If you're like me, some of your information is in the cloud and some is on your machine, and you don't always remember what is where. That can make it frustrating when you try to use your favorite local search tool to find something. Isn't the whole point of search that you don't have to remember where you put things?

That's where Precipitate comes in. After you install Precipitate, you can use Spotlight to find files online (such as those in your Google Docs list) just as you would find files stored on your Mac. Then, you can open them in your browser with a single click. Once Precipitate is set up, it stays out of your way, regularly getting the latest contents of your documents automatically, so you'll never need to think about it — and if you have Lion or Mountain Lion with iCloud enabled, then you are truly on your your way to being fully organized!

Force key repeat

Staring with Lion Apple added a new "feature" to give you alternative characters when you hold down certain keys (this is equivalent to holding down the option key in previous versions of the OS).  To force key repeat, type in the following command in Terminal:

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

You can also achieve this behavior via the Secrets Preference Pane, as illustrated below.

Mac compatibility

I recently came across a great site for checking for compatibility of applications for new releases of the Mac operating system (Lion, Mountain Lion to even future versions).  The site in question is RoaringApps and recently added Devices section, in which you can check which of your (many) Apple computers will run the latest versions of OS X and iOS.

You can also update your Mac's firmware to make it more compatible and functional by clicking here.  My laptop's firmware, for instance, would be here.  Another example would be an an iMac I recently upgraded.

Microsoft Windows has an equivalent in a software download and you can download it here

Lion doesn't come on any physical media.  Instead, you have download it from Apple's servers from the Apple store.  What if you bought a Mac with Lion already installed and you desperately need the install DVD because your hard drive got hosed.  The following will give you instructions on how to burn your own install DVD.

1. Download Lion from the Mac App Store. The installer should show up in your Applications folder.
2. Right-click on the installer and hit "Show Package Contents". Navigate to Contents > SharedSupport and look for a file called "InstallESD.dmg".
3. Open up Disk Utility and drag the DMG file into the left-hand sidebar. If you're burning it to a DVD, insert your DVD, select the disk image in the sidebar, and hit the "Burn" button. Skip down to the last step to use it.
4. If you want to burn Lion to a USB flash drive, plug it in and click on it in the left-hand sidebar in Disk Utility. Go to the Partition tab and select "1 Partition" from the dropdown menu. Choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) on the left.
5. Hit the Options button under the partition table and choose "GUID Partition Table". You'll need this to make the drive bootable on a Mac. Hit the Apply button when you're done to format your drive (note: it will erase everything on the drive).
6. Click on the "Restore" tab, choose the InstallESD.dmg file as the source and your flash drive as the destination. Hit the Apply button and it will create your bootable USB drive.
7. Reboot into OS X and hold the option key when you hear the startup chime. You can boot into your DVD or flash drive from there.

User Library in Lion and Mountain Lion

After upgrading to Lion you will notice that your user's Library's folder is missing.  Don't worry, It's still there.  Apple decided to hide it so users don't mess around with this very important folder.  To unhide it, simply open Terminal (Applications ==> Utilities ==> Terminal) and input the following command:

chflags nohidden ~/Library/   #to show the Library folder

To change the setting back, input into the Terminal:

chflags hidden ~/Library/ #to hide the Library folder

You can also click this link to access this secret on Blacktree's Secret's page.  Secrets is a preference pane that gives you a graphical interface to access all of your Mac's hidden treasures.  You can download the software here

iTunes notifications in the Mac's Dock

a secret preference setting built into OS X Lion that allows song notifications to pop up over the iTunes Dock icon. Here’s how to enable them:

First, quit iTunes if it’s already running. Fire up Terminal (from /Applications/Utilities/) and paste in the following command, then hit Return:

defaults write com.apple.dock itunes-notifications -bool TRUE;killall Dock

The first part of that command turns on the Dock’s ability to display iTunes notifications; the second part restarts your Dock. (That restart may take a couple of seconds.)

Now, relaunch iTunes, select a track, and press play. Down in the Dock, you’ll see a brief notification with the song’s name and artist. The notification will appear whenever the track changes, regardless of the app you’re currently using; it will then fade away on its own.

If you decide you don't like the notifications, you can get rid of them by issuing the same command, but replacing TRUE with FALSE.

Update: if Hyperdock is installed then you don't need this command because this preference pane takes care of this for you,