MacMost: Video Podcast

If you want music to automatically stop playing after a period of time, there is a sleep timer on the iPhone. But you won't find it in the Music app or in the Settings. Instead, you'll need to know where to look in the Clock app.

When you plug in your iPhone, iPad or digital camera, the Photos app and iTunes may launch automatically. If you would prefer to stop this behavior, you can easily turn off these options with selections in these apps. But you need to connect the device first and know where to look.

There are many ways you can organize your apps on your iPhone or iPad. You can move apps from page to page and set their positions inside each page. You can create and modify app folders and move apps around in those folders to different pages. You can also bring apps down to the bottom row of your home screen and even put app folders there. You can search for apps to launch them, instead of remember exactly where you put the app icon.

It is easier than ever before to add special characters like emoji or symbols to anything you type on your Mac. But just using a simple keyboard shortcut, you can browse and search through different types of characters and add them to your text. Recently, Apple added the ability to set the skin color for many emojis.

iCloud Photo Sharing is a quick and easy way to share photos with friends. You can create a share album that others can add to, or just view. You can also make the album available on the Web where people without the Photos app or even Macs can view the photos. It is easy to add or remove photos. However, the options are limited so you may need to use another service if you want more.

You can search for files using the Raw Query function in the Finder. This gives you the ability to use wildcards to search for files with specific file names. You can also use other file attributes and combine them for even more complex searches. Raw Query is also very fast and can search your entire drive in seconds.

If you want to add some text to a photo, you can do it with the Preview app that comes with your Mac. You can add some large text to create a funny or inspirational image to post to social media. Or, you can add a watermark to protect your images before uploading them to the web.

If you take a lot of HD video, you may end up with massive video files that you can't keep, but don't want to delete forever. You can compromise by compressing them. This will trade quality for file size, but in many cases this trade-off is the best way to keep your old video footage around. You can use Apple's Compressor app to do this quickly and easily.

MacBook keyboards and wireless keyboards no longer have Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys. However, this functionary is still there if you know the correct keys to use to trigger these actions. In addition, you can also forward delete and find the location of the cursor with keyboard shortcuts.

Learn how to create smart albums in the new Photos app for Mac. Smart albums allow you to specify criteria like title, camera model, date and other things to build an album automatically. Smart Albums will automatically update as you add new photos to your library that match the criteria. You can combine Smart Albums and keywords to organize your photos.

There are many different ways you can listen to music online. You can purchase music through services like iTunes. You can listen to customized streaming radio stations like Pandora or iTunes Radio. You can subscribe to an online music service like Spotify or the new Apple Music. You can also listen to Internet radio stations like the new Beats 1 station from Apple.

Today's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address announced Mac OS X 10.11, called El Capitan, iOS 9 and WatchOS 2. Apple also announced many exciting new features for developers. The Apple Music product was introduced, which will combine iTunes Music, Beats Music, a live radio station and a new way to connect with artists.

Besides helping you find new apps to install, the Mac App Store also has screens that show you your past purchases and lots of information about app updates. On the purchases screen you can re-download apps you have purchased in the past or on another Mac. On the Updates screen you can read detailed information about updates and decide when to install them.

If you love organizing your photos, then you want to learn to use the keywords functions in the new Mac Photos app. Keywords allow you to organize your photos in many ways without cluttering up your library with albums. It is easy to create keywords and assign them to photos. Then you can search for photos that use that keyword, or create Smart Albums that update automatically.

One of the weak spots of online security is the security question. These are questions like What was the name of your first pet? or Which high school did you attend? Using real or even fake answers to these questions will make it easier for your account to be hacked. However, there is a way to make this weak spot more secure.

The 3D Flyover feature of Apple Maps on the Mac and in iOS is a fun way to view a city. By using the 3D textures of buildings rendered from actual flyover photography, you can get a little tour of the major sights.

Chances are you regularly get fake email claiming to be from companies that you do business with. However, these scam emails are trying to trick you into giving up your passwords and other information. It is important to be skeptical of every email message you receive and to learn to recognize the signs of phishing scams. Even email messages that seem to come from friends and relatives can be scams.

You can use the Keychain Access app on your Mac to create secure random passwords for things that are not necessarily online. For instance, you can create random ATM pins or passwords for apps and other services. You can also store these passwords in your Keychain so you have a backup in a secure place in case you forget the password later on. Check out my book The Practical Guide to Mac Security at http://macmost.com/j-macsecurity

There are two primary ways to create slideshows in the the new Photos app on your Mac. The first is a quick slideshow that you can start by simply selecting photos and pressing the slideshow button. But you can also create a slideshow project that has many more options. With a project, you can order the photos, add text, set transition options and more. You can also export a project as a video to share on YouTube, Facebook or elsewhere.

Many apps in iOS 8 created by Apple and third parties have a share button. You can use this button to share what you are currently viewing, such as a web page, photo or other information. You can customize which options appear available for sharing. You can also perform other actions with the content depending on what is available for the app you are using, and which other apps you have installed that will work with it.