The Macworld Expo last week arrived in San Francisco riding a tidal wave of rumors, hype, and a Time magazine cover story. Receiving less media coverage were many third-party products, including a raft of hardware and software that should pique the interest of Mac-based content creators.
Before I yank out my reporter’s notebook, however, I’d like to mention the tenor of the show. Several vendors said they came to the show with reduced expectations, citing the troubled economy, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. Instead, they were pleasantly surprised by the strong attendance and the interest expressed by the crowds.
Attendees looked upbeat and I found myself greeting people I hadn’t seen at Expos in the past four or five years. Perhaps it was a group hug for the Mac faithful. Perhaps worries about the Mac OS X transition cast a cloud over the show for several years. This fall’s release of Version 10.1 and arrival of compatible applications — in no way ignoring Apple’s own strong OS X-based solutions — may have calmed those fears.
That said, the following is just a short list of products that turned my head and compelled me to wait for a demonstration.
There Was Software…
Many vendors took the opportunity to release (or at the very least demo) new OS X software or versions. For example, Adobe gave the keynote audience a peek of the forthcoming OS X version of Photoshop.
Two vendors, Binuscan and Shapiro Consulting Group showed new professional image editing applications for Mac OS and OS X. Shapiro Consulting’s took the wraps off Asiva Photo, its $378 image editing application (see figure, below). The product uses 16-bit technology the Austin-based company developed for high-performance video effects systems, according to Vice President of Marketing Roland Lee.
The image-editing application Asiva Photo is derived from high-end video-effects systems.
The software lets users change colors and sharpen details on parts of images without creating a mask. Each editing operation is logged into a list that can be re-ordered or changed, as well as exported for use with other images. The operations are performed quickly on a small proxy image until the user decides to apply an editing sequence and process the original file.
Monaco-based software vendor Binuscan showed its recently released PhotoRetouch Pro package that offers a wide set of tools to color correct and edit images. The commands include bX-Ray, which identifies and corrects compression artifacts in JPEG files; and Vacuum Cleaner, which lets users easily get rid of dust and scratches in scanned images. The $1,000 package also comes with a scanner target and color profiling software.
Prepress vendor Creo unveiled Six Degrees, a forthcoming information utility for Mac OS X and Windows due later this spring. The software automatically tracks the subjects and recipients of email messages, email attachments and files on a machine’s hard drive. Six Degrees (of separation, get it?) lets users quickly drill down into this data soup and find a particular message, or view all the files and messages pertaining to a project or job. The product’s tentative price is $249.
Synthetik Software released Version 2.0 of its $379 Studio Artist image processing and effects software. The company said the update uses a new drawing engine and improved support for time-based effects. The program offers new effects, brushes and paint effects.
Meanwhile, Equilibrium announced an OS X version of its DeBabelizer Pro 5 image processing, compression, optimization and translation software. It has a street price of about $469.
Also on the video front, eZedia released an OS X edition of its $239 cross-platform eZediaMX 3.0 multimedia authoring environment. A 30-day trial version is available on its site.
On the web front, UsableNet demonstrated an add-on version of its LIFT site testing, evaluation and usability software. The $249 software now works within Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 and Dreamweaver UltraDev 4.
…and Hardware, Too
Walking the show floor, one could almost find a storage vendor on every row — small surprise given the crowds filling the booths shilling digital still and video cameras. All in all, those files must end up somewhere. Around and about there were backup solutions and inexpensive graphics cards.
As one might expect, hardware vendors exhibited a wide range of FireWire-based storage devices, some with leading capacity points. In addition, a number of booths offered products with the up-and-coming USB 2.0 interface, which boosts speeds from USB 1.1’s 12 Mbps (1.5 MB per second) to 480 Mbps (60 MB per second).
Storage company LaCie announced several new products including models of a new 120 GB desktop drive. Buyers can choose between mechanisms with spindle speeds of 5,400 and 7,200 rpm; and FireWire and USB 2.0 interfaces.
Certain to find a place in many digital camera bags is LaCie’s Hexa Media Drive, a $59 dongle that handles six, count ’em, different compact media formats including CompactFlash, Memory Stick, MicroDrive, MultiMedia, SD Memory and SmartMedia. The device sports a USB 1.1 connector.
Startup WiebeTech LLC introduced a number of drives and enclosures with both FireWire and USB 2.0 interfaces. Buyers can choose from the tiny MicroGB, featuring anodized aluminum finishes, and WiebeTech’s larger DesktopGB drives. The company is the brainchild of James Wiebe, founder of the late Newer Technology.
I appreciated the hyperminimalist look of the company’s FireWire DriveDock, a tiny $89.95 aluminum connector that adds a FireWire port to any bare 3.5-inch IDE hard drive (an optional power supply costs $29.95). Enclosures? Forgeddaboutit.
On the backup beat, Dantz Development demonstrated Mac OS X Preview Release of Retrospect Backup. The software is now available for download.
In addition, CMS Peripherals showed the first Mac lines in the company’s Automatic Backup System series. Its FireWire drives automatically perform a backup when connected to the computer, storing data in their native file formats. One product line aimed at mobile systems uses small mechanisms in capacities from 10 to 40 GB. A line with larger drives for desktop backup is available in capacities of 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100 GB. The software supports Mac OS 8.x and 9.x and OS X.
For those wanting mucho capacity in a single drive, Maxtor showed its 5,400-rpm, 160 GB hard disk, the Personal Storage 3000XT. The $399.95 external drive sports a FireWire interface.
German developer Village Tronic Computer introduced several video cards. Its VTDE-DVI card with 64 MB of RAM will ship later in the spring; the MPDD+, a $99 entry-level card with 8 MB is available now.
But Not Least, Fun Stuff
The award for the Expo’s best hack must go to Griffin Technology’s PodMate, a small plug that fits in the iPod’s audio-out jack. The part lets users manipulate the scroll wheel and buttons to control infrared devices such as televisions or VCRs as far away as 40 feet! The price and details of the device haven’t been worked out yet, but the possibilities are boggling.
Founder Paul Griffin said the iPod’s 5MB hard drive has plenty of capacity to store information such as TV listings. That feature is questionable for the final version but we all must admit the PodMate is a great hack. His imagination and practicality shows in many of the company’s other devices, such as the PowerWave USB audio adapter — the external version of the Power Mac G4’s built-in audio circuitry.
Want your Mac to look like a custom car? Check out AppleSkinz for the Power Mac G3 and G4 desktop models. They fit tightly against the sides of the machine and look much better in person. Supergloss finish. Most cost $69.95 a pair.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on January 15, 2002
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