In order to speed up switching between windows, sticky mode has be turned off by default so the window selection happens as soon as you let up on the modifier keys. Also, there is now a configurable delay between when the keyboard shortcut is pressed and the UI shows up. This means you can quickly switch between windows or tabs without the UI flashing up or otherwise having to wait on it.

The 1.2 includes some other features and bug fixes:

• Support for Google Chrome tabs

• Ability to exclude certain applications from the window switching list.

• You can now change the order windows appear in when switching windows: last time accessed or alphabetical.

• Improved layout in the cycle windows UI so more space is used by the window thumbnails.

• Fix for a crashing bug.

The update is free for existing customers, $9.99 for new customers, and is available from Fortunate Bear’s online store or Apple’s Mac App Store.

You can read the full press release here.

The 1.5 release for Mac is free for existing customers, and $9.99 for new customers. It can be found either in Fortunate Bear’s online store or Apple’s Mac App Store. The iOS version is $4.99, and can be found in the App Store.

See the press release for more information.

• The App Stores need to support upgrade pricing. rdar://11131356 or Open Radar

• The App Stores need to support free trials. rdar://11133210 or Open Radar

• The App Stores need to support tracking statistics. rdar://11133330 or Open Radar

• The App Stores need better discoverability of apps. rdar://11133573 or Open Radar

I know there’s been a lot of pessimism about writing up Radars lately, including from yours truly. But the truth is filing bugs is the only official way Apple will listen, so the pragmatic side of me wins out. It’s not that I necessarily think filing bugs will cause a change, but it’s the only possible way of affecting changing that’s been given to me.

I’m particularly excited about this acquisition because Pagesmith is the first really “deep” app that I have. I can’t wait to spend some quality time with it, growing it into something even better. In addition, I really love the direction Ross started Pagesmith off in: a focus on creating beautiful documents through typography and an innovative, clutter free UI.

Anyway, you can read more about the transition in the press release. And don’t forget to give the free 30-day trial a go.

• Support for cycling through tabs, although its currently limited to Safari tabs. As you’re cycling through windows, the tabs will appear beneath the windows.

• A complete, in application help file explaining all the features Illuminate provides.

• A new front end application to manage the preferences. This prevents the preferences window from getting lost behind all the other windows. It also now shows up in Illuminate itself.

It’s a free update for existing customers, US$9.99 for new customers. Version 1.1 is also the first version you can find in Apple’s Mac App Store. You can read the entire press release if you’d like.

This got me to thinking: could acquiring apps be a reasonable way to jump start Fortunate Bear? Right now the company is still in its infancy, and the product portfolio isn’t complete. Ideally, I’d write all the apps myself, but that’s not reasonable in the amount of time that I want Fortunate Bear to become viable in. Thus, acquisition begins to look like a interesting option.

So if you’re a developer with a product or company you’d like to sell, send me an email and let’s see if we can work something out.

I think the product (as a system utility) fits well with my existing Mac product, Illuminate. Both are kind of power user products, and I’m hoping there is some overlap in the audience. Either way, it’s exciting to see my product portfolio expand. I have a lot planned for Log Leech and Illuminate.

Anyway, you can get all the details of the acquisition in the press release.

We are closing this bug since our engineers are aware of the issue and will continue to track it.

This baffles me for a couple of reasons:

1. Isn’t the point of Radar (a bug database) to track issues that you’re aware of? If not in Radar, how are Apple engineers tracking them? Storing them in /dev/null?

2. Of course your engineers are aware of the issue, I freakin’ told them about it.

So I’m not sure what Apple means by this response. Word on the street (by which I mean Twitter, since we engineers certainly don’t go outside, much less into the street), is that it’s supposed to be a “polite” way of saying “we’re not going to fix it.” But I’m not sure why they wouldn’t just say “it works as intended”, which is what they used to say, or simply “it will not be fixed.” Have engineers gotten more sensitive over the years and Apple is afraid of rejecting them, fearing Foxconn style suicides? (Note to Apple: if I sign an affidavit stating my office is only one story high, will you tell me the real reason why the bug is being closed?)

Regardless, Apple is already so opaque when giving feedback about bugs, that a lot of engineers have given up filing bugs in the first place. Apple doesn’t seem to grasp that we’re doing them a favor by telling them where their bugs are. Radars seem to be treated more as an annoyance, than as valuable feedback.

But my main problem with “our engineers are aware of the issue” response is it’s very unclear what Apple’s trying to say. Even if they rejected the bug report in the past, even if it was for a lame reason, you knew where it stood and could do a minimal amount of tracking of it via the Radar. But now there’s not even that.

So to get to the bottom of this issue, and to increase the chances of irony, I’ve filed a Radar (Bug # 10777677, non-Apple people see OpenRadar). I’ll let you know if Apple engineers are aware of the problem and if they’ll continue to track it.

(Video is HTML 5, so you’ll need a recent browser.)

As a bonus you get to see my fantastical art skills. The codename for the project is Vectorspring, and I hope to be showing off more as it progresses.

Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot out there when it comes to places to talk and learn about hearts. Don’t get me wrong: there are tons of places to play hearts. There were two dozen iPhone apps last I counted. It’s hearts strategy and tactics information that’s lacking. There is information out there, but it’s scattered and hard to find. I lost count of how many broken links I ran into when doing research.

Anyway, Hearts & Tactics addresses all that. It has a comprehensive strategy section covering everything from passing, playing, and shooting the moon. It’s not just for advanced players either: it contains strategies for beginners too. It has place where you can talk with other hearts players about strategy, your favorite variations, or where you like to play. It even has a brief bit about the history of hearts, if you’re into that sort of thing.

The goal of Hearts & Tactics is to get more people playing and enjoying hearts. I think teaching some basic strategies and providing a place for those interested to congregate and help each other out will do a lot. So go check it out.