Hot
off the Press Story
by
Tech-edge E-zine Staff 1/20/03
Macworld SF 2003: Toys for Big Kids, what's Hot and what's Not, page 2
more
of what's Hot
Freehand
Systems, Inc. showed their Mac compatible MusicPad
Pro which may well be the end of printed sheet music for schools
and orchestras. It is a large tablet that displays a full easily read
sheet of music tablature on a backlit LCD touch screen. Connected to
an Ethernet server, either Mac or PC, it can store up to 5,000 pages
of music. There are more features, that musicians like myself will love,
than I can mention here so please visit their site. I’m hoping
that we can get a sample unit in for a review soon.
- Angel Lee
ADS Technologies displayed their new PYRO A/V Link and USB Instant DVD for Mac. The ADS A/V Link is a very nice way for Analog Video lovers to import into Digital Video in your Mac, you can also go the other direction as well. USB DVD allows you to take analog right into DVD creations using the Pixela DVD authoring package. Best part is that you don’t have to have an Apple SuperDrive or iDVD, just a compatible DVD burner, - Zak Bryce, TEE Tech-Lab Mgr.
Also
want to mention:
Apple’s new 17-inch G4 Aluminoid PowerBook, lot’s
of Ooo’s and Ahh’s, but for anyone other than a top-notch
graphics or movie production dude, this notebook is not very conducive
for daily travel unless you like tucking an ironing board under your
arm. It’s specs and features are indeed impressive, but it needs
a faster than 1GHz G4. Hey, at least it’s surface won’t
chip and flake; price will be $3,299.Detto
Technologies Move2Mac
migration package, for switchers from Windoze to the Mac platform. Should
make life with switching a lot easier, but we’ll want to test
it before we completely bless it.
Maccally (Mace Group) , our long time favorite peripheral supplier for the Mac, had a stunning new line of goodies for any Mac hardware platform you could have. The IcePad and IceStation are folding portable stands for your iBook or G4 PowerBook. The IceKey and RFKey are the best aftermarket keyboards we've seen and a perfect match for either notebook stand. Macally also had the slickest set of retractable cables for USB, Ethernet, Telephone and FireWire we seen yet. Everything is in a matching "ice white" color.
On the software
side we really liked AEC Software’s FastTrack 8 Schedule,
Now Up-to-Date & Contact by Now Software which
has cross-platform capabilities, and E-Book System’s Mac
FlipAlbum 3 for a realistic 3D page flipping photo album experience.
-------
Not
so hot, … but some are not that bad.
by the staff:
OK, we may as well say it right up front, we think the Apple 12-inch Aluminoid PowerBook is a silly idea, especially with a sub-gig 867MHz G4 processor. The speakers in the 15.2” Titanium were small enough to sound weak, what will the micro’s hidden under the cover somewhere in the
12-inch sound like??
Sure, some Mac ultra-enthusiast with money to burn will buy it, but we
think it won’t sellas well as if Apple had made a “tight”
standard
14-inch, or just revamped (as Apple should have) the 15.2-inch PowerBook.
The Titanium is the perfect size for desktop and travel, just make it
Aluminum with an anodized finish.
Connectix Virtual PC 6 is a useless application in our opinion; what’s more they’ve already released a major bug fix just weeks after it debuted at MWSF 2003! Hey, if you need to run an obscure crash-o-matic Windoze application that you can’t find a comparable Mac OS X version amongst the thousands, go buy a PC! ‘Nuff said. And speaking of crash-o-matic, has SmithMicro ever made a version of FAXstf that didn’t? Does anyone really actually still use FAX anyway?
Nikon Inc. and Olympus America, Inc. For Nikon pretending to announce a “New” D100 Digital Camera that was actually announced back in February 2002; and Olympus for not announcing anything new at all. We know that the digital camera market is flat, but can’t you save anything really new for Macworld? We loved the “recent” Olympus C5050 and recommended it in our “Annual 12 Toys of Xmas for Techies” story. Olympus never even thanked us for acknowledging it in the list, which we actually had to buy to test!
GLOOLABS was promoting a music Ethernet / WiFi box that can transmit your Mac stored MP3 files anywhere in your house. First the receiver boxes are ugly, and second it means that you’ve got to leave your high power consuming Mac on to use it (real dumb). To be sold exclusively by Macsense for $199 each box, plus the huge electric bill you’re gonna get from leaving your Mac on all the time, this is one of the dumbest ideas we ever seen. Even dumber than a Tablet PC or Pocket PC’s.
And last, but not least, the XtremeMac ”UFO” (USB, FireWire, Organizer) for the LCD iMacs. As if the iMac base wasn’t ugly enough, this base extension thing makes it even taller and more likely to tip over; and you still have wires running all over your desktop! For what?
Oh, would someone please bring Raid to the next few Expos and Shows, We're going to exterminate those obnoxious MSN Butterflies!
One
site is selling this MSN 8 Butterfly you can take your aggressions out
on.
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