Macworld magazine has announced its Best of Show awards for Macworld Conference & Expo 2004 in Boston, Mass. The awards are given to products either making their public debut at Macworld Expo or recently introduced and generating excitement on the show floor. This show’s roundup of Best of Show recipients include five products from five different companies whose products were on display on the show floor. This year’s honorees included:
Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig. Guitar Rig turns the Mac into a high-end guitar setup using virtual effects, amplifiers and cabinets. An included foot controller called Rig Kontrol enables guitarists to activate effects with four assignable switches and one pedal, without requiring a MIDI or USB interface.
Parliant Corp.’s PhoneValet Message Center. PhoneValet Message Center turns the Mac into a complete telephone answering service, complete with voicemail, Caller ID, call recording and fax support. PhoneValet Message Center works through a USB interface attached to your phone line, and supports AppleScript to enable additional functionality and connectivity to third-party applications.
Harman Multimedia’s JBL On Stage. On stage is a donut-shaped portable music system for iPods and iPod minis that sports four transducers, 12-watts of total power, and the ability to charge the iPod while it’s playing. It works with all three generations of iPods and iPod minis alike, and sports touch volume controls and an auxiliary audio input cable.
@Last Software Inc.’s SketchUp 4.0. SketchUp 4.0 adds new capabilities to help architects and other 3D designers more quickly create projects. Follow Me enables users to push or pull a surface along a path; Texture Tweaker applies textures or photos across continuous surfaces; Face Me makes sure that 2D models of landscaping elements and people will always face the camera; and The Intersector helps develop complex boolean models quickly and easily.
Gee Three’s latest collection of Slick Transitions & Effects — Slick Vol. 7 and 8. Slick Vol. 7 and 8 carry on the company’s extension of Apple’s popular iMovie software. The collections include plug-ins that offer new capabilities and features for iMovie.
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