Macworld articles from April 2004

Macworld archives from April 2004

Folklore's lure.(From the Editor's Desk)
April 1, 2004... CELEBRATING THE MAC'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY HAS BEEN A lot of fun--we covered it extensively in our February issue, and we'll publish a series of stories about it in Mac Beat throughout 2004. But look past the increased media coverage of the Mac in...

Another point of view.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Our writers and lab testers sweat over every detail in Macworld's reviews and other stories. Our editors and copy editors check facts and labor mightily to make all the elements of our magazine readable and error free. And our designers wrangle...

Macromedia, may I?(Feedback)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... LINDA REYNOLDS * The review of Macromedia Studio MX 2004 (January 2004) should have stated that Macromedia now uses "product activation" to authorize the software to run beyond 30 days from the time of installation. This is for purchased,...

When we're right, we're right.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... ARTIE EVANS * Jason Snell's review of Eudora 6.0 (GOOD 1/2; January 2004) stated exactly what I've been saying: Eudora's interface is really outdated and has been for some time now. It needs a major overhaul to look and feel like a Mac OS...

Classic dilemma.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... DR. JEFFREY CHAJES * I would like to broaden Ben Boychuk's discussion of the issues faced by classical music listeners using iTunes and an iPod ("Appreciating the Classics," Mac Beat, January 2004). Extrapolating from my own...

Mac mobility.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... MICHAEL SHAFAE * "Leave Your Laptop at Home" (Mobile Mac, January 2004) is very thorough with regard to synchronizing the mailboxes of two Macs using a mechanism where messages and their attachments are stored on the client and not the...

I [love] Mac.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... WILLIAM BENNETT * I am a teacher. Yesterday at a faculty meeting, our principal gave everyone in the building a present: a Gateway 64MB USB drive. Like a kid, I rushed to my Gateway computer on my school desk to try it. "It's plug and...

Scanning resolutions.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... PAUL HERMAN * "Bring Old Photos to iPhoto" (Digital Hub, January 2004) suggests that the only criterion for scanning resolution is simply what you want to do with the result--whether you're printing via an ink-jet device (180 to 240 dpi)...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
April 1, 2004... In "Leave Your Laptop at Home" (Mobile Mac, January 2004), we say that you can purchase a Palm Bluetooth card that fits in the expansion slot of the Tungsten E. In fact, the Tungsten E is a Palm OS 5 device, and currently no driver for the....

Apple updates Logic, previews future additions to Audio Software: Apple's logical moves.(Mac Beat)
April 1, 2004... Since the iPod's 2001 debut, Apple has pushed to make the Mac the preeminent platform for music creation, playback, and distribution. In 2002, the company bought Emagic, a top cross-platform developer of music-production software. That purchase...

Macworld reader poll: thinking small.(Mac Beat)
April 1, 2004... Apple's new iPod mini may win raves from Mac fans for its eye-catching design and slender size, but its $249 price seems awfully steep to many Mac users--even those planning on buying the slimmed-down music player. And while the iPod mini has...

Hardware, software products pump up the volume: Mac audio amps up.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Apple isn't the only company making noise with professional audio and MIDI products. Plenty of other hardware and software products that debuted at January's NAMM music-industry trade show should pique the interest of Mac-using musicians. ...

Another Corel app abandons the Mac: CorelDraw erases Mac support.(Mac Beat)
April 1, 2004... CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12 introduces new sketching capabilities and drawing tools while enhancing suite-wide integration. That's of little consequence to Mac users, though. The latest version of the graphics bundle from Corel (www.corel.com)...

Apple responds to iPod, PowerBook, iBook woes: Mac users in a fix.(Mac Beat)
April 1, 2004... Macs routinely win plaudits for their reliability and high quality. But a recent spate of hardware glitches and part failures among iPods, 15-inch PowerBooks, and iBooks have some Mac users scratching their heads. To be fair, these problems...

Input-device beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... IntelliScanner OCR Pen, from Intelli Innovations (www.intellisw.com): USB-based highlighter-shaped scanner reads text and barcodes into any Mac app ($349). IRISPen Express, from IRIS Group (www.irislink.com): USB-based pen scanner enters...

Internet beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Lasso Studio 7, from Blue World Communications (www.blueworld.com): Web-site database integration tool adds compatibility with latest releases of Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe GoLive, and Blue World Lasso Professional ($299; upgrade, $199). ...

Macworld readers' first Mac memories: every Mac user has a story.(Mac Beat)
April 1, 2004... It could have been anywhere--at school, at work, or even at a friend's house. But wherever it happened, if you're a true Mac fanatic, you can recall every last detail about the first time you laid eyes on a Macintosh. With the Mac celebrating...

Mac chip controls Mars Exploration Rovers: PowerPCs in space.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Maybe you've got a distant relative across the country. Your Mac can do you one better--it has distant cousins on another planet. The computer processor serving as the brains of NASA's two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, is...

Discs become dual-sided, dual-layer: double-duty DVDs.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Burning DVDs off a computer used to be a job for only highly skilled video pros. But thanks to advances in hardware and software, any Mac user can create a DVD with a minimum of fuss. And ongoing technological developments promise to increase...

Creative beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... FontAgent Pro 2, from Insider Software (www.insidersoftware.com): Font-organization, -repair, and -management software features new auto-activation and multiple-font-viewing capabilities, and it adds Rendezvous support to Workgroup edition...

Imaging beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Concord Eye-Q4360z, from Concord Camera (www.concordcam.com): 4-megapixel digital camera offers 3X optical and 6X digital zoom ($199). Coolpix 8700, from Nikon (www.nikonusa.com): 8-megapixel digital camera with 8X optical Zoom-Nikkor lens...

Personal finance software: five programs that make sense of your dollars.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... Whether you're stuffing your life savings into a mattress, dropping every dime into a savings account, or spending your money as fast as you make it, you need to know where your cash is coming from and where it's going. [ILLUSTRATION...

RagTime 5.6: midlevel publishing package marred by poor implementation.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... The idea behind RagTime 5.6.5 is very appealing: business publishing software that provides midlevel page-layout capabilities, a la Adobe PageMaker, as well as word processing, charting, and spreadsheet tools. But the reality of RagTime 5.6.5...

E-mail servers: four software packages for OS X help you deliver your message.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... To an organization, e-mail is arguably the most important Internet service. It cuts down the costs and hassle of communicating with people around the world. But if you want more flexibility and control of your e-mail than your Internet service...

20-inch iMac G4: larger display makes for more fun--and more work.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... The new iMac G4, with its 20-inch LCD monitor, is a wonder to behold. Despite its consumer-level status, it's a mighty Mac. For $2,199, you get the same computer as the 17-inch iMac G4 (VERY GOOD 1/2; Reviews in Brief, January 2004) but with a...

MotionBuilder 5: character-animation package proves to be a smooth character.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... Unlike other 3-D packages that focus on rendering spectacular images and effects, Kaydara's MotionBuilder 5 is uniquely suited to creating great animation of biped and quadruped characters--a task at which it succeeds admirably. ...

You Control 1.0: flexible utility offers quick access to your files and folders.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... Despite Mac OS X's many charms and abilities, it can seem rather inflexible compared with OS 9, which lets you put your own files, folders, and applications in an Apple menu, and lets you choose your own system font. But with the help of a new...

Squeezebox: digital music player fit for a home stereo.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... Once you've transferred your music collection onto a Mac or an iPod, and gotten used to the freedom of having your entire music library at your fingertips, it's hard to go back to using your stereo's primitive CD changer. CDs don't afford you...

inMotion: portable speakers turn your iPod into a miniature bookshelf stereo.(Reviews)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Altec Lansing's $149 inMotion, a portable speaker unit for the iPod, is arguably the coolest iPod accessory on the market. About the size of a paperback book when folded shut (8.0 by 5.4 by 1.2 inches), this device is easy to tote around,...

PDFpen 1.1: PDF utility hampered by poor performance.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... For sharing complex documents, PDF files are hard to beat, and PDF is the most popular format for distributing downloadable forms on the Web. Although Adobe Acrobat (VERY GOOD 1/2; September 2003) lets you create and edit PDF files with ease,...

DoubleSight DS-1500: two-in-one LCD monitor delivers mixed results.(Reviews)
April 1, 2004... Sure, LCD monitors are affordable--if you like things small. Increasing your screen real estate will really cost you. A 15-inch LCD can be had for around $350 these days, a typical 17-inch display sells for around $500, and you'll likely pay...

To seek out new enemies.(ratings of new video games)
April 1, 2004... THE STAR TREK SCIENCE-FICTION FRANCHISE SEEMS cursed--the last few movies have been unremarkable; the current television show is tepid at best; and a majority of the related games have, in a word, stunk. So it was with no small amount of...

What's your function?(Mac Gems)(ratings of new softwares)
April 1, 2004... PANTHER'S EXPOSE IS ONE OF THE BEST OPERATING-system features I've seen in years. But you need to press function keys to invoke Expose functions, and on most Apple laptops, OS X claims keys F1 through F7 for controlling system settings such as...

Hands on: design simple Flash games.(Secrets)(creating games with Macromedia Flash MX 2004)(related article: pin flash scripts)(Excerpt)
April 1, 2004... EVERYBODY LIKES TO PLAY GAMES. SAVVY WEB-SITE designers capitalize on that enthusiasm with games that encourage visitors to stay longer and come back often. Some companies even turn fun into good business by creating and e-mailing games to...

Working Mac: top tax tips.(Secrets)
April 1, 2004... IF THE THOUGHT OF A PERSONAL VISIT FROM THE IRS leaves you trembling in the darkest corner of your receipt-strewn house, chewing your fingernails down to nubs, it's probably time to change the way you handle your finances. Fortunately, with a...

Digital Hub: seeing the big picture.(Secrets)
April 1, 2004... BACK IN THE DAYS OF FILM PHOTOGRAPHY, I'D CAPTURE wide vistas by shooting several overlapping photos. Then I'd line up my prints on the dining-room table and paste them together to create a crude panorama. The digital world is a much...

Create: what's in a font?(Secrets)(OpenType)(related article: Stream flash on the Mac; Macromedia Flash Video Streaming Service)(related article: New tool for packaging; FoldUp 3D)
April 1, 2004... GONE ARE THE DAYS WHEN YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE getting when you bought a font--back when fonts could hold about 225 characters (PostScript Type 1s, for example). Now we're in the era of OpenType fonts, which can contain tens of thousands of...

Mobile Mac: laptop lockdown.(Secrets)(how to protect your computer and your data)(related article: Pump you up! Fitness and the iPod)(related article: Portable projection; compact digital projectors)
April 1, 2004... LAPTOP OWNERS ADORE POWERBOOKS AND iBOOKS FOR their snazzy looks, light weight, and excellent resale value. Unfortunately, thieves like them for the very same reasons. And the person who steals your laptop not only nabs your hardware but also...

Geek Factor: I Spy with iSight.(Secrets)(Evological Software)(Ben Software)
April 1, 2004... IN SEVERAL RECENT INCIDENTS, THIEVES HAVE STOLEN equipment worth thousands of dollars from Brigham Young University. The staff of one department took matters into their own hands and set up a surveillance camera. The perpetrators were promptly...

Help desk: Mac OS X Hints.(Secrets)
April 1, 2004... LEARN A BIT MORE ABOUT THE UNIX SIDE OF OS X, INCLUDing hints on using Terminal to convert manuals to PostScript, copy information to the Clipboard, convert line breaks in text files, identify what's in a given file, and open the current...

Help desk: Mac 911.(Secrets)
April 1, 2004... LIKE THE GOPHERS WHO DECIMATED MY RECENT AGRI-cultural efforts, this month's Mac 911 digs beneath the surface to expose the difficulties of converting iTunes music files, extracting video files from DVDs, putting an end to Office snooping, and...

IntelliScanner collector.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... No collection of books, music, or movies is too disorderly for Intelli Innovations' $199 software-handheld scanner package to catalog (www.intellisw.com). The Collection software in particular appeases our inner organizer by scouring several...

Interiors.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... With Martha Stewart spending more time in court these days than on a tastefully decorated set, you need to look elsewhere for home-designing hints. Fortunately, the $129 Interiors 3.4, from Microspot (www.microspot.com), lets you easily create...

OmniWeb's take on tabs.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Playing around with the OmniWeb 5.0 beta, from The Omni Group (www.omnigroup.com), we couldn't help but marvel at the browser's twist on tabbed browsing. Creating a new tab gives you a thumbnail view of the Web page in the tab drawer, so...

Practice makes perfect.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... With GarageBand, you can turn a Mac into your own personal Abbey Road Studios. So maybe it's time to brush up on those long-forgotten music lessons. eMedia Music's $200 Learn to Play Keyboard Bundle (www.emediamusic.com) packages piano and...

Salling Clicker.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Good news if you have a Sony Ericsson P800 or P900--Salling Software (www.salling.com) is working on a Salling Clicker update that will extend the program's remote-control capabilities to those phones. For the first time, Salling Clicker will...

What's hot: a quick look at the world of Macs.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... 1 Apple and Pepsi kick off iTunes Music Store promotion with a Super Bowl TV ad. But after the halftime show gets all the attention, the companies promise that future ads will feature fewer music-stealing kids and more nudity. 2 Apple's...

Thomas Hampson.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Few of the people who attended January's Mac-world Expo would be as comfortable with the works of Puccini and Verdi as with those of Apple and Macromedia. But Thomas Hampson is. The renowned opera singer is also a major Mac aficionado (and the...