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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 7 May 2012

Alfred 1.2 — Running with Crayons has updated its free keyboard-driven launcher Alfred to version 1.2 with a number of new features. Available from the Alfred Web site as well as the Mac App Store, this release adds two new themes, large type support for displaying text and calculations, and the capability to drag files out of Alfred search results into the Finder, Apple Mail, and other apps. Its search matching algorithm has also been overhauled with a noncontinuous word-based matching scheme to improve results.

However, to take advantage of all the improvements in this release, you’ll need to download the app from the Alfred Web site (the Mac App Store version is limited due to Apple’s sandboxing rules). Plus, to unlock all the features, you would need to purchase the Alfred Powerpack for £15. With the Powerpack-enhanced Alfred 1.2, you’ll get 1Password 1Click bookmark integration, which enables you to access a list of passwords quickly and then open a selected bookmark in your default Web browser. You can also merge currently selected text with the previous item in the clipboard’s history. Finally, global hotkeys have been enhanced with the option to paste the most recent clipboard
item as plain text without having to first show Alfred, as well as the capability to assign snippets for instant pasting. (Free, £15 for Powerpack, 2.5 MB, release notes)

Read/post comments about Alfred 1.2.

Transmit 4.1.9 — It has been some time since its last update, but Panic has now released Transmit 4.1.8 with a modicum of fixes and improvements for the file transfer software. The update fixes a kernel panic that occurred with Transmit Disk when using OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion as well as a possible crash when viewing a mount point folder after unmounting a drive. It also adds support for Growl 1.3, improves compatibility with AS/400 and Personal FTP Server Pro, and updates the item count when filtering in the list view file browser. Other fixes address an issue with double contextual menus and miscellaneous display issues. A quick
4.1.9 update fixes a possible issue with the Transmit Disk menu extra, addresses a keychain issue in 10.6 Snow Leopard, and improves Growl compatibility again. ($34 new, free update, 22.4 MB, release notes)

Read/post comments about Transmit 4.1.8.

SpamSieve 2.9.1 — C-Command Software has released SpamSieve 2.9.1, which primarily addresses the recent release of Microsoft Outlook 2011 SP2 (for the most recent update, see “Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.2.1,” 26 April 2012). If you’ve previously used Outlook 2011, the spam-filtering software will update its scripts automatically. However, if you have a new installation of Outlook 2011, you can choose Install Outlook Scripts from the SpamSieve menu to start running your rules. Additionally, SpamSieve 2.9.1 addresses some problems with its Apple Mail plug-in, detecting
any damage and attempting to auto-heal the installed copy of the plug-in as well alert you to download and install a fresh copy. The release also no longer triggers Mac OS X’s “accept incoming network connections” firewall dialog, plus adds some exception guards to work around bugs in the Growl SDK. ($30 new, free update, 9.1 MB, release notes)

Read/post comments about SpamSieve 2.9.1.

Hazel 3.0.5 — Noodlesoft has released Hazel 3.0.5 with a profusion of fixes to the file cleanup utility. The update reintroduces the unintentionally removed “enclosing folder” as a destination for move/copy operations, as well as rewords condition targets to add clarity. It improves support for Growl, now allowing colon usage in Growl message patterns (as well as comments), breaking Growl options out of the pattern interface and into its own popover, and enabling you to format Growl patterns like other patterns. The release also fixes an issue where Hazel didn’t trigger certain rules, primarily those that were
dependent on folder size or sub-item count. Noodlesoft notes that you may find some rules “re-firing” after the upgrade due to changes in rules formatting and the internal database, but this should occur only once. ($25 new, $10 upgrade, 5.0 MB, release notes)

Read/post comments about Hazel 3.0.5.

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