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FIRST LOOKS
9 Hardware t trTo uchs mart IQ816 - Falcon Northwest Mach V Core i7 Canon Pixma iP4(,OO SEC UR ITY GU IDE Hannsprce Han us Soccer IIP Mini lOOO Protect Your Privacy Online IJ/us Quick Looks at the ZT Affinity Keeping you and your familysafeonline is a big job.As phlshing schemes, 7225Xi,the Fujitsu LifeHook U820, and more malware, identity theft,and bot nets grow more pervasive and complex, you nee d to be armed with the latest prod ucts and tips. We've got you covered. 28 13 Bus ine ss PLUS 33 A compar ison ofthe top reviewed security sui tes Sony VAIO VGN-Z590 45 Our specialSecurity EditionofTec h Tips Business accounti ng softwa re Iomega eGo Dcsktopllard Drive SPEC IA L R EPO RT OPINIONS (lT B) 3 First Word: Lance Ulanoff Mitsubishi XDSO OU-ST CES2009 2. J ohn C. Dvorak 17 Consumer Electronics The world's biggest tech 2. Inside Tra ck: John C. Dvorak RIM Blackucrry Storm 9530 rradcshow ccrrainlydidn'r 2. Sascha Segan Motorola MotoZINE ZN5 34 disappoint. Check out our picks ofthe 15 hottest prod - 27 Da n Co sta Sony Cybe r-shot DSC-l 77 ucts at the 200\)Consu mer Nikon lWO SOLUTIONS Electronics Show, Sharp l.C-52SH55U 37 Bu ild a $250 PC Our step-by-step gu ide to asscm- I'/u..'i Quick Looks at the IITC Fuze, FEEDBACK • bling a low-cost Linux system. the Samsung Epix,and more FRONT SIDE ., At Work 21 Software s Ne ws .2 Offi ce Adobe Photoshop CS4 Ilow has CES fare d in a down economy? 40 years of the mouse; •• Security Skype 4.0 Beta 2 to p Coogle searches of 2008; Te ch Tip s: Securit y Edition Picasa S (be ta) must-have mo bile apps for high- •• Plus (LuickLooksat Air Sharing (for tech travelers. . 7 THE BEST STUFF lphone),iGoogle, and more
Cover sCree n im age, Corbis; top il lustration by Richard Mia FEBRUA RY 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ ...... - . ~ =II LJ ED ITOR -IN -CHIEF, PC MAGA Z INE NET W ORK Lance Ulano ff ...... , EDITOR Steph anie Chang ....-.. I:m!lIJI DI~E CT OR O F O NLINE CONTE NT, HECUTIVE PRO DUCER Vicki B . Jacob son .....p' .... HECUTIVE EDITORS Dan Costa (reviews). Je remy A , Kap lan (online) ART DIRECTOR Rich ard J. Demler EDITOR I...l PRODUCTIO N DIREC TOR Nicholas Cosmo PC U8S DIRECTOR, SENIOR EDITOR (H"' RDW"' RE) Laarni A lm end rala s ec eze SENIOR E D I TO ~ S Sean Carro ll (software, Internet. network ing). W endy Sheehan Donnell (consumer elec tronics). Carol Man gis (bloqs). Kyle Monson, Sarah Pike (Solutions). Er ik Rhey (print) SENIOR WR ITER Eric Griffith REVIEWS EDITORS Gary aerune (software , Internet. networking), Dan Evans (consumer elect ronic s) , To ny Ho ffman (hardware) copy CHIEF Eliza beth A. Parry co py EDITORS Margar et McVeigh. A nn ovocow PC l ...8S U "' D AN"' LnTS Cisco Che ng ( laptops), Tim Gideon (audio and vid eo), Robert Heron ( HDTV an d hom e t hea ter). Mario Morejon (net working and sma ll business). Michael Muc hm ore (soft wa re). Neil J. Rubenk ing (securit y). Joel Santo Domingo (desktops). sescna Seg an (mobile dev ices) , M, Dav id Stone (pr inte rs and scanners) J UNIOR ...N...LYST PJ Jacobowitz (dig ital cameras and ca mcorders) PROD UCT REVIEWS COOROINUOR Zachary Ho nig INVEHTOR Y CO NTROL COORDINUOR Nicole Graham ST"' FF PNO TOGR PHER Scot t Schedivy PC "''''G,CO ''' ,.. NAGER. O NLINE PRODUCTIO N Yun-San Tsal PROD UCERS Gregg Binder. Mark teroorcese. Whitney A. Rey no ld s NEWS EDITOR Mark Hachman NEWS ~EP O RTE R Ch loe A lbanes ius ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jenn ifer L oeteo. Br ian Heater (blogs) STAFF EDITORS Co r inne rozz to ( rev iew s), Nicole Price Fasig (reviews) ASSISTANT EDITOR Sean Ludwig REVIEWS PRODUCER Erro l Pierre-Louis CO MMERCE PRODUCER S lmen Ed wards, Aneue Rochette UTILITY PROGRA M MAHAG ER Tim Sm ith COMMUHITY MANAGER Ji m Lynch CREATIVE DIRECTO R Chris Phillip s PROD UCTIO N ARTIST Guyang Ch en VIDEO EDITORIAL DIRECTOR . VIDEO AHO DIGITAL EVENTS Sebastian Rupley CO NTRIBUTING EDITOR S Helen Brad ley, Joh n R. De lan ey. Richard V. Dragan . John C. Dvora k, Craig Ellison, Galen r ctt . Bill Howard. Don Labrio la. Jam ie Lendmo. Jim Louderback. Bill r- tecbrc oe. Edward Mendelso n. Jan Ozer; Neil Randall. Mat thew D. Sarre l. Larry Seltzer EXTRE METEC H,CO M EDITOR Loyd Ca se SEHIO R TECNHOLOG Y ANALYSTS Jason Cross, Joel Durham PRODUCER Jerem y Atkinson J UNIOR PRODUCER Mike Nguyen
CHIEF EX ECUTI VE O FFICER Jaso n Young
BUSINES S DIRE CTO R Ch r istopher Urc iuoli VICE PRESIDENT , DIGIT AL SALES Ken ne th J . Detlet VICE PR ES IDEN T, MARK ETING Ja mes Seld en 212- 503-4689 RESEA RCN DIRE CTOR Fred Doscher REGIONA L S ALES MANAGER A m y Loria 352-873-4288 ACCOU NT H ECUTIVES Susan N erte 9 49 -4 59 -2931; Kathy Pavlak 212-503-4847 SALES ...SS IST"' NTS A n g eliqu e soto (East Coast) 212-503-5255: Meg gen Th orp ( W est Coast) 415- 547- 8131 ACCOUHT COOR DINATOR S Christine B lake ( East Co ast) 212- 503 - 52 4 1: Jamiel Hibbert (East Coast) 212-503-5491: Alycia Eakin ( Central, No rthwe st . and W est Coast) 4 15- 547- 80 36: Angelica Ferrer (West Co ast) 415-547-8045 "'D VERTIS ING O FFICE 28 E, 28th St .. New York . NY 10016-7940: phone. 800-336-2423. 212-503-3500: fax . 212-503-5000 For advertising info rm a ti o n go to wwwpcmagmedia.com CO NSU MER MARKET ING CO NSU MER MARKETI NG DIRECTOR Todd K lyver
Z IFFDA VIS MEDIA INC . C HIEF HECUTIVE O FFICE R Jason Young C NIEF FINANCIAL O FFI CER AND S ENIDR VICE PRESID EHT Ne il Glass HECUTIVE VICE PRES IDE NT Steve Sutton (Genera l Mana ger. In teract ive) VICE PRES IDE NTS Norris Boothe (P roduct Marketin g , Game Group). Simon Cox (Content. Game Group). Beth Repe ta ( Human Resources). James Se lden (Market ing and Sales Develo pment. Consumer/Small-Business Group). Lance Ulan off (Conte nt , PC Ma gazin e Net w ork) EXECUTI VE DIRECTO RS La rry Chevres (Internet Technology). O lga Gonopolsky (Wor ldwide L ic ensing, Ri9hts and Permiss ions), Ch r istopher Urciuof (F inance)
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III < t'Il ZIF. DAVIS MEDIA · http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST WORD L-A NCE UL A NOFF 2009: What to Expect in Tech
We head into 2009 with more uncerta int y as these devices edge up in perfor m the company may want to rethink the th an I've eve r seen in my lifetime. We haw ance and fun ctio nality. co nsume rs will portable Pc. Is there a hybrid device in an economy teetering on the edge ofcol realize they 're no th ing more than af the works that sits bet ween the iPhone lapse. ene rgy issues that will not go away, ford able laptops. Marketers will stop and Mar-Hook? I hope so. trouble spots around th e globe. an untested st ru ggling to shoe ho rn every new sys FLE XIBLE TOUCH SCREENS. Touch president who m ay be tested in ways we tem into the netbook mo ld. and a new screens will still be hot in 2009, espe never imagi ned, and a tech sector reel ing: pricing threshol d for pe s will be set . cially as Microsoft's mul titouch-friend ly from months o f ba d news, compress ion, Wit h Rad io Shack selling a subsidized Windows 7 ro lls out . However. the real an d lo w sales. No on e, mysclf incl udcd , $99 laptop , all be ts are o ff when it come s buzz will be around contac t-se nsitive knows what's going to happen, but I'm will to laptop pricing. screens th at can also hand le a good ing to make my best gues ses about w hat MICROSOFT W ILL DISCO NTINUE THE bend . roll , and curl. T he first of them will and wo n't tran sp ire in perhaps the ZUN E IN FAVOR O F ZUN E PHO NES. T he will likely appear on a new gen eration most pivotal year of this still-new century. Intern et is buzzi ng with ru mors that ofc-book rea ders, specially de signed for Microso ft is planning to pu t Zuncs into magazin e- and newspaper-style layout The Obvious a who le new generation of smartphoncs. formats, such as Zinio (sec below). WINDOWS 7 SHIPS. Windows 7 will ship no later th an October 2009. No, no one at Microsoft has told me th is, but Microsoft Social networking/Web 2.0 leaders like Facebook is dead set agai nst repeating any of the mistakes-and there were many- that it willlikelyget stronger in 2009, but will theyfind made with Windo ws Vista. Once the Red mond software giant sets a date, it will a moreeffective business model? make sure it meets that d ate. T his will bring cheer to OEMs and affiliates who arc alrea dy saying that Microsoft is han If this happ ens (and it will), the original Welcome to the Future dling this rollout the right way. Zune player will be collateral d amage. Also new for 2009 is PC Magazi ne Digital NET NEUTRALITY BECOMES LAW. SOCIA L NETW ORKING/ WE B 2.0 CONT Edition. We wa nt to welcome you to this President Ob ama is a firm believer in Net TRACTION W ILL CONTINUE. I'll admit new and exciting fro ntier for us and you, neutruliry havin g stated:"We can't have a that I no longer believe that eithe r Face our loyal readership. T he look and feel of situation in which the corporate duopoly book or Tw itter is doomed. In fact. I'm the digi tal ed itio n is st ill con sistent with dictates the futurc of tbc Inte rnet,and that's so add icted to the latter that its demise what you've come to expect.We have not why I'm supporting what is called Net ncu would leave me bereft. Even so. the dis changed the deep re porting, labs-based traliry" And with a Democratic Congress, appea rance of sites like Powncc is like reviews. and insightful analysis you know he should be able to make it law. the distant thrumm ing you hear when and rel y on . But like most other technol HOTV SALES W ILL SOA R THRO UGH you put your car to a train track. It's the o!-'Yadvents. Zinio lets you do more. such FEBRUARY. Consumers preparing for the sou nd of a freight train coming, and this as zoom in on pages, d ick and go r ight to February 18 digital swirchover will be do one is going to wipe out a whole bunch related Web si te and blo g co nte nt, an d ing two things: gett ing cable or satellite of VC-funded sites. Socia l networking/ jump directly to the story you want to read service for the first time and buyin g an Web 2.0 leaders like Faccbook will likely via ou r live TOe. And to ma ke the dig ital I IIlTV. Although most people kno w that get stro nger in 2009, but will they find a ed ition even more portable. Zinio Labs is they don't need an IIDTV for the switch more effective business mod el? working on compatibility with it'hone and over, this will be an excellent excuse to c-book readers.As we charge forward add buy on e. T his could mean IIIlTV prices The Un likely ing new user -frien dly features, we'd love stay flat through the first half of 2009. APPLE W ILL RELEASE ANOTHER GAM E to hear your feedback. CHANGING DEVICE. Over the past year The Possible and a half.Apple delivered up dates FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER! Catch the THENETBOO KPHENO MENON WILLE ND. to succ essful prod ucts. but no brea k- chiefs comments on the latest tech develop- People will still be buy ing netbooks, but throu ghs. That could change in 2009. as ments attwitter.com/L1nceUlanoff.
".,"'" zoos .C HAGU'" .'G"" '."'O N' >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ Windows 7: More of the Same In regard to Lance Ula noff's co lumn in the January issue ("Windows 7 1s What It ifBMWfollowed theMicrosoft business model, each l Ias to He," page H), if you people at PCMag want to publish apologies for Bill Gates, new caroffthe line would havepartsfrom thepast ten you should ask one ofGates's yes me n to w rite fo r you. Despite the obvious dis years hangingsomewhere on the chassis. co ntent and d isapproval ofVist a, Ulanoff seeks to sugarcoat the W ind ows 7 Vista follow-up by saying "Windows 7 will work not do a complete overha ul ofWindows same sys tem has "blazing performance at with everything Windows Vista did-and without alienat ing its customers. Wrong, a reasonab le price." Since w hen is 57,000 now that Vista works well with most exist wrong, w ro ng! BMW re-engtncers its for a computer reasonable? For someone ing hardware and software, th is is espe cars every few years to prod uce improved earning $52,500 a year (a good inco me cially goodnews."Say what? products that th e co mpa ny's customers for many), that equals 15percent of his or "Ibis docs litt le or nothing for PCMag's appreciate and purchase. But if BMW fol her salary for the wh ole year! I think your credibility on any computer technology lowed the Microsoft business model, each entire staff needs to be reminded o f the issue.-Roger Anthony new BMW wo uld have every Bfl.1 W part average income in this country. from the last te n years hanging somewhere I re alize that $50 0-to-$800 pe s arc Hey Apple, S ize Matters on th c chassls.c-It Roweu hard to find these days, but there should In your December cover story, "The Best be so me co mpany ou t there interested in and Worst o f2 008" (page (5), you praise Ta ke a Tip from TV, PC selling to my category ofuser- a casual the App le il'od Touch 2G. I recently pur Rcgardin g lohn C. llvorak's column "It's the gamer. I need more t han a basic system chased a new 16GB mod el, wh ich also hap 'IV Killing the Computer, Not Vice Versa," but less than the latest and greatest (or pens to be my first iPod. It's a very capable people arc using PCs more and viewingTv even what you might consider mid range). device except for one glaring issue; I didn't less. But people get more bang{or the buck I don't need most ofthe ot her per ipherals know before I bought th e device t ha t with th eir T Vs because T Vs last a lot lon and gadgets or even a monitor, keyboard, iTunes resizes pho tos to around 640-by ger than a typical I'C. To reverse this trend, mouse, or sp eakers (I already have those 480. T his mean s that if you want to zoom monitors and PCs m ust last {or a tim e co mponents). Maybe you should work in even sligh tly, the picture qu ality dimin period co mmensurate with the longevity o n an art icle d iscussing w hy syste ms ishes qu ickly. If you zoom in all the way, of TVs.-Comell}.Trumontunu,jr. in this price range arc hard to find (even pre pare to bc disappoi nrcd -e-Iwas . Apple without mon itor, keyboard, and mo use). has yet to offer the opt ion to turn offthis One Techie Toddler - Robertjumes automatic resizing feat u re or to change Most 2-year olds love to read Goodnight the sync size. Even giving us the option of Moon or Dr.Scuss, right? Not my kid. Cole Spell-Check Gaffe 1,024-by-768 would be a massive improve asks me if we can read I'C Muguzine before 1recently composed an e- mai l to Sen a ment. It's a sh ame to let such a gorgeous bed. l ie then points out all of the co mput tor Clinto n regarding her appoi ntment as screen go to waste.-Justin Uroni.Q;l;'Wski ers and electronics he wan ts me to buy Secretary of State. I wrote the e-mail us ing him. I guess. given that his first words were Microsoft Word wit h the latest updates so W ondering About WiMAX "Apple iphonc'' and "Blacklkrry," it fits. that I could usc the spell-checker to avo id T h ank you fo r yo ur review o f Sp rint's When I came home fr o m wo rk one errors. I was shocked to find that Pres ident XOII M Mobile WiMi\X service . Overall, night and found him on the co uc h read Obama's name was selected as misspelled; it seems Wi Mi\X re presents a latecomer ing his favorite magaz ine, I was h ardly instead. Word wanted to usc "Osarna." Can to broadband service behi nd the fixed car surprised. Il l' did n't even bo ther to look this be a casual error?- J.W Bechtel riers (llSI.and cable modems) and the 3G up to say hello. I thought you guys would wire less providers ( EV-DO and I ISPA). appreciate th is. Keep up the good wor k. There have been a number ofstories and Wi-F i could eve n be inclu ded in the mix, - UruceS. Goodman bingP()st.~ on this, and basically,it's a silly de pending on the locati o n. So, the big quirk that Micro.~()fthasfixed in the updated ques tion is, w hat market share is left fo r Where a re the Bargain PCs? version afWord2007."Inefad isthat o.~ama WiMAX?- Roht.>rt G. Iloucette In the Novem ber iss ue, you st ate in the (whichmeum Uon inArubic)is a muchmore Ta ble of Co n te n ts descr iptio n o f t he common name than Ohama.-f.'rik Rhey Mic rosoft·s Retread cover story, "The Hottest New pe s," that
i\ wh ile back Lance Ulano ff stated th at you've got me covered. Not qu ite. \Vhat HOW TO CONTACT US We w elcom e your com Wi ndows Vista would eventually be a happened to systems in the $500-to-$800 ments and suggestions , Wh en sendi ng ,,-mail to F""dback. please slate in the sub)"'c, line of you r good operating system. lie was wrong . range? None are listed in thisstory. You list messag e wh ic h art ic l\! or co lu m n pro mpted yo ur Soon thereafter,he argued that music com- the Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edi- respon se . E-mail p c m a g ~p c m a g . com . All letters become t he property of PC Magazin e panics must usc DRM to remain profi table. tio n as your Ed ito rs' Choice for gaming, and a re subject 10 edit ing_W e regrellhat w e Wro ng again. Now he says Microsoft ca n- then, on page 114 (Best Stuff) you state the ca nn o l an swe r letters individud ll y.
III < ' " HAG."., " Gn" ,.moH "B'"'' zoos http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ What's New from the World of Tech D o o
CES at theCrossroads How hasa crippled economyaffected theworld'slargesttechshowcase?
Just as the Great Dep ression of rhc 1930s about 110,000 people attended the show, a turc from MacWorld, Heater wrote, "Con led to rhe decline of the traveli ng circus , drop of just more than 22 percent over the sidering these dire economic times, there's 2009, many worry, could signify the fizzle previous year's tcral ofJ41,OOO. a growing co nsens us t hat, fo r bet te r or of technology's biggcsr circus, the Con Wh ile some measured the decline in worse, the age ofthe conve ntio n is draw su mer Electro nics Show. As usual, the raw numbers, other signs in red uced par ing In an end." show garnered mass attention from med ia ncipatio n were more tan gible. Some noted Many vendors, however, arc still heav and early adopters eager to sec what flashy the shor ter taxi cab lines and more elbow ily invested in CES.T he major companies new products would grace store shelves in room at after-show soirees. PC Mag blogs had their large booths with flashing lights 2009. But many covering the show not iced ed itor Brian Heater even theo rized in a and shiny display cases. One nota ble excep a decrease in ex hibito rs and attendees. Cea rlog post that th is could be the begin lion was Philips, wh ich is reportedly bow Accord ing 10 the Co nsu mer Electronics ning ofthe end for CES and shows like it. ing out of consumer electronics to focu s on Asso ciat ion (CEI\) , the organizer ofCES, Citing the demise of F3 and Apple's dcpar- health-care and enterprise products.
"B' "," '000 sc MAGU,,, .'G"" '.',"ON ' >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FRONT-SIDE
Ano ther sign of t he t imes 40-i nc h set s instead of the 40 for CES was the change in focus inch-plus Ill H Vs popular a few and marquee products. In stead years ago. of flashy, bi g-ticket ite ms like Small businesses and startups gaming desktops and m onster were given a mor e visible pres pl asma screen s, the show was ence th is year.On the show Hom, do m inated by low -cost mobile a special "alley" was desig nated devices that ex te nd Web con fo r s m all b usine sses, an d an n e c t iv it y a n d str etc h c o n "innovation area" was dedicated sumer s' dollar farther. Many to new products, curatcd like a co mpa n ies use d th e s how as museum exhibit. One new com a n oppo rt unit y to co nvince pany, I'owerrnat. made headlines peopl e to sp end so me m oney w ith a wi reless cha rging station. on devices th at offer more value It is co mpan ies suc h as Power th a n their cu rren t ge ar. The BUCKING THE TREND Desp ite CES's lower attendance and bearish ma t that could be the life blood trouble is, according to Jonathan cons umers. thin and Web -enabled LeDs were a big hit at t he show. of CES in the future. Without Blum, fou nd er o f tech media big ad budgets,small companies com pany BlumsDay, that consumers wi th table Blu-ray players. One explanation for dep end on rradcshows to gcr the word out st rained bud gets just are n't excite d abou t their success is that Le Ds are considerably about their products. these prod ucts. cheape r and more energy efficie nt than the Despite lower number s and consume r "It's th e opposi te o f the Net bubbl e in plasmas th at were showpieces at last year's appre he ns ion, not everyone at C ES lin 19l)9," he says. "Then it was all hype and no CES. Sha w n Du Bravac, chief economist gered on th e gloom ofa sagging econ omy. reality. T his ti me at CES it's all realit y and oftheCEA, told th e BBC that th e boos t in John Cha mbe rs, CEO of C isco Sys te ms , no hype. We' re finally seeing the produc ts LCD sales is also due to "cocooning,"a phe is well known for h is sunny, ent husia sti c we've been chasing for yea rs, and nobody no menon in whic h people stay home more C ES keynotes- and this year was no d if seems to care." during recessions instead of going out, and feren t. Chambers out lined the pos it ive IIowevcr, one sector tha t drew so me thus spend money to impro ve their living force technology will play in ed ucation and enthus ias m is th e H DT V/home-theater sp ace and th e devices conta ined therei n. government programs. Afte r his speech, mar ket. Thin and Web-connected LCD s DuBravae adde d th at people are also se al he comme nted,"I'm more optim istic th an we re a big hit, as we re low-cost and por- ing back on sc reen size, choo si ng 30- to most people in this room."- Erik Rhey 40 Years ofthe Mouse Here'sa look back at the little device thatchanged computing.
Richard Lyon and St eve Kirsch each devel op early versions of t he optical mou se, which uses light to navigate a ... computer screen.
Microsoft int roduces its f irst mouse, nic knamed th e Inventor Doug "green-eyed" las Engelbart mouse. debuts the first mouse. consisting of a woode n block Bill English invents and two metal th e "ball mouse:' The Royal Canadian wheels. in a which has a single Navy creates t he f irst live demo at a roller ball t hat allows II pr ecu rso r to the San Francisco the mouse to move in mouse. the trackball. con ference. any d irection. 1952 1968 1972 1981 1983
Mouse photos; W ik ipedia ; Comp uter H ist o ry Mus eu m ( 2); Lo g it ech ( 4 ). Micro so ft ( 2 ), a nd Apple http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ BEST OF OUR BLOGS
SECU RITY WATCH Norton Arrive s on MOle s To respond to the increase in Mac THETOP based malware, Svmentec has re 10TOP r6 ., ""-c leased Nort on Internet Security 4.0 - for the Mac ($79.99 direct). Some of GOOGLE the features here include a f irew a ll, t.-=------~- SEARCHES , ~: c:...... :- blacklisting. phishing protection, ... data encryption, and location-based O F2008 network rules.-Larry Seltzer @:WORK 1. Obama --FrHBuslne.. Freebyte.com Offers Dire ctory of Free Bu si ne ss GEARlOG li nd OffICe Software Software 2. Facebook The New e-e ee e The Web site Freebyte.com has posted an online Read er on t he Block directory of free business software. The offerings 3. ATT include office suites, desktop publishing, data Foxit Software, the base management, accounting, and program developer of the light 4 . iPho ne ming tools.-Kathy Yakal weight substitute for 5. YouTube Adobe's PDF format, GOODCLEANTEC H has introduced the Solar Market Exp e ct ed to Slow 6. Fox News eSlick, a hardware e After almost eight years of steady book reader, At $229 . growth, the global obotovoltaic 7. Palin it is cheaper than its ( PV) market is expected to take a rivals from Sony and 20 pe rcent dive. This is the con 8. Beijing Amazon, while offer clusion of a report conducted by 2008 ing similar features, iSuppli, a market watch company. such as an E Ink 600 The report projects that worldwide 9. Dav id ov-aoo display, 128MB revenue will fall to $12.9 billion in Cook of RA M, an SD card 2009. primarily due to an over slot, and MP3 play supply of solar panels. On the bright 10. Surf the back. It is thinner and side, iSuppli also states that this lighter than the Kindle, surplus will lead to lower prices for cha nnel but takes longer to solar panels, which may put them recharge and lacks within reach for many home and Source: GOOgle Z",lg,,"I, wireless capability. small-business owners. 200S -Mark Hochman -Steve Volynets
Apple breaks with 22 years of tradition by selling the multibutton Mighty Mouse, Icomplete with innovate scroll ball. ------Logitech and Gyration release designs for the qyroscoprc or "air" mouse.
Mouse Logitech unveils the Systems in Source.: Logilech,Micro.olt, MouseMan, the first troduces the Gea, log. W,k,p,"'ha. Compul e, wireless RF mouse. scroll wheel. Ho< tory Museu m 1991 1995 2006 2008
FEBRUARY 2009 "MA."'O' .0."" '."'.0 , >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FRONT-SIDE
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FEBRUARY 2009 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ • Irs OURRATINGS KEY: ••••• EXCELLENT I ••••0 VERY GOOD I •••00 GOOD I ••000 FAIR I . 0 0 0 0 POOR
HP TouchSmart IQ816 $2.099.99 list •••V O PROS Large widescreen . Touch -sensit ive inter face, Blu-rey 1080p compatib le disp lay. W ire less everything. Speedier than the 10506, ATSC HDTV tuner. Pocket Med ia Dr ive bay, CONS Short (60-day) subscription to Nort on Internet Secu rity Screen doesn't quite fill the bezel. Btu-rev drive is playe r on ly Some crecwere. Cli ck here for more.
- ~ -_ - ':':.' --_ - ----~--- ' - ~ -- - . "",- - -,- ' ~.'. ..-- _ _ .. , - _ '-, ..... - - - .... - .. ------HP TOUCHSMART IQ816 HP's Snazzy Kitchen PC The 'Iou ch 'S rnart IQ816 PC is the big brother ofthc FireWire port, 5-in-l med ia-card reader, and a Pocket 'Iou chxmar t IQ506, and like its sibling", th is model is Media Drive bay. INSIDE an ull-in-one PC wi th a touch screen that can wor k In testing, the IQ816 showed passable scores on as its primary interface-s-perfect for the kitch en. The PhOIOSho p CS3 and Windows Med ia Encoder rest. 9 H ar d w a re 25.5-inch widcscrcen is primed for I I(lTV content. T he sys tem's Nvid ia Ccjorcc 9600 M GS graphics 13 Business with its built-in ATSC/ I IDTVtu ner.It's a decem per arc competent for just about every sta ndard tas k former butloses a couple of points for being: loaded except gaming. If you're looking for a kitchen PC, 17 Co nsum e r Electronics with cra pware. T he IQ816's real streng th is that n's the IQH1 6 is a good cho ice. But for the be droom or more touch-centric tha n its all-m-oue rivals. den, the Sony VAIO VGC-I.VI90Y is a better,if more 21 Softw are Thi s system has nearly the same bu ild as its pre expensive,option.-JoelSanto Domingo decessor, with all of the interna ls placed behind the screen. T he IQ816 is noticeably more respon sive, Specs:2.1·GIlz l rltd Core 2 Duo "1"8100 processor; 4GB working:muc h like an il'od touch or it-hone. Also, 667-MIl z DDR2 SDRAM: 750GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hIJrd drive; S12M H Nvidia Gd'orce 9MJOMGS graphics card; I II' enabled the input panel for handwriting: rccog Btu·my drive; irltegruted 25.5-irlch widescreen LCD nilion and on-screen keyboard funct ions by default. monitor:five USH 2.0 ports; one fire Wire port: integmted But load ing: all these extra features has dow nsides, stereo speakers; Windows Vista Ilome f'remium. such as a longer boot time and a taskbar littered wit h icons. Even so, once everything is loaded, the touc h PERFORMANCE TE STS 30 B E NC ~ M ARK TESTS MULTIMEDIATESTS interface is snappy.Of cour se, you can still usc the WINDOWS PHOTOSHOP .1. "",,,,,,,...,, 10<>1- M£OIA t S1 ACTION included wireless keyboard and mouse if you prefer. 'I' lo" ><...... " ~t. lDMARK O ~ A tlNE8ENCH EHCOOI:R . 80ldI,..d..o ", ~,,' pil ot. I,"" 1,1'0' RIOA ...,'"" with the IQ816, you can surfthe Web wirelessly, .".- .... leave handwritten noll'S to fam ily members on the HP TOllthSmart 1Q816 ..... 3,505 1:21 0:41 screen, playa Hlu-ray movie, video-cha r via the SOny VAIO VGC-LV I90Y· 1,... ." 0:24 webcarn, and more, You also get five USB ports, a REO d. " t..Edit",' Cho"'". • A" ti · . h. ~ ogI" "" ,,'". i , ~".ri"ll " .."II. IX.
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FALCON NORTHWEST MACHV (CORE 17) Falcon System Soars with a New Intel Core Falcon Northwest has again delivered a stunning, Falcon Northwest Mach V speedy sys tem in the Mach V (Cor e i7). It's a rea l (Core 17) $7,995 direct beauty, and another benchmark-smoker for Falcon ••••0 Northwest. Th anks to a next-generation Intel qua d PROS Staggering mu lt imedia core processor, it has the cho ps to compete with the pe rformance, Sp eedy 3D perfor older Core 2 Extreme-equipped syste ms arou nd. mance So lid-stat e drive. Sexy Like other Mach V models, this latest one comes pa int job, 1,20 0 W power supply. wit h lots of space for upgrades. Falcon installed an No c rep ware. Qu iet, Intel 80GBsolid-state drive (SSD),which loads very CONS Not qu ite the fast est at 3D game s Pr icey. quickly,and a l-rerubyte hard drive. You also get an astonishing 12GBof memory,at leas t two expansion Click here for more. cards, and two AT 1Radcon graphics cards. Such advanced componen ts paid dividends in the Mach V's benchmark scores. For example, its sco re you're willing to spend a little more, the Mach V is on Windows Media Encoding,23seconds, sets a new a just ifiable pur chase. It has a lot offorward-looking record for PC Labs,and its 16seconds on the Photo technology and will propel you full forc e into the shop CS3 test is only 2 seconds be hind our current world of ca-blt computmg.c-joct Sunto Domingo Editors' Choice in this category, the Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edition . T he syste m also returned Specs:3.2-GIIz Intel Core 17965 Extreme processor the fastest scores so far on Ctn cnc nch RIO(18,787), (overdocked to 3.99 GHz); 12GB, I,066-MIl z /)DR3 5DRAM: 80Gll SSD; ITIl. 7,200-rpmSATA hurd drive: 3ll MarkO(, (26,l)44),and 3DM,lrk Vantage (44,685). two AT! Radeon lID 4X70 X2graph ics cards; dua l-layer When playing 3D games, the Mach V is fast, but IWl)zRWdrive:HD /W /) -ROM! Hlu-ray comho drive: 12 Raptor is still faster. The Raptor wins the bang-for USB 2.0 ports, I HreWi re po rt, Windows Vista Ultimate the-buck test and retains ou r Editors' Choice, but if (64 -l>it version ).
CANON PIXM A IP4600 Canon's Latest Pixma Retreats on Speed Single-function, basic inkjet printers suitab le for the home or home office haven't quite gone the way of the d inosaur, but they're becoming an endangered species. As time goes on, these printers arc being replaced with all-ln -ones (AIOs ) and phorocentric models.T he Pixma ii'4600 is one of the few new low-cost inkjets coming out, and it docs have some photo-friendly touches, suc h as a PictBridge connec Canon Plxma IP460 0 $99.99 d irec t tor. T he iP4600's price has come down from that of ••• V O the ii'4500, but its speed has also dropped,leaving it PROS High- quality just short ofearningan Editors' Choice. photos. Pr ints d irec t ly Like e arlie r mo dels, the 6-by-11.7-by-17-inch from cameras. Two (1IW ll) iP4600 o ffers excellen t paper handling, were good enough for any internal bus iness usc, and paper trays. Automatic with two paper tra ys and an automatic duplcxc r. all photo prints easily qualified as true photo qual ity dup lexing As ment ioned, this printer fell behind its predcces (better than you would expect from a typical drug CONS Slow er than the last -g enerati on printer sor in speed, prod ucing 26 pages per minute for store, but not as good as a pro photo lab).l b e iP4600 it rep lace s. Full-page mo nochro me and 21ppm for color,compared wit h even d id a reasonable job on monoch rome photos, graphics te nd to ma ke the iP4500's 31 pp m and 24 ppm, respect ively. The which are a problem for many printers. plain paper cu r l. iP4600's ou tput qua lity was a touch below par for Alt hough the st ep down in speed is a bit of a Cli ck here for more. text,a bit above par for photos, and typical for graph disappoint ment, the iP4600 offers a mo re-than ics. More than half of the fonts on our text tests were adequate balance of output quality, paper handling, easily readable and well formed at Hpoints. Graphics and price.-M.Duvid Stone
III < ' 0 " HAOU'" .'0"" '."'ON """" '00' http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ HANNSPREE HA NNS SOCCER This Monitor's Got Game Already co un ting down th e days un t il the next Hannspree Hanns Soccer Wo rld Cu p? If so, Ilan nspree has a monitor for $279.99 list you.T he Ilanns Soccer (on e of fou r to-Inch sports •••00 themed displays) is designe d for users who want to PROS Cool leat her- c lad exter io r express their love ofthe game. T his d isplay's lo-inch Good motion performance. Pivots be t ween landscape and (4:3 aspect ratio) panel is housed in a round cabinet portrait modes, covered with black and white leather, giving it the CO NS So -so grayscale pe rfor look and fed ofa real socce r ball.T he company also mance, Narrow v iewing angles, offers baseball and basketball models, as we llas a 19 No DVI inpu t. inch widesc ree n with a basketball-hoop stand. Click here for m ore. T he 1,280 -by-I,0 24 d isplay sits atop a stu rdy black-and -s ilver stand wit h tilt and swivel capa bilities. You can also pivot the disp lay 90 degrees to view the screen in portrait mode. Two l-watt speak ers embedded below the screen are typical mon itor speakers; they're adequate but can't handle loud vol re produ cing da rk and lig ht shades of gra y. For ume wit hout distorting. At the rear ofthe cabinet are tunatel y, the flaw did no t affect co lo r quality, bu t audio, IIDMI , and analog OS-pin VGA) input s, but if you'll be retou ching photos or doing anything the mon itor does not have a n VI connection. th at requires grayscale accu racy, thi s monitor will In testi ng , th e 2-mill iseco nd (gray-to -gray) likely disappoin t. Even with its flaws, this display is pixel response panel had no trouble handling fast more than capable offultillin g you r basic viewing motion sequences. However;th is monitor's viewing needs, as well as imp ressin g your soccer buddies. angles weren't quite as claimed , and it had trouble - JuhnN.De/uney
HP M IN I 1000 HP's Gorgeous Netbook I II' was one of the first companies to sign on to the ncrbook revolution, wasting little ti me in launching the I II' 2133 Mini-Note PC in answer to the original ASUS Eee PC 4G.I II"s new net book, the Mini 1000, seems modeled on liP's Pavilion line, w ith a pol ished design andan Intel Atom platfor m.Th is means it more closely resembles other nctbooks but avoids some ofthe quirks of its competi tors. T he Mini 1000's design, like that of its Pavilio n siblings, uses the In-Mold Decoration tec hnique. in which a patt ern is embedded undern eath a laminate HP Mini 1000 layer. T he system measures 10.3by 6.6 by 0.9 inches $ 550 direct (lIWD), about the same as the Accr Aspire One.The ••• 1> 0 92 percent keyboard is as comfortable as the best PROS Runs on t he Inte l nct book sc ree ns ou t the re. T he featu re set. how Atom p latform . Gor ever, has its ups and down s. Although the Mini WOO mark tests,so the jury is st illout on performance, but geous. b ig (lO-inch) offers mu lt iple sto rage options, such as 8GB and it will prob ably match its competition . Its Mobile glass screen, Best loo kin g desig n. Lighter 16GBSSDs and spin nin g drives that go up to 60GB, Mark score was imp ressive for a unit with a three than it s riya ls. WWAN. the 60GBdrive's speed is only 4,200 rpm,compared cell batter y: 2 hou rs 58 minutes. Design is a big win bigger battery, and with S,400-rpm drives of many others. On e game for the Mini 1000, and despite some feature annoy exce llent Ub untu dlstro changing feature is the WWAN slot, which means ances, it's worth a look.c-Ctsco Cheng options later this year, Super ior keyb oard . that the Mini 1000 is mobile.... broadband ready. CONS Mo use bu ttons T his configurat ion co mes with Wi ndows XP Specs: 1,6-Gllz Irltd Atom N270; IGIl1)/)R2 S/) RAM; 60GH, are aw kwa rdly placed, I lome Edition,and later this year I II' will introduce 4,200-rpm hard drive;I ntel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, Slow-spinn ing hard Mini1000s runningMie (pronounced Me), a custom 12XM B;IO.2-irlCh,l,024-by-600 displa y;Hroadcom X02.l1g; drives. VGA -out req uires a don gl e. Ubuntu vers ion it developed. Unfortunately, the 2.5 pounds(3.1f'(lwlds travel);two USBports;26-Wh, 2,3-Ah Mini 1000was incompatible wit h most ofour bench- lithium ion bnttery; Wi ndows XI' I lome rdition. Cli ck here for more.
FEBRUARY 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LO O KS-HARDWARE Quick Looks Visit pcmag.com for t he full review s of t hese and sco res of other hardware products.
HP Pavilion • Relalivel~ inexpensive • Crapware If you'relooking lor a bOOgeI PC 2.£.·GHIlntel Core2 Duo E4706 ..... • TVtunerwithl,leEfemote • ExlernallR receiver ltlal's a step up from a bargain processor: 3GB800- I.I flzDDR2 $572.811isl;with • Expandab il i~ basementsystem(usually $400 SDRAI.I : 5OOGB.1,200-rpmSATA 19-inch wldescreen •FireWireport to $500), ltle a66lot has 6l>cent harddrive; 2S6t.lB nVid iaGeFOfce LCD II>JnilOf, • Discretegraphics card power.good features,and the 9300+GE graphics; dual-layer S812.87 • large 500GB harddrive ability to go theextramile. OVO±RW: 19-inch wldescree n ••••0 LCD: VislaHome PremiumW-bit SonyVAIO • Compaclall·in-ooe PC • Wiredkeyboard and moosespoil TheVGC-ISI90J/Bisa nice 3.0-GHI lnlelCore 2 Duo ES400 VGC-JSI90JIB • Faster prccesscc larger hard sleek tines Blu -ray~ipped all-in-onePC precesscr: 4GB800-I.I HIDDR2 $1,449.99 dire<:1 drivethan aJ l-in-we rivals • Notln.... IOSOp lor ltle m;Jllimediamaven. lrs a SDRAI.I: 500GB, 7,200-rpmSATA •••00 • Blb·ray reader • Some crapware littlemore powerful than its rivals ham drive; 128MB integrated _4GB ot memory •Weak integrated graphics on 2D tasks likevideo encoding InlelGI.IA U5OO HDgraphics: • Blu-ray drivei5tray-load ing and photo editing,but il makes BD-ROl.lldual-layer OVO±RW: concessions in !he 3Drealm. Vista Home Premium &4-bit
IT Affinity 722SXi • Moderately priced quad'COfe • Islight on features TheIT Alfinitycomeslroma 2.4-GHIlnlel Core2 QuadQ6600 Desktop PC .,.., • Boringdesign company youmaynol befamil iar processor: 4GB800- I.Iflz DDR2 $749.99 lisl • Some room for expansion • 9O-.ooy trialsubscsfption to with, butirs available near SORAI.I : 500GB 1,200-rpmSATA ••• () O • Good multimedia benchmark NortonInternet Security youand W<.lf!h considering.It harddrive: 512MB All RadeDII test n umbe~ • Some crapware ptIWides solidperformance IOf HO 3450graphics; dual-layer no! a lotof money. OVO±RW:stereo speakers: Vista Home Premium.
LAPTOPS Fujitsu UIeBook - tntecrated WWAN - Newresolutionmakestexteven The U820's improvements-new I.G-GHI Inlel Alom ZS3O: 1GB - Convert ible tablet hattlerto read keyboard layout, GPS, anda OOR2 SORAI.I: 60GB, 4.200-rpm $1,I9'.l direct _CFsiot _ IG8 01memory is Itle max higherscreen resolution-aren't harddrive; 250MB IntelGraphics "'" _SD slol • • (l OO _Runs Vistatooslowly enoughto kick-start tilehandheld Media Aoceleralor 500: S.li-indl, - Weighs 1.5pounds - Spinning harddriveisslow ec category. 1,280-by-800 widestleen LE D: - Extended !ullery makes it look 802.1lg:I.Spounds;42-Wh, S.8 awkwam Ah ballery:Vista!+ome Premium. PRIHTEJIS
Ottl Printing - Prints 00tabloid(II by11 - Slow Thecasoon is a hight)' affordable Color laser:one-passcolor: Solutions C8800n inches)and banner·sizepaper _Relati¥
Xl!1'OJl Phaser - Small - Relativet)' slow The3100 l.lFP/X prints,scans,and AIO laser:monochrome: flatbed 3100MFP!X _lightweight _SUbpar textquality works as a standaiooeC
Le~mark X46S0 - Buill-inWi-Fi - Slow Buill-in Wi-Fimakesprinlingfrom Home inkjel AIO: one-passcolor: S129.99direct - Prints, scans.copies - Text and photosare somewhat m;J ~iple computefS easy,but the II·in-1 ftasll memorycam reader: ••(l OO _SCans to e· mai ~ usingPC's subpar lor an inkjet X4650 is limited tl)'slowspeed copier;lOO·sheet input capacity; e-mailprogram and slightlysubopar textand cost pel page:Scents(mono), photoQUal ity. II cents (color): 11.3by 18.0 by 22.1 inches(IIWD): 15 pounds.
DISPLAYS - GfWtccor reproduction - Weakgrayscale performan<;e Part HOTVand part l CO lTI(lfIitor, 22-inchtCD:1,680-by-I,050 -lots III AIVconnections _lacks USB ports ltle T220HO is ideal IOf use in nati¥ and colorful bezelwill ratios:4;3(normalmode), dress upeven!he drabbesl lli 16:9(auto'widemode)_ desktops.
Sedgale _500GB capacity _Windows-onlysoftware(i n this TheFreeAgenl Go isa greatPDf Externatham dri¥
III < " " HAG"'H' . 'GnA< ,.mOH m,,,,, zoos http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS- BUSINESS
SonyVAIO VGN-Z590 $4.199 d irect .... () P ROS Sub 3.5 pound urtreoort able. Swltchable graphics. Great battery life Blu -r ey opt ion. Sleek ca rbon-fiber chassis. SONY VAIO VGN-Z590 HDMI-out. Mobile broad band standard. Excellent resolution Extended ba ttery option, Great Sony's WinningUltraportable performance. Very good battery life, Low base connccrencn price , No other ulrrapurtablc line captures the essence of ory, this laptop's score o n SYSma rk 2007 Preview CO NS SSD d rives are thinktng our sidc the box like Sony 's. Sony was the Overall was more than twice that ofthe MaeBook pricey. System can get first to introduce an ulrraportable we ighing less tha n Air. And its sw jtchable graphics means that you can outrageously expensive. 4 poun ds with an optical drive and discrete graphics. choose betwee n higher perform ance and longer bat Click here for more. The company's latest uhraportab lc, the VAIO VGN tery life. Wit h the nVidia chipset ena bled, the Z590 1'590, breaks new ground once again.The dual551)s, tall ied a score of 4 hours 5 min utes on the Mobile a Blu-ray drive,and sw uchablc grap hics arc features Mark 2007 battery ru ndow n test. The integrat ed commonly found on an g-pound med ia center, not a chipset boosted the system to 5 hours 6 minutes. 3.2-pounJ uhraportablc . It's ama zing that Sony was Although our tested connguranon is overpriced. able 10 fit th is amount of rec hnology in to a small this VAIO is no net heless the lightes t ulrraportuble fra me. For this accom plishment, Sony re tains the out there to offer so many featu rl's.- CiscllCheng Editors' Choice in the uhraporrablc category, The Z590 measures 8.3by 12.4 by 1.2 inches and Specs: 2.53-GIl z Intel Core 2 Duo 1'9500; 4GB DDlU weighs 3.2 pound s-more co mpact and at least a SDRAM; 25<>GB SSD;switchable Xmphics: 256MB1ntel GMA 4500MllD/Nvidia GefNCe9300M GS; HI-inch haif a pound lighter than its predecessor, the VGN I,600-by-900 1.H) widescreen; lntei Wireless WiH Link 5Z791N.It's slightly heavier than the MacBook Air (3 5/00; 3.2 pounds (4.1 pounds tmve/); two USB ports; one pounds) but lighter than the Lcnovo Thlnkpad X301 fjreWire port; 58-Wh, 5A-Ah, lithium ion buttery; Win (3.3 pounds). Clad in carbo n fiber, this VAIO's 1,600 dows Vistn Home Premium. by-900 I.ED widcscrce n is very thin and bright. Also, PERFORMANCE TESTS MUlTIMEDIA TESTS you get a buil t-in Blu-ray burner, IIDM I port, dual SYSMARK A H;g• ..,." .." I>o http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS- BUSINESS ____<- _<- _ ,__,_ ""'-__ 0:- ...... I ~ o;;l ;l ~ .I 1 1 · l! j, ~ '3 · ~ . Jilo " If PARING IT --_.... - DOWN W it h • ccrckaooks. ---,- .... you can see - "'''''''~- 1 1- _ .-.- =__w exac tly where you are fina n • • ...._111 • ._· _ ..-,_ ro,, J ci ally with your • ,::, company's key . ...._-"...... -'_1>1"", • .__ .. - numbe rs. • ._"_n1 - • Qu lckBooks Accounting Pro ...... _ .. "" "'"1>. " Edition 2009 Sing le user, $199.95: three users, $549,95 ~--- _.~ () -- -~. -~ ...... _- -- .._. --__.. -_...... '-'_. --••• PROS Excel -. ••-" •1-- ,__-. ,,- - _. .... lent stable of - --.._.•. ---- ,_. ._.------_. - feat ures for .- .... ._- .... -----,_. ~11"" -- -_. ... small busi ._- .------_. -- _._. .- nesses, Good ...... _- .. ---- .--_. _-. --. _. .... management overviews. ._- ••- -- _. .- --.....- _._. -• • Expansive payroll .-...----- ,------."- .------' op tions, Clean, slick "h_~_ -- interface. Market ing tools, - - - CONS Limited inven tory tracking, Database records and setup could be deeper. Click here fo r more. Managing Money in Troubled Times These four accounting packages can help you keep a closer eye on your bottom line. By Gary Berline and Kathy Yakal Anyone running a small business knows that new to kee p doing: your boo kkeeping: on Post-it notes, money is hard to come by these days. Chances Powerful, inexpens ive, and easy-to-usc accounting: are, you r revenue stream is not going to St'C much packages abound, and we've revie wed four of the growth. so you'll have to make do with what you've best to help you pick the right one, got for a while.That means keeping a w ry d ose eye on your accou nts and cash rlow, Whether your staff Micr o soft Office Accountin g consists of just you or an ent ire crew,you can't afford Profession al 2008 Wh en Microsoft fi rst stepped into the s ma ll =,- business accounting ring: a few years ugo. it took a t -_--.. .__-... - --' ---_. bea ting at the hands of nimbler competitors. But ..--- ._-_-- - since then it has dev eloped a product with a fluid ._--_- .. Microsoft Outlook style and integration with eBay, l'ayl'al, Equifax, and Outlook with Business Con tac t Manager. The 2008 versio n doesn't have as "" . "" many updates as Peachtre e's and QuickHook s' .., - "" 0. - new offcrings,but you do get pluses like scheduled .-.- _. documents, the ability to convert sales orders into ---=-,-- "'--- ... pu rchase orders, and additional reports, making: -_.- . ."" Microsoft a respectable contende r in th is category. --- . This suite's setup is quick and easy, though you should take the time to fiil in t he Set Company Preferences area, where you establish defaults, COMPAN Y CLEA RINGHOUSe Take a look at Micro sof t Office Accounting's such as interest rates, system accounts, and using Company Center f irst t hing in t he morning to see exactly where you stand, jobs for multi st ep pro jects, which will be useful III < " " HAO"'.' .'0"" ,."'.. "" "" >0O, http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ = es = ... = ._- -_ - es== Microsoft Office . Accounting --~- Professional 2008 -- li.. Sing le user, . . j -- -~- ._- c $199.95 direct; three users. $499.9 5 ToDo ... . -_. _. _. • •••0 DIGITAL DASHBOARD Each of Peacht ree's EASY NAVIGATION MYOB p io neered t he graphi PROS Familiar Out look cal flow chart t hat other programs now u se. Click prog ram modules has a d ashboa rd that contains like interface. Robust on a program module, then on t he ac tion you wa nt a flow-chart-type navigation tool with re lated integrat ion w ith other to ta ke. d ata. apps Good help system. Clear, understandable later. Alth ough se tup isn't painful,QuickBooks and Peachtree Complete has always had a good setup naviga tion. Good on line sales tools. Peachtree both offer an app roac h to setup that's procedu re, and this latest edition is no except ion. CONS Fewer pay roll mor e thorough and autom ated. The overall interface The app has you select a matching bus iness type options than competi is easy to usc, including a dash board with remind from a list of dozens, then it builds a set ofaccounts tors have. Weak inven ers, cash-flow grap h, accounts payable. and over that will work best with your choice, The Company tory trac king du e-cus tomer tool s. T his suite 's strongest suit is its Center contains an eclectic mix of tools that give Click here for more. sturdy integration with Word, Excel , Outlook, and you acce ss to key reports and financial statements, cltay/ Paypal. Ultimately,Office Accounting is not as links to data maint enance tools, and a list of mi s good across the board as QuickBooks, but it's non e cellane ous company informat ion. I like this d ua l thel ess a solid, creative small-bus iness accounting approac h; it's similar to the tack QuickHooks takes MYOB Premier program that's worth consi dering, with its company snapshot and company home page. Accounting 2008 You also get good online banking features, Further, New users, $299 direct: upgraders, $159: MYOB Premier Accounting 2008 Peachtree's payroll solutions arc impressive,trailing multiuser, $249: MYOB may not be the na me tha t co mes to mind QuickBooks only in the sheer nu mber ofoptions. $100 rebate for switch when you think ofsmall-business accou nting soft Aside from one gripe with Peachtree-its excessive ing from QuickBooks. ware, but it was one ofthe first for Windows. MYOB usc of new windows- it is a good package that will •••V O offers a very capableset oftools,and the application's continue to serve its existing users well. PROS Clean, we ll Mac-based beginnings give it one of the cleane st, designe d interface Solid set of acco unting tools. most easilynavigable interfaces.Th e cur rent vcrsion QuickBooks Accounting Pro Edition 2009 Card File centra lizes doesn't add an enormous amount, but the core capa Quick Books has been a crowd-plcascr since it was databases. Very capable bilities are strong, Unfortunately, MYOB hasn't kept introduced in the early nineties, and it will continue inventory tracking . 00 up with the online capabilides of its rivals. to be so with the 2009 edition.QuickBooks h,IS made it- yourself and hands·off payroll available. T he setup of MYOBis about as stra ightforward more enhancements and added more features than CONS Incomplete on line as those of the others here.T he Com ma nd Ce nte r rivals Microsoft Accou nting Profession al, MYOB, banking. No links to Web navigation is simple and clean, andonly Microso ft's and Peachtree. Simply put, it's just a bet ter overal l services or extens ive Office Accou ntin g offer s an interface with a lower package. outside integrat ion barrier to entry. The lack of comprehensive online Improvements inelude the ability to run repor ts Click here for more. banking,however, is a huge drawback. You can send even while others are working in Qu ickBooks, and payments directly into vendors' accou nts electroni a new Co mpany Snapshot feature that gives you an cally,but you can't have the program mailout checks. overview of key financial data. Th is version also sup Peachtree by MYOB is flexible but somew hat out- of-date. It's a ports over 100 foreign cur renc ies. And to promote Sage Complete good product, and exis ting users should be happy your business, you can even build a professional Accounting 2009 contin uing with it. Still,Qu ickBnoks Pro will serve looking Web site. Intui t will ho st three-page sites Sing le user, you better overallat roughly the same price. ffl'\.' for 12 months,and $4.99 monthlyafter that. $269.99 direct; T he setup process fo r Quick Boo ks is so me five users, $699.99 ••••0 Peachtree by Sage Complete what involve d, but that's so it ca n tailor itself to PROS Exception- Accounting 2009 your need s. During the interview,the setup routine ally thorough mo du les, Peachtree's accounting roots in the small-bus iness makes many program conngu ration setti ngs for you, espec ially inventory. market reach back to the ea rly nineties, and tbc but not allofthem. Forpayroll,you can opt for one of Three payroll levels. company's expe rience shows in the 2009 version. the two DIY solutions or the Qu ickBoo ks Assisted Und erstandable, task based interface. Good T he software co mpetes we ll aga inst the ot her s Payroll-all involve an extra fee. overview tools for here, though it can't beat QuickBook s at simplicity QuickBooks is a perennial favor ite, and we don't managers. and usability.New features include real-time error hesitate to recommend it for the lion's share of small CONS New windows reporting, multiyear reporting within general ledger business es. It's flexible, friendly, and the best th is open too often. Out reports and financial statements,and improvements year, earn ing our Editors' Cho ice for small-business dated interface. to time and expense tracking. accounting. 0 Click here for more. FEBRUARY 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS- BUSINESS posal) but you can download the Retrospect Express liD simple backup software from Iomega's Web site. The softwa re is windows only, but Mac use rs ca n always fall back on T ime Machine if they're running Mac OS 10.5.Also, to usc this drive with a Mac, you must reformat the drive to 1IFS+. Iomega eGo Desktop In terms of perfor mance, th is drive is fai rly Hard Drive (1TB) speedy: It took only 49 seconds to copy our 1.2GB $269,99 list test folder via Wi ndows drag-and-drop. The Retro •••() O IO MEGA EGO DESKTOP HARD DRiVe (lTS) spec t software took qu ite a bit lon ger. 2:02, because PROS Large capacity. it docs a post-co py verification and stores files in its Unique sty le. Good G8 Roomy, No-FrillsStorage per-dollar va lue. own format. T he eGo's score of3,477on PCMark05's CO NS So ftware must T he Iomega cGo Desktop is a I-terabyte deskto p IID D test showed it to be mu ch faste r than ot her be downloaded. Bac ku p class hard d rive that offers a lot of storage for not a pocket drives, which usually score less than 3,000. software is PC-on ly, lot of money. Its styling and features share similari Com pared with a 500G B poc ket drive like the Short one-year warran ty. ties with the smaller, pocket-size Iomega eGo hard Scagatc FreeAgent Go, the cGo is a lot chea per on a Click here for more. drives. pe r-gigabyte basis. And all thin gs cons ide red, it's a The hip-fl ask-sh ap ed , pa in te d metal c ha ss is decent drive in an attractive case, at a good price. But measures1.8 by 4.8by 8 inches (J IWD) and comes in businesses and those who want more robust backup blue,red,and black. The drive doesn't come wit h any software should loo k elsewhere for a more complete loaded softwa re (leaving the entire ITB at you r dis- package.- JoelSanto Domingo away. T ha t's a lo t cl oser th an the 9 to B feet that most proj ecto rs need. but it's st ill more than the 15 Mitsublshl inches needed by our current Editors' Choice in this XD500U-ST category, the I Iitachi CI'-AIOO. $1,300 street Yet one dear advantage the XI)500U-ST has over •••00 the Hitach i un it is portabilit y. At 4.0 by 13.1by 9.8 PROS Sho rt t hr ow, inches (I fWD) andZ3pou nds, you might not want to Reasonab ly light and MITSUBISHI XDSOOU-ST portable, Comes w ith lug it with you on regularbasis, but it's small and light a soft carrying case enough to bring along at lea st occasionally. There CO NS Obscure on Big Pictures for arc also plent y of connect ion options, includi ng two screen men u options VGA, one pass-th rou gh VGA, S-Video, com pos ite and labels on th e Small Rooms video. RCA phone, USn. and a stereo mini jack. remote. Con trast rat io is unusually low, Mitsu bishi ca lls the XD500U-ST an u ltra-sh or t On my tests. se tup was easy, with the projector th row proj ect or. I'd call it a short- throw projecto r autom atically synci ng perfectly wit h the incoming Click here for more. inste ad, bu t th e tru th is th e re's no hard-a nd-fast signal. And you ca n unplug the pro jector and pack it definitio n for either ter m. Whatever you call it, it's a up as soon as you power off, a nice feature. Although more than reason able choice for anyone who needs the menus and controls are somewhat obscure and an XGA (l,024-by-768) proj ector that can pro ject a t he image qu ality suffers fro m a few (r ela ti vely fairly large image in a tight space. minor) shor tcomings, this is a more than reasonable T his projector displayed our z-merer-wide (98 choice for those who need a pro jector for cramped inch dia gonal) test image from just 4 feet 6 inches spaces.-M. lJavidStone PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2009 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS CONSUMER- ELECTRONICS RIM B LACK B ERRY STO RM 9530 A Troubled Storm venzon's Black gerry Sto rm 9530 is a r a-d~i';"~I~n;,~·~7·..;;;;;:::~~~~~~!~!!!!! RIM BlackB erry d irectio n for BlackBerr y, but it's i mp~ ~ i l e d by a Storm 9530 difficult-to-use (tW ER"IYkeyboard and widespread gtves you act ual feedback, the le arn ing process for Pr ice: $399.99: as low as $199.99 with contract re ports of seri ous bugs. the ne w interface is challe nging. Furthermore, the and rebate T he decidedly sexy 55-ounce Storm is a 4.4-by keyboard had some se rious acc uracy prob lems. •••00 2.4- by-O.5-i nc h (IIWD) slab dominated by a 3.3 The Storm showed zippy performance when PROS Big touch screen inch, 360-by-480- pixel to uch scree n. T he screen is it wasn't overcome by software bugs. It is a world actually c licks, Fast capacitive, meaning it det ect s the electricity fro m phone, running on vcrizon's EV-DORev A net wor k Internet in the u.S and your fingers. thus requi ring less effort to press. It is here in the U.S.and on dual-h and CDMA,quad-hand abroad, Solid GPS and media p layers, also trunsj1ective, so it's easy to view outdoors in EDGE, and 2,100-MIIz IISDPA networks abroa d, On CONS Buggy. Interface bright light. Below the dis play arc Pick Up an d End our tests, the Sto rm registered fine reception, an d may be frustrat ing at ca ll bu ttons, a Hack button, and the familiar Black ea rp iece and speakerpho ne volume arc bo th very first. QWERTY keyboard Ikrry men u key. On the sides ofthe handset, you'll loud. In a straight-up talk time test, I got an excellent is d ifficult to use . Touchy find Camera, Volume, and a progra mma ble mu lti 7 hours 25minutes. accelerometer. Rox io desktop software is very fu nction button. RIM has again transformed key Overa ll, the Storm is an exciting device. None slow. board design with the Storm's click screen, which th eless, I can't recommend it strongly until the soft Click here for more . you dick by pressing down. Altho ug h th is method ware hugs arc fixed.- Sllschll Segun MOTOROLA MOTOZINE ZNS The Hi-Res Camera Phone Gets Affordable Developed by Motorola and Koda k, MotoZINE ZN5 for ·1:Mohi!t' succeeds admirably at its two pr imary goals: to excel as both a camera phone and a vo ice Ca ll qu ality is excellent voices arc clear even phone. This is the first 5-megapixd camera phone in extremely noi sy locat io ns . The speakerphone offered by a u.S. earner, and with the contract price also sounds good. The phone's RF reception, on an d mail-in re bate, it's a terrific deal. But to hit this the other han d, di dn't sta nd ou t fro m the cr owd of price point, Motorola had to make so me sacr-ifices, 2G T·Mohile phones on my tests. T he ZN5's W i-Fi Motorola suc h as 3G capability and decent video recording. connected without a problem. As stated, the phone's MotoZINE ZNS $349.99: $199.99 and up Still, if you just want to make calls, se nd text mes camera is responsive and produces good shots, even w ith z-veer contract sages, and sna p good pies. till' ZN5 is the way to go. in low light . You can store your photos in the 350MB ••••0 Prom the front, the a-ounce ZN5-4.65 by 2.0 by of memory or on a microSD and do wnload them via PROS 5-megapixe l cam 0.6 inc hes (I IWD)- Iooks like you r average high the included micro USBcahle or over Hluctocth. era, Excellent ca ll quality. class slab-style handset. It's go t a large, bright. 2.4 Overall, the Motorola MotoZIN E ZN5 is a soli d Fu ll Web browser. W i-Fi. inch, 320-by-240-pixel sc reen over a flat keypad device, and its super-low price makes it an amazing CONS No 3G or W i-F i w ith small tactile bumps on the numbe r keys . Var i value-the most affordable camera phone you'l l find ca lling . Low-quality video recording mode, ous parts ofthe key pad lig ht up to activate special in the U.S., in fact. It fell just short ofw inni ng our Photos are noisy in low functions, suc h as photo revie wing or ed iting, when Editors' Choice award; that prize st ill belongs to the light. needed. Wit h a combination of hard- and so ft-touch Sony Eri csson T M506, whi ch uses 'It- Mobile's new Click here fo r mo re. plastic, the ZN5 feels comfortable. 3G n et work . -Sa~ c hll Seglln " " u,"n ooo "MA."'O' .,.""'."'.0 " >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS CONSUMER- ELECTRONICS SONY CYBER-SHOT OSC-T77 Sony'sSexy Cyber-Shot In simple terms, the DSC-l77 is a beauty.Its compact des ign. metallic feat ures, and touch sc reen ma ke it feel like a luxur y item. Aside from color fri nging: in the corners of images, most users will fin d this camera's shots dazzling. The DSC-177's j- inch LCD touch screen is very responsive, and the user inte r face is more intuitive than those ofcompenng touch Sony's touch-scree n inte rface wor ks well,displaying: screen models, such as the Nikon Coolpix S60 and a lot of information without overcrowding.Sony also Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T71 the Kodak Eas yShare v1073.But as with any camera includes physical buttons for the most commonly $299 direct that employs a touch screen, battery life suffers. used operations; on/off, shutter release, playback/ ••••0 T he 17 7 has a very slim bu ild, measur ing just 2.4 shoot, and zoom in/out. As with most po int-and PROS Great image by 3.8by 1.3 inches (I IWD),but feels rock solid. Th e shoote rs, you'll find d istortion at both ends of the quality. Fast operation. lens has a focal range of6.18mm to 24.7mm, with lens, but no more than is tolerable. In the wide-angle Luxurious. thin build. corresponding maximum f-stop s of f/3. 1and flS.9, position, barrel distortion is evident. At the full tele Touch-screen menus are and a 4X optical zoom. Sony has jam-packed th is photo position, there's a bit of pincushion distortion. quick and responsive Tons of in-camera edit shooter with features, incl uding face and smile Video shot with the '17 7 look ed and sounded good, ing opt ions. de tection, an asso rt men t of in-camer a ed it ing but I wish it could reco rd widcscrccn SD video. Also, CONS Strong color opt ions ,and fun effects like soft focus,fish-eye lens, battery life was much shorter than expected. fringing. Poor battery radial blur,and ren-o. Overall,the '177 off ers good speed, solid imagery, performance. The '177 is also a reasonably quick camera, wit h and exciting in-c amera editin g tool s. Just don't for Click here for more. good boot and recycle times (a nd little shutte r lag). get to bri ng along an extra b NIKON 090 This D-SLR Does HDVideo Budd ing shutterbugs looking into buying their first D-SLR arc often su rprised by one missing feature most cheaper point-and- shoot ers have; video.Th at's no longer the case, thanks to the l23-mega pixel D90, whichshoots720p l iD. T he sa me size as its prcd cccsso r-c- rbc Niko n DHO- the solid D90 measures 4.1 by 5.2 by 3 inches (I IW D) and weighs I pou nd 6 ounces . It's notice ably larger and heavier than the sligh tly mort' basic Cano n EOS Digital Rebel XSi, our Editors' Choice for en tr y-leve l D-SLRs, which sells for $300 less. se nsor, which docs won ders for reducing noise and Control s abound on tht' I),){).There arc two co m helps elimlnate blue fringing: in nearly all photos with mand dials to changt' lSO and shutter speed, In addi high -contrast arcus. Another upgrade from its prcdc Nlkon D90 tion,a mode dial lets you select among setti ngs such ccssor is Live View, wh ich lets you use the ca mera's Body only, $999.95 list ••••0 as automa ti c, auto ma tic without flash, program, I.CD as a viewfinder. In testing, daylight st ill shots and aperture or shutter priority.You also gt't typical te nded to be bright, with pleasing, natu ral color, and PROS Solid image quality Excellent color scene modes such as macro, portrait, and landscape. low-light shots produced only mod erate noise. fidelity. Low noise, even There is also the mult i selector, an ipod-srylc sc roll Now to its video ca pabi lity, The quality was at high ISOs. Shoots HD whe el, 19 mo re butt ons , and two toggle swi tc hes. decent for both handheld and trip od shoo ting.Unfor video. As you ca n imagine, navigating aIIt hesc ce ntroIs is tunatel y, ther e's no ste reo audi o recordi ng, auto CONSControls aren't k d I h I very intuitive. Relatively tric y,so on't ose r e manua . focus, power zoom, or articulated LCD,and there arc low still-image resolu- The D90's 3-inch d ispl ay is four t imes as sharp min ima l cho ices in se tt ings .T he D90 shows some tion. Video features are (920,000 pixels) as the D80's. T here's also a small good improvements over the D80, but if you do n't limited. black-and-wh ite seconda ry d isplay on top to change need vide o, th e Rebel XSi is still the be tte r choice. Click here for more. set t ings. Nikon sw itc hed to a DX-fo rmat C MOS - 'limy IIoffmun III < " .C MAGA"", OOG"" '."'.N " " "" '000 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ Sharp LC-S2SBSSU $2.299.99 list ••• V O SHARP LC-52SB55U PROS Exce llent HD pic ture detail. Solid value. CONS Film-detection mode is not enabled by Sharp's Big-Screen LCD Deal default. Picture contrast lag s behind some com As more LCD manufactu rers aim In impro ve picture the I.CD's integrated room-light sensor. This setting petitors' models Some sa-series models have clarity with 120-Hz frame refresh rates, th e larger ad justs the panel's backl ight system in response to fewer HDMI ports and 6O-l lz panels arc barga in priced. The 52-inch Shar p ambient light cond itions-the darker the room, the fewer picture-control LC-52SH55U is a prime exa mp le o f on e such big lower the backlight output- and provides a substan options. screen value I lllT V, delivering a superb, detailed tial reduction in energy consumption. Clic k here for more. l ID picture. But give n the falling pr ices of IIDT Vs, With the I.C-52SB55U's film-detection feat ure the com pet ition is growing. enabled, the se t's ability to process 1080 i video T his LCD feat ures a thin-a nd-glossy hlack bezel (pri me-t ime TV) into a progressive picture (lOHOp) PORTS INCLUDED (about lJl inches wid e) surroun d ing its dark, anti was su perb, produci ng as de tailed a pictu re as any cableCARD reflective screen and a 2-by-lO-inch stereo speaker I.CD IIDT V on the marker.As energy consumption • Component , bar that provides anemic bass respo nse. goes, thi s LCD is on a par with mo st 52-inch l.CD Composite , 'J11is model has the bcs rselection of video inputs T Vs: good out of the box, but even better with a few .W ofthe sets in Sha rp's SBse ries (see the port chart adjustments.The set's est imated mon thly operatin g • Ethernet on this page ). In te rms of picture qu ality, the LC cost at default pict ure settings is $4.27(5 hours a day • Fi, eWi re 52SH55U's aver age contrast ratio of1,105:1indicat es at $O.l3/ kWh). ", • that its ability to produ ce video black isn't as good T his I IDT V is a good value for a big-screen lOHOp .. •, as that of the Samsung LN52A550 (2,782:1),so it will LCD. Altho ugh its picture sharpness and number of .. RS-232C , be less impress ive in d imly lit env iro nme n ts. For IIDMI ports is superior to the Samsung LN521\550's, , most movies and T V shows, this LCD's defa ult pic the Samsung HDTV can play digit al music and d is S·Video , tur e preset needs a quick twe ak.Selecting the T V's play pictu res via USB- for about the same pr ice. .'" "movie" preset enables film detect ion and activates - Rohert tteron "A , http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS CONSUM- ER ELECT RONICS Quick Looks Visit pcmag.com f or t he fu ll revi ew s of these and ot he r co nsumer elect ronic s products. KTCFuze • Expensive Afull QWERTY keyboard rums Wir.doc>m '-lobile PocketPC; $.499;$l99 (with • Sluggish atnmes HTe'sslicktouch·enabled phone GPRS, EDGE, U~ TS. HSDPA data two·year AT&T • Poor speakerphone andcamera Inloatruemes\.iIging power networks; 2.S-ioch. 480-by-MO contract andalter • Nodedkaled cameraootton hoose, but it exhibits many ofltIe TFT LCD; 3 .2~P camera;4.0by mail-in'elute) sameproblems ltIat have plagued 2.B by B.7 (HWD). 5.8oonces. •••00 earlierToochFlOdevices. samsungEpb • Powerful hardware • Larger andbulkierthan The Epi ~ isa powerful touch Wir.doc>m '-lobile PocketPC; SGH·i907 • BIlH.'tooth, Gf>S, andWi-Fi competitors screen bll5iness p/lone ..... ith GPR5, EDGE, U~TS, H50PA data $199(withtwo-year • Compre!lensiW! me Motorolil • Sharp, diminutivedesign • Voice quali~ andcomfOl1 lall Thesolid·performing HISisa Supra-aural;Bluetooth; \.75by UoloPUREHIS • TOIl·notch noise caocellation just shorl ofclass leaders marked improvement aver its B.75 by 0.5(HWDl: 0.4ooOCe'S. $129.99direct and windsuppression • Middling batterylite failedpredecessor. the H12. ••••0 • RapidConnectpairing u otorota's n0i5e-cance ling c ;rctl ~ry actUally worts this time .~"' DIGITAL CAMERAS canon PowerShol - Excellent imagequality - Expensive What canon's 50990ISlacksin 14.1'-4 Presolution; 3.'X optical • SD990 IS - Fullmanual control - Somewhat bulky glamolOOS features it makO!'S up room; 2.5-inch LCD; acceptsSO S399.991ist _Speedy bootand rocycletimes _can't recordhigh- Nikon Coolpi~ _ E~cellent imagequality _Controls teelflimsy The 1 0 · m e ga p i ~ e l Coo lpi~ 56IDc 1 0 ~ P resolution; 4X opIicalzoom; l ~C _Very little.miseat highISO _Imagestransferred viaWi·Fi takesamazingshotsandfeatures 3·ioch LCD; accepts flash S""S329.95list settings areOOwnsized built-inW i- F~ wTlich lets youjump memory; 2.2by 3.8 ••••0 - Fao>t - Considerable barreldi$tortion ontoany.....eeress netw<.>O:; to by 0.9inches (HWO); 4.6 ounces. _Buill-in Wi-Fiworks ...... 11 inwide·angleshots sendpiesvia e·mail-bIJt onlyat a 2'-lPresolution. - Texl-to-speechcoo ~ e ~ o n Theaddition oftext-tc-sceecn - ~ ullisegment lOOting fuoctionalitymakesStreets& _lntl!9 rafes ~ 5 L ive search Trips 2009 a worthwhileupgrade. _Coopon search FO+' laptopGPS navigation, it remains an unbeatable value. SPEAKER DOCKS Sony Air'$A2Of'K - Clean wireleS5 audiotransmis - WireleS5 signalcan beutter Oe5p~e a relatively affordable 2.§'-inch LCD; Al.4/f'-l radio; S-Alrp!ay sion ruptedby Wi-Fi andcellula! priceand cleanaudiouansmis· RCA audioandcomposite video S399.95direct - Expandable to upto ten rooms radios sion,ltIeSony S-A irplay wireless cetputs;remote contml; main •••00 - Full iPod navigation .....ith remote - Can'thandle deep bassat high audio s\">tem SIIffers Imm design unit,1.7by 11.6by 4.3inches control WlIumes lIaws andrangeissues. (HWD), SUbun its,5.3 by 11.8 by 4.5inches. Sony XEL-I OLEO - Excellent picture contrast - Expensi~e Sony's II -inch OLEOwonder II-inch screen;ID80i support Digital TV - Supelbmotion resoluOOn - Very small screen costsas mIlCh as our faYOfite SO 23,132;1 cootrast ratio; HO '-ll, S2.499.99direct (minimal bkIrling) inchplasma, but gi'len its >llb lime ~ e mory 5tick. RF. and lISB ••••0 _Low powerconsumption pictureand stellarcontrast,we're inputs; 9.9 by 11.8by5.5ioches notcompla ining onebit. (HWO); 4.3pounds. http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS-SOFTWARE ._. ..,.. .._- ... ,- -_ . • • • • • • ~ • <>< • • • DEPTH OF FIELD In Photoshop C$4 , you can combine multiple pho TARGETED EDITING Phot oshop C54's Cam era Raw feature has a tos shot with different focal points new Adjustment Brush to create targeted areas for adjustment. into one perfectly focused image. ADOBE PHOTOSHOP C54 Photoshop CS4 Astounds The tent pole of Adobe's massive Creative Suite 4 is Photoshop, the lege ndary Adobe Photoshop image-editing application known for its power and scope. Adobe could probably CS4 get away w ith resting on the heaps of laurels the apr has earne d over the years, Standard . $6 99 di rect: Extended, $999 but as I'hotoshop CS4 shows, that's not what it's do ing. In both the Standard an d Extended versions, everyone willenjoy the new modern, animated interface. But ••••• PRO S Image in addition,some major improvements ta rgeted at photogrraphcrs. designers, and navig at ion has animators make this a highly compelling upgrade, although these features augur a new . modern an eve n mor e challenging learning experience .But that's why the re's Phoroshop feel. sa-crt Elements, right? support on Vista Strong interface Navigating you r way aro und images has gotten infinitely cooler. Clicking and imp rovem ent s, Amazing hold ing the Zoo m tool (o r elicking on an image while holdin!!: the Z key) causes an content-aware scali ng , animated, almos t cinematic zoom-in. I also like the new tabbed document inter depth-of-focus tools. face, whic h lets you easily sw itch between multiple open documents. Oth er new Many other enh ance ments features include an Adjustments palette, a Vibrance adjustment layer (which suc CONS No 64 -b it Mac cess fully manipulates satu ration without disturbing skin tones ),a new Masks pal vers ion, ette. a revamped Brightn ess/ Cont rast tool, an d an enhanced Auto- Blend Layers (which extends the depth of field so that all areas of the subject arc in focus). Click here for more. Amo ng these sig n ific ant irnprov erne nts, unqu e stio nably the most jaw dr oppi ng is con te nt-aware sca ling, a feature th at lets you change th e propor tions ofan im ugc-c-for exa mple, morph an R-by-12photo to R-by-IO- w itho ut squashi ng or stretching the imp or tant image clements. T he prog ra m makes a good guess at what those im por tant cleme nts are, but you can also add manual guid ance to the feature if necessar y. Photoshop CS4 is defi nitely a must-have u pgrad e for any grap hics profes sio nal. T he revamped interface brings this venerable program into the 21st cen tury, but there are plenty of guts lur king beh ind the glamour. T he application may be a vast, sometimes unruly beast, but its powers grow more awesome eve ry year.-Glllen f(l t( http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS-SOFTWARE --- '. _.... - SKYPE 4.0 BETA 2 ? Cheap Voice, Video Chat -.- Gets Better In response to feedback from 50,000 testers ofSkype Skype 4.0 Beta 2 4.0 beta I, the company has made interface changes PC-t o-PC ca lls, free; calls and fixed some bugs in this Bet a 2 version . When to and from phones, $0.02 per m inute or Beta I launched, many users objected to its much $2,95 monthly larger ma in window.T his time around, Skype devel Not rated opers have attempted to address that with a compact ..--- PROS Free PC-to-PC option; the y have also changed the way contacts are .- voic e and v ideo calls, grouped and made notifications stand out more. Low rat es fo r calling to T he newest beta features the same streamlined Placing calls is very simi lar to that of the previ and from phones. Clear installation as prev ious ve rsions, and the process ous versions. Wh en I talked with a person in Ban notificat ions , Large com mun ity. Video and sound doesn't require as mu ch personal informat ion as gladesh, the aud io quality was quite clear, though quality is im pr oved from Sightgpced's install does, but the download is big with occasio nal gaps. Conversations over Skypc the pr evio us vers ion . ger-23.6MBversus 8MB.The large ma in window Out-which you need to reach people who don't use CONS Defau lt windows is still the defa ult in Beta 2, but now you can choose Skvpc-c-soundcd clear, though not quite as clear as a are too large, Compa ct Compac t Mode, wh ich splits the program's mai n calls over a landlinc.To receive calls from non-Skypc view requires two w in dows. Vid eo image no t window into two smaller windows. The new version users, you'll need a Skypcl n acc ount ($20,25 for 3 as good as stanrsoeeo's. also cuts down on scat tered windows by incl ud ing mo nth s or $67.50 for a yea r). Video calling is also No v ideo ma il. No bu ilt inst ant messaging at the bottom ofthe call window. slightly better. Although this Beta version contains in ca ll record ing. No The less-crowded ncw interface also make s controls some glitches and missing features, it is none theless Web c lient. such as volume and video settings more visible. stable and usable overall.-Michud Muchmore Click here for more. PICASA 3 (BETA) .. _----'-- ---_.....W I Picasa 3 Makes I __.. c;;;:r:::.. _~ a Great Impression .. After your gre at vacation , your digital camera is no doubt chock-fulloflmagcs (and maybe a fcw videos). So how do you view them, touch them up a bit, and share them with frien ds and family? For Windows users, Picasa has been the best way to do this for a while.Google's online offering is a slickly mrcgratcd image organizer,editor,and enhance r,with curnng edge online galleries. And what's more,it's a free ser vice that competes favorably with pay services. On the Mac, il'horo is nearly as good at consumer .. pho to editing. If you want the online galleries, how , - ;;, eve r, you'll have to pay a hundred bu cks a year for Appl e's MobilcMc servi ce, and you still won't get Picasa 3 (beta) the rich mix of' fearurcs you'll find in Picasa Web is fast, and a sm all gray bar on the r ight-ha nd side Free albu ms, suc h as geora gging and vie wer co mme nt ofyour screen shows its pro gress. Picasa 3 doe sn't ing. With this release, Pic asa adds the abilities to have a drastically updated interface, but rather add s PROS Po lished interface. Geo sync lccal cdlts with online galle ry ima ges, to ed it a lot ofnew functio ns within the existing interface, tagging in Web digital movies, and to retouch photos for blemishes. suc h as auto ma tically scanning for new images: albums. New It also turbocharges red-eye fixing, collage creation, viewing images as a slides how, collage, or movi e; b lemish removal and slides how prese ntations. Movie, Ceo-Tag. and Upload buttons; and the cool tool. Support for RAW ca mera files, Syncs After installation, Picasa gives you a choice o f new Silhouette button (wh ich finds any picture in an local ed its w ith on line sca nn ing either your hard dis k or jus t My Docu album that contains a face). In shor t, for everyd ay imag es, men ts, My Pictures,and the desktop for image files. shutte rbugs who want to get those pictures off their CONS Atypical interface You don't have to worry about t he sc an pic king poin t-and-shooters,organize them into albums, fix ma y confuse some users up all those temporary Internet image files, by the the m up a bit, and-most importa nt- shar e th em at first. way- it's sm art enough to ignor e the m. T he scan with their loved ones, Ptcasa is the way to go.-MM Click here for more. III < " ""AG.,,", . 'Gn..''''"0' """'"'000 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ FIRST LOOKS-SOFTWARE Quick Looks Visit pcmag.com for the full revi ew s of these and scores of ot her so ft ware products. Air Sllaring • Letsyoutransfer hies fTOOl computers10the • Some limitations toOfficehievlewiog Air Sharing turns your iPhoneinto a networkeddrive $6.99dirl)CI iPhone and back •No file-editing features that can wi rel~l y lfansfer hie<> to and from your ••••v • Works ..... ithMac,Windows. aridLinu~ computer$, while also lettillg yooview a widevariety • Offers Web access10hiesoniPhooe 01hie typeson )'OOr phone. • Tllofoogh buitt·inhelp BeejivelM • Canccooectto muK;ple 1M clients and send • E.pensivefor an jPhon<.' app Fora wll<:Js>p4llg $16, BeejivelM givesyouthe ability $15.99direct message notifications 10 iPhone Mail • Noemotirons 10stayconnectedto muhiple instanl-messaging ser •••(J O •Toswilcll chats, yousimply shakethephone • can't send attachments vcesonyour iPoone- evenwtlen youcloseIhe app. OneTap Movies • Finds theaters and showtimes basedonyou r oCharges for featuresthat ~mi la r apps offer free The OneTap MoviesiPhone appcanhelp youlocalea $1.99 direi:1 location oNosearch fullctioo nearbyflick when)'OO're onthe go, oot socanother ••000 • !>elVeS tonsof trailers o Acc\>ssing third-party him info loadssafari, appsthat don't chargeyou$2. save )'OOr money for c10sesapp lhe popcorninslead. SpeakEasy Voice • veryeasyto use ocan't recordiPhonecalls SpeakEasy Voice Ilecorder slandsout amollg the lle(:urde. • Lets youdown load hill'S tol'soon 10 with nuoes oRecording options are buried in iPhone's many l'Oice-recording iPhone apps, Ihanks10 its $1.99dire<:1 • Fiverecording-qualityoptions Sett ings simple interface andability todownloadhies toplay ••••0 oDownloading hies require<> s ~ r ate SgeakEasy in ltunes. A few technicaltimrtatioll5keep it from Connectsoftware beinga perf<'Ct soIulion, however. TexlGullI • Cut,c<:JSIY, and Ili\5W features oNo ur.r.lo Atun-teeteredtext-editing app,TextGuru hnally adds $4.99direi:1 • Extensive help oH;ghtightingtext for cutting andcqJyingis a cufting andpastingto the iPhone. Its implementation •••{1 0 • File viewelfOl' Microsoft Office docs, PDFs bilawkward isn't ideal, however, and the inlerfacecould standa ocan't edit OffIcedocs fewaddilions. DATABASE Bento 2 oClear, pleasing interface ol acks sharing andlrue reporting features Byputting a simpler lace on FileMaker, Bento $49 list oIncludes templates for commonuses oWorkswrth Mac OSXleopard version only offers aninexpensive, easy, and attractivewaylor •••CO oEasy form de<>ign oStill introdUCe<> databasecomplexitiesthat may Macusers to Xeeptr ackof collectionsorproject5. oImports and exports Exceland Nu mbe ~ hie<> bescaryto COfIsvme~ oot it doesn't entirely eliminate the complexity 01 dalabases, andstill doesn'toffer eno"9h in the way 01sharingdata. lGoogIe (Fall 2008) ocansasview lets youdo more with gadgets oStill IrailsYahooin contentserviceintegration iGoogle stepscloser to lhe lop 01the personal ,~ oFull-pagefeed view anddisplayccneeneeces pofIalis tart pagecrass with its Iate<>t rel'i5ion. The •••CO oloads faster than Netllibesor Pagellakes oPageflakeshasa slicker CtIstomilation interlace newCanvas viewgi'ie'i morespaceto content, and oNo displayads andbetter sharingoptions lhe company hasaddressed severalof the issues we oThemesearch bro"9hl up last time around, likeeditorially recom mendedgadgets. MUSIC PLAYER laIa (Fall 2(08) o RespllIlSwe, well-laid-ootinterlace oMusic Mover misseslots of tracks Couldthe third time be the charm? Lala takesa ,~ oPutslocalmusiclibrary online oSome interfaceglitches different approachtodigital m....ic by attempling •••00 o OR M·lree music library rivals Amazoo and oNo mobile-o:le.ice corTIj)atili ility (aside from 10 bridge localmusic libraries .i a cloud romput Rhapsody in see buyingenorctectedMP3 hies) ing-with mostly positiverescjts, oM-free oNo Internet radiochannels ol acks traditional m....ic discovery options WEBSITES Windows uee Home oAggregatese·mail, social Mtwork updates, oDuplicates somefunctions of hugelypopular The new startpageIOfWindows Live services (Wave 3) onlinephotos,newsfeeds,and Webstora9@ social nelwor\(s brings Microsoft into social-networking territory. ,~ oAdding fa'iOrite n>ov>eS, music, and Ix>oks is oNot as rich insocial-nelwor\(capabilities as Its c....tomia bility, contact organilatkln, andability No! rated slickly assisledby Web services Facebook 10combine )'OOr .arious Web inputsandservices arecommendable. 001 it probablywon't replace Facelx>ok OfTwitter. WindowsU-.e Mail oSlickinterface oNo ExchangeSl.'rver support WhenWindows7 ship$,noe-mail programwill tag (Wave 3) oCombines severale·mait accountsinto OM along,but this smoothrooesign01 Vista's Windows ,~ interface Mail moreIhan fills lhe bill. Verycapable feedand No! rated oPicturemail saves your Ir>ends- inboxe<> lrom newsgroup readersroundout the package. h;Jge alt http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ JOHN C-. DVORAK Our History: Error 404 Those alive today are probably go ing to be editions he re and there. What w ill these everyone will be reading on a Kindle or the first ge neration of human s that risks independent co llectors do now that the with erasable paper or some such thing losing its history to d igital technology. It's publication has become all d igital?I do ubt that will end hard copy forever. That po int already begu n, they wi ll print out every single page an d will mar k the end of history,as everything I was doing some mi nor research on keep a hard co py. will be subject to permanent erasure. so me 1996 events and found links on the It's not as though I'C Mugazine is ca re And how man y old books, when they nBC site to two ar ticles on ot her Ij.K. sites less enough to lose its fi les or just stop ha ve all been scanned by Coogle a nd that sounded co mpelli ng. But both had making the m available. But I re member oth ers, will st ill be arou nd within a few become nothing more than 404 errors; th at w hen I'C Magazine and ZDNct split decades of their digi tization? I'm already the files were gone. T he Lond on Times in to two co mpanies several years ago, collecting nu merous cl assic books t hat has done this to me as well. A famous wa r ZDNet for a number of years got to rc pur have been removed from one un iversity historian w rote a fascinating essay sho rtly pose po rtions ofPC Mugazi ne all to itself. or another, stamped "Removed from cir after 9/11, and about a year late r, I sent the After I'C Magazi ne recaptured the online cularion," and so ld as junk. "Why keep the link to a frie nd, but by the n, the Times had version of its own ma ga zine, mu ch of the old-fashioned book when you ea n have a alre ady taken it off-line. Why? old stuffwent into limbo and then disap se archable PDF?" 'Ib is and other deletio ns have led me to pcarcd from the Web. Once the transition is co m plete, then, given t he way corporate mergers and acquisitions work, the so urce material will At somepoint everyone willbereading on a Kindle or begin to disappear. If you don't th ink so, look into the copyright quagm ire reg ard with erasable paper. 'lhat willmark the end ofhistory, ing out-of-pri nt boo ks.On e p ub lisher bought another then merged with another as everything willbesubject topermanent erasure. to be bo ught out and renamed by a third. In all the co nfusion few publishing compa nies even know wh at old titles they own. the practice of not only saving bookmarks At some point we willlook back and sec I can do this exercise on piles of books I to inter esting links, but saving Web pages a huge gap in ou r accumulation of kno w1- 0\'/0. On my shel f is a 19M book called The with Saw Web Page Co mplete and jus t edge. A giant hole in the hist or ical record. SpiceCookhook. published by David Wh ite st o ri ng them on my own hard disks. So And while someone might possibly find a Co., New York. If I wa nted to license the much for the Web and its convenience. cac he o f old backup ta pes or a har d disk book, where would I go? Nobody knows. Whilc so me pe ople might say that farm with lost dat a, the lost da ta will prob- Med ia is c ra wli ng with t his so rt o f the Internct Arch ive, initiated by Hrew- ably never be recovered in sp ite ofbeing p roblem. Co mic Rcdd Poxx was high stcr Kahle (www.a rchive.org) saves a lot found -because ofthe dead med ia prob- lighted on nu merous records produced of pages, I don't think these articles I was lcm, which has already been affecting us. by Docroo Records out of L.A. Who owns looking for were in there. Man y of us have weird old cartridges those copyrights? Nobody knows. T his all W hat makes matte r s worse is the and backup mecha nism s that no lo nger becom es lost media and lost infor mation fact tha t ma ny newspapers won't even work after ten OS upgrades and abandon- in the years ahead. Our heru age,our his be aro und in te n yea rs. T hey'll either be mcnr ofthe devices by the companies that tor y. It's all poised to disappear in the years bought and sold or will go belly up. They'll made them in rhc first place. Some ofthe ahead from a combination of dea d media, add new co ntent-management systems backups we re transferred to newer med ia corpora te neglect, and digitizarion. and blow off th e archives once a bean bC£ore it was tnolate,butthe accumulation I'm guessing that ou r t imes will be co unter decides the paybac k won't ma ke ofdata ofte n ma kes it impossible to keep remembered as the er a ofthe Cat Playing up for the cos ts of transferring the data . up with the changes. Laser rot and da mage the Piano, and not much else. Even savvy I'C Magazine is a good do not help either. It's a lost cause. example of t his phenomenon. So me of Fortunately we are st ill printing news- DVORAK LI VE ON THE W EB John's our rea ders have collected hard copies of papers, books, and magazines, but we know Internet T V show airs every Wednesd ay the magazine s ince Day O ne, and there where that might be headed. At some point a t 3:30 ET on CmnkyGee h.com. You can arc physical archives for all the printed there will be the final nail in the coffin and download hack episodes whenever you like. III < " "MAO"'O' .'0""'."'00 ""u,,, "0' http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ @W@[[~ ~fJ~ Insideu [?@@~ Glo om and Do om Dept.: If you want to feci good about th e Back in 1979 when a 5MB drive (yes, five megabytesfj cos t economy, d o not read any o f the trade publications. They're over $1.(lOO, I never imagined I'd someday be paying SSOfor a predicting a con tinued downward slide in every imaginable terabyte. Wha t comes a fter terabyl e? Well there's the peta aspect ofthe industry except for MEMS. I also expect a boom byte- I.024 te ra bytes. Then co mes the exabyte 0 ,024 peta in fr ee a nd usel e ss iPhonc apps: I hope the economy tu rns bytes). T hen the zct rabyre, followed by the yot taby te. At the around just to get these coders bac k into real jobs. If you pick rate ofgrowth (no lette rs, please) beginn ing with the 1979 up anyone's ll' hone nowadays you'll find perhaps 50 or more 5MB dr ive, we went from a 5MB to a terabyte desktop drive in ofthese applications, all ofwh ich arc essent ially useless but 30 years. That mea ns an increase in capa city of ove r 200.000 kind of interesting in a very nerdy way. to I. And a decrease in pr ice of 10to I. I reckon. rough ly. that Chip Bu sine ss In a Nutsh ell Dept.: Righ t no w the semi by 2039 we will be looking at having a 20 0 -pelaby te drive co nductor business is in one of th e wors t slumps I've ever and it willse llfor $10. And you think you've accumulated a lot witnessed. A slump like this has invariably been followed by a of crap on your hard disks today! Can you imagine?Although huge boom because the normally plan ned capacity increases I suspect most people will be using thei r 1-petabyt e thumb have bee n halted,and then when more chips d rive for most ofthcir importan t stuff. arc needed they're not available, leading the Do omed Te chnolo g y Dept .: Lurking prices of what is available to skyrocket. T his underneath the g loom a nd doom arc a lot causes a classic boom in semiconductors, of new ideas and co nce pts that will actua lly followed by a build-out ofmore capacity and hit the market in 2009. Most will be bad or then, ofco urse, overcapacit y. Chip prices desperate co ncepts. The one that goes to the then plummet, leading: to a boost in profit top of my list in 2009 as a doo med tccbnol margins for ma nufactu rers w ho use the %'Yis the gesture Inte rface for the TV. Yes, chips in their products. If these manufactur a number of Japanesc companies have taken ers played their cards right, they would then the gesture interface as perfected by the lower their prices on the co nsumer prod App le ipho nc and adapted it for use on the uc ts in high de ma nd, t he public wo uld go flat-panel telev ision.You wave your arm and nuts and buy eve rythi ng it could at a great the cha nnel changes. You do somethingelse price,and everyone would be happy as long and the volume goes up. Who knows what as the demand was maintained. Man ufac ot her Idiot ic functions will be employed. ture rs usually keep demand up by increasing the product cycle This feature gets disabled the day you have some friends frequency and turningout new models faster and faster. Even over for a football game and, as you watch the waning seconds tu ally,quality begi ns to fluctuate just as the consumer mar ket of the big game wit h no time-outs, the qu arterback goes back is saturated, and dem and falls. Chip companies eut back on 10pass, the flan ker is wide open, he throws, your pal jumps up the ir plans to Increase capacity. and a new slumpbcgms.T hat's to cheer and waves his arms in a fit, and the set cha nges the where we came in and here we are. End of sce na rio. channel to the 700 Club. Oops! T he one thing to note about this chipcycle is that at no ti me And I do n't even want to get into the famil y battle s that d o es the Moor e 's law drum stop beating. The new designs would ensue with nobody in total co ntrol oftht' remote. and inc reased power co nti nue to be built into whatever is Car Batte ry Conund rum Dept.:One of the hottest things bei ng so ld at the momen t. Fewer chips may be made and sold, go ing on insofar as throwing money around is the develop but that doesn't mean that the pace ofchi p design is slowing ment of battery tech nologies that migh t make the electric car down. 'I11is is also true for the hard disk business as sales slow viable and something more than a g o lfcart or a two-seat hot down. They'll still be selling 2T Hdrives instead of lTHdrives rod .Somewhere along the way the idea was floated that Intel by this time next year. It may even be 3T Hdrives. should devot e ilself 10 Ihis pursuit, and this was picked up by I was at a re cent Scag ate event whe re I could see the numerou s pundits and some retired Intel cxecunvcs. If lruc l executives vis ib ly shudder when I talked abut the idea that began to get into this a rcane primeval bu siness, then I would a terabyte is approaching $99. They say that as ofQ4 of2008 know that the end was ncar and we should head for the exits. you co uld not se ll a terabyte for S99 profitably, and people tnt et, king of th e microprocessor, going into battery develop w ho could find a S99 terabyte we re buying a loss leader or a me nt would be like asking Toyota to go into manufacturing gimmick sale. (In ot her words, in consumer parlance, a good doll house furn iture. II's crazy. End ofsermon 714. dealt) T hey knew that once th e meme o f a $99 t erabyte got into the public conscio usness, the n the d rives would all be WAN T MORE DVORAK? John writes a weeklyco/umnjiJrour Web $99 and hopefully they could make money o n a $199 2T B site, too. Log on to go.pcmag.com/dvorak. Y(J U can a/so e-m ail drive. That's until people begin to think of a 5>SO terabyte. him at pcmag@d vorak.org. http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SASCHA-SEGAN Why I Hate Touch Screens IfApple docs it, it m ust be r ight. T hat's The miss ing sens es also play a rol e in information inter face. In that movie,Tom the refrain o f lemming-like mobi le co m why "live meetin gs" do n't feel alive and Cruise do nned special gloves to intera ct panies all desp erately try ing to follow the why "telec onfe renci ng" doesn't feellike with an awesome PC whe re he lite rally ip ho ne's to uc h- sc reen lead . The touc h atte nd ing a conference. Deep in ou r ani grabbed windows and tossed them around screen fad isn't just in mob ile, of cou rse. mal bra ins, we th ink of reality as so me the screen. Hut that interface is impr acti Laptop and deskto p makers arc also talk thing that enga ges all the senses. You may cal witho ut the proper feedback- wit hout ing ab out th row ing away th e ir keyboard s not like the way a cow or ker smell s, but actually bein g able to feel where the edges and mice for big glass pa nels th at go bump that sme ll makes him or he r more rea l, of the windows arc. in the night . whether you consci ously think about it or Touch-screen makers (es pecially those Huge m istake. not. I love cel l phones, but when a frien d at Synaprics ) aren'tstup id,so they're try ing The pro b le m isn ' t touch sc ree ns; signs offphone calls with "thanks for the to find ways around the problem. I Iaptics touch screens have existed for years. T he visit," I wince a litt le. A phone call isn't a makes things vibrate in response to touch. prob lem is the pe rn icious ide a that touch visit. Visits usc more senses. Unfortuna tely, all handheld haptics so far screen- only interfaces w ill gobble up all And so we get to touch screens. To uch have been pretty crappy.RIM's ltlackltcrry other input devices. It's pa in ful to watch screens arc actua lly touch-less screens; Storm d ick-screen actually gives the touch folks at Microsoft's mobile division throw the y'r e an un int uit ive illusion that we screen a physical aspect. whic h is brilliant but very much a version-l.O idea.The tech nology is just not there yet. Touch screens-at least the way they work today Touch screens can also restrict for m factors, making interfaces surprisingly are actually less tactile than keyboards. When you more cumbers ome to usc. On mo bi le devices, you need at least a 9mm target press a bUIIOlI on an iPhone, youfeel nothing. area to be able to cl ick so mething with your finger.That dicrarcs a lot of H'bonc like large slabs with big interface clements away all their non-touch-scree n devices in accept because computer int erfaces arc and fewer small, pocketable devices. On an obsessive chase ofthe Il'honc.'I11e trut h chock-full of metaphor s and unintuitive pe s, a touch-oriented interface can create is that touch screens- at least the way they illusions. We're too l-using mammals; we a lot of awkward hand and arm movement work today- arc act ually tesstact ile than interact with physical objects. As I'm typ- fro m on e locat io n to another. I interact keyboards. ing th is, I feel t he ridges of the keys, the with my lapto p by us ing a lot of su btle We e xp eri e nce the worl d wi th five smoot hness ofthe lettersand the wris t rt'st, twitches; fingers between keys, thum b se ns es. Electro nic entertainment has and the throw of the scissor hinges below reaching down to the trac kpad. To have to played up sight and hearing at the cost of the plastic parts. I hear the d ick as the but- reach up to the screen to pop down menus the rest, but smell. touch, taste, and pro - tons go down and sense the motion of my would slow me down. prioccp rion/klnes rhesia (the knowledge fingers confirming the action. Obviously we can psych ourselves into of body pos ition and motio n) still play When you press a button on an it-ho ne, acc e pti ng tbc mi nuses of touch-scr een major ro les in what we as humans co n- you feel not hing . Every button feels the interfaces in exc ha nge for gaining the sld cr reality.Th is is one reason why "vir- same-like no th ing. Every action feel s many pluses, suc h as ena bling larger dis mal reality" environments like Second Life the same- like nothing. There's a certain plays anddynamically configured pseudo have never taken off wit h anyone excep t effor tless liberty in that. Since the heavy keyboards. But let's not fool ou rselves into those who want to escape their- own physi- lifting is now all virtual, you feel as if you thinking the re arc no minuses. Adopting cal bodies. If your rea lity isn't ess ent ially can lift to ns. But you've given up at least tou ch screens as a religio n, r ight no w, unpleasant,then to walk into a world made one of your se nses. You ca n't dial with throws away one of our senses . And to me, only of sight and sound is to cripple your- your eyes closed any more.T he interface that just sounds senseless. sel f by choice. It's also o ne of the ma ny is all sight and sound. No touch.A touc h- reasons the Nlnten do \Vii has become so less interface. STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the successful: It uses the kinesthetic sense in T his is o ne of the re asons why we latest on smartphsmes by reading Sasch a '.~ ways the PS3doesn't. don't yet have the famou s Minority Report column at go.pcmag.corn /segnn. III < " "MAG."O' .'G"" '."'00 ""U,,, "0' http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ DAN -COSTA Print Is Dead. Long Live Print. Hack in Dece mber, Ziff Davis announced everything from the future ofthe softwar e And think about how much energy it takes that it would cease publishi ng the print industry to Havanesc puppy photography. to shi p magazines to every newsstand in version of PC Magazine after 27 years, and Now, I don't want to get into too many the country. O f the 4.7 b illion magazines move to an all-d igital for mat. T hese days, details about the contents of the love le t th at are del ive red to newsstands eve ry it simp ly doesn't make economic or envi ter/ book I received. Suffice it to say that year, about 2.9 billion arc never read. Envi ronmental sense for us to pri nt copies of the boo k was 24 pages long, had photos of ronmentally, there is no re ason to print PC Magazine, load them on trucks, and Napa, California, and conta ined various so mething th at will be useless in 60 da ys send them across the country when we can romantic odds and ends, ranging from text and spend the next 20 years in the ground. delive r the same informatio n in the form of messages from China to the first e-ma il Going digital is going green. a digi tal magazine. You ca n view it online I ever sent her. Clea rly, this is not a book Just as Blu r b and Lu lu.corn enable or download it to your computer and rea d th at will have mass -ma rket appeal. Even au thors to self-publish, PC M agaz ine it whenever and wherever you want. so, this p rint product w it h a maximu m Dig ital Edition w ill be available o n th e At about the same time as the Ziff Davis potential au dien ce ofone cost just $1 2.99 Zinio platform. All current subsc ri bers announceme nt, my girlfriend gave me a to prod uce. will au tomatica lly get access. It will offer a love lcn cr: a paperback book she made her My girlfriend prod uced it using Blurb , curarcd selection of the best I'CMa g.co m selfwith glossy pages, full-color photos, an e xcell en t print -on-d emand se rvice articles so tha t readers who want to peruse our stories and reviews wo n't have to do so in a Web browser. T he d igita l ed ition Print businesses aren't dead, but they do needto wi ll give us th e flexibility to offer some interesting m ultimedia fea tures (video, change. Printingshould be reservedfor archival podcasts. and mo re), as well as to present pages that users can print out at ho me if informationyou'll holdontofor years insteadofdays. they want to for archival purposes. Print busi nesses aren't dead, but they do nee d to c ha nge . Pri n tin g should be and production quality that wo uld make that o ffers a lot of flexibilit y in ter ms o f reser ved for archival information-arti an y ma gazi ne art direct o r salivate. 1I0w design and graphics. Our Editors' Choice facts you'll hold o n to for yea rs instead can she afford to print a single book when for print-on-demand service is Lulu.corn, of ho ur o r days. And yes, se ntiment can big publishing companies lose money se ll which offers even more printing opt ions, pla y into th is as we ll. Big: publishers will ing hundreds of thousands of copies?Wel and the result s can be im pressive. When continue to sc ale back on their print oper come to the world of print on demand. we tested the service, we spent less th an ations, bu t th ere arc mill ions of micro Pr in t o n d e man d h as be en arou n d $15and created a book that was indisrin publishers out there with how-to books, for years, and th e idea is simple enoug h. gu ts hablc from one yo u wo uld find in cookbooks , mem oi rs, eve n love letters Instead ofprinting, dis tr ibuting, and sell Ham es & Nob le. that they can now affordably publish and ing books in bulk, tec hno logy now allows Sure, you say,but those arc books.What make available to the world. p ublishing companies o r in d iv id u al about magazines? I would argue th at the For those of us w ho lo ve magazi nes, autho rs to print boo ks as reade rs order difference between boo ks and magazines these are d ifficult da ys. Yet I'CM ag:.eom th em. At fi rst this appe a led mostly to is simply about the publishing sc hedule, at now serves more reade rs than the print as piring:w riters w ho couldn't find "real" this po int. And publishin g schedules that ma gazine eve r d id and offers a lo t more publi shers. I myself pu blished a book via move faster- be they monthly, weekly,or functionality. A Letters to the Ed itor se c iUni verse after 9/ 11 titled In the Shadow of even hourly- will always be better suited tion has nothing on message bo ards and the 'Ibwers. T his phenomenon was known for online pu blic ation than for print. This talkback. Stopping the presses is a mile to some as vanity publ ishing, and the end is bad news for newspap ers, ma gazines, stone in Pr. Mag's jou rney, not a head result was ty pically the author stuck with and ot her prin t med ia. stone. Welcome to the world o f print on boxes ofbooks to peddle to fr iends, fam Print publishing:is also an environmen demand. ily, and cowor kers. To d ay, self-p ublish tal n ightma re. According to the PAP ER ing has evolved into a Hexlble option that Pro ject, the magazine industry consumes TALK BACK TO DAN E-ma il your th ought.~ lets people create print projects covering approximately 35 millio n trees eac h year. to dan_costa@z iffdavis.com. """" '000 "MAG"'O' .'G'''''."'.0 " >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ We reveal the methods you need to surf, e-mail.IM. and more while taking back your ever-more-elusive online confidentiality. ByEric Griffith Do you remember a time before eve ryone knew your All that so unds innocuous compared with full-blown every move? iden tity theft, but ide ntity theft wouldn't be a plag ue if Maybe it's our own fault. We live in an age where our personal da ta weren't out there for the taking-and mlcroblogs and social networ ks an.' all about keeping it's definitely out the re. Co mpanies like Pall'I c ch , an in touch-to the extreme. It's fun In follow friends, so online service for inves tigators and collec tion agencies. we forget that posti ng pictures of that drunken holi have dat abases with just about every American's name, day party might not bode well for future relationships address, date ofbirth,and Social Security number. wit h employers, friends, or even the law.We forge that. Ilave we as a culture abandoned our right to privacy? sometimes, giving just a litt le te lls a lot. You ca n't do Absolutely not. Wh ile it's easy to lose hol d of, it's also anyth ing online without signingup for an account, ty pi easie r than ever to get back. The newest Wcb browsers cally supplying your e-ma il,at a minimum. take privacy seriously, and they're just the beginning. End-user license agreements (EU LAs) tod ay arc We'll show you how to go online and surf as stealthily as more invas ive tha n ever. Disney put one nut t ha t's can be, so the chances ofyour being ID'd without your over 50 pages long-for a DVD of Slee ping lJeauty. consent, or hav ing your II) stolen, are slim to none. Even "don't be evil" Coogle took flack for the Chrome All the major bro wse rs fo r W ind ows-Inte rn et browser EULA, w hich p roclaimed the corporation Explorer H, Firefox 3,Chrome 0.2, Opera 9.6, and Safari owned w hatever you might post through it. C oogle l1.2-offerso me kind of security and privacy settings, cha nged that policy-eventually. But the co mpany st ill at the very least to give you con trol over cookies, cached hangs on to ple nty of information about its users, the tiles, and your stored surfi ng history. Ilow it's done is a bet ter to sell you stuff. little different in each browser. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION FEB RUARY 2009 Ill ust rat io n by Richard Mia http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ JY · " r r-: "r f _-<, .. ~. :.. ''' -' ", "...... '-...... -: ~ . , j ... " ,.. .., '.. ~~,~ .'., '.., ,. •, ..' ... ..• , > http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ ~ Cook>es = a COOKIETRAIL '" Firefox makes it easy for you to ~ ",h: qUI I I view the cooki es The loHowing coolcies ••e stored on your com puter. stored on your PC and to remove the "'. CoolcieN.me ones you don't • ' drevolver.com want. . ds..pointroll.cDm @ • histor y.Chrome calls this mode incognito; . ~ isi n 9· c o m • in lE S beta it's ca lled l nt'rivate Hrows ing D w-tising .com 38511676 and accessed fro m the Safety menu; Safari [) I~ising.com GUll . and Firefox call it simply private browsi ng. N.mf: 38511676 Safari has had this feature since Version 2 Cootmt .'939509.36So1OO5357}43248"631148"1"0.0_ in 2005. Oom.i", ..ltvertising.cDm T he curre nt Firefox 3.1 beta ha s no t P.th: I c' ck Send For: Artytype of conn«tion yet integrate d the feature, but it's corning _ ExpirlM: ~IHld of OIOssion soon. In th e meantime, those with the cur rent or older Firefox ca n get the same fea IRemove Coolcie I IRemove All Cookies I I ~Ios e I ture usin g the Stcalthe r extension. You can tell you're in the privacy mode in different ways for each browser. rESputs COOKIES Cookies are li ttle str-ings ol d fast. A bu tt o n re ading "ma n age" or a button in the add ress bar that reads lnl'ri of text that Web sites store on your com "show" cookies will provide some granular vote.Chrome's incogn ito mode puts an icon puter as a means to iden tify you to that site contro l of cookies on a site-by-site basis. re m iniscent of Claude Rains's Invisi ble later. 'Ib is is handy, as it mea ns not ente r PRIVATEDATA The information your Man-su nglasses, trench coa t, fedora-in ing you r passwords for sites over and over browser terms "priva te" enc om passes a th e upper left -hand co rner by the tab s. In again, IIowever, you m ay not want all the lot-everything fro m your browsi ng his Safari, look for a check mark next to "Pri co okies that sites want to place wi th you tory to do wnload history, the cache of w cb vate Browsing" on th e Edit menu. If you on th e In terne t t rackin g- you. Co okies pa g-e files on your hard drive (a ka tempo began a session wi tho ut ena bling private won't sto re anything personal unless you rary Internet files), cookies, and even saved browsing, yo u can st ill "stealth up": Tu rn hand th e info over via a Web form ; how passwords ,All major browsers can d ear all pr iva te brows ing o n , then selec t Reset eve r, just visiting a Web site allows it to put of th e above w ith a butt on dick, and most Saf ari on th e Edi t men u to res et all your a cookie th at stores your browser type and ca n be set to del ete history whenever the curre nt pages to stealth mode, II' add ress onto your compute r, assuming software is closed or by some other t ime In all c ases, p r ivacy mode is not on your browser is set to allow th at. increment. Bot h are ve ry important steps by default when you sta rt browsing. You W hy is that a big- deal? Maybe it isn 't, on a shared computer, eve n more so if the ne ed to activate it whe n you lau nch the Cookies are neither g-ood no r evil. T hey're PC in question is a public computer. Clear browser. a convenience, and like most conve niences, your tracks whe n you're done. IE8's Inl'rivatc Blockin g- goes a step fur th ey come at a pri ce. Consider th is: Your T he lat est versio ns of some of t he se th er th an the others, not only not storing e-mail prog-ram, even Gmail. suppresses browsers take an extr a, muc h-neede d step, info from sites you browse, but also block the imagoes in yourmessages by default.','he letti ng:yo u invoke a privacy mvde-some ing third -p art y co ntent p rovid ers- like reason is tha t spamr ncrsand marketers put call it "porn mode" for obvious reasons ad ve rt isers - known fo r co llecti ng dat a special images conta ining URI$ into those that pr events co okies and pr ivate da ta ab out you, even witho ut looking at yo ur messages. Each U RI. is specific to jus t the from bein g recorded in the first place. You r cookies. Inl'rivatc Block ing w ill obst ru ct message se nt to each recipient. T hese are histo ry of sites visited and sea rched for is the most freq uently encountered th ird calle d Web bu gs or Web beacons. lf thc not kept. T his doesn't affec t bookmar ks party content providers first. You can sub Image loads, even ifit's an invisible, stngtc yo u save or files you download, just you r scribe to lists of sires to block on a regular pi xel pictu re, the server that supplies th e image may also loo k{or cookies it can read, associa ting your II' address with that URI" and for other images (advertisements) you ~ PC Magazin! • Ccmputer.., x may have se en. The markete rs will know about your browsing history in an instant. http://www.pcmag.com/ Bro wser preferences/options let you -tl opt to accept all cookies, accept onl y those ~ fro m si tes you vis it (eliminating those D zo D JUP D ! nt!rtain D Log Ons D P! rs fro m th ird-party advertisers, for example), ::WD~~~ DIGITAL CAMERAS LAPTOPS MP or never accept th em at all. T he latter is a INCOGNI TO shoot-yoursel f-in-the-foot move; I!:0 for Google Chrome's browser displays the "from sites1visit" optio n and, if you're this faceless, paranoid , check the bo x to be as ked for fedora'd icon CMAG. THE INDEPENDENT GUIDE TO TECHNOLOGY permiss ion befor e the browser allows the when in incogni to installation of cookies. But eve n that ge ts mode. ( ..n ue )( n e ,,,e..,co ) ( nnun .. nA nco ) ( con , , ,..,.-,n l1co )r:;;. III < " " MAGA".' DOG"" ,,"'.. "" "" >00' http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ C InPrh'..te Windows Imemo....Uplof..... [lnPnv..teJ "PORN MODE " Mo st browsers, ;.J S ·, X including Internet Exp lo rer (left), offer a privacy mode, which allows you to f:} ' keep your browsing paths to yourself. bas is, and once you've blocked a few you can publish a list of your own to share. wtlert InPnva ta IS tumad on , you WII sae thiS lodicator Personal Proxi es It doesn't ta ke much to figure o ut suc h details about a person as address or phone number. \Vith a par tial name and loca tion, ~ ~I LorI.If'I'IfI ExpIorIl tom $Ionngdtt. ~ \'010'" ~ '_.t. t ~ you can find plenty for free on sites like Plpl III"'" TIlIInd\ldfl cooi Your broa dband modem typically has To t..... oIkoF'rivJlI . cloH lhillbroft...... a u nique II' address, and it's easy for any Web site or ot her snooper to sec; the IP address is usually included in the head A more advanced met hod is to ins tall Phil Zimmermann, was targeted for crimi ers sent with c-mail.foo.An H' ad dress a proxy server/service of your own. Tor, nal investigation. W he n se nt overseas, alone can easily give an approximation of s hort fo r "The O nio n Ro u te r," is o ne cryptog rap hy tha t effective was consid your location, based o n whe re yo ur lSI' that's fre e. Install the Tor Vidalia soft ered mu nitions by the u .s . government. is located. Visit W hatlsMyll'l\ddress.com ware bundle for Wi ndows, Mac, or Linux Zimmerma nn got around the charges by and it will rev eal your IP address- plus a and then set up you r software to usc it publis hing the PGP source cod e in a book, Coogle Map that will probably pinp oint for anonymou s surfing. Tor rec ommends protected by the First Amendment. the town you're in. using Hrefox with an ex te ns ion called Here's the gist ofhow pu blic key cryp What's needed is a way to surfanony 'Ib rburron to aut omate the proxy server. tograph y like PGP works. You create both mously that goes beyond browser privacy Of cou rse, not everyone thinks "lo r is very a publ ic key and a private key. T he former modes for protec tion. Luckily, they ex ist. secure, because it doesn't tell you which you can tell the world.T he latteryou tell no T he fundamental stealt h method is an servers your traffic goes though. IronKey, one. Ever.All your friendsdo the same. You anonymous p roxy server. Plug settings maker of a super-secure USBthumb drive, usc their public key to encrypt things sent from a proxy server into your Internet soft offers Secure Sessions mode for b rows to them, theyuse your public key to send to ware (browser and e-ma il) and all requests ing through its own Tor servers, which it you. On ly your indiv idual private keys can sent to the Internet from that software will claims arc more reliable and faster because decrypt the messages received, because be rel ayed th rough the proxy. T his is also they're controlled. the public and private keys were cre ated to an effective method of ma king yourself Paying for anonymo us proxies is also work hand in hand. Keep things even mo re appear to be in another loc ation; the only an option. Anony mizer ($29.99 for one on t he down-low by creating a "web of problem is that you may also tind yourself year) is probably the best known, and tr ust" between friends and share your keys looking at foreign versions ofsites like GhostSurf ($29.95 per yea r) is another only with those in the circle. Coogle, which load languages based on a anonymous proxy. Both pledge to ma ke PGI' now comes in commercial prod user's location. Using a proxy carries the you completely invisible when surfing the ucts from PGPCorp. (Including top- rated bon us ofmak ing your PC less suscepnblc Web. ZoneAlarm Forccl'icld ($29.95)takes PGP Desktop Pro). Products such as Volt to outside att acks, but those arc a prob lem a different tack: It's a virtual ized "bubble of age Security Network and eCiphe r Pro only if you're not using a router and a soft security" that separates the browsing from have similar public key cryptograp hy. All waft' firewall (which you are, ri!!:ht?). Not the operating system, keeping you r com do the job and work with just about any all proxy servers guarantee anonymity, so puter safefrom browser exp loits.It doesn't e-mail client, but they cost around $80. choose accordingly. anonyrnize. though it docs offer a private Youcan get ope n-sourcc (free) encryp Sc u tng up proxy servers sho uld be browser mode. tion via a package calle d Gnu PG. 1tworks simple: You get an I i> address and a port with fro nt-e nd applications that interact nu mber to plug into fields in the op tions Encrypted E-Mails di rectly wi th your e-m ail. For ex ample, for your browser, e-ma il client, and other Usi ng cryptography to ensure that mcs- Enlgmail is an extension for Mozilla Thun- Internet so ftware. Sites like Proxy 4 Free s ages ca n be read only by intended dcrbird th at uses G nuPG on W ind ows, and Pu blic Proxy Servers list some you can recipients goes back to a time long before Mac,or Ltnux to get you started with mcs- try. You can try sklpplng the entry, too: get e-ma il. It's just easier to implement ele c- sage encryption. proxy.com lets you click a link to a proxy tronically There arc even ways to secure Web- server and start su rfing to sites immed i Pro gra ms like Prett y Good Pr ivacy based Gm ail. T he simplest thing you can ately as if you're no t yourself. T hese usu ( PG P) us e algor ithms to e nc ry pt a nd do is to make sure the UR I. to access Web ally add an u nsigh tly extra ad dress bar decrypt your messages. PGP,created back mail starts with https://. Th e "s" indicates at the top ofrhe page to usc for browsing in 1991,isn't just pretty good- the cncryp- that the page is encrypted us ing a Secure anonymously. t ion it applies is so good that its au th or, Sockets Layer (SSL) connection from you "BeeAe' '000 sc MAGA"", . """ '."'ON " >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SECURE E-MAIL - ~ Voltage Security v Inbox - Microsoft Outlook -. Network offers public key cryptography for f ile .Edit Yiew yO I ools Actions V,Q.lta e H"e"lp'------.., just about any e-mail ~n c ry p t i o n client . Reply ~ Re Voltage Manager... About... Mail ~uppo rt... Favorite Folders 13 lnbox !::!l!: lp.., to the server.T he Firefox extension Better Intimate IMs for AIM and ICQ.Yahoo Messen ger has Gmail can force Gmail to sign on with SSL Instant messa ges go out ove r many net its own ste alt h an d pr ivacy se tt ings, so This isn't the same as encryptio n, but it is works using different protocols,but almos t you can sign on as invisible or ignore peo the same tech nology that protects yo ur allare in clcartext. Th at means they're easy ple, but it has no encryption ofIMs. On e cre d it card info when sen din g it to se rv to read by the recipient with no ext ra pro other produ ct, Simp Pro ($25,www.secwcy ers like Ama zon's. Howeve r, o nce that cessing by the software, which makes good fr),promises to encrypt all traffi c on AIM, message leaves the server to go to a 1'01'3 sense when you're doing real-time chats. Coogle Talk, rCQ , jabber; MSN,and Yahoo, e-mail, it's no longer secu re. It also means they're easy to read if inter plus all their respective client apps. If yo u usc Gm a il's IMAP fea tu re to cepted. Most 1Mclie nts can also send file Of course, no two 1M system s offer the access messages via Thunderbird, you can attac hments, which can include malwarc. same security feature s. Web -ba sed 1M continue to usc Enigmnil and GnuPG and It should go without saying, then , that front ends, suc h as AIM Express or th e just send messages that way. Ofcourse, the you should accept IMs only fro m pe ople mulri prot ocol Mccbo, won't suppo rt any person on the other end needs to have both you know. Hut how do you ensure that sen of these securi ty extras yet. installed for dec ryp tion. sitive messages se nt and recei ved arc as Want to go e ntirely stealth-mail all sec ure as can be in transit? Zone Labs had Thwarting 10 Theft the t ime ? l lushmail.com claims its free a product for a wh ile called IMSecure, but Overall, identity theft is down since 2002. accou n ts arc always secure an d pr i the company discont inued it in the sum That's the goo d news. In 2007, 1.6 mil vate, with all messages and att achment s mer of2008, rem ovin g all 1Mprotections lion people claimed they were victims of encryp te d using o pen PGp. A Premium built into the ZoneAlarm Intern et Secu identity theft, but fewer than 2,000 people vers ion offe rs more storage and IMAp rity Suite . Zone Labs says several o f the we re t r ied and co nv icted of the cri me, based e-mail access fro m desktop e-ma il do minant 1Mse rvices- AIM, Microso ft, according to The Pres ide nt 's Ide n tity clie nts. T he site even lets you send mes Yahoo- now offer features like encryption, T heft Ta sk Force Repor t o f Se pte mber sages as if they're from your ow n e-mail, 1M sparn bloc king, and more, either inre 2008. T hat means it's up to you to protect complete with a dccryprer question you grated or through third-party add-ens. yourself- the cops aren't up to it. Always must include that only you and the recipi Olde r versions of the AIM cl ie n t keep in mind the socia l engineering that ent can answer.Once answe red, the e-mail allowed the use ofa personal digital certifi gr ifters usc to get your imp orta nt digits, message is displayed on the Web. cate for encrypting, just in case som eone specifically your Social Security num ber. Anonymizcr Nyms is a program you can out there is packet-sn iffing you r netwo rk. The nu mber one rec omme nda tion in the subscribe In for $19.99 a year. It cre ates tem You can still get older AIM versions (5.9, report is In reduce or eliminate the unnec pora ry,disposable e-mail addresses (called for example). and then a free ce rtificate essary usc ofSSNs in the pu bli c sector. DEAs,or "nyms") you can chec k with your from Cornod o.com or AlMencrypt.com. It wou ld be smart to start now, because regular e-ma il client-s-per fect for all those The current vers ions of AIM and the busi anot he r recommend ation is that victims online sign-ups. Nyms also prevents spam ness-orie nted AIM Pro automatically use of II) theft get another piece of lD to carry, and malware. You can also get llEAs free at SSt when transporting messages, but don't specificto them. Ugh. Mailinator,Guerr illaMail.com, and many, do certificate encrypt ion. Eve n Trillia n, Contributing editor Matth ew I). Sarrel manyothe rs. the mul tiprotocol 1Mclie nt, supports SSL has covere d in great detail the to pic of stolen ide ntity and how to avo id "losi ng" your identity. Read his advice on I'CMag FURTHER READING .co m and add the pra ctices he sugges ts to Instructables There's many a stealthy how -to to be found at wwwinstructabfes.com. your everyday way of working, both online Check out those by wln5tOn, who just happens to have the same name as the protago and off. If you want a high-tech ap proach nist of uber-bloccer Cory Doctorow's ant iauthoritarian young adult novel LittleBrother. to onli ne protect ion, check ou t Identity Pri vacy Rights Clearinghouse The nonprofit group Privacy Right s Clearinghouse Pinder Profession al Edition 3.4or MyTnrs publishes many tips fo r ensuring your privacy in the real world and onlin e. ton. Both keep an eye on your PC for infor Electronic Frontier Foundation The EFF is at the forefront of court cases that protect mat ion that should be secu re - such as digital privacy. Read up on what th e group is f ighting for on your behalf. your address, phone numbers, and credit ca rd nu mbers-and eit her warn, delet e, Electronic Pri va cy Information Center EPIC focuses its fight on getting attention for privacy issues emerging from the corridors of power in Washington, where the organi or enc rypt the da ta before it goe s out the zation is headquartered. tubes to the rest of the world. A number of security suites offer this feature as wdl.o FEBRUARY 2009 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SecuritySuite Smackdown W hich of the new versions best suits your needs? Here's our head-to-head co mpa rison. Bi1Defender Total · lodude5 2GBof online bac kup • ~alware ~nertreQIJe n tly left tnreats BitOelender has added a too01new fea Seeurity 2009 • Resists tampering uncleaned even aftermultiplepasses tures-onlinebackupaodremote oon~gYration, 3licenses.SPBS direct • Almost no false positivesfromanlispam • Parental oontrolllIocks many ~alid sites lor example. It inclooes all tile expected security •••f.l O • Blocks phishingsites • Dyplicate ~Ie ~ode r candamage system elements. with decent performance frommostof • Can limit children's Internet use them. lt's a reasonable choice if yoo're excited by • Can restore virus-4unagedfilesfrom oo.ckup those extrafeatures. F·5ewre Inlernet • Very goodat preventing malware installation • E~tremely slowat pre~enting malwa re r-seccreInternet Secy ri!y 1009 is easy to use. Security 2009 • Parental coolrolnowiocludes lime·scheooling installation withoutoomplicatedsettings and extras.llllt J licenses,$79.90 direl:t • Simple U>e, interface • BigprOOIe"", ill5tallingonmalware-inlested getting it ill5talled wasa nightmare. aodit took ••(l OO • Lioox·basedIlescye CDcanwipeoot systems toolongdeletinginactive malware. The ~rewall entrenched malware • l ne tl ect i ~ e antispam and parental cootrol is old·tashiol\ed, and tile antispam aodparental control apps areineffei:tive. The suitehasn·t kept unwithttle times. Kaspersll.y Internet • Application fi ~er ing protei:1s specific system • Parental control isstill rudimentary Kaspersky InternetSecurittsnewuserinterface Security 2009 areas against unknown programs • Antiphishi ngis weak hides messy Secllrity detailsect reeves themacces J licenses, $79.95 direi:t • Repeatscall5 are ~ a.z i r.g l y tast • Spam Merblocks much ~ali d mail sibleto power users, The newawlicatioo ~lte rin UcAlee Tolal • Powerful malware blocking • Unresponsive userinterface ~cAfee 's latestsene has imPro'led maiware Protection 2009 • Effei:ti~e malware remo~al • saps system perlormance detection. aodits spam fi~e r is much improved. $79.99direct • Network intrusion detectkwl • umftedend poroyS firewall Illlt mostof its overabo.Jndance of featureshaven' ••(l OO • Remote monitoringand management • I n e ff ect i ~ e parentaVpri~acy oonlrol changed at all. Its UI issitJggish. andit saps system • Research·based siteratings • Difficult installation on malware·intested perfOfTOance. • System clean up systems I'torton Internet • ~ i n i m al performance impact • An!ispammisses 100 mych. blockstoomany This is de ~n itely theslimmestmostunobtrYsi~e Secu rity 2009 • E ~tremefy effective spywareand virus validmessages Nortooever. Itspmtectkwl is top-ootchwhere it 3licenses, $69.99 direct protection • Rudimentary parental controls counts.ttloygh antispam and parental cootrol are () • Hig h·~red, comprehensive ~re wal l •Network map allows noremote OOrTei:tioo 01 still weaK. Asttle be<;t all·around security suiteyet .... rejlortedprol>lems irs our newEd itors'Choice. • Phishing protection • Aylomaledlog·in,form·M ,..... ""'"' • AocYrate spamfiltering • Less effective against spvware than previoos Except lor l!Ie newmainscreen. Panda's 2009 SY ite Protection 2009 • ~ ode r at e effect 00pellonllance !!dibOll doesn't lookrooch different Its collective intel· 3licenses, ~.95 direct • Collectiveintelligence aidsmaiware recogni· • E~pell5ive ligence promises betterpretectlen, butils action •••00 tion • tune-upfeature is po; ntless is spotty: Spam Mering got much better, Sjlyware • Firewall resists attack • Phishing pmtecbOll barelyworks protectiongot worse. Wait lor ne~t yeats versioo il • oeteeuWi·Fi introoers • Rud imentary locaVon linebackup you'rettlinking of swilching to Panda Trend Mi<;ro Internet • Helpfullive-chal suppert • User·interface problems onmalware·infested Trend u cre InleroelSecurity Prov2isa big Security Pro v2 • Effei:tivemalwareremo.al systems impro'l Webfoot Internet 5et\lrity • E ~cellent malwa recleanup • Firewall failedpost-scan testsaode ~ pl oi t test: Webroot Essentials OOl ils Ieeturesthatothersuiles Essentials • Powerful roollilayered malwareblock ing pops YPmanyQlJeries inc....de.yel il still affei:1s system pellormaoce. J licenses.$59.95direct • InclYdes2GB of online bac kup, wilh remote • Noanlispam. pri.acyprotection. or parenlal ~ a ~a r e protection isexcellent andinclydes 2GB ••(l OO re<;tore andfile shari ng control of onlinebackup'butits ~rewall COOlponent dOO'in't • Cleans YP b~ing andsystem useqe traces • Has a negative impactonperfOfTl1ance do thejob. Spend SIDmore andgetNOfIonor Trend Pro! ZOneAJarm Internet • Firewall protects againslllacksaodexpioits •Installationrenderedoneinfested testsystem l ooeAlarmisstrol\Q ondefense. II has a tollgh ~re · security Stlile 2OO!l • Layered protection totallypreventedmalware inoperable wallandkeeps malwaretotallyoot of a clean sys J licenses. $69.95 direct installation • performance 01COOlmOn ~ I e and folder tem,bul irs less effective incleani ngYP entrenched ••••0 • Comprehensi'l http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SPECIAL REPORT The Best ofCES 2009 These 15productswowed usat the world'slargesttechtradeshow. By thePCMagstaff As is our annua l PCMag tradi tio n, we sent an army of ed itors and books,thinand energy-effic ient LeDs,and Blu-ray priced forprime analysts to descend upon the 2009 Consu mer Electronics Show in time.Phones, camcorders, and eve n projectors that arc power ful Las Vegas in early January, in search ofthe newes t.coo lest products and palm-size dazzled us, as did wireless charging de vices. Wh ich and technologies. T he buzz on the show floo r was about pocket produ cts arc we still buzzing about? Here are our 15 favorites size devices that do more, inexpen sive and highly por table net- som e ofwhich are on store shelves now; the rest will be soon. CLiCKFREE TRANSFORMER CABLE This is set -it -and -forge t -it backup, plain and simple. No need to install backup soft wa re: You just plug any USB drive into t he Clic kfree cable, t hen plug t he cab le into your pc, and wait. The drive w ill automati cally begin storing you r data , No w there's t ruly no excuse for not backing up. ($60) SON Y LIFESTYLE PC Move over, netbooks. Sony's stvush.La-ocond system offe rs an 87 per cent keyboard and an 8-inch LED screen with a native reso lut ion of 1.600 by 768. allow ing you to view three f ile Explorer w indows with no overlap. The proces- sor isn't th e most pow- erfu l. but battery life is im pressive, ($899) DISH NETWOR K VIP922 This HD dig ital video recorder is the f irst to incor porate Sling box tech nology. allowing Dish Network subscribers to watch their recorded prog rams from anywhere- the next room, at workor in a ho te l in Shanghai-on a lap top or mobile phone with a broadband connection. (Price undeterm ined) PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2009 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ PALM PRE Deemed t he hottest prod uct Add to thai a large multitouch screen. a at CES by Editor-in-Chief l ance Ulanoff. powerfu l processor. an accelerometer.a the Pre boasts a new people-centric OS hidden QWERTY keyboard. GPS.802.11g , that consolidates contact information from and a 3.2-megapixel camera. and you've various sources and makes it easy to con got the most innovative smertpbooe since nect with people in any number of ways. the iPhone. (Price Undetermined) VIZIO VBR100 The big news here: vizi o's first Blu-rey disc player is expected to sell fo r a jaw d roppingly low street pr ice-under $150-when it's released in April. Features include an Eth ernet port and 1GBof sto rage. which allow it to offer BD-Live streaming multimedia sUPPOl'l. ($199 list) SON Y CYBER -SHOT DSC-G3 This is the first Wi-Fi camera with a built·in Web browser; allowing users to access the many Wi-Fi networks that recuire you to accept terms from HTML pages. The DSC·G3 also streamlines the process of uploading pictures and video to popular shanng sites. ($499) FEBRUARY2009 PC MAGAZINe: DIG ITAL EDlTlON 35 > http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ ',1 TOM TOM GO 740 LIVE W ith a built -in wireless conn ect ion, th is GP5 device prov ides real-t ime traffic info. local fu el price data.and local search serv ices. An exte nded version of TomTom's IQ Routes technology calcu lates rou tes and travel t imes based on every road's histo ric t raff ic patterns fo r th e specific day of week and time of day you are t raveling. ($ 49 9) PANASONIC DMp·B15 Tout ed as the world's f irst po rtable Blu ray player. the DMP-B15 features an 8.9-inch W SVGA LCD and a 3·hour rechargeable battery fo r to-go high -def video view ing. You ceo arso connect it toan HOTV. (Price undetermined) MSIX320 If you want a MacBookAir bu t can 't afford one, here's your answer It looks very sim ilar to the Air,but costs half as much. This 2.9-pound system offers a WINDOWS 7 BETA 1 Made pu blic 13-inch wroescreeo. a 160GB, IJ =-E='="'.:'..:::'-- ly availab le during CES. th is beta of 5.400-rpm hard drive T.:"l _ Microsoft's next OS looks like Vista (expandab le to 250 GB), and ~--- - _ . _ - -- done right. with a sma ller di sk and an Intel At om 2520 proces mem or y foot pr int. faste r start-up. sor. ($800 to $1.000) and fewer annoyances. (Free) SAMSUNG P3 This latest portable med ia player from Semsunq.an update to the P2, featu res a 3 inch TFT LCD w ith "haptic LG GD910 WATCH feedback"'-meaning it PHONE A ll th e rag e at offers some sor t of tac tile CE5. th is phone/MP3 resp onse when you press player/calculator watch it. The screen has a t rue isn't available in th e 16:9 aspec t rat io, sup U.S.-yet. Its touch porting video playback screen responds well at 30 frames per second. to light touches and It is available in 8.16.and gestures. and the t iny 32GB versions.(Pr ice un on -screen dial pad is determined) surprising ly easy to use. (Price undeterm ined) POWERMAT Charge mult iple devices at the same t ime using just one powe r source. First. attach cowerrnet recei vers- in th e forms of dongles, cases, or docks- to the devices you wan t to cha rge. Then place the devices on the Pow ermat"s th in mat. and plug t he ma t into an outlet .Through magnet ic induct ion, the mat will cha rge all th e devi ces wirelessly. (Pr ice undetermined, but est imated at $25 per receiver or mat) I[I < " " "A."'.' .,."",."'.. """'''.0' http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ • I PROBLEMS sowec THIS ISSUE 41 At Work 45 Tips • Build Your Business on Bloggtng • Use stronger passwords • Le arn abou t ESRIl ratin gs • Disable file and printer sh aring 42 Office • Take precautions with consoles • Back up and encrypt • Restrict acc ess to your Mac • Perso nalize Revisions Styles in Word • Take file -sharing precautions • Protect your Mac's system 4 4 Security • Get to know parental controls preferen ces • Darker Side of Cloud Computing • Consider content filtering Build aPC for Under $250 Why spend more than youshould on a cheap desktop PC?In less than 30 minutes, you can builda low-budget Linux PC that can handle a variety of everyday tasks. ByBrian K. Neal 'Ioday's desktop pe s have capa bilities far beyond the need s of most peop le. Tr ying to keep up with all t he co mputer trends, many of which arc of litt le relev ance to the average user, is expensive, unneces sary, and enough to make your head spin. The reali ty is that a com pute r capable of handling everyday tasks like Web surfing, c-mailing, burni ng CDs, editing images, word processing, and preparing prcscn tu tions doesn't req uire cutti ng-edge (read : expensive) rcchnology-c-and will satisfy the requirements of most average PC • users. If tasks like these arc what you do most, we'll show you how you can quickly and easily build a stable, stylish, inexpen sive PC for under $250. Building your ow n PC has several advantages over buying one at retai l. For starters. you ger to choose the components based up on your criteria. If your work area has limited space, you can pick the right chass is and not be res tricted to the COMPONENTS bulky,d unky desktops that largely till the aisles at retail chains. Probably the biggest • 91uttle " G7" Cha ssis K48 ba rebones kit adva ntage to bu ild ing your ow n budget $129.99 Newegg.com • 80GB Wes tern Digital Caviar $35.99 OEM Neweqqcom PC is the absence ofcrapware, the ann oy • InteI 1.8-G Hz cereecn 430 (Conroe) ing prelnsralle d softwa re- mostly tri al processor • Lit e-On d ual- layered DVD 3 AN drive programs you likely won't want.Crapware $39.99 Newegg.com $22 ,99 Newegg.com wastes hard drive space and cats up system • 1GB Crucial DDR2 m emory • Ub un tu 8.0 4 memory,and it's a common problem found $11.99 OEM Newegg.com Free www.ubuntu.com FEBRUA RY 2009 pc MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SOLUTIONS-HARDW ARE on budget retail syste ms. In the time you'd For starte rs. we chose the Shuttle uG7" ($39.99) sin gle-core Intel (Conroe ) Celoron spend removing the crapwa re. which could Ch assis K48 bare bones kit. This casel 430 processor ru nning at 1.8 Gl lz (wh ich is take as mu ch as an ho ur in so me cases, mother board/rower supply combo has a more than suitable for the l.inux operat ing you could build our PC two or three times sm all footp rint and is a good find at $129.99. system we've chosen for the pro ject ) and a over, as it takes roughly 25 to 30 minutes to T he K48 is stylish and also allows you to single 1GB, 667-Ml lz st ick of Crucial DDR2 assemble. All the components gathe red for "cus tomize" its look by inse rt ing a photo ($ 1l.99 0 EM) memory to help the sys te m th is particular proj ect are read ily available grap h into the unit's front panel. Even bet when multitasking. An 80G BWestern Dig at online reta ilers like Ncwcgg.com. and it's ter, it comes prcasse mbled. saving you time ital ($35.99 OEM ) hard drive offers ample fairly easy to piece them together. and ene rgy. We opted for an inexpe nsive storage space to arch ive music, photos, and IN SPECT THE CHASSIS. 1 The Shuttle "G7" Chassis K48 berebcnes kit comes pre assembled. eliminat ing a good deal of your work load . The REMOVE THE RACK MOU NT. first t hing you 'll want to do is insp ect the chass is for damage 2 Two screws ho ld t he rac k mount for t he drives in place. and/or error s like loose (o r m issing) cables. To start, unscrew The rack mount mu st b e removed to instal l t he rest of the the th ree thumb screws at t he rear of t he chass is. then slide co m ponents. so remove both scr ews and lift the rack moun t the cover backward and lift it UP to remo ve. fro m the chass is. Set aside. SLIP THE C PU INTO THE SOCKET. PREPARE THE SOCKET FO R CPU INSTALL ATION. 4 Hold t he Intel Celeron 430 CPU by its sides to avoid t ouch 3 Beg in CPU instal lat ion by pulling t he socket's lever side ing t he underly ing pins when inserti ng it. A lign t he t riang le ways . then lift ing it UP to a 90-degree angle. Remove the on the CPU with t he tr iang le of the socket, and fit the CPU protective socket cover, and lift th e metal plate to reveal the into place. The CPU should slip into the socket w ith out socket. The tw o triang les on both the CPU and socket will requiring any real force. Retract t he metal plate and push serve as a guide when you inser t t he CPU. t he soc ket lever down to secure the CPU. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITI ON FEBRUARY 2009 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ videos. Last but not least, a l.itc-O n dua l Ubuntu is based on Linux , so it's J h ighly ity {it 's bu nd led w ith Oocnofftce.org. layer DVD ± RW drive (S22.99) is versatile st abl e OS t hat can fe nd off vi ruses and which is compatible with most Microsoft for watchi ng movies, burning m usk , and spyware be tter tha n W indows. And just Office documenrsj-c-are all available w ith arch jving da ta. because Ubuntu doesn't cost you a penny, Uhuntu. This lime around we decided to go with that doesn't mean it skimps on features. Jr Th e Celoron 430 can easily ha ndle run the Ubuntu ( Linux) OS ov e r W indows handles a whole ra nge of tas ks: C D bu rn n ing Ubuntu. Our co m po nents arc wel l Vista Basic (or windows XP). One reason ing, Web browstng uhe latest Ubu ntu IW4 above Ubunru's recommended minimum is that Ubunru is free, saving you roughly is equipped with Firefox 3), photo ma n system requ irement s , which call for a S85 over Vista Basic or W in XI>. Second, ag ing and editing, even offi ce pruductiv- 300-Ml lz x86 processor, 64 MB ofsyste m INSERT THE MEMORY MODULE. 6 The motherboard that ships with the Shuttle K8 can accom INSTALL THE HEAT SINK . modate UP to 2GB of system memory and has two availab le 5 To avo id cracking the processor, make sure the triangles are slots. We 'll b e using just a sing le stick. leaving one slo t ava il aligned properly be fo re retra cting t he socket lever. Place t he ab le for futu re expansion ,Locate DIMM soc ket 1and un lock heat sink on top of t he CPU. aligning t he heat sink 's pegs the DIMM latch by push ing the reta ining cli ps outward. Align w ith the fou r ho les on the mo therboard. Tw ist each peg a memory module on the soc ket so as to match the no tch hand le count erc lockwise to lock into place. ( The t herm al on the pin side of the module with th e break on the soc ket. compound t hat assists in CPU cooli ng is facto ry -applied to Seat t he memory module firmly in the soc ket. and secure the heat sink that ships with the Ce leron 430. so there is no the DIMM latch by re tracti ng th e retaini ng clips. need to self-apply n.i REINSTALL THE RACK MOUNT. Place the rack mount back into t he chass is. and refasten it SECURE THE HARD DRIVE . w ith t wo screws. Attach the SATA cab le fro m the hard dr ive 7 Place t he hard drive into the bo ttom cham ber of t he rack t o an open SATA port on t he mo therboard . SATA cables mount tha t was rem oved in step 2. and secure with fo ur have a few advantages over IDE: Not on ly are they easier to screws. tw o on each side. Attach one SATA data cab le to connect (with fewer p ins), but t hey allow faster access to t he dri ve. hard drive data. "",u"" '000 "MAGA".' .,G"" ,."'.. " >II] http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SOLUTIONS-HARDW ARE memory. and 4GBof hard disk space.Our (free) from Ub unru's home page ( www Our configuration came to a very afford single-core 1.8-GIl z rig will handle the OS .uhuntu.('om ). You could also requ est a able $240 .95.Over all, this inexpensive PC is just fine. T he latest Ubuntu u pdate do cs copy from Ubuntu, wh ich will be shipped solid for most any student or ho me user. take (slight) ad vantage ufthe threa di ng free of charge (although del iver y ca n ta ke For enthusiasts, it makes a good second (or ca pa bilit ies of d ual-c o re processors, so up to ten weeks). Last but not least, you third) PC for the home as well. The assem for $11 more, you ca n opt for the dual-core can find a copy ofthe lates t build at on line bly takes roughly 25to 30 minutes, and it's Ce1ero n E1 200. retailers like Ama zon.com for around $IJ easy to piece together. Follow our ten-step Ubuntu ca n be o bt a ined in seve ral I prefer the down load met hod, as it's both guide and you 'll be com puting away on ways. Youcan downlo ad the as dir ectly free and the fastest way to get started. your 0\\11 customized PC in no time. 0 ADD THE OPTICAL DRIVE. 9 Remove the SolS-inch bay cover f rom th e chassis. and slide t he opt ica l dr ive into the rack mount f rom t he top of the syste m. Secu re t he opt ica l dr ive w ith screws on both sides. and attach one SATA data cab le to it s end. ----r"'T" ,~ ., ...... • ( ...... ) ...... '" ...... i, ::::::...... ~::.....=.~.:::::~....• .•..:•.•....:. ~ ....'" ' " . j ADD POWER CABLES, AND CLOSE THE BOX! 10 Connect one Mo lex SATA power adapter to the Molex plug fro m t he power supply. and attach the SATA power connector t o the hard dr ive. Attach the second SATA power cab le to the hard drive. Rep lace the cove r (secur ing it w ith t hree screws); attach per ipherals (keyboard. monitor. mo use); and begin installing Ubuntu! FEBRUARY 2009 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SOLUTIONS-AT WORK O NLI NE MAR K ETIN G Build Your Business on Blogging Use a blogging platform to build out your company Web site. Blogging is easy and inexpensive-and your site won't even have to resemble a blog. By Robyn Peterson You're no dummy: You already know your BLOG BACKBONE bu siness needs a strong: Web presence, ' "M , I iiiii Art store 20x200 Fi' II hM whet her you sell knickknacks or manage a .corn uses the Movable law firm. Hut how do you go about build Type blogging plat form as its content ing one? A lot depends on your budget. If - management system. you're on ashoestri ng budget, choose a ser though you'd never be vice like our current Editors' Choice,Yahoo able to tell. Small Business (YSH),which lets you build out your site in 60 minutes or less via a set of provided templates. If you can afford to hire developers, a systems adminis tra tion team,and perhaps even project managers, :=-___ -.:M co nsi der stepping up to a full-fea tured ope n-source conten t-management system, like Drupal or Alfresco. But a th ird pat h exists that most people posts (by category or by date) on an aggre If you choose to build it out yourself, do n't even co nsider: You ca n build your gate page. So a blog platform displays con yo u will nee d to know some I ITMl. to site on a blogging platform, even if you tent. It's a simplified content-ma nagement bu ild your site, but you can usc a WYS I ~ don't want to have a company blog.Sou nds system. And it's inexpensive. WYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) cou nterintuitive, right? It's no t, and I'll I1T ML editor to ass ist yo u in build ing explain why. Ho st ing Providers Can Install a 810g your pages. Platfor m for You And you'll ne ed at le ast a cursory A 810g Doesn't Have t o Be a 810g Blogging is ub iqu it ous. Lots of every unders ta nding of th e blog platform, as A blogging platform can manage web-sire day people want a blog. That has d riven you have to know how to instruct it to, say, content other th an blog posts. In fact, you Web-site hosting providers to sup ply easy write out your press releases in reverse can use it to manage jus t abo ut any kind methods to install blog plarforrns on leased chronological order. Hut that's not as corn of Web site. Blog plat forms, in general, arc se rve rs. In fact , quite a few will provide plcx as it so unds. You can simply enter very good at organizing co nte nt. They're "on e-click" installat ion of w ordl'ress o r your releases as blog posts and crea te a in essence simple content-management Movab le Type, two very popu lar open catego ry ca lled "Press Releases," which systems, and all major Web sites arc pow source blog platforms. Qu ite frequ ently, you usc to label each of these blog posts. ered by some sort of conten t-management you won't even have to write a line of code Then, usua lly with just one tag, you can system . or conrigurc anything on the server outside tell the system to display the latest 20 Conte nt is the lowest common denom ofthe hosting provider's Web interface. press releases in reverse order by date. inator ofWeb sites. If you have a reason Wh ile there art' con tent-management If you choose to hire so meone else to able amo unt of information on your site, systems available that are suitable for com bu ild out your site, blog developers rend you'll usc a content-management system pany Web sites, no ne arc as popular as the to pr ice their services pretty reasona bly. to, well, manage the site's content. With a blogging platforms.So ifyou choose one of In fact, it's so easy to bu ild out sites o n a good one in place, when you need to post these systems, you' ll often need to install blop:p:ing platform that I would go so far as a new press release, for example, you just them yourself and work out all the kinks to say that anyone who knows IIT MLcan enter the release's title and body, without (or pay so meone else to do so). And then build a site. worries about writing IITM L for the navi you'lllikely need to pay for support. With Co ntras t this scenar io with o th e rs gat ion, search box, footer, and so on . You a blog plat for m installed via the one-click you've likely encountered while run ning define all of that I ITML just once, in a tem met hod, a hosting prov ider will often sup your business. If you' ve ever had to hir e plate. T he content- ma nagement sys te m ply the basic support you need. develo pers who special ize in bus iness will then display your co ntent using that applications, then you know that they'll temp late. So there's a star t-up project of It' s Not Hard to Build a Sit e Using a charge a premium si mply because it's creatingtemplates, but after that, it's much Blog Platform bu siness softwa re instead ofconsumer eas ier to maintain. I Jere's where you have a big: cho ice: Learn software. So turn the equa t ion to your Blog platform s specialize in two things: how to build the website yourself, or hire adva ntage by usin g: co nsumer-oriented managing blog posts and Hsnng out these someone else. software for the benefit of your bus tness. tr " ",u,"' " 0' "HAO"'H' .,on" '."'OH " >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SOLUTIONS- OFFICE Personalize Revisions Styles in Microsoft Word Nooneusescommentsand revisionstracking becausethey'refun.So how canyou make these workplacetoolsworkbetterfor you? By NeilRandall If you collaborate on documents, yo u will now appear in that typeface. , already know that Word's reviewing fea If you used the options available in the --- , , ,., tures- Comment and Track Changes-are 1lome tab to cha nge the typeface ofa single --- , vital tools. But you don't have to accept the co mment and wa nt to update the style, -- --- ,. default configurations for thL'SCtools. With you ca n change Comment 'Iexr by r ight , -- , a few clicks, you can customize them to clicking on the comment in the Reviewing , - , -- your liking. Pane, the n choosing Styles I Update Com , , ---- To begin, click Review in the menu ba r ment Text to Match Selection. , - - to reveal the Review bar. Highlight a word , ---- , - and click New Comment, then type a co m Better Rev ision Tracking -- - ment. By default , Word uscs the Calibri Word's Track Cha nges feat ure shows you , --- - typeface in comments, but you can change not only everything that's been changed in , -- ~- this just as you woul d in regular tex t, in the the document by other collaborators but , -- , -- -~ Font sla b of rhc Hume ribbon. l-or a per also eve ryt hing you change as you type. - manent change, modify the style called Toggli ng the feature on is a simple matter GET--- O N TR" ACK--Track changes In a file: Comment Text: On the Ilome bar, click the ofclicking the Track Cha nges icon on the select Track Changes in the Review bar. sma ll expansion icon on the bottom righ t Review bar, bu t you do n't have to accept of the Styles section, and click the Manage the defa ult co nfiguration-you ca n cus the small TRK icon in the status bar at the Styles icon at bottom middle ofthe res ult tomize it in nume rous useful ways. bottom ofthe Word window. One d ick to ing Styles window.Scroll to the Comment Before divingin to the cus tomizations, I track changes, one click to stop-conve Text entry and double-click to bring up the need to address an odd decision Microsoft nient. To get that function back, right-dick Modify Style dialog. Make your change to made with Word 2007. Users of previous on the stat us bar and dick '{rack Changes. the typeface, and click OK. Your comments versions ma y have been used to clicking You have several opt ions for display .....,.,. ing changes with in a document, and most .,.. "" people find they have a definite preference. ~. Decide whet her you want your changes to e-r*"'! ....' 1 ap pear inlinc (in the text itself), in a sc pa • --~1,40_, I.rie"...... cc Q;JftJ 0i( I IV"'! • 1 I 11=e-.l 1 action and then moves on to the next revi ~~..,.. STYLE CHANGE You can change the style of your comment sion. To avoid moving on, you must click text easily by going to the Styles section on the Home bar. the arrow nex t to the button. It's a who le PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2009 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ .... ~ _ .. ...~ .. ~ ------ 1- _ _ ...... _,_ Ie=:-===:-..-==",_,,:,:::=_:--. _~-- ~ - ~-- I -_.,-,- - ~ _ . -.. ... _ "':':..'":':".:'.::lo:.o:=:.-•• .... __.. .. -~_._-- --__-~-_ 1==.._---_.....":""'...:::.._ _--..---_....__ .._----.. ,.....-_ .. _-...._-_ __....___w..-..... BALLOONS Changes in text can be displayed in balloons. CHANGES IN LINE Some prefer to see revisions within the text. ~ :.:: ~ : . ::...: ---- =-::- .,. ..-,,-- ...J ~~ ~ . '.---. .,. ..~_-,,-9~_ e:;-.l:::= :...- .. ~ .-!..i.:- = ~- ,,-, _. 0·' - -'-'-'- ~ ...... _, I ~==::.:== I __ w __ _ ....'":.:.':=-..:..--_. 1---~ _- ---_...... -..._--__-·- I==..:.":""'.....-.:.-==%'\.-=:..'":':".:':=.:.~ __.. .._ n __...~_. _...... __ • • __...... _ -~_._.._-~ .... - -_ _-- _ _ . _ _ ~ ~_~_ w -... _-.---~----'------I.....'-..--..••___--_....--w_ .. -- -~ I ....._--..--_...... _--, ;:;:=- ._--~ ...... _...~_-_ ..__-.. --_...__.w_.. _-..._ ._-_ ..._ _.._-...... _.. A LITTLE BIT OF BOTH You can choose to have revisions shown ... _~ ~ ~-_ ~ - ._1_------.._-_--_.. ---_.._-... in line, and comments shown in balloons. ,..-- --_._----...... _ - --_..__...... __-...... _- --_..-__-_.._..-___-_.------OFF TO THE SIDE Changes can be shown In a reviewing pane. procedure: I find right-clickingcasicr.) area) in the markup area on the right side a drop-down menu lets you customize the The mos t generally over looked set of of the screen.The other two items arc less color for both the original text and the text cus romlzations appears und er the Show obvious. The first lets you show or hide once it's moved. Markup item on the Review bar. Clicking Ink annotations (made by a styluson atab Finally,several options are available to this item reveals a lis t of items you can let PC).And the botto m choic e, Reviewers, you at pri nt time. Ncar the bott om left of include or-exclude in your document when is the most usefuLAscollaboratorschange Word's Print dialog:is a drop-down menu review ing is turned on. Most are immedi th e document. it can fil l with text and labeled Print what:. Clicking here reveals ately clear: You can show- or decline to ann otations of various colors; Reviewers two options tied to the reviewing features. show-comments, inse rtio ns and dele lets you hide the comments from which Document Showing Markup prints your tions, and formatti ng ch anges. You can ever reviewers you wish, letting you zero do cum en t with all th e changes you 've remove the vertical highlight (the shaded in on the work ofspecific coll aborators. tracked. List ofMarkup prints only the You can even check one or more reviewers cha nges made in t he documen t and the """0-,..0,0 and then use the rest ofthe Show Markup uscrnamc ofthe person who mad e eac h ...... G ""'" menu In display only specific types of change, without any context. -- markups from them. Word's rev iewing:features arc power - El ""'" ful. -- EJ """ Clicking the JhlCkChanges label below BUI with numerous collaborators your --- the icon and then choosing:Change '/rock docum en ts ca n become difficuh to rea d ing Options gives you access to a wide and interpret, Usi ng the numerous cus range of opt ions. By default, for example, tomization features lets you select only the -!~j'..--- Track Changes displays each insertion features you nccd. o --El""" -_-_ - 1:1a with an unde rline and each deletion with a -- -- EJ """ srrjkcthrough, but you can make eith er or - -- both of these bold, italic, or dou ble under - .., ... _...... G~;..._ _ 1 ,-""--- 0..,..... El -- 0..,. _ El - -- 0 ....---8 0 ..,."'..... lines instea d, or simply display it in a spc - ..._.. ... ""''*' El - - 1:: _ .. '" ri ticcolor. - -, ~ 1r""' _ ,-- Also by defa ult, text t hai you move _-.- - .. - + from one location to another in the docu -,- (0 -- --- .... __....-...- mc nt is displayed with a dou ble stri ke [j tJ ....._ ...___...... d through at its origin po int and a double -_-----_- -..,.-:l - '"''''==.. _ ~"B; -~~~- ~ I underline ar its desrinarion, bUI you can ...... - change these designat ions as well, includ - _- ~_ ------_ .. '- 8EJ - 1:1 ing hiding the or iginal (useful with large - ---"- ~ ~ text moves, whic h otherwise ca n make -- CHANGE COLOR Tracked changes can the document nearly unreadable). Moved PRINTING CHANGES You can choose be bold, italic or another color. text also appears in gree n by default, but which tracked changes you 'd like to print. http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SOLUTIONS SEC-URIT Y WATCH The Darker Side ofCloud Computing We've been hearing about "computing in the cloud" for some time now. Sounds peaceful. But cloud computing is just another term for outsideyour control. ByMatthewD. Sar rel Cloud co m put ing is a ma rketing: in and whet her the laws that apply buzzword that's throw n around an to you regarding dat a security and awful lot today. A vague (but use breach disclosure even apply in that ful) defin it ion is that cloud com twice-removed jur isdiction. putin g refers to da ta, p rocess ing , Gart ner published a great report or experiences that "live" out there in ea rly Jun e th at is the industry's somewher e in the cloud we call the first attempt to identify the secu Internet . Every business has so me rity risks of cloud computing. In it, thin g going on in the cl oud these Gart ner urges something that we at days: collocating or ho sti ng Web PC Magazine ha ve been advoc at or e-mai l se rvers, soci al network ing for decades: full disclosure (aka ing, software as a service (SaaS) , "transparency ") regardin g security eve n infrastruct ure as a servic e practices and proc edures. T he rea (for exa mple. o ff-site onli ne stor soning is simple: If your provider age). Cloud computing is becoming can't tell you exac tly w hat it do cs very popular, primarily as a money , to protect you r d at a at each stage savin g technique- cloud services ~ ~ ofthe data life cycle, then how good ~ 0 , ¥ . do n't re quire ex pensive in-house § , ~ ~ a job do you think that prov ider is hardware, software, and st a ff. In ~ ; ,• ~ ,• , 0 doin g? , r , ; , ad dition, cloud services arc usu ~ ,j ! .~ Here arc ot her rec o mme nd a ; 0 ~ ally ava ila ble for a small monthly ~ , tions th at sprin g fro m G ar tner's ~ i ,• e ~ ~ fcc r ather tha n a hu ge u p-f ront , ~ ~ , findings : 3 ~ , , ~ a I ex pe nse, which makes th em even , , ~ ,• , ~ • Apply in te rnal r is k assess , e , i ~ more att ract ive fro m a budgeti ng j , 0 ~ me nt and controls to all ex te rna lly s ~ s !, , st andpo int . Like ma ny thin gs th at s ~ , sourced (cloud) se rvices. seem to have only an upside, cloud • Assess all legal, regulatory, and computing makes me nervous. aud it issues associ at ed with loca T h e cl o u d i s b u r g c o n i n g . tion independence and service sub Businesses a rc usin g Salcsforcc contrac ting. .com for C RM; Zoh o. Mic rosoft • De mand transparency. Any Office Live, and Goog le Ap ps for thing less is a deal breake r! Don 't office p rodu ctiv ity; Intuit Q uick contract for rr se rvices with a ven Base or a host ed Mic ro soft SQ I. dor that refuses to provide deta iled Server for databases- and the list goes on. steps 10 prevent data from being compro- information on its security and cont inu ity More features, less expe nse, and fewe r IT mlsed by understandin g the integration of management programs. resou rces?It almost sounds 100good to be sec urity risks, business processes. and the Yt'S,cloud computing is a set of power tr ue. And it may be. Mu ch as in the ea rly data life cycle. fu l technology solutions that arc here to eig ht it's we as ked "Who re's the beef?" By now you arc pro bably beginn ing to stay. It provid es cost savings that may we should now be as king "Whore's the sec the downside to cloud compu ting-c-it's tem porarily bli nd you to the risks. Hu t security?" difficult enough to protect da ta that does n't do n't di ve in sim ply to save mo ney and To secu re d ata, yo u nee d to u nde r- leave your control as part of ordin ary bust- ti me. Evaluate each service's security the st and so met hin g I like to call the data life ness, but in the cloud you've relinqu ished same way you would evalua te otf-thc-shclf cycle : I low data is collected, ente red, pro- control. Dependi ng on your contrac t, you hardware and so ftware. Ask tough ques cesse d. transmitted, stored, repor ted, and may not even ow n you r cloud-reside nt tions about dat a security. If your provider ex porte d. Any o ne of these stages may data!And worse, there are clo uds within refuses to answer, or his answer doesn't co nta in mult iple vu lnerabilities, so me the cloud-your provider may subco ntra ct ad here to you r cu rrent secu rity pol icy, ubiquitou s and some particular to your with another provide r for data sroragc. and look elsewher e. I've sat th rough countless environment.To assess the security ofcor- th at provider mig ht also sub contract for vendor meetings and r guarantee you this: poratc data, you'll have to understand the data storage management. You r provider Every time a secur ity conce rn is dismissed risks th at apply to eac h stage of the d ata may not even be ab le to tell yo u whe re as "taken care of" without explanation, it's life cycle. You will be able to take proactive your da ta is, or eve n wh ich cou ntry it is a potential problcm. o III < " " HAG"'H' O'GnA< '0"'0' "B'" '' zoos Ill ust rat io n by Ro bert Neubecker http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SOLUTIONS- lJ@~GuT i ps Useful tid bit s from PCMag editorial st aff, Labs an alysts, and readers As partofour .~peci a l security issue, WI;' haw TURNING OFF FILE assem bled our top sl;'curity tips. For more, . , - - • SHARING To disable v jsitg:o .pcma~ .co m/securityt ips a n dt r ic ks. • file sharing in Windows Vista, first head to the -.- Net work and Sharing FOR NEWBIE N EIGH B O RS Center in your Control (OR FRIENDS, OR RELATIVES, OR ...YOU) - - - Panel. Use St rong Passw ords -- For your operating system, e-m ail accounts, .- --_.- - and all onl ine log-oris, usc a password that: - --- • is six or more cha racters long; --...... --- .... • co ntains a mix ofletters, numbers, .... and symbols; "'-::"'~-...---- ...... _---_..- .. .. ~- _ ( _ • is not th e name ofyour dog or ca t; and "to-....- • contai ns words not found in the dic tionary. --- . o. -- . o. ----- . o. Disable Fil e and Printer Sharing -_~ In Windows XI', open Network Connec -_~ .._--,--_-_._- tion s fro m the Co ntro l Panel. Right-click on the connection and choose Properties. In the resu lting dialog, unchcck the box • Start shares when you're ~oing: to usc up to rrents for your frie nds' eyes only,To labeled Fileand I' rtnrer Shuringfor Micro them and stop sharing when you're done, make a torre nt, fi rst package whatever soft Networks. In Vist a, right-click on the You do n't leave a doo r open w hen you're you arc sharing into a single di rectory or Network ico n in the sys tem tray or open not walking through it. archive file, Then, in your Torrent client, Network and Sharing Ce nter from t he • Create a restricted account and let cl ick File ICreute c new torrent (or Make Con trolPanel. Under Sharing and Discov ot her users connect using: that user name Torrent, or something along those lines, cry, choose Off for file sharing or printer and pa ssword. T h is preve nts you from depend ing on your client). Select File or sharing, depending on your needs. having to give ou t you r user name and Din'ctory and then browseto the location of password and separates others' privileges tbc, fileor directory you would like to share. Back Up and Encrypt from yours. h om here the options should be clear. Make regular backups of im port ant files • Give specific US,,'fS privilcg..-s to read, Create a private (or nonpublic. or embed and folders, and encrypt them, too. Com wri te, or both, on a d irectory-by-directory ded ) tracker, which is intended for people pressio n ut ili t ies such as W inZi p will or even tile-by-tile basis. wishing to share w ith a small group for encrypt arc hive contents, and so will the • Lim it th.., number o f s imu lta ne ous a sh ort period o f ti me. The embedded Win dows (XI' and later) op tion Send '10 I use rs allowed to a rea list ically low nu m tracker UR I. is http://y{)ur_jp_addre,~ .~: Compressed (zipped) Folder you can access ber, like one or two . portlannounce "BO"" zoos .C MAGA"", .'G"" '."'ON " >III http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ SOLUTIONS- .__.__....._- .__ .__._- - · .. 1- • s...... _ .,..;lI ...IlW_ <0._"_-- .._- ~-...-- •• C... _...... _ .. -1lI:OI :::.------•.•.. _---- e-. _ .------e _ . _ -'f =..-::.=- _ -- - ...... {!l =..-:..__...... -- ...... _--_ _.. _--..- ... -- . ----...-.._.. ----.-- _._-_... t=_..__ .. _ -- . -_..._--...--_ _ IT. =:::::::;"'"...::::=__ Il_ "'_ ...... -.... __- .....--- KEEPING TAB S ON JUNIOR Vista's parental controls, included in RESTRICTED BROW SING You can choose a Web restriction level the OS, offer activity reports you can view regularly. for your child-high. medium. none. or custom-in Vista . • If you try to open a dow nloaded video Software Rating Hoard ) rat ings can be Protect Sy stem Preferences from and get a prompt that you need to down used as guidelines for purc hases. Enforce Casual Tampering load a pro prietary codcc from a specific thos e ESRUparental-con trol settings on Go to Syste m Preferences ISecurity, th en site, don't do it. Delete the tile. Microsoft Xbox 360, Ninrcndo WH,Sony enable Require password to wake this com • Keep your an ti-m alwarc and 1'21'soft PlayStati on 3 an d PSI', and w indows puterfrom sleep orscreen saver and Disable ware updated-especi ally the latt er, as Vista. In Windows Vista usc the Parental autom atic log-in. Enable Log out after min 1'21'cllcnt s tend to need frequent patches Controls dialog to set ESRHpermissio ns. utes ofinactivity if your Mac is in a public to address secur ity vulnerabilities. Th at said, ESRHratings arc not applicable place. Be aware, though. that you may lose to online game play. There is no way to your wo rk if it's not saved when you've FO R PARENTS control what people say or do in an online au tom atically lo gged out. Enable Usc Get to Know Parental Controls wor ld, alt hou gh you can at least restrict secure virtual memory. Otherwise, your If you usc Vista, parental controls arc some communications. Mac may write a password to the memory included in your operating system.If not, that is really just a file on your hard drive. there arc a number of apps meant to help Console Control keep kids safe and focu sed while they're Control buddy lists; each platform has its Store Passwords In a Safe Place on the computer. In Vista, usc the Activity own way of doing th is. Han and report foul The Keychain is a great place to store Viewer feature to monitor your children's langua ge. Also, the Nintcndo W ii is t he passwords. It's also the first place some usc of the Web, a nd In ad just parental most locked-down console. Youcan set a one would look if they wan ted your pass controlsettings. PIN to controlcontent and Internet access, word. Open Kcychain Access, the n press and the Friend Code system makes it vir Edit and Change Setting.~for Keychain. Set Consider Content Filtering tua lly impossible to co mmunicate with an idle timeout to protect your passwords Although it can be daunting, don't neglect anyone without excha nging long numeric whe n you walk away, and enab le I.oek on Web, e-mail, and instant-message con codes. sleep so that if you sus pend the machine tent filtering. If f il tering isn't part ofyour and start it up again, your passwords will pare nt al-control so lution, try OpenDNS, FOR MAC USERS be safe. Usc a password for Keychain that's which is free an d lets yo u block s ites Restrict Access differen t than fro m you r accoun t pass kn own to have adult content. So me Restrict access to ac tions that require word, so if someone gets one they won't home bro adband rou ters co me w it h Administrator privileges. h om an Admin necessarily get both. built-in co ntent-filtering op tio ns. T hey istrator acco unt, you can remove Admin may be fou nd on the Security tab, und er istrator access to any other account. If you If You're Not Using It, Turn It Off Access ReMrictions, or in anot her section, have only one account and want to restrict '11)0 many services arc on by dcfaulr.Co to de pending on your route r. If you ca n' t access, go to System Preferences I Ma ke System Preferences ISharing. Uncbeck scr find them, try your router's help file. And A nother Acco unt, make the new accou nt vices you're not using.- Ma tthew D.Sarret Vist a's pare ntal-c ontrol r ud ime ntar y an Administrator account, log out, log in Web-filtering optio ns. us ing the new account, remove Adminis GREAT IDEA ! Go t a tip til share?Find a cool trator pr ivileges from the original account, new trick in yourfavo rite gadget or app? Learn About ESRB Ratings and log back in to the original account. Usc Send it to [email protected]. We 'll run it Ranging from EC for Early Childhood to A the original account for daily duty and the through the peMag Iabs wringer and print for Adults Only 18+, ESRB(Entertainment seco nd one for rare administration tasks. ourfavoritesonthis page. III < " >CHAO"'" .,o,m '."'ON " ",u,,, "0' http://exploremee.blogspot.com/ Edit o rs' Cho ic e s PRINTERS DIGITAL CA MERAS GPS DEV ICES In Key Catego rie s I'!OHOC MRO'U l..AUR ,~~ Garm ln n ilvl 7SST FiX rhe complete BrotlMr Hl-2170W 'UOO S1refl Ca non Po werSh o t A 10 0 0 IS 5499.99kst rev~ 01 these sa m su ng ML-28S1ND $3<1 9.99 kst Garm ln Oregon 4 0 01 products andmore $ISO S1refl "" ~ Editors' Chokes check COlOI L.ASER Nlkon 0 300 our go_pcmag.com/ c:JJ:::] l eltm ark CS44dn S1.8OOstreet ( body only) CEl l PHONES eeneescboce 5499d'l" FEBRUARY 2009 sc MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 47 http://exploremee.blogspot.com/