diff --git a/.jshintrc b/.jshintrc
index d7c6d42..aa59fbb 100644
--- a/.jshintrc
+++ b/.jshintrc
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 {
   "node": true,
   "indent": 2,
-  "es5": true,
   "expr": true,
   "globals": {
     "it": false,
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index acaa093..fd590dc 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -36,14 +36,14 @@
   ],
   "devDependencies": {
     "mocha": "~1.12.0",
-    "chai": "~1.3.0",
-    "sinon": "~1.4.2",
-    "sinon-chai": "~2.1.2",
-    "optimist": "~0.3.5",
+    "chai": "~1.7.0",
+    "sinon": "~1.7.3",
+    "sinon-chai": "~2.4.0",
+    "optimist": "~0.6.0",
     "async_bench": "~0.1.0",
     "dox-foundation": "0.4.4",
     "mosca": "git://github.com/mcollina/mosca.git",
-    "jshint": "~1.1.0",
+    "jshint": "~2.1.0",
     "js-beautify": "~0.4.2",
     "istanbul": "~0.1.40",
     "coveralls": "~2.0.16"
@@ -52,12 +52,10 @@
     "async": "~0.2.6",
     "debug": "~0.7.2",
     "node-uuid": "~1.4.0",
-    "jshint": "~1.1.0",
     "qlobber": "~0.3.0"
   },
   "optionalDependencies": {
     "redis": "~0.8.1",
-    "hiredis": "~0.1.14",
     "zmq": "~2.4.0",
     "amqp": "~0.1.4",
     "mqtt": "~0.3.1",
diff --git a/test/util_spec.js b/test/util_spec.js
index c59ea16..e1df67c 100644
--- a/test/util_spec.js
+++ b/test/util_spec.js
@@ -23,12 +23,11 @@ describe("ascoltatori.util", function() {
 
   it("should raise an exception if we try to alias something that's not a function", function() {
     var obj = {
-      a: "b"
+      a: function() {}
     };
     expect(function() {
-      util.alias("a", "c");
-    }).to.
-    throw ("'a' is not a function");
+      util.alias({}, "a", "c");
+    }).to.throw ("'a' is not a function");
   });
 
   describe("aliasAscoltatore", function() {
diff --git a/test/zeromq_ascoltatore_spec.js b/test/zeromq_ascoltatore_spec.js
index 02cb36b..92c73a0 100644
--- a/test/zeromq_ascoltatore_spec.js
+++ b/test/zeromq_ascoltatore_spec.js
@@ -11,11 +11,9 @@ describe("ascoltatori.ZeromqAscoltatore", function() {
   });
 
   afterEach(function(done) {
-    async.parallel(toClose.map(function(i) {
-      return function(cb) {
-        i.close(cb);
-      };
-    }), done);
+    async.each(toClose, function(i, cb) {
+      i.close(cb);
+    }, setImmediate.bind(null, done));
   });
 
   it("should sync two instances", function(done) {