The MacTrack – iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch and Mac News

Luxembourg – Houdah Software has announced the release of HoudahSpot 2.3.1, their popular file search utility for Mac OS X. HoudahSpot 2.3.1 is a free update, and is recommended for all Leopard users.

HoudahSpot 2.3.1 now comes with a 15-day trial period. Previous versions enforced a 20-searches trial period. This was deemed to restrictive by many customers. The full 15 days are available to anyone who downloads HoudahSpot 2.3.1 – even if the previous trial period had already come to an end.

HoudahSpot 2.3.1 also has a new price tag. A single-user license may be purchased at $25 US. Student discounts and household licenses are available-

HoudahSpot 2.3 improves the signature BlitzSearch feature by adding support for keyboard shortcuts. BlitzSearch may now be used to its fullest without ever touching the mouse!

HoudahSpot 2.3 brings full support for Finder labels. They are now displayed by their name. It is also possible to make query against Finder label names.

By popular demand, HoudahSpot’s accent color is now customizable. The default color has been changed from yellow to blue. The yellow accent color, as well as red, green and grey alternatives, are now available from HoudahSpot’s general preferences window.

HoudahSpot 2 integrates well LaunchBar, QuickSilver and PathFinder. The use of AppleScript, custom URL scheme and standaard protocols paves the way for integration with many a third party tool.

With HoudahSpot 2, users may create detailed queries to pinpoint the exact file they want to get to. The results may be shown with any number of columns. The list may be sorted by any attribute imaginable. Users may set up templates for frequently performed searches and save queries for direct access to favorite files.

One of HoudahSpot’s key features is its extensive customization. Once fully customized, a preferred template may be set as starting point for future queries.

With HoudahSpot’s all-in-one interface, results are shown next to the search query. By taking advantage of Leopard’s unique features, users can issue powerful search queries to the Spotlight engine to zero in on files quickly and easily. And with live editing, user may change search criteria on-the-fly without stopping the running query.

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.5.1 (Leopard) or higher
* Universal Binary for PowerPC & Intel
* Spotlight enabled
* 8 MB Hard Drive space

Purchasing HoudahSpot licenses:
HoudahSpot 2.3.1 is priced at 25 USD for a single-user license. It is a free upgrade for all registered 1.0 – 1.4 and 2.0 customers.
HoudahSpot 1.5.1 is available for FREE to Mac OS X Tiger users.

See us at Macworld in San Francisco:
Drop by and pay us a visit at booth 3526-A at the Special Interest Pavilion in North Hall. The first 100 visitors to visit the Macworld Attendee Registration page may claim FREE (a $25 value) show floor passes on us.

Houdah Software
HoudahSpot 2: Leopard Edition
HoudahSpot 2 Icon
HoudahSpot 2 Screenshot
Purchase HoudahSpot 2: Leopard Edition
Macworld Attendee Registration

Houdah Software s.a r.l is a small company based in Luxembourg Europe. The company was founded in late 2005 by Pierre Bernard. Apple, Macintosh, Mac, iPhone, iPod, Spotlight, WebObjects and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

San Francisco, CA – The 2008 Best App Ever Awards nominees have now been announced and the voting is open. Sponsored by 148Apps, the inaugural competition is the first iPhone OS Application achievement awards to recognize the best iPhone apps and games released in the iTunes App Store in 2008. The goal is to help publicize the very best apps available, not just the best-selling apps.

The nomination process lasted a little over 2 weeks and saw 17,758 nominations for 1,259 different apps submitted to the site. In addition to the public nominations, a committee of industry people and iPhone developers was gathered to help nominate apps. 5 nominees from the public and 5 nominees from the committee were combined to come up with the nominees for each category.

In addition to the individual overall application categories, the top 10 vote-getters overall will be up for the award of Best App Ever.

Voting is open from December 31st, 2008 through January 6th, 2009. Winners will be announced on January 7th, 2009 at the 2009 Macworld Expo in San Francisco, CA and will be posted to the Best App Ever site shortly after.

2008 Best App Ever Awards
Full List of Nominees (txt)
148apps

The mission of 148Apps is getting the word out about the very best in iPhone OS applications through editorial reviews and news. In addition to the reviews and news, 148Apps keeps track of what’s currently popular, new, trends, and app prices changes in the iTunes App Store.