Brushes, by Steve Sprang, made headlines a few weeks ago when the cover of The New Yorker was illustrated using the iPhone app.

Unlike most other drawing and “painting” apps available for the iPhone, Brushes introduces more high-end and quality features. It doesn’t come with built-in clipart or gimmicky, fun features, but with more artist-centric capabilities.

This functionality includes a brush editor, undo and redo, eyedropper, color picker, and paint bucket. Similar to most desktop apps, the paint bucket tool fills the entire canvas, and the eyedropper tool helps select a color from the canvas. Brushes also comes with pinch and spread support for zooming in on your canvas.

The mistake that I made was assuming that better tools would produce better artistic creations. When it comes down to it, artistic talent will dictate how well a creation turns out on Brushes. This app does help the artist by introducing typical and easy-to-use tools that mimic physical art, but it doesn’t improve the user’s artistic ability.

It is my favorite illustration apps for the iPhone, and you can give it a try by downloading it for $5 from the iTunes store.

[This post originally appeared on iBAM]

In a move that many consider belated, AT&T released an iPhone application entitled AT&T myWireless mobile. The application aims at dealing with different functions of managing your AT&T account.

Previously, you had to use the full-web interface and Mobile Safari to access your account information by way of www.wireless.att.com, which was a huge pain in the neck. Now, you can view/pay your bill, view voice minutes and data usage, and add/remove/edit features on their plan.

One annoying downside to myWireless mobile is the fact that you have to re-enter your password each time you launch the application. If you’re using a secure password stored inside of 1Password, this task is not simple. Hopefully, once copy and paste becomes available, a workaround will become much simpler. Once you do get into the app, the interface is simple and intuitive and does everything you ask it to do.

myWireless mobile is not a revolutionary app, but it’s one that needs to be available on the iPhone. Plus, it’s free and a great way for any AT&T customer to see their bill, look at usage information, and edit the features of their plan.

AT&T myWireless mobile is available for free in the app store.

Photoshop is undoubtedly the most well-known image editor for both PC and Mac, yet it is often too large, expensive, and complex for the average user’s day-to-day tasks. One of the simpler and cheaper applications for the mac is Acorn from Flying Meat Software.

Acorn’s interface is composed of an editing canvas and tools box. The editing canvas will be a familiar sight to anyone who uses Photoshop, for it holds the same purpose of holding the document you’re working on. The tools box allows you to choose such functions as move, select, draw, erase, flood fill, gradient, text, shape, and choose foreground/background colors. You will also find the layers section in the tools box.

Along with the basic capabilities provided in the tools box, Acorn also allows for applying filters, colors & level adjustments, a screenshot assistant, brush designer, and many web export options. You can even build on Acorn by developing plugins using the Python and Objective-C scripting languages.

Compared to Photoshop CS4, Acorn holds its own very well. It loads faster, is quick to learn, and helps you accomplish tasks quicker. Sure, there are many functions that Acorn lacks from Photoshop or any of the other high-end editors, but in my day to day tasks, Acorn takes care of about 95% of my needs. Plus, at $50, the price can’t be beat.

If you’re considering taking the plunge to purchase Photoshop because you want to get into image editing, I’d encourage you to try out Acorn first. It’s a lot less frustrating and complicated to pick up, and it comes with a free trial. Find out more by visiting the Flying Meat website.