MacMost: Video Podcast

Apple's Motion app lets you create all sorts of video special effects. In this tutorial, we'll take a graphic logo and make it explode into 10,000 particles in 3D. The particles will fit the shape and color of the image. Then we'll look at how to reverse it so that the particles come out of nowhere to reform the graphic.

Do you know the proper names for all of the characters on your keyboard? What are the characters you get when holding down Shift and the number keys? Or the key to the right of the 1? Take this quiz and see if you can identify all 10 keys that have tricky names. Then learn the proper names and uses for these characters.

The Safari Reading List on Mac, iPhone and iPad is a better way to save a web page to read later than bookmarking. The page will be added to the left sidebar where you can easily return to it. Items sync across your devices using iCloud and you can also save them to read even when you are offline.

Apple gave us a look at the next versions of its operating system, including macOS Catalina, iOS 13, and tvOS and watchOS. We also learned about the new Mac Pro desktop computer coming in the fall. There was lots to like in the announcements, including dark mode for iOS, iCloud folder sharing, the birth of iPad OS, the ability to use an iPad as a second screen for your Mac, and much more.

Since iOS 11 on the iPhone the default file format for photos has been HEIC. This is a new image file format that gives better compression and image quality than JPEG. On the Mac, the Photos app and macOS understands HEIC since High Sierra. In the Photos app you can use either HEIC or JPEG, and can export either as well. Other apps and devices also support HEIC.

If you need to clear off space from your Mac's hard drive, there are some places you should look first. You may have some old iPhone backups, installers, or other downloaded files. You can easily see which apps and files take up the most space and get rid of things you no longer need. Applications store support files and caches in your Library folder, but they may not have been cleaned up when you uninstalled the app.

A tape stop is when a song sounds like it is being played on a tape deck and the speed of the tape comes to a halt very quickly. Both the speed and pitch ramp down. This is a common effect in modern music. Some audio and music apps have a fairly simple way to do this. GarageBand doesn't have a tape stop effect, but you can combine some techniques to get the same result if you know how.

If you want to launch an app using a single key press, you can do it by creating an Automator Quick Action and assigning it a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences. This isn't usually needed for apps we always have running, but can be useful for apps we frequently bring up and then quit when not in use. You have to be careful not to use a name or shortcut that conflicts with any other. You also may find it is a bit flaky when you first create the shortcut.

You can use speed ramping to speed up or slow down portions of a video clip, with the change in speed occurring smoothly. This is commonly used in movies to create a better pace for action sequences. You can use it to shorten long portions of your video or highlight bits of action.

It isn't always possible to take a photo at the location and angle that you want. But you can straighten the photo afterwards on your Mac using most major image editing tools. Learn how to change the perspective and straighten a photo in Pixelmator, Acorn and Photoshop.

Most Mac users are browsing the web using either the built-in Safari browser or they have installed Google's Chrome browser. Both browsers have their advantages. Each works well within their own Apple or Google ecosystem. Safari has some clear advantages when it comes to MacBook battery life and privacy. Chrome works better for Google Apps users and those that also have Android or Windows devices.

You can turn any video into an animated GIF using the latest version of Apple's free Keynote presentation software. A new feature of Keynote is the ability to export as a GIF. To convert a video, you can create single-slide presentations using the video and export. You can also easily crop and trim the video, as well as add text or even combine several videos into one GIF.

If you want to make it as easy as possible to call people you can set up a single-action icon that you can tap on your iPhone or click on your Mac to make the call. On the iPhone you can use the Shortcuts app to build a shortcut and place it on your Home screen. On your Mac you can use Automator with a shell script and some JavaScript to place an app in your Dock to make the call with a single click.

A seemingly simple thing to do is GarageBand is have your track or song fade in or out. But finding the method for doing this can be difficult. A fade is an automation. To fade, you need to show automations and then edit the automation line to change the volume over time. You can do this on a single track, or on the master track to fade the entire song.

Is your MacBook battery draining at night? This is probably due to a piece of software on your Mac that is misbehaving and waking it while it should be sleeping. There are several ways to figure out which could be the culprit. You can use various tools to compile a list of suspects and then quit those before putting your MacBook to sleep to test them. You can also try things like reseting parts of the system and trying safe mode. You may be able to figure out the problem on your own, or you may need to take it to an expert.

If you need to focus on part of an image during a presentation, you can use a magnifying glass to zoom in on the area in a fun way. You can build this effect using and shape and three transitions. This also creates a nice element to use in iMovie or other video projects.

Hot Corners are shortcuts that you can set so an action is performed when you move the cursor to one of the four corners of your screen. You can set these up in System Preferences if you know where to look. You can use them to instantly put your Mac to sleep, trigger Mission Control and other actions. You can also set them to work only with modifier keys. There is a trick to knowing which corners work in a multi-screen setup.

In school and at work, the Notes app on the iPad has gained status as being even better than third-party notes apps. In addition to syncing over iCloud, you can type, write, draw, take pictures, record video, and scan paper. Text can include styles, lists, tables, and checklists. If you write out notes by hand with an Apple Pencil, you can even search for text in your writing.

You don't need to use complex graphics or video motion tools to create backgrounds for YouTube end screens. Instead, you can simply use Keynote and build a single-slide presentation with animation. It is fairly easy to get elements lined up with placeholders and then to play around with various animations to make your end screen look great. Then you can export as a movie and add it to the end of your YouTube videos as you finish editing them.

With minimalism getting a lot of attention today, how would you customize your Mac to make it minimalist? You can stop using the Desktop as a storage location and use a simple background. You can virtually get rid of the Dock and menu bar. You can practice minimalism when storing, archiving and backing up your files too. Safari and Spotlight also have options that should appeal to minimalists. Choosing the perfect minimalist Mac is tough, as they all are appealing.