You may already know that your Mac can open some documents — PDFs, RAW photos, Excel spreadsheets, text files — in a variety of applications. But did you know that you can tell Mac OS X that you’d prefer to open all Excel documents in Numbers, all text files in Pages, or all PDF documents in Preview? Find out how by watching the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

In his review of Safari 3, Jason Cranford Teague (macworld.com) awards the “solid, streamlined browser” 4.5 (out of five) stars, and he offers this recommendation: “Mac users who need a streamlined Web browser for simply browsing the Web should use Safari 3. (So should their Windows counterparts, since Safari runs on both platforms.) Safari has all of the features that most Web surfers will ever need, it’s extremely fast, and it integrates seamlessly with other Mac applications.”

Fortune surveyed “more than 3,700 people from dozens of industries” to assemble its list of America’s Most Admired Companies [of] 2008. “This year’s winners all have strong records of innovation, leadership, and financial strength,” and Apple leads the 20 selected companies and also ranks number one in computers.

With Quick Look — just one of the great new features in Mac OS X Leopard — you can get a sneak peak at the contents of a document without opening it. A single click lets you satch a video, peruse a multi-page PDF, scan a folder of photos, or enjoy an entire Keynote presentation without launching any applications. How can you take advantage of Quick Look? Find out in the latest Pro Tip of the Week.

Ian Austen (nytimes.com) takes a look at Aperture 2 and finds that it “offers a more accessible, streamlined facade and makes it easier to handle photos in full-screen mode. It is also much faster.”

Spend lots of time in email? Then wouldn’t it be great if you had a quick and easy way to create a convenient To-Do list when you get a message about something you need, well, to do? In Leopard Mail, you’re just a right-click away from creating a new item for your To-Do list. Find out how in the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

According to Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com), Time Capsule, the wireless hard drive you can use to back up multiple Mac computers using Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard, has begun shipping. “Notifications of the shipments began reaching customers that pre-ordered the device early this morning,” he reports.

In the making of No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen prove “just how influential a Mac and the right software can be,” writes Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com). “The movie won four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In fact, it is the first movie edited with a completely digital workflow on Mac to win the Oscar. ‘They [Apple] made it really easy for us — we cut now much the same way we cut on film [using Final Cut Pro]. It’s hugely faster,’ said Ethan Coen.”

After all, as Julio Ojeda-Zapata (twincities.com) explains, “Apple TV is a joy to use.” And it proved “a godsend for one of my family’s recent movie nights” when frigid temperatures precluded a trip to a video store. He downloaded Disney’s The Game Plan, and the movie “was ready for watching soon after the download initiated. Viewing was flawless; ditto for Garfield, another family-night rental.” What’s more, “movie rentals sound superb on the Apple TV, as well, now that it has support for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.”

The film No Country for Old Men won four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards, including Best Picture.  Find out more about the making of the film by listening to a podcast recorded during last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. In the podcast, director Barry Sonnenfeld chats with Joel Coen and Ethan Coen about their filmmaking experiences in general and their use of Final Cut Pro to edit No Country for Old Men. Enjoy.