macOS New App Release – SnipNotes 1.0

Product Announcement – Indie software developer, Felix Lisczyk of Coburg, Germany has released SnipNotes 1.0 for macOS. This new note-taking solution for the Mac supplements and extends the existing SnipNotes apps for iOS and Apple Watch. SnipNotes combines a highly configurable clipboard manager with an intelligent note-taking app: Users can quickly save any content from their clipboard, text and images from websites, addresses from Maps and much more.

SnipNotes categorizes notes automatically based on their content and provides an action for each type. For example, when the user saves an address, SnipNotes will show a little map of the location and can redirect him to Apple Maps for further details. When SnipNotes recognizes a date or time, it allows the user to create a calendar event right within the app. SnipNotes recognizes many more content types like flight numbers or phone numbers and provides intelligent actions for each type.

SnipNotes for macOS transports this concept to the Mac and integrates into many system technologies like Handoff and the new Touch Bar. Some of the app’s highlights include:

• Users can view, edit and organize their notes from iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch
• Notes synchronize seamlessly between all devices over iCloud
• SnipNotes integrates into the menu bar, notification center, system services and the share menu – This gives users quick access to their notes and allows them to create new notes from anywhere
• Notes can be organized with categories, custom note titles and search functionality
• Users can select multiple notes and move or delete them with drag and drop
• The integrated settings menu allows users to customize font sizes, define their own keyboard shortcuts and much more

SnipNotes is a premium app without any advertisements or in-app purchases. Synchronization of notes takes place through the user’s private iCloud account. Notes are not stored elsewhere and can only be accessed by the user.

System Requirements:

• macOS Sierra (10.12) or later
• 16.8 MB

SnipNotes 1.0 for macOS is only $3.99 until 07/09/2017 and $8.99 (USD) afterwards. The app is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category.

macOS App Sale – Yummy Software App Sale – All $2

Product Announcement – Yummy Software of Verwood, United Kingdom has announced that their week long Sizzling Summer Sale on the Mac App Store where all titles are discounted to just $2 for the duration. Their well established product range of advanced file transfer apps have earned a reputation for speed, productivity and ease of use and are relied upon by thousands of businesses worldwide every day. The Yummy Software product range includes:

• Yummy FTP Pro – an advanced Mac file transfer app which provides a full-featured professional toolkit combined with blazing speeds and impeccable reliability, so whether you want to transfer a few files or a few thousand, schedule backups, edit and maintain websites, even automate transfers, you need this time-tested and truly dependable app.
• Yummy FTP Lite – a basic version of our flagship pro-level FTP client app Yummy FTP Pro. Featuring blazingly fast transfers, unparalleled reliability, and all the basic file management features required for those who need nothing more than excellent FTP SFTP FTPS.
• Yummy FTP Watcher – automate uploads, downloads and syncs between your Mac and any number of FTP/S SFTP WebDAV/S servers, watching chosen folders for changes and acting upon them. Automate and empower your workflow with ease.
• Yummy FTP Alias – quick and simple drag & drop FTP to your Desktop. Drag your files onto an FTP Alias icon in the Finder or Dock to upload them to your FTP/S SFTP WebDAV/S server… it’s that easy!

System Requirements: Intel, Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later

The sale started June 19 and all titles are discounted to just $2 for the duration.

macOS New App Release – SurfPro VPN 1.0

Product Announcement – XwaveSoft of Odessa, Ukraine has released SurfPro VPN 1.0, their easy-to-use and secure VPN client for macOS. SurfPro VPN allows Mac users to protect their internet traffic from prying eyes, whether they belong to the government or criminals. The app keeps the user’s location, identity, and other personal data secure from outside observers. SurfPro also makes it possible for anyone to access websites and other Internet services that are typically blocked in their locale.

It has never been more important than it is today for Internet users to protect their web traffic from prying eyes. Criminals and government agencies are both constantly monitoring users’ unprotected traffic on the web, attempting to intercept personal information, such as credit card and banking information, or usernames and passwords.

At the same time, many governments attempt to control their citizen’s Internet freedom, locking down where users can go on the web, restricting the content they can access. In other cases, users find some content isn’t available from their current location simply because of the content provider’s geographic restrictions.

Features:

• Comprehensive privacy protection
• Full access to blocked websites and services
• Access to content and services normally unavailable in some countries
• Secures Macs and their data from prying eyes
• Hides both IP and physical addresses
• Connect to over 300 servers in more than 50 locations around the globe (updated regularly)
• Unlimited network traffic and connection speed
• Available for Mac, iPhone, and iPad
• Connect up to 5 devices or computers under one account at no extra charge
• Offers dedicated IPs
• 7-day trial period with full unlimited functionality
• 24/7 professional technical support

SurfPro is simple to install and setup on any Mac computer. The service offers a convenient “try it before you buy it” 7-day trial, so users try the service with no obligation of any kind. If they decide to continue with the SurfPro VPN service, users will have a choice of subscription plans. Options range from $3.99 USD per month, up to $49.99 for a 3-year subscription. All SurfPro VPN subscriptions allow users to access the service on up to 5 Macs or iOS devices at no extra charge, making it easy to keep the whole family protected.

Device Requirements:

• OS X 10.10 or higher (compatible with macOS Sierra 10.12)
• 64-bit processor
• 8.9 MB

SurfPro VPN 1.0 is free and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Business category. Subscription plans are available via convenient in-app purchases, offering the choice of subscription options ranging from one month to three years, starting from $3.99 USD (or an equivalent amount in other currencies) per month.

macOS New App Release – Default Folder X 5.1.5

Product Announcement – St. Clair Software of Denver, Colorado has released Default Folder X 5.1.5 today. This version of its award-winning utility for enhancing Open and Save dialogs adds support for minimized Save dialogs and also improves Default Folder X’s reliability.

Default Folder X’s custom keyboard shortcuts put your favorite and recent folders at your fingertips. Pop-up menus let you quickly navigate your folders and open Finder windows, as well as move, copy and delete files without leaving a file dialog. Previews, file information, Spotlight tagging and comments are there when you need them. Open, save, and get back to work: Default Folder X is workflow for the rest of us.

The changes in Default Folder X 5.1.5 include:

• Default Folder X now recognizes Save As dialogs when they’re in ‘minimized’ mode.
• Problems that caused Default Folder X to quit unexpectedly have been resolved.
• This version addresses issues with Office 2011, Adobe Creative Suite, Logic Pro X and the macOS Dock.
• Several bugs relating to Default Folder X’s keyboard shortcut handling have been fixed.
• Improved switching between Spaces while a file dialog is open.
• A number of reliability issues have been addressed (use the link below for the full change history).

System Requirements: macOS 10.10, 10.11 or 10.12

Default Folder X 5.1.5 is a free update for existing version 5 users. New licenses are $34.95 (USD) and upgrades from version 4 and prior are $14.95. The product can be purchased from the St. Clair Software web site. St. Clair Software strongly recommends that anyone using Default Folder X install this update.

macOS New App Release – PDF Checkpoint

Product Announcement – Zevrix Solutions of Toronto (ON) Canada  has released its PDF preflight and conversion tool PDF Checkpoint and it is available at 50% off on MacUpdate until September 29. Remarkably fast, PDF Checkpoint automatically preflights, converts to images, splits and optimizes multiple Adobe PDF files. PDF Checkpoint is an ideal program for users who need fast, affordable and easy-to-use solution for efficient PDF workflows. The discount offer lets users save $20 on each copy of the software.

PDF Checkpoint is designed to automate and simplify PDF workflows of publishers, ad agencies, prepress houses, printers and graphic designers. The program offers the following key features:

• Automatically preflight and convert batches of PDF files
• View all PDF fonts, colors, images and metadata at a glance
• Create preflight profiles for various job types
• Route files by preflight results into success and error folders
• Split files into single page PDFs
• Convert PDF to images with specific resolution, color and page scale
• Preserve transparency when exporting to TIFF and PNG
• Convert PDF color mode using ICC profiles

For example, users can preflight a folder of PDF files and convert them to CMYK TIFF images at 300 dpi while scaling each page by 50%. Or optimize documents for the web and mobile devices while reducing PDF file size dramatically by downsampling images to the screen resolution. Users can also create print-ready PDFs from such apps as Apple Pages and Swift Publisher by converting colors to the recommended CMYK profile.

PDF Checkpoint can be purchased from form MacUpdate at 50% off until May 9 only for $24.97 (USD). Trial version is also available for download. PDF Checkpoint requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later (some features require Mac OS X 10.7 or later).

Living Without Cable

Sadly, a large storm moved through the area on Sunday evening. It came with a great deal of lightning and that took out my home cable modem. We have been living since then without any connection to the world other than our cell phones.

Hopefully, the service call scheduled for tomorrow morning will get us back on the internet and I can then resume my regular posts. This morning I visited Star Coffee in downtown Round Rock for breakfast and their free Wi-Fi.

Other than being unable to post, read email, and see Tweets on my computer the experience has not been too bad. I could have used my iPhone for those, but I am not a fan of the small screen. I have plenty of books already downloaded to my Kindle App on may iPad to occupy me for months. I have plenty of media on my Mac Mini that I can access through iTunes or Plex, so not having TV for a few days is no problem either.

I am looking forward to being back on line tomorrow afternoon though.

macOS New App Release – Camera Guard Professional

Product Announcement – ProtectStar Inc. of Miami, Florida has released Camera Guard Professional 2017, the company’s new safety software solution for macOS. Camera Guard Professional ensures that no hacker, spy or malware can observe you or listen in on you. With just one single click, not only the camera, but also the microphone will be completely protected.

The app brings back privacy at the work place and in the children’s room at home with a single click. It is an uncompromising, unprecedented solution, specifically protecting the webcam and microphone of iMacs and MacBooks.

When Camera Guard is installed, a single click is enough in order to secure the camera and microphone. This safety tool from then on reports all applications and processes that try to gain access to the camera and microphone. The user then decides if they wish to allow access to the eyes and ears of the Mac Computer. Or alternatively, not allow access. All accesses and warnings are protocolled in a log file.

The personal settings of the Camera Guard are also protected by a PIN number which is equipped with special hacker protection in order to prevent the software itself from being manipulated.

At the core of Camera Guard is the intelligent Deep Detective. This detective not only recognizes well known malware (for example the Backdoor.MAC.Eleanor, which specifically takes over the control of the integrated webcam), it also identifies attacks of previously unknown malware. Just like an alarm system or personal firewall, all attacks from hackers, spies and trojans are detected and blocked using heuristic methods. At the same time the software uses minimal system resources.

After the NSA documents from the archive of the whistleblower Edward Snowden became public, it was clear: Not only data thieves and computer scammers are interested in invading the privacy of the user. Also secret services use every possibility at their disposal to gain access. Taking over the computer webcam or the built in microphone from afar is no longer just science fiction.

Supported Languages: German and English

System Requirements

• Mac OS 10.11 or higher (OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra)
• 30 MB free hard drive space
• Internet connection for updates and activation

Camera Guard Professional 2017 offers protection of the microphone, the Deep Detective, protection against well-known and unknown access attempts, a protocol in a log file, password protection and a 24/7 support via email. The pro-version costs just $29.90 (USD) and is available from the website. There is also a free version of Camera Guard available that offers protection of the webcam and safety information over accesses.

macOS New app Release – Ockham 2.0

Product Announcement – KnowledgeMiner Software of Berlin, Germany has released Ockham 2.0 for Mac OS X, its innovative app for performing rigorous sensitivity analyses for a high number of model parameters. Ockham is based on self-organizing analysis concepts, and it is designed to be a valuable tool in academic research and for industry practitioners across a wide spectrum of disciplines including but not limited to environmental engineers, pharmaceutical scientists, oil and gas reservoir simulation engineers, government agencies and local authorities.

Ockham is a novel and easy to use tool, which reads data representing a mathematical model in an open Excel worksheet to perform a global sensitivity analysis of the model. Ockham’s new and original approach to global sensitivity analysis considers both single parameters and interactions between model parameters as a more complete, more accurate, and safer assessment of uncertainty than ‘one-factor-at-a-time’ approaches used in other commercial software.

Feature Highlights:

• High degree of automation by implementation of original self-organizing modeling concepts proven in other products of the company for many years
• Based on the theory of variance-based global sensitivity analysis (Sobol indices)
• Determines the influence of not only single parameters but also their interactions
• Simple, one-click communication with Excel to read data and to report analysis results back to Excel or other apps

Language Support: English, French, and German

System Requirements:

• OS X 10.10 or higher
• 64-bit CPU
• Microsoft Excel for Mac version 2011 or newer

Ockham 2.0 starts at $15 (USD), and it is available worldwide exclusively through the KnowledgeMiner Software website. A free Demo version is available for download.

macOS New App Release – System Clock

Product Announcement – B-Eng of Fehraltorf, Switzerland has released System Clock, the company’s new system monitor and information app developed exclusively for macOS. System Clock displays various system information as well as general data on a configurable clock surface. The Design is that of an analog clock with additional hands for CPU load, battery state and memory usage.

Additional weather information and weather forecast are embedded at the bottom of the clock face, with easily to understand icon for the current day and for 3 days in advance. All Colors and fonts are freely configurable to match any users personal taste, and the clock face can be resized and freely positioned on the desktop.

System Requirements: macOS 10.12 or newer

System Clock is only $1.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and can be purchased from B-Eng online.

macOS New App Release – Banktivity 6

Product Announcement – IGG Software of Putney, Vermont has released Banktivity 6, a new version of their personal finance manager. The new version, designed from the ground up, brings requested features like tags and quick reports, and other improvements making it easier for customers to take control of their finances.

“We have a deep drive to help people with their finances,” said IGG President and founder Ian Gillespie. “With Banktivity 6 we are making it easier than ever to help customers get their financial house in order.”

New Features:
* Workspaces is a new feature that allows customers to put any account, budget, report or other view, side-by-side. This boosts productivity by allowing a customer to see several different parts of their finances next to each other and navigate within them independently. The workspaces feature is the first of its kind in Mac personal finance software.

* Tags allow users to see and analyze spending habits across categories. Now when a person goes on vacation and spends money on dining out, gas, air fare and hotels they can tag all those transactions as a “vacation.” Then later report on spending just for that vacation.

* Quick Reports let users see summarized information about their finances quickly and easily. Customers can select transactions and then quickly bring up a report based on the selection. Quick Reports will also allow users to drill down and get more details about their investments or more details on spending. Quick Reports can easily be saved for later with a quick drag to the sidebar.

* Find is a new, fast and powerful, document-wide search feature. With Find, customers can search for any transaction within an entire Banktivity document.

* Portfolio is a new feature that gives quick access to the performance of investments. Customers can customize it to show investments by account, type or risk factor.

Additional Improvements:
The entire user-interface was overhauled for Banktivity 6 to match the modern experience with macOS Sierra. Customers will find no pixel left unturned and will be treated to over 100 additional changes and enhancements, like a new transaction editor with improved keyboard support, new reconciliation process, a new summary view, improved transaction downloads, more flexible budgeting, easier in-app navigation, redesigned reports and more.

Banktivity also allows you to pay bills from within the app*, schedule transactions, setup budgets, track income, spending and savings rate and much more. Direct Access (purchased separately) and Direct Download allow customers to connect to over 10,000 different banks to download their financial data.

Comments from Banktivity 6 Beta Testers:

“Banktivity 6 is awesome…easy to use and I feel I have a great understanding of my spending.” – Gregory Roth, Minnesota, USA

“Much superior to Quicken, and with a lot of the power I’d come to depend on in QuickBooks. Grateful for the flexibility to create and adapt categories and sub-categories to my heart’s content. Intuitive to use.” – Patty Page, Washington, USA

“Simple, effective and efficient money management – doing the accounts is now a pleasure not a chore!” – R.A.B. United Kingdom

Banktivity 6 costs $64.99 USD. Customers upgrading from version 5 purchased either directly from IGG Software or the Mac App Store qualify for upgrade pricing of $29.99 USD. Banktivity 6 requires macOS 10.12 Sierra.