Hardware/Software
Epson Stylus Photo 900 Music mixes, iMovies, backups — we’re printing tons of great-looking CDs and DVDs, using the Stylus Photo 900 ( ; August 2003 ).
Alphabet Soup Oz Music Code’s new gem turns your Mac into a musical instrument by mapping audio loops and samples to your keyboard. The live-performance tool supports a wide variety of audio file formats, too (www.ozmusiccode.com).
iView MediaPro 2 iView Multimedia kicked up the speed of its digital-asset manager in a huge way for version 2. Other additions we really like are the image-editing tools, integrated PDF export, and the Fast Find feature (www.iview-multimedia.com).
Illustrator’s 3-D features We’ve seen Adobe Illustrator CS’s ability to wrap artwork around a 3-D shape, and boy, are we impressed (www.adobe.com).
Canon EOS Digital Rebel Photography hobbyists who want full manual controls will be thrilled with this digital SLR camera that costs — get this — less than $1,000 (http://usa.canon.com).
Sony’s Clié PEG-UX50 This unit gives us hope that Microsoft’s PocketPC might not crush Palm after all. This $700 handheld has a usable miniature keyboard and a pivoting color screen, as well as built-in Bluetooth and AirPort, making it a perfect mini-laptop. Its Mac support is weak, even with Mark/ Space’s $30 Missing Sync for Clié (www.markspace .com). But this device is undeniably cool (877/ 865-7669, www .sonystyle.com).
Best 20-Inch LCDs
NEC MultiSync LCD2080UX ; August 2003; $1,699
Formac Gallery 2010 Oxygen ; August 2003; $1,099
Apple Cinema Display ; August 2003; $1,299
Sharp LL-T2020B ; August 2003; $1,799
Sony SDM-X202 ; August 2003; $1,499
Best Games
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 (Aspyr Media) ; October 2003; $50 (sports game)
Enigmo (Pangea Software) ; October 2003; $25 (puzzle)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (MacSoft) ; September 2003; $50 (first-person shooter)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon (Aspyr Media) ; March 2003; $50 (action-strategy game)
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (Aspyr Media) ; February 2003; $50 (3-D–action game)
Best Quote
“I lo-o-ove my Apple G4 laptop. I always travel with an extra-extra-long power cord and a 40-foot Ethernet cable. I’m really elitist about it.” — Comedian Margaret Cho, in The Out Traveler (premiere issue 2003)