Notable apps and app updates for March 29, 2017

On a regular basis, Apple World Today posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they’re popular and deserve mention. Here are today’s picks.

iOS Apps/Updates

Active User Co. has introduced Puggy 1.0. The $1.99 widget, calendar, weather and sticker app allows users to interact with a cute pug on their iOS device’s lock screen. Pug tells about the local weather forecast, becomes a user’s calendar assistant, alerts when the their phone battery is low, and sometimes gives funny comments. Puggy even includes a sticker pack that allows the user to send funny Pug animation in iMessage.

David Wolff has debuted Garden Flowers 1.0 for the iPad. The $2.99 gallery app showcases a collection of over 500 photographed flower images. Images are named, grouped and searchable for quick identification and reference, and can be simply viewed, or downloaded individually to the iPad Photo Library to be used however you wish.

macOS Apps/Updates

AKVIS has released AKVIS Refocus 7.0, an upgrade of the tool for improving sharpness of out-of-focus images and applying blur effects to regular photos. The major update brings two new blur modes, Motion Blur and Radial Blur, which allows to create the illusion of movement giving a viewer a sense of speed and action.

Also, the new version of AKVIS Refocus increases the maximum blur amount from 100 to 1000. Plus, there are additional ready-to-use presets.

On the Mac platform, AKVIS Refocus runs on macOS 10.7 and higher. It’s available as a standalone application and as a plugin filter for Adobe Photoshop, Corel PaintShop Pro, and other popular image editors.

And AKVIS Refocus Home license sells for $ 39, a Deluxe license for $ 49, and a Business license for $ 72. One license key allows activating and using the software on two computers. Version 7.0 is a free upgrade for recent buyers, as well for those who bought one year of updates during the last 12 months. Users, whose license is not valid for the new version, can get Refocus 7.0 for $14.95.

Zevrix Solutions has announced Output Factory 1.5.68, a feature update to the output automation solution for Adobe InDesign. 

The software automates printing, exporting and preflighting from InDesign and offers batch processing, export as single pages, layer versioning, variable file names and much more. Version 1.5.68 adds an option to clear processing history automatically by purging InDesign jobs older than a specific date.

Output Factory can be purchased from the Zevrix website (www.zevrix.com) for $169.95. There’s a “lite” version for $120, and a server version for $700, as well as from authorized resellers and Adobe Exchange. A demo is available for download. BatchOutput users can upgrade to Output Factory for $85. Output Factory requires macOS X 10.7-10.12 and Adobe InDesign CS3-CC 2017.

DEVONtechnologies has updated all editions of its intelligent information and document manager DEVONthink for Mac. Version 2.9.11 uses DEVONtechnologies’ new web service for decluttering clipped web pages and improves importing notes from Apple Notes and Evernote. HTML and Markdown documents can use relative links for local resources. 

The updates add several workflow enhancements, too, and fix bugs and glitches. All updates are free and recommended for all users. All editions of DEVONthink require macOS 10.9 or later. They can be downloaded here and be test-driven for free before they need to be properly licensed.