Macworld articles from February 2003

Macworld archives from February 2003

A very good year: as OS X maxtures, Great Mac products abound. (From the Editor's Desk).(Column)
February 1, 2003... THE PAST YEAR WAS GOOD FOR MAC PRODUCTS. WE SAW A better and richer set of software and hardware than we did in 2001. From Apple came the introduction of the flat-panel iMac and the eMac, enhanced portables, and new Power Macs (although the...

Feedback.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... All OS X, All the Time? Upon seeing a Jaguar-spotted X on our November 2002 cover, a few readers wondered whether Apple's new operating system had completely taken over the magazine. "OS X isn't the only system software out there,"...

Corrections.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2003... Rick Rizner was the photographer for "Soup Up Your PowerBook" (Secrets, January 2003). Ben Long wrote our reviews of Boris Red 2.5 and Boris Graffiti 2.0 (December 2002).

What's in the cards: MacWorld's third annual look at the year ahead in Macs. (Mac Beat).
February 1, 2003... No one can say with certainty what to expect from Apple in 2003--no one outside the immediate vicinity of Steve Jobs's office, anyway. But we've managed to find 11 people willing to give us their best guesses. For the third consecutive year,...

Hardware beat. (Mac Beat).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Displays Two LCD monitors from CTX (877/857-7846, www.ctxintl.com): The S700 ($460) and S730 ($473) both feature a 1,280-by-1,024-pixel native resolution and the ability to display 16.7 million colors. An LCD monitor from Formac...

Storage beat. (Mac Beat).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Hardware Burners A Fire Wire CD-RW drive from Fantom Drives (310/320-7272, www.fantomdrives.com): The Premier FireWire 52x CD-RW ($190) burns CD-Rs at speeds as fast as 52x and CD-RWs at 24x. It features the Oxford 911 FireWire Bridge...

When shall the TWAIN meet? Scanner makers rush to keep up with OS X compatibility. (Mac Beat).
February 1, 2003... It gets its name from the Rudyard Kipling poem "The Ballad of East and West." It's an image-input technology that's included as part of the core of Mac OS X 10.2. It's called TWAIN, an acronym that doesn't actually stand for anything. But the...

Multimedia beat. (Mac Beat).(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2003... Hardware Editing Systems Media 100 844/Xi, from Media 100 (800/773-1770, www.media100.com): The new video-editing system works with four real-time streams for compositing an unlimited number of video layers. It also includes 10-bit...

Blackmagic plays its trump card: latest video-capture card sells for fraction of rival product's cost.(Blackmagic Design's Deck Link PCI video-capture card)
February 1, 2003... In the world of PCI video-capture cards, Australia's Blackmagic Design (www.blackmagic-design.com) isn't exactly a well-known player. But it has played a hand in developing one of the premier capture cards for Apple's Final Cut Pro: it provided...

Macromedia's contribution to Web design: forthcoming MacApp allows anyone to update sites. (Mac Beat).(Macromedia's Contribute)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... After architects finish designing a building, they aren't called back to wash the windows or replace lightbulbs. But in many companies, Web designers wind up doing just that--after building a Web site, they get stuck with the time-consuming...

Sizing up storage: new LaCie drives cover both ends of storage spectrum. (Mac Beat).(LaCie Big Disk, LaCie Data Bank)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... With the latest additions to its line of storage products, LaCie (503/844-4500, www.lacie.com) is going to extremes. At one end of the spectrum is the LaCie Big Disk, a portable FireWire drive with a massive capacity--500GB--that dwarfs even...

A date with Windows: popular now up-to-date goes cross-platform. (Mac Beat).(Now Software's Now Up-to-Date for Windows)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... In an intriguing role reversal--one that treats the large mass of Windows users as a minority--Now Software, a division of Power On Software (800/858-7506, www.nowsoftware.com), is releasing a Windows version of the widely used Now Up-to-Date....

Mac moves: Q&A with Ian LeGrow. (Profile).(Corel's executive vice president for new ventures)(Interview)
February 1, 2003... When Corel brought its graphics and design programs to the Mac in the mid-1990s, it was hard for Mac creative professionals to take the developer's products seriously, especially when they compared those products with Adobe and Macromedia...

Productivity beat. (Mac Beat).(Intuit's QuickBooks Pro Edition 5.0 for Mac, Qualcomm's Eudora 5.2, Miramar Systems' PC MacLAN 9.0)
February 1, 2003... Software Accounting QuickBooks Pro Edition 5.0 for Mac, from Intuit (888/ 246-8848, www.quickbooks.com): The business-management app returns to the Mac platform with this version for OS 9 and OS X. New features include a Report Finder...

Depth and taxes: Intuit, H&R Block unveil updated tax software. (Mac Beat).(Intuit's TurboTax, H&R Block's TaxCut Platinum )
February 1, 2003... Death and taxes may be the only certainties in life, but annual revisions to tax-preparation applications are becoming just as inevitable. With updates for the 2002 tax year, the two leading providers of tax-preparation programs for the...

Microsoft Entourage stands alone: separate version of e-mail and pim program arrives. (Mac Beat).(Entourage 10.0)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Mac users who wanted to get their hands on individual components of Microsoft's Office productivity suite have always been able to buy stand-alone versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint--but not of Entourage. Apart from a Word 2001-Entourage...

Game beat. (Mac Beat).(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Software Android, from Phelios Software (www.phelios.com): This 2-D-action game has players climbing, jumping, and bouncing their way out of danger, through 100 levels and five different worlds ($15). BombSquad, from Positive Spin...

Game, set, Mac for Tennis Channel; Macs at work: Macs in the media. (Mac Beat).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Steve Bellamy has turned to Macs for years. They've helped the 38-year-old tennis instructor with everything from demonstrating proper tennis techniques to writing and recording more than 1,500 songs during his days as a musician. Now Bellamy,...

Macs on your radio dial. (Mac Beat).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... With talk radio expanding beyond drive-time commutes and onto the Web, more Mac-related audio programming is popping up at a URL near you. The latest offerings come from MacRadio (www.macradio.com), which airs programming, six nights a week, on...

What's hot. (Mac Beat).(Directory)
February 1, 2003... A Quick Look at the World of Macs 1. Macworld Expo kicks off in San Francisco. Oddly enough, Steve Jobs delivers his keynote from Boston. 2. Macworld recognizes the best hardware and software of 2002 with the annual Eddy awards. Thanks...

FireWire cases get SMART: new enclosure can warn you when a hard drive is about to fail. (Mac Beat).(Granite Digital's FireWire hard-drive enclosures)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... A few years ago, Granite Digital (510/471-6442, www.granitedigital.com) became the first storage maker to use the Oxford 911 chip, an ATA-to-FireWire bridge that dramatically improves transfer rates (see "Firing Up FireWire," Mac Beat,...

Creative beat. (Mac Beat).
February 1, 2003... Software Animation Carrara 3D Basics, from Eovia (858/457-5359, www.eovia.com): This scaled-down version of Eovia's 3-D--modeling and --animation software is for beginners. Available for OS 8.1 and higher, including OS X, it offers...

Titanium PowerBook G4s: new portable Mac line offers 1GHz processor, DVD-burning power, lower prices. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Apple has kicked the Titanium PowerBook G4 line up a notch by raising the speed of the top model's processor to 1GHz, giving it a DVD-R and CD-RW drive, and dropping its price by $200. The enhancements aren't as significant as those in the last...

Deck 3.5: midrange music-production tool moves to OS X, enriches video integration. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Jaguar's release was soon followed by a wave of high-end audio-production applications for Mac OS X, but these programs--with their high prices and pro-level tools--were not for the enthusiast who simply wanted to record, mix, and master music...

Six-color ink-jet photo printers: new Dye-based printers offer incremental improvements, varying image quality. (Reviews).
February 1, 2003... Dye-based ink-jet photo printers straddle two distinct markets--nonprofessional users who want to print photos from a digital camera with a minimum of hassle, and demanding graphics professionals who won't tolerate the weaker blacks in images...

Vectorworks 10: mature, full-featured CAD application offers well-integrated 2-D and 3-D capabilities. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... The latest version of Nemetschek's excellent 2-D and 3-D CAD program is the result of 17 years of evolution, but rather than showing its age, VectorWorks 10 (formerly MiniCAD) is showing its maturity. In the past, CAD programs were good at...

Plex: VST synthesizer opens doors for digital musicians. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Steinberg is keeping the flow of new VST plug-ins fast and furious with its latest offering, Plex. The result of a collaboration with Wolfgang Palm--the man behind the PPG Wave synthesizer from the early 1980s--Plex is a VST instrument that...

Formac Gallery 2010: stylish flat-panel display costs less than Apple Cinema Display. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... The arrival of Apple's gorgeous Cinema Display was probably accompanied by the painful realization that it was financially out of your reach. A couple of years later, it still costs more than $2,000, despite its aging original specifications....

Dave 4.0: file-and print-sharing utility makes Windows and Mac coexistence easier, complements Jaguar. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Is Dave, Thursby Software's venerable utility for Windows file and print sharing, necessary now that we have Jaguar? Despite the fact that Jaguar makes it easier to share PC files and connect to Windows machines than OS X 10.1 did, in some...

Image Doctor: new set of plug-ins strips flaws from your photos. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Alien Skin Software has earned a reputation for developing stellar--if somewhat wacky--image-editing plug-ins that can add effects such as fire and smoke to photographs. But with the release of Image Doctor, an impressive new set of four...

MonacoEZcolor 2.5: Easy-to-use software creates high-quality color profiles. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Most serious designers, photographers, artists, and imaging experts use ICC (International Color Consortium) profiles in their work because these profiles provide reliable, predictable color matching across all kinds of input and output...

Accountedge 3: inventory capabilities strengthen accounting package. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... MYOB has created an excellent encore to its high-end business-accounting package, AccountEdge. Although version 3 is little changed on the surface, it does offer a significant new feature: inventory management, which can help businesspeople...

Epson Stylus Pro 7600: wide-format printer shines but lacks OS X support. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... The third generation of Epson's wide-format printer line, the $2,995 Stylus Pro 7600, represents the culmination of the company's growth in the professional graphics market. When used with Epson's UltraChrome pigment inks, this printer offers...

Panasonic AG-DVX100: Pro DV Camcorder produces film-quality results. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Until now, DV camcorders have recorded 29.97-framesper-second (fps) video to tape (whether in progressive 30p or interlaced 60i capture mode). While recording in 30p gave video a flimlike look, it still didn't impress most filmmakers enough to...

This month in digital cameras.
February 1, 2003... Digital cameras with telephoto lenses are getting more popular--and less expensive. Last month, looked at three pricier, 5-megapixel cameras with long zooms--Sony's 5x Cyber-shot DSC-F717 (****1/2), Minolta's 7x Dimage 7Hi (****), and Nikon's...

Move2Mac: one-trick pony helps Windows-to-Mac switchers. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... It's all very well for Apple's "Switch" ads to woo Windows refugees. But once that good-looking Mac is on the desk, switchers face the chore of transferring files and settings from an old PC to the new Mac--a job that entails moving or copying...

Daylite 1.2: sales-relationship--management program delivers power and flexibility, but also administrative difficulty. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Since the demise of Symantec's Act for Mac, there's been a dearth of Mac-compatible applications for managing sales relationships. Sure, you can use Microsoft Entourage to store contacts and schedule meetings, but if you need a history of...

CrystalMaker 6.0: creating X-ray specs on the Mac just got easier. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... When you see a picture of a drug molecule or a nanoscale computing element in a newspaper, you're almost always looking at the result of an X-ray crystallographic study. CrystalMaker 5.0, a program that produces those types of images, was a...

Automatic Sequence Export Pro: plug-in streamlines workflow between Apple's Final Cut Pro and Avid video-editing programs. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Until recently, video professionals who use Final Cut Pro have had only one way to export video sequences to high-end editing systems for Finishing: edit decision lists (EDLs). Automatic Duck's Automatic Sequence Export Pro (ASE Pro) plug-in...

Nik Color Efex Pro Complete Collection: plug-in Set offers practical color correction. (Reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... For years, photographers have created color and special effects with filters that attach to the end of a camera lens. Now Nik Multimedia's Color Efex Pro Complete Collection offers Adobe Photoshop users 55 powerful color-correction filters that...

800MHZ iBooks. (Reviews).(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... *****, $1,599 (14.1-inch model) ***** 1/2, $1,299 (12.1-inch model); Apple Computer, 800/692-7753, www.apple.com Apple's newly updated, 800MHz iBook is, overall, what you'd expect--slightly faster than its 700MHz predecessor (see...

Font Reserve 3.1.1. (Reviews).
February 1, 2003... **** 1/2; DiamondSoft, 415/381-3303, www.fontreserve.com; $100 Choosing a Mac OS X font-management tool has just become more difficult. Diamond-Soft's latest upgrade to Font Reserve, version 3.1.1, is a major one, bringing Jaguar...

The force is with you: a Star Wars spin-off headlines a great new roster of games. (The Game Room).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... LUCASARTS' STAR WARS FRANCHISE HAS BEEN BLESSED WITH superlative computer and console games for a long, long time. In recent years, however, some mediocre games (most of which never made it to the Mac) have tarnished the brand's image a bit....

Exterminate OS X troubles: squash Jaguar's bugs with these expert tips.
February 1, 2003... Flowers have bees. Summer has mosquitoes. Picnics have ants. And Jaguar, too, has bugs. While Mac OS X 10.2 is far better groomed than its predecessors, it does have some scruffy areas. When something goes wrong in Jaguar--from permissions...

The 18th Annual Editor's Choice Awards.
February 1, 2003... IF 2001 WAS THE YEAR THAT MAC OS X finally arrived, full blown, on the scene, then 2002 was the year that the people who make Mac hardware and software accepted OS X as their own. In the past year, the Mac development community has given us a...

Snap happy: take perfect pictures with your digital camera.
February 1, 2003... With their instant feedback, reusable media, and excellent image quality, today's digital cameras offer great advantages over their film counterparts. What's more, most digital cameras provide intelligent auto modes that do much of the...

Jaguars printing power. (Mac OS X).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... Some Mac users face a dilemma--they can use either OS X or their printers. Many older printers don't have OS X drivers, and some OS X 10.1 drivers don't work in OS X 10.2. But don't run out and buy a new printer. By taking advantage of CUPS,...

Automate Illustrator. (Graphics).(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... When you think about the work you do in Adobe Illustrator 10, there's a good chance you'll realize that you spend most of your time doing similar tasks over and over again. In fact, you'll probably notice that the time you spend placing and...

Alternate reality. (Mac 911).
February 1, 2003... Aside from the gelatinous exterior, nothing separates human from amoeba so much as the bipedal form's desire to blaze its own path. Because the majority of my readers belong to the less slimy species, this month's Mac 911 examines alternate...

I is the loneliest number: Is it wrong complain about Apple's Free Software?
February 1, 2003... THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY DAY, SPIRITUALLY speaking, is 9 a.m. In the winter months here, you can amble out to the deck with a 32-ounce nimbler of Coke and enjoy the last slips of sunrise, without having the experience contaminated by the...