100 Snow Leopard Tips, Tricks, and Features
Posted 08/31/2009 at 11:02am
| by Arvind Srinivasan and Roberto Baldwin

HTTP live streaming in QuickTime X
Though HTTP live streaming for H.264 files has yet to hit the mainstream, it’s nice to know that QuickTime X supports it. Instead of having to use a RTSP file stream, you can use the more open standard of HTTP to stream video to your Desktop.

Visual chapters in QuickTime X movies
If you are watching a movie that has chapters, you can view the chapters visually, and skip ahead. The interface is glitzy, but still speedy.

QuickTime X optimizes movies for display on the Web
Unless you want to tick off your ISP unduly, it’s probably a good idea to upload reduced-quality (and smaller file size) videos to the Web. QuickTime X does this in two ways. First, you can directly send videos to YouTube and MobileMe. And you can also save the videos in a format and size amenable to Web viewing anywhere else you'll upload it.

Click to fast-forward in QuickTimeX
One annoying part of the fast-forward button in Leopard’s QuickTime was that it was more like a skip -- you had to hold it down to actually fast-forward. QuickTime X allows you to click the fast-forward button, and click it again to change the speed. You can fast-forward up to 8x.

Trim out silent parts of video automagically in QuickTime
One really neat feature in QuickTime X is the ability to select all the silent parts of videos, and trim them as you see fit. Perhaps you were using your iSight to monitor your roommate, and don’t care about the silent parts, or maybe you would use this for less-creepy endeavors. But either way, it’s a nice trick to have, and many full-featured video editors lack it.

Easy file conversion for iPhones and iPods
If you have a lot of videos on your computer, you know the pain of converting them to an iPhone-watchable format. Now, QuickTime X does that for you. To maximize the functionality, use a plug-in like Perian Tools to open third-party formats, and export them to iPod and iPhones to eliminate the need for a converter.

Quick Look in iChat.
If a friend sends you as picture of him wrestling a bear, you can use the power of Quick Look to instantly preview it and make sure it's a real bear and not his brother in a bear suit.

Edit iCal events quicker
In Leopard you had to double-click on the event, then you had to click Edit to edit the event. That's one too many clicks. In Snow Leopard, you can just double-click on the event to get to edit mode.

Shuffle through screen saver photos
Mac users have always had the option to shuffle through different Desktop pictures, but now you can shuffle through different Photo Library screen savers. Check Use Random Screen Saver then click on Shuffle. Check the boxes of the image libraries you want shuffled as screen savers.

Set the default search in Spotlight
If you use Spotlight a lot to find files, you know it’s slightly annoying when you type a file name into the Spotlight field in your Documents window, only to have it search everywhere, including Mail Downloads. In the Finder navigate in the menu bar to Finder > Preferences, click on the Advanced tab, and change the default search location.