We’re readying the next release of Knapsack, our travel planning and journaling app for Mac, and we’re looking for help testing all of the new features and changes.

If you would like to help out, please let us know: .

To celebrate the summer travel season. We’re offering 25% off the regular price of Knapsack our travel app for Mac.

But hurry, the offer is only good through August 31, 2011:

• Single License:$29.99 $39.99
• 5-Pack Family License: $44.99 $59.99

Purchase Knapsack app on the Mac App Store or direct from us.

Because of this incredible adoption rate, I’ve decided to finally make the move to start dropping support for older OS X versions along with PowerPC (PPC) in our Mac apps with the next round of updates.

Tiger

Mac OS X 10.4, Tiger, was released over six years ago on April 29, 2005.

Except for Bullfrog, almost no-one is still using Tiger on a regular basis. Because it’s free, Bullfrog won’t hold up this move.

Leopard

Mac OS 10.5, Leopard, is now four years old and was released on October 26, 2007. More of our customers were already running Lion before it was even publicly released.

PPC

Apple stopped supporting PowerPC Macs with the release of Snow Leopard in August of 2009 — three years ago.

Schedule

The next set of updates for each or our applications will require at least Snow Leopard (10.6+) to run.

LicenseKeeper

I’m currently working on LicenseKeeper 1.8. I still have several open items to take care of which will then require a fair amount of testing. I’m hoping to have this update out in the next couple of weeks — sometime in August.

Knapsack

There is a lot planned for Knapsack over the course of this year. Knapsack 2.3 is scheduled to follow the LicenseKeeper update which will also require Snow Leopard (10.6+). Development on Knapsack 3 along with iPhone and iPad versions has already begun.

Bullfrog

Because Bullfrog is free, it takes a low priority for us and tends to sit on the back burner. I don’t have any specific releases scheduled, but I will no longer be updating Bullfrog for Tiger and Leopard. Any updates that do make their way out will require at least Snow Leopard and possibly only Lion.

Questions & Concerns

If you have questions or concerns regarding these changes and plans, please let me know.

The current versions of our apps will continue to run on your existing configurations and you will not be forced to upgrade to the newest versions.

Today, Apple unleashed the latest version of their Mac operating system, OS X Lion via the Mac App Store.

We’re Lion Compatible

The latest versions of all of our Mac apps are Lion (Mac OS X 10.7) compatible and should run without issue.

Knapsack 2.2.2

LicenseKeeper 1.7.2

Bullfrog 1.2.3

If you do happen to find any problems with our apps and Lion, please let us know so that we can get a quick fix out.

Knapsack 2.2.2 is now available on the Mac App Store and direct from our online store.

This update fixes a bad undo bug that would leave things in an unpredictable state which could lead Knapsack to freeze up. It also fixes some memory leaks that would crop up while navigating through custom trip groups.

You can read all about the details in the release notes.

Knapsack 2.2 is now available on the Mac App Store and direct from our online store.

This new version gives you the option to add photographs and other images to activities in your itinerary. Photos are copied into your trip and displayed inline with the times, names, and descriptions of all the activities in the trip.

Printing trips has been improved to use a new cleaner layout that includes the new activity photos along with all location and trip photos.

Finally, with Knapsack 2.2, you no longer have to unschedule a trip to modify the number and order of days in your trip — even if the trip is sync’d with iCal.

You can read all about the details in the release notes.

Follow Knapsack on Twitter or Facebook.

In the meantime, here’s a little peek at what’s coming in this update. Knapsack 2.2 adds support for Activity Photos. You can now add photos or other images to your trip activities along with locations and the trip summary.

Knapsack will copy the photo into your trip and will display it inline and include it when the trip is printed. Double-clicking on a photo will show you the full-sized image:

Look for the official release soon!

Apple recently announced dates for WWDC 2011 which sold out in about ten hours. With help from some friends I was able to procure tickets, a nearby affordable hotel, and free flights using miles.

I’m pretty excited about this year’s World Wide Developers Conference since I missed last year due to short notice and existing plans. With all of the new things coming in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), Apple is sure to provide tons of new information. I’m looking to be inspired as we plan for some new things coming from Outer Level.

As I was putting together my trip itinerary in Knapsack, I thought it would be fun to share it with any other developers also making the pilgrimage this year. Maybe it can save you some time when putting your plans together.

You can use File > Import Trips… to import the WWDC itinerary into Knapsack where you can customize the details for your own plans.

If you have any suggestions for activities or locations to included in the itinerary, I’d love to hear from you.

• Download Knapsack WWDC Itinerary
• Download the Knapsack Free 30 Day Trial

Knapsack 2.1.5 is out today. This update fixes issues with time zones, duplicating trips, copy & paste, and some drawing glitches along with a rare crash.

Read the full Release Notes for more details.

Use “Check for Updates” under the main Knapsack menu or download it directly.

This update has been submitted to the Mac App Store and should be available once it passes Apple’s review process.

Follow Knapsack on Twitter or Facebook.

Knapsack 2.1.4 fixes Copy & Paste for ToDo items and the “Persistent store migration failed, missing mapping model” error when trying to upgrade from Knapsack 1.1. This update also fixes several other minor issues and a rare crash during failed trip exports.

Read the full Release Notes for
more details.

Use “Check for Updates” under the main Knapsack menu or download it directly.

This update has been submitted to the Mac App Store and should be available once it passes Apple’s review process.

Follow Knapsack on Twitter or Facebook.