Archived Post

Notable apps and updates, April 1-6

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 this week’s picks.

macOS 

BBEdit, Bare Bones Software’s professional strength text and code editor for the Mac, has returned to the Mac App Store. Anyone running macOS 10.14 Mojave can get BBEdit under a new subscription-based pricing model, available exclusively in the Mac App Store. Mac App Store customers can subscribe in-app for $3.99 per month, or $39.99 per year.

Customers who prefer a perpetual license model, or who require multi-user pricing options, are welcome to continue purchasing BBEdit licenses directly from Bare Bones Software, Inc. Subscriptions will be available only from the Mac App Store.

BBEdit’s features and capabilities are identical for all customers, whether downloaded directly from the Bare Bones Software web site or from the Mac App Store, and whether using a subscription or a perpetual license.

Irrespective of the source, BBEdit offers an evaluation model in which its full feature set is available for the first 30 days of use. At the end of the 30-day evaluation period, BBEdit will continue to function with a permanent feature set which includes its editing capabilities, but not its web authoring tools or other exclusive features. BBEdit’s exclusive features may be re-enabled at any time with a purchased license or subscription.

Alien Skin Software has released Exposure X4.5, an update to the photo editor. It introduces new tools and refinements including:

  • LUT support. Explore new creative possibilities by applying LUT effects to your photos. These striking looks are available freely on the Internet or produced by other photo and video apps. You can now import them into Exposure and further enhance them using Exposure’s advanced editing and layering tools.

  • Redesigned Copy Photos from Card Tool. A complete overhaul makes copying images from your card or other source location easier and faster. You can visually preview your images before you copy them, choose the ones to copy, and rename them and apply metadata like keywords and creative presets from Exposure’s huge library of looks.

  • Configurable keyboard shortcuts. You can assign your own custom shortcut keys for your editing, navigating, and organizing functions. If you’re migrating from Lightroom, you can use the new Lightroom keyboard layout to make switching even easier.

  • Lens Flare and Haze Overlays. New freely moveable overlays mimic realistic lens flare and haze, for a variety of new looks.

Exposure 4.5 also adds support for new cameras and lenses, the ability to see the full list of collections a photo belongs to, and more. Plus, Alien Skin has updated the Exposure Bundle to include Exposure X4.5 as its central app. The bundle integrates Exposure, Snap Art, and Blow Up.

You’ll find more product details, example images, tutorial videos, and a free 30-day trial of Exposure here. Purchasing a license is $119 for new users.

Houdah Software has released HoudahSpot 5, a feature update to the file search tool for the Mac. 

It combines file search features with a flexible results display and previews to help you find the right document, email message, photo or video file. Version 5 brings new features and enhancements to streamline the search workflow and make working with files faster.

HoudahSpot 5requires macOS 10.13 or higher. It costs $34 for a single user license. A family license is available for $42. Upgrades from previous versions are $19 and $29, respectively. A demo is available for download. HoudahSpot licenses purchased on or after October 1, 2018 qualify for a free upgrade.

Ecleti has revved Notelist, a macOS app for manning notes and storing them in a data free format, to version 4.1.1. It’s a maintenance upgrade with bug fixes and performance tweaks.

In Notelist any note has an assigned category, where each category has a distinctive color and label. Categories are editable, and the user can create and manage how many categories he needs inside any document and apply them to notes.

Notelist requires macOS 10.10 or higher. It costs $9.99 and is available at the Tension Software website and the Mac App Store.

DEVONtechnologies has released a feature update (version 2.11.3) to DEVONthink for the Mac. The utility supports a large variety of file formats and stores them in a database enhanced by artificial intelligence. 

The upgrade adds  support for MultiMarkdown 6 and better bookmark handling. Email import is faster and more compatible to Apple Mail on macOS Mojave, the overall performance has been enhanced, and some bugs have been fixed.

All editions of DEVONthink for the Mac can be downloaded from www.devontechnologies.com and be test-driven for free before they need to be licensed. They require Mac OS X Mavericks are higher.

iOS

Penquills has debuted its Penquills iOS app, a $5.99 note-taking iOS utility with handwriting recognition. 

The app allows users to take notes by hand, and these notes are converted into digital text for natural, intelligent note-taking. Users can even write in their own handwriting and have it converted to text in any iOS app that allows text input.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.