Caboodle is my handy snippet keeping app: as a blogger wrote recently: "Lean, clean, snippet machine to store information on your Mac."

One of the essential features of any snippet keeper is getting information into it, and Caboodle has a number of options, including direct entry, imports, and a handy Services menu command. This sub-menu is found within the application menu of modern Mac apps, and includes useful operations you can perform on selected text using external applications.

If you want to add some text to Caboodle from a web browser, word processor, text editor, or just about anywhere, you can simply select the desired text and choose Services Caboodle Add Entry with Selection. Caboodle will be launched, if necessary, and the selected text will be added to a new entry.

If you do this a lot, you might find it more convenient to assign a keyboard equivalent to the command. To do so, follow these simple steps to add the equivalent of your choice to the Add Entry with Selection command:

1. Open the Keyboard & Mouse system preferences.
2. Go to the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
3. Click the "+" below the list.
4. Select Application: All Applications.
5. Type Menu Title Add Entry with Selection (exact wording and case is important).
6. Press Keyboard Shortcut Cmd-Option-Ctrl-C (or a shortcut of your choosing).
7. Click Add.
8. Launch a new application that supports Services.
9. Select some text, press Cmd-Option-Ctrl-C, and it appears as a new entry in Caboodle.

Note: the new keyboard shortcut won't show up in applications that are already running until after you quit and re-launch them.

Caboodle version 1.1.4 is now available.

This release includes some important bug fixes and improvements:

• The state of the Check Spelling While Typing menu item is now remembered across launches, so you can turn it off if you don't want it.
• Fixed a bug where new child entries might not inherit a newly added icon or custom fields.
• Fixed a bug with exporting, where a "/" in an entry Subject could cause the export to not work as expected.
• Updated the built-in Kagi purchasing tool to the latest version, which fixes some issues with Leopard.
• Switched the distribution method to ZIP archives instead of disk images, as it's simpler for everyone. Feedback welcome!

Download now!

Another day, another beta release! Simon version 2.4b3 is now available. Unless any issues are reported, this will be the last beta for version 2.4:

• Added a preference to use simplified status triangles, by popular request. Normally, Simon displays a green upwards triangle icon when there is a new change, and the green slowly fades to grey as time goes by. Similarly, it shows a red downwards triangle for a failure, which changes to an orange upwards triangle when it recovers, and that fades over time. With this preference enabled, it uses red for a failure, bright green for a new change, and a lighter green for success (older change or recovery).
• Fixed a long-standing issue with the Port plug-in's helper, where it could get impatient while receiving text from a slow server. It now waits for a little while if it doesn't receive what it wants, in case the desired text is on its way.
• Fixed a cosmetic issue with paused tests. If a test was paused for a specified time interval, and it was due to resume while Simon wasn't running, the status icon was being left in the paused state until the test was next checked. It's now set appropriately.
• Fixed a crasher when previewing a Port-based test. (beta fix)

Download now!

Simon version 2.4b2 is now available:

• Extended the Port service plug-in to operate as a notifier plug-in too. It is the same as for services, but includes fields for the domain, username and password.
• The Ping service plug-in now supports the Smart Change Detection and Preview features. So you can now look for changes in parts of the ping output, if desired, and preview the ping session to see what is received.
• The Application service plug-in also now supports the Preview function.
• The Preview window for non-web services now displays the source text while performing the check, instead of waiting till done, so you can see what it's doing.
• Fixed a bug with the Speech notifier plug-in, where the volume slider was only accepting zero and full volumes.
• Now uses plurals for Checks and Failures units except for values of exactly 1.0. (beta change)
• Updated the French and German localizations.

Download now!

The first beta release of Simon version 2.4 is now available.

This release adds two major plug-ins, written by Daniel Ellis:

• Calendar, a notifier plug-in, which enables you to add events or tasks to iCal, or events to Google Calendar. Failure and recovery events even cover the actual downtime range. This plug-in is only available when Simon is running under Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later.
• Twitter, a service plug-in, that enables you to monitor Twitter updates, direct messages, friends, followers, and more for changes and/or failures. For example, have Simon notify you when someone follows or un-follows you, or someone posts an update (even if you don't follow them), among other possibilities.
• Twitter is also available as a notifier plug-in; use it to send updates or direct messages to yourself or others via the popular Twitter service. View Simon notifications anywhere you can see tweets -- on the web, in Twitterrific, or on your cellphone.

Version 2.4b1 also bundles several services and notifiers that were previously only available via the Simon Extras page, including:

• Incoming Mail (POP) via SSL
• Outgoing Mail (SMTP) via SSL
• Mount Volume
• Network Time (NTP)
• Port Available
• SNMP Status
• TCP Port Scanner
• APC Masterswitch
• Growl Change

And unlike previous versions, people already using Simon will now automatically get these additions, unless you've already added them.

A couple of report templates from the Extras page are now also bundled: the iPhone and Variable Test templates, kindly created by Joe Savelberg. The iPhone template is a simple iPhone web app to allow browsing the Simon monitoring from your iPhone or iPod touch. The Variable Test template shows all of the report variables and what they output, to assist in creating or customizing templates.

The test scheduler was also updated, to better queue the checks. When multiple tests are to be checked at once, they are added to a queue, and checked at the interval specified in the Advanced preferences (one per second by default — set to zero to always check immediately). This helps spread out the load, and provides more accurate results. The Next Check column in the tests table shows "queued manually" when multiple tests are queued via a Check Now command, or "queued" and a time interval if queued automatically when due.

A bunch of new service and notifier variables were also added. Plus several other improvements. See the release notes for the full list of changes.

Download version 2.4b1 now! This is a free update for licensed Simon 2 customers. It is a beta release, so please provide feedback if you find any issues, or have any suggestions for improvements.

A spiffy ad for the Discovery Channel; a catchy tune, interesting visuals, and wonderful sentiment:

Narrator version 2.0.1 is now available. This release fixes one important bug, that prevented the rate and pitch controls from working properly in some situations.

I've also put together a new screencast on Narrator, showing what was discussed in my previous blog post: using Narrator to read a web interview in multiple voices, including exporting it to iTunes.

Interestingly, I used Narrator to narrate the Narrator screencast... very meta of me. :)

Check it out:

Download Narrator now!

My German localizer, Ulf Dunkel of DSD.net, recently suggested an excellent use for Dejal Narrator. The app was designed with reading out stories using multiple voices in mind, but it's certainly not limited to that. Any text that includes multiple people is a good candidate.

One common case when people are conversing is a web interview. The format is pretty standard: each paragraph represents something one of the participants said, and is prefixed with their name or initials. Narrator's Casting Assistant feature recognizes this format, making it very easy to mark up the text.

When you find an interview you'd prefer to listen to, rather than read — perhaps just so you can rest your eyes, or maybe you want to listen to it on an iPod — you can easily use Narrator to read it out, with different voices for each of of the participants.

Here's how:

1. Select the interview text in the web browser (e.g. this Macworld interview on iPhone gaming, or this Phorum interview).
2. Choose Services ▶ Narrator ▶ New Document with Selection from the web browser's application menu.
3. In Narrator, edit the names at the start of paragraphs, if necessary, to make them consistent (sometimes the first usage is a longer name).
4. Choose Director ▶ Casting Assistant... (or click the toolbar button).
5. Click Cast to have Narrator add Characters for the participants.
6. Change the Actors' voice attributes, if desired.

That's it! You can then export to iTunes if desired, or listen directly in Narrator. A great way to enjoy an interview while doing other activities.

A couple of months ago, Keith Alperin of Helium Foot Software had a good idea: gather a few small independent Mac developers together to sponsor Daring Fireball for a week. He asked for other indies who were interested in participating. I am a DF member and daily reader, and have a great deal of respect for John Gruber, so I jumped at this. It's a great opportunity for me to further support Daring Fireball, and of course leverage its popularity to introduce more people to my products.

We have set up a special site, Mac Indie Deals, as a portal to the four participating developers: Dejal (me), Decimus Software, Xeric Design, and Helium Foot Software. We are each offering special discounts off our products for this week only, using the coupon "DF08".

So, welcome Daring Fireball readers! Check out the Dejal Products page for a summary of the Mac software available from Dejal. Feel free to download and try any or all, and use the "DF08" coupon to get great discounts... but be quick!

If you're not a Daring Fireball reader yet, I highly recommend it. John covers all sorts of Mac-related topics, with insightful commentary on the issues of the day. A must-read.

On Monday I did a major upgrade of Dejal Narrator, my app to read out stories in multiple voices, to version 2.0. I usually send out press releases when I do major and minor product releases, but have previously just written and sent the releases myself, using a collection of email addresses I've gathered over the years.

But for this release, I decided to try something different. I had tried free distributions via prMac.com in the past, often while doing my own releases too. It seemed like a good service, but the three-day delay for free releases lacked the immediacy I wanted. So this time I put it to a real test: I used their Writing Service to craft a press release using their experience and skills to get the message across, and paid for the Extended Distribution to get the release out immediately and to a wider audience.

So how'd it work for me? Ray from prMac was prompt and friendly, quickly crafting a release that captured the essence of the product. There was opportunity to review and tweak the wording, but very few changes were needed. Then on release day, I submitted it for posting, which was done soon afterwards. I quickly noticed lots of sites mentioning Narrator, that normally don't pick up my press releases (such as Macworld). The prMac service definitely has a much wider range of publishers than my self-created list.

I'm not sure if it's related or not, but I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the Apple Downloads software listing site selected Narrator as a "Staff Pick"... not only showing it as the "Featured Download" on the Home & Learning category page, but as the "Featured Download" at the top of the All Categories page, for a couple of days (it's been bumped now, though). Quite the honor! I'm willing to give prMac the credit for gaining Apple's attention like that. You can't buy publicity like such a prominent spot on Apple's site, but for a few dollars you can buy an excellent press release distribution. I plan on using prMac again for future releases.