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achine. A better magazine.
MAY 2001 Nno.57
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No. 57. May 2001 Volume 6 Issue 5
_ highlights |
Abetter machine. A better magazine.
how to
‘96 The Survival Guitle to Broadand
The world of broadband can
be an eerie place, filled with
stories of ISP nightmares
and more decisions than
your brain can process ina
24-hour period. This month,
we take the broad out of
broadband by telling you
how to choose between DSL
and cable, pick an ISP,
tweak your connection for
faster speeds, secure your
Mac from evil outsiders, and
share your connection with
multiple machines. After
you hear our survival tales,
you'll be telling broadband —_Treehouses have come a long way in
survival tales of your own, __the last ten years.
by Dave Hamilton
| 38 Game On
If you build it, they will come. Who are they? We're not
sure. Nevertheless, we tell you how you can use Flash 5
to build your own cool-lookin’, blast-to-play games.
It’s easier than you think.
by Patrick Baggatta
= congratulation“
It's the future of third person shooters.
|
|
|
|
| 76 Print to Non-Mac
66 Land an Airplane
If you’ve been locking, loading,
shooting, and ejecting, here’s
a step-by-step guide to
bringing your bird back
down to the ground safely.
by Jenifer Morgan
Sweaty leather is not
just for musicians.
72 Fix Flaws in Any Photo
You've just taken a picture
of your friends and are
about to upload it to your
Web site when a problem
suddenly becomes
apparent. Judging by your
photo, you have singularly
ugly friends. Here’s how to
get your friends looking
their best, without taking
them in for makeup.
by Kris Fong
Printers
Typical—you get a great printer,
but instead of a USB connector it
has a monstrosity on its back that
looks a bit like a midget SCS!
connector. Here’s how to hook it
up and get printing.
by lan Sammis
REPRINTS ‘SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES
For reprints, contact RMS at 717-399-1900. Please phone customer service toll-tres at 888-771-6222,
Next week on Volume 6, Issue 5
Touched hy an ‘MacAddict (ISSN 1088-548) is published monihy by Imagine Media, inc., 150 North Hill Dr, Brisbane, CA 94005, USA. Periadical-class postage peid al
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created this products covered in MacAdtict, Ride-Aiong enciosed inthe folowing editions: AB, B, B1, B2, PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
month's cover art.
MAY/01 | MacAdaict|5
|
conien
every month
bathroom floor, it’s time to count the good things Apple’s done.
14 Letters
Telling us the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly.
18 Get info
April showers bring May flowers, which bloomed on the iMacs
introduced at Macworld Tokyo. An impromptu contest
inspired some MacAddict readers to send us iMac patterns of
their own. Plus, take a peek at the best graphics chip to date:
nVidia’s GeForce3. We put AirPort to a real-world test on the Golden
24 Scraphook
Live, up close, and with color schematic, it’s the
MPC7450 PowerPC microprocessor—the sexiest
G4 chip to date. Featuring a new on-chip L2 cache
and four independently operating AltiVec units, this
chip's so hot, it’s no wonder it needs a fan.
46 Reviews
Sex plus power plus review equals pawing the new PowerBook G4.
For the movie-minded, we take a look at Premier 6 and MovieWorks Deluxe
5. In the hardware slot, the Brother HL-1670N printer, HP’s PhotoSmart 315,
camera, lomega’s USB 250MB drive, and be
Contours Shuttle Pro receive a probing look.
Gamewise, Rogue Spear and Sin shoot it
out. Plus, BeatWare’s eZ-Motion, Griffin’s
iMic, MYOB’s AccountEdge, and much more.
64 Powerplay
\f Konoko’s getting pretty dull, you might as well take a tiny
glowing Griffin out for a spin (or at least a spin-kick). We also
got our hands on id’s Greame Devine and spill the beans on the
massive updates it has planned for the Mac version of Q3A.
78 Ask Us
It's time to lose those can’t-watch-movies-
on-the-desktop-and-all-my-MP3s-are-8-dot-
3 blues.
104 Shut Down
From Apple’s dumpsters to your
in 1, Man, | feel a
10 Editor's Note bit broken
When iMacs start looking like something you clean up off a bar’s up after that
Gate Bridge, and we tell you how to win a Tony Hawk original The G4 with
skateboard. Onward. the AltiVec
Velcro Engine,
from the id!
hox it comes
last trick.
Creatures
Now the
is the box
it stays in!
TEAM
ACTING PUBLISHER Cheryl England
EDITOR IN CHIEF David Reynolds
EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR Jenifer Morgan
SENIOR EDITORS Cathy Lu (features), fan Sammis (technology)
NEWS EDITOR Narasu Rebbapragata
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ryan Adams (reviews)
DIGITAL MEDIA EDTOR Andrew Tokuda
WEBMONSTER Niko Coucouvanis
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Raf Ancovin, Steven Anzovin,
Joseph 0. Holmes, Buz Zoller
ART
ART DIRECTOR David Ross
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Christopher Imlay
PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richard Lesovay
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Hans Hunt
ADVERTISING
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Don Kimenker
REGIONAL AD MANAGER Michelle Paredes:
‘SR, ACCOUNTS MANAGER, DIRECTSALES Ana Epstein
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Mary LaChapelle
AD COORDINATOR Matt Wheetand
CIRCULATION
SUBSCRIPTION DIRECTOR Amy Nibbi
SENIOR NEWSSTAND MANAGER Jonathan Venier
DIRECT MAIL MANAGER Melissa Richards
BILLING AND RENEWAL MANAGER Robyn Patty
FULFILLMENT MANAGER Peggy Mores
DIRECT MARKETING SPECIALIST Janet Amistoso
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IMAGINE BUSINESS DIVISION
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hands—after some sanitizing
of course (yuck!),.
passion by
We're late, we're late for a very
Important date! Blessed be The Lounge
aka The Infirmary,.a little sherry,
anyone? No? How ’bout a lot?
6| MacAdaict| MAY/01
i. |
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Untess you're planning on writing a concerto for tire
rubber, Sibelius is the last werd in music scoring.
Ws Breakout with flair!
Tan re WORT
> Diablo Dema
Ifyou still haven’t played Diabio II, what are you waiting
for? The demo, perhaps? Well, you asked for it. This
sequel to Diablo is probably one of the most addictive
games you can play on a home computer. Try your hand at
being a barbarian in a cursed world of Wendigos, Fallen
Ones, and Spike Fiends. Ifyou like the demo, you’re going to lave
the game, which includes animated cut scenes, five new character types,
multiplayer action, and a plethora of levels and quests.
“Ninety-nine percent inspiration, one percent perspiration.” That’s how the
creators of Sibelius describe their music notation software, and because they
are musicians themselves, they know what musicians want. This program is
packed with detailed features, and the score printouts are truly professional
grade. Don’t have MIDI? Don’t have any hardware synthesizers? No problem.
Sibelius can use QuickTime Instruments already installed on your Mac, and
you can compose music just by clicking and dragging. Print out professional
scores or publish them on the Internet.
Colibricks Shareware
Just another Breakout game, you might say. Oh, but this is a Breakout game
like no other. Colibricks adds a new level of excitement to the classic genre by
featuring multiple balls, non-horizontal brick patterns, collision detection (so
balls can bounce off each other), bonus prizes like lasers and extra points,
beautiful backgrounds, and stereo sound. Plus, it’s pretty dam addictive!
Adohe Photoshop 6 Tryout
Let’s face it, when it comes to working with graphics on the Mac, nothing
compares to Photoshop. It’s a standard. With version 6, you can construct
vector shapes inside the program. This powerhouse also boasts a much more
intelligent Type tool, a context-sensitive toolbar, image warping, image-slicing
for the Web, and a whole lot more! Now how much would you pay? Before you
answer that, try out the derno on The Disc.
Bonus!
Every month we put bonus materials on
The Disc for you to check out.
This Month:
'*May Nitrozac Comics.
*Pixelpalooza 2001 winners.
“REAL Sofiware’s Cubie
‘Award winners.
*An exclusive Mac Show Live
Li oo
interview with Bob Levitus,
Test drive the world’s undisputed champion ot
graphic applications.
D| MacAadict} MAY/01
author and columnist for the
Houston Chronicle and
MacCentral Web site.
What is Ice-T saying? The clip is so
funny, it really doesn’t matter. You can
also say that about the rest of the staff
Video—a collection of snippets no one
was ever meant to see, found lying
around the MacAddict offices.
Tm from Geek Culture
Headquarters: Take me
te your leader!
The Simple Way to
Access PC Networks
revolutionizes Mac-PC networking by enabling Power Mac users to connect to PC
networks and ee tesa from within the familiar Mac interface. DoubleTalk sets up quickly and easily in the Mac
environment. It automatically configures its network settings, then lets you access network resources and services
through the Chooser or Network Browser. DoubleTalk works automatically and transparently in the background,
requiring little or no user intervention,
Access file servers, transfer files from shared Windows workstations, print to networked Windows Postscript
printers, and create a peer-to-peer network with Macs and PCs with little or no help from your IT department.
Purchase Connectix DoubleTalk online from the Connectix eStore or from your favorite software retailer. For
more information, go to www.connectix.com.
‘© Copyright Connectix Corporation. Connectix and Connectix DoubleTalk are trademarks of Connectix Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders.
& Connectix
eanor s nole
Another expo, another product line.
esides torrential downpours,
a spiking natural-gas prices, and
plum trees going into full blossom,
spring marks another special occasion in
Cupertino—the introduction of an updated
line of hardware at the Tokyo Macworld Expo
show. This year, Apple showed off the nVidia
GeForce3 card, updated the G4 Cube, and
introduced two new iMac patterns, detailed
on page 18. This set of midseason tweaks to
the Macintosh line shows that Apple’s.
digital hub strategy is firmly entrenched in.
the company. (This strategy features the Mac
at the center of all kinds of electronic
devices, such as MP3 players and
camcorders.) It also happens to be the right
decision. (But if | hear the words digital hub
from one more Apple employee...) Of the
announcements Apple made this spring, the
GeForce3 revelation is probably the most
important, bui the one people are talking
about most is the look of the new iMacs.
GeForce3
Apple showed off the not-quite-released
GeForce3 card and demonstrated how this
formerly PC-only powerhouse graphics chip
is going to own the graphics market. The
kicker is that Mac users will get this ultrafast
graphics card before the PC market does.
This is an amazing coup for Mac gamers—for
one brief, shining moment, the 733MHz
Power Macintosh Gq with the GeForce3,
(you'll pay more for the card—it doesn’t
come standard) will be the best gaming
system on the planet, bar none.
This is huge news, folks, and it’s
refreshing to get something this cool before
the dark side does—proof that Apple is
making the right partnerships and bringing
the hardware and software Mac users want
and need to our market.
New Cubes
After a brief and somewhat disastrous
flirtation with treating the G4 Cube as an
alternative to the Power Macintosh G4
tower, Apple has shifted its Cube thinking to
viewing the hexahedron asa high-end
altemative to the iMac, a much more
suitable perspective. The updates to the G4
Cube include a lower price and an optional
CD-RW drive, just like in the iMac line and
low-end G4 towers. As an iMac alternative,
the Cube is going to do just fine. Now, if
Apple would only tint the plastic...
10 |MacAadict | MAY/01
The PowerBook’s not mine, the sunglasses
aren't mine, but don’t | look cool? At least
that’s what the photographer told me.
iMac Fashion
I'm not what you would call cutting edge
when it comes to fashion. | like my shirts
unstriped, my cars black, and my walls
slightly off white (maybe ecru).| am clearly
not Apple’s target audience for the new line
of iMacs. | don’t even like floral-print
bedsheets. When | saw the Flower Power and
Blue Dalmatian iMac pattems, | called my
wife into the room and we had a good laugh.
| will say that the new pattems look better in
person, and they do grow on you.
The thing about Apple’s color choices is
that while they’re sometimes risky, they're
not lightly made. Apple takes great pains
when choosing colors, and the new
patterns are no exception. What this does
indicate is that, after 11 different colors for
the iMac, Apple has largely run out of
options when it comes to pushing the hue
envelope. That is, unless the company
starts making pastel iMacs, and | don’t
think anyone is ready for that to happen
(except for the Easter bunny, and he’s not
even a citizen).
So the next logical step is patterns, and
that’s a whole different dimension of risk.
While it’s easy to hit on a few colors that a
lot of people will like, it’s much more
difficult to hit on a few patterns that will be
equally popular. This is why, don’t forget,
Apple held onto its appealing Indigo and
Graphite iMac colors. There will be iMac
designs for all, from the staid (myself
included) to the wild. And even if only three
people buy Flower Power iMacs, the mere
presence of the machines is enough to get
people talking about Apple—even if the
phrase butt ugly comes up.
Staff Rants
Chris imlay
No-Not-the-Band Associate
Art Director
Q. Whatwas your biggest
fashion faux pas ever?
A. Everyone seems to think
my trouser length comes from the time of
Noah’s ark. !’m berated for said
“shortcomings” at home and even in this
magazine. There is nothing finer than a subtle
stovepipe trou, hemmed to the ankle, One
man’s faux pas Is another's dépéche mode,
Q. Ifyou were chemically impaired, how
would you paint your iMac?
A, |t would depend upon the chemical. If!
were intoxicated, | would probably attempt te
make my iMac look like something on the
Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Andrew Tokutia
Too-Warm-on-Hot-Days Editor
Q. What was your biggest
fashion faux pas?
A. Mark Simmons—
wannabe garb with industry-standard black
T-shirt and black denim pants. Not so bad in
the office, but | get strange looks at the b
Q. Ifyou were chemically impaired, jaar
you paint your iMac?
AA. Doesn’t Kool-Aid leave your tongue
colored? Maybe | can use that.
, Ryan Adams
|. Associate Starbucks Editor
Cao
ee Q. What was your biggest
. fashion faux pas?
bara A. Inmy younger years, |
remember havinga
fascination with the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles. I’m not going to say anymore, as the
memory is painful.
Q. /fyouwere chemically impaired, how would
you paint your iMac?
(A, Whichever color my addled brain chose,
it'd be a really sloppy job—as my hands would
be shaking uncontrollably from the insane
amounts of caffeine I'd have ingested via Jolt,
coffee, and chocolate-covered espresso beans.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON LAUERJ/GHARACTERS BY OAVID “CANT ORAW" ROSS, CREATED WITH ILLUSTRATOR 9.0
@ REALbasic3
The powerful, easy-to-use tool for creating your own software for Macintosh, Mac OS X, and Windows.
Top 5 Reasons You Should Be Using REALbasic:
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Presenting the new Power Mac’ G4 — the first personal
computer that creates custom DVDs playable in
ordinary DVD players. This unprecedented feat is
made possible by two Apple breakthroughs: the aptly
named SuperDrive; an industry-first DVD-R+CD-RW drive that burns
both DVDs and CDs, Plus iDVD; Apple’ revolutionary new software
that lets you create DVD titles so simply it’s, well, revolutionary. Together
with iMovie or Final Cut Pro: (sold separately), you've got your own
Hollywood production company, And to burn your own soundtrack CDs,
there's Apple's new iTunes"— the world’s most advanced yet easiest-to-
use digital music software.
Of course, there are other significant changes on the Power Mac G4
to help you take advantage of this amazing technology. Like an NVIDIA
GeForce? MX graphics card} a dramatically faster system bus, five slots
(one super-fast AGP 4X graphics and four high-performance PCI slots),
built-in Gigabit Ethernet, plus AirPort;"* FireWire’ and USB ports.
All this is combined with a phenomenally powerful G4 processor.
With sustained speeds of up to 5.5 gigaflops (performing up to 57%
faster than the new Pentium 4°), the new Power Mac G4 has more than
enough power to burn CDs, DVDs and — oh, yeah — Pentiums.
For more information, call 1-800-MY-APPLE or visit wwwapple.com.
toburn. —
Spin your own music. ‘Tunes lets you create a digital music library right on your
Mac: Rip audio CDs, create playlists of your favorite songs, copy them into
your portable MP3 player ~ even burn your own custom CDs. And with iTunes’
‘amazingly easy-to-use interface, you can do itall without asking a teenager to
show you how,
Your movies: Now on DVD. Apple's revolutionary SuperDrive and iDVD software
letyou create and burn your own custom DVDs that play in ordinary DVD players.
Simply assemble your content from iMovie, Final Cut Pro or any QuickTime
source, Choose your own ment style, then click “Burn DVD? For even more full-
featured, professional DYDs, use Apple's DVD Studto Pro™ software (sold separately).
@ Think different:
“wnt cfu enn stucton of cried mab or mata te wer egal
permite to rradace'Stendardon tp tee modes. FP compaotty may tary, Based on Poksbp leon ava
syst sof 12/2270. 2001 dope Compute te. Alright rosea Spe the dle og, Rina Ct Pro, ier and Mar
‘re registered rademarks ard art, DHD Studio Pro, Power Mac, QuickTime and Think diferent are trademarks opie
Gomer ne Olber pdt end company nants mentioned berein ma be trademarksof air esetve compares
The cream of the crop.
WRITE TO US: MacAddict,
150 North Hill Dr, Brisbane, CA 94005
of letters @macaddict.com.
FOR CD PROBLEMS: Go to
http://support.imaginemedia.com.
FOR SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES:
Call (toll-free) 888-771-6222.
KUDOS TO MACPLAY
| picked up Sin Gold and Majesty after test-
driving the demos on The Disc (Mar/o1),
and | am very impressed. | expected low-
quality code and a rushed packaging job,
but everything about these games is top-
notch. Both games are remarkably stable,
and they come with printed manuals. This is
a testament to MacPlay’s understanding of
the Mac market and hardware. | encourage
all Mac gamers and nongamers to check out
the MacPlay releases or to at least try out
the demos on The Disc.—Adrian M.
Recently Sighted
Five-year-old Diana Maria plays Blues
Clues on a PowerBook G3 on a trip to Ft.
Lauderdale fast year before Christmas.
—Cristian David
‘My friend’s son
adopted an old
‘Apple ADB
Mouse, which
he drags around
like a pet. Now
ifonly he could
understand that
the new Pro
Mouse is not just another cool toy for him
to drag around.—Tim Fountain
ul Mecacdicl| MAY/01
It's gaming, Jim,
but not as we know It,
AN UNREAL BIAS
| felt like playing a game of StarTrek
Voyager: Elite Force, and | found out about
your game server. But why does it only
support Unreal Tournament and Quake III?
There are so many games for the Mac now,
why can’t | log into your server to play Elite
Force?—Jim Robinson
We only have one Mac on which to host
games right now, and Unreal Tournament
seems to be the overwhelming favorite. If we
want to host Elite Force, then we have to
stop hosting Unreal Tournament. We're still
talking about working other games into the
rotation.—Ed.
WHATEVER WORKS
Hi. 'm not a Mac user, but | recently
purchased a copy of MacAddict because
Nitrozac, creator of the Joy of Tech and After
Y2K comic series at www.geekculture.com,
was on The Disc. Even though | had to find a
Mac to access it, the bonus stuff on The
Disc was great.—john
Nitrozac and Geek Culture have been on The
Disc every month since December 2000, so
keep reading, and get a Mac.—Ed.
BE CAREFUL WHAT WE ASK FOR
in your article “Cordless Keyboard
Conundrum,” Get Info, Mar/o1, p15), you
asked what users could see while 25 feet
away from a 27-inch monitor, typing via a
cordless keyboard. You are obviously
missing the big picture. | work at an ad
agency where we project our computers
onto a 72-inch screen in a presentation
room. Currently, we run a 30-foot ADB
homemade cable from the control room to
the presentation room in cases when the
presenter needs to control the computer.
Wireless would be a much better option.
—Bruce Smith (not the football player)
WHERE’S THE LOVE, DAMMIT?
As |was reading the article “Size Matters:
Balancing MP3 Size with Quality,”
(Get Info, Feb/o1, p15), | noticed your
“sloppy playing” comment regarding Led
Zeppelin’s song “Black Dog.” | am only
17 years old, but | would have thought
someone like David Reynolds would have
stuck up for his music a little more. He’s
just about got the hippy look down.
—Andrew Van Sickle
Now, now, let’s not play into stereotypes,
Notall long-haired men with peaceful
expressions on their faces are hippies,
including David Reynolds.—Ed.
23 GAMES FOR NONGAMERS
| loved the article “2o Games for
Nongamers” (Mar/o1, p4o). | love games,
but | won’t put up with frustrating controls
and a lack of save points that only serve
to suck the fun out of a game. Give mea
little flat bar and a bouncing ball over
commando-style weaponry any day. |
agreed with your game selection and have
played most of them, but | wanted to add
three more: Snood, Barrack, and Spectre.
These games are good for passing five
minutes at work or five hours of insomniac
hell.—jennifer Barnes
GAME OVER
You made a goof (albeit, a tiny one) in
the article “20 Games for Nongamers”
(Mar/o1, p4o). You mentioned a game
called Tetris Max, available from
www.download.com. Sorry! It just ain’t so.
The authors of the game have discontinued
it due to a copyright infringement from the
Daddy War Lords of Tetris. If you have a
copy on your computer, you are supposed
to delete it or the Tetris police will come
after you.—Dave Taverner
ILLUSTRATION BY DAVIO “LET ME RANGE” ROSS
TALK TO THE PALM
Excuse me? Is the title of this magazine
MacAddict or PalmAddict? | subscribe to
MacAddict because | am interested in
reading articles by, for, and about Mac users.
Palm Pilots? Get real. The article “Pack Your
Palm” (Mar/o1, p34) is just as bad as the
photo layout piece “Look and Feel” (Jan/o1,
p24). Get off your lazy asses, and quit
making it look like lan Sammis and David
Reynolds are the only ones who know how to
write something useful.—inthematrix
AVOID THE PATH OF LEAST
RESISTANCE
(noticed a mistake in the article “Light up
Your FireWire” (Feb/o1, p78). lan Sammis
recommended using 470 kilo ohm and 1 kilo
ohm resistors; however, the color codes
given for those resistors are for 4.7 kilo
ohm and 20 kilo ohm resistors. Since those
values are higher than what lan stated in the
article, this should not be a problem except
that the LED might not light up However,
if these values were lower than what lan
recommended, it could have damaged the
FireWire bus if no fuse was used in the
project.—Sylvain Lareau
We apologize for the mistake—the resistors
should indeed have been yellow, purple, and
brown; and brown, black, red—not the colors
Specified in step three of the article. We’re
glad the mistake was in the direction of
higher resistance, too; but since this was
purely happenstance, we aren’t exactly proud
of ourselves.—Ed.
AN ENTREPRENEURIAL
OPPORTUNITY
Since the release of the Titanium PowerBook
G4 and the 733MHz Gq tower, the Dual
Processor G4s have gotten less attention.
| was wondering if | could become a
processor donor. (I’m also available for
kidney transplants.) Maybe | could sell the
kidney, | mean processor, on eBay so | can
buy a new 733MHz SuperDrive G4.—Jax
OH NO, CALL THE POLICE
| love my Mac. | love using it and learning
how it works, and sometimes | contemplate
voiding my warranty to try out the staff's
The Revenge of lan’s Desk
goofy ideas. However, | just can’t understand
the fascination you guys have with listening
to a celebrity tell his personal Mac story
(Get Info, Mar/o1, p16). In case my plea falls
on deaf ears, maybe you could spend some
time tracking down the guys who used to
jam with Sting in The Police. | bet they’re not
too busy to take your call.—Dave Traversi
LOOK, BUT DON’T TOUCH
Are the pictures of those sleek computer
close-ups (“Look and Feel,” Jan/o1, p24)
accessible on the Web site?—Mike
We do not own the rights to those
photographs, so we cannot distribute
them on the Web or on The Disc.—Ed.
YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE
| just love articles like “Light up Your
FireWire” (Feb/o1, p78). It fills me with
optimism to know that jobs exist where a
guy like lan Sammis can get paid to muck
around with bits of junk to make another
bit of cool junk. It’s great that space exists
in society for such creative insanity.
—Eleanor Deakin
he staff video on The Disc (Mar/o1) showed the evil higher-ups
forcing lan Sammis to clean his desk. Never did we predict that
a routine spring cleaning would cause such an uproar. But packrats
BEFORE
ECO-CHALLENGED?
The staff video about cleaning up lan’s desk
was a bit disturbing. Don’t you people
recycle? Everything was just dumped into
garbage cans and stomped on. | would hope
your staff is environmentally concerned and
separates recyclables. Please tell me I’m
wrong and you didn’t just send all that paper
and cardboard to the landfill.—Paul Barker
Yes, we do recycle. We threw everything into
one bin for dramatic effect in the video. Not
everything from that can went into the trash.
Don't believe everything you see in the
movies.—Ed.
fan’s desk.
The slope of these books increases
as it slowly slips away from its
neat arrangement.
At least his computer
remains visible.
Overall, while the density of clutter
has decreased, the volume of each
item of clutter has increased.
WHO'S THAT MAC?
1s this a PowerBook or another Mac
portable? | must know!—Sean Dooley
The item in question is a defunct PowerBook
190. Despite large cracks in the casing, lan
did not throw it away.—Ed.
tejoice—his desk regained its usual tenor of clutter in about one
month. Here we not-so-scientifically analyzed the reclutterization of
AREY —
GOODWILL DUMPING
While | very much applaud the efforts to
clean overloaded desks, | was terribly
disappointed to see you throw away still
sealed up boxes of software. Couldn’t a
single person there have suggested
donating the software (especially the
educational programs like the Blaster
series) to a school, a community
organization, or a charity such as
Goodwill?—Jeff Driscoll
MacAddict either donates unused
"software or returns it to the software’s
manufacturer.—Ed.
MAY/O1 |MacAadict |15
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Qe up your life,
The Pattern Familias
Questionable Kitsch Overshadows
Improvements in New iMac Family
e knew it had to happen someday. How long could
W Steve Jobs call assorted computer sundries lickable
before some hapless Apple designer put his tongue to
something he probably shouldn’t have? Well, pity the Apple-ite with
the overzealous taste buds—we can’t offer any other plausible
explanation for the patterns on the new iMacs.
Ifyou’ve been gtiping that the Mac’s Ruby, Tangerine, and Key
Lime colors are far too corporate and stodgy, your mutterings have
finally been heard. Alongside Indigo and Graphite (which Apple has
retained, thankfully), Apple has added two new, “fun” colors:
Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian. If you’ve only seen the new
machines in photos, you haven’t seen them at all. The trademark
iMac translucency adds a strange, ethereal quality to both patterns.
Flower Power, for example, looks suspiciously like the psychedelic
shimmering cloud that imprisoned Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek.
Style issues aside, the substantive revisions to the iMacs are
welcome. Apple has abandoned the feeble, underpowered $799
iMac and replaced it with an $899 machine that has the full
complement of FireWire ports, AirPort antenna, and VGA video
mirroring. The higher-end iMacs sport a modified Rage 128 (the
Rage 128 Ultra) with a full 16MB of VRAM that should raise the
iMac’s gaming performance out of its current lackluster levels. The
highest-end machine ($1,499) sports a 30GB drive and a full 128MB
of SDRAM. The line—all G3s—now runs from 400MiZ at the low end
to 600MHz at the high end (Apple stilt isn’t putting its hottest chip
Into the convection-cooled case).
And there’s one more monumental change: DVD is out, CD-RW
is in. Apple decided to substitute an 8X4X24X CD-RW drive in all but
the 4ooMHz models (which will still have the slot-loading CD-ROM
drives). You can’t even get DVD as a build-to-order option. On the
plus side, buming CDs is now as easy on an iMac as on the new G4
towers—just slap your songs into iTunes, throw a blank CD-R into
the drive, and bum away. What’s more, data CDs are just as easy to
bum. When you insert blank CD media, the system presents a disk
image that you can fill, then bum to the disc.
hen last we reviewed the iMac (Reviews, Nov/oo, p4g),
lamented its atrocious gaming performance, di é
IB of VRAM attached to its Rage 128 Pro graphi
wand almost unmentioned chip, the Rage 128
| Ultra, has put an end to this problem for all but the lowest-end
_ iMac users. :
___ The iMac’s design imposes tight space and thermal
| constraints. Without a fan, it has to dissipate all the heat from.
"I | MAY/01
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF APPLE COMPUTER.
Apple's
muted floral
bouquet reminds us of
a Laura Ashley bedsheet.
In other news, the Cube received a facelift as well, but
fortunately this one stays strictly within the 8-inch enclosure. Cubes
now ship with CD-RW drives, although you can switch to DVD if you
build one to order. The Cubes now ship at 450MHz and 500MHz
and include a software bundle like the one that ships with the iMac.
Previously, Cubes shipped with only the meager software bundle
that comes with the Gq towers.
{fyou can stomach the new iMac colors (and honestly, they’re
not as bad in person as they appear in photos),you'll find that the
other revisions maintain the iMacs’ trademark mix of reasonable
power at a reasonable price. But don’t wony—no one is going to
force floral madness down your throat. All feature options come in
either Graphite or Indigo. Watch for a review of the new iMac ina
future issue of MacAddict.—IS
Powered Flowers
Tech Specs for the New iMac Line
Model iMac (400MH2) | iMac (500MHz) iMac Special Edition
Price $899 $1,199 $1,499
Colors Indigo {ndigo, lower Power, | Graphite, Hower
Bive Dalmatian Power, Blue Dalmatian
Processor 400NHz G3 S00MHz G3. 6Q0MHz G3
Level 2 Cache | 512K at 160MHz | 256K at 500MHz 256K at 600MHz.
Memory 64MB 64MB 128MB
Hard Disk 10GB 20GB 40GB
Optical Drive | CD-ROM ‘8X4X24X CD-RW 8X4X24X CD-RW
Graphics age 128 Pro Rage 128 Ultra. Rage 128 Ultra
(GMB of SDRAM) | (16MB of SDRAM) | (16MB of SDRAM)
both a motherboard and CRT by convection alone. The version of
the Rage 128 Pro that supported 26MB of VRAM simply won't fit
onto the motherboard without pushing up temperatures into the
danger zone. Fortunately for iMac gamers, ATI shrunk the die size
of their chip, creating the leaner, meaner, and (most importantly)
cooler Rage 128 Ultra. While the chip is no GeForce3, it gets you
playing most games smoothly and frees you from the stuttering
performance of previous iMacs.—/S :
The Power to Change
W: challenged MacAddict's readers to design their own iMac pattems
and submit their entries at MacAddict.com. Here we've printed the
best of what you created. See the rest in the Reader Art Gallery at
www.macaddict.com/community/artgallery.—NR
Best Design—Winner
HotWheels iMac.
by Snaggy and Nitrozac:
This one was Submitted by the creators of
the Joy of Tech comic series, which you can
view at www.geekculture.com/joyoftech.
Give it some wheels and aftermarket ‘ue
whoa, baby!
Best Design—Runner-up
Water-Cooled iMac
by Frangols Dubeau
This iMac’s transiucent water tank does
double duty asa fish tank and giant heat
sink for the processor. just fill the tank with
tropical fish and the processor's heat will
warm the water. Still no fan, butyou’ll need a
gentle air pump so the fish don’t suffocate,
Best Concept
‘The iMac LS (Little Steven)
by Rob Cottingham
The luxurious, understated comfort of
tibbed turtleneck fabric on top, the rough-
and-tumble excitement of denim on the
bottom—ail encased in durable, crack-free
Lucite. Comes compiete with a scale-model
Gulfstream V.
Best AntiMac
Biomechanical Beastie
hy Andrew Lenzer
The new designs coming out of Cupertino
2, but a bit too cutesy for this reader,
0 he opted for a motif designed by Swiss
surrealist H. R. Giger. Even if you've never
heard of Giger, you've probably seen his
sci-fi creations in Ridley Scott’s 1979 movie
Alien, starring Sigoumey Weaver.
Microsoft's Legal Department
iMac Special “Bill in a Box” Edition
by Nathan Cross
Spend your days happily computing on your
iMac, | knowing that all the while Bill Gates Js
eu inside ‘where he can dono harm to”
Best Chance of Receiving a Call from
The GeSpot
Top-or-the-Line GeForce3 Spells
Pure Pleasure for Mac Gamers
ard-core gamers are no doubt squirming and
fielding unchaste dreams in anticipation of the
best 3D graphics processing unit (GPU) the Mac has ever
seen: nVidia’s GeForce3. This highly advanced chip wil!
be ayailable this spring as a huilt-to-order option on
Power Mac Gg towers.
Let us bombard you with impressively large numbers.
The GeForce3 features more than 57 million transistors. It
can perform more than 800 billion operations per
second and 76 billion floating-point operations per
second. It offers you a fill rate of 3.2 billion antialiased
samples per second—four times as powerful as nVidia’s
current GeForcez chip. In this GPU, nVidia breaks the
magic million target with its ability to manipulate up to
1.3 million pixels at once. Then there are the frame
rates—even at high resolutions, you'll see rates around
60 fps in popular games like Quake Ill: Arena.
So what do all these big figures add up ta? The best
Mac gaming experience out there, The organic forms and
complex lighting make 3D objects look more realistic.
The chip’s nfiniteFX Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader give
developers greater control over graphic details like facial
wrinkles, beard stubble, and ultrarealistic color maps.
You will also see more-fiuid motion with nVidia’s new
antialiasing mode. With seamless landscapes,
reflections on water, billowing fields of flowers, and
flowing streams, the GeForce3 achieves graphic nuances
that will appeal even to nongamers.
In addition, the GeForce3 (and GeForce2) chip has a
high-definition video processor, which—combined with a
digital television receiver—puts the possibility of viewing
HDTV content on the horizon.
The catch? You'|l pay forall this graphic ecstasy:
$350 to upgrade from the GeForce2, $450 to upgrade
from ATl’s Rage 128 Pro, and $599 for a stand-alone card
(sold by Apple) for G4s with 4X AGP slots. While there’s
been talk of third-party card manufacturers offering the
GeForce3, no concrete information was available at
press time.
lf you’ve got the cash, this is one card
you'll want to check out.—NR-
Let GeForce
be with you.
MAY/01 | MacAddict }19
{
get info
firoolworthy
CMP4120HDU Plasma Display
Hitachi |www.hitachi.com |$9,995
aving plasma in your own home is worth $10,000, but harnessing
the power of that plasma to show Space Ghost Coast to Coastin full
42-inch glory is a bargain at twice the price.
The Hitachi CMP4120HDU high-definition plasma monitor brings you
this luxury. Weighing in at over 73 pounds, it’s the perfect monitor for Mac
owners with lots of cash to bum and an insatiable need to see their
desktop patterns at really big sizes. The CMP4120HDU has two analog
RGB inputs, two composite video inputs, four audio inputs, and a place to
plug in a special control box. It has speaker output ports so you can blast
out your neighbors with Dobie Gillis reruns. Finally, the CMP420HDU is
ready for HDTV—when that technology finally arrives.—DR
2
If you've got an extra $10,000 kicking around, the most realistic image of Space Ghost can be yours.
VS-10 CineStation
Yamaha | www.yamaha.com |§499
Your best bet for audio quality is the new VS-10
CinemaStation from Yamaha. Plug in your PowerBook (or
another home entertainment device such as the Sony
PlayStation 2) and you'll experience audio like you never
thought you'd hear it at home. With Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1
decoders, as well as two optical digital inputs and three AV
inputs, you'll be in the pit with Russell Crowe.—DR
magine coming home from a hard day's work with your
PowerBook G4 and a fresh copy of Gladiator on DVD.
While connecting a G4 to your TV to play your DVD gives
great video, your choices for audio output blow. Most
televisions don’t take advantage of DVD audio quality. As
for your PowerBook’s speakers—well, you’re best off
turning them off.
A receiver and speakers—
what else could you want?
Oh yeah, a DVD player.
Shareware Pick of the Month
A here are those who say that breakout, the classic pound-the-wall-
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF YAMAHA
PRICE: $61 URL: http://nav.to/colibricks
with-a-ball game, has been done to death. These people clearly
haven't played Colibricks.
Colibricks {n Colibricks, you bat a ball at a series of bricks arranged in fans, smiley
114.06 faces, and other creative pattems. These are no ordinary bricks. Some
move, while others contain surprises (multiple balls, bonus points, lasers,
and other goodies). Some of the goodies aren’t so good—sometimes they
haWe your points. To find out what each brick does, you can activate
balloon help and roll the cursor over bricks. To keep things interesting,
Colibricks uses a decent physics model: When balls hit each other, they
actually careen around onscreen—good luck tracking them.
Ifyou enjoy breakout-style games, you're going to lave Colibricks. The ‘
demo has 6 levels, and registering unlocks 44 more.—DR Break away from run-of-the-mill breakout games.
20 MacAdaict MAY/01
Putting AirPort to the Ideal Test
ust how far can you go with an AirPort wireless network connection? Apple says a Mac with an
AirPort card can maintain a 150-foot distance from its AirPort Base Station. D-Link, the company
that makes the DWL-1000 AP Wireless Access Point, says you can achieve a 980-foot outdoor distance
from the access point (the generic name for a Base Station). However, these estimates assume real-
world conditions, such as crowded office environments.
But what happens in ideal conditions? With an unblocked, line-of-sight signal, how far away can you
locate the access point from an iBook and still maintain a network connection? To find out, we hooked
up a D-Link DWL-1000 AP Wireless Access Point to the roof of a car parked at Fort Point, just beneath
one end of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. We powered the access point with a voltage inverter
(plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter) to convert the car’s 12V direct-current signal into 10V—enough
to power most electronic devices. We then walked along the bridge with our iBook and occasionally held
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON LAUER
it above the railing to see if we could connect to the access point. Here are the results.—/S tan Sammis gives AirPort new meaning.
Connection Starts to Fatter Pointing Becomes Crucial
AtD-Link’s nominal (listed) outdoor range of At twice the nominal range, simply holding the iBook
980 feet, connectivity started to depend upon away from the metal railing was no longer enough to
holding the iBook above the bridge’s railing maintain a connection. We had to point the iBook’s
to avoid interference from the metal rail. screen very carefully at the access point.
Beyond this distance, no amount of careful pointing was sufficient to establish
‘connection with the access point. Ah, well—we established a network
connection at almost two and a half times the listed 980-foot distance. Not
half bad—although we had hopes of playing Quake-across the channel.
ger!
Scripter’s Corner
Win an Autographed Skateboard from Tony Hawk
@ lie up. Whether you skate a rail, ramp, or joystick, you're probably
“* “stoked about Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 forthe Mac. To celebrate the
game's release, Aspyr Media—in collaboration with MacAddict—is giving
away one original, autographed Tony Hawk skateboard and three copies of
the game. All you have to do is guess the names of the games in which these
skating fools appear.
mai
’ TONY) HAWK'S
PRO’ SKATER,
CONTEST RULES
© For each of the three characters, write down the game they're in and email
your response to contest@macaddict.com with “skateboard contest” as. the
subject line.
* ifyou’re submitting your entry via snail mail (no calls, please), send it to:
MacAddict
Attn: skateboard contest
150 North Hill Dr.
Brisbane, CA 94005
‘* We'll randomly draw one name from the pool of correct responses to win the
skateboard, and then draw three runner-up names to win copies of Aspyr’s
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2. We must receive all entries by May 31, 2001, and we'll
announce the winners in the September 2001 issue of MacAddict.—NR
22| MacAadict| MAY/O1
Folder Actions
oO ne of the niftiest AppleScript tricks of recent times is
the Folder Action, which can make the system jump
through hoops in ways itwas never designed to do.
Afolder Action is simply a script that triggers when you
act upon a folder—for example, when you open or close a
folder, modify its contents, or move the folder’s window.
These scripts do have one irritating restriction: Only
changes visible in the Finder can trigger them. Adding files
toa closed folder won’t trigger a Folder Action, because
nothing has visibly happened in the folder.
To write a Folder Action, you'll need to enclose a
traditional script in an event handler. An event handler has
the following form, in which eventis the particular folder
movement you're watching for:
on event
AppleScript commands
end event
Some Folder Actions are extremely useful. For
example, you can create a script to print a document
automatically when you place it in a certain folder. Others,
however, are naughty—like this one that instantly closes a
folder the moment you open it. Here’s the script for this
classic practical joke:
| . El
oo |
Record Stop Run
©n opening folder this_folder
tell application "Finder™
close the window of this_folder
end tell
end opening folder
[=|
AppleSeript f IZ
You'll find this script frustrating if you don’t know about Folder Actions.
In the Joke script, the Finder marks this_folder as the
folder to which you've attached the Folder Action. Don’t
forget to add tell lines (see above) to the script—without
them, the AppleScript doesn’t know where to send the
Folder Action commands.
Here are some more. This Folder Action runs when the
folder is closed:
on closing folder window for
this folder
Applescript commands
end closing folder window for
This Folder Action lets you write scripts that react when
you move the folder window:
on moving folder window for
this_folder from original_bounds
AppleScript commands
end moving folder window for
Take a look in the Scripts folder inside your System
Folder for other good examples of Folder Actions. —/S
Dr Droo's MP3 Player Picks | Real Advice from an Unreal Doctor
(though iTunes is a relative latecomer to the digital audio
party, it has given MP3s the Apple stamp of approval. As the
popularity of this format continues to grow, you'll start to see
player and encoder in the months and years to come.
In the meantime, we’ve grappled with the torturous task of
poking at a slew of MP3 players and finding our favorite in each
more and more developers coming out with “the next best” MP3 of four categories.—AT Auer
MP Free 252,
BEST LOOKING THINKS DIFFERENT Eootatoe
Unsanity Echo 1.2.1 Audion 2.4 er og
Unsanity (www.unsanity.com) Panic (www.panic.com) io Z
$19.79 $19.95 player, 1 95° 020008
Unsanity Echo might be a $32.95 with encoder |
young program, but with Audion 2.1 is packed with unique
great support and regular
updates, this MP3 player has jf
a lot of promise. Its most
unique feature is its
customizable, visual plug-
ins. To reach audiovisual
nirvana, check out Unsanity
Echo for yourself.
Echo's interface is groovy, baby—and not
alittle unusual,
TRIED AND TRUE
SoundJam MP
Plus 2.5.2
Casady & Greene
(www.soundjam.com)
$39.95 download,
$49.95 boxed
Soundjam MP Plus is
arguably the most
popular MP3 package
for the Mac. With
built-in encoding, an
equalizer, skins, and third-party plug-in support, it has everything you
need in an MP3 package, and a company name you can trust. But
what you gain in brand assurance, you pay in dollars. Soundjam is the
most expensive player of the lot.
oi
An old favorite, SoundJam continues to inspire
‘the latest crop of players; even iTunes has a
similar look.
Audion 2.1 might look minimalist,
IE hi
features all MP3 players should but t's pleasantly full featured.
have, like a waveform editor to
cut, paste, and remix your MP3s; DJ crossfading; multiple control
windows (to play up to five MP3 songs at the same time); per-song
volume and EQ settings; and a popularity rating system for sorting
songs by favorites.
BEST PRICE
Tunes 1.1
Apple 3
(www.apple.com) |]
Free
Featurewise,
iTunes 1.1 is
sparse, but you
can’t beat free
MP3 encoding
and a simple,
slick interface.
With version 1.1,
the player now has the ability to burn to more than 25 CD-RW models,
although it still lacks a graphic EQ. As a player and utility, Tunes
covers all of your basic MP3 listening, encoding, and burning needs. In
fact, it’s the only player that has CD-buming capabilities, which should
make it nearly ubiquitous.
Random Notes from the TIL
The Apple DVD Dilemma
ere’s a real catch-22. You've just downloaded the Mac OS 9.1 update. You launch the Apple DVD player, settle down to watch your
DVD movie...and no go. What gives? Mac OS 9.2 requires Apple DVD Player 2.2 or later, bi
er, To get around this problem, follow these steps:
upgrade your Apple DVD Pl
4. Reboot your Mac from the System Install CD.
2. Do a clean install of any Mac OS between 8.6 and 9.04. This
creates a new system folder and renames your Mac OS 9.1 System
Folder to Previous System Folder.
3. Install Apple DVD Player 2.2, then move the Apple DVD Player
folder from the Applications folder you just installed to your old
Applications (Mac OS 9) folder. Ifa dialog box asks you to replace
the folder, press OK.
4. Open the Extensions folder in your new System Folder and drag
DVD AutoLauncher, DVD Decoder Library, DVD Navigation Manager,
This public service announcement v
the downloadable 9.1 update won't let you
DVD Region Manager, and DVD Runtime Lib into the Extensions
folder inside the Previous System Folder.
5, Trash the following folders: Applications (the new one), Apple
Extras, Assistants, Internet, Utilities, and Web Pages. Warning:
Don’t trash your old Applications (Mac OS 9) folder.
6. Rename Previous System Folder to System Folder. Open
the System file (the one with the suitcase icon). Close all the
open windows.
7. Restart your computer.
OK, now you can watch your movie.—NR
s brought to you by Apple's Tech info Library at http://til.info.appl
MAY/O1 | ec iad
sCrapi
This chip’s on fire, even with
The MPC7450 PowerPC Microprocessor
by Narasu Rebbapragada
‘ore commonly known as the new butt-kicking G4 chip, It has a deceptively simple appearance—but there’s a lot more
Motorola’s MPC7450 is the fastest PowerPC chip to date. going on here than meets the eye.
The Tried-and-True Logo = The Company Name On-Chin L2 Cache
Sih ‘5 - n-Giip ach
Motorola hasn’t significantly Ifyou think the name Motorola is stodgy ‘
rs A This is the first G4 chip to integrate L2 cache on
updated this logo in more than and corporate, consider that the company’s A cenee S
* = i the chip for greater speed. This L2 is 256K in
30 years. While the stylized M original name, when founded in 1928, was eemuels e-bitinterbice tothe!
monogram resembles the Star Trek the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. In 3 nae He ae ae BS Watorareas a Bie
insignia, Motorola conceived the the 1930s, the company manufactured car eee pts a oe 3
logo in 1955, well before the radios under the brand name Motorola, a s
television show’s birth. After word that suggested sound in motion. =
experimenting with square, round, The brand gained so much notoriety that a
and elliptical backgrounds, the company changed its name to :
Motorola decided on the current Motorola in 1947. =
circle design around the M in 1960. 6
Five years later the company 2
solidified the logo in its
current incarnation.
Backside Cache Tags
Sounds sexy, doesn’t it?
This new chip has three
levels of cache. These
on-chip L3 tags allow the
MPC7450 chip to access
as much as 2MB of off-chip
(backside) L3 cache,
which means a whole set
of instructions can sit
here, ready for processing.
More Altivec
This chip has four AltiVec units (simple, complex,
floating, and permute), which can perform four
128-bit vector operations simultaneously. The
original G4 processor had only one unit. This
setup—a kind of four-wheel drive for Mac—makes
graphic apps fly, because the processor can work
on multiple pixel calculations simultaneously.
The Model Number
This stands for Motorola PowerPC.
All Motorola G4 processors are numbered MPC7xxx. The previous
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Table of Contents
a4 ¥ 5 Reasons You'll Love Broadband » p28
= i “axel? Broadband Alternatives p28
The Broadband Epidemic p29
The DSL and Cable Conundrum ° p30
Setting Up Your Broadband Connection p31
DSL Vs. Cable: 7 Tribal Challenges p32 |
Tribal Challenge a: Speed Perea a,
Tribal Challenge 2: Price and Contract Term p32
Tribal Challenge 3: Reliability p33
Tribal Challenge 4: Technology p33.
Tribal Challenge 5: Security p33.
Tribal C 6: Avail and Setup Time
Tribal Challenge 7: Options P35
Judgment Day P35.
How to Tweak Your Connection for Speeeced p33_
O Broadband, Where Art Thou? p34
Checklist Charlie: 8 Questions to Ask Your ISP p35
Are You Insecure? p36
Come on, Baby, Light My Firewall p36
Share Your Broadband Connection _ P37
5 Reasons You'll Love Broadhand ft
fou may not think you have a need for speed—but you do. If
Y= spend any amount of time on the Internet, you're ina
position to really take advantage of a high-speed connection,
whether it’s in the form of DSL, cable, or some alternative (see
“Broadband Alternatives,” below). “How?” you ask. Well, ifyou’re a
56-Kbps user, think about how much time you waste waiting for your
machine to dial and connect. If you check email, you likely spend more
time waiting for the modem to squeal than you spend reading your
messages. With broadband, your connection is always on. That meal
checking email, looking at your stock portfolio, or finding out what
movies are playing at the local theater—along with watching their
trailers—are all just a click away.
All this, and we haven’t even begun to talk about how fast
broadband really is. Though that depends on the type of connection
you have, the servers to which you connect, and what you’re doing
with your connection, believe us when we say that you will notice an
immediate difference regardless. Here are five ways broadband will
benefit you:
A broadband connection won’t help you read any faster, but it will
retrieve your mail more quickly. In our tests using both DSL and
cable, we downloaded ten messages almost twice as fast over a broadband
connection as over a 56-Kbps modem-that’s not light speed, butitis a
respectable increase.
5 | Email: Most of you probably spend a lot of time reading email online.
pages definitely load faster, and even a page of mostly text, such as
MacObserver.com, comes up much faster on a broadband
connection than it does over a 56-Kbps modem. The more graphics the page
has, the more you'll notice the speed difference (for example, Apple’s
QuickTime page, www.apple.com/quicktime, loads much faster). Sites like
Sony.com and AtomFilms.com—pages all but unbearable to load at modem
speeds—just pop onto your screen with almost no delay. Never again will you
2 Web Surfing: Here you'll notice a bigger speed difference. Web
‘You have new mat.
With broadband,
reading and receiving
email becomes even
more enjoyable, if you
can believe it.
# Let off a little
‘steam by playing a
game of golf at
CandyStand.com.
fear sites that make liberal use of Flash and QuickTime. Visiting CandyStand
.com {@ cool little Shockwave site) has never been more fun!
Broadband Alternatives
SL or cable? Cable or DSL? While these two technologies are
fighting it out for dominance in the broadband arena, a few
alternatives are trickling in. These alternative technologies are not
widely available, and where they are, mostly businesses use them.
However, they do offer a look at what may lie ahead for broadband in
the home—if they survive (right now, these expensive technologies
need to come down in price to catch on). We talked to Ben Macklin,
broadband and entertainment analyst for eMarketer, an Intemnet-
analysis firm in New York, to get the skinny on these broadband
altematives.—CL
Fixed Wireless
What is it? Transmission of data takes place via microwaves between
fixed antennas. You must live near a base station for access.
How fast is it? 300 Kbps to 1 Mbps downstream (from the Intemet to
you), 60 to 500 Kbps upstream (from your computer to the rest of
the world).
Cost: $50 to $200 per month; $1,000 to $1,500 to install.
Survival Advantages: Service providers don’t have to lay large
amounts of lines and cables—this might eventually translate to lower
costs for consumers.
Survival Disadvantages: Your bandwidth depends on how far you tive
from the base station. Line-of-sight problems can occur—for instance,
bad weather, big buildings, or large trees can interfere with
transmission. Also, it’s not widely available.
28 MacAcotlayyrys
Satellite
What is it? You use a digital satellite dish
to catch a signal from a satellite.
How fast? 300 to 900 Kbps downstream; 50 to 150 Kbps upstream.
Cost: $60 to $70 per month; $300 to $500 to install.
Survival Advantages: Provides access to rural areas.
Survival Disadvantages: Downstream bandwidth is shared and
upstream bandwidth is pathetic to nonexistent because you often
have to use a telephone line for upstream transfers. Slow speeds.
Latency can occur—satellites are 44,000 miles away. Weather can
cause interference. (SPs may not be Mac-compatible.
Fiber Optic
What is it? The King Kamehameha of broadband. Fiber optic
broadband access is a Napster lover’s dream because it offers
unbelievable speeds. The current telecommunications network is
composed of fiber optic cables, nut those lines stop at local
exchanges. From there, copper takes over to deliver broadband to your
house. However, service providers can extend fiber optic cabling
curfently to businesses, and they may be able to extend it to
residences as well.
How fast? 100 Mbps to 50 Gbps (yes, that’s gigabits).
Cost: You really want to know? In the thousands.
Survival Advantages: Speed, speed, speed.
Survival Disadvantages: Cost, cost, cost.
On Gai Even though most games are optimized for modem play, a
3: broadband connection will certainly ensure a better gaming experience. Ping
times—that is, the time it takes for your computer to receive a response from
the game server—uwill drastically decrease. This shorter response time means games
will run smoother, and you'll likely see your shooting accuracy improve as a result.
g Files: This Is where you begin to see your broadband
4 connection’s true speed. When you want to download the latest version of
your favorite Web browser, you'll no longer cringe at its 15MB size. That's Se en
because instead of maximum speeds of 5 Kbps on your modem, you'll see speeds of Will open with “Stuffit Expander”.
50 to 400 Kbps, depending on the speed of your connection and the server from which
you're downloading. At 400 Kbps, a 15MB file will take approximately 45 seconds to
download—on your 5-Kbps modem connection, you're looking at about 45 minutes for
the same file. With this newfound speed, you can keep your computer updated with agm, 2
the latest versions of all your favorite software. Plus, since the connection is always on, fife in j
you can set up your Mac to upgrade software such as virus definition files at night while
you're asleep.
Save “eudora_5.0.1_installer.hqx" ==
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ding a more than 4MB
=) : This is where broadband really shines. With a modem
5 connection, QuickTime and RealPlayer streaming isn’t viable option most
of the time, as you wind up sacrificing too much audio and video quality to
make viewing worthwhile. You can make it work, but if you’re watching, say, the
music video of Britney Spears’s “Baby One More Time,” you’ll end up seeing a series
of stops, starts, and stutters (@s if the song wasn’t painful enough on its own). With
cable or DSL, however, video will stat playing almost immediately, and unless the
server is having trouble, you're not likely to see any pauses in the stream.
Sources: eNaneiee ABCNews.com,
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The DSL and Cable Conundrum #7
D SL or cable: For those of you who have a choice, the decision Cable
can sometimes be as hard as settling on a chocolate or What is it? A cable modem shares
vanilla shake. Rest assured—both DSL and cable are fairly your cable line with your television
teliable technologies. However, each has its advantages and signals, using some of the
disadvantages, and choosing which one suits you bestdepends alot _ remaining available bandwidth to
on what you'll be doing with your connection. Here we'll give you a send Internet signals. Your house
general overview of both DSL and cable, and look atthe technologies must be wired for cable, but you
on which they're based. don’t necessarily have to have
cable going to your television. ie
What isit? DSLisa technology How festis kf The cult to which
that works over existing phone Teleeeul aa ee 5 bee eaes i
lines, Your voice signals use only with DSL—rather, it provides for a specific area, such as your whole
i eI neighborhood, and may or may not have fixed speeds, Based on what
a small fraction of the bandwidth °! 2
we've seen, typical cable speeds range anywhere from 256 to 5,000
available on most standard A ‘ '
eicshone (es ose ake: Kbps downloading and 56 to 1,500 Kbps uploading.
SO oe ee. Caveats: Because cable is shared, you might run into problems in a
for your Internet connection. neighborhood where a lot of people have cable access. If your neighbor
Once DSL is set up, itis is downloading movies (or, um, other types of files) all day long, your
completely transparent—you can talk on the phone and use the cone suor may pe slower sari le speed your BE Dieses Pen eveh
Internet at the same time with no degradation of either connection. cable usually allometester dovm| bade uiet, DSU since moet neopic in
your neighborhood won’t be downloading atthe same time.
How fast is it? DSL is a dedicated circuit between you and your ISP. Also, while some cable companies sell bandwidth in different
This connection is at a fixed, guaranteed speed (this is onlythe speed speed tiers, keep in mind that these aren’t usually guaranteed speeds;
between you and your provider, not necessarily the speed between rather, they are the maximum speeds (or caps) for your connection. The
your provider and any given server to which you want to connect). DSL cable (SPs do this to protect you against problematic customers who
is typically sold in multiple speed increments, with the cost going up may want to spend their life on Napster sucking down the entire
as the transfer rates get faster. Based on our research, most home Metallica audio library. This allows the cable company to plan and
DSL connections are between 384 and 1,500 Kbps downloading and _ tation out bandwidth, ensuring you’ll have a steady connection most of
128 to 256 Kbps uploading. the time. However, since it’s unlikely everyone in your neighborhood
will be using the Internet simultaneously, a lot of bandwidth goes
Caveats: The one big problem with DSL is that the phone company unused while you confront a speed cap of, say, 512 Kbps.
can only ptovide reliable service if your home is within 17,500 feet
(@pproximately 3.3 miles) of its central office. This is measured by
phone cable length, not necessarily as the crow flies, so it’s possible
to be closer than 3.3 miles away and still have more than 17,500 feet
of cable between you and the phone company—prohibiting a reliable
DSL connection. The closer you ate to the central office, the more
options you have in terms of available speed.
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f Setting Up Your Broadhand Connection +
hether you choose cable or DSL, your computer will have to
interface properly with your connection via a special router (or
modem). In most cases, your service providers will offer to
WwW
ADSL router's fairly straightforward.
You'll typically see connectors for
AC power, Ethernet (which goes to
your computer), and DSL (which:
goes to your phone jack). Often the
extra signal noise from DSL
transmissions causes noticeable
interference on regular phones
connected fo the same fine. In this
case your phone company should
provide Z-blockers, little filters you
put between your phones and the
jacks to strain out DSL noise. Just
don’t put a Z-blocker on the DSL.
router's jack, or you won't be able
to connect to the Net!
ADSL router has room for three
connections: a phone jack, a power
connector, and a standard RJ-45
Ethernet port (which typically runs
10Base-T).
send a technician to your home who will set up the modem for you when he
or she instails the connection. But as a true survivor, you’ll undoubtedly still
want to know how to set up the connection yourself. Here’s how to do it:
Cable
Your cable router will have connectors for AC
power, Ethernet (for connecting to your
Mac), and a coaxial cable connector like the
‘one on your TV. While the cable modem will
likely work with all of the cable jacks in your
house, the technician almost always
designates a main jack for your cable
modem access. This jack is typically free of
any line splitters and connects directly to the
junction box at your house. Oftentimes the
cable company will wire this jack with a
direct line to the street to give you the best
bandwidth possible. Just because the cable
modem works on ail of the jacks in your
house doesn’t mean you'll get equal speeds
from each jack.
Look familiar? A cable
modem resembles a DSL
router, except that you need
to plug in a coayial cable
instead of a phone jack.
Configuring Your Connection
nce you've got a physical connection, you need to configure your
Mac to access the network. There are three ways to do this,
although in most cases your provider will decide upon the method.
Tee ee
Static IP Address
While it’s on the intemet, your
Mac needs a unique Internet
Protocol (IP) address. Some
providers assign these
manually and give you an
address to type into your
TCP/IP control panel.
By plugging all of the appropriaie data into
the TCP/IP control panel, you give your
Maz its identity on the Internet.
DHCP
Some providers give you a
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to set up your connection. They
do this via DHCP (Dynamic Host
Control Protocol), which allows
them to autoconfigure all your
Intemet-related network
settings. Just set your TCP/IP
contro! panel to configure your
Mac using DHCP, and you're
good to go.
tse?
Most cable providers (and even some
DSL ones) make use of the industry-
standard DHCP protocol.
PPP over Ethernet fa cee
Some providers require a little Cemnct vie: (Ebene TS)
information from youeach time |} (*""
you connect to the internet Puneet: [owe
because they want to make sure netverrs
that you are who they thinkyou |} |
are and that you’re using just i Pog
‘one computer at a time. PPP, |
the favored protocol for |
authenticating users on dial-up
connections, has been adapted
for use over Ethernet-based
broadband connections. This
requires that you install a piece
of software (typically EnterNet)
provided by your (SP. Every time
you connect, just enter your
user name and password, then
click Connect.
Most DSL providers make you log in
with a user name and password before
you hit the Net,
Higa aatlaltpebepe ts teorzseddesfepeateelestatetettapceteom seem epedtal ebro
iit BSL vs. Cable: 7 Tribal Challenges
ow it’s time to get down-and-dirty—that means it’s time for
the Broadband Survivor Challenge. We came up with seven
tribal challenges based on what we feel are the most
important factors in deciding which connection best suits your needs.
We pitted DSL against cable and chose a winner for each challenge,
Tribal Challenge 1: Speed
Speed is by far the best reason to get a broadband connection, and it
is likely to be the most noticeable change. So we took our speed tests
seriously (see “Time Trials,” below).
To run our tests, we used DSLReports.com, which tests the
connection in both directions. The site has your browser load a
harmless little java applet that measures the time it takes to send
and receive a large packet of data. It then reports the results and
offers to show you results from other people in your geographic area
sd you can see how the connection fared overall. We were lucky—we
got close to maximum speeds on both of our connections. The phone
company rated our DSL at 1,500 Kbps downstream and 128 Kbps.
Tribal Challenge 2: Price and Contract Term
Let’s face it—money is an object, and you need to make sure you are
getting good value for your dollar. Also, you probably would rather not
get locked into a long-term contract if you can avoid it. Below are the
prices and options we received from our local service providers in New
Fairfield, Connecticut (about halfway between Hartford, Connecticut,
and New York City). While most of these statistics are fairly typical, keep
in mind that your mileage will likely vary.
DSL—southem New England Telephone
Startup costs: Free installation as part of a “special deal” (apparently,
though, the ISP has always offered this deal in one form or another).
Hardware costs: $200 for DSL router, no rental option available.
Monthly service fee: $39.95 per month for 1,500 Kbps downloading and
128 Kbps uploading—pretty good value based on our research.
Service Contract: One year, then month to month thereafter—common.
for most DSL connections. The phone company tends to lock people into
long-term service contracts, and DSL service is rarely an exception to
this policy.
Time Trials.
nstead of trusting the cable or
telephone company’s claims as
to the speed of our connections, we
decided to perform some tests of
our own, all during peak times
(between 7 and 10 p.m.). One note—
our cable modem provider
prevented us from pinging other
computers (this is atypical of cable
modem service), which made ontine
gaming very tough, to say the least.
Let the tests begin!
it
based on our experience when we spent a week locked away in our
office with both connections. We then considered the overall results to
pick a winner and decide which technology we would ruthlessly throw
out of the house. Just remember: Your experience may vary greatly
depending on where you live.
upstream. Our connection to the speed test center at
DSLReports.com showed us averaging 1,204 Kbps downstream and
102 Kbps upstream. As we mentioned before, our cable connection
had a cap on it. For the same price as DSL ($39.95 per month, plus
tax), we got only 512 Kbps downstream and 64 Kbps upstream. Again,
DSLReports.com showed speeds fairly close to maximum, averaging
downstream and upstream speeds of 494 Kbps
and 57 Kbps, respectively.
Survival edge goes to: DSL. Given that our DSL
provider promised better speeds, the results were
‘no surprise. Still, DSL has the edge here.
E
Calile—charter communications.
Startup Costs: $99 for installation. Some cable companies will offer a
package deal in which you can get cable and cable modem service
installed at a discount. However, we found that cable companies offer this
type of promotional deal much less frequently than DSL providers do.
Hardware costs: $200 for cable modem or $15 per month rental.
Monthly service fee: $29.95 per month for 256 Kbps downloading and
64 Kbps uploading, $39.95 per month for 512 Kbps downloading and 64
Kbps uploading. (Note that these figures are atypical—most cable
modem service will range about 2,048 Kbps down and 384 Kbps up.)
Service Contract: Month-to-month, cancel at any time—since most cable
companies use month-to-month contracts, you usually do not have to
face a long-term contract on cable modem access.
Survival edge goes to: DSL. Tough call, but our costs
for a year of service was $679.40 for DSL and
$778.40 for cable. These figures may differin your
area, though.
Retrieve “American Pie” from
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Download full-size Lord ofthe
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Tribal Challenge 3: Reliability
Another important factorto consider is how reliable your connection is—after all, why get
broadband if your connection knocks off on a regular basis? To test reliability, we once again
turned to our friends at DSLReports.com for weekly reports detailing the consistency of our
connections according to their servers.
The cable modem service didn’t drop out once during the entire time we used it, and we
never had a problem connecting to any servers. DSL, on the other hand,
dropped out about once or twice per week. The outages were short,
lasting a half hour at most, but they can nevertheless be frustrating when
you're trying to work (or play!).
Survival edge goes to: Cable. With its perfect track record, cable wins this
one hands-down.
Tribal Challenge 4: Technology
We may be nerds, yes, but we're not afraid to admit it and ask the hard questions, such as
“How does this technology work behind the scenes?” Since the actual technology behind DSL
and cable can affect how well your connection works, we decided to Include technology as one
of our challenges.
As we mentioned before, the DSL line is a dedicated circuit between you and your Internet
provider at a guaranteed speed. A cable modem connection, on the other hand, is a shared
circuit. This means your neighbors’ use (or overuse) of the connection can
slow things down for you—so much so that online gaming becomes all
‘but impossible at times, and Web sites occasionally connect at a crawl.
Survival edge goes to: DSL. Although we didn’t experience too many
problems, cable still runs the risk of being slow at times because of
the technology.
Tribal Challenge 5: Security
Although an always-on connection can seem like a gift from god, being
connected all the time means unscrupulous (or curious!) hackers can
try their luck at getting into your important files.
That said, DSLis still pretty secure. It connects directly to the
Internet, which leaves some holes open, but the DSL technology itself
doesn’t open you up to the attack of anyone “extra.” Contrary to
popular belief, though, cable is just as secure as DSL. Despite the fact
that you share the line with neighbors, no added risk is involved
because the cable modem ensures that the only signal you receive is
How to Tweak Your Connection
© 1,000 Kbps isn’t good enough for you? Feel the need for more
speed? Well, you may be able to eke a few more Kbps from your
connection by tweaking Open Transport (Apple’s name for Mac OS
networking components). You may hear your Windows friends (jf you
can call them that!) discuss things like RWIN parameters or MTUs.
TCP/IP (the protocol spoken by all computers on the Intemet) uses
these parameters to fine-tune the connection regardless of piatform.
RWIN (Receive Window) is the buffer the computer uses when
receiving data from hosts on the Internet. The computer waits for this
buffer to fill up, then passes the data along to the application you're
using (like Internet Explorer). If this window is too small, the
connection will never get up to speed before the computer closes and
resets the buffer. If the window is too big, the connection may appear
toslow down while the computer waits to see whether more data will
come into the buffer before passing on the data. MTU (Maximum
Transmission Unit) is similar to RWIN in that it sets the maximum size
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DSLReports.com provides a way of monitoring your
Connection at regular intervals and sends weekly
email reports to snitch the results.
Online games like Pod Racer can turn into a real
bear when you're sharing a cable connection with all
of your bored or laid-off neighbors.
the one meant for your modem. Filters built right into cable technology
keep extraneous (that is, neighborly) data packets from creeping into
your home—and tuming off File Sharing (see “Are You Insecure?”, p36)
makes your cable line just as safe as DSL (although you should still
perform this safety measure if you have DSL). Now, if someone directly
wanted to attack you, they certainly could, but you would be no more
or less vulnerable than with any other type of connection.
Survival edge goes to: Neither! Gr both! Your Mac Is equally secure (or
insecure) whether you have a DSL or cable connection.
for Speeeeed
for packets the computer will attempt to send
over the network. Ifsome piece of data
exceeds this amount, the computer must split it into segments before
sending it. Since each packet must include extra information (such as
its intended destination), it’s best to use the largest packet available
to avoid sending all of that extra information each time. On some
computers and connections you can get a 10 to 15 percent speed
improvement by setting your RWIN, MTU, and other Open Transport
parameters outside their normal ranges.
To tweak Open Transport, try |PNetTuner from Sustainable
Softworks ($25, www.sustworks.com), which comes with
preprogrammed scripts to set all your RWINs and buffers. You can
also adjust these settings manually via a menu-driven interface.
We didn’t notice any speed difference after making these
adjustments, but try it for yourself since each service provider
configures its networks differently.
DSL vs. Cable continued
Tribal Challenge 6: Availability and
Setup Time
With both cable and DSL service just a seven-digit dial away, we
decided to put our service providers to the test. We ordered both
services on the same day to see how fast each company could get our
connections up and running.
The cable company, Charter Communications, set up an
appointment for three days after we called and arrived on time to set up
and test the modem, and configure our Mac. Everything worked as
promised after the technician left, and the company explained
everything in simple, easy-to-understand terms.
The people at the telephone company, Souther New England
Telephone, informed us that the FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) gives them three weeks from the order date to get the DSL
line working. They told us they had to come out and verify that DSL was
available on the line (something they could do outside the house)
before they could provision and configure the actual line. They would
not guarantee a day, only that we would have DSL within the three-week
time frame. Exactly 20 days later we were up and running, and our line
actually worked on the first day—a surprise to other customers we
talked to. Many DSL users find that their installations don’t work on the
first try, and it often takes an additional two or three weeks to get them
functioning properly.
Also, it’s important to look at the accessibility of each technology.
Since DSLis only reliably available to people living within 17,500 feet of a
phone company’s central office, cable is much more widely available in
general and is the only option for many people, especially those living
far outside city limits (see “O Broadband, Where Art Thou?”, below).
Survival edge goes to: Cable. With greater
availability and only three days between the initial
phone call and the acquisition of blazing Internet
speed, cable gets the nod.
ae
0 Broadband, Where Art Thou?
f course, the ultimate question of whether you go with DSL or
cable often comes down to which one is available in your area.
Ifyou live in a big city or a well-populated area, you may think
broadband is available everywhere in the United States—but that’s
a IT SE
not the case. The following map indicates where you can access cable
modem service and DSL, according to an August 2000 report from the
FCC. For those of you who live in rural Montana—well, there’s always
satellite, right? We hope so, anyway.—CL
“Availabity of DSL and cable i in the US
Alaska
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Tribal Challenge 7: Options
Everybody likes having options, and you’re no exception. You like
the flexibility to abuse your connection exactly as you please, and
you don’t want anyone telling you it’s not possible for you to do
something your best buddy can do with his or her connection.
‘That said, our DSL connection was ours to play with as we wished.
Our ISP had no problem with our running a small Web server, and no
‘one told us we couldn’t ping or do any of those other geeky things we
love to do. The service provider filtered nothing, and everything
worked well with even the most basic of packages. Our cable
company, on the other hand, filtered everything under the sun,
preventing us from running a Web server and pinging other
dudigment Day
computers. Worse than that—it told us if we tried to find a way pt al
around the blockages, it would suspend our connection!
Unfortunately, the company enacted this policy with good cause. :
Because users share cable bandwidth, many cable providers limit
user options to ensure the best possible experience for the majority.
Still, we don’t have to be happy about it, especially when we have
other choices!
Survival edge goes to: DSL. Imposing almost no
limits on what we did with our connection (other
than legal limits, of course!), DSL was the clear
winner here.
For us, the choice was clear: Send the cable modem packing and build a nice, permanent
shelf fora DSL router. When we called the cable company reps to have them disconnect
the line, they asked us why. When we explained that we had better options through DSL,
they offered us a SoHo package on which we could run our Web server, ping other
computers for game playing, and do everything our hearts desired. The moment of triumph
was short lived, though, because the company quoted us a whopping price of $99 per
month, plus taxes and rental fees—more than twice the cost of our DSL line!
The Winner: DSLI It was cheaper and faster than cable and offered more flexible options.
offering in Connecticut.
The Broadband Survivor Challenge
‘was brought to you by the Charter
Pipeline cable modem service and
SNET/SouthWestern Bell’s DSL
Checklist Charlie: 8 Questions to Ask Your ISP
hile we had a better experience with DSL, many cable
modem providers offer faster connections than the one with
which we were saddled. Your costs, speeds, and experience can
vary greatly depending on the provider. Of course, for many of you,
the decision to go DSL or cable is out of your hands—you may only
have access to one type of service. For those of you who have
options, you probably won’t actually want to test both types of
connections. Luckily, you should find you can make a decision after
doing a bit of initial investigation and asking your potential ISP
these eight questions.
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1) Do you offer high-speed Internet access?
2) How fast is it?
Both cable and DSL connections are asynchronous, meaning data
can travel at different speeds in each direction. This means you
can pay for the speed where you want it (from the Internet to you),
and save money by getting a slower speed in the direction you
probably use least often (from you to the Internet). Ask for both
upstream and downstream speeds.
3) How much does it cost?
Most DSL providers, and even some cable companies, offer
service in varying speed increments, so ask for a breakdown. They
may tell you the service is “as fast as 6 Mbps” when in reality
those kinds of speeds would cost you upward of $200 per month.
eee
Cs
4) Are there any signup fees?
5) Dot have to sign a long-term service contract?
6) How long will it take to get service? Is that guaranteed?
Many companies will say you can have service in a certain
number of days, but won’t guarantee that time until they come
out to your site and verify that the connection works.
7) Does it work with the Mac?
This is to ensure your potential ISP is Mac-friendly.
8) Is there anything this service does not allow me to do?
Get a technician on the phone line and ask questions like the
following: Can | run a small Web server if | want? Can | play
online games? Will your system let me ping other users? Is
there anything your service won’t let me do?
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2
MAY/01 MacAdaict 35
it Are You Insecure? **
onnecting fo the Internet via a broadband connection
widely used hacks out there are geared to break into services
available only on Windows or Unix-based computers. It is very rare
for hackers to target a Mac-specific resource in their exploits. Even
50, you'll want to leam how to survive in this insecure world.
Cc holds a different type of security risk than connecting via a
modem. However, this is one of those times when you can
be happy that the Mac is not the dominant platform. Most of the
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‘sarston \ {Activity Monitor \/‘Users & Growbs\
Mac 0S 8 Security
Make sure both the
One File Sharing feature introduced with Mac OS 9 is the ability to share your files OG) eerie Enable File Sharing
via TCP/IP. Because TCP/IP is the same protocol that’s used on the Intemet, you —Eo Clients To Connect
can share files with anyone in the world. Of course, if you haven’t password- ‘omoser Nee: [Bee Rion Genpoe————) Over TCP/IP and
protected remote access to your Mac, anyone in the world can get into your files! seen ee Allow Guests To
Make sure you give yourself a password In the File Sharing control panel, and an re ee sas Connect To This
GD femecueeatae Wsslovseter
while you're at it, disable guest access (under the Users & Groups tab). This
added measure of security will likely save you loads of trouble down the road.
Computer (under
Users & Groups)
The last thing you want to do is worry about someone breaking into your Mac Grn um boxes are
while you're busy buying stuff from Amazon. Gat [eos unchecked,
lise Pra inte ante TO
Just because you aren’t susceptible to most of the standard problems doesn’t
mean people won’t try to get in anyway. There’s not a whole lot to worry about as
long as you've taken the precautions mentioned above. Still, it can be fun to
watch amateur pranksters try to get into your machine. A few programs out there
allow you to monitor unapproved attempts at accessing your computer, including
NetBarrier from Intego ($60, www.intego.com) and Norton Personal Firewall from
Symantec ($70, www.symantec.com). These apps let you see who is trying to
access your Mac and what they're trying to do, as well as give you the ability to
stop people from causing trouble. Such programs certainly offer interesting
information, especially for the curious at heart, but they're not necessary for your
broadband survival.
Personal Doorstop,
now part of Norton
Personal Firewall
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Mac OS X Security
With Mac OS X, you are susceptible to a slew of security issues that just aren’t
applicable in Mac OS 9. This is because Mac OS X is essentially a flavor of Unix at its
core. Since Unix has been tweaked for most (if not all) Intemet-related services, it
offers many ways for people to attempt to break into your Mac OS X machine.
Fortunately, Mac OS X also includes software that can block this type of activity. But
the only built-in way to access this software is via Mac OS X’s daunting command
line. A few people out there are working on graphical interfaces for these
commands. The most popular is BrickHouse from Brian Hill (free, http://
personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/brickhouse.htm)), which allows easy tweaking
of the settings that would otherwise require you to type arcane commands directly
into your Mac.
BrickHouse lets
you configure and
‘monitor the
firewall built into
Mac OS X.
Come on, Baby, Light My Firewall
great way to monitor
oyou've heard the fword being thrown around, but you're not
sure exactly what it means. By definition, a firewall is a wall that
sits between you and the source of danger, protecting you from any
harm. You have a firewall in your car between the passenger
compartment and the engine. Little holes in the firewall allow
electrical cables, the steering column, and so on to pa:
through.
This allows you to access the controls you need but remain
protected from parts of the engine compartment that could cause
you harm, like the engine, hot oil, and gasoline.
Likewise, a firewall for your computer lets you perform the
tasks you need to do, ike Web browsing and checking
email, and protects you from ail the things in the
outside world that can harm your Mac, like hackers. Installing
firewall software (such as NetBarrier or Norton Personal Firewall)
on your computer doesn’t really block hackers from getting into
your machine, but it allows you to prevent the outside world
from accessing certain services. For instance, your software
can monitor access attempts at file sharing, FTP (file transfer
protocol) requests, Web server requests, and mail server requests.
Hackers often test these ports to see whether your computer is
secure; if they get a response, it gives them hope that there might be
something worth exploring. Mac OS 9 won't respond to any of the
aforementioned requests other than Apple’s File Sharing, though, so
unless you’re running Mac OS X, you shouldn’t have to worry.
it Share Your Broadband Connection
is that you can share that connection with other computers
and thus share the wealth.—DR
What you'll need:
* Cable or DSL modem
* Hardware router or Mac with two Ethernet cards to act asa
software router
* Ethemet hub (some hardware routers have these built in)
* Ethernet cable
OC: of the big benefits of hooking up a fat pipe to your home
\
© Other computers to use the same connection
Cost: A hardware router runs from $150 to $250, while an Ethernet hub
can be had for under $50. A second Ethemet PCI card can be yours for
around $20, and Ethernet cable typically costs less than $10 for 6 feet.
One word of warning: You’li need to check with your ISP to find
out ifit allows you to share a connection within your home. Ifit
doesn’t, and you violate your agreement, you may find yourself
with a canceled account.
This is where your broadband
connection comes into your house. One port on the
modem connects to your ; the
other is an which connects to your router’s —
Ethemet port.
2 hardware-software combos that route Ethemet.
packets to the appropriate machines), you can
either buya dedicated hardware router, or turn a Mac into a
router using software.
Router—When it comes to routers (specialized
Software Router—Plug the Ethernet cable from the
modem into
then connect the Mac’s
each computer that will be sharing the connection
to your router’s hub. Install IPNetRouter ($89,
www.sustworks.com) on your host machine and
configure it io connect to your cable or DSL provider
(you'll have to get specifics from your ISP for this).
You must also set IPNetRouter to provide IP addresses for each
connected computer. If you don’t feel like straining your brain to
set up the somewhat confusing IPNetRouter, try |PNetRouter
Configuration Application (www.sustworks.com/site
/prod_ipt_config_app.html), which simplifies the process.
Typically, you'll use the IP address 192.168.1.1 as your router's:
primary address.
Most hardware routers use a Web page
for configuration.
Hardware Router—Plug the Ethemet cable from
the modem into the hardware
This is your router’s link to the entire outside
Internet world. Use an Ethemet cable to connect
each computer that will be sharing the
connection—plug one end into your router’s hub
and the other into each computer's Ethemet port
(one cable per port). Use one of the connected
Macs to set up your router to connect to your broadband (see
“Configuring Your Connection,” p31). While you’re setting up your
router, you can set how each computer gets its IP address.
Configure your broadband as dynamic, and your router will dole
out IP addresses accordingly. Use the IP address 192.168,1.1 as
your router’s primary address—that’s the one to which the other
machines will look for their connections.
"FT
192.168.1.4
I
Client Machines—Boot each machine connected to your router
3 and open the TCP/IP Control Panel. Set TCP/IP to connect via
Ethernet to the router at 192.168.1.1, and
(unless you’re using DHCP) that starts with 192.168.1—
for example, 192.168.1.3. Fill in the space for the subnet mask with
255-255.255.0, and use your |SP’s name as the server address.
Note: You can share a network using a Mac with one Ethernet port,
but a router with two Ethernet ports is more secure and offers better
performance, as it isolates all of your local computers on their own
subnet. If you must use a Mac with a single Ethernet port as a software
router, connect your modem to the Ethernet hub and then connect the
Mac you're using as a router to one of the hub’s ports.
Dave Hamilton spends way too much time on the Intemet and, as such, thinks he’s fairly qualified to write this article.
ab.
MAY/01 | MacAdaict |37
a
ta
Find 2 demo of
Flash 5, in-depth
tutorials with
accompanying
Fash files, and
the game Max's
PC Revenge on
The Dis (also at
wirwimacadact
somvmagazine
exit).
ince the beginning, serious Flash users have
J been stretching the boundaries of the
i | ‘software—creating unexpected results in
animation, Web design, and even gaming.
But with the release of Flash 5 ($399, www
.macromedia.com), game development has
z finally become more than a happy accident
for Flash users. Through the combination of
vector graphics, MP3-encoded audio, anda
surprisingly flexible scripting language, Flash 5 is the perfect tool for
creating interactive entertainment that hearkens back to the glory days
of gaming when all our quarters went, not into laundry machines, but
into classics like Pac-Man or Galaga.
Of course, this. doesn’t mean other tools for creating Web-friendly
games—such as Java or even Macromedia’s own Director—are on their
way out. But while these.are more general-purpose development tools,
Flash caters to the elements you find in games: animation, sound, and
interactivity. Add to that the fact that Flash won't cost you a month's.
38 MacAdaict MAY/01
salary (ifit does, you need to have a talk with your boss), is fairly idiot
proof, and is widely supported by Web browsers, and you'll understand.
why it's such an easy choice for game development. Plus, people will
think you’re cool when you tell them you know how to use Flash.
But what about those of you who don’t have previous experience
with scripting languages? Don’t worry—by the time you finish reading
this article, even programming virgins will have mastered the basics
Tequired te make a great game with Flash 5. In the following six
pages you'll find information on how we assembled ourgame, Max’s
PC Revenge, including advice on putting together a game plan,
creating graphics, importing sounds, and creating the ActionScripts
that tie it all together. And when you've got the basic idea, you'll find
a collection of step-by-step tutorials on The Disc and the Web
specifically designed to get you up and running as a Flash 5 game
developer. As for those of you who already have mad programming
skillz, you're going to have a great time playing around with all the
new possibilities in Flash 5. So what are you waiting for? Let’s make
‘some games!
Hashy New Tools
ff hile Flash 5 boasts a few new features, such as better color
controls, improved drawing tools, and a new Movie Explorer
that makes it easy to keep track of even the most sprawling
Flash project, the real excitement this year lies in the overhauled
ActionScript library. This is also where most of the game development
magic lives, so start warming up the right side of your brain.
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Why do younéed ActionScript? If you've had any experience'with
Flash, you undoubtedly have tried to make some kindof animation.
Now imagine if you could enable the viewer to reach into the screen,
grab the items in your movie, and move them to a new part of the
screen--or make them release a blood-curdling scream when you drop
them into an animated fire. This is the beauty of ActionScript.
You access the ActionScript editor (called the ActionScript Panel)
‘by selecting Actions under the Window menu. The ActionScript Panel
features two modes. Normal (the default mode) handles prog
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