Hot Stuff

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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For more reviews of Mac products, visit www.macworld.com/reviews/