Second Gear, a leading developer of productivity applications for Mac OS X, has announced a Halloween promotion for their flagship application Today. Through the month of October, users can pick up a license for Today for the price of $12, 20% discount off the regular price. Today makes it easy to get a one day snapshot view of your upcoming events and tasks in a compact window.

ExactCODE GmbH is proud to announce an upgrade for its award-winning software ExactScan that makes scanning faster. ExactScan now allows the use of more than 160 integrated certified drivers for document scanners without any Mac driver support from the original manufacturer, allowing users to utilize many different scanners under Mac OS X for the first time.

LateNiteSoft has just released version 1.4 of Sketches, its popular drawing app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Together with version 1.3, released two weeks ago, the updates provide significant improvements over the original 1.0 version. Notable new features over previous versions of Sketches include several new drawing options and tools. Additional clipart shapes continue to amuse and provide fun.

Freeridecoding announces BurnAgain FS 1.1, a free update to the CD/DVD multisession burning utility for Mac OS X. BurnAgain FS makes it possible to repeatedly change the content of a data CD or DVD directly in the Finder. The user can re-mount the disk like a hard drive volume and add or remove files, or even edit and change files several times. Disks burned with BurnAgain FS are readable without additional software on all platforms. Special Mac file attributes are preserved automatically.

Oryx Digital announced today that their seating planner software, PerfectTablePlan, was released recently, adding more than 30 new features and improvements. Since it’s launch in 2005, PerfectTablePlan has seated an estimated two million guests at weddings receptions and events in more than 50 countries. PerfectTablePlan continues to forge ahead with the release of version 4.

Rainmaker Research, Inc. today announced Spell Catcher X version 10.3, a major new release of the industry’s most advanced collection of writing productivity tools. Not only does Spell Catcher provide spell checking services for more than a dozen languages, but it does much more. Spell Catcher X combines world class multilingual spell checking with suite of Writing Productivity Tools.

Remarkable two-day web design conference sells out Chicago October 13-14 event and announces three locations and confirmed speakers for 2009. An Event Apart today announced three of its 2009 conference dates and locations, along with its first confirmed speakers. This conference helps web designers and developers gain a deeper understanding of web standards and emerging best practices, while offering fresh ideas and new directions in the web design industry.

infiniteNIL Software has reduced the price of its PackRat application from $24.95 to $14.95. PackRat is a Mac OS X desktop client for 37signal’s Backpack web application. In addition to enhancing Backpack’s features, Packrat allows the user to use their Backpack data when they are not connected to the internet. Once they do connect to the internet, PackRat makes sure the Backpack web application is updated with all the changes the user made while they were offline.

IGG Software has hired long-time Macintosh developer James Gillespie as Chief Architect, overseeing development of all applications at the firm. The position is new. Currently, IGG publishes applications solely for the Mac OS, including iBank 3, a leading alternative to Quicken, and iBiz 3, a time-tracking and invoicing program. All exisiting products will fall under Gillespie’s direction, as will several new projects still in development.

mamooba and Apokalypse Software Corp. have jointly announced that Apokalypse has acquired “TrackTime”, mamooba’s in-depth activity tracker for users that wish to have a sophisticated accounting of their computer – or project-based activities. Apokalypse Software reports that it will have the database of TrackTime’s registered users as part of its system within a day or two to provide current users with updated licenses that reflect the acquisition.