TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 26-Jan-09
Default Folder X 4.1.1 from St. Clair Software is a maintenance and stability update to the Open and Save dialog-enhancement utility. Bugs addressed include a crash when you log out or restart your Mac, an AppleScript bug preventing other applications from retrieving the current URL in Firefox when Default Folder X is open, and a bug causing repeated error messages to appear in the Console regarding failed Finder queries. Also, support for Hazel has been improved by mitigating a file labeling conflict issue. ($34.95 new, free update, 10.2 MB)
QuickTime 7.6 from Apple brings several updates to the multimedia software. Changes include enhanced single-pass H.264 encoding quality, more reliable Motion JPEG media playback, heightened AAC encoding fidelity, improved export consistency for audio tracks from MPEG video files, and increased compatibility with iChat and Photo Booth. Apple has also released a separate security document detailing the accompanying bug fixes. Issues addressed mainly include maliciously crafted URLs and movie files that lead to application crashes. The update is currently available via Software Update and from Apple’s Web site. (Free update, 72 MB)
Mellel 2.6 from RedleX brings a host of new features to the increasingly powerful word processor. Freshly added is a sophisticated Quick Look plug-in that enables users to access document previews that appear identical to printed versions. Also new is the Spread View feature, which displays a document’s pages as they would appear in a book or magazine spread. The new version also now sports an improved statistics palette, support for automatic updates, the capability to save directly to PDFs, and smart style matching for switching between style sets. A full list of changes, improvements, and bug fixes is available on RedleX’s Web site. ($49 new,
free upgrades for purchases since December 2006 or $19 otherwise, 33.3 MB)
Sandvox 1.5.4 from Karelia Software is a minor maintenance update to the template-based Web site creation tool. The biggest change is added support for the JS-Kit commenting service Comments. The JS-Kit Comments service enables site administrators to foster social networks, encourage user-generated content, communicate directly with users, and provide a fully functioning commenting engine. According to Karelia’s Web site, the new version apparently comes with other undisclosed changes as well, presumably minor performance enhancements or bug fixes. ($49 Regular/$79 Pro, free update, 26 MB)