Macworld articles from May 2004

Macworld archives from May 2004

Geniuses behind bars.(From the Editor's Desk)
May 1, 2004... THE NEW APPLE STORE IN DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO IS a beauty. Nestled right between Market Street and shopping-mad Union Square (and right across the street from the Virgin Megastore, where songs cost a wee bit more than 99 cents each), Apple's...

Past tense, future perfect.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... It may have been 20 years since the Mac's debut, but most Macworld readers remember 1984 as if it were yesterday, whether they're feeling nostalgic about the first time they ever saw a Mac or recalling some overlooked detail about the Mac's...

History lessons.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... GEORGE BEEKMAN # I enjoyed "20 Years of the Mac" (February 2004), but I was surprised that you didn't mention HyperCard in the timeline. Bill Atkinson's groundbreaking application introduced multimedia authoring, visual programming, and...

More Mac memories.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... TOM BOMBACI JR. * Jason Snell invited us to share our Mac stories (From the Editor's Desk, February 2004); here's mine. Like millions of other benighted PC users, I knew about the Mac, but just peripherally. Once I started teaching an...

Mail call.(Feedback)(Mailsmith and Qualcommeudora prices)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... DEREK JONES # Are you off your rocker naming Bare Bones' Mailsmith 2.0 the best e-mail client ("The 19th Annual Editors' Choice Awards," February 2004)? Mailsmith may do what it does well, but it's missing a major feature that prevents it...

Creative critiques.(Feedback)(multimedia and image processing software influence and quality)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... GERARD McLEAN # Your review of Adobe GoLive CS (GOOD 1/2; February 2004) doesn't mention GoLive's biggest asset: building forms. Macromedia Dreamweaver excels at pretty much everything else in a WYSIWYG HTML editor, but GoLive rips through...

A perfect Halo?(Feedback)(Halo requirement processor and graphics cards)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... MICHAEL R. BAGNALL # A OUTSTANDING rating for Halo (The Game Room, February 2004)? I have a 450MHz dual-processor G4 with a top-of-the-line graphics card and more than 1GB of RAM, and I get major amounts of screen lag on the lowest...

Keeps on clicking.(Feedback)(Canon considered good in pictures clearity)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... WADE MOLINE # I don't believe that the Canon Digital Rebel should get a VERY GOOD 1/2 rating (February 2004). I tried one out, and while the pictures are good, I can't imagine that the cheap plastic body could stand the abuse a serious...

SuperCard's still standing.(Feedback)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... MIKE YENCO # Regarding Andy Ihnatko's Runtime Revolution 2.1 review (VERY GOOD; February 2004): does he realize that SuperCard is still alive and well? Look no further than www.supercard.us. I'm using this application every day to work on...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2004... In our review of the iBook G4s (March 2004), we misidentified the processor speed of the entry-level iBook; it's 800MHz.

Have it your way: the new FileMaker Pro 7 delivers unprecedented capabilities to customize database solutions with striking ease of use.(Advertising Supplement)(Advertisement)
May 1, 2004... ONCE IN A WHILE, A NEW VERSION OF A PRODUCT ROLLS OUT THAT JUST SEEMS to fire perfectly on all cylinders, with features and functions in lockstep with the fast-changing requirements of users. For literally millions of users of FileMaker...

After a great year, what does Apple's Music Store do for an encore? iTunes' birthday music.(Mac Beat)
May 1, 2004... Most birthday parties include a song for the honoree. But the iTunes Music Store--which celebrates its first birthday on April 28--will have closer to 50 million songs at its bash. That's the number of songs eager customers had downloaded from...

FileMaker promises big changes in database update: magnificent seven.(Mac Beat)
May 1, 2004... With the latest version of FileMaker Pro (www.filemaker.com), the numbers tell the story. When FileMaker updates its database application, it usually ups the version number by half--from 5.0, for example, to 5.5. This time around, however,...

Imaging beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... C-765 Ultra Zoom and C-770 Ultra Zoom, from Olympus (www.olympus.com): Both four-megapixel cameras feature 10X optical zoom (C-765, $499; C-770, $599). C-8080 Wide Zoom, from Olympus (www.olympus.com): Eight-megapixel camera features 4X...

Productivity beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... LANsurveyor 8.0, from Neon Software (www.neon.com): Network-management software adds Panther support ($495 to $9,995, depending on scale; upgrades start at $199). RealBasic 5.5, from Real Software (www.realsoftware.com): Cross-platform...

Make USB Web cams work with iChat AV: USB joins the chat.(Mac Beat)
May 1, 2004... When it comes to tapping iChat AV's videoconferencing capabilities, most people assume you need a FireWire-based Web cam or camcorder. But the reality is that the days of USB Web-cam owners getting shut out of the conversation are long gone....

Opening up to windows.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... First, it was USB Web cams--now, Mac-based videoconferencing is doing away with another barrier, as cross-platform chats come into focus. For Mac users, the biggest barrier to video chats with Windows users fell when Apple and America...

FrogPad sees keypad as a leap forward: key changes.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The QWERTY keyboard has been around for 130 years. FrogPad (www.frogpad.com) thinks that is long enough. The input-device maker has built a one-handed keypad that ditches the QWERTY design for a key layout that it believes is easier to learn...

Mac-based postage returns: stamp of approval.(Mac Beat)(Endicia)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Waiting in line at the post office to send mail isn't anyone's idea of a good time--and for small-business owners, doing so can cost time and money. PC users can print United States Postal Service postage, so why can't Mac users? ...

Macworld's glossary; What it means: PDF.(Mac Beat)(Portable document format)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... There's no escaping PDF. Thanks to programs such as Microsoft Word and QuarkXPress, which can generate PDF files, you probably come across Portable Document Format on a daily basis. Less familiar, however, is the PDF acronym followed by an...

Stop, thief.(Interview)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... Peter Tamte has a problem: people keep stealing his stuff. When his company, MacSoft, released Halo last December, it quickly discovered the number of downloads exceeded the number of sales. Tamte recently spoke to Macworld about the adverse...

GarageBand Jam sessions go online: banding together.(Mac Beat)
May 1, 2004... GarageBand may bring the power of music creation to your Mac, but unless you can find a way to get your tunes to the outside world, you'll be left searching for an audience. Even before the newly released Apple program hit shelves as part...

Hardware beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Bravo II Disc Publisher, from Primera Technology (www.primera.com): This USB 2.0 machine burns CDs and DVDs and prints disc labels at 4,800 dpi, and it comes with a 52X CD-R recorder or an optional Pioneer combo DVD[+ or -]R/CD-R recorder...

Storage beat.(Mac Beat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... 8X Dual DVD[+ or -]RW Drive, from LaCie (www.lacie.com): FireWire drive features 8X write speeds and 4X rewrite speeds and ships with Toast 6 Titanium ($249). BRU LE, from Tolis Group (www.tolisgroup.com): Data-backup program with both an...

Business accounting packages: five applications serve a wide spectrum of financial needs.(Reviews)
May 1, 2004... Depending on the kind of business you have, your accounting requirements may run the gamut from extraordinarily simple to unbearably complex. But at the end of the day, you want a package that tracks income and expenses, and that gives you some...

Final Cut Express 2: intermediate DV editor gains enhancements from its Pro sibling.(Reviews)
May 1, 2004... Software companies nearly always build new versions of software on top of old versions, a practice similar to the way you'd add a second story to a too-small house. But in Final Cut Express 2.0's case, Apple moved to a completely new...

Peak 4.1: professional audio editor offers enhanced interface and new effects.(Reviews)
May 1, 2004... Peak 4.1, the new version of BIAS's two-track audio editor, takes greater advantage of OS X's power than its predecessor, Peak 3 (GOOD 1/2; July 2002), did. Harnessing the computing muscle of dual-processor Macs, the program now performs...

All-in-one photo printers: six-color photo devices print, scan, and copy their way into the market.(Reviews)(Buyers Guide)
May 1, 2004... All-in-one, or multifunction, ink-jet printers--devices that print, scan, copy, and sometimes more--are nothing new. But now some big companies have spawned a new category of all-in-ones: six-color photo ink-jet printers with scanners and...

This month in digital cameras.(Illustration)(Buyers Guide)
May 1, 2004... There's a little something for everyone this month, with cameras that range from a compact point-and-shoot to a full-size digital SLR (D-SLR). The only point-and-shoot camera in the group is the Nikon Coolpix 3700. This is Nikon's first...

MediaEdit Pro: video editor is counterintuitive and difficult to use.(Reviews)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2004... At first glance, MediaEdit Pro looks as though it might fill the gap between iMovie 4 and Final Cut Express. It sports slick packaging, a familiar interface, an impressive name, and a reasonable price. The "Pro" at the end of its name gives the...

eBeam System 3 BT: whiteboard capture goes wireless--for Mac systems and palm handhelds.(Reviews)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2004... Wireless is the new watchword for the Mac, and there are many Bluetooth-enabled mice and keyboards that can untangle your computer's snarled nest of cords. This cable cutting is now moving to other devices, such as Luidia's eBeam System 3 BT, a...

Dragon Burn 3.1: inexpensive disc-burning program makes promises it can't keep.(Reviews)
May 1, 2004... Dragon Burn 3.1.17, an inexpensive disc-burning application from NewTech Infosystems, promises some intriguing features that Mac OS and Roxio's Toast 6 Titanium (VERY GOOD 1/2; December 2003) do not offer. Among these features are simultaneous...

Focus on the iPod.(Special Editorial Supplement)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2004... Making the difficult seem easy is one of Apple's strengths. Take iTunes, the iTunes Music Store, and the iPod. Their intuitive interfaces let us organize, buy, and play music effortlessly. Yet each of these products has hidden powers. ...

Feel the force.(The Game Room)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2004... IN STAR WARS JEDI KNIGHT: JEDI ACADEMY, ASPYR ANSWERS the question that has tugged at many a Mac user's soul: Which side of the force would you choose? Jedi Academy is the sequel to Aspyr's excellent 2002 game, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi...

Screen savings.(Mac Gems)
May 1, 2004... MAC OS X INCLUDES WAYS TO TAKE SCREEN CAPTURES, BUT as with many other built-in features of the operating system, third-party products improve on the basics. For many years, the standard has been Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro, and we were very...

iLife '04: how does it stack up?(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2004... AS YOU USE APPLE'S iLIFE PROGRAMS, YOU begin to suspect that you can do anything. The programs' simple interfaces and tight integration let you ignore pesky concerns about talent, so you can set your inner director, photographer, or DJ free....

Working Mac: your emergency tool kit.(Secrets)
May 1, 2004... YOUR MAC DEVELOPS A SERIOUS PROBLEM THAT CAN'T BE ignored: Perhaps it won't print your documents. Or applications keep crashing. Or the Mac itself crashes on startup. That's when you need to pull out your emergency tool kit. We've assembled a...

Digital Hub: give iMovie new powers.(Secrets)
May 1, 2004... APPLE'S iMOVIE 4 INCLUDES DOZENS OF VISUAL EFFECTS, scene transitions, and title formats. Used tastefully and sparingly, these extras add finesse to a movie and lend a professional touch. But some projects require something a little more...

Create: best XPress XTensions.(Secrets)
May 1, 2004... XTENSIONS, AS PLUG-INS FOR QUARKXPRESS ARE CALLED, add tools for greater creativity and efficiency to the page-layout program. Before QuarkXPress 6 ($945; www.quark.com), there were dozens of XTension developers and hundreds of plug-ins--of...

Mobile Mac: laudable laptop stands.(Secrets)
May 1, 2004... BOY, DID WE EVER GET A GOOD LAUGH OUT OF THE COM-bustible PowerBook 5300. Quite the scorchin' deal, eh? (Never mind that only a few batteries in a testing lab actually caught fire.) These days, however, the joke isn't quite as funny: laptops...

Geek factor: gadget grab bag.(Secrets)
May 1, 2004... IF YOU'RE READING THIS COLUMN, IT'S PROBABLY SAFE to say that you like your drives naked, your tools plentiful, and your desktops virtual. In that spirit, we've sought out some products that you'll want to put on your wish list. These items are...

Help desk: Mac 911.(Secrets)
May 1, 2004... DO YOU WONDER WHETHER SENDING APPLEWORKS DOCuments to PC users is strictly for the birds? Do you seek the means for sending a Mail message to one user's many e-mail accounts? If so, then this month's Mac 911, in which we examine Apple's bundled...

Macworld Minifinders.(Buyers Guide)
May 1, 2004... Want to know what our experts thought of the past year's products? Check out this comprehensive collection of summaries--which includes the mouse rating of every product we reviewed between May 2003 and April 2004, as well as a review synopsis....

Companion 3 multimedia speakers.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The rich sounds heard around the Macworld offices these days come courtesy of the Companion 3 multimedia speaker system, from Bose (www.bose.com). The analog system--a big block of a subwoofer and two garage-door-remote-size satellite...

Recommended reading.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... With the Mac's 20th anniversary in full swing, now is the perfect time to brush up on your Apple history. For an overview, few resources are better than Apple Confidential, by Owen W. Linzmayer. In Apple Confidential 2.0 ($20; No Starch Press,...

AutoScrubber.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Sure, Panther's Secure Empty Trash feature removes all traces of a file from your hard drive. But it doesn't offer customizable configurations, fully automated operation, and other features that can put a paranoid Mac user's mind at rest....

Scenario.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... MacChampion's $10 Scenario (www.macchampion.com) is a preference pane that runs AppleScripts at the drop of a hat. With Scenario, the power of AppleScript increases tenfold, since you're free to write scripts that make almost anything happen...

Unison.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... If you spend any time cruising through Usenet for discussion groups, files, music, and photos, you ought to take Panic's Unison (www.panic.com) for a spin. The $25 news-reader client sports some impressive features, such as audio-file previews...

What's hot: a quick look at the world of Macs.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... 1 The iTunes Music Store celebrates its first anniversary. To mark the occasion, the RIAA went out and filed suit against half a dozen teenagers. 2 Despite critics' concerns over the iPod mini's $249 price, Apple reports 100,000 pre-orders...

Atlanta Journal-Constitution.(The Month's Coolest Developments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... "It's not that other [computers] aren't getting used in shows--they are. But what's happening is that Apple computers are distinctive enough that you're recalling them." --Alan Gould, chief executive of Intermedia Advertising Group,...