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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 16 October 2017

Microsoft Office 2016 15.39 — Microsoft has published version 15.39 of its Office 2016 application suite, improving the Visual Basic Editor in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can now create and edit macros in the Visual Basic Editor using IntelliSense, VBA menus and toolbars, debug tools, an object browser, and more. The update also resolves an important vulnerability that could expose you to remote code execution. ($149.99 for one-time purchase, free update through Microsoft AutoUpdate, release notes, 10.10+)

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Live Home 3D 3.3 — BeLight Software has released Live Home 3D 3.3, adding fulling compatibility with macOS 10.13 High Sierra. The home design software also gains new 3D models of people, animals, and fireplaces; improves import of COLLADA .dae format projects with a large number of textures; fixes a bug that affected the export of some big projects to .vrml and .x3d file formats; and adds a Japanese localization. The Pro edition (which offers more tools and output options for $69.99 from BeLight and the Mac App Store) includes the same changes and adds the capability to arrange furniture in the 2D Elevation View. ($29.99 new from BeLight and the Mac App Store, free update, 328 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

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Coda 2.6.8 — Panic released Coda 2.6.7 with added support in the Web site development tool for importing and connecting with keys generated using the OpenSSH format and a fix for a bug that displayed an error when switching to Icon view in macOS 10.13 High Sierra. The maintenance release also added support for importing encrypted SSH keys, fixed a bug that caused the Find banner replace/all button text to be truncated, added support for Ed25519 keys for both host key verification and client key exchange, and disabled noncontiguous text layout in High Sierra to fix text rendering issues.

Shortly after this release, Panic updated Coda to version 2.6.8 to fix a couple of bugs in High Sierra — one that could cause a crash when opening files and another that caused the Symbol Navigator text to stay white. The release also adds support for prompting for an encrypted SSH key passphrase during authentication and trims whitespace from email addresses in the Sync preference pane. ($99 new, free update, 89.1 MB, release notes, 10.7.5+)

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SoundSource 3.0.2 — Rogue Amoeba has released SoundSource 3.0.2, fixing a bug that caused the global menu to draw incorrectly on machines with no input devices. The sound preferences tool also reduces the latency of audio coming in via the Play-Thru feature and adjusts the layout of the Preferences window to fix display issues, particularly on older operating systems.

If you own a license to a current version of one of Rogue Amoeba’s other apps — such as Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Fission, Nicecast, or Piezo — you can register SoundSource for free. Go to the Purchasing SoundSource page and click Learn More under Get a Complimentary SoundSource License. Then enter the email, license name, and license code associated with your Rogue Amoeba product, and click Submit. ($10 new with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 3.6 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

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1Password 6.8.3 — AgileBits has pushed out 1Password 6.8.3 to improve the reliability of communication between 1Password and the Chrome and Firefox Web browsers. The password management utility also fixes a graphical glitch that occurred in detached 1Password mini detail windows on some Macs running macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and it prevents a crash that occurred during first-run setup for Mac App Store users. ($64.99 new from AgileBits and Mac App Store or free with a $2.99 or
$4.99 per month subscription, free update, 48.6 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

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Parallels Desktop 13.1 — Parallels has issued version 13.1 of its Parallels Desktop virtualization software, the first maintenance update since the release of this year’s major upgrade (see “Parallels Desktop 13.0,” 27 August 2017). Version 13.1 now enables you to create a new Boot Camp virtual machine when running macOS 10.13 High Sierra, adds the capability to install a High Sierra virtual machine from the Recovery partition on a Mac running High Sierra, resolves an issue with some Windows shortcuts not working, fixes a bug that prevented Windows files from
copying to the Mac, addresses a problem that prevented macOS from going to sleep while a virtual machine was in Coherence mode, and resolves an issue with Windows not starting when opening a file associated with a Windows application on macOS. ($79.99 new for standard edition ($49.99 upgrade), $99.99 annual subscription for Pro/Business Edition ($49.99 renewal for Pro), 251 MB, release notes, 10.10.5+)

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PopChar X 8.2 — Ergonis Software has issued PopChar X 8.2 to provide full compatibility with macOS 10.13 High Sierra and extend the notation options for custom layouts. The character discovery utility now enables you to add multiple characters using a single smart directive in the layout description (such as adding all characters from a named Unicode block). The update also adds new metrics adjustments for 33 fonts, improves vertical spacing of characters to avoid truncation of ornaments, correctly remembers the previously set up custom sample text, and works around a problem that caused PopChar to hang when trying
to find ligatures in certain corrupted fonts. (€29.99 new with a 25 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update from version 8.0, 5.0 MB, release notes, 10.6+)

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ChronoSync 4.8.2 — Econ Technologies has released ChronoSync 4.8.2, which tweaks the Optimization phase of bootable backup tasks so that the destination volumes boot more efficiently and reliably (particularly with macOS 10.13 High Sierra). The synchronization and backup app also resolves a hang that occurred when scheduling a task if the date fell after a Daylight Saving Time-to-Standard Time transition, prevents a crash that could occur when running a container task that encapsulated multiple sync/backup tasks, and fixes a bug that turned off the “Strict volume identification” setting by
default if specifying a destination target that resided on an APFS file system. ($49.99 new for ChronoSync with a 20 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 48.4 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

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