Several Web, business, and print utilities have been refreshed with upgrades and feature enhancements.
Purity Software has released WebSiphon 2.0.2, a free maintenance release of the multi-threaded Web application server product. The update purportedly increases stability and fixes and issue with file date functions returning improper date strings.
A new feature in WebSiphon 2.0.2 is an alternate escape notation for inserting variables into HTML portions of SiphonScript templates. This feature lets WebSiphon users fully integrate client-side JavaScript into their SiphonScript templates without modification.
WebSiphon 2.0.2 is now available for download from the Purity downloads page.
Meanwhile, the PandaWare Company has released a new version (4.0) of TimeCache, its time and expense tracking application for Mac users who bill clients for project work. The update adds features like application launchers for timed projects, resizable data columns, resizable windows for different views, easier navigation, a new Date View screen, more preferences for customizing each user’s copy, and interface enhancements that facilitate the entering and reviewing of data.
This new version runs only on Power Macs under Mac OS 8.0 or higher. A Carbon version for use with Mac OS X will be released soon. A full feature-enabled, trial version of TimeCache 4.0 is available for download at The PandaWare Company’s Web site. Users of the trial version can save up to 20 days worth of data. For unlimited use, a registration key is provided with the purchase of a license for US $40 per user.
TimeCache 3.x users who purchased the program before Nov. 1 can upgrade for $15 per user. Customers who bought TimeCache 3.x on or after Nov. 1 will receive a free registration key for TimeCache 4.0.
The latest version of CValley’s Adobe Illustrator plug-ins, FILTERiT4, is ready to ship for the Mac; the Windows version isn’t due until May. FILTERiT4 provides a wide variety of options, from simple distortion to 3D Transform. Some of the new features include the “Trace” feature added on the FILTERiT Tools, 3D Transform and Fractalize, and more. Another major addition is Fractalize, a feature that lets you make the segments of an object appear rough and zigzag.
System requirements for the US$129 product are Adobe Illustrator 8 or later, a Power Mac, System 7.5.3 or later, and a CD-ROM. CValley released its first English version of FILTERiT3, a plug-in software for Adobe Illustrator, last May.
Moving on, GLUON is releasing an upgrade to Slugger, its slug-making XTension for all types of publishers. Slugger 5 adds multiple slug layouts, special PostScript slugs, cover page slugs, bar codes and Cropster/Slugger inter-XTension communication.
Slugger 4 introduced the Slugger Customizer, allowing users to customize their single slug in many different ways. Version 5 takes this concept much further, allowing the user to design and use multiple slug layouts. Users then simply select from a popup menu which of the slug designs they want to use, and all slugs on the document will be instantly reformatted and updated, according to Seth Elgart of GLUON. It also adds several new slugs.
Other Slugger 5 improvements include an independent secondary slug box. This box can act as a separate slug or guideline and be positioned anywhere on or off the page independently of the main slug. The cost is $150; an upgrade from Slugger 4.0 is $49.
Finally, Late Night Software Ltd. released a Script Debugger 2.0.5 performance update this morning. You can download it from the company’s Web site.
The AppleScript authoring environment lets you use its AppleScript debugger in other OSA scripting environments such as Mac OS Folder Actions, Apple Data Detectors and CGI scripting. It’s completely scriptable, attachable and recordable so you can extend its functionality using AppleScript. The entire Script Debugger interface is configurable; elements such as the scripts palette let you add new commands to the user interface. Script Debugger 2.0 also lets you introduce new templates and clippings.