Through apps mostly available via the Mac App Store, you can decide which components of the software set matter most to you and build up your own custom suite over time to meet your creative needs.  Here are the best alternatives I’ve found that offer similar functionality to what is available in each of Adobe’s products.

Acrobat to SmileOnMyMac’s PDFPen ($59.99, Mac) Possibly one of the best apps on the Mac is PDFPen. Like Apple’s Preview application that comes with OS X, you can annotate and add signatures to your PDF documents. Looking beyond annotations, you can scan documents directly into PDFPen and use its OCR feature on the scanned in text to make the scanned document editable. Being able to edit a PDF document directly, not just annotate it, and saving changes to it as a PDF document is another important feature PDFPen has. Exporting the document to Microsoft Word is a recently added feature that is also very useful. There is a Pro version ($99.99, Mac) that adds the ability to create interactive PDF forms, which allows you to add text fields, check boxes and radio buttons, as well as add submit buttons to your forms.  It is also one of the few apps on this list that has an iOS companion app ($4.99 iPhone, $14.99 iPad) with which you can share your PDF files with your iPad and iPhone via iCloud.

Photoshop to Pixelmator ($14.99, Mac) By now it’s no secret that Pixelmator is one of the favorite apps on OS X for many. When you think of Photoshop, you think more than just applying filters to your images; you want to edit them. With its multilayered support, you can easily touch up and enhance your images with Pixelmator.  Many of the same tools that Photoshop users have become accustomed too are here too, like the smudge, sponge and brush tools.  Pixelmator also comes with some basic vector tools that may be all that you need from a full-featured vector editing tool like Illustrator.  For most of your day-to-day image editing needs, and at the current low price point of $15, it is hard to beat Pixelmator.

Illustrator to Indeeo’s iDraw ($24.99, Mac) If you have not worked with a true vector drawing tool then you have been missing out on being able to make some really crisp and sharp graphics. Indeeo’s iDraw comes with a decent library of shapes to choose from and supports PDF and SVG import/export.  This means that you can import professional shapes from sites like VectorStock and iStockphoto and tailor them to your needs.  For shapes that are not included in iDraw’s library, you will find the pen tool up to the task of drawing your own set of custom shapes.  The gradient editor is more than adequate and you can edit and modify your paths with ease.  About the only feature that is great to have in Illustrator is the ability to automatically trace a path around an existing graphic — an important feature if you happen to inherit a library of graphics that you need to modify and resize to a higher resolution.  iDraw also has an iOS companion app ($8.99 iPad) that can be a useful as well.

InDesign to Belight’s Swift Publisher ($19.99, Mac) When it comes to page layout editors, what you are looking for is one that comes with plenty of pre-defined templates to choose from; this one has 180 different templates.  It also has the ability to create additional templates.  With Swift Publisher, you can create professional-looking brochures, fliers and newsletters.  It has a large clip art library, many different shapes to work with and a decent layer editor that allows you to work with multiple layers within your documents.  It also has some convenient features like the ability to quickly center objects on the page with the touch of a button — something that makes Swift Publisher a better choice as a layout editor over alternatives in the App Store like Apple’s own Pages app.

Premiere to TechSmith’s Camtasia ($99.99, Mac) If you are looking for a quick and easy movie editor, then look no further than iMovie (free, Mac). If you want something a little more full-featured, then consider stepping up to Final Cut Pro X ($299.99 Mac). But if you are looking for a tool that will help you create screen captures then Camtasia is the best tool that will deliver everything you need to make a professional-looking video.  Some of the included features with Camtasia, like the tilt and restore animations, will bring a level of professionalism to your online screencasts.  Besides being a great screen-capturing tool, its included video editing tool is also easy to use.  Definitely consider this one if you are not splicing together a feature film.

Audition to Amadeus Lite ($24.99, Mac) Of course there is Garageband (free, Mac) and LogicPro ($199, Mac), but if you are looking for a something with a simpler user interface for dealing directly with an audio file, then Amadeus is what you need. Zooming in and out and scrolling through an audio file is straightforward.  It even comes with full support for Apple’s Audio Units,  plug-ins that can be used to process audio.  There is a Pro version ($59.99, Mac) that adds multi-track editing, batch processing and some audio repairing features that enable you to remove some of the background noise from your recordings. As a free alternative, you may also and to try out Audacity (free, Mac).

DreamWeaver to Realmac’s RapidWeaver ($79.99, Mac) With the dawn of technologies like WordPress, Drupal and online hosting providers like SquareSpace, the need to create a website from the ground up for many has almost become a forgotten art form.  RapidWeaver includes 45 different themes that you can use to help kickstart your website development without having to learn how to code HTML and CSS.  RapidWeaver has more of a traditional WYSIWYG document editor feel to it than a traditional HTML low-level development tool.  It really picks up where Apple’s now-abandoned iWeb application left off.  Another great alternative to consider when editing HTML and CSS files on the Mac is Tumilt’s HyperEdit ($9.99 Mac) if you are looking for an editor more appealing to developers.

Flash to Aquafadas’ MotionComposer ($149, Mac) While MotionComposer is not available on the Mac App Store, I was able to pick up a license as part of a bundle from MacUpdate and I’m glad I did. This tool brings the same animation effects that you’d get in Apple’s Keynote and helps you publish them on your website.  MotionComposer will create both Flash and HTML5 animations from the same project.  You get to decide which format you want to publish on your site.  It can also integrate your animations into your iBooks Author document.  If you are just looking to add a little animation to your website, then this is the tool to get.  An alternative to Flash in the Mac App Store that you may also want to consider is Tumult’s Hype ($59.99 Mac), it too can output your animations as HTML5.

Provided you have a clear idea of what you are looking for, shopping for individual apps may be a much more economical route to go.  There are times when you are participating as part of a creative team that you must support the input and output formats of the tools your teammates are using.  This is especially true when you must hand off your artwork to a publisher or printer that requires a specific file format. When this is the case, you must purchase the tools that your team supports.

None of these apps listed are complete replacements for such development shops, but these alternatives will get the job done in smaller or one-person creative teams.  And at these prices, each one of these great software titles are definitely worth the investment.

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The core of Riffstation is a component that lets you load an audio file, and have it scan for chords it finds in the song. Currently it’s limited to Major, Minor and 7th chords. You can then play the audio file within Riffstation and it will show you when the chord changes occur. It’s important to note that currently it only handles detecting chords, so if you want it to score an Yngwie Malmsteen solo, you’re out of luck.

Trial by fire: How it handled four songs

I gave it a mix of songs, most of them I already knew, to see how it fared.

Rockin’ in the Free World, Neil Young: This is a pretty easy song, all open chords. The main part is a E-D-C chord progression and the chorus is G-D-C. Riffstation handled this one completely accurately.

A song involving pretty girls and jewelry, ZZ Top: Again, a pretty easy song based on a E-A chug, with some  B, C# and F# thrown in as well. Again, Riffstation did an admirable job, although it temporarily thew me by referring to a C# chord as a D-flat (they’re the same chord, I just call it a C#, so it’s not inaccurate). There are a couple of ways to play the song, either with E major, or E5 chords. Naturally, it only detects the major chords, but I’ve played the song both ways depending on my moods.

White Room, Cream: This song isn’t really a fair test, since most of the song isn’t really chords, per se (for a good lesson on how to play it, I found this guy’s to be one of the better lessons). Riffstation didn’t really know what to do with the alternating major/minor chord progression in the intro, actually didn’t do a bad job with the verse chords, and did very well on the chorus. This is one of those songs I don’t think is a good song to have Riffstation detect the chords, but you can use the looping tools to help you learn difficult passages.

Wasted Years, Iron Maiden: This song shows one of the big limitations to Riffstation: while it will tell you the correct chords, it will not tell you the position they are played in. So, for Wasted Years, it did a good job on telling me the first chord is an E, it didn’t tell me that it’s played on the 7th and 9th frets; instead it showed an E chord on the 2nd frets. I’m going to repeat this several times, but while Riffstation is a great tool to help you figure out how to play songs, it is a complement to your ears; not a replacement.

Other features

Isolation: Riffstation lets you isolate the guitar tracks using the Jam Master tab. You can adjust the separation to let the guitar parts stand out as much as you want them to. I don’t like to isolate the guitars too much, since I like to hear the backbeat while I’m learning a song.

Looping: If there’s a part of a song you’re having problems with, you can select the passage in the uppermost window by clicking and dragging, clicking the loop button on the playback controls, and then hitting play. This is handy also when learning a solo. While Riffstation won’t transcribe the solo, you can loop the passage so you can figure it out by ear, or, if you have the tabs to it, while reading along. What I’ll usually do is pick a measure before where the solo actually begins and loop that with the solo.

Tempo controls: As you’d expect with a program of this nature, you can affect the tempo while the song is played back. This is very handy if there’s a passage you are struggling with, and especially useful when combined with the looping tools to repeat that troublesome passage.

Final thoughts

I think Riffstation is a fantastic tool to help musicians learn new songs. As I said, Riffstation is a complement to your ears; not a replacement. You are still going to need to listen to the songs and detect if Riffstation was correct in its analysis. The developers have said that the program is about 80 percent accurate, and I found that to be the case. However, I didn’t throw at it songs I felt it would have a problem with, like Hendrix songs. What it does do is get you in the ballpark and helps you build your ears.

What I’d love to see in future versions — other than better detection tools — is a way where it can play a version of the song based on its analysis of the song, so you can tell if it’s even close at all.

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Magic Garageband is a way within Apple’s OS X app GarageBand to specify the style of music you want to play (rock, blues, country, etc.), the key, tempo and which supporting instruments you want to jam along with.  While you can use programs like Jammit, where you can buy individual songs by selected artists to play along with, because Macs come with GarageBand already installed,  I’m highlighting this feature since you may not know about it.

Load In: Getting started with Magic GarageBand

From the start screen, select Magic GarageBand and then the style of music you want to play along to. I choose blues.

The next screen lets you customize the instruments you’ll play along with. I’m the only geetar player in this hootenanny, so I fired the other guitarists. By clicking on the bass, I can choose from a variety of bass styles. I’m a big fan of the boom-boom bass, so I chose an upright.

You’ll hear how the different instruments affect the sound of the song as you change them. Once you’re happy, click “Open in Garageband.” One of the chief problems I have with Magic GarageBand is you can’t change the key from the creation screen; you can only do it from within GarageBand proper.

To do that, go down to the LCD-looking screen at the bottom of the window. Click on the left-most icon — most likely it’ll look like a music note. You’ll get a pull down from which you’ll want to choose Project. From there, you can choose the key for your jam session. I chose D minor, because as Nigel Tufnel said, “It’s the saddest of keys.” This jam session will be part of a ballad trilogy I’m working on, as was Nigel.

Now, you can use your jam session as either a basis for a recording, or just something to loop and play along to.

Load Out: Magic GarageBand downsides

As you’ll no doubt quickly find out, Magic GarageBand haS pretty much one riff in each of the genres. While you can vary the feel of the drums, bass, and other instruments, the song will still have the same basic progression. You can’t tell it to do a I-IV-V progression in E, but with a blues vibe. It would also be nice if you could set the key from the creation screen, too, so you can hear how the song sounds in that key.

It will also be obvious when you open the Magic GarageBand project in GarageBand proper that it’s just a set of Apple loops. There’s nothing stopping you from just creating your own jam tracks with loops (I’m a huge fan of BetaMonkey’s drum loops for creating my own backing tracks), but I’m a huge fan of how easy it is to get a rhythm section up and running with Magic GarageBand. Often, when creating my own tracks with loops, I spend way too much time playing with the loops than playing my guitar.

I use Magic GarageBand as a jam tool, mainly to work on improvising and working with scales. I’ll set a key and work on the minor and pentatonic scales associated with that key. While it’s not as robust as I might like, I still use it quite a bit.

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The app, called Fantastical, is available for both the Mac ($14.99) and the iPhone ($3.99). The iOS version of the app arrived about a month ago, and received glowing reviews. Downloads spiked soon after: the iOS app managed to beat Angry Birds Star Wars for a time as Apple’s No. 1 paid iPhone app.

What makes Fantastical so instantly usable and popular is its simplicity. It makes it easier to add events to your calendar — on the Mac it’s a quick dropdown from the menu bar, and on iPhone you click a “+” button — and features a natural language parser. Put together, those features allow users to quickly type in a single box, for example, “Skype with Ian 1/17 at noon” and have the item added to your calendar for 12 p.m. on Jan. 17. That’s it. No flipping dials, hunting for the correct calendar page or setting the time as on Apple’s calendar. It’s also refreshing for a third-party app because it doesn’t try to do too much. The app only does one thing: calendaring; and it does it really well, without trying to be also a contacts repository or a task manager.

The duo behind Fantastical is Michael Simmons and Kent Sutherland. They do great work together, Sutherland told me, because in many ways they are polar opposites. Simmons is 41, lives in San Francisco’s East Bay, and has been coding, designing and marketing products at respected Mac software companies Ambrosia and Cultured Code. Sutherland is a 25-year-old Boston resident just a few years removed from getting his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in quick succession. Simmons talks a lot, and fast; Sutherland is a bit shy, and more of a listener. Simmons does the business development, marketing and design and user experience, while Sutherland does the bulk of the coding. They contract the services of Wolfgang Bartelme to build Fantastical’s graphics. Together, Simmons and Sutherland both conceptualize and very carefully choose what app project they want to tackle.

Michael Simmons

Flexibits is self-funded — and profitable — according to Simmons. They have received offers of outside investment, but he says right now “it’s not something we need.”

Fantastical is the first collaboration that made it to the App Store since Simmons pinged Sutherland and asked him if he wanted to be his partner in the company he was starting. The Mac version was well received, but the iPhone app, launched just after Thanksgiving, has drawn superlative praise. The Verge called it “the iPhone calendar app we’ve been waiting for.” Flexibits doesn’t give out download numbers or active user numbers.

Kent Sutherland

Their arrangement is a bit unusual among the hotshot iOS development teams out there, mostly for its bicoastal, multigeneration arrangement. But the pair is doing great work, mostly because of the balance they provide each other, they said.

The origin story

Simmons had been a big fan of Sutherland’s for years, he told me during a Skype session from somewhere in Italy last week. They’d become online buddies after Simmons started submitting bug reports for a piece of Mac software he found online created by Sutherland. When Simmons was ready to start his own company after leaving Cultured Code (where he worked on another beloved Mac app, Things) he asked Sutherland, who’d just recently gotten his Master’s from Cornell, to join him.

The two started tinkering with a contacts app idea, but it wasn’t until Sutherland mentioned he had a natural language parsing engine he’d worked on in school that they had a lightbulb moment for a different app.

Sutherland wasn’t decided on what to actually do with the language parsing engine. But he knew what he didn’t want: “In school there’s these cool things people work on then they get sucked into some huge enterprise ,” he told me last week. He wanted to build his idea for consumers. A small, indie dev shop, however, represented promise.

Simmons knew exactly what to do with it, he said. “I was certain calendaring was the way to go. I just knew that was the problem to solve” especially if you could make events quickly.

The Mac app came first in May 2011. The iPhone app didn’t appear until the end of 2012. The delay happened because they didn’t know how to redesign the Mac app for the iPhone in a way that was compelling enough for a smaller screen on a mobile device.

Sutherland hit on it first: the Dayticker, which is a sliding calendar bar across the top of an iPhone screen that lets users scroll quickly between days. After deciding on that angle, it took them just “a few months” to get it ready for submission to the iOS App Store.

What Flexibits can do that Apple can’t

The Dayticker, and the event entry are so simple; you wonder why Apple can’t do something like that. Sutherland believes it has to do with a different set of constraints over the Flexibits team and Apple’s developers.

“We’re not Apple. They have to make sure it’s exceedingly obvious for everyone [to use an app] and there’s a button in a visible place for everyone,” he said. “As a third-party app developer you can afford to take a few more chances and try something a bit different.”

Apple also has to make something that ships on time and that works. These guys don’t feel compelled to churn out apps or meet anyone’s deadlines. They’re far more focused on making apps that solve specific problems in daily life.

Fantastical for Mac

For them, that doesn’t necessarily mean mobile either. Mobile is the future, of course. But Sutherland likes the experience of developing for the desktop because “there’s more to think about” and complex problems to solve.

So for those waiting for Flexibits’ next release, don’t be surprised if iOS isn’t the platform they target. It could be for the Mac, or iOS or something not related to Apple too. “We are considering other platforms,” Simmons told me. “We are Apple guys for sure, but we want to make software that betters other people’s lives.”

Simmons was apologetically vague about details of the team’s next collaboration, other than a date: sometime in 2013. But their team of two (or three) could be growing soon too. While updating Fantastical Flexibits plans to to get back to the standalone contacts manager application it put on hold to build Fantastical.

“This year we’re thinking about hiring some people or working with more contractors to open up cycles to do more products,” Simmons said. “We’ll have more than the contacts and address book app this year.”

And if things keep going the way they are, there’s a good chance what they build will need strong consideration as a replacement for your default Contacts app.

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There are two OS X modeling programs I’ve become quite enamored with: AmpliTube 3 Custom Shop (free, with in-app purchases for virtual gear) and Guitar Rig 5 Pro ($199). Both can also plug in directly to GarageBand for use in recording. To access them, create a new track as a Real Instrument and choose Edit from the right-hand palette. From there, you can choose from a variety of effect sources. Choosing AmpliTube or Guitar Rig from this menu will allow GarageBand to access these programs via a plug-in.

Plugging in

Unless you have one of the new Fender Squier guitars that has a micro-USB port built in (I have one; it’s nice), you’ll need an audio interface. For these purposes, I’m a big fan of Apogee’s Jam ($99). I also found that I needed to create a separate Aggregate input in Apple’s Audio Midi setup (not the Audio Midi setup in the programs) so I could use the Jam as well as my speakers. Until I did this, I’d get input but no sound.

Guitar Rig 5

At $199, Guitar Rig 5 isn’t cheap. I also found it the more versatile of the two programs. With gobs of presets you’ll have no problems finding the sound you want. Guitar Rig has 17 amps and 27 cabinets, as well as 54 different effects that will really let you dial in your sound.

My style tends to run towards ZZ Top, rockabilly and heavy metal. There were presets available that gave me all those sounds, including a Vai-type pitch shifter sound, so I was thrilled. In some ways, I was having too much fun trying out the different presets to actually get any recording done.

It’s important to note that these amps are “emulations” of popular amps, not licensed models. For instance, The VAN 51 amp is an emulation of Peavey’s 5150 amp. This doesn’t really bother me too much since even licensed simulations are just that — simulations. Even the 6505 model on my Peavey Vypyr is a computer’s best guess of that sound. There is also a Control Room module, where you can model different microphones and their placement which adds an extra bit of customization to your sound.

Native Instruments also has an optional $500 foot controller that would make it easier to swap between presets while playing. You could also use this live, accessing Guitar Rig 5 on a Mac. It’s not farfetched for me to think about having a MacBook angled up next to my stage monitors while I use the Kontrol as my footswitch.

AmpliTube 3 Custom Shop

With AmpliTube 3, The base software is free, with a minimal amount of basic amps included. To buy more amps and effects, you can purchase credits, which can be used to acquire more virtual gear. About $40 will get you get 45 credits. Most licensed amps run about 30 credits, and effects ranging between from five credits onward. Once you’ve bought a piece of gear, you’ll run AmpliTube to use the gear. Note: If it prompts you to authorize the software, you’ll find the key on your Account page.

During my testing of these two packages, all sort of sounds and squeals were coming from studio without much mention from my girlfriend, who is also a musician. However, one strum from the Carvin V3M I bought brought a “wow, nice tone” comment. Given that she likes Carvin amps, I took this as an endorsement that their official model was pretty damn close.

The chief advantage I see that AmpliTube has over Guitar Rig is that AmpliTube has official models of Carvin, Fender, Orange, and some Marshall amps, and more. When I started an app to play my guitar through, more often than not I gravitated toward AmpliTube and that Carvin V3M amp. It’s not that Guitar Rig’s settings were bad, I just found that Carvin model to be so pleasing to my ears. So pleasing, in fact, that I’ve added a real Carvin Legacy 3 amp to my wish list.

IKMultimedia also has a generous demo period for virtual gear. You can try a piece of gear for up to two days, every two months. This really lets you compare the sounds and evaluate how well they fit into your style.

I liked the customization in AmpliTube 3/Custom Shop. You can throw amps, cabinets and effects into a preset at will. While I found it look a little longer to get a sound I liked from AmpliTube than it did with Guitar Rig, I preferred the sound I ended up with more.

How I use them

It’s impossible for me to recommend one over another. My usage so far seems to fall into this pattern: my rhythm and general practice sounds come from AmpliTube (I love the Carvin V3M and the Orange Dual Terror amps), while my lead and exotic sounds come from Guitar Rig (there’s a setting called 1993 Hot Solo Rig I use for a vague hint of David Gilmour’s Division Bell sound, as well as just a cool echoey distorted lead channel). If you can afford it, I’d suggest getting Guitar Rig 5, and about $50 worth of amps and the like from AmpliTube’s custom shop. I think this will let you get some great sounds.

With any of these programs, even if using signature gear and settings, you’re still going to sound like yourself, not a famous artist. This is true even in physical gear. My live amp has a model of Joe Satriani’s amp. When I play it, I still sound like me, but with a better tone.

I’m thrilled with these two programs. With them, I can get any sound I want, and the presets usually spark some creativity just playing riffs while randomly cycling through them.

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Create a Zombie Avatar: Make A Zombie (Free Universal). Just for the day, you can update your online avatar to something a little different, a little spookier.  While not quite a true avatar creation utility, the Make A Zombie app has plenty of different faces and combinations to choose from that are fitting for a Halloween-styled look.  There are plenty of additional theme packs available via in-app purchases if you really want to stand out.

Home Theater Scary Noises: Halloween Sound Shelf ($0.99 iPhone, Free iPad). Consider hooking up your iOS device to your home theater this year via AirPlay mirroring and produce some truly scary noises for your trick-or-treat visitors to enjoy.  With 40 different sound effects and four different background music tracks, you should be all set for the evening.  Using your iPhone as a remote, you can even time the sound effects to produce the maximum scare opportunity.

Disguise your Voice: Voices 2 ($1.99 iPhone). Nothing says Halloween like a personalized scary voice.  With 21 different voice-enhancing sound effects to choose from, you can create a personalized message for just about any occasion.  Add this to your collection of scary sound effects and you will have a haunted-sounding house.

Dress up your Fingers: FingerFace ($0.99 iPhone, $1.99 iPad). You do not have to find a costume for yourself this year — you can just disguise your fingers so nobody recognizes them.  With over 200 different faces, costumes and hair styles to choose from, you should have no problem showing off your favorite digits.

Make a Scary Face: Comic Touch ($2.99 iPhone). Creators of a favorite Mac app of mine for many years, Plasq, has developed a quick little utility for the iPhone that can distort your face in no time at all.  If you are looking for a little more control, consider stepping up to their Universal app called Comic Life.

Check for Ghosts: Ghost O Meter (Free Universal). Not to be taken too seriously, the Ghost O Meter can help you find out who has the deadliest costumes this Halloween.  If monsters are more your sort of thing, consider Monster Meter instead.  Either way, have fun deciding who is the scariest one of all.

Plan on making an impression this Halloween, and do so by learning a new trick or two with your iOS device.  It will sure to be a treat for those you share with.

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But Tapbots says it had little choice. Tapbots is just one of the developers trying to work within Twitter’s new framework that severely limits the access third-party clients like theirs have to the Twitter API. There was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth among Twitter client developers this past summer when the company announced these restrictions, which are meant to encourage the use of official Twitter apps instead of third-party clients.

Tapbots explained the $20 price tag on the app by blaming Twitter’s “token limits,” which effectively cap how many users their Mac client can have:

Once we use up the tokens granted to us by Twitter, we will no longer be able to sell the app to new users. Tapbots will continue to support Tweetbot for Mac for existing customers at that time.

This limit and our desire to continue to support the app once we sell out is why we’ve priced Tweetbot for Mac a little higher than we’d like. It’s the best thing we can do for the long term viability of the product. We know some will not be happy about Tweetbot for Mac’s pricing, but the bottom line is Twitter needs to provide us with more tokens for us to be able to sell at a lower the price.

The company’s Tweetbot app for iOS is $2.99, but the token limits are not as low for iOS apps as for Mac apps.

Tapbots is so concerned about being able to add new customers and not hit those Twitter-imposed limits that it’s even asking users who participated in the app’s beta that don’t want to use the final version to revoke access to the app so the token can be used immediately by someone else.

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When Snow Leopard came out two years after Leopard, it provided a lot of UI refinements and some important under-the-hood upgrades for developers, like full 64-bit support, Blocks in Objective-C, Grand Central Dispatch, QuickTime X, OpenCL, native Exchange support and more. Mountain Lion is a similar upgrade — it looks to improve on Lion with a lot of UI refinements and some significant changes for developers. But instead of under-the-hood improvements, the most significant changes appear to be out in the cloud this time around.

Here’s the list of changes that Apple is rolling out, and how they will affect developers:

iCloud

iCloud can store both documents and key-value pairs. The important thing to keep in mind here is that the developer is responsible for collisions and conflict resolution between different devices updating the cloud. Documents have a dialog to let users select which version of a file they want to use. If you need to merge document changes, you’re on your own. Developers will need to think really carefully about how to manage conflicts when saving to iCloud if you are syncing data between multiple devices/computers. It’s not clear yet if apps signed by the Mac developer program certs can access data stored by apps signed by the iOS developer program certs. We will have to wait and see what Apple intends here.

While Snow Leopard added Exchange, and Lion added iOS-like features, I think Mountain Lion will be remembered as the “iCloudification” of the Mac.

Game Center

Something like 25 percent of titles in the Mac App Store are games, and the percentage is also quite high on iOS. I think there is a major opportunity here for developers to port games from iOS and keep high scores, achievements and friend lists in sync. iCloud support also means keeping saved games and game states in sync across devices. I’m not sure Game Center will ever be as popular with gamers as Steam and Xbox Live, but it could be great for casual gaming. I’d love to see someone come up with Xcode achievements so I could compare KLOCs with my friends.

Developer IDs, App Signing, Gatekeeper & Sandboxing

A lot has been written about sandboxing, which is coming to the Mac App Store and Lion, in advance of Mountain Lion’s release. I don’t think I’ll try to add anything to the discussion except to point out that Gatekeeper should help to educate users on what the differences are. It appears that you’ll be able to sign your apps — and gain the increased trust of users — without having to submit to the App Store and agree to sandboxing. Of course, to use the iCloud features and other goodies like notifications, you’ll probably want to go with the App Store anyway. Overall, I think this will end up being a good thing, despite the growing pains endured during the rollout.

Ken Case of The Omni Group is optimistic about the announcements:

This seems like a very big deal to me. Partly because Gatekeeper takes a more proactive stance against malware, preventing malware developers from producing new software which infects systems rather than always retroactively tracking down the bad software and preventing it from spreading further.

But even more important to me is that while designing this feature in a post-Mac App Store world, Apple went out of their way to build a mechanism which still supports developers who distribute software through channels other than the Mac App Store. It would have been much easier for them to simply say “to get malware protection, you must use the Mac App Store; otherwise any software you use is at your own risk” — but instead they’ve introduced a new mechanism for identifying trusted developers who distribute software outside the Mac App Store’s curated experience.

Color me relieved!

Sharing

Integrating single sign-on for Twitter in iOS led to a marked increase in people signing up for Twitter accounts. Just as Twitter integration didn’t kill the sales of dedicated Twitter clients on iOS, I would expect that the market on OS X won’t be affected much. Of course, Twitter isn’t the only way to share things. Flickr, Vimeo, etc. are there as well. What I’m really curious to see is if developers will be allowed to extend the sharing sheet by registering their own apps on the system. That could be awesome.

Apple is trying to make it easy to add sharing to an app, but the real issue here is figuring out if your app needs Twitter integration or not. I’m not sure I need to tweet my word count from within BBEdit, for example, but I do like the idea of tweeting what I’m reading right from within Safari, or what I’m looking at from within iTunes or the Mac App Store. I’m hopeful about this feature, as long as developers are judicious in putting it to good use.

Notifications

I think this is one area that developers should really work to adopt. I’m curious to find out more if Apple will allow online services to send notifications to apps as you can on iOS (where Facebook sends a notification to the Facebook app, and Strategery tells you when you’ve been defeated, etc.). Because of the infrastructure needed to handle those types of notices (especially at Internet scale), I would look into Push IO and similar services to leverage so you don’t have to build it all on your own.

What Else?

I’m sure there will be much more to come as Apple makes their plans more public closer to the summer launch, but I think there is a lot of good stuff here that developers can use to improve and build on their Mac apps. I think that iCloud integration will have the biggest long-term impact on OS X, but the refinements in app signing, sharing and notifications will be important features for developers as well.

What do you think will be the biggest change to the ways you make Mac software today?

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For all the talk of social media services like Twitter and Facebook replacing RSS, I still find it to be the best way to get news quickly and efficiently, and it seems like Mac developers agree. A quick look at the Mac App Store shows quite a few RSS reader options, but here’s a look at three of the best: Reeder, NetNewsWire Lite, and Pulp.

Reeder ($9.99)

Reeder started its life as an iPhone app, got an iPad upgrade, and now finally has come to the Mac. This evolution helps explain why it looks and works like a Lion app already: It has fade-in scrollbars, multitouch gestures, and there’s even an option for monochrome sidebar icons, just like those found in the new Lion Finder.

Reeder only syncs with Google Reader, so you’ll have to set up a Google account if you want to use it. However, Reeder’s integration with Google’s web app is stellar. The keyboard shortcuts are exactly the same, and you can manage your Google subscriptions within Reeder by deleting feeds, adding new ones, or making folders. Sharing, starring, and noting articles can also be done in Reeder.

Reeder can share articles with numerous third-party services, including Twitter, Instapaper, ReadItLater, Readability, Pinboard, Delicious, and Zootool. Services can be individually disabled as desired, and you can add shortcuts for each in the toolbar.

Reeder offers a bevy of other customization options as well. You can change its appearance by choosing from two presets: one that looks like Reeder for iPhone, and another that uses standard OS X colors. These presets can be customized with a unique slider system, allowing fine-grain control over the UI. Keyboard shortcuts, multitouch gestures, and third-party services can also be customized to your heart’s content.

Reeder is a good app for power users and general users alike. It offers a lot of options, so power users can get their fix, but the interface is simple enough that new users should figure it out quickly. Since Reeder is also available for iOS, it’s a good choice for users with multiple Apple devices, since the Google Reader sync ensures your feeds and read items will be synced across platforms.

NetNewsWire Lite (Free)

Unlike newcomers Reeder and Pulp, NetNewsWire has been around since 2002, when OS X was still learning how to walk. Don’t assume that the app feels out-of-touch because it’s older, though. The latest release is a complete rewrite, and according to Brent Simmons, the developer, it’s the “best code I’ve ever done, by far.”

NetNewsWire has a more traditional interface than Reeder or Pulp, but it’s no more difficult to use, and it still looks great. It doesn’t sync with Google Reader, so all feeds are managed locally. The lack of Google sync could be a dealbreaker for some, but you can import and export your subscriptions in OPML, something Reeder can’t do.

Article Styles let you change the way articles look.

Another thing NNW has that Reeder lacks is Article Styles, which are six pre-defined CSS style-sheets that change how an article is displayed. You can customize these style-sheets, but it involves messing around in the app’s Resources folder, so it’s not exactly easy.

NNW has many limitations. It can only share articles with Twitter, Instapaper, and MarsEdit (a blogging app). It isn’t very customizable beyond moving buttons around and hiding the toolbar. It’s also 64-bit only, so it won’t run on older Macs with Core Duo processors. But if you just need a cheap, no-frills RSS reader, NetNewsWire Lite is your app. The little it does, it does well, and for free. It’s also worth pointing out that NNW is in a transition period, having been acquired by Black Pixel, and a more full-featured version should come out eventually.

Pulp ($9.99)

Pulp is relatively unknown compared to the other two apps mentioned, but it was recently featured in the Mac App Store. Rather than competing on features, Pulp’s big strength is its interface, which mimics a newspaper. It’s organized by pages and columns; each page can have multiple columns, and each column can have multiple RSS feeds.

Pulp is very easy to use, and offers a good alternative to using folders to sort content. However, the newspaper-like organization is less practical for users with lots of RSS feeds. I’ve had upwards of 4,000 unread articles in a single refresh, and the thought of trying to sort through that many with this interface is daunting.

Another unique UI element of Pulp is the Shelf, a wood-themed drawer that you can drag articles into for later reading. It isn’t going to replace Instapaper for power users, but for the average user, it works. Speaking of Instapaper, Pulp has it as an integrated service sharing option, as well as Facebook, Twitter, ReadItLater, and Readability. That’s not as many options as Reeder provides, but it should be enough to keep most users happy.

Like NetNewsWire, Pulp doesn’t sync with Google Reader, but it does have its own syncing implementation called Pulp Sync. Setup was painless, and worked as advertised on multiple Macs, even preserving my custom column configuration.

Pulp's article view wastes a lot of space.

The one thing I have to complain about in Pulp is how articles are displayed. There’s a huge chunk of wasted space devoted to displaying a reflection of the app’s main screen below the article. Clicking on the reflection brings you back to the main screen, but a simple back button would have sufficed. I’m not sure why the developer thought this was a good idea, and it’s disconcerting that it’s still there, since the app has already seen multiple updates.

Which RSS reader do you like the best? Is there one that isn’t on this list that’s better than these options? Tell us about it in the comments.

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“Sandvox 2 makes it stunningly easy to create powerful websites,” says Dan Wood. “We’ve made literally dozens of improvements to give our customers the easiest to use website building tool available on the Mac today. Sandvox 2 is far more flexible and a quantum leap forward for our customers.”

Drag-and-Drop Website Design

You can drag and drop images into place on the page and resize them directly by pulling on the corner handles. Text flow around the image and other parameters are adjusted by using the inspector, which also allows for setting up image galleries with lightbox overlays using jQuery animations. All very slick.

Sandvox 2.0 also supports a wide variety of widgets and “objects” that can be dropped into any page. Sites can easily integrate with Facebook (including Facebook Comments), Twitter, Disqus, IntenseDebate and more. YouTube videos can be embedded just by pasting the URL in the YouTube widget and you can insert Amazon product listings with images pulled directly from Amazon too. Under the hood, Sandvox 2.0 sites support HTML5 video and audio tags and jQuery. Sandvox is also smart enough to provide a Flash-based player for browsers that don’t support the <video> tag.

While the popularity of web-based content management systems is growing, Sandvox provides an excellent website creation tool for those that want deep integration with the media and other tools on their Mac. It’s a good compromise between the extremes of using a zero-install online service like Blogger.com or WordPress.com with little flexibility and the technical know-how of installing your own CMS on a hosted service where that flexibility comes with a steep learning curve. According to Wood:

Our customers don’t need to know a lick of HTML, CSS, jQuery, JavaScript, HTML5 or any other technical stuff to drag-and-drop their way to a cool website. That said, people who do know a bit of HTML can use their knowledge to build a powerful site, without being bogged down in the details of putting the whole website together.

Pricing and Availability

Sandvox 2.0 requires Mac OS X version 10.5 (Leopard) or higher and is currently available in English and French (additional languages coming soon). Sandvox is available through Karelia’s online store.

Sandvox 2.0 is regularly priced at US$77 and the upgrade price is US$47. Introductory pricing through May 20, 2011 is discounted by $10 ($67 and $37). Anyone who purchased Sandvox after January 5, 2011 is eligible to receive a free upgrade. New licenses, upgrades, household licenses and site licenses are all available directly from Karelia Software.

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