Altec Lansing inMotion
When this sweet speaker set for the iPod arrived, it was love at first sight. But after we’d heard the inMotion’s clear sound, used its well-placed ports, and folded it up again, we knew we’d found much more than a mere infatuation. It connects to all iPods, but those with dock connectors are best ($149; available only at www.apple.com ).
Panther’s Open and Save
Finally, we OS X users don’t have to endure the column view when searching in the Open and Save dialog boxes. With Panther, you can choose a classic Mac OS–style list view, and Panther’s handy sidebar gives you quick access to your favorite folders.
Grooving on Soundtrack
Apple’s $299 Soundtrack isn’t just useful. It’s flat-out addictive. We used it to make a great-sounding music mix in five minutes, and gave a muddy-sounding home movie from one editor’s high-school days a modern flavor ( ; December 2003 ).
Epson Stylus Pro 4000
Photo pros will smile when they see what Epson has been developing. Scheduled to ship in January, this printer promises 17-inch-wide prints at much faster speeds than previous Epson Stylus Pro printers ($1,795; www.epson.com ).
Konfabulator 1.5.1
Your city’s weather, a Tetris-style game, your to-do list — Konfabulator’s widgets basically let you have whatever information you want, right on your desktop ($25; www.konfabulator.com ).
FireWire Web Cams
Apple iSight ; December 2003; $149 ADS Technologies Pyro 1394 ; December 2003; $109 Orange Micro iBot Standard ; December 2003; $99 Unibrain Fire-i ; December 2003; $99
Recently Reviewed Macs
12-inch PowerBook G4/1GHz ; December 2003; $1,599 to $1,799 15-inch PowerBook G4/1GHz and 1.25GHz ; December 2003; $1,999 to $2,599 17-inch PowerBook G4/1.33GHz ; December 2003; $2,999 Power Mac G5/1.6GHz ; November 2003; $1,999 Power Mac G5/1.8GHz ; November 2003; $2,399 Power Mac G5/dual-2GHz ; November 2003; $2,999
Macs On Stage
In case you had any doubt, we’re here to tell you: Yes, it’s true, a PowerBook can be used as an on-stage musical instrument. At a recent Wilco concert, we spotted the band using a PowerBook to play cacophonous sample loops to complement their melodies. Upon further investigation, we learned that the setup was a 500MHz PowerBook G3 (Pismo) with 256MB of RAM, and Cycling 74’s MAZ/MSP 4.1 installed for customized sample looping and signal processing. Wilco also uses a MOTU 828 FireWire interface to bring audio into and send it out of the Mac.
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