Smart playlists have been a feature of iTunes since version 3.0 (circa 2002), and they provide a means for you to create automatically-updated playlists that fit a certain criteria. For me, they serve as a hands-off way to stay up-to-date on my latest music and Podcasts, as well as a repository for a certain genre of music. To create a smart playlist, click on "File" and select "New Smart Playlist" (or you can use the command-option-n keyboard shortcut).

If you want a playlist that contains only holiday music, you could specify that the playlist include all songs with either the "Christmas" or "Chanukah" genre tag on it. Because smart playlists auto-update, you needn't worry about adding songs to it: as long as the track's tags meet the criteria, it is automatically included in the playlist -- unless, of course, you choose the "limit to" option, which limits the the tracks in the playlist based on your choosing.

Read more for five of my favorite smart playlists, as well as criteria for how to create them.

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UsingMac has posted an exhaustive look at iTunes from the perspective of making your working life better. From basic tips like shuffling songs and shuffling movies to more advanced tips like using Terminal to set a half-star rating, it's well thought out.

My favorite tip involves browser mode. Many people (in my experience at least) overlook this feature. I find it to be a killer way to categorize and find just what you're looking for, across genres, years, styles, etc. Of course, I'm that annoying guy who gets all excited over tags, charts and graphs, so keep that in mind.

Check out the article and feel free to share you own.

TJ Luoma recently shared the solution to an annoying problem. Specifically, he wanted to keep Backup's icon from frantically jumping in the Dock like so many hepped-up toddlers in a bouncy castle. The Backup icon typically bounces in the Dock for a minute two before it even begins backing up any data.

We know what you're thinking, "Just go to the application's preferences and disable the Dock animation." The problem is that Backup has no preference pane! Fortunately, TJ found a fix.

While browsing "defaults read com.apple.backup" in Terminal (as suggested by a Twitter helper), he found

"Backup Timer" = 120

Realizing that's how long the app is supposed to wait (and toss its icon up and down) before executing a backup, he entered

defaults write com.apple.backup "Backup Timer" 1

which forced it to bounce only once. Alternatively, you could install Dockless, which prevents running apps from showing up in the Dock (or vice versa). Check out TJ's post and enjoy!

The blog Tap Tap Tap has posted a wonderful list to 10 iPhone tips and tricks you should know, including taking a screenshot (here's our how-to on that trick), enabling caps lock and customizing the home button's function. Definitely check it out.

While we're on the topic, here are a few of our own favorites

• The homescreen shortcut in firmware 2.2. With a click of the home button, you can jump to your first home screen.
• How to enable passcode protection. It's bad enough that you left your iPhone at the post office. At least the shmoe who finds it won't be able to call China.
• Pause an application download. Because sometimes you just don't have a free 90 seconds.
• Go Geocaching with an iPhone 3G. Who needs an additional GPS device?

Is your favorite trick not on either list? Let us know!

Some of you may have noticed that your iPhone or iPod touch is a bit prudish. Type a salty word and you'll likely be presented with a benign and completely inappropriate alternative (see screenshot at right). The problem (if you want to call it that) isn't that one can't swear, but that quickly-written sentences often have their meaning completely changed. Here's how you can knock your iPhone off of its moral high horse.

While we haven't found a way for end users to easily add a word to the iPhone's dictionary, there's a great & NSFW post at T'N'T Luoma (be warned, there are saltier words than "hell" over there) describing a clever trick using your contacts list.

Of course, you could either click the little "x" to dismiss the suggestion or disable auto-correction completely (under OS 2.2), but what's the fun in that? We hope you find this trick handy. Just be careful when printing contact labels for your holiday cards.

Thanks TJ!

[via Daring Fireball]

It's easy to fill your iPhoto library with pictures. However, the task of finding the ones you're after isn't. The Events feature of iPhoto '08 is helpful, and you can improve it with Keywords.

Think of keywords as tags. You can assign any keyword(s) to any photo, like "Suzie," "Summer" or "Beach." Then, simply search "Suzie" to find relevant photos, sorted by event. Here's how to do it.

From the "View" menu, select "Keywords" (or hit Shift-Apple-K). Next, click beneath your photos to reveal the keyword text field. Enter as many comma-separated keywords as you like; previously used keywords will auto-complete.

Here's an added bonus. You can also search by keyword via the Image Browser in Pages (see above).

Recently, I had to create a new admin user on an older 500mhz Power Mac G4 running OS 10.3.9. Needless to say, there was no 10.3 install discs to be found. What to do? Follow these simple (but powerful) steps.

First, restart the Mac while holding down the Command and "S" keys to start in Single-User Mode. Next, you'll see the UNIX boot sequence in white text on a black field. Don't worry, that's what we expected. At the prompt, type the following commands, hitting "Return" after each.

• mount -uw /
• rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
• shutdown /h now

Please be sure to type these commands exactly as presented here (sans bullets). "rm" is a powerful little command and if the syntax isn't right, you might unintentionally delete something important. Next, your machine will shut down. Turn it back on and you'll see the "Welcome to OS X" video, and be prompted through the process of creating a new admin user.

Other users on that machine -- including other admin users -- will remain intact. This is also a good way to change the password on an older admin account without the disc. Simply follow the same steps and, once you've logged in with the new account, change the password on your old account. Then, log in as the old account and delete the new one.

IntoMobile has a few good tips on how to extend your iPhone's battery life, and most of them involve the most obvious thing you can do to keep your iPhone running: cut down on any and all extra functions. They actually recommend to turn off 3G, but you don't have to go that far -- just by holding down the Home button, you can close any background applications sucking up juice. And by resetting your phone, you can do the same thing -- clear out anything running that you're not using.

Actually, while I was in Los Angeles last week, I heard the great Leo Laporte mention a great tip on his radio show: turn off the "Ask to join networks" feature in the WiFi settings. If you're like me, you almost always know when there's a WiFi network around that you can use on your iPhone, and so it's pointless (and a waste of battery life) for the iPhone to be constantly searching for one. You can always flip it back on if you do want to do a little poking around, but leaving it off will significantly help battery life.

In fact, when in extreme trouble, you can go even farther and just switch the whole thing into Airplane Mode. It'll make your phone useless, but when you really need it -- out on a trip, or waiting to make an important call -- the extra battery time might make all the difference.

[via Apple Enthusiast]

As we know, the Finder offers four ways to display your files. Namely icon view, list view, column view, and Cover Flow. Perhaps you prefer one over the others (let's say column view), but your windows open to icon view by default. That can be annoying but here's how to fix it.

First, open a new Finder window. Next, select your preferred display method and then close the window without doing anything else. Don't open a folder, drag an icon, nothing. Now subsequent Finder windows will default to your preferred setting.

Is your laptop not among those that can do Multi-touch? Don't feel badly, you can replicate those great features!

Well, kind of. First, open an image with Quick Look. Next, hold down the Option key while performing a two-finger scroll. The image zooms in and out!

Finally, let go of the Option key but keep your fingers in place on your trackpad. The cursor turns into a four-point directional, and then you can pan the image within the Quick Look window.

This also works with a mouse and scrollwheel.

Thanks, Max!

A while back reader Michael Coyle was nice enough to send us this write-up on how to customize Leopard's Guest account, and just recently he sent along another guide that you might not need right away, but will come in handy when you really need it. He's got an in-depth look at how to create a custom menu style when authoring a DVD in Toast Titanium 8.

As he says, the default styles that come with the application are a little less than formal, so if you want to create a professional menu for the DVD that fits your needs, this will show you how. As far as I can tell, the style is just a Photoshop file with various layers for the DVD to use as a menu (selected, frames for videos and the border around them, and so on); so the trick is finding the right layers to edit and leaving everything else alone (so nothing breaks).

If you've got some DVD authoring in your future, and plan to use Toast to get it all done, there you go.

Here are two simple but useful tips from TUAW readers David B Alford and Andrew Akker that help you navigate through your iPhone or iPod home screens. David points out that if you tap just to the left or to the right of the dots at the bottom of your screen, you can move a page at a time without having to drag. Tap left, you move left. Tap right, you move right. It's quick and it's easy.

Andrew figured out how to pause his drag Home screen drags. If you start to move between screens by dragging and then tap the dots control during that drag, screen pauses. You'll see bits of both home screens at once, and can interact with them normally by tapping icons. You can see up to 24 icons at once (16 off to one side, 4 along the other side, and 4 in the bar at the bottom).

I've tested both tips extensively and they work great -- two really nice additions to one's Home-screens skills.

Widgets are way too much fun. Though your Mac ships with a few of them already installed on the Dashboard, frankly they're kind of boring. I mean, how much fun is a calculator, clock, or calendar? Did you know there's a bunch more hiding in the far corners of your computer, and even more waiting to be discovered online? Let's take a look at where to find the extra goodies.

Mac | Life has a huge roundup of "25 iPhone Power Tips"-- just in case you've been living under a rock since late June, here's everything you missed about the iPhone, from how to unstick a stuck slider, to using aluminum foil to insulate an audio cable from the iPhone's signal, to where to go for iPhone 411. Of course you're here already, baby, and if you haven't noticed, that we have a page completely dedicated to iPhone itself, then look no further.

Some of the tips are a little obvious (like #6: surprise, surprise, if you can't see the camera button while the phone's turned away from you, place your finger before you turn it-- brilliant!). And there are plenty of omissions-- I know for sure that Battlefleet, the best game I've seen on the non-jailbroken iPhone, is missing, and there's nothing at all about Installer.app or any of the craziness you can pull off with that. That's a big deal, even though it may be a little more underground than Mac | Life wants to go.

But there's some good info here, especially if you've just recently plunked down the cash to AT&T and want your tips all in one place. Just make sure to come back here and pay attention when you're done.