Holiday Gear Guide: Great Gear Under $50

Part one of Macworld's 2009 Holiday Gear Guide looks at affordable gifts under $50.

Excerpt: Understand the iPhone backupDuring a sync, iTunes not only syncs managed information and media, but also creates or updates an iPhone backup. The main function of the backup is to permit you to restore personal data and settings to your iPhone during a Restore. In this excerpt from Take Control of iPhone OS 3, Ted Landau takes a closer look at the process of backing up and restoring your iPhone's data.
Review: 27-inch Core i5 iMac (with Core i7 option)The wait is over: The 27-inch Core i5 (and Core i7) iMacs have arrived. We've tested the new quad core iMacs, and it was worth the wait.

Review: Big Buck Hunter Pro for iPhone This iPhone version of the arcade classic features outstanding graphics and realistic movement, though the accuracy of where shots are placed is a source of frustration.
Gems I’m thankful for Sometimes we take for granted the little things that make our Mac-using lives easier. On this Thanksgiving holiday (here in the U.S., at least), Dan Frakes gives props to the Mac Gems he uses every day.
Review: Touch KO for iPhone With hard hitting gameplay, impressive graphics, and an inventive control scheme, Chillingo's boxing game is ready to take on all comers.
Review: Sony Ericsson Equinox mobile phone The Equinox is a very middle-of-the-road phone with solid call capabilities and mediocre Web and camera capabilities.
Review: LG Electronics W2353V-PF LCD This well-rounded display showed nice image quality in our tests, and includes a handy auto-adjust button that controls brightness in dim conditions.

Five reasons to partition a disk Apple's Disk Utility makes it easy to split a hard drive up into multiple parts called partitions. But why would you ever bother? Joe Kissell shows you five things partitioning a disk allows you to do.
What Mac users need to know about Wi-Fi Direct It’s that time of year when travelers brace themselves to suffer the many small indignities of the road. Next year, a new networking standard, Wi-Fi Direct, will make it easier. Here's how.
Excerpt: Understand the iPhone backup During a sync, iTunes not only syncs managed information and media, but also creates or updates an iPhone backup. The main function of the backup is to permit you to restore personal data and settings to your iPhone during a Restore. In this excerpt from Take Control of iPhone OS 3, Ted Landau takes a closer look at the process of backing up and restoring your iPhone's data.
Take memorable holiday photos Follow these tips to take flattering photos of loved ones at Thanksgiving dinners and other family gatherings, as well as to capture the excitement of holiday decorations.
Enable momentum scrolling for Magic Mouse in 10.5 The new Magic Mouse includes a feature called 'momentum scrolling,' but only in OS X 10.6. However, using a simple Terminal command, you can add momentum scrolling to the Magic Mouse in 10.5.

In depth with Apple's Snow Leopard Server Computerworld's Ryan Faas shares his impressions of the OS X 10.6 version of Apple's server software.
Opinion: Why the delay on the iPhone 3GS in India? Despite Apple's promise to release the iPhone 3GS around the world by August, Aayush Arya notes that the phone still hasn’t shown up in at least ten countries around the world, including India.
Four years not enough for 'Godfather of Spam' Is four years and a $250,000 fine really the best punishment for the self-proclaimed "Godfather of Spam?" David Coursey thinks not.
Smartphone: From threat to asset Rather than worrying about bottling up mobile experiences, the real question for IT departments is how to embrace this phenomenon and make smartphones like the iPhone part of a company's mobility strategy.
Why go Pro when iMac goes faster? The new Core i7 iMac is a potent machine -- so potent, in fact, that it outpaces a couple of Mac Pro models in benchmarks. It's also an incredible bargain, offering tremendous power given its price.