MacMost: Video Podcast

Mountain Lion took away quick access to your Displays preferences by removing the menu bar icon that was in previous versions of OS X. But you can still get to Displays preferences quickly using a keyboard shortcut, the Dock, or an AppleScript. You can also get a third-party app that adds the handy menu bar icon back.

If you have more than one language in your Pages document, it can be useful to set the language for individual passages so that the spell check function recognizes the words from the correct dictionary. You can also set a passage to All or None to further help spell check the document. You can find tips like this and more in my book 'My Pages' http://macmost.com/j-mypages

You have many options when creating a login image for your Mac user account. You can take a picture with your Mac's camera, and then zoom in and reposition it. You can also apply a variety of special filters to make it more interesting. You can get an image from elsewhere and drag and drop it to create a more unique login image.

For most apps you can simply open multiple windows or tabs to edit or view separate documents. But some apps only let you have one window open. Sometimes when using apps like Safari, it is useful to be able to isolate windows from each other in case one crashes. Learn how to use the Terminal window to launch multiple instances of the same app. Learn how to then use Automator to create an app that will do this for you automatically.

Save dialogs in Mountain Lion have two different modes: compact and expanded. Learn how to easily switch between them. The last setting is remembered, but you can also set a default using the Terminal. Also learn how to switch between saving to iCloud and saving to your local hard drive. You also have two modes in the Print dialog.

Grammar mistakes can be pointed out to you in apps such as TextEdit, Mail, Pages and Microsoft Word. However, grammar checking is very difficult for computers and only some mistakes can be spotted. Use grammar checking as a second level of spell checking and a way to avoid typos. But do not rely on it to actually fix bad grammar.

Check out the iPad Clock app that was added with iOS 6. It has four modes. The first lets you view time and weather around the world on a map. The second lets you set single or weekly repeating alarms with custom sounds. The other modes let you use a lap timer stopwatch and a count-down clock.

Using the Mail app on your Mac you can get a special alert when an email from a specific sender arrives. This can be a sound, notification, icon bounce or even a special color for the email in your inbox. To do this, learn to use Mail rules. A rule can identify a new message and then apply an action to it. You can also have messages forwarded to another email address.

Volumes are drives and other media connected to your Mac. You can view volumes in the Finder using the left sidebar, the Desktop, or in a Finder window. You can access them in several ways. You can also create a Dock Stack that gives you quick access to your Volumes.

It is easy to disable Java in your web browser. Doing so may help protect you from future malware threats. Java is no longer used on most web sites and you will most likely not notice the difference once you turn Java off.

When building formulas in Numbers it is important to be able to insert absolute cell references. These are references to cells that will not shift as you copy and paste the formula into new rows or columns. You can use the values in absolute cell references for constants like sales taxes or commission amounts.

You can use the menu bar and the Dock with your keyboard. Learn the shortcuts to activate the menu bar and Dock, and navigate around to select a command. You can also use various other keyboard shortcuts to get to other key functionality.

Learn how to set up and use public shared Photo Streams. You can post pictures from iPhoto on your Mac or from the Photos app on your iPhone or other iOS device. Others can see your photos by just knowing the URL, or you could link to your own Photo Stream from your home page or social network.

Keynote can be used to create simple animation. You can use the Magic Move transition to animate objects and move them to different positions on the screen. You can also use transitions to create simple movement and special effects. You can use these in your Keynote presentations, or export them to video file to use in iMovie.

You have full control over what music, videos, photos and apps to sync to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. But you need to use the correct iTunes screens to set up these options or you will simply get the defaults. You can also control what gets automatically put on your iOS device through iTunes or via iCloud. Unless you turn off several options, you will automatically get new purchases when you sync or even via iCloud right after purchasing.

What does Apple have in store for us in 2013? It is likely that we will see new generations of the iPad, iPad mini and iPhone. We will almost certainly see a new Mac Pro. Rumors for an Apple Television persist as well.

Apple released a lot of new hardware in 2012, including new iPads, iMac, MacBooks and iPods. There was also a lot of controversy surrounding patents, working conditions and the Maps app. Take a look at the major Apple news highlights of 2012.

iTunes 11 features a new MiniPlayer that has enough advanced functionality to allow you to control playback without the main iTunes window. You can also bring up a movie window that doubles as an artwork viewer. You can set both to remain on top of all other windows and apps allowing you to control your music playback while doing other things with your Mac.

Occasionally the fix for an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch problem is to 'backup and restore' your device. This tutorial walks you through the steps using iTunes 11. You basically make sure your device is synced and backed up. Then you use iTunes to perform the simple, but often time-consuming, restore.

Spotify is a competitor to iTunes that streams music to your Mac or iOS device. A free account allows you to listen to music with ads on your Mac, but a premium account lets you download music for offline listening and also use your iOS device to listen. The service is only as good as its catalog of music, and Spotify is far from perfect in that respect.