With todays update to version 3.5.2 we finally welcome DEVONagent Pro to the brave new world of sandboxing, now the prerequisite for distribution through the App Store. The update also cleans up some aspects of the user interface by hiding rarely used or unavailable options, and improves compatibility to some websites. The Download Manager adds the URL of downloaded items to their Finder/Spotlight metadata. (more)

Since the very first telephone companies and there is an ongoing struggle between advocates (and adversaries) of open vs. closed systems. Today is the time of the closed systems.

The Apple II was wide open and while the first Mac hardware was the exact opposite you could still do whatever your wanted in software. Even if there were no official hooks for this and that, as long as you knew how to access something there was no one holding you back. (more)

Today we have released maintenance updates for DEVONthink, DEVONnote, DEVONagent, and DEVONsphere Express. The updates add a few new features such as automatic updating of thumbnails of formatted notes and web archives for DEVONthink or support for WordPerfect files for DEVONagent. We have also improved the overall performance of all apps and, of course, fixed the bugs you have notified us of. (more)

Yesterday Macworld published a four-mice review of DEVONagent Pro 3.5, written by Joe Kissell. You already know Joe as the author of many excellent Take Control books, among them also Take Control of Getting Started with DEVONthink 2 and Take Control of Your Paperless Office. (more)

April 11 we updated DEVONthink and DEVONnote, this week it’s time for DEVONagent, DEVONsphere Express, EasyFind, PhotoStickies and XMenu. Enjoy new automation options in DEVONagent, search FoldingText files with DEVONsphere, and share files directly from EasyFind. (more)

Now that we’ve published a large number of screencasts about DEVONthink we have caught up with DEVONagent Pro. In the Support Assistant (choose Help > Tutorials inside the application) you’ll find seven new screencasts showing you how to search effectively with DEVONagent, explaining what search sets, Boolean operators, and wildcards are, and how you can work with the found results. Finally we demonstrate how you can easily automate your research with scheduled search sets. No more excuses for not using DEVONagent for serious searching!

Just in case you didn’t know: DEVONagent Pro searches the Internet with full control and powerful options. Version 3.4 brings new options for following promising links and an exciting new way to create your own site-specific searches without writing XML plugins. And, of course, the release updates a number of pre-fab search sets, plugins, and scanners, improves the performance and fixes bugs.

Last week we have tamed the Mountain Lion with DEVONthink and DEVONnote 2.4, this week it’s the turn of DEVONagent to pass the Gatekeeper. That being not enough, version 3.3 of DEVONagent Pro carries support for Notification Center and the new Sharing Services in its bag. Share found results with one click via iMessage, Mail, Twitter, Facebook, or Airdrop or add them to Safari’s Reading List. Notifications let you know when a lengthy search run is done. (more)

If you’d been staying away from DEVONagent Express because it was only available through Mac App Store we have something for you: You can download it as a free trial from our download page now and buy licenses in our own online shop. (more)

Some might not know but the documentation that is built into DEVONthink, DEVONnote, and DEVONagent Pro was always also available as PDF. But after the relaunch of our website they looked strangely old-fashioned I have to admit. In the last few weeks I reworked the layout and adapted it to our new design. And, as I was at it, I dropped the landscape-oriented PDF for reading on the screen in favor of an ebook. (more)