I’m pleased to announce today the immediate availability of Inquisitor 3.2. This release is the first significant release since Inquisitor was acquired by Yahoo!, and we’ve worked hard to keep the essence of the project intact, all the while bringing onboard some cool Yahoo! technology.

On the technology side, we’ve rebuilt the Yahoo! search results component around the new Yahoo! Search BOSS platform. One great thing we get from this technology a performance boost over the previous implementation. Naturally, we want our instant results to be as “instant” as possible, so this is a fantastic development. We’ve also fully transitioned our keyword suggestions & autocompletion technology to Yahoo’s with the end result being more relevant and useful suggestions.

Independent of these core changes is a slicked up visual design that’s less cramped and congested than previous designs. It’s slightly more spacious and important visual elements like the history indicators are more prominent.

Finally, we’re pleased to now support Inquisitor in eight new languages beyond English (Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and German). Inquisitor is already particularly well-suited to international users who want control over their search provider, and this should make it even more attractive.

If all that weren’t enough, I’ve also redesigned the Inquisitor website, just for the heck of it.

Ultimately this release sets the tone for Inquisitor’s new path, and I’m confident we’ve found the right balance of respecting the past and investing in the future.

NewsFire 1.5 (v73) is now available for download. This release fixes some incorrect graphics and no longer renders large image enclosures from sites such as Flickr.

As an aside, I witnessed a curious issue while working on this release, and I’d like to get the fix into the public record. The issue was that NewsFire was repeatedly requesting authentication credentials for an HTTPS feed I had subscribed to. This was curious since the feed had worked fine in the past, and the username and password appeared to be properly stored in the Keychain. Since credential storage and use are a part of the Cocoa URL loading system, it’s likely there’s a deep bug here that’s in Apple’s jurisdiction. Regardless, the fix is trivial… simply delete the credential from the Keychain. After I did this, NewsFire recreated the credential and has worked fine ever since. So, if you ever experience such an issue, just delete the relevant credential in the Keychain and things should work once it’s recreated.

Acquisition 2.0 (v209) is now available for download. This release fixes some connectivity issues associated with incorrect video metadata, and updates the appearance of searchfield autocompletion suggestions.

This is a free upgrade for users of Acquisition 2.0.

Today, I am very pleased to announce that Yahoo! has acquired the rights to Inquisitor, my instant search extension for Safari.

For those unfamiliar, Inquisitor is a pioneering software extension that provides as-you-type instant search directly within the Safari web browser. Inquisitor makes navigating the web fast and effortless by providing instant search results within an unobtrusive pop-down window. It also performs live autocompletion, prioritizes results based on the user’s search history, and gives the user extensive control over their search experience.

I look forward to assisting Yahoo! in refining and extending the Inquisitor user experience beyond where it is today. I truly believe that Inquisitor and its users can only benefit, both from Yahoo’s resources and attention, and from the product integration possibilities that would have been impossible to pursue on my own.

It’s important to note that while I will continue to be the lead developer behind Inquisitor for Safari, I will not be joining Yahoo! as an employee. I have every desire and intention to remain an independent developer for the Mac, meaning that Inquisitor, Xtorrent, Acquisition, and NewsFire will all continue to be equal priorities in my life.

Inquisitor 3.1 is now available for download. This release improves performance, simplifies the process for switching search providers, and removes affiliate links from the program. For new users, Yahoo! is now the default search provider, however users are free as always to change this as they so desire.

This is just a heads-up that this blog is undergoing a redesign at the moment. Much of the redesign work is done, though there may be some more to come. Changes so far include some more prominent links for my projects right at the top, cleaner graphics, and gravatar support in the comments.

Today’s a big day for NewsFire. After much internal debate, I’ve made the decision that as of today, NewsFire is totally free. No feature restrictions, no ads, no cut-down ‘lite’ version… this is the real deal.

For those new to this, NewsFire is a news reader for blogs, news sites, and anything else that publishes an ‘RSS’ syndication feed. It watches for news so you don’t have to. When a new story is published, NewsFire brings it to your attention with some super-slick animation. Unlike other readers, NewsFire is designed with a deliberately minimal interface. The news is what matters and it takes center stage.

There’s no excuse not to try it. Download NewsFire and give it a whirl. I’m confident you’ll like it.

So why am I doing this? Call it an experiment to draw people into the fold. Call it temporary insanity. Call it good will. Call it stupidity. I’m never really sure what my motivations are, but this one feels right in my gut. I hope you like it. I sure hope I don’t regret this.

NewsFire 1.5 (v71) is now available for download. In addition to minor compatibility improvements, version 1.5 brings a new modern and clean look to NewsFire. This includes a more prominent “Next Item” button for easy perusal of the news and a slimmed down status bar.

NewsFire 1.5 is a free upgrade.

In response to user feedback, Inquisitor 3.0 (v52) now explicitly tags product/affiliate links in search results and, furthermore, now includes an user preference to disable these links all together.

Inquisitor is freeware, made possible by the inclusion of affiliate links. This revenue source is small but critical in ensuring Inquisitor’s future development. If you choose to disable these links, please seriously consider donating to Inquisitor as an alternate means of support.

Thanks!

I love my software as children, and while I have unconditional love for Acquisition, in 2007 it started showing jealous tendencies as I showered attention on the new kids Xtorrent and Inquisitor.

However, now that the kids are walking, I’m able to spend more time on Acquisition and I genuinely think its best years are ahead. Acquisition 2 is a major new release of the software, many months in the coming. Almost every aspect of the Acquisition user experience has been refined and rethought, with a brand-new search list with folders, a newly designed downloads view and query results view, an improved media player and metadata browser, and higher performance searching and downloading.

Acquisition 2 is hands-down the best Acquisition ever, and looking back at the five years since I started this project, it’s astonishing how far its come. I just hope Xtorrent doesn’t become envious of its handsome elder brother.

Please note: Acquisition 2 is considered a major upgrade, and registrations from previous versions will not work. Qualifying users (those with lifetime upgrade options or who purchased at certain times in the past) have already been sent new activation codes for Acquisition 2. If you qualify and have not received a code, you obviously should contact the developer.