Simon, my essential server monitoring tool, has been updated to version 2.5.6. This update is recommended for everybody, and includes:

• Changed the reports to trim off the filename for the OutputLocation report variable when using the file:// protocol, to avoid breaking reports like the iPhone template.
• The License window is now brought to the front when the application is activated, if it is open, to avoid it being mistakenly hidden behind the Montor window (e.g. if it is automatically hidden).
• Fixed an issue with counting the number of active tests, where it was mistakenly counting "waiting" tests as active, even if they're normally paused.
• Added a hidden preference to output debug information about the internet connection (for use with the automatic offline mode). It can be activated by entering "defaults write com.dejal.simon2 InternetConnectionDebugMode YES" in Terminal.

Download Simon 2.5.6 now!

Narrator, my fun application to read out stories and interviews in multiple voices, has been updated to version 2.0.7.

This is a minor bug-fix update to correct an issue with looking up licenses in certain situations, but is recommended for everyone.

Download Narrator 2.0.7 now!

Time Out, my free tool to remind you to take regular breaks, has been updated to version 1.5.6.

This is minor release that makes the break screen now still appear if the Time Out application is hidden.

Download Time Out now!

Apologies to everyone who has been waiting for the promised Time Out version 2. It is still in the works, but has been delayed due work on IPhone apps. My secret new iPhone app is almost ready for release... but then I'll be doing an update to it for iPad compatibility, then I have a Simon update (version 2.6)... then I'll be ready to work on Time Out 2. So yes, it's still coming this year. I'm looking forward to getting back to it.

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

Sometimes I'm just too clever for my own good. Or more likely, not clever enough.

My apps have a handy license lookup feature, where you can enter your name and licensed email address and click a Find button to look up your license if you ever need to re-enter it, without having to store the serial number somewhere. But it's long had problems handling diacritical characters (e.g. "é") on the server side, so in Simon 2.5.4 I made a change to solve that. However, that change inadvertently broke another aspect of the license lookup.

So, here's version 2.5.5. I really dislike having to do a bug fix to fix a bug fix, both because releasing is a fair bit of work, and I know that people don't like having to download an update too soon after another one. But in this case it's unavoidable.

The problem didn't affect many people, but it's the kind of problem that must be fixed even if only a few people are affected — can't have licensed users unable to enter their licenses!

Anyway, many apologies to those affected, either experiencing the problem themselves or having the hassle of downloading another update so soon. You can skip this update if you like; if you've already added your license, there's no need to update. If you're still evaluating, you could skip it too, though will probably need to upgrade if you are on 2.5.4 when you do purchase.

Download Simon 2.5.5 now!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Please note that Dejal support will probably be delayed over the next couple of days due to Thanksgiving events, but I will catch up with all queries as soon as possible after that.

Simon, my website and server monitoring tool, has been updated to version 2.5.4. This is a minor bug-fix update, but recommended for everybody.

• Fixed an issue with the Calendar plug-in that caused a conflict with the SMS plug-in on Snow Leopard.
• Fixed a bug in the license regeneration feature that could cause minor back-end issues when diacritical characters are used.

Download Simon 2.5.4 now!

Caboodle, my lean clean snippet machine, has been updated to version 1.3.4. This has a number of improvements... and perhaps should have been called version 1.4, as it straddles the fine line between feature enhancements and bug fixes. This is a recommended update for everybody.

• To improve performance and reduce disk space, imported PDFs, files dragged to the Dock icon, or via the Save PDF to Caboodle print option are now copied to an Attachments folder within the Caboodle data folder, and aliased to the entries. This can be disabled via a hidden preference, by entering "defaults write com.dejal.caboodle ImportAsAlias NO" in Terminal, if destired.
• The entry icons for files dragged to the Dock icon and saved to Caboodle are now set to those files' icons.
• Fixed an issue where entries added by those means could be lost if Caboodle was quit without making further changes.
• Find text operations, e.g. Find Next (Cmd-G), Find Previous (Cmd-Shift-G), now work when the entries list is the active control; the entry text is made active then the operation performed.
• Removed ancient code to move pre-1.0 data, since nobody could still be using those versions.
• Improved the data loading to reduce the risk of using empty data if the existing data can't be loaded.
• Now includes a 512x512 application icon.

Download Caboodle 1.3.4 now!

I've just released an update to Narrator, my fun app to read out stories and interviews in multiple voices.

Version 2.0.6 fixes a couple of small but annoying bugs, and is a recommended update for everyone:

• Fixed a bug where the age, gender, and sliders might not update when changing actors or characters.
• Fixed a bug that could occasionally cause the Play button to stop working when playing/pausing or changing voice attributes quickly.

Download Narrator 2.0.6 now!

I'm pleased to report that we now have a solution for the Snow Leopard incompatibility of Narrator, the fun app to read out stories and interviews in multiple voices.

The issue was a bug in Snow Leopard, which prevented Narrator from open its own documents. The bug stumped Apple's Developr Technical Support engineers, and definitely seems to be a bug in the operating system itself, not in my code. But the DTS engineers finally came up with a workaround for the bug, which this update implements. Narrator can once again open its documents, and so now appears to be fully compatible with Snow Leopard.

My apologies for any inconvenience this bug may have caused.

Download Narrator 2.0.5 now!

And remember, you can still get Narrator and 11 other useful apps for just $49.95 from TheMacBundles for another few days.

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

Narrator, my fun text-to-speech tool to read out stories or interviews in multiple voices, has now been updated to version 2.0.4.

It includes:

• 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).
• Fixed an issue that could prevent finding licenses in very rare circumstances.
• Updated the built-in Kagi purchasing tool to the latest version, which fixes some issues with Leopard.

Download Narrator 2.0.4 now!

Caboodle has been updated again... just a couple of weeks after the previous release. This version includes some improvements to adding entries by dragging text and documents to the Dock, and an important safety fix thanks to a helpful customer.

This is a recommended update for everybody, especially people with slower machines.

Changes in version 1.3.2 include:

• Dragging text to Caboodle's Dock icon now adds a new entry with that text (including rich text, e.g. from a word processing document or web page).
• Dragging any document to Caboodle's Dock icon also adds a new entry with that document as an attachment, and the document's name as the Subject. Even easier to add entries!
• Added a safety check to ensure the data has been fully loaded before handing a Services menu request, to avoid risk of data loss if Caboodle isn't running when adding an entry via the Services menu.

Download Caboodle 1.3.2 now!

Note, Caboodle is still available as part of the great bundle from TheMacBundles.com: 11 apps for just $49.95. Take advantage of this deal before it expires!

Caboodle, my lean, clean snippet machine, has had a number of updates recently. This is a little bug-fix update to address some minor issues, but is a recommended update for everybody.

It includes:

• Improved the handling of imports to use multi-threading only when appropriate.
• Added exception handling and an alert when saving the data, in case something goes wrong, e.g. too much data being saved.
• Prices increased slightly.

Tip: Caboodle will be included in the next edition of The Mac Bundles, coming in just a few days. Subscribe to their mailing list to be notified when the bundle is available.

Download Caboodle 1.3.1 now!

Simon, my essential website and server monitoring tool, has just been updated to version 2.5.2. It includes a number of fixes, and is a recommended update for everyone:

• Added exception handling to the Web plug-in, to catch any low-level errors that occur there. Mac OS X 10.5.7 seemed to introduce a bug with URL connections that could sometimes get stuck when reading cookies.
• Added a hidden preference to output debug information from the Web plug-in. It can be activated by entering "defaults write com.dejal.simon2 WebDebugMode YES" in Terminal.
• Updated the Twitter plug-in to use the latest version of the MGTwitterEngine, which fixes issues related to the Twitpocalypse. Simon wasn't affected, as it always fetches the latest tweets, but good to be up-to-date anyway.
• Changed the Report output to avoid making URLs lowercased when outputting the Location variable.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent finding licenses in very rare circumstances.

Download Simon now!

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!

Caboodle version 1.3 is now in general release:

• Added an optional Save PDF to Caboodle item in the printing workflows (i.e. the menu in the PDF button in print panels), making it really easy to save any document to a new entry just by (effectively) printing it to Caboodle.
• Added a menu command to the Caboodle menu to Install PDF Workflow..., so you can install it later if desired.
• Added a PDF... option to the Import sub-menu. PDFs are imported as attachments in new entries.
• The folder hierarchy is now preserved when importing; folders are imported as entries with a folder icon and no text content.
• Added Web Archive and HTML options to the Export sub-menu. The Web Archive format is nice and tidy, and can be displayed in any modern web browser. The HTML export outputs the entries as folders of HTML files and images.
• Improved the handling of exports to use multi-threading only when appropriate.
• Added General Preferences to include or exclude the creation and modification dates, Subject, and/or custom fields when printing and exporting. They are all included by default.
• Changed the format of the printed/exported dates to be the same as displayed in the window, and fixed a bug where it was outputting the creation date instead of the modification one.
• Fixed a cosmetic bug where having an entry selected, doing a search and not selecting anything, then clearing the search would leave the selection without displaying the corresponding entry content.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent finding licenses in very rare circumstances.
• Updated the French and German localizations.
• Added Dutch localization.

Download Caboodle 1.3 now!

Note that Caboodle will be featured on MacUpdate Promo tomorrow (Wednesday). A great opportunity to get it at a big discount, but for one day only!

Thanks to a Caboodle forum post, this release fixes a issue with the new exports:

• Fixed an issue with the new HTML and Web Archive exports, where it could have an exception due to performing it on a secondary thread.
• Updated the French, German and Dutch localizations again.

If all is well, this should be about ready for general release.

Download 1.3b3 now!

Caboodle version 1.3b2 now asks before adding the PDF workflow, just in case someone doesn't want this very handy feature. If you install it and don't want it, you can simply delete the alias file from the PDF Services folder; see the Caboodle FAQ for more information.

• Added an alert panel to ask if you want to install the print PDF workflow, since some people might not want it (e.g. if only trying Caboodle). Only appears once.
• Added a menu command to the Caboodle menu to Install PDF Workflow..., so you can install it later if desired.
• Updated the French, German and Dutch localizations.

Download Caboodle 1.3b2 now!

Announcing an update to my popular (and free!) break reminder tool, Time Out.

Version 1.5.4 has the following changes:

• Replaced the use of an undocumented routine to check the idle time with an approved one, to fix compatibility with the upcoming Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) operating system.
• Updated the bundled Adium scripts to support the current versions of the Adium instant messaging client, thanks to Nic Munroe. Note: if you used a previous version of Time Out, the scripts won't be replaced, in case you've customized them. You can download the updated scripts from the Time Out Extras site.
• 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).
• Removed the old crash reporter, since it doesn't support Leopard crash logs.
• Now requires a minimum of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

If you are still using Panther (or, horrors, earlier), you should skip this update until you get around to upgrading your OS. The minimum requirement change was necessary for the Snow Leopard fix (and is a general policy for all updates now anyway).

I haven't actually tested Time Out under Snow Leopard — I don't have that installed yet. But I heard from an Apple guy that the previous version didn't work with that OS, and that this was the reason. So I'm confident that this update will fix this (if you use a Snow Leopard seed, please let me know).

Download Time Out now... did I mention it's completely free?!

(Though I do encourage donations... and everyone who donates before Time Out 2 is released will get a license for that at no further cost. Unfortunately, version 2 is still several months away....)

Caboodle, my handy snippet keeper, has a beta release of version 1.3.

Version 1.3b1 includes a number of much-requested improvements to importing, exporting and printing:

• Added a Save PDF to Caboodle option to the printing workflows (i.e. the menu in the PDF button in print panels), making it really easy to save any document to a new entry just by (effectively) printing it to Caboodle.
• Added a PDF... option to the Import sub-menu. PDFs are imported as attachments in new entries.
• The folder hierarchy is now preserved when importing; folders are imported as entries with a folder icon and no text content.
• Added Web Archive and HTML options to the Export sub-menu. The Web Archive format is nice and tidy, and can be displayed in any modern web browser. The HTML export outputs the entries as folders of HTML files and images.
• Added General Preferences to include or exclude the creation and modification dates, Subject, and/or custom fields when printing and exporting. They are all included by default.
• Changed the format of the printed/exported dates to be the same as displayed in the window, and fixed a bug where it was outputting the creation date instead of the modification one.
• Fixed a cosmetic bug where having an entry selected, doing a search and not selecting anything, then clearing the search would leave the selection without displaying the corresponding entry content.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent finding licenses in very rare circumstances.

Download Caboodle 1.3b1 now!