Category: How to

Keyboard Kung Fu: Hiding Applications

Posted Mar.07, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Clear your view, move your focus to the task at hand with ⌘ H.

Command-H = Hide application

Put simply, the ⌘ H shortcut will make the current application disappear from view. It remains open and running, but invisibly in the background.

Command-H kyboard shortcut

Clear your view with Command-H

This is a handy keyboard shortcut when you have many applications running and you want to hide some of them from view without actually quitting the apps. Try repeatedly tapping ⌘ H and one by one the open apps will disappear leaving you on the desktop.

Combine two Keyboard Kung Fu moves to swiftly refocus attention

The ⌘ H combination is very useful when used in conjunction with the Command-Tab action that we covered in a previous Keyboard Kung Fu lesson. Any app that is open can be selected and hidden quickly & easily, and any hidden application can be brought back into view by Command-Tabbing to it. These two actions, hiding an app and then bringing it back into view, replace the need to minimise applications to the dock and then restore them using the mouse.

The Tao is hidden and nameless
Yet it is only the Tao that excels in giving and completing everything.
– Chapter 41, Tao Te Ching.


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Keyboard Kung Fu: Switching to a Closed Application

Posted Feb.28, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

In a previous Keyboard Kung Fu lesson we saw how easy it is to switch between open applications using Command-Tab. Sometimes though, an app is minimised or closed and can’t be tabbed to. That’s where this handy little manoeuvre comes in.

Command-Tab / Command-Option

Use the ⌘ tab / ⌘ ⌥ key combination to open an application that has been minimised or closed. These apps can be brought up by taking your finger off the tab key, moving it to the ⌥ key, and then removing your thumb from the ⌘ key.

Keyboard Kung Fu shortcuts

Switching between open apps with the ⌘ tab, ⌘ ⌥ move.

In the image above I have already tried to switch to the Mail app but found that it is closed. So I have then used ⌘ tab to select the Mail app and then taken my middle finger off the tab key and put my index finger onto the ⌥ key. Then when I removed my thumb from the ⌘ key the Mail app popped up into the foreground.



The returning is the movement of the Tao.
– Chapter 40, Tao Te Ching.

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Keyboard Kung Fu: Mastering the Keys

Posted Feb.21, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Keyboard Kung Fu logoHave you ever tried to memorise a list of keyboard shortcuts? Most of us have found a list of keyboard combinations and pinned them on the wall next to the desk in the hope that they’ll become a part of everyday keyboard use and increase productivity. I’ve done that a few times. I started using a Mac several years ago and have only recently learned more than the handful of general keyboard combos that make life easier.

So I’ve started a series called “Keyboard Kung Fu” to help make learning the useful keyboard manoeuvres much easier and more fun. For now I’ll be focusing on the Mac but may cover Windows keyboard shortcuts at a later time.

How to Memorise More Keyboard Combinations?

The problem with the list of keyboard shortcuts that you pinned next to your computer was that there is nothing memorable about two or three symbols or words printed in black on a white page. There is nothing for your brain to hook onto to make one line any different or distinctive from the rest of the items on the list.
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Keyboard Kung Fu: Switching Between Open Applications

Posted Feb.21, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

This is perhaps the most useful keyboard shortcut you can learn, and it’s very simple.

Command-Tab = Switch to the next application

When you want to move to another application that you have already opened, instead of moving the mouse cursor down to the app’s icon on the tool bar, just hold down the ⌘ key and tap the tab key to bring up the panel displaying all open apps. While holding down the ⌘ key keep tapping that tab key until the desired application is selected and then let go of both keys.

Hand on a keyboard on the Command and Tab keys

Switch to another open application with Command-Tab

Command-Shift-Tab = Switch to the previous application

If you accidentally go past the app that you were looking for while tapping on the tab key then hold down the shift key (while still holding the ⌘ key down) and then tap the tab key again and the selector backwards to the previous application.



The great Tao is like a flood – it can flow to the left or to the right.
– Chapter 34, Tao Te Ching.

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Unrelated Twitter Notifications in iOS 7

Posted Jan.09, 2014 under How to

Are you receiving Twitter notifications on your iOS device that have nothing to do with you? There’s a fix for that.

New Notifications Center

With the release of iOS 7 came the redesigned three-fold Notifications Center to give easy access to the day’s events, all your notifications or just those notifications that you’ve missed. What’s more, the Notification Center can now be reached directly from the lock screen, making access much easier and faster.

Screenshot of iOS 7's Notification Center

Receiving unwanted alerts in Notification Center


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Working Without Electricity

Posted Apr.17, 2013 under How to

I really enjoyed today’s electricity blackout that extended across the whole suburb, what I now refer to as the Great Blackout of 2013.

I had received a letter in the mail from our electricity company a few weeks earlier notifying me that the power would be turned off all day today and so I was prepared to spend the day offline but still keen to get some work done.

Battery levels for the iPad

Fully Charged is Fully Prepared

It was important that the iPad was fully charged the night before to ensure they’d not run out during the day. I’d loaded it with the latest podcasts I had yet to listen to as well as some recently added music from Soundcloud, Jamendo and Free Audio Archive.

Humans Need Recharging Too

I knew I could use the gas stove to boil any water required for cups of tea and coffee but I soon realised that I had forgotten to grind extra coffee. I rummaged around and found the hand grinder though so all was not lost.

Sure enough, as predicted the power went off bringing with it a pleasant calm to the neighborhood. The only sounds to be heard was the occasional bird call and the gentle jingle of the wind chimes.
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Twitter Launches Updated Profiles

Posted Sep.19, 2012 under How to

Twitter launched the new profile designs today that include a new header photo. The new header photos are similar to the Google+ and Facebook cover photos though Twitter’s header photo is simply a background image. The user’s existing Twitter profile photo and bio details are instead automatically superimposed on the header photo. The release of the new profiles coincides with the rollout of the new mobile Twitter apps and will create a consistent appearance on all the iOS and Android apps.
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