Video Editing on an IPod Touch

Q. Is it possible to edit a video clip I’ve shot on the iPod Touch, or must I transfer it to the computer to edit?

A. You can do very basic video editing on the iPod Touch: trimming the beginning or end of your clip. In the Photos app, open the video you want to edit from the Camera Roll album, and then tap the screen to bring up the playback controls, including the frame-viewer bar at the top of the screen.

With your finger, drag the end of the frame-viewer bar from either end of the clip until the part you want to keep is inside the yellow border. Next, tap the yellow Trim button at the top of the screen to cut the unselected frames. You can cut the original clip or make a new copy containing the selected video. Choosing to save the trimmed video as a new clip will leave the original file intact.

If you want to do more with your mobile movie production, like adding text, music and scene transitions, visit the iTunes App Store and search for video-editing apps for the iPod Touch or iPhone. You can find several, and most cost less than $5. If you find the editing experience cramped or limited on the small screen, you can always import the clips to your computer and edit them in a desktop video program.

Getting Personal

With AOL

Q. Periodically, I get a message on my computer that Windows is “Backing Up Personal Storage.” What is “personal storage” and what is its benefit?

A. If you are not using a dedicated backup program that is saving your data to an external drive or separate hard-drive partition, the message might be coming from America Online’s software. Instead of keeping your mail only online, where you need an Internet connection to see it, you can use the AOL program to save e-mail messages to your computer’s hard drive, through the Personal Filing Cabinet feature.

In AOL 9.0 and later, you can also save copies of your e-mail to AOL’s servers, so they won’t get flushed out of the system and are accessible from the AOL Web site as well as through the desktop software. AOL’s guide to using the Personal Filing Cabinet is at bit.ly/cMuAec.

TIP OF THE WEEK Need to step away from your computer for a few minutes and don’t want anybody snooping around your screen? In most recent versions of Windows, you can press the Windows key and the L key to quickly put up the login screen, which will not go away until the computer’s password is entered. Once you type in the password, the login screen goes away and Windows picks up right where you left off with your open files and programs.

Although Mac OS X does not have a direct keyboard equivalent for quickly locking up your screen while still leaving all your files and programs open, you do have a few options, including third-party shareware or turning on the Security feature in the Mac’s System Preferences to require a password to bypass the screen-saver program.

Another way to quickly lock the screen is to open the Mac’s Applications folder, then open the Utilities folder and start up the Keychain Access program. Under the Keychain Access menu, choose Preferences and turn on the checkbox next to “Show Status in Menu Bar.” A small Lock icon appears in the Mac’s menu bar. Click on it and choose Lock Screen to shut everybody else out of the Mac until you hit the Space bar and type in the system password. J. D. BIERSDORFER