MacWorld 9811 November 1998

SPECIAL SERIES: Macworld Ultimate Gaming Guide Takes Control, p. 175 N GOm Vani Mie Get 4 Sea 8: qr | THE ESSENTIAL MacintosH® RESOURCE www.maeworldicom Removab Feast PAGE 63 HBXBKLIW®***CAR-RT SORT**CO63 #RBI20038094 71302556 2H 928-07 MAR 00 LLOYD A ROBINSON BALA 2003 SUMMYVIEW Lf #1009 MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040-3839 WsboliMalaM lb biblb bball wwew.lacie.com: LaCie DVD-RAM" and the LaCie logo are trademarks of LaCie, tid. ©1998 LoCio, id, All rights reserved. CAPACITY. At 5.2GB, the LaCie DVD-RAM” is perfect for backing up and archiving your ideas. Each disc holds the equivalent of 8 CD-ROMs, so you won't have to worry about running out of space before you run out of ideas. LACIE © Meee for ideas. Features Cover Story 63 Z Gigs to Go BY RIK MYSLEWsKI Which kind of removable-media storage is right for your multimegabyte projects? Macworld dissects your options and lab-tests drives to help you pick safe transportation and storage for your valuable digital cargo. 71 DVD: Now Playing? BY CAMERON cRoTTY This supersize sequel to the CD-ROM. keeps promising to change the face of storage and multimedia. But is DVD really ready for prime time? Macworld gives you the view from the front row. 76 Occupational Hazards BY FRANKLIN N. TESSLER, M.D. Mac- world’s vital ergonomic guide helps you navigate the maze of products and teaches you simple strategies for warding off painful—and potentially crippling—repet- itive-strain injuries. EXTRA! Mac OS 8.5 Arrives! In October, Apple will release a major up- date to the Mac OS. Visit www.macworld .com/extra/os85.html for an in-depth look at OS 8.5 as soon as it arrives. 2 November 1998 MACWORLD NOVEMBER cwOr MACWORLD ULTIMATE How do removable-media storage drives stack up for your needs? page 63. Create Graphics 97 Illustrating with 3-D Art BY JANET ASHFORD Learn five techniques for creating instant illustrations with 3-D clip art. Web 101 Transform HTML with Regular Expressions BY JASON SNELL Make speedy, painless global changes in HTML documents with a powerful feature you might have been afraid to try. ‘Motion 105 Photoshop Show-and-Tell BY CATHY AsES Create anima- tions, slide shows, and simple pre- sentations with Photoshop's magi- cal Actions palette. 1 2 29 Incorporating MacUser GAMING GUIDE 175 Take Control BY STEPHEN BEALE Want to put some power in the palm of your hand? Macworld’s game experts test the latest joysticks, game pads, and “racing systems” to help you get a superior hold on your games. 182 The Game Room ey pHitip Dyer Apple is finally taking fun seriously—and Mac gam- ing is no longer a contradiction in terms. It’s about time. ON THE COVER Photogeeply by Giampiers Benvenuti Expediting HTML global search and replace, page 101. 27 28 29 29 30 News Seybold Report Adobe offers a sneak peek at K2, its PageMaker successor. Products for Postmodern Publishing Seybold exhibitors serve up a host of handy tools for Web and print publishing. New QTVR Goodies in the Pipeline Live Picture, EnRoute, and others break out new QuickTime VR authoring tools. Product Briefs The latest new products for your Mae, including a flatbed scanner from Epson and color laser printers from QMS and NEC. End of the Ink-jet Drought Epson and Hewlett-Packard feed the gaping maw with new ink-jet printers for the M: Apple's apathy is silencing dictation ‘on the Mac, page 184. Opinion 25 The Vision Thing BY ANDREW GORE Finding out what your Mac is really made of with MacBench 5.0. 184 The Desktop Critic BY DAviD poGue Why has Apple gone mute about the future of speech-recognition software on the Mac? 10 How to Contact Macworld The iMac: you celebrated its debut, now read its review, page 32. Secrets 91 Cache In Your Chips BY TED LANDAU Speed up your Mac by getting your backside (cache, that is) in gear. 93 Quick Tips BY LON POOLE and shortcuts. Tips, tricks, Reviews 32 $968 iMac All-in-one consumer system 34 $#8 FileMaker Pro 4.0 Developer Edition Database-development tool 35 $88 ix3D Road Rocket PowerBook display card 36 $$%% BeyondPress 4.0; $46 Challenger xT; $$$ WebxPress 2.0 QuarkxPress-to-Web utilities compared 37 $%4% NetObjects Fusion 3.0 Web authoring tool 38 $$$ Bandit; $§8% =WebRamp M3t Internet-access servers 40 $$$, FlightCheck 3.3; $689 PreFlight Pro 2.0; $868 QuickCheck Preflight utilities compared 42 $#$% Media Cleaner Pro 3.0; 4%» Sorenson Developer Edition Video-compression utilities 44 $¥% GrooveMaker 1.1; $84§ Retro AS-11.1 Music-creation tools 46 $$88 Faxstf Pro 5.0 Telecommunications package 48 $$$ Interactor Pro 1.2 Java-based Web authoring software 49 $$98% SonicWall 1.8 Low-cost firewall device 50 $$$% RAM Doubler 8 Memory-management utility 52. $$ Kai's Power Show Presentation software 54 $$%% Timbuktu Pro 4.5 Remote-management/teleconferencing software 56 $$ QuickConference IP 1.0.1 Chat utility 58 $$: Visaj 2.0 Graphical Java-application builder 60 $$$ FaceSpan 3.0.1 Interfaces for AppleScript apps www.macworld.com November 1998 3 BUY YOUR MAC FROM APPLE BUY YOUR PRINTER DIRECT FROM GCC. cco ERE WHY... We're GCC Technologies and our printers are sold direct against some of the most famous names in the computer industry. Which creates a buying opportunity for those who understand a basic principle of free enterprise: Selling direct is better for the manufacturer and buying direct is better for the customer. Therefore, we sell our printers direct, eliminating many prosperous middlemen, and lowering your costs. We also provide direct technical support, eliminating other middlemen who can’t solve your problems. And we are compassionate hand-holders. We offer unlimited free technical support, not just on business days, but on Saturdays too - throughout the one-year warranty period. And if during that period you have a problem that our technical support people can’t solve, our Platinum Exchange program guarantees you a replacement printer by the next business day. We invite you to buy your next printer direct from GCC and join our growing family of satisfied customers. All GCC printers come with an unconditional thirty-day money-back guarantee. For complete details, call the 800 number below. And for the record, yes, our printers have wonderful technology too. It's just that you don’t have to pay extra for it. | ELITE 12 Series ELITE XL 20 Series ELITE XL 8 Series 12 pages per minute 1 year Platinum Exchange Warranty Maximum Print Area 8.5" x 14" Letter, legal, A4, envelope 250 sheet Universal Tray PostScript® Level 2 compatible, PCL 5 80 PostScript fonts, 15 PCL fonts RAM expandable to 64 MB EtherTalk®, Localfalk®, TCP/IP Ethernet (1080se7), Bi-directional Parallel 2nd Paper Feeder* {Includes 500 sheet Universal Troy) Add $299 Extra 8 MB Memory Add $ 49 $999 600 dpi Business Lease $35 Month/36 months Platinum Exchange Warranty Program Additional Year Add § 99 $1199 1200 dpi $41 Month/36 months Platinum Exchange Warranty Program Additional Year Add $ 119 Business Lease all 1-800-422-7777, or visit 0 20 pages per minute 1 year Platinum Exchange Warranty Maximum Print Area 12.75" x 35.25" Ledger, letter, legal, A3, A4, envelope, poster 500 sheet Universal Tray PostScript? Level 2 compatible, PCL 5 285 PostScript fonts, 15 PCL fonts RAM expandable to 64 MB EtherTalk®, LocalTalk®, NefWare™, TCP/IP Ethernet (1 0BaseT, AAUI), Bi-directional Parallel 2nd or 3rd Paper Feeder* (Includes 500 sheet Universal Tray) Add $299 Extra 8 MB Memory Add $ 49 $1799 600 dpi Business Lease $63 Month/36 months Platinum Exchange Warranty Program Additional Year Add $ 179 $1999 800 dpi Business Lease $70 Month/36 months Platinum Exchange Warranty Program Additional Year Add $ 199 $2199 1200 dpi Business Lease $75 Month/36 months Platinum Exchange Warranty Program ‘Additional Yeor Add § 219 8 pages per minute 1 year Platinum Exchange Warranty Maximum Print Area 11" x 17" Ledger, letter, legal, A3, A4, envelope 250 sheet Universal Tray PostScripf* Level 2 compatible, PCL 5 80 PostScript fonts, 15 PCL fonts RAM expandable to 64 MB EtherTalk®, Localfalk®, TCP/IP Ethernet (10BaseT, 10Base2), Parallel 2nd Paper Feeder” (Includes 250 sheet Universal Tray) Add $319 (Includes 500 sheet Universal Tray) Add $419 Extra 8 MB Memory Add $ 49 $1399 Business Lease. 600 dpi $48 Month/36 months Platinum Exchange Warranty Program Additional Yeor Add $ 139 * The Elite 12/600, Elite 1212, ond the Elite XL 6081C support one additional paper feeder. The Elite XL 20/600, Elite XL 20/800, and the Elite XL 20/1200 support two additional trays. jo i rogiterd rode of GEC CCC casey jes re. fe 12/600,Em (a etd €08 Le Ee 320/600 te 0207800 te be Elite X. 20/1200 ore rodenaks of GCC Tecnologie, Sil oer vodemorks orgiered wadeerle cre wodemarls of tei respecte companies. | Keycode 811MWS. AnthroCarts! Built like tanks with a Lifetime Warranty! Educational Discounts * Dozens of Shapes and Sizes Over 75 Accessories * Tough as Nails ¢ Order Direct! Call for a free Catalog. 800-325-3841 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM PST, M-F Anthro Corporation’ Technology Furniture” Tualatin, OR 9706 @ Fa 325-00 ® ANTHeO ww esis Since 1984. Prices from $299. GSA contract. Available for OEM applications. Macworld eoTOR IW CHEF Andrew Gore EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Cynthia A. McDonald EDITORIAL tortor Michael Penwarden StIOR eDITORINEWS Stephen Beale SENIOR sorTORIREVIEWS Anita Epler semior sorTOR/DEPARTMANTS Naney Peterson Semon eorToR/sEATURES Jason Snell SeMOR ASSOCIATE EDITORS Allyson Bates, Linda Comer, Scholle Sawyer Brooke C. Wheeler Assistant correk Michael Gowan CONTRIBUTING EDITORS. David Biedny, Henry Bortman, Christopher Breen, Bruce Fraser, ‘Ted Landau, Deke Mo nd, Rik Myslewski, David Pogue, Lon Poole, Franklin N. ‘Tessier tae tan pinecton Jeff Pittelkan ASSOCIATE LAB DIRECTOR Kristina De Nike SENIOR LAB ANALYSTS Jeffy K. Milstead Kevin Mitchell ASSOCIATE LAB ANALYST Gil Loyola INVENTORY COORDINATOR Ulyssis Bravo copy EDIT MANAGING COrTOR Claire H. Breen corr ewer Paul-Michael King | semor cory corrors Blissa Rabellino, Jon Zobeniea ART AND DESIGN Deston iRECTOR Eleanor Leishman Any oInEcTOR Sylvia Chevrier Associate otsicneas Martha Kaes, Michael Rattary DESIGN ASSOCIATES Jackie Goodman, Jonathan Woolson ONLINE ronusnen Jeff Julian oinecton oF coxrtn Matthew Rothenberg stvi08 toiToR owune Philip W. Dyer content encineen Jeff Cheney sssstanr CONTENT ENGINEER Jessica Graves DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR ONLINE Nicholas Harvey ‘ONLINE ACCOUNT ExEcUTIVE Nicole Press Improve your graphics Ima ine instantly with AT You'll be blown away when you see how adding a graphics accel- erator dramatically upgrades the graphics on your Mac. Just plug in any one of our impressing your audience with big sereen accelerator boards powered by ATI 3D RAGE PRO multimedia presentations graphics, and you'll instantly see more colours, higher resolutions and faster, smoother 2D & 3D effortless hi-res editing in Photoshop® graphics than you could imagine. Choose the the fun of playing the coolest, ATI graphics accelerator that suits you best. most realistic 3D games @ ATI XCLAIM VR is the only 5-in-1 accelerator board that gives you 2D, 3D and video acceleration PLUS video capture and video out for big screen ead presentations or arcade-style gaming : Now comes with XCLAIM-TV'. the add-on TV tuner card that turns your Macintosh into a high-end TV! working with ily textured 3D models in real time ATI XCLAIM 3D provides fast 2D | and 3D performance, hi-res true colour graphics and full screen, full motion video. Perfect for design and content creation professionals who typically use resolutions up to 1152x870. Developed with the professional designer in mind, ATH NEXUS GA is a 2D & 3D » graphics accelerator featuring ultra-high res true colour and workstation-class 3D performance. NEXUS GAs New powerful 16MB of memory supercharges your graphics performance! Ideal for working in resolutions above 1152x870 up to 1920x1080. To find out how you can upgrade your graphics with ATI award-winning graphics accelerators check out our website at www.atitech.com/macwo. NowYouSeelt? #796 @ www.atitech.com/macwo with AIT graphics accelerator. Choose 256 at ;macworld.com/getinfo STEP UP TO Windows® Compatibility Virtual PC, “SoftWindows®, or Apple®/Reply Card? Upgrade to OrangePC: $399" OrangePC 620 Complete: $549 OrangePC Windows’ Compatibility Card Our new OrangePC 620 is the best priced Macintosh Windows® in history. Virtual rs can upgrade to OrangePC for only $399, experiencing a giant step up in performance. In fact, the OrangePC benchmarks** four to twenty times faster than sleepy software 95/98 compatibility SoftWindows® card emulators. The OrangePC 620 answers __ the “price/performance” question by offering true hardware speed at a breakthrough price that every Mac user can afford! It actually has a Pentium® compatible 200MHz processor (user upgradeable to 300MHz) with 16MB of real RAM (user upgradeable to 128MB) on board. This means you can run any, PC application on your Mac as fast as real PC with the ultimate in compatibility, And the OrangePC’s Version 3 software has significant improvements as well. _ It sports 32-bit drivers facilitating CD-ROM long file names and NDIS3 networking. Our exclusive SnapShot™ feature allows a Windows screen to show the Mac environment inside a Win 95 window and conversely, the Mac screen to display the Windows environment. It’s like a “picture in picture” on your TV! So take a step in the right direction - upgrade your software emulator to real hardware for a $399, or buy the OrangePC outright for $549. Available through MacPowerhaus and Orange Micro, Inc, ak dat Wa us Winstone 2% Power Mac G3 with 61M, Viena PC™ 20 v5 ‘Winton 95a trader or epee dean Caneit Crerton Orage Mt ott PC™ and eoee' Week Magazine May 1988 Now Ayaiable From: ci ava Mico cnc (800) 615-3183 = @BOrange Micro “18 Years of Innovation and Excellence” 1400 N. Lakeview Ave., Anaheim, CA 92807 (714) 779-2772 www.orangemicro.com ‘Must have OEM version of Windows 95, nage Orange Mier, fe 1998 Choose 33 at www.macworld.com/getinfo 8 November 1998 MACWORLD ‘GXNéMXPROOM, 3240, Vines PO™, Ong, ant |" assocurepumunen Macworld PRESIDENT AND CEO Colin Crawford ASSISTANT TO THE Cfo Sharon Sanderson CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, ‘Stephen Daniels BUSINESS MANAGER Eos de Fei ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR Ronda Bittner I ASSISTANT Christian Semmel VICE PRESIOENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES Shelly Ginenthal HUMAN RESOURCES COORDINATOR Ada Yim DISPLAY ADVERTISING SALES Vice PRESIDENT, SALES, & PUBLISHER Mate Sweeney Steve Plevin (415/243-3509) nuts COORDINATOR Karla Kyrias (415/278-8542) NATIONALACCOUNTS MANAGER ir Pabyin (415/243-3584) AgcIONAL ACCOUNT ManActR __Jesica Ross (415/243-3583) NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER Sara Culley (970/327-4499) Account xtcurive Margaret Level Green (415/243-3582) tasttnN abvenTsing oinccton Cynthia Ramsey (973/243-1197) NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MaNAGER Paul Bonarrigo (508/533-4020) Account exscunive Jo Zonarelli (516/277-4134) RESEARCH SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST Phillip Hibbert MARKETING VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING Vickie Welch MARKETING MANAGER, Francesca Koe TRADE SHOW/EVENTS COORDINATOR ‘Nancy Galanty PRODUCTION VICE PRESIOENT OF MANUFACTURING Anne Foley PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Cynthia Neustadt (MANUFACTURING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, ‘Clayton Haberman DIGITAL AD COORDINATOR ‘Mac Scott AAD SALES COORDINATOR tn Independent journal not af Iv Apple Compute, In La, MU Shopper. The Desktop Crt Expert fv, Buyers? Tools, Stretwite eter and PowerBook ate Grapes, Quik Th ubshing. LLC. All rights 10 chedule Today. Succeed Tomorrow. S=a-E = The Right Choice for Easy Project Scheduling. ‘Why waste time struggling with complicated project management Or Spreadsheet programs? FastTrack Schedule 5.02 is easy to use, intuitive, and extremely flexible. So whether you need to plan ‘a day's worth of activities or a year's worth of projects, you'll stay organized and achieve project goals, FastTrack Schedule has the tools to track and revise progress and costs as changes occur — even link activities to establish depend- ‘encies. Add your schedules to proposals, reports, or use the web Publishing features to turn your schedules into HTML tables or web gtaphics. FastTrack Schedule is also available for Windows. 8.1/95/NT®, so everyone in your office can stay on schedule. FastTrack Schedule For information or to order, call ese, (800) 450-1982 185 ooee wee: Macworld, Dec. 97 MacWEEK, Ocl.97 Macworld, UK, Deo. 97 MacUser, UK, Nov. 97, Choose 203 at www.macworld.com/getinfo November 1998 MACWORLD Macworld HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD Subscription Services Phone 303/665-8930, United States only 303/604-7445, outside the Unied tates Us. Mall ‘Macworld Subscription Services PO. Box 54529, Boulder, CO 90322-4529 ‘World Wide Webs wrwwzdnet.com/zdsubs/macworld/service Subscription Rates The one-year (12-s5ue) subsrpion rate is $3997 in the United States and $59,97 in Canada and Mexico: for all other countries, send elther $5997 for surface mall or $10997 for ar mal. Checks must be made payable In US. currency to Macwotl, Pease alow 6 to 8 weeks to receive your first issue. Back Issues of Macworld Back sues subject to availablity are $8 per sue for US. delivery ($12 ‘outside the United States; prepayment in US. currency to Macworld i ‘required. Send check or money order to Back lsues Department, Zit Davis Inc, PO. Box 53131, Boulder, CO 20322-3131 Reprints and Permissions ‘You must have permission befoe reproducing any mater from Macworld ‘Wiite to Macworld, Reprints and Permissions, 307 Howard St, 16th FL San Francisco, CA 94105; include a phone number. To order reprints of ‘your company’s editorial coverage, call 800/217-7874, Malling Lists We periodically make tits of our customers avaiable to mailers of goods and services that may interest you. if you do not wish to receive such malings, please write to us and incl a copy of your mallirglabe ‘Macworld on Microfilm ‘Macworld is avaiable on microfim and microfiche from UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Rd, Ann Arbor, Mi 48106-1346; 313/761-4700, ‘Macworld Editorial The editors of Macworld welcome your tps, compliments, oF complaints We are unfortunately unable to look up stoves from past sues recom: ‘end produts or diagnose your Macintosh problems by phone, e-a or fax. Contact Apple tore at 800/538-9696, ext. 500, fr informa: tion on user groups in your area, ‘Our offices are located at 301 Howard St, 16th Fl, San Francico, CA 94105; 415/243-0505, fax 415/442-0766, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Direct all comments and suggestions regarding any aspect ofthe magazine to letters<omacworld com Due to the high volume of mal received, we can't respond personaly to each letter We reserve the igh to esi all submisions. Alletters published in ‘Macworld or Macworld Online become the property of Macworld ‘QUICK T1Ps Send your questions oF tips on how to use Mac comput 1, peripherals, or software to Macworld, Quick Tips, 301 Howard St, ‘6th FL, San Francisco, CA 94105; fax 415/442-0766; e-mail quickips® rmacworid com, Please inde your name, address, and telephone number. V BPA. “HOW DMEM FIT LAWSUIT s, RECALLS, DEFECTS AND Dace 0 fic The new DynaMO 640 provides reliable, removable storage for DEATH BY DROWNING IN A graphics, multimedia, file back-up. ‘and more, At just $19.95 for a 640MB cartridge, it’ less than 4 INCH SQUARE.” — | = with the peace of mind of our ~ No Excuses limited waranty, cow KC Of the countless problems with Jaz, losing your irreplaceable data to something as trivial as spilled coffee is the most senseless. Fortunately, DynaMO® 640 SE removable storage from Fujitsu resists such tragedies. Our media is so durable, it withstands mois- ture, x-rays, magnets — and can be rewritten an unlimited number of times, It wins on price, too, A 640MB cartridge costs $19.95" which is 3¢ a megabyte compared to Jaz’s 10¢, DynaMO 640 SE is backward compatible, unlike Jaz, so you can save your work on different media capacities. And with our No Excuses™ limited warranty, you'll get a replacement drive in two business days in the event of a defect. DynaMO 640 SE. It’s a serious Ea Not a serious problem. For more details, call, or visit our website. FUJI ITSU (800) 831-8094 ext.301 www.fcpa.com/drowning eee Apparently, we've built a better mousetrap. The Saphir Ultra 2 emerged as the “big cheese” in Macworld’s The Saphir Ultra 2 with LinoColor Elite Macworld software is the only solution that employs GUS and Microsoft chose to manage color in their operating systems. This means that color from desktop through final output. LinoColor Elite with ColorAssistant software also had the October under-$4000' flatbed scanner shootout. And no wonder. the same core technology that both Apple your scanned images will have consistent Macworld Editors saying...“/The Saphir Ultra 2] offers unparalleled SAPHIR ULTRA 2 SPEGIRCATIONS: Optical resolution: 1200 x 2400 dpi « Bit depth: 42 * Interpolated resolution; 7200 x 7200 dpi + Optical density: 3.4 * Transparency adapter included * Maximum scan area: 11.7 x85 inches + Set-up: Fully automatic ColorSync support, three types of selective color correction and very precise control over saturation, overall color balance, and shadow and highlight gradation. If you've been thinking of bringing scan- ning in-house, there’s never been a better time to do so...the LinoColor Saphir Ultra 2 is an exceptional value.” When performance, productivity and price are the issues, the Saphir Ultra 2.) outdistances the competi- | tion...by a fuzzy pink nose. “HEIDELBERG COLOR PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS: LinoColor Elite with ColorAssistant ensures drum quality scans, even for the novice operator. *Saphir Ulra 2 MSRP: $3695. Fer moe information ca: (888) LINOCOLOR « or visit our webste at: wwvw.linocolor.com « Purchase the Saphir Ura 2 before December 31, 1998 and receive a FREE off! 88 HEELERS HECEEERG AYO LNOTYPS ARE REGISTRED TRADARKS: AD LNOCOLCR SA TRADEMARK CF HEOFIERG DRC SEMAN AG Choose 7 at www.macworld.com/getinfo ewerPe" Vv Ad ten oy Vpower De eee agen ecayigee New Price *Employs revolutionary backside cache technology $ *Vpower PM 4400 G3/240 CPU outperforms the Power Macintosh desktop G3/233 980 *Vpower G3/300 delivers lightning-fast performance, second to no otherchip of its generatic *Vpower G3/233 performance exceeds that of the deskiop Power Mac G3/233 ‘*Vpower PB 1400 G3/233 for he PowerBook 1400 series outperforms thePower Mac G3/233 desktop machin ‘Improves your Power Macintosh 4400's CPU performance 2.8 times, and FPU speed 1.5 time Vp ou er ‘*Boosts your PowerBook 1400 series machine's CPU speed by 4-5 times, and approximately doubles your FPU spes New Price - Vpower G3/300 provides a 3- to 5.iimes improvement for Power Mac 7500/8500, and roughly triples the video speed of a Power Mac 8600/250 PowerBook 1400 Vpower 750 brings a 2- to 4times improvement to the Power Mac 7500/8500, power ‘ond increases the speed of a Power Mac 8600/250 by about 2.5 times. == par 25 —————————1 PowerBook 1400. oan 7 sEvery Vpower card comes equipped with « high-speed 2 cache 70 ———————————— *MacOS 8 compatible Brings © massive speed improvement to your computer's builtin video capabilities: Vpower 4400 G3/240 yields a speed increase of 1.5 times Vpower PB 1400 G3/233 approximately doubles speed Vpower Performance Comparison MacBench 4.0 Soh ned wth Hoc 8O a —— Bm Fost Vpower PB 1400 63/266 *1,099 PowerMac 4400] WEW [icin Vpower [xc ss = mange 59 xi ——=—$——. Vpower (ne PM 4400 63/300 += $1,099 Seech neon wi Moc08 81 s4xx| [NTH = Vpower [refers con =a ne Vpower PB1400 Performance Chart CPU |. anita ———l) PFG3/240 ‘599 a ==—— i ‘Vpower G3/300 Power Mac 7300,73: G3/300MHz | 1MB/ISOMHz $980 | ‘YVpower G3/233 Power Mac 7300.7350,7500,7600,8500,8550,8600,9500 UMAX $900,S910 G3/233MHz | SI2KB/LITMHz| $449, Vpower PB 1400 G3/233, Power Book 1400 G3/233MHz | S12KB/II7MHz| $699. Ypower PB 1400 G3/266 Power Book 1400 G3/266MHz | IMB/I33MiIz | $1,099 ‘\ypower PM 4400 G3/240. Power Mac 4400 Motorola Star Max 3000,4000 ‘| Gazaomu | sizxnyizomnu| $509 Vpower PM 4400 G3/300 Power Mac 4400 Motorola Star Max 3000,4000 G3/300MHz | IMB/ISOMHz | $ 1,099 Vpower PF G3/240 Power Macintosh/Performa 54xx,64xx Super Mac C500 G3/240MEz | SI2KB/I20MHz| $599 “The PowerPC name and the PowerPC logotype are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, used under liconso theretrom. To Order Call Toll Free: 1-877-4VIMAGE Mon-Fri 8AM to 5PM(PST) or FAX:(310)225-3989 www.vimagestore.com orks and regis! idemarks are the property of their respective ove Vise, MasterCard accept no surcharge.Goverment, corporate and educational P.O.s welcome. Vimage products are covered by two years limited warrant Prices are subject fo change without notice, Relurns require on authorization ond are subject fo a restocking fee. Vpower is a trademark of Vimage. ©1998 Vimage Corporation For the newest information on Vimage products, Check out www.vimagestore.com irr NeuaNN = Leiter's Left Out of 0S X THINK APPLE'S DECISION TO HAVE Mac OS X (“The X Factor,” August 1998) run only on Apple’s G3 and newer machines is a mistake—and I’m not alone in this perception. Professional users needing six-slot machines had no choice over the past year but to buy Power Mac- intosh 9600's (or clones like the Umax $900) instead of the three-slot G3’s. Now these six-slot computers—expensive, top- of-the-line models in 1997 and 1998— will be excluded from OS X in 1999. ‘The primary technical virtues of Mac OS X—protected memory, preemptive multitasking, and symmetric multipro- cessing—are most important to those same professional users, Has it escaped Apple's notice that these features are cur- rently available in Windows NT? As Apple appears to have decided to render obsolete the investments users have made in Apple’s top-of-the-line equipment, many Mac professionals might simply defect and buy Windows NT machines. And what of people like myself, a pro- fessor at a small college where new com- puter purchases are expected to remain viable for several years? I argued last year for the continued viability of the Mac and recommended the purchase of new Macs, all of which will now be excluded from OS X. Under these circumstances, my pre- sent Mac might be my last and I may not continue recommending Apple products. STEPHEN SIEGEL Bennington, Vermont Palm-Size Power WAS JUST STARTING TO LOOK around for alternatives to replace my Newton when your August 1998 issue arrived. Thank you, David Pogue and the staff at Macworld, for the PalmPilot feature (“Mac’s Best Friend”). What per- fect timing! JouN W. Darran Panama City, Florida AVID POGUE STATES IN HIS D PalmPilot article that Claris Orga- nizer can’t synchronize between a PowerBook and a desktop Macintosh. Last time I checked, Organizer synched perfectly well with my PowerBook, via Organizer’s Synchronize command under the File menu. Has this feature been removed? OMAR SHAHINE New York, New York Omar, you're absolutely right. Do you have a pen? Take my article and cross out the words, “and can’t synchronize between a PowerBook and a desktop Mac.” That oughta do it. —David Pogue Mac OS 8.5 Feedback HE MAC OS 8.5 PREVIEW (“A FIRST. Look at Mac OS 8.5,” August 1998) mentioned that OS 8.5 includes more integration with the Web through the Find command—but I'd also like to see FTP integrated into the Mac OS. I would like to be able to choose a com- mand from the File menu; type in a serv- er name, user ID, and password; and access an FTP server like a regular vol- ume. Using FTP from the Finder would be so convenient: you could edit a file on a server directly, and the Finder would download it to memory and upload it when you save it. Connections to the Internet are getting faster, so eventually the average user might not even notice a speed difference between connecting to an FTP server versus an internal hard drive. EVAN JENKINS Minneapolis, Minnesota N AUGUST’S MAC OS 8.5 FEATURE, the author states that the current Mac OS Find File can’t search for text inside documents. Not true—by holding down the option key when clicking on the pull-down menu of search criteria, you can search by contents and three addi- tional criteria. Davip Ravers Pitisburgh, Pennsylvania Music to Our Ears thee A COMPOSER AND MUSIC teacher, and I really appreciate Christopher Breen’s reviews of music and sound software in the August issue continues www.macworld.com November 1998 13 LETTERS © Both Web-server graphs in “Web Servers” (Reviews, September 1998) should be in units of ten thousands, not millions. Personal Web Sharing, for example, receives approximately 30,000 bits per day. © We erroneously stated that the iXMi- cro ix3D Ultimate Rez card doesn’t fit into the Umax C500 (“Quick on the Draw,” August 1998). The card does fit into the lower of the two slots of that model. Myth does not support RAVE mode, only Glide mode (“Quick on the Dravw,” August 1998). Also, ATI's Xclaim VR does not support 1,600- by-1,200-pixel resolution; its maxi~ mum 24-bit resolution is 1,280 by 1,024 pixels in the 8MB card and 1,152 by 870 in the 4MB card. (“Digital-Audio/MIDI Sequencers” and “MIDI Accompaniment Software”). The reviews in Macworld remind the Mac- using public why the Mac remains the dominant platform for sound and music production. I often worry that, with the emphasis on the Mac as.a desktop pub- lishing platform, sound and music get left out of the loop. The music industry is huge, and the Mac is a big part of it, Please maintain the sound-and-music presence in Macworld. Good job, Chris. MICHAEL T. ANGELL Birmingham, Alabama Photoshop 5.0 Flaws EKE McCLELLAND’S BALLYHOO about Adobe Photoshop 5.0 brushes aside two serious flaws that make version 5.0 a disaster (Reviews, August 1998). He states that version 5.0’s color man- agement provides more “consistent” color. His contention that the color shift “is unlikely to damage most images” cre- ated in earlier versions of the program would be laughable if I didn’t recoil at the mutilation of corporate logos and could forget about the Netscape palette. Images may appear to be unchanged from their earlier versions while viewed within Photoshop 5.0, but they appear substan- tially altered in Equilibrium DeBabelizer, 14 November 1998 MACWORLD Netscape avigator, and Microsoft Inter- net Explorer. Since the manual doesn’t warn about this, many designers initially panicked. Those who didn’t send their upgrade boxes right back were relieved to receive fixes circulated by beta-tester Craig Hockenberry. McClelland seems to think this is the price for image integrity between a PC and a Mac and between Adobe Illustra- tor and Photoshop. Given that Web designers using Illustrator 7 are taking advantage of Adobe’s long-overdue RGB support in that program, this seems a bit silly. Furthermore, any Web designer thinking about a PC audience has already set his or her monitor to Uncor- rected Gamma. A second and equally serious hazard of the program is the text-editing “upgrade.” From my experiences and those of several colleagues, Photoshop 5.0 distorts a variety of fonts, including Univers, Futura, and Eurostile. We’re not talking about arcane Emigre fonts with funky PostScript needs. These are from the Adobe library, running on Adobe ‘Type Manager 4.0. I think experienced designers should stick with Photoshop 4.0. Jack E. Tayror New York, New York Photoshop's changing of Web-safe palettes is a commonly voiced criticism, but the related prob- Jems are easily avoided. First, with one com- ‘mand, you can instruct Photoshop to open any image unchanged, as Idetailed in my July 1998 feature, “Photoshop Pumps Up.” Second, the RGB translation is only relevant to RGB images. Web-safe images are typically indexed to 8-bit color and therefore are not eligible for Photoshop 5’s automated color-space conversions. L recommend in both my July feature and August review that users change the default color settings. Craig Hockenberry and I have traded e-mails about these issues, and while I think bis input is interesting, I don’t entirely agree with bis recommendations, Craig bas posted some of our discussions on bis Web site, www. furbo-filters.com. Web folks don’t need to set their monitors to Uncorrected Gamma with Photoshop 5. You can work in the “correct” 1.8 gamma space (the prepress standard) and preview images in RGB space on the fly directly inside Photoshop. If you ask me, that’s an improvement. The text-kerning problem is a legitimate issue, as I've beard similar complaints from several users, It’s not certain whether the kern- ing problem is related to any specific font, or if it’s simply a by-product of permitting manual kerning in a bitmapped program. But kerning issues are hardly disastrous—I would character- ize them as pesky. As for version 4 nostalgia, the main enhancement to that version was a revised inter- face that put the program more in agreement with Illustrator 7 and Adobe PageMaker 6.5. Photoshop 4.0 was good but did not shine half as brightly as Photoshop 5.0.—Deke McClelland NN MACWORLD'S RECENT ARTICLE on using QuickTime 3.0 to compress audio, Christopher Breen suggests down- sampling audio to 22.05kHz or 11,025kHz when compressing it for low-bandwidth Web connections with the QDesign Music Codec (“Slim Down Sound for the Web,” Create, August 1998). Because you select the data rate of your audio file through the Options command in the QDesign codec, changing the sampling rate will have no effect on the final file size and will actual- ly degrade your audio. In fact, QDesign recommends that you always use 16-bit, 44.1kHz audio with its codec for optimal quality. If you need a smaller file size, just use a lower data rate. NAVARRO PARKER San Diego, California You're correct—it is indeed a better idea to start with a 16-bit, 44.1kHz file rather than reduce resolution. When I wrote the article, Apple was using 22.05kHz mono files to show- case the QDesign Music Codec—it was in the very early days of QuickTime 3 and neither I nor, apparently, Apple knew yet that you should use 44, IkHs files for best effect. These were the files that I used as the basis for my examples. I think we both know better now. —Christopher Breen m Letters should be sent to Letters, Macworld, 301 Howard St,, 16th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94105; via fax, 415/442-0766; or electronically via CompuServe (70370,702), MCI Mail (294-8078), AppleLink (Macworld!), or the Internet (letters@macworld com). Include a return address and daytime phone number. Due to the high volume of mail received, ‘we can't respond personally to each letter. We reserve the right to edit all letters. All published letters become the property of Macworld. Kevision #2: 7 ee Keyvision +]: 2:00 pm The new Revision 13 LEIS pm retro tro Believable Color So Fast It Even Keeps Up With Your Most Unbelievable Clients. Xerox Digital Color Printers always make you look great. Because no matter how many last-minute revisions, unreasonable deadlines or pressures you put on them, they still deliver Pantone“ accurate, high-speed output right on demand. 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This stand-alone program lets you create everything from precise working draw- ings to sophisticated client presentations tries—multi- decimal accu- racy for pre- cise drafting, a built- in database/ spreadsheet to track costs and materi- als, extensive to extensive materials lists and cost estimates. As always, MiniCAD 7 offers the same core library of industry- specific symbols, cross- platform compatibility (Mac and Windows), and a macro program- ming language for automating complex and routine tasks. features that have made it the program of choice for design professionals in more than 80 coun- Choose 46 at www.macworld.com/Getinfo ‘Miia is. tata of Dig raph es AM her ® Now this total CAD solution speeds your design process with these new features: * True 3D Boolean Solid Modeling * DWG and DXF Import/Export * Dual-Unit Dimensioning * Auto Wall Framing * QuickDraw 3D Rendering * Associative Hatching * Automatic Wall Joining + Next-Generation SmartCursor * Multi-Decimal Dimensioning + Rotatable Grid and Customizable Coordinate System * Plus Dozens of Performance and Interface Enhancements To learn more about MiniC, feature set and why D's extensive the program has been called “the easiest, most cost-effective way to design,” call 1-888-MINICAD or visit our Web site: www.dichlgraphsoft.com MiniCAD 7, which retails for a suggested price of $795, comes with 18 months of FREE Tech Support a 30-Day Money- Back Guarantee! Passing the Test The Vision Thing by Andrew Gore IF YOUR MAC CAN MAKE IT WITH MACBENCH 5.0, IT CAN MAKE IT ANYWHERE F MISSOURI IS THE SHOW Me State, then New York must be the Prove It City. As a born-and-bred New Yorker, T’ve got to see proof before I buy into a company’s claims about its products—even after more than a decade of living in laid-back California. But it can be tough to make a computer prove itself—ir’s hard to tell if one Mac is faster than another simply at a glance. Even if you think you notice a difference, you can't tell if the faster Mac is fundamentally faster or if it’s just tricked out with a fast hard drive and a large disk cache. I was reminded of this problem on a recent trip back to the Big Apple for the debut of MacBench 5.0, the latest version of the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation’s Macintosh performance-testing tool. At the debut, I was amazed at how many rank-and-file Mac users were seriously interested in MacBench. Moreover, I was impressed by how many really understood that MacBench is more than just a means of finding out how fast a Mac is, It’s also a great tool to help fine-tune the perfor- mance of your current system. Fifth Generation With the feature story “Gigs to Go” in this issue, Macworld makes the move from MacBench 4.0 to MacBench 5.0 for test- ing the speed of Macintosh subsystems. (We will continue to use SpeedMark to determine the overall, real-world perfor- mance of new Macs.) MacBench is an application that uses profiles of how real-world applications work with the operating system (and therefore with the computer itself), replaying the actions of those “real” applications without actually needing the programs themselves to be present. By timing how long a Mac takes to execute these actions, MacBench determines the speed of a Mac’s processor, storage, and graphics subsystems. For example, when MacBench 5.0 tests your Mac's publishing-related graphics capabilities, it plays back the QuickDraw calls made by Adobe Photo- shop and QuarkXPress, two of the Mac’s most popular publishing applications. These calls simulate what those applica- tions would actually do when running a set of specific tasks. This allows Mac- Bench to get an accurate, reproducible score for graphics speed, without need- ing the actual base applications. There are several advantages to this, not the least of which is that MacBench takes up considerably less storage and RAM space than all those apps would. Also, it allows us to make MacBench 5.0 your own tests (and compare them with ours), all without your having to pay for a copy of Photoshop, XPress, and all the other programs MacBench uses as the basis for its tests. MacBench 5.0 isn’t just a minor upgrade. It’s a from-the-ground-up re- write that adds much more accurate disk, graphics, and CD-ROM tests. Version 5.0 also offers easier access to powerful but often overlooked features of MacBench, such as its system profiler. Best of all, we maintained one of MacBench’s key benefits: we continue to offer it as a free download (without the graphics and CD-ROM tests) and, for a nominal fee, on CD-ROM (including the required files for those extra tests). For more info on MacBench 5.0, go to www.macbench.com. The Mac Tune-Up ‘As I said, MacBench is more than just a tool to speed-test different Macs. It can also workas a tuning fork for a Power Mac. You can use MacBench’s disk tests, in combination with a disk-formatting utility like FWB’s Hard Disk ToolKit, to mea- sure hard-drive speed with various drivers and settings. By going back and forth between testing and tweaking, you can sometimes increase your Mac's disk speed considerably. And as any engi- neer can tell you, the disk is one of the major performance bottlenecks on a computer. Even without a utility like Hard Disk ToolKit, you can still go to the Memory control panel and adjust your disk cache size to find the perfect balance between the amount of RAM you use for the disk cache and what you leave available for your applications. You can even use MacBench’s graphics tests to see if that new high-speed graphics-accelerator board really is giving your Mac the boost you were hoping for. Qust make sure the board came with a money-back guarantee.) For a suspicious Knickerbocker like myself, seeing those final MacBench results is almost as good as arguing with a New York merchant about the exorbi- tant prices. Except, you know, without all that yelling. m Are you talkin’ to me? Are you talkin’ to me? Well, then send along your comments to vistonthing@macworld.com. www.macworld.com November 1998 25 If this is Norton”... When your Macintosh computer is not operating correctly, having the right tool to find and fix the problem is important. And as any technician will tell you, you can never have too many tools. TechTool Pro 2 checks more aspects of your Macintosh than any other utility available. Besides repairing and recovering damaged drives (including those with the new HFS+ format), you can also test all those other critical parts of your system that our famous competitor ignores like RAM, CPU, floppy drives, scanners, modems, Internet connections, CD-ROM drives and much, much more. Fix different’ This is TechTool® Pro: But just because TechTool Pro is the most advanced Macintosh troubleshooting utility available doesn't mean that it's difficult to use. In fact, we've added an easy-to-use interface that makes checking and fixing your Macintosh a snap. For the advanced user, our expert mode allows you to control and configure TechTool Pro in almost any way you wish. So if your Macintosh troubles are getting you down, check out TechTool Pro. After all, you have the most powerful computer in the world. Shouldn't you be using the most powerful utility? MicroMat Inc. 800-829-6227 707-837-8012 FAX: 707-837-0209 info@micromat.com www.micromat.com (©1998 MicroMat Computer System, Inc. All rights reserved. TechToo! is a registered tridemask of MicroMat Computer Systems, Inc. Fix Different is a trademark of MicroMat Computer Systems, Inc. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Norton is a trademark OF Symantec, Ine. Choose 46 at www.macworld.com/getinfo NOVEMBER 1998 Adobe Previews Challenger to QuarkXPress SEYBOLD ATTENDEES GET PEEK AT RUMORED K2 PAGE-LAYOUT PROGRAM by Stephen Beale M teve Jobs gave the ' keynote address, but Mm Adobe Systems deliv- we Bp cred the biggest news F at the Seybold San Francisco publishing confer- ence by offering a sneak pre- view of K2, the long-rumored successor to PageMaker. During Jobs's keynote s sion, Adobe product manager Ben Rotholtz stepped to the stage to show several features in the forthcoming page-lay- out program, which will com- pete with QuarkXPress in the professional publishing mar- ket. Adobe plans to release the software in 1999. Illustration Features Like QuarkXPress 4.x, K2 (the code name for the product) appears to incorporate many features associated with illus- tration software. Rotholtz first drew a box and then reshaped it by dragging on Bézier control points. He imported a photo into the box and then placed both behind a headline that served as a mask. Even with the mask in place, Rotholtz was able to rotate the photo and box. Rotholtz also demonstrat- ed K2’s sophisticated transfor- mation functions, including the ability to rotate editable page elements in a 3-D space. In addition, the program will include a Navigator panel similar to those in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator— you can zoom in up to 4,000 percent and use the panel to quickly jump around the page. The program’s file structure will be based on the Portable Document Format. Adobe offered little other information about K2. How- ever, industry rumors indicate that the software will be high- ly customizable and will likely offer hyphenation and justifi- cation features superior to those in the current version of QuarkXPress. Coincidence? Many Scy- bold attendees saw the K2 demonstration as a not-too- subtle dig at Quark, which before the show revealed that ithad made an offer to acquire Adobe. Adobe promptly rejected the offer, but Quark replied that it might attempt a hostile takeover. Quark is privately held and thus does not have to continues www.macworld.com November 1998 27 reveal its finances, but most industry analysts estimate that it has annual sales of $200 mil- lion, making it about one-fifth the size of the publicly traded Adobe. However, Adobe’s stock price has taken a beating | News in recent months, making the company more attractive as a takeover candidate. The exchange between the two graphics-software giants was a major topic at the show, causing the Seybold Wacom Enters a New Generation WACOM, THE FIRST VENDOR TO OFFER A PRESSURE- sensitive stylus, has revamped its product line with a new series of enhanced tablets and pens, dubbed the Intuos sys- tem (360/896-9833, www.wacom.com). - Tool iD The new Intuos pen features a more sensitive tip and 1,024 pressure levels, compared with 256 in previous - versions. A new Tool ID feature lets you assign different set- tings, such as colors or painting widths, to ec you use the pen, the cally adjusts to the assigned settings. Wacom expects that artists will buy multi- ple pens—at $49.99 each—and set them up as traditional painting instruments. One pen is bundled with each Intuos graphics tablet. The Tool ID feature is currently supported in Meta- Creations’ Painter Classic, which is bundled with each Int os tablet. Adobe Systems, “Macromedia, and other graphics- software vendors have announced that future versions of their software will support the new Intuos features. More Input The system also includes three new input devices: the $69.99 Intuos Lens Cursor, which features a rotating crosshair lens; the $99.99 includes a finger wheel for controlling ink flow; and the $69.99 4D Mouse, which features a thumbwheel control for zooming in on ‘images or navigal 4D Mouse will also let you rotate o1 Airbrush, which popular graphics programs have been upgraded to sup- port the feature. Intuos graphics tablets are available in five sizes: 4 by 5 inches ($199.99), 6 by 8 ($383.99), 9 by 12 ($509.99), 12 by 12 ($509.99), and 12 by 18 inches ($819.99). The 9-by- 12-inch and 12-by-18-inch models include a 4D Mouse in addition to a standard pen. All but the 4-by-5-inch tablet Support Wacom's new DualTrack feature, which lets you use two input devices simultaneously in supported software. — The pens and tablets are not compatible with earlier Wacom products.—MACWORLD STAFF 28 November 1998 MACWORLD organizers to sponsor an emergency conference ses- sion titled “Quark and Adobe: Can We Talk?” Apple News Aside from the K2 preview, Jobs's keynote was mostly a rehash of his presentation at July’s Mac- world Expo in New York. However, he said that Apple will no longer make Power- Books with 13-inch LCDs, instead focusing on 14-inch screens. The newest Power- Book, with a 14-inch screen and a 233MHz G3 processor, will sell for $2,799. Jobs also announced WebObjects 4.0, a new ver- sion of Apple’s Web publish- ing software for large enter- prises. Apple says the upgrade is five times faster than the previous version and will run under Mae OS X in addition to Windows NT and Unix. It will sell for $1,499. Adobe on the Web K2 was not the only Seybold news from Adobe. The com- pany also used the show to introduce Illustrator 8.0 and PageMill 3.0 for the Mac. New features in Illustra- tor include a Gradient Mesh tool for creating complex color gradients, an Actions palette similar to the one in Photoshop, and a Links palette for keeping track of placed images. However, the upgrade does not support transparency, one of the most popular features in archrival Macromedia FreeHand 8. Adobe says it will include transparency capabilities in Illustrator 9.0. Version 8.0 will sell for $375. PageMill 3.0, which will sell for $99, includes inte- grated site management, more-flexible layout features than the previous version, a built-in 216-color Web-safe palette, and an option that prevents PageMill from modifying the underlying HTML code. Before the show, Adobe offered private demonstrations of another new Web-graphics product, ImageStyler. Much as Adobe ImageReady uses Photoshop-like tools to create Web graphics, ImageStyler features tools similar to those in Illustrator. It uses object styles to allow quick changes to buttons and other graphic elements and also makes it easy to create Java rollover effects. Aimed primarily at business users, the software will sell for $129. Plug-ins Abound at Seybold Show VENDORS INTRODUCE NEW GRAPHICS ADD-ONS by Macworld Staff everal companies used the recent Seybold San Francisco confer- ence to introduce new Adobe Photoshop plug-ins. These include a new version of PhotoTools, from Extensis (503/274-2020, www -extensis.com), and new spe- -effects filters from Alien Skin Software (919/832-4124, www.alienskin.com). Extensis Trio Extensis unveiled upgrades to three Photoshop plug-ins: Photo- Tools 3.0, Mask Pro 2.0, and Intellihance Pro 4.0, Photo- Tools 3.0, priced at $149.95, features a new texture gene! tor; a custom bevel-shape edi- tor; and PhotoAnimator, for creating animations from Photoshop layers. Mask Pro 2.0, priced at $299.95, pro- vides new IntelliBrush and IntelliWand tools for remov- ing image backgrounds, a Magic Pen for creating pre- cise edges, and an Edge- Blender feature for softening edges. Intellihance Pro 4.0, priced at $199.95, lets you view the effects of up to 25 image enhancements. It also provides a test-strip output. Alien Effects Xenofex, a $129 package from Alien Skin Software, features 16 special- effects filters for Photoshop. These include Distress, for creating organic crumbling and aging effects; Flag, for 3-D rendering of rippled surfaces; and Lightning, Electrify, Con- stellation, Stain, and Cloud, for creating nature effects. Andromeda Filters An- dromeda Software (805/ 379-4109, www.andromeda -com) introduced a new ver- sion of its Three-D Photo- shop filter. The $159 soft- ware lets you map Photo- shop images to 3-D objects; the upgrade lets you add engraved surfaces to the ob- jects. Andromeda’s new Vari- Focus 1.1 filter, bundled with the $119 Shadow Filter 1.12, offers a variety of op- tions for defocusing portions of an image. Jazzed Up BitJazz (415/ 642-4829, www.bitjazz.com) announced a $149 suite of lossless image-compression tools that consists of two Photoshop plug-ins, a Quark- XTension, and a trio of stand- alone utilities. The company claims that its BitJazz format provides an average compres- sion ratio of 2.5:1 without degrading image quality. PhotoJazz is a plug-in that lets you read and write com- pressed BitJazz files; Image- Jazz is a stand-alone compres- sion-decompression program. The other modules, which let you decompress BitJazz files, are freely distributable. Knockouts Ultimatte (818/993-8007, www.ultimatte .com) introduced Ultimate Knockout, a masking tool for use with photos that include hair, blurred edges, glass, smoke, and other transparent or translucent clements. For example, you can use the pro- gram to retain smoke in the foreground of an image while eliminating the background. It’s a stand-alone program but saves images with an alpha channel for use in Photoshop. It sells for $395 until January 1, 1999, after which the price becomes $495. QTVR Tools in the Pipeline NEW PROGRAMS OFFER PANORAMA BUILDING, SPECIALIZED FUNCTIONS by Michael Gowan new generation of QuickTime VR (QTVR) authoring tools is here. QTVR, which turns flat pic- tures into interactive virtual environments, has gained popularity as authoring tools become easier to use. To construct a QTVR panorama, you first take a series of photos from a central pivot point, turning the cam- era 360 degrees. You then use the QTVR program’: stitch- ing functions to combine the pictures into a long, flat panorama. When you create the QTVR movie, the panorama is wrapped into a virtual cylinder, creating the illusion that the viewer is standing in the middle of the scene. Some QTVR pro- grams can also create object movies, which let viewers see an object from multiple sides. The Basics For simple QTVR movies, Enroute’s $69.95 QuickStitch 360 (650/ 843-1122, www.enroute.com) provides basic stitching and QTVR authoring functions. The program builds on Enroute’s QuickStitch, a $39.95 program that offers stitching features without QTVR authoring. Live Picture (408/371- 4455, wwwalivepicture.com) plans an upgrade to Photo- Vista, a $49 package that cre- ates panoramas in QTVR for- mat or the company’s own TVR format. The upgrade will support the latest megapixel digital cameras and will also let you use FlashPix images inside IVR panoramas. Flash- Pix is an emerging file format for Web graphics that incor- porates multiple-resolution versions of an image. However, Live Picture has reversed its earlier deci- sion to release a Mac version of Reality Studio, an all-in- one VR autho package already avail- able for Windows. More Competition In addition to IVR, another QTVR alter- native is Ipix, a VR format developed by Interactive Pictures (423/482-3000, www -ipix.com). To create an Ipix movie, you take two pictures with a fish-eye lens and then use the company’s Ipix MacWizard software to stitch them together into a spherical panorama. Because the image is mapped inside a sphere, viewers can pan up and down as well as around. continues g Lasers Stake Graphics Claims Targeting graphic designers, QMS (834/633-4300, www.qms.com) has introduced the Magicolor 330, a tabloid-format color laser printer with built-in colorcalibration and color-management tools. The $4,499 base model offers 600-dpi resolution; an enhanced, $5,499 version lets you print at 1,200 dpi up to 13 by 19 inches, The $3,999 SuperScript 4400N, from NEC (800/632-4636, www.nec.com), prints letter-size pages at 1,200 dpi, It features a built-in Ethemet interface and supports Adobe's WebReady technology, which is part of PostScript 3. WebReady lets you access printer features from standard Web browsers. New Homes for Old Products Logitech (800/231-7717, www Jogitech.com), which announced on August 10 that it had bought Connectix’s hardware division, wasted no time in unveiling its first new product, a Universal Serial Bus version of the QuickCam dig- ital-video camera. It sells for $99 after a $30 rebate, Now Utilities for the Mac has also found a new home. Qualcomm announced in August that it had sold the Mac system-utility package to Power On Software (612/317-0344, www.poweronsw.com). SQHO Scanner Epson America (800/463-7766, www.epson.com) thinks SOHO users are ready for heavy-duty scanning. The $299 Epson Perfection 636 flatbed scan- ner features 600-dpi resolution and 36-bit color depth. A 4-by-5-inch transparency adapter costs $99. The Ipix MacWizard costs $349.95, but you must also purchase an additional $25 software key for each panorama you create. Interac- tive Pictures offers a $2,000 bundle that includes the soft- ware, 36 keys, a Kodak or Olympus digital camera, and a fish-eye lens. The company also plans to release a Nikon digital-camera bundle. Unexploited Functions A few of the new programs take advantage of unexploit- ed capabilities in QTVR. Vrtools’ ConVRter share- ware (www.vrtools.com) increases your control over QTVR panoramas. You can change various movie param- eters and convert between QTYVR 1.0 and 2.0 file for- mats, as well as add custom cursors and fast-start capa- bility. Vrtools’ PanoMagic, also shareware, turns stitched panoramas into multinode QTVR movies. Squamish Media Group’s $495 VRchitect (www.sm com) converts 3DMF files created by CAD or 3-D- graphics software into VR panoramas. The panoramas can include wired sprites— objects with associated actions. For example, the rendered movie can include an indicator that shows your current heading within the panorama. Legal wranglings are clouding prospects for some other QTVR authoring tools. Roundabout Logic (407/327- 4500, www.roundaboutlogic -com), whose Nodester was one of the first QTVR author- Is, has announced plans n upgraded version as part of a software suite, However, the company is engaged in a legal dispute with VR Toolbox (412/767-4408, www.vrtoolbox.com), which claims to have exclusive rights to the same underlying soft- ware (see the sidebar, “QTVR Vendors in Legal Battle”). 30 November 1998 | News Drought Ends for Macintosh Ink-Jets EPSON AND HP UNVEIL NEW PRINTER MODELS by Macworld Staff ry times may soon be over for ink-jet printers in the Macintosh mar- ket. Until recently, Epson America (800/ 463-7766, www.epson.com) was the only company actively selling ink-jet printers for the Mac. However, Hewlett- Packard (HP; 800/752-0900, www.hp.com) has announced the first Mac ink-jet printer under its new relationship with Apple, and Epson has bol- stered its product line with a model that essentially replaces the Stylus Color 600 and 800. HP's Reentry In April, Apple announced that it would assist HP in bringing the lat- ter’s ink-jet printers to the Mac market; previ- ously, HP supplied printers that Apple sold under its own label. HP's new DeskJet 697C is an entry-level ink-jet printer designed for use with Apple’s iMac. The base version sells for $179, but you printer into a six-color device. ‘The printer will not work with other Mac models. New from Epson Epson's latest is the $279 Stylus Color 740, which features built-in USB and serial ports for con- nection with any Mac model. also need HP’s $69 Uni- _ HP's Deskdet 697C features a USB interface. versal Serial Bus (USB) connection kit, for a total cost of $248. The DeskJet 697C ships with one black and one three-color cartridge, but you can also purchase a $39.95 photo cartridge that turns the The four-color, 1,440-by-720- dpi printer uses the same Micro Piezo technology as Epson’s other ink-jet models but varies the dot size to improve image quality, MACWORLD A LEGAL DISPUTE BETWEEN TWO SOFTWARE publishers is clouding the future of Nodester and Widgetizer, which were among the first programs for creating QuickTime VR (QTVR). content. Roundabout Logic and VR Toolbox are both offering essentially the same QTVR authoring packages and have each filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the other from shipping its software. Wheeling and Dealing Nodester and Widgetizer were originally developed by Econ Technologies, a small Florida programming shop, and published by Panimation, which later became Roundabout Logic. Roundabout Logic alleges that Howdy Emery, president of Emery Manufacturing and Equipment of Pittsburgh approached the company in May with a potential buyout offer but then backed out and cut a separate deal with Econ Technologies to acquire the rights to Nodester and Widgetizer. Emery then set up a new company, VR Toolbox, to offer the programs as VR PanoWorx and VR Object- Worx, respectively. Roundabout Logic alleges that it had exclusive rights to Nodester and Widgetizer; QTVR Vendors in Legal Battle Econ Technologies and VR Toolbox claim that Roundabout had no such rights and that Econ was legally entitled to sell the software to VR Toolbox. As of August, Econ was working on upgrades fo VR PanoWorx (Nodester) and VR. ObjectWorx (Widgetizer) as well as a new program called VR SceneWorx for creating multinode QTVR movies, which can include multiple QTVR panoramas and object movies. Roundabout Logic had planned to offer the third package as part of a suite with Nodester and Widgetizer. Daunting Task Econ is no longer doing software development for Roundabout Logic. Bob Shaw, president of Roundabout Logic, says he has hired software engineers to con- tinue development work—which could be a daunting task if they don't have the coopera- tion of the original programmer. In June, both companies requested pre- liminary injunctions in the U.S. District Court for central Florida, asking that the other be prevented from shipping its products. Both requests were denied. A tentative court date for the main dispute has been set for February 41999.—STEPHEN BEALE M 1 @ “CorelDRAW 8 Lo eee utterly fabulous.” www.macsonly.com, July 13, 1998 Draw different You know the product. You know what it can do. And now, everything the award- winning CorelDRAW™ has to offer is available for the Power Macintosh®. Interactive tools. Amazing live effects. Limitless creative possibilities. Plus, incredible flexibility means CorelDRAW 8 for Power Macintosh works with the tools you already own. Share files with your colleagues and clients who use CorelDRAW for Windows® thanks to cross-platform file compatibility. Open and edit files created in Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe Illustrator®, MetaCreations® An ideal complement to your new Macintosh* desktop, Painter® and other graphics formats with ease. PowerBook" G3 or {Mac™ computer. CorelDRAW 8 for Power Macintosh—utterly fabulous! STO MalARENOUNE: COREL www.corel.com/draw8mac/ 1-888-668-4867 Go further” jo further srs ep Cong ee Choose 78 at www.macworld.com/getinfo iM GROUNDBREAKING CONSUMER OFFERING LIVES UP TO ITS HYPE FTER MONTHS OF CAREFULLY crafted publicity and almost unprecedented media attention, Apple's eagerly anticipated iMac has arrived. Although Macworld editors have had several opportunities to play with iMac prototypes since May, the recent arrival of the blue-and-white pod marks the first opportunity Macworld Lab analysts have had to testan iMac. What we found will give Apple—and Mac boosters everywhere—reason to celebrate. Out of the Box In terms of setup, Apple has done a fantas- tic job. The spartan installation guide’s six photographs walk you through unpacking the machine; plugging it in; and connect- ing the keyboard, mouse, and modem. Immediately, you notice the crispness of its built-in color monitor. Although the iMac lacks the Sony Trinitron technol- ogy that graces Apple’s best monitors, the iMac's display benefits from incredibly high refresh ratesp—117Hz at 640 by 480 pixels, 95Hz at 800 by 600, and 72Hz at 1,024 by 768 pixels. Although it produces a sharp image, the unit’ 15-inch screen proves a bit small for daily use. While the display supports resolutions as high as 1,024 by 768 pixels, it’s far easier on the eyes to view at the stan- dard 800-by-600 setting. And at this lower resolution, you can get 24-bit color with- out expanding the video SGRAM from the included 2MB to its maximum 4MB. Despite a few odd-size keys, the iMac’s translucent keyboard offers good key response and a solid feel. Alas, the same can’t be said of the iMac’s mouse, where style has won out over substance. Its small form factor makes it difficult to hold comfortably, and because the mouse lacks the oblong shape of a standard mouse, it easily gets turned around. Becoming an iMac Insider Getting inside an iMac is deceptively simple: place the unit screen-side down, remove one Phillips-head screw, and pull off the back panel. But that’s the easy part; you then have to remove three more screws and disconnect a couple of cables before you can slide out the logic board. This process is hardly brain surgery, but the iMac’s design is more complicated than that of some of Apple’s earlier Per- forma and education-oriented systems. However, once inside, you can easily locate the two user-serviceable slots: the upper RAM slot on the CPU daughter- card and the video SGRAM slot. A sec- ond RAM slot resides under the CPU daughtercard, and luckily Apple installs the built-in 32MB RAM card in the lower slot, leaving the top slot open. Best and Final Specs Contradicting Apple’ prelaunch announce- ments, the iMac sports a 56-Kbps modem REAL URE Reviews you can trust: Macworld rates only final shipping products, not prototypes. What we review is what you can actually buy. REAL INGS OUTSTANDING: $8888 VERY GooD: $$8% Goon: #$% ~~ FLAWED: $$ UNACCEPTABLE: ¢ 32 November 1998 MACWORLD a2 H card, not a software modem. And the iMac's “phantom port” is not a user-acces- sible connector. According to Apple, this proprietary mezzanine slot is intended for the company’s own engineering require- ments; Apple has no plans to release the slot’s specifications to third parties. Both the CD-ROM drive and hard- disk drive are easily accessible (and easily replaceable), as they slide out with the rest of the logic-board chassis. Also, the iMac’s CD-ROM drive is identical to a Power- Book’s removable CD-ROM module, which explains why the iMac lacks a pow- ered CD drawer and why the drive is exceptionally loud when operating. Italso begs a question: As long as Apple decided to use the PowerBook’s swappable CD- ROM module, why not make it swap- pable (for, perhaps, an Iomega Zip drive ora floppy drive) in the iMac as well? Speaking of Storage... ‘Try as we might, we couldn’t find a good reason to be upset about the iMac's lack of a floppy drive. For those users who really need a floppy drive, any of several Uni- versal Serial Bus (USB)-based options slated for fall release should work fine. However, while we can’t quibble about slot and high-speed peripherals bus. In almost every respect, an iMac is a Mac— it runs V oftware, it uses the Mac OS, and it offers the same high-quality user experience. But unlike with other Macs, you can’t make the same assumptions about the iMac’s future expandability—precisely because the iMac lacks a high-speed port or slot. Although some clever developer could find a way around this limitation, it would have been reassuring had Apple offered a solution for adding, say, an MPEG card for DVD ora 3Dfx card for fast 3-D gaming. Are You Experienced? All in all, there’s little to distinguish the iMac from the rest of the Macintosh line- up in terms of usability, with two critical exceptions: documentation and ports. ‘The iMac doesn’t include a manual, although Apple provides extensive elec- tronic documentation. As for ports, the iMac sports both 10BaseT and 100BaseT Ethernet capa- bilities (a first for the Mac platform) in a single port. It’s also the first Mac to ship with USB ports; alas, USB is the iMac’s only serial interfs Because of a dearth of shipping iMac- compatible USB peripherals at press time, Maeworld Lab has had the opportunity to test only a few devices, and most of those were prerel found wasn’t too surprisin; devices worked fine, with the exception of one USB printer. And after an extensi test and teardown process that included an up-close examination of the USB con- troller chip, we were able to determine that the problem was caused by the print- er’s driver, not by a flaw in the hardware— as other news sources had speculated. Both the printer vendor and Apple have assured Macworld that the problem will be resolved in short order. ‘The iMac's built-in stereo SRS speak- ers sound great, despite their not being audiophile-quality components. And it’s ca iMac: Faster Than a Standard G3/233 ‘st Best overall performance. Longer bars and higher numbers are better. » New system. Bold indicates best result in a subsystem test SpeedMark to overlook the iMac’s built-in 4-Mbps IrDA-compliant infrared port, but you shouldn't. It allowed simple, fast connections toa PowerBook in our infor- mal tests, and it should also work with IrDA-compliant digital cameras, printers, and network-access points. The Big Speed Question Notsurprisingly, given its 233MHz Power- PC G3 with a 512K backside cache, the iMacis truly speedy. In Macworld Lab tests, it proved slightly faster overall than a com- parably equipped Power Mac G3/233 desk- top system, even surpassing the standard system in our MacBench 5.0 Disk tests due to its peppier Quantum hard drive. Macworld's Buying Advice True, the iMac is the least-expandable Mac in many years, but it’s also Apple’s cleanest, sexiest system ever and the best Mac value for the price. The iMac offers a lot for $1,299—a whole lot. And so long as you understand that you won’t be adding on RAID cards and high-speed external SCSI devices, you won’t be dis- appointed with what you get. Let’s admit it, the iMac may be the first computer you'll have owned since the original com- pact Macs that you won’t want to hide under your desk.—anorew Gore RATING: $§49 PROS: Amazing value; ground- breaking design; solid performance. CONS: No expansion options; no high-speed ports. COMPANY: Apple Computer (408/996-1010, www.apple.com). LIST PRICE: $1,299. ‘scores are relative to that of a Power Mac 7100/80, which Is assigned a score of 1.0. MacBench scores are relative to those of a Power Macintosh ‘63/300 with a display resolution 1,152 by 870, which is assigned a score of 1,000 for each test. > Apple iMact ‘Apple Power Macintosh G3/233 ‘Apple Power Macintosh 6100/60" * SPEEDMARK 1.0 MACBENCH 5.0 ‘Overall Performance Processor Disk Graphics 1) 73 706 71,206 eee 736 583. 1,297 = ; 28 233 304 “Display set to 800 by 600 pixels. **Equipped with 32MB of RAM. SS Behind Our Tests Macworld’s SpeedMark test suite covers 54 real-world, tasks in 15 programs and the Finder MacBench 5.0 (available for download at ‘weaw.machench.com) measures performance of the processor (CPU and cache). disk, and graphics subsystems in isolation from other components. Unless otherwise noted, all systems were equipped with 64MB of RAM and a 512K system disk cache and were running Mac OS 8.1. All displays ‘were set to 24-bit color running at 832-by-624-pixel resolution unless otherwise noted —Macworld Lab testing supervised by Kevin Mitchell www.macworld.com November 1998 33 | Reviews FileMaker Pro 4.0 Developer Edition CREATE STAND-ALONE SOLUTIONS, JAVA TIE-INS, AND EXTERNAL PLUG-INS EVELOPERS WHO DISTRIBUTE solutions to a few hundred peo- ple on the Internet or in a techni- cal-support department turn to FileMaker’s Solutions Develop- ment Kits (SDKs) to create stand-alone versions of their database applications. The latest version of the FileMaker SDK, FileMaker Pro 4.0 Developer Edi- tion, enables developers to create royal- ty-free, cross-platform run-time versions of FileMaker Pro 4.0 databases. For pro- grammers, it also includes tools to write external functions (plug-ins) that add new capabilities to FileMaker Pro, or to create Java programs that interact with FileMaker’s Web Companion. Ties That Bind The Developer Edition’s two hybrid CD- ROMs contain Mac OS and Windows ver- sions of FileMaker Pro 4.0, Home Page 3.0, and the FileMaker Pro Binder tool for converting databases into stand-alone applications. The CDs also offer docu- mentation, libraries, and sample code for creating FileMaker Pro plug-ins and link- ing Java programs to FileMaker, as well as Metrowerks’ CodeWarrior Lite to help you get started with plug-in or Java devel- opment. Previous FileMaker SDKs didn’t include FileMaker Pro itself; including the full version is a nice courtesy. The FileMaker Pro Binder is so sim- ple you'll think you must be missing some- thing. Just select your premade databases, pick a binding key, set a few options, and then watch as the Binder creates a direc- tory with your stand-alone program and associated support files. Mac OS applica- tions run under System 7.1 or higher and must be bound under the Mac OS; Win- dows applications must be bound using Windows and can be distributed to users with Windows 3.1, 95, 98, or NT. Binder options let developers specify custom About and Help scripts; rename the Script menu; and prevent users from accessing scripts, privileges, and field or relationship definitions. Bound applica- tions can also be deployed in Kiosk mode, which blocks access to the menu bar and other programs. Although FileMaker requires that 34 November 1998 MACWORLD stand-alone applications use a custom About layout and include a license agree- ment, you can distribute run-time appli- cations, royalty-free, to as many people as you like, The stand-alone applications are solid: my testing turned up no serious functional or configuration issues with bound FileMaker applications. Designing databases that are effective stand-alone applications is no small feat; the Binder’s brief documentation touches @ Quinault Tributary Information, Please You can create stand-alone FileMaker applications using Kiosk mode, ideal for interactive presentations or guide stations that need the power of a database. on a few issues such as file names, fonts, graphics, and layouts, but other pitfalls (such as running applications from read- only media) will be familiar only to expe- rienced FileMaker developers. Even though the Binder is simple, be prepared to run your solution through it repeatedly as you find and fix unanticipated problems. Bound applications have one tremen- dous shortcoming: they offer no network- ing capability, even though stand-alone applications created with previous File- Maker SDKs retained full network fea- tures. End users who need to access File- Maker databases hosted on a network must use FileMaker Pro itself (decidedly not roy- alty-free) or for the company to release aslim client with networking capability but no database-authoring features. Plug-ins and Java FileMaker Pro 4.0 can be extended via external plug-in functions; in fact, that’s how FileMaker Pro’s Web Companion is implemented. However, FileMaker devel- opers expecting a cornucopia of plug-ins in the Developer Edition will be disap- pointed. Instead, the CDs contain docu- mentation and