The iPhone app platform TapLynx from NetNewsWire was released yesterday, after months of anticipation. TapLynx provides you with a way to build media-rich iPhone applications without having to write any code. It's basically NetNewsWire's way of leveraging their RSS expertise along with their iPhone development skills, in the form of Brent Simmons.

Although TapLynx users don't need Cocoa knowledge, if you're a Cocoa developer you can use TapLynx to quickly add media management features to your app. In fact, NewsGator distributes TapLynx as a Software Development Kit, making its development roots fairly obvious. Beyond the ability to customize the user interface and choose the feeds you want your app to display, TapLynx offers the unique feature of being able to do remote updates to the app. This means that you can change a number of things in the app including the look-and-feel without requiring an update to be submitted to the frustratingly slow App Store.

Brent Simmons, the developer behind TapLynx, is the guy behind the perennial Mac favorite RSS reader, NetNewsWire. What many people don't know is that before he did NetNewsWire he worked at UserLand, creating tools for developers. So in some ways this is Brent returning to his roots.

[Update] As commenters have pointed out, the pricing for TapLynx is a little over the top: $3,499US for an Enterprise license, which is the only type of license they offer. That makes the news of TapLynx's release a little less interesting, in my opinion.

I have fervently wished for a desktop client to work with Google Reader for as long as Reader has been around. NewsGator finally answered my plea, announcing that NetNewsWire and the rest of the NewsGator RSS Reader Suite would be syncing solely with Google Reader after August 31, 2009. This signals an immediate move away from NewsGator Online, and the demise of the RSS feed syncing service.

NetNewsWire was a favorite of mine well before it became free software, and I'm excited to start using it again. While I've had a lot of fun tweaking my Fluid/Google Reader SSB, I miss the solid companionship of a desktop newsreader. I had originally given them up when I wanted to sync my feed-reading with my iPhone, as I wasn't thrilled with NetNewsWire on the iPhone at the time and Google Reader was the only choice left for syncing. Byline and Google's own mobile page were both top-notch, but up until today there were zero Google Reader clients (barring AIR apps ... I have my reasons) available on the Mac, so it was Fluid/Reader on the desktop. While I have the warmest of warm spots in my heart for Fluid, I'm ecstatic to have NetNewsWire back!

NetNewsWire is free, and a new beta with Google Reader sync is available for download. The updated NetNewsWire iPhone app is promised soon, but Byline will work for me right now. For current users of the NewsGator Online syncing service, detailed instructions for making the transition have been provided. You've got until August 31st to make the move and stay in sync. Lastly, if you haven't already picked a favorite stylesheet, don't miss Brockmann ... just another reason I've missed NNW!

Thanks Stephen, Barkin and everyone who sent this in!

Users of NewsGator's NetNewsWire iPhone news reader have been waiting with bated breath for the next iteration of the application, with the promise of the ability to mark news items unread and send articles to InstaPaper Instapaper, amongst other enhancements. As time has gone on, it became clear that Brent Simmons was working on other projects that are related to (but most decidedly not) the next iteration of NetNewsWire for the iPhone.

So what has been keeping him busy? As it turns out, NewsGator is rolling out an entire iPhone framework called TapLynx, which will allow its users to create content-rich topic-focused newsreader applications. The first such application, the All Things Digital iPhone app, was created by Simmons himself.

The goal of TapLynx is to offer users a framework that allows them to simply choose some images, set URLs for content feeds, and generate a media application for the iPhone without requiring any programming.

TapLynx is currently not even yet in beta, but you can sign up to get an alpha invitation on the TapLynx site.

By the way, for the NetNewsWire iPhone fans out there, it turns out that the next iteration of the app will be based on TapLynx, so even though it doesn't seem like there has been much recent movement, things are still progressing. We may even see the ability for NetNewsWire (both the Mac and iPhone versions) to synchronize with Google Reader accounts.

Google Reader is unarguably an extremely popular RSS news reader with a very good mobile interface for the iPhone. But as good as the mobile interface is, for me well done native applications will always beat an in-browser experience. A good iPhone app that synchronizes with Google Reader already exists by the name of Byline ($4.99, iTunes link), but a new one has just been released that is worth your attention.

I used Byline for a few months before finally tiring of not having the ability to unsubscribe from feeds that I'd lost interest in. In fact, I switched to NetNewsWire (free, iTunes link) on the Newsgator platform for just that reason. But this new RSS reader has come along with not only the ability to synchronize with Google Reader, but also the ability to manage my Google Reader subscriptions right on my iPhone. This new (to me, anyway) app is called Feeds ($2.99, iTunes link).

NetNewsWire was one of the first native applications on the iPhone to read RSS feeds. Today, NewsGator released some astounding statistics about their application and users. One of the announcements was that NNW on the iPhone has over 200,000 users. Some of the other interesting stats they're talking about are:

• 115,000 users have signed up for the iPhone version in the past 30-days
  
• Average NNW for iPhone users subscribe to 26 feeds (I subscribe to over 115 -- just sayin')
  
• One NNW for iPhone user subscribes to over 2,800 feeds (and how does this person read all of the newsies coming over the wire?)
  

NetNewsWire is a free application for the iPhone that can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store (iTunes link). You can celebrate with the NewsGator folks on their blog. Be sure to take part in our poll to find out how many RSS feeds you subscribe to.

Two popular Mac developers have taken the time to blog the future of their applications. First, Marco Arment has written about his plans for Instapaper for iPhone and iPod touch. If you haven't tried Instapaper yet, you're missing out. Basically, the desktop version is simply a web bookmarklet that lets you collect weblinks on a single page.

Have you found an article you'd like to read when you have some free time? Click the bookmarklet and it's added to your Instapaper page.

The iPod touch/iPhone version syncs with your links collection so you've got them on-the-go. It works wonderfully, and there's both a free version [link] and paid pro version [link] in the App Store.

In his blog post, Marco writes "...I compiled a feature list for what I want in Instapaper.app 2.0, and it's huge. It's easily 6 months of work ... But if I can pull off the product I want for 2.0, I'll really have something amazing."

Meahwhile, Brent Simmons has written about NetNewsWire, the popuar RSS reader. All four of them. "I'm working on four apps. But they're all NetNewsWire," he says. Specifically, version 1.0.9 is almost ready for the App Store [here's the current version] while 3.1.7 is under development for the Mac. At the same time, Brent is working on versions 3.2 and 4.0 for future release.

Good luck, guys! We appreciate the dedication and love your applications. Keep up the good work.

Picking my favorite iPhone apps was pretty straightforward. I went with three apps that save me time. The first one wows me because using it sort of feels like magic, and the other two are great mobile companion applications to wonderful Mac-based programs.


Shazam [iTunes link] Free

When I say using Shazam feels like magic, I'm not kidding. Shazam can listen to any music that is playing using the iPhone's microphone, and based on an acoustic fingerprint of the music can tell you the name of the song, artist, and album. It takes only seconds to listen, then a few more to look up the song and return results. Conveniently, Shazam maintains a list of songs that you've looked up (tagged, in Shazam's parlance) so that you can easily go back and follow up on the songs later. It also includes links to purchase the songs you've tagged from iTunes, as well as links to music videos for tagged songs if they exist on YouTube.

OmniFocus [iTunes link] $19.00

I have a particular preference for software that is available in desktop versions as well as mobile versions, particularly if they contain a solid synchronization function. While it can be somewhat of an acquired taste, OmniFocus on the Mac is arguably one of the most capable to-do list applications, particularly if you subscribe to the GTD methodology. Imagine my delight, then, when OmniGroup announced there would be an iPhone version of OmniFocus that synchronizes to the desktop version. What's even better is that the iPhone version isn't simply a clone of the desktop version, but includes iPhone-specific functionality such as being able to determine what context to display based on your physical location using GPS. As with all software that relies on remote synchronization, it can be a bit slow when starting up, but that's a hit you take to have the convenience of synchronization, it seems.

Evernote [iTunes link] Free

Evernote has been around for a long time as a capable Windows-based note taking product, but if ever there was an interesting story of a company re-inventing their product, this is it. Evernote in its modern capacity is a note-taking powerhouse, available on Mac, Windows, on the web, and on the mobile web. But even better, it also has an iPhone version. The beauty of Evernote is in its ability to capture various types of information easily, then make it searchable and easy to reference. Everything you store in Evernote is stored in an account for you on Evernote's servers, allowing them to apply advanced optical character recognition to your images and documents to make even non-text documents searchable. Like OmniFocus, Evernote can be a bit slow to start, and it's disappointing that Evernote's content is not stored locally on the iPhone, but is pulled down from their servers every time you access it. But for its ability to allow you to off-load important information to a secondary brain, Evernote is invaluable.


Honorable Mention

Given my attachment to synchronization apps, how can I not give a nod towards the iPhone version of NetNewsWire, which complements the entire stable of free NewsGator RSS clients, including NetNewsWire on the Mac. NNW would have made this write-up, had Steve not grabbed it first. But who can blame him?

Well, Victor took away part of my thunder with his pick of Texas Hold 'Em, but I have three other frequently-used iPhone apps in mind.

Twitterrific is my first choice. I love Twitter and formerly used the awe-inspiring Hahlo web app on my iPhone, but there's no native Hahlo app...yet. So for the time being, Twitterrific is what I use to blast my tweets out to the world. If native Hahlo ever appears, Twitterrific gets nixed immediately. So much for loyalty, eh?

My second fave is DataCase. Yeah, I've tried a bunch of the others, but DataCase is still (in my opinion) the best little app for shooting files to my iPhone and then sucking them down to another Mac. I've even had it work with Windows. The interface is not my favorite, but I can put up with a lot for functionality.

Número tres is NetNewsWire. This is the iPhone companion to NewsGator (Mac) and Feed Demon (Windows). Although NetNewsWire received low reviews in the iTunes App Store, I've found it to be very useful for my RSS needs and have no complaints. And the price is right - FREE!

App Store Links --
Twitterrific (free, US$9.99 for an ad-free version)
DataCase (US$6.99)
NetNewsWire (free)

Probably the single most used application on my Mac is NetNewsWire, and so I've been really looking forward to on the iPhone optimized version. It has now appeared and on first glance it appears that developer Brent Simmons has built yet another class leading RSS reader.

Like the desktop version NetNewsWire for iPhone (iTunes link) syncs with the Newsgator servers for your subscription list, clippings, and read/unread status. And like the desktop version it's free. However, if you're like me you're not going to want your entire feed list on your iPhone. Fortunately, there is a way to use a desktop browser interface on Newsgator.com to select only a subset of your feeds to appear on your iPhone. Brent explains how to set this up at his site.

Check out this gallery for a a quick tour of this great mobile version of NetNewsWire.

Are you so addicted to RSS, Mail, and Twitterrific that you just can't stand when your screen saver launches? Status Screen Saver might just be the screen saver for you. The awesome thing about this screen saver is that is displays your current unread Mail count, unread NetNewsWire feeds, and even unread tweets from Twitterrific. You can select a screen saver that you have installed in the Status Screen Saver options.

Even better, Status Screen Saver allows you to (with some AppleScripting) create your own "modules" which opens up unlimited possibilities to what can be shown in Status Screen Saver. So, if you use something other than the supported applications, you can (if the application is scriptable) make an AppleScript to give a number, then place it in the Screen Saver.saver/Contents/Resources/ directory.

Overall, this is a really cool screen saver which can be expanded upon by the user. You can download this free (donations accepted) screen saver by visiting the developer's website.

Here at TUAW, we rather like Brent Simmons' excellent (and now free) news-reader NetNewsWire. Not only does it make a lot of our lives easier by managing our feeds, but the syncing with NewsGator's other online and Windows desktop clients mean that we're (sadly) never far away from the news. If you too are a fan of NNW, then you'll probably want to know about the release of NetNewsWire 3.1.2, fixing (amongst other things):

• 'I-see-nothing' bug which displayed an empty window for some users
  
• Entity decoding in <link>s
  
• much more aggressive removal of read items from their folders
• a few syncing bugs

One other addition is the First-run Assistant, which will likely be seen by "[NetNewsWire] Lite users and people returning to NetNewsWire from a several-year absence." Simmons has discussed the particulars of this assistant on his own blog, and it's a fascinating read for those interested in the nuances of interface design. The update weighs in at just 5.6MB, and is available from the NewsGator site.

RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is becoming an ever more popular way to read online content quickly and without having to visit individual websites. As RSS feeds becomes more popular, so do the RSS readers that allow you to access the feeds. In my opinion, the two best RSS readers on the Mac are NetNewsWire and Vienna. Now that NetNewsWire costs the same as Vienna (i.e. nothing), what better time to take a look at what each has to offer?

Wow. I don't know who hadn't bought NetNewsWire yet, but if you haven't, consider your wait vindicated: most of Newsgator's products, including NNW, Newsgator Online, and FeedDemon (the Windows version of the popular RSS reader) have all gone free with version 3.1.

Brent Simmons, NNW's creator, is reportedly happy about the change, to say the least, and Newsgator isn't any less thrilled themselves-- they say that not only are they excited to spread the love around to everyone, but that they'll also be using "attention data" collected from the software (which hopefully sounds more ominous than it is... right?) to "deliver a better experience for everyone." Not so happy might be the folks who've paid for the products in the past-- Newsgator is offering an automatic refund to anyone who purchased them in the past 30 days, but anyone before that just has to live with the fact that they paid $30 to use the software at the time (not that it was a bad deal back then anyway). Those who subscribed to the Newsgator Online service will run out their current subscriptions, and then continue on without charge.

Version 3.1 of NetNewsWire features an updated interface with new toolbar icons, some performance and memory enhancements, and the ability to archive news items as HTML files, viewable in any browser. It is now available, for a completely free download, over on Newsgator's site.

Blogger Shawn Blanc has written an exhaustively thorough review of NewNewsWire (We interviewed Brent Simmons, author of NetNewsWire, over the summer). He begins with a description of how he first became aware of the application and goes on to describe a history of the UI, his "favorite things" about NNW and concludes with an exploration of the paid version.

Note that Shawn intends to give other popular applications, like Coda, SuperDuper! and Transmit, the same treatment. We can't wait.

Well color me surprised - after trying a few convoluted methods for exporting some of my NetNewsWire feeds in a format that Safari could import (as RSS, not HTML links to real sites), I finally realized that either Brent Simmons and/or Apple have already done some of the heavy lifting. If you toggle Safari's Show All Bookmarks view from the Bookmarks menu (or simply use ??B), you can simply drag and drop one or multiple selected feeds from NetNewsWire into Safari's bookmark editing window. Unfortunately, you can't drop a Group of feeds from NetNewsWire, but this trick should satisfy most users who need to get some feeds into Apple's browser.

When you import feeds into Safari like this, it won't recognize them as true RSS feeds (or begin downloading headlines and displaying unread counts) until you visit them at least once. After that you're all ready to roll with a few (or all?) of your favorite NetNewsWire feeds in Safari.

If you use a desktop-based RSS reader other than NetNewsWire, be sure to let us know if this same trick works for your reader.