Surprising things you
can do on your Mac
Light up your party
The Music app (or iTunes in previous
versions of macOS) offers a psychedelic
light show that responds to the sounds your
Mac is playing. Hit Cmd+T to start; it’ll cycle
through different modes to keep things
fresh. While it’s playing, press? (with or
without Shift) to show key shortcuts that
you can use to change the patterns,
including M to switch modes and P to shift
the color palette. You can also press A to
add more branches to the patterns or S to
subtract. Press I to show or hide track info.
In Window > Visualizer Settings, you can
switch to the Classic Visualizer from the
original iTunes. Again, try A and S. To really
chill out, connect your TV or projector.
For work or play — and the stuff that doesn’t fit either of those categories
04 KEEP SECRETS
The keychain is where macOS stores
frqĽghqwldo#gdwd#olnh#sdvvzrugv#dqg#vhfxulw|#
fhuwlĽfdwhv1#\rx#fdq#dovr#xvh#lw#wr#nhhs#vhfxuh#
notes. Launch Keychain Access (from
Applications > Utilities, or type its name into
Spotlight). You could now select the “login”
nh|fkdlq#dw#wkh#wrs#ohiw>#dowhuqdwlyho|/#iru#h{wud#
security, go to File > New Keychain, name a new
keychain and set a password for it, then select
it. Now, click Secure Notes, then the + below.
Give your note a name and type something in
wkh#er{1#Folfn#Dgg1#Wkh#wlwoh#ri#wkh#qrwh#lv#
visible when you’re logged in, but if it’s not in
your login keychain you’ll be asked for the
password for its keychain to show the content.
FIND ALIEN LIFE
The University of California,
Berkeley’s Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (setiathome.berkeley.
edu) wants your Mac’s help to
analyze radio telescope data. Install
the BOINC app from boinc.berkeley.
edu/download.php, and it’ll run in the
background. You can opt in to
other research too.
03 Do math in
Spotlight
Wkh#Fdofxodwru#zlgjhw#is handy,
but for a quicker method, hit
Fpg.^Vsdfh#edu`#wr#rshq#
Spotlight and type numbers and
operators straight in. It accepts
erwk#{#dqg#-#iru#pxowlsolfdwlrq/#
/ for division, ^ for powers (so
^2 is “squared”) and %, and you
can use brackets.
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maclife.com FEB 2020 17
53 Amazing Things
maclife.com FEB 2020 17