Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 33 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals

TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12 November 2012

MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 2.0 — Apple has released MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 2.0 for all laptop models introduced in June 2012: both 13- and 15-inch sizes of the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and both the 11- and 13-inch versions of the MacBook Air. The minimal release notes say that this release “includes graphics performance and reliability enhancements and improves compatibility with some USB devices.” Requiring OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion, the update should appear in the App Store’s Updates screen for affected models, or you can download it directly from Apple’s Web site. If
you have one of these models still running 10.7 Lion, it would seem that an upgrade to Mountain Lion would be the only way to take advantage of the update. (Free, 127.07 MB)

Read/post comments about MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 2.0.

GraphicConverter 8.3.1 — Lemkesoft has released GraphicConverter 8.3.1, with a number of changes to the highly regarded graphic conversion and editing utility, including a few interface tweaks like an action menu on the menu bar, confirmation of file deletions from the browser, and an optional IPTC indicator in the browser. Support for PCD and PICT export from the 64-bit version has been added, along with the capability to import ECW files, though this latter feature is lacking in the Mac App Store version due to Apple’s restrictions. PDFs can now be protected on save, text can be rotated, movies
can be converted to animations, and there’s now an option to ignore lab profiles embedded in TIFF files. A number of bugs have also been fixed. ($39.95 new, free update from version 7.x, $29.95 upgrade from versions 1 through 6, 150 MB, release notes).

Read/post comments about GraphicConverter 8.3.1.

VMware Fusion and Fusion Professional 5.0.2 — VMware has released version 5.0.2 of its Fusion and Fusion Professional virtualization packages, fixing a number of bugs. Notable changes include USB 3.0 stability improvements, a fix for a problem affecting multiple-monitor setups under OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, improvements for the Microsoft Office 2013 preview and Windows 8 installations, a solution to a bug that caused the library and the Fusion start menu contents to get out of sync, and more. Known issues that
remain include a black virtual machine screen on some Mac Pro systems running Mac OS X 10.7.5 and problems with upgrading directly from Windows XP to Windows 8 inside a virtual machine. ($49.99/99.99 new, free update, 215.9 MB, release notes)

Read/post comments about VMware Fusion and Fusion Professional 5.0.2.

LaunchBar 5.4 — Objective Development has released LaunchBar 5.4, giving the popular keyboard launcher a number of new actions that it can perform, including sending files with AirDrop, displaying alerts in Notification Center, copying links of selected Evernote items, copying the sender of a selected Mail message, and opening Safari’s Top Sites view, plus a number of new actions related to phone numbers. LaunchBar 5.4 can also display Notification Center alerts for calendar entries created by LaunchBar, search within Evernote, perform modulo calculation in the calculator, and browse SparkleShare repositories.
Improved are LaunchBar’s support for the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, indexing of Apple Developer Connection documentation, copying large quantities of data, detecting the 1Password keychain, and application indexing. Rounding out the update are a number of small bug fixes. ($35 new with a 20-percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 2.4 MB, release notes)

Read/post comments about LaunchBar 5.4.

Subscribe today so you don’t miss any TidBITS articles!

Every week you’ll get tech tips, in-depth reviews, and insightful news analysis for discerning Apple users. For over 33 years, we’ve published professional, member-supported tech journalism that makes you smarter.

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. The Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.