Ten Shareware Developers Release Tiger Updates, Tiger-Specific Utilities

by , 4:05 PM EDT, April 29th, 2005

The flood of software updates crested on Friday as ten shareware developers released upgrades that brought Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” compatibility to their applications. More will continue to trickle in during the coming weeks as the floodwaters recede, but here’s the round-up of companies that issued updates just as the new OS was hitting store shelves. In addition, a couple published utilities that run only in Tiger.

Splasm Software was among the first to create a Tiger-specific utility with the announcement of Dasher 1.0, a free preference pane that automatically brings up Dashboard when a Mac sits idle for a pre-selected length of time.

Meanwhile, Vela Design Group was among the first to release a Dashboard widget with VelaClock 1.0, a world clock that offers local times, daylight hours and moon phases for various cities. It updates the moon’s phase in every locale each minute and provides its name, as well as the local time for the next and previous phases. A bar graph shows how many daylight, twilight and night hours you can expect in that city. Pricing is US$9.95.

Chronos has released SOHO Business Cards 1.3 and SOHO Labels & Envelopes 1.3, free updates that bring Tiger support to the business card and label and envelope creators. Both applications run in Mac OS X v10.2 or higher and sell for $29.99.

Ovolab’s telephony application Phlink 2.1 pulls in support for Dashboard widgets, Spotlight searches and Automator tasks and adds a new smart list editor that organizes calls and voice-mail messages according to criteria supplied by the user. Two Dashboard widgets -- one that displays the last five incoming, outgoing and missed calls and one that dials phone numbers directly from Dashboard -- are included with this free update for owners of version 2. The full software requires Mac OS X v10.2 and sells for $149.95.

Aquafadas Software’s iDive 1.3 includes a dedicated Spotlight plug-in that helps with searching for specific clips stored in the digital video manager. This free upgrade also includes a new clip preview icon associated with the new metadata files and the ability to associate .clip files with iDive. The full software is $69.95.

CrispSofties has released iPod.iTunes 2.8, which brings Tiger compatibility to the utility for synchronizing tunes and their accompanying data between an iPod and a Mac, something that Apple doesn’t allow because of its contracts with music labels. It works with Mac OS X v10.2 and iTunes 3.0.1 or higher and sells for €29.90 ($38.45).

Metafy’s Anthracite Web Mining Desktop Toolkit 1.1.1 can now combine automated Web mining results with saved Spotlight searches in Tiger. It can also use Spotlight to search on the names of objects and source URLs in an Anthracite document. The full software is $99.

SubRosaSoft updated its freeware utilities GlobalTraceRoute, Macnifier and ScreenBoard for Tiger. GlobalTraceRoute maps routes from the user’s computer to another on the Internet, converting IP addresses into geographical locations along the way. Macnifier magnifies part of a the image on a display in a separate window. ScreenBoard shares a user’s screen with others on the network, who can view it in a Web browser.

Fidelity Media has released MegaSeg 3.1, the latest version of its DJ and radio automation software that brings in support for Tiger and QuickTime 7, as well as the MIDI-based Hercules DJ Console controller and other new features, performance improvements and bug fixes. This is a free update for registered MegaSeg 3.0 users. The full software is $199, or $69 for owners of older versions, and requires Mac OS X v10.2.

Finally, PreFab Software has released PreFab UI Actions 1.1 and UI Browser 1.4. The former attaches an AppleScript to any Mac OS X native application, running the script when the user performs specific actions in the software. This upgrade offers support for the new scripting and accessibility features found in Tiger as well as several performance improvements. It’s a free upgrade for licensed users and sells for $35. Mac OS X v10.3 is required.

UI Browser is a scripting assistant that helps users build GUI scripts that can be attached with PreFab UI Actions. Version 1.1 also supports the new scripting and accessibility features in Tiger and features performance enhancements and bug fixes. It’s also a free upgrade; the full version is $55. Mac OS X v10.3 is required; PreFab noted that version 1.4 no longer supports v10.2.