DEVONtechnologies has released version 3.0 of its intelligent Internet research assistant DEVONagent as public beta. It comes with a reworked user interface, better browsing capabilities, new and updated plugins, and is based on a new technology foundation.
DEVONagent 3.0 supports wildcards, new advanced search operators such as "OPT," fuzzy searching, and natural phrase matching. Searches can be saved and recalled later. New scanners and plugins have been added, e.g. for Bing, the App Store, Unfolding News, or DEVONthink Pro Office. All other plugins, scanners, and pre-fab search sets have been updated.
Unsupported search engines can be added using the new Plugin Assistant. DEVONagent now also supports PDF, PostScript, OpenOffice, Oracle Open Office, RTF, and Microsoft Word documents.
In addition the integrated web browser has been improved. A new sidebar integrates the new bookmark management, search results, and objects, e.g. images or links, found and extracted from the page. Search results and tabs can be navigated using Cover Flow and the See Also drawer lists not only related pages from the search but also from the Web and from open DEVONthink Pro databases. The built-in archive and the download manager have been overhauled, too.
Finally, DEVONagent better integrates with Mac OS X 10.6 and third-party applications with extended export capabilities as well as support for Snow Leopard's Services and Growl. DEVONagent 3.0 public beta requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later and can be downloaded from http://www.devon-technologies.com .
The public beta can be used for free but expires at the end of March 2011 when it will need to be replaced by either a new public beta or the final release. DEVONagent 3.0 public beta can be test-driven for free for 60 hours of non-continuous runtime until it needs to be properly licensed. Just remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.
Users who purchased DEVONagent on or after Jan. 1, 2009, will be eligible for free upgrades. Upgrade offers will become available before the final release is published.
