Macworld0712December2007

) Create a Digital Photo Studio p. 106 1 y 1X www.macworld.com December . iPod uyin cue fe Top Gear for wl Mac Fans p. 76 Compact Digital Cameras p.38 $6 | $699us/$799Canada——| 9 Can. LL ommeavey"uerea an | 06924 es EPSON EXCEED YOUR VISION Now your ideas can look as good in your hand as they do in your head. The Epson Stylus® Pro 3800 and 4880. Your perfect design deserves a perfect print. The creative process can be exciting. It can also be frustrating. Because eventually, you have to find @ way to get all those wild ideas out of your head and onto paper. Designed to meet your highest standards, the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 and new 4880 with Vivid Magenta UltraChrome K3™ ink technology are loaded with features that will showcase your hard work and deliver the highest print quality. Imagine that. For more information on the full line of Epson printers, call 800.241.5373 or visit proimaging epson.com. $1,495 Epson Stylus Pro 3800 $2,495 New Epson Stylus Pro 4880 Professional Edition* ColorBurst Edition* Wesoanre 2 He, @ Maintain your Mac like a Pro. The complete Macintosh problem solving utility. Now for both Intel and PowerPC Macs. Why throw away your money ona multitude of utilities that force you to learn different interfaces and deal with a variety of companies and/or different products? Micromat gives you everything you need in one box-for far less money. TechTool Pro is a complete Macintosh repair shop in a box. In fact, it’s so good that Apple includes a copy of its sibling, TechTool Deluxe, in its AppleCare Protection Plan. If you experience freezes, kernel panics, or other problems, TechTool Pro can help you get your computer running smoothly again. Nothing else even comes close to TechToo! Pro! Use TechToo! Pro for: i | i « oe 2 S$ a \ 7”, Diagnostics and Repair ® Clock “) Ensure that your computer keeps running its best. e > 5 feN tas % © Hrewire Optimization s “f ® Enhance the overall performance and simplify file layout of your hard drives. =A © Main Memory -B:; Data Recovery e = Recover important data from corrupted hard drives. ia ee @ Mathernatics > — Safety @ Network Protect your computer and hard drives automatically in the background. * » (© Processor ’ eDrive s wp > = Create an emergency startup partition so TechTool Pro is always available. os ae 6) TechTool Pro is a feature-packed release of the most comprehensive diagnostic, repair, >| © Video Memory and maintenance utility of all time! A must-have Macintosh application, this utility from ’ Ka) ‘ » Micromatis truly the one indispensable product you need to ensure your Mac is always trouble free. e Also Fromm Mik ‘at / Micromat, Inc,, 5329 Skylane Blvd, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, USA |B diskstudios & \@# 800-829-6227 707-566-3831 info@micromat.com www.micromat.com i} TechTool Protege Mac Lneensseed (©2007 Micromat, Inc Al righty reserved Techiloo! is aregntered D asemar kof Micromal in DskStuhoand Protege are trademarks of Micromat inc Macworld iPhone photograph courtesy of GelaSkins; allother photography by Peter Belanger CONTENTS December 2007 20 26 28 33 36 38 48 52 Fromthe Editor’s Desk Don't blame Apple alone for its recent missteps. Feedback Readers respond. One Price Fits All? Some companies are pushing for changesto the iTunes Store. Adobe Turns 25 Software company hits big birthday milestone. Universal Office 2008 Onthe Way Microsoft is set for Macworld Expo release date. Hot Stuff Check out the cool products we'reinto right now. Pocket-Friendly Compact Cameras We reviewa bevy of compact point-and-shoot digital cameras that aim to combine advanced picture-taking capabilities with a dash of style. macworld.com/reviews Were constantly reviewing the latest Mac hardware and software on Macworld.com. Here are quick summaries of this month's online exclusives. Top Products Looking for a new printer, monitor, digital camera, or other hardware? Check outour current favorites, as well as a complete listing ofall current Macs and iPods. Mac Gems Rename your screenshots, convert your DVDs into files youcan play on your digital devices, play some Sudoku,and make your VPN experiencea little more user-friendly. December 2007 Macworld S December 2007 62 76 91 100 104 106 108 110 12 132 COVER STORIES iPod Evolution We review Apple’s iPod classic, redesigned nano, and newtouch models, and putthem tothetest. Cool Mac Gear The latest gear and coolest gadgets to please everyone onyour list this season—including you. FEATURE The Smart Blogger’s Guide Whether it’s your first blog or your tenth, we'll help you find the perfect home and add-ons for it. Working Mac Forget juggling hard drives and disks. Use an online backup service to save your data off-site. Playlist Smart playlists can helptameyour iTunes library, iPod, and iPhone. Hereare ten of our favorites. Digital Photo Close-ups of small objects can makea big impact. Allyou needis your point-and-shoot camera, a lamp, paper, anda cardboard box. Mobile Mac IFyour AirPort network is acting up, the problem could be interference. Here’s howto diagnose and solve the problem. HELP DESK Mac OS X Hints Add images to Numbers spreadsheets, try cool dictionary tricks, view photo books onscreen, automatically update podcasts,and more. Mac 911 Keep certain iWeb pages hidden, copy keychains, clear out Safari's memory, and more. BACK PAGE Spotlight jat was the year that wasn‘t:a look back at 2007. iPhone Superguide For iPhone tips, checkoutour MacworldiPhone Superguide (macworld.com3038),andstay intouch withour iPhone Central blog (iphone macworld.com). 6 Macworld December 2007 RP Coo! Mac Gear MACWORLD.COWM’S TOP 5 Thetops stories on Macworld.com are: Apple Event—Live Coverage Here’s our blow-by-blow update of Apple’s revamped iPods and iPhone pricecut (1 ). The Stage Is Set for Apple’s Event Check out our preview of Apple’s September 2007 special event ( ). iPhone Unlockers Lining Up iPhone hacks make it possible to skirt AT&T contract requirements (( 4 ). Apple Plans Special Event on September 5 Did we mention that Apple special event (: )? AirPort Extreme Base Station with Gigabit Ethernet Apple unveils a speedier, much-improved Base Station (Ranking validas of September 24, 2007) Perfect printers for those who know the predictable choice isn’t necessarily the best choice. Welcome to Plan b. Up to 21ppm HL-4040CN HL-4070CDOW MFC-9440CN Network Ready Color Laser Printer Wireless Color Laser Printer Color Laser All-in-One $399° $499° $699 Available at: O'fice D: C Connecti "Estimated strvet price, dealer price may vary. ‘pages per minute ) 2007 Brother International Corporation, Bridgewater, NJ Brother Industries, Lid. Nagoya, Japan F ujitsu ScanSnap. It’sa SNAP. Why push paper when you can push a button? Free yourself with the new ScanSnap S510M scanner, the most powerful solution in its class for turning paper into electronic documents. Since the Fujitsu ScanSnap comes preloaded with Adobe® Acrobat® 8.0 Professional (a $449 value), one touch of a button is all it takes to turn double-sided documents into searchable PDFs, ideal for storing, protecting and sharing documents. And you'll be doing it fast. Native support for the new Intel® chipset delivers a blazing 18 pages per minute scan speed. All this and it’s small enough to fit where your inbox used to be. So get rid of paper and get back your cool with the Fujitsu ScanSnap. It’s a snap! Visit us at http://us.fujitsu.com/scanners/96C5 and tell us how you'll ScanSnap. You might win a $100 American Express gift check. ree) ‘$5 FUJITSU THE POSSIBILITIES ARE INFINITE hema i ian GE Service and maintenance option also available. cow) Insight. Mac Mall © 2007 Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. All rights reserved. Fujitsu and the Fujau logo are registered trademarks of Fujitsu Ltd. Adobe and Acrobat are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States andlor other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners The Company You Keep Why Appleisn’t solely responsible for its recent missteps pple is no stranger to criti- cism. For years many colum- nists and analysts have bashed the company for failings both real and imagined. But recently, the criticism has been coming from many writers and users who usually defend Apple. Ringing or Screaming? Take ringtones. When the iPhone was first released, Steve Jobs called it “the best iPod we've ever made.” But initially it wouldn't let you use songs in your iTunes library as ringtones. Predictably, within a month or two of the iPhone's release, a few enter- prising folks had created programs that would let you add your own sound files to the iPhone as ringtones. Then Apple itself seemed to get onboard, announcing that iTunes 7.4 would allow you to turn songs into iPhone ringtones. But there was a catch: you could cre- ate ringtones only from certain songs bought on the iTunes Store, and even then you'd have to pay 99 cents a pop on top of the song’s purchase price. To make matters worse, Apple released an iPhone software update that, according to the developers of those third-party iPhone ringtone utilities, purposely (albeit temporarily) broke their products. Let’s not put too fine a point on it: the entire iPhone-ringtone issue rep- resents one of the most consumer- unfriendly actions Apple has ever taken. For a company that has care- fully (and brilliantly) walked the line between consumer freedom and the piracy paranoia of the record compa- nies, the sequence of events was § breathtaking—and worrying. What's troubling is not just that I'm tuck using “Old Phone” as my iPhone © ring instead of, say, my daughter's laughter. It’s that Apple's moves seemed arbitrarily contrary to the inter- © ests of its customers, It’s as if the com- = pany had abolished iTunes support for XGRAPH B Recently, criticism has been comi fromwriters an users who usually defend Apple. MP3s or prevented iPods from playing videos not purchased from iTunes. But I don't think Steve Jobs has trad- ed in his black turtleneck for a Darth Vader mask. Ever since it launched iTunes, Apple has been forced to bal- ance the interests of its customers and those of the record companies. And with the iPhone, Apple is contractually bound to another corporate entity— AT&T, its exclusive wireless carrier. It seems pretty evident to me that either the record companies, or AT&T, or both have demanded that Apple not let iPhone customers use their own sound files as ringtones. Why? | imagine it has something to do with creating a con- trolled market that they can milk for as much revenue as possible. The iPhone’s Future Breaking ringtone programs wasn't the most controversial thing that the iPhone software update 1.1.1 did. It also introduced a locked-down secur- ity system that killed third-party iPhone software. With this update, Apple was dis- abling phones whose owners had hacked them to accept SIM cards from networks other than AT&T's. Before releasing it, Apple issued a public statement that it could damage SIM- unlocked phones. Those people who updated despite the warning screamed bloody murder. But the same security system that turned SIM-unlocked iPhones into shiny black bricks also temporarily closed off the ability to run third-party iPhone programs. Was the iPhone software update the company’s attempt to lock out programmers from developing full-blown, native iPhone programs? I don't think so. I believe the day will come when Apple will allow devel- opers to write software for the iPhone, but right now the company is too distracted to figure all that out. After racing to release the iPhone, the com- pany has had to turn to putting the finishing touches on Mac OS X10.5 (Leopard). Once Leopard arrives (and it should be on store shelves by the time you read this or very shortly thereafter), it will be interesting to see where Apple turns its focus next. The iPhone could really benefit from the participation of outside pro- grammers. Even the rudimentary iPhone hacks written this summer showed just how much cooler it could be with add-on programs. Why should Apple have to shoulder the burden of programming for the iPhone all by itself? As with the Mac, a community of talented developers stands ready and willing to make the iPhone even more appealing and versatile than it is already. I hope they're given the chance—and well before the iPhone reaches its first birthday. © Whatareyour favorite products of the year? Votein our annual Readers’ Choice Awards by visiting macworld.comy3145- December 2007 Macworld 9 ©) (kn MacMall is the *1 Apple Direct Reseller! EW iPod touch, iMac & Ind Shippi L @r iPod touch features the same revolution- ary multi-touch interface as the iPhone! 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Engst Jin 1 Contributing Editor Cathy L Contributing Lab Analyst Jerry Ju Contributing Copy Editors Gail Neison-Bor Production Consultant Jennifer We Contributing Photographer Pet Director, Web Design Jason Bight Media Specialist, Online Designer, Ontine Absent Friends: John J U.S. Mail Macw scriptions Department Vor edkeral and advertising contact Intormsnans plone turn the page. December 2007, Volume 24, Issue 12 VO yvu y UA VVC! U / / Is it possible to think outside the box when you're And it's Anthro’s built-in modularity that helps you working in one? Absolutely. Here our Fit System it kh do things with furniture you never thought possible. are creatively configured so you can work in exactly . So for a workstation that fits you exactly, contact the way that fits your style. 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Visit www.projectx.com to download your FREE trial today Macworld Come experience BEST Project X at OF SHOW Macworld 2007: ; : Booth 1912 Available at select Version 1.1.2 Now Available Apple stores OMARWARE: 16 Macworld December2007 OWC Mercury Elite™ Pro RAID Rack Mount SATA-II Storage Enclosure Ideal for applications requiring high data throughput, availability, and flexibility in configuration. www.macsales.com/raid © RAID 0 & JBOD mode for customizable configuration. © Host Interface: 2 set of Firewire® (800) 1394b & USB 2.0. © Supports 3 Different Configuration Modes. ) Up to 4.078 in storage capacity. © 2 sets of dedicated Firewire channel for ultimate performance. 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Whether you're on the"To” or the “From” side of the list, it's a great idea to add accessories to the mix. At Dr. Bott, we have plenty of products to help you create the complete gift package. Amplifi 2.1 Sound System Sport Grip for iPhone ({ BELKIN. Jawbone’ iS2 Waterproof Housing TuneBase FM Elega Pouch for iPhone Bluetooth Headset Submerge and control Uses ClearScan technology A hand-crafted leather case Eliminate background your iPod shuffle 2G. to find the clearest signal. with velvet lining. noise during iPhone use. Dr. Bott distributes compelling Mac, iPod and iPhone products to resellers worldwide. Find a reseller at http://www.drbott.com/local + Or call 800.541.1167 Check out Dr. Bott's Reseller Blog at http://www.drbott.com/blog FEEDB iPhone: The Readers Speak Reactions to our coverage of Apple’s iPhone. Plus: Quicken alternatives. Meeting the iPhone I was surprised at one major omission from your review of the iPhone (“Meet the iPhone,” September 2007): its lack of a voice-dialing feature. I love the look and the interface, but for those of us who often have to make calls while on the road for business, the inability to place a call simply by speaking the number or the contact’s name is a seri- ous weakness. Until I can make a call without taking my hands off the wheel (as you can with most other new phones), I'll have to hold off. * Chris Watson In your review of the iPhone, you didn’t mention its biggest negative: you can't replace the battery by yourself, and Apple rips you off $75 to do it. (And you don’t have a phone until Apple ships it back.) I’ll wait to buy the iPhone until I can change my own battery, thank you. |! Bob Kocher It is amazing that with all the ink you used on your iPhone coverage, you 20 Nncworld December2007 Hands-On with Breakthrough left out the biggest drawback to the iPhone: its [cell phone] carrier. Apple needs to open the iPhone to work with other carriers. Until it does, there will be many potential consumers (like me) who will reject the iPhone, no matter how many bells and whistles it has. {= Doug Lindsay OVERHEARD ON THE FORUMS White, black, and aluminum have had their day. Bring back those wacky gumdrop iMac days with Bondi blue and flower power! MacTel macworld.com/3065 iPhone definitely gives me a+3 charisma stat bonus. swartzfeger macworld.com/3064 Please don’t get me wrong. I love my new iPhone. I think it is worth every penny. However, I disagree with some- thing you said in your September issue: “It’s also a full-featured iPod.” Not true. My iPod (an old, second-generation model) includes EQ and voice memos, and can accept files as an external hard drive; the iPhone doesn't and can’t. You also quoted a buyer as saying “Today, I've got three things in my pocket. Tomorrow, I'll have one.” Again, not true for me. The iPhone is missing critical PDA features; you can't, for example, search for items in Calendar, Contacts, and Notes. The iPhone's potential is exciting, but it won't be a valid PDA replacement until it at least includes some way to search. (* Joe Belotte I read John Gruber’s Spotlight column about the iPhone in your September edition (“The New Frontier,” September 2007) with incredulity. His contention that a mouse is more precise than my fingers made me snort with derision. Unlike John, I have a lot of respect for my fingers. I think they’ re fabulously precise. And they should be: nature's been working on them for a few billion years (a bit longer than Steve Jobs and his team have been working on the Mac graphical interface). My mouse pro- vides me with the equivalent of a single fingertip, with which I am expected to do everything. This is worse than inade- quate—it's hopelessly limiting. © Colin Bisset Quicken Pros and Cons While Quicken for Mac (“Smart Money,” September 2007) is probably an adequate program for most people, it is simply inadequate for small business use. You didn’t mention the most useful alternative: running Quicken Home and Business (available only for Windows) Bamboo Fun includes full editions of valuable creative software to help get your creative juices flowing. Edit photos with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements. Create artwork with Corel® Painter™ Essentials. And apply photo effects with Nik® Color Efex™ Pro. Bamboo Fun is available in a variety of colors and sizes, www.BambooFunPenfTablet.com/MWM Wacom at} ay amazoncoy «= COMPUSA FEEDBACK in Parallels. It’s a perfect combination: I can bring a terrific accounting system over to my machine of choice, the Mac- Book Pro (and I can finally get rid of my last PC). (= Dan Beach The author actu- ally did make that very suggestionin the original draft of his story, but we cut it for space reasons. Apolo- giesfor the omis- sion.—Dan Miller I was surprised to see that you recom- mended Quicken Home Inventory in your otherwise good feature about Quicken tricks. In my experience, Quick- en Home Inventory is a complete piece of junk. It is mind-numbingly slow and it constantly crashes. I do not understand why Intuit ever released this program. (* WillWindham I was disappointed not to see In2M’s Web-based accounting program Mvelopes Personal (www.mwvelopes.com) included in “8 Great Quicken Alterna- tives.” Mvelopes is based on the enve- lope method of budgeting, in which you set aside money for expenses in virtual envelopes—a proactive way to make sure your money goes where you intend before you spend it. Mvelopes is a sub- scription service, but it's inexpensive (about $u a month) and offers a free 30-day trial. I've tried many of the apps mentioned in your article, and for inter- face and features, I like Mvelopes best. ( Frank Piacitelli After converting to the Mac (thank good- ness) after 25 years of using PCs, I found that Quicken for Mac made a mess of my Quicken for Windows data files. But Reilly Technologies’ Moneydance ($30; www.moneydance.com) made the con- version flawlessly. I have found it a very easy and intuitive program to use, com- plete with automatic daily updates of stock and mutual fund prices. I’m sorry, but Gina Trapani missed the boat on this one—Moneydance is easily a “top 8” financial program alternative to Quicken. ‘© Joe Henderson 22 Macworld December2007 I recently went through the (surprisingly difficult) process of finding a replace- ment for the venerable MacMoney (which, alas, never made the transition to OS X). I evalu- ated several of the apps you reviewed, but the one I ultimately chose was con- spicuous in its absence. Nano Software's Accounts ($35; www.nano.com au) is an inex- pensive, elegant double-entry accounting application. It has some features (such as numbered accounts) and a few limita- tions (no linking to online accounts) that might not suit all users. But it offers the essentials of personal or small-business accounting with simplicity and aplomb. (* Steven Naylor Where’s My Mac? In “GPS for the Mac” (Mobile Mac, Sep- tember 2007) you say, “I’ve tested Garmin's MapSource software on Paral- lels, with a handful of current Garmin GPS units, and it worked just fine.” This might have been true before the latest Parallels upgrade, but now a problem with Parallels’ USB drivers keeps the Garmin unit from working with Parallels. This happens with several hardware com- binations and there’s no workaround. (= Sami Kulju You might want to also mention the excellent GPSNavX ($60; gpsnavxcom) software, which I've used for years. For marine navigation, it’s superior to pro- grams costing hundreds of dollars more. (| Loren Beach I have two Garmin GPS units, the niivi 350 ($537; www.garmin.com) and GPSMap 76CSx ($482). The 350 has been very simple to use with my Mac; it shows up as a mass storage device, so it's simple to drag things into and out of it. The 76CSx, on the other hand, has been a real pain. I attempted to load maps onto it from Windows XP Pro (via Parallels Desktop 2.0) on an Intel Mac Mini with no luck. ‘© Mark Winchester How often do you reuse the same password for different Web sites? AModest Proposal In his September 2007 column (From the Editor's Desk), Jason Snell noted that Maavworld is “a magazine focused on everything Apple—not just the Mac.” Here is an idea: Apple recently changed its name to Apple Inc. since it now does more than just computers. Perhaps it’s time to change the name of your mag- azine to Apple World. If you want to extend my subscription for a few years for suggesting it, that would be cool. Dan Losinger Contact Us ‘© Post comments on our forums (www.macworld.com);send them by mail tol" Letters, Macworld, 501 Second Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco,CA94107; or sendthem by e-mail to letters@macworld.com. include areturn address and day- time phone number. Duetothe high volume of mail we receive, we cant respond personallyto each letter. Wereserve therighttoedit allletters and posts. All published letters and forum comments becomethe property of Macworld, Tune into TV on your Mac eyetv watch record edit enjoy Watch, pause and rewind television on your Mac. Search and record TV shows with EyeTV's $bb6; integrated Program Guide. Edit out unwanted content and burn your recordings to DVD*. Turn your ‘SRP $149.95 Mazc into a source of custom content for your iPod®, Apple TV™ and iPhone™. Sit back, and enjoy. Wi-Fi access for iPhone and iPod touch w Analog/Digital TV Tuner Stick Stream EyeTV recordings straight from your Mazc to an iPhone or iPod touch over a local Wi-Fi network. 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How changes to iTunes pricing policy may affect you BY MACWORLD STAFF hoppers perusing the virtual S aisles of Apple’s iTunes Store this holiday season can expect the usual influx of new TV show episodes and the latest movie releases. But the studios providing that video content to iTunes hope to see some- thing else arriving at Apple's online store—more flexible pricing for their digital wares. Such a change would be a dramatic shift for Apple, which has followed a one-price-fits-all approach to iTunes offerings since the store made its debut in 2003. Standard music downloads cost 99 cents per track, and individual TV show episodes sell for $1.99. Fea- ture-length movies do come with differ- ent prices, but even there the model is 26 Nncworld December2007 fairly rigid—older movies sell for $9.99 while new releases cost $14.99 (or $12.99 for preorders). There are a few exceptions—episodes of the PBS series Nova cost $7.99 at iTunes, for exam- ple—but by and large Apple has stuck to its pricing guns. There are indications, however, that the networks supplying programming to iTunes are beginning to bristle at the store’s pricing policies. And Apple faces stiffer competition in the video arena than in digital music, where its online dominance has made iTunes the third-largest music retailer behind brick-and-mortar operations Wal-Mart and Best Buy. As a result, the company may have to adopt a more flexible atti- tude toward video. ORANGES! L Differing Opinions The issue first came to a head in late summer when NBC Universal and Apple reached an impasse in contract talks to keep selling programs such as The Office and Heroes on the iTunes Store. Apple claimed that NBC wanted it to “pay more than double the wholesale price” for TV episodes, which Apple says would have pushed user costs to $4.99. NBC coun- tered that it wanted more-flexible pricing. In the end, Apple said that it would stop selling NBC Universal shows at iTunes, though as of this writing, the store con- tinued to offer NBC programs, including at least one new fall series shown on NBC but produced by another company. The dispute hasn't spread to other net- works—CBS CEO Les Moonves said that his network liked “our relationship with iTunes,” while Fox took the step of offer- ing free downloads of its shows’ season premieres via Apple's online store. But a report in Variety suggests that the issue of pricing is far from settled. The entertainment-industry trade publication reported in September that Apple is pushing for 99-cent downloads of TV episodes in an effort to spur an increase in video sales. Studios are lukewarm to the idea, according to the report, fearing that low-cost downloads might cut into the lucrative sales of DVD box sets for TV shows. Apple certainly has plenty of incentive to boost downloads of TV shows at the iTunes Store. Through it the company has sold more than 3 billion songs, com- pared with 95 million TV shows. To put that figure in perspective, Apple sold its But some TV networks see lower pric- ing at iTunes as a way to get Apple to agree to some degree of flexibility. The Variety report notes that while studios may resist the idea of 99-cent down- loads for TV episodes, some would go along with it for older shows and episodes if Apple were to agree to tiered pricing that would allow them to charge more for premium programs. Customer Experience At least one analyst believes that would bea mistake for Apple. “The consumer is used to having a fixed price, and that’s the way it should be,” says Phil Leigh, president of Inside Digital Media. While Leigh sees room for low- ering prices on older digital content, he believes that “with a few exceptions, they should be at a fixed price.” Networks are beginning to bristle at the store’s pricing policies. 100 millionth song about 15 months after the store launched; TV shows have been available at the store for two years. With plenty of room for its video download business to grow, Apple also sells many devices for storing and view- ing that content. The company recently revamped its entire iPod line, giving video-watching capabilities to the nano, boosting storage capacity on the original iPod (now called the iPod classic), and adding the wide-screen iPod touch, whose raison d’étre would seem to be video viewing. (For our review of the new iPods, see “iPod Evolution” on page 62.) Earlier this year, Apple launched two other video-capable devices, the iPhone and the Apple TV. More downloads of lower-priced pro- grams that are then delivered to Apple- built devices makes business sense for Apple. But does it for the studios sell- ing the shows? For some, the answer appears to be no—indeed, in discussing the network's impasse with Apple, NBC Universal spokesman Cory Shield criticized iTunes pricing as “designed to drive sales of Apple devices, at the expense of those who create the content that make these devices worth buying.” Leigh says that sales could drop if users can’t count on a fixed fee. “Vari- able pricing would deter consumers from the comfortable relationship they have with [iTunes],” he says. The customer experience has been at the forefront of a lot of Apple's strategic decisions with iTunes, The company has resisted a subscription-based approach, arguing that its customers would prefer to own, not rent, their digital music. But Apple has also shown a willing- ness to adjust pricing in return for other concessions from content providers. Take iTunes Plus, a service launched ear- lier this year, Customers pay $1.29 per music track—3o cents more than a regu- lar iTunes download—and in exchange, they get a song that’s encoded at a higher bit rate and free of digital rights manage- ment restrictions. It’s not hard to imag- ine Apple adopting similarly flexible pricing in its video offerings if such a move would help it meet other goals— like getting more content onto iPods, iPhones, and Apple TVs. Will Apple make that decision? Will its TV network partners play along? It's a drama that could rival any program you wind up downloading from iTunes. Amazon.com Launches MP3 Service Indirect competition with iTunes, Amazon.com announced the public beta of Amazon MP3,anewservice offering digital music downloads in MP3 format, unencumbered by digital rightsmanagement restrictions, The 256-Kbpsfiles are compatible with any digital music player, including the iPod, and will work onMacs,PCs, and any other devices capable of playing MP3 files. Amazonis introducing the service witha library of more than 2 million songs frommorethan 180000 artists, including iTunes Store holdout Radio- head. Amazon MP3offers the top 100 songs for 89 centseachandthetop 100 albums for $8.99, with other songs priced at 99 cents and most albums priced from $5.99 to$9.99. Apple Releases Logic Studio Audio professionals have a newtool set in Logic Studio,a suite of applications from Apple thatincludes Logic Pro8 andanew program called MainStage. Logic Studio also includes Soundtrack 2,and the company slashed the price to$499— half of what it cost to buy Logic Pro7by itself. Among the changes in Logicisa single-windowinterface andnewaudio- productiontoolssuchas Quick Swipe Compingand dynamicchannd strip Creation. MainStage turns your Mac into alive performance rig, usinga display designedfor distant viewing in dim light. Rounding out Logic Studiois acollec- tion ofsounds andutilities. Studio Sound Library features content from the five Jam Pack collections andFinal Cut Studio 2, fora total of 18,000 Apple Loops,1,300EXSinstruments,and 5,000 soundeffects. Production utili- tiesinclude WaveBurner, for CDmas- tering; Compressor 3, for surround- sound encoding;and Impulse Response, for capturing the acoustics of real per- formance spaces. December 2007 Macworld 27 PRODUCT WATCH MAC BEA BUSINESS Adobe idSoftware ———~ Unveils Rage Turns 25 nae simultaneous Where would we be Le Soe i indows,an\ without the software cartes giant? idSoftware's Rage is builtonanewgame engine magine a world without Photoshop Three years later, in 1985, desktop calledid Techs, and the company has i or PDF—or even without digital publishing was unleashed when reportedly been at work on the game fonts, desktop publishing, and the Wamock and Geschke teamed up with for the past year anda half. Rage com- ability to print graphics on a desktop Steve Jobs to create the Apple Laser- bines elements offirst-person shooters printer. In other words, imagine a Writer with Adobe PostScript—a and driving, Its set ina postapocalyptic, world without Adobe. printer based on their computer lan- Rigo WAC ODE CIR ONIN ome ated in the southwestern United States. As Adobe Systems celebrates its 25th | guage and designed to take advantage SehRCa iid comunderardehier anniversary, it's important to recognize —_ of the Mac’s graphic interface. Paul Cece eA GCL told the the hiack the how much Adobe is responsible for Brainerd of Aldus then contributed a Pcbiceec acer the way we communicate today. Back PageMaker page-layout software, which hock s i PAR mee thatid wanted todosomething differ- in 1982, two enterprising and talented showed off the LaserWriter’s smarts. entfrom past games like Doom3and computer scientists left Xerox PARC The rest, as they say, is history. Quake IV, which emphasize cramped to form their own company. John These days, publishing with a per- hallwaysand dimlylit environments. Warnock and Chuck Geschke had been _ sonal computer is a given. It's so “We've got lots of bright, sunny out- working on a computer language that entrenched in our professional culture doors,” he said. would enable the printing of smooth that the term desktop publishing is detailed graphics, liberating graphic quaint and outdated. Guitar Hero lil designers from X-Acto knives and Adobe has had its share of missteps Aspyr Mediais Rubylith. (It's a testament to Adobe's (PageMill, anyone?), but a company Planningto release impact to think how few designers doesn’t become the second-largest aMac version of today even know what Rubylith is.) software company in the world with- Guitar Hero Il; They named the company Adobe Sys- out testing new concepts and aban- Legends of Rock, tems after Adobe Creek, which ran doning the ones that don't work. the latescedtion through Warmock's backyard, and set Overall, however, Adobe has had Soran rd i etter up shop first in a spare bedroom and more successes than failures, and we Rasta ats ees =) then ina small building in Mountain are the beneficiaries of that record that looks like areal Gibson guitar View, California. of excellence.—PAMELA PFIFFNER (onlysomewhat smaller). You haveto coordinate your movements on the WI DG ET (@) F T H E M Oo N T KH guitar with what's happeningon screen, and the doseryoutimeyour Tesora crecre__7on rae if you frequently schedule phone meetings or con- peas Gutter Hero llusesecou Bae ferences across timezones, Terry Brett’s Time- Honolulu 6:15 A track of more than 7o well-known Scroller (donations accepted) canhelpyou finda New York 42:15 fockanc-rollsones The pamewhich mutually agreeable time. Enter the names of partici- pants’ cities, and then use the slider at the bottom London S215% Te eens ete aes Hines his, re r- of thewidget tosee thecorresponding timethere Cairo 7A om a features cast of 73 playable chat (www.timescroller.com).—DANFRAKES ————— CRESS CES HARDWARE Wear VRg20, from Vuzix (ww ‘TDP-EX20U, from Toshiba (vow ‘TuneBase FM, from Belkin (wwe Fusion R80oRAID, fromSonnetTech- _-_-uzixcom): Video eyewear utilizes two _toshibadirect. com): DigitalLight belkin.com); New FM transmitter nologies (wivisonmettach.com)-Eight- LED displays that showanatve 64o- _Processor-based projector with ,024- uses ClearScan technology to find : hive SATA disk array storage system by-480-pixel Wew with a32-degree field —_by-768-pixel resolution sports 2,300 the best available frequencies for z aimed at professional video edttors of view toserve asa second screen for ANSI lumens brightness, a contrast playingiPod music through acar : comes in preconfigured capacities: 478, 8Mac($400). ratio of 2,001, and 8o2.11¥g-basedwire- stereo system ($90). : 6TB,and 8TB (prices start at $4,995). less networking capabilities ($1,599). 5 28 Macworld December2007 www.lacie.com 2-Disk RAID | 1TB, 1.5TB, 2TB LaCie 2big MAC iPHONE iPhone Hops across the Pond hile the iPhone's price drop, one million unit sales, and software updates may have been big news in the United States, overseas consumers Length of Contract: recently got the word that they, too, would be able to enjoy Apple’s iPhone in their home countries (no hacking required). Apple announced partnerships with England’s O2 and with T-Mobile in Germany, while the CEO of France Telecom (parent company of Orange) said during a trade show in Vietnam that his company would sell the iPhone in France (no official confirmation from Apple yet). Check out our map to see how things are shaping UP.—JONATHAN SEFF Service Plans: not availible Lengthof Contract: ot avaiable United States Carrier: ATST Launch Date: June 29,200 Price: $209" Service Plans: $5: Length of Contr: aegeicacmetiaia Poi [fa The 3ware Sidecar & Your Apple Mac Workstation: The Perfect Match — 5 with PCI Express unning for your GS ar Mac Pro works AMNCC Think Outside the Box Find out more at WWww.3ware.com STORAGE 0) call (877) 88-3ware; 877-883-9273 no dinner equi 30 Macworld December 2007 CDW has everything to concept, collaborate and create. Well, except the great ideas. Apple® Final Cut® Studio 2 © Delivers an integrated post-production solution that lets you move Authorized effortlessly from editing to color-grading to creating motion graphics to sculpting audio to multiformat encoding and DVD-authoring Reseller © Features Final Cut Pro® 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, DVD Studio Pro 4 and Color, the newest member of the suite Upgrade from Final Cut Studio $499 CDW 1203528 Upgrade from Final Cut Pro $699 CDW 1203525 Full version $1299 CDW 1203524 Apple® MacBook™ Pro nee © Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor (2.20GHz) Memory: 2GB © 15.4" widescreen display $1999 CDW 1234241 ws HP Designjet 110plus Printer OD | © Color inkjet multi-format printer © Prints up to 24” paper width Invent © Print resolution: 1200 x 600 dpi with HP PhotoREt $995.99 CDW 690378 We're there with the Mac solutions you need. You'd like to spend as much time as possible focusing on your creative work. We're there with the solutions that let you do just that. Our account managers can help you find the products you need to keep the creative process going faster and more efficently. So call today for detailed answers to all your technology questions, and get back to focusing on what you really enjoy: creativity. CDW.com | 800.ALL.MACS Offer subject to CDW’s standard terms and conditions of sale, available at CDW.cam. ©2007 CDW Corporation i Technology. i <3} The Right Right Away. STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION REQUIRED BY 39 U.S.C. 3685 1. Publication Title: Macworld 2. Publication Number: 0741-8647 3. Filing Date: October 1, 2007 4. Issue Frequency: Monthly 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 12 6. Annual Subscription Price: $34.97 7. Known Office of Publication: Mac Publishing, 1.1.C., 501 Second Street, Sixth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107 (Contact Person: David Cobb, 435/978-3255) 8. Complete Mailing Address of the Headquar- ters of General Business Offices of the Publisher: Mac Publishing. L.LC., 501 Second Street, Sixth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107 9. qThe Full Names and Addresses of the Pub sher, Editor, and Managing Editor, President and CEO: Mike Kisseberth, 501 Second Street, Sixth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107: VP/Editorial Director: Jason Snell, Jason Snelf, 50: Second Street, Sixth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107; Executive Editor: Dan Miller, 501 Second Street, Sixth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107 10, The Owners: International Data Group, Inc., Patrick McGovern, 5 Speen St., Framingham, MA or7o1 un. There are no known bondholders, mort- gagees, or other security holders holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, Mortgages, or other securities 12. Tax Status: Has not changed during preceding 12 months. 13, Publication Title: Macworld 14. Average n/06-10/07: Last Published Issue: 10/07 15. EXTENT AND NATURE OF CIRCULATION Average No. —_ Fach Issue during Preceding 2 Months 1i/06-10/07: A. Total Number of Copies (Net Press Run): 364,245 ; B. Legitimate Paid and/or Requested Distribution (By Mail and Outside Mail): 1. Outside County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 261,550 ; 2. In County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 0 : 3. Sales through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid or Requested Distribution Outside USPS: 41,249 : 4. Requested Copies Distributed by Other Mail Classes Through the USPS (eg First-Class Mail): 0 ; C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: 3o2, D. Non-Requested Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail): 1, Outside County Non Requested Copies Stated on PS Form 3542: 1,012 ; 2, In County Non-Requested Copies Stated on PS Form 3541: 0 : 3. Non- Requested Copies Distributed Through the USPS by other Classes of Mail (eg First Class Mail): 0 : 4. Non-Requested Copies Distributed Outside the Mail: 1.729; ‘Total Non-Requested Distribution: 2,741; F. Total Distribution: 305.540 ; G. Copies Not Distributed: h.705 | H. telah 964.245; | Percent Paid andor Requested Circulation: 99.10% 15. EXTENT AND NATURE OF CIRCULATION No. Copies of Single Issues Published Nearest to Filing Date October 2007; A. Total Number of Copies (Net Press Run): 359,663 +B: Legilamate Posd arai/or Requested Disibetion {Dy Mail and Outside Mail: 1, Qutside County jid/Requested Mail Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 334 243,916 ; 2. In County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 0 Sales through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid or Requested Distribution Outside USPS: 4545: 4. Requested Copies Distributed by Other Mail Classes Through the USPS (eg First-Class Mail): 0 ; C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: 289,061 ; D. Non Requested Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail): 1. Outside County Non- Requested Copies Stated on PS Form 354% 1,043 : 2, In County Nom Requested Copies Stated on PS Form 3542: 0 : 3. Non-Requested Copies Distributed Through the USPS by other Classes of Mail (eg First Class Mail 91:4 Nom Requested Copies Distributed Outside the Maik: 0 ; E: Total Non-Requested Distribution: 1,043 :F. Total Distribution: 290,104 : G, Copies Not Distributed: 69.559 ; H. Total: 359,663 ; |. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation: 99.64%6. 16. This Statement of Ownership will be printed in the December 2007 issue of this publication. rz. | certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete; Mike Kisseberth, President /C EO; October 1, 2007. 32 Macworld December2007 MAC BE. iPHONE Where’s the Wi-Fi Love? U.K. iPhone buyers get free hotspots Ithough expected, it was nice to see that Apple had secured deals to sell the iPhone in sev- eral countries in Europe (see “iPhone Hops across the Pond,” page 30, for more details). First on the list of announcements was England. So what’s my favorite part of Apple's introduction of the U.K. iPhone? No, it’s not the charming accents or the fact that the iPhone will now be avail- able in the home of Doctor Who. It’s that U.K. cellular service from O2 comes bundled with The Cloud. This Europe-wide network offers more than 7,500 Wi-Fi access points. According to my Macworld UK coun- terpart, Mark Hattersley, that includes whole areas such as Canary Wharf; the entire City of London business area; football club venues, including Arsenal and Chelsea; and hotels, cafés, and restaurants, including McDonald's. TECH TRENDS Video Player Preferences Consumers want good stuff towatch anda good player to watch it on— that’s not rocket science, butitis the formula for portable video success. According to anew study from Parks Associates of 382 portable media player owners, low cost, high-tech fea- tures and ease of usearen’t big drivers of the portable video market. The most important factors are appealing content and a pleasant viewing experi- ence, The study concludes that Apple is “leading the pack” interms of deliv- ering what customers want with the latest iPodline (see “iPod Evolution” On page 62).—MARYANN JONES THOMPSON o~ So basically, in addition to having a phone that will provide access to EDGE networks, U.K. buyers get access to high-speed Wi-Fi at more than 7,500 different access points, all included with their monthly service plan— perfect for a Wi equipped device like the iPhone. So what about U.S. iPhone users? Right now, we've got bupkes (except for free access to iTunes in many Starbucks locations, so we can spend more money). The sad thing is, AT&T has a Wi-Fi network with hotspots all over the country. But right now it’s available only as an add-on for AT&T broadband customers or via a stand-alone monthly fee. Hmm—AT&T Wireless, have you met AT&T Wi-Fi? You should get together and offer your iPhone cus- tomers a low-cost (or dare I suggest free?) way to access your Wi-Fi net- work. That might keep their calls for 3G data support at bay—JASON SNELL What matters for portable video? Appealing content Video experience PRODUCT WATCH SH De BUSINESS Universal Office 2008 On the Way Microsoft details ship date, pricing for Mac suites lmost four years after the last A: of Office for the Mac, icrosoft finally plans to ship the first Universal version of its office suite to people in the United States on January 15, 2008 (with global availability in the few months to follow). During Septem- ber’s Apple Expo in Paris, Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit also detailed the different editions that will be avail- able, as well as pricing information. Office will come in three versions: Office 2008 ($400; upgrade, $240), Office 2008 Home & Student Edition ($150), and Office 2008 Special Media Edition ($500; upgrade, $300). Office 2008 includes Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, and Entourage 2008. The Home & Student Edition includes just the four core pro- grams, along with three user licenses. The new Special Media Edition features SOFTWARE Accounted, from Oranged Software (wwe _Dranged net): Accounting software features ‘double-entry bookkeeping, accounts receivable and payable, split transactions, and check print- ing ($60). the Office 2008 applications and adds the Microsoft Expression Media digital asset management system (Microsoft acquired this system, previously called iView, in June 2006). Both the Special Media and Office 2008 editions also include Microsoft Server Exchange sup- port and Automator actions. All versions of Office 2008 support the new Open XML file format and are Universal applications that run natively on Power PC- and Intel-based Macs. Microsoft also started a technology guarantee program that allows cus- tomers in select regions who purchase qualifying Office 2004 products to upgrade to a version of Office 2008 for the cost of shipping, handling, and appli- cable taxes. Visit www.macoffice2008 com or Microsoft's Mac Mojo blog at macwor|d.com/3124 for more Office 2008 news.—JIM DALRYMPLE Carbon Copy Cloner 3,fromBombich Software (www bombich.com): Mac-to-Mac cloning software features redesigned interface and Intel compatibility (donations accepted). sronnasne 2a 9 tbrartals December 2007 Macworld 33 PRODUCT WATCH MAC BEA Poste | Amen mam ert ogee Adding A Sense to Searches How netTrekker makes surfing better forstudents Cannot Mot Nows Head ines, ne of my favorite tasks as a col- lege journalism instructor was killing off Dolly Parton at the start of every semester. Well, not really— at the beginning of every term, I gave my Journalism 101 students the details of the singer's fatal, fictional car crash before turning them loose to compose her obit- uary. But my first batch of papers changed that. Almost every paper was riddled with the same, small mistakes. Hopping online, I discovered most of these errors were spread all across the Web—dlearly, Web sites (just like my stu- dents) had copied and recopied informa- tion without checking the facts. That assignment taught me that there was one more skill my Web-centric students urgently needed to leam—how to distin- guish a good source from a bad one. I hadn't thought about what a job that must be for today’s elementary and sec- DIALOG BO “in the U.S. we think we’re on the cutting edge, but we’re not.” Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan on how advanced wireless networks are in Europe ondary teachers until I took Think- ronize’s $50-per-year netTrekker home (www.nettrekker.com) for a spin. This kid-safe search engine is billed as a way to help kids avoid accidentally stum- bling across age-inappropriate content as they surf the Web. Thinkronize says that 10 million kids in 19,000 schools currently use the school version, netTrekker d.i., for classwork. But what I found interest- ing was the search engine's hand- picked links. It doesn't filter out sex- ual content using keywords. Instead, netTrekker has pressed educators into service to evaluate, rate, and organize links they think have edu- cational value. The upshot is, at least in my testing, that you spend a lot less time picking through chaff to find useful information among your results. —SCHOLLE SAWYER MCFARLAND “We're the ones who should determine what the fair price for our productis, not Apple.” Peter Chernin, president of News Corporation, talking about TV-show pricing at the Tunes ocd “Introducing a product at a premium price and then discounting it makes sense, but not after two months and not by one-third.” Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies, on the iPhone price drop CREATIVE NOTES Gallerie Gold Fibre Silk For those looking for super-high- quality prints, Swiss photo media company Ilford has announced Gal- lerie Gold Fibre Silk, a fiber-based photo paper that is optimized for black-and-white and color printing (wwwailford.com). Gold Fibre Silk uses a barium- sulfate coating (morecommonly knownas baryta) toprovide alus- trous result similar towhat you get on traditional fiber- based photo- graphic paper. It hasasmooth, soft glossy face,anda heftyweight of 310 gramspersquare meter. I've been usingit on my Epson Stylus Pro3800,andam getting won- derfully creamy black-and-white prints and nice platinum-style photographs (courtesy of Pixel Genius’s excellent Photokit Photoshop plug-in). The company says that the paper isideal for creating digitally toned mono- chromatic images, andit offersafree 10-step guide for doingsoin Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Inthe United States, Gold Fibre Silk will be available in letter, Super B (13 by 19 inches), and Super C (17 by 22 inches) sheets, as wellas 17-,24-,and 44-inch rolls. The company wouldnt give me final pricing, but B&H Photo has a10-sheet Super B-size pack pricedat $35 andaso-sheet packfor $113. CC color profiles forthe Gold Fibre Silk—for use with printers from Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, and Lexmark—are currently onthe Ilford Website, asare profiles for nearly all the llford media line.—rick Lepace SOFTWARE Nisus Writer Express 3.0, from SPSS 16, from SPSS (wwwspss.com): VectorWorks 2008, from Nemetschek EyeTV 2.5, fromElgato (wom elgato Nisus Software (veww.nisus com): Predictiveanalysis software isnow inte- — North America (wwewnemetschok com): Update to the digital video Streamlined word processor adds grated with the Predictive Enterprise het CAD software features astream- Tecorder software addsone-ctick floating graphics, glossary support, Services analytics platform todirect lined interface, includinga heads-up export to formats optimized for view: ing on the Phone and iPod touch ($80; upgrade, freefor EyeTV 2 users). 34 Macworld December2007 widow and orphan control, and an improved find-and-replace function ($45; upgrade, $30). for pricing). and automate decisions (contact SPSS. data display and the ability to manipu- late opacity control by object (contact Nemetschek for pricing). everypicture everyvideo everywhere The waterproof SANYO Xacti E1 features a one-handed grip design and super fast start up so you can capture 6MP photos and digital video at the speed of life! * Waterproof Digital! Camcorder * 6 Megapixel Still Images ° 5x Optical Zoom Lens ° 2.5-Inch LCD Display * Up to thr. 20min. Digital Video Per 1GB Memory Card www. Sanyodigital.com ©2007 SANYO Digital Products. All rights reserved. In tests conducted by SANYO Electric Ca, Lid. the *VPC-ET meets the HPEE underwater rating at depths of up to Sft for up to 30 minutes. Goto www sanyadigitalcom to learn more. Memory Card vld separately. IE Namese © Waterproof Camcorder <acti MAC BEA Hot Stuff What we're raving MarsEdit 2.0 Blogging is a popular pastime among Mac users, but the blogging systems available today can often be daunting, to say the least. Many people would prefer to use a Mac application totake care of the actual posting and uploading of text andimages. Unfortunately, alot of those applications lack features that would make them truly useful. With the release of Red Sweater Software’s $30 MarsEdit 2.0, Mac users finally have that use- ful tool. Compatible with the most popular blogging software onthe market, MarsEdit makes writinga blog post simple. Italsoprovides built-in Flickr integration, so you have instant access to images you'vealready posted on the Internet (www,red 7). JIM DALRYMPLE yeater gabout this month and asim or wall behind yu di ilarly s im, and th Il Apple ).—DAN FRAKES Acorn My image-editing tasks are usually limitedto making amusing pictures toaccompany blog posts. When all | havetodois makeacom- posite of twoimages, firing up Adobe Photo: shop for the jobis like usinga chain saw to cut wrapping paper. What | needis alightweight, simple, layer-based image- editing program, and Flying Meat’s new$4o Acorn delivers in thatdepartment. Taking advantage of the Core image technology builtinto Tiger, Acorn is essentially Photoshop for the rest of us (flyingr om )—DAN MOREN Goe System Designers have relied on the Pantone Matching System to specify ink colors for nearly halfa century. Now Pantone is shaking things up with the Goe System ($500). Thenew guide expands the color palette from 1,114 colors to 2,058— including more neutrals, blues, and greens—and features a more precise chro- matic arrangement and anewnumbering sys- tem that should make finding colors easier. Among other extras, the systemalso includes GoeSticks adhesive color chips and software tohelp you find good color combinations »m).—KELLY TURNER tereo. But many no oF ome be panel for speaker pane are made of OpenFM FMtransmitters are probably the most common way of routing music from your iPod to your car stereo, but in some places find- inga frequency thatisn’talreadyin use byalocal sta- tion can be pretty tough. Ifyou've got aniPhone,though, it’sa piece of cake tofindaclear bandwith the free —— OpenFM Webapplication from Digital Lifestyle Outfitters, Just punch in your zip code or cityand state,and OpenFM will give youa list of stations to choose from,anda link to view the area on Google Maps to boot. Onceithasfound stations, you can choose them on FM transmitters connected to your iPod, or even onsome iPhone-compatible accessories (the iPhone workswith some of the transmitters currently avail- able, including many from DLO). If noth- ingelse, you wont beforcedtoresort to sing-alongsto keep everybody enter- tained on those long roadtrips (www jlo.com).—DAN MOREN iPod shuffle zCover iSA micro3 Armband Kit for new Apple iPod nano 3rd Gen. ISA micm3 Silicone Protection Case + Removable Bet Clip + Rotary Armband This package offers maximum mobility for the active iPod nano € owner, This combination is eal for outdoor enthusiasts hiking and biking through the woods, or the fitness fanatic jogging through the streets. Just like the belt clip, the iPod nano is secured to the Armband with zCover's exclusive clip system. ‘The 360 degree rotation allows you to easily change the iPod nano position to confirm your new running record, or repeat your favorite song. The zCover Armband is fully adjustable from 6 to 18 inches making it suitable for everyone, from small children to beefy body builders. Youll naver be "between sizes’ again. It's even seasonal, comfortably fiting your bare arm in the summer or a expanding to fit over a heavy coat in the winter, Made from innovative micro-Vekro all surfaces of the Armband are soft and pleasing to touch, making for comfortable contact with the skin, Hand-washable and fully reversible, the stylish black strip is trimmed with silver reflective tape. zCover iSA touch Original Pack for new Apple iPod touch 8 GB/ 16 GB ISA touch Silicone Protection Case + Removable Belt Clip Offering you full protection for your iPod touch, and the function of mobility with our innovative 360 degree rotating belt clip, this system is the perfect “All-you- need-for-iPod’ combo for any iPod touch owner. You can easily wear it horizontally or vertically with just a simple twist. A comfort piece sits in front of the release button to prevent the Belt Clip from jabbing into the user's side. The clip opens with ease and accommodates thumbs and forefingers of any age or size. Unbreakable, functional and comfortable, the Rotary Belt Clip is sure to keep your iPod touch safely and snugly in place. zCover TypeOn for new Apple Aluminum Keyboard > zCover silicone skin are crafted from non-toxic, durable high-grade silicone rubber. It is safe. > Ultra thin (0.6mm) skin touch feeling, durable, > Made of 100% high grade sticone, > Full shock-absorbing, tear-resistant protection, > Molded to specifically fit every point, > Removable easy on and off for cleaning, > Stays in place and does not shift around, > Washable - you can wash zCover sficone typeOn skin by hand. Make sure it's dried out before put t on your keyboard cA 6 & om www.zCover.com SCasow’s Greettnas Apple Remote zCover iSAglove Dockable Kit for new Apple iPhone iSAglove Sifcone Protection Case + Removable Belt Clip + zAdapter Dock Set Are you using your Phone constantly? The Dockable Kit gives you the SAglove protection, mobility with the 360 degree rotating removable Belt Clip, but also provides the zAdapter iPhone Dock Set, an original zCover design that adapts to iPod cable or iPhone calbe into iPhone Dock, allowing you the freedom to dock your iPhone with iSAglove Silicone Protection Case. zCover iSA classic Car Kit for new Apple iPod classic 80 GB / 160 GB ISA classic Silicone Protection Case + Removable Bet Clip + Window Clip The Car Kit adds 8 whole new element to the experience of owning an iPod Classic Besides the protection of the SA dassic cover, the mobility of the 360 degree rotating Belt Clip, the additional window clip iz | creates a portable hands-free workstation or entertainment unit almost anywhere, including the office, car, plane, boat and home. It doesn’t matter which way you turn it, the iSA classic Car kit is ideal for those on the road. zCover Universal Belt Clip, Armband, Window Clip are completely interchangeable . ne of the prime rules of pho- tography has always been that you can’t capture a great image if you don't have a camera with you. For most of photographic history, that has usually meant drag- ging around cumbersome gear. But with the maturation of digital imaging, you can always be ready for a great photographic moment with a small, lightweight camera that not only fits easily in a purse or pocket but might even coordinate with your shoes. The catch in times past was that tiny cameras often came with minus- cule capabilities. From undersize, noisy images to tiny view screens, using a point-and-shoot camera often meant settling for images that fell squarely in the snapshot category— fun and candid, maybe, but forget about anything more elaborate than a postcard-size print. 38 Macworld December2007 That's not the case anymore, as ¢: era makers are packing surprising power and flexibility into deceptively elfin packages. Macworld decided to get the lay of the land by trying out seven petite but powerful cameras vying to become your next photographic work- horse for vacations and family outings. We began by seeking out compact cameras that weigh less than half a pound—and fit in a shirt pocket. While at had list prices ranging from $280 to $500 (although most retailers offer mod- est to steep discounts), far above the $200 that will get you a plain but service- able point-and-shoot camera these days. Camera makers employ an array of strategies to justify the higher price tag, and some of them actually work, mak- ing it all the harder to declare an absolute favorite among the seven we reviewed: Canon’s PowerShot TX1, Casio's Exilim EX-V7, Nikon's Coolpix Ssoc, Olympus's Stylus 770 SW, Pana- sonic’s Lumix DMC-FXioo, Samsung’s NVu, and Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-Tioo. By the Numbers Resolution used to be the first thing you looked at when buying a camera, but at this point you can pretty much assume any camera you buy will grab more than enough pixels to make fine 8-by-10-inch prints. The Canon, Casio, Nikon, and Olympus cameras were the resolution lightweights among the cam- eras we tested, at around 7 megapixels, yet the Canon model produced images on a par with those of beefier rivals. The Panasonic model topped the scale at 12.2 megapixels. Cramming that many pixels into a small package could potentially be problematic. Camera makers have to shrink the physical pro- portions of the image sensor chip that captures all the light data. More pixels on a smaller chip means smaller pixels and less space between them, which can add noise and blur to images. Throw in a small-diameter lens, and the camera has even less light to work with. Yet the Panasonic served up crisp, well- balanced images at every resolution set- ting; payoff, perhaps, for the company’s We sought out cameras that weigh less than half a pound—and fit in a pocket. some of the cameras look similar to the generic little silver boxes you'll find in every drugstore, big-box retailer, and elec- tronics bargain outlet, most have distin- guishing features that show how hard camera makers are working to differenti- ate their wares. The cameras we looked decision not to try to shrink the lens and cram it into the camera body, as many manufacturers do to save space. Lens zoom factor is another key num- = ber, with 3x being the current standard. The Samsung and Sony cameras bump that up to 5x, while the Casio does 7x HOW R and the Canon magnifies to a startling (look at those facial blemishes! ) 10x. Oddly, though, the Canon's focal range starts at 39mm, extending to a down- right telescopic 390mm. The 3.6x lens on the Panasonic was more useful, ranging from a true wide-angle equiva- lent of 28mm—great for capturing landscapes and other scenic shots—to a reasonably zoomed-in 1oomm. Other details worth looking at include the size of the LCD viewing screen. A 2.5-inch screen (as on the Olympus and Samsung models) offers acceptably large previews, while the increasingly com- mon 3-inch screens (on the Sony and Nikon cameras) look swell, but can crowd out anything but the most basic controls. The swivel screen on the Canon was a special case: though it was some- times too small to afford a clear view, its handy ability to let you view images from odd angles will surprise you. One number that may not mean as much as camera makers want you to think is light sensitivity. Models such as the Panasonic claim the ability to grab images in near pitch-dark conditions by bumping up sensitivity as far as ISO 6400 (for comparison, ISO 400 was the usual choice in the days of film), but the resulting images are too noisy to serve as anything but abstract art. With most point-and-shoot cameras, you risk cap- turing a wealth of image-killing noise if you go much higher than ISO 800. There weren't significant differences in startup times among the cameras that we tested, with each one ready to shoot in two to three seconds. We didn't notice any apprecia- ble problems with shutter lag, either. Battery life can be one of the biggest variables with compact cameras, and sure enough, our test models were all over the map. A total of 500 shots per battery charge is a reasonable expec- tation in this class of camera. The low performer in our group was the Nikon Ssoc, which pooped out after about 350 shots. On the opposite end of the scale, the Casio and Samsung batteries were good for around 1,200 shots. Shake and Take Camera makers continue to search for ways to take the guesswork out of com- posing great images. The two latest must-have features in that neighbor- hood—which most of the cameras we OUTSTANDING: $8#8# VERY GOOD: $$%# GOOD: $$$ FLAWED: 6@ UNACCEPTABLE: § exposure by pressing down the shut- ter button halfway. Image stabilization—also known as antishake—addresses a more real-life problem, which several trends in the camera business have exacerbated. Longer zoom lenses (up to 17x on some models) and support for low-light shooting (which requires slower shut- ter speeds) make it harder to frame a The two latest must-have features—which most of the cameras we tested include—are face recognition and image stabilization. tested included in some form—are face recognition and image stabilization. Face recognition is essentially an addition to the autofocus and auto- exposure features built into the cam- era. The system recognizes human faces in a shot—provided that both eyes are visible—and adjusts exposure and focus for the faces, not the back- ground or other objects. The faces usually have to be in the foreground, taking up at least 10 percent of the frame, and the feature works only on humans (even if your dog is just like a member of the family). The face-detection features worked reliably in all the cameras, and they might be helpful for people who haven't learned—or can't be bothered with learning how—to lock in focus and steady shot. Add in the near disappear- ance of optical viewfinders, which allow you to steady the camera by holding it against your face, and there's a whole lot of shaking going on. Camera makers have employed a variety of methods to counteract those jitters. The cheapest (and weakest) way is to have the camera bump up shutter speed and ISO settings in difficult con- ditions, an approach that merely trades blur for somewhat less objectionable noise. That's the approach Samsung takes with the NVu, and, sure enough, Canon PawerShot ™? December 2007 Macworld 39 Point-and-Shoot Cameras we found its Advanced Shake Reduc- tion feature the least useful steadying influence among the seven cameras. More-sophisticated systems make pre- cise compensating movements in the camera's lens or image sensor to coun- teract shaky hands. Sensor shift, as employed by the Casio and Olympus cameras, varies widely in effectiveness. The Casio system provided marginal improvements, while the Olympus ver- sion saved the day on some difficult shots, but choked on others, The lens- shift option used by the Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Panasonic models tends to produce more consistent results. In real- world tests conducted on a rocking ferry in San Francisco Bay, the Sony and Panasonic cameras did the most impres- sive job of producing blur-free images. (For more information about how image stabilization works, see “Steady Your Shot” at macworld.com/3123.) Form and Function Design counts for a lot in this class of camera, and there was plenty to love and hate among our seven subjects. The ™1 PROS: Superlongzoom lens; swivel LCD screen;good image stabilization. CONS: Awkward vertical orientation; unappealing HD video codec; overexposed images, PRICE: $soo COMPANY: Canon, www.canonusa.com FULL REVIEW: macworid.com/2986 40 Macworl! December2007 standout of the bunch—and not neces- sarily in a positive way—is Canon's TX), which eschews the horizontal orientation typical of still cameras for a vertical design similar to that of compact video camcorders. The swiveling LCD screen is designed to let you keep one eye on the action while you shoot, and it folds flat against the body of the camera when not in use. The TX1’s unusual form is accom- panied by an awkwardly positioned and designed zoom control (although it would work fine if you held the camera horizontally—go figure). Accessing basic settings and navigating through menus requires using an odd little nubbin of a joystick that never felt comfortable. All this “innovation” serves little practical purpose. Given the size of the TXi, the vertical orientation seemed no more steady or natural when we used the device to shoot video clips. And any attempt to position the TX as a more capable video machine—all the cameras include adequate video modes—is undercut by Canon's inex- plicable decision to employ a novel, grossly inefficient J PEG-based codec Casio Exilim EX-V7 $96: PROS: Big7x zoom lens; manual exposure controls, CONS: Basic settings are hard to get to; clumsy docking station required for charg- ing the battery, PRICE: $280 COMPANY: Casio, www casio com FULLREVIEW: macworld.com/2988 for capturing video at high resolution. The lat- est dedicated cam- corders use variations on MPEG-4 to let you grab up to an hour of HD video on one piece of recording media. With the TXi, you can fit only a paltry 14 minutes on a 4GB SD card. The Samsung NVu also sports a good deal of innovation in the design department, this time employed to more impressive effect. The back of the camera has only two labeled buttons, accompanied by vertical and horizontal rows of touch-sensitive but- tons encircling the screen. On-screen icons tell you the function of each but- ton. You access a function by clicking on the button, and you adjust sliders and scroll through menus by sliding your finger over the row of buttons. It took ten minutes or so to get comfortable with the Smart Touch system, but once we did, it was hard to go back to the old routine. Users who have big thumbs, however, may find it difficult to press the right button consistently. The NVu wins further design points for its sleek, serious, black-metal body and a rubber strip located right where the fingers in your gripping hand are likely to rest, providing a welcome sense of reassurance that the whole thing won't slip out of your hands. On the downside, the NVu's extended-lens assembly makes it the least pocket- friendly of the cameras we tested. Other design novelties (both wel- come and not) include the Casio = i +8 PROS: Built-in Wi-Fi; slick image-edi capabilities. CONS: Wi-Fi has limited utility;images are soft and lack detail; easyto switch on or off accidentally, PRICE: $350 COMPANY: Nikon, yivewunikonuss.com_ FULL REVIEW: macworld. comy2983 MiniStation TurboUSB + Up to 64% Faster than a 4200 RPM USB Hard Drive + Shock Resistant Design + Convenient Wrap-Around USB Cable - Up to 250 GB »Up to 1,100,000 images!" » Up to 4,500,000 images’ Includes Mac compatible Memeo AutoBackup software Available at these retailers: Buy.com trys micio cenc=z =~ MacConnection’ BUELA A li Point-and-Shoot Cameras EX-V7's zoom control—a slider whose location adjacent and parallel to the LCD screen ensures optimum awk- wardness. The Nikon Coolpix Ssoc has a rotating control wheel reminiscent of the scroll wheel on a cheap iPod knockoff—whether it’s an improve- ment on the standard jog dial is debat- able. The Nikon also has the only power switch that repeatedly tumed on or off accidentally when we bumped or grabbed the camera. Both the Casio and Sony models have sliding metal lens covers that also turn the camera on, a refreshingly sturdy alternative to the automatic lens protectors found on most point-and-shoot cameras— usually the first thing to fail. Speaking of sturdiness, almost all the cameras scored well for ruggedness, with stout metal bodies. The exceptions are the Nikon model, whose plastic body seemed a bit on the chintzy (and scratch-prone) side, and the Olympus Stylus 770 SW, which goes well beyond mere ruggedness. Rated as waterproof at depths of up to 33 feet, shockproof enough to survive drops of up to 5 feet, and freezeproof down to 14 degrees, the camera is built to take abuse. We toted it along on a couple of kayaking trips, and it easily shrugged off repeat- ed dunkings in salt water. To make aquatic photography easier, the Olym- pus’s scene mode includes four differ- ent underwater settings. The camera also includes a manometer that can measure atmospheric pressure to record the altitude or depth for each shot you take. It even takes video—with sound—while underwater. All the cameras tested have recharge- able batteries, so it’s also worth consid- Olympus Stylus 770 sw $3 PROS: Waterproof; shockproof case is built for rough outdoor use. CONS: Soft-looking images; uses expensive xD cards; harshflash. PRICE: $380 COMPANY: Olympus, www.olympus com FULLREVIEW: macworldcom/2987 42 Macworld December2007 Side Orde Right out of the box, your compact digi- tal camerawilltake picturesandamaze the natives, but you'd be wise tobudget afew more dollars for accessories that will help you get better photos and pro- tect yourinvestment. Here are some near-essentials worth considering. Set It Straight ifyou're buying asupremely portable camera, you don’t want to defeat the purpose by lugging arounda full tri- pod. Yet there are shooting situations (fireworks, self-portraits) inwhich a camera support comes in awfully handy. A versatile, compact alternative is The Pod Industries’ The Pod @ ($15; macworld.com/2990), around bean- bagwithan attached tripodsocket. It can helpyou handle uneven terrain and difficult placements, andit’s easy to stowfortravel. Shine a Light You probably won’t needtouse your new camera for very long beforedis- covering the limitations of its built-in flash. Buy yourself some extra exposure control with the CameraBright © ($35; macworld.com/2992),a bank of battery-powered, color-balancedLEDs that twists into the tripod socket at the bottom of the camera. Tie One On While all the camerasin this review are designed to slide into your pocket or purse, there are times whenit’s easier (and safer for the camera) to keepitin acase. Built NY offers the Electric Pocket @ ($17; macworld.com/2993), astylish fleece-lined neoprene sleeve with aloop for quickly attaching toa belt, purse strap, or backpack clip, No more digging through your bagto findyour camera. Dim the Lights Optical viewfinders haveall but disap- peared from compact cameras, so you'll have to struggle tomake out the LCD screen every time youwantto shoot in bright outdoor light. Pop-up shades suchas Delkin Device’s Univer- sal Pop-Up Shade @ ($20; macworld .comy2995) not only give you afighting chance tosee what youre shooting, but also protect the LCD screen from scratches, smudges, and worse. Stay in Charge Unavoidable fact of life: the battery on your camera always runs out right before the coolest thing you ever saw appears. Protect yourself from dis- appointment by keepinga charged spare battery with you. Outfits such as Batteries.com sell reliable third-party batteries ($9 to $14; macworld.com/ 2994) for half what they cost fromthe camera maker. Keep It Clean Any camera that shares your life as muchas acompact point-and-shoot doesis likely to get dirty. Keepthe LCD screen andlens free of smudges with agentle cleaning cloth. Alpine Innova- tions’ Spudz microfiber cloths @ ($5; macworld.com/2996) do the job right and conveniently pack away in an attached storage pouch. - ss “ . na DLO Action Jacket. M ¥s the pgeiiegiine. . = Point-and-Shoot Cameras ering the ergonomics of the battery charger. Panasonic and Sony win points for including the most compact charg- ers—no cord required. And Casio gets a ding or two for limiting recharging to a plastic docking cradle that’s bound to be an awkward fit in a suitcase. Working with Images All the cameras also include USB 2.0 cables for transferring images from camera to computer or printer. The Nikon Ssoc offers another option— built-in Wi-Fi support—for getting pho- tos out of the camera. At first this seemed like just a gimmick to replace a USB cable. But travelers might find the Wi-Fi capability quite useful, because the camera includes functions for sending photos straight to Flickr or for e-mailing them and storing them online via Nikon-supported services. Using Wi-Fi can be a hit-or-miss proposition, though. You'll need to sign up online and pay for a hotspot sub- scription with Nikon partner T-Mobile before you can use one of its nodes. The camera probably won't work with other paid Wi-Fi services because only T-Mobile has concocted a way to log on via the camera. And it may be difficult to use many free public Wi-Fi services (such as those in hotel lobbies and con- ference rooms), because the lack of a browser means there’s no way to click on a terms-of-service button as many hotspots require. Home networks and unprotected Wi-Fi networks should work. It was a cinch to connect to the free hotspot ata local java house. The camera quickly and easily mailed off a batch of JPEGs to an e-mail address we spec- Panasonic Lumix DMC- FX100 $965 PROS: Wide-angle lens;good detailand exposure; easy-to-navigate interface; 12- megapixel sensor;sturdytitaniumshell, ‘CONS: No manual controls. PRICE: $400 COMPANY: Panasonic, www panasoniccom FULLREVIEW: macworid.com/2989_ 44 Macworld December2007 Macworld Lab Test Battery Life: Number of shots ona single charge Panasonic 530 Longer abe mer %o testhattery te, westartedweh ily charged bit- tenes andtook photon atthe highest reolunonandpuaiey wen the flashtumedon We took tenghcrasand then transferred them 9 rota. choosngthe Deleteltems rom Camera ter Ingortig option. We then repeatedithe process until the battery ced ified through the surprisingly pain-free setup tools. This could be a great way to keep in contact with friends, prevent memory-card overload, and back up important shots when you're on the road, but it'll be a challenge to find loca- tions where you can actually use the Wi-Fi and e-mail features. In-camera editing is another recent development, and most of the cameras we looked at offered tools for cropping, resizing, or otherwise altering images after capturing them. Some of the most useful tools are in the Nikon camera, whose D-Lighting control accurately and delicately optimizes the balance of high- lights and shadows. It came impressively close to replicating Adobe Photoshop's ability to change the levels—adjusting the tonal range—of an image from inside a Samsung NVi1 $565: PROS: Slick controls; good resolution; attractive exterior; manual exposure options, CONS: Subpar image stabilization;won't fit easilyinyour pocket. PRICE: $250 COMPANY: Samsung wwwsamsung com FULL REVIEW: macworld.com/2984 tiny little consumer camera. The Canon TX: lets you trim video clips in-camera {not a bad idea given its storage con- straints), and the Sony camera comes with a number of special effects that you can apply to a captured photo, such as simulating the effects of fish-eye and starlight filters. All the cameras include software for browsing and organizing images, but they offer few of these programs for the Mac. While you can always use Apple’s iPhoto, you may want to check out a few software extras, such as panorama-stitching utilities that tum a series of shots into a wide-screen image. Canon includes a Mac version of its PhotoStitch application; Pana- sonic throws in a copy of ArcSoft’s Mac-compatible Panorama Maker. Each camera comes with solid docu- mentation, but Sony and Samsung rele- gate the bulk of the user manual to a PDF file burned on the software disc. This seems like an awfully cheap and shortsighted decision for a compact camera you're likely to learn to use far away from a computer. As camera makers keep stuffing more features into smaller spaces, they are also giving users a choice of how much hand-holding they want. The cameras we looked at are prima- rily intended for point-and-shoot pho- tography, relying on the camera’s automatic controls, but it’s nice to know that your camera will give you room to do your own thing as your skills and vision expand. The Samsung and Casio models come out best on that score. They allow the photogra- pher to manually set shutter speed and aperture for creative exposures, such Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100 $85 PROS: Stylishand petite; 5x zoom; good image stabilization, CONS: Confusing menus;flashisunderpow ered; uses expensive Memory Stick media. PRICE: $349 COMPANY: Sony, wwwsonycom FULLREVIEW: macworid com2985, Live Life Loud Rock and roll out of bed with your iH8 iPod® alarm clock radio. From your first stretch to your last yawn, groove to your favorite tunes. Your iPod® powers up on the one-size-fits all charging dock, while the clear Reson8™ speakers take your music to a higher level. Sounds like another beautiful day. ”) The world’s #1 producer of clock radios For the iPod Check out the entire line at wwwihomeaudio.com Available at: amazoncom www.apple.com www.ihomeaudio.com Home and its products ate trademarks of SDI Technologies, Inc. iPod is a tademark of Apple Inc. registered in the US. and other countries. as using a slow shutter speed to create a gauzy fuzz over a moving stream, or stopping down the aperture to boost depth of field. The other cameras leave little room for creative experimenta- tion, letting you fiddle around only with background values such as the ISO setting and white balance. The Proofs in the Picture The final test of any camera is the images it produces. While all the cam- eras are capable snapshot producers, closer examination revealed subtle to blatant differences in exposure compu- tation, image sharpness and detail, color, and more. To compare apples to apples, we tried each of the cameras in several types of natural-light and studio settings, varying the resolution and trying different auto- matic exposure controls. With all the cameras at identical studio settings, we took shots of a still-life scene and a reso- lution test chart. In these lab tests, our assembled panel of experts rated the Samsung NVn as Superior for its Color Quality (see “Compact Point-and-Shoot Cameras Compared”). For Image Quali- ty, the Samsung NVn and the Canon TXi both garnered Very Good ratings. There were no clear standouts in the Flash Quality test, with most of these cameras rated as merely Good. The Sony fared worst in this area, getting a Poor rating. We then compared images at 100 percent magnification on screen in Photoshop. You may seldom view a photo at such proportions, but it’s a real eye-opener if you want to see how well each camera truly performs. The results became apparent after a couple of viewings. The Panasonic provided good detail, smart exposure calibration, and rich, true colors in a variety of settings. The Samsung NVu was nearly its equal, offering slightly more pleasing exposures but showing a small loss of detail and clarity. The Casio EX-V7 was fairly average on all counts, while the Canon TX: and Sony DSC-Tioo suffered from only moderate loss of detail but demonstrated a pro- nounced tendency to overexpose images. The Olympus 770 SW and, surprisingly, the Nikon S5oc sadly landed at the bot- tom of the heap; both tended to produce soft, mushy images, with fine details lost in a general pixel haze. Macworld’s Buying Advice It was a tough call coming down the stretch, but in the end we chose the Samsung NVu as our top product of the bunch. Its image quality is overall the best in the group; its full range of manu- al exposure options make it a camera to grow with; and the touch-sensitive con- trols actually made it fun to use—the first time in a while we've been able to say that about a compact digital camera. Factor in steep discounts by many retail- ers (street prices for the camera were as low as $275 at the time of this writing), and the NVu is a solid value. David Becker isa San Francisco-based freelance writer who regularly covers personal technology, gadgets, and travel, Compact Point-and-Shoot Cameras Compared Canon PowerShot TX1 = oe $500 $98: PRICE PERFORMANCE IMAGE QUALITY COLOR QUALITY SPECIFICATION: RESOLUTION 7 72 Casio Exilim EX-V7 Nikon Coolpix S5oc + one $380 Olympr ooe8 $400 72 7.1 122 sonic Lumix Stylus 770SW | DMC-FX100 Samsung NVn $ete: $350 101 81 TOx39mm-390mM 7x/38mM=266MM 3xBMM= 14mm 3x38MM-TIderm 3.6428mM-10OMm Sx/38mM-190mM — $x3SmM-17SrM BATTERY TYPE Rechargeable Rechargeable Rechargeable Rechargeable —_—Rechargeable Rechargeable Rechargeable ithium lithium ion fithiumion lithismion lithiumion lithiumion ithiumion ion MEDIA SD,SDHC,MMC, SD,SDHC,MMC SD xD SD, SDHC SD,SDHC, MemoryStick Duo Pro, MMCplus MMCplus MemoryStick Duo 35x%24x1.1 38x24x10 38x2.3x08 36x23x08 — 3,8x2,1x10 42x25x09 36x23x1.0 EIGHT (IN 738 53 44 55 5.3 68 61 46 Macworld December2007 macworld.com/reviews What were reviewing online this month SOFTWARE Painter X A RATING: §§ $9: PRICE: $429; upgrade, $229 Company: Corel URL: wrrw.corel.com Designed by artists for artists, Painter X (version 10.1) is truly the digital equiva- lent of a traditional art studio. Painter X offers features specifically for pro photographers and budding fine artists including a beefed-up photo-painting system, an impressive array of compo- sition tools, and a set of brushes you've got to see to believe. If you're an artist, using Painter X is natural and intu- itive. For the aspiring artist, Painter is a great way to learn. Professional pho- tographers will love the ability to trans- form photos into beautiful paintings with little effort. The learning curve for nonartists is fairly challenging, however, and in addition to the soft- ware, you'll need a graphics tablet (macworld.comy3105). SketchUp Pro6 RATING: §$9% PRICE: $495 ComPaNy: Google URE: Wwww.sketchup.com Google's SketchUp Pro 6 is an enhanced version of its free SketchUp 6 program. The free version features the software's powerful 3-D functionality, while the pro version adds two features necessary for professional modelers. If you're inter- ested in using Google's SketchUp as a FINDIT ONLINE For expand- ed reviews, type the blue URL at the endof eachsummary into your browser’s address bar. 48 Macworl! December2007 3-D modeler, start with the free version. If you get comfortable with the pro- gram’s 3-D drawing environment and you need to export your models to for- mats not supported by the free version, or if you want to produce 2-D presenta- tions, then consider the Pro version (macworld.com/3106). Snap Art 4 RATING: $999 PRICE: $149 ComPaNyY: Alien Skin Software urt:wwwalienskin.com Turning a photograph into digital art is no easy task. Fortunately, Alien Skin's Snap Art plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and other photo and graphic editors takes the heavy lifting out of creating sketches, paintings, comics, and stylized illustrations from photos. Designed for both hobbyists and professional artists, Snap Art consists of ten natural- media art filters—Color Pencil, Comics, Impasto, Oil Paint, Pastel, Pen and Ink, Pencil Sketch, Pointillism, Stylize, and Watercolor—available from Photoshop's Filter menu. Snap Art's ease of use and variety of customizable effects make it an efficient alternative to Photoshop's native brushes and actions, as well as to full-featured art applications like Corel Painter (macworld.com/3107). Path Analyzer Pro Premier 2.6 RATING: $$) PRICE:S4O COMPANY: Vostrom UAL: wwwvostrom.com People who spend a lot of time work- ing on networked computers can bum up a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong with their network. Path Analyzer Pro 2.6 can help you find the trouble spots. The program's greatest benefit is that it brings guru-level trace analysis to Mac users, but its easy-to- use Mac interface is stymied by mini- mal documentation. Path Analyzer Pro is a good choice for networking geeks who want a visual tool that goes further than Terminal commands for analyz- ing trace routes. But for the rest of us, Path Analyzer Pro's potential remains out of reach without a guide to its power (macworld.com/3108). Lego Star Wars Il 4 RATING: §9$§ PRICE:S40 Company: Feral Interactive urt: www-feralinteractive.com Lego Star Wars was a surprise hit when it was released in 2005. The game seemed to fit squarely into the casual family-game space, but it built a cult following of regular gamers and Star Wars enthusiasts who really loved the action. So it's little wonder that LucasArts followed with a sequel, Lego Star Wars II. And in just about every respect, this one is better. As with the first game, you're playing a third- person action game using scenery and characters that look like they were created with Lego blocks. Star Wars and Lego—it tickles two centers of the geek brain simultaneously. Lego Star Wars II excels as a family-friendly action game, but that’s also a potential weakness, at least for experienced gamers, who will find the action less than challenging. But you can’t be all things to all people. Lego Star Wars II I'm an APC. | protect Macs. APC SmartilPS* 1000 prices Power protection back up during power outages. Also availatve m rackmount models. Learn why 30 million people protect their music, photos and financial files with APC. “Overall the reliability of el