Alfred productivity app for Mac

If you've been using Mac OS for a while, you are probably familiar with the Command + Space Bar shortcut to run or open a lot of things via the Spotlight search function. Now Alfred for Mac OS is like Spotlight search on steroids. I can do everything that Command + Space Bar can plus a whole lot more with Option + Space Bar instead.





The first major feature of Alfred is of course the search and browse function. You can launch applications and find files on your Mac or on the web. Alfred learns how you use your Mac and prioritises results. I can stick with Google or mix with a few other search engines from the app.

What's more, pressing space bar on the search result will give you a little preview of the document that you searched.



You can also perform quick calculation straight from the Alfred search box. Pressing enter will copy the result to the clipboard, saving you precious seconds on your work.



Check your spellings and quickly find the definition of a new work straight from Alfred.







One of my most favorite function in Alfred is the system commands. I can empty trash, eject external drives, activate screensaver, shut down my Mac and much-much more with just a few key taps.

The basic Alfred 3 app is free but there's a lot more features that you can activate if you purchase the Alfred Power Pack such as snippets and auto expansion, control iTunes or Spotify, create custom workflows, run shell and terminal commands and sync and back up your settings. Because life is too short to waste a few extra seconds using just a mouse. Go ahead and try out Alfred 3 for yourself and become a Mac power user with just your keyboard.

Top of the class

Like any other year 6 students in his class, Adam studied hard for his UPSR exam which is the penultimate exam of his primary school life. He’s been burning the midnight oil, arranging study groups with his friends and attend a bi-weekly tuition class at school. He’s grouped in the smartest class in his year group and he regularly achieve top ten placing in his class during exams.



When the UPSR trial result came out though he only managed to score 5As out of 6. Of course this is just a trial and don’t necessarily determine the final result. So we encouraged Adam to try and improve his studies, especially the science subject which he got the single B for. Examination day finally came and Adam sit through his papers without any hitch.



Fast forward 2 months later, it’s D-Day. Like every other parent, we were nervous waiting for our child’s result. Will he do well? If he does not, will he be disappointed? We took a day off from work to collect the result at school. We waited in the hall for a while until I couldn’t take it anymore and logged-in online to check Adam’s result. He got 5As and 1B, the single B in science. As a parent we tried to be as supportive and understanding as we can. I know Adam must be disappointed with the result since we half-expected him to ace it.

When the announced the overall result, much to our surprise nobody in the entire school scored 6As. 12 people got 5As but no 6As at all. Later we found out due to the new paper format only 1.11% or 4,896 of the entire year 6 that year scored 6As. So basically Adam getting 5As and 1B is a feat in itself since 1.89% of those who sat for the paper managed to score that. Furthermore we heard you have to get 90 to 100 marks to get A hence why so few 6As.

In the end it was not all gloom and doom. Adam Farihin did quite well indeed considering all the facts. Besides, they’ve lowered the minimum requirement to get into SBP (boarding schools) to 3As and 3Bs so there’s still hope. Congratulations Adam, you made your parent proud.