January 12 - 10:20pm EST   Applicorn has launched the latest version of its multipurpose system-utility for Mac, Xupport 3.5.0. The program provides tools that allow users to increase system security and configure hidden Mac OS X and Unix features, while adding more system-cleaning and backup capabilities. The update features maintenance and performance improvements designed to increase application speed and enable faster launch on Intel Macs, while additional network-optimization settings can be used to enhance download performance. [full story]

December 8 - 6:40pm EST   Altomac has released Running Application 2009, a program launching utility featuring a small floating palette that lists all available applications. The software is designed for organizing multiple open programs, allowing each to be brought to the foreground by clicking on the corresponding icon in the floating box. Users can also create several application sets for launching, closing, or hiding several programs simultaneously. [full story]

October 29 - 2:25pm EDT   Tension Software has released the latest version of its password management utility, Password Repository 2.5. The update offers an improved search function along with password print, preview, and PDF generation. Print settings can be customized to include only particular columns, with adjustments for the width. The main password table has been expanded to include additional columns and users can choose to show or hide passwords. [full story]

October 20 - 8:30pm EDT   Extensis has released the latest version of its font management utility, Suitcase Fusion 2. The update features a redesigned user interface and code base, with SQLite support claimed to improve speed and reliability. The new program is built around the Leopard operating system, with exact font matching and auto-activation plugin support for Adobe Illustrator CS4 and QuarkXpress 8. Multiple font previews adjust in size while working for faster selection and comparison, while the new Glyph View Palette allows previews of multiple glyphs within one type face. [full story]

September 29 - 4:00pm EDT   Nearly everyone has needed to take notes during a class or meeting. While typing notes on a laptop may seem simple enough, two problems remain. First, you may have missed hearing something important so your notes won’t contain this information. Second, trying to find specific information buried in your notes can be tedious and time-consuming. To make note taking easy and complete, consider dumping your word processor and using Pear Note 1.0 instead. [full story]

September 25 - 3:45am EDT   Every hard drive will eventually fail. Backing up your data can protect you against a hard disk crash, but you can often prevent minor hard disk problems through proper maintenance with special disk utility programs such as DriveGenius 2.1. [full story]

August 18 - 7:55pm EDT   Label Wizard 1.1.0 includes several "user interface enhancements" and bug fixes. Black Cat Systems says its label utility gives users "complete control over the layout of the label," including text, pictures, objects and serial numbers. The $20 utility is a Universal Binary requiring Mac OS X 10.2 or higher. [Download - 3.4MB]. [full story]

August 4 - 10:55pm EDT   BC Hydro is offering British Columbian Mac-based businesses a chance to save money on their utility bills, in recognition of the power-saving software DssW Power Manager, as part of its provincial Product Incentive Program. The offer applies only to the above software, which the Canadian province recognizes to be superior to the default power schedule manager that has been built in to the Mac OS since its days on the PowerPC platform. [full story]

July 29 - 10:25pm EDT   Paragon Software Group on Tuesday unveiled CampTune, a new application designed to allow users to customize the size of their Boot Camp partition on their Macs, without having to start from scratch. CampTune can either increase or decrease the size of a Boot Camp partition, without losing data, allowing users to quickly shift free space depending on their priorities. CampTune is currently available as a free pre-release; Paragon did not announce how much it would be in the future. [full story]

July 23 - 6:30pm EDT   Houdah Software has updated its popular search utility, HoudahSpot to version 2.2. The new version builds upon features offered in previous versions such as BlitzSearch, which combines the simplicity of Spotlight with the power of HoudahSpot. The update also improves AppleScript support as well as integration with third party tools PathFinder, LaunchBar and QuickSilver. HoudahSpot 2.2 introduces a completely rewritten BlitzSearch feature, which when called upon slides out of the top of the screen, and then allows a user to perform a customized search. HoudahSpot's enhanced AppleScript support, allows scripts to call upon BlitzSearch as well as allowing them to receive ... [full story]

July 16 - 8:20pm EDT   Shiny Development has released Speakapedia 1.0, a Mac utility that converts WIkipedia articles into spoken words, and "seamlessly manages them as tracks" in iTunes. The application uses an article's main photo for iTunes album art. The utility allows knowledge-hungry users to "listen" to articles on their Macs and iPods, and has obvious benefits for those who are sight-impiared. [full story]

July 1 - 11:55am EDT   Geeksuit has announced Client Folder Maker 2.0, its folder creation/management utility for Mac OS X. Client Folder 2.0 functions as a contextual menu (also available as a PreferencePane) that allows users to create folder hierarchies once, then recreate them instantly anywhere on their system. It is designed with desktop publishers, web designers and prepress operators in mind, and can help any user who needs to create folder trees quickly. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher and is available for a $15 single-user license or $35 for a three-user license. An unrestricted 15-day demo is also available. [full story]

June 25 - 8:35pm EDT   Altomac has announced its new Speedy Mac utility speeds up the process of opening documents, folders, applications and even websites. The company says Speedy Mac uses a “totally new approach,” creating lists of recently visited webpages and documents. Favorites are grouped by site, and documents according to the applications used to create them. The utility also includes a “task” menu providing quick access to common workflows such as quitting all applications, creating new folders, and ejecting all removable and external disks. With support for Automator, users can create their own tasks and share them with other Speedy Mac Users. [full story]

June 15 - 7:05pm EDT   App4mac has announced Sequence, a screenshot utility that uses multi-threaded code and 64-bit compression to capture DVD, audio and multi-media content. The developers says the software can be useful for developing training videos, because it can capture live video and audio from a webcam at the same time as their screen. Sequence was built for OSX Leopard and supports Core Animation, QuickLook, QTKit, Core Image and iChat Theater. [full story]

June 11 - 10:10pm EDT   Apple on Wednesday unveiled Airport Utility 5.3.2 for Leopard, Tiger, and Windows users, offering enhancements for users with an Airport Express or Extreme Base Station, or Time Capsule. As with most recent Apple updates, details are scarce. Since the update is a minor version release, it most likely contains bug fixes, operational optimizations, slightly improved features, and similar tweaks. [full story]