MacMost: Archives

Check out the new features of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. There are new apps like Reminders, Messages and Notes. Apps can now save documents to iCloud. OS X now includes a notifications center and game center.

Removing an external hard drive or USB flash drive is easy, but should be done properly by first ejecting the disk in the Finder before removing it physically. The same is true for iOS devices which can be ejected from inside iTunes.

The Color Picker is a small window that appears in many Mac applications. You can use it to choose a color in many different ways. You can also save your favorite colors to slots. Those favorites will then appear in any app that uses the Color Picker.

Learn how to create pie charts in iWork Numbers. You can create beautiful 2D and 3D pie charts from a simple list of numbers. Find out how to break single wedges out of the chart and how to put the chart on a separate page for printing.

You can use Keynote to make photo collages with its smart build feature. These collages can feature photos moving and changing quickly on the screen. You can then export them to video files and use them in iMovie.

When users first switch to Gmail from an older email service, it is hard to understand the concept of labels and an All Mail folder. With Gmail, you wouldn't typically delete email, but simply add or remove labels. These labels look like folders when you use Apple's Mail program, but understanding how they really work will help you use your Gmail account.

Learn how to add page numbers to the bottom or top of your word processing documents in Pages. You can also add the total number of pages. Find out how to get the page numbers to appear on the left and right sides of facing pages.

Using the Address Book app you can print out lists of contacts, specifying exactly which fields you want to include. You can also print compact pocket lists that can easily be carried with you.

You can download free Apple user manuals right from Apple. Almost all Apple products have PDF files that serve as user manuals. You just need to know where to look. Once downloaded they can be easily read and searched.

You can use mail merges for more than just letters and envelopes. You can create your own custom spreadsheets of data in Numbers, and then merge that with a custom Pages document for interesting results. In this example, a small list of school test results is printed on individual pages.

If you have several people in your household and want to share iOS apps between them, you can do it with iTunes Home Sharing. But turning on Home Sharing on each computer, and then authorizing each other to use purchased items from each others' accounts, you can drag and drop apps in iTunes. Then sync with your iOS devices to put those apps on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

You can create the same charts in Keynote as you can in Numbers and Pages. But with Keynote you can animate them. You can have the different parts of a bar graph, line graph or pie chart appear using different transition effects. Then you can export the result as a video to use in iMovie.

There are several ways to export bookmarks in Safari. You can use these techniques to archive old bookmarks and clean up your list in Safari. You can also create handy lists of links that can be stored elsewhere or uploaded to a web site.