Being More Productive with Blog Post Dictation on Apple's Mountain Lion

Although Apple’s new Computer software upgrade Mountain Lion arrived yesterday, it’s easy for me to have taken the features forgranted as I have been lucky enough to be using them for a few months as I have been lucky enough to be taking part in trials.

Okay, I am a self-confessed Mac Geek so I am one of those people who get excited reading about and watching videos about upgrades and Apple news before they happen. But today I want to tell you about the thingst I have found to be the most useful and I love using in Mountain Lion.   And how some of them can be useful for blogging.

The Top 7 Things I love About Apple’s New Mountain Lion Operating System are:

1.  Dictation

Today for the first time I am writing this blog post using Apple’s Dictation. At first I wasn’t very sure about using this dueto the mixed reviews the iPhone 4S App Siri gets. I like Siri for the fun aspects. But, it is still in Beta and although I set and cancel my alarms with it every day, have never found it to work properly with things such as texting.

Using Dictation just know I have been surprised that most of my dictation has been properly recognised and how easy it is to use. To set it up  I had to check my system preferences that it was switched on then I just press the function key twice and I have been dictatingusing my head set and microphone.

Dictation probably won’t be used by most people, but bloggers and people who write a lot may find it helpful so I suggest that you try it on your own.

2. The new share Button

The share button in Safari and other places is something I have found helpful for a while. I especially like to use this to share webpages with my Twitter, email or messages applications.  Keep an eye out for it as it’s now integrated with many other applications and in the Autumn/Falll Apple is going to be adding Facebook sharing which a lot of people like myself should find really useful.

3. Reminders and notes

Reminders and notes are features that Apple has taken that from the iPhone and iPad iOS so you may be familiar with them. A reminder or note that you set up on your iPad, iPhone or Mac will be synced automatically with the other devices.  These are extremely useful features and things I have believed we have needed for some time on our Macs.

You can make notes for blog posts etc when out and about and they will sync back to your mac, or keep a record of blog post ideas.

4. Airplay and Mirroring

I love being able to stream videos and audio from my iPhone and iPad to my Apple TV and watch or listen on the big screen. I have actually used these features a lot more than I thought I would and find them really easy to use.   Watch blog videos or trainings in full screen.

I was disappointed, however, when I discovered that my MacBook Air which is just over a year old is too old to share the Screen of my Mac  my Apple TV which I was really looking forward to.

5. Notifications

iPhone and iPad users will have been used to notifications and alerts for some time but it is actually extremely useful that these are now on your Mac too.   It means that when I am working and I can receive alerts for messages, emails, reminder, events  and lots of other things.

6. Messages

Messages is something I have absolutely loved using for a while.   Any iMessage conversations on my iPhone and iPad can be continued on my Mac and you can start them on any device.  Initially, I wasn’t sure if I would use this a lot, but I do like being able to send a quick message from my computer while I am working on it or check a message without having to pick up my iPhone or iPad.

7. Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper as a new security measure to make it safer to download apps by protecting you from someone trying to install malicious software on your Mac. You have three different setting options.    This means you can choose to only download Apps for your Mac from the Mac App Store, from the Mac Apps Store and known developers, or from anywhere on the web. Hopefully this will help to protect your Mac even more.

If you have a Mac and are unsure if you can upgrade to Mountain Lion, check here.   For more informtation about Apple’s Mountain Lion, click here and the reviews here and here are very helpful.

P.S.   I almost forgot to mention  that this upgrade is excellent value, costing £13.99 in the UK (USA $20) and being free if you recently bought a new Mac.

So if you are a Mac User, are you going to upgrade or leave it?   Share your views below.