spotlight

In yet another example of Microsoft copying Apple's user interface concepts, the latest update to the Xbox 360's dashboard/Xbox LIVE integration now uses the same 'slide-to-left-to-search' user interface paradigm that started with Apple's iOS 3.0. Watch for yourself in the video below:

With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's been taking some great steps in a new and innovative direction in UX/interaction design... but it seems their design teams still copy off Apple when they need to. Of course, there are worse companies to copy from—at least they're not copying Android!

When I'm performing quick calculations or estimates, measuring things, or balancing my checkbook, I just hit Command + Spacebar, then type in what I need to know.

• 1+1? (Spotlight gives the answer right away: 2)
• ((1+1)/4*(232.2-28))+55? (Spotlight gives the answer right away: 157.1

Instant math... way better than any calculator or calculator app I've ever used... and it's always at my fingertips.

Bonus: press Command + C to copy the result to the clipboard. Awesome.

I recently upgraded Transmit using the in-application Update functionality, but after that, whenever I tried emptying the trash, I received a warning that I couldn't delete the "Transmit Favorite Importer," because it was still in use.

Well, the Transmit Favorite Importer ties into the mdworker process on a Mac, which updates the Spotlight search index. Knowing this, I went into Activity Monitor, found the mdworker process, Quit it, and then emptied Trash. Voila! No more Transmit Favorite Importer!

A simple restart will do the trick as well, but if you are like me and have twenty applications open and don't have time to get back into the groove after a restart, this is a quicker way of getting your trash emptied.