{"id":13881,"date":"2017-05-13T15:53:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-13T10:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/?p=13881"},"modified":"2017-05-13T15:55:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-13T10:25:16","slug":"10-cool-things-can-touch-bar-new-macbook-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/10-cool-things-can-touch-bar-new-macbook-pro\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Cool Things You Can Do with Touch Bar on the New MacBook Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"

10 Cool Things You Can Do with Touch Bar on the New MacBook Pro<\/strong> – The new MacBook Pros from Apple have seen what’s coming to them of media scope. Regardless of whether it was for the early reports of horrifying battery life, to the Touch Bar which appeared like a curiosity to many individuals. Hell, the MacBook Pros were even in the news for not offering more than 16 GB of RAM in what Apple is showcasing as an “Pro” machine. Nonetheless, when we discuss the Touch Bar, one thing is clear, it is being coordinated into more applications, since it offers a simple approach to play out a great deal of capacities.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the primary applications to support the Touch Bar, were the ones that come pre-installed on the MacBook Pro. The Touch Bar permitted clients to effortlessly explore through applications like Finder, while assigning tags, and sharing files on the fly. Clients can likewise see substantial collections effortlessly by scouring through the photographs on the Touch Bar, which, coincidentally, flies out a decent looking review of the selected image. Every one of the catches to change the volume, brightness, and so on are inside the “Control Strip”, the escape key is still there; and, on the off chance that you truly require the Function keys, you can simply press the “Fn” key, and the Touch Bar rapidly changes to show the function keys. Along these lines, in the event that you have the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, or in case you’re anticipating getting one, and pondering what it can accomplish for you; here are 10 cool things you can do with Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro:<\/p>\n

1. Become a DJ<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The\u00a0Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro is perfect for putting tools suited to creative professionals. After all, who wouldn\u2019t like using a multi-touch interface that is right there at the keyboard? If you\u2019re wondering how useful it could be, you need not look far. algoriddim integrated Touch Bar functionality into their app \u201cdjay Pro\u201d, and the experience is simply amazing.<\/p>\n

\"Become<\/p>\n

You get a\u00a0<\/strong>ton of cool controls<\/strong>\u00a0right there on the Touch Bar, including things like\u00a0effects, filters, loops, and steps<\/strong>\u00a0along with a\u00a0lot more cool stuff\u00a0that you can use\u00a0to drop some cool beats at your next house party. That is, if you\u2019re ready to learn the complexities of using an app as powerful as this one.<\/p>\n

\"Become<\/p>\n

If you do, though, you\u2019ll quickly see how the Touch Bar can be extremely useful, if implemented correctly by the developers. The app is priced at $49.99, but a\u00a015-day free trial is available<\/strong>\u00a0on the algoriddim website.<\/p>\n[ad type=”banner”]\n

Download ($49.99<\/a>,\u00a015 day trial<\/a><\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Play Games on the Touch Bar<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro has a Retina Display, and is a perfect place for creative\u00a0developers to put tiny games in. This is exactly what\u00a0Guilherme Rambo did. He developed a\u00a0Space Impact like game<\/strong>\u00a0that runs on the Touch Bar, and is controlled by the arrow keys, and the space bar on your Mac. Needless to say, the game is a\u00a0lot of fun, and is insanely addictive<\/strong>. Touch Bar games like this one are perfect for killing some time at the coffee shop, or during those long, boring subway rides.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/p>\n

Download (Free<\/a><\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> Annotate and Edit PDFs with Ease<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Touch Bar can also be extremely useful when you\u2019re trying to edit PDF files, with apps like PDF Expert.\u00a0PDF Expert was one of the first third party apps to start supporting the Touch Bar, and they did it perfectly. With PDF Expert running on a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, you will get options to quickly perform a variety of actions, including things like\u00a0highlighting,\u00a0and underlining text, along with options to redact text from the PDF, add notes to the PDF file, and insert text, images, and links<\/strong>\u00a0into the PDF file. Plus, you can choose the colors directly from the Touch Bar itself, which comes with a\u00a0<\/strong>full RGB slider<\/strong>\u00a0to pick the exact color you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

All this is made very easy by the fact that you no longer need to\u00a0dig through on screen menus simply to highlight text, or redact information from a PDF document. Integration with the Touch Bar has basically made the PDF Expert app even more powerful, and intuitive than it already\u00a0was. The PDF Expert app comes with a 7-day free trial, after which you will have to shell out almost $60 to continue using it.<\/p>\n

Download ($59.99<\/a>,\u00a07 day free trial<\/a><\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

4. Unlock Password Managers with Touch ID<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

If you use password managers like 1Password, you will be delighted to know that you can now\u00a0unlock your password manager application with your fingerprint, as well. The new MacBook Pros feature a Touch ID scanner on their power button, and once you\u2019ve enabled Touch ID for your favorite password manager, you can simply\u00a0<\/strong>tap on the Touch ID fingerprint reader<\/strong>\u00a0(the Touch Bar even draws an arrow, pointing you towards the Touch ID fingerprint reader), and your password manager will unlock.<\/p>\n

\"Unlock<\/p>\n

Obviously, this feature is only useful if you\u2019re using a password manager like 1Password that\u00a0is integrated with Touch ID. However, if you do use 1Password, you\u2019ll be amazed at how fast the entire process is, and how seamlessly it seems to work.<\/p>\n[ad type=”banner”]\n

Download (30 day free trial<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, plans starting from $2.99 per month)<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Faster\u00a0Video and Photo Editing on Your Mac<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Touch Bar is perfect for creative professionals, and\u00a0that\u2019s why it\u2019s awesome that two of the most famously used video, and photo editing software, both support Touch Bar completely. For photo editing, Adobe Photoshop\u00a0has Touch Bar integration. So, when you launch\u00a0Photoshop, you will see some commonly used tools, and options available directly on the Touch Bar. In a Photoshop project, you\u00a0will get shortcuts to\u00a0adjust the layer properties<\/strong>\u00a0like the opacity of the layer, and even a\u00a0full history\u00a0\u201cUndo\u201d, with previews<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"Faster<\/p>\n

The Touch Bar also gives options for\u00a0adjusting various settings related to the brush you have selected. You can adjust things like the\u00a0size of the brush, its hardness, color<\/strong>, and a lot more directly from the Touch Bar. Plus, Photoshop also gives the option to\u00a0access your\u00a0favorite tools<\/strong>\u00a0in the Touch Bar.<\/p>\n

\"Faster<\/p>\n

In Final Cut Pro, one of the most used video editing apps on Mac, the Touch Bar has a\u00a0plethora of options to choose from. You can do everything from tapping on \u201cImport Media\u201d, to starting a new project. The Touch Bar also\u00a0displays your entire timeline<\/strong>, so you can easily scrub through it. This can come in handy in very long projects, where the timeline is too big. Scrubbing through the Touch Bar can make it easier than normal. You can even adjust the timeline zoom, directly from the Touch Bar itself.<\/p>\n

\"Faster<\/p>\n

The Touch Bar also gives\u00a0quick access to all of the commonly used tools<\/strong>\u00a0in Final Cut Pro X. You can choose the\u00a0select tool, the blade tool<\/strong>, and a lot of other tools, along with their respective sub-settings. These things can come in extremely useful, especially if you regularly play around in Final Cut Pro X, or Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Faster<\/p>\n

Download Final Cut Pro X ($299.99<\/a><\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

Download Adobe Photoshop CC (starts at\u00a0$19.99 per month<\/a><\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

6. Quickly Switch Between Open Apps on your Mac<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

With the Touch Bar, you no longer need to press \u201ccommand + tab\u201d all the time, just to switch over to another open app. The Touch Bar can again save you\u00a0some time, by being present right there, at your fingertips. With an\u00a0app called\u00a0\u201cTouchSwitcher\u201d,<\/strong>\u00a0you get an app-store icon on your Touch Bar\u2019s Control Strip. Tapping on this rolls out\u00a0icons for every app that is currently open<\/strong>\u00a0on your Mac. Then, you can simply tap on the\u00a0app that you want to switch over to, and your work is done.<\/p>\n

\"Quickly<\/p>\n

The best part about using \u201cTouchSwitcher\u201d is that when you switch over to another open app, the app comes into the foreground, even if you\u2019ve minimized it. This solves a big problem of having to press \u201ccommand + option + tab\u201d, just to ensure that minimized windows also come to the foreground if I\u2019m switching to their parent app. The app is\u00a0available for free<\/strong>, but you can always choose to support the developer, by making donations on his website.<\/p>\n

Download (Free<\/a><\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

7. Get Custom Touch Bar Buttons on Your Mac<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro comes with a plethora of customization options. You can customize the control strip to display buttons\u00a0that you want, and use most often. You can even customize the Touch Bar on a per-app basis. However,\u00a0if you\u2019re looking for even more customizability for the Touch Bar, you\u00a0don\u2019t need to look any\u00a0further than Better Touch Tool. This app can let you\u00a0<\/strong>create\u00a0custom buttons<\/strong>,\u00a0complete with names, and custom icons for the Touch Bar, and you can even\u00a0make the buttons app specific<\/strong>. So, you can use Better Touch Tool to make custom Touch Bar buttons that only come up on apps like Chrome, which doesn\u2019t have Touch Bar support, yet.<\/p>\n

\"Get<\/p>\n

This is exactly what I\u2019ve done, and you\u2019ll be glad to know, it\u00a0works flawlessly<\/strong>. It does take some time to create the buttons, which is why my implementation is severely lacking, as of now, but\u00a0with a little bit of time, and effort, you can set it up perfectly.<\/p>\n

\"Get<\/p>\n[ad type=”banner”]\n

Download (45 day free tria<\/strong>l<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, licenses start at $6)<\/p>\n

8. Scrub Through Videos in QuickTime<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

QuickTime, Apple\u2019s own media player application plays\u00a0nicely with the Touch Bar, and has controls for a number of different things, depending on what you\u2019re doing inside the app. If you\u2019re simply watching a video, you will get\u00a0<\/strong>controls to scrub through the video<\/strong>, and with the\u00a0preview\u00a0in the Touch Bar itself<\/strong>, the experience is even better.<\/p>\n

\"Scrub<\/p>\n

QuickTime player is also\u00a0the\u00a0default method to record your Mac\u2019s screen, or to record audio, and even movies using the Face Time camera. When you\u2019re recording a screen, the Touch Bar shows the\u00a0options to record the entire screen, or just\u00a0a selection of the screen<\/strong>, instead. Even while recording, the Touch Bar provides a\u00a0handy overview of the total length of the video, along with the file size<\/strong>\u00a0that it currently is.<\/p>\n

\"Scrub<\/p>\n

9. Easy Access to Safari Tabs and Favorites<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Almost every pre-installed app has a full-fledged Touch Bar support, and Safari is no different. On launching Safari on the\u00a0new MacBook Pro, the Touch Bar immediately\u00a0displays\u00a0your favorite websites<\/strong>, as beautiful, colored icons. You can swipe along to view all of the favorites you have, and\u00a0<\/strong>tap on them to open them in the tab<\/strong>. You can also open new tabs directly from the Touch Bar.<\/p>\n

\"Easy<\/p>\n

When you have more than one tab open in Safari, the Touch Bar starts displaying a little\u00a0preview of the open tabs<\/strong>; and you can slide your finger on them, to switch between tabs. This can come in very handy for quickly switching tabs, or just getting a bird\u2019s eye view of all the tabs that you have open. The tab icons automatically adjust their size to fit\u00a0all of the open tabs into the Touch Bar, so you can view them at a glance.<\/p>\n

\"Easy<\/p>\n

10. Faster\u00a0Text Formatting<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Touch Bar also packs in powerful text formatting features. Whenever you launch a text editor, such as TextEdit on your Mac, and begin typing, the Touch Bar quickly\u00a0adapts, and\u00a0displays word suggestions, formatting buttons<\/strong>\u00a0to quickly format text as bold, italic, or underlined, as well as\u00a0buttons to choose the text color<\/strong>\u00a0(if the app supports colored text), along with\u00a0alignment buttons<\/strong>, and the ability to format text into lists (bulleted, numbered, etc).<\/p>\n

\"Faster<\/p>\n

These options can let you\u00a0quickly format text<\/strong>, without having to use your trackpad, or a number of key combinations. You can simply select some text, and format it as bold, italicized, or underlined. You can even quickly convert multiple lines of text into a formatted list, and more.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also an\u00a0emoji button<\/strong>, which puts all of the supported emoji\u2019s directly on your Touch Bar, sorted into proper categories.<\/p>\n

\"Faster<\/p>\n

The\u00a0only disappointing thing about this feature, is that the text prediction works extremely slow. In fact, it didn\u2019t update past the first word, while I was typing. If you\u2019re slower at typing, then the predictions might update at the right speed for you.<\/p>\n

Get More Productive with Touch Bar on the New MacBook Pro<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

While the Touch Bar may sound like a novelty to a lot of people, chances are, they haven\u2019t had the time to use it for long enough to get used to it. Personally, I got used to the Touch Bar quickly enough, and it almost became second nature to use the shortcuts that I used most often, because it\u2019s just easier to tap on a button, instead of clicking on items. There are a lot of other apps that make really great use of the Touch Bar, as well, but these were some of the uses that I, personally found very useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 Cool Things You Can Do with Touch Bar on the New MacBook Pro – PC – Regardless of whether it was for the early reports of horrifying battery life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51208,30044,51206,5739],"tags":[25744,38556,25745,41612,41627,41615,39125,41619,41623,41626,41611,41610,41616,41618,41624,41608,41609,41613,41625,41620,41617,41614,41622,41629,41628,41621],"class_list":["post-13881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple","category-ios","category-mac","category-pc","tag-apple-laptop","tag-apple-mac-pro","tag-apple-macbook","tag-apple-macbook-air","tag-apple-macbook-pro","tag-apple-macbook-pro-2016","tag-mac-book","tag-mac-pro","tag-macbook","tag-macbook-2016","tag-macbook-air","tag-macbook-air-13","tag-macbook-air-price","tag-macbook-price","tag-macbook-pro","tag-macbook-pro-13","tag-macbook-pro-13-inch","tag-macbook-pro-15-inch","tag-macbook-pro-2016","tag-macbook-pro-2016-release-date","tag-macbook-pro-price","tag-macbook-pro-retina","tag-mbp","tag-new-macbook","tag-new-macbook-pro","tag-new-macbook-pro-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}