Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

You can place one video or photo over another in iMovie using picture-in-picture. Then you can position and resize the overlaying video. You can add transitions and even have the one video swap places with the other. Side-by-side is a similar effect that places two videos next to each other.

The Mac OS X Dock is a handy device for launching applications and accessing important folders and files. You can customize the look and location of the Dock. You can add apps to the Dock, and also files and folders. Folders in the Dock are called Stacks and you can customize those to easily access the content in them.

In Mavericks it is quick and easy to insert Emoticons while typing. Just press Command+Control+Space and a little emoticon insertion tool pops up. You can even use the arrow keys and return to select one right from your recents and favorites. This only works in apps that support emoticons, like Mail or Messages.

You can use Preview to edit images without needing to take them into iPhoto or an app like Photoshop. You can adjust the colors in an image, crop it, rotate it and even copy and paste portions of the image from one image to another. You can also resize and then export an image, which is something you may want to do before sharing a photo online.

Learn how to put transitions between your video clips in iMovie. You can specify exactly where each transition starts and ends with the precision editor. You can also quickly apply transitions with a keyboard shortcut or have them automatically fill in as you add more clips. Special iMovie themes have custom transitions that work in special ways.

You can use GarageBand as a way to record your voice or anything with your Mac's microphone. You can record bits and pieces and rearrange and edit them. You can also overlay tracks. Each track can be altered with editable filters. You can then export your audio as a standard file to share or use in other software.

You can drag a window that is in the background without bringing it to the front. Just hold down the Command key and drag it. It will stay in the background as it moves. You can also use the Command key to grab and drag the edges of a window to resize it while it remains in the background.

Magic Move allows you to create custom animated transitions between slides. Elements will smoothly move from their positions on one slide to their positions on the next. You can use this to emphasize objects or create a flow between slides instead of jumping between completely different screens. You can animate images and other objects, and also create special effects between the words or characters in text boxes.

Learn how to use simple formulas in Numbers to calculate results. You can use basic math operations or complex functions from a library. You can feed these functions single cells or ranges of cells. You can also copy and paste formulas to perform the same calculations on other rows or columns.

Learn many different ways you can launch apps on your Mac. You can use LaunchPad or access the apps right from the Applications folder. You can use the Dock, and create custom Stacks of apps in the Dock for access to even more apps. You can also use the Spotlight Menu or open documents to run apps. Some more obscure ways to launch apps include the Terminal window and using Speakable Items.

Made by MacMost’s parent company, Sudoku by CleverMedia aims to be the most elegant Sudoku game for the iPad. The screen can be no more cluttered than a Sudoku game in a book, yet you can tap to access advanced features like marks, hints, undo and mistake checking. Best of all it is free and unlimited.

Explore iMovie's video effects. You can make color and quality adjustments on each video clip. You can also apply a variety of special effects, like aged film, to each clip. Controls let you speed up, slow down or freeze frame.

With Mavericks, the Power button on your MacBook keyboard gains a new function. Like before, you can hold it down for three seconds to get the option to shut down, sleep or restart. But if you hold it for only one second and then release, it will quickly put your screen to sleep. This way you can save battery if you don’t need to use your MacBook for a few minutes but know you’ll return to it shortly and don’t want to put it fully asleep. You can wake up the screen by tapping the spacebar.

After you import an image into Pages, there are many ways to adjust it. You can play with the image settings to get it to look just right. You can crop and mask it. You can also choose how you want text to wrap around the image.

Use transitions to make moving from one slide to another more interesting. Use builds to add animation to objects as they appear and are removed from the slides. There are a variety of transition and build options, and each can be customized.

App Nap is a new feature in Mavericks that takes away processor power from apps that are in the background, preserving battery life and giving more power to the apps you are actively using. But sometimes you want apps to do things in the background, like processing data or rendering video. If you ever need to turn off App Nap for an app, just select it from your Applications folder, use Command+I to bring up information about the app, and then check Prevent App Nap. The option only appears if the app can nap.

Finder tabs allow you to have more than one file view in a single Finder window. Each tab can contain the view of a different folder or location. Each tab can also use a different view mode. You can drag and drop files between tabs. You can also move tabs between windows and combine windows full of tabs. Full screen mode for Finder windows allows you to focus on your files in a single screen.

iPhoto has a set of photo adjustment tools that allow you to correct problems in your photos as well as add enhancements and fun filters. You can edit a photo, layering several effects on top of each other, and still revert to the original even after you are done editing.

Learn how to use conditional highlighting to make cells in your tables stand out. Your can search for a number of different criteria and then change the color or styling of cells depending on the match. You can even have multiple conditions and give them priority. You can also use other cells and formulas as input for the conditions.

If you have a file or folder with a number in the name, like “Image 1.jpg” or “Images 1” you can duplicate it in the Finder and the new copy will automatically increment the number. Instead of using Command+D, drag and drop into the same folder with the Option key held down. The copy will be named “Image 2.jpg” or “Images 2” and so on. So if you create a folder named “Accounts 2008” and then drag and drop with the option key five times, you will get folders for the years 2009 through 2013.