several columns. The SUMIF and SUMIFS functions will give you the total of the rows in another column based on the [...] (more...)

Lion allows you to merge the contents of two folders as long as you choose to copy those files, and not move them. You can also place files of the same name in the same folder as long as you let the Finder automatically rename the new files. (more...)

Evernote is a third-party program that allows you to create notes on your Mac or iOS device. These notes will sync across your devices. You can create audio and photo notes as well. There are many ways to use Evernote and anyone with multiple computers or devices should check it out. (more...)

When you sign up with an ISP like a cable modem, DSL or mobile provider you are often given a free email address using the domain name of the ISP. Many people use these as their primary email address. Here are five reasons why that is a bad idea and you should instead use a [...] (more...)

Automation curves are what let you control volume over time for an individual track or an entire song in GarageBand. In addition to volume, you can also control panning and sound effects. Master Track automation curves let you control pitch and tempo as well. (more...)

If you own multiple iOS devices you may want each one to be able to receive its own messages and FaceTime video calls. This is handy if you have kids with their own iPods or iPads, but they are too young to have their own Apple ID. You need to specify special email accounts to [...] (more...)

What can we expect from Apple in 2012? Gary makes some predictions and criticizes some rumors. (more...)

Review the year in Apple news: Mac App Store, iPad 2, iOS 5, Lion, iPhone 4S, iCloud, Steve Jobs and more. (more...)

You can show your iPad or iPhone screen on your television wirelessly using your Apple TV 2. You need the latest iOS device and the Apple TV 2. You can also do it with cable adapters. The result is you can see whatever is on your iOS screen on your TV. (more...)

You can create nice-looking printouts from Numbers, but the options to do so aren’t always obvious. Learn how to view your spreadsheets in layout view, adjust scaling, darken borders and use styles and design elements to create nicer Numbers printouts. (more...)

Parents of kids who have an iPad or iPod touch may want to know how to control restrictions in iOS Settings. It is fairly simple to restrict content like movies, music and apps. You can also set the device so your kids can’t add new apps or change email or other settings. (more...)

You can use the QuickTime Player in Lion to make quick changes to your videos rather than starting an iMovie project. You can merge videos, trim them, split and re-arrange sections of a video and export in standard QuickTime format. You can also rotate video that has been shot in the wrong orientation. (more...)

All iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users should know how to use the multitasking bar. It allows you to view your recently used apps, quit apps, control audio playback and AirPlay streaming. Learn how to access and use it. Also learn how to quit an app without using the multitasking bar at all. (more...)

You can place chapter markers while creating video projects in iMovie. These can be used to jump to parts of your video while viewing it in QuickTime Player, iTunes or on iOS and Apple TV. You can also use chapter markers to quickly create DVDs with iDVD that include those markers. Chapter markers and comments [...] (more...)

The Dictionary app in your Applications folder can not only tell you the definitions of regular words, but it also contains a special Apple dictionary to help you understand your Mac. You can look up Mac-related terms and get quick definitions. You can also use its Wikipedia function to get even more detailed information about [...] (more...)

You can move your iPhoto library to an external drive easily by simply dragging the iPhoto library package to another location. But keep in mind that external drives are slower than internal ones, and networked drives even more so. You can also create multiple iPhoto libraries, storing seldom-accessed photos elsewhere. (more...)

Tab stops allow you to align text in word processing programs. They have been around for a while, but if you have only started using word processors recently, you may have overlooked them in favor of tables and other layout elements. Tab stops are a quick and easy way to display data neatly inside a [...] (more...)