Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Thursday, March 12th, 2009, 08:07
Category: Software
Late Wednesday, Apple released iTunes 8.1, the latest version of its multimedia/jukebox application for Mac OS X. The new version, a 63.4 megabyte download, offers the following fixes, changes and new features:
Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation).
Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ.
Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.
Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs.
Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods.
Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus.
Includes many accessibility improvements.
Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.
iTunes 8.1 is available for free, requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run and can be snagged using Mac OS X’s built-in Software Update feature.
If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, positive or negative, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Wednesday, March 11th, 2009, 08:15
Category: Software
On Tuesday, Adobe released version 8.1 of its free Reader program. The program, which has long been a staple for viewing and printing Portable Document Format (PDF) files, includes the following changes:
Addresses a number of customer workflow issues and a critical security vulnerability while providing more stability.
Adobe Reader 9.1 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run and its download file size varies depending on version chosen.
If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments or forums.
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Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Monday, March 9th, 2009, 10:11
Category: Software
On Thursday, Adobe released Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3, the newest version of its professional-grade image editing program and Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit processing.
The new version, a 67 megabyte download (courtesy of VersionTracker), adds the following fixes and changes:
Additional camera support for the Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30
Slideshows could return to the first image randomly during playback.
A memory leak could cause Lightroom to crash while attempting to process files with local adjustments.
Canon EOS 5D Mk II sRAW files could process with artifacts in Lightroom 2.2.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 retails for US$299 and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.
If you’ve tried the new version, let us know what you think of it over in the comments or forums.
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Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Thursday, March 5th, 2009, 15:37
Category: Software
On Thursday, shareware developer Maintain released version 4.3 of Cocktail (Tiger Edition), Cocktail, the popular shareware utility program that allows for additional Mac OS X system tests.
The new version, a 2.0 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
Added ability to clear potentially harmful files such as most common trojans, worms or other files that may harm your system in any way.
Added ability to clear CrashReporter and HungReporter logs.
Addresses an issue in which Cocktail may stop responding during a scheduled clearing of caches.
Fixed compatibility issues with QuickTime 7.6.
Updated Automator actions.
Updated Help files.
Cocktail 4.3 retails for a US$14.95 shareware registration fee and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run.
If you’ve tried the new version and have any kind of feedback about it, let us know in the comments or forums.
Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Thursday, March 5th, 2009, 05:37
Category: Software
On Wednesday, Mozilla.org released version 3.0.7 of its Firefox web browser.
The new browser, a 17.3 megabyte download, boasts the following fixes and changes:
Fixed several security issues.
Fixed several stability issues.
Official releases for the Estonian, Kannada, and Telugu languages are now available.
Items in the “File” menu show as inactive after using the “Print” item from that menu – switching to a new tab restores them (bug 425844). This issue has been fixed.
For some users, cookies would appear to go “missing” after a few days (bug 444600).
Mac users of the Flashblock add-on, experienced an issue where sound from the Flash plug-in would continue to play for a short time after closing a tab or window (bug 474022).
Fixed several issues related to accessibility features.
The program requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.
If you’ve tried the new browser and have any feedback about it, let us know over in the comments or forums.
Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Wednesday, February 25th, 2009, 09:34
Category: Software
Late Wednesday night, Roxio released version 10.0.1 of its Toast Titanium authoring software. The new version, available here, adds the following fixes and changes:
Improved handling of AIFF audio files.
Resolves issue where some users may be unable to add audio to Music DVD project.
Resolves issue where creating Audiobook project may result in -35 error.
Resolves issue where users may be unable to remove video from appearing in the Web Video Media Browser view.
Resolves issue that may occur when creating disc images so that users are not prompted for additional information.
Resolves crash that may occur when opening audio projects saved in a previous version of Toast.
Audiobook projects will be split automatically if they become larger than iTunes is able to play back.
AVCHD Archive discs created from memory card-based cameras should now play correctly on Blu-ray players.
Toast 10 Titanium requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run and retails for US$99.99.
If you’ve tried the update and have any feedback about it, let us know in the comments or forums.
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Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Wednesday, February 25th, 2009, 09:29
Category: Software
Early Wednesday, Omni released version 5.9 of its OmniWeb web browser. The new version, a 16.6 megabyte download, adds no fixes and changes but is now apparently free, according to the development listing.
OmniWeb 5.9 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.
If you’ve played with the new version and noticed any major improvements or shortcomings, let us know in the comments or forums.
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Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Friday, February 20th, 2009, 07:07
Category: Software
Adium, the open source instant message chat client with support for multiple programs (including AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo! Google Talk, Bonjour, etc.) has been updated to version 1.3.3.
The new version, a 23.4 megabyte download, sports the following major fixes and changes listed here.
Adium X is available for free and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run. The program functions as a Universal Binary and runs at native speeds on both PowerPC and Intel-based hardware.
If you’ve tried the new build and have any feedback, positive or negative, let us know in the comments or forums.
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Posted by: Chris Barylick
Date: Thursday, February 12th, 2009, 09:45
Category: Software
Late Wednesday, virtualization softare maker VMWare released version 2.0.2 of its Fusion software for the Mac.
Similar to other virtualization software packages, VMWare allows users to run alternate operating systems such as Windows and Linux distributions on Intel-based Macs at native speeds. Other features, such as Unity, allow users to run and minimize Windows applications from the Mac OS X Dock.
The new version, a 246 megabyte download, offers the following new features and fixes:
Allows importing Windows virtual machines from both Parallels Desktop 4.0 and Parallels Server for Mac.
Supports mounting unencrypted .dmg file format as a CD/DVD disk image, in addition to .iso file format.
Supports Mac OS X 10.5.6 as a host operating system.
Provides experimental support for Mac OS X Server 10.5.6 as a guest operating system.
Supports Ubuntu 8.10 as a guest operating system, including features such as VMware Tools with prebuilt kernel modules, Easy Install, and Unity.
Ships with a 12-month complimentary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009 antivirus software, with localization support for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese.
Provides performance improvements when browsing mirrored folders and shared folders in Windows virtual machines.
Supports display of Windows applications in Unity view as 48 pixel x 48 pixel icons.
Resolves issues with “Optimize for Mac OS application performance” preference option for Mac OS X 10.5.5 and later.
The software requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run and retails for US$79.99.
If you’ve tried VMware Fusion 2.0 or have a favorite virtualization program of choice, let us know in the comments or forums.
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