macOS New app Release – Virtual TimeClock 19

Product Announcements – Redcort Software of Long Island, New York has released Virtual TimeClock 19 popular employee time clock applications. Virtual TimeClock’s new 64-bit apps remain familiar to users while ensuring compatibility with the latest computers and tablets running macOS and Microsoft Windows. Virtual TimeClock 19 adds support for HiDPI displays, Dark Mode for macOS, and a new Kiosk Mode for increased security of centralized time clock stations.

New 64-bit Applications
Rebuilding Virtual TimeClock as 64-bit applications became a top priority for Redcort Software early in 2018 when Apple announced that their next macOS release would no longer run 32-bit programs. “After more than 30 years developing Virtual TimeClock on a 32-bit platform, the 64-bit conversion was a tremendous undertaking by our development team” explained Keith DeLong, president of Redcort Software Inc. “The new 64-bit architecture of Virtual TimeClock 19 will enable us to continue supporting our user’s macOS and Windows PCs for another 30 years.”

Virtual TimeClock users will find version 19 completely familiar, while the program runs faster, more efficiently, and is more visually pleasing with dozens of subtle visual enhancements. Virtual TimeClock 19 has HiDPI display support for razor-sharp, high-resolution icons and text. Version 19 also adds support for Apple’s Dark Mode that was introduced in macOS Mojave.

New Time Clock Features
Virtual TimeClock 19 has a new Kiosk Mode that adds security for centralized employee time clocks. The Timecard Approval Dashboard has been updated to simplify preparation for payroll processing. The brand new date, time & calendar controls make timecard management easier than ever. Network communications now employ TLS 1.2 encryption for enhanced data security and privacy. Printing has been enhanced for messaging, program logs, and user notes.

Pricing and Availability
Virtual TimeClock is licensed as a one-time purchase, starting at $99. Virtual TimeClock is available in Basic, Pro and Network editions for Macintosh Computers, Windows PCs and tablets. Optional annual software maintenance and support enrollment and discounted upgrade pricing are available upon request or online at the Redcort Software store.

macOS New App Release – HoudahGeo 5.3

Product Announcements – Houdah Software of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg has released HoudahGeo 5.3, a major update to the photo geotagging tool for Mac. HoudahGeo tags photos with GPS coordinates and location names. HoudahGeo is used by travelers and professionals alike. Some use location information to organize and find photos. Others need to add GPS coordinates to photos in order to assess roadwork damages, to record wildlife sightings, or to document environmental damages.

HoudahGeo makes it easy to geotag digital photos with GPS location information. It writes future-proof EXIF, XMP, and IPTC tags to JPEG and RAW image files. HoudahGeo also supports XMP sidecar files.

HoudahGeo can load photos from Apple Photos, iPhoto, Aperture, and Adobe Lightroom Classic catalogs. HoudahGeo can then tag original image files and add location information to photos in Apple Photos, iPhoto, and Aperture libraries. This gives the users of Apple’s photo cataloging tools access to the many photo geocoding options HoudahGeo has to offer:

* Automatic geocoding using GPS track logs
* Geocoding using reference photos taken using iPhone, a smartphone, or a GPS-enabled camera
* Geocoding without a GPS. Use the built-in map to double-check, adjust, or assign locations to your photos

The map in HoudahGeo makes geocoding large batches of photos surprisingly easy. One just needs to make incremental adjustments between photos to account for the distance traveled. It takes but a nudge to the map and a click for each photo.

Why geotag photos?

Geotagging photos serves two main purposes:

* Archival: The standard EXIF and XMP geotags written by HoudahGeo create a permanent record of where a photo was taken. Photo management software like Apple Photos can then organize and find photos by location.

* Viewing and publishing: Geotags add to the “story” of a photo. A photo pinned to the map has context. A series of tagged photos or a GPS tracklog can tell a story: the path taken to get to the location and from there to the next; the adventures between; the sights hidden from view

How is geotagging different from assigning locations in Apple Photos?
Geotagging writes location information to metadata tags within the original image files. This creates a permanent bond between a photo and the location where it was taken. HoudahGeo writes the same industry-standard EXIF and XMP as used by GPS-enabled cameras. Such geotags can be used by Apple Photos as well as other photo cataloging or publishing tools.

Location information added in Apple Photos exists only within the library database. The original images remain unaltered. Only exported versions of the photo can be set to include geotags.

HoudahGeo feature highlights:
* Supports many methods of geocoding: GPS tracklogs, built-in maps, Google Earth, etc.
* Writes GPS data, location names, title, description and keywords to EXIF, XMP, and IPTC tags
* Works with JPEG, HEIF as well as a large number of RAW file formats – Supports XMP sidecar files.
* Notifies Apple Photos, iPhoto, and Aperture of changes made to photo location information
* Automatic geocoding using GPS track logs
* Geocoding using reference photos taken using iPhone or a GPS camera
* Geocoding without a GPS. Use the built-in map to double-check, adjust, or assign locations
* Notify Apple Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture when places information has been updated
* Create Google Earth KML and KMZ files. View photos pinned along the path traveled
* Publish photos and KML files to Dropbox. Share images on a map
* Upload geotagged photos to Flickr

New in HoudahGeo 5.3:
* Adds support for Apple HEIC/HEIF files
* Adds support for Canon CR3 files
* Adds support for QStarz BL-1000ST track logger files
* MacOS 10.14 Mojave Dark Mode

Notable additions in previous releases:
* Apple Photos: HoudahGeo can now add locations to photos in the Apple Photos library. Requires Photos 2.0 on macOS Sierra
* Places: Quickly assign photos to favorite places and apply coordinates and location names
* Drag-and-drop geocoding: Drag images to the built-in map and drop them at the location where they were taken
* Reverse geocoding: Look up location names in English, German, Spanish and French
* Camera import: Download photos from your camera. Geotag photos before importing them into your photo library
* Lightroom integration: HoudahGeo reads location metadata directly from the Lightroom catalog
* Keywords editor: The new keywords editor makes it easy to assign keywords in bulk
* Map search: No GPS? No problem! Search for landmarks, cities, as well as your favorite places
* Publish KML to Dropbox: Upload photos and tracklogs to Dropbox. View in Google Earth and Google My Maps

System Requirements:
* OS X Version 10.10 or later. Fully tested with macOS 10.14 Mojave
* Some features require macOS 10.12 Sierra or later
* We strongly recommended that iCloud Photos users geotag their photos before uploading these to the cloud
* Digital camera
* Optional GPS track logger
* Optional iPhone, smartphone, or GPS-enabled camera
* 56 MB of disk space

Pricing and Availability:
HoudahGeo 5.3 is priced at $39 USD (+tax) for a single-user license. A full-featured demo version is available. Licenses are available from the Houdah Software web site.

macOS New App Release – SecuritySpy 5.0

Product Announcements – Ben Software of London, United Kingdom has released SecuritySpy 5.0, a major update to the premier multi-camera video surveillance software for the Mac. With smart motion detection powered by Artificial Intelligence, flexible recording features, remote monitoring, and an intuitive user interface, SecuritySpy is ideal for all CCTV applications, from home to professional use. Version 5.0 has many improvements including AI-based object detection using deep neural networks, and support for the ultra-efficient H.265 (HEVC) video encoding format.

SecuritySpy supports virtually all IP cameras on the market, including the popular Axis, Dahua Technology, Canon, Samsung, Sony, Amcrest, Hikvision, and Vivotek ranges. SecuritySpy features advanced AI-powered smart motion detection, which can be used to trigger recordings as well as email alerts, audio alarms, iOS push notifications, and external devices. The built-in secure web server allows remote monitoring of live video and captured footage, as well as the configuration of the software, from over the Internet using a web browser or mobile devices such as an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV.

“With the integration of a new AI-powered object detector, SecuritySpy is now smarter than ever. By training our neural networks on hundreds of thousands of real CCTV images, we are able to achieve excellent accuracy for the new computer vision features,” said Ben Bird, the developer of SecuritySpy. “Combined with macOS, the rock-solid operating system from Apple, SecuritySpy offers unsurpassed functionality, stability, and ease of use.”

The full list of improvements in version 5.0 are as follows:
* AI-based smart motion detection for exceptional detection accuracy and elimination of false triggers
* H.265 HEVC video encoding format support for high-efficiency streaming and recording
* Support for automatic generation of official “Let’s Encrypt” certificates for the secure web server
* New Dashboard feature for visual display of performance metrics
* Browser bookmarks, for easy annotation of each day’s recorded footage
* Browser file tagging, with Finder integration
* Dark mode support, including for the web interface
* User interface improvements

The main features of SecuritySpy are as follows:
* Supports all major brands of IP camera as well as ONVIF-compatible cameras
* Carefully designed user interface and automatic camera detection for easy setup
* AI-powered smart motion and object detection for the accurate triggering of recording
* Efficient software design allows one Mac to handle high numbers of cameras
* Built-in secure web server for remote monitoring and administration
* Automatic DDNS, port forwarding, and SSL/TLS certificate generation for easy web setup
* Flexible scheduling options for recording at particular times of the day or week
* Browser feature for synchronized multi-camera playback of captured footage
* Supports all industry-standard media formats (H.265, H.264, MPEG-4, JPEG, AAC)
* Hardware-accelerated video compression and decompression for low CPU usage
* Companion iOS and tvOS apps for viewing on iPhone, iPad or Apple TV
* Notifications including alarms, emails, scripts and iOS Push Notifications
* Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) support using a virtual joystick
* Secure off-site backup of captured footage
* Integration with home automated systems such as Indigo and Control4
* Supports non-IP cameras such as built-in cameras, USB webcams, and Blackmagic devices

Pricing is in British Pounds, Euros or US Dollars and depends on the number of cameras used, ranging from GBP 29.90 (approx. USD $40) for the single-camera version, to GBP 649.00 (approx. USD $890) for the unlimited-camera version. SecuritySpy 5.0 requires macOS 10.13 “High Sierra” or later. SecuritySpy can be tested for 30 days before purchase, with no demo limitations whatsoever. The software is available from the website.

macOS New App Release – UI Browser 2.8.2

Product Announcements – PFiddlesoft of Quechee, Vermont has released version 2.8.2 of its popular product, UI Browser, the “ultimate assistant” for GUI Scripting with AppleScript, and a developer utility for exploring Apple’s Accessibility API.

UI Browser helps you to explore, manipulate, and monitor the user interface of most macOS applications running on your computer. With the push of a button, it also generates AppleScript statements to control any application using GUI Scripting, even applications that are not otherwise scriptable. No other utility provides all of the information you need in order to write scripts using GUI Scripting.

Version 2.8.2 of UI Browser now supports the purchase of registration keys from our new eCommerce provider, Paddle. Existing customers who already own a registration key purchased from eSellerate for an earlier release of UI Browser 2 can continue to use it to run this new release, which is a free upgrade. Customers who do not already own an eSellerate key must purchase a key from Paddle to run this release after the trial period expires. A Paddle key can only be used to run release 2.8.2 or later of UI Browser 2.

Version 2.8.0 added these new features:

* UI Browser now supports new Accessibility features introduced in macOS Mojave 10.14. It also incorporates new PFAssistive Framework 3.9.0 and PFEventTaps Framework 1.6.0. UI Browser now requires OS X Yosemite 10.10 or later.

* UI Browser now uses Apple’s Hardened Runtime in Mojave for increased security. It may require user authorization to perform some tasks.

* UI Browser has been notarized by Apple to assure users that it is from a trusted developer and was scanned for malicious code by Apple to ensure its security.

* UI Browser’s Target menu now includes Apple’s new Script Menu application in Mojave. The Script Menu application handles the Script menu extra if Script Editor preferences are set to show it in the menu bar.

* UI Browser supports Dark Mode in Mojave.

* UI Browser now uses the current “Highlight color” setting in System Preferences to highlight the target UI element when running in Highlight mode.

* AppleScript statements generated by UI Browser can now be sent to Script Debugger 7 from Late Night Software, as well as Script Editor, Smile and earlier versions of Script Debugger.

* UI Browser implements numerous performance enhancements and a number of minor bug fixes.

Download a free, full-featured 30-day trial version of UI Browser now at the PFiddlesoft website.

New customers may purchase UI Browser for $55. It is a free upgrade for registered owners of UI Browser 2.0.0 and later. UI Browser 1.4.1 is no longer supported and no free upgrade path is available.

UI Browser is based on the PFiddlesoft Frameworks, including the PFAssistive and PFEventTaps Frameworks. The frameworks are written using Objective-C, and they support 64-bit architectures using reference counted memory management and ARC. Developers can license the PFiddlesoft Frameworks for distribution or use with their own products that use Apple’s Accessibility and Quartz Event Taps technologies. The frameworks may be licensed free of charge for personal use or for distribution or use with a free software product. A modest license fee is required to distribute or use the frameworks with a product for which payment is requested or required. Source code is available for a separate fee. Different terms apply to large or established commercial software developers. For more information, go to the PFiddlesoft website.

Music from WWII: “At Mail Call Today”

(See my other WWII related posts) – The country-western song “At Mail Call Today” by singer, songwriter, actor, musician and rodeo performer Gene Autry actually hit #1 for an eight week stretch in 1945.

Autry enlisted after Perl Harbor and became a tech sergeant in the Army Air Corps. Already a pilot, he finally earned his military wings in June of 1944 and began flying C-109 transport aircraft “over the hump” between India and China.

---

If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest. 

The  “World War II Sources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 330 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and other sources with information on the World War II-era in history.

The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.

The “About WWII” page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII.

macOS New App Release – Gonector 1.2.2

Product Announcements – 24U Software of Zvole, Czech Republic has released Gonector 1.2.2, a new version of the latest FileMaker plug-in designed specifically for mobile custom apps running on iPads and iPhones. The new version adds direct support for mobile payment terminals from Infinite Peripherals and Ingenico, making it possible to seamlessly integrate credit card payments processing directly to the custom app developed with the FileMaker platform.

About payment terminals:
Accepting credit card payments on the go has strict security requirements, which are even not the same on the east and west sides of the Atlantic ocean. Common approach is that the mobile sales person is equipped with a stand-alone payment terminal, so whatever amount they need to charge needs to be manually entered on the terminal’s keyboard.

If the source of the data about the sale is a custom app running on an iPhone or iPad, the most convenient way to implement the payment process is to integrate the payment terminal directly with the app, so that the sales person does not have to re-type the payment amount to the terminal. The application also securely receives confirmation or denial of the payment, so it immediately and reliably knows, whether the payment was successful.

The payment terminal takes care of reading encrypted data from the customer’s credit card. In Europe it also takes care of directly processing the payment transaction online with the credit card issuer. In North America the payment terminal can just provide the encrypted data to the custom app, which then uses payment processing service, such as Stripe, to actually process the payment transaction.

About Gonector:
Gonector is a FileMaker plug-in that allows a native application for iPhone or iPad to communicate directly with mobile hardware devices. Being able to interact with professional mobile devices enables you to use the FileMaker platform to create a POS, Inventory and lots of other heavy-duty mobile business apps with friendly, fast, and reliable user interface.

The plug-in already supports mobile receipt printers, RFID readers, barcode scanners, digital weighing scales, and even NFC reading built into iPhone 7 or newer, which does not require any additional hardware to work.

Since the mobile processing differs between North America and Europe, 24U has chosen one popular brand of payment terminals for each continent, Infinite Peripherals for North America, and Ingenico for Europe, and added support for their devices to the Gonector plug-in to allow such seamless integration for custom apps developed using the FileMaker platform.

Availability and Pricing of Gonector:
Licenses for Gonector start at $499 (USD) per app deployed to up to 20 users. License for Payment Terminals Edition of Gonector is available for $7,999 and includes implementation support for one type of payment terminal. The software can be ordered from the website.

macOS New app Release – Umbrella

Product Announcements – Hyperbolic Software of Burolo, Italy has released Umbrella. Umbrella reports the duplicates the moment they are created. This helps to forget the boring job of dealing with huge results when using a standard duplicate tool. Umbrella is the only duplicate-prevention tool available on the market. It is unobtrusive, easy to use, and powerful.

Once a source is added, Umbrella monitors the folder content and reports the duplicates the moment they are created. The duplicates are automatically marked for fast removal. Umbrella is a perfect Tidy Up 5 complement, and used together they will keep the Mac clean and efficient.

Some of the new key features are:
* Modern and efficient interface
* Search by files
* Search in iTunes database
* Search Photos image files
* Monitors any folder of your hard drives
* Customize criteria to determine the duplicates
* Automatic mark for removal
* Replaces the files with hard links
* Restore the removed (or moved) items if a mistake was made
* Multiple files preview
* Full integration with Tidy Up 5
* Plus many more

System Requirements:
* Umbrella requires macOS 10.14 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Umbrella can be purchased starting from $19.99 (USD). Currently, Umbrella is available on the Company website.

USA, Texas, Georgetown – Galaxy Bakery & CoffeeHouse

(See my other dessert related posts) – A few days ago, friends, Michelle and Addy came to visit and they brought my wife and I each a Boston Cream Croissant. That taste of Galaxy Bakery was enough to send us up to Georgetown this morning.

The Galaxy Bakery & CoffeeHouse is located at 107 E 7th Street, Georgetown, Texas 78626 – just east of the square. The Galaxy is housed in one of the older buildings and you might just go past it. If you do though, you will be making a mistake.

So what does the Galaxy have? Per their menu:

• Full size and Mini CUPCAKES
• GLUTEN FREE CUPCAKES  Available Fridays & Saturdays (or by the dozen upon request)
• Full size and Mini CANNOLI – Chocolate, Confectioners Sugar, and Pistachio.
  CHEESECAKE – New York, Tuxedo, Chocolate, Raspberry White Chocolate, Peanut Butter
  Full size and mini CINNAMON ROLLS
• COOKIES – Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Chunk, Cranberry Oatmeal Walnut, Peanut Butter, and Sugar.
• CROISSANTS – Almond, Dutch Apple, Peach Cobbler, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate, Ham & Swiss, Jalapeño Sausage & Cheddar, Raspberry, Sausage & Cheddar, Spinach & Feta, Jalapeño Popper, Boston Cream, Turkey Gouda, and Almond Joy.

• Full size and mini MUFFINS – Blueberry, Lemon Crunch, Maple Walnut, Raspberry.
• Full size and mini PIES – Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Chocolate, Coconut, Galaxy-Pie, Key Lime, Lemon Meringue, Pecan, Pumpkin, Peach
• Full size and mini SCONES – Almond, Blueberry, Cranberry Orange, Raspberry.

The Galaxy also has a selection of coffees and bottled soft drinks. There are a few tables inside and more outside on their patio for when the weather is better. We sat inside and enjoyed Turkey Gouda Croissants, then shared a cupcake. Of course, we had to stop at the counter and order a few other items to take home with to enjoy later.

So far I have only tasted the Boston Cream and Turkey Gouda Croissants, along with one of their cupcakes (their website lists 47 different flavors – they rotate through them every two weeks) and one of their cookies. Everything I have tried so far has been very good.

Now that I have visited Galaxy Bakery, I am sure I will be back many times! If you are near the Williamson County Courthouse on the square in Georgetown, I recommend you take a few minutes to visit the Galaxy Bakery.

---

See my other Food and Location posts

---

 

macOS New app Release – Commander One 2.0

Product Announcements – Eltima Software of Frankfurt, Germany has released Commander One 2.0, the newest version of their dual-panel file manager for Mac. It serves as a great alternative to Finder, Mac’s default file manager, and other popular apps such as Total Commander for Windows and Android File Transfer for Mac. Commander One has already recommended itself as a great file management solution and has been acknowledged by a number of respected weblogs and portals. Here is what the new version of Commander One has to offer you:

Additions:
* an ability to open and edit files stored on online connections
* an ability to open and edit files in archives (except for RAR)
* an ability to open and edit files on MTP and iOS devices
* support for Box.com
* support for Backblaze.com
* a new type of connection for OpenStack Swift (Object Storage), with Keystone authentication services v.1 and v.2
* an ability to choose server endpoint for Amazon S3
* support for new regions in Amazone S3: cn-north-1 Beijing, eu-north-1 Stockholm
* SSO support for OneDrive
* Microsoft Cloud Germany (office.de) support for OneDrive
* an ability to work with “Shared with me” folder on Google Drive
* an ability to mount to WebDAV servers with untrusted HTTPS certificate
* support for encryption on online connections
* support for Dropbox Business
* support for Google Team Drives
* support for Finder Extensions (Dropbox, Google Backup and Sync, etc.)
* support for Finder Tags
* support for dark mode on macOS 10.14
* Italian and Portuguese localizations
* support for OpenSSH keys for SFTP connections
* an ability to select a UI language in preferences
* an ability to configure the appearance of the built-in preview
* an ability to configure the appearance of the built-in Terminal

Improvements:
* the functionality of operations queue
* the operation speed of WebDAV connection
* the icons size changes when adjusting the font size
* the functionality of built-in Terminal
* work with MTP devices
* support for UTF-8 for FTP connections

Fixes:
* the support for Cyrillic characters for FTP connections
* the display of symbolic link icons
* the support for AZERTY keyboard

Commander One 2.0 has everything you liked about it in the previous versions, including:
* Dual pane interface with three view modes and unlimited tab-browsing
* Queuing file operations
* Assigning hotkeys to various actions
* Advanced search with the help of regular expressions, Spotlight search support
* Support for 7zip, ZIP, RAR (except compression), TarGz archive formats; compressing, extracting and accessing archived files
* Detecting computers that use NetBIOS protocol, displaying them as network computers
* Preview of various files, a large number of formats is supported, including binary and hex
* Mounting iOS and MTP devices
* Mounting Dropbox, Amazon, Google Drive accounts as an additional drive on Mac
* Choosing a program to open files
* FTP, SFTP and FTPS Client that allows changing file permissions
* Themes to change the looks and more

Pricing and Availability:
Commander One 2.0 is compatible with OS X 10.10+. The app has two editions – free and paid. The latter is known as PRO Pack and costs $29.99 (USD), the additional functionality it offers is available for a 15-day trial for free. Both editions are available for download from Eltima’s official website. It can also be downloaded from the Mac App Store

macOS New App Release – Mellel 4.2

Product Announcements – Mellel AAR of Tel Aviv, Israel, the developer of the leading word processor for Mac OS and iPad, is announcing the immediate release of Mellel 4.2, a new version including a completely re-written and innovative tables feature. Using styles, tables in Mellel now offer advanced features alongside the ability to maintain consistency in table design throughout the manuscript and from one document to the other.

“Clearly, our tables sucked before,” confesses Eyal Redler, one of Mellel’s co-founder and chief developer. “We’ve vehemently denied this, of course, but now that we have the best and most awesome tables feature, we can freely admit this.” Indeed, Mellel’s table feature – once strong and versatile – have become a weak spot in its otherwise shining armour of features.

The new table feature was completely re-written to suit the changing needs of users. Mellel, a long time favourite among writers of long-documents, who need to maintain consistency throughout the document and across documents, now offers an innovative Table Styles feature. This feature allows users to set every table option within a style, changes to which will be applied to every table using this style. Furthermore, templates within the style allow for adding text, and setting the size and positioning of variants to the basic style.

There’s more to Mellel tables than styles. Tables now support table headers and footers (and leading and trailing columns), repeating headers, colour alternation, outer padding, corner radius, smart vertical alignment, and much more.

Not unique, but really special, are the formulas. These can be entered to any cell, calculating sum, average, standard deviation, and more, and can mix within the same cell with text and other formulas – which is the complete opposite of the “spreadsheet as a table” concept.

A very welcome addition are the positioning and resizing options. You resize a table easily, with the columns and rows being resized proportionally. You can also set the table width proportionally, so it can change dynamically when the width available to it changes. You can also position a table anyway you like (at centre, right or plainly 15% from the left).

Finally, there are numerous but-of-course features, allowing users to add columns and rows easily, set the width of columns and rows in exact measurements, equalise width with a click, and much more.

Melle is priced at $49.00 and is available on their website