Snow Leopard: Reveal Hidden Menu Bar Icon

In Mac OS X 10.5, the AirPort icon in the menu bar had a trick up its sleeve—hold down Option when clicking the icon, and you’d see more information about the various available AirPort networks. In Snow Leopard, this feature has been expanded, not just for the AirPort menu, but for some others as well.

Here’s what you’ll see when you hold down the Option key and click on various menu bar icons:

AirPort: In addition to the hardware (MAC) address of the wireless station, which channel is in use, the signal strength (RSSI), and finally an indication of the data transmission rate (all available in 10.5), you can also see what mode your connected network is using (802.11n, for instance), security (WPA2 Personal, etc.), and something called the MCS Index, which appears to be related to the 802.11n standard. (If you’re really into this stuff, feel free to look up your MCS Index value on this table; interpreting what you find there, though, well, that’s up to you!).

Sound: If you use more than one sound input and/or output on your Mac, you’ll love this change. Instead of using a third-party app such as SoundSource, or opening System Preferences, just Option-click on the Sound icon. Instead of the usual volume slider, you’ll see a list of available output and input devices; just select one from the list to use that output or input device. This is a great timesaver.

Full Article: MacWorld