Never doubt the power of competition in the cloud-based market space.

Per The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Amazon has introduced file syncing to its Cloud Drive app for OS X, which essentially makes Cloud Drive Amazon’s version of Dropbox.

Like Dropbox, the app allows files put into the Cloud Drive folder to be available on any Mac or Windows machine running Cloud Drive with your login details. The files are also available through any web browser.

Cloud Drive users receive 5 GB of storage space for free, which is equal to Google Drive’s initial offering but more than double Dropbox’s 2 GB of storage for new users.

The app is available as a free download and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried Cloud Drive and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

And just a few years ago, they were at version 3.0…

On Tuesday, Mozilla.org released version 20.0 of its Firefox web browser. The new version, a 38.3 megabyte download and adds the following fixes and changes:

New:
- Security fixes.

- Per-window Private Browsing.

- New download experience.

- Ability to close hanging plug-ins, without the browser hanging.

- Continued performance improvements around common browser tasks (page loads, downloads, shutdown, etc.).

- Continued implementation of draft ECMAScript 6 – clear() and Math.imul.

- New JavaScript Profiler tool.

- getUserMedia implemented for web access to the user’s camera and microphone (with user permission).

Various:
- Details button on Crash Reporter.

- Unity plugin doesn’t display in HiDPI mode.

Known Issues:
- If you try to start Firefox using a locked profile, it will crash.

- Some function keys may not work when pressed.

- Browsing and Download history clearing needs unification to avoid confusion on clearing download history.

- Download statusbar add-on continues downloading files from Normal.

- Browsing, when switching to Private Browsing.

- Copy actions are broken on HTML5 videos.

Firefox 20.0 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

That OS X 10.8.4 goodness you’re looking for…it just entered its first beta.

Per AppleInsider, Apple on Monday began seeding the OS X 10.8.4 beta to developers, though not much is known about the new maintenance update as little information was offered in the release notes.

According to sources familiar with the release notes, build number 12E27 doesn’t show any changes in the areas on which developers should focus, suggesting the software contains bug fixes and small enhancements at this time.

Like the final OS X 10.8.3 betas, the first 10.8.4 seed asks testers to look at Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers and Safari, while the seed comes with no known issues.

Interestingly, Apple said it is not offering the build as a software update through the Mac App Store, as it did with the 10.8.3 builds. This may change with future seeds, but the company didn’t elaborate further.

The new seed come a over two weeks after Apple released OS X 10.8.3 to the public with Safari 6.0.3 and enhanced iTunes integration. Along with the new feature set, 10.8.3 brought bug fixes and wider support for Windows 8 in Boot Camp.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

You can’t knock a good update.

Late Thursday, Apple released version 10.0.8 of its Final Cut Pro X video editing software.

The update, a 1.53 gigabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Support for Sony XAVC codec up to 4K resolution.

- Option to display ProRes Log C files from ARRI ALEXA cameras with standard Rec. 709 color and contrast levels.

- Resolves an issue where some third-party effects generated green frames during render.

- Resolves performance issues that could occur with certain titles and effects.

- Time reversed clips render in the background.

- Ability to use key commands to adjust Clip Appearance settings in the timeline.

- Ability to view reel number metadata located in the timecode track of video files.

- Mono audio files in a surround project export with correct volume levels.

- Drop zones no longer reset to the first frame of video after application restart.

- Fixes a performance issue which resulted from selecting multiple ranges on a single clip.

- Fixes an issue where the Play Around function did not work properly on certain clips when viewed through external video devices.

Final Cut Pro X 10.0.7 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later to install and run along with an OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later, 256MB of VRAM, display with 1280-by-768 resolution or higher and retails for US$299.99

If you’ve tried version 10.0.8 of Final Cut Pro X and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

You can’t knock a worthwhile update.

On Tuesday, Google released version 26.0.1410.43 of its Chrome web browser. The update, a 48.8 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- “Ask Google for suggestions” spell checking feature improvements (e.g. grammar and homonym checking).

- Desktop shortcuts for multiple users (profiles) on Windows.

- Asynchronous DNS resolver on Mac and Linux.

Google Chrome 26.0.1410.43 requires an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run. If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

10 years is a long time to be in beta.

For those of you who know it and love it, Quicksilver, the epic app-launching tool by Patrick Robertson, hit version 1.0.0 today. The new version, a 6.8 megabyte download, offers the following (extensive) list of fixes and changes:

What’s New:
- Preliminary support for retina displays (#1044, #1378).

- Many internal images have been upscaled.

- Icons and images are no longer downscaled in the interface.

- Assign the same trigger to different actions in different applications (#1201).

- Add files and folders to the catalog using the Add To Catalog action (#1276).

- AppleScript Action enhancements – http://qsapp.com/wiki/AppleScript_Actions (#1023, #1048).

- Assign an alternate name to something by creating a synonym (#1325).

- Plugin documentation is now accessible from the plugin’s preferences (#999, #1364).

- Plugin documentation is accessible directly from the list of plugins via a button in the bottom-right (#1364, #1384).

- Trigger type can be specified in the third pane for the Add Trigger action (#1345).

- Clipboard history will omit “transient” data (#1213).

- New localizations for Korean, Catalan, Chinese (Hant, China) and Spanish (Mexico).

Fixed:
- Names and labels for files should be determined faster and more accurately (#1263, #1288).

- Catalog entry names won’t override file names (#730, #1240).

- Docking window controls behave correctly (#1247).

- Recent Commands and the Last Command proxy are working (#722, #1207).

- Fixed the missing default application for the Open With… action (#1360, #1361).

- The Find With action (for web searches) works with Current Selection (#1311).

- Fixed the Add Trigger action (#515, #1345, #1390).

- Prevent changes to the catalog before it finishes loading (#1216).

- Fixed the “Delay” settings for triggers (#583, #914, #1201).

- Fixed the generic “Computer” icon (#1298).

- Avoid redrawing icons for files unnecessarily (#1297).

- Prevent catalog entries from disappearing in the preferences (#893, #1313).

- Prevent lock ups when scanning the catalog on startup (#1339).

- Correctly switch to text mode in the third pane when spacebar behavior is “Jump to Argument Field” (#1357).

- Text items in the third pane no longer show up as empty with details underneath (#1346).

- The count at the bottom of the results list is updated correctly (#1346).

- Only show folders when saving a command to a file (#1357).

- Change “plug-in” to “plugin” in the Setup Assistant (#1357).

- Only show catalog related actions with a single item selected (#1276).

- Internal improvements to the Assign Abbreviation… action (#1374).

- Set a default string ranker to prevent meaningless notifications (#1380).

- Prevent a crash when changing row height immediately after choosing a new interface (#1383).

- Fixed an exception when right-arrowing into applications with iCloud documents (#1396, #1398).

- Changed the process for displaying the Dock icon (#1152, #1414).

- More reliable file type detection (#1427, #1428, #1430).

- Internal optimizations, stability improvements, and fixes (#1335, #1346, #1385, #1390, #1401, #1371, #1403, #1388, #1410).

Changed:
- Simplify Services and set the “Command Window with Selection” trigger to use ⌘⎋ by default (#409, #1295, #1416, #1418).

- The Current Selection proxy object appears quicker (#1295).

- Better auto-detection of URLs in text entry mode (#1312, #1346, #1376).

- If files are omitted from the catalog, they will still be available when browsing the filesystem (#1195, #1322).

- Handlers preferences are grouped with other preferences for the core application (#1182, #1253).

- Disable settings for predefined catalog entries (#1341).

- Improved localization for Advanced Preferences (#1338).

- Release Notes have some style (#1228).

- Updated localizations.

Development:
- Developers don’t need to understand and track the relationship between name and label (#1263).

- Passing options to string rankers is more efficient (#1212).

- Support bundle version requirements for plug-ins (#1261).

- Allow actions to specify whether they want to see proxy objects, or only the resolved object (#1342, #1343).

- Removed some unused code related to Event Triggers (#1300).

- Better logging of exceptions in Debug mode (#1201, 1357).

Quicksilver is available for free and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried version 1.0.0 and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

With any luck, the Yontoo trojan won’t be around on the Mac OS X platform for long.

Per the Intego Security Blog and MacRumors, shortly after news emerged of a new adware trojan targeting OS X web browsers, Apple updated its malware and adware detections list to block Yontoo.

The company has apparently updated its “XProtect” anti-malware system. XProtect.plist will now recognize Yontoo and warn users that attempt to install the software on their computers.

Intego’s post notes that the XProtect detection “is very specific and potentially location-dependent.” The extra specificity, Intego supposes, may be there in order to stop only indirect installations of the file.

News of the Yontoo trojan emerged recently when a Russian anti-virus company pointed out its existence. Yontoo asks users if they want to install a browser plugin, media player, download accelerator, or other video-oriented program. Upon agreeing to the download, the plugin begins transmitting browsing data to an off-site server. User browsing data is processed, and the server sends back a file embedding third-party code into webpages visited by the user. The viewing or clicking of embedded ads then generates ad affiliate network profits for the criminals behind the adware.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

An update’s an update, even if it’s just a beta.

Late Friday, Dropbox released the public beta 2.1.3 of its cloud-based storage client for Mac OS X. The new version, a 27.4 megabyte download (via MacUpdate), which adds the following fixes and changes:
- Fix an issue preventing Dropbox from starting on Mac.

- Fix an issue when clicking on notification bubbles.

- Fix an issue with Camera Uploads.

- Fix some issues with the right click context menu on Mac.

- Minor translation fixes.

- Other minor fixes.

Dropbox 2.1.3 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new beta and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

You can’t knock a credible update.

On Tuesday, Dropbox released version 2.0.2 of its cloud-based storage client for Mac OS X. The new version, a 27.4 megabyte download (via MacUpdate), which adds the following fixes and changes:
- Fix a bug on OS X where the tray popup isn’t repositioned properly when plugging in an external monitor.

- Fix a bug on OS X where the tray popup can sometimes fail to appear.

- Fix a bug on OS X where the popup can fail to appear if the “Hide” option of the “Login Item” is set.

- Better reporting and handling of error conditions.

- Fix a bug where a notification’s time label sometimes contained incorrect information.

- Fix a bug where closing the client can trigger errors.

- Various performance improvement and bug fixes in rendering.

- Tweaks to notification acknowledgement.

- Minor tweaks to the tray popup’s UI.

- Other small fixes.

Dropbox 2.0.2 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new beta and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

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 1.5.6.

The new version, a 22.8 megabyte download adds the following fixes and changes:
- Fixed a crash on startup on OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

- Fixed a crash when accepting or canceling the certificate verification dialog. (#16280)

- Fixed a crash or hang when trying to use OTR on 32-bits Macs. (#16203)

Adium 1.5.6 is available for free and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later and an Intel-based Mac to run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any comments, let us know.