I've just done bug-fix updates to a couple of my Mac apps. Caboodle, my lean clean snippet machine, was updated (actually late last week) to version 1.3.5. And BlogAssist, my handy HTML markup tool, was updated to version 2.2.4.

Both of them included a fix for an issue with looking up licenses in certain situations. BlogAssist also enhanced the application icon to 512x512 size, for ideal viewing on Snow Leopard. (Caboodle's icon was updated to 512x512 in the previous update.)

• Download Caboodle 1.3.5 now
• Download BlogAssist 2.2.4 now

I'm pleased to announce that Dejal Simon, my flagship server monitoring app, is featured in the fifth TheMacBundles collection. Plus, for a limited time, Dejal BlogAssist, my handy HTML markup tool, is also included as a bonus app.

Dejal Simon is the essential site monitoring tool for Mac OS X. It checks servers for changes or failures, and notifies you via e-mail, sound, speech, Twitter, or other means. You can use it to track updated sites, and to alert you when an important server goes down or recovers.

The bundle includes the full Simon Standard license — normally $59.95!

BlogAssist is a handy tool to help weblog and website editing by making HTML markup easier. comes with several useful operations, including web and e-mail links, bold/italics/strikethrough/etc, LiveJournal tags, and more. But you aren't limited to those — you can add, change, or remove them via the Operations Preferences.

You can see more of them on the Simon and BlogAssist pages.

This bundle also includes 10 other fine apps, for only $49.95. A bargain! Especially since you're getting a Standard license for Simon — for less than it normally costs by itself.

The included apps are:

• iPhoto Library Manager
• MYStuff
• MyTunesRSS
• PDFClerk Pro
• Simon
• Spyder
• WebPrint Plus
• Yum
• Yummy FTP

Plus bonuses:

• A-Dock X
• BlogAssist
• FolderGlance

12 apps for just $49.95 — a saving of over 85%!

Visit TheMacBundles.com to learn more, or to take advantage of this great deal.

Announcing maintenance updates for Dejal Simon, my essential server monitoring tool, Time Out, my break reminder tool, Caboodle, my lean clean snippet machine, and BlogAssist, my handy HTML markup assistant.

Each update includes improvements for Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) compatibility. I'm not aware of any remaining compatibility issues with these products — please let me know ASAP if you do find anything.

Note: Narrator is still partially incompatible with Snow Leopard. It all works, except it can't open documents saved in its native format (but can still open other kinds of documents). I have a Developer Technical Support incident request in with Apple's engineers to help me solve this, but I'm sure they're swamped with queries at present, so who knows how long they'll take to come up with a solution. The last word I have is that it seems to be a bug in Snow Leopard... so we might have to wait for 10.6.2 or later, but I'm hoping that a workaround can be found. [Edit: 10.6.1 doesn't fix it, either.] I'll do a free update as soon as a fix is available. Sorry for any inconvenience in the meantime!

In addition to Snow Leopard compatibility, Simon also includes some other changes:

• Updated the iPhone Report Template to improve the behavior of the back button and other aspects.
• Added a hidden preference to output debug information from the E-mail plug-in. It can be activated by entering "defaults write com.dejal.simon2 EmailDebugMode YES" in Terminal.
• Also added a hidden E-mail plug-in preference to use the recipient's SMTP server instead of the sender's, via "defaults write com.dejal.simon2 EmailUseRecipientServer YES".
• Added Japanese localization, thanks to Koichi Matsumoto.

Download now:

• Download Simon
• Download Time Out
• Download Caboodle
• Download BlogAssist

Good news: most Dejal apps work fine on Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6).

One issue that you may find with Caboodle and BlogAssist is that the Services menu has been enhanced, and the items for those apps might be disabled by default. You can re-enable them via the Keyboard Shortcuts page of the Keyboard system preferences.

However, it's not all good news. Narrator seems to be broken on Snowy. Opening a document fails, whether it was saved on Leopard or Snow Leopard. The document opens, but no content is loaded. It still opens version 1 documents fine, but not version 2's, which is rather a problem.

I've spent several hours last night and this morning trying to figure out what the problem is, without any luck so far. I'll keep on it, but just wanted to warn anyone using Narrator.

Once again, Seth Dillingham is offering bundles as a fund-raiser for the Pan-Mass Challenge, which supports cancer research and treatment. A very worthy cause.

Unlike typical software bundles, where hundreds or thousands of people might get a fixed collection of apps at a discount, this one is a bit different: you can use his Bundle Builder site to make your personal ideal bundle of iPhone and/or Mac apps, and offer your own price for it.

I am happy to participate in this effort again this year. A Standard license is available for Dejal Simon, my essential server monitoring tool, along with licenses for Dejal Caboodle, my lean clean snippet machine, Dejal Narrator, my fun app to speak stories in multiple voices, and Dejal BlogAssist, my handy HTML markup tool. Plus hundreds of other great products from other developers.

Go ahead, take a look, and put together your ideal bundle of apps, and help fight cancer!

As you may have read from the recent version 2.2.2 release of BlogAssist, I increased the price by $5 to $14.95 for an Individual license, to better reflect its value. As discussed, it really should be higher, but I felt a small increment was better at this stage. I will likely bump up the price a bit more with the next major upgrade (no date announced for that yet).

I also indicated that you can still get it at the old price for a limited time, only via the Dejal Store.

Today, I'd like to announce that the price of Caboodle, my handy snippet organizer, is also going up by $5 to $19.95 for an Individual license. At $14.95, it is significantly under-priced, when competing apps are often around $50.

You can also get Caboodle at the old price via the Dejal Store for now. This offer is only available for a short time, though, so if you're interested in Caboodle, I recommend buying soon.

I have big plans for both of these apps: both will see significant enhancements within the next year. For Caboodle, I'd like to add a companion iPhone app to view and (hopefully) edit entries remotely — with full syncing between iPhone and Mac apps, and between multiple Macs. Along with a refactoring of the UI and data models, and more.

I don't plan on adjusting the prices of other apps at this stage; Simon and Narrator both seem priced about right.

As always, I welcome feedback about these changes, either via comments here or private feedback.

Announcing an update to my handy HTML markup tool, BlogAssist.

This is technically a bug-fix release, but has some changes that have been much requested, and takes the unusual step of increasing the price slightly — but you can still buy it at the old price for a limited time via the Dejal Store. It also increased the minimum system requirements to Tiger, as per my standard policy for updates now: all apps will drop Panther support as they are updated. The previous version, that supports 10.3.9, is still available for those who have old machines, though.

I decided to bump up the price slightly mainly because it is way too cheap for what it does. Even at the new prices, it is really too cheap — it should be more like $25. But increasing prices too much in this economy doesn't seem like a sensible idea. :) Even at the new price, it's still a bargain, and I hope it won't cause any hesitation. I have lots of ideas for future enhancements, so a more sustainable price helps support future work.

Here are the changes in version 2.2.2:

• Pressing Enter in the Services window will now always work as an equivalent for the OK button, instead of inserting a new line in the active field (pressing Return will still do so, though).
• No longer always adds itself to the Login Items on launch. Still does so on the first launch (when running from the Applications folder), as a convenience, but not after that. You can toggle the preference off or on as desired.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent finding licenses in very rare circumstances.
• Removed the old crash reporter, since it doesn't support Leopard crash logs.
• Prices increased slightly (get at the old price via the Dejal Store for a short time!).
• Now requires a minimum of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

Download BlogAssist now!

The Mac Bundle Box promotion ends soon. Get in quickly to avoid disappointment!

The bundle includes several great applications for just $49.00! An amazing deal. Plus 5% of each sale will be donated to Charity: Water.

My own BlogAssist is also included as a free bonus. BlogAssist is a very handy app that I use daily when writing blog posts and forum replies. It very easily adds HTML markup around text on the clipboard, or highlighted text in an app.

Visit the Mac Bundle Box site today to take advantage of this great deal, while it lasts!

The fourth Mac Bundle Box, a collection of 13 great applications, is now available!

$333.82 worth of software for the low price of just $49.00! An amazing deal. Plus 5% of each sale will be donated to Charity: Water.

The bundle includes my own BlogAssist as a free bonus. BlogAssist is a very handy app that I use daily when writing blog posts and forum replies. It very easily adds HTML markup around text on the clipboard, or highlighted text in an app.

Visit the Mac Bundle Box site to take advantage of this great deal, while it lasts!

BlogAssist, my handy tool to add HTML tags to text via the clipboard, dragging to a floating window, or inline via the Services menu, has been updated to version 2.2.1:

• Removed commas as a separator for repeating lists, to avoid problems with commas in paragraphs, and added bullet and vertical bar as alternatives (in addition to return, linefeed, and tab).
• Fixed a bug that required a click before the output of the Services window would appear in the destination document.
• Fixed an issue with the Preferences window, where edits might not be saved when quitting with the window still open (specifically when an edit is still active).
• Updated the built-in Kagi purchasing tool to the latest version, which fixes some issues with Leopard.

This is a recommended update for everyone.

Download now!