Quicksilver is a small “launcher” application – totally free – that I had checked out when I first got my Powerbook, but I guess I just didn’t “get it” at the time; I tossed it in the trash and moved on with life. As of today, it’s back on my machine and there’s no way I’m tossing it this time! It takes some getting used to, and a little imagination to figure out how it can serve your particular usage patterns, but once you find two or three short-cuts that you’ll actually use often, you’ll never want to be without it again.
Here’s the 10-minute-tutorial that got me hooked.
My favorite so far is the custom trigger I setup which lets me search iTunes by artist. In the mood for a little Bloc Party? No problem. I hit CTRL+SpaceBar, type in “bloc” and hit <ENTER>. That’s it – I’m now listening to all of my Bloc Party tracks. Looking for a specific Arctic Monkeys track? CTRL+SpaceBar, type in “arctic”, hit the right-arrow key and see a list of every one of their songs on my machine. Up and down arrows to find the one I want and hit <ENTER>. It’s all good.
Give it a spin, have fun and if you come up with any excellent uses pass them along.