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5 hidden, awesome Lion features

If you think that gestures and Mission Control are Lion's hottest features, think again. We rounded up five little-known but awesome Lion features you might have missed.

Sharon Profis Vice President of Content, CNET Studios
As the Vice President of CNET Studios, Sharon leads the video, social, editorial design, and branded content teams. Before this role, Sharon led content development and launched new verticals for CNET, including Wellness, Money, and How To. A tech expert herself, she's reviewed and covered countless products, hosted hundreds of videos, and appeared on shows like Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, and the Today Show. An industry expert, Sharon is a recurring Best of Beauty Awards judge for Allure. Sharon is an avid chef and hosts the cooking segment 'Farm to Fork' on PBS nationwide. She's developed and published hundreds of recipes.
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  • Webby Award ("How To, Explainer, and DIY Video"); Folio Changemaker Award, 2020
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Sharon Profis
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Your screensaver is now a jukebox in Lion.
1. Spotlight is sexier. 
If a search box could be attractive, Spotlight would be it. You can now drag and drop directly from search results to another program (like Mail) or another place on your desktop. 

Previews are new, too--just search for a doc and hover over a result to get an image preview. And finally, you can search the Web within Spotlight and launch a Google search result in your default browser.

Tip: Hit CMD-SPACE to quickly launch Spotlight.

2. More Photo Booth fun.
Lion gives you nine new Photobooth effects including Space Alien, Blockhead, Dizzy (blue birds fly above your head!), and my favorite: Lovestruck (pink hearts float above your head). Hit the arrows in the upper-right corner and enjoy these silly, new effects in Photobooth's beautiful full-screen mode.

3. Files and folders are smarter.
You'll immediately notice that the Finder is much more organized and intuitive. There's a new All My Files view, which (obviously) displays all your files organized by type in a pretty interface. Apple also added a smarter search box, and the ability to swipe though files in the icon view. 

Folders are more intelligent, too. When you try to combine two folders with the same name, Lion will ask you if you want to merge them. Also new is a feature that lets you create a new folder from a selection of files. 

4. Your screensaver is a jukebox.
When your iTunes' library artwork is your screensaver, clicking on any album will immediately launch its music. Go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > and set is as "iTunes Artwork." Hit "Test," click on any album cover, and jam out with this awesome feature.

5. Add a login message.
What happens if you lose your laptop? With Lion, you can add a message to the login screen, so make it useful by adding some personal information (like your phone number or e-mail address). Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General. Check "Show a message when the screen is locked" and add your info in the box below.

5 hidden, awesome Lion features (photos)

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View a list of all 250 new features in Lion here, and let us know if you find any other awesome features we missed.