Karelia Software has updated Watson, the Mac utility for retrieving Web content and services, to version 1.7, which adds new tools and enhances the utility’s configurability.
Watson 1.7 offers a new “SiteSearch” tool that’s used to search individual Web sites and display the results in a list. For some sites, you can specify the section of the site, as well as the searching text.
SiteSearch offers over 20 sources for searching, and you can add more by drag and dropping their URLs. The new feature is compatible with most of the Sherlock and Sherlock 2 plug-ins that are available for download, according to Karelia.
“When Apple decided to compete with Watson by bundling the new Sherlock 3 into their operating system, they did a disservice to the users of the original Sherlock and Sherlock 2 by abandoning its searching functionality,” Dan Wood, president of Karelia and Watson’s creator, said in announcing the update. “Now with Watson’s SiteSearch tool, we can once again search the most useful sites without using the Browser.”
Watson 1.7 brings onboard an overhauled version of Epicurious’ cooking tool. Originally a third-party contribution, the bundled plug-in features bookmarks and batch loading of recipes. Also, with the update, most search input fields now are “combo boxes” that store the last dozen search terms in them. You can now configure the fonts used for display in lists, browsers, and blocks of text. Additionally, the PriceGrabber tool adds new categories: Apparel, Jewelry, and Photography.
Watson 1.7 is a free update for registered users. It costs US$29 and can be downloaded as a fully functional expiring demo version. Watson requires Mac OS X 10.1 or higher. (Certain features require Mac OS X 10.2.)