MacMost: Video Podcast

You can use special cell types like checkboxes, ratings, sliders and pop-up menus to represent values in cells in Numbers. These cells can make it easier to enter data, or they can visually represent the data in a better way. You can use the values of these cells just like regular numbers and other data types.

In Keynote you can record your voice and the timing of slides. This recording can then be used to play back the presentation automatically. You can also use this timing to export the presentation as a video.

Markers are a simple tool in iMovie that allow you to create points in your video where the playback head and other elements will snap. You can use them to mark places to add things later, or to let you easily line up overlays, titles or other elements. You can add markers while the video is playing in the preview pane. They are similar to beat markers in previous versions of iMovie.

While you can use a variety of tools to create basic slideshows, Keynote may be the most powerful tool for quickly creating interesting photo slideshows. You can instantly create a slideshow by dragging and dropping photos from the Finder into the thumbnail list in Keynote. You can then add transitions, text, shapes and other objects to slides as needed. You can also interject other types of slides. There are many export options as well, including video and HTML for your web site.

You can set your text to appear in one, two or more columns. Using multiple columns can make it easier to include elements like photos in your documents. You can flow your text between different numbers of columns on a single page, but it can be trickily to implement.

Numbers can automatically fill in cells for you if you want to repeat a value, or create a sequence. You can use Autofill to add a set of sequential numbers or dates to cells. You can also have the cells follow a pattern. If you are using tables properly, formulas included in cells will repeat as you add new rows to the table.

Once you have created your video masterpiece, you may want to put some professional-looking credits at the end. You can do this with the Scrolling Credits title effect in iMovie. But with a little work, you can make the credits look even better by moving them over and adding images that appear to the left as the credits scroll by.

You can use the Finder's search function to find files by content or name. You can further narrow the field by adding more search criteria, like file type and date. You can also save searches as Smart Folders that will automatically update to show you the latest results for specific criteria as the files on your drive change.

You can use keyboard shortcuts to easily capture your Mac's screen, or a portion of the screen. Different shortcuts indicate whether you want to save the capture to a file or to the clipboard to paste into a document. You can also use the Grab tool for timed captures, and QuickTime Player for video captures.

You can use text hyperlinks to create complex navigation between slides in Keynote. In this example, we'll create a quiz that links answers to different slides. You can export this type of presentation as HTML, or use it in Keynote with settings to lock out other types of navigation.

Learn how to use the IF function to perform calculations in Numbers. IF is an important function to learn if you want to graduate to creating more advanced spreadsheets. You can use it to test a value in one cell and return two different values depending on the results of that test. Also learn related functions like SUMIF and COUNTIF.

You can use the change tracking feature in pages to pass a document between multiple writers or editors and see suggestions from each. Change tracking will record deletions, changes and notes with the name of the editor. You can review the changes and incorporate them into the final document.

You can use GarageBand on your Mac to create custom ringtones for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. You can combine your voice, GarageBand loops, instruments and external files to create almost anything you want. Then you can export them to iTunes and use iTunes to sync the ringtones to your iOS device. They can be assigned to ringtones, message tones, alerts or anywhere tones are used.

Learn how to edit audio in iMovie. You can change the volume of the audio in your clips, as well as apply filters. You can add additional audio, such as sound effects and music. You can layer audio by combining several pieces of sound.

Sometimes an app will stop working properly and you need to force it to quit. You can do this one of many ways in Mac OS X. If one of the standard methods does not work, you can always resort to using the Activity Monitor. And if all else fails, you can use the Terminal to force an app to quit.

Numbers lets you create charts that have an extra dimension. You can move through columns of data using a slider or buttons, with the chart changing to reflect the data in each column. This can be useful for showing changes over time.

iPhoto stores your photos inside a library. If you need to use a photo as a separate file, you can export one or more photos. Export options include the ability to shrink the file dimensions and reduce the quality to produce a smaller file. You can also drag and drop out of iPhoto to the Finder for a quick export of the original photo.

You can use GarageBand to create music with its built-in loops. By combining various loops, you can create a unique song to use in videos, presentations and elsewhere. Loops can be carried throughout the song, or appear only at certain times.

You can use semi-transparent images in iMovie as cutaways and picture-in-picture sources. This allows you to bring in almost any graphic element. You can use arrows and circles on your videos, for instance. You'll need to create the image in an editor like Photoshop or Pixelmator, and same it as a 32-bit PNG file. Then you can drag and drop it into iMovie.

You can use the Spotlight Menu to quickly perform searches for files. But search results also turn up applications, messages, your web history and other useful items. You can also access dictionary definitions and perform new web searches using the Spotlight Menu. You can customize what shows up in the list. You can also use the Spotlight Menu to perform simple or complex mathematical calculations.