Ever wanted to extract the audio from a movie or video file so you could import it into iTunes or burn it on a CD?

Learn how to create your own OS X service that lets you copy & paste the paths of files and folders in Finder. After just a few steps you will be able to select items in Finder, press a quick keyboard shortcut, and paste the path(s) anywhere you want.

Literally everyone on Earth has an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch by now, right? That’s a lot of people who would love to receive accessories for their iOS device this Christmas.

We all have technology geeks in our lives (including ourselves!), which means you can’t go wrong giving gadgets as Christmas gifts. This year, there are a ton of cool and useful hardware accessories that any Mac user would be excited to receive.

Since it has such a large screen, the iPad can handle a number of more advanced capabilities than smaller devices in the iOS family – the iPhone and iPod touch. In fact, some of iOS 5′s coolest features are exclusive to the iPad. Following our collection of 9 obscure iOS 5 tips & tricks , let’s take it a step further and get into what’s new for iPad users in particular.

The fifth major release of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 5, has been in users’ hands for about a month. Now that we’ve all had time to play with the marquee features like Notification Center, let’s dig deeper to reveal more obscure new functionality

Analog is a new photo processing application on the Mac App Store. With one or two clicks you can turn common snapshots into classic, retro-styled photos. With a nice selection of artistic filters, Analog makes image manipulation and sharing a breeze.

AirDrop is a new feature in Mac OS X Lion that makes sharing files between Macs easier than ever. There are no accounts to sign into, networks to connect to, or preferences to set up

Focus is a new application available on the Mac App Store that makes it easy to add depth and lens blur to your photos. With support for many of Mac OS X’s unique features, Focus makes enhancing photos more intuitive than ever. To those who know a bit about photography, depth of field plays a big role in what separates good pictures from great pictures.

It was previously very difficult and even unreliable to password protect Time Machine backups in older versions of Mac OS X. In Lion, however, Apple has made encrypting backups as easy as checking a single box. Most Mac users have no need to encrypt their Time Machine backups, but those who are extra careful or have sensitive information on their computers will appreciate the peace of mind