Crop, Resize and Tweak Images on Mac

One of the most under-appreciated apps on macOS, Preview is hugely powerful, and even for us at TechRadar, it can perform tasks that we’d usually be stuck using a more expensive and elaborate app such as Photoshop for.

Trust us: open an image in Preview and poke around the app’s menus and interface to see just what it’s capable of.

For example, you can crop your image. Draw a selection with the regular Rectangular Selection tool then either hit Command+K or choose Crop from the Tools menu.

Alternatively, show the Edit Toolbar and make a more complex selection either with the Instant Alpha tool or use the Smart Lasso.

Do Unit Conversions in Spotlight on Mac

So, everyone knows that you can do basic calculations in Spotlight, but beginning with macOS High Sierra, you can take that a step further: unit conversions. You can do specific unit conversions if the need arises, say, “13 stone in pounds” but, you can also just type in the amount and unit you want to convert, and your Mac will suggest not just the likely conversion, but also a handful of alternatives. Type in '$1299' and you'll immediately be told what that is in pounds Sterling (based presumably on what's set as your native currency in the Language & Region pane of System Preferences), and then when the window folds down to show more results, you'll see Euros, Yen and so on.

VSCO Photo Editor Review

VSCO is like a more advanced version of Instagram, it has a community feature that lets you follow other VSCO photographers. You can search for contacts and Facebook friends to follow, but since it’s a relatively niche app, you might not know many other users. VSCO offers all of the tools that you’d expect from a high quality Android photo editing app, including exposure, contrast and temperature correction, as well as a very useful alignment tool for straightening horizons. There are also fade settings, and tools for skewing your image and adjusting tints. The selection of ambient filters isn’t huge, but the ones provided are very atmospheric and are adjustable via a simple slider. Once you’re done, you can share your image with VSCO’s community, send it straight to Facebook, or share it via any social networking or messaging app. The only disadvantage is that you can’t simply save an edited photo to your device; instead, you have to email it to yourself or save it to a

Talk and Listen to your Mac

Way back before macOS Sierra launched in 2016, the Mac’s ability to listen to you and talk back was already impressive through Dictation. However, that’s been completely topped by Siri’s arrival on Apple’s Mac lineup. You can either hold down Command and Space for a couple seconds, or simply click the Siri button on your Dock or Menu Bar, and summon the same Siri you’ve grown accustomed to on your iPhone. And, if you have a newer Mac, like the 2018 MacBook Pro, you can just say ‘Hey Siri’. And, as a bonus, this version of Siri is much more useful. Beyond the questions you may usually ask, like the weather or who’s playing in the playoff game, Siri on macOS High Sierra can toggle system functions like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or even pull up individual files stored on the system, based on what you tell Siri about the file. Siri can even launch or close apps for you as well as store the results of your queries inside the Notifications area of the OS for later use. Just press Command+Space

eMobs

Search This Blog