I used MacInTouch but with that going to a sporadic schedule does anyone here know a good site to find out about new Mac independent software company applications–Adobe, Microsoft etc make sure I know about all their new releases?
Thanks
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This is pretty much exactly what our Software Watchlist provides, with a focus on apps that we use, have reviewed, see as important, or find interesting.
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Thanks for pointing out that subcategory. I never noticed it. I had checked the Categories menu, but I never saw it there. I realize now it’s on the main page, further below, fairly narrow link target.
Yeah, it’s a little tricky. We’ve always called it the Watchlist or Software Watchlist, but for the Category menu, that didn’t seem descriptive, so we switched to Mac App Updates. I mostly like the icon lists on our headline pages, since they break up the text and add color in an interesting and useful way.
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What about MacUpdate? I don’t consult it regularly, but I know that they send an update about Hook whenever we release a new update. I guess they have developed some software that notifies them of updates so they can automatically inform their readers.
Is there an RSS feed for this (maybe only for subscribers or something?)
Absolutely! All our categories have their own feeds—just append /feed/ to the URL.
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/feed/
TidBITS members get full-text feeds; the trick is to log in to our site, click the Account link at the top of the page, and then Control-click “Full-text article RSS feed” and copy the URL. Paste it into a text editor so you can see the ?memberkey= part, and copy and paste that at the end of the feed URL
It should look something like this:
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/feed/?memberkey=s7897w87sd8f7i7w3594y5
Thanks but I’m looking for new applications not updates for ones I have.
I took a quick glance at that list, thanks for mentioning it, but I didn’t see any new apps.
Is that because new apps rarely occur these days?
I’ve used MacUpdate since 1997.
I was a very happy paid member for most of those years, until they suddenly doubled their rates from $20.00 US per Year to $20.00 US per 6 Months.
Never fear – there’s still a free tier.
I just looked on Wikipedia and to my great disappointment discovered this:
In 2020, MacUpdate was acquired by Clario Tech ltd., a London-based cybersecurity company.
Since the acquisition, MacUpdate has been heavily promoting Clario products on the site including the universally panned MacKeeper.
Many of these promotions include dark and misleading patterns. Examples of this include MacKeeper continuously “trending”,[2] an “anti-virus security” scan that also downloads Clario software.[3]
I’ve never had a problem trusting MacUpdate in the past, but now…
I miss VersionTracker (before CNET bought it)…
-Chris
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No, it’s because the Watchlist is mostly designed to alert users to changes in apps they own or are considering. It’s quite unusual for an app to appear in the Watchlist without having at least been covered in TidBITS first. We’d generally be uncomfortable covering an app without having actually used it enough such that we could recommend it.
Something like MacUpdate is probably more what you want—I find that it’s too much of a firehose to be useful for my needs.
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Note that @franconi recommended MacUpdater. This is completely different from, and lacks the shady practices of, MacUpdate. It’s an excellent Mac app with free and paid options that will scan your computer and give you an overview of all updates available, with the ability to get further details and automatically update when possible.
Relevant to @trinko’s original request there is also a Discover tab that provides a Daily Mac App Updates list (you can browse back to previous days as well):
As well as several Top Apps lists and the ability to display categories of apps (Utilities, Productivity, etc.).
The MacUpdater app is really excellent, and makes it a lot easier to find information such as release notes, Apple Silicon support, etc. about apps on your computer (or not). But if you want a website to check, they also provide the daily update on their site (you can do Top Apps and filter by category on the site as well):
http://macupdater.net/app_updates/
(As a postscript, maybe this software and service would be a good subject for a TidBITS article?)
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Oops! Reading too fast. 
MacUpdater does look interesting—want to write a review of it?
What I also think is shady is that the name of the development company is Clario, which sounds suspiciously like the Apple spin off that makes FileMaker Pro, Claris. I suspect the name was chosen for this reason.
A very kind offer, but at the moment I don’t think I’d manage it time-wise. If that changes and no one else has done so, I’ll get in touch. 
I’m confused. Clario owns mackeeper, which may or may not still be shady (I haven’t bothered to keep track.) Macupdater is from corecode. As far as I know MacUpdate is still independent though I stopped using them for downloads years ago when they started adding PUPs to the install packages (I don’t know if they still do). But they’re still useful as a reference, especially for old software.
“In 2020, MacUpdate was acquired by Clario Tech ltd., a London-based cybersecurity company”
I think the whole situation is confusing.