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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 2 February 2015

Remote Desktop 3.8 — Apple has released Apple Remote Desktop 3.8 with full support for OS X 10.10 Yosemite and an updated user interface that fits better with Yosemite’s aesthetic. The remote management software adds enhancements for sending files using Copy Items, improves remote viewing of clients in full screen mode, and adds multi-observe improvements for viewing a large number of clients. If you previously installed Apple Remote Desktop 3.x from disc, future updates will be supplied via the Mac App Store. ($79.99 new from the Mac App Store, free update, 15.0 MB, release notes, 10.9+)

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Alfred 2.6 — Running with Crayons has released Alfred 2.6, adding more control over when scripts are executed and support for sending attachments in Airmail 2. The keyboard-driven launcher also changes to a new method of loading URLs to sidestep an issue with OS X 10.10 Yosemite, improves the workflow preferences search field behavior in Yosemite, reorganizes the default hotkeys framework to sync more gracefully, and improves reliability of simulated key releases. Alfred 2.6 adds support for the new Alfred Remote for iOS ($4.99), which enables
you to control many Alfred actions on your Mac from your iOS device. (Free, £17 for Powerpack, 3.7 MB, release notes, 10.6+)

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Downcast 1.1.6 — Jamawkinaw Enterprises has released Downcast 1.1.6 with added support for a variety of playback speeds from 0.50x to 3.00x (but, strangely, not 1.75x as that speed isn’t supported by Apple’s framework). The podcatcher app also fixes a problem with displaying podcast and playlist settings more than once when running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or 10.9 Mavericks, resolves an issue that prevented continuous play from working, restores the Command-L shortcut for locking episodes, fixes a bug with using keyboard
shortcuts on all lists, and fixes an issue with the Pause/Resume/Retry button on rows in the Downloads view. ($9.99 new from the Mac App Store, free update, 20.6 MB, release notes, 10.8+)

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SpamSieve 2.9.19 — Michael Tsai of C-Command Software has released SpamSieve 2.9.19 with support for Apple Mail when running OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite. The spam filtering utility is now more aggressive about auto-training whitelist rules to prevent false positives, improves the app’s launch time and overall responsiveness, improves the Train as Good command to better determine when a message is in a junk mailbox with a localized name, and prevents the Remote Training script from timing out when there are lots of messages in the training mailbox. ($30 new with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 14.2 MB, release notes, 10.6+)

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PDFpen and PDFpenPro 7.0.1 — Following the recent major upgrade to version 7.0 (see “Smile Releases PDFpen 7 and PDFpenPro 7,” 16 January 2015), Smile has released version 7.0.1 of PDFpen and PDFpenPro with a number of fixes and improvements for the PDF editing apps. Both editions add bullet-proofing capabilities to several editing components, fix a bug that caused text boxes to default to black, fix handling of OCR of a locked document, resolve an issue with the Combine PDFs script, stop defaulting to the user’s
Documents folder as the Export To location, and correct various unspecified localization issues. As of this writing, the Mac App Store editions of PDFpen and PDFpenPro had yet to be updated to version 7.0.1. ($74.95/$124.95 new with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, $30 upgrade from version 6 from Smile Web site, free updates from version 7.0, 51.5/52.2 MB, release notes, 10.7+)

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DEVONthink/DEVONnote 2.8.3 — DEVONtechnologies has updated all three editions of DEVONthink (Personal, Pro, and Pro Office) and DEVONnote to version 2.8.3. The three editions of DEVONthink receive a refined classification algorithm with improved accuracy of all AI-based functionality (such as See also, Classify, Concordance, Automatic grouping, and Summarizing), enable you to select and copy text from Quick Look-based views (for Microsoft Office or OpenOffice documents), optimize the user interface for OS X 10.10 Yosemite, support linked
local images in indexed Markdown files converted to rich text, and fix critical sync issues with DEVONthink To Go for iOS. The Pro and Pro Office editions now cache scripts from the Scripts menu for more persistent properties during runtime and improves script handling to support third-party software. (All updates are free. DEVONthink Pro Office, $149.95 new, release notes; DEVONthink Professional, $79.95 new, release notes; DEVONthink Personal,
$49.95 new, release notes; DEVONnote, $24.95 new, release notes; 25 percent discount for TidBITS members on all editions of DEVONthink and DEVONnote. 10.7.5+)

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Audio Hijack 3.0.1 — Rogue Amoeba has released Audio Hijack 3.0.1, a follow-up to the recent major update to the popular audio recording utility (reviewed in Glenn Fleishman’s “Audio Hijack 3 Bumps Up the Volume,” 30 January 2015). Audio Hijack 3.0.1 includes fixes for a couple of critical bugs, including a problem where audio could get crackly and eventually stop playing and a rare bug that caused the app to die at the end of a recording. The update also adds date and time tokens to recording file names, makes improvements to prevent latency growth (with more
improvements to come), adds support for the Line2 and Zoom apps as VoIP input sources, and ensures that ducking quickly fades audio in and out, rather than doing hard, instant adjustments. ($49 new with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update for version 3.0 licences, $25 upgrade from older versions, 14.3 MB, release notes, 10.9+)

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iTunes 12.1 — Apple has released iTunes 12.1 with a new media control widget for Notification Center in OS X 10.10 Yosemite, which replicates the basic functionality of the iTunes MiniPlayer (display of what’s currently playing, play/pause button, and skip forward/reverse buttons). It also gives you the option to purchase tracks played from iTunes Radio instantly. Note that clicking the displayed price button in the Notification Center widget automatically buys the song and downloads it to your library — you aren’t brought to an iTunes Store page to ponder your purchase. In addition to music, the Notification Center widget
also provides playback control of other iTunes media (movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audiobooks). For more information about iTunes, see “Examining iTunes 12’s New Interface” (20 October 2014).

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For a more robust playback control experience, the iTunes MiniPlayer provides album artwork, volume control, searching capabilities, and a listing of upcoming tracks in addition to the aforementioned playback controls (select Window > MiniPlayer, press Option-Command-M, or click the cover art thumbnail in the playback control area at the top of iTunes). The update also promises unspecified improvements to syncing iOS devices — hopefully resolving the Wi-Fi sync issues that have plagued many.
(Free, 207 MB via direct download or 97.3 MB via Software Update, 10.7.5+)

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1Password 5.1 — AgileBits has released 1Password 5.1 for Mac, which the company dubs The Synceriffic Edition in a post on the AgileBits blog. The popular password manager improves how it displays and handles management of both primary and secondary vaults, making it easier to view and change sync methods for all vaults. A new Wi-Fi Sync Preferences pane has also been added to ease setup, and you can choose to include multiple secondary vaults (they’re enabled by default, according to this support page). The update improves performance for alternative Folder Sync solutions, displays sync progress for empty categories, makes Watchtower’s “change password” alert clearer, adds the capability to hover over an address and copy it in a single click, formats credit card numbers properly, and adds a Portuguese (Portugal) localization. ($49.99 new from AgileBits and the Mac App Store with a 25 percent discount for TidBITS members when purchased from AgileBits, free update, 33.1 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

Additionally, AgileBits updated 1Password for iOS to version 5.2 (dubbed The Awesomesauce Edition on the blog), with a new Login Creator that provides a list of hundreds of sites and services to help you get started entering logins. Select the site from the list, enter your username, and then either enter your password or have 1Password generate one for you. 1Password for iOS 5.2 also adds a one-time password tool to the Pro Edition (available as an in-app purchase of $9.99), which supports sites that require two-factor authentication.
The Pro edition also enables you to delete attachments from the item editor, as well as add custom field types such as addresses, dates, and month/year.

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Carbon Copy Cloner 4.0.5 — Bombich Software released Carbon Copy Cloner 4.0.4 (CCC), a maintenance update that makes special accommodation for DiskWarrior Preview volumes and handles issues related to external utilities (such as CleanMyMac) deleting a folder where CCC stored task configuration files. The backup utility fixes a bug that occurred when multiple tasks started simultaneously and attempted to retrieve an item from CCC’s private keychain, works around an issue in OS X 10.10 Yosemite where the height of a Save or Open panel grew by 22 pixels every time it was opened, and improves detection of restoration of AC power in order
to prevent tasks from being missed. Shortly after the 4.0.4 release, Bombich Software released Carbon Copy Cloner 4.0.5 to fix a new bug that caused the New Disk Image option in the Destination selector to fail in 10.8 Mountain Lion. ($39.99 new, 11.2 MB, release notes, 10.8+)

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Security Update 2015-001 (Mountain Lion and Mavericks) — For users of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.9 Mavericks, Apple has released Security Update 2015-001 with a number of security fixes matching those in the OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 Update (see “Apple Releases OS X 10.10.2, iOS 8.1.3, and Apple TV 7.0.3,” 27 January 2015). These fixes address vulnerabilities in App Store logging, Bluetooth, command-line utilities, font handling, graphics drivers, PDF handling, Spotlight, and more. Unfortunately, the security update does not include a fix for the
Thunderstrike attack, leaving Macs running older operating systems vulnerable (see “Thunderstrike Proof-of-Concept Attack Serious, but Limited,” 9 January 2015). However, the update does include Safari 6.2.3 for Mountain Lion and Safari 7.1.3 for Mavericks, both of which fix multiple memory corruption issues in WebKit that could allow a malicious Web site to execute code. Security Update 2015-001 is available via Software Update or via direct download from Apple’s Support Downloads Web site. (Free. For 10.8 Mountain Lion, 177.4 MB; for 10.9 Mavericks, 62.3 MB.)

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