TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 10 May 2010

MarsEdit 3.0 — Red Sweater Software has released a major update to its popular blog posting software MarsEdit, with new features aimed at making the program more accessible to the general user. The biggest change is the inclusion of a rich text editor, enabling users to style text (complete with images, lists, and more) in blog posts without using HTML tags. Other changes include new HTML syntax highlighting for those who do wish to write in HTML; the capability to schedule posts with media attachments while offline for later posting; support for WordPress pages and for customizable fields on sites that support the WordPress API; and media integration with
the photo management programs iPhoto, Aperture, and Lightroom. ($39.95 new, $14.95 upgrade, 4.9 MB)

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Aperture 3.0.3 — Apple has released Aperture 3.0.3, a significant maintenance update to its professional photo management and editing application. The fixes delivered by the update address issues pertaining to applying image adjustments, using RAW Fine Tuning presets, working with detected faces, changing target printers while printing, making smart album duplicates, building and repairing Aperture libraries, reconnecting missing referenced files, working with GPS files in Places, and performing keyword searches. A lengthy list of changes is available on Apple’s Web site. ($199 new, free update, 69.4 MB)

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Typinator 4.0 — Ergonis Software has released a major update to its auto-typing and auto-correcting utility Typinator. Version 4.0 introduces a new feature called QuickSearch that acts like Spotlight (or, more accurately, like LaunchBar) for snippets, enabling users to access snippets without having to remember their individual abbreviations. The update also brings improved Snow Leopard compatibility, enhanced performance speeds, the capability to enable or disable sets globally, better syncing via Dropbox and MobileMe, and better integration with third-party applications such as Mellel, Nisus Writer Pro, Tinderbox, and Parallels Desktop. A full list of changes is available on Ergonis Software’s Web site. (€19.99 new, discounted upgrades available, 3.1 MB)

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Mac Pro Audio Update 1.1 — Apple’s Mac Pro Audio Update 1.1 reportedly addresses odd noises emanating from some early 2009 Mac Pros when using FireWire audio devices in conjunction with Mac OS X 10.6.3. No specifics are given regarding what causes these noises or how the update prevents them. We suspect gremlins. (Free, 516 KB)

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Epson Printer Drivers 2.3.1 for Mac OS X 10.6 — Apple’s release notes for its latest Epson Printer Drivers update for Snow Leopard say only that the update “installs the latest software for your Epson printer or scanner.” While the notes link to a master list of supported Epson printers, they don’t indicate which models have been added. Still, it’s nice to know that Apple is expanding its printer support, and you can search the list to see if a particular printer is supported. (Free, 688.23)

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Phone Amego 1.1.20 — With version 1.1.20 of the Bluetooth and Google Voice phone utility Phone Amego, Sustainable Softworks is cleaning up some messy bits, changing the Finder name of the application to “Phone Amego” (with a space) and renaming the application’s login item. These changes unfortunately require manual intervention from the user – you must add a space to the current PhoneAmego.app file in your Applications folder for the automatic update to 1.1.20 to work. Once you’ve updated, remove com.sustworks.phoneAmego.loginItem.sCID from the Login Items view of the Accounts preference pane, then open Phone Amego itself, and select the Launch at Startup
checkbox to install the new login item.

Other notable changes since the 1.1.14 release we last looked at include:

• Reorganization of the User’s Guide as a navigable Web site, making it much easier to get started with Phone Amego.
• Addition of a Phone Amego User Forum for support.
• The Recent submenu shows the most recent five calls at the top, and then sorts the rest alphabetically for easier scanning. Also, Address Book phone type labels appear in the Recent menu items.
• Addition of an option to log all dialed calls in a separate iCal calendar.

Finally, Sustainable Softworks has fixed a number of bugs in Phone Amego 1.1.20, improving the reliability of opening Bluetooth connections and eliminating some possible crashes. ($20, free update, 2.7 MB)

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