14 DAY TRIAL // Although some regard developers as people with a lot of spare time on their hands, they too have to put in many hours of work on a daily basis, if they want customers to be satisfied with their purchase. As such, they are able to roll out systematic updates, constantly improving their applications. This week, four popular Mac apps have been updated.
And CrossOver is one of them, with CodeWeavers announcing a major update to the software enabling compatibility between Windows games and Macs. CrossOver Games 9.0 features a revamped interface, and is said to be “much faster” at creating and manipulating bottles (a term used by CodeWeavers for the directories in which it preserves certain game installation files and settings). The developer points out that version 9.0 also boasts a new game-installation process. Basically, it allows people to add or customize settings for games not officially supported by CodeWeavers. The company also announced support for Valve’s Steam interface, as well as a couple of new games (Star Trek Online and the StarCraft 2 beta). The software costs $40, and requires an Intel Mac with at least Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) installed.
Download CrossOver (Update / Trial / Buy)
BurnAgain FS, developed by Freeridecoding, can change the content of your recordable discs (not necessarily rewritable ones) using the Finder. The software mounts the volume as if it were a hard disk showing up in the Mac OS X Finder. According to its makers, “The new version brings several important bugfixes and improvements, especially for Snow Leopard.” No specifics are given. The company has also dropped the price to $14 for a single user license (limited-time offer). BurnAgain FS regularly costs 22 bucks.
Download BurnAgain FS (Update / Trial / Buy)
ReelBean 4.9 is another important update for this week. Although it only reduces the memory size of the program by over 20%, and alters the style of the volume slider head, the update is highly recommended for existing users of the media player and converter from JS8Media. ReelBean is capable of playing almost any Mac-supported format, and supports the use of third-party plugins that make proprietary formats available. The media-focused app works on all three major versions of Apple’s OS used today (Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard), and offers an extensive array of options to play around with various file formats. It also supports the Apple iPad.
Download ReelBean (Update / Trial / Buy)
Finally, ShareTool 2.0 has been released by the people at Yazsoft, who also make other useful apps (like Playback and Speed Download). Touted by its makers as “the fastest, easiest, and most secure way to access all the Bonjour services found on your home or office network(s) from anywhere in the world,” the program now incorporates a completely re-written and redesigned architecture for maximum security, performance, and reliability. Network is now shared quietly in the background, the app can now connect to multiple networks simultaneously, it brings transparent SOCKS/HTTPS proxy support, and on-the-fly compression for maximum performance, to name just a few enhancements.