5 New Features in Mac OS X Lion I Love

Recently, I had the pleasure of upgrading to Mac OS X Lion. Since the Macintosh operating system went from the old, classic OS to what we now know as OS X, Lion has been the most significant update for me. The new features are numerous, but here are my 5 favorite:

1. Launchpad – This brings some of the functionality of iOS to your Mac. If you have a trackpad or magic mouse, it brings even more functionality, allowing you to utilize some of the new multi-touch support in Lion. Here is a great video explaining how to get the most out of your Launchpad:

2. Airdrop – This is such an amazing tool. The basic gist is that any two computers using Airdrop can drag and drop files to send them to each other, without even being on a WiFi network. All you need to do this is to be in the general vicinity of the other computer and both computers running Lion. There’s literally no configuration or setup. It really is as easy as that. Check out this video to see more:

3. Digital Document Signing – this is something I have struggled with a lot, as my clients and I sign agreements before we start work. With some of my clients being around the globe, it is impossible to sit in the same room and sign a document together, so we usually had to rely on scanners or fax machines. Now, in Lion, you can sign a document by holding your written signature on a piece of paper, up to your isight cam and it will add the signature to your document. Here’s a quick little video to show you how it’s done:

4. Mission Control – This is a way better way of handling what used to be Exposé – it’s clearer, easy to open and close and way easier to manipulate. Here’s a Mission Control video:

5. Full Screen Apps – this is absolutely brilliant for so many reason, but most of all, for me, it’s great for my 3 year old son. It keeps him in the app and out of things he shouldn’t be in. Here are some other great examples of using full screen apps:

These are my top 5 favorite new features in Mac OS X Lion – what are yours?