TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 01-Jun-09

iWork ’09 9.0.2 from Apple is a maintenance update that “improves reliability when saving some iWork documents and when playing some presentations more than once per Keynote session.” ($79 new, free update, 42.75 MB)

MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.3 from Apple is designed to adjust the fan behavior of 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro laptops when “running under high workload conditions.” Apple doesn’t specify which specific MacBook Pro models are affected, and also notes on its “EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs” Web page that Software Update may not be displayed automatically. If you own a MacBook Pro, you should download and run the installer, which reports whether your machine is affected. (Free, 833 KB)

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.1 from MacSpeech is a minor maintenance update for the recently upgraded speech recognition utility. Several crashing bugs have been fixed, including one that occurred when editing words with hyphens, one resulting from creating a profile when focus was last in TextEdit, one resulting from creating a localized UK profile, and one that was caused by altering certain kinds of documents, including Excel files. Also, to reduce customer confusion, older licenses are now identified as such in the License dialog text. ($199 new, free update)

HoudahSpot 2.5 from Houdah Software is a significant update to the file search tool that provides an alternate front end to Spotlight. This version adds a new “any text” search criterion that is also available from the BlitzSearch feature, the capability to view results as a grid of icons in Grid View or using CoverFlow in CoverFlow view, and the capability to listen to audio files with Leopard’s Quick Look. Also, two bugs have been fixed: one that prevented never-opened files from being found and another that sometimes caused criteria changes made via drag-and-drop to be ignored. ($25 new, free update, 3 MB)

Cover Stream 2.6 from Snarb.tk is the latest version of the iTunes controller for Mac OS X. The update adds a pop-up control panel, improved podcast support, a Feedback Reporter for reporting of troubleshooting issues, an enhanced launch utility, the capability to shuffle when in Jukebox mode, and a handful of minor bug fixes. (14.95 euros, free update, 2.4 MB)

Little Snitch 2.1.3 from Objective Development is an update to the network-data security tool. Changes include added support for network user accounts and enhanced functionality for Back Up Rules. Also, several bugs have been fixed, including one that caused system freezes when logging into a network user account, one that caused an influx of mDNSResponder connection alerts, and one that caused a crashing issue with the application’s installer. ($29.95, free update, 2.3 MB)

BusySync 2.2 from BusyMac is a maintenance update to the iCal synchronization software. Changes include faster syncing with iCal, compatibility with the forthcoming BusyCal, and a handful of fixes for unspecified Google-syncing bugs. ($25, free update, 2.6 MB)

CheckUp 2.2 from App4mac is a maintenance update to the multipurpose maintenance utility. Changes include added support for the most recently released Macs, an added oscilloscope graph for network and processors, and information on FireWire, USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Bluetooth. Also, the latest version has been tested for compatibility with current betas of Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and has received a handful of unspecified bug fixes. (19 euros, free update, 17.8 MB)

TextExpander 2.6.2 from SmileOnMyMac is a maintenance update to the typing shortcut utility. Changes include enhanced menu performance, reduced memory usage in Mac OS X 10.5, improved rich text imports, added Internet Productivity snippets, and the capability via new shortcuts to create a Digg toolbar link and to validate a URL copied to the clipboard. ($29.95 new, free update, 3.6 MB)

Adium 1.3.4 is the latest version of the open-source instant messaging client that supports multiple protocols. Changes include an updated libpurple (the core for several messaging clients), and an updated Facebook chat plug-in that fixes an issue wherein Facebook would utilize too much bandwidth when connecting to a server. The Adium team also announced the release of Adium 1.4 beta which, among other improvements, adds support for IRC and Twitter. Adium 1.4 beta is available only for users of Mac OS X 10.5 or later. (Free, 21.2 MB)

Dialectic 1.4.1 from JNSoftware is a minor maintenance update to the phone dialing utility. Changes include new AppleScript commands for pausing and restoring incoming call detection, a fix for a bug that caused incorrect dialing strings to be sent to the user’s iPhone when using a comma pause, and a fix for a bug that prevented multiple windows from tiling correctly. ($25, free update, 6.2 MB)