Digesting Apples

Coming into this course, I felt very confident because I have been using computers most of my life, but I have already learned a great deal just in this first class, My early experience was largely Windows, but as I started diving into the video and audio editing world, I started using Mac a lot, though my use was very specialized and did not lend to  learning the whole system.
In tonight's activities, I learned about several Mac functions that were entirely new to me. The first was the universal access capabilities. Because we are going into education where we may encounter students with special needs, the Mac "helps" are wonderful. I might turn on voice over just to have some fun, but it could also be a valuable tool. Knowing that I can adjust keyboard and mouse settings will be good as I try to use public computers in school labs.
The time machine was a function I have used a little bit but just looked at it as a way to find files should my computer crash or get damaged. I didn't realize the extent to which I could search and recover old settings and files.
One last function about which I enjoyed learning was the smart folder. Letting my computer search and organize files will save a great deal of time and effort in the future.