Maybe you know everything that Spotlight does already, and maybe you've never really thought about the little magnifying glass icon in the top right hand corner of your Mac's screen.

If you're in the latter category, then I have some tips that will make your life easier. You may use it most often in the search bar of your browser window or to hunt down stuff in iTunes, but these tips explore the offline applications of this handy little tool (for those of you who have updated to Leopard).

Click on the Spotlight icon for:

• A Dictionary: Don't waste your time looking for a website to do it for you — just open spotlight, type in "lugubrious," and hit enter. Spotlight activates the Dictionary application and provides you with the definition of the word and its etymology.
• A Calculator: Just type the math problem into Spotlight and the calculation is performed and displayed in the window.

To see what else it can do, read more.

• To open up applications and files instantly — good even if you use Quicksilver.
• Lastly, the shortcut key to get to the Spotlight for Finder is command-space bar or command-option-space bar.