Coolest Thing A Mac Can Do

(or funniest thing you can do to your friend’s Mac!)

Coolest Useless Thing a Mac Can Do!

Do this for fun…. Hold down the following keys, all at the same time. Best to start with the first and then add each. COOL HUH? To reverse, just do the same thing. Better yet, do it to a friends Mac and make them beg for you to put it back to normal! (don’t worry, its harmless!)

ctrl-option-apple-8

Silent Volume Control

If you are ever in a public place, staff meeting  or whatever this feature comes in handy…

Every time you raise or lower the volume, it makes a “bloop” sound, you can turn that off by going to system preferences…or you  can hold down the shift key while lowering or raising the volume to not play that sound.

Feel free to write regarding any comments or questions in the comments or by emailing chadsmacblog@gmail.com

How to: Password Protect Files

Here is a question that people always seem to be asking: “How do I password (encrypt) a file?”

I don’t know how to protect a regular file, but I know how to protect a PDF. You can do this by downloading this freeware application called PDF Encrypter 1.o. All you have to do is install it and you just have to save a PDF file by going to File –> Print –> PDF –> Security Options

Print…

Save as PDF…

Security Options…

New Features in Photo Booth!

If you have Leopard, you will see that Photo Booth has some new features including multiple pictures capture, movie recording, build in green screen, no countdown capture, and no flash! To turn off the flash simply press the shift key while clicking on the Shutter button. To turn off the countdown,  hold down the option button and click on the Shutter button. To have no flash or countdown, hold down shift and option and then click on the Shutter button.

Ring tones!

Are you tired of paying for 10 second clips (ring tones) that you already own? Well, I found a way to not pay for them!

REQUIREMENTS:

1) A Mac with Blue Tooth technology

2) A phone with Blue Tooth

3) Switch -if you don’t have it you can download it here.

Instructions

Open iTunes and select a song that you would like to have a ring tone to. I chose “Typical” by Mutemath

Lets zoom in…

Now drag it onto your desktop

Now drag it into Garageband or you can select it in the media browser.

Select which portion of the song you want to play using the EDIT–> Trim to Selection, feature. You probably want about a 10 second clip and export it to iTunes. Garageband exports this song in .aif form, a form your phone doesn’t read. Drag this song onto your desktop and open Switch.

Now convert it to .mp3 format. Go to applications and to Utilities –> Blue Tooth File Exchange, and turn on the Blue Tooth “Find Me” feature.

Final Step: Send the song to your phone! Enjoy!

Leopard Space Bar!

Here is a cool little feature in Leopard: Quickview. It really saves a lot of time, specially if it is a Microsoft file or a Adobe file etc. Well, if you need to see it a little more, click on the file and hit (space bar).

Here is what it looks like when you are playing a movie in quickview:

Here is what it looks like when you hit the spacebar:

-or with the the background-

(Special thanks to the Spencers, one of my favorite magicians)

Change an Icon in 10 EASY STEPS!

Changing icons can be so helpful! It will allow you to be a lot more organized! For instance I use a free password manager called 1Password for all the many passwords that I have, and to disguise it (even though it’s secure) I have it look like this…

It’s simple here is all you have to do:

1) Download some icons and open .zip folder and click once on the icon of your choice

2) Click apple+i and a new info window -keep this window up

3) Go to a folder (or application) that you want to change the icon to, and click it once

4) Click apple+i and another info window will open

So this is what you have so far.

5) Go to the icon that you downloaded info box (in this picture on the left), and select the smaller icon at the top it will be highlighted in blue

6) Now go to Edit–>Copy or (apple+c)

7) Then go to the other folder’s icon window and select the icon at the top

Let’s zoom in:

While that folder is still highlighted go to Edit–>Paste or (apple+V)

9) Close out of the windows

10) Pat yourself on the back, you just changed the look of an icon in 10 easy steps!

Any questions? Just let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Also-if anyone can find an icon converter or instructions please let me know!

If you don’t get it and need to see it be done… here you go!

http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p270/drumer4one/?action=view&current=iShowU-Capture.flv

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

On all Macs there is this great little feature that I like to call “Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!” What is is is a feature that allows you to zoom in to extreme measures. This is great for working with Photoshop and other photo editors, and also if you are trying to learn how icons and what not are made.

For instance this is what the Apple logo looks like zoomed in.

To turn this feature on/off press: apple+option+8

To zoom in even more (when feature is on): apple+option+[pluss]

To zoom out (feature must be on): apple+option+[minus]

Got questions or ideas that you want me to post?-leave a comment.

Look at My Screen!

Screen capture is a popular feature that most Mac users don’t know how to do when they switch over from Windows, but it is possible. All you have to do is simple click on (control+option+apple+3) and you have the whole screeen!

Cooler than that, is the picture selection tool. Simple press (control+option+apple+4)

Wait, there’s even more!! If you need to capture just an icon, window or the dock etc. all you have do is select (control+option+apple+4+[space bar])-a little camera should appear.

If you have any other things that you want me to post just add a comment!