gazine 2009-04

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PC

voL. 28 no. 4

APRIL 2009

cove r s to ry

Ultimate Networking Guide

30

Chances are, you already have a home network. But does it run the way it should? Is your router or laptop constantly dropping your Wi-Fi signal? Does your network have the latest security protocol enabled? Can you stream video and music effortlessly from one device to another? Our definitive guide to networking takes you through the basics—as well as giving you some power user tips on how to get the most out of your network.

first Looks 9 hardware ASUS EeePC 1000HE Pacific Image Electronics Memorease Digital Film Converter Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II Acer Aspire One (10-inch) Plus Quick Looks at Dell Inspiron Mini 12, iZ3D LCD, and more.

13

consumer electronics Amazon Kindle 2 Samsung Memoir SGH-T929 Helio Ocean 2 Samsung LN46A850

The Future of Networking

37

Now that 802.11n is the norm, what’s next? We take an indepth look at where wireless technology is headed, including the much-anticipated 802.11z standard.

4 feedback

front side 5 I s Google’s Street View violating your privacy?; the future of technology at DEMO 09; the best of our blogs; best free PC games; top photo apps for your vacation pics.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1

oPinions

Garmin nüvi 265T

3 first Word: Lance Ulanoff

Plus Quick Looks at the AT&T Quickfire, Cowon S9, and more.

26 John c. dvorak 27 inside track: John c. dvorak 28 sascha segan 29 dan costa

19

business Lenovo ThinkPad USB Portable Secure Drive Eizo ColorEdge CG222W

soLUtions

Quicken Home & Business 2009

40 staying safe on facebook W hat you need to know to protect your identity and privacy.

Intacct for Small Business Fall 2008

42 at Work

Bill.com (Fall 2008) QuickBase 22 software

44 office

Apple iLife ’09

46 security

Skype 4.0

48 tech tips

Google Earth 5.0

50 the best stUff

Plus Quick Looks at Flower (for PS3), PC Armor 2.2, and more.

PC Magazine Digital Edition, ISSN 0888-8507, is published monthly at $24.97 for one year. Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, New York NY 00 6-7940.

Cover illustrations by David Foster; illustration above by Otto Steininger

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

®

Editor-in-ChiEf, pC magazinE nEtwork Editor

Lance Ulanoff

Stephanie Chang

www.pcmag.com

Vicki B. Jacobson EXECUtiVE EditorS Dan Costa (reviews), Jeremy A. Kaplan (features) art dirECtor Richard J. Demler EditoriaL prodUCtion dirECtor Nicholas Cosmo pC LabS dirECtor, SEnior Editor (hardwarE) Laarni Almendrala Ragaza SEnior EditorS Sean Carroll (software, Internet, networking), Wendy Sheehan Donnell (consumer electronics), Carol Mangis (blogs), Kyle Monson, Sarah Pike (Solutions), Erik Rhey (Digital Edition) SEnior writEr Eric Griffith rEViEwS EditorS Gary Berline (software, Internet, networking), Tony Hoffman (hardware), Matthew Murray (consumer electronics) Copy ChiEf Elizabeth A. Parry Copy EditorS Margaret McVeigh, Ann Ovodow pC LabS LEad anaLyStS Cisco Cheng (laptops), Tim Gideon (audio and video), Robert Heron (HDTV and home theater), Mario Morejon (networking and small business), Michael Muchmore (software), Neil J. Rubenking (security), Joel Santo Domingo (desktops), Sascha Segan (mobile devices), M. David Stone (printers and scanners) anaLySt Dan Evans (DIY, gaming) jUnior anaLySt PJ Jacobowitz (digital cameras and camcorders) prodUCt rEViEwS Coordinator Zachary Honig inVEntory ControL Coordinator Nicole Graham Staff photographEr Scott Schedivy pCmag.Com managEr, onLinE prodUCtion Yun-San Tsai prodUCErS Gregg Binder, Mark Lamorgese, Whitney A. Reynolds nEwS Editor Mark Hachman nEwS rEportEr Chloe Albanesius aSSoCiatE EditorS Jennifer L. DeLeo, Brian Heater (blogs) Staff EditorS Corinne Iozzio (reviews), Nicole Price Fasig (reviews) aSSiStant Editor Sean Ludwig rEViEwS prodUCEr Errol Pierre-Louis CommErCE prodUCErS Iman Edwards, Arielle Rochette UtiLity program managEr Tim Smith CommUnity managEr Jim Lynch CrEatiVE dirECtor Chris Phillips prodUCtion artiSt Guyang Chen VidEo EditoriaL dirECtor, VidEo and digitaL EVEntS Sebastian Rupley ContribUting EditorS Helen Bradley, John R. Delaney, Richard V. Dragan, John C. Dvorak, Craig Ellison, Galen Fott, Bill Howard, Don Labriola, Jamie Lendino, Jim Louderback, Bill Machrone, Edward Mendelson, Jan Ozer, Neil Randall, Matthew D. Sarrel, Larry Seltzer EXtrEmEtECh.Com Editor Loyd Case SEnior tEChnoLogy anaLyStS Jason Cross, Joel Durham prodUCEr Jeremy Atkinson jUnior prodUCEr Mike Nguyen dirECtor of onLinE ContEnt, EXECUtiVE prodUCEr

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FIRST WORD lance ulanOFF

A Tech-Free Vacation Over the years, I’ve made jokes about using old technology and living without technology, but I’ve really never done either. Then, a few weeks ago, I took a vacation. No, not a staycation or a working vacation, but a real, leave-the-country, exit-the-electronsphere kind of sojourn—one in which phones don’t work and there is no Internet connectivity.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I could have turned on my phone and even accessed the Internet on this cruise, but both acts would have emptied my bank accounts within a few days. So, I turned my Treo off and pulled out the battery. I also left my laptop sequestered snugly in my cabin.

It soon became apparent to me that previously I had been using technology, especially my Treo, to shield myself from inactivity and boredom. Typically, when I’m in a line or waiting, say, for people to join me at a dinner table (or rejoin me when they’ve perhaps taken a bathroom break), I’ll pull out the phone and check Google News, attack my steady stream of e-mail or, more recently, check Twitter and add an update or two. At home, my laptop is ever present. I usually pop it open when I get home at night and later leave it on an end table so I can pick it up at any moment and engage in all the aforementioned activities. Of course, there’s also ad hoc work.

I’ll jot down some column notes in a Word file, go on TweetDeck, work on a budget spreadsheet, or maybe just noodle around on the Internet. My family often makes fun of me and tells me I should have the thing attached to my lap. That might be kind of nifty, especially if the lid is spring-loaded to pop open every time I sit down.

During my vacation, however, I had no digital diversions. I’d be standing in the salad-bar line and my hand would reflexively reach for my pocket—searching fruitlessly for the phone that wasn’t there. I felt unmoored. On a typical day I’m in contact with two dozen or so people in

my office and hundreds more around the world (via e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook).

On this vacation it was me, my family, and my fellow cruisers. Despite all the hundreds of people, I was often alone with my thoughts.

In that first day or two, I suffered mini panic attacks. I felt as if I was living in a bubble. I had no idea what was happening at the office and received scant information about world events. There were local and national news programs on TV, but since I rarely use those sources for local, national, and international information on all the topics I track, I felt as if I was try-

liant blue ocean until the feeling subsided.

It always did, and I can remember long stretches of time where I didn’t once think about my phone, my computer, Twitter, Facebook, or the Internet. In those times, I read, drew, engaged with my family, and lived a blissfully tech-free, 20th-century lifestyle.

When the vacation ended and we arrived back onto U.S. shores, I did what I knew I would do and turned on my phone.

Within minutes it began gagging on a flood of 500 or more e-mails. I stared down at the screen in wonder. My thumbs fluttered over the keys but did nothing. I just let the

On a typical day I’d be in contact with two dozen or so people in my office and hundreds more around the world (via e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook). On this vacation, it was me, my family, and my fellow cruisers. ing to suck a potato through a straw. There was no way I’d ever get the same information blast from that narrow pipe.

It wasn’t until the anxiety attacks and cold sweats stopped that I understood I was going through digital detox. I honestly didn’t know how to function without instant access to a world of information (personal and public). People around me likely noticed my pallid, sweaty appearance and darting eyes—surely that’s why they cut a wide berth around me. However, by the third day, I had stopped looking down at my empty hands and wondering if I could take out a small loan to pay for one full day’s Internet access. I started to take in my surroundings. My family looked upon me as a welcome acquaintance whom they hadn’t seen in a very long time.

I’ll admit that the anxiety would still creep up every once in a while, and I’d have to shake my head and stare at the bril-

mail arrive while I savored the final few moments of my digital-free vacation.

Seventy-two hours later, my phone was in my pocket, my computer was on my lap, and I could hardly remember those precious hours when I lived without 24/7 connectivity and interaction with a vast population of technology elite, enthusiasts, followers, and friends. I don’t know when I’ll do that again, but I’m certainly glad for the memory.

Digital Edition Update In an effort to continue improving PC Mag Digital Edition, we’ve taken your comments and suggestions to heart. We’re in the process of redesigning PC Mag Digital to make it even easier to read and navigate.

Follow mE on TwiTTEr! Catch the chief’s comments on the latest tech developments at twitter.com/LanceUlanoff.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

Feed Debate Over Digital Edition I have tried, believe me, I have tried to navigate through both the February and the March digital issues of PC Magazine but wind up being completely frustrated. It is unfortunate enough, but understandable, that you no longer publish a printed edition, and I’m willing to attempt to read the magazine online, but only if it’s a rewarding experience. My problem is that the navigation is sorely lacking in ease of use, and few of the shortcuts seem to work the way that they are supposed to. Also, I am unable to close the “Useful Keyboard Shortcuts” window that pops open and will not leave.

And just to let you know, the March issue took over a week to appear on my Library page from the time that I received your e-mail notification. My local newspaper, the Detroit Free Press, recently converted to a digital edition. At first I dreaded going to the paper’s Web site, but soon I discovered that it is really slick, intuitive, and easy to navigate.

I would really like to continue enjoying your magazine and will do so if it becomes a pleasant experience rather than a case of stressful frustration.—Carl Eggers Carl, thanks for your comments. After receiving lots of feedback—both positive and negative—about the Digital Edition, we’re in the process of a redesign that we are confident will improve readability, navigation, and other issues you address in your letter. We take very seriously the input of folks like you—not just as PCMag readers but also as tech enthusiasts who clock many hours using and interacting with hardware, software, and Web sites and services. If you’d like to check out a sneak preview of a new and improved PCMag Digital page, click here. (Note that this link will take you to the sample page at PCMag .com.)—Stephanie Chang, Editor I just want to tell you that although I much prefer PC Magazine in its former print

format, the Zinio option is a very good alternative. I’m glad it still feels like a magazine and not just another Web page.

I also find the embedded links valuable.

—Novel Hernandez

Thumbs-Up to Neil I want to thank Neil Rubenking for his insight in “Can’t Copy to Half-Full Thumb Drive—Why?” This problem has been driving me crazy for a long while. I thought I had only one thumb drive that I could back up my Microsoft Money files to (which I do just about daily). Your article has shown me how to back up to any thumb drive I want, as long as there’s enough room!

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E-mail pcmag@pcmag.com. All letters become the property of PC Magazine and are subject to editing. We regret that we cannot answer letters individually.

Front What’s New from the World of Tech

Are You on the Map? Virtual mapping programs, such as Google’s Street View, have raised questions about privacy and security.

Online mapping has come a long way since the days of primary-colored, slow-to-load MapQuest images. Google and Microsoft have taken online mapping to a new level of realism, thanks to satellite imagery and multilens cameras mounted on the tops of nondescript cars and vans trolling the streets of a town near you. This virtual mapping technology has appeared in services such as Google Maps’ Street View and Microsoft’s Live Search Maps, letting users see a panoramic, photographic view of a location, often with overlays of navigational map data. For the cartographi-

cally challenged, virtual mapping has been exceedingly helpful, letting them see what destinations look like in real life.

But along with photographing streets and buildings, the roving cameras are also photographing people. In most cases, those captured in a virtual mapping image are simply going about their daily lives—strolling down the sidewalk or crossing an intersection. But the rooftop cameras have also caught people engaging in embarrassing or potentially criminal activities, including walking into an adult bookstore, urinating behind a parked car, and climbing the steel

gate of a house in what looks to be a breakin attempt. Street View has a built-in feature to blur faces, but many say it does not work consistently. And what about capturing your license plate number, house number, or your kids playing in the front yard?

Some argue that virtual mapping is a violation of privacy, since those photographed are unaware, and they are taking companies like Google and Microsoft to task.

Pittsburgh residents Aaron and Christine Boring sued Google in April 2008 for privacy, trespassing, negligence, and unjust enrichment after photographs of their APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

frontside

By all indications, Google has home showed up on Street View. cooperated with requests to take The photographs in question were down or blur Street View phototaken at the foot of the Borings’ graphs that others object to. But the driveway and show the couple’s company has no intention of removhouse, a pool area, and a detached ing Street View. In the past year, it garage. Despite the Borings’ claims, has added more than 40 cities as Judge Amy Reynolds Hay of the U.S. well as national parks and recreation District Court for Western Penncenters. Google has also rolled out sylvania dismissed the suit, saying a crowdsourcing feature in which that in order to prove invasion of users can post their own street privacy, the Borings must demonstrate “mental suffering, shame, or photos. Believing the service’s benhumiliation.” efits far outweigh any potential risks Along with privacy concerns, or privacy infringements, Google there are those who believe virtual sTreeT visioN Anonymous cars specially outfitted with included its own reality check in its mapping is a security risk. Repub- multilens cameras capture images for virtual maps. motion to dismiss the Borings’ suit. lican California Assemblyman Joel “Complete privacy does not Anderson recently crafted a bill mandatexist in this world except in a desert,” the terrorists in Israel and Mumbai used maping that virtual mapping programs blur out statement read, “and anyone who is not a ping programs to help plot terror attacks. schools, places of worship, government hermit must expect and endure the ordi“All I’m trying to do is stop terrorists,” buildings, and medical facilities or face nary incidents of the community life of Anderson told the Associated Press. “I hefty fines and possible jail time. Anderwhich he (or she) is a part.” don’t want California to be helping map out son wrote the bill after it was revealed that —Chloe Albanesius and Erik Rhey future targets for terrorists.”

Looking into the Future An inside report on this year’s DEMO show.

For the past 18 years, the annual DEMO show has been dedicated to start-up companies and brand-new products. Forward Thinking blogger and former PCMag editor-in-chief Michael J. Miller was on the ground at the spring DEMO ’09 show, last month in California.

Here’s his roundup of the show’s highlights.

Reflecting the changes in the economy, there are fewer new products here than in any year in recent memory, but I’m still expecting to see a variety of new things, ranging from gadgets to consumer Web services to enterprise software. I’m struck, however, by the number of products designed for personal productivity, an area that has been overshadowed in sNeAk Peek Among the products displayed at this year’s DEMO show were the recent years.

Always Innovating Touch Book with detachable screen (left), Coveroos customizFor example, I saw Symantec’s Project Guru, an able cell phone covers (center), and the Avaak Vue personal video system (right). online tool that includes remote diagnostics, network monitoring, and online remote access for tech-savvy users—you claims to turn server-based applications into cloud-based applicaknow, people like us—to offer tech support to friends and famtions. Three products at DEMO that are designed to improve Web ily. This will be a closed pilot initially, and the company hasn’t searching are ensembli, Primal Fusion, and Xmarks. announced pricing, but it’s a very interesting concept. Also at the On the hardware side, there were a few products that looked show was Gwabbit, an inexpensive add-on for Microsoft Outlook particularly interesting, including the Touch Book, a portable that finds and captures contacts from anywhere within an e-mail device that works as both a netbook and a touch-screen tablet, and message, and then turns them into contact records in your address Qualcomm’s mirasol Display, which claims to use significantly less book. There are a number of other e-mail–based tools slated to be energy than competing display screens. Another compelling disintroduced, including the Asurion Mobile AddressBook and Cc: play technology was the Avaak vue Personal video system, which the company describes as “a revolutionary wire-free video system Betty, which is touted as a “personal email assistant.” that allows remote viewing of anything from anywhere.” And it may Xandros Presto ($19.95), from the Xandros Linux folks, promises to cut any Windows machine’s start-up time by offering an not be a big technical advance, but Coveroos may entice people to “instant on” feature. AppZero is another interesting product that customize their cell-phone covers.—Michael J. Miller PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

Best of our Blogs

geArlog isimple Tranzit Connects iPods to FM Car stereos iSimple has unveiled the TranzIt, a universal interface that allows iPod and iPhone owners to connect their devices to their car stereos via an antenna bypass.

This device claims to offer static-free listening through any FM car stereo. You set the radio preset as an iPod channel (such as 87.9 or 88.3 FM), plug in the iPod, and turn on the Tranzit. Once connected, you can browse and select tracks using the iPod directly. An iPhone owner could conceivably stream Internet radio via Pandora Mobile, AOL Radio, or Last.fm as well. The connection also offers battery charging while the iPod or iPhone is docked.—Jamie Lendino

seCuritY WAtCH Worm Targets Facebookers A new variant of the Koobface worm is making the rounds.

Facebook users need to be aware of this and other attempts to use clever social engineering related to Facebook to trick them into installing malware. Like the earlier versions of Koobface, this one starts out as a Facebook message from a friend that includes a link to a Web site with something enticing like “a video of you.” As with the old ones, in order to view the video you have to apply what purports to be an update to your Adobe Flash player but is in fact the malware.

—Larry Seltzer

goodCleAnteCH Green Gadget for Hackers At the Greener Gadgets 2009 conference in New York, there was a competition to find the best green gadget—and it’s not at all what you’d expect. In fact, it’s not even really a gadget. Heck, it’s an anti-gadget. Tweetawatt uses a modified Kill A Watt device to monitor and update your power usage, automatically and wirelessly, for all of your friends and followers to view on Twitter.

The theory goes, if everyone knows your power consumption, you’ll behave better. That’s all well and good, but I like the side benefit: It makes Twitter useful. The device was designed by Limor Fried of Adafruit Industries and Philip Torrone of MAKE Magazine.—Jeremy Kaplan

@WorK New Business switches Netgear announced a new line of Prosafe FSM Layer 2 Fast Ethernet switches for small and midsize companies. The FSM72 E, FSM722 RS, and FSM72 0RS are stackable switches that are designed for edge-of-network connectivity in small IT shops. The SMB switches come with many enterprise features, including support for 802.1x port-based authentication, ACL (access control lists), QoS with VoIP prioritization with Layer 2 through Layer 4 support, and IGMP feature for video surveillance. The FSM72 E is priced at $299.99, the FSM722 RS at $399.99, and the FSM72 0RS at $ 79.99.—Mario Morejon

e x tr e m e teC H

The Best Free PC Games

The crew at ExtremeTech uncover some of the best gratis games.

Puzzle Pirates One of the more popular free games on the Net, Puzzle Pirates is a persistent MMO with a very casual bent. You create a cute pirate that looks like a Playmobil figure and sail the seas in search of pieces of eight. The catch is, each activity (and there are many, like manning the guns, repairing the ship, and bailing out bilgewater) is performed with a simple puzzle game.

Click here for more.

Freeciv It’s Civilization, and it’s free!

Okay, so maybe this free and open-source strategy game “inspired by” the beloved Civ doesn’t have all the nice UI features or pretty graphics of Civilization IV. But once you get the hang of the keyboard commands, it’s really addictive.

Click here for more.

F.E.A.R. Combat

Chalk Joakim Sandberg’s Chalk is good for a couple hours of free fun. The premise is simple—you guide your character around a chalkboard by right-clicking, and draw chalk lines with a left-click.

Use your chalk lines to deflect bullets from enemies, remove obstacles, etc. The catchy tunes and sound effects help bring it all together into a nice, polished, scrolling “draw-er” of sorts.

As you get ready for the PC release of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, why not brush up on your skills with the free multiplayer component of the original F.E.A.R.? The graphics hold up great—F.E.A.R. Combat is one of the best-looking free games on the Net.—Jason Cross Click here for more.

Click here for more.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 7

frontside

Best

of the Internet

Co n n eC te d tr Av e l e r

Create Great Travel Pics—Free!

Make the most of your point-and-shooter’s output with these free tools for editing, managing, and sharing your digital images.

yourFoNTs This cool, free font generator lets you transform your handwriting into custom hand-lettered type. Just print, fill in, and scan the template, then upload it to YourFonts.com to preview, download, and install.—Jen Trolio

PluQ This social planning tool allows you to engage your friends or coworkers in scheduling a party, lunch, or major event, free. It gives you a calendar on which you can mark certain days with different colors to indicate to your friends whether they’re good days, preferred days, or bad days.—Alan Henry

DoorFly DoorFly is a service that lets you build a profile of what you’re looking for in a home and watch real estate agents bid against one another to work with you on your housing search. Each DoorFly agent can create a custom profile page.—AH For more cool Web sites and handy utilities and apps, visit PC Mag’s blog AppScout (www .appscout.com).

If you’re a PCMag reader, it’s a good bet you own a digital camera that you use heavily on vacation or business travel. You may not be a digital darkroom junkie who spends hours tweaking adjustment layers in Adobe Photoshop, but you want your pictures to look good, and you want an easy and inviting way to share them with friends, family, and colleagues. Luckily, there’s a good selection of free software out there these days that can do many of the things Photoshop can.

When choosing one of these free apps, here are a couple things to consider: How easily does the photo editor let you transfer pictures from your digital camera to your computer? How effective and simple are its tools for editing your photos?

And how easy does it make sharing photos online?

Speaking of putting photos online, Picasa 3 (beta) (top left, l l l l h ) is one of the best choices out there. This new version keeps what’s good about the old and adds some new killer capabilities, such as retouching, face recognition, and movie editing. The installed software works seamlessly with your Picasa online galleries, and the two can even be synced automatically. It makes working with scanners, webcams, and screen captures simpler, too.

8 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

To organize your pics, Windows live Photo Gallery (Wave 3) (top right, not rated) has a unique people-tagging feature and the ability to upload to Flickr and other services. You can group pictures based on folders created for each import session and virtual albums of pictures selected from these.

From there you can organize them by date or tags.

If you want an online-only option, check out Picnik (bottom left, l l l l m ) . This quirky editor has some super-cool features, such as a button to automatically fix the blue- or red-eye in pet photos. Not even Adobe Photoshop Elements can do that automatically. It also integrates with your favorite social networking sites like MySpace, Flickr, and Facebook.

Mac users, of course, have the old reliable, iPhoto ’08 (bottom right, l l l l m ). It is still one of the best consumer photo-editing options around.

In addition to the blemish remover, flexible sharpness feature, and noise-reduction filters, this version has a new “straighten” command that lets you rotate a photo freely until it’s right. Its division of your photos into Events also works well. If you want to share your pictures on Web galleries with iPhoto, however, you’ll need to spring for the $100a-year MobileMe service.—Michael Muchmore

First our rATIngs kEy:

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EXCELLENT l l l l l m VERY GOOD l l l l m m GOOD l l l m m m FAIR l l m m m m POOR

ASUS EeePC 1000HE $400 street Ll l l h

Pros Effectively concealed six-cell battery. Excellent battery life. Uses the newest Intel Atom processor. Price is as competitive as that of the Acer Aspire One. New keyboard design. Gesture touchpad.

Cons No real performance benefits over the N270 processor.

Click here for more.

ASUS EEEPC 1000HE

A Winning Netbook ASUS is well into the double digits in the number of netbook variants it has launched, and this seasoning has finally paid off with its best one yet. The 1000HE dethrones the MSI Wind as the leader of the pack of pint-size laptops. What puts it on top is not its revamped keyboard, its elegantly tucked-away six-cell battery, or its Intel Atom N280 processor (an industry first)—although these do help. The 1000HE earns an Editors’ Choice because it delivers all of these things at a low price.

The EeePC 1000HE resembles the vast majority of netbooks, though a closer examination will reveal some design tweaks. In line with its rivals from MSI, Acer, and Samsung, the 1000HE offers only two color choices, solid black and navy blue. At 3.2 pounds, the 1000HE is heavier than most of its competition. The frame is designed around the six-cell, 63-Wh battery, so the awkward protrusion you see on the backs of others are eliminated. Other design improvements include mouse buttons that are substantially larger than those of the Aspire One and MSI Wind and a gesture-based touchpad (a netbook first).

The 1000HE’s 1.66-GHz Intel Atom N280 processor is rated slightly faster than the 1.6-GHz Intel Atom

N270 CPU found in its rivals, but on our benchmark tests I saw little speed difference. The new CPU allows for a bigger battery, however, and the 1000HE did excel on battery life, turning in a score of 6 hours 36 minutes and 7:26 with the Power Saving settings.

All of these enhancements wouldn’t mean a thing if the price weren’t right. The 1000HE makes fewer compromises than other netbooks, and the value you get with design, typing experience, and battery life is tough to beat.—Cisco Cheng

InsIDE

9 Hardware 13 Consumer

Electronics 19 Business 22 Software

Specs: 1.66-GHz Intel Atom N280; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 10.1-inch, 1,024-by-600 LED widescreen; 3.2 pounds; three USB ports; 63-Wh, 8.6-Ah, lithium ion battery; Windows XP Home Edition.

PErForMAnCE TEsTs L High scores are best.

M Low scores are best.

MoBiLeMark 2007 L

MULTiMeDia

hr:min

SYSMark 2007 overaLL L

WinDoWS MeDia encoDer M min:sec

ASUS EeePC 1000HE

6:36

35

4:24

Acer Aspire One (10-inch)

8:46

n/a

4:34

MSI Wind

2:24

40

5:00

Samsung NC10-14GB

5:50

41

5:02

Bold type denotes first place.

reD denotes editors’ choice. n/a: not applicable—The product could not complete the test, or the test was not compatible.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 9

first looks HArDWArE

Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease Digital Film Converter $129.99 direct ll h m m

Pros fast film scans (slides and negatives). scanning is simple and fully automatic.

Cons Relatively low resolution for film. no control over scan settings.

Click here for more.

PAcIfIc ImAge eLectRonIcs memoR-ease DIgItAL fILm conveRteR

Fast Film Scanning If you’re like most people, you probably have some boxes sitting around filled with photos from your pre-digital life. Well, if the photos in those boxes are on 35mm slides and negatives, the Memor-ease Digital Film Converter could be right up your alley.

Though it’s speedy and simple, the device is clearly designed for the kind of casual photographer who approaches photos primarily as captured memories,

rather than someone who worries about things like composition and photo quality.

The Memor-ease is just 3.7 by 4.3 by 6.7 inches (HWD) and weighs less than 3 ounces, so finding room for it won’t be a problem. It comes with a USB cable, Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, and the scanner’s Twain driver for Windows XP and Vista.

You also get a film holder for up to four 35mm slides and another for one 35mm strip of film with up to six frames. The Memor-ease is a converter rather than a scanner, so it operates like a camera, with a 5-megapixel sensor that captures the entire image at once. The final result is an 1,800-pixel-per-inch (ppi) image, indistinguishable from an 1,800-ppi scan.

And thanks to its sensor, the Memor-ease delivers that image at an impressively fast speed.

Unfortunately, the Memor-ease doesn’t score as well on image quality as on speed. The relatively low resolution doesn’t hurt the image much for printing at 4 by 6 inches, but it will make a noticeable difference at larger sizes. Though I can’t recommend the Memor-ease unequivocally, for now it’s a good solution for casual photographers who are happy with snapshot quality.—M. David Stone

WesteRn DIgItAL my Book stuDIo eDItIon II

Zippy, Voluminous External Storage I really liked the Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition, which yokes two 1TB hard drives together to provide a terabyte of mirrored (RAID 1) storage.

Think of the Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II as the Mirror Edition’s fraternal twin. But while the Mirror Edition emphasizes protected storage, the Studio Edition II is all about speed and capacity. It’s just the thing for video-heavy creative types who would enjoy having 2TB of transportable storage by their desktops. It’s Mac-friendly out of the box, though it will work with Windows PCs, too. In terms of dollars per GB, this is more expensive than a single-mechanism drive, but it’s cheaper than a portable drive.

Within its case, the Studio Edition II has the same pair of Green Power 1TB hard drives as the Mirror Edition, and as with that product, the user can replace one of the Studio Edition II’s drives if it fails. The Studio Edition II comes formatted for HFS+ (Mac format) and with RAID 0. (You can reformat to FAT32 or NTFS if you like.) This means it can fully support the faster FireWire 800 and eSATA interfaces.

10 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II $429.99 list Llllh

The Studio Edition II proved speedy on our test MacBook, taking only 49 seconds to copy our 1.2GB test folder via USB, 38 seconds via FireWire 400, and 32 seconds with FireWire 800. If all you need is a secure, protected place to store your backups, then get the (slightly) cheaper Mirror Edition. But if you have a home business or other small business or are a graphics professional, the Studio Edition II should float to the top of your buy list.—Joel Santo Domingo

Pros capacious storage. speedy.

Low power consumption. Quiet. easy to replace internal hard drives. capacity indicator.

Cons A little pricey on a dollar-per-gB basis. Install disc contains crapware. capacity indicator requires software installation. Backup is data oriented, not disasterrecovery oriented. esAtA cable not included.

Click here for more.

first looks HArDWArE

Six-cell battery sticks out from the base

Acer Aspire One (10-inch) $350 street

AceR AsPIRe One (10-Inch)

Llllm

Acer’s Recession-Busting Netbook By late last year, the Acer Aspire One had beaten out ASUS’s combined offerings to become the topselling netbook—or so market research firm DisplaySearch concluded. The One reached this pinnacle because of its low price—despite a smaller-thanaverage (8.9-inch) screen and a pair of awkwardly placed mouse buttons. This Aspire One is the longoverdue update, and as its name implies, the screen size has finally grown to the more-popular 10 inches.

Also, the mouse buttons have been relocated. It’s not as well equipped as the ASUS EeePC 1000HE (see page 9), but the price is still right.

Design isn’t one of the One’s strengths. It’s a bit thicker, bigger, and heavier than most of its rivals (in part owing to the six-cell battery sticking out an extra inch), and its case is not as flashy as theirs. Although the mouse buttons are better placed than in the previous version, they are still tiny and difficult to press.

The One’s keyboard, at 89 percent of full size, hasn’t yet caught up with those of its peers. Not much has changed in the feature set: You get three USB ports, VGA-out, an Ethernet port, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 802.11g Wi-Fi, and a 4-in-1 card reader. The hard drive has been bumped up to 160GB, however.

In performance, the Aspire One was on a par with its competition, but battery life was mysteriously impressive. Although its six-cell battery capacity (59 Wh) is less than that of the ASUS 1000HE (63 Wh), the Aspire One somehow produced 8 hours 46 minutes of battery life, compared with 6:36 for the ASUS. If you don’t mind the keyboard and navigation issues, and price is of the uppermost concern, the Aspire One is worth a look. Otherwise, spend the extra $50 for our EC, the ASUS EeePC 1000HE.—Cisco Cheng

PROS Phenomenal battery life. six-cell battery is standard with the price. still the most affordable netbook around. Ten-inch widescreen and mouse buttons are consistent with everyone else’s.

CONS Its 89 percent keyboard has some catching up to do.

Mouse buttons were difficult to use.

Click here for more.

Specs: 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; 128MB Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 10.1-inch, 1,024-by-600 display; 2.9 pounds (3.5 pounds travel); three USB ports; 59-Wh, 5.8-Ah lithium ion battery; Windows XP Home Edition.

PERFORMANCE TESTS L High scores are best.

M Low scores are best.

MoBiLeMark 2007 L

MULTiMeDia

hr:min

SYSMark 2007 overaLL L

WinDoWS MeDia encoDer M min:sec

Acer Aspire One (10-inch)

8:46

n/a

4:34

ASUS EeePC 1000HE

6:36

35

4:24

Lenovo IdeaPad S10

2:27

39

4:38

MSI Wind

2:24

40

5:00

Bold type denotes first place.

reD denotes editors’ choice. n/a—not applicable: The product could not complete the test, or the test was not compatible.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 11

first looks hardware

Quick looks Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other hardware products.

PROS

CONS

BOTTOM LINE

SPECS

• Compact all-in-one PC • Runs Windows • Nice styling • Touch screen

• Only 1GB of RAM • Smallish mouse lacks back button • Weak 3D graphics • Screen is single-touch only

The Top 1602 is the first truly integrated all-in-one nettop. It may create a new category—an Internet terminal that replaces your desktop.

1.6-GHz Intel Atom n270 processor; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 160GB, 5,400-rpm SATA hard drive; 128MB Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics; Windows XP Home.

• Quad-core power and speedy memory for video editing • Blu-ray burner • Decent expansion possibilities • Comes with VHS-to-DVD converter and Adobe Premiere Elements

• Loud fans • Lacks eSATA • A little pricey compared with similar hardware

The Video Pro is a system that is at the tipping point between fairly priced and overpriced. If you plan to upgrade components, the Video Pro will work for you.

If you’re still starting out, try a cheaper alternative.

2.83-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor; 8GB 800-MHz DDR2 SDRAM; two 500GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hard drives (RAID 0); 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card; DVD±RW drive; Blu-ray burner; Vista Home Premium.

• Well designed • Attractive price • HDMI port included • Slot-loading DVD drive is a nice touch • Full-size keyboard is responsive

• Too heavy for a 13-inch form factor • Mouse buttons are too resistant • Trails the competition in performance

The UC7807u’s basement price and desirable design can make customers, especially online shoppers, look past its overfed frame.

Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 (2.0 GHz); 3GB DDR2 SDRAM; 250GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; 32MB Intel graphics; 13.3-inch, 1,280-by-800 CCFL screen; 5.3 pounds (6.0 pounds travel); 49-Wh battery; Vista Home Premium.

• Color options • Huge hard drive selection • Very good performance • Very good battery life • Rugged • Excellent keyboard

• SSDs make it pricey • Stiff pointing stick

The E4300 is a powerful business ultraportable that lets you choose from a trio of fashionable colors, and its 13-inch widescreen is a first in the Latitude line.

2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SP9400; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM; 128GB SSD; 64MB Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD; 13.3-inch, 1,280-by-800 display; 3.9 pounds (4.8 pounds travel); 60-Wh battery; Vista Business.

• Big 12-inch screen • Good resolution • Very thin • As light as its 10-inch netbook peers • Top-notch Ubuntu Linux OS • Multiple battery options

• Slow, 4,200-rpm hard drive • Expensive for a netbook

Sure, the Mini 12 costs more than other netbooks, but it’s the only one with a 12-inch screen.

Intel Atom Z530 (1.6-GHz); 1GB DDR2; 60GB; 4,200-rpm hard drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500; 12.1-inch, 1,280by-800 LCD widescreen; 2.7 pounds (3.2 pounds travel); 24Wh battery; Ubuntu Linux 8.04.1.

• Standard and extended battery together yield over 20 hours of battery life • Built-in optical drive • Very good keyboard • Dual pointing devices • Multiple wireless technologies

• VGA is the only video-out port • Weak speakers • Battery life without the extended battery is unimpressive

If battery life ranks high on your list of business needs, the EliteBook 2530p won’t disappoint.

1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L9400; 3GB DDR2 SDRAM; 80GB SSD; 64MB Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD; 12.1-inch, 1,280-by-800 LCD; 3.7 pounds (4.6 pounds travel); 55-Wh battery; Vista Business.

• Runs an Intel quad-core processor • Fierce Nvidia 9800M GTX graphics card • Integrates both spinning and solid-state drives • Excellent gaming scores

• Resolution should have been higher at this price • Could use a higher-capacity battery

While the Qosmio X305-Q725’s fiery design may not appeal to everyone, its quad-core processor and an Nvidia GTX graphics card are parts that extreme gamers yearn for.

2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000; 4GB DDR3; 384GB (320GB, 7,200rpm hard drive and 64GB SSD); 1GB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX; 17-inch, 1,680-by-1,050 LCD, 9.2 pounds (11.4 pounds travel); 58Wh battery; Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

• Very good 3D effects • Wide viewing angles

• Weak light grayscale performance • Limited image adjustments • Lacks multimedia/entertainment features

The iZ3D does a super job of displaying 3D images and works with many of today’s gaming titles, but you don’t get much in the way of connectivity and image adjustment options.

22-inch LCD; 1,680-by-1,050 native resolution; DVI-D and analog VGA inputs.

• Great color and text reproduction • Good motion handling • Stylish design

• Narrow viewing angles • Lacks multimedia ports • Tilt-only stand features

This monitor delivers bold colors and very good text readability, but its grayscale and viewing angle performance are subpar.

24-inch LCD; 1,920-by-1,200 native resolution; HDMI, DVI-D, and analog VGA inputs; 16:10 aspect ratio.

DESKTOPS ASUS Eee Top 1602 $599 list ll l h m

iBuypower Video Pro $1,799 direct Ll l m m

LAPTOPS Gateway UC7807u $800 street ll l h m

Dell Latitude E4300 $2,789 direct ll l l m

Dell Inspiron Mini 12 $524 direct ll l l m

HP EliteBook 2530p $2,099 direct ll l l m

Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725 $2,699 direct ll l h m

DISPLAYS iZ3D 22-inch LCD Monitor $399 list ll l m m

Gateway FHD2401 $469.99 list ll l m m

12 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

first looks CoNsUMEr ElECtroNiCs

Amazon Kindle 2 $359 direct Ll l l h

PROS Super-thin.

Improved screen.

Better button layout.

2GB capacity (1,500 books). Free integrated cellular modem. Text-to-speech capability. Buying new titles is dead simple. Wide selection of books, magazines, and blogs.

CONS Still no touch screen.

No native PDF or DOC support.

Reads only proprietary e-book format. Interface could be more intuitive.

Click here for more.

Handy 2-in-1 charge cable

Only 0.3 inch thick

AmAzON KINDLe 2

A Darn Good Read With a new look, an enhanced screen, text-tospeech capability, and a host of additional design improvements, Amazon’s Kindle 2 offers everything that made the original Kindle a best-seller—and more. The price remains high, but avid readers will make back some of that cash on discounted e-books.

Although I would love to see a more open file format, the Kindle 2 is still the best e-book reader you can buy. With an ever-increasing catalog of magazines and blogs coming to the platform (see the sidebar), the Kindle 2’s appeal will extend far beyond the bookstore.

This version shares the original’s general form factor, but it’s slimmer and lighter, and it features an improved keypad arrangement. The Kindle 2 weighs 10.3 ounces and measures 8 by 5.3 by 0.4

inches (HWD), which is much thinner than a paperback book and about half the thickness of the first Kindle. Although it still has the same white plastic frame, the rubberized back has been replaced with brushed aluminum. This Kindle feels more solid than its predecessor, but the Sony Reader PRS-700’s mostly metal construction still feels more durable than either Kindle iteration.

The Kindle’s proprietary roller wheel has been replaced with a more useful five-way joystick. Also gone are the too-large page-turn buttons, replaced by new, smaller Next Page buttons that are still situated on both sides of the device. The QWERTY keyboard sets the Kindle apart from other e-book readers, but it’s mainly intended for searching keywords, making notes, and occasionally entering a URL. Perhaps the APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 13

first looks CoNsUMEr ElECtroNiCs

Kindle 2 Alternatives Amazon’s Kindle sequel may be the shiniest new e-book reader on the block, but it’s not the only game in town. Here are some alternatives.—Corinne Iozzio

eReader 1.3 for iPhone

Stanza for iPhone

Free

Free

ll l h m

llllm

The eReader does a decent job of presenting books on your iPhone, but acquiring reading material needs to be made easier, and the software should support more file formats.

With support for a broad range of content, Stanza is the most versatile e-book application for the iPhone.

Click here for more.

Click here for more.

Sony Portable Reader System (PRS-500)

Sony Reader Digital Book (PRS-700)

$250 street

$399.99 direct

lllhm

l lllm

When we first saw the PRS-500, we dubbed it the “best e-book reader that has ever been made.”

While it’s still among the leaders of the pack, it’s been eclipsed by the newer PRS-700. Regardless, it’s still a solid reader—and you’d be hard pressed to beat its new street price.

The Sony Reader PRS-700 is an elegantly designed, easy-to-use device for e-book fans. As long as you can deal with the steep price and the lack of wireless book buying, it provides a good reading experience.

Click here for more.

Click here for more.

biggest upgrade is the new 6-inch, 600-by-800 electronic paper display, which shows 16 shades of gray instead of just 4. Amazon claims the new display is also 20 percent faster, but I wasn’t able to detect any significant difference. As cool as this display is, it’s still not a touch screen.

One genuinely new feature is text-to-speech functionality. Select any book or magazine, and the Kindle 2 will read that selection aloud to you. The voice is pretty robotic—more Stephen Hawking

BEYOND BOOKS even though the Kindle 2 is referred to as an e-book reader, it lets you access a lot more than just your favorite paperbacks. Currently, you can subscribe to more than 31 newspapers and magazines via the Kindle.

Thanks to its wireless capability, each new issue will load automatically when you’re in Wi-Fi range. Also, there are a selection of blogs that you can access via the Kindle—for a fee of $1 to $2 a month to port the content to the Kindle platform. Here’s a few of the choices: Newspapers •Le monde •The Independent •The New York Times •The Wall Street Journal •USA Today

Magazines •Fortune •The Atlantic •The New Yorker •Time •U.S. News & World Report

14 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

Blogs •BoingBoing •Gawker •Huffington Post •Slashdot •TechCrunch

than HAL—but it works. Options let you control the tempo of the reading and choose a male or female voice. This feature doesn’t really compete with the fluid, emphatic storytelling of audiobooks, which the Kindle 2 also supports, but it’s nice nonetheless.

Although the Kindle 2 costs the same as the original, it has eight times the storage. There is no memory card slot, but the company claims you can store more than 1,500 books on its 2GB of internal flash memory (1.4GB is available to the user). And all your book and magazine purchases are also backed up online. The Kindle 2’s design does not let us perform a battery rundown, but during informal testing I ran it for a week with the wireless radio on before the battery drained completely. In terms of file format support, it supports AZW, TXT, Audible, MP3, Unprotected MOBI, and PRC (natively), and DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP (through conversion).

The notable missing letters there are “PDF.” All in all, the Amazon Kindle 2 looks like a worthy follow up to its popular predecessor. The quirky design choices of the original have been ironed out, and the device has been made easier to use and read. It’s still on the expensive side, and I would love to see a touch screen, a more elegant interface, and support for an open publishing platform (like ePub), but I'm confident that those things will come in time.—Dan Costa

first looks consumer electronics

SaMSung MeMoir SgH-T929 (T-Mobile)

The Best Camera Phone In the U.S.A.

Samsung Memoir SGH-T929 (T-Mobile) $299 list and up with two-year contract Ll l l m

Pros best camera-and-video phone in the u.S. excellent video player. lots of features. Fun to use.

Cons Web browser is a bit sluggish. bad shutter lag. buggy on a couple of tasks. expensive.

Click here for more.

The Samsung Memoir SGH-T929 (T-Mobile) may be the phone that gets you to leave your digital camera at home. This 8-megapixel shooter is full of surprises, including support for two decent Web browsers, a fun widget-based interface, and 640-by-480 video recording. The Memoir is expensive compared with other T-Mobile feature and camera phones, but if price is no object, this Samsung can’t be beat.

The Memoir, which measures 4.7 by 2.1 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.4 ounces, resembles a Samsung Behold mated with a point-and-shoot digicam. The face has a 3-inch, 240-by-400-pixel touch screen with Send, End, and Back buttons sitting in a row below it. The back looks a lot like a digital camera, with a protruding autofocus lens, flash, and slightly textured grip.

As a phone, the Memoir is adequate. Reception on T-Mobile’s 2G and 3G networks is very good; the phone also works on 2G and 3G networks in other countries, though it can’t access AT&T’s 3G network anywhere. Earpiece and speakerphone volume are both decent, though the earpiece tends to distort at top volume. Transmissions through the microphone

sound a bit muddy on the other end, and a lot of background noise tends to come through, although there’s remarkably little in-ear feedback of your own voice. The Memoir’s battery life, at 5 hours of talk time, is passable.

The big deal with this phone, of course, is the camera, which is better than that of any other carrier-subsidized phone in the U.S.—both for photos and for video. It’s not on a par with top dedicated still cameras like the Editors’ Choice Canon PowerShot A1000 IS, but it competes with lesser cameras like the Casio Exilim z250.

Even though the Memoir doesn’t have full smartphone capabilities, its superior ability as a camera phone lead us to award it an Editors’ Choice.

—Sascha Segan and PJ Jacobowitz

Helio ocean 2 (Virgin Mobile)

The Pre Palm Pre?

Helio Ocean 2 (Virgin Mobile) $149.99 list with two-year contract ll l l m

Pros Push e-mail. brings together contacts, iMs, and e-mail messages from multiple accounts. gPS. Plenty of additional features and apps.

Cons Very bulky.

Default Web browser is slow. requires a two-year Virgin Mobile contract.

Click here for more.

One of the coolest elements of Palm’s highly anticipated Pre has arrived early: Contact synergy comes to the masses in the form of Virgin Mobile’s Helio Ocean 2. This new feature merges address books from several different sources to let you e-mail, text, or instant message all of your friends quickly and easily. Synergy on the Ocean doesn’t go as far as it does on the Pre, but it’s here now, it’s inexpensive, and it’s a pretty cool device for messaging friends.

There’s no getting around the fact that the Ocean is huge. At 5.9 ounces and 4.7 by 2.3 by 0.8 inches (HWD), this is no slim-and-light handset. The phone opens two ways: You can slide the screen up to get a traditional phone keypad or slide it sideways to get a full QWERTY keyboard. Navigating is done by means of a four-way rocker with a trendy optical sensor in the middle. You also get a 2-megapixel camera and 2.6-inch, 320-by-240 LCD. Battery life came in at 6 hours 44 minutes of continuous talk time.

Sure, the Ocean 2 is a fine voice phone, but really, you’re not buying a warship like this to talk on—it’s all about the messaging. The phone lets you com-

bine all your contacts from a free 100MB Helio webmail account, AOL, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo into one master address book. E-mail and IM run in the background and automatically push messages to you as soon as they arrive (except for messages from generic POP/IMAP accounts). The one bump in the road is that the Ocean 2’s Web browser is painfully slow. Though it is not as sleek as the upcoming Palm Pre, the Ocean 2 is worth a look for heavy messagers who are willing to jump to Virgin Mobile.—Sascha Segan aPril 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 15

first looks CoNsUMEr ElECtroNiCs

Samsung LN46A850 $2,599.99 list ll l l m

Pros Excellent picture contrast.

Network multimedia streaming.

Thin cabinet design.

Cons Poor picture uniformity compared with other Samsung models.

Incorrect scaling on some test video files.

Click here for more.

PORTS INCLUDED CableCARD

0

Component

2

Composite

2

DVI

0

Ethernet

1

FireWire

0

HDMI

4

RF

1

RS-232C

0

S-Video

1

USB

1

VGA

1

SAmSUNg LN46A850

Slim and (Mostly) Sublime At a mere 1.9 inches, the 46-inch Samsung LN46A850 is the company’s thinnest HDTV yet. What’s more, the LN46A850’s colors are brilliantly accurate, its video black inky-dark, and its reproduction of standard- and high-definition sources admirably detailed. And the LN46A850 is loaded with useful extras, including support for network streaming of multimedia content. All in all, it’s a tempting—and competitively priced—slim-cabinet television.

The stylish glossy black frame surrounding the LN46A850’s screen is enhanced with a subtle reddish-amber line along the outer edges (Samsung calls it a “Touch of Color”). The LN46A850’s swivel-action table stand is constructed from a rectangular-shaped sheet of tempered glass that nicely complements the TV’s frame. A good, stylish TV deserves a quality remote control, and the LN46A850 includes two—a standard model with backlit keys and a mini remote. An Ethernet port lets you stream video and audio from a DLNAcompliant server or Windows PC (via the included Samsung PC Share Manager software). I streamed DVD video files successfully, except that the aspect ratio of the video was incorrect.

16 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

Using calibrated picture settings, I found that the LN46A850’s average picture contrast was an impressive 3,487:1. This result is one of the best I’ve seen among fluorescent-backlit LCDs, second only to the LN52A750’s contrast result of 3,725:1. A picturerelated issue I found with the LN46A850 unit I tested was poor bright and dark uniformity. But I wouldn’t say this issue is representative, necessarily, of the entire series; it’s likely a defect on the unit I received.

The fast, 120-Hz refresh rate technology featured in the LN46A850 is configured by default to smooth out video motion to enhance picture detail. With the set’s film detection enabled, its ability to upconvert standard-definition video (480i) to the screen’s 1080p format was exceptional. HD satellite TV as well as Blu-ray movies and test material (a mix of 1080i and 1080p24) were as detailed as I’ve seen on any LCD television.

Premium plasma and LCD flat-panel televisions will continue to push the limits of cabinet thinness, picture quality, and energy efficiency—and the LN46A850 sets the current benchmark for what you should expect from an affordable, ultrathin HDTV.—Robert Heron

first looks consumer electronics

Panasonic Lumix Dmc-G1

A Pioneer, but Not a Game Changer Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 $799.95 list ll l m m

Pros uses new micro Four Thirds standard, which allows for a smaller body and lens than comparable entrylevel D-sLRs. solid image quality at iso 100800. Large, articulating 3-inch LcD. HDmi-out.

Cons not much smaller than a D-sLR. no optical viewfinder. Excessive noise at higher isos.

Longer shutter lag than traditional D-sLRs. no video-recording capability.

Click here for more.

Dreaming of the day when you can have the performance of a D-SLR in the body of a compact camera?

It may be closer than you think. The 12.1-megapixel DMC-G1 is the first camera to incorporate the Micro Four Thirds standard, which shrinks the lens diameter and forgoes the mirror box you’ll find in a traditional D-SLR, making it more compact. While the DMC-G1 delivers good image quality, the competitively priced Canon EOS Rebel XSi ($799.99 list) gives you sharper images with less noise for about the same price—and the G1 isn’t that much smaller.

Panasonic says it didn’t shrink the body of the DMC-G1—at 13.6 ounces—as much as it could have, for fear of scaring off anyone shopping for an SLRquality camera. As a result, there’s a great deal of dead space inside. Still, the DMC-G1’s overall build is quite nice. It’s available in black or blue, but our test camera was a fiery red. It features ergonomic curves for a solid grip, and its dials have raised bumps for easy control. All of the camera’s controls are right at your fingertips, which allows for quick access to the many features.

What D-SLR users will miss most on the DMCG1—and other upcoming Micro Four Thirds cameras, for that matter—is a true optical viewfinder.

Since the new standard loses the mirror box that reflects the image through the lens, it has to simulate one. The DMC-G1 achieves this with a tiny LCD where the viewfinder would normally be. It works okay for displaying photo information like ISO and shutter speed, but I found motion blur to be particularly distracting.

Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G1 is a solid first stab at a Micro Four Thirds camera, but you’ll probably want to wait for the second generation of products, or simply go with a traditional entry-level SLR like the Canon EOS Rebel XSi.—PJ Jacobowitz

GaRmin nüvi 265T

The Garmin Experience at a Bargain Price Given the current state of the economy, not everyone has the budget to spring for a GPS device. Fortunately, the 265T, one of Garmin’s entry-level nüvis, offers an amazing amount of bang for the buck.

The 265T measures 2.8 by 3.8 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and features a 3.5-inch, 320-by-240-pixel screen. For an additional $50, you can opt for the nüvi 265WT, which has a 4.3-inch, WQVGA 480-by272-pixel screen.

Both the 265T and 265WT feature Garmin’s familiar “Where to” and “View Map” user interface and have the same destination input options as on the midrange and even the premium 800 series.

Input options include: Address; Go Home; Points of Interest (16 categories); Recently Found; Favorites; Intersections; Extras; Cities; Browse Map, and Coordinates.

The 200 series doesn’t have Garmin Locate, a feature that remembers your last-known location when you remove the device from the bracket. The series also lacks players for MP3s and audiobooks, as well as an FM transmitter to send voice prompts to your car’s FM radio. Still, the 265T and its siblings do have the “Where Am I” feature, a picture viewer, a world

Garmin nüvi 265T $249.99 List llllm

clock, a simple calculator, and a unit converter.A free upgrade called ecoRoute calculates your estimated fuel cost for each trip and provides you with fuel and mileage reports; it even adds a “Less Fuel” option to your Route Preference choices.

Though it lacks some of the bells and whistles of Garmin’s top-shelf products, the 265T still delivers the Garmin navigation experience, with a complete set of maps, text-to-speech, free lifetime traffic, picture navigation, and ecoRoute to boot. And you just can’t beat the price.—Craig Ellison

Pros includes maps for the u.s. and canada.

Text-to-speech.

Lifetime free traffic. ecoRoute feature can save you money on gasoline.

Cons no multisegment routing or Lane assist.

Bluetooth interface didn’t read contacts/call history.

Click here for more.

aPRiL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 17

first looks Consumer eleCtroniCs

Quick looks Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and other consumer electronics products.

RED denotes Editors’ Choice

PROS

CONS

BOTTOM LINE

SPECS

• Comfortable QWERTY keyboard • Roomy LCD • Includes Web browser, IM, and e-mail clients • Solid multitasker

• Finicky touch screen • Weak reception • Lacks a standard 3.5mm headphone jack

The Quickfire misses the mark as a music phone, though it’s an effective Sidekick clone for those with AT&T.

GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA data networks; 2.8-inch, 240-by-320 TFT LCD; 1.3MP camera; 4.3 by 2.2 by 0.7 inches (HWD); 4.8 ounces.

• Attractive • Free calls via UMA-based Wi-Fi • Comfy hybrid QWERTY keyboard

• Poor Web browsing and video playback • Some UI-related snafus • Useless video-recording mode

T-Mobile has smoothed over some of the rough edges of the original Shadow, but it’s still tough to recommend this device.

Windows Mobile Pocket PC; GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA data networks; 2.2-inch, 240-by-320 LCD; 2MP camera; 4.1 by 2.1 by 0.6 inches (HWD); 5.3 ounces.

• Takes sharp pictures • Fast operation and autofocus • Help button provides useful information • Includes additional flash accessory

• Images can be noisy at or above ISO 800 • Camera recycle times slow down after a few shots in a row • LCD can’t be used as a viewfinder

Although the Editors’ Choice Canon EOS Rebel XSi produces better shots in low light, the Pentax K2000 has comparable speed and image sharpness—and it costs a hundred bucks less.

10.2MP resolution; 2.7-inch LCD; accepts SD flash memory; 3.6 by 4.8 by 2.7 inches (HWD); 1.7 pounds.

• Strong audio file support • Touch screen • Built-in accelerometer • Video output • Line-in, FM, and voice recording • Excellent battery life

• Touch screen is not very sensitive • User interface can be difficult to navigate • Volume controls are disabled in some screens

The S9 is designed to resemble the iPod touch, but the player lacks the grace and Wi-Fi connectivity necessary to be a true rival.

16GB flash memory; 3.3-inch screen; 480-by-272 maximum resolution; supports FLAC, MP3, OGG, WMA, and WAV audio formats; 4.2 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches (HWD); 2.7 ounces.

• Compact design • Easy to use • No PC needed • Comes with a microSD card with 1,000 songs from Billboard charts

• Monochrome display • Can’t skip backward • No auto-off when no earphones are plugged in

If modern radio hits are your thing, the tiny Sansa slotRadio player is a great value—1,000 songs (plus the device) for $100.

Just be prepared for a no-frills listening experience.

microSD card included; 1.5-inch screen; MP3 and WMA audio formats supported; 1.9 by 1.9 by 0.6 inches (HWD); 1.3 ounces.

• Affordable • Upward-angled for desktop listening • Intriguing, attractive design

• Distortion at high volumes • No remote control • Speakers are hardwired to one another

The FX2020 speakers are by no means powerful, and you don’t get a lot of bass. But a cool design and a low price make them ideal for the office.

Computer speakers; two channels; 7.5 watts RMS per channel; 5 by 5 by 6.5 inches (HWD).

• Fast disc load times • Solid DVD upconversion • Supports Netflix instant streaming

• BD-Live functionality requires external USB-based storage device • Some on-player controls are difficult to operate

The BD300 is the fastest Blu-ray player we’ve tested, and its support for Netflix instant streaming is a nice bonus that comes with this solid value.

Composite, component, and HDMI video outputs; Toslink and coaxial, HDMI, and stereo RCA audio; Ethernet port; 2.3 by 16.9 by 10.9 inches (HWD); 6.8 pounds.

• Maps for U.S. and Canada • Easy to use • Text-to-speech • Live traffic updates

• Mounting bracket is a bit awkward to use • Low speaker volume • No SD card slot for map expansion

TomTom’s new entry-level GPS offers a lot of bang for the buck from a navigation leader.

Supports Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard flash memory; 3.5-inch touch-screen display; 3.8 by 3.2 by 1.0 inches (HWD); 7.2 ounces.

• Supports HD files, HDMI-out • Easy setup • Intuitive, simple user interface • Wi-Fi compatible • Useful remote

• Limited selection of titles • Downloads take a long time • No WPA2 wireless

Despite some limitations, the MediaPoint makes a nice complement to Blockbuster’s DVD and online offerings.

Remote control; 8GB internal flash memory; 802.11g Wi-Fi; two USB ports; composite, component, HDMI, and RCA outputs; Ethernet port; 1.0 by 8.0 by 8.0 inches (HWD).

SMARTPHONES AT&T Quickfire $99 direct (with two-year contract, after rebates) ll l m m

T-Mobile Shadow (2009) $150 street (with 2-year contract, after rebates) ll l m m

DIGITAL CAMERAS Pentax K2000 $599.95 direct ll l l m

PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYERS Cowon S9 8GB, $199.99 list; 16GB, $239.99 ll l m m

SanDisk Sansa slotRadio player $99.99 direct Ll l m m

SPEAKERS Altec Lansing Expressionist Classic FX2020 $79.95 list ll l m m

BLU-RAY PLAYER LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player $349.95 list Ll l h m

GPS TomTom One 130-S $249.95 list ll l h m

MEDIA EXTENDERS Blockbuster 2Wire MediaPoint $99 direct ll l m m

18 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

first looks BUsiNEss

Lenovo ThinkPad USB PorTaBLe SecUre drive

Lockable, Portable Hard Drive Drive security is getting to be a hot-button issue; witness the recent story about a lost MP3 player with military data on it being resold in a pawn shop. The problem with so-called “secure” hard drives has traditionally been that they have too many limitations.

This Lenovo external drive transcends those limitations by internalizing its security—it looks just like a plain old hard drive to Windows or Mac OS X. It’s hardware-encrypted (with 128-bit AES) and easy to use—what more could you ask for?

At first glance, the 0.5-by-3.5-by-4.5-inch (HWD), 320GB Secure Drive looks like a USB numeric keypad. An LED indicator tells you the drive’s status, and the casing is clad in the same rubberized coating that gives Lenovo’s ThinkPad notebooks their distinctive and sturdy feel. You can add up to ten users (in addition to the administrator), each with a unique access code. That way, the drive can be passed from person to person while remaining secure, with each user having access to all the data on it.

In testing, the Secure Drive scored very well on PCMark05, turning in 3,126—exceptional for an external storage drive. It was also fast in simple dragand-drop copying, taking only 52 seconds to transfer our 1.2GB test folder. To be sure, FireWire and

Lenovo ThinkPad USB Portable Secure Drive (320GB) $319 list Llllh

eSATA drives have the potential to be faster, but the Secure Drive pays no performance penalties for its security. At about $0.68/GB, the drive is a bit pricey.

You can get a nonprotected 500GB drive for the same total price as the Secure Drive (about $0.44/ GB). But for its target audience, the extra security is worth the money. If you’re a businessperson who needs to pass sensitive data physically from one computer to another, or if you want to back up your files with another layer of security, the Secure Drive is a perfect choice.—Joel Santo Domingo

Pros deadsimple security.

Supports up to ten users. no software install needed. Mac compatible. nice keypad feel.

Permanently attached USB cable. intelligently designed carrying pouch.

Cons Pricey on a dollarper-GB basis. no software included. needs included USB auxiliary power cable for heavy write sessions. Some security experts may consider its numerical code system too simplistic.

Click here for more.

eiZo coLoredGe cG222W

A 22-inch Display for Imaging Pros The CG222W is not your typical 22-inch desktop monitor, nor does it claim to be. Instead, this display is aimed at photographers, graphics artists, and designers who demand consistent and accurate performance and are willing to pay a premium for it.

The CG222W uses a 22-inch, wide-gamut S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) panel with a maximum resolution of 1,680-by-1,050 and a 16millisecond pixel response rate (black-to-white).

In testing, the display delivered as promised. Color swatches from our DisplayMate tests were vivid and bright and appeared uniform across the color scale.

Unfortunately, this monitor does not offer HDMI connectivity, but you do get dual DVI-I ports, as well as three USB ports. I was also very impressed with the CG222W’s viewing-angle prowess. Images remained clear and bright from all sides (horizontally and vertically) out to around 175 degrees.

The main difference between the CG222W and mainstream displays has to do with color calibra-

EIZO ColorEdge CG222W $1,499 list lllhm

tion. This monitor uses the more accurate (and more costly) ColorEdge technology, which calibrates by programming the monitor’s internal circuitry to change the way colors are reproduced on the screen.

To take advantage of this, however, you’ll need EIZO’s proprietary Color Navigator software and a colorimeter. Although expensive, the CG222W is a boon to imaging professionals.—John R. Delaney

Pros very good color quality. Great light grayscale reproduction. color calibration capabilities. Fully adjustable stand.

Cons Lacks hdMi input. expensive. does not support auto-rotation. dark grayscale performance could be better.

Click here for more.

aPriL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 19

first looks business

Quicken Home & Business 2009

Easier to Use than Ever When Intuit’s Quicken was first introduced, it was built around a familiar graphical paradigm: the checkbook. You can still find checkbook imagery built into Quicken Home & Business 2009, but now it’s just a small part of what has grown to be a comprehensive financial management program.

Although the company has worked hard to bump up the ease of use on this version, Quicken still isn’t for everyone. Those without a home business to worry about will do better to choose Quicken Starter Edition, Quicken Deluxe, or Quicken Online. But to track personal finances as well as those of your home or small business, you can’t beat this edition.

You see the changes to the new Quicken right away, thanks to a new Setup tab. Other new features include improvements to the Add Account workflow and to bill management and reminders. More significant, though, is a new sidebar that provides access to the Quicken online community and to tools—your to-do list, add-on services, and more. Intuit has also organized Quicken’s primary tasks into tabbed sections: Bills, My Pages, Banking, Business, Investing, Net Worth, Planning, Tax, and Quicken Picks.

One tab that you’re sure to spend a lot of time on is Banking. Income and expenses from other parts

Quicken Home & Business 2009 $79.99 direct Llllh

Pros covers all major elements of personal finance. interface simplifies use.

Helps prepare for taxes. manages home-based businesses. downloads financial data.

of the program automatically flow into here, so you see simple, effective windows that display totals for money coming in, money going out, and what’s left. You can create and track numerous types of accounts, including checking and savings, credit card, investing/retirement, and loans. Individual bills are handled capably under Quicken’s Bills tab.

You can also set up a portfolio and download stock market information. In short, Quicken is well worth your dollars if you want money management that takes in all aspects of your small business and personal financial life, including your taxes, your portfolio, and your plan for the future.—Kathy Yakal

Cons too big for basic users. Bill section can be confusing.

Click here for more.

intacct for small Business fall 2008 edition

What’s After QuickBooks?

QuickBooks is an exceptional small-business accounting program, but it can be stretched only so far. Before you reach that limit, you’d better think about taking the next logical step—moving to a midrange accounting product, such as Intacct for Small Business.

Like QuickBooks, Intacct is an accounting program—but it's one of a very different sort. The base program contains many of the features QuickBooks offers, such as Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, but it’s not an out-of-the-box solution.

You’ll most likely need to work with Intacct to find a reseller who can help you with, at the very least, setup and implementation, if not training. And, as you’d expect with a growing business, the accounting expense will be commensurate with a system that can handle more sophisticated needs—Intacct estimates that a typical installation will cost roughly $10,000 a year. But attempting to get along with an underpowered solution will be far more expensive.

Because it’s Web-based, Intacct has an immediate advantage over QuickBooks: Employees can work with the accounting system anywhere—a boon for mobile workers. Intacct’s base modules are Accounts 20 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION aPril 2009

Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Management, Company, General Ledger, Customization Services, Employee Expenses, Inventory Control, Order Entry, and Purchase Orders. Like QuickBooks, Intacct has a dashboard feature, but where QuickBooks has just one dashboard—the Company Snapshot—Intacct lets you build an unlimited number. This package also provides other features that go beyond QuickBooks Pro, including automated billing and collections management, as well as the ability to allocate and analyze cash in real time.

Moving to Intacct represents a huge step. I’d recommend Intacct for businesses that are currently using QuickBooks but need to expand, and for midsize and complex small businesses.—KY

Intacct for Small Business Fall 2008 Edition $400 direct and up Llllm

Pros unlimited dashboards. clean, understandable interface.

Graphical navigational flow charts. comprehensive records and transactions. strong integration and customization. excellent help files.

Cons requires considerable time to learn.

Click here for more.

first looks business

Bill.com $25 per month for one user; first ten payments per month are free, $0.99 per payment thereafter; $10 per user per month for 2 to 11 users; $5 per month for each additional user.

Ll l l m

Pros clean, simple interface. Saves money and time. Reduces paper and paperwork. integrates with QuickBooks and intacct.com. Audit trail.

Cons Takes some time to understand the workflow. could use more reports.

Click here for more.

Bill.com

Bill Tracking Made Easy Small-business accounting packages have matured tremendously, but there are still gaps in SMB procedures for enterprising software designers to fill.

Bill.com successfully exploits one of those gaps with a Web site that expands on the accounts payable functions of your accounting application—assuming you have one. Bill.com can serve either as a standalone application or as an integrated add-on to QuickBooks. The service tracks and stores vendor

bills due, routes your vendor payments through the approval process, and dispatches checks to your payees. It does so through a combination of faxes, e-mail, and electronic data storage, using a simple Web site with a clean design.

If you’re using QuickBooks or Intacct, you can integrate Bill.com data with either service. If you follow the simple directions, syncing the two products—moving your chart of accounts, vendors, and classes—should go without a hitch. Once you’ve got Bill.com set up, the life of a typical bill goes like this: A vendor mails you a bill. It goes to your A/P clerk, who faxes it to your Bill.com fax number. Once the bill is in the system (Bill.com handles the OCR), you can add approvers, and once they’ve approved, you can pay bills in full or partially, online (using the bank account you’ve set up) or off-line.

Bill.com’s two most noteworthy features are the audit trail (in which every entry into the system is tracked and recorded) and the home page, which displays a monthly calendar with scheduled payments on the appropriate days. For security, the site uses the same encryption scheme that your bank does.

In short, I haven’t seen a Web-based application in this price range that carves out this exact niche and implements it as well as Bill.com.—Kathy Yakal

QuickBASE (FAll 2008)

Database in the Cloud QuickBase puts your company’s database applications online, so anyone in your organization can get customized, secure Web access to anything from inventory to contact lists to product management.

You probably won’t want to use it as an enterprisescale database, but for almost anything else, it’s an impressive Web-based substitute for a server in your office.

QuickBase is not cheap, but those who can afford it have access to a surprisingly simple and elegant application. This simplicity becomes clear within your first few minutes of using the app. The straightforward, no-clutter Web-based interface has helpful prompts and explanations everywhere. I found it easy to get started either by using one of more than 300 prebuilt database templates—many contributed by real-world users—or by building a simple database from scratch. From there I found it simple to perform all the sorts of tasks the average user will want from an online database, including adding multiple tables, setting up tabular and graphic reports, and fine-tuning access permissions for users.

What I like most about QuickBase is its clear interface, obviously the result of years of experience with consumer-level products like Intuit’s QuickBooks. The document library app is impressive,

QuickBase (Fall 2008) Free 30-day trial; subscription, $250 direct per month and up Llllm

thanks to a built-in revision-tracking feature that can store multiple versions of the same document.

One limitation to keep in mind when using the document-storage system is that QuickBase doesn’t work like “live” Web services, in which you can open an attached file in the browser and save it again directly to the Web. When you open a file attached to a database and make revisions, you have to save it locally first before uploading the new version to QuickBase. For serious, business-class database needs with the convenience of online access, QuickBase is the service we recommend. In fact, it is the database app we use here at PCMag. — Edward Mendelson

Pros Powerful, fast, reliable online database.

Extremely easy to use, but with elaborate options for user permissions, document storage, automated e-mail notifications, multiple tables, customized reports, and charting. Rich selection of prebuilt applications.

Cons Attached document files can be exported only one by one. charting can’t handle some complex data.

Click here for more.

APRil 2009 PC MAGAZInE DIGITAL EDITIon 21

first looks software

Finding FaCes in the Crowd iphoto ’09’s best new feature is the ability to sort photos by who’s in them, known as “Faces.”

apple iliFe ’09

Your Digital Life, Apple Style Apple iLife ’09 $79 direct Ll l l h

Pros Five strong apps, tightly integrated. Terrific value.

Connects to a variety of Web services.

Cons iphoto competitors are nearly as good, at no cost. No update to iDVD, which has no Bluray support. awkward handling of multiple iMovies.

Click here for more.

iLife is still the best suite out there for combining your photos, videos, and audio doodlings into gorgeous projects to show friends and family. iLife ’09 isn’t really a huge upgrade from iLife ’08, and the rise of alternatives to a few of its apps means you may actually want to think twice before dropping $79.

But if you intend to use all the pieces together, you’ll be spoiled for any other suite. Why? Because the strength of iLife is its integration. Each component, individually, is good. Together they’re unbeatable.

Media flows effortlessly from one app to the other, letting you put your photos, movies, or songs into the hands of friends and family half a dozen ways.

Five components make up iLife: iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD. The free download, iTunes, is pretty much the sixth part and is necessary if you want to take advantage of the suite’s integration. iWeb and iDVD exist mostly to let you publish material you collected or created in iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and iTunes. With iLife ’09, Apple has unyoked the software a bit from the $99a-year MobileMe online service, giving you more options to put your photos, videos, and Web sites online with Flickr, YouTube, and other hosting services—a welcome and much-needed move. For its tight integration and continued feature innovation, we award iLife ’09 an Editors’ Choice.

22 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION april 2009

iPhoto ’09 Once, iPhoto had no peer. But now Google’s free Picasa 3.0 has taken a lot of the wind out of iPhoto’s sails, matching the new face-detection and geotagging functions in iPhoto and one-upping it on speed.

If you intend to print your photos or export them into iMovie, iPhoto is still the best choice.

As before, iPhoto imports images into datebased collections called events, but you have two new photo-sorting capabilities: Faces and Places.

The Faces feature scans through your photos identifying human faces and then asks you to tag them with names. With our 4,500-image library, the process took about 90 minutes. Places is striking but a little less useful. It lets you plot the locations where you took your photos on a Google Map, and zoom in to look at collections of images you shot in the same area. There are a few other enhancements, but they’re too minor to change your buying decision. If you’re just looking for a photo organizer and a way to put your slideshows on the Web, look to Picasa. But iPhoto still reigns for folks wanting to do more with their photos. iMovie ’09 iMovie ’09 keeps its predecessor’s radical clip-based interface but adds a bunch of missing features that

advanced users will welcome. For example, clicking on the corner of a clip gives you a list of advanced features, such as a frame-by-frame precision editor that helps—a little—with iMovie’s lack of timecodes and frame markings. Also, the new iMovie supports two video tracks—sort of. You can cut away to a second while playing the audio from the first, embed one track in another to create a picture-inpicture display, or do simple green-screen compositing. Like most of iMovie’s features, these could be more flexible. Two features that improve iMovie’s integration with iPhoto are Themes (to add titles and transitions) and Edit to Music (which lets you synchronize transitions with the beats or lyrics of a musical score—handy for customized slideshows).

The application still lacks one big capability: HD support. While you can import HD movies from most video cameras, you can’t output in HD. If you’re using a Mac, though, iMovie is pretty much your only cheap video-editing option. garageBand ’09 It’s the fifth anniversary of GarageBand, and Apple seems to be taking a new approach to this recording app that is part toy, part tool. No one will ever confuse GarageBand with Pro Tools, and Apple seems to embrace the difference. In its latest iteration, GarageBand seems more of a learning tool than anything else. Sure, you can record some demos on it, with either real instruments or supplied samples, adding sounds and loops track by track. But Apple seems more concerned with showing you the fundamentals of simple composing, digital recording, and learning an instrument. It does the last through basic video lessons called “Learn to Play.” Non-celebrity lessons are free, but getting Norah Jones to teach you piano, for example, costs $4.99. The payoff is that Jones delivers a verse-by-verse how-to in panoramic widescreen. Underneath her video, the ivories she’s caressing light up on a virtual keyboard.

Apple has also added virtual amps and pedals for guitarists to run their recordings through. The less-compelling change to GarageBand is a feature that lets you set up a band on a fake stage, choose the style of music and instruments, and put songs together. If you want basic music lessons and to get your feet wet with basic recording-and-looping software, GarageBand is worth your consideration.

get at the basic HTML of your Web pages, and everything you do must be based on one of the iWeb’s 28 graphical themes and 8 page types. You can insert an “HTML snippet” as a widget, but it must play nice with Apple’s existing code. Other widgets let you drop in RSS feeds, a Google AdSense box, photos and videos from an iSight camera or YouTube, and, bizarrely, a graphical countdown. iWeb’s real function—like iDVD’s—seems to be to create showcases for your other iLife content, and the program does that admirably. idVd 7.0.3 There’s no upgrade to iDVD in iLife ’09. The upgrades come in iMovie, which now lets you send projects to iDVD without compressing them to MP4 first, improving the quality. You can also set chapter stops in iMovie, but you can’t send multiple videos to iDVD without an intermediate step.

Apple has missed a lot of opportunities here, such as Blu-ray support and providing a simple way to consolidate multiple iMovies and iPhoto slideshows onto one DVD. You can do that, but it involves exporting, dragging, and dropping—at which point you might as well use something else. If you’re looking for a DVD-burning program to use with anything except iMovie, Roxio’s Toast 10 Titanium is far superior. But as a way to burn your iMovie projects to beautifully themed DVDs, it’s still a good choice.

—Tim Gideon and Sascha Segan

Building out Your site iWeb lets you drop widgets onto your page to add complex objects—such as rSS feeds—to your site quickly.

hoMeMade hollYwood iMovie ’09 supports dual video tracks, to a limited extent. You can drop in a second track while still playing the first’s audio or create a greenscreen effect.

iweb ’09 iWeb has finally grown up and gotten more flexible.

Apple’s easy-to-use, template-based Web site creator used to have one big downside: It could publish directly only to MobileMe. But now you can publish to any server that accepts FTP, which includes most Web hosts. You can also manage multiple sites, with each one uploaded to a different location. iWeb is still not an enterprise-class, or even a small-business-class, Web-design program. You can’t april 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 23

first looks software

Skype 4.0

Video Chat Keeps Getting Better Though we still categorize Skype as voice over IP, Version 4.0 puts video front and center. The service, which offers free voice and video calls between PCs and low-cost calls to standard phones, has always had a refreshingly clear interface, but now the UI has been redesigned with a focus on video calling. The quality of its combined voice and video exceeds that of other available options such as SightSpeed, TokBox, and Windows Live Messenger. This, along with the great new interface, makes Skype our video-chat Editors’ Choice.

Skype is convenient for making and receiving calls via your PC, but we don’t recommend it as a landline replacement or as a substitute for VoIP services such as Vonage. That’s because if your PC goes south, so will your ability to make or receive Skype calls. You can remedy that with a dedicated Skype phone, but options run anywhere from $100 to $300. Note, too, that Skype doesn’t provide emergency-number (911) service or actual human tech support.

The new Silk codec makes Skype’s sound quality noticeably better for voice calls than when we last tested the service. Calls I made to landline phones from Skype sounded full and fine, though not quite as clear as those over landline-only connections.

Video quality is slightly improved, though I still experienced occasional stutter owing to bandwidth issues. Skype doesn’t have some features of other services—such as a Web-based version and group video chatting—but it’s still the best free service out there.—Michael Muchmore

Skype 4.0 Basic service, free Llllm

Pros Free pCto-pC calls. Low rates for landline calls. Improved quality.

Cons Default windows are too large. No built-in call recording. No Web client. No 911 service.

Click here for more.

GooGLe earth 5.0

The World at Your Fingertips With the latest update of its virtual exploration app, Google now lets users dive into the ocean, zoom over to Mars, and even travel back in time. Google Earth still lags behind Microsoft’s LiveSearch Maps when it comes to local search capabilities and 3D rendering. However, it provides far deeper, richer environments to explore. Google’s offering is just more fun to use, and the latest version only propels it further ahead.

Google Earth 5.0 maps both the ocean surface and the seafloor. When you zoom close enough on a body of water you’re hovering over, you dip under the surface. At that point, you see a topographical view of the underwater terrain. (Note that your computer needs a fairly robust graphics system to take full advantage of the ocean view.) Google Earth 5.0 also offers 21 new layers dedicated to ocean exploration, with content such as articles, images, and video for specific regions. The cool Animal Tracking feature even lets you swim along with tagged, satellitetracked sea creatures.

Another noteworthy feature in the new Google Earth is Historical Imagery. Clicking on the clock icon lets you view newer and older satellite images from around the globe, so you can observe changes 24 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION aprIL 2009

Google Earth 5.0 Basic, free; pro, $400 direct.

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Pros Many new places to explore, including the ocean and surface of Mars.

New touring feature lets you record and narrate your virtual adventures and share them with others

for a region over time. For example, I checked out a patch of the Nevada desert as it looked in 1950, then watched as it became today’s Vegas strip.

And when you want to just get away—really, really far away—there’s Mars 3D. A Global Map layer lets you view different map overlays of Mars, showing the orb’s infrared signature or surface elevation in color-coded form. It’s these features as well as a massive amount of new data and an equally huge number of places to explore that make Google Earth 5.0 a shoo-in for Editors’ Choice award.

—MM

Cons requires a fairly robust graphics system to take full advantage of ocean exploration features.

Click here for more.

first looks software

Quick looks Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other software products.

PROS

CONS

BOTTOM LINE

• Beautiful presentation of books • Chapters and bookmarks • Best page-turning animation

• No formatting options • Very limited number of books to choose from • No transfer of your docs from PC to iPhone

Classics’ page-turning animation and sound are without peer in the iPhone book-reader crowd, but don’t expect any control over your book’s appearance, or the ability to buy any current works.

• Wide range of photographic tweaks and artistic effects • Some great creative modes • Image auto-rotation

• Unwieldy interface • Puny, hard-to-adjust slider button • “Hover” pop-ups disappear erratically

Sudobility’s Photo Lab provides a solid combination of photographic and artistic effects, though implementing them can be frustrating because of interface problems.

• Requests reboot of iPhone before first use • Expensive for an iPhone app

The iPhone version of SimCity puts most of what made the city-planning title a classic into your pocket.

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• Brings addictive fun of SimCity series to iPhone • Nice retro graphics • Useful help section

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry (Beta) $29.99 direct

• Smooth, sharp picture over Wi-Fi • Clear, easy-to-navigate interface • Controls TiVo and cable-company-issued DVRs

• Works only on AT&T and T-Mobile BlackBerrys for now • Sometimes slow to respond to key presses

It’s been like pulling teeth, but Sling Media has finally released its impressive SlingPlayer Mobile app for (some) BlackBerry handsets. If it works on yours and you have a Slingbox, it’s a must buy.

• Program warns that 100 percent cleanup of “clutter” may destabilize the system

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• Tracks all file and Registry changes made by a program installation • Can completely uninstall any monitored program • Warns about known malware-hosting sites

PC Armor records the changes made by every program that installs on your system. The only time it needs attention is when a program tries to install a driver or some other action that could interfere with its monitoring.

Ad-Aware Pro – Anniversary Edition $39.95 direct

• Speedy and accurate malware removal • Blocks access to known malware URLs • Includes useful tools for advanced users

• Highly dependent on initial update, which malware can block • Viewing or changing a recommended action is awkward

Ad-Aware protects against spyware, viruses, and all types of malware. It’s effective both at cleaning infested systems and blocking malware attacks.

• Slick new interface • Flexible station creation lets you choose multiple artists • Great sound quality

• Lots of display ads • Occasional 30-second audio ads • Some minor interface glitches

Slacker is a top-notch way to listen to music online.

The service gives you plenty of customization options and a sleek interface that informs while doing its job.

• Robust music-choice algorithms • Lots of genre stations • Few ads • Killer iPhone app

• Lacks customization options • Slightly subpar sound quality

Pandora still rocks, and iPhone owners should download the mobile app immediately if they haven’t done so already. Desktop listeners, though, may find the main site a bit inflexible.

• Intuitive interface • Excellent help options • Good coverage of tax topics • Affordable

• Doesn’t download data from brokerages • Review process is time-consuming

CompleteTax should be on your list of online tax-prep sites to explore. It comes from a very reliable source, and its interface and guidance systems are on a par with those of its competitors.

• Players can play at own pace • Beautifully rendered • Nonviolent—a rarity among games

• May cause motion sickness

Flower straddles the line between art and gaming, giving players the feeling of moving around in a large landscape painting.

RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

MOBILE APPS Classics (for iPhone) $2.99 direct l llhm

Photo Lab 1600 (for iPhone) $2.99 direct l llhm

SimCity 2009 (for iPhone) $9.99 direct

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SECURITY PC Armor 2.2 $39.95 direct yearly

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MUSIC Slacker.com (January 2009) Free L lllh

Pandora (Winter 2009) Free L lllm

ACCOUNTING CompleteTax Premium 2008 $29.95 direct (free e-file); state, $19.95 L lllm

GAMING Flower (for PS3) $9.99 direct L llhm

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 25

john c. dvorak

Chip Biz Buzzwords Every business has its share of buzzwords and terms that help insiders spot other insiders and members of the milieu. It’s useful to throw these terms around arbitrarily so others who may be lurking can identify you as a fellow traveler (or, conversely, someone they want to avoid).

Years ago there was a cultlike personal growth training system called EST (Erhard Seminars Training). One of its catch phrases was, “They don’t ‘get’ it!” It was code for outsiders not in the loop. The term still lingers in Silicon Valley, which was heavily caught up in this cult and many of its ideas. So it’s no surprise that everyone in the Valley is so comfortable

The campus You’d think this had something to do with school, no? But this is actually the compound of buildings that house most of a company. It should be called an office park or compound.

The process This is usually used in conjunction with either the size of the chip trace lines, such as the 42nm process, or as a generality referring to the overall manufacturing process type, such as the CMOS process.

The sTraTeGic parTners This term peaked when Intel announced the Itanium microprocessor. The idea was to make an announcement and then sucker any number of other companies to do a simultane-

It’s no surprise that everyone in the Valley is so comfortable with insider and exclusionary code words, many of which make no sense. with insider and exclusionary code words, many of which make no sense.

One of the great businesses in history is the semiconductor industry, and it set the standard for code words and code words within code words. Here is a partial guide to the typical terms you’ll hear, and what they generally mean.

One of these words—“chip”—has become accepted by the public at large and serves no useful purpose as a term of exclusion anymore.

Glossary The roadmap At first glance, if someone told you they had the Intel roadmap, you’d think it was driving instructions on how to find the offices. But no, the roadmap is a code word meaning a chart or diagram that shows the generational outline and development schedule of upcoming chips in the form of a time line. It should probably have a better name than “roadmap.”

26 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

ous press release saying that they are in bed with you and think this announcement of yours is just fabulous. It’s fallen out of vogue since it can be embarrassing, which is what it was with the Itanium. parTs This generic term is used by the semiconductor industry as a synonym for “chip.” You’ll hear a sentence such as “Do they make all the parts for it?” This actually means “Do they make all the chips for the product?” It’s got nothing to do with parts such as screws and the printed circuit boards.

GLue/supporT” chips These are the chips (parts) needed to make the centerpiece chip, usually a microprocessor, work. I have never been able to tell what sort of person uses the word “glue chip” as opposed to those who use “support chip.” pin-compaTibLe This means a chip that fits into the socket (see below) meant for another chip. It implies that the chip is compatible with the chip that was origi-

nally designed for the socket. sockeT The receptacle for a plug-in chip, usually a microprocessor. archiTecTure An outsider would immediately think this was about buildings. But in Silicon Valley, the sentence “What do you think about the architecture” would almost always bring to mind the inner workings and design of a microprocessor or an entire computer. Each company has an architecture, and the term Intel architecture, for example, is generally used to describe its version of a microsprocessor, or it is sometimes a synonym for the x86 architecture in general. code name In the semiconductor business, code names are commonly used not to hide or conceal a product under development but to describe products that have no official name. This sort of convention is also used by software companies such as Microsoft.

Wafers These are not cookies but slices of a silicon crystal that has been specially doped with contaminants to become the foundation for a semiconductor “chip.”

The wafer, which tends to be 300mm in size (but isn’t always) could have hundreds of chips etched onto its surface. fab A truncation of the word “fabrication,” it refers to a factory or fabrication plant that manufacturers semiconductors. It consists of a long line of extremely expensive precision equipment into which a blank wafer is introduced at one end and is processed and eventually chopped up to make individual chips. Today’s fabs often cost over $1 billion to build.

There are even more terms than these, but consider this a basic bluffer’s guide to get you through most geeky conversations.

Ask someone how much wafers cost nowadays, and watch them go off! Have fun. dvorak Live on The Web John’s

Internet TV show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on CrankyGeeks.com. You can download back episodes whenever you like.

Inside Nokia and Netbook Mania Dept.: When I first heard about Nokia considering getting into the netbook game, I made an offhand joke that it would be interesting unless the company ran Symbian as the OS. I figured that, like every other netbook, it would be running Windows or Linux. So you can imagine my shock when I was reading an article in which the Nokia folks seem to be indicating their netbook will indeed be running Symbian. What?!? Is the device just going to be a huge phone? It’s ridiculous. Stop now, guys, before it’s too late!

Meanwhile, there’s more and more talk on the streets about Google porting its Android OS —actually a specialized distro of Linux—to its own netbook. This makes a lot more sense than using Symbian, that’s for sure. If Google puts its resources behind Linux on the desktop, I think we could actually see a platform shift. This would be the time to do it since Microsoft seems to be distracted by both cloud computing and making money selling advertisements. The cash cows are what should be getting the attention, but many companies neglect them. Poor cows.

As the netbook scene heats up, you have to wonder: Exactly where is the Sony netbook? The company has released a few smallish machines they say are netbooks, but one, for example, with a Blu-ray drive is $2,700. This misses the point of a netbook, which is the low cost. It should cost about $299. Expect to see some major changes at Sony now that its European boss, Howard Stringer, will be running the whole show, as he got rid of one more top executive. It will be a magic act if Sony can somehow get back into a position of influence. The entire netbook genre had Sony written all over it, but the company could not execute. Kind of like with the iPod and the iPhone. These would have been Sony products in the 1970s.

Meanwhile, the term “netbook” itself is under legal attack by Psion Teklogix, a company that actually coined and trademarked the word in the 1990s. It is sending out cease-anddesist letters, and Dell, Intel, and others have decided to attack back. The thinking is that because Psion Teklogix abandoned the name more than five years ago, it cannot now reclaim it.

We’ll see. The industry might just change the name to mininotebook or something else. Who cares?

How long will a DVD last? This always worries me, so I back up most of my writings and photos on both DVDs and two hard disks. I’m paranoid owing to bad experiences with machines crashing, drives blowing up, and old CD-ROMS becoming unreadable. I ran into a cache of 5.25-inch floppies recently and only half were readable. I’m not sure what was on the other disks and what I might have lost. These disks are from the mid1980s, so they are 20 to 25 years old and failing.

Most of the old 1X CD-Rs that I burned in the 1990s are failing. Back then we were told that these discs would last 40 years with no problem. By my calculations we were told

wrong. Now when I have critical data, I turn to the expensive, specially formulated DVD-R and CD-R Archival Grade discs from Verbatim. They cost about $1 each! And apparently there are special materials inside, including a gold reflective layer to prevent corrosion and a hard-coat plastic. These are nice discs and are supposed to last 100-plus years.

What you have to also note nowadays is that most of the normal 25-cent-or-cheaper media is now manufactured all over the place, and all the brands are jobbing out too much.

The exact same brand of disc could be made in China, India, or Japan. It’s a mess with inconsistent quality. Most people agree, though, that the two highest-quality brands are Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden. Taiyo Yuden has an interesting product with its unusual “Watershield” printable DVD; inkjet printing on the label seems to be impervious to water and won’t smudge if gotten wet. You pay for the quality, though, at about 60 cents per disc.

Is the economic downturn over? The semiconductor folks always have a pretty good handle on this and they almost all think that this economic event is ending with the first quarter, and many are talking about a “U”-shaped recovery beginning in the second quarter. If that happens things could really rock, since there is a huge pent-up demand for tech gear that keeps building and building. Let’s hope they are correct.

The Smallest Projector Coming to a Cell Phone Near You Dept.: Have you been following the story behind those little

pico/pocket projectors? They’re minuscule and can typically project a 480-by-320 image at various sizes, usually up to 60 inches. If you’re thinking of dropping the $300 to $400 for one of these things, you may want to wait, as the second generation pico DLP is being developed by Texas Instruments. The new display is 854 by 480.

Speed Demon Dept.: If you’ve been following the progress insofar as SOHO and networking speed are concerned, you’re probably waiting for 10-gigabit-per-second Ethernet.

Now it looks as if we’re beginning to see development on the generation after that—40 Gbps. Sounds good to me! Meanwhile Juniper Networks has developed a new network processor that looks as if it can crank along at 604 Gbps. This would mean downloading an entire Blu-ray HD movie in less than a second. This development will be fun to watch unfold.

WANT MOre DVOrAk? John writes a weekly column for our Web

site, too. Log on to go.pcmag.com/dvorak. You can also e-mail him at john_dvorak@pcmag.com.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 27

SASCHA SEGAN

iPhones for Everyone!

The biggest flaw in Apple’s near-perfect iPhone has always been the network it’s on.

So as rumors have arisen once more (based on an old story from September) of Apple developing an iPhone for Verizon Wireless, the most reliable cell-phone network in the U.S., the Internet has been going absolutely nuts. Of course Apple wants to develop an iPhone for Verizon. At this point, Apple wants to develop an iPhone for everyone. There’s just one problem: the hideous, mysterious, Faustian contract Apple signed with AT&T. And that one is a showstopper.

Apple’s exclusivity contract with AT&T was an attempt to rewrite the eco-

Along the way, Apple has also learned that tying itself to one wireless carrier damages, rather than reinforces, its brand.

This is because the quality of its product becomes too tightly coupled to the quality of that carrier. Notice that in many of Apple’s “later” countries, the iPhone is available on multiple carriers. Apple’s acting CEO Tim Cook has clearly stated that the company is not married to a onecarrier strategy.

Apple has also gotten more flexible in regard to pricing and distribution, two major stumbling blocks when Apple first tried to get Verizon interested in the firstgeneration iPhone, at least if you believe

Developing a new iPhone for Verizon will take a year or so. But Apple plans ahead: It’ll have that phone ready when its AT&T contract is up. nomics of the cell-phone business. This arrangement wasn’t about visual voice mail or even, really, about branding. It was about money and control. In exchange for a bond of blood, AT&T would kick some of its monthly subscription fees to Apple and let Apple control retail distribution.

This was radical. This was unique. This was a failure.

The iPhone sold well here, but the United States is a fraction of the global mobile market, and international carriers weren’t too comfortable with Apple cutting into their monthlies. It turned out that mobile-phone carriers around the world are much more comfortable kicking in one-time subsidies than kicking back monthly fees. So for the international market, Apple went to a much more normal system of accounting (normal for the cellphone industry, that is), and as a result, the iPhone has reached spectacular sales numbers around the world.

28 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

USA Today. Heck, these days the iPhone is available even at Wal-Marts across the country. Apple of 2009, as opposed to Apple of 2006, is much more willing to work and partner with mobile-phone carriers and third-party retailers.

Mobile-phone carriers have learned a couple of things in the past few years as well. Everyone’s dabbled with visual voice mail. Phones like the T-Mobile G1 and the Palm Pre have made U.S. carriers more comfortable with phone manufacturers’ taking a starring role in product rollouts and software updates, though Apple takes that kind of control to a new level. Two years have also proved that the iPhone is a unique phenomenon that everybody wants in on.

So Apple will put iPhones on everyone’s network, but in the U.S. it will want to put them on Verizon’s first. Verizon is now the largest carrier in the country. Also, Sprint has what Apple would consider

an unhealthy relationship with Palm, and T-Mobile has that Google Android thing going on.

If the iPhone were to go to Verizon before 2010, Apple would have to build a version for Verizon’s CDMA network. That would have been a great chore back in 2007.

Apple isn’t actually that big a company; developing two cell phones from scratch would have been a big deal for it. But Apple is going on its third phone by now, and it has a few years of experience. The company could pull it off at this point.

Developing a new phone for Verizon will take a year or so (especially considering the tasks of getting it through the FCC and Verizon’s own hellish network-testing process). But Apple plans ahead: It’ll have that phone ready when its AT&T contract is up. Verizon will likely demand a threemonth CDMA exclusivity agreement, to which Apple will consent. Sprint and T-Mobile will follow after a few months.

If the AT&T contract lasts past 2010, a Verizon launch gets even easier. The iPhone could be one of the first devices on Verizon’s new LTE network, which will use a fourth-generation technology that Verizon will share with AT&T, T-Mobile, and dozens of international carriers. An LTE iPhone would eventually be an almost universal device.

Apple’s AT&T contract is still shrouded in mystery. All we know about the terms is that the contract is a “multiyear.” Under the most liberal interpretation, that means Apple could be out from under AT&T’s thumb by July. But USA Today reported in separate stories that the contract runs through the end of 2010 or even 2012, which puts the Verizon launch firmly in the LTE zone. I’m pretty sure that whenever that clock goes ding, a whole lot more people will be able to buy iPhones.

STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the latest on smartphones by reading Sascha’s column at go.pcmag.com/segan.

DAN COSTA

The Case of magicJack About a year ago, PCMag.com’s networking analyst walked into my office, put a small plastic box on my desk, and told me that we had a new Editors’ Choice for VoIP solutions: the YMax magicJack. The value proposition was obvious: clear calls anywhere in the U.S., dead-simple operation, and, best of all, the box cost only $40 (plus another $20 a year for service). Sure, it sounded too good to be true, but after a lot of testing, we found that the product actually worked as advertised. Fast-forward a year, and even though the magicJack’s network and firmware have been upgraded, our opinion of the product is considerably

conclusion: When it works, it’s great; when it doesn’t, you shouldn’t expect much help from the company.

YMax has been very busy since the launch of magicJack in 2007. The company’s aggressive marketing efforts have put its product in the hands of pretty much every technology journalist I know, and the resulting reviews have generally been quite positive. YMax has also blanketed late-night cable TV with ads—stay up past 1 a.m. and there’s a good chance you’ll see a goofy infomercial for the magicJack.

The company even placed units into a recent TED conference goody bag and

We tested four different magicJack units, and every time we came to the same conclusion: When it works, it’s great. When it doesn’t, don’t expect much help. lower. The magicJack’s story should serve as a cautionary tale for the entire technology industry.

Truth be told, we started getting complaints about the magicJack as soon as we published our review. Not just a few unhappy users, but dozens of them. There were also plenty of poor Better Business Bureau reports. Turns out the primary problem isn’t with the product itself—it’s with the company’s technical support. And for many would-be buyers, the issues that are coming to light are deal breakers.

My colleague Sascha Segan has already written about the limits of professional product reviews in his column. Reviewers have products for only a short period of time before they send them back to the vendors. This makes it impossible either to perform long-term testing or to evaluate build quality across an entire product line.

In the case of the magicJack, however, we tested four different units over the course of a year. Every time we came to the same

got its own football game: the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl.

All this press has been a boon for YMax. All told, the company estimates it has sold more than two million magicJacks since the product launched, and it’s now selling them at a rate of 250,000 a month.

At $40 a pop, plus annual revenues of $20 a year, that’s a lot of cash rolling in. This also means an enormous user base that needs billing, technical, and customer support services. This is where YMax, like many start-ups, comes up woefully short. YMax simply doesn’t answer phone calls. The company doesn’t list a corporate number anywhere on its Web site and offers no live voice support, only live chat. And even live chat is accessible only after you’ve been repeatedly dumped into the site’s knowledge base. Although the product often “just works,” when it doesn’t, you’re in trouble: Live chat is not an ideal medium for helping a user adjust UDP ports or reconfigure firewall settings.

YMax CEO Dan Borislow stopped by our offices a couple of months ago to talk about how the company has grown and what it’s doing to improve customer support. He even let me peek into its chat-based support infrastructure, which consists of real-time instant messaging with service reps in the Philippines, who are always on call and are graded based on their performance. The system looks pretty impressive.

In our real-world testing, however, the live chat reps were not helpful. Worse, we were directed to make changes to our system Registry to solve routine networking problems. As tech journalists, we can handle that, but for the average user this is a recipe for disaster.

It’s a mistake to think of YMax as only a company that hawks a $40 adapter on late-night TV. YMax is a phone company, and a pretty big one. Yes, it uses VoIP, but its business model is very different from those of Vonage and other cable operators that offer phone service. The magicJack service has a nationwide network of media gateways and session border controllers, as well as CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier) certifications in all 50 states. YMax is a huge company with a vast technical architecture to support. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be spending enough to take care of that customer base.

Sure, managing the explosive growth that YMax has experienced in the past year would tax any company. But YMax seems to have lost track of its purpose. It isn’t just selling an inexpensive gadget, it’s selling a service. And providing a service requires more than simply placing calls. Sometimes it requires taking them.

What’s your experience with the magicJack? We’ve set up a comments section on Gearlog. Click here.

TALK bAcK To DAn E-mail your thoughts to dan_costa@ziffdavis.com.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 29

30 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

Home Networking: A Refresher Course Rebuilding your home network doesn’t have to be tough, if you follow our steps.

By Oliver Rist and Eric Griffith

If you’re reading this story, chances are very good that you already have a home network. You’re a PC Magazine reader, after all. So why the refresher course on why you need one and how to set one up? As we all know, the times they are a-changin’ constantly in the tech world, and with so many new products and services being offered, some of you may want to rebuild your home network to accommodate all that you want to do with it.

You may also have a home network but have always wondered about its mechanics—like what goes on in the brain of that little router of yours, or how the router’s wireless radio actually works. We’re here to explain what’s going on inside your devices.

Beyond the basics of letting you share high-speed Internet access with computers and devices in the house, home networks allow you to control what the kids are doing on the Web, share data and multimedia files, automate backups for all of your PCs, and even use webcams to see what that new puppy is doing in the living room while you’re at work. The bedroom computer upstairs can print to the color printer in the downstairs study, and the media PC in the living room can show a movie on the PC-connected TV in the basement rec room.

Adding on network-oriented products and peripherals makes the setup even more useful. Network attached storage (NAS) lets you create shared folders for each family member; these folders can be accessed both from the home network or from the Internet if you’re away from home. NAS devices also make efficient places to store all those backup files. In this story, we’ll review some of the hottest new NAS devices, as well as the newest routers, network printers, and media devices, all for your home network.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 31

New Wireless Routers Add Speed, Drop Price To really take advantage of your home network, you’ll want a wireless router. A router negotiates traffic between your network and the Internet, and the switch and wireless access point integrated with the router handles traffic among the various devices in your home network, be they PCs, laptops, media devices, or whatever else you’ve plugged in or linked up wirelessly. The latest crop add a slew of neat features beyond mere speed, but speed is definitely at the heart of these gadgets.

Today’s wireless routers are built around the 802.11n specification, meaning they can hurl data around your house at a incredible gallop: 300 megabits per second (Mbps), theoretically. In our testing, the routers we reviewed actually moved bits at speeds ranging from 63 Mbps to 133 Mbps.

Two of the routers we tested, the Netgear RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router WNR3500 l l l m m ($119.99 list) and the Belkin N+ Wireless Router (F5D8235-4) l l h m m ($119.99 list) include Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) connections, so wired connections can really zip. The third product, the D-Link RangeBooster N Dual-Band Router (DIR-628) l l l l m ($99.99 direct), uses the more common 10/100 Mbps Ethernet.

New routers like these place a real emphasis on ease of setup. Many have a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button, such as the one you’ll find on the Belkin and Netgear routers.

Press the buttons on the client adapter and router simultaneously to automatically setup networking between the two, without having to set channel, SSID, and WPA encryption key.

For WPS devices without a button—like a laptop with integrated Wi-Fi—you have to manually enter a PIN code.

The Belkin router’s claim to fame is that it provides an easy way to add network storage.

Simply plug an external hard drive into the router’s USB 2.0 port. The included software utility worked well and mapped the drive as

The Connection Not only have most of us had high-speed Internet for years, but we don’t know anyone who doesn’t have it. In general, most home networks get broadband from fiber optics, cable, or DSL. For those in remote areas, satellite TV is the way to go—it’s still better than dial-up service. Those living in rural areas should also consider a WISP, or wireless Internet service provider. WISPs act like upside-down satellite 32 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

a local drive, letting you access it from anywhere on the network. The combination of this storage manager software and the port provide a tremendously useful feature you won’t find on many routers at this price.

The Netgear router’s wireless repeater function takes networking up a notch over its competitors. A repeater makes possible wireless meshing of a sort—a way for Wi-Fi devices to talk to each other wirelessly. It establishes ad-hoc connections or direct connections using MAC addresses, a very cool feature. With the wireless repeating function turned on, the router can extend the range of your wireless network. When you add it all up, the router can work well in a home or in a small business.

The D-Link, our Editors’ Choice among these routers, supports a wealth of fancy features: channel auto-scanning for both bands and mixed channel widths, a quality of service (QoS) engine, VPN gateways and access control policies. The router’s firewall even supports IPsec VPN and includes some nifty network address translation (NAT) filtering capabilities to limit traffic at the protocol level.

In addition, the low price (just $119.99 direct) is a sign that wireless-n, now at draft 2.0, is finally hitting the mainstream.

D-LINK RANGEBOOSTER N DUAL-BAND ROUTER

dishes, reaching down into the ground to connect to fiber-optic lines, while longrange wireless routers installed in each customer’s house point sideways toward the tower. If you’re considering switching your provider, pick the one with the most throughput (measured in megabits per second, or Mbps) for the lowest monthly cost, and you’re good to go. In our annual Service and Reliability Survey, the favorite broadband type among our readers, hands

BELKIN N+ WIRELESS ROUTER

NETGEAR RANGEMAX WIRELESS-N WNR3500

down, was fiber, which you can get via the highly rated Verizon FiOS service (in very select areas of the United States, that is).

Setting up high-speed Internet service is much, much simpler than it used to be.

As a first option, you can make an at-home service appointment with the phone or cable company, then wait for that highly precise, “anywhere between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.” arrival time. Some providers may require this, or at the very least insist that

The Best Network Printers MoNoChRoME LASER ALL-IN-oNE

Brother MFC 7840w $225 street l lllm

you visit their local office to get the modem kit, because they won’t allow the use of a third-party modem.

If they do allow it, your other option is to purchase a DSL or cable modem kit at your local electronics store. It usually includes a name-brand router, a definite plus. You can find these packages at stores like Best Buy or WalMart, and online at Buy.com or Amazon. They’ll include the modem plus a router—or one unit with the modem and router integrated—as well as setup instructions and info on how to register your new service with the provider automatically. Again, these kits used to be a nightmare of bad instructions and nonfunctioning automation. Today’s packages, however, are easy-peasy.

Stick the Quick Start CD into your computer and follow the on-screen instructions. Typically, it will ask you to plug your router into the phone or cable TV line first, then it will take a minute or so to find itself on the provider’s network (the Internet) and register. After that, you’ll plug your computer into the other side of the router, fill out some identification and billing information, make sure your computer’s network settings are set to “Automatically get an IP address,” and that’s it. You’ll be on the Internet.

Any other computers you plug into the back of that router will not only see the Web, they’ll also see each other (or they will after you run Microsoft’s home networking wizard)—and hey, you’ve got a basic network.

Networking and Windows Once your router is functioning and your computers are plugged in, you need to make sure all the computers can see not just the Internet, but each other as well.

For Vista and Windows 7 machines, you’re not going to have to do much besides wait.

These versions of the Windows operating system are much smarter about networking. Vista PCs will simply find each other on the network as long as they’re all in the same IP subnet—a logical division of a local area network, which is created to improve performance and provide security. If your computers don’t see each other, Vista has a couple of network fix-it wizards, as well as the “Set up a home network” wizard for you to fall back upon.

Windows XP machines, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. Those in the same IP subnet should see each other, but there’s a

Most printers in this category at this price tend to tackle only personal tasks and connect only by USB cable. But the 7840w breaks the mold. Its talents include printing, faxing, and scanning over a network. It can send e-mail via a PC, adding the scanned document as an attachment to an e-mail message. It also works as a standalone copier and fax machine, and it includes a 35-page automatic document feeder (ADF), Click here for more.

INkjET ALL-IN-oNE

Epson Artisan 800 $299.99 direct l lllm

CoLoR LASER ALL-IN-oNE

Samsung CLX-3175 FN

The Artisan 800 is weighted more toward home use but can also be a good fit for a home office with light duty needs. It includes both Ethernet and Wi-Fi support, so it’s easy to share. Photo output is high quality, and you can print directly from PictBridge cameras, memory cards, and USB keys. For office users, it has a standalone copier and fax machine, and it includes a 30-page automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning and faxing multipage documents as well as legal-size pages.

The CLX-3175FN is small enough to be a truly personal color laser AIo, although the network connector will also let you share it in a small office. It prints, scans, and faxes, even over a network, and also works as a standalone fax machine, copier, and e-mail sender.

A 15-page automatic document feeder lets you easily scan, copy, or fax multipage documents as well as legal-size pages.

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INkjET ALL-IN-oNE

Canon Pixma MP980 Wireless Photo All-In-One Printer $299.99 direct l lllm

This photo-centric all-inone printer can also function as a standalone home photo lab. It can print, scan, copy, and e-mail—by opening a message on your PC and adding a scanned document as an attachment. It can both scan and print directly from 35mm slides and strips of film, and print directly from PictBridge cameras and memory cards (but not USB keys), letting you preview photos on a 3.5-inch color LCD display.

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APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 33

The Best Network Media Devices Slingbox PRO-HD $299.00 list l lllm

The Slingbox PRo-hD is one of the best-performing, easiest-to-use media extenders out there. It streams highdefinition video over a home network and near-hD-quality content over the Internet (provided sufficient bandwidth is available). So you can watch hD videos stored on your cable box DVR or DVD player on your computer, wherever you are as long as you have an Internet connection. You can also pause and resume live TV through the box, TiVo-style.

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Blockbuster 2Wire MediaPoint $99 direct; 25 free rentals, then $1.99 to $3.99 per rental ll l m m

This set-top box delivers movies to the home via the Web and is a nice complement to Blockbuster’s DVD and online offerings. It is similar to the Roku Digital Video Player (formerly known as the Netflix Player by Roku) but does not allow you to stream movies to a computer at no additional cost; rentals on MediaPoint run from $1.99 to $3.99 each.

Apple TV $229.00 direct for 40GB drive; $329 for 160GB drive l lllm

With an intuitive interface, plenty of iTunes video content (including movie rentals), and a good price, Apple TV is a must-have networking device for the iTunes-addicted.

You can wirelessly stream content—music, TV shows, even high-definition movies—from the iTunes libraries of up to six computers or play files directly from the device’s hard drive. It also lets you download or stream audio and video podcasts, watch YouTube videos from the Web, and view photos from online Flickr accounts and .Mac photo albums.

Click here for more.

Click here for more.

chance they won’t. You’re best off running the “Set up a home network” wizard right away for XP, which is available off the Network Neighborhood screen. Just run this wizard on every XP machine individually.

The most thinking you’ll have to do is picking a workgroup name for your network.

(But that’s an important step: You can’t share files or printers between PCs that don’t have the same workgroup name.)

ing scheme than the public one used by your provider. The process of translating traffic between the internal and external addresses is called Network Address Translation (NAT), and the process for handing out those internal addresses automatically is called the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).

NAT is used because the TCP/IP network protocol was never intended to support the millions of users, devices, and Web sites that currently populate the Internet. There simply aren’t enough addresses to go around, so one per customer is all ISPs can manage—and even then they need to play cycling games, so your WAN IP address will probably change every few weeks.

On the internal side, you can set up whatever IP addressing scheme you’d like using your router’s DHCP settings. This looks like Sanskrit, but don’t panic: For the most part you can leave the default settings. Most routers default to a 192.168.

X.X address scheme. It’s those last two Xs —technically they’re called octets—that concern you. The second-to-last variable determines your subnet. So PCs addressed as 192.168.1.X are all in the same subnet

Understanding Your Router The router is the heart of your home network—which is good. That’s because it’s doing several important jobs. First, it’s the outward face of your Internet connection.

To the phone, cable, or satellite company, your Internet account is represented by just one Internet address. If you look on your router’s basic setup or status Web page, you’ll see that address at the top, generally labeled something like “WAN IP address” or “Internet IP address.” This is all that the provider or anyone on the Internet can see of your network. The router maintains that external address and simultaneously hands out a bunch of internal addresses to the computers in your house, using a different IP address34 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

and should see and network with each other just fine. One that’s addressed as 192.168.0.X will be left out in the cold.

That last octet will be different for every device you plug into the network. The router, for example, might be 192.168.1.1.

The first PC might be 192.168.1.2, your laptop might have “.3,” the Xbox might be assigned “.4,” and so on. That last octet can be any number between 1 and 254, so you’ve got plenty of addresses to go around inside your home—so you needn’t worry about running out.

The reason to stick with the default 192.168.0.X or 192.168.1.X scheme is because that particular range is not routable on the Internet. This means that anything hacking past the firewall built into your router will have some trouble accessing the PCs behind it. Another non-routable addressing scheme is 10.10.X.X. You can set your scheme to run any way you’d like, but these schemes are the safest.

Speaking of safe, your router, as mentioned, is also your firewall, which is critical to a safe network. A good firewall using stateful packet inspection (which ensures that all inbound packets are the result of an outbound request) keeps the bad guys

Roku Digital Video Player $99 direct l lllm

This Roku device, formerly known as the Netflix Player by Roku, has gotten much more than just a name change in recent weeks. Though it used to offer only Netflix movies for ondemand video streaming, it has now added Amazon’s 40,000 video titles to its offering, for à la carte rental ($3.99 for new releases, and $2.99 or $1.99 for newer releases or TV shows).

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Sonos Bundle 150 $999 direct ll l l h

Although pricey, the Sonos Bundle 150 is the perfect solution for those with several musical tastes—and many rooms—in the same house. Whether you use Rhapsody, iTunes, or Sirius, this deluxe wireless home audio system works seamlessly, streaming music from your PC to as many zones as you choose to set up.

For gamers, this inexpensive yet strippeddown version of the popular game console may not satisfy, as it ships without a headset, network cable, or a hard drive. But for those interested in streaming media, it’s outstanding, once you install Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience (NXE) oS. NXE offers a solution to the Arcade’s lack of storage space: It allows Netflix subscribers the ability to log on and add movies to their “Instant Movie” queue, letting users view them, seamlessly, within minutes.

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off your home network—and believe me, the bad guys are out there. At PCMag .com Labs, we once plugged an open PC into a non-firewalled Internet connection and recorded how long it took the PC to become hacked or infected. The low record was 20 minutes. Watch out.

You should also install a software firewall on every Windows PC and make sure it stays updated. Just open the app every few weeks, and it will tell you if you need a software update. That’s as easy as downloading a file and hitting “save.”

Vista and Windows 7 have pretty good firewalls included with the operating system; for windows XP our Editors’ Choice is Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0.

Setting Up Wireless Probably the last thing your router is doing is providing wireless access using Wi-Fi. The giveaway used to be whether or not it had antennas, but more and more routers today remain stylish by hiding the antenna—even multiple antennas—inside the bezel. Actually, it’s hard to find a router today that isn’t Wi-Fi-capable. PCs with Wi-Fi will see the router almost immediately, but you shouldn’t let it go at that.

Xbox 360 Arcade $199.99 list l llmm

Wireless networking works on RF (radio frequencies), so it’s essentially a radio: Anyone within 300 feet (indoors) or 600 yards (outdoors) can tune in to your signal. Some people are quite open to sharing their Internet connection this way, but doing so can leave your PCs vulnerable.

Unless you want anyone parked outside your driveway to know what’s on your network, your PCs, your hard disks, and the like, it’s a good idea to use some security.

Your router offers several wireless security options. The two most popular are WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access). Either will give you enough basic protection, though WPA2 is tougher. But many folks still use WEP, because Windows XP has trouble with more advanced forms of wireless security. Also, if you’ve got any older Wi-Fi products around your house using 802.11b technology, WEP is probably all they support. WEP is easy to crack by anyone with the right tools and the time to put in, however, so don’t trust it for important data. Windows Vista handles either with aplomb, so stick with WPA2 there.

Setting up wireless is again just a short series of steps. First pick a channel (you

can stick to the default unless there are a lot of other wireless routers around, as there probably are in an apartment building). Stick with channels 1, 6, or 11: They don’t “overlap” and thus have less interference. Set all your wireless devices to the same channel. The router will then ask you to name its wireless network; this is called the SSID in Wi-Fi-speak. Definitely do not to stick with the default here, which is usually “Linksys” or “D-Link” or something similar. Use something personal, like “BobsWireless.” When asked which security option you’d like to use, opt for WPA2 if you know that all the devices on your network support it. After that, simply pick a security key, which boils down to a password-type phrase. Try and go strong here. Use not just “password” but “P4ssW0rd1234”—because a mixture of capitals, numbers, and symbols with letters is much harder to crack, let alone guess. Avoid words found in the dictionary. The balance here is to come up with something easy to remember. Even then, it’s a good idea to change that security key every few months.

Save that and all you have to do is go to each of your wireless computers and let APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 35

them scan for the SSID (BobsWireless).

When a device finds it, it will ask you for the security key. Type it in, hit Save, and those PCs will automatically connect whenever they’re turned on and in range.

Last Thoughts on Wires and Ports Once your home network is running, those wireless computers should be able to see each other as well as any wired computers you have plugged directly into the back of the home router. And speaking of wired, stick with Category 5e or Category 6 Ethernet patch cables. Both of these are capable of running Gigabit-speed Ethernet (GigE).

The highest-end home routers have GigE, which has a data rate of 1,000 Mbps—ten times faster than “Fast Ethernet.”

Gigabit Ethernet will be especially useful if your network winds up carrying

movies and hi-def TV content around the house, or if you play multiplayer games.

And who doesn’t? If those ports on the back of your router aren’t enough, drop $30 or more on a GigE-capable switch. Plug it into a GigE port on your router, and then all the ports on the switch will function the same as those on the router. You’ll instantly go from four available GigE ports to 8, 12, or 20 depending on how big a switch you choose. You can even plug a second switch into the first.

If you have areas of the house where Wi-Fi won’t reach and you don’t want to thread Ethernet cable through the walls or around doors, you can sometimes take advantage of existing wires in the walls.

If you’re lucky enough to have coaxial cable running from room to room, a set of MoCA-capable adapters (short for

multimedia over coax) on either end will use the wire as if it were Ethernet. You can even do the same with power lines in your house, using adapters that support HomePlug technology. Those are even easier, because they just plug into existing outlets, then have an Ethernet cord that comes out to attach to the router and distance switch.

There are plenty of ways you can now add to or modify your home network. You can add more wireless security, another wireless access point, media devices to share photos and videos, webcams for watching the house while you’re away, parental controls so the kids stay safe on the Web, picocells that use the Internet to extend the range of your cellular phone, and the list goes on and on. But this is the foundation for everything else to come.

The Best Network Attached Storage (NAS)

HP MediaSmart Server EX487

Sans Digital MobileNAS MN4L+

$749.99 list; 1500GB

$695 list; 4095GB capacity

ll l l h

llllm

one of the best NAS servers we’ve tested, the EX487 is easier to set up than most of its competitors. Its Windows home Server collects, organizes, and streams your media over your network, including the Web. And if you’re having a problem organizing your content because it resides on multiple computers, MediaSmart can also help you collect and manage your media files in its central data store.

The Sans Digital MobileNAS MN4L+ is an extremely reliable and easy-to-use NAS solution for network-wide backups. With four 3-Gbps, 3.5-inch SATA drives installed, the box can provide RAID levels 0 (not really RAID, but still...), 1, 0+1, 5, and 6. Setup and maintenance is easy, and the default RAID 5 is ideal for network backups.

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Western Digital My Book World Edition $229.99 list for 1TB capacity; $499.99 list for 2TB capacity Rating not yet available This eco-friendly network storage drive runs cooler and consumes 33 percent less power than its competitors. It provides automatic backup for all the computers in your home, keeping track of file locations and versions.

The streaming media server can stream files to any DNLA-compliant device, including the Xbox 360, the PlayStation3, and wireless picture frames. It is also Mac/iTunes friendly.

Finally, consumers can access their data from anywhere via the Web. Click here for more.

36 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

The Future of Wireless Home Networking 802.11n networks have been the standard at home for years (even though 11n still isn’t fully ratified). It’s time to move on, already!

Wi-Fi’s future holds faster speeds, better ad hoc connections, and more.

By Eric Griffith

Illustration by Otto Steininger

When wireless Internet access really took off en masse, say about 2003, we were mesmerized by the technology. Imagine, browsing the Web at home, untethered! It didn’t take long, however, for the wonderment to wear off and impatience to set in.

We wanted more—faster speeds, better security, more stability. Fortunately for us, the technology and standards governing wireless home networking don’t stand still. New innovations are in the works all the time. Here’s a glance at what’s to come, in the short and the long term, in wireless networking at home.

Device-to-Device Connections Wi-Fi networks have two basic modes of operation. One is called infrastructure; here client devices (like laptops or hand-

helds) connect to one access point (AP) that facilitates communication among them. This is by far the most popular way to connect—you’re probably using it at home right now if you have a Wi-Fi router.

The other mode, called ad hoc, allows client devices to communicate directly.

That functionality can be handy, albeit a pain to implement. Furthermore, ad hoc networking can be a security nightmare: Scammers can easily trick you into connecting to them by pretending to be an AP. That’s why, when you use a wireless connection in a hotel or coffee shop, you should always be sure about the SSID (network name) to which you’re connecting.

Ad hoc networking may be getting a much-needed shot in the arm. The Wi-Fi Alliance—the industry group that tests all APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 37

five years after debates began on the initial new to Wi-Fi: the 60-GHz spectrum. Like 802.11-based products for interoperabilproposal, the “High Throughput” stanthe 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz frequencies used ity—has two task groups working on these dard for wireless networks—better known today, 60-GHz is unlicensed by the Federal instant peer-to-peer (P2P) communicaas 802.11n—is still not ratified. In fact, it’s Communications Commission, so anyone tions. The first group is looking to improve unlikely to be ratified by the IEEE’s 802.11 can use it. (Wikipedia says 60-GHz is usethe existing ad hoc protocol, according Working Group for another year. ful for short-range data links of 1.7km (1.06 to Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director 802.11n is done enough, however, and miles) with throughput of up to 2.5 gigabits for the Alliance. The second is developthat’s why there are plenty of 11n-based per second.) Kraemer says while “ac might ing a “soft AP,” software that makes a cliWi-Fi products on store shelves, satisfygo to a 2-to-1 increase, ‘ad’ could bring a ent device like a laptop appear and work ing those who need increased speed and data-rate increase of 10 to 1.” However, as an infrastructure AP. That way, multiple range. So tabling that discussion, what using new spectrum means an entirely new devices can connect to it directly. might the IEEE have up its sleeves for after radio technology, so there will be no backThe soft AP approach may be getting an 11n? Plenty, it turns out. ward compatibility with existing Wi-Fi. assist, since Intel is backing it. At the ConLet’s be clear on the terms. Within the When can we expect to see 11ac or 11ad? sumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, IEEE there are working groups for all types Not for a while; in a year or more they the company—whose Wi-Fi chips power a of technologies. Wireless LAN (WLAN) might be out of the initial discussion stage. huge number of laptops—showed off a soft just happens to go by the name 802.11, Of course, there’s a lot more cooking AP under the name My Wi-Fi. The softwhereas Ethernet goes by 802.3. Within than just those two potential amendments. ware ran on laptops with Intel Centrino 2 each working group are task groups, usuThere’s also 802.11s, a mesh-networking chipsets, making each laptop the center of a ally identified by a letter, such as the “n” of specification that’s been on the drawing personal area network connecting as many 802.11n; these groups are actively working board since September 2003. (It probably as eight Wi-Fi devices at once. The laptop on technology specifications to amend won’t be final until September 2010.) Lapmaintained a separate connection to a real the original. Before a task group can exist, tops and other devices with 11s support will AP, however, so it could, for example, share it is a study group, wherein members toss function as mesh points (or MPs) and form an Internet connection with all attached around the idea and see if anyone even links with each other, allowing packets of devices. Reports say My Wi-Fi also can be cares enough to pursue it. Then there’s data to skip from device to device across used to connect peripherals, even audio balloting, editing, and changes, ad infinithe network as needed. receivers for streaming from the laptop. tum—sometimes for years.

Mesh has been around for a while in Key for both Alliance groups is making The reason 11n has been so important many proprietary forms, and is important sure these P2P connections are secured for so long is because it’s about increases: not only because it can extend a network’s using Wi-Fi Protected Setup, the simple, more throughput and better range on wirerange but also because it has self-configone-button security configuration created uring abilities: Mesh by the Wi-Fi Alliance devices can move about to i m p rove o n Wi - WI-FI ThroughpuT: WhaT’S avaIlablE NoW without impacting Fi Protected Access Specification throughput frequency compatibility overall performance.

(WPA2), which is in 11 mbps 2.4 ghz Works with 802.11g 802.11b In such a network, data turn based on the IEEE 54 mbps 2.4 ghz Works with 802.11b 802.11g will hop around from 802.11i specification.

54 mbps 5 ghz Works with 802.11n 802.11a mesh point to mesh The layers upon layers point along the shortest of support in this arena ranges from 150 to 600 mbps either 2.4 ghz or 5 ghz Works with 802.11a, b, or g 802.11n path to where it needs are mind-boggling. less networks—boosts that everyone wants. to go. Actual 11s is already in use in at least Why two groups? The Alliance doesn’t Thus it’s no surprise that not one but two one product: the One Laptop per Child know which technology the industry will task groups were spawned from the “Very project’s XO laptop uses it to communicate prefer. It doesn’t even have a name for this High Throughput” study group—there’s with XS school servers, in some tests over enhanced P2P connection yet. Another TGac and TGad. The TG is for Task Group; distances as great as 2km (1.2 miles) with consideration: Who would use it? Davisthese may eventually translate to 802.11ac 802.11s data hops from device to device.

Felner believes consumers would like it or 802.11ad, if they go anywhere.

802.11u will provide a Wi-Fi device for quicker content transfers, file synchroAccording to Bruce Kraemer, chair of with methods of connecting securely to a nization, and more, and that big corporate the 802.11 Working Group, TGac “might network, based on the external network’s enterprises could expect it to help with double what we have now” for WLAN type. For example, if you have access to the direct connections to peripherals like printspeed by increasing the total data throughcellular connection that provides Internet ers and projectors. “Enterprise IT people put available to a cluster of users in a access to the Wi-Fi router on a bus, 11u will should feel comfortable with it,” she says. relatively dense environment. It won’t do keep that connection secure. It will also much for an individual, but the difference allow a Wi-Fi device to discover more IEEE: More Speed (Eventually) for a large number of users could be siginformation about that external network, The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and nificant, possibly in a business or even in a such as whether it’s free of charge or not.

Electronics Engineers) may be the most cluster of users at an airport hot spot.

11u could be published by March 2010. democratic organizational body ever conTGad is a whole different beast, as it Finally, 802.11z “Direct Link Setup” ceived—sometimes to a fault. Every memwill venture into radio-band frequencies is the 802.11 Working Group’s take on ber gets a say, which is partly why, almost 38 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

ThE FuTurE oF 802.11: SpECS oN ThE DraWINg boarD Specification

type

DeScription

expecteD publication Date

802.11ac

throughput

categorized as a “very high throughput” specification, 801.11ac would increase throughput over 802.11n by a ratio of 2 to 1. its spectrum would be 5 ghz.

2012

802.11ad

throughput

also a “very high throughput” specification, 802.11ad would increase throughput 10 to 1 over 802.11n. it would reside on the 60-ghz spectrum.

2012

802.11s

mesh networking

this specification would allow devices such as cell phones or laptops to serve as mesh points, forming wireless links with each other.

September 2010

802.11u

Security

Known as “interworking with external networks,” this specification would enable secure connections for Wi-fi devices based on the security protocols of the external network the device is using, whether that network is cellular, ethernet, uWb, or something else.

march 2010

802.11z

ad hoc networking

this “direct link setup” specification allows two Wi-fi devices to securely connect to each other in peer-topeer mode by using the security credentials of a larger network’s access point.

January 2010

improving ad hoc connections, at least for business users. Entirely unrelated to what the Wi-Fi Alliance is doing for device-todevice communication, it allows two laptops that would normally communicate on a secure network to form an exclusive P2P connection. This happens only after they’ve authenticated security credentials through an AP. It’s a super-secure ad hoc that requires the right security setup.

Zigbee and Z-Wave: home Control and More Another 802 Working Group with growing impact at home is 802.15. It’s a standard for wireless personal area networks (WPAN) using very-low-power radios to send small amounts of data. Bluetooth is one kind of WPAN; it’s based on 802.15.1. Some industry groups have for years been using another version, 802.15.4, to bring wireless home automation and control to homes. Coupled with Wi-Fi, these WPANs can create an ecosystem that stretches from your laptop all the way to your light switches.

The ZigBee and Z-Wave standards are two of the most prominent uses for 802.15.4. An industry alliance with many partners has formed to push each technology. Both enable intelligent mesh networking, so the more devices added to a WPAN the better. Eventually, every light switch, thermostat, and motor in your home could have a chip that lets it communicate, and you would control them all from a single interface, whether a remote, an LCD panel on a wall, or your laptop.

Recently utility companies have taken notice of these technologies. In fact, several are integrating ZigBee technology into meters for electricity, gas, and water.

If meters could talk via ZigBee to a home router or gateway with Internet access, customers would gain access to real-time rate information and utilities could automatically read meters without sending someone out in a truck. The potential for saving money is tremendous. Of the 80 million meters that need replacing, the ZigBee Alliance won contracts to be in at least one-

third of them in 2008; the Alliance thinks that number will grow through 2009.

ZigBee has a lead with the utility companies, but Z-Wave (owned by Sigma Designs) is still in the fight for your home automation. At CES this year, Z-Wave partners demonstrated energy management systems to help both utilities and consumers, as well as the usual home controls— picture your ADT monitoring panel doing much more than just sounding the alarm. One of the cooler items: lock maker Schlage is adding Z-Wave remote access to its wares, so you could someday use your cell phone to lock all your doors at night.

Or imagine doing that with the same universal remote you use for your TV. Will ZigBee and Z-Wave overlap with Wi-Fi? They do today, but if you have either 802.15.4 technology, it likely came as a value-added feature from your broadband provider, which supplied a residential gateway/router with WPAN tech built in. Telcos desperately want to horn in on that security market, and they know that ZigBee or Z-Wave can help, giving them another reason to charge customers extra per month and letting them up-sell you on new products for that wireless ecosystem—everything from water-spill monitors to window alarms to thermostats.

Both groups think that you’ll soon be able to walk into Best Buy and get a router from a name brand that includes both Wi-Fi and ZigBee or Z-Wave.

802.15.4 may appear soon in your phone, too, to provide extra telecom services.

Korea and some European countries are doing this already. And ZigBee is pursuing a personal health strategy, using devices like the phone to monitor people’s health status in a non-invasive way.

DlNa: linking More Devices Another interesting networking story to come out of CES this year was the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), a fiveyear-old consortium of industry companies that’s only now getting serious attention.

The interest centered on news of full sup-

port in the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. This move puts Windows 7 devices at the heart of an ecosystem of DLNAapproved consumer electronics.

According to DLNA president Scott Smyers, a senior VP for early supporter Sony, DLNA certification is all about interoperability. DLNA itself is based on Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), but that protocol only goes so far when handling discovery between network nodes and providing access. DLNA is the layer that makes sure streaming-media formats can work across nodes and providing “link protection” for commercial content using yet another standard: DTCP-IP, or Digital Transmission Content Protection over IP, which will someday prevent copyprotected digital content on a home network from going out over the Internet.

DLNA has been tied closely to other networking standards, such as Wi-Fi and MoCA (Multimedia over Coax, for networking across coaxial cable). In fact, if a networking product aims for DLNA certification, and it uses wireless 802.11, it must be certified for interoperability by the Wi-Fi Alliance before the DLNA will give it a seal of approval. There are 240 DLNA member companies, and scores of products at CES had the logo. To date, the DLNA has certified 4,000 products, including computers, printers, HDTVs, stereo equipment, DVRs, and digital picture frames.

Windows 7 may be the catalyst needed to get DLNA off the ground. Windows 7 users will be able to right-click a media file and send it instantly to any DLNA player device on the network. That already sounds like a step up from finding files using Windows Media Center.

That said, will DLNA support make it to all Media Center hardware? The PlayStation 3 is DLNA-ready, like most Sony products, but Smyers is not sure whether DLNA is coming to the Xbox 360. That’s a question for Microsoft. Adding the support via a software upgrade can only help the Xbox communicate with Windows 7 computers of the future, so it seems like a no-brainer.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 39

Solutions problems solved this issue 42 at Work • Learn how to set up accounting software 44 office • Learn hidden tricks in OpenOffice.org 46 security • Keep your smartphones secure

48 tips • Find your toolbar in Word for Mac • Align image in Word • Tweak default start times in Outlook’s calendar • Improve Power-line performance • Turn your cell phone into a modem • Take shortcuts to Internet searches

• • • • •

Use Speed Dial in Firefox Get the best HDTV image quality Choose the right HDTV ports Properly place your speakers Calibrate your camera’s monitor

keep it private Before you start posting anything, go into your privacy settings and decide whom you want to be able to see your photo albums, videos, profile, status updates, and so on.

Staying Safe on Facebook Grown-ups, take note! Here is what you need to know before “friending” your first Facebook connection. By Bill Dyszel Recent news stories have reported a litany of Facebook horror stories from geriatrics—you know, people over age 30—who dented their dignities, if not their careers, through careless social networking. Some people think that the post-collegiate crowd is simply too fuddy-duddy for Facebook.

Others insist that the site is now as essential as e-mail and phone service, if not air and water, and nobody of any age should be discouraged from squandering time on 40 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

Facebook. Even Bill Gates is reported to have a half-hour-a-day Facebook habit.

A typical Facebook humiliation scenario involves having someone post something questionable to your “wall,” the public Facebook page, and then having that item inadvertently and automatically blasted to everyone you know via Facebook. That group often includes business associates and other people with whom you’ve cultivated an illusion of respectability. Horrors!

Because the Internet offers so many paths to public humiliation, it’s not entirely fair to single out Facebook. In the site’s defense, you have to be a Facebook member to see all of the truly embarrassing items on another member’s page. Besides, Google can reveal more dirt about a person than Facebook does, and that includes material over which an individual has little control.

But if you have a professional reputation to protect, a Facebook account creates

solutions social networking

a risk. Those two are natural enemies, like eggs and bowling balls. Facebook is simply not designed as a tool for business. If you feel that you have no choice but to dillydally on Facebook, consider these facts: • Facebook was designed by adolescents, for adolescents with adolescent goals in mind. Only a few years ago, a .edu e-mail address was a prerequisite to a Facebook account, a requirement that effectively limited membership to college students. That sensibility remains part of Facebook’s DNA. A site designed to help you publish photos of yourself barfing over a beer keg is unlikely to help burnish your reputation in business.

• Facebook’s opaque user interface, the result of its fundamentally collegiate, video-gamer sensibility, is not designed to be an effective business tool. Mistakes are far easier to make and harder to correct than you’d expect in an application designed for actual work.

• You can’t predict or control who will ask to “friend” you on Facebook. What do you do when your boss or an important client asks to become your Facebook friend?

If your Facebook page includes the names of everyone in your witches’ coven, do you want important potential clients to see that? Or will you insult some bigwig by refusing a friend request? It’s not exactly the dilemma of the ages, but it’s certainly a potential social headache that adults need to consider when joining Facebook.

• Facebook developers often spring new features on users without warning. Not long ago a new “beacon” feature tracked members’ online shopping transactions and broadcast details to the world. The feature was dialed back after a firestorm of protest as well as some huge lawsuits over privacy violations, but the impulsive sensibility of Facebook developers augurs similar surprises in the future. And it raises the creepy question of why Facebook is collecting that information in the first place.

• Facebook phishing is beginning to surface. In one scenario, scammers hijack the Facebook log-in of a friend of yours and then pretend to be that friend with an urgent need for money. They contact you via chat and start the scam from there. To you, it looks like a request from a person you actually know, often embellished with personal information gleaned from your own Facebook entries. If anyone asks you for money on Facebook, use your head—don’t do it. At the very least, insist on direct contact in

pitfalls of finding friends You can easily find out who on your contact lists are on Facebook. Think twice before adding business contacts to your network.

person or via a phone call that you originate. You need to be sure that you’re dealing with a moocher you actually know, not some unknown scammer. You should also contact the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, at www.ic3.gov, to file a complaint.

In some other cases, a phony Facebook friend invites you to view a video that requires you to download a player. Naturally, that player is infected with malware.

Obviously, this same scam could be delivered by e-mail or ordinary Web surfing, but the familiarity of relationships on Facebook induces people to lower their guard.

Don’t despair. You can maintain a reasonable level of safety on Facebook. A few common-sense precautions can reduce your risk of problems. For starters, look over your privacy settings by selecting Privacy Settings from the Settings drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You can adjust every detail of your privacy settings, including who can see pictures, postings, personal information, and work information. You can also adjust what individual members see, so your boss or ex-spouse might not see things that the rest of the world does. There’s some wisdom in allowing only people you actually know to view your profile.

One part of the “Find Friends” feature is a service that asks for the log-in and

password of an online e-mail account such as Gmail or Yahoo; it pulls the account’s address book information into Facebook.

Good sense says that you shouldn’t pull a list of business contacts into Facebook if you think there’s a risk of embarrassment.

You might also consider who’s allowed to see photos that other people have tagged with your name. You may not want certain photos to be seen by certain people. It’s also possible for people to tag photos with your name that aren’t actually you, so it’s probably best to set your privacy level to limit tagged photo viewing to your friends, not the whole network.

Let’s face it, Facebook is a time sink.

Be prepared to spend an hour or so setting up your account when you first join.

It doesn’t take that long to get an account established, but it does take some time to configure your account to make it suitable for use by a grown-up.

A bit of social engineering can also help you distinguish business contacts from social friends. If an important business client wants to “friend” you, suggest that you connect on LinkedIn or one of the business networking services instead. That way you don’t have to insult someone by refusing to be a friend, and you can position your relationship as something more important than a casual encounter on Facebook.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 41

solutions at work

Eight Steps to Setting Up Your New Accounting Software

Is the biggest roadblock between you and a modern accounting system fear of plunging in?

Try these eight first steps to get started. By Kathy Yakal Last month we tackled the question, “Does your business need accounting software?”

Those of you who answered yes will find that taking the time to set up your software right will pay off in time saved every day of your working life.

First, you must choose an application. We recommend Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2008, MYOB Premier Accounting 2008, Peachtree by Sage Complete Accounting 2009, or Intuit’s QuickBooks Accounting Pro Edition 2009.

Running a few sample reports with whatever system you choose will help you get warmed up. Once you’ve done this, you’re ready to follow these next steps.

1. Use the opening setup tools.

MYOB MYOB’s New Company File Assistant gets your company file started, while the Setup Assistant takes you much deeper. You start with general customization options, then move through each section (such as Accounts and Sales).

Office AccOUnting Use the Quick Start window. After you’ve entered your company’s contact information, selected your Chart of Accounts type, and saved your company file by clicking through the wizard, the Quick Start window should open.

You can complete all of your setup tasks here, or you can access the setup functions anytime from menus.

PeAchtree After Peachtree runs you through its opening paces (fiscal year, Chart of Accounts, and so forth), it pops open a setup guide. You can either follow the links to some of the necessary steps or access them through the menus.

QUickBOOks Use the EasyStep Interview.

This multistep wizard, which should take only a few minutes to complete, starts you on the path to setting company preferences. It asks questions about whether you’ll be using inventory and paying employees, for example, and if you will be it turns those features on. But it doesn’t do everything.

2. set company preferences.

MYOB Despite the depth of the automated setup, you should still go into the preferences window at Setup | Preferences.

There are plenty of options to choose from there.

Office AccOUnting Go to Company | Preferences. Most of this material is selfexplanatory. You’re turning features on and off, setting a default interest rate and minimum finance charge, approving or PAYrOll setUP Payroll is probably the most complex module to set up for all packages, including Microsoft Office Accounting Professional (left).

Be sure to have complete information about your employees’ pay rates and withholding before you start.

42 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

cUstOMized rePOrts Peachtree makes it easy to design your own reports.

changing assigned accounts, and so on.

PeAchtree Go to Options | Global to set

preferences for things like spell-check, decimal entry, and transaction sorting.

QUickBOOks If you’ve gone through the EasyStep interview you’ve already done some of this work, but some remains. Go to Edit | Preferences, and click down the list, making your wishes known.

3. secure your audit trail.

MYOB In Setup | Preferences | Security, check the box next to Use Audit Trail Tracking. In the same window, click the User IDs button to assign access to specific parts of the program to individual users.

Office AccOUnting If you want an audit trail, check the Use Change Log field in Company | Preferences. To give users access only to specific parts of the program, go to File | Manage User and Roles.

P e Ac h t r e e The audit trail in the Peachtree versions that contain it is on and cannot be turned off. Go to Maintain | User Security to assign roles and permissions.

Online BAnking MYOB incorporates online banking services through the Bank Register at its Bank Command Center.

QUickBOOks The audit trail in Quick-

Books is on and cannot be turned off. To assign user access, go to Company | Set Up Users and Passwords.

4. establish your sales tax.

MYOB This task is handled in the Setup

Assistant.

Office AccOUnting After you’ve set

up sales tax codes, you can create groups that contain related codes that are often charged together. For example, if you sell products in the Seattle area, you could make a group that contains the local and Washington state taxes. You might also want to set up a code for customers in other states who don’t need to pay your sales tax. Click Company | Sales tax.

PeAchtree Click the Customers & Sales button on the left, and then the Sales Tax icon. Follow the wizard to set up sales agencies and taxes.

QUickBOOks Go to Edit | Preferences | Sales Tax. Click the Company Preferences tab, and then click the Yes button if it isn’t already selected. Click Add Sales Tax Item to set up your sales tax agencies, and then answer the other questions that appear in the window.

5. customize your forms.

MYOB Go to Setup | Customize Forms.

Select the form you wish to modify, and use MYOB’s layout designer tool, which helps you add fields and shift them around.

Office AccOUnting You can modify the templates included for forms, such as those for invoices, credit memos, and purchase orders. Click Customers | Manage Word Templates, and select a template type (say, Invoice) from the list on the left, then the precise document and color (for

QUickBOOks sYsteM MAP QuickBooks uses a flowchart navigation system to guide you easily from task to task.

example, Invoice Service–green.doc). Click the Modify button and the document will open. Use Word’s editing tools to add a logo or make any other changes you like.

PeAchtree: Click Reports & Forms | Forms. Select the form that you want to customize and click Customize. You can use Peachtree’s layout designer tools to make changes to any of the forms that are supported.

QUickBOOks You can modify the boilerplate form templates by going to Lists | Templates, selecting the form you want to modify, and either clicking on the Templates pull-up list in the lower left-hand corner for options, or double-clicking on it. Use the customization tools and layout designer to make your changes.

7. set up online banking.

MYOB You can download banking statements; first go to your bank’s Web site to learn how. When that’s set up, go to the Banking Command Center and click Bank Register, then Get Statement.

Office AccOUnting Click on Banking | Banking Home and you’ll see all of the options for this function. If you’re going to use online banking, click that button and walk through the wizard.

PeAchtree Click Tasks | Account reconciliation. Select the account to reconcile, and click the arrow next to the Banking icon to set up online statement download.

QUickBOOks Go to Banking | Online Banking | Set Up Account for Online Services.

6. create cover letters for e-mails.

MYOB Use MYOB’s OfficeLink tool to modify prefab Word templates (you must go to Word to make any modifications).

Back in MYOB, go to the Card File Command Center and select Create Personalized Letters to initiate the mail merge.

Office AccOUnting Office Accounting’s integration with Word also helps you write boilerplate cover letters to go along with forms. Go to Customers | \Write Letters and follow the wizard’s steps.

PeAchtree Click Reports & Forms | Forms. Select the letter you want to edit and click Edit Letter Template. Click Edit in the window that opens to create your alterations.

QUickBOOks Integration with Microsoft Office makes creating personalized mailings easy. Go to Customer Center and click on the Word drop-down menu. Select Customize Letter Templates and follow the wizard.

8. import company data from excel MYOB This is handled in the Setup Assistant, though you must first convert your file to a TXT document.

Office AccOUnting If you want to import, for example, a customer list, click File | Import Excel data. You may have to massage your existing database to get it in shape for Office Accounting. Click the Open Folder button in the wizard that opens to see the spreadsheet templates, or simply follow the wizard’s steps to see the mapping tool.

PeAchtree First, save your Excel file as a CSV (comma-separated values) document. Then in Peachtree, click File | Select Import | Export, then click Import to see the order of mapping fields.

QUickBOOks Go to File | Utilities | Import | Excel Files. You’ll be able to copy and paste your spreadsheet’s columns into a specially formatted spreadsheet, then import that data into QuickBooks.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 43

solutions office

Seven Cool Things You Can Do with OpenOffice.Org Even Microsoft Office can’t manage some of the tricks that OpenOffice.org—a free application suite, not just a Web site—has to offer. By Edward Mendelson OpenOffice.org 3.0 costs absolutely nothing, yet its features and functionality probably make it Microsoft Office’s biggest rival. Even though OpenOffice.org—which is, yes, an application suite, not just a Web site—can’t do everything Office can, it can do quite a bit, and it has some of its own tricks that even Office can’t manage. Here are a few of those tricks that may not be so obvious, as well as a few ways you can make OpenOffice.org less annoying upon install.

1. Edit two or more parts of a document at the same time.

Microsoft Word has a nifty split-window feature that lets you divide the current window into two panes, so you can edit page 5 of your document in the top pane and page 505 in the bottom. To switch from one pane to the other, you don’t have to waste time scrolling back and forth—you

simply click in the other pane.

OpenOffice.org doesn’t let you split a window into two panes, but it offers an even better feature. Click the Window menu, then New Window, to open a new window that displays the same document you’re working on. You can open as many windows as you want, each at a different place in your document; any change you make in one window is immediately reflected in all others.

You can reduce screen clutter by turning off toolbars in one or more windows (use View | Toolbars). To tile or cascade the windows, right-click on the OpenOffice .org button on the Windows taskbar.

2. Turn off the blinking lightbulb.

By default, a lightbulb icon appears in a tiny window whenever OpenOffice.org does anything that isn’t exactly what you typed—for example, when it replaces two

OnE bETTEr Than a SPlIT wIndOw PanE Use Window | New Window to open as many windows as you like on the same document. Note that you can display different toolbars, or no toolbars at all, in each window.

44 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

hyphens with a dash. It doesn’t exactly blink, but after the third or fourth time it opens, you may think of it as “that blinking lightbulb” (you might use a word other than “blinking”). To turn it off permanently, go to Tools | Options, and then, in the left-hand pane, expand the menu tree by clicking the plus sign next to OpenOffice.org. In the General dialog, remove the check mark next to Help Agent.

3. Use OpenOffice.org to open legacy documents.

Years ago, older versions of Microsoft Office could open documents created by almost any of the myriad word processors and spreadsheet programs that were widely used before Microsoft monopolized the market. Recent versions of Office can’t open many of those older formats—including files in old Microsoft Word versions, such as Word 6.0. By contrast, OpenOffice.org continues to open Word documents dating back to Version 6.0. OpenOffice.org also opens WordPerfect documents, including files created in WordPerfect for the Macintosh 3.5 Enhanced, which not even WordPerfect for Windows tries to open.

By the way, there’s something confusing about OpenOffice.org’s claims. The product purports to support at least one format that never existed: The list of supported file types in its File | Open dialog includes “Microsoft WinWord 5.0,” even though there never was such a version.

Word for Windows skipped from 2.0 to 6.0 in its version numbers.

4. Play a vintage Space Invaders game.

Remember the days of software “Easter Eggs”? These were not-very-secret keystrokes or mouse clicks that brought up silly graphics in some programs and games in others. Even Microsoft Excel

SPacE InvadErS In a SPrEadShEET OpenOffice’s Calc gives you the satisfaction of destroying alien invaders when you can’t bear to look at your financial planning worksheet.

used to have a secret game built in before Redmond lost its sense of humor. OpenOffice.org’s Calc spreadsheet program still includes a 1990s-era shoot-’em-up Space Invaders game. Open the Calc app, and in any cell enter =GAME(“StarWars”)

Make sure to copy the capitalization shown here. Calc will open a StarWars game in which you shoot down a fleet of evil alien ships. The explanatory text is in German (the original version of OpenOffice. org was written in Germany), but you don’t need to know German (or even English) to play the game. Calc has a slightly Teutonic attitude toward fun-and-games, however: After you quit the game, you’ll need to shut down Calc and start it up again before you can play a second time.

5. Save files in Office formats by default.

By default OpenOffice.org saves files in its own format, which most Microsoft Office users can’t open. You can save individual files in Office format by using OpenOffice .org’s File | Save as… menu and selecting a Word format from the Save as Type dropdown. But you can tell OpenOffice to save in Office formats by default by choosing Tools | Options, then find the Load/Save category, and the General subcategory. In the Document Type drop-down, choose Text Document, and in the Always Save As drop-down, choose Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP. Then, in the Document Type

bUIldIng macrOS Tools | Customize brings you to this dialog, where you can attach any macro to an action, such as saving or printing a file. Make sure to record your macros first, and then come back to this dialog.

drop-down, choose Spreadsheet, and in the Always Save As drop-down, choose Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP. These choices will create files that can be read by any modern word processor or spreadsheet.

6. automate actions easily.

Many advanced Microsoft Office users take advantage of macros that run automatically when you open, print, or close a file, but Office’s interface doesn’t provide built-in clues for creating an AutoClose macro that will run whenever you close a document. OpenOffice.org goes Office one better by providing a menu-driven interface that lists all the actions that can automatically trigger macros—and these include a wider range of actions than the ones that can be automated easily in Office. For example, you can create a macro that is triggered every time the number of pages in a document increases

and that inserts a header with a page number if the number goes above, say, 2.

Other actions that can automatically trigger macros include saving a document under a different name and running a mail merge. To use this feature, record the macros you want to use, then go to Tools | Customize | Events and assign your chosen macro to specific events.

7. Fix those single quotes.

By default, OpenOffice.org Writer creates good-looking, curly “typographic” double-quotation marks as you type, but for some reason, when you type a single quotation mark (or an apostrophe) it uses a vertical line, as if you were still using your grandfather’s manual typewriter. You can fix this by going to Tools | AutoCorrect…, then going to the Custom Quotes tab and, under Single Quotes, adding a check mark next to Replace.

FIxIng qUOTES Use Tools | AutoCorrect… to open this dialog, and add the check mark next to Replace near the top. If you click the button to the left of Default, you get the dialog shown here, where you can make sure that the program has chosen the correct quotation mark.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 45

solutions security watch

Mobile Device Security Measures Even the simplest cell phones carry enough data to be dangerous in the wrong hands.

By Matthew D. Sarrel Everyone is mobilizing. Our lives, not just business but also personal, have become entwined with our cell phones (or is it vice versa?). “Cell phone” isn’t even the right term anymore for many people, who use their BlackBerrys, iPhones, and other smartphones almost as much as they use

their computers. This makes our mobile devices and the data they contain just as important as our laptops and desktops.

Add a direct Internet connection (which very few people secure)—and the likelihood of physical loss or theft—and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

You may have some help from your security suite; some of these now include mobile features, although at this point we’re not sure they’re necessary.

However, there are a number of things you can do yourself to avoid a data-theft disaster.

BlackBerry (System 4.5 and higher) Go to Options, then Security Options, then: 1. PaSSword-Protect Start-uP. Under General Settings, set Password to Enabled. You may also want to change other settings here, such as the number of password attempts allowed before the device is locked, and whether the device should automatically lock on holstering. Commit your changes by pressing the Back button (the half-circle arrow) and enter your new password when prompted. Choose a password you’ll remember and that will be quick and easy to type. Confirm that password, then exit to the main menu. Lock your phone by pressing and holding the * button to confirm that it has been password-protected.

2. encryPt data. Scroll past General Settings to Content Protection, and enable it. Under Strength, you can select Strong (80 bits), Stronger (128 bits), or Strongest (256 bits). Use Stronger for faster encryption/decryption or Strongest for the most security.

Selecting Yes for Include Address Book will keep your contacts secure but will also result in disabling caller ID when the phone is locked. Circle-arrow back out, then create an encryption key by randomly moving the trackball and typing characters. A good practice is to regenerate an encryption key every two to four weeks: Under Security Options | General Settings, click on any service, then click Regenerate encryption key.

3. Secure PaSSwordS. Never save usernames and passwords in your mobile device’s browser. Anyone who finds your device could gain access to all of your online accounts. Instead, use the Password Keeper utility to store and encrypt this info.

4. Lock down BLuetooth. By default, Bluetooth is on. In addition to wasting your battery, this leaves you open to Bluetoothbased attacks. From the Home screen, go to Set Up Bluetooth. When prompted to Add Device select Cancel. Press the Menu button, then select Options. Set Discoverable to No, so other devices can’t find your BlackBerry, and set Security to High—or if the Bluetooth devices you use with your BlackBerry support it, set Security to High + Encryption to encrypt Bluetooth data transmissions. From the checklist, enable only services you think you’re going to use with Bluetooth—most commonly headset and hands-free.

5. cLear memory. Also under Security Options, memory clearing can delete sensitive data, such as unencrypted e-mail messages and username, password, and other certificate-related info. You can set the BlackBerry to clear memory under certain circumstances— for example, when you holster your BlackBerry or lock it.

46 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

iPhone Unfortunately, you won’t find a list item called “Encrypt data” below. At this point, there doesn’t seem to be any encryption available for iPhones.

1. enaBLe PaSScode Lock and auto-Lock. Click the main iPhone Set-

tings icon, and then click the General tab and select Auto-Lock. Select the time period you want, and then exit out to the Home screen. Once Auto-Lock locks the phone, Passcode Lock will require you to type a four-digit PIN to unlock it. Click the iPhone Settings icon, then the General tab, then Passcode Lock. From there enable Turn Passcode On. Enter your passcode.

Tap Require Passcode and then choose Immediately.

2. Secure PaSSwordS. There’s no native way to do this, so you’ll have to use a third-party password manager.

3. Lock down BLuetooth. It’s great that Bluetooth is off by default on iPhones, but you should also set yours to require an eight-character PIN for connections with Macs. Turn on Bluetooth only when you need it.

4. cLear the memory and cache.

Back on the Passcode Lock screen, you can disable SMS Preview while the device is in its locked state, and also turn on the Erase Data function. This will wipe the iPhone clean after ten failed passcode attempts.

You can clear cookies, browser cache, and history from the Settings menu in Safari.

Smartphone (windows mobile 6) 1. PaSSword Protect Start-uP. Go to Start | Settings | Lock and configure a password. Check the box next to Prompt if the device is unused for and then select a time period from the drop-down box, something in the 5-to-30-minute range. You can set your password to be a simple four-digit PIN or a strong alphanumeric string and then enter the password in the boxes below. You can also set a hint, but remember that this can be read by anyone with physical access to your phone. At this point, it would help to go to Settings | Today, click the Items tab and check the box next to Device Lock to provide a quick locking option on your Home screen.

2. encryPt data. Under Settings | Security | Encryption, check the box that says Encrypt files placed on the storage card, then click OK. A storage card can actually contain both encrypted and nonencrypted data, but encrypted data can be read only from the device in which it was encrypted and written, or from a Windows PC using ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center. There’s also a big gotcha lurking: If you have to perform a hard reset of your device or update the ROM, you will lose the encryption key stored on the device, and with it, access to your data. Companies can push encryption policies to Windows Mobile devices using Exchange Server 2007.

3. Secure PaSSwordS. This requires a third-party solution, such as KeePas or some other eWallet type of encrypted password manager.

4. Lock down BLuetooth. Go to Start | Settings, then the Connections tab, then Bluetooth. On the Mode tab you can enable or disable Bluetooth and make your device visible; Off and Not visible are the more secure settings. Scroll all the way right to the Security tab and check the box to require authentication for data beaming.

5. cLear the memory and cache. In Internet Explorer, go to Menu | Tools | Options; in the Memory tab you can set a history retention time in days or clear the history manually. Click the Delete Files button to clear the Web cache. Navigate to the Security tab and click the Clear Cookies button.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 47

SOluTIONS

Tips Useful tidbits from PCMag editorial staff, Labs analysts, and readers MISSING TOOLBAR? If your toolbar in Word 2008 for the Mac goes missing, click on the gray oval box in the right-hand corner.

MICROSOFT OFFICE

Restore a Disappearing Toolbar in Word for Mac Recently my oft-used formatting toolbar in Word 2008 for Mac went missing. One day it simply disappeared, despite the fact that the Formatting box under View | Toolbars remained selected—how to get it back was a frustrating mystery. I trolled every menu option in Word, looking for the box that I could check to recover it. At last I noticed a small, nondescript oval button in the top right-hand corner of my document window: Clicking on it made my toolbar magically reappear. Turns out that this little bubble expands and retracts Word’s toolbars. In fact it appears all over Apple’s OS X, in Finder, browser, and other programs’ windows, and it does the same thing in all of them. Who knew? Thanks, Apple, for making this option so puzzling!—Wendy Sheehan Donnell Align Images in Microsoft Word It’s easy enough to get an image into Word 2007—just copy it to the clipboard and paste it in, or choose Insert | Picture. But once the image is in there, you may find it a balky old thing. You can’t move it around, and you can’t put text alongside it; it’s an albatross! The key to unlocking your pasted image lies in the Text Wrapping setting. By default, it’s set to In Line with Text, which might be handy if your image is an arcane rune not found in any font—then it would flow with the text and stay in just the right place. Most of the time, though, you’ll want to choose a different setting.

Right-click the image, choose Text Wrapping from the context menu, and choose Square or Tight (or any of the other wrapping options). Now your pasted image is 48 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

no longer locked in place. You can move it wherever you want, and you can decide how the text should behave around it.

You’ll find other helpful options in the Picture ribbon that appears when you select an image.—Neil J. Rubenking Set New Time Increments in Outlook’s Calendar Outlook’s calendar divides days into hours, which are in turn broken up into half-hours, with appointments starting and ending on the hour or half-hour. You’re allowed to type odd times in (down to the minute), but for people whose classes, appointments, or other calendar items regularly start and end at 15 or 45 minutes past the hour, scheduling can become tedious. Having fielded questions from such folk, I scoured Outlook’s calendar options, to no avail.

The answer was out there, however, lurking in a context menu—thanks, Microsoft, for putting a random option nowhere near the Options dialog. Here’s how to make Outlook respect your schedule: Right-click somewhere in your calendar (somewhere within a day, not in the left-hand pane) and choose Other Settings.... Then, next to Time Scale, choose another time increment—say, 15 minutes. In addition to seeing your hours divided into four segments instead of the default two, your scheduling drop-down will display times in 15-minute increments.

You can’t type in a custom increment, but being able to choose 5-, 6- (6-minute increments? Seriously?), 10-, 15-, 30-, or 60-minute increments is a start.—Sarah Pike NETWORKING

Improve Power-Line Performance If you are getting less-than-stellar performance with your power-line network, it’s

probably because your adapters are connected across two circuit breakers. For best results, make sure the power-line adapters are on the same circuit. Note that networking performance can also degrade if your electric circuit is overloaded, so try not to use the hair dryer, refrigerator, and air conditioner all on the same one.

—Mario Morejon Turn Your Cell Phone into a Modem Wishing you could get on the Internet from your laptop without having to find a Wi-Fi hot spot? Don’t want to pay $60 per month for a cellular broadband connection? You can probably use your current cell phone as a modem for your laptop—and at a significant savings compared with implementing a separate PC card, ExpressCard, or USB solution. Head over to Smart Device Central’s Modem Tethering Guide for information on setting up this kind of connection: There are instructions for each carrier using a PC laptop, and one specifically for Mac laptop users.—Jamie Lendino CAMERAS

Calibrate Your Monitor Ever wonder why some of your friends’ pictures look better than yours? Well, maybe it’s not your camera; it could be your monitor. Calibration tools and software can help you optimize your monitor’s contrast and brightness settings so that your pictures can come out looking detailed and accurate. Expensive tools like the Spyder3 can adjust your monitor for you automatically. And software calibration tools like DisplayMate can help you fine-tune your monitor’s picture to your eye. A quick Google search will turn up

a bunch of free basic-calibration images you can try as a way of getting your feet wet.—PJ Jacobowitz MulTIMEDIA

Get the Best Image Quality from Your HDTV Most HDTVs provide several picture presets that can be selected for quickly and easily optimizing the picture quality for a particular viewing environment—such as daytime or nighttime viewing. An HDTV’s default picture mode usually produces its brightest picture, which would be suitable for use in a sunny or otherwise brightly lit room. For a more accurate and naturallooking viewing experience, particularly in a dimly lit environment where the eye is more sensitive to detail, picture presets such as Movie, Cinema, or Natural are better choices. —Robert Heron Choose the Right Port for Your HDTV Video sources such as Blu-ray players, cable and satellite set-top boxes, and console game systems provide an array of connection options to use with an HDTV. For optimal picture quality, always use the best port that the source and the TV share. For instance, if an upscaling DVD player and a HDTV both have HDMI ports (a singlewire, digital audio/video connection), then always use the HDMI ports. The next best port option would be component video input (a three-cable analog-video-only system). Ports such as composite (the yellow RCA-style port) or S-Video (a four-wire, single-cable video connection) do not sup-

port HD formats and should be avoided when connecting HD-compatible gear. If you have no choice but to use composite or S-Video, opt for the latter: It will provide a more detailed picture.—RH Improve the Quality of Your Music Library With MP3 player capacities increasing every year, most devices have more room for “lossless” files now. Lossless files act like ZIP files—they use far less compression but take up much less space than the originals, and sound a lot better than lower-bit-rate MP3, WMA, and AAC files.

In iTunes or Window Media Player, you can choose to import files as either Apple Lossless or WMA Lossless. Or, using free software available online, you can convert audio into FLAC (free lossless audio codec)—just make sure your player can support FLAC first.—Tim Gideon Optimize Sound Through Proper Speaker Placement Stereo is mixed in two channels, and if you want to hear the same balance the mix engineer heard, make sure your head forms an equilateral triangle with your two speakers’ tweeters (high-frequency drivers). You want your ears to be at the same height as the tweeters, so buying the right height of speaker stand is essential. Speaker height can be problematic at a desk if the speakers aren’t upward-angled. There are desktop speaker stands, however, that eliminate this issue—or you can use phone books or CD cases, just as long as you place both speakers at the same height.—TG

INTERNET

Speed-Dial Your Nine Favorite Sites Using Firefox A reader named Gregory T. wrote to me recently saying that he wished Firefox would mimic a feature from Opera, his favorite Web browser: Speed Dial opens new tabs to a grid of nine user-chosen sites. With it, your most-visited sites are a single click away. (Gregory also finds Firefox faster than Opera, which surprises me, as Firefox is often the worst performer on my speed tests.) Good news!

For devoted Firefox users and Opera users who have to open Firefox for the occasional incompatible site, an extension, also called Speed Dial, adds just such an option to Firefox.—Michael Muchmore This Just In: Google’s Not the Only Internet Search Provider!

I always use the Google box in the upper right-hand corner of my browser to do a search, rather than taking the time to go to Google.com or whatever. And I’m always looking for keyboard shortcuts to avoid having to move my hand over to the mouse and back. Here’s one: Put your cursor in the box, type some text, and then use the Ctrl-Down Arrow or Ctrl-Up Arrow to scroll through the various installed engines, rather than using the pull-down menu. Awesome! —Jeremy A. Kaplan GREAT IDEA! Got a tip to share? Find a cool new trick in your favorite gadget or app?

Send it to tips@pcmag.com. We’ll run it through the PCMag Labs wringer and print our favorites on this page.

SPEED DIAL This Firefox extension allows users to open new tabs to a grid of nine sites of their choice.

APRIL 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 49

Best For the complete reviews of these products and more Editors’ Choices check out go.pcmag.com/ editorschoice

Desktops mainstream

Hp pavilion elite m9400t $843 list BuDget/Value

lenovo ideaCentre k210 $449 direct gaming/ multimeDia

Velocity micro raptor signature edition $6,999 direct NEW Dell studio Xps 435 n $1,769 direct all-in-one

printers monoCHrome laser

samsung ml-2851nD $150 street Color laser

lexmark C544dn $499 direct stanDarD inkJet

Canon pixma ip4300 $99.99 direct all-in-one inkJet

Canon pixma mp980 Wireless $299.99 direct pHoto printer

Hp photosmart a636 Compact photo printer $149.99 direct

netWorking netgear powerline adapter kit (XaVB101) $130 street smC smCgs8p $300 street

sony Vaio VgC-Js130J/p

HDtVs

$1,099.99 list

plasma

Business

Vizio Vp505XVt $1,499.99 list

Dell optiplex 755 $1,183 direct laptops & noteBooks mainstream

apple macBook pro 15-inch (penryn) $2,899 direct gaming

lCD

samsung ln52a750 $3,999.99 list oleD

sony Xel-1 oleD Digital tV $2,499.99 list

alienware m17 $2,059 direct

Digital Cameras

multimeDia

CompaCt

Hp HDX16t $1,790 direct meDia Center/Desktop replaCement

lenovo thinkpad W700 $4,240 direct

acer aspire 6930g-6723 $1,020 street

Dell studio Xps 16 $1,804 direct netBook

NEW asus eeepC 1000He n

$400 street Business

lenovo thinkpad t400 $1,580 direct BuDget

Hp pavilion dv2800t $1,049 direct

storage

Canon powershot a1000 is $349.99 list

Digital pHoto & ViDeo multimeDia suite

adobe Creative suite 3

(body only)

Canon eos rebel Xsi $699 list (body only) superzoom

panasonic lumix DmC-Fz18 $399.95 list

Digital ViDeo Cameras Creative Vado pocket Video Cam HD $299.99 direct

sony HDr-sr11 $1,099.99 direct

portaBle

NEW lenovo thinkpad usB n

portable secure Drive

$319 list

alltel

rim BlackBerry Curve 8330

$999 direct

From $229.99 with contract

ViDeo-eDiting soFtWare

at&t

Cyberlink powerDirector 7 ultra $119.95 direct

apple iphone 3g From $199.99 with contract

pHoto eDiting

sprint

adobe photoshop Cs4

rim BlackBerry Curve 8330

$1,150 list

$179.99 with contract

picasa 3 (beta) Free

t-moBile

Digital pHoto Frame

sony Vaio VgF-Cp1 $299 list mp3 players

NEW samsung memoir n

sgH-t929 $299 direct

Verizon Wireless

samsung knack sCH-u310

HarD Disk

$39.99 with contract

microsoft zune 120gB

unloCkeD

$249.99 list

nokia n82 $629 direct

FlasH

apple ipod touch 8GB,

HeaDsets

$229 direct

BluetootH

apple ipod nano 16GB,

aliph new Jawbone

$199 direct

$129.99 list

samsung yp-u3 (2gB) $90 list speakers/DoCks Chestnut Hill sound george $549 direct

Hercules Xps 2.1 lounge $60 street

logitech pure-Fi Dream $200 direct

meDia eXtenDers sonos Bundle 150 $999 direct slingbox pro-HD $299 list

D-slr

nikon D300 $1,800 street

Cell pHones

gaming Consoles sony playstation 3 $399 direct gps DeViCes NEW garmin nüvi 265t n $279.99 list

gaDgets NEW amazon kindle 2 n $359 direct

HeaDpHones ultimate ears ue 11 pro $1,150 list

oFFiCe & proDuCtiVity adobe acrobat 9 pro $449 direct NEW QuickBase n

$250 direct/month NEW skype 4.0 Free n speeCH reCognition

Dragon naturally speaking 10 $99.99 direct Desktop puBlisHing

adobe illustrator Cs4 $599 direct

ipHone apps air sharing $6.99 direct stanza Free photogene $2.99 direct entertainment pandora (for iphone) Free rhapsody From $12.99/month NEW slacker Free n NEW apple ilife ’09 $79 direct n NEW google earth 5.0 Free n NEW simCity 2009 n (for iphone) Free seCurity

NEW Clickfree HD325 $180 list n

antiVirus

Desktop

Western Digital my Book studio edition ii

Webroot antiVirus with antispyware 6.0 $39.95 direct

$430 list

suite

Hp storageWorks aio400t

norton internet security 2009 $69.99 yearly

$3,799 list

parental Control

netWork-attaCHeD storage

net nanny 6.0 $39.99 yearly

lCD monitors lenovo thinkVision l200x

BaCkup sos online Backup (beta)

$499.99 list

Dell ultrasharp 2408WFp

$19.95 direct

$689 direct

proJeCtors Canon realis X700 $2,500 list neC Vt800 $1,000 street Dell m109s $499 direct

reaDing is Fun again The Amazon Kindle 2 has a slew of new features for bookworms.

50 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION APRIL 2009

FinanCial QuickBooks accounting pro edition 2009 $199.95 list NEW Quicken Home n & Business 2009 $79.99 direct

Shop wisely. Print this page and bring it with you.

editors’ Choices in key Categories