JUNE 2001 MAC UPGRADE GUIDE • OS X TESTS WEB-SITE PROTOTYPES • LIGHTING Imovie AWARDS

Macworld SNAP! AFFORDABLE QUALITY DIGITAL CAMERAS JUNE 2001 MAC UPGRADE GUIDE • OS X TESTS WEB-SITE PROTOTYPES • LIGHTING iMOVIE AWARDS

MORE NEWS, MORE REVIEWS Mac revival Old Macs, new tricks: Easy upgrade guide Mac OS X Speed and compatibility tests

Test drive your Web site How to create a simple prototype Lights! Camcorder! Expert tips on lighting your iMovies read me first JUNE 2001 Contents Simon Jary All that money in the bank is worthless if COVER STORIES editor-in-chief Apple doesn’t start spending big on its hardware and software partners.

The billion dollar drain

pple is a very rich company. Not as rich as announced during July’s Macworld Expo in New York. Microsoft, but very well-to-do all the same. It But, for now, there are so few optimized programs that Old Mac, new tricks loves to boast of its $4 billion bank balance OS X doesn’t make a compelling upgrade. 86 A more than David Ginola goes on about his fine This gets worrying later this summer when Apple In the first installment of our new follicles. That’s more than $1 for every floating-point ships all its Macs with OS X as the default operating series, read how to assess an older operation a G4 can achieve per second. We put all that system. What if this avalanche turns out to be a slight Mac’s capabilities and fix it up dosh in its coffers, so it’s reassuring that Apple hasn’t frost? Mac OS X, and effectively all new Macs, will run without spending a lot of money. frittered it all away on Newtons, Pippins and Cubes. slower and connect to a lot less peripherals than even Apple’s $4bn in cash and short-term investments at Windows 95, let alone Win 98 or the forthcoming Win least proves the company has legs as long as Jerry Hall. XP. Apple needs Carbonized software like a baby needs Apple used to have yet more digital dough. Even under nappies – without them it’s sat in a big mess. the cost-cutting stewardship of Gil Amelio (Apple CEO, So Apple must splash its Mac mazuma on ensuring 1996-97), Apple lost $1.6bn. Under returning co- that all major apps are optimized to run efficiently on founder Steve Jobs, Apple started to recoup its losses OS X. It must send an army of X softies out to Adobe, with a series of nine-figure profits. Now that it’s saved, Macromedia, Quark, Microsoft, Steinberg, Connectix, it’s time for Apple to Spend! Spend! Spend! Extensis, MacSoft, Aspyr, Corel, Media 100, Symantec, Apple can do a lot with its banked billions. It has et al. Another legion of X hard men must be immedi- already bought a company called PowerSchool ($62m), ately dispatched to HP, Epson, ATI, Nvidia, Wacom, to re-invigorate its dwindling education sales. Apple is Hermstedt, Palm, Agfa, Canon, Xerox, LaCie, Iomega, also advertising more now than ever before, with iMac, and Sony, etc. PowerBook and iTunes ads cropping up on the telly Apple must reinforce these OS X foot soldiers if any between commercials for Charmin Ultra and Deflatine. company drags its feet on releasing optimized versions Research and development budgets could be of its products. It’s essential that Apple prioritizes this Are you ready for bumped up, to follow-on from the company’s many X-engineer invasion whatever the cost – even if its cash 79 Mac OS X? industrial-design triumphs, and Mac OS X, iMovie, etc. reserves slip well below the billion mark. A poorly And Apple is reportedly looking at bricks as well as supported OS X is a severely wounded Macintosh, and Mac OS X has shipped at last, clicks, with planned investments in high-street shops an injured Mac is a short-fuse time bomb ticking under but are you ready to make supplementing the online Apple Store. Apple’s long-term prospects. the change? Macworld Lab Mac prices could be cut to increase volumes and The reports that I get from third-party developers is and Henry Bortman examine boost market share. On top of this, Apple could start that Apple is hardly stretching helpful hands to its key your options – and the “Now that giving away Mac kit to desperate schools to lure today’s developers when it comes to aiding the Carbonization consequences of making kiddies away from the bland world of Windows. process. Apple is in danger of doing a Lennox Lewis. the move now. Apple’s saved, But Apple should first spend the biggest chunk of Sending Xperts to a dozen major developers is not it’s time for its silicon spondulicks on helping its partners optimize going to cost much more than a few million dollars. their programs and peripheral drivers for Mac OS X. Even $100m is not going to trouble Apple’s bank man- the company As Macworld has pointed out every issue for about ager if it means the company can move ahead with its to Spend! the last 48 months, OS X is the future of the Macintosh. bold new operating-system strategy. That $4bn won’t Apple is betting the farm on its next-generation oper- last long if no one but the early adopters is upgrading Spend! ating system – built on tough Unix foundations and from OS 8 and 9, or buying new Macs because OS X Spend!” topped off with a candy-coloured Aqua user interface. looks like a white elephant. OS X achieved $19 million As we point out on page 79, Mac OS X is great… in sales just one week after its March 24 launch. All of when you’re using software that has been specially this X brass must be ploughed back into a Carbonizing optimized (Carbonized). Despite totally ignoring the Jihad of Biblical proportions, or all that lovely lolly will aged code of Mac OS 9, X is clever enough to handle be lost. non-optimized applications under Classic emulation. All Apple’s effort on developing Mac OS X will be However, as with all emulation (Windows on the Mac wasted if the software developers don’t jump onboard via Virtual PC, for example), this is often slower than sharpish. It’s not up to the likes of Adobe and Quark to Chinese diplomacy. Also, non-Carbonized programs ensure that the Mac survives – these companies can sit 64 137 93 don’t benefit from OS X’s best new features: protected back and watch a migration to Windows if they wish. memory, pre-emptive multitasking, etc. It’s up to Apple, and I’d be a lot happier if it had less Digital cameras Missing Manual Web design Apple has promised an “avalanche” of Carbonized cash in the bank and more of its customers enjoying applications this summer – most of them presumably the many benefits of Mac OS X. MW Two-megapixel cameras tested How to light your Avoid live disasters GOLD VISION OF DIGITAL DOLLAR COURTESY and rated. iMovies. by using a prototype. page 6

4 Macworld JUNE 2001 Read more Macworld opinions online (www.macworld.co.uk), and join in the debate. Macworld JUNE 2001 5 CONTACT Editor-in-Chief Simon Jary [email protected] Deputy Editor David Fanning Macworld www.macworld.co.uk JUNE 2001 Contents [email protected] News Editor Jonathan Evans [email protected] News Reporter Dominique Fidéle [email protected] NEWS CREATE REVIEWS Managing Editor Sean Ashcroft [email protected] Chief Sub-Editor Woody Phillips New Apple products [email protected] 20 Landmark for ‘saviour’ iMac Art Editor James Walker [email protected] 667MHz G4 scrapped Macromedia’s Art Director Mandie Johnson X plans 3D Web speed boost OS X [email protected] updater developer fillip X file-buster 52 Managing Editor/Online Gillian Thompson Publishing’s sight of future Quark [email protected] 52-57 Adobe After Effects 5.0; CD Editor Vic Lennard previews XPress 5.0 Broadcast is hot Adobe Acrobat 5.0; US Editor Andrew Gore news Media 100’s product flurry Contributing editors David Pogue, Deke McClelland, Firmware RAM-crash peril Memory USB Microscope Franklin Tessler, Bruce Fraser, price flux Softline inks games deal 58 OmniWeb; Christopher Breen, Apple rides PC storm Create: web Q&A Matthew Bath, Peter Cohen, 141 14 5 Sherston’s Literacy Bank Adam C Engst, Jim Heid. Use Fireworks to write Restore Word shortcuts PRODUCT NEWS JavaScript automatically. and extend AirPort mileage. 62 Trackball Explorer; Group Advertising Manager Mustafa Mustafa Trackball Optical; [email protected] Cordless Trackman FX; Deputy Advertising Manager Dean Payn Dazzle gives DV Hollywood spice [email protected] COMPETITION THE MACWORLD AWARDS 2001 Expert Mouse Pro; Display Sales Executive James Poulson 39 Scanner in the frame NEC ships [email protected] projectors Lexmark’s inkjet move Shuttle Pro; Classified Sales Executive Alex Cheesman Mitsubishi’s diamond monitors FinePix [email protected] 63 Formac Studio; Classified Sales Executive Clive Page goes graphite Epson pair a perfect match Explore Parliament [email protected] Archos CD burner hits UK Projector giants Production Manager Sharon Bird neck and neck 64-65 Fujifilm FinePix 2400; [email protected] Dock G4 HP PhotoSmart 315; Deputy Production Manager Richard Bailey Macworld Awards [email protected] PowerBooks 131 HP PhotoSmart 618; Production Assistant (Ads) Nikki Basten Check out our and your [email protected] favourite Mac products HP PhotoSmart 912; Marketing Manager Jo Brown from the last year. Kodak DC3400; [email protected] Circulation Manager Jim Birch Kodak DC3800; [email protected] Olympus C-2040 Marketing Co-ordinator Kelly Crowley [email protected] Marketing Assistant Sam French Light optical [email protected] The MiniCDRW from Archos Competition EVERY MONTH Publisher Guy Eaton writes at up to 98 Win one of 20 great security [email protected] 8-speed, and packages from Symantec! weighs just 500g. Letters David Fanning Macworld is a publication of IDG Communications, the world's leading IT 10 49 media, research and exposition company. With more than 300 publications OS X grumbles; mouse The Net is dying, but there’s in 85 countries, read by more than 100 million people each month, IDG is the banging; iMac colours… a ray of hope. world's leading publisher of computer magazines and newspapers, providing 64 the answers buyers need to make purchase decisions. 151 BUYER’S GUIDE CD pages Michael Prochak 65 Sherston’s Number Plane IDG Communications, 99 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8UT. 13 51 Tel: 020 7831 9252. Sales fax: 020 7405 0262 PhotoStudio 4.0; AMAPI 6.0; The PowerBook G4 could ruin 66 Digidesign’s Pro Tools TDM Macworld (UK) is an independent journal not affiliated with Apple Computer. Apple, TypeStyler 3.7.2; Star Quest; your sex life. the Apple logo, Mac, and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer. 151-155 Buying a Mac Macworld’s advice for readers Cro-Mag Rally II; OS X apps 69 Bungie’s Oni All contents © IDG 2001, except articles adapted from Macworld US buying a G4 Cube, Power Mac G4, iMac, iBook or © Mac Publishing LLC. Internet directory 70 Books: ISSN 1356-9503 PowerBook G4. Includes UK’s only benchmark 160 Colour Origination: Lumis Colour Printed by St Ives (Plymouth). Covers scores updated every month. Domain name registration, Macromedia Flash 5 Visual; printed by Hubbards (Sheffield) on paper produced in sustainable forests. hosting and support. Macromedia Flash 5!; Macworld editorial domestic Internet access courtesy of Netscalibur (0800 072 0000, www.dircon.net). 157-169 Star Ratings A full listing of our Flash Web Design; Stock photography courtesy of Cadmium (www.cadmium.com) acclaimed product reviews and group tests Career moves Flash 5 Magic; MACWORLD SUBSCRIPTIONS: 01858 435 304 A subscription to Macworld 167 and Training includes 12 issues, 12 CDs and FREE gift (see page 84). for the previous 12 months, with features Macromedia Flash Advanced; Subscribe by Direct Debit for just £39.66 UK (Europe £88.97; RoW, £113.98). index and detailed buying advice. Mac-skill courses and jobs. By Post: Macworld Subscriptions, FREEPOST (WC4336), Leicester, LE87 4DE. [email protected] 72 Farallon SkyLine PCI Card; Fax: 01858 434 958 Phone: 01858 435 304. Web: www.macworld.co.uk/subs/subs.cfm Subscriptions 84 Farallon NetLine Wireless 171 Shopping Advice on buying Get a free copy of Studio 194 Andy Ihnatko Macworld’s ABC-audited circulation is 31,640 from mail-order companies. Artist 1.5 with 12 issues Why 2001 will be like 1984 Broadband Gateway; (July-December 2000). COVER ILLUSTRATION: COVER ILLUSTRATION: And 24 pages of dealer ads. of Macworld. all over again. Telewest blueyonder

6 Macworld JUNE 2001 Macworld JUNE 2001 7 cc: Macworld letters

Your Star Letter wins a copy of Office: 2001, worth £480 We reward the best reader letter with a copy of Microsoft’s Office: 2001 for Mac. This integrated package of business applications includes enhanced versions of the market-leading Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs, as well as the new Entourage – a personal-information manager and email client. Write to: Letters, Macworld, 99 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8UT. Or email [email protected]. Please provide full name and contact details.

Having spoken to an engineer, it seems this problem is not Star Letter: RAM down prices uncommon. I hope Apple has now remedied this situation. ou may not be aware that there lies more than a It would be such a waste for grain of truth in Simon Jary’s tongue-in-cheek Subject: Yanked off all those PowerBooks out there Y Macworld column (May, page 4) that: “Under International-English updates to be used only on desktops. OS X, repeatedly rapping your mouse on the desk will always seem to appear a few Peter Gregory actually speed-up actions such as loading Web pages”. months later than the North On older Macs with AppleShare over LocalTalk, American equivalents – or, Subject: OS X is just rude network arrows gone static would flicker back to activity worse, not at all. But, now, I really want to like Mac OS X. in response to vigorous movement of the mouse. Orb juggling who are we to complain? But it won’t let me turn off anti- from a Kensington Trackball is expected to yield similar gains, although While Americans and Canadians aliasing, or change the size of beta testing has not yet been undertaken (my ADB Kensington is gathering do their nut as their RAM the grid so that when I clean dust since I got a DP G4 with USB). ‘disappears’ [see page 31, this up a window it has some I got as far as “Mac OS Y” before realising that the editorial was issue], we can remain safe in relationship to size of the icons, somewhat squiffy. This is either a sad reflection of my gullibility – or a the knowledge that – as we or use “smart” scrolling arrows happy confirmation that Apple’s customers have become accustomed to can’t install the dodgy new at the bottom of a window, or user-interface innovations that are truly harmonious with human behaviour. firmware – it’s impossible for modify icons, or put my files Graham Perrin our precious memory to go where I wanted to put them. AWOL. Thank you, Apple. It won’t even let me backup… Benjamin Harris I could live with any of these A salesman approached us I’m interested in – like most until Apple gets them sorted and said: “Nice colours, but others, I suspect – is personality. Subject: Paper chase out, but, every which way I turn, it doesn’t make them work I feel as if a loyal and loving I am surprised about a regular I am met by roughly the same any better!”. We walked out partner of 16 years has been theme I detect in Macworld: message: “You do not have in disgust. Is this the kind of kidnapped and replaced the universal yearning for enough privileges”. “partner” that Apple UK needs? by an arrogant, patronizing, paper manual documentation This is extremely unfriendly James Goodman unsympathetic, tyrannical to support applications. As a – especially when it’s my sex goddess. I think OS X typical Apple user would regard computer, my software, my Subject: Budding tastes has the same “too smart themselves as more innovative files and, most of all, my time. Everybody seems to be up in and helpful for its own good” than the typical PC user, surely For the first time ever (since I arms about the new Flower attitude as Microsoft Office. the call should be for more started, using system 6), I have Power and Blue Dalmatian Let us not canonize Steve searchable and illustrative found myself getting angry iMac designs. But how long will Jobs too hastily. There’s no on-screen information. with the OS. My Mac has always it be before you can add your doubt that he has turned Paul Keeton had its little foibles before, own design to the casing as an around the disaster-bound but, somehow, it’s always optional extra? Apple could supertanker, but he is far from Subject: Going off sex been friendly too. Ultra sharp offer kids an iMac sporting their infallible. I suggest you read The I recently became the proud multitasking, multi threading, favourite football club or pop Mac Bathroom Reader by Owen owner of a G4 PowerBook. Very bouncing dock and wonderful group? Then, Apple might W. Linzmayer (now updated as sexy and very powerful it is too new aqua are all very nice, but tempt me to upgrade to a truly Apple Confidential). If Steve had – but not very portable. I found the biggest difference of all is ‘personal’ computer. All in the had his way our Macs would be that every time I picked it up, it that Mac OS X is no longer the best possible taste, of course! called Apple Bicycles! switched off. buddy in my machine. Stephen Baker Alf Megson MW The G4, in its infinite And that is a change too far. wisdom, assured me the year John Cowan Subject: Personality attack ■ Apologies to readers of had suddenly become 2040. As a dedicated Mac lover since our May issue for the printers’ Of course I had Norton Disk Subject: Pathetic partner the 1984 revolution, I doubt if error… OK, our amazing blunder, Doctor to fix any problem. But It was with interest that I read many could have been looking which replaced the final few Norton reset the year to 1945 in your May issue that PC World forward to OS X more than me. paragraphs of our iMac review and told be my Volume Header is now an Apple retail partner. OS X is undeniably beautiful. (pages 55-56) with the first few Block was damaged. I found this My wife and I spent about 10 But beauty is, as they say, only paras. You can read the whole rather inconvenient, so I sent it minutes in the Mac section of skin deep. While there may be review, as God and editor to back to Apple. It found and East Kilbride’s store, admiring many a code warrior drooling intended, at the Buyers Guide fixed the problem straight away. the various iMacs and a G4. at the thought of Unix, what on www.macworld.co.uk.

10 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Macworld JUNE 2001 Cover CD A 30-day trial of PhotoStudio 4 plus long evaluation versions of Amapi 6.0 and TypeStyler head up this month’s CD. Add plenty of demos, updaters, utilities and games for the complete package. Vic Lennard looks at the highlights… MAIN ITEMS

PhotoStudio 4.0 30-day trial PhotoStudio is a full-featured, easy-to-use photo editor, providing a huge collection of editing and retouching tools, plus a large assortment of enhancements and special effects with unlimited levels of modification. It also offers many other high-end features such as image management, multiple undo/redo, multiple layers, editable text, macros and batch- processing. Requires a Power Mac running Mac OS 8.5 or later with 64MB available RAM.

AMAPI 6.0 trial – expires 18/7/01 AMAPI 3D offers an innovative approach to 3D modelling with a large selection of advanced tools. Improvements include new primitives, Bump and Unbump, HeightFields and Wrappers tools, an enhanced rendering module, Spherical Deformer, and 3Space export for dynamic Web 3D contents. Requires a Power Mac running with 32MB available RAM.

Cro-Mag Rally II demo Race against your friends or the computer in this madcap racer. Play multiplayer games as two players on one computer, or up to six players over a network. This demo lets you play the first two tournament and battle tracks. All game modes are Star Conquest demo TypeStyler 3.7.2 trial enabled, including the Star Conquest is a turn-based TypeStyler 3 is a fast and easy multi-player split-screen and strategic wargame. It may be played way to create high impact graphics network modes. Expires as a single player, multi-player or network for digital designs, bringing style to your after 90 minutes of play. game. Up to 10 players can play in a game, typographical creative visions. It’s a quick Check instructions for accompanied by up to 10 computer alternative to hand-drawn or phototypeset computer specs. Requires controlled players. Guide your species in styled type. Design, layout and print OpenGL 1.2.1 (asu.info. its expansion to all corners of the universe. headline text and logos. Yours to try in full apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnu Requires 150MB free disk space and for 60 days! Requires a Power Mac with m/n11545). 25MB available RAM. 32MB available RAM. page 14

Macworld JUNE 2001 13 The CD-ROM on the cover of Macworld is supplied as is, subject to the following terms and conditions. The CD-ROM is provided as a free item to readers of Macworld for their personal use, and may not be resold or copied for distribution. The publisher shall have no liability without limitation for any losses or damage arising from using cover-CD software – or for taking advice from Macworld’s CD trouble- Cover CD shooting point-of-contact – including any loss of profit, damage to equipment or data, interruption of business, or any other damage, direct or accidental. It is strongly recommended that you back-up any programs or data on your hard disk before installing any cover-CD software. If problems occur, it is most likely to be a result of an incompatibility or conflict with other software on your system. Macworld JUNE 2001 cannot be held responsible for discontinued offers. This does not affect your statutory rights.

Before you start working your way through the software on our CD, INSTALL go to the System Utilities folder and make sure you install the following:

■ Acrobat Reader+Search 4 ■ StuffIt & RealPlayer ■ System tools & ATM Lite ■ QuickTime 4.1.2 Install this version to be able to read many Versions 5.5 and 6.0.1 of StuffIt Expander and DropStuff The CD also carries the latest version of InternetConfig, Some programs require QuickTime 4.1.2. This can be of the on-screen manuals. are included as is the installer for RealPlayer 8. UnZip 5.32 and ATM Lite 4.6.1 (required for Suitcase 9). downloaded from www.apple.com/quicktime/download.

INSIDE MACWORLD

Audion 2.1 PR3 OS X GraphicConverter 4.06 Rubicon Network Map Maxon XL BP Plays audio CDs, MP3s Excellent tool for Contains 51 network levels Carbon version of and streaming network converting pictures to for Rubicon. Incompatible Cinema 4D XL 3D audio plus encodes, different formats. Includes with standalone version on modelling package plus edits, mixes, sorts and image manipulation and last month’s CD. Freeware. Bodypaint 3D. Preview. manages files. OS X only. batch conversion. Carbon Shareware. version. Shareware. plus… CD CATALOGUE DIMM First Aid MusicMatch iCamMaster (OS X) Checks memory Jukebox 2.0 Cricket 6.0 demo Courtesy of Mark Pirri’s superb DiskTracker specification for Powerful MP3 jukebox Search & Rescue program, Macworld brings you a searchable compatibility and recovers software for recording, QuicKeys 5.0 demo catalogue of all our CDs from 1997 to disabled RAM from downloading, organizing Timbuktoo Pro 5.2 eval 2001 – almost 215,000 files! This will Apple’s latest firmware and playing MP3s. OmniWeb 4.0cf3 demo grow month by month to allow you updates. Freeware. Freeware. Inspiration 6 trial to find any file you want, without wearing out your CD-ROM drive. The latest version of DiskTracker (2.1) is also included – don’t forget to OS X HEAVEN SERIOUS SOFTWARE includes register if you find our library useful.

OS X Heaven – your monthly port of call for Bottom Line 1.1.5 trial Eight Gluon XTensions the latest OS X-specific software. Utilities, Bottom Line is an integrated Try the latest demos. ColorBreaker demos, shareware and games – OS X accounting package specifically 4.17 is an automated colour Heaven will play host to all that’s best for small and medium sized businesses. mark-up utility. SpotCheck 4.02 allows easy for the Mac’s new operating system. It is Mac only and has been designed from toggling to/from spot colours. DocuSlim 2.0 To get started we have 20 shareware the ground up using the best features of automates image cropping, rotation, resizing utilities including Docking Maneuvers, a the Mac's graphical user interface. Ease of and reimporting. Slugger 5.06 tracks changes simple tool that allows you to move the use and immediate response have been to documents. TableMaker 5.01 lets you build Dock to any edge of the screen and anchor foremost in the design criteria as well as elegant tables. PrintTrack 2.51 continually it in any corner, and NameCleaner, a utility security of data, protection from data monitors and manages background to manipulate file names and types. loss and production of strict audit trails. printing. IntelliTrack 2.51 tracks documents You’ll also find three Carbonized games The software consists of three and exports data to a central database. including Mike's Cards, a fantastic set of integrated modules: Sales Ledger, ProScale ID allows InDesign users to solitaire games. Enjoy it freely for 30 days. Purchase Ledger and General Ledger. scale non-proportionally. And those who like playing Yahtzee will This evaluation copy is fully functional. Check instructions for demo limitations. enjoy Turtle Dice, a simple implementation You can set up your accounts and use it for Remember that in demo mode, files saved in of a single-player version. up to two months. Quark can only be opened in demo mode.

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14 Macworld JUNE 2001 FAULTY COVER CD-ROM? •If your cover disc is broken and you want a replacement CD, please contact Cover CD Kelly Crowley, on 020 7831 9252, or email at [email protected]. •If your cover CD doesn’t seem to work as it should, please check you have read all the instructions on the cover disc pages carefully first. If it still JUNE 2001 doesn’t work, then please email Woody Phillips at [email protected].

GAMES WORLD DEMOS & GAMES

This month’s Top 10 Shareware Games are Bushfire 1.06 demo split between arcade and strategy. If you like Experimental Pine Forest number action, try BeamTron 1.0.1, a Tron cycle-based 13 is the last remaining forest game, Brickles3000 for a good old-fashioned of Goose Spruce trees. These rare fir trees paddler, or Bob’s Bricks Millennium Edition 1.0. have been in steady decline for the last four If you’re into puzzles then go for Domitrix, decades and the EPF13 was established to The Factor Game or HipHop. While quite preserve those remaining and attempt to different, they’ll have you scratching your prevent their extinction. In order to protect head for ages! the forest, and the holidaymakers who are We’ve also included a couple of good allowed in the forest, a helicopter-based Tetris-style games. MacPuyo 1.5 is the latest fire service was formed, with a specially version of an evergreen while Shapes II also modified fire-fighting helicopter and a requires fast reactions. team of smoke jumpers who can be And don’t forget War on Lithon 3.0, a turn- parachuted into the forest to help control based war game, and one of the most unique any fires that break out. Your mission: put games we’ve come across in ages – Juggler II. out any forest fires, and don’t let any (Top row) Brickles 3000 & MacPuyo civilians get hurt! Carbonized. Requires an (Middle) The Factor Game up-to-date version of CarbonLib. (Bottom) HipHop ALSO ON THE CD DON’T MISS…

COMMS & INTERNET INFO Amazing Slow Downer 1.04 Rosetta 1.1.1 ■ Cool Extras 10 applications including: Virtual Composer 2.7.9 Clear Skies 1.0 Email Effects 1.6.8 Bring the night sky to HTML-Optimizer 4.3 UTILITIES your desktop. WebsiteCompressor 2.1.7 Eight categories with Rubicon Desktop Pix almost 40 useful tools Three superb Marathon EDUCATION for your Mac including: Rubicon desktop pictures Three utilities including: ATPM 7.04 Aladdin DropZip 6.0.1 SwitchBack 3.3 by Eric Draht. Angle Doubling Cross Platform 1.1.2 Default Folder 3.1 TableText 1.0.6 Quick T-Test plus three utilities DiskSurveyor 2.0.1 TextInset XT ■ Mac ISPs for developers Dot What 1.4 TextSpresso 1.8.1 Internet access offers from Abel gratis, AppleOnline & LineOne. FONTS DragThing 4.0 Word Search 2.9.1 MATHS & SCIENCE Drop Drawers 1.5.3 ■ EjectDisk 3.16 UPDATERS Netscape/Internet Explorer EZNote 1.51 This month’s dedicated Complete packages for Netscape 6 (with 6.01 update) and IE 5. FileGeek 2.5 updaters folder includes HideFolders 2.3 over 40MB of patches ■ Plus… InsertDate XT to bring many popular … many thanks to Simon Youngjohns for our CD icons. LogotypeMaker Pro 2.5.3 MoosePad 1.2.1 applications bang FontChecker 1.3.1 Five items including: PandoCalendar 5.6.1 up-to-date, including: CalcWorks 1.7.3 DiskLock 4.6.5 GRAPHICS Periodic Table 2.6.1 iMate 2.6.1 SHAREWARE Four items including: NetBarrier 2.0.3 Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. ButtonMaker 2.3.1 SCREENSAVERS Norton AntiVirus 5-7 (04/01) It makes fitting your needs easier, as you can try before you Moho 2.5 FlavorSavers 2.7.3 Spellswell 7 2.1.6 buy. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee – if you Screen Catcher 2.3.3 The Planets 2.0 Virex (04/01) don’t use the product, you don’t pay for it. If you try a Shareware Peek-a-Boo 1.6 Virtual PC 4.0.2 program and continue using it, you are expected to register. ICONS & UTILITIES SOUND & MUSIC PullQuote XT VirusBarrier Updater 1.5.3 Support shareware authors so that they continue to provide Iconographer 2.0.2 Four programs including: QXP Delivery 1.2.1 VST FireWire 2.3 high-quality programs for the Mac.

16 Macworld JUNE 2001 Macworld News iBook subnotebook launch; Mac OS X updated to burn

magnesium frame. The drive is mounted in rubber, and the case Exclusive first has no external latches, doors or hinges, except the primary hinge Small miracle that connects the top and bottom of the clamshell case. And even this hinge speaks pple CEO Steve Jobs chose look at Apple’s of the iBook’s resilience: the firm, May Day to fire a further thick, single hinge swings the A salvo in Apple’s campaign screen back and behind the for aesthetic computing, announcing bottom half of the portable, an iBook subnotebook – 35 per cent lowering the overall height of thinner than its predecessor – that new iBook the portable when open, without reflects the sex and power of its having to reduce the screen size professional sibling, the acclaimed ute. There, I’ve said it. It’s a terrible thing, – handy in a cramped economy- iBook (2) is two pounds PowerBook G4. having to describe what may well be the class seat. Apple has even lighter than its predecessor, The company also released an C single greatest price, performance and design added metal collars around handles twice the memory update (OS X 10.0.2) for Mac OS X, breakthrough in portables since, well, ever, with the rubber feet on the and is encased in a smooth, as well as announcing encouraging such a frivolous adjective. But, when faced with bottom, to help protect streamlined, polycarbonate news of its growing success in the the challenge of summarizing in a single word the feet from being pulled shell. Macworld quickly got US education market. what is both tiny and powerful, simple and clever, off in a student’s rough its hands on an iBook – “The new iBook is wonderfully sophisticated and light-hearted, elegant and and tumble day. read our preview opposite. small and light, and packs in all the comes dirt cheap, the vast eloquence of the language According to Apple, the combination of all these “Flat, rounded rectangular amazing features with CD-ROM Shakespeare used to sculpt his love sonnets design factors makes the new iBook twice as durable you’d expect drive, 10GB hard drive drops into a petulant squat and tosses out “cute”. as the old one, despite having less “shock space” shape, smooth white from Apple,” and 64MB of RAM. For an extra Where the PowerBook G4 stretched the envelope inside the case. Flat, rounded rectangular shape, coating… The new iBook Jobs told his £200, you can up the RAM to 128MB of portable computing to its limits, the new iBook smooth white coating – I’ve got it! The new iBook audience at a and swap the CD-ROM for a DVD-ROM pops a gaping hole right through the bottom: starting looks like a lozenge! looks like a lozenge.” special event near Apple’s Cupertino drive. And for £1,349, you can replace at just £1,099 (£1,060 for schools and students) HQ outside San Francisco. the DVD-ROM with a CD-RW drive. including VAT, the white translucent pillbox portable Mighty mouse Apple will market the new iBook You can order your top-of-the-line offers a 500MHz G3, a full slate of ports, full-sized Packing a lot of features and performance into such pixels. Yeah, that’s a lot of pixels on a relatively small with the slogan: "Your life. To go." iBook with a combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM keyboard, and media drive in a case measuring a tiny shell would seem impossible. Yet the iBook screen, but the sharpness of the new Apple display drive for £1,599 through the online 28.5-x-23-x-3.4cm and weighing just 4.9lbs (2.2kg). offers the speed of Apple’s top-of-the-line Mac makes up for this somewhat. Model options Apple Store. A 20GB hard drive is also That’s right, Apple has just delivered a portable portable of just a few months ago, while boasting Both the RAM and AirPort slot are easily All iBook models come with a 500MHz available as a £145 option. Special the size and weight of a spiral-bound notebook. features even the G4 titanium PowerBook can’t claim. accessed from under the keyboard – unlike the PowerPC G3 with 256K of L2 cache. education pricing is available, from The iBook comes with a removable media drive in PowerBook G4, which requires the user remove This is supplemented with either £903 to £1,313 (ex. VAT). Crystal carapace one of four flavours: CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and a first the bottom of the portable to add an AirPort card. 64MB or 128MB of RAM soldered Gone are the extra-wide curves and colour- for Mac portables, CD-RW drive or CD-RW/DVD-ROM The iBook doesn’t offer a PC Card slot, but does to the logic board and a single PC100 X burner co-ordinated bumpers of the original iBook, replaced combo drive. The combo drive is available only have a microphone built into the top of the clamshell. RAM DIMM slot – allowing the iBook’s With update 10.0.2, Mac OS X gains by a smooth, almost featureless white box with through the Apple online store. The new drives And, just because Apple’s industrial design memory to expand to either 576MB full-screen iTunes visualizations rounded edges and corners. In a sense, Apple has are all tray loading; the slot-loading form factor group likes to add little surprises to all its designs, or 640MB, depending on the amount (for its two million, and climbing, built the anti-iBook – where the original design was of the PowerBook G4 is why Apple is not yet offering the new iBook sleep indicator light is on the front of base RAM installed. users), and can at last burn CDs. sassy, this iBook is simple; where the old portable a combo or CD-RW drive in its high-end portable. edge of the portable. While that might not sound all Apple offers the iBook in one of The OS X update also improves screamed for attention, this one merely whispers. The iBook sports the same ATI Rage Mobility that innovative, how about a sleep light embedded QuickTime 5 goes live three flavours: For £1,099 (inc. VAT; application stability and provides The new iBook features an evolution of the 128 graphics controller and 8MB of graphics RAM under the plastic skin? The light is only visible when £935 ex. VAT), the base iBook model the latest version of the Internet file computer-trapped-in-Lucite look of the G4 Cube. as both the PowerBook G3 and G4. Apple says it’s it cycles slowly from dim to bright. pple has announced QuickTime 5 and QuickTime Streaming Server 3, transfer service (ftpd). The free update It’s sheathed in a millimetres-thick clear plastic sticking with the Rage Mobility chipset because A the latest versions of its streaming-media player and server solutions is available by automatic software coating that is warm and slightly rubbery to the it offers the best balance of performance and Complete consumer solution respectively. QuickTime 5 (QT5) already ships bundled as the standard update to all Mac OS X users. touch, delivering a firm grip even in small hands. power consumption. At least for now. Portables are now the fastest-growing segment multimedia-player in Mac OS X. A version is now available for download iBook at a glance In unexpectedly good news, The coating also adds the illusion of depth to the Speaking of power consumption, despite adding of Apple’s business, and it’s easy to see why: while for earlier Mac operating systems, from System 7.5.5 to OS 9.1. QT5 Starting Price: £1,099 (inc. VAT) Jobs announced a significant deal chassis, and a crystal corona around the edges so many power-hungry new features, Apple still other vendors threw features overboard to achieve handles video, sound, animation, graphics, text, music, and 360-degree Size: 11.2 x 9.1 x 1.35 inches with Henrico County Public Schools of the screen when the clamshell is open. claims maximum battery life of five hours for the small size or lower prices, Apple held out for the cubic virtual reality (VR) images. QT5 (for both Mac and Windows) Weight: 4.9 pounds in the US, which Apple will supply Around the middle is a band of metallic grey iBook. Like the old iBook, the new battery is mounted technology and component prices to reach a level was downloaded 1.5 million times during its first week of availability. CPU: 500MHz G3; 256K of 1:1 L2 cache with a colossal 23,000 iBooks. that ties the new iBook to the 2001 edition of Apple in the bottom of the unit. But unlike the old power where the company could offer complete solutions The user interface has been enhanced, with new audio controls, a RAM: 64MB or 128MB “This is mammoth – the single portables. Sitting next to a titanium PowerBook, the pack, the new battery is smaller and easier to remove in each niche. Especially in the consumer portable Hot Picks guide and a QuickTime TV browser. A slider volume-control has Graphics: 8MB ATI Rage Mobility 128 largest sale of portable computers iBook looks like it belongs – sharing such touches as (there’s a single coin screw instead of two), and has space, where PC vendors rip features off their been introduced to replace the fiddly volume wheel that controlled sound Hard drive: 10GB in education ever,” said Jobs. the same magnetic catch and rounded metal release those nice LED charge level indicators on the bottom. high-end notebooks to get the price down, only output in QT4. With QT5, Apple has made it possible to customize the Media Drive: CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, In a final fillip, Apple revealed IDC button on the front and a glowing crystal Apple Oh yes, the media eject button has been removed Apple engineered it’s low-end portable to be a appearance of its player, offering users “the power to control the unique CD-RW or CD-RW/DVD-ROM figures showing Apple’s capture of logo, set to look upside right from behind. It is about because it was too easy to inadvertently eject a disc no-compromise low-end portable, and it shows. environment in which digital media is displayed”. Player windows can Display: 12.1-inch active matrix with 18.2 per cent market share (in 2000) 2cm and almost 12cm shorter side-to-side than the in the old iBook design. Instead, the upper right key The new iBook further cements Apple’s be any shape or size (see example above). 1,024-x-768 pixel maximum resolution of the US education portable market original iBook. The case is almost exactly as wide is the new eject button. Don’t worry though, the eject dominance in portable engineering, and if our Apple has improved QuickTime’s VR support, with “360° Cubic VR” Ports & slots: Security, Modem, – the largest annual growth in this as its standard-sized keyboard, the same 18mm pitch button requires the user press and hold the button first hands-on look is any indication, the iBook – meaning images are more immersive. It offers support for a wider ethernet, FireWire, two USB, VGA/RGB segment of any vendor. and 2.7mm travel keyboard used in the PowerBook down for a few seconds before the disc is ejected. will be a winner for users who want a lot for a little. variety of multimedia file-formats (200 in all) including MPEG-1 and out, AV out, AirPort, built-in microphone "The future of education is G4 (except the keys are white). No accidentally typed disc eject. And, if the words don’t fail me, I’d say buyers DV-camcorder formats such as AVI, AVR, H.263 and OpenDML. It also Battery Life: 5 hours maximum wirelessly networked notebooks," The shell does not contain any exotic metals, The new iBook only supports video mirroring. of the new iBook will get a lot more, and a whole supports timecode tracks and MIDI standards, including Roland’s Sound (Apple estimates) claimed Jobs. MW despite its steel-coloured girdle. The chassis consists Luckily, Apple has upped the resolution on the lot less. MW Canvas. Macromedia’s Flash 4 is also supported. MW Jonny Evans primarily of polycarbonite plastic, stiffened by a built-in 12.1-inch active matrix display to 1,024-x-768 Andrew Gore

20 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Macworld JUNE 2001 21 Apple’s dream machine hits 5 million sales Macworld News Landmark for ‘saviour’ iMac

pple shipped its five millionth configurations and costs between iMac, with the news being £799 and £1,199. Their G3 processors A delivered to analysts and run at between 400-600MHz, with shareholder’s the day following hard drives up to 40GB and CD-RW Apple’s second-quarter financial drives on most models. The iMac announcements call by Apple CEO is now available in Indigo, Flower Steve Jobs on April 18. Power, Blue Dalmatian and Graphite. Jobs proclaimed: “The iMac has redefined the consumer and iMac a design watershed education computer, ushering in The iMac’s success sparked-off several industry firsts, including USB, a series of design initiatives from FireWire, desktop movies, wireless a variety of different industries. networking, fan-less operation and Designers of everything from cars, Looking to world-class design.” pens and household appliances the future, Jobs He reaffirmed Apple’s have borrowed elements of UK-born admitted that the commitment to the iMac – its leading Jonathan Ives’ multi-award-winning current economic consumer machine. “I look forward to designs. Interviewed in 1998, Ives uncertainty affecting the personal- shipping our ten millionth iMac in a said: “Making a loud product wasn’t computer industry is occluding few years.” our goal at all. Being different wasn’t Apple’s vision of the future. iMac development began a single a goal either. We wanted to make a “Our crystal ball is foggy,” he said. Toast 5 Mac day after Jobs’ return to Apple in thing that felt accessible, friendly, but “We must play the hand we’re dealt.” 1998. Jobs told his keynote audience also new. We have human features Apple sold 608,000 iMacs in the update posted at New York’s Macworld Expo in 1998 on the iMac – the handle, for first six months of its current Roxio has released its free, that Apple would “sell tons of them”. instance. This was a consequence of financial year. The product is widely downloadable Toast 5.0.1 The original Bondi Blue iMac applying our design aesthetic to the credited with helping turn around update, which adds iTunes began shipping in August 1998. product. Differentiation was not our Apple’s fortunes, and with regaining and Diskburner compatibility At the time, then interim-CEO, Jobs goal.” market share for Apple in the to Toast 5.0, as well as fixing said: “It looks like it’s from another “One of the things you notice consumer PC market – a market minor compatibility issues planet – a planet with better when people come up to the iMac Apple invented in 1984 with the with Apple’s SuperDrive. One designers.” It contained a 233MHz is their body language. They tend to launch of the original Macintosh. such fix is that built-in CD- G3 processor, 32MB RAM, a 4GB smile and pat it on its head,” Ive told The future of the iMac remains RW drives can be used as hard drive, CD-ROM, and internal 56K Macworld. a popular discussion point with Mac the source and destination modem, and shipped with the much- Jobs remains at pains to repeat pundits. Many predict a wide-screen in Toast’s Copy format. maligned round mouse. It cost that Apple’s strategy is firmly centred iMac, and some expect this to have Toast 5.0.1 supports £999 (inc. VAT). There has since on innovation. “The company must a 17-inch-screen. Others foresee an both Disc Burner and iTunes been a flurry of different models continue creating great products, iMac, with Apple’s multi-purpose when used with Toast’s and colours that have come and gone. despite continued uncertainty in DVD-R SuperDrive built-in. MW own system extensions. Today’s iMac is available in three the global economy,” he said. Jonny Evans Previously, having different CD-authoring applications installed caused extension conflicts. The updater is available from www.roxio.com 667MHz G4 scrapped Roxio will release a free update to make Toast Mac pple has ceased production of the £1,199 OS X-compliant when the I/O A 667MHz Power Mac, just four months kit ships. Toast 5.0 Titanium after its debut at Macworld Expo, San Francisco. Supply costs £49. problems were first thought to have hampered delivery of the model – but now it’s believed customers are choosing the 533MHz MP and the top-of-the-range 733MHz G4 Macs rather than the 667. Apple did not announce the scrapping of the 667 line in a statement, choosing merely to remove the product from its Apple Store. A number of Apple watchers believe the 667MHz will reappear – in multiprocessing form. MW

For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Macworld JUNE 2001 23 Macworld News Macromedia products-boss evangelizes power of OS X, and insists that life on Web is ‘only beginning’

The publishing industry is evolving, believes Lynch, raising new challenges and inspiring new solutions. Lynch mob leads way on OS X “The way we author Web content today is not dissimilar from the ith FreeHand 10 first past an even wider audience for the player for accessing rich media monks writing manuscripts by hand the post in the race to Macintosh and, as the Mac becomes over the Internet. Since then, all those years ago. There’s got to be W port a major application used for the purpose of serving we’ve worked hard to popularize a better way to create content on the to Mac OS X, Macromedia is helping content on the Web, then we’ll Flash, and we now have a 96 per Web – particularly as the quantity of to bed-down Apple’s next-generation be there with our products too.” cent distribution for Flash players Web pages grows rapidly. operating system. Here, in an Speaking of Macromedia’s across Web browsers. That’s over “IDC estimates that the number exclusive interview with Macworld, recent merger with Allaire, 330 million people globally using of pages will double to nine or ten Macromedia president of products, Lynch had positive news for Mac Flash players today. It’s incredible. billion in the next couple of years. I Kevin Lynch, speaks about Mac OS X, Web-developers wanting to see “We’ll continue to innovate think there’ll be a fundamental shift, as well as throwing light on Internet ColdFusion on Mac OS X Server. with Flash. Flash 5 supports XML where sites will be a combination trends, and the past, present and and the creation of Flash-based user of pages written by hand, but that future of the company. Customer is king interfaces. We are working to create a portion of these sites will be Welcoming Mac OS X, Lynch said: “We are influenced by what we hear the tools to build great user-interfaces dynamic, delivering content “We are Carbonizing applications from our customers. We would be over the Web. I think rich-media through templates.” for Mac OS X. FreeHand 10 will very interested to hear from Mac players is an area where innovation be released shortly, and we also Web-designers who want to see is happening now, in terms of Dynamic sites the key demonstrated Dreamweaver and ColdFusion on Mac servers.” expression online.” “The dynamic creation of sites is what Fireworks on OS X at UCON But he added: “We find that Lynch slammed Quark president the merger with Allaire is about – it’s (Macromedia’s user’s conference). few people use Macs as servers. Mac and CEO Fred Ebrahimi’s claim – bringing in the software that will “We were involved in the OS X Server is a great product, and made in his Seybold keynote – that let people build content and manage development cycle of OS X. I think we could definitely bring our server getting content onto devices such as sites dynamically in a way that they Apple’s done a great job of providing products there. But it’s all about phones is “stupid”. (See page 26). understand and that they can do developers with tools to help bring whether people are using that efficiently and cost effectively.” their applications to OS X. I believe product. If enough people use it, Ebrahimi wide of mark He added: “With a product like OS X is sufficiently mature for others we’ll bring our products to it.” Lynch said: “I don’t think it’s UltraDev, which runs on Macs as well to bring their applications to it.” Those wishing to contact stupid at all. It’s critical that people as Windows, we’re working to ensure Lynch added: “We think that much Macromedia about ColdFusion for have strategies to get content onto the UltraDev environment can be of people who create 3D products can “There’s a Web-site production- Pedal power (below) innovation on the Web is achieved the Mac should send their thoughts multiple devices. Over the next few used to make great content and Web output to our format. Moving output techniques section now. It’s another This on-bike dynamic user-interface by people using Macs, and we see to [email protected]. years, there’ll be more of these than sites. This may include connecting from Alias|Wavefront and Studio way we’re helping our developer was created with Flash 5. the Mac audience as critical to Web Lynch also discussed the there are PCs connected to the Web. If to the ColdFusion server, which can 3D Max to Shockwave will transform community build effective sites.” publishing. We’re very much behind evolution of the Internet – calling you can’t get your content onto these output DHTML (Dynamic HTML). the way people express themselves. Returning to the Mac, Lynch – who News at X the platform and supportive of it. XML (Extensible Markup Language) devices you are missing out on the We’re working to make that 3D interactive-guides can provide a first developed for the Mac in 1984 – Macromedia is in the vanguard As a company, we think OS X is great, a “critical technology”, adding that it majority of the audience. Everyone integration even better. We’re going depth of learning 2D can’t reach.” said: “We’re making sure we provide of major developers for OS X, and that it will carry the Macintosh is essential for designers to keep up can see that, except Fred Ebrahimi. to include lots of new features that Both Lynch’s – and Macromedia’s the best products in the industry on following the imminent release forward for at least ten years, perhaps with developments because of the “We’re working on supporting the will make the combination of these – vision is focused on usability. “Ever the Mac, and will continue doing that. at press time of the Carbonized more. We know we have to get our mountain of rich Web-media. “When concept of dynamic content for the servers and the authoring experience since Macromedia began trading as “We think the custom’s there, the version of FreeHand 10. software there. It could attract we began, there was no widely used Web across lots of different devices.” great, including on the Mac.” MacroMind in the early 1980s in market’s strong, and much of the core Lynch also enthused about the Chicago with our first product, energy for innovation on the Web is future of 3D on the Web, which has VideoWorks, we’ve seen the user coming from the Mac community.” been buoyed recently by news that experience as central.” Of the industry in general, Lynch Alias|Wavefront’s move to Mac said: “I think that people in the Geared up for learning Macromedia blazes Web trail on fast 3D platform, with Maya for OS X, and Web future needs work software industry are very motivated Macromedia’s 3D-authoring also by the adoption of broadband Assessing the long-term future of the to change the world – to improve apps makes possible effective 3D Internet access. Internet, Lynch remains pragmatic, people’s ability to communicate. MW interactive-learning, such as this acromedia CEO Rob Burgess told power of the downloading Mac. The “We’re excited about ShockWave despite the dot-com carnage of recent Jonny Evans how-it-works educational site. Mcrowds at its user conference – company has also released a beta version 3D. There’s been many attempts to months: “What we have now is a UCON 2001 that the company will open of its Shockwave 3D Player, and announced make 3D work on the Web, and we’ve return to realism and practicality. the floodgates for dynamic Internet-content that its multimedia-authoring software, tried to figure out why it’s failed to “We are only seven years into the following its merger with Allaire. Director 8.5, is shipping in the UK for £949, get traction there. I think we’ve Web, and are still trying to figure out He said: “We’re looking forward to and can create Shockwave 3D content. managed to address some of those how people can express themselves in showing our developer community our Meanwhile, the company’s Carbonized issues, and have worked with Intel to ways they couldn’t do before. We still vision for making Web design and FreeHand 10 will ship later this month create a great technology that allows have a lot of experimentation to do, development more accessible, and FreeHand 10 will cost £279. Users of effective 3D over low bandwidths. and decades of work yet to come.” with even better results.” previous versions can upgrade for £99. The “The other hurdle is that there Lynch also hinted that a future The company also revealed that Flash 5/FreeHand 10 Studio will cost £399. hasn’t been much co-operation Macromedia product, Vermilion, Alias|Wavefront has joined the many 3D- Macromedia expects to make the product between 3D vendors. Before, we will “address the issues we see in application developers to deliver an exporter available in May. MW saw it as critical to get the industry terms of teams working together”. plug-in to take Maya-created content into together to agree a common format, Macromedia has published Shockwave 3D format. Shockwave offers Squaring up and we achieved what I believe to be information on its site cutting-edge 3D over limited bandwidths. This still from a Shockwave 3D animation, Lode Runner, is one of unprecedented co-operation among (www.macromedia.com) that examines It does this by seizing the spare processor many examples available at www.shockwave.com vendors. these issues, based on interviews “Approximately 80 per cent with hundreds of developers.

24 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Macworld JUNE 2001 25 Developers queue up to ship OS X products Macworld News OS X updater a developer fillip

s Macworld predicted last resumable downloads. Apple is also month, Apple has released the hosting Epson’s Printer Driver Update, A Mac OS X 10.0.1 updater for which lets Epson’s USB inkjet printers early adopters of its next-generation work with Mac OS X. operating system. The updater Developers are moving swiftly improves support for third-party USB to make their products compatible devices, boosts and improves Classic with Mac OS X. The OS X pages of Maxon Computer’s Cinema 4D XL Version 6 is a professional compatibility and improves the Apple’s own Web site are regularly 3D-animation tool with a flexible interface, allowing users to overall stability of the OS. It also updated. choose between Mac OS 9 and OS X appearances, as well as the adds support for the popular open- default look. The user interface is also customizable. Maxon claims source Secure Shell service. Drivers in the bag its application will deliver workstation performance on consumer-level Secure Shell logs into other Wacom plans to release Mac OS X Macs. The currently shipping version costs £1,187. computers over a network. It can beta drivers for selected products in execute commands in a remote June. It hopes to release OS X-native machine and move files from one software for the Intuos line of tablets independent developer Brian Clark machine to another. and the Graphire mouse and pen set, has released a Carbonized version of The 10.0.1 update also improves with more drivers to follow. Thoth, a $25 newsreader application. Paving the way OS X’s functionality with iTunes. It Dantz has already released a ConceptDraw Viewer 1.0 for Apple’s Mac OS X 10.0.1 update was originally made available using public beta of its automated back-up Mac OS X is a free application from (top) is available for download the Software Updates Preferences utility – Retrospect for OS X – and Computer Systems Odessa that views now. Third-party manufacturers command available using Mac OS X’s made it available for download from and prints ConceptDraw documents are following suit, with OS X System Preferences. The update was www.dantz.com. and files without the ConceptDraw drivers now available for Epson’s then released to iTools users and Bare Bones Software has ported application. inkjet printers, such as the made available for download direct BBEdit 6.1 OS X. This is the first Softmagic has launched Project-M, StyluColor 880, (middle). Wacom from Apple’s Technical Info Web site. version of the HTML and text editor a $699 publishing suite of Cocoa- will also begin releasing beta OS X (http://til.info.apple.com). Apple says users to run natively on the Apple’s next- based applications, optimized drivers for its Intuos and Graphire should install another update generation operating system. This for the new operating system. art-tablets, such as the Graphire released by the company in recent version takes advantage of several OS Mouse and Pen set (bottom) weeks – Software Update 1.3.1 X features, including integration with OS X products blitz – before installing OS X 10.0.1. tools native to the Perl programming Tenon Systems has released XTools This update is also available language. BBEdit 6.1 costs £99. 1.0, its X Windows server for OS X. from Apple’s Web site. Qualcomm has released a beta X Windows is an open, cross-platform, Update 1.3.1 enhances the Mac version of Eudora, its email client for client-server system for managing a OS X Software Update engine. OS X. It’s available for download from windowed graphical user interface in It improves its ability to work Eudora’s beta-download site, a distributed network and costs $199. with proxy connections by adding www.eudora.com/betas/. MacPopUp 2.5b from the Kanex interface improvements and enabling Also with a focus on the Internet, Group is also available now. It’s a beta version of the cross-platform instant messenger and offers an Aqua interface with pre-emptive X file-buster multitasking. Available for download GraphicConverter 4.0.7 is available registration costs $10. now for Mac OS X and the Classic PowerLogix has released beta environment. It’s a file-manipulation versions of its cache-enabling utility, utility that opens and converts 145 for upgraded Macs, Cache Control X. graphics file-formats. By taking QPict has released its OS X advantage of OS X’s pre-emptive beta, Media Organizer 5.0b2. It will memory, it’s better than before at organize multimedia files, including opening and converting large graphics pictures, fonts, MP3s and movie clips. files. It supports drag-&-drop, and Aladdin has released Spring offers basic image-editing utilities. It Cleaning version 3.5.1 for Mac also has batch-conversion features, will OS X. This offers 13 utilities that will create optimized Web images, and let clean and organise hard drives. The advanced users alter data resources update is free to registered 3.5 users, embedded into files. otherwise it costs £34. MW Dominique Fidéle

For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Macworld JUNE 2001 27 Macworld News Macworld News Publishing’s sight of future dobe CEO Bruce Chizen and migration to Web publishing. Narayen stressed the importance Quark president and CEO Fred Chizen stressed that, in the network- of agreeing on and using Internet A Ebrahimi used their Seybold publishing era, creative professionals standards, including XML (Extendible Seminars keynotes to deliver to the must deliver similar or identical Markup Language) and Digital-Rights cream of the publishing world their content across multiple media. Management. “It’s about simplifying contrasting visions for the future of He explained the challenge of the process and giving designers the industry. redundant content-creation. choices,” said Narayen. At the seminars, held from April Quark also revealed plans to 8-13 in Boston, Chizen outlined a Content delivery widen its beta-testing programme vision of network publishing that will “Often, different workgroups develop for QuarkXPress 5.0. “One of the NAB a good spot be guided by Adobe’s PDF (Portable similar content for different media,” mistakes we made was shipping The crowds flocked to this year’s Document Format), as well as by he said. “Another problem facing XPress 4.0 when it wasn’t ready. We NAB in Las Vegas, where the other Adobe products. He closed his content creators is an ever-increasing won’t ever do that again,” Ebrahimi emphasis was on convergence address with a plug for the company’s user demand for personalized said. “When the users decide it’s in the broadcasting industry. new network-publishing move, information. Adobe is working ready to ship, that’s when we ship.” designed to help deliver content to develop one serial workflow to Following his keynote speech, Head to head “anytime, anywhere, on any device”. create, manage and deliver content Chizen told the media that Adobe’s Quark president and CEO Fred But Ebrahimi rejected Adobe’s using the Internet as the backbone focus on network publishing and Ebrahimi (above) and Adobe CEO focus on multifarious devices for of everything we do, he said. e-books would not hurt the Broadcast is hot news Bruce Chizen (below) used the content. He described the concept as Chizen showed an alpha version traditional print publishing world. Seybold Seminars to outline their a “stupid idea”, adding that he doesn’t of Adobe’s page-layout software “Books are not going away,” he said. he National Association of to deliver VHS quality video over a said: “Vcast offers a personal visions of publishing’s future. “give a damn about showing a movie InDesign running on Mac OS X. “They will continue.” MW Broadcasters event – held broadband network. The solution broadcasting service that lets people on a mobile phone”. Quark’s slant on Adobe vice president Shantanu Peter Cohen T from 21-26 April in Las integrates with existing server-side stream video affordably on the Web.” integrating the Web into publishing Vegas – focused on the impact Internet appliances, and opens the Standards are evolving too, rests on the concept of a “world-wide of convergence on the world of doors to a future of video-on-demand with Apple announcing QuickTime 5 workflow”. Quark Active Publishing broadcasting. over IP at full-screen rates. (see pages 20-21), as well as Server (QuarkAPS) was introduced As digital technology becomes demonstrating QuickTime 3 at the show. This is a client-server all-pervasive, more opportunity exists Web-video move Streaming Server Public Preview. solution that lets content creators for established TV broadcasters to Matrox announced its service for Also, the Fraunhofer Institute – update and modify documents using cast content online, and for online video creators, Matrox.tv. This video- developer of the MP3 standard – a Web browser. A Mac OS X Server businesses to repurpose content for hosting Web site exists for registered and Telos Systems demonstrated their version of this will ship later this year. TV. NAB saw solutions developed to owners of the recently announced improved MP3 codec. The Quark CEO also underlined his provide technological stepping stones RTMac video-editing platforms. They called this: “An advance as belief in the market for paper-based to achieve this. Matrox’ vice president of sales important as was the introduction publishing: “Publishing on paper will Minerva introduced its hardware- and marketing, Spiro Plagakis, said: of MP3 to the broadcast and Internet continue for the next 20 years – it’s based VNP-40 solution. This ‘encoding “Our clients want to exploit the Web worlds seven years ago.” still profitable.” appliance’ can stream video to to deliver their stories.” Apple’s SuperDrive spawned Meanwhile Adobe’s Chizen any desktop computer running a Sorenson Media previewed Vcast, imitators at NAB too, with LaCie called network publishing the “third QuickTime or MPEG-4 compliant its video-focused online service. Users and Panasonic announcing external wave of publishing” – following the player. It supports a number of video can register online and send live or versions of a combined DVD/CD-RW introduction in the 1980s of both the formats, including QuickTime. It also on-demand video to anyone in the unit, based on FireWire and costing in Maya takes Mac and Canon-derived laser-printer Screen grab integrates Kasenna’s MediaBase video world. Matt Cupal, Sorenson’s vice the region of $1,000. MW engines, as well as the 1990s’ Visitors to the Adobe booth at Seybold in Boston enjoyed a series of hands-on seminars. server-solution, and makes it possible president of business development, Jonny Evans centre stage Alias|Wavefront announced Maya 4 at NAB. Maya is tool of choice for professional 3D-animators in the film and Quark gives XPress 5.0 a run out Media 100 in product flurry broadcast industries. Above are two stills taken from uark demonstrated development ethos is to rollovers and hyperlinks, Macromedia Dreamweaver. edia 100 was involved in a slew of releases at NAB, broadcast and online use. Media 100i is available in four Enemy at the Gates, Qsome of the features of support open standards even while retaining text-like While XPress’s ability Mincluding Media 100i 7.5, MediaPress Pro and an versions, with different levels of functionality, at prices depicting the siege of QuarkXPress 5.0 at Seybold. such as scaled-vector attributes such as word to generate Web pages accelerated version of Cleaner 5, called Cleaner XL. The between £2,195 and £13,195. Stalingrad. The top image is Quark’s director of graphics (SVG) and search. Text in XPress 5.0 is impressive, Quark said company also announced plans to support Mac OS X. Charlie Mascari, senior product manager for Media 100, pre-Maya and the bottom product management, extensible mark-up language will be saveable as an complicated Web pages will Media 100i is described as the world’s first interactive- said: “We’re working with Apple to make Media 100i one post-Maya. Three Jürgen Kurz, indicated that (XML). QuarkXPress 5.0 is image, eliminating the still require a dedicated Web streaming production system. It gives content creators and OS X-ready so users can enjoy its media-rich capabilities.” flavours of the 3D-animation QuarkXPress 5 will “ship being built to become the need to use a graphics program. Web professionals the power to capture broadcast-quality Media 100 also announced its MediaPress Pro family and visual-effects solution when it’s ready”, estimating content-creation tool both program to style text. Quark will release a Mac video, to edit and add effects, to author interactive of real-time MPEG-2 encoding systems for the Mac, are set to ship – Maya a further six to nine-month for print and online. At Seybold, QuarkXPress OS X version of XPress 5.0, commands in video, and to encode to any streaming format. consisting of Pro and Pro SDI models. The Serial Digital Unlimited 4 (£13,560), Maya wait before the desktop- XPress 5.0 users may product manager Brett after the Classic and OS 9.1 100i delivers high-quality images as uncompressed digital- Interface (SDI) version has already been endorsed by Apple Complete 4 (£6,360), and publishing standard ships. export pages as XML, Mueller opened XPress- versions of 5.0 ship. MW video and enables editors to edit video, process effects, for use with DVD Studio Pro, it’s DVD-authoring solution. Maya Builder 4 (£2,580). Quark’s product- HTML, Flash (.SWF), or add generated Web pages in Jonny Evans and output content in a variety of formats for both Prices for these products start at £1,999. MW Each version offers different levels of functionality. The OS X version is due in June.

28 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day` Macworld JUNE 2001 29 Apple firmware update disabless RAM modules Macworld News Firmware RAM-crash peril

pple’s recently-released firmware updates for A slot-loading iMacs, FireWire- equipped PowerBook G3s and iBooks, and AGP-equipped Power Macs and Cubes may disable some third-party RAM modules, Apple has confirmed. Apple says the 4.1.7 and 4.1.8 firmware updates “incorporate a number of fixes that dramatically improve system stability and performance”. They were released to improve FireWire-disk operation, networking features, and to consolidate system stability for machines running Mac OS 9.1. In OS X, OS 9.1 is the Classic environment in which to run non-Carbonized applications.

Compatibility check In a note on its Technical Information Library (TIL), Apple confirms that both updates include a new check that “validates whether the installed memory in the computer is compatible”. Apple has distributed detailed specifications about the requirements expected to perform reliably.” out-of-spec RAM before installing for Apple-compatible RAM among It is thought that Apple’s next- of the update. memory vendors. The side-effect of generation operating system, Mac Anderson has also developed the firmware updates are that OS X, is more stringent in its RAM a utility called DIMMFirst Aid, memory modules found to be out requirements – possibly because at which rectifies the problem. A of specification are disabled when times, the computer may find itself copy of it is on the June cover CD. it’s installed. running some applications in Classic Anderson advises testing your Mac’s Apple said: “With this set of mode and others under Mac OS X. memory modules with DIMMFirstAid. firmware updates, we are enforcing If they pass, it’s almost certainly safe adherence to published RAM Anderson shelter to update your firmware. If not, then specifications. Mac developer Glen Anderson was contact your memory vendor. “RAM that falls outside of first to identify the pitfalls facing Apple confirms that the problem specification can cause stability issues Macintosh users with third-party is connected with timing: “Check with with Apple hardware and software, RAM modules installed. your memory vendor that the RAM including Mac OS X. If out-of-spec Prior to Apple’s confirmation of a module supports the correct timing RAM is installed in a Macintosh problem, he released a utility called modes.” MW computer, the system cannot be DIMMChecker, which helped identify Dominique Fidéle Price of memory in a state of flux hings remain bright for because there were large Kumar said: “There seen prices fall to record T Macintosh users look stocks to be shifted.” hasn’t been too much lows in recent months, as to buy extra RAM, with Robert Allen, European price fluctuation. It has manufacturers have been memory prices remaining technical support manager only been going up and forced to sell stockpiles volatile. with memory manufacturer down by a pound or two.” following disappointing Jonathan Cole, chairman Kingston, said: “The demand Katherine Swallow, sales sales of personal computers. of Computer Warehouse, for RAM is so low at the manager at memory vendor There are signs that the said: “RAM has hit the moment that anything is Gasteiner, said: “Prices market is stabilizing, and bottom in terms of pricing likely to set its price change according to chip memory prices may hit an so now is the time to buy. It fluctuating.” availability in Taiwan.” upswing. MW was low about a month ago SRS Systems’ Sanjay The RAM market has Dominique Fidéle

For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Macworld JUNE 2001 31 Macworld News Top UK games distributor strikes US agreement Softline deal is games boon K Mac-gamers face a flurry of Feral Interactive’s cult title, Tropico, hot games in coming weeks, will also be released shortly. The game U after top US games publishers casts the gamer as president of a and Europe-based games-distributor 1950s banana republic, given 20 Softline inked a deal that promises to years to turn the island and its bring games to the European market population around. faster than ever before. Mac OS X is firmly on the agenda Following the deal, Softline will of many Mac-games developers. be able to output games in Europe, Westlake Interactive’s president, On the which will significantly reduce Mark Adams, told Macworld: “We’re shipping times here. working on OS X versions of some of cover CD... Already available are Aspyr’s Tony our current projects, including Tomb A demo version of Cro-Mag Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and Escape From Raider Chronicles and Alice. These will Rally is featured on this Monkey Island. Set to a hip-hop and support OS X straight out the box. month’s cover CD. It stars punk soundtrack, Tony Hawk’s Pro We’re also looking at a native version Brog the caveman racing Skater 2 is an extreme recreation of of Pro Skater 2. This will probably be through the Stone, Bronze, pro skating. Escape from Monkey available as an updating download. and Iron Ages in primitive Island is a 3D nautical adventure Nearly all of the games Westlake vehicles, including the Bone set amid eyecatching backgrounds. ships this summer and beyond will Games galore Buggy and Trojan Horse. A £25 Mac version of popular TV support OS X natively. We were Games due Cricket fans can also game show, Who Wants To Be A pleased with the first release of OS X, to ship to the Mac toast the new season with Millionaire, is also available. and we’ve been working with Apple include Alice (above) Cricket, a title from Epic Interactive’s Earth 2140 to fix up some of game APIs that and Tomb Raider independent UK developer, (£25) is available now. A demo of the didn’t quite make it into the Chronicles (left), Graham Randall. competing-continents game was GM version of OS X.” both of which will Features include carried on Macworld’s April cover CD. Westlake is also working with support Mac OS X a complete set of Early June will see the release of games publishers, finalizing out of the box, says international teams, American McGee’s Alice (£34) and arrangements to create OS X updaters Westlake Interactive. a replay camera, MacSoft’s Vampire. Alice, built on the for classic titles that could include The bowling and batting Quake III engine, is a good versus evil Sims and Unreal Tournament. games announcements. The show is averages and team- shoot-em-up version of Lewis Carroll’s ■ The E3 2001 event, being staged the world’s largest event dedicated to performance statistics. Alice in Wonderland. The title has from May 17-19 at the Los Angeles interactive entertainment – and Apple The full game costs £15 – won praise in the PC press Convention Center, is also expected will be exhibiting. MW or £7.50 for an upgrade for the quality of its visuals. to see a number of Mac OS X-only Jonny Evans for registered users of previous versions. (homepage.ntlworld.com/grandall). Also on the CD is a stand-alone version of Mac gamers’ prayers answered Rubicon Network/Solo Carnage Pack, including he playing-at-god fantasy game Black-&- 51 maps that didn’t make TWhite is being developed for the Mac, it into the final game. and will be published by emerging UK games-publisher, Feral Interactive. The game features eight tribes living on Eden, an unspoilt paradise of small islands. The tribes work the land, fish the sea and build homes. The one thing they lack is a God. But guess what? That’s your job. Players gather strength from people’s worship, and can rule as good or as evil entities. The decisions players make as gods affect the development of landscapes and unified message system that can send and populations. Other tribes must be impressed receive email and text messages. Contact in order for your god to attract more followers. names can be imported and assigned to Gods make creatures in their image, in order individual tribespeople who will personally to either help the people – or kill and eat them. deliver messages. Real weather can also Creatures must be taught what to eat, where be imported from the Internet into Eden. to sleep, how to help or hinder tribespeople Pricing and the release date for the and how to fight. Creatures can even be shared Mac version of the game were unavailable over the Internet. Other game features include a as we went to press. MW

32 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Macworld News Business news for the Macintosh world Apple rides the PC storm efying analysts’ expectations, Apple announced a $40 million profit for the second quarter of 2001. DThis translates into 12 cents per share, down from the 64 cents the company posted in the same quarter last year. Analysts’ predictions ranged from between 1.1 cents and seven cents per share. Revenue for the quarter, which ended on March 31, was $1.43 billion, down 26 per cent year-on-year. Including non-recurring items, Apple posted income of $43 million. These items – not part of the profit equation – included an after-tax gain of $89 million from the sale of 23 million share of ARM Holdings, and an after-tax charge of $86 sales of these systems to increase now that supply isn’t million to account for equity investments. “so constrained.” One third of Apple’s overall sales take Apple shipped 751,000 Macs in this period. This place through its online Apple Store. included sales of 134,000 titanium PowerBook G4s – a Anderson warned that the Pioneer DVD-R drives used 173 per cent increase in PowerBook sales. Blue Dalmatian in 733MHz Power Macs remain scarce, but added that and Flower Power iMacs accounted for approximately Apple expects order backlogs to be fulfilled “by the end 28 per cent of total iMac sales, with 48 per cent of Apple’s of June”. sales coming from its international markets. Apple continues to invest heavily in research and “Apple returned to profitability in this tough economic development (R&D), despite reports – subsequently denied Business climate by launching several new products,” CEO Steve by Apple CEO Steve Jobs – that it had dismissed the R&D Jobs said. team responsible for developing the G4 Cube. It spent briefs Fred Anderson, Apple’s chief financial officer, said: $101 million on R&D in the current quarter, and $203 ■ Fantom Drives is “We feel very good about delivering solid profitability, million during the current financial year. In the first six acquiring MicroNet while reaching our goal of four weeks of channel inventory months of its last financial year it spent $182 million. Technology’s assets, ahead of schedule. We expect to generate $3.2 to $3.4 patents and copyrights. billion in revenues in the second half of the fiscal year.” Education a priority MicroNet’s products include The company expects to maintain gross margins at Focusing on education, Anderson said that Apple expects the SANcube X-stream. around 27 per cent, and has already achieved its target to complete the all-stock PowerSchool (see Business News ■ Thomas Lot, retail general to reduce inventory levels – stock on hand and unsold – May 2001) acquisition by the end of the month. Hinting manager of Apple Europe, to four weeks. Apple’s sales of professional desktops rose at Apple’s strategy to regain educational market-share, he has resigned, reports claim. by 45 per cent, but G4 Cube and iBook sales fell 59 and said it’s “taking a more solution-orientated approach to ■ Nvidia has completed its 45 per cent respectively. education”, and that the company is “going back to basics $55-million cash purchase of Apple sold 55,000 iBooks and 12,000 G4 Cubes during and committing more resources” to regain market share a number of 3dfx’s graphics the quarter. The company’s professional desktops became in the US education market. assets, including its patents, almost as prevalent as iMacs in the quarter, with 250,000 Apple’s educational presence was hit last year by the patent applications, sales, compared to 300,000 iMacs. process of bringing its education sales in-house. Many of trademarks and brand Anderson said: “The thing is, 28 per cent of iMac its competitors, principally Dell, benefited, as the move names. owners are first-time buyers, and 15 per cent migrate coincided with the market’s summertime peak. Apple has ■ Adaptec has approved from Windows”. now established a 600-strong in-house education sales the spin-off of the company’s CFO Anderson agreed that Apple’s G4 Power Macs team. MW digital-media subsidiary, had been “well received by our pro customers”. He expects Jonny Evans Roxio. ■ Motorola has reported its first loss-making quarter for 15 years, losing $206 million Corel on-track with X goods compared to earnings of $481 million for the same orel remains on target to deliver company, but denied Microsoft has Microsoft nor any of its affiliates quarter last year. CMac OS X versions of its products sold its interests in Corel. Corel has or associates are entitled to convert ■ Adobe and Amazon.com this summer. The company will release registered 24 million common shares, the preferred shares to common have announced a deal to Bryce 5 in June, with Painter 7, to underlie the preferred shares held shares. This means neither Microsoft extend the availability of CorelDraw 10, Kai’s Power Tools 7 by Microsoft as part of the $135 nor any of its affiliates or associates Adobe’s Acrobat eBook and KnockOut 2 following soon after. million alliance. Common shares give may own common shares of Corel.” Reader and eBook titles Greg Wood, communications full voting rights, while Microsoft’s Contrary to the April news report, through Amazon.com’s manager for Corel, also refuted recent preferred shares don’t. The common Wood said that Microsoft retains its e-book store. reports claiming that Microsoft is shares have been registered so that, stake in Corel, but has no control over ■ Bill Gates is no longer divesting itself of its Corel holdings should Microsoft sell its preferred the company. Wood also confirmed the richest man in the world, (Business News, April 2001). He shares to a third party, that party will Corel was co-operating with the US claims the Sunday Times’ confirmed that Corel had registered have the option of converting them to Department of Justice in terms of Rich List 2001. His position shares in connection with Microsoft’s common shares to sell them on. the DOJ’s continued investigation has been taken by Sam $135 million investment in the Wood explained: “Neither of Microsoft. MW Walton, owner of Walmart.

34 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day See ‘Macworld’ – inside ‘Serious Software’ – on this month’s cover CD Product News

16x CD-RW ships Formac has launched its Dazzle gives DV Designer Series CD-RW drives in 16, 12 and 8x speeds. These FireWire CD-RW’s ship with Adaptec Toast 4.1 and draw Hollywood spice their power from the host Mac. The Designer Series 8x-8x-24x azzle is shipping the Hollywood NTSC video formats. The Bridge was costs £186. The 12x-10x-32x DV-Bridge in the UK. The £255 first demonstrated at Macworld Expo, costs £220, and the top-of-the D analogue video-to-digital video San Francisco in January. range 16x-10x-40x is £255. converter allows VHS to be changed to Connected to the Mac by FireWire, Formac, 020 8533 4040 digital. Alternatively, the Bridge will the Hollywood DV Bridge offers composite convert digital-video signals to analogue. and S-video in and out, and two channels OS X webcam app It also helps when splicing together video (left and right) of audio input and output Catalunya Disseny Informatic from many differently formatted sources. (I/O). (CDI) has released It links up to TVs, VCRs and DV It requires a 300MHz or faster G3 or iCamMaster 1.8.5. camcorders, as well as Macs. Hollywood G4 FireWire-enabled Power Macintosh, Available in Mac DV-Bridge will also convert between image Mac OS 9.0.4 and 64MB of RAM. It ships OS X and pre-OS X formats without using the computer, so with a six-foot FireWire cable and a guide. versions, the Mac’s processor power can focus on Dazzle’s Hollywood DV-Bridge is iCamMaster is editing the data and creating new movies. compatible with most leading video- designed to collect It will let footage be viewed on a TV editing solutions, including Final Cut webcam bookmarks and view monitor while it’s being transferred to the Pro and iMovie 2. them using a Web browser. Mac, and is compatible with both PAL and Dazzle, 0118 932 1613 Once collected, webcams can be placed on a desktop. This version offers faster downloads, and updating is faster and more stable. Registration is $20. CreoScitex scanner in the frame CDI, www.catdis.com CreoScitex has debuted the EverSmart Select, its professional-level scanner Search for lost files over that can deliver over 45 scans per hour – based on an original image of 6-x-7cm Search and Rescue 3.0 will being enlarged 250 per cent at 300dpi. It will also scan 35mm transparencies in recover lost data directly batches of up to 70. from a Mac’s RAM. This high-end machine has a maximum resolution of 5,600dpi. It will enlarge It can recover data an image up to 3,800 per cent over the entire bed. Colour depth is 48-bit – or lost as a result of 16-bits for each colour in RGB. a crash or saving The reflective and transparency scan area is 305-x-432mm. EverSmart error. The extension Select will ship this quarter and costs £21,500. It requires a 450MHz blue-&- will locate all the data white G3 or later, Mac OS 9.x, 155MB of RAM and a SCSI connector. An in memory containing user- upgrade kit will be available later this year to replace the SCSI with FireWire definable words. It can even connectivity. target the search onto the CreoScitex, 01923 470 500 portions of RAM used by a particular application. It costs $15. Tom Riley, www.kagi.com/tjriley

Adaptec card adds USB 2.0 option Cashbook correction Adaptec is shipping USB2connect, its USB 2.0 2.0 ports are backwards-compatible, so Macs can The release of Cashbook solution for the Mac. The emerging USB 2.0 also use USB 1.1 products. Adaptec’s solution ships Manager from Guildsoft standard supports transfer speeds of 480Mbps – with a five-year warranty. (see Product News, page 39, forty times faster than the current USB 1.1 standard. The company will make USB 2.0 drivers Macworld, May 2001) has been This card is powered by available for download from its Web site delayed as the company faces NEC’s USB 2.0 controller (www.adaptec-europe.com) as they become available. unexpected “development technology. The card automatically configures itself for issues”. Guildsoft is taking a USB2connect each device, so all users have to do is install the note of potentially interested is a host bus USB2connect card, and the system is immediately customers. It apologizes to adaptor mounted on a ready to support USB devices. It costs £49. Macworld readers. PCI card. Its three USB Adaptec, 01276 854 500 Guildsoft, 01752 895 100

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For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day (All prices exclude VAT) Macworld JUNE 2001 39 Product News

Apple updates Disk Burner 1.0.1 lets users A cry for help master CDs using desktop The Image Bank has added to its icons, rather than Work image-collection. The image through a disk- library includes pictures of people burning application. working in industrial, information- It supports the technology, telecommunications, drives pre-installed broadcasting and the home. in current Macs. The A catalogue of the images solution only records is available. The collection single-session discs, so is also available for view at unused space is lost once a www.imagebank.com. The company burning operation is complete. offers images in other categories, This International-English including Life, Sport, Nature, Travel version also supports a number and Ideas. Images start at £250 per use, though this price varies of external CD-R drives, including depending on print run. models from Pioneer and Sony. The Image Bank, 020 7428 5100 Z-Macintosh Manager 1.4.1 will manage client computers with Mac OS 7.6.1 to 9.1 installed. The upgrade offers security and utility improvements for client-server Mac networks. Projector giants Apple has also released a collection of downloadable AppleScripts that will import email to Apple’s Mac OS X Mail neck and neck application from Microsoft Outlook Express 5 or later, Office 2000’s Entourage, Claris Email 2.0 Projector stats pson and Mitsubishi Electric have in laser pointer, and is compatible with or later, Eudora 5.x and Netscape Epson’s EMP-50 has a wireless both released projectors – the EMP- Macs and video and DVD players. Communicator 4.0 or later. remote control, a contrast ratio E 50 and the LVP-X80U respectively. Its resolution is 1,024-x-768 pixels Links to Apple updates are of 300:1, component video and Epson’s £1,799 EMP-50 weighs 3.1kg and picture sizes can vary from 40 to 300 available from www.macworld.co.uk/ HDTV interfaces, keystone and offers an SVGA resolution and a inches diagonally. Natural colour matrix updates. Apple does not permit correction of -15 to +15 degrees, brightness of 1,000 ANSI lumens. It technology provides complete control third-parties, such as Macworld, and projects at distances up to will support VGA to SXGA resolutions. over all six-colour signals (red, green, to distribute its software updates. 11 metres. Mitsubishi Electric’s blue, yellow, magenta and cyan). LVP-X80U is a A live picture-in-picture feature displays Third-party updates 3.6kg £3,800 images from two different sources at the Virtual PC 4.0.2 projector with same time, so statistics from a Mac can be This update improves a brightness combined on screen with video. A digitally Java stability and of up to 1,500 expanded zoom magnifies picture sections file sharing, and ANSI lumens. using a “point-’n-zoom” feature. Keystone works better It has a correction is built-in. with third-party wireless remote Epson, 0800 220 546 processor upgrade control with a built- Mitsubishi, 01707 278 684 cards. Printing has been improved as has Norton AntiVirus support. NetBarrier 2.0.3 and VirusBarrier 1.5.3 G4 PowerBook docking station ships The NetBarrier update offers a hoto Control has released its Bookendz docking station for workaround for a bug within the P G4 Titanium PowerBooks. Bookendz docking stations replicate ATI Graphic Driver released with all the rear-panel PowerBook ports and switches – such as FireWire, Mac OS 9.1. The VirusBarrier USB, ethernet, S-video and IrDA. It also includes a Kensington lock. update fixes an unmapped The product allows all a PowerBook’s peripherals to be left plugged memory error bug. in to the docking station. It eliminates the need to unplug devices TypeStyler 3.7.2 before taking the laptop anywhere – resulting in less wear and tear This update makes TypeStyler on cables and ports. fully compatible with Mac OS 9.1. This version of Bookendz needs less insertion force than It no longer needs the URL previous generations of the product, and integrates improved Access extension to be installed, ejection levers, according to Photo Control. It’s available in which prevented users with older Titanium silver (£189) or black (£169). Macs from using the new version. AM Micro, 01392 426 473

continues page 43

40 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day Product News

Graphic app OS X-ready GraphicConverter – Epson pair a Lemke Software’s $35 graphics-utility – has been updated to version 4.0.6 and perfect match Carbonized for Mac OS X. Other improvements include support for Flash files pson has announced the PhotoPC 3100Z digital camera and Stylus Photo 895 Image conscious and a variety of bug fixes. It printer. The devices use Epson’s Image Matching Technology (HyPict) – which Epson’s PhotoPC 3100Z (above) imports 145 graphics formats, E ensures the digital camera and printer work together to produce better-quality and Stylus Photo 895 (below, left) can handle batch conversations photos, by widening the colour gamut of data received by the printer from the camera, are designed to work together to and will exhibit slide shows. according to Epson. produce better image quality. Lemke Software, www.lemkesoft.com The PhotoPC 3100Z offers 3x-optical and 2x-digital zoom. A shutter priority mode has been added for capturing images of rapidly moving objects. Data is stored on a AM Micro cuts cards CompactFlash Card. AM Micro has cut a fifth off Epson claims the combination of a 3.34-megapixel CCD and HyPict technology the price of Orange Micro’s produces outstanding image-quality. HyPict technology generates 4.84 megapixel FireWire and SCSI expansion images from 3.34 megapixels of data. Panoramic images can be created with an image- cards. Discounted products stitching assistant, which joins separate images together to create a landscape print. include the OrangeLink The Stylus Photo 895 printer reaches resolutions of 2,880-x-720dpi with “true FireWire/USB Combo card edge-to-edge” printing. PhotoQuicker 3 software and a PC Card with CompactFlash – down to £104 – and the ship as standard. The printer has a digital display that presents FireWire iBot Pro Web cam, multiple-print layouts, resolution settings and which now costs £115. image selections. It prints at speeds of up AM Micro, 01392 426 473 to 7.8ppm for black text and 7.5ppm in colour. The 895 can print on 100mm Aladdin cleans up -x-8m and 210mm-x-10m Premium Aladdin has released Spring Glossy photo paper, which mounts Cleaning version 3.5.1 on an adjustable paper roller. for Mac OS X. The £34 A black ink cartridge for the Spring Cleaning is an printer costs £14, while a colour uninstaller with 13 cartridge costs £11. The camera utilities to help clean costs £680. The price for the printer and organize hard drives. was unavailable at press time. This new version rids drives of Epson, 0800 220 546 unwanted Internet clutter with its iClean desktop tool. It’s a free update for registered users. French toaster in UK Softline, 01883 745 111 ViewSonic USB docks with Mac France-based Archos is introducing its compact Belkin has released its £34 MiniCDRW in the UK. It’s a fully featured CD-RW USB 4-port PCI card. It that weighs just 500g. It writes at up to 8x supports four 12Mbps in on a CRT speeds, re-writes at 4x and reads at 24x. streams and will The product offers a range of connectivity handle up to ViewSonic has released two CRT monitors, the 22-inch P225f options, including USB, FireWire and PCI cards. 127 devices on and the 19-inch P95f. The £505 P225f CRT offers a 20-inch It also supports hot-swappable connectivity, each port. viewable display, which ViewSonic claims offers crisp images and is a cross-platform device. Belkin, 01604 678 300 right to the edges at a resolution of 1,600-x-1,200 pixels with The MiniCDRW has an analogue output in a refresh rate of 99Hz. order to play music CDs. It ships with Toast, Flashy effects for DV The P95f has an 18-inch viewable display with a and will be distributed at high-street retailers UK-firm csb-digital has released resolution of 1,280-x-1,024 pixels. Like – including PC World the £45 AlamDV, a selection the P225f, it features Perfect Flat and Dixons. Archos’ of special effects for digital Screen technology, which, MiniCDRW costs video. Effects include lasers, claims ViewSonic, delivers between £209-£220, muzzle flashes and lens low-reflection distortion- with the price flares. It runs with graphics- free images. A 0.25- dependent on and text-editing applications. 0.27mm variable aperture which connectivity AlamDV ships with a guide grille provides improved standard customers and 20 special effects – more picture definition, the choose. will be available for free from company adds. The P95f Archos UK, the company’s Web site. costs £325. 01672 810 366 AlamDV, www.alamdv.com InMac, 0870 555 0000 continues page 44

For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day (All prices exclude VAT) Macworld JUNE 2001 43 Product News

UV kit for HP printer Art Systems has introduced its Ultraviolet upgrade kit for NEC ships hail Hewlett-Packard’s DesignJet 5000 large-format printers (both 42- and 60-inch models). It offers a six-colour UV-ink of projectors capability and allows users to EC Mitsubishi is releasing a barrage of new projectors, switch between the MultiSync VT540, VT440, LT154 and LT155. dye-based and UV N All four feature an “Eco-mode” control inks as needed. The solution costs system to reduce power consumption. £2,124, and for a limited time Both models in the VT series weigh 3.9kg, comes with one free roll of HP’s with a contrast ratio of 400:1. The £3,295 VT540 new Universal high-gloss paper. Eco-friendly offers an XGA (Extended Graphics Array) Art Systems, 0115 957 5327 NEC Mitsubishi’s LT155 (below) resolution of 1,280-x-1,024 pixels and a and VT540 (right) feature power- brightness of 1,000 ANSI lumens. The £2,295 VT440 Rip. Mix. Burn saving and image enhancement provides 1,024-x-768 XGA resolution and a brightness of MusicMatch Jukebox version 2.0 functions. 1,100 ANSI lumens. They are equipped with a digital zoom – combines a CD ripper, MP3 capable of up to 400 per cent magnification – and keystone correction. encoder, playlist maker, Both units come equipped with a credit card-sized remote control. The ID3 tag editor, and remote control is stored in a slot in the projector. The LT154 and the LT155 media player into offer brightness settings of 900 and 1,200 ANSI lumens respectively. Both one package. It have XGA native resolutions of 1,600-x-1,200 pixels. They also feature offers music-file image-enhancement technologies and ship with a remote control and management, and can a carrying case for the projector and a PowerBook. The LT154 costs create and record an unlimited £3,695; the LT155, £3,995. number of “CD-quality” MP3s. NEC Mitsubishi, 0208 993 8111 This free version offers improved sound reproduction and a more Mac-friendly interface. It requires at least a PowerPC G3 processor and Mac OS 8.5 or later. Lexmark’s inkjet move MusicMatch, www.musicmatch.com Lexmark’s J110 A4 colour inkjet printer offers The J110 reaches print speeds of up to Gefen converts to DVI laser-printer speed and quality at an inkjet 16 pages per minute in black, and 14 in colour. Gefen has released its DVI-to-ADC printer price, claims the company. Lexmark also claims the printer has an eight Converter Box, which is designed It will achieve resolutions up to second to first print time-lag. A 100MHz to link Apple’s current Cinema 2,400-x-1,200dpi and uses a four- processor and 8MB of RAM are built-in. It’s Display monitors colour ink process. It features a connected via USB, but an ethernet adaptor is to older Macs. technology – devised by Lexmark – also available. The printer offers a maximum The box ships called PerfectFinish, which improves paper capacity of 575 sheets – over three input with a six-foot print quality by placing a thin trays, including a multipurpose feeder – and a DVI and six-foot USB chemical coat onto the paper before maximum output capacity of 250 sheets. cable. It can support a second the ink is applied. The PerfectFinish MarkVision, Lexmark’s print-management LCD display with ADC (Apple solution is also sold as a software solution ships as standard. A network Display Connector) connections, consumable. Each ink cartridge will model, the J110tn, is also available. The J110 using a PCI slot with the ATI Rage yield up to 3,000 pages at 5 per cent costs £749, the network model costs £839. 128 Pro graphics card. It costs coverage, Lexmark claims. Lexmark, 0870 444 0044 $299 from Gefen. Gefen, www.gefen.comcap

Panic-ky music player Panic’s fully-featured audio player Bond-style briefcase packs real punch for the Mac will play CDs, MPEG Presentacase has been launched The XGA (Extendible Graphics space to carry a laptop and audio – including MP3s – by ICE21 – a briefcase with a Array) screen has a 160-degree relevant paperwork. It can and network-streaming wide-viewing angle 15-inch TFT viewing angle and offers a be mains or battery-powered. audio. It includes (Thin Film Transistor) screen built resolution of up to 1,024-x-768 A universal power supply is CDDB support for into the lid. pixels with 16 million colours. built in, so the case can be looking up CD titles, A composite-video used anywhere in the world complete support for interface will link Presentacase with a mains supply. MP3s, support for network to almost any source – such as a The £999 Presentacase has audio providers IceCast and PowerBook, portable DVD player, an amplifier and stereo speakers ShoutCast, and more. camcorder or VHS player. integrated into the case. Panic, www.panic.com Also a briefcase, it has enough ICE21, 01274 225 000

continues page 46

44 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day (All prices exclude VAT) Product News

CDs & books NEC’s Music master Master the art of music production with the Macworld Music Handbook. The book comes with a free demo diamond version of Cubase VST 5.0 – a recording and editing package for the Mac. Topics covered in this £20 book include monitors the digital revolution, why professionals prefer the Mac, and audio and midi EC Mitsubishi has released the 17-inch FE750+ and the 19-inch FE950+ set-up. This title is published monitors. Built with Diamondtron Natural Flat tubes, the monitors use by Computing Sanctuary N the sRGB international colour standard and require a Mac adaptor. Publishing, and is available The CRT monitors feature a “Self Diagnosis Circuit”, which displays technical at a substantial discount problems on-screen. The units have been re-styled to be six per cent smaller than to Macworld readers. the previous monitor generation. Flat screens keep reflection to a minimum, so Macworld, 020 7831 9252 image quality is consistent, according to the company. LaCie cuts The FE750+ has a recommended resolution of 1,024-x-768 pixels at a refresh rate Words for the wise of 85Hz and a maximum resolution of 1,600-x-1,200 pixels at 76Hz. The FE950+ has a Sherston Software has drive prices recommended resolution of 1,280-x-1,024 pixels at 85Hz, and a maximum resolution launched its Literacy Bank of 1,792-x-1,344 pixels at 68Hz. Both monitors ship with a three-year guarantee. The series. It offers over 700 LaCie has cut prices across its FE750+ costs £189, the FE950+, £299. structured word range. The company has cut £50 NEC Mitsubishi, 0870 120 1160 and sentence off the price of its PocketDrive activities, each collection. conforming to the The FireWire and USB- National Literacy connectable 10GB PocketDrive FinePix goes graphite Strategy Years 3 now costs £169, the 20GB £249 to 6. There are and the 30GB model £399. Fujifilm has announced its FinePix 6900 Zoom a flash connection and a manual focus ring. six activities and LaCie has also reduced the digital camera. It combines SLR-style camera It offers both a digital two-inch on-board a comprehensive price of its PocketDrive CD-RW features and controls with an output resolution TFT monitor and a miniature record-keeping 4x-4x-24x and 8x-4x-32x models of 6 million pixels from a 3.3 megapixel Super through-the-lens electronic facility to help to £249 and £339 respectively CCD sensor. viewfinder. The camera track pupils The larger FireWire and USB The FinePix 6900 Zoom has a higher also offers movie progress by date 16x-10x-40x CD-RW now costs resolution and better colour reproduction recording and playback and objective. £249 (from £279). The FireWire than its predecessor, the FinePix 4900 Zoom. capabilities, capturing The interface can 8x-4x-32x CD-RW has seen its Encased in a magnesium-alloy graphite up to 160-seconds of be customized to suit a class price fall to £169 from £189. and black body, the FinePix 6900 Zoom offers video. It costs £799. by choosing between a range LaCie, 020 7872 8000 automatic exposure with full manual overrides, Fujifilm, 020 7586 1477 of desktop characters and themes. The Literacy Bank consists of four CD-ROMs, and the set costs £40 per user. SuSE hits 7.1 Kodak’s wideboy Sherston Software, 01666 843 200 Kodak has launched the DCS 760 digital camera. SuSE Linux 7.1 PowerPC edition is shipping. It will install It offers six-megapixel image quality and a burst Maths notation app Linux on PowerPC-based Macs, and is based on a new rate of 1.5 frames per second for up to 24 frames. MathType 3.7 for the kernel – called Kernel 2.4.2 – which offers “greatly It features an LCD display with a wide viewing Macintosh is an interactive enhanced” USB support. It also supports Advanced Linux angle, and functions are accessed through its tool for creating high-quality Sound Architecture for Power Macs, more RAM and can graphic user interface (GUI). mathematical notation within handle larger files. The £40 The £5,900 camera word-processing documents. SuSE Linux 7.1 PowerPC can save and protect It supports non-PostScript package contains six CDs, a raw image data and printers and international 500-page manual and comes features FireWire keyboard configurations. with 60-day installation connectivity. It also MathType 3.7 costs £89. support. includes “video out” Upgrades are free to registered Version 7.1 integrates Xfree – for viewing images users of version 3.6. A low- 86 4.0.2, written by SuSE, – and offers optional priced upgrade is available which supports the ATA long-lasting batteries. for users of earlier versions. adaptors found in most Kodak, Adept Scientific, 01462 480 055 PowerPC-based Macs. 01442 844 512 SuSE, 020 8387 4088

46 Macworld JUNE 2001 For the information as it happens visit Macworld Online Daily News (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the day (All prices exclude VAT) David Fanning

The dot-com shake-out is returning the Internet to the people who deserve it – us.

World Wide Wake

he Net is dead. I know you’ve heard it thinking we could change the world for the better. before, but with dot-coms falling quicker Perhaps, when the Internet is cleared of all the than Brazilian rain forests, they’re becoming dead wood that clutters it at the moment, we will T endangered. There are more commercial find that the original ideals still exist below the Internet sites closing than opening at the moment, quagmire of marketing baloney and ridiculous and if you ignore the empty shells of dead sites, and hype. A prime example is the latest move by the horded Net names, the Internet is looking pretty the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It’s empty. making all its course materials available online. Ask yourself honestly: How many Internet sites The OpenCourseWare project will take ten years do I visit regularly? A dozen, maybe. Now ask yourself: and cost $100 million, but for the end user it costs How many of these are places where I spend money? nothing. It will enable students, and even other Here are my most visited sites: Amazon for buying universities around the globe, to tap into the “When I first books; ITN or CNN for news; LPnow.com for vinyl enormous resources available from MIT. (don’t ask); and f***edcompany.com – the dot-com So why would MIT do such a benevolent thing? got online, deadpool. Only two of them make any cash out of what does it have to gain? Nothing much, other than the big topic me, Amazon and LPnow. Amazon is considered one the thanks of millions of potential students, plus the of the Internet’s success stories, yet is still to turn a recognition of being a world leader in technology. of conversation profit on the billions of dollars invested in it. LPnow Students from China to Cuba, from Albania to was should is a much smaller operation, selling new vinyl records Antigua, will benefit from the OpenCourseWare at discount prices. I assume they’re making a profit, project, and know it came from MIT. the Net because the Web site is not so high tech. OpenCourseWare is being offered in a similar way community So there’s the rub, if you spend £20 million on to open-source software. With open-source material, making a Web site, and burn through another few people are free to adapt and improve it. Localized allow million every year in operating costs, you need to versions are made and shared, updates are made advertising? make an impossible profit over the next few years to and shared. The whole culture is different because the survive. However, if you add a Web site to an already original version was free. In short, OpenSourceWare is How naive we existing shop, without spending a million on a simple revolutionary, idealistic, and benevolent – everything were, thinking e-commerce server, you stand a fair chance. LPnow the Internet was supposed to be in the first place. seems to be doing quite well – it’s a niche market that Distance learning has benefited greatly from we could they were serving before the Internet, so the Web site the Internet. The Open University Business School change the just adds some convenience. is leading the way for Internet-assisted learning. The people that really don’t stand a chance Students can find support in the Open University world for the are the companies with “a really great idea”. All community, from both tutors and students, and better.” too often there’s an idea, but no clue. Some ideas all coursework is submitted electronically. are so ridiculous that any fool could see it coming. Another use of the Web as pure communication Furniture.com can’t have spent too much on market tool is personal Web sites. They may be relatively research – would you buy a sofa you’ve never sat on? fringe compared to the big-business Web world, Cars don’t sell to well on the Internet either, and it but iTools and others have made personal Web turns out few people are actually prepared to pay sites possible. Because of this, my mother-in-law for a midnight delivery of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. gets to see her daughter digitally, and I get to keep One of the more obvious failures in the making in touch with old friends. Nobody is getting rich, was DigiScents, a company devoted to bringing but the Internet is enabling us to communicate more smell-o-vision to the Web. easily. Communication was always at the root of the Without wishing to sound like an old fart (but Internet, and it still helps people get along together. failing), when I first got online there were only a few So, forget about get-rich-quick startups, and hundred Web sites. A big topic of conversation on the making your fortune on the ever-dwindling Internet news groups was should the Internet community gravy train. The sooner the Internet is stripped of its allow advertising on the Internet? How naive we were, hype, the better. MW

Read more Macworld opinions online (www.macworld.co.uk), and join in the debate. Macworld JUNE 2001 49 Michael Prochak The digital revolution that was meant to free us, is dimming our lust.

All sexed out

ecently, someone described Apple’s G4 the people working more than 48 hours a week PowerBook as just too sexy for words. As a admitted working the long hours had resulted in matter of fact, I’ve even heard users say it’s arguments with their partner, and that they felt they R better than sex. Everyone loves them... and weren’t pulling their weight on the domestic front. why not? Reinforcing the old adage that size really Partners of long-hours workers also said the hours does matter, the PowerBook G4 is an impressive were having a damaging effect on their relationship 1-inch thick, weighs a mere 5.3 pounds, and is the with their children. More than a third reported that world’s first notebook-computer made of 99.5 per the children complained they didn’t see enough of cent pure grade CP1, or ‘commercially pure’, titanium. the parent who works more than 48 hours a week, Cool. And, with speeds of up to 500MHz, it packs a and 27 per cent said the long-hours parent often tremendous punch, crunching through digital, audio, didn’t see their children at all before they go to bed. video and rendering huge audio files faster than ever There was also bad news for those of us that like before. And hey, what about that 100MHz system to work late at night. The report showed that working bus — the pipeline between memory and processor round the clock can have a negative effect on job — and the 1MB of backside level 2 cache with speeds performance and cause accidents, both at work and “Being able of up to 250MHz that make significant performance- off-site. In the last 12 months, more than a third of to work enhancing contributions as well? No wonder the long-hours workers said they had made mistakes, PowerBook G4 outguns all Wintel Pentium III-based ranging from mismanaging people and projects, anywhere, notebooks by up to 30 per cent. And with industry- to damaging property and injuring themselves. anytime leading battery life of up to 5 hours between charges, Sexy or not, not everyone is comfortable with the you can outwork your PC counterparts long after their idea that computers have become an addiction. And, with a sexy batteries give up the ghost. So, you can keep it up even fewer people will be comfortable with the fact PowerBook G4 longer and work anywhere, anytime. that they might be helping to decimate their sex But, cruel jokes are a big part of any life where life... that is, if they actually have one. The theory may initially work-addicts and twisted obsessive-compulsive used to be that things like PowerBooks, the Internet, seem behaviour start to impinge on daily sanity. And while mobile phones and all the rest of the digital detritus being able to work anywhere, anytime, with a sexy that permeates our reality was supposed to change attractive, PowerBook may initially seem attractive, a recent the way we work, rest and play, and actually improve but a recent survey into the impact of working long hours and the quality of our lives. However, the evidence overtime has found it’s actually ruining people’s real suggests the contrary. Living in the real world, as survey found sex lives. The survey, commissioned by the Chartered opposed to living just next door, means there’s a it’s actually Institute of Personnel and Development, found one lot of people out there running on empty. in three partners of people who work more than In a book I’ve just finished called the Macworld ruining 48 hours a week said they thought the long hours Music Handbook (shameless plug...), I quoted an people’s real were having a negative effect on their relationships. anecdote from Antonioni’s wonderful film Beyond Apart from a few satisfied PowerBook owners, The Clouds, where a girl in a Parisienne cafe tells a sex lives.” it seems the long suffering British worker has well stranger the story of a group of explorers travelling and truly lost that loving feeling. And, more than half through the jungle to find a lost Inca city. One day, of the partners interviewed said they felt their sex life at the foot of a mountain, the porters simply stop and was suffering because the long-hours worker is always refuse to go any further. When asked why, they refuse tired. Nearly a third of those working more than 48 to speak, and nothing can persuade them to go on. hours a week, admitted that work-related tiredness After a few days, the porters suddenly pick up their is causing their sex lives to suffer. And 14 per cent packs and carry on with their journey. When one of reported a loss of, or reduced, libido in the last 12 the explorers asks the chief why they had stopped, months. he simply replies, “They were waiting for their souls to The report is based on interviews with 291 people, catch up.” Maybe, if we’re to get any real benefit from who have been working 48 hours or more a week for all this sexy technology, we simply need to stop once the past two years, and their partners. Two fifths of in a while to let our souls catch up. MW

Read more Macworld opinions online (www.macworld.co.uk), and join in the debate. Macworld JUNE 2001 51 Macworld Rating Macworld reviews ★★★★★/9.0-10.0 = OUTSTANDING ★★★★/7.0-8.9 = VERY GOOD ★★★/5.0-6.9 = GOOD ★★/3.0-4.9 = FLAWED ★/0-2.9 = UNACCEPTABLE

For example, you might define a control one or more layer, light or camera, Motion-graphics and visual-effects tool for multimedia camera using a wide angle 15mm preset, by setting up a parent-child hierarchical then cut to a second camera created relationship and synchronizing them. using a 200mm lens to capture close-ups You can achieve the same thing Adobe After Effects 5.0 from a different perspective. with Expression, but it offers much Publisher: Adobe (020 8606 4001) www.adobe.co.uk Best of all, in AE 5, you can create more flexibility. The latter uses JavaScript Pros: 3D compositing; enhanced memory-usage; 16-bit colour support and save custom camera presets for a for calculation and interaction between (Production Bundle only); SWF-export; Parenting and JavaScript Expressions; later user. layer objects. outstanding integration with other Adobe products; streaming MP3 audio through SWF export. At any time you can switch between Simple parent-child relationships can Cons: Limited support for imported third-party 3D objects; SWF-export doesn’t views – such as Top, Bottom, Left, Right, be easily setup using a standard drag-&- take full advantage of AE’s new features; supports standard layers only; the Back and Front (orthographic view) – drop “pick whip”. You don’t have to be a SWF-export feature doesn’t support track mattes, 3D layers, 3D cameras and in the Composition window, and also programmer to use this feature – 3D lights. customize predefined views. However, however, to write powerful expressions Minimum specs: Mac OS 9.0.4; PowerPC processor; 64MB of RAM; AE’s Composition window lets you you’ll need JavaScript skills. To get you 120MB of hard-disk space. interact with the orthographic views started quickly, AE’s built-in Expressions Price: Standard version, £450; Production Bundle, £999; upgrade to After Effects only one at a time, not simultaneously language menu boasts a selection of 5.0 from previous versions of the Standard version, £130; upgrade from previous in “split-view” like in other 3D packages. ready-made JavaScript maths syntax. versions of the Production Bundle, £189 (all prices exclude VAT). Star Rating: ★★★★★/9.3 While in a custom view, however, Using JavaScript, you can even you can use the Orbit Camera tool finish off an expression you started from the toolbox to change the 3D view through the use of the standard drag- feature is used with expressions, it works Vector Victor he highly anticipated upgrade interactively – and thereby gauge the &-drop pick whip. The Expressions field as long as the expression doesn’t refer Using the Vector-painting of Adobe After Effects (AE) – Face off distance between your layers in Z space. is not really an editor, such as Simple to properties from the previous project. features, creatives can now T version 5.0 – boasts features The user interface of AE 5 looks almost identical to the previous version. But once you take a more After all, this feature – and a “split-view” Text or Notepad. It’s more like a multi- As part of AE 5’s multi-publishing clean up alpha channels and and enhancements that will take thorough look, there’s an impressive selection of hidden features and productivity enhancements. feature for that matter – is for reference lined layer marker, where the JavaScript objective, the new SWF export feature paint freeform masks. Since users creativity to the next level, and only, since you can’t animate them. You syntax or commands resides. However, (See Motion Effects) will save creatives the paint feature is resolution- make visual effects and motion design can, however, add cameras, animate your you can use any external text editor of loads of time when repurposing video independent, you don’t have accessible to a much wider audience and animating objects in true 3D. Taking the Info palette also updates to show own arbitrary movements, and then cut your choice, and then cut-&-paste the and TV animations for delivery on the to worry about messing up than before. advantage of AE’s built-in 3D engine, the new co-ordinate of the layer you’re between them in the timeline. code snippet in the Expressions field. Web. any original footage. To take full Shipping as a Standard Edition you can take any layer, except an adjusting. But then, you’ll risk writing codes As DV software and hardware advantage of this feature, and a Production Bundle – with a adjustment layer, and convert it to a It’s in this view one notices the power Fixed files with syntax errors if you’re not careful. equipment is becoming more affordable however, a Wacom tablet with a £550 difference in the price tags – 3D layer – which can then be animated and significance of the enhanced memory Advanced users can import fully fledged and accessible to a wider audience, the pointing device is recommended. this upgrade sees the app transform along the X, Y, and Z axes, with added caching. AE tries to offer the best 3D footage (Softimage PIC/RLA and Shared expressions Internet will rapidly become yet another from a standard desktop motion-graphics cameras and light features. balance between maximizing interactivity, Electric Image file formats) into After One neat feature, although with some means of distribution for motion graphics. application, to a high-end visual effects Interacting with your object within and providing visual feedback. It drops Effects, but they can’t animate individual limitations, is the ability to save one AE 5’s support for the widely package. It includes 3D compositing, this 3D layer is a breeze. A 3D layer is the preview resolution temporarily objects (such as Z-depth) within those expression and reuse it in another embraced Macromedia SWF technology Camera angle vector painting, 16-bit colour support symbolized by a cube icon showing in the – instead of switching to a wireframe files. But, if the layer which these files project. I expect Adobe will setup – once enhanced to completely take In After Effects 5.0 you can create and multi-publishing capabilities – all 3D-layer column in the Timeline window. mode or redrawing the preview are within is a 3D layer, its Z-depth a Web site, where AE 5 users can advantage of the Flash 5’s new features as many cameras and lights as you for under a grand. This lets you easily pick it out from the continually – saving on processor and attribute and other properties can be share expressions soon. A parent- – will also help extend AE 5’s ability to need, and as with all properties of With the long-awaited 3D- crowd. By selecting the layer, a colour- memory requirements. With a fast manipulated like any other 3D layer. child expression may look like this: reach a newer audience, and quickly an object in AE, you can animate compositing feature, creatives can now coded XYZ icon (axes) – commonly found computer and plenty of RAM, AE Other new features, which will p1 = create new revenues for content creators. them over time. add depth to their work by positioning in fully fledged 3D-packages – appears in recalculates the resolution pretty quickly, impress advanced users, are AE 5’s this_comp.layer(“paddle1. The implementation of this limited the Composition window. Each point on almost unnoticeably. Expressions and Parenting features. pct”).position; feature must have been fairly speedy, this icon controls a corresponding axis. You use Parenting to let an object p2 = considering that Adobe’s other visual The red one represents the X-axis, the Animating properties this_comp.layer(“paddle2. effects package, LiveMotion, introduced green represents the Y-axis, and, finally, In true AE style, all layer properties in X, pct”).position; SWF export nearly a year ago. The latter the blue represents the Z-axis. Y and Z-axis can be fully animated over ease((time* 1.33), even featured the same timeline and When you roll the mouse over a point time. You simply select your layer in the in_point, out_point, p1, keyframe animation metaphor as After on an axis, an outlined X, Y, or Z guide first frame, and change any required p2). Effects. With an upgrade of LiveMotion appears next to it, so you know which property values by dragging or selecting Because expressions are written in in the pipeline, it’ll be interesting to see axis you’re manipulating. By dragging the property and typing in numeric relation to other layers in a project, it what features showcased in AE 5 will one of the points on this XYZ icon with a values. Then go to the next frame, create doesn’t always work to save and load be part of – or perhaps developed even selection or rotation tool, you adjust the a new keyframe, change some values expressions from one project into another further in – the next LiveMotion upgrade. layer’s location in 3D space. If you’re there or drag any properties you want project. For instance, the way Expressions uses adjusting the position of a layer, the layer changed, and then rewind the clip. Click Currently, if you want to save an JavaScript suggests that LiveMotion 1.5 travels along the corresponding axis. If on RAM Preview to see your work of art. expression for use in another project, you or 2.0 will certainly come loaded to the you’re adjusting the rotation of a layer, As you add camera and lights to your have to save the entire project file and teeth with mathematical, vector and 3D the layer pivots around the corresponding 3D layer, AE lets you choose options that use it as a reference when you reuse the JavaScript commands to try to match axis at the layer’s anchor point. represent the properties of real cameras expression. You then paste the expression Macromedia’s latest upgrade, Flash 5. A preview of the 3D layer can change and lenses. A Preset menu contains sets in the expression field of the layer You can almost count on it, since Flash dynamically in the Composition window, of properties that correspond to common property you want, and rename it where 5’s scripting language ActionScript is according to your resolution settings (full, lens sizes, (from 35mm to 200mm). Motion Effects it’s relating to a layer or property from a based on ECMA-262 specification (in half, quarter), or you can choose to see AE lets you choose light types, such AE 5 lets you export your composition as previous composition. other words JavaScript), and LiveMotion only a wireframe representation of its as Parallel lights to model distant sources Macromedia Flash (SWF). With this feature you You can also take advantage of AE 5’s is, after all, hyped as “the Flash killer”. movement. While you’re 3D view changes such as the sun, Spot lights, Point lights, can repurpose your motion design for delivery ability to save favourite effects, including The SWF export brings, for the first dynamically in the Composition Window, and Ambient light. as a compact Flash animation. expressions and masks. Again, when this time, streaming MP3 into After Effects.

continues page 55

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You can also set looping and other channel and vector paint features to playback features for the SWF file, name but a few. prevent import into SWF editing With 16-bits per channel colour applications, and create Web links from support, you can work with high-bit AE 5’s layers by translating After Effects’ Photoshop files, digitized motion-picture layer markers into URLs in the exported film, or HDTV (high-definition TV) footage SWF file. without losing detail. AE 5 lets you work However, it doesn’t support Track in 8-bit mode to preserve memory, and mattes, 3D layers, 3D cameras or 3D then at delivery time lets you switch to lights – and the list goes on. the 16-bit colour mode. Needless to say, the SWF export feature alone will not turn AE 5 into a Macworld’s buying advice Flash Killer. But, AE’s easy to use and With this upgrade, Adobe has more advanced keyframing and vector text- than successfully managed to make animation capabilities will turn the app AE a strong motion-graphics application. into a Flash SWF special effects unit. This upgrade was due ages ago, and After Effects 5 includes numerous has managed to satisfactory touch most other minor productivity enhancements areas where competitors such as and features, such as easier media Pinnacle Systems’ Commotion Pro have management thanks to a relational had an edge. Above all, AE 5 has brought flowchart, and video-style editing tools. visual effects and motion design to the You can now import Premiere footage widest possible audience, thanks to its with After Effects plug-ins added to them multi-publishing capabilities and support packages, such as Discreet Combustion. Good parenting straight into AE 5 without any problems. for Macromedia SWF. The latter could be High-end users may find better You use mathematical operations, The Production Bundle also features a threat to rivals in the Flash-design integration and support for third-party such as addition or multiplication, the Standard version’s 100 or so plug-ins, scene. 3D objects in other packages, but for a to alter exactly how one object’s plus 38 extra ones. You don’t pay an extra As it stands, for £450, creatives considerably higher price. This upgrade property – such as rotation – £500 for the 38 plug-ins alone, but also can easily take projects into the next is a must for multimedia and Web controls another object’s for the ability to do advanced colour dimension with 3D-compositing. Until creatives, and film and video scale property. keying with Inner Outer Key, extra audio now, these features were found only professionals alike. features, network rendering, and 3D in high-end resolution-independent Johan Lopes

tagged Adobe PDF documents. These PDF creator documents can be saved in RTF (rich text format) and recognizes paragraphs, text formatting, lists and tables. And, tagged Adobe Acrobat 5.0 files can be created when converting Web Publisher: Adobe www.adobe.co.uk pages to PDF. Even non-tagged PDFs can Distributor: Computers Unlimited now be saved in a number of formats – (020 8358 5857) Pros: Simple repurposing of documents; including RTF, EPS, JPEG, TIFF and PNG – integration with Web browsers; and graphics within a file can be exported good colour-management facility; as individual items. Publishers will be better batching feature. pleased with the latter, for even though Cons: Not OS X native; lack of Convert PDF is a universally recognized file to Adobe PDF function. format, it isn’t a standard as such. Min specs: PowerPC; Mac OS 8.6 (with Printers often have their own limitations) - 9.1; 64MB of RAM; 115MB specifications for PDF submission, of hard-disk space. and these inevitably differ from the Price: £205; upgrade from version 3 or version 4, £75 (both exclude VAT). PDFs submitted by advertisers. The Star Rating: ★★★★/8.2 ability to export individual graphics allows a publisher to recreate an advertisement, for instance, in the correct manner. here was a time when Acrobat Unfortunately, vector images can be only technology was used to create PDF exported in a raster format; keeping them T files via Distiller, view them through in a vector format requires the opening of the freely available Reader, and little else. the PDF in the likes of Adobe Illustrator. But the general evolution through Anyone who passes PDFs through versions 3 and 4 have culminated a proofing cycle will appreciate Acrobat in a far-more creative product. 5.0’s new Web-browser plug-in. Providing A key change in Acrobat 5.0 is that a number of standard Acrobat tools – of repurposing PDF files, or using the including highlight, strikethrough, contents in other ways. Sections of text underline, stamp/comment addition and and tables in a complex PDF can be digital signature, this allows a server- utilized in a company report, or a PDF based PDF to be shared and marked up Soft focus edited for use on a small-screen device. by a number of people. You can even With its new colour management system, Adobe Acrobat 5.0 supports on-screen The latest format supports cross-platform continues page 57 soft-proofing of PDFs that can be extended to printouts as well.

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upload and store comments to a server and repro fraternity by adding a number using the industry-standard WebDAV of useful print-based features. Proof (Web Distributed Authoring and Setup allows the colour space to be Versioning) protocol, allowing them defined (with Euroscale coated and to be seen and shared by multiple users. uncoated supported) along with paper This sharing of PDFs through a Web white or ink black options. Such on- browser goes further. Interactive forms screen soft-proofing, used in conjunction can be database driven, filled in by with a calibrated monitor, appears to users, and digitally signed within a Web work quite well and can be extended browser. Such forms can have dynamic to printouts too. In fact, Acrobat’s whole fields that change according to input. colour-management system, including the There’s even support for XML (extensible handling of ICC profiles and files without markup language) form data. Such close embedded working-space profiles, is very co-operation with databases leads to flexible and should lead to good results. some very interesting possibilities – Through the use of the same Adobe Color especially as security issues are now Engine that Illustrator 9 and Photoshop 6 a thing of the past, courtesy of 128-bit possess, an image’s transparency effects encryption used in conjunction with can be viewed and printed – a feat not digital signatures. Even a spell-checker previously possible. preserves the structure of a Microsoft Online editor is included. This performed flawlessly Additionally, the Overprint Preview Word file, including links to Tables of Via the new Web plug-in, PDFs with both Internet Explorer 4.51 and feature gives an on-screen warning of Content, indexes and figure tables. can be marked up in a browser 5.0 in Mac OS 9.0.4. overprint/knockout problems within a Using the Mac’s Create Adobe PDF and shared during a proofing Many aspects of Acrobat 4 have been file, although this is of limited use for facility results in a “dumb” PDF that process. updated and improved. Batch processing QuarkXPress users as it always trashes requires manual recreation of links is no longer limited to a small number custom knockout preferences on saving – not a pleasant idea when working of presets – almost any function can be a document as a composite PostScript with a large document. used, and custom sequences of functions file or PDF. Without a doubt, Adobe has taken set up. In conjunction with the new PDF Acrobat to a new level. Web integration Consultant tool – which strips out Macworld’s buying advice in terms of converting Web sites to PDF, unnecessary elements so reducing file Acrobat 5 is not without its problems. proofing documents and adding digital size – PDFs can be checked and repaired. At present there is no native Mac OS X signatures, content repurposing with For example, to remove all elements from version, and there are also limitations extraction of graphics and text export, All in one a PDF, a file could be loaded, have all to its use in the Classic mode – including and superior print and soft-proofing Acrobat 5.0’s improved batching images extracted in TIFF format, and difficulties with the scan functionality facilities make Acrobat 5 a very tempting allows a sequence of functions then be exported in RTF format via a and third-party drivers. Even Acrobat upgrade for anyone with a previous to be imposed on a folder-full of single macro. Those with JavaScript Reader’s Search facility is unsupported version, and a must-buy for newbies PDFs – including PDF Consultant knowledge can even create their own in OS X Classic mode. However, Adobe to PDF creation. tools for checking and repairing actions. Powerful stuff. has promised the OS X upgrade will be Vic Lennard documents. Bookmarks now show subheads in free. colour, using bold or italic text. Toolbar When Acrobat 4 was released, a content is fully customizable, and no number of features were missing in the longer limited to the standard Adobe set. Mac version. While some of these were However, the Microsoft Office look to the added in later updates, Adobe received toolbars will not be to everyone’s taste, a high level of clack from Mac users. mine included. Perhaps Adobe should This time round, only one important have given the option for toolbars to feature has been left out: close appear as per previous versions. interaction with Microsoft Office 2001 Adobe has worked hard to make through the lack of the Convert to Adobe Acrobat 5 more appealing to the print PDF function. This Windows-only macro

are close up. It’s designed for education, as it should be. It was prone to crash On-screen magnification tool and I can guarantee that kids of all ages from time to time. I managed to get a will love it. The software allows you to newer version of the software that was record your adventures in QuickTime, supplied, which improved things – but it USB Microscope and replay them later. You can also didn’t eliminate crashes entirely. Manufacturer: iRez www.irez.com capture stills with the click of a button. Distributor: AM Micro (01392 426 473) There are different lenses Pros: It’s a lot of fun for kids and adults. Macworld’s buying advice Cons: Pricey; imperfect software. supplied, for images ranging from big The iRez USB microscope is a marvel, and Min specs: USB to disgustingly detailed. There’s also a it will entertain and educate. The price is Price: £699 (excluding VAT) cradle to mount the microscope on, so a bit off-putting, and I was expecting the Star Rating: ★★★★/7.2 you can aim it at slides. Unlike traditional software to be more polished, but it’s microscopes, there are lights built into better than the Intel USB microscope the lenses, so you don’t have to worry – which is compatible only with Hair’s breadth eb cam specialist iRez has a about dark slides – but you can look at Windows. It’s still a great addition One of David ‘Silver Fox’ Fanning’s USB Microscope that lets you back-lit objects using the un-lit lens. to any classroom. many grey hairs exposed in all its W see exactly how gross things The software wasn’t as professional David Fanning glory by the USB Microscope.

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mniWeb is a real alternative Omni present OS X Web browser to Microsoft Internet Explorer OmniWeb is the O running on Mac OS X. Just that quickest, prettiest fact is bound to win OmniWeb legions and politest Web OmniWeb of followers among the Microsoft-hating browser for Mac Publisher: The Omni Group public. I’m not a rabid Microsoft hater OS X around. www.omnigroup.com – in fact I really love some Microsoft Pros: It’s fast; looks great. Cons: Not all pages display products, and I can’t imagine life without correctly. Entourage. However, I now use OmniWeb Min specs: Mac OS X on my Mac, because I use OS X. Price: Free or $29 It isn’t that I don’t like Explorer, Star Rating: ★★★★/8.4 I do. It’s the simple fact that OmniWeb is prettier and faster than the Explorer 5.1 beta that shipped with OS X. If Microsoft tunes up Explorer to work as gracefully as OmniWeb, I might move back. But, for now, it’s OmniWeb. When you use OmniWeb, you’re tapping into a fabulous resource of programmers, with a culture reminiscent of the early days of computing. Their The main reason for my allegiance is text on one particular page. These mission is to make software that’s useful that it’s faster than the Explorer beta by quirks are found in just about every and fun. A little more delving into their some margin. Checking the speed of your browser. OmniWeb crashes occasionally, Web site reveals that they’re fully paid-up Web connection is easy. Simply search however, it’s a very pleasant crash. After real-life tree-hugging hippies. They avoid the Internet for one of many Web-speed it hit a problem, it brought up a sign using paper, they recycle everything, gauges. These are pages that measure requesting permission to send a bug they even insist that workers move near how long it takes for you to download a report to the Omni Group, then crashed to the company so they don’t pollute special Web page. With a 512Kbps ADSL – how polite. unnecessarily. Hats off to them I say. connection, I was getting an average of OmniWeb started life as a NeXT 450Kbps with OmniWeb. Switching to Macworld’s buying advice application, and has been going longer Explorer made the speed drop to an Buying a browser may be something than Netscape. It seems natural to port average of 350Kbps – a significant of an alien concept to many people. it to OS X, as much of OS X is based on difference. You can use OmniWeb for free. However, NeXTSTEP. The key to OmniWeb’s beauty Neither of the browsers had a 100 per if you leave it unattended, it will plaster is simplicity. The interface is uncluttered cent record for displaying pages correctly. unlicensed across your screen as a and easy to use, and it makes good use So you will probably have a copy of each reminder. Moving the mouse makes it of the Aqua design. Much of the feel of on your machine. I found Explorer had a disappear, so even the nagging is polite. OmniWeb is only subtly different from the problem with Hotmail from my machine If there ever was a browser you should average browser, but it’s definitely a more – although other machines worked fine. pay for, OmniWeb is it. pleasant experience. OmniWeb occasionally failed to display David Fanning

he funny thing about being a the government form its Literacy Hour worksheets for use away from a Grammar tester wordsmith is you don’t need policy. It is designed to provide a resource computer. Templated certificates upon T to be able to cite grammatical for use in the 20 minutes of “independent completion of all lessons can also be rules to know how to write. It’s a bit learning” within the Literacy Hour. printed out. Literacy Bank like riding a bike – once the stabilizers The interface is simplicity itself, The lessons themselves are structured Publisher: Sherston Software are off, they’re off for good. Anyway, which is no less than one would expect so that a pupil can work through lessons (01666 843 200) that’s my excuse for being bamboozled from a series pitched at children as young from the first CD to the last, as he or she www.sherston.com by lessons designed for 10-year-olds as seven. All lessons are “overseen” by progresses through school. The one thing Pros: Well structured. Cons: Patronizing. – and I’m sticking to it. At least it a talking head, the appearance of which I can remember of grammar lessons is Price: £47 (including VAT) wasn’t just me. The entire Macworld teachers can select in preferences (robots that the only thing drier or dustier was Min specs: System 7.6.1; office queued up to tackle tests on for the youngsters, young boy or girl for the blackboard. I’m sure I’d have CD-ROM drive; 16MB of RAM. transitive verbs, passive verbs and past older pupils). This character guides the absorbed and retained more using Star Rating: ★★★★/8.3 participles – and not one of us got 100 child through lessons, albeit patronizingly a tool such as Literacy Bank. per cent. At least we know the written (“Hey, you’re really clever”). language is in safe hands. The software is carved in two, Macworld’s buying advice Inter-face The four-CD Literacy Bank series with one half for use by pupils and For pupils and teachers alike, Literacy Teachers can customize dovetails with the government’s Literacy the other by teachers. Lessons can be Bank makes perfect sense. It fits the interface to suit age Hour scheme – which dictates that all tailored on a pupil-by-pupil basis, with perfectly with the government’s policy groups – with a robot and pupils have to spend one hour every day individual pupils’ performances logged on ICT (Information Communication penguin for younger pupils, working on literacy skills. The series has by the software, so allowing progress Technology), because of the and a collection of boys been crafted by Sherston Software in to be monitored. Teachers can also use comprehensive input from the NLA. and girls for older conjunction with the National Literacy it to write literacy reports, and lessons Lessons are involving as well as being pupils. Association (NLA), the body that helped can be printed off as formatted informative, and also offer teachers worthwhile help on lesson planning. Sean Ashcroft

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original recording isn’t quite as good Analogue-to-DV converter – but once it’s recorded digitally, the quality won’t decline. Working the Studio is a breeze. It Formac Studio takes its power from the FireWire Manufacturer: Formac (020 8533 4040) connection – so no messy power leads or www.formac.co.uk adaptors are needed. Along its side are Pros: Makes old video equipment useful connections for video and audio in and again; TV and radio tuners; no need for an expensive DV camera. out. Along the back are connections for S- Cons: TV and radio tuners don’t work in Video in and out, plus connections for you Mac OS X. antennas for TV and radio. There’s also can get Min specs: FireWire. FireWire in and out. on-screen TV or Price: £319 (excluding VAT) When we tested the Studio, we had FM radio. This feature Star Rating: ★★★★/8.5 it on a machine running Mac OS X. So, doesn’t currently work with OS X, but Long gone silver? thinking it was unlikely to work, we fired Formac is working on it. You can also Rumour has it that the clear up iMovie to have a look. The Studio record TV clips, though this isn’t Studios were an accident – that he Formac Studio provides FireWire worked first time with no problems at all. something many will need to do. they were supposed to be silver. compatibility for all video cameras, As iMovie sees it as a DV camera, the However, there are menu options that Let’s just call them a ‘limited T and adds TV and radio to Macs. The Studio is compatible without software. refer to forthcoming products that will edition’. future may even include a hard-disk VCR However, you won’t be able to control enable you to use your computer as a for the Studio, but it’s the FireWire the camera in the same way that DV VCR. By adding a type of Formac hard features that make it attractive. cameras can be controlled with iMovie. disk – not yet available – you’ll be able Video is moving in a digital direction, The camera is set only to play, and you to set your computer to record shows but there are a lot of analogue cameras can record the bits you want in iMovie. while you’re out. out there, plus a lot of DV cameras that Transferring a movie from a Mac is can only output video – not re-record it. just as easy, and you can connect Studio Macworld’s buying advice The Formac Studio will breath new life to any analogue VCR – though you may If you have an older camcorder, or even a into those cameras, because it converts need an adaptor for SCART connections. new one that doesn’t support video input, plain-old analogue video into FireWire DV, Because the video on the computer is the Studio is invaluable. It will breath allowing it to be used with applications digital, you can run off as many analogue new life into old equipment, plus it has a such as iMovie. It also allows digital copies as you like without loosing quality. couple of extra tricks up its sleeve – such output to be recorded on regular At first glance, it looks like the TV as TV and radio. You could spend a grand analogue VCRs, and allows a £250 and radio features were thrown in as a on a DV camcorder instead, but even that camcorder to be used in the same way as sweetener, but this isn’t the case. If you won’t give you TV on your Mac. a £1,000 DV camcorder. The quality of the plug a decent antenna into the studio, David Fanning

wish has been granted – thanks to the Westminster tour guide virtual-tour title, Explore Parliament. Every detail is covered in amazing depth, both visually and historically: Explore Parliament ceilings and floors, stained-glass Publisher: The Armchair Travel Company windows, oils, murals, and statues all (020 7386 5454) www.armchair- travel.com yield information, which is accessed by a Pros: Well-designed interactivity; single click on that object. immersive; exhaustive detail; affordable for Many of these items offer audio clips, schools. with an actor speaking a famous quote Cons: Video segments missing at some from, say, Oliver Cromwell. Such in-depth points. exploring starts outside the Palace, with Min specs: CD-ROM drive; 24MB of RAM. the surrounding buildings and statues. Price: Tourism Edition, £19.95; Scholastic One’s journey through Parliament is Edition £39.95; site licence £80 (all prices nicely editable. You can record and save detailed breakdown of the parliamentary Throne alone include VAT). Star Rating: ★★★★/8.5 your own tours, or select a tour by topic. process and its history – can be used as The sumptuousness of the House These include a host of categories, a teaching tool. of Lords is captured by immersive including Civil War Period, American panoramic photography. The Revolution, and Portraits of Women. Macworld’s buying advice detail is also impressive. One click he last time I went to the Palace of The panoramic photography is a treat, This Explore title is available in tourism on Churchill’s statue reveals that Westminster was as a trainee even though file-size restrictions mean and Scholastic editions. The former is MPs touch his foot on entering T reporter in 1987. I saw Prime pictures can’t withstand close-zooming. aimed at visitors who, like me, can’t the commons, hoping the great Minister’s question time, during which But, it’s good enough to give a real experience every detail of this world- man’s oratorical prowess rubs off. Mein Fürher Thatcher slugged it out with flavour of the place – from the gilt renowned landmark. The key difference Kinnockio. A House of Commons official splendour of the House of Lords, to the between the two is that, in the scholastic led our party to the press gallery through more-functional committee rooms. editions, tours are editable. But you don’t a maze of oak-panelled, bust-lined This title is designed with schools in need to be a tourist or educator to enjoy corridors dripping with history. The mind, as, from September, courses in these titles – they allow anyone to enjoy temptation to sneak off on a one- man Citizenship become part of the National a VIP tour of our seat of government. tour was great. Now, 14 years on, my Curriculum. Explore Parliament – with its Sean Ashcroft

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Trackball round-up Trackball Explorer Manufacturer: Microsoft (0870 601 0100) www.microsoft.co.uk Pros: Looks lovely and high- tech. Cons: The thumb-operated scrolling wheel takes getting used to. Min specs: USB Nest of mice Price: £49 (including VAT) Clockwise from the left: Microsoft’s Trackball Explorer; Contour’s Shuttle Pro; Kensington’s Star Rating: ★★★★/7.5 Expert Mouse Pro; Logitec’s Cordless Trackman FX; and the Microsoft’s Trackball Optical. Trackball epetitive strain injuries How you discover if you’re a finger duckling. However, it has more Optical are common in the modern tracker, or a thumb tracker is difficult. functionality than any of its R computing environment. I would definitely recommend seeing competitors. It also has OS X drivers. Manufacturer: Microsoft You have a few options: you can any of the models we looked at in a The last alternative input device (0870 601 0100) either give up computing; or, more showroom. is the Contour Shuttle Pro. Unlike the www.microsoft.co.uk realistically, you can change the The Microsoft trackballs are other trackballs, this is designed to Pros: Thumb control for the trackball; sleek design; cheaper way you work. If your mousing hand both tethered by USB cables to complement rather than replace the than the Explorer. is suffering, we have a selection of the Mac, but the Logitech Cordless mouse. It’s an excellent addition for Cons: Some people prefer alternatives for you to choose from. Trackman FX is wireless. The Mac anybody using video-editing index-finger control. The most common alternative platform has been a bit short on packages. It consists of a jog-and- Min specs: USB to the mouse is the trackball. Like cordless mice and keyboards, so I shuttle wheel, and some additional Price: £34 (including VAT) an upside-down mouse, you move was pleased to see this appear. The function keys. Video editing is quite ★★★★ Star Rating: /7.7 the ball with your fingers instead design gives you control of the ball a tactile activity, and there is a limit of moving the whole device. However, with thumb and index finger, and to how easily a keyboard can be Cordless while the design of mice changes there are a host of buttons – mainly used effectively. Trackman FX little, trackball design is varied. used for Internet navigation. Manufacturer: Logitech The software for the Cordless Macworld’s buying advice (01753 870 900) Fingers or thumbs Trackman FX is quite good, giving The Contour Shuttle Pro is obviously www.logitech.com Microsoft has produced a couple of single-click access to favourite not in the same category as the Pros: No wires; looks cool. great trackballs. We looked at the Web sites. Unfortunately Mac OS 9.1 trackballs, but used in addition to Cons: Current software Trackball Explorer and Optical. Both is a problem, though it works fine your mouse it can speed your editing. doesn’t yet support OS 9.1. use an optical sensor to track the with Mac OS X without the software. Either of the Microsoft models would Min specs: USB ball’s movements, but the button suit most – they look sleek and curvy Price: £54 (including VAT) layout differs. With the Trackball Left and right and work well. The Logitech Cordless Star Rating: ★★★/6.5 Explorer, the ball is controlled by your It’s worth mentioning that all the Trackman FX is excellent, though index and middle finger, with a scroll trackballs mentioned so far have been the software is a problem. It’s fun Expert Mouse wheel and buttons on the left hand for right-handers only. Lefties – such not to be tethered to a cord; though Pro side for thumb control. Your hand as myself – must adapt or stick with trackballs don’t need to move around Manufacturer: Kensington rests quite comfortably on the curved our mice. The next trackball is much anyway. My favourite is the www.kensington.com design, leaving your ring finger and ambidextrous. Kensington Expert Mouse Pro. Distributor: Acco little finger resting on two more The inaccurately named Drawing on 20 years of trackball (0800 252 359) buttons. As with any trackball, Kensington Turbo “Mouse” has been experience, Kensington has added Pros: A million functions; it takes some getting used to. around for years. The latest version is every whistle and bell to this model. ambidextrous; supports The Trackball Optical tackles called the Expert Mouse Pro and has It’s a shame it isn’t that pretty, but Mac OS X. the problem from a different angle, changed a lot – though not so much it beats the others hands down on Cons: Not quite as pretty as the other trackballs. putting the scroll wheel between that you can’t detect its lineage. functionality. Min specs: USB buttons on the top, and the ball on The Expert Mouse Pro uses four David Fanning Price: £79 (including VAT) the side for thumb operation. Again, buttons around the trackball to Star Rating: ★★★★/8.6 personal preference will always differ, activate different clicks and double but both models do a good job. clicks. The four buttons are further Shuttle Pro enhanced by the use of chords. This Manufacturer: Contour means when you hit combinations (020 8731 1410) of the buttons, you can activate Pros: Handy for video users. other things. To add even more Cons: Pricey for such a single functionality, there are a further six purpose peripheral. buttons across the top – each capable Min specs: USB of launching an application or a Web Price: £117 (including VAT) page – plus a scrolling wheel. Star Rating: ★★★★/7.1 Compared to the other trackballs, the Expert Mouse Pro is an ugly

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ealous that your uncle sends out Judging from the sleek, Digital-cameras tested email messages with digital images compact design of the DC3800, Digital camera specs J of the last family gathering, his trip Kodak seems to have taken a cue to Mexico, and your cousin’s brand new from the Ixus 300’s success: the PRODUCT NAME FINEPIX 2400 ZOOM PHOTOSMART 912 PHOTOSMART 618 PHOTOSMART 315 DC3800 DC3400 C-2040 ZOOM IXUS 300 FinePix 2400 car? With recent price drops in the cost of DC3800 is only a few centimetres CCD RESOLUTION 2.1 2.24 2.11 2.1 2.1 2.3 2.11 2.11 Manufacturer: FujiFilm two-megapixel consumer digital-cameras, wider and longer than the Ixus 300, (IN MEGAPIXELS) (020 7586 1477) and a growing number of cameras to and it weighs only 0.16kg without Pros: Sharp images. OPTICAL ZOOM 3x 3x 3x N/A N/A 2x 3x 2x choose from, going digital has never its two AA batteries. Cons: Limited metering; DIGITAL ZOOM 2.5x 2x 2x 2.5x 2x 3x 2.5x 4x weak flash. been easier, or more tempting. In contrast, the HP PhotoSmart LCD MONITOR 1.6” TFT 2.0” TFT 2.0” TFT 1.8” TFT 1.5” TFT 1.8” TFT 1.8” TFT 1.5” TFT Price: £379 (including VAT) If you’re considering purchasing a 912 is built to look like a 35mm SLR Star Rating: ★★★★/7.8 two-megapixel camera, it’s generally camera, complete with a full-size, SPOT METERING no yes no no no no yes no because you’re interested in the level of non-detachable Pentax lens. The zoom FOCAL LENGTH 39-117mm 34-107mm 34-108mm 38mm 33mm 38-76mm 40-120mm 35-70mm PhotoSmart image quality that can produce adequate control is situated on what would Picture perfect (35MM-EQUIVALENT) 8-x-10-inch printouts; otherwise, a less normally be the focusing barrel of the The Olympus C-2040 camera (top) came top APERTURE f3.5-8.7 f2.5-3.9 f2.4-4.0 f2.8-9.8 f2.8-8.0 f3.1-10.3 f1.8-10.0 f2.0-4.0 315 expensive one-megapixel camera would lens. While the body design might give in Macworld’s tests. The DC3400 (bottom, left) Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard EXPOSURE MODES Auto Auto, Aperture AE, Auto, Aperture AE, Auto Auto Auto Auto, Aperture AE, Auto be better value. In addition to basic regular SLR users a more familiar grip, and the FinePix 2400 produced decent images. (08705 474 747) Shutter AE, Shutter AE Shutter AE image-quality factors, such as sharpness aside from the zoom control, it doesn’t Pros: Inexpensive. Metered Manual and colour fidelity, it’s important to have add any real functionality with the added priority modes, which allow you to Cons: No optical zoom; noisy. ISO OPTIONS 100 25, 50, 100, 100, 200 100 100 100 100, 200, 100 Price: £249 (including VAT) a decent optical zoom – especially if you bulkiness. Weighing almost 0.64kg set the aperture size or shutter speed 200, 400 400 Star Rating: ★★★★/7.2 plan to use your digital camera to take without batteries, the PhotoSmart 912 manually. Though less sophisticated WEIGHT 0.14kg 0.54kg 0.3kg 0.23kg 0.16kg 0.34kg 0.3kg. 0.19kg travel pictures. The ability to capture is about twice the average weight of than the 912 and C-2040, the PhotoSmart (WITHOUT BATTERIES) quality images in different lighting the other cameras in this roundup. The 618 offers two ISO options, as well as PhotoSmart MEMORY 8MB SmartMedia 16MB CompactFlash 16MB CompactFlash 8MB CompactFlash 8MB 8MB 8MB Smart Media 8MB CompactFlash situations – indoors and outdoors DC3400, the FinePix 2400 Zoom, the aperture-priority and shutter-priority CompactFlash CompactFlash 618 – is also important. PhotoSmart 315, and the PhotoSmart 618 modes. Plus, the PhotoSmart 618 and Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard are all of average size, comparable to 912 come with an advantage in storage: Pros: Multiple exposure modes; In the frame popular point-&-shoot 35mm cameras; they’re bundled with 16MB CompactFlash certainly, best used outdoors. In contrast, the DC3400 requires its included software can also accept two Lithium batteries. 16MB CompactFlash included. We looked at seven current two- the C-2040 Zoom is slightly wider, which cards, compared with the 8MB the flash on the PhotoSmart 618 is to transfer images. However, its file-by- There are many things to consider Cons: Slightly noisy images; harsh flash. megapixel cameras: Olympus’s surprisingly results in a more comfortable CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards especially harsh, causing a significant file transfer process can be slow, leaving when shopping for a digital camera: Price: £399 (including VAT) (www.olympus-europa.com) C-2040 Zoom; grip. of their competitors. loss of detail in highlight areas. Images you to stare at progress bars for a minute feature set, image output, power, and Star Rating: ★★★★/7.8 Kodak’s (www.kodak.co.uk) DC3400 Of the seven cameras we looked at, from the PhotoSmart 315 flash are or two. If you prefer to view images on performance in low light, to name a few. and DC3800; FujiFilm’s (www.fuji.co.uk) only the Kodak DC3800 and PhotoSmart Bright spark acceptable, but the overall image quality your TV, you can do so with all of the Of the seven cameras in this roundup, the PhotoSmart FinePix 2400; and Hewlett-Packard’s 315 lack an optical zoom – a serious In sunny outdoor conditions, the FujiFilm is still hampered by noise. Thanks to cameras except the FinePix 2400 Zoom Olympus C-2040 Zoom stands above the (www.hp.com/uk) PhotoSmart 315, 618, limitation, especially in the case of the FinePix 2400 Zoom produces the sharpest maximum aperture sizes of f1.8 and f2.4, and the PhotoSmart 315. rest, but many of the other offerings are 912 and 912. As we evaluated the cameras, DC3800, which carries a £299 price tag. images and the most detail in highlight respectively, the C-2040 Zoom and the also worth a look. Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard we compared them to Canon’s Digital Ixus and shadow areas, with the C-2040 Zoom PhotoSmart 618 are able to capture soft, Batteries included Pros: Sharp images; spot 300, the previous top choice in this range. Price and features and the PhotoSmart 912 tying for second. but pleasing images in less than ideal When it comes to battery usage, Macworld’s buying advice Snap shot metering; 16MB CompactFlash. The first test of a good consumer The two more expensive cameras in the The FinePix 2400 Zoom also demonstrates lighting conditions – even without a flash. the convenience of the Canon Ixus 300’s If superior image quality, spot metering, From top to bottom: Kodak’s Cons: Expensive; heavy. Price: £649 (including VAT) camera starts even before the first shot: roundup, the Olympus C-2040 Zoom and the most accurate colour reproduction, single proprietary battery, which fully and manual exposure modes are DC3800 and HP’s PhotoSmart Star Rating: ★★★★/7.2 its ease of use. All the cameras in this the HP PhotoSmart 912, also have the while the PhotoSmart 912 tends to Moving image recharges in under two hours, is still priorities, Olympus’s C-2040 Zoom is 315, 912 and 618. roundup, minus the Olympus C-2040 most advanced features. Both provide render colours slightly flat. In comparison, Transferring images from the camera to unmatched. The absence of bundled a versatile camera that delivers solid Zoom, feature on-camera menus that the technically minded photographer the Canon’s Ixus 300 captures sharpness and your Mac is easy with the FinePix 2400 rechargeable batteries or AC adaptors, performance and an excellent set of DC3400 are intuitive and easy to use because means to capture perfectly exposed shots detail, but bright areas have a tendency Zoom, C-2040 Zoom, and all three HP especially in more expensive and feature- features. If ease of use is what you’re Manufacturer: Kodak (0870 243 0270) of their clearly marked symbols. The through spot metering, auto bracketing, to block up and lose detail. The cameras, since they all support USB rich models, such as the C-2040 Zoom looking for, Canon’s Ixus 300 remains Pros: Inexpensive. well-organized and comprehensive and multiple exposure modes. Spot PhotoSmart 315 and 618 deliver fairly and instantly mount on your desktop and the PhotoSmart 912, forces photo unrivalled in its balance of style, Cons: Images washed-out; Olympus instruction manual is required metering can make a dramatic difference sharp images with slightly flat colours like a hard drive or a Zip disk. Although enthusiasts to make an extra investment. convenience, and performance; slow image transfer. reading for both navigating the camera’s in tricky lighting conditions. The auto- and noticeable amounts of noise, the DC3800 can’t connect directly to a All the cameras, except the DC3800, and its competitive pricing makes Price: £329 (including VAT) slightly confusing menus, and taking bracketing feature – which allows for particularly the 315. Overall, images computer, it comes with a handy USB require four AA batteries – the DC3800 it an outstanding value. Star Rating: ★★★★/7.2 advantage of its advanced features. the rapid automatic-capture of a slightly from the DC3800 suffer from noticeable CompactFlash reader. Like the Ixus 300, requires only two. The C-2040 Zoom Bonnie Huie Each of the HP cameras comes with overexposed and a slightly underexposed pixelation and jagged edges, making DC3800 a basic instruction manual and a more image in addition to the “perfectly some of the photos unacceptable. Both Manufacturer: Kodak comprehensive CD-ROM. exposed” original image – is helpful the Kodak DC3800 and DC3400 produce the National Numeracy Association – ChedAir flight with his or her character Doesn’t add up Pros: Small; CompactFlash Last year, Canon’s Ixus 300, with its in perfecting shots with mixed light. soft images with slightly washed-out Maths learning aid which helped to formulate the national of choice. The ensuing lesson is then An alien baggage-handler is reader. ultra-compact casing, pioneered a new If you desire creative control and know highlights. Oddly, the DC3400 emphasizes numeracy strategy for schools. narrated by Murphy, who prods a kid in just one of the methods used Cons: No optical zoom; standard for portability in a digital how to get the kind of exposure you green tones, while the DC3800 favours Learning takes place in a fantasy the right direction after a wrong answer. in Number Plane to make images washed-out; pixelation. camera. want, the PhotoSmart 912 and C-2040 red tones. Number Plane airport, the departure lounge of which For teachers, there’s also a large maths fun for youngsters. Price: £299 (including VAT) Publisher: Sherston Software Zoom have aperture-priority and shutter- In indoor conditions that require a is like something from Men in Black – collection of resource sheets for multi- Star Rating: ★★★/6.7 (01666 843 200) www.sherston.com flash, the C-2040 Zoom, the PhotoSmart Pros: Makes maths fun. peopled by doughnut dragons, sick pupil non-computer classwork. 912, and the Ixus 300 Cons: Pupil performances not recorded. hedgehogs, strange aliens and a pop C-2040 produce the most pleasing Min specs: System 7.1; CD-ROM drive; singer called Debbie Diamond. Each set Macworld’s buying advice Manufacturer: Olympus images overall. In 4MB of RAM. of characters represents a discipline. With three levels of difficulty and an (0800 072 0070) comparison, the FinePix Price: £50 (including VAT) These include multiplication, division and option to reduce or increase levels of play Pros: Sharp, pleasing images; Star Rating: ★★★★/7.1 spot metering; fast f1.8 lens. 2400 Zoom, the DC3400, fractions. The airport theme is tenuous, in games, this CD is capable of sustaining Cons: Menus are a little and the DC3800 have with most of what follows being a pupil’s progress in maths for a year. confusing. weak flashes, and their umber Plane is a teaching aid for unrelated. It’s colourful, though, and The only drawback is its lack of an option Price: £499 (including VAT) images tend to be too six and seven year-olds. It offers the lessons are absorbing, as well as for teachers to save and then monitor Star Rating: ★★★★/8.5 dark. The FinePix N 21 practical and oral activities instructive. The CD is narrated by Murphy individual pupil’s lessons. 2400 Zoom is, that have been designed with the aid of Mouse, who invites the pupil to board the Sean Ashcroft

64 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month Macworld JUNE 2001 65 Macworld reviews

ro Tools (PT) 5.1 is here at last. The Music mixer big news is that you get built-in P multi-channel mixing, panning, and processing features. You can use these Pro Tools TDM features to create surround-sound mixes Publisher: Digidesign (01753 for films and DVD discs. 653 322) Not only can you mix in every popular www.digidesign.com Pros: Completely integrated surround-sound format – including Left surround-sound; raft of Centre Right Surround (LCRS) 5.1, 6.1 and interface enhancements; 7.1 – you can also work in several formats great new MIDI features. at the same time, by assigning multiple Cons: Some new features outputs and send destinations for each need further refining. audio channel. Min specs: Check Web site Once your surround mix is complete, for a long list. you can deliver several versions Price: There are several PT 5.1 simultaneously by assigning tracks to View to a shrill upgrade options: TDM, £229; LE for Digi 001 or Toolbox multiple output paths at the same time. A lot of thought has gone in to improving the Pro Tool’s user interface for version 5.1. There’ve (Audiomedia III), £39 (all For example, if you’re working on a LCRS been several enhancements – especially with shorcuts – that will speed up workflow. prices exclude VAT). 7.1 mix, you can set up Pro Tools to also Star Rating: ★★★★/8.5 give you outputs for, say, a 5.1 and a feature to work – but this enhances the changed to the Selector tool. Still, I stereo mix. possibilities for moving your session expect that Digidesign will sort out However, these multi-channel around onto different systems. Also, to issues such as these, and add further formats are available only if you have a conserve DSP resources in a session, improvements to the MIDI function in a TDM system using MIX cards – not for tracks, I/O assignments and plug-ins can later version. older PT24 or PTIII systems, or for the LE now be set to inactive. Inactive items The user-interface has been given software that works on the Digi 001 or retain their various settings, routings and some thought in version 5.1. Two great On the beat Audiomedia III cards. What you do get assignments, but are taken out of new keyboard shortcuts really speed up The sexiest new feature in PT 5.1 with all 5.1 systems is stereo tracks – operation – freeing the DSP they were your work. Track Toggle lets Audio tracks is the Beat Detective (below, top). which most users have been crying out using for other uses. The original settings toggle between the Waveform and This analyzes and corrects timing for. will remain saved, so you can always see Volume view, while MIDI tracks toggle in performances that have strong what you’ve deactivated and return to between Notes and Regions views. Just transient points, such as drums, Tracking change these at any time. click in the track you want to toggle, bass and rhythm guitar. It allows Another extremely useful development Even better, when you move a Pro shift-clicking to select multiple tracks if the user to define a tempo map allows you to open and work with offline Tools session to a system that has required, then press control-minus (-) from a performance, or to conform media. PT 5.1 can now open and modify different plug-ins and I/O configurations, simultaneously. the performance to a tempo map a session, even if all the audio or video PT 5.1 will automatically deactivate Similarly, you can toggle between by separating it into regions and files for that session are not currently tracks, plug-ins, sends, or I/O channels two views of a selection in the Edit aligning it to the beats. available. And, any edits that you make as necessary. At the same time, it will let window – adjusting the zoom level and The MIDI editing window to tracks containing offline media are you preserve your original session track height automatically. Select one or (below, bottom) offers an array of reflected in the session when the files are settings, so you can return to them when more tracks then press control-E, and the options, including shuffle, spot, available again. Sessions must have been you move back to the original system. selection will zoom to fill the Edit slip and grid. created with version 5.1 or greater for this window. At the same time, the tracks Multi-processing containing the selection will be set to a PT 5.0 now allows you to open multiple track height of Large – with MIDI tracks plug-in windows – previous versions automatically set to Notes view. allowed you to open only one at a time. Version 5.1 includes many other Also, TDM systems can now run both useful editing operations, including TDM and RTAS plug-ins simultaneously. multiple undos, Tab to Transient for This allows you to use the computer’s creating easy loops, and a Universe CPU to process your audio, as well as the Window overview that allows you to DSP, on Pro Tools’ cards. quickly move to any point in your session. The MIDI features have also been It also has Auto Save capabilities that improved, through the addition of a List save your session at user-defined edit window. Here, you can view a list of intervals. Finally, Web programmers will the MIDI events recorded into any MIDI be pleased to note that Pro Tools now track, and edit these numerically – which supports Real Audio G2 export, MP3 and can often be a lot quicker than editing QuickTime audio import and export. graphically. Unfortunately, although you can Macworld’s buying advice record SysEx data, you cannot edit this. If you’re working with surround sound, Also, the Split Notes command, which this upgrade is essential. For many users lets you take selected notes out of a working with MIDI, the new List editor track and paste them into another track, will be a strong attraction. And, everyone would not work properly for me. With the is going to like the Beat Detective – this Grabber tool selected, it would cut the one feature is worth the cost of the entire notes from a track, but wouldn’t let me upgrade. paste them into a new track until I Mike Collins

66 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month Macworld reviews

3D-action game Oni Developer: Bungie/Gathering of Developers www.godgames.com Distributor: Softline (01883 745 111) Pros: Excellent player control; entertaining story; no gore. Cons: No multiplayer support; clunky key configuration. Min specs: 300MHz PowerPC 603 processor; 64MB of RAM; Mac OS 8; 3D-video card; 800MB of hard-disk space. Price: £35 (including VAT) Star Rating: ★★★★/8.6

ni: This word from Japanese Konoko’s shoes is an exotic treat. of mediaeval castles or giant spaceships Oni you folklore denotes a creature of great As Konoko, you must infiltrate heavily you find in other games is absent here. Oni’s 3D environment may look O size and strength with a fearsome fortified buildings bristling with well- Oni is all about close-quarters action, sparsse, but that’s because all appearance. It’s also the title of Bungie armed guards and automated defence not sightseeing. However, some of the your processor power is going into Software’s long-awaited 3D combat- systems. The 3D action takes place large open spaces in Oni can put a strain animating the charecters’ action game, published for the Mac by from a third-person perspective, on Macs at the low end of the game’s movements. Gathering of Developers. But who or what with the “camera” generally positioned system requirements. Make sure to check is the oni in this game? Is it your lithe and behind and above Konoko’s body. these before you plunk down your money. limber alter ego, Konoko, or someone or So what’s wrong with this game? The something else? You’ll have to find that Fluid motion lack of network support hurts its long- out by playing. You certainly have no shortage of term playability. If you’d hoped for some Oni takes place in a dystopian future’s futuristic weapons at your disposal, chopsocky action against your Internet giant metropolis, which is rendered in but Konoko’s real strength is in the buddies or other folks in the office, forget true Japanese anime style. Konoko’s martial arts. You start the game with a it. That’s a shame, because multiplayer training as a special agent enables her variety of moves – kicks, punches, and support can keep a game fresh long after to infiltrate the activities of the Syndicate, throws – and at various points you learn you exhaust its single-player possibilities. an underground crime ring. Headed by more-advanced techniques. Oni has some Oni does have user-adjustable levels of Boss Muro and populated by legions of the most fluid player control I’ve ever difficulty, however, so you can play it at a Tricks and tips of cybernetically enhanced thugs, the seen. By combining different keystrokes, few different settings to test your limits. Try these tricks to keep Syndicate traffics in illegal technology you can make Konoko execute powerful Oni lacks the ability to save games at the baddies at bay: and works insidiously toward global moves. You’ll find a library of these in her any time, opting instead for a system that ■ Oni’s camera control domination. diary, which you can access with a click lets you save only at preset points in each system often allows you of the mouse while playing. Also, look chapter. You may be annoyed that you to see through walls and Oni me! for detailed information about weapons, have to make Konoko jump off the same around opaque objects. Soon Konoko discovers that defeating special items, and Konoko’s objectives roof over and over, but you’re rewarded This can help you spot the Syndicate won’t be as easy as she through the in-game help screen. with a very clear index of saved games trouble before it spots thought. She uncovers mysteries within Like Tomb Raider, Oni emphasizes that positions you at key moments. you. mysteries, some involving her background stealth and planning over raw firepower. You can tweak audio and graphics ■ Konoko can change – who she is and where she comes from You must think through situations rather settings, video resolution, and difficulty direction when she’s become an integral part of the plot. The than just reacting, and you’ll also have level on Oni’s main screen, but the jumping. This little trick tale works like origami, with fold after to solve a few puzzles along the way. method for customizing control keys is enables her to descend fold adding complexity. Despite Konoko’s Like Unreal Tournament, it has no obtuse; rather than making it an in-game flights of stairs quite single-minded focus on taking Muro off shortage of action. However, unlike option, as most games do, Oni forces you rapidly, and it occasionally the streets, Muro apparently wants to both these games, Oni is free of gore and to launch the game while holding down comes in handy in combat. keep her around. Why? What connection bloodshed. The story is written to appeal the shift key to remap commonly used ■ Sometimes it’s safer to do they share? And can she trust those to an adult sensibility, but without strong keys. Alternately, you can customize Oni’s reload Konoko’s weapon in with whom she works most closely? language or 18-rated imagery. When controls by using a text editor to edit a a quiet spot – even if it As those who know me can attest, Konoko and her opponents come to game file. But what is this, Windows? means wasting a round or nothing about Peter Cohen says delicate. blows, you’ll see bursts of light – but This feature should be out in the open. two – to avoid having to I’m big and clumsy. no blood. Some hard-core gamers may be reload during a firefight. I tend to frighten small children, disappointed, but this certainly makes Oni Macworld’s buying advice ■ Keep as many animals, and Macworld Expo attendees accessible to a larger audience. If you’re Though it lacks multiplayer support and hyposprays on Konoko as – maybe I’m the oni. That’s why for me, a parent, rest assured that the action has a quirky approach to customizing possible. That way, you can Oni offers pure escapist entertainment. here is at the level of a Saturday morning keys, Oni’s almost flawless execution activate her Daodan power Konoko, whom you control throughout cartoon – your kids won’t encounter any of hand-to-hand combat makes it a when you need it most – the game, has the agility of a gymnast, gruesome showers of body parts. remarkable game. Oni provides an when she’s about to take the stamina of an Olympic distance Konoko walks through and around excellent way to lose yourself for a week on a crowd of angry thugs, runner, and the stealth of a jungle cat. skyscrapers, warehouses, and low-rise or two in a fun adventure. for example. For a big ol’ schlub like me, slipping into buildings. The imaginative ornamentation Peter Cohen

Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month Macworld JUNE 2001 69 Macworld reviews

lassroom and one-to-one training technologies are covered to varying Flash 5 tutorials can be expensive. When most degrees – such as encoding and C computer users decide that they streaming MP3 audio, preparing video need to learn a new skill or new piece for use in Flash 3D modelling, optimizing Macromedia of software, something more than just and testing. All examples are taken from Flash 5 Visual its accompanying manuals is a must. real life, and the chapters have a logical Author: Katherine Ulrich As fewer software publishers are layout. The technology explanations Publisher: Macromedia including paper-based manuals with are easily understandable, and the Press and Peachpit Press their programs, more how-to books are use of illustrated examples clear. Pros: Very basic; being written by third parties. Macworld Practical advice on the hardware needed easy to understand. looked at five Flash 5 help books by to produce professional projects is also Cons: No interesting different publishers to weed out the included. examples; boring black- &-white screenshots. useful from the useless. Some of Hillman Curtis writes about his own Price: £23 them even come with software and philosophy on design, with particular Star Rating: ★★★★/7.8 tutorials on a CD-ROM. I’ve started emphasis experimenting with different with the least advanced book. techniques. Macromedia Flash tends to be intimidating to new In Flash 5 Magic with ActionScript, users, and that’s who the Macromedia the code that makes possible most of Flash 5! Flash Visual QuickStart Guide is aimed the interactivity you find in Flash Web Author: Derek Franklin at. Alongside the tutorials provided with sites is dissected. Similar to JavaScript, of when working with and Brooks Patton Flash 5, it’s always useful to have an ActionScript is a programming language browsers, external files and applications. Publisher: Macromedia extra source of hints, tips and in-depth that enables Flash developers to add The final chapter focuses on storing, Press and Peachpit Press Pros: Clearly laid out tutorials. This book claims to teach you complicated interactivity to projects – modifying and displaying database explanations; section Flash the easy way: by concentrating including database connectivity. Even information through Flash projects. The on colour examples from on providing pictures rather than JavaScript coders will have a few bundled CD includes nearly all the Flash real-life Flash projects. text. However, there maybe plenty teething troubles when first working with source files for the tasks set in the book. Cons: Prepare yourself of screenshots, but there’s also loads ActionScripts. However, this book takes To get the most out of this Flash for a lot of reading. of text to wade through. you through the planning process, and Advanced QuickPro Guide, you should Price: £30 QuickStart Guide is good when uses real-world examples of techniques ideally have worked through the tutorials ★★★★ Star Rating: /7.9 explaining the basics of Flash – from that can be used in e-commerce and and projects in the QuickStart Guide creating basic graphics to how to use educational design. reviewed above. Flash Web the Timeline efficiently, to describing Flash 5 Magic is well-designed, Design each and every tool in detail. and makes a nice change from the severe Macworld’s buying advice Author: Hillman Curtis Everything a beginner needs is covered. serious-programmers help books that The five books here are aimed at different Publisher: New Riders Animation techniques are also seem to be the norm. Flash 5 Magic skill-levels. The manual-style books – Publishing 2001 included – from motion and shape has well laid out and planned chapters, such as Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Pros: Well presented book; tweening, object interactivity, and and is targeted at a high skill-level. This Flash 5!, and Macromedia Flash a designer’s reference. frame-by-frame animation. means that shorthand is used for some Advanced – are all excellent references Cons: Explanations can be Next up is Macromedia Flash 5! of the tutorials, which could confuse for beginners and pros alike. Flash Web vague. Creative Web Animation. Written by less-advanced users. Design – the art of motion graphics (the Price: £35 two well-qualified Flash developers, Macromedia Flash Advanced, as the v5 remix) and Flash 5 Magic with Star Rating: ★★★★/8.3 Derek Franklin and Brooks Patton, this title suggests, has a steep learning curve. ActionScript are for experienced Flash book takes you through Flash 5 from a But, as you progress towards becoming designers who want creative inspiration. Flash 5 Magic beginners level to advanced. With 16 proficient in the application, an advanced Gillian Thompson Authors: J Scott Hamlin and chapters covering many aspects of guide is a helpful stepping-stone. If you David Emberton Flash – from basic animation, adding want to improve your Flash skills – and Publisher: New Riders interactivity and ActionScripting, to have already mastered all the basics of Publishing 2001 Pros: Easy to work through. finding your way around the improved animation, tweening, sound and video Cons: Tutorials are brief. user interface in Flash 5 – this book – then this book guides you through the Price: £35 provides easy-to-understand explanations. use of ActionScripts to control graphics, Star Rating: ★★★★/8.3 It also gives time-saving methods movies or other objects within Flash to to use when planning Flash projects, create a complete user environment. Macromedia and warns when a tip may need extra Creating application programs in processor power – or when it is advisable Flash – such as arcade games, complex Flash to use different methods of animating drop-down menus and forms – is difficult Advanced in order to gain a required effect without to do without an advanced knowledge Author: Russell Chun its associated problems. of ActionScripts. To use this book, you Publisher: Macromedia A multi-award-winning US design should already know most of the basics Press and Peachpit Press consultant, Hillman Curtis’s Flash Web in Flash – at least up to motion tweening, Pros: Takes skills to the Design – the art of motion graphics Symbol editing, manipulating layers and next level. (the v5 remix) is slickly designed. The frame-by-frame animation. The book Cons: Not for newcomers book takes apart useful examples of suggests advanced animation strategies, to Flash. Price: £23 motion-graphics projects to see the and explains how to begin constructing Star Rating: ★★★★/8.1 structure and design principle used ActionScript components to add in a specific, real-life brief. interactivity to movies. Flash Advanced Though the title of the book is also looks at the typical communication Flash Web Design, several additional issues a Flash designer should be aware

70 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month Macworld reviews

arallon introduced the SkyLine range an older PowerMac 7500. The G4 was application, and sharing small files works. AirPort alternative of wireless products before Apple connected with ethernet, and the other But wireless isn’t about to completely F introduced the AirPort. The latest two machines were using SkyLine cards. replace cables just yet. additions to the range include a PCI card The NetLine WBG lets you connect as Although the SkyLine products are SkyLine and NetLine, a broadband gateway that many SkyLine or AirPort cards as you like excellent and do all they claim, the price PCI Card also acts as a wireless hub. – though the bandwidth will suffer if too is more than that of an AirPort card. This Manufacturer: Farallon The AirPort is as an Apple product, many people are sending big files. But, is fine if it adds to a pre-AirPort Mac, but www.farallon.com and is extremely simple to use. The it’s no big deal to add another NetLine not the best choice if your PowerBook has Distributor: Softline SkyLine is a little less straightforward, WBG. AirPort capability. Similarly, the NetLine (01372 726 333) but no big deal. The instructions are clear Pre-AirPort-ready desktop Macs can WBG does have some features over and Pros: Gets older desktop and helpful, so anybody who can connect now take advantage of the SkyLine PC above the AirPort Base Station, but only Macs wireless. a normal network should have no trouble card by using the new PCI adaptor. You for broadband users that don’t use BT Cons: Only supports AppleTalk setting up a wireless one. add the PCI card, which then provides a ADSL. So, if you’re on an older Mac, over IP; more expensive than AirPort. However, unlike AirPort, SkyLine slot for the SkyLine card. Before this, I using the SkyLine PCI carrier card and Price: £50 (excluding VAT) doesn’t do communicate using AppleTalk. was sceptical of the usefulness of making the SkyLine card, you can join in the Min specs: PCI slot. It offers communications over IP only – a desktop Mac wireless. However, the wireless fun. It will cost a little more, Star Rating: ★★★★/7.0 though AppleTalk over IP is fine, normal speed has improved and the price has but it’s worth it. AppleTalk isn’t supported. fallen enough to make it worthwhile. David Fanning NetLine Where SkyLine really comes into its Considering the cost of professional own is when you connect to the NetLine custom cabling, wireless is becoming Wireless Wireless Broadband Gateway. This more attractive the cheaper it gets. Broadband connects to an ADSL or cable connection, Gateway and lets you connect to it wirelessly. BT’s Macworld’s buying advice ADSL connection doesn’t let you use the There are situations where wireless Publisher: Farallon Distributor: Softline Farallon box as the broadband gateway, communications are not the answer, Pros: Easy wireless Net access but you can still use it with the ethernet however. Printers must support IP to Cons: AirPort is cheaper. version. You simply connect the NetLine be used wirelessly, which means mostly Price: £240 (excluding VAT) box to your machine to set the IP address, newer laser printers. Also, if you are Min specs: Ethernet then hook it up to the BT router. throwing around big graphics or video Star Rating: ★★★/6.5 I tried the whole setup running a files, wireless won’t be up to the job. Power Mac G4 466, a PowerBook G3 and Shared Internet access is an ideal

Telewest warn that there can be up to a Myth II multiplayer games on Bungie.net. Broadband Net access two-week delay before installation. As I’m The feedback from my guests for my an existing Cable London customer, all it connection speeds was positive. required was the installation of a digital I downloaded a number of MP3s – blueyonder receiver where the Cable London line purely for bandwidth-testing processes Manufacturer: Telewest came into the house. Telewest also – and software try-outs and plug-ins. An (0800 953 5000) installs a signal splitting device in the 8.5MB download took just three minutes www.blueyonder.co.uk room where the modem will be placed, according to Internet Explorers’ Download Pros: Fast; stable; cheaper than ADSL. but attached to the existing cable TV Manager. Mail downloads are extremely Cons: It’s available only to circuit. The modem was then plugged in fast even with large attachments, and 4 million UK households. to my ethernet port and the Mac’s TCP/IP sending email is swift too. Web sites Min specs: A Telewest cable and AppleTalk Control Panels were set. download faster than my 300MHz iBook account; Mac OS 8.1 or later. The entire process took one hour. can render them. Price: £33 per month plus £50 Blueyonder offers unmetered installation fee. (excluding VAT) and unlimited Internet access at high ★★★★★ Macworld’s buying advice Star Rating: /9.1 bandwidths, 24 hours per day for £33 If you pay about £10 for an ISP, and per month. The modem can also connect over £20 per month for dial-up telephone via USB, though Telewest engineers said charges you should consider blueyonder elewest’s cable Internet service, the drivers for this service had not yet – which offers subscribers a free ISP. blueyonder is available now to been delivered. Anyway, all Macs It’s eminently suitable for heavy Internet T four million UK households from manufactured in recent years have users, and competes favourably with the company and its subsidiaries – built-in ethernet that offers faster transfer BT’s ADSL service for business users. The including Cable London. speeds than USB. For this, you get free blueyonder-provided Motorola SURFboard It offers download speeds of 512K, use of blueyonder as an ISP, support for modem (pictured) will connect to an or up to ten times faster than a dial-up up to five email addresses and 30MB of ethernet router and support multiple modem, and upload speeds reach 128K. Web space. Macs in small offices – though And, because it’s an always-on Internet Once installed, you can enjoy the blueyonder doesn’t officially support this. connection, the service also dispenses Internet the way it should be. Online If you’re lucky enough to be in an area with the time-consuming dial-up, log-on gaming ceases to be an expensive supported by Telewest and are looking for and authentication processes that plague luxury, MP3 downloads speed along, high-bandwidth Internet access, this is it. dial-up users. and streaming movies and news content It’s cheaper to run, easy to install and Installation was a dream. I ordered is accessible without the data packet loss offers a better user/modem (contention) the service on Wednesday, and it was that affects dial-up connections. ratio than BT’s ADSL 500 service. installed just three days later – though I tested this by hosting a series of Jonny Evans

72 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month Are you ready for... O S

...Macworld Lab helps you decide. By Henry Bortman X sually, when Apple releases a new version of the Mac Tomorrow’s Mac operating system, the questions you have to ask There are many reasons to switch to Mac OS X. First, it’s the U yourself are: Am I ready? Do I have the right model future. This summer, Apple will begin shipping all Macs Mac? Is upgrading worth the cost? (In OS X’s case, that’s £99 with OS X installed. Apple will continue supporting OS 9 on inc. VAT.) All of these questions apply to Mac OS X, but this older machines for some time, but OS X will be the focus of time there’s another, equally important question to ask all future improvements to the Mac. yourself: is Mac OS X ready for me? That’s a good thing. OS X is a delight to look at. Sit in an This is a brand-new Mac OS, built from the ground up. Internet café with OS X running on your PowerBook – make There’s a chance that it will run your current applications sure you’re positioned so that other people can view your more slowly (or not at all), that your external hard drive or screen – and you’ll see what I mean. People notice OS X. printer will be incompatible with it, and that it will be But OS X’s beauty is more than skin deep. It’s built on a unbearably poky. Macworld Lab hooked-up dozens of solid foundation: Unix. As a result, Mac OS X should prove peripherals to see which ones worked with OS X. We more crash-resistant than previous versions. OS X also takes compared the speeds of applications running in Mac OS X advantage of multiple processors better than OS 9 ever has. and OS X’s Classic environment – which lets you run Mac Users of dual-processor machines should eventually feel an ? OS 9 applications within OS X – with those of applications overall performance boost in day-to-day work. running in OS 9.1. (See “A perfect 10?” for details.) Like a rock Perhaps the most important reason to So, should you upgrade? Let’s examine all the factors switch to OS X is an invisible one: stability. The new LAB TEST ILLUSTRATION BY ALICIA BUELOW ILLUSTRATION that will affect your decision. operating system does away with extensions and control page 80

Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 79 panels, which are often the cause of crashes. Moreover, a minimum of 256MB of RAM). and FireWire hard-disk drives, and USB traditional paper-photographs into a page layout, either for when an OS X-native application does crash, the operating In most Adobe Photoshop tests – digital cameras. In our tests, all of these print or for the Web, you need a scanner. But a scanner system and other active applications keep running – most Photoshop runs only in OS X’s Classic devices worked as expected. Printing requires a scanner driver: while some USB scanners’ drivers of the time – so you don’t have to reboot your Mac. When environment – OS 9 had an edge over went smoothly, we were also able to appear to work in the Classic environment, SCSI scanners applications running in Classic crash, however, they can OS X that ranged from slight to both attach and detach drives without a need native-OS X drivers to work with applications running hang-up the Classic environment and all programs running significant. Here, too, performance single problem, and our Olympus E-10 in OS X and in Classic. within it. But as more OS X-native applications become improved greatly on the G4 systems. In digital camera worked just fine with Many graphics professionals use AppleScript to available, crashes should be few and far between. our Microsoft Excel test, a spreadsheet calculation took Mac OS X’s Image Capture application. automate their workflow, and they could have problems To help you avoid system meltdowns, Mac OS X provides anywhere from two to four times as long in Classic as the We had mixed results with USB scanners. Our Canon moving their scripts to OS X. AppleScript works for a new version of the Force Quit feature. If an application same calculation in Mac OS 9.1 straight up. Ouch! CanoScan FB630Ui scanner worked with applications applications running in OS X or Classic. The OS X Finder, freezes or seems to be endlessly spinning its wheels, OS X showed promise in one area: scrolling through a running in the Classic environment – we had no however, is not as scriptable as the OS 9 Finder, so scripts pressing ⌘-option-escape will start the Force Quit utility, PDF document. This test showed us some of the potential OS X-native applications to test it with – but our Visioneer that invoke Finder functions may break under OS X. from which you can shut down not only the troublesome of OS X-native applications. Because graphics in OS X are Strobe Pro NT didn’t. Suppose you’re designing only Web pages – doing no application but also any running applications. You can also based on PDF, scrolling through a PDF document was at We were able to get three FireWire camcorders – a Sony pre-press work – and that you use Macromedia’s quit the entire Classic environment. least twice as fast in OS X as in OS 9.1. DCR-TRV320, a Sony DCR-TRV11, and a Canon Elura – to Dreamweaver and either Fireworks or Adobe ImageReady. Aqua appeal The most obvious reason to switch to OS X OS X seems optimized to take advantage of the G4’s work with the newly released OS X-native version of iMovie. All of these programs will run under Classic, but neither is its interface. Aqua is arguably the best-looking computer AltiVec instructions. (AltiVec is a set of PowerPC They wouldn’t work with Final Cut Pro running in Classic Adobe nor Macromedia has announced dates for delivering user-interface ever designed. It takes advantage of the instructions paired with a vector-processing unit that (Apple does warn that Final Cut Pro isn’t supported by OS X-native versions. PowerPC G4 microprocessors’ computational muscle to enables a G4 chip to perform calculations on up to 16 data Classic). Other consequences of the driver problem may not For all creative professionals, the hidden demon of OS X provide smooth antialiased text, transparent windows and elements simultaneously – in applications written for be evident at first. For example, you can’t run Retrospect is fonts. Those available to your OS X-native applications are menus, and animated interface elements. Some people – AltiVec). But OS X also appears to like lots of RAM. When we Backup in Mac OS X. Before you perform a backup, you need the ones installed in your OS X System folder, while the I’m one of them – think Apple has gone a little too far in the installed OS X on several Macworld systems, we found that to reboot your Mac in OS 9.1: no Mac OS X-native drivers are fonts available to applications running in Classic are eye-candy department. But even we curmudgeons have to Macs with less RAM slowed to a crawl when asked to do available yet for the dozens of different devices used during installed in your OS 9.1 System folder. agree that Aqua is a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. difficult tasks, or multiple tasks at once. backup operations. Retrospect does have a Mac OS X client, These two folders are completely independent of each As well as Aqua’s luscious look, Apple has brought a lot Applications As we went to press, few popular so over a network, you can back up Macs running OS X if the other. From Classic, programs can’t see the fonts you have of changes to the way users interact with their Macs. programs had been upgraded to take advantage of OS X’s backup process is controlled from a Mac running OS 9. installed in OS X, and OS X-native programs don’t know new features. Most widely used applications won’t be what fonts you have installed in OS 9.1. If you want a font What’s missing available in Mac OS X-native versions until summer or What it all means to you to be available in OS X and its Classic environment, you With all the OS X plusses, why should you wait to switch? autumn. (See News, page 25). Here’s how these collective limitations might well affect must install it twice. Three reasons: performance, applications, and drivers. You can run OS 9 applications in OS X’s Classic mode – the different groups of typical Mac users. The verdict If you earn your keep churning out graphics Performance It’s a bit early to make definitive but why bother? Doing so won’t give you any of the The creative professional Graphics pros will certainly and designs, whether for print, video, or the Web, there’s no pronouncements about OS X’s performance. Its real advantages of Mac OS X, and programs often run more 1appreciate the stability of OS X, but only when the good reason to move to OS X yet. In fact, when it comes to benefits will be known only after the arrival of OS X-native slowly. It’s true that you can switch back and forth between applications they use are available in OS X-native versions. just about anything you need – applications, scanner or versions of applications, which take full advantage of the Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X as necessary. But would that really The two most important applications in desktop camcorder support, AppleScripted workflow, fonts – OS X OS. For now, most must run in Classic mode. But we do have be an improvement? publishing are QuarkXPress and Adobe Photoshop. Quark will bite you. Your livelihood depends on your Mac. It’s some preliminary results to report. Drivers A less obvious problem with OS X is the lack of has given a sneak peek at an OS X-native version of XPress working fine with OS 9, so stick with it for now. Most people who have loaded OS X will tell you that the native hardware-drivers. Drivers are special pieces of but hasn’t said when it will be available. Adobe has been Finder “seems slow”. Our tests confirmed this. Timed software that handle interactions between your Mac and even more secretive: the company showed Photoshop The small-business owner If you own a small business, against the Finder in OS 9.1, OS X’s Finder made a the things attached to it. Without them, many of your running under OS X very early in the new operating 2 you probably use applications such as Microsoft Office, disappointing showing when we asked it to open about peripherals won’t work. Devices awaiting OS X-native system’s development cycle. But now it will say only that MYOB AccountEdge, FileMaker, and Power On Software’s 200 folders. Running OS X on G4 systems did close the drivers include many printers, scanners, RAID arrays, CD and the next major release of Photoshop will be OS X-native – Now Up-to-Date & Contact. Perhaps your Mac doubles as a speed gap significantly, and even on G3 systems, increasing DVD drives, video-capture cards, cameras, and fax modems. no word on when that program will ship. Adobe’s position fax machine. How would you fare with OS X? RAM from 128MB to 256MB improved scores substantially. With the new OS, Apple provides built-in drivers that is similar for Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, and AfterEffects. Microsoft has announced that Office won’t be available See “A perfect 10?”for more test results (only for Macs with support many popular USB ink-jet and laser printers, USB Then there’s the scanner problem. If you want to get for Mac OS X until the autumn. This means that if you

A perfect 10? Best results in test. Shorter bars and quicker times are better. Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1*

Open multiple folders Scroll PDF FTP download Cinema 4D XL (6.209) iTunes iMovie Excel calculation* Gaussian blur 10 Unsharp mask 2.3 RGB to CMYK Lighting effects Performance compared: Apple iMac 233 (revision B); OS 9.1 25 100 34 31:50 3:35 5:09 108 60 61 74 77 Apple iMac 233 (revision B); OS X 62 48 59 38:01 7:07 7:21 311 57 58 79 82 Apple Power Mac G3/300 (beige); OS 9.1 25 82 139 24:23 4:27 3:58 100 22 23 46 35 Apple Power Mac G3/300 (beige); OS X 52 41 92 28:15 5:10 5:19 239 31 27 65 37 Apple PowerBook G3/400 (Pismo); OS 9.1 23 54 33 19:10 3:54 2:35 65 17 18 36 26 Apple PowerBook G3/400 (Pismo); OS X 37 25 39 22:47 4:04 4:15 194 21 19 43 28 Apple PowerBook G4/400; OS 9.1 22 53 33 17:20 2:35 2:25 61 7 10 36 9 Apple PowerBook G4/400; OS X 30 21 45 17:30 2:43 3:32 182 12 9 40 10 Apple Power Mac G4/533; OS 9.1 19 38 34 12:39 2:01 1:56 37 5 7 26 7 Apple Power Mac G4/533; OS X 22 15 31 12:56 1:58 2:32 137 8 7 28 7 Apple Power Mac G4/533 DP; OS 9.1 19 37 33 6:16 1:50 1:54 38 3 5 25 4 Apple Power Mac G4/533 DP; OS X 21 15 34 6:35 1:29 2:22 133 3 3 30 5 Apple Power Mac G4/733; OS 9.1 18 32 33 10:15 1:23 1:37 36 5 6 15 6 Apple Power Mac G4/733; OS X 19 15 29 10:15 1:36 2:16 116 9 10 20 6

Behind our tests Behind our tests Scores are in seconds. Cinema 4D XL, iTunes, and iMovie scores are in XL’s memory partition set to 80MB in OS 9.1, we rendered a model at a We tested seven Macs to see if they performed tasks faster when running Mac OS 9.1 or minutes:seconds. We tested each system with Mac OS 9.1 on one resolution of 640-x-480 pixels, with oversampling set to 4-x-4. We tested when running Mac OS X. We tested applications that ran in OS X and applications that partition and Mac OS X on another, 256MB of RAM, a default system-disk MP3 encoding with an audio-CD track that was 9 minutes and 25 seconds ran in OS X’s Classic environment. Tasks performed in Classic almost invariably took cache, and virtual memory disabled (in OS 9.1). We set displays to 1,024-x- long and converted it using the 128Kbps setting in iTunes 1.1. We more time than equivalent tasks in OS 9.1; and even with native applications, OS X often 768-pixels resolution and 24-bit colour. For the PDF scroll test, we used exported a 240MB clip to a small QuickTime file with iMovie. showed little speed advantage. One clear exception was scrolling through a PDF Adobe Acrobat in Mac OS 9.1 and the Preview application in OS X. Macworld Lab testing by Ulyssis Bravo and Macworld Lab staff document: PDF is OS X’s native graphic format. Photoshop tasks involved a 50MB file. In OS 9.1, we set Photoshop’s memory partition to 150MB and History to Minimum. With Cinema 4D * We performed these tests in Mac OS X’s Classic environment.

page 82

80 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 81 When should you switch? The home user The least-demanding Mac users, home 3consumers may be the first for whom it makes sense to upgrade. Apple has given us an OS X-native AppleWorks – ave yourself a headache: don’t switch over to Mac OS X too soon. Here it’s a beta, version – and OS X versions of iTunes and iMovie. S are some pointers that will help you avoid making a premature transition. Casady & Greene announced plans for a beta version of SoundJam for Mac OS X. Add these to the preview version Step 1: Check your hardware Mac OS X runs on any Apple Macintosh of Microsoft Internet Explorer that comes with OS X and that shipped with an Apple-installed G3 or G4 processor, except Apple’s built-in Mail and Image Capture applications, and the original PowerBook G3. It isn’t officially supported on clones you’ve got a tidy bundle of OS X-native programs. (or on older Apple Mac models) that shipped with PowerPC 601, On the downside, the lack of a compatible DVD-movie 603, or 604 processors and were later upgraded to a G3 or G4. player may deter some users. And if you’ve got used to Unsurprisingly, OS X performs better on a G4 machine than on a burning CDs, OS X will be a step backward: that capability is G3. It’s optimized to take advantage of the G4 processor’s AltiVec also on the to-be-delivered list. Apple is working to resolve instructions, for carrying out multiple computations at once. And these shortcomings, and a fix should be along soon. Apple recommends 128MB of RAM, but you’ll probably want at You can always boot into Mac OS 9 when you need to least 256MB. Many supported Mac-models shipped with only play movies or make CDs, but is switching back and forth 64MB (or even 32MB) of RAM. They’ll need upgrades. between operating systems the ease-of-use Macintosh experience you’re looking for? Probably not. Step 2: Check your applications If the programs you use day in and day Games are another software category that may affect out haven’t yet been released in Mac OS X-native versions – most your decision. Games that run in Mac OS 9 should work fine popular applications haven’t – they won’t reflect the best features in Classic, although third-party graphics-acceleration cards OS X has to offer. They will run – at least, most of them will – but will need new drivers. Some companies are already they’ll run only in Classic mode. Applications run more slowly in shipping OS X versions of popular games: you can Classic than in OS 9.1, so there’s not much point in switching to download an OS X-ready update to Cro-Mag Rally, from OS X until most of the applications you normally use are available Pangea Software, for free, complete with a short list of in OS X-native versions. When will that be? known bugs. Gathering of Developers’ Oni is out in a version that runs on either OS 9 or OS X. And Id Software is Step 3: Check your drivers A driver is software that controls hardware: working on a Quake III Arena for OS X that should soon be printers, disk drives, scanners, and the like. Apple provides some available soon from the game’s distributor, Activision. (The drivers with Mac OS X. Check hardware companies’ Web sites version released earlier by Omni Group works only with the regularly for updated drivers. OS X beta). The verdict It may have been hard to imagine that Step 4: Take a deep breath All these issues will be resolved in time. home consumers would be first to switch to Apple’s new When they are, Mac OS X will still be there waiting for you. If you Unix-based system. But the temptation should be resisted. hold out until all the pieces are in place, your transition will go You bought a Mac so you wouldn’t have to worry about much more smoothly. system configurations. You’ll only give yourself headaches trying to live in the netherworld between OS 9 and OS X. Make a list of the software you use, and wait till it’s all spend a lot of time in Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, or available in OS X-native versions. Entourage, there’s little to be gained by jumping to OS X. In fact, you might see performance decline. MYOB is working The Mac geek You know who you are. You’ve spent years on an OS X version of AccountEdge, which should be 4becoming intimate with Mac OS’s every nook and available by the time you read this. And FileMaker plans to cranny. You supply technical support and advice to a vast have a native OS X version of FileMaker Pro out this spring. network of people. Mac OS X comes bundled with a new Address Book Applications may not be so important to you because application, which is integrated with the bundled Mail knowing the operating system itself is your trade. Plus, application and can be tapped by other OS X programs. If booting between OS X and OS 9 wouldn’t be difficult for you’re accustomed to Now Up-to-Date & Contact, however, you. You might also find it fascinating to experiment with you’re in for a bit of a disappointment. Power On just the Unix applications OS X can run, such as Apache. released new versions that are not OS X-native. The verdict You are the best candidate for an You may also be disappointed to learn that FaxSTF – the immediate switch to OS X. It’s experimental, and you are fax software that comes with modem-endowed Macs – someone who wants – and perhaps needs – to experiment. doesn’t work with OS X – not even in Classic. STF £99 is a reasonable investment in your career – and in a Technologies hopes to have an OS X version out by June, but whole new frontier to explore. Just make sure to load OS X the first release won’t support faxing from Classic. on one of your more powerful Macs so that the experience Does one of your customers require you to use a will be exciting instead of frustrating. Windows application? If you solve that problem by running Virtual PC, mark your calendar for July. That’s when The last word Connectix plans to release an OS X-native version. Until A year from now, when people talk about Mac OS, they’ll then, Virtual PC won’t work under Classic. mean Mac OS X. It’s plainly a superior operating system. If you rely on speech-recognition software, be warned: Apple has laid a strong foundation for the Mac’s future. But neither IBM ViaVoice nor MacSpeech iListen work with the transition will be slow. Apple has all but admitted that OS X. IBM hopes to have ViaVoice ready for OS X “soon”, but OS X isn’t ready for prime time. If it were, the company MacSpeech hasn’t announced any plans to deliver an OS X- would be installing it on Macs today instead of waiting. native version of iListen. The best time to upgrade to Mac OS X will be different The verdict If you run your business on your Mac, the for each Macintosh user. There’s no risk in trying it (except picture isn’t much better for you than for the graphics your £99). To return to OS 9, just reboot. But until your professional. You can summarize your situation in two hardware is fully supported and the applications you use words: Microsoft Office. Wait till the autumn before even most are available in OS X-native versions, you’re probably considering a move to OS X. better off biding your time. MW

82 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. OLD MAC NEW TRICKS

Teach your old Mac new tricks

Don’t give up the ghost on your old machine By Franklin Tessler

emember that old Power Mac 7500 you banished to the attic when you bought your speedy new G4 last year? Granted, it’s not the lightning- R fast Windows killer it used to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready for the junk pile. If you find the right job for it, you can still get plenty of use out of your old Mac friend, often with only a small investment in hardware, software – or both. During the Mac’s 17-year history, Apple and its erstwhile partners – Power Computing, Motorola, and Umax – have sold hundreds of models and variations; finding resources for ageing computers can be like locating parts for a 60s Cortina. Here, we’ll be showing you how to convert older Macs into useful members of your business or household as MP3 jukeboxes, Web servers, and more. We’ll also discuss what you need to do before you try to make your Mac old-timer perform new tricks, and we’ll tell you where to find the software and hardware you’re likely to need.

page 88 ILLUSTRATION: [email protected] ILLUSTRATION:

86 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 87 OLD MAC NEW TRICKS

Step 1 Make repairs the Macintosh Battery Web Page (www.academ.com/info/ list the most-recent compatible version, so also check Your retired Mac may need to be revived before it can be put macintosh) – gives specifications as well as installation Apple’s technical-support site (www.apple.com/uk/support) PowerBook 170 to work, and there are several places you can call for help. instructions for many older models and clones. to get the hardware requirements for any system software October 1991 You can get replacements for missing or damaged If you can’t repair the problem yourself, you should release you’re considering. The PowerBook debuts. Like the original Macintosh, the first PowerBooks offer few expansion options. accessories from specialty vendors such as Mac Parts probably seek the advice of a certified Apple technician. For Next, find out which system-software versions work (01344 360 220), Used Macs (01279 771 038), Apollo a fee, most service centres will provide an estimate of what with the programs you’ll be running on your Mac. (You can Computers (020 7924 0753) Practical Solutions (01204 795 repairing your Mac will cost. You can find an authorized usually find this information in the application’s manual or 790), and Blenheim Technical Associates (01603 412 299). facility in your areas at www.macworld.co.uk/reseller/ in a Read Me file on the installer disk.) As a general rule, it’s If your Mac exhibits any unusual behaviour, such as better to choose a recent Mac OS version, but keep in mind distorted video or frequent crashes, a bit of troubleshooting Step 2 Decide how to use it that newer software releases usually make more demands is in order. Ted Landau’s book Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other As you might expect, the most economical way to put an on RAM, hard drives, and processors. The fabulous features Disasters (Peachpit Press, 2000) is an excellent resource old Mac to work is to use it “as is” (see “Easy ways to renew of a newer OS may not benefit you if your Mac slows to a Power Macintosh 6100, 7100, 8100 April 1994 when you need to find out what’s ailing your Mac. A an old Mac”). If you can’t think of a use for your unmodified crawl. If you don’t need the features in the most recent The PowerPC processor is introduced. Even these computer that doesn’t boot at all may be suffering from Mac, you may be able to extend its capabilities by adding system-software version compatible with your Mac, early models can be upgraded with third-party G3 something as simple as a dead battery or as serious as a software or hardware. But before you add anything to your upgrade to an earlier version instead. and G4 boards. burned-out component on the logic board. Replacing the Mac, make sure that you know its specifications – especially If your old Mac is not actually all that old, you may want battery in most Mac models is relatively straightforward – the processor’s speed and model, and the types of ports and to buy Mac OS 9 on CD-ROM; it costs £67 and is available slots. This will determine what upgrades and peripherals from Apple, third-party resellers, or your local computer the computer can support and the new jobs it can do. store. Interim updates are generally available for free on To find out what’s inside your Mac, consult the Apple Apple’s support Web site (ftp://ftp.apple.com/Apple_ Easy ways to renew an old Mac Spec database (www.info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf), Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates), where you’ll also an online catalogue that lists hardware details and release find free System 6 and 7 downloads. Apple no longer sells or Power Macintosh 7500 August 1995 inding a role for an old Mac without adding hardware isn’t as challenging as dates for every Macintosh system ever shipped by Apple. provides Mac OS 8. NuBus is replaced by PCI bus, opening the Mac to you might imagine. Here are some ideas to help get you started. And we’d The Low End Mac Web site (www.lowendmac.com) provides Update your applications Macs of relatively recent F industry-standard expansion boards. A replaceable like to hear your suggestions; please visit Macworld.co.uk and post your ideas similar information for many Mac clones. Be sure to check vintage – released within the past five years or so – may be CPU daughterboard simplifies installing faster in the forum. the first item in the Finder’s Apple menu – About This compatible with the latest versions of application software. processors. Computer or About This Macintosh, depending on your As with system-software upgrades, however, extra features New master system-software version – to see how much memory is can take their toll on performance – so jumping to the latest Although your old Mac may no longer have enough horsepower for you, it’s installed in your Mac. version usually doesn’t make sense for older Macs. A prime probably more than adequate for someone in your home, office, or organization Software upgrades for old Macs are usually painless and example of this is Microsoft Word 5.1. It doesn’t sport all the who doesn’t already have a computer. For example, a Mac IIci running Claris- relatively inexpensive. Alas, deciding whether to upgrade whiz-bang features of Word 2001, but it may be the best Works 3.0 is a good option for temporary workers who need to do simple word your hardware isn’t usually as straightforward. Although choice for your system if all you need is a functional word processing. (You can buy old versions of ClarisWorks from many of the online there’s no foolproof formula that can tell you whether processor. However, be aware that older versions of Macintosh PowerBook 3400 resellers mentioned in Step 1.) If your school-age kids are constantly investing in add-on hardware is worth the cost, some basic software may not be able to read files created by newer February 1997 clamouring for time on your Mac, get them out of your hair by giving them an maths will help you decide if it makes sense to put money versions. For instance, if you have Microsoft PowerPoint 4 The first PowerBook with an expansion bay, this older computer for doing homework assignments or playing games. into an old computer. installed, you won’t be able to read PowerPoint 98 files. And model accepts extra batteries and storage devices. If you’re still at a loss about what to do with a retired keep in mind that PowerPC-only applications won’t run on Specialized tasks but functional Mac, consider donating it to a school or a machines with 680x0 processors. Old Macs can also do a variety of unattended jobs. For example, Vicomsoft’s charitable organization. Often, you can deduct the If you have a modem, even an older Mac will get you SurfDoubler (£32, Vicomsoft, 01202 293 233), which runs on any PowerPC Mac computer’s fair-market value on your tax return. One such online. For example, the iCab Web browser needs only 4MB with System 7.6.1 or later, lets you share an Internet connection between two charity is the London-based Cybercycle (020 7737 0494). of free memory and runs on any 68020-based Mac with computers. (For details on using SurfDoubler, see Create Networking, October There is also the national organisation, Computers for System 7.0.1 or later. You can download the latest public Macworld 2000.) You can turn any PowerPC model into an effective office Charity (01288 361 199). beta from iCab’s Web site (www.iCab.de). Fetch 3.0.1, a Power Macintosh G3 message centre with Smith Micro’s HotFax MessageCenter Pro ($70, popular FTP client ($25); ZTerm 1.0.1, a simple terminal November 1997 www.smithmicro.com). Even if you have a 68030 Mac Step 3 Find the right software emulator ($30); and Eudora 4.3, a free e-mail client, work on The G3 processor is introduced. This Mac also has with a slow modem, you can use it for sending Often, you’ll have to add or update your old Mac’s software 680x0-based models from the Mac Plus on up. Find the first an IDE bus, which makes hard-drive upgrades less and receiving faxes. to prepare the computer for a new role. If you’re missing two at the Macdownload Web site (www.zdnet.com/ expensive. Old Macs – including some 680x0 models any applications, you’ll need to find compatible downloads/mac/download.html) and the third at Eudora’s such as the Centris – make excellent Web replacements – and you’ll want to at least consider Web site (www.eudora.com/products/old.html). servers, as long as you don’t expect them to updating your computer’s system software. You can stay on top of software updates by consulting handle thousands of hits. And, if your Find compatible applications Locating software that VersionTracker (www.versiontracker.com), a Web site that computer is compatible with Mac OS 7.5.3 or runs on older Macs is easier and less expensive than you keeps tabs on Mac software releases from thousands of later, you can use Apple’s Personal Web might expect. Some vendors offer limited versions of companies. If you can’t decide whether to get an updated iMac Sharing to serve Web pages on the Internet or current applications that are compatible with old models. version of a program, pay a visit to the company’s Web site September 1998 a corporate intranet from a folder on your For example, Nisus Software’s free Nisus Compact to get a detailed description of new features, bug fixes, lists Apple gets rid of ADB ports in favour of USB ports, hard drive. (www.nisus.com) runs under System 6 or later and uses only of minimum system requirements, and free demos. which accept popular printers, input devices, You can also turn an old Mac into an MP3 512K of memory. Don’t forget, you can also find older and other add-ons. jukebox by downloading Casady & Greene’s software versions through online search engines, by Step 4 Invest in new hardware free SoundJam MP (www.casadyg.com), browsing on auction sites such as eBay (www.ebay.com), or Modest hardware upgrades often pay off by allowing you to which runs on any Mac using OS 8.1 or by scavenging at your local Apple store or computer swap use software that you couldn’t even consider before. For later with a chip no older than PowerPC meet. example, for less than £39 you can boost your iMac’s 603. A 1GB hard drive has room for Upgrade your system software New Mac OS releases memory from 64MB to 128MB, which lets you use memory- hundreds of songs, and SoundJam lets usually incorporate bug fixes and extra features, so you hungry applications such as PowerPoint. Power Macintosh G3 you create customized playlists. should consider upgrading to a later system-software The first Macs weren’t designed for upgrades – (Blue-&-White) If your computer has built-in USB version than the one that originally shipped with your transforming a Mac 128K into a 512K “Fat Mac” required a January 1999 ports and you’re running OS 9.0.4 or 9.1, computer. Even the Macintosh 128K supports System 6, so trip to an Apple dealer and almost £600. Happily, newer FireWire ports let the Mac work with compatible Apple’s iTunes is another free option. you’ll usually be able to choose from System 6 through 9. Macs are far more upgrade-friendly, and installing most digital-video recorders and storage devices. Consult the Apple Spec database to see which Mac OS versions your Mac supports. The database doesn’t always page 91

88 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 89 OLD MAC NEW TRICKS

Case study: making a backup server If you’re planning on running o computer runs perfectly forever, and we know we should make copies of ‘ N our precious data. But our Macs work hard – even when we have multiple Mac OS X, be aware that Apple computers, it seems as though there’s never enough time to take one off-line for backup purposes. hasn’t promised to support Macs The solution could be as near as the retired Mac mouldering in your basement. For example, many of us bought Power Mac 7500s. After six years, upgraded with third-party G3 yours is probably showing its age, but with the proper software and external storage device, it can be rededicated as a backup server – co-ordinating when or G4 processor cards – although and how a network full of data is backed up. The cash outlay required for this can be surprisingly small. some vendors have claimed that You can start with Dantz’s Retrospect Desktop (£149) and its £109 Retro- spect Clients 5-Pack (both Computers Unlimited, 020 8358 5857). Retrospect their upgrades will be compatible backs up Macs across an AppleTalk network and backs up Macs and PCs over a TCP/IP network. Retrospect offers flexible scheduling options and supports with the new OS’ just about any storage medium on the planet (including Web-based storage). Of course, your 7500 and Retrospect can’t do the job alone. You also need a hardware enhancements is within the capabilities of most backup medium. There are several options, including pricey high-capacity users. For details, see page 89, which illustrates important storage devices such as tape drives and DVD-RAM, and mid-range CD-RW changes to Mac hardware, with an emphasis on features drives and removable-cartridge media. that made upgrades easier to perform. If you want reliability at a relatively low price, go with a CD-RW drive. Just Add memory Adding RAM is usually the most cost- be aware that if you back up files that run into multiple gigabytes, you’ll have to effective way to make an old Mac more capable. And be around to swap disks – a pain if you hope to back up your network during fortunately, RAM prices have been falling. You can check out the few hours that your Macs are not in use. the asking price of memory chips for PowerPC Macs at Depending on your financial situation and backup needs, you may want to Crucial Technology (www.crucial.com/uk). consider other extras: A fast SCSI or FireWire card in your Mac will move data Get a new hard drive Adding a higher-capacity hard more quickly to the storage device. And if you really need speed, adding a drive is another good way to enhance the capabilities of an 10BaseT Ethernet card to your backup server, along with a processor upgrade, older Mac. Every Macintosh model from the Mac Plus will cut your backup times in half. through the iMac sported a SCSI port that accepted external For complete instructions on turning your old Mac into a trusty backup drives. If you shop around, you can find external 2GB SCSI server that fits your needs, visit www.macworld.co.uk/oldmac drives for as little as £60. Many Macs are also compatible Christopher Breen with less-expensive internal IDE and SCSI drives, which don’t require a separate power supply. Upgrade the processor CPU upgrades are a viable LOW-COST BACKUP SERVER BREAKDOWN option for many models, even those without replaceable Your old Mac free processor cards. Though you’ll pay £500 or more for the CD-RW drive about £160 fastest G4 boards, XLR8 (01442 255 899), PowerLogix (www.powerlogix.com – UK distributor: AM Micro, 01392 426 CD-RW media (100 discs) about £50 473), and Sonnet Technologies (www.sonnettech.com – UK Dantz Retrospect Desktop £149 distributor: Computers Unlimited, 020 8358 5857) sell less- Dantz Retrospect Clients 5-Pack £109 expensive upgrades for desktop Macs, clones, and Total £468 PowerBooks. For about £250, for example, you can swap the 100MHz PowerPC processor in your Power Mac 7500 for a speedy 400MHz G3 and run the latest version of Adobe Photoshop. Before you buy, check the Accelerate Your Mac them from firms that specialize in Mac replacement parts. Web site (www.xlr8yourmac.com), which includes a Add peripherals You can often get printers, modems, searchable database of user reviews of CPU upgrades, along and other peripherals for older Macs from vendors that with hundreds of useful tips and answers to common specialize in Mac replacement parts. If you don’t need a questions. colour printer, you can find refurbished Apple LaserWriters, If you’re planning on running Mac OS X, be aware that a good choice for pre-USB Macs, for as little as £80. Pre-USB Apple hasn’t promised to support Macs upgraded with Macs with PCI slots can be expanded with Keyspan’s £30 third-party G3 or G4 processor cards, although some USB Card (AM Micro, 01392 426 473), which adds twin-USB vendors have claimed that their upgrades will be ports to let you use the latest inexpensive ink-jet printers. compatible with the new OS. (Before you buy, check the printer vendor’s Web site to see Add features Add-on boards offer the greatest which versions of the Mac system software the printer potential for enhancing the capabilities of old Macs. driver requires.) Depending on the model, options range from adding Change your PowerBook PowerBook users enjoy fewer ethernet networking to providing USB ports for using input upgrade options than owners of desktop Macs, but you can devices that are incompatible with ADB Macs. To determine still buy higher-capacity hard drives for many older models. what type of cards your computer accepts, find your model You can also find CPU upgrades for relatively recent Power- in the Apple Spec database and look under the Logic Board Books such as the 1400 and early G3 models. section. Most add-on boards come with instructions and are a snap to install. Because they work on both PCs and The Last Word Macs, PCI cards are usually plentiful and relatively An older Mac has plenty to offer, whether you want to use it inexpensive. for surf-ing the Web, writing newsletters, or crunching Boards for older, NuBus-based Macs such as the Quadra spreadsheets. If you know where to look for resources, you series are harder to come by, but you may be able to get can coax years of extra life from your old Mac. MW

Macworld JUNE 2001 91 ILLUSTRATION: DAVIDILLUSTRATION: ANGEL Give your Web site a test drive

Use a prototype to make sure your site is roadworthy before going live. By Lisa Schmeiser

efore sending their latest, sleekest models into mass potentially fatal flaws and malfunctions before they offer their production and signing up aging musicians for ad products to the public. B campaigns, car makers spend extraordinary amounts of This is a lesson that Web developers would do well to learn. time and money repeatedly pulverizing their new creations. They Although a poorly conceived Web site will probably not hurl the cars into steel walls, race them over bone-jarring terrain, spontaneously catch fire, it may nonetheless cause serious and leave them baking for hours at supernova temperatures. The heartburn for the luckless designers who must rebuild the flawed companies know that it’s safer (and cheaper) to discover site from scratch.

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Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 93 Making changes to a Web site once it’s find logical ways to group your information, so readers can finished can be a costly and painful experience. quickly find what they need. For this, you’ll want to create a But you can avoid this scenario by first creating, site tree – a diagram of how your site’s pages are linked and testing, a prototype of your site – a scaled- together. A site tree, also referred to as a site map, starts down working model of the finished product. A with a single Web page (typically the home page) and prototype lets you get a first look at what users will branches out to show every page to which it links. The see as they click through your site, and it can expose process is then repeated for each of the subsequent pages, unforeseen flaws in its structure and navigation. This until a full view of the Web site’s hierarchy is outlined (see gives you a chance to fix glitches before they send your site “Bird’s eye view”). – and reputation – up in flames. When you create a site tree, the hardest part is figuring Best of all, building a Web-site prototype can be quick out what organizing principles you should use to sift and easy. content into specific areas. A Web-site prototype is a bare-bones, clickable model of To get started, ask yourself a simple question: “What do your site. Although it’s just a collection of simple, I want people to do on my site?”. Use the answers – read hyperlinked documents, you can use it to set up and test news, search the site, and send feedback, for example – as your site’s content organization and ease of navigation. the primary categories of your site tree, and group your Building a working model of your Web site – even pages accordingly. though you could spend that time building the actual site – As you create your site tree, keep an eye out for signs of is worth the effort. Your Web site’s launch is not the time to potential trouble. For example, a site tree that is extremely find out that users get hopelessly lost in a maze of dead- shallow and wide may indicate that your structure is too end hyperlinks and confusing paths. By laying down a site’s unfocused, and that some information should be nested groundwork early, you save yourself forehead-slapping into broader categories to add depth to your site. moments and angry emails later on. Identify your information Once you’ve outlined your The best time to start the prototyping process is the Web site’s basic structure, you should start brainstorming moment after you decide you’re going to build a Web site. to come up with all the specific pieces of information you’ll Although there are several effective software tools that can need. This step is detail oriented, and can be overwhelming help you prototype your site (see “A helping hand”), you can if you don’t take a logical approach. It may help to first actually complete the entire process with nothing more divide your content into three categories: complicated than a pen, a pad of paper, and a basic HTML Navigation information This covers how to use the site, editor. including specific names for navigation links and details on using site tools – such as a search engine. Organize your content Site information This is the data that gives users Before you start building your test site, spend some time information about the Web site as a body of work. It may and mental energy deciding how the final site will be include contact information, design credits, or a table of structured. Knowing that you want a site devoted to the contents. grooming habits of monkeys, and actually presenting the Unique content This encompasses the words, scripts, Bird’s eye view information in the best way, are two very different things. and images that will compose the primary information on A simple site tree can help But no matter how hefty – or strange – a Web site is, you the site. you visualize your Web site’s can simplify the organization process with the following Next, start listing the specific information that will fill structure, and the number of three-pronged strategy: each category. You may find it helpful to use different- clicks it will take to drill down Draft a site tree Your first challenge is to draft a broad coloured Post-its to correspond to different types of to specific information. organizational scheme for your site’s contents. You need to information. For example, write navigation options on green notes, unique page content on yellow ones, and contact information on blue ones. This visual system comes in handy later, when you need to see how much, and what type of, information is going to be on each page of your site. Storyboard your site Your next step is to connect each piece of information with the site tree you created, to make sure the two mesh. To do this, you’ll create a storyboard, a page-by-page map of your Web site’s content. One of the fastest and easiest ways to storyboard a Web site is to find a flat surface, a few blank sheets of paper, and the colour- coded sticky notes you created when identifying your content. Each sheet represents a different page within the site tree. Simply go through your sticky notes and attach each one to the right page. As you work, you’ll want to delete or add pages as you notice that they contain too little, or too

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94 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. easy to fix problems when you find them – there are are no hyperlinked them to one another, you should have a Anatomy of a Prototype tricky bits to get to grips with. complete skeletal model of your Web site. It’s important to remember that a functional prototype does not have to be beautiful – it merely needs to be useful. Test your prototype n effective functional prototype should show explicitly how a typical prototype page. Although this page looks nothing like Use font faces, coloured table cells, or other visual cues to Now that you’ve built it, you’re ready to take your prototype all of the information in your site is linked together. This no- the finished version, users can quickly see what content will identify specific types of information. Don’t fret if they out for the all-important test drive. Enlist a few friends and A frills page illustrates the types of information you’ll want on live on the page and how the page relates to the rest of the site. clash. co-workers (who didn’t work on the prototype with you) – Thanks to your detailed storyboard, building your and ask them to click through your model. For the most- functional prototype in any HTML editor should be a piece honest results, make sure you select a group with varying of cake. Here are some fundamental rules to keep in mind degrees of Web proficiency and familiarity with the subject while constructing your prototype: matter. Get their reactions, and find out what made sense Simplify file names When saving your files, keep your and what didn’t. A quick and effective way to test the A file-name scheme simple and functional. This will help you organizational structure of your prototype is to ask your remember the names of the files as you link and cross-link volunteers to perform a series of information-finding tasks your pages, and it will prevent confusion. For example, if you on your site. Give your volunteers a goal – finding the site’s have a news section on your site with several pages, you will contact information, for example – and ask them to log all B probably find the file names news_index.html, the pages they visited while trying to perform your task. news_archive .html, and news_search.html more helpful You’ll see how your idea of information organization than news-1a.html and news-1b.html. meshes with a user’s idea of how a Web site is supposed to Also, be sure to organize your folders and documents behave. exactly as you plan to for the final site, including the same After you’ve tested your prototype, you can use the C file names and hierarchy. This will help you sort out any new-and-improved model as the foundation of your D problems you may have in your filing system, and help you finished site. Since the whole point of a prototype is to grow accustomed to manoeuvring through your site. give you a working model of the Web site you want to E Stick to the basics Keep your prototype extremely build, it would be a shame to throw away the model simple. This makes it easier to test and modify. once you’ve finished with it. Instead, simply drop All you want on your prototype’s pages are text and your design and the rest of your content into your hyperlinks: the text describes or comprises your site’s existing site skeleton. If you work off page F content, and the hyperlinks offer access to the navigational templates, turn one of your prototype pages into a byways of your site. template, and work from there. Co-ordinate colours Use colour to identify different A prototype is a quick and easy way to test the types of information. For example, shade table cells orange ideas and assumptions that came together to form for information that tells you how to use the site, and use your Web site. Once you’ve settled on your method for green for unique content. This kind of colour code provides gathering and organizing information, and after you’ve a rapid way to check the types of information that a page turned your site plans into a clickable model, you’ll be able The finished page holds. to see what will work for your Web site and what won’t – all Primary navigation (A) If your Web User’s path (D) This “breadcrumb Prioritize page content Position the information on your without sinking a lot of time and effort into building the site has several distinct sections, you’ll navigation” may or may not make it into pages according to function and priority. final product. want a way to guide readers to each the final design, but it’s invaluable for the I always place my site navigation at the very top of a Best of all, prototype results stay private. Users will section. This group of pages is your prototype. The drill-down list of links lets page because that makes clicking through my site tree never know about the problems you corrected during the reader’s primary means of navigation you see how users can get to the page, easier. If you’re primarily concerned about your site’s test-driving process. By the time they get to kick your Web through the site; be sure to include it in and confirms an individual’s page place editorial flow, consistently make text the main thing on a site’s tires, they’ll see only a polished, well-constructed your prototype, so you can see what it will within the site prototype. page. machine that handles like a dream and practically drives be like for users to move up and down the Once you’ve built all the pages within your site tree, and itself. MW different sections of your site. Page description (E) When you’re building the prototype, writing a short Secondary navigation (B) Each specific blurb that describes the type of content page in your prototype has a unique place on each page is useful. As you flesh out A helping hand on the site; that does not preclude it from the prototype, replace the descriptive being part of a collection of pages in a blurb with the actual content that will specific level of your site tree. This second occupy the page; this will help you model hile the entire prototyping process can be completed and folders (using drag-&-drop arrows to link one page to group of navigation links lets users move the way that a user will find and read with nothing more high-tech than paper, pens, and a another) before you ever create a single Web page. Even better, laterally between pages in a group on the information. W basic HTML editor, there are plenty of software options when you’re satisfied with your site’s structure, GoLive will site tree. for people who do their best thinking in front of a computer automatically build templated HTML-pages based on your site Page links (F) If you’re planning on screen. If you prefer your mouse to a pen, here are three handy tree. Another useful feature lets you create placeholder files for Page title (C) This descriptive name including links related to specific page prototyping tools that will help you conceptualize and build sections you haven’t yet mapped; this comes in handy if you tells you and your testers exactly what content, call them out in a separate list. your site. need to expand your site but haven’t begun working on the this page is supposed to do. This list will help you later, when you’re specifics. trying to match the correct hyperlink to Site-tree software individual pages. If you need a little help organizing your site’s content, Fast functional prototypes Inspiration 6, by Inspiration Software (£85; PMI, 02476 419 If you use Macromedia’s Dreamweaver 3 or higher 089), can help you turn chaos into an orderly and logical site (www.macromedia.com/uk) and are ready to build a functional map. Originally developed to teach students how to visually prototype, you’ll want to download the Wireframing extension much, information to be genuinely useful. This is also a Functional prototypes – also known as wire frames – organize ideas, Inspiration offers easy-to-use flowcharting tools from Macromedia’s Exchange (www.macromedia.com/exchange/ good way to see early on whether you’re missing any simulate the feel-&-function of the finished Web site by for building complex site trees. You can switch between an dreamweaver/). This free extension to Dreamweaver lets you use important information that you’ll need to create. constructing its basic framework of hyperlinked pages (see outline view and a diagram view, add hyperlinks, and even CSS Layers to quickly mock up basic page layouts – assigning “Anatomy of a prototype”). create your own symbols to customize the way you work. areas for different types of content – and build a working Make a functional prototype You can use this prototype to test the effectiveness of Along with its many site-management tools, Adobe skeleton of your finished Web site. You simply drag objects, After you’ve mapped out your site-wide structure and the site structure, by following the steps people will take to GoLive 5 (www.adobe.co.uk) offers some strong prototyping such as a basic navigation bar or page title, from the new content, it’s time to turn the map into a clickable model. For find information or buy a product. And because the features. GoLive lets you generate a diagram of your site’s files Wireframing Objects palette and place them on your page. this, you’ll need to make a functional prototype. prototype is no more complicated than HTML and text, it’s

96 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 97 Sponsored by hp

001 is another year of transformation OS X-optimized products this summer, for Apple and all Macintosh users. Macworld editors and readers have been 2 After the return of co-founder Steve considering the year’s best products. The Jobs as CEO in 1997, the launch of the iMacs prizes were awarded at a glittering black-tie in 1998, the G4 in 1999 and iMovie in 2000, gala opposite London’s Millennium Dome on we face the biggest leap of faith of all this May 3. For those who couldn’t attend, here year, with the release of Apple’s next- are the winners and runners’ up for the generation operating system – Mac OS X. Macworld Awards 2001.

While we await the promised “avalanche” of page 132

Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 131 editors’ choice runners-up editors’ choice runners-up Product G4 PowerBook Product Company Product RT Mac

Product Company multimedia hardware Company Apple Cinema Display Apple Company Matrox CinéWave Pinnacle

Lighter, faster and more fully featured than even Graphire Mouse & pen Wacom Matrox’s RTMac card provides professional real- GeForce2 Nvidia Sony’s Vaio sub-notebook, Apple’s positively skinny Phaser 1235 N Xerox time editing features for just £699. Matrox’s Flex Power Mac G4 Apple PowerBook G4 is an instant one-inch-thick design 3D architecture exploits the graphics performance classic and productivity booster. Its titanium shell is Visor Edge Handspring of the company’s accelerator technology, to Radeon ATI both strong and light, as well as great-looking. The Wheel Mouse Optical Microsoft provide broadcast-quality effects and 32-bit, SoundSticks Harman Kardon productivity hardware 15.2-inch ultra-wide screen and G4 processor make uncompressed, animated graphics in a dual- this a real pro laptop. stream, native-DV editing environment.

Product Office 2001 Product Company Product Premiere 6.0 Product Company multimedia software Company Microsoft CopyAgent Connectix Company Adobe After Effects 5.0 Adobe Details 3.0.1 AEC Software Seen by many as Apple’s arch-enemy, Microsoft is Premiere 6.0 is an extensive upgrade that offers Cinema 4D XL 6.0 Maxon Computer actually one of the Mac’s greatest fans. Microsoft’s Norton SystemWorks 1.0 Symantec fundamental productivity and workflow benefits Director 8.0 Macromedia Office suite of business applications (Word, Excel, PreFlight Online Extensis to professional video editors. It should soon also and PowerPoint) include many features that are to be benefit from real-time video-editing cards, such DVD Studio Apple seen on the Mac before on the Windows versions. Virtual PC 4 Connectix as Matrox’s RTMac – making it a compelling Final Cut Pro 2 Apple productivity software The super-charged Entourage email client and alternative to Apple’s Final Cut Pro. personal-information manager is a real bonus.

Product Power Mac G4 MP Product Company Product SuperDrive and iDVD Product Company education hardware Company Apple Electron 22 Blue II LaCie Company Apple DeskJet 930 CM hp EOS D30 Canon There might only be one left in Apple’s pro-desktop Apple is hot on education again, as witnessed by DVL107 digital camcorder JVC lineup for now, but the return of multiprocessing GeForce2 Nvidia its recent PowerSchool purchase and iSchool.com iBook Apple speaks volumes for the company’s workstation Linoscan F2400XL Heidelberg domain. Its Pioneer-designed SuperDrive is a ambitions. Optimized programs, such as Adobe CD-RW/DVD-R combo that, with the excellent iMac Apple creative hardware Photoshop, benefit greatly today – and everything Stylus Photo 1290 Epson freely bundled iDVD software, lets pupils and USB Microscope iRez will receive a giant speed-boost as soon as more teachers easily produce multimedia projects that applications are Carbonized for Mac OS X. will play on standard consumer-level DVD players.

Product Photoshop 6.0.1 Product Company Product iMovie 2 Product Company education software Company Adobe Acrobat 5 Adobe Company Apple Explore Parliament The Armchair Travel Co. Colorperfexion Colorperfexion Adobe claims that this latest update to the Making sophisticated film-projects with Apple’s Mac OS X Server Apple creative industry’s premier image-editor is the most CuBase 5.0 Steinberg iMovie 2 is so easy that even teacher can use it. Mathematica 4.1 Wolfram Research significant since version 3. Web graphics are further FreeHand 10 Macromedia Combined with our Education Hardware winner enhanced, and, finally, Photoshop has a decent set (Apple’s SuperDrive and iDVD) or with Apple’s iTools Musée d'Orsay, Montparnasse creative software of text tools. The fact that it’s optimized for Mac Sibelius 1.4 Sibelius Web sites, iMovie 2 takes once-complex projects Starry Night Backyard Sienna Software multiprocessing makes it the runaway winner in and puts them in the capable hands of kids. this award category. Creative learning indeed. Virtual Visit Multimedia

Product Angelo Card Product Company Product Dreamweaver 4/Fireworks 4 Studio Product Company

Company Hermstedt AirShuttle Hermstedt Company Macromedia BBEdit 6 Barebones Software web publishing DoubleTalk Connectix Contrary to popular opinion, ISDN is not being taken Macromedia’s Dreamweaver is already the world’s GoLive 5.0 Adobe over by ADSL. ISDN has been given a new lease of FireWire Hub Swann leading Web-design layout tool. But to describe it as Flash 5 Macromedia life with a card that offers up to 2Mbps throughput. FTP Client Pro 3.0 Vicomsoft merely a layout tool is to ignore its multitude of other connectivity The Hermstedt Angelo card has 30 ISDN channels interactive scripting and site-management features. Freeway 3.1 Softpress for use all together or individually – for the fastest procurve switch hp Version 4 of Dreamweaver is now even easier to use LiveMotion 1.0 Adobe guaranteed bandwidth around. and faster to learn. It’s also better at production flow, and entirely customizable.

Product Toast Titanium 5.0 Product Company Product PhotoSmart 1218 Product Company consumer hardware Company Roxio FireLight Mac & More Company hp GeForce2 Nvidia One Pro 45GB One Technologies Some people said Adaptec’s Toast 4 couldn’t be From automatic paper-sensing to infrared iBook SE Apple improved. They were wrong. Toast 5 sports a new Snap Server 2000 Quantum connectivity, hp’s PhotoSmart 1218 has everything, iMac Special Edition Apple storage simplified Aqua-like interface and even more features. Tempo RAID66 Sonnet including great quality prints. It even does its Now you can burn CDs in the background without own head alignment. You can print directly from m105 Palm stopping your work. Toast 5 also supports DVD, MP3 16x10x40 CD-RW LaCie digital-camera media using either CompactFlash Radeon Mac Edition ATI and Video-CD formats. or SmartMedia cards. This printer is so smart you don’t even need a computer to print from.

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132 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Macworld JUNE 2001 133 editors’ choice runners-up

Product iTunes 1.1 Product Company Company Apple iMovie 2 Apple

Apple hired the writer of Casady & Greene’s Office 2001 Microsoft SoundJam to update the digital-music jukebox Photoshop Elements Adobe software with a jazzy Apple interface. iTunes, free with new Macs and downloadable for the rest of us, PhotoStudio 4 ArcSoft is a wonderful way to make people use their Mac as consumer software Virtual PC 4 Connectix a digital-entertainment hub. And the pictures sure look pretty, too.

Product Escape from Monkey Island Product Company Company Aspyr Alien Crossfire Firaxis

Anybody familiar with Guybrush Threepwood’s Championship Feral Interactive previous adventures, will know that Escape from Manager 00/01 Monkey Island has been a long time coming. But it doesn’t disappoint. With hilarious characters, such Deus Ex Aspyr entertainment as ghost pirates and, of course, the occasional Oni Bungie monkey, it’s the best adventure yet – and an excellent respite from your average shoot ’em up. The Sims Aspyr

Product Mac OS X Product Company Company Apple Office 2001 Microsoft

OK, so it’s not quite the finished article yet – missing OmniWeb The Omni Group some key features and still waiting for optimized Photoshop 6.0.1 Adobe applications. But OS X is, without doubt, the future of the Macintosh. Its high-performance, robust Unix PowerBook G4 Apple architecture is well hidden underneath the gorgeous product of the year SuperDrive and iDVD Apple Aqua interface. It may take time to get used to, but OS X computing is well worth the effort.

readers’ choice runners-up Product PowerBook G4 Product Company Company Apple iBook Apple

What’s sexy and one-inch thick? The Titanium iMac Apple PowerBook G4. Apple CEO Steve Jobs calls it the PhotoSmart 1218 hp ultimate blend of sex and power. Macworld readers agree, and the sales figures speak for themselves. Power Mac G4 Cube Apple best hardware This sleek-design dream looks set to be Apple’s Power Mac G4 Apple most popular laptop ever.

Product Photoshop 6.0.1 Product Company Company Adobe Dreamweaver 4 Macromedia Final Cut Pro Apple Photoshop seems to have been the readers’ choice for best software forever… And why not? Version 6.0 is iMovie 2 Apple classic Photoshop – the universally acclaimed image- Mac OS X Apple editing market leader. The new text-tools are worth best software the upgrade price themselves, and the increased Office 2001 Microsoft Web support makes this perennial favourite even closer to our hearts (and Wacom tablets).

Company Macwarehouse Company Computer Warehouse The ads have finally changed from the pretty lady with the telephone headset, but Macwarehouse still offers Jigsaw an almost unrivalled selection of top Mac goods via Mygate

best dealer phone or Web. Macworld readers clearly appreciate the swift service and choice of products, as Macwarehouse is their favourite for the third year in a row.

134 Macworld JUNE 2001 Search Macworld’s Reviews database online (www.macworld.co.uk), updated throughout the month. Missing manual iMovie 2: Video lighting Turning home video into pro video. Part Three. By David Pogue

oday’s camera optics are good, but Going to this extreme isn’t always they’re not human eyeballs. Every necessary, of course. If it’s just you filming T camera, from your camcorder to the New Year’s Eve party, you’re better off not professional TV and film models, captures asking the revellers to sit down and be quiet truer colour, depth, and contrast if lighting while you set up the lights. But when you’re conditions are good. The need for bright conducting interviews, shooting a dramatic light grows more desperate if: film, making a video for broadcast, or making a You record onto videotape instead of film QuickTime movie for distribution on a CD-ROM Video picks up an even smaller range of light (or now even DVD via Apple’s iDVD and and shadow than film, so having enough SuperDrive), lights will make your footage light is especially important when using your look much better. camcorder. A movie whose acting, sound, and The following discussion is dedicated to dialogue are exceptional can be ruined by poor illuminating those more important filming lighting. situations. When you want the very best You plan to turn your finished production footage, lit the way the pros would light it, the into a QuickTime movie If the final product of following guidelines, theory, and equipment your video project is to be a QuickTime movie suggestions will serve you well indeed. (as opposed to something you’ll view on TV), (If you’re just shooting kids, relatives, or you need even more light. animals indoors, on the other hand, at least The compression software (codecs) that turn on every light in the room.) turn your video into QuickTime files do excellent work – if the original footage was Lighting basics well lit. When you turn a finished dim iMovie Cinematographers spend entire careers production into a QuickTime movie, you’ll studying lighting; it’s a fantastically complex notice severe drops in colour fidelity and picture science. Here’s what they worry about. quality – and a severe increase in blotchiness. Exposure Exposure means light – the This desperate need for light explains amount of illumination the camera picks up. why some camcorders have a small built-in When the scene is too dark, you lose a lot of light on the front; unfortunately, such lights detail in dark shadows. Worse, your camcorder’s are effective only when shooting subjects AGC (Automatic Gain Circuit, the video only a few feet away. Better still are clip-on equivalent of the audio-levelling circuitry video lights designed precisely for use with described in the previous section) tries to camcorders. Not every camcorder has a shoe amplify the available light. The result, which – a flat connector on the top that secures, and you can see for yourself by filming in dim provides power to, a video light. But if yours light, is in “video noise” (coloured speckles) does, consider buying a light to fit it. The scenes and unrealistic colours (black become a noisy, you shoot indoors, or at close range outdoors, milky dark grey). If the scene is too bright, will benefit from much better picture quality. on the other hand, details can wash out, If your camcorder doesn’t have a light disappearing in white areas. Over its 400 pages, David Pogue’s iMovie 2: The Missing attachment, or if you want to get more serious Contrast The contrast ratio is the ratio of Manual (Pogue Press/O’Reilly; ISBN: 0-596-00104-5) yet, consider deliberately lighting the scene, the brightest highlights in a scene to the provides a complete course in Macintosh film-making – and unearths dozens of undocumented iMovie 2 features. This just like TV and film cinematographers the article is the third of a series of Macworld extracts from the world over. continues page 138 book, which costs £13.95 from all good booksellers.

Go to www.macworld.co.uk for the latest daily news, hot reviews, buyers’ guide and special offers. Macworld JUNE 2001 137 darkest shadows. Professional filmmakers and lifeless. Harder light can reveal contours, example, a clean T-shirt or piece of paper. Zoom often set up huge arrays of extra lights to shapes, and textures, making objects more in until the white area fills the screen, then reduce the contrast ratio, thus evening out interesting and three-dimensional. press the White Balance button. The camcorder Making light work for iMovie the illumination so that the camera can record The best video lighting, therefore, comes responds by compensating for the dominant more detail accurately. (When watching a from direct light sources that are mechanically colour in the light. movie being filmed, you sometimes see huge softened; that’s why many video lights have The 45/45 rule This lighting guideline lights set up, even in daylight: they’re there milky translucent covers. suggests that the key light in a scene be at to fill in the shadow areas, so that the camera Key, fill, and back lights In professional a 45° angle to the camera-subject line and Back light can “see,” for example, the actors’ eyes.) film and TV work, the most common lighting at a 45° angle above the ground. Film cameras can photograph details in a arrangement is called the three-point lighting scene that has a 10:1 contrast ratio (highlights setup. It requires that you set up at least three General guidelines for lighting are ten times brighter than the dark shadow light sources, as shown opposite. The preceding discussion gives you the theory areas). Video, on the other hand, can’t capture The key light is the primary source of of lighting design. Here’s the executive details outside a contrast ratio of about 3:1 illumination in a scene: the light on the camera, summary – a distillation that information down or 4:1. That’s another reason lighting is much the sun, the overhead light above a table, into just a few points to remember for the most more important when using a camcorder, or the light from a window, for example. professional-looking lighting. as noted above. The fill light comes from a second light The subject should be brighter than the Hard light vs soft light Hard light comes source. It’s designed to fill in the shadows background. Don’t shoot people with a bright from a small light source falling directly caused by the key light – to reduce the contrast window or doorway behind them, unless you Subject on an object. It creates hard edges between ratio, allowing the camcorder to pick up more want them to disappear into silhouette. the highlight and shadow areas; for example, details. If your camcorder has a built-in light, If the background is bright, shine additional when someone’s standing in direct sunlight, that’s usually a fill light; it softens the shadows lights on the subject – and if you can’t do that, the shadows on his face are harsh and dark. cast by the key light (such as the room lights). use your camcorder’s Backlight button or its This high contrast emphasizes wrinkles, skin The back light comes from behind the manual-exposure knob, so that the subject blemishes, baggy eyes, and other facial features subject. It helps to separate the subject from is correctly exposed (even if that makes the – in other words, hard light is unflattering light. the background. Back light is especially helpful background too bright). Soft light, on the other hand, is less direct; in distinguishing a dark subject (such as a Stand so that the key light – the sun, for it offers a softer, much smoother gradations of person’s hair) and a dark background, because example – is behind you. Don’t shoot a subject Key light light from brightest to darkest areas. You get it casts a glow around the rim of the subject’s with the sun behind her (unless you want Fright light Fill light soft light from a large light source, usually outline. Be careful, of course: When the light silhouettes). As shown above, movies are badly marred reflected or diffused (like the outdoors light behind the subject is too bright, camcorders Avoid a key light that’s directly above your by poor lighting. First rule: The primary light Camera on an overcast day, or like the light reflected respond by dimming the entire picture. subject. That causes ugly, heavy shadows under source should never be behind your subject, from the umbrellas used by photographers). In professional film and video, technicians the eyes, nose, and chin. (The cinematographers as it is in these two “what-not-to-do” The result: soft shadows or no shadows; sometimes set up a fourth light: the for the Godfather movies set up lights this way examples. everything is lit fairly evenly. background light, which is pointed at the on purpose, so that the mobsters’ eyes would Back to basics If there’s only one source of light in a scene – which may often be the case Soft light is much more flattering to human background to make it easier to see (especially be hidden in shadows. That’s not the effect you when you’re making home movies – it’s called the key light. The fill light usually goes right subjects, because it de-emphasizes wrinkles in very dark scenes). want when filming the mother-in-law at the next to the camera. The back light helps to differentiate the subject from its background. and other facial contours. Unfortunately, soft Colour temperature Believe it or not, even wedding ceremony. Usually.) (It also enhances the effect of smoke, haze, rain, and other atmospherics.) light can also make your subjects appear flat ordinary daylight or room light also has a If you decide to add lights to your setup, colour. In general, daylight has a bluish cast, you don’t need expensive movie lights. fluorescent light is greenish, and household At the hardware store, buy some inexpensive bulbs give off a yellowish light. photoreflector lights (those cheap, silver, Subject TOP Filmmakers call these colour casts the bowl-shaped fixtures) and equip them with VIEW colour temperature of the light. We don’t photoflood or tungsten work-light bulbs. Key usually notice the colour casts of these If you’re aiming for professional quality, common light sources because our eyes and create soft fill lights by bouncing light off of light minds have adjusted to it. DV camcorders a big square of white foam-core board (which 45° usually do an excellent job of compensating you can get at K-Mart, Home Depot, and so on), to avoid noticeable colour casts, too, thanks or a big piece of cardboard covered by foil to the automatic white balance in the circuitry or newspaper. This arrangement creates of every modern model. a beautiful soft light – great for close-ups. If, even so, you notice that certain shots are Bouncing lights off a white ceiling makes 45° coming out too blue, green, or yellow, you can for a pleasant soft key light, too. help the camcorder along by switching on one Tracing paper, tissue paper, and translucent of its Programs (as several manufacturers call plastic (such as shower-door material) make them) – presets for Daylight, Indoor Light, Snow great diffusers for soft light, too. (Just don’t and Ski, and so on. Each is represented in your put the paper in contact with the bulb; this viewfinder by an icon (such as a sun or a light kind of paper, especially tissue paper, ignites bulb). When you use these, the camcorder easily if it gets too hot.) FRONT shifts its colour perception accordingly. Watch out for shiny surfaces like windows, VIEW And if even those adjustments don’t fix a glass, chrome, and highly polished wood in Key light particular colour-cast problem, your camcorder your shots. They can reflect your lights into may offer a manual white-balance feature. the camera, making it look as though someone Camera White balancing means identifying to the is shining a light directly into the lens. camera some object that’s supposed to look If the back light spills into the lens, you get pure white (or colourless), so that it can adjust flares, those oddly shaped patches of light that Key advice In professional film and TV movies – and very good amateur ones – the key light is usually positioned at an angle relative to the its circuitry accordingly. To use the manual move across the frame as the camera pans. The subject, above and to one side. The fill light is usually placed on the opposite side of the camera, so that it more effectively fills the shadows. white-balance feature, focus on something sun behind the subject, or car headlights, often The back light, meanwhile, is usually on the same side as the fill light. white that’s illuminated by the key light – for cause flares. Avoid this effect if possible. MW

138 Macworld JUNE 2001 Go to www.macworld.co.uk for the latest daily news, hot reviews, buyers’ guide and special offers. Macworld JUNE 2001 139 create: web Painless pop-ups Fireworks 4 writes JavaScript for you. By Lisa Lopuck

eb pages can scroll on forever, but that doesn’t mean your readers will. A savvy designer makes the most of screen space. Pop-up menus are one way to pack a lot W of information into a small area; when visitors to your site mouse over a button that hides a pop-up menu, a new group of buttons or text links appears with additional menu options. Pop-up menus can also streamline your users’ interactions, allowing them to quickly jump to the pages they need. Say you’re developing a nutrition Web site illustrating the Food Guide Pyramid. You build six buttons representing the food groups. When a visitor mouses over a button, such as the one for the Grain group, a pop-up menu appears with additional choices, such as Rice and Pasta. The visitor can scroll down to one of those menu items and go directly to that page. Macromedia’s Fireworks 4 makes it easy to create pop-up menus. You create the images for the buttons, and then Fireworks automatically writes and exports the JavaScript that powers the buttons. In just three steps, you can use Fireworks 4 to create a working Web-page interface with a space-saving pop-up menu.

Inserting hotspots To insert a pop-up menu, you first need to add a hotspot to your main button. 1 These interactive elements trigger pop-up menus. In this step, you’ll add six hotspots to the fictitious nutrition site. A ■ Select all six buttons with the Pointer tool by holding down the shift key while clicking on each label. Choose Insert: Hotspot from Fireworks’ main menu. The window that appears asks ■ Select the Rectangle tool, and create six rectangles, whether you want a single large hotspot or multiple ones. Click which will become your buttons. With the Text tool, enter the on Multiple. You should now have six hotspots of the exact size descriptive labels Fat, Oil & Sweets; Dairy; Meat; Vegetable; of your buttons (B). Click once on the background to deselect Fruit; and Grain (A). them.

■ Group each text label with its rectangle by holding down the B shift key while clicking on both the text label and the rectangle, and then choosing Group from the Modify menu. Click on the background to deselect the group. Repeat this for each button.

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Go to www.macworld.co.uk for the latest daily news, hot reviews, buyers’ guide and special offers. Macworld JUNE 2001 141 Inserting a pop-up menu With all six hotspots in place, you can add a pop-up menu to each one. 2 C B A

■ Select the hotspot for the Grain button and choose Insert: Pop- Up Menu from the menu bar. In the Set Up window, type the first item for the menu, Bread, in the Text field, and then enter a link in the Link field – here it’s bread.html. To add the item to the menu list, click on the + icon (A).

■ Now enter the additional choices you want under Bread. Type Wheat, add a link (here bread/wheat.html), and click on the + icon. With the Wheat menu item highlighted, click on the Create Menu icon (B) to make Wheat a submenu of Bread. Wheat will then be indented below Bread. Now type White, enter bread/white.html, and click on the + icon. To move an item up in the pop-up hierarchy, click on the Promote Menu icon (C). Continue in this way until you’ve completed all the submenus D for the Grain category. Click on the Next button (D) to continue.

Finishing and previewing your pop-up menu ■ You can apply various format settings to your pop-up menu. The last step is to fine-tune the pop-up menu’s Select the Image option (A). Choose a font style from the font 3 appearance. Fireworks gives you a choice of an list, and change the font size to whatever looks best with your HTML or a “button-like” look, and lets you control typeface. If you feel adventurous, play with the image and colour the font and font size. options (B). Otherwise, click on the Finish button (C) to return to your document. A ■ Back in the document, you’ll see a light-blue outline representing your pop-up menu. With the Pointer tool, click and drag it to where you want it to appear (D).

■ Repeat steps 2 and 3 to add pop-up menus to the remaining five buttons. To preview your buttons, choose File: Preview In Browser. Then just admire your Fireworks handiwork (E).

B C

142 Macworld JUNE 2001 Go to www.macworld.co.uk for the latest daily news, hot reviews, buyers’ guide and special offers. Your tip of the month wins an hp deskjet 990c m We reward the tip of the month with an hp deskjet 990c m, worth £279. This graphite colour-printer offers amazing image quality and speed, and Q&A/tips is bursting with gadgetry and cool extras.

• Office shortcuts • Hyperlink hypertension • AirPort mileage Q&A/tips Handy Mac tips and readers’ questions answered. By Christopher Breen

Remote access alternative

Is it possible to access my work Mac from my home Mac via a modem, rather than Q Apple’s Remote Access? Debbie Wilson I have to pause and wonder which aspects of Remote Access do not meet Wilson’s needs. A After all, with the release of OS 9, Apple generously included in Remote Access the ability to access files on another Mac remotely via modem or the Internet. To activate this feature on her work Mac, Wilson need only open the File Sharing control panel, start file sharing, click on the Users & Groups tab, double-click on the name she uses to access the Mac across the network, select Remote Access from the Show pop-up menu, and select the Allow User To Dial In To This Computer option. On her Mac at home, she should select Remote Only in the AppleTalk control panel’s Connect Via pop-up menu; choose PPP in the TCP/IP Connect Via pop-up menu; open the Remote Access control panel; enter her user name, her password, and the phone number of on your work computer (or, better yet, see if Total control the modem attached to the work Mac; and initiate a someone else is playing Cro-Mag Rally on it while Timbuktu Pro is your window to the world of a remotely connection. Once she’s made a connection, all that you’re away from the office). With the latest version controlled Mac, and that’s handy for troubleshooting. remains is to select the work Mac from within the of Timbuktu Pro you can even send your voice over Chooser. the Internet. Of course, if your work Mac – like nearly every office Mac – reaches the Web through a network Bulk addressing rather than a modem, you have to connect via TCP. Because you may encounter changing IP addresses To add several names and email if the network accesses the Web via DHCP (Dynamic addresses to Microsoft’s Outlook Host Configuration Protocol – an Internet protocol TIP Express and Entourage email that can automate the assignment of IP addresses), clients, ⌘-click on messages whose senders it’s time for the IT department at your work to earn you’d like to add to your Address Book and then their keep. Give them a call and ask how to access press ⌘-=. the network remotely. However, I can understand why Wilson might be Office shortcuts frustrated by Remote Access’s limitations: it doesn’t allow you to remotely control the actions of your Office 2001 doesn’t support many of the work Mac. No, for that kind of control you need commands previous versions did. Is there Netopia’s Timbuktu Pro (www.netopia.com). For Q any way I can get back to the old short cuts? £159, the Timbuktu Pro 5.x for Mac OS twin pack Richard Troxel allows you to copy files to and from the remote Mac, Microsoft should make Office keyboard- actually see that Mac’s screen on your monitor, and commands customizable. But, until it does, I control its actions (see “Total control”). That’s right; A suggest that you look into a macro utility such although you’ll experience slow performance, you’re as CE Software’s QuicKeys 5.0 (Computers Unlimited, welcome to remotely play a game of Cro-Mag Rally page 147

Go to www.macworld.co.uk for the latest daily news, hot reviews, buyers’ guide and special offers. Macworld JUNE 2001 145 Hyperlink hypertension

I’m sure Microsoft meant well when To turn off individual hyperlinks in Word, it added automatic Web hyperlinks to simply highlight and press ⌘-K. To disable Q Word 2001, but it plays merry hell when A this feature more permanently, follow these I use the word processor to craft HTML pages. instructions: If I try to edit a URL, Word sends me to that Go to Tools in the menubar; go to AutoCorrect. site via Internet Explorer. I’ve trawled Word’s Here, you’ll find AutoFormatAsYouType. There, Preferences, and simply can’t find how to turn turn off Internet paths with hyperlinks in Replace this feature off. Help! as you type. Your browser will no longer open at Barry Ferguson the most inconvenient time.

020 8358 5857; £35). With QuicKeys, you can easily it away in a convenient location on your hard drive. create a keyboard-alias macro that moves the cursor When you next want to check on the contents down within a cell when you press the enter key. of this folder, just double-click on its alias. And you can extend this keyboard-alias capability to any application on your Mac. (Because I’m Email summary occasionally clumsy, I’ve created a keyboard alias that substitutes the F14 key – assigned to absolutely In Microsoft Entourage, you nothing – for the help key, which I routinely hit by can create a summary of an email accident when reaching for the delete key.) TIP message by Control-clicking within the body of the message and selecting Summarize Wake-up to weather Text to Clipboard from the resulting contextual menu. Just paste that text in a text window to Your Mac can greet you with a view the summary. weather report or the local news TIP when you wake up. Just drag the Jammed CDs URL of your favourite weather or news site from the address bar of your Web browser, to the desktop to Should your new PowerBook G4 have create a Web clipping; place that file in the Startup difficulty ejecting a CD or DVD disc, Items folder in the System Folder. TIP try these ejection methods: Now open the Energy Saver control panel, click 1. Press the F12 key located at the upper on the Schedule button, and create a schedule that right corner of your PowerBook’s keyboard. starts your Mac before you get up in the morning. 2. Restart the PowerBook and hold down When you rise the next day, you’ll be greeted by the trackpad button. a Web page offering the latest news or weather. 3. If all else fails, haul out a straightened paper Jon Fowler clip and, with the PowerBook switched off, insert the end of the paper clip into the small eject hole Charge and go at the right side of the drive, and press until the disc emerges. A PowerBook G4’s battery needs to be “conditioned” to get the best Safer streams TIP use out of it. To condition the battery, fire up your PowerBook with the power adaptor If you’re listening to audio from unplugged and let the battery drain (a good way a QuickTime streaming server and TIP to do this is to open the Energy Saver control panel, TIP the sound regularly drops out, try and in the Sleep Setup portion of the window set switching the Steaming Transport settings in the the “Put the system to sleep whenever it’s inactive QuickTime Settings control panel. To do so, open for” option to Never). Drain the battery once this the QuickTime Settings control panel and select way, and your battery is conditioned. the Use HTTP option. Listeners of the Mac Show Live Handy OS X alias (www.macshowlive.com) – the Web-based Macintosh radio show – have found that making With the release of OS X, Apple this switch provides a smoother stream. bundled a bunch of worthwhile TIP software into the iTools iDisk – Fat CDs and G4 PowerBooks the virtual hard disk that resides on Apple’s servers. Customize OmniWeb’s toolbar Included in iDisk’s What’s New folder are OS X- Those with Titanium PowerBooks may OmniWeb, the Omni Group's Web browser for OS X, allows native versions of iTunes, iMovie, and a Carbonized discover that when they insert a CD you to customize the toolbar by either selecting Customize update to AppleWorks 6. TIP with a thickish label, the PowerBook Toolbar from the Window menu, or Control-clicking on the Because Apple is likely to fling more goodies is reluctant to suck in the CD and makes a horrifying toolbar and selecting Customize Toolbar from the contextual onto your iDisk in the future – and it can take a very sound while trying to run it. Sometimes, the disc menu. However, once you've added the icons you like to the long time to navigate the folder in that virtual disk may refuse to eject. Apple knows there’s a problem toolbar, how do you move them around? to retrieve new software – you’d be well-served to with the DVD drives found on some Titanium Easy enough. Just hold down the ⌘ key while clicking create an alias of the What’s New folder and tuck page 148 on a toolbar icon to move that icon around.

Go to www.macworld.co.uk for the latest daily news, hot reviews, buyers’ guide and special offers. Macworld JUNE 2001 147 Tip of the month: Early OS X updates

If you are running OS X, and downloaded one of the dodgy TIP 10.0.1 updates that were floating around the Internet before the official version came out, you will have trouble updating to the real 10.0.1. You can delete the old update quite simply by going into your Library-Receipts folder and trashing the old 10.0.1 update. Then re-run Software Update and it will install normally. Another point is that once you have run the Software Update, run it again, and again until it doesn’t have anything left to update. The updates available with this release can take three runs to download – each time loading new features, such as extra support for Epson printers. Future updates will quite likely keep to the same format, so running the Software Update a few times every time there is something to update is probably a good idea. During installation the installer will go through an optimization process. Depending on what machine you are using this might take a long time (a couple of hours). It is worth waiting for, though, because it will improve performance. Bob Richards

PowerBooks, and will fix the problem if you allow option. To do so, select QuickTime Settings from it to hold your PowerBook for a week or more. If the Control Panels submenu. In the resulting your schedule currently doesn’t allow you to give window, select AutoPlay from the pop-up menu. up your PowerBook for that length of time, you Finally, disable the Enable Audio CD AutoPlay might try this: Burn a copy of that CD on a CD-R option and close the panel. burner and use the label-less copy rather than the original disc. Clear resolutions

Speedy-OS X install To see all the monitor resolutions available to your Mac from the I found a very solid way to install TIP Monitors Resolution control-strip Mac OS X that really boosts its module, hold down the Control key while clicking TIP speed: on the module. 1. Backup. 2. Initialize two partitions. 3. Clean install Mac OS 9.1 for a CD on the second partition. Bright idea 4. Set extension set to base set on 9.1. 5. Install X on the first partition. If you’ve mashed your PowerBook If Apple had only put this in the manual, G4’s Brightness button for a long so many people claiming the speed of Mac OS X TIP time and the screen isn’t bright was too slow for them wouldn’t have complained. enough for you, try this: Open the Monitors control I am running it on my PowerBook G3/233, and it’s panel, click the Color button, and select PowerBook fast. The key is that the 9.1 CD has certain items G3 Series from the list of ColorSync profiles. Macworld’s chief sub-editor Woody Phillips that are missing from the 9.0 to 9.1 updater, and Although this profile doesn’t display colours as and contributing editor Christopher Breen thus the 9.1 CD makes Mac OS X much faster. accurately, it’s certainly brighter. answer readers’ questions and select reader- The Mac OS X public beta leaves invisible files submitted tips for this column. Send your that corrupt the final version. For more details, AirPort mileage question or tip (include your address and see www.index-sitw.com/macosxspeed.html phone number) to Q&A, Macworld, 99 A Brody AirPort on a PowerBook G4 has Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8UT. You can also send an email, marked Q&A in a far more limited range than on the subject line, to [email protected]. Forgetful SoundJam TIP other PowerBooks, iBooks, and We pay £25 for each tip published here. desktop Macs. If you require the kind of range found We cannot make personal replies, If Casady & Greene’s SoundJam in other AirPort-equipped Macs, you can add a third- so please do not include a stamped can’t seem to remember title party AirPort-compatible PC Card to your PowerBook. addressed envelope. TIP information you’ve obtained via Such PC Cards include Lucent’s Orinoco Turbo Silver CDDB lookups, turn off QuickTime 4’s AutoPlay or Farallon’s Skyline cards. MW

148 Macworld JUNE 2001 Go to www.macworld.co.uk for the latest daily news, hot reviews, buyers’ guide and special offers. 1984 and 2001 could prove to be classics in Andy Ihnatko the computer world as well as the literary.

Year we go again

et me apologize, folks. The infinite mystery directories when I wasn’t expecting it. It’s dampened of God‘s existence has caused everyone no my enthusiasm for X every single time. end of bafflement, and although I discovered But – and I offer this only as a possibility – could L the definitive answer some time ago, I haven’t I be, simply, full of it? Am I evaluating Mac OS X as a actually done anything with it. That was pure brand-new operating system? Or am I just rebelling carelessness on my part. against having to rethink my 15-year-old definition In any event, yes, God does exist. If you’re unwilling of the Macintosh experience? to take my word for it, consider this: in all of world It’s thrilling and frightening. All around me, literature, only two years are also titles of classic folks are proclaiming that the End of the Mac “This time, the novels: 1984 and 2001. And Steve Jobs chose both is nigh. Others, thoroughly hypnotized by those blonde woman of those years for Apple to roll out new operating pulsating buttons, have embraced Mac OS X systems designed to shatter the existing hegemony. and are making it do wonderful things. in running Of course, we shouldn’t take coincidence as the When we were teenagers, we rebelled against shorts isn’t sole proof of a Divine Being’s existence. But, it does anything and everything. As we made our way into represent precisely the sort of cheap irony you’d adulthood, we exploited our rebellious impulses hurling a expect God to go for. God created the coconut, which efficiently, focusing them on the important issues. hammer at a provides vital nourishment, fibre, and drinking water, Eventually, though, we’ve all got to realize that and He included utensils with it – just break off a the things it’s most important to rebel against are video image of piece – so we could readily access and enjoy it all. our own hard-won principles and preconceptions – Big Brother – And then, He stuck it 50 feet above our reach in to realize that sometimes there’s a difference between a tree with no branches. Similarly, He chose to have the right way, and what we’ve merely come to think of she’s throwing Chairman Steve make his first play during the year as the right way. Our gut-level distaste for something it at a mirror.” in which George Orwell predicted we would be new is less about our reaction to the thing in struggling against a totalitarian dictatorship. question, than it is about our fears of abandoning And now, during the year in which Arthur C Clarke the familiar and comfortable. predicted we would move to the next stage of cosmic The computer world faced that challenge in 1984. enlightenment, Steve is back for a second act. Some of us were apoplectic with joy about the first Like it or not, Mac OS X is meant to have the Mac and embraced it right away, even though in same effect on us as Macintosh System 1.0 had on many ways it was about as useful as a camel that the MS-DOS world. This time, we’re the enemy – and could yodel Gershwin. Others fell in love, but sure enough, grumblings began with Apple’s very first, managed to restrain themselves until the Mac very cautious demonstration of the Aqua interface. became more practical. Still others remain unmoved. The more I work with OS X, the more my attitudes 2001 will go down as the Proving Year for and opinions flip-flop. I mean, I generally like the Aqua Mac OS X. People will buy software for it. Apple will interface, but I worry that Apple has traded elegance release updates for it. Surely, like the original Mac, for flash. I like the new browser-based Finder, but Mac OS X won’t be truly finished until it arrives at its dangit, it takes up a lot of room on my screen. equivalent of System 4.0. Until then, we won’t know And while some people’s first experience with Mac whether that ending will be like 1984’s, in which we OS X was loading up Microsoft Internet Explorer, mine are impotent against the will of the collective, or like was compiling GNU source code and excitedly seeing 2001’s, in which man learns to play among the stars. how much I could exploit Mac OS X’s Unix heritage. Regardless of the outcome, 2001 will be I’m as captivated by X’s Unix underpinnings as Taiwan remembered as the year in which the Mac community is by missile defence systems. And yet… several times grew up. And you’ll see how 2001 won’t be like in the course of the past year, I’ve skidded around “1984”: This time, the blonde woman in running a corner in Mac OS X and found myself transported shorts isn’t hurling a hammer at a video image of to the dark, humid realms of lowercase backslash Big Brother – she’s throwing it at a mirror. MW

194 Macworld JUNE 2001 Read more Macworld opinions online (www.macworld.co.uk), and join in the debate.