Pre-Installed MacOS Software Which Is Actually Really Good.
Everyone loves to make fun of the pre-installed software that comes standard with every macOS computer. Sure, some of them are bad (Stocks? Toolbar?), But there are surprisingly good ones too.
Even my wife (who is totally against Apple in her views) had to reluctantly admit that iMovie is an amazing program the other day. Let’s talk about knocking me off my feet.
So today I would like to take a look at some of the pre-installed macOS programs that Apple has done great with.
IMovie
Let’s start with iMovie, because it’s my absolute favorite Apple app. It is very easy to get used to, and while you will quickly see its limitations when you try to do something that it is not capable of, it can still shoot some amazing videos.
When you start a new project, it gives you templates to work with, or you can start from scratch and design everything yourself.
Then you need to import all your videos and photos, drag them down and edit them the way you want.
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You can right-click on a section of a movie to get options such as splitting the video at that point, adding fade effects and “disconnecting audioâ€, which you can then use to completely mute the audio and replace it with something else. such as background music.
In fact, professional video editors won’t be satisfied with iMovie as it has limitations on what it can do. It also has some frustrating moments like some really crappy backgrounds and headers (and there is no way to import them from the web). But for basic stuff like family holiday videos, iMovie is great.
Notes
The next one that I really like is Notes. I used to be a big Evernote fanatic, but then they raised prices to ridiculous levels and the quality of the product started to deteriorate, especially with all the unnecessary features. Notes is a free alternative for Mac users, and the functionality has improved significantly in the last two versions of macOS.
Notes sync across all iOS and macOS platforms via iCloud and changes happen very quickly. Pictures can be inserted into notes, and important notes can be “pinned†at the top for easier retrieval.
You can also lock the note so that anyone who wants to view it must enter a password. This password can be set in the notes settings, but if you forget the password, you will never be able to view these locked notes again. So choose wisely.
Pictures
It took me a long time to fall in love with photography since I usually look at my photos on my iPhone or iPad. For some reason, I don’t like the idea of ??looking at them on a Macbook. But after playing around with the photos, I have to admit that I started to change my mind.
As with Notes, all photos sync across all of your iOS and macOS devices. You can sort photos by album and also edit photos. If you have big fat fingers like mine, it’s much easier to make these changes on the MacBook than on the iPhone.
You can also set images as your Mac desktop wallpaper right from the Photos app and edit metadata.
Fast T ime
Am I the only one who likes QuickTime? Sometimes it seems to me that this is so. Sure, VLC Player is good too, but I seem to have a strange, inexplicable attachment to QuickTime. Not only does it play media files very well (well, MP4 and MOV), but it also has several other great features under the hood.
After opening Quicktime, clicking on the File menu brings up three functions – New Movie Recording, New Sound Recording, and New Screen Recording.
If you connect an iDevice to a MacBook and launch QuickTime, you can choose iDevice –
And cast your phone screen to your MacBook screen.
QuickTime can also do other useful tasks like slicing videos, merging videos, rotating clips, and more. In general, a very reliable program that is underestimated and neglected.
Siri
Finally, it would be remiss not to mention Siri. I will write an article shortly comparing Siri to Google Now and Cortana, but now I can say with absolute certainty that Siri is the best of the three. She understands my Scottish accent perfectly, even if I cough, speak softly, or stumble over my words. Now THIS is an achievement.
I have a love-hate relationship with Siri, as there are already two women in my life who bother me. But Siri turns out to be extremely useful if you need to type an SMS, call or remind you of something, and you are too weak to touch these phone keys
And she can joke too. Just not very good .
Siri has improved rapidly over the years and I love how it is fully connected to all of Apple’s other various services. The day Siri was put on the MacBook, allowing you to dictate website addresses and open software, Siri really became indispensable.
Who I missed
Before you send me an email, tweet me, send me a carrier pigeon or whatever, tell me which great ones I missed, let me clarify a few.
iTunes was not mentioned because although I like it, with the next operating system – Catalina – iTunes is being removed in favor of two separate new apps. To say that I was severely chopped off, to put it mildly.
Everyone tells me that GarageBand is a great app – and I’m sure it is – but I personally don’t use it to talk about it. The same goes for Pages, Numbers and KeyNote. People love them, but I don’t use them.
And I’m sure there is a lonely person who loves Stokes, who no longer speaks to me….
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