MacWorld0007July2000

INTERNET PRIVACY: HOW TO BEAT BIG BROTHER, P. 62 J Ue Ly ¥ 2000 BH® AUTHORITY w.macworld.com ~ Complete Palm Best Handhelds Cool Add-ons Great Software wa 2% % QB2EOOSAdAa *@aea | é€ | Store | iReview ic icards | Quicktime | Support | Get your own Mac.com email address. It's easy and free, and works with ‘Taking a vacation? Create an auto-eply ‘On the go? Your Mac.com mail can be automatically forwarded to another your favorite email clients. ™ KidSafe KidSafe and Mac OS 9 work together to make the intemet all the rest. KidSafe also controls access to Intemet services such as chat rooms, email, and online games. iTools. At your service. wrth your very omn20 MB storage on Apple's nemet server, iDisk is the easy way to share files over the Intemet. Using iDisk, you can easily share photos and iMovies, as wwellasimport them into your own website While your files are sfely stored on Apple's Intemet server, accessing Introducing a new class of Internet services from Apple created exclusively for Mac users. With ‘Tools, you can make the Internet safer for your children, email friends, share your photos and iMovies, and even create your own web site. And iTools are free for Mac OS 9 users. By signing up, here's what you'll get. HomePage Build your own personal web site in three easy steps. With HomePage, it's extraordinanly simple to make a web site that’s a reflection of you. ate a bin announcement, resume, instant photo album, oreven an iMovie theater. We'll even host your neb site on Apple's Intemet server, so i's email address. them is as easy as using 2 folder on your Mac desktop. popes there for the world TED 4D 24D CE aD The door. Apple now gives you a faster, easier, safer, more productive way to take advantage of what the Internet has to offer. Just visit wwwapple.com and click on ‘Tools. Now you have full-powered email (with your very own “mac.com” address), 20MB of free Internet storage space, a rock-solid way to protect your kids and a personal website you can build in minutes. (© 2000.pple Compuaer. In. Al rights reser. sppe. oe ple logo, Mac ana be Mac logo ave registered trademarks and iDisk eri Mac OS 9 Featuring Sherlock 2 The key ‘Touse iTools, all you need is Mac’ OS 9. (Oh, and a Mac, of course.) And upgrading gives you many new features. Like Sherlock”2, your personal shopper and Internet search detective. Multiple user support. And voiceprint passwords. So upgrade today and open the Internet's most powerful door. Just call 1-800-MY-APPLE or visit us at wwwapple.com. @$ Think different” ‘QuickTime, Sbelock and Think diferent are trademarks of ape Computer, Inc. beret acces retires ntemet service account foes may apply BJC-8200 Printer Peripheral MultiPASS C545 Multifunction Printer Take a quick look around. You'll find a Mac- compatible Canon peripheral for just about any purpose you can imagine. From high- resolution printers and scanners to the world’s best-selling portable printer, we've got what it takes to keep Mac users smiling. And with CanoScan 630Ui Scanner Award-Winning Pe Pri Choices abound. Now Mac users can pick from an Need a traveling companion for your iBook™ or PowerBook® G3? extensive selection of Canon Color Bubble Jet™ Printers. All Our 3.1 pound” BJC-85 Color Bubble Jet Printer was pronounced with photo-quality imaging and razor-sharp black text. “Best of Show” at the Macworld 2000 San Francisco Expo. "45 pounds with AC adapter and optoal battery pac. ©2000 Canon Computer Systems, Ine Cane, 81, Buble J Canoe Know How, CanoScan, MuPASS and YAROS ae trademarsof Canon ne, Mat an the Mac logo ae trademarks BJC-6000 Printer Vi i ISI O n BJC-3000 Printer more than sixty years of imaging expertise built into every single detail, the term “state- of-the-art” is somewhat of an understatement. CanoScan 1200S Scanner Come and see for yourself. Visit us on the Internet at www.ccsi.canon.com/macfriendly, or call 1-800-OK-CANON for more information. Canon knownow™ BJC-85 Printer iMac™ in mind. And for graphics professionals, there's our CanoScan Mac-compatible multifunction printer, one good thing led to FB 1200S Scanner featuring groundbreaking VAROS™ technology. another: our new MultiPASS™ C545 Multifunction Printer. ‘ot ple Compute, Inc, reitredin the US. ad the counties. Al ote product and brand names are trademars ofthe respective omer, Specifications subject to change without oie a Canada, call 1-800-263-12. ie ee 2000 87 62 MACWORLD’S INTERNET PRIVACY GUIDE Stay connected and protected. 4 Features Special Report Anywhere, Everywhere, Everything Palm Which handheld computer is for you? Jeff Carlson helps you find the model from Palm or Hand- spring that best suits your needs. Also, discover our favorite Palm software and take a sneak peek at upcoming Handspring modules. July 2000 MACWORLD 79 64 Pick your perfect handheld, page 87. Flat Panels: The Next Generation sy FRITH BREeiTzER The future of flat panels is digital. Learn what makes a great LCD and find the best one for you. Protect Yourself Online BY ELLIOT ZARET AND SCHOLLE sawyer Concerned about mar- keters and hackers peering into your affairs? Our guide will help you keep your personal informa- tion personal. GWOr 107 72 Incorporating MacUser Create Print Keep Quark in Style BY DAVID BLATNER Learn the no-hassle way to import Micro- soft Word documents into QuarkXPress. Legal Put Your Work under Lock and Key SUSAN P. BUTLER Don’t let anyone rip off your work—copy- right law helps you fight back. Web Easy Updates with Dreamweaver BY MIKE wootorioce Up- date multiple Web pages auto- matically using templates and libraries. Protect Your E-mail BY TOM NEGRINO Your pri- vate e-mail may be more public than you realize. Follow these important tips and safeguard your messages from prying eyes. 25 26 27 News No Truce in Browser Wars Netscape 6 hopes to challenge Internet Explorer’s dominance by steering users to Netscape- based services. Judging E-books by Their Covers Despite the publicity surround- ing Stephen King’s Riding the Bullet, e-books still have plenty of hurdles to overcome before they hit the mainstream. Will Napster Sing the Blues? Will the legal dispute over soft- ware that hunts down MP3 files severely limit what you can and can’t download from the Web? ON THE COVER Photograph by Mark Jobann Check out Apple's fastest Power Mac ever, page 38. 17 23 57 188 10 103 105 Opinion The Vision Thing BY ANDREW Gore Are spy- tech Palms more than we need? The Game Room BY CHRISTOPHER BREEN Just where do all these Mac games come from, anyway? The Desktop Critic BY DAVID POGUE Microsoft is finally figuring out how to create a more efficient interface. So why is Apple suddenly hog- ging so much screen space? How to Contact Macworld ‘Make XPress jump through hoops for you when importing Word files, page 107. Secrets Automate Your Folders BY JosePH scHORR Make your folders work for you by turning them on to AppleScript. Quick Tips BY LON POOLE and shortcuts. Tips, tricks, 32 36 38 40 42 45 46 48 48 50 50 52 53 Reviews $¢%% FreeHand9 Illustration software $$$ Brother HL-2060; $9 HP LaserJet 4050N; 8% Lexmark Optra 1612; $%% NEC Superscript 1800N; $$$ Samsung QL-7050N; $#$% Xerox DocuPrint N2125 Workgroup printers $48 Director 8 Shockwave Studio Multimedia authoring system $$$ Apple Power Macintosh G4/500 Professional system #%% Epson Expression 1600; $$$ Umax PowerLook 1100 FireWire scanners $4 AppleWorks 6 Office suite $8¢%% Internet Explorer 5 Web browser $$ FileMaker Pro 5 Unlimited Database software $$%% Katabounga 3.0 Multimedia authoring tool $86$ = iMaxpowr G3 iMac upgrade card $66¢ = form-Z RenderZone 3.5 3-D-modeling software $896 Virex 6.1 Virus-protection software $96 Black & Whites Sampled-piano software $$%% NetMinder Ethernet 4.1 Network analyzer 94% Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Strategy game www.macworld.com July 2000 5 Project Scheduling Made Easy! I'm not a project management expert, but everyone thinks | am. Most of my time is spent completing tasks, so | need a Scheduling tool that’s easy, fast, and flexible, FastTrack Schedule 6.03 fills the bil. It keeps me. organized and in control displaying all my project details in rich, colorful timelines, FastTrack Schedule provides just the right amount of power because it's more sophisticated than day-planners, but easier to use and half the price * of traditional, high-end $199 project managers. < The presentation-quality schedules clearly illus- ; trate project objectives and deadlines keeping team members and clients informed and up-to-date. In a single sched- ule, | can outline multiple projects, make assignments, track cash cs flows, set-up dependen- =| f cies—even add graphics, rd ‘Whether | use it once a. week or every day, FastTrack Schedule makes project scheduling easy, ens Try It & Buy It! Download the demo and order Online today at www.aecsoft.com. Fastirac Version 6.03 Schedulewt. AEC fortwant vemece eta End ed aS AE TO SEO a LS RS RT, LAL NE pit mp ag a a an pe AL a AS YO Circle 83 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo 6 July 2000 MACWORLD Macworld ‘VP OF CONTENT/EDITOR IN CHIEF Andrew Gore [AECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE VP OF CONTENT Shane Clark rorror ‘Michael Penwarden DITOR, MACWORLD.COM Jason Snell exECUTIVE EDITOR Scholle Sawyer SENIOR EDITOR, REVIEWS Linda Comer SENIOR EDITOR, MACHUY.COM Suzan Sehiok EDITOR, MACWORLD.COM Lisa s ASSOCIATE KOITORS Philip Michaels, Jonathan Sef, Tern S ASSISTANT EDITORS Frith Breitzer, Brett Larson, Kelly Lunsford EDITORIAL ASSISTANT David Read CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Henry Bortman, Christopher Breen, Bruce Fraser, Jim Heid, “Ted Landau, Deke McClelland, ‘Tom Negrino, Naney Peterson, David Pogue, Lon Poole, Stephan Somogyi, Franklin N. Tessler Las as oiRecror Kristina De Nike SHMIOR LAB ANALYST Jefly K. Milstead a ANALYST Gil Loyola ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL ANALYST Ulyssis Bravo. (AD ADMINISTRATOR Jason Cox copy EDIT [ACTING MANAGING EOITOR Paul-Michael King ASSISTANT MANAGING f01TOR. Charles Purdy cory cher Jon Zobeniea ART AND DESIGN DESIGN OIRECTOR ASSOCIATE DESIGNERS PREPRESS CONSULTANT Stephen Sugg INTERNATIONAL EDITORS Steven Noble, Australia; Bernard Le Du, France; Andreas Boreh jermany; Enrico Lotti, Italy; Yoshio Moriya, Japan; ‘Tomasz Bimer, Poland; Daniel de Blas, Spain; Nils Holmloy, Sweden; Anderson Huang, faiwan; Bahattin Apak, keys Simon Jary, United Kingdom During Mile 3, develops plan to reallocate company’s 401(k) holdings Today’s businesspeople are always thinking. Always looking for better answers and solutions. Now they can find them at Office.com—the top-rated online business center with expert, in-depth information on nearly 150 industries and professions, unparalleled tools and access to the people and services businesspeople need the most. The new way to work? Sprint home Log on to Office.com Post question in financial community center Review latest trends in employee benefits Use interactive tool to analyze financial impact of new plan Schedule meeting with decision team Order new desk to put feet up on office:com a service from winstar Conquer Dish Damage Introducing DiskWarrior” a revolutionary new way to restore damaged disks! DiskWarrior is a revolutionary new utility that combats disk damage. It quickly rebuilds, recovers and optimizes your HFS and HFS Plus disk directories, eliminating all directory errors and recovering lost files. Other utilities attempt to repair disks by patching the damage. Patching can result in more damage and permanent loss of files. 1007. Recovery Assurance Only DiskWarrior builds a new optimized directory using data recovered from the damaged directory. You have 100% assurance that DiskWarrior will always restore your disks and recover your files when directory damage is your enemy.* You'll also have 100% confidence that you're getting the desired results, DiskWarrior’s exclusive Preview ability lets you preview the restoration, You can examine your damaged disk in the Finder as it will appear after the directory is restored but before any changes are made to your disk. Routine Maintenance DiskWarrior is your first line of defense against unseen disk damage. Running DiskWarrior regularly prevents small unseen problems from becoming large ones by keeping your directories error free, You'll also keep your directories optimized to speed up overall disk performance, 1998 Alsoft, Ine. PO Box 927, Spring, rk Tem 130917 She 281-353-4090 rf ay iskWark ee m0-257-4081 Circle 140 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo. July 2000 MACWORLD Macworlk saes1oeNT AND CeO Colin Crawford ASSISTANT TO THE CEO/OFFICE MANAGER Elizabeth Lilly Frick ASSISTANT Franck Zamora nccertionsst Cheryl Richardson VPVCHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Stephen Daniels AUSINESS MANAGER Eos de Feminis ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR Ronda Bittner LUNG MANAGER Ricardo Sandoval VP OF HUMAN nesoURCES Sue Murphy NUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER “Tyen Wa INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR ‘Michael Dawson, FT MANAGER Jennifer Torres NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR Obie Dion IT srecinust Jose "Peps" Jara DISPLAY ADVERTISING SALES. VP OF SALES/PUnLISHER Steve Plevin (415/243-3509) ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, EAST Cynthia Ramsey (973/243-1197) NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Liz Pabgin (415/243-3526) SALES & MARKETING COORDINATOR ——_Lauura Ross (415/243-3642) SAU ASSISTANT Katherine Lebioda (415/243-3577) SAUS ASSISTANT Brock Keeling (415/243-3662) NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER Jessica Ros (415/243-3583) Account executive Coretta Wright (415/243-3618) WATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER Sara Culley (970/327-4499) Accounr executive Margaret Level Green (415/243-3582) WATiONAL AccouNrS MANAGER Paul Bonatigo (508/533-4020) account extcunve Jo Zouearel (631/277-4134) SMOMPER ACCOUNT MANAGER Nil Stra (415/243-8668) SHOPPER ACCOUNT MANAGER Carol Johnstone (415/243-3691) SHOPPER SALES COORDINATOR Alissa Mach (415/243-3628) MARKETING DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Hilary Weber MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Sharon L., Cordesse [MARKETING EVENTS COORDINATOR Tra James PRODUCTION PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Steve Spingola DIGITAL AD COORDINATOR ‘Alan Anzalone Independent Journal not atihated with Ap le Computer, tne Shopper, MUW, MW Lab, MW Shoppe, The Desktop Cri, Expet Graphics, Quick Tp. Star Ratings, Buyer Too, Setwise Shoppe. nd Conspicuous Consumer ae registered trademaris of Mac Pablihiog, LLC. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, and Macintosh are of Apple Computer, Ine ated in he United States of Americ. Copyright © 2000 Mae Pubsing, LLC Allright reserved. Color excites. Stands out. Makes an impression. | You'll find no color richer, no color more true-to-life A ES | than Ricoh Aficio color. It sizes up to 13 x 19, and handles paper stock up to 140 Ib. index. And when your business can realize the most brilliant color. At the ff most affordable price. 800 63 RICOH ricoh-usa.com Well, isn’t it time to say “aloha”? © 1999 Reo Creraton RIGOn Image Communication 10 MAXpowr G4 Welcome to the OL, SH Upgrade your Power Mac G3 to the speed of G4. No pick and pan required. Adobe Photoshop 5.5 (with AltiVec plug-ins) improves the speed of many operations ... but only if you upgrade your Power Mac or G3 to a G4 processor for a few hundred dollars. Or, you could buy a new machine for a whole lot more. Newer Technology’s MAXpowr G4 intensifies Power Macs for AltiVec-enhanced digital audio, video and graphics applications like Photoshop and Sound-Jam MP. Got a 604 based PCI Power Mac? Get Newer’s MAXpowr G4 CPU upgrade card. Macworld GOLD RUSH Rebate For the month of June only, Macworld readers qualify for a $50 rebate any MAXpowr G4 CPU upgrade card. See this website for details: www.newertech.com/macworldrebate n> newertechnology: To learn how to get the most from your Mac, visit us at The Newer Store, www.newerstore.com * www.newertech.com Nower is @ registered irademark and MAXpowr i a trademark of Newer Technologies, Inc All other names ore trademarks or registered rademarks of their respective holders. No part ofthis document may be reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by ony other ‘means without the express writen permission of Newer Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Circle 55 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo July 2000 MACWORLD Macworld HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD Subscription Services Phone 100/627-2247 or 303/665-8930, North America only 303/604-7445, outside North America US, Mall ‘Macworld Subscription Services RO. Box 54529, Boulder, CO 80322-4529 World Wide Web vwrwadnet.com/adsubs/macworld/service Subscription Rates ‘The one-year (12-ssue subscription ates $34.97 the United States and $5497 forall other counties (send $104.97 for airmal) The rate for a ‘one-year (124ssue) subscription with the monthly CD-ROM is $49.97 a the United States and $6997 for al other countries ail not avaiable at this time). 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If you do not wish to receive such rmalings, please wite to us and include a copy of your mailing label. ‘Macworld on Microfilm ‘Macworld is available on microfilm and microfiche from UM, 300 N, Zeeb Re, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346; 734/761-4700, ‘Macworld Editorial ‘The editors of Macworld welcome your tps, compliments, or complaints Stories and product reviews from past sues can be located at wow snacwold.com, We are unfortunately unable to lookup stories from past {ssues; recommend products; or dlagnose your Macintosh problems by phone, e-mail, or fax. Contact Apple tole at 800/538-9696, ext. 500, for information on usergroups in your area (ur offices are located at 301 Howard St, 16th FL, San Francisco, CA 94105; 415/243-0508, fax 415/442-0766, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dect all comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of the magazine to ltters@macworld.com. Ove to the high volume of mail received, we can't respond personally to each leter We reserve the right to edit all submissions Al letters published in ‘Macworld or Macworld Online become the property of Macworld QUICK TIPS Send your questions or tips on how to use Mac comput es, peripherals, or software to Macworld, Quick Tips, 301 Howard St. ‘6th FL, San Francisco, CA 94105; fax 415/482-0765; e-mail quicktips€ ‘macword. com, Please include your name, address, and telephone number VPA. FriendlyNET™ GX4 Series Gigabit Ethernet over copper switch "(The AsantéFast GigaNlQ is fast and well designed, and itincludes features that may be useful in a multimedia environment.” — Macworld Magazine FriendlyNET™ 7000 Series Gigabit Ethernet over fiber switch 71 ASANTE MAKING NETWORKING SIMPLE www.asante.com (© 2000 Asanté Technologies In. Asanté, the santé log, FriendlyNeT, Asantéd, and GigaNIC are trademarks or registered trademarks of Asante Technologies. Photograph copyright Barros & Barros/The Image Bank Simply the most affordable, powerful Gigabit Ethernet solutions ever. Now you have a choice for high performance networking Move at a faster pace with Asanté Gigabit Ethernet solutions for your business. Start with our award- winning GigaNIC* PCI adapters to seamlessly integrate your workstations and servers into departmental or corporate backbones. Upgrade your workgroup with our new FriendlyNET™ GX4 Series switch — the most affordable Gigabit Ethernet over copper solution. Or, extend your network to greater distances with the FriendlyNET” 7000 series switch — the modular Gigabit Ethernet over fiber solution. Connecting Workgroups Faster Introducing the most cost-effective Gigabit Ethernet solution: our new GigaNIC 1000T adapters and GX4 switches. Now move files 10x faster when you upgrade from Fast Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet. Each Gigabit port adapts to the wiring you already installed (Cat 5 UTP) — even if you've inadvertently miss-wired your cables. AsantéQ” link quality monitor continuously adjusts for dynamic network cable conditions — all without complex network management software or diagnostic equipment. Building Bigger Networks Our FriendlyNET 7000 Series switches and GigaNIC 1064SX adapters combine to deliver wire-speed, switched Ethernet throughout your network — over distances up to 550 meters (1,804 feet). This complete Gigabit Ethernet over fiber solution allows you to securely transmit and receive huge files while its full compatibility with legacy Gigabit Ethernet fiber standards protects your investment. Visit our website to take advantage of our new low prices on the only complete Gigabit Ethernet solutions for Mac OS, Windows and Linux. Only from Asanté. Circle 130 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo The world’s largest PC makers buy our memory direct. Genius. Buy your memory direct from one of the largest memory manufacturers in the world. Performance, reliability, selection & factory direct savings — Crucial Technology, a division of Micron. Crucial is your source for Macintosh memory. 64 M B Receive a 10% discount for ordering online. You can't get this quality for a lower price, anywhere. $ 59 Upgrades for popular Macintosh models such as: as towel iMac, Power Mac G3, iBook, and Power Mac G4. video cards - scanners - motherboards - digital cameras More PC upgrade: From The Memory Expert: monitors - printers - processors - hard drives - morel! www.crucialupgrades.com Online discounts for over 42,000 upgrades at: www.crucial.com or call toll free 1-888-363-3082 Crucial ADi ron The secret lives of Mac users and Microsoft products* confession® jim 5 g 8 ° (© 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All igts reserved, Microsoft and the internet Explore logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation inthe United States and/or other counties. Apple, Mac, and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Compute, inc a a ° 2 3 g L om Q 8 Ey 2 Knees Banging Your Chin? Bending your head over the handlebars and shouting out “Vroom, Vroom” won't move you any faster — or get you any closer to your dream job. Our clients value the time we spend getting to know you, your skills, and your goals, so that HireKnowledge associates are uniquely positioned ahead of the others as qualified, tested, guaranteed candidates. Whether you're looking for more challenging contract work — and more of it — or a permanent position that makes the most of your unique talents, we can get you there. Visit www. hireknowledge.com or call 800-937-3622. HireKnowledge. Putting Intelligence to Work. HireKnowledge Specialized Staffing Solutions Baltimore * Boston * Chicago * Dallas * New York Philadelphia * Providence * San Francisco ® St. Louis * Washington, DC Circle 97 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo _ Lelfers Who Needs iMovie? FTER READING *HOME-MOVIE Magic” (April 2000), I wanted to add some points. I agree that Apple did not put enough thought into iMovie’s sound capabilities. The program lacks the abil- ity to control levels and to mix two audio tracks. Still, Jim Heid should not have stressed these omissions. To its credit, iMovie is not a full-fledged digital video editor; it does a satisfactory job of letting novices try video editing. Tjust wish Apple would sell iMovie to users whose systems and needs are com- patible with this entry-level program. Forcing users to buy either a new iMac DV ora third-party product is not much of a choice. MIKE Indianapolis, Indiana FLYNN HEN I BE READING YOUR Wey of digital video camcorders (“Camcorder Casting Call,” April 2000), I was excited and hoped your coverage would be balanced and unbiased. How- ever, I was disappointed by Macworld’s subpar coverage of this important emerg- ing technology. You manage to review three models by Sony, and you pick one of them as your Editors’ Choice. Yet you reviewed only one model each from Canon and Pana- sonic. I just leased a Canon Ultura cam- corder and find it superior to your Edi- tors’ Choice in many ways—not the least of which is its much lower price for slightly better performance. Those manufacturers’ product lines are more diverse than you present them, with several models that might fit into the indiscernible criteria you used for your selection process. Perhaps Macworld can write a fol- low-up article that is more carefully researched, reviews more models, and has a more logical evaluation process. MIke PETERSON Tuscon, Arizona We sent our criteria to the manufacturers, and awe tested the models they sent us. Check our Web site, warw.macworld.com, for reviews of more cameordersas they arrive in Macworld Lab—Ed. Leaving AOL ENJOYED READING ADAM C. ENGST'S. article “E-mail for Everyone” (April 2000), but I feel that the article missed cov- ering a large group of people: the disillu- sioned America Online masses. After a good many years of disappointments with the service, I intend to leave AOL for another service provider. However, I can’t import my AOL 4.0 address book into Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0.1. Is there any way to do this? Claris Emailer can import addresses from AOL, but only up through AOL version 2.7. AOL 4.0 has no export capability of any kind, and who knows if AOL 5.0 can do this? I'd appreci- ate any help you could offer. Retyping my entire address book doesn’t sound fun atall. LEN Naperville, Ulinois Hann Thy a free utility, AOL 3.0 Address Extractor, available at bttp://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates -nsflartnum/n 10057. It works with AOL 4.0 and can move addresses to Emailer 2.0. And there's another free utility, Emailer2Eudora, available at www.vivaladata.com/downloads /emailer2eudora.sea.hgx, that moves addresses into Eudora.—Adam C. Engst Virex Has Arrived N YOUR REVIEW OF NORTON AntiVirus (NAV) 6.0.1 (April 2000), you state that Dr. Solomon’s Virex is in limbo. Why do you say this? I currently use Virex on my iMac, and after reading the review of NAV, I’m wondering whether I should switch programs. PHILIP MINNETTE Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania After months of silence on the fate of Virex, Net- work Associates has released an updated version. Look for a review of Virex 6.1 elsewhere in this isstte.—Ed. What's Faster—a 64/350 or a G4/350? N YOUR FEBRUARY 2000 ISSUE, YOU measured how long it took a Mac G4/350 to perform various operations (“Power Macintosh G4/400,” Reviews). The latest issue shows similar tests for both ver- sions (Yikes and Sawtooth), but the times are different (“Power Macintosh G4s,” continues www.macworld.com July 2000 17 =\ the invasion begins... RRR P Join the revolution of the most superior digital video cameras in the universe. See for yourself at www.irez.com/invade TResz looking beyond 143 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo 18 July 2000 MACWORLD LETTERS Reviews, April 2000). In some cases the Feb- ruary G4/350 performed better than either of the April G4/350s with a Photoshop Gaussian Blur and in SoundJam. In other tests, its performance was worse. The tests for the G3/400 also show variations. What causes the differences? Are the test files the same in all cases? I noticed that the systems tested in the February issue used OS 8.6, while those in the April issue used OS 9. Does that make a difference? Some of the int. Should we make performance comparisons only within a given mances from earlier issues, subject to the ats such as different operating systems and different amounts of RAM? Mark V. Paris variations look signifi or can we compare time perfor- obvious cav Rome, Georgia The scores rriations between the February and April were due to changes in the OS and updates to Adobe Photoshop and SoundJam.—Ed. Information, Please AM GETTING DISAPPOINTED BY Macworld’ brief, one-page test articles, especially for computer systems. Your tests used to be comprehensive, but now ¢ little more than summaries. ‘or instance, in the April 2000 issue, the combined test of the 350MHz and 450MHz G4 desktops contains only about 12 column inches of text (“Power Macintosh G4s,” Reviews). While I realize these had _ previously reviewed, this is still inadequate. I’d like to know, for instance, how the DVD- RAM drive works. How does its perfor- mance compare to that of the old standard CD-ROM drive? Has Apple fixed the video-playback problems? As it is, the article provides no more information than a spec sheet and the Lab test chart. Also, why has Macworld stopped pub- lishing the standard MacBench test results for the G4s? The tests are still used for all the other models—how is a reader to compare performance across models when you use different tests for different models? What is the purpose of using the “enhanced application” performance for Why not provide both? James P they models been ANDERSON Marysville, Washington MacBench does not take advantage of the G4’s ingine. For this reason, we did not include a MacBench score. We strive to include 1 for our readers. —Ed. tests that will be most us April Is the Cruelest Month ENJOYED JOHN RIZZO’'S ARTICLE comparing Quicken MacInTax Deluxe °99 with Kiplinger TaxCut’99 Deluxe Fil- ing Edition (Reviews, April 2000). Please inform your readers that for the 1999 ta ar, only Kiplinger TaxCut supports older 68030 and 68040 Macs. I found this out the hard way when I ordered MacIn- Tax, tried to start it up on my Quadra, and watched as it told me I needed a Power- PC processor. After using Kiplinger Ta Cut, I found my experience was similar to Rizzo's. JAMES HANRINAN North Port, Florida Killer Gaming Machine WANT TO THANK CHRISTOPHER Breen for his latest column (“Hot-Rod Your Mac,” The Game Room, April 2000). I'm not much of a gamer, but his step- by-step instructions inspired me to yank the standard-issue IDE hard drive out of my beige G3 and replace it with a new one—a very fast IBM EIDE 7200-rpm, 2GB hot rod with a 2MB buffer—for a mere $199. Curis ROSE-MERKLE Ashland, Oregon Sharpen Away AVID BLATNER WROTE A CLEAR, D accurate column on the sharpening tools in Adobe Photoshop (“Sharper Images in Photoshop,” Create, April 2000). I would just like to correct one statement. He mentioned in passing that there is no way to bring an out-of-focus original back into focus. In fact, advanced optical processing software—which runs on Unix and similar platforms—can correct for defocus by a convolution process. In brief, the software can analyze a blurry image and figure out what sort of blur pattern the out-of-focus camera produced when it captured the image. The software can then use this information to recover an in-focus image. I will grant that Photoshop doesn’t have this capability, and that this type of optical software is rather expensive. But focus—and other aberrations—can be corrected digitally. Cart WITTHOFT Acton, Massachusetts Eat Crow HILE DAVID POGUE’S ANALYSIS of the Macintosh rumor mills (“Real- ity Check 2000,” The Desktop Critic, April 2000) was largely right-on, he seems to have overlooked the one source that made the most accurate long-term prediction I know of to date: Macworld. Flipping through a pile of back issues, I came across Guy Kawasaki’: November 1994 column on the very same back page of Macworld. He jokingly predicted that Apple would = a Rear ive preven FireWire or USB next-generation Mac, and even that Steve Jobs syauld returi ey CEO, That some al rives \ crystal ball you must have—with six-year R dy Set G accuracy, perhaps your publication should eady... GO: begin a rumor mill of its own. JosepH ENGEL Ready! Boost your storage capacity [MZ] Baltimore, Maryland by 6 Gigs with PowerHD from TechWorks! Complete with a FireWire or USB cable, AC adapter, manual and Disk Drive TuneUp Special Edition, it's Letters should be sent to Letters, Macworld, 301 "hot-pluggable" making it READY to Howard St. 16th FI., San Francisco, CA 94105; via use out of the box. fax, 415/442-0766; or electronically, to letters@ macworld.com. Include a return address and day- Set! The PowerHD is available in time phone number. Due to the high volume of mail the complete set of 5 iMac flavors. ‘Mix or match a FireWire model with your iMac DV or G4, or try a USB model with your iBook or iMac. received, we can’t respond personally to each letter. We reserve the right to edit all letters. All published letters become the property of Macworld. Go! PowerHD is super portable. co et ON The total weight, including the AC adapter, is less than one pound! In “E-mail for Everyone,” (April 2000) Just pick it up and GO! we incorrectly stated that Bare Bones Software's Mailsmith uses a single data- for adding hard disk drive space | base to store mail. Mailsmith uses mul- to your Mac, Give us acall at tiple databases, one per mailbox. 434.4032, or visit us online at www.techworks.com to order one today! Why wait? Just plug & play! PowerHD —a simple solution | Contrary to our statement in a review FontAgent 8 (Reviews, April 2000), ‘you can use the program to copy fonts while keeping them in their original locations, by clicking on the option Don't Move Existing Fonts in the Problem Font Options window. Macworld’s rat- TEE H| Il 1 A KS ing for the program remains the same. We incorrectly referred to DropStuff as Power To Perform free sofware (“Stufflt Deluxe 5.5,” lta Sinn cette aioe. Reviews, April 2000); it is a $30 share- ware product, m Circle 129 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo www.macworld.com July Wall Street now has a passing lane. Introducing Velocity” for Macintosh." A smarter, more efficient way to trade online. Reborn. It's from Charles Schwab. It kicks your trading into high gear, fast. And it's made for Macintosh. Simply install Velocity on your hard drive and you'll have the power to place multiple trade orders simultaneously. Manage all your § b ounts with a single ate as many e real-time quote Watchlists. And keep your trading window u research and access tools at schwab.com Ready, set, trade: Welcome to Velacity'*—the desktop trading software designed for active investors. Velocity uses the power of your desktop to help you manage your investing more quickly and effectively Monitor up to 200 stocks. Create and customize as many as five different Watchlists with up to 40 symbols per ist. Allin real time, EH Mac Welcome to MacOS. Requires 20MB Hard Drive space. 64MB RAM, MacOS 8.5 or higher, an Internet connection, and G3 (iMac and iBook included) or better processor. Order Velocity now. Order your Velocity CD-ROM now. And start experiencing smarter, more efficient online trading right away. Call 1 800 3-SCHWAB or visit www.schwab.com/velocity “Access to services in your account may be limited ‘or unavailable during periods of peak demand, ‘market volatiliy, systems upgrades, maintenance (or for other reasons. “Velocity Software is avaliable to Schwad Signature Service® customers (level ane oF above). Level one Signature Service membership requires 12 ot more commisionabe trades per year witha $10000 minimum balance or $100,000 or more in assets at Schirab. CharlesSchwab ductiv Increased Productivity \ Object esign Vector Works’ state of the art Object Technology helps streamline the design process by making i easy to create common design elements. Now, Objects like doors, windows, nuts and bolts, can be created and edited with a click of the mouse, making it easy to explore design Clovony alternatives, consider "what if" scenarios, and handle last- minute client changes. Vora Technology Vector Works offers a solid foundation based on proven CAD technology—giving you the power and flexibility to tackle any design problem. : New features such as Workgroup Referencing, = DWG (v.14), Round Walls, Mattipl Undo/Redo = == and an improved scripting language, strengthen Vector Works’ core CAD capabilities. And, with RenderWorks, VectorWorks’ new photo-realistic rendering plug-in, you can bring your designs to life with textures, shadows and dramatic lighting, The \dvantage With VectorWorks, you get it all—the flexibility and control of proven CAD technology and the productivity benefits of Object Based design. Vector Works ships FREE solutions for Architecture, Landscape Design, DTM and HVAC among others. Best of all, you aren't limited to the solutions we provide. Vector Works is completely customizable, allowing you to create your own custom business solutions. Save $134 by purchasing VectorWorks with photorealistic rendering direct for $1061 on, without rendering for only $795. Includes FREE Tech Support and a 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee. Diehl Graphsoft Inc Software for Today's Professional rele 46 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo Never Say Never Again The Vision Thing by Andrew Gore TODAY'S HANDHELD GADGETS MAY GIVE US THAT 007 FEELING—BUT WHERE'S APPLE? O YOU EXPECT ME TO talk?” asks James Bond as he’s strapped on a table, staring down a laser-beam contraption with a steely eye. “Ne Mr. Bond,” says the evil Goldfinger, standing over him, “I expect you ” So goes one of the most famous xchanges of all time from one of the most enduring movie franchises of all time, James Bond, It seems these days we're all li James Bond movie, or at least getting our toys directly from Q: our gadgets are ge' ting smaller, more powerful, and, yes, even more far-fetched. Who would have thought just a few years ago that we'd have handheld organizers that not only tr: meetings but also play music, take photos and tell you—down to a couple of exactly where you are on the planet? But even as our toys become spy-tech, the way we interac devic remains low-tech . . . just like 007, who's still more or less a 50s kind of guy, despite the complexities of this modern world. M may consider 007 “a sexist, misog- ynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War,” but his gadgets are really cool. You know that Bond's shiny Rolex does more than tell the time—and you know that the Palm can do more than track to-dos. to die. movie ing in On Her Majesty's Secret Service Bond: Have I ever let you down? Q: On numerous occasions. What's making people excited about these handheld devices is the potential to turn them into digital Swiss army knives. That Bond-inspired lust for a combin: tion pen/laser/Cuisinart is what’s behind Handspring’s attachment slot, the Palm VU’s built-in wireless Internet connec- tion, and even the arrival of the color- screened Palm IIc. Irs not enough that our palmtop computers help us keep track of our schedule, contacts, and to-dos—now they n let us do e-mail, browse the Web, examine spreadsheets, buy stock, track our diets, play games, receive pages, con- nect to GPS satellite systems, and see into the future. (OK, the last one hasn’t been announced—not yet, anyway.) Is the Palm really the best place to do this kind of stuff? I don’t know about you, but I don’t find the idea of surfing the Web on a screen the size of a playing card any more compelling than the idea of doing it from the screen of my cell phone. There is, however, the convenience factor: I could make a case where grab- bing my e-mail from my Palm while I'm on the train would be useful. True, wire- less communication is hardly pervasive, work, it's expen- and slow, but, gee, it might work, and and even when it dos sive that would be cool! You Only Live Twice Bond: My name is... Mr. Big: Names is for tombstones, baby. So, what about Apple? The company tried its hand in the palmtop arena once before. And the Newton was in many ways a much better product than the one Palm makers are selling today. It had a much more intuitive interface, it could link data between applications automat- ically, and its handwriting recognition didn’t require users to learn special glyphs to enter data. So, if Newton was all these things, why did it fail? It can be summed up thus: Ir’s the size, stupid! Well, maybe it’s the size and price, both of which the Newton MessagePad 2000 offered in jumbo proportions. The Palm had the clear advantage in both these areas, yet was extensible enough to graft on functionality. And it won, Why, then, would Apple consider reentering a market that had it running for cover just a few years ago? Simple: Apple has learned a lot in the last few years. It knows how to capitalize on other com- panies’ successes. And it knows how to build a sexy product. Imagine a Palm OS device with an Apple logo, an iMac’s design panache, and a New- ton’s usability. Don’t scoff: there’s nothing so magical about the Newton platform that key elements couldn’t be ported to the Palm. I know this because the inventor of the Palm OS took the same New- tonScript class I did. Believe me, it wouldn’t be that hard for Apple to port its handwriting recognition technology to the Palm and build an interface overlay like Windows over DOS. Done right, Apple could conserve compatibility with the vast array of Palm add-ons and increase its usability and desirability tenfold. I don’t know if the Apple Palm rumors are true, but I sure hope they are. Combine the Palm’s Bondian gadget arsenal with Apple's interface acumen, and the results could be World dominating. Blofeld would approve. m Shaken and not stirred? Send your com- isionthing@macworld.com. ments to www.macworld.com July 2000 23 The Seven Deadly Macintosh Sins: LB Software Conflicts ‘cers tn your Network nas been interrteat Network Problems Hardware Problems Viruses Damaged Software Disk Damage Salvation: When good Macs go bad and fall from grace, it’s good to know there's help nearby. Salvation is only a mous: click away with the new TechTool Pro 3. Now featu virus protection and conflict detection, TechTool Pro is the only program you need to help abolish the evil forces that have possessed your Macintosh. TechTool Pro 3 checks more aspects of your Macintosh than any other utility available. Period. Besides repairing and recovering damaged drives, eradicating viruses and catching the occasional software conflict; you can also test all those other critical parts of your system that other utilities simply ignore. Like RAM, logic board components, floppy drives, scanners, modems, internet connections and so much more. TechTool Pro even supports technologies like System 9.0.1, “Pure” HFS+, Firewire and USB drives, and all of the latest Macintosh models. TechTool Pro can also help you in between times of trouble. Our disk and directory optimize features can help improve the performance of your Macintosh as well as help circumvent problems before they happen, The TechTool Protection control panel will regularly check your system so you don't have to. It will also back up critical directory data, so if something goes wrong, you'll be up and running in no time flat. But just because TechTool Pro is the most advanced Macintosh troubleshooting utility available doesn't mean that it has to be difficult to use. Our easy-to-use interface makes checking and fixing your Macintosh as easy as pressing one button. For advanced users, expert access allows you to control and configure TechTool Pro in almost any way you wis! So if Macintosh troubles are turning your life into a living Hades, check out the tool of the trade: TechTool Pro. After all, you have the most powerful computer in the world. Shouldn't you be using the most powerful utility? “Purchase TechTool Pro 2 now and receive a free upgrade to TechTool Pro 3 when it ships in Q1 2000! MicroMat Inc. 800-829-6227 707-566-3831 FAX: 707-566-3871 info@micromat.com www.micromat.com Fix different: | Me MacWorld *Offer subject to change without notice. Offer expires April, 30 2000. ©2000 MicroMat Inc.All rights reserved. Tech'Tool is 2 registered trademark of MicroMat Inc. Fix Different isa trademark of MicroMat Inc. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Ine. Circle 67 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo JAMES YANG JULY 2000 No Truce Yet in Browser Wars NETSCAPE 6 HOPES TO CHALLENGE EXPLORER'S DOMINANCE by Philip Michaels he browser wars may appear to be over, but don’t tell that to Net- scape (650/254-1900, http://home.netscape .com). With the release of a preview version of Netscape 6, the Web-browser maker is looking to open a new front in its battle with Microsoft. Less than a month after Microsoft (425/882-8080, www.microsoft.com) released a Mac version of Internet Explorer 5.0 (see “Microsoft Revs Up Internet Explorer,” News, March 2000), Netscape came out with the first preview release of its new browser. The company plans a second pre- view release in summer 2000. The America Online sub- sidiary clearly has high hopes for Netscape 6, with designs on steering users away from Microsoft's browser. That’ a tall order. Explorer reigns as the most widely used browser, with a market share of nearly 70 percent. Netscape, which once boasted a 90 per- cent share, has seen its hold dwindle to 30 percent. Gearing Up Gecko Enter Netscape 6, which offers a slimmer 5.5MB download— about half the size of Netscape Navigator 4.08—and the new Gecko rendering engine. Gecko is expected to speed up browsing by displaying tables more quickly and resizing pages instantly. More impor- tant to Netscape and AOL, the Gecko technology can be used across multiple _ platforms, making it easy to power Inter- net devices such as the ones AOL plans to release with Gateway by the end of 2000. Other new features in Netscape 6 include the ability to launch searches directly from the browser tool bar. Internet Explorer 5.0 pro- vides a similar search feature, as well as a search tab that appears on the left side of the browser window. Netscape 6 also features My Sidebar, a companion browser on the left side of the Netscape screen that gives users quick access to stock quotes, news headlines, book- marks, and other common online items. The My Sidebar minibrowser already includes more than 500 tabs from third- party providers such as CNN, the New York Times, and eBay. Users will be able to cus- tomize the appearance of Netscape 6 using the Gecko- powered Themes feature, but a customizable interface won't be available until the next pre- view release comes out. Competing on Content At first look, though, what is most striking about Netscape 6 is access to a number of applica- tions through the browser. Netscape 6 offers links to the Instant Messenger chat continues www.macworld.com July 2000 25 feature, a Netscape Mail e-mail client, and the Net- scape Composer HTML- authoring tool. At the bottom of the page, users will find links directing them to Netscape-sponsored channels. Its as if Netscape is con- ceding that it can’t compete head-to-head with Microsoft's entrenched browser. Instead, Netscape seems to be trying to drum up customers with AOL-like services and Netscape-themed content in its new browser. Netscape 6 still faces a formidable rival in Internet Explorer 5.0. ‘The new Mac version of Explorer is pow- ered by a rendering engine, code-named Tasman, that di play: across platforms. And it may be some time before AOL members will be able to use Netscape 6 as their browser of choice. An agree- ment between Microsoft and AOL makes Explorer the default browser for the online service. Although that deal pires later this year, AOL says dropping Explorer is not a sure thing. Judging E-books by Their Covers FORMAT STILL HAS HURDLES TO OVERCOME by Frith Breitzer alk about your horror stories—when Ste- phen King released his first electronic- only book, Riding the Bullet, he couldn’t read it on his own computer. Riding the Bullet was originally released in handheld-only format and 26 July 2000 MACWORLD [ News in PC-only format, for such programs as Glassbook’s (781/ 434-2000, www.glassbook .com) Glassbook Reader. Mac users, such as King, were locked out of reading the story. SoftBook Press's SoftBook Reader Adobe eventually came to the rescue with a Mac- friendly version of the e-book. But the problem Mac users had getting their hands on Riding the Bullet only under- scores the compatibility issues in a medium that prom- ised platform independence. Proprietary Publishing Electronic texts in Portable Document Format were once touted as the answer to cross-platform worries. PDF files are y to create and can be read by anyone with a copy of Adobe’s (800/833- 6687, www.adobe.com) free Acrobat Reader. But now some electronic publishers are promoting their own proprietary file types, view- able only with their own readers—either programs that run on your desktop or stand-alone devices. Still, electronic books may seem like a boon to established writers looking for new audiences. And for new writers, e-books can be an inexpensive way to break into the highly competitive publishing market. But is there really a mar- ket for electronic-only texts? Although they have their fans—more than 500,000 readers have downloaded Riding the Bullet—electronic texts have not yet won wide consumer accept- ance. Many e-books, including King’s lat- est, are write-pro- tected and copy-pro- tected so that readers cannot alter them— or even print them out. This leaves two options: read the text on a computer screen or ona portable electronic device. And hand- held e-book devices don’t come cheap. Literary Limits While devices such as NuvoMedia’s (877/776-2538, www.rocket- ebook.com) Mac-compatible $269 Rocket eBook Pro offer large storage capacity and long battery life, the format still has some limitations. Many electronic texts are more expensive than paper- back editions of the same book. What's more, pub- lished e-books are vastly out- numbered by the print ver- sions available at bookstores or online. That’s not likely to change until publishers feel more secure about their abil- ity to protect copyrighted material in digital format. Other e-book devices include SoftBook Press's (650/ 620-4100, www.softbook .com) $600 SoftBook Reader, which bypasses computers by plugging directly into a phone line to download books. Everybook (717/939-3995, www.everybook.net) plans to offer its EB Dedicated Reader—which features a built-in modem—during the fourth quarter of 2000; the device will cost between $1,600 and $2,000 and target professionals such as lawyers, engineers, and architects. The problem? Different e-book devices use different proprietary formats. If one company gets the electronic rights to a book, other com- panies’ devices or programs may not be able to read that particular format. Is Apple Going Hollywood? NEW PRODUCTS HERALD STRONG FOCUS ON DIGITAL VIDEO by Philip Michaels o one’s donning dark sunglasses or ducking out of project meet- ings to attend gala premieres. And Steve Jobs hasn’t been spotted talk- ing on his cell phone with his agent, demanding to meet with Scorsese. But it’s pretty apparent that Apple (800/ 692-7753, www.apple.com) has movies on the brain. The proof? A spate of product launches scheduled throughout 2000 that bol- sters Apple’s offerings on the desktop-video front. Moving Pictures Apple sees desktop video as the next big thing in personal comput- ing—and as natural a fit for the Mac as desktop publish- ing has always been. The strategy that worked so well in that medium will also guide the company’s video efforts: develop high-performance products to attract pros, while luring personal users with ease of use. Apple’s belief in the emergence of digital video took root with last year’s launch of the iMac DV, a computer that came bundled with the iMovie application SUZANNE ROADY to make digital-video editing possible right out of the box. Apple’s upcoming efforts in this area will keep the emphasis on ease of use and timesaving features. Final Cut Pro 1.2.5 should hit the shelves in May. The update, free to users of the $999 editing software, targets professionals. Its native YUV color support allows users to edit effects in one color scheme. The upgrade also supports a 16:9 wide-screen format, so QuickTime movies can fit onto Apple’s Cinema Display. With Final Cut Pro, can also create Make R ence movies that merely point to source files instead of copying the entire file dur- ing rendering; the new pro- frees up disk space and rendering time. Apple will join forces with Pinnacle Systems (888/ 484-3366, www.pinnaclesys .com) to offer a video-editing system that includes a Power Mac G4. Slated for a summer 2000 release, the product will combine Pinnacle’s video board to support uncompressed stan- dard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) video. A fully configured SD setup should cost less than $10,000; the HD ver- sion should cost less than $30,000. Another product, the RTMac, will offer real-time editing, sup- port for a second monitor, and real-time video playback. Apple is teaming with Matrox (800/361-4903, www -matrox.com) to produce the $999 PCI card, which is due for release this fall. The RTMac lets users render motion with compositing, so they can plot complex move- ments without having to wait for an effect to render. save: Singing the Napster Blues FIGHT OVER MP3 SERVICE WILL AFFECT MAC USERS by Jonathan Seff hances are, you like tracking down your favorite MP3 songs Web and downloading them to your hard drive. But a com- pany whose services allow you to do just that has landed in legal hot water, and the resulting dispute could have a severe impact on what you c: download onlin ‘The company, Napster, offers software that allows users to h through tera- on the and can’t nd download them for free. Popular ve the Mac include Macster, ar, and Rapster—all currently in prerelease form. Nothing is actually stored on Napster’s servers. Users download files directly from one another's hard drives; Napster simply pro- vides the interface for searching and connecting with those drives. Napster's Nemesis That is not acceptable to the Recording Industry Associa- tion of America, a music- company trade organization that has filed suit against Napster. The RIAA says it’s fighting to protect the rights of recording artists, some of whom are waging their own legal fight against Napster— the heavy-metal band Metal- lica and rapper Dr. Dre have also filed lawsuits. Napster insists it’s done nothing wrong. A company disclaimer notes that Napster has no control over content sers that they’re responsible for complying with all copyright laws. Napster users must also agree not to use the software to infringe on others’ intellec- tual property. What's in It for Mac? Mac users have more than a sporting interest in how the legal fight shakes down. ‘The Napster suits could determine the way that materials get dis- tributed over the Internet in the future. A Napster loss could limit which files are available online—and how much you'd have to pay to ve them. A Napster win could force record compa- nies to rethink the way they do business. More than just the fate of MP3 files is at stake. The future of digital video could also be affected. Already, two Web sites have been blocked from offering DeCSS, a utility that lets users break the copy protection used in DVD movies. DeCSS is the only tool that allows Linux users to watch DVDs. Even though the Nap- ster lawsuits have yet to go to trial, it’s already clear that the digital-music market is too lucrative for record and warns continues What's in Store For anyone who's ever wanted to get into e-commerce but is paralyzed at the thought of building a site from the ground up, Smith Micro (858/ 675-1106, www.smithmicro.com) offers Web Catalog 4.0. The $3,495 software that shipped in ‘May lets users build customized e-business sites without having to monkey with HTML, Printing on the Cheap (800/463-7766, www .epson.com) has good news for Epson anyone who balks at paying hun- dreds of dollars for a printer. The Epson 670 offers 1,440-by-720- dpi resolution—and an $89 price. Optical Dream Come True Mac users can't mope anymore about being shut out of lomega's (800/697-8833, com) optical storage line: the PC- only external ZipCD Universal Serial Bus CD-Rewritable Drive now comes with a Mac driver, The 4x4x6 drive lets you store 650MB of data and costs around $280. www.iomega Graphic Changes ATI Tech- nologies (905/882-2600, www atitech.com) thinks its Radeon 256 graphics processor will change the way you see your ‘Mac. The chip, which should ship this summer, features 128MB of double-data rate memory at 200MHz, a 1.5-gigatexel-per- second rendering engine, and a geometry engine that reportedly offers a tenfold improvement in 3-D modeling detail over what current processors provide— EDITED BY FRITH BREITZER companies to ignore. This dispute is one to keep an eye on as you build your own MP3 library. MetaCreations Drops the Other Shoe COREL, ADOBE BUY ORPHAN PROGRAMS by Frith Breitzer or MetaCreations fans who've waited to hear what would become of their favorite pro- grams, the suspense is over. But now the real wait- ing begins. Corel (800/772- 6735, www.corel.com) and Adobe (800/833-6687, www .adobe.com) have walked away with most of the graph- s applications that Meta- Creations planned to sell, leaving Mac users to wonder if all of the programs have found Mac-friendly homes. Adobe bought the 3-D graphics programs Canoma and Carrara, and Corel pur- chased Painter—a Macworld Eddy award-winning natu- ral-media painting program. Corel also snapped up Bryce, Kai’s Power Tools, and KPT Vector Effects. Corel's Intentions Few would question Adobe's commitment to the Mac market. But Corel’s track record has been less than reassuring. CorelDraw 9, released for Windows in May 1999, still isn’t available in a Mac version. What's more, the company has a reputation for hyping proj- ects that don’t pan out. Development of an all-Java office suite fell through, and Corel President and CEO 28 July 2000 MACWORLD Scribble, Scan, and Print COPYING NOTES FROM A WHITEBOARD ONTO PAPER is tedious. But this thankless job—and the ensuing writer's cramp—could be a thing of the past, with Brother International's (908/704-1700, www.brother.com) Copy- Point 2000 electronic whiteboard. The $699 whiteboard includes a scanner and a printer, so you can make copies of whatever you scribble. You can mount the 32-pound Copy- Point on a wall or carry it on a transportable easel. One missing feature is sure to frost Mac fanatics—a PC link option that lets users save images to their computer isn't available for the Mac. Brother says it may add this feature in the future.—PHILIP MICHAELS Michael Cowpland is under investigation in Canada for alleged insider trading. Corel says it will continue to develop the MetaCreations applications and keep them as stand-alone products. It may also port the programs to the Linux platform: the company recently introduced a Linux- friendly version of its flagship office suite, WordPerfect Office 2000. Regardless of Corel’s commitment to the Mac, the company now faces a familiar challenge: working on code that was developed and mod- ified over the years—without having the original program- mers on staff. Support Ends Soon MetaCreations will continue to support Bryce, Painter (including Painter Classic, Painter 3D, and Art Dab- bler), and the KPT programs until June 20, 2000. MetaCreations’ other graphics application, Poser, was bought by Egi.sys, a German company that plans to turn the program over to its California subsidiary, Curious Labs (831/462-8222, www.curiouslabs.com). Making Web Tools Dynamic ULTRADEV, DYNAMIC LINK TIE SITES TO DATABASES by Philip Michaels tatic Web pages don’t cut it anymore. Web designers now aim for dynamic, database-driven sites that allow them to change a layout or update content without having to rebuild individual pages. Database Connections Enter Dreamweaver Ultra- Dev, from Macromedia (800/ 470-7211, www.macromedia com). UltraDev is tightly integrated with Dream- weaver 3, But with UltraDev, the focus is on creating database-driven applications for Web sites. UltraDev lets designers connect a Web page to data- bases. It supports popular application servers using JSP, ASP, and ColdFusion. Users can view, test, and edit live data returned to their Mac from the application server, reducing the time it takes to build a Web application. At $599, UltraDev costs twice as much as Dream- weaver 3, (Dreamweaver 3 users can buy UltraDev for $299; Macromedia Drumbeat users can upgrade for $99.) Adobe offers a similar tool: its Dynamic Link for ASP feature allows users to connect to and deliver con- tent from any ODBC-com- pliant database. Adobe first released Dynamic Link as a down- loadable plug-in for GoLive 4.0.1, but the feature is built in to GoLive 5.0. OLYMPUS | Focus On Life If a picture is worth a thousand words, this camera is worth a thousand dollars. “at With 3.34 megapixel resolution, the Olympus C-3030 Zoom is the fastest digital q camera in its class. With an f2.8 3x zoom, Wide View LCD, full user-control re ee {automatic or manual) and a longer-life battery, one thing is clear: You have every reason to be overprotective. For more details, visit www.olympus.com. Call 1-800-622-6372 in the USA or contact the Carsen Group in Canada at 905-479-4100 for more information. © 2000 Olympus America Inc. The secret lives of Mac users and Microsoft products* | confession* 037 | fictitious, but based on reabiife raves of Microsoft Office users. Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Apple, Mac, and Macintosh are reejstered trademarks of Apple Computer, Ine. tsa Aiignts © 2000 name: “Jane” age: 28 hobbies: “Snowboarding iguanas Bass guitar Office Find out more—visit Mactopia at microsoft.com/mac FreeHand 9 ILLUSTRATION PROGRAM FANTASTIC AT FLASH, FIZZLES ON FEATURES REPRESS PROGRAMS HAVE HAD a hard time making themselves rel- evant to Web designers. The cur- rent versions of traditional print applications Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, and QuarkXPress lack so much asa single Web-specific feature that another program doesn’t handle more efficiently. In fact, only one application— Adobe Photoshop—has managed to gain wide acceptance among print and online professionals alike. The latest version of Macromedia FreeHand promises to change all that. While its predecessor supplied a couple of token features aimed at creating simple Flash files, FreeHand 9 makes a convine- ing case for designing professional-level Web animations inside a vector-based illustration program. Although it’s by no means the only program you'll need for generating online content, FreeHand 9 does something Flash doesn’t—it makes the process of generating Flash objects familiar and intelligible. Flash in the 'Hand Just as Photoshop is a natural for creating Web imagery, drawing programs are ideally suited to vector-based SWF (Shockwave Format) content. Yet four years after that format’s introduction, most illustration programs are just now jumping on board. Fortunately for FreeHand loyalists, their software of choice backed a winner early on. FreeHand 7 exported scalable graphics that were readable with a Shockwave player; FreeHand 8 could convert blended paths to frames in a Flash animation. By the time you read this, Illustrator 9 will have caught up with FreeHand—ver- sion 8, that is. Meanwhile, Freeland 9 has already leapfrogged ahead. For starters, with FreeHand 9 you can create page sizes thatare geared specifically for Flash output. And FreeHand 9 lets you name and store custom page sizes. (Strangely, however, it lacks predefined Web sizes, so you'll have to create your own 800-by-600-pixel or banner-ad setting.) You can likewise define custom units of measurement—great if you tend to work in, say, 16-by-16-pixel blocks. And for those who prefer to animate pages using layers, a new tool lets you move pages, change their orientation, or even clone them (along with their contents) directly on the pasteboard. The only draw- back is the lack of a step-and-repeat function for cloning multiple pages. FreeHand also expands its support for SWF in version 9. One new option auto- matically resizes and renders a Flash ani- mation so it fills a browser window exactly, REAL PRODUCTS REAL RATINGS Reviews you can trust: Macworld rates only final shipping products, not prototypes. What we review is what you can actually buy. OUTSTANDING: $8666 very Goon: $686 Goon: $#% FLAWED: $$ UNACCEPTABLE: ¢ 32 July 2000 MACWORLD regardless of the window's size. Two other options let you control how your SWF file is used: you can safeguard your Flash files so visitors can view them but not down- load them, and you can specify whether the Flash 4 Player can output a file at the full resolution of the visitor’s printer or only at screen resolution. The new version gives you a way to reduce the size of a Flash file by storing repeating graphics and text objects as sym- bols. A Web browser needs to download the symbol just once, regardless of how many times it appears. And the use of sym- bols isn’t limited to Web graphics: modify- ing a symbol causes all instances of the sym- bol to update—perfect for designs that involve repeating icons and page elements, Minor Enhancements Aside from SWF support, FreeHand 9s new features won't significantly change the way you work, First among these additions is a new perspective-grid tool that lets you simulate 3-D objects and backdrops. After establishing a grid of straight lines that converge toward one or more vanishing points, you can use the perspective tool to move the grid and adjust the speed of convergence. You can also align objects to the grid and snap them into perspective. You can even clone shapes and letters on-the-fly to create a perspective sequence; send the objects to different layers, and you have a 3-D Flash animation (see “Grids in Space”). But this feature could definitely stand some improvement, You can’t step and repeat objects that are in perspective, and the method for scaling a perspective object— tapping a number key while pressing the mouse button—is both counterintuitive and shamefully inefficient. FreeHand 9 increases the accuracy of its namesake, the Freehand tool, and makes blends more flexible by accurately translating composite paths (shapes with holes in them) and grouped objects. An expanded Transform palette lets you cre- ate multiple copies of an object while scal- ing or rotating it numerically, a terrific time-saver. For those who hate to shift- click, the new lasso tool lets you select points by roping them with a free-form marquee. If you want to gain more con- trol over FreeHand’s already excellent autotracing function, you can identify an area of color with the new magic-wand tool and convert the outline to a path. My favorite improvement, however, is the ‘ Lage ‘Comte Comin ew Ui Grids in Space FreeHand 9's magnetic perspective grid is handy for aligning objects in simulated 3-D space. Unfortunately, the grid invariably appears in front of objects (top). In the antialiased view, the grid vanishes entirely (bottom) expanded enveloping feature, which lets you distort objects inside a drawing win- dow rather than in a dialog box with a bad preview, as in FreeHand 8. FreeHand's Funky Face FreeHand’s blend of speed and flexibility, combined with its leadership in the fea- tures arena, makes it an exceptional pro- gram by any measure. But as someone who's used the program since before it had a name, I feel I’ve earned the right to lament what is only becoming a clumsier and more crowded interface. Palettes are oddly sized and poorly organized; some icons are so small and badly rendered as to be unrecognizable; and dialog boxes tend to be cramped, with many option names exhibiting kerning problems, of all things. Ugly is in the eye of the beholder; bad interface design isn’t. Cross-platform dif- ferences abound, the most egregious being the absence of a context-sensitive pop-up menu in the Mac version. FreeHand 9 offers an antialiased screen display—more accurate and easier on the eyes—but it sends all grids into hiding, even though check marks in front of the grid commands indicate that all guides are visible. Finally, the default keyboard shortcuts verge on the bizarre, and unlike Illustrator’s pecu- liarities, they have nothing to do with cross-application homogeneity. Fortu- nately, you can customize the shortcuts and even assign keystrokes to specialized tasks, such as closing paths and retracting control handles. But shortcomings remain. For example, there’s no way to hide all the interface folderol when you need to focus exclusively on your artwork Tf all this sounds familiar, it’s because I've been raising these and similar objec- tions for years. Macromedia representatives tell me they've made no attempt to stream- line the interface because users don’t com- plain about it. But I remember the outery when Aldus released FreeHand 4, with its badly structured, palette-happy design. My guess is that disgruntled FreeHand users have either moved on or given up the fight. Macworld's Buying Advice Interface eccentricities aside, FreeHand 9's greatest failing may be its lack of a rev- olutionary feature to rival the ground- breaking translucency and live-effects options promised by Illustrator 9—while clearly unique, the perspective grid isn’t half as cool or one tenth as useful. What saves FreeHand 9 is its continued com- mitment to Flash. Web designers who haven't already acquired Flash 4 can pur- chase Flash 4 FreeHand 9 Studio for just $100 more than the cost of FreeHand 9 alone. There’s no special integration here—it’s just two CDs with two separate manuals in the same box—but the pair complement each other nicely. These days, just about every digital artist has some interest in the Web, so FreeHand’s focus on Internet features is smart. But if it weren't for Flash, the best thing you could say about FreeHand 9 would be that it’s bigger, busier, and brasher than ever. Problem is, those are the last things this program needs.—veke mecteLLano RATING: $997 PROS: Flexible page manage- ment; SWF security features; dynamic symbol library; improved autotracing and enveloping. CONS: Perspective grid needs work; no context- sensitive pop-up menu; increasingly cumbersome interface. COMPANY: Macromedia (800/457- 1774, www.macromedia.com). COMPANY'S: ESTIMATED PRICE: $399; Flash 4 FreeHand 9 Studio, $499. www.macworld.com July 2000 33 [ Reviews Workgroup Printers AFFORDABLE BLACK-AND-WHITE NETWORK PRINTING ASER PRINTERS HAVE BECOME ubiquitous as the office water- cooler—and nearly as inexpensive. Even small offices and home offices can take advantage of the printing speed and quality offered by the latest generation of low-cost, Ethernet- ready laser printers. Macworld Lab looked at six black- and-white laser printers designed for the SOHO market: Brother's HL-2060, Hewlett-Packard’ LaserJet 4050N, Lex- mark International’s Optra T612, NEC's Superscript 1800N, Samsung’s QL- 7050N, and Xerox’s DocuPrint N2125. These networkable laser printers retail for less than $2,000, have paper trays that hold at least 500 sheets, and print more than 15 pages per minute (ppm). Our tests showed that, basically, you get what you pay for. The Optra T612, the most expensive of the bunch, boasted the t printing and the best quality; the least-expensive models, the Superscript 1800N and the HL-2060, turned in the worst performance and scored the lowest in our qualitative tests. Controlling the Printer When printing on a network from a Mac, you use the AppleTalk protocol, coupled with software drivers and descriptions written specifically for your printer. Lex- Lexmark International's Optra 612 (left) and Xerox's DocuPrint N2125 mark’s software package seemed the most powerful and Mac-friendly, offering additional controllers for features such as toner and color management, but the software for all of the printers we tested worked flawlessly. All the printers offer easy-to-use con- trols and legible LCD screens. The Super- script 1800N and the QL-7050N are almost identical: both have adjustable, backlit LCDs that are fairly easy to use. The LCD screens on the DocuPrint N2125 and the HL-2060, however, are so inclined that some users may find the display difficult to read if the printer is placed on a table. On the Optra T612 and the LaserJet 4050N, the LCDs and controls are on the front rather than the top and are easily accessible. ‘The Optra T612 presented the only real physical problem: because it offers room for expansion it’s less ruggedly con- structed than the others. Workgroup Printers Compared Mouse List ‘Company Product Rating Price Contact Pros Cons Brother HL-2060 $999 888/879-3232, Good text quality. Poor image quality; expensive ‘www brothercom networking option. Hewlett-Packard _Laserlet 4050N fr $1519 '800/752-0900, Lowest printing cost per Expensive. www.hp.com page; good print quality. Lexmark Optra T612 see $1,749 (888/539-6275, Fastest printer tested; Expensive. International ‘worwlexmark.com superior image quality. NEC Superscript 1800N te $999 800/632-4636, Inexpensive. Slow; unimpressive ‘www.nec.com image quality. Samsung. QL-7050N fi $1,099 ‘800/726-7864, Reasonably priced, ‘Slow; unimpressive http://samsung image quality. lectronics.com Xerox DocuPrint N2125 +08 $1,299 800/835-6100, Reasonable price; fast; Lackluster print www xerox.com ecent quality quality at 600 dpi 34 July 2000 MACWORLD Printers Shine at Text, Struggle with Images Best results in red. Microsoft Word 98 and Adobe Photoshop 5.5 results are in seconds. Word 98 at 600 dpi: Brother HL-2060 ME = 1085 HP Laserlet 4050N ———— 121.0 Lexmark Optra 1612 ——_ No 102.7 NEC Superscript 1800N — 148.6 Samsung QL-7050N —— _— 1299 Xerox DocuPrint N2125 — MI 104.3 at 1,200 dpis* Brother HL-2060 191.6 HP LaserJet 4050N == 4214 Lexmark OptraT612 ——- —- 1044 Xerox DocuPrint N2125 —— NNN 104.4 [Sto bas are bet Photoshop 5.5 Excel 98 Graph =, 253.4 Fair = 93.1 Fair rT 42.3 Excellent EEE 1,857.1 Poor = 2415 Fair = ~ 64.6 Fair == 439.2 Poor = 1007 Fair o 433 Excellent = 65.4 Excellent “The Superscript 1800N and the QL-7050N can't prnt at 1,200 dpi an Epp nnn eieeeeesemeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeee ee Behind Our Tests Built for Speed Depending on the number of users and how much printing they plan to do, print speed may be a critical factor in choosing a printer. Macworld Lab performed two timed tests to determine which printer was quickest on the draw, measuring the time each took to print a black-and-white Adobe Photoshop image and a 30-page Microsoft Word document (see “Printers Shine at Text, Struggle with Images”). When it comes to printing text at 600 dpi, the Optra T612 is the fastest, averaging 17.5 ppm. Also impressive was the DocuPrint N2125, which averaged 17.2 ppm. The slowest was the Super- script 1800N, averaging 13.3 ppm. When printing at 1,200 dpi, the heavier load bogged down all the printers. How- ever, the Optra T612 remained the fastest in nearly all categories; its perfor- mance at 1,200 dpi was only seconds slower than at 600 dpi. The Superscript 1800N and the QL-7050N can’t print at all at 1,200 dpi. These printers are designed to out- put text, but they may also be called upon to print images. The Optra T612 printed our Photoshop image the fastest at 600 dpi and was the only printer to complete the task in less than a minute. The Super- script 1800N, which took more than half an hour, is clearly ill-suited for this kind of work unless you're exceptionally patient. We tested the printers by printing a 30-page Microsoft Word 98 document and a 17.9MB black-and-white Adobe Photoshop 5.5 image. Times were measured from the moment the print button was pressed to the moment the last page fully emerged from the printer. The test system Print Quality Another deciding factor is print quality. Maeworld Lab looked at four common output types when reviewing the print quality of these printers: text, images, and two Microsoft Excel spreadsheets—a graph with heavy bars and a table with fine lines. The most important of these factors is text; happily, all the printers yielded superior text quality, whether we were testing for quality or speed. Unfortunately, all the printers except the Optra T612 had some difficulties printing images and Excel files at 600 dpi. ‘The problems were minor but noticeable: in the Excel graphs, streaking occurred when heavy black bars printed horizon- tally over a light gray background. This happened in areas of dramatic light and dark contrast, too. The printers also couldn’t fully resolve the fine rules in the tables. At 1,200 dpi, the output from all the printers that can print at that resolu- tion generally improved—particularly the output from the LaserJet 4050N, whose quality approached that of the higher- priced Optra T612. When printing a Photoshop image at 600 dpi, the Optra T612 again gets the nod, but the LaserJet 4050N also per- formed exceptionally well. The problems with the other printers included over- granulation of pixels and some striping. The HL-2060 suffered from gray-scale gra~ Excel 98 Table Photoshop 5.5 Image Excellent Poor Fair Excellent Excellent Excellent Poor sn Fair « Poor Fair Fair Fair Fair Poor Excellent Excellent Excellent Fair Excellent Fair was a 400MHz blue-and-white Power Macintosh G3 with 128MB of RAM and Mac OS 9. The qualitative results were obtained by com- paring a Photoshop 5.5 test image and an Excel 98 table and graph. ‘Macworld Lab testing supervised by David Read and Gil Loyola. dation problems at 600 dpi, resulting in bands of gray across the image. (Brother has a fix for this problem that involves turn- ing off High Resolution Control, a tech- nology designed to improve the crispness of text.) Output from all the printers (again, those that can print at 1,200 dpi) improved at 1,200 dpi, but the LaserJet 4050N did the best job with the Photoshop image. Another consideration is the cost of toner. The LaserJet 4050N was the most economical, at 1.27 cents per page; the most expensive were the QL-7050N, at 2.24 cents per page, and the Optra T612, at 2.22 cents per page. For the HL-2060, you'll also need to figure the cost of a net- working package ($399) into the total price; the other printers are preconfig- ured to be connected to a network. Macworld’s Buying Advice When comparing networkable printers for office use, you have to weigh print quality and speed against operating costs and purchase price. Lexmark’s Optra 'T612 is expensive to buy and to run, but the result is superior performance and excellent print quality. A good compro- mise for those on a budget is the DocuPrint N2125, with its winning com- bination of speed, quality, and value. If your small or home office is ready to invest in a networkable laser printer, you can’t go wrong with either one—pavio Reao www.macworld.com July 2000 35 [Reviews Director 8 Shockwave Studio DEFINITIVE MULTIMEDIA AUTHORING TOOL GETS USABILITY BOOST ACROMEDIA DIRECTOR 8 Shockwave Studio is in a class by itself. It’s the best—and only—tool for creating highly interactive multimedia proj and Shockwave movies. If you use Direc- tor to make a living, you'll appreciate the increased usability, productivity, and sta- bility that this version offers. But Director 8 isn’t simply a produc- tivity-enhanced upgrade to Director 7; it also adds a Publish wizard for easier Web delivery, scalable Shockwave movies that can fill the browser window, and a set of Lingo commands for controlling images and sound. If you're notyet a Director user but want to create sophisticated multi- media projects, you'll be happy to know that this is the most approachable version to date, offering a redesigned interface and libraries of reusable behaviors. Get Productive If you like upgrades that offer hordes of new features, Director 8 Shockwave Stu- dio may disappoint you. What you will find are enhancements that make the program more usable. For example, the stage (Director's workspace) can now be zoomed in to position elements precisely, or zoomed out to arrange the multitude of windows you're likely to need. Director 8 also features movable guides to which you can snap sprites (visible objects on the stage), and you can lock sprites to avoid moving them accidentally. Other productivity enhancements include two significant changes to Direc- tor’s interface. The first involves the Cast window, where all of your media reside. Each cast member—sound, video, text, or graphic—is displayed in seemingly random order in the thumbnail view. Director 8 lets you see your cast in list view instead, so you can sort by name, number, type, or date modified. You can also sort by comments, a new property that identifies each cast member. ‘The second productivity boost comes from Director 8’s new Property Inspector, which consolidates in a single window the tools necessary to specify how cast mem- bers appear or act (such as a box’s fill color or whether a sound should loop). Previous 36 July 2000 MACWORLD versions of Director required that you click ‘on an information button to access prop- now when you select a cast mem- ber, the Property Inspector displays all the properties of that object. It’s so useful that you'll probably keep it active whenever you're working in Director (though it does have a habit of obscuring other windows). Director Works the Web Director 8's new Publish wizard lets you specify how your movie will be delivered on the Web. You don’t need to write the HTML code by hand; the wizard does that for you based on the settings you specify. Director also comes with The Power of Lingo Director movies can be simple linear ani- mations, or they can be more interac- tive—if you’re willing to program the action, Director's approachable and extensible programming language, Lingo, lets novices and experts alike incorporate advanced interactivity using either an English-like syntax (as in set the volume of sound 1 to 100) or a dot syntax (as in sound(1).volume=100) that’s similar to JavaScript’s Document Object Model. Lingo can take a long time to master, but learning the basics is fairly easy as pro- gramming languages go. sophisticated Publish templates, including one that automatically installs the Shockwave plug-in for your visitors, and another that keeps your visitors occupied with a video game while your movie downloads. You can mod- ify these starter templates to suit your own needs, Once you set up the Pub- lish settings, the Preview In Browser command allows you to see your movie in a browser with just one click. Other Web-oriented features in Director 8 are the ability to scale Shock- wave movies to fill the browser window—though you'll see some image degradation when raster graphics scale—and the option to choose the level of JPEG compression applied to images, either individually or globally. (In earlier versions, image cast members were bitmapped and uncom- pressed; the only way you could make those files smaller was to change their color depth.) The downside is that to view your Shockwave movies, site visitors will need the Shockwave 8 browser plug-in (a free download from Macromedia’s Web site). Unlike Flash 4, which can export files as Flash 1, 2, 3, or 4, Director 8 can pro- duce only Shockwave 8 files. ‘Screen Savers Director 8 Shockwave Studio features a more approach- able interface, including a new Property Inspector, a sortable Cast win- dow (in list view), and a stage that you can zoom out to free up space. Until you have the skills to write sophisticated scripts, you can drag and drop the new starter behaviors that come with Director 8. Its library of behaviors lets you do everything from causing a graphic to turn and face the cursor, to applying special effects one sprite at a time (instead of to the entire screen at once), to automatically posting data to a CGI script. The library not only gives novices a kick start but also helps them learn how behaviors are created. Director's new linked-script feature keeps code separate from content; scripts are saved as text files and can be stored on a server, allowing teams of program- mers to share code. Normally, a benefit of linked files is that you can replace a linked file at any time and your movie will reflect the change. That’s not the case with linked scripts, which don’t remain linked when you publish them; the link- ing feature works only during the devel- opment phase. You'll also find some new Lingo com- mands in Director 8's repertoire, includ- ing those that control sounds. You can give your users control of the sound, or simply create dynamic audio effects for a nections (the previous limit was 50). also get Fireworks 3—a great program for optimizing and slicing images into HTML tables (see Reviews, April 2000)— | and Peak LE (or SoundForge XP in the Windows version) for audio editing. Director itself is cross-platform: when delivering movies to the Web, you rate files for Mac and Windows users; view UL don’t have to create sepa simply need the appropriate Shockwave 8 plug-in for their systems. But if you plan to deliver stand-alone applications, known as projec- tors, you'll have to pur- Tibrary a chase both versions of | Director. Macromedia takes some of the sting out of purchasing both versions, at least if you Fier th sane ; ca have earlier versions of Day “tr each, by offering a $100 (fame rebate when you upgrade Se Chew Pn sir both. (The upgrade price Director 8 om is $399 owt eas andaeny del cae 2} 8 $399 ifyou own Dire ae tor 7; you can upgrade —_—— L from Director 5, 6, or 6.5 1K SAK] IO for $499.) Sophisticated Sounds drop behaviors for controlling audio. more realistic multimedia experience. Sounds begin playing when you tell them to (not a few milliseconds later as in pr vious versions), and when several sounds ked up to play in sequence, there are no pauses between them. You can manipulate a panning property for a stereo sound while it plays, and establish loop points within sounds dynamically. Other new Lingo commands— known as Imaging Lingo—give you dynamic, pixel-level control of graphics. are si You images, combine graphics with blended el run-time. Because the graphics created on-the-fly, file sizes stay small. ‘These functions place demands on the viewer's computing power, but the small t downloads. fects, and create new graphics, all at are file sizes mean fa Bundle Up Director 8 Shockwave Studio is av only as a bundle with several other appli- cations. One of those is Shockwave Multi- user Server 2.1, which lets you create multiuser games, chat programs, and other shared experiences. The new ver- sion allows up to 1,000 simultaneous con- ilable Director's new sound library includes drag-and- an copy and paste portions of ‘The system require- ments for authoring are fairly robust, as you wouldexpectyou'll need _| at least a 180MHz PowerPC running Mac OS 8.1 or M dedicated to Director 8. (Viewers also need OS 8.1, unfortu- nately.) If you want to deliver to users with 680X0 Macs, you'll have to stick with Director 6.5 | er and a minimum of Macworld's Buying Advice Director 8 Shockwave Studio offe m anice | y enhancements and x of productivi new f Although there's no getting around the fact that Director projects can be difficult to create, a new library of reusable code and a redesigned interface make this version more approachable, bringing Director one step closer to per- fection.—pHivtir KERMAN ures RATING: $$$§ PROS: More usable interface; timesaving Publish wizard; pixel-level imag- ing syntax; advanced audio controls. CONS: Shockwave movies aren't backward-compat- ible; scripts can be linked only temporarily. COMPANY: Macromedia (800/457-1774, www macromedia.com), COMPANY'S ESTIMATED. PRICE: $999. If you buy it, will it work? MacBuyécom Make sure you know. The Macworld Buyer's Guide www.macbuy.com www.maeworld.com July 2000 37 | Reviews Power Macintosh 64/500 AN INCREMENTAL STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION EMEMBER WHEN PRODUCTION difficulties at Motorola led Apple to knock SOMHz off every G4 system? Well, Apple has restored that SOMHz to the latest G4s, including the long-awaited 500MHz Power Macintosh G4. The jump in pro- cessor speed from last year’s models, the 400MHz and 450MHz G4s (see Reviews, February and April 2000), may be incre- mental, but it makes this G4 Apple’s top- of-the-line system. If the speed boost is worth $3,499 to you, you won't be disap- pointed with the G4/500. Outside, and Inside, the Box Of course, there are other characteristics besides processor speed that differenti: the G4/500 from its slower siblings. Like Apple’s other high-end models, it offers DVD-RAM drive instead of a DVD- ROM. It also ships with 256MB of RAM standard—fine for most users, but perhaps not enough for the professionals likely to buy a $3,499 system. Although the G4/500 is AirPort capable, it doesn’t ship with an AirPort card (or even a modem, though you can add either one). Cosmet- ically, the G4/500 sticks with its predeces- sors’ graphite case, the only two excep- tions being more-visible (white) front buttons and a more deftly concealed Air- Port antenna. Inside, the G4/500 remains the same as slower G4 Macs with the Sawtooth moth- erboard. It offers two USB ports, each with 12 Mbps of throughput; three FireWire ports, two external and one internal; a fast, 27MB UltraATA66 hard disk; and a Zip drive. Like all other current desktop Macs, the G4/500 unfortunately sports only three PCI slots. The ATI Rage 128 Pro graphics card filling the AGP slot offers strong graphics performance and features a digi- tal video out for flat-panel displays. ‘The only problem with the G4/500's design is that the system comes with the same hockey-puck mouse that users have been complaining about since it was introduced. A machine intended for pro- fessional users should include an input device that offers more in the way of pre- ion, comfort, and ergonomics. The Fastest Mac—for Now Best results in red. Reference systems in italics. Photoshop 5.5 results are in seconds. Bryce 4 and SoundJam 1.6 results are in minutes:seconds, Quake Ii! results are in frames per second, Sweet Performance When a new system offers only minor cosmetic changes, the processor had bet- ter shine. Fortunately, the G4/500 deliv- ered superior performance in every test Macworld Lab threw at it (see the bench- mark “The Fastest Mac—for Now”). While it shaves only about a second off each of the G4/450’s times in Photoshop tests, this Mac is intended for power users who will notice those saved seconds over the course of a day’s work. It’s also the fastest Mac available for encoding MP3s and playing a relaxing game of Quake III. In terms of raw power, the G4/500 is the fastest Mac for any processor-inten- sive application, especially Photoshop, SoundJam, and other programs optimized for the G4. Macworld's Buying Advice The Power Macintosh G4/500 offers only an incremental speed boost over the 450MHz Gé4 released last year, but it’s still Apple’s fastest system. Its only problem, besides the nonergonomic mouse, is the wallet-busting price. Only power users who absolutely need the faster performance this model provides are likely to consider paying an extra $1,000 over the 450MHz G4’s price. Nevertheless, the G4/500 remains Apple’s dream system—at least until the next release.—oavio READ RATING: $§$§ PROS: Exceptional perfor- mance; DVD-RAM drive. CONS: Expensive; too little memory for high-end users. COMPANY: Apple Computer (800/692-7753, www.apple com), LIST PRICE: $3,499. PHOTOSHOP BRYCE SOUNDJAM QUAKE III ! Gaussian Unsharp RGB Lighting | | Render | ! mp3 1 Blur toCMYkK Resize Effects Scene Encode Normal ‘Apple Power Macintosh G4/500 mm =z 42 725 a 1S OM 447 Apple Power Macintosh G4/450 tm 14.3 Bi 46 19:4) 212 41.9 perv hinh 7/1 Zs 107 150 7 129 20:49 a 3:01 31.7 Str as ar beter. ar Quake Fae ates, ar are bat Behind Our Tests We tested each system with Mac OS 9, a minimum of 128MB of RAM, a 2MB system disk cache, and virtual memory disabled. We performed Photoshop tests with a 30MB file, We tested MP3 encoding with an audio-CD track that was 9 minutes and 25 seconds in length—Macworld Lab testing supervised by Gil Loyola 38 July 2000 MACWORLD Performance Pentium-class processor with © Quantum? Ultra ATA hard disk drives * RAID 0,1 or 5 * Unlimited license, easily supports 100 clients Compatibility Simultancous support for Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, NetWare, UNIX and Macintosh networks and clients across TCP/P, IPX, NetBEUI and AppleTalk Network Security Integrates | Price with NT Domain Controller and NetWare Binder; ts OF 10GB - $499 maintains a local user list 20GB - $999 Guarantee Unconditional PLUG IT IN, TURN IT ON. cea Sup sewes parser | on goo99 NOW ADDING A FILE SERVER poses . IS A SNAP! Shap! The Quantum? Snap Server is the ideal solution for upgrading your network storage. It offers the perfect combination of quick and easy installation at prices far below what you’d pay for a traditional server. And while the Snap Server works like a Mac and fully supports AppleTalk and Macintosh TCP/AP networks, it is the only network-attached server that is fully compatible in all computing environments, including NT, Windows 2000, NetWare, Linux and Unix. So now you can seamlessly integrate both the creative and business communities Swantum on one server. The Snap Server is also pre-configured, so you really just plug it in and turn it on - with no network downtime. In fact, it’s so hassle-free it installs in less than 5 minutes! Call 1-888-343-SNAP, or visit www.snapserver.com for more information. Quantum. If it’s important to you, save it with us. www.snapserver.com 1 E Bw Bow USA and other countries. Snapl Server is a trademark of Quantum Corporation | Reviews FireWire Scanners FLAWED SOFTWARE MARS EPSON, UMAX OFFERINGS ETERANS OF SCSI NIGHTMARES will be amazed and delighted to discover how easy it is to connect a FireWire scanner to a current Mac. No need to set IDs, no wor- rying about termination—and you don’t even have to shut down your computer to connect and disconnect them, ‘Two new scanners, the Epson Expres- sion 1600 and the Umax PowerLook 1100, more than live up to FireWire’s promise not only of plug-and-play but also of speed: both scanners can transfer an 18MB scan from a 35mm original in well under a minute. Unfortunately, the scanner- control software that accompanies these pro-level scanners is woefully inadequate. Epson's Expression 1600 Resolving Our Differences ‘The Expression offers the higher resolu- tion of the two—1,600 by 3,200 dpi, com- pared with the PowerLook’s 1,200 by 2,400 dpi. But the PowerLook has a slightly higher dynamic range, pulling out more shadow detail when scanning high-contrast transparencies. When you're scanning neg- atives or prints, which require far less dynamic range for adequate scanning, you probably won't see a difference between the Umax and the Epson. Both scanners feature asymmetrical resolutions: the lower number indicates the physical resolution of the CCD detec- tor that actually reads the information; the higher number is obtained by stepping the scanning head in half-pixel increments. If you scan at the higher resolution, there- fore, you get real pixels in the vertical dimension and interpolated pixels in the horizontal dimension. In practice, we saw obvious interpolation artifacts in 3,200-dpi 40 July 2000 MACWORLD Expression scans but not in 2,400-dpi Powerlook scans, and the artifacts wors- ened when we applied sharpening in an image editor, The Expression clearly resolved more detail at 2,400 dpi, however. Controlling Personalities Without good software to control it, scanner hardware is just an expensive doorstop. When it comes to scanner soft- ware, the makers of mass-market desktop scanners simply don’t get it, and in this case Epson seems to not get it to a con- siderably greater degree than Umax. The previous generation of Epson Expression scanners featured LaserSoft’s very capable SilverFast driver, but Epson has unfortu- nately chosen to develop its own driver for this generation. Both scanners are driven by TWAIN modules that can function as Adobe Photoshop plug-ins or as stand-alone applications, Umax’s MagicScan 4.4 offers a reasonably full complement of manual controls, along with an on-screen densit- ometer that displays the pixel values beneath the cursor. Epson’s TWAINPro lacks a similar feature, forcing you to rely entirely on the preview. And TWAIN- Pro’s manual controls are, in a word, goofy. The scanner industry generally agrees that a gamma of 1.0 represents lin- ear output; Epson’s gamma values range from 50 to 500. Out of Sync As far as color management is concerned, neither company gets it. Photoshop has offered arbitrary RGB working spaces inde- pendent of the monitor for almost two years now, and it’s dismaying when scanners in this price range offer no obvious way to get accurate color into the application people are more likely to use than any other. Umax offers MagicMatch, which uses Kodak’s color-matching technology to let you scan to any RGB or CMYK printer profile or to CIELAB, but not to “space” profiles such as those that represent Photoshop’s RGB working spaces. Epson claims its TWAIN- Pro supports ColorSync, but all the Color- Sync button does is disable manual con- trols and convert from an invisible scanner profile to your monitor’ profile. If you edit an image in either application based on the preview, the scan will look completely dif- ferent in Photoshop. The one ray of sunshine is that both scanners can export raw high-bit data into Photoshop, though that process isn’t men- tioned in either scanner’s documentation. Neither scanner does a particularly good job of creating a positive image from a color negative, which means you'll have to edit those images in Photoshop. Both scanners offer film holders for mounted 35mm transparencies as well as for larger film formats, but only the Expression offers a holder for unmounted film strips. When you use the 35mm slide tray, the PowerLook’s MagicScan locates each image without user intervention, so you can quickly create raw scans from a batch of slides, The Expression’s TWAINP?ro has an autolocate button, but it fails to crop the images correctly—it can lose as much as a third of the image. Macworld's Buying Advice If you’re experienced at scanning, you’ll get good results from either of these scan- ners. Choose the Epson Expression 1600 if you need the higher optical resolution or plan to scan a lot of color negatives; otherwise, you'll probably be more pro- ductive with the Umax PowerLook 1100. If you’re a novice, be prepared for a steep learning curve as you figure out why your Photoshop images bear no resemblance to what you saw in the scanner driver's preview.—BrUce FRASER Expression 1600 RATING: $$ PROS: Highest resolution in its class. CONS: Idiosyncratic manual controls; l