Macworld articles from November 2007

Macworld archives from November 2007

Going for it: Apple isn't resting on its laurels. It's as aggressive now as it has ever been.(FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK)(Editorial)
November 1, 2007... Ten years ago, Apple and the Mac were at a low point. Sales were sagging. Microsoft was giving Apple walking-around money. The Mac clones were dead. The two leading Mac magazines, Macworld and MacUser, were folded together into a single...

Launcher dilemma.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I loved reading the program reviews in the August 2007 issue ("Software Treats"). While I found many of them useful, there was one that left me looking for more. The review of Butler was fine in and of itself. But when it comes to programs that...

How many colors?(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... Beyond the legal issue of misrepresentation, Jason Snell's article, "When 'Millions' of Colors Equal 262,144" (Mac Beat, August 2007), brings up a bigger issue: how many colors can the human eye see? The CIE chromaticity diagram...

iPhone reactions.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I love my new iPhone. It's the most significant improvement to the way I interact with an operating system since the invention of the mouse. But in a few months, the romance will begin to fade. I'm going to wake up one morning and realize I...

Another Google tip.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I was glad to see your tips for Google's document, spreadsheet, and calendar services ("The Google Office," August 2007). I've been using all three for over a year, and I have been pleased. Here's a tip I've found useful: If you're using a...

Apple without Steve?(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... Regarding John Siracusa's Spotlight column in your August issue ("A Day without Steve"): Someday Steve Jobs will no longer be running Apple. And while Jobs is driven to succeed, he's lately come to understand that he's not doing this alone. For...

Win some.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I am so grateful for Kirk McElhearn's article "Breathe New Life into an Old iPod" (Playlist, July 2007). I had an older 20GB iPod I was going to sell online. But after I read your article, I downloaded DasBoot, installed DiskWarrior, and turned...

Lose some.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... My response to the back-page column (Spotlight) you introduced with the redesign of Macworld earlier this year: Wow! As in, what a Waste of Words (or rather a waste of space). I'm tired of people yakking about how much they know about Apple,...

Overheard on the forums.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... The transparent menus and 3-D Dock [in Leopard] make absolutely no sense to me, other than showing the public that Apple can do eye candy just like Microsoft Vista. icerabbit macworld.com/2975 The Mac mini is a great personal and...

Reader poll.(FEEDBACK)
November 1, 2007... Have you bought an iPhone yet? No 88% Yes 12% Note: Table made from pie chart. Source: Karlin Associates, August 2007

New iPods abound: touch-screen model joins revamped lineup.(MUSIC)
November 1, 2007... Since 2001, Apple has sold a staggering 110 million iPods. Yet the company hadn't made substantial changes to the bulk of its line of portable music players for two years--until Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage for a special event in early...

Laptops on the rise: Apple's notebook market share climbs to 17.6 percent.(HARDWARE)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... While Apple may be focusing a lot of its attention on the iPhone lately, consumers are clearly still interested in the company's computer offerings. Data from one market research firm shows that Apple's notebook business broke 17 percent of the...

eBrand emergency.(TECH TRENDS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Apple is accustomed to winning popularity contests, but it appears that the company has some work to do to improve its online brand presence. In a recent survey, JupiterResearch asked consumers what their favorite online companies were, and...

iPhone lifesaver: golfer loses his phone, but saves his skin.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... As the proud owner of a brand-new iPhone, golfer Irwin Koss decided that leaving the precious device in the golf cart was too risky--it might fall out and get lost or damaged. So he slipped the phone into his pocket. While that decision didn't...

DashQuit 2.0.(WIDGET OF THE MONTH)
November 1, 2007... Dashboard can be quite handy, offering instant access to useful tools and information. But it--or, more precisely, all the widgets you have running in it--can eat up a lot of memory. If you're running short on RAM, and your Mac's churning away...

Mac Pro shines at Ozzfest: Apple and Digidesign help make music.(MUSIC)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... In August I took my yearly pilgrimage to Ozzfest at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, where I was treated to a tour of the sound engineers booth. Veteran engineer Greg Price walked me through everything from the Digidesign Venue...

Dialog box.(Mac Beat)
November 1, 2007... "If we were, I wouldn't tell you; if I weren't, I wouldn't tell you." Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, when asked if his company was in negotiations to buy Yahoo "John would have loved the fact that his music will now be available in a...

Is the DVD dead? Apple shifts focus to online content delivery.(VIDEO)(Apple iDVD)
November 1, 2007... Apple made a significant contribution to the DVD-authoring market in January 2001 when it launched the first version of iDVD, allowing users to easily create DVDs for friends and family. In the years since, iDVD has evolved, as has Apple's...

Cheaper TV shows? Report: Apple pushing for 99-cent TV downloads.(VIDEO)
November 1, 2007... With the exception of some PBS offerings, Apple sells TV shows on the iTunes Store for $1.99 per episode. That's been the price since Apple first added TV downloads to its online digital content store in 2005. But according to a report in Daily...

EA ships four Mac games.(GAME BUZZ)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Electronic Arts (EA) has said that it is shipping four of its promised six new games for the Mac: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Need for Speed Carbon, Battlefield 2142, and Command & Conquer Tiberium Wars. The releases come soon...

Scrabulous.(What we're raving about this month)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Aside from a brief fling with online card games a few years back, I've managed to keep my casual gaming confined to the arcade variety; I can start and finish an arcade game in the course of a few minutes. But recently I've been sucked into the...

USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive.(What we're raving about this month)
November 1, 2007... Everyone knows the value of a good backup, but what about when you're out on the road? Until recently, external hard drives that were small enough (in size) to fit in your laptop bag weren't big enough (in capacity) to back up your entire hard...

Cerulean F1.(What we're raving about this month)
November 1, 2007... We live in an increasingly wireless world, and yet we remain tethered to our music by pesky headphone cables. iSkin's slick $130 Cerulean F1 headphones let you enjoy your tunes in complete freedom. The F1 combines a pair of wireless stereo...

Hazel 2.(What we're raving about this month)
November 1, 2007... Noodlesoft's Hazel 2 takes an interesting approach to file organization--it lets you organize your files according to logical rules that you devise. The $22 preference pane is a little like Mail's Rules meets Folder Actions. You can attach...

Encore CS3's Flash output.(What we're raving about this month)(Adobe Encore CS3)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Earlier this year, I edited my wedding video and used Apple's DVD Studio Pro to create a lovely DVD to send out to friends and family. But I also wanted to put the videos online, and that's why I was excited when I saw a demo of Adobe's Encore...

EOS-1Ds Mark III.(HARDWARE)
November 1, 2007... EOS-1Ds Mark III, from Canon (www.usa.canon.com): 21.1-megapixel full-frame camera features a 5-frames-per-second shooting speed and six recording speeds ($7,999).

Epson Perfection V500 Photo.(HARDWARE)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Epson Perfection V500 Photo, from Epson America (www.epson.com): Photo scanner with 6,400-dpi optical resolution features 48-bit color depth and can scan images up to 17 by 22 inches ($250).

Adium 1.1.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... Adium 1.1, from Adium (www.adiumx.com): Multi-service instant-messaging and chat client adds tab support (free).

iDive 1.8.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... iDive 1.8, from Aquafadas (www.aquafadas.com): Updated digital video cataloging software adds a new capture model for video footage and pre-roll support ($70; upgrade from version 1.5, free).

FileSalvage 6.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... FileSalvage 6, from SubRosaSoft.com (www.subrosasoft.com): Data-recovery software adds the abilities to define custom file types for recovery and to search for embedded files ($90; download, $80; upgrade, $30).

Popcorn 3.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... Popcorn 3, from Roxio (www.roxio.com): Updated video conversion and disc-burning software adds support for TiVoToGo for transferring recorded TV programs to a Mac ($50; upgrade, $30).

Pages '08: new features shine, but program has room for improvement.(Reviews)(Apple Pages '08)(Product/service evaluation)
November 1, 2007... Apple's new Pages '08 is an impressive word processing and page-layout program with dozens of new features and enhancements that make the program easier to use and are likely to make Pages the only word processing and page-layout program most...

Numbers '08: new spreadsheet program shows real potential.(Reviews)(Apple Numbers '08)(Product/service evaluation)
November 1, 2007... I Work is slowly but surely turning into a full-fledged office suite, thanks to the addition of Numbers, Apple's latest foray into the world of spreadsheet programs. So what is Numbers? Is it at long last a replacement for the spreadsheet...

Keynote '08: solid presentation program puts ideas in motion.(Reviews)(Apple Keynote '08)(Product/service evaluation)
November 1, 2007... In the four-and-a-half years since its launch, Keynote has matured from a promising but flawed program into a strong performer that outshines Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 in most areas. Although Keynote '08 has room for improvement, it's a...

FileMaker Pro 9.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: OUTSTANDING PRICE: $299; upgrade, $179 COMPANY: FileMaker URL: www.filemaker.com FileMaker Pro 9 contains a number of nice but undramatic improvements over previous versions of the product, and offers one major...

Heredis 10.2.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $69; upgrade, $49 COMPANY: BSD Concept URL: www.myheredis.com Heredis 10.2.3 is a well-designed genealogy program with ten customizable fields that make short work of collecting and organizing data...

LightZone 3.0.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $250; upgrade, $50 COMPANY: Light Crafts URL: www.lightcrafts.com If you long for an easy-to-use photo editor in an unbloated piece of software, give LightZone 3.0.6 a try. In the year and a half...

The Missing Sync for BlackBerry 1.0.(SOFTWARE)(Mark/Space The Missing Sync for BlackBerry 1.0.1)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $50; $40 download COMPANY: Mark/Space URL: www.markspace.com The Missing Sync for BlackBerry 1.0.1 will be familiar to anyone who's used Mark/Space's other syncing programs. Its clean interface...

Star Wars: Empire at War.(SOFTWARE)(Aspyr Media Star Wars: Empire)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $50 COMPANY: Aspyr Media URL: www.aspyr.com Star Wars: Empire at War from Aspyr Media is the Mac gaming giant's first offering designed exclusively for Intel-based Macs. As such, it has left a sour...

TurboSketch Studio.(SOFTWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $100 COMPANY: IMSI Design URL: www.imsisoft.com TurboSketch Studio is a plug-in for Google SketchUp Pro (also included with this software). SketchUp Pro is typically used for architectural renderings,...

D40x.(HARDWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $800 (with 18mm-55mm DX Zoom Nikkor lens) COMPANY: Nikon URL: www.nikonusa.com The D40x is a very good camera that takes great pictures. It's a great fit for casual shooters who are DSLR newcomers, but...

EasyShare 5300.(HARDWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $200 COMPANY: Kodak URL: www.kodak.com The Kodak EasyShare 5300 is a multifunction device with scanning, copying, and printing capabilities. It also comes with a special promise from Kodak: the company...

George.(HARDWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $499 COMPANY: Chestnut Hill Sound URL: www.chillsound.com George is an impressive package of technology, combining a wireless handheld remote that gives you access to your iPod's menus from across...

i-P22 portable.(HARDWARE)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $90 COMPANY: Sonic Impact Technologies URL: www.si5.com If you're in the market for a compact, rugged speaker system for your dock-able iPod, the i-P22 is what you're looking for. A rigid,...

Mac mini.(What we're reviewing online this month)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: 1.83GHz, $599; 2GHz, $799 COMPANY: Apple URL: www.apple.com With its low price and small size, the Mac mini offers a versatile and economical Mac experience. It was a welcome surprise when Apple...

Laser printer.(PRINTERS)
November 1, 2007... C6100dn RATING: VERY GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $749 COMPANY: Oki Data URL: www.okidata.com The C6100dn, from Oki Data, produces great-looking prints and includes built-in duplexing. It also offers easy network connectivity and...

Ink-jet photo printer.(PRINTERS)
November 1, 2007... Pixma iP6700D RATING: VERY GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $115 COMPANY: Canon URL: www.canon.com The Canon Pixma iP6700D prints excellent-quality photos comparable to those developed in a lab. Its ease of use ensures that veteran...

Compact photo printer.(PRINTERS)
November 1, 2007... Pixma mini260 RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $89 COMPANY: Canon URL: www.canon.com The Pixma mini260 produces excellent 4-by-6-inch photos. Its easy-to-use scroll wheel and intuitive interface make photo printing easy and fun...

Multifunction ink-jet.(PRINTERS)
November 1, 2007... Photosmart C7180 RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $262 COMPANY: Hewlett-Packard URL: www.hp.com The HP Photosmart C7180's features, connection options, and solid print and scan quality make it an excellent ink-jet MFP...

Multifunction laser.(PRINTERS)
November 1, 2007... AcuLaser CX11NF RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $779 COMPANY: Epson URL: www.epson.com This device has it all: it's a color laser printer, a sheet-fed scanner a copier with networking capabilities, and a fax machine...

Perfection V700 Photo.(FLATBED SCANNER)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $461 COMPANY: Epson URL: www.epson.com The Epson Perfection V700 Photo is an excellent midrange scanner for people who need to scan both reflective media and transparencies, especially at high...

Digital SLR.(DIGITAL CAMERAS)
November 1, 2007... D40 RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $497 COMPANY: Nikon URL: www.nikonusa.com The Nikon D40 is a great value. This 6.1-megapixel camera comes with every feature you'd desire in a DSLR, such as adjustable ISO, Raw mode, and a...

Compact digital camera.(DIGITAL CAMERAS)
November 1, 2007... Coolpix S7c RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $279 COMPANY: Nikon URL: www.nikon.com The 7-megapixel Nikon Coolpix S7c's ease of use and convenient Wi-Fi features add great value to a fine camera (macworld.com/2386). ...

PV-GS320.(MINIDV CAMCORDER)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $370 COMPANY: Panasonic URL: www.panasonic.com Compared with other 3-CCD MiniDV camcorders, the Panasonic PV-GS320 is a bargain. And it's a good choice for people who want a camcorder that shoots...

Large display.(LCD MONITORS)
November 1, 2007... LP2465 RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $599 COMPANY: Hewlett-Packard URL: www.hp.com The LP2465 is an affordable and flexible 24-inch desktop LCD with a 16:10 wide-screen aspect ratio that immediately makes one think of the...

Medium display.(LCD MONITORS)
November 1, 2007... MultiSync 2190Uxi RATING: VERY GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $1,049 COMPANY: NEC URL: www.necdisplay.com The 21-inch NEC MultiSync 2190 UXi doesn't come cheap, but it has vivid and accurate colors, as well as a wide viewing angle...

DRX-830UL-T.(DUAL-LAYER DVD BURNER)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $98 COMPANY: Sony URL: www.sony.com The Sony DRX-830UL-T external rewritable drive can burn multiple formats at very fast speeds. You can't ask for much more from a CD and DVD burner...

Desktop drive.(FIREWIRE HARD DRIVES)
November 1, 2007... G-Drive Q 500GB RATING: OUTSTANDING PRICE: $245 COMPANY: G-Technology URL: www.g-technology.com The G-Drive Q SATA hard drive has nearly every type of connection you could want, and it operates without a fan, so it's very...

Portable drive.(FIREWIRE HARD DRIVES)
November 1, 2007... Rocbit 2B RATING: OUTSTANDING PRICE: $237 COMPANY: Roc-secure URL: www.rocsecure.com The Rocbit 2B is a fast and pleasantly quiet portable hard drive featuring real-time encryption. It's well worth its cost if security...

Macs.(Top Products)
November 1, 2007... PRODUCT PROCESSOR RATING PRICE (A) DESKTOP iMac Intel Core 2 VERY GOOD $1,194 Duo/2GHz Intel Core 2 VERY GOOD $1,494 Duo/2.4GHz Intel Core 2 ...

iPods.(Top Products)
November 1, 2007... PRODUCT CAPACITY RATING PRICE (A) DISPLAY iPod classic 80GB not yet $249 2.5-inch rated color iPod classic 160GB not yet $349 2.5-inch ...

Utility: Mira 1.2.8r2.(Mac Gems)
November 1, 2007... RATING: VERY GOOD PRICE: $16 COMPANY: Twisted Melon URL: twistedmelon.com If you've got a Mac that works with Apple's Remote--recent Mac laptops, iMacs, and the Mac mini--you know that you can use the Remote to control Front...

E-mail: MiniMail 1.0.1.(Mac Gems)
November 1, 2007... RATING: GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $9 COMPANY: OliveToast URL: www.olivetoast.com/MiniMail Apple's Mail e-mail client displays the number of unread messages in its Dock icon, making it easy to see whether anything is waiting to be read....

Phone: iPhoneDrive 1.1.(Mac Gems)(Ecamm iPhoneDrive 1.1)(Product/service evaluation)
November 1, 2007... RATING: GOOD 1/2 PRICE: $10 COMPANY: Ecamm Network URL: ecamm.com/mac/iphonedrive One of the more common complaints we've heard about the iPhone here at Macworld is that, unlike the iPod, it doesn't offer a Disk Mode...

Windows: BootChamp 0.1.(Mac Gems)(Kevin Wojniak)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... RATING: not rated PRICE: free COMPANY: Kevin Wojniak URL: www.kainjow.com Apple's Boot Camp, which lets you run Windows on an Intel-based Mac, is cool technology. But unlike software that allows you to run Windows from within...

Lock it up! Could you be the biggest threat to your Mac's safety? Take our Mac security pledge.(FEATURE)
November 1, 2007... When it comes to security, you may be your own worst enemy. What puts you at risk is not so much the firewall, antivirus, or other security software you do (or don't) use as much as the bad habits you may have picked up. Careless computing puts...

Inside iLife '08: Apple's creativity suite sports a completely revamped iMovie plus major tweaks to iPhoto. Should you upgrade?(FEATURE)(Product/service evaluation)
November 1, 2007... With a copy of iLife included on every shipping Mac, it's hard to not feel creative. Plug in your camera, and iPhoto happily pops up, ready for action. Want to create a Web page, record a song, or edit home movies? iLife has you covered there,...

Tame type troubles: whip your fonts into shape with these strategies.(Working Mac)
November 1, 2007... Solving a font-related problem is a simple two-step process: figure out what's causing the problem, and then fix it. OK, maybe it's not that simple: symptoms can have many causes, and causes can have many possible fixes. But with this guide,...

iTunes tags demystified: take advantage of the music player's hidden powers.(Playlist)(Apple iTunes )
November 1, 2007... When you look at your iTunes library and see the names of songs, artists, and albums, you're looking at tags--bits of information that are connected to your music files. These tags are essential for labeling, sorting, and finding your music....

Great Flickr add-ons: cool tools for fans of the popular photo-sharing site.(Digital Photo)
November 1, 2007... It's little wonder that Flickr (www.flickr.com) has become the photo-sharing Web site of choice for so many digital photographers. In a matter of minutes, you can set up a free account, upload photos, and invite friends and family to view your...

22 top iPhone tips: better browsing, more efficient e-mail, and other tricks.(Mobile Mac)
November 1, 2007... You can do a lot with the iPhone--surf the Web, send e-mail, listen to music, and (yes) make phone calls--with just a touch of a virtual button. But dig a little deeper, and you can do even more. Now that we've had some time to live with the...

The real paperless office: don't just talk about reducing paper--do something about it.(Geek Factor)
November 1, 2007... Computers were supposed to make paperless offices possible, but most of us are surrounded by more pages than ever. It's possible to break free from paper's grip, however. I've developed a system that has allowed me to eliminate all but a...

Mac OS X Hints: the insider tips you won't get from Apple.(Help Desk)
November 1, 2007... Using URLs in iCal It's easy to include a link to a Web page with an event or to-do item in Apple's iCal. Just create the event (File: New Event) and then type the Web address in the Info pane's URL field. (If you don't see this field,...

Mac 911: solutions to your most vexing Mac problems.(HELP DESK)
November 1, 2007... Give a Voice to the Mac Q: I like using Mac OS X 10.3.9's Text To Speech feature to listen to e-mail messages and alerts, but the default voices are not great. Any idea where, or even whether, I can find additional voices to install? ...

The real, and Fake, Steve Jobs: think you know the real Apple CEO? You don't.(SPOTLIGHT)
November 1, 2007... My $249 Things Have Officially Gotten Out of Hand Detector from Brookstone started blinking in overdrive one day. Sure enough, moments later the phone rang and I found myself being interrogated by the Wall Street Journal about whether or not I...