That’s according to new documents released late Thursday. The new updates surrounding Mac App Store policy appeared in Apple’s News and Announcements for Apple Developers Thursday evening, in anticipation of the approaching launch of Apple’s new OS X software sales and distribution platform. The Mac App Store is expected to go live sometime in January, if Apple keeps to Steve Jobs’ stated timeline.

The new info told developers to keep demo versions of their software out of Apple’s arena:

Your website is the best place to provide demos, trial versions, or betas of your software for customers to explore. The apps you submit to be reviewed for the Mac App Store should be fully functional, retail versions of your apps.

Of course, on the iOS App Store, while the word “demo” never actually appears, publishers are free to release trial versions of their programs, most often appearing as standalone “Lite” applications. These are distributed for free, and contain a limited preview of the full version’s gameplay. Apple not allowing these types of apps on the Mac App Store could have a serious impact on sales.

Apple’s logic seems to be that if users can access demos elsewhere, it’d rather not deal with them at all. With iOS, which is a completely closed ecosystem (not counting jailbreaking), the only way for a user to download and install software is through the App Store, so Cupertino has no choice but to allow Lite editions, lest developers abandon the platform altogether.

I won’t miss trials, since I’ll track them down wherever they may reside, but I don’t think the Mac App Store isn’t designed with users like me in mind. It seems tailored toward the casual Mac owner, who would otherwise not download much or any third-party software. My worry is that without quick and easy access to demos, that crowd won’t pony up for the full versions in anywhere near the numbers they might otherwise.

How do you feel about this particular Mac App Store limitation, as both consumers and developers?

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With tools such as WordPress, Tumblr and Posterous, you might think there are already enough ways to publish content online quickly and easily. Primal, which is launching at the DEMO conference this week, thinks that it has something extra to offer. The company’s semantic tools allow publishers to create an entire site of interrelated webpages around a topic simply by typing in a few keywords. Unfortunately, the site’s service could make the growing problem of low-quality content on the web worse rather than better.

Co-founder Peter Sweeney got his start putting together websites for companies, then built a business setting up online communities and e-business sites for musicians before coming up with the idea behind Primal. “We are building Internet automation products, and this one is focused on publishers,” he said in an interview before the launch. “We want to make it so simple and easy to publish content online that anyone can do it in a matter of moments.” Other services let people create sites quickly, he said, but with Primal and its semantic tools, “they can create a whole, vibrant community around a topic.”

Publishers start with the service’s “thought networking” tools, says Sweeney, which involves typing in a series of keywords for a specific topic: for example, technology, social media, mobile, etc. The system then goes out to the web, aggregates content relating to those keywords from a variety of websites, and formats that information into a series of pages, complete with related Google ads. The service’s agents create topic sections and other navigation as well, which Sweeney calls a “lattice of ideas or thoughts to frame your work.” Users can choose the content they want, add their own thoughts or images, then publish with a single click (content can be hosted at Primal for free with advertising included, or hosted at a user’s site for a monthly fee).

While Primal’s tools are easy to use, the content that the service aggregates looks almost exactly like the auto-generated pages and websites some companies produce in an attempt to “game” the Google algorithm and generate a lot of SEO for their ads: a conglomeration of content that matches a keyword but is otherwise poorly written and badly formatted. In other words, what some call a “link farm.”

Will Primal’s tools be useful for teachers who want to create course material sites, or small businesses who want to post useful information about their fields? Possibly. But I think they’ll also be very popular with web-spam artists. For all the company’s talk about “community,” there aren’t really any tools — such as comments or voting — that would allow for true community input. Primal is backed by a group of Waterloo, Ontario-based angels, including early RIM investor Jim Estell, and is looking to raise a $10 million round of financing.

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Dynamics, a startup out of Carnegie Mellon, is coming out of stealth at the DEMO conference this week. The company, which designs chips to fit the form factor of a credit card, is starting in the U.S. market, enabling card issuers to offer credit and debit cards that can be programmed with security codes and to access multiple accounts with the press of a small button on the card. The benefit of using cards instead of phones is that they’re compatible with the 60 million-odd magnetic stripe card readers used for point-of-sale transactions at stores all over the country.

In many ways, what Dynamics does isn’t really mobile payments at all, but the company aims to compete with mobile-payment companies to be the first technology startup to take a sizable chunk of the existing payments market.

Where many mobile payments companies rely on emerging technology like near-field communications, integrate with mobile phone bills and their usurious convenience fees, or require store owners to install new reader devices, Dynamics is simpler. The company just needs to sign up card issuers, who will then roll out Dynamics’ cards to their customers.

Dynamics already has friends in the credit-card industry, with multiple stealth trials underway. It also recruited Philip Yen, former EVP of e-commerce for Visa. Dynamics CEO Jeff Mullen, an inventor-type who said he has 150 pending and awarded patents, told us he can’t talk about those ongoing deals yet, but he’s targeting the $2 trillion global payments market. “There aren’t many startups that can talk about their markets in terms of trillions,” he pointed out. He said card issuers are excited to offer Dynamics’ programmable cards as a way to attract new customers and accounts without having to “innovate” around payment contract terms, usually their only outlet.

In a way, adapting to old infrastructure seems like a safe move that could ultimately hinder Dynamics from truly shaking up the market. Bringing new merchants online (which Square and Intuit are trying to do) or helping the “unbanked” make payments using their phone bills (like many startups and carriers are trying to do) seems a bit gutsier. Mullen said that cards are just a starting form factor for Dynamics, and the company will be independent of any one infrastructure. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Penn., Dynamics has raised $5.7 million in a Series A round led by Adams Capital Management.

If you’re interested in a broader view of mobile payments, I summed up the various parts of the emerging market in a longer piece for our premium research service, GigaOM Pro: A Mobile Payments Glossary.

The section was revealed yesterday by showcasing just under 100 free-of-charge applications. Those on display include the popular game Angry Birds Lite, navigation app Geocaching Lite, and a lite version of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

The App Store has often been criticized for not offering any demos of applications, while other app stores have some sort of demo feature in place. For example, Google’s competing Android Market allows its users up to 24 hours to try the application, offering a refund policy if it’s not what the user had in mind. Microsoft has revealed that it also plans to offer users a trial period for apps when its Windows Phone 7 marketplace arrives later this year.

Apple’s introduction of this new category has been deemed an attempt to seemingly offer demos on the App Store to remain competitive with Android and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 markets. However, it’s fairly clear that this new Try Before You Buy category is nothing more than a listing. The majority of App Store users will see it for what it really is.

Does Apple even need to offer users demos of apps? The app store has been selling apps aplenty for over two years now and although a handful of users do complain, leaving bad reviews in their wake, this by no means seems to be a widespread concern for most app customers.

Of course, for those snapping up the occasional 99 cent application, a demo service doesn’t really seem justified. But when laying down $40 for the Tom Tom app, a brief sample of what the application can offer would probably be appreciated.

What are your thoughts on app trials? Would you like to see demos in the app store, or are you happy with the current setup? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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The tablet isn’t doing any of the amazing things we’ve heard about, like acting as an e-reader for a new magazine format. Instead, its user appears to be shopping for IKEA furniture or something similar. Regardless, the UI and hardware design does look like something that Apple could’ve made. Note also the tantalizing images of past Apple products in the background, including the Apple Newton.

It could be an elaborate fake, of course, and the video quality isn’t terrific, but it isn’t bad either. So far, this is the best example I’ve seen of a tablet rumor that could turn out to be solid evidence of what’s to come from the Mac maker. Thoughts?

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Twirl TV has built an interface for watching prime-time TV and sharing it with friends. It’s Boxee-like, with a focus on what it calls the “4-foot experience” of watching TV on a laptop set out in front of you.

Faculte is a dedicated web tool for making corporate video demonstrations. The company includes both production and hosting in its monthly subscription fees, starting from free up to $750 per month.

Third Iris’ VIASS system is a surveillance video camera that conserves resources by only recording when it detects motion and processing video in the cloud. Here’s a write-up on VentureBeat (which puts on DEMO).

Zorap makes online video chat rooms with media sharing. Looks like it requires a plug-in.

Hewlett-Packard launched SkyRoom, a $149 version of its fancy video conferencing software that accommodates up to three simultaneous users as well as rich media sharing. (VentureBeat)

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The idea of an App Store for the Mac is nothing new but finally, one company is transitioning the idea from a website to an actual application. Bodega, inspired by the Spanish word for “small convenience store,” is a freeware app that does just what we want: It acts as a storefront to lots of great applications for the Mac.

The storefront itself is organized much like a store, with applications represented by their icons residing on “shelves.” This is a bit of an adjustment, as immediately my instinct is to prefer something organized more like iTunes with a more minimal UI and a greater focus within each category of which apps are popular. In the interest of fairness to developers though, perhaps Bodega’s approach isn’t a bad one.

Applications are, as one would expect, grouped by different categories (audio, entertainment, etc.). At the moment, these categories are a bit sparse and slow loading, but since Bodega hasn’t reached 1.0 status yet, I’m betting that they are still working hard on performance improvements.

Similar to the App Store, each application links to a page where more details and screenshots are provided. Users can download demo versions from within the app, or buy the full version without leaving Bodega. All transactions occur through the actual developer’s website, which is just wrapped inside of the Bodega interface. It doesn’t appear that Bodega works out a percentage of profits like Apple does on the App Store, but instead Bodega allows for advertising and featured spots.

Users are free to post reviews of the application, and similar to the App Store, users must have the particular application installed on their Mac before being able to review it.

Bodega also features a universal software update mechanism, allowing apps that are available through Bodega to be updated in one central place. Missing from Apple’s own Software Update feature, this is a really useful tool and as more applications become available through Bodega, this will become even more practical.

Another useful feature of the application is that any apps purchased through Bodega can store their licensing information inside, preventing users from needing to keep up with PDF receipts or scraps of paper with serial numbers scrawled on them.

At the moment, most of the applications on Bodega are independent and smaller developers. Larger companies like EA Games, Adobe & Microsoft are missing. It will be interesting to see if any of these companies give attention to Bodega, or if Bodega will have to work to “prove” itself worthwhile first.

Usability is a huge factor that Bodega needs to focus on as it works towards its 1.0 release. The UI itself is nice, but is missing a certain shine that keeps it from being top of the line. Other nitpicks include a more consistent UI (button styles) and better integration with screenshots of applications. With next and previous buttons showing up even if there was only one screenshot, I became confused as to how many images there actually were or if the app was just being slow.

Overall, Bodega is a great application with lots of potential. I really hope to see more developers offer their titles through Bodega. Check out the free download from the Bodega website and let us know what you think.

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OS X has long been labeled the platform for “creatives,” though in recent years it’s finally becoming known for more than that. Adobe’s Creative Suite is generally regarded as the crown-jewel of digital design, and they’re priced to match.

So what if you’re a cash-strapped creative who wants to find some alternatives to Adobe’s popular suite of applications? Here’s a look at several great options that run at a mere fraction of the cost of a Creative Suite package.

Before we begin, we should identify the core applications of the Adobe Creative Suite.

• InDesign – Page and print layout
• Photoshop – Image retouching and alterations
• Illustrator – Vector graphics
• Dreamweaver – Web development editor
• Fireworks – Graphics drawing and web optimization
• Flash – Animated and programmable graphics
• Premiere – Video editing and creation
• After Effects – Motion graphics and modeling

First, the bad news. Adobe Flash is unique and proprietary enough in nature that in my hunt, no Mac alternatives were found. (Microsoft’s Silverlight may be an option, but then again, it’s an entirely different beast.) So I’m sorry to say, this post can’t help if you’ve been looking for a way to skirt the world of Adobe’s Flash editor. Also, for our purposes here, I’ve lumped Photoshop and Fireworks together, as the alternatives generally blur the lines between the two offerings.

Photoshop

I’m more of the Photoshop persuasion, so I’ll begin with viable alternatives for that application.

• Acorn
  With a minimalist interface, Acorn handles (as far as I can tell) all of the core functionality that Photoshop provides. Of course, if you’re a regular PS user, you’ll likely run into some limitations. But at only $49 it’s definitely a cheap alternative. (And if you were one of the nearly 90,000 — at the time of this writing — that took part in the Macheist bundle, you snagged it for only $39.)
• Pixelmator
  If you’re looking for a straight-up Mac-like user interface and experience, Pixelmator is the one for you. Shiny and beautiful, it too is a full-featured alternative to Photoshop, who’s layout is very similar too. Again, there are probably some short-comings for Photoshop users, but as I’ve used Pixelmator for a while, they seem to be holding their own quite well. $59 will get you a gorgeous Photoshop alternative.
• GIMP
  Standing for Gnu Image Manipulation Program, GIMP is a longtime offering that originated on Linux. It’s been ported to OS X, and runs wonderfully. The interface is different enough from Photoshop that it may take a bit of getting used to if you’re well-versed in the latter, but it’s still quite powerful and feature rich. Best of all, GIMP is free!

Illustrator

Vector based art is wicked cool, and those who are good with the tools can create incredible work with Adobe Illustrator. Happily, there are several options which are much more feasible from a cost perspective.

• Intaglio by Purgatory Design
  I haven’t used Intaglio, but the feature list looks impressive. The user interface appears to be on par with our high Mac standards as well. Priced at $89, it may seem a bit steep, but there’s a free trial to try before you buy.
• DrawIt by Bohemian Coding
  This is the first I heard about DrawIt, and I’m really impressed. Very full-featured, and a lovely UI to boot. And at only $38, this app looks to be a real steal if you’re looking to get into Vector graphics.
• Vector Designer by Tweakersoft
  I’ve used Vector Designer for a while now, and like it a lot. It’s got a very familiar interface, integrating the OS X media browser and iSight camera as well. At $69.95 it’s not the cheapest, but a great tool with a free trial.
• Lineform by Freeverse
  The Freeverse folks put out some great software, and Lineform is no departure from that tradition. I love Lineform. It’s simple yet powerful at the same time…much like yours truly… Anyway. It’s typically $79.95, but for a limited time only, use lineform30 at checkout and get it for only $49.95!
• Inkscape
  An open-source project, Inkscape can hang with the rest. It is a Unix-based application, so it will require X11 to run in the Mac environment. That’s not a deal breaker, but it’s also not a typically fun to use interface, if you’re into that sort of thing. But it is free, if you’re into that sort of thing.

InDesign

If page layout is your thing, and InDesign’s price point is out of your range, there’s not a ton of alternatives.

• Scribus
  I won’t sugarcoat it. Scribus ain’t all that pretty. And if you’re new to desktop publishing/page layout, it’s not too user-friendly. But it is in fact free, so quit your whining!
• Pages from Apple (part of the iWork suite)
  If you’ve bought a new Mac in the last year or so, chances are there was a trial of iWork already loaded, of which Pages is one of the apps. It’s Apple to the core (yeah, that pun was intended), and about as easy as it gets for great page layout work, and comes with several templates to get you started. $79 gets you the entire suite, which includes Numbers (spreadsheets) and Keynote (presentations).

Dreamweaver

It’s been over a decade since I used Dreamweaver regularly, so I realize it probably does everything including the dishes now. But there’s a plethora (and a half) of options as far as Mac-based WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are concerned. I’m only covering some of the more popular ones here, but Google it, and you’ll be busy for sometime.

• Rapidweaver by Realmac Software
  I tried Rapidweaver a while back and it was a nice app. Lots of features, and very Mac-like is design. There are plenty of themes to get you started, and development truly is rapid whether you’re new or old to HTML design. It will cost you $79 to get this rapid with your designs, though.
• iWeb by Apple (part of the iLife Suite)
  If your Mac came with iLife already installed (meaning, you bought it new), you’ve already got iWeb on your system. And it’s free — until the next upgrade comes out, at which point it’ll be $79 for the whole iLife suite. It’s typical Apple, and is super easy to use, with great results and many themes to choose from.
• NVU
  I hadn’t heard of NVU until poking around in preparation for this article. It doesn’t sport a typical Mac user interface, but it is free. Worth a try if you don’t have iLife already, I suppose.
• Coda (by Panic, $99) and Espresso (by MacRabbit, $78)
  Neither are WYSIWYG editors, but are so slick they deserve mention. You’ll need to know your way around HTML and other web coding to get the most out of them, but they can make web development a real pleasure, and are awesome-looking to boot.

Premiere

Movie editing is becoming more and more available to the masses, and I’ll argue, that it’s mostly due to Apple’s consumer-level offerings.

• iMovie by Apple (part of the iLife Suite)
  Again, part of iLife, it should already be on your Mac. As with iWeb, the upgraded suite is $79 for all five applications. iMovie is a tremendous tool, and should get any budding video editor’s creative juices flowing.
• Final Cut Express by Apple
  Upping the price point a bit, we have a serious mid-level video editor. Final Cut Express brings an interface from its big brother, Final Cut Pro, as well as many of the features. It’s a great solution if you’ve outgrown the likes of iMovie. Final Cut Express runs $199.
• Jahshaka
  This one’s an open-source offering, which means it’s free. The last software release is a few years old, so it’s hard to say how reliable and feature rich it will be in comparison to the likes of Apple’s offerings. But with a $0 price tag you may find it to your liking.

After Effects

• Blender
  I don’t have any experience with the 3D rendering world, so I can’t speak to the legitimacy of Blender as a 1-for-1 replacement of After Effects. But from what I’ve read, the features seem to cover the core functionality. Better yet, it’s free.

So there you go. Several great alternatives to paying for Adobe’s Creative Suite of applications. Ranging from free to around $100, you can pick and choose what may be most important to you. And with free trials almost across the board, you should easily find the best fit for your needs. Of course, even choosing the most expensive of the options out there, you’ll still fall well under the $1,800 price tag that Adobe asks!

And as always, if there are other alternatives that we’ve missed here, and you think they’re contenders, we’re always glad to hear from you, so please share in the comments.

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AppTheater is a new site with an interesting concept — provide videos of iPhone/iPod touch applications allowing you to thoroughly preview before you buy. Hundreds of videos are already available, and the site has a respectably wide coverage of most popular App Store games.

The creators of the site provide a little more background about the idea for the site:

How many times have you bought an app on the App Store only to regret it? AppTheater is the premiere video sharing site devoted to iPhone and iPod Touch games. We’re here to promote games and save you money — preview games before you buy them.

How Does the Site Work?

In a very similar way to YouTube, you’re able to browse videos by application category, tag, or through a search facility. Clicking on “Channels” will show all the various categories of application — at present, almost all the videos featured are games, with very few (if any) in other categories such as finance, travel and sports.

This isn’t necessarily a problem, as games are certainly the most difficult apps to appreciate without a video demo — it’s fairly obvious from screenshots how a currency converter or weather application will function when purchased. Links to various apps are included from within the interface, taking you directly to the App Store.

The more you dig down into the site, the less populated and ‘busy’ it would appear to be, with only a few members in various categories. Hopefully this will change as popularity grows and additional applications and filmed and uploaded. As with any socially orientated site, as the user base increases it will have a great deal more value.

I’ll be interested to see how AppTheater expands, and whether it becomes a useful tool for researching iPhone/iPod touch apps before purchase.

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