MacMost: Archives

You can use QuickTime Player in Lion to capture a single frame of video and save it to an image file. By using the Edit, Copy command you can grab the current frame, and then paste it into Photoshop or Preview. You can also use this technique to quickly grab a still image when using iMovie.

If you have an Airport Extreme or a Time Capsule you can create a separate guest network. This appears as a different wi-fi network than your main one. Users of the guest network cannot see the computers or other devices on the main network. Setting one up in advance is a good idea so you can grant visitors access to your Internet connection without worry.

While iMovie doesn't really have any audio effects, its sibling app GarageBand allows you to take video clips, or an exported iMovie video and apply all sorts of effects. You can change voices, echo, distort, and so on. You can apply the change to the whole video, or only a portion. You can use the same techniques in regular audio projects.

Uninstalling apps is easy in Mac OS X Lion. If you have purchased an app in the Mac App Store, you can use Launchpad to quickly remove them. Otherwise, you can still use the basic techniques of simply dragging an application to the trash, or running its uninstaller program.

Preference files store your preferences and data for each application. Find out where they are and what they look like. In some cases you may want to delete or restore an old copy of a preference file.

You can buy gifts in iTunes for your friends and family. You can gift songs, albums and iOS apps. They would get a code and use that to purchase the specific item in iTunes. You can also buy them Apple and iTunes gift cards. You can send them via email, or order a physical one with a special message.

One feature of Siri is the ability to dictate text instead of typing on your iPhone. Siri recognizes words and needs no special training. You can also type punctation and special symbols and commands.

There's a lot you can do with the calendar creation feature in iPhoto 11. You can use your own photos and iCal calendars to order a printer calendar from Apple, or print it yourself. You can also export the pages from a calendar to a PDF or even create an image from it.

You can use Siri like a personal assistant by creating notes simply by speaking. You can create new notes, or even add to existing ones. Siri can also search your notes. In the Reminders app you can create different lists, and then use Siri to add items to that list.