(slow music)
- So in this processor video series
we've talked a lot about the future of computers
but honestly most of the time
I just end up going back to my Mac or a Windows PC
and I do that because you can really customize
the way that the operating system works
but here's a question
why would anybody bother doing that in the first place?
So the reason I like customizing my computers
and I know that this makes me sound really really corny
is that it makes me feel like I have super powers.
If there's something that annoys me
about the way that my computer works
I can just go out in the internet
and somebody else is inevitably annoyed by the same thing
and there's usually a utility that I can download
and install that fixes that annoyance.
And I'm talking specifically here
about utilities and not apps
so I'm not talking about stuff like One Password
which I love and you should go and install
or Dropbox which I also love
it's my favorite Cloud utility app.
No I'm talking about utilities
things that change the way your computer actually works
at kind of a deep level.
And so in this video
I wanna talk about my favorite Mac utilities
we'll do Windows in another video later on
so let's get into it.
So one utility that basically everybody who has a Mac
tends to install when they get into this thing
is a Window Manager and there's a million of these
but my favorite is called Flexiglass
and it does all the standard stuff
that a Window Manager does so you can hit a key combo
to move your window to the left or the right
or full screen or whatever.
But the reason I like it
if we look at the preferences for it
you can see that it has this thing called a Window Mover
and what that lets you do
is you can hold down buttons on your keyboard
to adjust the placement of your windows.
So let me explain
normally if you wanna resize or move your window
you've gotta move your mouse to a specific point
like down here in that corner
and it's really hard to hit,
but with the Window Mover
you can have your mouse anywhere in your window
hold down a key combo
and you can start moving your window around,
or another key combo and resize your window.
And so for £9.99 which is the cost of Flexiglass
it gives you a way faster way to move around
or adjust your windows on your Mac.
Another utility I really like
especially if you're on the latest update
of the Mac Operating System High Sierra
which you really should be
is (laughs), it's got a weird name actually
hang on I'll look it up here it's
High Sierra Media Key Enabler.
This is a free utility
and it puts a little dot in your menu bar
and what it does is it makes your play, pause,
next, previous buttons on your function bar actually work.
So normally if you hit that
it might start iTunes
or it might pause video on Safari you never really know
but with High Sierra Media Key Enabler
you can set it to prioritize Spotify
so when you hit that play pause button
it's just gonna send that command to Spotify
and it'll always work.
Another utility that a bunch of people install
is a screenshot utility.
Now I know that you can hit Shift+Command+4 in a Mac
and it'll record a screenshot
but I use this app called Annotate
it was recently acquired by Cloud App but it's still free
and when I hit Shift+Command+4 to take a screenshot
I can then draw and I can put little arrows on it,
I can put some text on it,
I can even like blur out certain section of it
and then when it's done
I can just hit the Twitter button to tweet it,
I can save it or I can even hold down the option key
and drag it directly to another app
if I just wanna put it directly into another app.
It's way more convenient than the built in
screenshot utility and I really recommend
if you don't use Annotate
at least some kind of screenshot utility.
So the next utility I wanna talk about
is one I've talked a ton about it's called Alfred
and I've made a whole other video about it.
It's basically a better version of Spotlight
you can hit a key combo and when you do
a search box pops up
and it's better at internet stuff than Spotlight is.
And you can even do stuff like clipboard history
and snippet some text and all kinds of customizations.
But the tool that I use with Alfred is just as important
it's called Karabiner Elements
which is a funny little tool
and let's you assign a button on your keyboard
to something else.
So for me I've assigned Caps Lock to the F16 key
'cause if I wanna shout in the internet
I'm hold down the Shift key like I really mean it.
So instead when I hit the Caps Lock key
it pops up my Alfred search box
and then I can search for something on The Verge really fast
and that's great.
Now for Alfred to get the most out of it
you need to pay £19.00 for the app
but Karabiner Elements which remap your buttons is free.
Now this utility is the saddest nerdiest thing
'cause it literally saves you like one click
but I still love it
it's called Tooth Fairy and here's how it works
in your menu bar it puts a little icon
and shows you whether or not you're connected
to Bluetooth headphones
so this are Beats X headphones
and they're currently paired to my iPhone
I wanna listen on my Mac
so with Tooth Fairy I just click this button
and then it will connect up to my Bluetooth headphones
and it'll even turn dark to show me
that I'm connected to my Bluetooth headphones
and you can set it up for multiple pairs of headphones.
I know it just saves you one click
but that click makes a big difference to me.
Okay so last utility
you may have noticed that I've got a million menu bar icons
and it looks hellacious
but there's a couple of utilities
that lets you hide most of them
the one I like is called Vanilla
and it's really simple
it just puts a little carat in your menu bar
and you can just tap it and it hides all of your icons
and then you can just hold down the Command key
to drag icons in or out of the hidden section
it just makes your computer feel more comfortable.
It's nice.
So those are my favorite utilities for the Mac
and I talk about this a lot
but I really do think that being able
to customize your computer makes a huge difference
it makes it feel like it's yours
and not this thing that got handed down to you.
If you're using an iPad or a Chromebook
if there's something that you don't like
you basically just have to deal with it
but with a Mac or with a Windows PC
if there's something you don't like you can change it
and most of the time
I prefer the platform that you can change.
Hey everybody thank you so much for watching
and I wanna know what your favorite utilities are
'cause I'm always on the lookout for new ones
basically all the time 'cause I'm an obsessive nerd.
And while you're there leaving a comment
you could also hit that subscribe button
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