TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 28 June 2010

Firefox 3.6.6 — Mozilla’s Firefox 3.6.6 is a quick update to the just-released 3.6.4, which addressed a handful of security vulnerabilities and improved stability when plug-ins crash. Most notably, if the Flash, QuickTime, or Silverlight plug-ins crash, they won’t take down Firefox itself. (Just reload the page to restart the plug-in.) The security vulnerabilities could result in arbitrary code execution, as usual, so it’s nice to seem them fixed. Release notes are available. Firefox 3.6.6 merely increases the amount of time a plug-in can be non-responsive before it’s terminated. (Free, 19 MB)

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Default Folder X 4.3.9 — St. Clair Software has released a maintenance and stability update to the Open/Save dialog enhancement utility Default Folder X. Version 4.3.9, which comes hard on the heels of the more-substantial 4.3.8 release, fixes a single crashing bug. Other recent changes include the addition of pixel dimensions for images in the preview and information panels, the expansion of compatible hotkeys to include F16-F19, support for aliases when dragging items to the program’s preference pane, and support for Open and Save dialogs displayed in AppleScript scripts by SystemEvents. Also, the update resolves an issue that caused newer MacBook
Pros with automatic GPU switching to misread Default Folder X as needing higher powered graphics; the fix should help save on power and battery usage. A full list of changes is available on St. Clair Software’s Web site. ($34.95 new, free update, 9.9 MB)

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Things 1.3.4 — It’s time to catch up with Cultured Code’s popular task manager Things, whose latest release, version 1.3.4, fixes 14 bugs. But before taking a look at the most important fixes, it’s worth noting a major change that came in the 1.3.2 release: added support for multiple device syncing with your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The most recent update now preserves logged items from deleted areas in the Logbook, adds a native crash-reporter, adds a confirmation dialog when attempting to delete a non-empty area, and resolves an issue that prevented items in a project without a title from being shown in the Next list. A full list of fixes can be found on Cultured Code’s Web site. ($49.95 new, free update, 9 MB)

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Mailplane 2.1.9 — Uncomplex’s Mailplane 2.1.9 offers the capability to drag .webloc and .mailloc files into Mailplane to insert the URL encapsulated in the file into the message text. But the real reason to upgrade to Mailplane 2.1.9 is the fix to the problem that attaching files via drag-and-drop often didn’t work if you had also upgraded to the recently released Flash 10.1 (which you want to do, since the previous version is a security hole; see “Adobe Flash Player 10.1.53.64 Blocks 32 Security Holes,” 11 June 2010). The update also fixes a problem dragging text clippings to Mailplane, fixes a focus problem caused by
upgrading to Safari 5, and improves performance when composing replies. Release notes are available. ($24.95 new, free update, 7.7 MB)

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