Want to see musicians make a decent living from music streamed via Apple Music or Spotify? See Glenn Fleishman’s coverage of the Music Modernization Act here in the United States, a bipartisan bill that aims to improve the process for everyone involved in music streaming. More interested in serious word processing productivity? Joe Kissell reviews the just-released Nisus Writer Pro 3.0, which is a must for, as he says, anyone who “makes words dance for a living.” Finally, if you’re involved in a nonprofit of any sort, Jeff Porten shows how TechSoup can save your group money on hardware and software. Notable Mac app releases this week include Carbon Copy Cloner 5.1.6, Retrospect 15.6, OmniFocus 3.1.2, Twitterrific 5.3.7, and PopChar X 8.5.
The Music Modernization Act just signed into US law brings consistency to the rights of musicians and songwriters. More musicians will be paid, especially those who recorded songs decades ago or longer.
The just-released Nisus Writer Pro 3.0 brings over 300 changes to the legendary word processor, including Split View, greatly improved comments, user interface enhancements, and many bug fixes.
If you’re involved in a nonprofit organization that has technology needs, TechSoup provides deeply discounted software and services. Jeff Porten is a fan, but he found that signing up for and making good use of TechSoup requires some effort. Here’s what he learned.
Watchlist
Improves handling of Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive File Stream, Dropbox, and iCloud Drive placeholder files. ($39.99 new, free update, 16.3 MB)
Brings improved support for macOS 10.14 Mojave. ($49 for Solo and $119 for Desktop new, free update, 191 MB)
Brings enhancements to notes in the task management app for the Mac. ($39.99 new, free update from version 3, upgrade pricing available, 45.4 MB)
Twitter client adds a new sharing extension and new theme settings that automatically switch between Light and Dark mode. ($7.99 new, free update, 11.1 MB)
Improves support for Dark mode in macOS 10.14 Mojave and adds a Preferences option for highlighting favorite characters. (€29.99 new, free update, 4.6 MB)