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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 5 Aug 2013

OpenOffice 4.0 — Apache has released OpenOffice 4.0, a major update to the free, open-source productivity suite. The biggest visible change is the new Sidebar user interface, which displays context-sensitive panels whose properties change according to the current editing task. Additionally, developers have been given a framework to build extensions to the Sidebar. The update improves compatibility with Microsoft Office documents, including support for Office Open XML (OOXML), .docx outline levels, table background color from table style in .docx files, and font color in .pptx files. It also brings an enhanced and extended color
palette to the DrawObject, as well as new gradients, new gallery themes, refined selection handles, and many other graphic-related improvements. OpenOffice 4.0 improves translations for 19 languages, and adds three new localizations: Greek, Portuguese, and Tamil. (Free, 163 MB, release notes)

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Growl 2.1 — The Growl Project has released Growl 2.1, adding the capability to run scripts as actions as well as control notifications via rules using AppleScript. (For more information on writing AppleScript for notifications, see this documentation page.) The system-wide notification utility also addresses a problem with hanging when receiving more than 100 notes at a time, enables use of styled close buttons on WebKit displays, localizes Automator actions, and displays notes on both computers when using forwarding with Notification Center forwarding. ($3.99 new from the Mac App Store, 6.8 MB)

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Airfoil 4.8 — Rogue Amoeba has released Airfoil 4.8, adding the capability of controlling your audio streams using an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. The latest version of the popular network audio streaming app is now integrated with Rogue Amoeba’s new Airfoil Remote iOS app (which was acquired from 010dev and rebranded from its original name, Reemote), enabling you to switch sources, toggle speakers, and control playback from such audio players as Spotify, Rdio, and MOG.

The release also brings support for Last.fm and Radium 3, updates the Instant On component to version 6.0.3 (which addresses an issue with the Amarra iTunes plug-in), adds labels to the Equalizer sliders, and improves the app’s memory of its visibility after a relaunch on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Airfoil has been updated to 64-bit status, and it now requires a minimum of 10.7 Lion (version 4.7.5 for 10.6 Snow Leopard user can still be found on Rogue Amoeba’s legacy software page). Support for the upcoming 10.9 Mavericks is still to come. ($25 new with a 20-percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 12.9 MB, release notes)

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Typinator 5.6 — Going beyond text insertion, Ergonis has added the capability to insert images into plain text expansions with the release of Typinator 5.6. Picture files are added via Typinator’s Includes mechanism (and stored in the Includes folder). The typing expansion utility also works around a cursor positioning bug in Apple Mail, fixes a problem with clipboard-based expansions in iStudio Publisher, addresses a synchronization problem with Dropbox, and improves its built-in autocorrection sets to avoid conflicts with other languages. The assistant for granting Typinator “Accessibility” permissions now
also works on OS X 10.9 Mavericks. (€24.99 new with a 25-percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 5.4 MB, release notes)

Read/post comments about Typinator 5.6.

ReadKit 2.2.1 — Webin has released ReadKit 2.2.1, which brings a welcome fix to syncing Feedly to the RSS and read-later client. After adding Feedly support in the previous update (see “ReadKit 2.2,” 15 July 2013), Webin discovered a bug that caused syncing to break and published a workaround. That bug has now been addressed in ReadKit 2.2.1, and the update also both improves pagination and fixes an issue with moving feeds between folders. ($4.99 new from the Mac App Store, free update, 3.6 MB)

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Final Cut Pro X 10.0.9 — Apple has released Final Cut Pro X 10.0.9, a small update that fixes issues that could result in green artifacts when using Sony XAVC media. The release also addresses problems with failed exports that were related to interlaced media and retimed segments, and includes the usual unspecified stability improvements. ($299.99 new in the Mac App Store, free update, 1.64 GB)

Read/post comments about Final Cut Pro X 10.0.9.

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