Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

Sometimes when I try to make a MacMost video, it just doesn't happen. I was trying to make a video on the new Siri Personal DJ functionality this week, and I couldn't get it to work reliably. Check out the frustrating results. Have you tried Siri Personal DJ? Any luck?

A new feature in the Notes app in iOS 11 is the ability to scan documents using your iPad or iPhone camera. You can automatically capture pages in a multipage document and even sign the documents before sharing them or saving them out to iCloud Drive.

Gary takes a look back at the top videos of the first 10 years. He comments on how the topics addressed have changed since the original videos were made and how macOS, iOS and apps have improved since then.

A new feature in macOS High Sierra gives us the ability to type to ask Siri questions, instead of requiring us to speak audibly to her. This is handy if you are in a noisy environment, wearing headphones, or just like to put more thought into your requests.

Even if you have been searching online for years, you may not know some basics about how to search quickly and efficiently. Often people try formulating a series of keywords for a search, when all that is needed is to type a question. On the Mac in Safari, you can choose your search engine, and sometimes skip the search results page with the suggestions provided. You can also search a specific site if you already know which site contains the information you seek.

A new feature in High Sierra is the ability to share single files with other people. You can choose to share with specific people, or anyone with the link. You can choose to allow others to just view, or also edit the file. This could be a good way to collaborate, or just to distribute a file to many people.

With iOS 11 on the iPad you can drag and drop items between some apps. Learn how you can drag and drop photos, links, locations and other objects into a Mail message and a Pages document. This technique makes composing messages and documents much easier if you need to grab elements from other apps. You can also use it to export photos from the Photos app to iCloud Drive.

A new feature in High Sierra allows you to use Full Screen mode with Mail and then it splits the screen when you compose a new message or reply to one. So you see your mailboxes and messages on the left, and the message you are composing on the right.

With macOS High Sierra you can unlock new features of your iPhone Live Photos. You can choose a new frame as the still image. You can set the video to loop or bounce. You can also use the video to simulate a long exposure photo. You can even export a loop or bouncing video as an animated GIF.

A new video compression setting available in macOS High Sierra will help you save file space while not compromising on video quality. The High Efficiency Video Coding setting, also known as H.265, can save up to 50% in file size. However, since this is a new type of video compression, those files cannot be played in older versions of macOS or iOS.

If you are new to using Macs, then you may not know how useful tabs can be as an alternative to using multiple windows. You can use tabs in Safari, the Finder, and even inside of apps for document windows. It is easy to combine all windows into a single window with tabs, and also move tabs around and switch between them.

Preferences in the Safari browser in High Sierra will remember important settings on a per-site basis. You can stop videos from autoplaying, set zoom levels, enable plug-ins, and turn on Reader view for a website and it will remember those settings for the next time you visit the same site. It is easy to review and manage these settings.

A new feature in High Sierra is the ability to see flight tracking info in Spotlight. A small feature, to be sure, but useful to some.

iOS 11 has a new method for doing multitasking on the iPad. You can now have a floating window as well as two apps sharing the screen. The floating window can be easily moved and temporarily hidden. In all multitasking modes both apps are active. You can also exit and return to screens that are showing multiple apps.

The new Files app improves on the old iCloud Drive app in many ways. You can now access files in third-party systems like Dropbox and Google Drive. You can preview PDF, text, image, sound and video files. You can move, rename, duplicate and delete files. You can create new folders and organize your iCloud Drive files. Like Preview on the Mac, you can mark up PDF and image files. You can also look inside ZIP archives and even extract files. You can share files with iCloud Drive to collaborate or simply let others see your files.

iOS 11 adds new ways to interact with the on-screen virtual keyboard. On the iPhone Plus models, you can move the keyboard to the left or right side to make it easier for you to type with one hand. On the iPad, you can swipe down with your finger on keys to access other characters without needing to switch to another keyboard layout.

An experiment. I look at the latest questions in Apple Discussion and give you the off-the-top-of-my-head ideas and solutions. So, covering a variety of topics including: wireless charing through iPhone cases, iTunes 12.7 app redirect problems, Numbers SUMIF, how to get iOS app updates unstuck, etc. (I apologize for the audio as I didn't realize I was recording using the wrong mic).