The Tips - Mac Kung Fu - page 181

Tip 158
Set Movie Thumbnails
If you import a movie file into iTunes, it will automatically set the thumbnail
preview you see when looking at a listing of movies in Grid and Cover Flow
view modes. The thumbnail is usually based on the first frame of the movie
file, which can be annoying if the movie starts with a fade from black or a
film/TV studio logo.
You can replace the thumbnail with your own choice by watching the movie
and then pausing it on something suitably illustrative. Then right-click the
playback area and select Set Poster Frame from the menu that appears.
Note that you might have to quit and then restart iTunes for the thumbnail
change to take effect.
Tip 159
Create a Clever Color Picker
This tip is primarily for web developers and graphic artists.
A lot of Mac apps feature the built-in OS X color picker tool. In TextEdit, for
example, clicking the color chooser icon on the toolbar and then choosing
Show Colors from the pop-out menu will display this tool. It's a floating window
showing a color wheel, although you can also switch to predefined palettes
by clicking the relevant toolbar button on the floating window.
Creating a Simple App
The color picker is not available as a stand-alone app, but it's easy to turn it
into one with a little AppleScript. This way, it can be used whenever you need
to choose a color and find the RGB (or CMYK) values.
Open AppleScript Editor—it's in the UTILITIES folder within the Applications list
of Finder. Open a new file (File→New); then in the main code area, type the
following:
CHOOSE COLOR DEFAULT COLOR {65535, 65535, 65535}