iCalMaker is an app that allows you to import, export, modify, convert, print out, translate or email your iCal appointments.

An updated version released today contains updated and re-written code and is a universal binary. It will now only run on Mac OS 10.3 or greater.

It also reports problem appointments better and fixes a number of smaller bugfixes.

iCalMaker is shareware (USD 34.95) and is available from the developer’s web site . You can also download a demo version which will only process 5 appointments at a time and starts to nag after a while.appointments, export, ical events, import, print, apple mail, ical, palmdesktop, vcal, universal binary

The developer of High Priority continues to pound away at improving this Menubar iCal To Do manager.

The latest release (1.1.1) is a universal binary and allows you to hide subscribed calendars.

It is also much smarter at parsing iCal’s To Do information. The new version correctly displays non-standard completed dates that include time zone, due dates that include time, URLs that don’t contain a specified type and more.

You can use High Priority in a limited-functionality version for free, or pay a USD 6 registration fee for the full version. It’s available from the developer’s web site .universal binary, subscribed calendars, high priority, menubar, ical, to do

An new beta of Spell Catcher X — part spell-checker, part on-the-fly text-formatter, part text-snippet manager — has been released.

It is a terrific app, good enough to feature in the Hawk Wings’ Top Ten list of things every Mail.app user should have.

It has been recompiled as a universal binary, but also contains a number of bugfixes, improvements and new features.

A new option in the Interface preference pane offers the ability to turn off its autocomplete functions in particular apps. In Mail.app, for example, it can interfere with the typing of email addresses, seeking to change them to something else.

It also now quits in a more permanent way and the update procedure has been substantially streamlined so that it no longer requires a restart.

Improvements have been made to its launch speed and to its interactions with widgets. In addition, Keyboard shortcuts that clash with system-wide ones are detected.

Check ?¢‚Ǩ?ìword?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, Find ?¢‚Ǩ?ìword?¢‚Ǩ¬ù in References, and Look Up ?¢‚Ǩ?ìword?¢‚Ǩ¬ù now works more reliably in Carbon apps like Office 2004.

On the downside, the app no longer supports OS 10.2 (Jaguar) due to requirements for changed coding.

Many further improvements and bugfixes are listed in the “What’s New” document on the disk image.

The beta is available from the Rainmaker web site.

The developer Evan Gross recommends reading the “What’s New in 10.2.2″, “Read Me” and “Release Notes” documents that are on the disk image before installing.

Textpander is an app that saves time and effort by storing frequently typed text (or snippets), which you can then insert as you type with a user-defined abbreviation.

The developer has released it recompiled as a universal binary, ready to run on the new Intel Macs.

Textpander is donation-ware and is available from the developer’s web site.

(Witch, a neat window switching utility, has also been released as a universal binary).

The email archiving and searching app MailSteward has been updated.

Version 4.0 is a universal binary.

It also adds the option to store the raw source of the email in the database and features major speed improvements for its merge, save and export functions.

The update brings minor interface improvements and bug fixes to the app as well.

You can read more about MailSteward in an in-depth review on MacZealots.

MailSteward is shareware (USD 29.95) and is available from the developer’s web site.

Serial Mail, a bulk mailing and template plug-in for Mail.app, has been updated again.

The new version has been recompiled as a universal binary. It also features several minor bigfixes including the addition of a template tag for the state of the addressee.

Serial Mail is donation-ware and is available from Christian Fries’ web site.

So, you’re thinking about buying one of the new Intel Macs announced this week in San Francisco?

I am. There’s a shiny new MacBook Pro with my name on it out there somewhere. Or there will be.

The big question for me is not whether I’ll miss the FW800 port as much as I think I will (probably not), or whether I will kick myself for not waiting for the Rev B (probably), but whether Mail.app with all my favourite things bolted-on will run natively.

So I asked the developers of all the plugins and addons on the Top Ten things every Mail.app user should have list, how ready they were for the Intel Macs. Here’s the good news:

1. MailTags. Scott Morrison says that a universal binary will be available “hopefully” in two weeks. And as Version 1.2 with a killer new feature as well!
2. Mail Act-on. Two weeks will see a universal binary of this plug-in as well.
3. MailAppetizer. This has been a universal binary since July last year. Ready to go.
4. Mail Scripts. This has also been a universal binary since the middle of last year. Andeas Amann says that “the only potential problem might be the “Archive Messages” script since it packages some pre-complied Perl packages as well”. But if any problems exist, they’ll soon be ironed out.
5. Mail Stamps. Version 2.1 was compiled as a universal binary for Intels and PowerPCs. And it worked fine on his developer Intel Mac, Andrew Escobar says.
6. MailUnreadStatusBar. Masaru says that it’s not clear whether this utility will need a recompile or not, “because it isn’t supposed to depend on architecture”. It should work equally well on a PPC or an Intel.
7. JunkMatcher or SpamSieve. Michael Tsai says that at the moment SpamSieve runs in Rosetta with Mail.app and the SpamSieve plug-in running natively. But a recompiled version of SpamSieve is due out in two weeks and will be available as a free upgrade.

   JunkMatcher’s developer Benjamin Han wants to address some issues with his app before recompiling for Intel Macs. Due to time pressures, “it’ll probably be a while”, he says.

8. Take Control of Apple Mail in Tiger. It is my understanding that this excellent ebook will be just as helpful on an Intel Mac as it is now.
9. QuickSilver. Quicksilver and all its plug-ins were recompiled earlier this week.
10. Spell Catcher X. Evan Gross says he will post a recompiled beta of Spell Catcher X next week (when he gets back from MacWorld) that will also contain some new features and few minor bugfixes. The final release will be polished up and available long before most people get their hands on one of the new Macs.

Now there is no excuse for restraint.

You can find a longer list of all recompiled applications that are ready to run natively on VersionTracker’s MacIntel Resource Center.