Thanks to everyone who bought Dejal products yesterday as part of the Apps for Water event; as promised, the proceeds have been donated to the very worthy organization, charity: water.

I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you happy holidays — Merry Christmas or your preferred flavor of celebration, and Happy New Year!

I'm grateful that I get to spend my time doing what I love, working on great Mac and iOS apps. I really appreciate all my wonderful customers who make this possible. Thank you.

As my holiday gift to you (existing and future customers), I'm offering discounts on all apps sold via the Dejal Store till the end of the year. A coupon is automatically applied. Visit the Dejal Store now!

'Tis the season for charity and acts of goodwill. I've often joined with other developers in support of fundraising, charity and special efforts, and am more than happy to join in with another one this year.

The cause this time is very important: safe, clean water for developing nations. And the organization dedicated to this goal is called charity: water.

It's simple: buy any of my Mac, iPad or iPhone apps from now till December 21, and I'll donate all proceeds to charity: water. What's more, I've provided a coupon code for the Mac apps sold on this site, which is automatically applied, so you can get a discount while getting great apps and supporting a very worthwhile charity. (Of course, if you want to pay more to help make a larger donation, you can remove the coupon.)

Several other great apps are also participating: see the Apps for Water site.

You can buy Mac apps via the Dejal Store, or buy Mac, iPad and iPhone apps from the Mac and iOS App Stores. The proceeds from all sales today until December 21 will go to charity: water.

Many thanks to Mike Piatek-Jimenez of Gaucho Software for organizing this event.

Today marks a milestone that is perhaps only significant to me, but I feel worth noting anyway. Twenty years ago today, I started work on my first shareware product, SndPlayer. Yes, you read that right, 20 years... makes me feel old. :)

Dejal as a company was actually founded on September 20, 1991 — but I was away on vacation without internet access when that anniversary rolled around this year, so I'm celebrating my first paid product instead.

SndPlayer was first created on October 24, 1991, though wasn't in beta release until November 25, and general release on February 24, 1992. It had many updates over the years, with the last release on January 29, 2001. It was officially discontinued a couple of years later, since it could no longer be updated.

Check out the classy icon design, above... a construction crane seems a weird choice for a batch sound player, but the idea was that it could lift sounds out of any kind of file. And check out the About window: the icon was even animated (crudely)! Also of note in that window, other than hideous color choices, are the original Dejal logo, the "accelerated for Power Macintosh" (it was a "fat" app, running on 68K and PPC machines), and for the old-timers in the audience, ancient mentions like "Sound Mover", SoundEdit" and "HyperCard stack" may bring back memories.

Because SndPlayer was written for Mac OS 7 to 9, before Mac OS X was introduced, it doesn't run on modern machines and OS versions. If you have an old machine that supports those OS versions, or can run the Classic compatibility environment on Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier, you can run SndPlayer. It is still available on the Dejal site, and along with all other discontinued classic software, is completely free.

As a celebration of this event, I'm offering discounts on all of my Mac apps from today till the end of the month November 14. No special codes or coupons required, but you need to use the online store, not the in-app purchasing tool or Mac App Store, to take advantage of these low prices.

Buy now with the anniversary discounts!

Be quick — these specials expire at the end ofOctober — UPDATE: extended till November 14!

Note also that Simon Bronze is not discounted via the above link (Simon Silver and above are, though), but is available discounted as a weekly special from TheMacBundles — UPDATE: it's still available as part of their "Build Your Own Bundle".

I'm pleased to announce that Dejal Caboodle, my "lean, clean snippet machine" is included in TheMacBundles.

Caboodle is a handy tool to help collect and organize various bits of text, images, PDFs, and other information. It includes support for custom fields and freeform rich text and other content, plus can encrypt your entries to keep them secure, and import and export several formats. It is simple and easy to use. A full license is included in the bundle, not some cut-down version.

You can see more of it on the Caboodle page, or download it now to give it a try.

This bundle also includes 9 other fine apps, for only $39.95 — a saving of 84%!

Visit TheMacBundles.com to learn more, or to take advantage of this great deal.

A couple of weeks ago, a major earthquake hit Christchurch in New Zealand, with at least 160 dead and many more injured. A couple of days later, I announced that I'd donate 100% of Dejal Mac sales for a week to the New Zealand Red Cross, to aid with their relief effort.

Towards the end of that week, I was contacted by some Kiwi iOS developers who were organizing their own similar effort, also donating 100% of their incomes for a week to the NZ Red Cross. So I decided to join with them and extend my effort by another week. They also managed to recruit lots of other NZ, ex-NZ and overseas developers to their effort.

I'm pleased to report sales totalling US$1,419.64 during this period, which I will donate to the NZ Red Cross.

I had hoped for more (e.g. when I did a similar effort for Haiti, I accumulated almost as much in a single day), but I'm between releases right now, so it didn't benefit from the usual new-release sales spike. And perhaps people aren't as moved by a disaster in a first-world country? True, Haiti was a much bigger disaster, with hundreds of thousands dead. But as an expat Kiwi, the Christchurch earthquake seemed "closer to home" for me.

Regardless, thank you very much to everyone who bought my apps during this period. I really appreciate your help in this effort. I'm sure the NZ Red Cross will make great use of the funds.

If you missed this event, not to worry — you can make donations directly to the NZ Red Cross.

As you may have heard, the city of Christchurch in New Zealand had another major earthquake a couple of days ago, having suffered a big one late last year.

This quake (or series of quakes) has done a huge amount of damage, both to homes and major landmarks like the cathedral. Hundreds of people are still missing, and at least 75 123 were killed, with the toll still climbing.

Here's an interesting visualization of the two big quakes and hundreds of others in the region.

Looking at some of the photos really brings home the tragedy, for example this slideshow of before and after photos.

I won't repeat all the news about it; for details, see CNN's coverage, the New Zealand Herald's coverage, and others.

As many of you know, I was born in New Zealand, and lived there until 2001. Although I don't have any friends or family in Christchurch, I know people who do. I feel that I really want to do something to help the relief efforts.

So, I'm announcing that for the rest of this week (i.e. from now till midnight PST on Sunday Feb 27), I will donate 100% of the proceeds from Dejal Mac app sales to the New Zealand Red Cross, to help fund their relief efforts.

Update: Extended for another week! I've now joined with other Kiwi Mac and iOS developers who are also donating 100% of their income to the NZ Red Cross. So now I'm donating my Mac income till March 5.

If you're at all interested in any of my products, now is the time to buy. Your money will help those suffering from this disaster.

Buy from the Dejal Store.

And if you don't need any of my apps, I urge you to make a donation to the NZ Red Cross directly.

As previously discussed, Simon version 3 has new license levels, each with more tests than previously. I'm pleased to report that the Simon 3 licenses are now available for purchase — but still at Simon 2 prices, for another few days! This special deal will expire with the general release, currently scheduled for early next week. (I'm working on updating the website, and the localizers are hard at work translating Simon into their languages.)

Currently, the new licenses are only available via the PayPal-powered Dejal Store and the Kagi-powered Dejal Store. The TrialPay store should be updated soon. Update: the TrialPay and GetItFree stores have now been updated too, though they don't have the discounted pricing.

I've redesigned the store content for Simon, to make it easier to pick the right license. Please let me know if you experience any difficulties with your purchase.

The new Simon 3 license levels are as follows:

• Bronze license enabling up to 15 tests: $49 — buy now for just $29.95 and save $19!
• Silver license enabling up to 40 tests: $99 (25% per-test discount over Bronze) — buy now for just $59.95 and save $39!
• Gold license enabling up to 100 tests: $199 (40% per-test discount over Bronze) — buy now for just $99.00 and save $100!
• Platinum license enabling unlimited tests: $499 — buy now for just $195 and save $304!

Simon 3 represents many months of work, and includes lots of great new features, so is a paid upgrade for version 2 customers. It's been over five years since 2.0, so it's well and truly due. Note that the upgrade pricing has changed a little from my previous announcement, based on initial feedback:

• Upgrade Simon 2 to v3 Bronze: $19.
• Upgrade Simon 2 to v3 Silver: $39.
• Upgrade Simon 2 to v3 Gold: $69
• Upgrade Simon 2 to v3 Platinum: $99.

Worth noting is that you can upgrade (or downgrade!) to any license level. So if you have a version 2 Standard license and want to go up to a Platinum license in one step, now's your chance; all you need is the Platinum upgrade. Similarly, if you have a v2 Enterprise license, and want to save some money, you can upgrade to v3 and downgrade to Gold in one step, via the Gold upgrade.

Upgrading license levels while upgrading to version 3 will save you a lot of money over upgrading license levels later, so this is a great opportunity to re-evaluate your needs.

I'm happy with these prices; they seem very fair, especially when compared against other high-end software upgrades (e.g. QuickBooks is $229, upgrade for $199; Aperture is $199, upgrade for $99). But if you have any feedback about them, I'm still interested to hear from you in the comments or via email.

Remember, the discounted prices will only remain for another few days, so buy now to save!

And again, if you bought Simon from September 1, 2010, you're eligible for a free upgrade! Contact me to request your free upgrade.

As long-time readers of my blog will know, I'm a fan of bundles as a marketing mechanism. They help expose apps to a wider audience, and encourage people who normally might not buy an app to give it a go, by getting a great deal for several apps at once.

So when a new bundle comes along, chances are I'll agree to participate. The latest such bundle is from Appilicious, and is called the "Webilicious Design Bundle".

As the name would suggest, this bundle has a focus on web design. It's a little different than many others, in that it includes non-software products amongst the software, including design themes and 6 months hosting at my favorite web host, Site5.

As for my contribution, I'm including the full Standard license of Simon, my flagship app to monitor websites and servers for changes or failures. The Standard license normally sells for $59.95, and the entire bundle costs only $49.99, so if you want Simon, you're saving $10 and effectively getting all those other goodies thrown in for free. What a great deal!

Simon is a powerful app, and soon will be even more powerful — I'm putting the finishing touches on version 2.6, which adds a powerful new filter feature, and lots more. See the recent Simon-related blog posts for more information.

Click here to take advantage of this great bundle, before it expires!

On occasion, independent developers like to band together to offer great deals, and help introduce their customers to other great indie products.

One such deal has just been introduced: iAppsForStudents. This is focused on students returning to school around this time (in the US, at least) — but the deals are open to anyone interested in learning about new software.

I'm pleased to participate in this promotion. I've added a coupon code "BACK2SKOOL"; simply click this link to go to the Dejal Store, and the coupon will be already applied for you.

The coupon will give you great discounts on my Mac products. For example, get Simon Standard for just $49.95 instead of the regular $59.95 ($10 off), or get the Enterprise license for just $145 instead of $195 ($50 savings)! Similarly, get $5 off Individual or Household licenses of Caboodle and BlogAssist.

The iAppsForStudents promotion runs until the end of August, but my coupon will continue until the end of September. But don't delay!

And don't forget to check out the other great participating Mac, iPad and iPhone apps with their own coupons, listed on the iAppsForStudents site.

I'm pleased to announce that Dejal Simon, my flagship server monitoring app, is now featured in two bundles: the existing TheMacBundles collection, and an innovative new VoteBundle.

VoteBundle started out with 20 apps, and 40,000 Mac users cast 200,000 votes for which apps they most wanted in the bundle. The most popular 10 apps remain, including Simon.

Dejal Simon is the essential site monitoring tool for Mac OS X. It checks servers for changes or failures, and notifies you via e-mail, sound, speech, Twitter, or other means. You can use it to track updated sites, and to alert you when an important server goes down or recovers.

Both bundles include the full Simon Standard license — normally $59.95!

You can see more of the application on the Simon pages.

Version 2.6 is currently in development, and a beta will be out soon. It includes a powerful new Filter feature, enabling much more flexible analysis of test output, plus cookie management and many more enhancements. Version 2.6 will be a free update for all licensed Simon users.

Each bundle also includes several other fine apps. TheMacBundles includes 12 apps for only $49.95, and VoteBundle includes 10 apps for only $39. A bargain! Especially since you're getting a Standard license for Simon — for less than it normally costs by itself. Why not buy both bundles, and get 21 great apps for just $88.50?!

Visit TheMacBundles.com and VoteBundle.com to learn more about each, or to take advantage of one or both of these great deals.

The people behind the popular Mac Bundle Box promotions have launched an innovative new bundle concept: the VoteBundle.

Three Dejal products are in the running: Simon, my tool to monitor websites and servers for changes or failures; Narrator, my fun app to read out stories in multiple voices (soon to move to Mariner Software); and BlogAssist, my handy tool to make marking up HTML easier. As I write this, Simon is doing quite well, though could certainly use more votes, while the other two are trailing. If you like these apps, please vote them up!

Here's an intro video (not iOS compatible, unfortunately):

VoteBundle 1 - www.VoteBundle.com from Christian Owens on Vimeo.

Welcome to VoteBundle the very first community driven, democratic Mac software bundle. Cast your votes now, www.VoteBundle.com

I'm pleased to announce that Dejal Simon, my flagship server monitoring app, is featured in the TheMacBundles collection.

Dejal Simon is the essential site monitoring tool for Mac OS X. It checks servers for changes or failures, and notifies you via e-mail, sound, speech, Twitter, or other means. You can use it to track updated sites, and to alert you when an important server goes down or recovers.

The bundle includes the full Simon Standard license — normally $59.95!

You can see more of the application on the Simon pages.

Version 2.6 is currently in development, and a beta will be out soon. It includes a powerful new Filter feature, enabling much more flexible analysis of test output, plus cookie management and many more enhancements. Version 2.6 will be a free update for all licensed Simon users.

This bundle also includes 11 other fine apps, for only $49.95. A bargain! Especially since you're getting a Standard license for Simon — for less than it normally costs by itself.

Visit TheMacBundles.com to learn more, or to take advantage of this great deal.

Two Dejal products are in separate bundles at the same time currently:

• Narrator, my fun application to read out stories and interviews in multiple voices, is in Mac Bundle Box, a collection of 6 handy apps for only $29.00.
• Caboodle, my lean clean snippet machine to help store and organize text and images, is in TheMacBundles, a collection of 12 useful apps for only $49.95.
• Also, Narrator is available separately as a weekly special for only $9.95 via TheMacBundles, for this week only.

20% of Mac Bundle Box purchases will be donated to the American Red Cross for Haiti disaster relief.

Check out the Mac Bundle Box and TheMacBundles websites for more information about the bundles, including the other applications included in each, or to take advantage of these great deals!

Yesterday around 150 independent Mac and iPhone developers participated in Indie+Relief. These developers pledged to donate proceeds of all yesterday's sales to a charity of their choice for Haiti relief efforts.

This event was organized by Justin Williams of Second Gear Software. It started off as an idea for himself, and he shared it with people on Twitter, and the idea spread. Soon, he was gathering information from other developers and setting up a website, with the design help of Garrett Murray. What started as a simple idea for himself grew into a major fundraising effort involving hundreds of applications.

I was more than happy to join in, and am pleased to be able to report sales totalling $1,350 yesterday (which is definitely more than a typical day!).

I will be donating this amount to Mercy Corps, a very worthwhile Portland-based charity. Read more about what they're doing in Haiti.

Furthermore, my wife's corporate overlords have a program of matching charitable donations, so that will bring the total up to $2,700.

It'll probably take a few days to get a total from all developers participating in Indie+Relief, but it sounds like more than $100,000 has been raised.

A very big thank you to everyone who participated, and especially to the many kind people who purchased Dejal products yesterday. I got emails from a few people saying that they had been thinking about buying Simon, and decided to buy the Enterprise license as a way to help donate to Haiti.

If you missed this event, not to worry — you can still make donations to the charity of your choice. I recommend Mercy Corps, but Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross and others are also excellent choices.

Finally, Narrator is currently in the Mac Bundle Box promotion. The bundle organizer will be donating 20% of all proceeds from this bundle to the Red Cross. So you can still donate while getting great software.

As you no doubt know, Haiti recently suffered a disastrous earthquake, with at least 200,000 dead as of the latest official report.

Many people have been reaching out to offer support and donations to reputable charity organizations.

The Mac and iPhone independent developer community have come together to do their part. Almost 150 independent developers have declared that they will donate the proceeds of software sales on January 20 (tomorrow) to worthy charities of their choice.

I am participating in this. All proceeds from Dejal Mac app sales on this day will be donated to Mercy Corps for Haiti relief efforts.

Also, one of my products, Narrator, is now in the new Mac Bundle Box promotion. I will donate my share of sales from tomorrow's bundles to Mercy Corps, too.

If you've been thinking about buying a Dejal Mac app, please buy on the 20th so your purchase helps those in need.

For more information about the Indie+Relief effort, see the website. Take a look at the hundreds of other great apps available from generous independent developers. As the banner says, you get great software, Haiti gets financial help.

I know that a lot of people will be going away or not thinking about software over the next week or two, but I'll continue to keep an eye on the Dejal Forums and support queries. So if you have any questions, let me know.

As my gift of the season to you, I've just added an automatic coupon "JOYTOALL" on the Dejal Store — everyone gets discounts on all my Mac apps till the end of 2009!

Visit the Dejal Store to share the joy.

I hope everyone has a pleasant and safe holiday season.

Simon, my website and server monitoring tool, is available for discounted prices from a few places for just a little longer.

• TheMacBundles includes a Standard license for Simon (normally $59.95) as part of the bundle — which only costs $49.95, so they're effectively paying you $10 and giving you 10 other handy apps for free! But this bundle expires in just a few days, so hurry!
• Simon Standard is available by itself from MacUpdate Promo's extended deals for just $44.96 (25% off) for a limited time.
• Simon Basic is also available from MacUpdate Promo for $22.46 (25% off, retail $29.95).
• Simon Enterprise is similarly available from MacUpdate Promo for $146.25 (25% off, retail $195.00).
• Not to be left out, existing Simon customers can upgrade from Basic to Standard or Standard to Enterprise for much less via the Dejal Store coupon "MUPUPGRADE", only till the end of the month.

Hurry, don't miss out on these great deals! This range of specials has never occurred before, and may never be repeated!

I'm pleased to announce that Dejal Simon, my flagship server monitoring app, is featured in the fifth TheMacBundles collection. Plus, for a limited time, Dejal BlogAssist, my handy HTML markup tool, is also included as a bonus app.

Dejal Simon is the essential site monitoring tool for Mac OS X. It checks servers for changes or failures, and notifies you via e-mail, sound, speech, Twitter, or other means. You can use it to track updated sites, and to alert you when an important server goes down or recovers.

The bundle includes the full Simon Standard license — normally $59.95!

BlogAssist is a handy tool to help weblog and website editing by making HTML markup easier. comes with several useful operations, including web and e-mail links, bold/italics/strikethrough/etc, LiveJournal tags, and more. But you aren't limited to those — you can add, change, or remove them via the Operations Preferences.

You can see more of them on the Simon and BlogAssist pages.

This bundle also includes 10 other fine apps, for only $49.95. A bargain! Especially since you're getting a Standard license for Simon — for less than it normally costs by itself.

The included apps are:

• iPhoto Library Manager
• MYStuff
• MyTunesRSS
• PDFClerk Pro
• Simon
• Spyder
• WebPrint Plus
• Yum
• Yummy FTP

Plus bonuses:

• A-Dock X
• BlogAssist
• FolderGlance

12 apps for just $49.95 — a saving of over 85%!

Visit TheMacBundles.com to learn more, or to take advantage of this great deal.

TheMacBundles promotion is almost over! Last chance to get Dejal Narrator and 11 other great apps for just $49.95.

Narrator utilizes speech synthesis to read out the contents of a text document, using different voices for different parts. You have a range of "actors" that can portray any number of "characters", so various passages of your document are spoken with differing voices, pitches, inflections, etc. You can have it read out a play or story with appropriate voices. The words are highlighted on-screen, and there are also a couple of silent read-along options for stage directions, or for you to read out your own parts. A full license is included in the bundle, not some cut-down version.

You can see more of it on the Narrator page, or download it now to give it a try.

Note that at present Narrator has an issue on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard): everything works okay, except that it can't open saved Narrator documents. It can open other kinds, though. I'm still waiting for help from Apple to fix this, but will release a free update to fix this as soon as possible. Of course, if you're still on Leopard, you won't be affected.

This bundle also includes 11 other fine apps, for only $49.95. A bargain!

The included apps are:

• CrossOver Games
• DVDRemaster Pro
• Entourage Email Archive X
• EastPrint
• ImageFramer
• Money
• Neutrino
• Scribbles
• Speed Download
• Super Flexible File Synchronizer

Plus bonuses:

• Mac DVDRipper Pro
• Narrator

12 apps for just $49.95 — a saving of over 85%!

Visit TheMacBundles.com to learn more, or to take advantage of this great deal before it expires. Don't delay!

I'm pleased to announce that Dejal Narrator, my fun app to read out stories and interviews in multiple voices, is included as a bonus in the fourth TheMacBundles collection.

Narrator utilizes speech synthesis to read out the contents of a text document, using different voices for different parts. You have a range of "actors" that can portray any number of "characters", so various passages of your document are spoken with differing voices, pitches, inflections, etc. You can have it read out a play or story with appropriate voices. The words are highlighted on-screen, and there are also a couple of silent read-along options for stage directions, or for you to read out your own parts. A full license is included in the bundle, not some cut-down version.

You can see more of it on the Narrator page, or download it now to give it a try.

Note that at present Narrator has an issue on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard): everything works okay, except that it can't open saved Narrator documents. It can open other kinds, though. I'm waiting for help from Apple to fix this, but will release a free update to fix this as soon as possible. Of course, if you're still on Leopard, you won't be affected.

This bundle also includes 11 other fine apps, for only $49.95. A bargain!

The included apps are:

• CrossOver Games
• DVDRemaster Pro
• Entourage Email Archive X
• EastPrint
• ImageFramer
• Money
• Neutrino
• Scribbles
• Speed Download
• Super Flexible File Synchronizer

Plus bonuses:

• Mac DVDRipper Pro
• Narrator

12 apps for just $49.95 — a saving of over 85%!

Visit TheMacBundles.com to learn more, or to take advantage of this great deal.