MacMost: Video Podcast

You can search a specific website using Safari's address field and Quick Website Search. Make sure this feature is enabled and then you can check the list of sites already added. You can add most other sites by performing a native search at that site. Once added, when you type the domain name of that site and a search term you then have the option to search that site directly instead of through a search engine. This works on Mac and iOS.

The Control Center on iOS is very useful, yet many people don't use it to quickly access common functions. There are many buttons that you can add to Control Center that add even more. If you have an iPhone or iPad you should take the time to look at all of the buttons to get the most from your device.

The term Bandwidth is used to describe data transferred over time. However, it is often misused to define a limit on total data transfer. Bandwidth is measured in bits per second, usually using kilo or mega-bits to make the numbers more reasonable. Marketing departments often distort bandwidth to only show maximum or one-sided numbers.

The Open With command makes it possible to open a file with something other than the default app. But if you commonly need to do this with a specific app there are three ways to make it much easier to open the file with that app instead of the default. You could just drag it to the Dock icon for the app, add the app icon to the Finder toolbar, or create a keyboard shortcut.

Often people want to know how they can change the default font in Pages. But there is no default font. Instead, when you create a new document you are using a template, often the template named Blank. So if you'd rather start with a different font, then just create a new template that is a variation of the Blank one, and use that template instead.

With the new MacBook Air the MacBook line is stable for the next few months, making this a good time to buy a new MacBook. But which one is right for you? The MacBook is the lightest, the MacBook Air is the least expensive and good middle-ground, and the MacBook Pro is the most powerful with several major options. There are several factors that can help you decide. You should always make a trip to a store to compare them for yourself as there is no substitute for hands-on experience.

If you have the Dock set to automatically hide, then you may not like the default amount of time it takes for the Dock to appear, and the speed of the animation. You can customize these by using the Terminal to change two hidden macOS preferences. You can delay the appearance of the Dock so that you can access other items at the bottom of your screen. You can also speed up or eliminate the animation if you find it is too slow for you.

Learn how to build a simple Siri Shortcut that will choose an item from a Reminders list and speak that item aloud. In this example, the Shortcut will get a random item from a list of chores.

Prior to High Sierra there was a Finder sidebar item called All My Files. This showed you a big list of all of your documents. This was replaced with the Recents list, which only shows documents you have opened and leaves out files you have created or downloaded, but haven't opened yet. You can easily re-create the All My Files list by making a Smart Folder and adding it to the Finder sidebar. You can customize this Smart Folder to better fit your needs.

If your Mac is too old to install macOS Mojave, you can still upgrade to the latest version of macOS that is compatible with it, even if you can't find those versions of macOS in the Mac App Store. Apple has pages for High Sierra, Sierra and El Capitan than include links directly to the hidden Mac App Store pages with those downloads.

A new feature of the Facebook app is the ability to take portrait mode photos from an iPhone X and post them as 3D photos. Right now to do this you need to have the latest Facebook app and enable this feature. It simply uses the multiple layers of the portrait photo to create a simple 3D effect as you move your phone, or move the cursor over the image on a computer.

Multitasking on the iPad has been around for a while, but now you can actually view more than two apps on the screen at the same time. While two active apps can exist side-by-side, or one as a floating window, you can have two apps plus a floating window with iOS 12. Unfortunately, the floating window makes the two main apps view-only. You can even add a fourth window as a video picture-in-picture.

Your Mac as a password generator built into the Keychain Access utility. It takes a few steps to access, but it can be handy to generate passwords outside of Safari or in unusual situations. You can vary the length and type of password and copy and paste the result.

You can easily add captions and other elements to a photo right in the Photos app on your Mac. While there doesn't appear to be a captioning tool in Photos, you can edit a photo and use the default Markup extension to add text without leaving the app. You can always revert to the original photo or go back and edit your caption.

The new Home app in macOS Mojave allows you to control lights and other devices in your Home. It is a simple extension of the Home app and HomeKit functionality that has already existed in iOS for a while. Now you can control those devices using your Mac too.

Apple announced updates to three of its main products today. A new MacBook Air features a retina display, Touch ID and Thunderbolt 3 ports. The Mac mini is upgraded to use faster processors, more memory and Thunderbolt 3 as well. A new iPad Pro comes in 11-inch and 12.9-inch screen sizes, has Face ID with no Home button and uses USB-C instead of a Lighting port. The new iPad Pro can also use a new Apple Pencil that magnetically attaches to the side of the iPad for charging. All of these devices are available for ordering today and ship next week.

A new feature in iOS 12 allows you to use your iPhone's Live Listen feature with Apple's AirPods, a much cheaper alternative than actual medical device hearing aids. The audio comes from the iPhone's microphone, so you can place your iPhone in a better position to hear someone and leave it there. You can even use it as a way to listen in to what is going on in another room.

A URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is also known simply as a web address. It consists of a scheme, such as http, a web site domain name, and a page. Often it also includes a longer path and sometimes a query as well. A URL is both an initialism and an acronym as it is occasionally verbally pronounced as a word instead of letters.

The new Gallery View in Mojave allows you to see file data for the file selected. You can choose to show more or less of this data. You can also customize this data to pick which items are shown by default. This function isn't for the Gallery View only, however, as you can also see it in all four Finder views.

Learn how to build an iOS Siri Shortcut to create an animated GIF from a Live Photo. This can be tricky because you can't choose the image from a Share Sheet and you need to convert the Live Photo to a video first using Encode Media. But once you get all the pieces in place it is easy to set up the shortcut and have it ready to use. Then you can share a Live Photo as a GIF on social media.