MacWorld0410October2004

RVIVAL L GUIDE The Mac Product Experts www.macworld.com October 2004 = e _o on Your Stereo, Expand Your Network, and More, p. 82 CLICK WHEEL iPODS| The Portable Music Player That Changed the World > Just Got Better, p. 58 The best just got better. With Apple's innovative new Click Wheel, Shuffle Songs at your TM and 42004 Apple Computer Inc *Rechargeable batteries havea limited number of charce cycles and may eventually need tobe replaced. Barter life and number ofcharge cycles wary by use and settings The iPod. Remixed. fingertips, up to 12-hour battery life; and now 20GB for just $299. PC and Mac. « iPod Seu eeizn apple.com ben tenies sey 1 October 2004 www.macworld.com REVI EWS =I 22 Database application = | i bees FileMakerPro7 g 23 Server hardware 8 BFF Apple Xserve GS $8882 Apple Xserve RAID/3.5TB (SFP) OF! IN I ON 26 =2-D-animation package - - $8881 Toon Boom Studio 2.5 From the Editor’s Desk 28 JASON SNELL Macworld takes its product reviews to the next level. Midsize flat-panel displays $88 AG Neovo X-19AV _ — $888 Apple 17-inch Studio Display $886 Eizo FlexScan L795 10 Raina $88$) NEC MultiSync LCD1960NXi Si —— $$$ Princeton SENergy 914 MAC BEAT $$$ Samsung SyncMaster 172X | miss ViewSonic VP191b When Apple and third-party developers collide, Macworld readers weigh in 30 FireWire audio interfaces ‘on Tiger, PalmOne’s Mac-specific Web resource, iPods and cars, Virtual PC 7, $446 Digidesign Digi 002 and dual-layer DVD burners. | $9683 Tascam FW-1884 7 . $866 Yamaha 01x 31 3-D structural analysis tool _ $o08) Dr. Frame3D ane 32 Desktop computer bs AS $486! Apple eMac.25GH2 / 34 Manuscript-editing package Piiii CopyWrite 2.1. 1 1. = 36 CAD program $9885 VectorWorks 11 _ A 0 e 38 Image-cataloging software $898 Portfolio 7 ae 40 Photo-transfer hardware $$ Digital Camera Link for iPod Final Cut Pro plug-in SEY Hage bulet ects U0 The Game Room PETER COHEN Micromanage ‘on a galactic scale with Space Colony; eye our reviews of Total Immersion Racing, Big Bang Chess, and the Tapwave Zodiac portable game player; and check out our first look at Rise of Nations. a 54 MAC GEMS Mac Gems DAN FRAKES The Virtual CD Run your iPod for 40 hours (or more!); charge, Subscribers now have free access to the sync, and connect an iPod to any stereo sys- contents of the CD-ROM that comes tem or amplifier with just one adapter; plug ead neal a on eee FireWire 400 devices into FireWire 800 ports; e contents of the CD, go to the following i Gata Comes URL (hroatband intemet recom ‘ discover a desktop keyboard that feels like a Phaacssach by aicslatinacmbedicias. “ laptop keyboard; and protect your hands with Peter Belanger 2004/10/tie-orange therapeutic gloves. 2 MACWORLD October 2004 weww.macworld.com COVER STORY | SECRETS Rock and Scroll WORKING MAC JONATHAN SEFF 7 PDF Power Moves Take a closer look at Apple’s fourth-generation iPods, from the new Click TERRI STONE AND JENNIFER WILLS Wheel on the outside to the new software on the inside. Plus, see how they Improve your PDF !Q with our Adobe Acrobat _ Measure up: Macworld reviews the latest models. a tips. Learn how to slim down files, set a zoom FEATU R ES target, take command of comments, and more — 78 DIGITAL HUB E-mail Survival Guide Photograph the Invisible CHRISTOPHER BREEN AND JOE KISSELL JIM HEID Overrun by e-mails? The problem may be your e-mail program. We'll show Black skies and silvery trees—there’s a certain you how to find the best software for your e-mail personality, take charge of surreal beauty to infrared photography. Learn your in-box, and squash annoying spam. _ how to capture these unique images with your digital camera. 80 CREATE Make Workflow Flow DAVID BLATNER Need to keep track of important file information? Add it as metadata. Follow these hints on enter- Playlists | Extras ing, searching, and exporting metadata from , Settings Adobe Creative Suite and QuarkXPress. i Now Playing 82 MOBILE MAC Inside AirPort Express JASON SNELL Put Apple's new wireless base station to work, at home or on the road. 84 GEEK FACTOR Automate Your Home JOHN RIZZO AND SCOTT KNASTER Turn on lights, start the sprinkler system, brew a cup of coffee—all from the comfort of your Mac. 86 HELP DESK Mac OS X Hints ROB GRIFFITHS Use Exposé to work in a particular window, find \) , corrupted preference files, disable some of iChat AV’s emoticons, modify Mozilla's and Firefox's tab behavior, and send Terminal output directly to TextEdit. 88 Mac 911 CHRISTOPHER BREEN You ask the questions, and our expert doles out the answers. This month, learn how to use Micro- soft Word more efficiently, when to install Pan- ther during an upgrade, what to do with mysteri- ous file extensions, why iTunes can’t identify 64 E-MAIL SURVIVAL GUIDE duplicate songs, and more. BACK PAGE 116_— Hot Stuff Check out our editors’ favorite developments of the month. www.macworld.com October 2004 MACWORLD 3 Randy likes the feel of Sande v Suitcase X1 | wwwextensis.com/x1 ensis. 2008 Extensis, Inc. a Celartem Company, All ights reserved. Choose 68 at wen.macworld.com/getinfo PORTRANT BY PETER BELANGER OMB aa KOs =@ BY JASON SNELL The Ratings Game When you bill yourself as “The Mac Product Experts,” you'd best be prepared to prove it—every month, in our case. Or, to paraphrase the mission statement of occasional photojournalist Peter Parker, with great claims comes great responsibility. When a new product arrives for our review, we’ve got to make sure that our testing dots every i, crosses every t, and double-checks every feature. But our readers don’t just expect accuracy—they also want speed, especially in the Internet era. After all, in an age where instant information is just a click a even the most thorough product review isn’t very valu- able if you have to wait around forever for it to appe: That's the balancing act we have to perform e month—we have to be fast, but we also have to be right. And we faced that conflict head-on this month, when it came time to evaluate Apple’s fourth- generation iPods (see “Rock and Scroll,” page 58). What’s the Buzz ‘The new iPods arrived a little less than a month before this issue went to press. So I spent a long weekend putting a 40GB model through its paces to turn around a review that could appear both in print and online, But just as we were putting the finishing touches on our articles, reports began circulating on the Internet that some new iPods gave off a strange buzzing noise through the headphone port—espe- cially when their hard drives activated to load more music into the iPod's memory Most of the iPods we bought for testing sounded fine. But Senior Editor Jonathan Seff did hear the buzzing sounds from his 40GB iPod, through his headphones. So what were we to do? Soldier on with our mostly positive review, or write a bad review based on a quirk that seemed to exist only on some iPods? We decided to report the issues some people were having with their iPods, but not to change the over- all tone of our review. Every mass-produced product is going to have its share of lemons; if the share is relatively high, that’s a fact we can’t ignore (which happened when we reviewed the original 15-inch alu- minum PowerBook G4 in December 2003). But if we were to give every product a terrible review because a few of the models that rolled off the assembly line were broken, we would wind up giving every product a terrible review. Reliable Sources In our iPod review, we concluded that if you get a normal fourth-generation iPod—and all but one of the ones we examined fit this category—you’re wrww.macworld.com going to have a good experience. (As for Jonathan Seff, he went, incognito, to an Apple Store with his buzzing iPod and reported the problem. An Apple Genius took a listen, agreed that there was an issue, and immediately offered him a replacement. You can read about Jonathan's iPod odyssey at cworld.com/0055.) impossible for us to get a clear idea of able a product will be in the long term. So if we see major flaws in a large enough sample, as we did with the PowerBook G4s, we’ll write about it and rate the products accordingly. If we don’t, we'll assume that the product we tested is typical of most of its kind. But Macworld is committed to finding a way to bet- ter track the reliability of Mac hardware products— not only those from Apple, but also those from the companies that make the printers, cameras, and other hardware you buy. It’s a tough undertaking, and I can’t promise that we’re going to figure out how to do it overnight. But filling in that missing piece of the product-review puzzle is something we've got to do if we want to be know as the Mac Product Experts. How do you use product reviews? How do you measure a product's relia- bility? Share your opinions with me, at jason_snell@macworld.com or at wwimacworld.com/forums. About This Macworld We'll admit it—a few Macworld readers have Gtiped about the volume of iPod coverage in Mac- world. (If you're one of them, avert your eyes from this month’s cover.) “If you love the iPod so much,” more than one reader demanded, “why don’t you give it its own magazine?” So we did. introducing Playlist, a special issue devoted entirely to digital music. Playlist features cool iPod accessories, lots of iTunes tips, and plenty of stuff about music itself. To get your copy, visit your local newsstand, call 800/288-6848, or visit our brand-new digital- music Web site: www-playlistmag.com. be October 2004 MACWORLD Suitcase Problems? Time to Get FontAgent.Pro! Rated Best by Design, Education and Prepress Professionals * Automatic font optimization * Rock-solid stability * Multiple font libraries © Automatic library organization * Intuitive ATM-like interface * Unrivaled auto-activation * More ways to preview fonts * Detailed font diagnostics * Nested font sets * Serverless font sharing “Superior repair and organization functionality” Macworld $§6¢ “With its ease of use and powerful feature set, FontAgent Pro is the “Designers” font manager. ... | rate it a perfect 5/5 for making font headaches go away for good." Colin Smith, PhotoshopCAFE.com Perfect 5/5 (sider www. insidersoftware.com For more information, contact us today (866) 216-1399 (US) +1 (760) 804-9900 Agent is a registered trademark of insider. 6 MACWORLD October 2004 Editor in Chief Jason Snell | Siren oes at Contributing Editors Christopher Breen, Adam C. Engst, Dan Frakes, Bruce Fase Rob Grfiths Jim Heid, And nao, Ted Landau, David Pogue ‘Art Director Jennifer Steele Senior Designer Amy Helin Contributing Photographer Peter Belanger Editor, Online Jim Dalrymple Senior Editor, Macworld.com David Leishman Senior Editor, MacCentral.com Peter Cohen International Editors Matthew JC. Powell, Australia; Benard Le Du, France; Sebastian Hirsch, Germany; Enico Lott Italy; Yoshio Moriya, Japan; Krzysztol Pitrasik, Poland; Daniel de Blas, Spain; Valter Bengsson Sweden; Engin edi, Turkey, Simon Jy, United Kingdom | | VPIChief Operating Officer Stephen Daniels | Director of Finance Eos de Feminis ‘Accounting Coordinator Ronda Bittner VP of Human Resources Kate Coldwell Human Resources Manager Julie Mckie Human Resources Coordinator Jenny Stele IT Director Sean Greathouse Publisher Cynthia Ramsey (973/228-3074) | National Accounts Manager Paul Bonarfigo (508/533-4020) Western Advertising Director Sara Culley (831/438-8408) ‘Account Executive Franck Zamora (415/243-3628) | Showease Account Manager NikiStranz (415/243-3664) Showcase Account Manager Carol Johnstone (415/243-3691) | Director, Online Advertising Doug Detllsen (415/243-3598) Online Account Executive. Rachel Desjardins (415/267-4562) Marketing Manager Kasey Galang (415/243-3642) | ‘AdministrativeMMarketing Asst. Amanda Carter (415/978-3380) Production Director. Steve Spingola | Prepress Manager Mark Fischman Booking and Billing Manager Ricardo Sandoval Online Production Manager Ron Neal | VP. Consumer Marketing Shawne Burke Pecar ‘Associate Circulation Director David Cobb Director, Retention Marketing Lisa Radler ] Senior Subscription Marketing Manager Linda Trinh Subscription Marketing Manager Simon Thaler Hewsstand Consultant George Clark October 2004, Volume 21, Issue 10 acne sa publiation of Mac Publishing, LAC, and Ineration! Dta Group word 1 an independent ural not affliated wth Apple Compute, Ine. | Cepyight © 2004, Nac Pubishing, LC. Al ight ese Mac te Macon | ope, Mac lt se meats os, acCralcon,PceGabbe, and Mic | Deveope aura aeregstered ademas of nemationa Data Geum nc, and wed. | nse by Mac Publishing, he Appl og, Ma, and Macias ae | regsteres ademas of Apple Computer nc Printed the United Sates of Amaia, wwwmacwvorld.com [Not to worry. The three husky guys are still around. Jeannie enthusiastically demonstrates Elevate™, our new electric lift table. \ 4 > For 20 years we've been known as the “cart people.” And we're okay with that. But now we also make furniture like electric lift tables, rack systems for servers and modular workstations. All come with fast shipping and a Lifetime Warranty. So the next time you need a furniture solution for your technology, contact us at anthro.com or 800.325.3841. «* »* ei “ o 2 =) 4 Turn epla On Newsstands Now! or online at playlistmag.com or by phone at 1.800.288.6848 ylist Macworld HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD ‘Subscription Information and Services ‘Access your subscription account online—24 hours a day, 7 days 2 week—at www.macworld.com/customer_service of http://service.macworld.com. 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To order repins of your company’s editorial coverage, cll Reprint Management Services at 717/398-1900; fax 717/399-8900; or e-mail macworid@reprintbuyercom MAILING LISTS, We periodically make lists of our customers availabe to mailers of {goods and services that may interest you. I you do not wish to receive such mailings, please wite to us at Macworld, 20, Box 37781, Boone, 1 50037-0781, or e-mail us at subhelp@macworld. com. Please include @ copy of your malig label or your full name and addres. MACWORLD EDITORIAL The editors of Macword welcome your tps, compliments, or complaints. Some stores and reviews from past issues can be located at www smacworid.com. We are unfortunately unable to look up stories from past issues; recommend products; or diagnose your Mac problems by phone, e-mail or fax. You can contact Apple toll-free, at 800/538-9696, visit the company's Web site, at www apple.com, (ur offices are located at $01 Second Street, Sth Flot, San Francisco, A.94107; phone, 415/243-0508; fax, 415/243-3545, Macworld sta Cane reached by e-mail at festname_lasiame@macwerd com, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send comments about any aspect of Macworld to letters@macworid com. Due tothe high volume of mail we receive, we can't respond to each letter We reserve the right to edit ll submissions. Letrs published in Macworld or Macword.com become the property of Mac Publishing MAC 911 Send your questions o tps on using Mac computers, peripherals, or Software to Macword, Mac 911, 501 Second Steet, Sth Foo, San Fran- disco, CA 94107; fax 415/243-3545; or e-mail mac91 Y@macword com. Include your name, addres, and phone numb. To share tips and discuss ‘Mac problems with other Mac users visit the Maco. com forums. MACWORLD CONFERENCE & EXPO As the flagship sponsor of Macwcrld Conference & Expo, Macworld encourages all subscribers to attend this exiting biannual industry event. For information, please visit wurw.macwordexpo.com. Vas, 8 MACWORLD October 2004 woww.mnacworld.com ¢) je an a ss tn 2 % Let the PC world come to you. Copy and paste. Drag and drop. Switch between Mac and ™ Windows” applications as easily as clicking between documents. Vi | PC for The new, faster Microsoft® Virtual PC for Mac Version 7 lets you run irtua Yeas Mac PC programs on your Mac like a pro — minus the mind-numbing water cooler chat. See it work at www.microsoft com/mac Network News PAUL ROTHROCK ies} I enjoyed “Get Connected” (July 2004), but, having just completed a similar project, Tthink you omitted a couple of potentially useful points. You didn’t show users how to make their own Ethernet cables. This is much less expensive than buying premade cables, takes little technical savvy, and saves a lot of hassle because you can make the cables as long or as short as you need. Also, you didn’t talk about using access-point antennas to extend the range of an AirPort Base Station. ‘This is an excellent way to expand the area of reception without muck- ing about inside the case of your Power- Book, something that most people don’t want to do. And you didn’t cover hiding the network equipment. I put mine between the joists in my basement, behind the drop ceiling. This gives me easy access and keeps the equipment out of sight. JOEY BENTLEY S Mail Call You might think that putting a topic like home networking on the cover of your magazine—as we did with our July 2004 issue—would earn you nothing but glassy-eyed stares and an empty mailbox. But we weren't worried. We know that Macworld readers can get just as fired up about Powerline devices as they can about PowerBook reviews. When readers are as passionate and well informed about technology as ours are, an empty mailbox is one thing you never have to worry about. It’s true that D-Link and a few other compa- nies sell Powerline adapters that will work on a network that includes Macs, but we didn’t include them in our chart because you must have a Windows machine to set up their secu- rity features. —Ed. Assaulting Batteries MD ZUTECK Es ‘Thanks for including some comparative battery run times in Henry Norr’s Power- Book review (July 2004). Sadly, the data shows that Apple just doesn’t get the real needs of road warriors. If you can’t get to a power source, how long a laptop runs has much more bearing on how much you can get done than how fast the machine runs, especially if you're mostly reading or writing. Missing Notes SCOTT YOHO (FINALE PRODUCT SPECIALIST, MAKEMUSIC) Es The day before your July 2004 issue arrived, a few coworkers and I were dis- cussing networks. I mentioned that I wanted to set up my computers at home on a wireless or Ethernet network. I just wanted to thank you all for the perfect timing and for the helpful information. ‘The only thing I noticed is that you didn’t mention anything about what would be involved with hooking up a Mac and a PC on the same network. LARRY HERZBERG LES} The “Where to Buy” chart indicates that D-Link does not make Mac-compatible Powerline networking products. But D-Link’s Web site seems to indicate the opposite—at least if you take “operating system independent” to imply “Mac com- patible.” Am I missing something here? 10 MACWORLD Ociober 2008 Thank you for your review of Finale 2004 (#948; July 2004). While Peter Kirn men- tioned that you can specify a pulse after you record a MIDI performance in Finale, it may be helpful to note that you can also tap in a tempo (steady or changing) while you play (using the sustain pedal, for example). Finale 2004¢ for Macintosh, which is a free update for owners of Finale 2004, can now be downloaded from our Web site. It offers EPS export and the ability to compile PostScript listings directly from Finale’s File menu—two cons cited in the review. (To be clear, all versions of Finale 2004 for Mac were able to compile PostScript listings via printing to file and specifying PostScript as the for- mat.) We also wish you had mentioned Finale’s ability to create SmartMusic files that utilize all SmartMusic features. Quiet Quicken? DUANE BUSCH B The letter from Quicken Mac Product Manager Aruna Harder rubbed me the wrong way (Feedback, July 2004). I'm glad to see that Intuit followed up on the bug that Macworld brought to its attention. But what about the bugs—the inability to correctly calculate the ROT in Portfolio view, the incorrect cost basis after a stock split, the incorrect display of the number of securities held in an account—that I have reported on Quicken’s Web site? The Driving’s the Thing ROY GILKIN ex} Regarding the Rally Shift review in The Game Room ($43; July 2004): It appears that Peter Cohen has failed to grasp that driving games are for driving. In this, Rally Shift is exemplary. I am a former racer and can vouch that Rally Shift drives very much like the real thing. Damage modeling and pretty landscapes are for poseurs. That this is shareware and not the effort of a major game publisher makes it particularly praiseworthy. Volunteering Thanks JOHN PARASCAK S Since being volunteered as the network administrator/computer guy at our small company, I’ve been looking for good information about networking, server setup, configuring firewalls, and so forth, but I hadn’t found step-by-step, easy-to- understand information —especially from a Mac perspective—like the kind Mark H. Anbinder provided in “Put Panther on Your Server” (Hands On, July 2004). I bet there are a lot of volunteered Mac admin- istrators out there who, like me, enjoy the wnww.macworld.com challenge and fun of putting together a useful network but don’t have the time to get a computer degree. As long as people like Mark keep writing articles, we volunteered Mac administrators may actually have enough time to get our reg- ular jobs done. DAVID MARSHALL One small objection: Mark H. Anbinder ests that you “use a tool like the free GraphicConverter” to create images. GraphicConverter, from Lemke Software (www.lemkesoft.de), is share- ware ($35; download, $30). su warning | Want My MP3s! RANDY HAMPTON “Not the Same Old Song-and-Dance” (Mac Beat, July 2004) listed iTunes 4.5's supposed improvements. But like Apple, the article failed to mention that the prin- s iTunes 4.5's inability to con- vert iTunes-purchased AAC. files into MP3s. Like lots of people, I like to put the 0 wwwmacworld.com songs I’ve legitimately purchased on my MP3 player, which is not compatible with AAC. L understand why Apple feels com- pelled to make AAC files hard to liberate. But to put out cryptic “improvements” that are not mentioned and make legitimately purchased music impossible to use with legitimately purchased audio devices sends an unfortunate, self-amplifying, and adver- sarial message of distrust to an incredibly loyal and dedicated group of customers. Print Shop in Business JOE PALLAVICINI The Print Shop is a nice program ($89¢ June 2004), but it does have one problem. installed it in OS X, and when I tried to ys, I couldn't bring up the Name List. In desperation I installed The Print Shop in OS 9.2, and then I was able to bring up the Name List. Ifyou're using a predesigned template, delete the Name Here text box. Then create a new text box, delete the automatic placebolder text, and : Address Field. Choose First Name. I go to the menu again and choose Last Name. When you print the document, choose Mail Merge from the Print window, and ct the list of names you want to use.—Ed. > Post comments on our forums (www .macworld.com); send them by mail to “| Letters, Macworld, 501 Second Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107; or send them by e-mail to letters@macworld.com. Include a return address and daytime phone number. Due to the high volume of mail we receive, we can't respond personally to each letter. We reserve the right to edit all letters and posts. All published letters and forum comments become the property of Macworld. The screenshot on page 89 of the August issue ("Hasta la Vista, Aqua,” Geek Factor) was improp: erly credited, Ryan Bliss of Digital Blasphemy (www.digitalblasphemy.com) created the shot % | ¢ Training CO Priz, Take the Wacom Photo Challenge es today and welll send vou a free z copy of the new featuring digtta Seott Kelby 2 Visit... www. TabletPhotoFun.com October 2004 MACWORLD. 11 APPLE HAS TO WALK A FINE LINE WITH OS UPDATES Developer Two-Step The whispers began practically the moment Steve Jobs wrapped up his preview of Tiger at June’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Dashboard, one of the new features Jobs showed off during this look at the upcoming OS X update, is a Mac-interface layer for controlling miniature Javascript-based programs such as a calculator, an iTunes controller, and a calendar. Dashboard also bears an uncanny resemblance to Konfabulator, program from third-party devel- opers Arlo Rose and Perry Clarke. And that’s where the con- To Rose and Clarke, the simi- larities of their Konfabulator and Apple’s Dashboard—from the interface and functionality to the use of the term widgets to describe the mini-applications—are too close Dashboard anything other ant copy. “Why would a company tick off a developer whose whole purpose is to try to get more people to come to this company’s platform by doing cool things?” Rose asks. “If this is what they do with the products they think are the then why would anyone have ason to develop more cool stuff? I certainly don’t.” Apple declined to comment for this story. However, in the wake of WWDC, the company stressed that Dashboard is its own creation and that widgets have long been a part of both Mac OS X and the NextStep OS. ‘The dispute between Apple and Konfabulator’s m is hardly the first time a third-party developer has butted heads with the creator of an operating system. But it is the latest incident to illustrate the fine line Apple has to walk: between extending the functionality of OS X and alienating third- party developers with the updates it introduces. With major OS updates now routinely adding more than 150 features and enhancements, Apple is bound to step ona few toes. “This is not a new phenomenon,” says Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director of Jupiter Research. “OS vendors have clearly shown that one of the ways they extend the functionality of their systems is by incorporating things that might have been stand-alone features.” The Way We Were ‘To put it another way, what's part of Mac OS today didn’t necessarily get its start there, For example, Mac users these days wouldn’t think twice about burning a CD or compressing a file from the Finder. ‘Those functions are integrated into OS X. Bur it wasn’t too long ago that either task would have been impossible without software from Roxio or Aladdin Systems (now known as Allume), for instance. What criteria do Apple use when deter- mining what outside functionality to add to its OS? In some cases, it comes down to adding features that aren't widely available or simply improving functionality. Fc example, when Apple introduced OS X, there were almost no native applications. By integrating Mail into the OS, Apple allowed users to send and receive e-mail without having to enter Classic mode, In other cases, Apple adopts features that improve the ease of use of its operat- ing system. Think back to System 7.5 and its introduction of built-in TCP/IP stacks (what your computer uses to dial the Internet and to transfer data with other computers). “Apple was the first vendor to include a TCP/IP stack,” Gartenberg says. “Before Apple did that, there were lots of TCP/IP vendors.” These days, consumers would balk at bringing home a computer that didn’t include built-in net- working and Internet software. ‘The impact of these moves on develop- ers can vary. The presence of Mail in OS X hasn’t stopped developers, including Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Bare Bones Software, from continuing to update their own OS X-compatible e-mail clients. In fact, Bare Bones CEO Rich Siegel is san- guine about bundled software—Bare Bones’ Mailsmith, TextWrangler, and Super Get Info all pick up where Apple’s bundled products leave off—noting that wownwmacworld.com it can create an opportunity for vendors in niche markets. “The fact that the OS vendor includes the same sort of product isn’t a problem for us,” says Siegel, who notes that even if 90 percent of Mac users stick with Apple’s Mail, “that leaves 10 percent of the customer base that wants something different. And that’s still a huge number of people.” ‘The effect of integrating TCP/IP stacks into Mac OS was more dramatic; once Mac users no longer needed to buy third-party applications such as Mac- TCP, the makers of those products essentially disappeared. Then there's the case of Karelia Soft- ware and its Web-search tool Watson. When Apple released OS X 10.2 in 2002, it came with an updated Sherlock applica- tion that had many of the same functions as Watson. The third-party program endured another two years by trying to outdo Sherlock, with features such as a reference library; a zip code finder; pack- age tracking; fully supported weather, Amazon.com, and Google searching; and a faster, more customizable interface. But Karelia will cease to develop or support Watson. In July, Karelia sold Watson's technology to Sun Microsystems. Opportunity Knocks So for a company like Apple, where does improving its OS end and squeezing developers begin? “The notion of Desk Accessories was invented by Apple,” Gartenberg says, speaking about Kon- fabulator. “The fact that Apple is refin- ing this again as a part of Tiger should not be surprising.” Rose doesn’t disagree that Desk Acces- sories may have come first, but notes a crucial difference between that classic Mac feature and Konfabulator. Unlike predecessors, Konfabulator lets users cre- ate accessories—and so does Dashboard. Regardless of who's right, there’s no getting around the fact that if Apple adopts the functionality of an outside app into its OS, developers are going to feel the squeeze. However, there are instances where Apple’ entry into one area has opened up opportunities for software makers elsewhere. Gartenberg concludes that this is a natural evolution of the marketplace —MATHEW HONAN (Jie Dalrymple contributed to this report.) Virtual PC Update Adds G5 Support Virtual PC didn’t exactly get off to an auspicious start as part of Micro- soft’s product line. A few months after buying the emulation program from Connectix, Microsoft (www -microsoft.com) announced that the software, which allows the Mac to emulate PC hardware, was incom- patible with the Power Mac G5 (see “VPC DOA?” Mac Beat, November 2003). Microsoft hopes things go more smoothly with Virtual PC 7, the first major Virtual PC release the software giant has overseen. Version 7 features long-awaited GS support and other improvements aimed at enhancing usability. Why the delay in adding G5 compatibility? For rea- sons of speed, the old ver- sion of the application made some processor- related assumptions that weren't valid for the G5 chip. Making up for lost speed, Microsoft has tweaked the new version to show 15 percent increases across the board, regardless of the system being used. Virtual PC 7 also uses the OpenGL graphics technology in Mac OS X to speed up scrolling, redrawing, and other interface-related activities. And G5 users will see improvements in disk-intensive tasks such as copying files. Virtual PC 7 uses the familiar Apple installer instead of the drag-and-drop instal- lation of earlier versions, so it's easier to assign more RAM to your virtual 0S; the update also offers better setup assistance. In addition, version 7 enters Stand By mode by default, rather than shutting down; this ‘saves time when you return to your virtual environment. For printing, the new Virtual PC can send a PostScript file to your Mac printer driver, which then converts that file to PDF before printing it. Since Mac 0S is doing most of the work, printing should be faster and more accurate. ‘The first two versions of Virtual PC 7, fea- turing the Windows XP Professional ($249) or Windows XP Home ($219) operating sys- tems, should ship in October. Expect a $99 upgrade and a $129 version without an OS in November. And a $249 Windows 2000 Professional version should follow in Decem- ber—soNATHAN SEFF Wnts PC ‘October 2004 MACWORLD 13 MAC BEAT BMW, ALPINE INTEGRATE APPLE MUSIC PLAYER INTO CARS The iPod’s Open Road ‘The way carmakers are acting these days, you'd think iPods were as essential to your ride as four tires and a full tank of g Sound like an exaggeration? Consider all the carmakers and parts suppliers jumping on the iPod bandwagon. BMW ives you the option of incorporat- alread ing iPods directly into your car's sound system. And a new product from audio company Alpine will soon let even more of you hit the open road with your iPod con- nected to your car stereo. BMWS iPod Adapter—a $149 (plus installation) option for 2002 and later models of the BMW 3 Series, Z4 Road- ster, and X3 and XS Sports Activity Vehi- cles—is the highest-profile iPod-auto combination. The adapter runs through the glove box; one end plugs into the sound system, and the other end hooks up to the dock connector of an iPod or a mini. Drivers control track selection and volume from the dashboard audio controls or from controls on the steering wheel. s “We consider ourselves a cutting-edge car company, and we believe Apple is a Dialing for iTunes cutting-edge company in its business. So it a perfect fit,” says BMW spokesman Dave Buchko. BMW plans to integrate the iPod Adapter option into its Mini Cooper model this year, with the goal of eventually offering it across the entire BMW line. BMW isn’t the only car company cash- ing in on iPod mania. In August, the car company Jaguar gave away a limited-edi- tion black iPod in a contest pro- moting its X~Type car. Last year, Volkswagen offered an iPod and a connectivity kit for $600 to Beetle drivers in the United States. If you don’t dri help is on the w: of Alpine's KCA-420i (pictured). Set to arrive in September, the $100 interface book will let you control your iPod from your stereo’s front panel or remote control if your car is equipped with Alpine-made head units with an Ai-Net system bus. Alpine vice president of brand marketing Steve Witt says this won't be the last iPod product Alpine will offer. “We are plan- ning an iPod-integration road map for the next four to five years,” he adds. It no surprise to Apple that carmakers are clamoring to add iPod compatibility. “[It’s] a natural extension of what the iPod is meant to be,” says Stan Ng, Apple’s director of iPod product marketing. “It’s meant to be used in multiple environ- ments—in your home hooked up to your stereo system, at the gym, or in your car.” And that could expand to many more cars in the near future. Apple is talking to other car companies—so your next road trip could come with its own built-in soundtrack.—ADELIA CELLINI a Beemer, y, in the form Carmakers may be clamoring to find ways for you to hit the road with your iTunes library. But if Apple and Motorola have their way, sometime in 2005, iTunes music will be just a cell phone away. Apple is teaming up with the cell-phone maker to create an iTunes mobile music player that will come standard on all of Motorola's mass-market phones. The iTunes-enabled mobile phone should be ready during the first half of 2005. For now, details—such as just how many songs the phones will hold—remain sketchy, though Apple executives estimate the total should be in the dozens. “This isn't meant to be a replacement for the iPod,” says Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of applications. —1m baLayMeLe 14 MACWORLD October 2004 INTERNET BEAT Contribute 3, from Macromedia (www.macromedia.com): Updated Web-page-publishing program adopts the Dreamweaver MX 2004 engine, adding support for CSS rendering and rules-based administrative controls ($149; upgrade, $79). Safari Magic 1.0, from MacEase (www.macease.com): Utility lets Safari users collect, edit, and organize text and graphics from multiple Web pages and non- contiguous sources, using key- board shortcuts ($20). XLR8 InterView 3.0, from Day- star Technology (www.daystar technology.com); Video-capture product adds support for mul- tiple devices and comes with ArcSoft Videolmpression video- capture and -editing software ($89).—compieo By PHILIP MICHAELS PRODUCTIVITY Near-Time Flow, from Near Time (www.near-time.com): Peer- ‘to-peer collaborative content and knowledge manager helps indi- viduals and groups create, col- lect, store, and share informa- tion (single-user license, $100; 10-user license, $900), Quicken 2005 for Mac, from Intuit (www.quicken.com): Updated personal finance soft- ware adds express setup feature, improved tax-planning capabili- ties, and Home Inventory data- base for keeping track of possessions ($70; upgrade, $50 [after $20 rebatel).. Studiometry 2.0, from Oranged -net Software (wwworanged.net): Organizational software for studios and freelancers adds networking support for synchronizing data using a client-server system between multiple machines (single- user license, $70; upgrade, $20). Time and Budgets, from Small Town Software (www.timeand budgets.com): Application inte- grates with Apple iCal—or any calendar program supporting Web- DAV—to supply time and budget- ing functions for projects (hosted service starts at $15; self-hosted, $4,900 per server)—comPieD By PHILP MICHAELS wnw.macworld.com « retehop Processors e products must be in nd the only warranuesofleed ate those oft limited to, changing market condi that til be abl fo full customers orc in any form delivered by custorer is here ay vary from $25 to $100; all chased by custome hereunder cts and serice offerings for reasons including, but not ‘oduct availabilty. Therefore, COW cannot guarantee and rejection of any aditioral o ferent terms MAM 10708 MAC BEAT DUAL-LAYER DVD BURNERS HIT THE SHELVES Twice as Nice Mac users who want to squeeze more content onto their DVDs didn’t have to wait long for dual-layer burn- ing to arrive. The first external drives supporting the dual-layer DVD technology began shipping in June— earlier than expected. Dual-layer DVDs hold as much as 8.5GB of data, or about four hours of MPEG-2 video. Most Hollywood movies take up between 6GB and 8GB of space and usually use dual-layer technology to fit it all on one DVD, includ- ing the film, alternative soundtracks, and extra features. Although it has been available for several years in the pro- fessional arena, nothing like dual-layer technology had been WHAT IT MEANS: DVD If keeping up with DVD's many forms and formats makes your head spin faster than a disc in a DVD player, let Macworld’s DVD glossary be your guide. DVDS: This prerecorded dual-layer DVD increases disc capacity to 8.5GB. Like DVDS, DVD9 refers to mass-produced DVDs, not the ones you burn yourself, though DVDS and DVDS discs are the same size as burnable media, DVD+R: These dss are the same size and about the same price, both have a 4.7GB storage capacity, and both burn at up to Bx. They're supported by different consortiums, how ever. Most new DVD burners are multiformat, meaning they burn both DVD-R and DVD+R media tfnd out about your pata cive, you ned to check its spctcatons. DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD:R/RW: This hardware designation signifies which writable and rewritable standard a drive supports—or whether it supports bath. available to average users (see ““Double-Duty DVDs,” Mac Beat, April 2004)—until now, that is. LaCie started offering its $229 8x d2 DVD+RW Double Layer external burner (pictured) with either Roxio’s Toast 6 Titanium or Pixela’s CaptyDVD 2.0 included. LaCie’s burner is the first external drive tailored to the Mac crowd; the company also sells a USB 2.0 and FireWire version with ‘Toast Lite 6.0, for $199. (LaCie, Sony, and others also offer internal dual-layer drives.) While dual-layer drives require dual-layer discs to burn 8.5GB of content, they still burn regular DVD-R and DVDR discs, as well as CDs, at 8x. Dual-layer discs have two recordable dye layers sepa- rated by a spacer, with a semitransparent metal layer attached to the lower layer. A drive burns the lower layer of the dise with a wider, lower-energy beam than the one used on a typical recordable DVD. The laser is then refocused to burn on the upper layer. The first dual-layer media, known as DVD+R DL (or DVD+R9), began shipping in early July. They can burn at 2.4x speeds. But at $12 to $15 per disc, they also cost sig- nificantly more than standard DVD-R or DVD+R media, which you can buy in bulk for less than $1 each. Dual-layer-friendly software includes an updated ver- sion of Toast 6, NTI Software's Dragon Burn 4.0, and CaptyDVD 2.0. Apple’s DVD Studio Pro can create dual- layer images, but OS X does not currently support burning 3 those images with a dual-layer DVD drive. iDVD doesn’t support dual-layer DVD creation at all—JONATHAN § HANDHELD MAKER CREATES MAC-SPECIFIC WEB RESOURCE PalmOne’s Mac Home Page Mac-using owners of PalmOne handhelds have a place online to call their own. Palm- One, which makes Zire and Tungsten PDAs and Treo smart phones, has launched a Web site, at www.palmone.com/us/macintosh, to help Mac users get the most out of their handhelds. PalmOne’s Mac site includes tips on adding photos taken with Zire and Treo devices to an iPhoto library, as well as a sec- tion on using Apple's iSync utility with Palm- One handhelds. The site also addresses using the Bluetooth and AirPort wireless technologies built into Macs, with PalmOne products. There's a page dedicated to Mac- friendly software that runs on PalmOne handhelds, as well as a list of online 16 MACWORLD October 2004 resources offering Palm-related tips and tech support. The Mac-specific site is part of an over- all effort at PalmOne to make its Web pres- ence more user-oriented, says Rick Wootten, PalmOne's director of Internet properties. “We realized Mac users needed more in-depth how-tos,” Wootten says. "In each Mac section, we not only tell users about the way we integrate with the Mac- intosh, but also tell them how to do this themselves.” PalmOne’s Mac-specific Web content appears as the handheld maker hopes to reaffirm its commitment to Mac users. Ear- lier this year, PalmSource—a separate com- pany that develops and licenses Palm OS—announced that its upcoming Palm OS Cobalt operating system wouldn't include native Mac support; PalmOne has publicly declared that it will continue to support Mac users (see “A Read on Palm,” Mac Beat, July 2004). With 250,000 Mac users visiting PalmOne's site every month, ‘the hardware company sees its Mac- specific Web resources as another way to ease any concerns. "We do hope this announcement helps eliminate confusion about PalmOne’s commitment to Mac users," Wootten adds. PalmOne expects to update content on its Mac user site regularly. That includes adding a section on moving multimedia files from a Mac to a PalmOne device.—PHILIP MICHAELS www,macworld.com PHOTOGRAPH 3: CONTROL YOUR iPOD THROUGH YOUR HEAD UNIT AND GET THE SOUND QUALITY YOU DESERVE. FIND OUT HOW AT: alpine- om/driveyouripod ©2004 Alpin Eletronics of America, nc. W///// 4 PINE Apple, the Apple logo, and Pod ae registred trademarks of Apple Computer, In. ° MAC BEAT TWENTY YEARS OF MAC MISSTEPS (Un)Happy Days Sure, Apple is basking in well-deserved kudos as part of the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh. But not everything touched by the company in the past two decades has turned to gold. In fact, Apple's history is littered with products or ideas the company would just as soon bury in a Logan, Utah, land- fill alongside the last remaining Lisa computers. Here are five Apple misses you shouldn't expect to see feted on the cover of Macworld when their 20th anniversaries role around.—PHILIP MICHAELS POWERBOOK 5300: FIRE WN THE HOLE} Macwo acworl Pj IBBin LEMMINGS — Rating: When: January 1985 The Idea: Eager to recapture the success of its "1984" Super Bowl ad from the year before, Apple bought another chunk of commercial time during Super Bowl XIX to advertise the forthcoming Macintosh Office. What Went Wrong: Off-putting and a bit of a downer (the spot featured businesspeople marching single-file off a cliff) the ad bombed. THE READERS SPEAK 1985 MICROSOFT PACT Rating: @ 6 OOO When: October 1985 The Idea: Apple CEO John Sculley gave Microsoft the right to use some Mac 05 technology in Windows, in exchange for continuing to upgrade Word and delaying a Windows ver- sion of Excel fora year. What Went Wrong: By agreeing to do what it probably would have done anyway, Microsoft got a hand from Apple in developing the 0S that would eventually marginalize the Mac platform—for free. CARL SAGAN Rating: @ @ ‘When: November 1993 The Idea: Apple engineers gave the Power Mac 7100/66 the code- name “Carl Sagan” asa tribute to the famous astronomer. What Went Wrong: Sagan, think- ing Apple was trying to profit from his reputation, was less than hon- ‘ored—especially when, after his ini- tial complaints, the code name was changed to BHA (which allegedly stood for “Butt-Head Astronomer”). PIPPIN Rati When: March 1996 The Idea: Apple teamed up with toy maker Bandai to develop this 66MHHz game console that could also connect to the Internet. What Went Wrong: More expen- sive than a PlayStation! Less power- ful than a Macintosh! Scrapped by its developers in a single bound! POWER MAC G4 LAUNCH Rating: ¢ When: October 1999 The Idea: Apple unveiled its Power Mac G4 in 400MHz, 4S0MHz, and 500MlHz configurations. What Went Wrong: A shortage of G4 chips forced Apple to scale back the Power Mac configurations to 350MHz, 400MHz, and 450MHz, but it didn’t cut prices. Mac users were disgruntled about paying the same price for less processing power. Tiger: First Thoughts Details about Tiger are still emerging, but a majority of the participants in the Macworld Reader Panel like what they've seen so far of the next major update to OS X. Three weeks after Apple offered a first look at Tiger during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), market-research firm Karlin Associates sur- veyed 3,634 Macworld readers to gauge their reaction to the OS X update. How likely would you be to buy Tiger if it was available now? SOMEWHAT net very ONUKELY VERY LIKELY SOMEWHAT LIKELY SOMEWHAT UNLIKELY ‘VERY UNLIKELY. TOTAL RESPONDENTS: 3,629 ‘SoMewnar UNLIKELY Asked if they would buy Tiger if it were available right now, nearly three-fourths of the 3,629 who responded said they probably would. Only 11 percent described themselves as very unlikely to buy Tiger. But with the OS update not slated to ship until sometime during the first six months of 2005, Apple has plenty of time to change people's minds.—PHILIP MICHAELS GO TO WEB: Read the complete results of our Tiger poll— including the key features that Macword readers think are missing from the next OS— online at find. macworld,com/0047. 18 MACWORLD October 2004 STORAGE BEAT Bigger Disk Extreme, from LaCie (wwwlacie.com): New addition to line of external hard drives features up to 1.67B of capacity (1TB model, $1,199; 1.67B model, $2,199). Integrity, from Avail Solutions (wwwavailsolutions.com): Backup and recovery software sup- ports any combination of hardware on a network, including disk-to- disk-to-tape systems, autoloading backup systems, and multiple tape libraries (contact Avail for pricing). Rev 35GB FireWire drive, from Jomega (\www.iomega.com): Exter- nal FireWire version of removable drive system offers read-andwrite performance of up to 25MB per second and ships with a Mac-for- matted disk ($400; additional disks, $60). SANcube 800, from MicroNet Technology (www.sancube.com): FireWire 800-based storage area network product offers up to 1,5TB of online serverless stor- age, RAID 5 reliability, and five hot-swappable 7,200-rpm ATA-6 hard drives ($4,995 to $6,495, depending on capacity). X-Spand, from Kano Technolo- gies (www.kanotechnologies .com); Tower storage system offers up to 1B of space, comes with two or four hard-drive bays, and features a FireWire 800 port that can throttle down to FireWire 400 speeds ($455 to $1,545, depending on capac- ity) —comeneo sy PHILP MICHAELS UTILITY BEAT Mail Factory, from BeLight Soft- ware (wwwubelightsoft.com): Util- ity takes data from Apple's Address Book, Microsoft's Entourage, Qual- comm’'s Eudora, and Now Soft- ware’s Now Up-to-Date & Contact to produce address labels and envelopes ($30). You Control: Fonts, from You Software (www.yousoftware .com): New font-menu utility dis- plays fonts in their own typefaces and groups them in proper fami- lies ($30; $10 for existing You Control and You Synchronize users).—COMPILED BY PHILIP MICHAELS vwnww.macworld.com THE POWER IS NOW YOURS! INTRODUCING... TECHTOOL PRO VERSION 4 TechTool Pro includes S.M.A.R.T. testing, hardware tests, scheduling and alerts, performance tools, and more... even scavenges for files when all else fails! NEW FEATURE! eDrive zs Hardware Drssing the Rn burton wil execute the sted Ha Dy using the Hardware The new eDrive feature allows you RATA DANAE to add a bootable emergency 2 Cross-grade offer for UNE volume to an existing volume. This : ov Teeintoe! Delume, new eDrive volume is created TechTool Lite, TechTool Pro 3, WITHOUT the need to initialize SACUol dicots ar Maas Gulls the current volume, keeping all ~— : - data intact on the current volume. The eDrive is then available if something should go wrong with your normal startup volume. Main Memory Mathematics Buy Now! www.micromat.com MOMO WMO The Power to Recover, Repair, and Optimize - Made Easy! iffimicromat Inc. 800-829-6227 707-566-3831 info@micromat.com www.micromat.com ©2004 Micromat, Inc. All rights reserved. TechTool is a registered trademark of Micromat, Inc. Norton Utilities and Norton SystemWorks are U.S. registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Mac and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Choose 37 at www.macworld.com/getinfo MAC BEAT _ = ——— Bice anes ee eee ae es IMAGING BEAT AutoSmooth, from HumanSoft- Leaders of the Mac === Pack Hit Boston aoa ng highlights ($79). BEST OF SHOW WINNERS TAKE CENTER STAGE AT EXPO July's Macworld Expo in Boston may have lacked the crowds that flock to the San Francisco edi- CanoScan 3000ex, from Canon tion of the trade show each year, as well as the presence of a certain Cupertino-based computer (www.usa.canon,com): Scanner maker. But the people who attended the first Macworld Expo in Boston since 1997 got a glance at offers maximum optical resolu- the latest Mac hardware and software from the nearly 80 developers exhibiting at the show. As tion of 1,200 by 2,400 dpi and always, the editors of Macworld handed out Best of Show awards to the top products making enhanced resolution of 9,600, their public debut in Boston.—Macwonto STAFF He be sent eolonpracest: CanoScan 8400F, from Canon (Wwww.usa.canon.com): Scanner offers maximum optical resolu- tion of 3,200 by 6,400 dpi and can handle 35mm to medium- format film ($150).—compnen sy PHILP MICHAELS SKETCHUP 4.0 The latest update to @Last Software's $475 3-D-design program adds several new capa- 3 bilities; Follow Me, for pushing or pulling a surface along a path; Texture Tweaker, for applying textures or photos across continu- ‘ous surfaces; Face Me, for ensuring that 2-D models always face the camera; and The Intersector, for quickly developing complex Boolean models (www.sketchup.com). MULTIMEDIA BEAT Ambient FX HD, from Reel- house (www.reelhouse.com): Compilation of royalty-free high- definition video clips contains 27 30-second background clips for seamless looping into Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro projects ($399). Audio Hijack 2.0, from Rogue ‘Amoeba (www.rogueamoeba GUITAR RIG PHONEVALET if nea ha MESSENGER CENTER the ability to record using Dolby Native instrument's $499 guitar simulator Advanced Audio Codec and Apple emulates classic and modern amplifiers, This $200 program from Parliant transforms Lossless formats, and a Recording cabinets, microphones, and effects. The your Mac into a telephone answering service, Bin feature for organizing and included Rig Kontrol foot controller (pic- offering voice mail, caller 1D, call recording, and previewing audio clips ($32; tured) lets guitarists activate effects fax support. It comes with a USB telephone wegae 10; through assignable switches and a pedal adapter, features AppleScript support, and inte- Flash MX 2004 7.2, from Macro- without requiring a MIDI or a USB inter- grates with Now Software's Now Up-to-Date & media (www.macromedia.com): face. Guitar Rig works with programs such Contact (www.parliant.com). Sosa mudiecs autertng . Y 4 tool features 120 bug fixes and as Apple’s GarageBand music-creation enhances performance and stabil- software as an Audio Unit plug-in; it also ity ($499; upgrade, free for Flash tuns as a stand-alone product (www SLICK vo LUMES MX 2004 and Flash MX 2004 Pro- .nativeinstruments.com). 7 AND 8 fessional users). iShell 4, from Tribeworks (www The latest collection of Slick Transitions and -tribeworks.com): New version of Effects, from Gee Three—$50 for volume 7, and cross-platform multimedia-devel- $70 for volume 8—includes an image-stabili- opment program adds one-click deployment and increased pro- tection of media assets ($495 per platform; $795 for multiplat- zation plug-in for eliminating shaking from handheld camera work, a tool that applies morph effects to home movies, and many form development)—cowpiteo BY OpenGL-based 3-D transition effects for iMovie PHILIP MICHAELS (www.geethree.com). 20 MACWORLD October 2004 wwrwmacworld.com The creative television revolution is here! » New DeckLink Extreme ™ features. Digital SMPTE-259M 10 bit SDI input and output with embedded SDI audio for connection to high-end Digital Betacam™ * Analog Component Y, R-Y, B-Y video inputandoutput for connecting direct to analog Betacam SP™ broadcast decks * Analog component video input ‘and output can be independently switched to NTSC/ PAL composite video allowing connection to consume VHS decks + Balanced Pro Analog XLR audio for direct connection to analog decks * Playback full resolution HDTV video with realtime down conversion NTSC: PAL SD video * 8 channel SDI audio support * SPDIF; unbalanced AES digital audio output for monitoring or audio layout * Sony™ compatible RS-422 serial control port # Black burst compatible genlock input * Includes an amazing 7fV2m breakout cable for connection Girectly to your deck end monitor, No breakout box clutter and no extra cables to buy. Realtime effects. Cross Dissolve, Dip to Color, Sepia, Desaturate, Brightness Contrast, Proc Amp. Tint, Gamma Correction and 3 Way color Corrector. RT Extreme support in Final Cut Pro™., Support for all leading broadcast applications. Apple Final Cut Pro™ * Adobe After Effects™ * Discreet Combustion™ * DVD Studio Pro * IDVD™ * Discreet Cleaner™ » Color Finesse™ # Microcosm™ * Apple Shake™ THECUT - DeckLink Extreme is the revolutionary new broadcast video card that combines both 10 bit SDI and analog component video into a compact low cost PCI card that uses only a single slot! With loads of extra features and full support for Final Cut Pro™ and RT Extreme™ on Mac OS X™, DeckLink Extreme includes everything you'll need to connect to any standard definition broadcast video deck. Now any graphic designer or video editor can afford true broadcast quality video for cutting edge visual effects and editing. | The DeckLink Family - Flexibility and Affordability | DeckLink Pro advanced all SDI digital capture and playback card | with true 10 bit SD-SDI, genlock and YUV NTSC/PAL monitoring with a massive 8 channels of SPDIF digital audio for monitoring DeckLink SP Unbeatable low cost analog solution featuring analog YUV/NTSC/PAL video, balanced XLR analog audio, 10 bit SDI mastering output and geniock nnections. Includes everything you'll need to connect to decks such as Betacam SP’ DeckLink the original Deckt ink has revolutionized the broadcast television industry. incredible price for uncompressed full 10 bit SD-SDI video, combined with all the great DeckLink family features. | DeckLink HD this world leading HDTV SDI card has changed the broadcast industry. It instantly switches between HDTV or NTSC/PAL SD eliminating your upgrade risk to HDTV. DeckLink HD Pro the highest quality HDTV Dual Link 12 bit 4:4:4 capture and playback card, switchable to SD-SD! and featuring amazing quality 14 bit analog 4:4:4 HDTV and SD monitoring output HDLink tum any supported DVI-D based LCD computer monitor into a true High Definition HD-SD! broadcast video monitor. Features Dual Link 4:4:4 HD-SDI, 4:2:2 SD-SDI, USB 2.0 and analog audio outputs. Blackmagic $595 $595 $295 $995 $2,495 b <j $1,295 5 A == Leading the creative video revolution | Visit our website www.blackmagic-design.com or call your local DeckLink dealer for more information OUTSTANDING: $6968 VERY GOOD: $$¢$ GOOD: $65 FLAWED: $e UNACCEPTABLE: § Reviews you can trust: Macworld rates only final shipping products, not prototypes. What we review is what you can actually buy. FileMaker Pro 7 Database Application Includes Revolutionary Changes but Retains Ease of Use BY WILLIAM PORTER Version 7 of FileMaker’s popular flagship product, FileMaker Pro, has something for everyone, including end users who have never defined a field or tweaked a layout, managers who make purchas- ing decisions, and IT types who support networks and care about security and reliabil- ity. But developers—whether in-house, independent, it-yourself—will be most excited about this release, Fewer Worries for IT Professionals For IT pros, FileMaker Pro 7 offers major improvements in security and multiuser acce: Network administrators will find that con- figuring access privileges and dealing with passwords is both easier and more flexible than it used to be. For example, it’s now pos- sible to give a single account both edit-only access to existing layouts and create-and-edit privileges with respect to new layouts, so a user can define custom reports. Discussion of FileMaker Server 7 (for LAN sharing to more than 5 users) and a new prod- uct, FileMaker Server 7 Advanced (for LAN and Web both), is outside the scope of this review, but the specifications are impressive. ‘The number of concurrent users on a LAN has doubled to 250. And due to major improvements in the Instant Web Publishing feature, Web access to a database is remark- ably similar to LAN access in overall func- tionality. Web users see the same layouts, click on the same buttons, and (in most cases) ben- efit from scripts that work the same way. Something for Ordinary Users, Too FileMaker Pro 7 also has its share of improve- ments that ordinary users will appreciate, even if many require that a developer set them up. Its now possible to configure layouts so that changes made to a record require confirma- tion before they're saved; if you discover you've edited the wrong record, you can click on the Cancel button and no harm will be 22 MACWORLD October 2004 FileMaker i —— done. Text-formatting functions make it eas- ier than ever to do things such as flag invoices that are 60 days past due and show negative calculation results in red. A developer can also assign autoenter calculation formulas to data- field definitions, to format phone numbers and Social Security numbers automatically. In addition, many old technical limits have been obliterated. Container fields are no longer limited to multimedia files such as photos or QuickTime movies; in fact, each container field can now store virtually any kind of document, even other File- Maker Pro databases as large as 4GB. According to FileMaker, text fields can now hold as much as 2GB of text (up from 64K), and files can grow to 8 terabytes (up from 2GB). Liberating Developers The improvements I've already mentioned would be enough for an ordinary upgrade, but this isn’t an ordinary upgrade. Beneath the surface, in fact, it’s a whole new app. ‘The biggest news in FileMaker Pro 7 is that developers are no longer constrained by the old one-file-equals-one-window-equals- one-data-table rule. In earlier versions of FileMaker Pro, anything more complex than a grocery list required multiple files—one file for each distinct class of data (accounts, invoices, line items, products, suppliers, and so on). In FileMaker Pro 6, tasks such as changing passwords and defining relation- ships involved opening file after file, Sorting lists of related records in portals in more than. one way often required creating multiple copies of the same relationship. And getting data from indirectly related files was, well, a pain in the neck. Amazingly, it all worked pretty well. Butlooking back on it now, I have to say that the old way was a bit nutty. Anyway, it’ all changed dramatically for the better with FileMaker Pro 7. One file, one window? Not anymore. Even in a single-file database, you can open mul- tiple windows, showing different sets of records from the same table, or records from different tables, or simply using different lay- outs, Users working in simple databases just use the New Window command. Developers can open and name new windows procedur- ally, define their dimensions, and control their placement. This is a huge step forward. As for the one-file-one-table rule, it’s gone. Maximum number of tables in a file? According to FileMaker, it’s now one mil- lion, up from only one table per file in File- Maker Pro 6. A single database file—say, Library_of Congress.fp7—can now contain absolutely every element of a complex rela tional database: dozens of tables, hundreds Define Database for “CONTACT_ASSISTANT: Tables The relationships graph provides access to data in one table {even through anther table), fields from one table an be ac snother. fa velationship is defined between two tables ‘rom the other. 1 elds DRenoRaTIES | | Oe H10,CONTACT sa 10.CONTACT - = ame. company | _— time Person | 9. Contact a IN pernowal | scious | (Deorenecot eutavow.on ss iepeigs | SCONTACTSSERVALT: 8) = | Lip.contact__ > Pescratee.by “Tables /Relationshins Align View I + islefes) *) alae (Gre) HY Each object on the graph represents an instance of a single data table. To define a simple relationship, draw a line from one match field to another. ‘wowermacworld.com 22 Database application Eizo FlexScan L795 31. 3-D structural analysis tool FileMaker Pro 7 NEC MultiSync LCD1960NXi Dr Frame3D Portfolio 7 23. Server hardware Princeton SENeray 914 32 Desktop computer Apple Xserve G5 Apple Xserve RAID/3.5TB (SFP) 26 2-D-animation package Toon Boom Studio 2.5, 28 Midsize flat-panel displays ‘AG Neovo X-19AV ‘Apple 17-inch Studio Display ViewSonic VP191b Digidesign Digi 002 Tascam FW-1884 Yamaha 01X Samsung SyncMaster 172X 30 FireWire audio interfaces Apple eMac!1.25GH2 34. Manuscript-editing package Copyite 2.1.1 36 CAD program VectorWorks 11 38 Image-cataloging software 40 Photo-transfer hardware Digital Camera Link for iPod 42. Final Cut Pro plug-in Magic Bullet Editors 1.0 44 The Game Room Big Bang Chess, Rise of Nations, Space Colony, Tapwave Zodiac, Total Immersion Racing 54 Mac Gems Fingerless Therapeutic Gloves, FireWire 800 Adapter, FireWire 9-6, IceKey, IPod Battery, PocketDock Combo, PocketDock Line Out or thousands of fields, layouts, scripts, value lists, and all the data, to boot, And you don’t have to put everything in one file, Instead, in FileMaker Pro 7, you can do whatever you think works best for your project: all the tables in one file, or each table in its own file (still possible), or data tables in one file and scripts and layouts in another file that might have no tables at all, or different front-end files for different departments in a company that all access the same back-end data, or any number of other permutations. Relationships Go GUI Rich new possibilities require a flexible new interface for developers. You now define r tionships between data tables using something called the Relationships Graph. To create a simple relationship between two tables, draw a line between the match fields (see “Striking Up Relationships”). More-complex relation- ships can be defined using a special dialog box; for example, an account record can quickly be related to all invoice records whose paid-date field is empty and whose invoice-date field is more than 30 days in the past. Like many innovations, the Relationships Graph solves some problems and creates others. If you need to relate tables X and Y in more than one way (as sometimes hap- pens), you'll discover that the graph will not tolerate circularity. To avoid this, you have to place a second instance—what FileMaker calls an “occurrence”—of one of the tables on the graph. Even a relatively small num- | ber of tables whose basic relationships could be represented in a straightforward ER (entity-relationship) diagram can turn into a rather scary-looking Relationships Graph in FileMaker Pro 7. Developers I’ve talked to are still debating | the best ways to deal with the new relational model, but nobody seems to want to go back to the old one. Managing more than two or three tables takes careful planning, but that’s not a drawback, Careful planning has always been the key to good database design. And the tools in version 7 are an order of magni- tude more powerful than those available in earlier versions. What's Not to Like? FileMaker Pro still can’t trigger a script | automatically when the user exits a field. And I wish I had more control over the pro- | gram’s menus. However, it should be noted that both of these limitations can be reme- died by third-party plug-ins. wwwmacworld.com Converting the Old To use your old databases with FileMaker Pro 7, you'll need to convert the old files to the new .fp7 file format. You should be able to convert simple databases without a hitch, but converting even moderately complex databases may be somewhat tricky. The good news is that plenty of first-rate tech- nical help is available for free on FileMaker’s Web site at www.filemaker .com/upgrade, Study up before you try to convert. It’s possible (and legal) to run File- Maker Pro 6 and 7 on the same machine at the same time, so you can jump into File- Maker Pro 7 and bring your old files along when you're ready. Macworld’s Buying Advice If you're happy with the old FileMaker data- base you're running now, upgrading to File- Maker Pro 7 may involve some trouble and Xserve G5 Nearly Miraculous Design Squeezes Tons of Functionality into 1U Space BY PJ, CONNOLLY A little more than a year ago, I sat in San Francisco's Moscone West convention hall as Steve Jobs pulled the wraps off the Power Mac GS desktop, and I tried to figure out how Apple's engineers would shoehorn two small furnaces into the Xserve’s 1U chassis, Walk- ing out of the building, a colleague from InfoWorld and I shook our 9} heads and said that it couldn't be done, that they were going to have to use a 2U box. Now the Xserve G5 has proved us wrong, and we couldn't be happier. Dual Design Goals Apple's design team pulled off the impossible by throwing ten heat sensors and an intelli- gent fan subsystem into the Xserve case, and by using newly available 90-nanometer PowerPC G5 CPUs from IBM. Apple has also radically changed the server's front panel, reducing the number of drive bays from four to three. Compared with its predecessors, the Xserve GS has a striking appearance; the twin air scoops that keep the two 2GHz G5 processors from melting down make expense, And even if you're already using OS X, converting old databases will take some planning. Nonetheless, version 7 offers compelling advantages. It’s the most secure, most reliable, most powerful, and most flexible FileMaker Pro ever, and it’ still every bit as user-friendly as its predeces- sors. I think you'll be impressed. RATING: $4999 PROS; Powerful new tools for managing files, win- dows, and relationships; practically unlimited file sizes better control over user-access privileges; easy to share databases on the Web, CONS: Relationships Graph can get confusing; can't trigger script when user exits field. PRICE: $299; upgrade, $149 OS COMPATIBILITY: Mac OS X COMPANY: FileMaker, 800/325-2747, www filemaker.com sure of that. And inside, the polished and embossed CPU heat sinks are decorative and functional. Speed and RAID Some other tweaks to the Xserve G5 com- pensate for the shortcomings of the earlier models; for example, two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces are built into the server, and inde- pendent frontside buses running at 1GHz rapidly sling data in and out of the Xserve’s processors. Although a drive bay had to be sacrificed to make room for the cooling sys- tem’s intakes, the Xserve’s storage capacity is now greater than that of the G4 models, thanks to new, 250GB Serial ATA drives. continues October 2004 MACWORLD. 23 REVIEWS —__ The new drive modules aren’t interchange- able with those found in the G4 Xserves and the first-generation Xserve RAID, but they will work in the new RAID box (see our review on this page). The new Xserve can also hold 8GB of error-correcting memory, and it can slosh more than 6GB of data through RAM in one second. The Xserve’s remaining major flaw will soon be rectified: As we went to press, Apple shipped an add-on card that provides hard- ware RAID support for the Xserve family, which is available through the Apple Store. Although you can use Mac OS X's Disk Util- ity to set up a software-based RAID, a hard- ware RAID is faster. More importantly, the new card makes the Xserve more competitive with Intel-based servers, where that feature has been standard—often built-in—for years. The Icing on Top ‘The Xserve remains the most easily man- aged server on the market, Much of that is a feature of the OS; nevertheless, the tight, secure integration of the Xserve manage- ment application (updated to version 10.3.4 in June), the hardware, and the OS makes this server very versatile. The new suite is mostly a series of bug fixes and interface tweaks, but, oddly enough, it also includes an update to QuickTime Broadcaster. Next year’ release of OS X 10.4, or ‘Tiger, should bring more enhancements to the Xserve management tools. I hope to see a util having the RAID-related utilities be as accessible from within the tools as the other management pieces are. Although Panther Server is billed as optimized for the GS | CPU, I suspect that Apple's developers still | have some tricks up their sleeves. An unlimited-client license for Mac OS X Server remains part of the Xserve pack- age unless you buy the Cluster Node configuration—which features a 10-client license, no CD drive, and only one drive bay. Single- and dual-processor configura- tions of the Xserve GS cost $2,999 and $3,999, respectively, and_ build-to-order options are available. X Speed Although Apple’s Xserve technology is unquestionably cutting-edge—especially the XSERVEGS RATING: $946! PROS: 05 license included in purchase; easy administration and monitoring; works well in mixed environments. CONS: Hardware-based RAID not builtin, as is the case with similar Intel-based servers. OS COMPATIBILITY: Mac 0S X PRICE: $3,999; single-processor model, $2,999 COMPANY: Apple Computer, 800/538-9696, wwew.apple.com 24 MACWORLD October 2004 somewhat tighter integration of the | , and I would especially appreciate | dedicated high-speed frontside processor buses and the point-to-point system con- troller—some reports say that the server's per- formance leaves much to be desired. Between Apple’ performance claims and some of our unpublished results, I don’t know what to believe—which is why I put very little stock in benchmarking this type of server. But from my testing perspective, the Xserve feels fast sei While it may not shine in every com- puting scenario, the Xserve is well suited to the role of either a general-purpose server or a member of a computing cluster. Macworld’s Buying Advice Apple took a pretty good server, the G4 Xserve ($$$; September 2003), and made it even better. Although some problems remain, the Xserve G5 kicks butt effortlessly and looks good doing it. 3.5TB (SFP) Xserve RAID | Capacity Growth, Compatibility Changes Mark Next-Generation Storage Product BY PJ. CONNOLLY. ‘The original (2.52TB) Xserve RAID ($946; September 2003) was an impressive first try for Apple's entry to the mass-storage market. The enhancements in the second go-around are pretty easy to sum up, but they still make the Xserve RAID an excellent choice. ‘The most important new featur the capacity of the 3U RAID chassis is now 3.5TB, thanks to Apple’s decision to switch from ATA-based drives—used in the first generation of the Xserve RAID and the first shipped with the original Xserve RAID. Ver- sion 1.3.1 includes a number of bug fixes and became available as testing wrapped up; had time to do was install it and verify that it didn’t break my testbed. The Xserve RAID is now a true multi- platform player; in addition to Mac OS X, it’s now certified for Microsoft Windows Server, Novell NetWare, and Red Hat Linux. On top of that, leading storage hardware and software vendors including Brocade, Emulex, and Veritas have certified ¢ models—to larger-capac ial ATA drives. But the Xserve RAID’ capac- ity is one of only a few technological advances I can point to that have become 40 percent better in the course of a year. There are some subtler changes in the new hardware, as well as a few in the updated RAID Admin management utility. Although the Xserve RAID’s twin Fibre Channel controllers still aren't redun- dant—each controller serves half of the drive bays—Apple’s decision to switch the controller module's interface from an HSSDC2 (High-Speed Serial Data Con- nector 2) receptacle to an SFP (Small Form-factor Pluggable) jack should sim- plify the setup process. The downside is incompatible, but visually similar, cables for the two Xserve RAID models. The Java-based RAID Admin utility is still not going to provide anyone's idea of instant response, but the version I did most of my testing with (1.3) does seem to be somewhat peppier than the version that the Xserve RAID with their products. So customers can now use the Xserve RATD in their storage area networks—thus spending less money than they would for similarly configured hardware from HP and IBM. Macworld’s Buying Advice ‘The Xserve RAID is nearly perfect; for its price, there’s no better RAID available. When Apple releases its upcoming Xsan software, it's going to be tough to find a bet- ter all-around package for building SANs (storage area networks) on a budget. { 3.5TB (SFP) XSERVE RAID RATING: $996) PROS: Certified for Linux, Mac, NetWare, and Win- dows; now supports 3.5TB, CONS: On-board RAID controllers still not redundant. ‘OS COMPATIBILITY: Mac 05 X PRICE: $10,999 COMPANY: Apple Computer, 800/538-9696, wwew.apple.com vwewewmacworld.com World’s smallest/lightest wy FI high-resolution camcorder and ww camera Combination! One Camera, Twice The Eafe. ; it's easy editing with the Fisher “ iol REVIEWS. Toon Boom Studio 2.5 2-D Pro Animation Package Delivers New Tools for ‘Toons BY GALEN FOTT ‘Thanks to the runaway success of 3-D com- puter-animated feature films, led by Pixar (Steve Jobs’s other company), traditional, hand-drawn animation is in a slump. Anima- tion studios are tossing aside their pencils to jump on the 3-D bandwagon, abandoning the art form that started it all. Toon Boom Studio 2.5 could be just the thing to turn that slump around. The previous version of ‘Toon Boom ($94; March 2002) was nothing less than a full-fledged animation studio. It let users draw, ink, paint, assemble a soundtrack, and use a multiplane camera to frame and record their shots. This long-awaited new release adds several important tools and capabilities into the mix. With so much animation power readily available at such a reasonable price, independent artists have the means to create the next—well, ‘toon boom, Draw a Little Closer If you're handy with a Wacom pen and tablet, the easiest way to get started with Toon Boom Studio is to use the program’ Drawing mode to sketch. The pressure-sensitive Brush tool gives you variable line widths, and there are simple shape-drawing tools, The Polyline tool, a new element in the toolbox, is great for users who are comfortable with an Adobe Illustrator-style Bézier pen. (You can also import art directly from Hlustrator CS.) This version's toolbox has only one significant omission: a type tool for generating titles. All of Toon Boom’s tools draw in vectors, rather than pixels, and you can export images to the Macromedia Flash SWF for- mat. The new Smooth command reduces the number of points in vector lines, lower- ing the SWF file size. If you'd rather draw on paper, the Import And Vectorize com- mand now lets you scan your drawings directly into the program and convert them to vector images on-the-fly. While this saves time and disk space, guessing the correct vectorization filter settings before you scan can be tricky; a preview would be helpful. You can also scan drawings without con- verting them to vector images, but then you miss out on ‘Toon Boom’s dynamic coloring tools. Just click inside a drawn shape to fill it with the selected color. If your drawing style is sketchy and your shapes aren’t always per- fectly closed, the new, adjustable Auto Gap setting ignores small gaps so the shape fills properly. And if you're careful to name your swatches correctly—name the swatch for the object you're coloring (“tutu” instead of “yellow”)—it’s a snap to go back and make changes globally if you decide your hippo ballerina would be prettier in pink. 26 MACWORLD October 2004 Toon Boom’s Exposure Sheet lets you plan the timing of your individual art ele- ments. Among the program's most welcome new features are the Create Cycle com- mands, which eliminate the old version’s reliance on tedious cutting and pasting to create sequences of repeating drawings, such as walk cycles. “> ise zooming past foreground elements, and moving in for a close-up. ‘The most welcome change to the Scene- planning mode is that you can now draw in it. Before, this mode often revealed prob- lems with your animation that could be fixed only in Drawing mode. In this version, you can just pick up a drawing tool and touch up your art at any time in the process. Toon Boom Studio 2.5 can export to QuickTime, in addition to Flash. You can easily drop your animated scene into an iMovie project, or you can render a movie, complete with alpha channel, to composite Taoorure Sheet [nr Speak, » Boy! Toon Boom Studio’ 's automatic lips syne feature c can recanget lips § flapping in nc inno time, Vocal Sync The previous version of Toon Boom could analyze a dialog track and generate a lip- sync chart for you to refer to as you ani- mated your character's mouth. Version 2.5 goes a step further: If you draw a stationary character's mouth shapes in advance, the program can place those shapes according to a soundtrack analysis and create an instant lip sync. The results probably wouldn't satisfy Uncle Walt, but this feature is great for limited TV- style animation. As you refine your synchronization, the Sound Element Editor's new audio scrub- bing is absolutely vital; it lets you closely analyze the audio so you can make your own adjustments. Scenic Design Toon Boom’s Sceneplanning mode—where you gather various art elements to animate them on a virtual 3-D stage—has been updated in version 2.5. Audio scrubbing is available here, too, so you can synchronize the broader movements of your animation to the soundtrack. And you can create dynamic multiplane effects of depth and perspective by animating your camera, in a program such as Apple’s Final Cut Express. The program comes with a 100- page Getting Started book, but, unfortu- nately, the 450-page printed manual has been replaced with a PDF file. Macworld’s Buying Advice ‘Toon Boom Studio 2.5 is a fantastic, reason- ably priced program that gives you almost every tool you need in order to produce hand- drawn animated cartoons on a Mac. For pre- vious owners, this version has a cavalcade of new features that make it an essential upgrade, For new users who can draw reasonably well and who want to animate, passing this pro- gram up would be downright goofy. [ RATING: $6995 PROS: Excellent value; outstanding drawing, paint- ing, animation, and multiplane camera tools; easy cycle creation; audio scrubbing; drawing tools avail- able in Sceneplanning mode, CONS: No type tool; no vectorization preview; no printed full manual, PRICE: $374; uparade, $199 OS COMPATIBILITY: Mac OS X COMPANY: Toon Boom Animation, 514/278-8666, www.toonboom.com, www.macwarld.com “Avid Xpress’ Pro with Avid Mojo™ | Start with industry-defining Avid editing software and a full set of expert production tools. Add the revolutionary Avid Mojo Digital Nonlinear Accelerator™ (Avid DNA™) hardware for simultaneous, render-free video and effects to monitor and tape. Avid Xpress Pro with Avid Mojo. We've created a monster. wwiw.avid.com only $ 1695 each USMSRP a regents and av and m Choose 39 at www.macworld.comigetinfo ior make manage mov wine Avil REVIEWS Midsize Flat-Panel Displays Seven New Models Brighten the Landscape BY JAMES GALBRAITH Where did all the CRT monitors go? Slowly but steadily, those big, heavy displays that used to swallow up almost everyone’s desk are going the wa ny of the dodo, giving way to slim, trim LCDs. The reasons for choosing an LCD overa CRT monitor are clear they take up less space, use less energy, and look great. Recently, Macworld Lab put seven of these thin displays to the test. Five were 19- inch displays: the AG Neovo X-19AV, the Eizo Fl ‘an L795, the NEC MultiSyne LCD1960NXi, the Princeton SENergy 914, and the ViewSonic VP191b. The Apple 17-inch Studio Display and the Samsung ncMaster 172X are 17-inch models. All can be connected to your Mac digita all have a nativ SXGA Graph pixels. ical sizes differ, all the monitors show the same information. For example, the same Photoshop document, toolbars, and palettes ble on both monitor sizes. ‘The differ- ence is the amount of space the monitor stuffs those pixels into. The 17-inch displays generally cost less than the 19-inch displays and, obviously, take up less desk space. There were no clinkers in the group, but the NEC LCD1960NXi edged ahead of the competition by producing gor- geous, rich colors viewable at just about any angle. While most of these monitors have a standard three-year warranty, the antees its display for five years, and Apple guarantees its model for only one y Orientation Variations Most of the LCDs we've reviewed in the past were physically capable of pivoting. The prob- lem was that there was no pivoting software for OS X. With the release of its Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition cards, ATI gives OS the ability to pivot their displays using its Ver- saVision feature. Of the displays in this review, only the Eizo and the ViewSonic can pivot. The Apple display uses a picture frame- style stand that allows you to lean it back a few inches. The NEC has a hinge at the end of a telescoping arm that gives it plenty of mobil- ity—up, down, backward, and forward—in addition to a swivel base. The Eizo and the ViewSonic share many of the NEC’ and they add pivoting to the list. The Prince- ton and the Samsung use a hinge mechanism much like the one you'll find in the recently announced Apple Cinema Displays. The Samsung can fold nearly flat on its hinge, while the Princeton has a fairly limited range of motion. The AG Neovo'’s hinge is located users moves, Flat-Panels Displayed We reviewed (from left to tight) Princeton's SENergy 914, Eizo’s FlexScan L795, NEC's MultiSync LCD1960NXi, Samsung's SyncMaster 172X, ViewSonic’s VP191b, Apple's 17-inch Studio Dis- play, and AG Neovo's X-19AV (photos not to scale) MOUSE SCREEN DIMENSIONS COMPANY PRODUCT RATING PRICE CONTACT SIZE INTERFACE (IN INCHES) PROS CONS AG Neovo X-19AV $4 S899 408/321-8210, Winches 1VGA1DM 175% 16569 NeoV Optical Filter protects Colors alittle light; pro: wwwneovo-usa.com screen; additional connectors nounced color shifts at for composite and S-Video, _extreme angles. Apple Winch $88% S699 800/692-7753, Winches 1 ADC 176% 173%69 ADC cable; USB hub; no exter- Short standard warranty, Studio Display wwwapple.com nal power supply; excellent large footprint. color and viewing angle. Eizo FlexScan 1795 $$$F $1,199 562/431-5011, Winches 1VGA1DVI 163% 134%8.1 Excellenttextlegiility; excel Expensive; no DVI cable. wweweiza.com lent viewing angle; long war ranty; vey flexible (pivot); picture-in-picture feature USB 2.0 hub; no external Power supply. NEC MultiSync $88G) 5729 888/632-6487, 19inches 1VGA1DVI 16.4x153%7.5 — Rich colors; excellent color and No DVI cable. UCDI960NXi* vevew.necmitsubishi.com viewing angle; up, down, and tilt adjustments Princeton SENergy914. $$$i $699 888/668-7655, 19 inches 2VGA,1DVi 16.6x 1558.7 — Multiple inputs; least expen- Pronounced color shifts at ‘www princetongraphics com sive 19-inch. extreme angles. Samsung SyncMaster $8H# $539 800/726-7864, TTinches VGA 1DVI 14.2x 143% 7.6 — Inexpensive; small; thin; unique Pronounced color shifts at 17x www samsungusa.com design; excellent text display. extreme angles. ViewSonic VP191b $8 $679 800/888-8583, 19inches 2VGA,1DVI 16.4x 14.194 Multiple inputs; pivot; no exter- Pronounced color shifts at www viewsonic.com nal power supply. extreme angles + = Editors’ Choice. With > eight x depth 28 MACWORLD October 2004 woww.macworld.com directly below the display, giving it about the same range of motion as the Princeton. Edgy Look Most manufacturers tried to make their dis- plays as small as possible by placing a thin frame around the screen, These range in size from % of an inch for the Samsung to | inch for the AG Neovo. The Apple is in a class by itself, as its frame extends a full 2 inches past the screen, making its 17-inch LCD larger than all of the 19-inch displays in this group. The only other significant design differ- ence belongs to the AG Neovo, which uses a NeoV Optical Filter (patent pending). This pane of hardened, scratch-resistant, antighare optical glass protects the screen against damage—a feature that pleased our panel of experts. Connections Each of these displays can connect digitally to your Mac. A digital connection is prefer- abie to analog because LCDs use an inter- nal digital signal; an analog connection requires signal conversions that can cause on- n noise and focus anomalies. Some older Macs support only analog connec- tions, so each display (except the Apple) also includes at least one analog, VGA (Video Graphics Array) port. This second connector also lets you share the display between two local computers. Eizo tak the sharing concept a step further by offer- ing a picture-in-picture mode that lets you view two desktops simultaneously on its monitor. The Apple display uses Apple’s propri- etary Apple Display Connector (ADC), which provides the video signal, power, and USB connection through a single cable. ‘This is great if you have a graphics card that supports ADC, but not all do (adapters that translate VGA and Digital Visual Interface {DVI] signals to ADC are available). This incompatibility is probably what led Apple to drop ADC in favor of DVI for its newest LCD displays. Another feature that has become less popular with LCD manufacturers is the integration of USB hubs into the display. USB hubs can be handy because they let wwwmacworld.com JURIED RESULTS TEXT LEGIBILITY AG Neovo X-19AV Apple 17-inch Studio Display Eizo FlexScan 1795 NEC MultiSync LCD1960NXi Princeton SENergy 914 Samsung SyncMaster 172X ViewSonic VP191b BEST RESULTS IN BOLD. ‘Al displays were connected digitally to @ dual-1GHz Power Mac G4 with OS X 10.3.4, 512MB of RAM, and an ATI Radeon graphics card installed. We then assembled 2 pane of experts to judge each display, using a variety of test images in Photoshop CS and Microsoft Wor. ‘The jurors assigned each display a rating of Excellent, Very Good, Good, Flawed, or Unacceptable —1acWoRLD LAB TESTING BY JAMES GALBRAITH you connect keyboards and other peripher- als without having to reach around to the back of your computer. Aside from the Apple, only the Eizo provides this type of connection. The AG Neovo also provides connectors for both $-Video and compos- ite video, allowing you to connect a DVD player, a VCR, or a camcorder directly to the displa The View Are there people looking over your shoul- der? If so, or if you work in an environment where multiple people might crowd around a display, you should consider an LCD's viewing angle. The viewing-angle measure- ment describes the range of positions (from directly in front of the display to 180 degrees to the side) from which you can view the screen and sce an acceptable picture. Many of these displays promise acceptable perfor- mance at nearly every angle, and although you don’t lose too much in the way of detail you move from left to right in front of the displays, only three maintained their color fidelity at extreme angles: the Apple, the NEC, and the Eizo. The rest had pro- nounced color shifts at extreme angles. For instance, the AG Neovo promises a viewing angle of 170 degrees, but the red tablecloth in our picnic test image turned bright magenta at about 45 degrees. Consistent Colors All but the Samsung provide some way of changing the color temperature, or white point, of the display while it’s connected digi- tally to your Mac. Samsung offers color con- trols only in analog mode, claiming this i necessary to correct color-consistency prob- lems caused by the digital-to-analog con- versions. Changing the color of white from warm to cool or vice versa alters the midtones as well, so knowing and being able to set the white point across different displays can aid in achieving consistent representations of a file’ colors throughout a work- flow. While this was once the exclusive province of CRT, newer LCDs give users the same flexibility. When Macworld’s experts looked at our standard color-di found that all the displays did a good job of representing the file's colors, though some images were more saturated than others. The AG Neovo looked a little washed out, while the NEC and, to a lesser degree, the Apple were deep, rich, and beautiful. Next, the panel looked at a Word docu- ment containing several fonts and point sizes, to judge text legibility on each display. While the panel gave all at least a Good rat- ing, the Samsung and the Eizo both earned Excellent ratings for clean, readable text, even at very small point sizes. Macworld’s Buying Advice Although the competition was stiff, the NEC LCD1960NXi is our Editors’ Choice for its excellent color, wide viewing angle, competitive price, and flexibility of move- ment. The Apple Studio Display performed well, but even with its smaller screen size, it’s almost as expensive as the NEC and actually takes up more desk space. The Eizo also performed well, and we liked the picture-in-picture feature—but it costs almost 50 percent more than the NEC. If space is at a premium in your office, you might prefer the compact, 17-inch Sam- sung SyncMaster 172X—it’s smaller than the rest and an excellent value. ‘October 2004 MACWORLD 29 PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER BELANGER REVIEWS Digital-Audio Mixer-Controllers Three FireWire-Based Multifunction Devices That Ease Mac Music Production BY DAVID LEISHMAN Digidesign’s Digi 002, Tascam’s FW-1884, and Yamaha's 01X are FireWire-based devices that serve two main purposes: each works as a stand-alone mixing console that you can oper- ate away from your computer, and each func- tions as a mixing console with a hardware interface that adds analog-to-digital conver- sion for use with your digital-audio worksta- tion (DAW) software (Apple’s Logic Platinum or Steinberg’s Cubase SX, for example). Their broad functions can help ease the transition between your roles as musician, recording engineer, and mixer, and they can allow you to maximize your productivity in the studio. Ins and Outs All three units can simultaneously record and play back 18 inputs and outputs. You can set up individual mikes for each musician in a modestly sized band, use four or five mikes to record the drums, and add several pieces of outboard gear, and you'll still have more chan- nels left to work with. I'll describe the Digi 002 and note how the other units vary from it. The Digi 002s analog inputs include four XLR connectors with switchable tom power and preamps for mikes; eight ced Y4-inch analog inputs, which include four line/instrument jacks that are switchable between +4dB (pro) and -10dB (consumer); four line-level-only inputs; and a stereo pair of RCA plugs for hooking up a home stereo. Digitally speaking, the Digi 002 has a coax- ial stereo $/PDIF input that can handle 24-bit audio at 96kHz, and an optical digital input that can double as another stereo $/PDIF input or accept eight channels of ADAT (lim- ited to 44.1kHz and 48kHz) audio. It has one MIDI-in port, two MIDI-out ports, and two FireWire ports. (The Digi 002 doesn’t support using a hard drive on the second port, and whichever unit you choose, I advise that you plug any other FireWire gear into your Mac’ remaining onboard port. Digital music requires all the bandwidth you can give it.) ‘The devices’ outputs include eight balanced analog jacks, one ADAT out, one S/PDIF out, a balanced stereo monitor and auxiliary out, a home stereo out, and a headphone jack (the Digi 002 is the only device with the latter on top of the unit). There's no Word Clock I/O for supplying master signal timing on the Digi 002; although I didn’t experience any signal jitter, people with significant track require- ments should note this feature’s absence. And neither the bundled Pro ‘Tools LE software nor the Digi 002 sup- ports surround-sound mixing. ‘Tascam’s FW-1884 offers eight XLR ins and preamps (each of two phantom-power switches governs a bank of four), and eight '/4-inch line inputs with accompanying channel inserts for routing to offboard effects units. All of the inputs handle +4dB. The FW- 1884's eight balanced outputs can be used for surround-sound monitoring. MIDI gets four ports each of in and out, and the unit offers Word Clock in and out. There are no home stereo outs. Yamaha's 01X has two XLR ins that can accept ~46dB to +44B, as well as six balanced Vi-inch inputs. One jack doubles as a high-impedance input for instru- ments such as electric guitars. Both the monitor and stereo-and-auxil- iary outputs are unbalanced, so you might get more line noise than you'd Mutitalented We reviewed (from top to bottom) three mixer-controllers: Yamaha's 01X, Tascam’s FW- 1884, and Digidesign's Digi 002. CONTACT 800/333-2137, wwowdigidesign.com 323/727-7617, wevewstascam.com 714/522-9011, vw yamaha.com 30 MACWORLD October 2008 like, although T didn’t have any problems. igital I/O includes one pair of coaxial RCA plugs, two MIDI ins and outs, and two Fire- Wire ports, which also support Yamaha’s mLAN technology for interconnecting musical instruments and audio gear via Fire- Wire. (mLAN is still an emerging technol- ogy, so few devices currently support it, but Apple has added support for it in Panther. And future versions of Core Audio and Core MIDI, as well as the availability of more compatible devices, may make it a technol- ogy to be reckoned with.) CONS Minor bug while working with MOTU's Digital Performer; no surround-sound capabiltes; documentation i 05 9 oriented; expensive ‘Lack of LCD panel makes track monitoring inconvenient; no OS X documentation. Currently incompatible with Digital Performer; faders feel ite low-quality; no OS X docu- ‘mentation. waww.macworld.com Finally, you can expand the FW-1884 and the 01X so you can add more faders—essen- tial if you want to control more than eight on-screen faders at a time when using one of these devices as a control surface. All of these units have analog-to-digital audio converters and preamps, and they are of comparable quality and sound fine. A high end, stand-alone preamp or converter can cost as much as one of these units, but neither will add as much value overall to your studio. A principal factor may be your choice of software. The FW-1884 and the 01X include preconfigured software templates that map features to onboard hardware keys for the software sequencers they support. The Digi 002 includes the Pro Tools LE sequencer and assorted RTAS plug-ins, and the OLX includes nice Audio Units and VST plug-in bundles. Yamaha also includes its Studio Manager soft- ware for independently configuring all the connections and routing for the O1X. Hands On The Digi 002 and the FW-1884 are big, rugged units, while the OLX is compact and relatively light. The basic physical layout of the mixing sections is standard and will be familiar to anyone who has worked with a mixer or multitrack recorder. There’s a mas- ter fader, and each unit's eight channel strips include volume faders and rotary knobs for controlling assignable parameter settings (such as pan or aux sends), knobs for line trim control, and solo and mute buttons. Each of the channel strips also offers a button to arm tracks for recording, and that’s your first step into the new world of mixer- computer synergy. The faders, knobs, and buttons can also be used to control definable groups of channels and functions, and the Digi 002 and the FW-1884 offer Nudge buttons that enable you to scroll the chan- nels controlled by the strips. The faders are all motorized, so once you automate a mix, they'll moye independently during playback to re-create the physical moves you made. ‘You can activate sequencer-related trans- port and navigation functions—such as play, reco