Wayne Priestley

After a week of using the previous shortcuts I’ve mentioned so far, I have to say that it’s working out okay.

I think a week is long enough to get familiar with the shortcut and to allow your hands to get used to using them.

This weeks shortcuts are:

CMD + DELETE, ⌘ ⌫
CMD Delete moves the selected item to trash.

SHIFT + CMD + A, ⇧ ⌘ A
Shift CMD and the letter A opens your Applications folder.

I’ve decided to make more use of keyboard shortcuts on my Mac.

My reasons for this are two fold.

To speed up my workflow and more importantly these days, to reduce the risk of RSA from the constant use of my mouse.
I have already replaced my old mouse with the more comfortable VX Revolution, this had made some difference but getting away from using the mouse as often as I do is the main aim.

I’m planning on trying to master a few different shortcuts during the course of a week as a way of trying to remember them.

This weeks shortcuts are:

CMD TAB, ⌘ ⇥

The CMD TAB key is the application switcher shortcut, used to easily switch between running applications on the Mac these keys bring up a bar like view showing all applications running, allowing selection from left to right, using the SHIFT key ⇧ along with CMD TAB allows application switching from right to left.




The second shortcut is:

CMD H, ⌘ H
CMD H will hide any open application on the Mac, thus allowing the application to be opened again using the CMD TAB shortcut.
If an open application is closed by clicking the red button in the top left corner, then the CMD TAB shortcut will not re-open the app.

Next is:

SHIFT CMD H, ⇧ ⌘ H when in Safari.
An application specific shortcut, SHIFT CMD H takes you back to your Homepage, Google in my case.

My first thoughts on the SnowFlake mic from Blue.

It’s a nice piece of tech for sure, only let down a little by the detachable white plastic back-piece which is used to store the USB cable inside the mic housing when put together.

The Snowflake appears well built and solid, once detached from the plastic back-piece and placed on the top of my MBP the small pads on the inside of the body prevent any damage and stop the mic from sliding across the top of the screen if the MBP is moved.

Now for the sound…

Strange though it may seem, I can’t actually comment on the quality of the audio from the SnowFlake.
I’m the only person from the list of people I’ve spoken to so far that hasn’t actually heard my audio from the Snowflake, saying that all the comments are positive so far, with the SnowFlake delivering clear and good sounding audio.

It seems that the SnowFlake can be placed at some distance from you while still delivering excellent results, which turned out to be rather a funny tale while trying to explain the placement of the mic during a recent Mac20Q roundtable discussion.

That story aside for now I would say that the SnowFlake can still deliver excellent results even while placed 3 feet away.

So my investment in the SnowFlake seems well worth it so far, I’m hoping to hear some of the audio soon so I’ll be able to tell for the first time just how good it actually is.

After trying for an hour without success to join in the chat on a Mac20Q roundtable meeting using my internal mic on my MBP I decided to splach out some cash on the SnowFlake USB microphone from Blue.

Not the cheapest Mic available for the Mac, but I’ve read nothing but good reviews about the SnowFlake.

The best deal I found was from Dolphin Music.
At £10 cheaper than most other online retailers I feel I got a good deal.

Features

. Unique design fits on your desktop or laptop.
. Plug ‘n’ Play – no software needed.
. Perfect for podcasting, internet telephony, voice recognition software, movie narration & music.
. Mac & PC compatible.
. Includes USB cable.