When I founded Red Sweater Software in 1999, I picked the name “Red Sweater” because I happened to be wearing a red sweater (jumper, to you Brits) as I was thinking of a name for the company. I liked the way the words rolled off my tongue, and I knew it would lend itself to a warm, welcoming brand.

I didn’t think to check whether the domain, redsweater.com, was available.

As luck would have it, even back in 1999, before quite as many domain names were snatched up, redsweater.com was in fact already taken. An artist named Kira Nam Greene used the domain to showcase her artwork. I had to settle for red-sweater.com. “That’s red, dash sweater, dot com.” It turns out I would be saying this for the next 20+ years, while worrying and wondering whether it was ambiguous to say dash when I really meant hyphen.

I had a recurring reminder to check on the registration status for the domain, in case Ms. Greene decided to let it lapse. I also emailed her periodically, but not too often, in case she had decided she was willing to sell the domain. Understandably, she was not interested in giving it up, as it had become a central part of her own business identity.

As the years rolled by, I noticed she was using redsweater.com less and less actively, as she shifted towards her eponymous domain name. I grew increasingly optimistic that it might one day be possible to acquire the domain, but all of my inquiries were unfortunately met with apprehension.

After over 20 years of trying and failing to acquire this domain, I had stopped inquiring very often at all. It seemed hopeless. I did continue to check the name registration status whenever it came up for renewal, but the domain was always renewed. A few weeks ago I decided to make another effort, and after sending the email, I also posted this message to Twitter:

Long shot: is anybody I know acquainted with Kira Nam Greene, a New York artist? She has owned the https://t.co/vqY31F4d5L domain since before I started Red Sweater in 1998 (!). Would love to acquire the domain and maybe a personal connection would help. THanks!

— Daniel Jalkut (@danielpunkass) September 27, 2020

Alas, I didn’t hear anything back.

Then, about two weeks later, I was shocked to receive an email from Ms. Greene’s associate, indicating that they would be willing to sell me the domain. Over the following couple weeks, we exchanged details and compensation, and I am excited to share that as of this week the domain is finally mine. In fact, you’re reading this on redsweater.com. “That’s red sweater dot com”. No dash. No hyphen. #Finally.

I don’t know if the Twitter post did lead to somebody who knew her giving her a nudge, or if it’s a complete coincidence. In any case I am very excited and relieved to finally have this domain, and it gives me renewed ambition to continue growing Red Sweater into a business that honors such a canonical web presence. Thanks to Kira Nam Greene and her associate for helping me achieve this goal!

Black Ink 2.0.9 is now available on the Black Ink site and has been submitted for review on the Mac App Store.

This update addresses a crashing issue introduced by Apple in recent beta releases of macOS 11 Big Sur. If you’re testing the betas you’ll want to update to Black Ink 2.0.9 in order to continue using the app!

If you enjoy Black Ink, please consider writing a review or rating the app on the Mac App Store, spreading the word on Facebook or Twitter! Thanks for your support.

MarsEdit 4.4.3 is now available on the MarsEdit site and on the Mac App Store.

This update includes a few bug fixes and a workaround for a crashing bug that affects all users running the macOS Big Sur beta 9 update. I’ve filed a bug with Apple about the underlying cause of the crash, which is in their image-processing frameworks, but I found a workaround for MarsEdit so thought I would update it ASAP to avoid people running into the problem sooner than later.

I had some other improvements in mind for this update, and thought at first that I’d wait until they were done, but I’ve been surprised by the substantial number of crash reports I’m getting from folks who are running the macOS Beta. Hopefully Apple will fix the issue for the next beta, but just in case they don’t this should prevent a lot of users from running into the annoying crash!

Complete list of changes for this release:

• Fix a crashing bug at launch on a pre-release version of macOS
• Fix a bug that prevented categories from being added to a post on Hatena, Live Door, and other AtomPub based blogs
• Restore ability to select multiple images at once from “Published” tab of Media Manager
• Fix some bugs that could occur when attempting to publish posts with no blog added

If you enjoy MarsEdit, please consider writing a review or rating the app on the Mac App Store, spreading the word on Facebook or Twitter, and of course, writing about the app on your own blog! Thanks for your support.

FastScripts 2.8.2 is now available on the FastScripts site and on the Mac App Store.

This update addresses a few issues that have come up while testing FastScripts with the forthcoming release of macOS 11, also known by the code name “Big Sur”. The main practical update is to offer an easy way for users to restore the default color for the menu icon, since changes in macOS Big Sur might make a custom menu icon color seem less appropriate.

Complete list of changes for this release:

• Add a “Restore Default” button to Preferences for the custom menu icon color
• Update the color well in Preferences to accurately reflect the default color as it will render in the menu bar
• Fix visual glitches when running on beta releases of macOS Big Sur

If you enjoy FastScripts, please consider writing a review or rating the app on the Mac App Store, spreading the word on Facebook or Twitter! Thanks for your support.