Acorn, one of my favourite image editors on the Mac has just hit version 3 and is available to buy from both the Mac App Store and Flying Meats own website.

Always a great alternative to Photoshop for the majority of users, version 3 introduces layer styles (something I really missed), multi-stop live gradients, rotating text and shapes, new filters plus many more features. All the existing functionality is still there, including its ability to take screen grabs and break out all of the individual windows and components into separate layers.

For anybody toying with the idea of purchasing Photoshop for the Mac, then I would strongly recommend you pop along to the Mac App Store and try Acorn first. You may be pleasantly surprised and at £17.99 you will make a massive saving as well!

Byword

Your minimalist typing interface.

Byword starts with a clean full-screen interface that lets you start typing right away—no templates to choose, no type settings to tune, no spacing to adjust. Everything is already prepared for you.

If you want a minimalist typing interface on your Mac, then Byword might be just the thing for you. It looks great and reallys offers a relaxing and clean environment in which to focus on typing and nothing else.

Available on the Mac App Store now. Find out more at their website.

Apple releases Xcode 4; free for developers, $4.99 for everyone else

by Michael Grothaus (RSS feed) on Mar 9th 2011 at 3:30PM

Apple has released Xcode 4 for free for all registered developers. The new Xcode offers a streamlined interface "that integrates UI design, coding, testing, and debugging, all within a single window." In addition the embedded Apple LLVM compiler underlines coding mistakes, much like Microsoft Word underlines spelling mistakes, as you type and can even correct your mistakes automatically.

Interestingly, Apple has also decided to sell Xcode 4 to anyone for only $4.99 through the Mac App Store. It is not clear the reasons Apple has decided to sell Xcode 4 on the Mac App Store, however it's possible they want to spur app creation for both the Mac and iOS app store for developers who normally wouldn't have access to Xcode (or indeed, even know of its existence).

Looks like Apple are making the effort to publicise XCode beyond their developer program by putting it in the Mac App Store. Seems like a good idea but I can't see how it will yield that many more developers than their existing developer programme.

One of my favourite apps Sparrow has come out of beta today and is now available for purchase on the Mac App Store.

Badged as Miminal mail for the Mac, Sparrow takes a Tweetie style interface and applies it to email. Version 1 supports Gmail and Google Apps only but the developers are already working on a 1.1 beta which will expand support to wider IMAP services.

I have been using the beta for a number of months now and have to say I love it! The minimalist approach is fantastic and keyboard shortcuts allow you to churn through your email in seconds.

A free lite version is in review at the moment and should shortly be available in the App Store but with the paid version only being just over a fiver its not going to break the bank.

I will write a wider review shortly but if you are frustrated by Apple Mail and are looking for an alternative I would recommend giving Sparrow a try.

omz:software have just launched a Mac version of their popular iOS RSS Reader NewsRack. Users can run it as a standalone application or use Google Reader as a centralised sychronisation service, similar to NetNewsWire.

Personally I am a fan of Reeder on both the Mac and iOS but if you are looking for something new, then its definitely worth taking a look at NewsRack.

Interesting discovering by TUAW that Finder now offers you a chance to find a suitable application to open an unkown file type in the Mac App Store.

Its this kind of integration that is really going to make the Mac App Store work, especially for non-techs who historically wouldn't have known how to easily resolve a problem like this.

The first Mac app I downloaded this morning after finishing the update to Mac OS X 10.6.6 was Twitter for Mac 2.0. This is the app formerly named Tweetie, and it's a free download from the Mac App Store.

I did exactly the same myself and have to admit to being slightly underwhelmed by it myself.

I was a big fan of the original Tweetie but got frustrated by the lack of updates and moved onto other clients. I'm currently using the Weet beta on my Mac, am extremely pleased with it and will be immediately purchasing a license when it hits version 1.

Personally I think the problem with Tweetie 2, or Twitter for Mac as its now called, is that while it stood still other apps overtook it and all this release has done is caught its competitors up.

Don't get me wrong this is still a fabulous application and because its free it will be first choice for many people.  You can download it from the Mac App Store right no, just remember there are other equally good options out there, especially if you are prepared to invest a few quid!