iUseApple

Apple + Tab (Hold Apple and Press Tab)

Press Tab again, while keeping Apple held down. You’ll notice the dark sqaure switches to the icon of another application. Whenever you let go, the application that is selected will appear in the foreground. You can also use your mouse to select the Application.

Wow! Sometimes I am simply amazed by the software gadgets that are out there. Undercover is one of the most innovative applications I have seen in years.

I frequent many coffee houses to sit back, enjoy a cup of joe and use the internet. Sometimes I leave my Macbook Pro unattended. Rarely am I worried about it, but occasionally I feel the need to pack up my laptop just to go to the bathroom. Half the time I forget my security cable at home. It’s cumbersome to pack into my bag.

By the way, watch out for your laptop at college campuses. Attending college years ago, I remember at least hearing of one laptop theft a week, either in the police blotter or just by word of mouth. It got so bad, in my student union they posted signs on every table saying you should lock up your laptop or face losing it.

This is where Undercover comes in. For $29.99, you can get a license to use this program that actively tracks where your laptop is over the internet. Undercover will even send you pictures every 6 minutes of the thief if your laptop has a built-in iSight. It will take screenshots of what’s happening on your laptop, inevitably revealing the thieves identity through email addresses and chat nicknames. If that isn’t enough to get your Mac laptop back, then Undercover can simulate a system failure. When the thief tries to send it to an Apple reseller to get fixed, a message will pop up that says the laptop is stolen.

Undercover is made by a company called Orbicule. They promise a total refund of Undercover in the event that it does not lead to the recovery of your stolen laptop.

A great application to acquire if you are worried about your laptop getting stolen.

Check out Undercover on Orbicule’s website.

Were you frustrated the first time you tried ejecting a CD on a Mac? “Where’s the eject button?”, you probably asked yourself. Everyone using a PC makes a habit of looking for the eject button on the front of the computer casing. After asking a friend or calling Apple support, you quickly realized the eject button is upper right most button on your keyboard.

Apple designers want you to use the keyboard for everything. It’s nice to have a mouse, but why should you always have to direct it to the top of the screen to drag down a menu? That’s why keyboard shortcuts are handy.

Command / Apple = Cmd

Option = Opt

Control = Ctrl

Shift

So, for instance,

3 = Cmd+Shift+3 = Press and hold Cmd and Shift, then press 3

Always hold the function keys down first, then press the key to perform an action.

So, did you notice what happened when you pressed Cmd+Shift+3?

An image file appeared on your desktop. If you pressed it more than once, there will be that many image files on your desktop. They should be called Picture 1.jpg, Picture 2.jpg, and so on.

This image is a screenshot. So, whenever you want to take a screenshot, just press Cmd+Shift+3.

You can find a bunch of keyboard shortcuts in your System Preferences.

In the top menu bar, Go to Apple -> System Preferences. Click on the Keyboard and Mouse Icon in the second row. If you do not see this icon, simply press Show All at the top of the window then navigate to Keyboard and Mouse.

Click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. This will open a list of all the Keyboard Shortcuts that come packaged in OS X. You can use this as a reference.

You can even design your own keyboard shortcuts for every action on the list down to any menu item in any Application. I would stick to the defaults, unless a specific keyboard shortcut is uncomfortable for you to perform. Also, be aware that the same keyboard shortcut cannot be used for two actions at once.

Another place you can find keyboard shortcuts is in the Menu bar. For instance, in the Finder you can go up to the menu and select File -> New folder. Right next to that selection in the menu bar, it says the corresponding keyboard shortcut. Cmd+Shift+N makes a new folder in the Finder. Cmd+N makes a new finder window.

Ok, so earlier I promised some cool shortcuts. All of these and more can be found in the Keyboard Shortcuts Preference Pane. Here they are:

Turn Zoom on or off:	Cmd+Option+8
Zoom Out:	Cmd+Option+-
Zoom In:	Cmd+Option+=
Hide or show the Dock:	Cmd+Option+D
Tile all windows:	F9
Tile Application windows:	F10
Reveal Desktop:	F11
Reveal Dashboard:	F12

That’s all there is to keyboard shortcuts. Use them. Make a sticky note so you can learn them. You’ll get them in no time.

Frustrated with Spotlight? Want instant results when searching for documents? Tired of filing through Finder window after Finder window? Quicksilver solves all this with a simple interface and instant generation of results.

Download Quicksilver from VersionTracker.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22549

Safari users, scroll down one paragraph.

If using Firefox, Go to Window -> Downloads (Cmd+J). Click Open, next to the Quicksilver listing. Then, Control+Click the listing and select Open Containing Folder. This will popup a Finder window. Drag Quicksilver.app to your Applications folder. Double Click the Quicksilver application. Scroll down one paragraph.

In Safari, Go to Window -> Downloads (Option+Cmd+J). Then, Control+Click the listing and select Open in Finder. This will popup a Finder window. Drag the Quicksilver.app to your applications folder. Double Click the Quicksilver application.

The QS logo will appear briefly, signaling that Quicksilver is running. A Quicksilver icon will also appear in the Menu bar at the top right of the screen.

Once installed, the default key command to activate Quicksilver is Ctrl+Space. Some people prefer Cmd+Space. You can customize this in the preferences, which I shall explain shortly.

Hit Ctrl+Space to activate Quicksilver.

Basically, you type in an item in the first field and then select an action in the second field. Start typing right after the window pops up. In the example above, I typed “itunes” and selected the action open. Hit Return or Click Execute and the action will be performed.

What sets Quicksilver apart from Spotlight, is that it indexes your search results in the background. Spotlight makes you sit and wait around while it searches your computer. So, when you enter something into Quicksilver it finds the information lightning fast.

Now, let’s customize Quicksilver to search for what we want, when we want.

Click the QS icon in your menu bar. Select Preferences from the drop down menu. A new window pops up that explains all the different areas of the preferences pane. Select General, from the tab on the top right of the Preference window. Make sure Start at login, Warn before quitting, and Enable advanced features are all checked.

Select Command, from the list on the left. You can customize the key command that activates Quicksilver here. Simply, Click Edit and then perform the key command you want. I set it to Cmd+Space. You can keep it the default or make it whatever you want. If you do choose Cmd+Space, remember to change the key command for Spotlight in your Keyboard System Preferences.

Select Catalog, from the tabs on the top right. At the very bottom of the window, you can select the time interval QS scans your system for new files to make then searchable. Set Rescan to Every 10 minutes. Click the refresh icon just to the right to index your system manually.

Now, Click the Plug-ins tab in the top right. Select Recommended Plug-ins on the left. Check anything that isn’t selected.

Close the preferences.

Hit Ctrl + Space to activate Quicksilver again (or whatever Keyboard Shortcut you specified in the Preferences).

Now, Type in the title of a website you have in your bookmarks. You don’t even need the whole title, part of it will suffice. Take notice of the list that pops up. If Quicksilver doesn’t get it right the first time, select the website from the list. Quicksilver will learn what you really want to get out of it. You can toggle the list by clicking the arrow. The action has a drop down menu too. So, not only can you Open the URL, but Copy to the Clipboard, Send in an Email, Lookup in the Dictionary too.

Get out of the habit of opening Finder windows and searching through endless folders for the files you need. There you go, you are now a Quicksilver Pro.

Check back soon on how to integrate useful plug-ins into Quicksilver, like mouse gestures.