My friend, Jerry Brace of Embraceware, has just posted a public beta of Awaken 3.0. If you haven't checked this app out yet, Awaken is basically the best alarm clock app for OS X out there, and version 3.0 really amps it up with a complete rewrite and UI overhaul.

The first thing you'll probably notice is the new icon by icon designer Jasper Hauser. It'll be familiar to Awaken users, but it's a vast improvement over the old icon in subtle ways. That's an apt description for Awaken 3's user interface improvements as well. Continue reading...

Just a week after my preview, Dave Watanabe's Xtorrent is now available publicly in public beta form. The build will expire when the beta testing period is over, and you can read some release notes on Dave's blog. If you didn't read the preview, Xtorrent is a new BitTorrent application that, among other things, features a truly beautiful UI and unique total search integration, so torrents can easily be searched for and started within the app with just a few clicks. Enjoy everyone, this is a pretty awesome app!

I've been itching to get my hands on Shiira 2 since I read the preview posted on Delusions of Grandeur a few days ago, and I'm sure you guys have too. Which is why I was psyched when a MacThemesForums member found a link to a build uploaded the 19th. Admittedly it's still pretty buggy, and the preferences are all in Japanese, but hey, whatever, I'm digging the overall slickness and cool features like the tab bar and page info inspector panel.

Enjoy this one while it lasts! (Oh, and before anyone asks, to enable these tabs, you need to turn on the status bar first, then press the little icon on the bottom right (second from the right) to show the tab bar. It was a bit buggy here, so you might have to manually expand it once you toggle it on. (Mouseover to just above the status bar until you get the drag cursor, and pull up.)

Update: New build, uploaded August 1st, can be found here!