MacWorld0108August2001

1002°80 M Productivity-Boosting Advice from Web and Print Experts | aCWOr THE ULTIMATE MAG BUYERS GUIDE REVIEWED: Apple's New iBook ® 20 Printers, InkJet and Laser 10 FireWire CD-RW Drives = Adobe After Effects and Photoshop Elements PEG MIGY PIVUUULEABUILO = WINGO ULE. GUl \ ps pee * " . ¥ as a SS — (Ses : & | ts al (©2001 apple Computer, ic All rights What’ the point of capturing life's special moments on videos you can only play on your camcorder? Now, with the new Power Mac” G4 and Apple’ revolutionary iDVD software; you can organize and preserve your favorite memories on DVDs you can watch again and again on almost any standard DVD player. iDVD’s simple drag-and- drop interface makes it easy to create professional-looking DVD menus in minutes. Youcan even include slide shows of your DVD-R favorite photos’ right alongside your movies. Then you can use the new G4s aptly named SuperDrive~ to burn your own custom DVDs. No more dusty videotapes and crumpled photos. 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We are dedicated to the Apple® Macintosh market by offering you superior printing products that not only include Adobe® PostScript®, but also boasts the highest resolutions available, incredible performance, oversized printing, and film capabilities — all part of the blueprint for success, XANTE ColourLaser™ Series Features complete color printing solutions ranging from general office use to high end graphics and prepress applications. Includes photo-quality color, 13x19" output, sophisticated color management/matching capabilities, and much more. FilmMaker 4 Generates quality film negatives or positives up to 2400 dpi directly from your desktop! Accel-a-Writer® 3G Offers up to 2400 x 2400 dpi monochrome graphics printing on page sizes up to 13” x 35.5", Accel-a-Writer 3N Serves as a workgroup laser printer with up to 1200 dpi on 13°x18.5” page sizes — all at an incredible price! 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ANTE CORPORATION Fs fe ox 15 Mule AL 3EAORD6 USA fe M7450, Fa 3-03-4503, ent Circle 13 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo Opinion — 11 The Vision Thing ANDREW GorE A new OS from Apple means new mouse ratings from Macworld. 17 Forums and Feedback Readers respond. 43 The Game Room PETER COHEN Like its predeces- sors, Myst III: Exile will keep you guessing. 140 Ihnatko ANDY IHNATKO Bluetooth could change the way we live and work—but is Apple interested? Buzz 18 The Apple-Motorola-IBM alliance, Olympus’s PT-002 waterproof camera case, GPS devices, and Dr. Mae Jemison. How-to. How-to 70 Think Outside the Picture Box DAVID BLATNER Use Quark- XPress clipping paths to take images beyond the expected. 77 Web Publishing Secrets DAVID SAWYER McFARLAND Macromedia Dreamweaver’s Find And Replace feature makes updating Web sites a snap. 81 Print Publishing Secrets DAVID BLATNER Learn how to avoid common—and costly— printing mistakes. 85 Mac OS X Secrets GREG KNAUSS Use the powerful Apache Web server to build and run a Web site. 88 Mac 911 CHRISTOPHER BREEN Get sound into Macs without an audio- input port, import and export database information, decide whether you need a firewall, and preserve system settings in multiuser environments. M W i 1 www.maeworld.com Incorporating MacUser Old Mac, New Tricks ADAM C. ENGST You don't need to use a fancy new Mac to listen to your enormous collection of MP3 files. We'll show you how to update your hardware, create playlists, and turn your older Power Mac into an MP3 jukebox. 64 On the Cover Photographs by Kevin Twomey Stand by Your CPU Despite the megahertz gap, IBM and Motorola are good for Apple. Macworld.com Stay abreast of the latest Mac OS X coverage, learn more about portable Macs in our forums, and find new uses for older Macs—only on Macworld.com. Macworld's Ultimate Buyers’ Guide: Printers BRUCE FRASER With the variety of printers available today, it's hard to know which one is right for your small business or home office. To help you decide, Macworld Lab put 20 printers to the test. The iceBook Cometh ANDREW GORE Read our review of Apple's new iBooks, and find out if one of them will be your portable of choice. 24 24 Consumer portables $999 iBook with CD-ROM drive $99%42 iBook with Combo drive $9961 iBook with DVD-ROM drive 26 Video-effects software $988 After Effects 5.0 28 FireWire CD-RW drives $89 Acomdata FireWire CD- Rewritable Drive $$$ CD CyClone CDRevo 999% ClubMac FireWire 16x/10x/40x $42 EZQuest Boa COR/W 16x10x40 FireWire External $94% FireWireDirect.com FirecD 16x10x40 Yamaha $68 Formac cdrw 16/10/40 $969 LaCie 16x10x40x USI $92 MadLogix Alien 16x10x40 External FireWire 999% OPS Que Fire CD-RW 16x10x40 External $8% Yamaha LightSpeed CD-RW Recorder CRW2100FXZ 30 Analog-to-DV converters $¢%% Dazzle Multimedia Hollywood DV-Bridge $899 Formac Studio 996% Power R Director's Cut 99% Sony DVMC-DA2 Media Converter 32 Image editor 98%%12 Adobe Photoshop Elements 34 3-D-modeling software 999612 LightWave 6.5 36 Programming tool $886 RealBasic 32 38 Document-revision utility $$$ Voodoo Personal 2.0 39 Word processor for QuarkXPress $8% QuarkCopyDesk SE 2.0 40 Asset-management software $960% iView MediaPro 40 Digital-imaging hardware $#% lomega FotoShow 41 More reviews online Macworld.com Reviews Office:mac Come see us at Macworld Expo New York July 18-20, 2001 Booth #618 www.office2001mac.com ©2001 Con A igs al of in the United States and/or ether counties. Apple, Mac, and Macintosh are regstere trademarks of Apple Computer, nc. mi With ordinary printers, you see her bathing suit is wet. aoe nO NE ORT ONT TED HERES NS DENOUNCES ONSET ma With our printers, you see her bathing suit is painted on. YOU'VE GOT TO SEE IT IN It's true. The only thing she’s wearing is her birthday suit. Take a closer peek at the laces and you'll see the work of an incredible artist. Brilliantly revealed by what could only be an Epson printer. One as adept at creating the boldest color as it is at capturing every brush stroke of detail. A talent that can take a greeting card, a school report or even a bathing suit and transform it into a masterpiece. Only Epson” has a full line of printers for any need — from everyday use to creating the most treasured photos. Plus, with Epson, you'll always get: Up to 2880 x 720 dpi for sharp black text and incredible detail Award-winning Micro Piezo” technology for a cleaner smaller droplet — as small as 3 picoliters « Fast print speeds — up to 13 PPM black/1o.5 PPM color (with the Epson SC 980) * PC/Mac compatibility. And remember, only Epson supplies guarantee Epson quality. For more info, call -800-GO-EPSON or visit epson.com. Epson Stylus Color Ink Jet Printers. Sheer brilliance starting at $99. Epson, Epson Stylus and Micro Piezo are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corp, © 2001 Epson America inc. Circle 62 on card or go to wwwmacworld.com/getinfo COLOR. Coming this August www.abrushwithreality.com epyrigne © 2001 Core Compranen. AB ight reserved. RURIOSS-7 Circle 79 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo HE MOUSE RATING IS, IN a very real sense, what Maeworld is all about. It’s the distillation into a single icon of what we do best: help users make the smartest Mac invest- ments, and then help them get the most out of those investments. That’s why, by the end of this year, Macworld will stop using per- formance under Mac OS 9 as the basis for all of its ratings and lab tests. Come the end of 2001, all products that Macworld evaluates will be judged by how well they oper- ate in Mac OS X, either natively or in the Classic environment. Software or hardware that does not support OS X at least in Classic mode will not be rated (although it may still be covered otherwise by the magazine). The reason is simple: with the Mac world starting a tumultuous transition to Mac OS X, there has never been as great a need for objec- tive, accurate, definitive purchasing advice. The danger of making costly mistakes is greater now than it’s been in years. And while the stakes are high, the costs of not making the switch are even higher, That’s why we at Macworld have chosen to put 100 percent of our resources and expertise into help- ing to make this transition as smooth as possible for our readers. Even if we have to twist a few arms along the way. The Mouse That Roared Changing our ratings basis from OS 9 to OS X was inevitable. Apple has made it clear: the Mac is moving to OS X—as quickly as possible. Mac OS X is already included on every new Mac's hard drive. Soon when you start up that brand-new Mac, it'll be OS X’s Aqua interface and not OS 9’s Platinum look and feel that greets you. And while Apple is moving fast, so are our readers. According to a recent survey of Macworld subscribers, 68 percent of you will have OS X by summer. Most Mac applications aren't available in native OS X versions, but the bulk will run in Classic. How well they run is open to debate. Apple has put a lot of pressure on Mac software developers. Its past two Worldwide Developers’ Con- ferences were spent convincing them of the vital need for BNDREW GORE The Blue Mouse Cometh 3 developers just because Apple is. An Icon of a Different i tea eesta te Color Illustrates Our Commitment to Mac OS X them to move their applications to OS X. Which only makes sense: Mac users will be more inclined to make the transition if their favorite pro- grams are available on the other side of the great divide. By deciding to stop rating prod- ucts based on Mac OS 9, Macworld is putting pressure on those develop- ers, too. We hope it will be an added incentive for them to get their OS X products right the first time. And, in turn, the developers will have an interest in ensuring that Apple con- tinues to improve Mac OS X, mak- ing it a more stable platform on which to build great software. But we're not pressuring Mac Every Mac user who is considering the jump to Mac OS X needs to know how well the latest products work on this new operating system. Those who've already made the transition will also be hungry for that informa- tion. They'll be able to get it from us. Surely, some Mac developers will be unhappy about our decision. Most are still trying to sort out their OS X development plans; others are working hard to make their programs OS X native. That's why we're announcing this change so far in advance: to give fair warning. The slow pace of progress by many developers toward OS X compatibility is not entirely their fault, Some admit dragging their feet because of doubts about the new operating system and the continued viability of the Mac itself. But other developers tell us they don’t have all the tools they need to successfully move to OS X. Apple’s making progress, they say, but key components of the operat- ing system and development environ- ments are still lacking. [hope our move will help developers pressure Apple to ensure that they have what they need to make great OS X prod- ucts. After all, Apple doesn’t want to see a raft of poorly rated products—or worse, none at all—in Macworld’s end-of-year issue either. Whither OS 9? Readers will be able to tell from a simple visual cue when we start using Mac OS X to evaluate products: our mouse-rating icons will change color, from red to continues www.maeworld.com August 2001 11 aul Huiys UoIsiA blue. This should also benefit develop- ers, who'll be able to put those same blue mice on their product packaging, declaring that their products run on OS X, and just how well they run. But our move to base mouse rat- ings on Mac OS X doesn’t mean we'll be ignoring how products work in OS 9. As long as the Mac’s most active communities continue to use the classic Mac OS, we'll be vigilant about Mac OS 9 performance. In the text of our reviews, we'll still let you know how well each product works in OS 9. Nor will Mac OS 9 rapidly become OS non grata in our maga- zine. Our how-to and feature articles will continue to address the hard- ware and software you’re using now. (Of course, the Mac OS X Secrets column we began in our July issue will always explore the technical side of the new Mac platform.) Debuting this month are two new columns, Web Publishing Secrets and Print Publishing Secrets. Both will focus predominantly on Mac OS 9 for some time to come. Even after the mission-critical applications of the publishing world have moved over to Mac OS X, there will be the matter of custom AppleScripts, application plug-ins, and other essential cogs found in any pro publishing setup. For this reason, publishing profes- sionals may be loath to chuck a sys- tem that works and move to a new operating system right away. For them, Macworld will con- tinue providing tips, tricks, shortcuts, and other useful advice—and we'll also monitor the Mac market’s progress toward the day when pro- fessional publishers can confidently make the transition to Mac OS X. Expert Buying Advice Another feature that’s new this month is our “Ultimate Buyers’ Guide” series. Scheduled to appear quarterly, the articles in this series are comprehensive guides to buying essential Macintosh add-ons such as printers, digital cameras, moni- tors, and storage devices. 12 August 2001 www.macworld.com The guides will feature reviews based on comprehensive lab testing (this month we evaluate 20 ink-jet and monochrome laser printers). But in addition to giving you a list of the best current products, we'll teach you how to shop for the products in the future. Each guide will explain in derail the various features found in different product categories, so you can make good choices based on what you need. The buyers’ guides will follow along when Macworld switches the basis of its mouse ratings to OS X. The next guide, scheduled for our November issue, will use OS 9 in an evaluation of digital cameras. But the guide after that, planned for February 2002, should feature prod- uct reviews based on their perform- ance in Mac OS X. Macworld Recommends Apple took a bold step, replacing the entire foundation of 17 years of suc- cess with something we all hope will be better. It was time for something new. Mac users have been demand- ing a robust, modern OS for more than a decade. Well, now we have one. But if the people who make Mac hardware and software don’t put maximum effort into bringing top-notch products to Mac OS X, Apple’s Herculean efforts to build this radical new operating system will be for naught. So we’re putting our mouse rat- ings where our mouth is: strongly behind the migration to Mac OS X. Our readers will need reliable tests and ratings to help them safely bridge the chasm between platforms, and only through that transition will the Mac platform continue to grow and improve. m ANDREW GORE is Macworld's editor in chief. To comment on this column, visit our Columnists forum (type Vision Thing in Macworld.com's Search box). c oR RECTION The “Speed Racer“ illustration in “Does MHz Matter?" (July 2007) was created by Terry Paczko. Macworld POF COMTENT/EDITOR IN EMIEF Andtew Gore eorron Jason Sell EXECUTIVE EoATOR Scholle Sawyer McFarland, EXECUTIVE EOITOR. MACWORLD.COM Lisa Schmelter SEWIOR EDITOR, BUZZ AND HEWS Pip Michaels {HI0R EDITOR, HOW-TO Teri Slone ‘SOuOR EDITORS, REVIEWS Linda Comer, Davia Weiss [ASSOCIATE EDITORS Lotus Abrams, Jennifer Berges, ‘Mathew Henan, Kelty Lunsford, Jonathan Sett ‘AssisTanT EorTon Adrienne Robillard EDITORIAL ASSISTANT. Bonnie Hule EDITORIAL (HTERM Jennifer Smodish CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Davia Biatner Henry Bortman, Christopher Breen, Adam C. Engst Bruce Fraser Jim Held, Andy hnatho, Ted Landau, Deke McClelland, Tom Negrina, Nancy Peterson, Oavid Paque. Stephan Somogyl, Franklin M.Tesster tap DIREGTOR OF PROBUET EVALUATION. Kilstna De Nike TEST MANAGER James Galbraith -SEMIORLAD ANALYST. JtlY K Mlstead [ASSOCIATE TECHMIEAL ANALYSTS Ulyssis Bravo, Jason Cox, ‘Brett Larson copy colt MANAGING eOFTOR Jenner Werner ASSISTANT MARAGING EDITOR Charles Purdy ‘copy eorTons. Diane O's, ‘Sue Voethel ART AND DESIGN DESIGN oIREctOR Sharon Anderson AnroinceToR Marlene Sezni ASSOCIATE DESIGNER Jackle Goodman Desion Associates Ami Conges, Alissa Mach PREPRESS CONSULTANT Stephen Suga CONTRIBUTING OESICHER Jennifer Steele MACWORLDPRICEFINDER.COM ASSISTANT PRooUCER Cathy Begien INTERNATIONAL EDITORS Steven Noble, Australia: Bernard Le Oy, France; Andreas Borchert Germany: Enrico Lett, aly; Yoshio Moriya, Japan; Tomasz Bitnes, Poland; Danie! de Blas, Spain; Nils Holmioy, Sweden: Anderson Huang, Talwar: Banattin Apa Turkey. Shmon Jary, United Kingdom APC introduces the best protection available for your Mac. 8 million computer users can't be wrong about APC power protection Don't let a lightning storm destroy your Mac system in the blink of an eye. Your hard drive, modem and RAM are all at risk, not to mention peripherals like your zip drive, scanner, monitor and printer. Rely on an APC Back-UPS Pro® to save your invest- ments from high voltage surges. 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Cordesse MARKETING SERVICES MANAGER Joanna Bock Colombo MARKETING INTERN Joe Kim PRODUCTION Pnopucrion oimecron Steve Spingola Paceness uanactn Alan Anzaione Ao coonoinaron Megan Matteon! ONLINE semon TEewmoLocy OIRECTOR Paui Forrester sewon wee prooucen Chvistina Gonzales ‘OmLINE PRODUCTION MANAGER Ron Neal wea PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Margaret Pere? WE FOLLOW UP EVERY PURCHASE WITH A PHONE CALL. SOMEONE HAS TO REMIND YOU TO EAT. ° Catalog, pg.30 It's quite common for our customers to become, shall we say, obsessed with our AnthroCarts. A place for all dg your things, set exactly where you want them...it's enough to keep you working away the hours, without if, ANTHRO. 129200 to your basic needs. So our follow-up call is just one of the many things we do to make sure all TECHNOLOGY FURNITURE” is well, Visit our Web site. Weld love to send you a catalog! ANTHRO.COM or 1-800-325-3841. Vehicle. Titanium Floppy Drive Titanium FireWire CD-R/W Titanium FireWire Thin Drive Get to your destinations faster and easier with SmartDisk products designed to meet the demands of your portable lifestyle. Keep your engine running with power accessories for your PowerBook or iBook available at www.smartdisk.com. Simplifying the Digital Lifestyle™ www.smartdisk.com Circle 74 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinto 16 August 2001 wwy.macworld.com Macworld HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD Subscription Information and Services Phone 800/288-6848 or '850/682.7624, trom the United States ‘and Canada 303/604-7445, from a other locations US. Mail Macworld Subscription Services 0. 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Send check or money order to Back Issues Macworld, PO, Box $313, Boulder, CO 8O322-H3 Reprints and Pe You must have ing. any material Hom 4 Petmissions, JO! Howard St, 46 Fl, San Francisca, CA 94105; include a phone number. To order teprints of your company's editorial coverage, call Reprint Management Services at 717/3991900; fax 717/399-8900: e malt Lists, idically make sts of our customers available to malers ot ‘goods and services that may interest you. it you do nat wish to receive such mailings, please wre tous at Macworld PO, Box $4529, Boulder, ‘C0 80322-4829, Please include a copy of your mailing label Macworld on Microfilm Macworid Is avatable on microfilm and microiche from UMI, 300 N.Zeeb Ra, Ann Arbor Mi 4810601346; 734/761-4700, Macworld Editorial he editors of Macworld welcome your tps. coments, oF com Stores and product reviews from past issues can be locates _macworid.com. We are unfortunately unable to look up stories trom past \ssues; recommend products: oF diagnose your Macintosh problems by ‘hone, eral or fax. Contact Apple tlre at 800/538-9696, ext. 500, tor information on usergroups in your area (Our ois are located at 301 Howard St 16th Fl, San Francisco, CA ‘94105; phone, 415/243-0805; ta, 415/442-0766, LETTERS TO THE cDITOR Dieect all comments and sugges tions regarding any aspect of the magazine ta lettersBmacworidcom, Due tothe high velume of mail feceived, we cant respond personaly to ‘each letter We reserve the right to edit all submissions ll letters pub lished in Macworld oF Macworid.com become the property of Mac Pubishing MAC 911. Senc your questions or tips on how to use Mac comput rs peripherals, oF software to Macworld, Mac 91, 301 Howard Street 16th Floor, San Franco, CA 94105; far 415/442-0766; or emalt macotismacwori.com. Please include your name, adress, and tele ‘Phone number. To share tips and ciscuss Mac problems wit other Nac users, visit the Mac 91 lorum (wwwsmacworld.convsubjecthmacST, MACWORLD EXPO As the flagship sponsor of Macworld Conference and Expe, Macworld encourages al subscribers to attend this exciting biannual Industry event. For more information about reg {stration, exhibitor lists, conference schedules, dates and much mer, please vist wwmacweridexpo.com, ‘Ver. AUGUST 2001 Forums Titanium 64 Inside and Out and Feedback Restart The Macintosh universe is all about beginnings this month, whether it’s the launch of a sleek new iBook, the early days of a next-generation oper- ating system—or the redesign of Macworld’s Feedback section. We are now including posts from the Macworld.com forums beside your letters and e-mail. The result will be either “iibercool,” as one forum poster described the Titanium PowerBook G4, or “definitely still a beta,” as another reader wrote of Mac OS X. Either way, we’re sure you'll let us know—starting now. m The Silver Surfer (2) DR. JOHN TILELLI There are a few blemishes that I believe keep this beauty from perfection (“Inside the Titanium PowerBook G4,” May 2001): The aspect ratio of the screen, albeit cool and attention getting, is unconventional; much of the time, it adds little to the task at hand. Any- thing you put in the DVD drive can rub against the case and self-destruct with only a little rustle of the com- puter. And I think it’s really bad form to put a memory slot under the key- board and then not have the mother- board recognize that RAM is there when you install it. Sometimes I notice the battery dropping out of the case, killing the machine while I'm working. I use a piece of duct tape for insurance. [=] ROB POYNTER As much as I enjoyed getting inside the new Power- Book, it seems to me that the battery and DVD-ROM drive have somehow switched places on your cover. Smash or Trash? (2) JEFF PERRIN Who's the brainiac who thought it'd be cool to trash an iBook for a corny half-page article (“dieBook,” Buzz, May 2001)? © SHANE MASSEY There’s a differ- ence between simulating “real-world abuse and what was done in the piece. Oh-oh, Canada (2) STEPHEN POLLARD This is prob- ably Letter No. 2,794 on this subject, but the residents of Pelee Island (Canada’s southernmost point) were probably surprised to read that Race Rocks is farther south (“QuickTime Conservation,” Buzz, May 2001). It may be British Columbia’s southern- most point, but it’s not Canada’s. It's Letter No. 2,975, actually. And yes, we goofed.—Ed. Home Sweet Home? (I MARK WHEELER While it’s true that the built-in Ethernet on Macs takes advantage of hardware you have already purchased, Michael Penwarden failed to take the value of time into account (“Your High-Tech Home,” May 2001). By the time you’ve spent several weekends cutting holes in drywall, drilling baseboards, stringing wire in crawl spaces, and making several trips for the proper tools, cabling, and adapters, you’ve made a large investment of time (and perhaps money) in your installed Ethernet network. (=) LOREN JENKS I realize that retro is in, but the uncanny resemblance between the May 2001 issue of Macworld and, say, a 1957 issue of Popular Science is unnerving. Dates and technological details aside, the articles and illustrations are almost interchangeable. Top X List JON SILVERS I was really looking forward to OS X, but I’ve found that it’s incredibly slow, it takes forever and a day to launch Classic apps, and navigation makes no sense. © JULIE KHANER I don’t agree with you at all. | am really enjoying OS X (except for Classic). I expect it to improve, and I don’t want to go back. © JEFFREY CHAPMAN Much of OS X is indeed “un-Mac-like,” but that’s the price of progress. You can’t expect to have change and yet have every- thing be the same. | © visit our forums at wwwmacworld.com to post your comments online, or send them to (BY Feedback, Macworld, 301 Howard St., 16th | Fi,, San Francisco, CA 94105, or to letters@® macworld.com. Include a return address and. daytime phone number. Due to the high volume of feedback, we can’t respond personally to each comment. We reserve the right to edit all letters and posts. Published letters and forum posts become the property of Macworld. www.maecworld.com August 2001 17 STAND BY YOUR CPU APPLE PRAISES IBM AND MOTOROLA, BUT COULD ALLIANCE SOUR? News, Views, and Chatter from the World of Macs 18 August 2001 www.maeworld.com APPLE EXECUTIVES HAD JUST opened the floor to questions after showing off Mac OS X at a March preview, when a reporter wanted to know about the processors that power the Mac. With only Motorola and IBM producing PowerPC chips, the reporter asked, wasn’t Apple becoming too reliant on those two companies? The response from Apple CEO Steve Jobs was swift and merciless: “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Indeed, the Apple-Motorola-IBM relationship—forged when the three companies developed the PowerPC chip a decade ago—doesn’t show any signs of strain. IBM calls Apple one of its best customers, Apple publicly professes appreciation for its suppli- ers, and Motorola is just as effusive. “In the computing space, Apple is one of our oldest and most strate- gic customers,” comments Motorola Director of Communications William ‘A. Swearingen. Where Did Our Love Go? If only all Mac users shared that love. IBM and Motorola take more than their share of flak from Mac users, mostly because of the megahertz gap between PowerPC chips and proces- sors from Intel and AMD, Whether Intel’s Pentium chip is faster than a PowerPC is debatable (see “More Than Just Megahertz,” Buzz, July 2001), but it’s certainly a marketing nightmare for Apple. You can talk about gigaflops and dual- processor systems, but in the end casual computer shoppers are likely to gravitate toward the machine with the higher megahertz rating. Add to this the fact that Motorola and IBM also sell the PowerPC as an embedded processor, a chip that runs consumer electronic devices at a set power level. Faster clock speeds aren’t a priority for these devices; embedded chips just have to keep an appliance running. After all, you didn’t buy your VCR because its processor is faster than a rival brands. The faster clock speeds Mac users crave are not necessarily a high prior- ity for the PowerPC’s manufacturers, because IBM and Motorola sell far more PowerPC chips to the embed- ded processor market than to Apple. Therefore, neither company is likely to change the chip’s design just for Apple’s sake. That has critics fuming that IBM and Motorola care more about developing the PowerPC for embedded uses than about meeting Apple’s desktop needs. Which is nonsense, according to Motorola’s Swearingen. “The perception that development in embedded PowerPCs is contrary to [advances in] desktop PowerPCs is wrong,” he says. “In fact, it’s the opposite. The embedded market fuels desktop development.” NAOMI SHEA DAVID PAPAS AltiVec Inside? There are other potential fric- tion points, Motorola and Apple have embraced AltiVec as a way to get better 3-D, multimedia, and design per- formance. IBM hasn’t. IBM plans to add Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) support to future PowerPCs. SIMD resembles AltiVec in that it allows more- efficient processing of complex redundant data, IBM’s take on it could be different; never- theles no interest in AltiVec. Still, the AltiVec schism between IBM and Motorola may not necessarily be a bad thing, at least from Apple’s per- spective, If the chip makers take the PowerPC in different . IBM continues to show directions, Apple could enjoy the choices that two different suppliers would have to offer. So don’t look for Apple to ditch IBM or Motorola any- time soon. Apart from the companies’ longstanding rela- tionship, the PowerPC is one of few viable alternatives to X86 processors such as the Pentium. Dropping the PowerPC would cost Apple a great selling point: originality.—pavio READ ENERGY CRUNCH POWER MACS The power crisis hitting California is spreading to other Western states and threatening to become a national problem. Power prices, which are tied to natural-gas costs, are on the rise across the coun- try. So people are on the lookout for ways to knock down some of those higher digits appearing on their bills. They could start by buying a Mac. In general, the Mac is a more energy-efficient machine than many Wintel PCs (see “Power Facts”). In an eight-hour day, a bus ness with SO 733MHz Power Mac G4s is going to consume fewer watts than a company with 50 Pentium 4-powered Wintel machines, up to 19,600 fewer watts if you assume that the chips are at the high end of their average consumption range. Mac users have other ways to cut electric costs, says Thomas R. Schneider, the Consumer Energy Counsel of America’s vice president of policy and chief technical officer, and chairman of the Energy Policy Committee for the IEEE USA (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers): make sure all their peripherals are Energy Star compliant (they'll sport an identifying label) and run them in power-saving mode. Schneider also recommends switching things off instead of let- ting them sleep. The idea that devices consume more power when they're being switched a More Info: www.lbl.gov ‘on and off than they do when they're sleep- Need power-saving tips and advice? Check out Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Web site. ing is a common mis- conception. “When you go out for the evening, turn off your devices at the power strip,” Schneider says. “Your monitor consumes energy even in the off mode." That stops electronic devices from “leaking” electricity—consuming small amounts of power even while off so that they can power on quickly.—MATHEW HONAN The Camera and the Deep Blue Sea Digital-camera makers have boosted resolutions, shrunk sizes, and squeezed a bevy of feature: into their products. But they still haven't figured out a way to make their cameras waterproof Digital circuitry, it seems, does not respond well when introdu d to water, Until it does, there's alw: case from Olympus ($130; 800/645-8130, wwi the PT-002 pro! olympusamerica.com). Just 14.5 ounces of transpar- ent polycarbonate, the casing keeps your Olympus digital camera high and dry when you take it onto ch, or into the briny deep. The PT-002 casing is compatible with four the D-220L, D-320L, D-340L&R, and D-360L—and is waterproof to a depth of three meters. A $30 maintenani PT-002 watertight. When thing you want it to be is all wet the ski slopes, out to the b Olympus models. kit gives you some silica gel packets and extra O-rings to keep the you bring your $400 digital camera on a snorkeling excursion, the last © Apple ships products with power management ‘enabled. Windows machines often Fequire users to turn those features on. While many PC users know that, some do fot, and others simply. won't bother with changing anything, Newer Macs In si mode significantly beat the government's Energy Star require- ments. To be Energy Star compliant (meet- ing certain energy- efficiency standards) a system must use 25 watts or fewer per hour while in sleep. mode, among other things. A733MHz Power Mac G4, in con- trast, uses only 13.7 watts. And shutting the machine down entirely saves an additional 41 watts—maybe not much for individuals, but it could mean significant savings for networks, 1 The G4 chip con ‘sumes less power than a Pentium 4. Take the PowerPC 7410 used in 733MHz Power Mac Gs: it uses 12 to 15 watts in average consumption mode. Run processor-inten: sive tasks in Adobe Photoshop, and con- sumption rises to about 30 watts. A Pentium 4 consumes from 49 to 64 watts during average use. w.macworld.com August 2001 19 Drive safely. ay) 7 Drive 10 C DDRIVE10 uv Pass v Pass Testing Pending Pending Unit Ready Supply Voltage Self-Diagnostic Rezero Unit Format Check Hard Drive 9 : iT Format: Mac OS Extended Where: /dev/disk0s? Files: 35,219 SSS Status: This drive is available for testing and repaie. The first and final disk utility for Mac OS X Don’t entrust your OS X drive to ancient utilities. Protect your data and drive safely with C DDRIVE1C From the creators of TechTool Pro" Wi Micromat Inc. 800-829-6227 707-566-3831 info@micromat.com www.micromat.com ©2001 Micromat, Inc. All rights resorved. Drive 10 is a trademark of Micromat, Inc. TechToo! is a registered trademark of Micromat, Inc. See us at Macworld Expo, booth #1337 Circle 37 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo | More Info: www.macworld.com/ PRO FILE A 2001/08/ouz2/jemison.htmi Science Fact Q&A with DR. MAE JEMISON What's the view like from space? Dr. Jemison talks about her mission aboard the Endeavor in an extended interview on Macworld.com. Dr. Mae Jemison has ILLUSTRATION BY STUART BRADFORD. a ride aboard a space shuttle on her resume. But among her interests these days is The Earth We Share, a program that promotes basic science literacy—with some help from the Moc.—ADELIA CELLINI Q: Explain The Earth We Share. A: It was started in 1994, and its goal was to build a science literacy curriculum that was experiential in nature. | believe that the most important thing one gets from a science education is the ability to critically assess things and problem-solv- ing skills. We wanted to create this pro- gram for 12- to 16-year-olds. @: How do Macs figure into your work? A: We used iMovie to create our trailers for The Earth We Share. | also made an iMovie that used to be on the Apple- Masters Web site. Also, eight student win- ners of an international essay contest in connection with The Earth We Share pro- gram went out for a day of adventure. We used iMovie to make two-minute blurbs about their experiences. And of course, | do presentations on Macs as well. GPS SHOWDOWN OFF THE MAP Maybe It’s because the govern- ment stopped degrading the accuracy of its Global Position- to see how GPS technology stacked up against a low-tech alternative, we also tested a Ing System. Maybe it's because prices of satellite-delivered navigational tools have fallen. Whatever the reason, GPS devices are everywhere—in cars, attached to handheld PDAs, and in your Mac. But how good are GPS devices at getting you from point A to point B? To find out, we put three devices to the test on the wild, untamed streets of San Francisco. simple folding map. Our four contestants set out from a common point to find a fixed set of latitudinal and fongitudi- nal coordinates (or a street address, in the case of our map-wielding participant). ‘The verdict? GPS devices are great for finding obscure trallheads and out-of-the-way fishing holes—but in a race against time on city streets, never bet against the person Our experiment included a with a map.—MATHEW HONAN DeLorme Earthmate, a Geo- Discovery Geode, and a Nexian HandyGPS module. And just Any Which Way You C oe y COMPANY PRODUCT | PRICE | CONTACT TIME COMMENTS Di Ps? Bo0/sersi04, jz “You could definitely use the Earthmate in a pinch. Once you get a fix, It works _____Wdelormecom | minutes __well. The mapping software it came with was more useful.’—Mathew Honon "szas/ 888/206-6444, 15 “The Geode was pretty straightforward. rd still want a map on hand, Maps don’t wwwageodiscovery.com minutes __need batteries."—Adtrienne Robillard Thever> “Using the HandyGPS was frustrating: sometimes it didn’t see a satellite. You have to Noid the (PDA) up in the air, which can make people stare.’—David Weiss 3 | “thad more trouble folding the map than | did using it to find my location. | did minutes worry that young toughs would mistake me for a tourist.”"—Philip Michaels ‘Try as he might, Welss never got a lix on the satellite and was unable to reach the finish line. www.maeworld.com August 2001 21 AUGUST 2001 Product Watch Adobe Offers InDesign Sneak Preview Adobe hasn’t even announced a new version of InDesign, let alone a shipping date. But that’s not stopping the company from showing off several features it plans to include in future versions of the page- layout application. And Adobe plans on Carbonizing the next major InDesign update, so it will run in Mac OS X. The coming additions—from transparency and table tools, to a redesigned Print dialog box—may please even InDesign critics—DAvID BLATNER @ OBJECT TRANSPARENCY __ The most impressive addition lets you change the opacity of anything on your page—text, boxes, or pictures—just as you can in Photoshop and Iitustrator 9. InDesign will also add a Feather feature that will soften edges and recognize transparency in Photoshop files, which ‘means you may no longer need to make clipping paths. @ LONG-DOCUMENT FEATURES _ These include indexing, table-of-con~ tents, and multiple-document “book” tools. The next version of InDesign will build a table of contents basec on style | @ sheets in a document and automatically create hyperlinks when you export a POF file. InDesign will include a Hyper- links palette to add additional hot links in your documents that will function in exported PDF and HTML files, 22 August 2001 www.maeworld.com HARDWARE DIGITAL CAMERAS © The PowerShot S110, a 2.i-megapixel camera will be able to import XML from a data~ base (or tab-delimited text from a Microsoft Excel document) into a table, where it will be automatically format- ted. The table can dynamically grow to fit the text—and if there's more infor- mation than can fit onto one page, InDesign will let you link table data across page breaks, XML IMPORT AND EXPORT _ Adobe says all its products will be XML aware, including InDesign. This means you'll be able to import and export dec~ ‘ument content by tagging the content’s structure instead of tagging what the content should 00k like. MAC STUFF designed by Canon ($599; 800/652-2666, www.usa .canon.com): The next-gen- eration digital Elph model, it features 2x zoom, support for QuickTime AVI files, and adjustable resolution from 1,600 by 1,200, to 640 by ($299) is a 1.3-megapixel camera with 1,280-by-960- pixel resolution and a 2x digital zoom, The Camedia D-510 Zoom ($400) is a 21 megapixel camera with a maximum resolution of 1,600 by 1,200 pixels and a 3x optical, 9x digital zoom. The Camedia Brio Zoom D- 150 ($450) is a 1.3-mega- pixel camera with adjustable resolution—from 1,280 by 960, to 640 by 480 pixels. The Camedia C-700 Ultra- Zoom ($699) is a 2.1- megapixel camera with a 10x optical, 27x digital zoom. DISPLAYS @ The 17-inch flat-panel Apple Studio Display ($999; 800/692-7753, www apple.com): The monitor, which uses only a single power cable, features a res: olution of 1,280 by 1,024 pix- els, 167 million colors, a 160-degree viewing angle, and two built-in USB hubs. Apple also announced it will ‘now sell only LCD monitors, dropping its CRT displays PRINTERS 480 pixels. © Eight monochrome laser TABLE-MAKING TOOL __ e @ Four cameras from and multifunction printers: Adobe hasn't revealed very much, Olympus America (800/622- from Lexmark (888/539 but the company does promise that this oft. requested feature wil ‘come to 6372, wwwolympusamerica 6275, www.lexmark.com): InDesign. When it does, the program .com): The Brio D400 The Lexmark W820 ($2,899 to $3,999) is a 45- pages:per-minute (ppm), high-volume laser printer for large workgroups. The Lexmark T622 ($1,699 to $2,199) and T620 ($1,099 to $1,699) have print speeds of 40 ppm and 30 ppm, respectively, for large and medium workgroups. The Lexmark TS22 ($899 to $1549) and T520 ($699 to $1129) print at 25 ppm and 20 ppm, respectively. The Lexmark X522 MFP ($3,649) and X520 MFP Of Mice and Men Before the $70 Cordless MouseMan Optical, from Logitech (800/231-7717, www.logitech.com), scurried onto the scene, no mouse had successfully mixed wireless and optical technologies. The farmer's wife might have lopped off its tail, but the MouseMan is anything but blind—it takes pictures with an 800-dpi sensor, saving you from wires, balls, and pads. It runs on a frequency of 27MHz, rather than 900MHz, so it's less likely to run into interference from other cordless devices around the office. AA batteries, a battery-life display, and power-manage- ment features from Agilent Technologies mean the MouseMan won't conk out on you unexpectedly. Go ahead; see how it runs.—MATHEW HONAN LUSTRATIONS BY MARK MATCHO PHOTOGRAPH BY JIM HILORET! SOFTWARE UPDATES powered by tas A QUICK LOOK AT THE WORLD OF TECH versiontrackercom 1. A Mac “Genius Bar" is among the highlights of new Apple Stores. Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.1 Plan to feature “Evil Genius Bars” scrapped after staff's repeated Reader for eBook format attempts at world domination are foiled by meddlesome Hall of Justice. ‘America Online 4F Beta Mac OS X client for online service 2. AOL hikes its monthly unlimited-service fee to $23.90. The $1.95 Analog 5.0.1 increase covers the rising costs of infrastructure, technical support, and Web-server-log analysis tool flooding your mailbox with spam. prea lel pa 3. Apple touts redesigned, 4.9-pound IBook as the ideal portable Apple Open Transport 2.7.6 for students. But after one semester away at college, it comes Networking components for OS 9.1 home weighing an extra 15 pounds. Autodessys formZ 3.8 3-D-modeling program update Extension Overload 5.8.3 Extension and control-panel tool (81999) multifunction print- easy to extract ($499; time, Norton Utilities won't ers offer copying, faxing, upgrade, $79). run natively in OS X, but Breen and scanning capabilities. ‘© BBEdit 64, from Bare version 6.0.2 improves HP Precision Sean 3.0.1 The Lexmark X720 MFP Bones Software (781/687- compatibility with OS x Supports ScanJet 5300c, 5370c, and ($4,699) does color print- 0700, www.barebones.com): when running the software $200c scanners E ing, copying, network scan The updated HTML and text from a bootable CD. Users cde ae ning, and faxing. editor now runs natively in __can get the updates via © Samsung's ML=IZ10 laser OS X (SII9; upgrade, $39). each product's Live Update User sds arubcoltuare tere printer ($199; 888/887- PRODUCTIVITY feature. Customers who Lacle Sliverlining Pro 6.4.2 £8536, www.samsungusa SOFTWARE bought Norton products last Updated tool for testing, partitioning media .com): Targeting small busi- _@ FileMaker Pro 5.5 fall can order a $15 replace- Linksys 8-port cable and DSL router 2.38.1 nesses and home offices, it (800/325-2747, www ment CD. irotere toe BEES U cautery, has a speed of 12 ppm. ‘filemakercom): The data~ eee Lasiacan aie base application has been Seeenaeh rewritten to run natively in iatioweris comeWertion Prd iz. Mac OS X, with enhanced Maintenance update for development support for ODBC-compliant Software databases and a revamped d\ Marosett Antares ExpoeT XBRL ~ublic preview of Web browser for Mac OS X ) Instant Web Publishing fea~ a dVedien weateligc Vige 9 ture (5249; upgrade, $149). Developer software-installation tools SYSTEM SOFTWARE © The discontinuation ‘OmniWeb 4.01 DESIGN SOFTWARE ‘© symantec (800/4417234, of Casady & Greene's Web browser for Mac OS X © Adobe PageMaker 7.0 wwwsymantec.com) utilities SoundJam MP (800/ Poser Pro SRI (800/833-6687, www.adobe updated torunon MacOS 359-4920, www.casadyg poke pany Pag support for .com): The publishing soft- _X: Norton AntiVirus 7.0.2 com): At the request of Poets e py ware now allows users to has been Carbonized to the MP3 application’s Resource arid datafile edltor merge text and graphics allow for manual scanning _—_ developers, the publisher Rio 800 156 exported from database and repairing viruses in the will continue to offer Firmware update for MP3 player and spreadsheet applica: _native layer of OS X. Fea~ technical support for ‘ScheduleOnline Mac Sync 1.4 tions. A new Place POF tures such as autoprotect, _-SoundJam. Apple bought Frainy conauit tor StheduleOivine's Webi tools, command puts POF files simplified preferences, and the program from the sre esba ese ee Ne a a ais created by Photoshop e-mail scanning work only in developers last year and (it ADIT Bret aE, and InDesign inside of the Classic layer of the OS. _will now focus on develop- ela Viciisearotection program for Macds PageMaker documents. Norton Personal Firewall _ing its iTunes, an MP3. The application can create 1.0.2 retains most of its fea-__ application that has many For these and other current tagged POF files in which tures running natively in OS —_of SoundJam's features. the contents are reflow: X, with the exception of con- —Compiled by PHILIP sywfw fiacwarideorn/a ubjactundlate able, accessible, and trokstrip access. At this MICHAELS www.macworld.com August 2001 23 DAVID PAPAS iBooks Consumer Portables Break Barriers in Price, Features, Excitement BY ANDREW GORE uilding an exciting new notebook computer when price is not a concern is one thing. Building an exciting new notebook computer when price is the foremost consideration is another thing entirely. And Apple’s new iBooks are another thing entirely— they’re consumer portables that defy the label “low end.” Svelte by Design In the world of sub-$2,000 portable computers, trade-offs are unavoidable. Want a small, lightweight machine? You'll have to give up an internal CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive and many port options, such as high-speed peripheral connections or Ethernet. Otherwise, be prepared to lug around a 6-pound behemoth. And as for design, “boxy but good” would be a generous description of most Win- dows-based laptops. Enter Apple. Its first foray into the consumer-notebook market—the orig- inal iBooks—delivered the features, 24 August 2001 www.macworld.com but at a weight that made school- children stagger. Now Apple has come back with an inexpensive portable-computing product of max- imum utility and minimum weight. The new iBook offers all the fea- tures you could want in a machine with a starting price of $1,299: a 10GB hard drive, a 1,024-by-768-pixel screen, 10/100BaseT Ethernet and FireWire connections, two USB ports, AirPort readiness, a built-in 56-Kbps modem, composite and VGA video out, and a S00MHz G3 processor. But the higher-end configurations go a step further, giving you 128MB iBOOK WITH CD-ROM DRIVE Rating: $999 Pros: Lightweight; elegant design; full set of features; low price. Cons: Only 64MB of RAM, limiting per- formance and the ability to run Mac OS X. Company's estimated price: $1,299 Company: Apple Computer, 800/692- 7753, www.apple.com iBOOK WITH COMBO DRIVE Rating: $4962 Pros: Lightweight; elegant design; full set of features; low price; new combi- nation drive is a breakthrough. Cons: None significant. Company's estimated price: $1,799 Company: Apple Computer, 800/692- 7753, www.apple.com iBOOK WITH DVD-ROM DRIVE Rating: $99 9/2 Pros: Lightweight; elegant design; full set of features; low price. Cons: None significant. Company's estimated price: $1,499 Company: Apple Computer, 800/692- 7753, www.apple.com of RAM, a DVD-ROM drive, and— a first for Apple portables—a combi- nation CD-RW and DVD-ROM drive, all in a 4.9-pound portable whose sleek design makes it as easy to look at as it is to hold and carry about. And, building on the earlier mod- els’ well-deserved reputation for ruggedness, this iBook is twice as durable, Apple claims. Our own tests show that the new iBook is a tough customer: despite extensive banging around, rapid temperature and humidity changes, and even some blunt-force impacts, our units showed only a couple of tiny scratches. The one exception was the keyboard: we inadvertently dropped a test unit on a hardwood floor, and although the iBook still ran just fine and the case had only a small nick, the force of the impact popped off the shift key, and we were unable to remount the key properly, In stark contrast to the original iBooks’ rainbow of colors, the new iBook is available only in elegant white. It’s great that both profession- als and students can tote these models without embarrassment, but we hope that Apple will offer other color options at some point. iPowered? From a design standpoint, the new iBook is groundbreaking. From a per- formance standpoint, it’s almost iden- tical to the model it replaces (Reviews, December 2000). The new iBook has a moderately faster CPU—clocked at S00MHz, up from 466MHz. But its G3 processor still sits in a 66MHz bus and has just a 256K Level 2 cache, so the speed boost is largely lost in the shuffle. As you can see from Macworld Lab’s benchmark tests, the S00MHz iBooks with 128MB of RAM have a Speed- mark score nearly the same as the 466MHz iBook’s—even with twice the memory. (The new model with only 64MB of RAM is actually a bit slower.) By comparison, the 400MHz PowerBook G4, with 1MB Level 2 cache and a 100MHz system bus, performs better by at least 20 percent across the board. We understand that all consumer portables entail compromises, but we wonder why Apple continues to offer just 64MB of RAM in its entry-level machines when memory is dirt cheap —and when Mac OS X requires at least 128MB. And the iBook has only one RAM expansion slot, permanently limiting the expansion potential of the low-end configuration. At least the new design puts every- thing within relatively easy reach: both the AirPort and RAM slots are located right under the keyboard. We just wish Apple would start including a screwdriver with models that require one to get to such an essen- tial upgrade slot. Apple’s redesigned battery is a vast improvement over the “stick” used in earlier models, Although a screw lock still secures the battery (no doubt for durability), there’s now only one screw, The new battery also adopts a smaller, square design that feeds power to the iBook through metal contacts instead of a ribbon cable, so it’s easier to swap batteries. As for battery life, Apple claims the new iBook can get up to five hours from a single charge. However, in our tests, which use moderate power- saving measures, these models deliv- ered only three hours of run time. Finally, there’s the new screen: Apple has increased the resolution from 800 by 600 pixels to 1,024 by 768. The extra real estate is a boon, but because the screen size remains at 12.1 inches, the result is smaller pix- els, which can make text difficult to read. You could switch to a lower res- olution to increase the pixel size, but that means fuzzier pixels. Or you could use the new VGA adapter to connect a larger external monitor. Speaking of displays, the iBook uses the same graphics controller as the last-generation iBook and the current-generation PowerBook. The ATI Rage 128 Mobility chip set is get- ting a bit long in the tooth and just can’t keep up with the latest games—a problem in a laptop aimed at students. Driven to Success What everyone really wants to know, though, is how that new combination drive works. We’re happy to report that it does indeed burn CDs and play DVDs without any obvious drawbacks. Of course, there’s the small matter of having to first make a disk image of the CD you want to duplicate and then put a blank CD into the burner. But this minor inconvenience should actually increase the reliability of disc-to- disc copies. In fact, we found the CD-RW/ DVD-ROM combo so convenient that it justified that iBook’s price— $300 more than the price of the $1,499 DVD-ROM iBook, which otherwise offers the same features. Macworld's Buying Advice As far as consumer portables are concerned, the trend seems to be including fewer features and giving less thought to design. Only Apple is bucking this trend. The new iBook is a small wonder—a beautifully crafted compromise that is true to Apple’s philosophy of delivering feature-complete notebooks at an exceptional price. Our only major quibble is with the 64MB configura- tion, which unnecessarily limits the system’s performance and makes it impossible to run Mac OS X. Otherwise, we found the new iBooks to be reliable, rugged, elegant, and a pleasure to use, m A Shade of Difference <=? Relerence systems in itolics. Best results In bold. | SPEEDMARK 24 QUAKE III SOUNDJAM 2.5.2) mmm Shorter better. mum Longerisbelter’ | overait score | Normal MP3 Encode Apple iBook G3/S00 with 64MB, CD-ROM 3 23 319 Apple (00k 63/500 with 128MB, DVD-ROM — 1 — —2¢ ‘3:17 Apple (Book 63/500 with 12848, ono dive — |i — = 23 — 3:14 Apple iBook G3/466 with 64MB, DVD-ROM 2 — 3:2) — Apple PowerBook G4/400 with 128M8, DVD-ROM 1227 st 322113 Better > ‘Speeamark scores are relative to those of an iMac 350MHz (1999), which is assigned a score of 100. Quake scores are in trames per second, Sound Jam scores are in minutes:seconds. We tested each system with Mac 0S 91 installed, a default sys tem disk cache, virtual memory enabled, and displays set to their native resolution and 24-bit color. We Lested Quake IN L17 at a resolution of 640 by 480 pinels, with graphics set to Normal. We tested MP3 encoding with an audio-CD track thal was, '9 minutes and 25 seconds fong and converted it in Sounc.Jam using a detauit setting of 128 Kbps. For more information on ‘Sbeeamars, visit www macworid.com/speecmark—Macworld Lab testing by Jason Cox and James Galbraith Better Better www.macworld.com August 2001 25 P= | SMdIAd g After Effects 5.0 Video-Effects Powerhouse Gains 3-D, Painting, and Flash Support BY JIM HEID or video producers, 2001 has been an upgrade odyssey. This year has seen new versions of Adobe Premiere, Apple’s Final Cut Pro and QuickTime, Media 100’s CineStream, and now Adobe After Effects, the desktop-video world’s top effects and motion-graphics tool. Richly layered video collages, video clips that spin and explode, titles that glow like neon—After Effects is the best place to whip up these and other fla- vors of eye candy, and version 5 is the most significant update yet. Adobe has added powerful new compositing and animation features, broadened After Effects’ reach to encompass the Web, and enhanced the program’s interface in ways that boost produc- tivity and encourage experimentation, Like previous versions, After Effects 5.0 is available in two forms: a $649 base version and a $1,499 Production Bundle, which provides more effects and capabilities (and is no longer encumbered by a hardware copy-protection key), I tested the Production Bundle, but everything in this review applies to both versions unless otherwise noted. If you're running Mac OS X, you'll haye to wait for the next major release of After Effects to get decent performance; version 5 isn’t OS X native, and running it in Classic mode can crash your Mac. Making a Good Thing Better After Effects 5.0’s interface is nearly identical to that of earlier versions. Most action takes place in the Com- 26 August 2001 www.maeworld.com AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 Rating: $996 Pros: Superb new 3-D, parenting, and expression features; unmatched selec- tion of effects. Cons: Occasional delays when preview- ing; displays only one 3-D view at a time; one level of vector-paint undo. Company's estimated price: $649 (upgrade, $199); Production Bundle, $1,499 (upgrade, $299) Company: Adobe Systems, 800/833- 6687, www.adobe.com position window, where you position, resize, and manipulate imported movies and still images, and in the Timeline window, where you create keyframes that denote changes in an element's properties. But the program offers many interface and operational enhancements. For example, you can now change numeric values by scrub- bing (dragging across them). Previewing is also dramatically improved. After Effects now stores previewed frames in an internal cache, eliminating the need to rerender them unless you make a change that affects their appearance. You can speed pre- views by having After Effects render only a specific region of the Composi- tion window. Unfortunately, on sys- tems with a large amount of RAM. allocated to After Effects, you may experience long delays while the pro- gram rearranges memory. After Effects’ Composition win- dow now displays elements as you drag them, and you can now view your work in progress on an external FireWire or analog video device. Entering Another Dimension The star attractions of After Effects 5 are new 3-D features that let you cre- ate dramatic effects, such as a title with rotating text that casts moving shadows as the text appears to zoom toward the viewer. To create a 3-D composition, you click on boxes in the Timeline window to designate layers as 3-D. You can then adjust and animate numerous 3-D properties, including position, shadows, lighting, and shininess. Working with 3-D layers is similar to working with 2-D ones, although you'll need to master some additions to the Composition window. When you select a 3-D layer, a set of axes handles lets you move the layer left or right, up or down, or closer or farther away. After Effects 5 sees your scene through a virtual camera whose posi- tion and characteristics you can ani- mate. You can create multiple cameras and switch between them; when you create a camera, you specify its optical characteristics. For greater realism, you can have the camera exhibit depth of field so that distant and close objects appear out of focus. Mapping out 3-D camera paths on a 2-D computer screen is tricky, but After Effects’ Composition win- dow helps by providing several views. Each shows your scene from a differ- ent angle, and you can switch among them to accurately arrange layers and camera positions. Alas, the program displays only one view at a time. After Effects’ 3-D-rendering engine has some limitations. For example, it can’t correctly render layers that inter- sect each other. Adobe is developing an enhanced rendering plug-in that will address this issue; a beta version is available on the company’s Web site. The new 3-D features may be aimed at eye-candy producers, but documentary producers will also love them: they enable After Effects to mimic a rostrum camera—a motorized camera-and-bench system often used for complex pans and zooms across still images and artwork. Although video-editing programs such as Final Cut Pro and Premiere have simple pan- and-scan features, they lack the versa- tility and control of a camera (even a virtual one) operating in 3-D space. Parenting and Expressions In earlier After Effects versions, making cle- ments change or move in relation to each other required copying and pasting keyframes and duplicating motion paths. After Effects 5.0’s new parenting fea- tures make short work of these tasks. You can now set up a relation- ship between layers simply by dragging an icon from one layer to another. You can also apply parenting to 3-D layers, lights, and cameras. After Effects 5 lets you create rela- tionships between properties as well. By creating snippets of code called expressions, you can have one prop- erty affect another, on the same layer or ona different layer. Expressions itten in JavaScript, but you don’t have to be a programmer to use them, After Effects’ new pick whip builds the expressions for you as you are click and drag in the Timeline win- dow. You can modify the expressions After Effects creates, or write your own from scratch. More Effective After Effects is all about effects, and version 5 introduces some slick new ones. A new Shatter filter annihilates r, exploding it into pieces in a variety of shapes, from glass shards to puzzle pieces. The Radio Waves effect simulates pond ripples, radio waves, Spirograph patterns, and other repeating shapes. The Vegas filter lets you outline elements with pulsing lights and theater-marquee effects. Colorama creates pulsing color effects, and Fractal makes ani- mated fractal patterns. The Production Bundle includes some additional effects. The superb Fractal Noise creates beautiful back- grounds and patterns, and Optics Compensation adds or removes lens distortion. The bundle also includes a vector-painting effect that lets you a lay Effects with Depth After Effects’ custom views show a scene from different angles. The camera and its axes handles appear at the lower right. paint directly on video frames: After Effects will play back your paint strokes either in real time or all at once. Unfortunately, Vector Paint supports only one level of undo. Broader Output, Better Color Although After Effects is most com- monly used for TV and film effects, its ability to export compositions as Macromedia Flash SWF files gives it a place on the Web, too. You can’t add interactive buttons to composi- tions, but you can associate URLs with markers so that a user’s Web browser goes to different pages or frames as a Flash file plays back. When you export a project in Flash format, After Effects can raster- ize any graphics that don’t translate to Flash’s vector format. Macworld's Buying Advice My chief complaint about After Effects 5.0 is its documentation, which is lean on examples and barely mentions how to use many of the filters and effects; instead it refers you to Adobe’s Web site, where you'll find some fine tutori- als. Even so, After Effects retains its title as the Mac’s top motion-graphics tool. Pinnacle Systems’ Commotion ($$8%%2; Reviews, November 2000) offers superior paint and rotoscoping features, but its effects and compositing features fall short of After Effects’, and it lacks After Effects’ refined interface and tight integration with the rest of Adobe's product line. m www.maeworld.com August 2001 27 uy SMBIAB) PETER BELANGER FireWire 16x CD-RW Drives Blazingly Fast and BURN-Proof, Too BY KRISTINA DE NIKE pple has finally started putting internal CD-RW drives in its new systems, but that’s of little comfort to those who own earlier Macs. If you long for the unlimited capacity, quick file sharing, and handy backup a CD-RW drive offers, you're in luck: you can add a speedy external drive to your system for about $300. We evaluated ten of the fastest new drives on the market. They all use FireWire technology, which is 30 times faster than USB, and they’re all rated at 16x10x40x, so they can burn a full CD-R in about six min- utes. (See our roundup of USB CD- RW drives at www.macworld.com/ 2001/06/19/reviews/usbcdrw.html.) Five of the drives we tested—those from Acomdata, CD CyClone, Formac, LaCie, and MadLogix— use the same Sanyo mechanism. The ClubMac and EZQuest models rely on a TEAC mechanism, while the QPS drive contains a Plextor mecha- nism. The remaining drives—from Yamaha and FireWireDirect.com— use a Yamaha mechanism. No More Coasters For years, the most serious problem with CD-R drives has been buffer underruns: if the computer doesn’t supply a steady stream of data, the drive intermittently runs out of data and writes blank space, which CD- ROM drives can’t interpret. The result is a disc that’s useful only as a coaster. Eight of the drives we tested— those with Sanyo, Plextor, or TEAC mechanisms—use Sanyo’s BURN- Proof technology to avoid buffer underruns. These drives stop record- ing when the 2MB buffer is less than 10 percent full; when the flow of data resumes and fills the buffer, the drive returns to the previous stop- ping point, compares the burned data The LaCie 16x10x40x USI (left) and the ClubMac FireWire 16x/10x/40x 28 August 2001 www.macworld.com with what's in the buffer, and contin- ues recording. The Yamaha and FireWireDirect .com drives don’t include BURN-Proof, but their 8MB buffers give them time to recover from a data glitch. Because these drives never pause, they’re always burning at maximum speed. If you want to take data directly off a net- work or the Internet and burn it onto a CD, you're safer with a BURN-Proof drive; otherwise, any of the drives will give you speedy reads and writes with few wasted discs. The Numbers Game In a 16x10x40x drive, the first num- ber refers to CD-R burn speed, the second to CD-RW write speed, and the last to CD-ROM read speed. We tested the drives with 16x-rated CD-R media and 10x-rated CD-RW discs, using a Power Mac G4/500 running Mac OS 9.1 (all the drives appeared on the desktop in OS X). The drives worked as advertised— all claim the same speeds, and in each test their times fell within a minute of each other, They also bested our baseline QPS Que Fire 12x10x32x in CD-R burning, and all but the MadLogix drive beat the older Que Fire in the Install Quake test, which indicates CD-ROM read speed. iTunes and Disc Burner (both downloadable for free from Apple’s site) work with all the drives. However, iTunes burns only audio CDs, and Disc Burner burns only Macintosh single-session CDs; to cre- ate multiple sessions or use any other format, you need an application such as Roxio’s Toast (www.macworld.com /2000/02/reviews/toast4.html). All the drives include Toast 4.1.1 or 4.1.2, though FireWireDirect.com bundles the application only if you purchase it from the company’s Web site for an additional $1 when you order the drive. (The latest version, Toast 5.0, isn’t available bundled with drives as of this writing.) CD-RW drives are great backup devices. Unfortunately, Dantz’s Retrospect backup software hasn’t yet been updated to support these drives, though it should support the Yamaha, TEAC, and Plextor mechanisms by the time you read this; check Dantz’s Web site (www.dantz.com) to see if the pro- gram supports the Sanyo mechanism. Built Like a Brick An ideal drive has an internal power supply rather than an external power brick; its case is sturdy, with a flat top for stackability. The drives from Acomdata, ClubMac, FireWireDirect .com, MadLogix, and Yamaha all fit this description. The CD CyClone and Formac drives’ metallic cases, though eye-catching, are too curved to allow stacking. And both drives come with external power bricks, although you can power the Formac via the FireWire bus. The LaCie drive includes a USB port in addition to the two FireWire ports. You can attach the drive either Too Close to Call GP Reterence system in italics. TOAST 4.1.2 QUAKE II! Pes necet Wteh, Burn 650MB | Burn 100MB sm Shorter s beter. File (CD-R) _| File (CO-RW) _| install Ouake Acomdata FireWire CO-Rewritable Drive — 2:0 —~ 2:51 €D CyClone CDRevo 53 213 2:31 —— ClubMac FireWire 16x/10x/40x ——— sso 2.03 222 EZOuest Boa COR/W 16xIOx40 FireWire External — 6:00 2:03 2:22 FireWireDirect.com FireCD 16x10x40 inch —— 550 — 2.05 NR 2:44 Formac cdrw 16/10/40 —— 539 210 23) LaCie 16x10x40x USI 7 210 231 MAL AMO —— —<— 2 —3:17 OPS Que Fire CO-RW 16xi0x40 External ——— ss 2:04 2:30 Yamaha LightSpeed CO-RW Recorder CRW2100XZ ——= 550 — 2:16 2:53 (OPS Que Fire 12x10x32« — 7 204 3:0; A Better 4 Better 4 Better ‘We tested each drive in a Power Mac G4/500 with Mac OS 91, 128MB of RAM, a detauit system disk cache, and virtual mem- ‘ory enabled, Results are in minutes:seconds and do not include verification times—Macworld Lab testing by Jason Cox way—handy if you’re using it with both an older iMac and a newer Mac. While FireWire drives are extremely easy to set up, you should get a manual for your $300. QPS and Yamaha provide thorough documen- tation, including a section on using Toast. ClubMac, Formac, and LaCie also include decent manuals. The manuals from Acomdata, CD CyClone, FireWireDirect.com, and MadLogix consist simply of a few pages of quick-start instructions. Macworld's Buying Advice All ten drives are easy to set up and fast, and most cost about $300. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but we preferred the ClubMac and LaCie drives. The ClubMac FireWire 16x/10x/40x has a good price, toll- free tech support, and a simple case, and it comes with five iMac-colored faceplates. The LaCie 16x10x40x U&l’s additional USB port allows you to use it with a USB Mac (although USB supports only 4x speed). m FireWire CD-RW Drives Compared COMPANY'S MOUSE | ESTIMATED COMPANY PRopucT RATING | PRICE CONTACT MECHANISM | PROS CONS Acomdata Firewire 8 $330 909/613-9488, Sanyo Stackable case. Tech support is CD-Rewritable Drive wwnwacomdata.com a toll call CD CyCione ‘CDRevo " $339 714/247-0099, Sanyo ‘Small case. External power brick. wwwedcyclone.com ClubMac FireWire 16x/10x/40x | #999 | $290 ‘800/217-9153, TEAC IMac-colored ‘No description of worw.clubmac.com faceplates. Toast in manual. EzQuest Boa CDR/W 16x10x40 | #98% | $289 714/694-0031, TEAC Solid case. Not stackable, FireWire External www.eza.com FireWireDirect.com | FireCD 16x10x40 $86% =| s299 512/302-0012, Yamaha Has 8MB buffer. Toast not included Yamaha wwwfirewiredirect.com automatically, Formac Formac cdrw 16/10/40 | #982 | S289 877/436-7622, Sanyo Powered by Not stackable. wwrwcformac.com FireWire bus. Lacie T6xIOxd0x USI #948 | $300 503/844-4500, Sanyo Has both FireWire | Not stackable. wwwlacie.com and USB connectors. MadLogix Alien 16x10%x40 #0 | $270 877/462-5436, ‘Sanyo Least expensive Slowest CD-ROM External FireWire www.madiogix.com in roundup. read times. ops Que Fire CD-RW 49% =| S279 800/559-4777, Plextor Nice carrying case. | Not stackable. 16x10x40 External wrw.qps-ine.com Yamaha LightSpeed co-rw | #98 | $360 180/926-2426, Yamaha Has 8MB buffer. Most expensive Recorder CRW2I0OFX2 ‘weewyamaha.com. in roundup. www.maeworld.com August 2001 29 a © s ® = u SCOTT PETERSON Analog-to-DV Converters Devices Add Audio and Video Capture to FireWire Macs BY JEFFY K. MILSTEAD erhaps you're intrigued by Apple’s new focus on digital video, but own an analog camcorder or have a pile of home movies on VHS tape. In either case, you'll need some way to get that analog video into your Mac digitally. The best way to do that is with a FireWire analog-to-DV converter, which can send the audio and video from your Mac right back out to your TV screen. And if you already own a DV camcorder with analog inputs, a converter can handle the link to your computer so you won't have to frantically unplug your camcorder each time you rush out to capture breaking events on videotape. We looked at four analog-to- DV converters that offered similar features: the Dazzle Multimedia Hollywood DV-Bridge, the Formac Studio, the Power R Director’s Cut, and the Sony DVMC-DA2 Media Converter. All the products performed as advertised, but the Formac Studio The Formac Studio 30 August 2001 www.macworld.com stood out as the most Mac-compatible and innovative of the bunch. Making the Connection When you play analog audio and video, a converter box digitizes the media and converts it into the same DV format used by digital camcorders; that data is sent to your Mac via FireWire. Hooking up a DV converter is simple: just plug it into a six-pin FireWire port on your computer and connect it to your video source, and it’s ready to go. The Hollywood DV- Bridge and Formac Studio converters come with the necessary FireWire cables. However, the Sony unit includes a FireWire cable with a four- pin connector—ideal for hooking the converter up to a Sony Vaio but not, unfortunately, to your Mac, And only the DVMC-DA2 includes an S-Video cable and an A/V cable for connecting the audio. Once the converter is connected to the computer and the camcorder, you can begin capturing or exporting video. In tests with a S00MHz G4 Power Mac and an iMac DV, we were able to capture and play back video using each of these converters from within Apple iMovie 2.0.3 (including the Mac OS X version), Adobe Premiere 6, and Apple Final Cut Pro 2. We didn’t notice any differences in image quality among the four. In our tests, iMovie immediately recognized all the converters with no problem. For Premiere, we had to select each device specifically from a control menu before the program could com- municate with the converter, The Formac Studio and the Hollywood DV- Bridge detect whether you’re capturing or outputting a signal, and they have LED indicators that show the direction of transfer. Both also have buttons for switching sources, in case automatic switching doesn’t kick in. With the DVMC-DA2 and the Director’s Cut, you must switch sources manually. From Geek to Sleek In the industrial-design department, the Director’s Cut looks as though it belongs in a TV studio: it’s housed in a sturdy, utilitarian black metal box that only an engineer could love. At the opposite end of the aesthetic spec- trum is the Formac Studio, a curved silyer box that would look more at home in an ad agency (Formac also COMPANY'S Mouse | ESTIMATED COMPANY | PRODUCT RATING | PRICE CONTACT PROS CONS Dazzle Hollywood 990% | s299 888/212-8045 —_| Remote control of Sony Handycams. Structurally unstable; requires external Multimedia | Dv-Bridge | | wwwdazzle.com ower supply. Formac | Studio 9906 | s399 877/436-7622 __| Powered by FireWire bus; extra FireWire __| Pricier than the others. | wwncormaccom | port: sleek design: includes sottware. Power R | Director's 0 | $349 800/729-6970 _| Powered by FireWire bus; extra video out- | Requires manual switching; less aestheti- Cut www.powerrcom | put for monitor; dedicated headphone jack. | cally pleasing than the others. Sony DVMC-DA2 908 | S299 800/222-7669 —_| Remote control of Sony Handycams. Requires external power supply; 4-to-4 Electronics | Media Converter www.sel.sony.com pin FireWire cable only; no PAL support; copy protection. sells a clear model). The compact DVMC-DA2 has the simple elegance typical of Sony gear, while the lithe form and vertical orientation of the Hollywood DY-Bridge make the device so structurally unstable that even the strain from the connecting cables can pull it over. S-Video and AV jacks are standard on all the converters, but the Director’s Cut carries an extra $-Video-out port for monitoring the signal being sent to the VCR—a handy feature you’d normally find only in professional stu- The Details The Formac Studio offers some unique features, including a TV and radio tuner and an internal speaker. An option in the ProTV tuner software allows it to search for available TV and radio channels; you can assign names to the individual stations it finds. The ProTV software can also capture timed snapshots to a folder—handy if you're building a Web cam. Unlike Formac’s other TV tuner product, the ProT'V PCI card (Reviews, October 2000), the Formac Studio doesn’t support closed- Tune In The Formac Studio lets you turn live video into ‘something resembling Web-cam footage. Add time stamps, titles, and even blurring mosaic patterns to an image. dio equipment. It also has a quarter- inch headphone jack with a level knob. The Formac Studio includes two addi- tional coaxial inputs, for cable TV and antennae. The Hollywood DV-Bridge and DVMC-DA2 use external power supplies; the Director’s Cut and Formac Studio take a more conven- ient approach, drawing power from the FireWire bus. The Formac Studio also has a second FireWire port, for daisy-chaining other peripherals. captioning or let you adjust brightness and contrast. The Formac Studio also offers more playback options than the others, supporting 16:9 and 2.35:1 aspect ratios in addition to the standard 4:3. All four products sup- port the NTSC video for- mat, which is common in North America, and all but the DVMC-DA2 sup- port the PAL format, found overseas. In addi- tion, the DVMC-DA2 is the only converter in our roundup that sup- ports Macrovision, an analog copy- protection scheme used by most DVD players and VCRs. Videotapes and DVDs that have the Macrovision signal embedded will appear normal when viewed on most TVs; when they're recorded to tape and played back, however, the image will be dis- torted and unwatchable. It makes sense that Sony Pictures wants to prevent its movies from being copied, but we believe you're better off using a product that doesn’t put up this kind of a roadblock. If you own an analog Sony Handycam, the DVMC-DA2 and the Hollywood DV-Bridge let you control your camcorder’s playback functions from within Premiere or iMovie, making these features almost as easy to use as a digital camcorder. In those applications, however, the DVMC-DA2 required us to switch manually between playback and editing modes. Macworld's Buying Advice If, in addition to converting analog audio and video, you want to add a TV and radio tuner to your Mac or would benefit from the flexibility of an added FireWire port, the Formac Studio is a great all-in-one choice. If you need a dedicated headphone jack or an extra video output, consider the Power R Director’s Cut. If you’re on a budget and willing to forgo extra fea- tures, choose the Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge. The DVMC-DAQ, with its copy protection and lack of PAL sup- port, is the least attractive option. m | More Info: A wrovswag.com More Info: www.adobe.com/motion/tips/main.html | Find Dv-related tutorials and forums at | this user-group site. Adobe's Web site offers tips and techniques for working with digital video. www.maeworld.com August 2001 31 uy SMdIA9 oD uy SMOdIA9 Adobe Photoshop Elements Most of Photoshop’s Bang, for Minimum Bucks BY GALEN FOTT dobe Photoshop has long been heralded as the unchallenged champion of image editing. So why doesn’t everybody use it? Two reasons: the cost ($609) and the learning curve (lengthy). With its recent reworking of the old Photoshop LE, Adobe takes the Eraser tool to those obstacles. Priced at only $99, Photoshop Elements combines an astonishing amount of Photoshop 6.0’s power with helpful, nonintrusive guidance. RGB Acres Adobe isn’t quite giving away the farm with Photoshop Elements, but it’s cer- tainly being generous with the acreage. In addition to Photoshop 6.0’s basic tools, Elements contains high-end fea- tures such as the History palette (mak- ing Photoshop LE’s single undo seem like a bad dream), adjustment layers, dialog-box-free text input, the Warp Text and Liquify commands, GIF ani- mations, and all 99 effects filters. Ele- ments also opens and saves a full range of file formats, including EPS and PDF. Some features are slightly scaled back compared with their Photoshop counterparts, but by and large, Adobe has left out only features that graphics professionals might miss. Most con- spicuous by their absence are CMYK Color mode, recordable actions, the Channels palette, editable vector shapes, and advanced selection tools such as masking. Another element missing from this application's periodic table is Carbon. Elements doesn’t run natively in OS X, and Adobe is mum on when a Carbon- ized version might appear. On the plus side, I was able to pull in a scan while running Elements in OS X’s Classic mode, despite a warning on Adobe's Web site that it couldn't be done. In addition to borrowing from Photoshop, Elements offers a few fea- tures of its own, The most interesting is the Photomerge command, which does a commendable job of combining a group of images into one large, pan- oramic shot. Some new instant-fix fea- tures are less impressive: the Red Eye Brush tool and Straighten And Crop Image command yield haphaz- ard results at best. Element-ary School Photoshop Elements may throw in a few one-click wonders, but such tools are contrary to Pho- toshop’s technical nature. Hap- pily, Elements excels at explain- ing the technical stuff. Rest your cursor over a tool, and the Hints palette displays a brief, illus- Mergers and Acquisitions The Photomerge com- mand turns a group of images into a panorama. 32 August 2001 www.macworld.com trated explanation of that tool’s use; the Recipes palette offers ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS Rating: $866 V2 Pros: Exceptional value; includes many of Photoshop's most powerful tools; excellent help features. Cons: Unimpressive instant-fix features; not Mac OS X native. Company's estimated price: $99 Company: Adobe Systems, 800/833- 6687, www.adobe.com step-by-step instructions for common tasks, such as adjusting an image’s tonal range and restoring damaged photos. And you can download addi- tional recipes from Adobe's Web site. Elements contains individual palettes for filters, effects (the pre- recorded actions that ship with Pho- toshop 6.0), and layer styles. These helpful palettes give you visual clues as to how a particular change to your image might look. Once you've mastered the basics and need in-depth information, the application’s built-in help and 270- page manual can fill in the details. Macworld’s Buying Advice Photoshop Elements gives you roughly five-sixths of Photoshop’s power for less than one-sixth the price. That missing one-sixth is crucial for graph- ics professionals, particularly those working in the print field. But if you don’t make a living creating graphics, this is probably all the image editor you'll ever need; it’s vastly superior to both its predecessor, Photoshop LE, and Adobe's antediluvian PhotoDeluxe for the Mac. Photoshop Elements makes it easy and affordable to learn image editing the best way: with Adobe Photoshop. m » > > > Sonnet Technologies Mac’ OS X Support Solutions Regardless of what you may have heard, many Macintosh” computers enhanced with Sonnet processor upgrades can run OS X! If your Power Macintosh G3 or G4 computer is enhanced with a Sonnet processor upgrade, you're set—our Encore” product line supports Mac OS X now. Do you have an “officially” unsupported PCI machine such as a Power Macintosh 7300/7500/7600, 8500/8600 or 9500/9600? With Sonnet, you're covered—Sonnet has engineered a breakthrough OS X compatibility solution for these computers when combined with our popular Crescendo"/PCI upgrades! Delivery is slated for June 2001, available for download. As for PCI adapter cards, our Tempo™ Ultra ATA66 and Tango” FireWire"/USB cards are OS X compatible today. Great News for Newer Technology Customers There's no need to feel left out if you're a Newer Technology customer—Sonnet’s commitment to extending Mac OS X support also includes a program for MAXpowr ZIF and MAXpowr PCI G3/G4 processor upgrades! Sonnet will release OS X compatibility solutions for MAXpowr processor cards in the near future. Power Mac G3 & G4 Series > G3 All-in-one Power Macintosh 7300, 7500, 7600 Series > G3 Blue & White Power Macintosh 8500, 8600 Series > G3 Desktop Power Macintosh 9500, 9600 Series > G3 Minitower > G3 Server PROCESSOR CARD For a complete statement on Sonnet’s Mac OS X compatibility solutions, go to www.sonnettech.com/news/macosx_update.html Committed to Extending OS X Support! If you own one of these Macs and Sonnet makes a product to go into it, then we have an OS X solution for You! » PowerTower Pro > PowerWave >» UMAX 3700, S900 ——————E—E SONNSS SIMPLY FAST P= | ® s ® = u LightWave 6.5 High-End Package Brings Impressive 3-D Effects to the Mac BY MATT LOWRIE iven the Mac’s graphics superiority, it’s surprising that 3-D pro- duction work on our platform of choice has until recently been a piecemeal process. One of the first fully integrated 3-D pack- ages to migrate to the Mac from the Unix world was NewTek’s LightWave, a powerful application for creating television and film effects. Now at version 6.5, Light- Wave’s wealth of professional model- ing and animation tools rivals those of programs such as Electric Image Universe and Maxon’s Cinema 4D. The Sum of the Parts LightWave is actually a collection of separate applications: Modeler, for creating objects; Layout, for animat- ing and rendering scenes; and Hub, which updates projects when you make changes in Modeler or Layout. Modeler is polygon- and spline- based; it offers an efficient surface- subdivision mode in which you can create smooth organic forms similar to what you'd get with NURBS mod- cling, The program includes a collec tion of tools for patch modeling, along with “viewports” that you can use as UV mapping editors for precise place- ment of textures. For creating bone hierarchies, Lay- out lets you set hybrid forward and inverse kinematics explicitly for each LIGHTWAVE 6.5 Rating: $9882 Pros: Integrated 3-D tools; excellent rendering engine; integrated particle system and soft-body dynamics engine. Cons: Poor documentation. Company's estimated price: $2,495 Company: NewTek, 800/862-7837, www.newtek.com 34 August 2001 www.macworld.com bone. The visual Graph Editor makes it easy to fine-tune smooth-keyframe interpolation using Bézier or TCB (ten- sion, continuity, bias) curves. The unre- sponsive pan tool and time slider can be frustrating, however. Some notable additions in version 6.5 are an integrated particle system, a soft-body dynamics engine, auto- mated Atlas mapping tools, Motion Designer can force objects to behave like cloth that can be influ- enced by any other clement in the scene. And you can use animation expressions and modifiers to auto- matically move objects based on other objects’ behavior. But no matter how many impres- sive features a 3-D package offers, it all comes down to rendering—and in this area, LightWave excels. The ray-tracing engine can calculate real- istic reflections, refraction, and caus- tics; the radiosity engine supports high-dynamic-range calculations of bounced light, allowing you to illumi- nate a scene using only photographs saved in the HDRI format. LightWave and a new Schematic view. Other welcome enhancements include a reorganized inter- face; a Bézier-curve tool in Modeler; and resizable view- ports and front, left, and bot- tom views in Layout. You'd think menting all these new features would be a high priority, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. LightWave 6.5 ships with the printed manuals for ver- sion 6; the 6.5 addendum available only in PDF form. Equally disappointing is the lack of an index and the fact that the manuals assume you're using the Windows version. that docu- Complex Made Easy Several powerful procedural anima- tion tools make complex motions eas- ier to set up. An integrated particle generator—when used in conjunction with HyperVoxels, LightWave's volu- metric-object generator—lets you sim- ulate smoke, explosions, and fluids. Hats Off to Mapping LightWave's Atlas function automatically “unwraps” models. also supports distributed rendering, cither on one multiprocessor machine or over a TCP/IP network. Macworld’s Buying Advice If you want a complete 3-D-produc- tion package for character animation, product design, or visual effects, Light- Wave 6.5 is a great value—especially when you consider that many of its standard features, such as particles and dynamics, are available only as expen- sive plug-ins in other packages. m Visit fr our booth #1035 HIGH RELIABILITY — AS LOW AS $219" \ \ \ D at Macworld Expo It's the best deal ever for Fujitsu DynaMO Magneto \\\) ; Optical drives. These 640MB and 13GB, Mac and \ y a July 18-20, New York City PC compatible MO drives offer high-performance, full rewritability and full backward compatibility And MO disk technology offers a 30+ year archival life and unparalleled durability. So step up to tomorrow’ technology at today’s new price. Call 800-831-8054 ext. 305 or visit wwwMOstorage.com REMOVABLE STORAGE REDEFINED oo FUJITSU LITIES ARE INFINITE *MSRP for DynaMO 640 Internal IDE drive. 02001 Fujitsu Computer Products of America Ine. All rights reserved. All statements befein ae based on|normal operating conditions and are not intended to create any express or implied warranty Fujisa Computer Products of America Inc. reserves the right to modify at say time without prior Nolice these statements our products. and their performance specifications. Fujitsu and the Fujitsu logo are registered trademarks of Fujitsu Ltd. DyoaMO isa registered trademark of Fujitsu Compater Product of America, In. Aller trademarks are the property oftheir respective owners. ze oisegjeou Bene RealBasic 3.2 The Easiest Way to Program Your Mac BY DORI SMITH oes your mental image of BASIC involve line numbers, proce- dural code, and single-character variable names? If so, you don’t know how far the language has come. Real Software’s RealBasic 3.2 offers all the convenience of a modern object-oriented language while retaining the simplicity of the venerable BASIC syn- tax, making it a lot easier to create applications with, And because the program takes a visual approach to building user interfaces, it’s the sim- plest way for nonprogrammers to start coding. Not Your Father's BASIC Programming on the Mac used to involve writing line after line of C or C++ code, primarily just to create standard user-interface elements. Fortunately, RealBasic’s Rapid Appli- cation Development (RAD) support allows you to make a prototype of your interface quickly, To begin con- structing an application, you create a blank window and drag predefined user-interface elements into it from the Tools palette. Once you’ve laid out the interface, it’s much easier to add the code to power that interface. Though there’s still plenty of code to write at this point, RAD enables you to see—and, more important, test— how well each piece works within the larger picture. REALBASIC 3.2 Rating: $666 Pros: Easy user-interface creation; cross-OS capabilities. Cons: Weak documentation. Company's estimated price: $100 Company: Real Software, 512/263-1233, www.realsoftware.com 36 August 2001 www.macworld.com Version 3.2 is both more power- ful and easier to use than version 2 (Reviews, October 1999), with a new Sprite engine, which gives you greater control over animation, and a handy autocompletion feature. The List box and Edit fields offer greater functionality, such as improved scroll bars and scroll position- ing, and their appearance is now more accurately reflected in the Window editor. The Three OSs RealBasic 3.0 was advertised as being compatible with Mac OS X, but it had problems with the At first glance, the documenta- tion—a tutorial, a developer’s guide, and a 1,200-page language refer- ence—looks impressive. However, neither the table of contents in the developer’s guide nor the index in the language guide matches the actual contents. Worse, the tutorial assumes you already know something about programming, using terms such as properties and classes without defining them. Fortunately, novice coders who need help can turn to the active online community of RealBasic users—just follow the links from Real’s Web site. final version of the OS. RealBasic 3.2 remedies them; both the development environment and the applications it produces are Carbon compliant. Although it’s too bad that RealBasic can’t produce Car- bon and Classic applications simulta- neously (you have to run the compiler twice, picking a target environment each time), the Carbon applications run just fine under OS 9. RealBasic is available in both a $100 standard edition and a $300 professional edition (add $50 if you want a software CD and printed documentation); the latter lets you compile Windows applications and includes a single-user relational data- base engine that can also connect to any ODBC-compliant database. Look, Ma, No Code! RealBasic’s visual design tools let you lay out your user interface before you code. Macworld's Buying Advice If you're looking for the easiest way to start programming your Mac, RealBasic 3.2 is the answer. Its closest competition—Metrowerks’ $50 CodeWarrior Learning Edition 2, which includes C, C++, and Java— has a harsher learning curve, due to the professional development environ- ment it shares with its predecessor, CodeWarrior Professional. RealBasic isn’t without flaws, but its ease of use and drag-and-drop approach can quickly turn novice coders into pro- grammers, and programmers into coding machines. m NEC I let you do more. See images more clearly. Visualize in endless new ways. Create in vivid color, with flat-screen precision. The all-new NEC MultiSync® FP Series™. Superb resolution and unrivaled detail. Edge-to-edge clarity, with virtually no distortion. Glare-free viewing. True-to-life color. Larger viewing areas for more versatility. They're all part of the flat-aperture grille advantage. All models feature dual system input capability, Select models feature Ambix’™ the dual digital and analog technology that delivers added compatibility. 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