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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12-May-08

  • Parallels Desktop Build 5600 from Parallels offers full support for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 (whether running from a Boot Camp partition or a separate installation), improved MacBook Air compatibility, and numerous other bug fixes and improvements. ($79.99 new, free upgrade, 99 MB)
  • MacGourmet 2.3 from Advenio brings to the recipe management software a new plug-in framework (so you need to download new versions of any plug-ins), an optional $9.95 Mealplan plug-in for meal and menu planning, a new shopping list editor, new display and print themes, better integration for the Nutrition plug-in, automatic updating via Sparkle, integration with MarsEdit for posting recipes to blogs, and more. ($24.95 new, free upgrade, 7.4 MB)
  • Comic Life Magiq 1.0 from Plasq is a completely new version of the photo-comic publishing software for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The comic page layout engine supports complex and creatively curved comic panels, speech balloons, and captions, and new brushes provide a hand-drawn feel to lines. Comic Life Magiq also includes a collection of artist-commissioned templates, props, balloon shapes, and spraycans. ($44.95 new, $29.95 crossgrades from previous versions of Comic Life, 152 MB)
  • FoxTrot Professional Search 2.0b3 from CTM Development extends the company’s Spotlight-like search tool with powerful features such multiple search criteria, multiple search sources, multiple indices with automatic updating, multiple document previewing, searching within found documents, and more. The program is a free download during a public beta period. (99/199 euros for single/5-user pack new, 6.3 MB) CTM Development also released FoxTrot Personal Search 2.0b3, which lets users toggle between search-as-you-type and on-demand searching, supports Quick Look in Leopard, works with multiple simultaneous users via Fast User Switching, and can selectively limit Spotlight background time usage.
    (29 euros new, 15 euros upgrade, 6.9 MB)
  • Quay 1.1 by Rainer Brockerhoff continues to give Apple’s implementation of stacks (folders in the Dock) heavy competition. Even though Mac OS X 10.5.2 brought back the option for Dock folders to have hierarchical menus showing their contents instead of those dreadful “pick-a-card” fan displays when clicked on, Quay’s hierarchical menus can be larger and can provide item sizes and modification dates, plus CPU and memory usage for applications, and more. (7 euros new, free update, 1 MB)
  • Freeway 5.1 from Softpress Systems enhances the recently revised Web page authoring tool with support for publishing RSS feeds, support for the SVG graphics format, more flexible in-flow block items, and numerous bug fixes. ($249 Pro/$79 Express new, free update)
  • Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 from VMware adds support for multiple displays (up to 10) – all accessible within virtual machines running Windows on your Mac. It also introduces experimental DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D support, provides an easier way to import a Parallels Desktop virtual machine or a copy of Windows running under Boot Camp, improves printing from within Windows, enhances the user interface in numerous ways, and fixes several bugs. The company has stated that the upgrade will be free to registered owners of version 1.x when it ships. ($79.99 new, free while in beta, 299 MB)
  • CopyPaste Pro 1.0 from Script Software is a complete rewrite of the long-standing multiple clipboard utility, giving it a snazzy new interface akin to Mac OS X’s application switcher for navigating through previous clipboards and archived clipboards. You can now edit clipboards with an integrated editor called Bean, and CopyPaste Pro is now much faster than previous versions, particularly on Intel-based Macs and in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. ($20 new, 2.3 MB)
  • Opal 1.2 from A Sharp brings some new Leopard-specific features to the outlining application (the successor to the popular Acta outliner of yesteryear). Also new in Opal 1.2 is the capability to limit how much of an outline is copied to the clipboard, importing of RTF files as outlines, grammar checking, and fixes for a number of bugs. Opal 1.2 requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard; version 1.1.1 remains available for those using Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. ($32 new, free update, 2.7 MB)
  • Caboodle 1.1.4 from Dejal Systems fixes bugs in the free-form and field-based snippet keeper. The update resolves problems related to spell checking, creating child entries, exporting, and more. Caboodle is unusual among snippet keepers in that it allows free-form storage of text and graphics (including Web links, various types of lists, and tables), but also lets you create specific fields for different types of structured data. Caboodle also supports attaching arbitrary files, encrypting entries, and more. ($14.95 new, free update, 4.5 MB)
  • DocHaven 2.0.5 from Holy Mackerel Software fixes some minor bugs in the cross-platform document management software that enables workgroups to check documents in and out of a virtual library that tracks multiple versions of documents. DocHaven works with Mac OS X 10.3 or later, Windows 98 or later, and Linux, and it relies on MySQL for its database backend and FTP for document delivery. ($40 per user new, free update, 12.1 MB)

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