If you have found SnapZ Pro did not work for you with 10.9 or 10.10, Ambrosia Software has released an update that is compatible with 10.10 and 10.11(!). The download is available here. Look in the upper right corner of the page for the link to download their update version 2.6.

The installation notes indicate that older versions will be removed, and a restart is required after installation. Seems to work well with my 10.10.5.

It works indeed: instead of exactly once per startup cycle with v2.5.4, after which it would become dead as a doornail until rebooted. That said, (1) audio capture is still dead, and (2) the old version of Snapz Pro won’t necessarily be removed with the install of v2.6.0 (it wasn’t on my Mac). If you want to hang on to that older version, however, it’s best to have a backup, just in case.

Is audio capture part of the upgraded version that includes video capture? My version is only static screen shots.

It makes sense that audio is not working too well (at all). One of there other audio products, WireTap Studio, is still long overdue for an update.

Indeed, there used to be a lower priced still-capture-only version, which has long since been discontinued. As to capturing audio (as part of video), for that to work Ambrosia Audio Support needs to be installed. Unfortunately, the AAS installer fails* on Yosemite and according to some on earlier versions of Mac OS X as well (if true, I’m not sure where the problem started). This failure is likely due to the fact that Mac OS X audio handling has changed over time, and Snapz Pro hasn't kept up with those changes.

Likewise, to maintain basic compatibility with newer Mac OS X versions, Ambrosia's audio app Wiretap Studio too has lost features that reduce its utility. The general lack of full feature updates seems to be related to the rumor that Ambrosia is on life support. It’s suggested that there are no more employees other than founder Andrew Welch, and that he can only do so much.


*) The installer runs without problem, but it doesn’t have any effect: after the mandatory reboot Snapz Pro still complains about requiring AAS.

I only just recently updated to Yosemite (and the new Finder icon, I must say, looks like a dog fell out of an ugly tree, hit every branch on the way down, and then threw up ugly all over it...really, Apple?) and the only casualty I suffered was Snapz Pro. Thankfully, this update worked and I'm back in business.

So not to sugar coat it, how do you REALLY feel?

I wonder if tacit’s exhortation has anything to do with musings like these, or that he ‘just’ experiences that Finder icon as an annoying aesthetic speed bump.

I'm not a purist. There's a lot to be said for simple design, and I don't hate the new direction that Apple's UI design is going in. I don't particularly like it, either; I'm actually pretty indifferent to it.

But I cringe every time I command-tab through programs and see the new Finder icon. Dear god, it's ugly. It looks like the runner-up in a seventh-grade design contest.

Any chance you could provide a shot of same — for the benefit of those of us who won't be upgrading?

I guess that proves the old axiom that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Since there was no response providing the Finder icon, I Googled same, only to see images which are pretty much the same as the icon's always been, with the description: "blue icon with the smiling face".

So what are you guys talking about?!

Previous Finder icon

Mac OS X 10.10.x Finder icon

Exactly as I said and found when I Googled it. They're pretty much identical (except that the black lines top to bottom don't extend outside the frame on the new icon). There's nothing that comes close to resembling "a dog fell out of an ugly tree, hit every branch on the way down, and then threw up ugly all over it."

Or are those images somehow showing up to others like the "blue dress or white dress" debate/debacle of the not-so-distant past?

Still massively

Just to add fuel to Tacit's ire, El Capitan has yet a different icon for Finder. Picture the Yosemite icon minutes the dark vertical outline of the nose. (I would post it, but it is copyright protected and I don't have permission.)

minutes?! I suspect you mean minus. You mean there's no line, just different shading between the two halves?

I beg to differ.


The actual Yosemite Finder icon differs slightly from the one linked to by Dianne: the vertical line delineating the nose and/or the boundary between two faces is of a much lighter weight than the smile, which makes the icon a look a little goofy at small scale, as in the Dock (at least on a non-Retina display).

On the whole, though, I'd have to say I prefer the newer icon myself.

I agree with you ... but I interpret those differences as essentially minimal.
And more important I can see nothing which could cause the newer icon to be construed as "a dog fell out of an ugly tree, hit every branch on the way down, and then threw up ugly all over it." And it is the latter which someone should elucidate.

When I Googled apple yosemite finder, a whole passel of images (for comparison) showed up. Try it.

Blankety blank spell checker — yes I meant minus and yes there is no line, just the right side is a lighter shade than the left.