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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 22 September 2014

Audio Hijack Pro 2.11.3, Nicecast 1.11.3, and Airfoil 4.8.9 — Rogue Amoeba has updated several of its audio applications, including Audio Hijack Pro 2.11.3, Nicecast 1.11.3, and Airfoil 4.8.9. All three restore the capability to capture audio from the recently released Safari 7.1 on OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks (see “Safari 7.1,” 18 September 2014). Airfoil also has been improved to limit the latency of processed audio during long audio device capture sessions, as well
as prevent static and skips and better support the Cocoa standard suite of AppleScript controls. Additionally, Audio Hijack Pro and Nicecast fix a rare bug that lost audio from iTunes when watching video and toggling between full-screen and windowed modes. If you’re a TidBITS member, you can purchase all these Rogue Amoeba products, as well as Fission and Piezo, at a 20 percent discount. (Audio Hijack Pro, $32, 9.1 MB, release notes; Nicecast, $59, 8.5 MB, release notes; Airfoil, $25, 15 MB, release notes; all are free updates and require 10.7+)

Read/post comments about Audio Hijack Pro 2.11.3, Nicecast 1.11.3, and Airfoil 4.8.9.

Security Update 2014-004 (Lion and Mountain Lion) — Apple has released Security Update 2014-004 with security fixes for OS X 10.7 Lion, 10.7 Lion Server, and 10.8 Mountain Lion. According to the release notes, the security update patches a wide swath of vulnerabilities for Lion and Mountain Lion (which are replicated in the recently issued Mavericks 10.9.5 update), including fixes that prevent information disclosure and arbitrary code execution due to vulnerabilities with CoreGraphics (in particular, maliciously crafted PDF files), Bluetooth, integrated graphics driver routines, OpenSSL, and more. (All updates are free. For 10.7 Lion, 144.5 MB; for 10.7 Lion Server, 194.8 MB; for 10.8 Mountain Lion, 151 MB.)

Read/post comments about Security Update 2014-004 (Lion and Mountain Lion).

Safari 6.2 and 7.1 — Apple has released Safari 7.1 for users of OS X 10.9 Mavericks with the addition of the DuckDuckGo search engine as a default search option. Unlike other search engines (such as Google), DuckDuckGo does not collect or share your personal information to serve up content and ads (for an overview of the search engine, see “Search in Private with DuckDuckGo,” 20 August 2014). To switch to DuckDuckGo, go to the General tab in Safari’s Settings and choose DuckDuckGo from the Default search engine pop-up menu.


Safari 7.1 now encrypts all Yahoo searches performed from the address bar, and improves both Reader and Autofill compatibility with Web sites. Also included in Safari 7.1, and in Safari 6.2 for 10.8 Mountain Lion, are a handful of security fixes. Safari 6.2 and 7.1 are available only through Software Update. (Free)

Read/post comments about Safari 6.2 and 7.1.

BusyCal 2.6 — BusyMac has released version 2.6 of its BusyCal calendar app, filled to the brim with added features, improvements, and fixes. Among the new features, the update adds support for coloring events via tag colors (compatible with Exchange/Outlook category colors), support for Airmail and MailMate (for sending meeting invites, email alerts, and logs), the capability to search for attendees, a Paste as Rich Text menu command (by default, text is pasted as plain text), the capability to open an image in Graphics Palette or Preview by double-clicking it, support for storing account credentials in Keychain, and Advanced
login options for Exchange Accounts. BusyCal 2.6 also fixes a bug that caused unnecessary use of the graphics processor, improves compatibility with iOS Reminders, fixes a Google bootstrap error, brings synthesized change notifications for all servers, improves handling and mapping of iCloud calendar colors, and fixes some iOS 8- and Yosemite-related bugs. If you are upgrading from BusyCal 1.6 or BusySync 2.3 (both of which require a paid upgrade to BusyCal 2.6), be sure to read this support document regarding changes to syncing from those older apps. ($49.99 new from BusyMac or the Mac App Store, free update, 10.3 MB, release notes, 10.8+)

Read/post comments about BusyCal 2.6.

TunnelBear 2.4.2 — With the release of version 2.4.2 of its eponymous VPN app for the Mac, TunnelBear fixes a problem with custom DNS settings not being restored after TunnelBear disconnects, increases connection reliability on very slow or lossy networks, and repairs a number of connection issues. (For more on the basics of using TunnelBear, which offers 500 MB per month of free VPN routing, see “FunBITS: How to Watch the 2014 World Cup Online,” 13 June 2014.) Additionally, TunnelBear VPN for
iOS
has been updated to version 2.0 with a new user interface for selecting the VPN host country your data will be tunneled into, plus the capability to turn TunnelBear on and off without leaving the app. Previously, you had to visit Settings to turn VPN routing on and off. (Free, 23.8 MB, release notes, 10.6.8+)

Read/post comments about TunnelBear 2.4.2.

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