TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 14 December 2015

ClamXav 2.8.8 — Canimaan Software has issued ClamXav 2.8.8, a maintenance release that updates the virus scanner’s engine to version 0.99. The update also fixes a crash in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard related to the Sentry feature, fixes an issue where a ClamXav update sometimes failed to complete, fixes a bug where the Start Scan menu item and toolbar item were active even with nothing selected in the Source List, and makes improvements to the Italian and German localizations. ($29.95 new, free update, 23.4 MB, release notes, 10.6.8+)

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OmniFocus 2.4 — The Omni Group has released OmniFocus 2.4 with a new, homegrown synchronization service: Omni Magic Push Service, or OMPS. OmniFocus for iOS has been using silent push notifications to trigger syncs for some time, and OPMS matches what Apple provides in iOS to trigger syncs on the Mac. OmniFocus for iOS 2.6 or later should automatically tell OmniFocus for Mac to sync shortly after you make a change. (For more on OmniFocus sync history, check out this Omni Group blog post; for a detailed technical breakdown, see this support article).

OmniFocus 2.4 also brings a new Today option to Due Soon, which includes only items due before midnight and is now the default (though you can still reselect the 24 Hours option). Additionally, the Getting Things Done-inspired task management app ensures that pressing Backspace or Delete in an empty title in Quick Entry deletes the item (as it does in the main window), emulates the iOS color and urgency rules for items that are due soon but unavailable, fixes a bug where emoji would disappear from Action titles, increases the clickable area of the Note button in rows, and fixes a crash related to deleting attachments. ($39.99 new for Standard edition and $79.99 for Pro edition from The Omni Group Web site, $39.99 for Standard edition
from Mac App Store (with in-app purchase option to upgrade to Pro), 27.2 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

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OmniOutliner 4.4.1 — The Omni Group has released OmniOutliner 4.4.1 with a few bug fixes. The outlining and information organization app now ensures that focusing or unfocusing on rows correctly updates the scope of any active search, fixes an issue with quotation marks in row text causing incorrect output, ensures that URL data appears in CSV exports, fixes several instances of crashes, and updates localizations with these and other recent changes. ($49.99 new for standard edition (Mac App Store), $99.99 for Pro edition (Mac App Store), free update, 23.9 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

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Pixelmator 3.4.1 — The Pixelmator Team has released Pixelmator 3.4.1 with a festival of added features, fixes, and improvements. The update now enables you to use Paste and Match Style when pasting text, as well as pan an image with the Hand Tool while using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. It also improves the speed of working with gradients on large images, compatibility with the latest Photoshop CC features, and zooming in the Pixelmator Distort Extension. Pixelmator 3.4.1 ensures that autosave now works properly for images with all layers hidden; dims the Layers palette when
disabled; more accurately displays an object’s width, height, and angle in the Infobar; and improves the sharpness of large zoomed-out images (requires OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan). ($29.99 new from the Mac App Store, free update, 46.7 MB, release notes, 10.9.5+)

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PopChar X 7.3.1 — Ergonis Software has issued PopChar X 7.3.1 with a fix for a problem where the group selection box in the top right of the character table was covered by the table. The character discovery utility also ensures the character table’s scroll bar is always visible. Earlier this fall, Ergonis released version 7.3 of PopChar X, which added the capability to select skin tone variants in Apple’s Color Emoji (requires OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite or later). It also added the capability to collapse and expand group headers by double-clicking (as well as collapse and expand all groups by Option-clicking a
disclosure triangle), worked around an issue that caused checks for new versions to fail in 10.11 El Capitan, and fixes an issue that caused some elements in the PopChar window to become unresponsive. (€29.99 new with a 25 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 4.4 MB, release notes, 10.6+)

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SpamSieve 2.9.23 — Michael Tsai of C-Command Software has released SpamSieve 2.9.23, adding support for Apple Mail in OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan. The spam filtering utility works around a rare bug in El Capitan that would start to launch SpamSieve but not load any of its code — particularly if Apple Mail was auto-launched by the system after a reboot — leaving it stuck in a partially launched state. The release also updates the Server Junk Mailbox script so you can move spam messages to per-account spam mailboxes, makes the statistics database more resistant to errors, and improves error handling if Apple Mail gets
disconnected in the middle of processing a message. ($30 new with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 14.6 MB, release notes, 10.6+)

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Airfoil 4.9.2 — Rogue Amoeba has released Airfoil 4.9.2, which updates the Instant On component to version 8.1.5 with some minor fixes. (Rogue Amoeba notes that Instant On is now required for most Apple apps in OS X 10.11 El Capitan, other than iTunes.) The wireless audio broadcasting app also fixes a bug that would prevent Airfoil from cooperating with Airfoil Remote, and fixes an issue where reconnecting to a speaker could fail if that speaker added password protection when already receiving audio. It also includes backend updates to improve compatibility with a new application — Airfoil Satellite for iOS, a free app that turns your iOS device into an audio receiver for Airfoil and supersedes the old Airfoil Speakers Touch for all recent iOS devices; learn more in this Rogue Amoeba blog post. ($29 new with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 15.5 MB, release notes, 10.9+)

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Safari 9.0.2 — Apple has released Safari 9.0.2 for OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks and 10.10.5 Yosemite — it’s bundled into 10.11.2 El Capitan (see “OS X 10.11.2 Focuses on Improving Reliability and Security,” 8 December 2015). The update enables those using content blocking extensions to play Web-streamed video immediately without delays, and enables you to bypass content blockers when reloading a Web page by clicking and holding the reload button. Additionally, Safari 9.0.2 receives patches for multiple memory corruption issues related to WebKit, plus a fix for an input validation
issue in content blocking that could allow a maliciously crafted Web site to reveal your browsing history (see this security content article at Apple’s Support Web site). Safari 9.0.2 is available only via Software Update. (Free, 85.4 MB, 10.9+)

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Security Update 2015-008 (Mavericks) and 2015-006 (Yosemite) — Apple has issued Security Update 2015-008 for OS X 10.9 Mavericks and Security Update 2015-006 for 10.10 Yosemite with some patches specific to these older releases sprinkled in amongst the security fixes that appear in the concurrently released OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan (see “OS X 10.11.2 Focuses on Improving Reliability and Security,” 8 December 2015). Initially, Apple had released Security Update 2015-005 for Yosemite, but it replaced that download
with the new Security Update 2015-006 without comment, other than to note that the new update includes all the security patches from the previous one. Make sure to get the latest version, regardless.

In particular, the two security updates address multiple memory corruption issues in ImageIO, OpenGL, CoreGraphics, and CoreMedia Playback, as well as a memory corruption issue related to the handling of iWork files — all of which could lead to arbitrary code execution. Additionally, the updates fix an issue that existed in the validation of access control lists for keychain items, which could grant a malicious application access to a user’s keychain items. The security updates are available via Software Update or via direct download from Apple’s Support Downloads Web site. (Free. For 10.9.5 Mavericks, 288.3 MB; for 10.10.5
Yosemite, 369 MB)

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