I'm pleased to announce that Dejal Caboodle, my "lean, clean snippet machine" is included in the second TheMacBundles collection.

Caboodle is a handy tool to help collect and organize various bits of text, images, PDFs, and other information. It includes support for custom fields and freeform rich text and other content, plus can encrypt your entries to keep them secure, and import and export several formats. It is simple and easy to use. A full license is included in the bundle, not some cut-down version.

You can see more of it on the Caboodle page, or download it now to give it a try.

This bundle also includes 10 other fine apps, for only $49.95. A bargain!

The included apps are:

• Caboodle (normally $19.95)
• IPNetMonitorX (normally $60.00)
• MailTags (normally $29.95)
• PrintMagic (normally $29.95)
• ShutterBug (normally $39.95)
• Trampoline (normally $19.95)
• Typinator (normally $28.00)
• Voila (normally $39.95)
• World Clock Deluxe (normally $19.95)

And for the next 14 days, these bonuses are also included:

• Dock Gone (normally $14.95)
• Smart Trash (normally $10.00)

11 apps for just $49.95 — a saving of over 80%!

Visit TheMacBundles.com to learn more, or to take advantage of this great deal.

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!

As you may have read from the recent version 2.2.2 release of BlogAssist, I increased the price by $5 to $14.95 for an Individual license, to better reflect its value. As discussed, it really should be higher, but I felt a small increment was better at this stage. I will likely bump up the price a bit more with the next major upgrade (no date announced for that yet).

I also indicated that you can still get it at the old price for a limited time, only via the Dejal Store.

Today, I'd like to announce that the price of Caboodle, my handy snippet organizer, is also going up by $5 to $19.95 for an Individual license. At $14.95, it is significantly under-priced, when competing apps are often around $50.

You can also get Caboodle at the old price via the Dejal Store for now. This offer is only available for a short time, though, so if you're interested in Caboodle, I recommend buying soon.

I have big plans for both of these apps: both will see significant enhancements within the next year. For Caboodle, I'd like to add a companion iPhone app to view and (hopefully) edit entries remotely — with full syncing between iPhone and Mac apps, and between multiple Macs. Along with a refactoring of the UI and data models, and more.

I don't plan on adjusting the prices of other apps at this stage; Simon and Narrator both seem priced about right.

As always, I welcome feedback about these changes, either via comments here or private feedback.

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!

As you may or may not know, MacUpdate Promo is having a fantastic bundle of 13 apps for just $49.99. Unfortunately, they somehow missed Dejal apps from the bundle, but maybe next time.

Anyway, Christian Owens, the mastermind behind another great series of bundles, Mac Bundle Box (which I have participated in previously, and will again for the next one), alerted me to a handy use of Simon: watching the sales figures for the MU Promo bundle.

I've long used Simon to watch download rates, reply counts, and other information, but this is another great example of how useful Simon can be. It looks at a specific portion of a page, and lists the new values when they change. By checking at a fixed interval, e.g. every 15 minutes or half an hour, you can see how fast it is selling, in this example.

Setting it up is simple: just enter the URL and the HTML source on either side of the interesting value. That's easy to find, too. While the Add Test window is open, click the Preview button to show the Preview window, F to find the value, then select some distinctive text before it, and click the Copy to Test button to copy it to the Start text field. Repeat with text after the value, and Simon is smart enough to copy it to the End field. That's it!

Easy, and very useful.

Got a favorite trick with Simon? Let us know in the comments or Simon Forum.

It may seem strange for a software developer to recommend buying from another developer... but that's what I'm doing now.

Panic Inc is a fellow Portland-based Mac software development company, albeit a larger one, run by a couple of great guys and their talented staff. They produce some great apps, including Coda, a highly-recommended single-window HTML and CSS editor app, which I use to edit the Dejal site. Plus Transmit, a handy FTP tool, which I also use regularly to manage my site. Along with Unison, a usenet reader, and CandyBar, an icon management tool.

From now until the end of May 29, they are having a great sale: 50% off all of their products. So if you're in the market for one of their apps, I urge you to check out their sale page and take advantage of this great discount.

Visit the Panic Half Price Sale page.

And no, they haven't asked me to promote their sale — I'm just a fan of their products, and want to help spread the word.

Edit: A great promo video (via Cabel, Panic's CEO):

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!

Time Out, my free break reminder tool, remains my most popular app, despite the slowness in getting the promised version 2 completed.

As I've bemoaned before, I have too much to do, and not enough time. But I keep trying. I will get Time Out 2 released eventually, though I can't say when.

Anyway, one of the most popular feature requests from the current versions is a way to see when upcoming breaks are due. Some people suggest an indicator on the Dock icon, others would like a display in the system menus (like the battery indicator on laptops). Some would prefer a floating window, or perhaps a Growl notification.

When I get such requests, I have the pleasure of telling those people that their wish will be granted: I currently plan to include all of those options in Time Out 2. You'll be able to see upcoming breaks in the Dock icon, in a system menu, in a floating window, and/or via a Growl notification... or any combination or none of those.

For the Dock icon, I'm thinking of drawing live clock hands and wedges indicating when the breaks are due, so you can see that you have a micro break in a few minutes, and a normal break in about half an hour, for example. But another much-requested feature will be that Time Out will continue without the icon in the Dock, so other indicators are also useful.

The system menu would display the number of minutes until the next break, or perhaps the time of the next break (as an option). The floating window would likely display a clock and wedges like the Dock icon. And Growl notifications could be added to alert you a specified number of minutes before a break is due, along with other kinds of notifications, like in Simon.

Those are just a few of the features planned... there's lots more too. Now I just need to find the time to implement them!

Thank you to all the kind people who have provided helpful feedback and donations to support this project. I appreciate it!

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!