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Thu, 17 Nov 2011 I've released version 3.3. of QuickWho, my application for querying information about Internet domains. This release is aimed at integration with Lion's sandbox requirements, and replacing several external tools that previous versions of QuickWho used for getting domain information. The release is a useful update to QuickWho and I encourage you to give it a try if you prefer to run domain queries from the desktop rather than a browser. Thu, 20 Oct 2011I've just installed version 1.3 of Growl, the venerable notification system for Mac OS X. This is a update for Growl because it's now available from the Mac App Store, for $2. While the product is open-source and used to be available for free, the modest fee will help fund continuing development, and I was happy to pay it. The reason I mention Growl in this blog is that Growl notification support is a feature of several of my applications, and Growl has undergone so many changes that Growl support in my own apps is broken. I'm not alone here; many, many applications in the Mac OS X ecosystem support Growl, and a substantial number will need updating to support the new Growl. (I haven't made a count, but based on the comments and complaints in the Mac App Store, I surmise that the changes in Growl have been disruptive for many applications and their users.) The developers made significant changes to Growl to make it compatible with the Mac App Store, and also to put it on a firmer development foundation for the future. That's understandable. Still, it's going to require changes to my own apps to make them compatible with Growl once again, and I haven't fully formulated my approach to solving this problem. As a result, I don't yet have a timeline for re-enabling Growl support in my apps. However, once that support is working again, new releases of the affected apps will be quick. Wed, 19 Oct 2011Today I've released version 4.1 of Manpower, my man page viewer for OS X. The big new feature here is integration with Lion's sandboxing requirements, which is coming soon as a prerequisite for new submissions to the Mac App Store. Sandboxing is a big new development for OS X. Briefly explained, it places strong restrictions on what an application is able to do in terms of reading and writing data, network access, and so on. A developer must assign specific privileges, or "entitlements," to the application. The intent is greater security for end users, by making it harder for malware to take over an application and hijack the user's system. In the Apple developer forums, there's been a lot of grumbling about sandboxing, for several reasons: it forces a lot of rewriting of applications to comply with its requirements; in some cases the restrictions simply reduce an application's functionality because certain things are no longer possible in sandboxing; and also there is a sense that Apple hasn't fully worked out sandboxing, as developers are running into more bugs and blind alleys than is usual. (Apple has a good record of "eating its own dogfood," or working the kinks out of a new feature privately, before rolling out this feature to third-party developers, and that doesn't seem to be as true here.) Still, despite the grumbling, it's pretty clear that sandboxing is the future for the App Store and the Mac, and so I'm moving all of my App Store apps to the sandboxing model. I had a few kinks with Manpower, but got everything worked out eventually, and I expect the same for my other apps as well. Sun, 02 Oct 2011I've released version 4.2 of Phynchronicity, my GUI for the Fink Unix software system. This release includes several bug fixes for improved Lion compatibility. If you use Fink, Phynchronicity is a useful tool. Give it a try. Thu, 22 Sep 2011I've released version 4.1 of PacketStream, my network interface application. This new release fixes a serious bug that occurred if Parallels or VMWare are installed on a Mac; this prevented PacketStream from capturing network data. While a cumbersome manual workaround existed, this bug fix alleviates the need for such jiggering. This release also includes some minor UI improvements for Lion compatibility. If you want an easy-to-use network monitoring tool for OS X, PacketStream is worth a look. Tue, 20 Sep 2011
Phynchronicity and PortAuthority 4.1
I've released minor updates to Phynchronicity and PortAuthority. Both feature minor improvements for Lion compatibility. Give them a look if you use Fink or MacPorts under Lion. Sat, 02 Jul 2011
Phynchronicity and PacketStream 4.0
I've just released versions 4.0 of Phynchronicity, my GUI for the Fink Unix software tool, and PacketStream, my GUI for the Mac's built-in tcpdump network monitoring tool. Both releases include a major modernization of their user interfaces with a native Cocoa toolbar, as well as improvements in their print functionality. The UI modernization lays the foundation for further updates of these apps in the future as first-rate Mac OS citizens. If you use Fink to install open-source software, Phynchronicity is well worth your time. It is more actively developed than other GUI's for Fink, and I believe it's easier to use. If you do network monitoring, PacketStream offers a good balance between power, ease-of-use, and price. Check both out and let me know what you think. For what it's worth, neither are available in the Mac App Store, for the same reason that PortAuthority is not available--both applications require administrator-level permissions to run certain tasks, and Phynchronicity is also dependent on an installation of Fink. But both are easily purchased from my website. These releases complete the modernization of my current products with a fully-native Cocoa UI and other under-the-hood changes for integration with the App Store (where appropriate) and better system integration overall. Wed, 08 Jun 2011I've released version 4.0 of PortAuthority, my GUI for the MacPorts Unix software management system. This release, which is Intel-only, adds native Mac toolbars, improved stability with AppleScript, and improvements in the print engine. If you use MacPorts, PortAuthority is worth your time. Mon, 02 May 2011I've released version 4.0 of Manpower, my man page viewer for OS X, on both my own site and in the Mac App Store. This is a significant update for Manpower, which incorporates all the fully-native integration I've been adding to my apps: native Cocoa toolbar, native printing, clickable links in the data display, and more. This release also allow you to set Manpower as the default viewer for man pages on the Mac. All in all, it's a worthy upgrade, and a good app to check out if you're interested in seeing just how much documentation is available under the Mac's Unix hood. This is the quickest approval I've gotten from the App Store; I submitted the app just a week ago. I paid special attention to avoiding the issues that got my previous submissions rejected, and that seems to have helped it sail right through. Hopefully that will continue to be the case. Thu, 21 Apr 2011I've just released version 5.1 of NameFind, my file search tool for OS X, following its approval for the Mac App Store. This release has some nice improvements over version 5.0, including a fully-native Mac toolbar UI; improvements in the speed and accuracy of the file search algorithm; and improved integration with QuickLook, specifically calling the native QuickLook preview window. It's well worth your while to check this out if you are looking for an alternative to the Mac's built-in Spotlight search technology. |
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