MacMost: MacMost Now

With the latest versions of OS X, iOS and Keynote, you can use your iOS device as a sophisticated remote control for presentations running on your Mac. This lets you hook your Mac up to a projector or TV across the room and control it with your iPhone or iPad. You get much more than just basic buttons, as you can see the slide on your device and even draw on the slides with the results showing up on the Mac that is running the presentation.

Spotlight Search has been completely redesigned in Yosemite from the old Spotlight Menu function. You can still search for files, but in addition you'll get information from the Internet such as movie times, Wikipedia, maps and recommended web pages. You can also do unit and currency conversions and math. File searches can be filtered by kind and date. You can also use logical functions like OR and - (not) to get better results. Find out all you can do with Spotlight Search in Yosemite.

With OS X Yosemite you can mark up images and PDF files right inside of the Mail composition window. This can make it easy to send notes and revisions back and forth between people working on projects. You can also add signatures to PDFs easily in a reply. The same tools are available in the Preview app outside of Mail. In the future, Apple and third-parties can add more extensions like Markup.

With Yosemite and iOS 8 you can once again use RSS feeds. The left sidebar allows you to add the feed for a web site you are viewing. You can add many feeds and see an aggregated list of items from those feeds, as well as from social media like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. This works both in Yosemite on the Mac and iOS 8 on the iPad.

With OS X Yosemite you can use iCloud Drive as a place to store your files. iCloud Drive syncs between Macs and the files can also be accessed by the appropriate apps in iOS 8 on the iPhone and iPad. You can also create your own folders in iCloud Drive on Yosemite and access files on iOS 8 from outside of the normal app folder for that type of document. iCloud Drive can also be used to store other types of files, even if the app does not support iCloud Drive. On iOS 8, you can import media from iCloud Drive and export files to it as well.

Check out the major new features of Mac OS X Yosemite. There are some major new features like iCloud Drive, Notification Center widgets, app extensions and iOS 8 continuity functions. Also be sure to check out the Video Guide to Yosemite available now in the Mac App Store.

With iOS 8 you can add widgets to Notification Center for easy access to information and documents inside of apps. Learn how to add widgets and use them. You can view your recent files in DropBox, jump to a book in the Kindle app, perform calculations with PCalc, and get detailed weather and other information. One advantage to using Notification Center widgets is that you can access them without leaving your current app.

The basic search function in iOS has been expanded in iOS 8 to include useful suggestions. You'll see Wikipedia entries, movie times, map locations and items in the App and iTunes Stores. You can also adjust what you see in a Spotlight Search in the Settings app, removing items and setting their order.

Your iPhone and iPad can read text to you in different ways with iOS 8. With the new Speak Screen function, all of the text on the screen will be read aloud triggered with just a simple gesture. You can use this in most apps, including notes and Safari. With iBooks, the entire page will be read and then will continue automatically on the next page. There are limitations, however, as the pronunciation of words isn't always correct.

You can use third-party keyboards as alternatives to the regular iOS 8 keyboard when typing in almost any app. You install keyboards from the App Store and then need to enable them in Settings. Some keyboards offer alternative ways to type, while others bring novel features like handwriting recognition and text expansion.

Learn 5 ways you can monitor the apps on your iPhone or iPad in iOS 8. You can check to see how much battery each app has used in the last 24 hours or 7 days. You check to see how much storage space each app is using, and even delete some content for some apps. You can monitor and adjust the privacy settings to control what information apps have access to. You can also adjust the notifications settings for apps and see what is new for recent app updates.

Learn how to sort tables in Numbers. You can sort by a single column, but also by multiple columns. See some techniques for making the tables look better once they are sorted.

In iOS 8 you can add extensions to the Photos app. One extension is part of the iMovie app. If you have iMovie installed, you can access a simple editor inside of the Photos app and add filters, titles and music to your videos without ever needing to leave the Photos app.

You can edit photos using the Photos app or the Camera app. The photo editor is a little more advanced in iOS 8, taking a few of the features from the now discontinued iPhoto app. You can adjust cropping, rotation, colors and apply filters. You can also use third-party apps to add more. These act as extensions so you never have to leave the Photos or Camera app to apply the effects.

Predictive text, also called QuickType, is a way to complete words when typing on an iPhone or iPad. The device tries to predict which word you are typing and gives you three possible options to tap to finish the word. In some situations, like in the Messages app, you'll get good suggestions even before you type the first letter, based on the message you are replying to. Other times, the options will depend on the words you have already typed.

You can use Keynote to build a simple multi-page website. When you export as HTML, the resulting files can be uploaded to a web host. To make a presentation behave like a website, you need to create buttons and link them to other slides. You can also turn off regular presentation navigation and add other web and email links. Sites created this way are relatively basic, but can be updated easily.

In a big media event today Apple announced the latest version of the iPhone and a new product called the Apple Watch. The iPhone 6 and 6 plus will both be larger than their predecessors and feature camera and processor upgrades. They will also both allow for a new Apple payment system that is expected to be supported by major banks and retailers. The Apple Watch will come out in 2015 as a support device for the iPhone. It will feature a small touch screen, biometrics sensors and a variety of apps.

One of the types of file views you have in the Finder is the List View. This displays more information about each file than either the Column or Icon view. You can sort files by any attribute, and change which attributes are displayed. You can also group files by date, size and other things. You can dig down into subfolders using the reveal triangles next to the folder icons.

You can highlight text in iBooks and add notes for each highlight. These can be used as study guides or simply reminders. Highlights and notes in iBooks textbooks will be added to the flash card study function as cards. You can also export the highlighted text using copy and paste. They also sync across your devices using iCloud.

Most documents have a default application that will launch if you open that document. You can also specify an application if you wish to open a document with something else. You can do this with drag and drop, or by using the context menu. You can permanently change which application is used to open a specific document. You can also change which app is used to open all of the documents of the same file type. If you want to find other apps that can work with a document, it is easy to search for them in the Mac App Store.