MacWorld0502February2005

=u (9 34 OFT =m THE ‘VE AR’ RECT MV ACT Dr RODUCTS / JIT VE NNERS OF 201 | Maci | . | | | ror www.macworld.com | February 2005 The Mac Product Experts * MAC | # MAC MAINTENANCE GUIDE | GUIDE PREVENT MAC 8 Simple Ways to Keep Your Mac Happy | and Healthy | IPod Photo Reviewed and Rated, p. 26 Inside the New Player, p. 80 ‘ HUT NEW F dith TERS - USE YOUR MACTO MAKE PHONE CALLS Two inches thin. But lots to love. “Quite possibly the coolest personal computer yet created. Apple's latest computer is as cool and sleek as its best-selling music player...” - Chris Taylor, Time "5-out-of-5 rating. Simple, stunning all-in-one design. With the iMac G5, Apple has given Mac fans yet another reason to stay in the fold. And its unparalleled execution should attract would-be Windows PC buyers as well.” —Joel Santo Domingo, PC Magazine “The new G5 iMac is the finest personal computer I’ve ever used, hands down. Nothing comes close. If you have ever thought of switching from a Windows-based PC to a Mac, this is the deal- clincher. It is simply a stunning machine both to look at and to use.” ~ Mike Wendland, Detroit Free Press “I'm writing these words on the most elegant desktop computer I've ever used, a computer that is not only uncommonly beautiful but fast and powerful, virus-free and surprisingly affordable.” — Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal Th and ©2004 Appke Computer, Inc. For more int. cll 1-500: MY-APPLE or vist www apple.com MacUser OPINION | February 2005 www.macworld.com aCWor 5 From the Editor’ S Desk JASON SNELL Doing your chores may not be fun—but it's very important. 10 Feedback Readers respond, MAS BEAT The lowdown on Software Update, the year ahead in Macs, Dropload, the Chronicles of Narnia DVD, other Special Edition iPods we'd like to see, QuicKeys X3, updated tax software, and Logic Express 7 and Logic Pro 7. 26 THE iPOD PHOTO REVIEW On the Cover Image by Joe Zeft 2 MACWORLD february 2005 The Virtual CD Alll readers now have free access to the contents of the CD-ROM that comes with some copies of Macworld. To view the contents of the CD, go to the following URL (broadband Internet recommended): http://cd.macworld.com/2005/ O2/baby-carrot ld: REVIEWS iPod picture viewer citi iPod photo 28 Apple laptops $$$} 12-inch iBook G4/1.2GHz $88% 14-inch iBook G4/1.33GHz with SuperDrive Apple desktop $8 Power Mac G5/1.8GHz Monochrome laser printers $888 Brother HL-5170DNLT $98$ Hewlett-Packard Laserlet 1320n $886; Lexmark £332n $88 Oki Data B4350n 34 36 $896 Canon Pixma iPB500 Ink-jet photo printers $$$: Canon i9900 Image-editing app $$%$ Photoshop Elements 3. Web-page editor $686 Contribute 3 48 OT 50 ___ SAV Quien 2005 Painting software Financial software Font utility $888 You Control: Fonts 1.1.1 USB AM/FM receiver __ 499) Griffin RadioShark Top’ Products — The Game Room PETER COHEN This month we bring you reviews of Vendetta Online, F/A-18 Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Torus Trooper. And don't miss our first look at a game that will scare your socks off—Doom 3. | 58 | | | | | | | Mac Gems DAN FRAKES Watermark your photos, easily print your pic- tures, adjust your iSight settings, and mouse around with a Bluetooth-less wireless mouse. www.macworld.com, COVER STORY a -|SECRETS _ Prevent Mac Disasters WORKING MAC _ ROB GRIFFITHS ; : Dialing for Less Don’t wait for a catastrophic crash or for your hard drive to die. Keep your JASON D. O'GRADY Mac—and yourself—happy with these eight simple steps. Need to phone home—to Australia? No problem, _ Turn your Mac into a telephone and make long- F E AT U R E distance—or even overseas—calls for a fraction A Se a oe of what you currently pay. The 20th Annual Editors’ ‘Choice Awards = a Macworld’s editors looked at hundreds of products last year. Of all that 80 DIGITAL HUB hardware and software, which products were truly the best? Here are our Inside the iPod Photo editors’ picks for 2004, Plus, our readers name their favorites. CHRISTOPHER BREEN AND DAN FRAKES Uncover the secrets of Apple's newest marvel— turn movies into digital flipbooks, control and display PowerPoint presentations, entertain party guests, and more. 62 PREVENT MAC DISASTERS 84 CREATE CSS Troubleshooting DAVID SAWYER McFARLAND Avoid Web-browser quirks and get consistent designs on any platform with these CSS tricks. 86 MOBILE MAC Location, Location, Location KIRK McELHEARN Use these hassle-free strategies to get online and get to work—whether you're at an airport, in a coffee shop, or on your porch. | 88 . GEEK FACTOR How’s the Weather? JASON SNELL Forget the evening news. Two Mac-compatible weather stations let you collect atmospheric data Tight from your own backyard. | 90 HELP DESK Mac OS X Hints ROB GRIFFITHS Redistribute your .Mac storage, mark e-mail addresses for unspecified domains in Mail, change the order for list-view columns, burn more data onto CD-Rs, and create a navigable pop-up disk-drive folder in the Dock. |92 Mac 911 CHRISTOPHER BREEN Learn how to change the color of Safari’s links, convert Windows video files into QuickTime movies, eliminate Entourage’s Print Preview dia- log box, preserve settings during a clean installa- tion, and more, BACK PAGE _ 124 Hot Stuff Check out our editors’ favorite developments of the month. 71 THE 20TH ANNUAL EDITORS’ CHOICE AWARDS wwnemacworld.com February 2005 MACWORLD 3 At Small Dog Electronics, happy customers are our highest priority. When you shop at Small Dog Electronics, you get more than just great selection and low prices; you also get personalized service from genuine Apple Professionals who take customer service very seriously. And that’s a promise... no if’s, and’s or but's. 5 is Small Dog Electronics www.smallidog.com 1-800-511-MACS 4 Apple Specialist A socially responsible business since 1996 = coveted [FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK EXAAS@N ENS Do Your Chores The last thing | want to do on a California winter weekend is rake leaves and clean out rain gutters. Yet it’s an inevitable part of my life as a home- owner: either | do my chores or our house turns into a leaking, rotting hovel surrounded by moldy leaves and sprouting mushrooms. If you aren’t a homeowner, you may be spared from raking leaves. But if you own a Mac, you do have some chores to do. No, your Mac may not explode if you don’t take care of it (despite this issue’s fantastic cover image by Joe Zeff—see “About This Mac- world”). But you could lose data, productivity, or both. By taking a little time now for some routine maintenance, you can avoid wasting lots of time later staring at that spinning beach-ball icon. Clean Your Room As an editor, I’m always hesitant to publish stories like “Prevent Mac Disasters” (page 62). They make me feel like I'm telling you to floss your teeth and clean your room. But when we recently asked a panel of Macworld readers to pick their favorites from a list of more than a dozen story ideas, Mac maintenance won by a solid margin. Perhaps that’s because even now, several years after OS X arrived, plenty of Mac users are still con- cerned about all the mysterious stuff going on behind the scenes of their computers. The fact is, while OS X is tastic operating system, it’s also a complicated, weird beast. And although it comes with a bunch of useful self-maintenance routines that you should take advantage of, those routines alone aren’t enough. That’s why we commissioned Contributing Editor fiths to lead our efforts to give you the plain, about what you need to do to keep your Mac humming along from day to day. No, our advice may not be sexy—but it’s good for you. Hello Again, Eddy Every year at this time, we hand out our Editors’ Choice Awards (page 71). This is the 20th consecu- tive year our editors have scoured the market to pick the most-innovative products introduced for the Mac over the past 12 months. And this year, we whittled the list down to just 34. As usual, plenty of big companies walk off with a dy tte. But so do a bunch of under- dogs—small, up-and-coming developers that work on shoestring (Rogue Amoeba, developers of Nicecast, for example) and that fill a niche or come up with a remarkable innovation the big companies have missed. wwewmacworld.com We brought back something this year that we haven't done since the mid-1990s: Readers’ Choice Awards, one for hardware and one for software. To determine those winners, we polled readers on Macworld.com, as well as members of our private reader panel. These sources agreed on the two winners (both from Apple). ‘This is the 11th year I’ve spent some serious qual- ity time with Eddy. When I first met him, we were awarding a company run by Steve Jobs—but it was Pixar, maker of 1994 Eddy winner Typestry 2.1. We also awarded a new Mac desktop back then, but it was the 6100/60 Power Mac. And comparing the games of 2004 to those of 1994 reminded me that no matter the decade, my Mac can still be a great time waster: I honestly can’t figure out if I've spent more personal time playing this year’s Halo: Combat Evolved or 1994 Eddy winner SimCity 2000. Playing either one, however, beats spending time raking leaves and cleaning out rain gutters on a chilly Sunday. Have you taken care of your Mac chores today? (This week? This month? This year?) What were your favorite products of the year? Let me know at jason_snell@macworld.com or at wwwmacworld.com/forums. About This Macworld Back in January of 2002, our cover showed a Power Mac G3 being squashed by a PowerBook. Outraged readers wrote in, taking us to task for destroying a perfectly good computer. We had to inform them that we hadn't actually squashed a Mac—the image was an illustration. So before you'fire up your e-mail clients, let us assure you that no Macs were harmed in the production of this issue's cover. The burned-out, beat-up desktop you see was the creation of Joe Zeff, an illustrator ‘who's done covers for Time, News- week, Esquire, and other worthy mags. He built the image from scratch, using NewTek’s LightWave 3D running on his very own dual- processor GS—which also doubled as his model. February 2005 MACWORLD 5 of Tw Your Mac. A Sonnet upgrade. The intoxicating power of an Encore/ST or Encore/ST processor upgrade. With arousing speeds of up to GHz or , youll have more than enough power to meet the lusty demands of processor- hungry applications. Now aren't you ready to fall in love with your Mac all over again? SIMPLY FAST Executive Editor Managing Editor Senior How-to Editor itor Senior Reviews Editor Senior Senior Editors Lab Director lames G: Associate Editor Assistant Managing Editor Senioe Writer Production Consultant Contributing Editors Christopher Breen, Ada 8 Art Director Design Contributing Photographer Online Content Director id.com entral.com ar Senior Editor, tral.com Internation: Director of Finance Accounting Coordinator VP of Human Resources Human Resources Manager Human Resources Coordinator IT Director Publisher National Accounts Manager West Coast Regional Sales Manager St te Publisher, Online Online Sales Associate Online Sales Representatives Marketing Manage Administrative/Marketing Asst. Amai Production Director Prepress Manage Booking and Billing Manager VP, Consumer Marketing Shawne 8 Associate Circulation Director David Cc Retention M www.macworld.com, Here’s to 20 years of You might not believe it, but our original cart is still one of our making electric lift tables, biggest sellers. Of course now we make a lot “fancier” furniture — modular workstations and, laptop storage units, power supply carts and workstations that tilt and lift with the touch of a button. But you can also count on us to have a cup holder or flat panel monitor arm for, say, your 1991 AnthroCart. After all, we made it with a Lifetime Warranty. yes, the little gray cart. Visit us at MacWorld 2005, Need a furniture solution for your latest technology? Contact the San Francisco, Booth #2131. friendly and knowledgeable folks at anthro.com or 800.325.3841. Ge a = Fast and peed. Minus all those little annoyances. EarthLink High Speed Internet, perfect for Mac users. Now you can race around the Internet at speeds up to 3Mbps without worrying about speed bumps...or worse. EarthLink’s free tools help keep the hassles of spam out of your way, and help you steer clear of email viruses and online scams. Because we get it. Sometimes less really is more. Starting at $19.95/mo. for 6 months! ff Earthlink HIGH SPEED INTERNET B MACWORLD February 2005 i Macworld HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD Subscription Information and Services Access your subscription account online—24 hours a day, 7 days 2 wieek—at www.macworld.com/customer_service ot http://service.macworld.com. You can use online subscription services to view your account status, change your address, pay your bill, renew your Subscription, report a missing or damaged issue, get the answers to frequently asked questions, and much more. To start subscribing, vist http://subscribe.macworld.com US. Mail Macword Subscriptions Department 0. 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MAILING LISTS We periically make lists of our customers available to mailers of goods and services that may interest you. Ifyou do not wish to receive such mailings, please vite to us at Macworld, P.O. Box 37781, Boone, 1A 50037-0781, or e-mail us at subhelp@macworid.com Please include a copy of your mailing label or your full name and address. MACWORLD EDITORIAL The editors of Macworld welcome your tips, compliments, or complaints. Some stories and reviews from past issues can be located at wivw smacworld.com. We are unfortunately unable to look up stores from past issues; recommend products or diagnose your Mac problems by phone, e-mail, of fax. You can contact Apple toll-free, at 800/538-9696, Cf visit the company's Web site, at wvewapple.com, Our offices are located at $01 Second Street, Sth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107; phone, 415/243-0505; fax, 415/243-3545. Macworld staff can be reached by e-mail at firstname _lastnamegémacworld.cam, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send comments about any aspect of Macvorid to letters@macworld ‘com. Due to the high volume of mail we receive, we can't respond to each letter. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. Letters published in Macword or Macworld.com become the property of Mac Publishing, MAC 911 ‘Send yout questions or tips on using Mac computers, peripherals, or Software to Macworld, Mac 911, 501 Second Street, Sth Flay, San Fran isco, CA 94107; fax 415/243-3545; or e-mail mac91 1@macworld.com. Indude your name, address, and phone number. To share tps and discuss ‘Mac probems with other Mac use’, visit the Macworld com forums. MACWORLD CONFERENCE & EXPO As the flagship sponsor of Mace encourages all subscribers to at ‘event. For information, please visit rid Conference & Expo, Macworld this exciting biannual industry px macworidespo.com. ‘Vora. www.macworld.com ape esther registered tracey Yo (eas , 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. The new, faster Microsoft® Virtual PC for Mac Version 7 lets you run PC programs on your Mac like a pro — minus the mind-numbing water cooler chat. See it work at www.microsoft.com/mac VirtualPC for Mac iMac G5, Your Take MARK ST. JOHN es] | G5? Gee Whiz! It was no surprise that our first look at Apple’s new iMac G5 was the | November 2004 issue's top letter getter. We received plenty of missives | from readers who were just thinking about buying one, as well as a Software on the Cheap IAN BECK ics] My initial impression of the iMac GS (“iMac G5,” November 2004) is that it could be the affordable, full-power Apple portable for those of us who need to take our computers along for the occasional week at Grandma's or the beach. Twenty- five pounds is a bit heavy but not that bad. Why endure the expense and limitations of a laptop (assuming, of course, that the iMac could survive being stuck in a suit- case and tossed in the trunk)? GINI McKELLAR iE] Though the new iMacs are very elegant, they’re also dangerously top-heavy. My two-year-old son pushed the bottom of the monitor in, and it almost toppled on top of him. Good thing my husband was there. If we're going to keep this machine, we'll have to strap the bottom to the desk for safety, When we checked out the new iMac, one of the first things we did was give it the tip test. It seemed quite stable to us:—Ed. CATHERINE LUCAS iE] We live in the United Kingdom, but my husband is American, so we bought the new iMac in the States. When it arrived, I plugged it in—and nothing happened. I called the store where we bought it, but they couldn’t help me. So I hit the Net, where my problem was nicely explained. ‘Turns out the power supplies in iMac G5s sold in the United States and Japan don’t have automatic voltage switches. Our old iBook and iMac both work under all volt- ages. Why shouldn’t newer machines do the same? Apple, get your act together and put auto-voltage switches in every Mac. People do move and want to take their computers along. 10 MACWORLD February 2005 I really enjoyed your article about low- cost and free utilities (“Even More Soft- ware Bargains,” November 2004). You missed a couple that I use every day and that really deserve a mention. A-~Dock X (free; find.macworld.com/0184) is an awe- some, expanded Dock, complete with themes and more cool abilities than you can shake a stick at. DeskShade Plus (find.macworld.com/0185) allows you to hide all the clutter on your desktop, play a movie as your desktop picture, and lock your computer while you’re away, and it costs only $7. STEPHEN CHAKWIN & I liked your write-up of Genius 1.5 ($¢#9). It looked like something potentially very useful to me, so IT downloaded it. Only then did I learn that it requires Panther to run, Jaguar, which I still use, won’t do it. It would be helpful if your writers would mention things like this when they write up applications. Whither OS 9.X? WARREN POTAS es Annoyingly, Macworld’s relevance to the mass of Mac users who are still commit- ted to the OS 9.X platform has essen- tially evaporated. The final straw is your abandonment of identifying Mac OS compatibility in software reviews. With- out identifying which software sells to the OS 9.X legacy market, your software coverage becomes irrelevant verbiage to us. I've been staring at your renewal notice, trying to find some reason to con- tinue my 12-year subscription, With this final slap at legacy Mac users, you've tipped the decision. FEEDBACK bunch from those who already had. The verdict of the latter? Well, let's just say that you folks are a tough crowd. We decided to drop OS compatibility from the information boxes in our Reviews section because the vast majority of the products we review today work only with OS X. While some products can be coaxed into working with OS 9, many are not officially supported, so we can't verify OS 9 compatibility. As you rightly point out, Macworld’s focus for the past several years has been on Mac OS X.—Ead. Ups for AppleWorks JOHN HUNLEY icy Tt really bugs me that Macworld spends so much time on Microsoft “Bloated” Office and so little time on AppleWorks. I con- sider myself an above-average Office user, and the only thing I miss using Apple- Works is a few features in the spreadsheet (especially the way it merges cells). I’d like to see Macworld devote more space to AppleWorks. I think if more people used it, they’d never go back to Office—and maybe Apple would put some effort into upgrading it. iRobot MATT KAMBIC, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ROBOTICS ACADEMY. iy} Excellent article on Lego MindStorms robots (Geek Factor, November 2004). L wanted to draw your readers’ attention to Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Academy. We help students and interested “roboti- cists” of all ages tap into the fun and excitement of learning and playing with robots, in part by creating con- tent for Lego robots. For more infor- mation, please visit www.rec.ri,cmu .edu/education/. Note that Lego recently announced an OS X version of its easy-to-use Robolab 2.5.4 soft- ware.—Ed. wwew.macworld.com Top iTunes Tips DAVID DAIGLER B Eagle-Eyed Readers DOROTHY ROSA HUNT =] I’ve got lots of iTunes playlists and have wasted tons of time scanning through them to see if a given song is on one of them. Jim Heid’s trick (Digital Hub, November 2004)—control-click on a song name to see which playlists it’s on—is going to save me lots of time. That one tip is more than worth Macworld’s subscrip- tion price. (EOE Amazon Shopping for a printer, I first checked Macworld’s reviews and then moved on to Amazon.com, As you can see from the screenshot (shown below), the site’s recommendation engine somehow deduced that I should buy the HP OfficeJet 5510. Why? Because I’d once purchased a Black & Decker HS2000 steamer and rice cooker. (RGR Why Was (recommendedtiatnnmy © CHRIS TROTT fey) amazon.com. ¢ Recommended for you Mr HP Officelet 5510 All-in-One Printer, Fax, Scanner, Copier Poet by Hewlett Packard Office Glick for price Used & new Price: from $99.00 (Rai Ga) (Pesaran ist +» because you were interested in: I had to laugh as I browsed November's Macworld. If you look at the advertisements ee for Microsoft Office pc ailaed on pages 32 and 33, the initials of the four apps included in the suite just happen to spell P E W X. Is Microsoft trying to tell us something we don’t already know? Hele | Close window x WIKI) © 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. TIONS In December 2004's Hot Stuff, we gave the wrong price for PhotoStamps. They cost “nearly 48 cents per stamp” in addition to the price of regular stamps. (PhotoStamps are currently unavailable.) Also in December's Hot Stuff, we gave the wrong price for Painter IX. It costs $429 (upgrade, $229). The Webcam 352 (“Macworld's Gear Guide,” December 2004) doesn’t support Macs. intuos; Graphire* Have fun with your photos! Graphire starts at ‘99 AVAILABLE AT: Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit Cty NEW! Wacom Intuos3 The professional pen tablet for serious photographers, designers, and artists www.i3today.com ‘F- WACON - Patented cordless, battery-free Grip Pen for pressure-sensitive control - ExpressKeys” for convenient keyboard shortcuts and modifier keys - Touch Strips for quick scrolling, zooming, brush size control, and more - Five-button mouse that is cordless, battery-free, ball-free, and optics-free 1.800.922.2589 Cintiq? ‘Work directly on screen! Gintiqr8sx ~ $3499" $2499 AVAILABLE AT: BSH, Crywol.com, and WacomDirect.com (2p ____weaenterne eae tg to este yr eting entra el and seperi peromane of Wacom ptented cress and bate pen ecco i, cazosiuan eon cet ero Ct ra ae ny pans Ae rasta Popeye et apa rae Maps as oad oe Ss Epa espn tse eaten Oe to po www.macworld.com February 2005 MACWORLD 11 Advertising Supplement It’s a Take For film makers and other creative professionals, FileMaker Pro gets two thumbs up. Similarly, creative people don't like to get bogged down in unnecessary details like administrative chores. However, administrative tasks, such as keeping track of complex creative proj- ects, are a fact of life in today’s world. Perhaps that is why more than 100,000 creative professionals turn happily to FileMaker Pro to help them create order from what otherwise could be the chaos of details, and do so easily and quickly to free up time for what they really long to do—let the creative juices flow. In a world of complex file types, creative professionals have come to embrace FileMaker's uncanny ability to tame rich data sources, including video files, audio files, and images. Movie hero Asa film editor for some of Hollywood's biggest hits, Dylan Tichenor lives in a world of dizzying details. Included in the Los Angeles- based editor's film credits are The Royal Tenenbaums, Magnolia, and the soon-to-be-released Brokeback Mountain. For Tichenor, to assemble a reel of film for a two-hour movie involves V e knows creative professionals are endowed with great “right brain” potential. That’s allegedly the _ creative lobe in our heads, and it is the side creative ) to exploit and use. miles of tape that includes countless takes of hundreds of scenes, many with special music, special effects, special lighting, and so on, Tichenor relies on FileMaker Pro 7 to keep track of all this and a lot more to help shave precious time off the film-editing process. “I frankly couldn't get along without FileMaker Pro,’ Tichenor says. “There is just too much information to track, and FileMaker gets the job done easily." Tichenor started working with FileMaker several years ago “just to organize simple lists and other things like that.” But soon he had harnessed FileMaker's power, flexibility, and intu- itive ease of use to organize and keep track of the single most critical part of a film editor's life: the codebook, This is a relational record of literally every detail involved in making a film— notes on shoot dates, visual effects, music, JPEG frames from individual scenes to help identify them, and so on. Powerful and intuitive “A single movie can easily generate 5,000 records or more," Tichenor says. “We connect other relational databases with our codebook to generate all sorts FileMaker a sersyemmsnereree Dro, 7 of reports or to extract information we need immediately, such as a specific take from a specific scene we want to cut into the final reel. We use FileMaker Pro for billing as well. It's outstanding.” Tichenor says he sticks with FileMaker Pro because it is powerful yet very intuitive at the same time. He notes that the graphical front end of his FileMaker Pro database is often accessed and used by other crew members during the editing process. “People with little or no database experience can pick it up and work with it, no sweat. It’s that easy, but it's also powerful.” Jason Gaudio works closely with Tichenor on big projects, keeping the codebook up to date and pressing FileMaker Pro 7 into service on a daily basis. Gaudio has been using FileMaker Pro for eight years, initially to help him manage all the data that ends up on the cutting-room floor but which at any Advertising Supplement eee Asset Tracker Fie air.| Assets frees ae) i oo Q-. @ _ il: oe ato | 0005 - Reaser Racing ‘ ' tvaraeee coos Mote 1 time could be used in the eee se nas S008 Peanut Worm achieved ee oe ned ot Corre Conmumer Maganne St 4 final editing. i Pas Poi Setios with FileMaker while pro- What does he like most +e ee Se oer ia nai lille es Neat demas Gated ducing the SpongeBob Thigs pevurmance recacomert out fo cape and eave ht sees about FileMaker Pro 7? “For me, it has to be the flexibili- ty)’ Gaudio says. “Each film that I work on is unique. Data and layouts need to be flexible and comprehensive, and FileMaker Pro's archi- tecture fills those needs while being intuitive to use at the same time. For me, the way it works just makes sense.” Keeping =) Tost the cover of Weer 2005 cation movie, technical director David Krause is already looking forward to using the system in future proj- Resa Racin nae ects. “The goal for the build in FileMaker Pro 7 is for it to support a central reposi- tory at some point in time for several pictures," he pre- dicts, “so that not only could production have access to the information but also the studios involved, instead of having SpongeBob organized Just a few miles from Tichenor’s home office is Glendale, Calif.-based Peanut Worm Productions, known throughout the film world as the producers of last year’s smash hit The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, based on the cartoon superstar. For the Peanut Worm staff and crew, FileMaker Pro offered immediate benefits during the actual film production as well as continu- ing benefits, since the business rules and procedures built around the FileMaker Pro database save Peanut Worm from having to essentially “reinvent” proce- dures for the next film project. FileMaker Pro has proven indispensa- ble for tracking production processes that must be documented throughout the highly complex task of filming and edit- ing an animated movie. According to the Peanut Worm team, FileMaker Pro per- mits rapid and easy customization with- out ever compromising its trademark ease of use. Also, the built-in enhanced securi- ty features in FileMaker Pro 7 help the Peanut Worm team give the right access to the right data to the right users—and only the right users. The original system devised for the SpongeBob project consisted of 45 FileMaker Pro databases, documenting With FileMaker, creative professionals can track any type of informa- tion, including text, numbers, pictures, movies, sounds, and more, and with a database that is virtually unlimited in size. the progress of the many different phases of the production. “We're tracking what all those various pieces of the production are,’ notes Katherine Simpson, Peanut Worm's database developer. “Also, from the standpoint of the individual depart- ment, we've got users who can track their footage quotas—the amount of footage actually completed by each department in a given week. Everything's based on the model of inventory that flows through a manufacturing pipeline.” “Remarkable flexibility” The database also displays remarkable flexibility, coupled with FileMaker Pro's customary ease of use."The cool thing about the database is that it’s for the most part completely customizable to different production pipelines, and that’s some- thing | think is unique,’ adds Aaron Perry, line producer. “Many times you find that databases are very rigid, but with FileMaker Pro we found an incredible amount of flexibility. At the same time, we were able to integrate into the system a lot of coordinators and managers who didn't have a lot of high end-user capability.” Flush from the great success that to have elaborate prepara- tions offline.” Great free offer ‘To help creative professionals, FileMaker has recently released the FileMaker Creative Pro Starter Kit, which is a free download when you download a 30-day trial of FileMaker Pro 7. This ready-to- use kit comes 204 LenS Old SANE Lew with pre-pro- grammed, customizable et rs solutions ; designed specifi- Creative Pro Starter Kit cally for the cre- 8 nama ative market— managing con- tact details for clients and vendors, tracking job status from proposal through delivery, creating digital libraries that store images, sounds, and video clips, printing invoices, labels, and reports, and more. ‘To download the free FileMaker Creative Pro Starter Kit, and to find out more about what FileMaker can do to drive productivity for creative professionals, click now on fi rtri id. “4 = SOFTWARE UPDATE KEEPS YOUR SOFTWARE FRESH Getting Better All Chances are pretty good that within a week or two of reading this story, you have seen (or will see) Mac OS X's Software Update window pop up to tell you, “New software is available for your computer.” In response, you've probably either clicked on the Install button and hoped for the best, or avoided clicking on the button out of fear of the unknown. What really happens when you install an update? ‘The good news is that these updates are designed to provide improve- ments in functionality, stability, or security (or some combination of the three). The is that with millions of Macs in the wild, con- figurations v updates unintentionally cause prob- lems (see “4 Things to Remember When Updating” for tips on avoid- ing potential problems). Apple is continually fixing bugs, patching holes, and adding features to OS X—and Software Update is the easiest way to implement those changes (for a sampling of some ad new: , and sometimes important updates, see “Ubiquitous Updates”). It’s a big part of OS X, so understanding what Software Update 4 Things to Remember When Updating > Make sure your hard drive is in good shape. Boot from another drive or use your OS X Installer CD or DVD, and then run Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature. You can also use a third-party utility such as Alsoft’s DiskWarrior (www.alsoft.com). > Back up. It's rare that an update will result in a loss of data, but it has happened. A few years back, an iTunes installer had a bug that erased some users’ hard drives. Be safe, not sorry. > Take it slow. Although you may be tempted to install every update immediately, sometimes it's better to be patient. When an update is released, consider holding off for a few days and keeping an eye on Web sites such as MacFixlt.com (full disclosure—1 work there, too) and MacinTouch.com, to see if other people experience problems. > Repair disk permissions. After you've finished installing and restarted your Mac (if neces- sary), run Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permission function on the updated drive to make sure all sys- tem files have the correct privileges. (If you're a power user who's changed permissions on system-level files, you may want to skip this step, or at least make a note to change back those settings afterwards.) MACWORLD February 2005 the Time does and what's in an update can help you overcome your fears—or at least give you peace of mind that clicking on the Install button is usually the right thing to do. Roughly speaking, updates pro- vided by Software Update fall into one of three categories: > Application and hardware updates: An application update fixes problems with or adds functionality toa particular Apple application— such as iTunes, iPhoto, or iSync— by modifying or replacing that application and, possibly, various support files. An application update changes the version num- ber of the affected application (for mple, bumping iTunes from ver- sion 4.6 to 4.7) but does not affect the version of OS X itself. Firmware updates to the iPod and AirPort Base Stations are treated this way, too. > Security updates: A security update plugs potential security holes in the OS by modifying or replacing specific files contributing to the vul- nerability. Sometimes these holes are publicly acknowledged; other times only Apple knows about them. (You can read more about OS X security updates at find. macworld.com/0231.) A security update is usually named Security Update followed by the month, and day, and it generally does not affect the version number of OS X. But it may change application ver- sions slightly (for example, Safari 1.2.4 [v125.11] to 1.2.4 [v125.12}). > Mac OS X updates: An update to OS X isa way for Apple to roll out fixes for a smattering of problems with the operating system itself, as well as to www.macworld.com __ Software Update (@) preference to check for updates later. Mac OS X Update YZ guicktime % security Update 2004-10-27 1.0 (0S X v10.3 “Panther” and is recommended fer all users, ey enhancements include adgitional FireWire aucio ang USB dence compatibility update improved compatiblity for thid party applications Previous standalone secunty updates {er getalied information on this Undate. please ws this website Quit New software is available for your computer. ft you're oot ready 10 install now, you can use the Sotovare Update The 10.3.6 Upcate delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac mroved file sharing for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) an PC (SME /CITS! networks ‘more reliable network autemounts and launch of network applications improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphic drivers leulator, OVD Player, image Capture, and Safan applications Fer araed information or Seernty Undate plase wit ths webu: hit fawn info annie coeboumn6129% Graeme ~-— in Software Update—and they certainly make it eas- ier to bring OS X up-to- speed if you ever need to Sie stall. Also, installing 13.6 MB updates manually lets you 7.7 MB see what's going to be installed, as explained below. 14.0.N8 19.3 MB 832 KB What’s in an Update? Unfortunately, it’s often difficult to tell exactly what you're installing. Apple does always include some sort of description of the improvements and fixes an update sible in the Software Update win- dow or, if you download an update and then install it Helping Hand Software Update keeps your Mac running smoothly. add minor features and functionality all at once. OS X updates are named Mac OS X version Update; installing one will change the version number of the entire OS (for example, from Mac OS X 10.3.6 to 10.3.7) and, if applications are also updated, will change the version number of those appli- cations. (Note that an OS update is, by definition, a minor update to a specific major version of OS X; it won't upgrade you from Panther to Tiger.) Software Update makes updating your sy, but you can in yourself by downloading them from Apple's Web site (www.apple.com/ support/downloads/) and then double- clicking on the update package, which will launch the Installer utility. Even though you can download uninstalled updates via Software Update: copy of the update handily ba case you ever need to reinstall OS X and don’t want to have to redownload the file—doing so from the Web offers some adva es. First, for OS X updates, Apple often provides Combo versi the downloadable pa porate all OS X update: age. (For example, all the changes in 10.3.1, 10.3.2, and so on, all the way up to 10.3.7, will be contained in the 10.3.7 Combo Update.) Some users report fewer problems with these Combo updates—which don’t always show up é warnemacworld.com manually, on Apple’s Web page for the download or on the Installer utility’s information screen. But this information is usually vague and often nearly useless. What exactly does “improves system sta bility for your Power Mac G5” mean (the entire change note from a recent firm- ware updat Se metimes Apple provides more- detailed information about an update on its Web site; for example, the company posted details about the Mac OS X 10.3.6 Update (see find. macworld.com/0232). However, more often than not, you'll have to make do with the shorter version (such as the one at find.macworld .com/0233). If you'd like to see exactly what an update will install, you need to manually download the update from Apple's Downloads page instead of using Software Update. You can then install the update package and use either the Installer utility's Show Files command (in the Installer menu) or, better yet, a utility like Pacifist (69664; April 2004, www.charlessoft.com), to view the files to be installed. You may have noticed that Apple often releases major updates late on Fri- day afternoons. Although the company might argue that such updates are just being released after a long week of hard work, some people outside the compa suspect that the real reason is to reduce any bad press that might result if signifi- cant problems are discovered with the updates. Regardless of which theory is correct, it’s generally a good idea to hold off a few days before installing—let others install the new software first, and then see what the reaction is around the Net. The one exception is with Security Updates: if your computer is connected to the Internet, then it’s a good idea to install Security Updates right away they patch holes in the OS that could be used by a malicious hacker to break into your Mac.—DAN FRAKES Ubiquitous Updates To give you an example of what updates do, here are a few that made noticeable changes to the ‘way you work or what you can do: authentication for each administrative action, reduced the chances of accidental (or deliberate) damage to the OS after the user's account is authenticated in the Find- er. Translation: Typing your admin password once doesn’t mean someone can trash your system files willy-nilly. > Security Update 2004-06-07: Fixed a vulnerability in OS X by requiring a user to authorize the first time an application is opened, via double-clicking on a specific type of document. Translation: Keeps you from accidentally triggering a malicious app that, say, eats your user folder. > iTunes 4: Added inter- face for connecting to the new iTunes Music Store, for sharing music on a local network, and for AAC encoding and playback. Translation: Click on a but- ton, download music, and spend money—all without Jeaving iTunes. > iSync 1,5: Added support for more devices, including the latest Motorola and Sony Ericsson phones. Trans- lation: Your cool new T637 can sync with your Mac via Bluetooth. > Java Update 1.4.2 Update 2: Improved behavior for applets in Safari and stability for desktop Java apps. Translation: Safari is no longer a second-class citizen when it meets applet-laden pages. February 2005 MACWORLD 15 The Only Car Accessory Your iPod Will Ever Need DLO TRANSPOD TRANSMIT + CHARGE + CRADLE = ALL IN ONE WIRELESS SOLUTION | GET IT TODAY AT DLODIRECT.COM | 16 MACWORLD february 2005 MAC BEAT ——— _ QUICKEYS X3 AUTOMATES YOUR MAC Wrist Saver ‘Typing the same string of text, drilling down into sub- menus, or even accessing complicated keyboard com- mands throughout the day is not only tedious and time-consuming—it can also contribute to potentially debilitating strain injuries. One way to improve productivity and save ailing limbs is by using shortcuts (also known as macros) that quickly take care of repetitive actions and multi- step tasks. With the latest version of QuicKeys, Startly ‘Technologies (formerly CE Software) has added many features to its automation utility for OS X, which allows you to create shortcuts manually or with its record function. QuicKeys X3 (www.quickeys.com) features a redesigned user interface that allows you to see all your shortcut steps at once, as well as edit multiple steps at once. You can also drag and drop steps among shortcuts. ‘The new version also adds several triggers for launch- ing shortcuts. Application Event runs a shortcut based on application actions such as launching, quitting, or bringing to the front; Device allows you to assign shortcuts to specific input-device buttons; and Speech lets you speak a unique phrase into a headset or microphone to activate a shortcut. While previous ver- sions of QuicKeys let you share shortcuts with others via impo and export function QuicKeys X3 adds Public Shortcuts— a feature that lets administrators publish short- cuts for networked users. Any changes to the main shortcut list will be made each time you launch QuicKeys. Other improvements include the ability to save shortcuts as files, which you can place in and launch from toolbars or the Dock; better recording and play- back features for creating shortcuts; more-precise con- trol over the scope of each shortcut with individual applications; and the ability to use variables and simple ns in shortcuts. QuicKeys X3 costs $100, with upgrades running between $30 and $50, depending on your current ver- sion, and it's available now.—JONATHAN SEFF “GoloKeys may be the most uieutatiity own no =x SASH>8 QuicKeys X3 ‘Customize your Mac to work the way you want Ey r / wwwemacworld.com You're no longer limited by your technology. (Or your office.) Apple” AirPort® Express Apple® PowerBook" G4 with AirTunes™ Apple” iPod™ Photo + 156 PC GA processor © 802.11g wireless base station © 60GB digital music playe # 15° screen with SuperDrive Play iTunes” on your home stereo © Carry up to 15,000 songs or 25,000 photo: © Integrated AirPort” Extreme * Share DSL, cable modem or USB printers * Color, backlit screen and Bluetooth © Up to 15 hours of battery life $2495 incon @< -200™™ ; $425 Ce 5595 +3QQ ArECME 3 VEAR cow es309 DW 7107 Recommended accessory: Recommended accessory, 32644 Apple AirPort Express Stereo Connection AppleCare 2-year iPod Protection Plan kit $39 (COW 654918) $56 (CDW 562815) The Mac Solutions You Need When You Need Them. With more business happening outside the office, remote access to data is essential, That's why CDW offers mobile solutions from top name manufacturers. We also have account managers who Gn heb yu find th ight soliton fr you And wth access the cpw) |mac<Swarehouse largest in stock inventories, you'll get what you need fast. So why wait? Let CDW help free you to go wherever business takes you The Right Technology, Right Away. Wi Canada, call £00269.7005 = COW ca macwarehouse.com * 800. ALL.MACS In Canada, call 800.387.2173 * CDW.ca READERS WEIGH IN Ten predictions from the Macworld.com forums: 1. PowerBook G5s 2, Low-priced, flash-based iPods 3. 3GHz-plus Power Macs 4. Improved AppleWorks to replace Microsoft Office 5, Digital-hub hardware 6. Sony-branded iPods 7. Apple settles with the Beatles; the iTunes Music Store gets exclusive distribution 8. Dual-processor iMacs; quad-processor Power Macs and Xserves 9. Video iPods 10. More Apple Stores (mostly “mini” stores) MAC BEAT MACWORLD’S FIFTH ANNUAL LOOK AT THE YEAR AHEAD IN MACS Fortune Tellers It’s once again time for Macworld to predict what the near future holds for the Macintosh world, This year, we’ve tapped Contributing Editors Christopher Breen and Adam C. Engst, as well as Senior Writer Dan Frakes, to peer beyond the horizon at what tomorrow may bring, And this time around, we have forecasts from readers’ posts on the Macworld.com forums. If even half of these predictions come true, it’s going to be a very cool year.—JONATHAN SEFF 2005’s Most Significant New Product Breen: It's clear that the most-significant doings at Apple are coming from the digital music division. Variations on the iPod— both smaller, in the form of inexpensive iPods, and grander, in the form of color- screen and unwired iPods (Bluetooth and maybe even 802.11)—will be big news and keep the dollars flowing into Apple's coffers (and ensure Apple's domination of the digi- tal music market). Engst: An iPod-like, touch-screen—based, tablet-size Mac that can morph into a more traditional laptop shape for typing. It will be the ultimate home computer, enabling you to watch video, play music, browse the Web, keep track of your personal calendar and con- tacts, and much more, Frakes: New iPod products that extend Apple's consumer-electronics reach—a flash-memory-based iPod and an iPod with wireless con- nectivity. 2005’s Most Significant New Software Breen: Given that major Mac OS upgrades drive development of other applications, Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) will be the most significant software for the Mac. However, if you're talking about the most signifi- cant program from Apple, it's likely to be a future iteration of iTunes. Engst: | said it last year, and I'll stick to it. It darn well better be Mac OS X 10.4 this time. If not, Apple will have some explaining to do, Frakes: Tiger—better than you download video. Longhorn and a year earlier! Also, a new or updated office suite from Apple and a version of the iTunes Music Store that lets WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN? These questions are on everyone's minds—what do our experts think? When will Tiger be out? Breen: Spring 2005. Engst: I'd say the end of March, but since Apple always releases new versions of OS X on Friday nights, that would mean April 1, and there's no ‘way it'll release Tiger on April Fools’ Day. So I'm going with March 25th, 2005. Frakes: Either in March 2005 or at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) a few months later, When will Apple release a 3GHz Power Mac? Breen; Fall 2005. Engst: June 2005, Frakes: March 2005, Will there be a G5 PowerBook in 2005? Breen: Yes, in the summer, before the WWDC. Engst: Yes. Frakes: Definitely, although | think we'll see at feast one more G4-based revision first. 2005's Biggest Mac News Breen: Faster G5 proces- sors will find their way ) into all Mac models. } Engst: The iTunes Music j ! Store will incorporate streaming subscriptions to cement its position as the top y online music service. ~ Frakes: An increasing number of consumers will switch to the Mac due to frustration with Windows viruses and malware. Tiger How’d They Do? How accurate were last year’s predictions? Let's take a look. @ We've Got a Winner! © On the Right Track. @ Thanks for Playing. Try Again, Christopher Breen, ‘Adam C. Engst, Ed Rose, ‘Sdiane Adamz-Bogus Contributing Editor Contributing Editor Programmer and Astrologer ‘Mac-using Psychic @ Dual-3GHz Power Mac G5 @ Quad-processor Power Mac G5 opens up new markets for © @ Apple phone-PDA-music player © Various iTunes Music Store or Xserve Apple © Informational-kiosk OVDs improvements @ Mac 0S X 10.4 © ‘Software for collaborative creativity New product that fights terrorism © $99 iPod with removable storage Digital movies on the Mac © Emphasis on creativity, games, and fun in business using satellite technology or has something to do with space travel 18 MACWORLD February 2005 ww.macworld.com, Wanted: Control Freaks! DiskStudio” allows you to create and remove disk partitions on the fly! Want to create a new partition for games or photos? No problem. Want to get rid of that old OS 9 partition without backing up and reformatting your drive? It's easy. PodLock” is a new utility that lets you | PodLock” do cool new stuff with your iPod. Optimize the data on your iPod so it fe © works faster. You can also create a secret drive within your iPod that = allows you to keep sensitive data away ime Ate Me Pome from prying eyes. And much more! } : Visit us at MacWorld Expo January 10-14, 2005 at booth #1935 Micromat is dedicated to bringing you cool and useful utilities for your Macintosh and iPod. Our flagship product, TechTool® Pro, has helped thousands of Macintosh users keep their Macs running at their absolute best. TechTool Pro can even recover lost data and resurrect faulty disk drives. Learn more about Micromat products by visiting our website. iii Micromat Inc. 800-829-6227 707-566-3831 info@micromat.com www.micromat.com ©2005 Micromat, Inc. All rights reserved, DiskStudio, PodLock and TechTool are trademarks of Micromat, Inc. Choose 37 at www.macworld.com/getinfo: MAC BEAT Short-Term 20 MACWORLD Memory Web sites like Dropload provide temporary storage for large files. DROPLOAD AND OTHERS SOLVE FILE-TRANSFER WOES Sever Your Attachments How many times have you tried to attach a short movie or a file archive to an e-mail only to find that the intended recipient's ISP won't accept large attachments? If you're anything like me, it has happened too often. Enter Dropload (www.dropload.com), a Web site designed to make transferring large files over the Internet a snap. Dropload works like a tempo- tary, one-time Web server, holding files just long enough for someone else to come pick them up. Simply upload a file or files (as large as 100MB) using Dropload’s Web- based interface, and the site notifies your intended recipient via e-mail. Once that person downloads the file, it's deleted from Dropload’s server. The best part is that it’s free. The site is the creation of Andre Torrez and Jon Thompson. Torrez, a programmer from Long Beach, California, came up with the idea after having to upload a file to his server, e-mail the URL to a friend, and then delete the file once his friend had picked it up. “It's sort of like a giant online thumbdrive,” says Torrez. "People are still at the mercy of bandwidth and storage. For some reason, a 10MB file is still considered too large for normal channels like e-mail and instant messaging.” Dropload was launched last year, and there are now more than 72,000 registered users sending between 3,000 and 4,000 files across its servers every day. Similar sites, such as YouSendit (www yousendit.com) and SendThisFile (www.sendthis file.com), have sprung up to accomplish the same task. Some offer more storage, multiple downloads of the same file, and pay services. “I think the success of Dropload points out a failure in modern operating systems,” says Tor- rez. “There really is no reliable way to get a large file off your computer without involving FTP and Web-server space, or burning it to CD and mailing it.” Or, at least, there wasn’t a way until now.—MATHEW HONAN MAC DVD CREATOR WORKS BEFORE MOVIE IS DONE Ahead of the Game Given their complexity ry and breadth of scope, often begin production well before their movie counterparts are complete. head start gives DVD producers time to shoot and assemble bonus materials so the dise will be ready for store shelves several months after the movie opens in theaters. It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that DVD producer Robert Meyer Burnett, a self-described “Mac boy all the w: iting the set of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in ypical special-edition DVD rel ince 1984, has been vis- New Zealand, even though the film won’t be released until December 2005. Burnett’s New Ze: networking covering et the cast and crew. d setup is “Mac’d out,” complete with AirPort wireless ize of two football fields, a Cinema Di: director of photography to check color balance second unit director to use when showing dir of his shots. Burnett can even show his employe Angeles what’s happening on the set, including impromptu conve play for the and even an iSight camera for the tor Andrew Adamson the progress t Ludovico Technique in Los ations with the “Lhave Avid Xpress Pro [and Adobe] After Effects, Illustrator, and Photoshop loaded in my PowerBook,” s: work on the Ring and The right there on the s DVD on [my] Mac.”—8rap COOK February 2005 s Burnett, who knew many of the N: DVD sets for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the nia crew from his t. It’s a one-stop shop—I can start and finish all the content for a NETWORKING BEAT ‘11b USB Stick, from MacWire- less (www.macwireless.com): Wireless USB interface attaches to a Mac's USB port and includes a 7.5-inch flex extension for boosting wireless reception ($80). Broadband Router, from MacWireless (www.macwireless .com): Router features a built-in four-port 10/100baseT Ethernet switch and a WAN port for connecting to a DSL modem, a cable modem, or another broad- band interface ($50). Dave 5.1, from Thursby Soft- ware (www.thursby.com): PC- to-Mac file and print sharing program adds support for the latest Mac and Windows oper- ating systems, as well as sup- port for user drop boxes and symbolic links (pricing starts at $119, based on licenses). Keyspan Express Remote, from Keyspan (www.keyspan.com): Infrared remote control can con- nect to AirPort Express networks ($60)—comPiteD BY PHIUP MICHAELS PRODUCTIVITY BEAT 4-Sight Fax 6.0, from Soft Solu- tions (www.4sightfax.com): OS X fax server software boasts a big ‘speed improvement and adds automatic fax notification and sup- port for Address Book (contact Soft Solutions for pricing). ABDialer 2, from Macron Soft- ware (www.macronsoft,com): Phone dialer for OS X's Address Book has a new interface, as well as a global menu, dial scheduling with iCal, and Short Message Ser- vice support through iChat and AIM ($12). Delicious Library, from Delicious Monster (www.delicious-monster -com): Electronic card-catalog application lets users track books, movies, music, and video games that they own ($40). ‘StickyBrain 3.1, from Chronos (wewu.chronosnet.com): Note man- ager has a new interface modeled after Mail and featuring Safari-style tabbed notes; it can also sync with iPods ($40; upgrade, $25),—COMPILED BY PHILIP MICHAELS www.macworld.com Now compatible with both left and right brains. FAST * EASY “ACCURATE TaxCut Premium for Macintosh COMPUSA Office pzror TaxCut is now available for creative types as well as those slightly more analytical. It’s the total solution, whether your taxes are simple or complex. And it's backed by 50 years of tax expertise, which means you can consult a real live H&R Block Tax Professional online or by phone before you e-file. Plus, you can automatically transfer your federal information to your state return, saving you a ton of time. Something we think you'll like, no matter who you are. April 15th is coming. Get your copy today at the following Mac-friendly retailers, or go to www.taxcut.com/mac. Your taxes. Our expertise. H&R BLOCK’ MIGOGN=EY amazoncom OfficeMax — fiyxaccroncs and youre done TaxCut Premium for Macintosh includes one Ask a Tax Advisor session, one TaxCut State program download, and e-filing of one federal return, all free after mail-in rebates included in box. See TaxCut Premium for Macintosh box for details. (© 2008 HAA Block Dita Tax Soltis, Inc © 2008 the Kiplinger Washington Edtrs, ne TaCut sa egstered ademark of Black nancial Corporation Al other products, bands, services re ademas of hel respecte comers Tanti cen under the tems and condstions ofthe Leen agreement within the produc. MAC BEAT WHY STOP WITH U2? iPOD TIE-IN OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND Isn’t That Special? It was quite a sight last fall, seeing rock star Bono share a stage with rock-star-of-the-tech-world Steve Jobs, as the two unveiled Apple’s iPod U2 Special Edition. The $349 20GB model with a black case and a red Click Wheel may bear U2’s name (as well as the band members’ signatures, laser-etched on the back of the device), but it isn’t hard to imagine other Special Edition iPods comi: toa retailer near you. In fac understanding of the inner workings of Apple, our connections within the tech industry, and our powers of outright fabri- cation, we have a pretty good idea of the iPod SE models that will come your way in 2005. So start saving your pennies now—who knows how soon these gems will be out.—PHILIP MICHAELS z soon A Pod for the Rest of Them The Ashlee Simpson iPod 40GB iPod comes loaced with all of the ycunger Simpson's songs, but each one is sung by other people. The Artist-Formerly-and-Once- All-purple music player is identified only by an unpronounceable symbol. Ask for it by name! Again-Known-as-Prince iPod The New York Yankees iPod At $699, this pinstriped model is the most expensive of all iPods. Unfortunately, when playing a series of songs in a playlist, it has problems finishing the last song, The Eminem iPod The flip side of this iPod features some of the rap star's favorite epithets etched into the casing. The Steve Ballmer iPod —_inan effort to counter the music piracy that the Microsoft CEO claims is aided by the iPod, this digital device will play only public-domain songs such as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The Madonna iPod Inexplicably, any singer you listen to on this iPod has a fake British accent. The Janet Jackson iPod photo Just be sure not to display any of this iPod's preloaded images around an FCC commissioner. Logic Pro7 APPLE RELEASES LOGIC EXPRESS 7, LOGIC PRO 7 Sound The iTunes Music Store lets people purchase high- quality digital music. But for left-brained folks not content with just listening, Apple is here once again with help for creating content, too. With the newest major releases of its professional music-creation and audio-production soft- ware, the company shows no signs of abandoning its core group of users. Logic Pro 7 ($999) adds new software instruments. Sculpture, a component- modeling—based synthesizer, simulates the behavior of a vibrating string or bar; and UltraBeat, a drum machine, uses several different forms of sound synthesis—FM, subtractive, sample-based, and component modeling—while providing up to 25 independent drum voices and an integrated step WORLD February 2005 Off sequencer. Logic Pro 7 also includes nine new effects plug-ins, including Guitar Amp Pro, a gui- tar-amplifier simulator that re-creates the sounds of 11 popular guitar amplifiers. Logic Pro 7 also includes new mastering plug-ins, support for Apple Loops, and distributed audio processing— which allows users to share the load of processing audio effects among multiple networked Macs Logic Express 7 ($299) is a streamlined version of Logic Pro that provides a basic set of tools for students, educators, and hobbyists. Like its big sibling, it features Apple Loops support and the ability to open songs from Apple's GarageBand software. Logic Express 7 also features a studio- style mixer and movie scoring, editing, and print- ing using its music-notation editor. Logic Express 7 includes 26 software instruments and 42 effects plug-ins, as well as the Apple Loops Util- ity, which enables users to create their own Apple Loops from scratch.—Peter COHEN MULTIMEDIA BEAT AWS Guitar Tuner 2, from Alex Wilson Studios (www.alexwilson .com): Redesigned software for guitarists adds nine alternative tuning options, more keyboard shortcuts, and a three-octave note player (free; ad-free ver- sion, $1). Compression Master 3, from Popwire (www.popwire.com): Digital video-encoding software adds support for Windows Media 9 on Mac OS X and optimizes MPEG-4 support for speed and quality ($395; upgrade from ver- sion 2, free). ConvertX Personal Video Recorder, from Plextor (www .plextor.com): Hardware com- bines Elgato’s EyeTV software with Plextor's ConvertX PVR video-capture device and includes a TV tuner that works with broadcast, cable, and satellite TV ($230). FootTrack 2.0, from T-Squared Software (www.foattrack.com): Digital video-clip cataloging soft- ware adds real-time capabilities to the search function and burns to CDs and DVDs from within the application ($50; upgrade, ‘$20).—cOMPILED BY PHILIP MICHAELS INTERNET BEAT = Firefox 1.0, from The Mozilla Organization (www.mozilla.org): ‘Web browser features pop-up window blocking, tabbed brows- ing, privacy and security fea- tures, and live bookmarks with RSS integration (free). Galerie 4.0, from Myriad Soft- ware (www.myriad-online.com): Program for using images from picture sets to generate media gal- leries for Web pages adds Graphic- Converter and iView Media Pro compatibility, and support for tem- plates with multiple CSS (free). LimeWire 4.2, from Lime Wire (wvww.limewire.com): Peer-to- peer file-sharing program adds firewall-to-firewall-transfer sup- port and makes faster network connections (Pro version, $19; Basic version, free).—compiteo By PHILIP MICHAELS wwew.macworld.com ? ~ Letme take you on a trip... iTrip Quick, where do you most often listen to music? In your car, right? The easiest way to enjoy all of that music in your car is the Griffin iTrip. Snap iTrip on your iPod or iPod mini and suddenly your music is filling up your next road trip, daily commute or business trip - right through the built-in FM stereo of any car. Buy an iTrip for your iPod or iPod mini and your favorite song will always be on the radio. $3999 FM Transmitter for iPod +The only FM Transmitter designed exclusively for the iPod & iPod mini + Choose any empty station from 87.7 to 107.9, and change your iTrip stations directly from the iPod + iTrip for 4G iPods also available. Please visit us online for more information + Draws power from the iPod, no batteries ever needed-or wasted Trip mini shown, (actual size) “4 $3999 SightLight FireWire Light for iSight + Adds direct LED light to any iSight camera + Custom-designed Fresnel-based lens diffuses light to even out shadows + Auto setting automatically senses the amount of ambient room light and adjusts its output accordingly + Shares the iSight's FireWire eek \ $3999 iMic USB Audio Interface + Record your old records and tapes to play in iTunes, put on your iPod, or burn to CDs + Connect any keyboard, guitar or microphone directly to GarageBand for high quality recording + Use line level output to connect your Mac to a stereo or external powered speakers - F $3999 iTalk Voice Recorder for iPod +Turn your iPod into a digital voice recorder with thousands of hours of recording time + Automatic Gain Control assures the best possible signal level for recordings + Features internal microphone and built-in laptop quality speaker for playback * Connect an external microphone or even headphones to the built in pass-through mini jack connection on top Another great idea from (GRIFFIN Buy now at www.griffintechnology.com MAC BEAT. 24 H&R BLOCK, INTUIT UPDATE TAX SOFTWARE Pay Up It’s that time again. You'd rather not deal with it at all, but let's be realistic—it’s never too early to start thinking about your taxes. And with the latest releases out already from H&R Block and Intuit, makers of tax-preparation software for the Mac, all your good excuses are gone. In addition to being updated for changes in the tax code for 2004, each app has several improvements. H&R Block’s $40 TaxCut Premium for Macintosh 2004 (www.hrblock.com)—the onl ion of the product for the Mac—adds Life Events Advice to its interview (a series of questions the program asks so it can fill out your returns). The fea- ture helps users understand changing tax situations due to events such as marriage, divorce, and incurring a Lares | mortgage. The interview is also more concise and cus- Taxd t | tomizable. The software includes 1&R Block’s TaxCut Premiiim for Macintosh Deluxe proce: State software (normally $25) and a free federal return filing—both after rebates. Intuit’s ‘Turbo Tax 2004 (www.intuit.com) has a more streamlined and customized interview with simple ques- tions. It also makes managing multiple tax returns (for multiple family members, for example) easier. And Intuit has made updates smaller—ide: need to download the update in Feb finalizes its fora TurboTax 2004 comes Ba ———— Rew WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE DIGITAL MUSIC WORLD Listen to the Music It's time again to bring you up-to-date on some of the recent news in the digital music realm—and Mac users have reason to celebrate—mAcwonto STAFF iPODS PUSHING. MAC SA Investment firm Needham & Company Issued a report saying that Windows, users could have'100 million iPads by 2008. if only a small number of those users bought Macs, Apple's sales could surge, the report adds Similarly, a Survey Of iPod users by Securities firm Piper Jaffray found that 13 percent of PC-using iPod owners either had bought or planned to huy a Mac based on: thelr experiences with the iPod—a phenomenon known-as the halo effect {no relation to the game). MACWORLD February 2005 STORAGE BEA BravoPro Disc Publisher, from Primera Technology (www -primera.com): Automated sys- ‘tem with USB 2.0 connectivity burns and prints up to 100 CDs ‘or DVDs at a time (52 CD-R version, $3,495; 16/32 DVD+/ CD-R version, $3,995). Devideon 16x DL, from Formac (vevow.formac.us): Dual-layer DVD bumer features 16x write, 4x rewrite, and 12x read speeds for DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW for- mats and 4x speeds for the sec- ‘ond layer ($199). DVD Cruiser 16, from Alera Tech- nologies (www.buyaleratec.com): External DVD burner with USB 2.0 interface burns DVD+R discs at 16x speed, DVD-R discs at 8x, and DVD+R double layer discs at 2.4x ($199). Popcorn, from Roxio (www.roxio com): Backup utility for DVD burner-equipped Macs copies DVD-Video discs but not copy- encrypted or copy-protected DVDs ($50)—comPiten BY PHILIP WAICHAELS BEAT formZ 5.0, from Autodessys (www formz.com): Updated 3-D-model- ing app offers native OS X support and incorporates new API technol- ogy and scripting language (con- tact Autodessys for pricing). GRASS 5.4, from OpenOSX (www.openosx.com): Geographi- cal-information system software features a new user interface, datum transformations, and improved 3-D visualization ($40; upgrade, $20). ImageModeler 4.0, from Realviz (vwwrwurealviz.com): 3-D-modeling application adds a 3-D-2-D inte- gration tool for incorporating 3-D Projects into 2-D photographs ($1,380; upgrade, $520). ‘Swift 3D Xpress, from Electric Rain (www.erain.com); Plug-in for Macromedia Flash MX 2004 con- verts 2-D text and artwork into 3-D animations ($129)—compited BY PHILIP MICHAELS wevewmacworld.com / Print, Copy, Scan, Fax...and you thought you cou get any more out of your Mac. vai Paper 2%" If you're ready to get more out of your Mac*—not to mention your day— Brother Printer and Multi-Function Center* products are ready to help. With Brother laser printers, you'll be happy to know we have a full range. of monochrome or color laser models. Whether your needs are for a simple desktop or a network-ready model, each one will give you fast “output and quality to make your best work even better. Our Multi-Function Center models deliver the ultimate in printing, copying, scanning, and faxing in one compact design. If you are looking for a color inkjet model that can print from digital camera media at: up to 6000 x 1200 dpi*, or a monochrome laser model with print speeds up to ZIDEIE Brother has it. “Sono matter what kind of Mac* is in front of you, make sure you have a Brother printer or MFC at your side. x A variety of MODELS AVAILABLE AT: MacWarehouse, MacMall, MacConnection, MacZone, ‘Microcenter, CDW, Office Depot, Staples, OfficeMax, Fry's, J&R Computer World, and Apple Stores (or www.store.apple.com) and other fine resellers. At your side. © Bi International ration, NJ + Brother Industries + Feohaton Is ted a vcical by Norton © Al epaited wodomerts herr bong te pee Oey tel re mime Vt ou We se wren ‘Choose 119 at www.macworld.comigetinfo REVIEWS OUTSTANDING: $$ 96% VERY GOOD: $$ GOOD: $et FLAWED: iy UNACCEPTABLE: $ Reviews you can trust: Macworld rates only final shipping products, not prototypes. What we review is what you can actually buy. iPod Photo If It Fits Your Needs and Your Budget, This iPod Is for You BY CHRISTOPHER BREEN fter weeks of rumors about a mor colorful iPod, Apple turned con- jecture into cold, hard fact by unwrapping the iPod photo—the first of its portable music players to offer a color screen and the ability to display digital pictures and album art. Available in two configurations— $499, 40GB model and a $599, 60GB version—these new iPods fearure new graphics capabilities, as well as increased play times and the power to send photos to a television via a com- posite or S-Video cable. ‘These iPods, while pricey, area big tep forward in the device’s evolution. hough your budget might not allow for an iPod photo, you'll want one mere seconds after you pick one up. In Full Color As you might expect, the iPod photo's greatest enhancement is its 65,536- color display, Though all the colors are included primarily for the pur- pose of showing photos (you can fitas many as 30,000 on the device), the | display brightens everything about the iPod. Menus are easier to read, red calendar events really stand out, and Solitaire finally offers cards distinguishable enough to make the game playable. Even with their backlights on, other iPods look positively drab in comparison. When backlighting isn't switched on, however, the iPod photo's display can be difficult to read indoors and away from dircet light. Its display is far read outdoors. All This and More Aside from its graphic capabilities and its color screen, the iPod photo is a fourth- generation iPod. It sports the same Click Wheel controller and ports as the most- recent monochrome iPods and iPod minis. And like Apple’s other current iPods, it sup- ports FireWire and USB 2.0 connections on a Mac running Mac OS X 10.2.8 and later, and on a PC running Windows 2000 or XP. 26 MACWORLD. February 2005 — Art-full The iPod photo adds some visual flair to your tunes by showing the album art—as long as you have it in iTunes. Inside the box, you'll find everything typ- ically packed with a new iPod—FireWire and USB 2.0 cables, a power adapter, Apple's white earbuds with two sets of foam covers, and a CD including iTunes 4.7 and the latest iPod software updates. Also tucked inside are a few extra items: an iPod carrying ease; a five-foot AV cable for con- ing the iPod to a television; and a spe- | dock that includes not only the usual audio-out port but also data and power con- nectors, as well as an S-Video port for send- higher-quality video signal to a ion when the iPod is placed in its dock. (An S-Video cable is not included.) ‘The iPod photo also beh sim- ilarly to a fourth-generation iPod. its audio-only counterpart, the iPod photo will charge via USB 2.0 or FireWire and can be configured to boot your Using Apple's and calendars between a Mae and the iPod photo. And an iPod photo formatted for a Windows PC will mount on a Mac and behave almost exactly like an iPod formatted for the Mac. In addition, this model has some minor usability enhance- ments that earlier iPods don't. For example, song, artist, and album entries (Mary Chapin Carpenter, for instance) that don’t fit on the iPod photo's screen scroll across in ticker- tape fashion (instead of appearing as “Mary Chapin Carp .. .”). And this isn't just on the Now Playing screen: on the Artists, Albums, and Songs screens, too. And thanks to the new Photos d menu item, pictures you downlc from a media card via Belkin's Media Reader for iPod or Digital Cam- era Link for iPod ($#%; October 2004) now appear at the bottom of the Photos screen rather than mixed in with the other items in the Extras screen. Big Battery Charge A more-significant improvement is the iPod photo's ability to hold a charge longer than other iPods, Where other iPods can play music continuously for up to 8, 10, or 12 hours (depending on the iPod model), Apple boasts that the iPod photo offers 15 hours of continuous music and 5 hours of slide-show play. (This 5-hour figure applies to slide shows you play on the iPod's screen with the device's TV Out option turned off.) My 60GB iPod photo played music for 16 hours and 10 minutes and, after a full recharge, displayed a repeating slide show for 5 hours and 39 minutes. This was under ideal conditions—meaning that I fully charged the iPod, pressed play, and turned off the backlight, EQ, and Sound Check options. However, with the iPod photo connected to a television, the slide-show playback time dipped dra- matically—oftering only 2 hours of contin- 5 uous play. y PETER wyewmacworld.cam 26 iPod picture viewer iPod photo printers 28 Apple laptops 12-inch iBook G4/1.2GHz 14-inch iBook G4/1.33GHz with SuperDrive 31 Apple desktop Power Mac GS/1.8GHz Lexmark E332n Oki Data B4350n ‘Canon 19900 ‘Canon Pixma iP8500 es Just Browsing Use the iPod photo's browsing grid to select an image to view (device shown at actual size). Photo Prowess ‘The iPod photo display 25-thumbnail grid or as full- up most of the iPod’s two- creen of your seendathie However, if the rid has several similar digital camera’s rapid-fire feature, you'll have some trouble picking out exactly the im you want. After you switch into full- screen mode, distinguishing similar images is quite Picture navigation is a breeze. Use the scroll wheel to quickly advance through an album; a yellow selection box appears around each selected photo. ‘To move back- nd forward through an album one ¢ ata time, press the back and forward buttons on the iPod's k Wheel. Displaying a slide show is just as straight- forward. Select Slideshow Settings in the Photos sercen, and then choose the options 32 Monochrome laser Brother HL-5170DNLT Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1320n 34 Ink-jet photo printers 36 Image-editing program 44 Font utility 48 Top Products Photoshop Elements 3.0 You Control: Fonts 1.1.1 38 Web-page editor 46 USB AMIFM receiver 58 Mac Gems Seca . plage: iGlasses, Watermark, the jinting software e Game Room i Painter IX Doom 3, F/A-18 Operation traqi M310 Optical Wireless 40 Financial software Freedom, Torus Trooper, and Mouse, and PhotoBooth Quicken 2005 Vendetta Online the audio ist you want to accompany your slide show, repeat, shuffle photos, transitions, “TV Out, and TV signal (NTSC or PAL). Then click back to the Photo: pick a photo album, and press play to begin the slide show. you want—time per slide, Nearly Picture Perfect The iPod photo’s photo-synchron: and playback schemes are also intuitive. Simply connect the iPod to your com- puter, fire up iTunes 4.7 or later, open the iPod preference pane (now available within iTunes: Preferences), click on the Photos tab, and tell iTunes where to keep your pictures. And you can synchronize the iPod to your iPhoto Library (the entire thing or just selected albums) or to any folder on your computer. When iTunes synchronizes your pic- tures for use on the iPod, it converts them to a format compatible with the iPod rather than copying the original photos to the aes Though my test 1 ata lower resolution my original photos, they still looked great on my Sony television. iTunes also. lets you copy original ir ages tothe iPad, but if you do this, the iPod won't displ the images or project them to a television. This option isa convenient way to transport, not to view, images. ‘This required photo-conversion process within iTunes is where expectations and part company. ng a name like iPod photo, you may expect that when you load pictures on the iPod by other means a card reader, for mple) those pictures will be viewable on the iPod. Regrettably, this is not the case. Pictures can be viewed on the iPod photo only after ey've been processed Tunes. Potential rs should be aware | that the iPod photo isn’t meant to be a tool | As Big as It Gets In full- i screen mode, the iPod photo's | 2-inch LCD gives you a clear view of your photos. for photographers who want to preview pictures in the field. Macworld’s Buying Advice How do you know ifthe iPod photo is the right iPod for you? If the size of sllection overwhelms lower-capacity if you want to easily cart tens of thousands of digital pictures with you, if you want to dis- play those pictures on a sion without ng to lug along a computer, or if you simply have an tion for beautiful design (and can afford to indulge that appre- ciation), you'll find that the $100 ro $200 justifiable. If you can make apacity music player and are able to flash your photos with your cell phone or PDA, Apple has plenty of other iPod models that will make you happy. price increase is do with a lov RATING: 6688) PROS: Color screen is crisp; increased battery life; massive music and picture storage with 60GB model. CONS: Display too dark for some indoor lighting conditions when backlight is off; no bundled S-Video cable; expensive. PRICE: 40GB model, $499; 6068 model, $599 COMPANY: Apple Computer, vww.apple.com For tips on making the most of your iPod photo— and on taking it far beyond simply viewing photos and listening to music—see “Inside the iPod Photo” (Digital Hub), page 80. ermine REVIEWS - iBook G4s | Portables Get a Speed Boost; AirPort Extreme Now Standard BY HENRY NORR On the outside, the iBooks have scarcely changed in nearly four years, but on the inside, they just keep getting better. Apple cranked up the clock speed on all three models, made AirPort Extreme stan- dard across the line, cut the price of the entry-level model, and added a SuperDrive at the top of the line. Indeed, the Super- Drive in the top model is the only difference between the two higher-end iBooks, so we tested only the low-end model and the high- end model for this review. ‘The October update to the consumer and education portables brought the base con- figuration, priced at $1,099 since last spring, back down below the psychologically signif- icant $1,000 mark—to $999. In addition, Apple increased the speed of the G4 proces- sor from 1GHz to 1.2GHz and added an AirPort Extreme card; the 802.11 wireless network card, with a top speed of 54 Mbps, was previously a $79 option. Other specs of the entry-level model remain unchanged: it still has a 12.1-inch screen, a 30GB hard drive, and a slot-loading Combo (DVD-ROM and CD-RW) drive. The standard configuration still includes only 256MB of RAM—not enough to use OS X efficiently, in our judgment—but you can use the free DIMM slot to boost the memory to as much as 1.25GB. As before, this iBook has connectors for Ethernet (10/100BaseT), a V.92 modem, and video out, as well as two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port. In the case of the midlevel iBook, with its 14.1-inch screen (but the same 1,024-by-768- pixel resolution as the 12.1-inch model), the latest update brought no change in price—it's still $1,299. However, its processor speed has gone from 1GHz to 1.33GHz, hard-drive capacity has increased from 40GB to 60GB, and AirPort Extreme has again moved from the options page to the standard-equipment list. In other respects, the $1,299 configura- tion resembles the $999 one: 256MB of RAM, the same list of ports, and a Combo drive. Until this update, customers buying the middle iBook model from Apple's online store had the option of upgrading to a Super- Drive (CD-RW and DVD-R) for $200. No longer—now, iBook buyers who want to burn DVDs on-the-go have to choose the top-of- the-line model, in which the SuperDrive is now standard, That model, which also has a 14.1-inch, 1,024-by-768-pixel screen, is still priced at $1,499, but its G4 processor has gone from 1.2GHz to 1.33GHz, matching the midlevel model. ‘The speed bump and the addition of the SuperDrive are the only changes to the high- end model: it still comes with 256MB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, an AirPort Extreme card, and the same ports its siblings have. A Bluetooth module, providing wireless connectivity to selected mobile phones, printers, and other peripherals, remains a $50 option for customers buying from Apple's online store. As our benchmark testing suggests, the extra performance resulting from the new iBooks’ faster processors won’t blow your socks off; in fact, the differences are barely noticeable without a stopwatch. But the other improvements to the lineup make the iBooks considerably better values than they were. Macworld’s Buying Advice We've always appreciated the entry-level iBook’s compact size and relatively low price; Apple’s $100 price cut and the addi- tion of AirPort Extreme make it a better value than ever, Granted, its 30GB hard drive is a bit puny by today’s standards, but if you buy online from Apple, you can double your storage capacity for just $75. If you need a larger screen or must have DVD-burning capabilities, you'll obviously want one of the larger, pricier models; oth- erwise, we see no reason not to take advan- tage of a genuine bargain. ‘I2-INCH IBOOK G4/1.2GH2 RATING: $699! PROS: Bargain price; compact size; wireless net- working now included. CONS: Inadequate memory; small hard drive. PRICE; $999 COMPANY: Apple Computer, www.apple.com 14-INCH iBOOK G4/1,33GHZ WITH SUPERDRIVE RATII O68 PROS: Larger screen; larger hard drive; wireless net- working now included; SuperDrive. CONS: Inadequate memory; relatively bulky, PRICE: $1,499 COMPANY: Apple Computer, www.apple.com Adobe _Speedmark 3:3 Photoshop CS _ Cinema 4DXL85 Power Mac G5/1.8GHz 20-inch iMac GY/18GHe Power Mac GS/dual-1.8GHz OVERALL SCORE SUITE 165 14-inch iBook Ga/1.33GHz 12-inch iBook G4/1.2GHz 14-inch iBook G41.2GHz 15-inch PowerBook G4/1.33GHz <Better BEST RESULTS IN BOLD. REFERENCE SYSTEMS IN TAU. “With an 80GB hard ve andthe graphics cad from a new 6OOMEe bus, 1 BGHe sngle- processor Power Mac insted ‘Speedmark 3.3 scores are relative to those of a 1GHz eMac G4, which is assigned a score of 100. Cinema 4D XL, Compressor, iMovie <Better lunes, and Photoshop scores are in minutes:seconds. All systems were running Tournament 6 MP3 ENCODE FRAME RATE <Better <Better Mac OS X 10.3.5 with 512MB of RAM installed. We used iMovie to export a movie that was 1 minute and 40 seconds long to QuickTime: Email, We tested MP3 encoding with an audio-CD track that was 45 minutes Jong, converting it from the hard drive using Tunes’ High Quality serting. The Photoshop Suite testis a set of 14 scripted tasks using a SOMB fe. Photoshop's memory was set to 75 percent and History was set to Mini- mum. We used Unreal Tournament’s Antalus Botmatch average-frarres-per-second score; we tested at 2 resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels. We used Compressors Fast Encode preset. For more information on Speedmark 3.3, visit www macwold,comspeedmatk, MACWORLD LAS TESTING BY JAWES GALAN AND YK RSTEAD 28 MACWORLD February 2005 wwrw.macworld.com PHOTOGRAPH Small Business Survival Ki AccountEdge® was developed especially for Mac” platform small business owners. We've been committed to helping Mac users run their businesses since 1989, No other accounting software even comes close to AccountEdge in offering the level of features and software support for the Mac platform. With AccountEdge on your side, you'll find you have more time to concentrate on the tasks you enjoy, while having the confidence that your accounting functions are under control. It’s easy to learn, simple to use and your records will be set up correctly for your accountant, avoiding costly mistakes. ‘| AccountEdge : cin ipaaaatiat {me hase 2005 Because we've always concentrated on the Mac market, you'll find many features offered by AccountEdge 2005 that aren't found in QuickBooks®: Pro 6 for Mac. These are just a few of the advantages available from MYOB AccountEdge 2005. prams Network ton and Fete Dare to Compare AccountEdge 2005 to QuickBooks: Pro 6 for Mac are avo avellale from MYOB Import Downloaded Bank statement Sales Orders J aT for Easy Recondition Y Dees Te miseries Deel Depot UI Track Billable Time in Hours or Units V ee eeattae! L ‘Track Time Billing Write-offs Invoice/Forms Designer Na and Carryovers ¥ Sub Assembly ¥ _ Microsoft® Word Integration / Inventorytems ¥ Custom Lists for Contacts Email Purchase Orders = M4 ~ | | Multiple Currencies HF j v ali Network Ready fend Put AccountEdge to work for your business today. Call 800-322-MYOB, visit us on the web at www.myob.com/us or head down to your local Apple Store or Fry's Electronics. Mind Your Own Business. Smarter. www.myob.com/us (©2005 MYOB US, Inc. MYO and the MYOB logo ae registered trademarks of MYOB Limited Accountédge and Fetédge are registered trademarks of MYOB Technology Proprietary Limited, Mac isa registered trademark of Apple Compute, In, registered inthe US and oter counties. QuickBooks isa registered trademark of nut nc. a new magazine taking you ‘inside’ the digital music revolution. On newsstands now! Or online at www.PlaylistMag.com/order. Plus, GET YOUR FREE COPY OF THE DEBUT ISSUE Available at PlaylistMag.com! PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER BELA? Power Mac G5/1.8GHz Single-Processor Model Rounds Out the Low End BY HENRY NORR It can’t be the good, the better, or the best model, so just where does the new $1,499 Power Mac G5 fit into Apple’s pro desktop lineup? Slowest is one way to describe it. Cheapest is the other. s siblings in the cur- rent Power Mac family, the new model has only a single pro- cessor—a 1.8GHz Its frontside bus—the channel connecting the CPU to the rest of the system—operates at one-third the clock speed of the processor (600MHz). By contrast, the current dual- processor Power Macs have running at half speed (900MHz, 1GHz, or 1.25 GHz). Not surprisingly, the new machine's speed scores lag well behind the other Power Macs’ (see the benchmark chart, page 28). On some ularly with applic mized for dual proc: difference is drai dering video with \ ema 4D XL or encoding into MPEG-2 format with Apple’s Compressor takes about twice as long on the new machine as it does on the next model up. Overall, on Macworld’s Speed- mark 3.3 benchmark suite, the new Power Mac barely beat out its iMac G5 cou: that used to be the low end of the Power Mac line, the $1,999 dual-1.8GHz_ version. You get many of the advanced technologies that are common across the Power Mac GS family, including FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, an AGP 8x Pro graphics slot, a an 8x SuperDrive (CD DVD burner). But you also have to settle for some technologi and somewhat modest standard specs: an inadequate 256MB of memory, expandable to only 4GB (half the city of the wewwumacworld.com REVIEWS Y (cea \ higher-end Power Macs); an 80GB hard drive; a decent but unexciting video card (the Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB of dedicated RAM); and three expansion slots of the PCI variety, rather than the faster PCI-X slots used in the higher-end models. Macworld’s Buying Advice If you’re a graphics or video pro, or anyone who does com- putation-intensive work, the new Power Mac isn’t for you— we strongly suggest that you opt for one of the dual-proces- sor models, even if that means putting off your purchase until you can save up the price di ference. People who need an expandable desktop system but don’t require maximum per- formance—who are looking for a file server, say, or a multi- monitor instrument-control station—may see the late Power Mac attractively priced alternative. + Reguites Toatt® 6 Titeniem RATING: $89 PROS: Costs $500 less than the low- est-level dual-processor Power Mac; includes most of the advanced tech- nologies in the more expensive models. CONS: Much slower than other Power Macs; inadequate RAM and smallish hard drive; 4GB maximum r, PCI rather than PCI-X slots. PRICE: $1,499 COMPANY: Apple Computer, wwwapple.com Available ther authorizec MacMall cow) \mac<swarehouse me ZONE: For more information on our products, elgato February 2005 MACWORLD 31 To view technical specifications for this model, go to find, macworld com/0228, visit www.elgato.com REVIEWS _ Monochrome Laser Printers With So Many Features Available, Your Choices Aren't Black and White BY JAMES GALBRAITH Color |. all the printers and print great photographs, s 's’ out- put. And their xpensiv ¢ the cost per page too high for an office full of people to be printing e-mail and expense reports on a daily basis. The prices of color laser print- ers have come down considerably, but if most of the documents you print are of the gen- eral office variety—primarily text, and some graphics—the price and features of a small workgroup monochrome laser printer are ard to beat. This month, we look at four network-enabled monochrome laser printers priced at or below $500: the Brother HL- SI70DNLT, the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1320n, the Lexmark E332n, and the Oki Data B4350n. The standouts were the Brother, for having the most features and being the least-expensive printer, and the Lexmark, for its outstanding print quality. The Setup Although they're designed to support small workgroups, each of these printers is com- pact enough to be used asa single-user desk- top laser printer. The HP's cube design takes PRODUCT HL-S170DNLT Laserlet 13200 £332n* up the least amount of de: inches square. With its additional standard paper tached, the Brother is almost 14 inches high—it’s the tallest of the group by nearly 4 inches, but it should fit easily into most workspaces. The Brother and the Oki Data sport retro-conservative beige-and- , while the HP mixes in some dark for a little flair (Oki Data has also y introduced a black version of its The Lexmark makes a fashion -and-silver con- pace—about 14 printer). statement with its bla: toured case and the bright blue power but- ton on its front. Setup an¢ allation of each printer was straightforward, though we did get a little toner on our hands as we tried to install the Oki Data’s toner cartridge. The Brother, Lexmark, and Oki Data printers use sepa- rate toner-cartridge and image drums, while the HP combines these into one piece. All the printer makers offer standard and high-capacity toner cartridges; the higher- capa tridges have a lower cost per pa st at the toner costs and the number of prints each toner car- tridge can make, as reported by the printer the HP appears to have the highest cost per page—3 cents using the standard- ty RAM (MAXIMUM) 32MB (160MB) RESOLUTION* 600 x 600 1,200 « 1,200 1,200 x 1,200 32MB (160MB) 32MB (272MB) ¥ = Editors’ Choice. * Maximum hardware resolution (not interpolated by software), in dats per inch, 16MB (144me). ; tridge and 2 cents using the high-capacity version. Factor in the cost per page of the imaging drums, though, and all the printers come in at about 2 cents per page when using high-capacity cartridges. The Oki Data’s software setup was not very Mac-like. The box contained wo CDs with different part numbers but very similar descriptions and contents. And the files on the CDs were not clearly marked. For example, the PDF manual, which is named B4xUGen.pdf, was near the bottom of one CD's 74 top-level files and folders. Once turned on and connected to the net- work via Ethernet, each printer was able to automatically retrieve an IP address, All but the Oki Data worked with Apple's Ren- dezvous networking technology, which allows you to choose the printer and then view and manage it via Apple’s Safari Web browser without needing to know its IP address. The Oki Data was also configurable via a browser, but you'll need to know the IP address and then manually enter it into your browser's address bar. Each printer includes a USB 2.0 port for non-networked printin The Brother and the Oki Data also provide parallel connectors for connection to Win- dows PCs. All of the printers were easy to use. The HP, Lexmark, and Brother printers have a Ready to Print We reviewed (from left to right) the HP LaserJet 1320n, the Brother HL-5170DNLT, the Oki Data B4350n, and the Lexmark £332n, CONS Graphics had banding in gradients, ‘Slow POF print speeds; least installed RAM; graphics had banding in gradients, No duplexing option. ‘Confusing software installa- tion; flawed graphics prints; no Rendezvous support. 32 MACWORLD February 2005 www.macworld.com few buttons and indicator lights that show print-job status and alert you to paper jams and other problems. The Oki Data has an LED that shows the printer's status. Feature Presentation In terms of features, the Brother has the most complete list. Like the HP, the Brother offers a built-in automatic duplex- ing capability (for printing on both sides of a page). Although it takes longer to print in duplex mode, doing so can save a lot of paper. The Brother also comes with a sec- ond paper tray, doubling the others’ 250- page capacity, so you won't have to fill the per trays as often, and you can have two types of paper in sizes as large as legal (8 by 14 inches) available to you at the same time. You can use one tray to hold cover stock or higher-quality paper that’s suitable for presentations, and fill the second tray with less-expensive paper for every draft, printing. Additional paper tr available as options from Oki Data (a 500- sheet tray for $190) and Lexmark (a 550- sheet tray for $199). Though HP doesn’t offer an optional paper tray for the 1320n, it also sells the LaserJet 1320tn, which includes an additional 250-sheet paper tray, for $100 more. All the paper trays were standard, with easy w or smaller paper. All of these printers are PostScript Level 3 compatible and offer some form of a high-resolution print mode. ‘The HP and the Lexmark offer a 1,200-by-1,200 resolu- tion, the Oki Data can print ata resolution of 600 by 1,200, and the Brother is a 600- to insert envelopes www.macworld.com TEXT QUALITY Brother HL-5170DNUT Excellent Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1320n Excellent Lexmark £332n Excellent Oki Data B4350n Excellent BEST RESULTS IN BOLD. A jury of Macworld editors looked a Good, Flawed, or Un and a 4-page PDF doc 1,200) for both tests —, at 1,200 dpi. Due to WORLD LAB TESTING AY TEFFY KM Juried Results ¢ Oki printer's Timed Results GRAPHICS 10-PAGE WORD 4-PAGE POF QUALITY DOCUMENT DOCUMENT Good 0:3 2:10 Good 0:35 a 3:19 Very Good ey 0:35 a 1:09 Flawed 0:35 1:00 <Better <Better by-600-dpi printer that claims to provide 1,200-dpi-like print quality through hard- ware interpolation. Mono a Mono If you've ever tried printing something our at the last minute before running into a meeting, then you know that a printer's speed is important—you don’t want it to take its sweet time spitting out your docu- ment. We tested the print speeds of cach printer using their default amounts of RAM. The all-around fastest printer in this group was the Oki Data. It was able to print our 10- page Microsoft Word test document in just 35 seconds and our 4-page PDF file in 1 minute. The HP, the Lexmark, and the Oki Data tied for first place in the Word test, but the Li k took about 9 seconds longer than the Oki Data in printing the PDF doc- ument. The HP came ina distant last on the PDF test, taking three times as long as the Oki Data to complete the task. The Brother Editors’ Choice The Lexmark £332n led this pack of printers. took the longest to print the Word docu- ment, but it finished the PDF about minute faster than the HP did. Each of the printers came with 32MB of RAM, except for the HP, which came with 16MB. This may explain its slowness when printing the PDF document. You can add much more RAM to any of these printers, which should make printing large files with lots of PostScript data Fine Prints A strength of laser printers is the sharp, clear text they produce, and none of these print- ers failed to impress. A jury of Macworld edi- tors found that each of the four printers produced excellent text. One editor thought that the Lexmark’s text was too heavy, but the majority found the density very appea ing. The jury was a little more split when rating the printers’ graphics output. ‘The Lexmark received the highest marks for its ability to produce fine, curved lines and smooth gradients. ‘The Lexmark’ prints were still darker than the others, but most jurors thought that this helped to create depth and enhanced printed photos. The HP and the Brother earned Good ratings. They both had more vertical banding in the gradients and