What you’ll need

You’ll need an iPhone 4S with Siri turned on to get started, of course; TouchPad by Edovia from the iOS App Store ($4.99); and Alfred running on your target Mac, which you can pick up for free from Alfredapp.com. You’ll also need to make sure Screen Sharing is enabled on your Mac, which you can set up by going to System Preferences > Sharing and then checking the Screen Sharing box.

How it works and what you can do

Alfred basically allows you to quickly accomplish tasks through typing queries, application and filenames, instead of having to use the mouse to navigate through folders and your Launchpad application manager. With TouchPad, you can dictate text instead of typing it, which, if you’re operating a media Mac from your couch, for example saves you a lot of time and potential for improper entry via your iPhone’s software keyboard.

To get started, make sure Alfred is running (after the first run, it should be configured to launch at Login). Then, using TouchPad on your iPhone 4S, select the target Mac as the server, and use the software keyboard to type “Alt (⌥) + Space,” which calls Alfred up. Then, tap the microphone icon on your iOS device’s virtual keyboard within TouchPad, and simply say the name of any application you want to find. It should then transfer the text to Alfred, which will show if it found a match, and you can hit “Return” on your iPhone to launch it.

You can dictate any text you like, and options for searching the web will pop up, including Amazon, Google and Wikipedia by default. In Alfred’s preferences under the Features tab, you can also set up a custom search for any URL of your choosing, such as Facebook for instance.

Under the Features tab, you can set keywords to trigger actions related to certain files. By default, saying “Find xx” will locate files in Finder that match whatever term you use; “Open” followed by a keyword launches the file using its default associated application; and using “in” will find specific instances of a term within a file. Keywords allow you to control system features like shutting down your Mac, restarting or emptying the trash.

Even more possibilities

With the paid Alfred Powerpack for £12 ($18 USD), you can add more features to your Siri-enabled voice commands, including the ability to launch and control iTunes, email a contact or open Address Book, and enter specific URLs that launch automatically in your default browser.

Of course, this is all about Siri basically replacing typing, and you still have to hit the software “Return” key to make the magic happen, but it’s a lot easier than fumbling with VNC or virtual trackpad software when trying to navigate a Mac set up as a media center. If you’ve found other neat ways to use Siri on your Mac, please share them in the comments.

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Many people use Quicksilver as a replacement for Spotlight, but if you’re happy with the native file search and app launcher in Mac OS X, then why change? You probably know that you can access Spotlight quickly with the Command-spacebar keyboard shortcut, but here are a few more tricks you might not know exist.

• Spotlight makes a great calculator and dictionary. Just open the search box, type an equation, and watch the answer appear as you type. It works on long equations with several steps (623+191*87-4), as well as mathematical terms like square root or power. Type a word in the search box and its meaning appears in the results — so you can search for the definition of pi or the numerical value of pi, your choice.
• By default, Spotlight shows the first 20 results of a search. While you can’t change the number of returns, you can eliminate some of the categories the app checks so the results you get are more pertinent. Select Spotlight in the System Preferences, and click on Search Results. If you typically use Spotlight to search documents and email then uncheck categories like Webpages and Music so they’re ignored in the future.
• Do you tag your pictures with keywords in iPhoto? Use Spotlight to snag images and drop them right into an email without even opening iPhoto. If your photos contain metadata on what type of camera was used, start your search with the keyword make to get a list of all pictures taken with that camera (for example, make:Nikon).
• Spotlight can search inside the public files of other Macs on your network, if they’re running Leopard. If they’re running an older version of OS X, or another operating system entirely, it can only search for specific file names.
• Many popular third-party apps, like OmniOutliner and Intaglio, have plugins for Spotlight to make their files searchable too. Check here for a full list of what’s available, and to find out if your favorite app has a plugin you didn’t know about.

What’s your favorite Spotlight trick? Let me know in the comments.

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Since innovation clearly hasn’t skimped out on the iPhone, it’s natural that there are hidden talents built right in. Here are a few quick things I’ve discovered that you may, or may not have known about.

Typing

For Spanish speakers, the iPhone already has a comprehensive ability to understand Spanish vocabulary. But often enough you’ll end up needing an accent mark or a tilde above a letter. In which case, holding down the appropriate letter will give you a mini pop up menu where you can choose the appropriate mark for your letter.

Another handy typing tip is for punctuation. At the end of your sentence, most often enough you’ll use a period. Instead of hitting the “.?123” button and selecting the period, hit Space twice and it will automatically place a period for you and create the proper space for your next sentence.

If you aren’t planning on using a period at the end of your sentence, another simple trick is to hold down the “.?123” and slide your finger to the right punctuation, then release. This will automatically place the punctuation and switch right back to the qwerty pad.

Shortcuts

The iPhone is a phone too, hard to believe I know. It’s not always the quickest of phones only because you jump through a few more hoops than you normally would to place a call.

One way to compensate this is by getting to your “Favorites” quickly. By double clicking the home button from any screen, you automatically are taken to your list of favorite contacts.

Keep in mind though, if you’re playing music from your iPhone or iPod touch, double clicking the home button will give you an iTunes controller pop up instead. It works anytime you navigate away from the iPod menu and is a great feature while you’re driving or going for a run and want to switch songs quickly.

Where the innovation is lacking

One feature request I hope will benefit others would be the ability to cancel an SMS message. One great thing about the iPhone’s SMS capability is that I can hold onto entire conversation threads without ever deleting them. Naturally my SMS section tends to look more like my Contacts section. Often enough when I text someone, I’m only looking at the first couple letters of a name and automatically assume I’m sending it to the right person. Then, as I’m watching the progress of my SMS being sent, I realize it’s the wrong name at the top of the message.

One simple way to alleviate this problem is to include the ability to cancel an in progress message. Take a look at the mock up I’ve provided. Just by adding a quick “x” for canceling to the right of the status bar would provide huge utility to me as a user.

My next issue is with e-mail. I’m really surprised the ability to flag an e-mail in your inbox isn’t currently available. Using Gmail, I can move items to my Starred folder, but I’d much prefer having my flagged e-mails stand out. I think even a simple approach would be very similar to how you can star items in Google Reader’s iPhone application. Maybe when you slide to Delete an e-mail, you’re given the option to flag it as well.

I’d love to know your thoughts on the shortcuts and ideas I’ve listed, or if you have any of your own please share them in the comments below.

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