macworld au 2007 01

/ AUSTRALIAN | | Choose Life. Choose an operating system. Choose not to choose an operating system. Choose them all. Choose a processor. Choose two cores. Choose four. Choose Universal binary software. Choose Rosetta because it’s fast enough for now. Choose Blu-ray Disc. Choose a high-definition camcorder. Choose HD-DVD. Choose to stay with standard definition for now, at least until the smoke clears and there’s something good to watch. Choose a plasma TV. Choose a giant LCD. Choose PlayStation3. Choose Wii, in spite of the name. Choose multimedia throughout your home, streamed from your computer over a high-speed wireless network using IEEE 802.1 1n. Choose solid-state storage. Choose a next-generation phone (maybe made by Apple). Choose a cool ringtone. Choose faster internet access, from wherever you happen to be. Choose a cheap digital SLR. Choose Office. Choose online applications that ¢ obviate the need for Office. Choose a PDA. Choose a smartphone. Choose an entry-level all-in-one inkjet, Choose your future. $6.95 incGsT $NNZ8.50 inc GST TEST DRIVE : ENTAVLEVELALW-ONE INKJET | NCH CORE 2 OUO MACBOOK PRO| QUARK INTERACTIVE DESIGNER |26iPOD SHUFFLE | NSPIREDATA|DIAMCND DETECTIVE leeS29 948021 he other zCover products Please visit www.zcover.com for detail on additional products iS for iPod nano ia 2nd Generation for iPod new shuffle iW for iPod 5G 30/60/80GB IEW Dress it, Express yourself. Nomination ath zCover is a pioneer and trend-setter in the fashionable silicone products market. zCover products are available at Apple retail store in Europe, Best Buy Canada, J&R and other electronic stores. zCover is presently seeking partnerships with resellers to distribute zCover products worldwide For more information please visit the company’s web site www.zCover.com ‘Allthe other trademarks are the propery of thir respective ners. Zeover online pack G AppleCentre Your local AppleCentre The centre of the Apple Universe! acT AppleCentre Canberra City, Cnr Barry Drive & North Road, 02.6257 0808 AppleCentre Fyshwick, 178 Gladstone Street, 02 6280 0808 Dani California Red Hot Chis NSW AppleCentre Balmain, 252 Darling Street, 02.9555 5200 ‘AppleCentre Baulkham Hills, Shop 5, 350 Windsor Road, 02 9688 6066 AppleCentre Broadway, Cnr Glebe Point Rd & Broadway, Glebe, 02 8586 1111 ‘AppleCentre Burwood, 41 Burwood Road, 02 8741 0700 AppleCentre Central Coast, 1/188 The Entrance Road, Erina, 02 4367 0838, AppleCentre Chatswood, 393 Victoria Avenue, 02 8440 6888 AppleCentre Coffs Harbour, 160a Pacific Highway, 02 6651 5655 AppleCentre Hurstville, Shop 4, 124 Forest Road, 02.9570 5411 AppleCentre Lismore, 57-59 Molesworth Street, 02 6622 8282 AppleCentre Newcastle, 38 Beaumont Street, 02 4965 3500 AppleCentre North Sydney, 222 Pacific Highway, 02 9951 7979 AppleCentre North Sydney Arthur St, Ground Floor, 146 Arthur Street, 02 9955 4422 AppleCentre Pitt Street, 175 Pitt Street, 02 92229211 AppleCentre Pymble, 10/859 Pacific Highway, 02 9144 4866 AppleCentre Sydney CBD, 66 Clarence Street, Sydney, 02 9367 8585 AppleCentre Taylor Square, 11-21 Flinders St, Taylor Square, 02 9332 8500 AppleCentre Wagga Wagga, 128 Baylis Street, 026971 7141 AppleCentre Warringah Mall, Shop 130, Warringah Mall, Old Pittwater Rd, 02 9938 9111 AppleCentre Wollongong, Cnr Crown and Kembla Streets, 02 4228 4999 QD ‘AppleCentre Brisbane CBD, 260 Adelaide Street, 07 3220 0400 AppleCentre New Farm, 34 James Street, 07 3852 1666 ‘AppleCentre Rockhampton, 90 Musgrave Street, 07 4927 0847, ‘AppleCentre Surfers Paradise, Shop 7, Cnr Ashmore & Upton St, 07 5504 1000 SA AppleCentre Adelaide, 162 Gouger Street, 08 8212 6445 AppleCentre CBD Adelaide, Shop G7a Rundle Mall Plaza, Crr Rundle Mall & Gawler Place, 088410 8585 AppleCentre Glenunga, Shop 1, 315 Glen Osmond Road, 08 8338 7444 AppleCentre Norwood, Shop 5, 177-193 The Parade, 08 8333 0922 TAS AppleCentre Hobart, 99 Liverpool Street (Comer of Criterion St), 03 6238 1000 vic AppleCentre Berwick, 22 Gloucester Avenue, 03 8768 4600 AppleCentre Bourke Street, 169 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 9639 9444 AppleCentre Chadstone, Chadstone Shopping Centre. Lower Level, 03 9568 8655 AppleCentre Chapel Street, 409 Chapel Street, 03 9827 5011 AppleCentre Elizabeth Street, 399 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, 03 9329 3911 AppleCentre Elsternwick, 327 Glenhuntly Road, 03 9530 0110 AppleCentre Flinders Street, 172-192 Flinders Street, Melbourne, 03 9662 9666 AppleCentre Geelong, 255 Moorabool Street, 03 5223 1550 AppleCentre Ivanhoe, 71 Upper Heidelberg Road, 03 9497 4011 AppleCentre Malvern, 1465 Malvern Road, 03 9824 8544 AppleCentre Moonee Ponds, 1 Puckle Street, 03 9372 8899 AppleCentre Richmond, 42 Bridge Road, 03 9429 5002 AppleCentre South Melbourne, 64 Clarendon Street, 03 9684 3600 AppleCentre Whitehorse, 546 Whitehorse Road, Mont Albert, 03 9898 9344 WA AppleCentre Albany, Shop 6, 69 Lockyer Avenue, 08 9842 9660 Hi AppleCentre Nedlands, 104 Stirling Highway, 08 9389 0400 ey AppleCentre Joondalup, 10/7 Delage Street, 08 9301 5333 ie AppleCentre Mount Hawthorn, Shop 5,148 Scarborough Beach Rd, 08 9444 9988 4 AppleCentre Perth, Shop 45, Carillon City Arcade 207 Murray Street, 08 9324 3455 We have all the Solutions With over 30,000 different products to help you create & produce! hee = = : — == Apple iMac Computers Apple iMacs now come standard with the new super fast Intel Core 2 Duo processors. You can run Windows software at native speeds with the Bootcamp or Parrallels options. Software includes Mac OSX 10.x, iMovie HD, iPhoto, iDVD, GarageBand, iWeb, ‘Tunes, 3D. Games, Front Row, PhotoBooth & more! 171 z Intel 512/160GB$1530 24 x Combo, GMA950 graphics 17” 2GHz Intel 1GB/160GB ....$1830 8 x DL S/Drive, Airport & Bluetooth 20” 2.16GHz Intel 1GB/250GB..$2275 8 x DL SDrive, Airport & Bluetooth 24” 2.16GHz Intel 1GB/250GB..$2965 8x DL S/Drive, Airport & Bluetooth Add Bootcamp & Windows XP ..$295, ¥ Logic pre Apple Software Packages Mac OS X 10.4.6 “Tiger iLife 06 .... iWork 06. -Mac Membership - 1 Yea Final Cut Studio 5.1 Final Cut Express Remote Desktop 3 (10 User)....$389 Remote Desktop 3 (Unlimited) .$679 Aperture 1.1 $429 Logic Pro 7.2. $1339 Logic Express 7.2 $469 Prices include GST & a (02) 9280 2333 www:powermedia.comaau Apple Laptop Computers All Apple Laptops now come with Intel Core 2 Duo Processors and lots of bundled software! 13.3” MacBook 1.83GHz Intel 512/60GB, Combo Drive-White 13.3” MacBook 2GHz.. $2075, Intel 1GB/80GB, SuperDrive-White 13.3” MacBook 2GE 120082375, Intel 1GB/120GB, SuperDrive-Black 15.4” MacBook Pro 2.16GHz .$3175 Intel 1GB Ram/120GB, DL SuperDrive 15.4” MacBook Pro 2.33GHz $3950 Intel 2GB Ram/120GB, DL SuperDrive 17” MacBook Pro 2. $4350 Intel 2GB Ram/160GB, DI SuperDrive Jé Xerox — Colour Laser Printers Xerox DocuPrint C4350 A3....86200 M/A3, 256MB, 35ppm colour 45ppm B&W, Adobe PS3, o nonth Onsite Warranty. $9900 Prints Xerox Phaser 7760DN A3+ Best Value for larger Runs. M4/A3 ts 35 ppm colour, 45 ppm YR Onsite Warrty and Extra Set of toners offer. 100BaseT Xerox Phaser A3+ 7760GX. SPECIAL OFFE Sc 'xtended 3 Yr Warranty - FREE! pages of 7760 Toner Free (at standard 20% CMYK Coverage) 11,550 d e subject to change without notice. EXOE Call for Govt or Ed. prices. (07) 3367 1944 wwwgplus.com.au NEW MacPro Workstations The new Mac Pro is Apple's work horse computer for commercial and professional users. Powered by Quad Core Intel Xeon processors at speeds of 2.0, 2.66, or 3Gz. Internal hard drive storage of up to 2TB. Quad 2Ghz Intel 1GB/160GB ..$3350 16 x DL S/Drive, GeForce 7300 GT Quad 2.66Ghz Intel 1GB/250GB.$3950 16 x DL S/Drive, GeForce 7300 GT Quad 3Ghz Intel 1GB/250GB ..$5250 16 x DL S/rive, GeForce 7300 GT Apple 20” Cinema Disp! $1145 Widescreen. Native 1680 x 1050 resolution: Apple 23” Cinema Display.......$ 1595 Widescreen. Native 1920 x 1200 resolution. Apple 30” Cinema Display.......$3190 Widescreen. Native 2560 x 1600 ution. 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Xserve RAID 3.51B $1348 Fibre Channel 7 x 50 Xserve RAID 7TB. $2149¢ Fibre Channel 14x 500GB drives. | Apple Xserve: Quad Core Intel Apple Xserve 2GHz 1GB/806B .....$499: Quad Core Intel Xeon ‘Woodcrest’ Proc. H 5 g _ A Adobe Adobe Software Packages Adobe CS2 Premium. $ Acrobat Pro7, Illustrator 1 GoLive 8, InDesign 4, Version Cue, Adobe | Stock Photos and lobe Bridge. | Upgrade to Adobe CS2 Premium from any | Photoshop version... Adobe Acrobat 7 Pro... - $6 Adobe Photoshop (2 Upgrade from any full version of Pha version (not LE or Elements) Adobe illustrator C82 | Upgrade from Illustrator CS... S29) Adobe InDesign CS2 Upgrade from INDeSigh ...s..nseunen$30) paaoinu (03) 9706 8858 wwvidesigniyse.com.al Professional Computer Solutions QuarkXPress Version 7.01 QuarkXPress Version 7 is powerful layout program with an intuitive, versatile interface hat lets you combine writing, editing, and ‘ypography with colour and pictures to produce dynamic final output. 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SOE Prices subject to change without notice )2) 9280 2333 wwwpowermedia.com.au (07) 3367 1944 wwwgplus.comau (08) 9387 5088 wwwartref-com.au ON Epson Large Format Printers Epson's UltraChrome K3 Inks are now available on a wide range of printers from Ad Uup toa massive 44” wide. Epson Printers are particularly well suited to the digital proofing and photographic markets, and their inks are stable and have a long life. Special pricing is shown below and they all come with a free roll of media. Designwyse and Graphics Plus are two of Australia’s leading Epson Large format resellers. We will match or better other quotes for Epson Large Format Printers. Epson Photo R2400 A3 8 Col..$1750 Epson Pro 3800 17” 8 Col......$2170 Epson Pro 4800 17” 8 Col......82995 Epson Pro 7800 24” 8 Col......85495 Epson Pro 9800 44” 8 Col....$11295 Ftp Es LinoType — Font Collections LinoType 1.7 Gold Edition For bureaus, publishers, agencies, design studios. Boxed twin CD set. Customised 10 user license. Over 3,900 typefaces. MULTI- PLATFORM - Windows and Mac. 10 User license $7645 IAL OFFER - Fee iPod Nano 2GB ‘orth $299 with each Gold Edition v1.7 LinoType ITC Full Libraty.......84950 From classic to modem - 1034 fonts LinoType Essentials Vol 182...$1649 ‘The basis for your type librat LinoType Fresh Cream Modern, fun and display fonts - LinoType Essentials + Fre Essentials 1&2 + Fresh Cream $1900 at Value! PAIS Designwyse Professional Computer Solutions Completely remastered. The new iPod Nano. New iPod Shuffle size cut in half p > b Order Your iPod Today! In Stock now! www.macbox.com.au www.itbox.com.au - PC Site @ Authorised Solutions Reseller Tel: 02 - 82125387 Fax: 02 - 94278688 ox PURCHASE ANY _ www.macbox.com.au Intel Mac Mini Mac Mini AppleCare SBREE! MA607X/A 1.6Ghz $949 MA608X/A 1.8Ghz $1249 PURCHASE ANY : Intel Core 2 Duo iMac And Receive $50-$150Cash Rebate! > > ORDER YOUR MACBOOK PRO ! | nat anal a | . MA710X/A 17” Combo Drive - $50 Rebate MAS590X/A 17” Super Drive - $80 Rebate MA589X/A 20” Super Drive - $100 Rabte MA456X/A 24” Super drive - New Size! - $150 Rebate Conditions apply. Core 2 Duo 17” $4399 - Free iPod nano Free 3 Year Warranty www.macbox.com.au www.itbox.com.au - PC Site U . e @ Authorised Solutions Reseller Tel: 02 - 82125387 Fax: 02 - 94278688 Techtools’comau 1300 761 466 USB TURNTABLES Ideal For Archiving Your Records to MP3 to Play on Any Digital Media Player 0 ><1on ZS ey INCLUDED ACCESSORIES ——— ~ Slipmat - USB Cable - 45 Adapter - Audacity Recording Software - Quick Start Guidi only $349 Inc GST A i includes MP3 Polaroid Sunglasses while stocks last! ION has created a revolutionary USB turntable allowing you to convert your old vinyl collection directly to CD or MP3 with included recording software. (NO SPECIAL DRIVERS NEEDED) This turntable also has a line level output for connecting to any home stereo with an AUX input. FEATURES ~ Plug & Play USB - no drivers needed! PC Requirement - 33 1/3 and 45 RPM - PC running Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP - Supports the recording of 78 RPM records through the included software - Mac running 0S9 or higher - Adjustable Anti-Skating control for increased stereo balancing - One available USB1.1 port or higher - Line-level RCA outputs (with built-in pre-amp) - PC and Mac compatible SPECIFICATIONS —— - Drive: Belt Customer comments for USB Turntable Vinyl to MP3 - Motor: DC ‘The best piece of kit you could ever buy. Sets up in minutes and ~ Wow and Flutter: Less than 0.20% (WRMS) before you know it, that rare LP is converted into a CD. Brilliant.’ ~ Signal to Noise: More than 50dB (DIN-B) Paul E, Bath - Platter: 295mm Diameter FREE Bonus value $199 inc GsT with every purchase of iTTUSB Turntable while stocks last! Glasses $548 of value Battery - Polarised Lenses - Continuous 8 Hour Playing Time - Shock proof and Anti-static for only - 2 Hour Reerercine Time - Filters 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC $349 IncGsT - Battery consumption Auto Saving - Tested to meet Australian Standards Memory Storage Features - Standard USB 2.0 - Compatible format MP3, WMA, ADPCM - Integrated USB Drive for data and MP3 song files -Stereo Sound - 60 Song Capacity - includes USB AC Charger (optional USB car charger) What's next? By various authors 2006 was a pretty interesting year for the Mac industry, what with Intel chips and Macs running Windows and so on. You have to ask: what does 2007 hold? Well, we did anyway. Here’s our best guesses as to what you should look out for. Mobile. 045 PDAs and smartphones battle for supremacy in the palm of your hand Video. 050 A closer look at EyeTV's new integration with IceTV, and more. Photo. 052 Tips for keeping a shot blur-free, new cameras from Olympus and Panasonic, and a look at some cool software. Music. 054 Pro File: Howard Jones. The icon of 1980s pop talks about current pro- jects and how Macs make all the difference Take control of launchers 058 Launch your productivity Help folder 060 Queries and tips from our readers Australian Macworld January 07 Australian Macworld January 07 Buzz. SJ phone home? 021 Speculation and rumour- mongering about an Apple-branded phone has been flying thick and fast for years, but recent developments indicate that an announcement may be imminent: even as soon as the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Interface. Commentary 014 ilbox Off the Net Education 057 ReadMe 064 Soapbox mini 082 Test drive. Epson CX3900 atte Canon PiXMA MP180 tte HP Photosmart C3180 Abie Lexmark X5470 8b Brother DCP-130C heb, AMwW lab: Budget all- in-one inkjets 67 “Entry-level” no longer means “cheap” 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.16GHz thie 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.33GHz Hein Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros 070 Laptops get latest Intel processors, and more Quark Interactive Designer 1.0 aan 072 Fast, easy way to turn print designs into Flash 2G iPod shuffle eee 074 The tiniest iPod ever InspireData eee 075 Visualise information and find meaning in numbers Diamond Detective thie 076 Novel twist on an old favourite RETURN IT AND GET WHAT YOU REALLY WANT. They'll never know. ‘vallable from the all good Apple resellers including frequency.comau >roudly Distributed by q 4 REE [i] pases pasrure OG essen. COMO ee wwwtryandbyte.com.au SoC Rscoer comet compnow.com.au tw Sins™ 2a The Ses™ 2 es: © 2008 Hers Ase. 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Mac and he Macloa am radenats ol lange e.g nthe US. nether cui Alero the pg ol epicure, 014 From the Macintosh scene to the magazine. By Matthew JC. Powell. © Hot Links www.apple.com/support/ipod/tutorial/ip_gettingstarted_t16.html Apple's “Five Rs" movie — required viewing, if a little out of date. iPod — for and against an iPod, or you've given one to someone. Likely, even. There are, | don't mind telling you, a lot of them going around It is also quite possible, in the weeks and months following that purchase, that you — or the beneficiary of your generous gift — will experience a problem with it. It may freeze up. It may stop playing songs. It may behave erratically. It may not start up, and appear to be “dead If this applies to you or your loved ones, read on, Pass this column on | T'S quite possible, in this gift-giving season, you've either been given to every iPod owner you know, and everyone you know who gets an iPod in the months and years ahead. This column contains sage advice. Here it is: Flick the “hold” switch on and off, then hold down the “select” button (that’s the one in the centre of the clickwheel) and the “menu” button (that's the top bit of the clickwheel) for about ten seconds. That restarts it. If you have an iPod shuffle, switch it off and then on again. That restarts it. If you have an older iPod (with a mechanical clickwheel), flick the “hold” switch on and off, then hold down the “play/pause” and “menu” buttons for about ten seconds. That restarts it. This advice can be found on about page two or so of the iPod users’ manual — but who the heck reads that, right? This is an Apple product! Do they even come with manuals? This is why | felt it incumbent upon me, with the platform | have, to reiterate the advice in this column, where at least a couple of people might actually read it, and tell others. The iPod's got a bit of a bad rap lately. Legends of “dead-on-arrival- or-shortly-thereafter” units abound. No less respectable a publication than Choice named it the shonkiest product of the year. (The fact that Choice made no distinction between iPod models, and based its judgement on the number of complaints about the thing without commenting on the validity or otherwise of the complaints is something | shan't go into here.) Here's the thing: | have it on good authority, from techs I've spoken to, that something like 80 percent of the "DOA’ iPods they receive are in need of nothing more than a restart Or, worse, people think an iPod is more or less identical to a Walkman, and who ever needed to restart one of those? An iPod is not like a Walkman. An iPod is essentially a computer — it has a hard drive, a display, an operating system, an input device and output interfaces. Like all computers (that's right, all of them) an iPod can occasionally crash. No biggie, just restart it Australian Macworld January 07 | was driven to write this by three letters | received within the last month, telling basically the same story: “My iPod died a short time after | got it, so | took it to a service centre, but instead of giving me a replacement under warranty they just reset it and gave me the same broken one back!” Sigh. The flipside. Now, I'm not saying that all user complaints about iPod problems and Apple's response to them are without merit. Not by along shot. I'm just saying that if the minor, fixable problems were less overblown, we'd be able to focus more clearly on dealing with the genuine grievances. For example, | have been in contact with a reader called Bill Thomas, whose iPod developed a flaw in its LCD after about three months. Over the course of a few days, this flaw developed into a crack, rendering the screen and the iPod unusable. Bill tells me that the iPod was kept in a gel shockproof casing and was carried about in his shirt pocket — never dropped, never misused or abused. Nonetheless, the judgement of Apple was that the unit had been dropped or externally damaged, so was not eligible for warranty replacement. End of story? Not for tenacious Bill, who reported the situation to the department of Fair Trading. Fair Trading took it to Apple, which (to avoid a fight) offered “compensation”. By then Bill had picked up a replacement LCD and instructions on how to install it in Hong Kong for about $A70, so he wasn't too fussed, and accepted the offer. Figured it would cover his 70 bucks. Nope. The “compensation” is a voucher from the online Apple Store for $125 off purchases of $425. So he’s got to give Apple another $300. Some compensation. Oh, and he has to spend it by the end of December — right when we've all got spare money lying around. The Apple spokesperson | talked to about this said “well, you know, that's a large discount on the cost of a new iPod”. Bill doesn't want a new iPod. | believe Bill's story. Apple, by choosing not to believe it, has alienated a customer. If he had become as ardent a fan of Apple as he has been a critic in his communications with me, he'd have been a real asset. [% Vahloofe Bool We all shine on. Cool Feet by Cableyoyo $19.95 Cool feet is designed to provide ventilation and ergonomic improvements to your laptop. In each set there are two tall and two short feet which elevates your laptop on any surface. Create a comfortable angle for typing, even on your lap! The elevation provided cools the laptop and protects surfaces from damaging heat. Using the included adhesive pads the cool feet are easily popped on and removed when required, the Cool Feet use suction cups to attach to these adhesive pads. Also included is a carrybag for when you're on the go. Agent18 NanoShield for 2nd gen nano. $39.95 Mighty House for the Mighty Mouse $19.95 Simple snap on/off design and access to all iPod connectors, - Crafted from non-toxic and high- click-wheel and hold switch with full screen protection. grade silicone Includes a Universal Dock Connector. - Ultra thin silicone to preserve full functionality of the Mighty Mouse - Moulded specifically for the ‘ > Mighty Mouse. Scroll ball is accessible and there are moulded grips for the side buttons cot - Easy to remove and replace for cleaning, the Mighty House is washable - Suitable for Mighty Mouse and « y wireless Mighty Mouse Made for MacBook and MacBook Pro. New colors are Eclipse black and Ghost white (which glows in the dark) -Semi-Permanent - Sydney 30&31 March 07 / Perth 3 April 07 www.semipermanent.com ‘ PS Sel) | WHIRLWIND (oat) BEX Your magazine, your forum. 017 Hot Links www.pangeasoft.net The real home of Pangea This issue Conexus (02 9975 2799) is giving a SpeckTone Retro speaker system valued at $250 to the Australian Macworld reader who sends in what we deem to be the most interesting letter. Listen to your iPod at home with this exceptional speaker system that accepts virtually all dockable iPods. All 4G, 5G, mini, and nano iPods can be placed in and played through the SpeckTone Retro dock connector. Even an iPod shuffle can be plugged in via the AUX input jack on the back of the SpeckTone Retro. The Specktone Retro delivers dynamic, rich sound with uncompromising quality thanks to its analogue circuitry, 4-inch subwoofer and 28 watt output. Its sleek retro design is complemented by a high-gloss lacquered wood finish. The iPod even charges when the Retro is turned on. Speck's Skintight cases (included for nano and 5G iPods) allow you to use the SpeckTone Retro without removing the case. Cover your mouth | read with interest Fleur Doidge’s article in the 12.2006 edition of AMW. | am a little perplexed at her statement that implies that Macs can get viruses and other malicious software. Is this the case? She alludes to the issue being not as simple as the ad campaign claims. While | can appreciate that it is not as simple as the campaign on TV at the moment claims, what are the issues? I'd appreciate a future article in AMW that looks at the issue of viruses/trojans and other malware from a Mac perspective in depth Stuart Murdoch ‘Sunshine, Vic. We have actually looked at the issue of Mac security and virus/malware protection a few times this year, but you can be assured we'll be giving more coverage to the issue in future. As for Fleur's article, yes, Macs can get viruses and other malware. They're not affected by Windows-specific malware (which is all the ad actually says), so they're a lot safer than the other guys (Windows viruses number in the hundreds of thousands, while OS X viruses number less than a handful) — but a large part of the reason for that is just Apple's small market share. Malware writers are like any software developers: they aim for the big market. There are other reasons why OS Xis safer than Windows, but it's not immune to threats and Mac users shouldn't be complacent. — MJC.P ‘and Conditions. Wert: lator of ho Boson uo errs. No corespancence al be ent ‘and age Letters should be e-mailed to matthew,powell@niche.com.au with a subject header of “Mailbox” or by post to Australian Macworld Mailbox, 3/165 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, Victoria 3182. Letters of fewer than 200 words are given preference. We reserve the right to edit letters and probably will. To be eligible for the SpeckTone Retro prize, you must include your full name and address, including state or territory. The Others When | connect my iPod to my PC (yes, | know, still waiting for my new 17-inch MacBook Pro — then | can be rid of this beige abomination), and select the iPod in iTunes 7, the capacity bar A tells me that | have 11.71GB of audio, 16MB of photos, 6.42GB of “Other” and 419MB of “Free Space” What is this “Other”? | have looked at the device through Windows Explorer, and I cannot see these “Other” files, so! cannot delete them. When the free space runs out (and this is imminent), and | want to load more tunes, what will | be able to do to delete these "Other’ files? | did have many more photos ‘on the iPod before, but have since removed them. Could they be the files in question (are they just marked for deletion and waiting to be overwritten)? Also, what is the best audio quality that a 4G iPod can record at? | have seen in this month's AMW that the 5G devices can record in near CD-quality. Just wondering if | am going to have to upgrade — again Rodney Hutton Prospect, South Australia "Other" is essentially anything on your iPod that isn't music or photos (or video, in the case of 5G iPods). It includes data files such as contacts and calendars, but can also include podcasts or, on a 5G iPod, games. Most of this would be visible in Windows Explorer though. Most likely, you've selected the option to “include full-resolution photos” when synchronising your photo library. The full- resolution photos can't be viewed on the iPod, so they count as “Other," but they're located within the “Photos” folder on the iPod, so in Windows Explorer you may not look in there for them. Next time you syne your iPod, deselect that option in iTunes and see if it makes a difference. If that doesn’t work, use iTunes to restore your iPod (that is, erase it) and re-sync it to your computer. Your 4G iPod has the same recording capability as a 3G iPod or earlier: BKHz mono. Only the 5G or the 2G nano have the super-duper new recording features, sorry. — M.JC.P Australian Macworld January 07 018 Language barrier Alex Rieneck’s review of Monolingual (Soapbox. 12.2006) interested me and | immediately downloaded the software. Fortunately | don't believe everything | read, so | looked at the ReadMe before using it. There we are told that deleting language files from Adobe applications screws them — but Monolingual provides a way around this. But it doesn't work! Just in case, | downloaded the previous version, but it didn’t work either. So Monolingual is in the trash can until a version that works is produced. | hope not too many people followed Alex's advice or he will be getting a lot of hate mail Richard Watkins Kingston Beach, Tas. Ican understand your timidity in running Monolingual, Richard. In the six or so times I have run it I have keenly felt the same fear myself. However, it has never done anything awful to any of the machines | used it on, nor any of the Adobe software that was on them. That said, any major change you make to your system files is not without hazards. After all, very few things are utterly safe, and Monolingual is plastered with warnings. — AR Coming to Australian Macworld Web productivity. Stop wasting time on the web use RSS. How to ed search te specialised engine Music: Composing on your Mac New to the fold For the last three years | have been buying or borrowing (our local library has a subscription) your great magazine. For all of that time | never had a Mac computer, just a modest Windows machine on dial-up internet access, shared amongst our family of six kids. All those photos and articles on iMacs, iBooks and PowerBooks sure did whet the appetite for something modern and efficient Well finally | have joined the Mac brethren, | bought a second hand 12-inch iBook! | know it must be good because it has a 1GHz processor and if the esteemed editor of Australian Macworld can get by with only a 667MHz processor | must surely be king of the world for at least the present lam loving every minute | spend with my new computer, dragging out all my old magazines and teaching myself how to use it. It may be a couple of generations old but to me its new and fun. | hope you get as much enjoyment with your new machine when you finally get it | have waited a long time for mine and the wait was worth it. | hope your wait will be just as rewarding Rex Gillard Coolum, ald Welcome to the family, Rex. — MJC.P. Profile and Young Guns: Wh« Profile: Myth takes You've done it again (Help folder, 11.2006 and Mailbox, 12.2006) — perpetuated the myth that leaving your Mac off overnight means that it misses out on the daily/weekly Unix maintenance routines. This hasn't been true since 10.4.3 — the Mac checks on startup to see whether any of these tasks have been missed and, if so, performs them then. | wish | could remember the last place | read this, but it was almost certainly on either MacFixit or MacinTouch. Steve Cooper, Geelong, Vic. Thanks for that, Steve. | have to admit I'd either missed or overlooked that point in the release notes. — M.JC.P Corrections In the review of Pangea Arcadde (Test drive, 12.2006) we gave the wrong URL for Pangea Software, The correct address is www.pangeasoft.net. Thanks to Ashley Mulder for pointing that out. Our Christmas gift guide (12.2006, obviously) included the incorrect price (by a fairly large margin) for the Bose Quiet Comfort 3 noise- cancelling headphones. Rather than the $299 we quoted, the QC3s cost $599. Thanks to Michael Flannery for letting us know, Coming to Desktop AMW Lab: All-in-one photo printers Buzz special. Macworld Expo San F por To advertise, Cll Steven O'Donnell on 03 9525 5566 To subscribe. Free-call 1800 804 160. Australian Macworld January 07 change the way we e To advertise. Call Dominic Miller 03 9525 5566. To subscribe. Free-call 1800 804 160 Macworld January 2007 / Issue No. 108 Group Publisher powell@niche.comau Group Sales Manager Dominic Miler ‘dominic miler@iche.com au 039525 5566 National Advertising Manager Steven O'Donnel steven odonnell@riche.com au 03.9525 5566 Avertsing Coordinator Designer Tim Marty Prepress Emma Meagher ‘emma meagher@ IT Manager Joe! Robertson Joelrobertson@niche.comau (niche) ‘Australian Macworld is a publication of Niche Media Ply Lid ABN 13064 613 529 Level 3, 165 Fitzroy Steet, St Kida, Melboume, Vic 3182 Tel: 03 9525 5566 / Fax: 03 9525 5628 Chairman and Publisher Nicholas Dower Managing Director Paul Lidgerwood Finance Director John Clarke Studio Design Manager Kealy Akins keelyatkins@niche.com au ‘Subscription Inquiries Free Call: 1800 804 160, subscriptions@niche.com.au crPpPrint Eluestar pint - Australia 03.8514 6000, Issn aga Age‘ot Empires Ill) One of the best-looking real-time strategy games ever! Single-player, multiplayer, and campaign scenarios. Record o quality audio direct to your iPod in stereo, terid Convert your old LPs and tapes to mp3! Great for podcasting! 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RRP $299 ance {$259| RRP. noc __[ $369) RRP. 1 vwocs___ [$439] Ultra-fast AV (7200RPM) 10GB i $399) iPod nano 2r Hard plastic protective 9 cover for new nano, fe3a95 | 1 X/Y touchpad, 18 assignable knobs and buttons. Great keyboards for use with GarageBand & Logic. 61 Key Take control of your presentation up to 40 feet im away. Includes laser pointer. Remote | Control mlm ia applications ‘on your Mac with the same convenience as your TV remote. o8e8) Cordless Skype VoIP Phone Make Skype calls wirelessly while you foam your home or office! Divine Design Creative Services (03) 9387-2797 Visa, MasterCard, Amex & Diners. No credit card surcharge! Streetwise sa trademark and the Streetwise Logo is a registered trademark of Streetwise Software Py, Ltd. Mac and iPod are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Prices and specications correct 28/11/06, but may be subject to change without notice. Erors and omissions excepted. le ay Genewena al oy =< & oO amt i | i t FileMaker Pro 8.5 also includes: New! FileMaker Learning Center provides a wealth of online resources to help you get started quickly and to improve your FileMaker skills. New! Universal Application Support means FileMaker Pro 8.5 runs natively and faster on the new Intel-based Macs. For more information including product, pricing and special promotions visit: wwwfilemaker.com.au Ww _ FileMaker. © 200 FileMaker, Inc. All Rights Reserve. FileMaker and the fie folder logo ere registeres trademarks or vademarks of FileMaker nt inthe Onted States and other counties: Al other trademarks are the property of ther respective owners. There’s a world of information waiting to meet your data! Introducing FileMaker Pro 8.5 Featuring the revolutionary FileMaker Web Viewer that delivers web data on demand! Introducing a new way to access and manage your world of Information This new version of FileMaker® Pro includes the breakthrough FileMaker Web Viewer that delivers information from the Web directly to FileMaker Pro 8.5 — to provide the easiest way for you to access and manage your world of information. New! FileMaker Web Viewer * Mapping made easy — View maps, directions and driving details from your favorite mapping Web site based on addresses stored in your database! * Shipping Details at Your Fingertips — Get package tracking details from your favorite shipping Web site with shipping details automatically displayed based on tracking numbers stored in your database! News Delivered to Your Virtual Doorstep - Get important news and financial information on contacts and companies from your favorite Web sites and search engines * Organize Research Instantly — View online encyclopedias and research information from popular Web sites * Get instant information on Product Updates — Get up-to-date information, competitive pricing, inventory details and more by linking directly to the Web sites of manufacturers, supplier and vendors South Australia Adelaide Head Otice 08 8338 7444 Adelaide CBD 08 8410 8585 Victoria Elizabeth St. CBD 039229 3911 Bourke St. CBD 03 96399444 Richmond 03 9429 5002 Ivanhoe 03 9497 4011 [New South Wales Sydney CBD 02 9967 8585 Sydney Pitt Street 02 9222 9211 Baulkham Hills 02 9688 6066, Balmain 02 9555 5200 Broadway 02 8585 1111 Macquarie Centre 02 2888 9955 Queensland Brisbane 07 3220 0400 Surfers Paradise 07 5504 1000 Western Australia Cannington 08 9458 9811 Nedlands 08 9389 0400 Tasmania Hobart 03 6238 1000 News, views & chatter from the world of Macs. @ SPECULATION © Hot Links www.appleinsider.com Rumour site Apple patent could point to iPhone patent application filed by Apple has fuelled specula- A tion that the company is readying an iPhone device that would extend the life of the iPod and allow the company to branch off in a new direction. “Everyone had already triangulated that this was likely — it makes a lot of sense,” said Roger Kay, president of the market- research firm Endpoint Technologies. If Apple does decide to step into the phone market, it will face much stiffer competition than it is used to with MP3 players. However, Kay feels that it’s a market that Apple has to get into as a pre-emptive play, if nothing else. “[ actually think it's a good defensive play,” said Kay. “The only market larger than computers is the phone market. Phone compa- nies have the potential to eat the media player market, so Apple can't leave that base uncovere Entering the market gives Apple a new direction to take its device strategy, but will adding another iPod sacrifice its already lucrative business? Kay believes that Apple's pricing plan will make sure that won't happen. “My sense is that [Apple is] going to price it [to] capture more of the market,” said Kay. “If you just want an MP3 player, buy an iPod; but if you want more you can get the new device.” According to a report on Bloomberg, Apple's application describes a “tube-like” device made using zirconia and alumina and that would be “cost effective, smaller, lighter, stronger and aesthetically more pleasing than current” designs. Meanwhile rumour sites, renowned for their hit-and-miss accu- racy, have been reporting in recent weeks that Apple has actually released its first mobile phone to manufacturing, suggesting that market availability could be imminent — if the device exists at all. Naturally no-one at Apple is saying anything about any such device. And lest you imagine that “no comment” is as good as confirmation, Apple simply never comments on rumours. However, Digg founder Kevin Rose, who has a weekly podcast, claimed in a recent episode that he had actually seen a proto- type, and revealed that it features separate batteries for the phone and media-player functions. If true, that would answer a common complaint about phones with MP3 players — that listening to tunes means less talk time. With Macworld Expo just around the corner, Kay characterised the chances of getting an iPhone-like device as being “a pretty good bet.” If it turns out to have separate batteries, Kevin Rose will take on the air of a privileged insider, and maybe get a swift kick from Steve Jobs. — Peter Cohen and Rob Griffiths Australian Macworld January 07 022 m SECURITY ® tc Hot Links www.secunia.com Heed the warning Secunia reports disk a image security flaw ECURITY firm Secunia has posted an advisory about a S potential Mac OS X UDIF Memory Corruption Vulnerability. The original source of the report states that the vulnera- bility is present on a fully-patched Intel-based Mac. The report states: “The vulnerability is caused due to an error in com.apple.AppleDiskImageController when handling corrupted DMG image structures. This can be exploited to cause a memory corrup- tion and may allow execution of arbitrary code in kernel-mode.” This vulnerability “potentially can be exploited by malicious, local users to gain escalated privileges or by malicious people to compromise a vulnerable system,” according to Secunia. Just how serious is this threat? While the risk posed by secu- rity holes should never be dismissed, the vulnerability described by Secunia is relatively easy to eliminate. As long as you've disabled the opening of safe files after down- loading, you should be relatively safe. Keep in mind, however, that whenever you download and install anything (from a disk image or not), you're trusting the author of the code on that disk image — especially if it requires you to run an installer or asks for your admin password. To disable the opening of safe files in the Safari web browser, select the Safari menu, and choose Preferences. Click on the General option and uncheck the “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading” box. By default, that box is unchecked. This new issue echoes a problem that first came to light in 2005 with Mac OS X v10.4’s then-novel Dashboard technology. By default, Safari 2.0 would open safe files after downloading, and a programmer demonstrated that Dashboard widgets could be arbitrarily installed that way. A similar problem was later reported involving shell script execution from a web page. In both cases, the problems could be prevented by making sure “Open ‘safe’ files’ after download” was turned off. — Peter Cohen and Rob Griffiths @ SECURITY ® Hot Links www.myspace.com One weird place MySpace worm uses QuickTime HE social networking site MySpace.com is under what one Teme security analyst calls an “amazingly virulent” attack caused by a worm that steals log-in credentials and spreads spam that promotes adware sites. The worm is infecting MySpace profiles with such efficiency that an informal scan of 150 found that close to a third were infected, said Christopher Boyd, security research manager at FaceTime Communications. MySpace, owned by News Corp., is estimated to have at least 73 million registered users. The worm works by using a cross-scripting weakness in MySpace and a feature within Apple’s QuickTime multimedia player. The exploit starts with a user who visits a MySpace profile infected with an embedded QuickTime movie. The movie loads JavaScript code that overlays a row of menu options on a MySpace profile with a bogus menu. A QuickTime function, called the HREF track, can direct the player to use JavaScript commands to load web pages into a browser frame or window. Australian Macworld January 07 The JavaScript feature in QuickTime has legitimate uses, “but there are a lot of legitimate uses for technology that can be misused,” said Ross Paul, senior product manager with Websense. If an option in the bogus menu is clicked, the user is directed to a fake log-in page hosted on another server where the person’s log-in details are captured. Additionally, the worm places an embedded QuickTime movie on the user's profile, which will then repeat the infection process for anyone who visits the profile. Once a profile is infected, the worm sends spam to other people in the user's contact list. Boyd said he’s heard anecdotal stories of users removing the worm’s JavaScript manually from their profile, but the worm reap- pears after some time if one of their friend’s profiles is infected. Several variants of the worm have also appeared, he said, adding that while some of the web sites hosting the malicious QuickTime movie have been taken down, others have appeared. The Firefox 2.0 browser was flagging some of the bogus log-in sites as phishing sites, Boyd said. However, phishing sites can be active for several hours before they are flagged. — Jeremy Kirk 023 m MUSIC 0) Hot Links money.cnn.com/2006/11/22/technology/apple beatles_ipod.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes The story in Fortune All you need is cash HE Beatles’ noticeable absence from Apple's iTunes Store could soon be a thing of the past if a report in Fortune magazine proves to be correct. The business magazine is reporting that Apple is close to a deal for putting the biggest rock group of all time’s music catalogue online. What’s more, Fortune reports, Apple could be on the verge of becoming the exclusive online source for Beatles downloads for a limited time. If the deal comes to pass, it would be quite a coup for Apple. Not only would it mark the long-awaited arrival of the Beatles in the online music market, it would also be a significant accom- plishment given Apple’s oft-tumultuous relationship with the music group's business arm, Apple Corps, over the years. “It would certainly be a trophy,” said Ross Rubin, director of analysis at market-research firm NPD Group. “[Steve] Jobs has publicly professed his admiration for the Beatles and their music. This is the kind of fan base that really leads to a lot of possibilities.” According to the report, Apple Computer and Apple Corps were hoping to announce the deal with the debut of Love, the band’s newest release, on 21 November. Details of the arrangement could not be finalised in time. Quoting an industry executive, Fortune said the two parties still have to work out exclusivity rights for iTunes and the amount of money Apple will put upfront to get the music. There are also discussions on whether Beatles music can be used in a commercial. It comes as somewhat of a surprise that Apple Corps would use iTunes to make the Beatles’ music available for download. Only months ago, the company lost a lawsuit against Apple in which it had accused the computer maker of breaking a 1991 agreement by using the Apple logo to sell music-related products such as the iPod and iTunes. However, when it comes down to a business deal of this magni- tude, Rubin said both sides want what's best for their respective bottom lines. “Even though the two sides have met in court several times, the truth is their interests really are aligned here,” Rubin said. “iTunes is the market-leading product, compatible with the market-leading player. Putting aside any history, if you're going to move into a medium, you want to the most impact and iTunes is where it is.” The ruling in the lawsuit is under appeal, but that could be abandoned if the two companies finalise an agreement to bring the Beatles to iTunes. — Jim Dalrymple Canon PowerShot A640, 10 megapixels, $599 MacBook with Core 2 Duo, $1749+ iPod nano, 2GB-8GB, $219+ = @ iPod http://www.infinitesystems.com.au Wacom Intuos and Graphire tablets, $149+ 024 @ ANALYSIS ® Hot Links au.playstation.com www.wiicom www.xbox.com/en-AU/ Fun fun fun Does the Mac matter for games? T'S a tough season for stalwart Mac gamers as Sony and | Nintendo launch new game consoles and Microsoft moves into year two of its Xbox 360 campaign. With so many powerful video game consoles on the market, does the Mac even matter for games anymore? We're big console fans in my house. We have an Xbox, a PlayStation 2 and until two weeks ago, when we replaced it with a Nintendo Wii, we had a GameCube as well. So I'm no stranger to the console market. If I could afford to, I'd buy an Xbox 360 and (when i get one) a PlayStation 3 as well. We take our games pretty seriously in my house. My kids have their own computers, as does my wife, and when they're not doing schoolwork, after-school projects or other things that have some redeeming quality (or deadline) associated with them, they can often be found gaming there too. And that brings me to the first area where | think (for now, anyway) computers have consoles beat. Social networking. My wife and kids all spend a fair amount of time on web sites that actively encourage participants to interact with each other while they're playing games. They've really run the gamut of online sites like Yohoho Puzzle Pirates and the like, but most of the time, they can be found on two sites: Gaia Online and Neopets. Neopets is a “virtual pet site” that boasts more than 70 million users and more than 160 games, while Gaia Online is more of what we used to call back in the day a “MUD,” or multi-user dungeon. Its creators call it a “virtual space ‘hangout’ that’s rife with other users and non-player characters (or NPCs), some good and some bad. And there’s plenty of games and distractions, including special events. (An alien invasion that culminates around Halloween is always a big hit at the Cohen house.) Now, I know a lot of you reading this will perk up and say, “But wait, Xbox Live Arcade lets you do that too,” and you're absolutely right — after all, where did Microsoft get the idea? Xbox Live Arcade is predicated on two basic concepts: One is that you want to use your Xbox 360 — whether it’s in your living room, bedroom, family room or whatever — as your main conduit to social networking games, and the other is that you're willing to pay the premium to play on Xbox Live Arcade. Sure, many online games charge a fee, but many offer limited access for free, as well. Now, for my money, | prefer to play World of Warcraft — almost to the exclusion of all other online games. A big part of the reason is because Blizzard puts Macs on a level playing field with PCs Australian Macworld January 07 when it comes to platform support. It's also a lot of fun to create your own characters and develop them over time, It's a place where Ican often find friends and acquaintances to play with, too. Portability. | can’t travel easily with console games. I certainly drop my PSP into a backpack and take it with me on trips, as my friends do with their Nintendo DSs, but at the end of the day, it’s a pretty insular experience, even if you hook up to a WiFi access point and play some online games with friends or manage to get going an ad-hoc game somewhere. Playing on a laptop lets gamers continue the online experience we've already started — for myself, in World of Warcraft, or for my wife and the kids, on Gaia or Neopets. | also like to haul out the PowerBook on the train or plane and challenge myself to a game of Klondike solitaire or even a few laps with Jammin’ Racer when the mood strikes. The illusion of productivity. | often play casual games like Scrabble or Burning Monkey Solitaire in windowed mode, so I can keep iChat open or check my e-mail, surf the web and do other things in between rounds. It helps keep me alert and inter- ested in what I'm doing, though I'll admit I've been driven to distraction a few times. (At that point, it’s important to have enough self-control to quit and get back to work.) With Apple’s switch to Intel processors, Mac performance has gotten better than ever across the product line. That includes games, too (except maybe in the case of Macs that feature inte- grated graphics chips like the MacBook and Mac mini). As I said at the outset, | don’t expect the Mac to be all things to all people. For many folks otherwise satisfied with their Macs, a video game console is a great supplement that will provide them with the only gaming fix that they'll need. For many of us, it's just not enough. — Peter Cohen @ CREATIVITY © Hot Links www.mydreamapp.com Hopefully the first of many When you wish upon an app AMERON Westland designs web interfaces, not software applications. Nevertheless, an application he conceived, called Atmosphere, will soon be coming to a Mac near you. The 23-year-old resident of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and his would-be program beat out 2700 other entries in five rounds of Australian Idol-style voting to become the top vote getter in the My Dream App contest. The web-based competition — the brain- child of shareware developer Phillip Ryu — set out to find the most innovative ideas for software. Mac users were encouraged to submit ideas for an application. The initial pool of entries was whittled down to 24 finalists who had to expand further upon their ideas while facing round after round of elimination votes. The prize? A team of Mac developers will build the winning ideas, with the brains behind the apps receiving 15 percent of the royalties from any sale. “My Dream App grew into something totally unexpected by the end, especially once the voting rounds began,” Ryu says. “The contestants came up with some amazing visualisations of their ideas — we were all very pleased with how it turned out.” Westland’s winning submission, Atmosphere, is a real-time weather-simulation app that brings the weather to your desktop. Atmosphere also cycles with day and night, different seasons, and moon phases — or at least that’s the vision that won Westland the most votes. Two other winning ideas will also be turned into apps. Portal, by Farzad Sadjadi, aims to sync files, folders, and applications between two or more Macs. It’s designed to pick up where Apple's sync services leave off, integrating all your syncing needs into one window. The other winner, Cookbook, by Michael Yuan, streamlines many kitchen-related activities, going beyond recipe management to assist in meal planning, ingredient acquisition, and food preparation. You'll be able to plan out meals months in advance, and the required ingredients for those meals will be automatically added to smart grocery lists. Each application has its own development cycle and will be released separately — shipping dates will depend on the level of developmental difficulty. — Jim Dalrymple Does your Mac do TV? Products starting at eyetv $249 watch record edit enjoy Watch, pause and rewind full screen television directly on your Mac. Record TV shows and take control of your schedule with the help of a built-in, searchable Program Guide. Edit recordings to remove un- wanted content, or create short video clips. Export your recordings to your iPod” in one easy step. Sit back, and enjoy. MacUser Seeey eyetv diversity United Kingéom Macworld Editors’ choice RK Ik eyetv hybrid United Kings Macword BEST eyetv2 software United States For Superior Reception eyetv diversity Dual-Tuner DVB-T Stick with Antenna Diversity x LCEEV NEW: Optional Program Guide now avaitable from IceTV. Elgato products are available at these snd otterauthonsed Spe desis, @APPIe Store @ Applecente J OMA VN E For more information on our s, visit www.elgato.com elgato 026 m@ BRIEFS © Hot Links www.proximitygroup.com Proximity labs.adobe.com/downloads/soundbooth.htm! Soundbooth beta www.parallels.com Run Windows on your Mac www.speckproducts.com SeeThru Apple buys Aussie Proximity Apple has extended its stable of technologies with the purchase of Sydney-based software developer Proximity. The company’s flagship product is Artbox, an all-in-one asset management and workflow application. One of the company’s key personnel, Brian Murray, was tragically killed in an accident in January 2006. Artbox manages clips, animations, stills and audio and is targeted at TV, news production and post-production workflows. Artbox integrates format conversion, storage, workflow manage- ment, and search and retrieval of media into a single device. Artbox also has a content-management module that stores media in its native format. Users can search, locate, transfer and transcode, edit clips, generate EDLs and manage media across multiple platforms and formats. Artbox gives users the ability to associate multiple pieces of artwork that exist in different formats and across multiple devices with a single story or project. According to a note on the Proximity web site all technology and intellectual property, including Artbox workgroup and Artbox enterprise, have been acquired by Apple. Proximity was the subject of a Pro File in the 11.2004 issue of AMW’s The Hub. — Jim Dalrymple Adobe takes aim at audio pros Adobe is targeting audio professionals with its Soundbooth, a new audio application now available as a public beta. Soundbooth users can record, edit, and create audio without having any training in sound production. The application, which runs only on Intel-based Macs and not PowerPC systems, also removes noise from recordings, polishes voice-overs, and customises music to fit a production. Adobe's latest application seemingly goes head-to-head with Apple’s Soundtrack Pro, an audio sequencer for video, DVD, and web projects that’s included in the Final Cut Studio suite. Parallels beta works with Boot Camp partition Parallels quietly unveiled a new beta version of Parallels Desktop for Mac, its software that makes it possible for Intel-based Macs to run Windows operating systems and software without needing to be rebooted. It's available for download now, and is free for registered users. The Australian distributor of Parallels Desktop is Conexus (02 9975 2799). Australian Macworld January 07 With Parallels Desktop for Mac installed, an Intel- based Mac can run Windows XP and other x86-based operating systems, including older versions of Windows and versions of Linux, inside a window on Mac OS X as a “Virtual Machine.” This is distinctly different from Apple's Boot Camp software, which enables Intel Macs to run Windows after being restarted. New to Mac Beta Build 3036 is improved usability; a “Virtual Machines” catalogue that lets you view all the virtual machines you may have installed, if you run more than one instance of Parallels Desktop; one-click Virtual Machine aliases; a resizable main window; auto-adjusting screen resolution and the ability to drag and drop files and folders between Windows and Mac. Also of import is the ability to use a Boot Camp partition — so you don't need to maintain separate installations for Boot Camp and Parallels, which will help to conserve hard disk space (and reduce licensing issues with Windows). Other changes have also been made, including better USB peripheral performance and claimed 50 percent better graphics performance on some applications. — Peter Cohen See right through. Apple's aluminium-cased MacBook Pro is a handsome machine. It's also easy to scratch. If you want protection, Speck Products’ SeeThru fits the bill — and your laptop. This two-piece polycar- bonate shell — available in clear or in translucent red — snaps onto your 15-inch MacBook Pro, shielding it from scratches and minor bumps. All of the laptop’s ports, openings, and buttons remain accessible. (You do need to remove the bottom piece to swap batteries, though.) The shell’s bottom even has rubber feet for stability, and ventilation holes for keeping your MacBook Pro cool. Speck Products are distributed in Australia by Conexus (02 9975 2799). — Dan Frakes MUG listing Not many MUGs meet in January, so it's a short listing this month. Sat 13 Gold Coast Users Group [QLD} home.worldlink.com.au/appleserv/GCUsers.htm| Mon 15 Byron Shire Mac User Group [NSW] www.ozshop.net/bsmug Tue 16 Sydney Macintosh User Group [NSW] www.sydney.macusersgroup.org Tue 23 iMug www.imug.com.au Thu 25 Central Mac Users Inc [VIC] www.cvmu.net Sat 27 Geraldton Mac User Group [WA] gmug.wamug.org.au @ PHOTOGRAPHY © Hot Links www.piclens.com PicLens ory From ket 4 we FF, Re Fron aca From gence A new light for pictures revolutionised the sharing of images. For instance, I use a Flickr account to regularly post images on the web to share with friends and family. A quick trip to Google Image Search can result in just about any image you can imagine, and many you can’t. A web browser isn’t exactly the best interface for looking at pictures. Sure, image sites have come up with some clever ways to improve the experience beyond the standard scroll-and-click approach. Sites such as Flickr offer slick slide-show displays, for example — but anyone who's used iPhoto’s slide-show feature knows that it’s a darn sight better than scrolling through images on Flickr. Recently, I got a preview of a new utility, available as a Safari- only beta version (a Windows version is forthcoming), that lets you transform any set of image search-engine results — or galleries on Flickr, Facebook, or PhotoBucket — into a gorgeous full-screen slide show that looks like what you'd expect from iPhoto or Front Row. The utility is called PicLens, from Coollris. After you install it, when you move your mouse over an image on any of the sites I mentioned, a small icon appears that indicates it’s a slide- show-capable page. Click on the icon and the image zooms to full screen. In the background, PicLens pre-loads the next few full-resolution images, so there’s no delay when you move to the next image. Press the play button and the slide show will go on its own, moving through all the images on the page. (This version displays images only from a single page, but I'd bet that future versions will display images from multiple pages.) Although it’s a beta that has a few quirks, PicLens strikes me as a great idea. It integrates perfectly with Safari and makes a whole lot of sense, especially if you spend a lot of time viewing photos on Flickr. I'm looking forward to seeing where Coollris goes with PicLens from here. — Jason Snell O NE of my favourite things about the web is how it has ) ZVTECH -com.au mr a : wr qe? Portable Drives oS Lt ==! = See! Fa Mac Mini External Hard Drive MacBook Pro la eal AND MORE!! email: sales@zytech.com.au Ph:(08) 9721 1125 Fx:(08) 9721 1126 See us now at www.zytech.com.au 028 m@ FIRST LOOK ® Hot Links www.blizzard.com Where to find it World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade HERE'S no debate about what made 2004 a year to remember for computer gamers: the emergence of World of Warcraft, the most popular online role-playing game in the world. Unlike so many other Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), the developers at Blizzard Entertainment treated Mac users with an equal hand, developing the software in lock-step for both Mac and Windows platforms. Now the company is on the cusp of releasing a new expansion pack for the game called The Burning Crusade. The Burning Crusade is being released as an add-on for the original game. It provides new capabilities for existing player characters, new playable races, a new continent to explore, and new monsters, weapons, spells, magic items, and many other things to collect and to explore. Did you say monsters? Let's back up for a second and start at the beginning. World of Warcraft takes places on the mythical world of Azeroth. This has been the setting for each Warcraft game since the original real-time strategy game debuted more | than ten years ago. World of Warcraft changed forever how players saw Azeroth by turning the entire geography into a massive, shared online experience. Players assume the role of hero characters made up of one of several different species of creature, ranging from Night Elves to Gnomes, Ore to Human, Tauren to the Undead. You choose a class for your character (paladin, shaman, mage, hunter, and more); then, you go on quests given to you by non-player characters controlled by the game's servers in order to gain experience. You can collect money, items, and weapons, sell goods, buy training, and even establish professions, such as mining or enchantment. New races. Blizzard’s legendary ability to weave a good yam and a seemingly endless supply of quests and story permutations to uncover and experience have brought millions around the Australian Macworld January 07 globe to World of Warcraft. But even the most dedicated WoW player was bound to get bored after a while, and that's where the Burning Crusade comes into play. It expands the game's para- meters by introducing two new playable races: the Blood Elves and the Draenei. The former are a group of elves that have become dependent on tapping mystical energies — even demonic ones — and have aligned themselves reluctantly with the Horde (their kin the Night Elves remain in the Alliance's good graces). The Draenei are blue-skinned aliens who have crash-landed on Azeroth in the hopes of aiding the Alliance and finding shelter from their common enemy, the Burning Legion. Left to their own devices, the two new playable races would be enough to tempt many World of Warcraft enthusiasts, but that’s only where the fun starts. For senior WoW players, the skill cap — the maximum amount of experience your character can accrue — has risen from 60 to 70. That doesn’t sound like much, but the amount of experience you must acquire to get through the higher levels will keep players busy for quite some time. New places. Blizzard has also created an entirely new conti- nent to explore — it’s called Outland, and it’s a remnant of the nal homeworld, called Draenor (also, fittingly, the place where the Draenei have come from). This area, accessible only through an inter-dimensional rift called the Dark Portal, is specif- ically designed for higher-level players. The other two continents in World of Warcraft, Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, have specific zones that are set up for higher players, but now WoW offers a playground that’s all their own. High level players will also be able to take to the skies of Outland on flying mounts, exploring wherever they want. And for those players who haven't grown tired of the geog- raphy of the existing lands in Azeroth, Blizzard has packed in many new high-level dungeons, new starting zones, hundreds of new quests, and more. The core gameplay experience has improved, as well. Many WoW players enjoy battling each other in arena combat, so Blizzard has added a “Ladder” system that lets you play against other ranked players, working up the chain as you succeed in more combat. Sparkly things. A new profession has been added in the Burning Crusade — jewel-crafting. Precious gems have always been part of the booty you can lift from monsters you've defeated in combat, but up until now, you've had very little to do with those gems outside of selling them to a vendor for cash you can use else- where, depending on your character's professions. Now you can take those gems (and other precious metals you've mined) and create amulets, rings, and trinkets that might provide you with short-term benefits (or “buffs” as they're called in WoW parlance) — a damage boost to your weapons, for example, or some extra healing power or augmentation of your defensive capability. If you remember Blizzard's past classic Diablo II, you might also remember “socketed” items — weapons and other objects that were imbued with special powers when a gem or other precious, often magical object was placed within it. Blizzard has added socketed items in the Burning Crusade, as well, most specifically 029 at higher levels. Leatherworkers, blacksmiths and tailors all can | rendering performance is, in some cases, dramatically improved s that if you're not lucky enough to have those skills, you might find have really complex geometry, such as cities, or areas that have socketed items as treasures in dungeons or available for purchase | large “mobs” of players — raids, for example, or crowd scenes. in certain locations. Apple has enabled multi-threaded OpenGL to function in the Intel build of Mac OS X 10.4.8, and is actively touting the feature for the Better performance on Intel Macs. Blizzard was one of | forthcoming Mac OS X 10.5. It remains to be seen if this is a feature the first Mac game developers to release a Universal Binary | that will make it to PowerPC-based Macs, which have featured gain access to “recipes” to create socketed items themselves. And | — doubled, in fact. The biggest improvements are to are version of its game after Apple began shipping Intel Macs in | multi-processor and multi-core configurations, or if this is some- January 2006. Now the company is leading the way with another | thing that will be strictly limited to Intel Macs, but it's exciting to Mac OS X technology: multi-threaded OpenGL. see, regardless. It helps resolve a long-standing issue with the While the graphics processor, or GPU, is certainly a limiting | graphics performance of Macs when playing modern 3D games. factor in the performance of a 3D game like WoW, it's not the only one — the way in which the CPU handles data is also at_| Lots to look forward to. At this point, I've spent hours issue, because much of what's being calculated in a 3D game is | exploring the new lands that have been revealed and the new done by the CPU, not the GPU. races that are being offered to Burning Crusade players. It’s Multithreaded OpenGL holds the promise of improving perfor- | certainly helped renew interest in this game for me, and I expect mance for those games and applications that find themselves | it will for many other players, as well. The Burning Crusade is CPU-bound, which as it turns out, WoW does quite a bit. The | proving to be every bit as satisfying an expansion pack as you'd technology boosts performance by splitting OpenGL rendering | expect from Blizzard. code into multiple pipelines on multi-processor or multi-core At last check, Blizzard pushed back the release date of the computers, such as those Macs that are equipped with Intel Core | Burning Crusade from the end of 2006 to January, 2007. Duo, Core 2 Duo and Xeon chips. Objectively, the release date has only slipped a few weeks, but Blizzard’s engineers have enabled a setting in the Intel build of | it's enough to make WoW fans seethe with rage at not being able the beta version of the game that I've been playing that allows | to get their hands on the add-on when they expected to. Trust you to take advantage of this. The net result is that frame rate | me — it'll be worth the wait. — Peter Cohen ya > Symbiotic Point of Sa .. A Solutions Comriptible Experts in Point of Sale & Inventory Management #1 Robust and adaptable...POS-IM edges out in front when it comes to hitting the ground running and (providing) flexibility for your needs. J) costae eee POS:IM POS*IM is cost-effective, tried, true & proven with thousands of installations. Easy to Use LightSpeed is ground-breaking, new multi user Point of Sale software. _ Barcoding options Single and Multi User Hansa provides integrated POS, Job Costing, ERP, CRM, Customisable reports Multi Store, Multi Site Accounts, Project Management & more. Stock, Invoicing, Debtor: Mac and Windows compatible Integrates with accounting Suitable for all Retailers & Stock Managers Since 1990 030 By Dan Warne. Off the net Latest shareware and free downloads © Hot Links www.ausmac.net If you want it, here it is, come and get it Disco eee Burning =O @e <= Disco 1.0b $US14.95 Shareware X (10.4.3) Universal Need a little more flexibility in your disc burning than the OS X inbuilt burning functionality, but don’t want to shell out for Toast? Disco fits the gap very nicely, and it has amazing flame burning visualisation effects. Can backup your files across multiple discs if they won't fit on just one. Burn 1.5u Freeware X (10.4) Many of the same features as Disco, but without the eye candy. Open source Stellarium 0.8.2 Freeware X (10.4) Universal See the night sky as you would if there were no pollution! The makers of this app claim it is used in real planetaria. It's not surprising: the visuals are quite spectacular. Celestia 1.4.1 Freeware X (10.4) Universal This is a different take on seeing the night sky: you can actually travel through space in 3D. Fly over the space shuttle in orbit and see the Earth behind it! Email Backup Pro 1.1 $US9.95 Shareware X (10.4) Universal ‘An e-mail database crash can mean the devastating loss of years worth of correspondence. This app backs up your e-mail and compresses the archive, and copies to an external disk. It supports both Mail and Entourage Australian Macworld January 07 Hide Folders 2.0 Freeware X (10.2) Universal Helps you access the OS X functionality for hiding folders and unhiding them again. It only offers basic protection — the folders don't appear in Finder windows — but that's all most people would need. Address Book Importer 2.0.5b5 $US10 Beta X (10.2) Universal Importing contacts from one program to another must be one of the most painful computing tasks possible. Inevitably their mobile number ends up in the little known “assistant's birthday” field. This program allows you to import from any CSV source and specify which field maps to which in Apple Address Book Portable Safari 1.3.1 $US0.99 Shareware X (10.4.2) Universal This clever little app lets you take your Safari preferences, bookmarks and cookies with you so that you can plug in your USB key into any Mac and have Safari configured as if you were using it at home Crossover 6.0b3 $US39.95 Shareware X (10.4) This excellent environment for running Windows apps natively in OS X (without running Windows itself) continues to get better. Outlook now works really well and you can install Microsoft Office service packs without difficulty Glentris 1.0.2 Freeware X (10.3) Universal Tetris. Cocoa. Universal Binary. Free. Need | say more? Buddi 2.0 Freeware X (10.4) Universal A really easy personal budgeting program for people with no financial experience. Helps you see your net worth at a glance and get a sense of where your money's going across a fortnight month, etc. Yojimbo 1.3.4 $US39 Shareware X (10.4.3) Universal Organise all your disparate bits of information into one application, which then keeps it very secure (AES256 encryption). It can also sync the info between multiple Macs using .Mac sync. Great for serial numbers, credit card numbers, bank accounts — basically anything you might put on a “sticky” and hope nobody sees. Skype 2.5.0.38 Freeware X (10.3.9) Universal This new beta version of Skype adds the ability to send SMSes from your Mac to any mobile worldwide. Handy! Call ordinary phones Type number cs Es Calling rates or more Vorld. Crush your uild a thriving ategic alliances with Native Americans. our loc call Try and Byte Proudly distribuced by -softgames.com www.macsoftgame icrosoft Micros os 032 The stories behind the stories. By Fleur Doidge. A kind of magic magicks up its design and programming miracles pretty much all by itself in deepest California. Nothing could be further from the truth Ahost of Apple partners is brewing up a storm of software, hard- ware and services that work so well with Apple product one might think they sprang fully-formed from the head of Steve Jobs and his apprentices. One of those Apple partners is Melbourne-based video- editing solution provider Blackmagic Design The brainchild of chief executive Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design was formed in 1995. Petty had previously started another company | P front, an illusion has been created: that Apple Computer that was becoming big when accountants were brought in and wanted to sell it quickly — so Petty left and started again “| ike making products; it’s fun. You've got complete freedom,” he says. Which perhaps says it all. He's a fast-talker, an agile thinker enthralled by the black arts of programming and product development. ® Hot Links www.blackmagic-design.com That old Blackmagic. Petty's background was in television — post-production editing and engineering. So Blackmagic picked up where that left off; starting with a focus on video-editing software, and moving into hardware as well four years later. Blackmagic today has 30 staff in Australia alone and offices — gener- ally with a just few people each — in six other countries. Mostly, the team comprises developers, but there's also a decent number of sales, marketing and admin types. Although the developer works with hundreds of resellers worldwide, Blackmagic also does a lot of its sales direct. It’s all about the creativity. In 2002, Blackmagic invented the DeckLink uncompressed video capture card — one of the first to work seamlessly with Mac OS X. Then came DeckLink HD, which brought a certain kind of high-defi- nition video editing to more wannabe movie-makers than ever before. DeckLink HD Pro, launched in 2004, has been called the world's first true 10-bit and 12-bit dual link 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 high-end video capture card for OS X and Windows XP (see the “Glossary” for explanation of those terms) Not that the company stopped there. It has also released an SDI to DVI converter for quality broadcast monitoring at a cheaper price at a time when cost is a serious barrier to making video in HD, and DeckLink Multibridge, a bidirectional all-in-one analogue converter and breakout box that you combine with its sub-$5000 Workgroup Videohub audio and video router. The way Petty sees it, the right technology is not only a successful creative product in its own right, but can really free the human imag- CREATIVEFOLKS innovative Technology Solutions EPSON STYLUS P Bi Great ea ces - Brilliant Gaour 7 Dedication webshop.creativefolks.com.au 4 Knowled : 17” (432mm) Wid e : Micro Piezo Prin; . : 2880x1440dpi Ma : Epson UltraChror : 8 Colour Ink Cont ONLYS4 3 033 ination. “It's amazing; we've got a lot of guys in Hollywood [using our products]. On films including Superman, and The Aviator. MTV. And in Times Square, broadcast and post-production,” he says Some 70,000 Blackmagic cards have been sold worldwide. “QuickTime became our Postscript. The card you plug in is like a printer, but it's for video. A fair bit of engineering is required,” he says. And there's a new video card, dubbed Intensity, that for just $250 lets people with consumer-grade HDMI video cameras work in uncom- pressed video instead of the more usual, lower quality, compressed media. Blackmagic gear works with Apple's QuickTime and PCs as well as Macs. But Petty prefers Macs really. “The new Macs, the MacBook Pros, they're real screamers. The memory speeds are so fast. And you can put two cards in at once. Plug in two cards, two cameras — you've got real-time, live [video] mixing. It's really exciting,” he says The secret of success. Biackmagic must be doing something right: the company has grown ever more rapidly, with most of its growth occurring in the last few years. Success has been cumulative, with every piece of new knowledge building on another so everything speeds up, like in some 3D rendering of wormholes in space. “It's like a reverse funnel. The closer we are to now, the clearer everything is,” says Petty. Part of his secret is hiring the right people — whenever they appear — and moving fast to do what it takes. It's a continual learning process, but he seems happy with his formula although, he concedes, the company has been forced to shed some less-than- perfect hires along the way. Opportunities pop up in business when you're least expecting them and it helps if you're nimble enough to take advantage Similarly, he's always looking out for the right people — although it can be hard to find them in Australia, he says. Blackmagic has not actively tried to hire overseas, but some over- seas-based developers have self-selected and come to Australia, only to find their skills in high demand at Blackmagic, Petty suggests When not hiring or developing, Petty and his team visit trade shows targeting movie-makers and broadcasters all around the world Mostly, they're big annual expos for national broadcasters, like the one in Las Vegas in April. There are similar ones in Amsterdam, Japan and China, and Blackmagic goes to them all The great thing about trade shows is they're half community service and half marketing,” Petty says. He enjoys them immensely, as well as finding them essential in keeping Blackmagic — a smallish company headquartered in an isolated part of the world — in front of potential business partners and customers. Petty seems so passionate and involved in his work that one wonders if he ever goes home. So it’s no surprise to find that his leisure time is a bit of a busman’s holiday. “Yes, | go home and program all night,” he laughs. "My wife goes, ‘come to bed’, and I'm like ‘but I'm doing programming.” Digital Visual Interface Serial Digital Interface High Definition High Definition Multimedia Interface (designed to replace DVI) A sampling ratio reflecting equal amounts of the luminance and two chrominance channels A sampling ratio reflecting four samples of luminance, two of one of the chrominance channels and two of the other chrominance channels The black and white, or brightness, part of a video signal The colour portion of a video signal that is a mixture of hue and saturation but not luminance Fleur Doidge believes that everyone has a story to tell. 3800 yng Lasting! id Technology - um Print Resolution (3 Ink Technolo EPSON EXCEED YOUR VISION CREATIVEFOLKS innovative technology solutions WWW. CREATIVEFOLKS.COM.AU, 1300 136 557 CONTACT US @ sales@folks.com.au y ation (KLKLLKOM,Y,LmLc) lus delivery developer.apple.com/tools/download/ Download a CHUD www.apple.com/macosx/booteamp/ www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/ www.vmware.com/whatsnew/maesignupform.html Run multiple OSes on your Intel Mac itredux.com/office-20/database/ Office 2.0 Australian Macworld January 07 035 E don't usually talk about the future in AMW. W Our main concern is about buying and using Mac stuff in the here and now. Given Apple's penchant for secrecy, speculating on the company’s future releases is best left to the breathless ether of the blogosphere. That doesn't mean you, as a sober, responsible Mac buyer, shouldn't think about the future. There’s the perennial question of “Should | buy now or should | @ wait?” There’s the tricky business of weighing what you have now against what you'll need next year. That's why we assembled this guide. We considered the technologies, products, and services that are going to have the biggest real-world impact on Mac buyers in 2007, and came up with the following list of ten trends. Your life may not be changed by all of them, but chances are that at least a couple will change the way you use and buy Mac products in the next 12 months. on Nine tech trends that will shape what you buy this year Australian world January 07 036 SOFTWARE MULTI-CORE COMPUTING NCE upon a time, chip makers made computer chips faster every year by increasing their processing speeds. Lately, the microprocessor industry has run into some fundamental limits to those speeds. So chip makers have had to switch directions and look elsewhere for better performance. The latest solution: Design chips with multiple processor cores. The result: Today's big-brained chips that can do more processing than ever before — if the software is modified to take advantage of their design. Beyond clock speed. Only a year ago, the processors that ran most Macs had a single core, the brain that does most of the computing. Only the CPUs in high-end Power Mac systems intended for the power-hungriest professionals sported more than one core. Today, every Mac model sold contains at least two processor cores — essentially, two independent brains jammed together on a single chip. Mac Pros contain two dual-core chips, for a total of four processor cores. And Intel recently announced a chip with four processor cores. Traditional single-core computers worked straightforwardly. All the work your Mac needed to do was put in the pipeline, and the Mac’s processor would work on each item in turn, as fast as it could. The faster the chip, the faster the computer could work. When chip speeds started stalling, chip makers such as IBM, Intel, and AMD turned to a different speed-boosting trick: adding processor cores. Is your software savvy? By default, Mac OS X assigns every task it's given to the processing core with the most power to spare. Also by default, every program you run is a single, self- contained task. So if you had a (purely hypothetical) 16-core Mac and were running 16 programs, each would essentially have one core all to itself. What if you had one program that required huge amounts of processing power? If OS X saw it as a single task, all the oper- ating system would do is assign it to one core — so the program would be able to use only one-sixteenth of the Mac’s total processing power. That's unacceptable, of course. So most high-end programs (including Adobe Photoshop and Apple's Final Cut Pro)-have been written to split the work they do into smaller tasks, each of which can be farmed out to a different processor core. Australian Macworld January 07 Now that multi-core Macs are nearly ubiqui- tous, programmers of all kinds of applications will need to modify their soft- ware to support multiple cores, breaking up functions into small sets of tasks that can be more easily farmed out to the next available processor core. In addition, software that’s already been modified to work with multi-core systems will need to become more efficient. In our tests of the first Intel iMacs, we found that some tasks, such as the 3D Render, iTunes MP3 Encode, and iPhoto Import, used both cores efficiently. Other tests revealed that certain iMovie filters were not at all efficient. Photoshop itself was scattered: for some tasks, it was extremely well optimised for multiple cores; for others, it wasn’t remotely multi-core-savvy. In any event, the future of computer performance no longer seems to be solely in the hands of the chip makers. Power has shifted, at least somewhat, to the software developers. Chip makers have found a way to keep increasing the amount of power inside a computer's chassis, but programmers will have to find ways to take advantage of it. Australian Macworld’s buying advice. What's a Mac user to do? In one sense, there isn’t much you can do. The only kind of new Mac you can buy today is one with multiple processor cores. lin another, you should make your voice heard. Ask the companies that make your most-important software programs if their apps are taking full advantage of your multi- core Mac. You can even download Apple's CHUD tools (see “Hot links”) and test your own Mac with one processor core disabled to see if your favourite programs are really taking advantage of all that Intel processing power you paid for. In the meantime, Intel and Apple will continue to release chips and computers with an increasing number of processor cores. So when Intel releases that four-core chip, and when Apple puts two of them into a Mac Pro (the Octopus?), let's just hope that we'll have plenty of Mac software that can tap into their power. & In 2006, 40 percent of all CPUs shipped were multi-core. By 2008, that market share should double. i Dual Core BB quad Core Worldwide multi-core microprocessor shipments, as a percentage of all microprocessors shipped 2007 2008 1c, 2006 037 By John Rizzo SOFTWARE MULTIPLE OS MAC T some point in the not-too-distant future, most Macs especially those in business and educational environ- ments — will be running multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The question is, will the multiple-O$ tools built into OS X be enough for you? The Virtues of virtualisation. Virtual machine technology, or virtualisation, enables the Mac to run any application, regard- less of the operating system for which that app was written. It performs this trick by running one or more operating systems, each in its own “virtual machine.” For most Mac users, virtualisation has meant “running Windows software on a Mac.” Back in the 1980s, SoftPC, from Insignia Solutions, enabled Mac users to run DOS and Windows on 680x0 Macs, by emulating an Intel processor. Later, Virtual PC took over and allowed users to run multiple instances of Windows at the same time on one Mac. Fast-forward to 2006, when Apple introduced its Intel-powered Macs. Because there was a real Intel processor inside these Macs, the need to emulate this kind of processor was gone. As a result, guest operating systems could run dramatically faster on a Mac. Apple took advantage of this by releasing a beta version of its Boot Camp software, which lets you install a copy of Windows on your Mac and then choose which OS — Windows or OS X — you want to use at startup. The obvious flaw in Boot Camp's design is that it’s not, in fact, running multiple operating systems: it lets you run only one at a time. You have to reboot your Mac if you want to use Windows. If you're a gamer, that’s probably fine. If you're a businessperson who wants to pop into a Windows app for a second and then pop back out to OS X, or if you want to copy and paste data from a Windows app into OS X, Boot Camp is not the solution for you. Parallels Desktop, which also came out in 2006, \¢ seems like the better answer. Unlike Boot Camp, it lets you run Windows apps in a window within OS X; you can then switch between the two operating systems quickly and easily. Like Virtual PC, Parallels Desktop lets you run multiple operating systems at the same time, so if you need to run, say, Linux as well as Windows while you're running OS X, you can. In 2007, Mac users will get an even better option. VMware is a veteran provider of virtualisation software for other platforms. In late 2006, it released a beta version of its first virtual machine product for the Mac. Like Virtual PC and Parallels Desktop, VMware's software will let Intel-based Macs run multiple instances of Windows, Linux, NetWare, and Solaris as virtual machines at the same time they run Mac OS X. VMware's software will do more than just run another OS on the Mac: it'll also support virtual appliances — pre-packaged virtual machines that come with applications and user settings already installed and configured. Using it, you could, for example, download an appliance that would let you put a ready-to-run Oracle software installation on your Mac. What might have once taken two days of configuration hass| matter of dragging and dropping a file. es will become a small Australian Macworld’s buying advice. Although Apple will bundle Boot Camp with Leopard, that won't give OS X users anything they can’t get now with a simple download. And, as far as we know now, Boot Camp still won't be able to run multiple operating systems at the same time. For a truly multi-OS Mac, the best Mac option for now remains Parallels Desktop. Keep an eye out for VMware for Mac — it could change the game. Australian Macworld January 07 038 STORAGE FLASH EMOR OLID-STATE, flash-based storage — the kind used in the iPod nano and shuffle — is coming to the Mac. The result could be better battery life, quicker booting, and entirely new kinds of systems. Solid-state storage. Flash memory stores data in solid-state transistors rather than on the magnetic platters of a hard drive. Unlike your Mac’s RAM, flash memory (also called NAND memory) is non-volatile, meaning that its contents don't disap- pear when you turn off the power. As a storage medium, flash memory has some advantages over standard hard drives. flash memory has no moving parts, it's sturdier and it consumes less power. Second, in many circumstances, flash memory delivers data faster. st, because Historically, flash memory’s major disadvantage has been price: in 2002, it cost about $US260 per gigabyte, compared with $US150 per gigabyte for a hard drive. Prices for both have dropped drastically since then (see the graph “Flash price drops”). For all of these reasons, computer and storage vendors have been working on ways to incorporate flash memory into their products. Right now, it looks as though the fruits of their labour will appear in two forms. Prices for traditional magnetic hard drives and for flash memory have dropped since 2002, but flash prices have dropped more dramatically, making it economically viable as a Mac component. =(§= One-inch Hard Drive (price per GB) =@= NAND Flash Memory (1GB) Average US. prices $155.89 Australian Macworld January 07 Samsung and Seagate, among others, plan to release hybrid hard drives in early 2007. These drives will supplement the usual magnetic platters with a small bit of built-in flash memory. You can expect most other hard-drive vendors to follow suit. Intel is developing an alternative scheme, code-named Robson. The chip giant plans to incorporate flash memory into the chip sets it sells to computer makers; thus, the memory would be built into the motherboard rather than the hard drive. In either case, flash memory could help your system in a couple of ways. In one scenario, bits of the operating system would be stored in flash memory; those bits could load more quickly from flash memory than they could from a hard drive. The result would be faster bootup times. In another scenario, your computer would store application code and program data in flash memory. You'd save power, because the hard drive's platters wouldn't have to spin quite as much. And the system could run incrementally faster, because flash memory delivers data faster than a hard drive. It’s up to the OS. To realise the advantages of flash memory, the operating system has to know it’s there and know what to do with it. Apple, as usual, is silent on the subj chances look good that the Mac will get flash storage in 2007. For one thing, back in 2005, Apple signed long-term sourcing agreements for NAND memory with several of the world’s leading suppliers. Most of that memory is going into iPod nanos and shuffles, but some could be redirected to hard-drive makers. Apple could use hybrid drives from any vendor that adopts the Apple could adopt Intel’s Robson chip sets. And there’s no reason Apple couldn’t add flash-memory support to OS X. One other intriguing possibility is that Apple could build a Mac — most likely a laptop — that uses flash storage alone. Combine flash storage with a relatively cool Intel chip, and you can build a radically thin, power-savvy laptop. And that’s just the begin- ning of all the speculation. Tablet Mac? Handheld Mac? Flash memory makes it all imaginable. . However, the technology. Less lik Australian Macworld’s buying advice. Until 0S X adds support for flash storage, there's no reason to contemplate it. If and if you want to take advantage of it, you probably won't have much choice in the matter. Apple will offer hybrid drives in its Macs (or, maybe, Macs with Robson chip sets). It’s also possible that you'll be able to add hybrid drives as upgrades. && and when that support arrives 039 Schmeiser ONLINE THE ’NET AS COMPUTER B ROWSER-BASED SERVICES — such as Google's Gmail and Yahoo's Flickr — are becoming increasingly sophis- ticated and usable alternatives to the applications and data storage that now reside on your Mac. Because they're online, your apps and data are always available from anywhere, no matter what device you use to access them. Will they replace the programs on your Mac? Not likely. Office 2.0. When Yahoo began offering e-mail accounts ten years ago, it became one of the first occupants of what's becoming known as Office 2.0. Since then, dozens of other web- based apps and data-storage services have moved in. (For a sampling of what's available, see the table “The Online soft- ware suite”; for a full list, see “Hot links”). However, these online applications aren't without their draw- backs. For starters, they demand a speedy, reliable net connec- tion.