TidBITS#812/16-Jan-06
=====================
Macworld Expo is one of the biggest Apple events of the year,
and last week's show didn't disappoint. Apple introduced the
Intel-based iMac and MacBook Pro laptop much earlier than
expected, along with iLife '06 and iWork '06; we've got details
from the show floor, plus Adam's take on Apple's newfound
confidence. Also in this issue, we note the releases of
Mac OS X 10.4.4, iTunes 6.0.2, QuickTime 7.0.4, Skype 1.4,
and the intriguing public beta of Adobe Lightroom. Lastly,
we note new availability of Final Cut Studio, and launch into
this year's Macworld Expo SF 2006 Superlatives, where we reveal
the best, worst, and most interesting aspects of the show.
Topics:
MailBITS/16-Jan-06
Macworld Expo SF 2006: Exuding Confidence
Intel-Based iMac and MacBook Pro Ship Earlier than Expected
iLife '06 and iWork '06 Released
Macworld Expo 2006 Superlatives
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/16-Jan-06
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MailBITS/16-Jan-06
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**Mac OS X 10.4.4 Released** -- Apple pushed out Mac OS X 10.4.4
last week, adding universal binary (for Intel-processor
compatibility) components and resolving a number of problems
with Safari, iChat, and other system resources. It also adds
four new Dashboard widgets: People (for looking up residential
phone numbers), Google search, ESPN sports news, and Ski Report.
A detailed listing of changes appears at the first link below, but
some highlights include: iPhoto can work with RAW files from some
newer cameras; an annoying bug that caused the System Keychain to
ask for authorization but then not accept what you typed has been
fixed; and various stability fixes and security updates are also
included. The update installer is available via Software Update
or as separate downloads ranging in size from 55 MB for the update
from Mac OS X 10.4.3 to 166 MB for the Mac OS X Server 10.4.4
Combo installer. [JLC]
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302810>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdate1044.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdate1044combo.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxserver1044.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxserver1044combo.html>
**iTunes 6.0.2 and QuickTime 7.0.4 Released** -- Alongside Mac OS X
10.4.4 last week, Apple also updated iTunes and QuickTime.
iTunes 6.0.2 is now a universal binary and adds the capability
to broadcast to multiple AirPort Express base stations, stability
improvements, and a new MiniStore feature that displays the day's
top purchases and specials from the iTunes Music Store in a pane
at the bottom of the screen. It also displays suggestions based
on what's currently playing. The MiniStore met with immediate
criticism from privacy advocates that iTunes was improperly
sending personal information to Apple; an unnamed Apple official
stated to Macworld magazine that the MiniStore doesn't collect
any information from users. A new button in the lower-right corner
of the iTunes window can hide the MiniStore, which disables the
feature and doesn't transmit any information about what's being
played.
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/>
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2006/01/ministore/>
According to Apple's download page for QuickTime 7.0.4, the
update provides bug fixes, support for iLife '06, and H.264
improvements. The update is available via Software Update or
as a 49 MB download. However, Apple also posted the QuickTime
7.0.1 Reinstaller for QuickTime 7.0.4 (a 20.4 MB download),
which removes the latest version and downgrades to 7.0.1.
The reasoning for the latter utility is a bit of a mystery
(not helped by Apple's minimal release notes), but some
discussions at Apple's support site indicate compatibility
problems with DiskWarrior 3.0.3 and a few other issues. So, at
this time we can't recommend upgrading to QuickTime 7.0.4 until
we know more; hopefully, Apple will shortly offer detailed
information or a fix. [JLC]
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime704.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/
quicktime701reinstallerforquicktime704.html>
**Adobe Offers Public Beta of Lightroom** -- Adobe Systems,
Inc. revealed a public beta of their upcoming professional
photography workflow software, Lightroom, just before Macworld
Expo. (Adobe recently acquired Macromedia, thus the macromedia.com
URL.) The company's digital photo manipulation software, which
currently requires a PowerPC G4 or G5 processor and at least
512 MB of RAM, will be available later for Windows and for
Mac OS X running on Intel hardware. Lightroom appears to be
aimed at the same professional photography market as Apple's
$500 Aperture software.
<http://labs.macromedia.com/technologies/lightroom/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08299>
<http://www.apple.com/aperture/>
Included are tools for accomplishing common tasks such as white
balance and color correction; support for such typical photography
file formats as TIFF, JPEG, RAW, and Photoshop; and a variety of
filters such as grayscale and sepia. Users can save presets for
frequently used combinations of steps. The current public beta
version expires on 30-Jun-06, but the company says later beta
releases, which will be announced in the Adobe Labs RSS feeds,
will have later expiration dates. [MHA]
<http://labs.macromedia.com/rss_feeds/>
**Skype 1.4 Released for Mac** -- Skype decided to release the
final Mac version of their flagship voice and instant messaging
program just as Macworld Expo started, ensuring that new features
such as call forwarding and iTunes pause/resume would be lost in
the shuffle. The new forwarding feature means that someone can
call your Skype account and you can forward that call off to a
real phone number, such as a cell phone. The incoming call can be
made either from another copy of Skype to your Skype account name,
or, if you have paid separately for this feature, to a SkypeIn
number, which maps a real telephone number to your Skype account.
Forwarding costs a few cents a minute to most landlines worldwide
and to many cell phone systems in the U.S. and abroad. It's not
unified messaging, but it's another step in having your calls
follow you (when you want them to). Skype's Mac version has lagged
the Windows version's feature and releases, and version 1.4 lacks
the video conferencing that's available on that other platform,
although that video support has been generally criticized as being
less than state of the art. [GF]
<http://www.skype.com/>
**Pro Video Apps Now Only in Final Cut Studio** -- Apple is no
longer offering their pro video applications as stand-alone
products. Since the majority of customers are buying the $1,300
Final Cut Studio (which includes Final Cut Pro 5, Motion 2,
Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro 4), only the suite is now
available for purchase; standalone versions will remain available
in stores only until supply runs out.
<http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/topquestions.html>
One of the announcements at last week's Macworld Expo keynote was
that a universal binary version of the Final Cut Studio suite will
be available in March 2006, much earlier than expected. Owners of
Final Cut Studio will be able to "cross-grade" to the universal
binary version for $50 at that time. This is important because
current Final Cut Studio apps won't run at all on Intel-based
Macs; if you buy an Intel-based iMac today, you're out of luck for
working with pro video until March (realistically, you probably
won't be buying an iMac to do pro video, but you get the idea).
But Apple is offering a great upgrade deal: if you own the stand-
alone Final Cut Pro 5, you can buy the entire suite for $100.
If you own just one of the other pro applications or Final Cut
Pro 4, you can upgrade for just $200. And if you own a version
that's two revisions or older, the suite costs $700. [JLC]
<http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/>
Macworld Expo SF 2006: Exuding Confidence
-----------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
It's instructive, I think, to mark the resurgence of Apple
Computer by what happens at the annual Macworld Expo in San
Francisco, both in terms of Apple's keynote announcements and
the mood on the show floor. Three years ago in 2003, my Macworld
Expo SF wrap-up article was titled "Apple Reduces Its Microsoft
Dependency," and in 2004, the equivalent article was subtitled
"Enter the Musical Trojan Horse." Last year's article? "Apple
Gets Aggressive," and if there was any false bravado in Apple's
attitude then, the company's record over the last few years in
delivering desirable iPods and Macs supports my title this year.
Over that time we've seen Apple metaphorically get to its feet,
build the iPod from an overly expensive music player into the
trendiest piece of consumer electronics ever, and establish
itself as a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Apple has
reason to be confident.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07042>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07499>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07952>
For instance, Apple's iPod business has become so strong that
Steve Jobs relayed only the most interesting numbers - 42 million
iPods sold so far, 32 million of which were in 2005, and 14
million of those in the holiday quarter of the year - before
introducing the only iPod-related product of the show, the
$50 iPod Radio Remote. Instead, acknowledging that this was
Macworld Expo, Jobs focused on iLife '06 and introduced the new
Intel Core Duo-based iMac and MacBook Pro months ahead of previous
expectations, all while displaying the trademark showmanship
and humor that cause people to line up for hours to get a seat
(don't worry if you weren't there in person; you can still watch
the keynote webcast). It takes confidence to pull off a stunt like
dressing Intel's CEO in a chip-fabrication bunny suit and bringing
him on stage through a dramatic plume of smoke, and it certainly
took confidence for Jobs to mock the rumor sites with his Super
Secret Apple Rumors podcast demo. At the moment, Apple is on a
roll, and while that doesn't mean everything is perfect, the
companies whose fortunes are tied up with Apple are rolling
alongside.
<http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf06/>
**A Full Floor** -- Although Macworld Expo is nowhere near the
size it was in its heyday, when it filled both the South and North
Halls of the Moscone Convention Center, it's been on an upswing
over the last few years. In 2004, there were 260 vendors scattered
woefully throughout both halls. In 2005, IDG World Expo wised up
and combined all 280 booths into the South Hall. This year once
again filled only the South Hall, but it was chock full with 361
vendors. Official attendance numbers aren't yet available, but
early impressions indicated that attendance would once again
increase from last year's nearly 36,000 attendees. The floor felt
full too - the first day is always crazy, of course, but even
later in the week, my necessary dashes from meeting to meeting
weren't smooth sailing.
Much of the increase was due to the preponderance of iPod-related
vendors. In 2005, I commented on how many iPod-related booths
there were as well: 32 all told, 14 of whom were selling iPod
cases (out of a total of 280). How reasonable that all seems
in light of this year, when there must have been 60 or more
exhibitors showing some sort of product related to the iPod
(no one had the fortitude to count them all), 49 of which sold
iPod cases. Last year, Macworld Editor in Chief Jason Snell had
suggested that perhaps we'd see iPod-related booths collected
into the North Hall; that didn't happen, but if the expansion
happens, such a thing would be possible next year.
Despite the jokes about renaming the show "iPodworld," I don't
think an iPodworld could even begin to stand on its own.
The simple fact of the matter is that there aren't that many
categories of iPod accessory: roughly speaking, there are only
cases, headphones and speakers, car chargers, FM transmitters
and cassette adapters, remotes, voice recorders, and camera
connectors. Within each category, most of the products are
quite similar, and no matter how involved you are with your iPod,
there's a limit on how many accessories you're likely to buy over
the lifetime of an iPod. No, the only reason all the iPod-related
exhibitors were in attendance is that Mac users are also likely
to be iPod users, and in a world where many of the products really
are almost identical, companies will take any chance they can get
to stand out from the crowd. Even that was difficult at Macworld
Expo, because there were so many iPod-related booths, and some of
them had so many products, that they all blurred together quickly
if you weren't paying close attention. Don't get me wrong - I
enjoyed looking at all the iPod accessories, and found the number
and variety of the cases tremendously amusing, but I can't recall
specifics about more than a few of the vendors.
**Confidence and Cold Cash** -- Along with Apple's strong keynote
and the increased number of exhibitors, confidence was being
exuded on the show floor in more frivolous ways that we haven't
seen in years. Tchotchkes - little logo-imprinted giveaways -
were far more common than in the last few years, and a number
of companies put more effort into dressing their employees
identically, with the prize being taken by design-conscious
LaCie, whose people were even wearing the same white and orange
Nike Shox FSM sneakers to match the rest of their outfits.
This year also marked the return of the booth babe, a sure sign
than companies have money to spend. XtremeMac, which sold iPod
cases in a bewildering array of designs, placed a treadmill in
their booth; apparently the point was to show that their sport
cases would in fact enable an iPod to survive the rigors of being
worn by attractive young women in workout attire walking briskly.
One woman said she was putting in 8 miles per day, and all things
considered, being paid to walk on a treadmill and listen to music
for a few hours isn't a terrible job. Speaking as a competitive
runner, I would have been much more impressed if they'd hired
runners instead and put up a scoreboard with the cumulative
distance their iPod cases had covered for the show. Another iPod
case vendor whose name I forget (so much for that advertising!)
had collected four attractive Asian women, dressed them as airline
attendants, and had them walk around the show floor with rolling
luggage. And Tonya claimed she saw a booth dude somewhere,
though once again, she hadn't the least recollection of the
details. Much as we'd prefer to see more clever ways of attracting
attendees to a booth (like the fresh cookies at the Circus Ponies
booth or the SketchUp demos at the Last Software booth, which
provided fruit smoothies and hot pretzels), the fact that
exhibitors are once again spending money on booth babes is
indicative of the upbeat mood.
**Focus on San Francisco** -- With Macworld Boston cancelled, even
more attention was focused on the San Francisco show this year,
and I expect that will be even more true next year, as companies
with products that are best shown in person take the best chance
to do so. Overall, I think it's the right move for the moment,
since as the Macintosh industry rebounds, it makes sense to focus
on a single important show and make it even more of a touchstone
for the community. Until next year...
Intel-Based iMac and MacBook Pro Ship Earlier than Expected
-----------------------------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
With his usual panache, Steve Jobs announced the new Intel-based
Macs at Macworld Expo last week, bringing Intel CEO Paul Otellini
on stage in a chip-fabrication "bunny" suit and airing an ad
about "setting the Intel chip free" after being "trapped inside
PCs performing dull little tasks." With the announcement, Apple
anointed the Intel Core Duo processor as the processor of choice,
installing it in the familiar looking iMac and in a new laptop
dubbed the MacBook Pro. Whether Apple sticks with the Core Duo
for future Macs remained unsaid, but Jobs promised that Apple
would transition the entire Mac product line to Intel processors
by the end of 2006.
<http://www.apple.com/imac/>
<http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/>
**Intel-Based iMac** -- The new iMac features most of the same
basic specs and prices as the current models of the iMac G5, but
with Intel Core Duo processors running at 1.83 GHz and 2.1 GHz.
The dual-core processors (two processors on a single chip) provide
significantly improved performance, according to Apple - up to two
to three times faster than the current iMac G5s. Needless to say,
that performance increase won't be applied across the board, but
that level of improvement will be incredibly welcome to those
too-accustomed to the spinning pizza of death. One welcome
improvement is an ATI Radeon X1600 graphics card with 128 MB of
memory. In addition to appearing faster than its predecessor,
the new card finally adds the capability to use an additional
monitor in extended desktop (versus mirrored) capacity in the
iMac line.
**MacBook Pro** -- Introduced with the now-trademark phrase "One
more thing..." Steve Jobs also took the wraps off Apple's new
Intel-based laptop, awkwardly called the MacBook Pro, which Apple
expects will start shipping in February 2006; pre-orders started
pouring into the Apple Store right after the keynote, making it
largely unavailable for hours. As Jobs noted, the "Power" is no
longer appropriate without the PowerPC chip (even though PowerBook
preceded that processor), and he has wanted to get "Mac" into
the name. This leads to some speculation as to the naming of
the Intel-chip versions of Apple's professional tower machines;
without "Power" and "G5," we're left with "Mac". Although MacBook
Pro reads fine in print, it's quite clumsy to say, and opinion
about it at the show was almost universally negative.
The two models of the MacBook Pro also rely on Intel Core Duo
processors, one running at 1.67 GHz for $2,000 and the other at
1.83 GHz for $2,500. The new processors reportedly provide four
to five times the performance of the current top-of-the line
PowerBook G4. Both models sport a 15.4-inch LCD screen that is
reportedly as bright as the Apple Cinema Displays, though at a
slightly lower resolution (1440 by 900 pixels) than the PowerBook
G4 (1440 x 960 pixels). The graphics processor is an ATI Mobility
Radeon X1600 with either 128 MB or 256 MB of GDDR3 memory. The
MacBook Pro is 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick, reportedly "a hair thinner"
than the current 17-inch PowerBook G4, and weighs 5.6 pounds
(2.5 kg).
But unlike the new iMac, which shares nearly the same specs as the
current generation, the MacBook Pro adds a number of features to
the current PowerBook feature list. Most notable are a built-in
iSight for on-the-go video conferencing, an infrared sensor that
works with the included Apple Remote and Front Row software for
controlling media playback, and a new patent-pending MagSafe power
connector that holds the power plug in with magnets, eliminating
the fear that someone will trip over your power cable and pull
your computer to the floor. The power plug has a green LED on
the top that lights up when the plug is connected to the power
jack. Because the aluminum case around the jack isn't magnetic
(or doesn't exert any real force), the plug feels like it's sucked
in tight. It requires some real effort to disconnect the plug.
Other standard features include the backlit keyboard with ambient
light sensor, the scrolling trackpad, the Sudden Motion Sensor
(which Apple has patented), DVI video out that can run the Apple
30-inch Cinema Display, digital optical and analog audio in and
out, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, two USB 2.0 ports and
one FireWire 400 (but not FireWire 800) port. Surprisingly, the
MacBook Pro's SuperDrive writes at 4x speed instead of the 8x
speed of the PowerBook G4.
**ExpressCard Slot Supplements, Replaces FireWire 800** -- The
MacBook Pro will be the first model to feature an ExpressCard
slot (instead of a PC Card slot), which is a smaller and more
versatile interface to the PCI-Express serial standard. The card
slot handles one lane of traffic, which is 250 MB/s or about
2 Gbps. Apple vice president David Moody confirmed in a briefing
that Apple thought the best way to provide performance and
flexibility was not to include FireWire 800 as a fixed port
on the models.
<http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/whatsinside.html>
<http://www.expresscard.org/web/site/qa.jsp>
Instead, with 2 Gbps of bandwidth from the slot, an ExpressCard
could, for instance, offer two simultaneous FireWire 800 ports
that could run at full speed, supporting an extremely fast set
of RAID 0 (striped) disks, for instance, with four disks being
striped in an A, B, C, D fashion for a total throughput of 1.6
Gbps, limited only by the disks' read and write speeds.
While the PC Card and CardBus slots found in PowerBooks and other
laptops have aged poorly, finding little use except for advanced
wireless cards (PC only, typically) and cellular data cards, it's
likely that the extremely high throughput of the ExpressCard slot
will result in more options for moving data around.
Because the MacBook Pro can support a 30-inch Apple display, the
obvious notion of a second monitor supported by an ExpressCard
adapter makes no sense. But a third monitor? You got it.
**Apple Also Adds 802.11a Wireless Networking** -- Several sources
public and private are noting that the new iMac and MacBook Pro
support the 802.11a flavor of Wi-Fi (although neither the AirPort
Extreme nor AirPort Express base stations do). 802.11a works
very much like the 802.11g that Apple dubbed AirPort Extreme,
but uses the 5 GHz frequency band, which is unlicensed in the
U.S. and several other countries, allowing it to be broadly used.
AppleInsider has a report with a number of details, although
some of the analysis about 802.11a was true in 2003, but not
since 2004.
<http://appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1465>
802.11a was declared dead by Steve Jobs back in January 2003
when he introduced AirPort Extreme, and it seemed rather dead
at the time. Ironically, the advantage of 802.11a is that it
has no backwards compatible mode with the older, slower 802.11b
standard. 802.11b and g work in the 2.4 GHz band, and 802.11b
runs at a maximum of 11 Mbps of throughput, or a net of about
5 Mbps. 802.11g has a maximum 54 Mbps, or a net of about 20
to 30 Mbps depending on add-ons and other factors.
The reason that the lack of compatibility with 802.11b is an
advantage is that a network that sports both b and g adapters has
worse performance than a g-only or any 802.11a network. The older
"b" devices bring down the whole network, reducing the amount of
shared airtime available for faster transmission. Because 802.11a
uses the 5 GHz band at the same power levels for indoor use,
signals propagate less far, although they can penetrate objects
more effectively. For indoor use with one base station, 802.11a
has no particular advantage.
For dense company and academic use, however, it makes a lot of
sense to use 802.11a because by having smaller clouds of usage
around each access point, you can be assured that fewer users
connect to it. 802.11a also has 8 indoor channels (and 4 outdoor
ones) that don't overlap frequencies compared to just 3 in
802.11b/g in the U.S. (and four in some countries). Better,
802.11a's 5 GHz band will have additional channels available
in the near future due to a deal with the U.S. military that
will free up more civilian use. As a result, 802.11a has emerged
in corporations and universities as a preferred tool for deploying
voice over IP (VoIP), whether for campus calling or Internet
telephony (VoIP to a gateway out to the public switched telephone
network).
This 802.11a support isn't a remarkable breakthrough, and is
in fact likely merely a side effect of Apple switching to Wi-Fi
chips from Atheros, replacing the Broadcom chips that previously
enabled AirPort Extreme capabilities. But whether or not it's
even intentional (Apple says nothing about 802.11a support on
spec sheets), even minimal support eliminates an obstacle in
using Macs in certain companies and schools.
iLife '06 and iWork '06 Released
--------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
While most of the attention at Macworld was focused on the new
Intel-powered iMac and MacBook Pro laptop, Apple's software
releases were fairly extensive. In addition to the universal
binary support built into Mac OS X 10.4.4, the company introduced
iLife '06 and iWork '06. Both suites are available now for $80
each, or as $100 5-license family packs; new Macs come with
iLife '06 for free and a 30-day trial version of iWork '06.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/>
<http://www.apple.com/iwork/>
iLife '06 features new versions of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and
GarageBand (iTunes is updated on its own schedule), and now
includes a new iWeb application for easily creating and posting
Web pages on Apple's .Mac service. iWeb uses Apple-designed
templates and an easy-to-use interface for adding photos,
movies, blog posts, and podcasts - easily grabbed from the
rest of the iLife programs, of course.
iPhoto 6 now supports 250,000 photos, ten times the previous limit
of 25,000 photos, and - according to Steve Jobs - "scrolls like
butter" (at least on a new iMac, we'll see how it performs on
older hardware). The new version brings a new full-screen editing
interface and new tools to help people choose among photos, edit
them more rapidly, and print them not only in the usual books
(which boast improved print quality), but also in new greeting
cards, postcards, and calendars. Instead of making users apply
filters individually to see if it enhances a photo, iPhoto now
optionally displays a photo in a series of thumbnails that show
each of the different filters pre-applied, so the user can just
click the desired thumbnail to apply that effect to the edited
version of the photo. In what is meant to be a killer feature,
iPhoto also now includes "photocasting," which uses .Mac to
share albums between iPhoto users (shared albums appear in
the Source pane).
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/>
<http://www.filmloop.com/>
GarageBand 3's signature new feature is a simple three-track task
for creating podcasts in GarageBand: Talk into one track while
enjoying new speech-enhancing audio processing (such as reducing
background noise and improving the quality of male or female
voices), drag your own music - or one of 200 royalty-free clips or
100 jingles - into another track (GarageBand automatically "ducks"
or fades the volume so the music doesn't overwhelm the voice),
and add graphics to a new "podcast artwork" track so that they
sync with appropriate points in the other two tracks. Click a
button and the podcast file is ready to go. GarageBand also now
supports remote interview recording from iChat, as well as a video
track for bringing movies in from iMovie to create video podcasts
or soundtracks.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/>
(Jobs demoed GarageBand's new podcasting features by producing his
own podcast: "Hi I'm Steve and welcome to my podcast: Super Secret
Apple Rumors, featuring the hottest rumors at our favorite
company..." He then "revealed" a new 8-pound, 10-inch iPod and
mentioned other iPod related products, supporting his commentary
with hilarious graphics, one riffing off the current iPod ads of
a silhouetted man carrying a huge iPod under his arm and another
of an iPod-enabled toaster.)
iMovie HD 6 adds animated themes, similar to those we've become
familiar with in iDVD. You can add movie clips and photos to
moving templates (for example, a travel movie could include
a scene resembling a collection of media overlaid onto a map).
Also new are real-time effects and titles, the capability to
have multiple projects open at the same time (finally), an Export
to iPod feature, and the capability to create video podcasts.
iMovie HD 6 adds new audio effects, such as a pitch changer
and a noise reducer, and a 10-slider equalizer for more precise
sound adjustments. Apple also noted in a separate briefing that
iMovie's photo handling, which includes the Ken Burns Effect,
is now improved over the previous version, which we're eager
to test.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/>
iDVD 6 now offers Magic iDVD, which extends last year's One-Step
DVD feature by letting you choose a theme; select movies, photos,
and music from the Media pane; and push a button: iDVD creates the
project and burns a DVD disc. Apple has also enhanced editing a
project in the Map view by enabling you to rearrange menu pages
by dragging them in the project structure. It also boasts improved
slideshows, increasing the previous limit of 99 photos to as
many as 9801 photos per slideshow. Perhaps the best news, however,
is long-overdue support for burning DVDs using third-party burners
instead of requiring a SuperDrive-equipped Mac.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/idvd/>
iWork '06 didn't receive the level of changes that we expected,
but a few improvements stand out. Keynote 3 and Pages 2 gain new
3D charts, advanced image editing using what appears to be the
same Adjust panel found in iPhoto, new themes and templates,
the capability to add image reflections below objects (Apple's
design element du jour), and free-form shapes with image masking.
Tables can also now perform calculations, and you can incorporate
reviewers' comments.
As for the individual applications, Pages 2 adds auto-correction,
a page thumbnails view for easier document navigation, and
a mail merge feature that works with Apple's Address Book
application. Keynote 3 improves the build functions by enabling
you to intersperse images and bullet points within a sequence,
and adds a Light Table view for reviewing and organizing
slides. When you're practicing your presentation, you can
use the Rehearsal View (which shows the current and next
slides, time elapsed, and other information) without having
to connect a second display; also, new QuickTime controls
provide interactivity with movies, and a password lock can
be enabled for letting a presentation run in kiosk mode.
Macworld Expo 2006 Superlatives
-------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
It's time once again for our annual look at the best, the worst,
and the weirdest products from Macworld Expo. With over 361
booths, it's entirely possible we've missed some cool things,
so please feel free to send your suggestions in to TidBITS Talk
as well.
**Put Your Photos in the Loop** -- With the help (and financial
support) of long-time Macintosh evangelist Guy Kawasaki, FilmLoop
enthusiastically showed off a new Internet-based "photocasting"
product, which looks like a handy way to share easily updated
streams of photos within a group such as a family, sports team,
or club. The photos are stored on FilmLoop's servers, but each
group member can view and add to the collection - called a loop -
using FilmLoop Player, a free client program whose viewer window
looks like a horizontal strip of analog film with photos cycling
through it. FilmLoop Player currently runs on several versions of
Windows and in a pre-beta version on the Mac under Tiger (Panther
support is coming). The beauty of FilmLoop is that if 50 people
attend a wedding and each contributes 5 photos to a loop, each
person would see a loop containing 250 photos, with about 7 or
8 photos showing at any one time. Double-clicking a photo reveals
a larger image, comments, tags, and a link to find more info
on the Web. Loops can also be set up as one-way publications,
as would be useful for catalogs and TV show or celebrity promo
pieces. You can check out a number of loops on the FilmLoop Web
site, including the TidBITS Macworld Expo SF 2006 loop and a loop
created by Macintosh author Robin Williams of her recent vacation
in Egypt. FilmLoop has great potential, but as we created the
TidBITS loop, we came to wish they'd add a few more features,
such as a search field on the FilmLoop site and a slideshow
option. [TJE]
<http://www.filmloop.com/>
<http://invite.filmloop.com/x?miMfZMIRJygrn2jx9Zzr-r-2Vx9x/ljY&2>
<http://invite.filmloop.com/x?AJILRbnt3zlviORKURnh6pxr8s9NLIvF&2>
**Get Lost in Google Earth** -- Technology has finally caught up
with the movies. In plenty of suspense films, powerful government
agencies spy on villains (or vice-versa) using satellite imaging
technology that zooms in on any location on Earth. Now, so can
you - mostly. Google Earth is a new application for the Mac that
accesses satellite photos and mapping capabilities to show you
nearly anything on the planet. Type a city, address, company name,
whatever, and if it's in Google's database, Google Earth provides
an speedy animated trip to that location. Once found, you can
explore the surrounding area by dragging the mouse for a top-down
view; better yet, you can tilt the view for a 3D representation,
complete with topography (check out Mount St. Helens or the Grand
Canyon) or, in some cities, buildings. Google Earth for Mac is
a 12.5 MB download. [JLC]
<http://earth.google.com/>
**Best (Wedding) Party** -- Of course, every party works on a
different level. The Party for the People was an enjoyable
evening and was open to everyone, and the 21st annual Netters
Dinner differed from previous years only by some familiar faces
that weren't present. But the ultimate party this year had to be
Shawn King's Your Mac Life party, sponsored by Griffin Technology
and a slew of other companies and held at the elegant Great
American Music Hall. What set the Your Mac Life party apart from
the norm was the fact that it doubled as the wedding reception for
Shawn King and Lesa Snider, chief evangelist at iStockPhoto.com
and assistant to David Pogue. Shawn and Lesa met at Macworld three
years ago, Shawn proposed last year at Macworld, and they were
married - by Andy Ihnatko - in a civil ceremony just before the
Your Mac Life party. Music came from the Silicon Valley House
Rockers, fronted by Paul Kent, who was also just named Vice
President of Macworld Expo. Having just found out that our
breakfast meeting the next day had been cancelled, Tonya and
I ended up dancing until the band quit, garnering quite a few
comments on our enthusiasm and my lack of coordination. [ACE]
<http://www.yourmaclife.com/>
<http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/cultofmac/comment.blog?a=render&entry_id=1386748>
<http://www.yourmaclife.com/layout/YML/images/YML_Expo2006/
YML_Expo2006_Thursday/YML_Expo2006_Thursday.html>
<http://www.musichallsf.com/history/>
<http://www.svhouserockers.com/>
**Video for Any iPod** -- I must have walked by the ATO booth half
a dozen times before stopping for a demo, because from their
signs, the iSee 360i appeared to be an adapter that triples the
size and weight of your iPod in order to provide video playback,
at nearly the cost of a video-capable iPod - I didn't quite get
it. When I finally played with the device, though, I had to admit
it was intriguing. Slide in any 4th- or 5th- generation iPod
(it even supports the nano and mini, using extra-cost adapters,
though not the Shuffle), flip it over, and you've got a large
3.6-inch (9.1 cm) screen that plays video stored on your iPod.
To get the video onto the iPod in the first place, you can either
use conventional methods (such as downloading from the iTunes
Music Store) or plug your iSee into an analog video source
(such as a TiVo or VCR) and use it as a recorder. I can't think
of a better way to catch up on a week's worth of The Colbert
Report during a cross-country flight. The iSee will retail for
$250 when it ships later this quarter. [JK]
<http://w3.isee-ato.com/>
**Find Out What's Being Said about You** -- Representatives from a
new Web service called Podzinger met with journalists at the Expo
to spread the word about a podcast search Web site created by
the Delta Division of BBN, a company with a deep history of
work relating to the Internet. BBN has developed technology for
analyzing sound in audio and video files stored on the Internet,
and they're putting it to use in converting podcasts to text and
making that text searchable. So far, they have crawled for and
converted over 40,000 podcasts and estimate that about 150,000
podcasts are currently online. They hope to catch up by the end
of the second quarter this year, though at their current rate of
a few thousand per week, it could be tough for them to catch up
without throwing more iron at the problem. (You can register with
them and submit your podcast to move it closer to the top of the
queue.) The technology, accessible for free via the Podzinger
Web site lets you search podcasts, create a saved search that
continually updates into a podcast of its own (drag the orange RSS
badge at the top of your search results to your iTunes window to
store it in iTunes), create a saved search behind a URL that you
can put on your Web site, and put a Podzinger badge on your Web
site so that readers can search your podcasts. The business model
behind Podzinger is currently based on displaying Google AdWords,
but you have to figure they're looking to be acquired by Google.
[TJE]
<http://www.podzinger.com/>
**Projects Under New Management** -- Project management software
may not be the most exciting product category, but when you have
to keep track of complex projects involving numerous participants
and dozens or hundreds of individual tasks, a simple to-do
list just won't cut it. You need Gantt charts, dependencies,
milestones, resource and expense tracking, and all the other
features that have made Microsoft Project the standard tool on
Windows. Two project management programs for Mac OS X caught
my attention at the show: Merlin 1.3.8 from ProjectWizards
and Project X from Marware.
<http://www.projectwizards.net/en/merlin/>
<http://www.projectx.com/>
Merlin and Project X share a great deal in common. In addition
to the usual task-manipulation capabilities, both integrate with
Address Book, iCal, and Mail; both have built-in Web servers for
publishing project information; and both make use of Spotlight
for searching. Beyond these basics, Merlin offers detailed risk-
management features, integrated version control for attached
documents, and flexible time and cost calculations. Project X
features a flowchart-like Network View that provides an
uncluttered view of dependencies. It also enables each project
participant to update his or her own status on individual
tasks over the Web, relieving the project manager of some
tedious data entry. Merlin is currently shipping for $185;
a 20 percent discount is available through 22-Jan-06 (use coupon
code "Macworld2006"). Project X is scheduled to ship by the end
of the first quarter for $200. [JK]
**Best Use of AirPort Express** -- Playing music wirelessly
through an AirPort Express Base Station is neat, but wouldn't
it be even cooler if you could play through multiple AirPort
Express base stations simultaneously, with the music properly
synchronized? For a brief moment, Rogue Amoeba's just-released
Airfoil 2 was the only way to do that... and then Apple released
iTunes 6.0.2, which adds the same capability. Nevertheless,
the $25 Airfoil 2 is still the only way to play music from
applications other than iTunes over multiple AirPort Express
base stations, which you might want to do if you were using the
browser-based Pandora music suggestion service Tonya wrote about
in "Pandora Beats iTunes for Holiday Music" in TidBITS-807_.
Airfoil 2 also enables you to enhance your music on the fly with
built-in effects and supports new audio sources, including the
RadioShark, Dashboard widgets, audio devices like microphones,
and system audio. So if you've been wishing you could play music
throughout more of your house or office, Airfoil 2 is a welcome
addition to the AirPort Express Base Station. [ACE]
<http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08347>
**Best Analog Cookies** -- Circus Ponies Software, makers of
NoteBook, attracted Expo attendees to their booth not only with
a demo of NoteBook 2.0 but also with the smell of freshly baked
cookies that wafted across the aisles. Who knew that along with
booth space at Moscone, vendors can also rent an oven accompanied
by a cookie elf? [TJE]
<http://www.circusponies.com/>
**Best Data Recovery Device** -- Those of us who work with Macs
professionally generally have external hard drives around, in part
because they make recovering from troublesome disk problems far
easier. You just boot from the external hard disk, which you've
prepared in advance with disk recovery and backup software, and
work from that point. But what if you don't bring your external
disk while traveling, or if you don't have one at all? In the
past, you've been limited to dodgy boot CDs that are usually
out of date, and you can't copy data to them. Micromat's TechTool
Protege is a 1 GB FireWire flash drive with TechTool Pro and
DiskStudio (a partitioning tool) pre-installed. Since it uses
FireWire instead of USB, you can use it to boot any recent Mac
(assuming you've installed Mac OS X on it, of course) and it
provides some space for copying important files before you attempt
recovery. Although TechTool Pro 4 ranked only in the middle of
the pack in David Shayer's excellent disk repair utility shootout,
there's no reason you couldn't add other tools to the mix.
The TechTool Protege costs $230, which is quite reasonable
particularly if you want TechTool Pro 4 and DiskStudio as well,
since they'd run about $150 on their own. [ACE]
<http://www.micromat.com/protege/protege_intro.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1255>
**Best Celebrity Sighting** -- Who better symbolizes the
perseverance, insanity, and humor of Apple followers and
Macintosh owners than Adam Savage, one of the co-hosts of
Discovery Channel's MythBusters program? At Macworld Expo,
we had multiple Savage spottings, who appears much the
happy-go-lucky and animated fellow in person as he does when
he is shot in the buns by a penny-gun or burns his arm hair
off on the show. [GF]
<http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html>
**Podcast or Videoblog with Videocue** -- One problem with many
podcasts and videoblogs is the "uhhh" factor: unless you're well-
practiced, it's difficult to come up with content on the spot
while recording without introducing speech fillers like "uh"
and "um." Vara Software's Videocue 2 and Videocue Pro 2 helps by
providing a large-text scrolling pane where you can type a script
and read it like a Teleprompter. With an iSight or other video
camera connected to your Mac, you can record video or audio as you
read and then easily incorporate other videos, transitions, and
even an impressive chroma key masking feature for superimposing
video over other clips. Videocue 2 costs $40; Videocue Pro 2 costs
$90. Both are available for download as demo versions, which limit
recorded content to 15 seconds until unlocked with a license code.
[JLC]
<http://www.varasoftware.com/products/videocue/>
**Best Use of Space** -- The Anthro eNook has a retro-90s name
and a hilariously high price, but perhaps its efficiency makes
up for both. For $450, you get the Murphy bed equivalent of a
computer center. [If Anthro wanted to make an actual bed for tiny
bachelor pads, they could call it the eNookie. Sorry, couldn't
resist! -Adam] The eNook is designed to attach to studs in a wall
and hold a computer and other peripherals. When in its expanded
position, it's a desk; when folded up, it's just a 7.25-inch
(18.4 cm) piece of maple, cherry, or "white" (a solid surface
material) on the wall. Perhaps Anthro should add a digital
picture frame as an optional accessory for the outside? [GF]
<http://www.anthro.com/PromotionDetails.asp?PromotionID=328>
**Most Secure Drive** -- You have data, a lot of data, that simply
must remain secure, even if the hard drives upon which the data
is stored are lost or stolen (not that _that_ ever happens in top-
secret government labs!). For an entirely hardware-based solution
to the problem, Rocstor's RocBit hard drives offer controller-
based encryption and an electronic key that must be inserted into
a jack in the back of the drive at startup to enable decryption
until the next power cycle. Since the bits on the drive are always
encrypted, the data is vulnerable only when the drive is in use
or if the key were stolen along with the drive. Good backups of
encrypted drives would be essential, since data recovery from a
damaged disk would likely be extremely difficult or impossible.
That said, a RocBit hard drive might also make a good backup drive
if you wanted more security for backups than is provided by the
encryption in backup software. RocBit drives come in 2.5-inch and
3.5-inch sizes, and with a variety of different ports for prices
starting at $170. PGP Desktop's Virtual Disk feature provides a
roughly similar level of security for a disk image, though it's
entirely software-based, making it as secure as the passphrase
used to unlock it. [ACE]
<http://www.rocstore.com/>
<http://www.pgp.com/products/desktop/home/>
**Best Cable Cutting with Wireless Vaporware** -- Belkin hopes
to be the first company to market with a wireless USB hub using
ultrawideband (UWB) technology. UWB uses extremely short bursts
of extremely low power signals across a vast swath of spectrum
to send (in Belkin's version) 110 Mbps across short distances,
according to a company spokesperson. Future versions will hit 480
Mbps. The Belkin USB 2.0 adapter pairs a dongle that plugs into a
USB 2.0 port and a four-port AC-powered hub. The dongle requires
no drivers, but simulates a hard-wired USB cable connection to
the hub. Belkin had a non-working box to show at the Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) and Macworld Expo.
<http://www.belkin.com/pressroom/releases/uploads/01_03_06CableFreeUSB.html>
While Gefen proposes to offer a similar device using the same
technology also licensed from Freescale - the same firm spun out
of Motorola that makes the PowerPC chips - Gefen's founder was a
little flustered when we asked him for a demo, and they had failed
even to bring a prototype. With luck, these products might ship in
a few months; pricing hasn't been set, but might be frightening.
One article written in early January 2006, when Belkin and Gefen's
intent was announced, suggested that Gefen's USB extender could
cost $400 to $500. [GF]
**Most Unexpected iPod Accessory** -- iPod cases and speaker
systems permeated Macworld Expo this year, but the most unexpected
one of all was Atech Flash Technology's bathroom iPod dock.
I can't tell if it's just an attention-grabbing proof-of-concept
or a real product (it doesn't appear on their Web site), but this
iPod dock and speaker system mounts in your bathroom and includes
a convenient mount for a roll of toilet paper. On one hand, I like
the notion of using ordinary objects in new ways, especially in
small dwellings where space is at a premium. But on the other
hand, do you really need thousands of songs' worth of music in
the bathroom? [JLC]
<http://tuaw.com/2006/01/11/atechs-toilet-paper-dispenser-ipod-dock/>
<http://www.atechflash.com/>
**Best "Do As I Say, Not As I Do"** -- Walking to the Macworld
Expo show floor one morning, we spotted two gentleman maneuvering
their way into Moscone Convention Center with huge boxes teetering
on luggage carts. The older of the two fellows was stooped
and straining. Glenn stopped to hold a door open for them and
noticed that the products they were awkwardly porting in - don't
tell the unions - were the ergonomically correct Nada Chairs.
[Which, for the record, Tonya and I have tried and found wildly
clumsy whenever you want to stand up. -Adam] [GF]
<http://www.nadachair.com/>
**MemoryMiner Gives Context to Your Photos** -- Our Macs can store
thousands of digital photos, but it's still difficult to organize
and find them. Looking at a photo brings up mental information
about it that pales in comparison to simple titles and keywords.
To tackle this problem, GroupSmarts, LLC introduced MemoryMiner,
a photo application that goes beyond basic metadata - way beyond.
By applying a variety of information to photos (if only it could
do so automatically!), you can navigate your collection by time,
location, and people. MemoryMiner is especially good for working
with old photos you've digitized. Want to find a picture of your
father and grandmother in France in 1956? A couple of selectors
will bring up the pictures that match. A 15-day trial version of
MemoryMiner is available as a 10 MB download; a license costs $45.
[JLC]
<http://www.memoryminer.com/>
**Most Deranged Callout** -- Steve Jobs caused much brow furrowing
in his keynote when he mentioned, with his usual excitement, that
Quark's QuarkXPress page-layout product would be available in
a universal binary for its version 7 release. The tepid response
was undoubtedly due, in part, to Quark taking years to migrate
its classic Mac OS code over to Mac OS X, during which time many
designers switched to Adobe InDesign. So now Quark has apparently
gone from outcast to poster child, possibly due to the engineering
work done in that belated transition. Quark expects to have a
public beta out later this month and a release sometime this
year. [GF]
<http://www.quark.com/>
**Best Way to Avoid the P.O.** -- We don't have to mail all that
many packages other than during the holiday season, but if
I had to spend more than an hour a month at the post office,
I'd be signing up for Endicia Internet Postage. It's a service
that costs $16 per month and enables you to print postage from
your Mac. You must pay for the postage as well, but the Endicia
software is free and it works with any laser or inkjet printer,
along with high-speed label printers. Endicia supports electronic
postal scales, provides a shipping log, integrates with Apple's
Address Book, and calculates both domestic and international
shipping rates, even printing the customs forms for packages with
overseas destinations. If you're an eBay maven and find yourself
constantly packing up items to ship, give Endicia a look, since
it could save you oodles of time in line. [ACE]
<http://mac.endicia.com/>
**Instant RAID** -- I've long recommended external FireWire drives
for backup (not to mention extra capacity for applications such
as audio, photo, and video editing). Maxtor's OneTouch drives
are a good choice for many because they include a free copy of
Retrospect Express, which can be launched by touching a button
on the front of the drive. The latest iteration of the design,
the OneTouch III line, features a quiet yet impressive cooling
system (even under the heaviest loads, the drive cases never
feel warm) and internal shock mounts to protect the drive when
it's moved. The most interesting member of the OneTouch III family
is the OneTouch III Turbo Edition, an enclosure that holds two
300 GB or 500 GB drives configured either as RAID 0 (striped,
for extra speed) or RAID 1 (mirrored, for extra safety). If either
of the drives fails during the 1-year warranty period, Maxtor
will send you a new drive so you can copy over your data before
returning the faulty drive. Using SoftRAID or Disk Utility, you
could even create a super-RAID of which a OneTouch III is one
element, giving you (for example) both striping and mirroring
at the same time. The OneTouch III Turbo Edition has USB 2.0,
FireWire 400, and FireWire 800 interfaces. The 300/600 GB model
retails for $550, while the 500 GB/1 TB model is $900. [JK]
<http://www.maxtoronetouchiii.com/>
<http://www.dantz.com/>
<http://www.softraid.com/>
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/16-Jan-06
------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The first link for each thread description points to the
traditional TidBITS Talk interface; the second link points to
the same discussion on our Web Crossing server, which provides
a different look and which may be faster.
**Wireless Range Extender** -- Getting a device that extends the
range of a wireless network to operate correctly turns out to
be a surprising amount of work. (6 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2839>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/682/>
**iQue 3600 Review** -- Travis Butler's review of the iQue 3600
GPS device prompts comments about the Navteq mapping data it
uses and a warning about static build-up. (4 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2841>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/683/>
$$
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