Apple software updates for July 23
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jul 23, 2008 at 5:29pm
Steinberg has released Sequel 2, a sequel to its consumer-based music recording application. The update offers a new controller mode, a virtual keyboard, the ability to allocate a Track Icon to each track, a Track Free function, Free Warp and Audio Reverse features and more.
SmileOnMyMac has updated TextExpander, a Mac OS X utility that lets users define abbreviations for frequently-used text strings and images, to version 2.3. The upgrade adds a predefined snippet group of accented foreign words commonly used in English.
The update features other improvements. The TextExpander Preference Pane now expands to fit the wider System Preferences window in Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”). Filtering of abbreviations and snippets has been fixed, as well as some case-sensitivity issues in Mac OS 10.4 (“Tiger”).
Native Instruments has released Traktor 3.4 and Traktor Scratch 1.3, free software updates that equip both products with refined functionality. Both are upgraded with architectural improvements as well as with enhanced time-code and MIDI control functionality.
Houdah Software has updated its HoudahSpot, a file search tool for the Mac, to version 2.2. The upgrade revamps the BlitzSearch feature. Additionally HoudahSpot 2.2 improves AppleScript support as well as integration with third party tools PathFinder, LaunchBar and QuickSilver.
Startly Technologies has updated its QuickKeys X3 automation tool for Mac OS X to version 3.2.2. The upgrade fixes: an issue with typing possibly being too fast under Mac OS X 10.5 ; an issue with Type Text not actually typing some characters or typing wrong characters depending on what keyboard layout was active under some versions of Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5; and an editing problem with Message actions where the wrong sound could be selected in the sound pop-up menu.
Morrison SoftDesign has released FontXChange 1.5.0, an update of the Mac OS X software that converts fonts to OpenType, PostScript Type 1 and TrueType for both Macs and Windows systems. The update upgrades encodings to Unicode 5.1, updates parsing and rendering of various font tables, adds an option to generate .AFM files, adds font naming options and adds a feature to rebuild damaged fonts.
Polarian Technology has updated its Screen Mimic screencast creation tool to version 2.4. The upgrade offers performance and memory use improvements during recording, especially on multicore/multiprocessor machines. With the update, audio/video/mouse will now all remain in synch regardless of how busy your computer may be during the recording.
Goya Pty has released BaseElements 2.0.2, an update of the FileMaker developer tool to analyze and document FileMaker database solutions. BaseElements provides a cross reference of every element in a solution and helps developers find and fix errors, track issues, document changes, and plan future development. The upgrade fixes some bugs and adds an “Import From Previous Version” button to the setup page.
Excel Software has updated QuickHelp—a tool for creating, maintaining and deploying application help—to 3.0.3. It’s a maintenance release with some performance tweaks and bug fixes.
Koingo Software has updated Mac Cleanse, a small Mac OS X application geared towards purifying your system, to version 1.2.3. It fixes some bugs.
MacSword, free software that allows you to read and browse many different bibles translations in different languages, has been updated to version 1.4.0b2. The upgrade adds support for TEI modules.
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
